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December 23 Once again in the Asia region...It seems like I'm only ever going to update this site when I'm in the Asia region. In this case I've managed to land myself in Taipei. After a long flight I've come to a few different conclusions. First off, Japan Airlines needs to update their plane from Narita to Taipei. The interior reminds me of the decor from the 70's - 80's. You know it's old when the arm rests still have the little ash trays in them. Secondly, flying is overrated. I hate sitting on a plane for a long period of time. If planes were equipped with WiFi at least I could be productive. And lastly, Mercedes Benz makes a kick ass ride. The limo service that was arranged was the quietest ride I've been on in a while. Now if only I can figure out how to get Richie to buy one of those and drive me to and from work.
As I kind of expected, I didn't sleep in very late. And as I also expected, I've very out of shape. I went to the gym this morning and after a hard workout I felt like I was going to vomit. I think it had more to do with the run that I went on more than anything else. I guess this just means that I need to get back into the gym more regularly when I return back home.
January 17 and so concludes my tripIt's ironic that my trip would end in nearly the same way it began. Once again I was delayed on my flight out which caused me to miss my connection at Narita. I was re-routed through Honolulu, which I can't complain about too much, and arrived in Seattle about 12 hours later than I was supposed to. I don't want to ramble too much about the flight but I will go so far as to say that some of their people or processes need to be evaluated and smacked down.
Anyhow, it was an interesting trip and I learned a lot from the experience. I've made some good friends and had some good times while I was there. Unfortunately, with recent changes I don't think I'll be making a trip over there any time in the near future. Oh well, all good things must come to an end right? January 07 recap: final thoughtsThis was by far the most interesting trip that I've taken. I've been very fortunate to have the opportunity to come out here and spend the last 6 months of my life. I struggled through most of the trip with things that I expected and some things I didn't expect. I had a lot of rough patches but I also had a lot of fun while I was here. It gave me a great chance to learn about a different culture, work style, and I also learned a lot about myself.
I think there are a lot of things about Beijing that make it a pain to be here but I don't think any of those things have really been a deal breaker for me. Of course I would've liked it if I could've been sick less but that's just a problem most people have coming from the US. If I get to make another trip over here I'll have to start probiotics ahead of time to strengthen my stomach. That should solve most the stomach issues. It also would've been nice if I had really taken a step into learning Mandarin months ahead of time. Everything else is just part of getting used to the lifestyle and culture.
There are so many little rants that I have and so many little things that I can complain about. I was lucky enough to make some really good friends while I was here to help overcome many of the problems that I encountered. With the exchange rate being favorable to the US currency right now you can have a lot of fun here without really spending a huge amount. Where I sacrificed in certain parts of my life I was able to over indulge in others.
This trip definitely was an eye opener. I'm glad that I came out here. Would I do it again? I'm not quite sure at this point. There are a lot of things that you have to be willing to sacrifice and re-adjust to. If it's for a good reason and there is a good plan, yeah it's worth it. If I were to just come out here again for the sake of being out here, no. I can think of at least one great reason for me to come back out here but right now I'm not sure what the deal is. January 05 recap: weather, housing, and transportationIn the summer Beijing was crazy hot. It was like being in Orlando but without good air conditioning. People were a little smelly, there were a lot of guys walking around with their shirts rolled over their bellies (umm it was eww!), and people were in no rush to move anywhere. I later learned that they're never in a rush to go anywhere but that's another rant. To continue, it was a bit dreadful going around town in the summer. I remember in specific one of the first nights that I was in town. I decided to hit the town and I decided to dress down a bit so I wore a t-shirt and jeans. After walking around for a little bit I was all sweaty like I had been running a marathon. Coming from Seattle weather to the heat in Beijing was just killer. I did eventually come around and get used to the weather but then along comes winter.
I'm sure there are places in the world that are colder than Beijing, but I haven't ever been to those places for a reason. I can't remember the last day that's been above 35° F. The part that makes it even worse is that most nights are down in the mid to low teens. To say the least I can't remember the last time I trolled around Sanlitun. We went out to Houhai for dinner about a month or two back and it was getting unbearable to be around that area since it was so chilly and windy. More people are sick, the air is super polluted because they use coal to heat places still, and my bathroom is freezing because the insulation is ass.
It's not all bad though. There are days when the pollution is blown away and the weather is perfect. Those are the days that I miss and they aren't too often. I'm sure the winter is going to get a bit colder before it gets warmer. This is one place that I just won't get used to any time in the near future so I just can't win here.
Will - 2
Beijing - 2
At first I really didn't like my housing arrangement too much. It was nice that I had a large place but in my mind, any place without a dryer or microwave couldn't be called a home. After a while I came around. After living here for a while I don't mind it as much. Of course I wouldn't mind having some of the conveniences I would normally have in the US but I'm not in the US right!? The location wasn't too great when it came to things to do after hours but once I learned my way around it wasn't an issue. The 2 things that I really didn't like is the fact the tap water will make me sick pretty quickly if consumed and the bathroom isn't insulated well so it's freezing cold in the winter time. Besides that I can't complain all too much more. There is almost always a taxi around, I could get to the lightrail easily, it's really close to work, and it's easy to get to since most people know where the Sigma building is. I have small little gripes about things in the place but when it really comes down to it, I lived there for 6 months and it hasn't really killed me so I'm okay with that.
Will - 3
Beijing - 2
The transportation in Beijing is definitely something you have to get used to. I hate stepping into a taxi and not being able to tell the taxi driver where to go or how to get there. Some taxi drivers know what's going on but the bulk of them are clueless. When I first got here I didn't really want to go far since I wasn't sure how to get back home. I don't have that problem anymore. There are cases where the driver doesn't know where the building is but then I just hop into the next cab and then I'm usually good to go. Between learning how to get back and forth in the taxis, learning the lightrail system, and buses I can get to any place that I want to get to. After visiting Hong Kong and Shanghai I don't really know what the make of the system here. I think Hong Kong is much better. I think Shanghai is... good but I didn't like how packed the subways always were. For the simple fact that I could usually get to where I needed to go I think I came out on top here.
Will - 4
Beijing - 2
As you can kind of tell, it's going to take a bit more for Beijing to beat me down... but I'm not quite done yet... what a fitting way to start the new year and wrap up my Beijing trip (sarcastic)Of course I couldn't leave Beijing without getting sick one more time. Since New Years I've been more or less stuck with the flu that's been going around here. Fever, muscle soreness, headache, and other general discomforts are a great way to start things off! At this point, it's all about getting healthy before my trip back home so I don't have to check any of the boxes in the medical form. I often wonder what they do to you but I'm not curious enough to go and find out. December 30 Shanghai Day 4 and 5 (12-26-06)Day 4 got started a little quicker. I got up a little bit earlier but not much. After trying to figure out what we wanted to do we decided to split up. Anita and I decided to go to Xintiandi, again. Once again we were having lunch past 2pm, and guess what…? All the good restaurants stopped serving food! WTF!! Seriously, why can’t these fools just stay open after 2pm? It isn’t rocket science to cook some food up and send the customer on their way. Anyhow, we settled on eating at this place called Zen which wasn’t bad. It was southern style Chinese food so we had dim sum.
After getting our eat on, I had to stop in and get more clay figurines. I don’t know why but I was captivated by those little things. If they had a website I’m sure I’d shop from the US. Anyhow, after my moment of weakness we walked around the area only to realize that there isn’t all that much around Xintiandi. There were some plazas but not much in them so we just went back to the hotel and unloaded my new collection. After a yummy dinner we took off to Xintiandi, again, to have cigars and enjoy some refreshments. It was just what the doctor ordered. That was pretty much our trip. On day 5 we found the Microsoft building in Metro Park. It's in a good location but if you've seen one building, you've seen them all. Unfortunately that wasn't the building that Pung worked in so I didn't get a chance to drop in and visit. We have more yummy dumplings for lunch and that was it. We went and had some coffee, went back to the hotel, and I passed out in the lobby for a little bit. All in all it was an interesting trip but I didn't really see anything that made me go "wow". I guess I'll have to make another trip to Shanghai to really check out the night life. December 29 Shanghai Day 3 (12-25-06)Day 3 started off much like before. I slept in, got up and watched some TV, and eventually crawled my ass out of bed. A friend of Sherman’s showed us around Shanghai which was nice. It was odd to see so many people out and about working on Christmas day. They don’t really celebrate Christmas over there but they play Christmas carols and stuff like that so it was driving me a little crazy.
First we went to the posh part of town to check out the shops and stuff. Let’s just say that I don’t make enough money to be shopping in those shops so we saw the sites and dipped out. After that we headed over to the Bund to check out the waterfront since Anita’s friends hadn’t seen it. I can’t say that it was much different but it was nice having someone who lived in Shanghai explain some of the stuff to us. Afterwards we headed over to a little shopping area where we could get the famed xiaolongbao (I know I probably didn’t spell that right). I don’t know the name of the place but I got a great head shot of some sign. I’ll have to go back and edit my picture to remove the bags from under my eyes so don’t mind that. Anyhow, this place we went to is really famous and there were lines of people waiting to have these little dumplings. When I say lines, I mean lines. There was a line downstairs to get the dumplings so you could just grab them and keep going. Then there were 2 different lines upstairs where you could have the dumplings as well. Sherman took one for the team and stood in line while we did some walking. It was worth sticking around to have them. It might have been a little over priced compared with some of the other stuff around but it was really yummy. After stuffing ourselves we headed over to some other shopping area. At this point my back was once again killing me (catching a theme here?). Anita and I decided we were shopped out so we just chilled at a coffee joint. It was nice being able to kick back and relax a bit after all the stuff we were seeing. Fast forward and we headed off to dinner across the waterfront in a nice little Chinese restaurant. After dinner we decided it was time to hit Taipan again. That’s right, for 3 days straight I went to get a massage. You just can’t beat that when it comes to service and the price you pay for it. That is one of the things that I really like about China but that’s a rant for another time. Anyhow, this time it was a foot massage which was great because you still get all the yummy free food. On the way to the spa we stopped in and got some DVDs so afterwards we just kicked back and watched a movie. What a great way to spend Christmas. BTW, Merry Christmas. Shanghai Day 2 (12-24-06)The second day started off much better. I slept in and when I got up, I didn’t even really get up. I sat around and watched TV for a while. They had HBO and I had to get my movie fix in since I can’t watch anything amusing in English on the Beijing channels (unless I buy DVDs of course but I can never find what I want). After lollygagging for a while I eventually got up and we had lunch at some little place in Xintiandi. Xintiandi is a tourist spot with a lot of swank shops and nice restaurants. Unfortunately for us the first place we chose stopped serving, or allowing people in the restaurant, at 3pm. I thought that was pretty shitty but that save us quite a bit of money since the place was expensive. We eventually settled at a little place which had decent food.
After lunch we found a little shop that has these really cool clay figurines. Of course I had to get them since they were… cool. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. We got our haircut, walked around some more, and at that point I decided that I couldn’t take it anymore. My back was in so much pain, I had to get a massage. The night before I had someone come up to the room and work on my back which seemed to help a little bit so I figured that doing that again might be good. The hotel service was expensive as hell so we actually located a chain that existed in Beijing as well called Taipan. Taipan is a nice spa that has great massage services and yummy free food as well. Yeah, it’s worth every penny. Considering it only costs 368 RMB, that’s really just worth it. That’s like under $50 USD… massage and food. You can’t really beat that. Unfortunately we ran a little long on that so we were late meeting up with Anita’s friends. After getting back to the hotel they went out to Xintiandi for drinks while I whined for a little while and decided to stay in and rest my back. Yes, my back was killing me the entire time I was there because of all the walking we were doing. Shanghai Day 1 (12-23-06)Mental note to self, getting up at 4:30am to catch a flight is really over rated. Not only that, there’s nothing open that early over here so I had to eat congee out of a vending machine. Do you have any idea what that really tastes like!?! Well, it wasn’t really that bad actually since I was starving but that’s not the point. I’ll stop ranting and continue to the point now…
After hopping an early flight to Shanghai we got there around 11am’ish. It was a pretty quick ride to the Hua Ting hotel where we dropped off our bags and then proceeded to walk down the road. Since the airplane food was absolute crap we wanted to get something to eat. We ended up in the Metro Park area which is much like Zhongguanchun in Beijing. It’s full of computer stores and other things like that. They’re getting ready to open a Best Buy there but they weren’t quite done yet. We found out later that there was a Microsoft building in that area but I’ll get to that later. We eventually ended up at some restaurant in a mall and to say the least the food wasn’t great. Following the sub par lunch we decided it was time to start traveling on the subway lines. We found a little tourist center, got a map, and off we went toward the People’s Square. When we got there we saw… people. Yep, I’m not sure we spent enough time trying to figure out what the People’s Square was all about but we looked around, took marvel at all the grass which we couldn’t walk on, and went on to greater things like the Bund waterfront. It was kind of cool looking at all the buildings lining the waterfront area. There are a lot of banks there and of course a lot of tourists. The water is not so spectacular. There was trash floating along the sides. Anita and I were counting the number of sandals we saw floating in the water and let’s just say that we counted more than we should have. We eventually took a little ride over to the other side of the waterfront just to check it out. We didn’t find anything really interesting but we did cross the street many many times trying to figure out how the hell to get to the subway station. We eventually got that part down went back and passed out for a while. I got up at 4am… gimme a break. After getting my power nap we headed out to dinner for some yummy Singapore style food. It too was in a mall but this place was much better. This first day was probably the most average when it came to the food we ate but it wasn’t that bad. When we finished dinner we stumbled around the city a little more and then decided to call it quits. The first day wasn’t too eventful but that’s a good thing considering my back was killing me. December 22 recap: good food and some not so good foodI always feel that I've been at a place too long when I look around and there's nothing in particular that I want to eat. Considering I started out not knowing anything around and surviving on cup of noodles and B1 (the underground cafe area) I think I've gone a long way here. I know I'm not going to spell these places right but that's not really the point right now but here's the list:
Tafi - Italian
The Modern Japanese Restaurant - Japanese
Bellagio - Chinese Issin - Japanese
Ganges - Indian
"the yummy expensive duck place in Wudaokou" - Chinese "the shitty japanese restaurant" - Japanese
"the congee place" - Chinese
Dongbaqu - Chinese
Peter's Tex Mex - Tex mex
Grandma's Kitchen - American
Kala - American [hot dogs to be more precise]
Taipan - Chinese [it's really a spa but they have free food and it's yummy]
some place in the Oriental Plaza mall - Chinese
Hutong Pizza - American [pizza]
many different Chinese hot pot places - Chinese
Lush - American type stuff
Sculpting in Time - American type stuff
a thousand different Korean BBQ places - Korean
"BLCU Muslim restaurant" - Chinese
The Pizza Company - American [pizza]
Luce - Chinese fusion
My Humble Home - Chinese fusion
"korean hot pot, even though there isn't really a korean hot pot" - Chinese [ish]
RBT - Chinese
different places near the Carrefour - Chinese; Japanese
Fairwinds - Chinese
B1 - Chinese
Hard Drive - Chinese
some place out in Sunlituan - Chinese
And of course, the places we should all know:
McDonald's
Pizza Hut
Papa John's
Dominos
TGIF
KFC
(I'm sure I've forgotten many places in this overall list)
No, I didn't take pictures of all the places that I went to eat and all the dishes I've eaten. I'm not that guy. More importantly, I would've probably maxed out my space on this site if I actually did that. I've eaten at so many places around here and I can't pronounce the names of most of the restaurants.
To say the least I didn't quite come out on top when it comes to eating at some of those places. To say the least some of those places caused me to have to pay a little trip over to the clinic to get a little attention. All in all though, I've had a lot of good food while I was here so I'm dreading stepping on a scale right about now. It's at this moment in time that I'm really thankful that I have my mom's metabolism. Thanks Mom!!
In the category of food, I think I can take a point away since I've been to a lot of great places but unfortunately Beijing did get the better of me for the first few months that I was here. So the tally looks like this:
Will - 2
Beijing - 1
On the up side, I haven't really gotten a stomach problem since I got back into town in mid November. Right about now I'm frantically looking for a piece of wood to knock on. Seriously though, I think the pro-biotics did help out there. Thanks Anita! You weren't necessarily right but you weren't wrong... I'll give you that. :)
December 19 photos to go along with the recapI had a bunch of pictures that my friend Curtis had taken when he visited that I never posted. I figured since I was looking back this was a good time to put them up. Beside, it's so damn cold outside right now I need to be reminded that there was a summer here and it was dreadfully hot. I can't seem to win in this place!! December 16 time to start recapping things... good friends make for a fun timeHoly frick it's cold outside. Right now it's 14° F so I'm chilling out at my place where it's warm. I was walking around earlier today when it was supposed to be around 25° F but it was so cold my eyes were watering up and stinging. To say the least I think this would've been a good time to be in Hong Kong. Hopefully it'll warm up a bit more during the next week but I'm not going to hold my breathe. Right about now I really wish I had brought some of my snowboarding gear with me so I could bundle up. I'll have to go do some more shopping tomorrow.
Will vs. Beijing
As I look at the calendar right now I have only 2 weeks left here. I'm trying to get the stay extended right now because I don't think there will be much going on during the New Year time frame so I figure I'd be more productive here. Whether or not that will happen, I'm not sure at this point but I think it'll be okay. Since it's coming up to that time where I'm cutting out of here I think it's a good time for me to start looking back at all that I've learned (and in some cases forgotten).
Before I came out here I was a bit excited and a bit nervous. I was excited because I was getting a great opportunity to come out and do something I've never really done before. I got a chance to live in another country, learn a new culture, work with some amazing people, and really get away from my norm. I was nervous because I was moving into a place where I couldn't really communicate with the majority of the people, I had to adjust to the lifestyle, and I had to get out of my comfort zone. Normally I wouldn't jump into something like this but I believed this trip was necessary for us to be successful and for me to grow. Whether or not I've helped, I have no idea. I don't think I have a doubt that I've grown from this trip. With all the food around me, I must've grown a bit more round. :)
The most important thing I think that I'll take away from this trip are the friends that I've made and the relationship that were developed. I never would've imagined meeting so many great people. I think on average people here are more open and friendly or it might just seem that way because most of them were sympathetic to my utter cluelessness (yeah, that's not a word but I don't care). Without these people, my friends, I don't think I would've had as much fun as I have over here. I'll have to save good stories for another time...
Since I don't want to make this a novel I'll break up the entries in chunks. To summarize, good people and good friends help to overcome uncertainty and doubt. It really helped me get around and adjust to life by meeting people that know the area well. It's a little funny that I know more about some of the places around here than some of the people that have lived here all their life. In the category of me adjusting to life over here, I think I was successful due to my friends. They helped me get food, get medical attention when I needed it, kept me sane, and helped show me a good time around time when I was burnt out.
Score:
Will - 1
Beijing - 0
December 11 Hong Kong day 3I was too damn tired last night to think of something creative to say so I'll do it today. The unfortunate part is that whatever I come up with today isn't going to be much better than what I would've come up with yesterday. Unfortunately I had to leave around noon time to get to the airport in time so we had to do an early lunch. During lunch I got to meet more relatives who's pictures I'm sure I've seen but I've never met. Throughout this whole trip it's been a whole bunch of, I don't really know you but I really should. Next time I'm going to have to schedule some time to just hang out and meet everyone over here.
Right before lunch, Uncle David took me walking around the pier area which was kind of cool. It's like their walk of fame where actors and actresses have their little stars on the ground with their hand prints and stuff. Too bad it was a little overcast that day else I could've had some really good shots. I really need to invest in a good DSLR so I can go around and take pictures.
All in all, I would say that was a good trip. It was good enough that I actually looked up jobs available around the area. Unfortunately there isn't anything there that I'd really want to do or would qualify to do. I think I could have a lot of fun in Hong Kong if I had more time to just hang out and roam around. It makes such a big difference being able to understand things going on around me as opposed to my life in Beijing. It's too bad the company can't find a good reason to ship me out there for a while. Oh well, I'm just going to have to plan a vacation there myself but I guess that will have to wait for a few years... or the stock price hitting $45+.
Did I mention that Beijing is freaking cold compared to Hong Kong!?! December 10 Hong Kong Day 2 (date: 2006-12-09)There are some things that I should never be expected to do. One of those things is buying any kind of cosmetic products or perfume for people. That's right! No matter what the product there's always some crap that prevents me from getting in and out in a timely manner. It's usually because the girl usually doesn't tell me everything I need to know. :) But that's okay, today was all about checking out random crap to buy.
As I was cruising around with Uncle David and Auntie Stella, I realized that things in Hong Kong aren't really cheaper than in the US. Sure some places are a bit cheaper but I buy so much stuff online that I don't really save much money here. I was looking for a camera, sun glasses, and a watch. After making a few different stops and doing some math I was able to determine that I don't really save anything and in fact some of the things were much more expensive than I could get. It was really cool to be able to see all the stuff around.
I also got a chance to drop into a Toy's R Us here. The store here was really active but I think that's mainly because of the Christmas holiday around the corner. Being the big kid that I am of course I had to get a few things myself. What was funny was that after spending some certain amount, they gave away free Krisy Kreeme. That's right, not only do you get to buy toys but they pump you up with sugar as well. Actually I think they were just promoting a new store here but it's funny that they would be targeting a toy store to push they presence. I guess sugar and kids go hand in hand.
So after spending the day hanging out I've come to the conclusion that it was really useful for me to learn some Cantonese when I was younger. The transportation system in Hong Kong kicks ass. There are a lot of places to eat here. There are a lot of bright lights here. Wonton noodles are tasty. And lastly, walking is over rated. My feet hurt and my back hurts. Hong Kong Day 1 (date: 2006-12-08)Oh yeah, it's warm over here. When I got outside I started to remember how nice 70+ degreee weather was. Too bad Beijing is butt ass cold. It's too bad I took all my summer clothes back home on the last trip and I don't have anything that I would consider warm weather wear. So I guess I'll have to suck it up a little bit and before I know it I'll be back in the butt ass cold.
The start of the day was a little rocky. The driver that was supposed to pick me up at 5:15am got the time mixed up and thought he was supposed to pick me up in the afternoon. After talking to him on the phone I came to the realization that there was no way he was going to get me to the airport on time so I had to huff it to the road and hope for the best. After chilling out in the road (literally chilling since it was freezing outside) I finally got a taxi to drive me to the airport. I really hate it when they pick the longest route just because they don't think people know where they're going. Well, I got to the airport in one piece so I can't really complain too much.
After hitting the ground I realized that I didn't understand Cantonese as well as I would've hoped. Some of the stuff coming over the intercom on the plane didn't make any sense to me. After gathering my bag I met up with my aunts and uncles. It was a little weird considering I haven't seen them in many years but I still remember what they looked like so that was good. Some time between the point of landing in Hong Kong and the bus ride out to my relatives (David and Stella) place I realized my damn Beijing phone doesn't work out here. How's that for stupid? My SMT5600 works here but not in Beijing. My POS Nokia works in Beijing but not here. I can't seem to win when it comes to phones. That's an entirely different rant I have to go on.
Well, after a tasty lunch we headed from the Kowloon side to the Hong Kong side to check out the peak. We took a ferry across to the other side and then hopped a tram to the peak. It was a really good day to visit since it was clear and sunny. The pollution wasn't too bad today. I managed to get some decent shots on my little camera (and this leads me to believe i need to shell out and get the big daddy SLR). It was spectacular looking out at the peak and seeing all around the island. It's pretty hard to describe the beauty and the pictures hardly do it justice. I highly recommend people go check it out if they get the chance.
On the way back down we chose to do the bus route instead. Yeah, I'm not sure who's more crazy when it comes to driving buses... the Hong Kong drivers or the Beijing drivers? Either way, it's a little bit scary having the bus zipping along the curvy road to get down the peak. The view down is equally impressive.
After finally getting down and back into the city we took a subway back to David and Stella's place. This city is very well connected. Between the buses, subways, ferries, and taxies you can get just about anywhere I'm sure. I'll have to test that theory out.
We're going to head out to dinner in a little bit so that'll be nice. I'm so beat walking around today that I'm just hoping that I can stay up while we're eating. It's nice to be able to understand some of the conversations around me. It's definitely a refreshing change from being totally lost in Beijing. Too bad I wasn't stationed out here because I could definitely get into some trouble (the good kind of course). up to the momentAfter getting back into Beijing I've been sick for about... well, the whole time I've been back here. I can't really think of a period more than a week where I haven't been sick, jet lagged, or had some weird stomach virus. I guess it didn't help out much that I went out a couple nights the week right after I got back into town. Mix has been an interesting place and to say the least it provides for a lot of entertainment. In fact when we went Wednesday, it helped make Thanksgiving interesting for me. Yeah, do the math there.
Of course people over here don't really celebrate Thanksgiving so everyone works. Luckily for us, we were given a few days off from the big boss man so I still got to enjoy a little time off. Anyhow, instead of watching football and enjoying a wonderful turkey dinner I went a different route. I had Japanese food for dinner and no real TV shows. I wouldn't say it was the best meal that I had but it was still probably one of the best Thanksgivings. To say the least, I have big incentive to learn Chinese but it's still a slow work in progress. In fact, here's a little exchange that I had with Anita about my lack of Chinese skills:
We had a few visitors over the last week which made the week a little more interesting. Paul Midgen and John Cable dropped by for an interviewing trip. I should've taken a picture of Paul the first day I saw him because that's probably the worst shape I've seen him in. Apparently the flight in and the food were not doing good things for him. Then Kirsten eventually came down with whatever Paul had. I don't think they'll want to be making another trip out here in the near future.
Since I'm all the way over here I thought it'd be nice to hop around the country. so, Hong Kong here I come! That's right. I'm going to Hong Kong because... well... why not? I figure it'd be nice to see some relatives that I haven't seen in a long time and some relatives that I've never seen. More importantly, I can understand some Cantonese!! That's right, I can escape some of the Lost in Translation moments that I've been having.
After this Hong Kong trip, I'm booking out to Shanghai for Christmas. So from Dec 23rd till Dec 27th I'll be doing it up Shanghai style. And yeah, they do decorate for Christmas. I'm still not quite sure if I'll be getting the day of for Christmas or what but I guess I can figure that out later.
(and since I haven't had Internet access for the last few days I'm going to have to stack entries) November 27 The Road Not TakenTWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. -Robert Frost November 26 they weren't kidding when they said the winter is dry hereNormally, I don't think I would realize how dry it is in my apartment. I have the heat running the whole time so it keeps the place warm and it never shuts off since there isn't a thermostat that controls the heat. Well, if I didn't have a cold right now I probably wouldn't be paying much attention to how dry the air is. Since I'm all stuffy I can feel the dry air in my lungs and it's not really a good feeling. To remedy the problem I decided to make a pit stop into Walmart and pick up a couple of humidifiers. They have a whole bunch of them over there as I assume many people would want one for the same reason I want one.
When I saw Mr Froggy I couldn't resist. Oddly enough he only cost 100 RMB. The stupid looking little ball cost me 298 RMB. Of course the cool little ball has a little thingy that tells me how humid the air is. I'm not sure that thing really works but it looks like it does something so I'll believe it for now. Anyhow, after running those two for the day I can actually tell it's helping. The air doesn't feel as harsh when I'm breathing. All in all I would say that it was a good investment.
November 25 Car shows have once again become amusingThe Beijing auto show was probably one of the most entertaining auto shows I've been to in many many years. It was entertaining for all different reasons. The place was huge. There were 10 buildings around the facility and we only managed to make it to 2 of the buildings. I blame a night of drinking to our late start but that's not the point. We saw a lot of cars there that I've never heard of. The sheer number of people surrounding the exotic cars was insane. The crowd was worse than the crowds I encounter when I go out to the clubs. You can see from some of the pictures how crazy it was over there.
We've come to the conclusion there are at least 4 different type of people that go to the car shows.
1. There are people there that want to see the cars. All kinds of cars... concepts, available, and upcoming cars. It's always cool to see what's out there and especially true for me since I have no idea what kind of cars people can get their hands on around here.
2. People actually come to these things to buy cars. I hadn't seen that before in the shows in the US although I'm sure that happens. There were different building with different types of displays for the same type of cars so I'm assuming some of them were there for selling cars.
3. People go there to gawk at the models.
4. People go there because there's nothing better to do.
I'm still trying to figure out which category we fit into but I'll stretch and say we fall into at least a couple of them. All in all, I don't think I'll be buying a car in Beijing and I don't think that trying to get a taxi while thousands of other people are trying to do the same works out very well.
November 18 Wiki's once again banned in ChinaSure enough, I get 404's when I try to go to them from my connection at home. I feel so violated. It's a good thing corp net bypasses this so I'm only partially violated. It's a good thing I don't really have any opinions else I'd probably get deported.
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