Last week in Shanghai

My stay in Shanghai is over now. I can’t believe that eight months have gone by that fast. Here are some pictures of my last week in this great city…

Pascal, Andi, Tobi and Sven (f.l.t.r.) before eating hot dogs at a well-known Swedish furniture store. One hot dog cost about 0,30€!



My farewell dinner took place at a Sichuan restaurant very close to our apartment. Sven, Pascal, Flo and Andi (f.l.t.r.) were there with me.


Afterwards we went to a bar on the 33rd floor of the Hyatt on the Bund Hotel. They have got a Jacuzzi on the rooftop and there is an amazing view of Shanghai’s skyline. Some friends from Beijing and Shanghai had come to celebrate with me one last time.



On my last day I went to the Formula 1 race. It was quite an experience and I enjoyed it very much!


IN: You - thanks for reading my blog!
OUT: The ash cloud above Europe which was the reason why my flight back home was cancelled and I had to stay for another week.

China impressions

During the past months I have seen many places, met a lot of people and experienced a bunch of unusual situations. Here are some pictures which I found most impressing, odd, funny, typically Chinese, etc...Here are some random pictures:




While I was taking a few pictures one evening, this poor homeless guy grabbed my beer, took a mouthful and then returned it to me.

This plastic bag is interesting. You may use it in a restaurant during dinner so your phone can lie on the table without getting spilled on – very convenient :)

Stretch limo night

What happens if about 30 Germans living in a new industrializing country get bored on a weekend? Right, they rent three limousines, cruise through the city of Shanghai, go to a few bars and end up in a club which has got an aquarium filled with sharks near the dance floor and is situated on the 24th floor of a skyscraper…

Spring Festival

Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first month in the Chinese calendar and ends with Lantern Festival which is on the 15th day. The traditional way to celebrate this festival is to return to one’s hometown and meet the family. The whole country uses this opportunity to travel and so did we. The Chinese call this town “China’s Switzerland”: Qingdao.

Flo, Sven and I stayed at the so-called YHA Old Observatory which was an interesting hostel not too far from the downtown area. One of the first things that we have seen was the European Style Street:

Unfortunately, it was too cold to go swimming, but it was still a nice feeling to walk along the beach partly covered with snow:

It was funny because I had already been to this city in 2004 and I recognized many places even the hotel where we had stayed back then.

The Chinese New Year traditions concerning fireworks are very similar to the ones we know. The only difference is that all firecrackers and rockets are bigger, louder and more affordable and that they are lit during the whole week not just at one night.

When we usually get the chance to escape the smog in Shanghai, we like to see some nature. This time we went to see the Lao Shan Mountain. It is near Qingdao and as - described in the Lonely Planet China - ideal for day hikes, with waterfalls, temples, thickets of bamboo and pine, and a spectacular coastline in the lower region. Adam, a British guy whom we had met in the hostel went with us.

Actually, it was my first time to see how tea is grown:

On the top of the mountain the weather was very bad, hence we decided to climb back down. On the way, we had some nice views:

On the next day we went to the Tsingtao Beer Museum which is set in the original brewery and can be found in the Qingdao Beer Street:

We saw some old brewery equipment, but also some parts of the modern factory. At the end of the tour we were rewarded with a few sample beers:

Train tickets were sold out and flights were too expensive so we tried a new way of travelling: the night bus. It is common practice that a few extra passengers board the bus between departure and arrival city, but I have never seen a bus that crowded before. I thought the beds were uncomfortable, but what will those people say who slept on the floor?

IN: Chinese fireworks :)

OUT: Cold weather!

New apartment

Thanks to Heuft Systemtechnik GmbH I did not have to search for an apartment by myself. I moved in together with Sven who is doing his internship at their company. The apartment is really nice and cozy and I like it much better than the old one. Here is my room:

This is the living room:

Entrance area and dining table:

Kitchen:

Bathroom:

The apartment is on the 9^th floor. This is the view from the balcony:

The compound is really nice, especially the public park with its little lakes:

By the way, the compound consists of 47 buildings. Each of them has got 16 stories on which there are three apartments, respectively. Assuming that on average three people live in one apartment, there is a total of 6768 people living just on this compound. Isn’t that crazy?

IN: Heuft Systemtechnik GmbH

OUT: Living at least one hour away from the downtown area

Sichuan & Chongqing

While my German fellow students had already started their internships, I still had a few days off before I was able to begin doing research for my bachelor thesis. Together with a few friends from Beijing I went to Sichuan and Chongqing Province. Sichuan is famous for its spicy food and also well known for its beautiful national parks whereas Chongqing is mostly known for its size: the municipality of Chongqing has a registered population of 31.442.300 as of 2005 (Wikipedia).

The next picture was taken while we were eating hot pot. My friends’ names are Hai Xia, Anne and Dian (f.l.t.r.):

One of our first stops was Jiuzhaigou, a national park and UN World Biosphere Reserve. Although we were there during offseason, we were still rewarded with some breathtaking views:

“Jiuzhaigou means “Nine Village Gully” and refers to the region’s nine Baima Tibetan villages. According to legend, Jiuzhaigou was created when a jealous devil caused the goddess Wunosemo to drop her magic mirror, a present from her lover the warlord god Dage. The mirror dropped to the ground and shattered into 118 shimmering turquoise lakes.” (Lonely Planet China)

This is the most beautiful lake that I have seen in my life. Believe it or not, this picture has not been “photoshopped”!

Despite the freezing temperatures, there was a couple taking their wedding pictures:

As mentioned above, there are several Tibetan villages, hence many prayer flags can be found in the national park:

On the summit it was even colder so that the lakes were covered with snow:

Huanglong national park was the next stop of our travels. Again, there were some Tibetan villages and of course some prayer wheels:

It is famous for its terraced, colored limestone ponds of blues, turquoises, yellows and greens. Most of them were frozen, but at the very top we were able see at least some of them:

In spite of the high altitude I was still feeling well at the top:

For the rest of the day I had to lie in bed and wait for my headache and nausea feeling to go away.

After the worst bus ride in my whole life (80% of the roads were not even paved!) we made it back to Chengdu. One of the city’s major tourist attractions is its Giant Panda Breeding Research Base. I had the feeling that the happiness and well-being of the tourists was more important than that of the pandas and I must admit that I didn’t like this institution too well. The pandas were cute, though:

Aren’t the babies adorable?

On this trip I also learned how to play Mahjiang. It’s a great game which makes it easy to forget about everything else. We kept playing for about four hours:

One more sightseeing place near Chengdu is called Leshan. With fingernails bigger than the average human, the Grand Buddha is the main reason why people come to this city. It is carved into a cliff and about 71 meters tall. Actually, it is the world’s largest Buddha statue which is sitting down and made out of stone:

You can see his toes behind me:

After saying goodbye to Anne, we had only one day left to see Chongqing. Of course we ate the very popular “Chongqing hot pot” while we were there:

And I finally made it to the Yangtze River, but only for a one-hour cruise:

IN: The variety of China’s sights

OUT: Acute mountain sickness (AMS)