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Trip Start Nov 20, 2009 Previous
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  Shanghai, China
Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Our SQ flight from Singapore to Shanghai was nice, but didn't convince me to rank it as the "airline above all others."  The meal was lovely and took up the vast majority of the time on the 5 hour flight.  We had used the Book the Cook service where you call ahead in the weeks before the flight and order a special meal, not on that flight's standard menu.  I had Singaporean Chicken Rice and T had Nasi Lemak (I think -- I can't remember what we ordered 2 weeks ago!).  The entertainment system was on-demand, and I watched pieces of 3 movies.  But... T and I were wondering why we don't really see SQ as a cut above, and we think it's because as obstinately self-sufficient people, a better soft product - that is, the service - just doesn't make so much of an impact on us.  In fact, we find it annoying to have everything done FOR us.  I personally value a hard product (the seat quality, the entertainment, the food) much higher than the nebulous service, and therefore, United competes just fine, in my world.

MagLev Train

We cleared Shanghai immigration with no issue, which we were only slightly nervous about.  We had discovered that if you are transiting Shanghai (not China in general, just Shanghai) for less than 48 hours, you don't need a visa.  This sounds great in theory, but it's still a little nerve wracking to stand in line to get into the country with no visa in practice.  But it went well, and we jumped on the MagLev train into the city. I love trains, and I love science, and the Mag Lev is, like, the most scientifically awesome train in the world, so it was a no brainer to choose transport into the city.  For a mere 40 Yuan (~$5) you too can hover above the tracks by the repulsive forces of electromagnetism and glide frictionlessly across town at 431 km/h (~260 mph).

We checked into our hotel (we'll come back to that), and headed out for dinner.  I wanted to try a restaurant, and had found an excellent candidate in our price range in the LP.  It was on the 10th floor of a mall (yes, the mall was all 10 floors... plus 2 basement floors).  The menu had such exotic selections as duck's chin, chicken feet, and other delicacies.  We stuck to szechuan pork and a crispy roasted duck, along with steamed rice, one white and one black, perhaps sweetened with molasses or something.

Then, I attempted to order drinks, which is where the adventure starts

Top speed achieved

.  We glanced over the beverage menu, and it looked like the only water they had was Evian at about $6 a bottle.  This seemed silly.  I decided tea must be much cheaper, since it's you know, China, and shouldn't tea be ubiquitous?  The tea menu was separate on the table and written only in Chinese with no English subtitles.  Prices ranged from 48 Yuan (about $7.50) to 250 Yuan (about $35).  I assured myself that certainly this could not be Yuan, because who in their right mind would order a $35 pot of tea?  It must be in "cents" of some kind.  The waiter suggested oolong, which he indicated was 188 of whatever, and that was about the middle of the road, so i agreed.  And when the bill came, indeed, the pot of tea cost 188 Yuan!!  About $25 for a pot of tea!!!  The pot of tea cost more than all the rest of our dinner put together!  I was slightly mortified at my mistake, which can't really be called a mistake, because I was the one who talked myself into believing something different than the reality that was plainly before me.  Ah well, we all have our moments, and we chalk them up to lessons learned.

The bright side of all this was that we could go back to our hotel -- The Park Hyatt World Financial Center.  The hotel occupies the 80th to 93rd floors of the tallest building in Shanghai, and at the time it was designed (it was eclipsed before it was finished), the world.  There are not enough superlative words to describe to you how exquisitely relaxing and indulgent staying at this hotel was

Cheap dinner; Expensive tea

.  The room was a suite with a king size bed and a chaise next to the window overlooking the rest of Pudong, the river, and the Bund historical area with mechanical shades that you operated from the control panel next to the bed.  The front desk worked escorted us to our room and gave us an orientation and pointed out the view: "That's the Jin Mao Tower.  <giggle>  Well... that's the *roof* of the Jin Mao Tower."  The bathroom had a double vanity with flat panel TV in the mirror, an oversized bathtub with complimentary bath salts, and a "rain" showerhead mounted to the ceiling.  The toilet was the heated seat, fully automatic kind, "in the Japanese style," said our hostess.  We luxuriated in the glassy infinity pool and accompanying hot tub, whiffing aromatherapy essential oils from the spa.  This morning we had a workout on the 87th floor, looking down on the city and the smog.

Possibly the best part of this whole hotel stay?  It was free. :o)  Hyatt is running a promotion whereby if you stay for 2 nights at any of their properties, you get a night free at any of their properties.  So a couple months ago we spent a weekend at a Hyatt Place for $65 a night, and we redeemed our free night at Park Hyatt Shanghai, which goes for about $300 a night.  "But isn't that $130," you say, "and not free?"  Well yes, but Hyatt ran a simultaneous promotion granting a bunch of bonus United frequent flier miles, the sheer number of which were worth at least that much to us.  So, free night at one of the most luxurious hotels in Shanghai -- not too shabby.

As far as China itself, I have not enjoyed it too much.  One hates to judge the whole of a city and certainly the whole of a country by just one day in one place (I would, after all, be much offended if a foreigner went to New York and made judgements about all Americans based on that experience), but I found the Chinese we've encountered in this short time to be cold, pushy, and sometimes just plain rude.  It's not a very welcoming place to be, which is so different than every other place we've been, even Seoul.

On to Japan!

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World Financial Center	View from our room on the 81st floor	Rain shower	Hot tub and Infinity pool
Jin Mao Tower and morning smog	PVG international departures

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