Shanghai

This is almost the classic shot Shanghai is known for with the famous TV tower on the left. Toward the right you can see the Shanghai World Financial Center (the one that looks like a giant bottle opener). It is actually the tallest building in Shanghai right now until that building under construction next to it is finished. You may also notice another very popular tower, the security camera (lots of those around). On top of the wall you see is a wide walking area which I show in the next couple of pictures.

The view to the left...yes, lots of people...as far as the eye can see.

The View to the right...yes, lots of people...ok, you get it.

Here are some people you don't see in the above pics. My former colleagues from work who took me out for lunch. AT this point in the trip I hadn't seen a familiar face for over 3 weeks. Seeing them and enjoying their company and hospitality were a highlight of my trip.

And this shows a tiny part of that lunch. Everything was, I was told, Shanghai-style (as opposed to Cantonese, Hunan or Szechuan that you normally find in the US). Shanghai style is not spicy and a little sweet.
I hope I can repay the favor one day when they visit the US.

Najing Road has many nice shops. This is where the monied go to become less monied. Also, they go here to listen to guys in really loud jackets play less loud music.

Not far (i think east?) from Yuyuan Gardens (a nice little tourist trap area) I found street after street of local shops. Incredibly crowded and bustling with activity. This was a side street (a bit less crowded) looking back toward the "main" shopping street.

I always smile when I see a shop with a name I would not expect. In the US you might guess this was a software store. Here, they sell juice. This was just off Nanjing Rd.

No actual sleeping allowed here!

Let's Eat Tar! Woohoo!
(In all fairness, I think it actually says Let's Eat Taro.)

I took the overnight train from Shanghai to Beijing. I actually fit on the bed with maybe an inch to spare but since there was no place to put my pack (not the daypack shown in the pic), it stayed on the bed with me but did not reduce my ability to sleep. Compared to the overnight train from Vienna to Zurich, this was roomier and more comfortable.

It was a four bunk room and they give you four different colored pair of slippers to walk around in. They are clearly not made for 11EEE feet. :)

I mentioned that my pack being on the bed did not affect my sleep. That's partly because despite this being a passenger train, it sounded like a freight train (listen to the video above). The good news (as much as I hate to say it) was that with his sleep apnea, this guy would stop breathing for 30 seconds or more every so often. By around 2am I was tired enough to fall asleep during one of those respites and it takes more than a freight train to wake me in my first 3 hours of sleep.

This concludes (I think) my blogging for now. Until my next trip!

Me love you long tail

I wanted to post at least one normal picture from Bangkok. This is from one of the temple complexes (I think the one with the Emerald Buddha.) The picture really does not do the scene justice. Maybe if you zoom in you can see some of the incredible detail on the center and right buildings. And this is just a tiny section of a vast area of buildings like this. I think gobsmacked best describes how I felt.

Next we took a ride on a long tail boat. If you are not familiar with them they are long and narrow (like a gondola but longer). They harvest engines from cars or trucks, extend the driveshaft and stick a propeller on the end and then mount the whole thing on the back of the boat. Like something out of Junkyard Wars. In the mornings/evenings they are used by commuters and in between they give rides to tourists.

Here's a little clip from our ride. Note at the end our driver is talking on the phone though how he can hear is beyond me.

Did I mention the lizards? The giant monitor lizards? We saw a few of them lining the canals. And when I say "We saw" I mean our guide pointed to them and we stared and stared and eventually distinguished them from the rocks.

Yeah, I wasn't too sure what this was either as our V8 truck engine long tail wizzed by but I still like the pic enough to post it.

The reclining Buddha. (The World's Largest Reclining Buddha, I believe...there are a lot of "World's ____est Buddhas" in Thailand.) As our guide pointed out, Thai Buddhas are thin, unlike the Chinese Happy, Fat Buddhas. Each culture makes Buddha their own.

Here's a cool bridge. It is a single tower, asymmetric  cable-stayed bridge. Gave me a bit of a nerd-gasm.

If you've seen the little baby bananas at the store, these are much smaller. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to taste one (or ten). :(

We also had a ride on a tuk-tuk, the half-motorcycle, half rickshaw taxis of Bangkok. With no doors and a crazy driver, I felt like I took my life in my hands just trying to snap a picture.

Safety rules in Thailand are apparently open to interpretation. Such as "Workers must always wear a hardhat!"

No Lyin' City

Didn't have much time in Singapore (Lion City). We got into Singapore a bit late and customs was pretty ridiculous. So I wondered around admiring the architecture a bit. Singapore, which likely has the death penalty for looking at regular pornography, is architectural pornography. Here's a few highlights:

From the left: the double helix bridge, the Marina Bay Sands casino/hotel and whatever that white building that looks like a giant baseball glove.

Here's a shot from inside the double helix.

A good shot of the Marina Bay Sands cantilever. It hangs out more than 200 feet over the edge of the building below. If you zoom in, you can see the tiny people on top.

Singapore is short on land so here's the floating soccer pitch.

Coochie Coochie Coo

Here I am inside a tunnel in Cu Chi.

This is, I'm pretty sure, one of the enlarged tunnels as most Western tourists were simply too fat to fit through the original tunnels. Despite the enlargement I still had to duck walk my way through.

You may wonder why I'm wearing a hat inside a tunnel. The simple answer is that hair acts as an early warning signal something like "Hey, stupid, you're about to smack your head against the ceiling!" Lacking such a natural signal, I use a direct substitute. (Other people use an indirect substitute, like a Corvette, which says "Hey, you won't even notice my bald head if I drive an expensive car!")

Good Morning, Vietnam!

Quick monkey + limited attention span photographer =

At least she didn't throw her feces at me.

Easy to take a picture of was my coconut drink. The guy with the machete accomplished this in 4 whacks. First to flatten the bottom, then three to make a triangular opening on top. I was amazed he had all of his fingers still intact. I thought mine kind of looked like a face.

We also stopped off for some local fruit. On the plate is dragon fruit, watermelon, pineapple, mango and papaya. In my hand is a non-Cavendish banana. While green, it was perfectly ripe and incredibly banana-y.

Hong Kong Escalation

As we sat off the coast near Shanghai, I snapped these pics of current conditions (to save you the trouble, 46 knots is about 53mph):

And so we skipped Shanghai and motored down to Hong Kong to spend an extra day. One thing to do in Hong Kong is ride the Mid-level Escalators. Here's the start of them:

After the escalators I planned to walk over to the Peak Tram but ended up walking to Victoria Peak. Most of this journey was up Old Peak Rd. which at least in part, is closed to vehicles. It's pretty steep, maybe 1000 ft. elevation over a mile. Probably took me about an hour stopping for pictures.

 At 8pm sharp, a bunch of buildings put on a light show. Don't bother taking pictures, just watch the show. (I took about 30 pics, this was the best of the bunch). Also, don't kill yourself to see the show. Frankly, the escalators are more fun.

 I can't tell you how many people asked about Chinese junk. Yes, I saw one and it was bigger than I expected.

I did not see any used panty machines (Are those only in Tokyo?)

For Nagasaki, Japan, one of the major sites to see is Nagasaki Peace Park.I really expected something different.

And speaking of parking, I thought this was pretty ingenious. When you pull into the spot a metal barrier rises up preventing you from leaving until you pay at a central machine.

Of course, the parking machines should also have breathalyzers since the street beer vending machines do not.

I made mention of the ferris wheel in another post. Here's a picture from near the top.

Coming down the cable car (ropeway, as they call it) from Mt. Inasa, I saw what looked to be ruins or something. It was to far away for me to see so I snapped this zoomed picture but didn't look at it until I got home. Try to figure it out before clicking for the big version (in which it is pretty clear what this is).

A store for every insult

Here's a fairly typical shopping street in Busan, Korea. There is the NOX Lady Bar on the left but if you think that means something, you are probably confusing things with Bangkok.

And speaking of meaning something, there was this store.

Apparently there is (or was) some controversy about this subject in Korea not long ago but none that involved this store.

Temple of Heaven help us

All wheelchair ramps are not created equal.

Big Yak Attack

Did I mention eating at the Tibetan restaurant already? Regardless, here's the dish of yak medallions w/ broccoli and a Green Barley beer from Tibet. I admit I was expecting a bit more meat because it was yak. It had a texture like brisket and was quite savory. And it did not make me yack.

15 Minutes of Fame

I wrote about this before. I snapped this pretty late in the game. You can clearly see two people taking my picture, plus the one on the left who is looking at the picture her friend (the guy holding the handbag, somethings in this world are universal) just took.

I think part of this is certainly my height as I was clearly the tallest person in the Forbidden City at the time. (BTW-I would like to thank the 6'9" in Shanghai for taking the heat off me.) And part of it might just be that when someone takes a picture of a stranger other people might assume the stranger is some kind of celebrity.

Overall, it was nice to have people ask for my picture for a few minutes but it quickly became tiresome. And when no one wanted my picture later in the trip, it was a bit of a bummer. I think that's enough fame for me.

Here is a peek at a Mandarin Duck. Not to be confused with a man eating Peking Duck. (taken in Forbidden City, Beijing)

Domo Arigato, Mr. Vibrato

I have some catching up to do. This photo was taken in the bathroom of my hotel in Beijing. The obvious joke is on the right where the Not Free Vibrated & Condom can be seen. But the real gem to me was the Vigor 6+1 (not 7!) Wash Set. Hmmm, maybe it was funnier after 22 hours of flying/layovers.

As a side note, my hotel in Shanghai did not have buttons for the 4th, 13th or 14th floors reflecting a combination Chinese tetraphobia and Western triskaidekaphobia. I stayed on the 8th floor (lucky to Chinese) which was really the 7th floor (lucky apparently to everyone).

Almost home

For the train ride last night through the 13 hour flight today, I wore my glasses. Just now, in a Newark airport bathroom, I put in my contacts. Felt a little like a secret agent.

I'm assuming the charlie foxtrots at the airports are a misguided, knee jerk response to the pressure cooker bombs?

Another check mark

Cross "use a squat toilet" off my list. (For those wondering, it was number 1 on my list, not number 2.)
I'm proud to say I was not one of the people who can't aim.

Wait. It was Mr. Miyagi!

The fame I found in Beijing by being so tall has long ago waned. Now I still get stares but it usually is a look up at me, a glance down at my feet (maybe checking for high heels?) then another glance up. Like you might look at a tall building.

Otherwise nobody pays much notice except the people offering "masagi". My first thought was this was something you should not get wet or feed after midnight. It became clear when I was offered a beautiful girl masagi. I did finally figure out an easy way to quickly end the solicitation. I ask them "Sprechen Zie Deutsch?"

Yet another self portrait

My last day in Shanghai. Taking the sleeper train to Beijing tonight then flying home.
I will see many of you soon.

No sign of General Tso's chicken yet

One day to go. And while I've thoroughly enjoyed the food, the locales and the relaxing, the best part has been the people. Helpful locals, friendly shipmates, great tour guides and, today, former coworkers.

I feel sorry for xenophobes.

World famous skyline from The Bund