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28th September 2007

Some habits die hard

Beijing Olympic Organizers are doing their best to present a respectable image to the world. In Beijing they are trying to ban people from spitting in public.

Whether is the dust blown in from the Gobi desert, the pollution, or for whatever reason, Chinese people seem to love a good clearing of the throat.

Ryan Day’s hopes for the Olympics

Canadian runner Ryan Day has moved to Toronto to join the Brooks Canada Marathon Project. The project aims to help train runners in groups, rather struggling by themselves. He is competing this weekend in the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon.

“The Olympics are never a sure thing but it would give me a much better shot at qualifying if I came out and joined it,” Day said. “So I took the leap and moved out here.”

“You have a group of people that’s training and pushing each other and I think you get better results,” said Mike Dyon, a four-time Canadian marathon champion.

Read more: Day hopes Marathon Project can help him get to Beijing Olympics

27th September 2007

Shanghai Guide

With a population of over 13 million people, Shanghai is one of the world’s ‘mega-cities’. Shanghai is hosting some of the football events at its stadium. Shanghai might have the cultural icons of Beijing, but the city is a good reflection of China’s booming economy. The city is also hosting the 2007 Special Olympics and the World Expo in 2010.

Getting to Shanghai

By plane

Shanghai has two airports. Pudong International is mainly for international flights and Hongqiao for domestic flights. It does pay however, to check which aiport your flight is coming in to and leaving.

Hongqiao Airport

Located 18km away from the Bund area, Hongqiao airport can be reached by taxi in around 30 minutes depending on the traffic. Shanghai’s traffic can be pretty horrendous so you should give yourself plenty of time if you are traveling during the rush hour.

Bus 925 leaves from Renmin Square and a taxi will set you back around 50 to 70 RMB.

Phone: 5114-665

Web: Shanghai Airport

Pudong International Airport

Phone: 6834-6467

Web: Shanghai Airport

Getting around Shanghai

Shanghai has a fairly extensive and efficient subway system. There are four lines and they are color coded for easy navigation.

Taxis are plentiful, but can be difficult to flag during peak periods.

Shanghai subway

Many buses in Shanghai are electrically powered.

Shanghai bus

If you are feeling adventurous (or a little crazy) these three wheeled bikes will take you where you want to go.

Shanghai bike

Things to see and do in Shanghai

People’s square

The largest public space in Shanghai, the People’s Square is a great spot for taking a break from the bustle of Shanghai. Within the area you can also find Shanghai City Hall, Shanghai Museum, Shanghai Grand Theater and the Shanghai City Planning Exhibition hall. People’s Square can be reached from the station with the same name on metro lines 1 & 2.

Shanghai Museum

Shanghai Museum was built in 1952 and is a gallery of Chinese arts. A new building was completed in 1996. The museum has a collection of over 120,000 objects, in 11 galleries including bronze, ceramic, calligraphy, coins and jade pieces, showcasing China’s long history and ancient arts. The museum is located in the People’s Square at the southern end.

The Bund

The bund has come to represent the city of Shanghai. Gothic style buildings were built in Shanghai’s heyday of the 1930’s and you can look across the Huangpu River to see the ultra modern Pudong with its glittering towers and buildings. The walk along the Huangpu River will offer many photo opportunities. The area is busy with Chinese and foreign tourists and while it is not one of the quietest places it does have something of a carnival atmosphere in the evenings.

Oriental Pearl Tower

Love it or hate it, you can’t miss the Pearl Tower. It was built in 1994 and looks over the Huangpu River and the Bund. It is an impressive 468 meters high and the tallest tower in Asia and the third tallest in the world. Somehow McDonalds got their golden arches placed at the bottom of the tower, making sure that they appear in photos taken across from the bund.

Yuyuan Gardens and Bazaar

The Yuyuan Gardens is famous for the Huxinting Teahouse. A fantastic place to sample one of the many varities of Chinese teas. The whole area around Yuyuan Gardens unfortunately has become extensively commercialized with Chinese souvenir shops.

Yuyuan Gardens Shanghai

Jing An Temple

Built in AD 247 the temple was mostly destroyed in the Cultural Revolution and now is being restored. The temple can be reached by line 2 of the metro.

Free Wifi

Free wifi is available in a few hotels, cafes and restaurants.

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
American-style coffee spot.
Unit 02-03, Block 10, Xintiandi
6387 4248

Blue frog
86 Tongren Road (near Yan’An Road), Shanghai
Tel: 6247 0320
Website: www.bluefrog.com.cn

My first Beijing Olympic merchandise purchase

Tsingdao beer are a domestic sponsor of the Beijing Olympic Games. The city Qingdao (same pronunciation) is where Tsingdao beer is made. I will be reporting more on Qingdao in a couple of days time. Tsingdao beer is China’s export quality beer, like Foster’s is to Australia. Most big cities have their own local beer, which most locals drink. Beijing’s local beer is Yanjing beer and it is one of the tastier beers in China.

Beijing Olympic sponsor Tsingtao beer

Shanghai stadium 2 replies

Shanghai stadium is set to host the football preliminary. It is an existing venue and was built in 1997. It has a seating capacity of 80,000.

Getting to Shanghai Stadium:

Shanghai Stadium has its own subway station on line number 4 (the purple line). It can also be easily reached from Caoxi Road Station on line number 3 (the yellow line), or line 1 (red subway line).

Shanghai Stadium

Shanghai Stadium

Shanghai Stadium

Shanghai Stadium

Shanghai Stadium

Shanghai Stadium

Shanghai Stadium

Shanghai Stadium

Shanghai Stadium

China’s women football team urge coach to stay

China’s women’s football team is urging its coach Domanski-Lyfors from Sweden not to quit the team. The coach is dissappointed with the recent results in the World Cup. The team failed to make it past the quarter finals.

“We were making progress and we are getting more aware of our shortcomings, which are so much significant for the preparation of Beijing Olympics,” said China Football Association (CFA) vice president Xie Yalong.

“Domanski brought us many positive things, making us play as a team and encouraging us to keep upbeat for the future. We are very happy and we hope she could stay.”

Read more: China’s football players beg coach to stay

UK boxer getting closer to the Olympics

Michael Maguire from Eastfield has taken a step closer to the Beijing Olympic Games by winning the European bantamweight gold medal in Poland.

He is moving up to join a squad of medal hopefuls.

“This is fantastic news but doesn’t come as a big surprise to me,” said Clive Hogben, his trainer at the Kettering School Of Boxing. I know exactly what Michael is capable of and have always said the only person that will ever beat him is himself. If he continues to put in the hard work and commitment he is doing at the moment then I’m sure he’ll make it to the top.”

He has two upcoming boxing Olympic qualifiers in Italy in February and Greece in March.

Read more: Maguire closes in on the Beijing Olympics

Sohu betting big on the Olympic Games

China’s web portal, Sohu is betting big on the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Sohu is often referred to as the Yahoo of China. Facing competition from other Olympic Game news sites, analysts are uncertain as to what Sohu can return for its investment in the Olympic Games.

China’s internet companies like Baidu, a search engine like Google are all down on the stock market. China is only second to the US in internet users with 160 million users, but online advertising still accounts for only five per cent of the whole market.

Read more: Chinese Web Portal Bets Big on Beijing Olympics

26th September 2007

Shanghai’s floating billboard

I am currently in Shanghai checking out the preparations for Olympics in China and took this video of a digital billboard going down the Huangpu River from Shanghai’s famous Bund.

China successfully tests third runway

China successfully tested its newly completed third runway. They are able to operate the three runways simultaneously allowing the airport to handle 115 flights per hour. It is a first for Asia and only a few airports in the US and Europe can handle similar capacity.

The airport now has the capacity to handle 60 million passengers per year.

Read more:Beijing tests new airport


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