Temple of Heaven

I started off the morning searching the internet for any "deals" on Olympic tickets. After yesterday's $1,500+ for USA-China basketball tickets, I guess everything looks like a "deal" now.

My friends headed to the Silk Market for some shopping while I headed to the Temple of Heaven by myself. I am really surpised how not overcrowded these top attractions have been.

Unfortunately the smog really obscures the colors from a distance. You can see how brilliant the colors are in this close up:





While I was walking in the park towards the temple, I saw a TV crew wearing KSL shirts. I asked them if that was KSL as in Salt Lake City and that started our conversation.Long story short, I'm going to be part of Amanda Butterfield's piece on how to pronounce "Beijing" properly, so if you happen to see the report, you can see me speaking my broken Chinese, asking Chinese people to say "Beijing" and then explaining in English how Chinese is a tonal language.She said it would be on the 6:30 and 10:00 editions of the news programs, and most likely it will be on their website as well.




I had a blast watching the various groups of older Chinese people singing, playing cards, dancing, and playing some form of chess. I spent quite a bit of time just watching them, until they said something about me, thinking that I didn't understand, and that gave me the invitation to talk with them. It surprises Chinese everytime to see a "foreigner" speaking Chinese.

Singing:

Playing cards:

Dancing:

Playing chess:

I then headed back to Wangfujing Street to see what people were up to... it was a sight! There were large contingents from various countries that had grouped together to watch the Opening Ceremony on the outdoor large screen TVs. I'm not sure where the Americans were hanging out, but it wasn't there. Nonetheless, it was just fun to walk through, get asked to take pictures with Chinese, and chat with different folks for a bit.


I met up at my friend's place and four of us are watching the Opening Ceremony as only CCTV can deliver! The performances were pretty impressive.

Air pollution in Beijing

There are many stories about the Olympics, not directly related to the athletic competitions themselves. One of those stories is the air pollution in Beijing, although air pollution does directly impact the athletes, especially "high performance" athletes that compete outdoors.

Beijing has had seven years since winning the Olympic bid to improve the air quality in the city. I can honestly say that the first two days that I've been here, I've felt my lungs burn a little and have coughed some funk up as well. I can only imagine what it does to a marathon runner.

So how bad can it be? Here are some pictures:

Here are a couple pics from Tiananmen Square with one of my new friends! You can see the buildings behind starting to grey out. I'm sure Mao Zedong would be very upset if "the people" couldn't see his picture clearly! These two pics were taken at 11:00 am.




Here's a picture of Forbidden City. It's a huge compound of beautiful buildings, but from this vantage point, many of the buildings can't be seen because of the smog and pollution. This picture was taken at 2 pm.

What's that in the sky? You can almost make it out... oh there it is, that must be the sun. This picture was taken at 4:30 pm.

This is the clearest I've seen it in Beijing in the three days I've been here now. This picture was taken 5 pm on the 8th:

So every "dark cloud" has a silver lining, right? Well here's the silver lining... It's been in the low 90's here, with 90% humidity. Fortunately the smog is providing some protection from the sun, so it's not as hot as it could be if the sun was able to fully shine on us, right? How's that for the merits of air pollution?!

If this is what the air quality is like after 7 years of taking steps to improve things, I can't even imagine what it would have been like if they hadn't tried to do anything about it!!

USA vs Austrailia

Here's a picture of Spencer and me holding our flag up during halftime. The picture was taken courtesy of our Austrailian friend Simon!

(Can I just say that the US flag is beautiful?! I loved holding it up and cheering on the team)

I went to the "Redeem Team's" second game in Shanghai against Austrailia on Tuesday the 5th. While it was a thrill to see the individual players of Team USA, that is also how they played... as individuals. Austrailia sliced up the US defense with great cuts, great passes, and great shooting. The was a game the US could have lost, and perhaps would have lost had Austrailia's best player, the 2005 #1 NBA draft pick Andrew Bogut had been playing. If the US plays like this in the real games, they can forget about the Gold, and maybe even forget about a medal.

If anybody knows why a healthy Carlos Boozer sat the bench for the entire game, please let me know. With three minutes left in the game, Austrailia went to the free throw line and in between shots, when it was quite quiet, I yelled at the top of my lungs, "Hey Coach K, we want Boozer!" I know the entire team heard it. That must be frustrating for Boozer...

At any rate, after we took the picture above, two young Chinese ladies came down and asked me if they could take a picture with the flag. I agreed and gave them the flag and turned around to talk with Spencer and Simon. Simon then said to me, "You're not getting off that easy. I'm sure they want the picture WITH you." Sure enough, a couple of seconds later they tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to be in the picture as well. So I got a picture as well. All in the name of better international relations, right? That's what I'm here for...



Getting home was a mess. The subways had stopped running for the evening and we were on the other side of Shanghai from our homes (30 miles). The taxis that were available were not willing to use their meters, they wanted to charge us higher rates. Spencer came through for us. He told us to hang back for a couple of minutes, negotiated with a driver to use his meter, then as he got in the car he motioned for us to get in. The driver was furious because he felt that us foreigners should pay higher prices and he refused to drive. Spencer didn't back down, told him we weren't getting out of his cab. Eventually we won and the driver did his job: driving us home using the meter. The total bill? $31. Not bad for 30 miles and 1 hour and 20 minutes of total driving time (including the huge traffic jam getting out of there).

USA 89, Russia 68

What a fun experience, watching Team USA take care of Russia yesterday with 15,000 of my closest Chinese friends. I went with four other Americans and brought along an American flag as well that came out a couple of times in the Spirit of the Olympics! Fun times!


Maybe I can justify these games as a school expense. I just wrote a paper on the NBA's worldwide business expansion, particularly into China. They definitely liked the Team USA stars, particularly Kobe Bryant (the favorite by far), LeBron James (even though he had a lackluster game), and Dwayne Wade.

Here's my picture of Dwayne Wade on a breakaway dunk...



It was also fun to see how the Chinese cheer in basketball. One problem is this, they cheer loudest when their favorite people on shooting free throws. Kobe shot several free throws several times during the game and the place was the loudest it was the entire game when he was shooting free throws. With "friends" like this, who needs enemies??


The game itself was closer than I had expected before we finally pulled away. The Russians have a little American point guard named J.R. Holden who plays for them. He never played in the NBA, but played very well for the Russians. Russian czar Vladimir Putin personally gave him citizenship in 2003 to be able to play for the national team. Interesting...


One other note, Andrei Kirelenko is a pouter! I liked him in a Utah Jazz uniform, but today he was very frustrated (while playing really well), but several times in frustration/anger he spiked the basketball... and no technicals were called. Yup, he was a baby.


So I'm looking forward to the game against Austrailia. Hopefully there isn't as much defense played so we can see even more fast breaks and dunks.

"Let the games begin!"

I just finished my last class for this term, so now it's time to look forward to the "games" that lie ahead. Yes, "games" is a reference to the Olympics that are coming and the fun starts next week:

August 3: Team USA vs Russia in men's basketball!

August 5: Team USA vs Austrailia in men's basketball!

I get to see "Redeem Team" twice, in their last two preliminary games before the Olympics, here in Shanghai. The Redeem Team's mission is to recapture the glory of the 1992 Dream Team. While I would rather have watched Barkley, Jordan, Bird, Stockton and Malone play back 16 years ago (has it been that long?), I do get to watch Kobe, LeBron, Carmelo, Williams and Boozer which should be quite a treat. I'm looking forward to seeing the Jazz teammates Williams and Boozer playing against their other Jazz teammate Andrei "AK-47" Kirelenko who is playing for Russia.

And then...

August 6-14: I'm flying up to Beijing for the Olympics. I don't have any tickets for events, yet, but I'm not worried about that. If I can come across some tickets while I'm there, great, if not I'm just looking forward to the Olympic atmosphere. I'll be staying with a fellow Air Force Olmsted Scholar who is doing the same thing in Beijing as I am here in Shanghai. So I figure the money I'm "saving" on hotels I can employ to get me into the August 10th China vs Team USA men's basketball game... Yao Ming vs the Americans... in China... that would be electric! But I imagine those tickets will be impossible to come by, but at least I'll take a look.

I'm hoping that my plane can actually land in Beijing... have you seen the smog / air pollution problems they're having? And that's after closing factories and cutting the cars on the road by half. I might as well take up smoking while I'm up there because at least I could breathe through a filter, but a lighter may not work with the lack of oxygen there... uh, why are the Olympics being held there again?

I have to thank Morgan in advance for letting me go to the Olympics in Beijing while she stays in Shanghai with the kids. So maybe some of that hotel money that I'll save in Beijing can be spent on a birthday present for her on August 15th. Notice I come back on the 14th? I'm so thoughtful... Actually I have classes on the 15th and 16th that I have to get back for, but conveniently I'll be back for Morgan's birthday as well!

Back here in Shanghai, Morgan and I will go to one of the soccer games. Half of the Olympic soccer games will be played here in Shanghai including the men's bronze medal game. After watching three of the Women's World Cup soccer games back in September, we decided to go watch one of the men's games. We don't know who we'll be watching, yet, since the game is after the pool play. But regardless of who it is I'm sure it will be a good time.

25-31 August: I'm heading down to Hong Kong. While Hong Kong is also hosting some of the Olympic events (the equestrian events) that's not why I'm going. I'm going with my MBA class... this is going to be a great trip. The reason why we're going is because my MBA is actually taught by the University of Hong Kong, the professors fly up to Shanghai to teach our classes each week, so we're going down there to get acquainted with the university, our future alumni network, and then we'll also get treated to visits to various business there in HK.

So there it is... the month hasn't even started, but it's also just about over. Let the games begin!

Do you really know what your shirt says?

Last week we were in line somewhere and this cute Chinese girl was standing in line behind us. Tim noticed her shirt and asked her in Chinese if she knew what it said. Obviously she didn't....He didn't tell her either.

Lions and Tigers and... LIVE chickens!

We just wanted to get out of Shanghai for a few days and so we headed to Hangzhou (small town of 6 million), where another Olmsted family lives with 2 little boys. The kids like to play with each other and we have a good time swapping stories.

Everytime we have gotten together with these friends, someone has seriously been sick! This time it was Tim's turn (self-induced) -- he woke Sunday morning with a light-sensitive, nearly swollen-shut eye. So he stayed in bed most of the day in the dark, but woke up Monday morning feeling good enough to venture out to the Hangzhou Safari! We couldn't figure out what was wrong with his eye, it didn't seem to get better after two full days, but he seemed to be getting used to the discomfort. He just kept saying that it felt like something was in there, but couldn't see anything in there. As we were packing our bags to head home on Tuesday morning... Tim goes into the bathroom and takes a good look at his eye in the mirror. He noticed something resembling a contact lens and sure enough, he pulled his contact that he hadn't realized he was still wearing. Within 1 hour the redness was gone and his eye was amazingly healed!

.....

We headed to the Hangzhou Animal Safari, an experience you won't find in America. We drove with our friends in their car around the outer road stopping along the way to look at the wild animals. If you choose, you can buy some food they are selling and throw it to the animals. Different animals had different items for purchase.

First we came to the Grizzly Bears and threw some apples. You can see the green apple in the top right-center of the pic that the bear stood up to catch... and he did!

Next came the wolves, you could throw them raw meat, they were all over it. Adayla and Tally were interested in watching, but not interested in throwing the meat.

The next part is where it got interesting....the tigers! You can feed them raw meat or you can buy them a whole live chicken.




So for 30 RMB($4.50) we had ourselves a chicken to throw to the tigers.



(By the way, do you know how many people that little silver-blue car behind me can hold? 5 adults and 5 kids! Amazing! Who needs SUVs or minivans?!)

On to the show: 3... 2... 1... Throw him to his death Morgan! Cheer on kids!!

Happy Tiger!



We passed on feeding the lions, kind of boring! This was all good times and I am pleased that you are reading this here on the blog written by me instead of on CNN.com.... you know, something like, "some dumb Americans in China thought it would be fun to throw live chickens to tigers and were mauled in the process."

So we were able to move onto the next part of our Safari adventure. This part you stay in the car and the animals come to you. We bought some branches with leaves on them and pretty soon you have lots of new friends chasing after your car....

And before long, he is in your car!

Then the camels want in on the food as well.

Our friends boys were LOVING it! They had been a few times before. Our girls were very interested in seeing the animals, they did not want them in the car, however!

Finally we headed into the more zoo like area of the park, but you can still feed many of the animals. These were the friendly little Red Pandas or as the Chinese call them the Lesser Panda. Adayla and Tally both warmed up to them and thought it was quite fun to feed them.

Then this is Tim and Tally feeding the lemurs. I am thankful we went in the hot season, our friends said that if you go when the temp is comfy they will happily hop onto you! And it was hot -- this day was 101 degrees, and humid.

I know this makes you all want to buy your tickets to China for a visit... Product Safety? What's that?!

Can we say Nosy??

There is no secret about most Chinese, I have written many times before about the help I get everytime I go outside how to take care of my kids. They are wearing too little clothes, too many, it is too hot to have them out, too cold...blah blah blah. They will open their mouth nearly everytime, but a few will just stare and stare. This was one of those instances, until I think he didn't know what to say and went one step too far.....

We were at the Safari Park this past weekend (more updates about feeding tigers a LIVE chicken and giving Giraffes food from the car at a later date) and it was HOT outside. We found some shade, ice cream, and a place to sit down while I fed Ryann. I have this cute nursing cover I wear around my neck to be conservative. I covered her head and left her feet and legs hanging out to keep her as cool as possible.

I like to think that it was very obvious as to what was occuring underneath the blanket. So this family comes walking by with their one small child and grandma and grandpa are along as well. They stop to observe the foreigners and notice me with a baby underneath the blanket. The grandpa comes up and just stares about a foot away from me and then SHOCKS me by curiously grabbing the end of the cover and lifts it to see what is going on underneath! I think he was just as shocked when I slapped the blanket down with my hand! After they left, we laughed and laughed!

So your job this week, next time you see a covered lady nursing her child, stare for a minute and then just lift up the cover to see what the baby is really doing.....

Tally - The Biter

Tim said this about Tally the other day....if she were a boy she would make an excellent running back. She is tough, using her head as a weapon, and holds her own. She loves to bite and put everything in her mouth and it is about to make her mom crazy. Earlier this week we were at our favorite little diner (see We're in America post) and since they opened a Coldstone right next to it, all the more reason to head over there.

They serve drinks in this pretty glasses like this. Tally grabbed the first glass and then we looked down there was a chunk taken out and the whole glass was cracked. The glass was completely full still and so we knew it hadn't tipped over and broken. We continue on, they bring us a new glass, and dinner is served quickly. Tally is takes another drink and pretty soon Tim yells it is her! Her mouth is dripping with blood and there is a huge chunk missing from the. Thankfully she only cut her tongue. What are we to do with her??

"Dino Beach" Waterpark

China has waterparks just as cool as America. So anyways, we packed up and headed one weekday to check out Shanghai's main water park.

It was TONS of fun after the girls warmed up, we spent over 8 hours there and they loved it! Needless to say as soon as we hopped in the taxi the girls were out!

Just a few notes about Chinese and swimming. They didn't grow up swimming like many Americans and so they don't know how to swim. This makes them a little more hesitant to jump in the water. Because this is all new to most of them, they enjoy many of the kiddie areas just as well. Also, men and boys love spandex and speedos! I don't know what Tim was thinking wearing his long American swim trunks!


Blah, blah enough, here are a few pics!





Look in the middle and you will see a Tim, Tally, and Adayla.

The big Tiki head in this kid area slowly fills with water and then dumps out on everybody below once it is full.
Ryann joined in on the fun! She hung out in the Baby Bjorn (again) most of the day. Tally shared her shirt with her because her mom forgot the hat. Ryann is a whitey and so we must be extra careful not to let her burn.
Got to keep this girls from getting dehydrated!
This was almost one of Adayla's favorite parts, the swimming pool that was deep! The water came just to her shoulders and so she felt so big wading through the water herself.
After convincing Adayla that she should try this tube slide on her own, she finally did....and of course then we did it 50 more times. Tally was convinced once and that was enough for her.

The tube in the wave pool that is tipping over is Adayla and one of our friends that was at the pool with us.
The FAST slide, almost dangerous, there weren't any sticky bums on this one. Again, 50 times or so down this one as well.
Adayla getting adventurous in her choice for going down.
Little Chinese BOY going down the slide, we are for sure this is a boy as the split you can see in the back is the same size slit in the front.

Ryann is 3 months....

another month went by just as quick. She is stinkin' cute, super sweet, and hen guai! We love her smiles, giggles, "talking", and serious faces!

Phuket -- Who's In??

We just bought our airline tickets to go to Phuket, Thailand! We've been to many places and while most of them are worth going back to, there are just too many other places that we still want to see and experience. The one exception to that is Phuket!

We loved Phuket when we went last year... we loved the beautiful beaches, the perfectly clear water, the striking mountain backgrounds... the fun and CHEAP activities and the CHEAP & EXCELLENT FOOD!! ;-) So our Chinese New Year's vacation is starting with Phuket (after a nice two-day stopover in Kuala Lumpur).

We'll arrive in Phuket on our 7th wedding anniversary, January 19th. Chinese New Year's in 2009 is on January 26th. So whoever has time off and interest to go, let us know and we can relax together!

If we can get some families together, we could rent a house on the beach, which would also allow for one couple to stay at the house after the kids have been put down to bed while everybody else enjoys the evening outside of the house.

So we ask, who's in?

Also on our list this trip are Cambodia (Phnom Penh) and Vietnam (Hanoi and/or Ho Chi Minh City). So if you're up for meeting in those countries, let us know. If you have another location you're heading in Asia during February, let's talk! BTW, check out http://www.airasia.com/ for some really sweet deals on airfares. They are by far the biggest discount airline in Asia.

Here are a couple of pics from last year to "wet" (whet) your appetite...

(Yes, Tim did get darker later in the trip!)