http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai This weblog is hosted by two students coming from Munich, Germany studying Chinese and Business. For the next 5 months we’re switching the university to the Jiao Tong University. This weblog is the medium to communicate back home to friends and family. Nevertheless everybody interested in the perspective of how we see modern Shanghai is more than welcome. It will consist of trips, everyday life and what else is to cope with when far away from the hometown. ------- Don’t hesitate to contact for questions, comments or else. ---- Chris – Chris@stewarts.de or mobile in Shanghai 13564547759; Rian – mobile in Shanghai 13564547746 ------------------- Photos are taken with a: EOS Canon 10D DSLR, and an EF 17-40mm L, EF 70-200mm L and if needed a 420EX Flash. en Stewart Stewart Sat, 21 Jan 2006 10:38:02 +0100 daily 1 When city life is getting strenuous take a flight or a bus to the islands of Thailand. Phang Nga Bay features for example unique limestone formations only found in this scope in the two more places in the world: Guilin , China and Halong Bay , Vietnam. Get remembered of 007's movie, “ The Man With The Golden Gun ” and take a look at life on water in the Muslim village Koh Pannyi . All can be done in a day trip for example from Phuket.     Sat, 21 Jan 2006 10:38:02 +0100 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/Phang-Nga-Bay/35/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/Phang-Nga-Bay/35/ While Bangkok is flooded with temples, there is another side of the city: The Kao San road with the neon lights ever awake , the winding waterway of the Chao Phraya river. The bird's eye view on the city and the frog's eye view from one of the numerous tuk-tuks.   Sat, 21 Jan 2006 10:03:12 +0100 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/The-Streets-of-Bangkok/34/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/The-Streets-of-Bangkok/34/ While Cambodia is not the only country in South-East Asia we visited, as promised new pictures are coming. The temples in Bangkok boast vivid colors which unique forms which are a pleasure to the eye when the sun is out and shining. A great place to start a trip to Thailand and its neighbors is truly the bursting city of Bangkok.   Sat, 21 Jan 2006 09:30:27 +0100 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/Bangkok-Temples/33/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/Bangkok-Temples/33/ By popular demand, the fascinating trees overgrowing the Temples. They are around the temples so watch in every corner. My personal favorite was just by the road outside the Bayon. Yelling at the tuk-tuk driver to stop, got us there at just the right light. He brought us safe around the enormous temple complex, with routes up to 30 Kilometers a day.  There are schools in the complex and people living there, quite a sight.   From the top: Road between the Bayon and Ta Prohm (top), Preah Khan (lower left), Ta Prohm (rest)   Tue, 13 Dec 2005 13:13:25 +0100 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/The-Trees/32/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/The-Trees/32/ The second major attraction at the Angkor Temples is the forever at you staring Bayon. The numerous faces spread around this temple give you a special feel. It lacks the scenic silhouette of the Angkor Wat, take a closer look for fascinating detail .   Tue, 13 Dec 2005 12:09:09 +0100 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/The-Bayon/31/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/The-Bayon/31/ Often called the mother of all temples clearly marks the main attraction when visiting the Temples of Angkor . Get there early in the morning , before sunset or climb up the nearby hill, slap a 300mm+ lens on your back (Angkor is 1,3 km away) and this is what you get.  Stunning and worth the bumpy ride, either from the Thai boarder or the capital, on dirt roads getting there.   Sunrise (top), Hill (mid higher), Detail (mid lower), Sunset (bottom)         Sun, 11 Dec 2005 13:33:39 +0100 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/Angkor-Wat/30/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/Angkor-Wat/30/ After 20 days of backpacking, we're back on a totally changed Shanghai. Construction sites have been finished, new stores sprouted and others disappeared, the city is moving. But most of all winter has struck. After being the last three days in Bangkok with 30C the 12C here are quite noticeable. The trip went as shown below with minor changes. Only took night trains instead of buses and added a stop at the Bolivian Plateau in Laos. In the following there will be pictures and small stories in the usual format. Enjoy. Sun, 11 Dec 2005 12:13:29 +0100 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/Back-in-Shanghai/29/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/Back-in-Shanghai/29/ The name Shanghai Blog is really being used now. The following entries will come from Southeast Asia . In the planning stage there will be the route plan shown. Later the photos and stories will follow. The trip will not be around the world but we only have 20 instead of the 80 days. The map shows the major destinations , dates there and what we plan to do and see. All flights are booked and the visas are in the works. Any comments appreciated.   Sun, 06 Nov 2005 15:55:10 +0100 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/Backpacking-in-Southeast-Asia/28/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/Backpacking-in-Southeast-Asia/28/ Although a little out of the normal travel path the old capital Xi’an close to the tomb is a good starting point for a day with the warriors. Since the first warriors were found in 1974 a lot has happened. A big airplane hanger type building and a museum complex surround the original site. Every single man, copied from a warrior who lived 2200 years ago, is fitted with his own weapon and colored individually. If you ever want to have an army to protect you in your afterlife, be sure to start in your teens, to allow for the construction time. This site will keep archeologists busy for some decades to come.   PS Beware of the fluorescent light the auto while balance will have a tough time, try setting it to manual and please take a fast lens with you so you don’t need to flash on the artifacts.     Thu, 03 Nov 2005 03:04:07 +0100 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/The-Army-of-Terracotta-Warriors/27/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/The-Army-of-Terracotta-Warriors/27/ When sun is shining the Great Wall at Badaling is surrounded by a beautiful landscape . There are not only millions of stones but also a millions of visitors . As always get there early if you can and maybe go up left and not right if you don’t want to get squished . If you are there don’t miss the 20 min. free 360° movie on the Great Wall. Get one of the “I have climbed the Great Wall” sweaters, it can become quite chilly while climbing and they go for a third of the entrance price. If you plan to go for a hike on the Great Wall, then don’t forget the obligatory walking shoes.   Thu, 03 Nov 2005 01:54:25 +0100 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/The-Great-Wall/26/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/The-Great-Wall/26/ Definitely the place to go when planning to flee the crowds and smog of the city. Nowadays not only opened for the Empress Cixi it boasts a unique combination of a scenic lake skirted by numerous bridges and the obligatory monumental palace (which is under construction like many sites making themselves ready for Beijing 2008). If time and weather allows take off a few hours and take the long walk around the lake, best way to avoid tourists and gets you prepared for the hike up the mountain for the final breathtaking view . Exiting on the north gate gets you a coffee or something refreshing from the golden Mc. Plan half a day to enjoy my personal favorite Beijing attraction.   Sun, 23 Oct 2005 12:15:30 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/The-Summer-Palace/24/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/The-Summer-Palace/24/ One of Beijing’s Parks where tourist and locals meet while either strolling around, singing or enjoying a good deck of cards. Entering in the south wandering through the park gets you to the north within two hours. There the Echo Wall , (not really made for crowds that absorb sound waves) the Temple of Heaven and the Round Altar , which brings the same feeling to me as being in Stonehenge, complete the experience. For a beautiful glow either chose dusk or dawn.   Sun, 23 Oct 2005 12:10:28 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/The-Temple-of-Heaven-Park/25/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/The-Temple-of-Heaven-Park/25/ Nowadays Y60 (Y20 Student) gets you into the once Forbidden City . The hazy weather made the enormous complex seem endless and mysterious. Definitely a must-see when in Beijing. At the end of your visit, exit in the north and enjoy a birds-eye view from the nearby Jingshan Park (Y2). It features a hill that successively gained heights during the construction of the Forbidden City which was going on between 1406-1420 AD. The following panoramas and close ups try to give an impression.   PS Don’t forget to use manual white-balance, along with manual focus, aperture and time setting, when doing panoramas. Then the ugly stripes in the picture are hopefully invisible. Fri, 21 Oct 2005 04:30:15 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/The-Forbidden-City/22/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/The-Forbidden-City/22/ Ranked no. 1 in term of size in Beijing the Lama Temple is the place to go for temple sight seeing . Numerous halls and the obligatory Bell and Drum Tower close to the entrance round off the temple experience. Take a look at the beautiful carved roof ornaments and the stunning building design. Y25 (Y15 Students) get you in and away from the Beijing streets. If you have a little more than for the Beijing must-sees take yourself a few hours off and go there.   Fri, 21 Oct 2005 04:29:25 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/The-Lama-Temple/23/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/The-Lama-Temple/23/ The Shanghai Blog is reaching further out into China. While Suzhou was somehow close, Beijing and Xi’an are both hundreds of miles away. On our nine day train trip the following major sites visited were: the Forbidden City , the Tiananmen Square , the Lama Temple , the Summer Palace , the Temple of Heaven Park , the Baihai Park , the Great Wall close to Badaling , the 10 th Ming Tomb and the Spirit Way , and in Xi’an the Terracotta Warriors , the Huaqing Pool and the Li Shan Mountain. So prepare for a flow of photos along with the usual short text blog format. Enjoy. Fri, 21 Oct 2005 04:27:16 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/Trip-to-Beijing-and-Xi-an/21/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/Trip-to-Beijing-and-Xi-an/21/ On the 1th of October getting on the main shopping streets at night boasted a different picture than usual. Highlighted in the first picture you can see the Chinese flags, on the lamp posts and sold on the street. Y2 got us 4 one of which now decorates our apartment. In the middle of the picture you also see a huge balloon type hitting bat . This is the fun part of being in the street, esp. hitting the boy/girl-friend seems to generate great enjoyment . But as always going too far gets you into deep trouble for the rest of the night. By the way no picture of the bund, couldn’t reach it without getting lost or crushed. Picture number two gives you an idea about the masses .     Tue, 04 Oct 2005 08:00:43 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/Chinese-National-Day/20/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/Chinese-National-Day/20/ As our favorite travel book suggested we took the bus 911/926 from HuaiHua Rd., 10 min from our apartment. Entering the zoo we got yelled at with a microphone that we should take the little bus, otherwise getting around the zoo would take us four hours. Being used to walking we just walked by. In the next 3 ½ hours there were lots of animals to see. If you care for the concept of zoos it will take you around the world quite far. Don’t miss the strange looking fish and the red panda. And for all visitors who can’t read or understand signs “ feeding and teasing not allowed ”, practicing this sentence in a couple of foreign languages would make the life for the animals more worth living .   Mon, 26 Sep 2005 12:00:10 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/Shanghai-Zoo/19/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/Shanghai-Zoo/19/ The moon festival or also named mid-autumn festival. Historians have different ways to explain it. The one, most appealing for me is that it is equivalent to Thanksgiving (Erntedankfest). It is a time when families get together, the subway is crammed, you see parades, fireworks and getting one of the 40.000 taxies is out of question. Nevertheless weeks before the full moon on Sunday, getting moon cakes (picture) was very easy. Sold everywhere they are filled with bean paste, vegetables, fruit or lotus seed paste. After trying about ten different ones we found that all are very sweet , very nice to look at and always worth a surprise tasting.   Mon, 19 Sep 2005 12:02:44 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/Moon-festival-in-China/18/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/Moon-festival-in-China/18/ This temple is  definitely worth seeing. When there is no time for Suzhou combine this with the botanical garden (close by) and you get a good half day of sightseeing. For only Y10 you get four themples and a pagoda . There were a lot of Chinese there which probably was due to the moon festival . The pictures will say the rest. For traditional China the best place in Shanghai so far.   Mon, 19 Sep 2005 12:01:34 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/The-Longhua-Themple-Shanghai/17/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/The-Longhua-Themple-Shanghai/17/ The weekend had blue sky and temperatures in the mid 90s (~35C). Once again a perfect day to escape the city tumult and head for some grass and trees. Located in the south the garden features several different smaller attractions (Y40 get you access to everything); on the picture one can see parts of the tropical greenhouse (bottom), the cactus greenhouse and the bonsai garden . The numerous magnolia trees have to be pointed out; when in season it should be overwhelming, so time your stay carefully.   Mon, 19 Sep 2005 12:00:20 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/The-Botanical-Garden-Shanghai/16/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/Shanghai/The-Botanical-Garden-Shanghai/16/