Nanjing, China

Dinner in Nanjing was incredible.  It's apparently a famous old restaurant from maybe 100 years ago.  I wish I got better pictures of the food.  I think my focus was off because of the steam getting to my camera.  Top left is the stinky tofu.  Yes.  Stinky tofu is what it's called, and yes, it's stinky.  Think stinky cheese and you have it.  Top right is in dark, I forget how it's prepared, fish.  Really tasty.  On the same plate is exceptional duck.  In front is arguably the best chicken I've ever had.  The broth is so rich and delicious.  It's spicy hot, but not too hot.  The chicken falls off the bone.  It has an interesting effect on your tongue I asked my local guides.  It makes your tongue tingle, like numb feeling.  Very interesting.

Nanjing stinky tofu.  Think stinky cheese.  Stong flavor, strong garlic-like feeling in your mouth.  Delicious.  Enough said.

This is where we walked to from the hotel for dinner.  Really bustling happening town altogether.  The yellow and red vertical sign is where we ate.

I've seen so much, and still, so little here.  Unfortunately, my battery died just as we were getting in the beautiful bullet train from Shanghai to Nanjing.  State of the art, modern facilities here, for sure.  Not the China we remember from 20 or even 10 years ago.

On the bullet train.  The pinnacle of traveling.

Some fashionable kids walking around in Shanghai.  Made me think of my girls.  Today is Moira's birthday.  Happy 19th Moira!  I love you!

Shanghai, China

This is the chandelier in the lobby of the Intercontinental in Shanghai.  It's a beautiful extravagant modern hotel.  I was admiring this from a distance, and decided to get right under it to take the photo.  it's mounted in a recessed backlit circle which makes the dramatic orange tone ring.

This is a glance at the lobby.  You can see the chandelier in the background.  The flowing lights reminded me of silk.  I wonder if that was the intention.  It's a huge sculpture that flows from the lobby to the bar.  Quite dramatic, as is the rest of Shanghai.  Definitely a world-class city of 20 million people and climbing.

I loved the room and view.  A modern style, yet some finishes adding soft and textures making it contemporary and comfortable.  See the tiles behind the bed?  Really nice couch in front of the window, and of course the huge window facing the train station.

This is looking out the front door of the lobby.  Very difficult to capture the beatiful lighting.  I'm sure it's extra done-up for Chinese New Year.  The energy of the country is picking up as the New Year gets closer.

Ahhhhhhh..... This is one of the most beautiful indoor pools I have ever seen.  It's a full 25 meters, infinity edges, deep and well, perfect.  I so needed that.  I'm looking forward to one more night there, before I leave.  We're very busy, arriving at night to the hotel.  Pre-meeting at night.  Depart at 8am for our meeting in the High Tech Park, then lunch meeting, then 2 hour high speed train to Nanjing.  This is high tech with passion! 

I hope I can get more pictures later, of Shanghai and Nanjing, and maybe more on our return to Shanghai.  Actually, more of Xi'an too...  Lots to talk about!

Xi'an China

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The Terra Cotta Warriors are a fantastic archeological find, from about 6,000 years ago during the something rather dynasty.  I need to look up more on it.  Actually quite recently, in 1974 was it's discovery.  Buried in a farmer's field, he was digging a well and found one of the soldiers.  Long story short, 8,000 life size warriors have been found buried about 20 feet under ground.  Along with the soldiers, are horses and carriages and other military items including cross bows.  The technology was advanced, using bronze, chrome for swords, and sophisticated casting methods to make large light shields.  Western civilization caught up about 5,500 years later...

 

Each face on every warrior is unique, with different features and expressions. There is speculation, but possibly there were models for each one.

There are three pits or areas where the soldiers are found.  This is the largest of the three.  The vast building is around 250 M long.  This army was created to protect the emporer in his afterlife.  As it turns out he was about 13 when he had this army commissioned.
Tony and I surveying our troops.

This is a general.  You can tell by his hair and hat, as well as all the ribbons on his uniform.  Having things turned up was a sign of leadership, for example his mustache, his fingers, and his shoes, which you can't see here.  Also, his uniform is 2 layers, unlike the rank and file, with one.

This woman is carving English and Chinese characters into a stamp.  Rather than a signature, a stamp is used to sign documents.

This is the contradiction in China.  The smoke from the factory billows uninhibited.  At the same time, you can see the new cars providing a 'higher' standard of living.

I like the sepia effect here.  It looks like something from generations ago.  A farmer transporting his pigs on a scooter truck.  He's on the main freeway, next to the many new and old vehicles of every kind.  It's quite a mix on the road.

Here's more of a present day composition of my pig farmer.  His scooter truck may not have much life left in it, if the billowing smoke is any indication.

This is a proud and strong warrior looking out, while Tony and Magic inspect.  Magic was our guide, and an awesome guy.  Really enjoyed him.

Me not quite pulling off the serious general warrior.  You can tell the others are a lower rank, as they have fewer ribbons.

Looking out my hotel window.  It's almost unbelievable the level of smog.  Next door is an older crumbling building.  If you can see, there are many new high-rises on the horizon.  China is racing to become a 'leading' country with all the privileges you get from things.

Chengdu, China

Chairman Mao was the first chairman of communist China in 1949 through WWII and beyond.  Here he is in front of the Science and Technology Museum.  As it turns out, he was also a very good swimmer.

There is a huge amount of investment going on in Chengdu, into high technology.  Although we saw some historic sites, the pace of construction and magnitude of new buildings is mind-boggling. 

A building of this size in the United States would likely be the talk of the country.  They thought it was being built for high technology in Chengdu.  The government builds the facilities and brings in high technology companies to occupy the building.

Another high rise condominium building.  It's beautiful, and this photo highlights the elephant in the room no one wants to talk about.  The smog is dense everywhere.  I can see it getting thicker as the day wears on, although this was first thing in the morning.  Scary.

This is a teahouse we ate lunch at.  Chilly, but really pleasant.  It's not far from the center of town, and walking distance from our hotel.  This area is known for its spicy food, which we tried and really enjoyed.  Kung Pau chicken done like I'll never forget.  So full of flavor.  Eating here is an experience.  There is no hesitation to get fully immersed, including skin, bones, ligaments, organs, fat and meat.  Not for the dainty.

From left to right, Michael, Victor, and Tony, my travel partners.  Michael is on the sales team.  Victor is our interpreter.  Tony works with me, and lives in Boulder.  All three great people and a pleasure to travel with.

Temple in old part of city.  It's famous, I forget the details, but suffice it to say, a great place to get centered.  Buddhism has something going on.

Updating the Temple lanterns to compact fluorescent for the next 1,500 years.  

Shenzhen, China

This is a very small sample of the many many highrises in Shenzhen.  The growth is phenomenal.  Nearby are Huawei and Foxconn (Apple factory) for example.  The city popped up from a farming town less than 30 years ago.

Smart and Trendy here.  Getting ready for Chinese New Year, the biggest celebration of the year.

I would be remiss without adding this photo.  Indoor pool in my hotel.  I've been in the pool every day of this trip so far I think.  I swam here twice, and once at the Sheraton, also a 25M indoor pool.

This is the breakfast that comes with the hotel.  So delicious.  Poached egg, sollandaise sauce. asparagus, slow roasted cherry tomato, like candy.  Emmental cheese, olive topenade on top.

Hong Kong dining at Bo Innovation

Bo Innovation is a trendy place in Hong Kong, with 'Molecular Gastronomy' cooking taking from traditional Chinese style, and doing a molecular spin on it.  I love this photo, it says so much.  Our waiter explaining the course in front of us, all three tomato items.  Both Tony and I thinking, um, okay.  The first, an incredibly delicious tomato, I think it was super low temperature cooked.  Behind it, our egg waffle 'bread'.  The middle item was also tomato, but I am forgetting the details.  It's a wan ton skin deep fried, I think, with a fancy sauce, something tomato... I wish I could remember.  On the far left exemplifies the food for the night.  it's a tomato marshmallow.  Yes, it has a tomato flavor, oh, and the dried green onion leaf on top.  The wine was paired with the dishes, also quite unique.  A fascinating experience all in all.  The bottle on the left there is a sort of vinegar used, I forget where.

This is the best soup dumpling I've ever had.  Okay, fine.  It's the only soup dumpling I've ever had.  This is a special dish, we were told.  Again, it's a traditional chinese dish (apparently) gone molecular.  The dumpling itself is 'stuffed' with soup.  Across the top is a special ginger.  It was good, and so surprising.  Virtually everything we ate were tastes I was not expecting, and amazingly delicious once I got over the surprise.

This is a nice seared scallop.  What's unique, and our instructions were to divide the scallop into 4 bites, then eat with the four surrounding flavors, the tall was a foamy spicy something, then salty,  then bitter and finally the sweet cherry gelatin in dark red there.  Delicious.

This is two kinds of cod, with seaweed, a really light seaweed like it was baked or something.  Note the little flowers, called something like sisal?  This was delicious too.  As you can see, the bites are small, but both of us were satisfied after we finished.  Really fun!

Hong Kong

This is my first swim spot in Hong Kong.  We lucked out with the Crowne Plaza hotel at Causeway Bay.  We're on Hong Kong Island, the most southern part of the city.  As you can see, it's a bit overcast, and we had a bit of light rain.  It's an infinity pool, right up to the edge of the building, on the 28th floor!  In the foreground, you can see the darker pool tiles, actually, the water is about 1/3 meter (1 foot) deep.  The weave you see in front of that is a lounge chair, in the water.  Interesting juxtaposition.

Hong Kong is an amazing place of man daring nature.  As you can see in the background, the city is on steep landscapes, which doesn't seem to hinder the construction of monstrous fancy highrises on the smallest and steepest pieces of land.  It's so dense, and the norm is 40 or 50 stories it seems.

This is Tony getting a picture of turtles in Hong Kong Park.  A beautiful place in the midst of the city.  Below is the aviary in the park, and below that, you can see the aviary in the foreground with all the building behind, in the hills.

A walk-through aviary with huge sky scrapers behind.

 

Top of aviary, lower left.  So many high rises.

Another biggie.

Evening begins to set in looking over the water.  This is the top floor bar at the Four Seasons, Hong Kong Island.