AMERICA!!!
We're sitting in Detroit right now waiting for our next flight to Milwaukee. Anyone up for some Sobelman's for dinner tonight? Call my cell - I'll have it on until I get on my next flight.
Xi'an Day 1
This morning we began by visiting the ancient city walls of Xi’an – built more than 600 years ago. The wall is much larger than Amie or I had anticipated! It stands 12 meters tall, around 17 meters wide, and if you were to walk around the entire top, it is eight miles long. After our tour guide explained the history to us, we rented bikes and started biking along the top. We figured since we had about an hour, doing the eight miles (or the Tour de Xi’an) should be no problem. WRONG. First off, the bikes were single speeds, and were geared for meandering. Second, they didn’t have any bikes for six-foot tall people, so I got to bike using muscles I haven’t used for biking in a long time! Third, the top of the wall was anything but flat and smooth. We ended up going about a fourth of the way around the wall, and then went back to the gate we started from. It was great to see the difference in buildings between inside the city wall (older, shorter) and outside the city wall (modern, taller). Immediately outside the city wall is a garden, followed by a moat. In the early morning, senior citizens will be out in the garden practicing Tai Chi, dancing, and singing.
After visiting the ancient city wall we took a short drive to the government run Terra Cotta Warrior replica factory. Here we saw how they used molds and then added additional details by hand to create replicas of the Terra Cotta Warriors. This factory is the only one in China allowed to use the same clay that was used for the original warriors. The factory guide was telling us that because of the economic conditions, they are having a hard time selling the full sized replicas, and that he could cut us a special deal on the pricing. I told Amie that we could put one on our front patio, but she refused J
After visiting the factory we drove about 30 minutes outside of town to the Terra Cotta Warrior Museum. Since 1974, when the first pit of warriors was discovered, there have been over 200 additional pits discovered. Only the first three pits are open to the public, and pit number one is the largest. We had the chance to see Mr. Yang, the farmer who discovered the first pit in 1974 while digging a well for water. Due to previous ransacking of the warriors, out of the 8000 warriors found so far, only one has been found that did not need any repairs. Our guide told us of the creation of the army – how each of the warriors was created in the image of one of the actual warriors in the first Emperor’s army over 2000 years ago. Over 700,000 craftsmen were used to create the warrior army, which was placed to guard the Emperor in the afterlife. In order to ensure that no one knew about his army, the Emperor ordered all 700,000 craftsmen killed and burned all the history books that referred to the warriors. So on one hand the warriors are incredibly impressive to see, but on the other hand they are incredibly sad when you think of those that made the warriors. One more fact that I didn’t know about the Terra Cotta Warriors was that they were all painted in vibrant colors, but due to exposure to light and air the coloring has faded. That is why China is not opening up any of the new pits to the public (and in fact has ‘reburied’ some of the statutes) until they have the technology to prevent the colors from fading when being displayed.
For dinner we had a dumpling banquet followed by a Tang Dynasty show. We had over 30 varieties of dumplings, most of which were shaped like the food they contained. The dumplings were served boiled, steamed, and fried. Some of the fillings were chicken, pork, shark fin, walnut, cabbage, shrimp, duck, mushroom, and abalone. The meal finished with a hot pot style dumpling, where they cooked the dumplings in chicken soup at your table. The server ladled the soup for us, and we were told to count how many mini-dumplings were in our bowl. The Chinese have a saying that relates to how many dumplings are in your bowl. Both Amie and I had two, which means we will receive double happiness. The show was an amazing combination of music and dance from the Tang Dynasty. All of the costumes had very ornate decorations.
Tomorrow we will spend the day in Xi’an before flying back to Shanghai.
After visiting the ancient city wall we took a short drive to the government run Terra Cotta Warrior replica factory. Here we saw how they used molds and then added additional details by hand to create replicas of the Terra Cotta Warriors. This factory is the only one in China allowed to use the same clay that was used for the original warriors. The factory guide was telling us that because of the economic conditions, they are having a hard time selling the full sized replicas, and that he could cut us a special deal on the pricing. I told Amie that we could put one on our front patio, but she refused J
After visiting the factory we drove about 30 minutes outside of town to the Terra Cotta Warrior Museum. Since 1974, when the first pit of warriors was discovered, there have been over 200 additional pits discovered. Only the first three pits are open to the public, and pit number one is the largest. We had the chance to see Mr. Yang, the farmer who discovered the first pit in 1974 while digging a well for water. Due to previous ransacking of the warriors, out of the 8000 warriors found so far, only one has been found that did not need any repairs. Our guide told us of the creation of the army – how each of the warriors was created in the image of one of the actual warriors in the first Emperor’s army over 2000 years ago. Over 700,000 craftsmen were used to create the warrior army, which was placed to guard the Emperor in the afterlife. In order to ensure that no one knew about his army, the Emperor ordered all 700,000 craftsmen killed and burned all the history books that referred to the warriors. So on one hand the warriors are incredibly impressive to see, but on the other hand they are incredibly sad when you think of those that made the warriors. One more fact that I didn’t know about the Terra Cotta Warriors was that they were all painted in vibrant colors, but due to exposure to light and air the coloring has faded. That is why China is not opening up any of the new pits to the public (and in fact has ‘reburied’ some of the statutes) until they have the technology to prevent the colors from fading when being displayed.
For dinner we had a dumpling banquet followed by a Tang Dynasty show. We had over 30 varieties of dumplings, most of which were shaped like the food they contained. The dumplings were served boiled, steamed, and fried. Some of the fillings were chicken, pork, shark fin, walnut, cabbage, shrimp, duck, mushroom, and abalone. The meal finished with a hot pot style dumpling, where they cooked the dumplings in chicken soup at your table. The server ladled the soup for us, and we were told to count how many mini-dumplings were in our bowl. The Chinese have a saying that relates to how many dumplings are in your bowl. Both Amie and I had two, which means we will receive double happiness. The show was an amazing combination of music and dance from the Tang Dynasty. All of the costumes had very ornate decorations.
Tomorrow we will spend the day in Xi’an before flying back to Shanghai.
Beijing Day 4
We started this morning off by heading to the Summer Palace. This was where the Emperor spent the summer months to get away from the Forbidden City. It was only one-fourth land, the rest was a giant freshwater lake. Among the many buildings, there was the world’s longest corridor, which ran along the lake shore. The corridor is also the world’s largest art museum, as each beam had three pieces of hand painted art on it (one on each side, and one of the bottom). We also learned that freshwater pearls were harvested from the lake to provide pearl powder to the Empress to use as makeup. We also saw a giant marble boat that was made to signify the Emperor’s power and his long lasting reign. Unfortunately for him, his dynasty was overthrown a mere 100 years later – so much for having a marble boat!
After leaving the Summer Palace we headed to a nearby pearl shop that gave demonstrations on how freshwaters pearls were harvested. Amie picked one of the oysters in the tank, and they showed us how the oyster was opened, and the pearls inside. Our oyster was only 4 years old, so the pearls were very small. However, we did get to keep three of the twenty or so pearls in the oyster.
Next we took a rickshaw tour of one of the two remaining Hutongs in Beijing. The original Mongolian word Hutong meant ‘water well’, and now means ‘narrow streets’. The Hutongs are the old city dwellings with very narrow streets (most can’t even fit a car down them). We learned about how you can tell the societal status of the residents by looking at their doors. For instance, the greater the number of steps (which are always odd numbered) and the wider or taller the entrance, the higher the class of the resident.
At the conclusion of our rickshaw tour, we had lunch in one of the resident’s house’s. The food was very good, and we (through our guide) were able to talk a little bit with the wife. She has lived in the Hutongs for thirty years! She also gave us a tour of her house, which lasted about 2 minutes. There were six rooms, the largest of which about eight feet by eight feet. The hallway connecting all the rooms was outdoors. The bedroom was the largest room, the others were half to two-thirds the size of the bedroom. She also had a kitchen, bathroom, living room, storage room, and a dining room. We met her two pets, a bird and a turtle. The turtle was thirty years old, and the bird could say ‘Ni hao’ – which is Mandarin for ‘Hello’. Seeing what little they had made us feel very fortunate for all that we have. Despite their ‘lack of having’ when compared to western society, they were extremely happy.
Our day concluded with a short (one hour and thirty minute) flight to Xi’an. Despite the short length, we were still served dinner! Dinner was rice with chicken or beef. We also were given a roll, strawberry jelly, and apple chips for dessert. Once we landed we met our guide for Xi’an – Tracy. During the nearly hour ride from the airport to the hotel, she gave us a brief overview of the history of Xi’an, including its significance as the capital of China for nearly half of the dynasties. Xi’an is considered a small city – its population is 8 million! We checked into our hotel, a very nice modern hotel near the drum and bell towers. We were upgraded to a executive suite – which means our room is huge and we have a separate living room area.
Tomorrow we’re off to see the Terracotta Warriors.
After leaving the Summer Palace we headed to a nearby pearl shop that gave demonstrations on how freshwaters pearls were harvested. Amie picked one of the oysters in the tank, and they showed us how the oyster was opened, and the pearls inside. Our oyster was only 4 years old, so the pearls were very small. However, we did get to keep three of the twenty or so pearls in the oyster.
Next we took a rickshaw tour of one of the two remaining Hutongs in Beijing. The original Mongolian word Hutong meant ‘water well’, and now means ‘narrow streets’. The Hutongs are the old city dwellings with very narrow streets (most can’t even fit a car down them). We learned about how you can tell the societal status of the residents by looking at their doors. For instance, the greater the number of steps (which are always odd numbered) and the wider or taller the entrance, the higher the class of the resident.
At the conclusion of our rickshaw tour, we had lunch in one of the resident’s house’s. The food was very good, and we (through our guide) were able to talk a little bit with the wife. She has lived in the Hutongs for thirty years! She also gave us a tour of her house, which lasted about 2 minutes. There were six rooms, the largest of which about eight feet by eight feet. The hallway connecting all the rooms was outdoors. The bedroom was the largest room, the others were half to two-thirds the size of the bedroom. She also had a kitchen, bathroom, living room, storage room, and a dining room. We met her two pets, a bird and a turtle. The turtle was thirty years old, and the bird could say ‘Ni hao’ – which is Mandarin for ‘Hello’. Seeing what little they had made us feel very fortunate for all that we have. Despite their ‘lack of having’ when compared to western society, they were extremely happy.
Our day concluded with a short (one hour and thirty minute) flight to Xi’an. Despite the short length, we were still served dinner! Dinner was rice with chicken or beef. We also were given a roll, strawberry jelly, and apple chips for dessert. Once we landed we met our guide for Xi’an – Tracy. During the nearly hour ride from the airport to the hotel, she gave us a brief overview of the history of Xi’an, including its significance as the capital of China for nearly half of the dynasties. Xi’an is considered a small city – its population is 8 million! We checked into our hotel, a very nice modern hotel near the drum and bell towers. We were upgraded to a executive suite – which means our room is huge and we have a separate living room area.
Tomorrow we’re off to see the Terracotta Warriors.
Beijing Day 3
This morning we left the city of Beijing for the suburbs. There we visited a Cloisonne factory. Cloisonne pieces are a cultural relic of Beijing, and were made popular by one of the Emperors. Producing closionne is a very labor-intensive process, broken down into roughly seven steps. In the first step, copper is pounded into the proper shape for the piece (vase, plate, bowl, etc.). Then copper wires are glued (and later soldered) to form the outlines of the patterns. After the pattern has been placed it is colored using a mix of minerals and water using drops from an eyedropper. After the compound air-dries, it is fired in an 800 degree celsius oven for 3-5 minutes. The painting and firing is then repeated usually five times to ensure even color coverage. After the design is fully colored, the entire piece is sanded and polished using three different stones. Once the pattern is smooth, the non-colored sections are gold plated. The detail in many of the patterns and pieces is amazing. There was a vase about 6 feet tall and 2 feet across that took 16 workers over a year to complete. The average time to complete a piece is a month.
We then proceeded to the Sacred Way (and Ming Tombs). We walked along the very peaceful pathway where the Emperors body would be carried before burial. The path was lined with willow trees and stone statues. Each pair of statues had a separate meaning and they were considered protectors of the Emperor. The Emperors body would be carried all the way from the Forbidden City, usually taking 3 days by foot. Sixteen people would carry the body at once, and they would be switched out every kilometer.
Next we drove through the countryside to get to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. We saw many villages where people would cross the road without looking, left their bikes parked in the middle of a lane, and let their dogs and hens roam freely. Many of the bikers biked in the middle of the road, complete oblivious to traffic. As we got closer to the wall, the terrain became more mountainous and was very green and lush.
We had lunch at a restaurant near the wall. We commented to our guide on how fresh the food tasted, and she replied that was because the trout was from the pond outside and the chicken was from the next village over. Good thing we didn’t know that before we ate, otherwise we would probably not have enjoyed the food as much. The chicken was chopped up with the bones still in it, including some ribs!
The Great Wall is absolutely breathtaking. Words cannot describe how beautiful and awe-inspiring seeing the wall wrap around and through the mountains. Since the wall was on top of the mountain, we took a cable car to the wall, and then hiked (and climbed some parts) up the wall as far as we were allowed. Some parts we so steep we felt like we were climbing a stone ladder! We wanted to post just one picture – we climbed to the top of the tall vertical section in the background (just to the right of the Chinese lettering)!
Tonight we saw a Kung Fu Show. It is a very long running show – ours was the 3013th performance in this venue. Neither Amie nor I expected the depth of the storyline, but we both enjoyed the martial arts portion.
Tomorrow we have a tour of one of Beijing’s Hutongs (their old city sections), followed by our flight to Xi’an.
We then proceeded to the Sacred Way (and Ming Tombs). We walked along the very peaceful pathway where the Emperors body would be carried before burial. The path was lined with willow trees and stone statues. Each pair of statues had a separate meaning and they were considered protectors of the Emperor. The Emperors body would be carried all the way from the Forbidden City, usually taking 3 days by foot. Sixteen people would carry the body at once, and they would be switched out every kilometer.
Next we drove through the countryside to get to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. We saw many villages where people would cross the road without looking, left their bikes parked in the middle of a lane, and let their dogs and hens roam freely. Many of the bikers biked in the middle of the road, complete oblivious to traffic. As we got closer to the wall, the terrain became more mountainous and was very green and lush.
We had lunch at a restaurant near the wall. We commented to our guide on how fresh the food tasted, and she replied that was because the trout was from the pond outside and the chicken was from the next village over. Good thing we didn’t know that before we ate, otherwise we would probably not have enjoyed the food as much. The chicken was chopped up with the bones still in it, including some ribs!
The Great Wall is absolutely breathtaking. Words cannot describe how beautiful and awe-inspiring seeing the wall wrap around and through the mountains. Since the wall was on top of the mountain, we took a cable car to the wall, and then hiked (and climbed some parts) up the wall as far as we were allowed. Some parts we so steep we felt like we were climbing a stone ladder! We wanted to post just one picture – we climbed to the top of the tall vertical section in the background (just to the right of the Chinese lettering)!
Tonight we saw a Kung Fu Show. It is a very long running show – ours was the 3013th performance in this venue. Neither Amie nor I expected the depth of the storyline, but we both enjoyed the martial arts portion.
Tomorrow we have a tour of one of Beijing’s Hutongs (their old city sections), followed by our flight to Xi’an.
Beijing Day 1
Please note – due to an error, day one was not posted yesterday. Please read both Beijing Day One and Beijing Day Two if you haven’t already
We woke up early this morning to fly to Beijing. Our flight was on China Eastern Airlines – the plane was an Airbus A330 with a 2-4-2 seating configuration. Even though it was only a two-hour flight, the plane size and service made it feel like we were on an international flight.
Upon arrival in Beijing, we met our tour guide and personal driver. We were taken to our hotel, which does not have free internet. As a result, we won’t be posting pictures, since they take too long to upload.
Our first stop after our hotel was the Lama Temple. This temple belongs to the Tibetan Buddhist, and is home to the largest Buddha statue in the world. The status is almost 80 feet tall, and carved out of a single piece of wood. The atmosphere of the temple was very peaceful, as there were far more people praying than tourists.
After the Lama Temple we went to the Olympic Park area. We saw the Birds Nest and the Water Cube. The area connecting the two buildings was packed full of people. We also saw what we think was the tower the Olympic Torch was placed.
Upon returning to our hotel, we learned that Tiananmen Square, along with almost every surrounding street, was closed for the practice of a ceremony celebrating the 60th birthday of the People’s Republic of China. Over 100,000 people will be performing, and they’re practicing every weekend from now until October 1st. As a result, we had two options for our one-year anniversary dinner – the hotel Chinese restaurant (nice but extremely expensive), or a local Chinese restaurant across the street (at least the menu and pictures and English subtitles). We decided to be adventurous and try the local Chinese place. I learned I’ve been pronouncing water wrong the entire time I’ve been in China, as the waitress did not understand me at all (and she didn’t speak any English). I ended up walking over to the fridge to point out what we wanted. At least she understood I wanted two. We were pleasantly surprised by the food; the spring rolls were particularly good. We ended up with way too much food, as each dish we ordered was family sized (not American family sized, but Chinese family sized). The food was also very cheap; we ordered two appetizers, two main courses, and two drinks for less than 20 USD.
Since we were stuck with no-where to go, we decided to check out a local foot massage place. It ended up being very romantic because the power was out and the massage was done using candlelight. Our 90-minute couples massage (which included feet, back neck, arms, and legs), along with Amie’s pedicure, was under 40 USD. We both decided we could get use to massages more often at that price!
We woke up early this morning to fly to Beijing. Our flight was on China Eastern Airlines – the plane was an Airbus A330 with a 2-4-2 seating configuration. Even though it was only a two-hour flight, the plane size and service made it feel like we were on an international flight.
Upon arrival in Beijing, we met our tour guide and personal driver. We were taken to our hotel, which does not have free internet. As a result, we won’t be posting pictures, since they take too long to upload.
Our first stop after our hotel was the Lama Temple. This temple belongs to the Tibetan Buddhist, and is home to the largest Buddha statue in the world. The status is almost 80 feet tall, and carved out of a single piece of wood. The atmosphere of the temple was very peaceful, as there were far more people praying than tourists.
After the Lama Temple we went to the Olympic Park area. We saw the Birds Nest and the Water Cube. The area connecting the two buildings was packed full of people. We also saw what we think was the tower the Olympic Torch was placed.
Upon returning to our hotel, we learned that Tiananmen Square, along with almost every surrounding street, was closed for the practice of a ceremony celebrating the 60th birthday of the People’s Republic of China. Over 100,000 people will be performing, and they’re practicing every weekend from now until October 1st. As a result, we had two options for our one-year anniversary dinner – the hotel Chinese restaurant (nice but extremely expensive), or a local Chinese restaurant across the street (at least the menu and pictures and English subtitles). We decided to be adventurous and try the local Chinese place. I learned I’ve been pronouncing water wrong the entire time I’ve been in China, as the waitress did not understand me at all (and she didn’t speak any English). I ended up walking over to the fridge to point out what we wanted. At least she understood I wanted two. We were pleasantly surprised by the food; the spring rolls were particularly good. We ended up with way too much food, as each dish we ordered was family sized (not American family sized, but Chinese family sized). The food was also very cheap; we ordered two appetizers, two main courses, and two drinks for less than 20 USD.
Since we were stuck with no-where to go, we decided to check out a local foot massage place. It ended up being very romantic because the power was out and the massage was done using candlelight. Our 90-minute couples massage (which included feet, back neck, arms, and legs), along with Amie’s pedicure, was under 40 USD. We both decided we could get use to massages more often at that price!
Beijing Day 2
So it looks like our Beijing Day 1 Post is missing in action - we'll try to figure out what happened. Our hotel doesn't have free internet, so we're not doing any pictures due to long upload times.
Today, like last night, started off cool and sprinkling. Fortunately, by the time we arrived at the Forbidden City, the rain had stopped. The Forbidden City is a massive (nearly 1km by 1km) fortified area where the emperors lived and held political functions. It was built in the 1400’s when the capital of China was moved to Beijing. We started at the north gate and went to the south gate. The entire city was surrounded by a 30-foot high wall and an equally massive moat. There were several gardens in the city for the emperor and his wife. It’s hard to put words on how impressive the city was – many of the buildings were recently restored for the Beijing Olympics, so the details jumped out. One interesting fact our tour-guide shared was that each building was rated in importance (in case a fire broke out). The rating was the number of animal shapes on the corner of the roof. The most important buildings (like the emperor’s sleeping quarters) had nine animals. Speaking of nine’s, all of the doors had nine rows of nine ‘knobs’ on them. This was to portray power, as the number nine is seen as a powerful number in Chinese lore.
Our tour ended at the south gate, which opens into Tiananmen Square. The south gate is very important to the Chinese People, as Chairman Mao gave the speech which marked the start of the People’s Republic of China on the second level of the gate. To commemorate his speech, a new painting is created every year and is placed on the wall overlooking Tiananmen Square. Tiananmen Square is surrounded by Government buildings and can hold nearly 1 million people.
After a Chinese lunch, we visited the Temple of Heaven. This was where the Emperor would go to pray and make offerings to the God of Heaven (for a good harvest). One of the interesting social aspects of the Temple is that Senior Citizens are welcome to come and ‘hang out’ in the garden areas. We saw thousands of elderly people playing cards, badminton and hacky-sack, as well as singing, dancing, and playing music.
For dinner, Amie and I decided to ‘retry’ our Anniversary dinner. We had a traditional Peking Duck Dinner. It was delicious! This Beijing specialty is prepared by rubbing the duck with a blend of salt, pepper, and spices before slowly roasting it to a golden-brown color. The chef came to our table with a whole duck, holding it by its tail to slice it into bite size pieces. The duck is then wrapped in a thin rice paper tortilla with sliced cucumbers, thin onion strips, and a special sauce. In total, our meal had seven (or so, we kinda lost count) courses.
After dinner we took a taxi to the silk market (Beijing’s equivalent of Shanghai’s fake market), where we were bombarded with offers for t-shirts, fans, chopsticks, scarves, suits, jackets, jewelry, jeans, and pretty much anything else you can imagine. Don’t worry, you always get special-friend price!
Tomorrow we’re off to see the Great Wall.
Once again, it’s hard to describe what we saw without using pictures, so make sure to ask us when you see us again!
Today, like last night, started off cool and sprinkling. Fortunately, by the time we arrived at the Forbidden City, the rain had stopped. The Forbidden City is a massive (nearly 1km by 1km) fortified area where the emperors lived and held political functions. It was built in the 1400’s when the capital of China was moved to Beijing. We started at the north gate and went to the south gate. The entire city was surrounded by a 30-foot high wall and an equally massive moat. There were several gardens in the city for the emperor and his wife. It’s hard to put words on how impressive the city was – many of the buildings were recently restored for the Beijing Olympics, so the details jumped out. One interesting fact our tour-guide shared was that each building was rated in importance (in case a fire broke out). The rating was the number of animal shapes on the corner of the roof. The most important buildings (like the emperor’s sleeping quarters) had nine animals. Speaking of nine’s, all of the doors had nine rows of nine ‘knobs’ on them. This was to portray power, as the number nine is seen as a powerful number in Chinese lore.
Our tour ended at the south gate, which opens into Tiananmen Square. The south gate is very important to the Chinese People, as Chairman Mao gave the speech which marked the start of the People’s Republic of China on the second level of the gate. To commemorate his speech, a new painting is created every year and is placed on the wall overlooking Tiananmen Square. Tiananmen Square is surrounded by Government buildings and can hold nearly 1 million people.
After a Chinese lunch, we visited the Temple of Heaven. This was where the Emperor would go to pray and make offerings to the God of Heaven (for a good harvest). One of the interesting social aspects of the Temple is that Senior Citizens are welcome to come and ‘hang out’ in the garden areas. We saw thousands of elderly people playing cards, badminton and hacky-sack, as well as singing, dancing, and playing music.
For dinner, Amie and I decided to ‘retry’ our Anniversary dinner. We had a traditional Peking Duck Dinner. It was delicious! This Beijing specialty is prepared by rubbing the duck with a blend of salt, pepper, and spices before slowly roasting it to a golden-brown color. The chef came to our table with a whole duck, holding it by its tail to slice it into bite size pieces. The duck is then wrapped in a thin rice paper tortilla with sliced cucumbers, thin onion strips, and a special sauce. In total, our meal had seven (or so, we kinda lost count) courses.
After dinner we took a taxi to the silk market (Beijing’s equivalent of Shanghai’s fake market), where we were bombarded with offers for t-shirts, fans, chopsticks, scarves, suits, jackets, jewelry, jeans, and pretty much anything else you can imagine. Don’t worry, you always get special-friend price!
Tomorrow we’re off to see the Great Wall.
Once again, it’s hard to describe what we saw without using pictures, so make sure to ask us when you see us again!
Shanghai Day Two
We started off the day by visiting the currently under construction Bund. The entire 'park' area was closed, and as a result we only got a few good pictures.
We then visited the Old City and Yu Yuan Garden.
After a short break (lots of walking in the hot weather made us tired) - we headed over to the pearl market. There Amie got her gift for passing the CFA, and we picked up a few other items. Here's a few of the items we got.
We ended up grabbing some silk artwork for our new house from a vendor.
We then went to the Fabric Market to pick up the items we ordered yesterday. All of our stuff came out well - one of Amie's suit jackets had to be made a bit larger, but that was fixed while we waited. Here's one of Amie's shirts.
And here's one of her suit jackets.
We finished the night off at Bar Rouge, here's the amazing view.
Tomorrow we're off to Beijing!
We then visited the Old City and Yu Yuan Garden.
After a short break (lots of walking in the hot weather made us tired) - we headed over to the pearl market. There Amie got her gift for passing the CFA, and we picked up a few other items. Here's a few of the items we got.
We ended up grabbing some silk artwork for our new house from a vendor.
We then went to the Fabric Market to pick up the items we ordered yesterday. All of our stuff came out well - one of Amie's suit jackets had to be made a bit larger, but that was fixed while we waited. Here's one of Amie's shirts.
And here's one of her suit jackets.
We finished the night off at Bar Rouge, here's the amazing view.
Tomorrow we're off to Beijing!
Amie's Here!
So Amie finally made it to Shanghai in one piece. We had a busy day today - starting with visiting the Jade Buddha temple together. We then went to the fabric market to load up on dress shirts and suits (hey - when you can get a women's suit jacket with a matching skirt AND pants for less than 75 US dollars - you win!). We then got lost trying to find the subway, and once again being able to speak just enough Mandarin to bother the locals into helping your way paid off. We took the subway to the fake market and just about ran out of cash. We had 3 yuan left (less than 1 USD) after we paid for our subway fares back to our hotel.
We had dinner at a chinese restaurant at one of the nicer hotels in the area before we left for the acrobatics show (which we almost didn't make it in time). Amie ordered a prawn and crab dish that was sent to our table flaming to finish cooking.
My BBQ pork and scrimp fried rice was *not* flaming, but almost as tasty. As I was saying earlier - we almost missed the start of the acrobatics show because 1) dinner ran a bit long and 2) apparently around 7pm it's impossible to get a taxi in Shanghai. Now the acrobatics show.
Words cannot describe the incredible (or crazy) talent and technique. Here's a few select pictures - we've got a ton more and some videos.
Flipping from one moving pole to another, grabbing the pole with his legs:
Painful flexibility:
Magnificent Leaping:
Ridiculous Balance (Dad - I haven't seen you do this!):
Balancing on Chairs:
Soaring through the air on silk:
Balance Board:
And finally, a beautiful American on Nanjing Road (a pedestrian shopping district) - right outside our hotel:
We had dinner at a chinese restaurant at one of the nicer hotels in the area before we left for the acrobatics show (which we almost didn't make it in time). Amie ordered a prawn and crab dish that was sent to our table flaming to finish cooking.
My BBQ pork and scrimp fried rice was *not* flaming, but almost as tasty. As I was saying earlier - we almost missed the start of the acrobatics show because 1) dinner ran a bit long and 2) apparently around 7pm it's impossible to get a taxi in Shanghai. Now the acrobatics show.
Words cannot describe the incredible (or crazy) talent and technique. Here's a few select pictures - we've got a ton more and some videos.
Flipping from one moving pole to another, grabbing the pole with his legs:
Painful flexibility:
Magnificent Leaping:
Ridiculous Balance (Dad - I haven't seen you do this!):
Balancing on Chairs:
Soaring through the air on silk:
Balance Board:
And finally, a beautiful American on Nanjing Road (a pedestrian shopping district) - right outside our hotel:
Fake Market and the Shanghai Subway
Ok - long day of class - my mind is shot. Pictures good - complete sentences bad.
The subway is very clean, very user-friendly (everything is in Mandarin and English), and cheap (4RMB a ride).
Buying tickets:
Entrance Gate:
TV's showing how long till the next train arrives:
The subway trains are one long compartment - no doors or separate cars. This is from one of the non-rush hour rides.
I know it's hard to see, but this guy has 12 motherboards in boxes (US street value of ~2000US). I guarantee you would not see this on a US subway without armed guards.
And GOOGLE!
The fake market is located underneath the Science and Technology Museum, right off the #2 (Green) subway line. Everything is fake (or on the off chance it's real - it either fell off a truck or was over produced). Also a surprise - it's more of a mall - with 'legit' looking stores, AC, and *lots* of people willing to sell you crap you don't need.
Vendor "iPhone - you want?"
Me "I have a real one"
Vendor "Oh - mine only copy. You still want?"
Me "No, but thanks for the honesty"
Lot's of iPhone models I didn't know existed:
It's real! Really:
Gibson Les Paul's - Only 4200RMB!
One last story. Even though I didn't need it, I decided to negotiate with one of the vendors for a two piece Northface jacket ('Gortex' shell and fleece liner). He started the price at 1000RMB. After 5 minutes of negotation, I had him down to 230. I walked away from his shop and rejoined my group. He *followed* me for 10 minutes, continuously asking me 'What your best price?'. Decided to have fun with him - I kept negotiating. Got him down to 174RMB before he started screaming and swearing at me saying I was wasting his time. Ah - the fun of negotiating when you don't really care about the outcome :) As the man was running back to his shop I yelled back at him to have a good day. Pretty sure he didn't care, but the other shop owners were laughing with our group at him. Everyone understands a good laugh!
Bar Rouge and Babyface
To celebrate the successful end of the data warehousing and business intelligence portion of our training, we went out on the town. First stop - Bar Rouge (www.bar-rouge-shanghai.com). Bar Rouge is a great bar located on top of a building overlooking the Huangpujiang River and the Shanghai Skyline. Once again, my night pictures didn't turn out, so I'm sourcing those from a friend. You'll have to trust me, the view was magnificent.
After a while we decided to go to Babyface (http://www.babyface.com.cn/), one of the premier nightclubs in Shanghai.
I loved this place! The music was a mix of house, trance, techno, and remixes. The sound system was the loudest I have ever heard, and the lighting system was amazing. Here's two videos giving a brief insight into our evening - the videos do have sound, so be aware.
After a while we decided to go to Babyface (http://www.babyface.com.cn/), one of the premier nightclubs in Shanghai.
I loved this place! The music was a mix of house, trance, techno, and remixes. The sound system was the loudest I have ever heard, and the lighting system was amazing. Here's two videos giving a brief insight into our evening - the videos do have sound, so be aware.
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Karaoke
Karaoke is a religion in China. So when my Chinese co-workers said they had organized a karaoke night, almost everyone was in. Karaoke is *very* different in China. We arrived at the karaoke place, known as KTV. When we walked inside the atmosphere reminded me of a movie theater. There was a 'grocery store' where you could buy soda, beer, liquor and snacks.
Each 'group' had their own private room which you could either reserve (just like a dinner reservation) or you could show up and wait for the next available room. Since we had a large group, we had a room for about 50 people. Some of the rooms only fit 5 or so people. If you bought bottles of alcohol, they were carried to your room for you (like here - where we bought a liter of Bacardi for 160RMB)
The room itself was very nice - multicolored illuminated walls, granite countertops, and leather sofas and stools.
Thank goodness we had some native Chinese speakers with us, as the controls were in Mandarin, which led to some 'interesting' song choices. I've got a few videos of the revelry, so make sure you ask to see them when you see me :)
I can't recommend Chinese style karaoke enough.
Each 'group' had their own private room which you could either reserve (just like a dinner reservation) or you could show up and wait for the next available room. Since we had a large group, we had a room for about 50 people. Some of the rooms only fit 5 or so people. If you bought bottles of alcohol, they were carried to your room for you (like here - where we bought a liter of Bacardi for 160RMB)
The room itself was very nice - multicolored illuminated walls, granite countertops, and leather sofas and stools.
Thank goodness we had some native Chinese speakers with us, as the controls were in Mandarin, which led to some 'interesting' song choices. I've got a few videos of the revelry, so make sure you ask to see them when you see me :)
I can't recommend Chinese style karaoke enough.
Fabric Market
One of the highlights of Shanghai is the South Bund Soft Spinning Material Market, commonly know as the 'Fabric Market'. The fabric market is a large, three story building full of individual stalls selling clothing items. Everything can be tailored (and usually is, they only 'stock' display items, which are rarely American sized).
My apologies - but none of my pictures from inside the market turned out. I'm currently sourcing pictures from co-workers and will add them once I get them. In the mean time - imagine!
How does it work? You tell the worker what you want (for instance, I ordered a suit from one vendor, two dress shirts from another, and a pair of dress pants and a winter coat from a final one). You can either point to one of their models, bring your own picture of the style, or look in many of the books that they have available. They have tons of rolls of fabric, so you select the fabric right off the bolts. They then measure you - all before talking price. Next comes the negotiation.
This is where it gets fun or tricky depending upon your view. They'll always start the price ridiculously high - I'll use my pair of pants as an example. She said 700RMB, about~$105 (well she didn't really say - all the price negotation is done on a calculator as it's easier for everyone to understand). I laughed and said 'tài guì le' or it's too expensive in Mandarin. At this point she dropped the price to 600RMB, saying it's "Special Friend Price". I kept laughing and said 'jiā yóu' - or come on in Mandarin. At this point, she asked me (in Mandarin), if I speak Mandarin, so I replied (in Mandarin of course), that I speak a little and that her prices are for Americans - I want the Chinese price. Suddenly the Special Friend Price is 300RMB. That is when I offered 100RMB. I knew from doing some research on the expat forums that anything under 175RMB is a good price for dress pants from this particular stall. After a few more rounds of back and forth, we're at 200RMB. This is when I told her it's too expensive and not worth my time, I'll go to someone else. As I'm walking out the door she grabs my arm and pulls me back in, showing her final price of 150RMB (~$22). Mission accomplished. She says the pants will be ready in four days - I knew I don't need them any sooner, so I said thanks and goodbye.
A week later:
Class got really busy, so I didn't get a chance to head back any sooner. Went to the stall and said hello. She got the pants out and tried them on (right out in the open - hope you've got clean underwear on!). For women trying on clothing they'll hold up some fabric as a makeshift changing room. The pants fit great, they were just about 3/4" too long, so I pointed that out and they altered them in about 20 minutes. Good to go. Every other item fit perfectly the first time. For some reason they couldn't find the vest for my suit, so they're making another one which will be ready tomorrow (although I won't go back until next week).
So what did I all get?
- Two dress shirts
- One three piece suit
- One pair of dress pants
- One cashmere winter coat
for a grand total of about $200. I win!
How do they look? Check it out for yourself!
Suit and one of the shirts:
One of the shirts and the other pair of pants:
For some reason the shirt looks terrible in this picture - it actually fits great - possibly my new favorite shirt!
And the fabulous cashmere coat:
As an added bonus - I can now email the stalls that have my size and request fabric swatches. They'll mail them over to me in the states and I can let them know which ones I want and they'll make another shirt/suit/pair of pants and mail them to me. I just need to avoid gaining weight!
My apologies - but none of my pictures from inside the market turned out. I'm currently sourcing pictures from co-workers and will add them once I get them. In the mean time - imagine!
How does it work? You tell the worker what you want (for instance, I ordered a suit from one vendor, two dress shirts from another, and a pair of dress pants and a winter coat from a final one). You can either point to one of their models, bring your own picture of the style, or look in many of the books that they have available. They have tons of rolls of fabric, so you select the fabric right off the bolts. They then measure you - all before talking price. Next comes the negotiation.
This is where it gets fun or tricky depending upon your view. They'll always start the price ridiculously high - I'll use my pair of pants as an example. She said 700RMB, about~$105 (well she didn't really say - all the price negotation is done on a calculator as it's easier for everyone to understand). I laughed and said 'tài guì le' or it's too expensive in Mandarin. At this point she dropped the price to 600RMB, saying it's "Special Friend Price". I kept laughing and said 'jiā yóu' - or come on in Mandarin. At this point, she asked me (in Mandarin), if I speak Mandarin, so I replied (in Mandarin of course), that I speak a little and that her prices are for Americans - I want the Chinese price. Suddenly the Special Friend Price is 300RMB. That is when I offered 100RMB. I knew from doing some research on the expat forums that anything under 175RMB is a good price for dress pants from this particular stall. After a few more rounds of back and forth, we're at 200RMB. This is when I told her it's too expensive and not worth my time, I'll go to someone else. As I'm walking out the door she grabs my arm and pulls me back in, showing her final price of 150RMB (~$22). Mission accomplished. She says the pants will be ready in four days - I knew I don't need them any sooner, so I said thanks and goodbye.
A week later:
Class got really busy, so I didn't get a chance to head back any sooner. Went to the stall and said hello. She got the pants out and tried them on (right out in the open - hope you've got clean underwear on!). For women trying on clothing they'll hold up some fabric as a makeshift changing room. The pants fit great, they were just about 3/4" too long, so I pointed that out and they altered them in about 20 minutes. Good to go. Every other item fit perfectly the first time. For some reason they couldn't find the vest for my suit, so they're making another one which will be ready tomorrow (although I won't go back until next week).
So what did I all get?
- Two dress shirts
- One three piece suit
- One pair of dress pants
- One cashmere winter coat
for a grand total of about $200. I win!
How do they look? Check it out for yourself!
Suit and one of the shirts:
One of the shirts and the other pair of pants:
For some reason the shirt looks terrible in this picture - it actually fits great - possibly my new favorite shirt!
And the fabulous cashmere coat:
As an added bonus - I can now email the stalls that have my size and request fabric swatches. They'll mail them over to me in the states and I can let them know which ones I want and they'll make another shirt/suit/pair of pants and mail them to me. I just need to avoid gaining weight!
Suzhou
Today was back to work here in Shanghai, so expect this next week to be pretty boring :( On the upside, I went with a small group to the 'small' city of Suzhou, about an hour and a half outside of Shanghai. How 'small' is Suzhou? About 6 million people. I suppose when you compare the city to Shanghai (which is 22 million - or about 2.5 New York City's). If you own a laptop that's not a Dell, it was probably made in Suzhou. If you own a Dell, all the components were probably made in Suzhou. The Technology Park in Suzhou is the largest in the world - so chances are there's a part of every electronic device that was made there.
Fortunately, we spent our day in the old city, which is much more in line with what one would expect to see in 'traditional' China. We started off the day by visiting two beautiful gardens. I've combined the pictures below, but of note was that one of the gardens was the Master of the Nets Garden, which is considered to be one of the finest gardens in all of China.
Check out the amazing detail in the arch engravings.
This 'painting' is natural marble that looks like a landscape.
My favorite picture of the view.
Enjoying the round wall openings.
Beautiful inlay of stones making up the floor.
Next up we took a rickshaw tour. Here's Nicole and I in our rickshaw!
Suhzou is famous for it's canal system. It's often referred to as the 'Venice of the East'. Here's some locals on a typical boat.
Here's yours truly along the canal.
We also stopped in a silk factory and saw the silk making process, from larvae to finished product. I took mostly videos, and I can't seem to get the videos to embed properly, so you'll have to take my word for how impressive the process was.
And finally, one of the many arches over the canal.
Hope this can tide you over for a bit - data warehousing and BI reporting will be taking over my time for the next few days.
Fortunately, we spent our day in the old city, which is much more in line with what one would expect to see in 'traditional' China. We started off the day by visiting two beautiful gardens. I've combined the pictures below, but of note was that one of the gardens was the Master of the Nets Garden, which is considered to be one of the finest gardens in all of China.
Check out the amazing detail in the arch engravings.
This 'painting' is natural marble that looks like a landscape.
My favorite picture of the view.
Enjoying the round wall openings.
Beautiful inlay of stones making up the floor.
Next up we took a rickshaw tour. Here's Nicole and I in our rickshaw!
Suhzou is famous for it's canal system. It's often referred to as the 'Venice of the East'. Here's some locals on a typical boat.
Here's yours truly along the canal.
We also stopped in a silk factory and saw the silk making process, from larvae to finished product. I took mostly videos, and I can't seem to get the videos to embed properly, so you'll have to take my word for how impressive the process was.
And finally, one of the many arches over the canal.
Hope this can tide you over for a bit - data warehousing and BI reporting will be taking over my time for the next few days.
City Tour
Today we had the day off - so we took a guided tour around Shanghai. Our first stop was the Jade Budda Temple.
Interesting note - below are some pictures of bamboo scaffolding waiting to be erected. We noticed that most of the buildings being constructed (including the sky scrapers) were using bamboo scaffolding!
Not quite the Wall Street Bull:
Next stop was the 'Old City'.
Within the 'Old City' was a large garden.
Did I mention it was very hot and humid today? How hot you ask? Try a heat index of 106 degrees. Here I am catching a break from the head in a cave within the garden.
We went to a tea house and had various teas. Here's the Jasmine tea immediately after adding water.
And here's after a few minutes. Notice how the tea leaves have 'blossomed' a flower.
After a brief torrential downpour (in which I got completely soaked) we went to the Shanghai Financial Center. The Shanghai Financial Center is Asia's 2nd tallest building, and the world's tallest observation deck.
There were three floors that provided various views, including the famous sky walk at 474 meters above ground. Although it was cloudy, the views were still breathtaking.
If you look where I'm sitting, you can see I'm on a piece of glass (along with one of the sky scrapers in the background).
That's all for today folks! I have some videos I've taken of the past few days, I'll see I can find a way to get them up here soon.
Interesting note - below are some pictures of bamboo scaffolding waiting to be erected. We noticed that most of the buildings being constructed (including the sky scrapers) were using bamboo scaffolding!
Not quite the Wall Street Bull:
Next stop was the 'Old City'.
Within the 'Old City' was a large garden.
Did I mention it was very hot and humid today? How hot you ask? Try a heat index of 106 degrees. Here I am catching a break from the head in a cave within the garden.
We went to a tea house and had various teas. Here's the Jasmine tea immediately after adding water.
And here's after a few minutes. Notice how the tea leaves have 'blossomed' a flower.
After a brief torrential downpour (in which I got completely soaked) we went to the Shanghai Financial Center. The Shanghai Financial Center is Asia's 2nd tallest building, and the world's tallest observation deck.
There were three floors that provided various views, including the famous sky walk at 474 meters above ground. Although it was cloudy, the views were still breathtaking.
If you look where I'm sitting, you can see I'm on a piece of glass (along with one of the sky scrapers in the background).
That's all for today folks! I have some videos I've taken of the past few days, I'll see I can find a way to get them up here soon.