Monday, July 31, 2006
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
The picture before showed the famous "Hairy crabs", these here are scorpions (deep fried).
Oh and if you want to send a mail you can send me one at blog (at) shanghai-pics.de.
Just some statistics - it is not impressive but improving. I will leave to New York on Saturday so there will be no pictures from Shangha during the next week. But maybe some from New Jersey and New York.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Look at the most expensive apartments of Shanghai
You can buy the most expensive apartments of Shanghai in these three (there should be a fourth one in the back) towers.
One square meter costs 120.000 RMB (at around 12.000 Euro), which is the highest price in Shanghai. Even Villas are much cheaper. Other apartments in this area cost at around 25.000 RMB per m².
Number of apartments they sold: 0
They try now some international offers (according to Shanghai Daily). I'm sure the apartments are not that bad but they are simply totally overpriced and they are still simply apartments (big ones though).
One square meter costs 120.000 RMB (at around 12.000 Euro), which is the highest price in Shanghai. Even Villas are much cheaper. Other apartments in this area cost at around 25.000 RMB per m².
Number of apartments they sold: 0
They try now some international offers (according to Shanghai Daily). I'm sure the apartments are not that bad but they are simply totally overpriced and they are still simply apartments (big ones though).
River Views
Take a look at the beautiful Huangpu River:
This is the Puxi riverside promenade. It will be extended until ShiPuLu Ferry Station in the near future.
This is the entrance of the normal ferry station ("Bund ferry" from the Bund to DongChang Lu Ferry Station). A ride costs 0,20 Euro (2 RMB).
This is the Puxi riverside promenade. It will be extended until ShiPuLu Ferry Station in the near future.
This is the entrance of the normal ferry station ("Bund ferry" from the Bund to DongChang Lu Ferry Station). A ride costs 0,20 Euro (2 RMB).
"The other side of the river"
I took the ferry to the other side of the river yesterday. This is basically what I look at from my balcony:
They pulled down all old houses there and it is basically a bus park and mainly a heap of rubble.
YuYuan Garden is nearby this and I guess this is connected to the extension of this. You can see on the last picture above how nicely they decorated the outside.
Oh and yes, there are people living in the building that you can see on the first picture. I didn't take a picture of them.
They pulled down all old houses there and it is basically a bus park and mainly a heap of rubble.
YuYuan Garden is nearby this and I guess this is connected to the extension of this. You can see on the last picture above how nicely they decorated the outside.
Oh and yes, there are people living in the building that you can see on the first picture. I didn't take a picture of them.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Shanghai Shenhua - Qingdao
The game finished just now and Shanghai Shenhua won with 2:0. That was at least the result when we left (2 minutes before the end) to catch the last metro home.
Not very busy but it was Sunday night...
Not very busy but it was Sunday night...
Metro Station
The new stations of Line 4 still look strangely clean. It looks like in a clinic or something similar. The glass doors are adding up to the floor, because of them you can't see the normal tunnel walls anymore. These screens here ususally show when the next train comes and they show ads and information videos:
Strange Hyundai Bus
This kind of buses is never seen in Germany. But I saw this special design for the first time now.
World Financial Center Shanghai - Status
It is funny to say but it really grows very fast. The edges are getting bigger now, so that you can see the design better. You can also see now some effects in the new windows.
Electronics Market in Baoshan Lu
We went to the electronics market next to the Baoshan Metro Station again. We had to sell some stuff (old laptop, old memory from my last upgrade) and we of course wanted to buy something.
The advantage of this market is the extensive second hand market. Most shops buy and sell second hand stuff of all kind. Many have wide ranges of used laptops from all kind of brands.
It is very big with some hundred stalls (they also sell watches, shoes and other stuff) spreaded over a building and "outside" stalls like these:
The whole area is basically full of shops selling all kind of electronics. The ones above are specialized on DVD players. The brands are named "Sany", "Panesanic" or something like that.
I also saw my mobile phone, a SonyEricsson W550c. It looked the same but the brand name was "SanyEricsson". ;-)
The advantage of this market is the extensive second hand market. Most shops buy and sell second hand stuff of all kind. Many have wide ranges of used laptops from all kind of brands.
It is very big with some hundred stalls (they also sell watches, shoes and other stuff) spreaded over a building and "outside" stalls like these:
The whole area is basically full of shops selling all kind of electronics. The ones above are specialized on DVD players. The brands are named "Sany", "Panesanic" or something like that.
I also saw my mobile phone, a SonyEricsson W550c. It looked the same but the brand name was "SanyEricsson". ;-)
Friday, July 14, 2006
This is just insane
I just found this story at Shanghaiist about a woman currently at trial in Shanghai. She actually has a good chance to get a real Darwin award due to the death penalty in China (no more public executions though but there is an execution van).
I just can't understand how she could get that far and how she even could use his passport to board a plane in the States. They will check everything when I go there next week but of course I didn't kill anyone...
What kind of fancy necklace is she wearing there on the picture?
I just can't understand how she could get that far and how she even could use his passport to board a plane in the States. They will check everything when I go there next week but of course I didn't kill anyone...
What kind of fancy necklace is she wearing there on the picture?
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Hangzhou Caves
Hangzhou Taxis
Cave in the Temple Area in Hangzhou
There are also a lot of caves in this area with buddhist carvings. They are very interesting but sadly most of the faces of these carvings are missing. I think you can imagine why...
You can see the light beam here:
Fascinating:
You can see the light beam here:
Fascinating:
Labels: China
Temple in Hangzhou
I visited most famous temple (I think the name was Lingyu?) of Hangzhou during my last visit. It sadly was extremely hot and humid during the day so that it was not a very pleasant experience. But the temple is surely worth a visit.
You will find here many people praying and burning sticks. Only a very small part of the visitors actually knows anything about how to pray and burn these - as you can see in the following pictures.
I can imagine a lot of accidents happen there because people don't know that they souldn't hold the burning sticks all the time (they aren't religous, they simply do it because they hope it will help :-). You can also see them praying in Catholic churches). The smoke is important, not the fire...
Anyway, it is very interesting and a big tourist spot.
You will find here many people praying and burning sticks. Only a very small part of the visitors actually knows anything about how to pray and burn these - as you can see in the following pictures.
I can imagine a lot of accidents happen there because people don't know that they souldn't hold the burning sticks all the time (they aren't religous, they simply do it because they hope it will help :-). You can also see them praying in Catholic churches). The smoke is important, not the fire...
Anyway, it is very interesting and a big tourist spot.
Labels: China
Super Brand Mall
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Relaxing
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Another construction site. This one is on Nanjing Road, nearby Jing'an Temple.
Impressions from Baoshan Lu (II)
Impressions from Baoshan Road (I)
You could say it is an old-style road. There are mainly old houses with little shops. But as you can already see in the first pictures these buildings will vanish soon (some shops there are closed with temporary walls, apartments are empty):
Here some parts of the house are already missing:
Here some parts of the house are already missing:
Metro Station Baoshan Road
I went out to search for an electronics market nearby this metro station. I found it but it was closing for the day just then. This is the metro station itself (for line 3/4):
It is one station after Shanghai Railway Station, so there is still some railway maintenance around:
Some housing and new construction in the back:
It is one station after Shanghai Railway Station, so there is still some railway maintenance around:
Some housing and new construction in the back:
Shanghai Global Carnival Ad. Started yesterday and is nearby the F1 track in Anting.
Sushi Time
We went for sushi (and other stuff) yesterday. We luckily saw a shuttle bus to Super Brand Mall and decided that this would be better than walking to the next restaurant. We have a VIP-Card for this sushi restaurant (10% off and you get it when you spent more than 300 one time) and use it quite often.
I don't really know the name of this restaurant (all in Chinese :-)) but it has a boy with a plate in the logo. Quite nice and when it's as full as yesterday the stuff is extremely fresh.
I don't really know the name of this restaurant (all in Chinese :-)) but it has a boy with a plate in the logo. Quite nice and when it's as full as yesterday the stuff is extremely fresh.
Friday, July 07, 2006
Construction Housing
Construction workers usually live on the construction site due to the fact that they come from the countryside and can't afford anything else and it is also not really wished.
They live (sometimes for years) in buildings like these - basically some fast and easy to build containers or similar. Every room hosts at least 4 people in bunk beds (can be a lot more - depending on the company). I also saw some constructions sites nearby where the workers live in partially finished apartments/offices on site.
Another construction site next to the one above with basically the same housing. They normally have no aircon. It seems only the manager's office has an aircon. Some seem to privately pay an a/c (like in normal apartments - the first thing people buy when they have money is an a/c).
Completely unrelated is this public toilet next to both sites. You may see that the last door here looks different. This is the door to the room for the service person/"toilet manager".
They live (sometimes for years) in buildings like these - basically some fast and easy to build containers or similar. Every room hosts at least 4 people in bunk beds (can be a lot more - depending on the company). I also saw some constructions sites nearby where the workers live in partially finished apartments/offices on site.
Another construction site next to the one above with basically the same housing. They normally have no aircon. It seems only the manager's office has an aircon. Some seem to privately pay an a/c (like in normal apartments - the first thing people buy when they have money is an a/c).
Completely unrelated is this public toilet next to both sites. You may see that the last door here looks different. This is the door to the room for the service person/"toilet manager".
New Construction in Lujiazui
There is currently another construction project running in Lujiazui (next to Century Avenue). It seems to be a relatively big shopping mall project with a park and so on.
They are currently doing the ground preparation:
This preparation will take a long time due to the fact that this all was basically a swamp some time ago and the ground moves very easily.
One building is already finished and the restaurant is open for some weeks now:
"We are open":
They are currently doing the ground preparation:
This preparation will take a long time due to the fact that this all was basically a swamp some time ago and the ground moves very easily.
One building is already finished and the restaurant is open for some weeks now:
"We are open":
Super Brand Mall
Most people that visited the Super Brand Mall at least one time should have realized that something goes wrong there. It is a giant shopping mall and due to the poor guiding concept I regularly get lost in there. Escalators are not logically placed and often enough I could see the shop/restaurant from downstairs but I couldn't reach it via the stairs.
There are only very few elevators and it takes up to 10 minutes or more until one arrives at your floor (and then it normally is full already). I also dislike the Lotus supermarket downstairs because I realized one time that the advertised price and the price I had to pay for something had a difference of 200 RMB (I only realized that later and it took them more than 30 minutes to finally pay me back the money).
This shopping mall is also having the same problem like a lot of other shopping malls in Shanghai. They decided to go the "famous brand" way, which means only expensive brand shops are there. A result of this is a basically empty shopping mall.
This is happening similar in the Oriental Shopping Mall in Xujiahui. This one is basically empty (not more than 20 customers on 5 floors) while the normal shopping mall next door is packed with people. You could hear the wind blowing in there...
So now they try to improve their situation by getting more restaurants and popular shops in. I saw similar things happening in other malls. One very exclusive mall for example opened bargain shops in the underground section and it then got busy. Others spread restaurants on every floor (e. g. Raffles City, Nextage and Pudong Times Square) so that more people are actually on these floors. Pudong Timese Square was also one of these malls where I was one time and only met sleeping sales assistants and another customer searching for something interesting in this building.
Xin Mei Union Square (next to Nextage on Pudong Times Square) spreaded from the beginning restaurants all over the floors. The shops are still relatively empty but at least it doesn't look so empty.
There are only very few elevators and it takes up to 10 minutes or more until one arrives at your floor (and then it normally is full already). I also dislike the Lotus supermarket downstairs because I realized one time that the advertised price and the price I had to pay for something had a difference of 200 RMB (I only realized that later and it took them more than 30 minutes to finally pay me back the money).
This shopping mall is also having the same problem like a lot of other shopping malls in Shanghai. They decided to go the "famous brand" way, which means only expensive brand shops are there. A result of this is a basically empty shopping mall.
This is happening similar in the Oriental Shopping Mall in Xujiahui. This one is basically empty (not more than 20 customers on 5 floors) while the normal shopping mall next door is packed with people. You could hear the wind blowing in there...
So now they try to improve their situation by getting more restaurants and popular shops in. I saw similar things happening in other malls. One very exclusive mall for example opened bargain shops in the underground section and it then got busy. Others spread restaurants on every floor (e. g. Raffles City, Nextage and Pudong Times Square) so that more people are actually on these floors. Pudong Timese Square was also one of these malls where I was one time and only met sleeping sales assistants and another customer searching for something interesting in this building.
Xin Mei Union Square (next to Nextage on Pudong Times Square) spreaded from the beginning restaurants all over the floors. The shops are still relatively empty but at least it doesn't look so empty.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
More Traffic Fun
This is really funny. What I especially like is that they stopped her because she drove a bike on the motor lane. She should have been driving a car on a bike lane, because that is OK. Also OK is a scooter with full speed on a pedestrian walk. It is also OK to beat a red light and honk so that the pedestrians "vanish".
But this week I saw for the first time ever a policeman actually stopping a car when pedestrians were passing the street. It really was the first time ever!
But this week I saw for the first time ever a policeman actually stopping a car when pedestrians were passing the street. It really was the first time ever!
Impression from the People's Park. No it's not raining, this is a sun umbrella.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Summer Fashion in Shanghai
Sad that it is blurry but I think you can still see the "half-shirt" fashion style here.
Goods Transport
The Shanghai Metro is used for many things - not only as MRT. Quite common is the transport of express mail via the metro and the delivery of parcels etc. via metro. You can see many people sit in the metro station (inside the station, without passing the exit gate) waiting for their counterpart who delivers mail and receives mail.
But you can also find some normal goods transport:
I actually think that is used for the vending machines. It seemed to be quite difficult because the wanted to transport all at once.
I'm not really sure why the didn't use the elevator next to this entrance...
But you can also find some normal goods transport:
I actually think that is used for the vending machines. It seemed to be quite difficult because the wanted to transport all at once.
I'm not really sure why the didn't use the elevator next to this entrance...
Lotus Flower Season
We had our Sunday Brunch at Barbarossa in People's Park and next to the restaurant/bar/club is a lotus pond.
It's the lotus flower season now - it started last weekend in Shanghai and it should be fully there next weekend:
It's the lotus flower season now - it started last weekend in Shanghai and it should be fully there next weekend:
Sunday, July 02, 2006
Shanghai World Financial Center - Status in July
The new World Financial Tower is rising and rising. It will catch up with Jin Mao soon.
You can see now a bit of the design:
Let's just hope they have enough money and don't have to stop like several others in this area. There are quite a few half-finished towers in this area and that doesn't look so pretty.
Maybe they can do it the Pakistani way then - several towers there were not finished but the lower floors were already in use.
You can see now a bit of the design:
Let's just hope they have enough money and don't have to stop like several others in this area. There are quite a few half-finished towers in this area and that doesn't look so pretty.
Maybe they can do it the Pakistani way then - several towers there were not finished but the lower floors were already in use.
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Even More Restaurants Around
They are currently finishing the shops for some more restaurants around the corner (behind the Shanghai GM building). Most are still under construction.
There is also another Papa Johns outlet - just some hundred meters away from the other one nearby Times Square:
There is also another Papa Johns outlet - just some hundred meters away from the other one nearby Times Square:
WM Quarter Finals in the German Centre Shanghai (IV)
WM Quarter Finals in the German Centre Shanghai (III)
WM Quarter Finals in the German Centre Shanghai (II)
Some pictures from the crowd after Germany won:
Over all a very nice thing to watch it there on the big screen with a lot of German fans. Though some went a bit too crazy about the win so that my girlfriend got hurt by a chair thrown around. Some had a bit too my beer I would guess.
Over all a very nice thing to watch it there on the big screen with a lot of German fans. Though some went a bit too crazy about the win so that my girlfriend got hurt by a chair thrown around. Some had a bit too my beer I would guess.
WM Quarter Finals Germany - Argentina in the German Centre Shanghai (I)
Some pictures from the quarter finals public viewing in the German Centre in Shanghai:
My mobile phone camera is quite bad - sorry for the bad quality.
My mobile phone camera is quite bad - sorry for the bad quality.
