Shanghai

First of all, I am very sorry that I neglected the blog for about a week.

I am in Shanghai now for 5 days. It's still China, but it feels way different! Shanghai is much busier, "smaller" and more expensive than Beijing. And by "smaller" I mean everything is much closer together. The streets are not so wide, the houses are closer to each other and there is not as many space in general.

My first night was great. I met Laura and Alicia from SKKU. First we had been to Cloud 9, a bar on the 87. floor of the Hyatt hotel in the Jin Mao Tower. Mesmerizing view over Shanghai from there!

Afterwards the taxi driver drove us to a club whose name I never knew, neither do I know where it was. But it was great there!!

The next day I had a baaaad hangover, so I got up at dusk :-D I visited the Yu Garden. Very beautiful area, and I was lucky that I had been there when it was dark, but see the pictures yourself:

The next day I had a walk down Nanjing Road (a big shopping street) to the Bund (the riverside with a beautiful view to Shanghais most beautiful Skyscrapers). The street was packed with people. This was the first time I experienced the crowed to have more might then the cars! In fact, this is a shopping street like every other in Europe or all around the world, but a bis more flashy.

At the Bund, it was almost impossible to take a picture where no Chinese guy is on it, because there where sooo many of them! But I got one:

Though the next day was boiling hot, I decided to visit the Jing'an Temple in the west and the War Memorial Park in the south-west. The Temple was beyond beautiful, but on the other hand, I am sure that it has just been rebuild and nothing of it is original, as everything looked brand new.

I got back into the subway (oooh so wonderful cold down here!!) and made my way to the War Memorial Park. This place was huge as hell! The sun was boiling my brain, that made it really hard for me walking straight! I drank about 4 litre of water until 3 pm! I was pretty surprised, that except me, only a hand full of people was there. However, I appreciated it!

It was beautiful there, but way too hot to spend more time than necessary there, so sweating as hell I went back to the air conditioned hostel!

Exploring the north of China on a Side Car

In the following I will try let you be part of an extraordinary day in China. You might get jealous, might laugh at some time (I’ll give you a hint then) and I hope you will feel the spirit of the day!

 The circumstances which led to this extraordinary day trip were a bit obscure. Lorenz asked me a few days ago whether I’d like to join a 2-day trip to the Great Wall together with Tao and him. We would go there by train and sleep there in a cheap accommodation. Onn Thursday night (the day prior scheduled departure) I got a call by Tao, telling me that Lorenz is ill, so the trip is cancelled. However, he offered me to go with him alone on his side car motorbike for a trip to the north, finally ending at the Great Wall. Jackpot!! This is the kind of adventure I appreciate!

I got up next morgnig very early (7:20 am), packed my things and was about to go, when my stomach called for the toilet – eehm I spare the details, but sitting on the toilett I realized that something was wrong. Late night snack on the street yesterday might not have been a good idea. At the same time, I received a sms from Tao asking whether we could postpone the start of the journey to 10 am. I fully agreed on this, ignoring the fact that the trip might become a nightmare regarding the stomach-circumstances.  Whatsoever, I got into the subway and took a illegal taxi to get to tao’s compound which is in the north-west end of Beijing.

After a quick breakfast at subway and a search for his motorbike (Tao forgot  where he parked it) the adventure was about to begin!

So what is riding in a side car in Beijing like? Its mesmerizing!! I couldn’t stop smiling as we were heading out of the city. Sitting half a meter above the street brings some difficulties with it, though. I was on eye level with the busses exhaust pipe and every other kind of dirt was whirled right into my face, too. But I didn’t care.

After we let the city area behind us (in fact Tao had some problems to find the way), we were heading straight north. The first thing we passed, was a chateau, build by a Chinese billionaire. The chateau was a copy of the very same building already existing in France. Impressing though!

We went on, drove on, to be accurate. We were heading through tiny villages, passing donkeys on the street and Tao made a pretty convincing demonstration of what his bike can handle off road! 

Finally, being here for 9 days now, I have been introduced to China!

Suddenly, Tao slowed town, he must have felt it, even before I realized something was wrong. The fender of the wheel on my right side started to rattle. We stopped. And realized: we have a flat tire! (Now, it’s time to laugh) We were stuck there, in the middle of nowhere, the side car having a flat tire. We ignored the fact that we were standing in a rather dangerous curve and had a cigarette before we thought about what doing next. The solution was simple:

I switched from the side car to the passenger seat on the bike itself and we slowly headed to the next village searching for a mechanic. Luck was accompanying us, 10 minutes later we had the bike parked on the backyard of a shabby house.

Repairing it was no problem for the couple living there. Funny thing was, that the woman had to do all the work, and the man only stepped into action when force was needed. 20 minutes later the sidecar had a working tire again. They asked for 10 Quai, I gave 15 because I was so happy that we could continue the adventure.

We did so. Hell, this feels like heaven!! (got the controversy? ;-) )

Next stop: Silver Pagodas

Tao explained me a lot to this place, but I have to admit that I do not remember much. Once there were buildings around the pagodas, destroyed during a war (can’t remember which). The Pagodas, however, survived. It is beautiful here, the silence, the fresh air – just gorgeous! 

After a few deep breath of the fresh air, we got back on the bike and headed for the Great Wall.

Shortly before we arrived at the Wall, we made quick pause at the place where the entire side car tour rider parked their machines. 

Then, there it was: the one thing about China everybody in the world knows from child on: The Great Wall of China

(By the way, the rumor that you are able to see it from the moon is a false tale!)

 I don't want to lose too many words here, ‘cause I thing the pictures tell the story on their own. 

We spend about an hour here, then on the way back to the bike, Tao bought Chinese fireworks and told the old lady to launch it at the side of the street. BANG BANG BA-BA-BAAANG!! WOW! No comparison to the German stuff, you could certainly kill somebody with this stuff!

By that time, I got a bit tired, so I was happy to sit in the sidecar again and heading straight back to Beijing. The ride took almost 2 hours. And riding with a sidecar is bloody exhausting, I can tell!

In Beijing, Tao suggest to have a visit at the Olympic stadium, because it is much more beautiful at night. I got off there, was impressed, took some pictures and back into the sidecar again, as my deepest wish was getting home now. So Tao dropped me off at a subway station – 40 minutes later, I fell into my bed and was probably one of the happiest guys in the world!

Looking back at this day, I have to say that this was one of the 3 best days in my life!

THANK YOU TAO!! THANK YOU SIDE CAR!! THANK YOU CHINA!!