As Seen by TV

Since this was my second visit to Holland Village, I don’t think I captured as many [interesting] pictures. Nothing much has changed from this strange area since my first visit almost two years ago.  It’s a long metro ride to the far reaches of northern Pudong to Gao Qiao then walking the final stretch to Holland Village (see my previous posts for more info: Gao Qiao | Holland Village).

And yes, I still think they should change the name to Shangsterdam and open a frituur.

This is pretty crazy.

Check out this image compiled by UK scientists consisting of thousands of images taken of space via satellite over the course of 10 years.  STUNNING, to say the least.  It is said to show 1 billion stars (!!!).  Dubbed project “Vista Data Flow System”… well, I’m just gonna have to stop typing because it is quite truly beyond words.  Check it out!

Static Link:
http://djer.roe.ac.uk/vsa/vvv/iipmooviewer-2.0-beta/vvvgps5.html

BBC article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17539315

PS- FROM NOW ON, MY PHOTOGRAHY WILL HAVE LARGER IMAGE SIZES!!!

I still prefer my name for Holland Village… SHANGSTERDAM.

Holland Village [map], another housing project part of the “1 City – 9 Towns” initiative the Shanghai Planning Commission set up in 2001.  Designed by Dutch architects, this project, like Thames Town (see my posts of Thames Town here and here), is not quite a success, partly because it is located too far away from the city (20min walk to metro, then over an hour to Peoples Square), and partly because Chinese tastes do not suit with Dutch architecture, nevermind the price tag of 35,000RMB per square meter.  Hardly as intricate as the “British” Thames Town (not even a single bike stall!), but definitely worth a visit and walk around.  Just about as much as a ghost town as the “British” Town, but a few more locals walking around, as Holland Village (aka Shangsterdam!) is better integrated with the surrounding town of Gao Qiao, whereas Thames Town was a seriously locked-down housing complex (with only 2 entrances/exits).

To visit Shangsterdam, you can easily walk from the North Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone station, the second to last stop on line 5.  Then an easy, and picturesque (see previous post) 20min walk following the river through traditional Chinese streets and you’ll eventually see the windmill located on an island in the middle of the river you’ve been following.

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