T1B

Ok here are some of the photos of China. Some of you will feel the need to take your shots. Fire away. For the rest of you more can be found at this link:

http://photo.walgreens.com/share/p=4501 ... /otsi=SALB

Garden in Hong Kong



Top of Victoria Peak looking North over Central to Kowloon (Hong Kong)


Next Year's Christmas Card?


Good thing it wasn't crowded!


Is this Hong Kong or Dallas?


Our Great Wall hotel. Notice the outdoor second story bar, much time spent there.


That wall is tall!


The wall.


Another Christmas Card?


Crowds! Crowds! You don't know no stinking crowds! (Summer Palace Beijing)


There are Aggies everywhere, even rowing boats in China.

In case there are any honorary Aggies who don't get it, the guy is rowing his boat stern first. Notice the waves at the stern.

Summer Palace of the Emperor. (Beijing)


Can you say rickshaw?


Local watering hole, Su'up Eddie? Thanks for all the drinks.


Typical Beijing neighborhood.


Upper middle class Living Room, Kitchen and Courtyard in Beijing.







Locals taking pictures of us taking pictures of them.


At the train station and on the train, no not the one that derailed.







Did I mention that 1.3 Billion people live here? (Old town Shanghai)


Yao Ming's BBQ place in Shanghai. Hell ya I will ride the bull for free drinks!




My wife rides the bull to the enjoyment of many locals.


Madeline, she didn't go to China, but she does like Chinese takeout if you happen to leave it in her reach.

Left Seater wrote:There are Aggies everywhere, even rowing boats in China.

In case there are any honorary Aggies who don't get it, the guy is rowing his boat stern first. Notice the waves at the stern.

Also, notice the anchor off the bow.

China was amazing. I will be happy to take jobs there anytime. Beijing has a different feel than the rest of China, mostly because of the presence of the Red Army everywhere. They don't interfere or bother you, they are just there. That being said Beijing was our favorite city.

The people in one on one situations are great. They can't wait to talk to Americans. However, in group settings all that goes away and they push and shove and spit like crazy. They have no idea of what a line or queue is. After I got over the pushing and shoving I found things work out pretty well when you are about a foot taller than everyone else. I wouldn't mind it though if they covered their mouths when they coughed or sneezed.

Shanghai is much more Western than Beijing. The younger generation wants Starbucks not tea. I don't know that they like it so much as they want to have something different than their parents. You can find damn near anything you want in Shanghai and it is cheap. I bought a Rolex for $156. We bought fresh water pearls and gold jewelry for damn near all our family and it only costs us about $450. You do have to bargain though.

Traffic is crazy and it is nothing for a moped to cut off a bus. Traffic signals are only a suggestion and many companies don't allow their employees to drive, instead they just hire drivers for everyone.

If you have specific questions let fire.

Do the ladies' pooners actually slant in a different direction?

Rack the hell out of those pics. Laughed out loud at the horn belt-buckle, and the aggie rowboat diagram.

Question...did your trip have anything to do with flying? Is it sketchy to fly in China? Did you hear or see anything about that crazy-big dam they're building?

Great pics, indeed. Surprised PUS didn't piss all over himself over this one.



Bud Rice? In China? That'll teach them dirty yellow buggers!

Rack the PET!

Rack the Mrs., you sir did outkick your coverage though.

Yeah, did some flying on the trip. Worked for a company that is a major olympic sponsor. Have the chance to go back and work for them again in July and possibly durring the olympics. Keeping my fingers crossed.

General aviation is not nearly as common in China as it is in the US so almost all of the flying was into and out of the major airports. Given that there are a few things that are a pain, but then their facilities are amazing. We could certainly learn something from them when it comes to airport design and layout. Communication with tower and enroute control was difficult at times, but we worked thru it. English is the official language of aviation the world over. Controlers and pilots will speak in their native tounge at times, but if you have a situation in which two languages are being spoken everyone is to change to english. Again, mostly not a problem, but then there was this instruction while we are flying level at 10,000 feet. Control: "Descend and maintain 12,000." WTF? Does he want me higher or lower? But hey we get weird requests from US controlers too.

We also had to do a lot of metal calculations at times as we were issued some altitudes in meters. Nothing crazy, just not something we are used too, and you find yourself checking and rechecking just to be sure. The other strange thing is upon departure your plane doesn't move until released by the Red Army. You don't move until you get his salute. Same for commercial flights as it was for us.

As a passenger the airports were amazing. Huge terminals with natural light everywhere. Baggage carts for free anywhere you might need them, including at the curb as the taxi drops you off. You can't take it thru security, but then there was another ready for you right beyond security. When you stepped of the plane there was another one right off the Jet Bridge. Security while just as complete was handled with much more class and courtesy. You also don't have to take your shoes off, instead you put each foot on this angled scanner one foot at a time. Further when you put your stuff in one of those little bins to slide it thru the xray machine they hand you a big laminated card that has the same number as your bin. Then on the other side of the metal detector you must hand over the card before you get a bin back. No stolen items here or worrying about someone picking up your stuff by accident.

I flew the company plane over so no comment on international arrivals on a commercial flight, but our domestic flights on Dragonair and Air China were great. I would fly on either one again anytime. I flew 26 segments and was a commerical pax on 9. Flew home on Cathay Pacific and they are highly recommended. We had one business class seat and then one seat in coach. The company I was working for paid for the business class seat and we didn't spring for the $12,000 difference between the two. However, the airline was great and put our coach seat in the first row and our business class seat in the last row. We switched about midway thru the flight. The person sleeping in business and the other watching the individual TV moniter with movies, TV shows, Games, etc. They weren't too keen on taking pictures of their airports but here are a few I did take.

Checkin area of Terminal 2 at Shanghai Pudong (the new airport). Notice lanes A thru G are visable in this photo, H thru M are behind me and each lane has 85 checkin stations.


Arrivals level of Shanghai Terminal 2. This is the last 1/10th of the terminal. Most of it is behind me, but with the smaller camera I couldn't show the depth.


23:00 arrival in Hong Kong. 85 gates are not enough so our flight from Shanghai gets the short straw and the remote stand.


Notice the use of two airbridges. Really speeds things up.


Terminal 3 at Beijing. Again notice the seperation of arriving and departing pax. Helps the airport feel uncrowded as you only see half the people.




That army dispatcher I spoke of.


The facilities don't end at the terminal either. Shanghai has one of the world's only MagLev train. It can move at close to 500km/h. However, so as not to make the pax sick with the view flashing by at such a high speed they limit it to 300 - 350 km/h. That is roughly 190 mph. Our trains don't even come close.




Steve, yeah I did out kick the coverage but then I would guess most of us on here did, based on the pics and those that I have met. The kicker though is she is a huge football fan. And now that she is in the MBA program at Texas she has student tickets to damn near everything, even if they are a bit removed from the action. I'll post a pic of the two of us at the Texas v RICE game this fall.

Rack the PET.

i've never seen a chinatown bigger than three square blocks. awesome photos.

Left Seater wrote:

Steve, yeah I did out kick the coverage but then I would guess most of us on here did, based on the pics and those that I have met. The kicker though is she is a huge football fan. And now that she is in the MBA program at Texas she has student tickets to damn near everything, even if they are a bit removed from the action. I'll post a pic of the two of us at the Texas v RICE game this fall.

Know whatcha mean on outkicking the coverage. I call that bode.

As for "S" becoming a sip....Sssssssssss!!!!!!!!! My ex gal at A&M got hers at Rice. I told her that was ok except during baseball season.

Great photos, Lefty!

This one is sweet.

^^^^^^^

Taken from my barstool on top of Victoria Peak.

Left Seater wrote:^^^^^^^

Taken from my barstool on top of Victoria Peak.

Excellent PET. Thanks for sharing. ^^^ Also my favorite pic. And from a barstool? Even better.

Question/Clarification. Not surprised at the pushing and shoving, have observed similar behavior in places like Vegas where many Chinese visit. But the "spitting" comment is a surprise! Do they really spit? At you? Or more just common to see the locals hocking loogies? :D

Rack being tall in China.

Screw_Michigan wrote:Rack the PET.

alright someone call me an idiot. what does PET stand for? I know yall arnt talking about the dog.. (i think)

Puppy Eating Town










or Photo Essay Thread

The spitting isn't directed at anyone, they just spit A LOT. Flem, extra saliva, all of it ends up on the street or the floor. Hong Kong actually has signs up warning of fines and the problem is not nearly as widespread there as on the mainland.

PET (the one mentioned above) is a better fit with Korea. I actually asked a few times if places had dog and the answer was always no. Duck tounge on the other hand...

IndyFrisco wrote:Puppy Eating Town

Quality.

2, 1

I really like the "up the shorts" view

Well if their chairs/seats weren't built for 5'2" people then you wouldn't get such shots. But they are and you do.

Notice how my wife looks like the seat was custom built for her height. The better picture really would have been of the guy pedeling the thing. We get out of the tour van and that guy takes one look at me and I think he crapped his pants right away. Towards the end of the guy actually gets out and pushes the bike up a small hill. After my wife stops laughing she tells me I should get out and help him.

that guy takes one look at me and I think he crapped his pants right away.