Shanghailander.net

Former Laos royal capital of Luang Prabang had been on my travel map for years before I finally reached it in early January 2013. This post is not directly linked to Old Shanghai, but buildings and architecture in this place where built as the same time and the past definitely creates a bridge between them. [...]

George Orwell was mostly known to me thanks to his novels 1984 and Animal farms. As I recently discovered, he also wrote a famous book about his time in Burma in the 1920′s, “Burmese days”. The book has recently been back in the news, thanks to Emma Larkin‘s “Finding George Orwell in Burma” published in [...]

Arrival in Yangon (Rangoon) at night woke back many memories of other cities frozen in time. The first contact reminded me of arriving in Saigon in 1998. Same trees, same roads and mostly 1980′s Japanese 10th hand cars around. The cars falling apart with wheel on the wrong side reminded me of Cambodia in the [...]

“Territoires et populations des confins du Yunnan” is a book I bought in an antique market a couple of years ago. Published in 1931 by French Beijing-based Henri Vetch company, it was actually printed by the Commercial Press in Shanghai. The author Joseph Siguret was also the French Consul from 1926 to 1953 in Beijing [...]

Short trips to Hong Kong are often the opportunity for business meetings and intense shopping. Although a lot has been destroyed, there are a few places in Hong Kong that have historical interest. Below are a few points of interest: St John Cathedral: Although I have been to Hong Kong quite a few times, I [...]

The first post in Shanghailander about Boonna Cafe was written about 5 years ago, being on the very first posts on the this blog.  The current one is like marking the 5th anniversary of Shanghailander, written in  the lastet Boonna incarnation. The original post was about this particular cafe, but also about the lack of [...]

We met last year at the Shanghai Expo, having a short encounter at the Danish Pavillon. She had traveled all this way to honor our city, so I was looking forward to meet her again in her normal home, Copenhagen. The meeting was arranged with a the help of a Danish friend in Shanghai who [...]

Treaty ports following the 1842 Treaty of Nanjing and 1865 Treaty of Tianjin where mostly located on China Mainland, but some also opened in Taiwan. Our recent trip to the Island was an excellent opportunity to visit them. Between the concrete buildings and the Republican style pagodas, we found a bit of colonial architecture and [...]

My own discovery of Old Shanghai architecture is also about discovering art deco in other locations. After Miami Beach a few years ago, the next stop was a short trip to Napier in New Zealand. The whole area of Hawkes Bay, where Napier is located, was strucked by an earthquake in 1931 and fully rebuilt [...]

Singapore’s Raffles is one of the icons of the colonial hotel where travelers got together and met with local high society and expatriates. Having been restored a few years ago, it still gives a feeling of luxury and excellence, a time travel after a busy day crossing Singapore numerous shopping centers. Drinking a Singapore Sling [...]