Below is an awesome time lapse video of a man who walked from Beijing to Urumqi over the course of a year, taking photos of him (and his growing beard) along the way. He also blogged about his journey every single day for an entire year! Check out his blog, The Longest Way.

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Recent few weeks, security has tightened around the Shanghai office in light of all the news/media coverage regarding Google and China. There’s a security guard standing in the hallway between the two office entrances, making sure that everyone who enters the office has an employee badge or is accompanied by a Google employee. It’s the same guy standing there every single day, pacing back and forth, occasionally sitting down, and smiling at everyone who passes by. I’ve never seen him whip out a phone, gadget, book, newspaper, or anything entertaining to pass time. It’s his job to monitor everyone entering/exiting the office, and I can only imagine how bored he must be, standing there all day! I guess the highlight of his day is probably getting a free lunch in the office. According to all my Chinese colleagues (note I said Chinese colleagues), Google Shanghai serves the best lunch of all Google offices! I beg to differ. I think the lunch at the New York and Mountain View offices are much better.

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Around Christmas time last year, all the Google employees in the U.S. and several other countries received a Nexus One Android phone to dogfood prior to the official release. China employees had to wait for all the official paperwork and channel (strict regulations in China) to clear, which was estimated to be anywhere from several months to an unforeseeable future.

Well, management decided that the wait was too long and wanted China employees to have something to play with. So instead of waiting for the Nexus One, we all got a MOTO XT800 during our annual kick-off meeting in Beijing last month! I love working at Google! 

MOTO XT800 is the latest Android device from Motorola, and the only Android phone sold officially in China in partnership with China Telecom. The device is pretty good looking and comes with some serious hardware!

• Android 2.0
• 3.7” WVGA display
• 480 x 854 resolution
• 720p HD video capture/playback/output
• 5 megapixel camera with flash
• Dual mode (GSM and CDMA) support
• Bluetooth 2.1+ EDR
• GPS
• 550 MHz processor with 256MB
• 32GB MicroSD memory card
• … and more

Unfortunately, because this device is sold in partnership with China Telecom, some features and apps have been disabled or removed in compliance with China’s telecommunication regulations. Most of the Google apps are gone, including Gmail, Google Voice, Google Goggles, and Google Sky. Without the Gmail app, there’s no way to sync phone contacts with an online account. Android Market is also not there, which is a real tragedy since downloading and trying new apps is part of the Android experience! The radio app didn’t work. Voice search didn’t work. I also suspect that the GPS was replaced with a censored/restricted version. Then there’s a bunch of Chinese apps that I couldn’t figure out how to get rid of. Essentially, MOTO XT800 is more a China Telecom phone than an Android phone. 

I have since downloaded some third-party apps to hack the phone replace the missing apps and features. However, since they are third-party apps, I can’t use the phone as a corporate device. I’m back to using my iPhone 3GS for the time being since I need to be able to check my work email / calendar on the go. I passed the MOTO XT800 to my technologically-challenged husband who has never bought a mobile phone, computer, laptop, digital camera, or for the matter, any electronic gadgets in his lifetime. What an upgrade!  He’s still trying to figure out how to type out an email on what he considers a tiny little screen and a “stupid” keyboard. I guess I shouldn’t mention that he graduated from MIT.  =P   (Okay, he’s a chemist, not a technology junkie and a geek like me.)

Well, I don’t want to sound like the MOTO XT800 is a disappointment. I think the MOTO XT800 is a great, powerful, and solid mobile device. It certainly has a much better hardware and faster processor than the iPhone. It also costs much more than the iPhone or the Nexus One. The built-in flash plus the 5 megapixel camera and HD quality video capture definitely outperform the iPhone (and all other phones with camera). The MOTO’s usability however is not as friendly as the iPhone. Then again, it’s like comparing apples and oranges (two very different operating systems!). The iPhone is great for its simplicity and usability, but has limited capabilities and is not for everyone. Neither is the Android. The number of available Android apps is still limited compared to the number of iPhone apps.

From what I hear, there’s going to be a wave of Android devices coming out in the coming months/years. That means we’ll also be seeing a lot more Android apps as well. I have yet to play with the Nexus One or other Android-powered devices, so I’d like to check out other Android phones before making further comments about the Android OS.

In any case, I want to end by saying that if only the MOTO XT800 wasn’t packaged with China Telecom, my experience with the phone would have been much more positive.

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After almost two weeks of construction, the new Guanglan subway station (Line 2) finally opened! The area around Guanglan station is still a big plot of dirt/construction junk. There’s only one entrance/exit (or maybe two?) that is all cleaned up and open to passengers. Even though the new station is just one block from my home, it takes me 5 minutes to walk out of my apartment complex, 5 minutes to walk down the block, and 5 minutes to walk around the construction fence to the only entrance/exit that is open to passengers. My husband drops me off in the morning, so I don’t have to walk as much in the morning, but I do walk home after work. In all, my commute time has shortened by about 5-10 minutes. I am very happy that I’ve been able to get on/off the train without being pushed and shoved like at Zhangjiang!

I heard that the entire area surrounding Guanglan station will turn into a park, but I’m not too sure. The narrow road that leads down to the [currently only] entrance/exit will expand and connect with 祖宗之路. That means all the run-down buildings and farm houses in the area (leftover from before all the new development) will be torn down as well.

Hopefully all the construction, road expansion, and development will be completed soon because the neighborhood is now a mess due to all the commuting traffic being rerouted from Zhangjiang to Guanglan. My quiet suburban neighborhood has turned into a circus of company shuttles, taxis, illegitimate taxis/vans/scooters, traffic patrol officers, food carts, and people selling miscellaneous junk. When I came out of the subway yesterday after work, I heard the ever familiar yelling of “chuang sha” and “nanhui” — the same group of “black car” (黑车) drivers from Zhangjiang station that block the exits and yell in your face because they want to take you home in their rugged and polluting van for a few kuai. Just another ‘TIC’ (This is China) moment. No matter where you go, you can never escape (or clean up) the folks who want to make a few quick bucks.

Thankfully, the crowd is still nowhere compared to the crowd at Zhangjiang station! Because of the Line 2 extension between the two airports, passenger traffic is going to increase significantly and Line 2 will be very crowded. The two days I’ve taken the subway from Guanglan station to work, the train is already pretty packed by Longyang station (3 stops later)! I cannot express how glad I am that Guanglan station is and will always be a “terminal” stop, whether going into Puxi or to Pudong International Airport! 

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Just read a translated article from ChinaHush about the life of a migrant construction worker in China. The original article in Chinese was written by a construction worker in Hainan, China. He shares his thoughts about being a migrant worker, earning 1600 RMB (~$200 USD) a month, building a luxury apartment high-rise in Sanya, Hainan (China’s little Hawaii).

I thought to share this article because I live in Shanghai, one of the fastest growing and developing cities in the world. Shanghai is constantly under construction. I read somewhere that one-third of the entire world’s construction cranes are in Shanghai!

The whole world sees skyscrappers and high-rises pop up all over Shanghai (as well as other major cities in China), but what people often don’t see are the toil and sweat that take place behind the bamboo scaffolding and green mesh. I don’t know the exact number, but a significant percentage of the population of Shanghai are migrant/construction workers. I don’t think they’re actually included in any population counts though. They are the “invisible” force behind the fast-paced growth and economic development across China.

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Here at the Google Shanghai office, the majority of engineers are men. I can count the number of female engineers with one hand! At my last job at National Instruments, the majority of engineers are also men. However, I sat with the rest of the technical communication department where the gender ratio was almost 1:1. It was a different feeling. But here at Google, I’m the only technical writer. I sit with the engineers and work with them all day. It gets a little lonely being the minority — both gender and expertise-wise. In addition, the challenge of being pregnant and working in a male-dominated workplace prove to be even more lonely.

I’m curious to know if there are other women (reading this blog) that also work in a male-dominated workplace. I’d like to hear your thoughts and experiences.

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When I was working at GooglePlex in Mountain View a few months ago, I saw these futuristic-looking pods where tired employees can crawl inside and take a nap. How many companies do you know that allow their employees to take a nap on company time? At my last job, I got in trouble for falling asleep on the job because every so often, I don’t get a good night of sleep or food coma takes me to planet La-la-land. I’ve written a few times about my battle with food coma and even came up with 50 ways to fight it.

Personally, I think taking a nap actually boosts productivity! What’s a 15-20 minutes power booster nap compared to taking the entire day or afternoon off? So thumbs up to Google for not only recognizing that taking naps boosts productivity, but actually providing means to do so! Sadly, these energy pods are available only at the Mountain View office. Other offices have couches and lounge chairs where people can plop down and take naps. Here at the Shanghai office, we have bean bags in our offices and every so often, I see colleagues crawl under their desks and nap on the bean bags. Surprisingly, I haven’t had much trouble with food coma since working for Google despite all the free food we get. I think there was maybe just once or twice I was very tired (from jetlag) and had to put my head down for a few minutes.

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Zhangjiang Hi-Tech subway station will be closed from 2/14 to 2/23 in preparation for the Line 2 extension to Guanglan Road (2 additional stations). Line 2 will eventually extend to Pudong International Airport in time for the World Expo 2010. Zhangjiang station will be closed all next week because of the connection construction that will take place underground starting from Longyang. All stations after Longyang will be underground, except maybe the airport stop. The above-ground Zhangjiang station will no longer be in operation.

This is GREAT news for me because I live only 5 minutes walking distance from Guanglan station! Not only is Guanglan station so close to my house, it’s also a “terminal” stop. Even though Line 2 will eventually connect to the airport, people have to change trains at Guanglan station to go to the airport. That’s another great news because it means that I’ll be able to get a seat easily for my daily comute to work and not have to fight for it since Guanglan Road is a residential area, unlike Zhangjiang station where commuters are far less civilized. It also means that going to the airport is going to be so much easier and faster (~20 minutes)!

Last night when I was walking around the neighborhood and checking out real estate agencies that surround our residential complex, I was surprised to see that the real estate value of my neighborhood shot up significantly. My apartment, bought for about $250K USD back in 2006, is edging towards the million dollar mark!

Nine years ago when I moved to Shanghai, Zhangjiang was mostly farms and fields. Zhangjiang was considered “鸟不生蛋的地方” (a Chinese phrase that literally means, where birds don’t lay eggs). Zhangjiang station had maybe 2-3 people get on/off the train, and taxi drivers won’t take passengers unless they were going to the airport (longer distance = make more money). The apartment where I lived at the time overlooked a large field with an outhouse and a few pigs. That plot of land where the pigs roamed about is where I live now — a nice gated community that’s right across from a Zhangjiang light rail station and 5 minutes away from the new subway station! All the surrounding fields and farmhouses have been torn down and replaced with nice apartment high rises, condos, and villas.

So much has changed over the last decade and it’s not just the Zhangjiang area. The rest of Shanghai has changed significantly too. As the city gets ready for the World Expo that begins this May, more changes will be coming our way in the coming few weeks, months, and years. The entire city has been under non-stop construction for the last few decades, and it doesn’t look like that will stop anytime soon. It won’t be long before Shanghai becomes a financial hub that will rival London and New York!

This is why I find Shanghai to be an exciting place to live and work!

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One really cool thing about working at Google is the amount of collaboration that takes place between different offices. I can’t speak for all the products and services, but the product I work with has people in several offices. There’s a lot of collaboration between the development team, global services, customer support, marketing, legal, etc…  In addition, I’m the only technical writer in Shanghai, so I’m also collaborating with other writers that are mainly in the U.S.

All the Google offices and conference rooms have really cool technology to facilitate collaboration across the globe. Most conference rooms have either two projectors or two large screen TVs. When we have meetings, which is quite often, everyone dials in and we’re all connected as if we’re in the same room. One screen shows all the locations/people represented and the other screen shows a computer screen, if a computer is hooked up. It’s quite common to have several cities represented at every meeting — Shanghai, Beijing, Mountain View, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, etc… That also means we have meetings at odd hours, like early mornings and late evenings. I’ve had meetings as early as 7am (!!!) and as late as 8pm. Thankfully, we always have the option of dialing in from home since our laptops come with a built-in webcam.

I think it’s really cool to see how a product comes together despite the product team being strategically scattered across so many places. There are challenges of course, but thanks to amazing technology that makes collaboration across the globe possible! Can you imagine the days before video conferencing and emails, not to mention the use of the Internet as a collaboration tool?? 

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When I got to work this morning, I saw caterers busy in the kitchen preparing various trays of food! I was surprised because they usually come around 10ish to prepare for lunch, but today, it was only 8 and they were already preparing food! I asked what the occasion was and they said as part of our Chinese New Year treat, they’ll be serving breakfast today and again next week. Wow!

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day since it’s about the only meal that I’m able to eat without feeling sick. Ironically, “morning sickness” strikes me all other times of the day, so I usually eat A LOT for breakfast and barely eat much else for the rest of the day. Typical breakfast for me is like eating a box of Chinese egg rolls (蛋卷), two pieces of bread/pastries, 2 cartons of whole fat milk, yogurt, and some fruits — all from the mini kitchen at work.

But today, it was a real treat to have prepared breakfast — your typical Chinese breakfast, including BBQ pork buns (叉烧包, rolls (馒头), Chinese pancakes （葱油饼），porridge, soy milk, various Chinese pastries, vegetables, fruits, and chicken feet.  Yes… they served us chicken feet for breakfast!!  Then in the mini kitchen, I discovered another treat! Imported fruits from Taiwan!!  The ahyis prepared cut up 凤梨释迦 (not sure what the exact English translation is, but I’ve heard of it referred as “custard apple”) and 莲雾 (don’t know the English name). These are Taiwan’s specialty fruits and usually pretty expensive to buy in Shanghai.

So I got myself a tray full of food — and yes, I got some chicken feet too.

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