Shanghai - August 2019

Back for only my second trip this year. Flew on Tuesday afternoon. However, I got caught in the Hong Kong protests. Terminal 1 was completely blocked so I had to go through terminal 2. I was very lucky that my plane took off. They closed the airport for the second day in a row, after I left.

Had my signature Bloody Mary in the Lounge...

Arrived in Shanghai and used my new APEC card to use the priority lane at immigration. Then caught maglev / subway to Swissotel in Jing'An.

I wanted to stay here as it is a more lively area than Pudong where our preferred hotel is located. That means I have to catch the subway to work, but it is easy - no change of line needed.

I woke up the first day to beautiful blue skies. Quite unusual and I believe a result of the typhoon that went through last weekend. This is the view from my room...

Heading to work on the subway is a bit squeezy :-)

Porsche Asia Pacific's headquarters are in my office building. The rotate the display cars in the lobby...

Went to lunch on Wednesday with my team. There's a new mall attached to our building with many restaurants. This one is a chain called Paradise Dynasty. Famous for the different coloured Xiao Long Bao...

Wednesday night I went to a rooftop bar about a 15 minute walk from my hotel. Called Kartel. I had been there before but it rained so I had to sit in the restaurant. This time I sat outside. Many foreigners there...

On Thursday lunchtime I caught the subway one stop to Xiaonanmen and walked to the South Bund Fabric Market where I had a suit made last time. This time I ordered a linen jacket and two shirts.

Back to work and had lunch nearby. They didn't take my credit card and I only had RMB70. So they threw in the coffee for free which was nice...

I asked my colleague to buy me some jasmine tea to take back. She used taobao and it was delivered to the office...

Thursday night I walked about 10 minutes to Wuding Road, a street of bars and restaurants that had been recommended. I got there just before happy hour was due to end, so I ordered two drinks straight away !

Had burritos...

Friday morning they do a thing in the office called Friday Breakfast Club. Nice dim sum and fruit...

Friday night it was back to Wuding Road and a new place that had been recommended, called La Social. Quirky decor and mexican food and cocktails...

On the way home, I stopped at this bar for a last drink. Malabar...

Saturday morning I slept in, then went on a search for coffee. When I started coming to Shanghai, only a year ago, you couldn't get a flat white anywhere. Now it's easy and there are many cool western style cafes. This one was in a mall right next to Jing'An Metro.

I then caught the metro to Yuyuan Gardens metro. I had never been to Yu Gardens. It was very hot and crowded so I didn't queue to go into the gardens, but I walked around the area. Very touristy markets and shops, but some interesting architecture...

That's Shanghai Tower in the background. We are just across the river...

Then I walked to the fabric market and picked up my clothes. This is the linen jacket I had made for A$80 !

Then found another cafe in Jing'An...

That night I went back to Wuding Road to a place called Barbarian. Cool terrace restaurant with nice meat skewers for dinner...

Sunday I went to free-flow brunch at the W. Cool place, great views, okay food...

It was very hot so was glad to be sitting inside...

Taxi to Longyang Road, and back on the maglev to the airport.

My plane was delayed 3 hours due to weather in HK. Finally landed at 1140 and headed home. Great week.

Bangkok - August 2019

On the spur of the moment I decided to have a weekend in Bangkok. Want to get away from typhoons and protests !

Flew after work Friday night. Easy 3 hour flight on Cathay. Went Business Class as that had the best flight times. Annoyingly they were out of the Beef Rendang - my favourite.

Stayed at Centara Grand. Got upgraded to Club Floor. This is the view from my room on Level 43...

And the pool is nice but it was very windy...

There was a bombing the day I arrived. Reminder that not everywhere is as safe as Hong Kong !

On Saturday I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art, about a 30 minute drive away...

Then went for dinner at a new restaurant called Plu. It's pretty quiet but I was early.

That night headed to Red Sky which is one of the bars in the hotel...

Then up to the rooftop bar called Cru. Really stunning and the service was great. It started to sprinkle and we were brought umbrellas...

Sunday had a late breakfast and checked out the mall attached to the hotel. Then headed to an early lunch here for another great meal. Had to book this one.

Love the bar in the restaurant...