The opening ceremony - a bust (BIZAYON!)

There we were, standing at Shanghai's largest square in front of two huge TV screens, waiting for the kickoff of the opening ceremony. It was 20:07, one minute before and the crowd went wild, flags and everything, and...






NOTHING HAPPENS!

The screens stay black.
At the back, a youngster had a cell phone with a TV, and yelled - hey - its already started!



And... the screen stayed black.

We waited for 20 minutes like morons. Every now and again thinking it will start, but... nothing!
Eventually, hundreds of people started to walk away, and we decided to run back to our guest house and catch what was left of the opening ceremony.

On the way back we managed to get a glimpse at what we were missing, as everyone crowded against every TV they could find (even at a bag store):



Finally, we arrived and squeezed ourselves in front of all other tourists that were already watching it at the guesthouse. It was very nice, when each delegation entered, you could hear someone from that country cheering them up.

It got pretty boring after an hour, so we went to sleep :)

We'll update soon with sights of AMAZING shanghai. Truly. it is one of the most beautiful Asian cities we have been to so far (architectural speaking):

Opening Ceremony

After spending 16 hours in the ferry from Korea to China, we took a bus at Weihai to Shanghai. It took another 15 hours, but we finally made it!
We will post pictures shortly, but right now we are going to see the opening ceremony at one of Shanghai biggest roads, where a huge screen will display live TV for the masses...
So far, there is much excitment, even in our guest house. TV shows live feed from Beijing, showing terrible haze and pollution :)
For those of you who thought we are actually going to Beijing - forget about it. Prices have not doubled, but went 6 times fold the normal price (these are the rumors here in Shanghai), not to mention the minor entry fee for the opening ceremony - 2000 EUR (that's for the shitty places. its about 4000 EUR for a good seat).

OK, stay tuned, and we will update shortly with many pictures!

Beijing Olympics 2008 - here we come!

So long Korea. China - here we come!




But before we take the ferry, some last comments about Korea by Maayan:

1. Pishi Cafe - we asked at the information center about using the internet and got instructions on how to get to Pishi Cafe. We were joking all the way that that is exactly what coffee tastes like in Korea - Pee (no offense, my Korean friends). We got to the street corner where we thought the internet cafe should be, but there was nothing looking like an internet cafe there, and no sign for Pishi. So we asked at the corner store about internet.
"No! No! 2nd Floor!" was the reply we got.
So up we went to the second floor. And there it was: a PC cafe...

2. Korean women - it seems to us outsiders, that the Korean aging process is somewhat different then elsewhere in the world. Young girls and women mostly have dark, straight hair - much like the japanese do. As they grow older, however, their hair begins to curl, receiving a redish tinge and is mostly worn short, and puffed. Fashion? Perhaps.

3. Manners - we have said before that where manners are concerned, Korea is much like Israel. But really! In the last few weeks I have been pushed so much, got stepped on, nearly spat on by passing men - all more often then I care to remember.

4. The young - it seems that though more people here speak English then in Japan. However, the only ones who have showed an interest in using this means of communicating with foreigners, are the very young. Children yelled at us from across the street "Hi!" or "Hello! Have a nice day!" It is also noteworthy that they mostly approached Shay and not me "What is your name?" "Where are you from?" "How old are you?"

Seoul

The 3.5 hours bus drive from Sokcho to Seoul turned our to be a 6 hours drive due to heavy traffic jams. Mental note - never leave a touristic town on a weekend!

Anyhow, we arrived to Seoul and went to explore this enormous metropolitan area. Wiki says "Seoul (listen (help·info) IPA: [sʌul]) is the capital and largest city of South Korea. With over ten million people, Seoul is one of the world's largest cities. It is also the world's third largest metropolitan area, the Seoul National Capital Area - which includes the major port city of Incheon and satellite towns in Gyeonggi-do, having almost 23 million inhabitants".

Indeed, it is HUGE!. You can walk miles and miles and enter different shopping malls, night clubs, resturants, ...

Here are some random photos from the three days we spent there:

Shay is leading a military march:


Shay is sitting on a red chair:


Shay is looking up while sitting on the red chair...


Shay is sad because Mai told him to sit on the small red chair:



For all those Neuroscience readers out there... Here are a few examples of urban neurons:








You might have noticed that Shay's hair got longer during the trip. A quick visit to a local hair dresser fixed that up:


Too short.


Looks like Haifa's downtown, eh ?


One of the nicest things about Seoul is a river that flows in the middle of the city. It was renovated a few years ago, and there is now a 5.6 km promenade near the stream, with beautiful waterfalls, paintings and vegetation:







Something old, something new:


And finally - a glass of cold beer at one of the pubs near the student's district.

A peaceful day in Sokcho

After yesterday's hike, we needed a rest, so we headed to the local town (Sokcho), which has many of the characteristics of Eilat. It's hot, filled with tourists, noise and over crowded beaches.
But, you must admire the hotels' architecture...

Columbia equipment sucks!

Sometimes you invest your money in a brand name since you think it guarentees performance:
In our case, Mai learned that Columbia failed the expectations:





Look how dissapointed she looks:


But, no worries. Back at the camp site - nothing that some superglue and some sewing can't fix:






Let us hope they last until our return!

Seoraksan camp site

The camp site near Seoraksan mountain was lovely but quite crowded. It is high season, and hundreds of tents were all over the place. Koreans really like to go outdoors - and bring their entire house with them. They have HUGE tents and tons of equipment.
We felt quite modest with our little MSR...



Our local chef prepared the much required dinner after the long hike:



Yep, all those cooking lessions really paid off!


BTW - we finally found the creatures that make that aweful noise in the forest. The sound is similar to cricket, but much much stronger and has a different rythm.
We found one near our tent, but the picture isn't that good (maybe if you click and zoom in you will be able to see the little monster) :