Days 80 and 81: Shanghai to Honolulu

We slept so well and so hard last night. The bed was wonderful, and it had just a comforter in the softest, smoothest duvet to cover up with. After the blanket we’ve been sleeping under on the Sapphire Princess, it felt heavenly. We awoke to a Shanghai just as foggy and dreary as the day before, but it didn’t change our plans for the morning.

First up was the included breakfast buffet, and I was instantly reminded of my trip to China in 2004. Our tour had promised us American breakfasts, and we had no idea how important they’d be to us. It was the only meal of the day where we had food we could really eat. Lunches and dinners were served family-style, meals not of our choosing, and these were all at high-end restaurants. Every table was round, seating about eight of us, and in the center was a lazy susan. Dish after dish was set on that turntable, and we’d spin it around and help ourselves. The food was so strange to us, and, frankly, somewhat repulsive, with fish heads and tails and eyes looking up at us. Those items, and anything indistinguishable, would go round and around untouched, but if something even remotely resembling American Chinese food was served, we each hoped it was set down in front of us, because otherwise it was gone by the time it got around. We lived on rice…and watermelon. When the watermelon was set down, we knew the meal was over. 

Today’s breakfast buffet had a Chinese side and an American side consisting largely of things I can’t eat (eggs, breakfast meats, caffeinated tea and coffee), so I had oatmeal and peach slices. While we ate, we quickly put together a plan that hinged on two things: a late check out and an ATM. G took care of the former and I the latter and we took a taxi to the Shanghai Tower, the second tallest building in the world after the Burj Khalifa. It was so foggy that we knew we wouldn’t see a thing from the top, but we were not deterred. 

Once we arrived, we were warned that visibility was negligible, but we could look up and see that was the case. The top of the building was in the clouds. Still, we weren’t the only crazy ones going up, there were several others that we could tell were from around the world doing the same. The display at the bottom was worth the price of admission (less than $20 each). There was an entire history of skyscrapers- well, the first one was a 55-story building, but due to its construction it qualified- and it pleased us to no end to see several that we’ve visited. The elevators in the Shanghai Tower were touted as the fastest in the world. Wait, wasn’t that what the Burj Khalifa claimed about theirs, too?

Looking up at the Shanghai Tower in the clouds

Looking up at the Oriental Pearl Tower, the iconic TV and radio tower that is the third tallest in the world 

At the base of the Shanghai Tower, a great exhibit with lots of familiar iconic landmarks

Dubai skyscrapers tower above the clouds

Been there, done that...

...and saw the building commonly called the Gherkin...

...and The Shard...

...and Tower Bridge

Singapore’s Merlion statue...

...and the Marina Bay Sands

G remarked that we should go there one day ;-)

The Petronas Towers

(ditto) ;-)

Hong Kong’s skyline

More skyscrapers that any other city 

The International Commerce Center we visited during our 

Hong Kong stop is the building on the far left

The Shanghai Tower at sunset 

with Shanghai Wirld Financial Center on its right

We were on this double cloverleaf going back to the Longemont Hotel


The Pearl Tower, the Shanghai World Financial Center and the Shanghai Tower





The Shanghai Tower records  

We stepped out on the 118th floor to the inside of a cloud. However, as we made our way around the building, we could see momentary clearing. In fact, the view of the Bund was clearer than what I had seen in 2004. I was shocked by the changes in Shanghai in the past 14 years. I’ve read that the 19th century belonged to the British, and the 20th to the US, but that the 21st century will be China’s turn. I believe it. 

A clearing in the clouds gave us a great view of the Shanghai World Financial Center,

118 stories tall

 

The Jin Mao Building, 93 stories tall

The Oriental Pearl Tower

Shanghai view from 119 floors high

We couldn’t dawdle; we went back down and took a taxi back to the Longemont Hotel, arriving just before our check out time of 1pm. We met in the lobby for our 1:30pm shuttle to the airport.  There were just three couples in a van, and again, thankfully, we had an English speaking escort. He told G and I that our flight would be leaving from Terminal 2 but we already knew that wasn’t correct and decided between us to get off at Terminal 1.  By the time we arrived (it took nearly an hour), he had corrected himself and we felt better not going rogue. 

I knew we were going to have issues with our flights, and the first one involved where to go for check in. Our flight numbers were Korean Airlines but it was a China Eastern codeshare flight to Seoul and a Hawaiian Airlines code share flight to Honolulu with only 75 minutes between flights. We went to the China Eastern counter and our bags could be checked through to Honolulu (yay), but we could not get the boarding passes for our connecting flight in Incheon/Seoul. This didn’t bode well. 

Still, there was no use in stressing over it. Instead, we each moved a pair of undies and clean socks from our large suitcases to our backpacks (in case we were spending another night in another city), checked our bags and, with exactly one hour to spare, headed to our next ‘shore excursion’ of the day: the world’s fastest train, called the Maglev. 

The world is just one big amusement park to us, isn’t it? ;-) Tallest, longest, fastest...we always were avid roller coaster fanatics. 

The Maglev (for Magnetic Levitation) is German technology that China wanted to install. The entire line is only 17 miles long, from between Terminals 1 and 2 at the Shanghai Pudong Airport, and takes exactly 8 minutes. The fallacy is that it doesn’t really go into the CBD, or anywhere that people might need to go, so from there some other form of transport is required for most people. But it was constructed as proof that the technology works. As soon as G heard about it in Destination Expert Narelle Froude’s lecture on Shanghai, it attracted him like a bee to honey. 

We walked to the station (all underground between the terminals, with McDonalds and Starbucks and other restaurants and shopping), bought round trip tickets for 70 Yuan each (about $10), went through security and waited just a few minutes for the train to arrive. It looked every bit like a bullet train, and seats inside were three on each side. At exactly the scheduled time, the doors closed and off we went. A display in each car showed the speed in kilometers per hour, and, sure enough, just as promised, we reached 431 kph, or 268 mph. The ride was smooth except for that half a second when we passed a Maglev going in the other direction and that was a quick bump. I have never gone that fast on land (our plane to Honolulu lifted off at 175 mph) and it is a little difficult to focus on individual things outside the windows. Cars on the expressway seemed to be standing still. 

The entrance to the Maglev Station at Shanghai Pudong International Airport

 

A model of the Maglev train

Reaching peak speed

The conductors salute the trains as they leave


Our train

We arrived at the end station and then immediately exited and went through security and the turnstiles and reboarded the same train to return to the airport. At just a few minutes after 4pm, the time we could first go through immigration and security, we were in line for that. When G had said at breakfast that he wanted to do both things before we left Shanghai, I was a bit incredulous that it was even possible, given our tight time schedule, but I should never have doubted his determination. 

Our flight to Incheon/Seoul was less than 2 hours and we were served a meal. A meal. It consisted of things we didn’t recognize, of course, but we ate the rice and the watermelon and a roll. Chinese food déjà vu! Korea landing forms were handed out, and we were told that all passengers needed to fill one out, but that there were none in English. Okaaayyy. Were we going to have to go through immigration just to change planes?  We’d never make it. We decided that we were simply going to try to go to the gate for our next flight, and see how that worked. As soon as we landed I turned on my phone and saw that we were landing in Terminal 1 and taking off from Terminal 1. That sounded hopeful. 

This was funny. My iPhone battery was at 8% when we boarded the flight to Incheon/Seoul because we hadn’t stopped running all day. The USB charger in my seat didn’t work, nor did the chargers of my two closest seat mates. I stretched my 10’ cord three seats away and plugged it in at these three friends’ suggestion (conveyed through sign language).

Relying on the kindness of strangers. People are so wonderful!

As proof that, at some point in our lives we must have done something good, as soon as we exited the jet bridge, there were two Korean Air reps holding a piece of paper with G’s name on it. Huge sighs of relief!  They told us to do exactly what we had planned to do- go directly to the gate- to get our boarding passes and that Hawaiian Air knew we were coming. We asked how they knew that we might have an issue and the check in agent in Shanghai had flagged our reservation. 

So while everyone else on their flight had to take their landing cards and go through immigration, we  took a train to another part of Terminal 1, went though transfer security (and had to leave behind the water on which I had just spent our last Yuans in Shanghai) and arrived at our gate when the plane was mostly boarded. We were given boarding passes with two seats together (amazing, on a totally full plane) and asked to see our baggage tags, which we hoped meant they were checking to make sure our luggage was on the plane. We were seated and the plane left the gate just minutes later. I had to take my contacts out at my seat (always scary…I can’t imagine trying to find a tiny piece of plastic on the dark floor of an airplane), but even that went well. 

The plane was full of Korean honeymoon couples going to Hawaii, and I felt (and surely looked) very old.  In fact, we may have been the oldest ones on that flight. It was a rather strange realization! Shortly after takeoff a dinner was served that was basically the same meal we had on the flight from Shanghai, but this time the mystery meat was chicken and we had a cookie instead of watermelon. We also had kimchi. I eat kimchi, I really do, but only occasionally, and in choosing between kimchi and a cookie, I prefer the cookie, so dinner #2 was white rice and a cookie. I obviously had not been able to special order vegan meals. G  fell asleep immediately and I, of course did not. 

I had downloaded the second season of Anne with an E on Netflix when we had WiFi at Taipei101 (I think) and started making my way through them. The flight was just under eight hours, and how far have we come with this travel thing when that doesn’t seem too long, but I did start to really drag about two hours before landing. Global Entry is worth every penny and then some we paid for it; we were through immigration in seconds but still had to wait quite a while to see if our luggage made it. I can’t tell you how relieved we were to see it appear on the carousel, although the wheel on my suitcase that had been fixed on the ship is now lost for good. Luckily, it’s a double wheel and the one that’s left still rolls...kind of. 

We got into our room by 12:30pm and I face planted on the bed and slept all afternoon. We had dinner on the beach and then walked along the beach afterward. Sunset #1 was absolutely beautiful, as so many here are, and we are in our room with our balcony door open right now, listening to the acoustic guitarist playing at a barefoot bar nearby.

And now we begin the third segment- the recovery segment- of our around the world adventure. 

Life is good. :-)

Day 79: An unplanned night in Shanghai

Captain Ravera was right in his assessment last evening that the Sapphire Princess might be late docking at the Port of Shanghai today. At 7:40am he announced that, though visibility remains poor due to fog, the port was re-opening and the Sapphire Princess, being a passenger vessel, would be the first to enter today around 11:30am. Shortly afterward, Guest Services made an announcement that all passengers with flights departing before 5:50pm would be unable to make them. Our flight to Beijing departs at 4:15pm. 

Have I mentioned how happy I am to have Princess EZ Air, Princess Platinum Vacation Protection, a Princess transfer to the Shanghai airport AND a full China visa?  No, I haven’t, so I’m mentioning it now. ;-)

Princess EZ Air is looking at the reservations of passengers who booked air through Princess. Passengers who booked onward travel independently have to change their own travel plans, but Help desks for air and hotels have been set up on Deck 6.  Phone and internet are being provided free of charge. We are in our cabin at 9:30am, awaiting further information.  

I’m not sure where we’ll be spending the night, but, as you’ve heard me say many times in the past, if I can’t remember something in ten years or if it will make a good story, it’s not worth stressing over today. The question is, will this episode be the former, or the latter?

2:30pm update:  We received our new flights about noon. We are now leaving Shanghai tomorrow evening and arriving in Honolulu a day late. We were lucky; some people still don’t have new Princess EZ flights and others who do don’t leave for two days. However, there is much confusion about hotel arrangements and transfers. Our original disembarkation group has just disembarked and we have been told to stay in the Casino with others similarly affected. 

5:45pm update:  We are off the ship and on a bus. Never have I ever been so happy to go somewhere I don’t know where I’m going. Dark, cold, rainy night...this is like Nice all over again. 

8:00pm update:  We arrived at our hotel at 6:30pm, were in our room by 7:30pm and will asleep in minutes, I think. We were wiped out after that long day. To Princess’ credit, in the end, because of our EZ Air, they did the right thing, but (and I know I said this same thing after Nice), getting to that point was neither easy nor straightforward.  As G jokingly said several times throughout the day, “We’ve been Shanghaied!”  

When it came to flights, we were the lucky ones. We are now flying through Seoul tomorrow evening, without the long layover we would have had on Air China today. Some people were still waiting for flights until we were told we had to disembark the ship, and adamantly maintained they weren’t leaving without flights. I don’t know how that got worked out. 

Our confusion (frustration, really) started after we were given our new flights. We were told we had to go to Guest Services to get information about hotels and transfers. I was at the desk being told we were on our own regarding an overnight hotel and transfers and at the same time I overheard the person next to me being told by someone else at Guest Services that they were being arranged for us. Meanwhile, we went to our assigned disembarkation lounge at our assigned time and were told there that if we didn’t get on the bus to the airport right then, we were forfeiting the $69 each we paid for Princess transfers. 

That’s what we were dealing with.

People were sitting everywhere in the Casino, which was being used as a disembarkation lounge as well as housing the just over 100 passengers in the same boat, so to speak, as us (some of whom couldn’t fly out until two days later). While a microphone was being used to make disembarkation announcements, and despite the fact that several of us asked over and over to get updates regarding our situation, we were told they wouldn’t do that. So every 30 minutes or so, we had to go up and ask the Guest Services staff person about our status, and then walk around spreading the news (or lack of it) ourselves.

Twice we left, around 1pm and again at 5pm, to go to the buffet to eat something, not knowing what the rest of our day would bring, but even then, one of us would return to the Casino every 10 minutes to see if there was an update.

The lowest point came at 4:30pm, after there were no more regularly scheduled disembarkation groups filtering through the Casino and we were the only ones left. Then an announcement was made (yay) and we were told that the port agent was working on finding us rooms for the night, but because it was the weekend and because we needed 51 rooms, it was proving difficult. We were told we had to be off the ship at 5:30pm and continue waiting in the terminal, or we could make our own arrangements. I asked if there was an ATM or money changer in the port terminal and was eventually told there was. So we went to the buffet and grabbed that last meal and I found a Ramada near the Pudong International Airport with two rooms left and was one click away from reserving it when we checked in one last time in the Casino and-yay- we had rooms and a bus to get us there. Excursion stickers were slapped on our coats and we were on our way. 

Of course, we still had to get through China immigration and customs, and the arrival and departure cards we had already filled out had to be re-done, because our departure date and flights had changed, and, at that point, we still had no idea where we were going, so we left the hotel name blank and hoped immigration wouldn’t notice. And then it got very bleak…once in the terminal there was no one to direct us where to go despite the fact we had been told a Princess rep would meet us. Our group grew as more of us got through immigration and had no idea what to do. 

I was still glad, though, that we weren’t venturing out on our own. The line for the money changer was very long, but the line for a taxi stretched endlessly as people waited in the dark and drizzly evening. Finally, G, who has always been a take charge kind of guy (all those years in the military, I guess) went outside to see if he could find a bus waiting for us. He was gone a long time, but finally returned to get the rest of us. I have no idea how he found the bus, I really don’t, because of all the buses and people out there and it was pitch dark, but he said he kept pointing to that excursion sticker and finally found someone who pointed him in the right direction to a bus a fair distance from the terminal. 

We loaded up the luggage (I think there were two or three buses for our group), and, as I got on the bus, I said exactly what I said in my earlier update, about never being so happy to go somewhere I didn’t even know where I was going and everyone laughed and totally agreed. We were so done. 

Luckily, we had a guide on the bus who told us in English which hotel we were going to and how long the trip would be (about an hour). And then he wrote down our cabin numbers and which kind of room we wanted (king or two beds) and gave us cards to that effect. That was when the whole thing was rather reminiscent of Nice- the bus, the dark, the rain, the cold- and once we arrived at the hotel, G immediately went to get us checked in and I rounded up the luggage. We remembered in Nice that the difference between a short check in time and a long wait was dividing and conquering. 

And, finally, about 7pm we were in our very nice room on the 31st floor in the extremely nice Longemont Shanghai. I went back to the lobby to see if the line to get information about tomorrow’s shuttles had gotten any shorter and on the way back, stopped at the pool and fitness center on the 26th floor to check it out. It was gorgeous, this long infinity pool with a large hot tub and a view of the lights of Shanghai. If I had any energy at all, I would have gone for a swim and soak. G swore he was going to…but we will both be asleep in about 10 minutes. I had slept only 3 hours the last night on the ship, watching the ship’s webcam to see if we were entering the port of Shanghai or still at anchor with all the freighters, and we had remained at anchor all night. 

Regardless of what it took to get there, the day ended well, and G was already counting on squeezing in a visit to the top of the Shanghai Tower, the second tallest building in the world, tomorrow morning. Stay tuned. 

Life is certainly never dull. :-)