More about Qingdao - A Winter Day in this interesting city…

This is my second posting from Qingdao — I spent three days here and enjoyed a stay at the Grand Regency Hotel on Hong Kong Street (丽晶大酒店), which is a nice hotel for the price. The rooms are large and nicely furnished (although the overall furnishings are a bit tired). Here is a photo of the insides of the room I stayed in

So on Sunday I decided that it is time to explore the city — no matter how cold it was…After a hearty breakfast in a Chinese buffet - yes, this hotel is Chinese owned and run and with a different view of the breakfast buffet vs. the Grand Hyatt Taipei let’s say… No pineapple here :-( but still had my fried eggs and lots of dumplings…and coffee was OK.

Then after doing some work I braved the howling wind and headed out in the town - the objective was TianHou Temple and the downtown pier at the bay.

Today was a sunny day, but the wind made it still freezing… After a cab ride, I reached the temple and was pleasantly surprised - not crowded and relatively colorful. Bought some Year of the Tiger charms from the monks, and came across a small shop of a paper cuts artist - bought a paper cut of the year of the tiger and she gave me a sheet of her biography - very nice lady.

Then I walked for a mile to the bay with a pier that reaches pretty far out in the sea. On the pier there were all sort of people trying to sell stuff - mostly it appeared illegally (as they hurriedly collected their wares a couple of times while I was there on what appeared the approach of police). I saw a guy display on the boardwalk sea stars (I think that is what they were called — I took pictures)
pulled fresh out of the bay. They were beautiful - yellow undersides and blue-purple tops… I heard one of the mulling people asking or concluding “yes, they are good eating…” — oh, well too bad for the creatures…

Given the freezing wind, it was amazing how many people were on the pier -

my guess many of them visitors from the country side - the local Qingdao crowd was probably staying warm at home ;-) as the rest of us visitors were trying to catch a view of the ocean and city…and I don’t blame them - after about 10minutes on the pier I was ready to head to a warmer place…
That turned out to be the local Parkson Dept. Store…after a quick walk through it - I headed out again and continued my walk along Zhongshan Lu and the near by streets. A detour brought me to an imposing church built on a hill of Zhongshan Lu…a remnant of the times the German residents occupied a large chunk of downtown Qingdao…(The story goes as such - Qingdao was surrendered to Germany in the late 18 hundreds after two German monks were killed in the city and German troops marched here)
Took a lot of pictures - the architecture along side Zhongshan Lu is very interesting - you would think you are in a European town…

By 4:30pm I was finally too cold, so I hailed a cab and headed back to the hotel. The cab was a VW Passat - admitedly a bit nicer than the VW Santana cabs which are prolific - but I had an interesting surprise - “luxury” comes at a price - the meter of that cab was quickly running up the tab… When I asked the driver “what gives…?” - his response was “well new model cab - new price…”. He sounded almost apologetic. By the time I got back to the hotel the meter was at RMB26 !!! While at noon the same trip cost me RMB17!!! What is that - over 50% markup…
Another interesting observation - the paper cut of the Chinese Zodiak Year of the Tiger in a frame done by a local artist cost me RMB25 …hm…?!?! Peculiar…!?!?
The difference between the local and global economy…

Making Hotel Reservations in Beijing

When I was in Beijing a few weeks ago, I found it necessary to change hotels because of dissatisfaction with my current accommodations. What I found to be interesting, however, was the difficulty in getting a good rate when making reservations directly with the hotel. I had checked out room rates online with several candidate hotels, including the New Otani Chang Fu Gong and the Holiday Inn Temple of Heaven, and had found good room rates online–both on sites such as Orbitz and Expedia and on the hotels’ own websites. However, when I called the hotels’ front desks directly in Beijing, I was quoted much higher rates. When I told them that I had found lower rates online, they did not seem surprised, and instead encouraged me to make my reservations online rather than with them! So, keep this in mind if you ever need to make a last minute hotel change in Beijing. In my case, I made my reservations for the Holiday Inn Temple of Heaven online (using the complimentary internet access in my room) about 30 minutes before I checked out of the Holiday Inn Downtown. Had I not done so, I would have paid considerably more per night.

Holiday Inn Temple of Heaven Beijing vs. Holiday Inn Downtown

During my recent trip to Beijing to purchase jewelry and Christmas ornaments for my store–www.chinafinds.com, I decided to try out a new hotel. During many previous visits to Beijing, I have stayed at the Holiday Inn Temple of Heaven, which I have found to be an excellent value, if a trifle out of the way. This time, I decided to try out the Holiday Inn Downtown because of its very close proximity to the subway. I reserved a room on the executive floor, with a room rate that was about $15 per night more expensive than the executive floor at the Temple of Heaven, figuring that the increased convenience of the location was perhaps worth the increased cost. However, I am sorry to say that I left after only one night. My reservation had fortunately been prepaid only for the first night, so I hightailed it over to the Holiday Inn Temple of Heaven the next morning where I paid less and got more. The only thing that the Holiday Inn Downtown had going in its favor was its proximity to the subway. It was very close–just a few minutes easy walk. The Holiday Inn Temple of Heaven is also accessible via the subway, but it is a good 10 minute brisk walk. The walk is through quite a pleasant Beijing residential area, however, and was only problematic if it was raining. Overall, I found the food was better at the Temple of Heaven, the rooms were larger and quieter, and the staff seemed better trained and more attentive. It really is an excellent value for accommodation in Beijing.

Don’t miss out on the Holiday Inn Temple of Heaven on your next trip to Beijing!

On my recent trip to Beijing to visit friends and purchase new stock for my online store Chinafinds, I stayed in the Holiday Inn Temple of Heaven. For anyone not familiar with this hotel, it is a real bargain jewel. Its biggest drawback is its location, which is convenient to the Hongqiao Pearl Market and the Temple of Heaven itself, but not to anything else. However, it still fairly central and a fairly short cab ride can get you anywhere you need to go. I really like the hotel because 1) the price is right (about $100 for an executive floor room with buffet breakfast included) 2) the staff are very kind and attentive 3) the rooms, at least on the executive floor, are clean, well kept up and comfortably furnished 4) the food in the breakfast buffet is good. I have stayed in many fancy and expensive hotels around the world and consider myself to be quite a hotel snob, but this place meets my basic standards and doesn’t break the bank.

Hotel Reviews: Hong Kong Island Le Meridien, Kowloon Sheraton, Shenzhen: Venetian Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Shangri-La (LuoHu)

I have been asked on a number of occasions for recommendations on good / convenient hotels in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. There are many travelers (both business and tourist alike) who need to spend time in both cities and/or stay in one and have to do business in the neighboring one as well…long story short, here is a brief set of views of hotels in Shenzhen and Hong Kong:

• Hong Kong Island: Le Meridien Hotel
• This hotel is located on the South side of Hong Kong island, in the area called Cyberport, located near by Stanley.
• The hotel is relatively new — my first stay there was in the Fall of 2004. It is a modern hotel with very good amenities, attentive staff, and excellent rooms. At the time (2004) it was one of the hotels I knew about that had flat panel TVs (plasma TVs) in each room
• Here is a link to some photos from the hotel:

Hotel_Reviews_SouthernChina_HongKong

• Kowloon: Sheraton - this hotel is located on Nathan Road very near by MTR station and near by plenty of pubs, restaurants, and shops. If you are craving for some British pub atmosphere (if you have spend a tad too long in Asia) you can visit a great pub in a basement near by the Sheraton and have some good beer and pot pie. The hotel itself is very comfortable. Great rooms, the rate is bit on the expensive side, but given the location that can be expected. You can get to the hotel with a shuttle bus from the airport (same for going to the airport).

• Shenzhen: Venetian Crowne Plaza. If you are going to do most of your business in Shezhen you might as well stay in Shenzhen (rather than Hong Kong). The hotels are definitely cheaper on the Shenzhen side of the border. The Venetian is an excellent hotels. It is part of the chain that includes the Holiday Inn, but believe me there is nothing in common between the two. Actually, in Shenzhen, there is also a Holiday Inn hotel, which I DO NOT recommend. The Holiday Inn (based on one stay there) is not a hotel that warrants the amount of money you need to spend. If the Venetian is booked then you should opt for the Shangri-La (located near the Shenzhen railway station).
  The Venetian is an excellent hotel for both business and tourist travelers. It is located near by the Windows of the World park, and about RMB70 from the Shenzhen airport, or about RMB80 from the Ferry dock (for the ferry from Hong Kong Int’l airport).
• The Shangri-La is located in the area called LuoHu. This hotel is conveniently located if you need to make day trips into Hong Kong. You can walk to the border (about 5 minutes from the hotel), cross on foot through immigration, and on the other side get on the MTR (the Hong Kong mass transit railway), and head for TaiPo or Kowloon areas among others.

Places to Stay in Beijing

Lately I have seen on many forums questions about finding accomodations in Beijing in the range of US$100/night in a nice hotel (4 star +). So I decided to do a quick posting with my experience from Beijing and will follow with postings about Shanghai and Shenzhen (also frequented destinations). So here are my suggestions for Beijing:

• You can get a good rate at the Holiday Inn near the Temple of Heaven. That hotel will also put you near the Hong Qiao Market. The hotel rate was for RMB800 on the executive floor (which includes breakfast plus food during the day on the Club floor lounge).
• Hotel New Otani Chang Fu Gong == I have stayed in this one 2 years ago (when I was relocating to Beijing);
• Traders Hotel == I have stayed here too (located behind China World hotel near subway station GuoMao)
• Park Plaza Wangfujing == I have not stayed here but have heard it is OK;
• Rosedale Hotel (located near the DaShanZi area - near Lido Holiday Inn) == also have not stayed here but have had dinner in one of its restaurants — it was good.
• The North Garden Hotel == apparently good hotel with convenient location;