Have you been wondering what will go up in the huge empty lots around the Century Blvd metro station in Pudong? The Shanghai Lujiazui Finance & Trade Zone Development Company recently revealed plans for the Century Metropolis, a USD 683 million office and hotel complex in the shape of a big oval intersected by Century Boulevard (shown in the picture above). Century Blvd station is an interchange for Lines 2, 4, 6, and the upcoming phase II of Line 9. http://office.soufun.com/2008-08-31/2046692.htm

Shanghai's Jiefang Daily reports that passengers and drivers are complaining about the proliferation of video advertisements in taxis, calling them "visual pollution" and bemoaning the adult content of some ads. Currently there is no way to turn off the video ads, only to mute the sound. Taxi drivers say there's nothing they can do about them because the LCD screens are mandated by the taxi companies. Some passengers say that if they can't be gotten rid of, the screens should at least play more public service announcements. http://jfdaily.eastday.com/j/20080831/u1a470183.html

James Roy at the China Economic Review ran into the Fat Preacher recently on Line 1. http://www.chinaeconomicreview.com/editors/2008/08/30/who-is-that-underground-crusader/

The Shanghai Long-Distance Bus Station (just north of the Shanghai Railway Station) expects to handle 130,000 passengers during this year's Mid-Autumn Festival, coming up in two weeks. http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=372026

"Eduardo Vargas and partner Kelley Lee opens a new concept Italian Cafe" is how the announcement I received started and I was already intrigued. A fan of both successful restauranteurs, the thought of a small trattoria type cafe by the two of them was defintielyly somewhere I wanted to try. SO the last Tuesday Night Dinner, we ended up there with a group of almost 20.

While officially still in its soft opening stage, the place was pretty much up and running to get its operations in order. We had a limited menu to select from which rather curbed some of our enthusiasm, but overall it was good and I think most of the attendees will come back.

The first impression of the place is its namesake, a beautiful old wood "closed door", with a door bell and a street number "808". After ringing, the inner opening on the door opened up and we were asked if we had a reservation, and upon confirming, the door opened into a small garden with two or three tables.

Walking into the glass fronted building I found myself in a 2 section room with seating for about 30. As our group was nearly 20, we took the entire back room.

A small bar on the left displayed a nice selection of wines.

The place was very homey and that is by design as the upstairs portion of this private restaurant will soon be one of Shanghai's newest bed and breakfast inns with rooms starting in the 600's per night.

Overall a great experience and a nice quiet place. Food was good though we had a few comments about undercooked Risotto (though I had the same and it was fine for me) and a few comments about the parings made for this particular menu, but rest assured, the regular menu will allow one to pair one's own selections. And as an added bonus, the CLosed Door will be offering breakfasts soon too.

By reservation only, The Closed Door may just get enough traffic if they keep things up, to stay around for awhile. Smile

Thanks to their Manager, Melanie, and their attentive staff for taking care of us last night.

According to articles in the People's Daily and the Oriental Morning Post, Shanghai metro system can look forward to speed increases in the near and far future. Already mentioned on this blog, tomorrow Line 9 will use an upgraded signaling system to shrink the time between trains from 14.5 minutes to 12.5 minutes.

On Monday, Line 5 will also decrease the time between rush hour trains by 30 seconds. On the same date, Line 6 will undergo a significant restructuring that will bring down the time between trains from 13 minutes to 6 and a half minutes; this will be accomplished by bringing two new trains online, and by splitting the line into a main section running from Jufeng Rd to the Children's Medical Center where the times are as given above, and a northern and southern extension where the trains will run as before.

Finally, next year Line 8 will complete its southern extension and the time between rush hour trains will fall from 6 to 4 minutes as the Line implements a main/extension system. More frequent trains will run between Shiguang Road and Jiyang Road, and less frequent ones will run the rest of the line south to the Astronautical Park.

http://news.sina.com.cn/o/2008-08-29/034114372353s.shtml
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/14562/7744306.html

Photo by kirillmazin on Flickr.

The city planning bureau is looking into the possibility of extending the Maglev south from Pudong Airport (PVG) into Nanhui as soon as 2010. http://news.sina.com.cn/o/2008-08-28/124214369142s.shtml

Starting this Saturday, subway Line 9 will see a speed increase that will lower the time between trains from 14.5 minutes down to 12.5 minutes. The entire journey between the line's terminal stations, Guilin Rd and Songjiang New Town, will fall from 53 minutes to 42 minutes. http://news.sina.com.cn/o/2008-08-28/124214369147s.shtml

The Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co Ltd has won a S$230,970,690 contract to design and build Singapore Land Transport Authority's new subway line, the Downtown Line (DTL). Construction on the line's first phase will last through 2013, taking the subway line through Bugis, Promenade, Bayfront, Landmark, Cross Street and Chinatown. http://finance.qq.com/a/20080827/000279.htm

To combat complaints of boredom on Line 9, which features long distancees between stations and waits between trains, the Metro company is instituting China's first "traveling library". Every Line 9 station service center will have a set of shelves offering selected magazine and newspapers for free borrowing, which passengers can then return when they walk through the exit turnstiles at their destination. http://society.people.com.cn/GB/41158/7736279.html

UPDATE: Nice photos of the "traveling library".

Map of the DTL from MRT Singapore website.

Not again. Another shmarmy soap opera is set to film for showing on Shanghai's subway LCDs. http://ent.sina.com.cn/v/m/2008-08-26/07222144938.shtml

Subway security checks in Guangzhou to remain in place at least until after the Special Olympics. http://news.sina.com.cn/o/2008-08-26/040614355118s.shtml

New Currency Exchange centers opening soon? In an effort to meet demands for foreign currency exchanges, it seems China is moving to a more open market approach in that the SAFE is getting ready to approve private centers and those working with established banks to set up independent exchange businesses.
According to a Bloomberg report today:

Money changers, authorized by SAFE, will be able to operate under their own brands or cooperate with local banks. They will be able to determine which currencies to offer and set exchange rates with reference to central bank rules.
Shanghai, China's financial center, will let approved non- banking institutions provide such services in Pudong district as a preparatory step to increase availability of currency exchange centers before the World Expo in the city in 2010.

In related news, the SAFE must have launched a new RMB Exchange logo (seen at top) because the logo above has been popping up at various banks along Nanjing West Rd indicating that they are Authorised Exchange Banks. Guess this logo will ALSO be showing up on the future non-bank exchange centers as well. Nice logo and very self explanatory.

Happy Hump day everyone,

I suppose I may need to explain the term “hump day” as Wednesday is the Middle of the week so its like getting over the “hump”. Anyhow, halfway through the week but it is so muggy and stuffy and warm…ugh! Well, welcome to my midweek update note. I hope everyone will take a few moments away from the Olympics hype and take a quick read…I know, not as exciting as Women’s volleyball, or the latest Track and Field events, but hey…there are some local 6 stations playing Olympics coverage, not to mention all the online options in various languages, so don’t fret there is far more to watch than we can handle.

This midweek update is primarily because the ShanghaiExpat Community Group has arranged a Basic Wine Appreciation Class to be held in ENGLISH, this coming Saturday, August 23rd. Our host and instructor will be Simon Zhou, one of the founders of Ruby Red Cellars, a specialty wine importer specializing in some amazing Aussie, Kiwi and French wines but with good selections of many others. We will taste 5 different wines and Simon will walk us through the nuances of each. Cost will be less than 100rmb per person (depends on number of attendees and the level of wines we select that day. Simon puts these workshops on usually for large crowds but is doing this as a special favor to me for the ShanghaiExpat Community group. There will be limited space so if anyone is interested, please reply to Winetasting@chinahaven.com so I can hold a space.

Ruby Red Cellars’ location here in Shanghai is located in an old civilian bomb shelter so even in the most oppressive heat, it will be rather cool down in the cellar. So it will be worth the effort to try it out. AND since Ruby Red is an importer, their retail prices are extremely attractive so come by and buy a few bottles. Delivery is even available. Ruby Red is located near the LouShan Guan Rd Metro Line 2 station. Email me at the address above or message me on facebook, for details.

Another upcoming event is the ShanghaiExpat Tuesday Night Dinners will be relaunching next week, Tuesday the 26th of August. We will be dining at a reservations only Italian café called the Closed Door, opened by Eduardo Vargas and Kelly Lee. Check online for details on that: http://www.shanghaiexpat.com/MDForum-viewtopic-t-80490.phtml

And an interesting art exhibit that I got a sneak peak on, will be coming in early September. On Sept 10, Wednesday, YANG Xiao Li, originally a Shanghai native, will be showing her colourful art in a show called TRAVEL DIARY- Yang xiaoli’s Solo Exhibition .
Check her site for details at: www.xiaoliart.com

And since this update is coming out before the Wednesday evening, a quick reminder that the Wednesday Night Mixer is happening TONIGHT at Malones, 225 Tong Ren Rd, on the third floor, Come for discounted drinks (25rmb standard drinks) appetizers and old friends and new. Come socialize and hang out. And yes, some olympics will be on at least one of the flat screens. ☺

And that’s the end of this short update! Enjoy the rest of the week!

The Olympics are everywhere in China these days. The news, the ads, the media are full of “Beijing Olympics”. So it would seem superfluous fro me to write on I and yet it is part of the experience of living here so here are some of my observations.

The opening ceremonies were cool. Ok, ok, a bit too nationalistic for some, but really, who else in the world could put THAT many people into a show. China showed off its past and its present with images of inventions of the past and staging it with its current strength, her people. Where else in the world would the stage be CARRIED onto the field on the backs of hundreds of performers?

Yes there were some controversies about the lip-synching and the CGI fireworks, but you know what guys and gals? The Opening Ceremony performances are meant to be a SHOW. Get over it folks. The sad fact is things like this happen all the time and facing the facts of reality are much better than pretending it doesn’t happen. Yes it is sad that the other little gal didn’t get to sing, but that’s reality. In real life less attractive people get less opportunities. It is not fair but it’s a reality so, it is best for people to make an effort to put their best face forward whenever and wherever they can. FWIW, I wouldn't personally had switched performers as I felt she was a more accurate representation of the common people in China anyhow.

China Gymnastics- The woman’s team does look awfully young but unless the IOC is going to do anything about it, they won fair and square so far as performance goes. I just finished watching the replay and really, they edged out the US team in performance. The Chinese team performed quite well and were lively and spirited in addition to having a winning spirit. Good for them. Congratulations.

I rather like watching the Olympics on TV here in Shanghai. I can watch different Olympic sports that I otherwise probably would never see, though I must admit I am overdosing on PingPong and Badminton. Watching Foils was cool though as I tried to learn the scoring system…some high-tech gear they got now too.

But seriously, having at least 6 different channels to watch Olympics LIVE all day long is great! Much unlike NBC at home, which only shows bits and pieces they deem worthy of their advertisers. Speaking of which, it was great to watch the entire China Germany Basketball game and the US China Volley Ball game with NO COMMERCIAL BREAKS! That was cool.

Sure I know there are negatives too, but really why would I want to surround myself with all those negative vibes all the time. Anyhow, its only another week of Olympics and then its “back to normal” for us here in China, or maybe not. I believe some of the security issues may not go away, as really buses should not be getting blown up nor police stations getting attacked. But the fact that they are hitting the news now may mean it was more prevalent than previously thought and so maybe we all need to be more cautious here. Still safer than LA highways where drivers have been known to shoot each other in fits of road rage, but oh well.

I have more comments about the Olympics but I think I will save that for a second entry about this whole experience.

Another muggy Friday! Hope you all enjoyed that spectacular lightning storm last night though. It was amazing despite my getting caught in it on bike and arriving home from work drenched. Sometimes its just amazing. Anyhow let us hope it sa bit less humid and a bit cooler this weekend sop we can enjoy the weekend. Otherwise we will all get stuck somewhere in front of the tube watching China badminton or Ping-pong or something…

Olympic medals seem to be in the news all the time about the China Golds (22 at time of this writing) or the competition with the US for overall medals (41-35, US/China respectively as of this writing), or even Phelps’ attempt to collect 8 Golds. There are far more interesting stories that somehow get passed up. For example, let’s hear it for Abhinav BINDRA of India who won India their ever first Olympic Gold Medal! And then there is Benjamin BOUKPETI of Togo who won that country its first medal of any sort, a Bronze for the Kayak Slalom. Hats off to ALL those who came to Beijing this year to represent and do their best at the olympics!

6334 members for the ShanghaiExpat.com community group now. What a big jump from the time we were only about 200. I hope that with this larger membership, we will getmore feed back in regards to what else should be covered in these quick newsletters of mine, or if anyone has important messages, please message me so I can share it with the community. Thanks to everyone for the support or tolerance of receiving this newsletter weekly. I will continue to do my best to provide info where ever I can. And, oh yeah, a big WELCEOME to Shanghai for those new folks who have just arrived in the recent wave. ☺

I had the pleasure of enjoying a very fancy spa massage experience this past week, all in the interest of writing up a review article of course. The place was a neat little secret called Spa Rosa, located on one of my favorite Shanghai streets, XinHua Rd. Rather basic in appearance from outside, but inside it was very nice décor and the feeling was nice. I had a deep tissue sports therapy massage done with custom blended aroma essential oils, hand selected and mixed by a Paris-trains aroma expert. The end result was I came out rejuvenated and ready to face the challenges that Shanghai throws at us everyday. Its not cheap though as this is truly a 5 start type treatment, but for this looking for a quick get away, try them out. And this month, Spa Rosa has a coupon on the ShanghaiExpat Coupon pages that can save you as much as 40%! Coupon Link Here

Interested in FREE Air tickets? Fill outthe American Airlines / ShanghaiExpat online survey and enter for a chance to win FREE air Tickets on American Airlines. Just go to the following link and complete the survey, its THAT easy! ☺ Go to Survey!

August 17th, Sunday, 10am-1:30pm –- Walking Tour with Anne Warr - this is the LAST of a series of walking tours hosted by the author of the Shanghai Architecture Guide. (http://www.walkshanghai.com/ ) as City Weekend introduces it: “The troops convene at Hamilton House at 10am for a quick java boost before setting out on a guided tour through the historic Bund led by author Anne Warr. After meandering through its laneways, shops, grand buildings and hearing stories of the old and new Shanghai, you'll return to Hamilton House for a well-earned three-course brunch. RMB480”

August 17th, Sunday, 12pm – SCAA Pet Adoption Day @ O'Malley's - Come to adopt an animal or to learn more about fostering a cat or kitten! You are welcome to come play with the animals and learn more about SCAA and what you can do to help animals. These Adoption Days are joyous events, so please come show your support! O’Malleys is located at 42 Taojiang Lu, near Hengshan Lu.

August 21st, Thursday, 7:30pm -- FC Club Entrepreneur, Business and Finance Social Networking Evening @ Simply Thai - This Social Networking Evening brings together entrepreneurs and people who work in Finance, Banking, Business Consulting, Real Estate, Investment companies. All financial professionals, entrepreneurs, bankers and investors/VCs are all welcome. 80 RMB per person to enjoy one Complimentary Drink, Finger Food and Lucky Draw or 130 RMB per person at the door. RSVP & more details please visit www.fcclub.com or email event@fcclub.com.

August 28th - Sept. 7th -- International Beer Festival @ Kunshan Public Cultural Square – the 2nd largest beer festival in China will start att the end of this month extending to September 7. More info about how to get tickets through ShanghaiExpat or other Shanghai locations soon.

Weekly specials:
Bulldog Shanghai offers 2 for 1 dinners every Monday! On Monday nights enjoy our dinner special with a fantastic buy 1 main course get 1 main course free (similar value) deal. Taste the new menu while watching your favourite sports or listening to our live band. Bulldog Shanghai is located at No. 1, Wulumuqi Nan Road, near Dongping Lu.
Next month, on Sept 7, there will be a Shanghai Health Fair to be held at Shanghai Center to benefit Lifeline Shanghai, an all volunteer phone counseling center for expats who need someone to talk to. Put on by SOS Shanghai and Lifeline Shanghai, it will offer talks on healthy living and have exhibitors displaying healthy living products ranging from water filters to organic foods to renewable products and so on. Anyhow, just wanted to give everyone a heads up on it. More info at: http://www.shanghaiexpat.com/MDForum-viewtopic-p-904518.phtml
((ad)) Chlorine-free showers! For healthier skin, healthier hair, use the DirectWay ShowerBaby to remove chlorine form the tap water and soften the water so what you shower and bathe with doesn’t dry you out. To Check out the Showerbaby and other fine Water filters, please check out the web site at: http://english.obusiness.cn/yhhnj/en/water/productlist.jsp ((ad))
AND you can actually see some of the water filters advertised here TOMORROW, Saturday 8/16 at the Saturday Morning Coffee
A list of regular events will follow:
Regular events include the Saturday Coffee meeting at Cloud Nine Mall at Zhong Shan Park, every Saturday from 10:30a-12:30p at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf; and lunch that follows the coffee meet. Contact me if you have any questions as I do host this event every week.
Sunday Coffee Brunch is held at XinTianDi’s Coffee bean outlet from noon-3 every Sunday afternoon. More info on that: http://www.shanghaiexpat.com/MDForum-viewtopic-t-28351.phtml
And of course, the Weekly Wednesday Night Mixer at Malones happens on the 3rd floor Loft from 9pm to midnight. Come by to meet new friends and old ones, enjoy discounted drinks, and the occasional lucky draw with cool prizes from ShanghaiExpat’s community sponsors.
Lets hope for a bit cooler weather soon. Have a great weekend!

(Via Metrofans.)