Thursday, 7:30 am

When I was a kid, we didn't travel much. The odd stay with family and some camping trips made up most of our weekends out. But every few years, we enjoyed the much fabled Family Vacation. We'd dive somewhere far away, eat at restaurants for every meal, and - the most exciting part - stay in a hotel.

I always thought hotels were amazing. They had their own smell to them. They had swimming pools which were just the right size for little kids. We were never lucky enough to eat at the hotel restaurant - their prices made them too swank for our family. And the beds may have been hard, but I would never have known. As the girl with 2 brothers, I was always the nominee to sleep in my sleeping bag on the floor. I was an adult before I ever slept in a hotel bed.

Walking down the halls as they brought us to our room last night, I was struck at how much hotels have changed over the past 20 years. Even the budget hotels, where we spend most of our hotel dollars, have good service upon arrival and a clean, although sterile, feeling throughout the building. This one doesn't feel sterile, but it also doesn't feel like the carpets have been cleaned since they were installed in 1988. The tv meets our home standards - small, and looks secondhand. The bed is hard and the covers are thin - too bad I didn't pack my sleeping bag! And that smell I remember from childhood. Dave says its the smell of a hotel where people smoke in their rooms. Remember that?

It lists itself as a 5 star hotel, and Frommer's names it as being one of the more expensive hotels in town. Certainly when it was built, as the modern hotel serving international clientelle, it was a very nice hotel. And the flyer shows modern rooms, which look nothing like ours.

But the view is nice. We're on the 20th floor, and if it weren't for the haze of pollution we would be able to see forever. As it is, the sun's shining through the smog and in this flat city, we can see quite a ways. A few notables distinctions from Hong Kong (note: we arrived after midnight last night, so all impressions are from the desk in this room).
- Even not comparing to verticle Hong Kong, Shanghai is entirely horizontal. There are people on bicycles and you can see for miles.
- There is grass. And trees. Hong Kong real estate was way too valuable to waste any of it on lawns, and trees would neve see the sun anyway. But from my window I see green. In fact, there's a lovely little corner park just a block away.
- There seems to be more character to the architecture. That may be unfair - I'm probably judging by the neighborhoods my hotels were in, primarily. But Hong Kong felt a lot like Manhattan - tall, older skyscrapers and very dirty sidewalks. I can't quantify it, but Shanghai doesn't feel so Random City. To be fair, Hong Kong had distinct characters in some of the areas we found in our touring yesterday - the mid-levels were awesome. Somehow it feels less intimidating. Although I know that the population is more than double that of Hong Kong, it still feels like a smaller city. It must just be the lower density that's appealing to me. As Karoline described NYC, Hong Kong has no visible horizon. From the 20th floor, Shanghai seems to.


We explored the mid-levels and the peak yesterday in Hong Kong. More touristy and Westernized areas. They were neat areas, and although further away from the office, much nicer places to live. However, we couldn't figure out how people do it with young children. The mid-levels, as well as the beach communities on the south of the island, are built on the cliff and every street is a few stories higher than the last. Climbing stairs is a necessity, seemingly rendering strollers obsolete. How would I get out of the house with two babies? The beach park in Repulse Bay, on the south side of the island, was a wonderful place for kids to run and play. Loads of sand and trees, and plenty of playgrounds, it would work nicely for a neighborhood park. But we could find no route there that didn't include 50 or more stairs. We also tried to walk to a grocery store or restaurant, and after climbing for 20 minutes still didn't come across one. Much of Hong Kong seems like an exciting place to live without a family, but we couldn't find a place that seemed family friendly - especially very young families. It left us feeling discouraged.

Today we go to the office in Shanghai, and tomorow they've arranged for us to meet with a real estate agent. That they arranged that is encouraging, and should give us a good idea of what will be reasonable. And I think our approach will be different. I don't plan to do any Lifestyle Research until after our tour tomorrow. Time I have today will either be spent at tourist sights, getting excited about the city as a destination, with Dave's co-workers, or in the hotel. They ave massages and a swimming pool on the 6th floor. Both sound lovely. Of course, the rest of the hotel sounded lovely as well. We shall see.