Evidence

I said I would show you the smog here in Beijing and here it is:

Barb thinks that Americans who do not appreciate living in America should be "sentenced" to living here for a year.  :-)

For further reading on China's environmental woes, check out my other blog:

http://wp.me/pJ3EK-5Q

GJS

Beijing

I can't believe the pollution here!  I didn't take any photos today, and a lady on the place on the way in said that this is atypically bad (something to do with the heat - close to 100 degrees here today), but I have never seen haze / smog like I saw here today.  When leaving a building here, you literally could see the smog between the building and the road 50 feet away.  I hope it is this bad again tomorrow so I can get some pics to share.  But I also hope that it is not as bad as it was today because it is just gross to be out in conditions like that.

If this keeps up, I will definitely need a Lung Brush treatment!

GJS

Week Two - Nanjing

High-speed rail networks in China make it easy to visit the neighboring city of Nanjing.  I wanted to see the Nanjing Massacre Museum and the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum.

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Week Two - Shanghai

Here is part two of photos from Shanghai:

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Week One - Shanghai

A few photos from Shanghai:

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We've still got some time left in Shanghai, so there will be more pics to share soon!

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Week One - Hong Kong

A few pics from our travels so far:

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Hong Kong

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China and elevators

Taiwan it is not.  It's been a real eye-opener since we left Hong Kong.  We arrived in Shanghai yesterday and it's been "a thrill a minute" ever since.  My first question about China is this - what's with having elevators but not letting people use them?  As travelers with two small children, we are rolling with a stroller.  I think it says something about China's policy and / or practice regarding handicapped people, because a stroller is kind of the same thing.  For instance, at Shanghai's Pudong Airport, we wanted to take the much-acclaimed "maglev" super-high speed train into the city, the fastest way to get from the airport to the city.  Getting tickets?  No problem.  Passing security?  Check.  (More on security checks here in a minute.)  Then we are confronted with an escalator down from the ticketing area to the platform.  I asked the workers there if there if there was an elevator we could use, gesturing towards our stroller and baggage from the flight.  "No, sorry."  OK, I thought, maybe that will just be here for the maglev, although it seemed odd that this was the case at the maglev, since I think that it was built fairly recently - I figured newly-built infrastructure would be "up to code."

We struggled with our things down the escalator (one of the employees was nice and helped us out), got on board, and enjoyed a very swift ride into the city (alas, since we were riding at the time of day when the peak speed was only 300 kph, we missed out on the fastest speeds, up to about 430 kph, which are offered in the mid-afternoon).  But upon arriving it was elevator disappointment, round 2: this time, there was an elevator, and we tried to access it (interestingly, it was cordoned off with a set of the velvet ropes used to corral people into lines) after seeing what appeared to be an employee push the ropes aside and go into it.  Before long, our approach to the elevator area got the attention of the security guard (probably one of the most common professions in China, by my 2-day observation - many appear to be PLA-affiliated (People's Liberation Army), some are police, and some I think work for whatever company / entity owns / operates the facility in question), and he came running to stop us from using it.  But we just saw that other person use it!  No dice.  Cursing, we made our way to the escalator and repeated the process of getting all our stuff and people down it.

Oh, but we're not done!  Today, strolling along the Bund, the scenic, historic waterfront area along the Huangpu River, we wanted to access a higher promenade area to get a better view of the river and the area across the river called Pudong with many tall buildings.  We saw an access area with an elevator and headed towards the glass doors that would take us in to the elevator.  Immediately, what appeared to be a security guard came towards us from inside frantically waving us off.  Typical, we thought - elevators are here, but you can't use them.

It was the same drill riding the subway back to our hotel.  The station was equipped with an elevator, but passengers cannot use it - only the escalator.  What gives?  China is frustrating me.

I wanted to talk a little bit about these security checks in China.  Before riding the maglev or even the subway here, you have to put your bags through an X-ray machine to be scanned.  This is the first time I have seen this sort of requirement for a train / subway anywhere.  You would think that the security-paranoid U.S. would be the place that this type of excessive security theater would be in place, but instead it is here in Shanghai.  I wonder if they will have the same thing in the subways in Beijing when we get there.

GJS

The world's greatest backwards walker

CIMG2181, originally uploaded by gardahsam.

Photo upload is done - took in excess of 4 hours, by my count. No tags or anything, sorry folks. Gotta get some sack time in before the flight. Hope you enjoy looking through them nonetheless.

GJS

Photos

A massive spasm of photos is uploading now, over 300 items in all.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gjsamps/

 

GJS

Weather holds; final ride of the week completed

I stayed in town for a ride of just over 2 hours. It was hot out but there was a little wind from the northwest. Full details to be posted later (hopefully with a few pics, too!).

GJS

"The streak" broken

No ride today folks, sorry.  It wasn't the weather that gave out, it was me.  Legs were toast this morning when I got out of bed, plus there are a bevy of pre-China trip administrata that can wait no longer to be tended to.  On top of that, this afternoon we have plans that don't include me laying on the couch while my legs throb (which has been pretty much how the past few afternoons have gone), so it just isn't going to work.  If today is productive on the administrative side of the house, then perhaps I can get one more ride in tomorrow AM before we head out, we'll see.

Hopefully before we go I can do a photo upload for you, which would include Lance's 3-month photos (funny, since now he is nearly 4 months old!) and various other fun.  I like to "get the books clear" in terms of sharing photos before embarking on any major trip, for we all know that once the trip begins I will be snapping even more photos like a madman!

GJS

Paratroopers, Pingtung County, and "the chase"

I wasn't sure if I was even going to make it out the door for my ride today, as tired as my legs felt after all the riding I've done so far this week.  I'm glad I did, though, because it was a great ride!  And one of the prettiest maps I've produced thus far:

Instead of your plain-Jane, vanilla out-and-back route, today I wanted to spice it up a bit, do some exploring, and not be so concerned about how far I could get in in X amount of time.  Part of this was due to my legs feeling quite zapped right out of the box; I simply didn't have the "pep" necessary for a lot of hard riding today.  But, I knew that what was missing in speed I could make up for in volume (time), so with the intent of doing 4 hours of riding this morning, I set out.

After using my customary and most-favored escape route from Kaohsiung to the south, I decided that at the Gaoping River crossing near Linyuan I would mix it up, first exploring south along the river bank to the ocean (if I could make it that far), and then heading north, trying to locate the southern end of the Gaoping River bike path that I briefly stumbled upon on a ride last month but didn't have time to explore then.

The area south of the Route 17 bridge across the Gaoping River on the Linyuan side is interesting.  On the one hand, you have huge chemical plants right up nearly to the river's edge, but right by the river there is this nice bike and walking path and park-type area (completely obscured from the road by a tall berm - you would have no idea it was even there unless you crest the berm and take a look).  A few pictures of the park area:

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 And here's their neighbor, on the inland side of the berm:

A look at the area from the north (taken from the No. 88 Expressway bridge over the Gaoping River):

Here are a few photos from as far south as I could make it along the west bank of the Gaoping River:

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It was in accessing this area that "the chase" occurred.  I've mentioned elsewhere how I've rarely run across aggressive unchained dogs in Taiwan.  Today's mutts were the worst so far - an actual chase!  Luckily I was on my bike and could leverage mechanical advantage to open a good gap, and these were lazy dogs unwilling to chase far.  I'm sure they don't see many cyclists in "their" area (it's somewhat secluded) and felt that I was trespassing.  No blood, no foul - I made it away without any teeth marks.

After leaving this area, I rode north along the nice bike path along the west side of the Gaoping River.  For the first part, maybe a mile or two north of Route 17, you have to share the berm-top asphalt path with construction equipment and trucks,but before long it is just you on a nice, elevated path that lets you take in the scenery along the river without constant worry about being cut off by a motorscooter or being crushed beneath the wheels of a dump truck sidling up to you.  It's a nice feeling!

I reached my planned crossing point for the Gaoping River (Expressway No. 88) and headed over.  On the other side I found a nice treat - the expressway for cars, trucks and motorcycles 550cc and over up above the local access road below provided great shade from the warm sun.  Score!  I also saw another interesting thing - a ROC Air Force C-130 transport plane conducting airborne operations to the south (doing a parachute drop).  Later, as I pedaled north along Highway 27 towards Pingtung city I would see the paratroopers again, loaded in the back of a transport truck and heading back to their base (brought back fond memories for me of doing the same thing some years ago in Hawaii).  Here are the photos I managed to get of the parachute operations (I was pretty far off when I was taking these):

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Looking at my route today, I think that the mountains are in reach if I head directly out of town to the east along generally the same path I took back into Kaohsiung today (this one was better than the route I used last month to go east that I really disliked) and then instead of heading north towards Pingtung City, head southeast towards Chaojhou and on to the foothills.  I am not sure what I am going to do once I get there, but I sure want to go! (It's a lot of riding just to get there, I wonder if my legs will have much zest left for serious climbing? A question for another day...)

Here are a few photos I took while heading back towards Kaohsiung while crossing the Gaoping River:

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And I will leave you with this - "Let's go get some Stupid Tea."

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