About China blogosphere, travel, and entrepreneurship

After a long spell in Shanghai, and aside from a few trips to Hong Kong and Taipei here and there, I’m now writing from beautiful Los Angeles. Officially, I’m here to visit family and friends. Unofficially, I’m here to get a healthy helping of good old American mad-cow. Neither In-N-Out nor Claim Jumper will know what hit them (unless I can somehow make it to the House of Prime Rib).

Of course, I’m not here to bore you with my culinary misadventures in the States. Instead, I wanted to take this opportunity to share my random observations as I made my way out of Shanghai and transferred through Beijing before collecting my luggage at Los Angeles.

Part One: Shanghai Metro Pat-down

After the recent bus explosion fire that had quite a few Chinese friends wondering if the Shanghai Metro system was safe from those dastardly Xinjiang terrorists, I actually wondered: just what sort of security does Shanghai have to stop random terrorists from running into People’s Square and creating an unfathomable disaster. That is, other than the logic disaster of trying to board before letting people off…during rush hour. Rarely have I seen any reasonable security in Shanghai’s metro stations, and it honestly looks all too easy for someone with hidden explosives and malicious intent to just walk on in and obliterate the mob of humanity that uses the metro system daily. With the Olympics quickly approaching and Chinese domestic media scaring the populace with occasional reports of terrorism threatening to derail (heh) China’s rightful ascension to international glory, I thought they’d ramp up security or something. It never felt that they did…

…until I, of all the harmless-looking people in the world, rolled my luggage into the metro station this past Tuesday afternoon.

As I fumbled to stuff my 10 kuai into the ticket vending machine, a station attendant immediately and briskly walked over to me. At first, I actually thought she was coming to offer, gasp, customer service! Pleasantly flattered, I quickly tried to politely wave her off to let her know there’s no need as I understood how to use the machine. But no, she neither cared where I was going or whether I knew how to pay for fare; she just wanted me to open my luggage to show her the explosives I was surely hiding. Oh.

I, of course, complied. I set my luggage down and flipped it open. Interestingly, she didn’t seem too bothered by the brick-like bulk hidding in one corner of my luggage wrapped mysteriously in yellow graphing paper and a baijiu giveaway bag. I mean, national product or not, it could’ve been flammable baijiu, a fatty amount of explosive C4 plastique, or something equally dangerous, like 6 month F visas. No, instead, she poked warily at my Calvin Klein Escape deodorant. I quickly explained its purpose for masking unpleasant, women-luring, body odor. Confounded, she had no choice but to let me continue with my journey.

Four kuai ticket in hand, and suitcase zipped shut again, I quickly entered the station. I glanced back only briefly, you know, to make sure I wasn’t being tailed, due to my pleasing aroma, and made my way towards Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport.

Olympic Torch is in Shanghai now. The torch relay will restart after the national mourning period for Wenchuan earthquake (May 19-21). Originally, it was planned on May 20 and 21. I got this notice about traffic control on May 23 and 24 in Shanghai via an email. It might be helpful for you.

Day 1, May 23 2008 (530 -1600)

• Huangpu (黄浦区): People’s Square -> The Bund
• Luwan (卢湾区): Xingye Rd (around Xintiandi area) to Fuxing Rd. & Xizang Rd. intersection
• Yangpu (杨浦区)：Yingao Rd to Jiangwan Rd. to Guofan Rd.
• Pudong (浦东新区)：Huamu Rd (around Century Park, and Yincheng Rd (around Lujiazhui, Oriental Pearl Tower, Jinmao Tower)

IMPORTANT: Metro Line 2: none stop at Nanjin Dong Rd. station from 730 - 930 am.

Day 2, May 24 2008

• Xuhui (徐汇区): Chaoqi Rd (around Xujiahui center) to the Shanghai Stadium
• Minhang (闵行区): Jianchuan Rd to Dong Chuan Rd. (around Shanghai Jiaotong University Minhang campus)
• Jiading (嘉定区)：Moyu Rd & Caoan Rd

Century Park(世纪公园), Shanghai Scence & Technology Museum (上海科技馆) will be closed on May 23. Oriental Green Boat (东方绿洲), a park, will be closed till 2:30pm on May 24.

This is an route map published in July 2007 (green for day 1, red for day 2). source from Xinmin Net(新民网)

Obviously, the route has been updated. For example, the torch will be in Pudong New District area in day 1 in the afternoon.

The same information can be found on Sohu here in Chinese.

Shanghai Railway Station (Shanghai Huoche Zhan, 上海火车站, a.k.a. Shanghai Station, 上海站) is also known as New Passenger Railway Station (Xin Kezhan, 新客站) by Shanghai residents to distinguish it from the old North Station which retired in 1987. 刘建春 (Liu Jianchun) described the history and development of the history of Shanghai railway stations in a book《火车老站地图》(Map of Railway Stations) published in 2007. The earliest railway station in Shanghai was put to operation in 1876. And there have been 7 railways stations existing in Shanghai in the past 130 years, including the existing ones. It is very interesting to see how these stations were built and moved or changed or disappeared. I marked them on the map below for your quick reference, check here for an interactive version. (The site of an old South Station in Luwan District is not included.)

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If you’re coming to Shanghai, you’ll most likely be arriving through Pudong International Airport (PVG). Located 30 km east of downtown, it took over most international flights from the older Hongqiao Airport (SHA) when it first opened in 1999. It is big, it is modern, and the architecture is, uh, big and modern.

It is also remarkably unremarkable.

You really do not want to hang out there.

Yes, you’d think such a cosmopolitan first-tier city like Shanghai would have an impressively cosmopolitan airport like Hong Kong’s, filled with name-brand shopping and palatable dining options for the legions of travelers passing through each day, but as far as major international airports go, Shanghai’s PVG sucks (so does Beijing, but that’s a story the Imagethief tells best). Get past immigration, head for the exits, and make your way to downtown Shanghai, where it is far more interesting.

If you’re foreign to Shanghai, and no one was sent to pick you up, there are three common methods for getting from the airport into the city center, which is where you’re most likely headed. Each of these options are detailed below, with pros, cons, instructions, and some useful tips.

Method 1: Taxi

Why: Convenience. Unless there is a long line of people waiting to get taxis, this is your option for door to door service, and especially useful if you have a ton of luggage. The major drawback will be the cost, and the risk of dishonest drivers intentionally taking a less-than-direct route from the airport to your stated destination. Unfortunately, this risk gets higher the more foreign you appear and the less familiar you are with Shanghai’s roads/geography.

Typical rates during the day to the Puxi side of downtown Shanghai will be around 150-170 RMB. To the Pudong side, around 100-130 RMB. As long as you’re certain your destination is in the city center, you should get worried if the fare hits 200. A vein on your forehead should pop if you see 300. (more…)

Tom Mercer from Simple Green Choices (this blog might not be accessible in China if you don’t have a proxy server) has great resources in green travel. And his post about travel options has been my self-justification of not owning a car - not environmental friendly, especially when I am in Shanghai. Here are the numbers of how many “greenhouse emissions“ created by different transportation methods.

Total Emissions Per Person

• Average Car/Single Driver - 1.39 lbs/mi
• Average Car/Family of 4 - .34 lbs/mi
• Train - .32 lbs/mi
• Bus - .48 lbs/mi
• Plane (250 mi trip) - .85 lbs/mi**
• Plane (600 mi) - .69 lbs/mi**
• Plane (3500 mi) - .56 lbs/mi**
  

So last weekend, we decided to take train instead of to rent a car to a nearby city Hangzhou (杭州, Hángzhōu). The later option will be environmental friendly if I have a family of 4. But not now. It was a great riding experience and I’d like to share with you how to enjoy “train riding” to Hangzhou from Shanghai.

1. Buy train tickets: Unless you buy the tickets at train station ticket boots, there is always a small sub-charge on buying a train ticket from agents. The best way is to go official ticket vendors/offices and it will cost you only 5 RMB/ticket. If you call a travel agent, the max. amount could be 30 RMB even in non-national holiday period.

2. Go to railway station: There are two major train stations in Shanghai: Shanghai Railway Station (上海火车站) and Shanghai South Railway Station (上海火车南站). Both of the stations are connected to Metro Line 1 and Line 3. South station is a very new and modern architecture and was open on July 1, 2006. A lot of trains to southern provinces (Zhejiang Province, Hunan Province and Jiangxi Province) are departed here, so was the high-speed train we took was departed here as well. Make sure you know which station you want to depart from and arrive at. The taxi fee from South Railway Station to Jing’an Temple is around 30 RMB in daytime non-rush hour.

3. Take the train: I have the experience of spending 24 hours in the train when traveling from Shanghai to Beijing around 10 years’ ago. But it only took me 12 hours last year. So the train travel experience becomes more and more enjoyable (except of Chinese New Year period) in China. But I have to say the toilet condition is still a big challenge for most western travellers in a long distance trip.

4. Buy return tickets：The only benefit of buying return ticket at your destination is to SAVE the transaction fee since you are at the train station! We saved 10 RMB! ^_^

Here is a image tour of our train-riding experience:

We traveled from Jing’an Temple direction and arrived at North West Entrance on level 2.

There is a layout map on the left-hand side near the entrance. B1- Arrival; Level 1 & 2 - Departure.

A grand architecture! Definitely not a traditional train station you see in China!

Highspeed trains CRH (which means “China Railway High-speed”) to Hangzhou are all departed at A1 lounge on level 1. We took the stairs on our left hand side and went down one level, then followed the sign to the waiting room. CHR has a “funny” Chinese name “和谐号” (Hexie Hao, 和谐 means “harmonious”).

This is what you want to look for.

Double confirm that you are not going to the wrong waiting room. This sign at the entrance tells you the numbers of all the trains that depart from this room, including to Hangzhou: D653, D657, D663, D667, D675, D681, D683; to Changsha (长沙): D109. “D” trains (train number started with letter “D”) (动车组，DòngChē Zǚ) are the fastest trains in China railway transportation system. If you take “D” train to Beijing, it takes you only 10 hours.

Hangzhou is a very popular spring travel destination for Shanghainese, people (and us) are desperated to see the spring green in Hangzhou!

Our train departs at 9:30am.

On the platform. There are 16 cabinets in a CRH.

The cabinet of CRH is very clean and spacey, 5 seats in a row and luggage rack overhead.

Even though the toilet condition has room for improvement, we can’t complain about the “hot” and “cold” FREE water on the train. I believe all the trains in China provide free water today.

Three minutes after departure, the train was at a speed of 130km/hour. The highest speed is around 170km/hour, avg. 140km/h. It only takes 75 minutes and costs us 54RMB/person to travel from Shanghai to Hangzhou.

The bullet train CRH 和谐号。

This is a used ticket from Hangzhou (杭州) to Shanghai South Railway Station (上海南).

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