I can see clearly now.....

Oh wait, no I can't.

This winter is significantly colder than last, and therefore a lot more coal is being used, making the air look like this at noon. Its not just unhealthy to breathe, but it smells bad too!

Below are some photos of our neighbors. We visit with them usually on Friday nights, but sometimes they find any old excuse to come drop by - showing us a new hair clip or notebook, or giving us some candy. They're good kids.



Lastly, do you notice anything different? :)

THE GREAT WALL!

Clayt and I joined a day trip to the great wall of china while we were visiting Beijing. We left at 6:10 in the morning, and it took 2 hours to get there. We signed up for the 10 kilometer great wall hike. Apparently we thought all the McDonald's we had been eating for the previous week and a half wouldn't slow us down much. It was pretty cold, but still beautiful. They dropped us off at one part of the wall, and then the bus was waiting for us at the other end of our 10 k's. What was nice was that we got to see 2 different parts of the wall - an old, unrestored section, and then a part that had been restored. So, 10 kilometers may not seem far to you, or maybe it does. But now imagine that entire 10 kilometers being stairs (uneven, broken, steep) either up or down. Our legs were almost jelly at the end. But it was totally worth it. We both thought it was the best part of our entire trip.





Above, me struggling at the end to make it up the last bit of stairs. Below, clayt decided to take the quick way down - the zipline! Look closely at the second photo below, you'll see clayt out over the water. He's that little dark speck.

Miscellaneous Photos from China Trip

Now, don't you feel ashamed of yourself? This was a sign posted inside the Forbidden City.


Which site would you like to check out first? They all sound lovely...


Above is the sign inside our train from Shanghai to Beijing. It showed our speed and the temperature. Clayt was pretty excited when we reached 200 kilometers per hour.

Below - We bought this picture from this man. He was awesome. He spoke to us in Chinese for half an hour, and didn't seem to mind that we couldn't understand any of it. He showed us newspaper clippings of himself, sounded out the chinese characters on his paintings for us, made us repeat, and told us that the big bamboo in the picture are us, and the little ones are our future children. (you know, he said it in chinese with gestures and we got it) He even stressed about it raining and our bag being insufficient for carrying his artwork so he tied it all up in plastic for us so the rain wouldn't hurt it. He also hand painted us his business card, in case we ever want to come back.



Above, Clayt and I out on the town, getting our photo taken by a friendly stranger.

Below - If you are very hungry, a snake probably won't cut it. But if you are one of those who are only a little hungry....


Clayt in a popular noodle restaurant. We liked the paintings on the walls.

Forbidden City, Beijing

A more detailed update on the Killer Vodka

ILLEGAL VODKA PRODUCTION UNCOVERED IN POLICE RAID
Written by Ch.Sumiyabazar
Thursday, January 10, 2008.

An illegal vodka distilling factory in the Songinokhairkhan District of Ulaanbaatar was discovered in a police raid last Sunday.
The Uurag Altai company, whose operation license was halted two years ago, was found distilling vodka with the fake label “Morit Khangai”, whose vodka has killed 14 people and hospitalized dozens of others. Also found were 200 liters of chemicals used in producing vodka, fake covers and print labels. “The small room where this business was conducted was horrible, small, and had a terrible stench. A container used for mixing chemicals was unclean. There were no safety or hygienic standards at all,” said a police officer.

Last week, two additional deaths were reported due to tainted vodka produced by the Asian Wolf company in Baganuur District that killed eleven people on New Year’s Eve. The deaths followed an emergency situation banning sales, distribution and bottling of alcoholic products in the metropolitan area. More than 60 people are receiving medical treatment in local hospitals in Baganuur, around 30 are in UB hospital due to poisoning. Relatives and families of those who died, received compensation of Tg900,000 each by the Government.

Chief officers of the professional inspection agency and local police department of the Baganuur District were released from their posts and held responsible for the situation. The Government of Mongolia last Friday invalidated production licenses of 11 alcohol producers including: Akhmadiin Khuch Cooperative, Mon Service, Gazriin Sudas, Tasiin OD, En Trade, Nomin, Lenda, Mongolyn Alt, Durvun Khangai, Setgeshgui Tergel, and Gun Galuut companies. In addition, production of 44 alcohol-bottling companies has been suspended for an indefinite period.

The Government has said that a number of laws on vodka production will be tightened in an effort to reduce illegal alcohol production and marketing. Several laws will be amended including those on commercial advertising, telecommunications, public radio and television, the application process for a special license of operation, and laws against drunkenness.

The Deputy Premier M.Enkhbold, appealed to the public not to celebrate the upcoming holiday, Tsagaan Sar lunar new year, with vodka. The city Mayor’s office, together with the metropolitan police department, raided all vodka businesses in the city and closed down 3,949 shops temporarily, where 39,400 liters of vodka were seized, sealed down 1.2 million bottles of vodka, and shut down the operation of 11 distillers.

“The local authority is buying specifically labeled vodkas from local individuals and destroying them,” said G.Gerelmaa, an officer of the district government. She denied recent media reports that said the drinking water and sanitation system of the district was polluted due to people disposing of toxic vodka.

Inhalation, ingestion or skin absorption of methanol is extremely dangerous to humans and ingestion is fatal. It is hazardous to the kidney, liver and heart. Exposure may cause serious eye damage including blindness. A number of workers from the Asian Wolf vodka distilling company were hospitalized, as they were bottling the tainted alcohol. “The Director General of the company, S.Monkhbat, is also in the hospital from drinking the poisoned vodka he produced,” said Gerelmaa. Also, two police officers came back to Ulaanbaatar hospitalized after they worked in Baganuur, loading trucks with poisonous vodkas. “Seven men are under investigation in connection with the importation of 600 liters of methanol, industrial strength alcohol,” said M.Ganbold, Chief of the General Police Department. After the strict ban was enforced, the police said crime rate dropped dramatically. The Metropolitan Police Department said it has lifted bans in small number of shops in Ulaanbaatar, but the full ban in Baganuur District continues.

Day trip to a Watertown

Pearl Tower, Shanghai

This is the pearl tower from the outside. It may be the most bizarre structure I've ever seen.




Above clayt is looking out the window at 350 meters up, viewing the world's next tallest building. Below, you can see how it makes all the other buildings look

Modern Art Museum, Shanghai

time out from photos - BREAKING NEWS

Here is a story I cut from the UB Post online newspaper. After we returned from China, clayt tried at several places to buy a few beers, but was either told "no" by the person at the checkout, or found that the store had placed tarps over the entire alcohol section of the store - no beer, no vodka. We couldn't figure out what the heck was going on, until a mongolian friend filled us in last night. He said the people died of ether poisoning. Below is the official story.

11 DEAD, DOZENS OF OTHERS POISONED BY TAINTED VODKA
Written by Ch.Sumiyabazar
Thursday, January 03, 2008.

On December 31, eleven people died and dozens of others were poisoned by tainted vodka. The substandard vodka was produced and sold by Aziin Chono or Asian Wolf alcoholic beverage production company located in Baganuur, a satellite district town of Ulaanbaatar.
The number of those poisoned was at 28 on January 1, but at Wednesday’s government meeting, the Deputy Premier, M. Enkhbold said the number of victims had grown to 52.
“220 local people in Baganuur District have come under voluntary medical testing. 52 people were found to be poisoned. 27 of them are in local hospital. Health conditions of three victims are critical now,” he said.
The said that the Government of Mongolia has declared the year 2008 as the year for food safety.
Seven of those who were seriously poisoned people, were transfered to the Central Military Hospital located in Bayanzurkh District under intensive medical care. The health condition of two of them is critical, said hospital administration. The rest are in a local hospital in Baganuur.
According to a conclusion by the Professional Inspection Agency, the bottled vodka was made of a methanol alcoholic spirit that was not for human consumption, but for industrial purpose.
The police arrested a man in Nalaikh District, called Bayaraa, who was charged with selling 600 liters of the material to the Asian Wolf company. The man said in his affidavit that he purchased the spirit component from Chinese nationals two years ago. The police are continuing their investigation.
The government has banned the sale of vodka in the capital city for an indefinite period. The inspection agency warned the public, especially those in eastern provinces where the company’s products are believed to have been sold in large quantities, not to buy any vodka that has the titles “Bugat Khangai”, “Kherlen”, “Anist”, “Aziin Chono”, “Tsatsal”, “Morit Khangai” and “Tansag”. The agency said that the company could have produced 3,000 liters of vodka with the 600 liters of the poisonous component. However, no cases have been reported in the eastern provinces. The agency said the first symptom of poisoning may appear 10-20 hours after consumption.
In conjunction with this case, Metropolitan police have begun a close investigation and examination of those vodka producers located in Ulaanbaatar city. There are over 40 vodka producers in the city.

New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve was an interesting day for us, certainly an interesting way to close out an adventurous year. We discovered in the morning after breakfast that we didn't have our bank card. As we had taken the train the day before, that meant our bankcard, our only access to cash, was lost somewhere back in Shanghai (we were now in beijing). We called our credit card company to find out about cash advances. They said we just had to go to a Citibank, and they would do it. We managed to find one, but the office was closed until January 2. We exchanged the last of our American Money ($200) and wondered how long it would last. We still had to pay for our trip to the great wall, which was supposed to happen 2 days later.

I forgot to mention that we didn't have the pin number for the credit card, as we have never had to use it for cash before. So we were worried that we wouldn't be able to get money without our pin, and the credit card co. wouldn't give it to us over the phone. Suddenly our recreational options felt very limited.

As it got later in the day, we were really torn about how to spend the evening. Should we go out as we had planned to a celebration that had a $25 cover charge (per person) and live it up or should we spend a quiet night in and conserve the money we had in case we couldn't get more after the holiday? We decided to throw caution to the wind and went for the "live it up" option. We had a great time! We won a free bottle of red wine. We danced to what some might call bad techno music. At midnight we were covered in a blizzard of shiny confetti. After our feet and ears were exhausted, we went to a more low-key bar, and pigged out on pizza, burritos, and a basket of popcorn.

Here we are at the end of the night, before falling asleep in our warm hotel room, with confetti still stuck to us.


Our own private concert on new year's eve - the owner of the hostel where we were staying was very friendly and played us several songs on this chinese instrument before going to get his violin to play a few more.
Sorry, you gotta tilt your head a little...

The Jade Buddha Temple, Shanghai