Category Archives: Travel

Travels across the world…

Asia, China

Li River 漓江

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Wednesday, 21-FEB-2007, Li River Cruise

That’s what you MUST do when going to Guilin. So at least all books and people say. The scenery is so famous that it even made it on the back side of the 20 RMB banknote, see my New Year article. OK, if we must 😉 actually, we again had very high expectations. We had secured our tickets already on Tuesday morning right in our hotel. You can buy tickets for this cruise virtually everywhere. As we (thanks to Carol) could book the Chinese way we ‘only’ paid 360 RMB (Lonely Planet says 460 RMB, which might indeed be a price a Westerner would need to pay when booking the trip in a group of Westerners). Ah, yes, per person certainly 😛 Continue reading Li River 漓江 →

Asia, China

Guilin 桂林

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“Say ‘Guìlín’ and watch the looks of rapture (and pride) on the faces of Chinese people. Dotted with supernaturally lovely karst topography gracing the Li River (Li Jiāng) – these bizarre limestone upthursts shape-shifting in dancing mists and haze – the city’s beauty has been celebrated for generations by painters and poets.” This is how the Lonely Planet guide book on China starts describing Guilin. Thereafter also come some warnings about dminished charme due to modern development and cashing-in on the tourist attractions. But prepared with such statements you nonetheless start your journey with highest expectations. Continue reading Guilin 桂林 →

Asia, China

Shanghai Christstollen

Shanghai is probably not yet famous for its traditional Christmas. But we’ll gonna help that reputation bit 😉 My family has been baking Christstollen for decades. My mother took up the tradition from her mother. And I, otherwise not a big home baker, have been once so crazy to gather some friends back in Frankfurt to try it ourselves. The result was overwhelmingly good. And so the idea to try it again here in Shanghai was probably quite straight-forward. Continue reading Shanghai Christstollen →

Asia, Europe, Germany

Germany III (Placeholder to be filled)

It is embarassing but true: I need to insert yet another placeholder to keep room for our second visit to Germany, during which we had the pleasure to attend two weddings of friends of mine, combined with a sightseeing tour to southern Germany. Yet again…time to sort out picture is rare… Continue reading Germany III (Placeholder to be filled) →

Asia, China

Century Park “Mosaiculture”: Plant Sculptures

As part of some Tourism Festival Shanghai’s Century Park has at the moment a large number of Plant Sculptures on display. They have been designed by gardeners of different Shanghai district, various Chinese provinces, and also quite large a number of foreign countries. Countries I remember include France, Spain, Belgium, Brasil, Canada, USA, Japan. Not, however, Germany 🙁 Continue reading Century Park “Mosaiculture”: Plant Sculptures →

Asia, China

Service Culture

I saw it already quite often, whenever sitting in a restaurant or just ordering a coffee at Starbucks. But recently I had a talk with a Chinese colleague, who spent several years in Germany. And being pointed to it she confirmed my probably pretty western point of view:

It is about how to deal with service. I can remember very well that my mother tried hard to make me say “please” and “thank you” during my childhood. (Well, she actually tried to make me say “Bitte” and “Danke”, but it means the same… 😉 ) I cannot forget her pointing to the back of a public bus, which we one day happened to follow. On its left back side was a sticker. On it a car in red and a bus in green on the right side of the street at a bus stop. Attached to the bus was a big green arrow, which curved back on the street in front of the car. Meaning was clear: Please give way to busses pulling out of bus stops. And below that the word “Danke!”. Continue reading Service Culture →

Asia, China

Best of Press: Farmer banned from flying home-made plane

I am coming across funny newspaper articles every other day. Articles, which are likely meant to be serious, but shed an interesting light on China. So I think as a European at least.

And I thought, if I don’t have too much time to write articles, then let me share some with you from other sources. (Hope I don’t get into trouble copying them…)

Here’s one from today’s issue of Shanghai Daily.

The story is good for 2 reasons:

  1. The act as such: Who would do that in Europe? But it’s somehow cool!
  2. The reason given for intervention: There are many reasons stated, all of them completely obvious to me, which is one of the reasons why I never made a plane myself at home. (Hey, as a small boy I did dream of that!)Chinese might seem to need this detailed explanation, however, to understand why home-made planes need to be banned.

Farmer banned from flying home-made plane

Li Xinran

2006-07-24

THE Zhejiang provincial branch of China’s aviation industry has launched an investigation into a farmer-turned pilot, who flew his home-made plane earlier this month, Qianjiang Evening News reported yesterday. The authority said “do-it-yourself” aircrafts are banned from flying in China’s skies.

Xu Bin, the farmer-turned pilot, kicked off a 25-minute test flight in his 30,000 yuan (US$3,750) airplane in Quzhou, eastern China’s Zhejiang Province, at about 3pm on July 8.

Reaching an average height of 50 meters, Xu reportedly accomplished a series of maneuvers, including dives and sudden swerves.

Having heard of the flight via local media reports, Zhejiang aviation authorities immediately launched an investigation, and discovered that Xu did not register his flight, which breached the Aviation Law of China and several other relevant regulations. They banned Xu from making any future flights.

Home-made planes may face hidden safety problems, which are very dangerous to pilots, passengers and people in the vicinity. If the plane loses control, it may cause a terrible accident, so the government won’t allow any unapproved flights and will strictly handle the breach to protect citizens and their assets, said Wang Jian, the vice director of the flight criteria department in the Zhejiang office of the CAAC.

Xu made the 130 kilogram plane with an engine he purchased from a Website. The cockpit seats were taken from a car as well as the DIY frame and other components.

Copyright © 2001-2005 Shanghai Daily Company

Categories: Shanghai

Originally Created: 07/24/2006 04:29:00 PM

Last Edited: 07/24/2006