Shanghai March 2019 - Day 1

For the March school holiday, we decided to go to Shanghai - wasn't one of those places that we'd been wanting to go. In fact, it was never a place that we'd considered. But after Daddy's colleague shared about his family vacation there in December, and after doing a bit of research, we decided to go.

The children protested initially. They'd much rather go to Phuket or Florida. After showing them photos of Shanghai Disneyland and the Shanghai Auto Museum, and telling them that Shanghai has maglev trains, they changed their minds.

Before our flight out, we bought a book each for the kids. Best investment ever for a vacation. Both of them were so occupied by their books during the flights there, and during the holiday.

From Shanghai Pudong Airport, we took the maglev train to downtown Shanghai - in 8 min! Aaron was so excited to be on the train!

We booked a boutique hotel at Nanjing Road East - Sweetome Boutique Apartment. It was an excellent choice. Located along the shopping belt, above Zara and within a 5-min walk from the MRT station. We booked a family suite, which looked like 2 adjoining rooms without the partition. There was 2 bathrooms too!

The vibes of the hotel was a bit similar to Hotel Graphy Nezu that we stayed at in Tokyo last September - very cozy and communal, yet private. We love hotels like that!

Most of the rooms have a small washing machine. Ours did not, but the hotel staff opened up a room for me to do the laundry. When I was done, the 1 and only dryer on their gym floor was in use. So the staff offered to put our clothes into the dryer for me, and send to our room when it's done, so that I could go to bed! What excellent service!

After checking into the hotel on Day 1, we ventured out for dinner. We had yummy noodles and xiaolongbao at a restaurant near our hotel.

The original after-dinner plan was to walk to The Bund and take a cruise. But the throng of people walking to The Bund was scary!

It was impossible to find a spot to take photos without capturing the crowds too, except if we do close-ups.

Was had to enjoy the beautiful scenery too, with the mass. Otherwise, it was a really lovely place. Not just the river and the Pudong skyscrapers, but also the old buildings. Very romantic feel!

And that concluded our 1st short day in Shanghai - away from the crowd, back to the peace of our hotel room.