One of our Oz teachers started life as a chef so volunteered to cook us our Christmas Day lunch. 17 of us sat down to a feast of vegetable soup, roast lamb, beef, chicken and roast vegetables, cauliflower cheese and green veges, with desert being two kinds of cakes as well as jelly and trifle. All cooked in one tiny little oven and two microwaves and one hot plate. Lots of wine, snacks, secret santa and Christmas decorations completed one of the most wonderful days, with all of us enjoying the day with family and friends. Most of the food was [View Full Entry]

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You would think that in a country like China Christmas would be a non event but how wrong could I be. Christmas Eve in Shanghai is bigger than Ben Hur with Christmas trees on each corner, Santa hats and tinsel being sold by the street sellers, and restaurants’ staff all wearing something Christmassy. Celebrations are purely commercial and occur on Christmas Eve with KTV (karaoke) a favourite as well as get togethers and general partying. We started our celebrations with a faculty party at the university here at SSPU. Stone cold sober and 3pm!!. The karaoke machine had both C [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday was Karl’s first day in China and we had a day of contrasts, concerts, cake and cacophony. (Real big word but had to start with C) We started the day by walking from the uni to our local shopping area, which is a short 30-minute walk away. We think it is called Chaolu, there is a sign saying that name but it could be called something else too. It is the old existing market, plus new shops and restaurants as well as a huge “wet market”, trendy boutiques and street stalls, supermarkets, as well as the new high-rise residential areas [View Full Entry]

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Just when I think I have seen all the contrast there are to see, China yet again surprises me. Today I took the 993 bus in the opposite direction of Shanghai city south east to Chuansha Road and the large shopping area that we passed the other day on the 991 bus. You go past Ford, Sony and Komatsu factories as well as the usual housing areas, small shops and market gardens. This is not an expat area, I was the only Westerner I saw all day, but there are the big commercial places such as Pizza Hut etc. This food [View Full Entry]

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Thought you all needed to see what my work area was like. The buildings around here look so grand. Imposing buildings, marble staircases, beautiful gardens and walkways, fish in large ponds, every leaf swept up, exteriors looking like a million yuan. The gardens are tended to by a huge amount of people who are constantly digging and planting and shoveling and sweeping. The pansies in many garden beds have been all transplanted from somewhere, don’t quite know how they survive some of the frosts we have had, maybe Chinese pansies are anything but “pansies”. (Get it?) [View Full Entry]

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The 993 bus is always a little surprise package waiting to happen. Yesterday I took the bus into the Luijaizui area to meet someone for lunch at Superbrand Mall. It was so packed, people were standing 4 deep inside the entire length of the bus. If you were in the inside 2 rows, there was no need to hang on to anything, as you would not move an inch if the bus stopped. If you were in the outside rows if you had your arms up hanging on to a strap that is where they had to stay as it was [View Full Entry]

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A little adventure is what we had on Sunday, when we rode the 991 bus to the end of the line in the opposite direction from Shanghai city. No matter what time of the day or week the buses are full of people usually standing room only unless you get on at one of the ends. So we joined the usual throng of people. These buses have limited seating with single rows mostly allowing the maximum people to stand up. Do not know what the load limit is but I have never seen a bus not take more passengers. You just [View Full Entry]

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Had a big night out yesterday at the Shanghai Opera. Started the journey with the very crowded, as usual, 993 bus from Jin Hai Road Pudong into the city, and got off at the ferry terminal which is the end of the line. The transport system here is all linked with a card which you can refill and top up, so taxi, bus, metro and ferry all are really cheap and use the one card. So the bus is 3Y and the ferry across the Huangpu River is 2Y, which takes you into Puxi and The Bund area. We walked down [View Full Entry]

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Utes would be highly wasted in China where a bicycle, scooter or bicycle pulling a trailer, carry all that is needed to be carried. Of course I never have my camera with me or turned on when a really huge load comes past on a bike but here is a random sampling of the traffic this afternoon when I was standing at a street corner for 30 minutes. I ended up having to move on as too many people were stopping and staring at what I was doing, but I managed to catch the usual sights of a three on a [View Full Entry]

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The city of Shanghai has many contrasts, from the French area, to the old town, to the ultra modern skyscrapers, to the ex pat living areas, and the very commercial parts that exist here in China as they do in any large city. There is a large international community living here, which is to be expected of a city this size. Many many nationalities are represented, with many of these expats living in one or two areas of the city with more western supermarkets, shops and food outlets. There are private international schools and universities, tree-lined streets, soccer fields, and wonderful [View Full Entry]

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