Shanghai, China
I’m tired. I played way too much Tetris on the 13 hour flight. I fell asleep shortly after take off and slept for the first five hours. When I woke up I went to the restroom, changed into more comfortable sleep clothes and then stopped by the galley to ask for a drink. When the flight attendant saw me she said, “Where did you come from?” She was thoroughly confused since I had been completely hidden and asleep in my cubby for the first five hours of the flight.
The flight attendant was nice enough to still serve me the meal I ordered prior to takeoff. It wasn’t bad for having been in the oven for many hours. I watched a movie while eating. At the end of the movie I decided to play a little Tetris. This was a terrible idea. Four hours later I was still playing Tetris. With an hour and a half left in the flight I decided to go back to sleep. I awoke just slightly before landing.
Arrival in Shanghai was simple. The customs line was short. The customs lady wasn’t particularly friendly but that’s not surprising because they never are anywhere in the world, except for maybe in the US where 75% of the time they say “welcome home”. Upon moving to the baggage claim area I was quickly reminded that I was in Asia. The first sign was the invasion on my personal space. I had left about three feet in front of myself and the baggage carousel so that others could see their bags. A lady managed to not only get herself in front of me but her luggage cart as well. The second sign was a very nicely dressed young woman, probably in her mid twenties carrying a stuffed animal. She wasn’t a mother. It was very clearly HER stuffed animal. The third sign was having “Hey lady, you want car?” asked of me a thousand times while exiting the baggage area. The fourth and final sign, for now, was the overwhelming smell of smoke when stepping outside. I don’t think the Chinese government has let its citizens know that smoking is bad for them yet.
My cousin Eric, who I will be visiting while here in Shanghai had advised me that the best way to get downtown to my hotel was to just take a metered cab. He noted that the cab drivers typically speak no English and that it would be helpful for me to have the name of the hotel in Chinese handy to give the driver. Fortunately Eric had given me something with this on it when I saw him in San Diego a few weeks ago. The driver spoke no English, so this piece of paper was a life saver. One part of the cab ride was particularly entertaining. There were ads playing on a little digital screen on the headrest of the front passenger seat. More than half the time I had no idea what was being advertised. One ad by Kohler had me thinking that a woman was going to sleep with a piece of household electrical equipment but I have no idea what the equipment was. It literally could have been a coffee maker or a small dishwasher. After 30 minutes or so I arrived downtown at Le Royal Méridien Shanghai.
Le Royal Méridien Shanghai is a very nice hotel, especially when you consider that I’m paying the GE rate. I think it’s very fair to say this is the nicest hotel I’ve ever stayed in for $110 a night. My favorite part of the room is the secret ninja hiding places. At least that’s what I think they are. There is one door in particular that has no purpose. It can be seen in the picture below. I also enjoy the gas mask in my closet. It’s fitting that I have this in a hotel room for the first time when I’m not traveling with Dr. P.
After acquainting myself with my hotel room, taking a shower and eating a snack I decided to go walk around a bit. I made it all the way down to the Bund which is always an amazing scene at night. One of my favorite parts of my walk was seeing or rather hearing a little people mover bus that went by. The first song it played was Jingle Bells. The second was Mary Had A Little Lamb and the third was I’m A Little Tea Pot. All renditions were sung by what sounded like a seven year old girl.
I’m now back at the hotel and it is pushing 11PM, so I’m going to call it a night.
Until tomorrow,
Katy
No comments:
Post a Comment