Blogs from Shanghai, China, Asia - page 275

It was hard work and a great adventure. Travelling from Kunming (south-west) to Shanghai (almost 60 hours with the train) at Chinese New Year is a challenge comparable to buying christmas gifts on the three last saturdays before Christmas in Germany in a row. But as you see, I made it! No shower for three day's but happy not only to arrive but also to meet extrodinary nice people like Zhenzhao, a chinese student from Wuhan who helped me getting a seat in the more than overcrowded train and helped me to buy the third last ticket to Nanning close to Shanghai. Otherwise it would have cost me three days in the cold of Wuhan doing nothing but freezing. He got so excited about his german visitor that he forgot his luggage in the train. But ... read more

The commute started fine. It only took me about 45 min. to get to work. Big difference from the 5 min. it took me in Atlanta, but lots of interesting things to see along the way. The bicycles still rule around here, although I give them another year before they are taken over by cars. The two highlights so far...I have not had lunch in two days because I can't find the cafeteria! and...I missed my first business trip because I did not bring my passport to the airport. I guess I was used to travel from Atlanta to NY with my license, so why would I need my passport to travel from Shanghai to Beijing? Well...I learned I do and I learned it is hopeless to argue with the chinese airport security guy when you ... read more

We wake up and decide to go to the coffe house next to the hotel to have breakfast. We walk there and is SO expensive! A huge bowl of noodle soup (yes, they sell all kinds of food in coffee houses here) costs the same that a cup of coffee! around US$3.5. We are sipping our coffee and suddenly there is music in Spanish playing in the background... Omar proudly identifies the group singing; is "Trio Los Panchos" a well known trio from Mexico that through the years changed singers and had not only mexicans but also puertoricans. The music is melancolic and romantic, nothing like the vibrant Shanghai that is starting the wake up. The waitress comes Omar joking says that he likes the music. She looks back at him and with no smile whatsoever ... read more

Jerry and I left Australia at midnight with heavy suitcases and a feeling of "have we done the right thing?" Arriving in Shanghai we were met at the airport by a an English speaking guide who drove us an hour to our hotel - the 'Yangtze' (can highly reccommend it). It was freezing cold and raining. The hotel was an original art deco hotel and was situated very close to the Shanghai museum and Nanjing Lu (St), which is a pedestrian shopping mall which stretches to The Bund, the famous waterfront concessional area which was Shanghai's Wall Street in the 1930's. We spent three nights wandering the streets around our hotel and dodging rain showers. On the eve of Chinese New Year all night you could hear fire crackers go off - it was totally crazy ... read more

It is another sunny day in Shanghai and Kay and I have a made an appointment with Joanne today at noon. We have some time to kill so I show her around the newly discovered Yu Yuan food market which is a sure winner. More meat sticks follow. We then travel to People's Square and wait for Joanne, first at a bench in the park, and then in one of the oversized department stores. As she arrives we head for a coffee house and sit down to plan a bit about how to reach Yiwu tomorrow. We are given directions to the main railway station and instructions on how to obtain train tickets. Taking the MTR northbound we arrive at the busy station and a sizeable hall full of crowds lining up at the ticket counters. ... read more