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 Chinese and English selections but you had to line up for a turn, it is so popular. Most of the Chinese teachers can sing really well, and 2 of them treated us to a traditional folk song ... read more

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 appeals to the youth as much as it does anywhere else in the world Wednesday must not be a major shopping day; it was easy to walk around, look and sort of browse. The moment ... read more

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 almost impossible to change your body position. When someone had to get off, half the bus had to adjust their position which every does without a murmur or a comment, the co-operation is amazing. As ... read more

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 Fuzhou Road almost into the Renmin Square area and found the Yifu Theatre, which is one of the older smaller theatres in town. Tickets ranged from 50Y to 280Y which is around Aus$15 to Aus$70, ... read more

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 looking apartments, which are behind high walls and with, armed guards on the gate. Some of these communities have their Christmas lights on display and at Carrefour which is the French International supermarket chain, you ... read more