New Jet Lag Strategy

Today's weather: High=34 Low=28
Cloudy

Looks like I'm off to the airport, typing this on the subway. Previous attempts to ward off jet lag for eastbound flights didn't work, so I'm trying something else. Basically I slept for 16 hours straight and got up around noon today. By oversleeping, the idea will be to stay up for the whole flight and then get adjusted to a new time zone this way. The conventional advice is to get little sleep the night before and then sleep on the plane but that hasn't been too successful. Will see what happens with this new tactic.

Last Minute Motorcycle Deal

And last minute it certainly was! Thanks to the services of http://www.mychinamoto.com I had posted an ad a few months back if anyone wanted to buy my current Yamaha YBR-125 off my hands for 4500 RMB. No responses until today when a buyer picked it up and the deal was done. Actually he's gonna rent it out over the summer while I'm gone. Sure beats keeping the bike in a shed. He paid the full cost up front as a security deposit in case of any issues like theft, crashing, getting the bike confiscated by the police, etc.. If he likes the bike he keeps it, if not then it's 1000 RMB to rent. Talk about win/win this is a great end to the year and a bike which served me fantastically well.

To the Airport, Troddeth I Go

Today's weather:  High = 33 Low = 27

Cloudy

 

Reluctantly, I may add.  In some ways, I wish my airline were still on strike.  Yet there are important things that have to be done back in Vancouver and this is the best opportunity.  I always dread the trip out to Pudong Airport and the actual flight itself for many reasons.  The obvious one is the anticipated jet lag, knowing there isn't much to do in advance to prevent this 

 

Friends have suggested the idea of breaking up the trip into parts, which I've researched myself but haven't found any workable solutions yet.  The best I can think of would be to do a brief stopover in Japan, and then another one in Hawaii for 2-3 days.  That would work if the flight tickets were cheap, but the demand for Japan -- Hawaii flights is very low and so the prices end up being too expensive to make it worthwhile.  Given enough time, there may be a way to make this work, but it's unlikely the school would be on board with financing such a trip.  And so it's a nonstarter.

 

Jet lag is a major issue with going eastbound (i.e. Shanghai to Vancouver) but not the other direction.  I think the reason for this is you're going against the relative motion of the sun with respect to the earth, as opposed to westbound flights when you're going with the sun motions.  That is to say, for eastbound flights the day progresses in an accelerated way, it gets night, then the next day begins, but it's really the 'same day' as when you started due to the crossing of the date line.  This messes up the body.

 

For westbound flights, on the other hand, it just ends up being a really really long day.  So when you arrive in Shanghai it gets dark just as the plane lands and your body is tired anyway so it's easier to adjust.

 

Trips to Pudong have also worked the effect of bringing back all these bad memories of being forced to leave the city involuntarily, either for emergencies or other reasons.  Even though I know I'm returning, it's hard to distinguish that from past trips when the outcome wasn't as certain.  And there's also the possibility that eventually I'll be leaving Shanghai for good on a future trip, and making this same dreaded trip to the airport.  But let's just hope that doesn't happen.

Saying Goodbye Sucks

Today's weather:  High = 36  Low = 28
Sunny as a subtropical ridge heats up
 
Yesterday was the final awards ceremony for staff and students.  It marked the last day that many of us would be seeing each other.  We are losing one of the best principals I've worked with in China actually, as he heads back for retirement.  We are also losing many of the excellent stduents this year as they pursue studies abroad.
 
If you can imagine lots of hugs, tears, and awkward moments (personally I have a terrible time with saying goodbyes) well then you've got the idea. 
 
The Chinese have a word for goobye that means something to the effect of 'see you next time'.  It's very similar to the Spanish phrase 'hasta luego'.  In this sense, it's like how we'd say in English 'look me up if you're in town'.  We don't expect to take that literally, but still, it is nice to leave the door open rather than closed at the end of a positive and productive relationship.
 
As for me, it's off to Vancouver for a one-month stay, and then I'll be back here before you can say Orient Express
 

All Set For Departure

Today's weather:  High = 34 Low = 26
Thunderstorms
 
Well not really, but things are basically wrapped up at school now and it's just a matter of cleaning up the new place I moved into and doing some packing for what I'll need in summer.  There's a few more things to do, but overall the hectic part of the month is over and done with.
 
While it was still a hectic June, compared to previous years this one was a breeze.  The big difference here is that I'm actually staying on for next year in the school.  Suffice to say it has been an excellent year in Shanghai, one of the best actually, and I look forward to another one. 
 
Whatever problems happened in the past two school years, this year more than compensated.
 
Now, the only hitch in the departure plans is whether or not my airline (Air Canada) is going to be on strike!!  To be honest I'm not really worried about it, and will just show up at Pudong airport with a backpack and see what happens. 
 
 

There Are Rules for How to Design Tests

Actually, there are entire graduate courses offered in universty for how to do this.  The master degree program I'm taking is going to include such a topic, and I can hardly wait. 

 

From an educational point of view, the design of comprensive tests and final exams is not something to be taken lightly.  The goal is to make the test as objective and fair as possible, and there are many rules and scentific process involved in how to do this.  For example, there should be an appropriate range of curriculum tested, an appropriate range of difficulty level, and some degree of consistency with past exams.

 

This is really just the tip of the iceberg, but from what I've seen already the BC provincial exams are not making the grade in terms of a fair and objective design.  The problem, as mentioned in the last post, is the reliance on 'anchor questions' that remain the same from year after year, and a relatively small pool of questions to draw from in a test bank

 

As a point of comparison, the AP Calculus exams designed by College Board meet more of the criteria for a well-designed test, based on what I have seen so far. 

Provincial Exams

Today's weather:  High = 34 Low = 27

Sunny and humid

 

Students are writing their provincial exams, and I just happened to "check in on things" and to "take note" of anything of interest while students were doing the exam.  As of 2007, the BC government no longer releases past provincial exams to the public as they used to.  Instead, they rely on "secure exams" and repeat so-called anchor questions from year after year.  Meanwhile, there is a sample exam question bank available online for students to do their studying from, but it bears little resemblance to what is actually being tested

 

Overall the exam wasn't too hard, but the questions I thought were rather strange.  Nonetheless, myself and a few other teachers took down some detailed notes and those notes are being added to the question bank that we've developed over the past several years since 2007.

 

Actually, the provincial exams are no longer required for students back in BC.  They are still required for offshore schools, as are the ones in China were we teach.  Unfortunately, I think the whole thing is a waste of taxpayer dollars, but that's just one of many reasons why I don't pay tax back home.

Summer Plans

Today's weather:  High = 25  Low = 21

Cloudy and rain

 

Lots going on as the students begin their final exams.  Meanwhile, I'm making plans for the summer and for next year.  One of them will be to kick off an online masters degree for mathematics, the other is teacher training for AP Calculus course, and then there are plan to get a full-blown motorcycle license in Canada.  So yeah it's gonna be a busy July.

 

Meanwhile, there is likely going to be a 3-week delay between when I start the motorcycle course and when I get the actual license.  To make use of that wait time, I've got a bicycle trip planned in my home province.  More details on that from this website

 

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1r4vFZo&doc_id=8946&v=V

 

There could be more delays, but let's hope not as I'm back in the Orient by the beginning of August, and I'm taking a bit of a gamble that the whole license process will work out within a month. 

 

As for August, that's where the Tibet trip comes into play.  3 weeks to do a Lhasa-Kathmandu run, I can hardly wait!  There's just training that needs to continue.

 

The new place I've moved into slightly out of downtown, aka the midburbs, is working out real nice.  I've been sleeping much better these days with a combination of quieter surroundings and the white noise generator.  The neighorhood itself is top notch with a Starbucks, McDonald's, and a Carrefour all within walking distance.

 

As the year winds down now, all that's left to do is mark exams and get those final report card marks in by the end of the week.

Summer Fast Approaching

Today's weather: High = 29 Low = 21
Brief sunny periods

It sure was nice to see the sun poke its head out today, and it wasn't very hot either. A nice change from the relentless rain.

Amazingly there are less than 10 days to go before summer break starts. So many things happened at once recently that the last few months just whizzed by. Now all that's left is for students to write their final and provincial exams while we teachers compile the marks and get them in.

As long as the airline isn't on strike (Air Canada now there's a joke and a half) then I'll be in Vancouver on July 1st. Whatever I'm just gonna show up at the airport and see what happens.

Moving Done!

Today's weather:  High = 26  Low = 22
Heavy rain

As hoped for, the rain let up ... a 3 hour break, in fact, starting at around 8am on a Saturday morning.  At the time, who knows how long that would have lasted for.  But as soon as the rain tapered off, I knew I had to start working my ass off.
 
As it turned out, not just two round trips, but 5 trips took place within that window of time.  It was a simple case of racing against the weather and working at a fast and furious pace before the next imminent downpor.  Of course, with moving, you always more stuff to haul around that you estimated.  The very last trip was the television and using the taxi.  
 
I may have done almost 15 round trips with a motorcycle to move stuff, including valuables and fragile stuff, but the television was too valuable to take that kind of a risk.  The taxi operation went well, and just when I arrived ......  it starting raining again!
 
Phew!  Operation done!  Now it's just a matter of sitting around and waiting for the landlord to give back my deposit.
 
 

Productivity in the Rain

Today's weather:  High = 26 Low = 22

Rain, need I say more

 

Yesterday was the grad dinner banquet for the students of the school I work for now, that is in Shanghai.  Refering a couple of posts back, I got to enjoy two grad ceremonies this year.  This marked the 2nd occasion, and it was quite the memorable one.  Dinner was great, in a hotel off the inner ring road, and the speeches were touching and wonderful.  Lots of preparation went into the event, and it was a good mix of both Western and Chinese culture.  This is the 1st graduation class of our school and they have been an excellent group indeed.  Lots of great offers to universities like McGill, UCLA, Michigan State, Waterloo, UBC, University of Alberta, and Queens to name a few.  These students have been working hard all year and their future is obviously bright.

 

I only wish this rain would stop because it is making such a headache for transport.  The grad event last night was out from the city center, no more explanation needed.  I opted for the motorcycle.  Getting there was no problem, but leaving was.  It had started pouring rain during the ceremony, and showed no signs of letting up when we finished around 10pm.  So you can imagine a huge crowd of people standing near the hotel entrance trying to get a taxi, and of course, there were no taxis available and none pulling up.  After assessing the situation for a few minutes, the only conclusion I could make was go for the motorcycle despite the rain deluge.

 

Colleagues said, "You're gonna get soaked!" to which I replied, "Mei banfa" meaning there's not a damn thing I can do about it.  At least I'll get home instead of standing around.  The ride was quick and yes I got soaked.  Thanks to a rain jacket and other gear it wasn't so bad, and my formal clothes escaped relatively dry. 

 

Upon arrival, the annoying pests otherwise that somehow get the name 'security guards' decided to lock the covered area where motorbikes are parked.  This was unusual as they tend to keep it open until midnight.  There were two options at that point.  Park in the rain overnight (no thanks) or make a dash into the underground car parking area were bikes were not allowed.  You can take a guess which option I took. 

 

Now I still have to make two more trips to move house and this damn rain isn't letting up.  The clock is also against me as I'm meeting the current landlord in the afternoon to settle accounts and finish off the contract.  Somehow there better be a break in the rain and I can make those trips, including one necessary run with a taxi.  Since taxis are scarce in the rain, this doesn't bode well.

Finishing Off the House Move

And not a moment too soon ... the lease expires on June 20.  The heavy rain, consistent with the monsoon season, is making it difficult to find opportunities to move the stuff out.  Yet do it I must, because the real estate agents are now dropping in at any time to have prospective tenants take a look at the place.  It's an annoying practice to be sure.  At first they announced the times, but lately, they have just come whenever.
 
Ordinarily I'd be bother but to be honest I really don't care right now because I'm so busy with moving house myself.  At this rate, there are only 3-4 trips more to go.  I will say this, however.  It seems the prospective tenants make a quick dash in and out to check the place out while I typing.  The price the landlord asking is way too high for this location, and there is no way he'll get customers if he asks nearly 6500 - 7000 RMB a month.  Thankfully I've got confirmation in Chinese that this is the asking price, and I can now prove he is not trying to rip off foreigners.  It seems he is mainly targeting rich locals.  At any rate, those have been the type of customers dropping in, but knowing how the Shanghainese operate, all I can say is good luck.
 
Meanwhile, I've got another place 15 minutes away that only costs 3600 RMB a month and that's where I'm heading to right now for moving, so it's time to stop getting off my butt with all this typing.

How to deal with the Vancouver Riot Hooligans

Today's weather:  High = 28 Low = 22
Heavy rain
 
After watching more news footage of the riot events in Vancouver, I came up with a few ideas.  Hopefully this is what will end up being done.  Regardless, I'm just going to sit here and offer criticism on the whole riot from the vantage point here in Shanghai.  
 
After perusing dozens of web sites on this topic, a comment came up that sums things up rather well:    In other countries of the world, people riot over injustice, oppression, and in order to have freedom from dictators.  In rat, rich Canada, they riot over a hockey game.  In fact, that same person confused the footage on the news for the ongoing riots in Libya and Syria as it looked so similar.  How despicable and how sad that indeed, a HOCKEY GAME is what sparked these riots.
 
The mob mentality may have inspired these people to get wasted and go smashing cars and looting stores, under the so-called 'safety' of anonymity.  But how would these individuals feel if they were singled out as individuals and then had their private information posted on facebook or the news media, displaying in detail what actions they had done, and their own personal background?  I say screw their rights and their privacy and let's make public what these assholes did, including those present downtown who stayed in the crowd to watch and egg on the rioters. 
 
We could start by using facebook to get users online to identify photos of those involved in the rioting.  An online community can be quickly generated to analyze pictures from the news media, and do facebook matches based on friends knowing friends in the network, etc.  The police can also help by using the CCTV surveillance cameras and match this with the information from facebook.  In other words, live feeds from the facebook site can go directly to the Vancouver police who can assist in the identification of the criminals.
 
Meanwhile, start increasing the number of surveillance cameras downtown right away.
 
Once the criminals are identified, I say the next thing is to have a public news broadcast for 60 mintues at a time during a prime-time slot, each day every day, detailing who exactly these guys were.  We should include their names, their jobs, their income, where they live, where their parents live, their activity in the riot, and details of what they did.  The more information, the better.  For example, if they looted merchandise from the Bay and we have evidence of what it was they looted, that should be listed.  This can go on and on, and would probably take months to list all the criminals, but it would be worth it.  
 
After that, these guys should be severely fined and then forced to do community service.  In addition to that, those involved in the riot should have the following actions taken
 
1.  Those convicted of looting are banned from applying for a credit card and their credit ratings are toasted
2.  They are not allowed to apply for a passport, and I doubt any of these losers even have one for starters.
3.  They can not renew their drivers license
4.  They are banned from renting apartments in the downtown area
 
Any other actions like this would be welcomed.   Maybe this is too draconian but I'm just extremely angry right now.  Combined that with all my experience living in communist countries, it has got to be worthwhile for a few ideas on how to deal with public unrest like this.

Vancouver Riots in Full Swing

It really is pathetic, people rioting like this after a hockey game.  Talk about deja vu, it's 1994 all over again.  This after Vancouver was supposedly called a 'world class city' and its efforts with the Olympics.  No thanks, I'll stick to living in Shanghai.  Despite the difficulties that come up now and again with living in China over the past 10 years, I'll take this any day after living in my home country.  I know I've made the right choice, and at the same time, I'm ashamed to be a Canadian born in Vancouver.

 

  

Stanley Cup Game 7. Riots in Vancouver?

Who knows, but I'm sure glad to be in Shanghai right now.  The score is 3-0 and Vancouver will likely lose to Boston in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.  Last time this happened was in 1994 and it was an ugly picture with rioting and looting on Vancouver's streets.  There are some advantages to living in a communist country, I will admit, this kind of scenario could not happen in Shanghai.
 
 

Movin' Right Along

Today's weather:  High = 24  Low = 21
Rain, of course
 
The good part of the monsoon season right now is that it keeps the temperatures cool and the students in class are more focused as we head into final exam season.  The difficult part is that it makes it next to impossible to find suitable opportunities to move house across the city.
 
When people ask me what moving company I'm using, the answer is invariably Motorcycle Inc.    That is to say, I'm doing the whole move by myself using a motorcycle.  Why not?
 
Unfortunately, it is very weather dependent.  Ideally I'd do this in the afternoon but when it has been pouring for the last several days, that doesn't work.  Today, however, was a rare opportunity of no rain in the afternoon, right after school.  So I pounced on the opportunity and made at least 5 round trips, filling up large hockey bags with as much crap as could possibly be carried.  When the last trip was done, it started raining again!
 
The side effect of doing high-volume moves like this, as expected, was catching the attention of the security guards.  These annoying little pests have a habit of nosing in on your business, and they are especially ready to pounce if they learn you're moving house.  The situation here isn't as bad as Wuhan, but still, it's annoying because the security guards want to direct the whole damn process.  They insist on using a moving van which they invariably arrange and get their commission from.
 
Over the last few weeks I had already moved 60% of the stuff already in small chunks, and the guards hardly noticed.   So I could almost finish the job today, but unfortunately the rush job meant they did notice.  I just made up a bunch of BS when asked what I was up to.  Besides they have no business asking my every move anyway.  I only wish I knew the Chinese for 'none of your business' and will find out sooner or later how to say that.
 
Last thing to go is the television and I'll be using a taxi for that.

How Time Flies

Today's weather:  High = 21 Low = 18
Soggy rain
 
It's really hard to belive this is the middle of June already, but it truly is.  Needless to say, since April, life went into warp speed and now the year is finally winding down.  As usual, there are exams to make up, students will write them, end of year preparations, and moving house.  This week and next won't be any easier.  But thankfully, as a teacher, there is summer to look forward to.
 
Shanghai summers are known for being roasting hot, and it's probably just as well I won't be around for those two months.  Right now the city has cooled down due to the monsoon rains which usually last for all of June.

 

Nearly Missed a Flight!

Ordinarily, flight delays are a drag and a frustration.  Today they saved my butt.  While leaving Wuhan from a very touching grad ceremony at the former school I taught at, I made a run for the airport the next morning to head back for Shanghai.  You'd think that Sunday morning would be relatively traffic free, but this is Wuhan we're talking about here.  
 
I've probably mentioned it before in past blogs, but the school I used to teach at is really far from the airport.  It is located deep in the Wuchang side of the river.  In general, Wuhan consists of two major buroughs, which are Wuchang and Hankou  (that's where the name Wuhan comes from) on each side of the Yangzte River.
 
In a worse case scenario, it would be fair to expect 5 hours to reach the airport.  Ordinarily, you should give yourself 3 hours for that.  Given that in mind, I decided to stay on the Hankou side of the river, but I still nearly missed my flight this morning.  It took 2 hours from my hotel room, leaving around 11am on a Sunday morning.  Tack on the 2 hours it took the day before to cross over from Wuchang to Hankou and it was a total of 4 hours.  Rather dismal, made even worse by the fact that everybody just accepts the terrible traffic as a normality, and is comfortable with the gridlock.  A key reason why I'm glad to have left that city for good now.
 
So you can imagine the suspense and the frustation of just sitting in a taxi and knowing that I was gonna miss my flight.  Feeling defeated, par for the course in Wuhan, I trudged up to the airport counter and explained that I was caught in a traffic jam, missed the flight, and asked for suggestions on what to do next.
 
Well the clerk smiled and said the flight was delayed to 2pm.  Wowsers, talk about good luck!!!
 
The rest went smoothly, and that was that.   This now holds up my near-perfect record of never having missed a flight at the airport.

2011 Wuhan Grad

I really gotta stop switching schools every year!  When the majority of my teaching load is consistently both Grade 11 (junior) and Grade 12 (senior) students, it presents a conundrum when the year is over and I've moved on to another school.  It is easy enough to see the Grade 12s graduate at the current school, but when the Grade 11s graduate the following year, it means a trip back to the former school in order to see that happen.
 
Obviously there is no rule that says I have to do this, but I take the students' graduation and development very seriously.  Regardless of what kind of crap happened at the school in terms of administration, policy changes, and so forth, it's worth putting that aside and making a trip back to attend the graduation ceremony of those former students.
 
This is now the 2nd year in a row for which exactly that has happened.  Last school year (2009-10) I was at a Canadian school in Wuhan and had left it due to a number of reasons.  I then came back to see the graduation just this weekend.  The year before (2008-09) I was at a school in the outskirts of Shanghai and made a trip back there also.  Unfortunately, in both cases, this grad conflicted with other things but I was determined no matter what to attend because I had made a promise that I would do exactly this.
 
Well it turns out that the weekend grad in Wuhan was emotional to say the least.  People knew I was coming, and there were a lot of gifts given, photos taken, stories shared, lots of hugs, and tears shed.  It was just like a celebrity moment, but I was more interested in how the students had developed over the last year and which particular universities they were attending in Canada and the US.  There were indeed some remarkable achievements and successes on their part, and the trip to Wuhan was worth it -- despite the traffic jam insanity and long distances to/from the school and airport which could only be expected.
 
Last teaching year put me on the verge of depression.  In fact the whole Wuhan experience was one of the most trying in my teaching career, if not my life.  There were a few postive experiences in the whole Wuhan saga, but overall it was a constant grinder.  Whether it was the mass disorganization, the traffic madness, the pollution, the drabness, the lack of social life, or any other number of factors, I couldn't find a lot of fun in that city.  There was also a ton of adventure, to be fair, but the nonstop complaining became a way of life in order to deal with the sheer feeling of being overwhelmed by a sense of powerlessness.
 
It got to the point when I'd just show up to work, do my thing, and go back to my relative comfort in the Wanke apartment complex to crash on the couch in front of a warm air conditioner.  6pm to bed almost every winter day.  There was no desire or motivation to do any lesson planning or paperwork, despite the requirements by the boss.  Test papers and lab reports would be weeks behind returning back, and I'd simply find no energy to do anything else.   Since it was the 5th year teaching physics in a row, I could do the subject without any notes or plans, and wing the whole thing.  Yet there wasn't much originality and it all felt so blah and drab.
 
Despite all that, it was amazing to see that I did have an impact on students, as evidenced by some of what was seen at the grad ceremony.  One student in particular was contemplating suicide, and the situatino was spiralling out of control.  Yet his life did begin to turn around towards the end of the year.  This process continued where the last year (when I wasn't there) he got very much involved in the student council and leadership boards, and also excelled in his academics.  Imagine my surprise when at the grad he told me he was now going to pursue an engineering degree abroad.  It was stories like these that made the grad event all worth it, and in retrospect, that entire year.
 
The year felt like it was meaningless, and in addition, there was oppression and darkness all over the place.  Justice was being neglected, human rights were being denied.  Fittingly, the sun barely managed to poke through the ever-present haze as a parallel to the spiritual conditions.  The question, 'Where is God in all this?' surfaced often in my mind, as the year dragged on.  Yet a year later, it seems that question has been answered, as God was there all along. 

A Smokin' Trip Done

Today's weather:  High = 37  Low = 24
Hot!
 
A short but challenging bike trip ends.  This one was a real winner, that's for sure. 

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=RrzKj&doc_id=8822&v=7N
 
Now it's back to work, and only a couple more weeks to go before the end of the school year.  As they say, of course, time flies.

Test Message

This is a test on the road to see if I can update my blog in China using a mobile phone and text messaging to an email bot which forwards the text to the blogger server

The Chongqing Run

This trip is off to a really good start, one of the best China trips I've done so far.  The timing works out too, as I surely need the break.
 
For all the details over the next week, refer to this link:
 
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=RrzKj&doc_id=8822&v=39


 

Finally! A Break!

Today's weather:  High = 25  Low  = 21
Showers

Today is a nice break in more ways than one.  We get 5 days off in a row for the Dragon Boat Festival.  This is a better deal than last year where we had the 9 day May Holiday.  This is because we also had the May Holiday this year for 4 days, and it adds up to the same.  But having a holiday at this time of year is far better, since we're all getting very burned out
 
The plan is to head over to Chongqing and do some biking, partly to prepare for Tibet, and partly to finish a goal that was already attempted 3 times without any success.  You can go to the Crazy Guy on a Bike website (http://www.crazyguyonabike.com) and search for my alias which is Shanghai Steve.  The trip will all be documented there, as well as on my travel blog.
 
Since the folding bike was busted from the last trip to Indonesia, etc.  I did some last minute repairs, and then rode out of school directly to the train station.  Once there, the bike went straight into the back and I walked onto the fast train.  The timing was rather tight as we had to work on half a Saturday (yuck) but I bolted out of the gate at 12pm and just barely made my train which left at 12:29pm.  Yes, a close call, but I wasn't going to let the fact we had an unannounced last-minute Saturday workday to make up time (sick) to stop my original plans.

My flight to Chongqing was departing out of another airport --- Wuxi, to be exact, where the price dropped by half.  Getting to Wuxi was a surprisingly easy break, as I was expecting the worst.  The fast train left at 12:29 and stopped at an unexpected station called 'Wuxi New District'.  Yes, this was in the countryside, but it was only 4.5km from the airport, which was a beautiful break here.  So the train pulled in at 1:05pm and I got to the airport at 1:15pm, with PLENTY of time to spare.  In fact, I got to the Wuxi airport faster than I would get to Pudong airport in Shanghai.  It took 75 minutes from the time I left the school gate until checking into my flight.  Unbelievable.
 
Not only that, but the airport was not busy despite the holiday rush.  Everyone must have been flying out of Shanghai, and this airport was not well known.  So I enjoyed nice service, including free internet at the departure gates where I am typing this now.
 
But I better stop as they are calling flight boarding, and it looks like there will be no delays.  Another unbelievable break here.  Let's hope this keeps up for the whole trip !!!!!

Train Mis-Adventures

Seeing as June 1st was the official start of China's real-name ticketing system for bullet trains (you need ID or a passport to buy tickets), I thought I'd give it a whirl and see how this rule was actually being applied on the ground.  Overall not too bad.  You need the passport to book, but they simply just copy the number into a computer and it is printed on the train ticket.  Nobody checked at the station or when I was board the train, granted, it was a short distance. 

 

The big caveat, however, is the fact that the queues are slowed to a crawl as everyone else has to contend with this new rule.  Ticket vending machines with Chinese ID card scanners are now off-limits to foreigners who obviously don't have ID cards.  So we have to line up at the booths and there is usually one or two open at the high-speed rail stations, amounting to a queue of anywhere from 20-30 minutes.  This adds to the detours in reaching the far-away bullet train stations in the first place.  By the time you add everything up, the regular trains end up being faster.

 

So it looks like the bullet trains in China are only an advantage for very long trips.  In the midst of all the hype, the changes, and the shuffle, there were certain routes that ended up getting badly shafted.  These were mainly the short-distance routes that used to have regular trains.  These trains either had their services cut or had major route changes

 

A classic example of this is the Shanghai – Hangzhou route.  Back around 2002 – 04, a bunch of us enjoyed doing the occasional weekend trip to Hangzhou and West Lake, which is a natural retreat for many Shanghainese.  It is with great sadness to say that such trips are no longer possible to do in the same kind of style, unless things change in the future which is doubtful.  Today I explored it from every possible angle in the hopes of proving this false, but I could not.

In the good old days, we would simply hop on down to the Shanghai South station, waltz into the ticket booth, purchase a ticket right away, catch a hard-seat train in the morning for 25 RMB, and arrive right downtown Hangzhou a couple hours later where we could easily go and see West Lake.  Not so any more.  If anyone wants to do this nowadays, here is what would be required:

 

1.  Go to the brand new suburban railway station in Shanghai for bullet trains which requires an hour of extra time, or a very expensive taxi ride.

2.  Take the bullet train which costs anywhere from 50 – 80 RMB.   You won't have access to the self-serve ticket machines, and will need to line up for the ticket in very slow queues, given that everybody has to show their passport or ID card now to buy the tickets.  20-30 minute wait times are common.

3.  The train takes 40-60 minutes.  Yes the actual train is fast at 300-350 km/h top speeds, but when you add up all the times (getting to the station, buying the ticket, etc. ) you won't save any net time compared to the past.  If anything, the net journey will take longer.

 

It turns out that the regular trains still depart from Shanghai South, but they canceled the Hangzhou station in order to make way for the bullet trains to arrive there.  So the regular trains now go to another station in Hangzhou which is miles away from downtown.  It is the same with the buses.

 

Yesterday I figured I could take the regular trains to some midway station, and then switch to a bullet train midway through.  This plan sounded good in theory, as it would make for a downtown à downtown connection.  But unfortunately the regular train stations and the bullet train stations are miles apart no matter where you go.  I tried this in two midway towns and found the situation to be disgusting.  Almost an hour between stations.  There is a third midway town I haven't tried yet, but I don't have much hope on this one.

 

What is so incredibly aggravating here is that the public transit to and from the bullet train stations is really, really scarce.  You might have one public bus running every 30 minutes from the station, or perhaps a subway every 20 minutes.  It essentially amounts to riding a bullet train in style, only to be dropped off in the middle of the countryside.

 

What this means is a ripe market for 'back taxi' drivers or 'hei che' in Chinese, which can be found loitering all over the stations.  Motorcycles too!   After the nightmare with such drivers last year, I vowed never to take one again.  Yet the illegal black transport market is thriving like nobody's business with these isolated train stations!

 

All these changes have taken place in the last few years, and I've now lost count of the number of times I've been taking an involuntary walking tour of the countryside, due to being dropped off in the middle of nowhere and refusing any of the black taxis.  Ordinarily I'd avoid the countryside as it's not exactly pleasant.  It's even less pleasant when coming off a high-speed train and being thrust into the middle of shack-ville with dilapidated housing conditions, all within earshot of what sounds like airplanes running along the ground at high speeds

 

Uhh …. can someone say gap between the rich and the poor?  The rich will take the bullet trains and pay almost 3 times what it used to cost in the past for a scenic trip to  Hangzhou that has now been relegated to my memories.

Enjoying the New House

These days I've been living out of two apartments, that is until the lease on the downtown one expires mid-month.  Hmm, does this sound familiar?  Actually two years ago was the record in which, for a short time, I was living out of three apartments simultaneously.
 
For now, to make the most of it, I go to the new place in Minhang District, enjoy an afternoon nap with my white house generator, watch a few DVDs, go around the block for a coffee.  Then back on the bike downtown to work out at the gym, watch a few more DVDs at my other place downtown and go to sleep.
 
Our bike hero Edward has most assuredly made it into Nepal where he is updating his adventures.  As for how he pulled it off without a permit, I'm still learning the details, but I am nonetheless astonished.  This has now motivated me to begin hardcore training for the route I'll be doing in August.  I now hit the gym on a daily basis and run 10K on the treadmills.  I've already lost 20 pounds since last year, and continuing.  The next thing will be to do high-altitude training, but am still not sure where to do that.
 
At any rate, I'm doing a short bike trip in the Chongqing area for the long holiday weekend coming up.
 
The darn net censors have now blocked all the latest proxy servers I use to access this blog, so it's now my back-up of the back-up plan, which is to use email in order to update.  That is, I send an email to an automated address which forwards this to the blog and publishes it.
 
If that wasn't enough, they introduced new rules starting today where you must use a passport or ID card to purchase bullet train tickets and ride them. 
 
Life gets stricter and stricter over here, but it only makes me more and more determined.