Travel log - Shanghai and Yantai

Once again I was on a business trip a couple of weeks back, but this time to China, namely the ever famous Shanghai and somewhere in Shandong called Yantai. My client was very surprised that this is my 'first time' into the Peoples' Republic of China considering I am quite a 'Chinaman'. Hmmm...not very complementary isn't it? :-)

Here are some of the pictures I have taken:

Yantai

This is at a beach near the city of Yantai. Well, the sand is so clean and it clearly exceeded my expectation. I would have thought these pictures are taken from some European or Caribbean beach resort if no one tells me the source of these images.

The locals told us that Yantai is a popular summer retreat for many of the locals. It is not so well known with foreigners, hence not so commercialised.

One interesting attraction of Yantai is thePenglai City's Dan Cliffs (丹崖). This place is said to be the departure point of the Eight Immortals on their trip to the Conference of the Magical Peach. Hmm, so much for legends. :-)

Other interesting observations of life in Yantai though the time we had there was short (only a day trip)

#1 - Cars do not stop at junction : And I do not know why ! They will simply pop out from the junction and our driver has to slow down for them.

#2 - No one respects the lane dividers : The roads especially the expressways were very broad. But u-turns are so adhoc ! The car in front can suddenly slows down and decide to u-turn. Our driver told us its a norm over there.

#3 - Interesting food : Apparently baby sea cucumber is a popular food over there, and no one has rice. Corn bun is the staple food. Vinegar is an appetizer, its supposed to help u wet your appetite. Shandong people is also very proud of their red wine. They think its better than the French wine! Lastly, Yantai is near the sea and seafood apparently is famous here.

#4 - Clean environment :I was pleasantly surprised by this. The beaches were clean and the roads near the beaches reminded me of the Highway Route 1 in the US West Coast, very clean and created a relaxed environment for chilling out. One can easily do a lot of outdoor stuffs like cycling and etc.

Shanghai

Shanghai is as expected, a cosmopolitan city. The night scene was taken from the famous Bund area - made famous from the old Hong Kong TV series, the Bund. Nanjing Lu was the next picture and as always full of people. Actually, it reminds me of certain section of Pitt Street in Sydney where parts of the road were permanently closed from traffic, to allow people to walk freely.

The picture on the left is taken from the my client's office premise. Nothing spectacular but to confirm that Shanghai is indeed a concrete jungle. I reckon, if one is looking for China's heritage and history, there are many other places to go rather than Shanghai.

Other observations in Shanghai includes:

#1 - Abundant food : Every lunch and dinner comes in excessive variety in food dishes; at least 8 or 9 dishes every round.

#2 - Cheap books and large in variety : My client brought me to a book shop, I think its 8-9 floors full of books. I was told that translated books are cheap in China cos the government subsidised such books to encourage knowledge transfer. They believe this is key to national development. Hmmm...sounds so sensible compared to space travel.

#3 - Shopping hideouts : Instead of the traditional areas like Nanjing Lu, my client recommended some shopping hideouts for the ladies. Among them Mao Ming Road South - for Cheongsam tailoring. Apparently, u have the best Cheongsam tailors in China over here. Price is around RMB 700-800 which is fairly affordable. Rui Qin Lu is for handbags and shoes.

#4 - Fake as a 'culture' : One last point, within a spate of couple of days, I heard and have seen so many 'fake' incidents around China. Right in the middle of a Nanjing Lu, I have seen brands like Georgio Maniar (Read Armani backwards?) being openly sold in the major shopping belt. While I was there, for the first time in my life I heard about people 'counterfeiting' egg. Apparently, the fake egg has lower production cost than the real egg hence it makes it way to the market. These fake eggs are dangerous as it contains harmful chemicals and banned by the government. Its one thing expensive branded goods like Armani, Coach being counterfeited, but for inexpensive consumables like chicken egg being fake is something else !