Stirring up the Chinese

My last week in Shanghai

2007-10-14T00:31:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night. Getting together with my future sister-in-law Vroni.
Vroni and friends at the Hong Kong Plaza ready for some real Chinese food.
Afterwards, we went to the dessert bistro called Brix 12. The desserts are really excellent!

Starring Veronika Winhard.
Friday night. On behalf of Mr. Liebau, all the interns including my roommate Sven (black shirt) were invited for Sichuan style food.

Joanna and Sebastian.
Sebastian, Jörg und Joris.
Ivana.
Gosnia, Ulla und Sven.

Only criteria for the night: spicy spicy spicy...

Saturday noon: on behalf of Mr. Knaussmann who is absent at the moment, his secretary Zhang Lu and friend invited me for Korean barbecue.

Zhang Lu.
Guan Yuhong.
Meat.
Li Bao.

Bucket of coffee.

Saturday evening. Eating Thai food with Vroni's gang.
Saturday night. Party at the Bar Rouge.

Sunday morning. 4:30 am. Pudong is still asleep.

Guangzhou 广州 (Oct. 4-7)

2007-10-10T06:24:00.000-07:00

The flight from Hangzhou to Guangzhou took about 1,5 hours. Guangzhou is the capital and the sub-provincial city of Guangdong Province in the southern part of the People's Republic of China located about 120 km (75 miles) northwest of Hong Kong. The city is also known as Canton. As of the 2000 census, the city has a population of 6 million, and a metropolitan population of roughly 8.5 million. The picture below displays my hotel. My single aparment facing the front is the very right one on the second floor.

Very tasty with more than 4.3% alc. Actually there is no stronger beer in China than 12°P!
Shoe repair service. Getting some shoe shine on.
Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, situated on the southern slope of Yuexiu Hill, was constructed between 1929 and 1931, a monument to Dr Sun Yat-sen, the forerunner of Chinese democratic revolution, by the people of Guangzhou and overseas Chinese.

Inside Yue Xiu park. It is the largest park in downtown Guangzhou. Covering an area of 860,000 square meters (212.5 acres), the park is made up of three artificial lakes and seven hills of Yuexiu Mountain.
A bus from the 1950s.

View from the Zhenhai Tower.
The Five-Ram Sculpture is one of the most famous structures in Guangzhou. It has become the emblem of Guangzhou City.

Bonsai trees inside of Martyr Memorial Park. Not only eaten but also well treated: our little friends!

The Second Workers' Culture Palace.

The third largest river in China, the Pearl River measures 2,129 meters in length, with its name deriving from the Haizhu Rock (Sea Pearl Rock).
As the highest building and one of the landmarks in Guangzhou, Zhongxin Plaza is composed of one 80-storeyed main tower, flanked by two subordinating buildings of 38 stories, together with a 5-storeyed apron building, covering a total land area of 23,000 sq. meters. It measures 391 meters high, crowning Guangzhou again with the highest building in south part of China.
No Brabus cars in their showroom right now, I was devastated.

Dinner at a Cantonese restaurant. The waitress was seriously asking me whether I am able to eat with chopsticks...

Afterwards, I was on the Pearl River Night Cruise.

All scenery spots were given names, so romantic that my heart was filled with pure joy when hearing over the loudspeakers that we have arrived at "Night Moon over the Goose Pool", "Misty Rain over the Twin Bridge", "Red Heart of the Pearl River", "Autumn Moon over the Pearl River", "Clear Waves on the Pearl River".......

The Chen Clan Temple (Ancient Temple with Immortal Fame).

Chen Clan Temple is also known for its different carvings. As for the doors, windows, screens, walls, roof beams, girders and eaves in this structures, all of them are decorated by different carvings, such as: Stone carving, Woodcarving, Brick carving, Pottery Sculpture, plaster sculpture, painted sculpture and iron casting.

The whole structure faces the south and covers 15,000 square meters.

Guangxiao Temple.

Liuhua Park.

Beijing Lu.

Need some kido shoes?
This Catholic Church was built in 1888, it is the largest and most intact Gothic Cathedral of stone structure.

This shack sells mushrooms and other rotten specialties.

Road work. Manually operated transportation elevators.
Oh Shenzen Airlines, take my home!

Hangzhou 杭州 (Oct. 2-4)

2007-10-09T01:27:00.000-07:00

Back again after one year: Hangzhou train station. I was pretty much surprised when Chao pulled up in that ride;)
Firstly, we hit the tea plantations and I got an idea of how the tea trees look like.

Afterwards, we met Chao's mom for lunch in their hometown Lin An (临安), then we went home and ate these plenty of fruits...
...followed by dinner which Chao's dad had been preparing for two hours.

Very delicious food here.

In Chao's uncle's supermarket.
Mao Tais.

A rich Chinese breakfast.

Could not zoom any further onto it without notice....
We went back to Hangzhou in order to see the Ling Yin Si 灵隐寺 (Temple of Inspired Seclusion).
As you can see it features a large number of grottos and religious rock carvings.

The Feilai Feng grottos.

The monastery was originally founded in 328 AD during the Eastern Jin Dynasty by Indian monk Huili.

The formal entrance of the temple is the Hall of the Heavenly Kings (天王殿).
The second and principal hall is the Mahavira Hall, or the Grand Hall of the Great Sage (大雄宝殿). It houses, as is traditional, a statue of Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha. The present statue was carved in 1956 from camphor wood in Tang Dynasty style and coated with 60 taels of gold. It is the largest wooden Buddhist statue in China (notice that it is the largest wooden Buddhist statue, the tallest wooden Lama statue is located at the Lama Temple in Beijing!!)
Arranged along the sides of the hall are images of the 18 principal arhats, and other prominent Buddhists.
At the back of the main statue is a statue of Guanyin, backed by a large screen that features the carved images of some 150 Buddhist personalities, including the pilgrims of the Journey to the West, Daoji, and arhats.

The fifth and last hall on the main axis is the Avatamsaka Hall or Huayan Hall ( 华严殿). Also built in 2002, this hall houses statues of the three sages of the Avatamsaka Sutra, known as the Huayan Sutra in Chinese - Shakyamuni, Manjusri, and Samantabhadra.

The Hall of Five Hundred Arhats (五百罗汉堂). The building has a complex floor plan, shaped like a Buddhist swastika. Along the arms of the swastika are arranged the five hundred arhats slightly larger-than-life bronze statues. Each statue is seated on a unique ornate seat. At the centre, where the arms of the swastika join, stands a bronze canopy housing statues of four bodhisattvas representing the four cardinal directions. This is currently the tallest solid bronze structure in the world.

Me standing in a Long Jin tea plantation.

Relaxing along the West Lake.

On the back of the one yuan bill: Three Pools Mirroring the Moon (三潭印月)

Eating dinner at a Hongkongnese restaurant.

Long Jin tea pudding.

Tea store where I bought lots of Long Jin tea.

Fountain show at the West Lake in front of the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

New hair cuts on a Thursday morning...
...then a farewell lunch with the aunts.We are family!

Thank you so much for your great hospitality. I am amazed by the Wangs.

Hangzhou and Guangzhou (Oct. 2-7)

2007-10-06T23:50:00.000-07:00

This will be my last travelling ínfo so far before enjoying my last week in Shanghai at Volkwagen. I first went to Hangzhou by train and stayed at Wang Chaos house in Lin An, west of Hangzhou. The Wangs are simply amazing. I have never ever experienced greater hospitality before, and I guess I have also never eaten more Chinese food in 56 hours!! I was always running around with a maximum stuffed stomach looking like a pregnant cow. Thank you so much family Wang. I am happy having become your second son! Continuing my travel I flew to Guangzhou on Thursday in order to spend three days in the tropics. Guangzhou, located at the Pearl River, is pretty much international and serves as a nice recreational area with multiple parks, temples and good Cantonese food. Well, the trip is over now and I'll be going to Anting tomorrow to make sure that Shanghai Volkswagen will reach its benchmarks....

Mom and Dad in Shanghai (Sep. 29 - Oct. 1)

2007-10-06T00:25:00.000-07:00

On the occasion of my parents' 25 th wedding anniversary, they came over and visited me. I would like to post some pictures of us here as soon as I will receive some from home!

Ah! Some pictures have arrived which I do not want to deny you. First of all the main protagonists

Me welcoming mommy at the airport.
The residence. Grand Hyatt in the Jin Mao Tower.

Us five up on top of the roof at the Captain's Bar.

Shanghai, Vol. 2

2007-10-05T11:21:00.000-07:00

Andres getting ready for the supplier meeting at the site of car plant 2. Science and Technology Museum.

Oriental Pearl TV Tower from Nanjing East Road.

Pudong seen from the Bund.

Me at the Captain's Bar.

Jenny, Joanna and Sven at the Vienna Cafe.
Joanna studying marriage offers... all these people are still free waiting for YOU!
At the special exhibition of the Museum of Chinese Modern Art.

Urban Planning Museum on People's Square.

Marten and Jörn celebrating their farewell at the Cantonese restaurant in Xujiahui.

The staff.

Teppanyaki at Andres' farewell dinner.
Martin and Jenny.

Original Turkish Döner on Hengshan Lu with Sven.

Gimme the Blues brother.

Women's Soccer World Cup 2007 - Opening Ceremony and first game (Sep. 10)

2007-10-05T10:52:00.000-07:00

Jenny and Joanna getting ready for Germany vs. Argentina on their direct transfer from Shanghai VW to the stadium. The battlefield - Hongkou Stadium.
The opening ceremony.

Mr. Joseph Blatter, president of the FIFA, wishing the German girls to win the Cup!

Let's go Germany!!!
The dream team 2007. read-headed Behringer, fighting like a bull, is my favorite;)

1:0, 2:0, 3:0.....dream goals from our girls. We saw the first five goals very closely. The other six goals happened in the second half. One on one.

Shanghai, Vol. 1

2007-10-05T10:17:00.000-07:00

My current office in the planning division at Car Plant 2. Collegas... Andres Davila Hernandez.
My roomie Jenny and her new business ride.
Lars moving out and Sven moving in...
Another brand new morning in Shanghai.

Marriot at Tomorrow Square.
Shanghai Grand Theatre.

At the Shanghai Art Museum with Mr. Männel.

Oriental Pearl TV Tower

View onto the Jinmao Tower and the International Financial Center.

Puxi and People's Square.

First time at the Hooters Grill. Asian Hotties included.

One of our weekly Sunday brunches at Sasha's....

...and then going to the clothing market afterwards...

Huangshan (Aug. 31 - Sep. 2)

2007-09-22T21:57:00.000-07:00

Two Adidas, one pair of Asics and one Nike pair on a journey. Let's check out which pair can stand the challenging two days of a million miles' hike. Dan, Jörn, Joanna...
and Jenny!
Kicking off the adventure.
Cheering them up and practicing Laola...

Still highly motivated, the first ten thousand stairs were a piece of cake.

The Huangshan mountain range comprises many peaks, 77 of which exceed 1,000 m in altitude.
Beautiful granite peaks.

The mountain tops are often above cloud level!

Energy refill.
What a night! A five-star hotel price for two bunk beds....
Good morning, day two!

Narrow Cliff.

The Fairy Tail Bridge.

How did they build these stairs?

Natural stone meets concrete. The engineers are impressed.

and how did they build those?

Mystery land.

Huangshan (Aug. 31 - Sep. 2)

2007-09-22T21:28:00.000-07:00

One of the spots that are still on my must-see list is Huangshan, the Yellow Mountains. As always, the night train, category "hard sleep" embodied the best price-performance ratio for us poor VW-interns. Having arrived, I was confronted with the most spectacular mountain range I have ever seen so far. The tall, slim peaks sticking out of the thick fog made me feel as if wandering through a mystery land passing the fairy tail bridge, ape mountain, lotus peak, grand canyon...whereas we mastered 600 meters downhill into the valleys and up the next peak on the other side. The crew got pretty tired of all the million stairs. I was strongly reminded on Huashan which made me stair-sick for the following months;) If I had to draw a comparison between Huangshan and Huashan (see January 2007), I would say that the scenery is more impressive at Huangshan while the climbing at Huashan trained us for the Iron Man.

Qingdao - Gan Bei to the World (Aug. 24-26)

2007-09-03T15:13:00.001-07:00

Let's go to Qingdao! How? Once again on the nightbus... Voila, Qingdao Beer Museum. This is also the brewing site at the same time.
Taking a bath in the grand pool.
Our ancestors already felt like home in Qingdao...why? Well, they had the taste of a delicious premium pils!
The brewery was founded in 1903 as a German-British brewing company to produce German style beer in China, producing beer mainly for Germans and other Westerners in China.
Beer patrol! Don't move an inch!

Gimme the Qingdao Blues sister.
International Relations.
Oopps, what a wastage, you should have seen the collision that was about to happen shortly!
The bottling plants are made in Germany, of course.

That inclined room made us wizzy-dizzy!
Free trial of the real deal.

Qingdao Harbor. Its appearance is changing rapidly due to the Olympics next year. Qingdao will host the sailing and rowing competitions. Therefore, Qingdao is currently investing 0.5 billion Euros in order to modernize its sailing facilities.
Qingdao Harbor.

Surreptitious advertising....
At Beach No. 1...where the ladies are shaking it... and the boys are sippin' a pijiu under the sun;)

or doing their cucumber facials!

All in all...

everbody's happy!

I really enjoyed the calmness at the beach, so much privacy.

Getting ready for the beer festival.
Alex and partner.

Dedication to Jörn Männel. The Wernesgrüner Festzelt!
Dedication to my Bavarian friends, the Paulaner Festzelt.
One more dedication to my Bavarian friends, Löwenbräu.

Finally, the last dedication to my Bavarian friends, the Erdinger Festzelt. This is where we invited the people to join the Schunkel-dancefloor. Oins, zwoa, droa, g'suffa!

Gan Bei to the World!
I participated in a switching-the-hat-game.

Afterwards, we checked out the fair.

...invaded the tunnel of horror.

..conquered the bouncing castle.
Zhan Qiao, a famous pier on Qingdao's southern shore. It is Tsingtao's present-day logo displaying an image of that pier.

Beach No. 3!

On the horizon you can see the Olympic Sailing Center at the very end of the bay.

Picking up some folks along the highway...
Last Gan Bei. Opps, pics are not in order.

Good morning Shanghai, we got back at 5:30 am. I went to Alex's apartment straight away. The first thing we did was ironing our shirts and pants. That is a hell of an attitude, simply passion baby;)

Qingdao - Gan Bei to the World (Aug. 24-26)

2007-09-03T15:01:00.000-07:00

Four thirsty Germans on their way to the Qingdao International Beer Festival. We chose the night bus which drove us comfortably for eleven hours. We slept well while the Chinese hitchhikers kept piling themselves up in the aisles. On our way back I had to put up with the very rear, upper bed which gave me a hard time. But what are the small struggles and annoyances compared to the good times we spent in Qingdao, city of beers !!

Zai jian Beijing, Ni hao Shanghai (July 20)

2007-07-27T21:33:00.000-07:00

My favorite Fuwuyuan who has made me feel like home. I am cleaning out my closet..
Toby took over the last surviving fish.
My favorite Fuwuyuan from the reception.
Returning the keys
My Milka-blue bike (middle)

Arni and his entire household! I had arteries like waterhoses after arriving in Shanghai.
The Zijing Apartments.
Got it! In the end, I shot the 100 Yuan bill by chance, now I got the 2 (Hainan), 20 (Yangshuo), 50 (Lhasa) and 100 Yuan (Beijing) bill!

Arni II alias Chao helped me carrying all the luggage into the train, that was a big help.

My new home on the 21st floor: Flat No. 2101, No. 3, Lane 535, Long Hua Xi Lu, Shanghai 200232

Our view from the kitchen onto the Shanghai Stadium where the women's soccer world championship will go down in September.

Urumqi (Wulumuqi 乌鲁木齐) - July 19

2007-07-27T20:56:00.000-07:00

Urumqi is the capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and the most 'inland' city in the world.
Rugs, carpets, Uygur-style hats, knitted sweaters, ethnic costumes, hand-made embroideries, jade carvings....shop until you drop.

Uyghur traditional medicine.

Ha, my favorite car mag hanging outside a newspaper store.
Don't know him.

China United Airlines is an airline based in Beijing. It operates a scheduled charter services in co-operation with local enterprises. Its main base is Beijing Nanyuan Airport. China United is the only airline that uses this airport, a former military airfield 18 km to the south of Beijing. In November 2002, China United Airlines terminated its scheduled services across the country. On June 4, 2005, the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) approved China United Airlines to be reconstructed by Shanghai Airlines and China Aviation Supplies (CASGC), with Shanghai Airlines holding 80% of the stake. The China United Airlines fleet consists of the following aircrafts (at March 2007)
2 Boeing 737-700
1 Boeing 737-800 (we flew with it)
We were the last to leave the luggage hall since we gave our luggage tags attached to one of our boarding passes to another person who switched seats with us. At the exit, we even had to unpack our stuff to show that the dirty underwear was ours.

Turpan (Tulufan 吐鲁番) - July 17-18

2007-07-27T19:36:00.000-07:00

Pomegranate juice, highest antioxidants!
Taking the 11h-night bus back to Urumqi, then the next bus to Turpan.

Turpan. The city, which is also known as Huo Zhou (a place as hot as fire), is the hottest place in China.
The abundant sunshine gives the melons and grapes ideal conditions to grow. The fruit here is widely known for its high sugar content, especially the grapes. Turpan is praised as the 'Hometown of Grapes'!
Emin Minaret (Su Gong Ta)

Flaming Mountains, yet the weather was only sub-optimal.

The Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves, situated in the Flaming Mountains, contained at one time some of the best preserved Buddhist images and statuary in China. Then, in 1914, Sir Aurel Stein showed up and took most of it away. The site is still beautiful.

The caves at Bezeklik are nestled onto the side of a cliff in the Flaming Mountains.

Gaochang Ancient City

Our 18y old tourguide
All kinds of dried raisins.

Altai (Aletai 阿勒泰) - July 15-16

2007-07-27T08:06:00.000-07:00

What a sunny day!

Aletai old town and a weirdo.

Urumqi - Altai - Burqin - Lake Kanas (July 12-15)

2007-07-23T05:52:00.000-07:00

Birthday cake no. 2 from Mr. Wang Chao, thank you !
Local nuts
Taking the night bus to Altai

Mmhh, breakfast..
Mmhh, lunch!
Black taxi to Lake Kanas

Heavenly Lake

Yeah, no hands
Result of traction loss

Big mommas hosting us
The five hour mountain climb to the top of the mountain, I wore flip flops and was sentenced with two big blisters, aiya.

Dan and Lake Kanas. It is located in the center of the forest belt of the Altay Moutains, at an
elevation of 1,374 meters above sea level, 25 kilometers long and 1.6 to 2.9 kilometers wide.

One of my daily calls with the US....;)
Umbrella babes hiding from the sunlight

They simply understand each other
Afenguli and us
Tasty nan bread
Our crib is the very right one

Kashgar (Kāshí 喀什) - (July 11-12)

2007-07-22T01:41:00.000-07:00

Kashgar Old Town

Nan bread
Kao ji
Hhhh, too many choices.

Back to Urumqi !!

Markit (麦盖提) - July 9-10

2007-07-21T18:41:00.000-07:00

Xiu yi xiar in Markit, the city on the outskirts of the Taklamakan Desert.Our only reason to go to Markit was to see the desert and sleep under an open sky. We found a crazy, young and naive taxi driver who wanted to show us the desert for 30 Yuan. Yet, the directions which were given to him by a construction worker led us to this camel (shown below).
We were supposed to ask a guy with a mustache for directions, yet this detailed description of such person led us to the first farmer cawe could see. He jumped on his motorcycle in order to get a friend. Afterwards they wanted to hook us up with four camels for 100 kuai each. We wanted a price of 80 kuai which they neglected. Our taxi driver was aware of such good deals he could now make with us willing foreigners spending money to see sand and thought he could encounter the battle of his 35 hp vehicle Suzuki Changan versus the uncertainties of Taklamakan's quicksand-like topology.

Climbing resistance? Running start and the mountain peak was passed!

...until the front-wheel driven Offroader finally had to be tuned in order to output 2 hp more!

Back in Markit. This young gentleman arranged us a jeep...

...which departed at 11.45 pm so that I turned 24 in the backseat with three more people drinking the local brew and eating Nan bread

Unfortunately, our new driver featured amateur offroad experience so that he dug the jeep into the sand, only 10 meters further where our taxi surrendered!

I have to admit, he was only driven with rear wheel drive. As the differential went on strike, he tried to use the metal rod in vain!

Well, the shoveling started, driver gave to much gas, further digging into the sand until the bottom plate of the car rested ontop of the ground!
Then, it was time for us four engineers who have watched the miserable attempts from the distance before. Our commando demanded to fully dig the rear wheels free, put the carpets underneath the wheels and guarantee traction with as many rods and branches we could find. Then, Markus tenderly drove backwards with us four pushing from the front until the car had grip, then with maximum power he drove the truck out of the hole! One attempt, one victory;)

Past 3.00 am. We slipped into our sleeping bags!

Tobi, Yvonne and me

Birthday breakfast!
Birthday cake!

Birthday walk in the dunes! Taklamakan Desert is known as the largest sandy desert in the world.

Me
Yvonne
Tobi

In order not to kiss the sand I kindly advice you to consult an offroad training before heading into the desert.
The three contiuned their travel to Urumqi...
...while I found Martin, Thomas and Bert by coincidence staying overnight in the same hotel.

Kashgar (Kāshí 喀什) - Sunday Market (July 8)

2007-07-21T17:55:00.000-07:00

Journey begins in Kashgar with the carrier China Southern. Kashgar, or Qäshqär, is said to mean variegated houses. Squeezed buttsThe Id Kah mosque is the largest mosque in China. Every Friday, it houses nearly 10,000 worshippers and may accommodate up to 20,000 people.

Uyghur kidos

The Sunday Market. Thousands of farmers pour in from the surrounding fertile lands with a wide variety of fruit and vegetables.
Silk and carpets made in Hotan are sold at bazaars, as well as local crafts, such as copper teapots and wooden jewelry boxes, or simply 19th century irons!

2nd hand pottery?
Spicy boys

Silk in every colour, any pattern, with and without sequins

Uyghur Autonomous Region - Xin Jiang (新疆) (July 8-19)

2007-07-21T07:56:00.000-07:00

Itinerary: Beijing - Urumqi - Kashgar - Markit - Kashgar - Urumqi - Altai - Burqin - Lake Kanas - Burqin - Altai - Urumqi - Turpan - Urumqi - Beijing

This might have been my last big trip through China. Although, I still have the National Holiday Week up my sleeve....again !! This journey has anew made clear to me that China hosts 53 different tribes. Uyghur Autonomous Region already counts 13 different people, whereupon some are only as small as a few thousand people. What was definitely a striking event was travelling to Kashgar. The culture, language, food, clothing, outward appearance of the Uyghurs have nothing at all in common with what I was used to know from the Han chinese. It is an oriental region, has its own language and own signs (people write from the right to the left side), Mandarin is their second language, Muslim food is served, mosques replacing the temples, long white robes protect against the intensive sun light, men showing off their mustaches....

Stay tuned for the upcoming posts fellas, Daniel

Master's Defense (July 7)

2007-07-21T03:25:00.000-07:00

Saturday, 8.00 am. Time for business! Our last stand at Tsinghua University was to defend our mini thesises on which all of us probably worked the double amount of time on. The first one was supposed to be me, but due to the very spontaneous changes which my professor requested for my presentation and the resulting night hours I spent on changing everything, I found myself being woken up at 8.10 am by a buzz from Andy. So, Daniel Knapp was up first. Yet, I was granted the second position to present and I apologized deeply. I thanked them for not having me to defend in July, 2008.
Thomas Daun at his best.
The profs were astonished by our works....

Stephan Pavel..
...and Andy Tielmann!
Proudly presenting Tsinghua University's MASTER OF AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING '07, title will be granted after successful completion of our diplomas in Germany.

清华大学在7月

2007-07-21T03:00:00.000-07:00

Our main building
The mysterious, famous gate of which every Chinese needs a picture of ...

..as well as of this one.
This building hosts the dancing team. I was practicing Rumba in there in my first semester at Tsinghua University.

The new library
Teaching building no. 6. Most of my classes were taught in that one.
My man Chao
Job sharing

The foreign students' dormitories
My building no. 20
My wall of fame, more thousands of kilometers of pilgrimage. Filipp and me

Andy and Robin

Addendum from last November

2007-06-15T21:17:00.000-07:00

This article was published in Taiwan last November but I just got the chance to scan it these days. It should deal among other things about our exchange program between RWTH Aachen and Tsinghua University.

May at its best

2007-06-10T02:34:00.000-07:00

Saying good-bye to Christina who was leaving for New York. Chao and Christina.
In class. Besides taking a nap, surfing the Internet...
..or eating chócolate we also listen to the lectures!
Wan-Chuan and me on Tsinghua Campus.
Going out for Japanese food with Lu Fei.

Hu Heng who assists me perfectly with my mini thesis posing in front of my test car - a Hong Qi.
Me in front of our institute.
BBQ session - one out of five so far. On the occasion of Robin's B-Day we bought him this wonderful fake Weber grill.

Food is served!

Mmhhh.

Dan, Andy and Michel.
Akane who also celebrated her B-Day receiving a paper bouquet.
Andy giving a gig at the Lush.

Chao, me and Jia.

In our 20-head-office.

Andy, Daniel and me working on our project for Internal Combustion Engines.
Paintballing with the Americans. 5 Ams vs. 6 Germans. Transatlantic battle. In order to preserve the good relationship we mixed nations!

Happy Valley (May 19)

2007-06-10T02:19:00.000-07:00

Off to Happy Valley we go. This event took place on the occasion of Markus's B-Day. Happy Valley is an amusement park in the southeast of Beijing and really has the will to thrill. This couple was just too special.

Akane and Johannes.
Robin.

Robin and Markus.

Luis.
My favorite attraction!!
In order to bridge the waiting times we bought water ballons and had a happy splash in the mass - the Chinese, however, were not that delighted.

Hua hua gong si - style

In order to round up the day smoothly, we went to the Mexican restaurant in SOHO which is said to be the best Mexican restaurant in Beijing.

Lhasa (May 7-8)

2007-06-09T00:34:00.000-07:00

Our last impressions... Beijing-Lhasa Express (46h)

Potala Palace.
Hungry?

Playas!
And back to Beijing

Namtso Lake (May 6-7)

2007-06-08T00:44:00.000-07:00

Jia Meng loves the catsFacing the hurricane

Nam Co or Namtso Lake is a mountain lake in central Tibet, approximately 112km [70 miles] NNW of the capital, Lhasa. It lies at an elevation of 4718 m, and has a surface area of 2,470 square kilometres. It is the second-largest salt lake in Tibet and the highest salt-water lake in the world.

The coldest beaching I've ever done in my life.

Modern Art by Jia Meng

High 5 sisters!

one more time..

Kick it like Libao...

Smack that like Luis.

Namtso Lake here we come! (May 6)

2007-06-02T03:29:00.000-07:00

Getting ready for the day! Spank me please;)

Tibetian Highlands. Yak grasing peacefully....

...people tilling their fields manually.

Blue vs. green

Xiao hai zi men, they were so cute;)

China, Tibet, Germany, Mexico.

We stopped for some lunch. She wanted to join us for yak and rice.

Sheepmania.

Plain facts. Bare truth. Blunt.

Climbing altitude.
Luis jumping mountains.

The highest altitude that we reached was around 6ooo meters when we went over this pass. Jia really deserved some snow;)

Once again in Shigatze (May 5)

2007-06-02T02:53:00.000-07:00

Our tourist guide and us.
Smoking that car.

Since government officials from Beijing were travelling to the Base Camp in order to do one of the two "annual checks", no car was allowed to drive towards their direction, so that they could make it to the lunch table on time and food did not get cold. We took it easy, what else could we have done? Thus we had our first Yak Butter Tea experience, hot and salty butter dissolved in water.

..and hung out with Tibetian kids.
This one is my favorite.

Sound check: http://www.myvideo.de/watch/1594626

One last view of Everest and Co.

Shanghai donated 5000 km of conrete.

And the playboy. With this look, he got 'em all!

Everest Base Camp (May 4-5)

2007-05-30T20:08:00.000-07:00

After a rough short night in a shack in Tingri, we started climbing this hill. Our mood was modest since we thought that Mount Everest is not visible these days.... ...but wait a minute...!

...one more minute... ...no way.....
...how can this...?
...we were above the clouds!

Starring the gang on a casual Friday morning.
Since the scenic spot was already so crowded, Tsaxi drove us up the hill to enjoy an exclusive VIP view.

Zoom in fella! First encouter with the highest mountain in the world: Mount Everest (8848m /29,028 ft)!

The team.

http://www.myvideo.de/watch/1576433 can only slighty picture the craziness of our driver. Somewhow you must have experienced it yourself. Picture below: school kids doing public work...

...such as cleaning the streets once per week. That is also a Chinese tradition which was introduced to Tibet.
Privacy please!

Traffic jam on the Everest Highway? Quick gear shift from no. 4-2, sharp 90 degree left turn of the steering wheel = 4x4 heaven is reached and we are in ecstasy.
This was our view from the Everest Base Camp onto a cloudy scenery. The tourist tents were relocated 4 km further downhill due to the pollution.
Yak Close-up.

Dan making friends with a long-haired, blue-eyed babe..
We were disappointed. 5000 km of travel from Beijing and no view of Mount Everest?
...and then it started snowing up on 5200 meters. Tsaxi told us that there is only little possibility to see Mt. Everest the next day. Time for some business...

Shortly before spending the night at the highest altitude ever experienced: 5200 meters. I had a major headache, ohh weee.May, 5th. After getting up we could not believe our eyes!!!! Mt. Everest showing its total beauty. Even a local can be at fault sometimes..luckily!

Mt. Everest and yaks.

Ha, caught the outsider.
Still life.

Mission completed.
Fly so hi' in da sky.
First Mexican pioneer at Everest Base Camp.

Let's race to Tingri (May 3)

2007-05-28T08:52:00.000-07:00

Pedal to the metal and off to Tingri. http://www.myvideo.de/watch/1576338

We picked up our tour guide that we had to take with us due to the "political accident" I was writing you about in a previous e-mail. You should basically prevent us from doing things out of the political line..and tell us something about Tibet! There are also hundreds of small stone piles and even houses made from flat rocks fitted together. Many Tibetans believe human souls wander the world for 49 days after death before being reborn. Inside the rock houses are cigarettes, money, even liquor functioning as a brief shelter for the soul, and supplies for the next life. The rock piles are places were the soul is supposed to rest.

Tons of prayer flags.

Cruisin...
This is actually the check point where our tour guide was supposed to help us get through...
... yet since Tsaxi knows half of the people in Tibet he handled the issues!
...and we arrived in Tingri 50 km before Mount Everest.

Facing Everest.

Spicy food battle. Chili eating score 3:1 for the foreigner. She will take revenge in Beijing.

Shigatze (May 2-3)

2007-05-27T20:57:00.000-07:00

While waiting at the Indian restaurant for hours which reminded me on the "Sultan" (for those of you who ever ate there know what I am talking about) a kitty Jia Meng.
Sheep a little different than usual.
Prayer wheels along the path leading uphill to some sacrificing altar.

Luis inside the Tashilumpo Monastery. It is the seat of the sizeable Panchen Lama sect, Tibetan Buddhism's second leading religious group and is located 3800 meters (nearly 13,000 feet) above sea level. Tashilumpo Monastery was founded in 1447 by the first Dalai Lama.

Monks on duty.
Future monk?
Monks doing their homework. It is a friendly arguing and meant to express themselves.
http://www.myvideo.de/watch/1548204

The seniors. An American friend told me that is really a cultural sandwich...

The Panchan Lama sect's nickname is "Yellow Hat", a term widely used to identify that Buddhist religious body.
LUNCH TIME. Shoes off please!

Jia Meng being surrounded by curious monks while drawing a scenery.

China is present in Tibet. Everywhere and at any time.
Tsaxi tuning his car for the next day's race.

Kicking off the Jeeptour - to Shigatze (May 2)

2007-05-26T19:39:00.000-07:00

Tsaxi and his Nissan 4500 from 1996 with 192000 km on it. The original power output is 180hp, but they did some changes..... The car was completeley tuned, also the sound from the exhaust pipes was a fearful growl. He said there are 10000 jeeps in Tibet and only three fast drivers...his two friends and him.
http://www.myvideo.de/watch/1548186

... he did never ever go easy on his truck. The first day he lost the balancing weights from the front rims for weighing heavy and thus the hood started shaking above 80 km/h. Thus they just switched front and rear wheels and the problem was temporarily solved. The second Tsaxi's truck was already back on the auto lift. The third day to Base Camp went down without any problem. On the fourth and fifth day threatening noise came from the rear axis, yet that is all totally normal, as Tsaxi explained.

First stop.

Up the serpentines to the Yamdrok Tso Lake.

Yamdrok Tso is the largest freshwater lake in Tibet, situated 120 km south of Lhasa at an elevation of 4440 metres.

Voila, our Nissan.
It started snowing when crossed a pass at 5020m, here you can see a glacier.

Normal conditions, you get used to it.

Next attack, we got some all! When there was not enough space, Tsaxi chose the way through the fields and spectacularly overtook the astonished tourists in there slow Toyotas.

Baiju Temple in Jiangzi.
Thin air = lazy dogs!

Lhasa (Apr. 28 - May 2)

2007-05-26T10:53:00.000-07:00

Lhasa is the traditional capital of Tibet and the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region of the R.P. China, in Tibetan Buddhism is regarded as the holiest centre in Tibet. The altitude is approximately 3,650 m (11,975 ft) being one of the highest cities in the world. Tibetan prayer wheels (called Mani wheels by the Tibetans) are devices for spreading spiritual blessings and well being.
The fifth Dalai Lama, Lobsang Gyatso (1617–1682), conquered Tibet and moved the center of his administration to Lhasa, as the religious and political capital of Tibet. In 1645 the rconstruction of the Potala Palace began on Red Hill. In 1648, the Potrang Karpo (White Palace) of the Potala was completed, and the Potala was used as a winter palace by the Dalai Lama from that time. The Potrang Marpo (Red Palace) was added between 1690 and 1694. The name Potala is possibly derived from Mount Potalaka.

The palace is extremely big and stuffed with thousands of buddhas, praying and sleeping rooms of all Dalai Lamas starting from the the fifth one. Everywhere you look, Tibetian images in green, red, yellow, blue and of course gold. There are tons of it. For instance, the fifth Dalai Lama was burried in a 12 m high tomb consisting of 3721kg of gold and over 10000 precious stones! The air is filled with thick smells of burned yak butter and incense.

On top of the roof of the world.

The Tibetian Buddhist praying towards the Potala Palace.
http://www.myvideo.de/watch/1538631

Yak butter is sold everywhere. You can use it either for sacrificing or for making tea.

The Barkhor is an area of narrow streets and a public square. The Jokhang Temple.

Mani wheels are found all over Tibet. There are many types of Mani wheels, but small hand-held wheels, like the one shown here, are the most common by far. Tibetan people carry them around for hours, and even on long pilgrimages, spinning them any time they have a hand free!!!

Lao ber, I am taking the pig feet please, and a Lasa Pijiu!

For the first three days, we were always tired. We decided that altitude pills are for sissys and thus we faced the headaches and sleepiness. Walking around for a few hours was therefore already pretty exhausting. That's why we settled down for naps every now and then.

Ahh, one more hair sticking out, got it!

Ha, got her!

Lhasa is bordered in the south by Lhasa River.

another temple.
Prayer flags are colorful panels or rectangular cloths often found strung along mountain ridges and peaks in the Himalayas to bless the surrounding countryside. The colors represent the following elements:

Blue (symbolizing sky/space), White (symbolizing wind/air), Red (symbolizing fire),

Green (symbolizing water), Yellow (symbolizing earth)

On the third day, we rented bikes and rode around through the countryside.

Studying some Chinese.
Potala Palace from the other side of the Lhasa River.

Daniel Air Jordan Liebau

Luis G. Shaq O'Neal Loo Carbajal

Getting to Lhasa (Apr. 26 - 28)

2007-05-26T10:36:00.000-07:00

Beijing West Station: T27 leaving for Lhasa!
Travelling on day 2....
Xiu xi yi xia...

Shortly after Lanzhou, we already reached the high plateaus.

Mmhhh, eggs Chinese style.

What can you do on a train? Learning some Chinese, look outside the window...
...chat and eat...
..drink...

...and sleep! Since the air was already pretty thin, we lay down quite often for a "xiu xi"
Everywhere you could recognize the altitude

Day 3. We already passed the Tanggulla Pass, the highest pass in the world. Three locomotives are pulling the train over the mountains which are manufactured in Dalian. Remember the pics from December when we visited the locomotive factory?

Good work, art student Jia.

Small shuang bao tai's.

and there is already the blue blue sky!

Tibet (Apr. 26 - May 8)

2007-05-26T09:43:00.000-07:00

Finally, it was time... We couldn't wait until it was Thrusday night and we were able to board train T27 to Lhasa, Xizang. Firstly, I will write down a brief information about this outstanding train connection:

The distance Beijing to Lhasa takes 46 hours 30 minutes, covering 4,064 km (2,500 miles) departing at 21:30 from Beijing West and arriving in Lhasa at 20:00 on the third day. The line includes the Tanggula Pass, at 5,072 m above sea level, the world's highest rail track. On August 24, 2005, rail track was laid through the Pass at 5072 meters for the Qingzang railway, also known as the Qinghai–Tibet railway, making the Tanggula Pass home to the highest railway in the world, surpassing the altitude of the highest Peruvian railway by 255 m (837 ft). The railway connects Xining, Qinghai Province to Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China. The 1,080-kilometre (670-mile) section from Golmud to Lhasa was opened on July 1, 2006. The rail cars are pressurised in order to avoid altitude sickness. More than 960 km, or over 80% of the railway, is at an altitude of more than 4,000 m. There are 675 bridges, totaling 159.88 km, and over half the length of the railway is laid on permafrost.

These are impressive figures and now let's not make you wait any longer, dig into the Tibetian experience!

Impressions March 2007

2007-04-22T20:47:00.000-07:00

May I proudly introduce my Chinese friends to you. Here I am starring with Wang Chao. ...and Wang Na.
...and Jia Meng
... and Toby and Fei from Hong Hong
...and us together!!!Our institute does some extensive research in hybrid buses since they want to get them on the road for the Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing.

In class.
Spaghetti eating @ our Italian Night with my room mate Filipp and Le.
Caught on a Saturday afternoon: workers arriving for digging big holes for new trees.
Caught on a Sunday afternoon: donkeys in the city carrying brick stones to a construction side.

Macau (Feb. 28)

2007-04-07T20:26:00.000-07:00

Let's go to Macau! Toby and Daniel on their one hour ride to the 70 kilometer southwest of Hong Kong located Macau is. Macau consists of a peninsula, and the islands of Taipa and Coloane which we also visited by bus.
This is the Old Town of Macao.

Local specialty of Macau.

The Ruins of Saint Paul's. The cathedral was destroyed by a fire during a typhoon in 1835.
St. Dominic's Church situated in the Largo de São Domingos.
Mc's at the Largo do Senado

Dried fish as a snack in between.

The Macau Tower measures 338m in height At 233 meters, the Macau Tower's tethered "skyjump" from the tower's outer rim is the highest in the world. I saw a guy jumping off the rim and five seconds later he was already on the ground. That must be the craziest thing in the world. You got the gutts?
This area and the northern part of Taipa are reserved for the big casinos that rise out of the ground. Some of the casinos that already exist in Las Vegas such as The Venetian, Four Seasons , MGM Grand, Grand Hyatt or Mandarin Oriental are also found in Macau. Moreover, the are building a City of Dreams on Taipa which will be completed soon. Chinese pokerfaces can come over and gamble over the weekend since it is prohibited in China.

Bridges connecting Macau with the islands.

233m above NN.
This is the world's highest bungy jump called the Skyjump. 65 Euros and you can experoence the extreme adrenaline kick.

Casino Lisboa is one of the most famous casinos in Macau.

Bad luck at the Wynn Casino. I stopped with HK $ 5.60 and bet HK $ 40. Toby bet with HK $ 10 and came out with HK $ 12. For all of you you do not know the currency rate, one Yuan more or less equals one HK Dollar. And 10 HK Dollar are roughly equal to one Euro. So no big tears in the end....
This is also the end of my trip presentation. Five good weeks ended here.

Thank you for tuning in!