Welcome to my China blog

Welcome- This posting will always be at the top as I will change the date every time I update the blog. Furthermore, I will put in the comments what has been added because everything has not always been in sequence. Please check back often.

So here it is. Less than a week away for departure to home in Springfield, MO (Friday, December 19, 2008 to be exact). I want to go home and see family and friends as I miss everyone. BUT a big part of me will still be longing to be in China. I really enjoyed it here over the last four moths. Not every day was a smiling and exciting moment but most of them were.

I am sitting in Shanghai right now (my last domestic China trip) while writing and know that this is the city in which I would ideally come live and work when I return. China was nothing I expected it to be. It was better.

So my two papers are done. I have 3 tests to give and one to take of my own on Monday and Tuesday. Turn grades in on Wednesday morning and do some shopping in Dalian Wednesday afternoon. Pack Thursday and fly home Friday (Dalian ->Beijing ->Chicago ->Springfield). Once I get home the holidays are in full swing. After Christmas, Doug and I are joining friends in Vegas for a week long trip for New Year's so if you don't hear from me right away, please don't think I am avoiding you. I hope to see/talk with everyone by the middle of January before starting my last semester of grad school (YEA!!!).

I am still sorting through the 500+ pictures that I have taken and will continue adding to the blog even when I do get home so that everyone can easily read about my experiences and see the pictures. Happy Holidays (Holy Days) everyone!!!

Zai jian
Isaac
(Wang Fei Long)

11/29/08 Addition - Kylie X concert in Shanghai

Kylie X 2008 Concert - Shanghai

Here is one of the most fun and interesting things I got to do in China. Kylie Minogue's "Kylie X 2008" concert tour came to Shanghai and I was invited to go by my friend Eric who lives here. In the US, Kylie is not as popular and in China she is even less however her popularity seems to be growing exponentially.

She opened the concert with "Speakerphone," her most popular song off the Kylie X album according to iTunes. Throughout the concert she wore 6 different outfits (as depicted in the pictures) and danced some great choreographed moves. Looking at the photos you will notice that several outfits especially the last one did not always cover well when performing in an outdoor soccer stadium (Hongkou Stadium) in 35 F temperatures. And she mentioned it too.

To the pics - I already mentioned the last six pictures are Kylie's outfits in the order she wore them for the performance. Pic 1 is the advertisement banner outside Hongkou Stadium promoting the concert. Pic 2 is of my friends Eric (on the right) and Paul from the UK (on the left) in our seats before the concert began. A big thanks to Paul for letting us ride with him to/from the concert in his private car...made it much more enjoyable. And a big thanks to Eric for the invitation and connection to the great seats on the floor 9 rows back. It was AWESOME!

Dalian's First Snow

Today Dalian had its first snow...which is actually a little early. Talking to Rachel who has lived here most of her life Dalian gets very little snow. And snow in November is not common. It wasn't a big snow....maybe 1.5 inches....enough to make everything glisten with white. It actually started at 7:30 this morning and ended around 2 pm. Unfortunately my pics were taken after the snow stopped falling. At times the falling snow was quite thick with large flakes.

Pic 1 is Lantian Jie, the street in front of my apartment. Pics 2-4 are the path I take to school.

Shanghai World Financial Center

The Shanghai World Financial Center - tallest building in the world by roof height at 492 meters (1,614 feet). This is the third tallest building in the world if you include others with antennae mounted on the top. If I saw nothing else in Shanghai, this is what I wanted to see. And that we did by visiting all three observatory levels...floors 94, 97, and 100. Floor 100 is the highest observation deck in the world at 474 meters (~1,555 feet). In addition to being the highest deck, floor 100 (AKA the Sky Walk) is also unique in that it has a glass floor depicted in pictures 3 and 4.

Pic 1 is a vertical shot up from the ground. Pic 2 is a night shot of the SWFC and Jin Mao Tower (2nd tallest building in Shanghai). From the ground you cannot see the height difference between the 2 buildings. But when you get in the buildings...WOW...there is a huge difference as the Jin Mao Tower is only 421 meters tall (1,381 feet). Pic 3 is my left foot on the glass floor. Pic 4 looks down at a street below through the glass floor. Finally pic 5 is our Shanghai holiday weekend crew (from left to right...Ron, Jill, ME, Lauren, and Gary).

It was a cloudy rainy day when we were there so pictures of the city were blah. But visit the official observation website at http://www.swfc-observatory.com/en/ for an excellent 360 degree view.

Shanghai Maglev

My friends Jill and Lauren traveled down to Shanghai with me on Halloween. When we arrived my UK friend Gary guided us through the Shanghai Pudong International Airport to the Maglev. The Maglev train is a high speed magnetic levitation train like those in Japan. It travels between PIA and Longyang Road station on the line 2 subway. During peak operation hours the train runs at 431 kmh (268 mph) and takes less than 8 minutes to go 30 km (18.6 miles).

Pic 1 is a shot of the front end of the Maglev. Pic 2 is a quick shot outside when were traveling full speed. Pic 3 is a shot of the digital speedometer readout located at the head of each car.

Shaanxi Farming

On our way to and from Fufeng, the little town where FaMenSi Temple is located, we had quite a bit of farm country to drive through. It was a nice change from the cityscape that we were now accustomed to seeing day in-day out. Fortunately for me this was harvest time for corn so I took some interesting shots.

Pics 1 & 2 are of the farm laborers gathering corn not with good 'ol John Deere combines and the such but by hand.

Pic 3 is a wide load of corn stalks that have been gathered and loaded on a 3 wheel light truck. The driver was passing through Fufeng.

Pic 4 is an interesting picture of what appears to be a multipurpose vehicle although I was not able to confirm this for sure. If you look closely, the front half looks like an oversized garden tiller. Behind it is a trailer hitched to the tiller that carries all kinds of loads as well as provides a seat for the driver. Quite a few of these vehicles were running around in Fufeng.

FaMenSi Temple- Home of Buddha's finger

First stop was the active Famen Buddhist Monastery (AKA- FamenSi or “Doorway Temple”). FamenSi was originally constructed in about 200 AD. However, it has been destroyed and rebuilt so many times that it is now a fairly modern structure. The last rebuild was in 1981 when the collapse of the 12-story pagoda led to the discovery of another amazing archaeological find. Beneath the pagoda was a sealed crypt containing a variety of relics that had been forgotten for over 1000 years. Chief among these were four sacred finger bones of the original Buddha. (Apparently, somewhere along the line, as a gesture of goodwill and/or penance, an Indian king traveled around the world giving bits of the original Buddha to various temples, and FaMenSi got a finger.)

The funniest thing we saw here was a monk wearing ear buds connected to an iPod. My friend Jenni got his picture but I haven't procured it yet. You are more than welcome to CLICK HERE to go to the official website. However, you must be capable of reading Chinese characters as there are no English translations. BUT the pictures are pretty brilliant and interesting.