no tai chi

We wanted to get up early on Saturday to see Tai Chi being done at the Bund, but we didn't actually want to get up early. So we left about 9 AM - and that is way too late too see Tai Chi! I think they say sunrise but that is about 5 AM. I like to sleep much more than that.


(Esther's photos)

Finestre

We took Esther to supper at Finestre her first night here. It has great food and a great view - we actually take all of our guests here.

Why Daktronics needs to be in China... check out ALL of the LED lighting! Buildings, boats, etc.

The Bund

more rooftop photos....

Esther saw my photos from the roof so wanted to take some of her own. That challenged me to get some better ones!

Qibao

Today, Esther flew in! She took a 2 AM flight from Bangkok to Shanghai and I met her at the Maglev station. After relaxing a bit, we met Jon for lunch and then went to Qibao, an area that is like an old water town. It was a little bit touristy, but we only saw 4 other white people in about 3 hours so it was quite local.



One of the thousands of guys who bike around, constantly ringing a bell, to remind you to bring all of your recyclables to him.



Baby birds on a stick... yum.

We've been following the situation in Thailand, as Esther should be flying back there Sunday. However, with the state of emergency and such, maybe she'll be staying a bit longer! Who knows. We certainly wouldn't mind!

Check out her blog here.

Susan's Pearls

At the Hongqiao Pearl City is a shop called Susan's Pearls. We buy all of our pearls there and take all of our Dak guys there to buy pearls for their wifes, girlfriends, moms, etc. We actually are such good customers that we don't have to bargain anymore. Jon S. took these photos to go along with the gifts.



If anyone needs any type of pearls, just email me! I would love to start a business exporting them. They are so inexpensive here and so valuable in the US.

Fisheye view from the roof

We went up to the roof to watch the sunset. It didn't actually sink behind the buildings, but quite aways above them where the smog covered everything. The fisheye captures 180 degrees but distorts everything. It can have some cool effects.

Steve and Jon looking out to Zhongshan Park.

The guys were debating if they hit golf balls from the roof, could they land on the track at the girls' school below? Things soon got into discussions of trajectory and such... engineers....

Construction site

We had a big storm with lots of lightning, and took about 80 photos with exposures of 30 seconds each, trying to get a shot with a lightning strike. Unfortunately it was pretty much just the lightning that lit up the whole sky. I do like the stars of light from this construction site though!

Another time lapse

Yet another one... I think maybe they are all too similar!
But I still really like the view of Shanghai from our balcony.

Harley-Davidson Shanghai

Chad needed to go to the Shanghai Harley-Davidson store to pick up gifts for his family. There are stores in Beijing, Qingdao and Shanghai.

Chad and Jon with the owner of the store. He pulled up on his bike just as we were leaving. He must have some REALLY good guanxi - bikes are actually illegal inside of Shanghai's 3rd elevated road and have to be registered in Beijing.

We stumbled upon a park a couple blocks from the store so decided to check it out. It was a little strange - it didn't seem like a Chinese park at all. Here we even got the whiff of freshly cut grass. That's not something you experience very often in Shanghai.

The park was pretty much empty too - this is very unusual!

the Radisson Sky Bar

When Hanna and Henrik were here, we looked at the Radisson bar from the Le Meridian and thought it "looked pretty cool." We decided to try it.

Upon arrival, we decided it wasn't cool. There was a band from the Philippines, singing cheesy songs and doing bad dancing.

Chad and Jon hurrying to finish their drinks so we could leave. :-)


"Silver threads and golden needles..."


More dancing/singing madness...

This guy was great.... permed mullet, fanny pack, orange pants and what appeared to be a Wii guitar.

A bath on Nanjing Lu

I was a little surprised to see this guy taking a bath on Nanjing Lu. He was standing in his underwear and was using a hose in a planter to fill a red bucket, then dumping the water over himself. You can see anything on the streets here!

789 Nanjing Lu

Jon, Chad and I went to 789 Nanjing Lu on Friday night. It was a pretty clear night so we had a decent view. But, it wasn't a very good atmosphere so we left after 1 drink.

Up on the roof

We went up to the roof so I could get a time lapse video of the sunset. I had to do the time laspe by hand because my laptop was dead. That sucked.

Inge's photo - I really like the angle.

Another of Inge's photo - good eye. I would have never thought to take photos of the dishes (all perfectly legal, I'm sure) but the it turned out well.

Zhongshan Park (I took this one.)

Jiangsu Lu is the street you can see (all of the orange-looking light.)

Time laspe from the roof

Fashion Friday from a fellow blogger

This is probably the best post on fashion I've seen. Don't miss it!!

Propaganda Poster Museum

We also went to the Propaganda Poster Museum. It's a private collection and we met the owner. A lot of the posters were destroyed right after the Cultural Revolution so it was pretty amazing to see so many posters from throughout so many years.

We bought this one - it's a unique one because it is felt.

the Shanghai Aquarium

Today Inge, Jon and I got up fairly early and went to the Shanghai Aquarium. Unfortunately it wasn't a pleasant experience.


There were thousands of people, and it is not the culture to stand back and let everyone have a look. Instead, everyone tries to push their way to the front to see. I guess the mentality is if you don't fight for it, you won't get it. Parents would throw their kids up against the glass for photos and bang on the glass (as the signs clearly forbid.) There were thousands of kids screaming with excitement - it was just a bit too much for us.

Sky in Shanghai

On Wednesday I saw tons of people taking photos in the street with their cell phones. A LOT of people. I looked up and saw a rainbow! Now, you'll recall that almost none of my photos have a clear blue sky in them. Mostly, they are foggy or smoggy. So a rainbow was really special.

I couldn't resist getting a photo of everyone else getting photos!

My co-worker Yvonne (she's Shanghainese) said that she remembers seeing one other rainbow, when she was in elementary school. Just shows how special a rainbow in the Shanghai sky is!

Era - Shanghai Circus World

Last night we saw "Era" with Dan and Wendy. It was amazing!! It is an acrobat show similar to Cirque de Soleil but with a very Chinese style.

You aren't supposed to take video, but you can find anything on YouTube.




These guys were amazing. Super flexible and they did about 3 different scenes that were amazing - the first one was like the West Side Story gangs.




This was the finale. It's a Death Cage with eight motorcycles in it! When there were four motorcycles, they start crossing paths and we actually saw a wreck. Two collided and had to be taken out. The guys seemed OK but one of the motorcycles didn't roll out. They promptly added two more and did the trick, then added two more so six circled all over (no crossing!) and then two more came in and circled at the bottom. Just crazy.

Glasses Market

I'd read about the glasses market a while ago and wanted to go, but we'd never made it there yet. Hanna had bought 2 pairs of glasses in Beijing and decided she wanted to look at some more, so we made our way there one afternoon. It is in the Railway Station Metro stop, exit 3 or 4. Glasses are about 150 RMB, or more if you want the expensive lenses.

There were thousands of choices from probably hundreds of vendors. You can either bring your prescription or have their person test you. They also have sunglasses and contacts, though Jon is quite dubious about the quality. (Remember the tainted and recalled contact solution in the US that was manufactured in China?) Hanna was quite happy with her glasses and the price was about 1/5th of what we'd expect in the West.

the Pearl TV Tower

Thursday it finally stopped raining for a while! Jon went to work while we went site seeing. We went to the Pearl TV Tower first.

On the right is the Jin Mao tower, and the taller tower is the World Financial Center.

There are 3 different levels of the TV tower you can go to. The lowest level even has a roller coaster in it.


The museum has a bunch of miniatures in it from different periods throughout Shanghai's history.

The Bund Site-Seeing Tunnel (aka The Disco Tunnel) is a tunnel decorated with super-cheesy, migraine-inducing lights. It costs 40 RMB to go through, while the subway costs 3 RMB. However, it is right on the Bund while the subway forces you to walk back several blocks, so if you can afford it it is worth taking.

The classic view of the Pudong skyline.
(All Hanna's photos, once again!)

View of Shanghai

I merged together about 5 photos Hanna took from the TV tower together. Click on the photo to see a large panorama of the view.

Roof-top dining over the Bund

Wednesday the weather cleared up a little so we decided we HAD to take advantage of that. Emily made reservations for Finestre, a restaurant on a roof-top terrace overlooking the Bund.





The atmosphere was the best of any place we've ever eaten in Shanghai. It may have been the company, the view, the food, the wine.... or most likely all of the above! We'll definitely be going back sometime.

the Maglev

The Maglev (short for Magnetic Levitation) is the fastest train in the world. It connects the Pudong airport to Line 2 of the metro system. Jon and I take it to the airport whenever we don't have much baggage because it is a lot faster than waiting in traffic, especially since our apartment is right on Line 2.

Besides being a convenient option to get to the airport for locals, it is a tourist attraction. I've never actually taken a photo of it, but Hanna and Henrik did.... They rode it during a rainy day. it was a good way to get out of the wetness.

Springtime!

I'm very sorry if you are in South Dakota right now, suffering through the blizzard! Here in Shanghai it is really nice. No-coat weather! Jon and I took a few walks this weekend.

This is a very common sight in summer. The guys just take a little nap whenever and where-ever they feel like it.

This is at Jing'An Park, which is just one subway stop down from our house. I'd never actually been in the park before.

Abram's motorcycle

My co-worker Abram just bought a motorcycle with a sidecar. It's a replica of one used by the military in Mao's day. It's pretty popular with foreigners - both Dan and Jon really want one! Yesterday we saw a whole family of foreigners on one. The dad was driving with one kid on the seat behind him, and the mom and baby were riding in the sidecar.

Jon S. and Abram.

Ning and Abram.

Mahjong

Wendy and Daniel came over on Friday night to have a few drinks and Wendy taught us all to play Mahjong. It was a lot of fun and I think we all managed to win one game so we were getting the hang of it. I'm sure we'll be having a lot more game nights in the future.

Spring in Shanghai

It was nice enough today to just wear a sweatshirt. These row houses are right next to our apartment complex. They also taken all of the burlap wrapping off of the trees.

These things are cabbages! We noticed they were planted in winter, and for a few months they just sat there, in the ground, looking like cabbages. (It seemed a little strange to us to use cabbage as a decorative plant.) Now the tops have grown out a lot and they look fine.

More potato chip flavors - Stewed Eggplant and Fish with Onions! I am happy to report that they both taste good. Luckily, they taste nothing like fish!

Photomerge

I discovered the Photomerge tool in CS3 - it is pretty sweet. It does an excellent job of stitching together photos! The image above was made of 4 photos taken off our balcony. A couple weeks ago the sky was actually blue, so I had to capture it.

US visitors

A group of six Executive MBA students came to the office today to learn about business in China. Their small group was doing research on keeping mid-level management employees in China. They were part of a larger group of about 80 students, who all were getting their EMBAs at a school in Chicago.

A woman named Samantha is from Sioux Falls, and knows a woman who works in Personnel at the Dak office there, which is how she found out about Dak Shanghai. Another guy in their group, Jeff, had previously lived in Suzhou for two years. It was great talking to them, but we hardly had any time.

Later I met them at their hotel. The whole group had gone to the fabric market and bought many clothes. Unfortunately, about half of them didn't fit at all. The guys who made the clothes still wanted them to pay for everything and take it, but of course they didn't want to. This caused quite the common and they were pretty persistent.

I'd been telling Rob and Chris about all of the places Jon and I have traveled to, and they asked just how old I was. I guess I don't look old enough to have been to 27 different countries. :-) I told them was my birthday and they bought me a glass of champagne to celebrate.

Haircut

Today I got my hair cut. I've went to a salon in Shanghai twice since I moved, but even though they say they speak English, there is definitely a communication barrier. (They couldn't believe I wanted dark color in my hair instead of blonde - I'd asked for lowlights - so they didn't make it darker than my natural color.)

I'd just read about the Vidal Sassoon opening a salon and academy here, so I signed up for a free haircut. It was done by a student, under the guidance of a teacher who was Italian. It took all morning, but that was OK. I was the only white person and only one with fine, curly hair there. The instructor asked me to come back and bring some friends with hair like mine since they needed more varied hair types.

My stylist was from Singapore - she spoke excellent English and was very nice. This isn't a good photo of the new 'do; I'll post a better one later. One part that was pretty funny was that the instructor showed them how to use mousse and called it a "new" product because you can't get it here. He said I shouldn't use gel cause it is too heavy. Anyone who is sending me a care package, please send mousse!! :-)

Everyone wanted to take their photo with me! I asked my stylist what they did with the photos and she said, "They blow them up." Apparently they will enlarge a print and hang them on their wall, and perhaps claim they are good friends with me.... They all had to stand behind me and pretend to be spraying my hair, then took photos with their arms around me, then closeups of my hair... I am so famous here.

Pete in Shanghai

The Keyframe Manager from Brookings, Pete, came to visit Shanghai for the first time. He was only here for 2 days before we went to Macau, but we got to show him a few things.

Pete and Abe at the Bridge of Nine Turns in Yuyuan Gardens.

The view from Le Meridian (also known as "The Taser") down Nanjing Lu.

Lantern Day

Jon and I met Lura and Rachel at their hotel bar to say goodbye. We heard fireworks going off in front of the hotel so ran out to see what was going on. It was "Lantern Day", the 15th day of the Chinese New Year. The fireworks were loud and big up close, but nothing compared to the actual Chinese New Year.

SDARL

Jon and I, along with Dan, spoke to the SDARL group Wednesday morning. We talked about Daktronics and our move and lives in China. It was really nice to see 37 people from our home state! My dad was part of the class before them, and mom and dad have hosted the whole group before, so everyone knew me as John's daughter. Being South Dakotans, we all had some type of tie to each other. My dad fed cattle for Erik, Anita lived in Belle Fouche and happened to be someone Jon's dad had thought about calling to AI cattle, one man's mom lived a few miles from my house, etc. etc. It's a small world, even from South Dakota to Shanghai.

Rachel and Lura were good friends of ours since high school. We were all in FFA together. It was pretty amazing to see them in Shanghai! Luckily, they had their only free night that night! We took them to supper at Simply Thai and then had a drink at their hotel bar. We also showed them our apartment.

Rachel said she'd wished that she had brought some jeans - they didn't have very many chances to wear them so she didn't bring any. I happened to have a couple pairs that are now too big for me, and they happened to fit her perfectly. She has my favorite pink corduroy pants too - I am so happy they went to a good home! Lura got a few shirts too. We had a good trade though. Earlier we had discussed how I bring back Western "feminine products" from the US since stores only have maxi pads, so they left me some western products. :-)

Rachel, me and Lura on our balcony. They agreed that the view was great!

Lura works for the Tri-State Neighbor and was keeping a blog about the whole trip. Jon and I were mentioned several times and have photos of us (and our kitchen) in it. We really hope they can come back and visit personally!

Thursday, I escorted two of the group members to a clinic here. One of them had been sick for several days, vomiting and with diarrhea. The doctor got her hydrated again with six bags of a saline IV. They were worried about her kidneys and blood pressure but luckily she improved enough to fly to Hong Kong with the rest of the group the next day. She was a trooper - she had me take photos of her with the IV and with her nice nurse Amy!

End of Chinese New Year

Well, maybe it is almost the end. Last night there were just as many fireworks as the first night!

I used my fish-eye lens this time, so you can see 180 degrees out over the city. First there were just a few in the background...

About 11:30 the city started exploding again and didn't let up until about 12:30.

Zhongshan Park

Today Jon and I went Geocaching in Zhongshan Park. We did a multi-cache and a micro cache. Almost all of the caches in China are micro caches - due to the number of people they tend to get muggled frequently. It was the first time we've been geocaching in Shanghai, and the first time we've been to the park. We think in the summer the place must just be packed! We were surprised at the amount of people out and about today.