Here and There Blog

The hobbit holes are popular because they are in the shape of the full moon - a good symbol. Above, the gods protect the dwelling from evil spirits. Recling Buddha. This Buddha is strategically placed inside the religious gift shop. Diana rubbing Buddha's belly for luck. I did too but no one saw me do it! Lighting incense and praying.

You can write your name on a prayer flag and place it in the temple for your wish to be heard. It's helpful to place your flag around Pei-Show, the Lion God These tapestries are so vibrant in color and texture but that doesn't come thru in the photo.

Still inside the Jade Buddha Temple. These gods are listening to what Buddha has to say. Pretty impressive. I don't remember which god this one was. This was described as a "still movie set" about the birth of Buddhaism .

Jade Buddha Temple houses a Jade Buddha from Burma. No pictures of that here since photos were not allowed but the Jade Buddha is worth a visit. The temple is a working monastery and in use for the people to come and say a prayer to the gods. It was full of Buddhas, some gold plated, some painted gold but all impressive This is happy Buddha. People come to Buddha to laugh and forget their troubles. It worked for me for a few minutes while I stood here. Protectors of the people.

Dumplings - we had our fill and more of a traditional Chinese multi-course dinner. First off were the greens, at least 5 kinds. After the greens - dumplings, all in double pots and vegetarian and soup filled. Plus spring rolls, shrimp fried rice, and dumpling desserts. No exotic foods which was nice and appreciated!

This room was pretty neat but the carvings of the chairs don't show up as well but they are intricate. You have to look up too because statues are everywhere. And more neat pond and fish Remember to look up!

The Carp were pretty big and were having a feast! Diana and Marty - the tree is one of the oldest in the Gardens and the only one in bloom. Not quite ready for a swim It feels great to sit!

The Yuyuan Gardens costs 30 CNY to get in ($4.39) and we thought that it would be only a short look sort of a place. We spent 90 minutes inside and still didn't make it end to end. A grotto! Gotta go through the cave! I guess Chinese hobbits live here The cool dragon

Paper art is everywhere - at the entrance to restaurants and as overhead decoration. We ended up walking down this alley of shops because of the cool decorations.

Before the day got too hot we were happy to set out and explore the tourist side of town. Hmmm. That water's pretty brown. I'll stick with the bottled stuff. Me and below - Marty, Diana, Jeremy

I didn't notice all this at 4:30 am! The subway pit. The hotel will be a perfect location when this is all done.

Yes, I had nothing better to do at 5:00 am than drink my Nescafe and read the paper. New country, same routine. Headline: H1N1 and up to 2 billion may be infected. Everyone had us so worried about the health screening at the airport. I had told everyone to eat ice to make sure our temperatures were normal but it was mainly fill out the health form, be slightly looked at to make sure you didn't look sick and go on through. What a relief! Not that I'm sick but who wants to be quarantined? Also on front page - coverage of the memorial tribute to a former South Korean leader. Big news I guess for a thaw in relationship. In the US, we're always talking about a thaw with North Korea so it's funny to see the difference. Later on, a story about how the separatist conspiracy will never succeed and right after that - how hard it is for an expat (non-Chinese) to find love in Shanghai. Who knew that Chinese Valentine's Day is Wednesday, August 25?

I have the subway construction view - boy do I rate! Long flight here but at least Star Trek was one of the movies. Hotel is nice from what I've seen of it so far. Took about 1 hour to get from airport to city. Had trouble getting into Blogger and Facebook and Twitter haven't happened yet but for some reason, MySpace loaded right away. Have to be careful about what I post so I don't get a total block on all activity. First impression is that this is a boring city. I'm sure it's not but it is so quiet for such a big place. Work has already slide in construction one day so today is meetings and more meetings to address the replanning of the week.

Last night I got the UA easy update stating the LAX-SFO leg of my trip had been canceled due to mechanical. I rebooked to the earlier 8:25 am flight only to wake up at 4:45 am to find out that fight has now been delayed one hour. No reason. No weather in SFO. I sometimes wonder what we have to do to make interanational connections and the only thing I can come up with is get to the connecting ciy one day early. How lame. 10:15 am. Showed up at LAX at 6:30 and the agent rebooked us on the 7:30 flight. So now at SFO and in the lounge with books and laptop in hand.

Long week! At least I know I'll have a few free hours to hang out in my airplane seat no matter how uncomfortable! I can always tell when work keeps me going because blogging doesn't happen. I'm hoping that China doesn't do any net blocking so I can post away and add pictures too.

It was a 2-fer movie weekend and I'm almost thinking that Time Traveler's Wife came out on top for me. Could be because Eric Bana is in it but the movie didn't make me think of work and I didn't think about the anomalies in it until the next day. Let's be clear here - the target audience is sentimental women. This is a chick flick and guys, well if you go with your best gal pal, your are a really good guy. I know because there were a lot of miserable men in the theater with their significant others and at the end, I think you can guess which sex was in tears and which were chomping at the bit to run. So Eric Bana plays Henry, an unwilling time traveler who can never control when he will slip away from the present and into the past or future. Rachel McAdams plays Clare, the wife. Their love affair has been going on for a long time until the two finally meet at the right age. Really, Henry what were you thinking all that time just waiting for Clare to turn 18? We...

Peter Jackson's name attached to District 9 was the only reason I went to see the movie. I wasn't into the buzz or hype but decided to give the movie a chance. I walked in to a nearly empty theater and wondered if anyone was really bothering to check it out? Set in South Africa, aliens come to Earth, hover spacecraft over J'berg , get boarded and put into their own slumtown , aka District 9. Aliens attack humans, have a thing for cat food, and the drug lords of Nigeria move into slum town to trade cat food for alien weapons that no one can use. Citizens riot (humans that is) and enters Wilkus , newly promoted man in charge of alien relocation. Wilkus manages to get himself infected with alien DNA and starts to mutate. Wilkus decides to befriend the enemy and try to save himself. Set against the unpleasantry of the slums, the movie is supposed to make us think about how we're treating people who live in slums, especially the slums with guards and fences. I know that ...

On August 9th, it was Audrey's birthday so we celebrated the only way you can in Arizona - hanging out in the shade by the pool! Well a couple glasses of wine help too! Saturday morning, I tossed my suitcase in the car, walked around to the driver's side and saw this flat tire mocking me. I promptly took the suitcase out, tossed it in the truck and ignored the flat until Monday morning.

Still here. Been busy with work. Looks like I'm off to China in about 10 days.