So, finally made it inside the observatory. A ticket to all three observation floors (97, 99 and 100th floors I think) is 150RMB - £15. Could have gone just to the 97th for £8 - but if you're gonna do something; you gotta do it right. (or something like that.) We were warned that because of the fog, you may not be able to see much, yadda yadda, blah blah.
Inside was so, so, so surreal. The decor was super high tech and "glowy." There were so many staff, and we were the only visitors. Corridoors lined with immaculately dressed men and women in their purple / lilac uniforms. This in itself was an awesome experience.
One of the greatest parts of the evening, and a part I wasn't allowed to take pictures of was the pre-show presentation. It's kind of hard to explain. But:
There was a ~1.6meter model of the tower (300:1 scale!!) with lots of lights on it. The model basically lit up and looked all very pretty at first. Very good. But then the model started revolving. It got faster, and faster, and faster. Through the use of strobe lighting, they could flash the lights above the building on when the building was facing exactly the same direction on every revolution, giving the illussion the building wasn't spinning. Simeltaneously, they could use the lights mounted to the model to make some really awesome effects, as if the building had lights flying around it. Its all very hard to explain, but very, very rad to watch.
Googling it I found one image of someone who was obviously feeling covert with their phone camera. As you can see, a stationary model and red lights flying around it. It was mesmorising! Very geeky! :D Me and Tim were in awe, Aya was boreeeeeeed. :P
Then up in the very awesome elevator. It went all the way from the ground floor to the 97th. ~420meters. ZOMG my ears were popping like crazy. The speed of the lift was nuts too! We did the 400meter climb in around 30 seconds. So that would be... 13 meters per second / 30mph!
^ At the top it was foggggggy, and very surreal. Looking down on the city as if it were a model village.
^ In this shot you can see the "gap" between the top and bottom floors of the observation section. The opening that creates the bottle-opener effect.
^ Looking through the glass floor onto the streets below.
^ Me being taller than the world's tallest hotel and the TV tower.
^ Me being 474meters tall. :-P
^ Aya being aya.
^ Reflection in the chrome walls. Woop!
^ Tim and Yaya. I really like the lighting of this one. Lit from underneath....so it should look pretty evil... but its quite warm and fuzzy. :)
^ All three of us reflected in the chrome. Its all about throwing the peace sign. :D
^ The abandoned observation deck.
^ On the way down from the 99th to the 97th floor.
^ Pretty wierd seeing a sign for the 100th floor!
^ Floor 94. I like their minimalist deco.
^ The elevator measured in meters as appose to floors. Again, going down there was serious ear popping!
^ Inside of the elevators changed colour. So awesome.
^ Nice funky yellows.
^ A pretty odd selection of floor numbers. Afterwards, Aya pointed out the irony of the braile. Would a blind person really be going to an observation deck...?
^ More funky purple interiors.
^ The lobby of thw main SWFC. The place stunk of money.
^ More lobby shots.
^ Tim posing on the escalator.
^ The hand dryer in the toilets! Very rapid hand-drying action.
^ Electric toilet seats! Heated seats, with numerous washing options! Tim informs me it was quite the pleasure.
All in all the SWFC was awesome, and well worth the £15, despite the fog!
Next post will be the walk home from the SWFC.
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