A Tour at the Oriental Pearl Radio and TV Tower in Shanghai China

April 5, 2014 was one special day for me, because as a first timer in China, particularly in Shanghai, seeing the iconic Oriental Pearl Radio and TV Tower that I got to see on the television is already a dream come true. Especially when the travel was an all expenses paid by the company and the sponsor. 

 Blue Monday 

The tour guide’s target was for us to be at the Oriental Pearl Radio and TV Tower before the 8AM opening time. We arrive there at 7:00AM and the entrance was already jam-packed with foreign as well as local tourists. Using our passports, our guide got us tickets for the tower tour and the River-Cruise. I forgot to borrow one of the tickets for photographic purposes. I think the admission fee was around ¥120-220 depending on the area you want to visit. In our case I think we got the combo ticket, because we explored the upper sphere + the river cruise.

One hour after, the gate was opened. There were other groups ahead of us so we had to wait for our turn. While waiting we continued our picture taking outside. After how many takes, my colleague finally got this shot, a shot that shows the tip of the tower. 

 

The Oriental Pearl Tower stands 468m (1535 feet) high and is the tallest structure in China until 2007 when it was surpassed by the Shanghai World Financial Center and it's the highest Radio and TV tower in Asia and 3^rd in the world. Aside from the small spheres, the tower features three bigger spheres where the Space City (lower sphere), Sightseeing Floor (upper sphere) and the Space Module (the highest sphere).  The Elevator took us to the upper sphere about 263m (863 feet) high where the sightseeing area is located. 

See that tall building still under construction? That's the Shanghai Tower, the tallest in China and the 2nd tallest building in the world. 

 

When you’re up there you’ll get to see breathtaking vistas of Shanghai in a bird’s eye, the far distant views are much visible on clear days. Sadly, the sky was smoggy when we got there.   

  Ruby Tuesday Too

 

You can also conquer your fear of heights by stepping on the glass bottom observatory.  

 The glass floor may not be that clear because of the scratches, but still you can see the what’s below.

 

We stayed inside more or less 2 hours explored the rest of the are as long as our tickets allows and later went down for our next tour, The Huangpu River Cruise.  stay tuned...