As Seen by TV

Part 2 of our trek through Thames Town (part 1) brings us past a Parisian square, complete with French street names, a map of Paris, up to date advertising posters for current exhibitions going on in Paris, as well as proper Paris Telecom phone booths.  What turned out to be a strange day, just got even stranger.

Also randomly stumbled upon a massive underground [and completely vacant] parking garage, located undernearth the church… parking for who, is anyone’s guess.

Is this England or China?

It is in fact: Thames Town, Songjiang, Shanghai [map].  A housing project which is part of the “One City - Nine Towns” initiative the Shanghai Planning Commission set up in early 2001.  All are situated around the suburbs of Shanghai, this one resembling life in Britain (others include Sweden, Holland, Germany, Canada, Spain, Italy, and China – don’t worry, I’ll get to them eventually!).  Thames Town, at a 20% occupancy is hardly a success, but it does make for an incredibly bizarre experience… somewhere between a ghost town and a film set. 
Only difference is: this is real.

It’s a playground for the Chinese wedding photographers… with among other things, a church based on one in Bristol, and with a price tag of over 5 billion RMB ($750 million), this didn’t come cheap.

Part 2

The day after Christmas took a trip to the Linkeroever (“left bank of the river“), the neighborhood across the river Schelde from Antwerp city center.  I’d actually never been here before, also checked out the St. Anna Tunnel opened in 1933 which is a pedestrian/cyclist tunnel.   Looking at them blue skies now makes me a little home sick, here in Shanghai its only ever “foggy” (smoggy).

That last picture is of my last meal in Europe, taken at Schiphol airport, Amsterdam.  And so concludes my Belgian/Dutch holiday.

My roots lie in Antwerp, but many of my friends live around Brussels… so rain or shine (or snow), there is a lot of driving back and forth.  Honestly, there is nothing better than snow on the ground and a rental in your hands.  I just thank them lucky stars that my rental car had German plates, as winter tires are mandatory in Germany but not in Belgium.

The snow was amazing, all the years I spent in the Benelux and I’ve never seen such a blanket across the entire country (the south got up to 60cm).  I was there for 10 days, and it snowed every other day… truly amazing.  First white Christmas since the 60′s, and the most snow since WWII!

One morning I also went for a little hike through the Sonian Forest (Zoniënwoud / Forêt de Soignes) located just south of Brussels, which was simply amazing.

Stopover in Rotterdam… yes I lived there for several years, but the reason for this [quick] visit was [no] thanks to KLM and Schiphol Airport.  Who both told me I could come to the airport (a week after I had arrived) to pick my suitcase.  The 2.5 hr drive from Antwerp up to Amsterdamnit proved to be pointless as I was told by airport staff upon arrival that my suitcase “had not yet been located”, then spending the next 2 hours looking through several thousand suitcases….  I eventually got my baggage back 10 days after I arrived, literally minutes after finishing packing my new suitcase to fly back to Shanghai.  Thank you KLM.  Thank you Schiphol.
For nothing.

Anyway, these images are from the quick stopover on our ways north (for no reason) in Rotterdam, we hit up the SS Rotterdam, a popular cruise ship built in 1958, since retired and transformed into a restaurant and hotel.
Also, a big thank you to Rotterdam’s finest who gave me a parking ticket within the hour of arrival there… for having “all 4 wheels on the sidewalk”, pictures attached (keeping in mind all the cars to my left are legally parked).  Holland: where we give out traffic tickets like no where else in the world (my personal favorite is still the “speeding” ticket I got for going 53 in a 50 kph zone).

The highest peak surrounding Baguio City belongs to Mount Santo Tomas (map).  The peak is littered with radio & tv towers and 2 radars built by the American military post-WWII.  The views of the city and South China sea are stunning, not to mention the beautifully crisp fresh air, which is something I can only dream about back here at my office in Shanghai.  Bah.

One of the two guards gave us a personal tour of the radars are the peak, which has been off-limits since a bombing recently which aimed at taking out one of the radars (even though they haven’t been used in decades).  Apparently back in the day tourists visiting the peak could even climb the metal radars, with no fences or anything holding them back.  Now the area is fenced off and kept away from curious eyes by 2 security guards, who must be the loneliest around, considering the near 60 minute trip up the mountain from Baguio City below, much of it off-road.  Which is probably why the guard gave us a tour, as he was pretty wasted, even offering us some drinks after his tour.

An epic evening of verpertinesque skies above Upper Quezon Hill, Baguio City!

There was also a lightning storm occurring out over the South China Sea, check it out in some of the images.

10/10/10!

Around Baguio City…

(click to view large)

I’d seriously love to rock one of those armored trucks…!