UNUSUAL HOTELS

There are 7 star hotels like the Burj Al Arab Hotel - designed to reflect a sail billowing in the wind. An architectural feat of glass and steel. I like these 2 hotels better where there is a bit of personality and OK, they do not look as grand, but don't you think they have more character?The first one, I present the Tianzi Hotel....

Tianzi Hotel (Son of the Heaven/Emperor Hotel) in China. The 3 statues represent what every Chinese is taught as soon as they can understand - Fu, Lu and Shou; Gods of Happiness, Prosperity and Longevity. Fu on the right holds a scroll and Shou with the high forehead (left) carries a peach which represents long life.

These Gods are built up to 10 stories high and have been listed in the Guiness Book of Records as the World's Biggest Image Hotel in 2001. The peach in Shou's hand is actually a suite with the two holes as windows.

The Hotel does provide the basic recreational activities like tennis court, massage and sauna, and entertaiment Karaoke and night club. The website exists but most links are still probably under construction as when I tried to find more information, the pages were blank.

Acknowledgment to David Eaves who broke the story and the link to his article is: http://www.killerdirectory.com/blog/architecture/strange-hotel.html

Image credit: godeyes.cn

The word "Ren" in Mandarin means people. A hotel cum sports cum conference centre in the shape of the word has been proposed for the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. It lookd good and will represent the vitality of the Chinese people, but will it materialised?