Jin Mao Tower

Friday my roommate and I went to the Jin Mao Tower. The tower is 88 stories tall and the fifth tallest building in China. You have to pay to go to the observation deck, but my roommate and I did not want to pay. Instead we walked around and found the entrance to the Park Hyatt Hotel. The lobby of the hotel is on the 54th floor (there is an elevator JUST for the hotel!) and is currently the highest hotel lobby in the world (soon to be passed by the Burj Al Dubai). We thought we might have needed a key to use the elevator, but we were able to get on and go straight to the 54th floor. Once we were there, the views were incredible. After we arrived in the lobby, we found another elevator that went to the 87th floor. The building is now the second tallest in Shanghai and taller than all the buildings in New York City.



Here is the Jin Mao Tower on the left and the Shanghai Financial Center on the right



Me on the 54th floor



The Oriental Pearl TV Tower which is shorter than the Jin Mao Tower



Here is the top down view from the 85th to the 56th floor



Here is the down top view from the 56th floor to the 85th floor

And some other ramblings...Everyone here smokes!! Even all the Americans here smoke. I talked to my co-workers about this and the reason most of the Chinese smoke is because they still think it is cool. However, I have no idea why there is such a high proportion of Americans who smoke here.

Another thing that a lot of Chinese men here do is grow they fingernails 1/2 inch to an inch long. Personally, I just think this is gross, but I was told it means (if you have the long nails) that you have a white collar job. Farmers and a lot of countryside folk have short nails because they use their hands all day. The long nail signifies a 'better' job with more income and less physical labor.

That's all for now!