On Friday, we said goodbye to Inner Mongolia, the capital of the province where all 3 of our kids come from.
Here are some final views from our room at the Shangri-La Hotel in Hohhot. This was a really nice hotel and the first night we were in it we had adjoining rooms. Peter ended up stepping on a carpet nail (didn't puncture the skin fortunately) which got us bumped to the Executive level rooms. We still had adjoining rooms which was really nice. 1 king bed in one room and all 3 kids slept in that. And then one other room with 2 large single beds in it where Peter and i and Isaac slept.
(lilli had her own room)
This was a view from our room.
And we had Executive lounge access so could go hang out there any time of the day as well.
It was really nice.
They also kept sending us bowls of fresh fruit everyday.
Thanks Peter, for stepping on that nail...lol
We loved the location of this hotel because it was in the heart of the city. We found a great noodle restaurant right straight across the street and down a flight of stairs. We got stared at a lot because it was obviously a very local place. ALL the noodles were spicy. Even the ones that looked "harmless" and like chicken soup. yowsa. But, really cheap and really yummy.
There was also quite a bit of shopping around there and we hit a bunch of the shops there too. I would vote for this hotel over the Sheraton, not because of the hotel itself (both are about equal in my opinion) but because of location.
This is how the kids slept for 4 nights. One big monkey pile.
headin' out with gifts from IM in tow.
Heading out of their homeland and off to a new life.
When we arrived in Guangzhou at the Garden Hotel, Lucas made an immediate buddy- a conceirge from Germany. He was a character and Lucas loved him.
Our guide Richard told us there was construction going on at the Garden Hotel and we should ask for the apartments right away which were in another tower. With all our people, we ended up getting 2 apartments---and not extra charge.
In the end we moved everyone out of one on the 17th floor and into the one on the 20th floor because it was even bigger. -- I realized I didn't take pictures of the 20th floor one after we left.
For families who want info on the Garden Hotel in GZ...
The apartments are great for many reasons.
1. more space
2. full kitchen
3. laundry including a full washer and dryer. This is a gift when you are traveling and have a lot of people.
4. we could all be together but have separate beds/or bedrroom
Our layout in room 2007 was...2 rooms with king sized beds. 1 room with 2 large singles. So all 7 of us were able to be together.
5. Microwave and full refrigerator---keep drinks cold, and reheated leftovers from restaurants. Saved us money on lunches a few times.
Negatives:
The carpet on the 20th floor hallway looks like it hasn't been cleaned in 20 years. And it was stinky and musty smelling in my opinion.
The apartment itself was ok, but needs remodeling. After spending time in really nice clean well maintained hotels up to this point, I was not super thrilled when we got to the apartments. But, to be honest, I was grateful for it in the end. I can't tell you how many loads of laundry I was able to do for this crowd. Very nice.
We did not look at the regular rooms because we were pretty much convinced this was the way to go. It would have cost us more money but we could have gotten a third room for my sister in law on that side if we had stayed in the regular rooms. But, again that would have been several hundred more dollars.
The last time we were in Guanzhou we stayed at the Marriott. It was super nice. However, I loved the location of the Garden better. We were in the heart of many restaurant choices for really cheap.
Here are a few
1. Tekela--A Mazing Mexican food--funny but we did it one night and it was really good! but much pricier than other chinese restaurant foods.
2. Pizza place--name is escaping me--not Pizza Hut. SUPER yummy thin crust pizza.
3. Jiu Mao Jiu 九毛九--We ate here twice. SUPER cheap really great hand made dumplings, hand made noodles and other great food.
4. Starbucks right across the street.
There were lots of stores to look at and a "grocery store" just a few blocks up called Aenon. We really liked this location better than the lcoation of the Marriott. So it's all a trade off.
\
The view from our rooms
Our first night we decided to head to the Mexican Restaurant. Emma and Fei Fei kind of thought the food was weird I think. But, they found things to eat. It's nice that they can read a menu and choose from it themselves.
This boy tries lots of foods. And has a big appetite.
This boy was happy to have something different. He enjoyed the Chinese food, but sometimes a guy just needs a big ole Mexican style burger. He said it was really good.
No comments:
Post a Comment