No hangover for China

In my last post I tried to show you a little what the night of Chinese new year is like. This time I want to show you that China didn´t suffer from a massive hangover and that  many of our friends here were wrong with the information: Shanghai during Chinese new year is a deserted place.

It is true that last week Shanghai was, relatively spoken, quiet - in the residential areas. Pudong was empty because the area existis mostly of the financial district and many foreigners who live there  had left city for the week. On our side of the river (in Puxi), in the back of the  French Concession, it was also wonderfully quiet and it almost felt like living in a tranquil villag inside a mega city (with only the odd fireworks explosion kicking us out of bed).

However, even a half empty city of 25 Million still leaves a couple of people around to enjoy a sunny new years day. Paul and I were two of those few left in town and decided to go venture down to the riverside for a walk along the Bund on new years day. The initial idea was to go for a nice quiet stroll as we hoped to have the city all to ourselves. It also seemed like a great opportuntiy of trying out my new wide ankle lens (14-24mm!!) to capture this emptyness ..

Well.. we were proven wrong. Instead of a deserted riverbank my lens quickly filled up with thousands of little ants - all wondering along for their new years stroll.

And so Paul and I went with the flow and dived into this crowd which still is a lot more relaxing than walking along any Xmas market in Germany, simply because we are relatively tall ants and are able to keep our heads free :-)

I invite you to come with us  for a stroll on a  sunny monday in the new year of the dragon.
Just the three of us .. and a couple of others :-)

Zuo ba! - Let´s go: Click here

Chinese Fireworks are - LOUD!!! (A video Post)

Last Sunday we took part in a huge party in China. We all said good bye to the (metal) rabbit and entered the year of the most important symbol - the (water) dragon with a big BANG - or two.

Chinese new year is more than just a new years eve celebration. It is the most important festival in China and it is something like a cross between our Xmas and New Years Eve celebrations. Everyone is going home to see their families and therefore the whole country (1,4 Billion people and us) get a holiday for one week.  There is a LOT  to tell about the customs of and around Chinese new year, but for this post I keep it short and let you be part of our celebrations which we enjoyed german style.

The actual "Chinese New Years eve" was on sunday. So the six of us met up at Benno and Kerstin´s place for a nice raclett dinner followed by games night - and beeing blown away from fireworks all night long. We chose their apartment because they live on the 17th floor overlooking Century park in two directions allowing us to enjoy a great view over Pudong and the fireworks around us.

Since taking pictures didn´t make much sense I decided to film some of the activity and the NOISE!!!
It is absolutley mad but well worth sharing with you. If you wouldn´t know it you could easily think that these films are part of a war documentary somewhere.

I appologize already for my (non existing) filming skills and in case you speak Chinese you might notice  that I shout "Happy Chinese New Year" completly wrong..(good that my Chinese teacher doesn´t know anything about this blog :-).

So sit back, relax and turn your speakers up on full volume. You might catch a bit of what it was like..
(Ah.. and please try to ignore my shouting...:-)

Here we go:
11pm - the neighbours are practising - and I feel like a war zone reporter:
click here: http://youtu.be/wLzvYUV2rt4

5 to 12 - Shanghai is exploding..
click here: http://youtu.be/n0jRAmQemWE

12 o´clock - Xin nian kuai le!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
click here: http://youtu.be/J-e7Ip8Tt-U?t=5s

If you wonder what Shanghai was like on the next day, if  China woke up with a big head from boozing too much, than wait until the next post.. you will be surprised!

My Chinese habits, discovered in Germany..

Xin nien kuai le!Happy new year to you!

I know we are already well into the new year and you haven´t heard from us, yet. But no worries everyting is fine here in the middle kingdom. Just our internet was playing some jokes with us. This combined with a nasty jet lag and a bad stomac delayed the first posting for 2012.

However, before going ahead telling you more about Shanghai,  I must share with you an experience I had during my stay at home. It is almost scary: I´m seem to become Chinese! or at least I seem to have adopted some Chinese behaviour which I found a little disturbing when noticed.

Want to know what I´m talking about? Here we go:

One of the major differences between Shanghai and Europe is definately the driving style. I LOVE driving every time when I´m back because for a change it is me who has control over a steering wheel and not some crazy maniac who you never know if he got up with the right foot on the day.

I didn´t find myself driving very „Shanghai“style. Actually the opposite was the case – I was just cruising in no hurry with my little rented Polo to be able to enjoy the beautiful green countryside and the space everwhere... (we call those kind of people "Sundaydrivers" in Germany.. a very popular species of people, ususally already grey haired).

BUT – if there was anyone in front of me not moving when the lights on a traffic light changed  I forgot all about my grey hair and was the first one to press my horn extensively. Talking to my friend Silvia today I learnt that this is quite normal behaviour for anyone who has lived in Shanghai for some time. Even though none of us is driving ourselfes - we just learn from the taxi drivers.

I remember one particular scene in Frankfurt where I had to stop for a group of people who were demonstrating and crossing the road. After they had passed someone sneaked up from behind on me with his car. He overtook me from the left and immediately afterwards undercut me in front to  take a right turn. (The ususal Shanghai manovering..) Thanks to my relaxed cruise mode I didn´t crash in to him, just shouted something like „mf**!!!?..and just before I was able to press the horn a much louder horn came up from the left: A police car who had seen everything took over for me. I could not help but wondering how efficient Germany is.

The next thing about driving and worth mentioning is wearing seatbelts. This is something that does not excist in China – and yes, Paul is working for a car safety company who develops seatbelts and -whohoo!! – Airbags.

None of which are ever beeing used here. Pauls driver is actually a great example! Driving for a company who works on increasing safety in cars, he has managed to get hold of a seat belt buckle from production - just to click it into his seatbelt pocket. This way he gets away with not wearing a belt and the electronic system is not going crazy with warning lights and bells!!

Anyway, it is scary how quick you get used to not wearing a seatbelt (also because you can´t as they are put away behind horrible cotton covers on the back seats of taxis). In Germany I noticed how used to it I have become when during several occasions I sat in the car – belt up – but completly forgot about it and than -“urrghh“ was pulled back by it when I tried to leave the car. Ask my sister. She  had a very good laugh about that!

Another thing we don´t do in China – and that is simply because it is just not common practise – is giving tips. This is something which takes a bit of adjusting to when you arrive here at first, but you get very quickly used to that every cab driver here will insist of giving you the right change. The same goes for restaurants (except for the very facy ones which are too expansive in the first place).

So back in Frankfurt I´m sitting with my friend in this asian style restaurant. When the bill arrived I didn´t think one second. I unconsciously paid the waiter and next thing I noticed is my friend staring at me pretty amazed and asking me „are you not leaving a tip?, the guy was just standing there waiting for you to say something..“.. Oh my god!!.. how emberassing!! No I really had not noticed and had taken back every single penny I was owed. Latest than I noticed that I had learnt a little more in Shanghai than Mandarin.

Well, there is another whole year in front of us. Do I need to worry about what comes next?

Will I start burping and spittig in public? Or will I start wearing leopard printed pants and glasses frames with not actual glasses in whilst taking my pink dressed dog for a walk?????

Well, we can only wait and see and I share it with you after my next trip to Europe.

Hopefully you won´t be my witness when it happens :-)

Zaijane!