Tell me about it :) Either that or he's pulling our leg and we'll see him on the flight :)

Paging foady....any luck with the award desk?

not everyone can go to pvg, you know.

Ok... haven't called the award desk yet. But, I've been thinking about the whole ORD-LAX-SYD-PVG-SYD-MEL-SYD-CNS-SYD-SFO-ORD or ORD-PVG-ORD-LAX-SYD-MEL-SYD-CNS-SYD-SFO-ORD trip and oh boy... not sure I can make it through all that.

Let me ponder that some more.

just pack your swimsuit this time.. it's cold

I packed my swimsuit last time.. and the rest, well never mind.

OK, just looked at my overall Feb travel plans, and PVG is not gonna happen for me. :( I'll just have to live vicariously through you all. :p

I can vouch for that...Foady was wearing his swimsuit in the pool on Sunday night :D

Graeme,

Activities on Saturday and question on brunch
I checked your webpage, and see that our festivities start midday on Saturday. I think that Saturday morning I will go to Shanghai Bowuguan, "frequently cited as the best museum in China". It is on the south side of People's Square. I'll be staying at the JW Marriott, so I believe it is walking distance. I can easily do this alone and meet up with everyone for brunch - or if anyone is interested in joining me, just let me know. We could set a meeting time at the entrance.

Or, I could be talked into walking thru Yu Garden "one of China's loveliest private classical gardens" on Saturday morning. It sounds convenient to the Bund, where I believe we are all meeting for lunch.

What time have you booked brunch on Saturday?

Questions on Sunday and time of brunch?
Do you have a sense of Sunday's schedule, including when you and Sean will have to cut out to make your flights to Hong Kong? What time are you thinking of for brunch?

I'm interested in the Huangpu River Cruise, and am wondering if it will fit either Sunday morning or afternoon. It's a 3 1/2 hour boat ride down to the Yangzi River delta. There is a morning cruise from 9 to 12:30 and an afternoon cruise from 2 to 5:30. It was a kick when we did it 15 years ago. We were on a quaint old boat with our own little stateroom and balcony.

Could this be done Sunday morning? Is anyone interested besides me?

be sure to go to the urban planning exhibition as well. while much smaller and less impressive, it provides lots of interesting info about shanghai (past, present, and future).

i'm also a big fan of the aquarium (last time i was there, there was an entire exhibit featuring fish that look like different types of animals, including dogs, cows, goats, horses, and dragons), but it's in lujiazui.

It's good to know you like this. GK has this on the schedule after our Saturday afternoon walking tour.

my thoughts on brunch
 

at this point in time, my attendence looks doubtful, but i'd still like to voice my opinion on brunch options because brunching is one of my favorite hobbies (aside from travel) and i have, consequently, been to over 30 different brunch spots in sh.

on the website, i noticed the saturday choices are m on the bund and new heights. while i put my stamp of approval on the former, i feel obliged to express reservations about new heights. simply put, the food is wierd and the service almost non-existant. if you don't care about the view, you might consider la seign (sp?) or da marco.

sunday is a different game altogether, because that's when the hotels break out their best spreads. choices include: portman, westin, 4 seasons, st. regis, radisson, marriott, hyatt, shangri-la, and hilton. prices range between y200 and y400 per person and about half of the brunches include free-flowing champagne (moet or cliquot).

my personal favorite is the portman (y400), but the 4 seasons is also nice (around Y300). the pudong shangri-la can be great when there's a visiting chef, but no champagne. the same goes for the hyatt.

imo the st regis provides the best ambience of the places listed. however, i'm not all that into the food (set menu, not buffet) and getting there is a bit of a treck.

We are booked for brunch at M on the Bund on Saturday at midday, I'll update the website soon, just got a lot to do this afternoon before I travel back to Middle East for another fun filled week of work. The price is RMB218 + 10% for three courses, with welcome cocktail and unlimited tea or coffee. I'll post the menu options on site within a week.

Realistically, I don't expect Sean or I to do anything on Sat morning before brunch, as I will have just got back from 2 weeks in Europe, and we are planning to make a late appearance at Grand Hyatt on Fri night for drinks !

Sean and I leave on an 8pm flight on Sunday, so we will be heading to airport around 5 on Sunday. I'm interested in the morning boat cruise, but will have to check with Sean. I assume we can get tickets on Saturday from the booths on the Bund after brunch?

I am keen to leave Sunday rather free form, as everyone will have different things they want to do either individually, or in smaller groups. Thus suggest we all meet up around 3pm for a tea/coffee/drinks in Xintiandi area and swap adventure stories for a few hours before we head on our various ways.

fwiw, you can almost surely negotiate that price down a bit (get the 10% slashed, at a minimum), given the size of the group.

Sadly, none of the Starwood hotels in Shanghai are participating in Cash and Points during this offer period (through end of March). But I think a little birdie said that the Starwood hotels can be booked less expensively on the Starwood China website (which I believe is www.starwood.cn). Can anyone help me (and others) book on this site, or at least, get some rate quotes from it? (In the meantime, I have a backup reservation at the Shanghai Hilton for $134/night + tax. If I add a second person to that res, however, the price goes up by $20 per night + tax.)

Count me in for the cruise, that sounds good if its not freezing. I'm wondering if it'll be a little warmer on the second cruise than the first, of course that means an early brunch or a skip for that totally depending on the previous evenings activities. :)

I'll pass on the garden and museum at this point, but need to (finally) get to the Shanghai part of my book and figure out what else I want to do while in the area.

Count me in for the cruise too, please! It sounds wonderful.

Oh, and KathyWdrf, I am at the Hilton on Sat & Sun night.
It's good to know someone else is staying there too.