http://www.hesspoint.com

I just found a great site that helps everyone who needs to fly a lot. Seatguru lets you see which seats in a plane are good and which will give you the guarantee for no sleep. Just select the airline, the plane and you see a map of all seats with comments. Now you can avoid accidently booking a seat next to a horde of crying babies.

When an old friend from university visited me in Shanghai last week we ended up looking up some other old friend’s blog and found this unbelievably cool website. Let’s just say we spend the next couple of hours (until 1h at night!) on this site. No, not that kind of site you are probably thinking of now, much much better: flightmemory.com.

In a nutshell, the site lets you enter all your flights you have ever done in your life. You can enter about anything from airline to seat number and if you sat aisle, middle or window (in case you still remember, damn where did I sit again on that flight in ‘03 from Toronto to Ottawa?). The beauty is that the site then creates you a statistic and some nice maps of all your flights. For me currently looks like this:

So as we are both flying a lot and on top of this I am a total travel nut (as you know when you read my blog) we sat there both hacking in our flights and wrecking our brains with questions like “What plane did I fly last time from Shanghai to Narita?” or “Which of the two Shanghai airports did I come in last time from Xiamen?” So we still have to see who leads in terms of distance and hours. Lets put it this way: 4.6 times around the world. Let me know if you beat that.

As many of you (at least if you also live in Shanghai) might have noticed, Shanghai has 3 new subway lines since End of last year. Now there is a great new website to plan your trip through the big city jungle: explore Shanghai metro.

It calculates the quickest route and gives you the estimated time and fare. Very convenient. And of course there is still the unbeaten dd-map if you can read and write basic Chinese.

Putuo Shan is an island located some 200 km south east of Shanghai. Though the island is relatively small (only 12.5 km²) it has much to offer to easily keep you busy 2-3 days which makes it the perfect weekend getaway from the hustle and bustle of the big city.

Getting there

There are several ways to get to the island. The most traditional one is certainly by boat. If you don’t have much time you can also fly. However we decide to take the night ferry which leaves in Shanghai in the evening and arrives in the morning. Getting your hands on tickets is not so easy. The tickets go on sale 3 days prior to the departure day at 7 am. So you need to be quick as tickets are sold out within a few hours, especially the 1^st and 2^nd class tickets. We only could get 2^nd class which is a 4 bunk cabin with shared bathroom for 205 RMB per person (255 if you have to buy from the street vendors). First class is 2 bunk cabins. The lower classes are not advisable to take (as some friends told me) as they are pretty dirty and you have to share with 8, 10 or 12 people. Anyway don’t have illusions; also 2^nd class is not very nice. On top there is no restaurant or shops on the ship so bring some “Fangbian Mian” for dinner. The ship leaves at 20h at the Wusong Pier which is north of downtown at the Huangpu (near where it unites with the Yangzi River) and arrives in Putuo Shan around 7h the next morning. The easiest way is taking a taxi (about 80 RMB) from downtown which takes approx. 1h. If you find any information which says the ferry leaves from Shiliupu Pier, then this information is outdated. The departure place has been changed a few months back.

For the return trip we opted for the speed ferry which takes 4h back to Shanghai. It is advisable to buy the return tickets at the same time otherwise you might get stuck on the island if tickets are sold out. If you buy return tickets in Shanghai you get a receipt and then you need to pick up the actual tickets in Putuo Shan close to the ferry station. The last speed ferry leaves Putuo Shan at 13h and arrives in Shanghai around 17h. When you buy tickets for the speed ferry you can book with bus transfer back to the city (Nanpu Bridge). Plan another 1.5h for the bus ride as the ferry arrives at the southern tip of Pudong (Nanhui).

All tickets you can buy at  a ticket office at the Bund, right next to the “I love Shanghai”.

You can take the slow and the speed ferry in any combination but we think this is the best because you can start right after work, and you have the full next day, while with the speed ferry you arrive around 14h. On the way back you can take the overnight ferry which leaves in the evening but if you don’t have another day off, then you need to go right to work after arriving at 6h in Shanghai.

The third alternative is flying from Hongqiao (SHA) to Zhoushan (HSN). There is an early flight in the morning at 7h and sometimes you can catch a flight back around 22:40h. If you are lucky you can get a discount and pay around 400 RMB. Regular price is 550 RMB.

Staying there

View from outside our Hotel

There are several hotels on the island. All have one in common: they are all way overpriced for the value you get. The best hotel is the Putuoshan Hotel (4 Stars) but you pay up to 800 RMB for a standard room. We went for the Citic Hotel(中信普陀大酒店)which is 3 stars and cost 580 on weekends and 460 during the week. The hotel was clean and quite ok but as I said totally overpriced. Check some of the websites below for hotel info.

What to do

In Putuo Shan you can basically do 3 things: Hiking, Praying and Sunbathing. The island offers perfect spots for all 3 activities:

Basically the whole island is good for hiking. The island is basically a mountain that rises 300m from the ocean and is coved my tranquil forests. You can hike once around the whole island in a day. One spot I particularly liked is Shancai Road. This part of the island is a little secluded and not so overrun buy tourists and pilgrims. On the eastern peninsula you can also visit two caves, Fanyin Dong and Shancai Dong. The trail takes you by both places.

No matter if you are into Buddhism or you just like to visit beautiful Chinese temples you are in the right spot. The island is packed with Temples. The three most important ones are Puji Temple, Fayu Temple and Huiji Temple. You best visit these temples in this order as this is the route for pilgrimage. On the way you can see true believers who get on their knees every 3 steps and pray. The temples are all very old and beautiful, each in its own way.

The island also offers great places for sun and sea lovers. Long sandy beaches, clean water and a light breeze from the ocean are perfect to relax after some temple spotting. Basically all beaches are rather clean, which goes for the whole island by the way; I have never seen such a neat and well cared for place in . However the only beach where swimming is allowed is the "Hundred-Step Beach". You have to pay 25 RMB to get in but for this you get some great beach fun.

General tips

Here I would like to point out some practical tips to take into account before and during the trip:

• Bring some “fangbian mian” (Instant Noodles) as there is no food on the ship and also decent restaurants are scarce on the island
• During summer make sure to bring some sun block and bug repellent
• Make planning for the trip at least a week ahead since boat tickets and hotels are often booked out days before. Book a hotel at least one week in advance, you can still cancel if you are not going
• Check the weather forecast frequently as the weather can change quickly
• Make sure to bring some cache as there are not too many ATMs on the island. However big hotels take credit cards
• If you want to take the mini busses you should go to the stops at the pier or at major sights where many people get off. Then you have a chance to get a space. Otherwise the busses will just pass with out stopping.

Links

Hotels: http://english.ctrip.com/Destinations/DistrictHotelIndex.asp?District=16
Hotels: http://www.putuoshan-hotels.com/en/introduce.html
Travel guide: http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/zhejiang/hangzhou/mt-putuoshan.htm
Weather forecast: http://weather.tq121.com.cn/detail.php?city=%D6%DB%C9%BD
Official Website: http://www.putuoshan.net/english.html
Travel guide: http://www.smartshanghai.com/out-of-town/putuoshan
Zhoushan Website: http://en.3011000.com/
Flights: http://www.elong.net/flights/

Oh my god! Right now I am on Huangshan. This is actually a quite cool place, as long as you do not want to go back down by cable car with a couple of hundred Chinese at the same time. It is quite horrible waiting time is 3h total. Actually on foot it would be faster but since it is raining also quite dangerous. I am not a wuss, but the mountain is very steep and every year there are many people falling down. So it really sucks but I cannot help it. The only good news is that I got my phone with me and good Internet coverage up here, so I can at least use the time to blog. Anyway, more later…

Wow, those last few weeks have been quite amazing and also very strenuous. I have been on business trip most of the time. Germany, North China, South China and North China again. Now I am finally back and hopefully stay for a few weeks in Shanghai.

Even though I like to be on the road and see lots of different places and people, it is always good to come home after a trip. Yes, I consider Shanghai as my home. Actually it feels much better if you accept a place as home. I do so very fast. Where ever I live is my home. I think it has a lot to do with accepting the new and growing attached to it to a certain extend, but not too much that you can still leave and do something new after a while. Of course I still feel a little attached to all places I have lived and called home for a while. And I think it is good since I have many places in the world I feel home when I come back there. Anyway, just some thoughts that came to mind as I type. I think writing blog is great because I can let my thoughts wonder while I type.

Also in between I finally reinstalled my computer after my Windows was dying a slow death. Don’t we all love Microsoft for the countless hours we sit in front of a practically non functional Windows system that crashes more then it runs, that does not let you install any programs anymore and in the end kills your Outlook without even feeling sorry about it. And then you live with it because you don’t have the time to spend at least 3 days without sleep and eating to backup all your stuff, reinstall, install all your programs, reinstalling again because your new system got messed up by some halfway installed driver crashing in the process, reinstalling all your programs again. That is where I am now (after exactly those 3 days, ok with some sleep and a little food). Welcome to the world of Windows Installation + 365 days. 

But the good news is, finally my Flickr Uploadr works again (which was also not the case for about 4 months). So finally I could upload all the amazing, stunning, dazzling, awesome and magical photos I took over the last few months. Ok I got a bit carried away concerning my talent as a amateur photographer, but the Hong Kong Skyline at night really kicks ass!

Christmas in China is really somewhat special. In spite of the ubiquitous Christmas decoration, Santa’s, Christmastrees and lights it just won’t feel like Christmas. Maybe it is the snow and the cold that is missing, maybe the "Glühwein" at the Christmas Market or is it just the yearly holiday Christmas reunion that lets the whole family gather once a year. Most likely a mix of all…

Since we had to stay in China and could not fly back to Germany we made the best of it, fleeing the big city once again. Xiamen (厦门) in the south of China is a great escape of the hectic, fast paced and loud Shanghai. Xiamen is a very interesting and clean town just across from Taiwan. Even better, if you get sick of traffic is to take the ferry to Gulangyu (鼓浪屿) a small islet that allows no motor vehicles. Lot’s of old clononial architecture, beaches and best of all: tranquility (at least at best as it gets in a country of 1.3 billion people ). However I do not recommend to stay on the island since the hotels are overpriced and nothing special and there are almost no decent restaurants. I can recommend the Gem Hotel (金后酒店) that is in Xiamen city center (very good value for the money and free internet in the rooms).

Ok so much from Xiamen for today. Photos you can see later here when I get back to Shanghai.

Till then Zaijian and Merry X-Mas!  再见和圣诞快乐!

On the weekend we went on an outing of my wife’s company to a place called Wuyi Shan (武夷山). Wuyi Shan is a mountain area in the north of Fujian Province. It was not well known till it got elected as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 99. The scenery is very beautiful with rivers, lakes, mountains, caves cliffs and valeys. From Shanghai it was just 50 min. by plane.
Really fun, besides climbing the mountains, was the rafting. This is very popular there and a lot of fun if you are not afraid of water.
So it was a nice weekend with my wife’s colleagues and I got to know many new people. However my legs still hurt from the mountain climbing. Yeah, I know I should do more sports, but I am too busy.
I would upload some photos, but Flickr is not working again. I love China but the Internet here plainly sucks. But TIC (That is China). Good night!

Guess what happens when 1.3 billion Chinese (ok maybe not so many) all have one week vacation at the same time. Actually you don’t wanna know. If you plan on taking any means of transportation, no matter train, bus or air, don’t even think about it. Well we were so smart to make travel plans anyway. So my wife waited at the train ticket counter for 3 (in words three, san 三) hours just to be told that there is absolutly no train ticket avalilable anymore. So in the end we had to book a pretty expensive flight. I just hope we get a train ticket back. Not that I like taking trains in China that much, especially not if they take 19h for a 700 km distance, but airtravel gets really expensive after a while. Actually the thing I miss most here is my car. Now I just realize how convinient car travel is. But on the other hand, you don’t really want to drive here in China, at least not if you don’t have a serious death wish. I have seen literally every violation of traffic rules that is possible. Starting from complete ignorance of red lights to 4 trucks driving parallel to each other on a 3 (!) lane highway. The most fun part was the busdriver who was then overtaking on the opposite lane. Ok I got carried away…

Anyway if you can, don’t travel when ever there is a longer holiday such as National Holiday or Chinese New Year. On the other hand that is about the only time when you get of work for a longer period of time. Yeah life can be a real bitch. On the other hand, did I mention that I have a ticket for the F1 race in Shanghai next weekend . That is really gonna rock and it is the last chance for me to see Michael race.

Ok that’s it for today. Actually I gonna upload some photos from our Suzhou trip last weekend soon. So stay tuned.