Today is my last full day in China and I will take it slow. I'm currently in Beijing and will head out to see the Summer Palace, then meet up with my friend Bruce and his girlfriend to get Beijing Duck in the evening. My flight tomorrow is very early - so this will be my last post!
Thanks China! It was a pleasure. China is a great country with great people and amazing history and culture. I'm very glad that I had this opportunity and got to see and experience so many great things here.
Zaijian!
Yesterday I visited the Great Wall and ran the Great Wall Marathon Fun Run. I had to get up super early at 3:30 AM to get to Huangyaguan area of the Great Wall where the section of the run was.
It was a great way to see the Great Wall. The weather was good for running, although not so good for sightseeing and taking pictures.
Overall I guess there were more then 3000 participants. I wanted to do the half marathon, but they were sold out when I bought the ticket 5 weeks ago, so I had to do the 8K fun run. Luckily the part that was actually on the wall was the same, so I didn't really miss out much from that perspective.
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Keeping posts shorter now, since I'm flying back soon....
Spent the last 4 days in Beijing. Beijing is quite different then I had imagined. To me Shanghai seems to be more Chinese (whatever that might means) then Beijing. Beijing is big and the layout is not at all on how I would have imagined it. It feels more like New York or Atlanta. People also behave much differently - a car once even let me cross the street in front of them by waving !?! That would never happen in Shanghai! In Shanghai there are more scooters and bicycles on the street which gives it a different flair. Beijing on the other hand is more like a typical big city with very wide roads and constant traffic and people that do their thing.
Funny thing is that most people told me the exact opposite about Shanghai and Beijing - will tell more about that in person, not much time to write it up...
Anyhow, I did a lot of tourist stuff like Forbidden City, Jingshan Park, Beihai Park, Tian Tan. Found some Geocaches. Met up with a friend who introduced me to the Beijing startup scene which is amazingly big and active, and I met a lot of interesting folks working on exciting projects - also went out Salsa dancing afterwards.
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Today is my last day in Shanghai. I came back from Guilin in the afternoon and met up with a couple of friends to say good bye. I also had my last Chinese lesson. It's strange... rode the subway for the last time, went to XuJiaHui for the last time, etc.. I think I will miss it....
Unbelievable how fast the time passed. Packing now and heading to the airport in the morning to fly to Beijing where I will spend the last few days of my China adventure. More later when I have more time.
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China has Five Great Mountains; they are Hengshan, Hengshan (yes, twice the same name), Taishan, Huashan and Songshan. I have visited two of them (namely Huashan and Songshan). Maybe one day I can go to the others too. :)
But there is one other mountain (or mountain range to be more precise) called Huangshan. The Yellow Mountain, according to many, combines the beauty of all the other five mountains.
Last weekend I spent three days and two nights on Mt. Huangshan. The weather was great. It's a 12 hour train ride from Shanghai (overnight). It's a really slow train, with other means it's possible to get there within 5-6 hours, but the overnight option seemed good as I wanted to arrive fully rested.
From the train station in Huangshan it's still quite a way to get to the bottom of the mountain range. There are a set of cable cars (made in Austria of course) that go up the mountain from various sides. The highest peak is called Lotus Peak (Lianhua Feng), and it's a pretty long and steep hike up, with great and rewarding views.
I don't want to write much about the hikes and experiences and just let some pictures speak:
I want to go there again in winter!
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The weather and air-quality was good the last 2 days. So, this morning I wanted to run outside. I set my alarm for 6 in the morning to make sure I get up on time. Turns out that I actually woke up before 5 by myself. My body probably really wanted to go for a long run. It has been a while that I ran outside, and it has been even longer then I ran more then 6 kilometers. So today my ideas was to run from Jiashan Lu to The Bund and back.
In the morning I was greeted by a beautiful sunrise over Pudong from my apartment.
I started running around 5:30am. Since May 1st is holiday, there was hardly anyone on the streets. It was amazing. It felt so different, relaxing and quite. I really missed running outside, and it was clear to me after the first few steps that my body, brain and feet wouldn't want to stop running for a longer time today... so I ran along Zhaojiaban Lu for a while.....
...passed by Da Pu Qiao and Tian Zi Fang, ran south of Xintandi heading towards The Bund. At one point I came to a neighborhood with tiny narrow streets and alleys. People were getting up, and some were cooking (steaming) breakfast (Xiao Long Bao) outside, and at some places people were cleaning the streets.
It was around 6AM when I arrived at The Bund. There were a few people here and there, and the sun was just behind the high rise buildings of Pudong. I kept running on The Bund up north until I hit East Nanjing Road.
You might remember that I don't like the area around East Nanjing Road that much. So crowded, very touristy and so on. But in the early morning it left a different impression behind. The street was empty, just a few people on the street practicing Tai Chi.
Eventually I reached People Square and I slowly more and more people where getting up to enjoy the weather and be outside. By now it must have been around 6:30 AM.
Somewhere after People Square I acquainted a new friend, who was puzzled on why someone would be running through his streets that early in the morning:
My next destination was the Jing'An Temple, I took a wrong turn at one point so had to back track about a block to get up further north. Of course I was just navigating on top of my head...
The Jing'an Park is one of my favorite parks here. Maybe even my most favorite one. I think it's been at least the third time I went here.
By now it was around 7AM and the park was filled with people practicing Tai Chi and dancing. All those older folks with their graceful movements and stances are very impressive. So I stopped for a bit to enjoy.
Then I ran south towards Hengshan Road and XuJiaHui. Below is a picture I took in the Hengshan Road park facing the "lipstick towers" of XuJiaHui.
Afterwards I turned east to finish my Shanghai loop and ran back home. It was a great way to experience this amazing city from this different perspective.
Overall, I ran around 21 kilometers, so basically a half marathon. It surprised me, as I had no idea that I went that far before reconstructing my run with a map at home.
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Today I decided to swing by Sheshan (at least I thought it would be a quick swing by). Sheshan is the highest point here in Shanghai. It's a good 30 minutes with the subway from Xujiahui to Sheshan Zhan.
I departed the train at Sheshan Zhan and as I will learn on my way back it would have been better to get off one stop later. Anyhow, I spotted the hill maybe a few kilometers away. Everything was already pretty country side. No high rise buildings, etc. - didn't really feel like being in Shanghai anymore, but lot's of construction everywhere. The city really grows fast.
Air quality was so-so today. The air-quality is the only thing that bothers me here in China. Sometimes it's really is visible, I mean the bad air appears to be visible. As said, there was a lot of construction going on which added on to the dusty experience right around the subway stop.
I hopped on a random free bus, had no idea where it was going to. I figured, there isn't much choice for a destination besides the hill.
Turned out it was the free shuttle service to Happy Valley, which is an amusement park that is on the way to the hill. Well, sometimes it's good to just do random things.
Turned out it was the free shuttle service to Happy Valley, which is an amusement park that is on the way to the hill. Well, sometimes it's good to just do random things.
After Happy Valley my trip took an adventurous turn that I hadn't anticipated. Apparently most people drive or take another public bus to the entrance gate via a different route. Well, not me. I like walking.
It turned out to be quite exciting. I had to ask a couple of times, especially when I was walking along the construction site of a new road that was being built, and I even crossed a bridge they are building across a river.
In the beginning I wasn't sure if it's the correct way, but after talking to few folks, they all pointed me confidently in the direction of the trucks, sand, machines and workers along the construction area of the road.
I thought to myself... another fun headline:
"Stupid tourist dies while hiking along the construction site of a new road."
And here is the best part, and why it was worth it: Along the way I chatted with a few construction workers (they understood me, I had a hard time understanding them though).
Eventually I met a family that walked the same route. The father was very eager to chat in English with me, and I practiced my non-existing Chinese some more. We ended up talking about music because they asked me where I'm from, and most people associate Austria with music - the finest music of course. :)
Eventually I met a family that walked the same route. The father was very eager to chat in English with me, and I practiced my non-existing Chinese some more. We ended up talking about music because they asked me where I'm from, and most people associate Austria with music - the finest music of course. :)
We had a good time walking together for about 20 minutes along the "road to be". Their little son plays the piano. So I asked him "Ni xi huan yinyue ma", and he got really excited and said "wo xi huan". It was great. We arrived at the entrance gate, took pictures and went our own ways.
At the ticket booth the lady just handed me the ticket for free - still haven't figured out why? But it worked for me.
I hiked up the hill, and on top is actually a catholic church, a basilica.
It was really hot and humid. So I bought some water, and the woman selling the water corrected my Chinese because I must have used the wrong counting word for the "plastic bottle of water".
On the way down there was a nice Bamboo Forrest and on the bottom of the hill I met a few young friendly people from the Hun-an province (that's where Louyang and the Shaolin Temple are, and it's close to Huashan).
So I shared some of my stories about my trips there. We took the bus back together and that's how I learned about the other subway stop that appears to be more efficient to get to Sheshan as it has a public bus right outside.
Overall, it was a quite different afternoon then I had expected, and actually more fun then I thought it would be.
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There are some fun games here. Yesterday I played the "Feiji" game - not sure if it's really the official name. In Austria we have a similar game called "Mensch aergere dich nicht". Which means something like "hey dude, don't get irritated". I just looked it up on the Internet and in English it's apparently called "Ludo" - don't know, never saw anyone play it in US so far.
Another game I learned is Chinese Chess - which is quite similar to the traditional chess I knew. The board game had Chinese characters on it and after a few moves into the game I had trouble recognizing the different characters. Made it very difficult actually. The game has a river in the middle that only certain characters can cross, and there is a figure that is a canon!
Oh yeah, and we had hotpot, with lot's of tasty goodies. :)
Tim told me the rules of Majong, but I haven't had the chance to play it yet. He plays regularly, really likes it and I think he's a pro at it. There is another game I will hopefully learn soon called Panda, it's card game. Looking forward to it.
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My good friend Jingfei moved to a new apartment last weekend. And he invited me for dinner. The apartment is in Minhang and it took about 45 minutes to get there. It's not too far from Line 1, but I took a taxi to his address from the subway station.
It was an exciting cab ride. I don't know how fast the driver went, but it was way beyond 70 km/h and that in the city.
An interesting observation I made a couple of times already is that it's no problem at all here to just give a phone to a random person on the street and they will pick it and start talking. If I would ever do that in Seattle or Vienna no-one would even take the phone, and nobody would ever talk with the person on the other end! Here it's no problem. People here are maybe less scared, or afraid that someone wants to harm them, I don't know. Daily life just appears to be very practical, less rules and regulations - just apply street smartness and you will have a good day. It's pretty smooth actually. There are many examples of that, and I kinda like it.
At Jingfei's place we had a huge dinner with lot's of good stuff, and I brought some chocolate from Austria. :)
There were a couple of other friends from the Jiaotao Universityand we had a great time. I even got to tell a joke in Chinese and practiced speaking a bit. Too bad that I can't speak much Chinese.
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This week I learned something cool and exciting. I stumbled upon it while trying to decipher a Chinese song about Mount Huashan. It's difficult to explain, and it's pretty late already (good excuse, right?).
If you read this and know me ask me about "Wu Xia Xiao Shuo" next time we meet.
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Qibao is a nice old part of Shanghai. Getting there was actually very easy. It's along Line 9 about 20 minutes from Jiashan Lu. There is lot's of street food and it has a good atmosphere throughout, including small canals, bridges and boats.
I was walking around pretty aimlessly checking out various stores, etc.. and all of a sudden I saw this here:
It's a little catholic church in the middle of Qibao. I went inside and there was a woman singing in Chinese (or at least I think it was Chinese) and it was quite beautiful, so I set down for a bit. It's actually not the first church I saw, there was another one in XuJiaHui, a pretty big one - and I still want to go there and check it out.
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This was the second time I was hanging out in Pudong in the evening. It's a nice modern neighborhood and I think it would be a great place to live. If I would live in Shanghai permanently that is.... it would be a tough decision between Minhang, XuHui and Pudong.
I met up with Alex and Maggie and we got dinner together before heading to the concert. Everything in Pudong is extremely new, mostly built within the last 10 years and that makes for a very clean and neat atmosphere.
The Oriental Art Center Concert Hall has a round layout. Which means that the performers are sort of in the middle of the hall, while the audience surrounds them.
The concert was about 90 minutes and I knew some of the pieces. Unfortunately I have not seen most of the movies from Hayao Miyazaki where the music from Hisaishi appears the most, but I recognized the pieces from Totoro.
Totoro is actually called "Longmao" (dragon cat) in Chinese.
After the concert we ran into a few other friends from work and we all took the subway back together.
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Hangzhou - is a sea town about an hour away from Shanghai with the high speed train.
This time the train went beyond the 300 km/h, it was at 303 km/h. After a couple of trips I am getting the hang of how the train system works here, where to get the ticket (as foreigner it's slightly different) and how the logistics work.
You might remember that on my very first train ride to Nanjing, I had help from Jim. He also told me that the ticket includes a free bottle of water. Many locals don't seem to know about that. I have mentioned it to a few people and actually showed others how to get a bottle.
You might remember that on my very first train ride to Nanjing, I had help from Jim. He also told me that the ticket includes a free bottle of water. Many locals don't seem to know about that. I have mentioned it to a few people and actually showed others how to get a bottle.
Wo shi nide daoyou! :)
Similar to Suzhou the Hangzhou train station is full of people trying to sell you tours, maps, etc... They even try to lure you into their own taxis. They are quite tricky. I did not want to get on a bus, because the weather was hot (a bus ride didn't seem like a good idea) - so I picked a taxi.
In line for the taxi I also noticed that this really is a place for couples... the town has a romantic touch and happy hand holding couples are everywhere. The couple behind in line was super nice and helpful We chatted a bit while waiting for the taxis to arrive, and the girl told me a lot about the city and what to do. And we even spoke a bit Chinese with each other.
The ride was short and the driver dropped us off at Westlake (Xihu). I then strolled around a bit and walked over to the "Lei Feng Ta", which was the first thing I wanted to see. It's a big pagoda overlooking XiHu. There are a set of exciting legends around the snake "Bai Suzhen" that I might share another time, otherwise this post will get too long.
Standing on top of the Pagoda reminded me a bit standing on Gas Works Park, overlooking Lake Union and seeing Seattle in the back on a sunny day - the Space Needle was missing though. Hangzhou and Xihu is a lot bigger though.
The weather could not have been better, it was gorgeous.
"Twin Peaks Piercing the Clouds", "Three Ponds Mirroring the Moon",.... these are the kind of names the sites and places have in Hangzhou, and it certainly helps to support the magnificent atmosphere the place has. Luckily there were not too many people and walking around was relaxing.
I also found a Geocache around the Lake, took a boat over to the middle of the lake to "Three Pools Mirroring the Moon", and then headed back to Hubin (the shore). Dinner was at a fancy restaurant next to the lake with all sorts of local dishes, including vinegar fish.
And I had "Long Jing Cha" in Hangzhou. I had it the first time in Xi'an and identified it as my favorite green tea during a tea tasting session there, before knowing that it's a very famous tea from Hangzhou.
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"Ditie" is the subway and it's an abbreviation of:
di xia tie lu
Literally meaning: "underground iron road".
di xia tie lu
Literally meaning: "underground iron road".
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Holidays work a bit different here. Famous holidays are Qing Ming, National Holiday or May 1st holiday. May 1st like in Europe, is labor day. Typically there is a day or two off (maybe an additional one if it's a "window day"). But then everyone has to go to work the Sunday before or after the holiday. The dates are set each year by the government. In case of May 1st I think we actually have to work Saturday and Sunday, but then we get Monday-Wednesday off - so technically it's one day off.
Since everyone get's off it's also a common time for Chinese people to travel and everyone keeps telling me to not travel during those days, and I will rigorously follow that advice. :)
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In Xi'an I also went to an evening dance and music show to get some more insights into traditional Chinese music and performances.
There were a set of pieces that were quite impressive, especially drums and the beautiful dancers with there extended hand scarfs. I want to know how those are called! Someone told me but I have forgotten the name.
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It's unbelievable how fast the time passes. It's already past half time.
Work is going very well and there is another exciting security Capture the Flag event that I'm setting up and preparing for. This will be super fun!
Work is going very well and there is another exciting security Capture the Flag event that I'm setting up and preparing for. This will be super fun!
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I spent a couple of days in Xi'an. It used to be the capitol for quite some time and it has many historical buildings and an interesting museum.
If you have seen the one in Las Vegas in front of the Bellagio, then imagine it bigger. It lasts for about 30 minutes and they played The Danube waltz and the Radetzky March from Johann Strauss as background music - nice.
By the way classical music (especially Mozart and Vivaldi) is something I hear on a daily basis in various places.
For lunch I had some Souzi mian (not sure how to write exactly, need to find out??). It's a noodle dish that a taxi driver recommended to me. It's famous in Xi'an. It's not bad, but a bit on the sour and salty side.
I also ate some beef with a nice spicy sauce that was quite tasty.
I also ate some beef with a nice spicy sauce that was quite tasty.
There is a mosque in the town (there are about 70000 Muslim people living in Xi'an). Interestingly it doesn't look like a mosque at all. It looks like a temple. There was a wedding when I visited, which fascinating to observe. There is also a market next to the mosque, that I strolled through.
I learned about the significance and purpose of Bell and Drum towers in Chinese cities. Here is a picture of the Bell Tower of Xi'an (Zhonglou) which signaled the opening of the city wall each morning:
The beating of the drum in the drum tower announced the closing of the wall in the evening. One of the coolest things to do in Xi'An is riding a bicycle on the city wall. That was a lot of fun and I highly recommend to anyone visiting.
The wall was built by emperor Qin who first the united China and lived around 300 BC. He also ordered to build the Great Wall and the Terra Cotta Warriors People back then didn't like him, but today it's different a guide told me.
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Last Monday I visited Luoyang which is a smaller city of about 2 million people and it is famous for the carved out Buddha statues in the Longmen Grottes.
Smaller cities are very nice here in China. Interestingly across the Luohe River there is a whole new area under development. It's really a planned thing, it's hard to describe but now I understand how the Pudong area in Shanghai came into existence.
The area where Longmen Grottes are remembered me of the Wachau in Austria where I grew up. Very strange!?! It had a similar feel, although both places are quite different. Maybe it is those quite little hills and the Luohe River next to it that gives it this similar flair.
The weather was outstanding that day which further helped to get in a good mood. Afterwards on the road I noticed a lot of wine gardens which further created the similarity to the Wachau.
The Wachau is also a "UNESCO world heritage site" by the way. So, that's the next similarity. Weird, maybe it's the historical weight that those places have, don't know (in case you aren't familiar look here for some historical 25000 B.C. stuff of the Wachau).
To be clear it's quite different, the Wachau only has tiny villages with a couple of hundred people, and this here is still a big city with 2 million people. It's a great place, especially the big Buddha statue is very impressive and I had to spend a longer time there to be able to comprehend what I was actually looking at. I really liked the Longmen Grottes. And I miss my homeland.
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Mount Hushan is the second sacred mountain (after Song Shan) that I visited. It's apparently one of the most dangerous hikes in the world: http://www.ssqq.com/ARCHIVE/vinlin27d.htm
But it's not as scary. It's quite steep and there are a few tricky spots but the really scary stuff is all optional. But of course I had to do some of it. :)
People I met where quite impressed that I hiked/climbed all 5 peaks in one day. I actually think it's easily possible, it only took me 3-4 hours to do that. I was lucky again, hardly any tourists or visitors. And I was the only white person around. I met a few people during hiking, and of course had to tell them some of the Chinese jokes I learned.
Afterwards I wanted a picture with him together and asked him. His wife was very nice and friendly as well. So we got a bunch of pictures taken. This was probably the best experience on my trip so far. Hopefully I will be a cool, wise old man too one day.
On the way down it got more crowded and more people started to hike up the mountain. So it was a good idea to start so early. The weather was good, pretty warm actually.
The next mountain? A co-worker told me that there are the five sacred mountains and then there is Mt. Huangshan! I can't wait to hike Mt. Huangshan!
The next mountain? A co-worker told me that there are the five sacred mountains and then there is Mt. Huangshan! I can't wait to hike Mt. Huangshan!
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About an hour outside of Xi'an in the city of Lintong are the world famous Terra Cotta Warriors. Interestingly many of the Chinese people I spoke to at work and some friends here in Shanghai have never been to Lintong. Two of them are actually originally from Xi'an and have never visited the Bingmayong.
There are three pits that have been excavated, and the first pit is the biggest one with about 3000 soldiers and a couple of horses. It's pretty impressive. I am very lucky with my trips so far there weren't that many people and I didn't had to wait anywhere.
The emperor Qin is buried underneath a small hill a few kilometers away, but the tomb hasn't been opened. There are probably many more pits around the area with many more bingmayong. The Terra Cotta Warriors were actually colored in fascinating bright tones, but they loose the color really quick when the tombs are opened and fresh oxygen gets in, which is one of the reasons the other pits are not opened and officially researched until better methods of dealing with them are discovered.
It's pretty impressive and makes you think a lot about how people lived back then, what there lives looked like, and what it means to live under an emperor. Apparently people back then didn't like their emperor much and so there were big riots, and the mob at one point destroyed the pits and warriors. They also set the tombs on fire, and even today one can still see the fire marks. For archaeologists it's a big challenge to reconstruct the warriors, and they did a great job. Throughout the three pits, one can say the level of detail the people back then put in to create the warriors. Shoes, armor, facial expressions are all very detailed. I checked to sole of a shoe of one, and the shoes actually have a pattern! Pretty cool!
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The flight attendant is called "kongjie" which literally means "air sister".
Awesome!
"jie" refers to an older sister, whereas "mei" would mean a younger sister.
Awesome!
"jie" refers to an older sister, whereas "mei" would mean a younger sister.
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Up in the Song Shan mountains is the famous Shaolin Temple.
The mountain is one of the 5 sacred mountains in China and it's a neat place.
The demonstration of Shaolin Kung Fu is impressive. I had not appreciate in the past that some of the students of Shaolin are really young. It takes them about 3 years to graduate and then some go on with ordinary life's and others stay.
The Pagoda Forest in the monastery is amazing. I spent about 4 hours to walk around and embrace the moment. When I was little I had a great interest in martial arts, so coming here is sort of a child dream come true.
In the ancient parts of the temple where the monks used to practice long time ago, the floor is uneven. It basically is about a foot lower on the spots where the monks stood and trained. There are trees around the monastery where the monks practiced their finger punching skills - that literally left holes in the trees. Quite amazing.
Nowadays students have about 4 hours of regular classes in the morning and then another 3-4 hours of Kung Fu class in the afternoon. Seven days a week, no break. The sun was out and it was quite hot. It's impressive to see them practice in the afternoon hours.
The impression left behind is that of a great place with lot's of depth and energy, situated in a beautiful mountain range.
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So far I was focused on work and got some of the important things done. And I explored a few close by neighborhoods and cities on the weekend. Now it's time to travel through China for a couple of days - by myself. Don't wanna share much detail at this point, because I wanna go to a place that I want to see and experience since I was little and I don't want to jinx anything.
Anyhow, I'm very excited and might not post anything for some time.
Xiaci jian!
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Yesterday evening I met up with a friend from the U.S. who happens to be in Shanghai for a few days. We went for dinner. He is American-Chinese, but does actually not speak nor understand any Chinese at all, which let to some fun situations.
Like this: We are at a restaurant called "Lost Heaven" that serves Yunnan food. It's a nice place that many foreigners frequent (well, including us obviously). The fish and eggplant was delicious, but I am getting side-tracked....
The Fuwuyuan (waitress) tried to speak Mandarin with my friend right away and it took her a bit to appreciate that he is not joking or something, but he just can't speak Chinese. In the meantime I was already cracking up. It was really funny. We wanted to get rice... and then I said with the few words I know: "women yao liang wan mi fan" and now the waitress was laughing. She certainly didn't expect that. Haha. It was somewhat a "comic style" situation.
It was a fun evening and it was great to catch up.
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Million in Chinese means baiwan. Broken down that is
- Bai = 100 and
- Wan = 10000
So baiwan makes perfect sense. :)
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Last weekend I went to Suzhou. The way my co-workers described it, it sounded like a nice little town. Well, things here are different and as Einstein noted things are relative. Compared to Shanghai it's small, and there are few high rise buildings, which is probably what makes the atmosphere feel more relaxed and less dense. There is only one subway line. But it's still huge with a population of 5 million.
People here are engaged trying to sell stuff and they try to convince tourists to ride with their private shuttle service rather then the official bus. Sometimes I feel weird, because I just keep smiling at people, as I don't understand much what they are trying to say. haha. Suzhou is a popular tourist destination within China, which is probably the reason why those "travel agents" are so engaging. I got to use my hardly existing Mandarin skills and "bu yao" (meaning I don't want) around here quite often. I only took the public bus, so can't comment on the private shuttles and tours. The driver let me even go for free once because I didn't have any coins. The benefit of the confused tourist, at least I can say: "wo shi bendan youke", which always makes people laugh. :D But I was so nice to pay more the next time.
There are gardens everywhere and they are super beautiful. Apparently Suzhou is famous for that and even a novice can notice why and appreciate the level of detail put into the layout - the Humble Administrators garden is amazing. Would be incredible to see it during all four seasons. There are also strange and bizzar rock formations throughout the parks. The ones I visisted are Zhuozheng Yuan and Liu Yuan.
Lunch was at a little nice place close to the Liu Yuan park. Along the street there were a couple of shops with very good smelling bakeries and sweets. So I bought some... :)
There is also stinky tofu on every street corner, something that I don't see (or smell) very often in Shanghai. Smelling it more frequently appears to acquaint the scent to my nose, maybe I try again... 4 years ago in Taipei I tried it once, and couldn't actually eat much of it - the strong smell just killed it for me back then. Maybe I'll give it another try.
On my way to the Xuanmiao Guan (temple of mystery) the plans slightly changed because there was a giant "mei shi jie" (sort of street food party), and I strolled around to check it out:
Well, stinky tofu was not one of them, but there were many other dishes that smelled really good - and I still have no idea what some of them were.
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| A bus stop in Suzhou |
There is also stinky tofu on every street corner, something that I don't see (or smell) very often in Shanghai. Smelling it more frequently appears to acquaint the scent to my nose, maybe I try again... 4 years ago in Taipei I tried it once, and couldn't actually eat much of it - the strong smell just killed it for me back then. Maybe I'll give it another try.
On my way to the Xuanmiao Guan (temple of mystery) the plans slightly changed because there was a giant "mei shi jie" (sort of street food party), and I strolled around to check it out:
It got pretty cold towards Sunday evening. There is a Pagoda, that is tilted slightly - simliar to the tower of Pisa, but I didn't have the time to get close to it, because of the time I spent at the street food party.
For the train ride back I had to wait 2 hours (should have bought my ticket ahead of time), but it also gave me the chance to experience the lively train station and the amount of people making their way through this "small town" daily.
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Last Thursday Chao and I went to get XiBei food. He is from the Xi'An and wanted to show me some local specialities from his home province Shaanxi.
XiBei literally means West-North. Well after a few weeks of learning Chinese I noticed that in China many things are done a bit differently, and so it goes here. So it's not North-West as I'm used to, nope it's West-North. There are countless of examples like this, and I haven't really gotten a good handle on some of the grammar. I will need to write a separate post about some of my findings. Let me take this chance to send tons of greetings to my friends in the "West-North Pacific" of the United States.
Anyway, it's West-North, it's XiBei - and that is also the name of the restaurant we went to. The restaurant was excellent and the food amazing.
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You probably know that I like Geocaching. Turns out that Geocaches are actually less common here. There are far fewer caches then in Europe or the US. But I have to find some... Nanjing seemed a good place to get started. This is the story of finding my first Chinese geocache.
I visited the MochouHu, which is a very nice relaxing park. There was actually a cover fee... so this one is against the rules of geocaching. Geocaches are supposed to be in the freely accessible, without any charges or entry fees involved. Anyhow, it didn't matter I wanted to visit to see the lake anyway.
The legend says that woman named Mochou transformed into a lake, so that she could flow to her husband who was sent off to fight in a battle.
It was very quite and I unwrapped a sandwich I had bought earlier and enjoyed an afternoon snack. After walking around half the lake I approached the geocache location.
There were a set of people focused on a performance on the other side of the building, so they didn't notice me hoping and climbing around the rocks secretly in stealth mode. It was wet, and I slipped multipe times, and it was also quite muddy too.
I was thinking to myself... what would happen if I fall into the tiny pond that the rocks surrounded, haha, already had the headline in my head "Stupid foreign tourist climbs around rocks during a rainy day and falls into pond" - would probably even make it in the headlines in the paper!
I looked everywhere, but couldn't find it. It was tough, and I even got a bit frustrated - the location was great, perfect for a cache, but for some reason I couldn't locate it. After about 30 mintutes I gave up, I had looked everywhere. There are still 2 hours left before my train leaves, so I hop on the subway and head to the next location with a cache.
I was optimistic and still in a good mood though, and said: "Ni hao!" to an older man who was very happy about me greeting him. He replied with a big smile on his face with "ni hao".
The location was close by XuanWu lake - which is really beautiful by the way. Ther were more people around, and I swiftly walked towards the target. The location was misleading, as it was outside the park. The park is surrounded by a huge city wall. That kind of huge that you can't climb easily - So I had to head all the way back, outside the park, and then walk the same distance again on the other side of the wall.
When I got closer I already had a good feeling where it would be, and it took just about one minute to find it. I had to dug, and crawl for a bit and through a little weird looking barrier and grab it on the other side, as the cache was attached via a magnet on the back of a fence behind the barrier. All done in perfect Ninja like stealth mode, so no-one notices me. It's actually a bit more challenging here, because people constantly keep looking at me especially in less crowded areas (maybe I dress or look funny?? haha). Anyway, I was super happy logging my first Geocache in China!
I visited the MochouHu, which is a very nice relaxing park. There was actually a cover fee... so this one is against the rules of geocaching. Geocaches are supposed to be in the freely accessible, without any charges or entry fees involved. Anyhow, it didn't matter I wanted to visit to see the lake anyway.
The legend says that woman named Mochou transformed into a lake, so that she could flow to her husband who was sent off to fight in a battle.
It was very quite and I unwrapped a sandwich I had bought earlier and enjoyed an afternoon snack. After walking around half the lake I approached the geocache location.
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| Spotting the cache location in the distance |
I was thinking to myself... what would happen if I fall into the tiny pond that the rocks surrounded, haha, already had the headline in my head "Stupid foreign tourist climbs around rocks during a rainy day and falls into pond" - would probably even make it in the headlines in the paper!
I looked everywhere, but couldn't find it. It was tough, and I even got a bit frustrated - the location was great, perfect for a cache, but for some reason I couldn't locate it. After about 30 mintutes I gave up, I had looked everywhere. There are still 2 hours left before my train leaves, so I hop on the subway and head to the next location with a cache.
I was optimistic and still in a good mood though, and said: "Ni hao!" to an older man who was very happy about me greeting him. He replied with a big smile on his face with "ni hao".
The location was close by XuanWu lake - which is really beautiful by the way. Ther were more people around, and I swiftly walked towards the target. The location was misleading, as it was outside the park. The park is surrounded by a huge city wall. That kind of huge that you can't climb easily - So I had to head all the way back, outside the park, and then walk the same distance again on the other side of the wall.
When I got closer I already had a good feeling where it would be, and it took just about one minute to find it. I had to dug, and crawl for a bit and through a little weird looking barrier and grab it on the other side, as the cache was attached via a magnet on the back of a fence behind the barrier. All done in perfect Ninja like stealth mode, so no-one notices me. It's actually a bit more challenging here, because people constantly keep looking at me especially in less crowded areas (maybe I dress or look funny?? haha). Anyway, I was super happy logging my first Geocache in China!
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| Well deserved, after a long chase through the city of Nanjing |
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At work we sometimes get fruits in the morning, just put on our tables, and there is always fresh tea made available in the kitchen.
Two weeks ago I had my first big talk at work and way more then 100 people showed up.It still makes me nervous but I guess that's a good thing. Everything went well, and I really like everyone here.
Oh, yeah. Now let's focus on the teas: Somehow I didn't had the chance to try them until after my first presentation.
This one here (called Lycium Chinense in latin, or guo qi) is very good and I haven't had it anywhere else. Technically it's not a tea though. It has Lycium in it - which I didn't even know exists before. It's apparently super healthy (for sight and blood cell renewal) and according to a Chinese legend someone lived 220 years - partially because he used to drink guoqi.
http://www.herbs2000.com/herbs/herbs_lycium.htm
After telling Guohui that I like it, he brought me three bags of "gou qi" the next day. Awesome! :)
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This weekend I went to Nanjing. It was my first train ride and luckily I got some help. Jim is from Nanjing and he helped me get the tickets. It's best to buy tickets online. As a foreigner it's a challenge as the website (www.12306.cn) is only in Chinese. Jim booked it for me and helped me pick it up as well.
Well, and I experienced first hand on why tickets should be bought in advance. The trains are frequently sold out. For instance the women in front of us in the line had to wait for a couple of hours to get on a train as all of them very fully booked.
The Hongqiao Railways station in Shanghai is big and modern. Overall the entire train ride experience is very pleasant. The trains are super nice and comfortable, and well the most important thing... they are fast. Going up to 250km/h, and the fastest G trains (the one I took on my way back) go 300 km/h.
Fun Fact: "Huoche", which is the train - literally means "fire car". I like it. In German we say "Zug", which translates to "Pull".
I thought that the name NanJingNan the railway station is quite interesting. Let me explain: "Nan" means south, and the railway station is the "South Nanjing railway station". The Nanjing used to be the capital for 6 dynasties (hope I remember that right), and since it was the capital in the south, it has the "Nan" in the word. Oh yeah, if you wonder "Beijing" is the capitol in the north, and "Bei" means north. Westerners might be tempted to say "NanNanJing railway station", but that sounds weird, even to my Austrian country-side ears.... so it's "NanJingNan huoche zhan"- the south nanjing train station. Argh, I'm getting side tracked, let's get going with the Nanjing trip report. :)
Anyhow, we arrived at ~9pm in Nanjing. The NanjingNan railway station is huge, it has the feel of an airport rather then a trainstation. And it's also super modern. Jim's wife picked us up and we went for dinner real quick before they dropped me off at the JingLin Hotel in the middle of Nanjing. The weather in Nanjing was so so, a bit cloudy and rainy, with heavy rain Saturday evening - but I don't care about these things. And it turned out that I had a couple of special moments because the weather.
Saturday morning I got up had some dumplings and vegatables for breakfast, and out I was exploring the city. For Saturday I planned to explore the Zohngshan area, where a lot of the most important sights are located. The weather was still pretty good in the morning and I bought a subway ticket and rode the train. Then I someone managed to figure out how to get on this little tourist shuttles that take people up on the mountain and around from one place to another - it's a little shuttle system. It was 5 Yuan per ride. People in line were well behaved and friendly. The person next to me was actually signaling that I should go ahead to buy the tickets after him. Nothing rude at all here, but I think I have the benefit of being the confused tourist.
I noticed that a lot of people were also just walking around the area - so that's how I will get back I figured. On the little tourist bus thingy, I sat next to an older man, and we randomly had a little conversation - in Chinese. haha. It was fun, a bit embarassing and I will remember it forever. He was impressed that I travelled by myself by saying something like "yige ren"?
There is a couple of sights in the park, like San Yat-sen Mausoleum, Linggu Temple, Xiao Xiu Tomb,... and there were a lot of people, especially at the mausoleum.
On shuttle ride to the Linggu template I chatted a bit more with some locals, and one of them spoke English and the took me along for about an hour.
Afterwards it started to rain, and I kept continuing the sightseeing in the park.
In the evening I had the famous boiled salted duck of Nanjing, which has a history of 1000 years.
Sunday I checked out the FuZiMiao (the Confuciuos temple) and the area around it. It's an area with great atmosphere throughout.
Next stop was the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall, which consists of an outdoors and indoors area. The memorial hall documents history, and the horrors that happened to the people of Nanjing in December 1937 and the weeks following. It's probably worth pointing out that the memorial does not specifically blame anyone. It records the past for us to remember, and holds a message and desire for peace at the end.
As George Santanya wrote in Reason in Common Sense: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
Time seemed to stand still for a while....
Afterwards I was trying to find my first Chinese Geocache (more about that in another post). And around 5pm I took the subway to the Nanjing Railway Station. The train ride back to Shanghai was smooth and fast, and I didn't get lost anywhere. :)
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Century Park is big, hen da. I walked around the whole thing - and once in a while there were way too many people, but I also founda couple of quite places that turned out to be super nice.
Spring is coming, so there were lot's of blossoms and the smell at some points was incredible. I also bought water and ice cream - all in Chinese, and it seemed that I was understood.
The weather was super nice, it was way above 20 degrees celsius, quite hot actually.
On the way back I took subway line 10 to check out one of the tourist attracktions: YuYuan. It's not really my place with so many people - way to crowded but there are a plenty of nice stores, especially tea shops. Maybe I should come here during the week.... There are also tons of jewelery shops in this area.
Spring is coming, so there were lot's of blossoms and the smell at some points was incredible. I also bought water and ice cream - all in Chinese, and it seemed that I was understood.
The weather was super nice, it was way above 20 degrees celsius, quite hot actually.
On the way back I took subway line 10 to check out one of the tourist attracktions: YuYuan. It's not really my place with so many people - way to crowded but there are a plenty of nice stores, especially tea shops. Maybe I should come here during the week.... There are also tons of jewelery shops in this area.
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Last Saturday I went to Jing'An park to watch some people perform Tai Chi. It's not too far from where I live, just a quick subway ride away. Next to the park, across the street is the Jing'An temple.
The park is great, not too big and it has lot's of nice trees, green areas and also some interesting rock formations. I arrived in the morning around 8am, which I thought might already be a bit too late, but it turned out that a group of people was still practicing Tai Chi, besides another group performing what seemed like a dance lesson.
Tai Chi looks nice and it appears to be quite difficult and probably takes a lot of learn. Since I had brought breakfast with me I decided to eat right there while watching them. Don't know exactly how long, but it was probably 30-60 minutes.
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The last two weeks have been crazy busy at work, and it's exciting and a lot of fun. So I have to apologize that I'm way beyind with my postings...
In the evening when I buy groceries at Ole in the Grand Gateway mall I stop by this place here typically as well, it's right on my way home.
Bubble tea places are everywhere and they are great! There is another really good Taiwanese one in XuJiaHui.
Last weekend I went tea tasting and stayed 4 hours at the tea house chatting with the locals. Will have to post about it soon when I have more time again.... this weekend I'm going to Nanjing....
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Ding Tai Fung - just had to go here.
I think there are six of them in Shanghai alone, and a few more are scheduled to open soon. We went to the one that is supposed to be the best, apparently the one at the Grand Gateway isn't that great. Lot's of Westerners here, and atmosphere-wise I prefer other places. The food was great though, and reminded me of the first time I have been to one four years ago in Taipei.
I think there are six of them in Shanghai alone, and a few more are scheduled to open soon. We went to the one that is supposed to be the best, apparently the one at the Grand Gateway isn't that great. Lot's of Westerners here, and atmosphere-wise I prefer other places. The food was great though, and reminded me of the first time I have been to one four years ago in Taipei.
Shao Tao! - I still can't believe it. This wasn't on the menu but Wee Hyong knows it and he recommended that we get this in the end. This literally tastes like a Germknödel in Austria. Unbelievable, it has similar texture and the sweet core makes the eating experience delicious. I can't remember the last time I had a Germknödel but it brought up very pleasant memories! :)
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Last week Sunday I did tour some parks to see the various locations around the city. Well, Shanghai is really big, I mean really, really big. There are so many skyscrapers, everywhere, all the time. It looks somewhat surreal once in a while.
I targeted a set of parks at various places around the city. Parks are nice, and the weather was great so a lot of peole were hanging out. As people say here: Ren Shan, Ren Hai!
People Square Park, right in middle of the city.
This one was big and nice. Lot's of people. Possible to rent boats and cruise around, and everyone seems to love flying kites. And they go up very high into the sky which was pretty amazing. A couple of people were also practicing with Nunchaku.
I targeted a set of parks at various places around the city. Parks are nice, and the weather was great so a lot of peole were hanging out. As people say here: Ren Shan, Ren Hai!
People Square Park, right in middle of the city.
Xiangyang Park:
Nice small park. Had good atmosphere with a tree alley. I had bought a couple of snacks from a local store right before and enjoyed them around here.
Zhongshang Park:This one was big and nice. Lot's of people. Possible to rent boats and cruise around, and everyone seems to love flying kites. And they go up very high into the sky which was pretty amazing. A couple of people were also practicing with Nunchaku.
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What a great place to spend a weekday evening. Lot's of nice little shops and creative art work throughout the narrow streets. There are also some restaurants, many of them western branded, and also a few one with Chinese food.
I was there with Xin and Doris, who picked some place where we had tofu soup (we tried both the sweet and the sour one). I really liked the sour one, that had little nuts in it. The sweet one was ok, but not that great for me.
There was this little super funny "bathroom" restaurant, where all the seats where toilet seats and the food shaped accordingly as well, served in fitting little toilet cups. It's hard to describe, very unique. :)
We walked around for a couple of hours. One place sold coins and I learned something interesting about old Chinese coins. When you blow at them and hold them up to your ears and you can hear a sound - that was amazing. I wanted to buy one, but Xin said they are way overpriced and I shouldn't, as I can get one somewhere else a lot cheaper.
What a great evening. I will have to come here again another time.
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Bao mihua! Well, that is popcorn. Literally it translates to something like "exploding rice flower"! Very cool! Here was the shock for me... in China the bao mihua is sweet, no salty option available - at least in the theater we went to. And my friends told me that's normal, only few places offer salty baumihua. And most people I have talked were surprised that anyone would like popcorn with salt... well, it's those experiences that I really enjoy abroad.
Anyhow, today after work I went to the movies (diangyingyuan) with Jingfei and Mongfei. We watched 西遊·降魔篇, the XiYou (journey west), which is the latest movie from Stephen Chow currently breaking box records here in China. It had english subtitles. My friends told me some of the background, so I was well prepared.
It's based on one of the famous novels in Chinese literatur "Journey to the West": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_to_the_West The movie doesn't actually tell the exact story, but it uses most of the main characters in the novel. This is one of the posters that was outside, it's also playing at IMAX which we didn't realize before.
I found the movie quite entertaining and funny, and am looking forward to watch another one soon! :)
Anyhow, today after work I went to the movies (diangyingyuan) with Jingfei and Mongfei. We watched 西遊·降魔篇, the XiYou (journey west), which is the latest movie from Stephen Chow currently breaking box records here in China. It had english subtitles. My friends told me some of the background, so I was well prepared.
It's based on one of the famous novels in Chinese literatur "Journey to the West": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_to_the_West The movie doesn't actually tell the exact story, but it uses most of the main characters in the novel. This is one of the posters that was outside, it's also playing at IMAX which we didn't realize before.
I found the movie quite entertaining and funny, and am looking forward to watch another one soon! :)
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Well if you know me, you know that I like to enjoy a Red Bull once in a while. I really like the taste of it since the first time I had it probably 20 years ago - yeah, in Austria we already have Red Bull for decades...
Anyhow, so I was looking around in many places already, shops, stores, kiosks and talked to various people but so far I couldn't find it anywhere. But I found some interesting alternatives:
Anyhow, so I was looking around in many places already, shops, stores, kiosks and talked to various people but so far I couldn't find it anywhere. But I found some interesting alternatives:
Unfortunately they don't taste like the Red Bull I'm looking for. The right one is a lot sweeter, and the left one is a bit closer, but still tastes to dense and sweet. But I will not give up until I find it...
...to be continued....
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After my Mandarin lesson last Saturday my teacher invited me to join a group of friends that went for Karaoke. It's the preferable kind of Karaoke where everyone is a a small room rather then singing in front of a big audience. Not that I sing, but it was fun to watch and listen and also try to understand a couple of words here and there, it certainly helps to get acquainted with the language.
Xin, my teacher, made me introduce myself and speak. I tried my best Dajia hao! and said a few words. Haha. Surprisingly everyone understood me. So glad that I can now say "we have cows, we don't kangoroos", because also here people seem to sometimes mistake Austria and Australia - they do sound a bit similar in Mandarin as well, as in English.
The Karaoke place was called Shanghai Music Town, and they brought tons of snacks with them there, there were a few interesting things, like chicken feed, and some pork snacks. I did really like the crab crackers.
After about 2 hours everyone was exhausted and ready to head home....
I managed to dodge all the bicycles and scooters (not loosing any points), got on the ditie (subway), dodged another 3 bicycles (lost 5 energy points there), and arrived home safely.
Xin, my teacher, made me introduce myself and speak. I tried my best Dajia hao! and said a few words. Haha. Surprisingly everyone understood me. So glad that I can now say "we have cows, we don't kangoroos", because also here people seem to sometimes mistake Austria and Australia - they do sound a bit similar in Mandarin as well, as in English.
The Karaoke place was called Shanghai Music Town, and they brought tons of snacks with them there, there were a few interesting things, like chicken feed, and some pork snacks. I did really like the crab crackers.
After about 2 hours everyone was exhausted and ready to head home....
I managed to dodge all the bicycles and scooters (not loosing any points), got on the ditie (subway), dodged another 3 bicycles (lost 5 energy points there), and arrived home safely.
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My co-workers here are awesome. They never get tired when I try to talk to them in Mandarin (which I don't know at all) and then they are always extremely helpful when it comes to the little things that I just don't know of, and which would take me forever to figure out.
One of them helped me figure out on what the best option is to get a local phone number. I had brought my old Android with me which is unlocked - unfortunately my nice, new HTC 8X is locked by AT&T.
We met up at XuJiaHui after work and it is pretty straight forward to get a SIM card. Every little kiosk on the street that sells magazine is also selling pre-paid SIM cards. Wow, that's neat. We were figuring out the various options:
Since everyone here is using WeChat, I also wanted to have a basic data plan to connect with people online while on the go, which they didn't offer at the kiosk though. My friend Oliver called up another friend who works at a telecom provider and I got a SIM card + data plan for a good price in a couple of days. Awesome. :)
One of them helped me figure out on what the best option is to get a local phone number. I had brought my old Android with me which is unlocked - unfortunately my nice, new HTC 8X is locked by AT&T.
We met up at XuJiaHui after work and it is pretty straight forward to get a SIM card. Every little kiosk on the street that sells magazine is also selling pre-paid SIM cards. Wow, that's neat. We were figuring out the various options:
Since everyone here is using WeChat, I also wanted to have a basic data plan to connect with people online while on the go, which they didn't offer at the kiosk though. My friend Oliver called up another friend who works at a telecom provider and I got a SIM card + data plan for a good price in a couple of days. Awesome. :)
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Friday evening after happy hour at work (which was pretty neat by the way, will post another time about it), my co-worker Samuel drove me around Minhang district to show me places, and we also ate there. There is a giant place and mall called zhongxin (meaning center) with a set of good restaurants. This is the view over from the place to the Minhang library:
So, apparently there are 16 districts in Shanghai, which means that each of them has approx. 1.5 million people. I found that quite interesting, given that Vienna has 23 districts for 2 million people. Well, I guess everything is relative....
Samuel picked one of his favorite spots there to show me some good stuff that he likes. It was a great restaurant with a bit of a Taiwanese touch I believe.
So, apparently there are 16 districts in Shanghai, which means that each of them has approx. 1.5 million people. I found that quite interesting, given that Vienna has 23 districts for 2 million people. Well, I guess everything is relative....
Samuel picked one of his favorite spots there to show me some good stuff that he likes. It was a great restaurant with a bit of a Taiwanese touch I believe.
This here was the place, called "one tea, one something" forgot the second part - will figure out soon. I really liked the dumplings (baozi).
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Yesterday was my first official Mandarin class, and I'm getting better acquainted with the language, since I started learning it about 4 weeks ago. I managed to find the place right away.
This was the first time I noticed what rush hour here in Shanghai means. The subway was packed. At one station there were about 20 people at the door waiting outside in line and maybe one or two got get on the train. It reminded me of a train ride in Tokyo a few years ago - so note to self don't ride the subway around 6pm. In the morning things have been fine so far, probably because I am up early and beat the crowds.
Ah, and before I forget, this is the Crystal Tower where the lessons are:
Already looking forward to the next lesson!
This was the first time I noticed what rush hour here in Shanghai means. The subway was packed. At one station there were about 20 people at the door waiting outside in line and maybe one or two got get on the train. It reminded me of a train ride in Tokyo a few years ago - so note to self don't ride the subway around 6pm. In the morning things have been fine so far, probably because I am up early and beat the crowds.
Ah, and before I forget, this is the Crystal Tower where the lessons are:
My teacher is nice and thanks to my Chinese friends in Seattle who where patient enough to teach me a few useful things I was already able to impress her. There are a couple of interesting and fun things I learned and this one was especially challenging on getting the tones right, but I managed it. :)
Already looking forward to the next lesson!
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This morning was quite exciting. I had to take the subway to a station I hadn't been, then walk to a place I wasn't sure where it is, catch a bus that I had no idea how it would look like, or where the stop would be located exactly, to head to our office far down south of Shanghai, to start the fun!
So around 7:30AM I stepped out, crossed the street - got nearly killed by 10 bicycles and 5 scooters - hopped on the subway which surprisingly wasn't that crowded. About 6 minutes later I had reached XuJiaHui, and it looked quite different then I expected. But that's always the case when looking for something specific. After a bit I found some interesting looking buses and it turned out to be the right stop.
I saw a few familiar faces on the bus. The ride is about an hour and then I started to explore the campus, and met many great co-workers. The cafeteria is nice too - lots of selection, so I will be able to try something different every day for the next couple of weeks. :)
So around 7:30AM I stepped out, crossed the street - got nearly killed by 10 bicycles and 5 scooters - hopped on the subway which surprisingly wasn't that crowded. About 6 minutes later I had reached XuJiaHui, and it looked quite different then I expected. But that's always the case when looking for something specific. After a bit I found some interesting looking buses and it turned out to be the right stop.
I saw a few familiar faces on the bus. The ride is about an hour and then I started to explore the campus, and met many great co-workers. The cafeteria is nice too - lots of selection, so I will be able to try something different every day for the next couple of weeks. :)
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Exploring a new city is always exciting. Exploring a city where you can't read or understand most of the stuff that is written or that people say is giving the whole adventure an additional meaning.
In the morning the water tank I ordered yesterday got delivered, so now I have plenty of water supply. Tap water is no good here. While waiting I decided to make my first meal, managmenet left some instant noddles on the table, so I tested out the water cooker - and well it cooks water - pretty hot! :)
It's a bit odd when I want to say things to people, but can't in their local language. But even just talking a few words is fun. So I said "Xie Xie ni" when the two guys finished setting up the water tank - well and one of them replied "bu ke qi". At least I understood that.
Now it was time to head out, the weather (air quality) had improved significantly. I wanted to see "The Bund", so I walked out, heading to the Jia Shang subway station which basically just across the street. Downstairs I had to figure out how this works here... talked with a service guy, whom I understood partially and he understood me partially - we (or more precisley I) had issues understanding how the loading of the card works.... While I chatted with the ticket guy, another customer walked up and put 100 RMB on the counter together with their chip card. Didn't take 2 seconds and he walked away happily with a loaded card, while the ticket guys was still talking to me. Multitasking - don't think any ticket sales rep in Vienna would be capable of doing that. Anyhow, that's how the loading/re-loading works, hence I just did the same 100 RMB + 20 RMB for the card and I was set to go.
The subway (Lines 9 and 2) is great, super clean and convenient. Not at all stinky and dirty like in other cities. My general first impression is that things here are pretty clean (for a giant city that is).
I got out at East Nanjing road, and people warned me about walking along here alone as a white guy. Ah, it's fine - got offered a few massages, which gets annoying pretty fast. So, I put my Arnold "Sarah, Conor" look on and kept walking. The road itself is a big shopping street - nothing special and it's not one of the things that excite me much, it's kind of the same in every city, although here are more people. Sort of looks like the last week before Christmas in the Mariahilferstrasse in Vienna.
Many of the stores are western brands, which further makes it just ordinary - there was even a Swarovski shop somewhere. I just walked along towards The Bund, which I reached after maybe 15-20 minutes.
What a day! In the morning it was still a bit foggy, but then in the early afternoon, it was clear and windy (so all the smog was pushed out) and this is what I got to see:
It was also pretty warm, so I spent a good amount of time in the area. Then I got food (Curry Chicken bowl with rice) at a place called Cafe de Something and afterwards proudly managed to order a Bubble tea with tapioca at a little Taiwanese shop. That made me truly happy. :)
The owner was excited, at least it seemed like that. Probably doesn't get many white customers - because the menu and signs where mostly Chinese.
He asked me if I want it hot or cold, and I said "liang", which I believe is close to meaning "cold" - I didn't remember anymore. But he understood. :)
Subway was a lot more crowded on the way home, bought a few things in a little store across the street. Couldn't resist on getting the Chinese version of Red Bull. My first day at work is tomorrow...
Tai Bangle!
In the morning the water tank I ordered yesterday got delivered, so now I have plenty of water supply. Tap water is no good here. While waiting I decided to make my first meal, managmenet left some instant noddles on the table, so I tested out the water cooker - and well it cooks water - pretty hot! :)
It's a bit odd when I want to say things to people, but can't in their local language. But even just talking a few words is fun. So I said "Xie Xie ni" when the two guys finished setting up the water tank - well and one of them replied "bu ke qi". At least I understood that.
Now it was time to head out, the weather (air quality) had improved significantly. I wanted to see "The Bund", so I walked out, heading to the Jia Shang subway station which basically just across the street. Downstairs I had to figure out how this works here... talked with a service guy, whom I understood partially and he understood me partially - we (or more precisley I) had issues understanding how the loading of the card works.... While I chatted with the ticket guy, another customer walked up and put 100 RMB on the counter together with their chip card. Didn't take 2 seconds and he walked away happily with a loaded card, while the ticket guys was still talking to me. Multitasking - don't think any ticket sales rep in Vienna would be capable of doing that. Anyhow, that's how the loading/re-loading works, hence I just did the same 100 RMB + 20 RMB for the card and I was set to go.
The subway (Lines 9 and 2) is great, super clean and convenient. Not at all stinky and dirty like in other cities. My general first impression is that things here are pretty clean (for a giant city that is).
I got out at East Nanjing road, and people warned me about walking along here alone as a white guy. Ah, it's fine - got offered a few massages, which gets annoying pretty fast. So, I put my Arnold "Sarah, Conor" look on and kept walking. The road itself is a big shopping street - nothing special and it's not one of the things that excite me much, it's kind of the same in every city, although here are more people. Sort of looks like the last week before Christmas in the Mariahilferstrasse in Vienna.
What a day! In the morning it was still a bit foggy, but then in the early afternoon, it was clear and windy (so all the smog was pushed out) and this is what I got to see:
It was also pretty warm, so I spent a good amount of time in the area. Then I got food (Curry Chicken bowl with rice) at a place called Cafe de Something and afterwards proudly managed to order a Bubble tea with tapioca at a little Taiwanese shop. That made me truly happy. :)The owner was excited, at least it seemed like that. Probably doesn't get many white customers - because the menu and signs where mostly Chinese.
He asked me if I want it hot or cold, and I said "liang", which I believe is close to meaning "cold" - I didn't remember anymore. But he understood. :)
Subway was a lot more crowded on the way home, bought a few things in a little store across the street. Couldn't resist on getting the Chinese version of Red Bull. My first day at work is tomorrow...
Tai Bangle!
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It's my first morning here in Shanghai. The trip was quite exhausting. I left Seattle on Friday, 22nd at noon and it was a 11:30 hour flight to Seoul, where I caught my connection flight to Shanghai.
Asiana Airlines is great, they have very good food - I enjoyed some BiBimBap and as I remembered from my previous visit to Korea, people are super friendly and helpful.
Asiana Airlines is great, they have very good food - I enjoyed some BiBimBap and as I remembered from my previous visit to Korea, people are super friendly and helpful.
The flight passes by North Korea and is carefully surrounding it. The entertainment system of my seat system in the plane didn't work, which was kind of entertaining by itself, as I saw an RedHat Linux boot screen around 6-8 times, well who says only Windows crashes?
While leaving the plane I met a former co-worker and his wife who where also on the way to Shanghai - what are they odds?!?!
The flight from Seoul to Shanghai was then where things got exciting. I slept for a while well, until I heard people talking loud and I heard "jichang, jichang" many times - which means airport - so something is going on.... Turns out that the air pollution in Shanghai was so bad that the plane couldn't land at the Pudon airport - so we circled around for about 30 minutes and then the captain decided to land at Hongqiao International Airport - which was better for me because it's closer to XuJiaHui where my apartment is. After the plane landed the flight attendant said that we will wait here for a while, until we continue with the flight to Pudong, because they don't know if they can have us immigrate here. But after 15 more minutes we were able to get off the plane.
Immigration was super easy and convenient, very much like in Europe and not like in the U.S. where the procedure is long and sometimes cumbersome. The female officer inspected my documents carefully, did some checks on the computer and then looked up and said "hao". The luggage wasn't there for a while and I was very tired when I hopped into the taxi. The driver was very nice and friendly, and after a few seconds we were able to figure out where I want to go. It was not at all as some people or travel guides suggested, and it was the first I would have loved to be able to speak Mandarin to have an actual conversation.
Check in to the apartment went smoothly (although there were some complications on booking it beforehand), and I went to bed right away as I was super tired. Noise is very low and acceptable, but the air quality has me worried quite a bit. I will be checking the US Consulate Air quality site regularly which provides some insights. But I probably won't be running much the next few months...
I'm now up here on the 31st floor in my apartment overlooking the Shanghai skyline, and it's Sunday, February 24th 2013.
Zaoshang Hao!
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