The Internet is on - At Last!

Wow, 2 weeks without the Internet is a seriously strange experience - what did we do before e-mail, web sites, messenger service, Skype and blogs?! How did we survive?

Anyhow, we are back on-line, we have a lovely apartment and a number of projects demanding our time and energy (which is good fun).

As Sabrina said yesterday, we were at the Shanghai Electronics sourcing fair and will be back there tomorrow. We have 12 customers with requirements for all manner of things electronic, so in these early days of us being in Shanghai we are working on being sourcing agents/brokers to get a bit of cash flow moving in the door.

The apartment is fantastic, its in the Huang Pu district on XiZang nan lu (Tibet Road South) in Puxi. It is a short walk to Huaihai Lu and Nanjing Lu for the shopping, and a short taxi ride to the Bund or Pudong. It is quite big with a large living area and 3 large bedrooms, a nice bathroom and a pretty funky ensuite (with weird glass separating the bedroom and ensuite - typically Chinese, no privacy). But above all, we love the view! We have a great sweeping view from Puxi across to Pudong where we can see the Oriental Pearl Tower and Jinmao Tower. Last week during National Day holiday, we also had a clear view of the interesting light projections onto the buildings across the way from the Bund.

So we got the apartment fully furnished, including the office furniture for the home office, for 6,800RMB per month (AU$1,150). We were pretty pleased with that, we know we could have gotten cheaper but this suited Sabrina with its location and me for a bit of space and peace and quiet. Its pretty quiet at night, and you don't need an alarm to wake up, just wait for the 7am horns at the intersection below, and hey presto - time to get up and put the stereo on!

We also finally got the phone put on and we both have mobile phones - so life is slowly returning to a sense of `normality'.

Once we have caught up on all our correspondence and phone calls, we will start to chronicle the information we have absorbed here and what is required to set up. But one thing I will say, it must be bloody hard for people who don't know the language and don't have anyone to support them! I was fortunate to have Sabrina with me who did all the negotiations, partook in all the arguments and directed everyone we were dealing with - I couldn't imagine trying that on my own with no language. So anyone contemplating the move, get yourself some local support - it will things easier and will undoubtedly save you a lot of money!

Brad

Comments

[fei]

Hi guys! good to read that you've finally found a suitable apartment and settled down. hmmm, the spitting- that was one of the things which i remembered most abt my trip to Shanghai (my 1st to any part in China) last June. and yes, the car horns. you do wonder: do the motorists horn for the sake of horning or ????

by the way, if your apartment is kind of like above the 10th level, try looking outside to the streets when it rains. the variety of colours on the raincoats which the cyclists wear, is really nice!

maybe when there's more time, you can take a day trip by bus (from 10000-people Stadium) to Suzhou or the outskirts (e.g the Gu Zhen-s like Zhou Zhuang). I think Brad would like that a lot, and I guess Sabrina will know more abt this than me! :)

one last thing: Sabrina's picture next to the sofa with a glass of wine really puzzles me. where's her left arms in the picture? and where's the left leg of that sofa????

take care both!