November 2005 Archives

One of the great things about living in Shanghai (and China) as an expat is the ability to treat yourself inexpensively. One such treat was our first foray to the Shanghai Grand Theatre on Saturday night to see the Guangzhou/Guanagdong Acrobatic Troupe's rendition of Swan Lake.

Shanghai is lucky to have such a strong classical cultural arts scene, and of course you can get that with a Chinese twist.

We were both impressed by the performance. To give you an idea of what it was like, here's a quote from Shanghai's CityWeekend publication.

(sic) combining the acrobatic skills of the Orient and the grace of the West, this retelling of Swan Lake will undoubtedly impress those looking for a high-energy ballet fix...

Linda really wanted to see this rendition. Previously we had seen Chinese acrobatics at the Shanghai Centre, but this hadn't given Lin her ballet fix. Linda was reminiscing about her youth as a ballet dancer all the way up to the last call before the performance, and I must say it was great to see her really enthused about dance. Passion is something you always observe in people, and when you see a true flash of it, its great to watch. I did notice this expression on the faces of people attending the performance too.

The only detraction from the night was our seating. We went for the upper circle tickets (RMB200 a pop), and true to its word, it was 'upper'. We couldn't see the top part of stage area, which meant we were sight-restricted for some of the trapeze, pole-climbing, & theatrical effects that were employed throughout the evening.

If you're only visiting Shanghai for a short time, or you've never been to the theatre in Shanghai, I'd recommend you make the time and get out and see a performance. It was awesome.

A few tips. We picked up our tickets from a little box office on Feng Xian Lu, located near the Vegetarian Lifestyle Restaurant, across the road from Isetan Shopping Center (Nanjing Xi Lu). We also noticed there were a heap of scalpers outside at the performance and quite a lot of empty seats inside. Lin really wants to hit the scalper option next time we go to the theatre.

Image taken from the Culture.sh.cn website.

Technorati Tags: China, expat, Shanghai, theatre

I've been creating a nice little hovel for myself in our apartment of late. As I've been on holiday, most people would expect that there's a period of laziness followed by a burst of exploration, energy and bustling to make the most of your free time from work.

But so far I've been resembling a sloth. I've been a little lost in this period - the routine of commuting and work is easy to slip into like you're favourite pair of jeans, shoes or whatnot. I also resolved myself to complete a relatively large writing project I've been working on for the last couple of months/years. But that hasn't quite gone to plan either. My enthusiasm for it has waned, and I'm finding it difficult to get back on the hard-slog writing horse. The moping has also extended to various usual day occurrences - like bathing, making coffee, and going outside. I've been planning to string out my days with minor items (Yes! I can polish my shoes today!), but I even fail to do that.

I have a big aversion to doing what needs to be done here. But I'm also so hard on myself that I won't say, ok, get it out of your system, change your mood and go have some fun. So I find myself stressed on my holiday because I'm not taking full advantage of it. If it wasn't for the efforts of my wonderful g/f Lin I'm sure I would have gone a little mad during this holiday. Taking me away on a trip, calling to see how I'm going, and not berating me but supporting me despite my own efforts to sabotage my own potential and opportunities. She is awesome.

I also participated in a few phone conversations last night that have thrown some perspective on my own situation. I don't really have much to worry about really - but my negative thought process often makes it moreso difficult for me to make anything out of the opportunities that have been presented to me.

So instead of moping around our apartment, I decided to make a day of it. That coupled with Lu Ayi popping around for her weekly fairy-godmother cleaning routine has forced me out of the house.

I skipped breakfast this morning, made a plan, and so far I'm on track.

I have just enjoyed a simple breakfast and coffee in the Tima Harbour Cafe on the corner of Zhenning Lu and Zhaohua Dong Lu (near Huashan Hospital). When we first arrived in Shanghai, the previous tenant of our apartment Eric put me to the wise on Tima Harbour, its free WiFi and cheaper prices. But I hadn't sought it out or seen one until a few weeks back on one of our endeavours to find a new place to eat in Shanghai (you can only have so many Malone's Burgers).

So, I'm watching the world go by, writing a little, and enjoying some time away from my responsibilities for now. I'm also enjoying the cafe music in here - so far I've heard Radiohead, Moloko, some tracks I recognise from the Cafe Del Mar ambient albums, and also some Joss Stone (whom I'm a little neither here nor there about). Later on, its off to pay some bills, post some letters, buy some Christmas presents, and well, explore Shanghai a little on my trusty bicycle.

But for now, another coffee.

Technorati Tags: China, food, Shanghai

Linda was finally able to deliver her birthday present to yours truly, and last Friday evening I was whisked off to Hongqiao Airport for the revelation of my mystery weekend location. Qingdao, Shandong Province.

There were many highlights, and like many places you visit, you could easily write write, write, and write more about everything you saw and experienced there etc etc.

I'm not going to do that, cause I'm lazy, but I have uploaded a great deal of photos to my flickr page. Read through the Qingdao flickr set and you'll see what we got up to.

Here's some thumbnails of what you'll see there....

So, more about the weekend away (in the ever-faithful bullet point format for the lazy)...

• Hongqiao Airport in Shanghai is much more user-friendly than Pudong.
• Flying internally in China poses no problems whatsoever. Our flights with China Air and Eastern China airlines were both uneventful.
• Qingdao has its own dodgy Chinglish signs.
• Qingdao Airport isn't run-down (Lonely Planet description) - rather its architecture is right out of the futuristic mould. Very impressive.
• Qingdao airport also has its private taxi touts that want RMB100+ to take you to downtown Qingdao (about 35km away). We were warned by a nice local about these guys, as often they decide to re-negotiate with you while you're in the middle of nowhere, or deliver you to the location and double the cost again. The airport has a shuttle bus that will take you downtown (eventually) for about RMB15.
• I tried to recruit a local Chinese chemist working for a Swiss company for my workplace. What am I turning into? Its a holiday Tim, remember?
• Qingdao will host the Sailing events for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. In case you didn't know, you'll be confronted with this information wherever you turn in Qingdao.
• We stayed right on Taiping Lu near the Number 6 bathing beach in a hotel called Zhanqiao Bingyuan (Zhan Bridge Hotel). It was a mere stone's throw away from the Zhan Qiao (Zhan Bridge or Pier) on which is located the famous Qingdao Huilan Ge (Huilan Pavilion). The same pavilion on the labels of Tsingtao Beer! Apparently Sun Yat Sen (the founder of modern independent China) stayed in the very same hotel back in the 1920's. Besides a few modern updates, I don't think much has changed in there since then. Nice hotel though.
• Qingdao was cold, foggy and a little windy (as you'd expect from a seaside location). The beaches aren't what an Australian would call inviting. Heaps of people everywhere, rough sand, lots of rocks, no surf. It reminded me of an English beach, or a beach you'd find around the Redcliffe area in Brisbane. It was good to see the beach and ocean again, but I do yearn for the white clean sand, strong sun, a clear patch of space and the crashing of waves you find back home.
• Linda's Chinese got a workout. It was pretty good to watch. Another example of why I should try harder to learn more Zhongwen.
• Qingdao has an awful lot of revolving buildings. The Xinhaoshan Gongyuan (Signal Hill Park) has three mushroom-shaped buildings which resemble testicles on a hill, one of which revolves every 20 minutes. There is a foreboding grinding of stone on stone as the building turns on itself. Very tacky. A little while after leaving this park, we went looking for Tsingtao Brewery Tour tickets at The Huiquan Dynasty Hotel. That was unproductive, but this hotel located near the Number 1 Bathing Beach has a 25th floor revolving restaurant. Two revolving buildings in one day...? That was a surprise.
• Speaking of lunch, buffets are big business in Qingdao's Hotels. We ate 2 buffet lunches while we were there; one in the aforementioned Huiquan Dynasty Hotel (Badaguan area near No. 1 Bathing Beach) and another in the Oceanwide Elite Hotel (near our hotel on Taiping Lu near the Number 6 Bathing Beach). RMB60-80 for an all you can eat stuffing. Nice.
• Qingdao's downtown area looks deserted and run-down. Although the deserted aspect might be understandable as this isn't peak tourist season, the state of this area was surprising to me - I thought an area like this would have been perfect for urban renewal. There's a number of grand European-style buildings in this area which are begging to be turned into B&Bs (Bed & Breakfasts), however most are falling down slowly. It appears more public investment has been put into the Badaguan area (which looks awesome) than in downtown area. We went looking for a nice place to eat on Saturday night in the downtown area, but ended up in MacD's as none of the dining options looked appealing. Most were grimy hole-in-the-wall establishments. And considering we were looking for Qingdao's famous kebabs, our standards weren't too high to begin with.
• Qingdao loves underground things. Underground pedestrian walkthroughs, underground malls, underground shopping facilities. Fixation on the underground aspects. Does it get that cold here that people need to ferret away during the colder months?
• My favourite area is the BaDaGuan (The Eight Passes) area. One of the older areas of Qingdao, it has a number of stately European-style homes, villas which are accessed by leafy boulevardes and avenues. It was beautiful during the autumn period we were there.
• The German influence on Qingdao is ever-present. Cobble-stoned roads, winding hilly laneways, stone buildings, red-tiled rooves, Protestant and Catholic Churches - its all there. Close your eyes and you could be in Europe.
• Qingdao has a heap of parks and parkland areas. We didn't visit them all, but most are readily accessible from the downtown area.
• The Lonely Planet Guide To China, Qingdao section appears to be quite out of date. We couldn't arrange a tour of the Tsingtao Brewery by following their advice. Apparently you just need to turn up to the brewery and after paying admission you receive a guide. Something to remember for next time.
• Taxis are cheap. RMB6 flag-fall, and most trips didn't cost us more that RMB12. Although, some of taxi drivers wouldn't take our fares for some reason - too much trouble taking us 'over' the hill perhaps?
• Qingdao has hills. That was a real novelty coming from Shanghai. As most of the old town is set upon a hilly ridge, you get to explore some amazing old style winding streets. You can get very disorientated walking around this area. Our guide books & other tourist paraphernalia that I've read recommended getting a good map of Qingdao. We skipped that, and relied on the taxi service.
• Even in deep autumn, there were a lot of domestic tourists in Qingdao. The beach was covered in people. I couldn't imagine what the summer months would be like. I'd imagine quite scary.
• The outer areas of Qingdao are grimy, industrial, and some areas appear really polluted. We observed a lot of this on our trip from downtown Qingdao to the airport via taxi (RMB60). The city area is much more appealing.

Overall, I enjoyed our getaway. We only had a small amount of time there, and after I returned, I've learnt a lot more about Qingdao and the surrounding area. A few more days there and I'm sure we would have really enjoyed the surrounding mountain side areas like Laoshan, and probably even more of the Shandong Peninsula coastline. For the best of Qingdao, I reckon you would be best advised to visit during the warmer months where you could fully appreciate the location and the weather.

Also, I need to travel more...

Some websites where I learnt more about Qingdao...
Qingdao Tourism - an official site.
MyRedStar - A Qingdao Lifestyle Web Site & Community - appears to be quite good.
Wikipedia on Qingdao - or the same webpage by Anonymouse
TripAdvisor on Qingdao - TripAdvisor's webpage on Qingdao.

Technorati Tags: China, Shandong, Qingdao, travel

This is why people don't use Shanghai's water supply
See more images by timbeckenham at flickr.

This is a big issue with Shanghai's population. Most homes use commercially-bought water. Seeing the water quality you can start to fathom why there are strong opinions about Shanghai's water.

The photo on the left is an extreme example of what you can find coming out of your apartment's pipes. Usually the water we get in our apartment is clear, or might have a slight tinge of yellow.

Now before you faint or swear not to bathe on your next visit to Shanghai, normally the water from our taps isn't this dark. This was a result of a water shutdown in our building for a period of 3 hours. So this is what happens when there's no flow through the system. There's no way I'd drink water of this quality & I steadfastly recommend not drinking it.

Linda hasn't brushed her teeth with Shanghai water for quite a while now, and well, I'm thinking of following suit after seeing this.

There's a lot of hearsay regarding the state of Shanghai's water system, and in particular when it will be 'fixed'. I'm not 100% sure what the story is. But from what I've been able to discern, a lot of Shanghai's drinking water problems comes from its distribution system, not the processing of water itself. Old pipes, poor planning, constant construction, & a growing population all puts a big strain on the city, and I think it shows in Shanghai's water system. According to the Shanghai City Government, by 2010 all this will be sorted out and you'll be able to drink water coming out of the tap.

So for the moment you're faced with using bought water for cooking, drinking and cleaning your teeth, purchasing a home filtration unit for your domestic needs, or if you're feeling lucky - running the gauntlet.

This entry was posted with flickr

Technorati Tags: Shanghai, China, expat, flickr

Fireworks #3
See more images by timbeckenham at flickr.

Someone in our neighbourhood was intent on setting off fireworks last night. I captured a few of the explosions using Lin's digital camera, but as I found out, it doesn't really have a long exposure mode.

This presents yet another reason to get that digital SLR I've been musing about for so long.

There's some more photos of the nightscenes around our apartment area on one of my flickr sets.

This entry was posted with flickr

Technorati Tags: Shanghai, China, expat, flickr

With Linda's mystery travel trip on my mind, I've been thinking about my last 'go visit places' holiday back in May this year.

Linda & I visited Suzhou for 2 days during May's Golden Week Holiday in which we explored the gardens and sights of Suzhou. There's a lot there, and in no way did we get to see everything there. We missed out on Tiger Hill, so that's something for our next trip out there.

I'm looking forward to taking photos wherever we end up. I think I did a good job last time. I posted a number of these Suzhou photos in my Gallery album quite a while ago now. I wasn't really happy with the compression versus image quality results I obtained as my current webhost is a little stingy in regards to hosting space. So that has lead me into becoming a FlickrPro account holder. This has allowed me to upload higher quality versions of photos I took there (and of other places as well). Flickr also allows you to integrate some pretty cool items into this website.

So, here's the thumbnail gallery of the photos I have posted there.

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: China, Suzhou, travel

I'm going to have the next 2 weeks off from work. Yeah! Lin's going to take me 'somewhere' during this time - only for a weekend as she has to work - but 'somewhere'. I know that its in China. I've been desperate to see a little more of this intriguing nation. I've wanted to go to Hong Kong for the last couple of months to obtain a digital SLR so I can even more photos. But there are other places in the surrounding area, like Putuoshan off the China coast, Beijing & Qingdao (yes where that beer comes from). The weather has been turning dark, grey and wet recently - so maybe the south is a better option.

Very very intriguing.

Technorati Tags: China, expat, Shanghai

Shanghai Sunrise
See more images by timbeckenham at flickr.

I've been seeing more and more views like the one pictured here lately. As the days get shorter, the cool aspect is that you get a nice early morning view of the sunrise over Shanghai. Not that in the past two weeks it has been clear outside - haze & fog. Lovely.

I've been pretty busy of late - my work has 'finally' finished the construction of our new research facility, so its all action stations. Plus its coming to the end of the year & everything is starting to rev up. On top of my usual working hours, I went to work on Sunday afternoon & last night got home at 10pm - missing Ultimate Disc. That was really annoying - I could have done with running for two hours last night to destress.

In other sport news, Reign Design is now 0-5 - we rock. Our team is improving each game but we just can't crack it for a win. We could have beaten the side we played but we fell away just after half time. I probably played my best game for the year too which I am happy about, but would have prefered the win nonetheless. Its strange - I haven't won any sport nor been succeeding in anything since coming to Shanghai.
Everything has been a struggle, whether language, work, sport etc.

Is this my true exposure to the big bad world?

Technorati Tags: China, expat, Shanghai

The Reclining Buddha (not the Jade Buddha)
See more images by timbeckenham at flickr.

The Jade Buddha Temple (Yufo Si) is one of Shanghai's busiest Buddhist Temples - and a favourite for tourists. It is located on Jiangning Lu and Anyuan Lu in my 'hood - Jing' An. The picture posted isn't the Jade Buddha (photos prohibited), but The Reclining Buddha that is also housed at the temple.

I went there with Linda's sister Mel back when she was visiting in October, and of course, I have posted more photos on flickr for you my faithful readers (I have no idea why) to peruse.

Its perhaps the best temple I have been to (yet) - I have travelled to Suzhou in China so I'm not a true expert on such matters. But there was some really beautiful statues, carvings, altars, and architecture there. It cost RMB10 to enter the temple, and as my Shanghai Lonely Planet Guide describes - a 'cheeky' RMB10 to see the Jade Buddha (from about 10 meters away I might add).

On the day we went I noticed at least 5 different foreign languages being spoken - German, English, Spanish, Italian and Japanese. There were large tourist groups there all being informed by local guides (in perfect German, English, Spanish, Italian and Japanese) about the significance of the temple. Being the scabs of the temple, Mel & I just eavesdropped and picked up some interesting tidbits.

I had designs on taking Mel (a vegetarian) to the adjoining Jade Buddha Temple Vegetarian Restaurant for lunch that day, but a gourmet sandwich offer from Lozza took the honours on that occasion.

Technorati Tags: China, expat, Shanghai, temple

A shrine to Communism and Socialism
See more images by timbeckenham at flickr.

I've written about this place before, and I've documented my second visit to this place on a flickr gallery.

It is a seriously interesting place to visit - there's a big collection of posters (duh) that chronicle life & government policy in the PRC since its inception.

One of the cool things about this centre is that it is hidden. Located in a basement in a residential apartment block. My Shanghai Lonely Planet Guide recommends that you call ahead to make sure there's someone there, but on both of my two visits, our groups winged it and came up trumps. On our second trip, at the complex guardhouse, they provided us with mianpian (name cards) with the location of the centre inside the complex.

Most of the posters and other items are for sale, so you can pick out what you'd like. It was a little too expensive for my liking, so I passed. Lin and her sister Mel picked up a few little things

If you're a planner like me, look at the last image in my set for some directions & contact details for the centre.

Technorati Tags: China, expat, Shanghai, propaganda

Dashan is a guy that tends to polarise people - either they don't mind him, or they think he's a sellout/dork/should know better. Many people have blogged about DaShan before, and well, I'm not going to waste a lot of time putting in my 2 cents. But I will comment on the lengths to which some people have stretched to so to vent their frustration.

I came across this group while I was searching for Shanghai images on flickr (my new online obsession - Linda will agree). I can see that there's an untapped groundswell out there and this small group may act as a focal point for public frustration. They need photos of Dashan, so help to contribute if possible...

Here's the gist of their cause...

Bag on the bottom right features the image of my sworn and mortal enemy, the evil Canadian, Da Shan ("Big Mountain.") Canada gave China the Hero Doctor Norman Bethune, but everything in life balances out so they also sent Da Shan. I am thinking of starting an Anti-Da Shan group on Flickr. Anyone interested?

So go check it out!

Image was taken from Dashan's website.

Technorati Tags: blog, China, flickr, Dashan, Shanghai

Tenenbaums Together
See more images by timbeckenham at flickr.

This isn't usually something an Australian embraces - we kind of think that its a little contrived & has been forced onto 'strayan culcha' by those pesky Yanks. But hey, if an opportunity flies around for me to get dressed up, well, I'm down for it.

A few of Lin's ex-workmates were involved with the production of a film shot in Shanghai - a film called '90 Days Visa'. We were invited along and told to bring some of our friends. So with 8 people in tow - myself, Lin, DaDan & Lozza and their visiting friend's Stevo-O and Danielle, and Matt-Man & Kate - we needed a group inspiration. We thought 'Snow White & The Seven Dwarves' - nah. How about 'The Bride vs. The Crazy 88's' from Kill Bill Vol. 1? Too much effort (& fake blood and limbs required). And then from the pack there was some awesome inspiration - The Royal Tenenbaums.

So after a shopping trip to Xiangyang Market, some expert haggling and downing RMB130 each we were ready.

I've posted more photos from the night in an album on my flickr page. Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: China, expat, Shanghai, Halloween