Traveling China

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By: Steve on August 22, 2006 - 9:26am

Lee & Sachi,

It is great to read about your travels. My wife and I spent the month of July traveling China. We spent three weeks teaching English to Chinese English teachers and one week of just traveling China. Your blog inspired me to create one of my own to document our travels through China. 

http://web.mac.com/stevenkent/iWeb/Site/China/China.html

We spent two weeks teaching in Wenling (5 hours south of Shanghai on the coast) and one week in Linhai. Ingrid and I had an amazing time and met many wonderful people who even invited us into their home for an authentic "home cooked" Chinese dinner. It took us quite a while to get use to the food, especially since we use to be vegetarians (good luck being a vegetarian in China). We also got to experience typhoon Bilis and narrowly missing two other typhoons. When you get to Shanghai I would suggest that you make a special effort to ride the MagLev (super train), which travels at 430 km/hour. I could ramble on for hours about our travels and experiences but I wont because you can read our blog if you are interested or have time to kill. I hope your experiences are as wonderful as ours were in China.


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Mag Lev
By: leelefever on August 24, 2006 - 11:02pm

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the info.  I am really excited about the mag lev train.  I fell in love with the Shinkansen in Japan and this sounds like a step up from that even. 


Food
By: Steve on August 25, 2006 - 12:14am

If you are looking for a break from "mystery meat" you should try out some of the vegetarian restaurants in Shanghai. My wife and I went to Gongdelin (Godly) vegetarian restaurant on 445 West Nanjing Rd. is the oldest (1922) vegetarian restaurant in Shanghai. It's about a 10 minute walk from East Nanjing Road (the major shopping district). It's worth the walk especially if you need a little meat "detox". They specialize in "fake" meats, everything that is listed on the menu as shrimp, chicken or beef is actually made out of vegetables or tofu. If your not big on tofu don't worry because it will actually look, taste and have the texture of real meat. Another restaurant I would suggest is the "Vegetarian Lifestyle" on 258 Fengxian Rd. There are of course many Western restaurants if you are feeling the need – KFC, Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, etc.

Ruzzi on 528 Fuzhou Road, which is a couple blocks over from East Nanjing Road, has very good pizza and has free WiFi. How long will you be in Shanghai?


MagLev - getting there
By: Steve on August 25, 2006 - 12:28am
If you want to ride the MagLev I would suggest taking the subway (Line 2) to Longyang Station. From there just follow the signs (you will have to go outside) to the MagLev. It costs 50 yuan for a one way ticket to the airport (40 yuan if you have a boarding ticket) or 80 yuan for a round trip ticket. Half of the people on the train will probably be tourist taking a round trip ride. Here are a couple sites you might want to check out.
http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20040420_experiencing_maglev_shanghai.htm
http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20041012_inside_pudong_airport_maglev_train.htm


One more suggestion
By: Steve on August 25, 2006 - 12:47am
If you want a great view of Shanghai you should ckeck out the Jinmao Tower (88 Century Ave.). It is the tallest building in China and the 5th tallest in the world. It will cost you 50 yuan to go to the top observation deck. 
http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=103803
The Oriental Pearl TV Tower is another place to go for great views but it will cost you between 75 to 100 yuan depending on how high you want to go up. The TV Tower is a couple blocks from the Jinmao Tower. I opted for the Jinmao Tower over the TV Tower.
http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=103802


Nice China Points
By: leelefever on August 25, 2006 - 6:29am

Thanks again Steve!  We went over to the Pearl City Tower today.  What a monstrosity.  It looks like something an artist in the 1950's would have dreamed up to describe life in the future.  I'm not a fan.  It looks like an electrified Christmas tree ornament at night. But the JinMao tower- that is a beautiful building and I hope all the construction happening on that side emulates that building instead.  

I'll report back about the MagLev...