Shanghai Day 5: Fish Inn Bund, Shanghai Pudong International Airport & Goodbye

Day 5 was our last day in Shanghai. Oh ya let me first share with you my accommodation info in Shanghai.

Fish Inn Bund is a 2-3 stars boutique hotel strategically located near East Nanjing Metro, East Nanjing Road and The Bund. Although the website described it as boutique hotel, I don’t see how it qualifies as one. Maybe it’s the bedroom themes? We booked 2 rooms, a deluxe and a suite. Remember we arrived very early from the morning flight? Thank God the hotel has the rooms ready by the time we got there. That’s like 10.30am in the morning. Also we got a free upgrade from deluxe to suite. That’s a first for me. I never received room upgrade no matter where I stayed at during my dozens of trips. So thank you Fish Inn Bund.

Even though it’s called suite, the room has a queen size bed and a living room with sofa. So, guess who lived-slept on the sofa for 4 nights? Me lo. I volunteered la because I booked the rooms ma. Plus I wanted to try this type of sleeping mode. But then hor it would be nice if I were asked whether I want to join/’ma poh’ in the bed after all 3 women in a queen size bed is nothing (I prefer to think it’s king size because it’s wider than my parent’s queen size bed). I would have decline of course. I put my sis on the bed la but my sis said I was stupid to volunteered. Haha Anyway, I enjoyed my time sleeping on the sofa and I got lucky. Turned out the bedroom air-cond wasn’t working so great but mine in the living room was. Haha *hou sam yau hou poh* kekeke

All suite rooms has peony theme which you can see on the wall here. Lovely ya? There’s a flat screen TV and cupboard opposite the bed. Yeah the bed is ON the floor. My sis and friend found some spiders on the bed! Eeekks This suite is 488 Yuan per night which is affordable. While the deluxe room which later translated into suite cost 398 Yuan per night.

This is the sleeping area of yours truly. So comfy. Hahaha It looks narrow right? That’s because the cushions are in the way.

Another TV in front of the sofa. The hotel gave us 3 water bottles daily (the one beside TV).

Shower and toilet… very clean. I’ve got only one thing to complain here, whenever we shower water will flow out and wet the floor near the shower door.

All in all I’m pretty happy with this hotel. It’s near to metro, main attractions like I mentioned earlier (Nanjing Road and The Bund) and mini marts (e.g. Family Mart) and bakery. One thing to beware is you can sometimes hear footsteps from outside. I guess the wall is thin or maybe because the floor is made of wood.

Alright let’s get back to the rest of our trip…

For breakfast I wanted to eat xiaolongbao again, so I went back to the same restaurant at Nanjing Road. My friends followed me this time. *chuckles* Read more about Lao Sheng Chang 老盛昌 Restaurant where I patronized them the night before and the morning after. 🙂

Right beside Lao Sheng Chang Restaurant is this shop selling mooncakes and other foodstuff called Zhenlao Dafang 真老大房. People were queuing to buy pork ‘mooncakes’ (baked pastry buns with pork filling). I actually queue here last night but right when it’s nearly my turn, the mooncakes were sold out. So I thought I would queue today after breakfast.

See the queue! Today (day 5 of our trip, 19th Sept) was Mid-Autumn Festival.

The queue line was until the umbrellas. Can you see it? So I gave up!

Then we saw people queuing at Apple Store. Why? I don’t know. The new iphone will only come out the next day.

Ningbo Road is very near to our hotel. There’s fruits shops, restaurants and supermarkets.

We checked out at nearly 11am and our taxi van which we requested the hotel to help us to book few days earlier arrived on the dot. Cost 200 Yuan for 5 of us to airport. I think it’s a bargain.

You can cross Huangpu river 3 ways; by ferry, by foot and by car via underground tunnel or bridges. This is one of the main bridges between Huangpu and Pudong.

We reached Shanghai Pudong International Airport an hour later. Since it’s still early, we had lunch first at Burger King.

Departure level at Terminal 2, Shanghai Pudong International Airport @ Shanghai, China.

Near MAS check-in counter.

Terminal 2, Shanghai Pudong International Airport @ Shanghai, China

Our flight was delayed due to late take off from the previous destination. It was delayed over an hour but we didn’t mind. More time for duty free shopping. LOL

Goodbye Shanghai! I’m not sure if I will be back again, more so China.

Dinner was serve an hour later. Mine: Noodles with chicken. Noodles were a bit dried.

Sis’ fish with rice. Hers is nicer.

Moon, dusk and plane. Yup that’s a the moon at 6pm. It was a really pretty sight that being Mid-Autumn day with the moon so bright with us all few thousand feet from the ground with amazing sunset and colored clouds. It’s not the ‘real color’. The camera did its best.

So that’s it!
The End.

I’ve only visited China once previously before this trip to Beijing (Great Wall), Chengdu and Tianjin via tour group in 2005. After coming back, I really have no desire to visit China again. I made an exception this time to Shanghai since I’ve always wanted to see The Bund. Ok so now I’ve seen it. Nothing special. Haha Maybe one day in the future I will try China again, to the mountain like Jam perhaps.

I learned a lot from this trip. The most important thing is who you travel with. It’s vital to have the same or at least majority same wants and needs with your travel mates or else everything will go bonkers. Haha I found out I have lots of patience and compassion too. LOL My best travel buddy is my sister. We know how to give and take. Overall my trip to Shanghai and Hangzhou were so-so. It’s like I touched the cities but I never get to know the inside of it. So it remains like stranger to me.

My complete 2013 5D/4N Shanghai-Hangzhou travelogue:
Shanghai Day 1: MAS again, Maglev Train, The Bund & Becoming Zombie!
Shanghai Day 2: City God Temple, Zig Zag Bridge at Yu Garden & Xintiandi (Part 1)
Shanghai Day 2: Oriental Pearl Tower, Lujiazui Pedestrian Bridge, The Bund & Pudong Skyline at Night (Part 2)
Hangzhou Day 3: West Lake
Shanghai Day 4: Tianzifang
Shanghai Day 5: Fish Inn Bund, Shanghai Pudong International Airport & Goodbye