One week pasted after I moved to Pudong, with a car. Here are some observations.

Pudong is Big AND Small

Pudong is much bigger than Puxi. It has wider and higher-standard of road system. There are not many cars on the road and only red lights at some major cross roads will stop your car. I didn’t experienced traffic jam in Pudong so far. (This is based on my current observation, since I never drove around during business hours – at that time, I parked my car in the underground garage in Puxi)

Because of the good road system, Pudong becomes very small – you can easily get to any place on the map by car. In contrast, you will find driving in Puxi very depressive. You get jammed everywhere. :-( One night, I drove to the OBI Building Materials in Jinqiao (the north-most places in Pudong area), and get back – it all happened in 1 hour. So the life in Pudong is pretty similar with that in west coast of U.S.

Pudong is Quiet

There is not many people in Pudong yet. High buildings rise every day, but the population does not grow as fast as the buildings. From my observation, the newly built apartments are almost empty. There are only less than 10% of the windows are lighted.

Pudong Sleeps Early

At around 9 PM, Pudong goes go bed. Lights go off and the supermarket at the gate of my residential area closes. There are even less cars on the roads. At the same time, the life in Puxi just started. Many people should just step out of their office after OT (over time work) and head to theaters. That is the difference.

No Restaurants, no entertainment

This may not be true since I am not familiar with the area yet, so they may hide inside the small streets. But generally, there is not much place to go at night, and at dinner time. Fortunately, I still have the base in Xujiahui so delicious food is not too far away.

Fresh and Natural Life

After I moved to Pudong, I can see the sun set again. I can see the redish clouds on the west before the sunset. There is a long preriod of time from sunset to completely dark. This recalls the life in my home town in Luoyang. This is so common in most places in the world, but not in downtown in Puxi. It seemed to me that in Puxi, the Sun sets and it becomes dark very soon. There is no colorful clouds after the sunset. I suspect it may because of the high buildings that blocked the view and the reflection of the remaining sunlight after sunset.

At night, stars shine on the sky. I am so moved when I see the stars in the sky again. I clearly remember, when I studied in the Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which is located in the central part of the city, the sky is always light (redish light) even in deep night. Everbright is the best world to describe what I see from my window.

More Reports to Come

It is just the first week and I need some time to get familar with the new life, and see Pudong more clearly after the intial excitement goes off. I am still in the rented house – a very old and misarable place. All the belongs are packed into about 60 big paper boxes. I don’t want to unpackage them yet. The worst thing is, there is no telephone in the house, so after I get home, there is no way for me to update my site. I am researching two options: 1) To find a Internet bar nearby. This seems not working since you know – it is Pudong. :-) 2) To find out wireless Internet solution with my GPRS mobile. I hope it works soon.

The update of my blog is not as regular as before. Sorry for that – it is because of the move – the move in both the digital worlds and the real world.

Digital World

Due to the continous server outage of my old hosting, I switched my server to iPowerWeb. It was a painful experience for the migration but now, it seems everything back to normal. I checked the disclosure policy so I can share the email communication with iPowerWeb support, but this case was not responsed after they esclated three days ago. Anyway, the website goes back to normal and it may take some longer time (one week at least) for me to migrate the old applications to the new server.

Real World

I am physically moved my home from Puxi to Pudong. The following three month will be very tough period for me since the newly bought house is still in the decoration stage. The workers are busy installing the basic infrastructure into the house – the washroom, the kitchen… This sounds strange to my friends from outside China. Actually, most of the apartments in Shanghai are sold as bare (raw) houses. There are only walls (not well painted) in the house when the owners get the key. One has to hire decoration (or remodeling/re-construction) vender to paint the wall, install the water pipes, even the electronic power lines into the house. This typically cost two to three months. My journey of the remodeling just started.

Now I rented a house near the new house so I can easily take care of the new house in Pudong. There is no telephone line (OMG!) yet so I cannot update my blog easily at night as before. So you may found the new entries come in early morning (local time) other than late night as before.

I will post some pictures later, when the garden of the new house is not in a mass. :-D

I have moved to Pudong last weekend and now drive to work at Xujiahui every day. The 16 KM distance costs about 40 minutes in the busy traffic in the morning. It is still not bad since I didn’t experience traffic jam so far.

Limited by the foreign plate (non-Shanghai plate), I cannot use the elevated highway in the morning, but it is not a big matter. I am convinced that the time I am not allowed to use the elevated highway is the time the policy don’t recommend people to use it. I have tried to get to the elevated road soon after the ban for me is lifted (7:30 AM to 9:30 AM, 4:30 PM – 6:30 PM), the elevated highway is still in a mass. It is something like a large parking lot, while the ground roads are still working. Thanks to the wide Zhao Jia Bang road connecting Nanpu bridge and Xujiahui, there are only red lights but no traffic jam. I believe after the Fuxing Rd. Tunnel between the Nanpu Bridge and the Yan’An East Road. Tunnel is completed, the road will be more easier to get through.