In the Pearl Tower…
After making it to the first viewing section, I started to feel nauseous. At the top section, which I had waited an hour and a half to see--and way too much money, all I could think of was ‘how fast can I get out of here!’ That’s when I noticed the line circling around the elevator making it another 30-45 minutes of torture to get down from each level.
And that’s when I started making throwing up motions to the security guards.
They very quickly and graciously moved me to the front of the line. Truly, I could not have waited anymore in that line without losing my cookies. Once I lose my cookies I keep losing them until they are all gone.
After all that anticipation, how strange to be finished with the Tower and so grateful to be away it. Only beautiful from afar. The Pearl TV Tower will always be a bittersweet memory for me. ‘Look but do not touch’.
God is so gracious. He is a God of second chances and make-up fors and comforting back-pats. Left desolate and still slightly nauseous with my flight from The Pearl, I went in search of the metro to go home and admit defeat.
I started down a construction alley that looked familiar. I asked if it went to the metro and people said 'no'. I started to go back the other way, when a familiar feeling hit me. ‘You enjoy this'. (I was walking between tall buildings looking at the city lights.) 'You’re feeling okay now. Just keep on walking.’
I walked a little further. I thought it might be The Peace. It seemed to hang around. I waited for the thunderclap to sound. No thunder. Hmm. I kept walking. Then I finished a subway sandwich I bought on the road (thank goodness for Subway). I had a feeling I was walking in the direction of the Jin Mao Tower. It was the tallest tower in Shanghai. You could see the whole city from there.
Someone had recommended a ‘Cloud 9’ bar on the top. where I could sit and have a drink. It had a great view of the city from there that was the same price as a trip to their observation deck. I decided to try for it.
Three elevator rides--quick ones--and many concierge smiles later, I was sitting in the most relaxing, dimly lit, view-entrancing restaurant I have ever seen. After so much stress, it was a warm blanket wrapped around my still-frazzled nerves.
Calming travel fears and nursing back confidence in The Peace, I ordered a cup of Earl Grey tea and some frozen yogurt. I was contented as a little girl in bed with the night-light on. In that dark, vast, upstairs cave of a bar with the view of the lit-up city all around me, I could have been Wendy in Peter Pan—out for a lark, soaring through the night sky.
I was also in the stream. I wanted to follow The Peace more completely so I decided to see if I could get out of my ‘unpeaceful’ hostel decision. Unbelievably, I came back to a hostel that had ‘no room at the inn’. A taxi ride later, and three wonderfully helpful Chinese boys were rolling my bag to the door of a beautiful French Quarter style building.
When we arrived, I came into that feeling that you love to have when you travel to a new place and don't know what you'll run into next. When the Peace meets you there and you know you’re home. You're on-track and you're okay. It was there and it’s still here and…
...now it’s calling me to sleep. :] To forget about the awful Pearl and sink into the memory of sitting in the stars.
Good-night.
After making it to the first viewing section, I started to feel nauseous. At the top section, which I had waited an hour and a half to see--and way too much money, all I could think of was ‘how fast can I get out of here!’ That’s when I noticed the line circling around the elevator making it another 30-45 minutes of torture to get down from each level.
And that’s when I started making throwing up motions to the security guards.
They very quickly and graciously moved me to the front of the line. Truly, I could not have waited anymore in that line without losing my cookies. Once I lose my cookies I keep losing them until they are all gone.
After all that anticipation, how strange to be finished with the Tower and so grateful to be away it. Only beautiful from afar. The Pearl TV Tower will always be a bittersweet memory for me. ‘Look but do not touch’.
God is so gracious. He is a God of second chances and make-up fors and comforting back-pats. Left desolate and still slightly nauseous with my flight from The Pearl, I went in search of the metro to go home and admit defeat.
I started down a construction alley that looked familiar. I asked if it went to the metro and people said 'no'. I started to go back the other way, when a familiar feeling hit me. ‘You enjoy this'. (I was walking between tall buildings looking at the city lights.) 'You’re feeling okay now. Just keep on walking.’
I walked a little further. I thought it might be The Peace. It seemed to hang around. I waited for the thunderclap to sound. No thunder. Hmm. I kept walking. Then I finished a subway sandwich I bought on the road (thank goodness for Subway). I had a feeling I was walking in the direction of the Jin Mao Tower. It was the tallest tower in Shanghai. You could see the whole city from there.
Someone had recommended a ‘Cloud 9’ bar on the top. where I could sit and have a drink. It had a great view of the city from there that was the same price as a trip to their observation deck. I decided to try for it.
Three elevator rides--quick ones--and many concierge smiles later, I was sitting in the most relaxing, dimly lit, view-entrancing restaurant I have ever seen. After so much stress, it was a warm blanket wrapped around my still-frazzled nerves.
Calming travel fears and nursing back confidence in The Peace, I ordered a cup of Earl Grey tea and some frozen yogurt. I was contented as a little girl in bed with the night-light on. In that dark, vast, upstairs cave of a bar with the view of the lit-up city all around me, I could have been Wendy in Peter Pan—out for a lark, soaring through the night sky.
I was also in the stream. I wanted to follow The Peace more completely so I decided to see if I could get out of my ‘unpeaceful’ hostel decision. Unbelievably, I came back to a hostel that had ‘no room at the inn’. A taxi ride later, and three wonderfully helpful Chinese boys were rolling my bag to the door of a beautiful French Quarter style building.
When we arrived, I came into that feeling that you love to have when you travel to a new place and don't know what you'll run into next. When the Peace meets you there and you know you’re home. You're on-track and you're okay. It was there and it’s still here and…
...now it’s calling me to sleep. :] To forget about the awful Pearl and sink into the memory of sitting in the stars.
Good-night.
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