London Return – Cancelled!! Now off to South China

My London return had to be cancelled after i had been ill all this week, particularly bad when i was to take the flight back home. Was quite gutted about this and especially disappointed to miss my sister’s wedding but there wasn’t really anything much i could do about it.

I ended up spending friday at Pudong Shanghai airport hoping to get a last possible flight back in time, but some twat with a gold card got put ahead of me on the waiting list, typical! I trudged off back to our flat and slept for the rest of the day.

In order to make sure i dont spend my whole two weeks off now in Shanghai we have decided to fly out to Xiamen, on the coast of China and work our way back over the course of next week by train.

Xiamen is a pretty part of China and quite popular with domestic tourists. It is located close to Taiwan on the South Coast of China, east of Hong Kong & Macau. It is a relatively clean city with an island close by which is also worth a visit. I will stick some pics in to give you an idea of what it is like.

When back, probably after around 7 days, i shall stick my photos of Xiamen here and mention any other places we visit on the way back to Shanghai. There is a mountain range on the way near the city of Wenzhou that we may visit too.

Ruby moving in

We’re excited that Ruby can finally move in after a year of travelling to see each other every weekend. It is the first time that i’ve lived with a women in this way, so am a little apprehensive, but we must try this and see how we get on. I am happy to have her around every day and she wont be tired from all the travelling now so should relax a little.

Update:

We have moved all her stuff in now and she seems happier in our flat, which is much cleaner and safer than where she was living. All going well so far, and i should add some photos her too soon once am back at work, where i can upload to Flickr.

My Art Blogs proving successful, more work ahead

One of my art blogs, of which i currently have 70 (!), has been doing well recently and bringing in about 300 people per day, which im quite happy about. My target is to be making several hundred dollars per month extra cash which i would earn without doing any additional work at all, once the blogs are complete. Being interested in SEO i don’t mind investing this time learning about the topic, and to make a small steady stream of cash as a reward is a nice bonus. I use a large number of other websites to bring in visitors and increase the amount of links coming in, including sites like Squidoo, Blog Catalog, WordPress tags & categories, Facebook, Qype, Twitter & Flickr.

Update:

Whoops! My main blog got banned by wordpress, so i have decided to move them all across to their own domain name (art150.com) where i will have more flexibility with them. That will take several weeks to accomplish. I also set up an iTunes MP3 store as a further project.

Twittering proving popular

I currently have around 750 peple following me on Twitter which is fun. For my job i need to learn as much about every avenue of social networking as possible, and so have a profile in many areas of the internet. Twitter is a unique opportunity to spread my words to many people quickly and without providing annoying spam. I shall get future blogs to appear on twitter automatically, as social networks are now working hard to bring themselves inline wih each other, to offer synchronised streaming of user’s content, ie write it once, and post it to many different profiles!!

Also, feel free to follow me on Twitter yourselves, if you like. There is a box in the right panel, just click on that.

Update:

For my new projects i shall set up different Twitter accounts for each one and drive traffic this way.

Follow me on Twitter

Bonus 5-star pampering, at JC Mandarin Hotel, Nanjing Lu, Shanghai

J at work managed to get me into the JC Mandarin hotel swimming pool for free as a guest on her pass, and it was great! A rare moment of tranquility and relaxation in Shanghai, perhaps even my first

The pool area (including steam room, sauna & jacuzzi) is normally 200 yuan per person, or one hundred if a member, which is pretty damn expensive. On the plus side, that’s probably why there were so few people there, which added to it’s appeal.

I am considering signing up when J’s pass runs out in three weeks, so long as the novelty of it doesn’t wear off by then. I feel totally calm today after the trip and hope to go bacl next week.

JC Mandarin is a five star hotel with supreme facilities, stylishly designed. I will try to take some photos of the place and add to Flickr soon.

Slack, but back!!

I really am not consistent with my blogging here, apologies for that. I sometimes write a bundle of blogs and them to load it one per day, but others times, like this June for example, i will just go missing completely.

There are at least many reasons for my disappearance, the best of which being that i have been working on my other blogs, which need alot of work to set up. I now have around 60 blogs or so devoted to artists and will need a good six months or so to finish these off. I will probably mention them here as each is completed. As well as this is have been planning my trip to UK for next week, i will write more about that in a separate post. Thirdly, Ruby is moving in this weekend too, so have been involved with getting her many things across to our Shanghai flat.

Its exciting times with everything thats happening, but truth be told, i am most looking forward to having 2 weeks off to chill out.

Shanghai Update

The last few days have been a little hard, similar to what i experienced in Shanghai last year, as i tried to get used to my new surroundings. The next few months are pretty important all round, and perhaps the stress of upcoming events is starting to weight heavily on my shoulders. Wow, that sounds all very serious and silly, i must stop whingeing! Alot of the upcoming things are not set in stone yet, and, as such, i cannot mention them until nearer the time. Suffice to say, doing them all at the same time is neither sensible nor what i’d prefer, but that is the way its going to be. I sometimes feel stressed out without really knowing why. It maybe for a number of reasons that i can eventually pinpoint, or its just for no reason at all, other than my crazy mood swings Rational thought would tell me to appreciate many things at the moment, from the excellent weather, the funny girlfriend i have, the interesting experiences that i have enjoyed recently, and the opportunities that the future should bring. However, my mind is often far from rational, but i expect my break in the UK next month will freshen up my thoughts.

Ruby has her own issues to deal with as she nears the end of her contract in Ningbo. She will move to Shanghai next month where she hopes to find a new role which better rewards her hard working nature. Shanghai wages are typically a fair amount higher than surrounding cities, and with me covering bills already on our rented flat, she should hopefully begin to pay off her small remaining debts and save for the future months. I hope she will also be able to spend more on herself too and give herself more treats than she currently does. She desires most to go to YiWu which is a massive out of town market offering good products at wholesale prices. We should visit it in July i imagine.

Gurney Airport!!

Now that’s what i call an Airport! Who needs Heathrow, Stansted or Gatwick, when you can travel through… Gurney Airport, Papua New Guinea.
For more info, visit here.

Today’s blog from the company offices on the Suzhou River, Shanghai

Wow, today is hot again. I’ve ordered another big fan to keep me going before my brain goes into a complete meltdown.

My new exercise regime of running at the hottest time of the day on my treadmill in my flat’s living room seems to be working well. I clearly look ridiculous with 4 t-shirts on, but the desired result is achieved with buckets of sweat pouring out (too much information?) almost immediately. I shall do the same again tonight and hope the good weather will also reduce my appetite which has been a little bit greedy since i arrived in China.

The temperature of Shanghai is now up to perfect holiday going-about type levels, but not so pleasant for the weekdays when i’m at work. At lunchtime most Chinese, and for that matter foreigners too, will now stay inside and keep out the way of the strong rays. Being a fairly British Brit i am of course making as much of the sun as possible and try to get a good hour per day outside by the river. To be honest, that’s already enough, and later in the full summer i may have to retreat to the offices myself. We now have about one large fan per person and that seems to be enough. Last year when i first turned up in China it was about 30C plus every day and i lost half a stone in about two weeks. Lets hope for the same this year

I need to swap my jeans for some more appropriate summer ensemble to aid my body to breathe, the last pair i had were binned in Heathrow airport when i was completely over my baggage allowance. With hindsight, my jumpers should’ve been the first things disposed of.

This afternoon i had a quick look at Chris Howell & Liannah Pile’s Travel Blog which i can now comment on without registering. They’re in Australia at the moment, and it all seems very good fun, so i will add that to my very long “places i must visit soon” list. Australia has always seemed too similar, in terms of culture at least, to UK to be worth visiting until i’ve seen the likes of Asia and South America. But its certainly a beautiful country and probably a great place to explore for a few weeks or months.

Shanghai to London – £358 – Return flights including taxes!!

Finally, after much nonsense i have found some flights to London Gatwick from a Guangzhou (South China) travel agency, which i used previously for my trip to Vietnam.

I took Friday off hoping to enjoy the lovely sunshine of Shanghai plus organise these tickets myself. For some reason my credit card has some security checks which prevented me from paying for tickets at Emirates Shanghai branch, in central Ningjing Lu, so i angrily left and asked Ruby if she could help. I decided to cancel my credit card at the next opportunity, as i only got it for use abroad, and when i cannot even get money from it when in the HSBC branch (the S stands for Shanghai!) of Shanghai, with my passport and sufficient funds, that it must be completely useless!!

I took solace in the local pub and had my first pints of Guinness for a good few months. Ruby got back to me and found some amazing deals from a small Chinese travel agency. There offers beat what what i had come up with in terms of both price and length of stay in Dubai, where i would take connecting flights.

After a little discussion these flights are now booked at a lower price than Emirates ever offered me directly. I have heard good comments on their service on the planes themselves, which i look forward to, but i found the lady who served me in the Shanghai branch as very much “no, we can’t do that” to every suggestion i had, and gave no solutions in response. Her unhelpful attitude frustrated me, but now i have a better solution anyway, so all’s well that ends well!!

The flights are soon as next month where i will be attending my sister’s wedding in Norfolk and perhaps popping about the country to see some friends before i return home. Unlike previously when i wasn’t so settled in Shanghai i now don’t feel a great need to return home just yet, but have to for my sister’s big day. I realise that i have more than enough time to enjoy UK in the future and should appreciate my time in Shanghai, China and Asia as a whole, whilst i can.

For this reason i will also be visiting Singapore in June too, either just before or just after the UK one week trip. My friend at work has found a deal of return flights and 2 nights in a hotel for just 150 pounds, which is a great offer. Because its a quick trip Ruby doesn’t mind me running off, as unfortunately she still has no passport yet. Another visit i hope to make with Ruby in coming months is to Xiamen, a Chinese city close to Taiwan in the South East of China. There is an interesting island close-by with colonial style architecture plus some traditional Chinese round houses near Xiamen on the mainland – both worth a visit i think! Its relative proximity to Shanghai means its ideal for a long weekend, and no passports required

These trips are really good timing as i’ve been having an itch again recently about some new places. Nearest i have got to travelling has been finding a tasty local Lanzhou restaurant which offers really tasty noodles (which the region is known for) and reminds me of the trip back in Chinese New Year. There meals are just 8-12 Yuan, 80p to £1 , and just so tasty, i expect Ruby and I will be back atleast once a week. Lanzhou and the western region of Xinjiang have cuisine quite different to what westerners think of as typical Chinese food, with meat kebabs, potatoes, tomatoes, noodles, and such like. One of the best things of experiencing life here has been discovering the wide varieties of regional food which the UK doesn’t really have. (Of course, different parts of UK do have slightly different cuisine, but often its just a case of whether you have Mayonnaise, Ketchup, Curry Sauce or Gravy on your Chips!!)

Dreaming of travelling from Almaty to Tibet via Yunnan

I have started to put a little thought into my future travelling ambitions which are getting more extensive. I now am wondering about the feasibility of going from Almaty in Kazakhstan, through Xinjiang, down to Yunnan, Laos, Thailand and then finishing in Tibet. This sort of trip could take three months i think, but would be amazing. I reckon i’d need at least 10,000 Yuan per month, maybe more, but it would surely be my best trip ever. The travel DVDs that i have been watching recently have inspired me to be a bit more ambitious with my ideas for what we could do. It is my desire to stick to train travel wherever possible as i much prefer this to coach travel, and in the main this can be achieved on the route that i would like. From Yunnan to Tibet is the only part, as far as i know, where train travel is not available. I shall include a map here soon to give an idea of the route, as most people do not know the geography of China particularly well.

This blog post is more brainstorming than anything, and i will continue to update it as i get new ideas in the coming months!! Have you done parts, or all of this trip before? If so, any advice is greatly appreciated!!

Whilst scanning the map i found on the internet i noticed close to the possible route is the Chinese Space Station, which would be a very interesting place to visit. Other cities included would be Urumqi, Hami, Lanzhou, Xian, Chongqing, Hanoi, Chiang Mai and more. All key touristy spots around these would also be covered, as i would want most to be out in the countryside and use the cities only as bases for getting around China.

This illustrates the initial trip of the journey from Almaty in Kazahkstan to Urumqi in China. I would fly from Shanghai to Almaty to begin the trip, i expect.

This shows the overall route that i have in mind (currently! – i change my mind every few days). For those unfamiliar with China, i would fly from Shanghai to Kazahkstan to begin the trip, just North West of the Chinese border. I would then travel through the Islamic province of Xinjiang and head South East to Xian, before looping round to the Southern coast of China where i can visit the exciting scenery of Yunnan, plus Vietnam, Laos & Thailand. After heading back North i would visit Kunming before taking a coach from Chengdu to Tibet to complete the trip.

Please note the lines on this map are only an approximate guide to where i would go – most areas in Yunnan that we would visit are not indicated on this map, so its just an overall guide to get an idea of the journey and distance.

Marked in green was a possible extra route that seems unlikely now, as there is no train service available for Tibet – Nepal, Kathmandu – Calcutta. There is some Mount Everest in the way, which could make things tricky

Update: For anyone looking to travel from Almaty to Urumqi, i found some information at http://www.geocities.com/almaty_tours/urumqi_train.html. It includes train times and approximate prices. For alternative destinations from Almaty, try this. Let me know if that helps anybody!

Below are some photos of these two great destinations!

Almaty, Kazakhstan

Lake Karakul, Xinjiang Province of China

Westerners in Shanghai

Westerns in Shanghai, and China as a whole, seem to fit into a few clear types.

1) The guys at work (its a fairly even mix of Chinese and non-Chinese) certainly are the good westerns who choose to be over here in order to learn about the country and its culture. Such people find the opportunity to be here as a priviledge and greatily appreciate their time here. Of course, that isn’t to say that they don’t get their fair western-fix every weekend with big parties and western food from time-to-time, but at least their eyes are wide open to the country. Typically they will make at least an attempt to learn some of the local language, treat Chinese with respect (where warranted ) and keep most of any negative thoughts they have to themself to avoid offending their Chinese friends. (Chinese tend to be hugely patriotic.)

2) On the other side are the bad type of western residents in Shanghai who lurk in every night club, bar and similar western hang out. They bring across from their countries not a willingness to learn and embrace, but an arrogance and strong feeling of superiority of their Chinese counterparts. These people invariably complain about anything and everything Chinese at a minotinous rate, as if they have been hugely unfortuante to have landed in such a ‘primitive uncivilised’ country. It smacks of a colonial-style attitude which should have died many years ago. But alas, it still very much exists. I’d love to say these type of people predominantly come from country x, with some from country y, but the situation is not as simple as that. Often these people have been sent over as part of their job back home and have not chosen to be here for culture but just because they were financially well-rewarded for agreeing to do so. They would then live in pre-paid villas on the outskirts of the city where they can pursue their western hobbies and enjoy western luxuries, without needing to risk experiencing any new culture (!) Throw them in the Suzhou river, i say!! This short-sighted, ignorant and arrogant behaviour really irritates and embarasses me. Fortunately such people would never dream of visiting the places i tend to go here, so i do not have to meet them often.

It reminds me a little of fellow Brits who go to live in Spain, refuse to learn any Spanish and live on Burgers, Chips & Carling, rather than daring to try Paella, Tapas or Sangria (all of which i love!)

3) Thirdly are of course those loveable tourists! The younger ones of these treat Shanghai like party-central, much the same as the two previous groups above, and the older ones hobble around the city attracting hords of beggars and street sellers wherever they go. Some i see trying to palm off locals with US Dollars, whilst others seem genuinely lost and confused by their new surroundings, much as i was when i first visited China (Guangzhou, for the record). Support for foreign life in Shanghai is not always imediately obvious to visitors and so the place can be a bit strange at first. Nowadays as travel becomes the norm toursits are growing wiser to pitfalls and the internet helps to spread the word on potential traps lying in wait for them on arrival. I have to say that i haven’t had too many problems, and with my lack of Chinese locals have no idea that i live here, so i should be subjected to the same tricks that real tourists get. The same common issues that exist throughout asia apply here, such as tricky taxi drivers, but anyone with an alert mind and strong personality will have no problems. (In fact, i only have one of those!!)

Little Britain USA, Long Way Round DVDs

To get through the boredom of Ruby being away this weekend i journeyed to my fave DVD shop in central Shanghai and got a bucket load of new DVDs for only 130Y. Little Britain USA was really good and i was pleasantly surprised after only expecting a rehash of the same characters. There is something funny about people being rude to Americans, and they seem to enjoy that too, when not meant seriously, see success of Simon Cowell and Gordon Ramsey. I have another DVD left of Little Britain to go through tonight. I heard that Little Britain hasn’t actually proved that popular in the States, which is a shame, as its one of UK’s best comedys in recent years. I got to see the live Little Britain show in London and it was really great, and not the sort of show i would normally go to see.

Long Way Round is something that i missed when on BBC, but it seems interesting now as covers the same area i was thinking of visiting – Mongolia, and after my experiences on the Vietnam bike journeys i understand the excitement of travelling this way.