Resources
This webite is hosted by Chaos Studios. Mr. Paul Adams is a true friend to scouting in Shanghai as he is a great teacher to the "techno-not-so-smart" folks he is sometimes forced to deal with.
Oh Yeah, here are
all the forms we need.Direct Service Council, is headquartered in the Great State of Texas and we are proud to be part of the Council. They also serve as a "Scout House" where we can acquire all of our supplies needed for scouting activities and uniforms. Although, due to our thriftiness, we try to localize as many of the supplies as possible; the Direct Service Council and Mrs. Terry Meyers, in particular, have been extremely helpful to the success of Troop 12 and its scouting adventures.
Shanghai started with one scout troop in 1997 and with the expatriate expansion in Pu Dong and the awful traffic through out the city we needed another troop. It was tough, but the existing troop split into two to serve either side of the river communities.
Troop 969, Pu Dong, Shanghai has a growing Cub and Scout program with great leaders.
Our brothers to the North in Beijing have the distinction of being the only Troop that can hike the Great Wall any time they want. How cool is that? If you are looking for scouting in Beijing, then look at
Troop 943 Beijing's site.
One of the local places we like to get good gear is from
Decathlon Stores. Decathlon is a French brand of outdoor and sporting equipment we found many years back when they were just manufacturing here. Then they opened a warehouse and are now up to Five retail locations here in metropolitan Shanghai. Tents, sleeping bags and pads, raingear, hats, boots and shoes, backpacks, daypacks, water bottles, flash lights or head lamps; they pretty much have it here and yes in sizes that would even fit Mr. Poppell's ginormous feet.
A spectacular place to visit or camp is
Song Jiang Fang Ta Park. Song Jiang was the trading and political capital of the region for over a thousand years, until the Treaty Ports came into existence and Shanghai became the more popular location on the Huang Pu. The park was introduced to scouts by Ms. Sophia Lu, who played in the park as a child. She has been a great aid to the scouting movement here in Shanghai.
Another place that is cool to visit is the
Police Museum in Shanghai. If you get easily disturbed at parts of bodies, then the third floor should be optional, but the rest of the museum is a great place for a historic view of law enforcement and criminology in Shanghai. Scouts were fortunate to have Mr. Richard Horak tell us about this cool place when he was here visiting his son's family.
There is a
Navy Museum that is pretty fun to see, especially if you like to see the old Chinese equipment, torpedos and sonar gear. Mr. Jim Horak found this museum, while searching for the elusive Wu Song Fort which is also in the area. He was looking for the place that he had learned of during University studies, oh so many years ago (It was in the last century).
A place of great reverence for scouts in Shanghai is the
The Memorial Hall of Songhu Anti-Japanese Agression. In the museum there is an exhibition dedicated to scouts who gave their lives during the Japanese agression of the 1930's. The Boy Scouts of Troop 12 donated a belt buckle from the scouts of that era to add to the museum's collection of scout memorabillia. The site also boasts a twelve story glass pagoda that overlooks the Yanghtze River.
Meadowbrook Equestrian Center has a camping space away from the stables, riding and farm areas. The Meadowbrook staff are good friends of scouting and have made this one of our favorite places to camp. This location makes for a good base camp for hiking or cycling to She Shan or elsewhere in the Tian Ma area. Each of the hills are easily accessible from this location.
A new firing range for scouts to visit is in the heart of the city, the
Shanghai East Shooting Club has become more popular in recent years. Their range is top notch and the site is fully licensed by the government. Be prepared for some extra handling however, safety is primary in the thoughts of the staff here.
The
Orient Green Boat is a well groomed facility and it has a lot of things to do. It may be a bit too well groomed to be called camping, however, there are facilities for cooking, campfire and setting up tents to make this a good base camp, first time out or an overnighter.
Dong Ping National Forest Park is on the third largest island in China, after Taiwan and Hainan. Hiking through the forest is a little less awe inspiring since the trees are planted one meter apart. Yet this site is a great place for weekend camping as it has good tent areas and facilities in general. The trip over on the ferry is a lot of fun too.
