Days 4 and 5 were both pretty busy with specific Olympics events.  Before I headed up to Vancouver, Mariska and I had bought Ice Dance (training) tickets for Saturday, February 20th, starting at 7am!  Although 7am didn’t happen, Jaime and I did make it there by about 9:30am and with 3.5 hours of women’s figure skating (training) and ice dance, I think we saw a fair bit and had a good fill of ice skating.   It was absolutely beautiful, particularly the couples, some with just incredible lifts and unbelievable poses.  The Canadian couple had a good performance, though I wouldn’t have picked them to win gold (which they did in the end).  Jaime and I enjoyed commenting on the outfits, synchronization, themes, and overall match to the music.  What were the Germans thinking in their costumes? Russia & US, boring! China, ugly! Hungary, cool 80s theme! The folk dance couples were cute too.

Late afternoon Eddie and I decided to press our luck and head down to Canada Hockey Place to try to get tickets to the Latvia-Slovakia hockey game for less than $80.  We succeeded!  Had great seats for $75.  We saw poor Latvia take a whoopin, but it was exciting to be in the crowd full of energy, cheers, and get great shots of the athletes and attend what would be my last Olympic event for this time around.

Day 5, February 21

My last day, and with a 5pm departure time, I wanted to see some of the National houses.  The first we went to was Korea, which was meant to be a showcase of Korean heritage, high tech, and winter sports as Korea bids for the 2018 Winter Games (along with Munich, Germany and France).  It was somewhat disappointing and didn’t have nearly the exhibits I expected, or even a very good showcase of the culture or bid location.

Next we went to the House which will be hosting the 2014 Olympics: Sochi.Ru or more familiarly, Russia. With the help of a friend, we avoided the 2 hour line and got in with Media passes.  That was pretty awesome.  The pictures of Sochi look stunning, and there was a good display of Russian culture, both positive and negative.  Watch my video on flickr to see a Russian culture music troupe.  That was the positive.  The negative was the coldness and the attitudes of the Russian hosts.  They were very unfriendly, only mildly helpful, and seemed to want to be rid of us as soon as possible.  And we were wearing media passes!  One would think they’d want to encourage people to come to the 2014 Games and thereby give a good impression of Russian hospitality, it didn’t work out that way.  Particularly as ‘media people’ we have the power to influence others’ thoughts and perceptions, therefore they should want to influence us positively–but just disappointing.

Vancouver did a superior job at hospitality, in terms of its people, efficiency of public transportation, positive energy, parties etc.  Even my mom’s friend commented, “Almost everyone I spoke with is going to go to the next olympics in Russia due to the fun and excitement they had in Vancouver.”  My response, did any of them actually go to the Russia House (Sochi.ru)?  If so, I think they may have a different perspective of what the Russian Olympics will be like.

Russia will have a big PR campaign ahead of it, but each host city always faces huge challenges and still manages to pull off a great, world-class event.  Regardless where the Olympics are held, in my 2 experiences thus far  (Beijing), they are fantastic!   I hoping my next Olympics will be Rio de Janeiro in 2016!!

See Vancouver Day 1, Day 2-3, or all of my Vancouver Olympics pics on Flickr.

After all the excitement of Day 1, Day 2 was a little bit slower.  In the afternoon there was a Canada Hockey game for which some Canada Hockey fans had organized a hockey Tweetup.  Yes, its just what it sounds like, lots of people on twitter sit around a big screen watching hockey, drinking, cheering, and tweeting.

Next was probably the highlight of that day: Vancouver Victory Ceremony.   The VVC is held at BC Place and includes the medals presentation and a concert.

First about the concert, throughout the Olympics each day was themed based on one of Canada’s provinces.  This means that there were special activities or performances provided by that province.  On the day we went to the Vancouver Victory Ceremony, it was Prince Edward Island Day. Therefore, the performers hailed from PEI; in this case, a boy band called Hedley.

The best part of the February 18th VVC, though, was the medals presentation.  As an American, I was proud to hear the national anthem played twice for our gold medalists on that day.  One gold medalist was speed skater Shani Davis, and the other–probably the most famous US winter athlete–snowboarder, Shaun White!!!  It was also cool for me to see the medal presentation of the Women’s 500M short track race that’d I’d seen China win the day before.

After that the 4 of us went for a late dinner at the Revel Room, man! was it hard to find a place to sit down and eat that didn’t have a 45min wait at 9pm.  Later we saw some of the anti-Olympics protesters on Hastings with the slogan, ‘Homes, not Games.’

Day 3, February 19

This was the first day that I didn’t have any scheduled events or official Olympics events to attend, but still managed to find fun stuff to do!  Because my friends had media passes for the BC Media Center, they invited us in to join the Wine Tasting of BC wines.  We tasted some absolutely fabulous ice wines, as well as official wines of the Olympics Games, namely the Sumac Ridge sparkling wine, which I subsequently bought.  If you’re interested in learning more about the making of the wine and our wine tasting, watch our video on UStream.

Also in the BCMC was the Stanley Cup.  I know some (Canadian) people would freak out at this comment and the below picture, but I was simply like, oooh what’s the shiny trophy with all the writing on it?  I’m not from a hockey family, and not from a hockey part of the country, I don’t know what to tell ya.

For dinner, we joined friends in a pub, talking about the Olympics, taking pictures with Quatchi (the Olympic mascot), and met more awesome Canadians.  Later that night, I met up with Jeff who I know from Shanghai to go to one of his friend’s houses overlooking what was Yaletown LiveCity.  That night was the (unbeknownstly to me) famous DJ, Dead Mou5 performing.  After that was a fireworks and water show.  Over the lake they turned on the fountains and then projected Olympics images onto the flowing water–that was pretty cool.

Full Olympics pictures on Flickr.  Day 4 and 5 coming up…

then down to Robson Square to see the Chinese gold and silver medal pairs figure skating champions do brief performances.  Canada’s national youth skaters also performed, with as man as 10 of them on the ice as once!  It was very awesome for me personally to see the Chinese team and to hear their introduction in Chinese as we all celebrate the Year of the Tiger (so they said).

Then we went to the British Columbia Media Center! And watch some snowboard half pipe on TV before getting some lunch at a pub in Gastown and watching hockey on TV.

Late afternoon I headed to the Pacific Coliseum as I was fortunate enough to wrangle a ticket to the Short Track Speed Skating.  At Wednesday’s Short Track was Women’s 500M quarterfinal, semifinal, and final–yes we did get to see the final, including flower ceremony.  In the end China won gold, and the home team, Canada silver!  It was also Men’s 1000M and Men’s 5000M semifinal relay.  In the relay 4 teams compete at once, each with 4 guys on the ice so you can imagine it was quite crowded.  But due to a disqualification, the final will be even more crowded: 5 team, 4 guys each!  What you learn when watching Short Track, is its not over till its over!

Inspiring event! Great day!  Full photos on Flickr. Keep reading, Days 2-3, Days 4-5, or the full post of Day 1 on VancouverAccess

January started out with a New Year’s Day flight from Phoenix to San Francisco, which included watching the USC Rose Bowl game as soon as I got off the plane in San Fran.  Then more game watching downtown with my awesome cousin Kelly and her friends.  The next day I grabbed my passport from Alec who I hadn’t seen since 2006, many thanks to him for getting my Indian visa.  That same day I caught my 1st transpacific flight of the year and headed back to Shanghai.

Back to work in Shanghai for a week, then birthday celebrations galore start.  I’m not sure how its possible but I managed to have 3 celebrations during the week of my 25th bday: dinner on the 13th with a few girlfriends, then co-party night with Sian, Sherry, and Yi, and finally birthday brunch.  Thanks for organizing that brunch, and every other one, Sherry!  This is was also the first time in 2.5 years in China that I really got on a work permit.

Late January, at the start of Chinese New Year, Sian and I headed off to India for a whirlwind 10-day trip around Delhi, Varanasi, Agra, and Jaipur.  India is an immensely fascinating country.

From February, as everyone got back to Shanghai from CNY, we started having more tweetups, including Twestival, where I met a lot of the people I’d only ‘met’ online, including @IrisJumbe and @PDKay.  At the SXSW Shanghai party at M1NT in late February I got to meet a lot more of my twitter friends, including those who don’t live in China and make better connections with them.  To round out February, I changed the theme on my blog to center around life-streaming, (which I’m now coming to hate…)

In March we had our first !talk! Chatfest and finally launched the open beta of the teaching platform.  Despite this, the !talk! situation was in somewhat of a flux, so after awhile I decided to work less hours there and spend more time on my multitude of other activities.  Since November of the previous year I was already teaching English a few nights per week.

With the start of spring, I still didn’t feel that my health had completely recovered from all the illnesses of the winter, so I decided I needed to take drastic actions (haha). For Qing Ming festival, I booked myself a week at a cleanse resort in Thailand.  It was a much needed flushing out of the system that kept me much healthier in the ensuing 8 months, especially compared to the previous 8.  Besides meeting some like-minded people during the detox, I also met some other awesome people at the #BangkokTweetup, some of whom have become really helpful to me recently.  This spring, I also got to connect with fellow Shanghai transplant Arizonan @Mark_E_Evans and another China-interested tweeter @lparsons, whose dream is to move to China–good luck to him.

Jane, me, Al and a pagoda

By late April / early May, when the Dragon Boat festival rolled around, Jai, Allison and I headed to Seoul for a 4-day weekend.  They say Seoul is a city with no soul, but I loved it and think that’s in large part due to our excellent tour guide, my long time friend, Irene.  Check out the DMZ tour, really interesting, including a step into North Korea.  Literally the day after I got back from Korea, I did my first set of factories tours in 2009.  It’s amazing all the crap that gets produced in China!

In Late May, I spent a weekend in Hangzhou with Al & Jane, when they generously took me around to all their favorite sites and restaurants.  Tea plantations, China’s Grand Canal, Pagodas, and spicy wings, the spiciest food imaginable.  I was crying, literally.

As June rolled around I was just starting planning tech events for the Shanghai community and welcoming 妹妹 (little sister) for her summer in Shanghai.  Eliana arrived on June 3 to spend 5 weeks with me and exactly the day after she arrived, we set off to see the ‘real’ China.  The real manufacturing China, that is.  This was my second factory tripping of 2009.  It’s amazing all the crap that’s produced in China!

Around mid-June the Geeks on a Plane tour rolled through town to attend Shanghai Barcamp on June 14, and then celebrated the end of the trip with the Geeks and Glamour afterparty at M1NT.  It was awesome to meet entrepreneurs, VCs, and other twitter friends from the States including @DanMartell.

With Eliana in Pingyao

Throughout June and early July, Eliana and I went revisiting or exploring new parts of Shanghai.  And of course, we went to Beijing and saw the not-to-be-missed, Great Wall of China, Tiananmen, Forbidden City, and she went swimming in the Olympic Watercube.   I also got to see to see Ian, Leslie, Jeremy, and Jenny, and join yet another Tweetup to meet twitter friends in Beijing.  To check another place off my list, we took the train to the old walled city of Pingyao. At nearly the end of the trip, on the bus ride to the airport, my cosmetics case got stolen from my backpack A very sad day.  In this case, Eliana was the rock–thank you girl, I love you!

Just around the 3 year anniversary of my life in China, the internet went on lockdown in China and ever since then Twitter, Facebook, Twitpic, and since even earlier Youtube have been inaccessible, seriously hindering multimedia communication with the outside world.  Mid-July Eliana went home and I took my 2nd transpacific flight, this time to Vancouver.

On the bus from Vancouver to Seattle there was free wifi! And unrestricted access to twitter, facebook, youtube, which was like heaven until my laptop battery died and I realized my power cord didn’t work in N America… A busy 3 days in Seattle with my Dad and friends, Burt and Dawn: food festival, hiking Mt. Rainier, and the 4am launch of !talk! Marketplace for companies, but the weather was gorgeous, the food good and fresh, and the air clean and refreshing.

Next it was time to fly up to Alaska for my grandparents 60th Anniversary.  We went ATV-ing near Denali National Park, watched the sunset at 11pm, pet huskies, took the Denail Express train to Whittier, cruised on the Diamond Princess, went to Glacier Bay National Park, sea-kayaked in Ketchikan, went Geocaching, and had a good week of family time.

At Butchart Gardens, Victoria

For the first week in August, I reconnected with friends from China now living in Victoria and Vancouver, including Heike, Brook, Scales, KK, and Danielle, and made other new friends through them, include Mariska.  The Pacific Northwest from Seattle, to Vancouver and the Island, all the way up to Alaska has truly spectacular natural beauty, clear blue skies, snow covered peaks, stunningly colored flowers, green trees and grass, fresh healthy foods, all enough to satisfy me with what often seems lacking in the grimy urban grey of Shanghai.  Catching up with friends from China who are no longer living there really helped me to get perspective on life there and what is most important.  Getting on my 3rd and last transpacific flight of the year to head back to Shanghai, I was feeling very refreshed and refocused with resolutions for my life in China.

Back in Shanghai, I jumped head first back into activities related to tech, work, events, and, from all my discussions with friends who formerly lived in China, recommitted myself to learning Chinese.  I found a private tutor to work with 2 times per week, started reading Chinese magazines and newspapers, listening to ChinesePod again, decided to more actively seek out opportunities to practice Chinese including looking for new Chinese friends, and eventually more Chinese shows and movies.  I am listening to countless podcasts on entrepreneurship, as well as lectures on world history and geopolitics to start brushing up my knowledge for the foreign service exam.

With my September trip to Hong Kong to see Coni, Brenda, Amjad, Daniel, Stanley, etc, and Stephanie (who I hadn’t seen in 5 years, since USC), I finally gave into pressure and got an iPhone.  Podcasts, apps, Chinese dictionary with handwriting, plus GPRS allowing me to be chatting to someone through Skype while walking down Nanjing Road, I can’t believe I waited so long.  iPhone convert, admitted.

USC friends in Shanghai

By the time October holiday rolled around, my work permit was expiring, and still reeling from all the traveling I’d already done this year, with additional complications, I was compelled to spend China’s 60th Anniversary National Day in Shanghai, much to my chagrin.  (Randomly, I just realized the CCP was founded the same year my grandparents got married).  It turned out to be a blessing in disguise as I got to reconnect with another friend who used to live in Shanghai and was back for a visit: Matthias.  October and November were spent with friends who were in town visiting, including a week with that friend from Germany, Ian down from Beijing and his friend from USC, then in November Sean came back for a visit and the HSBC Golf Tournament, followed by Luke from Toronto (I met but hadn’t seen since 2006), who came to visit family and attend his sister’s wedding

In late October, USC opened their first office in Mainland China.  Also in late-October, I went to yet another manufacturing town, this one specializing in textiles for the Keqiao Tradeshow and also saw the canal town of Shaoxing.  A month later, Bryan, Vivianne, and I were off for a day trip to the Commodity City: Yiwu.  It’s amazing all the crap that’s produced in China! Since getting back to SH in August, my Chinese slowly showed signs of improvement after months of stagnation, I signed up to an internet dating site (thinking about it now, am I that desperate?), and I continued to spread myself over many different involvements.

With Mom at the Chocolate Hills, Bohol

For Thanksgiving, I met mom in the Philippines for my last international trip of 2009, bringing the total to 50 countries in 25 years.  Ten days in the Philippines renewed my health (after 2 brutal days of facing the Chinese hospital system just before the trip) and helped me to realize I was stretching myself in too many different directions.  This feeling was further brought home by another conversation in early December that’s been forcing me to take stock of where I am, where I’m going, recognize my passions, and figure out what I want out of life.  As 2009 draws to a close and I face yet another round of visa applications, I’m reading Think and Grow Rich (again) and Getting Things Done, and most importantly I’m reflecting on those issues and what they mean for me in 2010.  The most influential and memorable book I finished in ‘09 was The Go Giver–great book, go read it, especially if you do business or work in social!

Happy New Year!

Writing this made me realize there were a lot of photos from this year, I hadn’t yet put on Flickr, so if you didn’t click on any of the links above, go look at my photostream now, its been updated: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tofflerann/

Don’t forget, 2010 is the Shanghai Expo and among other reasons, a great opportunity to come visit me in Shanghai! I’d love to host you if you’re coming this way.

Shanghai: Hyatt on the Bund, Vue Bar, 33rd Floor.  This hotel sits north of downtown and due to a particularly well placed bend in the HuangPu River, both new Shanghai (Pudong) and historic Shanghai (the Bund) are . Watch my video to see what I mean.

Bangkok: Banyan Tree Hotel, Moon Bar, Rooftop. From the Banyan Tree website, “The Moon Bar is one of the highest al-fresco rooftop bars in the Asia Pacific, offering a stunning venue with panoramic views” and I have to agree.

Hong Kong: 1 Peking Building, Aqua Bar, 29th Floor. This bar has a great angle and nice height from which to view Hong Kong Island.  The view from here is one of the most memorable and recognizable anywhere in the world.  Make sure you get there before they start turning off all the lights.

NYC: Arthur’s Landing, Weehawken, NJ.  The best view of New York City is actually from New Jersey.  Yes, that means you have to cross the river but the view is well worth it.

Where are your favorite city views? Do you have any for London? Paris? Dubai? Rio de Janeiro? Singapore?

Overruns, 2nds, and ‘it just fell off the truck’ do end up in Shanghai.  However, they are not easy to find: some hunting and lots of patience are required.  Recently I had a very satisfied shopping customer looking for specific brands, namely Banana Republic, LK Bennet, Reiss, Joseph, and Diane von Furstenburg.  We did manage to find a number of the brands she was looking for, at places besides the outlet malls.  While I never guarantee these are ‘real’ (whatever real means in this country), its worth taking a look.  Right?

For discount designers tucked away in small shops, try XinLe Road, ChangLe Road, HuaShan Road, JuLu Road, Maoming South Road and Fengxian Road.

For additional help shopping my shanghai, and the best prices, please contact me!

July 99 :: Alaska :: Celebrity Mercury
July 00 :: Greece :: Royal Olympic
July 02 :: Baltic :: Celebrity Constellation
December 02 :: L.A. – Mexico :: Carnival
July 04 :: Mediterranean :: Celebrity Millennium
December 05 – January 06 :: Mexican Riviera :: Celebrity Mercury
May 06 :: NYC – Canada :: Carnival
December 06 :: Caribbean :: Star Princess
December 07 :: Antarctica :: Antarctic Dream
December 07 – January 08 :: Panama Canal :: Azamara Quest
July 09 :: Alaska :: Diamond Princess

And that doesn’t even include Yangtze River cruises or other minor river trips.

I have done a fair bit of cruising, especially for my age.  And I thoroughly enjoy it, not to say their couldn’t be improvements, but it’s an all-in-one vacation that keeps the whole family together and yet the flexibility that allows us to do our own thing. I look forward to pursuing the rumors of a summer river cruise for our next family vacation.

July 21st – Seattle/Mt. McKinley – Fly from Seattle to Anchorage. Scenic journey north to the Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge
July 22 – Mt. McKinley
July 23 – Mt.McKinley/Denali – This morning, continue by motorcoach to the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge.
July 24 – Denali – This afternoon, take the Natural History Tour into Denali National Park.
July 25 – Denali/Whittier – Transfer to the rail station and board the Denali Express for direct rail service to your awaiting ship in Whittier. – Set sail this evening. Departure 9:30 PM
July 26 – College Fjord, Alaska (Scenic Cruising) – Bob’s birthday
July 27 – Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska (Scenic Cruising)
July 28 – Skagway, Alaska – Grandma’s Birthday
July 29 – Juneau, Alaska – Don & Caren’s Anniversary
July 30 – Ketchikan, Alaska
July 31 – At Sea – Grandparents’ 60th Anniversary
August 1 – Vancouver, British Columbia

Pingyao is one of China’s many UNESCO World Heritage sites. It was the first banking center of China, with its heyday in the 19th Century.  The town quickly fell into poverty and therefore escaped modernization and development, which helped to preserve the city’s original structures.  Pingyao boasts its the only city with the original city wall still intact, and the only remaining original example of traditional Han Chinese architecture from the 18 and 19th Centuries.  (Compare Lijiang, which was built by Naxi Minority of China, and has been largely reconstructed–and expanded.)  While I won’t pretend to believe that Pingyao is all the original or that none has been ‘restored’, Pingyao still maintains its charm.  While we were there it was quiet, peaceful, picturesque, and often times we could be walking all alone down an ancient alleyway–something unheard of in China’s metropolises.

We took the 1163 overnight train from Beijing directly to Pingyao and we had pickup service waiting for us, provided by our hostel, Pingyao Zhengjia Int’l Youth Hostel (an HI Hostel, but no card required).  This hostel was excellent: very friendly staff (but almost no English spoken), set in a traditional courtyard house, exceptionally clean, social atmosphere, great value, and all around nice place to stay–it was rated 2nd Best Hostel in Asia on Hostelworld.com.

The nearest airport is in Taiyuan, provincial capital of Shanxi, which is 2-hour bus ride away.  To return to Shanghai, we took the bus to Taiyuan, then took a taxi to the airport.  If you arrive at the Taiyuan Jinan Bus station, the bus to the airport stops directly across the road.  If you go by taxi, put on the meter, then add 10kuai to the final fare, it should be about 30RMB.  Be careful, be careful, be careful on the bus.  There are some buses operating illegally around that region, and there are a gang of thieves who work the buses (and seem to have an agreement with the operators to turn a blind eye).  I was a victim of this.  This is now twice in <9 months I’ve had stuff stolen on a bus in China.  Take good care of your stuff no matter how large, small, or worthless–you’ll miss it when its gone, and it will be, if you don’t watch out.

Then entrance ticket to Pingyao Ancient Town is 120RMB and includes entrance to more than 19 different attractions, including walking on top of the city wall.  After about the first handful or so, most the attractions begin to look very similar.  Except for the wall, the temples, and the church, most of the attractions are courtyard compounds used for different purposes: long front wall, 1 gate, opens into small entryway followed by a courtyard with rooms on each side and a large room at the back, with another courtyard behind that and on each side. This pattern then repeats for the depth of the property and at each place.  It was a good method to prevent attackers and to maintain the inner sanctum of the business or family household.  Both businesses and residential compounds had this layout.

Perhaps the highlight for me was chatting with an elderly couple who had been married for 45 years and who were eager to chat and show us their courtyard house.  They were very proud of the fact that they had so many children who were now office workers in the modern city and had kids of their own–they had a grandson that was Eliana’s age.  They also insisted on showing us that they had modernized their house to have indoor plumbing, including a washing machine!

In the day and a half Eliana and I were in Pingyao, we saw a number of the Ancient Town attractions:

Residence of Lei Lutai
Yingxun Gate (End of South Street to climb the wall)
Qinhan Gate (End of East Street to get off the wall)
1st Armed Escort Ageny in North China
China Chamber of Commerce Museum
Ri Sheng Chang
Then lunch at DeJuYuan Hotel/Restaurant
Ancient Government Building
Fengyi Gate (West Street Gate)
Ancient City Building (at night)
Chenghuang Miao (Daoist Temple)
Bai Chuang Tong
Yong Long Hao Lacquerware Shop
and others…

Full collection of pictures from the Pingyao & Beijing trip on Flickr