Rolling into Shanghai’s People’s Square last Sunday, New Zealander Rob Thomson was met with surprisingly little fanfare. No media to greet him, no friends or family to congratulate him. A lonesome end to an amazing journey.
The random Chinese man he asked to take his photo to mark the moment had no idea that Thomson has just completed a world record breaking odyssey. He had, in the course of 462 days, travelled an amazing 12,000 km solo and unassisted across Europe, North America, and China on a longboard skateboard.
Now relaxing for a few days in Shanghai before heading back to his native New Zealand, Rob was kind enough to field some questions for Lost Laowai.
The streets are clean, the people are smiling, the transportation is free and the staff is able and willing to answer any and all questions. Is this Beijing or Disneyland?
The city cannot be compared to any other city in Mainland China. All construction has stopped for the games which not only helps eliminate some dust in the air but more importantly cleans up the noise pollution of drills and jack hammers that has become part of daily life in China.
© James Justin
Hey all you fellow laowai in China, Harvard student Wendy Lee is researching how we go about travelling in this big country, and due to the lack of stats about our expat habits available online she’s put together a little survey and asked I tell you about it.
Now, personally, I’m always eager to help Harvard when it comes a callin’, but I think Wendy realized early on many of you would need some additional incentive. As such, all expats that take the time to fill out the survey will be entered into a random drawing for a free trip for two to Sanya, including round trip plane tickets (from any …
© d. Fuka
Living, as I do, just outside of Shanghai tends to see me visit The City on “official business” quite frequently. Not only is it the ultra-modern, socio-cultural mecca of Mainland China - it’s also the closest place to Suzhou a Canadian guy can get consular stuff done.
Despite having been to “The Paris of the East” numerous times, there is one thing that continues to baffle me, and perhaps some of you Shanghai laowai can enlighten me: Why is it Shanghai is the only city I’ve been to in China where the taxi drivers assume 16 RMB = 20 RMB?
It doesn’t happen all the time, but a good 60-70% of …
What follows is the third part of a series of posts we’re running by fellow Laowai - Turner Sparks. Turner and his friend Jake decided just sitting around Suzhou and watching quake relief efforts on TV was not good enough, and so hopped into Turner’s car and pointed it towards Chengdu. Read
Part I and
Part III want to talk for a minute about the differences between what the media is reporting regarding the situation here (I can only speak for Chinese media as I haven’t seen international TV), and the reality of what we are seeing and experiencing.
First of all, Chendgu is completely fine and is operating as a normal city. Ambulance sirens are …
What follows is the second part of a series of posts we’re running by fellow Laowai - Turner Sparks. Turner and his friend Jake decided just sitting around Suzhou and watching quake relief efforts on TV was not good enough, and so hopped into Turner’s car and pointed it towards Chengdu. Read
Part I and
Part IIIDay 3: First Night in Chengdu (May 19, 2008)
It’s the End of the World as We Know it…
Monday night started by Jake and I getting invited to dinner at a Turkish restaurant by a bunch of our brand new friends who were volunteering at the Bookworm. The restaurant was just around the corner from our hotel and after a …
What follows is the first part of a series of posts we’re running by fellow Laowai - Turner Sparks. Turner and his friend Jake decided just sitting around Suzhou and watching quake relief efforts on TV was not good enough, and so hopped into Turner’s car and pointed it towards Chengdu.
Read Part IIWe’re on a Road to Nowhere
Day 1 (May 17, 2008)
After two and a half days of traveling and a number of audibles, Jake and I have finally made it to Chengdu. For anyone who is looking to come out here and aid in the relief efforts I would strongly suggest booking a flight and buying a ticket.
While Jake and I would like to …
The following has in no way been confirmed to be legitimate, however I wanted to post it here to see if anyone had heard anything about this.
From the Hangzhou Expat forum:
This information has not and most likely will not appear in the press or the media. But a co-worker’s wife who works in a medical treatment center in Shanghai just recently received between 20-30 victims of two separate bombing incidents on the Shanghai subway.
It’s being kept very, very under wraps at the moment, so no word on who was responsible, if the perpetrators were or were not terrorists, which subway station it was at, or exactly when it happened; but it was sometime within the past week. …
In what can only be assumed to be fear over increased problems related to the Olympic games, China has cut off multiple entry travel visas, and limited them to 30 days.
As Journey to Nowhere reports from the SCMP (which stoically continues to charge for online content):
Beijing has stopped issuing multiple-entry visas, risking major inconvenience to foreigners who travel to the mainland regularly, especially on business. Hong Kong travel agents say the ban will stay in place until after the Olympic Games.
Travelers are now restricted to single- or double-entry visas valid for 30 days. Multiple-entry visas that have not expired are still valid.
Andrew Work, executive director of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said the ban …
With Spring Festival just a couple weeks away, time to remind any first-time Laowai to be careful as they venture out in what must be the world’s largest annual mass-migration.
Despite being one of the larger stories on Chinese-language news channels, little has been mentioned externally about an accident in Wuhu, Anhui, on January 13, where a female college student was cut in half by a train.
Leng Jing, a third year student at Anhui Normal University, was waiting on the Wuhu station platform for the train that would have taken her home to Fuyang for the holidays.
As is common practice this time of year, tickets for …
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