X-Treme Sports and YuYuan Gardens

Friday I was done, I was breaking into pieces and wanted some fun. After office I went to my favorite joint in Shanghai, Malones. Had beer, surrendered to the music that was being played and just enjoyed. From there I went to Judy’s a stones throw away place from Malones. Here the crowd had not yet picked up and it was almost 11:30PM. I was there was some time had one more beer and danced for sometime. I was looking for the girl with whom I have danced the most so far, but she was not to be seen. There were others too, but they seem to be too much to be taken on the dance floor he h eh eh e. Now I was hungry so as usual I went and the pizza that we usually have, but this time she served me a large Pizza and sadly I was alone to eat it. I ate as much as I could and that was about 10 slices. I had to leave 2 slices on the plate. Then just went on a stroll on the same street (Tongren Lu). To see what the other joints had in place. There were some places like Judy’s and some which cannot be gussed. Me and my friend wanted to see what these places had inside. There were lot of girls inviting us to their bars and then we decided to go into one of them. As we entered a girl hooked on to each one of us and took us inside, the bar is on the first floor and there were not much people as in Judy’s or Malones. We sat on one of the high chairs and the girls ordered the drinks for us and for themselves and started talking to us, where are you from, how long in shanghai, what you do…blah blah blah. And slow the topic shifts to sex. How she feels and what makes her horny. She said I like bald head and the body hair turns me on. If I want something mushimushi…..he he. She was trying to go naughty with me a lot, so I decided let me play around with her without loosing anything. While all this was happening suddenly I realized that it is so easy to easy your virginity.We danced for sometime also. She kept on asking for something extra from me and I kept on denying. It was fun though, she acting erotic from time to time. Finally we decided to move on and left the place.
The nest day I got up damn late and just went out shopping with my other colleagues who were there. On Sunday I was thinking of going to Chongming Islands but I was alone to go there and didn’t feel like going there. So I went to YuYuan gardens. On my way in the shuttle bus of our bus I met a NRI who is about 65 years old and working for a company that makes ATM machines, He asked me where I was from and when I asked the same to him he said he is from Ohio, US. I wonder if it is an identity problem for these guys. So far I have never seen a guy telling that basically I am from such a place in India but settled in ……..I don’t know why??!! Anyways he wanted to kill time and said I will join you, although this guy has been many times to China. So we took the metro and walked to Yuyuan gardens.(http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shanghai/yuyuan_garden.htm) The first time I went to this place I was searching where the hell the garden is and the second time I went there the timing was wrong as the place closes down at 4:00PM. My companion for the day al kinds of stories to tell me about hi family and I was listening to them mast time pass and curiosity to know what these guys do in US as Indians apart from being a professional. I went alone to the garden as he had already seen it. It isn’t a very big garden. I felt it is also not very beautiful as Lingering gardens and I feel all the gardens look and feel like the same. Anyways it was a nice time pass. Later we thought of going to the bund and heading back to home. But we lost direction and decided to go to Nanjing road and have lunch. I had unbearably lots of pizzas. After that we took the taxi and came back to the hotel. I saw a movie and ended the day with some Chinese massage ;-).

Shanghai Moto GP

Eeeeeeeeeeeehaw…..there was Moto GP here in Shanghai on the 06 May. I was all happy that I will be able to see the show when I am here in shanghai. John agreed to give me a ride to the venue along with one of his friends Richard. The Shanghai circuit is far far away from the city, it took an hour to reach the place. The circuit plays host for the Grand Prix also. That is there in the month of October. The venue is such a huge place, phew mind blowing. It will take ages for India to get such a place and facility running with perfection. The main stand is about 5 floors high. When you go near the circuit I could hear the bikes ripping on the tracks. It was a great feeling. A feeling of power represented by the short burst of sound as they zip past the main stand. The main stand is right opposite to the pit stop and there is the start line. I was getting high. There were stalls put by the manufacturers of the bikes. Yamaha, Honda and Suzuki flaunting their super bikes and other normal bikes. We had our seats in Grand Stand B. This is located at the first turn of the track. It was the best view possible that one can ask for. Beautiful day not too sunny, the weather was perfect and we were enjoying the show with some beer. The riders were warming up with their bikes. First race was for 125CC bikes. Man you must see how fast they go and the sound they make. Damn….I should tell mindu to give up his bike for these ones. They had 16 laps for the race. After this there was 250CC bikes race. This race was interesting than the earlier one. The leader of the race had kept the lead for most of the race but there were others behind him who kept challenging him. They would over take him and he would also do that. This fight for the first place amongst the first 5 player was interesting. Meanwhile one of the drivers lost control at our stand and went sliding off the track. It was a sight to watch. But the poor guy could not get up, don’t worry he was alive. A stretcher was used to move him.
After one hour gap there was the super bike race coming up. So we went out to the common open area. By now my kidneys had become balloon and was about to burst. I took refuge in the wash room first. That was my best and longest relieving piss I ever had. After that we took some pictures of bikes. The Suzuki team had put up a stunt show. Skidding, doing wheelies and braking on the front wheel and doing a swing. It was a nice. Most of us would have seen such stunts in Hollywood movies. After this show there was the most awaited race of the day, ever one there was only concerned about bike no. 46, The Doctor, Valentino Rossi. That guy sure has what it takes to be a super bike champ. Boy o boy these bikes are even more noisy and fast. It was a thrilling experience. Whenever a bunch of riders would pass through our stands I could fell the stand and my balls vibrating a little bit. It was great feeling. The Doctor was well challenged by Casey Stoner who eventually won the race. The Doctor over took Stoner on three occasions. On the third occasion he lost control and went outside the track. I am sure if he had this turn correct he would have won the race. Sigh all good things must come to an end. SO did the day and the race and I was heading back to my hotel. I wanted to get a ride on those bikes as a pillion rider. That would also be a good experience. Well let’s see, maybe next time or maybe F1…in a Ferrari.

Venice of China

I got up in the morning and decided that I will go to Shuzhou. Actually before deciding that I was trying to figure out when is the actual MOTO GP race day in Shanghai Circuit. Once that was clear well almost, got ready and let the hotel to go to Shuzhou. It is a one hour travel by train from Shanghai. That meant that I had to take a train.. I went to the Shanghai Railway station and got a ticket , but the train was at 1:30PM.and there was a lot time to kill. I was worried about the weather as it was dark and cloudy and the forecast was for rains. If it rains then the trip to Shuzhou would be a total disaster. Shuzhou is called the Venice of China. Because of its backwaters that criss cross the city. I got to know about this place from a booklet that a travel agent had printed and was interested after reading the description of the trip that he had to offer. All I knew is that I have to go to Shuzhou and nothing more that that. What is there and how to travel locally no data available or known. Went around the railway station area to kill some time. And at 01:00PM I went inside the railway station. I must say that the railway station is like Bangalore airport. Modern and sophisticated. I saw that they don’t have platform concept. They have waiting rooms. Each waiting room has many platforms. And you have to check in as you do in airports. The check in stops 5 min before the departure time. No body comes and asks you for a ticket after you have checked in. The train that I took is a double Decker one. I was seated on the lower portion. The seats were good, ones that you can find in a luxury bus. The train left the station on time. They do travel at a good speed. After cruising for about 45 minutes he stopped at a small station. I was wondering why and then in a span of half an hour 6 super fast trains maybe bullet trains passed by us. And I was getting pissed off. Finally in another 15min I was at Shuzhou station and now wondering what to do. I could see a couple of places where some tour operators were there. While I was searching for tourist information centre a guy came and spoke to me in English and asked me if I needed a taxi. I told him I am here to see the gardens and back waters and gave him the booklet that I was carrying. He saw that and told me that the backwaters and garden is in the city but the other place is about 70km away from the city. I was not willing to go so far at that of the day. He said the boat ride would be 250 RMB. I thought it was expensive and asked him to just take me to the place. I will not boat. He also told me that for 100RMB he will take me to the backwaters and another famous garden, Lingering gardens and back to railway station in his car. I accepted his offer and there we were riding in the streets of Shuzhou. The city still has the old buildings preserved and you can see that the water crisis crosses the city a lot places. We reached the place of boating and the entrance was that of a gate. He told me that at this gate the architect of the town was beheaded and his head was hanged here. This was done by a king. The price for the boat that he said was not for one person it was for the entire boat. Later I thought what the big deal. Let’s go, so I had the entire boat for myself. It was a nice and beautiful experience to go boating in the backwaters. Very nice bridges, houses and restaurants don the banks of the backwaters. There were a lot of tourists also there. The entire trip took me 50min , not bad huh. From there we went to Lingering gardens. This is a world heritage centre. And supposed to be one of the famous and beautiful gardens in China. The garden is small but very beautiful. It has some weird shaped stone sculptures and a green ambience. There are small ponds and streams inside the garden. A nice and peaceful place. The garden is in the centre of the city and there is so much peace inside. I guess it is mostly because of the large number of vegetation that suppresses the noise. Well I spent about 45 min inside the garden and after that we were headed to the railway station. Our guide dropped us off till the ticket counter and told me to but tickets from there. When I got my tickets I saw that the train leaves Suzhou at 11:30 PM. I was pissed off it was still 06:30PM and I had to wait for five hours to travel one hour. Damn…..then I realized what the guide had told me about the buses, a five min walk away there is a bus station from where we can get buses to Shanghai. So I went there and found a bus to Shanghai. I was asking her the bus operator what time you leave from here and how much and to get that information from was fun. She did not understand what I was asking and so did I. finally she gave up and went inside the bus to get hold of a guy who could understand English. Finally I came to know that the bus would leave to shanghai at 7:00PM and the fare is 50RMB. I was happy to loose the 7RMB train ticket and travel on this bus. Over all it was fun and adventure for me on that day.

Golden Week Celebrations

May 1 is labors day and in China that entire week is off. Yep the whole week I was on a vacation here in China. Sadly I was in Shanghai but did a lot. I could not plan much for that week as my extension here in China was decided pretty late and you need to do all your bookings well in advance. But I had other things to take care of and that was being a tour guide for the people who were stuck here in Shanghai as they were not able to get tickets to fly to their countries. I am planning to start a Tour Operator business here for the people who come. I am sick of going to the same tourist spots again and again. I took my colleagues to Shanghai Museum. One of them was very interested to know and see the Chinese arts and history. This place I had to go around the same exhibits all over again for the second time. Boy o boy that meant lots of walking and standing and waiting, phew at the end of it I was dead tired and I was craving for a can of beer. During the golden week the Chinese take pride in going out seeing places and having fun. You can see a lot and lot of people on the streets. Anywhere you go you will find rush and never ending q. After we were finished with the museum we were hungry and had to cross the road to eat Pizza. The situation at the zebra crossing reminded me of Mahabharath serial, where in at dawn soldiers from both the ends are waiting to attack and once they are given the command to charge they just pounce on each other. At least here we did not pounce to kill each other. Hundreds of people on both the side of the roads was waiting to cross and once the signal turned we were attacking the other end of the road. That was a scene worth watching from the side and being part of it was fun. Before going to the museum on that day we went through the people’s park. It was such a beautiful park with all greenery and colorful flowers. Outside there was so much of noise from the modern machines that man created, but inside it was peaceful and calm. People were doing exercise, hanging out with friends and family and having fun and eating and drinking.

The second day we went to two different places. One was the Jinang Temple. It is a Buddha temple. A place bigger than the Jaded Buddha Temple but not as good as it. The architecture of the buildings was good. There was a tomb in the courtyard of the temple with some openings at different heights. People were throwing coins into these openings. I gues it was to make a wish and when your coin successfully gets into one of the openings then it will be granted. I also tried and it was fun to put the coins. Outside the temple there was a ban playing the bagpiper. The music was really good. They had attracted a lot of people to listen to them playing. It does take a lot of effort to blow air into the bagpipers. I could see that on the face of the artists who were blowing air into it. I would have gasped for air if I had to do it for the first time. Form there we went to the Shanghai Old Street or Yuyuan Gardens, This place has the old Chinese style buildings. More of a place where you can shop Chinese art and some souvenirs. The whole street is doing the same, attracting tourists to buy them. And to mention the food that they sell. Yummy I wanted to get some steamed dumplings, but the Q was so big that I did not feel like standing in it. We went the Yuyuan garden entrance to find that the place was closed at 04:00PM. Man that was bad. The garden looked beautiful from the outside. I wanted to go there desperately. Anyways I will go there again. After hanging out for some more time and doing some shopping we headed back to our hotel. The next day also was spent in shopping and most of the time I was at home.

Shanghai Auto Show

The 12th Auto show was organized here in Shanghai and we went to the show on the last day of the event. There was a hell of a rush on that day. We were four people in all. The venue was a huge place near the Maglev station. There were six big halls hosting all the auto makers and part manufactures. There were all the big names in the auto industry from all over the world and the local Chinese guys were also there. We started off seeing VW and BUIK (Shanghai GM). GM had some real cool cars. The interesting part in these events is the concept cars and the girls. Both of them can make you sigh for their impeccable beauty. There were so many cars to see and we had so less time. I was bowled by the Corvette it was a mean machine and no wonder why people go crazy about it. There were a couple of cars which ran on fuel cells and flex fuels. The next generation of power to drive your wheels. The Chinese car makers were also not behind. They too had some real good designs with them. Geely is the No. 1 automaker in china. The crowd who had come there for the grand show was more or less behind the models taking their pictures. I was taking so many pictures that I did not realize that I was not carrying my spare batteries. Damn toward the end of our visit I was out of battery power and so the end to photos. We thought there were 6 halls in all, but actually there were more. We realized that when we couldn’t see the Mercedes and Honda. Hey they should have been here, where are they. There were two bikes displayed by Suzuki. One was a super bike and the other “Intruder”. Intruder was a cruiser bike. I sat on that and got a couple of pictures. Man that bike was so comfortable. The moment my ass rested on it, I knew it this baby is very comfortable to ride on. Blue color with white stripes. Phew!!. Now that reminds of me of my Bullet and for the rides that I have been missing so far . At 02:00PM the show dropped its curtains on the auto show and we had to leave the place. When we came out there was a dearth of taxis. I was ready to get on to a two wheeler taxi and go back home. But there were others also not willing to do so. So we waited and asked and waited and asked and did not get a taxi. So we started to walk and found a guy who was ready to take us at extra cost in his car which was not a taxi. I was reluctant to pay so much but then we had to get back home some how. So we hired him and that fool of an ass driver was in such a hurry that he could not wait for all the passengers to get in. He would just hit the pedal when a guy is getting in the car.