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Shanghai 2025: Birthday in the skies
posted : Saturday, August 02, 2025
And here we go, the next series. Probably the last series in a bit since I don’t have much things noteworthy in the second half of the year (Brunei and KL doesn’t count lol).
Covered the planning part of the trip in the previous post already but just wanted to say that the hoped upgauge didn’t happen, so that means flying F for the first time. Adding another class to my SQ collection so I’m just missing the Premium Economy now (which I don’t envision myself redeeming miles for OR spending cash on flimsy upgrade from Y so I think we’ll leave it at that). But it did mean another trip to The Private Room (and basically all the SQ lounges in Changi) so guess what I did. Yes, I went to airport the night before. Flight was at 930am on a Friday morning so I spent like 13 hours in the airport (which is slightly shorter than the last time I did this lol). Obviously not spending a day of leave for this again so we just have to make do with two meals this time round awww. But to compensate for that I duly made my rounds at all three lounges that were basically within the same area of T3 for both meals lolol, taking care not to stuff myself too full at each stop and really only trying things that are slightly interesting.  Here I am again! Grab driver didn’t miss it this time round  It’s really a over the top thing to have a large space just for 5 minutes of check in because literally nobody hangs around after the procedures  New card stock unlocked  Champagne to start! Tried not to drink too much in case I can’t sleep again  A bit disappointed that I was unlucky enough that the menu rotated back to what I experienced the last time round. Started dinner with a double boiled figs and lily chicken soup  Chicken cordon bleu is something I didn’t get to try previously, this was pretty good  The portion a bit small so I ordered a lobster laksa pasta  And this chocolate fondant is back in rotation and i remembered it well from the last visit so had another round of it.  Went to FCL and tried their rendition of satay from the cook to order kitchen  Business class lounge’s dish that piqued my interest is Sarawak noodles which I always enjoyed the springy texture of the noodles.  And mandatory pic And of course there’s the sleeping situation. Sleeping overnight in one of the nap rooms is a commonly reported hack though some caution that it may be a hit and miss thing. The idea is, TPR is closed from 2.30am to 5.30am (I don’t know why I remembered it as 2-5am at that time, but you’ll see what happened later). Guests would normally be asked to use the First Class lounge during this period, but if nobody is using the nap room the staff may just allow you to stay inside it, giving you another few hours of uninterrupted rest (on a very very nice bed). So when I was done with my dinner/supper rounds at the three lounges at around 11, I attempted to reserve one room at 12am, thinking that I might just get it through 5am (because I was under the impression that I’ll be chased out at 5 when the lounge reopens unless I book another couple of hours). Was told I can’t reserve in advance and to come back closer to 12am, which’s fine, and staff also confirmed that she won’t chase me out if nobody is using. So I went about chilling in the lounge for another hour. When I returned at around midnight it was another staff on duty and she very curtly told me no, she will chase me out at 2am because “I have flights arriving later and there may be customers who want to use the rooms”. And finally she said I could come out and reserve again if I need which left me very confused and annoyed (more at her tone). So challenge accepted. I got the room anyway, and off to bed I go.  Back in a nap room! Oh the Tempur bed And it was a very good quality sleep I must say, fell asleep within seconds on the zero gravity mode lol what sorcery is this. Which had me looking up the price of a Tempur mattress but oh well never mind unless my future significant other want to share the cost (actually no I think that still won’t work). I did have to wake up a few times in the night, get off the bed and walk towards the door to switch off the room light which kept coming on - I brought this up to staff the next morning and was told because the room is usually used in 2-hour slots the lights are programmed to switch on every 2 hours. Oh that’s quite smart and that explains why. But if you get the drift now basically I wasn’t disturbed by any staff throughout the night (or maybe I slept through it), only by the lights. And it is really only when I am writing this post (lol) that I realised why the staff reacted in that manner - my 2 hour slot would have ended at 2am whereas the lounge closes at 2.30am - meaning to say there’s a half an hour time gap where someone may want to use the room (even if it’s just for half an hour). But I guess nobody did. Anyway because I thought the lounge reopens at 5am I woke up at said timing and went off to freshen myself (now I also understood why there wasn’t anybody manning the shower counters). And I think why I never realise this gaffe of mine at that time is because I really took my time and by the time I returned the key card and sat down at the dining area it was already 5.45am which means the lounge is already staffed.  Breakfast dish of note is the congee which I find a bit lacking in flavour sadly.  Also had my usual lobster laksa haha. Because I wanted to drop by other lounges I saved some stomach space and didn’t order a breakfast platter  Got a juice though My flight is almost 4 hours later so I had plenty of time to roam around all three lounges again and still kill time at TPR.  These are available throughout the day  Ordered prata. I remembered liking the curry  Yes fresh coconut juice.  One round at business class lounge but only took the buffet items so nothing to show here. Back to TPR and server remembered my coffee preference heh. Then here’s the other part of the very eventful journey - I was using the charging points with my own adapter and when I eventually left the lounge, I removed the cable and left the adapter there (probably forgot that I plugged in my own adapter and thinking it’s one of those built in ones). Only realised that more than halfway into my flight because I wanted to charge my watch. Panic-live chatted SQ customer service (hmm this line sounded familiar) but the reply was mechanical as usual asking me to log a report at SATS zzzz zero f given for First Class customers which I lodged a complaint a few days later when SATS didn’t move an inch regarding my report. I didn’t feel like I was being a Karen because it literally was something that could have easily been resolved because I knew exactly where I lost the item, and it’s at a location where literally very few people can access because of the exclusivity for SQ First Class/Suites customers only and there aren’t many in a day. In my mind the CSO could have very easily linked me up to TPR staff and I could collect it on my way back but no, we had to go one big round through SATS. Anyway the complaint worked because magically within the day itself SQ replied to tell me they found it (with a detailed description of the item which I didn’t even include for SATS), gave me a new case number (which later caused me some problems) and told me SATS will reach out to me for collection arrangements. To which SATS never did so guess who had to call in again after coming back to SG. And in fact after putting me on hold to “check on some details” (because I had two different case numbers, the original one which I had lodged myself went unanswered to this day btw) the dude (outsourced to India) hung up altogether wtf. Long story short I had to go back to airport to collect it and even the eventual collection was a bit dramatic because (okay this is my own fault) I didn’t realise I had to go into airside to collect it. Only remembered the part where the Indian dude told me I had to report to info counter at T3 arrival and I assumed they had it there, but no, I was supposed to bring my passport and boarding pass because they had to process clearance for me to enter airside to collect it from the lost and found counter at airside. Sigh again if they had told me earlier while I was still at SH I would have collected it on my way out when I returned and not go through all this trouble. But in the end they managed to process it for me still, I entered airside without complications, then the next part of the complication came because the lady at Lost and Found couldn’t find my item gahhhh. Why do you all not have a more systematic way of doing things. She went from the store behind her, to another location, came back empty handed, and finally found it in the original store room behind her zzzzz this took almost 45 minutes I kid you not. All for this adapter that I was too stingy to buy a new one hahah. Sorry for the huge digress but there wasn’t any other post for me to fit in this story so. And we hadn’t even get to the flight story hahahah (or even my Day 1 at Shanghai lolol). Flight time! Of course the customary greetings (Mr Low is here!) and being pampered, at one point before the flight I thought I had the entire cabin for myself coz nobody pre-selected the other 3 seats. As it turned out 3 out of 4 seats were occupied, the other two just didn’t bother until 48hours before. Crew were warm and polite as usual, but even with the knowledge that this was a birthday flight for me they didn’t go out of their way to make it even more memorable other than repeated beverage offerings (I only remembered later on I could have asked for caviar, there’s usually a caviar course and though they don’t do it for breakfast, they stock it because one of the regular breakfast menu items is eggs with caviar). I didn’t even need them to set up a bed for me! The cake was as good as something I’d get out of Business (and even Econ) with a customary, simple message. Then I was also told that if I had brought up my lost item issue to them on flight (I didn’t because I didn’t think it was their problem) they would have been able to pull some strings. So that was definitely a first world problem to have, to think that it wasn’t a massive step up from Business, and thinking I wouldn’t pay extra miles for the upgrade in future unless I want another go at TPR.  Rainy morning  Took a left turn towards my seats  Oh hiiii.  Starting with an orange juice. Too early for blinis  Warm nuts served after take off and it’s no longer too early for champagne. Even I can tell that this Cristal is gooood. Very smooth.  Starting breakfast with a pain au chocolat and iced Milo in the background  Fruits to start  And yoghurt  And despite this being a breakfast service it wasn’t that early (I was able to specify when I wanted my meal) so this is as good as an early lunch and I duly ordered BTC for it. Lobster thermidor again!  Cake featuring bear as the only deco, they couldn’t even part with two bears sigh. Luckily I already had this collection so I also didn’t ask for the female bear  One with me.  Amenity kit was already at my seat when I boarded. Pyjamas I didn’t even change into because I wasn’t planning to sleep. Arriving at Shanghai, as usual there was this feeling of unfamiliarity and not knowing where to go, reliance on signs etc, just that there was no language barrier so all was good. A few simple questions by immigration officer (on my way out of SH later on, I was asked to describe how to write my name in Chinese lolol I was slightly stumped by that, didn’t see it coming) and I was good to go. Everything is new to me - making payment in app to buy Maglev ticket, booking my first Didi ride through the mini program in WeChat, actually locating the pick up point etc. I was still alone at this point in the trip, the BFF had reached SH one night earlier and I was supposed to meet him at the hotel directly.  My first steps in mainland China.  Maglev train to 龙阳路 which is somewhat near city  The 308kmh train  Switched to Didi There was a slight hiccup though, as the room that he had stayed in the night before had drainage issues which caused a bit of flooding in the bathroom, so we had to switch rooms. There’s a bit of story of how I canceled my original booking and used his name to book a new room a few days prior to the trip too, but I’m a bit lazy to tell now. Hahah gist of it is so that he could use his Hyatt Globalist privileges which he couldn’t do outright if the booking was tagged to my name (he would have to use a Guest of Honor award instead) but it also complicated things a bit in that the room rates are obviously very different from the ones I originally secured. Anyway! Switched rooms, went up to the lounge for dinner/supper, and night fell so there’s not much on the agenda for the day, only to explore the Bund and the Nanjing Street pedestrian mall.  This view is chefs kiss.  Went up to lounge for happy hour. Modest offerings to be honest and KH took issue with the alcoholic offerings. I had a bigger issue with the labels which were very misplaced most of the time leading to concerns of eating forbidden meat  Back to our room to freshen up a bit before heading out and omg this view  Took a walk to the Bund  Walked past Nanjing Road entrance and wow this crowd  The Bund is not short of crowd either  Spent some time here  Another excellent night skyline photo to add to my collection.  And I loved these buildings at the Bund.  Ok it looks scary at the entrance but once you’re in it’s actually not too bad, in terms of crowd level. Spent quite some time here poking into random shops  Finishing the night with a bbt coz we are thirsty and just grabbed whatever we can find Called it a night! Had been a long day and this had been a long post haha.  Oh and cake from hotel coz, you know. |
