China Trip Day Four - Shanghai, The Tall Buildings - 2013-01-16

Good morning to Shanghai for the second morning! Today is a day of leisure to look around and see a few sights! Yes!

My preference when I have time is to get out of the hotel for breakfast just to have a look, hungry to absorb the stimuli of the new place. Nanjing Lu has become my center for the this trip, back I go for a few hundred yards to my Starbucks (http://www.starbucks.com.cn/en/) for an espresso and a nice chocolate muffin. it is funny how in the middle of the new I find myself forming habits as I go. The are flags in the sand until I stretch myself a little further in that department. Upstairs in the comfortable chairs I use Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/) to look a  little at the geography of the area and decide where to go. I think either a bus tour of the city or Pudong where the Tall Buildings are but I am not sure how to get across, probably a ferry I think and I will easily see that when I get there. I'll head back to the Hotel, get a mobile subscription and then begin my tour today.

You will know from previous days that my mobile from Ireland is not working so getting in communication here is a priority as well. Luckily across from the hotel is a China Mobile shop so over I pop. As I enter a lady comes to assist me, I tell her about my phone and that I think it could be the battery is dead. She goes to a machine, gives me a queue number and a local mobile number on two separate slips of paper from the machine. As I as waiting in the seating area, an older man started shouting at the old security guard animately, shouting and waving a finger at him and then as staff from China Mobile came closer he faked lunging at the old guard as if to fight but never looked really serious about engaging! It was quite a show that went on for 5 minutes before one of the girls lead the man into a glass walked office where he continued to be loud and curse the guard about something. :) That issue subsided and I eventually was called to the counter. Explaining a problem is always the most fun part when you do not speak the language. My proposal was that my phone was not connecting to the network and that I would like a local MicroSIM Card that I could put into my existing phone. That was dead easy. 50 Yuan (5 Euros) and a copy of my passport for a new prepaid MicroSIM and local connectivity to Internet, YES! A couple of minutes of paperwork and I am done... Back to the hotel and I will try this all out before heading out on the tour for the day.

Back in the hotel room, I take out the MicroSIM and the phone to connect locally. Everything fits together nicely and I turn on the phone. "Network Error". I know this message unfortunately. It means that my phone is locked into a network, my 3 network. So in order to get this MicroSIM to work with my phone I need to call Ireland and get the phone unlocked, it wil be easier to get another phone. The problem is progressively being solved ... :)

Tour of Shanghai Tall Buildings: Out of the hotel I go with my backpack and turning towards the Huangpu River to look across at the tall famous buildings from the photos! The Traffic Assitant supports us going across the road to the area where there appear to be city tour buses and shops. Reaching the far side of the Road, I see a huge statue of Chairman Mao. From the statue, he was born in 1901 and died 1972 when I was born. The funny thing is when I look up wikipedia and other sources, they claim that he dies on the 9th of September, 1976. The difference intrigues me!

He is has had an impressive impact on the Chinese people. I know the overview story of his life but have not had the chance to talk to Chinese people on their opinions. The Bund is full of people Chinese and foreign tourists just looking across the river taking photos

The are a group of shops beside the tourist information office and I wander along to see what offers might be available for today. Maybe the third place shows an escalator going down into what looks like a shopping area. Curious I follow my nose. At the bottom it appears to be the ticket office to somewhere, the "Bund SightSeeing Tunnel". Maybe I can get over to the Tall buildings through a tunnel. I overhear three Americans, a woman and two men, discussing the attraction. The woman seems knowledgeable as if she has been hear before and is leading the two guys. So I ask from them about the place and she includes me her explanation of the tunnel leading over to the Tall Buildings area of Pudong. The ticket price one way is 50 Yuan (5 Euros) which sounds ok. The three are very inclusive and bring me in on their conversation as we walk through the ticket barrier and on to the mini driverless train.

The train takes off and we enter a futuristic TV Movie with lights, neon, and flashes to enthrall us. I thought at one point that we may be able to look up at the river we are traveling beneath but that didn't happen. Each phase of 20 -30 meters there was a different light show of sorts until we arrived at the far side of Pudong.

The group discussed the buildings they were going to see, the Pearl and the Financial Center and asked me if I would like to join them. They were a delightful group so I tagged along.

Excuse my innocence but I didn't really know the names of the building they talked about but followed along as the lady had been here before and understood that these were the buildings to see. As we made our way back up to ground level, she pointed out the Pearl.

Yes, it is that building with the balls on it. It is actually a Radio Tower or that is how it started out in life. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriental_Pearl_Tower). We buy our tickets at 160 Yuan (16 Euros) to get up as far as we can but today we can only go up to the second highest point as the top part is closed for some reason. Fine by us an on we continue. We walk in and around the base of the building coming into a large queue of tourists, of which I would say 95% were Chinese. Shanghai is very much a Chinese attraction as much as it is a foreigner's pilgrimage. The queue moves fairly rapidly and we board the elevator. A lovely Chinese lady in uniform begins a full explanation about the building and the place I imagine in Chinese and considering that most of the guests are Chinese I think that is fair but also thought that I may wander the building in ignorance. After a some time, she begins an unexpected English version of her talk about the building, the elevator and Shanghai which both relieves and enlightens me.

Out we get of the elevator and we have a wander around the sights of the wider bottom ball. One of the american guys and myself are making funny comments and after a while a lady from California comes up to us and it appears that she is enjoying our comments more than the view. Now the view is not that much because the pollution is high. We were delighted to be of service!

We find the next elevator up to the higher section, get in and go up. As we get out now we can see that there is an external viewing platform around the ball made of glass. People are out walking on a balcony of glass. It looks like fun!

My new friend captures me sitting on glass so so far up. You get the willies when you look down! :)

That was great and we are a little peckish. Subway is sitting at the bottom of the Pearl so it is an easy win for that before we head onto the Financial Center. Again I am not sure which building it is but the group point me to our next destination!

The Financial Center (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_World_Financial_Center) is one of the tallest buildings in the world. It appears to be number 3 according to this list http://www.allaboutskyscrapers.com/database/100_tallest_buildings. This building is often known as the bottle opener. It is amazing the amount of material and work that goes into the building. When you get up to the observatory there are also glass floors so you can look down for those of you who have a strong heart!!!

And the model of Shanghai that you see before ascending to the Observatory.

Now we had the trip back to where we came from and the three Americans were taking the Metro. Great! I hadn't taken the metro yet so it will be easy beside people who have already done it! Down we go and I know that I want to get back to Nanjing Road East and there is a station there. It is dirt cheap, 3 Yuan (30 Cents), for a trip back to where I came from! 50 Yuan to get there and 3 Yuan back! It is simply 1 stop on Line 2 and I get off the Metro. I want to thank the lovely three people that I met from the west coast of America for their hospitality! We made our goodbyes and I headed upstairs to find my orientation. Now, I often think I am clever but the next thing I did, didn't make feel that. I arrive at the exit with the ticket machine. I see a sign on the top of the machine saying insert ticket. I put it in the top but the barrier doesn't move to let me pass. What's wrong? There was a passer by and I asked. He answered in perfect English, "You need to put it in the front of the machine!". I had just put it in the pace where the ticket should come out after being validated :) Doh! Instead of going through all the embarrassment I simply put my long leg over the barrier and headed on... I know, I feel a bit guilty but in the moment, that's what I did!

Shanghai First Foodhall beckoned me again with the variety of different restaurants!

Video on East Nanjing Road at night there are these different groups of people dancing to music. Maybe it is for simple enjoyment, they do seem to have fun! It is simply better to look than me to explain!
With a quick search on the Internet, I wanted to go out since I was not tired and a simple answer for an Irish man abroad is the Irish Pub, and why not? I found whether good or bad Malone's (http://www.malones.com.cn/tongren/) a short taxi ride away back in the direction of Nanjing Road West. I know the routine now. Get the address, go to the concierge and get him to write it in Chinese for the taxi driver. It is easy now!

I arrive at an ex-pat bar with quite an atmosphere both downstairs and upstairs, I thought it might be a restaurant upstairs but I go to investigate anyway. As I get up to the top, there is an American Pool table and games of doubles going on. Well, there is a simple bet. A beer a game! I am up for it! THe beer I drank before I started was the only one I paid for :) Irish pool pockets are much tighter so it makes the American tables easy :) I got called a couple of names like 'Shark' but I can live with that.... We actually were all very friendly and enjoyed the evening...

Shanghai has a few sides to it!