Just a quick post tonight as I only have a few minutes - we went and saw a chemical plant 40km outside shanghai today. It took us 3.5 hours to get there and FOUR AND A HALF HOURS to get back. That's an average speed of just over 5mph. Needless to say, traffic here is not so good. At one point everyone just spontaneously started leaning on their horns, I'd say about 50 to 70 cars all honking at the same time. Pretty interesting. Off to dinner!
Pete
Oregon to Luxembourg to Oregon
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Pictures this time...
I promise, no quasi-political rambling today. On to the pictures!
Today we did prep work for the show and our plant tours all morning, then headed out to see a Buddhist temple, and the old section of town which is now kind of a tourist trinket free-for-all.
The Temple was really, really interesting. It was actually a functioning place of worship, even with touristas (including me) snapping photos and the like. As long as they were making money, it didn't seem to bother them. I am beginning to understand that the vague sense we have as Christians that money is something dangerous, and not to be trusted is totally absent here. Remember, the "D.L." (Buddhist leader from a highly contested section of China that I don't dare mention when writing from here) is also a sharp and wealthy business man as well as a religious leader, and that's totally OK with them, not seen as a conflict of interest at all. Wow, sorry! I got off on another quasi-political rant and then mixed in religion. Bad form.
Exterior of the temple:
Me with lesser gods. These things were gigantic, gold plated, and very impressive. This temple was called "The temple of the Jade Buddha." I wasn't allowed to take a picture of the Jade Buddha, but suffice it to say it was very large and made out of jade. Very expensive.
This little Buddhist deity (even though Buddhists aren't really much for theism... I had to sort that one out on Wikipedia afterwards) reminded me of Daphne.
They had all kinds of antiques and religious items for sale at the temple, but one of the coolest things was not for sale - this mahogany wood carving took an artisan three years (about 300 years ago as I recall... not sure about that) to complete. It depicts the Buddha and a whole bunch of other characters, presumably deities of some kind or other.
After this we went to the old section of town and looked at trinkets. This was a cool looking section of town, with restored original Chinese buildings.
The obligatory street food shot - my cup of braised bean curd patties with soy and chile sauce on top... Delicious and only about $1.20! Allen was not impressed with my culinary discretion.
We had dinner on the top floor of our hotel. It had a glass ceiling (literal, not figurative!), and a cool building towered over us. Quite a flattering shot of me, I have to say.
Miss and Love you all!
Pete
Today we did prep work for the show and our plant tours all morning, then headed out to see a Buddhist temple, and the old section of town which is now kind of a tourist trinket free-for-all.
The Temple was really, really interesting. It was actually a functioning place of worship, even with touristas (including me) snapping photos and the like. As long as they were making money, it didn't seem to bother them. I am beginning to understand that the vague sense we have as Christians that money is something dangerous, and not to be trusted is totally absent here. Remember, the "D.L." (Buddhist leader from a highly contested section of China that I don't dare mention when writing from here) is also a sharp and wealthy business man as well as a religious leader, and that's totally OK with them, not seen as a conflict of interest at all. Wow, sorry! I got off on another quasi-political rant and then mixed in religion. Bad form.
Exterior of the temple:
Me with lesser gods. These things were gigantic, gold plated, and very impressive. This temple was called "The temple of the Jade Buddha." I wasn't allowed to take a picture of the Jade Buddha, but suffice it to say it was very large and made out of jade. Very expensive.
This little Buddhist deity (even though Buddhists aren't really much for theism... I had to sort that one out on Wikipedia afterwards) reminded me of Daphne.
They had all kinds of antiques and religious items for sale at the temple, but one of the coolest things was not for sale - this mahogany wood carving took an artisan three years (about 300 years ago as I recall... not sure about that) to complete. It depicts the Buddha and a whole bunch of other characters, presumably deities of some kind or other.
After this we went to the old section of town and looked at trinkets. This was a cool looking section of town, with restored original Chinese buildings.
The obligatory street food shot - my cup of braised bean curd patties with soy and chile sauce on top... Delicious and only about $1.20! Allen was not impressed with my culinary discretion.
We had dinner on the top floor of our hotel. It had a glass ceiling (literal, not figurative!), and a cool building towered over us. Quite a flattering shot of me, I have to say.
Miss and Love you all!
Pete
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Shanghaid
When we flew into Hong Kong, I was treated to a panoramic overhead view of the city. I got a real sense of the place, even before we hit the ground, and everything else about the city was framed in that context. Today we flew into Shanghai, and I was hoping for a similar experience - unfortunately visibility here is about 4 blocks due to the perma-smog that has developed here over the past few years. As we walked around the city my, eyes began to sting, and I wondered how the citizens could stand it. Then I suddenly understood - (warning, non-PC statement ahead) It beats the heck out of being poor.
These guys are firing up a coal power plant on the average of something like every five minutes. In the next couple years they will pass the US in total carbon emissions, and right now the yearly increase in carbon dioxide emissions from China is more than the yearly total output from the UK! If I seem a little more knowledgeable than usual, it's because I just finished a wonderful little book by Nigel Lawson (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Appeal-Reason-Cool-Global-Warming/dp/071563786X)
Regarding this and other climate change issues. I don't have a lot of certainty about whether the Earth is heating up due to carbon dioxide emissions or other human activities (living with uncertainty, for better or worse seems to be one of my strong suits...), but Nigel expressed a couple of ideas I agree with but never hear mentioned:
1. We humans are pretty darned good at adapting to new circumstances, particularly slow environmental ones. Most of our energy ought to be aimed at how we adapt and thrive in response to any global climate changes. If the world warms up, some places (cold ones) will prosper, and some (hot/coastal ones probably!) will suffer, but on the whole it may not even be a net loss.
2. If Carbon Dioxide emissions really are the key, we're already screwed, because no matter how many Prius' we drive around, China and other developing economies make small reductions in the Western world irrelevant. What's more, even if we could convince them to drastically cut their CO2 emissions, we would be essentially condemning a huge percentage of the world's population that would otherwise prosper to continued abject poverty, and the accompanying misery, disease, etc. It's a pretty dicey ethical argument.
Anyway, check out the book, it is the first relatively sane and pragmatic writing I've read on this topic for a while. (Fran, it's by a British guy!)
So is the pollution worth it? It seems hard to say no, given the alternatives. Anyhow, sorry you had to sift through that. On to some pictures!
We rode the world's only magnetically levitated (mag-lev) train in from the airport, top speed 430km/hr (267mi/hr). Yowsers. Allen said it's a 30 min cab ride in from the airport, which we covered in about 7 minutes.
One refreshing policy in China - no trumpet players allowed.
In Culinary News (seems to be a popular subject)
Allen ordered some raw meat on an extremely hot block of stone - kind of like the opposite of cold stone creamery. You just turn it until you like the look of it, and away you go! I had the vegetarian version which was basically a mushroom the size of a football. Good times! The entrees were about $13-17, but compared to wages here, that is quite a ritzy meal.
These guys are firing up a coal power plant on the average of something like every five minutes. In the next couple years they will pass the US in total carbon emissions, and right now the yearly increase in carbon dioxide emissions from China is more than the yearly total output from the UK! If I seem a little more knowledgeable than usual, it's because I just finished a wonderful little book by Nigel Lawson (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Appeal-Reason-Cool-Global-Warming/dp/071563786X)
Regarding this and other climate change issues. I don't have a lot of certainty about whether the Earth is heating up due to carbon dioxide emissions or other human activities (living with uncertainty, for better or worse seems to be one of my strong suits...), but Nigel expressed a couple of ideas I agree with but never hear mentioned:
1. We humans are pretty darned good at adapting to new circumstances, particularly slow environmental ones. Most of our energy ought to be aimed at how we adapt and thrive in response to any global climate changes. If the world warms up, some places (cold ones) will prosper, and some (hot/coastal ones probably!) will suffer, but on the whole it may not even be a net loss.
2. If Carbon Dioxide emissions really are the key, we're already screwed, because no matter how many Prius' we drive around, China and other developing economies make small reductions in the Western world irrelevant. What's more, even if we could convince them to drastically cut their CO2 emissions, we would be essentially condemning a huge percentage of the world's population that would otherwise prosper to continued abject poverty, and the accompanying misery, disease, etc. It's a pretty dicey ethical argument.
Anyway, check out the book, it is the first relatively sane and pragmatic writing I've read on this topic for a while. (Fran, it's by a British guy!)
So is the pollution worth it? It seems hard to say no, given the alternatives. Anyhow, sorry you had to sift through that. On to some pictures!
We rode the world's only magnetically levitated (mag-lev) train in from the airport, top speed 430km/hr (267mi/hr). Yowsers. Allen said it's a 30 min cab ride in from the airport, which we covered in about 7 minutes.
One refreshing policy in China - no trumpet players allowed.
In Culinary News (seems to be a popular subject)
Allen ordered some raw meat on an extremely hot block of stone - kind of like the opposite of cold stone creamery. You just turn it until you like the look of it, and away you go! I had the vegetarian version which was basically a mushroom the size of a football. Good times! The entrees were about $13-17, but compared to wages here, that is quite a ritzy meal.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Hong Kong - the pictures
Hey everyone - Thanks for the comments! Here's some pictures of Hong Kong. We're leaving for Shanghai this morning, and I don't really have any reason to think I'll ever be in Hong Kong again, certainly not for business. It's really a unique place, and is notable in that it has the densest population in the world. There's over 7 million people here, and everyone lives in high-rise apartments that are just jammed together one after the other. Anyway, here's some pictures:
This is a good shot of what the apartement buildings are like - the entire city is like this. It's hard to describe how dense the population is here, but it is still safe and friendly. Got to love the former British Empire!
Allen admiring a bronze of Bruce Lee on the "walk of stars" (the waterfront in the Kowloon District looks out at down town Hong Kong). Jakie Chan lives here too, though I didn't see him taking any pratfalls or running up walls, etc. (or using either of his two facial expressions!)
Skyline by Day:
Skyline by Night:
I tried to have the "Hong-Kong-iest" breakfast I could yesterday. The result: Fried noodles and chille sauce, scrambled eggs, grilled tomatoes, hashbrowns and toast. This was one of the best hotel breakfasts I have ever had, and this plate turned out to be only round one... (needless to say I didn't have much lunch yesterday)
Ok, that's enough for now, see you in Shanghai!
Pete
This is a good shot of what the apartement buildings are like - the entire city is like this. It's hard to describe how dense the population is here, but it is still safe and friendly. Got to love the former British Empire!
Allen admiring a bronze of Bruce Lee on the "walk of stars" (the waterfront in the Kowloon District looks out at down town Hong Kong). Jakie Chan lives here too, though I didn't see him taking any pratfalls or running up walls, etc. (or using either of his two facial expressions!)
Skyline by Day:
Skyline by Night:
I tried to have the "Hong-Kong-iest" breakfast I could yesterday. The result: Fried noodles and chille sauce, scrambled eggs, grilled tomatoes, hashbrowns and toast. This was one of the best hotel breakfasts I have ever had, and this plate turned out to be only round one... (needless to say I didn't have much lunch yesterday)
Ok, that's enough for now, see you in Shanghai!
Pete
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Pics Pics Pics
I have not been particularly good about posting pictures. OK, well, I haven't actually posted a single one yet. So here we go... Here are some pics from my time in Singapore. I'll post some Hong Kong pics a little later.
Allen at a Mosque on "Arab Street" in Singapore
Me eating a bean-paste waffle from a street vendor in Singapore
A heart shaped design as the Singapore air force practices for an air show
Singapore skyline at sunset (they built a bigger version of the "London Eye")
Toast and Kona-Oh coffee from the "Toast Box" restaurant at the Singapore airport on our way out of town - Allen and I got a big kick out of that idea for a restaurant. Toast.
Allen at a Mosque on "Arab Street" in Singapore
Me eating a bean-paste waffle from a street vendor in Singapore
A heart shaped design as the Singapore air force practices for an air show
Singapore skyline at sunset (they built a bigger version of the "London Eye")
Toast and Kona-Oh coffee from the "Toast Box" restaurant at the Singapore airport on our way out of town - Allen and I got a big kick out of that idea for a restaurant. Toast.
Night Night
Got up at 2AM local time. Now it's 8:30 local time. Must.... Sleep....
More later.
Pete
PS: Hong Kong is pretty at night. I'll try and get some pictures up tomorrow.
PSS: Someone please make a comment on my blog! I feel lonely!
More later.
Pete
PS: Hong Kong is pretty at night. I'll try and get some pictures up tomorrow.
PSS: Someone please make a comment on my blog! I feel lonely!
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
June 19, 2008: 05:41
Had the distinct pleasure of waking up at 3AM to catch a 6:40 flight this morning to Hong Kong. I thought while I was killing time at the airport, I’d summarize my thoughts on Singapore.
Singapore is really a wonderful place; tropical, prosperous, cosmopolitan, clean and orderly, safe. Everyone is friendly, and English is the language of choice, it’s almost a perfect place to do business, unless you are trying to buy a car or consumer goods (I looked up some car prices in the classifieds yesterday. An ’06 Camry was listed at 66k, an ’07 Mercedes at 89k, and even a ’92 Corolla was just under 10k….. wow). Almost a little too perfect actually…
Singapore is kind of like one of those science fiction movies where the protagonist (in this case, me) travels to another planet, or into the future, and when he arrives he finds a utopian society. Unfortunately for our protagonist, there is always a seamy underbelly of the “utopia” that ends up pulling him into an action packed adventure fraught with peril and romance. Thankfully I haven’t had any peril or romance during my stay here, but I can’t shake the feeling that this place has to have a seamy underbelly of some kind all the same. I suspect the gigantic jail complex that I mentioned earlier might have something to do with that. Also, the customs notice that “drug smuggling is punishable by death” on the back of the customs form is another subtle clue as to the nature of the ruling persons here.
See you in Hong Kong, my flight is boarding!
Pete
Had the distinct pleasure of waking up at 3AM to catch a 6:40 flight this morning to Hong Kong. I thought while I was killing time at the airport, I’d summarize my thoughts on Singapore.
Singapore is really a wonderful place; tropical, prosperous, cosmopolitan, clean and orderly, safe. Everyone is friendly, and English is the language of choice, it’s almost a perfect place to do business, unless you are trying to buy a car or consumer goods (I looked up some car prices in the classifieds yesterday. An ’06 Camry was listed at 66k, an ’07 Mercedes at 89k, and even a ’92 Corolla was just under 10k….. wow). Almost a little too perfect actually…
Singapore is kind of like one of those science fiction movies where the protagonist (in this case, me) travels to another planet, or into the future, and when he arrives he finds a utopian society. Unfortunately for our protagonist, there is always a seamy underbelly of the “utopia” that ends up pulling him into an action packed adventure fraught with peril and romance. Thankfully I haven’t had any peril or romance during my stay here, but I can’t shake the feeling that this place has to have a seamy underbelly of some kind all the same. I suspect the gigantic jail complex that I mentioned earlier might have something to do with that. Also, the customs notice that “drug smuggling is punishable by death” on the back of the customs form is another subtle clue as to the nature of the ruling persons here.
See you in Hong Kong, my flight is boarding!
Pete
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