Shanghai luxury

  Shanghai, Shanghai, China
Monday, August 4, 2008

Our luxurious bedroom...

Thursday 31st July

Alison: We touched down safely in China and once again found our way through the beautifully designed new Shanghai airport, happily getting through immigration with our Chinese visas now and the kids pressing the biggest smiley face on the row of buttons asking us how much we approved of the officer's work! You really couldn't get a stronger contrast to Russia! Anyway, eventually we got our luggage and headed out for a taxi to take us the roughly one hour drive into Shanghai.

...and bathroom...

Michael had decided to splurge on a really nice hotel as they were relatively cheap being in China, so he had booked us into the St Regis and when we arrived there we were most impressed. The kids were presented with cute panda bears each and we took the lift to the 38th floor to be gobsmacked by our stunning accommodation. Unbeknownst to me he had booked the best room: the Mandarin Suite of 90 square metres with butler service!

...and lounge with Mike at computer

The kids were ecstatic and we took lots of photos before we messed it all up. Still, with 2 bathrooms, one with a TV screen by the bath, a separate bedroom for us, dressing room and enormous lounge room where the kids slept, it was easier to actually keep this in some degree of order.

Tom enjoying dinner at the hotel!

We couldn't be bothered going out, so we went to the Chinese Restaurant on the 3rd floor and had a very nice meal there, which was relatively cheap considering we were in a 5 star hotel, before heading off to our luxurious bed for a good night's sleep.
 

Kids enjoying room service breakfast

Friday August 1st

We had a lovely sleep in and then the kids excitedly ordered a room service breakfast with the butler bringing in the table with its white cloth and silverware much to their delight. After that we prepared ourselves to head out and start exploring Shanghai - an enormous city of modern skyscrapers mixed with a few remaining old sections. 

Mike & Rachel

It was hot as hell, so we didn't want to spend too much time in the sun, but we headed to the old part of the city where they had a traditional Chinese bazaar next to the ancient Yu Gardens.

Watching the dumplings being made

This area is famous for its dumplings restaurants, so we went to one and had a very yummy lunch, before wandering through the lovely gardens and then bargaining for DS and Wii games, Michael loving getting ridiculously cheap pirate copies of all sorts.

Aren't they great dragons on the roof?

Mike & Tom on the tuk tuk in front of us

We then hailed some tuk-tuks who took us through the crazy Shanghai traffic to a famous shopping centre - half of Shanghai's attractions seem to revolve around shopping! We had a drink in a bar there and then headed back to the hotel, where the kids had a swim in the pool and did some exercise in the gym - they love using all the equipment! 

Chopping off the champagne cork

They had free drinks and nibbles for those of us in the executive suites from 6.00 so we headed up to the Club Lounge on the top floor (only 2 above ours mind you) and enjoyed looking at the sunset, before we went down to the lobby where the chef did his weekly tradition of cutting off the end of a champagne bottle with a sword to mark the new weekend - quite fun to watch and we shared in some of the yummy bubbles afterwards! The head chef was actually Australian and we had a nice chat to him afterwards. He and his family have been working in various Starwood Hotels around the world and it was his final night in this one as they were heading off for him to start in another one in China.

View in other direction

Finally we went back to the swish Italian restaurant on the 39th floor and had a very nice meal there before heading off to bed.
 
Saturday August 2nd

Art and Craft Museum in French Concession

In the morning Mike went to a travel agency across the road and organized our plane tickets for the rest of our travels around China. Then we headed into the old French Concession area of Shanghai, where we had a really yummy Chinese meal at an up-market restaurant - still very cheap, considering we were not stinting ourselves. We then wandered through the streets, past the old colonial architecture, eventually finding the Art and Craft Museum where we saw artists of various traditional Chinese skills do their stuff and we bought a few little souvenirs.

Admiring the little figures being made

Tom & Mike playing tennis

After a bit more walking around we caught a taxi home and then Tom & Mike had a game of tennis on the 7th floor - outside and still incredibly hot even in the late afternoon! Rachel preferred being ball girl so she ran around a lot too. I very sensibly stayed in the cool of the room! Then we caught a taxi to the famous Bund area of Shanghai on the water and took a huge Dragon boat cruise up and down the river for an hour or so looking at the spectacular view of the beautiful buildings all lit up and chatting to lots of other passengers, mostly from China, but other countries as well.

View of Shanghai lights from cruise

Mike and Tom had brought a tennis ball so they quickly gathered a group of kids around them as they kicked it around - sport really breaks all language barriers!

Kids playing with tennis ball on cruise

When we got off the boat to walk up the Bund the crowds were incredible! I know it was a Saturday night, but it was extraordinary how many people we were surrounded by, mostly all pushing in the same direction. We turned up a side street as soon as we could to find a restaurant and ducked into the first one we found to escape the crowds. This was very nice, but the staff had very limited English, so it was a bit entertaining trying to order anything, but we managed in the end and it was great. Finally we caught a taxi home to the haven of serenity and space of our room and went to bed. I really don't think I could cope with living in Shanghai and the limited personal space you have on the street - I found it quite claustrophobic at times being pressed in by so many bodies!
 

Catching the magnetic train

Sunday August 4th

We had a lovely sleep in and the kids got their room service breakfast and then I packed the bags ready for moving on once more. We decided to take the Magnetic train to the airport so we caught a taxi to where it started, only about 10 minutes from our hotel.

Watching the speed go up and up!

This is the world's fastest train and it was quite extraordinary to watch the speed go up and up on the panel during the incredibly smooth ride. It was just the fact that we were cruising so quickly past the cars racing at 110+ km/h down the freeway that confirmed we really were travelling that fast! It reached its peak at 431 km/h but could only stay there for a few minutes or so because then we were arriving at the airport - it really deserves a longer distance, but it was great to go on.

Reaching peak speed of 431 km/h

We got a quick lunch at the airport, and then having gulped it down, sat for ages at the gate as the plane to Chungqing was delayed. Once we were in the plane, it was delayed even further. When they started serving our meal and the plane hadn't even taxied near the runway we began to get worried, as although we thought we had tons of time before our Three Gorges Cruise left at 9.00 pm, we were beginning to run out!