It's nice to be back to familiar things.
Just the little things...Bathroom stalls with toilets, toilet paper, hand soap AND paper towels! Even the NY taxi lines were a comfort to see. It's been fun sharing glimpses of my days... Back to reality. Time to retire the blog, until the next visit or vacation.
Hope to say farewell again soon!
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Made it back to the US
I'm on the LAX Shuttle changing from Bradley International terminal to terminal 7 for my flight back to NY.
What a long day! It's Friday, again & I'm happy to be back on American soil... Even though the trip was fantastic.
Time to jump out... Until NY.
What a long day! It's Friday, again & I'm happy to be back on American soil... Even though the trip was fantastic.
Time to jump out... Until NY.
Back in Hong Kong...but just the airport.
Just a quick update...
We got out of the hotel after a quick breakfast. I'm going to have to go back to oatmeal and bagels now... instead of bao buns and other delicious Chinese food. Sad.
A quick ride to the airport, no traffic at all. No problem through all of the customs and passport checks. I slept the whole way with the exception of food time. Which was pretty good. Black Pepper beef and white rice, fruit and yogurt (which I didn't eat). I gave my croissant to Lauren since she's trying to keep her food pretty bland since she's been so sick. The most irritating part about it is that I cannot stand to sit with empty food dishes, it's one of my greatest peeves. As they started to collect the trays, no less than 15 mins after we were finished eating, we hit a patch of turbulence, so they stopped. I was so frustrated, just wanted to go back to sleep after only getting 2 hours the night before.
Now, I'm just organizing some photos while we wait for the next flight. Catch up with you in LA if I have the time between collecting my bag, customs, immigration, changing terminals and getting on my flight to JFK.
Bye bye China, hope to see you, again... someday.
We got out of the hotel after a quick breakfast. I'm going to have to go back to oatmeal and bagels now... instead of bao buns and other delicious Chinese food. Sad.
A quick ride to the airport, no traffic at all. No problem through all of the customs and passport checks. I slept the whole way with the exception of food time. Which was pretty good. Black Pepper beef and white rice, fruit and yogurt (which I didn't eat). I gave my croissant to Lauren since she's trying to keep her food pretty bland since she's been so sick. The most irritating part about it is that I cannot stand to sit with empty food dishes, it's one of my greatest peeves. As they started to collect the trays, no less than 15 mins after we were finished eating, we hit a patch of turbulence, so they stopped. I was so frustrated, just wanted to go back to sleep after only getting 2 hours the night before.
Now, I'm just organizing some photos while we wait for the next flight. Catch up with you in LA if I have the time between collecting my bag, customs, immigration, changing terminals and getting on my flight to JFK.
Bye bye China, hope to see you, again... someday.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Pandas & Packing
My last day in Beijing was a fun one, unfortunately the same can't be said for Lauren. She's been so sick, running a fever of 101.7 and hasn't been able to leave the room.
She was so sad to miss the Panda House at the Beijing Zoo. I went with Cathy this morning while Lauren slept, other Lauren had reflexology and a massage at the hotel's spa and the boys had a shave... after which the Davids went over to their Beijing office to catch up with a little work and Richard had some free time to relax.
The pandas were AMAZING! I had read about how actively they play but it was better than I'd imagined. We got to the panda house and saw one lounging around in the corner. There was a great wooden structure, much like a jungle gym at the park. It had a slide, a tire swing, a bunch of wooden things to climb, a jug hanging down from a rope, and a little pool.
But the panda wasn't moving and I thought, 'crap, just like the zoos back home, animals laying around doing nothing... until they're fed'. Then I grabbed the map to see if there was a feeding schedule and when I looked up he was running up the slide. I grabbed my camera and took a bunch of photos and then changed to video. I think I took 6 or 7 throughout our visit. It was so great to watch him play... I mentioned to Cathy that he was the Kian of Pandas.
When he got bored and went to lay back down, we walked to one of the indoor habitats, saw another sleeping one along the way outside, and found them all sleeping inside too. Boring! We went to check out the gift shop, since I'd had a special request for panda chopsticks and hadn't seen any in the markets. We found what I needed and a pencil for Lauren (it's tradition when we visit something new without the other to return with a souvenir pencil). The pencil looks like bamboo and has a panda head that is a sharpener on the top.
We walked back out of the gift shop and saw all of the sleeping pandas had gotten up and started eating. I got some great shots of them sitting in the bamboo and chowing down. Was such a great experience to see the Giant Pandas in Beijing.
The rest of the day was pretty relaxed, I had lunch with the boys and took them over to the market that I had been to with the girls a few days before. Had a few more requests for pearls from my aunt and got a few others as gifts, took them down to the floor of tchotchkes and bought a few more things myself.
Got back to the hotel before dinner to check-in with Lauren and show her the fruits of our shopping day, and realized I missed an entire section of my list... I ran back to the market and met everyone at dinner. I just had soup and salad and part of a dessert, which was nice to have a lighter meal!
Now I've just finished packing all of my souvenirs, tchotchkes, and other assorted crap... not to mention my clothes while preparing to get to sleep... The wake up call is in 2.5 hours! Here's my flight schedule for those of you who are curious:
6AM: wake up call
630: Breakfast
715: Meet Kitty & the driver in the lobby
8: arrive at airport
10: flight to Hong Kong
140: arrive in Hong Kong
415: depart to LAX
reliving Friday for the 2nd time:
215PM: arrive in Los Angeles, immigration, customs, change terminals
436PM: flight to JFK
1259AM (Saturday morning/Friday night): arrive at JFK
Such a long day...hopefully I don't miss my flight to NY or I'll have an even longer day waiting on the red eye that arrives at 6:10AM on Saturday! Wish me luck...
She was so sad to miss the Panda House at the Beijing Zoo. I went with Cathy this morning while Lauren slept, other Lauren had reflexology and a massage at the hotel's spa and the boys had a shave... after which the Davids went over to their Beijing office to catch up with a little work and Richard had some free time to relax.
The pandas were AMAZING! I had read about how actively they play but it was better than I'd imagined. We got to the panda house and saw one lounging around in the corner. There was a great wooden structure, much like a jungle gym at the park. It had a slide, a tire swing, a bunch of wooden things to climb, a jug hanging down from a rope, and a little pool.
But the panda wasn't moving and I thought, 'crap, just like the zoos back home, animals laying around doing nothing... until they're fed'. Then I grabbed the map to see if there was a feeding schedule and when I looked up he was running up the slide. I grabbed my camera and took a bunch of photos and then changed to video. I think I took 6 or 7 throughout our visit. It was so great to watch him play... I mentioned to Cathy that he was the Kian of Pandas.
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| From Beijing: Day 4 -- Panda House at the Beijing Zoo |
When he got bored and went to lay back down, we walked to one of the indoor habitats, saw another sleeping one along the way outside, and found them all sleeping inside too. Boring! We went to check out the gift shop, since I'd had a special request for panda chopsticks and hadn't seen any in the markets. We found what I needed and a pencil for Lauren (it's tradition when we visit something new without the other to return with a souvenir pencil). The pencil looks like bamboo and has a panda head that is a sharpener on the top.
We walked back out of the gift shop and saw all of the sleeping pandas had gotten up and started eating. I got some great shots of them sitting in the bamboo and chowing down. Was such a great experience to see the Giant Pandas in Beijing.
The rest of the day was pretty relaxed, I had lunch with the boys and took them over to the market that I had been to with the girls a few days before. Had a few more requests for pearls from my aunt and got a few others as gifts, took them down to the floor of tchotchkes and bought a few more things myself.
Got back to the hotel before dinner to check-in with Lauren and show her the fruits of our shopping day, and realized I missed an entire section of my list... I ran back to the market and met everyone at dinner. I just had soup and salad and part of a dessert, which was nice to have a lighter meal!
Now I've just finished packing all of my souvenirs, tchotchkes, and other assorted crap... not to mention my clothes while preparing to get to sleep... The wake up call is in 2.5 hours! Here's my flight schedule for those of you who are curious:
6AM: wake up call
630: Breakfast
715: Meet Kitty & the driver in the lobby
8: arrive at airport
10: flight to Hong Kong
140: arrive in Hong Kong
415: depart to LAX
reliving Friday for the 2nd time:
215PM: arrive in Los Angeles, immigration, customs, change terminals
436PM: flight to JFK
1259AM (Saturday morning/Friday night): arrive at JFK
Such a long day...hopefully I don't miss my flight to NY or I'll have an even longer day waiting on the red eye that arrives at 6:10AM on Saturday! Wish me luck...
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
The Wall really is Great...
We went to the Great Wall today, on our last day of touring... it really was great. It was amazing to drive into the lot and see the wall on both sides of the road going on and on as far as you could see in any direction. Kitty, our guide, told us it's over 3,000 miles long and stretches along Mongolia from northeast to northwest China. We were able to walk up part of the wall, take some photos (and a bit of video, just for you, Tara).
Both Davids went the farthest up, got to the point of where they couldn't go anymore after taking the fork that lead to the watch that overlooked the other side of the mountain. Both Laurens and Richard made it much farther than Cathy and I. I was very prepared for the climb, it was mostly straight up and a lot of stairs... not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, since I live on the top floor of a walk up apartment building, but it was nutso. Being raised never to look over the edge of something and never to get near any edge, I was scared out of my mind... thanks a lot, dad! Going up wasn't bad at all... I was breathing well, I was having a good time looking at all of the different sized steps, until I decided to turn around and take a photo... bad news, I pictured the trek back down the wall and decided that was it for me. I think she read it on my face, because Cathy said her knees were hurting so she was more than happy to hang out with me and people watch while we waited for the others to make their ways up and back. We saw a huge group of school children on a Bejing educational tour (said it in their jackets). One kid was probably about 9 or 10 and had a camera around his neck that weighed so much it bent him nearly half over... Another woman was climbing the wall in knee-high boots with gold studs. It was interesting to see the different groups of people climbing and coming back down. Tourists from all over, military using the wall as stadium practice, running up and down, elderly people, children, families, couples. The people watching was better than in Times Square!
We also saw a cloisonne factory where we watched the process of making it and saw another showroom...
I just got something small, but some other things were purchased by others, we toured the Ming Tombs (where the emperors of the Ming dynasty were buried), the Olympic Stadium (just to take photos from the side of the highway) and had lunch inside of the jade factory, where Lauren K got a beautiful jade butterfly ring and a the others bought some great stuff, we went to a tea ceremony which was done like wine tasting, but with different types of tea. We topped the day off with a 9-course dinner and I was home just in time to catch Kian & Andrea on the webcam, again!
Such a great day. The final day of touring with a guide. We're going to the zoo tomorrow to see some pandas and doing our last bits of shopping before we head home on Friday.
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| From Beijing: Day 3 -- The Great Wall |
Both Davids went the farthest up, got to the point of where they couldn't go anymore after taking the fork that lead to the watch that overlooked the other side of the mountain. Both Laurens and Richard made it much farther than Cathy and I. I was very prepared for the climb, it was mostly straight up and a lot of stairs... not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, since I live on the top floor of a walk up apartment building, but it was nutso. Being raised never to look over the edge of something and never to get near any edge, I was scared out of my mind... thanks a lot, dad! Going up wasn't bad at all... I was breathing well, I was having a good time looking at all of the different sized steps, until I decided to turn around and take a photo... bad news, I pictured the trek back down the wall and decided that was it for me. I think she read it on my face, because Cathy said her knees were hurting so she was more than happy to hang out with me and people watch while we waited for the others to make their ways up and back. We saw a huge group of school children on a Bejing educational tour (said it in their jackets). One kid was probably about 9 or 10 and had a camera around his neck that weighed so much it bent him nearly half over... Another woman was climbing the wall in knee-high boots with gold studs. It was interesting to see the different groups of people climbing and coming back down. Tourists from all over, military using the wall as stadium practice, running up and down, elderly people, children, families, couples. The people watching was better than in Times Square!
We also saw a cloisonne factory where we watched the process of making it and saw another showroom...
 |
| From Beijing: Day 3 -- Cloisonne and Ming Tombs |
I just got something small, but some other things were purchased by others, we toured the Ming Tombs (where the emperors of the Ming dynasty were buried), the Olympic Stadium (just to take photos from the side of the highway) and had lunch inside of the jade factory, where Lauren K got a beautiful jade butterfly ring and a the others bought some great stuff, we went to a tea ceremony which was done like wine tasting, but with different types of tea. We topped the day off with a 9-course dinner and I was home just in time to catch Kian & Andrea on the webcam, again!
Such a great day. The final day of touring with a guide. We're going to the zoo tomorrow to see some pandas and doing our last bits of shopping before we head home on Friday.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
It's just like camping...
A few days ago I mentioned to Lauren that I will never again complain about the cleanliness of the bathrooms at home. Today, I had to squat, for the first time (granted, we've been here for 11 days and I didn't have to for the first 1o). I'm not sure if you're familiar with the "toilets" in China, but they have them in other countries, too. A hole in the ground... not a toilet like we're used to. I've always opted to wait in the longer line for the western toilets rather than take the squatting position over the hole in the ground. But today, rather than peeing my pants, I opted for the first door to open when I got to the front of the line. A squatter...damn. It wasn't as bad as I thought... relief was on my mind, not the disgustingness of possibly peeing on my shoes. Just like Cathy said, It's just like camping...
We had a long day, today. It started with a rushed trip to the breakfast buffet and ended with a relaxed, luxurious meal including peking duck and other Chinese dishes followed by another trip to Haagen Dazs. In the middle, a tour of Tienanmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, yet another Chinese family-style meal and a Kung Fu stage show. It was pretty amazing to see the history China in Beijing. David Krinsky made a point to give us part of the tour through his eyes from the western perspective in addition to what Kitty, our guide, was saying. He told us about seeing Tienamen Square on tv in the late 80s, the chaos that the American reporters captured and fed back whereas Kitty told us she wasn't even sure what happened. The Chinese government had kept it from their people.
Tomorrow we go to the Great Wall and a few other things to finish up the scheduled tours. So weird to be going home in 3 days!
We had a long day, today. It started with a rushed trip to the breakfast buffet and ended with a relaxed, luxurious meal including peking duck and other Chinese dishes followed by another trip to Haagen Dazs. In the middle, a tour of Tienanmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, yet another Chinese family-style meal and a Kung Fu stage show. It was pretty amazing to see the history China in Beijing. David Krinsky made a point to give us part of the tour through his eyes from the western perspective in addition to what Kitty, our guide, was saying. He told us about seeing Tienamen Square on tv in the late 80s, the chaos that the American reporters captured and fed back whereas Kitty told us she wasn't even sure what happened. The Chinese government had kept it from their people.
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| From Beijing: Day 2 -- Tianamen Square and Forbidden City |
Tomorrow we go to the Great Wall and a few other things to finish up the scheduled tours. So weird to be going home in 3 days!
Monday, April 5, 2010
Champion Negotiator
After an early start to the day, 530AM wake up call, 6AM breakfast, 630AM shuttle service to the airport, 9AM flight to Beijing, we checked in to another beautiful hotel...the St. Regis. Lauren and I have another upgraded room, with a walk-in closet, a giant tv & another tv built into the mirror in the bathroom. The view isn't as ideal as it was in Shanghai and especially not in Hong Kong, but it's nice out there.
We had a Thai-Indian lunch, a restaurant suggested by an English speaking woman we ran into in a coffee shop while wandering around looking for lunch. We ate family style and enjoyed the food. Lots of spices, curry, lemon grass, etc. It was a nice change from the Chinese flavors, without being too western.
Back to the hotel for a quick chat with the concierge and we broke up into 2 groups... men to the spa for massages, women to the silk market to do some shopping. So both Laurens, Cathy and I set out around the corner and up the main street a few blocks to the silk market. It was 6 floors. We read the signs on the outside, and I suggested we start at the top & work our way down. We stripped off our layers of coats and sweatshirts as we went up... it was extremely hot inside.
Lauren & her new fan,
Started out in the jewelry floor. My aunt (Vivianne) had asked me to pick up some pearls for her, so I started out in one shop with a younger looking woman. We agreed on a price, what I wanted to pay, and she began to irritate me... swapping out strands to be lower quality and all around being shady... so I walked out. Found another lovely woman who had a nice store, nice stuff and gave me a great price for not only a necklace but included a bracelet, earrings and an extra clasp for the same price as the original.
I became a hard core negotiator and everything else I bought was for the price I wanted or I walked away until they chased me down and offered it to me for less than what I was originally counter-offering. It was an exhausting day... but we got some great things at great prices.
For dinner we had some American cuisine... fried chicken, steaks and pork chops. A good break from the Chinese food before we start on more tours tomorrow.
A fortuitous moment, tonight, I checked my email and saw the Groupon for a 67% discount on a photobook... hooray memories from China memorialized for two-thirds of the cost. Fancy that!
We had a Thai-Indian lunch, a restaurant suggested by an English speaking woman we ran into in a coffee shop while wandering around looking for lunch. We ate family style and enjoyed the food. Lots of spices, curry, lemon grass, etc. It was a nice change from the Chinese flavors, without being too western.
Back to the hotel for a quick chat with the concierge and we broke up into 2 groups... men to the spa for massages, women to the silk market to do some shopping. So both Laurens, Cathy and I set out around the corner and up the main street a few blocks to the silk market. It was 6 floors. We read the signs on the outside, and I suggested we start at the top & work our way down. We stripped off our layers of coats and sweatshirts as we went up... it was extremely hot inside.
Lauren & her new fan,
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| From Beijing: Day 1 -- Food and Silk Market |
Started out in the jewelry floor. My aunt (Vivianne) had asked me to pick up some pearls for her, so I started out in one shop with a younger looking woman. We agreed on a price, what I wanted to pay, and she began to irritate me... swapping out strands to be lower quality and all around being shady... so I walked out. Found another lovely woman who had a nice store, nice stuff and gave me a great price for not only a necklace but included a bracelet, earrings and an extra clasp for the same price as the original.
 |
| From Beijing: Day 1 -- Food and Silk Market |
I became a hard core negotiator and everything else I bought was for the price I wanted or I walked away until they chased me down and offered it to me for less than what I was originally counter-offering. It was an exhausting day... but we got some great things at great prices.
For dinner we had some American cuisine... fried chicken, steaks and pork chops. A good break from the Chinese food before we start on more tours tomorrow.
A fortuitous moment, tonight, I checked my email and saw the Groupon for a 67% discount on a photobook... hooray memories from China memorialized for two-thirds of the cost. Fancy that!
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Happy Easter!
Throughout my travels to Buddhist and Taoist temples, I haven't seen too much reference to Easter, which is the opposite of what I'm used to... I think I started seeing Cadbury eggs starting in February! Luckily, the hotels cater to their Western visitors...
Thought I'd send out an Easter greeting and include a funny photo of one version of the Easter bunny, on display with some colored eggs on the buffet in the hotel's restaurant.
Hope you all enjoy whatever you're doing to celebrate!
Today we took a tour, I know, you're surprised... we watched the last few minutes of Butler's win over Mich State over breakfast & headed out to the Wild Goose Pagoda,
a Lacquer factory, had lunch, went to see the Terracotta Warriors,
and finally the city will around Xian.
I ended the day with about 340 photos, putting me farther and farther behind in captioning and posting them... but we saw some amazing things today.
We're headed out now for some dinner and are retiring early today... we need to be up at 5:30 and off to the airport for a 9AM flight to Bejing.
Thought I'd send out an Easter greeting and include a funny photo of one version of the Easter bunny, on display with some colored eggs on the buffet in the hotel's restaurant.
Hope you all enjoy whatever you're doing to celebrate!
Today we took a tour, I know, you're surprised... we watched the last few minutes of Butler's win over Mich State over breakfast & headed out to the Wild Goose Pagoda,
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| From Xian: Day 2 -- Wild Goose Pagoda |
a Lacquer factory, had lunch, went to see the Terracotta Warriors,
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| From Xian: Day 2 -- Terracotta Warriors and City Wall |
and finally the city will around Xian.
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| From Xian: Day 2 -- Terracotta Warriors and City Wall |
I ended the day with about 340 photos, putting me farther and farther behind in captioning and posting them... but we saw some amazing things today.
We're headed out now for some dinner and are retiring early today... we need to be up at 5:30 and off to the airport for a 9AM flight to Bejing.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Goodbye Hong Kong, Hello Xian
We've made the 2nd move on our 4 stop trip... 2 nights in Xian, a full day tour tomorrow...
Breakfast at 8, meeting the tour guide & driver at 9, full day tour including lunch, and 9AM flight to Bejing the next morning...
Bottom line, time for bed!
There's not so much to report for today... we decided we'd sleep in today, since there hasn't been a lot of time for that and won't be for the rest of the trip. We had a later breakfast (10 rather than 8) and did a bit of walking/shopping. We stopped a place in a mall for foot massages... great end to the Hong Kong bit of the trip, we've done a lot of walking! They soaked our feet in tea... hot tea, I'm talking super hot, worse than the jacuzzi hot. And put on a game show, with teams of 3 competing to put their bodies in through holes... I don't know if you've seen this before, but it was awesome! I found a clip on youtube that will demonstrate the amazing laughter that I experienced (internally, mostly) while having my feet massaged.
The clip:
The most interesting part of the massage for me, were the parts of my feet that were the most sore when she massaged them were the ones that correspond to the sinuses and lungs on the reflexology chart.
We did a bit more wandering/window shopping, bought a few more souvenirs and headed back to the hotel to grab some lunch & pack. We met the airport shuttle shortly after 3PM and were off to the airport. Wandered around the airport, flew to Xian and had some dinner with David Packard in the hotel restaurant before David, Cathy, Lauren & Richard arrived. Now I really better get into bed!
Hope all is going well with everyone back home! Write to us, email is fine, or post to the blog, or on the photos. We love seeing comments...
Breakfast at 8, meeting the tour guide & driver at 9, full day tour including lunch, and 9AM flight to Bejing the next morning...
Bottom line, time for bed!
There's not so much to report for today... we decided we'd sleep in today, since there hasn't been a lot of time for that and won't be for the rest of the trip. We had a later breakfast (10 rather than 8) and did a bit of walking/shopping. We stopped a place in a mall for foot massages... great end to the Hong Kong bit of the trip, we've done a lot of walking! They soaked our feet in tea... hot tea, I'm talking super hot, worse than the jacuzzi hot. And put on a game show, with teams of 3 competing to put their bodies in through holes... I don't know if you've seen this before, but it was awesome! I found a clip on youtube that will demonstrate the amazing laughter that I experienced (internally, mostly) while having my feet massaged.
The clip:
The most interesting part of the massage for me, were the parts of my feet that were the most sore when she massaged them were the ones that correspond to the sinuses and lungs on the reflexology chart.
We did a bit more wandering/window shopping, bought a few more souvenirs and headed back to the hotel to grab some lunch & pack. We met the airport shuttle shortly after 3PM and were off to the airport. Wandered around the airport, flew to Xian and had some dinner with David Packard in the hotel restaurant before David, Cathy, Lauren & Richard arrived. Now I really better get into bed!
Hope all is going well with everyone back home! Write to us, email is fine, or post to the blog, or on the photos. We love seeing comments...
Friday, April 2, 2010
"Kian's in Hong Kong?"
Though many things happened today, the highlight was definitely talking to Kian & Andrea on the webcam tonight... we planned a webchat date at 11:30PM here/8:30AM in California since it'd been a week since I'd last spoken with them. I was showing him around the room, he asked about Lauren (who was in the shower). I tried to explain it was night time here and took the computer to the window to demonstrate that it was dark outside. Throughout the room tour, he saw himself on the computer in the mirror, and exclaimed, "Kian's in Hong Kong?" Such a cute kid!
Anyhow, the more blog-worthy trip information... we had another tour today, ie. we woke up too early, had breakfast, put on our sticker & waited by the fountain. We were picked up by a bus, given a different sticker and were off on another tour. This time to a different temple, a different fishing village and a different jewelry factory... plus a tram rather than cable car, and a boat ride in the fishing village. Though it sounds virtually the same, we did see some different things and the jewelry store was far less intolerable, since it was Good Friday, fewer people were around. Lauren even bought something. We also went to the Stanley Market, a large open air market... and we did some shopping. Nothing too outrageous, but a few souvenirs may make it into some of your hands due to this market tour.
We also had "Afternoon Tea" at the Peninsula Hotel. Cathy, David, Lauren & Richard had stayed at the Peninsula before Lauren and I arrived in China and recommended we have the experience. It was fun. A line of people waiting, a proper tea service, complete with the tiered serving tray of pastries, savories and desserts.
After tea time, it was raining, so we headed back to the Kowloon Shangri La... Lauren took a nap, I did some photo editing and we went back to Hong Kong Island for a show for which Brad and Joanne had given us their tickets since they left town today. We took the ferry again... found the venue, got in line, got inside, the opening acts were terrible... Lauren wasn't feeling well and we hadn't had dinner, so we left before the headliner. Bummer... but when you're not feeling well, you're not feeling well. We had a nice Italian meal at the hotel and came upstairs for my webchat date with Kian and Andrea.
Now for some sleep, time to rest up for our last day in Hong Kong and flight to Xian.
Anyhow, the more blog-worthy trip information... we had another tour today, ie. we woke up too early, had breakfast, put on our sticker & waited by the fountain. We were picked up by a bus, given a different sticker and were off on another tour. This time to a different temple, a different fishing village and a different jewelry factory... plus a tram rather than cable car, and a boat ride in the fishing village. Though it sounds virtually the same, we did see some different things and the jewelry store was far less intolerable, since it was Good Friday, fewer people were around. Lauren even bought something. We also went to the Stanley Market, a large open air market... and we did some shopping. Nothing too outrageous, but a few souvenirs may make it into some of your hands due to this market tour.
We also had "Afternoon Tea" at the Peninsula Hotel. Cathy, David, Lauren & Richard had stayed at the Peninsula before Lauren and I arrived in China and recommended we have the experience. It was fun. A line of people waiting, a proper tea service, complete with the tiered serving tray of pastries, savories and desserts.
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| From Hong Kong: Day 3 -- Afternoon Tea at the Peninsula Hotel |
After tea time, it was raining, so we headed back to the Kowloon Shangri La... Lauren took a nap, I did some photo editing and we went back to Hong Kong Island for a show for which Brad and Joanne had given us their tickets since they left town today. We took the ferry again... found the venue, got in line, got inside, the opening acts were terrible... Lauren wasn't feeling well and we hadn't had dinner, so we left before the headliner. Bummer... but when you're not feeling well, you're not feeling well. We had a nice Italian meal at the hotel and came upstairs for my webchat date with Kian and Andrea.
Now for some sleep, time to rest up for our last day in Hong Kong and flight to Xian.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
An All Day Tour and Dinner
An alarm clock went off at 7:02AM, we got out of bed & ready for the day, had some breakfast and were in the lobby in front of the fountain to meet our tour. We were greeted by a guide and joined a bus load full of people, picked up a few more passengers at another hotel, and went back to the tour company's meeting spot. We were each given a sticker to wear & were directed to change buses to go with the correct tour group. We joined the others with the "LA 360" sticker and were off...
The first stop, "Avenue of the Stars"... much like the Hollywood walk of fame, but all Asian actors. Statue of Bruce Lee is the center of the attraction, as well of stars & hand prints of Jet Li, Chow Yung Fat and Jackie Chan. The more entertaining part of this was we took a 10 min bus ride, changed buses and started a tour across the street from our hotel. I thought it was so amusing that I took a photo of the tour bus stopped in front of our hotel. On the opposite side from where a different bus had picked us up over an hour prior.
Next stop TSL Jewelry factory, which annoyingly turned out to be a 4 minute tour down a hallway watching people in cubicles analyze & set stones, followed by a running sales pitch in their show room for their overpriced jewelry. Horrible.
Then a lengthy bus ride including crossing the world's longest double decker suspension bridge, the Port of Hong Kong's shipping depot, and other random sites en route to the cable cars. We got another sticker offering us priority boarding, ie. skip the long line. So now, wearing 2 stickers, we boarded the cable car that brought us up the mountain to the next section of the tour. Our car included 2 gay Canadians in their late 70s, super cute men who had been traveling together for the better part of 40 years--they were in Hong Kong after a 10-day cruise of the Asian coasts. A Dutch father and son combination with an awesome camera, they spent most of the time framing up their next shot, a Filipino man that was touring alone, switching back and forth between his camcorder and still camera and our tour guide Rex. The others on the tour were in the cars following us.
Here we are in the cable car,
At the top, we went to a Monastery, toured around, had an not so pleasing vegetarian lunch, and took a bus up to see the "big Buddha". I took so many photos that my batteries died, luckily I had 2 backup pairs.
Next we went down the hill a bit to a fishing village called Tai O. Saw stilt houses, saw enough dried seafood on the streets to feed a small army and another temple. Finally, back to the village to do some souvenir shopping and meet the cable car to take us back to the bus, to a different bus, and back to the hotel. I downloaded my memory card, 488 photos, today... Needless to say, I'll get to them when I can.
We showered up & took the ferry across to Hong Kong Island to meet good friends of the Krinskys' for dinner. We had a nice walk through part of the financial district of Hong Kong and had a great meal. I'm actually very tired, tonight, so I'm off to bed a bit early.
Photo of Hong Kong's skyline from the ferry,
Another early breakfast for 8:20 pick up for our tour tomorrow.
The first stop, "Avenue of the Stars"... much like the Hollywood walk of fame, but all Asian actors. Statue of Bruce Lee is the center of the attraction, as well of stars & hand prints of Jet Li, Chow Yung Fat and Jackie Chan. The more entertaining part of this was we took a 10 min bus ride, changed buses and started a tour across the street from our hotel. I thought it was so amusing that I took a photo of the tour bus stopped in front of our hotel. On the opposite side from where a different bus had picked us up over an hour prior.
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| From Hong Kong: Day 2 -- LA 360 Tour |
Next stop TSL Jewelry factory, which annoyingly turned out to be a 4 minute tour down a hallway watching people in cubicles analyze & set stones, followed by a running sales pitch in their show room for their overpriced jewelry. Horrible.
Then a lengthy bus ride including crossing the world's longest double decker suspension bridge, the Port of Hong Kong's shipping depot, and other random sites en route to the cable cars. We got another sticker offering us priority boarding, ie. skip the long line. So now, wearing 2 stickers, we boarded the cable car that brought us up the mountain to the next section of the tour. Our car included 2 gay Canadians in their late 70s, super cute men who had been traveling together for the better part of 40 years--they were in Hong Kong after a 10-day cruise of the Asian coasts. A Dutch father and son combination with an awesome camera, they spent most of the time framing up their next shot, a Filipino man that was touring alone, switching back and forth between his camcorder and still camera and our tour guide Rex. The others on the tour were in the cars following us.
Here we are in the cable car,
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| From Hong Kong: Day 2 -- Cable Car Ride |
At the top, we went to a Monastery, toured around, had an not so pleasing vegetarian lunch, and took a bus up to see the "big Buddha". I took so many photos that my batteries died, luckily I had 2 backup pairs.
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| From Hong Kong: Day 2 -- Big Buddha |
Next we went down the hill a bit to a fishing village called Tai O. Saw stilt houses, saw enough dried seafood on the streets to feed a small army and another temple. Finally, back to the village to do some souvenir shopping and meet the cable car to take us back to the bus, to a different bus, and back to the hotel. I downloaded my memory card, 488 photos, today... Needless to say, I'll get to them when I can.
We showered up & took the ferry across to Hong Kong Island to meet good friends of the Krinskys' for dinner. We had a nice walk through part of the financial district of Hong Kong and had a great meal. I'm actually very tired, tonight, so I'm off to bed a bit early.
Photo of Hong Kong's skyline from the ferry,
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| From Hong Kong: Day 2 -- Ferry to Dinner |
Another early breakfast for 8:20 pick up for our tour tomorrow.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
We're in Hong Kong, with a 16th story view of the harbor...
We left Shanghai today for an adventure in Hong Kong while David, Cathy, Lauren and Richard go off to Guilin. They were in Hong Kong before we arrived, and I decided I'd rather have a chance to see Hong Kong than take the river boat tour with them through the country side. Sounds like the decision was a good one, it was about 78 degrees when we landed, but it's pouring rain where the parents are!
We were quiet early for our flight, so we took some photos in the airport, did some wandering, I did some captioning of photos and eventually we were off to Hong Kong. We took a bus to the plane... had a decent meal and arrived in HK a bit late. Getting through immigration was easy, a guide lead us to a bus to the hotel. We're at the Shangri La in Kowloon, the "other side" of Hong Kong... the Peninsula, as opposed to Hong Kong Island.
When we arrived we were given a "standard street view" room, and asked if we wanted to upgrade to the Harbor side... nope, our pre-paid room is just fine, thanks. We go upstairs. Have a very kind filipino man escort us up with our bags. He gives us a tour of the room, shows us the switches, control panels and other bells and whistles. Lauren mentions a strange smell. As we settle in, break out the tour books to decide what we want to do on which day while in Hong Kong, we both start feeling a bit ill... paint fumes? chemicals? We went to the desk and mentioned the problem. They offered to switch us and make a complimentary upgrade to a higher floor and a harbor view room. Score!
Our friendly filipino was back in a jiffy to help us move. The new room is great and the view is awesome. Pictures to come... I'm catching up. Shanghai is done now. Here's a camera timer capture of our view from the new room,
We ran a few errands, had thai food for dinner, and are now getting into bed in anticipation of our cable car tour, recommended by a friend of the Krinskys, to a giant buddha statue.
Back to pictures, it's come to my attention, by way of a few people that it's not clear that the hyperlink on the end of each caption is a link to the album where the photo is housed. I'm only posting a few photos from each day...you're on your own to see the others, if you so choose. The direct link to my photos is: http://picasaweb.google.com/vsvisitsnvacations
We were quiet early for our flight, so we took some photos in the airport, did some wandering, I did some captioning of photos and eventually we were off to Hong Kong. We took a bus to the plane... had a decent meal and arrived in HK a bit late. Getting through immigration was easy, a guide lead us to a bus to the hotel. We're at the Shangri La in Kowloon, the "other side" of Hong Kong... the Peninsula, as opposed to Hong Kong Island.
When we arrived we were given a "standard street view" room, and asked if we wanted to upgrade to the Harbor side... nope, our pre-paid room is just fine, thanks. We go upstairs. Have a very kind filipino man escort us up with our bags. He gives us a tour of the room, shows us the switches, control panels and other bells and whistles. Lauren mentions a strange smell. As we settle in, break out the tour books to decide what we want to do on which day while in Hong Kong, we both start feeling a bit ill... paint fumes? chemicals? We went to the desk and mentioned the problem. They offered to switch us and make a complimentary upgrade to a higher floor and a harbor view room. Score!
Our friendly filipino was back in a jiffy to help us move. The new room is great and the view is awesome. Pictures to come... I'm catching up. Shanghai is done now. Here's a camera timer capture of our view from the new room,
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| From Hong Kong: Day 1 |
We ran a few errands, had thai food for dinner, and are now getting into bed in anticipation of our cable car tour, recommended by a friend of the Krinskys, to a giant buddha statue.
Back to pictures, it's come to my attention, by way of a few people that it's not clear that the hyperlink on the end of each caption is a link to the album where the photo is housed. I'm only posting a few photos from each day...you're on your own to see the others, if you so choose. The direct link to my photos is: http://picasaweb.google.com/vsvisitsnvacations
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Last night in Shanghai
Just finished packing up my suitcase in preparation for our trip to Hong Kong. I'm already tired and haven't gotten to the photos from yesterday, yet. Hopefully I'll be able to work on the during the flight tomorrow.
The New Shanghai Circus was a bit odd, but great to see. There were several different acts, the first was contortionist women, followed by men juggling hats, then women doing acrobatics while twirling 4-5 plates, on 3 foot sticks, in each hand. There was also a pair of strong men doing acrobatics using only themselves and each other for balance, a group of women spinning a rubber toy on a string and doing acrobatics, women doing tricks on bicycles, men jumping through hoops, women throwing the rubber thing to each other, making pyramids, etc... these girls dropped a few, it certainly wasn't as polished as it should have been, but having tried to use one of those things, I give them a pass--it's a toughie. There was also a magician, which was oddly placed, she pulled decks of cards out of the air, turned things into doves, and did the swords through the lady in the box trick, but ended up taking 5 women out of the box in the end, instead of just the one. There were also things that made Cathy close her eyes, or peak through a small space between her fingers covering her eyes: two women on roller skates who spun each other from a rope on the leg or with a lasso connecting them by their necks, and finally, a sphere with motorcycles, first one, then another, then another, until 5 were inside.
The strangest part of that last one, was that the 3rd guy fell on his way out. Looked like he was really hurt, and they pulled the curtain to end the show before the other 2 were out of the sphere. I saw his headlight shatter... I couldn't tell if it was choreographed into the show or not, because he did come out to take a bow at the end with the rest of the performers. The tour guide said she'd never seen anyone fall like that before and I'm sure she's taken hundreds of groups to see the show.
After the 'circus' which was actually a stage show of odd proportions, we got back in the van and headed to meet David Packard and one of his roommates, Mike, for dinner. We had family style Chinese food... David & Mike ordered for the table. The great fiasco of dinner was asking the wait staff, none of which spoke only about 30 words of English, collectively, if they had "gin". We had only been given the food menu, the specials, and a wine list. Eventually after discussing the types of beer for the women, the men tried to question whether or not the restaurant had gin for their martinis-- it's their drink of choice, Bombay Sapphire martini, no vermouth, 3 olives. They finally found on the wine list that the only gin was Beefeater. They pointed, in what I assumed the attempt to request it in martinis, and the waiter ran away to fetch the entire bottle of Beefeater gin, and some glasses. Luckily, David and Mike showed up speaking enough Chinese to stop them from opening the bottle, sending it back and ordering some additional beers for the men. High Comedy.
My apologies things are getting more boring without the photos to break up the text. I'll try to get them up tomorrow... the unfortunate part is, I'm not sure we'll have internet access in the hotel in Hong Kong. We shall see.
Until the next time...
The New Shanghai Circus was a bit odd, but great to see. There were several different acts, the first was contortionist women, followed by men juggling hats, then women doing acrobatics while twirling 4-5 plates, on 3 foot sticks, in each hand. There was also a pair of strong men doing acrobatics using only themselves and each other for balance, a group of women spinning a rubber toy on a string and doing acrobatics, women doing tricks on bicycles, men jumping through hoops, women throwing the rubber thing to each other, making pyramids, etc... these girls dropped a few, it certainly wasn't as polished as it should have been, but having tried to use one of those things, I give them a pass--it's a toughie. There was also a magician, which was oddly placed, she pulled decks of cards out of the air, turned things into doves, and did the swords through the lady in the box trick, but ended up taking 5 women out of the box in the end, instead of just the one. There were also things that made Cathy close her eyes, or peak through a small space between her fingers covering her eyes: two women on roller skates who spun each other from a rope on the leg or with a lasso connecting them by their necks, and finally, a sphere with motorcycles, first one, then another, then another, until 5 were inside.
The strangest part of that last one, was that the 3rd guy fell on his way out. Looked like he was really hurt, and they pulled the curtain to end the show before the other 2 were out of the sphere. I saw his headlight shatter... I couldn't tell if it was choreographed into the show or not, because he did come out to take a bow at the end with the rest of the performers. The tour guide said she'd never seen anyone fall like that before and I'm sure she's taken hundreds of groups to see the show.
After the 'circus' which was actually a stage show of odd proportions, we got back in the van and headed to meet David Packard and one of his roommates, Mike, for dinner. We had family style Chinese food... David & Mike ordered for the table. The great fiasco of dinner was asking the wait staff, none of which spoke only about 30 words of English, collectively, if they had "gin". We had only been given the food menu, the specials, and a wine list. Eventually after discussing the types of beer for the women, the men tried to question whether or not the restaurant had gin for their martinis-- it's their drink of choice, Bombay Sapphire martini, no vermouth, 3 olives. They finally found on the wine list that the only gin was Beefeater. They pointed, in what I assumed the attempt to request it in martinis, and the waiter ran away to fetch the entire bottle of Beefeater gin, and some glasses. Luckily, David and Mike showed up speaking enough Chinese to stop them from opening the bottle, sending it back and ordering some additional beers for the men. High Comedy.
My apologies things are getting more boring without the photos to break up the text. I'll try to get them up tomorrow... the unfortunate part is, I'm not sure we'll have internet access in the hotel in Hong Kong. We shall see.
Until the next time...
Shanghai: Day 4
So far we've gone shopping... we went to an indoor flea market and a few high end malls, had lunch and did a photo montage with the expo mascot.
Now we're off to the circus to see some Chinese acrobats & have dinner... hope you all slept well, more when I get back.
Happy birthday, Jacob, sorry I missed you yesterday... at least I didn't post your photo. Hope someone made you some carrot cake.
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| From Shanghai: Day 4 |
Now we're off to the circus to see some Chinese acrobats & have dinner... hope you all slept well, more when I get back.
Happy birthday, Jacob, sorry I missed you yesterday... at least I didn't post your photo. Hope someone made you some carrot cake.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Shanghai: Day 3
Today we had a private tour with a fantastic guide, Cecilia, and a van driver who didn't speak, except in Mandarin to Cecilia.
We started the day with breakfast at the hotel's buffet. Mostly the same as the day before, so I won't bore you with the details. Then Cecilia met us in the lobby to start the tour. We headed over to a Buddhist temple, the most famous in Shanghai. We toured the different halls, she explained some history, culture and the significance of the different buddhas. More details to follow once I'm able to caption and upload all of the photos.
Next we headed over to the silk factory, we saw the whole process from the silkworm cocoon to the spinning process to the hand weaving techniques. We spent a ton of time on the sales floor, where the Packards bought a great new silk carpet & the rest of us got silk duvets. We'll see if silk does any better helping me sleep, since it's completely hypoallergenic and natural.
Next was lunch, pretty traditional Cantonese family style cuisine, lazy susan, loads of food. It was a great middle to the day. We followed lunch up with a trip down the new walkway on the Bund, where we had been yesterday, but were able to get a bit of history from Cecilia, as well as ask her some questions.
Walked through a market, took photos with statues along the way to the Yu Garden. According to Cecilia, you cannot say you've been to Shanghai if you haven't visited this garden. It is a great garden paradise, complete with halls, coi ponds, natural foliage and rock structures. Dragons, carvings and pagodas were very present, as well.
The final stop was planned to visit the French Concession... since the Children's Palace is closed on Mondays, but we didn't have the time since our other stops along the way were so lengthy. It was okay though, because between Seychelles and David, we got plenty of history on the lane houses and other parts of this part of town.
The final stop of the evening, after a quick wardrobe change back at the hotel, was the Passover Seder at the Millennium hotel. What an interesting experience! We were early & started out with drinks at the bar, martinis for the men, sprite for Lauren & green tea for me... headed up to the Seder in a ballroom of about 300 people. It was lead by 2 Orthodox Rabbis and was a crazy circus of unorganized chaos. I got yelled at for taking photos, since button pushing isn't allowed, and did my best to captures the moments prior to the yelling or on the sly after the fact. It was a nice time to spend the holiday with the Jews in and around Shanghai, including the Krinskys and the Packards who are all missing traditional Seders at home while we're traveling.
Like I mentioned before, more to follow with the photos, I took 322 today, before dinner, so closer to 350, now. I'll work on captioning & uploading them in the morning, but for now... off to bed.
We started the day with breakfast at the hotel's buffet. Mostly the same as the day before, so I won't bore you with the details. Then Cecilia met us in the lobby to start the tour. We headed over to a Buddhist temple, the most famous in Shanghai. We toured the different halls, she explained some history, culture and the significance of the different buddhas. More details to follow once I'm able to caption and upload all of the photos.
Next we headed over to the silk factory, we saw the whole process from the silkworm cocoon to the spinning process to the hand weaving techniques. We spent a ton of time on the sales floor, where the Packards bought a great new silk carpet & the rest of us got silk duvets. We'll see if silk does any better helping me sleep, since it's completely hypoallergenic and natural.
Next was lunch, pretty traditional Cantonese family style cuisine, lazy susan, loads of food. It was a great middle to the day. We followed lunch up with a trip down the new walkway on the Bund, where we had been yesterday, but were able to get a bit of history from Cecilia, as well as ask her some questions.
Walked through a market, took photos with statues along the way to the Yu Garden. According to Cecilia, you cannot say you've been to Shanghai if you haven't visited this garden. It is a great garden paradise, complete with halls, coi ponds, natural foliage and rock structures. Dragons, carvings and pagodas were very present, as well.
The final stop was planned to visit the French Concession... since the Children's Palace is closed on Mondays, but we didn't have the time since our other stops along the way were so lengthy. It was okay though, because between Seychelles and David, we got plenty of history on the lane houses and other parts of this part of town.
The final stop of the evening, after a quick wardrobe change back at the hotel, was the Passover Seder at the Millennium hotel. What an interesting experience! We were early & started out with drinks at the bar, martinis for the men, sprite for Lauren & green tea for me... headed up to the Seder in a ballroom of about 300 people. It was lead by 2 Orthodox Rabbis and was a crazy circus of unorganized chaos. I got yelled at for taking photos, since button pushing isn't allowed, and did my best to captures the moments prior to the yelling or on the sly after the fact. It was a nice time to spend the holiday with the Jews in and around Shanghai, including the Krinskys and the Packards who are all missing traditional Seders at home while we're traveling.
Like I mentioned before, more to follow with the photos, I took 322 today, before dinner, so closer to 350, now. I'll work on captioning & uploading them in the morning, but for now... off to bed.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Shanghai: Day 2
We had a fun day, today... according to our itinerary, it was "Shanghai: free day at leisure, breakfast included". We had slept so much the night before that it was fairly easy to wake up when Cathy came to get us for breakfast. We went down and enjoyed the hotel's buffet. I decided to make my plate with half traditional western breakfast and half Chinese cuisine. It turned out nicely, pancake, french toast, bacon, a variety of dim sum dumplings and noodles:
After breakfast we returned to the room to catch up with some emails, facebook, edit some photos and get ready for the day's activities.
Besides the Krinskys, I am traveling with another family, the Packards. David, the younger son of the Packards lives here, in Shanghai and works for David Krinsky's law firm. He was kind enough to spend our "free day at leisure" with us, showing us around a bit, we walked by his office, and took his commute (on foot) from work to see his apartment.
It was a nice spot, ground floor apartment with a great patio. He shares the place with 2 roommates, a fellow future law student from NJ and a Brit that he met through another friend. His bedroom/bathroom alone was the size of my studio, so it made me (and Lauren) laugh a bit. We used his internet to do some research planning the day, and made a brunch reservation for 2PM at M on the Bund.
We took taxis over and walked around the Bund since we arrived early. They've been building up the area for the Expo happening soon, and it was very crowded since it was the first day it was open to the public. The restaurant turned out to have a fantastic view of the bund, the river and the buildings across the river. I don't really have the energy to post the photos tonight, but I'll get to it, soon, I hope. The brunch was great food, the views were fantastic, and the company was outstanding. Even ran into a few of David's friends who had brunch there as well. My favorite part of brunch, however, was the rehearsal happening in the new performance space. Most noteworthy was the rendition of "We are the World" with the dancing. They had a leader/choreographer trying to get everyone to make the same hand motions along with key words in the song, so he would sing over the soundtrack in his Chinese accent. Words like 'world', 'children' and 'place' were making me laugh so hard I nearly lost my brunch.
After brunch we took a walk through People's Park back to our hotel. We wouldn't all fit in one cab, so we took 2, and had quite a debacle trying to get back together. Cathy's directions were using landmarks and the position of the sun. This will likely be more entertaining once I post the photos, but one of them was something like 'walk toward the building that looks like a phillip's head drill bit (the Marriott hotel) and we'll meet you in front of the Starbucks'. Turned out the men were in a different park and took nearly 30 minutes to find us, still standing in front of the Starbucks. Once we did finally start walking, it was a good time...
Tonight's dinner was hosted by the Gould School, where Richard Packard is Chairman of the Board of Directors. They host several Chinese students, so he had invited some of their parents to join us at the Ritz Carlton for a 9-course dinner. We had an interpreter that made it a good time for all and I thought the food was great... though not everyone agreed with me. I'll work on the photos, soon, but now it's time for bed!
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| My plate at Breakfast, Shanghai: Day 2 |
After breakfast we returned to the room to catch up with some emails, facebook, edit some photos and get ready for the day's activities.
Besides the Krinskys, I am traveling with another family, the Packards. David, the younger son of the Packards lives here, in Shanghai and works for David Krinsky's law firm. He was kind enough to spend our "free day at leisure" with us, showing us around a bit, we walked by his office, and took his commute (on foot) from work to see his apartment.
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| The Packards & Krinskys, Shanghai: Day 2 |
It was a nice spot, ground floor apartment with a great patio. He shares the place with 2 roommates, a fellow future law student from NJ and a Brit that he met through another friend. His bedroom/bathroom alone was the size of my studio, so it made me (and Lauren) laugh a bit. We used his internet to do some research planning the day, and made a brunch reservation for 2PM at M on the Bund.
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| David & his apartment building, Shanghai: Day 2 |
We took taxis over and walked around the Bund since we arrived early. They've been building up the area for the Expo happening soon, and it was very crowded since it was the first day it was open to the public. The restaurant turned out to have a fantastic view of the bund, the river and the buildings across the river. I don't really have the energy to post the photos tonight, but I'll get to it, soon, I hope. The brunch was great food, the views were fantastic, and the company was outstanding. Even ran into a few of David's friends who had brunch there as well. My favorite part of brunch, however, was the rehearsal happening in the new performance space. Most noteworthy was the rendition of "We are the World" with the dancing. They had a leader/choreographer trying to get everyone to make the same hand motions along with key words in the song, so he would sing over the soundtrack in his Chinese accent. Words like 'world', 'children' and 'place' were making me laugh so hard I nearly lost my brunch.
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| We are the World rehearsal, Shanghai: Day 2 |
After brunch we took a walk through People's Park back to our hotel. We wouldn't all fit in one cab, so we took 2, and had quite a debacle trying to get back together. Cathy's directions were using landmarks and the position of the sun. This will likely be more entertaining once I post the photos, but one of them was something like 'walk toward the building that looks like a phillip's head drill bit (the Marriott hotel) and we'll meet you in front of the Starbucks'. Turned out the men were in a different park and took nearly 30 minutes to find us, still standing in front of the Starbucks. Once we did finally start walking, it was a good time...
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| Cathy, in front of the Starbucks in front of the drill bit, facing away from the sun, Shanghai: Day 2 |
Tonight's dinner was hosted by the Gould School, where Richard Packard is Chairman of the Board of Directors. They host several Chinese students, so he had invited some of their parents to join us at the Ritz Carlton for a 9-course dinner. We had an interpreter that made it a good time for all and I thought the food was great... though not everyone agreed with me. I'll work on the photos, soon, but now it's time for bed!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
A Bit of a Recap, Shanghai Day 1.
I haven't had much time to blog since arriving, as I keep getting tired, darn jetlag, when I'm in the room. I've spent a lot of the time editing the photos and getting them up on picasa, go there if you'd like, but for now, I'll do a quick recap until I have some more time to write/post photos.
After we showered and got ready Lauren had a bit of a nap before we headed out for dinner, so I went for a walk with her parents, down the main street in the Jiang Na district, which is the main business center in Shanghai and where our hotel is located. We had a nice walk, grabbed a small snack before dinner, a small pizza, a little salty a little sweet, with lots of toppings. Delish!
Our first dinner was Italian/Mediterranean food... even though Lauren and I had only arrived, everyone else had been in China for over a week, and were sick of Chinese cuisine! So we went to a place that someone had recommended. The food was good, we shared a bunch of appetizers and I had lamb with a great fresh mint crust over cous cous. After dinner we headed back to the hotel, everyone was falling asleep, and stopped at the grocery store to buy a few snacks. I chose brown sugar mochi & another random fruit that I didn't know. I still haven't had a chance to try it, so I don't even know how it looks on the inside, but I will post a photo to link you to the rest of the Day 1 album, Anybody know it?
After we showered and got ready Lauren had a bit of a nap before we headed out for dinner, so I went for a walk with her parents, down the main street in the Jiang Na district, which is the main business center in Shanghai and where our hotel is located. We had a nice walk, grabbed a small snack before dinner, a small pizza, a little salty a little sweet, with lots of toppings. Delish!
Our first dinner was Italian/Mediterranean food... even though Lauren and I had only arrived, everyone else had been in China for over a week, and were sick of Chinese cuisine! So we went to a place that someone had recommended. The food was good, we shared a bunch of appetizers and I had lamb with a great fresh mint crust over cous cous. After dinner we headed back to the hotel, everyone was falling asleep, and stopped at the grocery store to buy a few snacks. I chose brown sugar mochi & another random fruit that I didn't know. I still haven't had a chance to try it, so I don't even know how it looks on the inside, but I will post a photo to link you to the rest of the Day 1 album, Anybody know it?
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| Shepiguo, Shanghai: Day 1 |
Blocked...
As you may or may not know, the government here has intelligence specifically to look into activity on the internet, they block all forms of social networking, like facebook, blogs, youtube and most other things that make the internet fun. Luckily, thanks to a little help from my friends, namely Philip & Christoff, (thanks guys!) we've been able to get around that, sort of... hopefully things continue to work out.
Lauren was pretty surprised that she couldn't access facebook or twitter and has been using my computer a bit to get around the blocking. If you need to write to us, the best is through regular email or to post on the blog.
Lauren was pretty surprised that she couldn't access facebook or twitter and has been using my computer a bit to get around the blocking. If you need to write to us, the best is through regular email or to post on the blog.
Happy Birthday Jared & Barbara!
I'm sorry I'll be missing two of my favorite birthdays this year...
Barbara, I hope the weather is perfect for your BBQ!!
And Jared, enjoy the day with your friends!
Both of you, stay out of trouble.
xo
Barbara, I hope the weather is perfect for your BBQ!!
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And Jared, enjoy the day with your friends!
.JPG) |
Both of you, stay out of trouble.
xo
It's Saturday Afternoon in Shanghai
We made it!
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| A Sign welcoming us to Shanghai, we actually had to look for one, Lauren thought maybe it wasn't a very friendly country, but found it near customs, Shanghai: Day 1 |
A 15 hour flight from LAX to Hong Kong, arrived late, rushed to transfer to our Shanghai flight, crazy traffic coming from the airport, but we made it!
Just took a shower for the first time in what seems like forever, and am so happy to feel clean! A little recap of the adventures since the previous post. We boarded, late, we took off, late, we were served dinner at 1:45am, which was odd, but welcomed since I was sure we'd be hungry in the middle of the night. Just a little meal of airplane food, completely unmemorable, all things considered, but we ate, then slept. I think I got a fairly solid 4 hours in, which was pretty incredible for me. I watched several movies, The Blind Side, Up in the Air, An Education. A few episodes from this season of Big Bang Theory, played with the trivia and tetris games. It wasn't as bad as I thought. Got in a bit more sleep before "breakfast" was served. Fruit, yogurt, and a ham & egg croissant. Pretty plain, as one would expect from airplane food.
We arrived to Hong Kong late and had to make a pretty lengthy transfer to our next plane. We walked up while the signs were flashing "final call" but made it. It was an easy flight about an hour and a half, but we got a 2nd breakfast... I went with the "pork and rice roll" option over the omelette, since I had actually eaten breakfast foods, may as well have lunch, albeit at 9:45am. It was actually quite good, and I was introduced to a new white fruit with black specks, that look like small black sesame seeds. It was my intention to google it, but haven't had a chance... anyone know? Here's a photo (I won't bore you all too much with food photos, but if you care, the link to the album is below in the caption):
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| What is this Fruit? Airplane Food |
Customs was easy, we found our car, we hit some traffic, but grabbed a bit of a nap along the way, and have now connected to the wireless & showered up in time for a walk before dinner. More to come later on... if I can stay awake after dinner to write more.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Awaiting boarding at LAX
Spent the day in Laguna with Andrea and Kian, had coffee with Beak, lunch with Aaron, visited the Sea Lion rescue, drove up to LA to spend some time with some family at uncle Lem's cafe.
Now Lauren and I have been sitting in the airport for a long time, security was quick, I downloaded and edited all of my photos so far, but couldn't connect to wifi. We are waiting in the boarding area with 20 mins left before the plane is scheduled to take off. Thought I'd try a free blogging iPhone app while we wait.
By popular demand, mostly due to complaints, I changed the background color of the blog to make it more of a contrast to the text on the page... Congrats, complainers!
Sorry I didn't get to say more farewells in person or by phone, the time ran shorter than expected... Almost time to board, I'll write again from Shanghai!
Now Lauren and I have been sitting in the airport for a long time, security was quick, I downloaded and edited all of my photos so far, but couldn't connect to wifi. We are waiting in the boarding area with 20 mins left before the plane is scheduled to take off. Thought I'd try a free blogging iPhone app while we wait.
By popular demand, mostly due to complaints, I changed the background color of the blog to make it more of a contrast to the text on the page... Congrats, complainers!
Sorry I didn't get to say more farewells in person or by phone, the time ran shorter than expected... Almost time to board, I'll write again from Shanghai!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Hanging around in Laguna & LA
Was a treat to see some family in southern CA before I left town, just a few photos, nothing really noteworthy to say, other than it was nice to see those who I was able to see, and sorry I missed the rest!
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| After Lunch with my Siblings, Adolfos & Sea Lion Rescue |
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| Visiting the "Friends of the Sea Lions" Rescue Center Adolfos & Sea Lion Rescue |
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| Kian Rides a Sea Lion (statue) Adolfos & Sea Lion Rescue |
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| Lindsey, Jasper & Kian at the Cafe, Twiggs at the Cafe |
Back in CA
I arrived last night a bit before 8PM, Andrea and Kian were waiting for me with some Del Taco and we headed north to watch Clayton play some softball. Like any good Californian, my trip wouldn't be complete without making a visit to In-N-Out burger. I wasn't hungry, since we got there after 10PM, and it was after 1Am for me, but I did take a photo and have a bite of Andrea's cheeseburger. Kian got a paper hat which made for some other excellent photos. Let's see if my blogging skills include photo uploads.
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| Andrea's meal, In-N-Out |
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| Kian with his new hat and a french fry, In-N-Out |
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| Kian with Scott & Clayton, after their softball game, In-N-Out |
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
All packed & ready to go, until the Snafu!
The final pack was easier than I thought... the pre-pack definitely helped. I laid out all of the clothes that I thought I would want/need, into piles by category. All together probably would have been 3 weeks worth of outfits, socks, and other essentials. My sister called on Monday night and we went through each category, staging a mini-debate on what would make it into my carry-on sized suitcase that was meant to weigh 44lbs or less. Accomplished it quite quickly & efficiently, thanks, Ading!
On Tuesday night, after packing up the final bits, electronics, chargers, toiletries, etc., I called to say goodnight to Kian, and just as I was about to get in bed, I got an email & phone call from Jetblue saying that my flight to CA had been canceled. Early snafus with on a 16 day trip was not my idea of a great time... but my suitcase was packed, and I was ready to go, so I called Jetblue to handle it. They said due to bad weather in NYC, (according the weather on the 11 o'clock news NYC was expecting mid-60s temps and less than 10% chance of precipitation... apparently jetblue's weather service had different things to say) they needed to rebook me onto a flight on Friday night, which certainly wasn't going to work, since my flight to China left from LA on Thursday night. After being on hold for nearly 2 hours, looking at the clock seeing 3:24AM, I begged, pleaded, and cried a little until the woman with whom I was speaking did a little string pulling to get me onto a flight to San Diego. A little more driving for my sister, but at least I would make it to California. Thanks, again, Ading.
Now I'm sitting at JFK, waiting to board, it's warm enough to not wear a coat with my short sleeved shirt, and there isn't a cloud in the sky...way to predict those cancellations, Jetblue. But thank goodness for your free wi-fi!
On Tuesday night, after packing up the final bits, electronics, chargers, toiletries, etc., I called to say goodnight to Kian, and just as I was about to get in bed, I got an email & phone call from Jetblue saying that my flight to CA had been canceled. Early snafus with on a 16 day trip was not my idea of a great time... but my suitcase was packed, and I was ready to go, so I called Jetblue to handle it. They said due to bad weather in NYC, (according the weather on the 11 o'clock news NYC was expecting mid-60s temps and less than 10% chance of precipitation... apparently jetblue's weather service had different things to say) they needed to rebook me onto a flight on Friday night, which certainly wasn't going to work, since my flight to China left from LA on Thursday night. After being on hold for nearly 2 hours, looking at the clock seeing 3:24AM, I begged, pleaded, and cried a little until the woman with whom I was speaking did a little string pulling to get me onto a flight to San Diego. A little more driving for my sister, but at least I would make it to California. Thanks, again, Ading.
Now I'm sitting at JFK, waiting to board, it's warm enough to not wear a coat with my short sleeved shirt, and there isn't a cloud in the sky...way to predict those cancellations, Jetblue. But thank goodness for your free wi-fi!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Why Am I Going to China?
I sent along the link to the blog to some family and friends, last night & woke up to a lot of emails asking various questions, so rather than individually responding to each of you, I thought I'd address them here...
Most of the questions are about with whom I am traveling and why China?
I'm traveling with the Krinskys, my friend Lauren and her parents. For those of you who have known me for a long time, you know her. I've traveled with her family to places near and far, several trips around the states, to Colorado, Wyoming, Hawaii, Washington, and a few times to New York before I moved here. After high school we traveled to England/Ireland together and after college we went on a tour of the east coast of Australia.
So, for our 30th birthdays--last summer, Lauren's parents offered us a trip, anywhere in the world. We had some trouble deciding, sometimes the most open-ended questions are the hardest to answer. So we ended up deciding to tag along on with her parents and some of their friends. Should be an amazing time!
Most of the questions are about with whom I am traveling and why China?
I'm traveling with the Krinskys, my friend Lauren and her parents. For those of you who have known me for a long time, you know her. I've traveled with her family to places near and far, several trips around the states, to Colorado, Wyoming, Hawaii, Washington, and a few times to New York before I moved here. After high school we traveled to England/Ireland together and after college we went on a tour of the east coast of Australia.
So, for our 30th birthdays--last summer, Lauren's parents offered us a trip, anywhere in the world. We had some trouble deciding, sometimes the most open-ended questions are the hardest to answer. So we ended up deciding to tag along on with her parents and some of their friends. Should be an amazing time!
Monday, March 22, 2010
Itinerary Basics
3/24: Leave NY for CA, after work.
3/25: A little time with family & friends in CA.
3/26: 1AMish (PST) flight from Los Angeles to Hong Kong, change planes to Shanghai.
3/27-3/31: Shanghai
3/31-4/3: Hong Kong
4/3-4/5: Xian
4/5-4/9: Bejing
4/9: 10AM Bejing to Hong Kong, change planes, 4:15PM Hong Kong to Los Angeles, change planes 4:36PM (PST) LA to NY
4/10: 12:35AM (EST) land in NY
3/25: A little time with family & friends in CA.
3/26: 1AMish (PST) flight from Los Angeles to Hong Kong, change planes to Shanghai.
3/27-3/31: Shanghai
3/31-4/3: Hong Kong
4/3-4/5: Xian
4/5-4/9: Bejing
4/9: 10AM Bejing to Hong Kong, change planes, 4:15PM Hong Kong to Los Angeles, change planes 4:36PM (PST) LA to NY
4/10: 12:35AM (EST) land in NY
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Pre-packing...
Pre-packing isn't really a concept I've ever understood... traditionally being a procrastinator, but as it usually is, in getting ready for this trip, preparedness, or the extreme lack thereof seems to be the theme. Stakes being higher on this one, flights being longer, culture being vastly different, I'm feeling it more than usual. Lists help me feel more accountable. Thanks to a former project manager, I'll employ the ever popular color-coded done/not done method.
Expired passport -- renewed, check.
Planning flights -- travel agent for international, domestic by me, all booked, check.
Dual entry visa application -- handled by Marie, David's fab assistant, check.
Broken camera -- bought a new one, check.
Preparing my team at work for 12 work days without me -- in progress, hope to finish, pending check.
Luggage restrictions, carry on only, 44lbs or less, so I can buy things along my trip -- hence the need to pre-pack. Let's hope for a check on this one by Sunday night...
Also, started a blog, to publish my thoughts & photos along the way, let's see how it works out --done it, check.
Next steps:
Less than 4 days until CA, and 6 days until China!
Expired passport -- renewed, check.
Planning flights -- travel agent for international, domestic by me, all booked, check.
Dual entry visa application -- handled by Marie, David's fab assistant, check.
Broken camera -- bought a new one, check.
Preparing my team at work for 12 work days without me -- in progress, hope to finish, pending check.
Luggage restrictions, carry on only, 44lbs or less, so I can buy things along my trip -- hence the need to pre-pack. Let's hope for a check on this one by Sunday night...
Also, started a blog, to publish my thoughts & photos along the way, let's see how it works out --done it, check.
Next steps:
- find & post an automated count down.
- start new picasa account to host the photos.
- post itinerary.
- begin the pre-pack process.
- send the blog link to those who may care and others who may not.
Less than 4 days until CA, and 6 days until China!
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