Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Shanghai

Well here I am in Shanghai. I have to say I enjoyed the Virgin Upper Class experience. Its kind of an obscene waste of money $7,000, (albeit not mine).

I flew premium economy from NYC to London. Not bad but the arm between the seats does not fold up which makes sleeping across two seats hard. Then to the Virgin Upper Class lounge. A snooze followed by two cups of coffee and a complimentary haircut from Bumble and Bumble. Then on to the flight to Shanghai. Upper Class is awesome. I had a full bed to sleep in and slept for about 8 hours. Just as I was turning in I was given a 15 minute complimentary massage. When I woke up I was given breakfast in bed - marmite on white toast with a fresh fruit plate. Felt much healthier upon my arrival here than I have rolling off economy flights to this side of the world.

So first impressions: dirty; lots of high rise apartment buildings, lot of poverty and lots of clothes drying out of windows - everywhere. Of course I've already seen a Starbucks. Chinese writing is so pretty - I can see why people are drawn to having Chinese script tattoos. Even the Avis rent a car sign was pretty (fleeting thought of having this Tattooed on my ass - what can I say not much sleep). The driving was a little hairy BUT I'd been pre-warned about this. Actually I think I probably had a decent first experience as I took a Virgin Limo from the airport. I'm taking a local cab to the office after lunch.

Well the Chinese rival the Mexicans in terms of the amount of stuff they can fit on a small bike (pedal bikes here - rather than mopeds). Anyway -nice room, HUGE bed and strangely a large picture window between the bedroom and the bathroom. Perhaps the Chinese like to watch each other shower???

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It'll be a tough call between Avis and Hertz for the tattoo, I'm sure!

Ok- I'm now vicariously living though you and your travels. Virgin First Class sounds amazing- and a free haircut? Wow.

Post pictures!