SWFC

Last weekend we went to the SWFC (Shanghai World Financial Center, aka the Bottle Opener) with our Couch Surfers Marion and George. Unfortunately we enjoyed our meal at DaMarco a little too long, and the lights of the Jin Mao and Pearl TV Tower were already turned off. Be sure to arrive there well before 10:00 if you go at night!

Solar Eclipse

It was raining for the eclipse, so we couldn't see the sun at all. We also couldn't see the shadow falling across the city. However, it was pretty cool to see the city plunge into darkness at 9:36 for over 5 minutes.

Here is a time lapse I took of the eclipse.

Solar Eclipse in Shanghai, July 22, 2009 from Emily Minor on Vimeo.

The story behind Haibao

Haibao is the mascot for the upcoming world Expo in 2010. We always though he was just a cheesey cartoon character. However, at the Urban Planning Museum, we did find out he has a somewhat interesting story.

Haibao is in the shape of the Chinese character for "people." The ocean blue color reflects the robust dynamism of China and the ocean-sized bosom of the Chinese people who embrace the whole world.

I particularly like the "ocean-sized bosom" part. (So many slogans or captions here are just too much.) Feel free to read the whole text in the photo below.

The Urban Planning Museum

The Urban Planning Museum has been on our to-do in Shanghai list for a couple years. When Bettina said she'd like to go, we decided to join her and cross it off that list!

It seems to be open every day until 6 PM. Different websites say different things, but the official site says 6 PM. (The official English site doesn't work.) If you exit the subway at People's Square from Exit #3, on line 1 or 8, you are at the base of the museum.

The whole museum had lots of interactive LCD displays, backlit info panels, and models for everything.

One annoying thing was that many titles had English translations, but none of the body of the text was translated! (This annoys me about magazines too. They'll have Chinese and English titles on the cover, but only Chinese inside.)

The model of the inner city of Shanghai is a highlight. It's very cool. This photo was taken from the 3rd floor, looking down at it.

See the building that is taller than the WFC (the bottle opener)? They are just beginning construction on it, so it's a bit strange that it's already in the model. Online, it says that the "clear plastic models" are planned buildings, but I didn't see anything in the museum mentioning that.

This is what the exhibition grounds for the World Expo in 2010 will look like.

These are our apartment buildings, but they look nothing like the actual buildings do! The roof has nothing like that, same with the round holes in the sides.

One cool part was on floor MF (between 1F and 2F). There were many old photos of Shanghai. Two LCD screens had simultaneous photos of Shanghai, taken from the same viewpoint, but years apart.

Storming in Shanghai

Right after the boat turned around, the storm started rolling in. It came in quick and made everything very dark and spooky.


It looks like a set from a movie set in the future!


About 10 seconds after I took this photo, the Pearl Tower was hit by lightning. The streak was white hot and probably the thickest lightning bolt I've ever seen. For a minute I wondered if it really hit it, but another American guy saw it strike it too. I did not want to be on the water then.

I took a ton more photos, trying to capture some lighting but failed. Silly me, I should have just turned on the HD video part of my camera and could have gotten something cool that way! I forget I have that feature now.

Huangpu River Cruise

Last Saturday, our Couchsurfer Sonja went on a river cruise with one of her friends, and I also joined them. I've never done this in the two years we've lived in Shanghai, so it was about time I did. It cost 50 RMB for about an hour on the boat.

The Bund is all torn up. You can no longer walk along the river (which I didn't know. Oops.) Normally, you'd see crowds of people here, all taking a photo of their self with the Pearl Tower in the background.




This is a view of the IFC and Jin Mao that you don't see often.

Hotel Equipment Store

I think this is one of Shanghai's best-kept secrets as to where to find Western kitchen things! If only I'd have known to go here when we first moved to Shanghai, instead of buying everything at IKEA. *sigh*

This store has everything, and you don't have to buy 20 of everything. Anything you can imagine needing in a hotel, restaurant, or bar - it's here. Fake fruit, napkins, tablecloths, glasses, silverware, serving utensils, massive refrigerators, sinks, ovens, those big gas outdoor patio heaters, bells to ring for service... it's all here and inexpensive. Three floors of fun! (The 2nd to 4th floor, in case you notice the 4F sign further down.)

Address: 345 Aomen Lu, near Jiangning Lu
澳门路345号近江宁路

Claire and Bonnie have a custom baking business called "Sweet Bon-O-Mine." They are expanding and looking for a small, inexpensive kitchen space - let me know if you have any guanxi to find this!

Bakeware... I'm going to have to come back and get some casserole dishes.

The 4th floor is where to find all of those baking supplies you can't find in Shanghai. Including cookie cutters, icing decorating bags and tips, pans, molds, rolling pins, etc.

I just love Lock'n'Lock containers. I bought this size of container at Tesco and it was about 80 RMB. Here it was 28 RMB!!!

Look, even a wedding gift set. If only I had more cupboard space.

Ever wonder where the bars get hundreds of dice for the dice games? Neither did I. But, apparently they buy them here!

Happy customers!

50 Moganshan Lu

Moganshan is Shanghai's art district and filled with galleries and artists' studios. It's the only place in Shanghai where there is graffiti.

Longhua Cemetery of Revolutionary Martyrs 龙华烈士陵园

Sunday we went geocaching at the Longhua Cemetery of Revolutionary Martyrs. We spent a lot of time looking for the cache, due to the fact that I'd downloaded the coordinates several months ago and then they moved the cache to a new location! Good thing for smartphones with internet capibility to confirm coordinates with the website. Because of that, we didn't get to look around as much as we'd have liked to - maybe another time.

2887 Longhua Xi Lu, Xuhui near Kaixuan Nan Lu
龙华西路2887号 近凯旋南路




I've never seen a Chinese guy with such rippling muscles!

One of the things where we shake our heads and say "Only in China." I'm sure the sign says something like "Don't be stupid and walk off this ledge."

Propaganda Poster Museum

Jon and I have been here before, but the posters get changed around and also we like to support this guy's effort. It's a personal collection of Propaganda Posters, most of which were supposed to be destroyed after the Cultural Revolution. It's just 20 RMB for entrance to the tiny, two-room museum.

It's a little hard to find. First, go to 868 Huashan Lu, near Fuxing Lu. 华山路868号， 近复兴西路 The guard will hand you a card with a little map on the back. You'll go to the right (north?) side of the complex to Building B. Then, just go down one floor and to the left.


We usually buy something there. Last summer we bought this poster, and just now finally got around to getting it framed! You can buy an original English copy of the "Little Red Book" for 300 RMB. I didn't realize that many copies were printed in other languages to spread Mao's view on communism.

It was printed in 1968 and says: The Working Class Must Lead All The People

Gorillapod

The Gorillapod is awesome. I've wanted one for a while but waited to order it until we were in the US. They have copies here, but they are nowhere near the quality. It neatly wraps around a pole or the legs adjust any way to create a sturdy tripod. Here Randy is using mine to take photos off the roof. He ordered one for himself the next day. :-)

Another good thing about the company is they offer eco-packaging. If you don't need it to come in all that plastic, it is cheaper too!

Flat Stanley in Shanghai

Caleb's 3rd grade class is doing their Flat Stanley project. Flat Stanley was waiting in our mailbox when we were in the US for so long, so we tried to take him a lot of places in a short amount of time.

Boots meets Flat Stanley.

Flat Stanley liked our view. He was surprised that he could see the pollution in Shanghai - he'd never seen anything like it back in South Dakota.

We took him to see the famous view of Pudong from the Bund.

Flat Stanley also got to ride the subway for the first time. He was glad they had the English name beside the Chinese name.

Flat Stanley on Nanjing Lu, which is similar to New York's Times Square.

Flat Stanley and the Pearl TV Tower.

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.

Balloon vendors are on many of the street corners, not just in the park.

I think it would be impossible to go to a park without see many people flying kites.

Ballroom dancing also can be seen many places. It is a form of excercise, just like Tai Chi. The Bund in the early morning is supposed to be the best place to see hundreds of people doing Tai Chi or ballroom dancing.

We were surprised at the number of activities in the park. We were really surprised to see the bumper boats going, with water spraying and squirt guns in the front of the boat. Too cold!!

This was a self-propelled ride. The two people in each cart had to pedal to make their way around the track. Jon repeated his vow to never go on a ride in China. There was also a small roller coaster. (It was really small, just a child's ride.)

Fireworks on Chinese New Year

The fireworks on Chinese New Year were the craziest thing we've ever seen!! We watched the WHOLE city explode for about 30 minutes. Imagine 20 million people all setting off fireworks at the same time... After about 20 minutes the smoke blocked our view of all but the closest ones. Check it out!!



Our apartment people set off a lot too. They were really close to the balcony!

Walk around the French Concession

When Holly was here we followed a suggested walk in our guidebook. It took us all over the French Concession. It was cool to see that part of town and read about the history. I guess it's a good thing to be a tourist in your own town every once in a while. We really had a good time but our legs were very tired by the end of the day!

A woman doing Tai Chi in the park.

You will always see people flying kites in the park.

This is a Russian Orthodox church. It is not in use anymore.

We discovered that you can go up to the 38th floor and then walk up a flight and out onto the roof! This is on the other side of our building. It seems much, much higher than our apartment!

Holly and Jon, freezing on the roof

A interesting fact is that a lot of buildngs do not have the number 4 on any of the floors. Our building doesn't have a 4, 14, 24, or 34. 4 is a very unlucky number - similar to the Western belief that 13 is unlucky.

At the Portman

Jon, Holly and I went to the Portman one night for "a" drink. Holly and I had a drink but Jon had a few. :-) It has a great atmosphere but is pretty expensive!

One of the interesting things about the Portman is that the rocks glasses are pre-tilted. No drinking required to question your depth perception. :-)

Yuyuan Gardens

Some photos from Yuyuan Gardens when Holly was here. I can just imagine when it was a private garden. I can imagine myself being a lady of leisure and reading or doing crafts in many different areas of the garden, watching the kids run around the ponds and climb the rocks.

Yuyuan Gardens Part 2

Cloud 9

A few weekends ago, Jon and I went out for sushi with our friend Daniel. Then we all went to see his girlfriend, Wendy, and her dancing class belly dance. After that we went to the Grand Hyatt, which has a bar called Cloud 9 on the 87th floor. This photo was taken on the 85th floor looking down to the 56th floor.

It was a pretty nice place to chill out. We had a good time with Daniel and Wendy!

Street Meat

This guy was on the street one day and I said I wished I had my camera out quick enough. A few days later, my boss Dan got the photo. He said: Right on the main road. You pick out your chicken or pigeon, and he butchers it right there. Mmm Mmm Good.

Happy New Year

Jon and I celebrated by going out for hamburgers and a bottle of wine. Then we watched a few fireworks shows from our balcony,

Have a great 2008!

Holly visiting

My friend Holly has been visiting us for the last few days. She used to work at Dak (and was my boss in IT.) Now she lives in Beijing and teaches English. She came to visit and we toured the town. Here we are at the Bund.





This is Nanjing Lu - the "Times Square" of Shanghai.

Around Yuyuan Gardens

Traditional red lanterns on the "street of small commodities."

Street food - grilled chicken and squid.

Making bouzi... (steamed dumpling.) Very famous and tasty!

Looking out from Yuyuan Garden

There is one spot in Yuyuan Garden that you can climb up on some rocks and stand over the wall, looking down to the street below. I took a few photos and noticed a guy was watching everything, including me, below. I looked at him, smiled and waved a few times, then finally smiled and pointed to my camera. He gave me the thumbs up sign, so I snapped a photo of him.



I am not sure why I like to take photos of laundry so much. Probably because back home, everyone has dryers and you'd never see someone's underwear outside of their house. It is so cold to leave clothes outside now!

Jing'an Temple

Jing'an Temple is just a subway stop away from our house. Jon and I have never been inside the temple, but I thought it would be a good time to go and take Holly! It wasn't anything too special, but I do like some of the photos I took.




An ad for crazy expensive jewelery is just above the temple. Ironic, don't you think?

Jing'an Temple

Incense sticks burning

Throwing money into the.... thingy.....

Mid-throw!

Darkness falling over Shanghai

It's not really a sunset due to the clouds and pollution!

Las Tapas

Last Friday, Jon got some good news so Dan and Sai invited us out to celebrate. (I can't say what it is until it's been announced officially.) We went to an "Entertainment Street" near their new house with lots and lots of restaurants and bars. We ate at a place called Las Tapas and we thought the food was great! The sangria was not made traditionally at all, and not that good, but really potent. Think jungle juice.

500th post

Wow... this is my 500th post. Half-way to 1,000! If you keep following my journey, I am sure you will see 1,ooo posts someday.

I don't have anything groundshaking to say. I'm still blogging about my life in China. If you weren't interested, you probably wouldn't be reading still. I hope that you are learning about people and places outside of your comfort zone. And, if you'd like to visit, I'd be happy to act as your host someday.

The below photos show just what Shanghai is like now. I took these on the way to a furniture store near our house. A few months ago, this was all old Shanghai - old homes. Now, it's a field of rubble, with squatters still there and within a week or two, huge skyscrapers will be rising from the ashes.

Fireworks

On the 23rd, we hear fireworks going off for about an hour. We finally decided maybe we should see what was going on. It was when Paris Hilton was here for a fashion show, so we decided it was probably that. It definitely was the largest firework display either Jon or I had every seen!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving night was spent at The Spot, a bar on Tongren Lu. Dan, Sai, David (Dak sales from Hong Kong) and I waited for Jon, who was just getting back from Beijing. We didn't have turkey, but did have some good dips and other appetizers. The menu is huge (literally!) but no turkey.

Castle Oktober

Some older photos, from October 27th.

Dan, Judd (senior project manager from Dak US) and Jon at Castle Oktober. It's a beautifully-restored old building, now a restaurant with a great garden. It was built by a Chinese general in the 30's, taken by the government and was the Taxation Bureau office until recently.

Dan and Jon dress freakishly similar. In the office, they somehow manage to wear the same color striped dress shirts and cuff links nearly every day. Even on the weekend, they both show up in Tommy Bahama t-shirts. I'm sure they'd say "great minds think alike."

Actually, they said, "There's not many places in China with clothes big enough for us!"

Aggressive Beggars

The last time I blogged on begging, I got flamed by some Anonymous person. If you are going to personally attack me, at least have enough guts to leave your name. Obviously, this person didn't know me, or they would have known where I give money or donate time. Yes, I do mostly blog about positive or things that I think are interesting to others. I don't blog about the evenings I eat a sandwich for supper and spend the night working. I blog about the times I go somewhere and try something new. Hence, it may seem that my life here is all fun and games, when in reality I just try to show the interesting things.

Anyway, one night we were at Malone's, sitting outside. We had front row seats to what was pretty much a circus. I used the ISO 3200 setting on my point-and-shoot, hence the grainy shots. We watched a large group of beggars hassle everyone who walked by. They tried to use the kids to gain sympathy. Once as we walked by, a woman asked for money and on cue the kid starts fake coughing. A man was hovering nearby, clearly the "ringleader" of the group. If there was any trouble (such as some Chinese people demanding they leave) he disappeared.

These kids saw me taking a photo so their mom sent them over. I took this photo and then gave them some money.

This guy was just wasted and could hardly walk. The kids attacked his legs, sat on his feet and clung to him. That seems to be crossing the line.

The kids also were constantly running across the street. Never did an adult stop them or tell them to look before crossing. Traffic is crazy here and the rule is that cars have the right-of-way. I am afraid they were thinking, "One less mouth to feed..." Does China have a Child Services department? (I thought I heard that they have laws about taking care of your parents, but none about taking care of your children. But I have absolutely no facts back that up.)

This lady (right) was at least trying to sell something to make some money. Then a "working girl" came and was trying to sell something else. We saw the negotiation, then they left together. Ewww.

The whole evening bothered me quite a bit. I went home to try to find some more information about homelessness and ways to help in Shanghai. What I mostly found was information on how it is a choice for most of them.

A highlight of one story, based on the work of a high-school girl:

'Huang said that 63 of the people she interviewed were "occupational beggars" who were not wandering alone in the streets because of a lack of money or accommodation. Staff at a government homeless shelter told Huang that about 80 percent of the street people in Shanghai were occupational beggars.

"Considering their income, I can only conclude that some beggars are occupational. They view begging as a job. The reason for them to live such a humble lifestyle is the 'high pay, less labor' mentality." '

Shanghai published a guide on how to spot beggars that are trying to deceive you.

Old story about Shanghai police asking for a beggar task force.

I would like to help those less fortunate. But when it is a choice and they hassle me, I choose not to give to them. I choose to give to those obviously unable to work, who are at least trying to do something for a bit of money (such as playing and singing in the subway.) The able-bodied ones that are dressed warmly and chase after me won't get a fen from me.

Oh - if anyone knows where I can donate some previously-used clothes, please let me know.

More traffic

I should really find something else to do time lapses of. Traffic is pretty much the same all of the time. Unfortunately due to all of the pollution I don't see any cool clouds. Maybe I'll try to do 24 hours this weekend, on Sunday, when the pollution usually is at the lowest level of the week.

Construction

Construction on the new subway line near our apartment.

Sunrise over Shanghai

Another time lapse. This one was every 30 seconds.

Trial of Time Lapse Photography

My co-worker Abram told me about his roommate Nic doing time lapse photography, and I just had to try it out. Nic's are way cooler than my first attempt here - but I'm learning! This is a test one to see if I could figure out how to put together all of the photos in AfterEffects. It is a series of photos taken every 3 seconds.

Google me

Ryan, one of the salespeople, told me that if you Google "Daktronics Shanghai" my blog came up. It is pretty funny. The first thing that comes up is a news release. My post about Abram Photoshopping Dan's head onto Mao comes up 2nd, 3rd is a post of mine about Keyframe, then 4th is the official Daktronics Shanghai site, and 5th is my MySpace page.

Yuyuan Garden

Perk wanted to go into the gardens during his visit so I joined him. We've taken many guests to the outer part, with all of the old buildings, but never have been inside the gardens. It was the kind of place I'd like to have as a yard; tons of nooks and crannies that would be great places to relax with a book.





Then we walked to the Bund, and up Nanjing Lu to People's Square. Naning Lu is pretty much all neon - lots of opportunities for LED displays!

the Blue Frog and crazy taxi drivers

Lonnie and Ed (from the customer service department at Daktronics corporate) were here for about a week. Friday night we were going to eat near our apartment. They got in a cab and called us to instruct the taxi driver how to get there. Jon's phone locked up and he couldn't answer, so the taxi driver kicked them out of his cab because they didn't know where they were going. They walked to the Blue Frog and asked us to meet there. (The Blue Frog is an expat bar and grill. )


This shouldn't have been a problem. Perk, an animator from LEDtronics, was visiting too. Perk, Jon and I grabbed a cab and told him to go to Da Ning Lu. After telling him the first several turns, he exited the elevated road. Suddenly we were going to Pudong (the way to the airport, WAY out of Shanghai.) Perk speaks Chinese so he was telling him where to go, along with us. However the guy didn't have a clue. He kept speeding the wrong way.

He took us to Da Ming Lu, and next saw Da Lin Lu, but just kept going. We called Grace, one of the sales people, and told him exactly how to get there. He kept going in the same direction on the same street, the same wrong way. We started looking for another cab - we didn't want to get out without another cab to get us out of that strange part of town. I was starting to get very creeped out with a very bad feeling about this guy.

Luckily, we were at a stoplight when I saw one on the other side of the street. I said get out now! and we all jumped out (yes, without paying) and jumped into the other cab as quick as we could.

We told the other cab driver to drive away quick and we'd give him a big tip. Perk explained the situation and told him where we started and where we were trying to go. The new driver thought the other driver was insane for taking us where we were. Then, the first driver started following us. He was pulling up next to us on the wrong side of the lane, shouting at us, honking, etc. Jon was just furious and told the new driver that if they other guy followed us all the way there, he'd take care of it.

Our new driver had to backtrack for a very long way before getting on the right track to Da Ning Lu. Ed and Lonnie had been waiting for us for over an hour, when we should have been there in about 15 to 20 minutes.

Random stuff

Everything is a bit of an adventure when you are living in a country with cultural so different than your own. At the store I saw Wasabi flavored chips and also "Red Wine Chicken." I couldn't resist. Jon will like the wasabi ones. I tried the Red Wine Chicken. I can't taste any wine. They do taste like chicken, grilled or barbequed chicken. Interesting. I wish they had Salt and Vinegar though! Other flavors include ketchup, cucumber, tomato, prawn, and potato (aren't they supposed to taste like potatoes?)

This is pretty near our office. Nibe. Just do it.

Korean Pop Stars

A couple weeks ago we saw a huge commotion outside - hundreds of girls standing around a building across from us.

A famous Koren Pop group was in Shanghai and they were performing there. This is the group coming in. I still have no idea who they were, but the girls in the office were swooning over them.

The Pearl TV Tower

The first part of the week, Dr. Al Kurtenbach (the founder of Daktronics) was here visiting. It was his first time in China. It was very interesting to be able to learn from the person who started the company! Judy, Ning and I took him to the Pearl TV Tower on Sunday. It was pretty cool and there was a museum of old Shanghai in the bottom, which was interesting.



This is the tallest building in Shanghai now. It's the Shanghai World Financial Center, and should be finished in 2008.

Sunrise over Shanghai

Since returning from the US, I've been pretty jetlagged. I went to bed early last night, but woke up at 5 AM this morning. It was a good opportunity to see the sunrise and take some photos though.




Boots enjoyed the sunrise too!

Begging

This is something you see way too often. Beggars wait around restaurants or shops (especially where Westerners are) and then start pulling on you when you leave. These people were really persistent. They stood in the middle of our group, tugged on our bags, and kept telling Ning that he didn't give them enough! Usually we ignore them and make a quick getaway, but the cabs were scarce tonight. The little boy just kept yelling, "Hello! Hello! Hello!"

It's so sad that the parents teach the kids to extract money from people. It's like telling the kids they'll never be able to do anything but beg. Parents parade their kids, especially if they are disfigured or disabled, through the subway and make the kids ask for money. I've read that there are government agencies that will help find a job for them. I've also read stories of parents hurting their kids so people will give them more money. I don't know how much of that is true though. Either way, it's a social problem that all big cities have.

Tourist stuff

Pat is a Vortec (hoist division of Daktronics) that was here for about 2 weeks. Sunday we went to the fabric market, the pearl market, Yuyuan Garden and the Bund together. Pat so kindly took a few photos for the SDSU article for us.

This was taken from a restaurant looking at the more popular side of the Bund. Usually photos include the Pearl TV Tower, which is on the side I was taking the photo on.

We saw two ships collide while we were eating! They started blowing their horns at each other and it looked like they were going to pass each other closely but be OK. One barge caught on the other and was totally spun around. We noticed that none of the boats have headlights - maybe that is part of the problem.

new photo

Harriet Swedlund, the former international program head at SDSU, asked if she could write a story about Jon and I for a Global Studies brochure. We needed a recent photo so we tried this. We don't really think it says "China" though.

Maybe we will become the poster children of SDSU's "You Can Go Anywhere From Here" campaign. :-)

Saturday Shopping

Aileen, Maggie, Louise LV and I went shopping. Aileen is looking for a qipao to get married in, someday. She lives in the states now and works at corporate, but is learning project management here for 5 months. I thought these things looked interesting, so Aileen bought some and showed me how to eat them.

The outside has a peel and is a fleshy. When you apply pressure opposite directions, it tears open. The inside is like a white mandarian orange. It is very sweet.

More balcony photos....

I am going to have millions of photos from our balcony. The view changes so much when the weather changes though!

This week the sky has been blue! We're not sure what happened, but we're glad. Taken August 17th.

During a storm - August 11th.

Lane's trip - July 15th

Lane Munson was at Dak Shanghai for about a week. On this day we took him to Yuyuan Gardens, which has lots of traditional architecture and tons of little shops selling mostly to tourists. We had some jiaozi for lunch. They have beer girls that walk around with a cart of beer too. The girl is always covered head to toe in that beer's brand.

Unfortunately, about 3 days before he left, he got food poisoning. Really bad. After an IV and multiple shots and pills of antibiotics at the Worldlink clinic, he was doing a bit better. He is pretty sure it was from some chicken. I've noticed they don't cook chicken here like we do at home. If you are eating a leg, there is almost always red meat by the bone. (I've stopped eating chicken if it is still on the bone.) Poor Lane. What a way to end his trip.

Jon and Dan could probably live on jiaozi. They are steamed dumplings and there are many different kinds. It's the food that had the big story about how someone was making them from chemicals and cardboard in Beijing. The government jailed him for false reporting.

Dan thought we should attempt a Chairman Mao pose. I think we just look silly. But - Dan is the chairman, if you had forgotten. Scroll down to July 13th for that post!

Chinese guys playing a game, probably Mahjong. Very common. (photo credit belongs to Lane)

Catch-up blogs

I think the Chinese censors are slipping, because I got onto Blogger tonight! So I caught up with my posts. This means that you need to read back all of the way until July 9th so you don't miss anything. Sorry, but it makes more sense to put everything on the day that it happened.

The past couple of weekends we have been going to the Fabric Market and having clothes made. It's great! Having clothes custom made to your body makes everything look good on you! and it's so cheap. I'll post some photos sometime. Any visitors, please note that we should go there right away to order some things. Suits run about $70 USD. Crazy, huh?

My friends from the NOC sent me a care package! It was amazing. It was a bunch of things I said I missed. For instance, I miss the smell of warm clothes when they come out of the dryer, so they sent me Bounce dryer sheets! Febreez, hand sanitizer (today I actually found a bottle here. It was $4 for the tiny purse size), a big packaged of Reece's peanut butter cups, a scrapbook (made in China so it's been around the world), a flag decoration, etc. And the invitation to Jessie and Seth's wedding - sorry we can't make it guys!!

Today we went to the Portman grocery store, which is where you can find international foods. The prices are outrageous!! For a jar of Fat-Free Mayo, it is $10. No kidding. They even have frozen foods like Weight Watchers meals or pizza - for about twice the price. Campbell's soup is $2.50 per can. We paid $4 for a small bottle of vanilla so Jon could make a cheesecake. We'll use it for other baking so it's OK though. We looked for Graham Crackers for the crust, but none were to be found.

Storms in Shanghai

We've had some storms that have scared the crap out of me (just the lightning, actually.) It cracks so loud sometimes - we're sure it hits things all of the time. Yvonne and I were going downstairs at work when a huge bolt hit. It sounded like it was on the building next to us and I swear I saw a yellow flash come in the window. We both actually screamed because it scared us so much!! I normally don't mind storms at all, but for some reason it is really different in a big city.

Sometime maybe I'll get some cool lightning photos. It rolls in so quickly and then the skies just open and buckets of rain pour down. Every time it happens, I think of how thankful our parents would be if they got rain like that right now. I wish I could send it to you!

The 2nd failed trip to Australia...

I don't think I wrote about the first failed trip. About 2 weeks ago, a Dak sales guy wanted us to come to Sydney to take photos so we could create a proposal for a potentially HUGE client. Abram and I jumped on a plane the next day. And then we sat on the plane for 3 hours. We did finally take off, only to be turned around 45 minutes into the flight. We couldn't get on any other flights so that was the end of the trip there.

So, it was planned that I would go this Wednesday. My flight was supposed to leave at 6:00 PM. Then... after hearing it was delayed for a few hours (no takeoff time given) a notice was put it. It was a fill-in-the-blank notice, which was pretty funny. The main part was that flight CA 177 will be delayed due to mechanical issues. We sat at the airport for hours. Time went pretty quickly because I met a girl from NY, Kelly, who had been visiting friends in Shanghai and was next visiting friends in Australia. It was pretty cool - she told me about how she had went to school for Journalism and now wrote for blogs... (sound familiar?) and the things we had in common just went on and on.

Then, the airline said we had to go to a hotel. I would have rather stayed in my own bed, but you had to stay at the hotel so they could wake us up and bus us to the airport when the plane was fixed. We were taken to a Super Motel 168. No joke. It is a rip-off of Super 8 and Motel 6!!! We had to share rooms so Kelly and I were roommies for a night.

One of the funny things about China is all of the incorrect English translations. I've started taking photos. There is a book called Chinglish that has been published - maybe I'll do a Chinglish II. The following are from the hotel flyers.

Breakfast, Bar Coffee & Tea and Snake. For when you are just a little hungry.... (we haven't had snake yet. I'm sure we'll come across it sometime though.)

Thanks for all of the warnings. The 5th from the bottom is by far the best.

Follow no strangers to the fun places. What fun places would those be? And if the person isn't a stranger, can I go to the fun places? :-)

For more great laughs, go to http://www.engrish.com/. Some of the best are in the adult section. Look for the toddler with a pacifier and a shirt with the f-word. Seriously.

We put on something to sleep in (I was lucky because I did just carry-on so I had everything) and turned around to discover we both had pink pants and a black tank top. Too weird.

We were woken up at 6:30 AM and hustled onto a bus, taken to the airport, and then we waited some more!! At this point we discovered yet another coincidence - she was in seat 23K and I was in 24K. Crazy.

At about 10 AM they started loading the plane, but a bunch of people were furious because they were only giving 500 RMB ($65) for our inconvenience. Then they were claiming that the plane wasn't safe because they hadn't test-flown it yet. At this point I gave up. I'd totally missed my meeting and would have had about a day there and it just wasn't worth it, especially if the plane really was unsafe. I took the payout and left. Kelly later told me that the plane didn't leave until 1 PM.

I don't think I'll be trying to go again anytime soon. At least not if I don't have 2 or 3 days down there before any meetings!

Stuff on Bikes

You see everything being carried on bikes. People with motorized bikes or scooters will help out by putting a foot on the cart and letting the scooter do the work.

Chinese people are very concerned about the sun. Note the big hat, the white sleeves, and gloves. Most of the women have these sleeves to keep the sun off. It seems to be due to vanity (everyone wants whiter skin) and not health. All of the body and face wash claim to be "whitening."
Many of the bikes have a passenger. This girl was sending text messages from her phone while the guy did all of the work.

A motorized bike - I think I heard that they get 35 km per charge (but that is carrying a slim person.)

Pajamas are fashionable now.

Driving to work

A few buildings that we pass every day on the drive to the office. In the bottom photo, you can see an open space in the middle of the building. It's to let the chi (energy or life force) flow through. No buildings are built without a feng shui master coming in and telling them what is good.

Daktronics Shanghai

I thought it was appropriate to put a few pics of the Keyframe office up. We took some for the next edition of the Keyframe internal Daktronics newsletter.

Abram, one of our digital artists, has been here since October 2006.

Yvonne, who is an account executive like me.

Shelley works at the front desk and makes all of our travel arrangements.

Beijing Duck

A group of about 12 Dak people and family members went to a restaurant that specializes in Beijing Duck. It is so good! We ordered about 100 dishes as usual and were stuffed before the duck arrived. It was a nice place and even with drinks, it only cost about $10 per person. We actually got a certificate with the number of our duck on it.

Scorpion was on the menu so we all wanted to try it! It actually doesn't taste like much - just crisp and crunchy.

Shopping with Mike and Mike

Mike Hyde and Mike Cooper (Jon's boss before Dan) came to Shanghai last week. They have a Vortec project at an American high school in Pudong. Thursday the girls took them shopping and out for supper at a Cantonese restaurant. We went to Yuyuan Gardens, which is old but totally redone. Pretty touristy but OK. Mina taught them to bargin well - one lady told Cooper he must have lived here a long time.

Mina (my Chinese teacher too!) me, Mike H, Shelly, Cooper and Sheena.

Street scenes. I just had the point-and-shoot, so had to set it on a garbage bin to get these shots. I used my business card holder to prop the camera up at an angle.

Hair Washing

Life here happens on the streets - cooking, eating, games, etc. Also personal grooming. This girl was washing her hair. Judy said that you used to see it all of the time. The guy was just staring at me as I was taking photos. That's not unusual - we are taught in the USA that it's not polite to stare, but it's not taboo here. White people, especially big blond people or girls, get stared at a lot!

Night shots

Here are a couple of shots I took using a long exposure and my new tripod.

Shopping scenes

These are a couple of dragons that Jon would like to buy to take home. They said they were 18,000 yuan though! That's before bargaining though. The photo is from his camera phone. both of our phones have 2 megapixel cameras on them.

This is Xu Jai Hui, the electronics market. (It sounds like "Shoe Ja Hway.") This is just part of the bottom floor. It's in a building that is in the shape of a soccer ball, and is just massive. You can buy anything electronic here. I bought a tripod, headphones, and Jon and Dan bought their new phones here. Later they realized the phones were smuggled in - they were told to come back for the reciept the next day, then they refused to give them a reciept.

Saturday Outing

After our bedroom furniture was delivered, we went to the Fabric Market. It's four floors of hundreds of small shops that custom tailor anything you'd like. Here Jon got 3 shirts, for 125 yuan each. He also had a summer suit made and I had a traditional Chinese-style shirt made. We also got a duvet cover. We pick them up next Saturday.

Next we went to People's Square to check out the new LED display that a competitor put in. It is really horrible. The color is very bad, the modules all need to be calibrated, and their control system can't control the whole thing. BUT - it's cheap. Jon is texting Dan about the display here. The building in the background has terrible feng shui, and we heard that it's had many deaths and suicides!

Soon we got caught in a downpour! This is right after it. We went to Haagen-Dais to enjoy some ice cream while we waited for it to let up. People's Square is the Times Square of Shanghai. Many things are still neon so there's a huge market for LED displays.

Sunday Shopping

Sunday we went to the Antique market. It's most fakes and we have no idea what really would be old, so we just assume everything is fake. Lots of old-looking trinkets. We bought an old camera and a door knocker.

Across from the Antique Market was a Pet Market. Animals of every kind. They have big plastic aquariums - Jon will probably get one. They seemed very cheap! But nice and well-built. Notice the guy in his pajamas on the right. That's pretty common to see. Everyone sits around, smokes and plays games in the markets.

Pet crickets - they are more like huge locusts. Dan said they are sold to fight. They don't fight til the death; one just backs down. He said after it backs down it's fighting days are over because its spirit is broken.

We also found some more waxberries! The last one we had were too old and very bad tasting. I examined these closely and tried one before buying them though. Good thing we have our hepatitis shots.....

So I be a Hooter's girl (actual lyrics)

Monday and Tuesday all of the sales people were in Shanghai for sales training. Everyone went to Hooters for some wings and beer. The Hooter's girls dance here - they stood up on stools and did the YMCA, they did the chicken dance (with some of the guys at the table, only they sang "I don't wanna be a chicken, I don't wanna be a duck, so I be a Hooters girl"), and they danced to "Keep Your Hands To Yourself " by the Georgia Satellites (the Chinese girls were very impressed that Dan sang and played air guitar to the whole song.) The slogan is: Hooters makes you happy.

Since they do the embarrassing birthday thing, everyone said it was Larry's birthday...

Aileen, Louise, Judy, Lin Lin, Kelly and Grace having a good time singing to Larry.

Peering down below

These were taken from our balcony today using my 300mm lens. These are the bits of old Shanghai between the new skyscrapers. Soon there won't be any old stuff left, at the rate construction is going now.

The houses straight below us - I actually put my camera over the balcony and leaned over to take this!