Eat, Sleep, Breathe, Travel

Crazy 4-D roller coaster near Shanghai

I’m not really a roller coaster person. Not so much because I fear for my life, but because I fear for throwing up on people. But I know a lot of people go nuts for roller coasters, so I thought I’d call attention to this:

The 4-D roller coaster, called the Dinoconda, at Global Dinosaur Town in China. 

I didn’t know about 4-D roller coasters until reading the post. There are only a handful of them in the world. On a 4-D coaster, riders rotate in any direction, independently of the track. Thus they are said to enter the “fourth dimension.” Sounds insane.

The Dinoconda is about 260 feet high, and you reach speeds of about 80 mph, doing 760-degree somersaults and taking almost completely vertical drops. And you’re going backwards the whole time. They say it’s one of the scariest roller coasters in the world. Throw in the fact that it’s at a theme park called Global Dinosaur Town, and you know it has to be true.

The park is nicknamed the “Jurassic Park of the East” (though they don’t have any dinosaurs). It was built in 2000 and it’s about an hour away from Shanghai by bullet train. Could be a good free-time activity for travelers on EF College Break’s China trip, which has three nights in Shanghai.

Photo: Ollie T. via Flickr

Chocolate masterpieces in China

If you like chocolate and/or sculpture art, you’ll love this. The World Chocolate Wonderland in Shanghai houses more than 200 works of chocolate art. Judging by the picture gallery, the craftsmanship is incredible. They have everything here, from a pair of shoes to a Transformer to a cartoonish cat, all made out of chocolate. They have porcelain vases, an entire Chinese tea set, and rolls of sushi. All made out of chocolate. None of it looks like chocolate, but everything is. It's all chocolate. I can't believe it's all chocolate.

Visitors get to do more than admire the chocolate art. They can also try to make their own chocolate taught by a professional. Overall, it sounds like a dream come true for chocolate enthusiasts.

The show won’t be in Shanghai forever. It’s a traveling exhibit. It started in Beijing, where it ran for 73 days and drew half a million visitors. It will be in Shanghai until mid-February. They say the company is planning to bring the exhibition to Hong Kong next, so maybe travelers on Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong next summer will have the chance to go see it.

I don’t know who’s making these chocolate works of art (the exhibit's organizer doesn't say who exactly made them), but these people are talented. The organizer says only that they have been created by dozens of chocolate masters. I suppose the mystery only adds to the amazement.

Photo: John Loo via Flickr (CC)

Get ready for the Jackie Chan museum in Shanghai

A few weeks back I blogged about a new museum in Tokyo centered on a beloved figure from Japanese pop culture (Doraemon the robotic cat). Today I’m blogging about another new pop culture museum, this one in Shanghai, China. This is a museum dedicated to legendary kung fu master Jackie Chan.

Jackie Chan is arguably the most famous Chinese person on the planet, so it makes sense that there would be a museum dedicated to him. The star of countless kung fu movies and the always popular Rush Hour franchise, Jackie Chan personally selected the site for this museum (though he was disappointed that his hometown of Hong Kong didn’t respond to his request to open the museum there instead). That’s okay though. Shanghai is a great spot. Specifically, the Suzhou River bank area is booming with all kinds of new museums—more than 10 others are planned to open in the area in the next couple of years.

This will be the world’s first Jackie Chan museum. And it’s about time. The museum will display movie costumes, properties and posters. It will also have a gallery for movie art, a four-story Italian restaurant (seems random), and Jackie Chan’s own movie studio.

If you’re going to Shanghai (perhaps on EF College Break’s Beijing, Shanghai & Hong Kong trip) and you like Jackie Chan (who doesn’t?), this museum could be a great place to visit in your free time.

Photo: gunwoo via Flickr (CC)

Some odds and ends from Shanghai

I came across a few separate items related to Shanghai today, so I thought I’d fill you in. Shanghai is by all accounts an amazing city—temples, gardens, and the third-tallest building in the world. Here's what else I've learned today:

First, Shanghai has a new Museum of Glass. If that doesn’t get you excited, you should spend a few moments thinking seriously about glass. The museum, which opened last week, is in a former glass factory, and it focuses on the art and science of glass. You can learn exactly what glass is, find out about the history of glass, and see the role glass plays in our daily lives. There's also a gallery of glass art. It’s a dream for any glass enthusiast.

I also read that Shanghai is a hotbed of new museums. Back in 2000, the city declared it would have 100 new museums by 2005. They’ve blown past that. And many of them are free to enter, which is always nice. I found an article that highlights the eight strangest museums in Shanghai. My personal favorite is the chopsticks museum (I like chopsticks).

Finally, I came upon an amazing Shanghai video. If you have about five minutes to kill, you could do much worse than this time-lapse video of a miniature Shanghai in action. It makes me want to visit Shanghai. It shows a bustling model city, day and night, all to a nice Thievery Corporation soundtrack. It’s mesmerizing. (Side note: I’m a sucker for miniatures. This miniature airport in Hamburg, Germany blew my mind.)

As for real Shanghai, EF College Break’s China trip goes there. I have been to China, but not yet to Shanghai. It’s on my list. If you go with EF College Break, please tell me how it is. I am curious about the glass museum.

Photo: Gregory Jordan via Flickr (CC)

Thinking about time zones

Anyone who’s ever traveled long distances knows what it’s like to go to a different time zone. It’s a little disorienting, and, depending on how far you go, it can make you want to eat lasagna for breakfast.

Of course, time zones are just an arbitrary invention by humans to help us deal with the effects of the Earth's daily spin. Time zones actually only came into being in the late 19th century, when the railroads came around and sort of shrunk the world.

I recently came across this interactive time zone thing, and thought it was pretty cool. Basically you can learn about some the quirks of our world time zone system. They have a globe and you can scroll around and read or watch different things about time zones. I learned some stuff I never knew and had never really thought about. Like, what time it is at the north and south poles (where all the time zones converge). And what time it is in space.

There’s also some more relevant stuff. Like China. China is a giant country, but they have only one time zone. So when the sun rises a little before 6:00 AM in Shanghai in the east, it doesn’t rise until after 8 AM out west. Russia, on the other hand, has nine times zones across its huge land mass (it used to have eleven, but they scrapped two of them to simplify things). And Nepal does a weird 45-minute thing.

You can also read about the international date line in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, which does some other mind-bending things. And how politics around the world can determine time zones. And how one time zone had to be altered to keep a lighthouse in Finland.

Photo: Abeeeer via Flickr (CC)

Lady Gaga wax dummies around the world

Get excited, Lady Gaga fans. The flamboyant superstar singer will soon be the subject of the biggest wax figure launch in the history of Madame Tussaud’s famous wax sculpture empire.

Eight lucky cities will have the honor of hosting a wax Gaga. Happily, all five of the international destinations are on EF College Break trips, so you can get out there and see the masterpieces for yourself in London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Shanghai or Hong Kong.

Madame Tussaud’s in London is the world’s most famous wax museum and a personal favorite of mine. Some might roll their eyes at the idea of a wax museum. Some might think it’s boring to look at wax sculptures. Not me. I can't get enough Madame Tussaud’s. I fell in love with it on a trip to London as a kid, when my young mind was blown by the incredible realism of the sculptures, especially Eddie Murphy. It’s truly unbelievable how realistic many of the dummies look. I don’t know how they do it. It’s something you have to see to believe. I proudly recommend a visit to Madame Tussaud’s.

As for Lady Gaga, she was chosen because of her popularity, and, more importantly, because of her elaborate and outlandish outfits, which will be featured in the displays around the world. Included will be her latex body suit with Minnie Mouse buns, as well as her lace body stocking/face mask/Marie Antoinette wig ensemble. Her dress made from raw meat will not be featured.

Photo: Axel Schwenke via Flickr (CC)

JR’s prize-winning street art around the world

If you’re traveling anywhere in the world, keep your eyes open for giant works of art plastered on the sides of buildings. It could be another masterpiece of the mysterious French street artist/photographer known as JR.

This week JR won the TED prize. If you, like me, don’t know what the TED prize is, it’s an annual award given by TED (Technology Entertainment and Design). The group gives $100,000 to someone they think has changed the world and will continue to do so. JR’s world-changing art has been on display all over the globe—everywhere from Brazil to Kenya to Israel to Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin and many more.

Have you ever seen it? I don’t know if I have. I don’t know if I’d heard of JR before today. I hope to see some of his works some day during my travels. I love great street art, especially the large, bold eye-opening kind. And when there’s some kind of good message in there, explicit or implicit, all the better.

JR's is particularly amazing.

This is my favorite.

And this one.

Here, check out the whole gallery.

Now let's go out and travel and see some of his handiwork first-hand.

Photo: yoyolabellut via Flickr (CC license)

Hang out like "Friends" in Beijing

Anyone like Friends? You should go to China.

In Beijing, on the 6th floor of an office building, is an exact replica of the Central Perk coffee shop made (sort of) famous by the long-running sitcom about Ross, Rachel, Joey and all the rest.

I’m not a big Friends guy, so I don’t know all the specifics of the Central Perk café, but according to this article, the place in Beijing has all the classic elements of the TV show’s central hangout: a large orange couch, over-sized coffee mugs, the guitar on which Phoebe played “Smelly Cat.” Unlike in the show, the Beijing locale also has an endless loop of Friends reruns playing on a flat screen TV.

According to the article, Friends is one of the most popular American shows for young people in China. For many, it helped them learn English. This reminds me of my years teaching English in Prague, when my students would tell me they grew up learning English from reruns of M.A.S.H. and Dallas. (Memorable quote from a student talking about Dallas: “I love Bobby. My grandmother love Bobby. Everybody love Bobby.”)

At Beijing's Central Perk, after a slow start to business, word spread and things picked up big-time. Nowadays, it’s usually packed. And it’s not the only one of its kind in the world. There are also Central Perk replica coffee shops in London and Dubai.

Speaking of Friends, check out this behind-the-scenes video about dubbing Friends into German. It’s pretty entertaining.

It all goes to show you, friends are friends, in any language.

Photo: davidwilson83 via Flickr (CC license)

Expo 2010 underway in Shanghai

Would you like to travel the world in a giant vertical eco-airship powered by algae?

Me too.

That’s the idea of one Belgian architect, whose plan is on display at the just-opened Expo 2010 Shanghai China. The Expo started on May 1, and it’ll run until October. Its theme is “Better City, Better Life”.

World Expos (or World's Fairs or Universal Expositions, as they’ve also been called) have been held since 1851, when the first one took place in London. They’re a chance for the world’s countries to come together, put their latest technological marvels on display, and dream about the future. And these days, as Wikipedia tells me, countries use the Expos to brand themselves and to share their cultures with the rest of the planet.

Each country at the Expo has its own pavilion, and each pavilion has its own theme. For example, the Czech pavilion’s theme is “Fruits of Civilization” and the Indian pavilion’s theme is “Cities of Harmony”. The theme for the USA pavilion is “Rise to the Challenge.” There are many, many pavilions. You can learn all about them on the Expo's website.

Hosting a World Expo is a big deal for the host city. Not only does the city get an economic boost from all the visitors, they also get to show off their hometown. Often they build elaborate structures just for the event, and sometimes these structures even become iconic. Like the Space Needle in Seattle. Or the Eiffel Tower, which was built for the 1889 World’s Fair in Paris (it was supposed to be torn down afterward, but when they realized it could be used as a giant antenna, they let it stay).

I’ve always liked the idea of World’s Fairs. I like the idea of countries coming together in the spirit of cooperation, so they can learn from each other and imagine green airships powered by algae. After this year’s expo in Shanghai, the next scheduled events are 2012 in South Korea and 2015 in Milan, Italy.

Photo: stefano meneghetti via Flickr (CC license)

Beijing’s chocolate wonderland

You like chocolate? You have to go to Beijing. A couple months ago was the grand opening of the Chocolate Wonderland Theme Park in Beijing. Willy Wonka would be proud.

The Chocolate Wonderland Theme Park, which is the first of its kind in China, is located on the north side of the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium. There are five indoor spaces (the World’s Chocolate Hall, World's Candy Hall, Wonderland Theme Hall, Sweet Experience Hall and Sweet Gift Hall), and then two outdoor areas called Sweet Stages and Sweet Shopping Street.

Visitors can enjoy anything and everything chocolate. You can learn how it’s made. You can touch it, feel it, eat it. It has chocolate replicas of famous Chinese landmarks, like the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City and the Terra Cotta Warriors. There’s also a life-sized chocolate BMW and all kinds of other objects, like a purse, ming vases, and high-heel shoes, all made out of chocolate. Pretty cool stuff for lovers of chocolate. And lovers of sculpture. And lovers of sculpture made out of chocolate.

The bad news is that the chocolate theme park is only open until April 10. I imagine that is the date when the park staff can’t hold back anymore, and they eat all the attractions. But, if you’re in Beijing between now and then, I’d say the chocolate theme park is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And who knows, maybe it will stick around longer or come back for an encore someday.

I hope so.

Photo: robertmorgan.net via Flickr (CC license)