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January 04 the condensed versionLast week was really busy so here's the recap. I met up with CK and her friends Yuko and Sandra. Tom showed up. Jidesh showed up. We saw fireworks at the 101. We got up to some spots in northern Taipei. I did some things I didn't think I was going to do. Hit a couple different night markets and got a chance to see the energy in them. All in all it was a good trip and allowed me to check out a lot of stuff around. There are still a few things that I didn't get around to doing while I was there but I'll survive without having done them. Perhaps I'll make another trip out there some time but I'm not going to put a date on that.
After a couple of weeks hanging out there it was definitely time to come home and get back to life. All in all I think Taipei is an interesting place. The hot springs were something that I hadn't ever experienced before. The public transportation was great and made it really easy to get around. It was clean, easy to navigate, and ran at frequent intervals so it was all good. There was some really good food around and it was great to make some new friends.
Staying at the Grand Hyatt was a good choice for checking out the fireworks for sure. The crowd that gathered around there for New Years was incredible. It was a good show I guess although I expected it to be longer but still good. Too bad that's supposed to be the last year they'll pull that off. At least I can always look back and say that I was there to see that. If I do go back next time I'm not sure I'd stay at the same location but the hotel stay was great.
The best thing about the trip were the friends I was able to make and the friends that were there to share the experience with me. It was kind of funny as I was coming through customs and I didn't have anything to declare. I think this is the first trip that I didn't acquire something to bring back with me. I'm still not sure whether that's a good thing but it's definitely something. And this concludes this years entries for this blog. I don't see myself making any long distance trips in the near future but you never can tell. December 28 hmm, bored now...Yay! I didn’t waste two days of sunshine. I’m not sure that’s really an accomplishment but it is in my book for now. Now if only I can figure out how to lie out and get a tan that would be an accomplishment. In retrospect I probably should’ve just gone to Melbourne instead but whatever. Today I dropped in on the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. I’m not really sure what to make of it. It’s big. It’s white. It’s got a pretty blue top. It’s roped off. It isn’t my idea of a great time but it’s definitely something to see while I’m in town. There were a few people chilling around there and I guess it was pretty pleasant to just hang out and enjoy the weather. There was a lot of renovation going on so I didn’t get the full effect but I got what I wanted out of there I guess. The Taipei taxi service is definitely better than the drivers in Beijing. They’ve been pretty good about getting me to the places I’ve pointed out but then again most the places that I’ve been to are touristy and the town isn’t really all that big. The place is cleaner than Beijing as well. The air quality is much better. Even though there is some smog going on here there isn’t that terrible smell that comes with living in Beijing. I still stand by the assumption that any place with a weather condition of “smoke” isn’t necessarily a great tourist spot regardless of whether or not that only occurs in the winter. With New Years Eve just a few days away I’m still curious as to what’s going to unfold. I’m right in the shadow of the 101 so perhaps there will be some fireworks. Perhaps we’ll just go straight for the clubs and hole up in a table. Perhaps I’ll be sick again and just ditch on the whole thing and stay in bed the whole time. I really hope the latter doesn’t happen but it’s hard to tell at this point. Last year was very forgettable so I’m hoping for better things this year. December 27 slack dayI figure since I'm on vacation I'm allowed to be a super slacker. With that in mind I slept till like 12:30pm. Well I was actually up by 6am, had breakfast, and then went back to bed at like 10:30am. I eventually woke up at like 12:30pm and it was everything I thought it could be except it was a little too bright. Oddly enough I spent the only sunny day of my visit tucked into bed. But again, it's my vacation so I do what I want! I was going to lie out and get a tan when the sun got around to the pool… but guess what… the freaking sun never shines on the damn pool! WTF!! That’s right… with the way the building is designed the sun never got high enough to shine directly on the pool. So all those lounge chairs by the pool are totally worthless if you want to lie out in the sun. LAME!!
After wasting most of the day I decided to at least go over to the observation deck at the 101 and check out the sunset. For starters I assume there is 101 floors hence the name. As I was sitting in the elevator flying upwards it stopped at the 89th floor. I’m feeling ripped off now. Honestly though, it doesn’t really matter since the place was so smoggy another twelve floors wouldn’t have made a difference. Even still it’s nowhere close to how bad Beijing or Shanghai was.
Sure the building is kind of cool. It’s nice to have that kind of vantage point. However once you’ve been in a really tall building looking down, everything looks about the same no matter where you are. Of all the heights that I’ve seen when it comes to tall buildings, I’d have to say Shanghai was probably the most interesting just because it wasn’t so high that everything seemed miniscule and it had a great skyline. Too bad I never got to check out the Hong Kong skyline from way up high as I’m sure that would be a sight to behold as well. December 26 fine art huh?The problem with traveling around in a place where I can’t really speak the language is that it’s always questionable as to whether or not I’ll make it back home. Sure I’ll end up somewhere but is it going to be close enough to where I really want to be? That’s always an interesting problem to run into. Today I decided to go check out the Taipei Fine Arts Museum.
The museum is located a few miles northwest of where I’m staying at. The taxi driver was pretty good about getting there. Judging by the directions that he took I think he ended up taking the most optimal path to get to the destination. That’s definitely better than 99% of the taxi drivers I ran into while I was staying in Beijing. I may be jumping the gun a little bit, but if nothing else, that makes Taipei better than Beijing. But to be honest I haven’t really ridden in that many taxis so it’s too early to say that it’s really that good here but my sources tell me they’re pretty dependable.
The museum is like many other museums I’ve been to. The temperature is cool, the floors are really clean, things are on the wall, and you’re not allowed to touch anything. There was a lot of anime stuff there which was interesting to see but I’m not sure I understand the huge fascination with it all. Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to take any pictures inside so I can’t show any of it. It was cool but I’m not sure it deserved a whole floor dedicated to that. Then again, I am in another culture and animation is a big thing so whatever.
After trotting around the museum I decided to walk around the Taipei Art Park which was right behind the building. To say the least I didn’t see anything there that made me go “wow”. It was an interesting contrast though looking at plants and the open area with the backdrop of the old buildings that looked like they missed one too many cleanings. You can easily pick out where I live by looking for the 101 building which sticks out like a sore thumb. There was some cool looking building off in the distance which I was curious about but I wasn’t curious enough to find out what was inside.
At this point I was getting a bit tired so I decided to trek along Minzu E. Road and ended up in front of the Xinsheng Park. It looked like this was just a big recreation area with ballparks of sorts on it. To say the least I was pretty beat already so I didn’t run around to find out. I did however stick around long enough to do a really bad over the should photo shot and I found a pack of dogs just chilling. If it were sunny outside they could get a tan or something. They looked all cute and stuff lying out there but I figured it was probably better not to approach them.
Afterwards I decided to go back toward the hotel and search for the Starbucks. I’m still aching for a Chai Tea Latte. Of course hunger got the best of me and at exactly the right moment, I spotted a McDonald’s. Of course no trip would be complete unless I stop at a McDonald’s for some stupid reason. Don’t ask. Anyhow, after getting some grub I decided to walk down the strip a little bit and of course I ran smack into a Starbucks. Mental note for next time, if you can’t find a Starbucks, look for a McDonald’s and surely there will be a Starbucks nearby. I doubt that’s always true but it might be more true in Asian countries.
Unfortunately after all that hunting I still don’t have my damn Chai Tea Latte. No, it wasn’t on the stupid menu so I had to stick with a Green Tea Latte. Well, a Green Tea Latte is definitely no Chai Tea Latte so of course I’m not a happy camper.
As I’m sitting here thinking about the day thus far I’ve come to realize that I’m smack dab in the touristy part of town. Everything here is pretty, clean, and fairly new. It’s easy to get around and there are a lot of people just chilling. It was interesting to walk around the streets earlier today in a different part of town. It helped me get a better perspective on how upscale everything is around me. I can’t say that I want to run around the back alleys of Taipei but I’m sure there are some interesting stories to be made back there. December 25 Merry Christmas from TaipeiIf you're running behind on your Christmas shopping it'll be alright if you live in Taipei. Walking around the 101 building you'd never know it was Christmas day. There were plenty of people walking around. I wouldn't say people were really getting their shop on but they were definitely out and about. In general I'd say it's similar to what I noticed when I was in Shanghai. It just goes to show that Christmas isn't really that big a deal over here.
And with so much shopping space around I'm surprised I've only seen one Starbucks around. Seriously, I want a Chai Tea right now but I can't find a Starbucks. How ironic.
The sky bridges they have connecting everything is really convenient for shoppers. If I weren't so lazy yesterday I would've just used them to get around and avoided the rain all together. Eh, actually probably not. There's a whole bunch of high end shops here but I don't think I roll that high.
And OMG, what's up with the line to watch a movie (at least I that's what I'm assuming the line is for). Is there a really good movie that I don't know about or am I that spoiled that I don't remember how fun it is to go watch a movie on the big screen? That was a rhetorical question... Anyhow after closer examination the line wasn't really that long as the ticket counters were right around the corner.
I've walked like three blocks on the sky bridges and I think it's quite impressive really. I better clarify that. It's impressive how well thought out the bridges are. It's impressive I'm still trotting my ass around and I haven't acquired some meaningless bullshit. It's even more impressive that I haven't run into a freaking Starbucks. I know I saw one earlier but I can't remember where the hell I saw it at. How annoying!
As I'm walking around I find myself increasingly aware of how much tech crap I have on me at the moment. First there's this stupid Pantech phone. Can't find the calculator on it. can't figure out how to create a new doc using Word (because you probably can't). And by the way, what a pain to type on! Then there's the ole trusty iPod. Perhaps I would be saying "old trusty Zune" if they had what I wanted in stock. Lastly there's the Canon SD750 camera. I haven't really made up my mind on the camera yet but it seems pretty good.
It is Christmas after all so I'll end this note a little less whiny. Christmas is the time of year that should be spent with loved ones. I'm not religious or anything but it's still a good excuse to use to get together with people that you really care about. This is the second time in as many years that I've managed to find myself in unchartered territory But just because I’m not spending time near my family doesn’t mean that they’re not on my mind or in my heart. I spent this Christmas reflecting on the things I have and the things I wish for. Right now I’m feeling fortunate that the wishes I have are fairly trivial and that everything I really need, I already have. 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). |
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