Abu Dhabi

This is a brief stop,breaking up the journey back. Slightly strange place, downtown is a mix of interesting gardens, modern buildings and what appears to be 70s/80s buildings which are gradually being pulled down. Not the sort of place that you can simply walk about, take in sights and stop and grab a drink somewhere (particularly in the heat). Seems very much work in progress and similar to my only brief visit to Dubai around 10 years ago.

The one main highlight is the mosque, and i get a good view of it from my hotel. I arrived in time for the free 10am guided tour which was very interesting. The lady guide was very keen to share not only the history of the sites and the religious workings, but also welcomed questions on the local/religious customs. For example why men/women prayed separately and why women dressed covering up. The mosque itself is quite stunning and has a "Taj Mahal" type feel to it.

The hotel is top quality, good pool and choice of restaurants. I tried the Marco Pierre White restaurant which was excellent - with a price to match.

So that's it, flight back to London tomorrow and back to work Monday. Before then i have a few (!!) photos to load onto Picasa.

Flight to Abu Dhabi

Have plenty of time before flight,  so the shuffle list has the potential to delve into the embarrassing depths of my musical "taste" - but i may be saved by the battery running out. So here goes:

Still cant - The Cranberries

Burn down the mission - Elton John

Another nail for my heart - Squeeze

Broken arrows - Jose Gonzalez

Let down - Radiohead*

I was made to love her - Stevie Wonder

Against all odds - Phil Collins

Small blue thing - Suzanne Vega

Beautiful Feeling - P J Harvey

Loose fit - Happy Mondays

The lady is a tramp  - Buddy Greco**

Undeveloped heart - Deacon Blue

Layla - Eric Clapton

Have i told you lately - Van Morrison

Beetlebum - Blur

Freedom Road - The Divine Comedy

Shame - Eurythmics

Imitation of life - R.E.M

Will you remember - The Cranberries

Aint that a kick in the head - Dean Martin**

Baby its cold outside - Tom Jones and Cerys Matthews

Dont let the teardrops start - Deacon Blue

Ready for drowning - Manic Street Preachers

Accidents will happen - Elvis Costello and the attractions***

Cherry oh baby - UB40

Caravan of love - The Housemartins

A certain smile - Johnny Mathis**

Surely - Supertramp

Eee-o-eleven - Sammy Davis Jr**

Endgame -R.E.M

It does not have to be (the boop oopa doo mix) - Erasure

Building up and tearing England down - The Dubliners

Patience of Angels - Eddie Reader

Undertow - Suzanne Vega

* this falls into the list of "i probably should have one of their albums in my collection" so i bought Ok Computer and probably listened to it once
** from compilation album, eg Music to watch girls go by... but in the case of Buddy Greco (yes who?) my favourite version of the song
*** its starting to look like i have not bought any music since the millenium, i dont think that's the case, but wait i have probably not added to my Ipod for 5 years or so (got bored struggling to move itunes from one pc to another.

Shanghai Sunday

As i had a full day before i flew to Abu Dhabi, i thought that i would find out what the locals do on a Sunday. I headed off by metro (6 stops for 4 yuan - ie 40p) to Century Park which is the largest of its type in Shanghai. A bit like central park, large open spaces, some sculptures, a couple of lakes and it seems a place that all the family go to on Sunday. Lots of families take their own tents and use them to protect themselves from the sun.

Close to the park is the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, which was an interesting place to spend an hour or so. Then i decided it was a nice day for a walk and strolled down Century Avenue to the riverfront. It took a few hours, but was a straight road, with gardens along the way and some stunning views (and hopefully photos) of the Shanghai skyline. Stopped off for lunch along the way and then returned to hotel, to grab a shower and get ready to leave China.

The trip seems to have gone very fast. You are probably never going to get to know China as a tourist, you probably need to live here, and speak the language to really get to grips with its history, culture, politics etc... That said the trip has been great and whetted the appetite for returning.

Favourite cities

I quickly decided that i preferred Shanghai to Beijing. This got me wondering why you prefer one city in a country to another. Sometimes it can be obvious, sometimes due to a particular experience or memory you have from one rather than the other, sometimes down to who shows you around. I guess generally i go for more relaxed over bustling cities, for older places rather than newer but there are always exceptions. So for example i prefer......

Shanghai over Beijing

Paris over Nice (no surprises there)

Chang Mai over Bangkok

Hanoi over Ho Chi Minh

Melbourne over Sydney (that's a real close one, just edged by memories of some arrogant Aussies in a casino in Sydney after the third lions test in 2001)

Christchurch over Auckland

Chicago over New York

Madrid over Barcelona

Edinburgh over Glasgow

Berlin over Bonn (although my memories of Bonn are very dated)

Thoughts on China

........in no particular order:


Scale - you quickly get used to people saying, "this is a small city.....only 4 million people";

Open - i have been to other Communist countries such as Vietnam and Cuba over recent years, and with both of them you felt more state influence everywhere;

Closed - having said that, the state clearly have control. I can publish this blog but i cant read it, there seem to be a number of websites which suddenly don't work when you are in China;

Sometimes uncouth - the first time someone spits on the ground, not at you but without really checking they
will miss you, comes as a surprise. It not a regular but not an unusual sound/sight. However I think its a generation/class thing, you see it mostly from men (but not exclusively) and mostly from middle age + so it will probably die out over time;

Sophisticated - i have only really just come to understand how advanced China was in ancient times, and they have managed in most areas, despite the odd revolution or two, to maintain some wonderful historical sites;

Powerful - ok so i thought that China was emerging as a super power, but no they are emerged and have the potential to dominate world economy and therefore politics in a way that the US could never have imagined. Make sure you remain friends or its going to get tough;

Still learning about tourism - they are nearly there. They are naturally polite, languages are taught in school and university and they have so many attractions to offer. There is less begging than in London, travel is easy and so they have a lot going for them. They are still learning about the finer art of customer service and are in places too tip reliant/expectant but this will come very quickly;

Pollution - for the sake of China, and probably for the world, they need to cope with pollution issue. The level of smog in some areas is very significant and reflects a wider problem. They are not alone, i have not spent much time in LA but no doubt the position is still bad there. We will see how successful their plans are, such as plans for more dams, its probably important for everyone that they get it right;

High rise - everywhere you go, they are going up. Not one or two tower blocks, but 10/20 at a go. This is all state development, and is encouraging the growth of cities, and presumably the movement of people from smaller locations. Lets hope they make a better job of high density housing than we have and don't follow us in knocking it down 20 years later.

Religion - probably more powerful than i expected, for all the guides i met religion was important to them. Perhaps the tolerance behind the main religion - Buddhism - is the main aspect that allows such a diverse and large population to survive together.

Len Goodman would be a god here - every evening as you walk around you find groups of retired ladies
& gents dancing what appears to be Chinese ballroom. I have had to stop myself from shouting " 7" and running away.


.........and all the time fascinating



ps this post was drafted in China but published in Abu Dhabi, did not want to risk the chance that big brother really is watching.

The Three Gorges Dam Project

Around 10-30pm on the second evening of the cruise, we arrived at the Three Gorges Dam, the largest in the world. I had only visited Hoover Dam a few years ago, and whilst it sounds a bit sad found it very impressive and fascinating. This was, not surprisingly given its China, on a far grander scale and more impressive.

The Dam site consists of a series of locks, an elevator currently being built which will ultimately transport smaller freight boats and the dam itself. In the evening we went through the five locks, descending 22 metres in each and therefore 110 in total. Most people, like me, watched us go through the first lock (about 40 mins) and enter the second lock, and then retired to bar or bed.

In the morning we awoke to a mooring just down from the dam and were transported by bus to get a closer view of locks and dam. Those facts (that i can remember as there were a lot) were i think:

- built over 17 years, with a couple more to go before the elevator is complete;
- cost of 28bn dollars, 45% of which was the cost of resettling 1.4m people;
- at the height of construction, 30,000 people worked on the site; currently 2,000;
- it produces 5% of China's power requirement;
- its the largest of its kind in the world.

Shanghai

Around 6pm we arrived at Shanghai, which meant a trip to the hotel in the dark. As you got closer to Shanghai the view began to get more impressive with bridges and buildings lit up in a range of colours. Perhaps a tad unfair to Beijing, but at that stage i knew i was going to prefer Shanghai.

I am here for a couple of days - given my flight on Sunday happens to be late evening, but only a half day tour is arranged. That said, from what people say travelling around the city is easier than Beijing so it should be easy for me to see some more sights. The half day tour consisted of the Jade Buddha Temple, the Bund (waterfront) and Yu Yuan gardens. All were different to previous experiences on the trip and combined really well.