o/t FAO Simply Red and any nosey folk...

[captain sparkle]

Unfortunately, clouds blocked the view for much of the time and all of totality, but it was amazing all the same.

Yeeesssss. In 1999 I went to watch the eclipse in Luxembourg. The big idea was to look out for the weather forecast and then head for a place with little forecast cloud cover. Instead I was out in the city the night before and met a good crowd who invited us to a house for an 'eclipse party'. Turned up and we drank quite a bit, kept popping out to see partiality, but then when totality was due everyone was rather tipsy so for some stupid reason, and because it was cloudy, we caught cabs to go out of the city but never would have made it. We ended up sat in a supermarket car park with total cloud cover and then when totality came all the car park lights came on. Hey-ho.

yes, i went to France & all i saw was this-

[Keith]

In Shanghai now for the last three nights. Going on a river cruise tonight. Holiday Inn charging 1 CYN (about 10p) per minute for internet access (gits!)

Ready for a KFC (of which I think there are more here than in the USA), pizza, Indian... anything that isn't Chinese! Sadly, going for a Chinese meal tonight Tomorrow I'm going to bugger off and do my own thing!

[SimplyRed MFC]

Saw a picture in the paper of Shanghai at 9.36am yesterday morning - looked like pitch black midnight !

Keith, while you are there the Shanghai's Oriental Pearl Tower is a must see from the top above the cloud base. One of the tallest structures in Asia.

Also the train UNDER the river is impressive. The city at night resemble's Batman's Gotham City with its fantastic use of colour & structure. Oh and shopping on Nanjing Road too.

I actually proposed at the top of the tower - but my then-girlfriend said no - initially anyway and it took a few more weeks of persistance before she agreed and ruined her life !!!

I know that problem about the eating too. It's always relentless Chinese hospitality versus English good manners - we don't know how to say no, so the food keeps coming regardless !
Remember that TV ad with the croc arriving eventually ?

Have fun !

[Plain Peter]

Are nearly everyone wearing surgical masks?

[Keith]

Are nearly everyone wearing surgical masks?

Very few, a lot less than I expected.

The city at night resemble's Batman's Gotham City with its fantastic use of colour & structure. Oh and shopping on Nanjing Road too.

Just got back from Nanjing Road. Walked from The People's Park to The Bund, carrying camera & tripod. Got there about 10:15pm and all the lights on the towers were switched off, as were most of the advertising boards on the way back! didn't take a solitary photo! Metro, as with everything in China was spotlessly clean and safe.

We went up the Jin Mao Tower to the observation deck on floor 88. It travels at almost 10m per second, which is impressive. Before we set off up, our guide stood a 1 yuan coin up on the floor. It stayed stood up, the lift is that smooth!

Also went on the magnetic railway. Train from Shanghai to the Airport, 30+ km... took 7 minutes! Top speed 431 kmph although we had to slow to 360 kmph when the train was coming in the opposite direction!
Had a KFC today Just like being in Douglas!

[USA Shrimp]

Had a KFC today Just like being in Douglas!

What, spotty teenagers in hoodies hanging round looking sullen ?!

The train trip sounds pretty wild. I thought I was going some when I had to have a crap on the bullet train at 290 kmh, and it was a squat toilet but 430 odd kmh !!

[Keith]

Had a KFC today Just like being in Douglas!

What, spotty teenagers in hoodies hanging round looking sullen ?!

The train trip sounds pretty wild. I thought I was going some when I had to have a crap on the bullet train at 290 kmh, and it was a squat toilet but 430 odd kmh !!

Spotty teenagers in hoodies??? On the Isle of Man??? That's a birching offence here!

Don't know if this link will work...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/iom_keith/3755368620/

Not all of the laughing is me!

[SimplyRed MFC]

Pity about the Pearl Tower not being lit at least you can try going up it in the day then.

Incidently when we went up it in 2004 the actual World Cup was on display at the very top of it in a very secure case ! The 3 metal legs that support the Tower are so massive they are each the width of the Mersey Tunnel entrance.

Coincidently, Shanghai is a big sea-port and the Tower has a gold plaque on the wall of the Space Lab bubble at the top of the building that says its twin city is Liverpool.

[Mighty Red]

although we had to slow to 360 kmph when the train was coming in the opposite direction!

Did you get it's number?

[Keith]

Coincidently, Shanghai is a big sea-port and the Tower has a gold plaque on the wall of the Space Lab bubble at the top of the building that says its twin city is Liverpool.

More than coincidence, the guy who designed many of the buildings on The Bund also designed waterfront buildings in Liverpool, so the connection is at least 100 years old.

They switched the building lights off at 10:15pm (ish) so I'll try and get there before then, tonight, camera in hand!

Did you get it's number?

If you view the video frame by frame it might be in there!

[Keith]

...the Shanghai's Oriental Pearl Tower is a must see from the top above the cloud base. One of the tallest structures in Asia.

You're out of touch mate! The Pearl Tower isn't even the tallest in Shanghai!


One of the more beautiful though!

A lot of work being done on The Bund, so I couldn't get a decent position to photograph the night skyline. The tower with the illuminated white, slightly domed top is the one went up yesterday and is the second tallest in the city, the blue outlined tower to the right is the second tallest tower in the world. In the next couple of years it will become the second biggest in Shanghai as another skyscraper is going up, which will become world number 1.

A lot of gearing up towards the 2010 Expo, which will be a China showcase I'm sure, a bit like the Olympics in Beijing, make a huge loss in monitory terms but really announce that China is here... and waking up!

[Mark S]

Please can we have more of your holiday blog?

I have had trouble sleeping lately until I have starting reading this.

Any chance of an audio podcast for insomniacs everywhere?

[Keith]

ooh don't worry, I can tell you ALL ABOUT IT on the 8th! If you are playing out that night, the 'Bloody Steam Racket' haven't got a Saturday night boat so I'm in Morecambe until lunchtime Sunday.

[SimplyRed MFC]

ooh good, I'll look forward to that Keith thanks.

Also to help Mark's predicament, on our visit to Shanghai on a wet windy Monday morning, when we stood on the Bund which, as Keith correctly pointed out , was in fact a series of big European-built buildings stretching for about a mile on the banks of the river

These were built in the late 1800's by ahem, western colonnialist powers such as England, Germany, France & the US

It was weird because, as the weather was so cold, it was more like standing on the banks of the wet and wild Mersey in winter rather than on a river in mainland China.

Wake up Mark, Keith & I will be asking questions soon !

[Plain Peter]

Tsingtao is horrible beer.

I've got a label off a bottle for our holiday scrapbook.
It states +/-5% alkohol.
Does that mean it can vary, or might not travel too well?

Now on sale in Morrisons.
3 x 66cl bottles for a fiver.

[Aspers]

Just boght a 6 pack of Tsing tao in Qld $18.99.
9 quid.