Panoramics the Easy Way - AutoStitch

My friend Mark gave me the heads up on this terrific program that stitches together multiple pictures into a single panoramic picture.

I took these three pictures of the Tower Bridge in London with the intent that I would later merge them together in Photoshop into a panoramic rendering. I also have a series of pictures from China that I took in 2006 with that same intent. Note that I don't claim to have actually DONE anything with said pictures (I finally had the China pictures developed last December - I had given up on my original goal to create the panoramic - until now!).






After downloading the Autostitch program, selecting these three files and clicking a button, here is the resulting panoramic:



So I then processed the pictures from Nanchang, JiangXi Provence, China. I can't wait to get it printed and scrapped!



Here's the link for the Autostitch Program

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Some last pictures from Nanchang

Taken again in the early morning, I was struck by the calm water along the water, providing a nice reflection of the towering buildings.



I finally got a picture of a bike full of ducks. Unfortunately, it is blurry, but I guess it will have to do. I did notice that the ducks were all alive, many bobbing their heads up and down as they travel down the street to an unlikely fate. On the way to work, I noticed a what looked like a duck farm – several shallow lakes of water, full of ducks. Oh, poor Jemimah Puddleduck!

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Last Night in Nanchang

It’s Thursday night, which represents my last night in Nanchang. Tomorrow afternoon I will fly to Beijing to spend Saturday and half day Sunday sightseeing before making the long journey home. The oppressive heat has returned to Nanchang. I now know that clear skies mean scorching heat. Somehow, though, I have become used to it - or maybe I have been fortunate enough to be spending time in a place where the air conditioning unit is fairly new, so it works consistently.

The management team at work has been nice enough to take me out to dinner most nights this week, and as a contrast to last week’s more drawn out, formal dinners, these have been more informal and more importantly, shorter. My appetite has come back and I am enjoying most of the Chinese food. I did break down on Sunday and went to the Pizza Hut, but since then, it has been Chinese food. I ventured into a bakery store Tuesday night and tonight and actually felt comfortable buying some bakery treats – egg tarts (DanTa) and buns with dried BBQ beef (I know, that last one sounds kind of yucky, but they are really yummy).

I continue to be amazed at how cheap food is – for example, tonight’s dinner cost $2.50 per person in US dollars. Heck, I am drinking Diet Coke out of the mini-bar in the room that costs $2.00 per can. And speaking of Diet Coke, I cannot find it in any of the little stores around the hotel - plenty of regular Coke, Sprite and Pepsi, but no Diet. So I will continue to drink the extremely expensive stuff out of the mini-bar.

After dinner tonight, I went out to buy Erica a Chinese-style silk dress. The small laundry and dress shop across the street from the hotel has been closed for over a week, so I had to go with plan B – head back out to the dress shop where I had purchased my Chinese-style, “cheong sam” the first day we were here. This store is in one of the main shopping areas – this area is open only to pedestrian traffic, with various stores lining the street. The ladies at the store remember me - the Chinese woman who couldn’t speak much Chinese! They also remember the dress that I bought (they probably charged me too much). But my Chinese has improved over the past two weeks and I am able to tell them that I needed a dress for my daughter, that she was nine years old and not too skinny (but not too fat, either!), and that the dress had to be blue. Ten minutes later, I am walking down the street with a beautiful turquoise silk dress.

So, my suitcase is all packed and ready to go. I can say that this week hasn’t been all that bad – I have gotten used to the cultural differences between the Chinese and Western cultures and haven’t suffered too terribly. However, I am ready to head back to the comforts of my home and family.

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Random Musings, Nanchang style

There is such a thing as "Nanchang Style" - and that is "spicy - hot" or "La!" in mandarin. But while my comments aren't really spicy (trying to keep it clean here), they certainly are about Nanchang.

When it rains, it is impossible to get a taxi. And it does rain quite a bit in Nanchang.

People are offended if you don't eat a lot. I spent the first week here, barely eating. It was due to jet lag, because now, I am eating pretty normally and usually am starved by the time it is meal time. But apparently, I offended some people last week when I ate very little.

Cash is king. I have yet to use a credit card since arriving. I was ill-prepared on the AMT card front, and my card doesn't work. And don't believe your credit card company when they tell you "you can get a cash advance at any bank in China" - I spent an hour going from bank to bank on Friday before giving up.

Forget about personal space and orderly queues - courtesy is optional and really, ignored. Everyone crams in and pushes their way to the front of the line. Just like the good old days in Boston, trying to get into the Sumner tunnel, except using your body instead of a car.

Cab rides are scary. Today, we got into a cab - we were on the right side of the road, but needed to go the other direction. No problem, the cab just turned directly into ongoing traffic. Close your eyes, Shirley, I say to myself, and pray.

There are two speeds when it comes to driving - full throttle and stopped. No gently slowing down. Just go really fast or break really hard.

Crossing the street in Nanchang during rush hour is like placing your life into God's hands - you have to have faith that that huge bus barreling down the street (full throttle) isn't going to hit you. I have been positioning myself downstream of another person (generally a male), so that they would get hit before me and take some of the potential energy out of the vehicle.

Caucasian people are a rarity here and get noticed. Just ask Anthony - his picture is captured on many a cell phone camera, taken by awed Chinese.

And my last observation, a personal one - I had to come to China to remember a description (and to some, a culturally insensitive one) from my college years. I have come to the conclusion that I am certainly a "Banana". That is, Yellow on the outside, and white on the inside. Yep, that's who I am and proud of it.

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Clear skies

I never thought I would say this, but it was a nice night in Nanchang. The temperature has actually been bearable – only in the mid 80s. And coming back from the plant today, we noted that the sky was blue. A comment was made that a clear blue sky was very unusual in Nanchang, and that this must be due to the Typhoon which passed through Shanghai over the weekend – it apparently blew all of the cloud cover away. The view of the sky was clear as well - I captured these pictures of the Tengwang Pavilion, the lights along the GanJiang and the Ferris wheel in the background – taken from large window in hallway by the elevator in the hotel, seventeen stories up:

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Ferris wheel ride

If you read down to my Nanchang – Day 2 entry you will see that we attempted to ride the big Ferris wheel which is located across the GanJiang, in the “new” section of Nanchang. The original plan was to go back on Friday night, but the weather didn’t cooperate. Well, Saturday night was my night. XiaoHua accompanied me there and we arrived just as they were opening up. I noted that XiaoHua didn’t ask the taxi driver to stay and wait for us, but I noticed that several taxis were dropping off other perspective Ferris wheel riders.

The ride itself was smooth and nice – we watched as the lights across the city turn on, one by one. Music is broadcast inside the cabin, and the lights along the wheel’s spokes flicker to the rhythm. This ferris wheel is definitely bigger than the one in Navy Pier - the total ride time was about 25 minutes, with the ascent showcasing views of downtown Nanchang, and the descent providing views of the less developed, “new” section of Nanchang.

Illuminated against the dusky sky, the wheel lends some brightness to this area, so different from the constant neon of downtown Nanchang.




At the end of the spokes are various Chinese characters.



After being mesmerized by the shimmering lights of the big wheel, the rain started. At first, just a light sprinkle - but then, a large, soaking downpour accompanied by horizontal winds. And one little umbrella between the two of us. One thing I have learned yesterday and today – when it rains, available taxis become very scarce. Couple that with the fact that we are out here in the middle of nowhere and XiaoHua starts to freak out. 10 minutes pass without any taxi traffic. I suggest that she call the hotel and have them send out a taxi to come get us – we’ll pay the fare for the roundtrip. I don’t think that she initially thought this was a good idea, but after another 5 minutes pass, she is on the phone. We finally reach the hotel after 8pm. Neither of us is in the mood to go back to the BaYi fountain.

One last note – the taxi driver who took Anthony and me out to the Ferris wheel robbed us. He charged us 100 yuan round trip. But the fare tonight was less than 50 yuan, and that included the fare for the one-way trip out and the roundtrip fare to be picked back up.

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Some Nanchang History and Sites

Saturday morning marks the solo portion of my visit here. Fortunately, I have a host today, Lily, who also works at the Cabot facility. Her Chinese name is XiaoHua, which means ‘small flower’, and that is why she has chosen Lily as her western name. But I’ll call her XiaoHua. I learn that she has a degree in Information Technology, from the Nanchang University and that she has worked at Cabot for a little over a year. I took her picture while we were visiting the Shengjin Pagoda:



I had mentioned to one of the engineers at the plant that I wanted to go to a museum, so that is what XiaoHua has planned for me this morning. We take a taxi to the Nanchang Museum – which documents two thousand years of Nanchang’s history. Yet unlike the Tengwang Pavillion, this facility is empty except for XiaoHua and me.




The most useful portion of the museum is this plaque which describes a bit of Nanchang’s significance in China – if you blow up the picture, you can read the entire text. Nanchang’s role in the Chinese Revolution – the Nanchang Uprising. I looked up some more information around this online and found this entry in Wikipedia:

The Nanchang Uprising (Nánchāng Qǐyì) (August 1, 1927) was the first major Kuomintang-Communist engagement of the Chinese Civil War. Communist forces in Nanchang rebelled under the leadership of He Long and Zhou Enlai attempting to seize control of the city after the end of the first Kuomintang-Communist alliance.
Other important leaders are Zhu De, Ye Ting, Liu Bocheng.
Communist forces occupied Nanchang successfully and escaped from the siege of Kuomintang forces at August 5, withdrawing to the Jinggang Mountains of
western Jiangxi. The day of August 1st is later regarded as the anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army. It is regarded as the first gun against KMT.

Next stop is the Shengjin Pagoda. This is the second main ancient structure in Nanchang, the other structure being the previously visited Tengwang Pavilion (and unlike the Tengwang Pavilion, the pagoda is more than 1000 years old). Here is some information on the Pagoda I found online at China Travel Guide:

Shengjin Pagoda is located on the Zhushi Street of Nanchang, it is the highest construction of the city. The simple and unsophisticated pagoda makes the ancient city more beautiful.
The Shengjin Pagoda was built in the years of Tianyou Period of Tang Dynasty, 904 to 907 AD. Though it is more than 1000 years old, its structure has been perfectly reserved.
The 59 meters high pagoda has seven floors. It is made up of bricks and woods. Looking from outside, it has eight angles. Each floor has sharp angle eaves and eight doors. Inside the pagoda, there is a rotary stair going to the top.
Climbing up the pagoda and looking into the distance, you can see the Ganjing River with smoke flying above and the ancient city Nanchang with luxuriant trees. The pagoda and the Price Teng's Pavilion are standing opposite to each other at a distance in the city.
Near the Shengjin Pagoda, there is a Shengjin Temple with an ancient name Tianfo Compound. People also call it Taxia Temple. The temple and the pagoda were built at the same time. In the front of the temple, there is a moon-like pond.

XiaoHua and I make our way up the steep steps to the very top of the pagoda, where vast views of the city can be taken in. Unlike previous days, today is cooler – still in the mid-80s, but far more bearable, especially with the light breeze at the top.






We also briefly visit the Shengjin temple, whose entryway is guarded several dragon pillars.




We lunch at a restaurant called “Jia Chang Fan”, which directly translates to “Family Chang Restaurant”. The interesting thing about the “Chang” part is that the Chinese character is the same as my Chinese last name – and I am told that my Chinese last name is highly unusual. It literally translates to “long” or “always”. I’ll have to find a .jpg representation of the symbol somewhere……

XiaoHua orders way too much food – a nice fish steamed with a sweet-salty sauce with peanuts, a broccoli dish, a soup and a plate of lotus bean pastries. All of this for 60 Yuan, which is about $6.00 US.

After lunch, we do a little bit of shopping before heading to the Ba Yi Square to view the monument and enormous fountain.



Ba Yi translates to “eight – one”, undoubtedly referring to the August 1 Nanchang uprising. If you look at the first two characters on the monument, they are the Chinese characters for ‘eight’ and ‘one’. The August 1, 1927 date is also inscribed on the base. Unfortunately, it has started to rain, so we cut our visit short. The original plan is to come back at night when the fountain is illuminated by lights. But as you shall see, this never happens. More later………….

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Typhoon??

The weather here has turned for the worse. They are talking typhoon remnants here tomorrow.
It started to rain this afternoon, and the wind started to blow in all sorts of directions. We didn't get to go to the Ferris wheel tonight, a bit of a disappointment, but really, who wants to be that far up when there are high winds and chance of thunderstorms??? We looked out at the night horizon tonight and didn't see the lights of the ferris wheel, so we assume that it was out of service due to the weather.

So, there is torrential rain scheduled for tomorrow. That means that I will not be going to the Lushan Mountains, but rather, partaking in some bowling activities with people from the plant. I am very appreciative that they are taking time out of their weekend to host me around. But really, it kind of stinks that I won't be able to go to the mountains. I guess all things happen for a reason and I am very thankful that I won't just be holed up in my hotel room by myself, because, you know, that is just really lonely, and I really have had my share of lonely on this trip.

We have several people flying out tomorrow morning, and of course, the risk is that they will be not be able to get out due to the storm. I personally think that they will make it out, but you never really know....... we will find out more tomorrow.................

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Friday, July 14, 2006 – Nanchang in the in morning

On Anthony’s suggestion, I went running yesterday (Thursday) in the morning. At 5:30am, Nanchang is a completely different city from what I had previously experienced. There is little to no traffic, and the stores are all closed, but streets are far from empty – the Chinese use this time of the day to exercise, transport goods to the local market, sell their goods along the banks of the river and buy their daily ration of "Xing Tzai" (vegetables) and "yui" (fish) and other foods. The majority of the people are out exercising – walking along the canal and greenway which follows the GanJiang River. After yesterday’s jog, I decided to take my camera along with me this morning and capture some of the what I previously saw.

I took the small street directly behind the hotel and head south towards the canal over the GanJiang. The air is still humid, but the temperature is maybe 80 instead of 96 and the sun has just risen from the east. I can actually see the blue sky this morning and there is less haze across the city. As a precaution, I have my asthma inhaler in my pocket, having taken two puffs prior to leaving the hotel.




As I pass the Tengwang Pavillion, there is a light breeze from the river. I cross the main road, YangJan Lu, which is a 6 lane road. During the day it is full of vehicles, scooters, bikes and busses – but right now, only an occasional small truck transports melons along the empty road. A biker rings his bell at me, as I am almost in his direct path, and I maneuver out of the way, up to the canal and greenbelt, where the streets are lined with people walking, stretching and jogging. Note that I am the only one wearing running sneakers / shorts and tee shirt, – others are jogging in what looks like their slippers or sneakers with very thin soles and most are dressed in street clothes. Several people are walking backwards.



Just past the canal, there is access to the GanJiang. The concrete landing at the street level leads to steps down to the water. Several large boats are anchored in the water – we had seen these boats on Sunday while walking around the city. On Sunday afternoon, this entire area was deserted. This morning, the concrete landing is full of people – one woman with a bag of live frogs, another with a large basket of eggs, several more people with bags of greens, tomatoes, eggplant and other vegetables. Down at the bottom of the stairs, I see tubs with live fish, shellfish and snails. A couple of boats are coming into the shore, with what looks like seaweed draped across some string. Several people are washing their clothes in the river.



The buying and selling is at brisk pace. The fish are weighed using portable, crude balances - a stick with marks across it. The fish is placed on the end of the stick with a counter balance at the other end. A string is moved across the stick until it balances, and the mark at that point determines the weight and cost.


I notice several bikes pass by – on the back of these bikes are gutted whole pigs. Another bike passes with about a dozen ducks, feathers and all, tied on to the back. Then another with chickens. I wasn’t fast enough to take their picture, but I will be on the look out in future mornings.

Finally I head back to the hotel and capture this picture of a man transporting various goods to market. This was my first attempt at a panning shot – it is a bit blurry, but I kind of like it. Hopefully I’ll get better at this type of shot.


The sun is still low, but casting a nice glow on the Tengwang Pavillion when I took this picture.



Today is Anthony’s last day in Nanchang – he flies back to Boston tomorrow morning, by way of Beijing and Chicago. He had a very interesting experience here that I would love to blog about, but he would probably wouldn’t appreciate it very much. Our plans tonight include trying to find some Thai food and getting out to that Ferris wheel.

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Just for Erica

This entry is just for Erica, because I know she had a rough start to her day and she requested that I post some more pictures for her on my Blog. And here they are:

This one is a picture of a performance we saw in the Chinese Pavillion - note the old bells:


And another wing of the Pavillion:


Finally, a picture of the bridge which connects the New Nanchang with the Old Nanchang. I am staying in the old Nanchang.




Now honey, you make the pictures bigger by clicking on them - I hope this brightens your day and I will talk to you soon!!

Love, Mommy

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Nanchang - Days 3 and 4

Although I have only been here 4 days, it seems like an eternity..... even Anthony mentioned that this morning - he must be getting sick of me. Yesterday was really pretty rough - still jet lagged out, we had to start the Training session for 20 people - all Chinese (all men, too, but what else is new?). As usual, I didn't sleep very well and haven't been eating much also.

As is tradition, the group goes out for dinner together at night. Most of the people attending the training session are local - from Nanchang, but we have about 7 people from outside of Nanchang - several from Shanghai, a couple from Tianjin and one person from Malaisia. Most of the local folks did not come out to dinner, but we were hosted by David, who is the Technical manager at the facility in JiangXi. This was a traditional Chinese banquet, at a hotel. It is all very interesting and nothing like the banquets I have attended in the US - in the US, you basically go to a restaurant and you might have a private function room, but most likely that is not the case.

In China, you go to a hotel and are whisked away - sent up the elevator ("lift" here) to one of multiple floors. There are service people (mainly women) everywhere - someone in the elevator to push the floor buttons and announce what floor it is ("Level 4 - Ladies lingerie", anyone?), someone to meet you as you leave the elevator to bring you to your own private suite. It is like walking to your hotel room, except that all of the rooms are banquet rooms. No screaming babies from another table. The atmosphere screams "hotel", but it is really a restaurant hidden beneath the hotel facade.

Last night's dinner was OK - I was very tired and really not into the unusual looking food. And if anyone should be accustomed to Chinese food, it should be me! But once I got over the look of the dish and ate a bit, things were OK. The food is brought by a guy on roller skates to the door of the banquet suite. You don't ever hear the kitchen - the food just shows up, served discretely by your own personal server (again, a woman). I didn't count the number of dishes, but I am sure it was over 15.

Tonight, we experienced another banquet - this one was a little more enjoyable for me, for some reason. Maybe I am finally over my jet lag or maybe I am now used to the unusual smells and looks of the city and the food. After dinner (and after I talked to Erica and Brian), I ventured out into the streets of Nanchang "after dark". I walked quite a bit - almost 30 minutes (and I was sweating buckets by the time I got back), and through my wandering and observing all of the people out in the streets, I was brought back to the time we spent the summer in Taiwan. I had just finished 3rd grade and nine years old. I remember walking the streets of Taipei with my older cousin - it was just as hot and humid then, I recall. Down one of the streets, there were street food vendors - cooking right there, over an outdoor fire pit, selling food. People around eating, kids playing, cars and bikes manuvering inbetween. That's when I recalled my experiences in Taiwan. Interesting how the experiences trigger memories.

Tomorrow is our hump day for the training session - we will also ride into the JiangXi plant to get a tour. Hoping for a restful sleep tonight................

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Nanchang - Day 2

Day 2 in Nanchang (which is pronounced "Nan-chung" - don't ask me why) - another hot, sultry day. Walking outside from the hotel, the heat hits you like an oven door being open, except that instead of dry heat, it is a stiffling, humid heat.

A couple of blocks from the hotel is a Chinese pavillion. We pay the 50 yuan (about $6.50) to enter the grounds and another 10 yuan to enter the pavillion.

Here is the view of the Pavillion from the side and the view of the gardens next to the major highway from the top of the Pavillion (6 stories up).




The Pavillion is guarded by two stone dragons:


Coming in from the airport last night, we noticed a big ferris wheel in the distance. A cab driver took us there, but it was closed! Due to open back up at 6:30pm. I think we'll try another night. But this is the tallest Ferris wheel in the world - it looks a lot like the one in Navy Pier.


Also walked around the streets of Nanchang - people basically hanging out in the street - it is SO hot and humid that all folks do is play cards or Mah-Jognh.

After 7 hours of walking around in the sweltering heat, decided it was time for a massage at the Foot massage place across from the hotel. Normally, I would not venture into a massage parlor, but this one came highly recommended by my coworkers who have visited Nanchang. So 60 minutes and 45 Yuan later, I am relaxed and ready to retire. The training class starts tomorrow....

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Trip to Nanchang, JiangXi Province - China

Trip to JiangXi – Part 1:Chicago to Beijing and onto JiangXi

Thus starts the first leg of my trip to the JiangXi province for a two week work related visit. I didn’t count the puddle jumper into Chicago’s O’Hare, well, because it is a pretty "ordinary" flight that we always have to take when traveling. Because this is work related, I get to fly Business class – I haven’t even looked into the coach cabin and really feel for the folks back there. But then again, my roundtrip flight cost a whopping $11,000, and I am sure that theirs don’t come even close. And from what I can tell, business class is pretty full on today’s non-stop, 13 hour flight. Heaven knows how normal people can afford the airfare – they must use frequent flier mileage upgrades. Crazy.

I got into O’Hare a little after 9am this morning, and walked over to the United concourse. Another perk of flying business class is the use of the airline’s special "red carpet room", where you can check into your flight without waiting in a long and crowded line. I was able to get online for a bit and log into work – some last minute details for the upcoming week’s activities.
It’s almost 4 hours into the flight, and so far I have had a nice lunch – smoked salmon, sea bass and some cabernet wine. The funny thing about the meal was the silverware – everything is nicely presented, we get ceramic plates and real glasses and two forks and a spoon (no spoon-fork combo here in Business class). But the two knives are plastic – a gray plastic, so it blends in with the rest of the silverware. I guess since 9/11, real knives have been banned. I will have to say, though, those plastic knives really don’t cut through proscuitto, but it was fine with the salmon.

I watched the movie, Seabiscuit, just for Erica. Oh, and maybe I’ll get to catch 8 Below later on (but hopefully I’ll get to sleep here soon). I also finished the Suduko puzzle in the airline magazine – that killed about an hour of time.

Our flight path takes us over the Arctic circle, down through Siberia, through Mongolia and down to Beijing. Over Mongolia, I caught a glimpse of the mountains below – it was a totally clear day, and I could see the vast mountain range, with waterways cutting through the gorges.
Nine long hours later, we are approaching Beijing. I didn’t get much sleep – just dozed on and off. Even the sleeping pill didn’t help much. It is completely cloudy in the Capital city and breaking through the cloud cover revealed my first glimpse of the Chinese landscape – and it looked just like Illinois – flat plots of farmland, basically rectangular. If not for the Chinese characters in the plane hangars, I would have thought I landed back in central Illinois or any other mid-western city.

Once off the plane, we had to maneuver our way through Customs, get luggage, exchange money, etc. I am travelling with a co-worker from the Boston area, Anthony. He at least has been here before, because after not much sleep, with my body clock at 1:00 am, I am not too alert. Then some fun starts – since I am Chinese, and, well, look the part, all of the other Chinese people automatically assume that I understand and speak fluent Mandarin. Granted, I have been trying to brush up on my Chinese, but really, it is basically poor The funniest exchange occurred with one woman at the Airline counter – both Anthony and I approach the desk to ask a question. Anthony is clearly up in front and starts to ask the question. The woman ignores him and starts to address me in Mandarin. I then have to explain that my Chinese isn’t so good (wo de zhong-wen bu tai hao), and muddle through the conversation in my broken Chinese. Ai-yah! I am hoping that things will get a bit better.

In the Beijing airport, there are people everywhere – I thought O’Hare was busy – this place is teaming with people. I guess all this flying is good for the economy. The layover in Beijing was pretty long – 5 hours is a long time anywhere, and we are happy to get on the plane to Nanchang. Our light snack is shrimp dumplings, a pork shao mai and a pork bun. And Almond jelly with fruit. Yum.

In Nanchang, it is a sultry 81 degF and the air is pretty well stagnant. The hotel is very nice – I am on the 17th floor. I tried to call home but no one is answering the phone! OK, it is now 11pm, China time, which is 13 hours ahead of Central Daylight savings time. I have been up for 30 hours straight now, and I am signing out – hope to see you tomorrow!!

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