pappu
Friday, July 18, 2008
Shanghai
These are excerpts from emails I sent while at Shanghai. Was there for a week (5 to 12 July 2008)
If you are really interested, read on ahead! They only things I wish to add is the following:
1) My flight to Hong Kong was delayed, and I missed my connecting flight to Chennai. So I spent a night at Hong Kong and returned to Chennai via Singapore.
2) From Hong Kong to Chennai, I flew business class! They couldn't find a seat for me in economy, but I'm not complaining. It was a knife and fork affair, business class.
3) All my flying was on Airbus A330s and a Boeing 777. Wished I could have gone via a 747 Jumbo! And service in Singapore airlines is far better than Cathay Pacific.
-----------------------------------
hello
sorry..very difficult to make phone call or access internet. so may not be able to communicate with you all.
conference got over. it was good. went out for sighseeing in shanghai with new chinese friends. good experience so far.
so i will not be mailing much. will try to mail later, but no gurantees.
----------------------------------------
Dear all,
I am fine here in Shanghai. I could not mail before...because access
to the internet is difficult. Although there is connectivity,
you are expected to have a laptop. So now I borrowed a laptop and am
sending this email.
I reached fine, but my flight from hong kong was delayed by three
hours, so i reached late. The first night i checked into an expensive
hotel, and the next day i moved into a chaper hotel.
The conference is good and is well organized. They have spared no
expense. I did not have time to go around much, although tonight there
is a banquet dinner in a good part of the city, so looking forward to that.
The food is not really a problem...as always there is a salad, fruits
and bread. So i am managing with that.
Shanghai is an amazing city. I havent been around much, but Bombay
and Madras dosent even come anywhere close. The people are very
friendly and the taxis are quite honest.
----------------------------------------------
hello everyone,
I am now accessing internet at shanghai international airport. after a
long time, i am paying for internet access...! 60 rupees for an hour.
and its not that fast too.
Anyway, i have checked in my luggage and am waiting for my flight. its
a three hour wait.
so...hope you might have seen my earlier mails. it was difficult to
access internet (no laptop) and telephone (no calling card)
sorry for the limited communication.
so the conference went well...they had organized everything well and
took care of us very well. my stay was pleasant and my talk went well.
Anyway, they asked some good questions and people were really
surprised that we are processing phase! they repeatedly ask "why no
magnitude?"
prof k r rao (of DCT fame) was there and he was an inspiring figure.
very simple man. i attended all the speech and language sessions. more
on the papers later.
the food was ok, though i survived only on fruits, potato chips and
bread. thanks to deepti, i took some haldirams namkeen along and that
was a good idea.
the banquet was fine (again, not much food for me). i made some new
friends here at shanghai...they took lots of pains to care for me. they got me gifts also. our parting was sad.
shanghai is an amazing city. we are far far behind the chinese, at
least in terms of city infrastructure. the public transport, the
metros, the local trians etc are all very good..so are the roads. What
Hema mam saw in Beijing is true here as well...lots of people travel
on cycles, and there is a dedicated cycling track on almost all major
roads. electric scooters are also very popular here.
all their textbooks are in chinese! not translations. they have local author tectbooks for DSP, communication etc...have not heard of books like simon haykin (communications). although they know oppenheim. i spoke to only few
students, so this is just a random sampling.
many things are expensive here...tourist attractions particularly. so
i didnt go up the pearl tower. had a visit to the shanghai
meuseum..its an amazing one...can spend two days there. the pieces
there are priceless and the meusem is maintained very well.
i came to the airport today on the maglev train (the only passenger
carrying maglev) and i blazed to airport at 430 kmph. the 30 km
distance to the ariport was covered in less than 7 minutes. there is a
speed indicator in the cabin. but of course you dont feel much, as the
cabin is air conditioned and there was fair amount of shake...i
thought maglev would be smooth as silk. but it was ok.
------------------------------------------- ¶ 5:43 AM 0 Comments
If you are really interested, read on ahead! They only things I wish to add is the following:
1) My flight to Hong Kong was delayed, and I missed my connecting flight to Chennai. So I spent a night at Hong Kong and returned to Chennai via Singapore.
2) From Hong Kong to Chennai, I flew business class! They couldn't find a seat for me in economy, but I'm not complaining. It was a knife and fork affair, business class.
3) All my flying was on Airbus A330s and a Boeing 777. Wished I could have gone via a 747 Jumbo! And service in Singapore airlines is far better than Cathay Pacific.
-----------------------------------
hello
sorry..very difficult to make phone call or access internet. so may not be able to communicate with you all.
conference got over. it was good. went out for sighseeing in shanghai with new chinese friends. good experience so far.
so i will not be mailing much. will try to mail later, but no gurantees.
----------------------------------------
Dear all,
I am fine here in Shanghai. I could not mail before...because access
to the internet is difficult. Although there is connectivity,
you are expected to have a laptop. So now I borrowed a laptop and am
sending this email.
I reached fine, but my flight from hong kong was delayed by three
hours, so i reached late. The first night i checked into an expensive
hotel, and the next day i moved into a chaper hotel.
The conference is good and is well organized. They have spared no
expense. I did not have time to go around much, although tonight there
is a banquet dinner in a good part of the city, so looking forward to that.
The food is not really a problem...as always there is a salad, fruits
and bread. So i am managing with that.
Shanghai is an amazing city. I havent been around much, but Bombay
and Madras dosent even come anywhere close. The people are very
friendly and the taxis are quite honest.
----------------------------------------------
hello everyone,
I am now accessing internet at shanghai international airport. after a
long time, i am paying for internet access...! 60 rupees for an hour.
and its not that fast too.
Anyway, i have checked in my luggage and am waiting for my flight. its
a three hour wait.
so...hope you might have seen my earlier mails. it was difficult to
access internet (no laptop) and telephone (no calling card)
sorry for the limited communication.
so the conference went well...they had organized everything well and
took care of us very well. my stay was pleasant and my talk went well.
Anyway, they asked some good questions and people were really
surprised that we are processing phase! they repeatedly ask "why no
magnitude?"
prof k r rao (of DCT fame) was there and he was an inspiring figure.
very simple man. i attended all the speech and language sessions. more
on the papers later.
the food was ok, though i survived only on fruits, potato chips and
bread. thanks to deepti, i took some haldirams namkeen along and that
was a good idea.
the banquet was fine (again, not much food for me). i made some new
friends here at shanghai...they took lots of pains to care for me. they got me gifts also. our parting was sad.
shanghai is an amazing city. we are far far behind the chinese, at
least in terms of city infrastructure. the public transport, the
metros, the local trians etc are all very good..so are the roads. What
Hema mam saw in Beijing is true here as well...lots of people travel
on cycles, and there is a dedicated cycling track on almost all major
roads. electric scooters are also very popular here.
all their textbooks are in chinese! not translations. they have local author tectbooks for DSP, communication etc...have not heard of books like simon haykin (communications). although they know oppenheim. i spoke to only few
students, so this is just a random sampling.
many things are expensive here...tourist attractions particularly. so
i didnt go up the pearl tower. had a visit to the shanghai
meuseum..its an amazing one...can spend two days there. the pieces
there are priceless and the meusem is maintained very well.
i came to the airport today on the maglev train (the only passenger
carrying maglev) and i blazed to airport at 430 kmph. the 30 km
distance to the ariport was covered in less than 7 minutes. there is a
speed indicator in the cabin. but of course you dont feel much, as the
cabin is air conditioned and there was fair amount of shake...i
thought maglev would be smooth as silk. but it was ok.
------------------------------------------- ¶ 5:43 AM 0 Comments
