Shanghai's Jin Mao--Wow!

Shanghai is a beautiful place from which to start a tour of China. At least, that is what we did.

I asked around the hotel to find out which tall building is the best one to go up for a grand view. This is an important inquiry because Shanghai has many tall buildings and I always like to climb up to see the best view, whether in a cathedral, castle, town or big city. The consensus was that I should try the Jin Mao Tower. It was great advice. The 88th (top) floor is devoted entirely to tourist space. Thus, you can have a 360 degree view of Shanghai, the Huang Pu River and Pudong. This is, of course, fabulous.

The Jin Mao Tower is the third largest building in the world, 420.5 meters tall. It was built in 1999.

One of the most spectacular views anywhere is the view from the top of the Jin Mao Tower--from the 88th floor--down the INSIDE of the tower.

Here it is!

You can see down hundreds of feet and lean over to get a good view! Don't worry--you can't fall in, but it is not for the faint of heart!

Shanghai is a wonderful city to explore. The subways are clean, graffiti-free, air conditioned and easy to navigate (all the signs are in both Chinese and English). Moreover, whenever we looked puzzled (or like Westerners!), someone came up to assist us. It was marvelous.

A nice place for a walk is along the Bund. This is a long walk along the Huang Pu River. Shanghai is on one side of the river. Pudong is on the other. Sixteen years ago, Pudong was farmland; now due to a shift in government policy it has many huge skyscrapers, including Jin Mao Tower. One of the fellows we met told us that 5% of all of the world's construction cranes are working around Shanghai. I believe it.

This last daylight picture is from the Bund looking across the Huang Pu River traffic to the skyscrapers in Pudong.

Another fun thing to do is to see the Pudong River at night. We did it from the Jin Mao Tower--we arrived about 45 minutes before sundown and stayed for two hours. It was fabulous. Here is what you can see at night along the Bund.

If you are lucky, you can follow that up with a nice tourist boat ride along the river and under the stars. We did.

They are continuing to build spectacular new buildings. Here is a picture of the architect's idea of the Shanghai World Financial Center. It is now under construction, with completion scheduled for 2008. Like the Jin Mao Tower, it is located in the Lujiazhui financial district in Pudong.

The elegant 101-story skyscraper will be (for a moment, at least) the world's tallest when completed in early 2008. One of the biggest challenges of building tall is creating a structure that can withstand high winds.

The architects devised an innovation solution to alleviate wind pressure by adding a rectangular cut-out at the building's apex. Not only does the open area help reduce the building's sway but it also will be home to the world's highest outdoor observation deck -- a 100th-floor vista that will take vertigo to new heights.

And I was nervous looking down the inside of the Jim Mao Tower!

If you go to China, you must go to Shanghai. Don't worry, you'll love it.