I have never been a football fan, and never tried to be one, or pretend to be one. The last time I was deeply impacted by World Cup was still back in 1994, one year before the College Entrance Exam – THE exam that basically determines the future of us. Many classmates climbed out of the wall of the middle school, and put all the pillows in the dorm into the quilt to pretend someone was still on bed.

After that, the world cup didn’t leave too much impression (at least as strong as that year) to me. Maybe the other one is during the time of university – when we finally escaped the “dark July” of the entrance exam. During that time, all the major classrooms and theater of university were broadcasting the game. I spent some time there with Wendy (Wendy is less interested than me).

This year, thank to the time zone of South Africa, the timing is good, and I happened to watch the last 10 minutes of North Korea vs Portugal, and enjoyed the final 0:7 result. That is it.

The world is big and everyone is different. I hope my ignorance of many people’s favorite game does not make them angry. Since there are so many people pour there passion about the game everywhere, as if non-football-fans are second-level citizen, I want to quietly record what I think, so someone similar to me won’t feel lonely in the sea of football fans. People are different. Let’s cherish the difference.

I got an email about how to get to Jinshanwei on July 22, 2009, just to watch the Solar Eclipse.

Hello Jian Shuo,

I´ve discovered your blog since I´ve been looking for information about travelling to Shanghai. We have planned our hollidays this year visiting Shanghai so we´ll observe the 22 july total solar eclipse. We realised that one of the best place in conditions to observe the eclipe is on shore in Jinshanwei. The fact is that day, our lodge is located in an hotel in Shanghai and as far as we have to arrive to Jinshan before 9.41 am, I´m concerned about how to cover the distance between Shanghai and Jinshan and how long does it takes the trip, so it happens in a labour day. What´s your opinion? Do you recommend to go by taxi? How much aprox would it cost? If not, better by bus? Where to leave from?. I haven´t found any information about it in the net.

Sorry for so many questions, but for us, this eclipse is a very important part of our travel, and I´m very concerned about the transportation.

Thank you very much for your help.

I didn’t know that Jinshanwei is the best place – maybe just because it is far from Shanghai and won’t be disturbed by the high buildings, and traffic? Although I do doubt whether less than 100 km makes any difference for Solar Eclipse watching, let me help my reader out: Where is Jinshanwei, and how to get there?

Where is Jinshanwe?

Here is the Google Map, and you can see the location:

Jinshanwei is sandwiched by Shanghai and Hangzhou, and is at the shore of the Hangzhou Bay.

It is at the end of A4 highway, and at the intersection of A6. If you know how big the Suburb Ring A30 is, what I can tell you is, it is far beyond the A30.

It is 70 km away from the city center.

How to Get There

There are several options: taxi and bus.

Taxi

It seems taxi is the only feasible approach for foreigners to get there. It takes at least 200 RMB to get there, but it is very convenient. Call any taxi on the street, and tell the driver to bring you there. I am sure the drive will be very happy – like winning lottery that day.

It takes about one hour there.

Metro + Bus

If you want to save money and you are adventurous, you can try to use public transportation. Here is how you get there.

1. Take Metro Line #1 and get to Lianhua Road Station 莲花路站. I will ignore the steps to get to Metro Line #1 – check a metro map. At Lianhua Road station, make sure you get to the South Square of station – exit first, and use the underground tunnel to get to the other side of railway.

2. Take Lianshi Line 莲石专线 at the South Square of Lianhua Road. Get to the terminal station, and you are at Jinshan area. This can be very cheap – I guess it is something around 10-20 RMB.

What is next? I have no idea. I guess you may have a plan.

Good luck!

Lujiazui is the heart of Pudong – or in other official words, the “show window of China’s reform and opening up”. I went to Lujiazui today, only to find out the whole area is turned into another big construction site.

Heading out of the Super Brand Mall, the entrance (once was wonderful place with big garden in the middle of the circle road) was completely chaos. A new big overhead bridge is under construction. When completed, the big circle bridge will connect major buildings in that area, including the metro station, together. However, the problem is, currently, there are construction site everywhere. Besides this kind of small project, big underground tunnel is under way, and some roads are completely blocked and turned into construction site, not to mention the crazy skyscrapers in that area. The history of Lujiazui taught me, when there are many skyscrapers in one area, that only mean one thing, there are many more to come…

I walked around and could not find a taxi (I said, Lujiazui is Full, long time ago), so I kept walking. The bus stations have given ways to the new construction sites, and I could not find it. The major roads long the century avenue is also blocked, so I have to change route to somewhere in the New Financial Street. Finally, I got a taxi around 9:30 PM, and get back home.

On the taxi, I am thinking – if all these buildings, tunnels, over-head bridges, and many other things are to be completed before the Shanghai Expo in 2010, what Shanghai will be look like after that? and will there be any new construction after that?

The recent ban of plastic bags, and raise of gas price today are, I think, both good for the environment.

My Recent Shopping Experience

Wendy and I went to Decathlon near our home today. As most of the retail stores I went to, they didn’t provide any bag after shopping. They do offer a big bag as a “product”, costing 5 RMB. Wendy and I checked what we have: several clothes, two box of Ping Pong ball, and a big volleyball, and decided that we don’t need a bag. It was not as easy job as to bring it back to our car with a bag, but we finally made it.

The other gentleman after us bought a pair of running shoes, and he grasped the running shoes in hand and went away.

In many times, we rely on bags, and consume all kinds of one-time goods. We take it for granted, but now, it looks so clear to me that reducing plastic bags is exactly the right thing to do. I admit I still didn’t form the new habit to bring a bag or two with me when we go shopping yet. That is the reason I had to buy big bags from Carrefour, Tesco, and other stores, but the bags are very good, and endurable so we can use them again and again in the future.

Actually, without the plastic bags, and carrying the smooth clothes in hand, I felt much better.

Gas Price

Today, the retail gas price increased a lot in Shanghai.

Here is the price change:

#90 4.77 ==> 5.57

#93 5.19 ==> 6.05

#97 5.51 ==> 6.42

Yesterday, I heard many cars lined up to get their tank filled with the last tank of cheaper (already expensive) gas. When I heard about the news at the end of the day, I looked at my gas meter – almost empty.

The raise of gas price is a good thing, maybe. For some days (I don’t think it will last too long when people get used to it) at least, people may think twice when they use their car (including me). I still remember the time when I just need to pay less than 150 RMB to get my whole tank filled with #93 gas, and the last time, even 200 RMB cannot fill it, and how about the next time? 240 RMB?

BTW, why every time, I happen to talk about gas, and plastic bags together, like last time?

Readers asked me about how to arrange a trip in China. I understand that many tourist will do an around-China tour, so most of the tour is connected between multiple points, like Hong Kong to Xi’an, to Beijing, to Shanghai, and then back to San Francisco – something like this.

Let me rest assure you something.

1. You can buy tickets like this.

Some worries that the multi-stop tickets are more expensive. Well. I don’t think it is the case. Since most of the tickets are single trips, and round trip is typically the same price as double the single-trip. So don’t worry.

2. You can buy tickets locally.

Go to hotel receiption or call 800-820-6666 for ctrip to book the ticket, and they can issue electronic tickets.

3. You don’t need to have too long lead time.

Several days, say 4 days are very safe time for booking most of the lines, unless you are travelling at festivals.

The business festival is Spring Festival, and the second is Oct festival, and the third is May festival. Avoid them, and you should be OK.

My reader asked about the ticket of Oct 3 and Oct 9 of 2007. My answer is: you are not lucky since it is the national holiday and the tickets are generally hard to book. But the good thing is, Oct 3 and Oct 9 are much better than Oct 1 – Oct 2, or Oct 7 – Oct 8.

On Oct 3, most people already left home for travel destinations, and on Oct 9, most people have get back, but anyway, it is busier than norma days.

Problem to solve:

Visiting China for a short period of time, and GPRS is critically important.

Solution

After you arrive in China (don’t need to worry about it. There are soooo many sellers about the SIM card at airport or at hotel), get a Shenzhouxing pre-paid SIM card from China Mobile. With the card, you have immediate access of GPRS (nothing is needed). However, be very cautious that the default plan is very expensive.

Check the GPRS Package from China Mobile, and choose one that is good for you. I would recommend the 20 RMB for 50M traffic plan. Then call 10086 and ask the operator to adopt the plan for you.

Then enjoy your GPRS!

Traveling in China via train is a good idea to experience the scenary of China and to form an idea about the relative locations and difference between the cities. But the problem is the Power Plugs. The common questions are: do they have power plugs on trains.

I don’t know about all trains, because it varies from train to train and the facilities changes quickly. I don’t want to mislead you with wrong information. Here is what I know.

1. Z trains have plugs.

Wendy confirmed that the Z-series train from Beijing to Shanghai has power plugs on it. She used to charge their mobile phone on that train (just as show in the picture. I assume the recent more expensive D-series trains should also have it, but I never take it and didn’t check about it yet. I just guess.

2. Most of the traditional trains don’t have power plugs.

Since I don’t have the information, my guess (can be completely wrong) is Z, D trains have plugs, and all others (especially those with 4 letters train no.) don’t have plugs.

Correct me if I am wrong here.

Many people asked me how to setup the similiar blog like this under their own domain and asked for price to setup a blog, and asked how much effort it needs.

My most frequent answer was, go to blogger.com and setup a blog there. Then setup the blog to publish your own domain via FTP. Just share your FTP user name and password with blogger, and then it is under your own domain.

This way, you don’t need to pay any maintaince effort to your blog, and your blog is up and running, and under your domain.

Here are my 17 tips about blogging.

Haisong gave me a book – Blink : The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. It is from Malcolm Gladwell, the same author of the Tipping Point.

It is a nice book of getting information in the first 2 seconds. I was so amazed that someone can record the video of a couple and decode the behaviors into a 1800 line of codes, and analyze it. That is the major difference between western culture (quatitive thinking) and the eastern culture (qualitive thinking).

Recently, I consistently amazed by the difference people in China think and the way people in U.S. think. China is a sociaty driven by “business instinct” instead of data. Some companies are moving that way, hoping to be successful, but I don’t see many successful cases yet. The majority are still using the old Chinese ways of thinking.

I believe there must be equality nice wisdom within the Chinese culture, and we must learn it in a way people in China learn it. To survive in this market, we need to be very good at “Chinese thinking”. The sad thing is, many people think “Chinese thinking” is bad, which I don’t think near the truth.

If the majority of the decision makers make decision using “blink”, do is still make sense to make decision only based on data?

I was impressed by Seattle Wireless TV (via Slashdot). It looked like a formal media (or official media) if there is no “Help Sponsor the Show!” text or the PayPal denote icon.

The host just carries a camera and go out to catch interesting things. In the June 2004 edition, they interviewed Drew from WiFiMaps.com (with Doug Luce of Telarama) and recorded a presentation of Jason Levitt of Less Networks – “How Less Networks and Austin City Wireless Project beat T-Mobile”.

The simplest camera is enough. The result can be edited by (almost) free Movie Maker 2 – to add text, subtitle and credit screens.

Start the Same Kind of Station in Shanghai?

It is a silly idea to start any media, especially the network media in China right now. It will be another illegal site. Someone started to use network as a media to setup their own Internet Radio stations (Google Search, Chinese), however, I worry about their future. It may not be a problem if they are small and no one notices them. But what if it goes stronger?