Where in the World is Kenny B?

How to do a Triathlon

2009-10-20T19:20:00.000-07:00

A couple of friends have either shown interest in participating in a triathlon next year or have already committed to do so and wanted more information regarding prepping for their first tri. Being a novice athlete myself and have overcome the challenge of my first tri this year, I have decided to document my training story and what to do to prep for that first tri.

A Triathlon (definition) is a multi sport event consisting of swimming, biking and running. There are multiple distances and are referred to as either a sprint, an olympic or an iron man. There is also an ultra iron man and a half iron man (70.2), but I am not considering long events yet. I am sticking to the sprint distance and will describe that more fully.

A sprint tri usually has a 1/2 mile swim, a 15 mile bike and a 3.1 mile run. Some races vary from these distances and each course has a varying degree of difficulty due to location and time of event.

Training is extremely important. everyones training regiment will be different depending on skill prior to committing to an event. I was confident in the bike but scared of the swim and hated the run prior to committing to my first event. Here are some tips to overcoming these challenges.

Swimming: Find a pool and start swimming. See if there is any adult swim classes or clubs that will push your abilities such as a masters swim class. Train similar to a high school swim team and practice intervals for speed and distance for endurance. When swimming distance, try to swim longer than your event distance.

Bike: find a spin class. Classroom environments seam to push you a bit harder than riding alone. When hitting the road, find people who ride faster than you to push you to improve. Alternate your routine between hills and flats and push yourself with intervals and distance.

Running: I still hate running. There is only one way I know to train for running and that is to run. I technique is my 5 year old on his bike. I try to run with him and to keep up to the best of my ability. He is getting faster. This fall I clocked a 6 minute mile trying to follow him which is a personal best. I finished my 5k in under 22 minutes and that is close to my best time. Try alternating running fast and long.

Tips for the race:

Swim: Get a wetsuit. They are meant to keep you warm, reduce body drag and to keep you more buoyant. Using a wetsuit can reduce a couple of minutes from your time, but if you are not an excellent swimmer it can really boost your confidence. You can rent a wetsuit for around $50.

Bike: Bikes are the biggest financial investment. For your first tri, use what you have available. Unless you know you really want a new bike, the $1200+ investment can be a bit too much. A road bike or a tri bike will offer distinct advantages in speed and efficiency. If you do feel like investing in a bike come and talk to me for more ideas.

Clothing: You want to wear skin tight water wicking clothes. The best idea is to wear the same clothing through all three events. It is very difficult to put on or take off clothing after the swim when you are wet. Some people always laugh at the form fitting clothes (my wife for starters) but you will fit in fine with all the other racers and you will be more comfortable during and after the race.

Running: Get speed laces for your shoes. Speed laces are elastic shoe laces that never need to be tied. I love slip on shoes and this is a great idea. At this point in the race you are out of breath and a bit fatigued and if you stop to take the time to tie your shoes you will spend more time catching your breath. Just flip your shoes on and run. Speed laces cost less than $10.

If you have any additional questions or comments please post them and I will try to answer them prior to next spring when we are all training for that next race.

The Chess Board

2009-07-30T12:30:00.000-07:00

Seeing I have more free time this summer, I have been working on a few hobbies to pass the time between triathlons and searching for a new job. One hobby in particular is woodworking and I decided to try to make something that could be a family heirloom someday. My father loves chess and purchased a chess set while in the Philippines during the Vietnam War. The pieces are about three inches tall and were hand carved from different hardwoods. He never purchased the table that went with the set because it was to big to carry back to the ship.

My woodworking experience is from making a few bookshelves, our entertainment center, a toybox for Luke and a couple other inexpensive projects. I decided that this was to be the one I would take the most pride in and so I decided to use only the best materials and joinery that I could think of.

I started making the table base with red oak. I purchased pre shaped legs and cut mortise joints into each leg as well as matching tenons on the aprons. I used a router and a chisel for the mortise joints and a table saw for the tenons. The tenons slide into the mortise with a lot of glue and create a very sturdy corner. I also used the table saw to cut a slot in the apron boards to hold the bottom of the table (like a basket).

For the chess board, I used a beautiful curling maple for the lights squares and walnut for the dark squares. I cut 3 inch squares in both materials and then glued them into the checker board pattern. I sanded the top flat and then used the router to cut a small rabbet around the perimeter.

The outer border for the board was again red oak. I mitered the corners and then cut a slot in each corner. I inserted a 1/8" thick piece of walnut into the slots to increase the strength of the joint. I then shaped the otside edge with a roman ogee bit on the router.

Finally I coated the oak partions of the table and board with a single coat of satin polyeurathane and the walnut and maple portions with three coats of high gloss polyeurathane to give it a glass like apearance. I also lined the inside of the box with red velvet to protect the chess pieces.

Alaska! (July 11th-15th, 2009)

2009-07-18T17:13:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week my dad and I fulfilled a promise I made for putting me through college. Being unemployed made it a bit more difficult, but I had booked the trip months ago while still employed. The best part of it was that I never told my dad where we were going. He knew we were going fishing at a lodge but he didn't learn where we were going till we got to the airport and and he checked in. Alaska?! He was so excited. Better yet, we were upgraded to first class both ways which made it a once in a life time event for him.

We arrived on the Kenai Peninsula which is south of Anchorage by three hours. We were based out of Soldatna which is located on the banks of the Kenai river, home to the largest salmon in the world. We would be fishing three days while in Alaska. We stayed at the Silver Budda Lodge which was a ways out of town and enjoyed the european hospitality of the Swiss owners.

Our first day of fishing was for Halibut out of Homer. We joined 9 other guests on the "Northern Lights" with Captain Mark and his deck hand Allison. We journeyed out by the Barren Islands where we fished for about six hours. There we caught 18 halibut with the largest (62 lbs) being caught by a 7 year old boy. For Bait, we used a fist full of Octopus on a huge circle hook. Check out this picture of the bait.

Here is a video of my dad landing a halibut the same time as another guest (both fish are about 35 to 40 lbs).

Halibut have both eyes on the same side of their head and it takes a while to get used to this. What do you think?

While on this trip, we got to play with a pod of porpoises. They swam beneath the boat and would dart out in front of the bow before surfacing, and then dive back down. I was lucky to catch this on video as well.

Here is a photo of our daily catch. If you are looking for a halibut charter out of Homer, I would highly recommend Captain Mark. His website is http://www.aurorasportfishing.net/

On day two we fished on the Kasilof (Kiss-ee-lof) River. The Kasilof was a beautiful river that we fished out of a drift boat with Captain Robert Johnson. He had nice equipment and he seemed very experienced as a fishing guide. He was not a great people person though and both my father and I didn't enjoy the time on the river with him. The whole time he was very pessimistic about catching fish, even though we saw fish being caught all around us during the day. We did catch 5 Dolly Varden (Bull trout or an Artic Char depending on where you are fishing) but the river was closed to that fish and so we needed to throw them back. Here is a photo of the river.

Our last day we fished the Kenai River (the big dance!). This river was so hyped up and we were very excited about the chance to catch a monster fish. We saw numerous fish over 40lbs caught on this day. We enjoyed the company of our Guide, Bob Estes from Moby King Charters. Bob was a much better guide than we had the day before. His wife even made us cookies. We were in a power boat for this trip and were able to zip up and down the river to the best spots. When we got on the river we noticed that the were not to be fishing the river alone this day. There were at least a couple hundred boats trying to land their monster fish as well. The DNR says that about 1000 fish enter the river each day from the ocean. That would put your odds of catching a king low. If anyone in your boat catches a fish you need to consider that a great day of fishing. We fished all day and towards the end I finally hooked a salmon! Bad news though, the old guy next to me in the boat wrapped his line around mine and I lost my fish. So after to days of salmon fishing, neither my dad or I caught a fish.

We don't give up that easy. After returning to the lodge we strapped on waders and headed to the river to fish from the bank. We didn't know what we were doing, but we both hooked salmon from the shore. We lost both fish as well, but we had as much fun doing that as fishing with the guides. My dad did hook a Seagull which was diving for his hook. This is the lodge owner cutting the line to release the bird.

We woke up early the next day to return to the Anchorage airport. At 2:30 I was able to see the sun on the horizon, but it was the northern horizon! The sun was up around 4 am and would set each night around midnight. How fun! Next time I go fishing in Alaska, I will plan a whole week and will spend the majority of the time fishing from the bank for Red Salmon. They don't get as big, but a good day has between 20,000 and 30,000 salmon entering the river (compared to 1,000 Kings).

Lake Minnetonka Triathlon, June 20th, 2009

2009-06-20T20:29:00.000-07:00

This was my first tri and and am please to be finished. I started training in January by swimming in the pool at the gym. Kelly laughed because I could only swim 6 lengths of the pool at the time. Today I swam 1/2 mile in 12:47, which is faster than I have ever done in the pool.
The bike was a disappointment for me. I am traditionally faster on my bike, but I focused all of my training on the swim. I got out about every other week for a good bike ride so far this year. I finished the 15 mile bike portion in 48:23, averaging 18 miles per hour. I can improve the most on the bike section next year.
The run was a traditional 5k. The difficulty of the run comes after the fatigue of the first two events. I still completed the 5k in 25:35 which is a good time for me and I am very pleased with this. I think I can improve this as well for next year, but I think I will focus more on the bike.
Overall, after you add in the transitions, I finished in 1:31:23 which was faster than the average time. I cant wait to do it again next year.Donny Martin, Brad Macdonald, me and Nick Lamoureux admiring our participation medals
My personal support team who valiantly cheered me on during the whole event

Rome

2009-02-01T07:52:00.001-08:00

Rome, January 2009

I was privaledged to be invited to my companies annual sales meeting which was held in Rome. This was the first time I got to travel to Rome and I was excited about this trip for an entire year. I also got to take my lovely wife with me. So while I was in the sales conference each day, Kelly was free to roam Rome at her leasure. So after a week in Rome, this is my take away:

Great Gelato. Gelato is very good ice cream. There was a shop by the hotel that had at least 100 flavors (including over 20 chocolate varieties). Look how happy this makes Kelly!

Old buildings. There are alot of old buildings in Rome. The hotel we stayed in was an old 17th century palace. I am glad it had Wi-Fi. It was also steps away from the Pantheon, which is got to be the oldest standing church in the world. It was made about 100 years after Christ, but was originally made to worship all of the Roman gods. It wasn't until more recently that it was converted into a Christian church.

Ruins. Rome is around 2700 years old and there are ruins dating back to the original settlement. Some of these ruins are in better shape than others. This is a picture of the Roman forum. This would be considered old downtown where all the government offices and temples were located. This is also next to the colloseum.

Fountains. Romans love fountains. The most popular is the Tevi Fountain which was a couple blocks from our hotel. Tradition states that if you throw three coins with your rigth hand over your left shoulder into the fountain you will return to Rome quicker. In fact the guy who sneaks into the fountain nightly to remove the coins collects over $180,000 US dollars a year. The city says this is a public place and so anybody can claim the coins. Nice job.

Recycling. The Romans invented recycling by taking building materials off older buildings they didn't like and reuse the material in newer buildings. It wasn't until recent history that they started preserving the older buildings. For example, the marble from the Colloseum now resides in the walls of Saint Peters Cathedral. I dont think they will give it back no matter how much we complain. The tunnels under ground where were they kept all of the animals. They even flooded the Colleseum to simulate naval battles. How cool is that?
I found some remaining seats and decided to do the one man wave. Go Lions!

Art. Rome is known for Marble statues and the great frescoes you find inside all of the churchs. Michaellangelo, Rafael, Berninni, DaVinci, etc... have all had a huge impact on the artistic appeal of the city.

Theft. Romans believed that those with might were in the right. They were traditional tourists who loved to collect souvenirs from places they visited (or conquered). Thanks to this habit you will find statues, obelisks and and other things all around the city from different civilizations. They even stole the Greeks Gods (they changed their names to sound Roman of course).

All in all, I loved Rome. I threw my three coins in the Trevi and I am excited to go back. Next time on vacation though, and not for work.

Trip to Taiwan, December 7th 2008

2008-12-21T12:09:00.001-08:00

Taiwan, December 7th through the 12th, 2008

I was here for business as usual. Taiwan is home to many semiconductor companies as well as new solar cell startups and business here has been growing very steadily over the past couple of years.

There are many intersting points to Taiwan. I will try to convey a couple of these in this post.

First, Taiwan and China have a difficult relationship. Taiwan was a part of mainland China up until the 50's and became a rebel entity when Chiang-Kian Shek left China with his followers and settled in Taiwan during the communist rebellion led by General (Chairman) Mao. So the Chinese claim that the Island of Taiwan is really theirs, just like Tibet. The Chinese used to rule Tibet during the Ming Dynasty and that was enough claim for them to invade Tibet and take ownership of the state during the 50's. They have been amassing military assets near the coast for years in order to retake Taiwan. Seeing Taiwan is a fledgling democracy being threatened by a communist country, the US has supported them with weapons and missles which is why they have never been attacked. That is why when you fly from China to Taiwan, you must fly over Hong Kong. Missles and the Chinese Airforce can cover that little gap in the water very quickly and it would give the Taiwanese defenses little time to determine whether it is an aircraft full of tourists or an all out attack.

The best way to get around Taiwan is the high speed train. This has killed business for hotels in some regions of Taiwan as well as all domestic flights. You can get from Taipei to Tainan in less than 1 1/2 hours for about 30 dollars.

American restaurants have made their way to Taiwan, but with a level of locallization. Here is a polluted pizza from Pizza Hut. Notice the white sauce drizzled on top? That is Mayonnaise mixed with pickle relish. The pizza would have been fine without that addition, but the 5 pizzas we ordered all had this enhancement. Yuck. This was actually a stuffed crust pizza. See the little sausages sticking out of the crust?

I didn't get a picture, but I saw Burger King, Mc Donalds, Outback Steakhouse and even a Cold Stone Creamery. I wonder how that was locallized.

I wish I had a story to go with this photo. I saw the sign and needed to capture a picture of this. I will leave it to your imagination on what it implies.

The biggest American influence in Taiwan is no longer American! There was a Seven Eleven on literally every every city I visited. But Seven Eleven is now owned by a Japanese entity.

Taipei Experience

2008-12-16T20:48:00.000-08:00

Taipei is a wonderful city. It is a bit more spread out than Shanghai. There is one land mark skyscraper in Taipei that used to be the largest in the world. Here are a few pictures that I have of the building. Can you guess which one is the imitator?

You guessed it. This is Taipei 101, graham cracker style. This one was actually inside the building on the fourth floor. I learned that the higher you go the more expensive things get. All the shops on the fourth floor were prestigous stores like Cartier, Versace and Prada. On the first floor there was a swatch store and a seven eleven. We ate lunch on the fifth floor. It was a restaurant similar to PF Changs in quality with more authentic Chinese food. It was excellent. We also ate dinner on the 85th floor. We didn't realize it would be so expensive. Steve had to take out a second mortgage on his home in California to pay for the dinner. I think the food was better on the fifth floor. The view was spectacular though. If ever in Taipei and want the best view, go to the 85th floor and visit the restaurant "Diamond Tony's 85". Then go strait the the Mens room (sorry ladies). The urinals back up the the window and you can look straight down while managing your business.

Here are a couple of monuments in Taipei. The most visited site is the National Museum which we were not able to visit due to lack of time (I am here for work). We were able to visit some of these other places though during the evening which were pretty cool to look at.

This is Chiang Kai-Shek (CKS) Memorial. After WW2, China had some political unrest between the ruling party and the communist party. Well as we all know, the Communist party under General Mao won. The former ruling party led by Chiang Kai-Shek fled to Taipei and formed the Republic of China. They also took a huge amount of the Chinese national Treasures which are still hidden in the mountains of Taiwan and displayed in the National Museum. Which government philosphy was right? Well Taiwan is known as the biggest conductor producer in the world. They do not condone the DVD piracy and other trademark infringements as China does and citizens in Taiwan enjoy nearly every freedom we Americans enjoy. China on the other hand is not so free.

Here is the national threater. I dont know how often musicals such as Wicked and Les Mesirables plays here. Still a beautiful building.

Here is my wifes dream come true. A night market that is filled with really cheap goods. I said earlier that the Taiwanese do not condone trademark infringements. All of these cheap goods also have cheap local brands. The knock off Coach purses actually have a tag that says some other brand completey.

There is also the typical fair food that you would find in Minnesota. I found one vendor that carried everything on a stick (reminded me on Minnesota). Watch out for the stinky tofu though. It reminded me of a diaper in the sun for a couple of days and then pressed into a semi edible food that you eat off of a dare (I did not try it as I do not go for dares).

Tainan Taiwan

2008-12-13T11:07:00.001-08:00

Tainan is the old capital in Southern Taiwan. Tainan has a history of being an old Dutch colony in the 1600's. The city used to contain a couple of old Dutch forts that have been redone in Chinese styles and then used by the Japanese in WW2.

The first building we visited was Chikan Tower. It is also referred to as Sea God temple (today). This used to be a Dutch fort but was taken by the Chinese army in the 1600's led by Koxinga (Chinese General that was revered in Taiwan). This building was left in disrepair and was reconstructed in the 1800's in a chinese style. Back in the day the Dutch were refered to as the "Red Haired Devils". I dont think they invited to many natives to tea back then.

Here is a statue depiciting the defeat of the Dutch. The war lasted 10 years and the Dutch soldiers were rewarded with their lives for fighting so bravely.

This is the Chinese god of literature. Shown here is the depiction of how dificult it is to properly write Chinese. You must hold the brush in one hand, the ink cup in the other while stepping on a squid and kicking the stars with the other foot. I tried this in my hotel room and nearly broke the coffee table. Chinese children learn martial arts and writing at the same time. This explains Bruce Lee and Jacky Chans abilty to fight and act...

The Dutch also had another fort by the beach. This fort was An Ping Fort and is located in the old part of the city.

We were here on the same day as all the little kids from the local school. each local school dresses in a diferent color to depict which group they are with. THis is the blue pants and white shirt group. There was also a blue pants and blue shirt group and a red and white shirt group. I was of course a local celebrity. Every kid had to show me there English skills by yelling "hello!" (or more like He-wo) when ever I passed. Well to all my Asian fans, Nie Hao!

Here is an original wall from the Dutch fort. Pop Quiz: If you were building a fort on an sland in the pacific that was near China, what would you make the wall out of? Answer: Sea Shells, sugar can syrup and sticky rice of course.

Here is a huge statue of Koxinga, the Chinese general that saved Taiwan from the evil red haired devil (the Dutch). He actually died 3 months after the dutch left of some natural cause (He was either sick or had he slipped off the squid while writing a letter to his mother). This statue was carved from a single rock in China and shipped here. Pretty impressive!

Here is Steve Kim and I eating a local dish on a bamboo table in stools that are way too short. I think the brown stuff was oysters, the white things in gravy where very slimy dumplings and the plate in front of me was shimp rolls. The green beverage was like a Sprikte with 3 times the sugar. Richard, our local Taiwanese friend was taking the picture for us. Thanks Richard for taking us to so many cool places!

Taipei Earthquake

2008-12-13T10:50:00.000-08:00

Strong earthquake hits northern Taiwan

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Officials say a 6.0 magnitude earthquake has struck northern Taiwan, rattling buildings, but causing no damage or casualties.
The Central Weather Bureau says the quake struck 12 miles (20 kilometers) north of the northeastern city of Ilan at 12:59 a.m. Monday.
Ilan is about 44 miles east of the capital of Taipei.
The CWS says this latest quake is not related to the 6.4 magnitude temblor that struck in the Pacific Ocean off of southern Taiwan on Sunday.
Earthquakes frequently rattle Taiwan, but most are minor and cause little damage. A 7.6-magnitude quake in central Taiwan in September 1999 killed more than 2,300 people

This is a copy of the article in USA Today On Monday, December 8th, 2008. At the time I was in bed asleep on the 10th floor of the Howard Plaza Hotel in Taipei. I awoke to my bed shaking violently. I felt the whole room swaying from side to side. I couldn't tell how much the room was actually moving. The whole thing lasted for about 30 seconds and when it was over I surveyed the room to see what had fallen. The only thing out of place was an empty coke bottle that had fell off the dresser and rolled across the floor.

Shanghai

2008-12-06T05:04:00.000-08:00

What do you get when you take alot of vacant land and even more money and a will to make something? You get Shanghai. You also get the worlds architects verging on a single area to make the most beautiful landscape that standsout against anything else in the world. In 1992, the east bank of the Huangpu river was completely empty. Look at it now.

Here is a traditional shopping district. The little shops on this street sell everything from fine jewelry to fake watches. Most of the shop owners would even bargain with you for a better price. I am not used to bargaining for goods and thought I got a good deal when I talked one merchant down from 900RMB to 800RMB for a set of jade statues. My counterpart then shown me the true art of negotiation by talking a merchant from 150RMB to 80RMB for a couple of scarves. Great negotiation!

One of the sites in Shanghai is the Yuyan Garden. This is an old garden where a wealthy land owner in 1559 built a garden for his father, a wealthy government official during the Ming Dynasty. He used rocks and water to make a beautiful garden where he could gather together with guests and drink tea and relax. Here are some pictures of the garden.

Here is a pond within the Yuyuan Garden. This was a visit in December. Imagine this in the spring!

This is another hungry Fu. I stared him down pretty good, but then he is stone so I think he won.

If the Fu wasn't tough enough of a guardian, this dragon circled a portion of the garden. I could only catch a shot of the head.

At night I was treated to dinner at M on the Bund, a fabulous French restaurant on the Huangpu River. Fabulous food, but even a better view.

This is the Oriental Pearl building. It is the TV Tower in Shanghai, but is a great example of the diverse architecture.

Nanjing

2008-12-05T21:16:00.000-08:00

Nanjing is the old capital of China 600 years ago, during the Ming Dynasty. I visited it briefly and saw the old city gate and the Confucius temple. This is a beautiful city and I hope I can come again.

Here is the gate to the city. Nanjing used to have the largest wall. It was a model for the current capital, Beijing.

Here is me practicing my kung fu moves. I was taught by an excellent teacher...

The original Kung Fu Panda

The Fu (stone lions) are hungry.

This is the entrance to the Confucius temple in Nanjing.

Confucius Says...

2008-12-05T20:19:00.000-08:00

While in Nanjing I went to visit the temple dedicated to the smartest Chinese man ever. Confucius lifed a long time ago (550BC) and was a Philosipher who promoted Poetry, Music, Human interaction (laws and politics) and respect for elders (parents). Confucius's given name was Qiu (sounds like Cho) and was a Chinese father figure for many (Chinese word for Father is Fu).

Here are pictures of his temple.

this is the entrance of the temple from inside the courtyard. You can imagine Confucius standing up there talking to his pupils. In fact, Confucius never lived here. This building is old, but not 2500 years old. This was constructed years later in his memory. In fact, this is not the only temple to Confucius. The oldest is in his home town of Qufu and is nearly 2500 years old. The walk way up to the first building is flanked by status of a few of his disciples. Each of these disciples focused on one of his doctrines and where known as great philosiphers themselves.

Here is a painting of Confucius. This is inside the main temple building. He is surrounded by musical instruments such as drums, bells and stringed instruments. Confucius believed in music as being very important for education.

Here are the bells. Different than you would think.

This is the big bell that the followers would ring to call classes to order.

This drum weighs 1000 kg (2200 lbs or one ton) and is made of bronze.

Trip to China

2008-12-04T05:16:00.000-08:00

December 1st through the 7th, 2008

I visited The shanghai area for work this week and had the chance to spend the night in Shanghai, Suzhou, Yangzhou and Nanjing. This is my first time to China and I learned alot that I want to share with those who might read this blog.

First, here is a map of where I visited. Shanghai is a large city with nearly 16 million citizens. I flew into Shanghai (Pudong Airport) and noticed that the city disapeared under the blanket of yellow smog. Since arriving I have not seen the sun or any spot of blue sky. Asking my friends here they also confirmed that they never see blue skies in China. How sad? the air is very polluted and dificult to breath. It also stings the eyes. People know that Beijing is the most polluted city (air quality) on the planet. The rest of China is not much better. After a couple days of cold and a week to get used to the smog, I started to get used to the air.

Another thing I learned was that the Chinese drive very interesting vehicles. If it rolls, they will try to take it down the freeway. I have seen bikes, which I expected, but I also saw these vehicles as well.

Which wheel is most important? Definitely the one in front.

This is a true MPV (multi purpose vehicle). The front is in fact a rotor tiller and can be seperated so they can till their ground. When not preparing the fields, they can use it as a tractor or even a car.

Here is the motorized wheel barrow, or a dumptruck with the bed on the front.

Here is the most popular vehicle in China, the three wheeled bike. I should have took a picture of a fully loaded bike as they are the work horse of delivery vehicles here.

Besides driving, people here are very brave. Our Chinese friend said that this is why China has such a great military, because people are not afraid to die here. It is amazing how many times people will be running in front of cars while on the road. Either they are darting in front of traffic or they are riding their bikes the wrong direction along the freeway. I am glad that I was not driving while here are I believe I would have hit at least one pedestrian. I am not trained to drive while constantly honking the horn.
While on the road you see that their is a lot of Volkwagons. They were the first foreign car company to start building cars in China and hold the number one market share position. the number two spot? GM with the Buick brand. Way to go GM! Seeing the market potential in China was a great foresight. China will one day buy many more cars than the US.

The thing I was most afraid of was the food. Chinese have a different idea of cuisine. They can eat about anything. The traditional chinese meal is served in small dishes that are shared by everyone at the table. The nicer restaurants we ate at had a large lazy susan style rotating table to aid in the sharing of food. Everyone at the table will dig in to the many dishes with their chopsticks and try a bit of everything. All the plates are very small so you cant load up on the food all at once. When we would eat dinner with four people, we would have about 8 to 10 different dishes so there was alot of food to try. Here is a couple of pictures of unusual food that we had this week (I didn't try all of this of course. I am a chicken when it comes to scary food). I am disappointed to say that Fortune cookies are not really a chinese tradition. they actually come from China Town in San Francisco. The Chinese finish each meal off with fruit such as watermellon or cantelope.

This is me eating Sweat and Sour Pork (very similar to what we get back home)

I never really know what everything is called, but this fish was staring me down and I have a rule that I dont eat anything that looks back.

This isn't sausage (yet). This is fried intestine with some sauce. I wish I can say it was delicious, but I wasn't brave enough to try it.

It is amazing how many edible parts are on a duck. This is a picture of cooked duck feet. We also ordered duck tongue one lunch, but I didn't have my camera with me. I did try the duck stomach and found it to be very chewy. I wont try it again though.

Everywhere else in the world you find McDonalds on every corner. Not in China. here there is KFC's everywhere. I saw at least ten KFC's to every McDonalds. No, I didn't eat here.

This is a street in Yangzhou. It was lit up just like Las Vegas with flashing lights and bright buildings. I was overwhelmed with the lights until I got to Shanghai at night.

Even the boats on the Huangpu Rver are lit up as brite as possible.

The final thing I was amazed at was the toilets. I am the kind of guy that likes to think things through while using the toilets. I am guessing this commode is designed to speed things up a bit. This is taken at a customers office building. Thank goodness my hotel had a traditional western throne.

Trip to Hamburg October, 2008

2008-11-19T19:30:00.001-08:00

I had to go to a conference in Hamburg Germany and give a presentation on advanced oxidation technology in the production of carbon fiber. While I was there I took a day to walk around and see the town.

The best thing to do in Hamburg is visit a store called "Baeren Treff". It is a store that sells only the best gummi candy on the planet. No exageration. I got the idea off of trip advisor and stopped by to get some gummy bears. I purchased a bag called fruit salad, and then didn't try it till I got home. Those were the best candies I have ever had. Next time I am in Hamburg, I will buy many bags.

Here are some select photos of Hamburg.

Hamburg is known for its harbor. It is probably the most important thing to the city and the number one attraction. I dont really know why as it is just a harbor.

The number two attraction is the Reeperbahn, which is translated into "mile of sin". I confess I did walk this section of town, but it was at 11am on a Monday. Not much happening here at this time. This picture is one stop on the mile. Imagine an entire mile of shops like this. This is a happening place at night. I was warned about getting a $30 cup of coffee (it comes with a bit more than coffee). Good thing I dont drink coffee...

This is St. Nicholas's Cathedral. It did not survive WW2 as well as some buildings. They have restored it as a memorial. You can see that the tower is still erect and now houses an elevator. the rest of the church is an open air park. The statue give you the impression of how they must have felt after the church was destroyed.

Trip to Prague, September 27th 2008

2008-11-19T18:09:00.001-08:00

Here are pictures of my trip to Prague in September. I was only there for a single day, but I had the chance to take a walking tour and to explore around town. There was some beautiful buildings and bridges (Charles Bridge). The most amazing thing about Prague is that there was no fighting here during WW2. All the buildings are very old and in great condition.

The food here is wonderful. I ate at a restaurant at night and had beef in gravy with potato dumplings. The rest of the time I stopped by markets to pick up food to eat while I walked. I love fresh bread rolls and a piece of fruit while hiking around.

Well here are some photos of things I liked in Prague.

This is a view from Prague Castle. There were many artists here painting views of the old city.

This is Charles Bridge. It is the famous bridge with all of the statues on it. My walking tour included a boat ride down the Vltava river. There is better pictures of Charles Bridge available on the web. The best is the photos at dawn and dusk.

In the old town square there is a church (Tyn Cathedral) that has the most beautiful towers. This is probably my favorite gothic church I have seen yet. At night the towers are lit green and the windows glow bright orange. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera when I went out at night.

This is the astronomical clock. This is pretty impressive seeing these were built in the 15th century to keep track of seasons, moon phases and the month and day of the year.

When the sun is low in the western sky, the rossette in the Chapel in Prague castle (St. Vitus's Cathedral) illuminates and casts a brilliant red glow throughout the cathedral.

You can see the outside of King Wenceslas tomb inside the catherdral at Prague Castle

This is the tomb of Good King Wenceslas (from the Christmas carol)

This is a view of the west bank of the Vltava river looking into the sunset. You can see the Castle on the hill.