stoopid censorship

the last time i was in china, they shut down blogger and i was unable to view or update any of my posts. because of this, this may be my last post in asia. I will update the moment i can, but until then it has been a pleasure, and thanks to everyone who read. I'll do a better thanks later, kinda like they do at the oscars only without the music.

I had to play

Day 155

Okay, i lied. I played ultimate today... right on the BEACH! that's for you jon. My initial plans were to fly back to Shanghai by connecting to Bangkok first on June 6. I would later find out that there was a beach tournament in Cha-am... only 2 hours away from bangkok...on June 7. So of course i changed my flight so that i could be reunited with some of the most awesome people in Asia, the soidawgs of Bangkok! 

It was a one day beach tournament and boy am i glad that it was only one day. I had never played on beach before and it is truly a totally different game. Have you ever tried running on sand? Ever try running, stopping, running, cutting, jumping, running, and then diving on sand? It ain't easy. My team was called, Beach Dawgs and we rocked. We played 3 games of intense beach ultimate before lunch and luckily didn't have to deal with too much sun or overheated sand. After a sleepy lunch, we continued our play and the dawgs were 5-0 heading into the finals, but a long tiring day of constant running and cutting and running and jumping and running some more can really make me tired. We lost in the finals 15-11, but it was all for fun and i had a great time. Ultimate has been a huge blessing for me because i have seen asia in ways i could only imagine and i've met some amazing people along the way. Thanks soidawgz!!

Day 150

Today was a really exciting day because i made it back to Chiang Mai yesterday and didn't get sick from the ride back, and today i decided to learn how to cook Thai food! I started the day around 9:45, where a group of 6 of us went with this lady named, Rad (aweseome name) and toured the local food market and then went to her cooking class/house which is called: Thai Orchid cookery school. We started off with a spicy coconut soup, then made my favorite thai dish: pad thai with big noodle, which they just called Fried Big Noodle (pad in thai means fried, so that makes sense). After the awesome first two meals we continued to learn Red curry with roast duck, then fried chicken with basil, spicy pork salad and then ended with our dessert, water chestnuts with coconut milk. It was an awesome day and one of the most tiring because of all the cooking, but especially because of all the eating! The great thing about learning to cook is also the eating. So the next time you need an awesome thai meal, don't be afraid to ask...actually be afraid a bit.

How long is your neck?

Day 148

Today started off as another lazy day. Wake up around 8am, chat a bit on skype, waste time on the internet, take a nap, you know, the usual. I had planned on going towards this place my friend in Laos told me. The place is called: Lod cave. It is supposedly this spectacular cave and is one of the top sites in Pai. The only way to the cave is via bus, car, or in my case, motorbike. I set off for Lod cave because she told me that there were cool sites and villages that I could see on the way there and that it wasn’t just a stupid trip. I’ve wanted to see villages since I’ve been in SE Asia and so the prospect of seeing one was making me really excited. Lod cave is about 60 km away from Pai and so I set off with high hopes and a sense of openness. I didn’t know what to expect and I was excited about that. I rode for about 30 minutes before my butt fell asleep and I had gone about 10 km. The road to the main cities and towns are incredibly windy and it takes forever just to go 1 km. Luckily for me the roads were pretty open because it is the low season, however…it is the rainy season. The rain here is soft for a minute and then a torrential downpour for about 4 minutes and then soft for another 3 minutes and then it stops. It is pretty easy to tell when it is going to rain because the temperature dramatically drops. I admit that riding in the rain isn’t the most fun thing to do on a motorbike, especially knowing my track record with two wheeled machines. I continue to ride along the highway looking for signs for Lod cave and eventually see some. Now signage in Asia needs help. Arrows point to sides of roads or cliffs or to each other. I have no clue what some of the signs mean, and that is not good when everything else is in Thai and when I have no clue where I am. I think we know where this is going. I pass Lod cave without me knowing, but I had a clue that I did, but just like Dorrie said in Finding Nemo, “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming…” In my case: just keep going.

Eventually I arrive at a police checkpoint. The police officer stops me and starts talking to me. I’m not sure in what language because people here speak multiple sometimes. Probably Japanese though. He asks me in English where I’m going. I just point forward and say the next city, Mae Hong Son. He smiles and says, “OK, just 55km.” I’ve already gone 60km and that took me about 1 ½ hours. I say what the heck and keep going…without checking my fuel tank. About 10 minutes into my journey, I see that my fuel is dangerously low and I make an immediate U-turn and plan to head back about 20km to refuel. I reach the police checkpoint again and he tells me of a station about 6km away. I jet towards it and see a nice quiet little village. The buildings are simple, almost trash-like but there are all efficient, and their gas station is a woman with 3 barrels of gas. After a quick drink, I set off to Mae Hong Son again.

I arrived into Mae Hong Son without a clue of what I was going to do. I gave myself about 3 hours of time in the city before I would have to head back to Pai because I had to return my bike. I had a quick lunch and remembered seeing flyers for a tribal village called the Longnecks. Their tradition is to have their women bind their necks with brass rings in order to make their necks longer. Cool. I ask the owner of the restaurant which way to go and I set off.

Their village is about 10 km away from the town and is a series of windy side roads and brings you deep into their wilderness. Crossing over steams and such was cool but then I arrived into the village and was stopped by a tourist information dude. I had to pay 250 baht to see the village and my sense of guilt came back again. I’m all for taking pictures, but I’m not into taking them when I make the people just feel uncomfortable and I get a feeling that I am intruding. There were little vendors set up as I made my walk down a path towards the village and came to the bottom to see my vendors. The tourism totally changed the people of the village and now they make most of their money by selling their goods to tourists. It was sad to see, but I tried to make the most of it. It was cool to see their homes up close though. They are simple timber framed and their roofs are made up of wood and boat load of leaves. I ask a few of the women for some photos, and that made me feel much better about intruding, but not totally.

I now had a 110km journey to look forward to in order to get back to Pai and about 3 hours to do it in. No problem. Today’s trip started around 10am and ended at 7:15pm. I had traveled about 230km and had leveled up my motorbiking experience by about 12 levels. I was getting way more comfortable and found myself averaging about 50-60km/hr instead of 30km/hr. I had seen a cool culture and had been so cold from riding in the rain all day that I actually had the shivers and goosebumps. Overall, a great trip.

Fresh Air

Day 147

I didn’t sleep to well this morning. Mainly cuz I just feel so sticky. SE Asia is so hot and it was so difficult to get comfortable. Along with the stickiness is the massive amount of bug bites that have invaded my skin. The mosquitoes don’t bit my body, but just my legs and all night long and all day long I’m just scratchin away at my bug bites. I'm starting to learn why so many people here wear pants instead of shorts. So because I didn’t sleep too well, I had a huge headache and my plan of going to see some waterfalls took a huge dip and I didn’t feel like doing anything all day. I was fine with doing nothing, that’s why I’m here in Pai, but I had to at least eat something. So I got ready and stumbled out of my room and almost immediately started to feel better. Fresh air is beautiful, but so is riding a scooter in the fresh air. It was amazing at how alert and awake I became once I was outside and away from the stink hole room of mine.

Nothing too exciting today. I got kinda lost, but that’s what I like doing. I saw a semi-“Olympic”/ Field day event at the local community center. There was loud music playing, people playing soccer and it looked like a ton of fun; and totally ridiculous. I saw a waterfall, drove through a village and a Chinese sanctioned village and basically just rode around Pai. I’ve started to really love it here, but there is no way that I could stay longer than a week, I think I would just get too bored and plus being alone doesn’t help. I’ve fallen in love with pineapple shakes and I can never get enough of Pad Thai, and yes I am eating the vegetables.

Blowin in the Wind

Day 146

Today I cheated death…I rode a motorbike and didn’t crash or have a horrific accident. It is only a work of God that I didn’t crash into anything… or anyone. Today was my first time and attempt at riding a motorbike (scooter). Being in Shanghai since January, one of the things that you notice is the massive number of people that drive motorcycles and motorbikes. It is efficient and really cool. I have always wondered what it would like to have my hair blowing in the wind and to be riding down a road in the open air. Well today was the day where that dream came true. My hair is quite long, if you haven’t seen pictures, it is almost touching my shoulders. Hair long enough to blow in the wind: check. I paid 100 Baht for 24 hours on a 100cc automatic motorbike and then paid 40 baht for the insurance (a necessity for me). I paid 140 baht to drive a motorbike for 24 hours. 140 baht = about $4. Holy moly, Thailand is awesome. Now keep in mind that I have never ridden one of these before and so the lady points to a bike outside and says that that one is mine. So I’m thinking to myself, “Ok self cool. There’s our baby, but I have no clue what to do.” Luckily, there was a staff person nearby who taught me how to turn it on and then asked if I have ever ridden one before. I tell him no and he just chuckles and smiles. Just like my first time in the car, it’s hard to gauge just how much power is a lot and how much is a little. My heart is racing and nervous because I am not the best person to be on two wheels. After a few jolts of throttle, I finally get the hang of it and I’m off. At a speedy 20mph! It’s funny to say that now, but for my first time, it felt fast; but more importantly safe and AWESOME! I had such a rush and it felt so good to drive around and to have my Japanese looking hair blowing in the wind. Pai is a pretty lazy place.


After I moved out of my guesthouse I checked into a different one near the Pai River and saw a little place called Edible Jazz. Sweet name. I read that it is a hot spot for musicians to just jam out and is a nice place to just relax. I go there around 8 and talk with a few other travelers and then a guitarist grabs the mic and starts jamming. This guy is awesome. He has a raspy and scratchy singing voice, but it is “real”. It is one of soul and he sounds awesome. It has been some time since I’ve had live music and this was a great time. I stayed till about 11 listening to just the kind of relaxing music I like. Pai is a sweet place and I’m definitely getting my share of relaxation.

Just Reeeelax

Day 145

Yesterday I arrived into the lazy town called Pai via a crazy minibus driver. We had to drive over this mountain, which forced the people to build the windiest road I have ever been on. After being tossed and turned and nauseated, I stumbled out of the bus into Pai and felt a sense of relaxation. The mood around here reminds me of hippy/ pot-heads. Tons of Bob Marley paraphernalia and tye dye shops. As I was walking around, I heard some foreigners ask a local for some opium! Ahhhh Thailand. People around here love their dreads and it is the first place that I have been where the local people actually dress in the clothing that the market people sell. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, let me explain:

When many foreigners travel to places in South East Asia, they get this feeling of being cool and to wear the natural clothing. The natural clothing consists of loose pants that are colored to be subtle and are very stripy; and to wear shirts that are also loose and are designed to I guess show off the chest hair that no one here has (people here don’t really grow hair on their bodies). Usually only foreigners wear these type of clothing and the locals wear their khaki pants or jeans and wear t-shirts. It is quite funny to see foreigners think that they are truly part of the culture by wearing these things, when in fact they are the only ones wearing these things. HOWEVER, in Pai I have seen a good number of people wearing these natural fibered clothing. I will admit that it is cool looking and looks incredibly comfortable, I’ll just have to use my judgment on this one.

My friend in Lao told me to spend about a week in Pai, but I’m not sure how long I’ll spend, but I do know that it will be very relaxing.

Budget

Day 144

I arrived into Chiang Mai, Thailand on Tuesday, and this time not for ultimate Frisbee. I met someone in Luang Prabang who told me about this little town called Pai near Chiang Mai. She said that it was beautiful and totally relaxing. With only about 2 and a half weeks before I have to go back home, I figured to do as much relaxing as possible before I would start having non-stop all-nighters.


Money usually isn’t too much of a hassle for me because of the crazy exchange rates and because things in Thailand are so cheap. However, the geniuses at my bank decided to not allow any ATM transactions to occur for an undisclosed amount of time in the areas of Malaysia and Thailand; due to a high number of pin # fraud. So I came into Thailand with about 2000 kuai, which equals to about 8,160 Baht, which is equal to about $230. My trip just got increasingly more interesting. Usually when traveling I do not worry about spending a little because it is so cheap, but now that I am on a pretty strict budget, I will have to holster my want for some things. My idea behind buying things, I believe is pretty rational because I will generally only buy something if I feel that I will use it often or if it is important. That will have to be true now more than ever because there are so many cool things here that I want, but do I really need?


My first meal in Chiang Mai was a Thai style BBQ buffet in a giant warehouse complex. Tons of tables and tons of fresh meat, seafood, vegetables, fruit, ice cream, pastries, and so much more. The set up is similar to that of Chinese hot pot. These is a “pot” that looks as though it could be a hat, and it is heated by burning coals. Water or broth is poured around the brim of the hat and then the middle is used as a regular grill. It was delicious and very filling.

Apple Pie Shots

Day 141

Day two of the Malaysian tournament was one filled with excitement and more laziness. We, Cowboyz, continued our ways of not warming up and it showed, but only cuz we played the team that would eventually finish 2^nd in the tournament. It was hot again, and as bodies started to fall, our team chemistry started to grow. We beat our next team 9-2 and it felt really good because here we were a team of “misfits” and we are starting to really click. It was our last game against a team from Singapore called: Freakshow that really showed how far we had come. It was a back and forth battle but the Cowboyz finally came out with the win and we finished in a very respectable 5^th place out of 16. And we were seeded 11^th. Kuala Lumpur was a great tournament with awesome people and I look forward to hopefully playing again with the great people in Bangkok. Cheers and to your apple pie shots!

Ultimateness

Day 140


So I’m sitting in a guesthouse in KUALA LUMPUR!!! I guess before I tell you why I’m in Kuala Lumpur, I should fill you in on what has happened in the past week.

Last week Beijing held an awesome ultimate tournament. It was China Nationals and it is meant to determine the National Champion of China. There were over 20 teams at this tournament and it was just awesome to see so many Chinese people playing ultimate. Shanghai wasn’t able to win the title of national champion because we are a team of “wai guo ren”-foreigners/ expats. So we had two fairly even teams and we had a good time playing against the other ineligible teams. My team, Tres Eckes! played just ok, and what I mean is that we lost to a Beijing high school team. I’m was more frustrated because at how poorly we played in a strong wind, but it is good for those little buggers to win cuz that’s what this tournament was all about. Hong Kong won the title from Beijing Bang, and it was just another quality tournament to put in my resume.



Kuala Lumpur is HOT! I found out about this tournament through my friend, Aeoy, who I met at the Bangkok Hat tournament earlier in the year; through facebook. I asked her if I could play and she said, “totally!” so I joined the Bangkok Cowboyz and now I’m here in Kuala Lumpur playing ultimate Frisbee. It is really incredible what I and so many other people do, we travel to different countries around Asia and the world, and then play ultimate Frisbee. We make great friends and see awesome places. My team struggled heavily in the first game because we are all new with one another and we are basically a pick-up team. I played alright, but I wasn’t too impressed with the play that I was seeing from the “top” teams here from Singapore and other places. That is one thing that I am excited to doing when I get back to the states, and that is to play some ultimate that is always competitive and is just at a different level than it is here in Asia. But until then, let my domination continue…

I called my blog this for a reason

Day 130

My time is Laos was not exciting, and that was perfect. I scheduled two full days in Luang Prabang and for those two full days I basically just did nothing…and taken from Tony the Tiger: it was GGRRREAT!!! Some of biggest differences between Laos and Cambodia to China is that the people are nicer, they are more relaxed (mainly because it’s too hot to do anything but lie around), people don’t try to hit you with their motobikes or their cars, and that they don’t bargain the same as they do in China. In China, I’m able to bargain and haggle my way to possibly 1/3 of the price, but in Cambodia and in Laos, they are nicer and not as pushy, but they don’t allow you to go even close to half of their price. Laos was great, and my final destination for this trip is to the Tiger Leaping Gorge in China.

Tiger Leaping Gorge is known as one of the world’s biggest and deepest gorges in the world. My friends in Shanghai have constantly praised how beautiful this place is, so my expectations were pretty high. Siem Reap was amazing, Luang Prabang was restful, but Tiger Leaping Gorge was breathtaking. It is difficult to put into words at just how majestic this place is. The people living on the gorge are known as the Naxi’s and they are incredibly resourceful and friendly. I would love to come back to China and just live with one of the families and learn more about their culture and their way of life. Pictures are said to speak a thousand words, so I’ll let them speak for themselves.

$1= 8,550 Kip

Day 125

I arrived into Laos yesterday after a farewell to the lovely Bun Kao family and my trusty driver, who I can’t remember his name. I arrived into Luang Prabang around 3 and had no idea what I was going to do. I added Luang Prabang to my list of places to go because my friend and travel agent Jon told me that it was a good place to go. I trust him and so here I am! The city of Luang Prabang is very small and is run by the Buddhist temples and the monks. The main attraction for Luang Prabang is to visit the temples and the huge waterfalls. I chose to stay at the Spicylaos guesthouse and it has been great. I walked around the city, tried some of the street food, not as good as China, and some of the traditional drinks, (an iced bag that with a coffee flavored liquid). Laos is crazy beautiful and the people are also very friendly, but it is soo HOT!!! The host of the guesthouse took me and other guests to a local restaurant called Utopia and it was fantastic.

Inside Utopia, there is a sand beach volleyball court; the seats are either floor seating or gigantic rocks with the tables being rocks as well. It is right on the lake and it is really a great design. If only my camera was working the way that it should, then you would be able to see it…sorry.

Today I went to the waterfall called Khuangai Waterfall. My driver from the airport picked me up and we left at 9am. I arrived at the waterfall around 9:45 and started my hike up the mountain. It was so beautiful. The people did a great job of making the waterfalls and pools very accessible without disturbing the natural too much or making it extremely obvious that you are on a trail. I of course got lost and wandered a bit, but eventually made it to the very top of the waterfall and continued for another 3km to a cave. It was all worth it.

Being in the sun all day is very tiring and for the rest of the day I vegged and didn’t do much. I was about to pay my driver 20,000 Kip but he said 40. So I gave him $40. dang…I lose.


The saddest part of the trip so far has to be my interaction with the cat that lives in the guesthouse. She is a mother of some kittens but about 4 days ago the kittens were killed. The mother cat roams around all day in the guesthouse and around it, calling for it’s babies and there is no response, there will never be a response. It makes me think of just the love that this cat has, but has no clue as to where it’s kittens are. I have no idea how long she will keep it up, but it is certain that she cares.

Guilt

Day 123

My camera is broken, but my spirit isn’t. I went to the lake today to see the countryside and to see the people again. The lake is a huge economic help for the Cambodians, who fish like crazy and then sell them to the surrounding countries. On the lake is a floating village and just like the rest of my days, breathtaking. Luckily for me I didn’t need to use my broader lens and only needed my telephoto lens to capture the essence of what I was seeing. I am someone that will take pictures at will and my favorite thing to take pictures of is people. This was the first time that I felt guilty for taking these pictures. I was on a boat and we rode through the village and I could see the people going about their normal business of fishing, lounging around, eating, sleeping, playing, etc. I started to think of what they must be thinking. Imagine a life without privacy, where strangers would come to your neighborhood and home and just take photos of you, your friends and your family. How does it make you feel when someone is pointing a camera directly at your face? For me it feels weird, but it could have a total different feeling for others. I didn’t take as many photos today out of respect for these people, and I hope now that I can show more respect in the future.

The Good, Bad and the Sad

Day 122

Today I went to the mountain that contained the waterfall that is used by the Hindu religion for healing and to the temples of Banteay Srey. The hike on the mountain was only 1500m and the waterfall and nature was just what I needed. It’s hard…impossible to find quiet areas and peaceful areas in Shanghai. It was a huge thing for me to be completely alone in nature and to just listen to the water flowing and the birds chirping. The temples of Banteay Srey were by far my favorite. In my opinion, these temples and this site was more impressive than Angkor Wat and co. Angkor Wat and Co. were amazing because of their hugeness, but Banteay Srey was breathtaking due to the level of detail. I sat in my spot and just marveled at these temples and all I could do was hope to capture what I saw in the photos. This was by far a great day because I saw a level of craft that I have never seen before and was inspired, and then when I returned back to the guesthouse I brought out my Frisbee and just started to play with the kids. I must say that there was some good talent and great promise. The kids here are amazing, the have the ability to play with the simplest of things forever. They play with balloons for hours, then have a game where they kick their sandals in the dirt, they are always smiling, always curious and always ALIVE! It is really inspiring too to just see their spirit and to remember times when there wasn’t the distractions that we have today of internet and TV. I gave my Frisbee to one of the locals because he wanted to buy it from me. Ultimate isn’t like most sports/games, it is a community and it’s about spirit. I was more than happy to give my YUC Cincinnati disc to him and I hope that it can help start something big in the ultimate world. Look out cuz here come Cambodia.

It was a great day, until it took a turn for the worst. I took a bike into town again to get some dinner and after riding around for a bit, looking at the restaurants that were around, I saw a BBQ place that caught my eye. I looped around the market again, crossed the bridge and only had to go straight to reach the restaurant. As I was approaching the BBQ I could start to smell the awesome aroma of food and came to a sorta 4 way intersection. In Cambodia, there aren’t really any stop signs or yield. I was riding towards this intersection, looking back and forth looking to see if there was any cross traffic and saw to my left there was a van slowly approaching with a caravan of other cars and motobikes. I sped up on my bike so that I wouldn’t have to stop and wait to cross the right of way. I cut in front of the van and see that I’m in the clear until I see a “gang” of 5 motobikes turning left from the oncoming traffic. They start to turn and start to cut me off. I look at my choices: stop in the middle of the road, crash into them, or avoid them by turning left and go behind them. I chose to avoid. As I start to turn left I hear one of the worst sounds known to my life, the sliding of tire on dirt. My bike falls over and I am thrown to the ground. I bounce up like a ball to see onlookers and people coming to help me. I am too shocked and too flustered to do anything but just leave. I pick up my book and look down to see my Nikon D40 SLR digital camera on the floor…with the lens separated from its body. I grab everything and rush away on my bike towards the restaurant.

I got a few bumps, bruises, cuts and scrapes, nothing I haven’t had before; but I was more bummed and sad about my camera than anything else. The lens is broken, it is stuck on one setting and can only focus to a certain point. The focus of the lens: zoomed to the max. Say goodbye to broad pictures and I could see my arsenal take a dramatic turn for the worse. Dinner was good, but I couldn’t help but try to forget about the death of my camera lens.

Japanese?

Day 121

I woke up at 5:10am this morning. Why? To see the famous Angkor Wat temple at sunrise. My motorbike driver shows up at 5:30 and we head off to Angkor Wat. It’s dark, obviously, but my heart is pacing and speeding up because of all that I have heard of Angkor Wat. I walk into Angkor Wat and it’s hard to comprehend just what I’m looking at. It is difficult for me to put into words how I felt, but complete admiration is a start. My driver and I proceed to the rest of the temples around Angkor Wat and the pictures will say much more than I ever could.

Just like China, there are vendors and people just trying to sell their goods. And just like in China, they don’t give up and they are all selling the same thing. The good thing about them, is that they all speak some English, and so it’s easy to strike up conversations and be more friendly than it is in China. I make some friends with some of the sellers, and it’s refreshing to talk with someone. That’s the problem with traveling alone, you can’t always find someone to talk to that is interested. The funniest part of talking with the vendors is that they all thought that I was from the same place, Japan.

Travel

Day 120

Due to my lack of a job, it seemed only fitting to use my remaining time in Asia to explore and to visit some of the most amazing sites in Asia. First stop: Cambodia.

I flew into Siem Reap today and my immediate reaction was, it’s hot. My second reaction, it’s still hot. My third reaction, I’m in freakin Cambodia! I start off my time in Siem Reap with a little visa problem, but that is easily settled and I find my driver who takes me to my hostel: Bun Kao Guesthouse. As we are driving, it starts to rain and my driver tells me that it is supposed to rain for the next week. Great, that’s just what I need. I arrive to Bun Kao guesthouse and the owner, Bun Kao and my driver lay down how my next three days will look like. I’ll be going to the temples in Siem Reap for the first two days and then head to the lake to see more of the countryside. After the briefing, I decide to take a bike out and just ride around. I know I’m going to get lost, but that’s what I’m good at and it’s important to get lost in life sometimes. As I’m riding around the city, I can’t help but just feel alive. It’s hard to put into words but I’m taken aback at just the people and the environment. Siem Reap isn’t entirely westernized yet, but it is in the process. Because it hasn’t become fully westernized yet, the people are still real. They are not “fake” westerners and they are for lack of a better word, dirty. I find the markets and see so many things, you’ll just have to see the photos to appreciate it. After becoming a gigantic mosquito bite I head to bed and get ready to wake up the next morning to see Angkor Wat.

Freedom

Day 117

I’M DONE! FINISHED! FINEETO! DUNZO! In other words, I quit. Today was my last day at work, and it felt awesome. I had tried to change my job a while back but due to some personal difficulties it was not possible. And so now my time has come and I’M FREE!!! I don’t regret my time at VMC construtctioms. That is spelled correctly by the way. I learned a lot about interiors and I made great strides in my education. It was cool to work with the some of the upcoming designs for the Shanghai EXPO (http://en.expo2010.cn/). Now there were definitely some problems that occurred and I definitely have some “beef” with this company, but you can ask me about that later. So to all my coworkers that probably will never see this or even understand what this means, thanks and it’s been great. But to everyone else at the company… no comment.

Autobots

Day 115

Today was an exciting day…I didn’t go to work. Instead my friend Geoff and I ventured off to the Shanghai Auto show. I have never been to an auto show before, but I have been exposed to some high class automobiles in my life (thanks dad). So I was just excited to see what’s in store for the up and coming year. So here are some pics from the event and you can also go to my facebook album. Same procedure as before: COPY and PASTE.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2236780&id=21414060&l=e354ab9eaa

Too much stuff

Day 114

The past two weeks have been quite eventful. I went to the island of Jeju in South Korea for another ultimate tournament. I went to the hospital, I’ve been going to work and just been hanging out with awesome people.

First up: Jeju

The name of this tournament was the Gnarly Nines, which means that each time has only 9 members; which also means that each team only has 2 subs for the entire weekend. We arrived into Jeju on Friday and immediately my lungs opened and I actually found it hard to breathe. It was almost as it my lungs were to happy or surprised to be inhaling such fresh air that it started to feel like heaving. We walked around the “town”, ate some nasty ol’ kimchee and some cold noodles and then some of us went to the beach. It was beautiful and it was cool to finally see a real beach and to just throw the Frisbee around. We got back to the hotel mingled with the other ultimate players and then headed to “bed”. My room didn’t have any beds; we were given comforters and fancy rugs to sleep on. First class all the way BABY!!!

The next morning we finally saw the famous Jeju fields. These fields are used by professional soccer players and are used in the World Cup. I have never seen or felt grass like this in my life. I immediately dove into the grass and fell in love. There were no patches, and the grass was just beautiful. Playing was awesome because it was so refreshing to play against people from Japan, South Korea, Guam, and other areas. I love playing against quality strangers because it greatly helps me to improve. My team, the evil HUWA, played hard, but the competition was just too strong for us. That night we attended the ultimate party where the theme was Rubik’s cube. I idea was to wear 6 different colored (red, green, blue, yellow, white, and orange) pieces of clothing and to by the end of the night be in one single color. Now the only way of achieving this is to trade and swap items of clothing. This helps people to meet new people by trading clothes and in a sense strip. Now the idea isn’t to strip, but to meet new people and to have fun. It was a great night and it was crazy to see how some people turned out.

The next day, the evil HUWA only played 2 days because of the brackets, but it was fun to watch HUWA make it to the finals, but sadly lose to a strong Korean team. On a good note, both shanghai teams were in the top 8 out of about 22 teams. Bucuo!

We were highly blessed with awesome weather and it seemed only fitting that we should experience the famous Jeju weather of torrential downpour and howling winds on the day that we were supposed to arrive back home to Shanghai. So because of the weather, we spent a good 7 hours in the Jeju airport, which meant more picture taking and more time seeing the reactions of people when they see foreigners. It will never get old! There is definitely more to the trip, but I can’t recall all of it because I was stupid and didn’t write this earlier. So enjoy the pictures and just copy and paste the links into a browser:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2235017&id=21414060&l=0ad1e7535c

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2235020&id=21414060

About two weeks ago from today I was playing ultimate and I laid out (I dove parallel to the ground in order to catch the Frisbee). Laying out is an art form and I am proud to say that I look awesome doing so, but this has also led to many scrapes, scars and now injury. I recall feeling a lot of pain in the right shoulder as I landed and not being able to lift my arm the next day. I played in Jeju with this injury because I thought it was only a bruise.

My friend Sunny accompanied me to the hospital because I don’t speak Chinese. After getting lost for about 20 minutes we finally saw the huge sign that read FUDAN UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL and went inside. It was chaos in a building. Chinese people seem to love this idea of IV’s. When they get sick they don’t go and buy medicine or rest, they go to the hospital, sit in a chair or a gurney and then have someone stab an IV into their hand, which supposedly contains medicine and that’s it. So directly in the entrance to the hospital are these little hubs of IV’s and people being fed this liquid. Weird. We wander a bit trying to find the foreigner section until a security points us towards the sign that reads: TOILET. Nice. We head towards the TOILET and find the elevator, go to the foreigner level and they tell us that I have to pay 500 kuai. Tai gui le (too expensive). Sunny leads me back downstairs and she starts talking to the reception counter (one of about 30) and I only now have to pay 120 kuai. What a sweet deal. I take a number and immediately feel like I’m at the deli and I’m just waiting to get my roast beef. I see the doctor, explain to Sunny who explains to the doctor what happened. It’s crazy because total strangers are allowed to just walk in on the patients and just start asking doctors stuff and check out what’s going on with me. There is no sense of privacy or manners in this place and it was really driving me crazy. The gives me a new number to get my x-ray. X-rays are taken and we see the doctor again and he immediately goes, “WOAH!” not a good sign. He tells Sunny who tells me that I have a separated shoulder ligament and that I need to rest it and sling it for at least 3 weeks. So that’s the bad news, but the good news is that I finally went to the hospital. Traveling abroad or working abroad in my mind is all about experiences. Going to the hospital is definitely at the top of list, but the diagnosis is definitely at the bottom.

Happy Easter

Day 99
A little late, but Happy Easter to everyone. And I guess it’s fitting that on my 99th day, we would celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. I know that doesn’t make any sense, but let’s just say it does. I went to church and it was my first church service in China. I should say before the church service, I met up with some friends and we feasted at one of the greatest restaurants in the world, Brazilian Steakhouse. So after a coma it felt only fitting to go to church. Now I know for sure that didn’t make any sense. I went to the 4pm service, which only allows foreign passport holders to attend. So it wasn’t like I was completely immersed in a Chinese church experience, but it was close enough. I will not go into detail of the service or my feelings about the service on here, cuz that wouldn’t really be appropriate. So the next time you see me, ask me and I’ll fill you in on how I really felt about my Easter church service in Shanghai. Next stop, Chinese service.

Watercloset

Day 93

My weekend in Tianjin and Beijing was definitely one of my more favorite and more memorable times in China. Not only because of the sites and great time with friends, but because the adventure didn’t stop; and I mean that literally. The plan for us was to take a train from Shanghai to Tianjin on Friday night, arrive on Saturday morning, play ultimate, hitch a ride from the Beijing crew, hang out a bit and see the sites in Beijing and then take a train ride back home Monday and arrive on Tuesday morning. Like most plans…they worked out perfectly…and by perfectly I mean that we got the main plan correct. The smaller details could have been better though. Due to the fact that we spent way too much time at the Great Wall on Sunday, we were unable to buy train tickets for our Monday night trip…until Monday morning. We go to buy our train tickets Monday morning and everything seems fine. We find a good timed train to leave at 10pm and then arrive around 7am. Perfect…except there were no seats left…or beds…standing room only…not as planned. The entire day we tried figuring out how exactly we would be able to not have to sleep on the floor. We planned to arrive somewhat earlier so that we could put our stuff away and then spend all of our time in the dining cart until they kicked us out and then we would either hang out in the hard sleeping cabins pretending to read/work/study or we could hang out in the next best thing and wait til everyone was asleep and the cabin crew didn’t walk through the hallway: the bathroom.

We arrive just in time to the station to find that we made it to the wrong train entrance. So we start running around the station looking for another entrance or for someone to ask. We eventually see a large crowd that resembles a common sight in China. People flocking and herding like sheep, whom are all trying to cram into one entrance at the same time. We approach our train and see the dining cart empty, and then look ahead to see about 40 other standing only people. Like I said, the adventure never ends. Adam and I hop into our car and strike up a conversation a seater and then head to the dining cart with the other guys. The difference between the seater’s and the sleeper’s is like going from middle school into high school. Everything is bigger, fancier and doesn’t smell like people who don’t know what deodorant is. We get a booth and celebrate Sara’s birthday with a tasty cake and basically wait it out til we have to leave the dining cart. Time is slow when you watch it, and my life was in slow motion. Around 11pm the mean ol lady kicks us out and our plan is put into action. We each grab a seat in the sleeper’s and start either reading or in my case looking at all 1000 of my pictures. One, two, three-cabin workers pass me and I feel like I’m in the clear. Then some lady approaches me and starts speaking Chinese to me. I of course don’t understand and then she walks away smiling. I feel good; smiling is good, until she returns with someone who does speak English. I act dumb, give the puppy dog eyes, try my bargaining, but nothing works. I have lost. I basically get escorted back to the hard seats/floor where I find Adam and Jon too. I knew I should have just camped in the bathroom.

So we make friends and start playing card games. People in the train are super friendly and it is just amazing to me why they can’t be like this all of the time. Why only in a train do people decide to be nice and polite, but once they leave the enchanted doors of a train, the rudeness returns? People are having a kick out of our trophy and our limited Chinese knowledge and are just totally interested in everything we do. We play card games for about 2 hours and then people start falling asleep. Jon and Adam find spots on the floor and I decide to just stand and try to last as long as I can. I continue my stalking ways and just watch people, think about things, and start listening to Harry Potter. It is amazing what a good audio book does to time, so I thought it would do the same thing. My legs start hating me and I slowly make my way down to the filthy, spat upon, and dirty floor. Crossed legged, turns into the straight legs, which turns into the sprawl, which turns into lying down, which turns into sleep. 2 full hours of sleep. Ahhhhhh bliss. I awake to see that the dining cart is open again, so we Jon, Adam and I head back there and we see Phil and Sara. They survived, and they didn’t have to go into the bathroom. Phil used his panda charm to convince the captain that it was Sara’s birthday (she did have a birthday crown), and then he was teaching her Chinese. And Sara used her feminine cat charm begging the captain to not have them go back to the filthy, spat upon, dirty floor. So the captain agrees to allow them to sleep in the sleeper cart and then arrives with some blankets for them! We arrive into Shanghai right on time and then I head to work, dirty, tired and a complete zombie. So a lesson to all those who want to get on a train: work on your charm, and just stay in the bathroom.

Summer Olympic Square

Day 93
The next day, Jon, Adam and I went to the Summer Palace, then to the Olympic Green and then to Tiananmen Square. One of the cool things since the Beijing Olympics is the incredible transformation that took place. I know that I didn’t really see Beijing pre-Olympics, but I definitely know that it wasn’t the way that it is now. Here are some differences we found between Beijing and Shanghai:

1. Beijing’s subways are cleaner, brighter, more efficient and way more cheaper, but the stations don’t show the time remaining until the next train like it does in Shanghai and you can’t get phone reception like you can in Shanghai


2. There are way more tourist and historical sites in Beijing than Shanghai

3. Beijing taxi drivers sometimes actually stop and allow pedestrians to cross


4. Beijing taxi’s don’t have stars (see previous post)


5. Shanghai beat Beijing in ultimate

The weather was gorgeous again, and the pictures explain everything. It was incredible to see the Olympic Green and remember my freshman year of college reading about the water cube and thinking there was just no way that it would ever be built. But he it is, and it is amazing. We couldn’t go in, but to just be in the presence of these buildings is sometime I’ll never forget. I’m an architect, give me a break. So enjoy the pictures while I go eat a kit kat bar.

The Great Wall

Day 92

Thanks goes to Chris for allowing us stinky and gross ultimate players to stay at his place. Wake up call was 8 in the morning because this was the day that we were going to go to the Great Wall of China. I remember going four years ago in July and just being bombarded by other tourists, vendors, and being attacked by the evil smog monster. This time I had the privilege of going in April, not being in a tour group, and having friends tell us where to go. So we departed for the HoJiankou area of the Great Wall, where we would be required to hike about 2 hours to reach the wall. We planned to arrive at Jiankou around 10ish and the reach the wall around 12 and then spend a good amount of time on the wall. The weather was perfect, but our plans weren’t. We had to detour form our original plan due to some kind of kite festival and so had to back track and head to a different part of the hike. We stopped for some lunch before the big hike, which was a big mistake. We ordered multiple dishes and only a couple came. Once again, multiple does not equal a couple. And those couple took over an hour to arrive. We lost about and hour and a half of hiking time and that’s not what we wanted. The cool thing about hiking to the wall was that there were these red signs written in Chinese red paint that helped us know where to go. The uncool thing was that the path eventually led us to a cliff. Not the type of cliff that you could fall off of, but more of one that you fall up. Facing this cliff, we were in need of a scout, so Milan volunteered and Jon and I followed.

So up we went the mountain. The cool thing was that it was clear we weren’t the first people to make this climb. There were bottled water’s hanging on branches which basicall marked the path for us and saved our lives. Hanging onto the smallest cracks of rocks, roots of trees and shrubs and crawling our way to the top of the ridge, only to find that we have not reached the wall yet. As we climbed up the ridge, the rest of our party decided to turn back because it would have been just too difficult for some of them and it was a better idea if they just headed back to the bottom. With that information in hand, Milan, Jon and I pondered on our next move. There was no way that we would be able to go back the way we came because that meant immediate death; and none of us were really desiring that at the moment. Onward we went following the ridge and using our inner mountain man to find a safer way down. We didn’t die, but we certainly did get dirty. Baseball slide was the method of choice and to a path we made it. We now were at a crossroads, either turn left and continue towards the wall, or turn right catch up with our friends at the bottom. After abandoning our friends an hour ago, we felt like it was a more noble thing to see them at the bottom. Right ward we went and in about 5 minutes we see our friends coming up our way! REUNITED AGAIN!!! So we turned back around and headed towards the wall. This area of the wall is one area that hasn’t been redone or retouched in the same way that some of the other areas have been done. We were alone on the wall and it was awesome. The sun was shining and the sky was pure blue. We traversed on the wall for about 2 hours towards Mutianyu (an area of the wall that has been redone for tourists). Phil used his panda charm and got us a ride on the gondola down and that was the wall! It was cool because Mutianyu was where I was my first time and to see the area without the tourists or the vendors was a nice change of pace. So enjoy the pictures!

Day 91 and onward

Prior to the tournament, we decided that it would be a fun idea if we all went in some kind of costume or a uniform. It was a one day tournament and we all knew that we were going to stomp on most of the teams, and so why not have a little fun doing so. Sara decided that we should all be cats; Jon didn’t like the idea and said we should all just be different animals. So I was going to be a gorilla, Jon a monkey, Phil a panda, Sara the cat, Dan the mouse, Burrowes the bird/insect of some sort and Adam the fox. That didn’t happen. So we all became cats. Sara jazzed us up with a little cat makeup and from that we came with our team name: Thundercats…HO!!!!!
So the Thundercats had a bye for their first game and would play one more game, eat lunch, play three more games and then possibly the final (we knew and so did everyone). Now my cat back home, Sonny is quite a large cat and catnip seems to have a strange reverse affect on him. He doesn’t get all hyper and crazy when he indulges himself; he gets extremely mellow and lazier. Well the Thundercats seemed to have had too much catnip (we didn’t actually do any drugs). It was an ugly game, and we all realized that we had to get our stuff together to get ready for the real game in the finals. Luckily we played fairly easy games and won easily as well. The Thundercats started to regain their composure and actually looked like a team. The Thundercats rolled over Tianjin B, played well against Beijing Bang, beat up a high school team, and then literally ran over Tianjin A. Now imagine a tornado. Imagine a tornado in a city. Imagine the destruction and rubble and just plain garbage and crap that would be around. Now imagine that someone just decided to scatter grass around and then call it a field. That’s what it was like. A tornado, in a city, with rubble, garbage, crap, and scattered grass field. The final was between Beijing’s Big Brother and us, the Thundercats. We had just finished a hard fought 7-1 victory over Tianjin A while Big Brother had their bye. So naturally we would want to play right away! Not this guy or any of my fellow Thundercats. We were exhausted, we were in pain, we wanted to rest, we wanted to sleep, we wanted to have had to play Tianjin A. So after 5 minutes of waiting we took the fields. The Thundercats scored the first point, and after that it was all a blur. All I can remember was that I couldn’t properly accelerate or run because my body was so beat up. Instead my Mazda3, I felt like an 18-wheeler. Where I have to warm up my engine and slowly reach my top speed, but I can’t stop too fast or else I will die. But we won….somehow. We are still trying to figure that part out. We were up 9-6 at half and then they rallied to 9-9 and then we scored 2 points to win. Sweeeet. It was really cool to win the first Tianjin Tournament because they gave us a free disc, an “official” certificate indicating that we won and this MASSIVE trophy. It felt good to win because of just the type of day it was with only 2 subs and I really felt like we all improved in some way, whether it was smarts about the game or we just got in better shape. Either way, it was a good tournament, and I’m really glad it was only one day.
After the tournament, we were treated to a delicious meal and we all just hung out. They passed out the MVP awards and for some reason all of the MVP’s just started to take their shirts off! Welcome to Tianjin. Drinking games were going on everywhere, bottle caps flying, people losing their eyes, people drinking form frisbee’s…it was just another normal ultimate tournament China, and I’m glad to be here. I am glad to say that I have yet to become under the influence of alcohol here or anywhere, and it doesn’t seem like that will change at all. After the party we loaded onto the bus with Beijing people and headed on our 2-hour ride to Beijing where the next couple days were guaranteed to be a blast.

I’m still tired, check back for great adventure from the Great Wall and Beijing!