Author’s note:  In my last post on Pudong, I mentioned that the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel needed an entire post in itself. As promised, here it is! Hope you enjoy a trip through Chinese Disneyland!

There are several ways to reach Pudong from the Bund.  You can take a long taxi ride, swerving in and out through intense Shanghai traffic.  If you want the more scenic route you can take a ferry across the Huangpu river.  Or, you can get your fill of over-the-top Chinese-style stimulation via the spectacularly, strange Bund Sightseeing Tunnel.

As accurately stated in Lonely Planet, the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel is “the weirdest way to get to Pudong, where train modules convey speechless passengers through a tunnel of garish lights between the Bund and the opposite shore”.

As one of my most favorite mottos go, “When in Rome”….we decided to give the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel a try and judge for ourselves what this quirky, disneyland-ish ride was all about.

The access to the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel is easily identified by huge signs dotting the lavish Bund waterfront where tourists and Chinese alike enjoy taking a stroll and viewing this fabulous city skyline.

I should have known that this was going to be a tourist trap and ultra “cheesy” as we Americans like to say about something that is over-the-top ridiculous.  But a recent article in Conde Nast had listed it as a “must see” so I thought it couldn’t be all that bad.  

You follow the tunnel listening to silly music and then take the brightly colored escalator down to the tunnel.  It was a Saturday morning and I thought this place would be loaded with tourists.  But we were the only ones there.  Hmmmm…..

I wasn’t sure why they chose an aquatic theme.  It seemed a bit silly to have ocean inhabitants when we were descending under the river.  

There were lots of little games where you could win prizes I’m sure my kids would enjoy.  

For a ticket there and back, the price was 55Y…a bit steep.  I saw a few businessmen dressed in suits but other than that it was empty.  Once inside, it was outrageously hot and little did I know the entire ride was set to a narration about the formation of the earth many years ago.  

Come enjoy the ride! And see for yourself!

I got off the ride wondering what the heck just happened.  It was the weirdest experience I’d had in China.  And worse, we had to take it back!

Before I end this post I found this cool video that I took of the Bund and Pudong at night that I forgot to share.  It gives a good 360 degree view of this impressive scenery at night.  For your viewing pleasure, click here and I promise you it is nothing like the hilarious ride above: