caroleinasia

Pandas It was another early start to go see the pandas. Our guide at the Panda Research Base, Melody, gave us the lowdown on the giant panda: · there are only about 1,600 giant pandas in the wild · the research base has 160 pandas; currently 60 are “away on business”, two being on business in Edinburgh J · originally carnivorous, the panda’s diet is now mostly bamboo · only 20% of the 14kg of bamboo they consume per day is nutritious which is why they eat so much and laze around/sleep a lot to conserve energy · the female is only fertile for 2 days of the year · pregnancy lasts anywhere between 3 to 6 months, and has been known to be as long as 11 months · they are very cute. Green Goat ... read more

Sooo behind with my blogs… We went to Japan at the end of July for the Fuji Rock Festival. But first we spent a few days in Tokyo and visited a few of our favourite spots: Akiabara -electronic/geek heaven (more for Paul than me obviously), Mori Tower and Art Musuem - amazing views and art fix, Ginza - posh shops, Sony 3D aquarium (!) and the Lion Beer Hall, Shibuya - great looking restaurants under the railway arches, Ueno - nice park, beer & yakitori under more railway arches, lots of delicious sushi. Next up was Matsumoto to visit Teimei-san and Akiko-san who we first met about 5 years ago when we happened upon their pub specialising in Scottish malt whiskies in this tiny Japanese mountain town. We’ve met up with them a few times in ... read more

Hello my poor neglected readers. Sorry, it’s been 7 months since my last blog. Hmm, kind of coincides with getting a full-time job. Anyone heard of the Expo 2010? Maybe news of this multi-billion dollar extravaganza hasn’t travelled much outside of China, but it’s all you hear about in Shanghai. Haibao (Expo mascot) pops up all around the city, the “Better City, Better Life” mantra is plastered everywhere and rampant construction has seen $45bn spent on tarting up Shanghai in recent years. It’s been one big building site. On the upside, we have loads more metro lines and snazzy new taxis. On the downside we’ve seen our dvd shops and street book-sellers (pirated of course!) disappear or at least become more scarce, and alternative live music venues shutdown. And it’s been making my work life a ... read more

While the PRC celebrated its 60th anniversary we took advantage of the week long holiday and buggered off to Vietnam. A short 3 and a half hour hop, or so we thought. After boarding the plane on time at 9.30pm we did a circuit around Pu Dong airport and arrived back at the terminal. That weird sound we all heard was indeed a technical fault that required attention. So we sat on the tarmac in the hot sweaty plane for a few hours, we were served our dinner and then told to get off the plane. Your typical very delayed flight in the wee small hours scenario ensued - disgruntled, tired passengers, lack of information, tempers flaring. We eventually set off about 2.30am. Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon) made me think of Shanghai as orderly ... read more

First apologies for the recent silence. I’ve been mostly wrestling with website building. My labours have paid off though and I’ve successfully completed Module 1, just 5 more to go… My work with Shanghai Sunrise (the charity I volunteer with) has stepped up a gear too, now that everyone’s back from summer holidays. I can’t believe it’s September already, I’ve been in Shanghai for 6 months! So, enough of the excuses. I have managed to get out and about the last few weeks. A few weekends back a merry gang of us went to the Qingdao Beer Festival. Qingdao is 1.5 hours flight north of Shanghai, on the coast and home of China’s most famous beer brand - Tsingtao. Before beer mayhem ensued we did our tourist duty and went for a walk up ‘the famous ... read more