Some Picture Posting from my Trip to Shanghai

Howdy everyone! I just came back from 2 overseas working trip. One to Vietnam (Ba Ria Vung Tau) and the other one from Shanghai, China. And I've never been to the 2 places before.

Honestly I was taken aback by Shanghai. It's totally not what I've imagined it to be. It's definitely huge. The World Financial Centre was 100+ stories high. Check this out (the one with the blue lights). There's a modern saying (paraphrased), "If you've never been to Shanghai, you don't know how tall their buildings are". And they're huge.

China is progressing at such amazing speed. Currently, the MRT line is about 100+km in Shanghai. By next year, they will have about 400km, in time for their major convention - the Expo. Imagine this - 200+km of train lines to be built in 1+ year. By 2012, it'll be 500km. And every train station will be about 5 mins from wherever you are. Is that amazing or what!?!

But of course, the atmosphere is a little polluted on some days because of the numerous construction projects going on now.

And because we were part of the delegation accompanying the new DPM for the conference, you can imagine the reception rolled out by the Chinese officials. The relevant roads were closed so that we can get to our destination on schedule, the lunch reception was beyond words (trivia: for fruit platter, each guest had an ice carving). The hospitality of the government officials was beyond par.


We stayed at Pudong, Shanghai at a very good hotel. From my room, I could see the Oriental Pearl. This is not a very good picture. Click here to check out a good one from National Geographic. (Pudong and Puxi, East and West, is separated by 1 river - Huang Pu and here's the Huang Pu Bridge. And connecting both sides, there're at least 5-8 entry points, over the river, under the river, etc). And you can tell that the visibility is not good. I couldn't make out whether is that pollution or just simply cold. It was raining and the temperature hovers around 13-16 degrees.

And of course, visiting Shanghai, one cannot not go to 2 places minimally. First - the Bund (the famous Shanghai in the old days). It's a place soaked with history, amazing architecture, filled with numerous old colonial buildings, etc (Please click here to read more at Wikipedia). For the Bund, I only stood across the river and snapped a picture. Again, from a 2megapixel phone camera, can't expect much but you get the idea.
















The other is NanJing Street. I was told that in every big Chinese City, there's a BuXing street - where no cars are allowed and it's a major shoppin, lots of human traffic, shopping etc. And NanJing Street is the one - filled with neon lights.

This trip really left a deep impression on me. I didn't get to go around much - only a couple of hours. And after this trip, I'm thinking, maybe we should go as a family. It's pretty family friendly. The place is easily accessible. There're lots more places I did not see - eg Qi Pu Lu (can't translate that - where it's a shopping haven. In fact, our mentors just went to Shanghai and he made a suit for $100 - Shanghai tailor). It is certainly a place I will bring the family to visit.

I met so many Chinese officials and spoke in Mandarin for the last 3 days - over dinner, during the discussion. Of course, for a Kan Tung like me, I had to swap between English and Chinese but by the 3rd day, I was speaking Mandarin more. To me, this is an immersion programme for me. And while we were there, it was Qing Ming and was raining... and I learnt a Chinese saying/poetry - ...

清明 杜牧作

清明时节雨纷纷，
路上行人欲断魂。
借问酒家何处有？
牧童遥指杏花村。

It drizzles endless during the rainy season in spring,
Travelers along the road look gloomy and miserable.
When I ask a shepherd boy where I can finda tavern,
He points at a distant hamlet nestling amidst apricot blossoms. OR

It’s raining hard at the time of the Ching Ming Festival,
The mourner’s heart is overwhelmed on the road upland. (another translates as - and the people on the road (heading to 扫墓) are mourning as they miss their closed ones who have already passed away...)
May I ask where there’s a tavern to drown my sorrows?
The shepherd boy points to Xinghua Village in the distance.
(Taken from another blog - on Chinese proverbs)

There was somewhat a connection in my heart - as an ethnic Chinese and I really appreciated that part of the poety - it just made so much sense. In this trip, I managed to catch a glimpse of the Chinese language, culture and history and now can understand a little better why Sally loves the Chinese language so much. (Did you know that she writes essays and they were published in Zao Bao last time? Cool right? :-) So proud of her). I can safely say that I'm a little bolder now - to use Mandarin. Might be good for Joseph - a Chinese immersion programme. I certainly hope I will not lose it. I'm meeting more officials in the next 2 months and I'm supposed to give a speech in Chinese this week. Oh well, hopefully I will continue to practice the language.

Hope you enjoyed the short intro to Shanghai and I do encourage you to visit China. Start with Shanghai - it's more like Singapore. And when you are ready to rough it out, then proceed to the rural areas.

Cheers!
My Daddy