Shanghaiist wasn’t joking when we said yesterday that the city was crowded. Thousands upon thousands (upon thousands) flocked to the Bund last night for ... well, for no apparent reason. There was no display of fireworks -- that happened on the Friday night -- no entertainment, no access to the riverside promenade. Nothing. Just lots of inflatable hammers.

We were also there, though we regretted it deeply. Particularly when our taxi stopped for about 45 minutes on the Yan’an Lu elevated road because the main thoroughfare along the Bund had been closed for the evening. The subway was also suspended -- an utterly mystifying decision of transport logistics.

But then the regret vanished (partially) when we found ourselves sitting at a table next to Edward Norton, Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber. The three gifted actors were enjoying a spot of dinner at New Heights on the top floor of Three On The Bund, together with six or seven other industry types. Norton and Watts are in Shanghai for the filming of The Painted Veil, an adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's novel of the same name, directed by John Curran.

Fans of celebrity gossip will be aware that Watts and Schreiber are currently an item (Shanghaiist had no idea about this. What happened to Heath Ledger?). Watts is virtually a household name, but Liev is less celebrated. You might recognize him from such films as The Manchurian Candidate, Kate & Leopold and the Scream series.

The two left the restaurant early, perhaps in an attempt to beat the crowd. It didn’t work. We ran into them close to midnight, standing on the kerbside of Henan Zhong Lu surrounded by a hundred or so oblivious out-of-towners, who were noisily waiting for buses to start running again.

For the record, Norton, Watts and Schreiber were spotted last week having Sunday brunch at Azul on Dongping Lu. Shanghaiist is less convinced of claims that they were also seen dining at G11 Wonton on Changle Lu.