Seeing Our Neighborhood at 265MPH

We rode Shanghai's fast train -the Maglev- to the airport last week. Video can be found here.

Maglev is short for "magnetic levitation." Basically a series of electromagnets on the rails and on the train cars act to lift the cars off the rails by about 1/2 inch. The train actually rides on air, making it smooth, quiet, and very fast. The speed peaks out at 430 kilometers per hour, or about 265 mph. Unfortunately at present, the train doesn't really go anywhere. It runs between a station near our apartment and the Pudong airport, covering 20 miles in about 7 minutes. It stays at top speed for only a minute before it starts braking to enter the station.

There are rumors that the line will eventually be extended to the Hongqiao airport on the west side of the city, and then on to other cities in China. However, there's also another rumor that building the rails for this costs $60 million per kilometer, so I doubt we'll see any expansion for a while.

Here are some links where you can find more information about this train and maglev technology.
http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20030809_pudong_airport_maglev_in_depth.htm
http://www.smtdc.com/en/index.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Maglev_Train
http://science.howstuffworks.com/maglev-train.htm

Santa on Vacation

Where does Santa Claus go to unwind after the holidays?

Hong Kong.

Changing Things Up a Little

I've been playing around here with the layout, trying to reduce some of the clutter and making things a little more straightforward. I got rid of some of the widgets and gadgets and set it to display only one post per page.

I also made a change to the way comments are handled. Now the comment form is embedded in each post. If you want to add a comment, you no longer have to go to a separate page. I also set it to allow you to comment anonymously so put a name or something in the comment so I know who it's from. Your comments may not display immediately. All comments are emailed to me and I have to approve them before they're posted. I don't like doing this but feel like I have to. I've had a few morons with nothing better to do try to add some profane comments. If this extra step makes it too much of a hassle, let me know and I'll consider turning it off.

All these changes are intended to make your experience here a little more pleasant and hopefully to make it more interactive. I sometimes feel like I'm working in a vacuum here, not knowing if anyone is actually reading this drivel. I would love to hear what you guys think and maybe even strike up a few conversations amongst yourselves.

This is a work in progress so let me know if something is not functioning properly. It's a bit of a hassle administering this site from overseas. While the Internet is opening up more all the time, there are still a lot of sites that are restricted. Unfortunately, the site where I make all the layout changes is one of them so I can only access it from my office, not from my apartment.

So check back here often and don't be surprised if things change again. Feel free to yell at me if any of these "improvements" end up making things worse. And if you know of any enhancements that you would like to see, please send them my way. Thanks.

Update: OK, I don't know what's going on now. For some unknown reason, after making these changes to how comments are handled, now the link for comments doesn't appear on this post. I have no idea. At least it shows up on all the older posts.

I'm Lazy

I'm too lazy to write anything so I'll just keep posting pictures here for the time being. Hope you enjoy them.

That's Gotta Be Refreshing.

Imported from Japan. Apparently they'll drink anything over there.

Uhh...No Thanks.

Not sure what this is. It was on the shelves with the drink powders, like Tang and Crystal Light.

Dang!!! That's Expensive. Part 3

At these prices, you bet your ass it's going to be good to the last drop.

99RMB = $14.50

Believe it or not, this is actually pretty cheap. Last year, this cost around 180RMB.

So far, between our trips back to the US and the visitors we've had, we've been able to avoid buying too much of this. So if you're planning to come see us, throw a couple cans of coffee in your suitcase.

Mmm....Fish Heads

Got rice?

The heads cost about 30RMB - around $4. Those packages of nice salmon fillets next to them...11RMB. Crazy.

Mmm....Carp

If this doesn't make you hungry, there must be something wrong with you.

Unfortunately, this picture can't convey the stench of the nearby pile of "jellyfish slices."

Dang!!! That's Expensive. Part 2

107.80RMB = $15.75
At that price, it should be Extra-Special K.

Dang!!! That's Expensive. Part 1

This is a Christmas tree for sale at a nearby grocery store. 598RMB = $87. I don't know if that price includes all those nice ornaments or not. Unfortunately, some dumb foreigner will probably buy it.

Shanghai World Financial Center

As Karen Carpenter sang, "I'm on the top of the world, looking down on creation..." You remember Karen Carpenter? Skinny girl, big hair.

The newest must-see sight in Shanghai is the World Financial Center. Topping out at 492 meters (that's a little over 1600 feet for us Americans), the building finally opened a few months ago. It's the second tallest building in the world and it didn't cheat by putting some big spike on top like most other skyscrapers do. The building has observation decks on the 94th, 97th, and 100th floors. The admission price (150RMB, or about $22)is pretty steep, especially by Chinese standards, but people have been willing to stand in line for hours to get in. We've been wanting to go ourselves but had decided to wait until Mom and Dad came for a visit in October. Unfortunately, it's difficult to really plan ahead for this as you have to wait to see what the weather conditions will be on any given day. Some days it's so foggy and smoggy that you can't even see the top forty floors of the building. Luckily, the SWFC is only a few blocks from my office so it was easy for me to run out at lunchtime and meet Kristi and the folks there when we finally had a clear day. At least it was a clear day for Shanghai - as you'll see in the pictures, the view was still pretty restricted by the haze.

Follow this link to the pictures.

BSU Family Weekend

As I mentioned earlier, we abandoned Mom and Dad while they were here visiting and made a quick trip back to the States to see Kate. We were feeling guilty that she didn't have anyone to come see her for Family Weekend so we cashed in some frequent flier miles and surprised her. We had a great time seeing Kate and meeting her new friends and seeing her campus life. The trip also made us aware of some of the things we miss, like the colors of fall, football games, breakfast at Bob Evans (free coffee refills!!), and of course Kate. It was a whirlwind trip. We arrived in Indianapolis Thursday evening and left Monday morning. The only good part of such a short trip is that we weren't there long enough to really suffer much jet lag. Here are some pictures from that weekend. And yes, it was every bit as cold as it looks.

Viva Zapatas

Zapata's Mexican restaurant is located in an old part of the city known as the French Concession . Yeah, I know - Mexican, French, Chinese...it gets confusing sometimes. Anyhow, Zapata's is the place where a lot of expats hang out. There's a restaurant on one side and a big indoor/outdoor bar on the other. The restaurant is known for serving below average food at above average prices. The bar, on the other hand, is known for serving up prostitutes. For years, it has been well-known that Zapata's is the place to go to meet some friendly Shanghai girls. I guess they're trying to lose that reputation as they now have this sign posted outside.

Who Would Have Thought They Had Hockey In China?

We got free tickets thru the school so yesterday we drove to the far side of Shanghai to see China's only professional hockey team play. The team is associated somehow with the San Jose Sharks so they had a few non-Asians on the roster but it was mostly Chinese players.
This being my first hockey game, I have no idea if it was good or not but we had fun anyway. These teams play in the Asia League with all the teams being from China, Japan or South Korea. The league is home to such hockey powerhouses as the Nikko Ice Bucks, the Nippon Paper Cranes, the High1 (that's it...High1), and my personal favorite - the Seibu Prince Rabbits. As usual something is probably lost in translation.
Pictures here.

I Don't Know What to Say

I tried cominig up with something witty to say about this but I've got nothing. Enjoy.

Happy Thanksgiving

Believe it or not, Thanksgiving is not celebrated in all parts of the world. It's pretty much just another day here. Some of the western restaurants serve a traditional Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday night but that's about it.

So we're going to have our Thanksgiving holiday today. We got up early and went to church and now Kristi is in the kitchen trying to get everything cooked in our tiny little Chinese oven. I'm serving as designated dishwasher, trying to keep the mess to a minimum while typing this with dishpan hands.

It stinks that Kate won't be here with us but we'll see her in about three weeks when she comes in for Christmas. In the meantime, we're thankful for all the friends and family back home who stop by here to read all my stupid stories. It's great to know that people care about us and that we're not forgotten. We love the comments and the emails and don't even mind when you forget about the time difference and call in the middle of the night. Thanks for everything.

Playing Catch-up Again

It's been quite a while since I last posted anything here. It's not from lack of having things to write about. It's just been a little chaotic here lately. Kristi has started taking some online classes. She is also started substitute teaching occasionally at Emily's school and she teaches English a couple hours a week at a migrant school near our neighborhood (See the bottom of this post for more on this). As for me, work is crazy-busy right now as we wrap up the design phase of this project and move towards construction. Sometime after the first of the year, part of my job will move from Shanghai to the plant site. I'll spend 2-3 days a week there and 2-3 days in Shanghai.

Mom and Dad came for a visit in late-October and stayed for about four weeks. We had a great time hanging out with them and it was a blast watching them deal with the culture shock. It made us stop and think about the things that we have become so accustomed to that we don't even notice them now. While they were here, we revisited some of the old sights and took in some new ones. Kristi and I even skipped town for a weekend and went back to the States to visit Kate at Ball State.

I have pictures of all this and will get them posted over the next couple of weeks so bear with us, be patient, and keep checking back here.

(Just a quick side note here - many of the construction workers in Shanghai are from other parts of China. Most leave their families back home and get to see them only a couple of times a year but some of these migrant workers choose to bring their families with them. Unfortunately, the public schools in Shanghai are reserved for those who were born here so the migrant children aren't allowed to attend. They have to attend these separate schools that have practically no resources. About 50 kids per class. No heat, no library, no notebooks or paper.)

Century Park

We're having some great fall weather here so we rode our bikes over to Century Park today. Pictures here.

October Holiday 2008

October Holiday 2008

Today wraps up our week-long holiday. For us, it hasn't been too exciting. We tried to get out and do a few things but the crowds are just unbelievable. This being one of the few holidays here, the Chinese use this opportunity to take a trip. A lot of people leave Shanghai for the beach or mountains but just as many people from the countryside flock to the city to see the sights. All-in-all, a pretty boring week for us. We did try to get some pictures when we did venture out. You can find those using the link above.


I added captions to most of the photos to give you some idea of what they're about. The series of pictures of old buildings were taken at the Bund. You can find more information about the Bund here.

Riverside Promenade

We had some decent weather in early September but then it warmed up again and got really, really humid. Temperatures had been around 90 and it was so hazy that you couldn't see the upper floors of some of the buildings downtown. You wouldn't think that it could be any more humid than the Ohio Valley but it sure has been. Then we had a cold front and some rain come thru Friday and this weekend has been great. Temperatures in the mid-70s, low humidity, and blue skies - great fall weather. To get out and enjoy the day, Kristi and I went down to the Riverside Promenade. The Promenade is in the middle of the city on the Huang Pu (hwong poo)River, right in front of Pearl Tower and Superbrand Mall. It goes on for several blocks with a lot of restaurants and cafes where you can sit and people watch and and check out the traffic on the river. I managed to get a few pictures before my camera battery died. You can find them here.

If you look at the pictures, you'll see there were a couple of wedding parties on the riverfront today. There are no church weddings here like we are accustomed to in the US. Instead, the actual marriage is done at some government office. From what I understand, it's similar to renewing your driver's license. Take a number, take a seat, wait your turn, sign here, OK, now you're married. Then later they will have a ceremony, usually at a restaurant or hotel, where they dress up, take tons of pictures, hire a car to driver them around, and have a big party. So the ones you see in these photos were probably married sometime in the last couple of weeks.

Interesting Web Site

Here is a link to a site I ran across this weekend. Lots of interesting (weird?) stuff. Check out these old ads. Red meat, cigarettes, and sedatives. Makes you yearn for the good old days.

Construction Progress, or Lack Thereof

Still not much progress. But the wall is looking good. I'll try to get some better pictures this week.














Shen Bo cleaning the van, a ritual he performs everday.

Weekend Update

I have a few odds and ends to write about so I'm going to just throw them all into one big rambling post.

First, here's this week's construction update. There has been quite a bit of activity this week with lots of work on the site's infrastructure. A third piling rig showed up but they haven't done anything with them yet. And of course, work continues on the wall.

Second, last week at work was pretty crappy. Not the worst week ever but definitely in the top ten. My spirits were lifted, however, when on the way to the office Saturday morning, I passed this Chinese woman on a bicycle wearing a t-shirt that said, "Don't call me a cowgirl until you've seen me ride." I'm sure she didn't have any idea what it said but I thought it was good for a chuckle. Anyway, it put me in a better mood.

Item 3 - Bright Lights, Big City

Just like John Mellencamp, we too live on the outskirts of town. Only this town's a whole lot bigger than his. We're on the east side of town so the entire city of Shanghai lies to the west of here. There's really nothing to the east except an industrial park and a GM factory, before it runs into the sea. There's not a whole lot to see out here but we still enjoy the view, especially after spending the last year on the ground floor where we couldn't see anything. I was out on the balconies one evening this week just after sundown trying out the low light setting on my camera. Here are a couple of pictures.

Lastly, we rode over to the far side of town today to check out the textile market. Kristi had heard of this place where you could just about anything made and she wanted to see about some slip covers and a couple of rugs. This place is unbelievable with stall after stall of shops where you can get custom made curtains and bedding and rugs. It's overwhelming, to say the least. And I think this is the only place I have ever been in China where I did not see another white person. We were truly in "Indian country" as they used to say in less politically correct times.

This is just one of the dozens of aisles of vendors. And this went on for three floors in two buildings.

We went over to Section 2 but couldn't find the Clintons anywhere.

You know, every girl's crazy about a sharp dressed man. This picture was taken at 2:30 in the afternoon so I don't know if he was still in his pajamas from the night before or if he was aiming on turning in early tonight. Actually, I've been told that wearing your pajamas all day is a status thing here. It shows that you're wealthy enough that you don't have to worry about getting dressed and going to work.

Remember that mini-bike you had when you were a kid? Yeah, it's still running.

Long Weekend

This Mid-Autumn Festival is being celebrated this weekend here in China so we have a three day weekend. We didn't really have any plans. We're just looking forward to taking it easy, sleeping in, reading, dinner with friends, etc. This was a good plan since it started raining Saturday afternoon and didn't stop until Sunday night. However, by Sunday afternoon we were getting a little antsy and wanted to get out but it was still raining. So, where's a good place to go walk around when it's raining? The mall, of course. We went downtown to Super Brand Mall.

The malls here - like everything else - go up instead of out. What I mean is that you won't find a big sprawling complex spread over a hundred acres like we're accustomed to in the States. There just isn't enough land here for that. Well, I guess there's enough land - there are just too many people. Anyway, this place is pretty big. Ten floors above ground, three more underground (13 is not an unlucky number here). I never really seen the whole mall because I get turned around and end up lost every time I go there.

Unfortunately, we weren't the only people looking to get out of the house. About a million or so other people had the same idea. These pictures will give you some sense of how crowded it was but really don't do it justice. Actually, this was pretty much an average crowd for a Sunday afternoon.

Construction Update

Not much progress this week but then yesterday this piling rig showed up. The two blue trailers to the right were also brought in. Notice that they have air conditioning and a satellite dish. These guys live better than Kate does at college.

Construction Zone

If you looked at the pictures I posted of our new apartment, you saw the empty lot across the street. Remember I mentioned that it looked like they were getting ready to build something. Well, construction is ramping up. I'm not sure what they're going to build but they're certainly getting busy. Here's what it looked like last weekend:

Of course, the first step of any Chinese construction project is to build a wall around the job site. The Chinese love their walls, you know? I hear they have a really big one up north of here. In this case, the wall was already there. They're just making it a foot or so taller and grouting the entire surface.

And here's what it looks like this week:

Not much progress but a lot of activity. The building in the lower left will be housing for the construction workers. It is customary in China for the workers to live at the job site. Most of these guys migrate from the countryside, leaving their families behind and following the jobs to the cities.

The dump trucks started lining up this morning, hauling in some fill material to build the roads inside the job site. One thing that is good here is that as soon as the trucks pull out on the street, a crew of workers with shovels and brooms runs out and cleans up any mud they dropped on the street. It's the Chinese solution to every problem - throw more people at it.

Chinese Mad Dog

You gotta love a country that's not afraid to put wine in a can.

Back Home Again in...Shanghai?

We finally returned from our home leave in the States. It was great to be home and to catch up with all our family and friends. We truly are blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives. It was really hectic and seemed like we were always on the run. The highlight of the summer was getting Kate off to college. We took her up to Muncie on August 25th and expected for it to be one of those terribly sad life events. However, by the time we hauled all her stuff up there, waited hours for the elevator, unpacked, picked up books, applied for a parking permit, and finally paid her tuition...well, we didn't have the energy for any tearful goodbyes. Kate's classes started last Monday and it sounds like everything is going well for her.

Here in Shanghai, we've been busy betting back in the groove. Emily went back to school this week. They had a really late start due to the Olympics, which doesn't make sense because Beijing is something like 600 miles from here. Work didn't slow down at all while I was away and now I'm running around trying to catch up with everytnhing. And Kristi has started some distance ed classes thru Franklin University. We're also getting settled into our new apartment. Sally came in and unpacked while we were gone. Now we just need to figure out where she put everything. And it's not just the things we moved from our other apartment that are lost - I can't find some shirts I brought back from the States. Maybe I should check the refrigerator since that's where she likes to put everything else. Maybe my shirts are behind the peanut butter and pancake syrup.

Morning Drive

Like I said earlier, it's been really quiet here lately so I took some pictures along the route I take to work everyday just to have something to post. If you've got nothing better to do, you can find them here. http://picasaweb.google.com/baamick/MorningDrive

Movin' on up like George and Weezie

We moved into a new apartment last week. Well, not new, just different. We were on the ground floor of Building 17 and moved up to the 11th floor of Building 18. The ground floor apartment was really convenient but it was a little smaller and the mosquitos were terrible. We had a small yard but couldn't enjoy it because the mosquitos would eat us alive. Anyway, here are a couple of pictures. http://picasaweb.google.com/baamick/NewApartment

Sorry Folks

I have to apologize for the lack of activity here lately. These last couple of months have been really busy. I've been swamped at work since we returned from Thailand. And we really haven't done anything "post worthy." I guess the biggest news here is that Kate graduated high school last month. She's now back in the States getting ready to start college this fall. In the meantime, she's working this summer on the paint crew at the plant in Carrollton. It's really funny to hear her talk about primers and paints and rollers and such.

Kristi and Emily are also back in Madison. They all flew back as soon as school finished here so I've been living by myself for the past month. This has served to confirm that I would make an awful bachelor. Fortunately Sally, our housekeeper, is still coming in three days a week. If not for her, I would've had to go out and buy more clothes and dishes because I doubt they would have been washed if it were left up to me.

I fly back home Thursday. We don't have any big plans or anything. Just take a few weeks off work and catch up with family and friends. Hopefully when we return to China at the end of August, I'll do better with keeping this updated.

Earthquake

As Carole King wrote:

I feel the earth move under my feet
I feel the sky tumbling down

I'm sure most of you have heard by now that China was rocked by a strong earthquake (7.8 on the Richter scale) this afternoon. The center of the quake was near Chengdu in Sichuan province, which is almost a thousand miles west of Shanghai. The reports we're seeing online now are saying there are over 100 fatalities with hundreds more missing or trapped in the rubble.

Here in Shanghai, the tremor measured 5.7 and I haven't heard of any reports of damage. I was in my office on the 17th floor when it hit. I felt the building sway for several seconds and then it was over. We were told to evacuate the building so we went out and stood on the sidewalk. This brought up the question of what is better in this situation: to be in a high rise building or to be standing on the street surrounded by high rise buildings? There was really no consistency as some buildings evacuated, some didn't, and some evacuated some floors but not others. After about an hour and a half, we were allowed to enter the building to get our belongings and told to go on home. We've been here of less than a year and so far I've missed work for a "typhoon day," a "snow day," and now an "earthquake day." Hopefully this is last of the natural disasters.

One Night in Bangkok

"One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster
The bars are temples but the pearls ain't free"
- Murray Head

Actually, it was more like one hour in Bangkok, where we had a layover on our way to Phuket. Last week was a holiday here in China so we decided to go to Thailand for a few days. Phuket is an island off the west coast of the Thai mainland. It got hit pretty hard by the tsunami back in December 2004. Many of the resorts, hotels, and restaurants were damaged and about 10,000 people died. The resort we stayed at - Ban Thai Resort - had to pull approximately 50 cars out of their three pools and rebuild everything on the ground floor. All is pretty much back to normal now and you can't tell that anything ever happened.

We took it easy Monday and Tuesday, just moving back and forth between the pool and the beach. The waves were big (7-8 feet) and the weather was hot, with afternoon temperatures in the low-90's. On Wednesday we got a little more energetic and went on a sea canoe tour of some of the small islands between Phuket and the mainland. We've all seen on TV these little limestone islands that look like they just popped up out of the water. Well, it turns out that many of these have small lagoons inside them. However, the only way to get to them is paddling a sea canoe thru a cave. The only catch is that the caves are only accessible during short periods between high tide and low tide. At high tide, the cave entrances are under water. And at low tide, the water is too shallow for the canoes. Some of the caves we passed thru were pretty big. One in particular had a high ceiling covered with thousands of bats. We were lucky and got thru without getting crapped on but some in our party weren't as fortunate. Other caves though were pretty tight and we had to lay in the bottom of the canoes to pass under the rocks.

Once thru the caves, the water opened up into these lagoons surrounded by sheer cliffs. We saw all kinds of birds, a couple of monkeys, walking fish, snails - all kinds of critters. The water had some type of luminescent plankton in it. After dark, you could shake your hand in the water and they would light up like lightning bugs. It was an amazing day. Definitely one of the coolest things we've ever done. More pictures can be found here http://picasaweb.google.com/baamick/Phuket

Jinqiao 8K

Every spring, the municipal government of the Jinqiao (pronounced jin-chow) community where we live hosts an 8 kilometer run thru the neighborhood. Kristi and her good friend Kelly Schroering have been training hard to prepare for this year's race. While some people took it quite seriously, Kristi's goal was to just finish, which she did easily.



















Also participating were some chefs...
















...Superman and his cross-dressing sidekick...















...and a couple of guys from "parts unknown."

Pictures uploaded

OK - I finally got the rest of the Day 6 pictures uploaded. You can use the same link

http://picasaweb.google.com/baamick/EgyptDay6

Egypt - Day 6

Every day of this trip we experienced some amazing sights. We saw things that were so ancient and of such grand scale that it was hard to believe they could even exist. As our guide, Ibrahim, continually told us, “Don’t say why, just say wow.” So as incredible as the first five days were, Day 6 was probably the best. We started with a 1:00AM wake-up call so we could catch a short flight south up the Nile to Luxor. By the time we arrived in Luxor, collected our bags, and got on the bus, the sun was just coming up over the valley. Where Cairo is a big nasty city, Luxor is lush and green and unpolluted. I told Kristi, “Now I can understand why people have fought over this land for thousands of years.”

From the airport, we headed straight for the Valley of the Kings. You’ll recall that back on Day 3 I posted some commentary about how important the afterlife was to the pharaohs and how the pyramids would be their eternal thrones. Well, the pyramids also really stuck out in this barren landscape, in effect advertising that there were chambers of gold and jewels to be found there. Tomb robbing is not a modern activity and having a gigantic pile of stones marking the treasures made it that much easier and more tempting. So around the 16th century B.C., after having so many tombs emptied of their artifacts, it was suggested that perhaps they should start using underground tombs that could be hidden. However, there was the issue of the pyramid. Without the pyramid, the kings would have no thrones for the afterlife. Fortunately someone noticed that just west of Luxor there is a mountain peak named Al-Qurn (The Horn) that is naturally shaped like a pyramid. Follow the link below and see pictures 375 and 379. The valley below this peak became the graveyard for the pharaohs for the next 500 years. The burial chambers were dug deep into the stone and after the king was entombed the entrance was sealed and covered with rocks so that it blended into the surrounding area. So far 62 tombs have been uncovered at the Valley of the Kings. No one knows for sure how many are here but some think there could be as many as 30 more undiscovered tombs. There are a couple of excavations going on right now (picture 372).

To reduce damage to the tombs, only a limited number of the 62 tombs are open on any given day. Your ticket gets you admission to any three that are open that day. King Tut’s tomb is deemed to be popular enough that it is open everyday but you have to buy an extra ticket for it. Ibrahim told us that it wasn’t worth the extra money as it wasn’t anything special and all the artifacts had been moved to the museum in Cairo.

Some tombs are more extravagant and complex that others. Construction of a king’s tomb started on the day he was crowned and finished on the day he died. So the kings who assumed the throne when they were young and then lived to an old age had the most elaborate burial chambers.. Somewhere in the tomb would be an unfinished chamber, making it easy to tell what was being worked on when the king died. I guess when word of the pharaoh’s death reached the workers, they picked up their tools, walked out, and started on the next tomb.

Unfortunately, photography was not allowed in the tombs so I have no pictures of these. We visited the tombs of Ramses I, Ramses VI, and Ramses IX . You can Google those phrases to find some pictures of how these looked.

After the Valley of the Kings, we headed over to the Temple of Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut has the distinction of being one of the few female pharaohs. The fact she was able to pull that off says a lot about her personality and ambition. The story of how she managed to do this is too complicated to summarize here but this web site does a good job of explaining it. The Temple is partly free-standing and partly cut into the base of a mountain.

At this point, we had been on the go since 1:00AM so we checked in to our hotel, had a bite to eat and a little down time. Then later in the afternoon we went to see Karnak. No, not this Carnak but this one. The Temple of Karnak is an amazing complex. For 1500 years, each pharaoh tried to outdo his predecessor by building something more elaborate and pleasing to the gods. If the pyramids are examples of the ancient Egyptians flexing their muscles (“Look at us! We’re so big and so bad that we can stack stones to the heavens.”), then Karnak is where they showed their artistry and creativity. Don’t get me wrong – there are still some big piles of rocks here. But the intricate carvings and attention to detail is incredible. Unfortunately, I got only six pictures before my camera’s battery died. I’ll try to get some pictures from others who were on the trip and post them later. Also I'm having trouble getting all my other pictures uploaded to Picasa. Here is a link to the ones I have so far. I'll post an update when I get the others loaded. http://picasaweb.google.com/baamick/EgyptDay6

Egypt - Day 5

Sinai - the land of Moses. No, not this Moses. Or this one. Or even this one. But this one.

This part was probably the low point of the trip but it was still interesting. After the seven-hour bus ride across the Sinai Peninsula, we arrived at our hotel well after dark. The hotel was a complex of two-story buildings built up the side of a hill. The setting was pretty nice but the place was a dump. It gets pretty cold at 4,000 feet above sea level in February and our room had no heat. It was freezing but at least the cold temperatures slowed down the spiders making them easier to kill. Also, our room was right beside the diesel generator that runs 24/7 to supply power to the hotel.

In the morning, we headed to St. Katherine's Monastery. The monastery's origins go back to the 4th century AD when the Romans built a chapel near what was believed to have been the burning bush where God spoke to Moses. Over the following centuries, the chapel evolved into a fortified monastery that served as a refuge for Christians in Sinai. The place is still a working monastery that houses several churches and chapels, as well as a museum. It also has what is said to be a descendant of the Burning Bush that was transplanted here in the 10th century. There is also the Well of Moses where Moses defended the daughters of Jethro, one of which would later become his wife.

After the monastery, we got back on our bus for the seven-hour ride back to Cairo. The Sinai Peninsula has some incredibly rough and barren terrain. If this is what Afghanistan and Pakistan are like, I can understand why bin Laden has never been found. Kristi kept having flashbacks to the movie Babel, seeing a kid with a rifle behind every rock.

Pictures here http://picasaweb.google.com/baamick/EgyptDay5.

Egypt - Day 4

We began this day with a visit to the Citadel. Started in 810, the Citadel was originally a retreat for the governors and dignitaries of Cairo. The site was chosen for its sweeping view of the city. Then in the 12th century, a fortification was built to fend off the Crusaders. Since then, the complex has been expanded to encompass over 60 acres and houses several museums and mosques. We visited the Alabaster Mosque, also known as the Mosque of Muhammed Ali. No, not The Greatest but this Muhammed Ali. Instead of slugging it out with George Foreman and Joe Frazier, this guy was fought Napoleon, eventually driving the French out of Egypt.

From the Citadel, we headed across town to the Egyptian Museum. This is kind of like the Smithsonian in that it is so big and has so much to see that it is impossible to take it all in. Making matters even worse is the incredible number of people. It's not just difficult to see the displays but at times its nearly impossible to move. We didn't spend much time here - just tried to hit some of the high points, like King Tut's relics. The best part was the Royal Mummy Room. It costs extra for a ticket to this room so many people pass it up. This, combined with the fact that tour guides are prohibited from entering, makes this a nice break from the crowds and noise in the museum. I guess is sounds a little morbid to refer to looking at dead bodies as a "nice break." The room contains 11 mummies, with the oldest being from around 1650 BC. Some are in better shape than others and it's obvious that the mummification techniques were a work-in-progress. Some wore wigs, one had its eyes replaced with stones, and another had her cheeks stuffed to make them look full. Sadly for her, they got carried away and the skin had burst open. Unfortunately I have no pictures of any of this. Photography was not only prohibited but cameras were not even allowed to be brought in and we had to be searched and pass thru metal detectors before entering the museum.

From there we boarded the bus again and headed east for the seven hour drive to St. Katherine's Monastery at the foot of Mt. Sinai. I was looking forward to seeing some of the Egyptian countryside but this place is just barren once you get away from the Nile. I hoped to at least see the Suez Canal but we ended up driving under it and never saw anything. Pictures can be found here http://picasaweb.google.com/baamick/EgyptDay4.

Egypt - Day 3, Part 2

"From atop these pyramids, forty centuries look down upon you." -- Napoleon Bonaparte, 1798

I guess that would be more like 42 centuries now. After the Step Pyramid, we went to the Pyramids of Giza. These are the pyramids that everyone is familiar with as we have seen them on television dozens of times. Even though they are familiar, there were still several surprises. First of all, these things are huge. The site is huge, the pyramids are huge - even the individual stones that make up the pyramids are huge. The biggest of the three pyramids is the Great Pyramid of Khufu. It originally measured 479 feet tall at its peak but, just as we humans get shorter as we age, it is now down to about 455 feet. The second pyramid is the Pyramid of Khafre, Khufu's son. As a show of respect for his father, Khafre ordered his pyramid to be built smaller than Khufu's. However, he also had it built on higher ground so that even though it is not quite as tall, it appears to be larger. Yes, even the ancient kings were every bit as vain as today's politicians. The third of the Great Pyramids is the Pyramid of Menkaure. By itself it would be an amazing structure, measuring over 200 feet tall, but unfortunately it has to compete for attention with the two big boys.

The pyramids are designed to be burial sites. At first, this preoccupation with death and the need for such grand monuments seems kind of crazy. But as it was explained by our guide, the pyramids were not so much about death, but instead were about life. Or afterlife, to be more precise. A pharaoh was believed to be a descendant of the gods and as such his reign would continue even after death. The pinnacle of the pyramid was a place between earth and sky from which he would rule in the afterlife. This is why mummification was so important - so the body would stay intact. And even in the afterlife, a king's got to keep his strength up, so they were often buried with food. In one of the pyramids, tens of thousands of clay jars filled with food and wine were found.

The second surprise about the pyramids is how close they are to the city. On the Discovery Channel, it looks like the pyramids are in the middle of the desert and it would takes days on the back of a camel to get there. In fact, they are a couple of hundred yards from Giza. I guess that's why they call them the Pyramids of Giza, huh?

The third surprise is how the government has allowed this place to become such a tourist trap. Really, it's much worse than a tourist trap. The place is crawling with peddlers selling junk and camel drivers offering rides or to pose for pictures. They harass you so much that it really makes it difficult to enjoy the place.

Before leaving the pyramids, we headed over to the edge of Giza, where we met up with our own camel drivers. I have to admit, I wasn't too crazy about riding a camel but it was already included in our tour package so we did it. It turned out to be one of the coolest parts of the whole trip. The ride lasts only about 40 minutes but you go from the edge of the city, zigzag around some sand dunes, and come out below the pyramids. Sure, it was touristy and all but the whole scene with the desert and the camels and the pyramids was amazing.

Leaving the pyramids, we drove over to Cairo for a dinner cruise on the Nile. Dinner included a show with another presentation of the Whirling Dervish and a belly dancer who was so bawdy she could have starred in a Snoop Dogg video.

Pictures are here http://picasaweb.google.com/baamick/EgyptDay3Part2. Unfortunately only one of the belly dancer.

Dang!! That Becks is just dreamy!!

Kristi and some of her friends were having lunch Wednesday at a nearby restaurant called Element Fresh when the waiter asked her if she wanted to enter some drawing. She was too busy talking to even ask what the prize was but she scribbled her name on a piece of paper and forgot about it. About 15 minutes later, the waiter came back to tell her that she had won and handed her four tickets to see the LA Galaxy soccer team play that night. For those who don't follow soccer (honestly, does anyone in the States follow soccer?), Galaxy is David Beckham's team. And if you aren't familiar with Becks, you probably still know his wife Victoria, a.k.a. Posh Spice, of Spice Girl fame.

Kristi, Kate, and Emily didn't have any interest in going so I got a hold of a few friends to go to the game. The Galaxy were playing an exhibition against Shanghai Hong Kong United. The game was pretty good with Galaxy finally pulling away late to win 3-0. But the most interesting part of the game was the crowd's reaction to Beckham. Everytime he got within 20 feet of the ball, the crowd would go wild. Chinese women were screaming his name and carrying around portraits hoping for an autograph. At halftime, a couple of fans even jumped the fence and ran to where the players were leaving the field just to snap a picture. I knew that he was an international star but I didn't realize that his fame reached all the way to here.

Beckham wasn't playing all-out but you can't really blame him for holding back in a game that doesn't count. But to his credit, he did play 70 minutes and made a couple of great passes.

Egypt - Day 3, Part 1

We finally got some sleep and even though Day 3 started with an early wake-up call, everyone was feeling much better. We started the day with a short drive to Memphis, home of the king. No, not the King of Rock-n-Roll. We're talking about the king of Egypt - Ramses II. Ramses wasn't Egypt's first pharaoh but he was one of the most famous. His reign lasted 67 years and after his death he became the model for future pharaohs. He was a courageous warrior and a great builder, who expanded Egypt's borders and constructed pagan temples throughout the country. Evidently, he was also quite fertile as he fathered more than 100 children. It seemed like every ancient site we visited had some kind of connection to Ramses and you'll see his name again as we recap our trip.

Thousands of years ago, the Egypt that we know today was divided into two kingdoms. Around 3100 B.C., these kingdoms were unified by King Narmer and Memphis became the capitol of this new land. Seeing Memphis today, it's difficult to imagine that anything of any significance ever happened here. Many of the better artifacts have been looted over the centuries and much of what remains has been severely damaged by Nile floodwaters. Some of the remaining items on display are pretty impressive though, especially the Alabaster Sphinx and the "colossal statue" of Ramses II. The sphinx, with the strength of a lion and the wisdom of a man, was a common figure in ancient Egypt. Ramses (43 feet tall and weighing 50 tons) has been moved into a modern structure to protect him from further damage from the elements.

Memphis was also our first introduction to the Tourism and Antiquities Police. The police have to be the biggest employer in Egypt because these guys are everywhere. Ibrahim, our guide, and warned us that no one at the tourist sites would befriend us without expecting to be compensated. We didn't realize, however, that this included the police. After offering to pose for a picture, two police officers demanded their baksheesh, or tip. I have to admit, it's a little intimidating when two guys carrying weapons start demanding money. We gave them something like 5 Egyptian pounds (approx. $1), chalked it up as a learning experience, and quickly moved on.

While tipping is common in the US, this whole baksheesh thing takes it to a different level. When Mark Twain visited the pyramids in the 1860s, he complained about being constantly harassed by people asking for baksheesh. Everybody in Egypt has their hands out and expects to be paid for everything, regardless of how small or simple. If someone opens a door for you, he expects to be paid. At the hotels, you have to fight to keep someone from grabbing your bags and then they want to be paid for not carrying them. The most common baksheesh demanded is in the bathroom. Every bathroom (hotels, restaurants, museums) has some guy standing there to point you to the urinal, as if you couldn't find it yourself. For this service, he expects to be paid one pound, or 20 cents. From what I understand, this custom doesn't only apply to tourists but locals are also expected to give baksheesh.

After leaving Memphis, we drove to Sakkara. Sakarra is significant because it is the necropolis, or burial place, for several pharaohs. The complex is huge, measuring over four miles long, and is dominated by the Step Pyramid. This is the oldest of Egypt's known pyramids. Built by King Djoser, the pyramid consists of six concentric layers. It was one of the early efforts at pyramid-building and an improvement on the old method of piling up sand in the crude shape of a pyramid. This is still an active archaeological site as more tombs are being excavated every year. One being explored now has yielded dozens of mummies and every time the team thinks they have found them all, a new chamber is discovered.

To get to the Step Pyramid, we had to walk thru a colonnade that included 42 chambers, representing the 42 provinces of Egypt. When a new king assumed the throne, he would be crowned once in every one of these chambers to show that he was the ruler of all of Egypt. This was a real time saver compared to how long it would take to travel to all the provinces but is was also a necessity. Life spans were short and many of the pharaohs reigned for only a couple of years so it was very possible that he could die before he could be crowned in every province.

Pictures can be found here http://picasaweb.google.com/baamick/EgyptDay3.

Egypt Days 1 and 2

After having our flight cancelled Saturday morning, the snow finally stopped and the temperature climbed up above freezing. Our apartment complex even threw together some homemade snow shovels and sent a crew out to clear the sidewalks.








We headed back to the airport Saturday afternoon and were told that our flight would depart around 9:00 that night. We were skeptical though as we had been told for five hours the night before that we were second in line for de-icing. Things went according to plan this time and we were finally on our way to Doha, Qatar. The only catch was that there were no scheduled flights from Doha to Cairo so we would have to fly to Alexandria and then take a bus to Cairo.

We landed in Doha at 3:30 Sunday morning. Our travel agent had made arrangements for us to stay at a hotel there until our flight to Alexandria. The only thing was that by the time we got thru immigration and passport control and caught the bus to the hotel, it was already 6:00AM and we had to be back at the airport by 10:00. Still, it was a nice hotel (the Movenpick Tower - Swiss owned) and we got to nap for an hour or so and get a hot shower and something to eat. Unfortunately, our bags were still on the plane - where they had been since Friday night - so we couldn't change clothes but we had learned from Friday' s experience and had packed some necessities in our carry on bags this time.


Doha is an impressive place. I don't know if I've ever seen skies so blue or air so clear in a big city. The view with the sun rising over the Persian Gulf was fantastic and as we crashed in the hotel, we couldn't resist opening the curtains and taking it in even as we were trying to sleep. Doha is a fraction of the size of Shanghai but it can probably give it a run for its money when it come to construction. Everywhere you looked there was another hotel or shopping mall going up. Part of our infatuation with this city might have been due to the fact that we haven't seen the sun in weeks and even on a good day, the smog lays thick over Shangahi.

Here's an interesting fact I read about Qatar in the in-flight magazine. The country is almost completely flat with the highest point a mere 40 meters above sea level. If global warming ever kicks in and the polar ice caps melt as predicted, there is a good chance that all these new hotels will all be under water.










We left Doha around noon Sunday and arrived in Alexandria at 3:30PM. Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great around 330 B.C. In its day, it was one of the key cultural centers of the world. It was the birthplace of geometry and home to the greatest library of the ancient world. The Alexandria of today (at least the part that we saw) is largely a dirty slum. But still, the people of the city seemed really happy to see us, with taxis pulling along side our bus to give us a big wave.

















We pulled out of Alexandria and headed south for the four hour ride to Cairo. At this point our tour guides were trying to get us back on schedule after missing an entire day due to the cancelled flight so instead of going directly to the hotel, they took is to a big tent party at the Sakkara Country Club. This was a traditional Egyptian festival, complete with food, music, and hookahs. They even had a dancer who performed the Whirling Dervish, which was pertty impressive. It was really nice and would have been a lot of fun if everyone hadn't been so tired but at this point we had been traveling for more than 24 hours and were still wearing the same clothes we left Shanghai in. The band worked hard to get everyone dancing and clapping and had some success but most were content to just sit and watch. We finally wrapped things up and headed for the hotel, arriving around 11:00PM.


Some pictures from this part of the trip can be found here http://picasaweb.google.com/baamick/EgyptDays1And2

And a video of the Whirling Dervish can be viewed here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQbT5wANszA

Well, that didn't work!

For those who may not be aware, we have a trip to Egypt planned this week. Unfortunately, the weather is not cooperating as it started snowing again Friday afternoon. By the time we got to the airport Friday night, we were getting a pretty good accumulation. The airline (Qatar Airways) kept telling us that everything was fine and that the flight would go as planned. We boarded the plane at 11:00 Friday night but never pulled away from the gate. Finally at 5:00 Saturday morning, they canceled the flight. We made it home around 7:30 (without our luggage, still on the plane), got a few hours sleep, and now we're waiting to hear what the latest plan is. We're planning to head back to the airport in a couple of hours and are hopeful that we will be out of here by this evening. So if you don't hear anything out of us for a few days, you can assume that we made it to Egypt (or at least somewhere other than Shanghai).

I don't know if it's being reported on the news back in the US but the snow here has practically crippled this country. From what I understand, this is a "once in fifty years" event. That means that many of the people here in Shanghai have never seen this much snow and they are not prepared to handle it. For example, the airport we're trying to fly out of has only one de-icing truck. And when we left the airport this morning, they were clearing the roads with shovels and brooms - literally a line of men going down the road pushing the snow to the shoulder.

Gotta go get ready to head back to the airport. Hopefully by this time tomorrow, we'll be seeing sand dunes instead of snow drifts. Wish us luck.

More Snow, More Pictures

Snow continues to fall here. By Southern Indiana standards, it really isn't bad but by Shanghai standards, it's catastrophic. Kate and Emily's school has already called off classes for tomorrow, making it the first snow day in the school's history. Temperatures are right at freezing so we're getting a mix of rain and snow. We had about an inch of sluch on the ground this morning and it continuted to fall all day.

Here is the view from our front porch this morning. That's Shen Bo waiting to drive me to work. And, no- he couldn't get any closer but I wouldn't be surprised if he tried pulling up on the sidewalk to get closer to the gate.

Shanghai really is not equipped for this. This would be like a blizzard hitting Atlanta or Jacksonville. There is no such thing as a salt truck or a snow plow here. Heck, I haven't even seen a snow shovel yet. People are trying to clear sidewalks with brooms and mops (yes- mops!).

A lot of the sidewalks here, especially those downtown, are made of polished granite so you can imagine how slick they are. I came out of McDonalds this morning with a cup of coffee (no drive-thru here) and practically skated back to the van, which provided a lot of amusement to this old Chinese woman who was standing nearby. It looked like she had given up on trying to walk and was just hanging out waiting to see someone take a fall.

On another note, I have tried recently to compress the pictures I've been posting here so they would load faster. However, it looks like I screwed up and now you can't get full size pictures. So here is a link you can follow to all the photos I've used lately if you want to get a better look at some of them. I also added a couple extras that I hadn't posted earlier.

http://picasaweb.google.com/baamick/BlogspotPhotos

Orphanage Pictures

Here are the pictures from Kristi's visit to the orphanage a couple weeks ago. I didn't add much detail to the captions since I wasn't there.

http://picasaweb.google.com/baamick/Orphanage

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is coming and everyone is getting ready. Things are often chaotic here but it's been even worse this past week. Here are some pictures we've taken this week.

Chinese New Year is the equivalent of Christmas in the US. The Chinese people are kind of migratory and think nothing of leaving their families behind while they go to pursue work. It is customary during the New Year holiday to return one's home bearing gifts and money. The photo above was taken earlier this week. Every morning people line up to buy their train tickets home. The actual train station is way over in Puxi but they have these ticket offices all over town. I drive past this one on Zhangyang Road everyday on my way to work and there is seldom more than 5 people in line. This week, there have been hundreds every day.

This is our local Carrefour (you remember Carrefour - think "French-owned, Chinese Wal-Mart"). Not all of the Chnese are traveling. Some have family coming to visit them here in Shanghai so they are all stocking up.

You quickly get used to being a minority here. We really don't even think about it until you see another white face. We initially think, "Man, they really look out of place." Then we realize that that's how we look.

Checking out. They had 63 registers open and it still took about half an hour to check out.

In the US, we usually prefer that the feet be removed from our chickens. If you look closely thru the plastic, you can see the head is folded back over the chicken's back. Pluck 'em, gut 'em, sell 'em.

This picture's not very clear but I was trying to get a shot of the woman in the red sweater. While waiting to check out, she yanked her sweater up and started breast feeding her baby. Kid's gotta eat, right?

"Honey, Junior's coming to visit. We're probably gonna need more chicken, juice boxes, and toilet paper."

This picture has nothing to do with New Years. It's just a guy we happened to see over in Puxi Saturday. You see a lot of these hauling around styrofoam. Evidently they can get paid for recycling it. The Chinese do a lot of stuff that doesn't make sense but they don't waste anything.