Perhaps I shall Endeavour to turn this webspace into a travelogue of sorts, everytime I travel…. But whether I can keep this up.. remains to be seen.
My 4th Trip into the central kingdom
22-28 April. SHANGHAI – SUZHOU – NANJING
Day and Night 1
I still think that having a flight which takes off at 0115 hours, and lands at 0635 hours, doesn’t make very much sense, especially when on the flight, there are 42+ movies, television channels on demand, audio on demand, and live news available. Of course its great to hit the ground running, without wasting a day traveling blah blah… However, it is not realistic to expect everyone to be able to rest on the flight, and be in optimum condition to learn the following day.
On a 5 hour flight, after the first hour has passed, the air stewardesses serve DINNER. [at 0230 hours]. And at around 0500 hours, they decide to serve you breakfast. Assuming that one eats really quickly, and can fall asleep almost immediately, there is less than 2 and a half hours to sleep, sans interruptions.
So bleary eyed, the group of 59 students, and 4 teachers, stumbled into China’s Financial Centre in the wee hours of the morning.
What most people did on the bus, was to sleep.
Surprising?
I hope not.
Breakfast introduced the first timers to the sheer oiliness of food, in China. Another unremarkable thing was that at every meal, there’d be a bottle of either 7 up or Sprite, and Pepsi or Coca-Cola waiting to be drunk.
I wonder what is the average life span of the citizens there. With extraordinary oily food, and gassy drinks for every meal…. Hmmm.
Of course, the first breakfast was the worst breakfast. To quote a fellow student, ‘The porridge was super diluted, tasted like water... the noodle was oily, the crust was hard, the bread was wet...’
Another thing to note about that meal, was that they gave us bread, jam, and chopsticks. So those who decided to consume that article of food had to innovate, and spread jam on the bread with chopsticks. Ingenious eh?
I don’t remember anything about the ensuring bus journey into the heart of Shanghai city, as I was asleep.
The Urban Planning Centre, as its name suggests, is the URA of Shanghai. Similarities include a miniature model of the entire city, which they proudly showed off, and demonstrated their capabilities for planning way into the future. They also unveiled their plans for the 2010 World Exposition, to be held there. I intend to next visit the city above the ocean (上海)then.
'They plan to build this city within 20 years, and finish it within 10’ was one of the quips which I overheard whilst touring the complex. Inference: They’re really advanced. Throughout the whole trip, that conclusion was shown to be correct again and again.
When CapitalLand builds a shopping complex in Shanghai, expect it to be named Raffles City. Mounted on the exterior of this complex was a giant LCD screen. Which showcased the fact, that it is now safe to turn off your computer.
The interior introduced me to the world of parallel imports, and CDs which would have cost me at least SGD$20, cost SGD$5. Needless to say, I bought them.
Science and Technology. Indeed a key part of this booming city. With simulators, machines, and all sorts of unique exhibitions… I still feel that the Tokyo Science Museum is much more advanced, but hey. Shanghai’s Sci-Tech Museum isn’t that far away.
Many wondered, what is a 4-D show? Well take a normal 3-D show, complete with the huge glasses, and couple it with water, sand, air blasting at you, whilst your seat rocks around like some virtual reality ride.
Hotel was good. Ethernet cables free for loan, And Internet available. Was introduced to an extremely addictive Japanese drama series.. which we watched almost nightly till it finished, on the last night (albeit watching 3 episodes on the last night.. )
Day and Night 2
Agricultural parks… Nothing new there… Personally I felt that Singapore’s hydroponics and ---- ponics were much more advanced than the ones showcased there.
At the City Kennel.. which was next to the agri-park, we all saw how they kept their Dogs. No wonder they take it so seriously when called a dog. Mongrels and Hounds were kept in a perhaps 2meters by 1meter enclosure, in terrible conditions. Ironic thing was that they also called it a ‘Pet Hotel’. That hotel would have probably ended up on a negative star scale.
By coincidence, we were near the airport, so somebody from the other bus decided to propose that we take the maglev train into the city, to lunch. The proposal was unanimously supported by all.
So, at 431km/h on land, speeding towards the city centre. Priceless.
It utilizes.. Centrifugal Force (according to a friend), as the train pivoted up to 60 degrees on each side at various points in the ride. Yet, I didn’t feel the pull of gravity towards each side of the train.
Xintiandi. Tourist attraction. Coffee Bean, Starbucks. ‘nuff said.
Xiangyang market. First proper shopping stop in the trip. Mission: To minimize the shopkeeper's Profits.
Bought a silk shirt, a polo shirt, a short sleeve shirt, long pants, shorts and an overcoat at ridiculously low prices. The overcoat cost about 1/300 the price as if I had purchased it in London/Paris.
Bargaining practice. I was a little out of touch with the ruthless world of bargaining, but I gradually remembered all about it, and plunged headlong, with the aim of being Uniquely Singaporean. Quoting very low prices and making shop keepers go a little mad was quite a highlight of the trip.
Oriental Pearl TV tower. The 1st time I visited the tower, back in 2000, it was plainly coloured. This time, it was lit up with multicoloured LCD lights. It turned out that with the 3 gorges dam in operation, Shanghai benefited from the enormous power supply, and all the skyscrapers decided to utilize the power to create animated LCD screens all over the exterior of their buildings, which resulted in one of the most unique lightups which I have ever seen.
Well.. They evicted villagers from their homes, and flood ancestral grounds, and destroyed entire ecosystems… to have fantastic lights in the financial capital? Not bad!
Day and Night 3
Coca-Cola Factory. A ginormous complex which churns out 1000? Bottles a minute.
Was fascinated by the sheer scale of the automated machines, producing tens of thousands of bottles of soft drinks. The presentations also drilled home the importance of having fantastic marketing skills, which resulted in the largest soft-drink producer in the world.
Went to take a few group pictures at the Bund before lunch, and visited Sharp Electronics Factory after lunch..
A fridge which can open on both sides, air conditioners and purifiers. Fascinating new innovation. Cutting edge technology? Nein.
Seen all that before in Courts. Since January ’06.
One thing about Chinese business culture, is that they take u to this showroom, where they showcase their latest products and innovations.. Awards won.. etc. Before showing you how it works. Trying to impress? Maybe. Try harder next time ^^
Nanjing Road.. 2nd time I’ve been there. Whats new? Breadtalk.
Our dear home grown company has expanded into Shanghai, taking along its trademark pork floss buns, open concept ‘manufacturing’, and ‘self-service’ to Shanghai. One wonders how much longer, before they become a global brand, maybe..... one day becoming as famous as the golden arches..
The Bund by night, showcased again, the uniquely-Shanghai night sky. Animated LCDs and spotlights lit up the sky. Fantastic phototaking opportunity: If you have a steady hand / tripod.
