A view of our living room and dining room at the Rayfont, with Dimitri's computer (Audre's desk was in the bedroom)
What a deal! The name is: Rayfont Hotel & Apartment Shanghai Celebrity, 1077 Xietu Road, Shanghai 200032, China, Tel. (86-21) 5407-8008, website: http://www.longemonthotels.com/. The English speaking reservation agent at the apartment is: Michelle Zheng, Senior Sales Manager, e-mail: michelle.zheng@longemonthotel.com Tel. (86-21)5407-7038, Mobile: 138-1834-0636 and she was very nice and helpful.
The building had a gym and a pool. We used the gym about 3 times a week and while it was very hot, it was adequate. We had maid service once a week and that was enough. The restaurant at the Rayfont was atrocious.
When we arrived in Shanghai, we took the MagLev (magnetic levitation) into town and then a taxi to the hotel that Dimitri had identified for our first few days in Shanghai (while we looked for an apartment).
The MagLev whisked us into town at 300kph; a real treat!
The hotel Dimitri had identified for us to stay in was called New Harbour Service Apartment (No. 88 Yongshou Road, Shanghai, Tel. (86-21)6355-1889, web: www.newharbour.com.nc ). The exchange rate was ¥6.8 = US$1 at the airport so the daily rate of ¥500 per day for their apartment 402 was US$73.53. That was higher than we wanted to spend. The apartment itself was large enough (60 sq. meters) but did not come equipped with anything, including anything for the kitchen. A spoon would have cost extra. Dealing with the front desk was a nightmare. When we asked about a long term rate for an apartment at New Harbour we were told that it would cost more than the daily rate. What an operation!
However the location of the New Harbour was terrific, especially for newbies in Shanghai and we loved the area for restaurants. Click here to read all of our restaurant reviews, including those for the Huangpu area where the New Harbour was.
Dimitri had plotted our apartment search and was able to master the subway and bus system so that for our first 3 days in Shanghai, we went all over town looking at apartments that he thought would be good, as well as neighborhoods that would be good for us. Pudong was too far from the downtown area to be interesting for us but we looked there. We thought that the farther we went from the center, the cheaper it would be. That didn't turn out to be correct. In the end, we loved the Rayfont neighborhood (not at all touristic), at the intersection of Xietu and Ruijin in the southern part of the Luwan area, and the apartment was one of our best in the world at a price we thought was a bargain.
I want to share my experience with regard to accommodation. I had to be in Argentina for 2 months and at first I had thought about a hotel since I did not know what the other lodging options were. A friends that had done the trip told me that the most common and practical thing was to rent Buenos Aires apartments since they usually were very affordable, comfortable and super nicely decorated. It was true, the furniture was surprisingly new and matched with the rest of the house. The place was located near everything I needed (classes and tourist areas) I recommend everybody to rent!
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