Bed and Breakfast, Shanghai
Quintet is a one-of-a-kind bed & breakfast guesthouse located in the historic French Concession neighborhood of Shanghai. At the end of a hectic day in this fast-paced, adrenaline-packed city, come home to a serene oasis to rejuvenate. Stay at one of our five stylish, individually designed rooms in this three-story 1939 garden lane house to get a feel for the history and bygone elegance of Old Shanghai. Enjoy your breakfast or happy hour in our downstairs 808 Private Kitchen or simply relax on the rooftop terrace. Let our attentive and knowledgeable staff pamper you with thoughtful, personalized services. We promise to make your visit an unforgettable one.
For those of you who are spending more than a few days in Shanghai, a day or two out at one of the myriad of water canal towns around Shanghai is a nice choice of excursion. These water towns have been around for a couple hundred years and in recent years, the local government took care to preserve and restore the old buildings and the quaint, small-town feel.
Read MoreIn the last couple of years especially since the World Expo, a new generation of day tours and walking tours have cropped up in Shanghai. For independent travelers who don’t want to tie up all their time with a fixed schedule and group, picking a quality short tour can add depth and understanding to their whole Shanghai experience.
Read MoreWhile you are staying with us, don’t forget to walk around our neighborhood! This west French Concession area is one of the nicest old residential area, where houses and mansions from the early 1900′s of various styles line the streets. If you are a runner, the smaller streets also afford pleasant, tree-lined paths.
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For guests who are staying with us during the holidays this year, we have prepared a small gift in the form of a hand-made stuffed rabbit. Next year (2011) is the Chinese zodiac year of the Rabbit, so we thought our guests might like to take home a little token to mark their visit.
We found these cute rabbits from a cute shop called Ru-Wa, which is located in the JingAn Villa neighborhood. The owners Season and Halei are interested in preserving and reviving the traditional Chinese toy crafts, and opened this workshop/store where they also offer classes on making traditional Chinese kites, lanterns, and other toys. They work with old masters who are still knowledgeable about the traditional construction methods. The old masters cannot be rushed so the items they produced are limited in quantity. :)
When you are visiting Shanghai, be sure to try both of these local snacks. Both of them are types of “bao”, or dumplings, which are typically meat wrapped in flour dough.
Read MoreWhen we opened backed in September last year, I dreamed about having blooming aromatic flowers and thriving colorful plants year-round: an osmanthus here, a tuberose there, and plenty of hydrangeas to cut and put in vases. Grapevines would surround the rooftop walls, while delicate adiantum ferns would flow gently with the wind.
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While the construction was taking place, I started digging into the history of so-called Old Shanghai. Shanghai went through a pretty fascinating hundred years, from the Opium War in 1840 up until end of WWII in 1945. As the resulting of a weakening Qing Dynasty, China lost a series of wars and was forced to open up Shanghai to western countries as an important international port of call. The French and British, among other European countries, set up concession zones in Shanghai and ran these areas according to their own rules.
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Ever since coming back from my guilty Vietnam trip, things have not been going well. The landlord hasn’t signed the sublease agreement and I was back to working on the contracts. Kelley was not happy about the changes in the terms I promised (or we assumed). And coming up with a name for the B&B has been like pulling teeth. I realize that part of the reason for the difficulty was that I haven’t found its personality yet — and I’m a bit worried that I myself do not match the 5-star high-style decor that Don seems to be shaping towards. This is back the question of identity, and there’s really no escape in it. I’ll have to figure that out for myself eventually.
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