East Eats West

A boutique shopping experience in Shanghai

Picture: Shopping in old Shanghai-style. 

With the rapid development of Shanghai international departments stores and brands can be found across town. From the super pricey luxury brand at the Plaza 66 to the more mid-market Super Brands shopping mall in Pudong, almost any Western brand can be found in Shanghai, including Ferrari and Bentley. Luxury goods are exposed to a luxury tax and goods tend to be 50-60 percent more expensive than in Europe. Should you look for a more budget and boutique type of shopping experience I can recommend the Tianzifang shopping neighborhood that offers from second hand clothes to vintage sunglasses almost everything. You can also sit down a have a nice Latte Machiatto with a brownie or look at some nice artsy photographs of Shanghai.

 

China, a market for over a billion but hardly for foreigners

Picture: The Super Brands shopping mall in Pudong, Shanghai. 

According to an article in The Economist the Chinese market is impenetrable for most foreign companies due to restrictions by the government, subsidies and other trade protective measures. Apparently only foreign companies that sell very expensive products have a chance to succeed. When I went to the famous Plaza 66 luxury shopping mall I was surprised to see that most Swiss watches cost easily 50-60 percent more than in Switzerland. Well, this is good news for Swiss luxury companies but bad news for Nestlé and Roche.

Read the article here: http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14660438

The hamburger point

Picture: Ingredients for Chinese steam-boat. One adds the ingredients to a hot soup. 

Whenever when I am traveling in Asia I get to a point when I am tired of rice, noodle and turtle-soup, chicken feet and snorting and coughing restaurant clients. This is when I crave a good old hamburger. I call it the hamburger point and thanks to Burger King or a good US hotel I can satisfy my cravings almost everywhere (the hardest was is in India). 

Picture: A typical Chinese moon cake that is somewhat sweet and made out of beans (I would go for Swiss chocolate anytime). 

Classical Chinese Yuyuan Garden in Shanghai

 

Picture: Some old buildings in the Yu Yuan Garden in Shanghai. 

One of the view remaining classical buildings in Shanghai are the Yugarden. A must for every Chinese and foreign tourist. Sometimes a bit crowded but worthwhile a visit.

 

Picture: In the background on the left is the Jinmao Tower and on the right the Park Hyatt Tower, both in Pudong. 

Karaoke, wedding banquets and Sauna with TV

Picture: A provincial hotel in Changzhou, three hours outside of Shanghai.

For the wedding in Changzhou we stayed at the Jinding Mingdu Hotel. The hotel has a very common layout for a Chinese hotel with a big lobby and private dining rooms and a karaoke venue. The rooms are spacious and modern and smoking is allowed everywhere. On the second floor there were a big number of private rooms and the third floor featured a maze of cosy karaoke lounges with young ladies attending, a ping pong table and a so-called “sauna” with relaxation rooms with TV and masseuses. Internet is for free across the whole building. The hotel has three sources of revenues: as a venue for highly standardized and timed weddings, the dozens of private dinning rooms and the entertainment area.

Picture: The karaoke room at the hotel. 

A rare event in Shanghai: blue sky and sunshine

Picture: Normally you would barely see the towers in Shanghai because of the polluted air. 

China is nowadays famous for pollution that hangs as heavy smog in the air diminishing the blue skies and the the sun. So it was a very rare occasion to see blu skies with sun in Shanghai. The reason being a few days of rain before I arrived. I was even able to see buildings a couple of kilometers away in distance, which is very rare. Normally after 200m everything ends in heavy fog. 

The highest hotel in the world

Picture: The Park Hyatt Hotel in Shanghai, the world's tallest hotel. 

I have a simple definition for an extraordinary hotel: you enter it, you are awed by it and you do not want to leave it anymore. The Park Hyatt Hotel in Pudong perfectly fits this definition and so thinks the Wallpaper magazine. It ranked the Park Hyatt Hotel Shanghai as the best business hotel in the world. And I fully agree. The lobby is situated on the 87th floor and therefore higher than the now ten-year old Jin Mao Tower with the Grand Hyatt just across the road. The Park Hyatt is located in the tallest building in Shanghai, towering at 500m. The lobby is discrete with dark wood flooring and a tasteful art collection, all dimly lit for extra privacy. The room has the same cosy atmosphere with very clever use of space. The wooden panelling and flooring goes perfectly with the understated Italian fabrics. The complimentary Nespresso machine and the very cutting-edge Japanese-style heated toilet are the other things that make the Park Hyatt a very special hotel. The Park Hyatt is a hotel that is very discrete and at the same time very welcoming. I can highly recommend the Park Hyatt in Shanghai as well as its famous sister hotel in Japan to all discerning travelers.

PS: The Park Hyatt Hotel also features the fastest elevator in the world. It goes at 10m/s and makes your ears pop in no time. 

Picture: A room with a view from over 400m above ground. 

Picture: The cosy and dimly lit lobby, almost 500m above ground. 

The not so Grand Hyatt

Picture: The 200m high atrium of the Shanghai Grand Hyatt Hotel. 

The ten year old Grand Hyatt hotel is situated in the massive 88th storey Jin Mao Tower in Pudong. The tower is the second largest building in Shanghai. Particularly spectacular are the bar on the second top floor and the cafe situated in the center of the building, at the bottom of a breath-taking 200m high atrium. The rooms are average and the view from the room is partially blocked by iron grids that make up the facade of the building. Quite disappointing is the small and gaudy pool completely covered in marble. You find the hotel website here: http://shanghai.grand.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp

Picture: The Grand Hyatt is located in the second tallest building in Shanghai, the Jin Mao Tower. 

Back in Shanghai

Picture: The Shanghai skyline seen from Pudong. 
After visiting Chengdu in 2008, right before the big earthquake, I decided to go back to China this October. Two reasons brought me back to Shanghai: first a wedding invitation and second a free business class flight because of accumulated miles. At the moment it seems to be a good time to redeem frequent flyer miles as the airlines are fighting with low occupancy (the flight from Shanghai to Frankfurt with Lufthansa was more than half empty). On the first night I decided to stay at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Pudong before driving three hours inland to Changzhou. The Grand Hyatt Hotel's main feature is that it is situated in the towering Jin Mao Tower in Pudong. At 88 floors it offers a staggering view of Shanghai. Next to it is the even more impressive Park Hyatt Hotel building and cranes next door are working on an even taller Shanghai Tower. Upon visiting the classical Chinese Yuyuan Garden and the massive Super Brands shopping mall I got a good feeling what it is like being in the most populous country in the world as both locations were packed (it was also Chinese holiday season). The only retreat I found is the very expensive Starbucks in a shopping mall. A coffee is over $5 and therefore a fortune in China. A most pleasant unexpected surprise was that I was able to glimpse some blue sky and the sun! Normally because of pollution the view is very hazy.
Picture: A rare view in Shanghai: blue sky and a clear view without haze or smog.