High in Shanghai

Last night, I found myself in the highest bar in the world on Ladies Night on stage singing "My girl" to my wife on her birthday under the charismatic direction of jazz singer and performer Carlton J. Smith. I can assure you that this was not planned but was linked to dining at the highest restaurant in the world at the Shanghai Park Hyatt which is the top section of Shanghai's skyscraper of all skyscrapers, the 'Bottle Opener'. This phenomenal feat of engineering, architecture and interior design dominates the Shanghai skyline and gives you an aircraft view of the city looking down on such skyscrapers as the Mirae Asset Tower where I had earlier enjoyed a meeting on the very lowly 19th floor. On the 91st floor of the Bottle Opener, as I looked out on the cosmopolitan crowd of (mainly young ladies) in the Music Room bar I strangely wondered what Chairman Mao would have thought if he were to have surveyed the glitzy, champagne scene, at the heart of Shanghai's financial and world trade district, with citizens and foreigners prospering from relatively free market trading in his People's Republic of China. The scene would have been made complete by Shanghai Expo's Haibao, the blue being created as the icon for the Shanghai Expo 2010 and the cause of major city redevelopment and extension right now. Haiboa is, unfortunately, subject to some ridicule but nevertheless is, as you can see here, ready to join in the Christmas festive spirit.