Shanghai (1) - The Oriental Pearl Tower

The Oriental Pearl Tower - the iconic landmark for Shanghai

Different colours of flags in the sunset

We took the train from Hangzhou station and arrived at Shanghai south station at about 5:00pm on the 27/05. Shanghai, our sixth city as well as the final stop in our China trip, is the largest and the most populous city in China with the population of over 20 millions (If you can not imagine, this is 3.5 times more than our most populous area at the entire Klang valley) .

Our main destination was the Oriental Pearl Tower (东方明珠塔) with our limited time left after the hotel check-in. We got out from the subway Lujiazui (陆家嘴) station and the Oriental Pearl Tower is just beside the exit. We took a short walk at the nearby Riverside Promenade - Pinjiang Da Dao (滨江大道), the best venue to have a panoramic view of the Shanghai Puxi (浦西) skyline. The promenade is 2.5km-long and consists of manicured lawns, flower beds, and a broad walkway dotted with kiosks.

The entrance for Reverside Promenade

The cityscape at Puxi, Shanghai.

Puxi skyline with the many skyscrapers.

The impressive-looking Shanghai International Convention Center with its twin globes is located within the proximity.

Shanghai International Convention Center

We moved on to the Oriental Pearl Tower to have a night view of Shanghai. The Oriental Pearl Tower is a TV & radio tower completed in the year of 1995, with the height of 468 m. It was once the tallest building in China, but surpassed by Shanghai World Financial Center in Sept 2007. We paid RMB100 for the Sightseeing floor and the Shanghai Municipal History Museum (上海城市历史发展陈列馆) at the tower's pedestal .

In different batches, We went into the elevators, which hold up to fifty people at the rate of seven meters per second. A courteous elevator attendant in the red uniform, gave us an introduction to the TV Tower in both English and Chinese and it ended when we reached at the Sightseeing Floor, at the 263m high.

A night view of The Oriental Pearl Tower

The Shanghai World Financial Center (left) and the Jin Mao Tower (right)

The outdoor observation desk with the thinck glass flooring was definitely the highlight in the entire visit. This is an adrenaline-popping experience and I practically hold my breath before start walking on the glass, with most of the Pudong skyscrappers at the below. Well, there were of course some screams from the young girls around in their exitement.

Outdoor observation deck

The Bund and Puxi skyline at night

The Shanghai Municipal History Museum was a surprise for us as it really added value to the entire tower visit. We had never expected to visit this "live museum" which displays the history of the city with emphasis from 1860 and 1949. We practically walked in the "real" old Shanghai street with the experience on the old transports, shops & builldings mimicked from the old time of Shanghai.

A display in the Shanghai Municipal History Museum