A boat in Shanghai with a giant video screen on it!

The Shanghai Grand Theatre

The famous Pearl TV building/antenna in the background.

The Pudong area of Shanghai...but muggy skies. The 'Cloud 9' bar is at the top of the building in the middle of the picture.

The Bund on the riverside.

Nicole on the Bund.

Shopping on Nanjing Road, famous shopping street in Shanghai.

Olympic art made with budweiser cans, throughout Shanghai.

The Yu Gardens with famous rock quarries.

The Yu Gardens famous tea house, which has hosted Richard Nixon and others for tea...

Zigzag walkway leading to the teahouse, which has been said to ward off evil spirits.

Well, the last day of our trip was in Shanghai, seeing the older parts of the city. We first went to the Yu Gardens, these really nice and famous Gardens within the city. Part of the gardens has been converted to shops and stores, and there's a really neat teahouse in the middle of a pond. The gardens themselves are really nice, home to former emperors. We then went shopping through the flea markets and open markets selling everything from raw seafood and veggies to "antiques" to even Mao memoribilia...I bought one of Mao's "little red books" that were handed out to all Chinese people during his reign. It comments on all of Mao's thoughts on government, laws, rules, and even the role of women, and is surprisingly progressive. Then we took a break back at the hotel, got some massages, and went to dinner in a totally non-Chinese restaurant - Pasti, an Italian place. We went to the Bund that night, which was supposed to be amazing during the night, but it was raining pretty hard so we didn't get to enjoy it. So we headed to a bar, apparently one of Shanghai's ritziest bars, called 'Glamour' which was pretty swanky with plush couches and fancy drinks. And that was our night! We headed to the airport the next morning, and flew back, ending our wonderful, hot and tiring, and busy journey in China!

We are glad to be home, back with Sofie who apparently had a tough time with us gone, but was well taken care of. Thanks again Stephanie! We're so happy and fortunate to have gone on such a cool trip, had a place to stay, and be a part of the Olympics and see the world.

Thanks so much mom and dad for even proposing the idea of the Olympics! I wouldn't have ever thought it would be something we would do without you. And thanks for providing us with such a nice place to stay, breakfast every morning, and translating for us when we coudln't communicate with the taxi driver or the guy arranging our Great Wall trip! We love you so much and had so much fun!

Thanks also to all our friends and family reading the blog and keeping up with us! I hope you enjoyed it! We really miss you!

Now we're back at home, and back to work. I'm back in the intensive care unit and have already finished one of my 30-hour shifts. Luckily it wasn't too busy. Nicole is back at work as well...and I have to admit its tough getting back in the swing of work. But we've had a fantastic 2 weeks and we won't forget it!

Love,

Nicole and Alan

from traditional to modern...

Shanghai - the Pudong area, which is the financial area, with all these high skyscrapers

Art Street

Art Street, entrance

Actual speed of the MagLev train while we were on it.

Temple of Heaven

Chinese Hot Pot (fondue) restaurant

Electric bike taxis, common in China for local commute. Only about US$0.50 to use.

In Beijing...

A sushi restaurant in Beijing, where we order using a computer and mouse, and they bring what we click.

Hey everyone!

Thanks for keeping up with the blog! Love all the comments. Apparently the beach volleyball babes have been turning heads in the news too.

We’re doing well over here. I’m over my cold though but coughing up yellow phlegm while Nicole is dripping from her nose like a faucet. But otherwise doing well…

Glad to hear about all the Olympic fever back at home. It is neat to be a part of the Olympics here, but to be honest, I actually think you guys might be catching the fever more than we are. We only got to see beach volleyball, indoor volleyball, and gymnastics, all prelims, and it was pretty hard to get tix to any other sport. Since most of the sports are on during the day, we miss em while we’re out. On tv, which is Chinese TV, they are biased toward showing all the events china is in – so rather than showing track and field, they are showing air rifle and ping pong. Although I will admit, anytime we are at an Olympic event, you can’t help look around and see the sea of Chinese people cheering “Cheung Gwa Jia Yo” (Go China!) and really feel the sense of pride they have, or any country for that matter. USA included.

We spent the last 2 days shopping and sightseeing. The weather the last 2 days was amazing – sunny, mild, and clear skies. We saw the ‘Temple of Heaven’, built in the 1400’s as a temple for the Emperor to worship the gods for a good harvest. The emperor is the equivalent of the son of God, and given the power by god to rule and conquer, so is considered pretty much a divine figure. That is, until 1911, when the last emperor was overthrown and Chiang Kai Shek changed the government to a republic.

Beijing overall is a great city. Its really an interesting mix of old and new. There is so much of the old and traditional there – from all the monuments and the Forbidden city and the temples, and clotheslines with laundry hanging outside, and bicycles and hutongs (small alleys with neighborhoods), to the new skyscrapers, subways, and western hotels and luxuries. And it really really makes you appreciate the comforts of home. The most noticeable are the lack of getting around in your own car, spacious homes that feel private, abundant air conditioning, occasional power outages. They do a lot to conserve here – for example, in hotels a room key is required to turn the power on, otherwise its all off. When you leave your house, you turn everything off including a/c.

Yesterday we flew into Shanghai. Much different city – it is the modern metropolis, bright city lights, ultra modern and fashionable, with western and European influence. We took a MagLev train (magnetic levitation) – which goes about 250mph and takes us 30km in 8 minutes from the airport to the city! We walked around yesterday in the area called the French Concession, an area within Shanghai that has European style architecture and villas, international flavors and restaurants – really felt a lot like the small alleys and neighborhoods in Seville, for example (see March 2006 blog). It was really great. There are a series of really small alleys, called ‘Art Street’ that has all these artsy shops, galleries, cafes, and trendy restaurants. It is buried within a city block, such that you would never notice it and only see the traditional Chinese stores lining the city block. You have to venture into the alleys to find it. Very very cool.

After dinner at a cool thai restaurant, we went to the Grand Hyatt tower overlooking the whole city. On the 88th floor is a bar called Cloud 9, very swanky, with really cool views of the riverside and city. Shanghai has a river running right through it, and the riverside area is called the Bund and is world famous – beautiful, with European architecture and expensive hotels/restaurants. We’ll check that out tonight. At Cloud 9, our drinks were about US$16 each. But very yummy!

Today we’re off to see ‘Old Shanghai’ and the Bund tonight. Will debrief you soon…miss all of you!!

Love,
Nicole and Alan

Awesome last 2 days...very tired...will write some blurbs, and more later...

Yesterday -
- Great wall of China! Went to a remote part of the wall, technically illegal for people to visit, but our guides bribe the villagers to let us on. Absolutely incredible, the original wall, never restored.

Today -
- Beijing Zoo - saw Giant Pandas! As well as lions, tigers, bears (oh my)
- Dinner at Din Tai Fung - best dumplings I've ever had, and voted by the New York Times as one of the 10 best restaurants in the world!
- Olympics - beach volleyball! Music, DJ's, go-go dancers, and men's and women's beach volleyball. We saw 3 matches, including women's US vs Cuba volleyball which was an exhilariting 3 set match - the US won!

Today –
- Olympics – indoor volleyball – 6 on 6, explosive, pretty cool, at Beijing Institute of Technology gymnasium
- Massages at the Ritz Carlton Beijing – this was phenomenal! The nicest spa I’ve ever seen.

We’ve had an incredible time so far. Beijing is a very cool city, with a lot of history blending with a conversion to modern times. We’re pretty tired navigating the city by bus, subway, taxi, and walking, in pretty hot weather. Both Nicole and I have managed to catch colds as well. We miss the comforts of home a little bit, but also are really having fun.

Stephanie, thanks so much for taking care of our house and Sofie. Poor Sofie, I think she’s depressed cuz she’s pooping in our house, and poor Stephanie has to clean it up. =( We’ll get you something real nice!

Nate, Amy and Jeff, love the funny comments!!

Write more soon…

National indoor stadium - site of gymnastics
The fam.

A bar on Santilun Street

Imperial Garden at Forbidden City. "Forbidden" because the common folk were never allowed to see it.

Us and one of the palaces within the Forbidden City

Tien 'na men square, with Mao Zedong's portrait.

Waifujung Street, shopping district in Beijing. Us in ponchos.

Just a prop, she's too young.

The Today show is currently filmed in Beijing - this is the sign outside their set. Hi Karen!

The water cube. Smoggy day.

The bird's nest. You can barely see the torch flame in this pic.

I think balance beam is one of the hardest.

Hey everyone!

Ahhh...finally a moment to recap whats been going on here. We've been having a great time and pretty busy over the last 2 days. Since we live outside of Beijing, it actualy is a bit of a trip getting into and out of the city - it involves a 30-45 min bus ride, then subway or cabs in the city, that we end up staying in the city all day.

You've also probably heard about the stabbings of the 2 Americans here. From our perspective, that seemed to have been an isolated incident with no signs of terrorism. We don't know what the heck caused the guy to do such a thing, but it does not seem to have deterred many people from going out, enjoying the Olympics or the city. In fact, the amount of security and people involved in oversight is incredible. There are police in every major area, standing at attention or marching in formation. There are also volunteers lining almost all the streets, as well as monitoring activity in stores. There are also volunteer security, who help enforce rules and manners, such as making sure people wait in line at bus stops (waiting in line was not part of etiquette previous to the Olympics).

Well yesterday we started off going to gymnastics in the morning. It was pretty freakin cool watching the best gymnasts in the world. We saw the women's prelim team competition, which included China's team, and of course all the fans were going nuts. Those little girls are totally jacked!

The Olympic Green, the area where the main stadiums are, is actually not green at all but a vast concrete area. The buildings are amazing, especially the water cube and the bird's nest, but the rest of the Olympic park is surprisingly bare - I expected almost a "fairgrounds" and festive atmosphere, but it was more like a concrete jungle. There were fountains, like there are in Atlanta, but that was it. Nothing else to see, really, no real exhibits. Nevertheless, all the action happens inside the stadiums. We can't wait to see our other events, indoor and beach volleyball. We may still try to scalp some other tix.

After the olympics, we spent the afternoon roaming around the shopping district, Waifujang (sp?) street, where it proceeded to rain on us. It didn't stop us...we had ponchos that were given out during the Olympics earlier in the day. The shopping district was loaded with tons of stores, many of them international brands. Jenny got sprayed with nasty street water by a bus. Nearby, there were alleys with lots of open air food vendors, which had mixed reviews. Amy had some sort of crepe wrap with vegetables, where she found a long black hair in it! Then some nasty corn on the cob. Then some yummy seafood/veggie balls. Amy had her picture taken by a random tourist on the street. Don't know what that was about. Oh, and in a communist country they can do what they damn well please. We wanted to check out a restaurant in the Beijing hotel, a pretty nice hotel in the upscale shopping district. For some reason, there were police at the crosswalks leading to it. We ask the police how to get there, and at first they direct us across the street. Then we say we want to have dinner there, and they look us up and down and say, "Oh no, you can't go in there." So we eat a late dinner in a...Chinese restaurant...somewhere else, and call it a night.

Today we went to Tien na' men Square and the Forbidden City, which was amazing. Tienamen square is where Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China (ie Communist China) in 1949. His portrait there today still looks flawless. It was crowded as hell. We got inside, into the Forbidden City, the palace where pretty much all the emperors of China during its imperial period lived (something like years BC until 1911). Huge, and amazing. My favorite part was the imperial garden, which was like a fairyland of artistic vegetation. At one point they locked up the doors and made us stay in a certain section for about 20 minutes...someone "important" was walking through, and a ton of police kept us away from them. There were some whispers it was Bush and Co....always getting in our way!

After we left, we headed to Santilun street, the bar district of Beijing to check it out and have dinner. Lots of neon lights and bars catering to international people/expats. Looks like a pretty fun atmosphere. There was no drinking and debauchery tonight, just dinner at a friendly Thai restaurant, and then home...so we can rest up for a day trip to the Great Wall tomorrow!

Will post soon

Hey everyone, I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to post - we had a fun day yesterday in Beijing! But, I didn't get a chance to post all our stories and pictures, so I will tonight...about 12 hours from now. Look out for it then!

=) alan

local celebrity

Yes, Nicole is a local celebrity. We are staying in a town called Yanjiao City, just east of Beijing, a residential place where you don't see the international tourists attending the Olympics. So apparently its quite a hoot for the locals to see a whitey like Nicole! She gets double and triple takes, stares and whispers all the time! But thats okay, she waves back when she sees them looking.

The opening ceremony was last night, and was pretty spectacular! I'm sure many of you have seen pictures or highlights. We weren't able to get into the Olympic Green (the park on the olympic grounds) cuz they required tickets to get in. Some people watched the fireworks from the city. We decided to come back home and watch it on tv. It had much of the fanfare that New Year's Eve had.

We spent yesterday wandering the city a little, getting to know the buses and subways. It sure is confusing when you can't understand the language! The city seems less crowded than I would have anticipated. It is a city of 10 million people, but spread out over a large area, so its not like New York City. There is a pretty extensive subway and bus system, which always seem busy. We haven't yet seen all the famous sites yet - that will be coming up the next few days.

along a main road...

some cool buildings...

We had to wait to cross a bridge over this street; I think it was being blocked for some VIP like president Bush to drive through...

Shoe heaven for Nicole....

Jenny and Amy arrive to Beijing this afternoon! And our first events are tomorrow morning - women's gymnastics. We'll be sure to take plenty of pictures of the Olympics then.

Some other funny things - when its hot, the guys around here walk around with their shirts pulled up. Babies around here don't wear diapers - or for that matter, they don't wear any bottoms!

Maybe I'll work here in the future....

In the lobby of a 5 star hotel....

These little guys just hang out on the sidewalks of our condo.

- Alan and Nicole