Mad About Shanghai

Nanjing back to Shanghai

The next high speed train would leave Nanjing in 1 hr and 45 mins time. Rather then hang around and do nothing (I had no intentions of heading back to the city), I took the next available train which is the conventional electric one departing in twenty minutes time. The ticket costs 80RMB and would take 3 hours.

I found stark differences compared to the high speed train:

It wasnt a pleasant journey back on my end. A passenger seated in front of me was lodging a complaint over his mobile phone over some matters relating to his internet account and was shouting for at least half an hour. The passenger behind me had apparently "smuggled" a chicken on board. The chicken some how escaped from the box which it was kept in, flew on top of me and flapped its wings on my head several times (no joke!!!). My immediate concern then was whether the chicken had avian flu. A flu sick bird onboard mass public transport is no kidding matter too!

If you can well afford the premium, I strongly do recommend the high speed train on your next / first trip to Nanjing from Shanghai. It wins hand down in terms of speed, comfort, spaciousness and cleanliness.

Thankfully, the bird is flu free. As you can see, I am alive and well to type this blog !

Trip to Nanjing (Part 4)

Just next to the Presidential Palace, there is a development just like Xintiandi. With fancy restaurants, bars and cafes, Nanjing 1912 is one of the more popular hang out places in Nanjing.

I stumbled upon this by chance when I happened to hear some loud music being played in one of the establishment next to the Presidential Palace. Curiosity got the better of me and I checked it out when the palace closed.

Exploring the vicinity, I found the Nanjing State Library too:

Trip to Nanjing (Part 3)

After checking in, I spent the day visiting quite a few spots within Nanjing and the city itself.

One of the must go places in Nanjing is of course the Presidential Palace. As mentioned earlier, it was where KMT laid their roots  upon the founding of the China Republic. Having quite an interest in modern Chinese history, I found it just awesome to be at the same spot where the ideals of modern China were conceptualized and plotted.

The entrance ticket is 50RMB. The ticket is in the form of a postcard which you can post to your loved ones after the visit.

The state conference hall, the President's office, the Vice Premier's office, the war room, air raid shelters and even the stables, though refurbished, looked as if they were in their exact state some tens of years ago.

One immediate contrast I observed was the level of austerity exercised between the two state offices, as compared to the Forbidden City in Beijing which I visited two years ago. The extravagance of the former ruling emperor of China versus the austerity of a republican party. Its little wonder that there was such a strong belief in overthrowing the monarch then.

I saw some powerful pictures too in the palace too. There were pictures from the "Rape of Nanking", of Sun Yat Sen's aspiration when he first started out and the over running of the Red Army at the Presidential Palace when they fell to the Communists etc.

Some pics:

Trip to Nanjing (Part 2)

To be really really really honest, my first impressions of Nanjing wasnt that good. 

Upon alighting from the train, someone blew her nose really hard and I found a patch of gooey mucus landing dangerously close to my feet. Thank goodness my reactions were fast ! I had thought that incident was a one off but when I looked around, it seems that many others are doing the same too ! Spitting is an all too common sight around as well.

It was like the wild wild west ... for nobody seems to care much about rules of any sort.

Traffic rules for example, be it pedestrians or drivers, nobody really cares about them. Drivers can be seen honking at pedestrians to get out of the way when the "green man" is on.  And pedestrians crossing the road when the right of way belong to vehicles. It was as if they were daring the drivers to stop in time. Traffic wardens tried to stop the culprits but they were just blatantly ignored.

Taxis were hard to come by. My average waiting time had been about 20 mins on an off peak weekday. On one occasion, a taxi driver smoked a cigarette while I was in the cab.

Anyway, these incidents aside. I was sure I would enjoy the rest of this historical and prosperous city.

As I was doing an overnighter, I searched around for a budget hotel on the web and found one. At US$17 a night plus high speed internet connection for a nominal fee (US$3 for whole day usage),  Gold Star Hotel seems good value for money.

Rose had helped me made the booking earlier. Checking in was a breeze and I paid in cash up front.  I found the room to be spacious, clean and new. If you are doing an overnighter or a short trip to Nanjing too, I would recommend this hotel. It is a proper three star hotel . Recently renovated, its smacked right in the middle of the city too. 

I was quite pleased with the good deal I got.

But whatever you do, dont meddle with the air conditioning !

Trip to Nanjing (Part 1)

Beside Hangzhou, Wuxi and Suzhou, Nanjing is one of the bigger city near Shanghai. If you have been to Hangzhou for a weekend trip before (which is probably the most visited city from Shanghai), Nanjing is a city worth considering for the next trip.

I have been to Hangzhou, and since there was a lot publicity about the city in the media lately, primarily due the Nanking Massacre Anniversary, I decided to pay the city a visit, just for two days.

For those new to China, Nanjing is the capital of China's Jiangsu Province and a city with a prominent place in Chinese history and culture. The city also served as the capital of China during several historical periods, and is listed as one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China. The others being Beijing, Luoyang, and Chang'an. Plus, it is also the city that Kuo Min Tang (KMT), founding party of Republic China set up base from 1927 to 1937 (known as the Nanjing Decade).

Three most common ways to get there: Plane, bus, train. As Nanjing is only about 300km from the west of Shanghai, I picked the most sensible/cost efficient mode of transportation. I chose the train and its a high speed train. From Shanghai Train Station, the journey takes about only 1 hour and 30 mins to get to Nanjing. If you travel by the conventional electric train, the  journey duration is doubled to three hours. There is a train, either high speed or conventional departing every hour. Thus, no ticket reservation is usually necessary unless on busy weekends.

If you are really new to Shanghai, the Shanghai Train Station is reachable by metro too. I  bought a ticket at a counter with an English speaking ticketeer. I think we caught her in a really bad mood. She just threw the ticket at everyone that is buying a ticket from her. The two Russian ladies in front of me doesnt seems too impressed with her services of course. Service level aside,  I was glad I got my ticket for 112 RMB on the high speed train which departs in 15 minutes time.

The train station was as usual, crowded. It took me a while to find where I was suppose to board the train. I made it just in time. The train moved off just a few minutes after I found my seat.

On board the train, I was impressed by the cabin design, comfort and speed of the train. It was much like the high speed train I took from Taipei to Kaohsiung in Nov. At times, the train hit 200km/h. Useful touches like a power outlet to charge your laptops, mobile phones and other gadgets are available. The train company also provides a complimentary bottle of "exclusive" spring water from Tibet, reserved only for VIPs (I found it sold commonly in a convenience store a few days later :D).

Some pics :

Has Xiangyang Market Moved to Yangshuo?

Who said that Xiangyang market was demolished? It has simply been moved to the West Street of Yangshuo.

While in Yangshuo when we wandered down the most popular street - West Street, we found so many shops selling the same stuff as those in the good old Xiangyang market - Quicksilver T-shirts, Gucci watch and those designer's handbags...

We walked into one shop that has three separate rooms displaying different brand of designer's handbags: Chanel, Coach, Gucci etc. They actually had more designs available than in the Xiangyang market but asking prices were higher too. I tried to use the same tactic as I used to use in Xiangyang market to haggle prices with them, but they didn't chase me at all after I pretended to leave - either their handbags cost really are higher, or they have more than enough customers to sell to at top dollar. While  in the shop, I saw an elderly Italian lady who bought a few handbags leave with a big happy smile on her face.

So the West Street in Yangshuo is another place to shop for designer's handbags.

A Budget Airline in Shanghai

We are back from Yangshuo with great suntan!

It was the first time we booked Spring Airline
which is a  budget airline. They often offer 40-60% discount on the air tickets, sometimes even offer RMB99, 199, 299 tickets to some tourist destinations such as Guilin, Qingdao etc.  Like Virgin Blue in Australia, they do not provide any free food on the plane in order to cut the customers cost.

Our experience with Spring Airline was pretty good - they are on time.

Check their website - Spring Travel where they offer not only budget air tickets for domestic and international travel, but also offer great holiday packages.

So it is an alternative to Ctrip when you want to book air tickets, hotels or holidays in China for both domestic and overseas travel.

The Friendly Chinese People

Brad's brother Langley has a disability called Prader Willi - one of the side effects of this disability is obesity.  He has lost over 50 kilos since a couple of years ago when I first met him. That is also why he could make this trip to the UK and China - previously he couldn't fit in a seat on the air plane.

Despite the 50 kilos loss of weight, Langley is still very big compared to normal Chinese people's size, which caused lots of attention every where he went. However I felt very pleased that most of Chinese people were so friendly with him and didn't treat him as a "strange" Laowai.

He made friends with the security guards in our complex. Whenever we walked past the gate, the guards would especially say "nihao" or nod with a big smile to Langley. When he waited for us in front of a shop, the vendors offered him a chair to sit on and tried to chat with him. When we did the Huangpu River cruise, Langley was taken on a tour by the captain to look around in the control room - nobody else was offered that privilege. He even got a super good deal on a watch at Xiangyang market; I couldn't get that good deal myself (as a tough bargainer) - apparently those vendors liked him.

Of course this also had something to do with Langley's manner - he would practise the Chinese greeting "Nihao" every where and gave people a big smile - so all the people returned the friendliness.

On the other hand, occasionally there were vendors trying to hook Langley for some purchase that he was not interested or trying to charge him a ridiculous price, but I guess that is the way they treat every single Laowai, not just himself.

Langley had a great trip in China and he loved Chinese food and Chinese people.

Pick Pockets in China

When travelling in China - be very aware in the crowds - pick pockets are active (and very good) as exposed by this news report (Chinese). You have been warned!

Let that be a lesson - Problems with Visa's in China

"Let that be a lesson to you" has been running around my mind all afternoon.

I went to the equivalent of the immigration department to put in my visa application for an `F' visa (see here for more information on Chinese Visa's).

Now I knew I was overdue to get my visa updated - we were meant to go to Hong Kong over a month ago where I would start the second leg of my L Visa. But we didn't end up going and I promptly forgot about my needing to leave the country.

So, I was expecting to get a warning or a small fine, instead I got slapped with a 5,000RMB fine AU$850!

The fine is 500RMB per day! But they have a maximum fine of 5,000RMB - the equivalent of 10 days. (I was over by 39 days - oops).

Now despite the fact that we are working our butts off, a lot of our projects are still not paying us anything - so everything here has pretty much been expense with little income. Then to cop a 5,000RMB fine like that really hurts the small savings pile that we had!

So the lesson is - don't neglect your visa! Put the dates in your diary, your phone, your PDA, Outlook - whatever! Just don't let it run out.

I guess I am lucky in one sense, if it was the other way around and I was a Chinese passport holder and 39 days out of my Visa whilst being in Australia I am sure that I would now be locked up in Villawood or Baxter and be on a plane home without my belongings or any support! At least now I pay the money, get my F visa, and go home to my nice warm apartment for dumplings.

                                                                                                       Brad