The fog rolled in as we stepped out of the taxi in Pudong, in Shanghai.
The fog reminded me of San Francisco.
Chelsea, French Husband and I planned to go up the third tallest building in the world, and walk across the glass floor.
The fog put a detour in our plan.
Instead we went out to lunch. Deciding that after lunch we would go see the world like a bird in the sky. My fingers were crossed that the fog would melt away as we ate.
Next door to the “Bottle Opener” (The nickname of the the World Finance Tower, “The Shanghai World Financial Center, is a soaring glass skyscraper with a distinctive opening at the top. The original plans called for a 46 meter (151 foot) circular opening that would reduce wind pressure and also suggest Chinese symbolism for the moon. Many people protested that the design resembled the rising sun on the Japanese flag. Eventually the opening was changed from circular to a trapezoid shape.” The image of a bottle opener came to mind to many hence the nickname: Bottle Opener) is the Park Hyatt Hotel, we went inside and up the fifty-fourth floor to have lunch.
Buffet lunch at Park Hyatt…. The food: The paper thin layered tofu was something that will haunt me until I can figure out how to make it myself! That was a masterpiece in deliciousness. The varied menu of taste, seduction and mastery of flavors was the taste of perfection… or better yet, it can best be described as something I read on a menu at PURE LOTUS in Beijing. The menu read to describe a dessert as:
“The Cake that Makes Your Mother Break Her Diet for the Thirtieth Time”
Not that I had cake… unless you count the entire experience as a cake with icing and a cherry on top.
While we swooned over lunch the fog kept coming in.
As the fog thicken French Husband had a second dessert, Chelsea tried a cucumber-celery drink, and I joined them by having another piece of the Tofu that tasted like a savory baklava…. what better way to try to figure out what each of those delicate flavors were that sang harmony on my tongue.
(Photo of Pumpkin Chestnut Soup, Pistachio Black Forest Cherry tart, Celery Cucumber Drink and Sushi. Each with a perfect Chinese twist added.)
We had a window seat that let us watch the fog wrap around us like cotton candy.
It seemed pointless to go to the top on the “Bottle Opener” since we could not even see out of the fifty-fourth floor where we were having lunch.
This was the view as we looked up…. talk about having one’s head in the clouds.
As we set out towards the Bird and Insect market, Chelsea squealed, “Oh no no no we must, I nearly forgot, we must go to the bathroom inside of the “Bottle Opener”, you will love it!”
A bathroom as a destination?
My poor child, finding thrills in such places. French Husband looked at me as if to say “She takes after you, finding fun wherever she goes… literally goes.”
As we walked in I imagined the building’s public bathroom to be ultra sleek, possibly having an assortment of perfumes, lotions, potions and wrapped chocolates or something to cause my daughter to bouncing the way she was as she entered in.
Instead I found a classic no thrill public bathroom.
Chelsea pointed to the stalls, she giggled as she went in… I went to the stall next to her thinking to myself, “Ah the joy of feet dangling!” Let me tell you the joy it is after seeing squat toilets.
But no no no… Dangling Feet was not the joyous surprise… no no no it was something I had never ever seen before, nor ever heard of…. My daughter’s thrill was a super duper toilet.
What is a Super Duper Toilet: It is a toilet that has:
1) Seat Regulator: Up, down, lower, higher…
2) Temperature controlled toilet seat: Hot, warm or cold.
3) Water jet spray for your rear end with a control system: Slow, fast, massaging, spray… (Honest to God.)
4) Water temperature control: Hot, warm or cold.
5) Frontal water jet spray (same as Rear System.)
And that is not all that toilet had….
6) A dryer, again you could control the air temperature.
7) Are you ready for this… Powder deodorant mist.
The question is not whether I played around with the control panel on the side of the toilet, nor if I enjoyed it, nor how hard Chelsea and I laughed But if French Husband had encountered the same type of toilets in the men’s bathroom?
We waited an eternity for him to come out of the men’s bathroom, and when he did he had the funniest face when he said, “I couldn’t get it to stop!”
I peed my pants right there and then.
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