Pearl Of The Orient

During a recent trip to China, I had a Saturday off, so I took a short day trip to Shanghai. I only had a couple hours, so I decided to visit the Pearl Tower.


At 350 M or roughly 1000 ft, you get an eagle eye view of Shanghai.


and it's eternal blanket of smog.


On one of the observation decks, they had a glass floor.

Ever since a trip to the Grand Canyon years ago, I've been developing a fear of heights, or fear of losing control of my legs and hurling myself over the edge. To this day, I can't go out on my 20th floor balcony - at least, not without holding onto the sliding glass door to keep myself from unconsciously leaping over the railing.

When I arrived on the "glass floor" level, I thought this would be an ideal time to confront my fear. But one look down, and I knew there was no chance. I was perfectly content with my acrophobia.

That was until an old Chinese man noticed my trepidation, grabbed my hand, and dragged me out to the ledge. So, here I am white-knuckling the hand rail.

and here's a picture of the ground, as I made my way back to the solid portion of the tower while keeping my toes safely on one of the few support beams and my fear of heights firmly ingrained.

For the record, here is a 360 degree view of Shanghai.

I think this is Southeast

South

West

Northwest

North

Northeast