tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88728632024-03-13T14:51:44.630+00:00Cosmic ZooThis blog will possibly contain interesting information on new developments in astronomy and astrophysics, on the other hand it might just contain my ramblings. You'll have to keep visiting to find out which wins out.Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02198967391712742862noreply@blogger.comBlogger521125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872863.post-50797556189014728862023-09-30T20:07:00.169+00:002023-10-11T21:11:21.623+00:00Artificial white water<p> A few months ago I joined the <a href="https://www.cambridgecanoeclub.org.uk/" target="_blank">Cambridge Canoe Club</a> and went for my <a href="http://cosmiczoo.blogspot.com/2023/06/punt-slalom.html" target="_blank">first paddle</a> on a river in over a decade. But, that was on the rather flat River Cam. Since then, I've been out on the Cam a couple more times; once with other club members heading down river towards Grantchester and another time back up towards Jesus Lock on my own. Other than having to dodge low hanging branches and some ducks and swans, there's not been much of a challenge. However, over the summer the club was running some trips down to the <a href="https://www.better.org.uk/leisure-centre/lee-valley/white-water-centre" target="_blank">Lee Valley White Water Centre</a>, so I signed up to one to get some white water experience.</p><p>A week ago, I went to one of the club's pool sessions to try and see if I could remember how to <a href="http://cosmiczoo.blogspot.com/2008/02/roll-with-it.html" target="_blank">roll</a>. In my previous kayaking experience I'd become a dab hand at rolling (in a pool or on flat water at least - I don't think I ever successfully rolled on white water!), but it turned out that I needed a bit of practice to get the skill back. My first few attempts in the pool resulted in swims, but after some good coaching and patience from one of the other club members, I was able to roll again. This practice turned out to be useful for the Lee Valley course.</p><p>The Lee Valley White Water Centre had been built for the London 2012 Olympics, and I had actually been there before; not to paddle, but to watch some of the Olympic kayaking as shown in the picture below:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhowFUYKyLf7qt0QSn3iYKLACzmW3lYtikud-lWvVXm2FLkhpNOKx8l_U9tUw_Lyqrcj_dHPMqA7WVKqHyzruAslnvfahWLGVPi4TKgIlu5Ok95hWzkZGmwv7UmzBANrrraOwkZXOhnK7fyKPdsLPzyHbZG32BVd9WtL5PkbjpfieS5BbaMqDCA/s2256/20120802_164151.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="2256" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhowFUYKyLf7qt0QSn3iYKLACzmW3lYtikud-lWvVXm2FLkhpNOKx8l_U9tUw_Lyqrcj_dHPMqA7WVKqHyzruAslnvfahWLGVPi4TKgIlu5Ok95hWzkZGmwv7UmzBANrrraOwkZXOhnK7fyKPdsLPzyHbZG32BVd9WtL5PkbjpfieS5BbaMqDCA/w480-h81/20120802_164151.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">For the trip, we weren't going to be on the longer and harder Olympic course, but were instead on the shorter Legacy Loop course. After arriving and getting into my kit (I'd just bought a new Cag as the previous one I'd owned had suffered from some rubber decay around the neck) we got onto the small lake that you head across onto the Legacy Loop. As I wasn't quite sure where to go or what to do, I waited for some others to head over first. Once at the bottom of the course, I asked someone what I had to do and they suggested that I might want to get out and carry my boat halfway up the course and just do the easier bottom section to start with. On looking at the course, and feeling rather cocky as it looked nowhere near as intimidating as a Scottish river, I decided I'd just go straight to the top. To do this you had to paddle on to a short conveyor belt. Once at the top, it looked a bit more tricky, but I went for it and got myself down to the bottom in one piece - the main shock had been the first few times getting a face full of water after going over the drops, but it was fairly mild compared to what I've previously endured. I went straight back up for another go, but this time about halfway down I went over - I managed not to panic and decided that I may as well attempt to roll, so I put the practice from last week into action and lo-and-behold got myself back upright! The first time I'd actually rolled on white water!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I went again, capsized again, but also successfully rolled again getting a thumbs up from one of the more experienced club members who was on safety. I went a couple more times without any incident, but I was getting quite tired - I had the start of a cold coming on and hadn't actually felt great all day. After about an hour and a quarter (into the two hour session we had) I decided that I'd give it one more go before calling it a day. This time when I capsized I rushed my roll attempt a bit (I'll use my tiredness/cold as an excuse!) and failed, I tried once more, but then had to pop my deck and swim - my shoe came off and I didn't manage to hold on to either my boat or paddle, which headed most of the way down the course.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I couldn't end the session on a swim, so after emptying out the boat I went back for another go and managed to successfully complete another run. The swim had somehow invigorated me though and I decided to go again for another clean run. That didn't work out though and I swam again - I kept hold of my paddle and boat (and shoes) this time though, so was able to get back in and complete the course. This time I did decide that it was time to get out - especially as the last swim has caused me to get a big gash on my knuckle and bruises on both knees (mainly from trying to get out the water).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">After getting dried and dressed (and luckily having plasters in my bag to dress my wound), I had the drive back up the M11 in the dark to look forward too. My overall experience at Lee Valley was a fun one (the facilities there are great) - it was great to get back on some white water and I look forward to doing it again, but hopefully not when nursing the start of a cold.</div><p></p>Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02198967391712742862noreply@blogger.com0Station Rd, Waltham Cross EN9 1AB, UK51.6888303 -0.017218823.378596463821154 -35.1734688 79.999064136178845 35.1390312tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872863.post-14122562635451042682023-06-21T21:26:00.005+00:002023-06-21T21:26:44.972+00:00Punt slalom<p>According to this blog, the last time I went kayaking on a river was <a href="https://cosmiczoo.blogspot.com/2012/05/slalom-in-sunshine.html">just over 11 years ago</a>. Today I got back in a boat and did some actual river paddling for the first time since then.</p><p>For some additional context, last summer my family moved to Cambridge. Recently, my wife suggested to me that I should try out kayaking again, pointing me to the <a href="https://www.cambridgecanoeclub.org.uk/">Cambridge Canoe Club </a>website. Despite having just got rid of much of my kayaking gear, which had been sat mouldering in a plastic bag in lofts/garages over several house moves (my kag just had to be binned as the rubber seal around the neck had disintegrated), I decided that this was good idea. A few weeks ago I signed up for, and took, the club's induction session, which they required new members with some previous experience to do - they show you around the club, what boats and equipment they have, and then briefly take you out on the river (the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Cam">Cam</a>) to check you can paddle about at a reasonable proficiency and perform a wet exit (I attempted a roll, but didn't quite make it).</p><p>Today was my first proper paddle with the club, which was a nice sedate trip on the Cam from the club house (by <a href="https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/lammas-land">Lammas land</a>), up past <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Backs">The Backs</a> and to Jesus lock. It didn't have quite the same thrill level as, say, taking on <a href="http://cosmiczoo.blogspot.com/2008/06/weekend-break.html">right angle on the Etive</a>, but provided a good refresher on handling a boat on the water. It was a lovely evening, with the sun shining (I didn't have that too often on Scottish rivers in the autumn and winter) and the Cam was busy with people out on punts, so the main task was to avoid crashing into them. Along the way I has to rescue a pigeon that for some reason was sat floating on the water, perhaps after getting itself confused and thinking it was one of the many ducks, swans or geese on the river. I successfully navigated around all these obstacles and manage to not capsize my boat. </p><p>The trip was very pleasant and also provided a nice view into some of the Colleges that you can't get to other than via the river. However, I can already feel that my back is going to be protesting tomorrow about the exertions it had to perform. I expect I'll keep up the trips with the club and hopefully get in some white water paddling down at the <a href="https://www.better.org.uk/leisure-centre/lee-valley/white-water-centre">Lee Valley White Water Centre </a>over the summer.</p>Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02198967391712742862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872863.post-81274526077628509632018-06-08T14:46:00.001+00:002018-06-11T09:40:58.826+00:00Do millisecond pulsars have a minimum ellipticity?tl;dr - The current millisecond pulsar population is suggestive that the answer is <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1806.02822" target="_blank">yes</a> (with caveats), which would be very nice for the potential for observing gravitational wave from these pulsar with future gravitational wave observatories.<br />
<br />
Millisecond <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsar" target="_blank">pulsars</a> (MSPs) are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron_star">neutron stars</a>, the extremely dense remnant cores of massive stars, that we observe to rotate very, very rapidly. In fact they spin with periods of a few milliseconds (meaning that they have surface velocities that are a few percent of the speed of light!), hence the name. They also have very strong surface magnetic fields of around 10,000 Tesla (the Earth's surface field is around 0.0001 T). So, to use the word again, they are pretty <i>extreme</i>. But, while they are characterised by some very large numbers, they also must be very smooth (and symmetric throughout the star). Or, to put it another slightly more technical way, they have a very small <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1303.3259" target="_blank">ellipticity</a>, which is roughly speaking the difference in the radius of a the star along two perpendicular axes on a plane cutting through the star's equator, divided by it's polar radius. It's essentially the size of the biggest "mountain" or "bump" on a star compared to its total size. For the Earth the '<i>ellipticity</i>' caused by Mount Everest (at 8.85 km) compared to the Earth's radius (6371 km) is ~0.001. By looking at how fast millisecond pulsars<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8872863#ref1"><sup>1</sup></a> are observed to slow down (more on which is described below) we can work out that they can't have ellipticities greater than ~0.00000001, which translates to maximum mountains sizes of ~0.1 mm given their radii of ~10 km. So, we can infer that they can't have mountains <i>above</i> a certain size, but is there a <i>minimum</i> size to those mountains too?<br />
<br />
Some colleagues (<a href="http://radio.astro.gla.ac.uk/">Graham Woan</a>, <a href="https://users.camk.edu.pl/bhaskell/">Bryn Haskell</a>, <a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/maths/about/staff/dij.page">Ian Jones</a> & <a href="http://users.monash.edu.au/~plasky/">Paul Lasky</a>) and I have just released a <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1806.02822" target="_blank">paper</a> looking to answer this question, which at least suggests that the answer might be yes. How this paper came about is interesting. In April myself (and the above colleagues) were all attending a <a href="http://www.int.washington.edu/PROGRAMS/18-71W/">workshop</a> in Seattle at the Institute for Nuclear Theory. For this workshop Graham was putting together a <a href="http://www.int.washington.edu/talks/WorkShops/int_18_71W/People/Woan_G/Woan.pdf">talk</a> titled "<i>What can we learn from joint EM/GW observations of pulsars?</i>" in which he produced a standard plot of the pulsar population often called a <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=pulsar+p+pdot+diagram&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjcoujc-L_bAhVlL8AKHXSZCj4Q_AUICigB&biw=1269&bih=547" target="_blank">P-Pdot diagram</a>. This is a plot that shows the base-10 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logarithm" target="_blank">logarithm</a> of pulsar period derivatives (the rate at which their period is increasing, i.e., how quickly they are slowing down as they lose energy) against their period. (As a bit of a plug for myself) To create this he used a bit of software written by me, called <a href="http://psrqpy.readthedocs.io/en/latest/" target="_blank">PSRQpy</a>, that downloads the latest pulsar information from the <a href="http://www.atnf.csiro.au/people/pulsar/psrcat/" target="_blank">ATNF Pulsar Catalogue</a>. On this plot you often see straight line contours running diagonally across the plot with slopes of -1, which represent the path that pulsars would evolve along over their lifetime if they had specific surface magnetic fields and lost energy primarily through <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multipole_radiation#Magnetic_dipole_radiation" target="_blank">magnetic dipole radiation</a>. You can also plot similar lines for pulsars with certain ellipticities assuming they are losing energy primarily through the gravitational radiation cause by this ellipticity. These lines are a bit steeper with gradients of -3. When Graham plotted these ellipticity contours, in particular the line corresponding to an ellipticity of 10<sup>-9</sup>, he noticed that it looked like it provided a cut-off in the population of millisecond pulsars in the lower-left of the diagram (see slide 3 of Graham's <a href="http://www.int.washington.edu/talks/WorkShops/int_18_71W/People/Woan_G/Woan.pdf" target="_blank">talk</a>). This was intriguing, but what could it mean? Well, it would suggest that there was some period-dependent process that dictated the minimum Pdot that a pulsar could have, and that that process might be gravitational wave emission from a common <i>minimum</i> ellipticity. But was this cut-off that we saw real (i.e. are there really no pulsars below the line), and if so what could cause it?<br />
<br />
The first thing we needed to check to see whether the cut-off was real was that the period derivatives (Pdot) we were plotting were the true values. Observed Pdots are not the true, or <i>intrinsic</i>, Pdots of the pulsars. The observed values get contaminated by any relative motions and accelerations of the pulsar with respect to the Earth. In particular the proper motion, or relative velocity perpendicular to the line-of-sight, and differential galactic rotation between the Earth and pulsar, will alter the observed Pdot value. If you know the proper motion and distance to the pulsar, then you can correct for this to get the intrinsic Pdot values. So, this is what we did. The accelerations of pulsars in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globular_cluster" target="_blank">globular clusters</a> can effect the observed Pdot value so much that it is completely swamped. In the majority of cases it is difficult to correct for this, so we ignore these globular cluster-based pulsars. But, as shown in the plot below, which is a close-up P-Pdot diagram for just the MSPs, a cut-off still seems to be present when using intrinsic Pdot values.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mk3wglpvM6A/WxhVKTHUBZI/AAAAAAAAsVo/ao-aVOzJVjwYkY4QW1PxLFzvB8D43i6RgCLcBGAs/s1600/intrinsicppdot.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="636" data-original-width="695" height="365" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mk3wglpvM6A/WxhVKTHUBZI/AAAAAAAAsVo/ao-aVOzJVjwYkY4QW1PxLFzvB8D43i6RgCLcBGAs/s400/intrinsicppdot.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The period vs. period derivative diagram showing MSPs (with those in globular clusters removed). The small black stars show their observed period derivative, and the larger blue circles show their intrinsic period derivatives. Note the lack of pulsars in the lower-left part of the diagram. The shaded area on the lower-right part of the diagram is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsar#Formation,_mechanism,_turn_off" target="_blank">"death line"</a> below which neutron stars are expected to no longer be observable as pulsars.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Could this just be an observational selection effect, i.e., is there some reason why astronomers are biased against seeing pulsars in this region? Well that is a possibility, and by putting the paper out we are interested in hearing whether this is the case, but we could not think of any reasons why a selection effect causing such a cut-off would be present.<br />
<br />
But, can we assign some significance to the reality of the cut-off and compare the evidence for different types of cut-off? If we make some assumptions we can. The details can be found in the <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1806.02822" target="_blank">paper</a>, but we found that having a cut-off with a negative slope with a gradient<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8872863#ref3"><sup>2</sup></a> of ~-3 (the best fit was around to at -3.6) was far better at explaining the observed P-Pdot diagram than having no cut-off at all. And a slope of -3 (which would suggest a process related to gravitational wave emission given a common minimum ellipticity) was ~35 times more likely than a a slope of -1 (which would suggest a process related to magnetic dipole emission and some common minimum surface magnetic field). If we assume a slope of -3 then the best fit cut-off position corresponds to an ellipticity of ~5×10<sup>-10</sup> (this assumes a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_moments_of_inertia" target="_blank">moment of inertia</a> for the star of ~2×10<sup>38</sup> kg m<sup>2</sup>, which is twice the value of the <i>canonical</i> moment of inertia used for the contour lines in the above plot, but means that the same gravitational wave amplitude would be produced as with an ellipticity of 10<sup>-9</sup>).<br />
<br />
But, are there any known processes that mean MSPs might have a <i>minimum</i> ellipticity? Well, for quite a while it has been assumed that there was a minimum ellipticity cause by internal magnetic fields within the stars. But, this minimum value was very uncertain, depended on the internal field strength, and could have been <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/0705.1780" target="_blank">several orders of magnitude</a> below 10<sup>-9</sup>. However, we know that younger pulsars, which must be the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.12942/lrr-2008-8#Sec2.6" target="_blank">progenitors of millisecond pulsars</a>, have far larger (~1000 times) external surface magnetic field strengths. If similar field strengths were buried inside the stars during their accretion phase, and the interior of that stars are superconducting, then these could well be enough to give the <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1106.6322" target="_blank">required ellipticities</a>. But, maybe we don't have to even invoke internal magnetic fields and superconductivity. Centrifugal forces mean that these rapidly rotating neutron stars are actually oblate spheroids (indeed their oblateness means they're <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1303.3259" target="_blank">10s of metres</a> wider around their middle than at their poles, which is a much large deformation that the ellipticities we have mentioned, but as the oblateness is spherically symmetric it does not induce gravitational waves). As MSPs are spun-up during accretion (or as they spin-down during their non-accreting lifetime) they will naturally want to assume a more (less) oblate shape, but the stiffness of their crusts will prevent them from changing shape... until it breaks. If the crust breaks un-evenly in order to reconfigure to the new shape, then this can provide a source of ellipticity. It has very recently been <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.04952" target="_blank">suggested</a> that this uneven breaking is indeed occurring and leading to ellipticities of ~10<sup>-8</sup>, and in fact this is limiting the maximum speed at which MSPs are observed to rotate at.<br />
<br />
So, what does this mean for gravitational waves and our prospects of observing them from MSPs. Given the assumption that all MSPs have ellipticities of 10<sup>-9</sup>, we worked out what their gravitational wave amplitude at Earth would be. We then worked out how strong we expected any signals from them to be in a variety of gravitational wave detectors over an observation period of a year: the <a href="https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/about-aligo" target="_blank">Advanced LIGO</a> and <a href="http://public.virgo-gw.eu/virgo-in-a-nutshell/" target="_blank">Advanced Virgo</a> detectors operating at their <a href="https://dcc.ligo.org/LIGO-T0900288/public" target="_blank">design sensitivity</a> (see, e.g. figure 1 of <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1304.0670" target="_blank">this paper</a>); a pair of upgraded Advanced LIGO detectors called <a href="https://dcc.ligo.org/LIGO-T1800042/public" target="_blank">A+</a>; a potential future "third generation" gravitational wave detector called the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_Telescope" target="_blank">Einstein Telescope</a>; and, another potential future detector called <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1607.08697" target="_blank">Cosmic Explorer</a>. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal-to-noise_ratio" target="_blank">signal-to-noise ratios</a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8872863#ref4"><sup>3</sup></a> (SNR) for the different detector networks are shown in the figure below, where the filled histogram represents the assumption that all pulsars have ellipticities of 10<sup>-9</sup> (the more optimistic un-filled histogram represents the SNRs you would expect if the pulsars were emitting such that all their slow down were due to gravitational wave emission). We see that for the advanced detectors, and their upgrades to A+, the SNRs would be rather small (< 5), which would most likely be rather tricky to be able to <i>confidently</i> detect. However, third generation detectors would be able to see many sources with SNRs greater than 10, which should be easily detectable with high confidence. If we're feeling more optimistic, and go with ellipticities of 10<sup>-9</sup> being a minimum, but with some distribution above that, then we might expect SNRs to be somewhere between the filled and un-filled histograms in the figure, in which case the advanced detectors may be well placed to see signals from MSPs in the not to distant future!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iyt4Wl5C-uU/WxqFzSu3trI/AAAAAAAAsWo/n501f_13Ya49srY21BvmFE5G7trOejfWwCLcBGAs/s1600/SNRdistribution.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="864" data-original-width="576" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iyt4Wl5C-uU/WxqFzSu3trI/AAAAAAAAsWo/n501f_13Ya49srY21BvmFE5G7trOejfWwCLcBGAs/s640/SNRdistribution.png" width="425" /></a></div>
<br />
So, if there really is a minimum ellipticity then things a looking fairly optimistic for a gravitational wave observations. Of course, our hypothesis would be quite easy to disprove if some MSPs are observed to be in the lower left-hand gap in the P-Pdot diagram.<br />
<br />
<sup id="ref1">1</sup>Non-millisecond, aka "young", pulsars are a different matter!<br />
<sup id="ref3">2</sup>The <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1806.02822" target="_blank">paper</a> mainly talks about braking indices (see, e.g. Section 1.3 of <a href="http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/distance/frontiers/pulsars/section1.html" target="_blank">this webpage</a>) rather than gradients in the P-Pdot diagram. The gradient in the (base-10 logarithm) P-Pdot diagram is related to the braking index, <i>n</i>, via -(<i>n</i>-2). For magnetic dipole radiation <i>n=3</i>, while for gravitational radiation from a star with an ellipticity you would have <i>n</i>=5.
<br />
<sup id="ref4">3</sup>These signal-to-noise ratios are the average you would expect when not knowing the orientations that the pulsars have with respect to the detectors. If the pulsars were optimally oriented these values would be about 1.7 times higher. They also assume a particular moment of inertia and distance to the stars (for the spin-down-based limits), which are themselves uncertain by factors of about two.Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02198967391712742862noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872863.post-62841245352680048842017-01-31T22:44:00.000+00:002017-01-31T22:54:09.248+00:00How high are those mountains now?A few years ago I <a href="http://cosmiczoo.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/how-high-are-pulsar-mountains.html">wrote</a> about searches undertaken (by myself, others in the <a href="http://www.ligo.org/">LIGO Scientific Collaboration</a>, the <a href="https://www.virgo-gw.eu/">Virgo Collaboration</a>, and a selection of pulsar astronomers) looking for gravitational waves from a selection of <a href="https://draft.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8872863">pulsars</a> using data from the initial science runs of the LIGO and Virgo detectors. Earlier this week we <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1701.07709">released</a> the latest search for gravitational waves from 200 pulsars using data from LIGO's first observing run (O1) during the advanced detector era (after a complete upgrade of the detectors). The main result is that no compelling evidence for gravitational waves was found from any of the pulsars, but the results still provided some interesting highlights. A summary of the paper, and main results, can be found <a href="http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-O1KnownPulsar/index.php">here</a>, and I reproduce it below:
<br />
<blockquote>
<p align="justify">
The recent detection of <a href="http://www.ligo.org/science/GW-GW2.php">gravitational waves</a> from merging binary black hole systems (<a href="http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-GW150914/index.php">GW150914</a> and <a href="http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-GW151226/index.php">GW151226</a>) has now opened up the exciting new field of gravitational wave astronomy.
However, the signals from these black hole binaries were transient and were only observable in our LIGO detectors for the last second, or less, before they merged. The sources were also more than a billion light years' distant, and so lay far beyond our own Milky Way Galaxy. The signals displayed
a characteristic "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chirp">chirping</a>" form, in which the frequency, or pitch, and amplitude
increased over the short duration of the signal. But, we are also searching for signals that could look quite different from that chirp pattern -
for example sources that are constantly "on" (i.e. continuous) and emitting at an almost fixed (or monochromatic) frequency,
like a pure audio tone.
</p>
<p align="justify">
One possible source of gravitational waves that could be much more local and would provide a continuous signal is a rapidly-rotating compact
object known as a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron_star">neutron star</a>. We have known these objects exist
ever since they were first observed as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsar">pulsars</a>. They are the
collapsed cores of massive stars that have run out of fuel and undergone a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova">supernova</a> explosion. With a mass of
slightly more than the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_mass">Sun's</a> (∼2.8×10<sup>30</sup> kg) packed into a sphere
of radius ∼10 km, neutron stars are about 40 trillion times denser than lead. A teaspoon of neutron star material would weigh
about 10 million metric tons, roughly equivalent to the weight of a small mountain on Earth. Neutron stars are also spinning very rapidly, and for some their surfaces are rotating at up to ∼10% of the speed of light. So, these stars are very extreme objects! Our best understanding is that their pulsed emission comes from beams of
radiation emanating from the magnetic poles of the stars acting like a lighthouse. If the magnetic and rotation axes of the neutron star are
not aligned then a pulse is observed as the radiation beam sweeps across the Earth once per rotation.
</p>
<p align="justify">
To generate gravitational waves a pulsar must have some non-symmetric distortion in its shape - e.g. a "mountain" - that is not along its rotation axis.
There are various ideas about how such a distorted star could form. The distortion could be "frozen"
into the crust or core of the star after it was born in the supernova, or formed from material falling onto the star, or
be produced and maintained through extremely large internal magnetic fields. However, due to the huge gravitational pull at
the star's surface, the material forming the "mountain" needs to be really strong so as not to be flattened out. A mountain on
Earth made of jello, for example, could not get very big before collapsing under its own weight, but one made of solid rock can become
as large as, or <a href="http://youtu.be/jIWhzYq16Ro">larger</a> than, Everest. For a pulsar with a crust made up of
"normal" neutron star material (highly distorted atomic nuclei, free electrons and neutrons) the maximum deformation that
could be sustained before collapsing is about 10 cm, so
not very high for a "mountain" (scaling up the relative dimensions this would be equivalent to a ∼50 m hill on Earth).
If the star was made up from more exotic materials, e.g. if it were a solid <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_star">quark star</a>, then it could possibly sustain a "mountain" up to
∼10 m in height. The "mountain" size can also be expressed in terms of the star's <i><a href="http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-O1KnownPulsar/index.php#Glossary:ellipticity">ellipticity</a></i> (<i>ε</i>),
which is a rough measure of the distortion's size as a fraction of the star's radius.
</p>
<p align="justify">
Making a few reasonable assumptions we can estimate the maximum amplitude of gravitational waves being emitted by most
pulsars. To do this we use the law of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_energy">conservation of
energy</a>. Pulsars are seen to slow down (known as <a href="http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-O1KnownPulsar/index.php#Glossary:spindown">spin-down</a>) over time. This spin-down
takes a very long time, and even the most rapidly spinning-down objects only decrease in frequency by less than a
hundredth of a Hertz (or equivalently, increase their periods by less than ten microseconds) over a year. But, given the
huge <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moment_of_inertia">moment of inertia</a> that the stars possess, this still represents a
very large loss in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotational_energy">rotational
energy</a>, corresponding to a power of ∼10<sup>31</sup> Watts, or well over ten thousand times the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_luminosity">Sun's luminosity</a>. If we assume that all of this energy is being
lost by emission of gravitational waves we can calculate the amplitude with which we would observe those waves at the Earth. This
is called the "<a href="http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-O1KnownPulsar/index.php#Glossary:spindownlimit">spin-down limit</a>".
When our searches are sensitive enough to reach below this limit we start probing interesting new territory,
where gravitational wave signals could be detectable. We do, however, know that the spin-down limit is a naive upper limit,
in that a large part of the spin-down can also be attributed to other mechanisms, such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dipole_radiation#Dipole_radiation">magnetic dipole radiation</a>.
</p>
<p align="justify">
Just as with the "lighthouse" model for their electromagnetic emission, gravitational wave signals are expected at a frequency
related to the rotation rate, typically at twice this value.
There are just over 430 known pulsars (see the <a href="http://www.atnf.csiro.au/people/pulsar/psrcat/">Australia Telescope
National Facility pulsar catalogue</a>) spinning fast enough for their gravitational wave emission to be in the sensitive
frequency band of the current Advanced LIGO detectors (∼20 to 2000 Hz). Our previous <a href="http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S6VSR24KnownPulsar/index.php">searches</a> in <a href="http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-O1KnownPulsar/index.php#Glossary:LIGO">LIGO</a> and <a href="http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-O1KnownPulsar/index.php#Glossary:Virgo">Virgo</a> gravitational wave observatory data
looked for gravitational wave signals from 195 pulsars, with the spin-down limit being surpassed for two of them (the
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_Pulsar">Crab</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vela_Pulsar">Vela</a> pulsars).
</p>
<p align="justify">
In this new analysis we have searched for a total of 200 of these
pulsars using data from the first <a href="http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-O1KnownPulsar/index.php#Glossary:observingrun">observing run</a> of the Advanced LIGO detectors. To help reach the best <a href="http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-O1KnownPulsar/index.php#Glossary:sensitivity">sensitivity</a> we have used information
about these pulsars obtained through <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_telescope">radio</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_Gamma-ray_Space_Telescope">gamma-ray</a> observations; these have provided very
precise knowledge of the pulsars' positions, rotational frequencies, and how their frequencies change over time. This information
has allowed us to accurately track any potential gravitational wave signal in our data over the whole length of the three-month science run (a search method called "coherent integration").
</p>
<p align="justify">
From these searches we were not able to detect evidence for gravitational radiation from any of the pulsars. But, we
have produced the most sensitive <a href="http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-O1KnownPulsar/index.php#Glossary:upperlimit">upper limits</a> yet, and for eight
pulsars our observations have produced limits (using three
largely independent statistical methods) on the gravitational wave amplitude that are below the
<a href="http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-O1KnownPulsar/index.php#Glossary:spindownlimit">spin-down limits</a>. Two of the pulsars that
have long been of interest for gravitational wave searches, due to their large spin-downs, are the
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_Pulsar">Crab</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vela_Pulsar">Vela</a> pulsars.
These are the pulsars for which we have now surpassed the <a href="http://www.ligo.org//science/Publication-O1KnownPulsar/index.php#Glossary:spindownlimit">spin-down limit</a>
by a factor of 20 and 10 respectively. From this we can say that, respectively, less than ∼0.2%
and 1% of their spin-down energy loss is due to gravitational radiation. We can also limit the
<a href="http://www.ligo.org//science/Publication-O1KnownPulsar/index.php#Glossary:ellipticity">ellipticity</a> (roughly
speaking the relative deformation, or "mountain" size, compared to the star's total size) of the stars, and say
that there are no "mountains" on the Crab pulsar greater than ∼10 cm in height, and none on Vela greater than ∼50 cm.
Among the other pulsars, we found 32 more that are within a factor of ten of the spin-down limit. From the gravitational wave
data alone we can limit the "mountain" size for some of these to less than ∼0.1 mm, although the
spin-down limit is more stringent for those pulsars.
</p>
<p align="justify">
Future science runs of the Advanced <a href="http://www.ligo.org//science/Publication-O1KnownPulsar/index.php#Glossary:LIGO">LIGO</a> and Advanced
<a href="http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-O1KnownPulsar/index.php#Glossary:Virgo">Virgo</a> gravitational wave detectors will provide
even greater sensitivity for known pulsar searches, and, at the very least, should allow us to surpass the spin-down limits for ten-or-more
sources. Searches are also underway for continuous signals that are not associated with any currently known pulsars. These
have to search the whole sky and a broad range of frequencies and spin-down values, making the searches computationally intensive, but opening
up the possibility of observing previously unknown objects.
</p>
</blockquote>
Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02198967391712742862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872863.post-62165065339737379742016-06-16T10:09:00.000+00:002016-06-17T08:33:22.404+00:00Yes, we've found another oneAfter the excitement of February when we (the <a href="http://www.ligo.org/" target="_blank">LIGO Scientific Collaboration</a> & <a href="http://www.ego-gw.it/public/about/whatis.aspx" target="_blank">Virgo Collaboration</a>, or LVC for short) <a href="http://cosmiczoo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/firstdetection.html" target="_blank">announced</a> the first direct detection of a gravitational wave signal a lot of people having understandably been asking <i>"Well, did you see any more?"</i>. The analysis performed for the announcement of the first detection (of the source called <i>GW150914</i>) used just over a month of data from the start of a longer observing run (that we called O1), which ran from the 12<sup>th</sup> September 2015 until the 19<sup>th</sup> January 2016. So we did have more data "in the can". And, as it happened that additional data did indeed provide us with <a href="http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.241103" target="_blank">another highly significant detection</a><a href="#ref1"><sup>*</sup></a>. This new signal was observed in what was the early hours of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_Day" target="_blank">Boxing Day</a> in the UK, although it was still Christmas Day in the US when it hit the two LIGO detectors - so we can call it a <i>late</i> Christmas present. As we work in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coordinated_Universal_Time" target="_blank">Coordinated Universal Time</a> (UTC), which follows Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), the signal has been given the title GW151226 (i.e. it arrived on 26<sup>th</sup> December 2015), but internally has generally been called "The Boxing Day Event".<br />
<br />
So, is this signal different from the first one? Well, like <a href="http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.061102" target="_blank">GW150914</a> it appears to be the result of two <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole" target="_blank">black holes</a> inspiralling in to each other and merging, although the two merging black holes are smaller at roughly 14 and 8 times the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_mass" target="_blank">mass of the Sun</a>. A nice illustration of where these black holes sit, in terms of mass and radius, compared to other known black holes is shown <a href="https://gravity.astro.cf.ac.uk/plotgw/bhbubble.html?lang=en" target="_blank">here</a>. However, unlike GW150914 we can pretty definitively say that at one of the merging black holes is spinning. Another thing to note is that if you look at <a href="http://journals.aps.org/prl/article/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.241103/figures/1/large" target="_blank">Figure 1</a> from our detection paper for GW151226 you can't really see the signal in the data time series (whereas GW150914 <a href="http://journals.aps.org/prl/article/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.061102/figures/1/large" target="_blank">stuck out like a sore thumb</a>!) and it pretty much looks like noise. As the system was less massive (but at a similar distance to) GW150914 the amplitude of the signal was intrinsically smaller. The saviour to this was that it also lasts longer in the detector's sensitive frequency bands (see Figure 1 in <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1606.04856.pdf" target="_blank">this paper</a> that discusses all the detection's together) which means that you can integrate (basically sum together) over the longer signal and still "see" it in the noise.<br />
<br />
Given that we'd already announced the detection you may be wondering what's important about this new one. The main thing is that we are now starting to reveal a population of objects rather than a single one. From looking at the population you can start to understand the distribution of source properties and investigate how they form. Admittedly with just two (and a bit) sources you really can't say much - it would be hard to work out the distribution of everyone's height by measuring just two people, but you at least get a rough idea of the likely range. It also allows us to be sure that the first signal wasn't a fluke, and suggests that we'll see many more of these objects in our upcoming observing runs (the next one, O2, should start this autumn with slightly better sensitivity than O1, and hopefully include the Virgo detector).<br />
<br />
We often say that these gravitational waves are opening a new astronomical window on the Universe. And they really are! Imagine that the sky had always been covered in cloud, so you'd never been able to see the Moon, planets or stars (although in this scenario assume that you had a pretty good theory that the diffuse light coming through the clouds was being emitted by very distant objects called "stars".). Then, imagine that one night there's a slight chink in the clouds and through that you see a black sky with a single shining point of light in it. Wow! Your theory about "stars" was right! As the nights go on the clouds clear even more and reveal even more stars and other astronomical objects and the wonders of the Universe (and the exciting physics they reveal(!)) open up to you. It's a slightly tortured analogy, but you can kind of see that we're just seeing the first few points of light as the clouds are just starting to clear.<br />
<br />
<i>Some further information/reading</i>:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>The science summary of these results can be found <a href="http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-GW151226/index.php" target="_blank">here</a>.</li>
<li>The GW151226 detection paper is h<a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1606.04855" target="_blank">ere</a> and a paper detailing all the binary black hole events detected in O1 is <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1606.04856" target="_blank">here</a>.</li>
<li>The data, and tutorials on using it (with ipython/jupyter notebooks), for GW151226 can be found <a href="https://losc.ligo.org/events/GW151226/" target="_blank">here</a>.</li>
<li>A (probably non-exhaustive) list of blog posts by other LVC members about this detection (in no particular order):</li>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://daniel-williams.co.uk/2016/06/15/just-a-second/" target="_blank"><i>The Wave that Stole Christmas</i></a> by Daniel Williams</li>
<li><a href="http://stuver.blogspot.com/2016/06/GW151226.html" target="_blank"><i>Merry Christmas, LIGO: Another Gravitational Wave!</i></a> by Amber Stuver</li>
<li><a href="https://writescience.wordpress.com/2016/06/15/the-cosmic-classroom-on-boxing-day/" target="_blank"><i>The Cosmic Classroom on Boxing Day</i></a> by Shane Larson</li>
<li><a href="https://cplberry.com/2016/06/15/gw151226/" target="_blank"><i>The Boxing Day Event</i></a> by Christopher Berry</li>
<li><a href="http://theconversation.com/gravitational-waves-found-again-heres-how-they-could-whisper-the-universes-secrets-61056" target="_blank">Gravitational waves found again: here’s how they could whisper the universe's secret</a> by Graham Woan</li>
<li><a href="http://fictionalaether.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/black-holes-rule.html" target="_blank"><i>Black holes rule!</i></a> by Mark Hannam</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<br />
<sup id="ref1">*</sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">The eagle-eyed of you may have know that amongst all the papers produced about our detection announcement there was also mention of a candidate gravitational event that was within the originally analysed dataset. We've estimated that this candidate, dubbed LVT151012 (for <b>L</b>IGO-<b>V</b>irgo <b>T</b>rigger), has a roughly 90% chance of being a real astrophysical signal, but we like to be far more certain than that to claim it as a definite signal.
</span>
Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02198967391712742862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872863.post-67461872447839591492016-02-11T16:00:00.000+00:002016-06-22T13:16:59.874+00:00The wait is over<div dir="ltr">
Did you feel anything odd at around 09.50am GMT on 14th September 2015 (I'll let you do the time zone <a href="http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/" target="_blank">conversion</a>)? Did you notice a <a href="https://youtu.be/UA0kNGaYrtg" target="_blank">disturbance in the force</a>? Did you feel a tingle down your spine? Did you have butterflies in your stomach? Or, did you just feel a little bit wibbly?</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
No!? Well, at around that time a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_wave" target="_blank">gravitational wave</a> slammed into you at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_light" target="_blank">speed of light</a>, <i>tried</i> to rip your component atoms apart and then pull them together again<sup><a href="#ref1"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span></a></sup>, and then passed out the other side of you. But you didn't even notice, did you! It's not particularly surprising you didn't feel anything as the disturbance the wave produced was spectacular mainly in its minuscule effect - the waves would have <i>attempted</i><sup><a href="#ref1"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span></a></sup> to 'wibble' you from head-to-toe by only about 0.000000000000000000001 m (see Fig. 1 for an illustration of the effects of such a wave!).</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="01" cellspacing="2" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tjMUbBjRbdY/Vruz4pWGBqI/AAAAAAAAkcU/K5AgjioM0VI/s320/cropalligator.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="220" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tjMUbBjRbdY/Vruz4pWGBqI/AAAAAAAAkcU/K5AgjioM0VI/s320/cropalligator.jpg" title="" /></a></td>
<td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_TI-V-g23Io/Vruz7ITrfwI/AAAAAAAAkcY/7jrKfp1jzVA/s320/croptumble.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_TI-V-g23Io/Vruz7ITrfwI/AAAAAAAAkcY/7jrKfp1jzVA/s320/croptumble.jpg" /></a></td>
<td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7SOwd9T8OC0/Vru0DFf90UI/AAAAAAAAkcc/-y5LrSofuw4/s320/mpitkin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7SOwd9T8OC0/Vru0DFf90UI/AAAAAAAAkcc/-y5LrSofuw4/s320/mpitkin.jpg" /></a></td>
</tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" colspan="3" style="text-align: center;">Fig. 1. The effect of a passing gravitational wave on an alligator (as <a href="https://labcit.ligo.caltech.edu/~pking/critters/gators.html" target="_blank">found</a> around the <a href="https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/LA" target="_blank">LIGO Livingston</a> observatory), a tumbleweed (as <a href="https://labcit.ligo.caltech.edu/LIGO_web/98678news/98678han.html#Article_1" target="_blank">found in plentiful supply</a> around the <a href="https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/WA" target="_blank">LIGO Hanford</a> observatory) and myself (as found in the <a href="http://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/physics/" target="_blank">School of Physics & Astronomy</a> at the University of Glasgow). Note that there is <i>no discernible effect</i> on any of these, except maybe as slight noticeable increase in my happiness at the prospect of the last 13 years of my working life having not been futile!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
However, we (humanity in general, but large teams of scientists - many within the <a href="http://www.ligo.org/" target="_blank">LIGO Scientific Collaboration</a> [LSC] and <a href="http://www.virgo-gw.eu/">Virgo Collaboration</a>, including me - more specifically) have managed to build instruments that did indeed feel something on this date and time - a signal which we've given the catchy name <a href="http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.061102" target="_blank">GW150914</a> (or "<i>The Event</i>" as it was known for a while within the collaboration). These instruments, in this case the two US-based LIGO observatories (now entering their <a href="https://www.advancedligo.mit.edu/" target="_blank"><i>advanced</i></a> phase), one in <a href="https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/WA" target="_blank">Hanford, Washington</a> and the other in <a href="https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/LA" target="_blank">Livingston, Louisiana</a><sup><a href="#ref2"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span></a></sup>, both felt the waves' passing and saw a very consistent signal (see Fig. 2) - other than it looking like exactly what we'd expect from a gravitational wave source, our confidence that this was a real signal came from empirically estimating how often such a consistent and strong signal would have be seen by chance (i.e., from random [generally non-Gaussian] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noise_(signal_processing)" target="_blank">noise</a> fluctuations in the detectors), which we work out as being less than once per 200,000 years. So, we're pretty sure (greater than <a href="http://www.physics.org/article-questions.asp?id=103">5.1σ</a> in annoyingly <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequentist_probability">frequentist</a> statistical terminology), i.e. certain, that the signal was real. And, what's more, we've been able to use the pattern of wibbles the instruments felt to work out that this gravitational wave was emitted by two black holes, both tens of times more massive than the Sun, whacking into each other at about half the speed of light, to form the largest <i>small</i>(!) (~solar mass) <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole" target="_blank">black hole</a> we know of. The amount of energy this event emitted was a whopping 5×10<sup>47</sup> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joule" target="_blank">Joules</a> (quite possibly the most luminous event we've ever observed), equivalent to three times the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_mass" target="_blank">mass of the Sun</a> being converted directly to energy (remember <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass%E2%80%93energy_equivalence" target="_blank">E=mc<sup>2</sup></a>). Or, if you're into some "fun" energy conversions this is apparently equivalent to "<i>the number of kilocalories in 2×10<sup>28</sup> cubic kilometres of butter (that's the volume of 14 billion Suns of pure butter!)</i>" or "<i>3 quadrillion times the energy required to destroy the planet Earth</i>"!</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pwckRPqf2J4/VrpcXhV1wkI/AAAAAAAAka4/whwg1ljuMaw/s1600/Fig1_Split_v17.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pwckRPqf2J4/VrpcXhV1wkI/AAAAAAAAka4/whwg1ljuMaw/s1600/Fig1_Split_v17.png" width="575" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fig. 2. The GW150914 gravitational wave signal observed in the two LIGO detectors (this is figure 1 from the discovery paper, <a href="http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.061102" target="_blank">Abbott <i>et al.</i>, <i>Phys. Rev. Lett.</i>, <b>116</b>, 061102 (2016)</a>) (Credit: The LIGO Scientific Collaboration and the Virgo Collaboration)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This is the <b>first ever</b> detection<sup><a href="#ref3"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">3</span></a></sup>
we've had and it is <i>quite a big deal</i>, both scientifically (there's a whole load of <a href="https://losc.ligo.org/events/GW150914/" target="_blank">awesome astrophysics</a> that has been done using the signal, and it opens up a whole new area of astronomy) and personally. <a href="http://web.mit.edu/physics/people/faculty/weiss_rainer.html" target="_blank">Some</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Drever" target="_blank">people</a> <a href="http://www.physics.gla.ac.uk/igr/index.php?L1=members&L2=member&name=jhough" target="_blank">have</a> been in the gravitational wave detection game for almost five decades, but we've all had to wait patiently without seeing any definite sign of them in our detectors<sup><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="#ref4">4</a></span></sup> (this has <i>occasionally</i> been to the amusement of colleagues in other areas of physics and astronomy). As a member of the LSC myself since starting studying for my PhD at the <a href="http://www.physics.gla.ac.uk/igr/" target="_blank">University of Glasgow</a> in the autumn of 2002 (when what is now known as the "<i>initial</i>" LIGO detectors had just <a href="http://relativity.livingreviews.org/Articles/lrr-2011-5/articlese6.html#x19-220006">started taking data</a>) I've only been waiting 13 years, but that's still my entire <i>working</i> life. For some additional context here's what I wrote in my <a href="http://theses.gla.ac.uk/3558/" target="_blank">thesis</a> acknowledgements section back in 2005:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>I was attracted to the field of gravitational wave research due to the promise that we would be entering exciting times with several large scale projects bringing in unprecedented amounts of new data. Given this the discovery of gravitational waves would be just round the corner, opening up gravitational wave astronomy for real. Little did I know that this has been exactly what’s been said for around 30 years! Despite this I do actually believe that I’ve entered the field at a prime time and finding gravitational waves is just around, if not the first corner, then the next one.</i></blockquote>
So, ten years later, we have now turned that "next corner" and gravitational wave astronomy is finally with us! Many more detections should now be forthcoming in <a href="http://relativity.livingreviews.org/Articles/lrr-2016-1/" target="_blank">our future observation runs</a>, hopefully including other exciting sources as well as more merging pairs of black holes.<br />
<br />
Finally, the other rather cool, and timely, thing is that the signal arrived a century after <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein" target="_blank">Einstein</a> published his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_relativity" target="_blank">General Theory of Relativity</a> from which the prediction of gravitational waves arises. Einstein's prediction of gravitational waves and also <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwarzschild_metric" target="_blank">Schwarzschild's solution</a> to Einstein's equations from which predictions of black holes would arise, were both published a century ago in 1916.<br />
<br />
The paper describing the detection and analysis of GW150914 has been <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer_review" target="_blank">peer reviewed</a> and is now published (<a href="http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.061102" target="_blank">Abbott <i>et al</i>, <i>Phys. Rev. Lett.</i>, <b>116</b>, 061102, 2016</a>) and further papers detailing the detectors, analyses and science results can be found <a href="https://losc.ligo.org/events/GW150914/" target="_blank">here</a>. Also, summaries (at a less detailed level) of the main science we've obtained from the signal can be found <a href="http://www.ligo.org/science/outreach.php">here</a>. The data containing the signal and some example codes showing how to view, and hear(!), it are available <a href="https://losc.ligo.org/events/GW150914/" target="_blank">here</a>, so you should go ahead and take a look yourself.<br />
<br />
More information, reactions and opinions about this amazing discovery (and the time-line of how the detection happened<sup><a href="#ref5">5</a></sup>) can be found in blog posts by several fellow collaboration members linked below and within a special edition of the <a href="http://www.ligo.org/magazine.php" target="_blank">LIGO Magazine</a>:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://stuver.blogspot.com/2016/02/LIGO-FirstDetection.html" target="_blank">Amber Stuver</a> (Post-doc, LIGO Livingston Observatory)</li>
<li><a href="https://cosmoblogy.wordpress.com/2016/02/12/the-era-of-gravitational-waves-has-begun/" target="_blank">Andrew Williamson</a> (PhD student, Cardiff University)</li>
<li><a href="http://blogs.cardiff.ac.uk/sky/2016/02/15/gw150914-a-three-in-one-discovery/" target="_blank">Bangalore Sathyaprakash</a> (Professor, Cardiff University)</li>
<li><a href="https://igoligo.wordpress.com/2016/02/12/einstein-was-right/" target="_blank">Brynley Pearlstone</a> (PhD student, University of Glasgow)</li>
<li><a href="http://cplberry.com/2016/02/11/gw150915/" target="_blank">Christopher Berry</a> (Post-doc, University of Birmingham)</li>
<li><a href="http://blogs.cardiff.ac.uk/chrisnorth/2016/02/15/gw150914-birth-of-a-monster" target="_blank">Chris North</a> (Lecturer, Cardiff University)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.science20.com/a_quantum_diaries_survivor/guest_post_daniel_hoak_gravitational_waves_how_we_did_it-166145" target="_blank">Daniel Hoak</a> (Post-doc, Virgo)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.daniel-williams.co.uk/2016/02/11/grav-wave-discovery/" target="_blank">Daniel Williams</a> (PhD student, University of Glasgow)</li>
<li><a href="http://fictionalaether.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/gravitational-waves.html" target="_blank">Mark</a> <a blank="" href="http://fictionalaether.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/what-it-feels-like-to-detect.html" target-="">Hannam</a> (Professor, Cardiff University)</li>
<li><a href="https://inbeckyshead.wordpress.com/2016/02/11/gravitational-waves-the-big-discovery" target="_blank">Rebecca Douglas</a> (PhD student, University of Glasgow)</li>
<li><a href="http://labcit.ligo.caltech.edu/~rwilliam/GWstory/" target="_blank">Roy Williams</a> (Research Scientist, Caltech)</li>
<li><a href="http://attackllama.com/2016/02/first-detection-of-gravitational-waves" target="_blank">Sean Leavey</a> (PhD student, University of Glasgow)</li>
<li><a href="http://wp.me/p19G0g-Bw" target="_blank">Shane Larson</a> (Research Associate Professor, Northwestern University)</li>
</ul>
Also, be sure follow <a href="https://twitter.com/ligo" target="_blank">@ligo</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/ego_virgo" target="_blank">@ego_virgo</a> on twitter along with the hastags <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23GravitationalWaves" target="_blank">#GravitationalWaves</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23EinsteinWasRight" target="_blank">#EinsteinWasRight</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23BinaryBlackHole" target="_blank">#BinaryBlackHole</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23AdvancedLIGO" target="_blank">#AdvancedLIGO</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>P.S.</b> If you want to know what I was doing when GW150914 passed by it probably involved nappies (diapers for those in the US), feeding a child/cleaning bottles, or doing laundry, as I was on the final day of paternity leave following the birth of my second child (<a href="https://twitter.com/matt_pitkin/status/697444031819816960">here's</a> my first child one simulating a gravitational wave chirp). I didn't see the growing emails about the signal until early that afternoon when I thought I should try clearing out my inbox before returning to work the following day. It definitely made going back to work that bit more exciting. However, all the work to get the analyses of this event checked has slightly eaten into my main job, which is to <a href="http://cosmiczoo.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/how-high-are-pulsar-mountains.html" target="_blank">search for gravitational waves from pulsars</a>.<br />
<br />
<sup id="ref1"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span></sup> Don't worry, gravity is very weak. The forces keeping your various constituent bits and bobs together are far more than enough to overcome any piddling gravitational wave that passes through you. Any displacement (stretching or squeezing) is only noticeable (if you have an exquisitely sensitive gravitational wave detector at least) between <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_fall#Free_fall_in_general_relativity" target="_blank"> freely falling</a> objects in the same <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_reference_frame" target="_blank">local frame</a>, i.e. if there are effectively no other external forces acting on the objects.<br />
<sup id="ref2"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span></sup> Note that another detector called <a href="http://www.virgo-gw.eu/" target="_blank">Virgo</a> is also due to start taking data later this year, but wasn't operational at the time, and that a smaller (and unfortunately less sensitive, but still important) detector called <a href="http://www.geo600.org/" target="_blank">GEO600</a> was operational, but not observing when the event passed by.<br />
<sup id="ref3"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">3</span></sup> Prior to this <i>direct</i> detection (some quibbles over the "directness" of detection can be found <a href="http://cosmiczoo.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/direct-or-indirect.html" target="_blank">here</a>) many gravitational waves have obviously continuously been impinging on the Earth and passing through us, but this is the first time we've had the technology to catch one in the act.<br />
<sup id="ref4"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">4</span></sup> There are very good reasons why they've not been seen until now (basically boiling down to us not having been able to build sensitive enough detectors), but that hasn't made us any less impatient.<br />
<sup id="ref5"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">5</span></sup> The signal was first "detected" about three minutes after it arrived by online analysis <a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/0802.3232">software</a> that looked for generic transient (short-duration) coherent signals, i.e. blips in the data that appeared at the same time in both detectors and looked similar. The first reasonably detailed estimates of the source parameters (i.e. that is was two black holes merging) were with us within about a day. After a couple of days we release our estimate of the location of the source in the sky and released it to selected astronomy groups to point their telescopes at. Following that full and proper detailed studies of the signal, and very careful checks on the performance of the detectors, have taken many months of painstaking work and placed great <i>strain</i><sup><a href="#ref6">6</a></sup> on the collaboration. But, given the general inertia that you get within a large collaboration (which we've experienced releasing results that didn't contain any signals) we've actually turned around a finished <a href="http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.061102">detection paper</a> (after 14 draft iterations), and twelve(!) <a href="https://losc.ligo.org/events/GW150914/">companion papers</a> in remarkably short time.<br />
<sup id="ref6"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">6</span></sup> This is a <i>hilarious</i> gravitational wave pun.
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Disclaimer: everything on this blog is my own personal opinion and any mistakes are my own.</i></span>Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02198967391712742862noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872863.post-34914438125050479522014-03-24T22:12:00.000+00:002014-03-24T22:12:10.735+00:00GWPAW 2013: Impressions from IndiaIn the latest issue of the <a href="http://www.ligo.org/magazine/LIGO-magazine-issue-4.pdf" target="_blank">LIGO Magazine</a> I have a short article on my (relatively) recent trip to India to attend the Gravitational Wave Physics & Astronomy Workshop. Below I reproduce (a partially un-edited version of [apologies to the editors for reverting some of their changes here]) the article, with added links!<br />
<blockquote>
Family constraints have meant I’ve been off the conference circuit for a bit, so the <a href="http://www.iucaa.ernet.in/~gwpaw/">3rd Gravitational Wave Physics & Astronomy Workshop</a> (GWPAW, formerly the Gravitational Wave Data Analysis Workshop, GWDAW, which ran on 14 occasions) seemed like a good opportunity to get back into the swing of conference attendance. Plus, its location at the <a href="http://www.iucaa.ernet.in/">Inter-University Centre for Astronomy & Astrophysics</a> (IUCAA) in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pune" target="_blank">Pune</a>, India presented the chance to visit a new country. Due to the location of the meeting, many of the other non-local attendees were able to experience a bit of India, including a group that organised a tour round Mumbai (and subsequent train journey to Pune), a couple who started their trip with a holiday in the backwaters of Kerala, and others visiting family or friends. While it would have been a great opportunity for me to see India, I was unable to bookend my trip with any site-seeing, so my experience of India outside of the confines of IUCAA mainly came from my taxi ride from Mumbai to Pune. The taxi ride itself was an interesting insight into travel in India - the first half of the approximately three and a half hour ride (it’s about a 170km journey) was just in leaving Mumbai, where the roads that are about as chaotic as they come. The system seems to be to spot a gap in the traffic, even if it looks too small for the mode of transport you are in, and then squeeze into it. Astonishingly this method (accompanied by liberal application of the horn) got us through the traffic unscathed. The freeway between Mumbai and Pune is apparently one of the best roads in India, and can supposedly offer great views as you climb up into the rocky hills, but a combination of jet lag and low clouds/smog meant that I couldn’t appreciate the trip/views fully (from the plane on my flight back from Pune to Mumbai I was able to see the views I'd previously missed). </blockquote>
<blockquote>
In Pune I stayed at the very pleasant <a href="http://www.seasonshospitality.com/index.html">Seasons Apartment Hotel</a>, which as the name suggests offered large apartments with a lounge and kitchenette (and free bottled water, which is a must for travellers there). Not feeling very adventurous on my arrival I just opted for dinner at the hotel, but it was definitely worthwhile as the open air rooftop bar/restaurant offered great views of the city. The hotel was just about within walking distance of IUCAA, where the meeting was held (which I had briefly considered as a travel option), but the organisers had put on a taxi service to and from the hotel every day. On travelling to IUCAA I was thankful for this as negotiating the roads, many of which lacked pavements, may have proved daunting. IUCAA itself is situated on the <a href="http://www.unipune.ac.in/" target="_blank">Pune University</a> campus, but is fairly self-contained with its own “housing colony” for guests, students and postdocs to stay. During the meeting we didn’t have to go far between talks in the Chandrasekhar auditorium, coffee breaks (which consisted of strong black tea really) breaks and meals. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
As well as our taxi service the organisers provided breakfast, lunch and dinner within IUCAA under a large marquee. The food was great, although you may have been hard-pressed if you didn’t like curry - not a problem for me though! Some of the dishes were pretty spicy, but I suspect they were they were probably still toned down from their usual standard heat levels. We also had freshly made roti cooked in a tandoor oven by the side of the marquee. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BOIDLUJK-DY/UryRvNLvT-I/AAAAAAAAU2w/DhgEtjMmQ0I/s1600/DSC01926.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BOIDLUJK-DY/UryRvNLvT-I/AAAAAAAAU2w/DhgEtjMmQ0I/s1600/DSC01926.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kathak dance recital</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
On the first evening we had entertainment put on in the form of a Kathak Dance Recital in the meeting auditorium. The singing and musical accompaniment was mesmerising. Afterwards <a href="http://www.astro.cf.ac.uk/pub/B.Sathyaprakash/index.html">Sathya</a> presented the dancers and musicians with houseplants, which I can only assume is the standard thank-you gift.</blockquote>
<blockquote>
And what about the science? The meeting was weighted towards compact binary coalescences (CBC) and electromagnetic follow-up, but that’s not surprising given that these are the most likely sources of the first advanced detector observations. In fact it was good to have a GWPAW where many of talks were about things that could be done in the near future, rather than having to look ahead decades, further cementing the idea that gravitational wave detections are on the horizon! A couple of standout talks were <a href="http://home.icts.res.in/~ajith/P._Ajiths_Homepage/Home.html">Parameswaran Ajith's</a> <a href="http://www.iucaa.ernet.in/~gwpaw/talks/Parameswaran-Ajith.pdf">overview</a> of the status and prospects for modelling CBC waveforms and <a href="http://physics.fullerton.edu/~jread/">Jocelyn Read’s</a> <a href="http://www.iucaa.ernet.in/~gwpaw/talks/Jocelyn-Read.pdf">talk</a> on the potential for measuring neutron star equations of state with advanced detectors. Most sessions had lively discussions following the talks, with one particular participant always ready to provide some vigorous questioning. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
The breaks and poster sessions in the grounds of the auditorium (which amongst other things contained a giant sundial and a set of swings connected as a coupled harmonic oscillator) were always buzzing with conversation, which for me yielded a potential future collaboration with an IUCAA postdoc. There were many interesting posters, but I particularly liked a couple: one was <a href="http://www.physics.gla.ac.uk/igr/index.php?L1=members&L2=member&name=cmessenger">Chris Messenger’s</a> <a href="http://www.iucaa.ernet.in:8080/iucaa/jsp/GWPAW/GWPAW-ABS-DIS.jsp?i=56">describing</a> a method to extract redshift information from neutron star mergers by observing modes of a potentially short-lived post-merger hyper-massive neutron star; and <a href="http://www.iucaa.ernet.in:8080/iucaa/jsp/GWPAW/GWPAW-ABS-DIS.jsp?i=30">another</a> was Shaon Ghosh’s on electromagnetic follow-up of CBC signals. During the meeting my own poster was upgraded to a talk (due to passport related issues for one of the invited speakers causing him to miss the meeting), so I had to quickly put together my own slides. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g8JJx9m0uEE/UryR2ssSjLI/AAAAAAAAU3E/Tto_cas9b0s/s1600/DSC01929.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g8JJx9m0uEE/UryR2ssSjLI/AAAAAAAAU3E/Tto_cas9b0s/s1600/DSC01929.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a>The meeting turned out to be incredibly productive and fascinating, as well as welcoming and well-organised. The organisers and IUCAA staff were really friendly and helpful. It was a great chance for many Indian students and postdocs to attend the meeting and share their work, and for people from the LVC to interact with them. This was particularly useful because the distance means many collaborators in the USA and Europe got to discuss topics in person, and allowed us to develop these relationships in the run-up to LIGO India. This will be good for bringing through new local people into the field in the run up to LIGO India. There was a great deal of enthusiasm from the IUCAA director <a href="http://www.iau.org/administration/membership/individual/5472/">Ajit Kembhavi</a> to keep up the efforts with the suggestion that IUCAA and other Indian institutions host summer school-type events in the future. The next GWPAW to look forward to will be in Osaka, Japan in June 2015, closely followed by Amaldi in South Korea. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
It’s a shame I didn’t get to experience more of the country, but I did I get to discover a taste for the Indian Coca-Cola equivalent, <a href="http://www.coca-colaindia.com/products/thumsup.html">“Thums-Up”</a>, while discussing exciting science halfway around the world.
</blockquote>
Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02198967391712742862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872863.post-50535488097737300662014-03-21T15:59:00.001+00:002014-03-21T22:22:57.526+00:00Direct or indirect?This week has seen the potentially momentous <a href="http://arxiv.org/trackback/1403.3985" target="_blank">result</a> from the <a href="http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/CMB/bicep2/">BICEP2</a> experiment indicating the detection of gravitational waves from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_(cosmology)" target="_blank">inflationary</a> era of the Universe, just a tiny fraction of a second after the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang" target="_blank">Big Bang</a>. It's a fantastic result, and if/when confirmed by other experiments (e.g., <a href="http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Planck">Planck</a>) will be huge leap in developing our understanding of the beginnings of the Universe. <a href="http://www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/2014/03/16/gravitational-waves-in-the-cosmic-microwave-background/" target="_blank">Many</a> <a href="http://telescoper.wordpress.com/2014/03/15/some-b-mode-background/" target="_blank">other</a> <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/03/17/evidence_of_inflation_astronomers_detect_gravitational_waves_from_the_early.html" target="_blank">people</a> <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25249-multiverse-gets-real-with-glimpse-of-big-bang-ripples.html?full=true#.UywoXFRJU8s" target="_blank">have</a> <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/gravity-waves-cmb-b-mode-polarization/" target="_blank">discussed</a> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/18/science/space/detection-of-waves-in-space-buttresses-landmark-theory-of-big-bang.html" target="_blank">the</a> background <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(that's just a scattering of a few of the many links to some scientific and more general descriptions of the results)</span> and potential implications of the results, and a few areas for some <a href="http://philbull.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/how-solid-is-the-bicep2-b-mode-result/" target="_blank">considered</a> <a href="http://telescoper.wordpress.com/2014/03/19/time-for-a-cosmological-reality-check/" target="_blank">scepticism</a>, but I wanted to briefly talk about whether this classes as a direct or indirect detection of gravitational waves. I'm mainly interested in this because, to be clear up front, I'm part of a large scientific collaboration (the <a href="http://www.ligo.org/" target="_blank">LIGO Scientific Collaboration</a> [LSC]) that is currently trying for direct gravitational wave detection using a set of specially designed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational-wave_detector" target="_blank">detectors</a>/observatories (<a href="http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/" target="_blank">LIGO</a>, <a href="https://wwwcascina.virgo.infn.it/" target="_blank">Virgo</a> and <a href="http://www.geo600.org/" target="_blank">GEO600</a>) here on Earth. I should also point out the views I'm giving are entirely my own and definitely not those of the LSC.<br />
<br />
I should note that on BICEP2's <a href="http://bicepkeck.org/faq.html" target="_blank">FAQ</a> the word "direct" gets used in the answer to the question "<i>Have you detected a gravitational wave?</i>" to which they answer "<i>The frequency of the cosmic gravitational waves is very low, so we are not able to follow the temporal modulation. However, we are indeed directly observing a snapshot of gravitational waves through their imprints on matter and radiation over space</i>." Whether this fits into my description of direct or indirect below is another question!<br />
<br />
What do <i>I</i> mean by indirect or direct detection? Well in 1993 <a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1993/press.html" target="_blank">Hulse and Taylor</a> won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their earlier observation of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsar" target="_blank">pulsar</a> in a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron_star" target="_blank">neutron star</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_star" target="_blank">binary system</a>, which was losing energy exactly as predicted through the emission of gravitational waves. This has always been said to be an indirect detection of gravitational waves, i.e., it wasn't physically measuring the waves themselves, but was inferring their presence through the energy they carry away as observed by the binary system's evolution (since their original observations this effect has been measured in <a href="http://relativity.livingreviews.org/open?pubNo=lrr-2008-8&amp;page=articlesu16.html" target="_blank">many other</a> binary neutron star systems, which also provide other <a href="http://relativity.livingreviews.org/Articles/lrr-2003-5/" target="_blank">tests of general relativity</a>). With the gravitational wave <i>detectors</i> (such as the aforementioned LIGO, Virgo and GEO600) they aim to directly detect the waves by actually seeing their effect in stretching and squeezing the distance between parts of the detectors. So, the former uses some observations to measure the properties of a source (the orbital evolution of a binary system) and from that infer the presence of gravitational waves, whilst the later directly measures their effect within a detector system. <span style="font-size: x-small;">[On a slight aside there could be much discussion on the semantics of "direct" observation/detection - in pretty much all observations (including a persons senses) you could say that you're variously removed/abstracted by a number stages from directly measuring/experiencing the effect of something. In scientific observations it's pretty much always the case that you're having to use proxies to convey some information to you. In most astronomy photons are counted by a CCD, processed by a computer and then displayed, whilst in particle physics you're often measuring the decay of one particle through the products it produces, which themselves are relayed to you through tracks left on silicon detectors, or energy deposited in calorimeters. However, in most cases using "direct" observation/detection is probably a fair term.]</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><br />
<br />
So, in the case of the BICEP2 results, where they're measured the imprint of gravitational waves in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_microwave_background" target="_blank">cosmic microwave background</a> (CMB), where does that fit on the scale (if there is some scale in between!) of direct or indirect detection? Initially I was biased against calling this a direct detection. As mentioned above this is mainly due to working as part of a collaboration hoping to <a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/1304.0670">soon</a> directly detect gravitational waves with ground-based detectors. I (not wanting to speak for the rest of the collaboration) would <i>like</i> us to be the first to claim a direct detection, so there's a level of guardianship (or unjustified feeling of ownership!) over that claim. However, I think <span style="font-size: x-small;">(obviously I'm not the sole arbiter)</span> the CMB measurements deserve the right to be called more than an indirect detection, so for now I'll go with the compromise of semi-direct detection (as used by Andrew Jaffe <a href="http://www.andrewjaffe.net/blog/2014/03/gravitational-w.html">here</a>).<br />
<br />
So, why not indirect? Well, the gravitational waves that are observed in the CMB have (redshifted) frequencies of order 10<sup>-17</sup> Hz, which corresponds to wavelengths of ~1 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsec#Megaparsecs_and_gigaparsecs">Gigaparsec</a>. To measure such waves you'd need a detector about the size of the Universe. There's obviously no way you could build a physical detector to measure that, so using the CMB's the only way to do it - it is the only "detector" you could have available. In this sense they don't seem to fit with the indirect pulsar binary system paradigm above. [Note that there are also efforts to measure gravitational waves with frequencies around 10<sup>-9</sup> Hz using astrophysical objects (in this case pulsars) as the components of a "detector".]<br />
<br />
But, why only semi-direct then? This is maybe a technicality that could be argued over, but I suppose it comes down to the basic fact that despite the CMB being the only way to perform the measurement of ultra-low frequency waves you still aren't physically measuring the wave in a detector on Earth (another example might be dark matter, who's effects are imprinted in various astronomical observations, but you still want to see them in a detector on Earth to claim detection). You're also having to use the effect of the <a href="http://cosmology.berkeley.edu/~yuki/CMBpol/CMBpol.htm" target="_blank">gravitational waves on density perturbations</a>, which in turn affect the light intensity, which then affects the CMB polarisation signal received; in a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LIGO#Operation" target="_blank">laser interferometric detector</a> the gravitational wave affects the position of mirrors, which in turn effect the phase of reflected and detected light, which you could argue (an I may be pushing it here) is a step less removed than the case with the CMB. There's also the case (which may not be entirely relevant in a direct/indirect argument) that given that the CMB polarisation signal (by the very nature of how it had to be <a href="http://cosmology.berkeley.edu/~yuki/CMBpol/CMBpol.htm" target="_blank">formed</a> during a short period in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recombination_(cosmology)" target="_blank">recombination</a> when photons could diffuse far enough that they would encounter different temperature regions, but that there were still enough free electrons to scatter off and give a polarisation signal) was imprinted within a short space of time, it is just a single snapshot of the gravitational wave signal. Gravitational wave detectors on the other hand (including those using <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsar_timing_array" target="_blank">pulsars</a>) are able to measure the variations as the waves pass them, so give a complete time series of the signal. My hand wavy analogy (also implied on the BICEP2 <a href="http://bicepkeck.org/faq.html" target="_blank">FAQ</a>) is that the CMB measurement is like seeing a photograph of the shadows of water waves on a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripple_tank">ripple tank</a>, whereas gravitational wave detectors are like continuously measuring the position of a cork floating on top of the tank.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e-lsmxor2Tc/UyuIvjZAVQI/AAAAAAAAVcw/5rKG90vB35Q/s1600/Light_Resource_Material_Subject_Teacher_Forum_September_2011_html_17ce3cf9.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e-lsmxor2Tc/UyuIvjZAVQI/AAAAAAAAVcw/5rKG90vB35Q/s320/Light_Resource_Material_Subject_Teacher_Forum_September_2011_html_17ce3cf9.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shadows of waves on a ripple tank. Analogous to the imprints of gravitational waves in the <a href="http://bicepkeck.org/B2_2014_i_figs/eb_maps.png" target="_blank">CMB polarisation</a>? [<a href="http://rmsa.karnatakaeducation.org.in/sites/rmsa.karnatakaeducation.org.in/files/documents/Light/Light_Resource_Material_Subject_Teacher_Forum_September_2011.html" target="_blank">Credit</a>]</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Whether the BICEP2 result is indirect, direct or semi-direct detection of gravitational waves it doesn't take away from the fantastic work they've done and it's still an amazing feat of observation and analysis.<br />
<br />
Anyway, that's my view. What do you think?Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02198967391712742862noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872863.post-5102251182555484142014-01-30T21:00:00.000+00:002014-01-31T11:01:41.184+00:00The origin of carbonLast summer I was asked to write an article on the origin of carbon for <i><a href="http://www.rsgs.org/publications/geographer.shtml">The Geographer</a></i>, which is the quarterly newsletter of the <a href="http://www.rsgs.org/">Royal Scottish Geographical Society</a>. The original article can be found <a href="http://www.rsgs.org/publications/TheGeographer-Summer2013.pdf">here</a> (see page 8), but I've been given permission to reproduce it here (any comments/corrections are welcome):
<blockquote>
<p>
Carbon is the fourth most abundant element in the Universe (after hydrogen, helium and oxygen) and is the sixth lightest element. To understand it's origins and relative abundance we first have to go back to the origin of the Universe itself.
</p>
<p>
By the mid-20th Century <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Hubble">Edwin Hubble's</a> observations of an expanding Universe suggested that it had started out from an extremely dense and hot initial state: a "cosmic fireball" produced by the Big Bang. However, a question for the Big Bang model was how it produced the known elements in their currently observed abundances (called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang_nucleosynthesis">Big Bang nucleosynthesis</a>). In 1948 a PhD student called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Alpher">Ralph Alpher</a>, working with the renowned physicist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gamow">George Gamow</a>, published a paper called <a href="http://prola.aps.org/pdf/PR/v73/i7/p803_1">"The Origin of Chemical Elements"</a> claiming to solve this problem. But, the title slightly overstated the outcome of their work. It was ground-breaking and correctly predicted that in this "comsic fireball" the three lightest elements (hydrogen, helium and lithium) would be made in the abundances that are observed today. However, their work couldn't produce any heavier elements and it was in fact the problem of making carbon that was the stumbling block. The basic process of forming elements is that you take nucleons (protons and neutrons) and fuse them together to create heavier atomic nuclei. You can then fuse further nucleons, or atomic nuclei, together to produce heavier and heavier elements. This is complicated by several facts: the rates that fusion reactions take place can differ enormously for different nuclei; the rates depend very strongly on temperature and density; and, certain nuclei are unstable to radioactive decay and are very short-lived. To create carbon you require six protons and six neutrons, so it can be made by fusing two helium nuclei (two protons and two neutrons) to give a beryllium nucleus and then sticking on another helium nucleus to give carbon. However, Alpher and Gamow found that because the beryllium nuclei only has a lifetime of ~10<sup>-16</sup> seconds there wasn't enough time during the hot and dense early stages of the Universe for it to fuse with another helium nucleus and produce carbon. They were therefore left with a Universe containing only the three lightest elements, which was contrary to all observational evidence!
</p>
<p>
This problem with Big Bang nucleosynthesis was jumped upon by opponents of the Big Bang as a failure of the model. One such person was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Hoyle">Sir Fred Hoyle</a>, a forthright theoretical astrophysicist at Cambridge, who, along with others, put forward <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steady_State_theory">Steady State</a> models of the Universe (i.e. an infinite Universe with no beginning). However, his models still required that there was some way that elements could be produced, so the problem of creating carbon from lighter nuclei still needed to be solved. In the calculations for trying to fuse three helium nuclei (called the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple-alpha_process">triple alpha process</a>, since helium nuclei are also known as alpha particles) he still found that only insignificant amounts of normal carbon could not be produced during the short life of beryllium, but the production rate would dramatically increase if carbon nuclei were created in an "excited" state i.e. a nucleus with additional potential energy in it. There was no theoretical reason why such an "excited" state should exist (in fact it is <a href="http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/indepth/2013/feb/07/the-secret-of-life"><i>still</i> unknown</a> [sorry for the non-open access article link] why this state exists!), but Hoyle argued that because we exist and we require carbon for our existence, then if this is the only way significant amounts of carbon can be produced then this state must be possible. His calculations gave him a precise number for the amount of energy in this state, but he had to convince someone to run an experiment to see if it was true. While visiting the <a href="http://www.caltech.edu">California Institute of Technology</a> in 1953 he persuaded the nuclear experimental groups led by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Alfred_Fowler">Willy Fowler</a> and <a href="http://oralhistories.library.caltech.edu/122/">Ward Whaling</a> to look for this excited state and soon after it was confirmed that it did indeed exist<sup><i>1</i></sup>.
</p>
<p>
This didn't mean that Big Bang nucleosynthesis could now produce carbon and the heavier elements as the process was still far too slow given the expansion of the Universe, but there were other environments where it could take place - the cores of massive stars. Hoyle and Fowler, along with the married couple of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Burbidge">Margaret</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Burbidge">Geoffrey Burbidge</a>, were able to show how all the elements from beryllium up to iron were synthesised in the cores of stars (called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_nucleosynthesis">stellar nucleosynthesis</a>). In these massive stellar cores there is a high enough temperature and density of helium nuclei so that even though the beryllium produced from fusing two helium nuclei is extremely short-lived there is enough of it that some will fuse with another helium nuclei to form the excited state of carbon. Since carbon was required as the starting point for production of all the heavier elements this allows the large variety we see today. The deaths of these massive stars in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova">supernova</a> explosions has since seeded the Universe we the huge quantities of carbon we see today.
</p>
<p>
The evidence now shows that the lightest elements were indeed produced during the Big Bang and the Universe has had enough time to produce all other elements (including Carbon) in their observed abundances, via processing in stars.
</p>
<p>
<sup><i>1</i></sup>A more detailed account of this and the many other people actually involved in the work can be found in H. Kragh, (2010) <a href="http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/5332/"><it>When is a prediction anthropic? Fred Hoyle and the 7.65 MeV carbon resonance</it></a>.
</p>
</blockquote>Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02198967391712742862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872863.post-67579361434437793952013-10-01T13:58:00.000+00:002013-10-01T13:58:48.702+00:00How high are pulsar "mountains"?<div class="tr_bq">
Just a quick post to highlight a <a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/1309.4027" target="_blank">paper</a> that I (and others in the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration, and a selection of radio, X-ray and gamma-ray pulsar astronomers) have been working on recently. The <a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/1309.4027" target="_blank">paper</a> gives the most recent results from the search for gravitational waves from pulsars using data from the LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave detectors. A summary of the results from this search can be found <a href="http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S6VSR24KnownPulsar/" target="_blank">here</a>, but I also reproduce it below (see the link for the result plots from the paper):</div>
<blockquote>
Einstein's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_relativity">General Theory of Relativity</a> predicts that the motion of masses can lead to the emission of gravitational radiation, commonly called <a href="http://www.ligo.org/science/GW-GW2.php">gravitational waves</a>. These waves, which are distortions in the fabric of space-time, ripple out from their sources at the speed of light. Far away from the source their effect is tiny. The distortions from even the strongest <a href="http://www.ligo.org/science/GW-Sources.php">sources</a> (which are some of the most violent events in the Universe) stretch and squeeze the distance between any objects they pass by a fractional amount (called the <a href="http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S6VSR24KnownPulsar/index.php#Glossary:strain">strain</a>) of order 10<sup>-23</sup>. That is equivalent to a change in distance between the Earth and the Sun of just a few times an atomic radius! However, scientists have built detectors, based on <a href="http://www.ligo.org/science/GW-IFO.php">laser interferometry</a>, to perform very high precision distance measurements that are capable of measuring these extremely small distortions. In the US there are two such detectors called the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (<a href="http://www.ligo.org/">LIGO</a>), in Italy there is the <a href="https://wwwcascina.virgo.infn.it/central.html">Virgo</a> detector and in Germany there is the <a href="http://www.geo600.org/">GEO600</a> detector. These are operated, and their data analyzed, by hundreds of scientists from across the world as part of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration.
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<br />
<table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="2" style="border: 0px; color: black; font-family: arial, tahoma, verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; width: 268px;"><caption align="bottom"><small>An artist's impression of a pulsar. Image credit: <a href="http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/~mkramer/Welcome.html">Michael Kramer</a> (JBCA, Unversity of Manchester).</small></caption><tbody>
<tr><td style="vertical-align: top;"><a href="http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S6VSR24KnownPulsar/Images/lightnew.gif" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;"><img align="left" alt="An artists impression of a pulsar" src="http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S6VSR24KnownPulsar/Images/lightnew.gif" style="border: 0px; width: 260px;" /></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
One of the ways we are taking advantage of the fantastic sensitivity of these detectors is to search for continuous gravitational waves from pulsars. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsar">Pulsars</a> were first observed in 1967 at the University of Cambridge by the radio astronomers <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jocelyn_Bell_Burnell">Jocelyn Bell</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antony_Hewish">Antony Hewish</a>. They are neutron stars, which are the collapsed cores of massive stars that have run out of fuel and gone <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova">supernova</a> (up until this discovery they had just been theoretical objects first proposed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Baade">Walter Baade</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Zwicky">Fritz Zwicky</a> in 1934). They are very rapidly spinning, with rotation periods ranging from a few seconds to a few milliseconds, so their surfaces are rotating at up to ∼10% of the speed of light! With a mass of slightly more than the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_mass">Sun</a> (∼2.8×10<sup>30</sup> kg) packed into a sphere of radius ∼10 km, they are about 40 000 billion times denser than lead (this is equivalent to squashing the entire population of the Earth into a thimble). They also have magnetic fields a billion to a few thousand billion times that of the Earth. So, these are very extreme objects! The pulsed emission comes from beams of radiation emanating from the magnetic poles of the stars acting like a lighthouse. If the magnetic and rotation axes are not aligned then pulses are observed as the radiation beam sweeps across the Earth once per rotation.
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To generate gravitational waves a pulsar must have some non-symmetric distortion that is not along its rotation axis, i.e. a "mountain". This distortion could have been: frozen into the crust or core of the star after it was born in the supernova; formed from material falling onto the star; or, be produced and maintained though extremely large internal magnetic fields (larger even than the external fields described above). However, due to the huge gravitational field at the star's surface the material forming the "mountain" needs to be really strong to not be flattened out (a mountain on Earth made of jello would not get very big before collapsing under its own weight, but one made of solid rock can become as large as, or <a href="http://youtu.be/jIWhzYq16Ro">larger</a> than, Everest). For a pulsar with a crust made up of normal neutron star material the maximum deformation that could be sustained before collapsing is about 10 cm, so not very high for a "mountain" (scaling up in height only this would be equivalent to a ∼50 m hill on Earth). If the star was made up from more exotic materials, e.g. if it were a solid <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_star">quark star</a>, then it could possibly sustain a "mountain" up to ∼10 m in height. The "mountain" size can also be expressed in terms of the star's <i><a href="http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S6VSR24KnownPulsar/index.php#Glossary:ellipticity">ellipticity</a></i> (<i>ε</i>), which is a measure of its size as a fraction of the star's radius.<br />
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Making a few reasonable assumptions we can estimate the maximum amplitude of gravitational waves being emitted by most pulsars. To do this we use the law of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_energy">conservation of energy</a>. Pulsars are seen to slow down (<a href="http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S6VSR24KnownPulsar/index.php#Glossary:spindown">spin-down</a>) over time. This spin-down takes a very long time, and even the most rapidly spinning-down objects only decrease in frequency by less than a hundredth of a Hertz (or equivalently, increase their periods by less than ten microseconds) over a year. But, given the huge <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moment_of_inertia">moment of inertia</a> of the stars this still represents a very large loss in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotational_energy">rotational energy</a>, corresponding to a power of ∼10<sup>31</sup> Watts, or well over ten thousand times the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_luminosity">Sun's luminosity</a>. If we assume that all of this energy is being lost by emission of gravitational waves we can calculate the amplitude with which we would observe them at Earth. This is called the "<a href="http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S6VSR24KnownPulsar/index.php#Glossary:spindownlimit">spin-down limit</a>". If we can achieve detector sensitivities that allow searches to reach below this limit then we are probing interesting new territory, where gravitational wave signals could be detectable.
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<br />
There are just over 350 pulsars (see the <a href="http://www.atnf.csiro.au/people/pulsar/psrcat/">Australia Telescope National Facility catalog</a>) spinning fast enough for their gravitational wave emission to be in the sensitive frequency band of the current detectors (∼20 to 2000 Hz). We have searched for a total of 195 of these pulsars using data from the LIGO, Virgo and GEO600 <a href="http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S6VSR24KnownPulsar/index.php#Glossary:sciencerun">science runs</a>, with the most up-to-date results for 179 of them coming from the most recent LIGO S6 and Virgo VSR2 and VSR4 runs. To help reach the best <a href="http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S6VSR24KnownPulsar/index.php#Glossary:sensitivity">sensitivity</a> we have used information about these pulsars obtained through <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_telescope">radio</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-ray_telescope">X-ray</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_Gamma-ray_Space_Telescope">gamma-ray</a> observations; these have provided very precise knowledge of the pulsars' frequencies, positions and how their frequencies change over time. This information has allowed us to accurately track any potential signal in our data over the whole length of the science run (called coherent integration).
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<br />
From these searches we were not able to detect evidence for gravitational radiation from any of the pulsars. But, we have produced the most sensitive <a href="http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S6VSR24KnownPulsar/index.php#Glossary:upperlimit">upper limits</a> yet, and for seven pulsars we are starting to probe an interesting regime within a factor of five of the spin-down limit. For the Crab pulsar and Vela pulsar we have surpassed the spin-down limit. From this we can say that, respectively, less than ∼1% and 10% of their spin-down energy loss is due to gravitational radiation. We can also say that there are no "mountains" on the Crab pulsar greater than ∼1 meter, and none on Vela greater than ∼10 meters. Among the other pulsars, we found eight more within a factor of ten of the spin-down limit. From the gravitational wave observations alone we can limit the "mountain" size for some of these to less than ∼1 mm, although the spin-down limit is more stringent for those pulsars.
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<br />
When the current upgrades to the LIGO and Virgo detectors are complete we expect to be able to beat the spin-down limit for many more pulsars. This includes pulsars where we could limit the maximum mountain size to less than a few tenths of a millimeter! It also means we will be in a regime where we can make the first direct detections of gravitational waves from pulsars.</blockquote>
Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02198967391712742862noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872863.post-64634068920235449162013-06-10T22:08:00.000+00:002013-06-10T22:08:31.489+00:00Consider Phlebas<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,<br />Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep sea swell<br />And the profit and loss.<br /> A current under sea<br />Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell<br />He passed the stages of his age and youth<br />Entering the whirlpool.<br /> Gentile or Jew<br />O you who turn the wheel and look to windward,<br />Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you.</i>
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<br />
from <a href="http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/18993">The Waste Land</a>, T. S. Eliot
</blockquote>
<br />
I've been reading less than I used to over the last few years, but despite that whenever there's been a new <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iain_M._Banks">Iain M. Banks</a> book out I've been quick to get it. It just so happened that when I heard the <a href="http://www.iain-banks.net/2013/04/03/a-personal-statement-from-iain-banks/">news</a> earlier this year that Banks was suffering from terminal cancer I was reading his latest Culture offering, <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hydrogen_Sonata">The Hydrogen Sonata</a></i>. And now he's <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22835047">died</a>.<br />
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Banks has been one of my favourite authors in both his science-fiction guise and <i>mainstream</i> fiction. My formative sci-fi education as a teenager was pretty much all from reading my dad's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke">Clarke</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov">Asimov</a> books. That was until I came across Banks' first sci-fi book <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consider_Phlebas"><i>Consider Phlebas</i></a>. It opened up a more gritty, adult and far more richly charactered world than I'd previously enjoyed. His <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culture">Culture</a> universe was such a fantastic setting that I was quick to read his other available novels and eagerly anticipated each new release (Culture and non-Culture). Back then my book collection was limited, so I re-read some of his earlier novel several times (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Player_of_Games"><i>The Player of Games</i></a> was my favourite book for many years and still remains one of my top recommendation), always getting more out of them and enjoying meeting and re-meeting the always excellent Culture <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culture#Minds" target="_blank">Minds</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_types_(The_Culture)" target="_blank">Ships</a>. Indeed the non-human(oid) (non-biological) ships and drones were always a huge draw of the books.<br />
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I have Banks to thank for opening me up to a whole new range of modern sci-fi and fiction in general (I think <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complicity_(novel)"><i>Complicity</i></a> may have been my first non-sci-fi novel that I'd read other than books I was made to read for school work, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crow_Road"><i>The Crow Road</i></a> amazed me that I could be so drawn into a book about a Scottish family). I'm lucky that I haven't exhausted reading all his works and can still enjoy seeing what else he has to offer. I'd recommend anyone start reading his works and if you've never read any sci-fi before you'd do far worse than to start with some of his - try the short story collection <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_State_of_the_Art"><i>The State of the Art</i></a> for a dabble.Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02198967391712742862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872863.post-7421827363324400992012-08-14T19:51:00.001+00:002012-08-14T19:51:15.015+00:00Munro baggerThere are 283 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munro" target="_blank">Munros</a> in Scotland (mountains over 3000 ft or 914.4 m) and in my almost 10 years living here you might have thought I'd have made it up at least one by now. But, it actually took until two weeks ago for me to "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munro#Bagging_the_Munros" target="_blank">bag</a>" my first one. However, I thought I'd tackle the biggest one first, so can now tick <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Nevis" target="_blank">Ben Nevis</a> off my list. As with all the rivers I've <a href="http://cosmiczoo.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/kayaking" target="_blank">kayaked</a> on I'll post up any new ones I climb and hopefully there won't be another 10 year wait.<br />
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There was a small group of us making the climb together, so we made a bit of a Fort William weekend of it by heading up on Friday evening (just making it in time to see most of the Olympic opening ceremony), climbing of Saturday and leaving on Sunday. We stayed at a very nice and new B&B called <a href="http://www.macleanhouse.co.uk/" target="_blank">MacLean House</a>.<br />
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On the day of the climb we started with a good breakfast before driving the short way to the car park at the base of the mountain. As well as being the highest of the Munros the Ben Nevis climb also starts from close to sea level meaning you do have to scale the whole height. The weather hadn't promised to be very good, so we just headed up the main route rather than tackling anything more challenging. The ascent was interrupted by showers of varying length with occasional breaks of sunshine that sometimes lasted long enough to dry you off. The showers got noticeably colder as we climbed though. Near the summit there was a lovely break in the clouds, but on reaching the peak the ice cold rain returned and the wind picked up. We got our photo taken, but didn't hang about long!<br />
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Soon after starting the decent we found a slightly sheltered stone circle in which to have our lunch. We then attempted to get down as quick as possible. This took its toll on my legs and hips, with the bottom third (after passing the lochan) of uneven rocks being particularly tough. In all we made good time with the doing the climb in about 7 hours.<br />
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That evening we dragged ourselves on our aching legs for dinner that the <a href="http://www.crannog.net/" target="_blank">Crannog</a> seafood restaurant. The food was great, but tired I wasn't able to make a big night of it as tiredness over took me.<br />
<br />
It feels good to have achieved my first Munro climb and I hope to tackle more in the future, but I nay not take on Ben Nevis again.Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02198967391712742862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872863.post-84681520295810420942012-07-17T19:59:00.002+00:002012-07-17T19:59:35.026+00:00Honeymoon: Days 14-16<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QplQgL_GreA/T5l68NbNeuI/AAAAAAAAOck/Z7h65-a5oKU/s1600/DSC01102.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QplQgL_GreA/T5l68NbNeuI/AAAAAAAAOck/Z7h65-a5oKU/s320/DSC01102.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Maglev to the airport</td></tr>
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<div>
<b>23/04/12</b> - We got up for breakfast and packed before getting a taxi to the Shanghai <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Maglev_Train" target="_blank">Maglev</a> station. This train just runs from Shanghai to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Pudong_International_Airport" target="_blank">Shanghai Pudong International Airport</a> and covers the 30km to the airport in just over 8 minutes. The journey was really smooth and looking at the scenery go past you wouldn't have realised that you were travelling at 431kph - other than the LCD display in the carriage. The airport was very modern and nice and we had no problem getting our flight.<br />
<br />
Arriving at Hong Kong we had to queue at immigration, but it didn't take long to get through. We bought ourselves train tickets that would get us too and from the airport and allow us on the underground in Hong Kong during our stay. We then got the train to Kowloon Station. From there there was a shuttle bus that took us to our hotel - it was almost the last stop, so we got to see around Kowloon.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7TL2bX6bL74/T5l_TIxTzkI/AAAAAAAAOdc/uPxklJ-JJq0/s1600/DSC01106.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7TL2bX6bL74/T5l_TIxTzkI/AAAAAAAAOdc/uPxklJ-JJq0/s320/DSC01106.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our room at the Hotel ICON</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The hotel we were at was <a href="http://www.hotel-icon.com/" target="_blank">Hotel ICON</a> - a new hotel who's designers included <a href="http://www.hotel-icon.com/Meet%20Our%20Icons.aspx#SIR_TERENCE_CONRAN" target="_blank">Sir Terence Conran</a> and is ranked very highly on <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g294217-d2031570-Reviews-Hotel_ICON-Hong_Kong.html" target="_blank">Trip Adviser</a>. It was very impressive on entering, but slightly strange in that the porters were wearing beige combats and tops. We were staying in an executive room, so on going to reception we got whisked away up to the top floor to check-in there instead. They told us that between 4-6pm we got free afternoon tea, and from 7-9pm there were free cocktails and snacks. We went to our room (on the twenty-something-th floor), which had a massive window overlooking the harbour, and were able to check <a href="http://www.facebook.com/" target="_blank">facebook</a> and <a href="http://www.twitter.com/" target="_blank">twitter</a> for the first time of the holiday.<br />
<br />
After settling in we went up to the cocktail bar for our free cocktails and filled ourselves up with very nice cheese and biscuits. We then went out to explore a bit. Firstly we went to a restaurant called <a href="http://www.leigarden.hk/eng/location/hongkong.asp?id=2" target="_blank">Lei Garden</a> (on Tsim Sha Tsui) to book dinner for the following night - it was in a bit of a strange location in the basement of a slightly run-down looking shopping arcade, but supposedly did very nice food. We walked to the Peninsula Hotel and then along the <a href="http://www.avenueofstars.com.hk/eng/home.asp" target="_blank">Avenue of Stars</a> (like the Hollywood version, but with famous Hong Kong actors and I got photo's of the <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/62QDsTJG4E-PKTAz7AHhedDfA006Ysxr1LqlP9aPHtc?feat=directlink" target="_blank">ones</a> <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/P2vD4vRS8_OWr99KXu6NNdDfA006Ysxr1LqlP9aPHtc?feat=directlink" target="_blank">I</a> <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/B4s0zF2GIrEKdTk4xvttmtDfA006Ysxr1LqlP9aPHtc?feat=directlink" target="_blank">knew</a>). We then waited around for the <i>famous</i> <a href="http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/attractions/kln-symphony-lights.html" target="_blank">light show</a> - a laser and light display using a lot of the tall buildings around the harbour. It started raining, but not too heavily and it was still nice and warm, and although the light show was a bit of a let down the view in general was still very good.<br />
<br />
We then got the <a href="http://www.starferry.com.hk/" target="_blank">Star Ferry</a> across the bay to Hong Kong island and walked to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central%E2%80%93Mid-levels_escalators" target="_blank">covered escalators</a>. We had a look at a variety of bars/restaurants and eventually decided to go in a place that had a beer and pizza deal. We weren't that hungry after filling ourselves with cheese earlier, but it was good pizza. We stayed for another drink and to people watch. When we got back to the hotel we found a bottle of wine and wedding card signed by a lot of the hotel staff in our room. I had a glass before going to bed.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YUmBDY2N1S4/T5l__e9PBJI/AAAAAAAAOhY/09-NpsZNCN8/s1600/DSC01176.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YUmBDY2N1S4/T5l__e9PBJI/AAAAAAAAOhY/09-NpsZNCN8/s320/DSC01176.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hong Kong view from the Peak</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>24/04/12</b> - We had two options for breakfast in the hotel - downstairs in the main buffet area, or up in the bar where cocktails were served. We decided on the first option and were very impressed, filling up on a lot food.<br />
<br />
We got the underground to Hong Kong to go on the <a href="http://www.thepeak.com.hk/en/5_5_1.asp" target="_blank">Peak Tram</a>. It was busy and I had to stand, which required leaning at quite an angle due to the steepness of the ascent. We followed a route around the peak, which had exercise areas set up around it. It was quite overcast, so there weren't any distant views, but there were still nice views back over the city. We saw lots of interesting butterflies and birds of prey riding the thermals around the peak.<br />
<br />
On descending from the Peak we walked to the <a href="http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/parks/hkzbg/en/index.php" target="_blank">zoological gardens</a> next to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_House,_Hong_Kong" target="_blank">Government House</a>. Until we got there we hadn't realised there was a zoo, but they had quite a few animals - we saw baby (and adult) orang-utans, various lemurs, monkeys, gibbons, and a raccoon (there was also a ginger cat on the prowl, which seemed to disturb some of the lemurs). After that we had a brief wander around some of Hong Kong, but wanted to get the ferry back to the hotel in time for afternoon tea.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sUEpSit56W8/T5mAJiTub_I/AAAAAAAAOjY/jy1H7l-uxOA/s1600/DSC01195.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sUEpSit56W8/T5mAJiTub_I/AAAAAAAAOjY/jy1H7l-uxOA/s320/DSC01195.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A gibbon in the Botanic Gardens</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After some snacks we decided to go for a swim in the <a href="http://www.hotel-icon.com/Facilities.aspx#SWIMMING_POOL" target="_blank">hotel pool</a>, which was on the roof above the buffet area. The pool (and changing facilities) were very nice, but the wind had picked up, so it wasn't that warm by the pool. I swam for a bit, but Jen went back inside to the sauna fairly quickly.<br />
<br />
We went back for free cocktails, where we chatted one of the staff (who was an American girl who'd studied hospitality and was experiencing working in hotels in China) before heading to dinner at Lei Garden. It was only 9pm, but like in Beijing it seemed that service was almost over as there were very few other tables with people at them and a lot of clearing up was going on. There was a lot of exotic stuff on the menu including sharks fin and birds nest soup, but we played it safe. The service was quite brusque, but the food was decent enough - although not as good as a lot of what we'd had in Beijing.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HCRxV5q2Flc/T5mAatFw5iI/AAAAAAAAOkk/OuHy5GeoOZs/s1600/DSC01215.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HCRxV5q2Flc/T5mAatFw5iI/AAAAAAAAOkk/OuHy5GeoOZs/s320/DSC01215.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cable car on Lantau</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>25/04/12</b> - Our final day of honeymoon gave us a full day in Hong Kong before catching our flight just after midnight. We went for breakfast in the upstairs bar area, then got packed and left our luggage at reception. We then got the underground out to Lantau island. We took the <a href="http://www.np360.com.hk/en/" target="_blank">cable car</a> up to Ngong Ping villiage where there was a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Po_Lin_Monastery" target="_blank">Buddhist monastery</a> and giant <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tian_Tan_Buddha" target="_blank">Buddha statue</a>. We didn't opt for one of the <a href="http://www.np360.com.hk/en/cable-car/#crystal" target="_blank">Crystal Cabins</a> with a glass floor! It was an impressive ride, but quite daunting when the wind picked up. There were good views back down over the airport, but we soon got up into the clouds and couldn't really see anything except the forest below us. The village had tourist attractions and shops, but we walked straight to the Buddha, which required a bit on an ascent up stairs - the cloud hadn't really cleared, so we didn't really see the Buddha until getting up close. It was quite impressively large. We were able to go inside, which had some exhibits about Buddhism and history of the big Buddha's construction in the 1990s.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1QzOTtGwY7A/T5mAms9vWQI/AAAAAAAAOmI/7kUWKHMVPG8/s1600/DSC01241.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1QzOTtGwY7A/T5mAms9vWQI/AAAAAAAAOmI/7kUWKHMVPG8/s320/DSC01241.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Big Buddha in the clouds</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After this we wandered over to the monastery and found that there was a display of acrobatics followed by a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaolin_Kung_Fu" target="_blank">Shaolin Kung Fu</a> demonstration. This included a guy being <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/QCGVVUxJIGrJha4Hge6EEtDfA006Ysxr1LqlP9aPHtc?feat=directlink" target="_blank">lifted on the points of spears</a> and one breaking a metal rod on his head. The temple still had parts under construction and you could pay for new shrines to be dedicated to you. The entry fee to go up to the Buddha included a snack at the monastery (or you could pay more for a larger meal). The snack was in fact rather substantial including some stir fried noodles and vegetables and several sweets. There were a lot of dogs wandering round the temple and village and we spent a couple of minutes petting a <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Zx4gNmE6IyHHg07SX-KvbNDfA006Ysxr1LqlP9aPHtc?feat=directlink" target="_blank">puppy</a>. We then went to the bus stop to get a bus down to Tai O, but it wasn't for another half hour, so we managed to catch part of a <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Uk6gJOhkWttG4C1TRQPPetDfA006Ysxr1LqlP9aPHtc?feat=directlink" target="_blank">pogo-ing demonstration</a> by <a href="http://www.thepogodudes.com/" target="_blank">the Pogo Dudes</a>.<br />
<br />
When we got the bus the cloud was really thick and visibility was down to a few metres, but we made it down to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_O" target="_blank">Tai O</a> fishing village (and out of the cloud cover) safely. The village has large parts constructed on stilts and lots of small alleys. It unsurprisingly smelled quite heavily of fish as most of the shack-like houses had <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/pHB_y9QMYoWCFN4BG2waSdDfA006Ysxr1LqlP9aPHtc?feat=directlink" target="_blank">dried fish</a> of many varieties hanging outside of them. There were also a lot of small shrines outside the houses. It was an interesting place. We walked out to what was a former police station (passing a post office with many stray cats outside it waiting to be fed by the postmaster), which had very recently been turned into a fancy <a href="http://www.taioheritagehotel.com/eng/homepage/ShowGallery" target="_blank">hotel</a>.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Yeb-7XI289o/T5mBJoumvGI/AAAAAAAAOpw/V5-te6zluOU/s1600/DSC01290.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Yeb-7XI289o/T5mBJoumvGI/AAAAAAAAOpw/V5-te6zluOU/s320/DSC01290.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tai O fishing village</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We got back to the bus stop just in time to catch the bus back to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mui_Wo" target="_blank">Mui Wo</a> (on the other side of the island) where the ferry ran back to Hong Kong. It was the end of the school day, so the bus was full of kids squeezed into all the seats and sitting along the floor - they were all of varying nationalities and mainly spoke English. The journey took about an hour. We didn't have to wait long for the ferry and once back in Hong Kong we got the Star Ferry back to Kowloon.<br />
<br />
Back at the hotel we were still able to use the showers, so we washed and were able to change clothes. We also were still able to get the free cocktails and snacks. We got the shuttle bus to the airport express station where we were able to check-in our luggage and then got the train to the airport. At the airport Jen bought some sunglasses and we went for some dinner at <i>Pizza Express</i>. A thunderstorm had come in over Hong Kong, so planes were being delayed, but it only held up our flight by about an hour.<br />
<br />
The flight back was quite uneventful. <span style="background-color: white;">And that's it!</span></div>Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02198967391712742862noreply@blogger.com1Hong Kong22.396428 114.10949722.161534500000002 113.79364000000001 22.6313215 114.425354tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872863.post-32457136182684828162012-06-30T21:36:00.001+00:002012-06-30T21:48:52.414+00:00Honeymoon: Days 11-13<b>20/04/12</b> - Our plan was to go to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzhou" target="_blank">Suzhou</a>, so we got up relatively early to go to the station. We got the underground there, which unlike going to the French Concession required a couple of changes. At the station the ticket hall was very busy with many long queues. We didn't think we'd be able to make the train that we wanted to get, so we decided to abandon going to Suzhou and buy tickets to go on Sunday instead - we bought a ticket (first class on the bullet train again) from the one English speaking ticket office.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5AgISE5aYko/T5l5fJ3ufnI/AAAAAAAAORI/AgJjOr7soyY/s1600/DSC00970.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5AgISE5aYko/T5l5fJ3ufnI/AAAAAAAAORI/AgJjOr7soyY/s320/DSC00970.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shanghai model in the Urban Planning Exhibition</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Our new plan involved some more sightseeing around Shanghai. We firstly went to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Square_(Shanghai)" target="_blank">People's Square</a> to the <a href="http://www.supec.org/english/english_page.htm" target="_blank">Urban Planning Exhibition Center</a>. It was a really interesting place full of information on Shanghai's past, present and future. It contained a brilliantly detailed and huge model of the current and future Shanghai. Some highlights of stuff we also saw were: a 360° CGI video flying through parts of Shanghai like the new Pudong Airport and Pudong district; a very good exhibition of comic strip-like drawings of Shanghai street scenes by an artist called <a href="http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/He_Youzhi" target="_blank">He Youzhi</a> (or Frank He); a cartoon video about "socialistic villages" (planned rural villages, towns and cities, so the farmers don't all move into the current major cities) featuring a water droplet character called <i>Little Drip</i>; and a display of communist party posters from the past 90 years.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m7pBHh2lmcU/T5l505vTAjI/AAAAAAAAOUI/g_w4Sruj-GU/s1600/DSC01001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m7pBHh2lmcU/T5l505vTAjI/AAAAAAAAOUI/g_w4Sruj-GU/s320/DSC01001.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Street market in Shanghai old town</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;">
For lunch we initially bought food from a van in People's Square and went into a grassy area where lots of locals were having lunch. But, the food was a bit too greasy to eat much of, so we then went to bakery in nearby mall instead. From there we walked to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yu_Garden" target="_blank">Yu Garden</a> in the old town. It was really busy with tourists and people trying to sell Rolex watches. It was all a bit much, so we didn't stay long. Despite Jen being tired we decided to try a walk around old city from our guide book. It was much nicer once we got away from Yu Garden. The walk took us along street with good markets (live eels and fish in tubs were being sold). We also found a pet market selling birds, cats, dogs, fish, turtles and insects (and probably a lot more besides). At the end of the walk there were a few of the traditional-style Shanghai stone tenement buildings, or <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shikumen" target="_blank">shikumen</a>.</i> We then walked back to hotel via pedestrianised part of Nanjing Road East shopping street.<br />
<br />
We rested at the hotel for a bit before heading back to the French Concession for dinner - this time getting a taxi having walked enough during the day. At the hotel we'd tried booking online at a Malaysian restaurant, but didn't hear whether we had a table (we had an email from them confirming the booking when we got back to the hotel later). So, instead went to small vegetarian restaurant we'd passed the <a href="http://cosmiczoo.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/honeymoon-days-9-10-shanghai.html" target="_blank">other night</a> - the food was simple, but not bad. At this point it started raining hard, but we walked the short way back to O'Malleys for a pint. There was a band made up of American ex-pats playing. We then got a taxi back to the hotel.</span><br />
<br />
Back at the hotel we decided to have a drink at the bar. There were a couple of old guys in the bar on their laptops - they were part of a big school reunion for the <a href="http://www.saschina.org/" target="_blank">Shanghai American School</a> that was being hosted at the hotel - but otherwise no-one else was in the bar. We found a guest book in the bar that we wrote a message in, but oddly most of the entries in the book were from single men thanking "<i>the girls</i>" - this seemed rather odd as the bar didn't seem to employ lots of barmaids. This made more sense later on when we discovered that the "karaoke" that some <a href="http://www.shanghaihotels.com/astor-house-hotel.htm" target="_blank">sites</a> claimed was available at the hotel (and we'd not found any sign of) is generally a <a href="http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=131&catid=11&subcatid=76#04" target="_blank">front for prostitution</a>!<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cboFvYr70As/T5l6F76iNqI/AAAAAAAAOWg/RwaTuLsl1-8/s1600/DSC01028.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cboFvYr70As/T5l6F76iNqI/AAAAAAAAOWg/RwaTuLsl1-8/s320/DSC01028.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tianzifang</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>21/04/12</b> - We had a long lie in and lunch of sandwiches and crisps in the hotel cafe. We then got the underground to the French Concession again to do another of the guided walks from our guidebook (although to mix things up we walked it in the opposite direction!) The walk took us through <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuxing_Park" target="_blank">Fuxing Park</a> where we saw a crowd around a band, old people playing with diablo's and kite flyers. Near the park there were lots of fancy newly built properties. We went through a set of narrow alleys (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tianzifang" target="_blank">Tianzifang</a>) filled with boutique shops and cafes that, had we known about it before, would have been a nice place to go in the evening. The walk ended up going through an area with lots of arty cafes with bookshops and galleries. We also passed a <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/MgKc8Hm632mo64-BhGRlD92srn2kkiFtXC3ty1v3afQ?feat=directlink" target="_blank">Scottish coffee shop</a>(!) housed in a former Russian Orthodox church.<br />
<br />
For dinner that evening we'd booked at a fancy restaurant called <i><a href="http://www.m-restaurantgroup.com/mbund/" target="_blank">M on the Bund</a></i>, which overlooked the Huangpu River and Pudong. The starter and main meal were very nice, but it was the puddings that stood out and were amazing. We had a platter containing small versions of each of the desserts and they were all lovely. We finished the evening with a couple of cocktails. The place we also good for people watching and trying to work out the relationships of the other diners.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dBjJ65AZNko/T5l6MkFk3YI/AAAAAAAAOXM/OJdgFyV9yEs/s1600/DSC01036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dBjJ65AZNko/T5l6MkFk3YI/AAAAAAAAOXM/OJdgFyV9yEs/s320/DSC01036.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Maitreya Buddha at the Beisi Pagoda</td></tr>
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<b>22/04/12</b> - We got up early again to get our train to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzhou" target="_blank">Suzhou</a>. The train was a slightly different make to the one that we'd got from Hangzhou, but was just as nice and fast. Suzhou is supposedly a big tourist destination, but when we got to Suzhou station it's an understatement to say it wasn't very tourist friendly. There were lots of people touting guided tours, but we had a basic map in our guidebook and thought we'd find our own way. This proved problematic and it took us at least half an hour to find our way from the station to something we recognised on our map - this was partly because there were no better maps in the station to show the way and also because between the station and town centre there was a massive building site.<br />
<br />
Once we got heading in the right direction we also discovered that the city was bigger than we'd thought and it took quite a while to walk between the sites. It was also very hot. The first major site we came to was the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beisi_Pagoda" target="_blank">Beisi Ta</a> pagoda, which we climbed to the top of. This gave us good views of the city, but the air quality wasn't great, so you couldn't see that far. We then walked down to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuozheng_Yuan" target="_blank">Humble Administrators Garden</a>, where we got ourselves ice lollies to cool down. It was very busy with tour groups, but was quite pretty. After another long walk we saw a sign for another garden (the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ou_Yuan" target="_blank">Couple's Retreat Garden</a>, which was another World Heritage Site), which took us slightly off the main road. This only had a few tourists in it, so felt a lot calmer.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-06F9yNk78j0/T5l6bIg2jdI/AAAAAAAAOYw/lDk1v4vNcPw/s1600/DSC01056.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-06F9yNk78j0/T5l6bIg2jdI/AAAAAAAAOYw/lDk1v4vNcPw/s320/DSC01056.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Humble Administrators Garden</td></tr>
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We then had to head back to the main road and found our way to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pingjiang_District" target="_blank">Pingjiang Road</a>. This road followed along the canal and was most like the <a href="http://cosmiczoo.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/honeymoon-days-4-6.html" target="_blank">Suzhou Street</a> we'd seen at the Summer Palace in Beijing. It was busy, but nice along the canal, and the street was lined with little cafes and shops. We stopped for sandwiches (and a beer for me) in an American-style bar, but we couldn't hang about as we had a long walk back to the station and wanted to try and see one last site. We managed to walk down to the Shuang Ta (double pagodas), but just saw it and then turned back to head to the station. We walked past an underground station, which we thought might get us back to the station, but it seemed that the underground system was still being built, so it was no use. The walk back, which took us through the main shopping street, was quite hot and exhausting, so the coolness of the station was very welcome. It was very busy at the station, so it was nice to get on the train and relax again. I think to properly explore Suzhou it would have been sensible to get a tour guide with a car and maybe stay a couple of days to get more of a flavour of the place.<br />
<br />
When we got back to Shanghai we just went back to the mall on Nanjing Road East and went to a Japanese noodle fast food place. It was a very pleasant evening in Shanghai with clearer air then before and nice temperature, so the walk back to the hotel was nice. I also got some final pictures of wedding photo shoots.Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02198967391712742862noreply@blogger.com0Shanghai, China31.230393 121.47370430.3614965 120.21027649999999 32.0992895 122.7371315tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872863.post-71674581545363598782012-06-30T21:03:00.004+00:002012-06-30T21:20:43.072+00:00Honeymoon: Days 9-10 (Shanghai)<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-302UOa-6wU8/T5l4SptUIlI/AAAAAAAAOGY/m05sjlnBx8U/s1600/DSC00848.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-302UOa-6wU8/T5l4SptUIlI/AAAAAAAAOGY/m05sjlnBx8U/s320/DSC00848.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bullet train</td></tr>
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<b>18/04/12</b> - On Wednesday we were travelling to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai" target="_blank">Shanghai</a>. Jen was starting to feel better, but still had a sore throat. We had the good breakfast buffet again and then went back to the room to finish packing. We then got a taxi to the train station. At the station we had to go through security, with an X-ray scanner checking our luggage. We'd got there in plenty of time, so had to hang about for 45 mins before the train departure. They didn't allow you to wait on the platform for the train, so we waited in a departure lounge, which gradually got busier and busier. About 5 mins before departure we were allowed through the barriers to the platform. There were a lot of people, but the (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail_in_China" target="_blank">bullet</a>) train was so big it didn't seem too busy. We didn't need to worry anyway as we had seats reserved in first class. The seats were huge and were able to recline quite far, and the atmosphere in the carriage was nice and calm (especially compared to trains in the UK). Looking out the window during the journey we noticed that there was barely any countryside between Hangzhou and Shanghai, with the only agriculture in the form of some poly tunnels. The trip took just over an hour and a half.<br />
<br />
On getting to Shanghai station we were initially thinking that we'd get the underground to our hotel, but after wandering around the massive station for a bit we decided it was probably a better idea to get a taxi.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0sA5bzbEnzY/T5l4TEz2VzI/AAAAAAAAOGs/6x0PwLj0Ob0/s1600/DSC00849.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0sA5bzbEnzY/T5l4TEz2VzI/AAAAAAAAOGs/6x0PwLj0Ob0/s320/DSC00849.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our hotel room in the Astor House hotel</td></tr>
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Our hotel in Shanghai was the <a href="http://www.astorhousehotel.com/en/index.php" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">Astor House hotel</a> - established in 1846 it was the first Western operated hotel in all of China and has had many uses over the years, and many famous residents (including <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/kNnUlGaJN_kj0XvSnGkdJN2srn2kkiFtXC3ty1v3afQ?feat=directlink" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">Albort [sic] Einstein</a>). It was a lovely colonial-style building and had a good feel about it - definitely a lot more character than the Hyatt in Hangzhou. They didn't have the room we'd originally booked, but (<a href="http://cosmiczoo.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/honeymoon-day-1.html" target="_blank">as in Beijing</a>) we got put in a far bigger room instead - it was huge! It was obviously very recently renovated and other rooms on the corridor were still being done up - in fact the first two rooms on the corridor were being operated as offices for businesses! After settling in we briefly explored the hotel - during this we encountered the first (of many) Shanghai wedding photo shoots. On leaving the hotel we saw more wedding photos on the bridge opposite the hotel - this proved to be a very popular location for photos. <i style="background-color: white;">[These photo shoots did seem very elaborate and lasted for hours without any obvious sign of the rest of the wedding party and with the brides dresses often pinned. We later found out that a lot of couples have their photos taken months in advance of their weddings, so they can use the images on the day itself.]</i> It was drizzling a bit and quite overcast, but we had a brief wander up and down <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bund" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">the Bund</a> (the main promenade along the west of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huangpu_River" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">Huangpu River</a>) to get our bearings.<br />
<br />
Despite the day of travelling we weren't feeling tired (I suppose we'd only had a short train ride to deal with) and decided to be a bit more adventurous by heading for dinner in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Concession" target="_blank">French Concession</a>, which required an underground journey. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Metro" target="_blank">Shanghai underground</a> was more comprehensive than the one in Beijing, but also a bit more expensive (maybe an extra 10p!). It wasn't quite as obvious how to buy a ticket from the machine as rather than the single fare that existed in Beijing there were different fares depending on the destination (and the machine required the correct change, which we didn't have, so we had to go and buy a drink [and cake] to get some coins), but we figured it out and bought the correct tickets. The underground was still very modern and clean.<br />
<br />
In the French Concession it took a couple of minutes to get our bearings and work out which side of the road we were on on our map. Once we'd sorted that out we decided to head to <i><a href="http://www.boxingcatbrewery.com/en/news.html" target="_blank">The Boxing Cat Brewery</a></i> (the <i>best</i> microbrewery in Shanghai), where we had beer and burgers (including a pint of <i><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/8P01y_S08EVBLmMz6sCRa92srn2kkiFtXC3ty1v3afQ?feat=directlink" target="_blank">Glasgow Kiss Scotch Ale</a></i>). The rain had picked up, but we decided to explore a bit more and headed for another drink at <i><a href="http://www.abbeyroad-shanghai.com/home.php" target="_blank">Abbey Road</a> </i>(which was so busy that we had to sit outside on a table with an umbrella)<i>,</i> and then another at a huge Irish Bar by the US consulate called <i><a href="http://omalleys-shanghai.com/web/" target="_blank">O'Malleys</a></i>. In general around the French Concession, due to the large number of consulates there were a lot of non-Chinese people and a lot of English being spoken - the area felt far more western in general and compared to Beijing there were far more pubs!<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IwMZSO--igs/T5l4oKa9DtI/AAAAAAAAMnM/IBsJYoFANEo/s1600/DSC00876.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IwMZSO--igs/T5l4oKa9DtI/AAAAAAAAMnM/IBsJYoFANEo/s320/DSC00876.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Sightseeing Tunnel</td></tr>
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<b>19/04/12</b> - Today was going to be a day of sightseeing - starting off with the <a href="http://www.shanghaihighlights.com/shanghai-sightseeing/bund-sightseeing-tunnel.html" target="_blank">Sightseeing Tunnel</a>! This is a tunnel under the Huangpu going from the Bund to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pudong" target="_blank">Pudong</a> (the financial district) - it consists of a small carriage that takes you on a "<i>journey through the Earth</i>" consisting of a mental psychedelic light show. It cost far more than it should do (especially when compared to the price of the ferry), but it was an experience, and the epic surrealness meant that it had to be done - just the once though! The tunnel complex also had lots of other kitschy exhibitions, but we decided that the tunnel itself was enough for us. Prior to taking the tunnel we'd briefly wandered down the Bund to find the location of a restaurant we planned to go to. During this walk we were accosted by two girls asking us to take their photo and then chatting about where we were from - eventually they asked us what we were doing that day and whether we wanted to join them for a traditional Chinese tea ceremony. Our guidebook had warned us about these being <a href="http://www.movingtochinablog.com/china-living/china-scams-shanghai-tea-ceremony/" target="_blank">scams</a> to bilk tourists out of large sums of money, so we declined and walked on. Once this had happened we spotted many other pairs doing similar things to other tourists.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cK6w9tE6-Vo/T5l5AHdbfzI/AAAAAAAAOL0/wdB8E8j2u4k/s1600/DSC00911.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cK6w9tE6-Vo/T5l5AHdbfzI/AAAAAAAAOL0/wdB8E8j2u4k/s320/DSC00911.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jin_Mao_Tower" target="_blank">Jinmao Tower</a> from the SWFC observation deck</td></tr>
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Pudong is full of skyscapers and we had tickets to go up to the top of the (currently) tallest one in China - the 101 storey <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_World_Financial_Center" target="_blank">Shanghai World Financial Center</a>, or the bottle opener as it is sometimes known due to the hole at its top (this is soon surpassed in the tallest building category by the under-construction <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Tower" target="_blank">Shanghai Tower</a>). Going up to the observation deck was another surreal experience, which felt like we were travelling into some futuristic sci-fi universe. On going into the entrance to the lift up to the observation deck we were the only people there and were greeted by three women wearing identical futuristic clothes who guided us through slick and sparce white rooms to a model of Pudong, which featured a lit-up night time mode with a <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/T7qZM58Y_kqJTrzNiE9O4N2srn2kkiFtXC3ty1v3afQ?feat=directlink" target="_blank">firework display</a>. We were then led into the lift, which was a creamy white colour, with smoothed corners and a <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/upSADcZ629KjVUBme7iUJd2srn2kkiFtXC3ty1v3afQ?feat=directlink" target="_blank">pulsating light</a> on the ceiling. It felt like we were ascending into a space ship, and the longer we didn't see anyone else the more strange it got. The ride was very quick and smooth and when we arrived at the floor 100 observatory the sci-fi illusion was broken as we encountered other regular looking tourists (and a cleaner). It was quite misty, so we couldn't see that far, but it was still very impressive being that high. There were some glass panels on the floor that I <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/UNpjfKpKQdZZzn5gG_hkw92srn2kkiFtXC3ty1v3afQ?feat=directlink" target="_blank">walked over</a>, but Jen wasn't so keen.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qfhsYjCUtU8/T5l5Kl0jvlI/AAAAAAAAOOM/xIJ2Ze7s-FY/s1600/DSC00937.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qfhsYjCUtU8/T5l5Kl0jvlI/AAAAAAAAOOM/xIJ2Ze7s-FY/s320/DSC00937.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The tunnel in the Shanghai Aquarium</td></tr>
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After the tower we headed to the <a href="http://www.sh-aquarium.com/en/html/index.aspx" target="_blank">Aquarium</a> via a fancy supermarket in the <a href="http://www.shanghaiifcmall.com.cn/en/about.php" target="_blank">IFC Mall</a> (to get washing powder to clean our clothes). The aquarium was impressive and had a very long underwater tunnel - as would be expected we saw a variety of fish, sharks, turtles, seals etc, but the penguin exhibit was closed. We then walked down to the ferry terminal (which was further than we expected) to cross back to the Bund.<br />
<br />
For dinner we went to a mall on Nanjing Road East. After checking out all the food options we decided on a Japanese BBQ banquet place, because it had an all-you-can-eat (and drink) option. We weren't sure of the etiquette of ordering, so we started out not getting that much food, but after seeing others ordering a lot more we happily got extra (although there was some confusion with one of the dishes, which I wasn't sure if I'd ordered and sent away, but it turned out is was mine). The food was very nice, especially the strips of beef.Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02198967391712742862noreply@blogger.com0Shanghai, China31.230393 121.47370430.3614965 120.21027649999999 32.0992895 122.7371315tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872863.post-72757520923305408452012-06-19T21:13:00.001+00:002012-06-30T17:03:31.007+00:00Honeymoon: Days 7-8 (Hangzhou)<span style="background-color: white;"><b>16/04/12</b> - We got a private car rather than taxi from our hotel in Beijing to the airport for out trip to </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangzhou" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">Hangzhou</a><span style="background-color: white;"> [</span><i style="background-color: white;">Hangzhou, which is relatively near Shanghai, is reputed to be one of the most beautiful cities in China and is a popular tourist destination for the locals</i><span style="background-color: white;">]. It was with a guy who was hanging about outside the hotel who's main job was doing private tours, but had time before his first tour group to do an airport run. He spoke excellent English and was very chatty - he said that we should go to </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi'an" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">Xi'an</a><span style="background-color: white;"> (probably best know for the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta_Army" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">Terracotta warriors</a><span style="background-color: white;">), where he'd studied, if we got the opportunity as it had the best sites from the ancient dynasties. Unfortunately it wasn't on our schedule, and having done a lot of historical sites we were quite looking forward to seeing different things.</span><br />
<br />
We were in Terminal 2 of the airport and it was quiet and easy to get through security. They had free wifi too, which Jen made use of. After boarding the plane on time we were then told it was delayed due to a lack of take off slots being available. So, we got fed before take-off, but we didn't really eat much of the unappetising looking chicken and rice dish.<br />
<br />
We weren't too delayed in getting to Hangzhou airport, which again was a new and modern looking building. From there we got a taxi to take us to our hotel on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Lake" target="_blank">West Lake</a>. In general the surroundings were much greener and less dry than Beijing. But, like in Beijing there were loads of building sites en-route, mainly for what looked like hi-rise appartment blocks. The houses along the road also had a quite distinct look about them that seemed quite specific to the Hangzhou area. The taxi ride took about 40 mins, but was slightly longer due to the taxi driver's meter not working properly and him having to stop by the taxi office to get a new SIM card!<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-atK7bo59NG8/T5l1IuBgErI/AAAAAAAAODQ/_vwsW64QaSs/s1600/DSC00814.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-atK7bo59NG8/T5l1IuBgErI/AAAAAAAAODQ/_vwsW64QaSs/s320/DSC00814.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The dancing fountain at West Lake</td></tr>
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We were staying in the <a href="http://hangzhou.regency.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels-hangzhou-regency/index.jsp?null" target="_blank">Hyatt Regency</a> hotel - as a big chain hotel it was very international with better English spoken and a lot of non-Chinese residents. It had a very impressive lobby. There was a slight issue with our room not being ready, but this was sorted out quickly. The room we got was nice, but not as big our one in Beijing. We hadn't paid the extra for a room overlooking the lake. After settling into the room we went for a wander about the bit of West Lake nearest the hotel. We discovered that just opposite the hotel there was a dancing fountain, which performed a music and light show every half hour (we went back to watch the show later when it got dark, but I was particularly underwhelmed, especially as the views across the lake were so amazing anyway). On the lakeside promenade we got accosted by an old man on a mobility scooter who was Chinese, but had learned English (to a very proficient level) by listening to BBC Radio 4 over the internet - he did admit that he found some of the characters with strong accents in the Archers hard to follow (later we passed him again chatting to a group of German tourists in English). We also saw the original (we think) <i>The Grandma's</i> restaurant, which, <a href="http://cosmiczoo.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/honeymoon-days-4-6.html" target="_blank">as in Beijing</a>, had big queues.<br />
<br />
We had dinner in the hotel restaurant and despite the very good looking buffet decided to go for pasta (Jen) and a burger (me) as we felt in need of some western food! After dinner we went back out to watch the dancing musical fountain. Later we went to go swimming in the hotel pool, although the set up they had was very confusing. I swam briefly before we tried going for a sauna, but we found there were only separate saunas and hot tub areas for men and women, so didn't stay long.<br />
<br />
We planned to get the high speed train to Shanghai when we left Hangzhou, so rather than attempting buying tickets at the station we went to the hotel business centre who booked the tickets for us (they needed to take copies of our passports, because foreigners, who don't have the state issued ID cards, need to give their passport numbers when travelling about on the trains).<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JKSSxuSv-a4/T5l1ObMl6NI/AAAAAAAAOEI/dpGmhs3sV2Q/s1600/DSC00825.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JKSSxuSv-a4/T5l1ObMl6NI/AAAAAAAAOEI/dpGmhs3sV2Q/s320/DSC00825.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wedding photo shoot</td></tr>
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<b>17/04/12</b> - Jen was unwell overnight with a high temperature and sore throat. We made it down to breakfast for the very good buffet, but then Jen went back to bed. I walked all the way around West Lake (I'd planned to go round a bit and turn back, but once I got near half way I decided I may as well go all the way round) - this took about 3 hours. It was pretty busy with lots of golf-cart-style tourist buses going around the lake, which you had to make way for every few minutes. It was pretty, but there was a low mist over the hill surrounding the lake that meant the views weren't as good as they could have been. I also spotted the first, of what would prove to be many later sightings in Shanghai, wedding photo shoot. Later in the afternoon Jen had recovered enough to venture outside. We briefly walked through the shops behind the hotel and then walked all round the lake again. This time we went slower than I had before and spent more time at some sites like Solitary Hill Island. We also saw barges setting up the big <a href="http://www.chinatourguide.com/hangzhou/impression_west_lake.html" target="_blank">light show</a> that happens at the north of the lake, and a few rowers out doing lengths.<br />
<br />
For dinner than evening we went to <i>Chamate</i> (one of the chain of Taiwanese restaurants that <a href="http://cosmiczoo.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/honeymoon-day-3.html" target="_blank">we went to in Beijing</a>) for dinner. It was on the edge of lake and we got to eat outside, although it did get rather dark and it became quite difficult eating in the dim candlelight.Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02198967391712742862noreply@blogger.com0Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China30.274089 120.15506930.054679 119.839212 30.493499 120.47092599999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872863.post-21982753220948270382012-06-17T19:32:00.003+00:002014-02-22T16:52:34.344+00:00Honeymoon: Days 4-6I'm going to start shortening and merging the honeymoon posts now otherwise I'll never finish writing them!<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XOsTTOZcipY/T5lwZY9nhmI/AAAAAAAAN5o/WH7YS3xJcjQ/s1600/DSC00690.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XOsTTOZcipY/T5lwZY9nhmI/AAAAAAAAN5o/WH7YS3xJcjQ/s320/DSC00690.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">The "Guide Map of the Jinshanling Great Wall"</td></tr>
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<b>13/04/12</b> - We were up early on Friday for our trip to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Wall_of_China" target="_blank">Great Wall of China</a>. It looked like it was going to be a very nice day. Before getting a taxi to the <a href="http://www.backpackingchina.com/" target="_blank">hostel</a> where the tour was leaving from Jen went to the Subway across the road to get sandwiches for lunch. Having found the hostel the day before we got there easily. There were a couple of different trips departing: one to a closer, more touristy, part of the Wall, and another to further away part of the Wall (at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinshanling" target="_blank">Jinshanling</a>) where you could trek along it for about 6km. We were on the latter trip, which had about 32 people on it of various nationalities. It took about 2.5 to 3 hours to get there on the coach (with one toilet stop along the way), although a good chunk of this time was taken getting out of Beijing. The scenery got quite impressive as we heading towards the mountains. On nearing the Wall the guide on our bus gave us a bit of Wall history - the various parts built by different Dynasties over several millennia to keep out changing enemies.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wU5NqgKfl4k/T5lwjeIR6jI/AAAAAAAAN6w/9ODLKLU09DU/s1600/DSC00705.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wU5NqgKfl4k/T5lwjeIR6jI/AAAAAAAAN6w/9ODLKLU09DU/s320/DSC00705.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Great Wall</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The section of the Wall that we walked along was about 6 km long and passed through 22 towers. About half of this was reconstructed in 1980s other half was older and wilder. The tour guide had said that the start of the walk would be steep, getting steeper and finishing off steeper still. We'd been warned that along the Wall there might be people (mainly displaced farmers) trying to sell us stuff and following us along the way, but this wasn't really the case - at some towers there were people selling drinks (and sometimes t-shirts), but they didn't hassle us at all. Other than our group there weren't too many people on the Wall, but there was a large school trip going in the opposite direction. We were given about 3 hours to walk the section and we set off to the front of our group (we got overtaken by a couple of couples when we stopped for lunch). It was hot and sunny for most of the walk, but just before we got to the final tower it got windy and a short dust storm came in (with a few large drips of rain too). There was one very steep section, which required hands to scramble up, but otherwise it wasn't too difficult a trek. We got to the final tower about an hour earlier than necessary (we were the second couple to reach there in the end). When everyone had arrived (and the sky had cleared) we headed back off the Wall down to the coach. The coach home took us passed the Olympic stadium. We got off by an underground station and took that back to our hotel.<br />
<br />
For dinner that evening we just stayed local and went to the shopping mall (where we'd been for lunch the <a href="http://cosmiczoo.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/honeymoon-day-3.html" target="_blank">day before</a>). After looking around all the restaurants we decided on a place where you got a barabeque in middle of table. On this we cooked up some lamb and cod amongst other things. We bought some beers at the local shop to drink back in our hotel room.<br />
<br />
<b>14/04/12</b> - Our massage was booked for 11am, so we got to have a long lie in. Even so we still managed to get down to the hotel breakfast before it finished. The <a href="http://www.dragonfly.net.cn/" target="_blank">Dragonfly Spa</a> was very fancy. We seemed to be the only people there at the time. We had opted for the one hour Chinese massage (there were a variety a different massage styles to choose from), which at about £16 each were probably far more expensive than you would pay in less fancy establishment. The massage was nice, with a few slightly sore moments.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IKOAwFM9Wtk/T5lws8RW4YI/AAAAAAAAN8E/SMDdyRtrF_E/s1600/DSC00721.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IKOAwFM9Wtk/T5lws8RW4YI/AAAAAAAAN8E/SMDdyRtrF_E/s320/DSC00721.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Temple of Heaven</td></tr>
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The day's sightseeing was the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_heaven" target="_blank">Temple of Heaven</a>. This required another underground journey. The Temple is set in a huge walled park that you had to pay to enter (we got a ticket that got you into the main sites within the Temple grounds), but it seemed that locals with ID cards were able to get in free. As with the day before it was very hot and sunny. We saw all the main sights in the Temple that our guide book had recommended (including the building that was on the front cover of our guide book). Jen had her photo taken with some tourists again. We stopped for an ice cream and sat down near some people playing tennis. The park also had the ubiquitous sight of people dancing.<br />
<br />
We decided to walk back to the hotel via some hutongs. We initially thought that they might have all been demolished due to another new underground station being built, but on crossing a major road we found they were still standing (although some recent demolition was evident). We'd heard about a fancy restaurant in the former American embassy in the old legation district, so we tried to find it. We weren't able to find it, but did find a nice old street to walk down (<a href="http://www.235v.com/Outdoor-tourism/Dongjiaominxiang-old-Beijing-longest-alley.html" target="_blank">Dongjiaominxiang Alley</a>, which is apparently the <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/vf4SWce2ZFNL-8K1lzylmTl5gN0n3tWYsXgMohma9n4?feat=directlink" target="_blank">longest alley</a> in Beijing) with an <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/vaKuTwD0_hRHGPnQGYDMADl5gN0n3tWYsXgMohma9n4?feat=directlink" target="_blank">old church</a> on the corner. We passed a big sports centre with lots of people playing either football or basketball. We also walked through the huge mirrored Oriental Plaza where the Grand Hyatt hotel was.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0Mmvo-64qJQ/T5lxAziBNQI/AAAAAAAAN_c/c-SjEnTSTjM/s1600/DSC00756.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0Mmvo-64qJQ/T5lxAziBNQI/AAAAAAAAN_c/c-SjEnTSTjM/s320/DSC00756.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oriental Plaza</td></tr>
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For dinner we planned to go to a Thai restaurant back at the Qian Hai lake. For some reason we couldn't get a taxi to take us! We managed to flag down a couple of taxis (which was a feat in itself!) and showed the drivers a map to where we wanted to go, but one looked blankly at it and shock their head and the other wanted to charge us far more than it should be. So instead we went to a restaurant across the road from our hotel - it was busy with locals, so looked good. The food was quite basic, but was very nice - Jen's felt a bit poorly afterwards, and suspects that the food contained MSG.<br />
<br />
<b>15/04/12</b> - For our last day in Beijing we went to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_Palace" target="_blank">Summer Palace</a> - it's essentially a huge park surrounding a lake on the outskirts of the city. We got the hotel concierge to flag us down a taxi to take us there. The journey took about 40 mins. Again it was a really hot day.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BGDfiZDcbTU/T5lxgManl0I/AAAAAAAAOCw/PISglIvcQV8/s1600/DSC00807.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BGDfiZDcbTU/T5lxgManl0I/AAAAAAAAOCw/PISglIvcQV8/s320/DSC00807.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kite flying in the Summer Palace</td></tr>
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When we entered the park it was really busy and we soon hit a massive jam of people trying to go round a narrow path by the lake, so instead we searched around a bit to find a less busy path. We went round all the main sites (again we had a ticket that gave us entry to all these) including the Long Corridor, Buddha Incense temple, the Seventeen-Arch bridge, Suzhou Street (which is a small scale mock version of part of the canal-ringed city of Suzhou, which we visited later on the holiday) and the Marble Boat. In Suzhou Street you could take gondola rides, but a short trip (that an American tourist wanted us to take with him) was going to be £50, so we declined. All round the park there were people selling peeled cucumbers to eat, but we decided to just have ice lollies instead.<br />
<br />
We did go on a boat though, getting the ferry across the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunming_Lake" target="_blank">Kunming Lake</a>, which was far cheaper (a few 10s of pence I think) than the gondola. On the Seventeen-Arch bridge there were quite a few people with kites who had attained a serious height with them! We could have spent hours in the park, but it was hot and we were quite tired out and decided to head home. At this point the wind picked up and blew up dust and also made the lake rather choppy, which was interesting for all the people out on it in peddloes.<br />
<br />
To get home none of the officially licensed taxis wanted to take us using the fare calculated on the meter and were all asking for more than it should be. So, we took the risk of an unofficial taxi who was going to charge us less (about £10). Despite it being an unofficial taxi it was all okay and we got back without incident.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oiIhxeOQox8/T5lxMwbyfXI/AAAAAAAAOAI/XnDaV4ZncR8/s1600/DSC00766.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oiIhxeOQox8/T5lxMwbyfXI/AAAAAAAAOAI/XnDaV4ZncR8/s320/DSC00766.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Overlooking Kunming Lake in the Summer Palace</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
For dinner we went to the nearby mall again. We wanted to go to <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g294212-d3167043-Reviews-Grandma_s_House-Beijing.html" target="_blank">The Grandma's</a> (a chain restaurant serving Hangzhou-style food), which we'd seen huge queues outside every night. We weren't quite sure how the system of getting a table worked, but there was a screen, and automated voice, outside that seemed to shout out when your table number was ready. I got a table number from the reception area and got told something, which the person behind me in the queue kindly translated into the fact that we'd have to wait about one and a half hours for a table (our number was in the 120s and the current number on the screen was in the 60s). It seemed that there was a touch pad that we think you could put your mobile number into and receive a text when your table number was about to be called, but we just decided to hang about and have a look around the mall until it was ready. We also went out on to Wangfujing and had a quick beer, although the temperature had dropped by then, so we didn't hang about. The one and a half hour wait was well worth it as the food was fantastic. We had a pork dish, a fish stew (on the menu it's spiciness scale was 1 out of 3 chillies, but it was very hot by our standards), cauliflower and vegetable spring rolls.<br />
<br />
Afterwards we just headed back to the hotel to pack our bags for the trip to Hangzhou in the morning. We attempted to use the huge bath in out hotel room, but it was so big and took too long to fill to a reasonable level, so was abandoned after I had a little paddle!Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02198967391712742862noreply@blogger.com0Beijing, China39.904214 116.40741339.514448 115.775699 40.293980000000005 117.03912700000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872863.post-70446700173373549502012-06-12T20:25:00.001+00:002012-06-30T17:04:18.783+00:00Honeymoon: Day 3<b>12/04/12</b> - After the exhausting day of walking the day before we slept in until 11am. After getting up we swapped rooms, being downgraded back down to the style of room we'd paid for. Had we not had the initial upgrade and seen the size of that room we'd have thought the new room was huge. Even-so, it was still pretty big with all the same furniture and bathroom style, just in a slightly smaller space and with no small courtyard area.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ttnczIVx1tk/T5lv3Li69KI/AAAAAAAAN1M/bQlN_4n8uDg/s1600/DSC00642.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ttnczIVx1tk/T5lv3Li69KI/AAAAAAAAN1M/bQlN_4n8uDg/s320/DSC00642.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The hutongs near Jishuitan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Our plan from the night before had been to visit an insect market in the morning, but given our late start we ditched that plan and just decided to do a hutong walk from our <a href="http://www.dk.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9781405358958,00.html" target="_blank">guide book</a>. As we'd missed the hotel breakfast and it was late we went for lunch before our walk. We gave the beijinger website a second chance to recommend us somewhere and found a Taiwanese dumpling chain restaurant called <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g308272-d2257751-r117223991-Chamate-Shanghai.html" target="_blank">Chamate</a>. It was very close to the hotel in a very swish 6 floor shopping centre on Wangfujing. The shopping centre was still under construction with escalators being installed around us! There were loads of restaurants in there, so we actually had a lot of choice and we used it more in the next few days. It also contained a lot of western shops including a new Forever 21 being built - like back home on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buchanan_Street" target="_blank">Buchanan Street</a> apparently (this was Jen's observation not mine). In Chamate, which was very busy, we had squid balls, scallion pancake, shrimp noodles, sweet and sour pork ribs, sweet green tea and a papaya milk shake. It was all very good and cost about £16 in total.<br />
<br />
After satiating ourselves we got the underground to Jishuitan to start our walk. To start this involved walking down a very busy shopping street (Xinjiekou Bei Dajie), which included a large array of guitar/ instrument shops. We turned off the main street into alleys of hutongs, some of which had been remade and some were more original. In most of the hutongs there was something for sale like fruit, drinks (all food and drink in this area was on sale far cheaper than on the main streets, but we didn't take advantage of this), bike repairs, or even doors. There were generally children about and clothes drying outside, so they were all homes as well as businesses. We purposely went slightly off the directed walk route, but got ourselves back to the right place quite easily.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aNphVvqr31w/T5lv_8araRI/AAAAAAAAN2g/MAAPAWhEjE0/s1600/DSC00656.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aNphVvqr31w/T5lv_8araRI/AAAAAAAAN2g/MAAPAWhEjE0/s320/DSC00656.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The shrine to the 'four immortals' (including a hedgehog) in <br />
Prince Gong's palace</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Next on the walk, going passed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing_Normal_University" target="_blank">Beijing Normal University</a>, was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Gong_Mansion" target="_blank">Prince Gong's palace</a>. Around the palace you could tell it was getting more touristy as we started seeing lots of rickshaws and were getting asked if we needed a ride anywhere. We went in the palace and it looked quite quiet and peaceful. It was very nice, but when we got to the garden at the back of the palace we hits load of tour groups (in coloured hats as before). The gardens were beautiful, and a shrine of note was that for a hedgehog amongst other animals!<br />
<br />
After leaving the palace we walked past through more hutongs towards the bottom end of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houhai" target="_blank">Houhai</a> Lake, and then on the Qianhai (where we'd ended up on the <a href="http://cosmiczoo.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/honeymoon-day-1.html" target="_blank">first night</a>). Looking in to some of the courtyards we passed we could see that they'd been done-up and looked very fancy. We walked round Qianhai (there weren't any bands playing in the bars this time, but we did see a bar by Houhai that sold "<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/PAftPxUD4GXDK4OSAuzxijl5gN0n3tWYsXgMohma9n4?feat=directlink" target="_blank">Fucking good mojitos</a>") through lots of hutongs that had been rebuilt with tourists wanting to see "old style Beijing" in mind. We stopped for an ice-cream (a rum and raisin Cornetto cup for Jen) before walking up to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drum_Tower_and_Bell_Tower_of_Beijing" target="_blank">Drum Tower</a>.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mRh2xIMs4Iw/T5lwNx1eghI/AAAAAAAAN4A/hkATQIBH_98/s1600/DSC00673.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mRh2xIMs4Iw/T5lwNx1eghI/AAAAAAAAN4A/hkATQIBH_98/s320/DSC00673.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Armchair dogs on Gu Lou Dong Da Jie </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Walking on from there (passed some dogs on armchairs) we found the North end of the street (<a href="http://www.beijinghutongtour.com/hutong-guide/top-10-hutongs/nan-luo-gu-xiang-huton/" target="_blank">Luogu Hutong</a>) we had originally <i>planned</i> to go to on the first night. On this street was also found the <a href="http://www.backpackingchina.com/" target="_blank">hostel</a> that was organising our Great Wall of China walk. There were lots of very cool gift shops along the street, and many cafes and bars. We also found that the other end of the street was actually accessible by going around the building site that had stumped us before.<br />
<br />
We walked back to the hotel through a park area in the middle of a wide boulevard (Beiheyan Street). We saw little children and parents playing, many small dogs and children doing homework.<br />
<br />
Back near the hotel there was a <a href="http://www.dragonfly.net.cn/" target="_blank">Dragonfly Spa</a>, so we booked massages for the Saturday morning (the day after our Wall walk). We also bought water/ beers/ crisps for our packed lunch on the walk.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1wuziGPQKY4/T5lwY8sG3rI/AAAAAAAAN5g/jR-PFktuz7s/s1600/DSC00688.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1wuziGPQKY4/T5lwY8sG3rI/AAAAAAAAN5g/jR-PFktuz7s/s320/DSC00688.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dessert at Hua's Restaurant</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
That evening we went to dinner at <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g294212-d1057915-Reviews-Huajia_Yiyuan_Hua_s_Restaurant-Beijing.html" target="_blank">Huajia Yiyuan</a> in the Macau Centre near the hotel. It was very fancy with a huge reception area and we got a table for 8 people to ourselves. Despite it being not that late it seems that people eat dinner early in China, so the restaurant was emptying and being cleaned-up while we were there (this was a common theme on the holiday). There was loads of choice on the menus and there were pictures, so we knew what to order. We had duck pancake rolls, aubergine abalonie sauce, hau's special cabbage, fish kebabs, veg fried rice, and an amazing special Beijing regal dessert - bird cage pastries! We also got more complementary fruit. It all came to 362 Yuan, but for some reason we were charged 260 Yuan. Jen speculated that we'd got a special ginger discount!<br />
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</div>Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02198967391712742862noreply@blogger.com0Beijing, China39.904214 116.40741339.514448 115.775699 40.293980000000005 117.03912700000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872863.post-32559820499640607092012-05-31T23:04:00.000+00:002012-06-30T17:04:33.230+00:00Honeymoon: Day 2<b>11/04/12</b> - We got up at a reasonable time in the morning as we wanted to make the most of the day and get down to breakfast before it was cleared away. Breakfast in the hotel was nice, although not the best out of the hotels we stayed in - generally during the whole holiday we stuck to eating western food at breakfast (all the hotels had egg stations!), although there was always a selection of Chinese dishes that we could have tried.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RoRjZ2Hxkqk/T5luxXW3s3I/AAAAAAAANsg/Bw4NRyTNOe8/s1600/DSC00550.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RoRjZ2Hxkqk/T5luxXW3s3I/AAAAAAAANsg/Bw4NRyTNOe8/s320/DSC00550.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Entrance to the Forbidden City</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The day's plan was to go to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_City" target="_blank">Forbidden City</a>, which was only about 10 mins from our hotel. The rain of yesterday was pretty much a one off for the honeymoon and on this day the weather was hot and sunny (it stayed like this in Beijing). Walking to the entrance there were a lot of tour guides touting for business and saying that they could get passed the ticket queues quicker, but we just wanted to sort it by ourselves. At the entrance there were huge queues of Chinese tour groups in which each group had there own colour and style of hat. The ticket queue for non-tour groups folks was quite long, but actually took under 10 mins. We then got our audio guide and went into the City. It was interesting place and really big - we probably spent a couple of hours in there, but Jen was quite shocked by her first (and worst of the whole trip) experience of a Chinese public toilet. Near the exit people were being stopped going through by soldiers and there were official looking cars about, so we thought it might have been state officials going by. We went back the way we'd come and found another way through (we ended up at the same place, but after our detour the officials had passed and people were allowed through). Also, whilst in the Forbidden City it was the first time on the trip that Jen had someone request having their photo taken with her (due to her red hair we assume.)<br />
<br />
Across the road from the exit was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingshan_Park" target="_blank">Jing Shan</a> park, which has a happy story of an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chongzhen_Emperor#Fall_of_the_Ming_Dynasty" target="_blank">emperor hanging himself</a> in it! The hill in the park was actually constructed from the soil excavated during the making of the moat around the City. While walking up to the top Jen attracted the attention of a large group of photographer with telephoto lenses trying to discretely take her photo. The tower at the top of the park contained a large Buddhist shrine and offered great views back over the Forbidden City. The park also offered a better second toilet experience than that in the City.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bAlsX4iN8GU/T5lvmePlA_I/AAAAAAAANxs/zIXEQ5nfTb4/s1600/DSC00610.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="139" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bAlsX4iN8GU/T5lvmePlA_I/AAAAAAAANxs/zIXEQ5nfTb4/s640/DSC00610.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Forbidden City from Jing Shan Park</td></tr>
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From there we walked back down the side of lake in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beihai_Park" target="_blank">Beihai Park</a> and the side of the Forbidden City to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square" target="_blank">Tianamen Square</a>. There were a lot of soldiers about including some rather obvious plane clothes soldiers/police. We saw the famous portrait of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao_Zedong" target="_blank">Chairman Mao</a> and headed and through the gate at the north of the Square, which turned out to be the wrong way and just headed back to the Forbidden City entrance! Going back out to the Square we got accosted for the second time, so that a man and his son could get their photo taken with Jen. Initially I was in the photo, but they then asked me to move out the way, so it was just Jen and the man's son! Crossing under the road via the subway (which had X-ray machines) we were in the main part of the Square. We wandered past Mao's mausoleum (not going in to see his body) and saw the changing of the guard. At the south of the Square we went into the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhengyangmen" target="_blank">Qianmen Gate</a> building - this offered a good view back over the Square, but didn't contain much of interest.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N4XLx-7K75M/T5lvtD68DCI/AAAAAAAANzQ/P9io3i9nJms/s1600/DSC00626.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N4XLx-7K75M/T5lvtD68DCI/AAAAAAAANzQ/P9io3i9nJms/s320/DSC00626.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mao's mausoleum in Tianamen Square</td></tr>
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We walked down Qianmen street and went for a pot (well many refills of a pot) of tea at Haos Tea House. We'd not eaten since breakfast, so also had an ice cream from the Hagen Das across the street. After passing a shop for <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/PPLtBcfjEdHyBJ-K8gIKjTl5gN0n3tWYsXgMohma9n4?feat=directlink" target="_blank">London Olympic</a> merchandise (presumably a reassignment of a previous Beijing Olympic shop) we found a <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/XvAQhwmWkftc_QYSiDKMFjl5gN0n3tWYsXgMohma9n4?feat=directlink" target="_blank">physics-themed footbridge</a> at the bottom of the street. Around this area our guide book had said there were <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutong" target="_blank">Hutongs</a> (the narrow alleys and courtyards where people would traditionally live) that you could walk round, so we attempted to find them. But, they seemed to have all been flattened for new buildings (we did find some others over the next few days), so we just walked back to our hotel.<br />
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We booked dinner at the <a href="http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/asia/china/beijing/65553/pure-lotus/restaurant-detail.html" target="_blank">Pure Lotus</a> vegetarian restaurant, which required us to take our first subway journey. We had to use two different lines, but it was very simple and cheap (20 yuan each). The map we'd brought with us didn't quite extend to the restaurant location (and we hadn't even noted down the address!), so we had to wander around slightly randomly for 30 mins before we found it. It was a rather fancy place with a huge wooden door at the entrance. The food was all served in very elaborate dishes and it looked rather impressive. There was a huge wooden menu that was very confusing. This confusion meant we ordered far too much including a chilli and fake "chicken" thing served in a huge banana-shaped dish (which we didn't really ask for, but just got told about and accidentally brought). But it was all very nice albeit very spicy (given the large amount of chilli). At the end we got complementary fruit served in dry ice!<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aKVyJdppU88/T5lv18igA9I/AAAAAAAAN1A/BccOMlDcx08/s1600/DSC00640.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aKVyJdppU88/T5lv18igA9I/AAAAAAAAN1A/BccOMlDcx08/s320/DSC00640.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Complementary fruit</td></tr>
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<br />
After dinner we went to find bar we had found on the <a href="http://www.thebeijinger.com/" target="_blank">beijinger</a> website, called <a href="http://www.qbarbeijing.com/" target="_blank">Q bar</a>, which was supposed to be good for ex-pats. After a 20 min walk we found the bar, which was above a slightly dodgy looking hotel - it was packed, but a bit odd and we couldn't get drink! We left with the feeling that we'd stumbled across a special singles, or swingers, night!?<br />
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It was now too late to get the underground home, so we tried hailing a taxi. <i>Eventually</i> one did stop for us. We had a card from our hotel with its address in Chinese script, but the driver had very thick glasses and didn't seem to be able to read it. The driver did seem to have understood the card though and got us back to the hotel for a fee of about £2.40.Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02198967391712742862noreply@blogger.com0Beijing, China39.904214 116.40741339.514448 115.775699 40.293980000000005 117.03912700000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872863.post-986855090643940772012-05-31T21:15:00.000+00:002012-06-30T17:05:05.150+00:00Honeymoon: Day 1It's been over a month since my wife and I got back from our honeymoon. While away we kept notes of what we did each day with the plan to write these up here as soon as we returned. Well it took a bit longer than planned to get round to it, but here is the first of our day-by-day instalments: travels to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing" target="_blank">Beijing</a> (we went to China in case you couldn't guess!) It may be a bit more detailed than absolutely necessary, but it's also there as a reminder to us.<br />
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<h3>
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<h3>
Day 1 (and a bit)</h3>
<b>09/04/12</b> - Just over a day after the wedding we boarded our flight to China. We flew with <a href="http://www.emirates.com/" target="_blank">Emirates</a> going from Glasgow to Dubai, with just a couple of hours in <a href="http://www.dubaiairport.com/en/Pages/home.aspx" target="_blank">Dubai airport</a>, and then on to Beijing. We arrived in Dubai airport late at night feeling pretty exhausted mainly due to finally starting to come down from the wedding high. Having realised I'd forgotten deodorant and Jen needed some make-up we did a bit of duty free shopping before trying to find somewhere for a snack. After much indecision we settled on a fish-based cafe where I had a beef sandwich, Jen had a croissant, and we drank some Sprite. This slightly revived us for the second leg of the flight. Originally the Beijing leg was supposed to be in an Airbus A380, but in the end it was downsized to a more standard Boeing 777.<br />
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<b>10/04/12</b> - We arrived at <a href="http://en.bcia.com.cn/" target="_blank">Beijing airport</a> in the early afternoon. We passed through a thermal imaging machine to check if you've got a fever and need to be quarantined, and then went into the <a href="http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/index.php?fuseaction=wanappln.projectview&upload_id=1976" target="_blank">impressive</a> immigration hall. We passed through immigration without any problem and after a short monorail ride our luggage was waiting for us (this can often be an issue for me - in the past Jen has blamed <a href="http://cosmiczoo.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/standard-service.html" target="_blank">my luggage woes</a> on flying with a big back pack, so I'd been made to buy a proper suitcase for this trip). Our taxi driver from the airport was friendly and kept trying to point our things for us to look at, but as he spoke no English and us no Mandarin we just looked, smiled and nodded. Getting in to the centre of Beijing we were mainly struck by the size of the place and the buildings - everything was massive. We arrived at our hotel (the <a href="http://www.kapokhotelbeijing.com/" target="_blank">Hotel Kapok</a>) in late afternoon just as rain broke.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SqyZ8g_AdWw/T5lubz2gd0I/AAAAAAAANo4/GcjdAIcISLs/s1600/DSC00518.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SqyZ8g_AdWw/T5lubz2gd0I/AAAAAAAANo4/GcjdAIcISLs/s320/DSC00518.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our first room in <a href="http://www.kapokhotelbeijing.com/" target="_blank">Hotel Kapok</a></td></tr>
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The hotel had a quite funky facade and looked pretty swish when we got inside. They didn't have the style of room we'd booked available, so they upgraded us to a bigger room (it even had a small outdoor garden area) for a day (this turned into 3 days, but unfortunately not the whole stay). The room was massive, with a huge bathroom, and even came with its own <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/WDlZVuQep2rFKES28qZVETl5gN0n3tWYsXgMohma9n4?feat=directlink" target="_blank">gas masks</a> in case of fire!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EJZR2imtRaA/T5lueh9-VwI/AAAAAAAANpQ/MgPjwDnp5Uk/s1600/DSC00522.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EJZR2imtRaA/T5lueh9-VwI/AAAAAAAANpQ/MgPjwDnp5Uk/s320/DSC00522.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Night street food market</td></tr>
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After having a brief rest we headed out to get some food and have a bit of an explore. Just about 100m from our hotel there was an outdoor food night market and one of the major Beijing shopping streets called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wangfujing" target="_blank">Wangfujing</a>. We perused the food market starting off with corn-on-the-cob-n-a-stick (rather than tucking straight in to the <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Ga3SM_2bhbC34UT7uZOV9zl5gN0n3tWYsXgMohma9n4?feat=directlink" target="_blank">starfish/seahorse-on-a-stick</a>) before heading down Wangfujing. Just off that street we found another small alley containing more colourful street food. With the rain having eased off we headed back to the main street market where we had crab dumplings, fried dumplings,spring rolls and banana fritters, which were all very tasty.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zWDEzprh4qw/T5luwv2rzvI/AAAAAAAANsY/ij2ThJT6HU8/s1600/DSC00549.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zWDEzprh4qw/T5luwv2rzvI/AAAAAAAANsY/ij2ThJT6HU8/s320/DSC00549.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The band at a Qianhai lake bar</td></tr>
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Despite the long day we'd got a proper second wind and decided that we'd try and find a pub. We briefly went back to the hotel to check our options before deciding to try and find a bar on <a href="http://blog.uchinatravel.com/?p=665" target="_blank">Luogu Alley</a>. We also decided that we'd try walking there as it didn't look too far on out map. It turns out that the city blocks in Beijing are larger than they look, but after about half an hour of walking (and seeing our first instance of the <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/HrN5DbD58_-ODKb7rCQ3tjl5gN0n3tWYsXgMohma9n4?feat=directlink" target="_blank">Chinese street dancing craze</a>) we arrived at where the entrance to the alley should have been. Unfortunately it seemed to be a building site for a new subway station (a few days later we found out that there was a way through to the alley), so we decided to carry on walking to <a href="https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=qianhai+lake+beijing&hl=en&hnear=Qianhai&gl=uk&t=m&z=15" target="_blank">Qianhai lake</a> where there were more bars. Another half an hour later we found it (after passing a <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/-db-8UHEc7BUF4ZQsdCM_Dl5gN0n3tWYsXgMohma9n4?feat=directlink" target="_blank">bizarre Christmas display</a>!) and walked round to look at the bars. <i>All</i> of the bars had live music going on in them and none were that appealing, but we wanted some alcohol after our long day and eventually just went into one after being accosted by a bar promoter type. The band in this place weren't that bad, but hadn't attracted much of a crowd. We both had a single drink and left to head home.<br />
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I made a slight wrong turn on the way back, but I realised my mistake quite soon and we headed in the right direction back to our hotel. After another long walk we made it back without any problems and quickly got to sleep.<br />
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I expect the following posts will get shorter than this!</div>Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02198967391712742862noreply@blogger.com0Beijing, China39.904214 116.40741339.514448 115.775699 40.293980000000005 117.03912700000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872863.post-92203350543263278562012-05-27T20:05:00.000+00:002012-05-27T20:05:27.539+00:00Slalom in the sunshineToday was one of the final canoe club trips of the academic year. But, unlike most club trips this one was happening on a gloriously hot and sunny day rather than the standard weather of cold, wet and windy.<br />
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Seven of us headed up to Grandtully to go on the section of the <a href="http://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/rivers/scotland/central-highlands/river-tay-sca-access-point-to-grandtully" target="_blank">Tay</a> there. We travelled quite a scenic route to get there at the behest of our SatNav (via Crief and Aberfeldy), but still got there with plenty of time to paddle. At this section of the Tay the <a href="http://www.canoescotland.org/" target="_blank">Scottish Canoe Association</a> has it's national slalom site, so there were easy parking facilities there. This river section has a short series of rapids (with slalom gates set up) followed by a long flat section, so we just stayed at the rapids and ran down them several times interspersed with a lunch break. There wasn't a huge amount of water, so the rapid weren't particularly big, but we were able to practice getting into eddies and play about a bit. We didn't attempt making the slalom gates though, although there were quite a lot of other paddlers on the river, so of who were slalom-ers. There was also a group of rafts heading down the river. <br />
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It was nice to get off the river and be able to get changed in the sun and get kit mostly dried before packing it. We took a more direct route back home with a brief stop at a service station outside of Perth for an ice lolly.Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02198967391712742862noreply@blogger.com0Grandtully, Perth and Kinross PH9, UK56.658325 -3.76763356.6495975 -3.787374 56.6670525 -3.7478920000000002tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872863.post-47690799355342612272012-03-10T22:09:00.000+00:002012-03-10T22:16:25.450+00:00First trip to Fort WilliamToday saw my first ever kayaking trip north of Glencoe - in fact it was my first ever trip north of Glencoe up the west coast of Scotland for any reason. The canoe club were having a full weekend of boating up around Fort William, but I decided just to head up for the day. With an early start I managed to meet the rest of the group at the village hall in Ballachulish at 08:10. We first headed to check out the <a href="http://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/rivers/scotland/west-highlands/river-loy">Loy</a>, which was a bit low, so carried on further along the road to the <a href="http://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/rivers/scotland/west-highlands/river-arkaig">Arkaig</a>. This river did have a fair amount of water in it.<br />
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The river is a fairly easy run except for a large Grade 4 rapid (the "Main Event") near the start, which is where we spent the majority of the time. We spent a while checking the rapid out and looking at possible lines. In general it was looking pretty hefty. I was at the back of the first trio to head down the rapid. There were a lot of huge <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitewater#Holes">holes</a> along the way and I seemed to get stopped in all of them. I made it all the way down, but got stopped before the final drop, so had no speed to carry me off the rapid. Basically I got flipped at the bottom and after one failed roll attempt I became the day's first swimmer. The rapid claimed a few other swimmers after me, but quite a few people went back for seconds and thirds. I decided one swim was enough for the day for me, so didn't give it another go.<br />
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The rest of the river was pretty uneventful with just a few small rapids. We practice a bit of ferrying and breaking in and out of eddies. I did have some rather novice wobbles a couple of times on eddy lines (I don't think anyone else noticed), but other than that did manage without another swim. The rest of the group headed to another river to get a short run in, but I preferred the option of getting dry and heading back to Glasgow while it was still light.Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02198967391712742862noreply@blogger.com0Loch Arkaig, Spean Bridge, Highland PH34, UK56.9706759 -5.136725456.9014364 -5.2946539 57.039915400000005 -4.9787969000000007tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872863.post-43903056759389277662011-10-09T20:07:00.000+00:002011-10-09T20:09:43.883+00:00Back in the waterDue to the flat purchase and renovation it's been almost a year since I was <a href="http://cosmiczoo.blogspot.com/2010/11/leny.html">last</a> out kayaking on a river (I didn't think it was that long, but the blog doesn't lie!), but yesterday I got myself on one of the club freshers trips. There are a few standard beginners rivers and for this trip we headed to my <a href="http://cosmiczoo.blogspot.com/2008/05/bonnie-banks.html">first river</a> - the Lower Orchy. It seems we weren't the only group to think this as there were about 40 people from Edinburgh's club too.<br />
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It was good to be back out on a river with the knowledge that I shouldn't be able to get myself into trouble. I was able to get a good amount of practice ferrying across the river and breaking in and out of eddies, which were things that I needed to work on. All our freshers got on pretty well despite a few swims, although unfortunately early on one of the news paddlers dislocated their shoulder. They also got to experience generally standard of having to change out of their kit in the pouring rain. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and I had a lot of fun.<br />
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I'm definitely going to try and get out on far more trips this year than the last.Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02198967391712742862noreply@blogger.com0A85, Argyll and Bute PA33 1, UK56.4166667 -4.8556.2761377 -5.165857 56.5571957 -4.5341429999999994tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872863.post-3664477801848557522011-08-20T19:13:00.001+00:002011-08-20T19:20:55.522+00:00Changing roomsBy popular demand I've decided to post some "after" photos of our <a href="http://cosmiczoo.blogspot.com/2011/08/flat.html">new flat</a>. I hope you enjoy our handiwork.
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qPxF07mGatg/Tk_7fnJMmFI/AAAAAAAAKEM/BS6e_Yw8XE8/s1600/DSC00466.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qPxF07mGatg/Tk_7fnJMmFI/AAAAAAAAKEM/BS6e_Yw8XE8/s320/DSC00466.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the "red room" and was the first room to be painted (see <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JZhiqf0M_J4/Tkg9SMFVj7I/AAAAAAAAKBU/AfPw6g3UOaI/s1600/DSC00440.JPG">here</a> for comparison) - the fireplace is gone and the hole it left was plastered over and covered by a bookcase. As can be seen it is <i>supposed</i> to be the cats room.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w_-AZ0qxfwM/Tk_7jlpmp8I/AAAAAAAAKEc/w7jKSFzJuS0/s1600/DSC00468.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w_-AZ0qxfwM/Tk_7jlpmp8I/AAAAAAAAKEc/w7jKSFzJuS0/s320/DSC00468.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The "blue room" - this was our main bedroom for the first few months in the flat (see <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZGdAN-qOEX0/Tkg9VhZnANI/AAAAAAAAKBg/L2aum3rEthY/s1600/DSC00442.JPG">here</a> for comparison).</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VskGIsyNNnM/Tk_7kMS-xxI/AAAAAAAAKEg/pQ5ON9H4LBQ/s1600/DSC00469.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VskGIsyNNnM/Tk_7kMS-xxI/AAAAAAAAKEg/pQ5ON9H4LBQ/s320/DSC00469.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The living room - there's a brand new fireplace and the fancy <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_flooring#Engineered">engineered wood</a> floor that we laid (see <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Kmm3raO584g/Tkg9RnsmPTI/AAAAAAAAKBM/59N9aPktEjw/s1600/DSC00439.JPG">here</a> for comparison)</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-um6KwO4Ihxs/Tk_7mOZ9RvI/AAAAAAAAKEk/6-GAJuDpMXE/s1600/DSC00471.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-um6KwO4Ihxs/Tk_7mOZ9RvI/AAAAAAAAKEk/6-GAJuDpMXE/s320/DSC00471.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bathroom - the first major job to be completed in the flat was toilet and sink going in (see <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ViUdX7yJPf4/Tkg9VokibFI/AAAAAAAAKBc/6ABpEbLxQ9A/s1600/DSC00443.JPG">here</a> for comparison)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OgfsgwbljTY/Tk_7jZArl9I/AAAAAAAAKEY/_OKHwWKNZ6Y/s1600/DSC00470.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OgfsgwbljTY/Tk_7jZArl9I/AAAAAAAAKEY/_OKHwWKNZ6Y/s320/DSC00470.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The kitchen (see <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yRtnu4-f99g/Tkg9YiBYHjI/AAAAAAAAKBo/e7rCEb_4FUA/s1600/DSC00445.JPG">here</a> for comparison) - this was taken just before our flatwarming, which is why there's a food spread out. It's a <a href="http://www.magnet.co.uk/">Magnet</a> kitchen (but bought from <a href="http://www.andersons-ltd.com/">Andersons</a> for far cheaper than the standard Magnet price, so we'd definitely recommend them). Note the range cooker - there's a story to that which probably warrants a whole blogpost to itself, but here I'll just say that it was <i>interesting</i> getting it into the flat on an icy day last December.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8IYKp1Th9ys/Tk_7mbIoRLI/AAAAAAAAKEo/GHrvHdn0Orc/s1600/DSC00472.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8IYKp1Th9ys/Tk_7mbIoRLI/AAAAAAAAKEo/GHrvHdn0Orc/s320/DSC00472.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The hall - the same flooring from the living extends through to the hall. It's taken from the opposite angle to the comparison <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fUHxMAqVWUY/Tkg9cLPmFRI/AAAAAAAAKB0/9brCmSHFBS8/s1600/DSC00447.JPG">picture</a>, but where the hall narrows on the left there used to be a blocked off ceiling cupboard/loft space that extended to level with the pantry cupboards. The far door goes into a cupboard that was originally only accessible from the kitchen, but which we knocked through.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yS_oFigDgww/Tk_7f1OnDBI/AAAAAAAAKEQ/xyvPFcqUCcc/s1600/DSC00467.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yS_oFigDgww/Tk_7f1OnDBI/AAAAAAAAKEQ/xyvPFcqUCcc/s320/DSC00467.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Last, but not least, the main bedroom - we actually did least to this room (see <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SZPSf0LVfXk/Tkg9U5bdetI/AAAAAAAAKBY/Cm8ZxeFaywE/s1600/DSC00441.JPG">here</a> for comparison). We painted the whole thing, but didn't do anything to the floor (this is a potential future project). Note that the cats appear to have claimed the bed as their own!</td></tr>
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Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02198967391712742862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872863.post-33150605748576923632011-08-14T22:31:00.012+00:002011-08-20T18:40:55.339+00:00The flatThought I'd post something about the <a href="http://cosmiczoo.blogspot.com/2010/11/keys.html">flat</a> my girlfriend (actually fiancée now) and I bought seeing as it has been one of the reasons for the sparseness of my blogging. When we bought the flat we knew that it would require quite a bit of work - every room needed redecorating, a new bathroom and kitchen were required and the flooring in every room had to be replaced. All this might have been quite daunting, but my fiancées dad was <i>keen</i> to lend a hand. While we got on with the important jobs of painting and wallpapering, he was able to fit the bathroom, kitchen and flooring, so you can see it was a fair distribution of labour!
The renovation is pretty much entirely done now (it took maybe <i>slightly</i> longer than we'd originally anticipated) - it's really only a few radiator pipe collars that are needed, but to show where we started from here are a few photo's of the flat before we got working on it (it may not look too bad in the pictures, but they don't do the true state it was in justice):
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Kmm3raO584g/Tkg9RnsmPTI/AAAAAAAAKBM/59N9aPktEjw/s1600/DSC00439.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Kmm3raO584g/Tkg9RnsmPTI/AAAAAAAAKBM/59N9aPktEjw/s320/DSC00439.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The living room - note the <i>lovely</i> carpet and fireplace! These have since been replaced.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZGdAN-qOEX0/Tkg9VhZnANI/AAAAAAAAKBg/L2aum3rEthY/s1600/DSC00442.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZGdAN-qOEX0/Tkg9VhZnANI/AAAAAAAAKBg/L2aum3rEthY/s320/DSC00442.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spare room 1 - this is now blue. This was our main bedroom whilst the room that was to become our bedroom was being used as storage space for all the renovation material.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JZhiqf0M_J4/Tkg9SMFVj7I/AAAAAAAAKBU/AfPw6g3UOaI/s1600/DSC00440.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JZhiqf0M_J4/Tkg9SMFVj7I/AAAAAAAAKBU/AfPw6g3UOaI/s320/DSC00440.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spare room 2 - again note the carpet, wallpaper and horrific fireplace. All these are gone. It is the cats room now.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yRtnu4-f99g/Tkg9YiBYHjI/AAAAAAAAKBo/e7rCEb_4FUA/s1600/DSC00445.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yRtnu4-f99g/Tkg9YiBYHjI/AAAAAAAAKBo/e7rCEb_4FUA/s320/DSC00445.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The kitchen - this had to be gutted. We (well mainly my fiancée) redesigned it ourselves!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fUHxMAqVWUY/Tkg9cLPmFRI/AAAAAAAAKB0/9brCmSHFBS8/s1600/DSC00447.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fUHxMAqVWUY/Tkg9cLPmFRI/AAAAAAAAKB0/9brCmSHFBS8/s320/DSC00447.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The hall - this photo looks far less grotty than it was. More had to be done in this room than you might expect.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SZPSf0LVfXk/Tkg9U5bdetI/AAAAAAAAKBY/Cm8ZxeFaywE/s1600/DSC00441.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SZPSf0LVfXk/Tkg9U5bdetI/AAAAAAAAKBY/Cm8ZxeFaywE/s320/DSC00441.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The main bedroom - this room actually had to have the least done to it. We repainted the walls and covered up some bizarre rag-rolling on the ceiling and cornicing. However, for the first few months of moving in you couldn't see the floor as it was covered in tools and other renovation paraphernalia. It also now contains a bed. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ViUdX7yJPf4/Tkg9VokibFI/AAAAAAAAKBc/6ABpEbLxQ9A/s1600/DSC00443.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ViUdX7yJPf4/Tkg9VokibFI/AAAAAAAAKBc/6ABpEbLxQ9A/s320/DSC00443.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bathroom - obviously! This was also completely gutted and a new bathroom suite installed.</td></tr>
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I might post some of the after photo's later, but as you might expect we spent a lot of time in the local B&Qs and travelling to and from the tip. </div>
Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02198967391712742862noreply@blogger.com0