I'm really enjoying your report, Bob! I do want to get to Xian and will make a note of your driver/guide's name. LOL about your being a celebrity! That happened a to me some in Hangzhou too. It was kind of fun! Hope you have a smooth journey to Shanghai. I'm looking forward to your reports from there!

Bob, you need to make money with those photo ops!!

I, too, am anxious to read about Shanghai as it is 'on my list' of places in the near future.

The sun is up in Bangkok! Looks like a lovely day here. Hope your weather isn't too nasty. I saw some big storm in the South China Sea swirling about on the weather report, but did not have the sound turned up!!

Following along from the Courtyard Gurgaon...

Heading for Bhutan tomorrow so following will be sporadic going forward...

We will get to Xian some day, I am sure. Thanks for you impressions.

craig--how is courtyard working for you??
have fun in B

Thursday--a travel day

Basically a travel day from Xian to Shanghai on China Eastern Air... Ken beat me to the seat today so I had even less room!

Driver picked us up at 10:30 for our 1PM flt. easy drive mid day to airport, maybe 45 min. We did love our stay at the sheraton north, but did also see the new Westin yesterday which has a wonderful central location next to a park and a large eating/shopping complex.

our flt was listed on our papers for term 2 but in fact was term 3, so we had to walk--not the end of the world. the 1 PM flt time i guess is only an estimate chinese style.. in fact we left 1 hour and 50 min. later. we sat on the plane for quite a while with no explanation. K did find a window seat and empty center seat in the row in front of us so pat and i shared 3 seats with ken.

Shanghai airport is huge but quite efficient. we were about 150th in the taxi line but it moved quickly. Highway into city was fabulous with limited traffic. Once we arrived at our Renaissance Hotel Yu Gardens we went right to the club to meet Peter and Linda (HItravellers)... we were late but they had had A drink while waiting for us... We had tons of laughs and several more drinks, plus a lite supper.

Our suite faces the river on the 11th floor. It is quite huge. We have club privileges as well. Renaissance was having a 50% off sale on suites so our rate is only about 1650 RMB...

taxi from airport was 171 RMB.

Peter has hired a vehicle for the 5 of us for tomorrow. We will check out a couple of water-towns.

time to turn in at 11PM

Hi Bob and Karen: anxious to hear more about Shanghai. So, Bob, please try to behave, so we can get a good long look at Shanghai!

Bob - reading along and laughing. Looking forward to hearing about the water towns and shanghai. We are now in nanjing, a remarkable city with tree lined streets, fabulous high end shopping (afraid no time for that) and crazy traffic. Yesterday our taxi came within inches of hitting a motorcycle. Off now for more exploring. See you all soon.

june, only once did that happen??

Friday Oct 29---Water town day

Another huge breakfast in the main restaurant---more choices than in the club. Met the F&B mgr in the elevator on the way to breakfast and he seated us so we got royal treatment.

Peter had pre-arranged with the hotel for a van for the day for us. As had been suggested he did some bargaining and the hotel arranged thru a travel agency (cheaper than hotel car---thanks Aline) for 8 hrs for 1300 RMB. FANTASTIC. We left the hotel at 9AM.

We drove on local streets for a couple of miles and then joined a super highway. Fantastic bldgs. on both sides of the road. Some very unusual architecture. The drive was just one hour to Zhujiajiao. The entrance fee was 60 RMB each. our driver parked directly opposite the entrance. A simple map comes with your entrance fee. We followed it about 1/2 way. There are many shops all along the main walks beside the canals. We visited a watercolor display which lead into a fantastic park like setting of water, trees, small bldgs., fauna and flora. it was very pleasant. The sun was out and i would guess it was 75-80 with moderate humidity and a slight breeze.

We continued our wandering and we passed more shops, food stalls, live crabs, hoofs, seafood, homemade candy and then canal side restaurants. We decided to eat at one place---the card is written in chinese. we sat just off the dock/deck area out of the sun and had a delicious meal: assorted fresh stir fried veggies, shredded pork with noodles in a delicious dark sauce, tiny fried whole shrimp (not great), roasted eggplant with garlic in a slightly sweet sauce. 235 RMB including 3 waters and 4 pepsi.

After lunch we continued our walk. We hire a covered boat for the "long tour" at 120 RMB. The boat was steered and powered by man power from a single large oar at the rear. Fantastic ride.

The ride back to the city took longer.

We went to the club for a drink and some goodies. The hostess made a res for us for 7 at an Italian restaurant near to People's Park.

Bob how is it that you manage to meet with all these hotel managers, be it the F&B and or the GM?

I take it that traffic was not an issue going to the water town? Looking forward to hearing more about it at the GTG in BKK.

pook, they see a fat man and are just drawn to him

after a club visit tonight and a few drinks we headed out for some Italian food---peter's hankering..

We had a 7PM res. it was a 10 min. cab ride--14 RBM.. Located in a very busy restaurant/bar/shop location VA BENE is charming and offers good, but expensive, Italian fare.. House 7, North Block, Xintiandl, lane 181, Talcang Rd--631-12211. 1332 RMB for 5 one course dinners and one drink and 3 expensive bottles of water, plus 2 desserts and one cappuccino. we would return there again for sure. The area was packed when we left at 9.

Back to the club for a nightcap.

With 3 "fastastic" in your message, I am so happy you enjoyed Zhujiajao.

HT: Impressed with your bargaining skills, was it a VW?

aline, the girls are all using your excellent suggestions... pearls tomorrow maybe... the fabric mart today--excellent. thanks. fodors bags are in a plastic bag read to go to GTG.

You must be turning Chinese as I can't make sense of <i>"fodors bags are in a plastic bag read to go to GTG."

Thanks for being the transcontinental messenger, Bob, and glad the ladies are having fun. They should not miss Dianzifang/Art Alley.

Hanuman: It's kinda of a suprise, you'll find out when Bob writes about the GTG on Monday evening.

Saturday Oct 27

met peter and linda in the club for breakfast... less variety but much more quiet, until we arrived.

we walked a few blocks from the hotel to Yu Yuan Gardens area. Lots of shops, some old structures and some recreation very decorative buildings with traditional chinese roofs and did I mention throngs of people.

We took the hop on hop off bus tour from there. First on an open topped bus, later changing to a regular bus and still later to a two decker enclosed bus. There are two companies providing this service, one costs 300 and includes a boat ride but we chose the 30 one which seemed perfectly adequate to us for an overview. I would rate the experience as a 6-7. The commentary was in clear english but lacked lots of detail. If I went again I would just observe the scene with no commentary, which is what P&L did--their 2nd time on this bus. Would the 300 trip be better???

We got off the bus in the same place we started---Yu Gardens.
We walked further into the area and selected a huge 3 floor restaurant experience. The restaurant was in the Song Yun Tower (not a tower). Each floor had different offerings for food. We chose a variety of dumplings, pat had a shrimp soup, and we had our first traditional XLB's--dumplings with a hot soup inside and a bit of pork. My rating a 5. I don't see what the hype is about.. I had the same feeling when I had them in NYC.

So, after lunch we walked around this busy area a bit more and then took 2 taxis (max 4 persons per taxi) to South Bund Fabric Market. This is a 3 story warehouse full of individual small shops selling every kind of cloth you can imagine, plus hundreds of tailor shops. Peter and I took to a bench while the ladies made a roaming tour of each floor. They returned to us with some small bags with silk & cotton in them for projects to be made in Bkk. K dragged me to shop #223 to see a vest she was contemplating having made. It is black silk inside and out, with very decorative pleats all over the back. On the front is a hand embroidered scene--she says perfect for "formal" night on our transatlantic cruise next Spring. only 400 RMB after a bit of bargaining. We bought it on Sat. afternoon and it will be ready custom fitted on Mon. AM.

Peter bought a nice leather belt in the same area. We bought a couple of silk table runners and P bought some silk scarfs. Lots of bargaining. ended up generally pay 40% of asking price on average.

From there we took taxis back to the hotel. Pick me up drinks and cookies in club and then some relaxation in our room. Met P&L in club about 5:30 when the booze comes out and we stayed there until about 10, laughing loudly, telling stories, talking about fodorites, eating a snack dinner and even having a drink or 2.

Fell into bed in our very comfortable suite (1640 RMB at a 50% off sale).

Plans were made for a day of shoe shopping (hostess in club told the girls where to go), pearl shopping and a boat ride on the river.

Shanghai is, as we expected, a fab city---not as good, for us, as BKK, but still a place we could easily return to.

Sunday---same as any other day in Shanghai

Breakfast downstairs again.

9:30 taxi to a "local" shopping venue that the lady in the club had suggested to K for shoes: Shanghai South Bund Soft-Spinning Material Market; 399 Lu Jia Bang Rd. A huge complex of 4 bldgs on two sides of the road. We chose one bldg. We entered the basement level and immediately found hundreds of stalls with shoes, boots, sneaks, purses, etc.

The girls each bought some shoes and K bought 3 pair and some fur lined UGGS ($40). After about 2 hours we left there and took taxis to the walking street, Najing St. We got off right in front of the Henderson Bldg, which is where a restaurant we wanted to try is located--Classic Shanghai Cuisines--6th floor. so we decided to have a chinese lunch as it was about noon. English and picture menu. Service was horrible but food was good. see pics.

After lunch we walked almost to the end of the road to Pearl City. We rode the escalator to the 2nd floor and went to Mary's Pearls, a small shop that P & L had visited earlier in the week. Well from now on K will be known as Barbara Bush. all the girls bought several things with Peter's and my help and wallets. I think this was another Aline suggestion. After another hour there we took taxis to the Bund to secure tickets for a 1 hour boat ride--100 each. It was still very fogy, but we could see the tall and unusual bldgs on both sides very clearly. It was fun.

Ok, I have to say that I was not all that excited by the Bund. I love the traditional bldgs of Europe far more.

Taxis back to the hotel by 5:30 in time for the bar to open in the club where we had drinks and enough grub to suffice
for dinner.

The riverside lights seen from our room tonight are vivid and animated. The lights on the Citi Bank bldg change every 30-45 seconds and are bright and colorful... many are ads.

Good Morning from Texas:

Heading for the airport in a short while and boarding that SIN777 for Moscow, SIN and BKK. So excited! See you at Harmonique (hopefully, I won't be still asleep) and looking forward to seeing you and K and P and L.

Have a safe and exciting next leg of your trip.

Sandra and Richard

Bob:

The ladies should stroll the french concession and the Art Alley there. My suggestion for pearls is at 580 Nanjing Road West. Have you visited the Shanghai Museum? I guess you have enough budhhas in BKK you may not be interested in the Jade Budhha Temple.

The shopping in Shanghai tends to be so overwhelming so we availed ourselves of a custom day of shopping with Shopping Tours of Shanghai. Certainly not inexpensive but we felt it was more than worthwhile and it made for a very fun day. I had a beautiful quilted leather coat custom made and a friend had some clothes made as well. Everything was delivered to our hotel the following afternoon.

http://www.shoppingtoursshanghai.com/

Just a little sidebar to write that we are really enjoying Shanghai and especially our time here with the Kimball's and Pat. They have really made this part of our trip something special. I hate to admit this but it's like traveling with a true Rock Star(no U) when walking the streets of Shanghai with Bob. Luckily Karen is here to ground him when he starts feeling God like,lol. Really looking forward to this evening and our gtg at Lost Heaven on the bund and meeting new fodorites.

Aline,
We(Linda and I) visited the free admission Shanghai Museum which we found very interesting and did stop by your reco shop on W Nanjing but we did like the service, prices and candor of Mary and her associate in Pearl City. I guess we just hit it off.

Aloha!