Monday, January 14, 2008

Back in California


We're back in Sunny CA for a week - I'll start adding new posts once we're back in China!

Beijing Pictures!

Some photos from my short trip to Beijing - I've had some trouble uploading photos in China (slower connection) so now that I'm back in CA I can upload much faster! Enjoy. :-)

You'll see photos of the Forbidden City (with Mao's photo), Tienanamen Square (with soldiers), and Mao's Mausoleum (public viewings are common, people line up around the block to see his body).











Sunday, January 6, 2008

Today's News

Today Shanghai had the heaviest fog of the year (wait, isn't it just Jan 7th, 2008?) - check out the hardcore front page story that was on today's newspaper, The Shanghai Daily:

Fog envelops Shanghai this morning by -- MORNING traffic was chaos due to the heaviest fog of the year and the Shanghai government said no employee should be punished for being late for work this morning.

The fog covered almost all of eastern China. In...

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Beijing Reminds me of Texas

Beijing! The capitol city of China, full of history and change. Home to the Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square, and one of the most fully restored sections of the Great Wall, and it still reminds me of Dallas, TX.

Why??

It's HUGE! The city is full of huge wide streets, massive buildings, large freeways and everything is spread out. This is not a walking city like Shanghai, it's a massive place where a car or taxi is much mandatory since the subway system isn't great.

But this trip was short and I saw the main sights above last year when I was in China so this trip was focused on other things. I saw a few museums and went to the silk & pearl street for the first time. What an experience - if you're looking for ANY "name brand" items, purses, wallets, clothes, literally anything you can find it here including all kinds of kitschy Chinese items. But be prepared to be harassed by all of the stall girls who work there, they love to call out to the foreigners "hey, pretty lady! You want new sweater, you like nike?! Come here!" It's an experience that's for sure!!

Happy New Year!!!

Happy new year from Shanghai! We spent out night out with some friends, drinks, dinner at a Spanish tapas restaurant and then on to the Bund to ring in the new year at a bar called "New Heights". It was a great time with a fantastic view!!

I hope to have some pictures up of it all very soon!

Happy 2008 to everyone!