*I haven't been a tourist here in a long time, but here's a post based on an email I put together for my brother's best friend who asked for summer San Francisco visit recommendations...
FYI summer is cold in SF. As Mark Twain is famously misquoted, "the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco" (apparently he never said that). The rest of the Bay Area though, Peninsula and South Bay, Marin and Napa/Sonoma Counties up north, are all wonderful and sunny and summer-like.
Big picture, you probably want to think about what you want to do on the weekend… everywhere is crowded on the weekends in the summer, but wine country is probably less pleasant with a lot of people. Just make sure you check with the wineries about what days are off (a lot of them have Monday or Tuesday as their day off). Same with Muir Woods or Point Reyes, better without a lot of people.
San Francisco
It’s probably easiest to stay closer to downtown and the touristy areas, lots of more options. There is a new chain of trendy “W”-like hotels that are reasonable priced, they’re at www.jdvhotels.com. Clift is another boutique hotel. Probably want to stay away from anything near Moscone (big convention center), not too close to Union Square but around is fairly central.
I hear Alcatraz is pretty cool (again would avoid on weekend), and probably worth walking around Fisherman’s Wharf. You can drive down Lombard St (the zigzag road). Walk around the Castro and Haight area, fun shops, more east village-y. The Mission has the great Mexican food (actually all around) and fun shops and bars. Go up to Pacific Street, highest point of that side of city and great views. If you want to be healthy, go for a run on the Embarcadero or over by the Marina along Crissy Field, really pretty and great view of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Blazing Saddles is a bike company, all around SF, and you can rent bikes for the day. I would take one day and bike over the Golden Gate over to Marin County (other side of the bridge) and down the hill to Sausalito and Tiburon, which are super cute towns there (kind of like waterfront Darien ish). Great place called Sam’s which is really popular for day time boozing, a lot of SFers will take the morning ferry on a weekend day and hang out on their patio all day. Town has nice restaurants and shops too. There’s a ferry that goes back to SF so you don’t have to climb the hill back to the bridge and SF
Eating and Drinking
San Francisco and the Bay Area are fantastic for eating and drinking. There's a great range of dining options, from food trucks to Michelin stars, and every ethnic cuisine out there. SF has great fine dining, the Mission is known for best Mexican, and I think the South Bay has the best Asian.
Look at Yelp for dining options, it's very robust here. This is my SF favorites eats post, and all of my Yelp reviews are here.
Here's a quick list of places for cocktails by location. I haven't been to all of these, but here's the SF Cocktails Yelp list.
• Bourbon and branch, Rye – Civic Center/Tenderloin
• Rickhouse, Burritt Room – Union Sq
• Comstock Saloon, 15 Romolo – both near Columbus Ave/N Beach
• Prospect, Bar Agricole – SOMA, nicer bars
• Maven, Blackbird, Churchill, Alembic – Lower and Upper Haight
• Armory Bar, Elixir, Locanda, El Techo – Mission, Armory is a little risque but my new favorite
Here's a good list of places to get beer.
Wine Country
Napa and Sonoma are actually kind of far apart and a little different, so you can pick one or other, or you can spend one day in each (though I think two days of wine tasting might be a bit much). Napa is the more famous of the two, with more wineries and more recognizable wineries. Pretty easy to get around but probably more commercialized and slightly more expensive. Sonoma has some cute downtown areas and good wineries that are more chill, but harder to get around since it's more spread out. Here is a Sonoma & Napa post with more details
I highly recommend that you get a car to take you guys around for a day. You can either drive up that morning, check in and have the car meet you, then spend night there, or come up in afternoon, have a nice evening, booze all next day, and spend night (I would do latter if expenses work out).
I think there is a range of nice hotels (Fairmont in Sonoma) to more bed and breakfast types that are in downtown Napa and Sonoma, which would put you closer to the restaurants and stuff.
You can also rent a house if you have more people, or just want the option to cook for more than one night stay. http://www.vrbo.com/ is a good search site for rentals.
Two car services I'd recommend that I've used.
Sona Bedrosian at Private Limousine Service
1-866-866-7788
1-707-843-4114
Katie at Sonoma Sterling Limo
1-707-542-5444
Btw you can also do wine or cheese tasting locally. The Cheese School of San Francisco is one in SF
Other stuff
Definitely plan some hikes, there’s great nature in the Bay Area. Muir Woods is a park with redwoods in Marin County. Bunch of parks and hikes though
Here are some sites I’ve collected through the years
http://www.parks.ca.gov/parkindex/
http://kevingong.com/Hiking/index.html
http://www.redwoodhikes.com/Bay%20Area.html
Muir Woods is great, that’s the redwoods. Nice hikes in there, and there’s a great little bar in the middle of it, should definitely stop to get a beer there. The NPS sites are pretty good for finding parks and hikes.
Another favorite of mine is Point Reyes. Even if you don't love oysters, but it is super fun to bring a picnic, wine/champagne and chill out with raw or grilled oysters for an afternoon. You want to get charcoal too (or buy some there). Bring cards or board game, really a lazy time. These are the two places. Hog Island you need a reservation, virtually impossible on weekends, and Tomales Bay is first come for picnic tables. Here's a NY Times article on Point Reyes being the next Martha's Vineyard.
You’ll have to pack a lunch for half of the hikes, and for Point Reyes. Also wine if you want. Blue Fog in Pacific Heights (north end of SF) has great sandwiches
All across the Bay Area is awesome golf. Here are my favorites.
Finally, depending on when you are coming, you might be able to catch the weird SF events… Bay to Breakers just happened (half marathon with naked people and beer floats…) and Urban Iditarod was a few weeks ago (people are the dogs, shopping carts with kegs are the sled, path is, well the streets of SF). There are some great street festivals and stuff in the summer. Here’s a SF site for official events. Being the home for the company, Yelp is pretty big out here too.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Jiuzhaigou 九寨沟
May 2010Jiuzhaigou 九寨沟 means "Valley of Nine Villages" and is a beautiful national park and world heritage site in the Min Shan mountain range, Northern Sichuan in South Western China. It's famous for the fantastic aqua and green lakes and waterfalls
Their English website is actually quite good for the important details
http://www.jiuzhai.com/language/english/index.html
Here are my photos on Picasa. Some of Ryota's photos are embedded on this post
We stayed at the Sheraton Jiuzhaigou Resort -- I think it was previously something else and Sheraton took it over. Best thing about it is that you can stay there for 3000 starpoints per night, which is ridiculously little if you know SPG. The hotel was fine accommodation and had decent staff. There are two restaurants, a pan-Chinese and more buffet and Western style place that is always filled with the tour groups.
The most interesting thing about the hotel is in the late afternoon when guests are arriving, there are dancers dressed in traditional Tibetan costumes who greet you at the entrance and then dance in the lobby. Now if you are coming off of a bumpy two hour van ride with a splitting head ache, this is less enjoyable of a performance, but still nice touch.
Jiuzhaigou
Jiuzhai Valley is anywhere from 1,990m (6,529 feet) to 4,764m (15,630 feet) above sea level. You do feel the elevation at times and you have to balance drinking enough water with not wanting to use the bathroom.
We had an enormous Sheraton buffet breakfast at 6:30 AM, hearing that there's not a lot of food inside of the park grounds (they were right). It was a bit rainy so we got fleece hats (great purchase to keep your head warm) and a 5 rmb poncho, and cabbed the 5 min to the park entrance.
Entrance fees during peak season are pretty steep at 220 rmb plus the 90 rmb for the full day bus pass (which you need). All cash btw. We got there early enough, but not at 7 AM open so there were already tourists.
The park is shaped like a 'Y' with the entrance at the bottom of the stem (to be accurate, it's an upside down 'Y' with the stem facing north). There are buses to the base of the 'V', and then along each branch which are the more interesting parts. The left (west) fork that goes to Swan Lake has more attractions. The way the guidebooks tell you to do it (and I agree) is take the bus all the way up to the top of one fork, then walk down to Nuorilang junction (the intersection) and take a bus to the other side.
Also, there is little signage to point to it, but cut across the water to find the
walking paths that are on the other side of the lakes from the bus road. It's a beautiful hike on wooden platforms and is soo much less trafficked and quiet (the tour groups seem to get off at the crossing points and back on the bus, rather than walking, missing the best parts of the hike).
We started with the Swan Lake side (btw sit on the left side of the bus up to Nuorilang, then right to get the best views). We went all the way to the top and had braced for the 18 km hike down, until we were denied by the park guys who (we think) told us that the first part of the trails weren't ready yet. To be fair, I think the parts that were maintained were incredible.
So we took the bus back down about 8 km and hopped over the bridge to the walking path at Arrow Bamboo Lake. Next one is Panda Lake, which has cool inlets that have carved the banks along the waterway. Aqua blue and very clear water.
After Panda Lake is a big bus stop and another crossing point that is congested with tourists. It does have some amazing photo ops though, well placed. The Multi Color Lake is next, with amazing green moss that you can see at the bottom (the water is really incredible clear) and many points along the bank to stop and snap photos.
From there you are with tourists the rest of the way. Pearl Shoals Waterfall is spetacular and there are steps along the side. It is a short walk to Mirror Lake and to the Nuorileng Water fall where there is the bus stop to go up other branch to Long Lake or back down to the entrance.
By that point it was past 1 PM and we were HUNGRY, having crackers and a Luna bar since the start. We did stop for a snack (two tea eggs for me, Oreos for Ryota), but again would recommend packing some real food if you go, there is surprisingly little substantial food inside the park.
We hopped on the bus to the right (east) branch to Long Lake at the top. It started raining again and we were both exhausted so we did a few mile walk down to the Five-Colored Pool, and hopped back on the bus home.
Huanglong 黄龙
May 2010
We took an early morning flight from Chengdu (CTU) to Jiuhuang Huanglong Sichuan Airport (JZH). It's a 45 minute hop and the view over the mountains is spetacular. I'm not sure if we were flying low or the mountains are just that tall, but it is a little scary. The airport is at 11311 ft / 3448 m, yikes!
The airport is small and new, ie they are still partially under construction. There is a "airport bus" booth right at the exit, and we asked for the C-package of JZH-Huanglong-Jiuzhaigou so we could stop at Huanglong. 100rmb each. Luckily my travel buddy speaks some Mandarin -- we were told to wait until they had 6-7 people to fill a bus. The flights come in threes or so from Chengdu, ChongQing and Beijing, so took about 45 min before we actually left in the mini bus (15 ppl capacity with 10 ppl and luggage)
Drive to Huanglong
The drive to Huanglong from the airport is about an hour and probably 30 miles, but incredibly bumpy as most of the road is still under construction. Highly recommend emptying your bladder before the ride as it was quite painful without having done so.
The road winds through mountains and canyons and really quite beautiful. There are small settlements on the side of the road. Sichuan is close to Tibet so you see prayer flags and Han influences.
Huanglong
We arrived around 10 AM and got tickets for the park (240 rmb) and the ascent on the gondola (80 rmb). We had 5 hours to return to the van in the parking lot at 3:00, i.e. ride up and walk down. Our van had a Chinese threesome then rest were Japanese -- luckily one Japanese couple, being long term Shanghai expats, understood the Mandarin instructions to get back to the bus (until then we went back and forth if we were to be back in 3 hours or at 3 o'clock...)
The ride up was uneventful, but we quickly found that 3000 m of elevation is pretty high and we had to take it pretty slow. We had heard in advance that it was early in the spring and that there had been a drought, so some of the lakes might not have the aqua water that makes them so famous. We did the hike up to the temple near the peak and were a little disappointed, as we saw cool looking but dry lake beds.
However, as we walked up the extra route to the peak, we were met by beautiful and surreal looking blue pools that cascaded down towards the temple. We sat on the platform ledge and enjoyed the amazing view for a
while, then continued our walk to the overlook where you can see all of the pools.
Further down on the walk, the pools were more dry unfortunately, but it was a pleasant day and a nice hike. We saw a few more crystal clear pools of water and imagined what the calcified lake beds would be like with more of it. The dry water fall was pretty cool actually.
There are well-maintained wood platforms for the entire length of the hi
ke since the ground and pool walls are pretty soft (though didn't stop some of the Chinese tourists from tromping around for photo ops).
We made it down by 2:30 or so, and grabbed some snacks (I love the tea eggs, hard boiled in tea!) On our way for two hour drive to Jiuzhaigou...
We took an early morning flight from Chengdu (CTU) to Jiuhuang Huanglong Sichuan Airport (JZH). It's a 45 minute hop and the view over the mountains is spetacular. I'm not sure if we were flying low or the mountains are just that tall, but it is a little scary. The airport is at 11311 ft / 3448 m, yikes!
The airport is small and new, ie they are still partially under construction. There is a "airport bus" booth right at the exit, and we asked for the C-package of JZH-Huanglong-Jiuzhaigou so we could stop at Huanglong. 100rmb each. Luckily my travel buddy speaks some Mandarin -- we were told to wait until they had 6-7 people to fill a bus. The flights come in threes or so from Chengdu, ChongQing and Beijing, so took about 45 min before we actually left in the mini bus (15 ppl capacity with 10 ppl and luggage)
Drive to Huanglong
The drive to Huanglong from the airport is about an hour and probably 30 miles, but incredibly bumpy as most of the road is still under construction. Highly recommend emptying your bladder before the ride as it was quite painful without having done so.
The road winds through mountains and canyons and really quite beautiful. There are small settlements on the side of the road. Sichuan is close to Tibet so you see prayer flags and Han influences.
Huanglong
We arrived around 10 AM and got tickets for the park (240 rmb) and the ascent on the gondola (80 rmb). We had 5 hours to return to the van in the parking lot at 3:00, i.e. ride up and walk down. Our van had a Chinese threesome then rest were Japanese -- luckily one Japanese couple, being long term Shanghai expats, understood the Mandarin instructions to get back to the bus (until then we went back and forth if we were to be back in 3 hours or at 3 o'clock...)
The ride up was uneventful, but we quickly found that 3000 m of elevation is pretty high and we had to take it pretty slow. We had heard in advance that it was early in the spring and that there had been a drought, so some of the lakes might not have the aqua water that makes them so famous. We did the hike up to the temple near the peak and were a little disappointed, as we saw cool looking but dry lake beds.
However, as we walked up the extra route to the peak, we were met by beautiful and surreal looking blue pools that cascaded down towards the temple. We sat on the platform ledge and enjoyed the amazing view for a
while, then continued our walk to the overlook where you can see all of the pools.Further down on the walk, the pools were more dry unfortunately, but it was a pleasant day and a nice hike. We saw a few more crystal clear pools of water and imagined what the calcified lake beds would be like with more of it. The dry water fall was pretty cool actually.
There are well-maintained wood platforms for the entire length of the hi
ke since the ground and pool walls are pretty soft (though didn't stop some of the Chinese tourists from tromping around for photo ops).We made it down by 2:30 or so, and grabbed some snacks (I love the tea eggs, hard boiled in tea!) On our way for two hour drive to Jiuzhaigou...
Chengdu 成都
May 2010
The two day stay in Chengdu was the front half of a mini Sichuan vacation over the five-day Shanghai May Day holiday (especially long to honor Expo opening for which i wanted to get out of town).
I arrived on a warm Thu evening. We were recommended the Jin Jiang Hotel by one of my local colleagues as "English friendly" and nice. It was indeed both, and also the first five-star hotel in southern China with a host of dignataries who have stayed there. Not bad for 822rmb per night (~$120 USD). The hotel is near Sichuan University which was an interesting walk around the campus, as well as some high end shopping and some good food along the river.
We got up super early on our first day and took a 50rmb cab out to the Panda Reserve. They open at 8am and highly recommend that you aim to arrive by then. The tours start arriving about an hour later and I think the pandas decide to avoid the annoying voices by sleeping around then (well, whatever their motivations, they are less active later in the morning). It's a 58rmb fee at the gate.
Pandas might be the cutest animals ever, and I just wanted to take one of the cubs home with me. They do have a pretty mundane lifestyle of eating, eating, sleeping, and eating (about 20 kg of bamboo per day) but they look so good doing it. There is a museum and also an... interesting... film about the research center's work around panda reproduction... it's in English and you'll learn a lot, worth the 10 minutes.
Panda Cub Feeding Time
The two day stay in Chengdu was the front half of a mini Sichuan vacation over the five-day Shanghai May Day holiday (especially long to honor Expo opening for which i wanted to get out of town).
I arrived on a warm Thu evening. We were recommended the Jin Jiang Hotel by one of my local colleagues as "English friendly" and nice. It was indeed both, and also the first five-star hotel in southern China with a host of dignataries who have stayed there. Not bad for 822rmb per night (~$120 USD). The hotel is near Sichuan University which was an interesting walk around the campus, as well as some high end shopping and some good food along the river.
We got up super early on our first day and took a 50rmb cab out to the Panda Reserve. They open at 8am and highly recommend that you aim to arrive by then. The tours start arriving about an hour later and I think the pandas decide to avoid the annoying voices by sleeping around then (well, whatever their motivations, they are less active later in the morning). It's a 58rmb fee at the gate.
Pandas might be the cutest animals ever, and I just wanted to take one of the cubs home with me. They do have a pretty mundane lifestyle of eating, eating, sleeping, and eating (about 20 kg of bamboo per day) but they look so good doing it. There is a museum and also an... interesting... film about the research center's work around panda reproduction... it's in English and you'll learn a lot, worth the 10 minutes.
There are several zones where the Giant Pandas live, divided by age. The adult and sub-adult pandas basically sit and eat. There was one active "sub-adult" at 8:15am but I don't think we saw one that wasn't eating or sleeping for the rest of the time.
Panda Cubs playing in the nursery
The nursery was SOOOO cute. The babies are much more playful and active, nipping and roughhousing each other and falling off of things. This one baby would climb to the top of his ladder, then slowly and tenuously make his way down, head first, hanging by one or two limbs for dear life. We also saw the aggressor of a play fight with his brother backfire as he went rolling down into a ditch (he was fine).Panda Cub Feeding Time
The keepers came out to feed them around 9, 9:30am. They are really like human toddlers, vying for attention and affection. Some eat out of bowls and one baby lay on his back with a bottle.
The Lesser Panda is just that... They look kind of like overgrown reddish hued raccoons and not as interesting as their greater rotund cousin. But they're there, stop by for a look.
After the Panda Reserve, we came back to town and had our first Sichuan meal at Chen's Ma Po Tofu. Sooo yummy.
http://aki-eats.blogspot.com/2010/05/chens-ma-po-tofu.html
We decided to walk off lunch (also because it is impossible to get a cab in Chengdu) and head over to Wenfungshen, an shopping street recreated to look like old Chengdu. Not so much shopping, but we stopped in one of the tea shops for a lazy hour over 12rmb tea with the locals who were hanging out and playing mahjong. Very nice.
After a few beers at Sim's, we walked over to ChongQing QinMa Hotpot for a taste of the fiery Sichuan hot pot. Absolutely delicious. Video and details over on food blog
http://aki-eats.blogspot.com/2010/05/chongqing-qinma-hotpot.html
After a chill morning (and some work), we walked along the river to look for Long Chao-shou 龙抄手, recommended to via Facebook post.
http://aki-eats.blogspot.com/2010/05/long-chao-shou.html
We walked to Tianfu Square, which has the requisite Mao statue in front of the Science and Technology Museum, then to People's Park. It was May Day, a national holiday, so many families out for the day. Made for fun people watching.
The highlight of the day was definitely the cooking class we had signed up for at Sim's. I put the details under the food blog, but definitely check it out. Videos for how to make Kung Pao Chicken 宫保鸡丁, Fish Flavored Eggplant 魚香茄子, and Ma Po Tofu 麻婆豆腐
http://aki-eats.blogspot.com/2010/05/sims-cozy-garden-hostel.html
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Shanghai, China 上海
April-May 2010I stayed in Shanghai for over a month to prepare for Cisco's activities at World Expo 2010 (minus a one day trip to Korea to fulfill my 30-day visa limit), then another six months through Expo. I enjoyed experiencing the city as a semi-resident, living in a service apartment and working. Much like NY, there are tourist attractions but the urban life is what makes the city so compelling. Fantastic restaurants and shopping, different neighborhoods, easy to get around, I understand why there are so many expats here.
Here's the famous view of the Pudong banks and the Bund from New Heights, the 7th floor bar at Three on the Bund
There are touristy sites in Shanghai, like the Yu Yuan Garden and the Bund and museums, but I find it to be a great experiential city. There are plenty of things to do outside of sightseeing in Shanghai.
I wrote this post about Living in Shanghai for some friends who were moving there. If you scroll down about halfway to “Stuff to do” there’s a whole list of well, stuff to do. The Shanghai Night Bike Ride is super fun and a great way to see a lot of the city in a short amount of time. They are run every Tuesday by this company Bohdi, and they do other tours too. Otherwise the city is quite easy to get around – cabs are super cheap and the subway is very accessible as well.
Also, if you like to go out, Shanghai nightlife is quite robust and there’s something for everyone if you don’t mind shaving sleep time. Note that the expat and local places are different.
The food is phenomenal in Shanghai, Western and Asian. It’s funny, the street food and high end cuisine is quite cheap, while mid-range still feels the same as the US. It is a slightly dated list, but here are some of my favorite restaurants in Shanghai. Definitely find “xiaolongbao”, or soup dumplings, which are absolutely delicious. If you don’t find street food of it, DinTaiFung is a chain and absolutely phenomenal – it’s at Xintiandi so relatively easy to get to on your own.
See the food blog for other Shanghai restaurants. More on food...
- Really good. It's hard to go wrong here. Again like NY, I don't think a bad restaurant would last too long here
- Huge range of cuisine and prices. I tend to like the local food and it is surprisingly healthy. However if you want your Jean Georges or other Western food, there is plenty of it as well, though you'll pay for it. There are also classy Chinese or Asian food places with ambiance and ok food that can get quite expensive
- French Concession is super cute neighborhood with nice cafes and restaurants. I liked sasha's and I hear Azul has a great brunch. Very West Village-like for you NYers.
- The Bund has a lot of high end Western friendly restaurants and bar/lounges
- Xintiandi also used to foreigners and has some great Chinese food including Dintaifung for dim sum. There is also Cold Stone Creamery and a pizza place for cravings (I am totally jonesing for a burrito after 3 weeks...)
- Get your own groceries. My service apartment has a small kitchen and fridge so I have been lucky enough to eat in. I happen to be a few blocks from City Supermarket at Times Square, which is an expat friendly high end grocery store, but I also found a local market that has plenty of fresh foods.
- Hangzhou - Hangzhou is about 1 ½ train ride from Shanghai with a beautiful lake, Xixi wetlands, tea village, and a cool show. It would be worth spending one or two nights there for sure
- Zhouzhuang - Zhuozhuang is a water village about an hour drive from Shanghai. Both Zhuozhuang and the much larger Suzhou are called the “Venice of the East” because of its canals, but Suzhou is as touristy as Venice plus an industrial Chinese city, so I’m not a huge fan. Zhuozhuang is also touristy (all of China is, really) but much smaller and quaint. Quite easy to get around and much less crowded.
- Beijing - Beijing and the Great Wall are obvious destinations for a China excursion. You can probably see things in the city like the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square over a few days, and spend one full day at the Great Wall. My friend and I did it in four days. It’s a 2 ½ hour flight and depending on if you’re transferring directly or not, you’ll want to fly out of Hongqiao (SHA) rather than Pudong (PVG) – think LGA vs EWR.
- Sichuan - Sichuan is awesome – the spicy food, pandas, nature – I would love to go back. Chengdu is 3 ½ hour flight from Shanghai, then Jiuhuang is another 45 min where Jiuzhaihou and Huanglong are.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Zhouzhuang, China 周圧
April 2010
Zhouzhuang is a water village about an hour west of Shanghai. The old town dates from 1076 and is connected by canals and bridges. About 3000 people live in the quaint and beautiful town, which also has great crafts and food in addition to the old residences and tea shops.
Here's the KodakGallery album from the day
We hired a driver for the half day, leaving Shanghai a little before noon. He dropped us at the main gate, where they sell tickets to enter the old town for 100rmb.
The beginning of the walk towards the heart of the old town is a little kitschy... strange inflated dolls and new old-looking buildings. We saw the rehearsals for the big cultural show that runs in the evening (not sure if we'd go back for that)
The entrance to the main street of town is where the shops start and continue all through the alleys by the canals. Zhouzhuang has some great food and crafts, and spurred an unexpected shopping spree...
The early part of the afternoon was serene and peaceful, low murmur of voices and water. While we sat in the tea shop to eat our tea eggs and try some Grandma's tea, we started to see hoardes of flag waving tour guides with their red capped followers. One after the other after the other. The narrow streets were packed and people yelling everywhere. The late afternoon is indeed the most beautiful time of day, with the light playing off of the water and buildings. However, beware the 3-5 pm tourist scrum that happens every day (we were saying perhaps the morning light might be nice also).
We made our way to the docks for a boat ride (100rmb per boat). There is a set course through the main canal during the busy afternoon, but it was wonderful to be on the water and away from the crowds. The boat driver sang a few "boat songs" as he rowed, though he did ask for an "enjoy song fee" later.
The highlight of the day may have been back in Shanghai. Our driver invited us to dinner with his family in Shanghai. We visited his wife at the silk store that she runs on the north end of the city. Then his elder daughter, a local design student, joined us for a wonderful meal at the eatery next door. She is a lovely girl and we had some really interesting conversation with Lai Yun, my Singaporean friend who graciously translated for me.
Here's more information from wikitravel.
Zhouzhuang is a water village about an hour west of Shanghai. The old town dates from 1076 and is connected by canals and bridges. About 3000 people live in the quaint and beautiful town, which also has great crafts and food in addition to the old residences and tea shops.
Here's the KodakGallery album from the day
We hired a driver for the half day, leaving Shanghai a little before noon. He dropped us at the main gate, where they sell tickets to enter the old town for 100rmb.
The beginning of the walk towards the heart of the old town is a little kitschy... strange inflated dolls and new old-looking buildings. We saw the rehearsals for the big cultural show that runs in the evening (not sure if we'd go back for that)
The entrance to the main street of town is where the shops start and continue all through the alleys by the canals. Zhouzhuang has some great food and crafts, and spurred an unexpected shopping spree...
- Wansan pork leg - this smoked pig leg is a Zhouzhuang specialty and they have it everywhere. Even our driver bought three to bring back to his family in Shanghai. You can get the hoof or parts of the leg, and price depends on where on the pig the part came from (10rmb for foot, up to 35rmb for front flank). Looks really fatty but actually not super greasy and delicious.
- Stinky tofu - yes it smells but it is yummy. They fry it up and then put a sweet
soy based sauce and dabs of spicy, I liked it a lot.
- Sweets - so many kinds and oh so good. I really like the peanut-sesame pieces that they pound into blocks. Lai Yun had some malts and the beard candy, which really does look like a beard when it gets stuck on your chin. They also had baked sweet breads and hard candy.
- Art - the beautiful canals and bridges inspire some great art. Little shops sell traditional Chinese paintings and scrolls. There are four famous bridges in the town, which seem to be the primary theme for most of the art.
- Carved stone teapots - a trade passed down over generations, the crafts people carve stone from nearby Tai Hu Lake into intricate tea pots.
- Pottery - stores sell antique pottery, but I was drawn to the little Shin-chan figurine that you pour water on, and well, it pees. For dear my brother :)
- Combs - we saw others crafting horns into combs.
- Silk - as with a lot of shopping areas, handmade clothes and other trinkets as well as bedding are plentiful here.
- Grandma's tea - local blend of flower tea, was ok.
- And tons of other chochkies - jewelry, watches, stamps, notebooks...
The early part of the afternoon was serene and peaceful, low murmur of voices and water. While we sat in the tea shop to eat our tea eggs and try some Grandma's tea, we started to see hoardes of flag waving tour guides with their red capped followers. One after the other after the other. The narrow streets were packed and people yelling everywhere. The late afternoon is indeed the most beautiful time of day, with the light playing off of the water and buildings. However, beware the 3-5 pm tourist scrum that happens every day (we were saying perhaps the morning light might be nice also).
We made our way to the docks for a boat ride (100rmb per boat). There is a set course through the main canal during the busy afternoon, but it was wonderful to be on the water and away from the crowds. The boat driver sang a few "boat songs" as he rowed, though he did ask for an "enjoy song fee" later.
The highlight of the day may have been back in Shanghai. Our driver invited us to dinner with his family in Shanghai. We visited his wife at the silk store that she runs on the north end of the city. Then his elder daughter, a local design student, joined us for a wonderful meal at the eatery next door. She is a lovely girl and we had some really interesting conversation with Lai Yun, my Singaporean friend who graciously translated for me.Here's more information from wikitravel.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
World Expo Shanghai 2010
World Expo Shanghai 2010 will be the "largest ever gathering of humanity in the history of mankind" with over 70 million people expected to attend over the 184 days from May 1 to October 31. Cisco is a senior IT sponsor and host to a corporate pavilion, themed "Smart+Connected Life."I'm fortunate to be in Shanghai to help prepare the Cisco Pavilion for our customers. Here are some videos and photos from the preparation and stress test of the Expo site prior to the opening.
See the Picasa web album for some photos of Expo Pavilions. The slideshow starts with Puxi side Zone D (Corporate) and Zone E (Corporate, Urban Best Practices Area), then Pudong side Zone A (China, Asia, Middle East), Zone B (South Asia), and Zone C (Europe, Americas, Africa).
April 20
Day 1 of public stress tests. Over the next week, the Expo Bureau will open the Expo grounds to 50,000 to 200,000 people to "test" the site -- everything from safety and security to whether the plumbing will hold. Note that the "test" sample is the size of a small American city...
World Expo 2010 Shanghai - Zone D
Cisco Pavilion is in Zone D closest to Entrance No. 1. You'll see the security lines (96 security machines!), the vastness of the grounds, and the Cisco Pavilion. The public show at Cisco Pavilion introduces the challenges of urbanization and the concept of Smart+Connected Life, then demonstrates the experience through three generations of a Shanghai family in 2020. We are co-located with the other corporate pavilions also on the Puxi side.
Expo 2010 Urban Best Practices Area
The Urban Best Practices Area is in Zone E on the Puxi side, and consists of "Case Pavilions" which host exhibits for multiple cities in one building as well as city pavilions, like Madrid or Shanghai, who have their own structure.
The Madrid Pavilion was well done and had the meatiest content around how they have built and managed their city. Exterior is cool too, its modelled on the Casa De Bambu in Madrid. Would recommend for anyone interested in city planning, urban design, etc.
The joint case pavilions are easy to get in but a little less compelling. Several cities share each building, and their showcases range from the fun, interactive activities (Seoul, Bologna) to museum-like exhibits with some video and signage (most others) with plays on the space to localize. Shenzen was an arty fun-house with rooms filled with paintings and modern art installments, Porto (Brazil) had cool video walls and game on touch screen table.
Shanghai Expo Pavilion of Future
The Pavilion of Future, while I made fun of the 19th century factory-like exterior design, is a fantastic exhibition about how mankind views the future with a perspective to cultural and urban planning. Great video and other content that shows real-life best practices in areas of urban design, sustainbility, city management, and the like. The Pavilion suggests a 'fast' and 'slow' line for a 20-minute or 40-minute visit, but I think I spent a good hour in there, and this was without crowds. Loved it.
April 21
Only 50,000 people were expected for the second day of stress tests, and I could really feel the difference. Much less people, no lines for security, ferries, or buses, though queueing for Pavilions may have been worse since very few were open today.
Expo 2010 Zone A Pavilions
I took the free Expo ferry from L3 on Puxi side about 3 minutes from Cisco Pavilion, to L2 on Pudong side on East end near the Japan Pavilion and Gate 4. Also shown are Vietnam, Korea, Saudi Arabia, and India country pavilions, all in Zone A (note: video title is mistaken!)
Expo has multiple modes of free transport within the grounds. Ferry was good, subway seems straight forward. The bus will be a disaster... they run the length of the Pudong side. With almost no people on site on a moderately warm day, the electric buses were overflowing and smelly with barely standing room and a lot of shoving.
Expo 2010 Europe Pavilions
The European pavilions are in Zone C closest to the river. They have some of the most interesting architecture out of the country pavilions. Of course the Scandinavian countries are all fabulous with clean lines and well designed space.
The UK pavilion is the most fascinating -- surreal porcupine like structure that is actually 60,000 fiber optics rods that let light in turing the day and in turn lights up the exterior at night.
Expo 2010 Americas and Asia Pavilions
The Americas pavilions and some of the Asia pavilions are in Zone B and C. The USA, Canada and Australia pavilions are enormous and impressive from the outside. The Asia square has the Aussies, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Philippines in one place, and Vietnam is over by Korea and Japan
Walking further West towards the China Pavilion, I came across the behemoth Theme Pavilions. I jumped into the Pavilion of Urban Being right as they closed the line -- it shows city infrastructure, rail, utility, urban life, and the highlight is a very well done film with vignettes from urban life around the world (teared at the Sichuan segment themed "resilience")
Expo 2010 - Pudong side
I have many photos of the China Pavilion but I didn't attempt to get in line, as I hear they're running 2 hour waits with reservation during testing
I went to the Expo Culture Center, which has performance hall, movie theaters, and shopping -- 360 view of the Expo site from their 6th floor observation decks for aerials of Pudong and some of Puxi side. No exhibits, likely not for a customer visit.
April 23
200,000 people were expected for today, though there were no lines at Gate 1 by 2pm when I entered.
Expo 2010 Japan Business Pavilion
There happened to be a short line at the Japan Business Pavilion two doors down from Cisco Pavilion. They have a main movie, the series of 3 min shows by the sponsoring companies, and a live show outside. Interesting video including a 3D show, a globe-shaped theater where it "snows" at the end, and choreographed windows. I am going back for the "world's best toilet" which was not on display today...
Expo 2010 at night
Expo at night is a fantastic experience. The awe of Vegas, and certainly the energy costs, but more beautiful. I can be mesmerized by the lighted buildings all night! Expo is open until midnight, definitely worth waiting until nightfall.
We had dinner at LaoFengGe PinZhenXuan next to the Coca-Cola Pavilion on the 2nd floor, Zone D. Good selection of Shanghainese food and appropriate for customer meetings. They take reservations with minimum one day advance notice (33300078 and 33300079)
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