About 2 weeks ago, I visited the "famous" Shanghai Museum, home to many of China's treasured historical relics. It wasn't exactly my thing, but the Chinese really love the place, there are always a huge line to get into the place (luckily I went with the school's excursion, so we got to bypass the long line) since it's free to get into the museum. But I still took a few photos of some interesting items.
Yesterday, I headed over to the Shanghai World Financial Center, where I traveled to China's highest observatory deck, at 474 meters in the sky (the top observation deck in the building)! Unfortunately, it started to pour immediately as soon as I got up there, so I didn't get very good day shots, but I managed to get some great sunset and nighttime photos. I tried to plan my timing better this time (versus the Oriental Pearl Tower) so that I wouldn't have to spend so much time waiting for nightfall, but despite arriving later on in the afternoon, the lines weren't as long as I expected so I ended up waiting for about an hour this time for night to come. The view is quite different compared to the view from the Oriental Pearl Tower (obviously due to the height differences and the fact that you can only see out of 2 sides of the building). Just a tip, if you ever head there yourself, buy the ticket that let's you get to the top observation deck (100th floor), because the cheaper tickets (which only allow access to the 2 lower observation floors) are barely observation decks...the views aren't too great from the 94th and 97th floor.
Today, I visited Yu Garden and the surrounding marketplace. Nice place, got some nice scenery photos, but with no guide, it's not that interesting since you don't know what you're really looking at (and basically it all starts to look the same after the first minute). It's supposed to be a famous garden in Shanghai because it is one of a few (or the only one, I don't remember) that was built in the old style similar to those found in Beijing, since the majority of gardens built in Shanghai were of a different style. Lots of cheap food and tourist products in the marketplace. The buildings retain the ancient Chinese styles. Obviously lots of tourists. I wasn't too surprised to find 2 different Starbucks there, only a short distance apart...is it sad to consider that the norm now (haha)?
I'll probably make one more post before I leave if I have the time. The weather continues to mess with me, it'll be sunny (and humid) for half the day, then pouring during the other half. With my luck, it'll probably be great weather when I leave hahaha.
UPDATE:
A few of the photos I took of pieces I found interesting at the Shanghai Museum (there weren't that many haha). The amount of detail that went into the copper pieces (shown in the first 4 pics) is incredible. I especially like the way the 5th pic turned out, I feel more spiritual just looking at it hahaha.
Some of the pillows they used back then...boy did they get it wrong hahaha (they were all hard surfaces!). The first one is especially strange: it's hard to tell in the picture, but the horns of the three bulls in the middle of the "pillow" actually stick out...would that not have hurt the neck?
I had to zoom up on the jade piece to capture the detail. Because of the low light in the museum, I had to shoot at the widest aperture and a very slow speed, and since that's gibberish to most people, basically I couldn't capture sharp detail throughout the whole photo. But the block was at most 2 in. by 1 in. by 1 in. So you can imagine just how tiny those Chinese characters are! There was also a very detailed drawing on the other side, it didn't come out too well in the photo.
The jade pieces were arranged to be a mask. Looked pretty cool to me haha.
Another tiny jade piece. If you think about the amount of work that it took to put in that much detail on such a small scale, I'm sure you'd be as amazed as most of the museum's visitors.
Outside and inside the Shanghai Museum.
On my way to the Shanghai World Financial Center. Saying it's tall would be like saying sugar is sweet haha - it's quite obvious.
The view from the 97th floor. Like I said, it was just my luck that when I went up, it started to rain.
As you can tell, the photo shooting conditions were initially quite poor from the 100th floor.
The rain started to die off, but still quite cloudy and grey.
The Oriental Pearl Tower is so small!
On the 100th floor. I had to find ways to pass the time instead of just standing there this time haha.
The sunset from 474 m above the ground.
I thought the sunset pictures turned out pretty well. Were they worth the wait though?
The view of Shanghai at night from 474 m in the sky.
On my way back to the subway. I thought the angle I got in the 2nd photo made the building look pretty cool.
On the way to Yu Garden.
In the marketplace area leading to Yu Garden...and yet another Starbucks haha.
Inside Yu Garden. Lots of scenic shots. There were a lot of small rock tunnels. The first photo is of one of the statues that graced the roof of one of the buildings in the garden - I just wanted to capture the detail.
Back in the marketplace outside Yu Garden. Obviously lots of people. The first photo is of the line-up just to get dumplings (the shop there is famous of its dumplings).
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