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Published: January 8th 2011
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Happy New Year to everyone! The Christmas and New Year holidays are not as commonly celebrated here in China, but we have been surprised at the amount of decorations around the city and Christmas music heard in restaurants and shopping malls everywhere. I think it is simply another way of embracing the culture of a Western society without actually acknowledging (or being ignorant of) the religious aspects of the holiday. We were also welcomed into the winter season with a rare dusting of snow in Shanghai… in ways, it made me feel more at home than I was in Florida at times! I am not usually one to engage in the New Year’s resolution binge but instead try to achieve realistic goals throughout the entire year. However, this year I actually plan to set a New Year’s resolution, which may sound similar to many of yours. In the New Year I will live a healthier lifestyle by eating healthier, exercising regularly and not exposing myself to harmful chemicals every day. The only condition is that in order to implement these things back into my lifestyle, I will need to first return to the US. So I guess maybe I should call
The tops of the Pudong skyscrapers
with the Huangpu River and Puxi in the background it my New URA (Upon Return to America) resolution. And even though I’ve never regularly committed to a New Year’s resolution, this year I couldn’t be more excited!
A little shout out to the UW to congratulate them for making it to the Rose Bowl. We watched all the way from Chengdu China… and even though they didn’t win, I’m proud of my Badgers for putting up a good fight!! And now on to what’s happening in China…
As structural engineers, it is a big deal to not only observe the 3rd tallest building in the World from the outside but also learn about the design and construction of this remarkable building. Considering the 101 stories and 492 meters of height, this building was constructed rather quickly in a city that is said to be slowly sinking. So not only were there questions floating around in my mind regarding the construction of such an engineering marvel, but when we reached the observation deck on the 100th floor, my fear of heights arose as well. As you can see in the photos, there is a large rectangular hole toward the top of the building (in early design stages this
was a circle, but the Chinese government protested saying it too closely resembled the Japanese flag). The 100th floor is located directly above this hole and is constructed of glass, which you can look through all the way down to the ground, thousands of feet below. Because of my acrophobia, my heart began pounding each time I had to cross the clear glass portion of the floor to the opposite side of the observation deck. In fact when I heard a glass souvenir drop to the floor, my heart skipped a beat!
There were 3 different observation decks you could pay to visit. We decided since we were going up at all, we may as well spend a few extra dollars to go to the top. The allure of the highest observation deck is the glass floor you can see through to the ground; however the best views are actually from the lowest observation deck. You know you’re high when you’re looking down at the top of the 6th tallest building in the World (the Jin Mao Tower). Unfortunately the afternoon we chose to ascend the tower was quite smoggy so the views were not as clear as we
would have liked, but the views of nearby Pudong and Puxi were stunning. We were told that the best views were at night, so after sunset, we waited for the lights to appear on the Oriental Pearl and Jin Mao Tower, but they never turned on. So we finally left and as we walked back to the subway, we noticed the lights appear around 6:30pm.
The whole experience is very touristy and has an outer space feeling similar to riding Disney’s Mission Space. There was queue upon queue that were fortunately not filled and the attendants lead you through a series of rooms until you reach the elevator lobby. Instead of seeing the digital display telling you which level the elevator is at displayed on the wall, it is located in very large numbers on the ceiling! Before entering the elevator, there are many signs warning those prone to seizures of the upcoming “ride”. I can’t think of a word that describes the experience better than psychedelic!
The next day we went on a self-guided walking tour in the French Concession. When we had asked Johnny and Niki about this area, they didn’t know where it was and
wondered why all the tourists in Shanghai wanted to go here. So maybe it’s an area developed by the writers of Lonely Planet to attract tourist money (haha!), but it is a quaint area filled with mazes of little pedestrian alleyways completely located off the main street. You enter the area through a decorative entrance off Taikang Rd. which is only signaled (in English at least) with the number 210. After entering through the archway, we were instantly intrigued by amazing photography! There are several shops with very interesting photos of Shanghai scenery and culture… in fact, there were so many great shots, we couldn’t choose and will have to go back to buy one. Charming brick-built cafes with wine and coffee a plenty and small boutiques line the cobblestone alleys, along with photographers around every corner snapping shots of the beautiful location.
Stay tuned for our experiences in home-cooking of Chinese “delicacies” as well as our trip to a Great ancient city, Beijing.
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Joy
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I really admire you, Joni, I could never go 100 floors up in any building. Just the idea gives me the chills and shivers. What beautiful pictures and wonderful memories you are creating. Thanks for sharing.