The first guests arrive: Vera, Øystein, Søren, Yannick and Annika in Shanghai, Jan. 22 - Feb. 1, 2006

And so on a chilly winter day full of snow and ice, Vera and Øystein set out from frost bitten Norway to visit Elisabeth and I in Shanghai. An ice storm in Copenhagen delayed their arrival by a day but they finally made it. Søren followed a couple days later, the weather cooperating, but an SAS pilots strike threatened his plans, fortunately intercontinental flights were unaffected. So he also made it, as did Yannick and Annika joining the fun from our friendly neighbour city Beijing, a day after moving into their swanky new flat their.

What ensued follows in this selection of pics...

Day 1 : Straight to dinner - a tasty Mongolian hotpot...







Not wanting Vera to suffer long, we went straight to the fabric market the next morning to have some clothes tailored...



The next day was one of my favourites, 'the bird-flu tour of Shanghai', a special creation of my own, through a friendly crumbing area just down the street from our (not crumbling) place...and Mrs. Klabochova, of course those are fake chickens. Really.





Actually Øystein was a fast study, quickly developing a chop sticks technique that the locals would be proud of...



Yes, that's actually a scale model of Shanghai in the background...



Mr. Dinesen arrived...



Yes, there he is...



And off we went to prove that once deep-fried twice in bamboo, the risk of bird-flu from the local fowl drops to nearly zero while the taste becomes simply magnificent...



Here we have the Jinmao Tower, the tallest building in Shanghai, 3rd tallest in the world apparently, coming it at a cool 88 stories...



And here we have the view from the 87th...



And here we have the bar on the 87th...



Fashion victims or go-go dancers???



At which point things really got going...



And then John Travolta dropped by...



Annika and Yannick's dramatic arrival in the middle of a
fantastic Japanese dinner. I can tell you, after a few weeks
of only seeing strange faces, a familiar face is welcome more
then what words can explain...



No, this is not Copenhagen.



Curious about this one? Come to Shanghai and all will be
revealed...



The boys, sharpening their technique with a couple of friendly,
outgoing locals...



Okay, I can't possibly explain what goes on during Chinese
New Year, but the following pictures should offer some clue....













That's the party-girl herself in the middle, Shanghai's it-girl, Maria.



Yes, our kitchen counter was designed for a Chinese woman
measuring in at well below 150cm...



This is what a Chinese train heading down to Hangzhou
(and couple hours south of Shanghai) looks like at 7.28AM,
the day after a rather rowdy party during Chinese New Year...
yes, the PA system was a women with a megaphone. Nice.



A pretty sombre crowd...



When we arrived, some genius got the idea that we should
try turtle soup...





Mmmm, delicious claw...



Some Chinese people wanted us to be in their picture,
so we put them in ours as well...that's Maria, Sioban and
Owen who joined in for the trip.



Canadian Oyster?! Really!



Yes, when you are 10 people you can actually take over
a crappy empty bar and turn it into quite something. Here
we see our little crowd has actually formed a conga-line...



And indeed, that does seem to be the Macarena they are
dancing now...and nobody had just gotten married either...





One for posterity here...



And then home again...

The Shanghai Blogsite...

Hello All,

This blog will still get a bit of attention once in a while, but for the most up-to-date stuff, check out my new Shanghai blog, now up and running: http://www.shanghaishakedown.typepad.com.

Tim.

Enough Travelling for Now. Up next: Shanghai!

That's it, we're off to Shangahi. I have spent the evening before our departure, here in Bangkok, madly getting these blogs ready since the Chinese government in their infinite wisdom (paranoia) has blocked Blogspot blogs (such as this one), which will prevent me from updating it for a while.

There are ways around these things, but it will take me a time to learn them, so it may be awhile until I can update this blog, and get my planned Shanghai blog going, which will hopefully eventually be found at:

www.shanghaishakedown.blogspot.com.


Tim.

A few (almost) missed moments from Malaysia and Thailand (Aug. 31 to Oct. 17, 2005)

On a trip as lengthy as this one has been, there are inevitably a lot of great moments that kind of get forgotten amongst all the many larger events that occurred. The sort that I have largely neglected in writing the various blogs I have published. So here, is a little collection of pictures and short comments and stories, from a few spots along the way, many of which I never was able to mention until now...

1. Melaka, Melaysia.

Melaka is a city notable primarily for its colonial history - the Dutch were there, the British were there, the Japanese were there, and so on. It is not such a picturesque place, but it did have an interesting Chinatown, as well as Little India where we experienced something new for both of us - dinner served on a banana tree leaf.


Dinner on a banana tree leaf...

2. Raising a Family - Batu Caves, just outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The Big City - especially Kuala Lumpur - is really not the best place to be raising kids. I suggest doing like the locals do if you find yourself in this situation while living in such a place. Find a big cave just outside of town, a keep an eye on them, but they will be able to do as they please in a way that probably wouldn't be possible in the middle of the city...


Monkeys at the Batu Caves - just outside Kuala Lumpur.

3. Pangkor Island, Malaysia.

The Islamic culture is very strong and visible all over Malaysia. When I looked over our hotel balcony, down to the restaurant below, and saw this scene - two young couples certainly much younger than Elisabeth and myself, I couldn't help wondering, was this an arranged dinner?


An arranged dinner?

4. Georgetown, Penang Island, Malaysia.

Unfortuntately, Georgetown, though a place with a fair amount of character and a colonial past still quite visable in certain areas, what not a place the produced any stories I felt like writing up at the time. Nonetheless, the view from the nearby hill, about 1000 metres above sea level (and 5 degrees cooler than the very hot and humid weather down on the city streets) proved a very pleasant little afternoon excursion.


One of those great views that you really had to witness in person to appreciate.

5. Cameron Highlands, Malaysia.

I wrote a fairly extensive blog about our stay in the Cameron Highlands, one little detail I left out was the fantastically unique accomodation we had - a lively guesthouse very popular with backpackers - which included rooms in bunker style huts originally built to house British soldiers in the lead up to World War II.



Not only that, each morning just outside, farm workers were picking and boxing cabbage to send to market, an unexpectedly compelling sight.



6. The ferry to Koh Samui, Thailand.

There were two things the struck me about this one. Firstly, as we arrived, I was surprised at how natural the port was - I was expecting one of those typically industrial port areas, heavily polluted and largely devoid of much character. This one was really just palm trees.


Welcome to Koh Samui - palm trees and palm trees. No hint of the thousands of package tourists hidden behind the trees.

Secondly, one always wonders a bit about safety standards in developing countries like Thailand and Malaysia - on boats, at petrol stations...


Who's counting years anyway?


...is that can rusty?

7. Koh Toa, Thailand - Second to none food standards.

Here's a helpful reminder I would recommend any restaurant owner or manager should consider putting up in their restaurant to remind the staff. Make it visible for customers too, they will surely appreciate knowing you care.


Yes!...and of course, dirty food, bad taste.


8. Writing all this stuff! (Koh Samui, Thailand, in the case of this photo).

I really enjoy having a laptop with me during this trip, even though more than one person advised against it. Not only was it easy to sit out and write some of this stuff, it also allowed me to make new friends along the way.


Me, my computer, and my new friend.