Chongqing

We spent a few days in Chongqing - the largest city you've never heard of. We were told that the metro area holds 32,000,000 people. Kinda makes Chicagoland look like Lincoln.

The city sits at the confluence of the Yangtze and Jialing rivers a few hundred miles upstream from the Three Gorges Dam. In the photo below, you can see the muddy Yangtze coming in from the right and mixing with the darker Jialing on the left. I was expecting a broad floodplain, but the rivers are deeply entrenched in narrow courses and the city sits on high hills.

The city center is on the peninsula between the two rivers. It extends forever in all directions. Most of the buildings are 20+ story high rise apartment buildings. We didn't see any four-flats like you'd see around Chicago. Even at the edges of the city, high rise buildings are the norm here.

The day we arrived was partly sunny and clear. On top of each apartment building is a penthouse suite with a forest of jungle growth. Chongqing is at the same latitude as Houston and supports tropical trees like palms and bananas. 

The night skyline is spectacular with the ability to look across the river. Each skyscraper is plated in LED lights; at night they turn into ginormous movie screens (or billboards, depending on your viewpoint).

Coolest Urinals Ever

Near the top of the Westin hotel building in Chongqing, there's a glass-floored observation deck that's cantilevered out over the city. It's very unnerving to walk out onto a sheet of glass 500 feet above the ground.

Directly above the observation deck is a glass infinity pool that also sticks out the side of the building. We didn't get a chance to swim in it. I can't imagine the feeling of floating in the water and being able to see thru the bottom to the city below.

Above the pool, on the 54th floor, there's a nightclub that looks down onto the pool. The building above the pool is cut away so that it's open to the sky. The men's room in the nightclub has a commanding view of the city from its row of urinals.

Great Wall

There was no way I was going to sit on a plane for umpteen hours and fly all over China without seeing the Great Wall. We went to a section that has been restored near Mutian, 90 minutes north of Beijing.

The snow made the wall slick (it's steep!), but the storm also cleared out the air so that we could see forever up into the mountains. 

The Forbidden City

The Forbidden City is at the true center of Beijing. Construction started in 1406. 

The outer wall is ~30 ft thick.

The carved bronze statues were amazing.

All the buildings are made of wood. No nails used anywhere.

The drainage gargoyles reminded me of those on the Aztec pyramids of Central Mexico.

I think we were lucky to be there early on a weekend day with miserable weather. I can't imagine how crowded it would be on a nice summer day.

Tienanmen Square

Our tour of Beijing started with Tienanmen Square. It's smack dab in the heart of the city, next door to the Forbidden City.

Despite the crappy weather, there were a ton of tour groups arriving. We were told that it's a goal of every Chinese citizen to visit the square at some point during their life. Our guide was quite well versed in Chinese tourism knowledge.

Beijing

In each hotel we stayed, there was a little Godzilla-scaled model of the property in its perfect future state. The entire country is under construction, so nothing now is how it will be next year.

We landed late in the afternoon and were greeted with grey skies and a bit of snow. Our hotel was an "airport hotel" only 1.5 miles from the airport. I figured no problem - we'll take the hotel shuttle. After 30 minutes of trying to find it, we gave up and tried to find a cab. As we were loading our bags into the trunk, the cabbie starting telling us something in Chinese. Another guy came up and explained that the cab we were getting into was only a long-distance cab. If we followed him, he would take us to the hotel. He produced something that looked like a cab license, so we followed him for 15 minutes down and around the front of the airport to what looked like a personal car. At that point, we were too tired to fight it, so we got in. 30 minutes later we made it to the hotel. I kept checking the GPS on my phone to make sure he wasn't driving us somewhere else. 1.5 miles took a solid 30 minutes and 480 Yuan ($80).

In the hotel lobby was a cute Santa's Helper, Christmas tree, and poinsettias. Christmas is becoming a big holiday there. No one gets the day off, but they like the thought of giving gifts. 

In China, you can't turn on the heat until November 15th. We arrived on the 7th. The hotel lobby was chilly and all the girls behind the front desk were wearing full-length coats. Apparently this was a record-early snowfall and the government gave the OK later that week for everyone to turn on their heat.

  

I enjoyed the food the whole time I was there. Usually we had so many dishes on the table, you could pick and choose what you wanted. However, in the hotel, we each only ordered one item. What should I get? Sauteed shredded pork and vegetable in spicy fish flavored sauce? or Braised duck blood curd with pork intestines in chili sauce? At least they are up front with the descriptions. I'd rather know before ordering rather than after eating and asking what it was that I consumed.

Flying Around

Finally, after years of working with Chinese suppliers, I got my opportunity to visit their land. I went on a whirlwind 1-week trip that added 16,500 miles to my frequent flyer account.

We started in Lincoln (LNK) and then flew 6600 miles from O'Hare (ORD) to Beijing (PEK). We nearly went over the north pole (we hit 80° north latitude) on the great circle route. It seems weird to fly north from Chicago to go somewhere to the west. From Beijing, we went to Chongqing (CKG) and Hangzhou (HGH) and then back the way we came.

I got a window seat so that I could check out the glaciers and ice along the way, but it was cloudy the entire way. How is that possible?

I had my last real diet coke in Chicago. From there all I could find was Diet Coke Light, which tastes like real Coke. All of the Asian cans have pull tabs. 

Here's what it looks like at mid day at 80° north from 39,000 feet. Before we began our descent, we hit 40,000 feet and -93°F outside. I really enjoy having the map display available on the seat back in front of me.

Brilliant Fall

We've had the most beautiful fall this year. All the maples are on fire with color and the snow and wind have stayed away. Nothing but blue skies.

LSW's Newest Speech Kid

GP joins his brother this year on the LSW speech team. He had a novice-only event where he and all the other noobs got to see what it's all about. He's doing a DI (Dramatic Interpretation) piece about the cop that sent the kid that was running from Jeffrey Dahmer back into his apartment. For GP, it's all just some historical event - he knows nothing of it. 

Cooking with Radar

The new stainless dishwasher and fridge are making the white appliances look pretty shabby. We were out shopping for a new stove and found a new microwave instead. It took most of the day to install it - none of the new mounting screws matched the old locations. It doesn't feel right having to drill a new 1.5" hole in the cabinets.

The search for a new range still continues...

Halloween Friends

Jenny's BFF from IL came out with her daughter for Halloween. We took them on a short tour (it was chilly) on the UNL campus.

JN and CP have known each other for the last 15 years - they had a good time hanging out together. 

Kentucky Fried Mowers

Each year there's a huge convention/show in Louisville called the Green Industry Expo (GIE) where every manufacturer that produces anything to do with turf care converges. It's three days of Gump-like discussions talking about how to make grass look better.

One of our minor competitors prides themselves on making the world's fastest mowers. They have a twin-engine mower, a jet engine powered mower, and a WW-II tank. Not sure how the tank relates to cutting grass, but it was cool to see.

The highlight of my trip was a day spent in the Louisville airport where they have the Colonel sitting on a bench.

Swollen Cheeks

The boys have a 4-day weekend - a perfect time for GP to get his wisdom teeth pulled! He went in Thursday morning and has been swollen since. 

Fortunately, all the animals can sense that he needs sleep and comfort. They have all been fighting over who gets to sleep on him.

No cotton balls - that's all just swollen cheeks.

Pulling Plugs

Last weekend I brought a 30" stand-on aerator home. It only took about 30 minutes to do the whole yard (double-plugging the front, too) and zero effort. These machines are awesome!

It didn't take long for the neighbors to wander out to see what I was doing. M from across the street is a part-time landscaper - he really appreciated the deep plugs that were being pulled. He really got excited when he was able to do his whole yard in 30 minutes without breaking a sweat. 

The house is looking pretty good as we leave summer behind.

Office Upgrade

Last week I traded in my cube for an actual office with a door. I'm going to miss the casual conversations with my cubemates, but it will be nice to be able to have a bit of privacy.

Sweatshop

JP has enlisted everyone to make craft objects d'art for her LSW Speech Team fundraising.

JP was trying to lay out Scrabble tiles to make Christmas ornaments and L thought it was fun to bat all the tiles off the table. The extra room upstairs is now craft central with a cat-proof door.

The reading glasses had to come out yesterday to cut out a paper house with an x-acto knife.

Birthday Sushi

For CP and CG's birthdays, we all went to Blue Sushi down in the Haymarket. CP LOVES sushi and all things Japanese. He even tried some tako (octopus).

GP on the other hand, does not like sushi, fish, or anything that smells like fish. He moaned and groaned the entire time until his Kobe-beef steak arrived. Then his discomfort magically disappeared and his attitude improved.