I would recommend just going for a stroll along the walkway on the bund side. There is also an underground pedestrian tunnel that will take you across to the Pudong side, but the view is better from the bund side. It is interesting to see in the day, but the view is best at night when it's all lit up. The lights do go out at a certain time, maybe 11pm.

If you have time, go for a cruise on the dragon boat; the ticket office is on the Bund side of the river. Spring for the most expensive seats -- they are enclosed on the top deck and you will have a place to sit, out of the rain and air-conditioned if necessary.

There is also a ferry that crosses the river. Tickets are maybe around $.25, the dock is down near where the elevated highway crosses the road.

The bund also lights up beautifully at night, which makes for great photo opportunities. It's packed during the summer months so beware of pickpockets. Another word of advice if you are going to walk: don't give to beggars (even child beggars) or else you'll be surrounded by their "colleagues"!

Today, the Bund showcases the best of Shanghai’s colonial architecture as well as its most vibrant street life. From 5am, when the t’ai chi brigade starts working out, through the ballroom dancers, the daytime shoppers, strollers and tourists, and the evening sightseers, this is Shanghai’s heartland. It can not be missed.

There are 52 buildings lining around 1.5 kilometres of Zhongshan Dongyi Road overlooking the Huangpu River and the broad riverside promenade. They are not all worth looking at but collectively they showcase Gothic, Roman, Classical Revival, Renaissance, and Western-China architectural styles. We used the underground walkway to access the promenade. There are great photographic opportunities of old buildings, the pulsating "new Shanghai" across the river, tourists posing for mandatory snapshots and local strolling in the sun. Hawkers offer postcards, writing pens and other souvenirs.

The whole scene becomes doubly attractive at night when the temperature is lower, the colourful lights come on to illuminate fountains and buildings, and the area throngs with people. Under these circumstances, it is not difficult to see why this is called "the Pearl of the Orient".

The Bund stretches along the edge of the Huangpu River, parallel to Zhongshan Road (aka Zhongshan Dongyilu). Bund is actually an old Anglo Indian term for the embankment of a muddy water front and, given the state of the river, is probably still quite appropriate (although water quality is apparently improving). At the top of the Bund lies Huangpu Park and a pedestrian walkway stretches along the river, raised up away from the busy road. This is a lovely spot to enjoy the scenery and bustle of the river and, of course, photograph the row of old European style buildings that run along the other side of the road. Many of the buildings once belonged to foreign concessions and housed international banks and trading companies. Nowadays, they house Chinese municipal offices and trade negotiators. Nanjing Road meets Zhongshan Road about three or four blocks down from the top of the park. On the corner stands the very exclusive Peace (Heping) Hotel, an elegant old building with a pointed roof and a rather colourful history.

The Bund comes alive early each day as locals gather to exercise and socialise. We walked through Huangpu Park and along the Bund every morning before breakfast and saw all sorts of activities going on, including ball room dancing, aerobics, and singing. Over several days we were able to follow the progress of a group of women practising traditional dances, perhaps for some up and coming celebration (such as the now rapidly approaching National Day). Mostly they practised dances using large red fans but we also saw them with swords! However, it was always the very agile, although elderly, man on rollerskates who was the highlight of the morning. He took obvious delight in impressing the crowd with his stunts. Unfortunately the pictures I took of him just don’t do him justice.