Archive for February, 2006

1000 traffic cameras

Shanghai has a total of around 1000 hidden traffic cameras aimed at speeders, according to an article in today's Shanghai Daily. That seems a huge amount to me, even though the city is very big. The most famous camera is the one on the road from Hongqiao airport to Yan'an Lu where taxi drivers slow down to about 20 km/h in order to avoid a fine, and after that speed up to 100 km/h again. But during my travels through the city I have only seen very few others, so they must be hidden very well!I...
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Night flights

China will relax its regulations for night flights reports the Shanghai Daily. Bad news for residents living close to airports, but good news for travellers. Flights are now allowed to take off or arrive from 6 AM in the morning until 2 AM at night. But the change will likely not affect schedules for the next 6 months, because these have already been made. Hopefully there will finally be late night flights from Beijing to Shanghai, so you can have an (early) dinner in Beijing and still make it...
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Sweet Fajalobi – Surinam restaurant in Shanghai

Last night Qi and I decided to try out the only Surinam (South American) restaurant in Shanghai. The restaurant is called Sweet Fajalobi - The taste of South America, and is located on 362 Shaanxi Bei Lu, just north of Plaza 66 (taxi: Beijing Lu/Shaanxi Lu). It's a two-storey restaurant, with a small patio in the back. The atmosphere is relaxed, with South-American music (not too loud), and small tables with a candle on it. There is also a bar, with Hoegaarden (white beer) on draught. The...
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Shanghai events on upcoming.org

Just came accross a user-generated content site that shows events worldwide, upcoming.org. After checking the events for Shanghai, I decided to sign up. In total Shanghai has 204 users and I hope it will be more soon. This is the kind of site I like, because you come accross events that might not be announced in other places. If you are bored (does not happen to me too often :-) you just log on and see if there is anything going on in town. The site has RSS feeds for events in different cities,...
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Direct KLM flights to Chengdu

Two years ago I was the producer of a film for a Singaporean real estate company about Chengdu. In total I spent about 2 weeks there (for location scouting and the actual production) and I really liked the city. It's very relaxed, a bit laid back actually, with lots of parks and two rivers crossing the town. But it also has all the comforts of modern life such as good hotels, bars, restaurants and even two big Carrefour supermarkets stocked with foreign products.A hidden gem, because it's not a...
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Chinese signs for offices and bars

First there was a regulation that China-produced cars should carry a name in Chinese characters. Now also companies, stores, restaurants and bars need to have a Chinese name on its signs writes the Shanghai Daily. The reason, according to an official with the Shanghai Language Works Commission "Foreign-language-only signboards will probably hamper people's understanding and deliberately set up communication barriers for most Chinese."Although I understand the reasoning, I think the officials...
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TV show about Dutch people moving to China

Today I received an email from a Dutch TV company that is looking to produce a reality TV program about Dutch people that are planning to move to China. They will be followed during about four months, both before leaving and after arriving in China. I think this is an excellent idea, as long as China will not be shown in a too stereotypical way. In case there are any interested Dutch people reading this blog with plans to move to China, please contact Bob Keller at...
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Virgin complex

Sometimes I really wonder whether the editors of Chinese newspapers are making up some of their stories. Today was one of those times, when the Shanghai Daily carried this story:A man whose anonym is a Zhao Tong, has received two brain operations to rid himself of his virgin complex, Shanghai Evening Post reported today.Zhao, 28, had the second operation yesterday, because he wants to marry his girlfriend but can't get rid of the thoughts of her not being a virgin.After the operation, he felt...
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Taxi drivers…

Early Monday morning I took a taxi from the Sheraton to Beijing airport. When arriving there the driver told me the price was RMB 80 and I paid him (in Beijing taxi's, especially the more expensive taxi's at 5-star hotels, the meter is often out of view). Then I asked him for the receipt, which he reluctantly gave to me. Normally I do not really check the receipt, but because he did not automatically give it to me I took a closer look. I turns out that the total amount was only RMB 63. That's...
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Huaibei Ski Resort (Beijing)

Last weekend I spent in Beijing, and on Saturday we went skiing in Huaibei. The German Centre organized a trip there, and Qi and I decided to join. I knew several people on the trip already (among others Jeroen Berghuis from VOK DAMS and his staff, and Leif Goeritz who is a former colleague at DaimlerChrysler in Stuttgart and now managing director of the German Centre Beijing), but most people had arrived in Beijing after I left the city in 2002 so they were new to me.The trip to Huaibei took...
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Assaggi (Beijing)

On Friday night I was in Beijing where I had dinner with Carlo Crosetto and his wife Susanne. Of course my wife also joined, she was on a project in Beijing anyway. Because Qi did not want to have Chinese food again (she had Chinese food the whole week already - and I always thought Chinese like Chinese food!) we opted for Assaggi in the Sanlitun diplomatic compound area.I had not been here for several years, but it did not change too much. We had a table on the top floor at the window, but it...
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Snow

Strange weather in Shanghai. After the warm weather on Tuesday (I read in the Shanghai Daily that it was 22.2 degrees Celcius, the warmest Valentines Day ever in Shanghai) it suddenly turned cold again. I just walked over to the Four Seasons Hotel and it was snowing...
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Camera phones and funerals

It seems like every young urban Chinese has a camera phone, and is taking pictures everywhere. Where will this lead? Well, Japan is normally one step ahead of China, and there the latest trend is to take a final picture of the deceased at a funeral. The Sydney Morning Herald reported this morning:Japan's obsession with camera-equipped mobile phones has taken a bizarre twist, with mourners at funerals now using the devices to capture a final picture of the deceased.(...) At one ceremony several...
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Emission stickers

On Wednesday a new law came into effect in Shanghai, allowing only cars that comply to EURO-1 emission standards to drive on the elevated highways. Many cars that are 5 years or older might not fulfill these standards. Cars that fulfill the requirement get a sticker that they should stick on the windshield, which enables them to enter the highway. So what do you do if your car does not meet the standard?Chinese see money in everything, so the moment this measure was announced businessmen...
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Chinese brand name on cars

A new state regulation that goes into effect on May 1 states that all cars produced in China should put their brand name in Chinese characters on the car. Volkswagen has already been doing that in China, but Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz (who all produce some of their models locally now) don't have this. It is a bit strange, if you consider that a Mercedes-Benz only puts the model name (C220, E280 etc.) on its cars, not the full name 'Mercedes-Benz'. Now they will suddenly need to do this in...
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Shintori

Last night Sierk Vojacek invited me for dinner at the Shintori restaurant in Julu Lu. Susanne Viguurs, SVP's financial advisor/accountant from Holland, was visiting Shanghai and she also joined the dinner. Shintori is one of the better Japanese restaurants in Shanghai. Most of the Japanese places are either teppanyaki style or buffet style, but Shintori is different. No RMB 150 all you can eat and drink deal, but a hypermodern environment (only concrete on the inside, but very beautiful -...
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Spring time

The Spring Festival is over, and suddenly the weather turns spring-like! Today it is 17 degrees and sunny in Shanghai, very nice after 3 months of colder weather. On the street most people still wear their winterwear (three sweaters and double pants) because inside the unheated Shanghai houses it is still very chilly, but walking in the sun it is already too warm to wear my winter coat.But of course this is only temporarily, by the end of the week the mercury will drop to 5 degrees again (and...
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Lantern Festival

Today is the last day (15th day) of the Spring Festival, and therefore today it is full moon. Because it is a cloudless day today the moon can be clearly seen in Shanghai's sky. The festivities on the last day of the Spring Festival are called the Lantern Festival. Many people make their own lanterns, and my assistant told me that Nanjing Lu is covered in red lanterns. All around us fireworks are being lighted again, so I am afraid sleeping might be a problem tonight... Traditionally Yuan Xiao...
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Laris

Last night Qi and I had our pre-Valentines Day dinner at Laris in Shanghai. Qi will be on a business trip next week, so we decided to have our Valentines dinner a couple of days earlier.Laris is one of the very best restaurants in Shanghai, but also one of the most expensive ones. It is located on the 6th floor of 3 on the Bund, right below New Heights. The ambiance is modern, but very elegant. The design is stunning, but might feel a bit cold for some people, due to a heavy usage of marble....
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Good food can be bad

It's well-known that food is one of the most important things for a Chinese. So a holiday like the Spring Festival means eating good food several times a day. A heavy breakfast with filled buns, a big lunch with meat, fish and vegetables, lots of snacks and fruit during day time, and then a big dinner followed by even more snacks. This is supposed to be healthy.But is it really? The Shanghai Daily wrote today that Shanghai's Liren Women's Hospital's out-patient department treated 30 percent...
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