July 2005 Archives

We have been taunted by a particular green-space ever since we moved to Shanghai.

Each day since we moved into our apartment in an older part of the Jing' An District, the sight of 3 immaculately grassed areas from our apartment windows has taunted me. One thing that played on both of our minds is that there are 3 rectangular fields that we have never seen used. Given that any empty space in Shanghai is either walled off or practically used by people to exercise, play mahjong, or dance - we both thought this was something special. So seeing this space day after day, and not knowing why there were never any people on this space, our interest had been sparked.

Shanghai, and in particularly Puxi where we live, isn't known for its open parked areas. I admit since moving here that this hasn't been something I've chased after too much. But now I really need to experience some open spaces. There are a number of parks in Shanghai where you can experience this - Century Park comes to mind immediately - but none of these areas are in our district of Jing' An. Being pragmatic (some would say lazy), I decided a 45 minute trip out to a sure-fire park experience in Pudong wasn't the best use of my energies. Coupled with the fact that we hadn't really been in this part of our neighbourhood - we normally spend our time on foot going north towards Changshou Lu, east towards Jiangning Lu, or south around the Beijing and Nanjing Lu areas - Lin & I decided to go and check it out a little further.

On our exploration mission, we discovered a major peculiarity. You cannot access these fields from the street. There must be some kind of Secret Squirrel entrance. The other item that we noticed from the ground is that it is a walled-off area. From our apartment you can distinguish a raised area, which could be the wall, but it also appears that the whole field area could be raised. The only thing I could think of is that it might be an old-disused water treatment plant. We passed an old waterworks when we went exploring. The buildings were in very good condition and appeared to be restored. Could this be linked to the very well maintained and immaculately kept green space?

This remains a mystery in our lives. Does anyone know what this area is? I'd love to know more about it.

The other good thing about my search is that I find out more about the Jing' An District and what's here. Its a really vibrant area I live in, and in my expat life, I think I've overlooked this aspect of my neighbourhood.

Technorati Tags: China, expat, Puxi, Shanghai

Thanks to the PRC, I just got a 2.1% pay rise (effective when I move my money back home!).

Yuan shift tipped to benefit exporters - Business - Business - smh.com.au:

Now the PRC has greater buying power, and other countries slightly better exporting power.

Now all I have to do is work out how to get another payrise to counter the 8-10% local inflation rate here.

Technorati Tags: China

So, your girlfriend is organising an order through Amazon.com, and she asks you if you want anything. Almost straight away I was thinking about the new Harry Potter book (and that's bad enough). But unfortunately Lin's book habit couldn't wait 2 weeks for that order. So, with hundreds of thousands of books at my finger tips, I chose.

"Phylogenetic Trees Made Easy: A How-To Manual, Second Edition" (Barry G. Hall)

I'm such a geek.

Technorati Tags: Microbiology

I knew this was going to happen at somepoint. Did I think it was going to happen so soon though...?

We have visitors coming to stay. Not one, not two, but three waves of sight-seeing spongers.

Actually, I'm really happy to have our friends coming to visit. When living in one of the 'world's cities', I thought it may actually have been a shorter wait until the sweaty masses from overseas started to make a path to our door. This may also mean another supply of Vegemite and deodorant that really works! Yes, it really works!

I've already met up with one Australian from my not-so-distant past when she visited Shanghai as part of a business trip, but why would you pass up the Westin for a cosy 2 bedroom apartment? No, I wouldn't either. Now we have a few visitors ranging from crash-pad buddies, close friends, and family.

So, given 'Prior' notice, the ChunderLoo B&B is getting organised, so have no fear our impending arrivals. We now have sheets on the spare bed - but don't think you're going to get another 20-30cm of mattress when you arrive. Hope its all nice and cosy for you. At least you'll have a/c.

Lin's sister no. 1 is arranging a visit sometime in October - perhaps just in time for the 3rd and final 'Golden Week Holiday' of the year. Should be plenty happening.

Technorati Tags: China, Shanghai

I love a good pun. Methinks the animal was lucky it didn't end up in a spicy dish.

Speedy panda pursuit - July 19, 2005
World - smh.com.au:

A wild giant panda which wandered into a south-western Chinese city at the weekend led would-be rescuers on a day-long chase before it was captured and returned to the wild.

The animal was first spotted early Saturday morning in Dujiangyuan, a city in Sichuan province, and was pursued by residents of a housing complex who initially thought it was a cat burglar, reports the China Daily. The panda managed to escape by climbing over roofs and disappearing through an iron gate into darkness. "The panda was amazingly agile and totally different from those at the zoos," a witness, surnamed Xu, was quoted as saying.

Several hours later, police received reports that the panda had been sighted in a river, the newspaper said. Police observed the swimming panda until it stopped to climb a tree on the riverbank, where it stayed until daybreak. Around midmorning, with the help of a tranquiliser dart and rope, firemen were able to lift the panda from the tree so it could be returned home.

The giant panda is one of the world's most endangered species, with fewer than 1,600 living in the wild in western China.
Reuters

Technorati Tags: China, humour

Apart from pondering about yesterday and the events I witnessed, I've been mulling over my time spent here in Shanghai.

It has been a true mix bag of events. There is an often repeated term used in the expat community here in Shanghai (and from my limited experiences, every other expat community in the world). Work hard, live hard. Apart from a few evenings, everything has been relatively quiet in my time here so far. Of course there's been a couple of Friday beers, or a dinner on Saturday night, but overwhelmingly it hasn't been about getting out and going nuts.

I've been too tired, we've been too tired, or too busy to even contemplate these things. A lot of the time I just want to escape into our apartment and shut out the city and my job. Increasingly, that line is becoming blurred.

I am truly appreciating that pressure and tiredness leads to stress. You can see why many people indulge in escapism here - its affordable, and you need it. I'm not really into that scene. But I haven't really found a way to let off steam yet.

Weighing up my time here, I'd admit that my time has been spent predominantly on the job, thinking about the job, or dealing with past occupations back in Australia.

I'm nearly over the hump, but must admit not a lot has been done to resolve the problems I have faced. I'm in the process of weighing up what I could do to alleviate my situation. In writing this entry, I'm consciously aware that I'm not revealing too much about what the exact situations are. The next month is going to be a telling time.

Since Lin & I have had enjoyed our first Saturday together for a long time last week, we thought it was time normality struck back. On our second Saturday sans work, we spent it shopping.

After a week of emptying cupboards and making creative meals (chicken salsa pasta anyone?), we thought it was high-time to make a trip out to our new consumerist's mecca - Gubei Carrefour. Although we live only a short 10 minute walk away from the Wuning Road Carrefour, we have been dazzled by the choice at our fave new store. We're like moths to the flame. Added to this was the return of Shanghai's hot weather, so a taxi ride to either of the stores was then on the cards.

Our start to our early morning consumerism was a little unusual. After a taxi ride, we entered the bottom level of the shops. Skipping breakfast this morning by favouring sleeping (Lin) and working (Tim), we made a direct path towards the foodcourt to have a bite to eat for lunch. Immediately after entering the store, we heard a child bawling - not really unusual in any shopping centre I grant you. As we proceeded to walk towards the escalators to take us to our consumerist idol, we found out why the child was crying. Two men (we both presume one was the kid's father) were going at each other in the computer game store near the escalators. In true Shanghainese style, everyone had stopped and gawked at this free entertainment. Punches, knees, slaps, scratching, elbows, wrestling. It was all on. It was very heated, and in a true street fight situation, it was not what would you call an exemplary pugilist exhibition. Critiques aside, one guy ended up getting the better of the situation. A female shop attendant from another store stepped in and broke up the fight, but the losing fellow, with blood coming from his mouth, stormed off muttering with a really black demeanour - he stormed right off to the knife shop two stores down. Realising this, everyone watching flew off the handle and stood clear of this guy. The next thing you knew is that the winner was bolting out of the shopping centre with the fella intent on revenge stalking his target. It was getting pretty bad. The crowd shifted to watch, and Lin and I were incredulous to what we had just seen. During this scene, the kid had continued to cry, people shrieked - but nobody except the female shop attendant did anything.

Just before leaving the store, the shopping centre guards and other employees managed to get the situation under control. We saw the female shop attendant from the knife store return with the stolen instrument - a knife sharpener. In the guys haste to get revenge, he must have taken the wrong choice (1 out of 4 of 6) and picked the most blunt instrument from the knife block. A lucky choice. Not that sharpener wasn't potentially dangerous, but at least it wasn't a knife. The scene now under control, the crowd thinned and went on their way. Lin & I went back to our plan of grabbing a quick bite before hitting the shops with (seemingly) the rest of Shanghai.

After grabbing our bite to eat, we returned to the scene of the fight. The computer store was empty. Neither man had returned, and I assume they had both been taken away by police. I then noticed the same small kid that was crying earlier sitting behind the counter looking after the store.

We then went and bought stuff from the shops, documented more supermarket scenes, ate, went home, bought a multi-function printer/scanner/copier, ate, went to a party, drank, and finally crawled back in early in the morning.

Today I'm just wondering what that kid is doing now.

Technorati Tags: China, expat, Puxi Shanghai, Shanghai

I want to wish you both the very best for your wedding this weekend. Sorry we couldn't make it. Congratulations once again!

I haven't been too forthcoming with how I'm travelling here in my new life in Shanghai. It isn't all roses, sunshine and smiles here. That's how I fill my days and spare time to balance the stressful areas of my day to day life. Most of my problems have been coming from both my move to a foreign country (not so surprising) and starting a new, high pressure job (not unexpected, but still a much higher level of workload that I expected). Other issues (right now) like homesickness, missing friends and family, and other little things from your past life haven't been the main detractors (at this point). Shanghai is a place of many cultures, and you can easily switch, mix and change your levels and exposure to cultural experiences very easily.

My appetite has dropped and I've lost about 10kg now (but I think that has more to do with the lack of parental quality food force-feeding than outright stress). I haven't been sleeping well of late, maybe only 5-6 hours of sleep a night. Mostly that's interrupted - like last night. Its a vicious circle, feeling tired and worried about what you're doing. I'm feeling anxious about my job, and how I am doing in it. There's a lot of pressure that ebbs and flows between manageable and outright swamped with work. Needless to say I am not 100% satisfied with what I am doing right now. The lack of satisfaction comes from two main sources, my ability(?) to deal & manage a high workload, and being overloaded at the same time. I'm working on the first problem, so there's still a lot of room to manoeuvre within that area and get issues sorted, but increasingly my initial enthusiasm for this position is being replaced by the cold stark reality of a tough, constantly-challenging job.

I came up against a lot of problems like these with my PhD studies. I would admit that I could have handled things differently, perhaps been stronger standing up for myself. I was guilty of not playing a smart game, but only a hard-working one. Now have I got an aversion to toughing it out? Yes, but that depends on my frame of mind. I do realise that this approach is not the most effective way of resolving problems.

Common-sense tells me that this is a stage and it will pass. My pessimism tells me this is the start of a long and difficult road. I've just got to think more about whether I'll be proactive about this (the corporate way - da deda daaa) or sit on my backside and let it flow over me. I don't think I've been guilty of indulging in anyone of these. My current approach isn't going to cut it at this rate - the question is what to do?

A cool thing happened this week - not to me of course (nothing like that ever happens to me *sob*) - but to Linda! She won 2 tickets to see The Crystal Method this Saturday night at the La Fabrique club in Shanghai.

That's cool.

My first impressions of Shanghai's music scene can be summed up as....

1. Phillipino Cover Bands for Expats.
2. Chinese culture music (Beijing Opera - to my ears - cats being tortured) for the Mums, Dads, Grandpas and Grandmas.
3. A strong orchestral music scene for the middle aged.
4. China-pop & Backstreet Boys for the youngsters (I wish they never came back...).

Not a good first impression. But then I began to dig a little deeper. Well, not that far really. The internet is a wonderful place. And so is Shanghai's real music scene.

One thing I have been surprised about here is the quality of dance music (in all its forms) and hip-hop culture here in Shanghai. Both scenes are very vibrant. My choice, good ol' alternate/indie rock (aka triplej style) isn't as big here, well, maybe doesn't have as good publicity as electronic music & hip-hop. I've been told Beijing and Hong Kong has a better alternate music scene that what you find in Shanghai. I went and visited the Tanghui Bar a number of days ago now - they have a really good house band that played some really interesting covers. The main singer has a fantastic rich throaty voice - she's pretty awesome to listen to. Echoing Dan Washburn's recommendation, go and check it out if you get the chance. We also met some of the fellas from local expat favourites 'A Fist Full of Lowais' at The British Bulldog Pub a few months back. Great guys, I'm still keen on getting out to listen to them but haven't had the opportunity as of yet.

Hip-hop & rap is huge here. My mate Rob told me of an evening of his at Window's near Jing' An Temple, and needless to say he ended up in a dance battle. He found a solution. Look him up, he'll tell you a story about it one time. Shanghai also is drawing some names. Not long ago I saw Kid Koala at Club Pegasus, and now, the angry grand-daddy gangsta rapper of them all, Ice-T is coming to town. I downloaded this week's triplej podcast this week which featured an interview with Ice-T in which he discussed his current music projects and collaborations with DJ Afrika Islam, Flea from RHCP and the like.

On a different note, its strange to see how close certain influences on your life can be when they are in completely different geographical locations or cultures. The global media saturation from the music industry is nuts!

Some English language sites I read for information and upcoming events on Shanghai's alternative and dance music scene...

SmartShanghai - Trance, Hard-house, NRG, everything electronic, with a smattering of hip-hop and rap.
Shanghaiist: Music Archives - Reviews, discussions, and heads-up on upcoming events.
Lisa Movius's Reviews & Articles - features street press style of journalism, digging a little deeper than most music mags though.
Shanghai Streets - comprehensive alternative music roundups with a strong punk focus.

Technorati Tags: clubbing, culture, expat, Kid Koala, music, Nightlife, radio, rock, Shanghai, triplej

Shanghaiist is one of my favourite new websites. Its a webzine based around life in Shanghai, well, at least Shanghai life for English speakers.

I came across this article thread the other day. Famous skater Danny Way managed to jump over The Great Wall of China! Four times!!! He's bloody nuts. Check out this research from Shanghaiist's Dan and Shamus.

Shanghaiist Article Links

Shanghaiist: Skater to jump the Great Wall (no, not lengthways)

Shanghaiist: Danny did it! (four times, too)

Technorati Tags: blogging, China, culture, Shanghai, webzine

I haven't written anything website related since I moved to China. I've just been too busy. But a little discovery allowed me to get back to this topic.

After I made this site, one of the first things I tried to do was to integrate myself into the wider blogging community. Being based back in brisneyland, I had 2 choices. Join my local Brisbane blog community, or alternatively, an Australia-wide webring called aussieblogs. Aussieblogs was created and designed by an aussie expat in London, who did a fine job constructing and running the site. It all got too demanding for him and eventually he off-loaded it to another consortium. All seemed dandy when I left Oz.

But checking at work yesterday (don't tell tha man), I read...

Closed (again). Probably for good, but you never know.

I was shocked. It was a really cool site. now I'm not too sure where I can keep up with an oz-blog community, except those linked over at livejournal which is a little like a high school gossip party in my opinion. ;) Any ideas on a substitute lurkers?

I have also registered with GeoURL, a cool initiative that integrates global positioning data and local searching. It allows you to search sites in your local area. Cool idea, but requires a lot of code changes to your pages. Good thing I worked php includes and other modules into my MT installation. That made it a lot easier. If you use Firefox, you can get a good GeoURL plugin, and watch for the little globe symbol at the bottom of your browser to be highlighted in green and blue. Click on it, and you're off to a listing of websites in and around your immediate area. Nice.

Now considering my current memberships to webrings, and that I've been living in China for almost 2 months, it was more than due to find a local webring. Enter Sinosplice's China Blog List. Linda signed both of our blogs up for this list late last month. It's a huge list, and it has also introduced me to many more blogs based in China - some great, some not-so-great.

So I'm part of the wider China blog community now. What a media tart.

Technorati Tags: Australia, blogging, blogs, China, community, GeoURL, links, Sinosplice, website

My deepest sympathies for those caught up in this tragedy. Our thoughts & hearts are with you.

I hope all my friends in London are ok. Hang in there, stay strong.

1. How hot it is here in Shanghai...
2. About Burger King/Hungry Jacks opening in Shanghai less than 10 minutes walk from my front door.
3. A very cool, new Shanghai website
4. My new addiction for Craigslist's Best of Rants & Raves
5. My new-found love of eye-masks to allow sleep on sunny sunny mornings here in Shanghai.

Not going to mention any of those things whatsoever... but I will mention that I'm finally starting to understand del.icio.us and how it works with ecto.

Now that's cool.

Technorati Tags: blogs, China, craigslist, Shanghai, weather

This story started almost 2 months ago...

After first meeting Robbie M, my trust-worthy weekend drinking buddy, we started to explore a little of Shanghai's nightlife. On the recommendation of one of Rob's school workmates, we headed off to M-Box (Yinyu?® H?©). This isn't your usual expat hangout. Its definitely a favourite with the local Shanghainese particularly as the entertainment is a cool slant on the ever-favourite traditional Chinese vaudevillian form of entertainment.

But we didn't know this - so we were in for a delightful treat.

Rocking up to Peregrine Plaza on the corner of Hu?°ihai Zhong L?? and Baoq?¨ng L??, M-Box is situated on the third floor. This building is also known for a salubrious men's establishment and a similarly-themed and popular K-TV bar. M-Box is far removed from this in my opinion, but a quick search of the net showed that its not immune to the seedier underbelly of Shanghai.

Our first impressions was of a nice lounge bar. Our second impression was that booking a table was required. Henceforth, Linda, myself and Rob perched right near the bar and started the long procession of Whiskey Sours, beers, wine and other such drinks that led to the eventual christening of 'Chunder Loo' back at our Changde Lu apartment. Despite my over-indulgence, there were many good reasons to return another evening. We had a great time watching the house band (really talented group of musicians). During band-break intervals, the patrons were entertained with go-go dancers, ballroom dancing, and a sexy parade. At the urging of the bar manager and the owner (who bluntly said to us 'We don't get many Westerners in here'), Robbie M - aka Lucky Lowai No. 7 - entered the competition, wiggled his butt, and scored at RMB 1000 bar tab. Noice!

So with his booty intact (breathe easy ladies), Robbie lived to wiggle another day, so we planned our return to M-Box at another occasion. That being last weekend. Rob had to recruit his friends, so with 8 people in tow and a big lounge & table booked, we returned to M-Box to plunder its bar. The formula of entertainment didn't really vary too much from last time, but we did get to see a violinist accompany various Vanessa Mae tracks, which was pretty impressive. The band were good once more, but unfortunately for us and our alcohol consumption, no more sexy parade competitions.

I enjoyed my 2 evenings at M-Box. I probably won't return there again for a while. Lin and I have eager eyes for the next bar or club, and there's a glut of places to explore in Shanghai right now. But I will return, and I'm sure I'll be entertained once again. I recommend, M-Box.

You can view more photos from the night here.

Technorati Tags: China, Nightlife, Shanghai

One thing you notice about Shanghai (and well, probably China for all I know) is that there are lots and lots of people. Consequently, the cost of human labour is cheap. Really cheap. So cheap, that in fact, most people could be considered under-employed here in Shanghai. Given this situation, it is really no wonder that many employers don't really even think of buying that expensive piece of machinery when you could hire a workforce for a period of 2-3 years for the same cost.

Consequently, there are a lot of bad jobs. And in saying that, heaps of dangerous jobs. A local Shanghai blogger of note, Dan Washburn wrote of his face-to-face encounter with a worker with a super-dangerous job.

Every expat has a story about seeing people working these jobs just to get by. Hearsay informed me most of these jobs are migrant workers from other Chinese provinces trying to make a crust here in what is an increasingly expensive city.

A nice couple from Boston that Lin & I met recently told of a story of a worker performing roadworks in the middle of Huaihai Lu by sitting down in the middle of traffic with a hammer and chisel in the midst of Shanghai traffic. If you don't think that's dangerous, take a ride in a Shanghai taxi sometime and then wonder what its like outside on the road!

So I've got a story to go with that. On more than one occasion, on my way to work, I've passed open sewer access covers in the road with a ladder poking out - no traffic cones, no traffic controllers. Scary. Hence I was quick off the ball one day and caught a snap with my phone's digital camera.

Egads!

Technorati Tags: China, Shanghai