Shanghai

Me infront of the Bund (Waitan) on Chinese New Year's night. The Bund was main street when Shanghai was in the hands of foreign nationals before liberation. Atop each foreign built building flys a Chinese flag, as though claiming possetions.

Employees outside a local resturant enjoy the fireshow. As midnight apporached Shanghai began to sound like a war zone. Fireworks are illegal in the city but that didn't even slow anyone down. From one end of the Bund to the other people were out in force, enjoying a break in the rain. Unfortunatly this was the only picture I took before my camera locked up.

This is what's known as Pudong New District. Its an area across the river thats been build almost from scratch to be the high technology and finance center of Shanghai. From here it looks like the dream of a Science Fiction writter. But then, this was build for the future of China.

Just down from the Bund, the Pujiang Hotel. Once called the Astor House, this was the first hotel in Shanghai and is over 150 years old. Its also the hotel I was fortunate to say in during my visit to Shanghai, and for only Ľ50 (about US$6) per night. The creaking hardwood floors gave the place a real sense of character. It was like being in a real British colonial era house. The only thing I didn't like is that the hard wood walls had been covered in brown fake wood paint. It was so authenticaly old there was even an elevator operator on duty. Not bad at all for the price.

A colonial era building of what looks like French design. It reminds me of some of the French-built buildings in New Orleans, LA. Molded into the cement near the roof were was the year 1892.

Near the downtown area. Skyscrapers line the streets and shoppers crowd together to pay three times what I would in any country.

There's still an old Shanghai. Known simply as the old city, there's one preserved district that never changed much over the years. Part of the reason for this is that ordianary Chinese were not often allowed to live in the foreign areas, and the foreigners never bothered with the old city. Today, lots of the old buidings are being rebuilt and new buildings are being put up. Like any city, it seems that everyday is laundry day.

Old meets new. The skyscrappers tower this section of the old city.

Russians also settled in Shanghai. This is an old fashioned Russian church. Now its a bank.

My friend Mandy Yu and I. I had just visited Mandy's family and had lunch with them. This was taken as she and her father were seeing me back to the bus. Mandy works for a French company in Shanghai. Her parents live in a subburb of the city. Her father is a Christian artist who paints in a traditional Chinese style. I met Mandy on the internet and by she knows an Americans friend of mine who lives in Beijing. Odd coincedense in a nation of 1.3 billion people.

Me and my new friends (I'm the white guy). These are more people I met on the internet. Some were introduced to me by my friend Cynthia from DaLian. Others, this was my first time speaking to them. Many of them know each other from a Christian chat room. On my right is Steve, from Dalian. The girl next to him is Joyful from Hong Kong. The man 6 people from my left is Legion, who is a travel agent in Shanghai and helped me arange my tickets to Puotuoshan and to Wuhan. All these people know each other from one chat room and sometimes arange to meet together in person. It was just coincidence that I happend to drop in on Legion at the right time.

	Me infront of the Bund (Waitan) on Chinese New Year's night. The Bund was main street when Shanghai was in the hands of foreign nationals before liberation. Atop each foreign built building flys a Chinese flag, as though claiming possetions.
Employees outside a local resturant enjoy the fireshow. As midnight apporached Shanghai began to sound like a war zone. Fireworks are illegal in the city but that didn't even slow anyone down. From one end of the Bund to the other people were out in force, enjoying a break in the rain. Unfortunatly this was the only picture I took before my camera locked up.
	This is what's known as Pudong New District. Its an area across the river thats been build almost from scratch to be the high technology and finance center of Shanghai. From here it looks like the dream of a Science Fiction writter. But then, this was build for the future of China.
Just down from the Bund, the Pujiang Hotel. Once called the Astor House, this was the first hotel in Shanghai and is over 150 years old. Its also the hotel I was fortunate to say in during my visit to Shanghai, and for only Ľ50 (about US$6) per night. The creaking hardwood floors gave the place a real sense of character. It was like being in a real British colonial era house. The only thing I didn't like is that the hard wood walls had been covered in brown fake wood paint. It was so authenticaly old there was even an elevator operator on duty. Not bad at all for the price.
	A colonial era building of what looks like French design. It reminds me of some of the French-built buildings in New Orleans, LA. Molded into the cement near the roof were was the year 1892.
Near the downtown area. Skyscrapers line the streets and shoppers crowd together to pay three times what I would in any country.
	There's still an old Shanghai. Known simply as the old city, there's one preserved district that never changed much over the years. Part of the reason for this is that ordianary Chinese were not often allowed to live in the foreign areas, and the foreigners never bothered with the old city. Today, lots of the old buidings are being rebuilt and new buildings are being put up. Like any city, it seems that everyday is laundry day.
Old meets new. The skyscrappers tower this section of the old city.
	Russians also settled in Shanghai. This is an old fashioned Russian church. Now its a bank.
My friend Mandy Yu and I. I had just visited Mandy's family and had lunch with them. This was taken as she and her father were seeing me back to the bus. Mandy works for a French company in Shanghai. Her parents live in a subburb of the city. Her father is a Christian artist who paints in a traditional Chinese style. I met Mandy on the internet and by she knows an Americans friend of mine who lives in Beijing. Odd coincedense in a nation of 1.3 billion people.
	Me and my new friends (I'm the white guy). These are more people I met on the internet. Some were introduced to me by my friend Cynthia from DaLian. Others, this was my first time speaking to them. Many of them know each other from a Christian chat room. On my right is Steve, from Dalian. The girl next to him is Joyful from Hong Kong. The man 6 people from my left is Legion, who is a travel agent in Shanghai and helped me arange my tickets to Puotuoshan and to Wuhan. All these people know each other from one chat room and sometimes arange to meet together in person. It was just coincidence that I happend to drop in on Legion at the right time.