Pros & Cons List of Beijing Olympics and Lauren arrives to Shanghai!

Pros

• Amazing architecture
• Cheap food and drink! ($0.50 for water, $0.75 for beer)
  
• Cheap taxis (usually $2-$4 per ride, no tipping)
  
• Reasonably priced official gear ($15 polo)
  
• All birds nest seats covered (so rain wasn't an issue for spectators) but plenty of sunshine
• Clean
  
• Efficient and rapid security at main gate
  
• Affordable original ticket prices ($9-$100)
  
• With a ticket to a venue one could hang out inside the Olympic Green all day
  
• Very friendly atmosphere - Chinese and foreigners
• Commonly saw and met athletes and/or their families
• Easy access to Today Show!
• Eager, friendly, English speaking volunteers at China Mobile and Visa info booths located everywhere
• Chinese people happy to take a photo OF you and even yell at people to get out of the background of the photo
• Chinese people eager to take photos WITH you (people lined up to take photos with us, we were like celebrities, but really, it's just because we're white)
  
• FREE rolling carts at airports (not just Beijing) makes for smooth luggage transportation for the masses
• Tasty bread/egg/chive breakfast for $1 near our hotel

Yummy Beijing flat bread specialty

Cons

• Not enough vendors
• No public shaded space
• No public sitting areas
• Only 1 taxi stand for entire Olympic Green
• Taxi stand 1 mile from venues
• Clean at any expense (citizens removed/displaced...jailed?)
• No permits for protester 'area' granted by China
• Far too few trash cans
• Impractical/dangerous self heating meals at vendors
• Ran out of everything - food, drink, and souvenirs
• Scalpers asking $1100 for a $9 ticket and getting mad at our $100 counter)
  
• China booing Japan during the woman's football match
• Items purchased from Official Olympic Store not allowed in some venues as they may be thrown onto the field
• No restaurants or shopping outside Olympic Green
• Many food street vendors removed
  
• Chinese people not so good at taking pictures in focus
  

My sister arrived today! Off to show her China!

Mr. Gu welcomes Lauren at the Pudong Airport

The Prices Take The Washington Post

(this is our photo, it's not in the paper, see story for significance)


Rebecca and I were in today's (Sunday's) Washington Post! Can someone get one for us? Here is the article:

In Beijing, Tourists Are Dazzled, Daunted
Many Express Uneasiness About Atmosphere of Control
By Jill Drew
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, August 24, 2008; Page A12

BEIJING, Aug. 23 -- Eager to share his excitement at being in the middle of Beijing's Olympic splendor, Aaron Price pressed toward the railing of the open-air set of NBC's "Today" show here Friday night, hoping the live broadcast would beam his face and his "Aaron, Rebecca, China" sign to friends and family back in New Jersey.

"I won't forget the Beijing Olympics," said Price, 29, as the illuminated girders of the Bird's Nest national stadium glowed red and silver behind him alongside the iridescent blue Water Cube aquatics center. "I'm unlikely to see another nation come to maturity like China has with this Olympics."

Ask tourists about the Beijing Olympics, and many will gush about clearer-than-expected skies, efficient transportation, sparkling venues, gracious volunteers and generous fans -- all welcome words to Communist Party officials, who had buffed the city to an unprecedented shine so it could show a friendly face to the world. But "friendly" is not the only word many of the same tourists use to describe their main impressions as they roam around Beijing. Power, artifice, intimidation: Those are also common.

"It's like success at any cost," said Price's wife, Rebecca. "They're really staging this. It's really choreographed. It's not sustainable."

Rachel Santana, 31, from Sao Paulo, Brazil, talked about her visit to the Forbidden City, the former home to emperors in the heart of Beijing. "It was wonderful," she said. "But there's a lot that is fake. It's lost a lot of its unique character."

The Chinese never tried to hide how much a "successful" Olympics meant to them, which they defined, in part, as one unblemished by reality. Attempts at protest were quashed; unsightly houses were bulldozed or hidden behind new fences draped with banners; restaurants were told to remove dog meat from menus. Many tourists have been all too cognizant of what is going on. In some cases, they recoiled from Chinese efforts at control, such as the legions of overeager volunteer squads, always smiling but often firmly preventing tourists from going places they want to go.

"It's very oppressive here," complained John Janssens, 34, as the Brussels native sat in a square on the Olympic Green, eating takeout spicy noodles before heading to the Bird's Nest for a hurdles final. "They make too much effort to make everything perfect."

Mark Wilson, a 25-year-old technology consultant from London, said he had expected the Chinese would be friendly but had not expected to feel the same pressure to be nice. "I constantly get the feeling that I shouldn't say anything that could be a slur against China. I feel a lot of pressure to 'get' the image," Wilson said. "I'd like to come back after the Olympics and see what it's really like."

Not everyone expressed unease about the ubiquitous sense of control -- evident even in the Games' extravagant Opening Ceremonies -- or the focus on security and stability. "People respect a strong central government," said Santana's husband, Rafael, who has traveled to China several times for business. "If Brazil had a stronger central government, we'd probably avoid a lot of anarchy, like robberies and people being kidnapped."

Santana, 36, said the Olympics are helping China better connect with other countries. "A lot of people who wouldn't come to China will consider it now," he predicted.

Janssens agreed that hosting the Olympics was good for the world and for China. "It does bring the country into the fold of the international community," he said.

Charles Benjamin Sutton, 23, from Salt Lake City, laughed with a friend as the two waited in a long line at the Badaling section of the Great Wall on Wednesday afternoon. Chinese paramilitary guards and police had just closed off a portion of the wall, without saying why, blocking a return path for thousands of hikers. The uniformed officials stood in silent lines, refusing to answer questions or let anyone past. Instead, they pointed everyone to the line Sutton and his friend were in, waiting for roller coaster-like cars to take them sliding down the hill, now the only way back to the main parking lot.

An Olympic theme song played in an incessant loop over loudspeakers mounted on light poles, which were also bristling with surveillance cameras. "Beijing welcomes you," the song begins.

But instead of singing along in Chinese, "Beijing huan ying ni," Sutton's friend mouthed, "Beijing's watching me" as he glanced up into a camera.

Sutton said that he was enjoying the Olympics but that some experiences in China had left him bewildered. On a group tour of the Ming Tombs, where 13 Ming Dynasty emperors are buried about 30 miles north of Beijing, his guide told the group that many of the relics had been destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, a decade of violent upheaval that ended in 1976 after the death of Communist China's founder, Mao Zedong.

"I asked her, 'How could someone burn their own history?' " Sutton said. "She became very uncomfortable. She told me I wouldn't understand. She didn't try to explain."

That unwillingness to dip into sensitive areas is starting to color Aaron Price's own behavior, he said as he and Rebecca left the NBC set. The couple had moved to Shanghai in April for Rebecca's job, and Aaron, something of a rule-breaker back in New Jersey, said he was now heeding advice his mother-in-law had given him before they left the States.

"She said, 'Aaron, if the Chinese police say no, listen,' " Price said. "I'm listening. I feel it. I don't even think about pushing things here."

Aaron Kissed by Meredith Vieira of The Today Show and More!

After we watched some of the NBC Today Show, we started chatting with a very nice woman who turned out to be Jill Drew, a Washington Post reporter who then interviewed us about our experience in China. Check out here work here:

Jill Drew, Washington Post

After, we headed over to the huge fountain near the water cube. We didn't know it, but that's where the Today Show was to end the broadcast for the week. Rebecca and I were playing in the fountain with the American flag when they came over and during the final minute of the show Meredith Vieira held part of the flag and hugged and kissed me! It was hilarious! All spontaneous! Then we ran through the fountain holding the flag above our heads. It was a lot of fun. From what I've found online our "AaroN ReBecca China" sign (made with "N B C") made it into the broadcast several times as well. Here is a clip of the big moment and some other fun pics:




NBC Today Show clip: Aaron kissed and hugged!





Us, our flag, and sign




Rebecca holding a silver medal of one of the water polo woman





US Woman's football good medalists at the Today Show studio




Aaron talking to Jill Drew of the Washington Post




Bec running through the fountain being taped by Anthony from NY, a Today Show cameraman for 30 years!

Re: Fridays Today Show

Aaron ran thru the water fountain with Meredith Viera and our American flag at the end of the show. She hugged and kissed him!!! Hilarious. :)

Sorry for over blogging.

Fridays Today Show

If you can, watch the Today Show this morning (the earlier the better: 7-8am). Aaron and I are waiting outside NBC studios on the Olympic Green. We are both wearing blue stripped shirts, and I have a red hat on. We have our American flag (full sized) taped to the fence (next to the Longhorn sign). We are standing right behind the newsdesk. Hopefully we'll be on!

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Olympics: From the Inside, a few quick thoughts....

Security: Surprisingly efficient and orderly (I say surprisingly because the previous experiences I've had with lines -- airports, getting into a basketball game, etc. there was no such thing as a line - just a mad push to the front). Queues were to show your tickets (which are extremely high-tech, each have an electronic chip inside), then you scan your ticket on a computer screen - and a camera takes your photo at the same tim e- and then the queue to go thru the medal detector. The staff had their English down pat, and all the spectators, foreign and Chinese nationals waited patiently (the whole process was about 10 minutes). The worst part of the whole thing was that we brought a few bottles of water, but they weren't allowed in. So Aaron and I chugged what we had before we got in. I thought...."I hope the toilets are nice!" (See below for follow-up)

Birdsnest: Ranks in the top 3 of the nicest, cleanest public bathrooms I've been in China. We're talking Western toilets (aka seat vs squat), toilet paper (vs BYO-TP), soap, paper towels, the works! Rather than my usual hold-til-i-burst routine, which leaves me feeling ok about the nastiness because I have to pee so badly, I took advantage of these facilities twice during our 3 hour Track and Field event.

Birdsnest: Surprisingly inexpensive. 2 bottles of water, 2 ice creams = $1.50

Birdnest: The seats are for tiny-tushies. Or maybe for a pre-school. Or maybe the average Asian ass. Either way, the seats were quite cozy for our American buns.

When you have a ticket to an event, you are allowed into the area of the Birdsnest and Watercube. The only thing for sale inside is food/beverages. And even still, there are not a ton of these vendors. You'd think there would be all sorts of vendors selling overpriced Olympic paraphernalia.

The Olympic paraphernalia is located in official Olympic stores all over Beijing. While ridiculously crowded (gotta sharpen your elbows to hang with the pushing), it is also surprisingly affordable. $15 for a cotton, polo with the Olympic logo.

Events: extremely high energy at the stadium. Whenever a Chinese athlete was long-jumping or javelin throwing, the crowd would explode. Also, sitting a few rows in front of us was Anna Goodale, US gold medalist for rowing (she was wearing her medal which was REALLY cool). She was completely mobbed by the Chinese. She seemed happy to soak up with papparazzi for a while, but stealthy escaped after about 15 min.

Water-Fountains: in the public space between the Birdsnest and the Watercube are big open water fountains that are choreographed to music. The fountains are not separated from the walking area so anybody can walk thru the water. It was quite a scene, from little kids stripped down to their skivvies, to parents wrapping their kids in raincoats to stay dry. It was a wonderful way to bring children together from all over the world, bonded by the giggles of the feeling of water spraying up their shorts!!

Olympics.... We've arrived

Our first pics from Beijing.... If you look closely, you can see the Olympic torch in the Birdsnest.

The entire area is fenced off. Only ticket holders can enter (our tickets begin tomorrow). Outside the fence, tons of people, like us, are walking around, admiring the buildings, and taking photos. There are a lot of Chinese guys trying to sell tickets.... We aren't sure if they are real or fake. Surprisingly, few official vendors... Just some random people selling tshirts and Chinese flags.

The buildings are as amazing in person as they appear on TV.

More to come. Tomorrow from the inside!!

By the way, I figured out how to post to the blog directly from my phone. Pretty cool!

The Mall at....

We're packing now to head to the Olympics tomorrow where Michael Phelps made history! Hopefully the 2nd week will bring more excitement for the USA!

In the meantime, you'll be pleased to know that even in Shanghai, we're really not too far from home. The other day we passed the annex to my hometown mall, conveniently located next to Macy's! They almost had me fooled until I realized there weren't dueling Hammacher Schlemmer and Brookstone stores, no shirtless male models standing in front of Abercrombie & Fitch, and no giant fountain to receive my good luck pennies. And, OBVIOUSLY, it's The Mall at Short Hills.

Go USA!

Taking a bird for a bike ride

After our trip to the US ("BTD" (blog-to-do)), I brought my rollerblades with me back to Shanghai. Yesterday, I rollerbladed around Shanghai for the first time. It was awesome, including the smog and 95 degree (35 celcius here) heat. First of all, I was like a mini-celebrity. Everyone of all ages starred at me. They're not really used to seeing a Westerner in the "bike lanes" (a term that only loosely defines the real function of the lane) and they're definitely not used to seeing anyone on rollerblades. Many people pulled up next to me on their bikes and scooters and smiled or said hello - some in English, some in Mandarin. I had a few friendly impromptu races with some of the bikers as well. I saw the city from a different perspective than from the backseat of Mr. Gu's car, or even walking around. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me because the highlight of the trip was seeing an older woman on her even older bike with an even older wooden bird cage WITH A BIRD IN IT! strapped to the front of her handlebars, like you would see a basket on the front of the bike in the US. By the way she was acting, I really don't think she was transporting the bird from store to home. I'm fairly certain she was taking the bird out for a ride. It would have made a great photo, but it will just have to live on in my imagination. Amidst the chaos of the buses and vegetable carts is a woman taking a pleasant afternoon bike ride with her bird! Sidenote: While you may think that your Grandfather's old dusty dirty clanky two-speed Schwinn is worthless, it's considered a prime jewel in China. When bikes go to die, they head to China. Bikes must think, "who needs botox when we've got China?" All of the the bikes here are filthy and look like they were just salvaged from a place with LOTS of spiderwebs. But, they are 100% functional and many people here ride 2-people (or more) to a bike, with someone sitting on the back rails, if female, often in a skirt. How they manage not to get their feet or clothing mangled into the gears or the spokes is source of constant amazement. They also don't sweat. I was absolutely soaked when I got home and these guys are biking around in suits, manage not to need those silly plastic ties that prevent your pant legs from getting greasy, and need only a dab of the brow to be ready for work. No wonder Johnson and Johnson needs Rebecca here - no baby powder is needed!

International Glasses City

After reading the New Yorker article entitle "Buy Shanghai," given to us by my father, I learned about the apparent prescription and sunglass market under the city's old train station. I told Mr. Gu of our interest in visiting and he said no such market existing under the old train station, but that he knew just where to take us. Twenty-five minutes later, nestled among what is known as "Old Shanghai," with prostitution, drugs, and small buildings seemingly held up by bubble gum, we arrived at a giant shopping center labeled "International Glasses City." Inside the building were literally hundreds, maybe thousands?!, of booths selling just about every style of glasses/sunglasses known to man. There must have been millions of pairs of glasses here. Run by Chinese with limited English-speaking skills, we hit upon a true Chinese gem, where most foreigners do not venture. We started on the first floor and made our way up to the fourth floor, each corridor overflowing with long glass display booths of frames. Mostly they were very good direct copies of known brands, but there are also many Chinese counterparts, like Lier & Vuidun for Louie Vuitton, Naike for Nike, and Kuci for Gucci. With names as conspicuous as that, it's a miracle our sleuth skills were able to connect the dots to the real names!

Eyesight must be horrible in Shanghai. Otherwise, I don't know how these vendors could possibly stay in business. It's as if we took all of the eyeglass centers for all of New Jersey and put them in one building. If they could just work together and scatter themselves all across the 18 millions residents of Shanghai, surely they would all do well. I recalled an economics lesson on why gas stations and hot dog stands often end up next to each other. Here, a Princeton article summarizes the game theory nicely:

"Town planners agree the gas stations should be placed at one-quarter and three-quarter mile marks, so that no one in town has to drive more than a quarter mile to fill up. And since residents are distributed evenly along Main Street, both stations would share exactly half the business in town. But try explaining that to the station owners. The owner who should build at the one-quarter mile mark knows people at his end of town will never go to the competing station because it's too far away. So he'd want to build closer to the center of town to dip into his competitor's mid-town market. Of course, the other owner is equally wily, and he, too, edges his station closer to the center of town. Game theory tells us — and an astute business sense dictates — that the two gas stations will both end up on the same corner in the exact center of Main Street. The equilibrium solution of the gas station game is clearly not the most efficient. While the stations still share half the town's business, people on the edge of town have to drive farther to get gas under equilibrium than under the town planners' solution."

Anyway, back to our L&V's. While Eden seems to get great pleasure from the look of my adult-sized glasses on her toddler-sized head, her playtime with my glasses has occasionally left them a bit mangled and not quite crystal clear. I'm aware of the consequences, but who could say no?! That, combined with my desire to keep my glasses case-free in my pants pocket or dangling from my shirt neck, makes for a short lifespan...not to mention when my airplane seat crushed them on it's way back to a full and upright position. While Rebecca only wears glasses to bed, we both decided it was time for an upgrade. Her 1992 style isn't cutting it any more. At each booth, once we each decided on a general style, the shop owner would keep bringing more and more of that type that you barely had enough time to try on a pair, before the next set was eagerly placed in front of you. They were all very helpful (quickly telling you when a style was no good "boo how," very good "hun how!," or the occasional "how," just okay) and patient, though I imagine that is a prerequisite in this type of business. In many cases, we just didn't like the selection and moved on, but usually with a parting smile. Half of the time the vendors were just excited to have an English speaking American in their booth and communication makes for funny exchanges (many times we would draw a large group of 3-5 people, all trying to help us), even though Mr. Gu came inside to help us with the translation. (His English is getting STRONG!) He also tried on some glasses and we decided he should be the next Chinese Harry Potter. His reaction, "No Chinese Harry Potter... Fat Chinese Harry Potter!"

After looking at glasses for over 5 hours, I left with two pairs. The first, a rimless set: extremely lightweight and their elastic Eden-proof hinge-free frames can be pulled and twisted in opposite directions and manage to spring back into their original state every time. The second, a kind of retro thick black frame: a good fashion addition to any wardrobe. Rebecca chose a very cool set of half-rimless glasses that she won't be so shy to wear out of the house. Once we decided on the frames, they took our old glasses and put them in a modern machine that read the prescription. When I expressed that my glasses might be a little dated, but that I didn't have my most recent prescription with me, the vendor opened what I thought was a closet door to reveal a hallway with an eye exam machine positioned exactly the right distance away from the eyechart taped to the wall. He checked my eyes and in fact, one eye needed .25 more than my old glasses, which is what I thought I remembered from my last eye exam in the US. Rebecca went through the same exam, though her prescription stayed the same. After some haggling, we agreed to about $30 for each set - frames and the best lenses they offered - and placed our order. No more than 30 minutes later they were ready. I don't know what brand we really ended up with, but I'll bet they are all from the same factory - Naike and Nike. Besides Rebecca's unfortunate experience with WC's that had been sitting unflushed since the Ming Dynasty, we'd recommend the International Glasses City to any visitor to Shanghai.

15 Guidelines For Chinese Tourists Traveling Abroad

Upon arrival in China, I immediately knew the Chinese were different from Westerners. After a few weeks, I learned that many of the Chinese have no idea that their habits are very different from other nations (like most of us, we think what we do is "normal.") And after a few months, I began wondering what it would be like for a Chinese person to visit a Western country and not know that their habits are so very different. So I had an idea, wouldn’t it be clever (and kind of funny) to write a list of tips for Chinese people should they ever travel abroad?

I ran this idea past a couple of colleagues who told me, not only is this a great idea, but someone has already beaten me to it. Who you ask? Who could have already thought that the Chinese might need a little travel advice? Well, none other than... THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT themselves!

About 2 years ago, in an article entitled, “The Uncivilized Behavior of Chinese Tourists Abroad Shocks the Upper Levels of Government," the Chinese Central Government's Civilization Bureau published 15 suggestions on how to improve the behavior of Chinese tourists venturing abroad. I’ve included the list below.

1. Do not spit in public
2. Do not litter in public places
3. Line up, don’t jump to the front of the queues at public venues
4. Do not take pictures when a sign says “no pictures”
5. Do not talk in loud voices
6. Do not polish your shoes with bed linens or the hotel towels
7. Do not smoke in non-smoking areas
8. Wear proper clothes
9. Do not strip down to your waist (for men) when it’s hot
10. Do not wear pajamas in supermarkets or on the street
11. Do not remove shoes and socks when walking around airport terminals
12. Men, observe the “ladies first” rule
13. Flush after using the toilet
14. Do not block other pedestrians by walking side by side by side on sidewalks
15. Do not force Westerners to pose for pictures

A few notes:
#1: Chinese people (mainly men) spit everywhere (both indoors (including on the floor of the J&J offices) and out).

#3: Lines don’t mean a thing here. People cut, people push, people crowd the front… if you want something, you’ve gotta get right in there: cut, push, and crowd right back. Its hard to feel comfortable with this at first, but I caught on surprisingly quickly.

#5: Oooooh man, the Chinese people can be so loud sometimes! Out of nowhere, it’s like a grenade dropping – BOOM!! Mr. Gu, are you angry? No, I just tell my wife that I be home for dinner at 7.

#9: Its summer now, so it’s hot. Very hot. Hot like I’m standing behind a running bus, hot. And when its hot, the men strip. Men are walking all around (indoors and out) with their shirts off, their shirts lifted up and around their shoulders, their shirts folded up. The women keep their clothes on, they just shadow themselves with umbrellas. Maybe the umbrella idea is too dainty for these men. But when I’m walking around the supermarket, I think I’d prefer for the men to try the umbrella idea and to put their shirt back on. On the plus side, however, not too much body hair on these men…

#10: I was told it is a sign of leisure to wear your pajamas. It indicates that you have a day off of work or that you are on vacation. So, typically on these days, you will see Chinese people, in all types of venues (shops, streets, etc.) wearing their pajamas. And I’m talking the big, patterned print, long pants/button up shirt pajamas.

#11: Seems like the whole take your shoes off through security and put them back on afterwards concept, hasn’t quite caught on here. When waiting for an airplane, it’s common for Chinese people to take off their shoes and socks. Why? I haven't found out the answer yet…

The rest, I think, are self-explanatory.

As for the order these are written in, I don’t know if they are prioritized. I sure hope not, because I think #13 should move a little closer to the top. But hey, that’s just one Westerner’s opinion.