Travel China and Beyond

Are you willing to give VoIP and Skype a try…

Have you tried Skype yet? If you have not than may be you have been in a corner of the world, where the Web does not reach or you are completely oblivious to all the noise VoIP has created over the last several years. At any rate, I thought I should provide some (at least minimal) information on using VoIP in China for those of you who may be planning a trip or relocation to this country.

Over the last 2 years I have used both Vonage (yes, I brought my Vonage Linksys router with 2 phone ports from the States when I moved to Beijing), and Skype. I used that service for almost 2 years until I started testing Skype (testing is a bit of an overstatement I started trying it) and was happy to find its quality good. (I will write about some of the problems I had to resolve to make Vonage work in a separate posting)

Having used Skype with my laptops (both Apple iBook, Dell Latitude, and HP laptop) I decided to take the plunge and buy a Skype phone. The product I purchased is shown here: As you can tell it is a Linksys basestation and cordless phone.  At any rate, the product works fine — I have been using it for 4 days now.  So, if you want to get on with the “program” and start using this new technology, give it a try — you can always go back to the traditional wireline phone….Let me know if you have questions

Information on one of the more established areas for expats in Beijing

I wanted to post a quick summary for those searching for information on places to live in Beijing…If you have a family with you and are looking for an area close to the WAB or ISB (International schools in Beijing), you may want to consider the area near by River Garden.  Included here is an image / map I prepared based on a Google Earth snapshot of the area:

In this area you can find not only River Garden (established community) and Eurovillage but also Capital Paradise (to the West of River Garden — not seen on the image here), and Leman Lake (next to River Garden — they share a wall, not seen on the image either).  All these developments are within 5-10 minutes by bus or bike from ISB and about 10-15 minutes from WAB (Western Academy of Beijing).  As you can see from the image above, this area also includes a fairly well established shopping plaza with the proverbial Jenny Lou’s supermarket as well as a bunch of restaurants — even a Domino pizza franchise outlet, services like a Vet clinic, medical office, a tailor, as well as some shops for clothing and shoes, and of course a golf driving range.
If you have questions on this area do not hesitate to drop me a line.

Interesting Initiative by the Beijing City Government

In the last couple of years I have observed multiple cities in Asia (e.g. Taipei, in Taiwan) and North America either deploying or planning wireless broadband networks for city-wide access.  Today I came across such an initiative by the Beijing City Government as well.  Here is a link (in English) to the form which was created to gather input from what it looks like mostly expats.

Of course until that city-wide broadband network is available, you may want to consider the hot-spots which are available across multiple bars, restaurants, etc. in Beijing.  I have been compiling those in a list from various sources and personal experience.

Here are some currently active spots for Free WiFi:

Cafe Niro - near Tong Li Studio just off Sanlitun

Fruity Mix - Pacific Place

John Bull Pub - 44 Guanghua Road

Man Pen Xiang Restaurant - Basement of Times Square (Shi Dai Shang Chang)

O’Farrell Coffee - SOHO Block C, ground floor

S.I.T. Cafe - Hairun International Condo No. 2, Jiangtai Road (and other locations too)

Sculpting in Time Cafe == No.1 Building 12 Hua qing jia yuan.Cheng fu lu.
Haidian District. (West of WuDaoKou train station.)
All Sages Bookstore == near South gate of Tsinghua University.

Be There or Be Square Café == Beijing Oriental Plaza, No. 1 East Chang An Avenue , Dong cheng district.
Bar Blue == Tongli Studios, Sanlitun bei lu, Sanlitun bar area, Chaoyang District.
The Drum and Bell cafe == Located at the corner of the plaza between the Drum and Bell towers.  41 Zhong Lou Wan Hu Tong, East District, Beijing
Grandma’s Kitchen == Level B, Jianwai SOHO, Dong Sanhuan Zhong Lu, Chaoyang District

Steak & Eggs == 5, 6 Xiushui Nanjie, Jianguomenwai, Chaoyang District (favourite with the expat crowd for Sunday brunches)
Top Club & Lounge == 4th Floor of Tongli Studios (South Entrance), Sanlitun.
www.topclubbeijing.com.

Cafe de Niro == 1 st floor Tongli Studios, Sanlitun north bar street, Chaoyang District.
The Den == Expat bar and club == 4A Gongti Donglu (next to City Hotel)
Fruity Juice == 107 PCCW Building, Gongti bei lu,Chaoyang District .
John Bull Pub == 44 Guang hua lu, Chaoyang District.
Mrs Shanen’s Bakery and Café == 5 Kaifajie, Xibaixinzhuang, Shunyi. (near River Garden and Capital Paradise housing developments)
Fishnation == 31 Nanluoguxiang, Sanlitun Area (the little alley between Poacher’s bar and Kai)

Man Pen Xiang Restaurant == Basement of Times Square (Shi Dai Shang Chang).

O’Farrell Coffee == SOHO, Block C, ground floor.

Le Petit Gourmand == South Bldg., 10 Sanlitun lu (North Bar Street), in alley just west of Skyline Bar)

SPR Coffee == Hairun International Condo No. 2. (near Lidu in DaShanZi area)
The Bookworm == Building 4, Nan sanlitun lu, Chaoyang District.
Touch Bar == 8 Qianhai Beiyan, Houhai Area, Xi cheng District.
Salud Cafe/Restaurant == 66 Nan Luogu Xiang.
There Cafe Salon & Restaurant == 97 Nanluoguxiang, Dongcheng.
Gustomenta
The (new) Bookworm == Building 4, Nan Sanlitun Road, Chaoyang District.
Saveurs de Corée == Swish Korean bistro with free WiFi
Chazhenxiang Tea and Coffee House == Zhongguancun Nan Dajie, next to a KFC
Kerry Centre Hotel == No. 1 Guanghua Road,Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100020,
China World Hotel, Beijing == No. 1 Jianguomenwai Avenue, Beijing 100004, China
(The place itself is really nice, aside from the free WiFi –  enjoy    )
Cafe Pause == 2 Jiuxianqiao Lu
The Pavillion == Opposite Workers’ Stadium’s West Gate
Sequoia Cafe == 44 Guanghua Lu (beside John Bull Pub)
Stone Boat Bar == Ritan Park, southwest corner
Browns == Sanlitun South, Chaoyang District (above The Loft)

Traveling from Taiwan to China - what are the options

You may or may not know that travelling between China and Taiwan is fairly complicated. There are no direct flights between the two countries (except for several days during the year — during the Lunar New Year / Chinese New Year festival (late January or February))

So if you are travelling form Taipei to Shenzhen one good way to make the trip cost effective is to purchase a flight from Taipei to Hong Kong on lets say Cathay Pacific then also at Taipei airport you can purchase a ferry ticket for Hong Kong to Shekou (in Shenzhen) for HK$200.  If you have checked in luggage that luggage will be transfered to the ferry the same way it gets transfered if you switch between planes / flights.

Once you arrive in Hong Kong Airport, just ask for the gate location for the ferry services.  The ferry company I used is CKS .  The gate for the ferry service is located in the transit area of the airport so you do not need to go through immigration or customs.

If you have checked-in luggage make sure that you have at least one and a half hours between the flight and ferry otherwise the luggage will be late.  If that happens the ferry service gate person will ask you to stay for the next ferry — they are every 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Once you arrive at Shekou harbour you can take a cab to Crowne Plaza Shenzhen (the Venetian Hotel), it’s about 20km. away.

I have found this to be a fast and cost effective way to get to Shenzhen.

If you need to travel from Taipei to Shanghai you could travel still to Shenzhen as I described above OR you could travel via Jeju island.  The flights are Taipei to Jeju and then Jeju to Shanghai.  That will save you at least 2-3 hours travel time (vs. a flight Taipei-Hong Kong - Shanghai)

Then if you are flying to Beijing you can take the Shanghai route above or the Shenzhen route or fly via Seoul (Incheon airport).  The flight from Incheon to Beijing is less than one and a half hours duration.

Well, I hope this helps!  Happy Travels and let me know if you have questions.

Travel to Fenghua, Zhejiang Province — Off the beaten track

Most visitors to China spend certain amount of time in Zhejiang Province, but that is usually in the city of Hangzhou - a beautiful place famous for both its natural scenery as well as tea plantations.  If you want to get to a less travelled location after visiting Hangzhou, you could head to Fenghua located near Ningbo city (south of Hangzhou).
Fenghua is the hometown of Chiang Kai-Shek, a Chinese figure who has influenced China and Taiwan’s history to a large extent (Chiang Kai-Shek fled with Kuomintang troops to Taiwan in 1949)

Fenghua is famous for both natural scenery as well as great fruit, yellow-fin tuna (from the Eastern Sea), tea — yes there are tea plantations in the hills around the city.

The notable sites around Fenghua are Xikou Xuedou Hill (northwest of Ningbo city) together with the ancient town of Xikou (here you can find Chiang Kai-Shek’s house and the tomb of his mother — apparently a tunnel 668 meters long) Xuedou Temple located on Xuedou Hill, is one of the famous Buddhist temples in China.  The temple (rebuilt in the late 1980s / early 1990s) has also a Sheng School (associated with Chan Buddhism). 
Near by is also the Tingxia lake — a man-made lake on the Shanxi River (south of Xuedou Hill) - which offers some good opportunity for relaxing away from large crowds.

Overall a visit to Fenghua will give you the chance to see some old Chinese towns and architecture and step away from the rapid development in the big cities of China.

Air Travel in China

Over the past 2 weeks I had the interesting experience of having a bunch of flights between Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing.  The reason I call them interesting is that I heard again the strange explanation of why flights get delayed.  Over the years of living and working in China I saw the country’s air travel network being stressed more and more.  At the same time I also saw the masterful capability by the various airlines (Air China, Eastern, Southern….) not to answer your question when flights get messed up.

There are many ways to let the passengers know that they will not get on time to their destination, but the “best” one I hear all the time in China is “We regret to inform you that the flight is delayed due to aircraft delay”

Does this statement really provide any information?  No, it just tells you “the flight is delayed” Why is it delayed?  No plane… Duh…But why is the plane not on time? Well that is a whole different question isnt’t and no, we will not tell you why

So, that is about it.  Don’t worry when you travel — you flight could be delayed, and you will not know why, but on the other hand, does it matter ?  You just sit back and relax.

Oh, and by the way, my flight from Hangzhou to Beijing earlier today left about 10 minutes ahead of schedule.  You better not be late for your flight

Over the past 2 weeks I had the interesting experience of having a bunch of flights between Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing.  The reason I call them interesting is that I heard again the strange explanation of why flights get delayed.  Over the years of living and working in China I saw the country’s air travel network being stressed more and more.  At the same time I also saw the masterful capability by the various airlines (Air China, Eastern, Southern….) not to answer your question when flights get messed up.

There are many ways to let the passengers know that they will not get on time to their destination, but the “best” one I hear all the time in China is “We regret to inform you that the flight is delayed due to aircraft delay”

Does this statement really provide any information?  No, it just tells you “the flight is delayed” Why is it delayed?  No plane… Duh…But why is the plane not on time? Well that is a whole different question isnt’t and no, we will not tell you why

So, that is about it.  Don’t worry when you travel — you flight could be delayed, and you will not know why, but on the other hand, does it matter ?  You just sit back and relax.

Oh, and by the way, my flight from Hangzhou to Beijing earlier today left about 10 minutes ahead of schedule.  You better not be late for your flight

Travel to Hangzhou - sites, shopping, places to see

I have travelled to Hangzhou on numerous occasions over the past 19 years.  My first trip there was in 1988 (while I was a student in Shanghai).  Friends of mine were studying in the Hangzhou Fine Arts Institute.  At that time the city was a very nice escape from the overcrowding and smog of Shanghai.  Plus you could not miss the beautiful hills and tea growing areas.

Over the years Hangzhou has changed as the rest of China.  It has grown and become modernized.

The famous sites remain pretty much the same though:

•  The West Lake — with many scenic pagodas and temples as well as the natural beauty of the surrounding hills  (I used to love the beer made in Hangzhou with the same name XiHu PiJiu)
• The Buddhist carvings at the Feilai Feng Caves
• Multiple Tea plantations

If you like Tea, Hangzhou is the place to enjoy fresh picked tea — the famous Long Jing (Dragon Well) variety of green tea.

In the early Spring (April timeframe) you can visit some of the small restaurants on the outskirts of Hangzhou in the hills and both have very nice dinner or lunch as well as enjoy some very aromatic tea and also see and smell the freshly picked tea.

At that time of the year you will find tea leaves drying in woven baskets everywhere infront of the houses in the hills.

Shopping related:
Tea -  You can also purchase the fresh green tea at a very reasonable prices — read Cheap…

 The famous Long Jing teas are:
  XiHu Long Jing
  Lion Xi Hu Long Jing
  Emperor Long Jing  / Emperor Lung Ching
Silk Umbrellas
  Hangzhou silk and Zhejiang Bamboo
  Hangzhou is also famous for silk — the other famous silk city in China is Suzhou.

Shopping street:
   Hubin street (near Hyatt)
   Qing Hefang Street   
   XuHu TianDi — a bar and restaurant / tea house street.  Does this remind you of the name sake in Shanghai ?
Some Museum sites:

• The China Tea Museum located in Shuangfeng, Longjing Road ,Hangzhou
• China Silk Museum (on bus number 38) - located at the bottom of YuHuang Hill near the West Lake.
• West Lake Museum — a nice place to relax and enjoy the scenery — located near XiHu Tiandi

Other places to visit:
  Chenghuang Temple
  Leifeng pagoda
  Dragon Well Village
  Su Causeway
  JingCi Temple
  Yue Temple

With regards to places to stay, here are some options:

• If you would like to be located at a really nice spot - near the West lake — essentially across the street from the paths around the lake — you should consider the Shangri-La hotel; Rates are around RMB1100
• The Radisson Plaza Hotel — also a nice one. Rates are in the range of RMB1000
• Hangzhou International Holiday Inn — you can get a nice room for about RMB600

In terms of getting to the city, you probably should consider travel via train to Shanghai. The train ride is very comfortable and relatively fast (make sure you get on an express train).  Otherwise if you are travelling by plane keep in mind that the airport is a good distance away from town and a taxi ride to the airport will run you around RMB120.

I have heard also about a new service of Air China.  If you are traveling via Air China and you need to get from Hangzhou to Pudong Int’l Airport you can use the Free Shuttle.  The bus leaves from Hangzhou Tourist Center and goes to Shanghai Pudong International Airport.

Well, this is a quick summary.  Enjoy your trip!

Driving in China

Well, last year I wrote several postings on driving in Beijing, and taking road trips outside of the city.  Driving yourself certainly gives you the ability to see more and experience sites and people that you might not otherwise so it is something to consider.  However, I also underlined that driving in China could be rather challenging for the fact that many drivers are really inexperienced and do not give much thought to road regulations.  It is not unlikely to see drivers that are taking the access road of a highway BUT driving in the opposite direction of a one way road (which most access roads are).  Or seeing a driver backing on an exit ramp because he/she took the wrong exit from a highway so rather than taking the exit completely and getting back on the highway again later down the street, they put in reverse and drive back onto the highway…..(Believe me I have been in a car where the driver did JUST that - it was very scary…)

So having driven a car in China for a year (after getting a local drivers license via Fesco - you can see my post on how to do that on this blog), I was glad to see an article in Chinanews.cn that the Ministry of Public Safety is putting in place much stricter rules / exams for granting drivers licenses.  The new focus will be on “safety awareness” (per the Ministry) — i.e. road behaviour — instill in drivers the need for “road etiquette”….

I cannot wait for this to happen this will be a great goal and will bring huge improvement as long as the plan gets implemented.

Visiting the Lama Temple - YongHeGong - in Beijing

Temples in China have many different origins…The Lama temple in Beijing is (per the Chinese historians) the biggest Buddhist Temple in Beijing.  It was built in 1694 as a residence for the Qing Dynasty prince Yong.  Then in 1725 it was made into a palace with the name Yong He Gong (apparently the name is supposed to mean Harmony and Peace Yong He, palace Gong).  Then in 1744 the palace was changed into a Lamasery.

The construction of the place carries the characteristics of multiple cultures - Han, Manchu, Tibetan.  There are many Buddhist statues in the various halls of the place.  With the three most famous ones being:

• Niche of Buddha - carved from NanMu (one of the precious hard woods of China)
• Five Hundred Arhat Mountain - carved from red sandalwood
• Big Buddha Maitreya - 18 meters high statues. its main part carved from one single piece of white sandalwood

Here are some images from the Temple so you can decide for yourself if you would like to visit.  More images will be posted in the blog Photo Album web page.  Enjoy!