HotelChatter

In Pudong sits the Grand Hyatt Shanghai, occupying floors 53-87 of the Jin Mao skyscraper dead between the Oriental Pearl Tower (like something out of a 1950s science fiction dream) and the World Financial Center.

The Hyatt's five-star rating and 555 rooms will undoubtedly attract a good share of the World Expo crowd, but skip the stay and instead head straight to the top: Cloud 9 bar on the 87th floor. The cost of one drink here, the world's highest bar, is roughly the same as admission to the crowded viewing platform, so there are no excuses.

Reaching this slice of sky requires three separate elevators, an experience a bit like going through the decontamination chambers for DaVinci's Last Supper but thankfully with more alcohol at the end. Once you're good and tipsy make sure to sneak around for a view down into the famous barrel-vaulted atrium, second in height only to that of the Burj Al Arab.

Now, we've been a lot of everywhere, but this experience succeeded in giving us vertigo for the first time in our life.

Should you want to head to the Jin Mao Hyatt and test your own will, a tip: take a taxi. The "Tourist Tunnel" underneath the river should be avoided at all costs as should any advertised tunnels, and taking the subway is liable to get you killed because there is no easy way to then cross the 8-lane Century Avenue without finding yourself in a game of Atari's Freeway.

Over on the slower-paced Puxi side, Shanghai's very own 235-bed Peninsula is looking good, with a target debut date of sometime in 2009. When we sauntered past its prime spot just off the Bund (a now-ritzy stretch of former colonial trading offices), the construction had reached halfway through its projected 15-story height.

If completed in time for the Olympics, this will be a sure extension to the vacations of Beijing ticket-holders opting to take in more than the modern games.

You know we'll stay on the scene; think of the all the packages these properties could offer. In any case, China is where we spent our stimulus check.