Shanghai : must do.., dont miss.., accommodation tips...

including brakes I suppose? So you have regular working hours...well, one day more than normal around here... interesting ^_^

Normally about 8 to 8.5h ... 6 days a week. We were 6 restorers and one assistent this summer...  

How many hours did you work per day?

Executer and everybody... Here are some pictures from my Trip 07' and 08' to Tholing in Westtibet. Hope the link works... 

http://www.flickr.com/gp/25385827@N03/N8R5Q7

Tvan, about the clouds... yes, there were often many clouds when I tried to see Himalaya...3 years ago I was happy to have a dry summer...and I had a nice view, but not cloudless... In the highlands I often had clear blue sky..and hot weather...and the fluffy clouds ;-). (I only have summer-weather experience, never been there in spring or winter...)

Yes, this is a restoration project (financed by a private foundation in Switzerland) for two of the temples in Tholing monastery...it is a extremely beautiful place and the paintings are just amazing! I am so happy I have the chance to work there! 

Earlier Calkins said, " I think every photo I've seen of Tibet, the sky is bright blue with some nice fluffy clouds hovering above the mountains."  I have to ask.. I've never been to Lhasa, but the plateau (North Tibet) always seems clear and cold, whereas the Himalayas themselves always seem cloudy.  I've seldom seen one of those "National Geographic specials" where you see the snow-capped mountains; rather I always wind up with mountains reaching into the clouds.  Just curious what other Poddies' (and gesang's) experience is/was?

gesang, you were restoring Tibetan murals?  That must require an extraordinary amount of skill and patience!  

calkins maybe you could just search for the photos on the flickr homepage?

gesang thanks for those pics, they realy are great...maybe you could sell some to a company as wallpapers...just a thought...

errhm... I tried my tip to search the photos: no result, so I searched your username (gesang as it´s here right?) and there is nothing free for any one to see, so maybe you could set the mode from private to public; at least for some of the photos?

Ah, for some reason I thought you were going immediately back to Lhasa. Don't know why.

I can't remember all that many sweets! As for my contribution to the budding fan group:

Problem is, I don't actually know what they are. Well, maybe some of them are peanut cookies?

No, i am not back in Lhasa now :-(... maybe a comment was confusing? I went Lhasa-Shanghai(stayed 1 week)- Bern... and will hopefully be back in Lhasa in about 10 month...

I love many chinese cookies... maybe we should start a chinese-sweets-fan group ;-) 

Hmm, I think I had some orange sandwich biscuits somewhere, either India or China. I think India - they tasted disturbingly like chemicals...

I liked the crumbly peanut cookies you could get in China. They were really yummy.

Lhasa then Shanghai then Bern then Lhasa, all in the space of 2 weeks? Tiring!

Brent, like I promised you and RJ...I will prepare more when I get my analogue films...

Sebire, talking about sweets I miss in Europe... I am back in Bern now for less than one week and I had many of them...and this is the last empty wrapping I found under my desk ;-)... know them? If not TRY!

Miss Gesa, welcome back!!!!  Even though I know you'd still rather be in Lhasa.

Lhasa真漂亮。 I think every photo I've seen of Tibet, the sky is bright blue with some nice fluffy clouds hovering above the mountains.  It always looks so perfect.  Now I can see why you love it so much!

I tried the flickr link you emailed (both with and w/o the http://) with no success :(  I'm dying to see your other pics!

executer, yes from rooftop of Jokang temple:

@gesang:

Great photos, thank you for sharing!

this photo is great...did you take it from a rooftop?

This is for you Brent. For your 1. August request above. This is Lhasa.

Worked! Thanks Tvan!

Here is my first picture! Rinchen Sangpo, Founder of Tholing monastery, where I worked the last 2 month. Part of the wallpaintings in White Temple...after cleaning.

To insert an image first, upload your image(s) to a photo-sharing site (e.g. flickr or picasso), click on the image tool (second from the right), and insert the images address in the "image url" box.

You can also mess around with html if you're so inclined but, for boneheads like me, this works fine.

Have you tried clicking the "insert image" button? Never done it, so don't know.

Tell you what, how about I export chocolate to you, and you export Lemon Chewing Gum to me (I've only seen it in China), and we shall make our millions?

I thought about flickr...but I still wonder how Brent is able to put his wonderful pictures directly into the threads! Brent?:)

I dont really like Dove chocolate...I think I am spoiled since I moved to Switzerland ;-)! There are really good sweets in China...but chocolate...no. Maybe I should start a professional import! Watching my friends in Ngari eating Swiss chocolate I am sure there would be a market :-)!

Gesang, get a Flickr account, and upload them onto there!

(Did you try "Dove" chocolate? It's the best we could find.)

chillosk,

i went to Baoluo restaurant! 

i also had aubergine sandwich!

both absolutely great!! Thanks for the tip!

And you rescued our day 3 in Shanghai! We went to Souzhou in the morning...and didnt really like it...had bad food there for lunch...were happy to come back to Shanghai and planed to look for a restaurant in the station area...but we only found western-style or super-expensive or fast-food... and we were 2 foodies and one tired lady...and we were hungry... and then i remembered my notebook..with your tip..and  i put my friends in the back of a taxi...and took out the notebook...and we had a great dinner!!! :-)

Brent, i still agree with your post above:

---

calkins says  
July 5, 2008

Gesa, here are my simple instructions for Mac and PC:

Mac - Turn it on.

PC - Put it in the garbage.

:)

---

...but i still dont know how to put my pictures here...how do i prepare them...they dont have URL!

help!

Miss Gesa, where are those wonderful photos from Lhasa?!

Hello from Lhasa! Arrived savely and so happy to be back here!

I already impressed my swiss collegues with some chinese in the taxi and supermarket... they think i am perfect, i am depressed because understanding is soooooo hard. no nice and clear jenny chinese around here ;-)!

Will travel on to Ngari today afternoon... cu gesang!

Baoluo.. droooool.. Try the Swiss Beef, Rolled Seafood and the Aubergine Sandwich. Really good. I'm drooling just thinking about it.

Sounds like a once-in-a-lifetime trip.

Keep us updated and post pictures!

You know I strongly agree with that, Brent! :-)! I wish it would be easy like that...but there are still too much PCs in the world!

And there are ONLY PCs (8) in Zhada/Ngari/W-Tibet...sad, but better than nothing ;-)... If I will manage to post pictures I will send you a picture of Zhada-Internet-Shop! It is kind of cute :-)!

Gesa, here are my simple instructions for Mac and PC:

Mac - Turn it on.

PC - Put it in the garbage.

:)

Thaks auntie68! I will miss your posts when I struggle with chinese grammar during the next weeks :-)!!!!

Have a safe journey, and enjoy your adventure. We'll all be thinking of you. Take care.

Thanks Brent!

But I dont know if the line I use in Tibet will be fast enough to upload photos...and, to be honest, I still dont know how to post pictures here...! Last time I tried, only the pictures address appeared here... (and I will have to use PC in Tibet...no idea at all how to use a PC properly ;-)). 

Can you, or anybody, send me an instruction for Mac and PC?

I'll check the line and try to share some pictures or "flickr" them, I already promised to RJ! If not I will be happy to share some when I come back to Switzerland.

Wooohooo! In 24h from now I will be on my way to Fa3 lan2 ke4 fu2... ;-)!（ 法兰克福, It sonds so much better than the German Frankfurt ;-)!)... from where I change to 中国国际航空公司！Thanks CPod for all the airport lessons! 

Miss Gesa...one more day 'til Tibet!!  Happy and safe travels, and don't forget to post your experiences and photos, so we can all live vicariously through you!

gesa

Evidently if you cut and paste it from a lesson it brings the mouse over pop up along with it.

I also have a restaurant for you but I will have to send you the address when I get back to the office. I think you will like this one.

RJ, how did you write the characters with "pinyin-popup"? I thought this is new on the new page now, but it is not there with my characters ...

chillosk, Thanks! Think I found it! 

Restaurant Baoluo:

Fumin Lu 271, Shanghai (North of changle Lu, 1 block east of Changshu Lu)

..for everybody who is interested, too...hope it is the right one...!

谢谢你 playgirl! Also found Wujiang Rd., in google earth... cool, I forgot about using the programm before... amazing..。我等不及赴上海!

RJ, only 2 other fans? Sounds good for ME ;-)! But I am afraid there are millions...

good day. i am shan-ese. for my view, maybe you can try some traditional of CHINA, all kinds of food in small shops. WUJIANG RD. maybe you can find more than twenty kinds of dumplings.

welcome to shanghai

Okay, you have to eat in Baoluo！ I forgot the address though, but a quick search on the net will give it to you! It's for me the best Shanghai restaurant! Plus, it's cheap!!!

 我们的 Gesa 心动了. :-)  That makes 3 fans Ken has. (just kidding). Be sure to ask him about lexical density. Actually I like the guy too.  (in a lexical kind of way).

Wow, Justin, thanks for the compliment ;-)! But I think I am not able to talk when I make it to visit CPOd. I will be to excited to meet KEN;-)! I am one of his greatest fans!

Hehe...hope you visit C-pod and be part of Dear Amber!

Thank you RJ!,

I just checked your link and I think I have to choose which part of Shanghai I want to stay first then :-)!! There seem to be tons of jinjiang Inns all over Shanghai!:-)

but the prices seem to be o.k.. I think from what I read today 140-190yuan is the lowest price for a hotel room..(anyone knows better??) 

 wei1xiao4 this is really nice :), thanks for your concern!!! but i am very happy I dont have any problems with high altitude. I went to Tibet twice and all I feel is that my heart is beating like after a 500m sprint when I climb the stairs to my hotel room 3rd floor in Lhasa the first days. at 5200m, highest pass i have to cross I got a little headache once...but it is only in the car..I didnt have to walk/climb..there!

I am very lucky. I heard you are like born with this or not. Very fit people can have problems at 2000m ..(I am definatly not a fit and sporty type person!;-))

Where did you go in Tibet? I only know the west, but hope to go to Kham one day!

Is this Shangrila in North Yunnan, also Zhongdian or something like that? I went there 3 years ago! I loved the trip there, landscape is amazing! 

Gesang, I have also had the opportunity to travel to Tibet.  Have you been before?  If not, I recommend that you take a medication before hand that increases your blood receptivity to oxygen. It really helps with altitude sickness, which is no joke in Tibet. You must take it a few days before you leave for Tibet.  Let me know if you need details on this.  I'll call my doctor to get you the details.  I also should have used it in Shangrilila, but I underestimated its altitude at the time. 

For cheap but nice and clean someone had recommended

http://www.jinjianginns.com/en/?Language=Res_English

I have not had a chance to go look but its on my list.

I also remember Jenny mentioned Suzhou in a lesson once... something about traditional South-Chinese houses..

it was a good idea to start this thread, when I got my "visa positive" news yesterday i didnt know how to start preparing my private travel part in september! Now I think I will have to stop myself soon, because there is also many work stuff to prepare in the last week here... But I will have many quiet evenings in Tholing, Westtibet to work out the travel plans!

Hangzhou is definitely worth the trip.  If I remember correctly it is a little over an hour by train.  Beautiful, clean, interesting city, easy trip from Shanghai.  Go if you have time.  We also visited Suzhou which is another short trip on the train from Shanghai.  The gardens there were just amazing and I.M. Pei, the famous architect is from Suzhou, and designed the museum there. 

Wow, thanks very much wei1xiao4! 

I will copy those places in my notebook, too!

And yes, I think I try to visit Chinesepod! One more (really good) chance to thank them for their great work!!! 

I thought about going to Hangzhou by train, so maybe I will see this fancy station :-)! 

Gesang, I just got back from Shanghai a few weeks ago.  A few areas you should definitely try to get to are Taikang Lu where there are lots of cool restaurants, shops, and galleries along narrow streets.  It is really worth a visit.  Also visited Morganshan Lu along the Suzhou creek where the new contemporary Beijing artist warehouses are.  Very cool.  And Xintiandi is a great restaurant/ entertainment area.  There is also a new restaurant and entertainment area along the South Bund called Cool Docks.  Stop in at Spring Sunrise and tell them "David" sent you.  He is another C-poddie and it is his friend's classic rock bar.

It goes without saying that you will visit Chinesepod.  The new digs are really sweet.  But my favorite part of the trip was having dinner with Vera (my practice plan teacher)along with her mother and brother.  They were so gracious and Vera ordered all the Shanghai specialties.  The restaurant was on the Pudong side of Shanghai which, to me, has a similar vibe as Hong Kong. 

We stayed at the Renaissance Hotel near the old town.  They are doing a lot of construction work there right now putting in a new subway stop, so the prices were great!  Once inside the hotel it was quiet, so you may want to look check for bargains there.

Another fun thing to do is to go into the wholesale shops that are in buildings located in old town.  It is stall after stall, floor after floor of what could be construed as either junk or treasures.  My friend makes jewelry and found great jade pieces extremely cheap.  There was a Tibetan shop with prices better than I found in Tibet.  It is fun to go through from a cultural perspective as well.  They have a lot of shops for chinese wedding supplies which are fun to see.  And while you are in the old town area, don't forget to stop for xiaolongbao.  Yum!

If you leave Shanghai via train I suggest using 南站 (south station) it's made of glass and steel and is kind of cool if you're into that sort of thing. 

Oh, and ride the Maglev from the airport into the city if you like really fast trains.  It's worth the extra few RMB to ride it at least once.

chillosk, ha ha, sounds exciting this place! Maybe I will end up the same if i dont start to prepare my trip properly ;-)

Would you say Changning district is good to stay? I am really, really bad prepared for Shanghai until now...wasnt quite sure if we fly at all as I mentioned above...

Wow, 西藏!!! Excited for you!
When I went to Shanghai for vacation, I stayed in Rujia Home Inn, they have lots of branches if I'm not mistaken. I stayed in the one in Changning District, pretty decent.

Odd seeing couples trying to check in at 2 in the morning though, with nothing but a purse.

Hmmm.

This is a really interesting and helpful homepage rash, thanks!

I would suggest Hotel 168, or using CTRIP.COM to book a cheap hotel.  The difference between a hostel won't be much, and you'll have access to your own bathroom, internet, and the perks of a hotel room.  I've found that I can often get a hotel pretty darn close to the price of a hostel if Im diligent enough in searching. 

One day and no ideas? Please help! I am still hoping for insider tips!!! Especially about the hostel question...