Link from Forbes
China's fastest changing cities
1. Shenzhen, Guangdong
2. Guangzhou, Guangdong
3. Hong Kong
4. Shanghai
5. Beijing
6. Dalian, Liaoning
7. Nanjing, Jiangsu
8. Xiamen, Fujian
9. Tianjin
10. Chongqing
It is over.... or is it?
I hadn't blogged about this at all but anyone who is anyone in Asia or considers themself Asian would've known about this by now so there is no need for me to repeat the news and be stupid by posting the pics up on my blog. All I can say is - leave the poor man alone! He wasn't the one who distributed the photos. He's apologised and is going to quit showbiz. I don't understand why people are always so obsessed with celebrities' lives and pounce on them the minute they aren't shown to be 'perfect' and 'flawless.'
When I was coming back home from the airport on the night of the 4th, in sub-zero temperatures, at around midnight, I had a fairly long conversation with the taxi driver. While we were driving out of the airport he commented to me that the second terminal is finished and due to open in March 2008.
I'm surprised that a airport that is fairly new (opened in 1999) has had need for another terminal already, but given the upcoming Olympics and the economy of the country and growing affluence of its people, I guess it's no surprise.
Now, while I was searching for information on this I discovered that Shanghai is planning on building a third terminal already!
http://www.syml.cn/html/logistics_freight7.html
Shanghai Pudong International Airport will build a third passenger terminal and two more runways by 2015 to meet rising air travel demand, Wu Nianzu, chairman of Shanghai Airport Authority, said yesterday.
The expansion will further boost the capacity of the city's bigger airport to 80 million passengers a year and six million tons of freight in 2015.
"Pudong Airport became the world's sixth busiest airport in terms of capacity last year. With the forthcoming Olympics and the World Expo, the airport will play a more important role," said Wu. "To expand the airport is not a local strategy, but a strategy to serve the development of the Yangtze River Delta region and the whole nation."
What did I do? Random stuff in no particular order...
* With Chinese New Year coming up (tomorrow actually) I got some red packets. Woohoo! I felt bad about taking them but I couldn't not take them so...
* I went to Guanghua market on Bade Lu and near the Technology University and Nova across the road from Taipei Main station to get me a graphics tablet. My dad took me and we traipsed around in the rain to compare prices. Unlike China they have set prices (price tags) and you can't really bargain much at all which makes it easier to compare prices. I didn't know which size I wanted/needed nor which type. In the end I went for a cheaper, smaller one as I figure I'm not gonna be drawing masterpieces or anything so I didn't really need the high end Intuous model (which cost double the price!). I got the Bamboo Fun model (from Wacom) which has a 'Fun' name (LOL) and from reviews I read online it seems to be pretty good. Yes, this research-aholic actually bought something without researching it beforehand! It cost 3420 NT, which we 'bargained' down from 3490 (other stores were selling it for 3600 and 3700). (and no, it would not be cheaper in China and comparing prices is a nightmare here). I was actually after the Hello Kitty model but they didn't sell it. The Graphire line is being phased out and replaced with the Bamboo/Bamboo Fun line.
* I went to the new Hello Kitty Cafe only to be told there was a minimum 1.5 hour wait (it was that popular) and that next time I should pre-book beforehand!
90 Da'An Road
(very close to Sogo Zhongxiao Fuxing / Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT station).
* Got my Swatch (Menthol Tone - HKD$480) only to realise it was cheaper in Taiwan (2050 NT). ARGH!
* Met up with a friend in Hong Kong (at Times Square, Causeway Bay) for one hour. She is from Taiwan originally, met her in Sydney and now living in Hong Kong.
* Nearly missed my flight in HK after telling myself I wouldn't let that happen again. Of course my plane had to be literally right at the very end of the long terminal in the very huge airport (again!) I don't know how this happened. I checked the board and it didn't say anything. It did not say "Boarding". A few minutes later I looked at it again and it said "Final Call". WTF? Needless to say I ran like crazy but I was surprisingly not even the last person to go on board. You don't want to know what it is like to travel with Mainland Chinese people (roll eyes). They think catching a plane is like catching a bus or a train!
* Can't get the Chinese New Year song out of my head. I am sure there is only one song? They play the same song in stores in China and in Taiwan. There is an English version too. OMG. It is so annoying yet so funny, I can't get that crazy song and wacky lyrics out of my head. "Gong Xi Gong Xi Gong Xi Ni..."
* I went to Core Pacific Living Mall - A 19 storeys and open 24 hours a day mall in Taipei
* I left my video camera at my grandparent's place! :(
* When I came home last night I thought "Wow, our place looks so big and so clean and tidy!" (the joys of having an ayi who cleaned our place and washed and dried and put back on all our bedding and stuff was pretty nice, as was having a chauffeur-driven taxi take me home from the airport at around midnight!)
* I'm feeling quite sad and missing my family :(
* I'm feeling quite hungry and cold so must go out now to buy food and another heater!!
http://www.eca-international.com/ASP/ViewArticle2.asp?ArticleID=189
Five of the top 10 most costly cities to rent globally are in Asia
Hong Kong is the world's most expensive city to rent accommodation and Asia accounts for five of the world's top ten most costly cities, according to a survey conducted by ECA International, the world's leading knowledge and solutions provider for international HR professionals...
Five of the top 10 most expensive locations in the world are in Asia, with Seoul (5th), Mumbai (7th) and Shanghai (8th) joining Hong Kong and Tokyo . New York, Moscow, London, Caracas and Paris make up the 10 most expensive cities globally to rent a three bedroom apartment.
High rental prices in Tokyo, New York, Seoul, Moscow, London and Paris largely reflect high living costs in these locations, while Mumbai, Shanghai and Beijing suffer from a shortage of modern, well equipped properties that meet expatriate standards, pushing prices up for those properties that do.
World’s most expensive locations to rent a three bedroom apartment
Rank Location Country
1 Hong Kong HONG KONG
2 Tokyo JAPAN
3 New York USA
4 Moscow RUSSIA
5 Seoul KOREA REPUBLIC
6 London UNITED KINGDOM
7 Mumbai INDIA
8 Shanghai CHINA
9 Caracas VENEZUELA
10 Paris FRANCE
11 Beijing CHINA
12 Ho Chi Minh City VIETNAM
13 Istanbul TURKEY
14 Dubai UAE
15 Singapore SINGAPORE
Well after all the hooha with travel agents being slack in getting back to me the price mysteriously jumped from 3500 to 5500 (RMB inc. tax)! I was horrified. In the end I decide not to go to Jeju (way too cold) and Okinawa became booked out and some dates were either fully booked or mega expensive so I gave them a 10 day range of leaving and returning and said I wanted the "cheapest" flight within those days. They came back to me and I got the ticket for 3900, so not too far off the original quote. Also I had no choice but to go through Hong Kong. I purposely planned an 8 hour transfer on the way back so I have plenty of time to kill in Hongkers :)
So yes, I am leaving for Taiwan in just 6 days! Woohoo! I have a LOT of planning to do. Despite the numerous times I've been before this will be the first time where I will be planning my own trip AND the first time I'll be going there by myself. Before, my parents or either parent took us around. The previous time I went with my sister and hubby.
Taiwan is rapidly changing and there are so many things I'm looking forward to doing, seeing, and experiencing.
First of all, I want to take the bullet train from Taipei to Kaohsiung. It cuts travelling time from 4.5 hours to 1.5 hours!
Second of all, I want to go to the new mega mall (Dream Mall) in Kaohsiung, the sixth largest in Asia
Thirdly, I want to go to Ximending (which I have been to before but it has changed a lot!)
Ximending
Fourthly, I want to go to Danshui and have a hot spring in Beitou (also done before but want to do again)
Fifthly, I want to go to some natural landscape place. Hard to pick, so many good ones and I've actually already been to them all before!
I think that's about it. I will be chillin' and relaxing and visiting as many relatives and friends as possible :D
---
Adding my comment here because I can't comment due to TGF.
I'm not doing the whole travelling around the country thing because I have already seen the whole country when I did the Taiwan tour :) Plus, I don't think it's that nice during winter and also I don't have a travelling companion so I don't think it'll be that fun at all, unfortunately.
Related post
Right now we're watching "The Amazing Race" season 12 on AXN on our good ol' satellite tv courtesy of the Philippines ;) I love this show and it's about the only show I watch on TV these days. We are also watching "The Amazing Race Asia" Season 2. I just love it! I love the travelling aspect, I love the competition side, the psychology side seeing how people interact with their partner and with the locals, etc etc. Fun fun fun!!
Right now I'm playing a bit of TAR myself. I am trying to get myself to Taiwan to see my grandparents but it's been a bit of a headache deciding the dates let alone the route!
When we were little kids there were no direct flights from Australia to Taiwan and we always had to go through Hong Kong. Similarly, although there are direct flights between Sydney and Shanghai it is easier to get flights stopping over in Hong Kong. All of our recent guests came via Hong Kong. So, obviously Hong Kong is the logical place for me to stop if I'm going to Taiwan (since you cannot fly directly between China and Taiwan).
However, my dad's ex-classmates were telling us it's quicker and easier to get to Taipei via Jeju (Cheju)-do (island) in South Korea. So I had a look into this.. The first quote I got off a travel agent quoted me this route as being more expensive than via Hong Kong, but the second one quoted me as it being cheaper. Weird.
What to do, what to do? And then, I had another thought. I could go back to Okinawa and visit there again since I loved it so much last time. I don't think the cost would differ that much. ARGH I don't know what to do?!
Here is a map so you can see my three options.
Jeju
Pros: I've never been to South Korea, Jeju is apparently "The Hawaii of South Korea"!
Cons: I can't read or speak Korean! It'll be too cold to enjoy the island-ness of it all, don't know how to get around or what to do there
Hong Kong
Pros: I know my way around there, I have no problems communicating, it'll be warmer than anywhere else mentioned, I miss it funnily enough
Cons: I've been there so many times already
Naha
Pros: I've been there already and already know where I'd stay and what I'd do there, how to get around, etc
Cons: I've been there already, I can read Japanese but not speak it that well
Ever since I was kid I was brainwashed into thinking "Taiwan good, China bad." "China communist, Taiwan not." Of course I was also told "Australia - safe to cross the road, clean. Taiwan - crazy drivers, dirty." etc, but that's another story...
OK so up until my late teens this is what I always believed. Now, when I had the opportunity to go to China for the first time (in 1997) and make up my own mind I didn't think it was that bad, but of course I could see the differences between China and Taiwan straight away, or China and Hong Kong.
In 2005, my sister was living in Shanghai... Mike and I flew from Sydney to Taipei and my sister flew from Shanghai to Hong Kong to Taipei and met us there. The first time the three of us took the MRT (subway) there, she commented that she couldn't believe that people were actually queuing in an orderly fashion to wait for the train, and that that would not happen in Shanghai. Throughout the trip she made similar comments about the differences between Shanghai and Taipei - not so much the city itself but the behaviour of the locals.
Likewise, when my father recently visited he was making similar comments. But it was much much worse. OMG. He was China-bashing 24/7. I don't even know how I could take it! "The air pollution is so bad" "The plants/trees are not that green." "The people are so rude." "That person must be Taiwanese because they said 'Excuse me' when they pushed their trolley close to us." etc etc. Oh did I mention we went to Carrefour after he told me I should throw out all our rice and condiments because anything made in China was 'bad' and 'crap' and made me buy Thai and Japanese rice, and Taiwanese soy sauce? hahaha.
Despite the fact that he was born in China himself he still (unfortunately) hates China and will probably continue to do so. :( He feels that China is what Taiwan was 40 years ago. Yes time will change everything but who knows how long it'll take?
On the other hand, my mother loves China. She loves the rapid progress it's made in recent years, the buzz, the nightlife, the shopping, the food, etc.
I wouldn't say I 'love' Shanghai but there are certainly good points to it. Just like any other city. There are good and bad points to everything.
It's just a bit much when guests come to visit you and start bashing the place you live in. I feel quite 'weirded out' by it. I just don't know what to say or how to react. Yes the air pollution is bad. So bad it's one of the very few things I can't stand here (along with the incessant smoking everywhere and anywhere), the footpaths are uneven, the drivers are all psycho, pedestrians have no right of way (EVER), etc etc. But frankly, I feel a bit offended. How would you feel if I visited you and pointed out every single negative thing about your city or country?
Now, getting back to the topic, hopefully I'll get to visit Taiwan real soon and make my own comparisons once again now that I've actually lived here (in Shanghai).
I just read here that the Taipei-Kaohsiung high speed rail is in operation. The trip takes a mere 1.5 hours instead of the 4 hours it used to take. Awesome!
When I was in Japan I started making a lot of mental notes and noticed so many similarities between Japan and Taiwan. The breakfasts. The breakfasts I was brought up to eat and my parents are still eat - are very similar to what the Japanese typically eat - rice with pickled vegetables, radish, eggs, fish, and bits and pieces. Also the love of tofu and soybeans and soy milk. (Still am surprised that soy milk isn't that popular in China. It is even more popular in Australia).
Also the delicious tidbits known as 'mochi' or 'moji'... The snacks in Taiwan are amazingly delicious. My relatives that live here in Shanghai are always bringing back suitcases full of food and snacks whenever they visit Taiwan. So many things that floated about in my childhood - I was suddenly brought back in time when I saw the same delicious things in Japan. My eyes glazed over and my stomach yearned to be filled. I wondered if Taiwan 'copied' them or that they were so similar simply because of their geographical closeness. Anyway mochi are (according to Wikipedia) "a Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice pounded into paste and molded into shape." They are usually filled with delicious creamy sweet fillings like green tea, green bean and red bean. One of the ones I had in Osaka was peach flavoured - makes my mouth water just thinking about it!
Despite having been to Taiwan about 10 times now I always look forward to going 'back'. Every time I discover something new :) and every time, reality hits as I realise that everyone is getting older :(
