Memoirs of Beijing

Planning to travel to Shanghai next month?  Why not try the Beijing-Shanghai high speed railway train that everyone’s been waiting for.  No need to wait a long time at the airport gates nor travel to and from the airport.  The exact date of operation has yet to be announced but news reports are saying that it would either be by the end of June or early July.

The Beijing to Shanghai high speed railway train will be running in two different speeds on this 1,318 kilometer track. 

• Speed: 300 kph.  

• No. of trains daily:  63 pairs of trains
• Travel time:  4 hours and 48 minutes
• Ticket costs:  RMB 555 for coach class,  RMB 935 for business class and RMB 1,750 for first class

• No. of trains daily:  27 pairs of trains
• Travel time:  approximately 8 hours
• Ticket costs:  RMB 410 for coach class and RMB 650 for first class

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My sisters came to visit me in Beijing but since they took the budget flight to Shanghai, I had to pick them up there.  As usual, I have to stop by a Starbucks shop to purchase for my favorite collectors.  There are several Starbucks in Shanghai notably in famous tourist spots like Xintiandi, Yuyuan and Nanjing Road.  They still don’t have a store at the new Terminal 2 airport of Shanghai Pudong.

Unlike Beijing tumblers, Shanghai have box sets perfect for gifts.  I was lucky enough to purchase a Shanghai box set and a Zhejiang box set.  Each box set costs RMB 388 (Ouch!).   What I like about it is, some of the tumbler designs are transparent and can only be purchased in a set.  The Shanghai box set is composed of Shanghai, Xintiandi and Yuyuan.  The Zhejiang box set is composed of Ningbo, Shaoxing and Hangzhou.  Check out the pictures of these sets.

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Hooters in the US is known for their beautiful, well-endowed servers.  When Hooters opened in Beijing in 2007, foreigners particularly men flocked the restaurant hoping to be served by these beautiful, well-endowed servers.   However, they were disappointed as Asians are not known to be blessed with big breasts.  Reviews at that time were focused on their servers and not their food.

In any case, I only got the chance to visit this place last month after church.  It wasn’t full as it’s a Sunday and to make up for their lack in bust size, they perform a 30 second dance routine almost every half an hour.  Service was great and the place is filled with flat screen TV tuned in to different sports channel.

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