November Visa Leave

It was time for my visa leave for November and I needed to decide where to go and, as usual, nothing here is easy. My budget for the flight is up to $600 and I can go anywhere for the weekend. Hong Kong is fast and easy but also within a reasonable weekend trip reach are Seoul, Vietnam, Tokyo and Taiwan. Since my first three leaves were to Hong Kong (2x) and Mongolia, my original plan was to go to Taipei to try something different. So I selected a flight and booked it, simple right? Nope, the next day I get an e-mail from the travel agent informing me that the flight was fully booked and I couldn’t go on that one or any other one within the budget I was given. Okay, flexible and adaptable is the order of the day so I decided to go to Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, in Vietnam. Seats were available using the Vietnam Airlines site but again no go as it wouldn’t allow the transaction to complete. Frustrated because it was now two days later and not sure what to do, I tried Seoul, South Korea because last time this was my intended destination when similar issues arose. Otherwise, it would be back to Hong Kong, which is a great city but I really didn’t want to “enjoy” it again. The Seoul ticket worked and it was now time to talk to people who knew Seoul and then head there.



Without much research, my plan was to take Friday off and spend the weekend in Seoul. My first choice was to visit the DMZ which we still hear about as the conflict between the Koreas stays in the news. There is an opportunity to go on a USO tour through Panmunjom, the actual DMZ area and finally into one of the four tunnels that has been discovered in the area constructed by the North Koreans for a surprise attack on the South. Well, I was too late and the tour was sold out and the waiting list was over its limit. So it’s on to the rest of Seoul.

After checking into my hotel (which of course took four or five attempts to secure a reservation), I headed for the huge tower that allows for wide views of the area and would help get me oriented to where things were. The tower is impressive. At the base of the tower, is an area where lovers declare their relationships secure and unbreakable. This picture depicts what people use to display this…





I saw a similar display in Mongolia but didn’t get the meaning at that time.

Then there's the local people who are fun to watch...




There was also a group of schoolchildren on a trip to the Seoul Tower and here’s what I was able to photograph of them.



After a nice dinner, I headed up to the observatory at the top of the tower hoping to be back down in time for the light show everyone talks about. The tower was pretty much a disappointment as many of these structures are but especially because there are no striking landmarks or particularly well definable sights. Also, Seoul has awful hazy, smoggy skies which destroy any nice views you might find. However, before heading down to see the light show, I used the bathroom. Now, a bathroom 500 feet high has an opportunity for great views so as I stood there at the urinal looking out I noticed this guy looking back at me. When I smiled, he smiled and when I waved, he waved. Oh wait, that was just me.



This is not the typical photo you find where a person merges two shots. This is a single exposure where the bathroom lighting plus the reflection off the window combines the two images but this looks more like a hologram of me looming over the city. I thought it was kind of cool and creative. Of course, the guy in the urinal next to me thought I was going to take a photo of him doing his business which made for an awkward moment.

Then there is this photo which is really four photos stitched together to show the view from above…



So it’s down to the light show, which despite its hoopla was not very interesting or exciting and the photos are not worth displaying here. Then it’s down the hill on the cable car which leads to a funicular and then the main road. Now, I was walking to a market that everyone raved about as a must see. Getting there near closing time was not good but it was mostly the same stuff repeated over and over like many markets around the world. Some clothes, some souvenirs, some food, blah, blah, blah. Okay, walked away from there and headed back toward the subway to check out another market. On the way, was a high energy outdoor market that had lots of different things but again not much for me, the non-shopper, except a Smoothie King to get a fresh Strawberry Smoothie and then I stumbled upon an official MLB store. They had very overpriced baseball clothing and caps so I hustled out of there and headed to the subway to check out the other big market just to make sure I wasn’t missing all the good stuff. The market which is open all hours of the night had lots of clothing but not much else so it was back to the room for a much needed rest.

The next day brought hope for better and first up was the must see castle. On the way to the castle, I wanted to see a fresh food market which hopefully would reveal some more tasty local foods. Here is what it looked like…





Then there’s seaweed that is in squares and really looks like Astroturf.



The castle was like many others, a boring tourist trap. I did get the digital headset to listen to the stories along the way and since they are now equipped with GPS, the stories change as you enter the area where the signal indicates a new section. If you believe the narrative, this place gets 38 Million visitors per year (100,000 per day).

There was a changing of the guards ceremony that provided some nice colors and a feel for the spectacle.



Not much good photography to be had but I did get a photo of me taken near one of the buildings…



Okay, it was time for a Korean lunch. I headed to an area no one told me about but my tour book had as a nice area to see. On my way to the restaurant, I noticed this small group of people holding signs and video cameras. The signs in Korean and English said “Free Hugs”. Now that seemed like an impossible to resist opportunity to have some fun with the locals and tourists. First I walked over to the person holding the sign and got my hug, then another from the next sign holder. Of course, that wasn’t enough. I took the sign from the hug giver and walked around in this crowded square holding it high and inviting people to come to ME for free hugs. The first person, surprisingly, was a man and I thought, wait a minute this isn’t working out the way I hoped but pretty soon everyone got in the mood and lots of people were now taking me up on my offer. It stunned the team doing this but it was all in good fun and everyone had a big laugh. (Of course, I thought, if only Dave Garrison were here, this would have really gotten out of control. Dave is a really good friend of mine and when we’re together, let’s just say we push things and people to their limits.) Here’s the visual proof…





Moving along the road, there was a small side street with a bunch of Korean restaurants. I found one that looked good and proceeded to be besieged by plates of food, all cold appetizers and thinking, this seems like a lot of dishes to convey their welcome. Then I ordered two things, a beef dish and a seafood pancake. Both were very good and this was a nice chance to recharge my batteries and rest. Out the door after that to examine the shops which were mostly clothing, souvenirs, etc. but all fairly unique. I did come upon some guys in a food booth selling a product made from a circle of honey plus a water and corn starch mix. They do a very funny rap about the product and the process which are captured in these two videos. I think they are worth watching for the laughter value.






After this it was on to another area that was recommended but again turned out to be a shopping strip. This area had a very different population makeup as it was the highest concentration of non-Koreans I saw. People from all over Europe and America were walking on these streets which boasted larger sized shoes and clothes than other areas. All in all, boring! I did find something that would make Porky Pig or Miss Piggy pretty unhappy…


some poor pig is walking around without its snout.

and some hot peppers outside in the sun getting dried out...



Now it was time for a break and back to the room for some shoes off time, I guess I could have gone for a foot massage but I just wanted to flop. Around 6, it was time to find dinner, since I wasn’t sure where to go, I consulted my guide book which had a suggestion of a restaurant back near where lunch was and that funny video was taken. This place boasted of dumplings made to an old recipe so I decided to try. Finding the restaurant was not easy but worth the effort. The servers greeted all guests with another array of cold appetizers that filled the table. The restaurant was filled with locals and no Westerners in sight. Ordering the dumplings and another seafood pancake was a great combination. The food was outstanding and as usually happens, not very expensive, a can’t miss! I watched another couple of performances by the food guys and then headed back for another sound night’s sleep.

So the highlights of the trip… 10 hours of walking over two days, nothing really interesting that’s a can’t miss see, the food was very good and not too spicy as I stayed away from anything that would overload my senses. The Korean people I met were very nice and very helpful, even the lady who emphatically gave me the exact wrong directions to my hotel. The drivers are amazingly nice and respect and stop for pedestrians. They also can navigate crowded busy streets without constantly honking their horns. While there was a very loud and nasty chorus of open mouth coughing on the subway, Koreans don’t push and race like Chinese people do which makes it more relaxing to take the subway. I was on the subway for maybe 8 trips and it was easy to navigate through the vast system in Seoul. It gives you a sense that Koreans are satisfied with their lives and are just enjoying living it.

I would only return for a chance to see the DMZ but it probably won’t happen. Korea is good for shopping, dining and some minor sightseeing, but of course, I didn’t get out of Seoul to view some of Korea’s natural beauty.

My next Visa leave is on 12/16 and there’s no doubt about where that one is headed, USA!

My one Seinfeld moment was that I saw some Korean woman with large heads. There may be some of you who remember a guy who, when his girlfriends broke up with him, insulted his girlfriends enough to infuriate them into harming him, insulted Elaine by telling her she had a big head that was too big for her body. He was called a "bad breaker upper". Of course, people then begin telling Elaine that her head was blocking the mirror (in a taxi) or a street sign, etc. and more silliness ensues. Also, there were many very pretty young women but not sure what happens to them because I didn’t see very many pretty middle age Korean women, similar to what I observe China. I’m not sure what happens to them. Oh yeah, childbirth!

Well at least they didn't have "man hands"!

Shanghai in November

It’s finally Fall here in Shanghai. I had a nice visit and dinner last week with some Americans from the Staples home office. It was great to see some familiar faces and have a chance to catch up. We’ve had a nice run of beautiful “Indian” summer weather here. So your silly reporter is out celebrating the change in weather.



Yesterday, there was a major, serious fire in a 28 story high rise in the Jing’An district of Shanghai where I live. At least fifty people died in this fire and over 100 were injured. Here are some quotes from the local paper. “The fire apparatus could not reach to the top of the structure.” This means their ladders are too short to help people at the top. It later was revealed that even though they allow buildings to be 70 meters (225 feet), the locally available equipment can only reach up to 50 meters. I’m also sure many buildings are even higher than that. The next quote was, “Some elderly people were seen looking out of their windows hopelessly.” Definitely brings up some 9/11 images for me. Finally, this one, “Residents were seen on the roof of the building waving at three rescue helicopters but billowing smoke made it impossible for them to get close enough to attempt a rescue.”

I could tell there was a major event going on just from the volume of ambulances and sirens in the local area. The fire began in the afternoon at a part of a building in a section remodeling was being done. The scaffolding caught fire somehow and then there was some insulating foam that fed the fire. Those in Massachusetts will sadly recall the foam fire in Rhode Island and killed over 100 people years ago. Unfortunately, the cause seems to be some sparks from some unlicensed welders work. It is not rare to see welders without eye protection or other shields doing their work in public places very close to pedestrians.

On Sunday, I visited the Shanghai Zoo for the first time. My original plan was to go many months ago but it was a little too warm for me to feel comfortable. Now that the weather is close to perfect, like 65-70 degrees, it’s fun to do almost anything outside. My visit resulted in some images worth sharing. As many of you know, I’m not a big fan of images of captive animals but my challenge is to take them in such a way that the viewer would never know the animals were caged or behind glass. Check out these photos…











Unfortunately, the zoo does suffer from some animal maintenance issues that are obvious. Animals look very skinny, some are quite old, and animal care givers were nowhere to be found, very different from my recent trip to the Panda reserve. The Rhino I saw was eating the leaves that had fallen in its pen. The pen was quite clean but the animal quite hungry. The other issue is the horrible conduct of the locals at the zoo, pounding on the glass to get an animal’s attention, throwing food at them to get them near to them, etc.

Finally a few comments about Staples in Shanghai at work. While we continue to push some key projects to completion a few words about my new business “home”. It’s a six story building where one elevator goes from the first floor to the 4th or 5th with no other stops. The alternative is to take the freight elevator whose door doesn’t close unless you push the button for close and it moves like there’s 20 tons in it whether there is or not. This stops at all six floors making a ride to the fifth quite slow. I know I should be taking the stairs but I think I’m walking plenty. If you ever need to use the restroom during the day, you can go on any floor where the windows are wide open to reduce the stench, the sinks have only cold water and you have to use toilet paper to dry your hands. I’m not a germophobe but this is a training ground for young germs. Of course, you can go down to the 4th floor where you feel like you’ve entered a time warp. (For those who know that, it’s just a jump to the left and then a step to the right, you put your hands on your hips and bring your knees in tight,…) Sorry a moment’s digression but sure to bring a smile to some people’s faces. The 4th floor, aka “the palace”, is like going into a country club’s restroom. Dark wood paneling, very clean stalls, an attendant attendant (not a mistake) plus c-fold towels. Not quite heaven, as the water is as cold as a witches, um, earlobe.

Today, we had a new person join our team. Her name is Brenda Chang. She seems very nice but I can’t say her name or think about her name without quickly flashing back to the, you guessed it, Seinfeld episode where George’s mother, Estelle, was separated from his father and was talked into reconciliation by a mistake phone call from someone named Donna Chang who made several references to Confucius in her conversation. Of course, it got a little messy when Estelle met Donna Chang who wasn’t actually Chinese but a Jewish girl from Long Island whose original name was Changstein before she shortened it. Most people would remember this more for the part of the story where Kramer’s low sperm count convinces him to stop wearing jockey shorts so he transitions to boxers and then goes “commando”.

Shanghai World Expo

Shanghai has been the host for the latest World Expo and it's been a focus of many people's attention since May. I was disinterested because of the crowds which were around 575,000 people per day with a peak of 1.03 Million in early October. Not only were there going to be all these people but they were going to be mostly Chinese people. Now, I have nothing against Chinese people but in a big crowd, they do get kind of tedious. The constant spitting on the ground (everywhere) by males and females alike is repulsive. The running to beat you to a spot is annoying. The pushing through a line because they think you won't stop them is really, really aggravating. And all of this just on the elevator at work! (just kidding!)



As the time slipped away, I wondered if I was going to be able to get there. One good sign was that the crowds were shrinking as we neared the conclusion. Well, on Saturday night, I was able to find a ticket for the last day, Sunday, 10/31. So after dining with 10 Staples people from the U.S. on a very short visit to Shanghai, Saturday evening, I woke up early and went to Expo 2010 which has the interesting slogan, "Better City, Better Life." The mascot is called Haiboa who you saw in a blog months ago and here he is greeting me at the Expo...




I got on line around 8 AM for the 9 AM opening, sat down and began reading the "Einstein Biography". The lines are all well monitored with rails on each side and guards at both ends. Sure enough, five minutes later some lady comes pushing through the crowd to get to the front. I stood up and she came up to around my belly button and I told her to go back where she came from. Only when I confronted her, did all the others chime in and she was vanquished to the back of the line where she came from. (The same scene would unfortunately play out several times more when I had to police the line cutting locals.)

At 9 AM we were allowed to enter the Expo site. It was amazingly large and very spread out. Instantly, the crowds dissipated and you no longer felt squeezed in. The Expo covers hundreds of acres and has wide walkways, streets and huge buildings which make the people seem small. There are maps of the site everywhere, lots of English speaking volunteers, free filtered drinking water and shuttle buses. All very well done and efficient. So I began wandering around trying to get my bearings and decide what to go see. I headed toward the Asian section knowing I wanted to end my day in the Americas section. On my way to the Asian section, I went into a few pavilions that had no lines. I could quickly see why, they had nothing to show. Nepal - Nothing; Pakistan - Nothing; Mongolia - Nothing. It seems most countries wanted to have a presence but had either no money or no imagination. There were very nice buildings with great designs but nothing on the inside. (Is it time for a dumb blond joke?) The basic premise was walk in, move in a circle and end up at their gift shop. I saw this at least 20 times.

The first line I saw was for UAE, and it looked like a 2 hour wait so I kept moving. I got near the end of the site and saw the Japan pavilion and thought, sure let's give it a look. Well, I could have if I wanted to wait a little bit of time, like four hours. So moving to the Asian pavilion nearby, three hours. China Pavilion? not unless you had advance reservations. Heck, I didn't know I was going until 8 PM the night before, isn't that enough notice? OK, Korea should be an easy one, there's a line so why not get on it? Well, when I reached the end, the guy told me it was a four hour wait.

Saudi Arabia, not one of my favorite countries, has the world's biggest IMAX screen and has been one of the most popular with really long lines. It was only five hours when I got there, which was easy to see why when you looked at how long the line was. Now I realized why the Expo site looked so spacious, all these chuckleheads were camped in approx. ten lines for the most popular pavilions.

OK, so I went to the Israeli pavilion hoping for a little inspiration and maybe something worth seeing. I waited in their seemingly short 45 minute line. Absolute waste of time. So I wandered over toward the European and Americas sites which were on the other side. On the way, I found the Africa pavilion and had a nice lunch of spicy beef prepared with some kind of African sauces. In the pavilion there was a small set up for each country and a shopping area for each selling trinkets from the home lands. Sad but true, there were countries in there I didn't even know existed, Eritrea? Benin? The only person I know who is aware these countries exist is my daughter, Marissa, who takes some delight in being able to name all of the current countries of the world. Right now, I'm working on naming all of them in North America (and there were only three last time I checked.)

So on it went, Australia? - Awful; Poland? - low budget and crummy; France? - worthless; Luxembourg? - Waste of time; France had the typical design. A big beautiful building, with an escalator that went to the top and you walked down the ramps winding around the building to the bottom level. Unfortunately, inside there wasn't a lot of investment, nothing to really see or interact with. Some famous paintings behind glass, some robots on display.

The French pavilion was good for something. I saw this really nice looking guy nearby and took his photo...



Oops, that just a mirror and one of my sneaky photos. Here's a close up from the same spot...




The lines for UK was 3 hours, Italy was 4 hours, Russia was 4 hours and Germany was four hours so I waited on none of them. So it was over to the Americas. South America didn't fair well; Peru, Argentina, Brazil, etc. were all uninteresting. Mostly like the others, photos on the walls, not even a narrated video. In the following photo, you may think I'm taking a close up of a porcupine's butt...



But it is actually, the UK pavilion's exterior...



The UK pavilion is known as The "Seed Cathedral" is itself an object formed from 60,000-plus transparent acrylic rods containing seeds. The seeds demonstrate the concept of sustainability, the diversity of nature and the potential of life. During the daytime, each of these 7.5-meter-long rods will act like fiber optic filaments, drawing on daylight to illuminate the interior. Looks pretty cool and they auctioned off the seed pods too.

I did enjoy the Netherlands exhibit which was ingeniously designed and showed lots of great products from this country. It also offered attractive outdoor views and was fun at the same time. Here's one photo grabbed from their security camera. They aren't sure what this thing is but be on the lookout...



OK last stop, the North American pavilions. Canada was a huge disappointment; a very nice structure, some interactive things that included a bicycle that you had to pedal to make a movie play. Then a room with floor seating on little pads and video; wait it's not a video, it's a series of continuous photos scrolling with music playing, no narration, no views of Canada's beauty like British Columbia, Banff, PEI, Nova Scotia, etc. Then it's on to the next room, oh wait, we're outside and finished with this loser too.

On to the next pavilion, USA and hoping it's not an equal embarrassment. First, the best thing about the USA pavilion was I brought my passport which gets any citizen around the lines and into the pavilion without waiting. We were greeted by student ambassadors who are college students from around the US with outstanding Chinese speaking skills. The US pavilion we're told, consists of four separate presentation areas. The first is a video with the man on the street trying to learn how to say a greeting in Mandarin. To me, the people appear to be in City Hall Park in Manhattan and it's pretty entertaining and already better than any other pavilion I've been in this day. I attempted to take a video of this which is around 3 minutes long. The video had to be converted with demo software so there is an annoying banner in the middle of the video at the beginning which eventually disappears, but here goes...



Then we go into an area where are seated (another treat not found in most pavilions). This video is based on children's innocence and lack of boundaries and they share their dreams. Of course, this is interspersed with Hillary and Barack who are mostly annoying. Plus there are three women executives talking about the dreams and realities of these dreams. (It's not worth taking your time to see.)

The next room was a third video with more comfortable seating and was a nice story about a girl's dreams to turn a messy area near her home into a beautiful garden. While she has some obstacles, you can guess that she has a happy ending. I took a video of the entire show which is 8 minutes long. It was done in 5 separate panels so some areas it's hard to see but I think the quality is good enough to get the point. Very kid friendly, young girls would especially like this.



Of course, taking this video (illegally, probably) reminded me of a Seinfeld episode (what else?) where Jerry was forced to take videos inside movie theaters for illegal distribution on the streets, just like the $.70 movies I bought yesterday in Shanghai. For those of you who are Seinfeld fans, this is the episode better known for Elaine's spasmodic dancing.

Total walking for the day was nine hours, my dogs are tired!

So try to explain this sign to me. After all these years, I'm not sure what a urinal is.