Office Drone: May 2006

Shanghai, Day 5

Today was Yuan Gardens and Xintandi. Tomorrow morning we head to Beijing and we'll spend the next week traveling through Lanzhou, Xian and Xihe.

Yuan Gardens:

Fuxing Park:

Shanghai, Day 4

Monday, Mom and I headed down to the Xiangyang Market to shop for some knock-off goods. I picked up some very nice shirts for cheap. This full contact shopping, similar to Canal Street in NYC, but turned up to 11. Much cooler and much better merchandise.

After the knock-off market, we went to the Shanghai Museum. This was an excellent way to spend an afternoon. They had very interesting exhibits on Bronze Age Chinese artifacts, a Jade gallery and a gallery of art from Chinese Minority Nationalities. It is very impressive to soak in a bit of history from a culture so old and rich.

Shanghai, Day 3

On Sunday morning we got up very early and took a drive about 45 minutes west of the city to play some golf. An amazing thing about this area is that there is very little transition between the city and the rural areas. There are no suburbs to speak of. One minute you are very much in urban Shanghai and the next you see rice fields. It’s very strange for someone used to the 25-50 mile suburb/strip mall belt that surrounds ever American city.

Sunrise over Shanghai:

The view from a window in my parents apartment at night:

Shanghai, Day 2

Day three in Shanghai found us taking a long, leisurely stroll around the city. We started at my parent’s apartment, stopped for breakfast and continued down West Beijing Road until we reached the Bund (the riverfront area). From there we took the sightseeing tunnel under the river to Pudong (the new half of the city). I should note that the sightseeing tunnel is a waste of time and 40rmb (about $5). Anyway, it was nice to see the other side of the river. After that, was took the tunnel back over to the old city and they caught the subway back to my parents apartment. Shanghai has a very nice subway.

For dinner we went to the restaurant on the 56th floor of the Grand Hyatt. The food was very good and view would make it worthwhile even if the food wasn't.

Some old buildings on West Beijing Road:

Mom and Dad on West Beijing Road:

Pudong, as seen from The Bund:

The Peace Hotel:

JV and I on the Bund. The building just above JV's left shoulder is the Grand Hyatt:

Shanghai, Day 1

I arrived in Shanghai late last evening after about 20 hours of travel from Seattle. The trip was relatively painless, but there is just nothing civilized about spending all day on an airplane and in airports.

I got up early this morning and walked the city. I'm very impressed with Shanghai. It is a vibrant, clean and safe city. I should note that it's safe as long as you can avoid getting hit by a car. I used to think that Manhattan cabbies were nuts, but this is a whole new level. The city is also very cosmopolitan, but if you get off a few blocks off the major roads, you very quickly move away from anything that you would expect to see in an American city.

I had an interesting time trying to order lunch. I went into a small (about 10-15 seats) restaurant I found down a small side street. Needless to say, I was the only westerner in the place and the staff did not speak English. After some pointing, smiling and nodding, I apparently ordered something that involved chicken, stir fried vegetables, and steamed rice. It was very good and only cost me the equivalent of $2.

Jing'anPark:

The cheesy camera phone self portrait. You can see the Jing'an Temple over my left shoulder.

Mt Rainier

The first stop on my post graduation, pre real job world tour is a few days in Seattle with Dave and Susan. I got in Friday night and Saturday morning found me up at 6:30am heading south towards Mt Rainier for some backcountry skiing with Susan, Michelle and Dave.

We hiked up the south side of the mountain toward Muir Camp. By 4:00pm, we had hiked up 3,000+ vertical feet and enjoyed a mellow ski down the Muir Snowfield under perfect bluebird skies.

Our objective: