Discovering Shanghai

I had the chance to go for a trip in China last week and it was a very very cool experience. I am glad that I could make this trip. It was a good insight in how the modern China is and I had some good time there :):):)

Travelling: travelling with Singapore Airlines on business class is a whole new experience on its own. It gives you a different dimension to what flying means. You are in a 5 star hotel/5 star restaurant/entertainment centre, being pampered by the most beautiful and nicest girls in the world. And all this 10 km high in the air. No wonder they are considered the best airline in the world. I would not mind to have all my long trips with SQ Business from now on; it would not make my 20 hours travelling back home a pain in the ass.

In terms of travelling another highlight was the Maglev train from Shanghai to the airport. I am a kind of speed maniac and it was so cool to go with 410 km/h with a train. The planes are going with that kind of speed in the air, even their take off speed is lover. No wonder it takes only 8 minutes the whole ride :):):) With this kind of train I would be home from Bucharest in less then an hour :):):)

Business: I think it is fairly hard to do business in China. I kind of knew it by reading about it in the magazines, but being there I have realised that it is a reality. And it is hard to do business because of the language issues, cultural issues and because the people there have very different motivation then us. It is somehow like doing business in Romania in the 90’s. But definitely things are changing and the world should be really prepared that the economical structure of the world will be very different in 20 years. It is also true that you can find fake versions of everything on sale in China. But just as in Romania, this will change with time as well. And then it will be a heaven for the companies. But yeah, it takes a bit of time and more people have to have a good income in china. But yeah, I had a good business there and the outcomes are great, so I am happy that I achieved what I went for even in these harder then usual conditions.

Shanghai, the whore of orient, Paris of east….
At least this is how Lonely Planet describes the city, haha. They may have a valid point if I recall all the things that I saw and experienced there. Shanghai has 3 parts as far as I managed to discover it.

One is the downtown/business centre with all the skyscrapers and with the Bund area. This is the most impressive I guess, with all the new buildings and with the old European types of buildings along the river and not only. And when you walk on the streets you have all this signboards with lights. It is just a cool feeling to walk around, even though you are disturbed by all the people wanting to sell you fake watches, shoes, prostitutes and all the things can be sold in the world.

The second part is the Old Shanghai with the small little streets and old life style. People selling everything on the streets, playing Chinese chess, cards and preparing the food there. The contrast is big when you are in this old area, but you look up and you see in the distance the new buildings. It makes you understand how powerful this transformation it is and how it enables people to live a totally different life.

And finally there are the newly build neighbourhoods, with their communistic style grey flats. You can find these in most of the communist and ex-communist countries, from Romania, Hungary to Russia as well. It is funny, cause somehow it gave me a “home” feeling.

Shanghai nightlife is just great :):):) I have been out Friday and Saturday night and visited some very cool places, danced all night (even on the top of the bard) and enjoyed the cool places the city has to offer. It is definitely a party city and the good thing is that there is a huge variety of places to go; they are not all the same. It was funny to see how the crowd went wild on the Chinese version of a Romanian song (O-zone, Dragostea din tei), and I was shocked to hear a Hungarian song from Anima Sound System in one of the bars I have been to. Very international city J And they sell DVDs of the movie made from Kundera’s book: The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Wicked huh? Why would they copy those DVDs and sell all the fake versions? It is not that of a commercial movie. Anyway, the Shanghai Princesses are very nice as well. :):):) I think in this aspect is much better then Singapore…

The traditional Chinese foot massage is a must try as well. I can recommend some good place if you are happening to travel there :):):)

I also met some of my good friend in Shanghai J Carol hosted me Saturday night and I had some drinks with Rohit as well. Nice guys and it was good to have them in Shanghai. It made things easy, as I did not speak much of Chinese…. It is quite cool have friends in all the corners of the world :):):)

Some other things that I heard of and it was confirmed during this trip is that people still spit a lot on the streets, the English on their signboards is very funny and that they really have funny body positions when they make pictures.

It is a very interesting place, and I am thankful for God that I managed to get there and explore it. I am looking forward to be back there soon :):):)