I was taking a stroll down by the Huangpu River last weekend and accidentally found the Shanghai equivalent of the Croisette in Cannes. It's an 8.5km stretch of uninterrupted riverside walk that, unlike the Croisette, is refreshingly empty of French people. Indeed at one end of it, it was empty of people entirely save for one handsome chap revelling in the rare solitude. Yes. Me.
Shanghai is notable for many things (The Helicopter Blow Job for one) but emptiness is not one of them. There's not a square inch of the city that doesn't contain someone else or isn't being swept, or spat on, having a fish descaled on or driven over with a tricycle.So you can imagine my surprise when I found this oasis of calm.
So I walked along for about half of it and was lucky enough to witness the annual Shanghai Shitty Boat Race. This race is open to every salty seadog, pirate and jolly jack tar with a shitty old tub in Shanghai to hurtle downriver to the sea. Here's some pictures of this year's race.
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| The Peleton |
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| This was first, second and third until.... |
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| ....the one in the middle started taking on a lot of water, flooded her bilges, swamped her gunwhales and sunk. These are her final moments. |
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| Winner of the crappiest boat competition.HMS Xziazhouchanglelu. Which is Mandarin for HMS Lotus Blossom Flower. |
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