On Top of the City

Today, since I did not have the luxury of playing with Pandas, I went down to explore the Pudong area of Shanghai. This is the ultra modern, almost futuristic, business section of Shanghai and is a major tourist attraction.

First I explored Renmin Park and Peoples Square area. Overall its a nice area, with a lot of green space, a mall, and a modern art museum and it is completely swamped with tourists. Im embarrassed, but I have to admit I got a little lost and never actually found the "Square", just the park surrounding it. High note of this area, was that I ate lunch at a Subway!!! It might sound ridiculous but it was honestly the first sandwhich, turkey, or mayonaise that I have had since being in China.

I then hopped a cab over to the Pearl Tower, a radio and television tower that for many years was the tallest structure in Shanghai. The title of tallest was recently taken from it by the bottle opener building which is featured in a few of my pictures. Hoping to capitalize on the clear day and opportunity to see the vast Shanghai cityscape I purchased a ticket to visit the top ; though the cost steep (150 RMB) it was well worth it.

Below are pictures from my day- I've posted a lot, and i've dispersed a few side notes throughout. Enjoy.


Shanghai has a lot of ridiculous architecture, merely for the sake of being ridiculous.














Crowded intersection in the Renmin Park area














Renmin Park














Art Gallery














Front of the Art Gallery. I didn't visit today because I didn't want to waste the good weather by being indoors.














City view















Looking at the city from the base of the Pearl Tower














More from the Base of the Pearl Tower














Giving the standard "asian" peace sign while standing with Hai Bao. Hai Bao is the cartoon character spokesperson for the 2010 World Expo which will be held in Shanghai. The shape of his body is designed to look like the Chinese character "ren" which means people.



















Looking up at the Pearl Tower



















View across the river. Mid level in the pearl tower.














More from Mid-level














The Bottle Opener building is the financial center building in Shanghai. It is currently the tallest building in the city. Originally it was designed to have a circular rather than rectangular open space in the top. However this plan was nixed by the Chinese because of the design's similarity to the Japanese flag (a red circle centered on a white flag) and the fact that the building was owned by a Japanese company.



















More of the city.














The top of the Pearl Tower















Looking down from the top















More














and more....