Top of the World

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The sun was shining on the last day and we decided to head to the top of the world. Unfortunately the line to get to the tallest building was ridiculous. Lucky for us, the second tallest was right next door and the line was practically non-existent. So, up we went. The views were amazing. We even managed to send a few postcards from the worlds highest post office! The tallest lobby -Hyatt-also just amazing. The picture that looks like a gold tube is a view of the lobby from the top down.


We had a great dumpling lunch. I tried my first ever soup dumpling. You poke the oversized dumpling with a straw and just drink the soup. It was really good. I also had my first ever dessert dumpling. Very neat. Filled with cinnamon-although the filling was black so it must have really been something that just tastes like cinnamon. What a treat. Very strange consistency, very gooey and chewy, but very good.

We also stumbled upon a music convention. What luck! The streets outside the convention center were dripping with gorgeous instruments. Unfortunately, my suitcase didn't allow for any additional purchases. Bummer. They had violins for as little as $10. I met Abe here, he sells instruments in LA. I wasn't sure if they were decent quality and Abe had a great point. At that price, they make great wall decorations!

Maybe next time. I ended up spending the last day in the spa most of the morning. How spoiled am I 😊 Then I headed to the airport. I was told I should take the Maglev but I had too many suitcases. So I took a cab. It took approx. 35 minutes and there was hardly any traffic. I can only imagine what it would be like with traffic. Once I got to the airport, I check my big bag and then headed straight for the maglev. At least I could see it. I found out the trip only takes 7 minutes and I had 1 1/2 hr before my flight left. So I decided I needed to ride it! Its amazing. Although no longer the fastest (there is one in France that opened this year that is a bit faster) it still hit 431 km/hr. Amazing. It really did only take 7 min. I made the entire round trip in 30 minutes which included getting my bags re-screened at the end stop! Its much louder and bumpier than I expected, but very exhilarating.

Flight home was interesting. The stop over was in Manila as I was on Philippine airlines. What was supposed to be 3 hours turned into 6 hours due to a horrible thunderstorm. The airport was much smaller than I ever imagined. I thought Manila was a pretty serious city-but apparently the airport is not. Due to the storm, the wireless was down and the lights were flickering. Oh what a night. We eventually took off around 1am. Wish I could have actually scene the city a bit. No luck however.

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