Oktoberfest (Oct. 25)

This year we couldn't make it to Munich to go crazy. But globalization and internationalization, respectively, make you less dependent on a location and time. Thus, Oktoberfest fans could jet from Munich to Florida, continuing over Las Vegas and Tokyo to Beijing and Shanghai to celebrate our most popular festival. We stopped by at the Lufthansa Center and enjoyed ourselves in the Paulaner Bräuhaus (one in Beijing, three in Shanghai) to catch up for this year.

Great Wall (Oct. 21)

Great Wall (Oct. 21)

What do you have in mind when thinking of China? Bicycles, hot food...Great Wall! Finally, the university organized a trip to the tremendous Great Wall in Badaling which is by means the most crowded place you can go to. Bustransfer, Great Wall visit and food afterwards for three Euros! Click on the pics to enlarge.

7.52 am in the morning. Our fu wu yuan (cleaning ladies) receive their instructions from their boss. Anyway, orders are very common in China, the hierarchical order at work and the social status are very important.

Alumni Meeting in Beijing (Oct. 11)

This is basically the whole group from Germany except for 4 people with our rector
Prof. Rauhut (head of RWTH Aachen) who flew in to join the alumni meeting. Cool right!

Thomas @ the oktoberfest in hangzhou with Asian babes in Dirndls, we drank a Wernesgrüner there ( beer from East Germany)left: taking a time-out is common in China, it is not a big deal to the prof if you lay down your head in the first row and nap for 10 minutes.

Starting off from the right. The old man was very cute. All of the sudden he stood behind me and started a conversation. He learned English during the Second World War and was extremely interested, so were the Chinese around us who formed a circle...After 20 minutes had passed we met again and chatted for some time. In the evening my group and me visited the coolest tea place ever. Imagine a combination of kong fu and water pooring. Impossible? Not for these guys who refilled spectacularly!

Our train ride from Suzhou to Hangzhou. We departed at 11pm and made it to Suzhou at 4 am in the morning. As you can see trains are efficiently packed and no square inch is wasted. It was quite an act to let the food trolley guy pass every half an hour.
Unfortunately, the hostel only had 3 beds for us six, so I napped on the cosy couch until eight, shower and off for breakfast at the great lake of Hangzhou. It is China's biggest lake within a city. The Long jing cha (Drachenbrunnentee) is very famous!

Suzhou is also called the Venice of the East, a city with over 2 million inhabitants, 80 km west of Shanghai. Here I am shot on the City Pagode. The right picture is taken at one of Suzhou's many channels.

Pulse is exploding, eyes staring at the speed sign. 429, 430, 431 km/h (for my American friends: Transrapid's top speed is 267,81 mph). The Transrapid connects Shanghai International Airport with the city of Shanghai on a 30 km (18,66 miles) distance. The ride lasts 5 minutes. We also felt sorrow because our German technology runs in China with success!

The upper two pictures depict the impressive skyline of Shanghai shot by Thomas. We watched the scenery from the 88th floor of the Jin Mao Tower. The lower pic shows one of the biggest shopping streets by night. In the middle is the cool Sky Bar on top of the Radisson Hotel.

Markus and me make friends with a Chinese boy

Rob and me with the tallest building in China and the forth tallest building in the world: the Jin Mao Tower

I was awarded the Chinese' cultural preserver trophy for saving the ball from dropping. Visiting the tower will still be possible in the future folks.

Robin and li bao in front of the Oriental Pearl TV and Radio Tower

Here you can see a typical street restaurant kitchen...

Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou (Oct. 1-6)

All pics have to go one by one now, since I have difficulty with the uploading.

This pic is starring libao in front of the Shanghai Skyline among all the Chinese who went on vacation during National Holiday Week.