2010-07 Expo 2010

The Expo 2010 is a 6 month long (May-October 2010) world’s fair and exposition being held along both side of the Huangpu River in Shanghai. The fairgrounds are over 5 square kilometers. Almost 200 countries are taking part and either building or sharing pavilions to show off their countries culture and/or products.

I arrived on the expo grounds a little before 9:00 when the gates open. Once the gates opened, it took almost an hour to get through the metal detector and x-ray screening as so many people were in line for the opening. Almost 500,000 people were in attendance the day I went. A very large majority was of course Chinese, but I was surprised I didn’t see more foreigners. On my way over, I was surprised the flight was not totally full, thinking that there would be a lot more people flying in and out of Shanghai than normally. A lot of tickets were provided to the locals free of charge to give them the opportunity to attend. The cost was 160 RMB or about $25. The expo is open until midnight every day.

After I entered the grounds, I saw huge crowds lined up under the pedestrian bridges. As I walked by, I noticed signs indicating the wait from that point of the line was 5 hours. I was hoping that not all pavilions would have waits that long. I never did figure out what that line was for.

Many countries have their own pavilions which are usually designed to represent some aspect of the county or culture. Some counties and regions group them selves together into a single larger building. Many Pacific Island countries did this as did many African countries.

The river that splits the area in two has a very large fountain system that is designed to put on a water show that is choreographed to music. Also near the river is a large area full of misters that create a fog across the plaza. This feels very good on a hot and humid day.

 

Many people brought their own fold up stools that they would use for seating.  They would open them up and make a seating area wherever they were.  The stools were only about 6"-8" tall, and I don't think I could have been comfortable on them.

Some of the pavilions have rides or shows, but most have displays of culture, history, products and/or artifacts. Some sell products or food (Belgium had waffles, ice cream and beer). One pavilion featured a 4-D show (3-D movie with interactive, moving seats), while another had a small ride on its rooftop.

To get back and forth across the river, large ferry boats crisscrossed the river every 15 minutes from 5 docking points. These boats had to also navigate through the regular heavy river traffic, which includes coal barges and large ocean going vessels.

The expo sells “passport” books which can be stamped at the various pavilions. These have become very popular here with long lines just to get stamps at some of the pavilions. Some countries even stopped doing the stamping, or limited the hours because the felt that many people just got the stamps and didn’t actually spend any time looking at the displays.  The Cuba pavilion moved their outside the building to keep the building from getting to crowded.  They were selling their main two exports inside--rum and cigars.  I tried the rum, but not the cigars

As it got dark, many of the buildings came alive with colors and special lighting affects. Even the bridges that crossed the river were lit up with moving light displays.

I ended up leaving the expo about 8:00 after a long day of walking and standing in lines. I took the subway (one of 4 new lines added to support the expo) back towards the hotel. Even though I was there a full day, I did not see everything or go in to all the pavilions.

2010-07 Florida Vacation

This summer we headed down to the beaches of Florida for our summer vacation.  We stayed in Indian Shores, which is about halfway between Clearwater and St. Petersburg on the Gulf side of Florida.  There was no impact from the oil spill in this part of Florida. 

LeAnn, Mariah and Hailey went down on Saturday, and Ray and Kara followed on Sunday.  Kara returned from a mission trip to Cortez, CO on Saturday afternoon, which is why we went down on 2 different days.

Saturday and Sunday were rainy, and even the locals were complaining about the constant rain compared to the normal daily showers that come and go.  Fortunately on Sunday it quite raining around 6PM and did not affect the 4th of July fireworks in the area.  We went down to the beach across from the condo we stayed in to watch the fireworks.  We could see the large displays from both St. Petersburg and Clearwater from our location on the beach. 

More interesting was the local displays done by all the locals.  These ranged from sparklers and small fountains to full mortar style aerial displays.  A group not too far from us had a full 30 minute display including a 30' tall dancing fountain for the finale.  They had brought down a box  that was about 6'x2'x2' and full of the various fireworks they were shooting off.  There were a lot of families and small kids running around and playing during the fireworks, so we were a little surprised that such large fireworks could be so freely used on the beach.

It rained again most of the day on Monday, so we decided to go to the Tampa Rays baseball game.  They have an indoor stadium (the last non-retractable roof style dome in the majors), so the rain would not be a factor.  We went down to the stadium late in the morning to get tickets and spent the afternoon in St. Petersburg.  We first went to The Pier, which is shaped like an inverted pyramid.  We were a little disappointed since there The Pier is relatively small and there just was not that much to do there. 

From there we went to an early dinner to celebrate LeAnn's birthday.  She had wanted lobster, so we found a nice seafood restaurant down near the waterfront.  The food was very good and the restaurant had a very pleasant atmosphere.

The rain had stopped and we headed down to the ballpark.  It was a giveaway night at the ballpark, but it was only for people in their Ray's gear.  When the gal handing out the statues asked where our Ray's shirts or hats were, I told her that we were from MN and we had just lost the last series to the Rays, so she gave in and gave us the statues.  As long as we weren't from Boston (who the Rays were playing that night) we were OK in her book.

The stadium is pretty plain, although they have tried to spruce it up, but is still has the industrial feel of the Metrodome.  The roof is slanted with the high end towards the plate and most of the seats are along the foul lines and behind home plate.   It was a fun night and the Rays won (part of a sweep of Boston), so the hometown fans went home happy.

On Tuesday, the weather cleared and we spent the day at the local beach. It was very relaxing and enjoyable.

Wednesday we got up early and headed to Orlando to go to the Universal Studios theme park. Kara and Hailey enjoy the roller coaster rides and so they spent most of their times doing those rides. We also did some of the 3D and interactive rides. Most of the rides were less then 30 minute waits, but the river boat tour took almost an hour, even though the time only showed 30 minutes, and it was probably the most disappointing ride of the ones we did.

There was a lot of variety of foods and beverages available in the park (and the prices were reasonable). We did go to the Hard Rock Café for dinner in the late afternoon. On the back side of the Hard Rock there is a large section of the Berlin Wall. It is tucked behind the restaurant and wouldn’t normally be scene unless you were looking for it. We then headed next door to the Islands of Adventure sister theme park. This is where the new Hairy Potter section had just opened up. It was very crowded with much longer lines for the rides and activities in this section compared to the rest of the park. There was even a pair of 20 person long lines for getting a glass of something called butterbeer (butterscotch, vanilla cream soda and ginger ale) from a cart.

We went back to the Universal Studios for the closing video show and fireworks in the central pond area. We headed back to the car and made our way back to Indian Shores.

We slept in on Thursday and then headed down to St. Pete Beach. St. Pete’s Beach is a long public beach with soft white sand. The water was calm and comfortable. We spent about 3 hours on the beach then stopped at a local ice cream shop for a treat before heading back north for the evening

We ate dinner along the boardwalk in John’s Pass and then walked up and down the boardwalk. We saw a manatee swimming in the dock area. We also watched one of the fishing charters cleaning their catch and feeding the remains to the pelicans. They dumped the carcasses into the bay, and they were being eaten by a bunch of crabs. After getting back to the condo, we went next door to the Smugglers Cove miniature golf course. It was really busy and it took about 2 hours to play the 18 holes. They had some live baby alligators in one of their ponds, and we bought some meat chunks to feed them with.

Friday we got up and headed down to Ft DeSoto so we could take a ferry across the bay to Egmont Island. This is a small island that was originally a fort to protect the bay. It is now a bird sanctuary and national park. It still has a working lighthouse that has been in continuous use since 1858. After spending some time on the island, we got back on the ferry for a snorkeling adventure. The area we snorkeled was ruins of buildings that were previously on the island, but the island has been slowly eroding back into the ocean. The ruins are now some 200-300 yards from shore. There were huge schools of small fish all around the structure and then some bigger fish in some places.

On the ferry trip back, we took a longer route in search of dolphin and other sea life. We saw multiple dolphins, some sting rays, and even a manatee.

2010-06 Fathers Day

For Fathers Day we went up to William O'Brien State Park to spend the day hiking and canoeing.  The weather was nice--sunny and warm.  Surprisingly, the park was not extremely busy, although the roads through Stillwater on the way up were very crowded.

We rented canoes at the boat landing and were told that the river was high and fast due to the recent rains.  Because of this, we headed upstream initially so we would have an easy paddle back.  Hailey and Mariah were in one canoe and LeAnn and I were another.  Kara was not with us as she was away for the weekend at a friend's cabin.

The upstream paddling was a lot of work and we ended up going about a mile upstream in about an hour.  Coming home took about half the time. 

After canoeing, we hiked up the river's edge and then through the woods and back to the car lot.  The shade of the woods felt very good after being out on the sunny river. 

On the way back home, we stopped in Marine-on-St. Croix and got an ice cream treat from a small ice cream shop that was tucked behind the stores along the main street. 

Kara got home later in the afternoon and said she will go golfing with me at a later time since she was not able to spend the day with us.

It was a very enjoyable day celebrating fatherhood and family

2010-05 Taipei

Since I was in Taipei over a weekend, I had some time to explore the city. On Friday night after work I went with Lin from the office to the Longshan temple area, which has one of the many local night markets that Taipei is famous for. I liked the LED sign board on the ancient temple entrance--blending old and new. The night markets generally open around 4PM and sell food and merchandise. Different side streets specialize in different products or foods. Walking up and down the streets, motorcycles and an occasional car will come through. Many vendors have portable carts and they keep showing up as the night progresses.

The food vendors lay out the food and you can pick your items that they will then cook up. One side street was covered to keep people dry while they are shopping and is known as Snake Alley.  Snake meat and snake blood is a very special food and the snake vendors put on a great show with all sorts of live snakes. They all have signs in front of their booths indicating that you can't take photos. One snake case had a snake in it that had to be at least 12' long.

On Saturday I got up and toured the city by subway while I went hunting for geocaches around town. I was on and off the subway for 6 different legs for a total of about 13 miles covered. The total cost was 122 Taiwan dollars (about $4 US).

My first stop was the Yuanshan Scenic Area and Hiking Trail which was north of the hotel. The trail was filled with steps as you worked your way up to the top of the mountain with an elevation increase of over 450ft. The result of getting to the top was a great view back toward downtown and overlooking the river. Unfortunately it was not clear out and the view of Taipei 101 was very limited. Along the trail are many small cafes, badminton and other court areas, temples, and even what appeared to be a dance studio. It even appears that some people live on the mountain. These are all built into the side of steep terrain. so look very out of place. Just the hike to get to various courts is a great workout over and above the workout from playing badminton. At the observation deck, there was nice garden area with some very different looking plants than are found in the northern US. People on the trail were all very friendly and many would greet me with "hello", "good morning" or "how are you" in English, so I would reciprocate back in my very limited Chinese vocabulary and get a big smile from them.

From the top of the mountain, I went down to the Danshui riverfront. The riverfront is within some flood control walls, so you have to climb up and over the walls on sets of steps. There is a smooth area along side the steps so that you can roll your bike up and over. Many people bike these trails and they go on for miles. I didn't have a bike, so I had to keep my eyes open for bikers rolling by. On the river, 2 drum boats were going by. There were about a dozen people on each boat paddling, and one guy in the front beating the drum to keep the pace. I found the cache I was looking for up in a tree and pulled it down and took the container out of the baggy. While I was filling out the log, I noticed some movement in the baggy and saw a large brown spider in the baggy. The body was about 1 inch long and each of the legs were about 1.5" long. I dumped it out of the bag and it scampered off.

While heading back to the subway from the riverfront I saw some of the painted electrical boxes that I have noticed all around town. Rather than the plain green boxes we have in the US, they are brightly painted with scenes. I also noticed that at the round about nearby, they have traffic lights to control the flow into the roundabout rather than letting the roundabout control the flow itself.

The last area I visited on Saturday was National Taiwan University. As I got off the subway, I noticed double decker bike racks along the sidewalk. The top level slides out and creates a ramp that you can wheel the bike up. The lower levels slide back and forth so that you have enough room to get your bike in or out but they don't waste all the space as they can be more tightly packed. Once I got inside the University, there was a sea of bikes near the dorm area. Some bike parking was covered, and others were out in the open. The walls around the dorm were covered with glass set in concrete at the top of the wall. Some glass was flat glass and other were pieces of broken bottles.

The campus has a small agricultural area with test plots, a large mall in front of one of the building, and many small ponds, wooded areas and walking trails.

As I headed back to hotel, I decided to stop and grab a bite to eat. I was heading to a restaurant when I noticed an Ikea store entrance, which I never expected to see here. The store was in the lowest 2 basement levels of a hotel building. I went in a picked up a couple of their chocolate bars to keep for a treat later. As I walked out, I saw there was an Outback Steakhouse tucked behind the store, so I changed my plans and ate there.

Here are a couple of the routes I wandered as I was hunting the geocaches and climbing the hiking trail. The left track is the Yuanshan Scenic Area and Hiking Trail along with Danshui Riverfront. The right track is Riverfront area near the Univerisity and the Univeristy area. The nice straight or curved lines are subway legs, while the jagged sectons are me walking and finding my way around.