Upon arriving at the Westin Bund Center in Shanghai (with about 170 pounds of luggage spread among two suitcases, a large rolling duffle bag, a gym bag, and a backpack), I was told that since I will be staying here for 18 days, my room had been upgraded . . . at no additional cost. Check out my temporary quarters:
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| View as you enter the room. |
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| The bedroom, complete with king-sized bed and another flat screen TV. |
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| View of the living area from the bedroom. There is a sliding wooden door on the right that cordons off the bedroom from the living area. |
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| View of the elegant bathroom from the bedroom. The wooden panels on the left and right side of the picture are sliding doors that close off the bathroom from the bedroom. |
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| View of the city from my room on the 11th floor. |
After a solid 12 hours of much-needed sleep, I arose to the sound of honking traffic around 9:30. After a thorough exploration of the hotel gym (one other foreigner was there), I did what any recent arrival would do--look online for places to go and things to do. I decided to go visit the Shanghai Museum. It seemed like a safe bet: free, fairly close to the hotel, and open daily regardless of holidays (this is Golden Week in China, a semi-annual seven-day national holiday started in 1999 and intended to bolster domestic tourism, improve the national standard of living, and allow people to make long-distance family visits).
City map in hand, I started out for the museum. When I got there, I saw a long line of people and a sign stating that the wait to get in was one hour. (I should have taken a picture, but didn't; I was feeling self-conscious about looking like a tourist--not that I don't stand out already anyway.) I guess all those families on holiday had the same idea I did about going to the museum. So, I decided to wander to my second choice destination: the Yu Yuan Garden.
More to come on that trip in the next post.
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