Blogs from Jing An, Shanghai, China, Asia - page 2

The first GT Alumni Reception (gathering/meeting) ever in China was held today and any interested SSP students (from the LBAT students to the Graduate dual major students) could attend as long as they RSVP'd. I, expecting free food, of course decided to attend and it was well worth it! I chose this over doing Nanjing right after our Suzhou day trip. It was held in the "Two Cities Gallery" at the M50 Art District, a pretty explore-worthy looking place. Though I don't remember exactly how to get there...we just took a taxi, the subway's a bit far from the stop. The only undergrads that went were Derryl, Phillip, and myself. Derryl likes to network and meet interesting people (primarily women), Philip likes food and only looks for women to talk to, and I just wanted some ... read more

Man...I really need to start trusting my own instincts more, and the guards here. Ted and I left for the South Railway Station with the desire to buy two tickets round trip for a one day excursion on Friday to Suzhou. We took the the metro, got there and found the station after only 5-10 minutes of walking, then called Ethan and Sam who were supposedly already there, but were actually in the subway station still. Therefore, when we couldn't see them we decided we were in the wrong place and then spent about an hour trying to find a different ticket office only to realize that was the right one. We finally bought the tickets, but I missed Wushu class =(. I'm not even making a map for this one, such wasted time, haha ....Update: ... read more

Hi all, Well, it was May Day…and the Chinese Government’s cutting of the traditional one-week holiday into long weekends posed a dilemma: what to do for only May 1-3? Then colleagues returning from a weekend getaway showed us their pictures of Pingyao--a walled city from the Ming and Qing Dynasty eras--and their enthusiasm for this so-called “China’s hidden gem” was intriguing. The truth of that phrase was immediately apparent, when in response to queries for more info most responses were, like, Pingyao? Huh? Even our bible, the Lonely Planet (herewith referred to as LP) didn’t reveal much more, except to confirm that the place is basically unknown to expats, and that it's located in the province of Shanxi (with one ‘a’) and not to be confused with the famous adjacent Shaanxi--home to Xi’an of the reknown ... read more

Have been savouring the spring festival holiday: home on Jan. 9th, visit with family and friends, off to Black Mountain, and finally back to Shenzhen for the start of a 3 city tour of China. Jerry and I first went to Shanghai, billed as China's most liveable city, then Beijing, hiked 10 km on the wall :), and lastly Xi'an and the terracotta warriors. Shanghai is a wonderful blend of old and modern, surreal architecture juxtaposed against the old, classy buildings on the Bund. Our hotel was a restored 80 year old building which, like Shanghai, blended the old with the new. We brought in the lunar new year with other 'foreigners' at Jenny's Bar, viewed Sun Yat Sen's home and went on a kazillion walks to take in the delights that make up this city. ... read more

67 days after beers in the Black Lion we arrived in Shanghai on a warm afternoon and were met by the friendly faces of Helen and Orlando at the chaos of Shanghai railway station. Before we knew it we had dropped off our bags and were enjoying cold Tsing Tao and fresh sandwiches(without the usual chinese sweet bread) looking out over sunset from about the 15th floor! Afterwards we regailed travelling stories around Shanghai's buzzing bar scene, which included some rather bizarre serbian music and dancing in a French Concession bar. The next day feeling rather hungover, we relaxed around Jing'an and I was reunited with my Laptop. Later we made our way to the Bund, the old colonial area on the river, the old European style buldings now having been superceeded by a dramatic skyline ... read more