A Room With A View

When I went to China with my daughter, I researched everything to the last detail. I found the Castle Boutique Hotel, which doesn’t have its own English-language web site, on review sites like TripAdvisor and Agoda. It was one of the hotels that I could book with points from my travel rewards card, so we could stay there for the full 10 days paying for only 2 of them outright.

The hotel is located on the grounds of the old governor’s mansion in the German Concession neighborhood, surrounded by lovely, quiet gardens. All of the reviews were adamant that you should insist on a room in the front overlooking the gardens.

I don’t remember now if I tried to do so or not, but we ended up in a room at the back, overlooking the neighbors’ back yards. I’m so glad we did. It offered us an oddly intimate view of everyday life in a country where it can be very difficult for tourists to meet locals.

Every morning we woke up and peered out our window overlooking the routines of the family next door. An older couple watched their granddaughter during the day. The grandmother hung laundry and the grandfather gardened while the little girl rode her tricycle around the yard.

I felt like a voyeur who had been caught when one day they noticed us watching them from above. But they were good-natured about it and waved hello. After that, every morning we woke up and peered out our window overlooking the family next door and waved good morning.