The Shanghai Hilton
The joy of hand luggage only strikes again as I breeze through PVG airport and straight into the waiting hotel car (mind you it is only a Toyota this time rather than the Lexus I had last time) and am pretty much in the hotel within an hour of landing.
At the Hilton I am met at the door and escorted to the Exec Lounge check in which is actually in the lobby as the Exec floor is being refurbished. I am welcomed by the Manager and there is a lot of fuss about how I am on the 8th floor away from the renovation noise. I keep mentioning the great room I had last time that had been refurbished but they just nod and smile without commenting on that. I realise why when I get to the dingy small dismal unrefurbished room that has been allocated to me. Quite frankly after the flight and the thought of being in Shanghai by myself for a week in this room I am not feeling overly generous when I get back to the lobby to find out what they can do to improve this.
I am told they can not do anything tonight but will move me the next day. It is ok – just not a particularly good way to start my PVG visit. After a sandwich in the hotel my day is made worse by a shocking cab ride to the office which I survive twice as I realise I have left my Chinese cash in the hotel! Mind you although I have to drive twice to the office the cab ride is still only A$9!!!
My evening is pretty quiet as I am quite tired but I have a horrendous night’s sleep – maybe one or two too many glasses of red from the complementary bottle of wine… I did make it to the Exec Lounge bar which takes over the rooftop bar from 6pm to 8pm which is ok. It is however lessened as a large Dutch man is lecturing the staff on how to pour some Vodka and lime drink in quite a demeaning way. It is also a little annoying (but obviously culturally acceptable) that they allow smoking in the lounge.
The next morning I am a little tired from the restless sleep but thankfully I have no problems with the cab this time. I have an excellent banquet style lunch with the Shanghai finance team – some not-Tofu which is surprisingly lovely.
When I get back to the hotel my new room is ok – not refurbished but very large and with some great views of Shanghai. The rooms have overall been a real downer here – hopefully they will be back up to standard when I come back in 2008.
Dinner is at the Bund that evening with the Finance Team. It is amusing that they take me to a western restaurant for dinner (I paid mind you) called Luna. I guess for the Chinese staff this quite an exotic venue
The next morning is a little less smooth as the cab gets lost on the way to the office and I then realise I have been mis-reading the map quite badly as well – altogether a lot more shaky.
I am finding PVG quiet difficult as a non-Chinese speaking single traveller. Coupled with the tiredness that is following this trip I have a quiet night in the hotel again – not the most fun way to spent a Friday night
Saturday morning is spent relaxing in the hotel as again I have a restless night. I spend a good while using Skype to speak to mrssimongr about the granite selection for our new kitchen – something I am actually a little sad to be missing. I am just about to set off for the Bund to actually do some sightseeing when the heavens open – I have a feeling that PVG really doesn’t like!
The rains do clear so it’s straight into a cab and down to the Bund. I finally feel like I am getting to experience something on an Asia trip for once. There have been just too many trips that have been spent transiting to other parts of Asia that I feel like I haven’t really visited Asia yet – and that was a driver for taking this job!
As I am al little later getting down to the Bund I just stroll and soak in the atmosphere and the buildings. There are some truly stunning late 19th Century colonial buildings along the river. I also have a chance to reflect on China as a concept (bear with me for a few minutes on this). We have known through school and the news that China is a big country with a big population but I don’t think I have really understood the meaning of that. I look around Shanghai – a city of 20 million people – that is as much as the whole population of Australia and this is just one city of many. The scale is unimaginable but here I am trying to imagine it. Even looking around this small speck of a part of a city there is a massive range of wealth, circumstances and structure. The lives of the ordinary people are just so different. Just watching the store and restaurant owners how they go about their lives is really as alien as you expect it to be. It is almost disconcerting to be here – I really realise how far outside of my traditional experience as I have ever been. The more I think about it (you have a lot of time to think about things when travelling alone – perhaps too much time given I am up to page 14 of notes on this trip report and am only up to flight three…) the more you think about the traditional way we view the world is going to be thrown off balance – western cultures are just overwhelmed by the volume of people in the second world. Who would have thought 40 years ago that the world would be seized not in battle but simply through weight of numbers?
I stroll back up the bund away from my reverie and actually hail a cab. Now this may not sound like a big deal but this is officially the first cab that I have hailed for myself in China! As I ride back to the hotel I am quite proud of myself. Although I have flown a lot I would not say that I have travelled a great deal – my experiences over the past year are very much hotels and cabs and offices rather than places (with the little exception of my four glorious trips to NYC). With the trip this afternoon I really feel like I have moved a little closer to actually experiencing China rather than just being there.
A quiet evening in again (I should really try and get out more to restaurants by myself next time) and a relatively early start. A smooth check out process is interrupted as I am called back by housekeeping to retrieve my phone and charger that I left in the room – good customer service there
The journey to the airport is much enhanced by the Audi A6 this time – overall a delightful experience. There is a lot of cloud/smog around so I am relieved that the airport is all clear when I get there.
At check in I am asked if I want to move to the earlier flight – which when they indicate is KA, I politely decline. I am allocated seat 1K which I find a little unusual given the regional configuration. After a rather slow exit immigration process I make my way down to the lounge level and try to get in the JL lounge that is closest to the gate only to be refused entry as I am not on CX metal – or so I am told! There doesn’t seem to be much point arguing this with the lounge staff and stroll up to the KA lounge – which is not great but has the distinction of being at the absolute other end of the airport.