Hello Steemians!
Yesterday, my girlfriend and I took a trip to Guangzhou and while we were there we went to visit the famous Canton Tower. The tower was constructed in 2009 and completed in 2010 in time for the 2010 Asian Games and it briefly held the title for the tallest building in the world. It has since been surpassed in height by a few buildings including Shanghai Tower, making it the second tallest building in China and fourth tallest structure in the world. The tower has a slight hourglass shape and is wrapped in a lattice structure, the lattice is open at the bottom, tightens in the middle and opens again at the top to provide an increased strength to the overall structure. The total height of the tower is 595m with the tourist observation deck at the 488m mark, which is quite high but not as impressive as the viewing deck in Shanghai Tower. Another interesting fact about the tower is that despite it's height it only has 37 floors, there are several floors near the bottom of the lattice and then nothing until near the top. The tower is lit up every night with multiple colored LED arrays that are placed at every cross in the lattice and are constantly changing the color of the tower, it is quite beautiful to watch in action. Also, about 100m away is the Chigang Pagoda which was built in 1619 of red sandstone and styled after Ming Dynasty architecture, it was really beautiful to see as well.
Our Trip Up the Tower
My girlfriend is originally from Guangzhou but had never been to the top so I suggested we head up there on our visit and check it out. We bought our tickets online and there were a variety of options, we opted for the 2 observation decks and a trip around the top in the Sky Bubbles and the cost was 300RMB/pax. There are a few other options like a sky drop ride near the top and an even higher viewing platform but the cost was too high for us, even 300RMB to see the tower was almost twice the cost of visiting Shanghai Tower. Our tickets were valid from 5:30-7:30pm and we headed up right at 5:30. To get to the elevator we had to pass through an airport like security where they confiscated all liquids and lighters and made us pass through metal detectors. Once we were in we headed straight for the elevators and took the ride in a packed elevator to the top.
The View
The view from the two lower decks was actually pretty unimpressive, between the lattice of the building obstructing the view and the pollution in the city the visibility was pretty low. However, there is a very interesting museum at the top of the two floors that shows you how the vibration dampening on the building works and I thought it was fascinating even though my girlfriend did not. After that we headed up in the elevator to the Sky Bubbles and the open air observation deck.
Sky Bubbles!
The observation deck was pretty lame because the Sky Bubble track obstructs the entire view of the city so we quickly got in line to get on the ride. The Sky Bubbles are exactly like the sound, round lexan bubbles that move slowly on a track around the circumference of the building that give you a spectacular view of the city below, despite the pollution. We rode in a bubble with 2 other people and the whole ride took about 15 minutes, we got some great pictures and really enjoyed the view as darkness fell over the city. When we got off the ride we decided it was time to head back down to the ground and check out the lit up building at night. It was so beautiful from the park that straddles the tower. We walked up and down the paths and took pictures and just generally admired the pretty sight before getting on the subway to go for dinner.
The Colors of Canton Tower
I would definitely recommend a visit if you are ever in Guangzhou, even though the price is high it is worth a look but don't skip the Sky Bubbles or you might regret it, thanks for reading!
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