[Report] A Trip In China 2010

Here is a report of my trip in China in October 2010. I speak about China, Shanghai, Guilin, Wuxi, Zhujiajiao, … and well, it also cover Expo 2010 in Shanghai. I haven’t used the services of travel agency, except for the trip in Guilin. For Guilin, I have used CITS, a Chinese travel agency.

In this report, I use a twitter style composed of “tweets” (small messages) with fake #hashtag 😉 to highlight the topic. This style is more easy to use when you only have a smartphone to take notes. The tweets follow almost the chronological order.

Notice that some blocks of tweets are shifted to the right when it covers a more specific topic. Notice also that some of those tweets are in French, indicated by the tag [FR].

The report

Here I go for 2+1/2 weeks in #China. It’s the 3rd time.

Survival kit : #python and #scheme on my smartphone #imageek

Have seen just a part of the Taihu lake from the plane #china

I’ve just seen a giant thermometer on a blast furnace: #Shanghai#Expo 2010 ?

The last time, I’ve taken the maglev from Pudong airport to #Shanghai

Maglev: Magnetic Levitation train, speed=400km/h, so cooool ! (thx Siemens) #shanghai

Tested: there is no access to twitter from china

As tweeter isn’t accessible from china, I’ve noticed my tweets in my phone #imanolife

For my tweets I have my smartphone and a small notepad

Tested: there is no google.cn. google.com is forward to google.com.hk (hong-kong) by default

#China: world leader of “I fixed it” contest

#China is a quarter of a day in advance compared to France. I’m fully awake at 2am

Octobre in #Shanghai is like the end of August in Paris

It’s all foggy in #Shanghai and around: pollution or natural?

Shanghai Sculpture Space

At an art gallery at #Shanghai Sculpture Space in Red Town (http://www.sss570.com/)

Suddenly, mini cooper, thousand of them

[FR] Une voiture à 100 briques ?

Chinese laptop: past meets present? future? or inside truth?

“1 people 1 dream” said CN olympic games #china

“Be a better you” says Jiaotong University #shanghai

#Shanghai#Expo 2010: “Better City, Better Life”, and sometimes: “Deeper Freindship”

So cool! IT books worth only about 10 EUR… Even those in English from O’Really. And it seems to be legal #imageek #china

Bah! A computer in #Shanghai has the same price than in Europe 😦

Wúxī (无锡) and Tài Hú Lake (太湖)

10-08: today, I visit #Wuxi and #Taihu lake

#Taihu lake: huge lake close to Shanghai: 2h by bus. It’s like a sea without waves

#Taihu lake: an average deep of 2m for more than 2000km² (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taihu_Lake)

A tree at the top of a building #wuxi

Some junks on the #Taihu lake. They are rented by the government for the Chinese National Day

Poor #Taihu lake: a green alga on its surface gives the impression that someone has poured some paint

Auchan Carrefour Citroën Peugeot Ikea Mercedes Lamborghini etc.: am I in #China?

#China is one of the only country where you can see cars from all around the world

Chinese people are musicians: they like to play with the horn of their car #IWantToSleep#china

#Shanghai at night is outstanding: the buildings are covered with thousand of dancing lights

There’s even a building that displays a giant TV screen on its front #imahick #shanghai

The top of some buildings have a specific decoration: a crown, a palace entrance, an observatory, etc. #shanghai

There's a building top that looks like a golden mansion #shanghai

[FR] En #Chine, pas d’hypocrisie : on peut vraiment voir les fonctionnaires dormir à leur guichet lol

Bah! 17h and the night is falling already #shanghai

Liked: there’s a countdown for each traffic light, for cars, for pedestrians, for the red light and the green light #china

Good idea: on most of the street name signs, names are written in Chinese and in Pinyin/English #china

Good idea: on the street name sign, you know if you are on the east/west/north/south/middle side of the street and you know where are the other sides #china

Commerce is everywhere you can put an eye on. But concurrency is very hard #china

Today is 10-10-10… Binary for 42. OMG! what does means? #imageek

Today is 10-10-10… Doesn’t mean anything for #China

Zhūjiājiǎo (朱家角)

10-10: today, I visit #ZhuJiaJiao #china

There are very nice small villages (eg. #ZhuJiaJiao) with water channels like in Venice #shanghai

Doesn’t it look like Venice? #ZhuJiaJiao

#ZhuJiaJiao is a city close to Shanghai: 1h by bus

If you don’t like touristic cities full of commerces like Mont-Saint-Michel, don’t come at #ZhuJiaJiao

There is a smell in the air of a mix of a sweet and/or fatty steamed foods #ZhuJiaJiao

Shanghai places and history

Some places in #Shanghai: The Bund, NanJing lu and People Square, HuaiHai lu, XuJiaHui, PuDong

#Shanghai is word with two syllables, so 2 Chinese characters: shang (上) = on, hai (海)= the sea

#Shanghai is mainly divided in 2 parts by the HuangPu river

#Shanghai was originally a village of fishers

During the 19th century, the main foreign countries has settled their concession around the Bund (west side of the HuangPu) #shanghai

Located in the south part of the city, the French concession has grown to the west #shanghai

We can find HuaiHai lu that was originally called Avenue Joffre #shanghai

#Shanghai is one of the most European cities in China. Here, I feel somewhat at home, compared to Beijing

Or is it the most New-Yorker of the European cities? #shanghai

Guìlín (桂林)

10-11: today I go to #Guilin for 3 days. It is full of beautiful landscape. 2h from Shanghai by plane

#Guilin is located in the Guangxi Zhuang region in the south of China (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guilin)

Going to test a domestic flight with Juneyao Airlines to go to #Guilin

OH! Changing the boarding gate two times, plane is late due to air flow (1h). WTF! #china

Inside the plane at last! Seems to be a small airbus (A320). The inside is nice #china

[FR] La nourriture à bord est acceptable pour une bouche française. #chine

[FR] “Mini french bread” est une hérésie: ici, c’est un pain au lait assez sucré #chine

Tested: green clementine – it’s good and it leaves virtually no smell on your fingers 🙂 #china

Has landed. The atmosphere is full of humidity #guilin

even bikes can drive on motorway! #guilin

#Guilin landscape

people are poor. “There is nothing except tourism and past. #Guilin is like a beautiful woman with dirty clothes” said the guide

#Guilin landscape appears on 20 yuan bills, it also appears in Star Wars and Doom video game

Visiting by boat on the Li river (Li jiang in Chinese). Destination: Yangshou (http://wikitravel.org/en/Yangshuo). #Guilin landscape is really beautiful!

Li river: the water is almost clear and absolutly not deep #guilin

there’s a mountain with 9 horses naturally inscribed on. You can also see faces. Chinese people have a very strong imagination #guilin

A bamboo raft on the Li river #guilin

now on board of a sort of raft made of 10 bamboo sticks. Never been so closed from water on a boat. #guilin

the water of the river is good, I would like to swin #guilin

The river is 6m deep max #guilin

Result: have crossed some small waterfalls and my bottom is a little wet – nice 🙂 for the rest, it’s almost quiet #guilin

#Guilin altitude: about 200m

Yangshou: has seen an entertainment named “Impression Liu Sanjie”. Made by the famous Chinese movie director Zhang Yimou. Actors come from local villages. It was really beautiful #guilin

Impression Liu Sanjie: a woman dancing on the moon #guilin

Yangshou: an American asked where I come from. I needed time not to answer “faguo” (法国)

Yangshou: There’s a street with a heavy crowd at night. It’s full of night bars with some individuals that dances in front #guilin

[FR] En France, 13 = malheur. En #Chine, 13 ne veut rien dire. Par contre, 8 = bonheur, 4 = mort/serpent/malheur

The small safe in the hotel is not sealed. It is lightweight and can be put in a large suitcase. Seriously WTF? #china

Chinese ancient imperial examination system has 7 levels #china

Have to pass an exam. 2′ to write the answers in Chinese with an old Chinese pencil. It’s really hard to write “I don’t know”! #guilin#china

Chinese exam: every student is behind a desk in a small cell. Students can’t cheat on each other #guilin#china

Have to go in a Japanese restaurant to drink a safe beer (Asahi). The food in the restaurant is really good and different compared the Japanese restaurant in France 🙂 #guilin

#China really miss something important: cheese :p

taken in photos with 3 women from Shanghai wearing traditional clothes of #Guilin 🙂

have drunken some beer from #Guilin. It’s water with a taste of beer QsingTao is better

/me made some adv. about France: good wines, perfums and cheeses 😉 #FTW #guilin

end of trip in #Guilin. Good journey. Forgot everything about my French life except my language

plane from Guilin to Shanghai is one hour late too, due to air traffic congestion 😦 #china

#Shanghai at 3am is unrecognizable: the buildings have disappeared in the dark. The taxis have invaded the streets.  They lookout for the lost costumer

The taxis wait the customers even at the bus stop or at the restaurant exit #shanghai

My little Chinese guidebook confuses men’s/ladies’ restroom (to know the difference can save your life!)

It’s possible to hear some repeated explosions of firecrackers to wish happiness. This leaves some traces of red paper in the street #china

Shanghai Expo 2010 (中国2010年上海世界博览会)

Inside #Shanghai#Expo 2010 for one day

Space Home Pavilion: nothing to do here #shanghai#expo

Some interesting sculptures a the Shanghai shipyard pavilion #shanghai#expo

Pavilion of Future: a giant thermometer on a blast furnace displays 24°C #shanghai#expo

Pavilion of Future: giant books, light games, playing with senses… imagine the cities of tomorrow: exiting #shanghai#expo

Future Pavilion: enregy city #shanghai#expo

have to cross the river. Too many people waiting for the ferry or the bus #shanghai#expo

Know what? The pavilions of North Korea and of Iran are neighbours #shanghai#expo

France Pavilion: Chinese faces, metalic roses on water, nice looking Citroën berlin car, vertical green elements #shanghai#expo

France Pavilion: nice looking Citroën berlin car #shanghai#expo

France Pavilion: has seen Léon, our French mascot #shanghai#expo

France Pavilion: “la ville sensuelle”, romantism with lounge music, time to time: Eiffel tower #shanghai#expo

France Pavilion: I’ve the feeling that this was an expo about Paris #shanghai#expo

Belgian fries (at Léon de Bruxelles) and waffles sold next to the Belgian/EU pavillon (no beer?) #shanghai#expo

Spain Pavilion: this one is really sensual with those women dancing flamengo! #shanghai#expo

Spain Pavilion: Picasso, horses that cross a room: yes! #shanghai#expo

Spain Pavilion: babies on curtains: nice! Giant baby at the end: #shanghai#expo

UK Pavilion: only the transparent structure is interesting #shanghai#expo

Italy Pavilion: really like this one. Full of good surprises #shanghai#expo

Italy Pavilion: Ferrari, pasta, wine, many kind of art #shanghai#expo

Italy Pavilion: an upside down room #shanghai#expo

Italy Pavilion: Italy, you have to remember that the ground floor is numbered 1 in China, not 0 #shanghai#expo

Luxembourg Pavilion: not so good #shanghai#expo

Would like to visit those pavilion: Algeria, Peru, China, China’s Petroleum #shanghai#expo

[FR] Il est vendu en #Chine des modèles de Peugeot 307 et 408 et de Citroën qu’on ne verra jamais en France

[FR] La Peugeot 206 n’a pas changé en dehors d’une inscription en chinois #chine

In #China, superstitions have also a long life

24°C in #Shanghai. The air is muggy

Jewelry made of jade is very popular #china

Wrong good idea: switch on the light in the hallway by hitting the floor with your foot #IWantToSleep #china

In #China, you don’t eat a yoghurt, you drink it… through a straw!

[FR] Viens de voir la photo de la famille présidentielle sur fond du pavillon français dans petit journal shanghaien #shanghai#expo

[FR] Carla y montre la mascotte française : Léon, un petit chat aux couleurs française #shanghai#expo

The Dream in the Red Chamber (Hóng Lóu Mèng – 红楼梦)

Grand View Garden (Dàguānyuán – 大观园) is a touristic place with a garden, a mansion, and a pagoda on a island. It’s a little frequent: it’s nice 🙂

#Daguanyuan represents the place where the story of “The Dream in the Red Chamber” (Le Rêve dans le Pavillon Rouge in French) would have held

The throne room #daguanyuan

“The Dream in the Red Chamber” is one the four important novels in the Chinese literature

#Daguanyuan is a place that is often used as a movie set. Each movie is an opportunity to restore the mansion

Many portals for building entrances in #China are folding, mounted on wheels and automated

Seen: Asian people in Tibetan dresses, dancing on a Tibetan music in front of a Tibetan restaurant #shanghai

Restaurant in China

The chic restaurant is located in a tower. You can ask for a private lounge (there a many) #china

In a Chinese restaurant, you usually find a large round table with a lazy Susan made of glass #china

Dishes arrive with the same rhythm. They are put on the lazy Susan. Everyone around the table helps oneself as he wants #china

A pair of chopsticks, a spoon made of porcelain, a bowl for the rice and the soup, a bowl for the tea, a small plate: here are your weapons to eat in #China

Just notice that china with a small ‘c’ means porcelain in English!

Seen: someone has dropped (not done on purpose) a bottle in a gutter. 5min later, an old man on a bike collected it in a view to sell it #shanghai

There’s no need for a street cleaning company, because poor people work on them already #shanghai

Bah! Spitting is a common practice #china

Have to back soon: it’s forecast 22°C in #Shanghai. In Paris, 7°C with a strike maybe 😦 Why should I come back?

I spent 2 weeks and a half in October wearing t-shirts and sunglasses #notashamed

I really forgot lots of thing about my French life. That’s what I call a good trip 🙂