So SS and I just got back today from what Grace tells me is a “staycation.” We wanted to go on a trip, but don’t really have the time for a decent one, and the Chinese New Year vacation (which we’re currently on) is generally a bad time to travel around China. So we went to Pudong and stayed at the Hyatt in Shanghai’s new tallest building, the World Financial Center.

To the right is a shot of the Jinmao Tower, previously Shanghai’s tallest building (and also home to another Hyatt hotel). I took it from the lobby of the hotel, on the 87th floor. There’s a cafe there with a great view. We had lunch there the yesterday just before checking in, and had tea and dessert there last night.

Some food from lunch: Some other pics from the hotel (the 85th floor pool, and the bed in our room): Here’s a funny coincidence. I gave the family the book Planet Shanghai as a Christmas present (I ordered it on Amazon) without ever having seen it. Well, the Hyatt puts a copy of that very book in its hotel rooms, so I got to enjoy it during our visit. The toilet was pretty awesome. One of the fancy seat-heated Japanese kind, but not so complicated that it’s hard to use. When you approach it, the lid goes up automatically, and you can even pop the seat up with the press of a button instead of bending down to lift it up. It also flushes automatically when you walk away. So you can take a leak with touching the toilet! Heh…

Argh, there’s so much I want to get done during this precious vacation! I’m getting tense just thinking about how quickly the time is passing…