The second Sunday in Shanghai

As you can see from some of these pictures, it is hazy (today, Sunday on the right). I don't really know if it is hazy, foggy, or smoggy. All I know is that I can barely see 3 blocks down the street. I've had to re-adjust my thinking. Those days (last Sunday on the left) that I thought were hazy are now to be classified as clear. These are essentially the same picture. A photograph from the promenade near the Bund looking across the Huang Pu river to the Pearl TV tower. Yes, I know, you can barely see it on the right.

So I woke in the morning with no real plans. One options was to go to the EMC office and work for the day. Being that it was so gross outside, I gave this some serious consideration. But then my senses came back to me. After all, its not everyday that I'm in China (even if it feels that way lately). So I checked my tour guide books, asked the reception desk about getting a train to Suzhou, and made my way to the subway. Too line 2 to line 1 and then 4 more stops to the Shanghai North Train Station. Once there it took me a long time to figure out where the station was. Even with a little help from some people. Anyway, to make a long story short, I bought a ticket for 15 Yuan ($2), but then when I realized the next train was not until 12:30, would take 90 minutes to get to Suzhou the waiting room was full of smoke, and there were no empty seats, I decided to take my chances elsewhere. Being that I was roughly on the same side of town as the zoo, I took the subway a few more stops, and then hailed a cab to the zoo.

Actually, before I hailed the cab, I noticed that I was at a little park. So I took the chance to explore. It was a beautiful little oasis in the urban landscape. Just a few steps from the elevated train and the screeching traffic was a park with a pond, and a bridge over the pond, and plenty of birds welcoming spring with their chirping. It almost reminded me of the Boston Garden, if only that had had swan boats here.

The zoo was nice, but I think that the one child policy has had a huge effect (no big surprise) on China.
You can walk around the zoo, and there are more adults than kids. No joke -- and it makes sense. You'll never have a kid alone, and so you always have at least one parent per child, if not both, and maybe even some grandparents. The zoo's main attraction (for me) was the fact that they have a panda. If I'm sounding a little negative, its because the Shanghai zoo is the poster child for why some people think zoos are bad. At the entrance there is a big sign which in summary says, "We're working on making the exhibits nicer for the animals, with less iron bars and cages." The grounds are fairly nice. Big lawns, small gardens, a couple amusement park type rides for kids, kiosks for food and drink. It's just that the animals have gotten the bad end of the deal. The ponds surrounding the tigers were really disgusting looking, and people had even thrown there trash into the ponds. I arrived at noon, which is typically a pretty bad time to go to the zoo. Most of the animals were napping --- including the Panda. Still, I'm glad I made it.

I checked my guide book and it recommended a river boat ride. Its an eleven year old book, but for some reason I trusted it, and it was right. The boat leaves from the Bund at 2:00. So I grabbed a cab (no particular excitement this ride), and raced to the Bund. Story in the next posting.

More pictures available at http://picasaweb.google.com/jason.r.glasgow/ChinaTrip

Yet another cab ride...

... on the wrong side of the road. I switched hotels yesterday so that I could be closer to work, and because the Marriot at Xin Mei (Union Square) is really set up to be Executive Apartments. Each room is huge, has a little kitchen, but most importantly, has a washer and drier.

A few days ago, I had snapped a photo of a sign saying "Xin Mei Union Square Office Tower". I'm not sure why I did it, other than because I had my camera out taking pictures of other interesting signs. Well, yesterday, it came in very handy. As I picked up my luggage from the bellhop, I asked him to get a cab for me, to Xin Mei, and just in case I was pronouncing it wrong, I showed him my camera with the Chinese characters. That did not seem to help. The Xin Mei office tower and the Marriot next door, are two identical 38 floor towers. I think they are pretty substantial, and the office tower even says "Xin Mei" at the top, but I guess in Shanghai, that's nothing. I tell the taxi driver, "Changsheng Lu", which means Changsheng Rd, but I guess I've butchered the pronunciation so much that he has no idea what I am talking about. Finally, after 3 different bell hops try to help, and some random strangers on the street put in their two cents (er, Yuan) we set off. The driver seems to be going a different way from the way I've gone twice before, but its not like I can explain to him that the best way to go is the take the "Fuxing Rd tunnel". I'm not really sure how to pronounce Fuxing, and I forgotten to learn the word for tunnel.

Luckily he seems to know the right way to go, though I'm not so sure that he knows how to drive. At some point, god only knows why, he crosses the double yellow line, and he seems to be rather content to drive the wrong way on the street, with no sign of crossing back. I guess for Shanghai that might be okay, because the light up ahead is red and nobody is coming towards us. And then? Yes, the light changes, and a car is coming right at us. And if we are going 20mph, and so is the other car, then we are approaching at 40mph, which is pretty quickly. And yet, my taxi driver seems entirely unconcerned. I don't know what to shout. I'd like to saying "What the Fuxing are you doing????" Finally, as you have probably guessed since you are reading this, he cuts back across the yellow line, narrowly missing the oncoming car and cutting off the small bus that was traveling just to the right of us.

Riding the subway in Shanghai

Subways
On Monday it was raining, and having been warned that the Subways are a zoo, we decided to take a cab to the EMC office. You cannot expect the taxi drivers to speak English, but I had the a card with the address of the EMC building on it, written in Chinese. I got a little nervous when the doorman and the taxi driver spent quite some time discussing the destination. The building is on a major street on the other side of the Huangpu river. It shouldn't be so hard to find. Eventually the doorman explain that the card says "Xinmei Square" or "Union Square" in English, which is the new name for the location and that confused the taxi driver. Its not so surprising. So much seems new in Shanghai. Almost every street corner has a crane, or a home in the ground where they are digging for a new subway line, or an excavator about to demolish what pretty much look likes slums. Shanghai does not lack skyscapers, but in between are often some very old looking housing. My guess is that by next year there will be twice as many skyscrapers and twice as many malls. The ride was uneventful. I'll discuss the day of teaching later, so I can stick to transportation issues here.

Tuesday morning, I'd like to say a bright sunny day, but it seems like everyday here starts with a layer of fog, or perhaps smog. Visibility is lousy. But it wasn't raining, and so it seemed like a day for at least a little adventure. We found our way back to the subway entrance, and used the automated fare machine to buy one way tickets to Dongcheng Lu Station. 3 Yaun (40 cents). Where we stood, having not passed the turnstiles, the subway station was empty, but on the other side of the turnstiles there was a mass of people coming up the escallator and making the connection from line 2 to line 1. We passed through the turnstiles and stood at the top of a two escallators and a wide stairway and wondered how were to get down to the platform. People just kept coming up the steps. More people and more people. The funny thing was there was only one other person around. He was also standing at the top looking either like he was trying to meet somebody, or waiting to find a way to get down. He was Chinese, so we assumed he MUST know what he is doing. Finally, the crowds disappeared and we walked down stairs. In a few seconds a train appeared, and we hopped on. No big deal. I've taken the Green line train past Fenway on game days, and I can say that there is no comparison. So I was left wondering, whats the big deal.

Well, Wednesday morning came, and it started the same way, except when we got to the platform, there was a crowd of people. Brian got half on the train and the doors started closing. He jumped out. I hadn't even tried to get on. We'd been told by Gus, that in China it is okay to push, in fact expected, and there is no need to say "excuse me". So when the next train arrived only a couple minutes later, it was time to push and make sure we got on that train. Its exactly what everybody else was doing, and the car was pretty damn packed. Nobody seemed to bother holding the poles and bars because you couldn't fall one way or the other.

Thursday was a repeat of Wednesday, though we did get a little advice about where to stand on the platform from our EMC colleagues, and that helped a little. By now, I'm feeling pretty comfortable taking the subway.

The subway stations are full of advertisements including some for the Apple iPod.

Taxi Rides
I've read a little taxis in China, and mostly what I've heard is that they honk incessantly, and that the ride will be an experience. So, while in most of my rides I haven't heard my driver honk, it is true that in general there is a lot of honking in Shanghai. We are doing the training on the 23rd floor of a building, in a room that faces "Union Square", thus not the main street (Pudong Lu). Often when it is quiet for a minute you hear constant honking from below. So no doubt the horn is used a lot here in Shanghai. At least for the first few rides, I can also say that the taxi drivers seemed pretty normal. Then on Wednesday, we took a cab to the Augmentum office. (Augmentum is the outsourcing company that has hired 11 of the 15 employees working on our project). We were on a large 4 lane wide road (2 in each direction), and we were stuck behind a slow moving car. Clearly our driver was not happy, and before you know it he entirely crossed the double yellow line and started riding on the wrong side of the street. Much to my relief about a block ahead he took a left turn, and so it wasn't too long that I felt like my life was in danger. I haven't taken a cab since.

Sunday in Shanghai

Today was the day to get in some touring of the city. I met Brian in the lobby at 9:00. We were not sure what to do about breakfast. The concierge recommended we eat in the hotel, and could not recommend anything out side the hotel. I was ready to ignore that advice and see what would happen on the streets of Shanghai. So we set out to explore. We walked past the mall next door, and already at 9:15, many people were lining up to get in. It turns out that Nanjing Rd (where the hotel is located) turns into a pedestrian mall just half a block west of the hotel. The street was filled with people -- getting ready to shop, hawking cheap imitation watches and hand bags, people dancing in front of department stores waiting fo rthem to open, and just a lot of hustle bustle. There were more than one KFC's and MacDonalds, but they were not acceptable for breakfast. We continued to the end of the pedestrian mall, and headed back to the hotel for the breakfast buffet. A rather pricey breakfast, but at least we knew what we were getting.

After breakfast we called Gus, the EMC employee who moved here from NJ. He agreed to meet us later in the afternoon, so we left on a huge hike to see Shanghai by foot. We

* walked to old town to see the old style building and hustle bustle. Lots of small old shops with trinkets.
* Saw the Beautiful 16th century Yu Gardens,
* walked along the Huang River
* Took the sightseeing tunnel tour (movie to be put on YouTube),
* took the subway to the EMC office and Gus's motel, and finally met Gus.

Gus gave us a tour of the EMC offices -- very nice, though there is no privacy at all in the cubes. Then he took us to dinner at a real Chinese restaurant. I'm not sure how I managed to find anything to eat, but I did, and it was prety good. Certainly very different that the normal American Chinese restaurant. Different flavors.

Its now 9PM and I'm exhausted. Jet lag is catching up with me.

Arriving in Shanghai

Arrived in Shanghai airport without incident. Got off the plan into what seems to be a HUGE airport. The terminal stretches down as far as the eye can see. Getting through health check, immigration and customs was a snap. While waiting for my luggage I found a CitiBank ATM machine, and withdrew 1700 RMB (Yuan). Apparently this is the easiest and cheapest way to get Chinese Currency. It funny, because that's exactly how I got cash in Israel. While waiting inline for customers the two Americans behind me were busy checking their BlackBerries. Amazing. Even if it does take the better part of a day to get from Boston to Shanghai, the ability to have easy communication, and to be instantly connected, means the world feels incredibly small.

Once off the plane I finally felt like we might be in China. All of a sudden I noticed a lot more Chinese. Business Class was almost entirely Americans, and almost (91%) all male. Still, at the airport the announcements were made in Chinese and English, and there were plenty of signs in English. The ATM, as you can imagine, had a button to select the language... Russian, Arabic, Hebrew, English.... Oopps, that was the ones in Israel. Well, there were 4 languages, I can guess one must have been Chinese, and I could read the English. Maybe they also had Japanese and Korean?

The Maglev train is not far from the Airport Terminal. It is just a short walk via an enclosed walkway to train terminal. I am here travelling for the first week with my co-worker Brian Mages. We waited just a few minutes and the train arrived. It was pretty empty. No seatbelts. No helmets. This thing is really going to go 431Kmh (258MPH)? Yep. In a minute or two we accelerated to 431. The countryside was flying by. Whoosh, we passed the train going in the other direction. A few minutes later we arrive in Shanghai. 30Km in 8 minutes. And it felt like 1 minute. It was just so fast. I've never been on a Maglev train before and I was expecting it to be extremely quiet and smooth, and I was a little surprised that it had a few bumps here and there.

From the Maglev to the subway. The subway is just like anyone subway in the world. There were vending machines to buy tickets, but one of them was obviously broken as the currency slots were taped over with a message in Chinese. The other two vending machines had flashing signs saying "No Change". So we bought from the woman at the window who understood our English just fine. 10 RMB ( $1.20 ) for two one way tickets. The train was jam packed. Getting on I got through the doors by only half suitcase did, and already the doors closed on it. I yanked and yanked, and luckily got it into the train. At the next station a woman got stuck with her handbag outside the train and she was in the train. She traveled that way to the next station. I've seen the same thing happen on the Green line in Boston.

We arrived at the hotel at 4:30pm and attempt to checkin, but the rooms are not ready yet. I was a little surprised, but no big deal. We just waited for an hour until they were made up. We didn't have energy to go out and look for a restaurant so we went to "Epicure on 45" the rotating hotel restaurant on the 45th floor and got a great view of Shanghai. I did not snap any photos, but I can report that there is a lot of Neon in Shanghai. So many buildings are lit up, and flashing. Its like a huge Times Square.

This morning I woke a looked out the window. They are already busy working at the construction site across the street. The streets themselves are not so crowded with cars yet (it is Sunday), but there are tons of bikes. Most of them are little scooters. I'm just looking from my window on the 18th floor, but I'll soon go outside a see up close. It is gray and overcast, a high of 50. Not the best sightseeing weather, but I'm going to do my best to do a little sightseeing today before I start with the real work tomorrow.

Getting to China

5:45AM 3/16/2007
Logan Airport, Boston, MA, USA
Gate C-21

I'm here waiting for my 6:30AM boarding of a flight from Boston to Chicago. I'm early. Very early. Lets walk back through the last half day that got me here.

11:45pm 3/15/2007
I've got to get to sleep. Its getting late. But as always, facing an early wake up, I cannot fall asleep. Okay, so I'll read about the subprime lending market in the Boston Globe. A beautiful quota (paraphrased here), "Surprise, there's gambling at the Casino!" The alarm is set for 4:45AM, and the cab is set to arrive at 5AM. Should be fine. No worries. Well, yes, what if I oversleep? I feel like Dani. The later it gets, the more over tired I get, and the more likely I'll oversleep. It of course then follows, that the later it gets the more nervous I get, and the harder it is to fall asleep. What am I going to do? I guess I am a nervous traveller. Maybe its all the tea I had at the Ta'am China dinner? A little curious to have chinese food before going to China, but it was kosher, and it will make a nice contrast between American Chinese food, and real Chinese food.

12:45am 3/16/2007
Well, it is today that I'm flying. If only I could get a little sleep. Dena says to look on the bright side, I'm getting adjusted to the Chinese timezone already. Argh. Dena says she'll turn on her alarm too. Finally, I can relax.

4:45am
RING RING RING RING. I reach for the snooze. "Jason, time to get up". Dena, no she doesn't have a snooze button. I'd better get up.

4:50am
Now what? I'm ready early. I set out the lunch boxes, wash and slice the apples. Set out the girl scout cookies and some extra tupperware.

4:55am
The cab is here early. I guess that good.

5:15am
I am at login airport. Wow. That was fast. There's nothing like traveling early to avoid the traffic.

5:45am
I'm at the gate!!! Yes, that's 45 minutes early. Way too early. I bought myself a "Mango Tango" odwalla smoothie. As far as I can tell it is 100% fruit juice. Lots of sugar and carbohydrates, but only 10mg of sodium. I've got an apple and a banana too. I'm working hard at having my 9 servings a day of fruits and vegetables. Its hard.

My computer laptop is all freshly configured with Linux. I did a new install last week after I got tired of Microsoft windows always hanging and crashing on me. So I loaded Linux on my laptop, and just last night I installed Skype, OpenOffice, and made sure that I had the latest updates from RedHat. SKype initially didn't work, but before dinner I ran to RadioShack and purchased a USB headset with microphone. This is what my friend Dominique had recommended. It worked fabulously. I just plugged it in, told skype to use the USB headset, and bingo. Did I tell you the deal I got? $29.95 marked off 66% to $9.99! I tried Skype by calling Uncle Barry. One of my fears was that I wouldn't be able to use Skype in Shanghai, or that the connection quality would be horrible. Uncle Barry, having been there before told me not to worry. Skype works great, and he says he uses it all the time from China. Free calls. Now isn't that great.

Now a few thoughts on what is missing on my laptop.

1. I need to install GAIM so I can do internet chat with the office people.
2. I can't figure out how to play a DVD. That's too bad, because I was planning on watching a few during the flight.
3. I cannot use my wireless card. I think I'm missing a driver for it. Perhaps Dell has a driver at their website for Linux? Doubtful. I've got the most up-to-date 2.6.9 kernel. Maybe I need a newer kernel, like the RHEL5 variety. It's funny because at work we use RHEL3 all the time which is a 2.4.21 kernel, and I feel like it is fine. When I work on RHEL4 I feel like I'm on the cutting edge. In reality, RHEL4 is "so yesterday." I ought to get with the program and install SuSE 10, or RHEL5.
4. There is no indication of battery charge. What's with that?
5. I cannot tell the machine to sleep. I can only turn it off. Although booting is quick, sleep or hibernate would be a great feature. Some should read Joel Spolsky's post on this subject. Sleep? Hibernate? Shutdown? How about just one button, "turn it off", and make sure it boots in 2 seconds later.

9:30AM CST
Arrived in Chicago without Incident. Brian had a first class seat (1C), but somehow, I got stuck in 20E. Middle seat next to a processor of Arabic Language and Literature at none other than Yale University. Beatrice Gruendler from Germany, lives in Boston, commutes to Yale. We had a very nice chat, and she highly recommended that we stop in New Haven sometime to see the newly renovated art museum. She was on her way to a conference in San Antonio, and this summer, if the visa comes through, she will go to Iran to look at ancient manuscripts. I slept for awhile too.


Since we are traveling business class we get to go to the Red Carpet Club. Its great. What a different experience. Free fruit drinks, comfortable chairs, Internet, and fabulous views of the airplanes. In fact we are sitting about 20 feet away from the nose of our plane. I've taken some pictures.

I just found out that the application that plays DVDs in GNOME is called totem. It seems like I don't have it installed though. Bummer.

11:40PM EST
It has been a log trip so far. Travelling business class though is great. I have tons of space to spread out. At the risk of sounding ridiculous, it almost seems too spacious, because the seat back in front of me is so far that it is inconvenient to store things there. I've passed the time by talking to the guy next to me. He's an
anti-tax republican who once worked on the Romney campaign. He'd like to see all people pay taxes once a year so that they really feel the pain. Hmmm. Maybe we should all pay our mortgages one a year so we
feel the pain of interest? Better yet, why not just after 30 years when it all comes due? I then read a few chapters of my book on Alan Greenspan. Although I agree philosophically with the basic premise
that Alan Greenspan was a fraud, I don't like to the tone of the book. It is too combattive and reads too much into Alan Greenspan's behavior. I don't think we can really know what motivates him. I'll
finish it later.

More playing around with Linux. For some reason the redhat kernel does not seem to come with "APM" (advanced power management) support. I don't get it. The user space programs are part of the distribution,
so why not the kernel driver?

I've also put together all the framework for all my slide decks. I have not filled in the content, but at least I've started. I still have until Tuesday before my first presentation.