Hotels: Your home away from home, but way nicer and someone else makes the bed every day.

I intended to cover the remaining topics in order as I posted them, but whatever.  I can do what I want.

So our hotels were included in the price of the package.  And they sure knew how to pick 'em!  The rooms were nice, on the super-nice end of the spectrum I would say. They say 5 star, I'd say 4 1/2 , again just because I can.

One thing I found interesting was the need to have the bathroom open into the main bedroom.  I don't know if it was feng shui or just because they thought Americans like to see the TV while they're in the shower, but still.  It was weird.  Paying the difference to have a room to myself was the smartest move ever.  I would have had to endure 9 days of stagefright, and that's just not good for one's bladder.

So here we go: the room in Beijing:

The next hotel in Suzhou was interesting.  Although the bathroom was a separate, normal, 4-walled bathroom with no peep glass, I ended up with a weird suite.

Start in the tiled foyer...

Move to the living room (note the office at the top left)

Spin around and check out the bedroom.

I would have taken a picture of the bathroom, but at that time, I didn't know the bathrooms here were magical.  Apparently, in the middle of the night (mostly to play jokes on those who have had too much to drink) the toilets have been known to move around the room.  And everyone knows hows hard it is to aim for a moving target while the room is spinning. Just ask the poor housekeeper who cringed at the simple, understated "Sorry" note, and a few extra dollars.

Moving on to the hotel in Hangzhou...this was interesting.  The seemingly solid wall next to the bed is obviously the wall of the bathroom.  However, upon close examination, it was easy to see that it once held a window. What the heck? Some rooms still had the peep shade.  I just don't get it.

This also confused me.  The toilet was in a stall.  A glass stall.  I can understand having a wall to keep the water in the shower, but a glass door felt like overkill.

We noticed that the hotel rooms were all registered to the tour group-- none of us had credit cards on file for incidental charges.  So at every check out, a member of the hotel staff would hurry to your room to check for damage and inventory the minibar.  Then our guide would walk up & down the aisle of the bus and have people pay cash on the spot.  Apparently, although the toothpaste was free, the condoms were not.  Further, it seems that we were just about the only rooms who didn't take the condoms.  Watching poor little Emily ask folks for $3 for condoms was priceless.  She tried to ask people quietly, and some laughed it off "Oh yeah! They were great souvenirs!" and other people crumbled and uttered through clenched teeth "I don't have any cash.  Just give her $3. Stop asking me why! Pay her and I'll tell you later."

Our hotel in Shanghai might have been my favorite.  I love how the bathtub was just more than an arm's length from the bed.  Wooden panel doors slid around to separate the bathroom from the bedroom, but what's the point when you have no roommate? Nothing better than wrapping up a long day by soaking in the tub, watching HBO (one of the only English channels) and eating Peanut Butter M&Ms.

Not to mention the art above the toilet screamed "Dave Matthews Band" to me.

Like long lost cousins...

Unfortunately, probably the most sleep I got was on the flight home.  The window seat in the very last row of the plane was surprisingly comfortable, or I was exceedingly exhausted.  Either way, it was like the 5th hotel, but not as nice and you couldn't walk around in your underwear.