Shanghai Trip Part 4: Oriental Pearl Tower (东方明珠塔)

[Introduction]

I traveled to Shanghai, China, in late May. If I had been fluent in Chinese, I could have enjoyed the trip more, but I was impressed with a fine mixture of retro and modern elements in Shanghai. In this article, I will write about Oriental Pearl Tower as part of Day 2. The tower was famous for its unique appearance and I felt its observation deck was impressive as well.

[Visit Places (series of articles)]
* Day 1: Fly to Hongqiao International Airport
* Day 1: Waitan (The Bund)
* Day 1: Waitan (The Bund) (Light-up)
* Day 2: Oriental Pearl Tower [This article]
* Day 2: Jin Mao Tower
* Day 2: Shanghai Tower
* Day 2: Shanghai World Financial Center
* Day 2: Pudong (Light-up)
* Day 3: Yu Garden
* Day 3: Xintiandi, Middle Huaihai Road, Hengshan Road and Tianzifang
* Day 3: East Nanjing Road (Light-up)
* Day 4: Shanghai World Expo Museum
* Day 4: Natural History Museum, Ocean Aquarium and China Art Museum
* Day 4: Yu Garden (Light-up)
* Day 5: Great World (Dashijie), Jing’an Temple and Shanghai Exhibition Center
* Day 5: Return Home from Pudong International Airport

[Travel Date]
2018.05.23 – 27

[Main Part]

Breakfast and Gym (Workout) at Sofitel Shanghai Hyland

It was the second day of my Shanghai trip. To begin with, I will have breakfast at Sofitel Shanghai Hyland where I have been staying. Breakfast was served at “MOSAIC” from 6 a.m.

It was a buffet style breakfast.

As a foreign hotel, both Chinese and Western menus were mixed well.

Here are what I had today.

There were several things that concerned me – breakfast was not fully ready at 6 a.m. when the restaurant was supposed be open, most of staff were relatively unfriendly (lack of smile) and they didn’t check visitors’ name and room at all etc. Considering the hotel’s brand name, it disappointed my expectation a little 🙁

Anyway, the hotel had a gym, so I did a workout in the gym.

There was one person who did a workout at first, but she left the gym soon, so I took a selfie.

Morning Walk at East Nanjing Road (南京东路)

As the hotel was located in the center of “East Nanjing Road (南京东路)”, the main street in Shanghai, I walked around the street.

When I went out of the hotel, I saw people doing Tai Chi.

I found several groups who did Tai Chi around here.

As I mainly went around the east side of “East Nanjing Road (南京东路)” yesterday, I will stroll around the west side toward “People’s Square (人民广场)” station today.

There were lots of signboards with Chinese characters, which realized me I was in China.

There was a large shopping mall near “People’s Square (人民广场)” station.

I heard “Le Royal Meridien Shanghai” was located there.

LEGO’s “I LOVE SHANGHAI” object.

I got “Shanghai Public Transportation Card (上海公共交通卡)” to take a subway in Shanghai.

I often heard “People often break into line in China” before the trip, but as far as Shanghai was concerned, they waited properly in a queue as a whole, though several people barged in ahead.

Oriental Pearl Radio & Television Tower (东方明珠广播电视塔)

I came to “Lujiazui (陆家嘴)” station with Shanghai Metro Line 2.

While I watched modern skyscrapers of Lujiazui in the Pudong District from “Waitan (外滩)” on the first day, I will go around the Pudong District on the second day. To be more exact, I will mainly visit the following buildings: “Oriental Pearl Tower”, “Jin Mao Tower”, “Shanghai Tower” and “Shanghai World Financial Center”.

First, I will visit “Oriental Pearl Tower”, which was located near “Lujiazui (陆家嘴)” station.

“Oriental Pearl Radio & Television Tower (东方明珠广播电视塔)” is a TV tower with a height of 467.9 meters. When the tower was opened in 1994, it was the tallest building in Asia and the 3rd tallest one in the world.

The tower had three observation decks – (1) Space Capsule (太空舱) with its height of 351 meters, (2) Sightseeing Galleria (主观光层) with its height of 263 meters and (3) Transparent Observatory (透明观光廊) with its height of 259 meters. There were several kinds of tickets and I bought a one that gave access to (2) and (3).

First, I went to “Sightseeing Galleria (主观光层)”, the main observation deck of Oriental Pearl Tower.

As you can see, visitors were able to enjoy the entire view of Shanghai.

In the southeast, I saw “Jin Mao Tower”, “Shanghai Tower” and “Shanghai World Financial Center”, which I will visit later.

I circled the observation deck.

I additionally paid admission fee for “Space Capsule (太空舱)”, the highest observation deck.

I circled the observation deck.

Finally, I also stopped by “Transparent Observatory (透明观光廊)”.

As the name suggests, the observation deck including on foot was transparent and visitors enjoyed taking photos.

Shanghai History Museum (上海城市历史发展陈列馆)

I returned to the first floor.

There was a shop of Coca-Cola.

In addition, there was “Shanghai History Museum (上海城市历史发展陈列馆)” and the ticket of the observation deck included the admission to the museum, so I stopped by it.

“Shanghai History Museum (上海城市历史发展陈列馆)” featured the Shanghai settlement era. Here are some snaps.

Then, I left “Oriental Pearl Tower”.

Yang’s Dumpling (小杨生煎)

Now I will have an early lunch. There was a building with several restaurants adjacent to “Oriental Pearl Tower” and I visited “Yang’s Dumpling (小杨生煎)”.

In the restaurant.

I ordered “生煎 (fried dumpling)”.

I also had wonton soup.

“生煎 (fried dumpling)” is one of the popular local cuisines in Shanghai and “Yang’s Dumpling (小杨生煎)” is famous for its “生煎 (fried dumpling)”.

Then, I will continue to walk around the Pudong District.

[Closing]

That’s it for the article about Oriental Pearl Tower as part of Day 2.

When I looked at modern skyscrapers of Lujiazui in the Pudong District from “Waitan (外滩)”, the first thing that came into view was “Oriental Pearl Tower” due to its unique appearance, and its observation deck was impressive as well. “Oriental Pearl Tower” was located a little bit apart from “Jin Mao Tower”, “Shanghai Tower” and “Shanghai World Financial Center”, the view of the observation deck was different from other buildings, which made “Oriental Pearl Tower” more unique 🙂

In the next article, I will write about Jin Mao Tower as part of Day 2.

[Map]

1 Sofitel Shanghai Hyland
2 Oriental Pearl Tower
3 Yang’s Dumpling

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