Roger Waters - The Dark Side of Moon - World Tour

The sixties rocked! There is some kind of magic about '60s music which still persists and manages to fill up a stadium. Eric Clapton and now Pink Floyd - both had the crowd eating out of their hands. The contrast between the 2 artists was quite pronounced. While EC (Eric Clapton) was clinical and stuck to his new music and guitaring feats, RG ( Roger Waters ) was humane , his show had a theme - America, Iran War, GB etc. The excellent video / lighting & acoustics ( not to mention the inflatable moon walker and pig) - was something which the Shanghainese may have come across for the first time. RG belted out all the popular numbers..people especially liked his new Lebanon song. THE WALL anthem was sung secong last - and when it came , all the people in the stadium sang along on the top of their voice..i call it an anthem 'coz everyone seems to know it by heart.

Eric Clapton - Shanghai

Who is the most popular artist amongst the following:

- David Copperfield
- Air Supply
- Eric Clapton
- Deep Purple

Judging from the crowd which turned up yesterday at Grand Theater, in the misty rain, Eric Clapton sure has a star rating amongst the Shanghainse. The Grand Theater was full of expats who swayed to prodigal guitaring of the trio on stage ( Eric Clapton, Doyle Brahma - Guitar II, Derek Trucks). Unfortunately EC did not play 2 of their most popular songs - Cocaine & Layla.

Toys R Us

70541928.jpg
Originally uploaded by Ek Chin Tan.

Finally, Toys r Us makes its debut in Shanghai. Located in Super brand Mall (Chanda guanghang) in Pudond, the store has toys which have chinese instructions to go with. Thus, the range is somewhat limited. However, from the crowd thronging there, i wont be surprised if they open another one within the year in Puxi.

New Years Eve

Its been a long time since the last blog. Shall try to be more frequent with weblogs in 2007. The new Years Bukhara party rocked... what with black and silver sashays and p'pino maids doing the rounds. Though , the wings came out after the clock struck 12. 70 -80 odd gatherings tapped to DJ Bosco's music. Happy New Year to all.. May this year be prosperous and Peaceful for all on earth!

Tennis Masters 2006

Tennis Masters in Shanghai has become one of the major sports events in Shanghai / China. Federer and James Blake were the finalists this year. Took the kids also this time to check out the way top players calibre. Well, federer creamed James in 3 straight sets and left him gasping for breath. I think Roger F is undoubtedly the best tennis player of this century. His shots and calmness on the court in unnerving for any opponent. The stadium is a master piece and if you have an opportunity, go and see it.

3rd Shanghai Indian Association Golf

The Third IA Golf tournament was held last Sunday at the Tomson Golf course. A total of 14 golfers registered for the tournament. This time the tournament was thrown open to other natives of other SE Asia countries also. Despite incessant rain in the previous days, all the registered members turned up and luckily the weather held and the round finnsihed without a drop of rain falling on our heads. There were many new golfers and some of those including uddin scalped a couple of prizes. Vinay came up trumps despite his home turf advanrage and shot his second best course record of 86. The dinner and tournament organisation went of without a hitch and the wifeys also were seen smiling at the dinner party held at Bukhara. Check out some of the pics from the days events

Food court in carrefour

Food court in carrefour
Originally uploaded by Ek Chin Tan.

Run by Da shi food company..has a range of japanese, chinese, korean, singapore foodstuff. Pay 100 rmb and take a card. ..pickup whatever u like and the card gets debited. A unique experience..

Air India takes off from Shanghai

All good times are ephemeral...and so was Vinit's stint in Shanghai. One of the most to-the-point, practical and helping kind of guy...who has helped many Indians in Shanghai with their flights in & out of Shanghai as well as in other fields and his deft handling of Indian Association program will be missed when VG takes off Calicut ( his new posting ). Shanghai's loss ..Calicuts gain. The cocktails concotions doled out by Anthony Bhai was a smash hit. Next time you go Bukhara ..ask for a B52 or Deccan Queen.

HSBC Shanghai Open 2006 - Indian Challenge

The HSBC Shanghai Open Championship is currently under way at the Sheshan Club. Sheshan is one of the best course in China. The course is dotted with some amazing luxury villas.

The day started with Jyoti Randhawa at the top of the leaderboard and teeing of with Tiger and Goosen..what a proud moment for Jyoti and India! The chinese crowd of about 7-8000 followed Tiger around the course, maybe because he was the only name they recognised. That left other players like cambell, montgomerie and many others free for our access. Saw tiger from close proximity and realised why he is, what he is. The man plays under tremendous pressure with regular buzzing from the surrounding crowd and manages to come up trumps. Unfortunately, he had a water hazard penalty at the 18th hole today and slipped to the 5th position. Jyoti also did not played so well today and slipped to 3rd position. Yang (Korea) and Goosen played really well. Yang, Goosen and Jyoti will be the lead pairing for tomorrow's final round. With tiger gone from the lead pair , jyoti should be able to breath a little easily and play his natural game tomorrow.

The most heartening part of the golf championship was commendable display of the Indian contingent. All 4 playes ( Jeev Milkha Singh, Shiv Kapur & Gaurav Ghei) were within 7 strokes of the leader.

Hope Jyoti is able to come up trumps tomorrow and the others improve their position.

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Most popular Hindi songs in China

Most popular Hindi songs in China
Originally uploaded by Ek Chin Tan.

Today while driving from taiyuan to Guxian in a lexus, our host played a hindi cd. I realised that the following songs must be the most populsr hindi songs in china



- Ankhein khuli ho ya ke band



- Awara hoon



Bollywood lai la!

Air Supply in Shanghai

Offlate quite a few, over the hill rock bands from yester-years are dropping into Shanghai. Today, went for the Air Supply concert at Shanghai Centre with a couple of friends. This 70's band was quite popular but honestly , did not recall their songs till the show.. and then realised that they had quite a few #1 under their belt. The duo of Russell Hitchcock and Graham Russell enthralled chinese crowd which turned up and danced to their songs.

Diwali 2006

Morning started with inaugural diwali brunch at Bukhara. The spread in both veg and non-veg was quite exhaustive. Vinodji, as usual was the bride father for the day and took personal care of each invitee. Nowadays , with increasing Indian expat population, the number of parties being held in the city has also increased. Some of the highly mobile people (HMP), make an attempt at attending as many parties as possible. India lane had couple of parties and the crackers were heard till Sun morning. Even, the security guard in Kingswell started wishing every Indian who passed "Happi Deewali". Some pics of Diwali celebration in Kingswell are in this album..

Diwali

Ladki Badi Anjani Hai - Malaysian Version

Bollywood movies and songs are making an inroad into Far East also. Check out this performance of Ladki Badi Anjani Hai by the Malaysian Chinese.

Nikon D50

Nikon D50 is one the best entry level Digital SLR cameras. After D80 launch, price of D50 and its accessories have fallen. For those who do not know terms like White balance , Noise etc. This is the right camera. Nikon has also created a nice tutorial for teaching all the nikonians on use of their products.

Diwali Party 2006 - AMIT+SUMIT KUMAR

This years Diwali Party was held at Pudong Shangri-la. Amazing, how things fall into place at the right moment. No wonder, most of the successful event managers are baldies. The evening saw brisk sale of tickets and overall there were about 500 attendees. By the time AMIT KUMAR made his appearance on the stage the crowd was restive and waiting eagerly to shake a leg. AK had no choice but to make a mid course correction and belt out some foot tapping numbers. AK takes on Kishore Kumar in every way ( even after a couple of pegs). His yoodling ( a KK patented  term) is par excellence. In order to ensure that people stayed late and danced their heart out, dinner was served at 10:30pm. Some felt, last years fare was better than this time. Who cares!....DJ Sarin tried his best to prolong the session....pity, the next day was a Monday!!

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Lion King

Lion King
Originally uploaded by Ek Chin Tan.

This broadway show has been running for 3 months in shanghai. While we were planning to see it all along, the prospect of missing it altogether, spurred us to make a dash for it today.



The show was par excellence and worth every kuai of 480 rmb per head. Its light, music, pumba, timona, mombasa, simba, rafiki and hakuma matata will remain etched in minds of the audiences. Dont miss it if u get a chance.

Fireworks Show in Century Park

Fireworks Show in Century Park
Originally uploaded by Ek Chin Tan.

Century Park Fire worKs during the national day hols must be one of the most awaited event during the course of the week. The chinese have fine tuned the art n science of precision explosion in the sky. Do manage to cheer up the spirits of the hoi polloi albeit at a huge cost.

The new Xiang Yang Market

The new avtar of Xiang Yang market is called Fenshine Market and is located at 580 Nanjing Xi Lu. Its swanky , air conditioned, has atm machines, cola dispensers and best of all same prices. But the charm of old XY Mkt was diff, eh?

Lage Raho Munna Bhai

Finally saw LRMB, which has scaled the greatwall.. premiering in Shanghai tomorrow with an invitation only matinee show in bukhara. The movie does live upto its hype and billing. Has to be...many of my uncles & aunts went to a cinema hall after decades to see this movie. Do not really recall whether there was any other Indian movie with such a hit sequeal..rather a sequeal at all..pls share if you remember. Last heard..there is VV Chopra has already started on the third one.. "Bahut Hua Munna Bhai!"

F1 in Shanghai - 2006

Another year , another F1. This time also , we tried our luck with the Huang niu's ( yellow cows!)- went to the Hong kou stadium , the touts were there for sure but it seemed like the combination of Schumi's retirement plans and championship battle had given much fillip to the black market prices. After haggling with the touts in our broken chinese and having a couple of cups of coffees.. we decided to go to the Jiading F1 stadium hoping that the slight drizzle would bring down the ticket prices. Picked up chicken biriyani from Bukhara on the way. Luckily, SJ had reached and managed to get Main Low ( pit front ) ticks for Yuan 1000 apeice.

Went in just 5 mins before the race started. Renaults in 1-2 lead with Schumi at no.6. Luckily for ferrai+schumi, the slight drizzle stopped and the tracks dried up as the race progressed. Schumi drove brilliantly and came back from behind to win the race, ending the Shanghai jinx. The chinese were also happy ..finally the only team they understand ..won!

Schumacher's replacement next season...