Finally Shanghai… such a stylish place…
Posted on June 30, 2011 Leave a Comment
We arrived in Shanghai late yesterday night.
Out hotel is so chic… I feel that I should’ve got my hair done, before I came down to breakfast.
The “Les Suites Orient” on the Bund, is a beautifully designed boutique hotel, with great modern furniture, the softest sheets and beds, stylish marble bathrooms, toto toilets and beautiful finishing details.
From our bedroom, we can see the length of the “Bund” (pronounced “band” and it means embankment, or river side)
The Bund runs along the western bank of the Huangpu River, facing Pudong, in the eastern part of Huangpu District.
The Bund is one of the most famous tourist destinations in Shanghai.
You can walk on the boardwalk and admire the diverse architecture styles of these buildings on one side, and the river and boats on the other side, or you can walk on the street and enter some of these buildings which offer some of Shanghai fanciest dining options.
The Bund houses 52 buildings of various architectural styles such as Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Neo-Classical, Beaux-Arts, and Art Deco (according to unverified source, Shanghai has one of the richest collections of Art Deco architectures in the world.)
It is a stylish road, with no street stalls or hawkers, although years ago, at night, you could see some vendors selling cotton candy and glow in the dark toys, on the boardwalk.
Breakfast was wonderful, and served in the stylish, yet intimate dining room.
We took our morning teas into the lounge area, and from the windows, I can see the river, the big boats, the road.
I can observe the people exercising on the boardwalk, and the tourists walking by with umbrellas, to protect them from the sun.
The streets looks so clean and I cannot wait to put on a comfortable pair of shoes and get into them…
Things you would not see in any other parts of the world….
Posted on June 26, 2011 Leave a Comment
Episode #1 The edge of Western China, almost the border with Kyrgyzstan:
We were driving behind a young couple, who was riding an old clanky motorcycle on the highway.
It was the edge of the Taklamakan desert and the road was narrow, monotonous and long, with no services for hundreds of kilometers.
It was a two lane highway with no separation and no markings, and the asphalt was burning hot.
On both sides of the road, there was nothing but dry desert and some low thorny bushes.
The motorcycle stopped ahead of us, in the middle of the road…
The young woman, who was holding a young baby, pulled out a thin fabric.
She placed it on the dirty scorching asphalt, and spread it in the MIDDLE of this narrow highway, taking one whole lane…..
She laid the baby on it, to clean his butt.
I am NOT exaggerating here, she did not place the cloth on the side of the road, because there were no shoulders to this highway, she spread the large cloth in the MIDDLE of the road, taking a whole lane.
Her baby-changing-operation, in the middle of the highway, left only a narrow pass for traffic from both sides, that might have needed to take turns to pass her by…
Meanwhile, her husband lit up a cigaret,…… extra calm and extra cool, as if this were the most natural thing to do in the world….. As if they were lounging at a bar on the beach.
Our driver passed them by, without even slowing down.
Both him and our guide, did not even blink an eye….
In the corner of my eye, I caught the astonished look on Jules’ face, and I knew that he was as shocked at this scene as I was…
I had to admit that I was totally shaken….
Growing up in Israel, I could not even imagine any Jewish mother changing her baby on a thin scarf, in the middle of the highway,….. in the middle of the desert….
It felt like an episode of “Believe it or not….”
Episode #2 Kathmandu
We were driving on a narrow road in Kathmandu.
It was the middle of the day, and traffic stopped for a long time.
Something was blocking the road…
We slowly inched our way to what I thought was an accident site.
When we arrived there, I saw what was obstructing the road…
In the middle of the road, stood a huge cow and an even bigger bull.
Cows and Bulls here, feed on whatever trash they find by the side of roads, which are extremely littered and filthy.
Their terrible “diet” of plastic bags and crap, gives them severe indigestion problems.
On that day, what was blocking the road, was a huge bull with an unbelievable bout of diarrhea…
This was a whole new concept of “Bullshit”… And I am NOT making a joke here…
The bull was having a stream of diarrhea coming out of his butt, like an open hose of pressurized sewage waters.
It came continuously for a long time, and splashed straight into the traffic and the road, with spatters on my closed car’s window.
I felt shocked beyond belief, and in my astonishment, I cried: “Oh my God!”….
What I really should have said was….”Holy Shit!”
Cycling The Silk Road In China – Comfort and luxury in Xining
Posted on May 21, 2011 Leave a Comment
On this hard trip, I will take whatever luxury I can get.
it is not comfortable to be sitting on the small bicycle seat all day long, riding on broken roads and potholes.
I love luxury and believe that we create too many struggles in life.
