Results tagged “travel”

According to China, it hasn't banned anybody - especially not foreign visitors - from visiting Tibet during the National Day holiday period, despite reports to the contrary. Liao Yisheng, spokesman for the Tibet Tourist Administration, said that while foreigners couldn't go individually, they could visit as part of tour groups. This was due to high demand, rather than any sensitivities due to the anniversary, he told the Associated Press.

Unsurprisingly, China has banned foreigners from traveling to Tibet in preparation for the 60th anniversary of the PRC. The ban, one of the traditional ways that China attempts to control security around important holidays, will be in effect from September 24 to October 8. If you've been planning a trip to Lhasa, or looking for some new knives, you're going to have to wait until the end of the holidays. Photo: Illuheaven @ flickr

German national Christoph Rehage shaved his head in the fall of 2007, walked from Beijing to Urumqi on foot (yes, all 4,500 km of it!), taking pictures of himself wherever he went, and this awesome video is what he ended up with. Especially appropriate is his use of the Chinese song, Olive Tree 《橄榄树》with its haunting lyrics, "不要问我从哪里来" (Don't ask me where I'm from). We're already looking forward to the next video of his walk from Urumqi back to Germany -- if he ever gets down to it, that is. Check out the rest of his website The Longest Way.

Guess what? We're "hipper than Hong Kong and more alluring than Beijing," according to the Associated Press. The words appeared in an AP article on Shanghai pursuing luxury travelers in a strong effort to restore a "reputation for opulence and elegance that once made it the Paris of the Orient." Funnily enough, the article seemed to insinuate that this is something new for our city - a transformation we're rushing to finish in time for the Expo rather than, say, something we've been striving for since the late 1990s. Before this metamorphosing push, we were a "gritty industrial hub of crammed tenements." Huh. We guess the Jinmao and Xintiandi and all the Bund buildings that aren't the Peace Hotel can be considered really, really ahead of their time then?

We just came across the website for Unlike.net, which offers customized digital city guides to a number of global cities, such as Amsterdam, Berlin, and our very own Shanghai. We haven't tried it, but here's the concept: you choose the general domain of interest, e.g. nightlife, arts, etc or else the type of mode you want, e.g. "Weekend Escape." These guides are supposedly written by local connoisseurs. You pick the one that you want and order it via credit card and then have it delivered...digitally, we suppose, to your mobile device, computer, etc. Before you order anything, you're supposed to further customize things from a drop down menu, where you can choose if you are a male/female/couple/group, what kind of food you like (are you vegetarian? Or the adventurous eat anything type?), and how you party (like Rockstar? Shanghaiist 30-something hipster with no kids and a drinking problem?), and Unlike will take some time (2 days) to further customize it for you.

When it comes to flights to, from and inside China, it seems everyone has a China Eastern horror story. This one might top it all. things got so bad on this particular flight from Los Angeles to Shanghai that the passengers staged a sit-in.

Exciting news for the adventuresome wayfarer - a new cross-border tourist route between China and Mongolia just opened today, meaning that as long as you have a valid border pass, you can now travel to different parts of Mongolia!

                           

This last weekend, new Shanghaiist intern Kirsti Jönson trekked with a group of friends to the idyllic forests of Moganshan, a mountain located in Zhejiang Province, about 200km from Shanghai. She came back with a load of pretty pictures and a run down of how she spent her time.

Back in 2007 Shanghaiist's Hélène survived the Great Wall Marathon. Following in her footsteps, we decided to give it a try. But we decided that running 21 k (the half marathon) was plenty exercise for us on a Saturday morning.

Last month the Fashion & Style section of The New York Times published Riding the It Factor, putting forward the Dutch bicycle as the new fashionable "It object" on the New York streets in these times of "Great Downturn."

As if it wasn't annoying enough already that the 60th anniversary was going to give us visa problems, China's now allegedly using swine flu as a reason to tighten visa rules for citizens from the United States. According to the AP, a May 3 notice said that all U.S. visa applications, including tourist and business categories, will now require six business days to process - express and rush services will be suspended until further notice. Applicants will also need to fill out a form declaring which countries and U.S. states they have visited in the last two weeks. China has denied discriminating against specific countries and insisted that “the adjustment of visa policy will not affect the normal entry of foreigners and exchanges of people.”

Well shoot! If there's anything we're a fan of it's impromptu vacations, and now Ctrip.com's got a new FareAlert system in place to help us do fulfill our "adventure for the weekend" fantasies. Go to farealert.english.ctrip.com, enter your criteria - where you want to go, around when you'd like to go, and how much you would pay - and you'll get an SMS or an email if and when your criteria has been matched.

Yes, we're sick of the scaremongering, paranoia and misinformation. While we're already cringing every time someone sneezes in the office or metro, we've realized what real paranoia is after spending the weekend in Hong Kong: doormats being disinfected every half hour, people talking through masks, masks being sold at every convenient store and an entire hotel being put under quarantine.

The Peace Hotel, which has been under renovation since 2007, is on the road to being reopened in March 2010. According to Shanghai Daily, it'll be refashioned as the Fairmont Peace Hotel and will retain its original art deco style.

With RMB 1.2 million in prize money, this is the richest tournament in the tour's short history. The Nanjing leg also boasts the largest, and arguably strongest, field ever, with 144 players. And 31 of those golfers hail from outside Mainland China, another tour record.¹ In all, 14 nationalities are represented. Just two years ago it was a big deal when the once Mainland-only tour invited a handful of players from Taiwan and Hong Kong to compete in two events, now white writers attending tournaments get mistaken for competitors — things sure are changing fast.

Due to the ongoing riots in Thailand, the Chinese government has issued a warning suggesting that tourists postpone their trips into the country. According to the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok, all Chinese travelers in the country are currently believed to be fine, but that the unstable political situation should be taken into account. Many tourism companies insisted they had modified their tours to stay away from places near the riots and could guarantee the safety of Chinese tourists, however they would refund delayed or canceled trips. Last week, the riots, carried out by supporters of ousted ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, forced the shutdown of the ASEAN convention and the quick evacuation of some of Asia's top leaders from the country. Yesterday, they escalated into violent confrontations with troops, leaving scores wounded and two dead.

Normally we wouldn't look twice at tourism expos in Shanghai, but when this popped up in our Xinmin (新民日报） feed this morning, our first thoughts were “WTF are those creatures supposed to be” and then “OMG, I think I see the acronym 'WTF' is in the story!”

Minhang commuters and residents have been enjoying free bike rides for the last two weeks. No its not a rash of bike stealers - in fact, it's actually a new government sponsored program partially intended to curb theft.

A lot of us over here have friends that we miss terribly over in the U.S., but our repeated pleas to have them come and visit are usually met with a sad shrug and something along the lines of, “We're in the middle of an economic crisis over here. I ain't got funds, man.”

The New York Times has published a new travel piece to our little town titled “36 Hours in Shanghai.” While we'd normally roll our eyes and scoff at these kind of articles and their incredibly milquetoast recommendations (Oh really? We should try the Jean Georges? Thanks! Taste of China indeed!), we think this guide would actually represent a fun day-and-a-half out for Shanghai newbies. We'd probably skip Crystal Jade and 100 Century Avenue (unless you like expensive, mediocre food in uncomfortable chairs), but we applaud the inclusion of Lost Heaven and Yang's. Next time our friends come into town, it's nice to know we have something to forward to them if we're too lazy to come up with a travel plan ourselves.

Some of us here have decided to pony up and start training for the Great Wall Half Marathon, which takes place on May 16. We are pleased to say that on Monday, we survived 4 kilometers on the treadmill and yesterday it was an 8 kilometer run around the French Concession.

“领导，辛苦了！"

• Shanghai is the most popular destination for Chinese students returning from abroad. According to the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security, 75,000 returnees have chosen to be in Shanghai, and the city also boasts about 4,000 enterprises founded by returnees.
• According to latest statistics released by the municipal government, Shanghai received a whopping 1.57 million tourists in the first three days of the Chinese New Year.
• Japan's NTT Communications will launch a data centre in Shanghai together with China Telecom to provide international wide-area ethernet service.

Over 16,000 people were stranded in Sichuan and Xinjiang last night after a giant fog enveloped Western China, just in time to screw up traffic for Spring Festival season. Visibility was less than 10 meters, not even close to the 500 meters required for take off. Expressways linking Chengdu to several nearby cities also had to be closed. But no need to get misty-eyed about a bleary situation for our West China friends, by 5am flights had started up again and traffic began its slow crawl by 11am. Spokespeople for Chengdu airport said they should clear the backlog by late tonight. Source: Xinhua

In this news report from Hunan TV, police opened the luggage compartment of a crowded long-distance bus bringing passengers eager to return home for the Spring Festival and found a huge surprise -- eight people were hidden inside, tucked inconspicuously behind suitcases and packages. With buses and trains fully booked out, and legal tickets hard to come by, some entrepreneurial Chinese bus drivers are welcoming the opportunity to make a quick buck from those desperate enough to get home in time. One young man that was caught in the luggage compartment told reporters that nobody forced them to do this and they were more than willing to travel this way. [h/t Youku Buzz]

Yesterday, Reuters (via Yahoo!) reported that the Walt Disney Co. has reached an agreement with the Shanghai government to move ahead with the plans to build the theme park in the city. CNN Money on the other hand reported on the same day that no agreement has been made. The saga continues.

And while you're visiting the ice festival in Harbin, why not consider taking a dip into the chilly river with these guys? This video sure makes swimming along to Chinese techno music look fun!

           

If you are stumped for things to do for Chinese New Year and the thought of Siberian-like cold and a hot bowl of borscht seem more appealing then the beaches of Boracay, perhaps Harbin is a city you might consider visiting. Harbin's annual ice and sculpture festival started this week and runs until the end of February, weather permitting.

By 2015 it could happen, GoKunming reports. The journey currently takes 37 hours. According to GoKunming, "the Shanghai-Kunming passenger line (沪昆客运专线) will connect Shanghai and Kunming via the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guizhou and Yunnan, passing through the major cities of Hangzhou, Nanchang and Changsha. Its target speed is reportedly 350 km/hr."

A photographer, his camera, a backpack, two years, one country, 56 cultures, 1.3 billion people, 33 provinces and 56,000 kilometers.