The Leisers on a Lark

National Park: Shenandoah National Park

2011-10-20T14:06:00.000-07:00

So we decided to visit Northern Virginia and Charlottesville, VA over the Labor Day Weekend of 2011. It was a wonderful trip which involved seeing lots of family and friends. In addition to that, we took a visit to three of our National Parks that weekend: The Blue Ridge Parkway, Shenandoah National Park and Manassas Battlefield.

The Shenandoah National Park is a skinny park in western (not West by God) Virginia. It encompasses part of the Appalachian or Blue Ridge Mountains. The Skyline Drive is the most pronounced aspect of the park. This road is very popular during the fall for views of the beautiful autumn foliage. This being labor day, the park was very green and misty.

Big Meadows in Shenandoah National Park

The drive through the park from the North (in Front Royal) to the South (in Waynesboro) is about 100 miles and takes about 3 hours of straight driving. However, you will want to stop numerous times as we did. There have got to 40 or so overlooks with beautiful vistas of the valley and the surrounding landscape. We also had an opportunity to have lunch at Harry F. Byrd Visitor Center at the Big Meadows area which is a visitor center roughly halfway through the drive. The restaurant near Big Meadows which had some great fried chicken.

The AT

Another popular feature of the park is the Appalachian Trail which runs from Georgia to Maine. There are other hiking trails in the park, but the AT is the most famous. One of my favorite trails in Shenandoah National Park is Old Rag Mountain. There are a few technical spots to the Old Rag hike, but nothing that even a novice hiker couldn't handle. There are also some stunning waterfalls in the Shenandoah National Park and plenty of wildlife. We also had to stop about a half dozen times for white tail deer the road.

The great thing about Shenandoah National Park is that it is close to Charlottesville, VA which is "Grammy's" hometown. We made a point of meeting up at King Family Vineyards on our way back into town to take in the view and a couple glasses of wine.

Enjoying a game of "tag" at King Family Vineyards

National Park: The Blue Ridge Parkway

2011-10-16T11:17:00.000-07:00

The Blue Ridge Parkway is probably the one National Park that I have been to most frequently due to its proximity to where I went to college and where I used to work. While I was a field sales representative, and if the timing was right, I would get on the parkway in Central Virginia and drive back to Waynesboro on a Friday evening, it helped bring me back down to earth after a busy work week. This route may not have been the most direct route home at the end of the week, but it provided nice scenery, lacked traffic lights and traffic. Prior to that, there was also an annual pilgrimage for me and my UVa pals to Humpback Rock at the beginning of the year, and then the odd occasion throughout the year. By going to Humpback Rock, however, visitors are only “dipping their toe” into the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The park starts in Waynesboro, VA at the northern end and goes through Virginia’s Appalachian Mountains and well into North Carolina. I think it is the only US National Park that is specifically a road. The views are stunning, especially in the fall when the trees are a bright orange, yellow and red. The Appalachian Mountains (older than their Rocky Mountain brothers and sisters) have a mystical look about them in the morning when the fog is laying low over them.

View from Humpback Rock near the Blue Ridge Parkway

On this occasion, I only dipped by proverbial foot in and hiked Humpback Rock. It is an easy 20-30 minute hike and it very accessible from the I-64, so it can get crowded. The Visitor’s Center doesn't open until 9AM so folks start rolling in then, but the parkway and the trails themselves are open a lot earlier. There were a few early bird hikers and photographers out there that morning, but I had enough to find my little slice of solace that Labor Day Saturday.

After the quick hike it was back to Charlottesville for a fall football game at Scott Stadium. That evening, UVa Cavaliers trounced the William and Mary Tribe.

National Park: Manassas Battlefield (Virginia)

2011-09-25T20:39:00.000-07:00

Manassas or Bull Run? This was the question that we were asking ourselves as we drove down I-66 on Labor Day 2011. As it turns out, we learned, from a quick iphone query, many of the battlefields in the Civil War have two names. One name reflects how Northern or Union forces identified them, while the other name reflects out the Southern or Confederate forces identified them. In this case, probably the most famous of the 15 or so battles with two names: First Manassas is the Southern name, while First Bull Run is the Northern name. The Northern side often named battles for bodies of water or natural features. The Southern side most often used the name of the nearest town or man-made landmark. Here is a list of American Civil War battles with their Southern (S) and Northern (N) names:

First Manassas (S) and First Bull Run (N)
Oak Hills (S) and Wilson's Creek (N)
Leesburg (S) and Ball's Bluff (N)
Mill Springs (S) and Logan's Cross Roads (N)
Elkhorn Tavern (S) and Pea Ridge (N)
Shiloh (S) and Pittsburg Landing (N)
Seven Pines (S) and Fair Oaks (N)
Mechanicsville (S) and Battle of beaver Dam Creek (N)
Gaines's Mill (S) and Chickahominy River (N)
Second Manassas (S) and Second Bull Run (N)
Ox Hill (S) and Chantilly (N)
Boonsboro (S) and South Mountain (N)
Burkittsville (S) and Crampton's Gap (N)
Sharpsburg (S) and Antietam (N)
Perryville (S) and Chaplin Hills (N)
Murfeesboro (S) and Stones River (N)
Mansfield (S) and Sabine Cross Roads (N)
Winchester (S) and Opequon (N)

I don't know a lot about the Civil War, but I am fascinated by it. It is a relentlessly studied subject, and I recently learned at the Abraham Lincoln Library that President Lincoln lags only Jesus in terms of biographies written about him. I don't know if that is true or not, but it seems plausible. What I do know about the First Manassas (that is how the National Park Service refers to it) is that it was one of the first major land battles of the Civil War. While the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter in South Carolina a few months earlier, the shots fired here were in anticipation of a short battle with a quick Northern victory. I also remember reading somewhere that there were spectators that came from Washington, D.C. to watch the action thinking that there would be a quick Northern victory. What ultimately happened was that the Confederate side won the day, but suffered so many casualties they were unable to pursue the North into Washington, D.C. This battle is also commemorated for the fact that it was the first time in world history that soldiers were transported by train (on the Southern side).

"Stonewall" Jackson monument at First Manassas Battlefield with sleepy daughter, nephew and Moose.

I won't get into the technicalities or outflanking maneuvers here, there is plenty of that in animated movies at Civil War Trust. There are some important characters and some features of today's park that I wanted to call out. First and foremost, is Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, who earned his name here. "Stonewall" Jackson earned his name during First Manassas when Brig. Gen Barnard Elliott BE, Jr. said, "There is Jackson standing like a stone wall. Let us determine to die here, and we will conquer. Rally behind the Virginians!" There is some debate as to whether the statement was meant to be pejorative. While Jackson's brigade lost more men than any other that day, the were effective enough to hold off the Union. Jackson is considered to be the greatest military tactician in American history, and is also (in)famous for having been shot by his own men and having his left arm buried in Orange County, VA after the Battle of Chancellorsville. Stonewall Jackson is buried in Lexington, VA. His image and name are memorialized in numerous parks, monuments, schools and his visage is seen carved into Stone Mountain outside of Atlanta, GA.

Secondly, Henry House Hill figured prominently. The Henry family owned the farm on which much of the fighting of First Manassas took place. "Stonewall" and his men fought from positions on the Hill. There is a house on top of the hill in the park. This is where many of the Hill family is buried including the matriarch, ultimately killed during by a shell during the battle. The house has been refurbished and you can see the interior during your walk around the park.

Finally, the beautiful Stone Bridge features prominently in today's park. It markets the eastern entrance of the park. It was destroyed during First Manaassas. The bridge lay in ruins after the battle.

Later it was refurbished using the original design.

National Park: Brown vs the Board of Education of Topeka, KS

2011-09-08T13:38:00.000-07:00

Topeka, Kansas is the state capital and is home to over 100,000 residents. I made it to Topeka, Kansas on my Missouri/Kansas road trip in the spring of 2011. I spent a couple of hours at this National Historic site and the harrowing images from this time have stuck with me ever since.

The Civil Rights struggle is certainly one of the darkest moments in American history. During the early 20^th century, the “separate but equal” ruling of Plessy vs. Ferguson had legitimized the move toward racial segregation in many parts of the country. The Plessy vs. Ferguson case involved Homer Plessy boarding a train in the “white” section of a train car, he refused to move to the colored section, subsequently he was arrested and jailed. Mr. Plessy appealed his case to the Supreme Court, where they ruled that “separate but equal” was acceptable. The idea was that separation of citizens of different races and genders was legal as long as the facilities were of equal quality. This case took place in Louisiana, and many often think of this issue as a "Southern" issue, but this racial controversy existed elsewhere including the District of Columbia, Delaware and Kansas.

The Brown vs. Board of Education National Historic Site in Topeka, Kansas

In most instances (including public bathrooms, water fountains, cafes and most relevant public schools) the facilities were not of equal quality. In 1952, there were cases from Kansas, Delaware, Washington, D.C., South Carolina and Virginia which challenged segregation in public schools. The U.S. Supreme Court consolidated them into one case named after Oliver Brown in Topeka, KS. One of the most pivotal cases in U.S. History became formally known as Oliver Brown et al vs. The Board of Education of Topeka, KS et al. Because all the cases were consolidated under the one name, the Brown moniker has stuck in history. The case involved Oliver Brown’s daughter who had to walk six blocks and ride a bus over a mile to get to a segregated school while the white school was approximately seven blocks from her house. Oliver Brown decided to attempt to enroll his child in the white school, she was denied admission and directed towards the segregated school. Initially, the District Court found for the Board of Education based on the Plessy vs. Ferguson precedent, and the case was appealed all the way to the United States Supreme Court. Thurgood Marshall (later appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court) would take the case as the chief counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

The strategy of the NAACP was to point out things that were shortcomings of "Separate But Equal". In some cases the inequality was overt. African-American children were made to go to separate schools on a bus even if one were blocks away, the African-American schools may not have the same coursework or programs as the white schools. In other instances inequalities were subtle, renovations were delayed, cost/student disparities were present. Some instances of the "Separate But Equal" were just humiliating, like George McLaurin. Mr. McLaurin fought to get admitted into the University of Oklahoma because they offered coursework in public education administration which wasn't available at the segregated school, only to be humiliated by being made to sit in the corner of the room.

George W. McLaurin (!887-1968) was forced to sit in a separate classroom, library, cafeteria, and restroom areas while attending the University of Oklahoma.

The Brown vs the Board of Education museum itself is a renovated schoolhouse that was in use at the time. There are pictures of classrooms and school children throughout the museum that reflect the era. The main atrium at the center of the room has a series of educational films that walk young students through the Civil Rights movement through the eyes of a modern day teenager. There is another gallery where one can learn more about the people, places and events that shaped the years right before and after the decision. In this room is a passageway that may not be appropriate for young children as the language and some of the imagery is deplorable, but it gives one a sense of what vitriol existed at the time. This exhibit really stuck with me. There are other exhibits throughout the site that outline the legacy of Brown vs. Board of Education where the case is linked to the larger Civil Rights movement, and other struggles for equality like South African apartheid and the Polish Trade Union, Solidarity lead by Lech Wałęsa in the 1980's.

Here is a brief clip from PBS about the case with some background.

National Park: Independence Hall National Historic Site

2011-07-11T18:36:00.000-07:00

The concentration of downtown Philadelphia's historical sites are probably unmatched anywhere across the country. I was in Philly on a business trip with my boss. We had plans for an early dinner, but decided we would sneak in to see the Liberty Bell Exhibit before our reservation at Buddakan which was a few short blocks away. The exhibits, galleries and museums seem like private museums, and it is strange to think that you don't have to pay to enter any of these facilities (I guess it comes out of our taxes). There are a few movies or special exhibits that may require a modest fee, but I was able to walk right up to the Liberty Bell and get a the shot below in a manner of minutes.

The inscription reads in part,"PROCLAIM LIBERTY THROUGHOUT ALL THE LAND UNTO ALL THE INHABITANTS THEREOF". We only had a 20-30 minutes to take it all in, but one of the big takeaways (for me anyway) was that the Liberty Bell wasn't cracked during the announcement the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776. That appears to be a myth or legend that I picked up some time in elementary school. The bell was actually manufactured in the UK, and came over in the mid-18th century. The bell actually cracked over a period of time, but the bell hasn't been rung since February 23, 1846 which is George Washington's birthday. On this day, the bell received it's fatal crack. The NPS suggests that it cracked over a long period of time of continual use.

Independence Hall
This is the main attraction, I didn't get to see it. It is the reason I want to go back. Independence Hall is located in Chestnut Street between 5th and 6th street. It is probably one of the most important sites in US History. The building itself is not that grand, it isn't the White House or the U.S Capitol. There are other buildings of the time that are more spectacular. Furthermore, the building is dwarfed by the cityscape that has sprung up around it. It was here that both the United States Declaration of Independence and Constitution were designed, debated and signed.

Independence Visitors Center
This building could be a shopping mall as it is immense.The Independence Visitor Center is devoted to gift shops, movie theaters, special exhibits, orientation, walking tours, cafes and WIFI! I don't think it is part of the NPS, but it is adjacent to the other parks and is a magnificent area to get oriented to the sites of downtown Philly. I'll be back here too one of these days.

This is one site that I must come back to with my family so we can get the full experience and see all of the exhibits. There is just so much to see and do. In addition to the Independence Hall sites,there is the Deshler-Morris House, the Gloria Dei Church, the Edgar Allen Poe site and the Thaddeus Kosciuszko Memorial.

Glastonbury Fesitval of Contemporary Performing Arts: The Music, Part One

2011-07-06T12:34:00.000-07:00

This summer I ticked of a major "Bucket List" item by attending the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts in Somerset, England. My brother and his wife arranged for the the highly sought after tickets. They agreed to pick me up in Manchester, England. They also arranged for camping equipment for me. Logistically, they came through in a big way!

Glastonbury is probably the world's premiere contemporary music festival, and I have been wanting to go for over a decade. The festival has about a half dozen stages, and many more dance tents and smaller venues. The site is blocked off by an 8-9 mile perimeter fence and divided up into various areas or neighborhoods with themes. There is the Pyramid Stage (the Main Stage), the Other Stage (the secondary stage), the Avalon Stage, the John Peel Stage, etc.

Check out Radiohead's 1997 set at the festival that sold me on Glastonbury. Bands typically go all out by putting together a tight set that appeals to the masses (read greatest hits rather than new stuff they may be promoting). Couple that with fans as far as the eye can see, multiple stages, and an atmosphere of "collective togetherness" and it makes for a memorable weekend.

Here is the list of the bands that appeared on just the four biggest stages, there is no way one could see them all over the course of the Friday-Sunday festival.

Pyramid Stage

U2	Coldplay	Beyoncé
Morrissey	Elbow	Pendulum
Biffy Clyro	Paolo Nutini	Plan B
B.B. King	Tinie Tempah	Paul Simon
Wu-Tang Clan	Rumer	Laura Marling
Two Door Cinema Club	The Gaslight Anthem	Don McLean
Metronomy	Tame Impala	The Low Anthem
The Master Musicians of Joujouka	Stornoway	Fisherman's Friends

The Other Stage

Primal Scream	The Chemical Brothers	Queens of the Stone Age
Mumford & Sons	White Lies	Kaiser Chiefs
Fleet Foxes	Friendly Fires	Eels
Bright Eyes	Jimmy Eat World	TV on the Radio
The Wombats	The Kills	Bombay Bicycle Club
The Vaccines	Jessie J	Noisettes
The Naked & Famous	Twilight Singers	Cold War Kids
Brother	Treetop Flyers	Clare Maguire
Chipmunk	Alice Gold	Dan Mangan

West Holts Stage

Cee Lo Green	Big Boi	Kool & The Gang
Chase and Status	Janelle Monáe	Hercules and Love Affair
Dr Jimmy Cliff	Aloe Blacc	The Go! Team
Heliocentrics with Mulatu	Fool's Gold	Duane Eddy
Little Dragon	Omar Souleyman	Bellowhead
Ghostpoet	The Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble	Jah Wobble & the Nippon Dub Ensemble
Dengue Fever	Nicolas Jaar LIVE	Jamie Woon
Ziriguidum	Narasirato	Hidden Orchestra
	London Afrobeat Collective

The John Peel Stage

DJ Shadow	Glasvegas	The Streets
Example	Battles	Robyn
The Coral	Noah and the Whale	Hurts
I Am Kloot	The Horrors	The Vaccines
Darwin Deez	Warpaint	Everything Everything
Cage the Elephant	Anna Calvi	OK Go
Miles Kane	Dry the River	The Joy Formidable
Mona	Yuck	Foster the People
Stonefield	Fight Like Apes	Raghu Dixit
Cocoon	Brave Yesterday	My Tiger My Timing

One the first day, I was focused on seeing U2 so I hung out at the Pyramid Stage all afternoon and into the evening. U2 has never headlined Glastonbury. They were supposed to headline last year, but Bono hurt his back. They flew in from touring North America on their 360 tour. I saw this tour 3 times in 2009. I am a big fan. True to form, U2 played an awesome set, although I can't stand that "Get On Your Boots" song even with it mixed up. I had never heard them play "Bad" live and was thrilled to see that one performed. It has been 20 years since Achtung Baby came out, and so I think there was a bit of an homage by playing the first five songs from that album and opening with "Even Better than the Real Thing".

This is the setlist for U2's appearance on Friday. I found some clips on youtube that are decent quality from the TV feed.
Even Better than the Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways, Until the End of the World, One, Where the Streets Have No Name, I Will Follow, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Stay, Beautiful Day, Elevation, Get on Your Boots, Vertigo, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Bad, Pride (In the Name of Love), Encore: With or Without You, Moment of Surrender, Out of Control

It was a spectacular success. Bono sang a few snippets from "She Loves You", "Jerusalem", "Never Tear Us Apart", and "Moving On Up".

This is a video of Even Better Than the Real Thing opener and the third song, Mysterious Ways.. They crushed it. The video is of poor quality because I was a sardine in a sea of people, but you get the idea of my proximity to the band, security fence, guards, etc. I could feel the bass shaking my body from the sound system (that's Larry Mullen, Jr.'s drums just thundering down and vibrating the Flip Camera).

Even Better than the Real Thing

Mysterious Ways

Primal Scream
The only downside of the performance was that this set coincided exactly with Primal Scream's set on the Other Stage. I am bummed I missed them, but I did get to see them at the 9:30 club in Washington, D.C. about 10 years ago. Movin' on Up is one of their songs that I like as performed at Glastonbury.

Morrissey

Morrissey was another highlight for me. I am not as familiar with his solo stuff, but The Smiths frontman performed quite a few of songs from his group's catalog. I have included a few of them here. I haven't bought into the whole "mserable" thing that Morissey is known for, but one can't escape it given some of his lyrics. He also moped a bit about stage, indicating that most of the fans were there to see U2 instead of him. He also took some time to point out a political issue about circus animals being banned in the UK ahead of "Meat is Murder". It was a good set, with a very well rehearsed band. The band members were brought in from various cities around the globe.

First Of The Gang To Die,

Shoplifters Of The World Unite,

There Is A Light That Never Goes Out,

Meat Is Murder,

This Charming Man

Orlando, Epcot Center and Downtown Disney

2011-06-20T19:13:00.000-07:00

Spaceship Earth at Epcot Center

We had a great opportunity this past week, Kate had a business trip that took her to Orlando to meet with many of her global counterparts. I stayed in Indy and worked as a Mr. Mom for part of the week. Everything went smoothly as Mr. Mom, so I relished in the opportunity to join Kate on Thursday evening for a 3 day weekend in sunny (and extremely hot Orlando).

We stayed at the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek at a reduced rate because Kate's company had rented out the entire place, and we were able to get our hands on a free ticket to Epcot (after 4pm) thanks to some work connections. Epcot Center is probably the most "grown up" of the Disney parks which isn't saying much...

There are *some* educational opportunities here. There are areas of the park dedicated to "Using your Imagination", an aquarium that also has a "Finding Nemo" ride. One of the highlights of the trip was going into the "Spaceship Earth". Which was a curious tour back into history, and into the future. Towards the end of the ride, our console asked us a few questions, and it gave us our future. Space ship earth is probably the most iconic of all Epcot's attractions.

This wasn't the first time that I had been to Epcot Center. I went once when I was a teenager, and distinct memory that I have is the "dancing fountains" at Epcot. My brother and I thought we were so cool because we figured out that if you stand in the right spot at the right time, you get soaked with gloriously refreshing water in a steamy Florida day. During this 2011 trip, there was a pair of boys doing the exact same thing as we did then. Of course it is easier now when I am 6 feet tall!

We had dinner in "Morocco" with a belly dancer, and yes the 3D Michael Jackson flick, Captain Eo, is still playing to enraptured audiences every 30 minutes.

I'll also mention customer service on this trip. Disney has prided itself on making visitor's experience memorable, and they certainly delivered. Mears Transportation, the service that took us from the hotel to Epcot also came through in a big way. In our excitement to get into the park, I left our diaper bag and camera on the bus. They sent a "rover" out to meet the bus, and returned the diaper bag. We hardly lost any time at all and recovered some important belongings (namely diapers and a camera).

National Park: Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

2011-05-30T20:05:00.000-07:00

A quick visit to Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore was all that was needed to check off the 3rd and final park in Indiana. The other two on the Indiana list were George Rogers Clark National Historic Site and the Abraham Lincoln Boyhood Home. We visited Indiana National Dunes on the way back to Indy from Chicago in early April. We had gone to Chicago for the Robert Plant concert and to see some friends do a road race. As it turns out, said friends had gotten engaged at the Dunes so we decided we must go to check out this park on the way home. Not only was this a National Park, it held sentimental value to our speedy pals. On their suggestion we decided to stick with a quick hike up Mount Baldy, the exact location of his proposal.

The trip to the park was a relatively short one, it is about 45-60 minutes outside of Chicago, and I was a bit confused at first because there is a state park that abuts (or if one gets particular about it, enclosed by) the national park. There are also steel mills dotting the highway leading to the entrance, there is a very large railroad running along the highway that leads to the park. One of the biggest companies in the world, Arcelor Mittal has a mill near the park. It seems so strange that the park is so close to this much industry. However, once you get past the steel mills and enter the park, you might as well be days from Chicago. There are about 15 miles of shoreline along Lake Michigan, with some really impressive beaches. It was too cold to go swimming that day, but it would have been refreshing on this Memorial Day 2011 (the day I write this we topped 90 degrees in Indy). The view of the water at Indiana Dunes was gorgeous! Who knew this existed in the Midwest?

Mount Baldy is probably the most popular part of the park. A short 10 minute hike gets you to the top, the dune stands about 126 feet tall, and it moves over time with the weather. The day we went was clear albeit a little windy, but the view of the water was stunning. There was a big downside though, it was right next to a power plant that looked so industrial next to this natural beauty. The drop off from the dune into the water was just majestic, but you look over to the East and there is this massive power plant tower. I decided not to take pictures of that because I didn't want to be reminded of it later.

In this park there is lots of stuff to do (and the state park is here as well). You can walk along the beach, hike many trails, hike up Mount Baldy, go camping or canoeing, there are also important ecological tours that you can take with a park guide.

All told, we were probably in the park for about 90 minutes. We had to get back to Indy as you lose an hour on that drive, so we could only make a quick trip the park's visitor's center. I found an enchanting exhibit there on some of the artwork/advertising that was used to attract Chicagoans to the Dunes during the early 20th century.

The gallery of prints promoted the train from Chicago to the state park at the Dunes.

I remember seeing 1930s in one of the posters. I find old advertising fascinating, particularly these.

I know they have been available for years, but looking at them now it is as if they were taken from a time capsule or something.

The National Park Blanket

2011-05-16T20:06:00.000-07:00

When we visit one of our National Parks, we pick up a patch to help commemorate the occasion. When I get a bulk of them collected, I take them down to Lee's Tailoring in on the Northside of Indianapolis, and ask him to apply the new patches.

Here is the family's National Park Blanket on May 16, 2011

This is a small project for Lee as he is often doing suits and tuxedos as well as other more traditional alterations, but he agrees to put on the patches with a smile (and a fee, of course).

Our daughter already likes to look at the different patches.

The more places we go, the more patches we will have. The hope is that the blanket is fully covered one day with patches from all the parks and historical sites in the US. It probably won't happen until we retire or hit the lottery, but it is a fun little collection that we'll have together with our daughter.

Our daughter has been to many of the nations parks with us, but I have done many on my own.

During my recent to trip Missouri, I was able to check off all the parks and sites in that state. I have also been to all of the parks in Indiana. We have only scratched the surface in Virginia, North Carolina, New York, and Washington, D.C.

Each patch has an interesting personal and (of course) historical story.

Business travel has only helped me check a few off the list on one occasion. I may get to one park in Philly on a business trip.

Her favorite thus far was the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Her least favorite thus far has been Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. The tour started just around nap time, so we'll write that one off.

National Park: Wilson's Creek National Battlefield

2011-05-15T18:43:00.000-07:00

The National Park dedicated to the Civil War Battle called Wilson's Creek is located in Republic, Missouri. The Battle of Wilson's Creek took place on August 10, 1861. It is one of the major battles of the Civil War to have taken place west of the Mississippi River.This battle was a victory for the Confederates, but they were unable to take advantage of the win due to disorganization. The Confederate forces were unable advance as far as they could have, but the battle did give the Confederates control of Southwestern Missouri. The Union maintained control of the state.

The Missouri Compromise was passed in 1820 that allowed the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the US to agree on the "legality" of slavery in the area of the Louisiana Territory. The compromise prevented slavery north of the parallel 36°30' north in the Louisiana Territory with the exception of Missouri.

Map of the USA during the Civil War highlighting the Missouri Compromise

The Civil War Trust has spectacular maps and animations about major battles in the Civil War. Wilson's Creek Battlefield in Southern Missouri was a fascinating Civil War battle for many reasons. For someone like myself who grew up in the Southeastern United States, I didn't recall learning much about the battlefields west of the Mississippi River. Missouri is the state with the 4th most Civil War battles. This battle took place about 10 miles southwest of Springfield, Missouri. When the Civil War began in 1861, most Missourians wished to remain neutral, but the federal government though that Missouri's allegiance to the union would be vital. The Governor of Missouri had Confederate sympathies, so Missouri was a hodge-podge of divided sentiment.

Governor Jackson and Union General Lyon had a couple of skirmishes between their respective forces, and the Union General chased off the Governor and his state militia to Southwestern Missouri. The General Lyon installed a pro-Union state government and then went after the state militia in Southwestern Missouri.

Confederate General Benjamin McCulloch came north to reinforce the state militia. Both the Union and Confederate armies planned surprise attacks on August 9, but McCulloch cancelled his attack on account of the weather. The Confederates were able to hold off the surprise attack and then overwhelmed the union's flanking maneuver on a place called Bloody Hill.

Benjamin McCulloch commanded Confederate forces at Wilson's Creek

Union General Nathaniel Lyon was the first Union General to be killed in the American Civil War. General Lyon was a staunch abolitionist. This was controversial in Missouri at the time, his troops were involved in the Camp Jackson Affair which was the slaughter of almost 30 civilians who were anti-union. Lyon helped prevent Missouri from seceding from the union. The quote, "It is no longer useful to appeal to reason, but to the sword." is attributed to him and is in reference to the Southern cause.

Nathanial Lyon was the first Union General to be killed in the American Civil War on August 10, 1861.

While the Confederates may have won the day (only slightly), they were unable to take advantage and Missouri stayed under control of the Union.

Missouri National Park Route

2011-05-15T17:04:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend of April 29th - May 1, 2011, I had the opportunity to take a road trip. My wife and daughter went on buisiness trip together and stayed in Western NY through the weekend. I saw this as an opportunity to head out to Missouri and visit all of the national parks in that state, and a couple in Kansas as well. I am glad that our trusty Subaru Outback was up to the challenge. I easily spent 24 hours (not continuous of course) in the car, but I accomplished what I had set out to do. I saw 8 national parks in total, 6 in Missouri and 2 in Kansas.This is the route I took over the weekend, during this time I had learned a great deal about the history of the two states, and some interesting tidbits for folks that ever travel to the area.

Pittsburg State Gorillas: in Kansas has to be one of the coolest mascots of which I have ever heard.
Pappy's Smokehouse in St. Louis, MO has some of the best BBQ ribs I have ever tasted, it is a bummer they don't serve beer there.
Rheineland in Independence, MO is a quaint little German restaurant near the Harry Truman Historical area. It has a delicious sandwich on the menu call the Bavarian Loafer that is just awesome.
Cafe Ventana is located near St. Louis University, and is a New Orleans style bistro with great eye-opening coffee and beignets. Great way to start the day.
Harry's Cafe in Pittsburg, KS has great biscuits and gravy (not better than the stuff you get in NC though)
Jim's Steakhouse in Pittsburg, KS was hopping at 5pm, with families having dinner. They serve a pretty tasty NY strip.

The drive at the end of the trip was a long one. From Harry S. Truman's door to my door was about 7 hours of driving. You add the time difference from Central to Eastern and it is an 8 hour trip. I also enjoyed crossing the Mississippi River twice in this trip. The river was experiencing a high level of rain and was to crest later in the week at about 48 ft.

It was a wonderful trip, I learned a great deal. I just wish I had a bit more time to see the sights in The Ozarks and I didn't get to see the Harry S. Truman Library which was a regret. Next time I am in Kansas City, I will be sure to pop in to see this Presidential Library.

National Park: The Ozark National Scenic Riverways

2011-04-30T19:23:00.000-07:00

The Ozark National Scenic Riverway is located in Southwestern Missouri. It encompasses Mark Twain's National Forest (managed not by the Department of the Interior but by the Department of Agriculture) as well as a number of scenic trailways. There isn't just one site, or just one geographic feature of this park, but many. It would take days if not weeks to explore. I didn't have that kind of time today, so I just chose a couple of sites to check out and went on my way. There had been some flooding in the area, so I could not get to the Alley Mill without taking a long detour. The Alley Mill is the site that is probably the most photographed of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. The Alley Mill is a working mill that uses a turbine instead of a water wheel and rollers instead of a grinding stone. I was bummed that I didn't get to see this structure which was built in the late 1800s. To the folks who lived in the area the mill was an important community center. It served a dual purpose of grinding wheat (as one would expect) but also as a community meeting place. While times have changed, many people return to this spot today for reunions, camping, and other activities.


The Alley Mill was built in the late 1800s.

Much of the water in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways travels underground, and spews forth through springs in the ground. I was able to see two of the water sites. The first was the Big Springs. The road was blocked off to some recent flooding, so I walked down the road a bit, and gained access across the water damaged bridge. The water had to have been a good 10-15 feet higher than it was today (and it was still high). The Big Spring is one of the world's largest springs. It generates over 275 million gallons a day of water from the ground.

Big Spring near Van Buren, MO is one of the worlds largest springs.

The second water site was Rocky Falls near Winona, MO. The falls here are postcard picturesque. There is always something soothing about waterfalls. On this particular day, because there had been so much flooding, there was a lot of white water. Had it been warmer, I might have taken a dip.

Rocky Falls near Winona, MO

Overall this park doesn't have as much history as some of the other parks that I have been to, but it is well maintained and supports lots of recreation. I would love to go canoeing down here when my daughter gets a bit older.

National Park: Ulysses S. Grant's White Haven Home

2011-04-30T18:15:00.000-07:00

The site is in suburban St. Louis, Missouri

Ulyssess S. Grant was the 18th president of the United States, while he did serve two terms as president and tried for a third, some of his presidency may have been plagued by a scandal called the Whiskey Ring. This may have made his term a little less remarkable. I think he is more memorable as the Union General during the American Civil War. He was a West Point graduate, and fought in the Mexican-American War. But then, he kind of lost his way until the Civil War started. Before the Civil War started, he spent much of his time at a Fort in St. Louis, he met his wife, Julia Dent, at her father's house in White Haven near downtown St. Louis.

White Haven is his wife's family's property. As houses go, it is not that grand or that big. There is a substantial amount of land. The site is in the middle of suburban St. Louis and a bike path runs along it's entrance. The visitor's center has a nice film, and you can take a tour of the house itself. Because of the size, and lack of furnishings, the house is a quick tour. There are multi-media presentations there outlining St. Louis and Missouri's role in the American Civil war.

As presidential homes go, this one was rather modest in size.

Being a border state in the Western Frontier presented some inner strife in Missouri, with a lot of individuals pro-union and others pro-slave. I think the official stance at the beginning of the war was neutral, but the Governor of Missouri had Southern sympathies. This was no different in Ulysses' own family. He was born and raised in Ohio, which was a free-state and his father was against slavery. This institution was not embedded in Ulysses character. His wife, Julia, was raised in a slave state (but still neutral during the beginning of the war), and was taught that whites could own slaves, this was a proper relationship. So when Ulysses Grant moved to his wife's family farm, he actually "owned" slaves through his father-in-law. He would work along side them during the day, and debate his father-in-law at night about this institution. When the Civil War broke out, Julia's own brothers fought for different sides of the war. You can see this conflict up close in some of the multi-media presentations at the house. Ulysses moved up the ranks on the Union side when the wore broke out, and was the General that ultimately received the surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House, VA.

Ulysses S. Grant appears on the $50 bill.

When Ulysses S. Grant was president, and after his term was complete he did not spend much time at White Haven. He moved to New York to be close to his children. He also took a round the world trip that kept him from visiting Missouri for 2 years. The park is quaint, but not far from a lot of commercialization on nearby Gravois Street. The traffic (late on a Friday afternoon) was awful.

There are several national monuments dedicated to Grant. These include a statue of him and his horse on the National Mall and his tomb on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York.

National Park: Abraham Lincoln Boyhood Home

2011-03-10T17:26:00.000-08:00

To my knowledge, there are 5 major National Parks dedicated to Abraham Lincoln. These 5 sites are his birthplace near Hodgenville, Kentucky, his boyhood home in Lincoln City, Indiana, the adult Lincoln home in Springfield, Illinois, the assassination site at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C and the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. There are also numerous battlefields over which he played an important role, most significantly Gettysburg, PA.

In early 2011, there was a poll suggesting that Ronald Reagan was America’s greatest president. This was probably heavily biased because the poll was taken around Dutch’s birthday and the number of respondents who took the poll were probably alive when Ronald Reagan was president therefore skewing the results. Abraham Lincoln was number 2 in this poll (Clinton was 3^rd, Obama and Bush II were both ahead of Jefferson which is shocking to me as a UVa graduate, but I digress). Over time, most polls I have seen have put Lincoln near the top. When you take out party affiliation, and survey independents you can see that Lincoln comes out on top.

This blog isn’t going to get into historical details, but in my view, when America was just a “teenager” Lincoln was the adult that held it together through her tantrums. Because he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth shortly after the Civil War officially ended, he was not around to see the US survive, rebuild and prosper into the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. It is safe to say that Lincoln had outlined the principles for this to happen. Many have often wondered what brought Lincoln into this position of steadiness and discipline. There are hundreds of Lincoln biographies and articles, but one must start with his childhood and upbringing to help understand from whence this man came. This is why I think that most students of Lincoln should bypass the Lincoln Memorial and the Ford’s Theater for insight into the man, I suggest visiting the sites dedicated to the man’s life.

Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky and came to Washington, D.C. as a politician from Illinois. However, (as the state of Indiana claims, confirmed by the NPS), Lincoln spent much of his formative years in Southern Indiana. About an hour’s drive from Vincennes (and the George Rogers Clark National Historic Site) lies the memorial to Abraham Lincoln’s boyhood home. The memorial is near a town called Gentryville, IN and is in the middle of nowhere. In fact, because there are not any municipalities nearby, I assume they just made its name up, Lincoln City, Indiana, for the purposes of the memorial. One can only imagine what this area would have been like without the interstate and state route nearby. It is the 21^st century and this still seems like “the frontier”.

The park has a remarkable visitors center with extremely friendly guides. There is a 15 minute film to help get oriented to the Lincoln family tree. Lincoln’s father, Thomas, moved to Southern Indiana because of land disputes in Kentucky. In Indiana, he was able to get a plot of land on which to farm AND because Thomas Lincoln was opposed to slavery, he preferred farming in Indiana where slavery was illegal. The area is wooded, with lots of wild animals (at the time, not now as far as I can see). This is not the original house, but a remake:

I never knew that Lincoln’s mother died of milk sickness when he was a young boy. Milk sickness was a common ailment at the time from when cows ate snakeroot. If one consumed the milk of such a cow, it could be fatal. Her gravesite is marked with a tombstone in the park.

Thomas Lincoln remarried a widow from Kentucky brought into the family children of her own. Her name was Sarah Bush Lincoln. During his teen years, was when his thirst for knowledge was fostered by books that she had provided him and education he received in a school nearby. When Lincoln was not working on the farm, he was reading or doing whatever he could to further his knowledge. He gained a job as a surveyor and did some work transporting goods down the river to New Orleans where he first saw slaves, this obviously made an impression on him, and impact his actions in later years.

When Lincoln was 21, his father moved the family yet again to Illinois where Abraham Lincoln would spend the next 30 years. Due to his legacy here, this plot of land became a memorial upon Lincoln’s assassination in 1865. The stones marking the actual cabin for the Lincoln family were bronzed for preservation.

There is an extremely tall (120 ft to be exact) flag pole near the visitor's center.

National Park: George Rogers Clark National Historic Site

2011-03-01T19:32:00.000-08:00

There is an understated (and seemingly infrequently visited) National Memorial in Vincennes, IN. This town is in Southwest Indiana near the Illinois border, and the National Historic site was dedicated by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1936 to the honor of Col. George Rogers Clark. Without George Rogers Clark, the United States would probably not have claimed America's Northwestern Frontier from the British during the Revolutionary War. This geographic area includes what is now the states of Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin. Col. Clark is best celebrated for his role in leading a rag tag and weary group of troops at a reclaimed British Fort called Sackville.

Col. George Rogers Clark is the brother of William Clark (of Lewis and Clark fame) and had an illustrious military career in his own right, but he is most celebrated for this capture of Fort Sackville and British Lt. Governor Henry Hamilton in 1779. Capturing Fort Sackville certainly was an impressive feat, but the manner in which he (and his men) did it was remarkable. The men marched through blistering cold and some icy Midwestern floodplains to fight the British, and make them surrender the fort. This effort essentially doubled the size of the United States in the coming years.

The memorial is much larger than it appears at a distance, and it is positioned just along the Wabash River. The site of the monument is thought to be placed roughly in the same location as Fort Sackville. There is a 30 minute movie in the visitor's center and some artifacts like maps to look over. Inside the dome, there is a large statue of Col. Clark, and Ezra Winter painted several murals that tell the story of the frontier. You can listen to an audio describing each mural.

I came to Vincennes, IN on a cloudy Saturday in November. The town is very quaint with a cute downtown of mom and pop shops. This is also the land of Lincoln with a scenic route dedicated to one of the USA's Greatest Presidents cutting right through downtown. You can cross over into Illinois (the land of Lincoln) as pedestrian over the Lincoln Memorial Bridge which was built in the same aesthetic as the Clark Memorial.

National Park: Hawai'i Volcanoes

2011-03-01T18:51:00.000-08:00

In October of 2010, we traveled to see my sister compete in the IronMan World Championships in Kona, HI on the Big Island of Hawaii. While the primary reason for our trip was to see my wee sister in action, we made some time at the end of our stay to visit the Volcanoes National Park. The National Park is on the southeast side of the island, and is about a 2 hour leisurely drive from Kona, HI. The park is amazing, and has piqued my renewed interest in America's National Parks, Sites, Monuments and Battlefields.

In addition to being a national park, Volcanoes National Park is World Heritage site (1987) and is "living" proof of 70 million years of mother nature's activity. While I won't get into the science of it all (that's too complex for this blog, and I don't claim to understand it all), the volcano creates new land each day. It is thrilling to see land created as it is cooled by the water.

Lava hitting the ocean

Years and years of this activity has yielded extensive lava fields and recent vegetation. There are wonderful trails around numerous volcanic craters. On the days and evenings we visited, Kilauea Crater was exhibiting some activity with gas pouring out of the crater. The park service had shut down the roads to the north of the park as the winds were driving in that direction and the gas can be harmful if consumed (especially the kiddos). As a result, we were unable to drive around the large crater, only scope it out from observatory. In the evenings, we could clearly see a red-orange glow from the bubbling lava.

The Kilauea Crater

The park's visitor center and observatory are well maintained, with sufficient staff for the busy"pop-in, pop-out" tourists that come, want to see some lava and then leave. The park staff keeps a fairly up to date diary of the volcano and lava activity. I learned a great deal about volcanoes while at the observatory, and there was one thing that I found completely fascinating. I always thought that active volcanoes erupted with lava coming out of the top of a mountain, but I learned that pressure can also be released underground. Underneath the volcano the lava can travel through tunnels called lava tubes. One of the most famous lava tubes is the Thurston Lava Tube. The lava tube was discovered in 1913 by Lorrin Thurston, a local newspaper publisher. You can walk through the Thurston lava tube within the park, one just has to imagine that it was created by liquid rock many years ago.

The Thurston Lava Tube

We stayed at a wonderful lodge called the Kilauea Lodge. This quaint B&B is about as close to the park without actually being in it. Here is picture of the fam near the Volcanoes National Park visitor's center with the Kilauea Crater in the background.

Graeme, Kate and Maisie in October of 2010

I was able to get a nice view of the lava hitting the ocean taken from the helicopter ride I took with Blue Hawaiian Helicopter tours. I got to do this since Kate got to do a massage, fair trade as far as I am concerned :-).

UPDATE March 7, 2011: I updated this post with some amazing video of lava activity in the park from CNN.

Brotas Hike

2009-03-18T13:43:00.000-07:00

The first day we were in Brotas, Kate and I doubled up on outdoor adventures. We went on a hike near a dam in Brotas. The dam had gone underutilized over the years, but a new focus on all things energy independence has started new focus on the dam and we saw how water funneled from the dam was creating hydroelectric power for Brotas and some other towns in the area.

Our hike involved walking along the river bank taking in the flora (very little fauna apart from mosquitos and a few frogs), but we did make 3 stops in the river where there were waterfalls. The waterfalls were all at least 30-50 meters wide with varying heights. We took some pictures, and of course went swimming at the bottom of the falls to cool off.

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

2009-03-11T16:19:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine suggested I check out this Brazilian musician and here is the first clip I found on youtube. Perhaps you can listen in the background. I arrived by myself in Rio De Janeiro on tuesday afternoon. The vibe is much different from Sao Paulo.

The taxi driver took me directly to Augustos Copacabana on Rua Bolivar in Copacabana. This was about a 35 minute drive in mid-afternoon. We didn't drive through the famous flavelas but you could see them from the highways. The first things you notice are these large rounded mounds or hills jutting up from the landscape and the houses built right into the hillside. Once you get a little closer to Copacabana you can see the Cristo Redentor which is Rio's iconic landmark and one of the new seven wonders of the world. This labeling puts it on par with Beijing's Great Wall, Agra's Taj Mahal and The Coliseum in Rome.

Rio is a large city set in what can only be described as one of the idyllic geographic settings on earth. From Arpoador Beach you look one direction and you see the white sandy beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema. Look another direction and you see the beautiful hills of Tijuca National Forest, Corcovado and Sugarloaf Mountain (captured spectacularly well in this link from the in the film Moonraker).

There is so much to write about RDJ that I plan to write several posts on it this is because of so much to see and do there. It truly is a Marvelous City.

Maracana

2009-03-11T16:17:00.000-07:00

OK, I don't know why the post card is a mirror image, but it is a picture of what was once the largest stadium in the world. The Maracana is the stadium in Rio De Janiero that once hosted 184,000 for two separate concerts in 1988. One was for Tina Turner the other was Paul McCartney. Supposedly there were 210,000 fans in attendance for a soccer match in 1950 between Brazil and Uruguay.

Things are different now, the bleachers are now seats which reduces the number of fans that can squeeze into The Maracana. The actual capacity is now "just" 90,000. The stadium hosts mainly football matches now, but also the occasional concert if it is someone big.

On Wednesday the 11th of March, I went to see a match (arranged through my hotel due to safety concerns). The teams were Fluminense (one of Rio's famous teams) and a smaller team named Volta Redonda. Flumninse is like the NY Yankees in Rio. They have a huge following and a storied history. They are sponsored by Unimed which is a Brazilian Health insurance provider. Three other teams besides Fluminense use the stadium, and you must choose a side, Flamengo, Botafogo or Vasco da Gama. Their strips (uniforms) can be seen throughout the city, taxi drivers have ornaments representing the team that they support, and the flags of the teams wave high along the beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema.

I purchased a $45 ticket through my hotel. This price included a personal driver to take me to and from the stadium and some of the best seats in the house. I was told to be careful on numerous occasions on going to football matches in RDJ and SP. There was not an issue on this night as the match was not well attended. This particular match was between one of Rio's big teams and one of its smaller teams, Fluminense won a well deserved 2-1. There were probably only 15,000 people (if that) in the entire place.

There is a football museum there, which unfortunately I did not get a chance to visit because of other adventures. It houses the pictures of the World Cup teams and you can tour the locker rooms supposedly. Seeing a soccer match was quite an exciting experience.

Brotas Obstacle Course

2009-03-11T15:55:00.000-07:00

After bone chilling temperatures in NY (I had moments this week when I was walking to school and I thought my face was going to fall off…), I’m anxiously awaiting Brazil’s warm weather. So much that I wore my flip flops to the airport. While for many people getting to the airport is not a major ideal (and therefore wearing flip flops is not a big deal..), for cash-strapped Bronxvillians it’s an adventure. Our trip to JFK required a calling a car to get to the train station to get us to midtown so we could hop on a bus to JFK. Total travel time = 2 hours 20 mins.

Our third and last day in Brotas involved an aerial obstacle course with Alaya outfitters. It involved each of us having a carabiner, pulleys, 30 meters of heights and zip lines. It was quite a work out as you can see and it seemed like we were on some sort of "Reality Fear Factor Rules" show. I will let the pictures speak for themselves and I have also included a video of our guide, Daniel, doing the all challenges in under 4 minutes. It is important to note, he could probably do it a lot faster, but of course he was following all the appropriate safety precautions. He reminds me of Spiderman going through these challenges. Catch the video here.
Graeme is much better at recording our travel memories than me (note: one of my only China/Thailand blog entries focused on massages, not one of the many worldly sights we saw…)

Brotas Day 2 - "You will be educated!"

2009-03-09T04:25:00.000-07:00

We started the day with quick breakfast at Pousada do Lago. We made the quick trip to the downtown area of Brotas and were received by the the receptionist at Alaya adventure outfiters. Kate's classmate, Diego, recommended Alaya as the most comprehensive and accessible outfitter in all of Brotas. Our first excursion was white water rafting. The guide Ana met us a at 9:00am and we took a bus about 20 minutes to the Jacaru Pepira river. I have been rafting on the New River in West Virginia and both the Nantahala and French Broad rivers in NC, but Kate has never been. Ana gave us some pointers on paddling and following her directions in both English and Portuguese! She had friends come along for the ride. Tourism season was winding down in Brotas (Carnaval, two weeks previous, the peak). Our 9am mid-week tour was just the one raft of five people, Kate and I were the only paying customers :-).

The trip was roughly 2.5 hours and at one point we got out of the boat and slid down rocks in our swim suits, and at another point we got out of the boat, climbed up the bank and rode a zip line back and forth across the river. Being four stories up and zipping across the rapids was a thrilling experience.
Towards the end of the route our guide told us to get ready because we had gotten a little complacent during some of the slow parts of the river. She said that the last section is fast and a little rough and we would need both need to pay attention to her cues. At one point she said, "If you have forgotten anything, you will be educated." I thought this was a great expression and laughed a little as we approached the frothy falls.

Alaya has this tourism thing down, they sent along a kayaker to take pictures and videos of the boat was we made our way down the river, some of them are posted here. Unfortunately, the kayaker was making sure we didn't crash on the zip lines so we have no photos of that. Neither of us fell out of the boat which was a great outcome for Kate's first whitewater rafting experience (and my first in a long time).

Updated with videos:

Brotas Day 1

2009-03-08T13:12:00.000-07:00

Brotas is located approximately 200 Km or 3 hours northwest of the Center of Sao Paulo. As soon as we arrived at the airport we picked up the rental car (yikes! no GPS available!!!). The car is a Chevy hatchback and runs on either gasoline or ethanol. The ethanol prices are about half that of gasoline. After driving 30 minutes in the wrong direction, we got out the iphone and that helped us get back on track. We made good time when we knew the correct way and we got to Brotas in 4 hours. We included a stop at a Brazilian franchise restaurant called Frango Assado (Rotissirie Chicken). The meal was what we needed after a long overnight flight and the driving mishap. Not knowing any Portuguese, we pointed to items on the menu. We both received steak, salad and polenta. We made our way to Brotas which some consider to be the outdoor adventure capital of Sao Paulo state. We missed our reservation for Thursday afternoon, so we checked into our hotel called Posado Do Lago.

The hotel is very nice with a very friendly staff. They get very few English speakers that come here without a guide, so they considered us very "courageous". The owner, Fernando, and staff was so concerned that they sent his daughter to greet us. His daughter, Fernanda, had spent about 6 months in New Jersey as a foreign exchange student and spoke English very well. When we asked her what she missed most about the US she said Doritos (Cool Ranch) and pole vaulting at her high school.

We had dinner at Malagueta,which offered a self service buffet (pay by the weight) and an alacarte menu from which we ordered. We both had sandwiches (three mini hoagies). Brazil is two hours ahead of New York, so the jet lag is not as bad as Europe or Asia, but after dinner we turned in for the night satsifed that we had a arrived and knowing that we had an adventurous day ahead.

Brazil Itinerary

2009-03-03T19:49:00.001-08:00

On Wednesday afternoon, Kate and I will leave for a 10 day trip to Brazil. The primary reason for this trip is Kate's coursework (how unfortunate).

Columbia Students are able to access some international trips for school credit as part of their coursework. Other countries/cities available to them include Shanghai, Dubai, India, and Tokyo. The Brazil trip seemed exciting so I thought I would tag a long.

We will be going down a bit early to have some time together and then I will go to Rio De Janiero on my own to do some exploring. Here is a rough itinerary:

March 4: Leave NYC JFK
March 5: Arrive Sao Paulo drive to Brotas
March 5-7: Brotas (hiking and rafting)
March 7: Drive to Sao Paulo
March 7-14: Kate in Sao Paulo
March 7-10: Graeme in Sao Paulo
March !0-14: Graeme in Rio
March 15: Both Arrive in NYC JFK

This trip was a lot less planned than the Beijing trip. Neither of us knows much Portuguese. We will have a rental car for the Sao Paulo portion. We hope to enjoy the sun, have some new experiences and maybe see a soccer match.

Home Sweet Home

2008-08-28T07:03:00.000-07:00

After a long 24 hour journey, Graeme and I touched US ground late Monday morning when we landed at JFK. We had a fantastic trip, but it's always nice to return to the comforts of your own home. We have many more tales to tell about our trip and plan to post more blogs over the next couple of weeks.

In the meantime, catch a glimpse of our Beijing pictures if you click this link. Our pictures from Thailand should be posted next week.

A Massage a Day Keeps the Doctor Away….

2008-08-28T07:02:00.000-07:00

Kate here. Once again Graeme has been diligent about writing blog entries, and I have not. So I decided to write about one of my favorite topics: spa treatments.

While Graeme and/or my family may disagree, I consider myself a low key female. I rarely wear make-up, I can shower and get dressed in the less than 15 minutes (thanks to my swimming days), and mismatched clothes don’t bother me. But when it comes to the spa, there is nothing low key about me. I love the spa. Unfortunately Columbia’s tuition has kept me far away from such delights as facials and massages for the past year. Thailand, the land of $12 massages, put an end to the drought of self-indulgence.

For those who have been to Bangkok know that massages parlors are as plentiful as Starbucks are in the US. Some of the parlors are down right sketchy, but others are nice and sanitary. Based on a recommendation, we ended up at a cute little place whose name has escaped me. For 900 baht (less than $30), Graeme and I both enjoyed an hour long Thai massage. For those not familiar with a Thai massage, no oil is used. While therapists massage your body in a similar manner that you would expect from a standard Swedish massage in the US, they also turn and twist your body in ways that you thought only Gumby could move. More impressive, the therapists were half our size but still managed manipulate our western size bodies (As an aside, I bought a jacket in Beijing and had to buy a 2XL!). The experience was heavenly. We returned to the same spa the next day for more, and the trend of massages continued for the rest of our stay in Thailand. In Phuket, however, the setting was less private. Instead of opting for the absurdly priced hotel spa massage, we decided to take advantage of the beach massages. Under a thatched hut, I, along with 4 of my closest hotel friends, enjoyed a massage. The tradeoff was that you could see the beach and hear the sound of the waves. As much as I enjoyed all the sight seeing during our trip, my massages were definitely a highlight!

Sawadee-ka – Hello in Thai

2008-08-22T20:13:00.000-07:00

The new terminal at Beijing’s International Airport is GIGANTIC. Apparently the building could stretch across lower Manhattan, coast to coast. I was disappointed we didn’t see the new terminal during our arrival, but we certainly saw it on our way out. The trip to Bangkok on Thai Airways was a just over 6 hours. Our early departure meant we arrived around 1pm. The Shangri-La Hotel was a short drive from the airport and located in the heart of downtown Bangkok on the ChaoPrya River. We quickly learned the Thai greeting, “Sawadee-ka” for women and “Sawadee-kup” for men.

There are many folks who say that the traffic in Beijing is awful, or that NYC’s bumper to bumper to bumper traffic is the world’s worst. But I can say that Bangkok’s downtown traffic rivals any city’s traffic anywhere in the world. Tiny cars line up with mopeds and scooters and all seem oblivious to the traffic lights. Thank goodness for Skytrain! The SkyTrain is Bangkok’s very quick, efficient and modern monorail system that we relied on as our main source of transportation. It glides smoothly through the downtown center of Bangkok and for little more than $1 you can be anywhere in city center in a short and comfortable ride.

In addition to SkyTrain, the Bangkok natives also use the river to get around which helps avoid the snarling mobile traffic. One can travel by boat to any of the dozen or so piers along the Chao Prya. Each pier leads to important site, hotel or shopping area.

There are several “must dos” in Bangkok including a visit to the Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho, the Emerald Buddha and the Royal Palace. The list also includes eating Thai Street Food, indulging in a Thai Massage (or many....) and visiting a tailor. Given our short stay in Bangkok we decided to see the tailor to get fitted for some work clothes. The quality of the material is good, the fitting customized and the prices downright awesome. Both of us got fitted for some work clothes during the afternoon of our arrival.

That night we met former UVA Swimmer Guy Yimsomruay for a Thai meal at Harmonique. Guy’s mother knows the owner and the restaurant serves delicious Thai food and the décor is awesome. It was great to see Guy and learn more about Bangkok from a local.

Olympic Weightlifting and USA Men's Soccer

2008-08-21T20:20:00.000-07:00

Our last day in Beijing was an eventful one. We had tickets to see weightlifting in the AM and soccer in the evening. Weightlifting was a new sport to us both. There were about 16 participants in the Men’s competition. An Albanian ended up winning the competition, and he would acknowledge this fact by nodding to each side of the arena’s audience with every successful lift held high.

After the weightlifting event, we went back to the Olympic Green to see the village green one last time, hit the merchandise shop for Olympic souvenirs and of course hit McDonald’s! As much as we enjoyed the local cuisine, Kate and I were both craving western food.

Our next stop was Beijing’s Worker’s Stadium to see the first game of a soccer double header. The disappointing USA team was defeated by Nigeria and Argentina played Serbia. Our tickets were awesome. They were in the second row at the 20 yard line. We got to see Nigeria’s famous celebration up close when they scored their first goal.

The Worker’s Stadium, once Beijing’s premier sporting venue until the Bird’s Nest came along this past year, held the Asian Games Opening Ceremonies in the early 1990’s. Its capacity is smaller than the University of Virginia’s football stadium and the facilities for Concessions and Merchandise are not much better than Broughton High School. We got there early, and thank goodness because security was tight and the crowd large.

USA suffered an early set back when one of their players received a red card in the third minute. They had to scramble against a determined Nigerian side one man down for the rest of the game. The USA put up a good fight and made it close at the end; however, Brian McBride and his team ran out of tricks at the final whistle.

This loss was a hard pill to swallow because it meant that the US needed The Netherlands to lose to Japan in order to move on which didn’t happen. They had been winning against Netherlands until the 90^th minute when the US conceded a game tying goal. This effectively meant that the US Olympic journey came to an end with this match. While US Soccer fans should be a little unsatisfied with the team’s performance, the US has come a long way in soccer with fellow rivals Mexico and other soccer powerhouses not even qualifying for this phase.

Our final night in Beijing included a Grand Finale dinner with our Chinese friends Liujing and Du Xiaoli. We went for a Beijing Hot Pot dinner. I read somewhere that this type of cuisine was derived from ancient warriors eating their dinner out of their helmets! Our culinary experience proved to be more civilized . Hot Pot can best be described like Fondue, only no cheese or chocolate! The meat (lamb, beef, chicken, etc) is served thinly sliced and raw and you are meant to cook it in a pot of mushroom-ish broth for a few minutes. When the meat is cooked, you dip it in a sauce made of ingredients of your choosing. You can also dip vegetables noodles into the pot. When you are done with the meat, you can take a ladle full of broth from the pot and add it to your sauce and voila! You have soup!

Our dinner was a wonderful cap to our stay in Beijing and we are thrilled to have experienced so much of it on such a short stay. The Olympics were as magnificent as they are on television and it was thrilling to learn so much about China.

Exploring the Great Wall

2008-08-20T19:58:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, Zoe picked us up at the hotel for our Great Wall of China adventure. She informed us that the Danaling section of the wall to which she had planned to take us was closed! Apparently the section closest to Beijing was being reserved for foreign dignitaries and VIPs. This meant that the entire area had to be secured and no tourists were allowed to visit. So Zoe explained that we would see the Mutianyu section of the wall instead. This section was a little further from Beijing she explained, but it is usually less busy and you can get some amazing shots away from the crowds. With the Danaling section closed, however, all the tourists would come to Mutianyu.

En route to the Great Wall, we visited The Ming Tombs, burial sites of various Chinese Emperors, their empresses and their concubines. The Ming Tombs are situated 20-30 miles away from the Forbidden City where the emperors lived. Upon their deaths, Emperors were brought to the Ming Tombs for proper burial. Their bodies, however, were not allowed to touch the ground. Back in the day, this trek from the Forbidden City to the Tombs would take about 3 days and many groups of strong men.

Each tomb is made up of a burial site, many memorial halls and a tower. Each of these is separated by an elaborate courtyard. We explored one of the towers. Atop the tower was a column dedicated to the emperor. During China’s Cultural Revolution, Mao Zedong’s followers had it painted red and out in graffiti, “Long Live Mao”. Curators not wanting to damage the column with harmful chemicals have tried to scrub off the red paint, but it still remains in the shade of pink. After seeing one of the tombs, we decided to make the trek to Mutianyu.

The drive to Mutianyu was another 45 minutes and thankfully we arrived to bus loads of tourist departing. The trip up to the Great Wall took less than five minutes and the scenery was gorgeous. The mountain setting reminded me of Appalachia. The mountains were a couple of thousand feet high and rounded like that of the Blue Ridge. The wall climbs along the mountains and has towers roughly every tenth of a mile. We wandered about a mile and a half until the restored section of the wall met the unrestored section. The more steep the wall, the thinner the crowd. We were able to get some great shots of the wall, and this one is my favorite:

Free Day to Explore

2008-08-17T08:24:00.000-07:00

On Monday we had a free day to explore Beijing. Before the big building frenzy and Olympic developments, the city was made up of hutongs, small “neighborhood-like” alleyways where families lived. The narrow roads only allow for a couple to walk and perhaps a couple of bikes. Along the sides of each hutong are produce stores, tea shops, curio shops and fabric stores. We started on a quiet hutong that ran parallel to the main road and eventually stumbled upon a busy farmer’s market. With sellers and customers yelling out prices for a plethora of vegetables (some I had never seen), beef, poultry, pork and lamb, Kate and I quickly found ourselves absorbed in the day-to-day food shopping of hutong dwellers.

After wondering among the hutongs, we grabbed a bite to eat. With a taxi driver who spoke almost little English and was believed to be illiterate (note: This taxi experience was an exception. Most cab drivers were excellent.), getting to the restaurant proved to be a challenge. Keeping my pinyin tones in mind, I was able to work out the address with him. It was clear he was very frustrated, but we managed to work it out. In Otto’s restaurant, we had some cheap beef and rice stir fry. The staff was extremely patient with us as we worked through the menu to determine what we wanted.

After a few beers and a $10 meal, we decided to go to the main shopping district in Beijing, Wangfudajie. Here we found a gigantic mall, an Adidas store, a Nike Store and Le Ning, Chinese’s Nike Brand. With the Olympics in town, it was apparent that Western nation fans had paid a visit to the shops because the XXL size shirts were all sold out in most of the athletic stores. We scrounged for some items, and I picked up a collared shirt from Le Ning. The quality is probably not as high as what we might expect from Nike or Adidas, but the design and style was the same. The price was fair, and the service was great. When I asked the staff if they had a particular shirt in my size, the sales person ran off to go and find it and was back in a flash. I predict that Le Ning could be competitive with Nike, Reebok and Adidas in the next decade in the US.

We ended the day with a special date. On recommendation from a friend I made reservations at The Courtyard. The location of this restaurant is probably unrivaled by any restaurant on earth. It looks out over the moat of the Forbidden City. The food and service was impeccable. We started the meal with a shrimp cocktail. Kate’s next course was oysters, while I had the beef carpaccio. The main course was rack of lamb (for me) and cod (for Kate). For dessert we had sorbet (Kate) and a chocolate cake (me). Afterwards we took some moments to enjoy the scenery. Unfortunately, pictures could never do it justice. The view and atmosphere were both just spectacular.

First Day of Olympic Events

2008-08-17T07:51:00.000-07:00

Our first Olympic event was Beach Volleyball. We arrived at the Chaoyang Park in the northeast part of Beijing by taxi and walked a mile once inside the park to get to the stadium. Outside the stadium, Kate and I were approached by a Chinese boy and his father and asked me to be in a picture with the boy. This proved to be the first of many times we were asked to pose for a picture while in Beijing. We would get occasional stares, and Chinese would strangely ask us to be in pictures. If it weren’t for my ugly mug, this could be Coke’s new ad campaign:

After a very through security and ticket screening process that included a pat down and search of all our bags, we arrived at the stadium to see USA’s May and Walsh defeat the Japanese team. The USA team was far superior winning back to back matches with limited effort. Thanks to the planted Olympic cheerleaders, the crowd was enthusiastic dancing to songs like Shania Twain and doing “The Mexican Wave”. The next match was a men’s match and a team from China (with obvious home support) defeated a team from Austria. The stadium was beautiful and the sound system blared rock music by the Fratellis, AC/DC and The Dandy Warhols in between points. During timeouts and other official breaks, the skinny bikini-clad Chinese cheerleaders shook their booties on the volleyball count and kept the crowd going. The stadium seats were 75% filled. Considering the matches began at 9:00am, this was a pretty good turnout. We saw a few other women matches including Greece vs Austria and Mexico vs Brazil.

After the volleyball we had a free afternoon to explore Beijing. Kate was keen to visit the 798 Art District, described as the artists’ area of Beijing in our guide book. The area is filled with industrial buildings, warehouses and power plants that have been converted into art studios and galleries. We met a college student and his father outside one of the buildings. The son explained that his father used to work in the power plant 20 years ago and that they had come back for the day to visit:

There were dozens of galleries and curio shops along with western-like coffee shops and restaurants. The art was thought provoking and heavily influenced by Mao Zedong and Soviet era propaganda. There were lots of sculptures lining the sidewalk and numerous photography galleries.

Our next stop was the Olympic Green, the main area for the Olympics. It is a huge central plaza where the Bird’s Nest, Watercube, and National Indoor Gymnasium are located. There were also exhibitions from many of the corporate sponsors like Coca Cola, GE, China Mobile and Volkswagen.

Our tickets to Handball were not in this location, but we took the time to look around and took pictures of the amazingly designed buildings. The Bird’s Nest was magnificent! Far away, the beams look like twigs and the stadium gives the impression that it could blow away or even stretch like a bunch of rubber bands. Up close the construction is the opposite looking very sturdy.

After getting caught in a monsoon-like downpour near The Bird’s Nest, we finally made it to the Olympic Gymnasium for our second event, Team Handball. Team Handball is my new favorite sport! Unfortunately, I will have little chance to follow it in the U.S. For those not familiar with handball, I think it’s a hybrid of three sports commonly played in the US: basketball, ice hockey and soccer. Like basketball, handball is fast paced and scoring is frequent. Like ice hockey, handball players tackle and block each other. Like soccer, handball has a level of suspense with one on one penalty throws.

The first match pitted Poland against China. Traditionally, Europeans have been powerhouses in the sport which gave Poland a leg up; however, it was great to enjoy the atmosphere of the home crowd. With every Chinese possession, the Chinese fans would scream “China – Zhonguoren!!!”. Unfortunately, this did not help the Chinese team overcome a far superior team and they lost the game. The second match, Egypt v. Denmark, was a match up between equals. It was a back and forth affair for the entire 60 minutes. The Danish faithful were in full effect while there were only a handful of Egypt fans. The game was filled with hefty blocks, screens, bodies flying and a few injuries (some real and some suspect). The game ended in a draw which seemed like a satisfactory result for both sides as the teams really battled it out. Being a novice handball observer I would say that the Danish speed was neutralized by Egypt’s size and strength.

Paddle Ball, Scorpions and More…

2008-08-09T16:46:00.000-07:00

Bright eyed and bushy tailed at 4:50 am, we decided to take advantage of our jet lag and head to Tiananmen Square to watch the early morning ceremonial raising of the flag. Much to our surprise, the square was filled with people. And, I think we were the only westerners. From the flag raining ceremony, we walked to the Temple of Heaven where we were greeted by hundreds of locals doing their morning exercise. Besides being the only westerners, we were probably the youngest people in the park by at least 20 years. Locals were playing badminton, paddle ball, “hacky sack” and more. Yes, 60 year olds were playing hacky sack. When we were approached by a local man to play paddle ball, we accepted and proceeded to create a spectacle of ourselves. It was lots of fun, though, and a great workout too.

We spent the day visiting the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City and the Beijing Zoo with our great guide, Zoe. For the sake of time (we need to head out and watch beach volleyball) I’ll save the details for when we return; but, the Forbidden City was gigantic! At its prime, it had 9,999.5 rooms. You may ask why the half a room? Supposedly the Gods have 10,000 rooms and the emperor is inferior to the Gods and therefore can’t have more rooms than the Gods…

To end the day, we had the pleasure of enjoying a wonderful dinner with Liu Jing and Du Xiao Li. They are local Beijinges and good friends of my mother’s friend, Ling. We had our own room in the restaurant and enjoyed Peking Duck, Beef Tripe, Seasoned Fish Head, Almond Juice and many more local Beijing dishes. It was delicious and Liu Jing and Du Xian Li were so friendly. Afterwards, we stopped by the Donghuamen Snack Market. Stinky tofu dominated the city air. Following through on a commitment, Graeme devoured two fried scorpions. Thankfully he is still alive this morning!

Thanks so much to Ling for introducing us to our new wonderful friends!

We’re off to our first Olympic event!

Welcome to Beijing!!

2008-08-08T18:28:00.000-07:00

We arrived safe and sound to Beijing yesterday morning, and have been on the move ever since we arrived in the city. We’re staying in Xuanwu district which is 1km north of Tiananmen Square. The Olympic Village is 20 minutes north of us, but thankfully a taxi ride is no more the $4 - $5.

We struggled to keep our eyes open on our first day. With a whole city to see in just under a week, though, we didn’t waste any time. We ventured to the Silk Market, a huge building filled with vendors selling anything from electronics to tea sets to fine silk clothing and bedding. Bargaining is the name of the game. The starting price is always ridiculously expensive. For example, when Graeme asked the price of a Wii video game the woman typed in 250 yuan on her big size calculator. This translates into over $30/game. We bargained them down to 5 games for 60 yuan which is less than $2/game. Not too shabby.

After the silk market, we attempted to go to the Lama Temple. It was closed, so we wandered down a neighboring street filled with Buddhist stores and stumbled upon The Confucius Temple and Imperial College. There were numerous pavilions, tall Cyprus trees and a statue of Confucius himself. Like many of the temples in China, the details of the temple were magnificent.

After a cold beer in a neighboring coffee shop, we decided to check out the Bird’s Nest, the site of the Opening Ceremonies. Unfortunately there is a fence .5 km away from the stadium protecting it from eager Olympic visitors like ourselves. Nevertheless, we walked around the circumference of the stadium before heading to a restaurant to eat dinner and watch the opening ceremonies in a comfortable spot. Our jet lag resulted in a 9:30am bedtime, but we were awoken a couple of hours later by loud blasts. Sleepy-eyed and confused, Graeme and I climbed over to the window and were welcomed by beautiful fireworks. Let the Olympics begin!

Seoul, South Korea

2008-08-07T16:36:00.000-07:00

Our Korean Air flight pulled away from the JFK gate at 12:57am EST. The 747 flew at 39,000 feet. It was a little bumpy on the take off and getting up to cruising altitude, but an hour in it was smooth sailing. In flight entertainment included Iron Man, Kung Fu Panda and some Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kucher movie about getting married in Vegas. Not surprisingly, Kate slept 90% of the close to 14 hour flight. I on the other hand resorted to a magic pill to help me get some winks. I did manage, however, to squeeze in 3 movies.

We arrived to a very quiet Incheon airport in Seoul, South Korea at 3:30am local time. According to the flight map the airport is an island off the coast near the site of the 1988 Olympics, Seoul, South Korea. We found a 24 hour cafe and chilled there until food was served at 6:00am. We had to try Kimchi, a Korean dish of pickled cabbage. It was delicious, and a great way to kick-off our Asian eating adventure.

The Olympic opening ceremonies are tonight, and we can't wait to witness another chapter in Olympic history! Check out today's NY Times article about Zhang Yimou.

Mandarin Lessons

2008-07-31T11:09:00.000-07:00

In the early 1900's China adopted Mandarin as its official language. Mandarin was adopted as the standard Chinese language because it was best for the country to have one standard language. One of the most intriguing parts of the Chinese language is that the characters are all written the same way, but pronounced differently when spoken aloud. As an example, a person in China that speaks Mandarin may not understand a person who speaks Cantonese although they can read the same written characters with no problem. In discussing the characters it is important to note that there are simplified characters (used in mainland China, Malaysia and Singapore) and traditional characters (used in Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong).

The language and characters are very different from English or any of the romance languages. Mandarin is character based, uses a lot of tones and has sounds that have no English equivalent.

Here are some of the unique sounds in Mandarin:

c sounds like ts
z sounds like dz
zh sounds like ger
r sounds like the r in read

To make things easier for Westerners trying to learn the language there is pinyin. Pinyin is the most widely used system for writing Mandarin in the Roman alphabet.

I have taken Mandarin classes at the local community college to get more comfortable with the language. I've gotten use to the sounds, but the tones are a challenge. Depending on the tone used, the letters m and a together can have different meanings. By way of example let's look at the pinyin form "ma".

Mā (flat tone) represented by the character 妈 means "mother" or "mom".
Má, (rising tone) represented by the character 麻 means "hemp".
Mǎ, (rising falling rising tone) represented by the character马 means "horse".
Mà (sharp falling tone) represented by the character 骂 means "curse".

So an attempt at a joke:

我妈妈骂马。马吃我妈妈的麻。

Which translates:
Wo MāMā Mà Mǎ. Mǎ chī wo MāMā de Má.

or

My mother curses the horse. The horse eats my mother's hemp.

Our Itinerary

2008-07-31T07:30:00.000-07:00

Today's posting is a quick one. This is a high level itinerary of our trip. The Beijing portion is going to be busy, but exciting. We plan to see four Olympic events.

6-Aug Wednesday: Leave NY-JFK
7-Aug Thursday: In flight cross date line
8-Aug Friday: Arrive Seoul, Korea then on to Beijing. Go to park to watch Opening Ceremonies on Big Screen.
9-Aug Saturday: Guided Tour of Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and Summer Palace. Donghuamen Snack Market with pen pal.
10-Aug Sunday: OLYMPICS!!! Beach Volleyball in AM and Afternoon. Olympics Team Handball in Evening
11-Aug Monday: FREE DAY: Shopping @ Silk Market, Temple of Heaven
12-Aug Tuesday: Guided Tour of The Great Wall and Ming Tombs
13-Aug Wednesday: OLYMPICS!!! Weightlifting in AM and USA Soccer vs Nigeria in the evening
14-Aug Thursday: Leave Beijing and Arrive Bangkok
15-Aug Friday: Temple and Palace Tour
16-Aug Saturday: Riverboat Market
17-Aug Sunday: Bangkok Cooking Tour
18-Aug Monday: Leave Bangkok and Arrive Phuket
19-Aug Tuesday: Phuket
20-Aug Wednesday: Phuket
21-Aug Thursday: Phuket
22-Aug Friday: Phuket
23-Aug Saturday: Phuket
24-Aug Sunday: Phuket
25-Aug Monday: Leave Phuket and Arrive JFK all in the same hour!

Chinese Currency

2008-07-29T23:23:00.000-07:00

We thought it would be a good idea to have some Chinese Yuan on hand when we arrived to make sure we could hit the ground running when we arrived in the Beijing. I want to pick up a street map and a Time Out Beijing magazine when we arrive in the airport. I have read in numerous travel books that Beijing is changing so rapidly that the maps can’t keep up! Time Out Beijing has proven to be a fairly resourceful site so that we can have the most up to date listing of what is going during the Olympics.

I thought it appropriate that I was doing my small part to reverse the trend of China and USA’s currencies. Then I thought, I just brought Yuan into the country only to take it back to China. I bought $102.41 worth of Yuan. This translates into roughly ¥700. The formal name for the currency is Chinese Yuan Renminbi and the informal name is Kuai like “quid” in the UK or “buck” in the US. We used the service offered by eZforex on another super recommendation from Peace Frogs Travel. It only took 3 days to get our Chinese Yuan.

While it is not exact, the rough conversion rate is to divide everything we buy in China by 7. This will give us the value in dollars. This was interesting because my 2006 Frommers Bejing guide divides everything by 8. I guess this shows the appreciation of the Yuan and in the weakening of the US dollar. Here is an example of what things cost based on the 2006 Frommers Guide:

Taxi from the airport to the city center: ¥70 or $10
Metro Ride: ¥ 3 or $0.43
Bowl of Noodles: ¥ 5 or $0.71
Regular Coffee at Starbucks: ¥12 or $1.72
Bottle of beer at a tourist bar: ¥30 or $4.29
Entry into the Forbidden City: ¥60 or $8.58

Now I suspect that the prices for these items will be jacked up during the Olympics, but I hope we are not gouged on things. I am also relieved we won’t be victim to much of this as we have already purchased most of the large items, like hotels, some meals, guided tours, and tickets to 4 Olympic events. We do plan to use taxis and public transport to get around.

Olympic Mascots

2008-07-28T22:13:00.000-07:00

Since Graeme has written all the blogs to date, I figured I should do my part. The Olympics is rich in history, and part of the history is the story behind the mascots. Over the years, Olympic mascots have ranged from a beaver in 1976 to strange looking dolls with big feet in 2004. Admittedly, I was surprised by the variety and, well, the randomness of the mascots. This year is no exception.

Let me introduce you to to the 2008 Olympic Mascots:

Beibei (a fish representing the blue Olympic ring)
Jingjing (a panda representing the black Olympic ring)
Huanhuan (a flame representing the red Olympic ring)
Yingying (a Tibetan antelope representing the yellow Olympic ring)
Nini (a swallow representing the green Olympic ring)

Pretty cute, eh? As someone who was never a fan of stuffed animals, I can honestly say I find the little creatures cute. Even better, when you put the first syllables of each mascot together you get:

"北京欢迎你 !" or "Beijing huanying ni!".

This phrase translates to "Beijing Welcomes You".

Bejing Olympics Tickets

2008-07-27T18:36:00.000-07:00

It was recently reported by the LA Times that two internet sites have been illegally selling tickets to the Beijing Olympics. It got me thinking about the progression of events that we had to undertake to get Olympics tickets. To my knowledge there is only one USOC sponsored ticket distributor, Cosport. Their website is bare bones, but their video confirmed my excitement about attending the event. The process to get Olympics tickets started for us in the Spring of 2007. Cosport ran a several phase purchase process that helped identify those who said they were interested in buying tickets and those who really meant it. I assume this phased process helped weed out the casual fans because it meant dedication to come back to the site on a regular basis.

Phase 1: During this phase I was able to request a maximum of eight (8) tTickets to any individual session of any sSporting eEvent and a maximum of two (2) tTickets to Opening or Closing Ceremonies, for a maximum of forty-eight (48) tickets per individual order. I expressed interest for Swimming and Gymnastics (as the premiere events) first and then Beach Volleyball, Soccer, Diving and a few others second. I suspect Cosport used this phase to guage demand for the different sports.

Phase 2: This phase involved expressing how many tickets we wanted on a particular day for a particular event. You had to be strategic in your selection knowing that certain events conflict. The company required also asked me for two credit card numberss. The tickets you were allowed to pick were available from the ones you won via a "lottery". We won tickets to soccer and beach volleyball.

Phase 3: Once all the tickets that were in high demand were gobbled up, there was a third phase of ticket selling. I looked at the days we had tickets and chose to get tickets on the same days but in the morning of those days. The tickets for these less popular events were very cheap. This is how I came to get a pair of tickets to weightlifting and team handball. An individual ticket for these events was $9.00.

Phase 4: I keep checking back for a Phase 4 ticket sale. I am hoping that I can come back to Cosport to find some cancelled tickets available for people who cannot make the trip.

Regardless, after the time and effort put into purchasing tickets, it is strange to think that there are some fans out there that think they can purchase tickets for events at the last minute, and shame on the vendors for faking the ability to sell Olympic tickets.

A few months ago we were delighted to find out that we will see the US Soccer Team play. When we won the tickets we had no idea which teams were playing. When they announced the schedule we learned that we will see USA vs Nigeria and Serbia vs Argentina.

Finally, my dream tickets for the a finals session of swimming at the Watercube in Beijing are going for astronomical prices on Ebay. Anyone? Anyone?

Obtaining a Visa for The Olympics

2008-07-22T19:17:00.001-07:00

There have been numerous articles about the tightening of restrictions for Chinese Visas. I recollect that the visa restrictions will be lifted when the Olympic Games are over. New York Times had an article about the impact the restrictions on the economy, and the BBC had an article about the restrictions as well.

Obtaining a visa for China in the months leading up to the Olympics has proven to be a challenging undertaking. There were a few articles about the tightening of restrictions that came out this Spring. I tried to go to the Chinese Consulate in NYC in February 2008, only to be told that I was not eligible for a visa because I was there to early. I thought since the visa's duration was 6 months, I would be OK with the coverage until late August. That is not what the clerk told me and seeing the line that day and the swiftness by which my number came up, I saw no problem with coming back in April or May to try it again. Unfortunately, the restrictions had tightened. When I went in April, the lines were longer, so long it made the DMV look good.

This time, I didn't have the time to wait, so I came back a second time rejected for my visa. I told my wife about the experience and she decided to take over. I told her to get there early (at 9:00am) and take all the required documentation. Even still at 9:00am the line was long, and she didn't have the patience or the time to wait. After officially striking out to get our Chinese Visas, we decided to go with the recommendation to get a third party handle them for us. I received a recommendation from Rochelle at Peace Frogs about Travel Document Systems. This is one of any number of online Travel Document Services that can provide assistance for a nominal fee if you send them all the documentation. I guess they hand deliver it to the consulates in bulk, make sure everything is in the right order, charge your credit card and send along the visa in the passport. The scary part is that we had to send our passports in the mail to TDS. So I made sure that the packages were tracked and we received delivery confirmation. We received the Chinese Visa in less than a week's time and paid a nominal fee. Considering the time, effort and confusion in the process, I highly suggest using one of these services. TDS helped get it turned around quickly. Here were the requirements:

1. A letter from my manager at my employer indicating that I worked for the company and that I was scheduled to take some time off.

2. A bank statement from my bank indicating that I had $100 for each day I planned to be in China

3. A notarized copy of my Green Card (signed by a lawyer in my hometown)

4. Airline and hotel confirmation

5. Passport photos

6. Visa Fees

7. TDS Fees

8. Visa documentation

Because Kate is a student we had to receive a similar note from her graduate school indicating that she was indeed an full time student there and that she was going to China for tourism purposes.

As you can see the Visa is quite attractive, and we are thrilled to say we are eligible to go to China to see the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.