Big boat race on Huangpu river in Shanghai

Damn, tomorrow I wanted to go to Wai Tan (the bund) to take some pictures with a friend's camera....a view in a newspaper today tells me that there is going to be a boat race this weekend which makes it impossible for visitors to enter the area around the bund without having a boat race ticket.

It seems to me that Shanghai is keen to attract more and more sporting / fun events taking also the DTM race into account which took place earlier this month.

Do you know John Elkann

....probably not. Well me neither! While I was doing my research on the net examining major automotive manufacturers I reached the Fiat webpage and had a look on the current management team.

Here we go, John Elkann, an American born Italo-American is Fiat's recent Vice Chairman. Guess what, he is only two years older than me! Unbelievable...ok, his heritage is somehow connected to the Agnelli family. Anyways it is said he will be the forthcoming Chairman of this automotive group....impressive!

Last days in Shanghai

...as usual time passes very quickly again which means that I am going to leave Shanghai again this Sunday.

I don't have any special things to do until my departure. A pitty, that my former roommate from last year didn't return from his summer holiday in Germany so I could meet him again here in Shanghai ;-(

Ah by the way, a friend of mine did lend me her digicam in order to take at least few pictures of my stay here in town. As soon as I am back in HK, I will upload them into my diary of course.

Weakening Euro

...arg....when I came to Shanghai two weeks ago, for 1 Euro you would have gotten about 10.25 RMB and about 9.68 HKD.

Guess what, today the exchange rate is: 1 Euro = 9.99 RMB = 9.41 HKD :-(

Busy working

Holy, I have plenty things to do at work (also since I was quite lazy in the very beginning). I will have to finish a report as soon as possible in order that the result may be printed and published as a brochure by the end of August.

I know, still one month to go until then...but time passes so quickly here in Asia. Believe it or not: It's already my sixth week in Asia....unbelivable, isn't it?!

In memorial

†

I am with you, my friend, in this sad moment. Rest in peace...

Wireless Lan in hotel room

Finally! After several attempts I suceeded in finding a way to get internet access in my hotel room. same game as in HK....wlan adapter hanging out of the window...connecting to an access point...that's it! yeah!

Weekend in Shanghai

I didn't do a lot during the weekend. Most of the time I spent on the market to get a new pair of shoes, bags, suitcase, clothes, movies and watches.

Additionally I've been to Marriott Hongqiao Hotel to have a delicious brunch. In the evening we then watched the Formula 1 Grand Prix on a large screen @ O'Maleys. I was there together with Miri, a student fellow of mine from Munich, an internship rookie/colleague of her and Andre, a German business student from Hamburg who surprisingly surfed to this website and got in contact with me afterwards.

Today my last week in Shanghai started...time is running again. However although I like being in Shanghai I think I am also looking forward to getting back to Hong Kong next Sunday....

Teppanyaki

Mmmmmmmmmmhhhh, yesterday I met a buddy of last year. Together with two of his friends we went eating at my favourite All Inclusive Teppanyaki restaurant at Dongping Lu.....yummi....lots of food, beers and sake....you may imagine how I felt today in the morning. ;-)

Back from interview meeting

I just came back from my interview in Pudong for my diploma thesis next year.
Conversation was good and satisfied....however the two Partners didn't react to my payment request at all.
They will have themselves a short chat about it the next days. However I will get notice either positive or negative within my time here in Shanghai. So let's see and wait.

Digi cam's life is over...

....argh...my digi cam doesn't work anymore at all! Not even if it's connected with the recharge supply.

So no more pictures at all ;-((((( I am sorry guys...

Negotiation for diploma thesis

I am going to have an appointment with a German company with an office here in Shanghai. Well basically it's a company I already worked for and we are going to discuss possibilities for a diploma thesis cooperation. This thesis will have to be written next year.

So, fingers crossed that negotiations will go fine and meet my expectations.

Weekend in Shanghai

Hey,

although I got a bad cold here in Shanghai, it didn't stop me to meet my former boss last Friday. It was great to see him again and having had delicious korean food and lots of drinks...we ended up somehow in Xintiandi or Huai Hai Zhong Lu at around 7:30 am on Saturday....what night! Anyways...it was cewl to enjoy Shanghai Bars...although I have to say that it seems that venues are now closing earlier than last year.

I was so heavily damaged on Saturday that I only went out for dinner with Miriam, a student fellow from Germany, who is currently working in Shanghai as well.

Yeah and on Sunday I went to this DTM race....

DTM race in Shanghai

Holy...my first weekend back in Shanghai and I recognized (by coincidence) that there was a DTM race going to take place in directly on the streets of Pudong, the financial district of Shanghai.

Well, thus on Sunday I took the subway to Dong Chang Lu (since Luzhiazhui station was closed due to the event) and began to walk along....there were many opportunities to get tickets for the two races which took place on Sunday....

After several negotiations I did buy a ticket for Grand stand 1, located on the start / finish line.
It was incredible sunny and hot yesterday. And when the first out of two races started at 1 pm, it was suddenly stopped again, after all cars left the first corner...why? there was one car (Mercedes) who seemed to have involved in a crash on the straight line (I didn't see anything because I was concentrated what was going on in the first corner). So they stopped the race and had to leverage the car out of the track....what followed was a 4 hour suspension while Chinese workers started to fix all approx. 70 manhole covers on the track since it was the reson for the Mercedes accident.

No wonder that due to this waiting I got sunburned in the end on legs, arms and on the face.

At 5 pm the race could restart and it was exciting to see those cars driving by, with Jean Alesi and H.H. Frentzen taking part as former Formula 1 drivers.

During the break I could get access in the pit stop area...when I did borrow a VIP pass from a Chinese guy, who was sitting on the stand next to me....exciting walking close to the cars and all Officials including drivers. In fact I was very close to Frentzen, Norbert Haug...uuuuuuhhh.

Unfortunately my digicam is still broken so I couldn't take pictures...thus I am showing you some pics which I found in the web.

Typhoon in HK

A typhoon is approaching Hong Kong these hours....thus, that is an e-mail I just received from my HK office:

"The Hong Kong Observatory expects to issue signal no. 8 soon, staff members who are living on outlying islands and in remote areas may leave the office immediately. Other staff may leave once the no. 8 signal is raised."

Damn...why? Now that I am in Shanghai....

Ni hao ma.....

...ater getting back to my hotel yesterday evening after work, I did ask the receiptionist why there is no Mini-Bar in my room given the fact that I will stay there almost 2 1/2 weeks.
Well, after telling me that I (my secr.) did book only a standard room and that there is no minibar included in this package, I got little disappointed.
Seconds later, the receiptionist kindly mentioned that she will upgrade me to a more luxurious room....cewl!

So after taking all my stuff to the new room, I finally got a place with Minibar, sofa, large desk, etc.....mmmmhh very convenient infact. ;-) Sometimes it can be so easy....

I went out to a Chinese restaurant for dinner....once again really delicious food. Then I took the taxi to get to Fuxing Zhong Lu to see what happened with Maoming Lu and to get to the 'Face' bar nearby for having my mandatory Gin Tonic over there. I met another friend from last year in there.

Unfortunately my digicam's battery really seems to be broken...so no pictures from Shanghai this time ;-(((( except some pics from my hotel room (since I can plug-in the charging unit to the cam).

Shanghai, one year after

Good morning guys,

I am just back into the office after my first night back in Shanghai. I have to say that literally speaking many things have changed here in town. There are basically more cars on the streets, you'll find Mercedes and Jeep taxis (was nearly impossible last year). Some taxis do have a screen in their head-rest implemented.

There's a new venue called "Zapata's", a Mexican discobar, which is located in Hengshan Lu and wasn't there last year....yesterday evening it was 'Ladies Night', so you can imagine how crowded it was.

New astonishing bridges have been built to connect Puxi with Pudong on several points in order to facilitate the access to both parts of the city. Lupu, Nanpu and what where the others' bridges names called?!?!

Additionally, for the first time ever, I've seen the Maglev train driving along the maglev track....really impressive to see the first and only maglev train in action.

Tonight most likely I will go to 'Pegasus' to meet another friend of mine from last year.

Arrived in Shanghai!

After a relaxed flight with Dragon Air (we got upgraded to business class *eg*), we just arrived at our office in Shanghai. It's kind of strange to be back. Some things have changed when I left Shanghai last September. They built new bridges...amazing architecture and it seem to me that more cars are driving on the streets....you see now much more GM sedan cars than last year when VW did dominate Shanghai streets....

As for now, it seems that my chinese prepaid simcard from last year doesn't work any more. however the secretary is currently investigating this matter.

Soon in Shanghai

I just came back from dinner on Lamma Island where we ate delicious seafood.
Now I am going to pack my stuff for my trip to Shanghai in a couple of hours.

Hope I will get easy internet access somewhere in Shanghai to keep you up to date.

Update:
Ok, got up and sitting in the office now...in around twenty minutes I will head off for the airport together with my boss. By the way it was really tricky to get all clothes needed into my small bag since I didn't want to bring my huge suitcase along. However if I would need more clothes, I simply have to go to Shanghai's Fake Market, uh?! ;-)

Mhhh...looking forward to see all my buddies tonight, eating delicious shanghainese food and going clubbing at Zapata's tonight (ladies night) ;-) I still have some probs with my digicam, however I hope I am able to fix it till tonight in order to take some nice shots for you guys!

Webblogs / Online Diaries in the press

There has been the secon "Blog-Talk Conference", which took place in Vienna, Austria, recently. Issues such as recent development within the webblog community have been addressed and discussed further.

Quite interesting what industry leaders did mention during their speeches....for more information please follow this link to an article (in German) regarding the outcome of this conference.

Trip to Shanghai (Update)

Ok now it's official! I will be in Shanghai the day after tomorrow and I will stay there at least until 1 August. Furthermore I'll be staying in a hotel at Zhongshan Park....fine! So no hazzle to get to Jingan Temple or Tongren Lu at night -> "Windows", "La Belle", etc... ;-)

Sunday in HK

Ok, I could imagine that there is something more exciting than going to an IKEA store in Causeway Bay. However that's what we've done to buy some accessories for our flat.

No more pictures...

....since it seems my digicam does not work anymore ? It looks like that the battery suffered from current humid and hot weather condition.

HK @ Night

Bird flew back in China and Thailand

Today serveral government announcements were made telling that there has been few cases of bird flew desease around Bangkok, Thailand and within Anhui province in China, which is basically not far away from Shanghai.

To read more on this, just click one of the following sources:

- Spiegel.de (German)
- Tagesschau.de (German)

Aqua Bar

We have been out drinking some beers at Aqua, a Bar in Kowloon with a tremendous view over HK Island although it was quite cloudy tonight.

UPDATE -> more pictures as follows

Business trip to Shanghai

It's probably that I am going to fly to Shanghai for business purpose at the end of next week. As for now it is expect to stay there for at least two weeks....so I will have the chance to meet my buddies from last year which is great in fact!

However, since nothing is officially confirmed yet, once more "fingers crossed" that this will truly happen to me!

Furthermore I am seeking some cheap flight/hotel weekend packages for places around Hong Kong. When checking Hong Kong's last minute webpage today, I found quite cheap packages to Bangkok or Singapore....well let's see what is going to be feasible.

Weekend almost over...

...once again....
This weekend we have been out clubbing and mainly discovering HK's places at night. Basically on Friday we went to Jammba, Edge, Dragon-i, another bar .... and on Saturday we discovered the "Drop", used to be a "members-only" club but we were lucky to get in this time.

Actually when I was in, I recognized I have been to this place before when I went to HK last year. I think the music they were playing there was the best I heard in HK so far. However since it began to be so crowded I decided to move and get back home early in the morning....expensive weekend anyways :-(

2nd week in Hong Kong

Holy...the time is running....today I am already half a month on Hong Kong. What did I see / experienced?

Well, work is doing fine although I will be working on a market study I think for the whole time of my internship....hmmm....perhaps through this, I will be able to get to Shanghai for a week or even more since all key interviewees are located there.
Hence I would be able to meet my buddies from last year who are still there....we`ll see. At least the secretary of my office will get my Chinese Visa needed to enter China by Monday.

What else? My home is ok, not to large, but just fine for these three months and I am back on the net, which is more than fine :-)

Weather? It is tremendously hot and humid...you can't even survive outside...
...from HK, I haven't seen a lot so far, apart from several markets, streets, beaches. Let's see what happens this weekend.

HK snapshots

Hong Kong's 7th handover anniversary

- News in German

- English Source: www.cnn.com

"Carrying banners calling for Beijing to "protect freedom for democracy" and chanting "return power to the people," the massive crowd endured sweltering heat and humidity as it slowly snaked through the city towards government headquarters on Thursday.

"We know we have the power of the people to say no to Beijing," said Raymond Lee, a member of the Democratic Party, who was chanting through a loudspeaker from a walkway in the commercial district of Wan Chai.

Last year, half a million took to the streets on July 1, protesting against a controversial anti-subversion bill amid worries about the territory's future and outrage over the government's handling of the deadly SARIS epidemic...."

"...That protest so shocked leaders in Beijing that they backtracked on the anti-subversion bill and doled out economic incentives to turn around record unemployment in one of Asia's largest financial centers.

Organizers had hoped that as many as 300,000 people would turn up Thursday to protest against Bejing's decision to rule out universal suffrage and the election of a chief executive in the near term.

Hong Kong is the only place in China where people are allowed to protest.

By mid-afternoon the number of marchers slowed little sign of tampering off, as they wiped their brows and fanned themselves to cope with temperatures hitting 34 degrees Celsius (93.2 Fahrenheit).

Unofficial estimates have put the crowd at 350,000.

The sheer numbers taking to the streets in this city of 6.8 million people is a barometer of how residents feel about Hong Kong's leadership and the influence of China's communist leaders one year on.

This year, Beijing has taken the law into its own hands, and alongside ruling out direct elections in 2007, it has issued a barrage of rhetoric, labeling activists as "unpatriotic," amid concerns that calls for democracy will spill over the border to mainland China.

Chinese leaders are also worried about losing control over the territory as more people demand political change in a city where the leader is handpicked by a committee loyal to Beijing and less than half the legislature is directly elected.

Beijing's pledges
Hong Kong was given a high degree of autonomy when it was handed over to China in 1997 under the "one country, two systems" formula after 150 years of British rule.

Beijing pledged to keep the special administrative region's capitalist systems and way of life "unchanged" for 50 years.

The new constitution, the Basic Law, came into effect at the time of the handover and in theory allowed for direct elections in the territory as soon as 2008, the year after unpopular Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa's term expires.

But the constitution also states that Beijing has a final say over any electoral changes, and residents have been watching as China clamps down on the interpretation of the law ahead of legislative elections in September.

This year Tung has repeatedly skirted growing calls for voting rights and has deferred to Beijing, disappointing activists who had hoped he would launch public consultations early in the year.

While there have been peace gestures on both sides in recent weeks, Tung made only a passing reference to the democracy debate at a flag raising ceremony Thursday morning that launched the official celebrations of the anniversary.

China's actions have also worked to lower expectations among the population.

Most opinion polls conducted last year showed 80 percent of the population supported universal suffrage by 2007, but now that number has fallen to around 60 percent.

Only 43 percent of 1,045 people interviewed in a poll conducted by the University of Hong Kong in February said they trusted Beijing, down from 50 percent at the end of December."