14 January 2008: Sunny Days!

When I woke up this morning, it was sunny outside! Shanghai had a particular buzz about it as everyone was drying their washing in the glimpse of sunlight. People were suddenly out in the streets, playing games in the parks, and everyone seemed to be generally a bit more cheery. There was only one thing we could possibly do on such a day.....
Visit the Oriental Pearl Tower!
It's the most iconic building in Shanghai, you would have seen it in some of my photos. It's used as a tourist attraction, and as a TV/radio tower. There are some small museums, a revolving restaurant, and an observation deck. We caught the ferry across "The Bund", and spent a good part of an hour and a half on the observation deck, before the clouds started to roll in, making the city view overcast.
After going up the Pearl Tower, we spent some time shopping in one of Shanghai's biggest shopping malls. It was very much like any other western mall, except that it had about 9 levels! The prices appeared to be about what we would pay at home. They did have different brands though, mainly H&M (which I had not seen since my trip to Germany!) and Sketchers shoes.
Brent suggested we eat lunch at a Thai restaurant, which turned out to be very nice. Following lunch, Chris and I went to the airline's office to book tickets for our flight from Shanghai to Hong Kong. The airlines here are very strange; they only accept credit card payments at their head office, and don't let you buy over the internet or via the telephone. They do offer a COD service, where you can pay cash when a courier brings the ticket to your home or workplace. It seemed very strange to me.
In the evening, we decided we should have a nice dinner, at the top of the Jin Mau Tower. It's right next to the pearl tower, but is taller! It's home to the world's highest hotel, the Grand Hyatt Shanghai.
We went to the observation deck before dinner, and took lots of photos. Then we rushed down the tower, and headed over to the entrance for the Grand Hyatt. After reaching the 86th floor of the hotel, we ate a beautiful meal, and watched the lights along the bund get turned off at 10.30pm. :)
I had never eaten at a restaurant with such a beautiful view, so it was quite an experience.