The train from Shanghai to Hangzhou was pretty seamless with none of the crazies we’re used to at a place like Penn Station. Not much to see out the window besides sporadic McMansion clusters of neighborhoods and, more frequently, low income housing.

First class express tickets were only about $30, and we were treated to such amenities as the last 5 minutes of the movie Unstoppable…which, maybe not the best choice given the circumstances?

After some brief taxi confusion we made it to Shangri-La. Not the mythical paradise but the sprawling Cold War era luxury retreat on the banks of West Lake.

We were dropped off at the main building, after which loads of staff took care of everything from whisking us away in a golf cart to the executive wing to pressing elevator buttons to getting us tea. It was fantastic.

Included in our rate is the Horizon Lounge, which offers breakfast in the morning, all day WiFi and sodas/coffee, and “canapes” and drinks at night. Um, it is definitely just full dinner with an open bar. That’s fine with us! One of the more hilarious moments was asking the waitress what a small strange green fruit was. “That is a mango.” Oof.

To round out the night we changed into our matching pajamas, clowned around on camera making probably racist faces/gestures, and got to Skyping family back home.

Special thanks to the bowl of ramen noodles that held up the fruit plate we used as background for the Skype shot.

Special NO thanks to Skype crashing constantly and inconsistently allowing video.