GUILIN!!!

After spending the first 2 + weeks in major cities, I decided I wanted to see something more nature based. A good friend of mine (Hey Kristen thanks for the advice!!!) traveled through China and recommended checking out Guilin and Yangshuo, which are famous for their limestone peaks (the back of the 20 yuan note). Although I would have loved to have taken a train from Shanghai to Guilin, I ended up flying. (It was about the same price and the flight was about an hour, the train would have been about 20 hours). Kristen mentioned that Guilin was alright but the real spot to check out was Yangshuo. So I flew into Guilin and stayed for the night and the next morning I took off to Yangshuo (next blog post).

Guilin was pretty and there were some good restaurants there, but overall it was pretty touristy and not in a good way. In the long run I'm really glad I only stay for a night. If you are heading this way you'll most likely have to pass through Guilin, since Yangshuo does not have an airport or train station, but I would recommend not spending much time in Guilin. Here are a few photos:

SHANGHAI!!!

After we wrapped up production, I decided i was going to stay in China for an extra 12 days. I wasn't exactly sure where I wanted to go but by the end of the shoot I figured out a game plan. Although I already saw a lot of big cities, I decided to head to Shanghai since it was only a few hours away by train. After a difficult time buying a train ticket, I was on my way!!! (As a side note, China is a somewhat difficult country to travel in due to not only the language barrier but also the fact they use a whole different written language!!! Make sure to get key phases, locations, etc written in characters before trying to buy a train ticket. I had this all written down and still had a hard time)

I love traveling by train and unfortunately this was one of the only train trips I got to take. The train i was on was very clean and pretty fast. After 3 hours I was in Shanghai.

I only stayed in Shanghai for 2 days and both days were pretty overcast but I really liked the city. Honestly its probably because it is much more western then Beijing and felt a lot more manageable then Beijing. I spent my time in Shanghai just wondering around and found some pretty cool markets off the beaten path.

The only downer to Shanghai was all the construction, even worst then other cities. The 2010 World Expo is being held in Shanghai, so there is a massive amount of construction currently going on. The famous "Burd" was all torn up, which was disappointing. Oh well, I'm sure I'll pass through Shanghai again at some point in my life!

Looking towards the Burd

Most of Shanghai's water front looked like this due to all the construction.

Back alleyways in the "old town" section of Shanghai

Shanghai alleyways

The closest thing i saw to "street art."

About 5 minutes away from here are the all the tourist markets... glad i found these first.

There are still a lot of bikes in Shanghai. I'm sure not as many as 10 years ago, but there are still a lot.

and then in total contrast is the worlds fastest train. This thing was pretty remarkable to ride.

NANJING / END OF PRODUCTION

Nanjing was the last production stop on the shoot for "Play Money." Unfortunately I do not have any still photos from Nanjing. If you happen to watch my China 5d montage, you'll see some beautiful tree lined streets (which is Nanjing). I will say that Nanjing was one of the pretties cities I visited while in China! Nanjing is only about 3 hours away from Shanghai by fast train. Its also on the rail line between Beijing and Shanghai, making it pretty easy to get too. If you are planning a trip to China and are only going between Beijing and Shanghai, consider a quick stop over in Nanjing. I would say its worth it!

Like I said Nanjing was the last stop on the shoot. After about 14 days straight of shooting, it was a great feeling to wrap up the China production portion of the film. Since I do not have any photos from Nanjing, I'll post some "behind the scene" photos.

Anthony Gilmore, Director / Producer of Play Money. (Changsha)

Anthony and Jared, one of our main subjects. Jared is American but currently works in the RMT industry in china. He also speaks fluent meridian. (Changsha)

That would be myself trying to blend in... isn't working, is it? (Changsha)

This was our production Jeep in Beijing. We got a lot of looks in this thing. The guy who owns this is an American photographer living in Beijing named Mitch Pe Masilun, Check out his photo site.(Beijing)

Chairman Mao, enough said! haha. (Beijing)

HVX200a, Letus, Canon Lenses, Zacuto Support, Marshall Monitor, Kino Flow Diva, Boom, Lav, Sachtler Sticks... this is what our interview set up looked like (Rural Beijing). This was our camera "A" set up....

...and our B-camera was a Canon 5d mkII, which was suppose to keep us low profile, but I guess people in Changsha don't often see red headed foreigners shooting video with a still camera (photo via Anthony's iphone, Thanks Anthony!).

CHANGSHA!!!

After Beijing, or next production stop was Changsha (which is in south central China). Changsha proved to be a very interesting city, mostly because it does not get many foreigners. In Beijing I got a few funny looks, in Changsha I got a ton! Changsha is also defined by its spicy (and oily) food and extreme summer time heat. Although the food was some of the best I had on my trip, after a few days it had my stomach totally torn up!

We were only in Changsha for 3 days. I really wish I had more time to shoot photos here. After spending a week in Beijing, it was visually refreshing to see some grit and grime. Compared to Beijing, Changsha was even busier, with lots of little narrow alleyways which would have been fun to explore.

While its not a popular tourist spot, I'm really happy I got to see Changsha. By the end of my trip, Changsha felt like the only "real" city i visited. If you ever travel to China, you should try picking some random large city to visit. (China does have something like 49 cities with over a million people, while the US only has 9). Visiting a random city vs Beijing or Shanghai will most likely give you a totally different experience... but be warned, english menus are not as easy to find!

Changsha had a very interesting night life. Lots of KTVs and other "clubs."

After nearly 10 days in China, this was the first that there was anything remotely close to "magic hour." Great end of the day light does not exist in Beijing.

The best part about having someone with you who speaks Chinese, is being able to eat in small back alley restaurants.

I had some of the best Tofu in China. I've been a vegetarian for over 12 years, so i know my tofu!