Tag: hotel

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China

My new favorite hotel in Shanghai 近年来我在上海住的旅馆

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(Update 02-17-2025) I came across Alila Shanghai today: it’s a Hyatt family hotel. Noticed the location

500 Weihai road, Jing’an district
Shanghai 200041

is closer to the city downtown.

This article is also available on Medium.

(Original 07-21-2024) 最近四次经过上海，我一般都住虹桥火车站CBD旁边的凯悦嘉轩酒店也就是 Hyatt Place，她家就在火车站/地铁站🚉天桥对面：可以走路走到，前提是最好手上不要拿太多的行李🧳。具体地址是：虹桥商务区申虹路9号, 上海, 中国, 201106. 我一般是用凯悦 World of Hyatt 的点数换的：一般是五千点一个晚上，我觉得还可以。凯悦的点数我是直接从 Chase Sapphire Preferred (CSP) Ultimate Rewards 那里转过来的，一点换一点。一般认为CSP Ultimate Rewards 一个点值2美分，五千点相当于1百美元。

她家上海店的布置跟美国的很像，但是她家的早餐自助餐比美国的要多很多选择。我开玩笑说早上吃得饱一点，到下午四五再吃晚饭就省了一顿饭的钱（again开个玩笑）。其实我发现到了我现在这个年纪，尤其要注意吃饭吃个七分饱，要避免桌上美食的诱惑，与肚里的馋虫作坚决的斗争。这次我带了家眷一起住酒店。好像她们也考虑了我的想法：一个房间有两份免费自助餐，再加上12岁以下小孩全免。市场价自助餐大概是68 还是 128 元。我这次就把自助餐让给了我的家眷：我去了永和大王，以前我也去过那里吃过中餐或者晚餐。这次我发现点餐完全是微信小程序：我的手机漫游有时不是很给力。(Update: June 2025) They no longer offer free breakfast for the night that is redeemed via points or annual free night award. This is not a deal breaker for me as I don’t eat a lot for breakfast nowadays. I believe there is still option for purchase, think probably around 68 yuan (about $10). I didn’t ask at the front desk, you may inquire as needed.

除了虹桥天地 The HUB 以外，那个旁边还有一个龙湖天地天街 Paradise Walk – 我喜欢那里的西贝莜面村。这两个地方都有相当多的吃饭的地方，中外的都有不少。嘉轩酒店旁边还有一个很不错的浙江台州的餐馆叫台乡缘（在甬虹路上，从嘉轩/金臣中心过马路就到）。我最近经朋友邀请，去吃过，她们哪里的海鲜和台州菜相当不错。大屏幕上的台州风土人情也是非常好。我老家是宁波，在台州北面，我们都靠海。台州菜和宁波菜有相通之处。风土人情也是：比如说摘茶叶，我小时候摘过。随着城市后的发展，以前一些农村的小吃慢慢地就消失了，还有方言，因为慢慢地大家都讲普通话了。

如果你喜欢咖啡，那一带有相当多的咖啡店：我想得起来的有 – 星巴克，瑞幸咖啡，加拿大的 Tim Hortons, 上海本土走高端路线的 Manner 咖啡，美国的 Peet’s coffee, 醒美咖啡 SayMay Coffee, 等等，应该还有很多。在龙湖天街那边有一张地图，上面标着大多数的咖啡店。很多牌子的店，不止一家：比如说星巴克，瑞幸。

备注：虹桥火车站，地铁站，再加上虹桥机场，加在一起，又叫虹桥交通枢纽（地面上还有长途汽车站）。地下，路面都比较复杂。我记得我2017年第一次从火车站到旅馆，花了点时间才找到，走到。我上面写了地址。油管上有不少关于火车站的介绍，也可以看看我的一个短视频介绍。我在虹桥天地那里，有时也会给人指路。这一次也指了一次：帮助一对夫妻从虹桥天地 THE HUB的地下，搭乘 Cordis Hotel（康得思）电梯到旅馆门口，坐上车。

最后我把嘉轩酒店 Hyatt Place 在这里单独放一下。Bonus question: 你知道Hyatt 酒店的历史吗？还有 Hilton，Marriott 另外两个美国酒店巨头（第一和第二）？你知道这三个酒店主要是靠什么赚钱的吗？Hint/提示: 她们很多时候并不拥有旅馆所在的地和楼。

上海虹桥商务区凯悦嘉轩酒店

Hyatt Place Shanghai Hongqiao CBD

老文章写于2016/07/04 ：我在上海住过的其它一些酒店旅馆 。

还有更老的 2006/09/27：More Shanghai travel tips. 就在那次美国劳工节 China Trip 我碰到了我现在的老婆，美国的劳工节是每年九月份的第一个礼拜一。你可能会注意到我现在住的旅馆比二十年前还是好了一点 😂。那次 trip 也有一些神奇的安排，从买机票，到 blind date. 以后合适的时候我会解释。因其敏感性，我可能只会小规模地说。

Categories
Life Life Tips

Stay at Hotels in China 回国住旅馆

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I am used to stay at hotels when I visited Shanghai, from the Home Inn or the like back in the days, to more fancier or western brand hotels, now that I have a family and kids.

I never thought that I would stay in hotels when I go home and see my parents. But that happened in year 2016.

我们大概是傍晚🌆 到的我父母的家：两卧室的老公寓。我当时根本没有想到要去住旅馆🏨。但是吃了晚饭后，我很快就意识到住在我父母家不现实。因为我看到另外一个房间的床上都放满了东西。

我们就出去找旅馆。先找了一个类似招待所一样的地方，交了押金等，后来很快就意识到房间的味道（发霉的味道？）太大，就损失了一百块的押金，住到了对面的稍好一点的旅馆。过了几天，找到了南苑旅馆(这家是连锁的，还可以），就又搬到那里，一直住到去其它城市我的岳父家。在我岳父家我们也住的是旅馆（招待所）。

最近三次回国（2017，2019，和2023年），我就住这一个（17年开的）。中文名字叫宁波北仑世茂希尔顿逸林酒店。今年夏天回国基本上定下来还是住这一家。这一家(DoubleTree)不包早餐*：她家有自助餐，还可以，大概一百多块钱。附近有肯德基，兰州拉/牛肉面，还有一个宁波还是台州的连锁的豆浆，肉包子等传统中式早餐。还有星巴克等。所以不用天天吃旅馆里的自助餐。旅馆傍边就是富邦世纪广场，地铁长江路站，银泰城也不远。我个人比较喜欢银泰城里的西贝莜面村。拿了也有外婆桥等本帮/宁波本地菜。

*美国的Double Tree Hotel 也不包早餐。Hotel chains that provide free breakfast (usually buffet style) include: Hampton Inn (by Hilton), Hilton Garden Inn, Hyatt Place/ Hyatt House and Residence Inn (Marriott). This is not a complete list. I know in addition to Double Tree, Marriott’s Courtyard doesn’t have free breakfast either.

Aging Parents 上了年纪的父母

这个方面的问题我以前没怎么想到。就是父母上了年纪以后可能会更“粘人”。下面是两篇英文的相关文章。

Strategies for Dealing With a “Clingy” Senior

How to Handle Emotionally Needy Parents

现代医学有很多进步，手机微信等现代科技也带来很多方便，同时也带来不少问题。我想对老年人也适用。微信是中国最流行的手机应用之一。我爸爸会用智能手机，但是他把家庭群当成了网上的某些论坛，骂人。还不如我妈妈不会用手机。说到我妈妈不会用手机，还有个故事。疫情前，她在老年大学，拿出来老年手机（就是只能打点话，发短信的手机），有人就说，都这个年代了，你怎么还用老年手机。原来她们班也是有微信群。后来，大概是16年回国那一次，我有个就是帮她在手机上弄好微信。

Categories
advice and tips Fun

Travel in Shanghai

Reading Time: 2 minutesI visited China with my family a few weeks ago. Shanghai is the flight stop where we arrive and depart.

We stayed at the Courtyard Xujiahui, and Four Points by Sheraton at Pudong during our short stay in Shanghai, a few weeks ago. As I have family and esp. little kid nowadays, I prefer western brand hotel (4 stars) so that it has a bit nice and consistent environment. I no longer go to Home Inn or Jinjiang Star. That was when I was single, and just need a clean place to shower and sleep.

Getting around
In general Shanghai taxi is very nice, with a few exceptions. For instance, we waited one hour in Shanghai Hongqiao railway station on rainy Friday evening (it was also the first day of Gao Kao, China’s college entrance exam). It’s probably better idea if one travel light (without big luggages). Another instance was we were at People’s square, about 10 pm, basically no taxi will take us to Xujiahui. There were a few illegal taxies pass by and asked us if we want to take it. Finally we decided to take Metro (subway) to get back.

Tour bus
We took the double deck tour bus at People’s square, my first time taking it, and was surprised to see a lot of changes in Shanghai, for example, I have not seen Lao Xi Meng for many years (probably not seen it since 1995, 18 years). Big big change. I would like to show my brother the picture some time as I thought he probably have not seen it for 18 years either. Tour bus No. 1 is a good idea for short stay visitors because one can use it for 24 hours, and see many interesting places (bus stops at those places) along the way.

Categories
Travel

Visit Chicago: II

Reading Time: 3 minutesWe are back from Chicago. Visited the Premium mall (near Aurora) yesterday, and was quite impressed. This was my first trip to the Aurora mall, and I was surprised to see so many premium brands and shoppers (esp. the crowds at Coach store). Judging by the size of crowds in the mall, it seems the economy is doing fine. But yesterday, the unemployed number announced by the gov (470,000) exceeded the expectation again. The market tanked again, although I think it has more to do with the July 4th US holiday, people want to play safe in this long weekend.

PT Cruiser
I rent the car from Enterprise near my home, this is a small rental office to serve the Lou Fuze car dealership. I booked an “intermediate”, and they offered the PT Cruiser to me. This is one small mistake I made, I should have booked “midsize” or “standard”. Usually Enterprise has a free upgrade in airport locations, but not this small office, as matter of fact they have to get the PT Cruiser from another office. Initially I was a little uncomfortable about taking this little car to Chicago, but the PT Cruiser turns out to be very good, except one minor problem: there is no guard/screen for the trunk.

GPS

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