Here is a checklist that every visitor must see on travels to China. It has nothing to do with the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, or the Terra Cotta Warriors at Xi’an. Here is the true list of things not to miss on your visit: Checklist for Foreign Visitors to China:
1. Observe someone peeing on the street. It can be an adult or a child. Continue reading
Even on a carless street, the motorbikes and bicycles threaten pedestrians.
There is logic to traffic in Shanghai, but I can’t quite figure it out. It’s always easier to figure out the rules of the road when you are actually driving, which in Shanghai should never be attempted by an amateur and will never be attempted by me. This could be a new stunt for a Jackass movie, riding a bike through Hongkou streets on a wet day when the brakes don’t quite work. When the traffic light indicates “walk”, this is not like crossing a street in Chicago, where a car may turn, likely after yielding. In Shanghai, the green walk man signals the beginning of a journey, and I truly understand the phrase “keep your head on a swivel.” Mopeds, motor bikes, electric bikes, busses, and taxis crochet patterns in the intersection, while pedestrians warily use the crosswalks. Here, the bikes operate on a different signal system, and they may still go. And busses will happily run a red light, as long as it’s close, or somewhat close.
There are many decisions to be made at these moments. Will the taxi stop for me or not? What is the critical mass of people necessary to make him yield? If I pack in with this group of three will he stop? Should I pause and let the motor bike swing in front of me or keep a steady pace and hope it weaves behind? Will the moped hit the bike? Will the bike hit the car? Will the bike hit the bike? I remember the analytical section of the SAT test. In the intersection, there is a bike, a taxi, a pedestrian, a motorbike, and a car. How many different collision combinations are possible? Or, in a more advanced Shanghai version, it would be like this: in the intersection, there are 2 busses, 100 pedestrians, 60 bicycles, 40 motor bikes, 20 taxis, and 5 private cars. How many collision combinations are possible, assuming that only two parties are involved in a collision? I would fail that one. For me, the correct answer is: I don’t care, as long as it doesn’t involve me.
For another look at Shanghai traffic, you may enjoy “6 Tips for Bicycling in Shanghai” by Nathan Stein.
It could use another column or two, don't you think?
In China, it is not impolite to stare. Western tourists to small cities will find themselves gawked at by kids and adults alike. So, I didn’t feel at all awkward when I was staring at a large white figure in downtown Shanghai: an ugly skyscraper right across from the Oriental Pearl Tower, Shanghai’s concrete Space Needle.
I love postmodern architecture. I like the Chippendale-topped AT&T Building in New York City, and I am not afraid of Continue reading
View from The Peak, Hong Kong, after taking the Peak Tram up the mountain
View from the Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car on the way to Lantau Island & the Big Buddha
View of Lantau Island from the Base of the Big Buddha
View from the observation deck of the Bank of China Building (It's the building made of giant triangle shapes in the right side of the nightime photo above).
One of Hong Kong's alternate skylines on a misty day
I knew when I traveled to Hong Kong that it is a major business center, and I have read enough Hong Kong travel articles to get a flavor, but there is always the unexpected. Here are my top six Hong Kong surprises.
Surprise #1: Continue reading
China will begin giving citizens free admission to public art museums and libraries in China beginning in 2012, according to China Daily. Free access to museums and memorial halls in China began in 2008. In the United States, we are seeing state and federal funding for arts, culture, and museums under fire due to budget restrictions and individuals who see many government expenses as unnecessary.
I am not suggesting that our government should be like China, but perhaps we can learn from them. Continue reading
It's always snowy in Orlando
The Amateur Traveler published my: Top 6 Highlights of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™ & Top 6 tips for enjoying Islands of Adventure.
Visit the Amateur Traveler Website for the full story.
In a Groningen store window, the early hedgehog gets the cupcake.
There came a time when the strangeness of everything made it increasingly difficult to realize the strangeness of anything; when one took things for granted merely because astonishment would have been as tedious for oneself as for others.
James Hilton, Lost Horizon
Inbound to IAH
My campus borders the flight path for incoming flights to Houston’s Intercontinental Airport which makes a walk across campus a treat, since I can’t hear a plane without looking up in the air to see what it is.
It’s nearly always a Continental or Continental Express plane, but I just watched an orange and teal America West plane fly in, which sent me into time travel mode. This was a treat because America West’s planes were wiped from the sky to be repainted in USAirways’ most-generic-paint-job-ever after their merger a few years ago. This either means that I am on a Twilight Zone episode or Continue reading
I am quoted in the April 2011 issue of Smart Money in an article entitled “10 Things Hotels Won’t Tell You”. I’ve got to say that I’m not afraid of bedbugs, though. I hope those words never come back to haunt me.
