Bund tunnel gets flak from down under

• Source: Global Times
• [08:52 August 16 2010]
• Comments

A tourist films the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel's light show. Photo: IC

By Craig Curtis

The Bund Sightseeing Tunnel has been named as one of the world's worst tourist attrac-tions, although its kitsch appeal has won it a place in the hearts of some Shanghai residents.

In a list of "the world's most craptastic tourist attractions" compiled by Sydney Morn-ing Herald travel writer Ben Groundwater, the tunnel is named alongside Amsterdam's Sexmuseum, the Epcot Center in Florida, the Sulabh Inter-national Museum of Toilets in New Delhi, and four other un-derwhelming sites.

"The river tunnel has a cap-tive audience," Groundwater writes. "It exploits this by charg-ing a lot of money, then put-ting tourists into little rail cars. What you get is a few flashing neon lights, and words like 'Magma!' booming out over a loud speaker."

Tourists at the entrance to the tunnel with who the Global Times spoke yesterday wide-ly agreed that, as a practical means of crossing the Huang-pu River, the tunnel leaves a lot to be desired.

"It looks like the entrance to hell," the father of the Keersse family of four from Belgium told the Global Times as the cart he was in was about to set off on the 646.7-meter un-derwater journey. "It's better to go directly by taxi to save money, but this is our last day in Shanghai and we want to see a few more sights."

"There is nothing like this in Europe," his wife added. "It's so ridiculous, that's why we de-cided to come for a ride."

Midway through the ride, children burst into laughter as a loudspeaker blared "Heaven and Hell!"

One Chinese family was not so enamored by the tunnel ex-perience. "I just wasted 45 yuan ($6.6) on that!" said the father, surnamed Wang. "It's better to take a taxi. That way you won't get your expectations up."

However, the tunnel's "crap-tastic" nature is all part of the charm for some.

"Although the tickets are overpriced, it's still fun to ride," said Shanghai resident Lin Hong, who was about to take her third trip through the tun-nel. When told about the tun-nel being rated as one of the world's worst attractions, she was unfazed. "Yes that may be true, but people should still give it a chance," she said.

Shanghai native Wu Xiaowei claimed the tunnel is the most convenient way to get to the other side of the river from the Bund. "If you take the subway, you have to go all the way to Nanjing Road East subway sta-tion and get off at Lujiazui, both of which are many blocks from the river," he said.

No one from the manage-ment of the Tourist Tunnel was available for interview yester-day, although a receptionist was on hand to give a limited sales pitch. "The tunnel opened for business in 2000. Tourists can see lights on display," she said.

Australian Greg Ward, a stu-dent of Chinese in Hangzhou, told the Global Times, "I've nev-er been to the tunnel, but Aus-tralia has its fair share of crappy tourist destinations. There's a place in Western Australia, a true waste of time, where you can feed the dolphins. Howev-er, it's so strictly controlled that you can't even get close enough to the dolphins to feed them."