It was raining (heavy rain with thunderstorm) in the last two weeks.

Then we had chilly rain on Monday and light snow on Tuesday.

We got the coldest day in March (-2 degrees), but fortunately the sky was cleared up.

And then we are having sunny warm day today (Thursday) with 15 degrees.

The weather forecast said we are going to have over 20 degrees this weekend!

Dramatic?

The whole week just reminded me the movie 2012!

The Bund renovation project is right on schedule. The news said that the new Bund will be open to the public from 28th March.

Today when I was passing the bund, I saw the main construction has been completed, although the Bund area is still blocked for visitors.

Just a couple of days to go before the Chinese New Year. Shops are packed with people now. Every Chinese is doing the final preparation for this special day. It’s the most important day for every Chinese no matter where he/she is.

Chinese New Year is all about family gathering, especially on the Chinese New Year eve (13th Feb this year), every member of the family must go home and have dinner together.

Shops are closed early on the new year eve afternoon and streets become quiet probably only on this afternoon around the year.

I might not be able to update my blog so frequently in the next couple of weeks. Too many things to do! So I wish everybody enjoy this Chinese New Year with your family wherever you are!

Happy Holiday!

I just came back from IKEA today and found some interesting changes:

1. no personal bags allowed inside the store. Customers must either put their bags into the lockers outside the store or into those special locked RED bags provided by IKEA.

2. in IKEA restaurant, all the mugs or glass cups are replaced by those nasty paper cups.

3.  all the hot water machines don’t work any more

4. customers have to go to staff for some tissue. Before all the tissue are in public area for customer self service.

5.  at the check-out/exit, lots of security guys there to check every customer’s paper receipt and stamp on each one

6.  more security guys inside the store

I think I can explain some of the changes above.

In IKEA restaurant, always full of people even in the work day afternoon. If you pay a little bit more attention, most people there were 40-50 years old men and women. They brought lots of snacks and fruits into the restaurant and enjoyed the free hot water, coffee, tissures and space provided by IKEA. Some people took IKEA restaurant as a perfect party/reunion place. After the party, some people even took a lot of free tissues and sugar sachets to home. This is why there are change 2,3,4.

Another shocking thing inside IKEA store before was there were lots of thieves there. I saw a few times. They put quilt covers, table cloth and some small items into their bags or hide under their clothes and then took the products outside the store for sale. I reported once to the security guy in the store but he felt he could do nothing because he told me those thieves were not working individually but as a group. He was also afraid they would do something really bad to him after work for revenge. How shocking is this!

And even worse, some thieves stole the products and then came to some customers who really bought the products from IKEA and asked them to sell their receipts to them. So they can return those products to IKEA for cash!

Smart?! Genius?! or pure evil?!

Hi!

We will travel to shanghai from Malaysia. May i know how much of the D train per pax from shanghai to Hangzhou, and also from Hangzhou to shanghai? We will stay at La Residence at Zhenning Road, Can you suggest which train we should take?

Can we book online? Or must buy directly at the counter?

Answer from Hoo:

I am really sorry for being so late to reply you, Chris.

The D train ticket for Shanghai to Hangzhou costs about 54RMB (second class) and 65RMB (first class), and the same vice versa.

I don’t quite understand your second question. If you mean the best way to travel from Shanghai to Hangzhou, D (CRH) train is no doubt the best choice. Most trains for Hangzhou departure from South Shanghai Railway Station. La Residence is close to Metro Line 2, Jiangsu Road Station. You can take the Metro Line 2 to Zhongshan Park Station and then change to Line 3 which will take you to Shanghai South Railway Station.

Currently there is no official web site for train ticket booking in China. Although there are some online agents which can help book train tickets, it is hard for me to recommend one as I never tried.

You may ask the hotel you will stay  to see if they can help you to book. Otherwise you will have to buy the train ticket at the counter.

If you are travelling during this Chinese New Year Week (14-20 Feb), please book your train tickets as early as possible.

Good Luck!

Because of the Metro Line 2 Extended Route Construction, Zhangjiang High Technology Park Station will be closed 14-23 Feb 2010.

A special shuttle bus line will be operated between Zhangjiang High Technology Park Station and Longyang Road Station during this period of time as temporary solution.

After 23 Feb, the new Zhangjiang High Technology Park Station will be in operation. The new station will be underground instead of on the surface. And the Metro Line 2 is extended from Songhong Road Station to Guanglan Road Station (one station further east).

Today when I went to Super Brand Mall for some pre-Chinese New Year shopping, I found the Lotus supermarket is reopen. And I was quite excited.

Lotus Supermarket in Super Brand Mall Reopen now

Overall, the place is tidier and cleaner than before. But the size of the new supermarket is reduced by half.  The other half is for some individual stores such as Leonidas chocolate, Q&C Cafe, Ichido Bakery etc.

Most of the products are imported. And this is why they call it upgraded premium store, which equals to the unique location of Super Brand Mall.

Lotus Supermarket in Super Brand Mall Reopen now

Although the products are less than before, the store has most essentials, fresh produce, fish, meat, dairy, personal care. But the cost might be higher because limited choices.

Lotus Supermarket in Super Brand Mall Reopen now

Mmmmm… that was weird! As I know, Andy is a very professional guy, why he uses a pretty girl’s picture as his computer desktop background and apparently the girl was not his current girlfriend because it was Michele Lee, a Hong Kong actress.

Michele Lee, Hongkong actress on the office computer to ask pay rise

So I asked:

‘ I didn’t know that you are a fan of Michele Lee?’

‘No, of course not. This is for another purpose.’

Okay, the purpose is:

PAY RISE!

Why?

Because Michele Lee’s Chinese name is Li Jia Xin (pronounced as Lee Jar Sheen), and Jia Xin sounds exactly the same in Chinese as ‘Pay Rise’.

Now is the end of the year (in China year end is before the Chinese New Year). Everybody wants some good news for the new year such as of course, big bonus or Pay Rise.

But of course, in Chinese culture, we don’t ask the boss directly but still would prefer to give the boss a subtle hint otherwise he/she will pretend to forget it all.

This year, a (or probably a group of) smart guys got this idea. Put Michele Lee’s picture everywhere to voice their demand!

So have a look in your office, did you find this face anywhere?

Michele Lee, Hong Kong actress on computer to ask pay rise

Or simply on T Shirt:’I want Jia Xin!’ which means ‘I want pay rise’

I want Jia Xin = I want Pay Rise

I can’t remember when was my last time in the zoo. 20 years ago?!

To be honest, I hated to go to zoo when I was a kid because everything smelled so bad…. and everything looked so scary….probably I am an exception because my little nephew just loves those furry things.

Okay, I took the suggestion from my colleague. Metro Line 2 and change to No. 57 bus. It was actually quite convenient. The bust stop is next to the shopping mall near Jiangan Temple. Always people queueing there.

No. 57 bus at Jingan Temple

It took about 40 minutes from Jingan Temple to Shanghai Zoo.

Ticket for entrance: 40RMB

Admission ticket of Shanghai Zoo

Although our purpose is the cute pandas, we saw a lot others.

First, fishes….

The fish section in Shanghai Zoo

More fishes…. those are typical Chinese fish living in fresh water. I saw a lot in Chengdu called Jin Li.

Fish pound in Shanghai Zoo

Okay, before the pandas, let’s have a look at their relatives.

Black bear

A black bear in Shanghai Zoo

A brown bear

A brown bear in Shanghai Zoo

Interestingly both of them looks very hungry, always looking up for food…

Here comes the star. Pandas.

EXPO pandas in Shanghai Zoo

EXPO pandas in Shanghai Zoo

EXPO pandas in Shanghai Zoo

I still can’t figure out how he/she got up there…. looked like mission impossible… pandas always look so clumsy…..

EXPO pandas in Shanghai Zoo

EXPO pandas in Shanghai Zoo

La Bameans the eighth day of the 12thmonth in Chinese Lunar Calendar. The whole month is regarded as the coldest time in the year and in Chinese we put La in front of some other word to indicate this special time, for example La Yue is putting La in front of the Yue (month) means the coldest month.

I don’t really know the history of La Ba Jie (I googled a bit. La Ba Jie is usually for wishing a harvest new year). But I do know the must-eat food for La Ba Jie is La Ba Zhou(La Ba Congee). Google also reminded us!

Google's home page for La Ba Jie

As the name indicated (Ba in Chinese means eight), we usually put 8 different ingredients in the congee.

Normally they can be all sorts of beans (red bean, kidney bean, black been etc), different types of rice (brown rice, glutinous rice, black rice etc), multi grains, dried fruits (raisins, Chinese dates etc).

Usually La Ba Zhou is sweet but in some parts of China, people do cook savoury version by putting some bacon, salted meat or fish.

All the ingredients of my La Ba Zhou (La Ba Congee)

So in my opinion, this is the most healthy traditional Chinese food because so many good things in one bowl.  And I would recommend it as the best comfort food in the cold winter. 

The ingredients are so easy to get because you have so many choices, just mix and match. I cook it all the time.

First, because all the ingredients are dehydrated, we usually need to leave the beans, rices  to soak over night.

Dried ingredients of La Ba Zhou

This is what they look like after soaked overnight. You can see everything becomes bigger and plumped. So bear in mind, don’t prepare too much of everything because everything becomes bigger after soaked.

All the La Ba Zhou ingredients after soaked

Then put the ingredients in order into a big pot. Put the ingredients which are hard and take longer time to cook first such as beans.

Usually my order would be:

Beans - rice/grain -  fruits

You will need a lot of water to cook all the ingredients, usually 5:1 (water:ingredients), otherwise you will get rice instead of congee.

Cook all the ingredients on the medium heat till everything is softened. You can put some sugar to give it more taste. But I prefer not because the congee itself has its natural sweetness from all the ingredients.

La Ba Zhou I cooked today

10 EXPO pandas now in Shanghai Zoo

(Courtesy photo by XinhuaNet)

I saw pandas once at Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding about 7 years ago. They were so cute and looked so happy because 80% of their day is for sleeping and the rest is for eating and playing (this is what I learned from the research center in Chengdu).

So I will take my nephew who is a big fan of Kung Fu Panda but has never seen a single panda till now this weekend to Shanghai Zoo.

 Unfortunately there is no Metro station close to the Zoo. My colleagues suggested me to take Metro Line 2 to Jingan Temple Station and then change to Bus No. 57. I will give it a try.

Shanghai Zoo open time in Jan and Feb: 7:00 - 17:00

Ticket: 40RMB

And want to know who is the loneliest panda in the world? Look at the picture below (voted by Chinese netizens)….

Loneliest Panda in the world

Little panda stuck in the trees

I am playing Hide and Seek. But I am a bit lost…..

Panda playing Hide and Seek

Yum, yum, yum….

Yum, Yum, Yum....

(Map from Shanghai Metro official website)

Shanghai Metro Map

Did you discover something really mystery about it?

If not, look closer. Anything?

Some Chinese netizens discovered this secret and drew this shocking image below.

A double headed flying dragon hidden behine Shanghai Metro Map

(Courtesy image from www.ditiezu.com)

So there is a double headed flying dragon behind the Shanghai Metro Map.

For Fun!

Official news has announced this year peak season starts from 30 Jan till 10 Mar.

To cope with the large demands, Shanghai train authorities will start the special ticket booking arrangements on 20th March (tomorrow).

According to the policy, most normal trains tickets are available 11 days before the departure day, CRH trains and some express trains tickets are available 21 days before the departure day.

So tickets of normal trains on 30 Jan will be available for purchase tomorrow (20 Jan) and tickets for 31 Jan will be available on 21 Jan, and so on…..

The ‘new’ tickets will be available everyday at 15:00 o’clock. This is to avoid people queueing in the cold night if it starts at 0:00 in the midnight.

Shanghai Rail suggested 3 ways to purchase the train tickets:

- Train ticket offices across the city

There will be 327 windows across the city to sell the train tickets. Some are open 24 hours. In addition, in Shanghai Railway Station and South Shanghai Railway Station, temporaryTicket Halls are set up to deal with the large demands.

- Ticket Vendor Machines

I saw those machines in Shanghai Railway Station. Very much like the ticket machine in Metro. Available in both Chinese and English.

- Telephone booking (95105105)

I tried the telephone booking but to be honest, it was not so friendly (see my previous blog here). Basically you can reserve a ticket on the phone and then collect the ticket at a pick-up office in the town within 48 hours. Service is available in Chinese only. And it also requires to enter ID number before the booking starts to avoid some ticket scalpers to purchase large amount.

Some websites, hotels etc also provide service to buy the train tickets and charge a certain fee. But during this special period of time, some companies have canceled this service because they can’t guarantee the service.

However, for short distance CRH trains (for example, Shanghai to Nanjing), those companies can still buy the tickets for the customers if you inform them early.

Many friends recommended me to have a look at Taobao.com (largest e-Commerce website in China. Chinese eBay). I did find some good deals there but just didn’t know if I can trust those agents.

China implemented this e-ticket system a couple of years ago. So every time, after I booked the ticket, no paper ticket or receipt. All I need to do is going to airport directly on the day and show my ID at the counter.

If I am booking from a trust-able agent, this is okay. But from those online agents, how can I know if my booking is successful.

And here is the solution.

www.travelsky.com

which belongs to China Civil Aviation. It provides this online verification service  for all the flight tickets issued in China.

All I need to do is to key in the ticket serial number (you should be issued this number after the booking comfirmed) and the passenger’s name on its website.

Then a window will pop up with all your ticket details, such as passenger name, flight number, time, status etc.

The website also provide flight and hotel booking services and available in English.

However, the flight ticket verification service is available only in Chinese. This is a bit bizarre.

So if you are able to read Chinese, this is a good way to verify your e-ticket.

• 1 bedroom apartment: 2132 RMB/month
• 2 bedroom apartment: 2516 RMB/month
• 3 bedroom apartment:  3359 RMB/month

Prices above are average rent cost in Shanghai.

Of course, the price varies by location, condition etc.

For example, a 1 bedroom apartment near Century Avenue Metro Station is about 2500RMB/month, but similar flat by Longyang Road Metro Station is about 1800RMB/month.

My friend rent a 3 bedroom apartment in Yanlord Town in Lianyang for 15000RMB/month.

Chinese netizens are reacting quickly on the news. Flowers were sent to Google China headquater office  in Beijing.

Flowers sent to Google China office

Chinese netizens felt sorry for google’s decision of pulling out of China.

Flowers sent to Google China office

More flowers sent to Google Beijing office

Chinese message to Google:'Google, Real Man!'

 

Loyal users wait for Google's coming back

People pay their tributes to Google

More flowers sent to Google Beijing office

‘ Have you watched Avatar?’

In front of Peace Cinema in Raffles City, which has the only IMAX screen in Shanghai, there are always people queueing up for a ticket to watch IMAX 3D Avatar.

Below are some photos I found on the web by some Shanghai netizens.

And this kind of day and night queue only appeared in train stations before the Chinese New Year. But for a movie, the very first time in town!

Now is the coldest time in Shanghai. People are still willing to wait in the chilly wind for Avatar.

Queueing for Avatar in front of Peach Cinema Shanghai

Queueing for Avatar in front of Peach Cinema Shanghai

A Shanghai netizen drew this map to show how long the queue was on 7th Jan.

The queue started at the corner of Hankou Road and Mid Xizang Road (the blue dot) winding along the Yunnan road  and then ended at the corner of Fuzhou Road and Mid Xizang Road (the red dot). Amazing!

The photo below was taken at 1:30am on 9th Jan.

They were sitting outside the cinema in front of the chocolate shop.

After this photo was published, soon many netizens pointed out a few of guys in this picture were Huang Niu (scalper) (read more about Huang Niu here).  I have to say it is not easy to be the Huang Niu of Avatar.

The one caught the most attentions was the old lady below.

Old lady queueing for Avatar in Shanghai

Most people queueing in front of the cinema were young. So the old lady covered with quilt caught lots of attentions.

She arrived at cinema 8pm on 7th Jan and queued the whole night till 8th Jan morning when the cinema was open and fortunately she was the first.

The old lady said she was queueing for his son. Then people started to criticise her son for putting his mother outside in the cold winter just for a movie ticket. Later someone defended her son saying her son was really sick and his mother just wanted him to be happy.

Then this triggerd a hot debate about parents, children, cinema, family issues etc.

In order to manage the large demands, the cinema has increased the ticket price from 150RMB to 200RMB and made Shanghai the most expensive city to watch Avatar in the world! (according to some Chinese netizens)

Okay, I’ve decided to watch Avatar in cinema in Feb.

Even worse. I didn’t have any food left in my apartment. So I decided to order some pizza online.

Thank God. I still have the Internet connection.

After I placed my order at Pizza Hut web site, I got this email with this promotion code.

Promotion code: 0101314510
Valid till: 2010-02-07
Any new customer order above 60RMB, get a Cherry tomato & bacon roll for free (16RMB)

Hope someone find this is useful.

When I handed a 20RMB note to the owner, he had a quick look and then returned it to me asking:

‘Can you give me another one or 2 Ten?’

‘Why?’

He said nothing but just smiled.

I then suddenly realised the 20 note was fake.

So I took a closer look and found: ‘Yes, it is fake.’

I am pretty sure this 20RMB note was given by a vendor in the wet market as change just now, but I couldn’t figure out who exactly gave me this.

I usually only check when I get 100/50RMB note. But never paid attention to those small value notes. Especially in the wet market, I have to talk to the vendor, tidy my grocery bag and wallet because there were so many coins and dirty and wet notes (from the fish monger). I just don’t have the energy and time to check each note.

But this is a lesson I must learn. When dealing with cash in China, always check if it is fake. From my personal experience, especially when you are taking a taxi or shopping in the wet market.

The news said a wet market in Wuding Road Jingan District now has kind of value stored card. It is like the Shanghai transportation card. Customers can deposit some certain amount of money in that card and then be deducted from each purchase afterwards. It would be a better way to avoid those fake notes!

(Courtesy photo by Xinmin.cn)

Value Stored Card can be used in Wuding Road Wet Market

Value Stored Card can be used in Wuding Road Wet Market

(Courtesy photo by Xinmin.cn)

No doubt!

AVATAR!

Many readers recently asked me where to watch Avatar IMAX 3D in Shanghai. After consulting some movie fans, the one and only answer is:

Peace Cinema in Raffles City near People’s Square

because it is the only IMAX 3D screen not only in Shanghai but also in Yangtze Delta area (Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui province).

But the tickets are really hot. Have a look at the photos below:

(Courtesy photo by Xinmin.cn)

Queue for Avatar in front of Peace Cinema Shanghai

Queue for Avatar in front of Peace Cinema Shanghai

(Courtesy photo by Xinmin.cn)