Sunday, August 22, 2010

Another round of Shanghai, now with my wife

So after checking out from Regal International East Asia Hotel yesterday, I took a cab to Courtyard Shanghai Xujiahui, the same hotel I stayed last year together with mom and Julie. This time my wife Roshie and mom will be staying there with me. They both flew yesterday and took a cab to this hotel, so I just met them there.
 
I booked for a Deluxe Room, 2 double beds but was given a surprise by the hotel! The gave us an Executive Suite instead! Someway, they were aware of my recent marriage with my wife so they took the extra mile to give us a nice surprise and experience.
 
The bedroom inside the executive suite has 1 king bed, and on its own, is already as big as a deluxe room. It is connected to a spacious bathroom on the side.
 
The left door is the shower/bath, next door is the toilet and on the end is the bathtub. The countertop is huge and if you pull a chair, would actually look like a dressing room. Not shown here is just across the countertop sink is a huge closet for our clothes and wardrobe.
 
 
As it was a suite, the living room was separate (by a door and divider). They provided us in the room a rollaway bed for my mom and if you would look at it, she got a nice place to stay, with a working desk, comfy sofa, and a bed they made up as comfortable as the fixed ones you wouldn't know it is a rollaway.

And the surprise for us didn't end there, they even gave us a bouquet of flower, a bottle of wine and chocolates! To anyone from the staff who may be reading this, Kudos to you all and we really appreciate the gesture! Thank you from me and my wife (as well as my mom) for making our extended honeymoon a delight!

wine and chocolates

bouquet of flower
 
For the record, we're only paying CNY638++ for the room per night. I hope the hotel didn't lose too much for all these. From a 28sqm reserved room, what they gave us is a 54sqm suite!
 
 view of the city from the room.
 
They also provided fresh fruits in the room, but I'm not sure if it was a standard amenity for this room.
 
We enjoyed the room for the rest of the day (as well as the executive lounge access) and didn't do much last night except to browse around some of the shopping scene in Nanjing East Road.

As we woke up earlier today, my wife and my mom went to MoMo Café for breakfast while I had mine at the Executive Lounge (as there were only 2 breakfast complimentary at the café, I'm happy and not complaining!). Afterwards, we went to Yu Garden by taxi (CNY36) and was dropped by somewhere nearby where we can walk towards the entrance.

Yu Garden (Yu Yuan Garden), or the Garden of Peace is . Entrance to the garden is CNY30 per person.

Here are some of the pictures inside the garden:
 
 
 
 
 
 

We also went to the shops near the garden and got a few clothing. There were also a lot of food items sold and we tried a few first so we can decide on another day if they were good to take home as gifts. Then, we took the Shanghai Metro to Lujiazui station. to go to Oriental Pearl Tower.

me and Roshie

We bought our tickets at the booth outside (priced at CNY150) and then we started to line up to go up the observatory tower. We were shocked as to how long the line was inside!

nearing the elevator..

almost there!

Good thing my companions were in a good mood that time. It was more than an hour wait to finally come up! The Oriental Pearl Tower is actually a Radio and TV Tower.

It was chaotic above as there were literally hoards of tourists inside and (that we even had to line up again the elevator just to go down). However, one can say that it is a very good spot to view the surroundings of Pudong and Shanghai.
 
 
me and Roshie

Some parts of the observatory tower has glass floors, and one can literally see the ground below. For me who has fear in heights, it was actually a scary experience just to put a foot over one of these!
 
 
the tower and its shadow
 
 
We didn't stay too long and we actually spent more time falling in line than the view (is there really a line as it was chaotic?). Anyway, we went back to the hotel to rest went out dinner time tonight to see a Chinese Opera. Photography is not allowed in the theater sad to say.

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