SWFC Tower

On my first full day in China I took a cab with a co-worker to the SWFC Tower. It's the world's second tallest building, but unlike many skyscrapers it doesn't have a needle top so the actual observatory at 1,555 is the tallest by a few hundred feet.

After waiting in a long line outside, we were led to a small room in the building's dark bottom floor by uniformed ushers with a group of about 20. The ushers circled the group around a glass encased model of the tower which stood about 5 feet high. A few words were spoken in Mandarin, the ceiling lights dimmed and futuristic music began to play. The model then lit up and began spinning. As the pace of the music quicked, the spinning accelerated and LED colorful lights shined off the model building in patterns while holograms of black bats, pastel colored bees and Nemo-like fishes swirled around the display. After about 3 minutes of this, the music and spinning stopped and the lights brightened. The usher uttered a few words in Mandarin and then in English said: "This way to the observatory elevator."

When we go to the top a fairly thick fog and rain had settled in over the city, so it wasn't the best day for viewing. Still, what we could see was impressive. Endless seas of buildings and a bustling river all well below us. The nearby Pearl Tower and Jin Mau Building, also some of the world's tallest structures, seemed short. The observatory floor had rows of glass tiles in the center that you could step on and look directly down to the sidewalk and square a quarter mile below.