Elusive Travels

A city with a population exceeding 20 million people,  Shanghai is a bustling metropolise that encompasses a bit of old and new. 

The Pudong Area of Singapore, located east of the Huangpu river is where we spent most of our time. Where this was once a small agriculutral area, it has rapidly grown in size to become China's financial and commercial hub. There are towering sky scrapers here with magnificient architectural designs that have you gazing at them for hours in sheer disbelief at their sheer, size, scale and design . The two most famous being  the Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai World Financial Centre.


As we only had one night to sightsee, we concentrated most of our efforts wondering around the financial district, Science and Technology museum. and East Nanjing Street.  Getting into the Pudong Financial hub from Salvo hotel where we were located was just a fiteen minute taxi ride away and cost no more than 20RMB which is about 2GBP.

The highlight of the tour in Shanghai and probably the best was Oriental Pearl Tower.  We had seen this building many times, in post cards and in movies (Mission Immpossible 3). However, to actually stand in front of it was something else entirely.  After snapping several photos we decided to take a tour inside.

 There are various packages one can opt for,  we chose the full package which cost around 180RMB which is about 18GBP per person.

At a staggering 359m in height the views from atop are both dizzying and breathtaking in the same vein. Looking out across one can get a clear view of the old town, located at the bund as well as the new town where the staggering skyscrapers seem to gaze at us from below.

Speaking of breathtaking, I highly recommend the sightseeing floor at 259 metres. This is a glass floor that allows you to peer down into the street below where  cars look as tiny as ants and people look no bigger than a speck of dirt if that.

The first time you step onto the glass and look down, you immediately feel a little dizzy however this soon  stops and you just keep looking down and marvelling at the incredible view that is right beneath your feet.

We spent about an hour or so at the Pearl tower before making our descent and then heading towards East Nanjing street, which is a very long street full of restaurants, pubs, bars and shopping malls. At night it is beautifully lit up and looks very much similar to Vegas, some might argue even a tad more classier.

 We had, climbed the pearl tower, bartered at the local markets for gloves and hats to battle the freezing cold climate, enjoyed a delicious lunch and travelled the subway at a measly cost of 3.00 RMB. But now at midnight it was time to head back as we had an early start the next morning where our next adventure would take us to China's capital city of Beijing....