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Published: March 12th 2008
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"Welcome to Shanghai!" This is a sentiment I have heard repeated more times than I can count since my arrival at
Pudong International Airport sometime yesterday morning (after 24 hours traveling, that whole portion of my trip seems fuzzy and rather far away.
But perhaps I should begin at the beginning - the flights to get here. Although I don't normally endorse various airlines on here (since I have come to believe that flying is more of a necessary evil and less of an exciting adventure), I must give my kudos to
Virgin Atlantic and Richard Branson. While flying business class/first class is out of the question thanks to wildly expensive rates, Virgin Atlantic has begun to offer what they call "Premium Economy." Picture the first class of old, before planes started including beds for overnight flights - slightly larger seats, individual entertainment screens, trays inside the armrests - that's what VA's Premium Economy is like. And for long overnight flights where you'd prefer not to donate a kidney just to fly first class, this is the way to go. Even better, the movie selection contained a number of films not yet out on video, so I could catch up on all the
Oscar nominees while reclining in my seat. Not perfect, but far better than shoe-horning myself into a narrow Continental seat and sitting in one position for first five, then eleven hours.
The food wasn't half bad either, with worcestershire sauce pretzels as a snack (better than they sound), one dinner of ravioli, and a breakfast that included some yogurt with granola. Totally edible for a change.
The first flight took us to Heathrow in London, which is the second best thing to actually being able to tour around London. First, you can picture yourself as an extra in Love Actually, when Hugh Grant talks about the arrivals gate at Heathrow. But more seriously, here, you can get all of your British souvenirs, from Duty Free candies (Mars bars, Smarties, and my favorite -
Crunchies!) to anything bearing a British flag and even my very own Paddington Bear, complete with suitcase and wellies. I'm looking forward to checking out the mini
Harrods during my return layover! After four hours at the airport and one very bad TGI Friday's breakfast, we headed out to Shanghai. The flight was uneventful after it got started, but when we took off in a
bad rainstorm, the plane was hit by lightning! Luckily, the only casualty was the entertainment system, which needed only a reboot to start working again. Of course, I was sleeping, so I missed the lightning strike - what a disappointment!
Shanghai is not what I pictured - after having spent the last three years traveling to Singapore, then Bangkok, and then
India, I was expecting something older, with modern touches, but still an obvious Asian influence. I've come to realize that there is an Asian influence, but it's more like a Toshiba/Japanese modern flavor. I understand from meeting with our local Chinese lawyer this morning that because we came into the Pudong airport, we saw only this side of the river, which is far more modern. I think that "modern" is actually a misnomer in this case, because it's not a strong enough descriptor. "Futuristic" is better, with buildings that would certainly be at home in any episode of the Jetsons. The architecture feels light years ahead of anything I've seen back at home, which makes me think that Shanghai might be the poster city for the modern age, something that economics seems to be reinforcing on a regular
basis. A stroll along the riverfront on the Pudong side this afternoon was a showcase of some of the world's greatest companies - LG, Ricoh, Konica, HSBC, Epson, TDK and many more - all the big electronics guys are here. So it's easy to see how Shanghai might be the city of the future (certainly more so than any city I saw in India).
Driving to the hotel, I was surprised to see how little traffic there was, and how few people were out. In a city of 20 million, I expected it to feel more crowded, busier. But it's much more peaceful than that, with everyone seeming to drift through their day, purposefully of course, but not nearly with as much forced rushing as you would see in New York. That did change a little when we arrived at the hotel, and were met at the door by several staff members. They whisked us away in a whirlwind to our rooms right from the entryway and for the first time, I checked into a hotel after arriving in my room! It was possibly the best greeting my poor jet lagged body had ever had!
Since I hadn't
Shangri-La
I'm in the left hotel tower eaten too much on the plane, I was starving for lunch and decided to test the hotel's room service menu. I tried the club sandwich and can attest that while the sandwich wasn't the best I'd had, the french fries were delicious! That is always a little test I have for the hotels I stay in - I'm so American sometimes! So after enjoying my meal, catching up on 24 hours worth of emails (note to self - don't send out a mass email to all attorneys on the day of traveling halfway across the world), I was ready to take a nap. Or so I thought - usually, I sleep a few hours, get up and iron my clothes, put together the conference materials and eat some dinner before heading back to bed. And while I did most of those things, minus dinner, once my head hit the pillow at 1:30pm, I didn't even wake up for a moment until 9:30! So my internal clock is still a little off today, after going to bed at 3 and getting up at 6:30!
This morning, I eased into the day with a little yoga - heaven for cramped muscles!
- and met my dad for some breakfast at the
Yi Cafe, here at the hotel. The cafe offers unlimited cuisines, which stretch unending between the two towers of the hotel. I didn't branch out too much this morning, with a regular croissant and chocolate croissant. I did hear from my hotel contact in the states that there is a smoothie bar here somewhere, and tomorrow, I will try to find it! The morning was filled with meetings and exploring the hotel to see where our conference and meals would be held. The welcome reception and dinner will overlook the river, a view I'm familiar with from my own room on the 14th floor. With the evening lights twinkling along the Bund, I think it will set the right mood to kick off the conference.
We headed to the Yi Cafe again for lunch today, and it was then that I really got a flavor for how many different cuisines were offered. I still stayed safe, choosing some pasta at the pasta station, and trying a Shanghai Sunrise, a fruity, fancy-looking non-alcoholic cocktail. My dad tried the Indian curry, which he was happy to report turned out to be delicious.
I also got to have some naan bread, which I love, so that was good too. Maybe tomorrow, I will venture out to try one of the other cuisines there! After lunch, we checked out some of the hotel's shops (one might be worth a second look) and then decided to enjoy the nice weather with a walk along the riverfront. A stiff breeze blew us around a little, but in general, it was quite pleasant to walk along and look at the various buildings, all of the people strolling along, and the water. The river was fairly busy, with my favorite boats being those carrying huge television screen advertisements - what a neat way to hawk products!
Now, I've returned to my hotel room haven, where I plan to spend the rest of the day napping and resting. Tomorrow, we will head to the older part of the city to see our host firm's offices, and then the conference starts in the evening!
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LexTraveler
Lindsay
Bruno - thank you so much! I enjoy taking photos so much, and I'm never sure if anyone enjoys seeing them :) So I really appreciate your comment!!