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.