Sanya - part 2 the bus ride

We arrived in Sanya Phoenix Airport just after 1:00 and decided to extend our transport luck and take a bus into town before we headed up into the hills to the rainforest. With a little help from the bus driver and a nice Chinese family, like us, just arriving, we figured out our stop and off we went. I gave the driver a 10RMB note and was looking for 2RMB change but I never received it; I was not sure how to ask for it in Chinese. All the seats were occupied with several us standing, ME got a seat. As we rode along we made several stops picking up a few people each time. Within several miles the bus was completely full.  The driver was a real character, between honking this horn at everything that came vaguely close to the  bus, he was spitting out the window and clearing his nose, I think, out the window too. When the bus got too full in the front he collected money from the front door and told people to use the side door to enter the bus. At one stop a peasant women boarded the bus with a big basket of little do-dads to sell. There was this heated argument with the driver for several minutes until she backed down and got off the bus. We continued along picking up people at every stop, I thought the bus was going to burst with people. We finally entered town and within several stops there was only a few left on the bus. We were reminded by the driver that our stop was coming up. ME asked me if I was going to ask for my 2RMB change, I said no that I was thinking of giving him another 10RMB for that great entertaining ride we were just on. 

the road into town, lined with light poles powdered by wind and solar 

Sanya - part1 The Disney Plane Ride

ME and I had gone with a Dow collogue to their kids school gala fundraiser one evening last month. ME had bid on several items at the silent auction and had won a trip to Sanya. Sanya is a tropical city on the southern most  point of China on the island of Hainan. It is billed as the "Hawaii of China" with long stretches of beaches, year around sunshine, winter temperatures in the mid 70's and  summer temperatures in the upper 80's. It has become a year around Chinese tourist destination.

With the freezing winters in the north and the rapidly growing emerging middle class in China, Sanya has become a very popular destination during the Chinese New Year holiday and for the mid winter school breaks. Because of the difficulty for many Chinese to actually live the country it has also become an ideal place to visit for a get-a-way during the winter months. At one time it was a very popular winter escape  for the Russians. Many of the street signs, billboards, and store fronts have Chinese, Russian and English signage. There are many Russian hotels and restaurants featuring Russian food along the beach area. We actually ate lunch at a Russian beach front/boardwalk café. The waitress who was Russian had been living there for several years and committed that there are less and less Russians now vacationing in Sanya. I think the Chinese have been taken over with their extensive building projects and all Chinese resort areas. We knew we were going to an all Chinese resort area based on the conversation or the lack-there-of due to no one speaking English when trying to finalize the travel arrangements.

The adventure began before we even left Shanghai. The plane with the cheapest tickets to go to Sanya was Spring Air, a no thrills low-cost China airline. When arriving at the gate and looking around we realized that we were the only westerns waiting at the gate. We were bused from the terminal to the plane sitting on the far end of the tarmac. As families got off the bus many stopped with their child and grandparents for a photo opportunity to document their child's first plane ride. As we walked down the aisle (we booked late so we were sitting towards the back of the plane) we realized that in every row, which had 6 seats across, there was a child under 5 occupying one of the seats. We found our seats and for me squeezed into it, my legs were jammed against the seat in front of me. Luckily the seats did not recline, I would have had to stand in the aisle if they did.  As the plane left the ground there was a low hooo coming from crowd. As we reached flying altitude the din of noise increased too. It was a mix of the Chinese who speak loudly anyway, the kids laughing, crying, screeching, playing with their little recorders and electronic games and generally enjoy their first plane ride. About an hour into the 3 hour flight, the stewardess came around  with their cart and that is when we realized how no thrills this airlines was. No give-a-ways, if you wanted anything you had to buy it, even the water. Looking around further we saw bags and bags of food that the Chinese had brought on board. They obviously read the fine print, in Chinese only, about the flight. Further into the flight these long announcements started  over the intercom system it seemed that several went on for 10 to 15 minutes. I have no idea what they were about.

About 20 minutes before we landed several of the stewardess lined up in the aisle and over the intercom system came a soothing voice leading the travelers in a series of exercisers to help "engergize you" and get the circulation going, which we all gladly participated in along with the crowd. Upon landing another hoo and haa came over the crowd and the Chinese version of the Chariots of Fire began to play over the intercom to celebrate a successful landing at your vacation destination.  All this seemed very surreal but all in all it was a very interesting and entertaining experiences.  

exercising before landing

enjoying the boardwalk

beach scene 

ME's in heaven selling pearls on the BEACH

Chinese enjoying the sun

view from the cafe

menu cover

waitress shirt

Next door to the café we had lunch at was one of these highly advertised outdoor karaoke bars. While we were eating, there were several folks who did get up and attempted to sing. I commented to the Russian waitress who also moonlights as a singer in a band, about the singing, she said that she schedules her work hours at the café around slow times at the karaoke bar, because the singing is that bad!

outdoor karaoke bar

if they only know how bad they are

The Maglev

I accompanied our house guests to the airport last week and I decided to take the SMT or the Shanghai Maglev Train to return home. It is a train that runs from the Shanghai Pudong Airport to a metro station in the eastern part of Shanghai. The Maglev means magnetic levitation, where magnets are used to suspend and propel the train without the use of wheels.

Based on the SMT site the Maglev is the next generation of high speed ground transportation. Most of the high-speed rail trains/bullet trains, have top speeds at around 300km/h or about 185 mph. Many of these trains currently operate in Europe, Japan and China. The Maglev has a top speed of 500km/h.

With a large population and the need to move this population around the country China has developed a high-speed network of trains crisscrossing the country. The "wheel-on-rail" technology is fully mature with many years of practice and progress being made. But there was a need to move even more people faster. A debate between industry experts in China started around 1999 about putting in maglev trains. At that time there were no maglev trains in use; the technology was new and never developed for large scale commercial use. Instead of putting in a maglev train from Beijing to Shanghai, a much shorter segment was installed to check on the commercial and economical feasibility and the safety of such a system. Leaders in Shanghai supported the project and a line was planned between the airport and the city.   

In April of 2004 the SMT began commercial operation. It currently runs at a speed of 430km/h or 268mph, the length of the track is 30km or 19 miles long and the ride takes 7 minutes from Pudong airport to Longyang Rd metro station. Test runs on this line achieved a speed of 501km/h or 311 mph which would be the top cruising speed for longer intercity routes. The cost  per ticked is 50RMB or $8.30 and there is 115 trips are made daily. Ridership was not the primary focus of this demonstration line that cost $1.2 billion to install. Once the government approves the next phase, the line will be extended to the South Shanghai Train Station and then on to the Hongqiao Airport on the western side of Shanghai. With new construction techniques being developed the price to finish the line will be greatly reduced and with the increase in ridership it should generate significant revenue for the SMT.

In regular traffic a car ride from the airport to the station takes about 40 minutes. The Maglev is an example of how the Chinese are able to build expensive, innovated infrastructural projects years before their time and then wait for the people to show up. Here are some photos of my ride.

buying tickets at the airport

SMT at the airport station

seating

above every doorway is a display showing the speed of the train 

station at Longyang Road

House Guests in Shanghai

One of ME's best friends Peggy and her 2 daughters visited us last week. They picked the best week so far this Spring. The weather had been nasty, raining half the time with temps in the mid 40's to low 50's. On the second day of their stay the weather  changed to sunny with temps between the mid 60's and low 70's. The day after they left  the weather changed back to overcast, damp and temps in the low 50's again. They really lucked out.

Having never been to China I was interested in doing a survey with the girls upon their arrival. I wanted to  get an idea of their preconceived ideas of China, how they pictured China based on what they have seen and read, and what expectations or concerns they had of China and Shanghai. Unfortunately it never happened but we did have a discussion the day they left and here are some of the highlights of what we talked about. Their only exposure to China was being in Shanghai and a day trip to Xian.

In general we talked about how many people live here, in many sections of the city there were overwhelming crowds of people. Plus the Chinese have a different idea of personal space and they seem to talk louder which I think adds to the intensity of the crowds. For me there is a lot of activity here almost everywhere you go, you find the hustle and bustle of many small shops or stalls that  line the streets. These business spill out onto the sidewalks and common areas displaying the goods or servers being sold. Many business are merely a cart or the back of a van. You will always find not just a few but many people either doing their business or going about their business in the streets around Shanghai.

The girls thought there would be more people riding bikes. There are roughly 5 million bikes, mostly used by the poor, in Shanghai. Over the last few years there are about a million less bikes. Now that the working classes are making more money, they have turned in their bikes for electric scooters or are riding the very impressive metro system. Becoming more aware of their earning power, there is a need to commute less and work/earn more. Even though Shanghai has a superior bicycle infrastructure, I think riding in the streets with all the new cars and new drivers makes safety a concern for many.

They thought the people were very friendly, nice, attractive, were very stylish, and seemed very happy and positive. They thought the people did not seem oppressed, compared to the impression we are given of life in China back in the US. We know Facebook and many google searches are blocked, including this blog, but the average person doesn't seem to feel any injustice by this.   When it came to the car traffic the overall comments were unorganized, unusual traffic flow, and lots of honking of horns. It is said that the Chinese drive their cars the way they would ride a bike. They did comment on the air pollution, the week they were here, there were at times readings in the unhealthy and very unhealthy areas.

They were very impressed with Shanghai, commented on how big it is, how the infrastructure was incredible, how nice the parks are. They thought there would be more construction sites and the sky filled with cranes, but much of Shanghai, at least around our neighborhood, has been built up.  They really liked the architecture of the many modern buildings, The Bund, and Shanghai skyline. They thought, for how big the city is and the number of people living here, that it was very clean. 

I think, they had the best time going to the markets; the fake markets to buy gifts, the fabric market where they each had several articles of clothing custom made, and to ME's secret purse store where they all got new handbags.

Shanghai is like no other place in the world and in certain ways I think not an entirely accurate representation of how China really is. Shanghai is a the leading edge of China's development, it is vibrant, exciting, on the move, very forward thinking and is quite to adapt to all things new.   

It was a pleasure to have them and we are glad they took the opportunity to come to Shanghai to visit. Below are some misc pictures of there week here.

at the fake market

Spring time at Yu Gardens

Danielle and Nicole

in Yu Gardens

the gate at Longhua Temple

buying pearls

buying handbags

having photos taken with curious Chinese

with Chinese tourists 

view of the Huangpu river and Pudong skyline

Shanghai World Financial Center (SWFC)

This is the second in a three part post about the 3 tallest buildings in China. All located in Shanghai's Lujiazui district in Pudong, the buildings are known as the Three Brothers. The first post is about the Jin Mao Tower  the smallest of the three, at 88 floors, completed in 1988.  This post is about the SWFC which is currently the tallest building in China and the third post will be about the Shanghai Tower which will replace the SWFC as the tallest building in China, to be completed in 2014. Please see post dated Aug 1 2012, titled The tall buildings, in 3rd place

The SWFC was completed in August 2008 and stands at 1614 feet high. At 101 stores, it is a multi-use skyscraper featuring offices, hotels, restaurants, conference rooms, a museum, observation decks, and shopping malls. When opened is was the 2nd highest building in the world and the tallest in China, it now is the 4 highest building in the world.

It was designed by an American architectural firm and built by a Japanese company. There were several interruptions in the building of the SWFC which started in 1997. Construction was stopped for 5 years after the foundation was completed because of the Asian Financial crisis. Then there was a change in developers before work started again in 2003 and near its completion a fire broke out on the 40th floor.

The most distinctive feature in the design of the building is the trapezoid opening at the top.  It was said that the original design was to be a circle at the top, per Chinese mythology the shape of the building, which is square, represented the earth and the circle represented the heavens.  The opening was also to reduce the stress of wind pressure on the building. This design began facing protests from the Chinese who considered it resembling Japan's rising sun on the Japanese flag. Finally the design was changed to the trapezoid. This lead to the buildings nickname which is now referred to as The Bottle Opener.  Replicas of the building that function as a bottle opener are now sold in the observation deck gift shop.

I must have over a 100+ pictures of the 3 buildings from every angle, distance and time of day. They define the skyline of Shanghai and for me I never get tired of looking up at the buildings. I have yet to go to the observation deck on the 100th floor, it features a glass floor. I really think I am a little nervous. 

the SWFC

view from the Bund

zoom in

the Three Brothers

the trapezoid with glass floor observation deck 

night view from the Huangpu fiver

click on to enlarge

view from across the river

view from our guest bedroom balcony