Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Seven Days in Tibet

This time tomorrow we should be in the air heading West, on our way to Lhasa, Tibet!  We are completely thrilled to be able to have the opportunity to visit this rather famous region.  Hopefully, we'll have a bunch of pictures showing off the incredible beauty of the area and the unique people/culture when we return. 

One prayer request ... that we would not get severe altitude sickness.  Lhasa is 3600 meters and during our week we'll travel up to over 5000 meters.  We've heard stories from co-workers who got so sick they had to return after a day or two and are hoping that won't happen to us.  :(
























Image from here.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Our new favorite sign

I don't take too many pictures of signs around here since there are just SO many that are funny, but this one caught our attention when we saw it across from the bus stop this week.  What do you suppose happens at a "sliming museum?"  I don't think I want to find out!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Perhaps the lamest thing to do in Shanghai

Last week, we decided to go down to the Bund area along Shanghai's riverfront for a bit of an outing ... it was another gorgeous day (apparently, many local factories have been shut down during the Expo, giving us these amazingly unusual blue skies).  We'd been wanting to see the Suzhou Creek bridge as it was built in 1907 and survived Japan's attack on Shanghai during WWII.   We probably should have left after this success, but instead ...

... we followed the signs to Shanghai's "sightseeing tunnel" which goes under the river.  We'd heard it was really cheesy, but thought it would still be fun to experience.   Wow, were we WRONG!  It was by far the lamest thing we have done yet!  For $8, you ride in one of these little carts at a snail's pace through a tunnel with neon lights while the speaker in the cart says words like "hot magma .... blue water ... meteor showers" in a deep, serious voice.  And that was it.  Seriously. 

So ... if you're ever in Shanghai, skip the sightseeing tunnel! 

We decided to end our outing on a little better note and headed for a restaurant at the Radisson with a spectacular view.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

In the midst of noise

We walk past this gate several times a day and it took me until last week to actually see it and notice how pretty it was. 

I realized I hadn't paid it any attention because of the practically deafening noise around it ... the near-constant sound of cars, scooters and buses angrily honking at one another, construction workers sawing and hammering and people shouting and spitting ... it made me a bit reflective, wondering what other  things I miss in life due to the noise around me?  I wonder how many people take time to be still in a quiet place and I wonder (as I watch everyone walking around with headphones in) if most people nowadays would go crazy without noise?

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

We got skipped!

Typhoon Kompasu decided to head north to Korea instead of hitting us in Shanghai ... guess my typhoon experience will have to wait.  Here's a fun image of it though ...
Picture from here.