The classes that I taught from South America through South Africa were just a subset of the whole World Tour series. There were a couple classes before I started, one in Canada and one in Mexico, and the tour continued in Europe after I was done. The guy who is teaching the first two weeks in Europe is my coworker Mike Fox. He's the one who gave me the idea of doing this blog, and he also put his photos up on the web, on Facebook. Albums there can only hold 60 photos at a time, and he's created two so far:
Mike Fox Facebook album 1
Mike Fox Facebook album 2
I'd love to see Versailles. Maybe next trip...
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Home at last
My flights back to the US were relatively uneventful, until after we landed in Raleigh. The RDU Airport Terminal C has been under reconstruction for some time, and just opened the day we landed there, so our flight was one of the first ones to be parked at that gate. Apparently they had not worked all the kinks out of the new terminal yet... The pilot taxied to the terminal, but had to wait on the tarmac for a while until the ground crew got in position to help direct him to the parking spot. After he parked the plane and cut the engines, the people operating the new ramp couldn't figure out how to work it. There was about a one foot gap between the ramp and the plane, and apparently the operator couldn't get it to move any closer. The pilot threatened to make us all sit back in our seats so he could move the plane to a gate that worked, and there were people on the plane with connecting flights who were worried about making their connections. Almost a half hour after we landed, they finally found someone who knew how to reposition the ramp and let us unload. Janice, Laura and Brian were waiting for me just outside security.
When we got home, Laura had made this welcome banner:
It sure feels good to be home!
When we got home, Laura had made this welcome banner:
It sure feels good to be home!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Last post from abroad
I'm sitting in the business lounge waiting for the flight back home. I planned to leave the hotel at 7:00am, to get to the airport in plenty of time for the 10am flight, but when I checked out I was told it was only 6am - apparently, daylight savings time in Spain ended last night. So once again I was WAY early for my flight.
I took a quick inventory of the folders of photos I took. All total, it's more than 1300 pictures! And that's the count of photos that I have not discarded in my first cut. There are more than that on the 2G memory card in the camera, it's still 40% empty! Just yesterday I figured out how to create an audio memo to go with each photo, to help keep track of what the picture is about. I wish I had figured that out 5 weeks ago!
I took a quick inventory of the folders of photos I took. All total, it's more than 1300 pictures! And that's the count of photos that I have not discarded in my first cut. There are more than that on the 2G memory card in the camera, it's still 40% empty! Just yesterday I figured out how to create an audio memo to go with each photo, to help keep track of what the picture is about. I wish I had figured that out 5 weeks ago!
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Madrid
The bus tour of Madrid started out at the Palacio Real, which is the royal family's summer palace. There's a square in front of it with a statue of one of the prior kings:
It has over 2,000 rooms! Of course they don't live there, they only use it for special parties.
The tour passes by one of the fanciest squares in the old city, the Plaza Mayor, which also has a statue in the center:
I ate dinner there later in the evening, at one of the many restaurants that line the inside of the square. There are lots of street performers in the square trying to earn tips.
There are many sights in Madrid, many old fancy buildings that I don't have any inkling what they are used for. This is one of the fancier ones, the Palacio de Comunicaciones:
There are also structures which serve no real purpose, like this "gate" in the Plaza de la Independencia:
It's kind of like the Arch de Triomphe in Paris, serves no real purpose except to remember some event which I didn't catch the full meaning of on the tour bus.
Madrid's major park is Parque del Retiro, and in the middle of it there's a man-made lake where you can rent row boats. The focal point of the lake is a monument on the far side named Monumento a Alfonso XII:
It was a very pleasant walk through the park, and the monument was a total surprise to me when I saw it.
There were MANY more sights, I just don't have time to upload the photos right now...
I'm heading home in the morning. Yipeee! It's been a wonderful trip, but I'm glad to be going home.
It has over 2,000 rooms! Of course they don't live there, they only use it for special parties.
The tour passes by one of the fanciest squares in the old city, the Plaza Mayor, which also has a statue in the center:
I ate dinner there later in the evening, at one of the many restaurants that line the inside of the square. There are lots of street performers in the square trying to earn tips.
There are many sights in Madrid, many old fancy buildings that I don't have any inkling what they are used for. This is one of the fancier ones, the Palacio de Comunicaciones:
There are also structures which serve no real purpose, like this "gate" in the Plaza de la Independencia:
It's kind of like the Arch de Triomphe in Paris, serves no real purpose except to remember some event which I didn't catch the full meaning of on the tour bus.
Madrid's major park is Parque del Retiro, and in the middle of it there's a man-made lake where you can rent row boats. The focal point of the lake is a monument on the far side named Monumento a Alfonso XII:
It was a very pleasant walk through the park, and the monument was a total surprise to me when I saw it.
There were MANY more sights, I just don't have time to upload the photos right now...
I'm heading home in the morning. Yipeee! It's been a wonderful trip, but I'm glad to be going home.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Krugersdorp Game Reserve
I originally booked a tour to the Lions Park, but was coerced to change it to the Krugersdorp Game Reserve because I couldn't pay in cash (none of my cards work in the ATMs here so I have NO cash at all) so I had to book a tour that the hotel would let me put on my room bill. I'm glad I did! The tour was great. Business was slow at the park, so the lead tour guide was available to be our driver, and there were only four of us on the tour. This is the vehicle we rode in:
Note, no windows or doors for us in the back, and we sat up high so we got great views. The tour guide is the tall older guy behind the Land Rover on the left. The three other guys on the tour all knew each other, and were joking around a lot, and that made it that much more fun.
I mostly took video, but did manage to get some photos. The park is huge, and consists of rolling hills with mostly grasslands with periodic bunches of trees. We went to hunt down the lions near the beginning of the tour. They're kept in their own separate, multi-acre part of the park, fenced off from the antelope and wildebeast that would normally be their prey. We had to drive around for about 15 minutes until we spotted them, under some trees next to the road:
These are young but full grown lions, one male and four females. The tour guide called them and waved a towel around, and that drew them very close to the vehicle, almost too close for comfort. Then he pulled forward a bit, grabbed a 2-ft long stick from the ground, backed up to where the lions were, then waved the stick and tossed it into the grass on the other side of the road. Two of the females jumped up and jogged over to get it, and the male followed. I got this photo:
That was scary, to see those big cats come out of the woods to us. We were really unprotected - if they wanted to, they could've jumped up and killed all of us. The park also has another pride of younger lions, and a trio of white lions, in separate smaller cages near the exit of the lions section of the park.
We exited the lions section, and headed back out to the grassy plain. We passed herds of several kinds of antelope, including the springbuck, which is the national symbol of South Africa. I didn't get good photos of most of that, must've been taking video. We drove up to the rhino, which was grazing near some trees, and got a few good shots:
After a while he got irritated, starting snorting at us, so we left him alone.
The next herd was a mix of white-faced antelope and wildebeasts:
Right next to them were zebras:
A little further down the hill, next to a couple trees, were the male and female giraffes:
The male is seated, the female (lighter in color) was much more timid.
The last small herd we saw was this kind that I can't remember the name, but they have very long antlers:
The birds (white egrets?) among them sometimes ride on their backs. The birds eat bugs that are flushed from the grass as the antelope graze.
So, back to reality. I pitch tomorrow for the last time, then head straight to the airport for my flight to Madrid. I need to review my material tonight, and copy it to GSA and/or send it to Mike & Peter for their use in the upcoming weeks.
Note, no windows or doors for us in the back, and we sat up high so we got great views. The tour guide is the tall older guy behind the Land Rover on the left. The three other guys on the tour all knew each other, and were joking around a lot, and that made it that much more fun.
I mostly took video, but did manage to get some photos. The park is huge, and consists of rolling hills with mostly grasslands with periodic bunches of trees. We went to hunt down the lions near the beginning of the tour. They're kept in their own separate, multi-acre part of the park, fenced off from the antelope and wildebeast that would normally be their prey. We had to drive around for about 15 minutes until we spotted them, under some trees next to the road:
These are young but full grown lions, one male and four females. The tour guide called them and waved a towel around, and that drew them very close to the vehicle, almost too close for comfort. Then he pulled forward a bit, grabbed a 2-ft long stick from the ground, backed up to where the lions were, then waved the stick and tossed it into the grass on the other side of the road. Two of the females jumped up and jogged over to get it, and the male followed. I got this photo:
That was scary, to see those big cats come out of the woods to us. We were really unprotected - if they wanted to, they could've jumped up and killed all of us. The park also has another pride of younger lions, and a trio of white lions, in separate smaller cages near the exit of the lions section of the park.
We exited the lions section, and headed back out to the grassy plain. We passed herds of several kinds of antelope, including the springbuck, which is the national symbol of South Africa. I didn't get good photos of most of that, must've been taking video. We drove up to the rhino, which was grazing near some trees, and got a few good shots:
After a while he got irritated, starting snorting at us, so we left him alone.
The next herd was a mix of white-faced antelope and wildebeasts:
Right next to them were zebras:
A little further down the hill, next to a couple trees, were the male and female giraffes:
The male is seated, the female (lighter in color) was much more timid.
The last small herd we saw was this kind that I can't remember the name, but they have very long antlers:
The birds (white egrets?) among them sometimes ride on their backs. The birds eat bugs that are flushed from the grass as the antelope graze.
So, back to reality. I pitch tomorrow for the last time, then head straight to the airport for my flight to Madrid. I need to review my material tonight, and copy it to GSA and/or send it to Mike & Peter for their use in the upcoming weeks.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Made it to Johannesburg
I've checked into the Hilton Sandton in Johannesburg. The plane that we flew in was NOT one of the big new Airbuses, just a 747 jumbo with a special cabin arrangement. The upstairs section was all business class, and the seats started at number 80, that's why I was in 84K. Interestingly, the seats were arranged at a 45 degree angle from the center aisle, instead of facing forward. Apparently that lets them squeeze more seats in less space, while still allowing the seats to lay flat. The other instructor that I met in Taipei, Patrick Kappeler, was right across the aisle from me on this flight, and we rode together to the hotel this morning. He presents tomorrow, then continues on to teach at all the European sites. I booked a tour to Lion's Park tomorrow morning, and I teach my last class on Friday, leaving immediately afterwards for Spain and then home.
What I've seen of Joberg from the taxi is a bit unnerving. All the houses have walls around them (not just fences), and the walls are topped with electric fences, razor wire, or spikes. I think I'll just work from the room today, and go out with Patrick for meals.
What I've seen of Joberg from the taxi is a bit unnerving. All the houses have walls around them (not just fences), and the walls are topped with electric fences, razor wire, or spikes. I think I'll just work from the room today, and go out with Patrick for meals.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Giant Buddah
Today is travel day to Johannesburg, but I don't fly out until 11:45pm. So I basically have all day here in Hong Kong. However, my aching feet won't take much more walking, so my plan is to see the one remaining sight, then checkin to the Cathay Pacific business class lounge and wait there for my flight. That sight is the giant Buddah in Ngong Ping, which you get to via a 25-minute ride up the side of a mountain in a cable car. I got video going up, and got this photo on the ride back down:
That's the airport on the left, and a town of highrise appartments named Tung Chung on the right.
The Budda himself is made of brass, and is really huge. Here's the first good shot you can get of him, when walking through the little village at the top of the cable car ride:
Here's a straight-on shot, after you walk to the base of his mountain:
Unfortunately, you have to climb a lot of steps to get up to him. Of course, this is NOTHING compared to climbing the great wall, which really did me in... Also unfortunately, most of my photos at the top came out blurry. I must have accidentally left my camera on Landscape mode despite taking pictures that were mostly close-up.
So I saw Buddah, and after I climbed back down, I went to a show entitled "Walking with Buddah" which was inspirational, in a way. Apparently the guy who this statue honors was a prince, son of a king in Tibet, who was married and a father. Despite all his riches, he could not find peace in his heart. So, he left his riches and family, and went in search of enlightenment. He found it after years of searching and sacrifice, apparently almost starving himself to death. He became one of the greatest Buddahs ever, with many inspirational teachings to his credit. Of course, the story does not say what became of his wife and child...
I got back to the airport before 2pm, and my flight doesn't leave until 11:45pm. I asked the Cathay Pacific people if I could check in early and spend the time in the business class lounge, and they said OK. When I got my boarding pass, the seat they assigned me was 84K. Usually, business class seats are in row number less than 20, so I asked about that, and he said my seat is upstairs. I've been upstairs in a 747 a number of times, and I know the row numbers up there only go to 25 or so, so I asked, "Is this one of the new big Airbus planes?" "Yes," he replied. Cool! I'll see if I can get some photos after I board.
In the mean time, I need to catch up on my paperwork: recording daily expenses, maybe even submit a travel expense account to cover the expenses on my current AMEX bill.
That's the airport on the left, and a town of highrise appartments named Tung Chung on the right.
The Budda himself is made of brass, and is really huge. Here's the first good shot you can get of him, when walking through the little village at the top of the cable car ride:
Here's a straight-on shot, after you walk to the base of his mountain:
Unfortunately, you have to climb a lot of steps to get up to him. Of course, this is NOTHING compared to climbing the great wall, which really did me in... Also unfortunately, most of my photos at the top came out blurry. I must have accidentally left my camera on Landscape mode despite taking pictures that were mostly close-up.
So I saw Buddah, and after I climbed back down, I went to a show entitled "Walking with Buddah" which was inspirational, in a way. Apparently the guy who this statue honors was a prince, son of a king in Tibet, who was married and a father. Despite all his riches, he could not find peace in his heart. So, he left his riches and family, and went in search of enlightenment. He found it after years of searching and sacrifice, apparently almost starving himself to death. He became one of the greatest Buddahs ever, with many inspirational teachings to his credit. Of course, the story does not say what became of his wife and child...
I got back to the airport before 2pm, and my flight doesn't leave until 11:45pm. I asked the Cathay Pacific people if I could check in early and spend the time in the business class lounge, and they said OK. When I got my boarding pass, the seat they assigned me was 84K. Usually, business class seats are in row number less than 20, so I asked about that, and he said my seat is upstairs. I've been upstairs in a 747 a number of times, and I know the row numbers up there only go to 25 or so, so I asked, "Is this one of the new big Airbus planes?" "Yes," he replied. Cool! I'll see if I can get some photos after I board.
In the mean time, I need to catch up on my paperwork: recording daily expenses, maybe even submit a travel expense account to cover the expenses on my current AMEX bill.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Hong Kong
I'm booked at the Regal Airport hotel in Hong Kong, because there are no hotels at the IBM rate that have available rooms in the city. The Regal calls itself the "Best airport hotel in the world", and I must admit the room is pretty nice. I'm on the top (12th) floor of the hotel, and my room has a vaulted ceiling. I have not heard any airplanes since I've been here, even though I can see the end of a runway from my window. Unfortunately there is a fog horn or something that blows every so often. It's barely audible, but when I'm trying to fall asleep it's the only thing I can hear. Staying at the airport means I have to take a 30-min train into Hong Kong to do sightseeing, $50HKD each way (about $7US), bummer...
Yesterday I wasn't too ambitious, just wanted to ride into Hong Kong and get some pictures from The Peak, which is a viewing platform at the top of the mountain overlooking Hong Kong. I was able to find it, and got there just before sunset. The sun sets over the ocean on the back side of the Hong Kong island. It kinda settles into the smog over the ocean and gets swallowed up:
I got a few photos of the city before the sun set, here's the best one:
and a few more after it got dark, because that's when the city turns really interesting, with all the buildings with their special lights:
The next day I bought an unlimited rides pass to the subway, and did some exploring. There's a guilded statue of a flower that was presented to the city when the UK relinquished control of Hong Kong back to China in 1997, and there's a flag-raising ceremony every morning at 7:30am at it:
There are a number of markets around town, little streets that are pedestrian-only where dozens and dozens of shops are set up to sell everything from live fish, fresh meat and produce, to shirts, socks & underwear. Notice the ox tongue in the middle of this photo:
Across the harbor is a part of town called Kowloon, and I spent most of the day there. One popular attraction is the Avenue of Stars, the Chinese equivalent of our Hollywood Walk of Fame. There are apparently a lot of Chinese cinema stars, but I only know a few, like this guy:
Kowloon also has the Jade market, two buildings with rows and rows of little stalls of people selling all kinds of jade pieces, mostly jewelry. I haggled with a couple vendors just for the fun of it, but didn't buy anything.
They also have a Flower market, and the Goldfish Market, with dozens of vendors selling all kinds of aquarium fish and supplies.
Every night at 8:00pm, 40 of the sky scrapers in Hong Kong and Kowloon get together and put on a light show. Their building lights are programmed to change in time with some music, that is broadcast over FM radio and played on speakers outside on the harbor. I saw a bit of it from the Hong Kong side the first night, but went to the Kowloon side to video tape the whole thing from there tonight. It's really a great show! Here's what the Hong Kong side looks like from Kowloon at night:
Yesterday I wasn't too ambitious, just wanted to ride into Hong Kong and get some pictures from The Peak, which is a viewing platform at the top of the mountain overlooking Hong Kong. I was able to find it, and got there just before sunset. The sun sets over the ocean on the back side of the Hong Kong island. It kinda settles into the smog over the ocean and gets swallowed up:
I got a few photos of the city before the sun set, here's the best one:
and a few more after it got dark, because that's when the city turns really interesting, with all the buildings with their special lights:
The next day I bought an unlimited rides pass to the subway, and did some exploring. There's a guilded statue of a flower that was presented to the city when the UK relinquished control of Hong Kong back to China in 1997, and there's a flag-raising ceremony every morning at 7:30am at it:
There are a number of markets around town, little streets that are pedestrian-only where dozens and dozens of shops are set up to sell everything from live fish, fresh meat and produce, to shirts, socks & underwear. Notice the ox tongue in the middle of this photo:
Across the harbor is a part of town called Kowloon, and I spent most of the day there. One popular attraction is the Avenue of Stars, the Chinese equivalent of our Hollywood Walk of Fame. There are apparently a lot of Chinese cinema stars, but I only know a few, like this guy:
Kowloon also has the Jade market, two buildings with rows and rows of little stalls of people selling all kinds of jade pieces, mostly jewelry. I haggled with a couple vendors just for the fun of it, but didn't buy anything.
They also have a Flower market, and the Goldfish Market, with dozens of vendors selling all kinds of aquarium fish and supplies.
Every night at 8:00pm, 40 of the sky scrapers in Hong Kong and Kowloon get together and put on a light show. Their building lights are programmed to change in time with some music, that is broadcast over FM radio and played on speakers outside on the harbor. I saw a bit of it from the Hong Kong side the first night, but went to the Kowloon side to video tape the whole thing from there tonight. It's really a great show! Here's what the Hong Kong side looks like from Kowloon at night:
Saturday, October 18, 2008
More Beijing
The Beijing city tour started early, but not so bright because of the haze in the air (it was misty, threatening to rain). We went first to the Temple of Heaven:
All around the grounds near this temple, people were doing tai chi, or line dancing (like the Achy-Breaky Heart), or playing badminton, lots of activity! I caught some of that on video.
Next we were off to the Tian'anmen Square:
there were THOUSANDS of people lined up to see Mao Tse Tung, and they had to wait in line for up to two hours or more just to walk past the glass-encased body. Of course, I passed on that!
Just north of that is the Forbidden City, where the emperors from the Ming and Qing dynasties lived, from the 1400s up to the early 1900s. It was one large area full of impressive buildings like this one:
I think this was the building where the emperor met with heads of state. There was a similar building behind that, which was the emperor's house, and another one behind that which was the "honeymoon" building, where the emperess lived. All along the sides were smaller buildings which housed the emperor's courtesans and concubines, more than 9,000 rooms worth of single-story buildings.
Further north of the Forbidden City is a large hill, with a building on top which provides a view down into the Forbidden City. Here is a shot of that building:
About the only thing you can really see of the Forbidden City is a bunch of rooftops, but you can see that the main buildings run down the center, with smaller ones on each side. We stopped for a traditional tea service at the bottom of the hill, then found a small family-style Chinese restaurant for lunch.
We emerged from the restaurant at around 1pm to a mostly clear sky and bright sun - what a surprise!
From there we went to the Summer Palace. The most impressive structure there is the Buddhist temple at the top of the hill, overlooking the palace:
The palace buildings are unimpressive, except for an extremely long covered walkway, which has paintings on it every few feet. I got video of that walkway, but no photos. It was very crowded at the summer palace, until we walked far enough away from the entrance and main buildings to get past all the people who were on bus tours. There must have been 20 or 30 buses there!
I had decided to go to a Kongfu Show at the end of the day, and the show was scheduled to start at 5:15, and it was about an hour of travel time to get there, so there wasn't time for any more sightseeing. We hopped in a taxi and headed back to the section of the city where the show is held. On the way, we passed pretty close to the Bird's Nest, so I was able to get one half-way decent photo of it from the highway:
We actually got to the theater quicker than expected, so we had a bit of time to go to a nearby market and haggle a bit with some vendors there. It's amazing how quickly they start to drop their prices, when they see you start to walk away! I bought an olympic souvenir from one guy for 15RMB, which is a bit more than $2 US.
This is the place where the Kongfu show is held:
The show was great, but no photos or video recording was allowed (of course).
Now I'm off to Hong Kong!
All around the grounds near this temple, people were doing tai chi, or line dancing (like the Achy-Breaky Heart), or playing badminton, lots of activity! I caught some of that on video.
Next we were off to the Tian'anmen Square:
there were THOUSANDS of people lined up to see Mao Tse Tung, and they had to wait in line for up to two hours or more just to walk past the glass-encased body. Of course, I passed on that!
Just north of that is the Forbidden City, where the emperors from the Ming and Qing dynasties lived, from the 1400s up to the early 1900s. It was one large area full of impressive buildings like this one:
I think this was the building where the emperor met with heads of state. There was a similar building behind that, which was the emperor's house, and another one behind that which was the "honeymoon" building, where the emperess lived. All along the sides were smaller buildings which housed the emperor's courtesans and concubines, more than 9,000 rooms worth of single-story buildings.
Further north of the Forbidden City is a large hill, with a building on top which provides a view down into the Forbidden City. Here is a shot of that building:
About the only thing you can really see of the Forbidden City is a bunch of rooftops, but you can see that the main buildings run down the center, with smaller ones on each side. We stopped for a traditional tea service at the bottom of the hill, then found a small family-style Chinese restaurant for lunch.
We emerged from the restaurant at around 1pm to a mostly clear sky and bright sun - what a surprise!
From there we went to the Summer Palace. The most impressive structure there is the Buddhist temple at the top of the hill, overlooking the palace:
The palace buildings are unimpressive, except for an extremely long covered walkway, which has paintings on it every few feet. I got video of that walkway, but no photos. It was very crowded at the summer palace, until we walked far enough away from the entrance and main buildings to get past all the people who were on bus tours. There must have been 20 or 30 buses there!
I had decided to go to a Kongfu Show at the end of the day, and the show was scheduled to start at 5:15, and it was about an hour of travel time to get there, so there wasn't time for any more sightseeing. We hopped in a taxi and headed back to the section of the city where the show is held. On the way, we passed pretty close to the Bird's Nest, so I was able to get one half-way decent photo of it from the highway:
We actually got to the theater quicker than expected, so we had a bit of time to go to a nearby market and haggle a bit with some vendors there. It's amazing how quickly they start to drop their prices, when they see you start to walk away! I bought an olympic souvenir from one guy for 15RMB, which is a bit more than $2 US.
This is the place where the Kongfu show is held:
The show was great, but no photos or video recording was allowed (of course).
Now I'm off to Hong Kong!
Friday, October 17, 2008
Great Wall of China
The bus tour to the Great Wall actually started out at the Ming Tombs. We stopped at the tomb of one of the Ming dynasty emperors, and saw some sights there. The building of course is the most impressive thing:
I also got pictures of some of the artifacts that they had recovered. There are more than a dozen such sites in this area (one emperor per site).
Then we stopped at a jade factory, where we saw an artisan carving a block of jade into a Happy Budda, and learned how to tell real jade from fake jade in the street markets. This is one of the larger jade pieces outside the building:
It is actually taller than I am! The tour guide told us to bargain hard, and I got a good discount on a very interesting piece, which I shipped home.
Eventually we made it to the Great Wall. The tour guide said we should leave that for last, because it would wear us out. We went to the section at Badaling which is the closest most tourist-trappy section. Still, very impressive! Here's a shot from the bottom:
I climbed all the way up to the top. This is a shot from about two-thirds of the way up, looking back down:
This is from the very top tower. Note how the trail goes down in two directions, one to the right (which is the trail I climbed up on) and one to the left (which I went down on):
Going down, it was much more deserted. That side was much steeper! On my way down, I overtook someone who had stopped to rest, and we took turns taking photos of each other on the steep steps:
By the time I got to the bottom, my legs were shaking uncontrollably.
Today I taught my class. My legs were still wobbly! They're very sore, both my calves and thighs. I've been popping Motrin, hoping to heal them by tomorrow. I've hired a private guide, recommended by a coworker, so I'll get to see a lot more sights than if I took the big bus tour. I'm charging my camera and camcorder batteries!
I also got pictures of some of the artifacts that they had recovered. There are more than a dozen such sites in this area (one emperor per site).
Then we stopped at a jade factory, where we saw an artisan carving a block of jade into a Happy Budda, and learned how to tell real jade from fake jade in the street markets. This is one of the larger jade pieces outside the building:
It is actually taller than I am! The tour guide told us to bargain hard, and I got a good discount on a very interesting piece, which I shipped home.
Eventually we made it to the Great Wall. The tour guide said we should leave that for last, because it would wear us out. We went to the section at Badaling which is the closest most tourist-trappy section. Still, very impressive! Here's a shot from the bottom:
I climbed all the way up to the top. This is a shot from about two-thirds of the way up, looking back down:
This is from the very top tower. Note how the trail goes down in two directions, one to the right (which is the trail I climbed up on) and one to the left (which I went down on):
Going down, it was much more deserted. That side was much steeper! On my way down, I overtook someone who had stopped to rest, and we took turns taking photos of each other on the steep steps:
By the time I got to the bottom, my legs were shaking uncontrollably.
Today I taught my class. My legs were still wobbly! They're very sore, both my calves and thighs. I've been popping Motrin, hoping to heal them by tomorrow. I've hired a private guide, recommended by a coworker, so I'll get to see a lot more sights than if I took the big bus tour. I'm charging my camera and camcorder batteries!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Beijing
The flight went smoothly, and I made it to the hotel. By the time I got all situated in my room it was dark out. I was told that the Olympic Stadium is lit up at night, so I ventured out to find it. The concierge gave me a subway map and pointed me in the right direction. The subways are brand spanking new and they have English translations for the important stuff, so I was able to get to the Olympic area OK. There were a lot of people milling around taking photos. It wasn't as lit up as I thought it would be, but it was still pretty cool. Here's the Bird's Nest:
Here's a shot of the Water Cube, where Phelps won all his golds. It wasn't lit up at all:
They did have the tower running, changing colors, flashing every so often:
I walked around snapping away, trying to find a better angle to get a clear shot of the stadium. I took a bunch of photos, but most came out blurry. This angle was probably the most lit up:
Then the lights all around the area started going out. I looked at my watch, and it was just past 9:00pm. I walked back down to the subway station, but by the time I got there it was dark - all closed up! I wandered around, and started walking towards the nearest set of tall buildings, hoping one would be a hotel with a string of cabs out front. Eventually an empty taxi drove past, and I hailed it. The driver didn't speak English, but my hotel key card has the hotel name written in Chinese on it, and that was enough to get me back to the hotel. Whew!
Here's a shot of the Water Cube, where Phelps won all his golds. It wasn't lit up at all:
They did have the tower running, changing colors, flashing every so often:
I walked around snapping away, trying to find a better angle to get a clear shot of the stadium. I took a bunch of photos, but most came out blurry. This angle was probably the most lit up:
Then the lights all around the area started going out. I looked at my watch, and it was just past 9:00pm. I walked back down to the subway station, but by the time I got there it was dark - all closed up! I wandered around, and started walking towards the nearest set of tall buildings, hoping one would be a hotel with a string of cabs out front. Eventually an empty taxi drove past, and I hailed it. The driver didn't speak English, but my hotel key card has the hotel name written in Chinese on it, and that was enough to get me back to the hotel. Whew!
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Loungin'
The best thing about the Grand Hyatt Taipei was the breakfast buffet, which was included with the IBM room rate. The restaurant had three stations where you could order fresh cooked food: a Japanese style breakfast, an eggs & omelets station, and a waffles & pancakes station. They also had a separate fresh fruit area, a cold meats & cheeses area (including smoked salmon and brie), and a breads & pastries section. I ate big breakfasts while staying there, and I missed it this morning.
I left Taipei at 5:15am, before the restaurant opened. I anticipated that last night, and ate a big dinner. Turns out I probably shouldn't have done that, because they served us a good meal during the first flight.
Now I'm sitting in the Cathay Pacific business class lounge in the Hong Kong airport, between flights on my way to Beijing. I had heard rave reviews of the Cathay lounge in this airport, but really it's not that much better than any of the other lounges I've been in. It does have one unique feature: some of the seats have a personal TV that you can tune to a station of your choice, and listen to using headphones. I found an open seat and set up my PC, then fired up the little TV. It lets you input your departing flight info, and will warn me when I need to leave to get to the gate on time. I had it tuned to CNN, and the sound was distorted, so I changed to Bloomberg. Pretty cool.
Next post will be from Beijing.
I left Taipei at 5:15am, before the restaurant opened. I anticipated that last night, and ate a big dinner. Turns out I probably shouldn't have done that, because they served us a good meal during the first flight.
Now I'm sitting in the Cathay Pacific business class lounge in the Hong Kong airport, between flights on my way to Beijing. I had heard rave reviews of the Cathay lounge in this airport, but really it's not that much better than any of the other lounges I've been in. It does have one unique feature: some of the seats have a personal TV that you can tune to a station of your choice, and listen to using headphones. I found an open seat and set up my PC, then fired up the little TV. It lets you input your departing flight info, and will warn me when I need to leave to get to the gate on time. I had it tuned to CNN, and the sound was distorted, so I changed to Bloomberg. Pretty cool.
Next post will be from Beijing.
Monday, October 13, 2008
a few Taipei sights
I got a slightly better shot of the Taipei 101 tower when the clouds broke up a bit:
This morning I went on a Half-day tour of Taipei. It was just me and two other tourists, with a driver and our tour guide, in a little minivan type vehicle. The tour started at a traditional Buddhist temple, with some very colorful decorations:
Then we went to the Martyrs' Shrine, and watched the changing of the guards ceremony. I got most of that on tape. Here is a shot of the shrine site after the crowd had dispersed a bit:
We got to spend an hour inside the National Palace Museum, but we were not allowed to take photos or video inside. Here's a shot of the outside of the building:
There were some very interesting things inside. The most famous is a large piece of jade that is carved to look like a cabbage plant with a grasshopper on top. The museum has a website, so you can see what it looks like here:
http://www.npm.gov.tw/exh96/Dazzling/
Last stop was Chiang-Kai-shek Memorial Hall, commemorating a former Taiwan leader. He died when he was 89, so their monument to him has 89 steps:
Inside, there's a statue of him seated, similar to the one of Lincoln:
Of course we made an obligatory stop for Tiawanese oolong tea in a gift shop, and were encouraged to do some shopping... As we got back in the van to return to the hotel, the tour guide asked if we would be interested in having Mongolian BBQ for lunch, because he knew a good place. I jumped at the opportunity, and the Dutch couple that was with us agreed too. We had a great meal there! I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the Mongolian grills we have in Raleigh are actually very authentic, at least they are very similar to those in this part of the world.
This morning I went on a Half-day tour of Taipei. It was just me and two other tourists, with a driver and our tour guide, in a little minivan type vehicle. The tour started at a traditional Buddhist temple, with some very colorful decorations:
Then we went to the Martyrs' Shrine, and watched the changing of the guards ceremony. I got most of that on tape. Here is a shot of the shrine site after the crowd had dispersed a bit:
We got to spend an hour inside the National Palace Museum, but we were not allowed to take photos or video inside. Here's a shot of the outside of the building:
There were some very interesting things inside. The most famous is a large piece of jade that is carved to look like a cabbage plant with a grasshopper on top. The museum has a website, so you can see what it looks like here:
http://www.npm.gov.tw/exh96/Dazzling/
Last stop was Chiang-Kai-shek Memorial Hall, commemorating a former Taiwan leader. He died when he was 89, so their monument to him has 89 steps:
Inside, there's a statue of him seated, similar to the one of Lincoln:
Of course we made an obligatory stop for Tiawanese oolong tea in a gift shop, and were encouraged to do some shopping... As we got back in the van to return to the hotel, the tour guide asked if we would be interested in having Mongolian BBQ for lunch, because he knew a good place. I jumped at the opportunity, and the Dutch couple that was with us agreed too. We had a great meal there! I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the Mongolian grills we have in Raleigh are actually very authentic, at least they are very similar to those in this part of the world.
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