The China Adventure Begins

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Just moved in to my apartment last weekend. I'm the area of Shanghai called XiTianDi, which is a renovated area on the border of the Old French Concession and the Old City. The metro is a few blocks away, which is convienent. There are a lot of nearby restaurants adn bar, even a English language movie theater. Here are a few pictures of the apartment.

I've also done a few of the tourist things. I went to the top of the Oriental Pearl Tower to get the bird's eye view of the place. I also walked around "The Bund", which is the ritzy around on the Puxi side of the river. The Huangpu River divides the city; Puxi is the western side and Pudong is the eastern side. I live in Puxi, but the Honeywell office is on the Pudong side. I even did the Bund sightseeing tunnel - which is a little tourist trap that takes you under the Huangpu River through a psychedelic journey. Both were okay to have done but I don't have any strong desire to do them again. The tunnel was actually a pretty quick way to cross the river. The tower views are cool but the place is a nightmare to get around in -at least when I went - a lot of people, long lines, etc.

Some observations: I'm just starting to figure out the traffic rules here. In some ways it resembles a giant game of chicken. Motorbikes are all over the place. There is right turn on red (no stopping, just full speed turns), left turn on red (after a slight hesitation), there is even a place where they make a left turn from the right side of the road (weird). Another different thing is queing - they don't do that here. If your trying to get on the metro, elevator, etc. they don't let people off people they try to get on, both sides just go as soon as the door open.

Also had my first business lunch out here. We took an overnight trip to Nanjing, a city a couple hours west of Shanghai. Lots of food - all good, but I only knew about 50% of what I was eating. Also your hosts, in order of status, will go around the table and have a drink with each of their guests. Good thing they have small glasses.

Okay that enough for now. Hope everyone is doing well.

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Photos

Picture 004
View of Pudong from the Bund

Picture 006
Magical mystery tour via the tourist sightseeing tunnel

Picture 009
Oriental Pearl TV Tower

Picture 011
View from the tower

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View from the tower

Picture 014
View from the tower

Picture 015
View from the tower - I'd like to think the white/gray area is clouds not smog

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Living room of my apartment

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Guest bedroom - 1st visitor will need to bring sheets - just kidding

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View of the Old City from my balconey

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The parkview regency - my apartment complex

Comments

[Eric]

Nice
I thought the tunnel was the best way to cross the river as well. There's also an old city a couple of hours outside Shanghai where there's canals and it almost looks like a Chinese version of Venice that was pretty cool to see... I'm sure your coworkers would know what I'm talking about... Sounds like you're enjoying your time there!

[Jack Gleason]

Cluck Cluck
... never show your fear! ;)