红河水无事盛鱼，任往自如

Picture of the Day - September 2010

2012-01-20T09:16:00.011+08:00

I'm sure most people who read this (2 out of the 3?) know that I spent 2010 working on a project where I took one photo each day. That was pretty much the only rule; it could be the most exciting thing that day, something I thought was pretty, or just a hastily assembled still life because it was late and I had forgotten to take a photo earlier. All photos are taken with the same camera, and are unedited (except for one or two that are cropped). I still haven't broken the habit of carrying a camera around with me everywhere, and it is odd to look back on my life in a series of 365 photos.

Click to enlarge.

September 2010

September 1st

September 2nd

September 3rd

September 4th

September 5th

September 6th

September 7th

September 8th

September 9th

September 10th

September 11th

September 12th

September 13th

September 14th

September 15th

September 16th

September 17th

September 18th

September 19th

September 20th

September 21st

September 22nd

September 23rd

September 24th

September 25th

September 26th

September 27th

September 28th

September 29th

September 30th

Picture of the Day - August 2010

2011-12-12T22:38:00.000+08:00

No one reads this, so no one will notice that I'm many moons behind schedule. I like having these on the interwebs for myself, though.

I'm sure most people who read this (2 out of the 3?) know that I spent the last year working on a project where I took one photo each day. That was pretty much the only rule; it could be the most exciting thing that day, something I thought was pretty, or just a hastily assembled still life because it was late and I had forgotten to take a photo earlier. All photos are taken with the same camera, and are unedited (except for one or two that are cropped). I still haven't broken the habit of carrying a camera around with me everywhere, and it is odd to look back on my life in a series of 365 photos.

Click to enlarge.

August 2010

August 1st

August 2nd

August 3rd

August 4th

August 5th

August 6th

August 7th

August 8th

August 9th

August 10th

August 11th

August 12th

August 13th

August 14th

August 15th

August 16th

August 17th

August 18th

August 19th

August 20th

August 21st

August 22nd

August 23rd

August 24th

August 25th

August 26th

August 27th

August 28th

August 29th

August 30th

August 31st

Picture of the Day - July 2010

2011-08-13T03:21:00.000+08:00

I'm sure most people who read this (2 out of the 3?) know that I spent the last year working on a project where I took one photo each day. That was pretty much the only rule; it could be the most exciting thing that day, something I thought was pretty, or just a hastily assembled still life because it was late and I had forgotten to take a photo earlier. All photos are taken with the same camera, and are unedited (except for one or two that are cropped). I still haven't broken the habit of carrying a camera around with me everywhere, and it is odd to look back on my life in a series of 365 photos.

I’ve been very always been bad about blogging. But, it’s about a year later, and I just got back from FDL, so maybe I meant for the timing to be so apropos!

Click to enlarge.

July 2010

July 1st

July 2nd

July 3rd

July 4th

July 5th

July 6th

July 7th

July 8th

July 9th

July 10th

July 11th

July 12th

July 13th

July 14th

July 15th

July 16th

July 17th

July 18th

July 19th

July 20th

July 21st

July 22nd

July 23rd

July 24th

July 25th

July 26th

July 27th

July 28th

July 29th

July 30th

July 31st

Picture of the Day - June 2010

2011-06-14T23:30:00.000+08:00

I'm sure most people who read this (2 out of the 3?) know that I spent the last year working on a project where I took one photo each day. That was pretty much the only rule; it could be the most exciting thing that day, something I thought was pretty, or just a hastily assembled still life because it was late and I had forgotten to take a photo earlier. All photos are taken with the same camera, and are unedited (except for one or two that are cropped). I still haven't broken the habit of carrying a camera around with me everywhere, and it is odd to look back on my life in a series of 365 photos.

I’ve ~~been very~~ always been bad about blogging. But, it’s exactly a year later, so maybe I meant for the timing to be so apropos! Not to mention, reliving Expo/Haibao glory is always in season.

June 2010

June 1

June 2

June 3

June 4

June 5

June 6

June 7

June 8

June 9

June 10

June 11

June 12

June 13

June 14

June 15

June 16

June 17

June 18

June 19

June 20

June 21

June 22
1707

June 23

June 24

June 25

June 26

June 27

June 28

June 29

June 30

Picture of the Day - May 2010

2011-04-07T23:16:00.035+08:00

I'm sure most people who read this (2 out of the 3?) know that I spent the last year working on a project where I took one photo each day. That was pretty much the only rule; it could be the most exciting thing that day, something I thought was pretty, or just a hastily assembled still life because it was late and I had forgotten to take a photo earlier. All photos are taken with the same camera, and are unedited (except for one or two that are cropped). I still haven't broken the habit of carrying a camera around with me everywhere, and it is odd to look back on my life in a series of 365 photos.

May, 2010

May 1

May 2

May 3

May 4

May 5

May 6

May 7

May 8

May 9

May 10

May 11

May 12

May 13

May 14

May 15

May 16

May 17

May 18

May 19

May 20

May 21

May 22

May 23

May 24

May 25

May 26

May 27

May 28

May 29

May 30

May 31

Photo of the Day - April 2010

2011-03-30T07:36:00.037+08:00

I'm sure most people who read this (2 out of the 3?) know that I spent the last year working on a project where I took one photo each day. That was pretty much the only rule; it could be the most exciting thing that day, something I thought was pretty, or just a hastily assembled still life because it was late and I had forgotten to take a photo earlier. All photos are taken with the same camera, and are unedited (except for one or two that are cropped). I still haven't broken the habit of carrying a camera around with me everywhere, and it is odd to look back on my life in a series of 365 photos.

I realize I have been presenting these days of my life with no caption or comment. Happy to provide that to those who are curious!

Here's April...

April 1

April 2

April 3

April 4

April 5

April 6

April 7

April 8

April 9

April 10

April 11

April 12

April13

April 14

April 15

April 16

April 17

April 18

April 19

April 20

April 21

April 22

April 23

April 24

April 25

April 26

April 27

April 28

April 29

April 30

April was a very travely month.

2011-03-13T23:47:00.035+08:00

I forgot to keep posting these, but then it turns out there's one person in the world who actually looks at this blog. So...back by popular demand....

I'm sure most people who read this (2 out of the 3?) know that I spent the last year working on a project where I took one photo each day. That was pretty much the only rule; it could be the most exciting thing that day, something I thought was pretty, or just a hastily assembled still life because it was late and I had forgotten to take a photo earlier. All photos are taken with the same camera, and are unedited (except for one or two that are cropped). I still haven't broken the habit of carrying a camera around with me everywhere, and it is odd to look back on my life in a series of 365 photos.

Here's March (click to enlarge):

March 1st

March 2nd

March 3rd

March 4th

March 5th

March 6th

March 7th

March 8th

March 9th

March 10th

March 11th

March 12th

March 13th

March 14th

March 15th

March 16th

March 17th

March 18th

March 19th

March 20th

March 21st

March 22nd

March 23rd

March 24th

March 25th

March 26th

March 27th

March 28th

March 29th

March 30th

March 31st

Photo of the Day - February

2011-02-02T11:47:00.038+08:00

“The autumn leaves are falling like rain
Although my neighbors are all barbarians
And you, you are a thousand miles away
There are always two cups at my table.”

I'm sure most people who read this (2 out of the 3?) know that I spent the last year working on a project where I took one photo each day. That was pretty much the only rule; it could be the most exciting thing that day, something I thought was pretty, or just a hastily assembled still life because it was late and I had forgotten to take a photo earlier. I started the project on my birthday last year, so it came to an end recently. All photos are taken with the same camera, and are unedited (except for one or two that are cropped). It is odd not to no longer carry a camera every day, and it is odd to look back on my life in a series of 365 photos.

Here's February, 2010. (click to enlarge)

February 1

February 2

February 3

February 4

February 5

February 6

February 7

February 8

February 9

February 10

February 11

February 12

February 13

February 14

February 15

February 16

February 17

February 18

February 19

February 20

February 21

February 22

February 23

February 24

February 25

February 26

February 27

February 28

The twenty-four-hour diner, the station waiting room and the motel are sanctuaries for those who have, for noble reasons, failed to find a home in the ordinary world, sanctuaries for those whom Baudelaire might have dignified with the honorific 'poets'."

Alain de Botton

Photo of the Day - January

2011-01-24T03:37:00.025+08:00

From the late eighteenth century onwards, it is no longer from the practice of community but from being a wanderer that the instinct of fellow-feeling is derived. Thus an essential isolation and silence and loneliness become the carriers of nature and community against the rigours, the cold abstinence, the selfish ease of ordinary society.

Raymond Williams, The Country and the City

I'm sure most people who read this (2 out of the 3?) know that I spent the last year working on a project where I took one photo each day. That was pretty much the only rule; it could be the most exciting thing that day, something I thought was pretty, or just a hastily assembled still life because it was late and I had forgotten to take a photo earlier. I started the project on my birthday last year, so it (clearly) came to an end this past week. All photos are taken with the same camera, and are unedited (except for one or two that are cropped or the one panorama that is stitched). It is odd not to no longer carry a camera every day, and it is odd to look back on my life in a series of 365 photos.

Here's January, 2010. (click to enlarge)

January 18th

January 19th

January 20th

January 21st

January 22nd

January 23rd

January 24th

January 25th

January 26th

January 27th

January 28th

January 29th

January 30th

January 31st

Carriage, take me with you! Ship, steal me away from here!
Take me far, far away. Here the mud is made of our tears!

Charles Baudelaire

Finally! Liechtenstein!

2011-01-17T08:34:00.004+08:00

For Christmas, I did a little bit of travelling. I originally wasn't sure how many days I could take off of my new job, so I decided to go to my Aunt's for Christmas rather than my parents'. Later (after tickets had been booked) I realized I could take off a lot more days that I thought, so I also booked a flight to my parents' lining me up for a nice week of travel.

Christmas at my Aunt's was really nice. We always did Christmas at our house because we lived so far away, so I don't even remember having a cousin Christmas before this one. So, it was 3 days in Minneapolis well spent.

The plan was to fly back to DC for 24 hours before boarding my flight to Switzerland, but then there was Snownami or whatever it was called this year. So, long story of shenanigans aside, I boarded a flight from Minneapolis to DC via Atlanta, and then spent the evening in Detroit. Made it to DC with 4 hours to spare before my next flight - scheduled to leave from the same gate I arrived in - and realized I had to go back to my apartment regardless because I didn't have my passport. Insult to injury, my Frankfurt-Basel flight was then cancelled, but I eventually made it to Therwil.

The family ended up renting a car and driving to Liechtenstein and Austria for a few days of good skiing (and better alps/weather than Switz). I sang Edelweiss and really enjoyed St. Anton and rode a lot of T bars. I also took some photos.

We drove back to Switzerland on New Years Eve where I had a pretty lackluster evening that involved the Berlin Ball Drop and yodeling competitions. So, about 500 pounds of cheese and chocolate later, my 2010 year and travels came to a close.

With my birthday coming up in a few days, my year long photo a day project is about to end. I'll start posting the results on here after that. Get excited, and happy belated new year!

-L

Morning Routines, at long last.

2010-12-21T10:54:00.006+08:00

I promised to post my commute video a while ago, but then life happened and I never got around to editing it.

So here is some of the really shaky footage. I think the handlebars on Big Purple were way easier to use with a camera in hand than the ones on Seventies Puffer Vest. I take several different routes to work, but this is one of my favorite variations, especially when the leaves were all different colors.

Merry almost Christmas everyone! I think I may go to Austria next week, in which case I may be blogging again sooner than planned.

-L

In which Lauren attempts becoming an adult

2010-11-27T03:23:00.014+08:00

It's been a while since my last post, and a lot has changed. I haven't written because I typically use this blog to tell people about my travels and for the moment I'm no longer nomading about. Which is sad, and good, all at the same time. In the past few months I've moved to DC, found an apartment, a job, a new bike and a cell phone. I'm practically a real person.

Kyla, I'm sorry that I never posted about the Portland/Seattle portion of the road trip. Honestly, it's because I was so excited to see you that I didn't take the time to write in my diary, and then had no notes when I returned.

Anyway, the Northwest was fabulous as always, due in very large part to my wonderful hostess(es - thanks Rosie!!).

Here is a quick photographic journey of life from September 16th to the present (as always, click to enlarge):

Amy and I stayed at a ridiculawesome motel in Bend. We had the romantic Lavender Room.

We also drove through some beautiful scenery, stumbled upon a lava pit, and parted with Blue Betty (tear), trading her for a bus in Eugene.

We had a few lovely days in Portland, lost Amy to Chicago (tear) and went to Octoberfest. In Seattle I met some wonderful people and didn't see a single raindrop.

Eventually I got my act together and moved to DC. I slept on a lot of couches, for which I owe a lot of lovely people a significant amount of love and beer. I moved into Yellow House, started refurbishing my awesome ride, and then immediately left for Erin's wedding.

Now I'm working at the National Board and traipsing about DC.

Luckily I've moved to Chinatown. A girl just can't let go.

Clearly this past year has given me a lot to be thankful for. Perfect to culminate in a wonderful roommate Thanksgiving last night.
(We left the volcano up for the obvious Thanksgiving ambiance it adds)

I'm thankful for every single one of the friends, family and strangers that have made this past year what it was, and me who I am.

-L

P.S. I filmed my commute the other day in an attempt at reliving past glories. Just a teaser for an upcoming post.

EoB: Bamboozlery and Boise

2010-09-16T16:00:00.000+08:00

I'm continuing to repost (post-dated) diary entries from my trip. I'm in DC now, but if you scroll down you can relive my Oregon Trail odyssey in real time. As always, pictures are click to enlarge.

Before getting to Boise, we figured we had enough time to stop off and see Shoshone Falls. but, we didn't have enough milage to take the scenic route along highway 30, so we were just going to pop off, look at the falls, and pop back on gain. We followed the brown signs to "waterfalls" but were BAMBOOZLED! Bamboozled onto the scenic route and we didn't even see the falls! To be fair, the scenic route was quite pretty during the second half, but the first half was all strip malls and no Shoshone falls. Incredibly disappointing to be hoodwinked in such a way.

The scenic route did redeem itself with multiple crossings of the Snake River:

And it did get pretty:

But this is not Shoshone Falls:

We got to Boise, had dinner and bounced around while we waited for Kristen, our couchsurfing host, to get off her shift at work. She took us home where Amy went to bed and I went out with her and her friends to a goodbye party. Our first stop was at her friend Angel's house, which is so cool. It's a converted grocery/corner store, so the whole first floor is big open space. She even turned the deli counter into a mini bar.

Idaho State House:

We took a (five dollar!) cab downtown to Mulligan's, a silly bar that reminded me of McFadden's, for (two dollar!) drinks. Once the goodbyes to the kid who was moving had been said, and we picked up a friend named Eric, we headed to other, more legitimate, places.

Woke up at 9 the next morning and hung out around Kristen's amazing apartment and wandered neighborhood until lunch. A few of her neighbors grow corn (!) in the little space between their sidewalks and curbs, which is SO COOL. We went to lunch at Donnie Macs Trailer Park Cuisine, as awesome as it sounds. We met Angel and Eric there, and sat on couches in the parking lot surrounded by old toilets used as planters. Inside the garage, they had a car on risers that had been converted into a table. Some little kids were eating there when we arrived (and we wanted to take advantage of the amazing weather), but Amy and I made sure to get a photo op.

Across the Street from Donnie Mac's was the Spearmint Rhino! When Amy was prepping for our trip, she Googled "Boise Night Life." The first thing to pop up was The Spearmint Rhino, a sleezy strip club with a website to match. Anyway, we joked about it the whole trip, and were absolutely thrilled to just stumble upon the Best Chest in the West!

After lunch, Kristen took us on a walking tour of Boise and the Boise State campus. We saw the blue turf, as promised. Boise is definitely a city, but it's super friendly and Kristen kept seeking people on and off campus that she knew. The city is also relatively small - the perfect size for biking.

After lolling about by the river a bit, we went to a few different happy hours, and then to Live after Five. Every Wednesday afternoon, there's live music and a beer garden in the center of town. It was really nice and had some pretty epic people watching.

Back at Kristen's, we hung out for a bit and collected her boyfriend to go to dinner at a brewery just out of town where I had amazing polenta. A lot of people know that polenta is something I feel passionately about, and I was very glad to see this incredibly underrated item on a restaurant menu.

We were all too tired to go out agin so we played with the kitty, chatted a bit and went to bed. This morning we ran a few errands downtown before heading out again. We stopped at a little coffee shop that happened to be near Kinkos for some coffee before hitting the road, and Eric was the barista! It was all very serendipitous and exciting and a really nice ending to an absolutely amazing stop in Boise.

There hasn't been much on our drive so far today. (Literally, ranches in Eastern Oregon are 100 miles apart, not to mention small towns or gas stations). It's beautiful but desolate. We listed to a really awful right wing advice show on AM radio, and the first Britney Spears CD, and stopped for lunch in the bustling hamlet of Burns. We've decided to stop in Bend for the night to make the car rop off and catching a bus easier tomorrow. I'm looking forward to a sketch motel.

I can't believe our trip is almost over! It's so spacious and free here that I get a littler claustrophobic and scared thinking about flying back East. But that's in a week or so, and for now, we have the Oregon badlands!

~L

EoB: Wedding Cakes and Potatoes

2010-09-14T16:30:00.001+08:00

I'm continuing to repost (post-dated) diary entries from my trip. I'm in DC now, but if you scroll down you can relive my Oregon Trail odyssey in real time. As always, pictures are click to enlarge.

Shortly after passing Arches National Park, we turned north on highway 191. We were quickly into the absolute middle of the desert, when the gas light came on. Excellent. About 20 minutes (and an unknown amount of gas) later, we came to an abandoned gas station, which, judging by gas prices, hasn't been open since the late 80's. But, we were momentarily fooled, since they had a decoy car parked at one of the pumps! I was pretty excited, not only about getting gas, but also about getting gas for $1.10!

Eventually in about 50 miles we were literally bale to roll off the highway and through some more desert into the picturesque town of East Carbon. In Carbon County, Utah, there are 6 towns and 11 ghost towns. We found gas, and were saved! Unfortunately, the city museum was closed on Mondays.

Civilization came pretty quick after that. The desert gave way to red rock canyons and the area got more fertile and green and populated the closer we got to Provo and then Salt Lake.

After checking into our adorable hostel in Salt Lake, we headed out to explore a bit and find some dinner. Amost immediately we stumbled upon the Salt Lake Temple. Screw that building in Rome, this one ought to be nicknamed the Wedding Cake. I really want to see one of those cake shoes make it. anyway, it was really stunning all lit up at night. It always surprises me how "stumble" can actually very accurately be used to describe the way I seem to find really large buildings.

This morning we did another walk around downtown, this time in the daylight, and bought some postcards. Salt Lake has a great vibe. People were really friendly and there wer tons of bike and eco-friendly measures all over. Contrary to some expectations, I wasn't proselytized once.

After saying out goodbyes to Chrissy and Alison, we hi 15 North again heading for Blackfoot, Idaho. I've got to say, Southeastern Idaho is beautiful! It was all gorgeous mountains and farm filled alleys. Anyway, I'm marrying a potato farmer and moving there.

We went to Blackfoot to visit the World potato Expo, totally worth the trip. With admission ($1.50) we got free hash browns!

Also, I learned an ungodly amount about potatoes. For example, one potato is 36 french fries (on average). Also, Idaho produces 1/3 of America's potatoes, and 40% of that comes from beautiful Southeastern Idaho!

On the way back to the highway, I experienced my first live tumbleweed! It tumbled across the highway, and then literally got all up in Blue Betty's grill! So exciting!

Next up: Twin Falls.

EoB: From the Mile High City to the Moab

2010-09-13T05:24:00.000+08:00

I'm continuing to repost diary entries from my trip..I'm in DC now, but if you scroll down you can relive my Oregon Trail odyssey in real time. As always, pictures are click to enlarge.

We made it to Mallory's without getting lost, great success. Her townhouse is super cute. Saturday night we met up with Hilary and some of her friends, and went out for Mexican and margaritas overlooking the Rockies game.

Sunday we slept in a bit and then went to wander downtown Denver. The city is really quiet, it was odd. It's clearly a big city, and I know it was Sunday, but we couldn't even hear the crowds from outside the baseball stadium while the game was on.

Lila came to meet us for lunch, which was really fantastic. She's been doing AmeriCorps in Denver for the past year. I haven't seen her for a while, so it was good to chat and catch up. It's always exciting to hear from old friends, and to hear about the amazing things they've been doing with their lives.

After lunch we walked over to the convention center to see the Big Blue Bear statue. As our trip theme is World's Biggest, we're just going to go ahead and assume that this is the World's Biggest Blue Bear. Lawrence Argent, the sculptor, intended it to represent the native fauna - I just see curiosity. Tomatoe tomahto.

While everyone else went to the botanical gardens, I met up with Lisa and went hiking for a few hours. We went up Lookout Mountain for some cooler temperatures and great views of Denver. It was a beautiful hike and it was good to see and talk to Lisa, especially at this particular drifting stage in my life.

Back at Mal's we made dinner and ate on the roof. Played some boardgames and watched bits of the VMAs. Did some laundry and went to bed early in anticipation of today's long drive.

We left just after 7 this morning. We decided to skip Wyoming in favor of taking route 70 across teh Rocky Mountains. Totally worth the extra hour of driving. The mountains are absolutely stunning. It's really been just amazing the change in scenery we've seen today. This morning we were in a 12,000 foot coniferous forest, and four hours later we're in the heard of the Moab desert (4,000ish feet I think)

We went up to Loveland Pass rather than take the Eisenhower tunnel. The pass is at 11,900 feet and marks the continental divide, which is pretty cool. Alison and I opted to climb up the ridge so we could say we'd made it to 12,000 feet. (Which reminds me that we picked up Chrissy and Alison in Denver and are giving them a lift to Salt Lake).

After the pass we dropped down through the mountains past Vail and entered into red rock canyons. The canyons leveled out and the mountains are not red sandy buttes and mesas. We're definitely in the desert now. We just dropve by the exit to Arches National park. We don't have the time or mileage to stop, but I could almost see the arch from the road. So cool.

Anyway, we're halfway to Salt Lake now. Thank goodness for air conditioning!

EoB: Children of the Corn and Oregon Trail in Real Life

2010-09-11T02:23:00.015+08:00

The Mississippi was pretty cool. It was small because we were so far North, and my pictures are pretty lame, but it was my first time seeing it. How American!

Shortly after passing through Iowa City, we decided to stop in West Amana to sit in the World's Largest Rocking Chair. We got a bit lost trying to find West Amana, but we flagged down a friendly farmer who directed us to Regular Amana. Once there, we found out that the Amana Colonies (Regular, East, West, South and High Amana) are a Quaker resort! We had lunch at the Amana bakery and bought postcards at the Amana bookstore and learned about the history of the town, and marveled at all the couples wandering about. Then we headed to the furniture shop to see the chair.

This is what Iowa looks like:

The chair was not a joke - it was pretty big and carved out of solid walnut. However, the sign behind it informed us that the chair had been downgraded from World's Largest to Iowa's largest! I would like to know what other state had the nerve to build a bigger chair. (**addendum: it's Oklahoma. Figures. The chair is no where near as awesome looking as the Iowa one**).

Anyway, back to route 80 and on to Omaha. We drove for about 4 hours through various levels of corn. No children in sight!! (Contrary to popular knowledge, Children of the Corn was filmed in Iowa, not Nebraska. We were a bit scared of the drive/running out of gas). Look how safe we were from being abducted:

It also down-poured, the kind you cant really drive in. But it cleared up for Omaha.

Our couchsurfing host, Marissa, lives right downtown in a really cool modified loft above a bank. After getting settled, we went to a brewery down the street for dinner and had Nebraskan beer. After dinner, we went to another apartment building to meet up and hang out with Marissa's friends before going out.

They all worked as food scientists for Con-Agra, which was a crazy weird concept that Amy and I had never really heard of. Marissa conducts test to see if people like the food. She has a masters degree in food tasting! Her friends did product development and stuff. It was pretty niche and interesting. Also interesting was that they were all transplants. I can't imagine moving to Omaha for work right now. Omaha!

But, Omaha nightlife was pretty exciting. We went to a country western dance club that was actually called the Whiskey Tango. There were two party busses parked out front (school busses painted purple and red). The first was filled with bachelorettes, and the second filled with actual cowboys! They were wearing hats and plaid shirts tucked into Levis and big belt buckles and some even had boots!

And the best part: frequent line dancing kept occurring! Anyway, we went home at 2 am; totally successful evening.

We were up bright and early this morning to try an be on the road by 8. On the way out of Omaha, we stumbled upon the Omaha farmers market which was pretty awesome, and huge. We got coffee, breakfast burritos, and Omaha farmer's market t-shirts.

Back on good ol' I-80 we encountered a ton of traffic all the way to Lincoln. It didn't take long to notice that every other car was filled with people wearing red and yellow - there was a Nebraska State Huskers game at 11. We even saw people tailgating in the median! The highway median!

Our next stop was a brief on and off the highway for a photo-op with the world's largest covered wagon (which is now a golf shop). Then on to Gothenburg, Nebraska, home to the Pony Express Museum, the World's Largest Plow and the Sod House Museum.

The Pony Express Museum was inside of an original Pony Express Stop. It was small, but informative. Across the street was a museum on the history of Goethenburg, a town of 3,000 which has been around since it was settled by a bunch of Swedes in the Pony Express days.

The Sod House Museum was the best. It had a sod house (like the pioneers used to live in) a bunch of Old West artifacts, a buffalo made out of barbed wire, a covered wagon, and a fun little old lady who regaled us with tales of Gothenburg's wild west past. We actually learned quite a bit. We also saw the World's Largest Plow there.

This is me dying of dysentery. ie, we played Oregon Trail in Real life the entire way through Nebraska.

We grabbed lunch at a diner called Lisa's Kitchen, and then cruised downtown Gothenburg (the number one economic sector is alfalfa farming).

Ever since, we've been watching the corn roll away into the great plains. We just crossed the Colorado border, turned back our clocks, and should be in Denver by dinner.

EoB: DC to the Mississippi

2010-09-10T04:47:00.000+08:00

After camp, finding myself homeless and unemployed, I went back to the Vineyard with Amy to apply to Drive Away/figure out my life/sit on the beach. To of those three things happened. I escaped the Vineyard a few days early to avoid being killed by Earl, and hitched a ride to Sudbury so I could repack for Eugene or bust. Earl was downgraded to a wimpy tropical storm, and I caught a flight to DC on Sunday.

In DC we stayed at Julie's amazing place in Bloomingdale. Before leaving we did some apartment hunting for me, and went on a few cupcake crawls, and wandered the mall for Amy. While wandering the mall, we noticed a to of people in Boise State getups. Obviously we were psyched, since we're going to Boise on our trip and are pretty excited about it - obviously the blue and orange was a good omen. So we stopped an older couple, the Wilsons, and asked them about Boise. They got us excited about Twin Falls, live music Wednesdays, the blue turf at Boise State and a bar called Chandlers ("where all the young kinds like you hang out"). We got their digits so they can take us to dinner when we get there.

We picked up the car on Tuesday morning. Bernie and Deb (or as we affectionately call them, Bernie and Phyl), the owners of Drive Away, were exactly as we expected them to be - but plus pugs! Most excellent. We examined the car, went over our document and hit rthe road. We drove through Virginia, DC, Maryland, Pennsylvania (which killed us in toll money) and Ohio. We were hauling ass because we wanted to make it to Cleveland in time to get to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame before it closed at 5:30. We ended up pulling in at 4:15 and spent an hour touring. The museum is awesome. We saw Elvis' car, Jim Morrison's cub scout outfit and all the original Rolling Stones albums. They had like,everyone's stage outfits and drum fronts, and the original Les Paul and Lennon's pianos. So cool. The building is really neat, too. It was designed by I.M. Pei.

After the museum, we made a quick stop at the World's Largest Rubber Stamp (first in a world's largest theme!) before heading for Kelsey's mom's house in Shaker Heights. We got a bit lost in some sketchy areas of the Cleve, but it was well worth the trip. Kelsey's house is absolutely beautiful (as are her parents). We can't believe they're thinking about selling! There's even a library ladder on wheels! (A lifelong dream of mine).

We slept in a bit Wednesday morning and then tried to find better directions to the World's Largest Fake Nose and Glasses. In the process though, we found out that they're in storage! So many questions....why?! where?! how?! They're the size of a house! How is that even possible?! As a replacement stop, Lacey helped us finda diner in Goshen from Diners and Dives (we made a no chains pact at the beginning of the trip). Appropriate, since Diners and Dives inspired our future stop in Boise.

We made it to Goshen and route 15 was under massive construction (much like the rest of our experience on Ohio freeways), but we eventually made it to the South Side Soda Shop. Totally worth it, especially for the ice cream floats. You get to choose a phosphate or soda flavor, and an ice cream flavor. Infinite combinations!

Eventually (despite massive rush hour traffic), we made it to Brynne and Sarah's place in Lincoln Park. We hung out, went to a pub and had a sleep over. Woke up at 7:00 Thursday to drive Sarah to work and move the car to a non-illegal parking spot. We spent the day having leisurely brunches and looking at apartments for Amy. In the afternoon, we drove out to La Grange to see my uncle Dave, his new apartment, and his new parakeet (who didn't like me sadface).

We planning to spend the night with Robin, so all we had to do was drive 45 minutes from La Grange to St. Charles. Instead, we practically drove to Wisconsin and saw a lot of corn (ie missed out exit and there wasn't another for about 30 miles). We finally made it, only an hour late. The Nelson's house is beautiful, and it was really good to see all of them, if only briefly.

Now we're driving to Omaha! The lady in a toll booth a while back chatted us up about our trip and recommended that we drive through Wyoming "because there are BISON! Just EVERYWHERE!"

AND we're about to cross the MISSISSIPPI!

Expo is not equal to Haibaomania

2010-06-27T09:54:00.031+08:00

Last week I finally made it out to the Expo. I guess Shanghai really has become somewhat of a hometown, since it took until my last week here to realize I had to do this most important and touristy of excursions.

For those who are not living in China, the Expo is the World's Fair, rebranded. It blows my mind that it's possible for people to not know what the Expo is, but then I have to remind myself that not everyone has spent the past year living in a constant state of Haibao propaganda. Just me and 1.3 billion or so other people. The Expo is an international fair with three different types of pavilions: National pavilions, corporate pavilions and theme pavilions. Each is supposed to in some way address the theme "Better City, Better Life." The Shanghai Expo covers over 5 square kilometers and hosts more than 190 countries and 50 international organizations.

Things got wicked busy at the end of the semester, so I only had one day to go to the Expo. I was there for six sweltering hours, and only managed to see the Pudong side. (The Puxi side has all the corporate pavilions, as well as some more NGOs). I also didn't manage to go inside any of the big ticket pavilions (Japan, Germany, USA, China, Saudi Arabia etc) because they had upwards of 5 hour waits. (Should you want to go to those, I advise showing up at 4 AM to get to the reservation machine in time. Not an exaggeration).

I entered through entrance 4, landing me at the top of section A - the start of the Asian pavilions. The Japanese pavilion was the first to jump out at me. It looks like some sort of purple amoeba submarine. Uzbekistan's was quite pretty, and I couldn't stop photographing South Korea.

But the first pavilion I went into was the other Korea. I saw it from across a river the previous weekend, and I was excited to get just that much closer to the Hermit Kingdom. I was prepared for it, since I've heard reports about the pavilion from others, but it was still a bit of a surprise that there were no Dear Leader statues or posters anywhere. You could buy several of his books though, and the jackets all bear his likeness.

Here's the inside of the North Korean pavilion:

And here's North Koreas' self-proclaimed motto:

North Korea was exciting because it's a place I will likely be unable to get to in the near, and even distant future. For that same reason, I also enjoyed visiting Iran, Iraq, Libya etc.

In the Middle East section I particularly enjoyed the UAE pavilion, which is (shock me) gold plated sand dunes. It’s line wasn’t anywhere near as long as the one for Saudi Arabia though. Saudi built the world’s largest IMAX and sunk $164 million dollars into a pavilion that will be torn down in October. Of course the non-money caring, communist Chinese tourists are THRILLED to check it out. 5 hours wait.

Other 5 hour waits:
China:

USA:

Germany:

Japan:

Of the country pavilions I visited, I enjoyed New Zealand the most. Their pavilion was efficient (very short waiting time), both indoors and outdoors, visually entertaining, and it actually addressed the theme of Better City, Better Life. If you go, be sure to check it out.

The Netherland’s pavilion was super cute. Dubbed Happy Street, it was a raised spiral of a road with cutesy imitation homes poking out of it.

Egypt looked like a giant box of Nikes to me:

The architectural pattern photographer in me was really overly psyched about the expo. I was pretty giddy to shoot it after just following the construction during the build up, and several pavilions really delivered.

Poland

Switzerland

France

Estonia

Serbia

UK

Hungary

Sweden

South Korea

Mexico:

Spain

I think, though, my favorite pavilion (visually) was Latvia. The close-up pattern shots didn’t come out looking very good (I was using my point-and-shoot and not actual film), but I could have watched that thing for hours (or at least many many minutes). It was a giant silver spiral. It’s hard to tell in the picture, but each of those squares is a small mirror hanging only by it’s top hinges. Whenever the wind blew, waves of shimmer shot through the pavilion. It was awesome.

Four months left to see the Expo! Get to Shanghai!

I’m not there anymore though…sad. Currently I’m being delayed delayed delayed in Chicago, en route to middle of nowhere New Hampshire. Expect a post on what I’m doing there, and/or a reflections on Shanghai post soon!

~L

(P.S. I'm now in New Hampshire, belatedly posting. Feel free to write or call me here: 120 Howeville Rd. Fitzwilliam, NH 03447 or 603-585-3196. I don't have a cell phone)

Dae Han Min Guk!

2010-06-20T16:12:00.025+08:00

How did I realize that my last post was lucky number 88!? I hope it was a good one.

Anyway, last weekend it was dragon boat festival, so I had a 5-day weekend to travel. Because of that whole war/sinking of warships/debacle in Korea, plane tickets there were suddenly wicked cheap, so we went to Seoul. As always, click to enlarge the photos.

I went to Seoul with Stephen and Jae. Stephen and I were lucky, because it turns out Jae is straight VIP in Korea. A private van picked us up at the airport around 2 am. This van was at our disposal, along with it's slick driver (perpetually in pinstripes and fedora), all week.

The first day it was raining on and off, but we still managed to see some major sights. In the morning we went to the DMZ to look at North Korea. We couldn't get too close because A. getting close is way expensive and we're poor, and B. South Korean citizens aren't allowed any closer than we got, and Jae sports a green passport. But, we did visit a museum of North Koren life and looked at people on the opposite bank of the river through binoculars. It was super creepy. This is North Korea in the rain:

That afternoon we ate bimbimbop (clearly) and then went to see Changdeokgung Palace. It's one of the five palaces of Seoul, and a favorite of the princes of the Joseon dynasty. It was built in 1405, when Korea still predominantly used the Hanja writing system. This made me feel much better about being a dumb and mute tourist, because I could read the signs and understand. By the 20th century though, much of Korean was switched over to Hangul, so I remained a dumb mute anywhere we visited that wasn't ancient.

Saturday night was Korea's first world cup game! The country takes their football seriously. Everyone was wearing red, literally everyone. I learned my first Korean phrase: "dae han min guk!" We started out in downtown watching on one of the public big screens, but once it started to rain we decided to have Tekkin (Jae's pseudo cousin and our awesome tour guide for the week) take us to a bar in his area of Seoul where his friends would be watching. So we watched the actual game from the comfort of a bar in a random suburb. This does not mean the place wasn't absolutely INSANE. Especially when we won. Also of note: Korean bars serve ball-shaped fruit loops! And Koreans like to do soju/coke bombs. That night we had a sleepover at Tekkin's.

Sunday morning we met up with Tekkin's sister and some of her friends for more sightseeing. We went up the top of N Seoul Tower first. It's 777 feet tall and smack in the middle of Seoul. The view was pretty amazing. In the observation tower they had labeled each window with what major city lay in that direction, and then the relevant distance. It was pretty exciting for us to find Shanghai, and for me to find DC (sorry Boston, you didn't make the cut sadface). Every window had a city, except for the two window blank between Vancouver and Anchorage. There really is absolutely nothing there (sorry Canada, sadface).

Around the base of the tower is a fence. There is a really adorable tradition where couples come up to the tower and lock a padlock on the fence, and then throw the key over the edge. Symbolism obvious. Athough, I'm not so sure about what these slackers who used combination locks are trying to say.

On our way down there was an impromptu martial arts show. It was pretty awesome. They cut up lots of stuff with weapons and had fights. This guy was the most fun, and this was my best action shot of him demolishing the straw dummy.

Then we went to a market area for lunch and some shopping. Jae dressed up as Nick Bottom.

In the afternoon, our new friends took us to an area of Seoul that has been preserved to look as it did in the 1800s. The houses were all gorgeous, and I would absolutely still live in a few.

Then we went to a night market, which featured this crazy building, and shopped for K-pop clothes so we could look club appropriate. Jae acquired his new eyes.

Monday we decided to take it easy and explore the area around our hostel (if you're ever in Seoul, stay at Mr. Kim's - it rocked). The hostel was in the Hongdae area, which is centered around Hongik University. (I actually think Hongdae may be the abbreviation for Hongik U, but I don't speak Korean, so I could be wrong). Though it's a comprehensive university of 20,000 students, it's famous for it's arts programs. That was definitely apparent as we walked the campus. We also stumbled upon the opening for the thesis show of the textile and fiber art grad students. I found some stuff I loved:

The Hongdae area itself was really awesome as well. There were tons of boutiques and cafes and little bars. Everything was lively and bohemian and not-China. I loved it. We found the Hello Kitty Cafe. It was pink. Next to Hello Kitty there was one of those Cat Bars that I've read about in Japan!! You go in and pay by the hour or something to play with kittens! It's supposed to be relaxing. If they had one with puppies I would be there in about 2 seconds.

That night we went out in Hongdae. The club we ended up at, N2D or something like that, was awesome. It didn't have any of the bells and whistles of the Shanghai clubs, but it had the most enthusiastic crowd I've seen out in a long time. And it was a Monday night!

We told Jae's family we wanted to see some Korea that wasn't a massive city, so on Tuesday they took us to the countryside to a Korean "village." I forget what it was called, but it was essentially the Korean equivalent of Plymouth Plantation. I was worried it would be a bit Wuzhen, but it was definitely more Plymouth than that, which was good. It was really well maintained and there were so few tourists. It turned out to actually be a really great place to visit and I'm really glad we went. They had areas showing the village architectural styles of each area in ancient Korea, as well as areas demonstrating crafts and games. There was also an awkward museum of the world's cultures.

Monday night was our last night in Korea, so the family wanted to send Jae off in style (he hadn't been back to the motherland for 8 years!). After a dinner of Korean BBQ, they took us to what they said used to be Jae's mother's favorite bar. Jae's mother's favorite bar is a CAVE. An actual cave. This place was nuts. Absolutely put Shanghai to shame (and I never thought nightlife anywhere could out-awkward Shanghai!).

Lots of weird things happened in the cave, including (but not limited to): bug eating, love shots, arm wrestling, and random drunk adults. Then (because Korea is still Asia), we went to KTV - where we continued to roll VIP style because Jae is somehow related to the owner of a massive KTV place. Then we finished off our evening of Azn-ness by going to a PC Bar where I watched the boys play some game where Tekkin kept killing them.

We got back to Tekkin's around 4 in the morning and Jae told us that it was Korean tradition to eat whatever it was his aunt had prepared for us, and to do celebratory shots of soju to ward off hangovers before bed, so clearly being the good guests we were, we had to go through with it. This was a lie, and simply an elaborate ruse to get Stephen to eat dog. Unnecessary, since Stephen had been psyched all week to do so. The soju shots at 4 am were also unnecessary. But, the hospitality was more than appreciated.

A 4-hour snugglefest later we headed for the airport. Stephen and I feasted on bagels for breakfast and savored the liberated internet while Jae was rejected from security for forgetting the 2 liters of liquid he had in his bag. When we finally made it to the gate, we discovered Li Laoshi! Nonchalantly just hanging out in Seoul. The best was when Jae finally showed up and Li Laoshi explained his presence by saying he had come all the way to Seoul to retrieve him, Macao-style.

Korea was excellent. I'm really glad I had a chance to see another part of Asia during my year here. China has infinite places to visit, and I haven't felt limited by my visa at all (it didn't allow me to leave the country until recently), but I'm grateful I had the opportunity to get to South Korea, especially at such an exciting World Cup time, and with such wonderful hospitality.

Today marks exactly a week until I'm headed back stateside! That's nuts. One week from today I will be boarding a plane. I have 6 days left of work. CRAZY CRAZY. I need to buy a suitcase, and attempt to put my life together. Yesterday, I realized that I had such a short amount of time left, and finally made it to the Expo. Look for that post soon.

~Kono

Karst Biking, Starfish Eating

2010-06-04T11:04:00.010+08:00

Kyla just left earlier this week after a pretty amazing visit. I'm so glad she was able to come.

We did a lot. After touring Shanghai for a few days, we headed down to Yangshou so I could prove to K that not all air in China is polluted. The topography in Yangshuo is incredibly unique. There are karst formations all over the world, but I cant think of many that are so heavily forested as those in Yangshuo. Yangshuo is super touristy, but for good reason. It's beautiful, and has tons to do.

View from the hostel:

Our first day it rained pretty heavily, so we got accustomed to our hostel and signed up for a cooking class. We stayed at the same place my friends stayed at last semester. Monkey Jane's is definitely a good place to meet people, and has a pretty unbeatable view. I even met someone from GW. Our cooking class was all foreigners (like most of Yangshuo) and majority American. It was a friendly, if eclectic group. We learned how to make Guangxi food, which was mostly stir fries with oyster sauce, but we did make egg wrap dumplings which was an exciting first experience for me. Prior to cooking we went to the farmer's market to buy our ingredients. I didn't get a picture of the dog cages, but I'll assure you they were sad.

Cooking class:

The next day we went to visit the water caves. The caves in Yangshuo were absolutely amazing. I don't think I've ever been in such large caverns before. We went on about an hour long walking tour where we were allowed to do things that would cause the EPA to faint. Kyla, Shavan and I felt too guilty to shimmy up stalagmites and traipse about through protected caverns, but the other tourists on our walking tour did not experience such heistation. Also during this walking tour, I attempted to translate the guide for Shavan and Kyla and learned a lot of important new vocab, like mammoth and jellyfish.

After the tour of the caves, we had the chance to play in the mud bath and then sit in the hot springs. The mud bath was goopy. I really can't think of a better word to describe it. Thick goop. A bit shallow, and so gross. But fun. The hot springs were amazing! When I've been to hot springs in the past, they've been man-made enclosures, usually about kiddie pool sized. These were natural shelves built into a cliff, each housing a small pool that fit one or two people. The cliff itself was inside a massive cavern. It was definitely a surreal experience. I wish I had photos of these things I'm describing, but we didn't bring cameras in for fear of breaking them in the mud baths or something. For future visitors, don't listen to the lady who guards the lockers, you can easily and safely bring your camera with you.

Monday we went for a bike ride along the Li river. As I mentioned earlier, the scenery here is just amazing. I'll just post photos instead of describing in too much detail. We biked for maybe 10 kilometers or so through mud paths and small villages to the Dragon Bridge. Instead of biking all the way back, we hired some bamboo rafts and floated in luxury about half way back. The highlight of the rafting ride was my discussion with our driver (captain?). He asked if we had tan people in America, and I responded that we had people of all colors and that it was often a vanity thing to make your skin tanner. This delighted him immensely, since in China tanned skin means you're lower class and have to work outdoors. He declared that the darkness of his tan would mean everyone in America would call him 大老板（big boss). Then he looked at our white skin and at the umbrella above us in horror, and quickly removed it so we could soak up all the vitamin D possible.

Views from the bike/raft ride:

Tuesday we went tubing on the river. This was super beautiful too, and relaxing, until I was sucked under a concrete dock and "surfaced" underneath the boats in a marina, losing my sunglasses and almost dying. FYI, the current is stronger than it appears. When I finally made it to air, the current was too strong for me to swim to shore. Before I was swept away to Vietnam, I hailed a bamboo raft that was toting some tourists. The rafter fished me out with his pole, but then one of the tourists goes "她想去哪里?!" (Where does she want to go?!). I'm sorry, I didn't hail this raft, fully clothed in the middle of a river clutching my shoes hoping to hitch to Guilin! Silliness. I still have some pretty awesome bruising.

Sunrise in Yangshuo:

That night we caught a flight back to Shanghai for another few days. I worked while Kyla EXPOed. Before you know it, we were traveling again, headed to Beijing for the weekend. I sent Kyla ahead with some friends which was a good idea, since my computer died, and by the time I actually made it to Beijing a few days later, I ended up spending a good deal of the time (6 hours in one day) at the only Apple store in China. Aside from computer drama, it was again weird and nostalgic to be back in BJ, especially since this time we visited some of the cafes and bars where I used to hang out.

Kyla's home now and I'm back to my fun routine of work, apply for work, study Chinese, apply for work. Hopefully I'll fit in the Expo before I make moves. Next stop: Korea in two weeks for a spontaneous weekend.

~L

Silk Flowered Nightie

2010-06-03T16:27:00.002+08:00

Blogs about Yangshuo/Beijing/Kyla's visit upcoming.

In the meantime, I'd like to point out that today marks the two week point at which I have seen my roommate wear nothing other than that ridiculous silk nightie. Clearly, I have also not seen her leave the apartment in that time.

Also, I have never seen her eat. Possible she is a nightie-wearing vampire.

Xiamen Blanket Bingo, Shangrao Surprise

2010-05-09T21:46:00.022+08:00

Last weekend was Labour Day in China. It was also the first day of Glorious Expo, so clearly I had to get OUT of Shanghai. 人山人海 was about to become 观光客山观光客海。So, Bryce, Nick and I decided to go to Xiamen. Transportation shenanigans abounded, and we wound up going to 4 cities for the goal of one!

To get to Xiamen cheaply, we went with an Elong deal that routed us through Wuhan. With a 20 hour layover. Being the positive people we are, we embraced this opportunity to check out another city. Wuhan was really polluted and everyone had trouble breathing. I was disappointed when we couldn't see across the East Lake for the classic Wuhan photo, and amused when we were told to go check out the Wuhan Bund (which is "JUST LIKE the one in your Shanghai hometown!") - I think it would have been too hazy to see. However, Wuhan DID have delicious street food - homefries(!), deep fried bananas, tire cookies, fish (shaped - not flavored) cookies, chou doufu. Also, our hostel was pretty adorable and I would recommend it.

This photo:

Should have looked like this:

Although the smog made this view of the East Lake look quite pretty:

The Yellow Goose Pagoda:

Delicious yummies:

The next morning we went to the airport for our 11 AM, FRIDAY morning flight (according to the internet booking). However, we were informed that the flight was actually 11 AM, THURSDAY (according to the paper receipt which we did not closely examine, apparently). Hilarity did not ensue, but we made it to Xiamen on the 1:30.

Xiamen had clean air, blue skies, greenery, and 75 degree temperatures. It was love at first sight when we exited the airport. We waited in the longest cab queue in the world and headed to the island to meet our Couchsurfing hosts at Xiamen University. Lydia and Biju are amazing people, and their apartment not only has disco lighting and fake-view window shades, but also amazing views of Gulangyu. This was easily the classiest couchsurfing I've ever had. We spent the evening touring their neighborhood, making sure they knew spicy Chinese food actually existed, and hanging out on the expat bar street. We also attempted to go to the Pirate Ship Bar (not sure what it's actually called, but it's a pirate ship parked in a Carrefour parking lot!!) for KTV, but turns out it was prostitute night, so that was a bust. (But, if you're interested, the ladies only start at 200 kuai - a bargain!).

View from my room at Lydia and Biju's:

The Pirate Ship:

Saturday we went to Gulangyu. Gulangyu is an island located off the coast off the coast of Xiamen. It's car free and bike free, so it's incredibly un-China like in it's quiet. You might hear piano music though, Gulangyu has more pianos per capita than anywhere else in the world (one in every 5 homes). After the Treaty of Nanking, the island became the foreigner settlement for the port of Xiamen (then called Amoy), and the architecture serves as a reminder. Today the foreigners are gone and many of the colonial mansions are empty and covered with ivy. But about half of them are still in good condition and serve has homes still, or adorable restaurants or shops. The whole island had a romantic, bohemian feel, and I really enjoyed walking around the streets. Oh, and of course there are beaches.

Saturday night we met up with some of Lydia and Biju's friends and went to Pizza followed by dancing at Key Club. The club had a Filipino cover band (can anyone explain to me why it's Philippines and Filipino? Shouldn't one be Filipines or Philippino?) The band was AMAZING, and we had a great time.

These two things happened:

Sunday we toured Xiamen University and went to the beach. The university earns it's reputation as the most beautiful in China. The beach we went to had a very exciting bridge, an awkward foreigner doing capoeria, and a series of computer mouse sculptures. With things like that, you have to realize that not only did someone conceptualize 6 giant concrete mice double clicking the ocean, but someone in municipal government was like "using the beach as a giant figurative mousepad?! EXCELLENT idea!" and found the funding for it.

Bridge:

Beach:

Mice:

This guy sold VERY fresh goat milk out of the back of his van.

Then we had a really stressful trip (no cabs, anywhere) to the train station to catch our train to Wuyishan. Backing up a bit: since we're super cheap, we decided to fly one way to Xiamen (slash mistakenly Wuhan) and then take the train back to Shanghai. However, it being a holiday weekend, and us being in Hong Kong when tickets went on sale, tickets to Shanghai were not exactly in abundance. So, we got a ticket to Wuyishan, which is half way. And then I pulled out a map and started pointing at cities within a two hundred miles of Wuyishan until we found one where we could get the last 3 4th class train tickets from. Joy.

Wuyishan was beautiful. I highly recommend going. It's annoying to have to pay to do the "hiking" (since hiking in China is always paved trails), but I suppose in the States you have to pay to enter state parks and such, too. The scenery is worth it though. I've traveled a lot of China, but this was my first time seeing forests that were similar to where I've lived and hiked in the States, so that was pretty exciting for me.

Gorges:

Pavilion we hiked to:

We hiked a few gorges (and one creepy silver mine), and then our cab driver took us to a tea factory for a tea tasting. In China, tea tasting works like wine tasting in the states. It's all free, and then they hope you buy some. The place he took us to was nice - they gave us a quick tour of how they prepare the leaves after harvest, and performed a pretty simple tea ceremony. The hostess also explained the merits of each tea. I'm glad we made this stop, and that the cab driver insisted on it. I knew Wuyishan had mountains and gorges and the like, but I didn't realize until we arrived that the whole place was covered in beautiful terraced tea fields.

We didn't spend the night in Wuyishan, but instead took the night bus to Shangrao in order to catch our morning train to Shanghai (like I said, travel shenanigans). Shangrao isn't exactly a place I've heard of before. Most Chinese who I asked before our trip knew of it, and vaguely where it was, but not much else. Appropriately, the woman who sold us our bus tickets was very concerned about why I would want to go to Shangrao, and kept asking if she could sell me a connecting ticket. Our expectations were not high for this small hamlet of about 7 million.

The bus ride was 3 bumpy hours, but the scenery was consistently pretty great. Shangrao itself looked like any other Chinese city. Wide boulevards, communist concrete architecture. We checked into the nicest truck stop I've ever been in, and then asked a cab driver to take us to a bar. We fully expected a sketch KTV place, but little did we know, Shangrao has a pretty bumping nightlife! Seriously. This was the most amazing shock of the trip.

Tuesday was incredibly uneventful, as we just sat on an uncomfortable train for 8 hours. My knees really hate hard seats. Big props to my friends who have done that for longer than 24 hours in the past.

Now I'm back to regular life. Angie Chang is in town for the expo, so I was super excited to see her this past weekend! My soccer team suffered our first loss today to the over-dramatic Brazilian team. And Kyla comes on the 17th! Big time excitement!

~L

Of Line 10 and the Fragrant Harbour

2010-04-26T23:33:00.001+08:00

I was going to put off a Hong Kong post for a few days, but then realized that I did stuff in Shanghai that was exciting pre HK, and I'm leaving for Xiamen on Thursday(!) and not next week, because apparently I don't know how to read a calendar. (Shenanigans ensued when attempting to purchase train tickets so close to a holiday weekend deadline).

Before I left for Hong Kong, several things happened in Shanghai.

First, and foremost, the end of March was an exciting one for those (like me) who live in the far off reaches of Yangpu. Line 10 opened! This miraculous, lavender colored bit of amazingness connects my neighborhood directly with downtown Shanghai. Previously I would have to walk 20 minutes (or bus 10) to Line 3, which inconveniently wound me around to some other lines that I could connect to which would in turn bring me interesting places. Now I can walk 15 minutes (or bus 5) to the lavender glory of line 10 that brings me to Nanjing East, Yuyuan, Xitiandi, South Shanxi, and even Hongqiao if I'm feeling adventurous! It's truly changed my life and the first ride I took was nothing short of spectacular.

With my internship, I'm supposed to be researching Chinese attitudes towards various religions in light of the Expo. So, I got to go on a field trip to the Ohel Moshe Synagogue which now hosts the Jewish Refugees Museum. During World War II, Shanghai was one of the few places to accept non-documented refugees (many of the Jews fleeing persecution had had their documents confiscated, and had trouble finding places to go). About 18,000 of them came to Shanghai, most settling in the Hongkou (then known as Hongkew) district - just down the street from where I live now. The museum that documents this era in Shanghai history is housed in the temple and community center of Hongkew. It's an amazing museum and I absolutely recommend it to anyone who is visiting. I found it an incredibly touching and humbling experience, as well as informative. It really is underrated (you probably won't find it in any of your guidebooks, and it is small), but totally worth it. Adam Minter of Shanghai Scrap (a blog you should look into if you're into Shanghai) wrote a really great article that tells the story better than I can. Read it here: http://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Religion/Fac/Adler/Reln270/Shanghai%20Jew%20returns.htm

And in final pre-HK Shanghai news, my new residence permit is valid and in my passport, and this mysterious vending machine appeared in my building. It's still empty, but I can almost guarantee it wont provide the "HEALTHY BREAKFAST" delicious-looking cinnamon buns depicted on the sides.

This past weekend I got back from chaperoning a trip to Hong Kong. The trip was exhausting, but informative. I'm glad I saw all the major tourist sites last time I was in the city, because my schedule was certainly full this time around.

Our flight down was uneventful, minus the two hour delay on the tarmac. Always a bad sign when they serve the in-flight meal before takeoff. We stayed at Hong Kong University in the Robert Black College. As far as I can tell, RBC is more of the HKU hotel than any sort of academic building, no matter what the name implies. The accommodations were quite nice, the building was beautiful, and there was western breakfast with views of Victoria Harbour!

The HKU campus is amazing! I absolutely love it. It's beautiful itself, and surrounded by amazing views (both naturally and architecturally). There are a lot of stairs, though. The school is built into a really steep hill, and it can feel like there are more stairs than anything else. From where the minibus stop is to my room, I counted 507 steps and one elevator ride. Hot asses aside, the facilities are wonderful as well, and it all feels much more western than Fudan (or other mainland universities I've visited). Associating with students is easier too. Its the same social feeling I tried to describe with my Taiwan trip earlier this year.

View from the quad:

Main academic building:

You wont see this in Fudan/Try and censor me now, Zhongguo!

On Saturday morning we met with our super nice HKU hosts and went to visit the Behavioral Science Centre, where we learned about social entrepreneurship and social work in Hong Kong. Then, since we were nearby, Aberdeen for lunch. Everyone went out for the local specialty of fish balls. Since that clearly was not my cup of tea, I headed for some random restaurant down the street. My waitress turned out to be a Shanghai transplant, so we had a nice chat. She grew up around Xintiandi before it became Xintiandi. Also, once she realized I was a vegetarian, but a Catholic and not a Buddhist, she came out with this gem: "Oh! Jesus likes the vegetarians, too!"

Saturday evening I met up with Sean and Andrew and some of their friends. It was nice to meet people outside of my Tonghe/Fudan bubble, and of course nice to see Sean and Andrew. Thank you, guys, for still being my friend.

Sunday I met up with Andrew and Sean again at the Happy Valley racecourse. I saw one race, didn't bet, but it was thrilling nonetheless. There can't be that many places in the world where you can watch the races with high rises in the background. For dinner we had Mexican, and I couldn't have been more excited! Also, in line with my when-in-Hong-Kong-eat-as-much-western-food-possible philosophy, we went to a foreign goods grocery so Andrew could stock up before returning to the mainland. Omigoodness this grocery store! It was like shopping in America! I can't believe how patriotic I can get over pretzels and hummus. After a full day of recycling my plastic(!), seeing trees(!) and birds(!), and warm weather(!) I got back to my hotel and watched the travel channel (satellite tv!!) and ate tostitos in bed and almost imagined I was somewhere civilized.

Monday we had the first of several lectures set up through the exchange program with HKU. Professor Liu gave a talk on the basics of HK from British occupation on. I wont bore you with details, since probably the 3 people who read this blog are also interested in China and likely know the story, but some highlights:
-HK colonialism was generally well accepted, but it was also one of the only British colonies that was not resource-exploitative (and thus did not rely on local hard labour etc). Plus, HK's perpetually surplus budget allowed reforms (as long as London didn't have to pay).
-Coolie trade as human trafficking, and 金山庄，南洋庄）
-Turmoil in the mainland = prosperity in HK (Taiping, 1911, 1949, etc) ~ British colony appears more stable, business and rich people relocate. (Plus, capitalist outlet during communist lockdown).
-Figuring out how to go from Nation to being a part of a nation.
-Hamashita's theory of HK prominence based on Chinese tributary system and overseas Chinese connections thesis

In the afternoon we visited the HK Planning and Infrastructure museum and the HK Museum of History. For a geography nerd like me, the HK Planning and Infrastructure was just as exciting as the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum. I picked up a delightful packet called Hong Kong in Figures and would have spent so much longer in there, but on to the history museum we went. Oh well. After museuming a few of us went to the night market in Jordan (every time I say that I sing the Free Willy song just a little bit), and felt sad that we could no longer get the Chinese price. Cantonese! If only I could bargain through written notes.

Tuesday we had a lecture on the Hong Kong education system followed by a field trip to a school in the New Territories. The Hong Kong government is incredibly supportive of education. University students are heavily subsidized - if they attend an "in-state" school, the government pays 240,000HKD/student, and the student shoulders the remaining cost of around 80,000HKD. Higher ed makes up about 2% of GDP. With lower (that doesn't sound right) education, there is a direct-subsidy scheme (DSS), which I find pretty ingenious of the government. Most schools are private and are often run by religious organizations, NGOs or business orgs (like the chamber of commerce), but they still receive public funding. This way, the government can't be held accountable for poor management, nor can anyone say they don't put enough money towards education. Final note: HK spends a greater percentage of GPD on education than on R&D. The mainland is the opposite.

After the lecture, we saw what we learned in action. Particularly for me, that meant sitting in on a 1st grade math class and learning how to read a compass. The interactive activity was exciting, but there are only so many times I can discover that Jonathan is sitting to the west, and Brian to the North of my desk. Also, Brian was a total know it all. The main difference from the mainland clearly being that all of these children had legitimate English names.
Brian:

Tuesday evening I went to Shenzhen to see Andrew's neighborhood. After some border crossing shenanigans (the guard photocopied the wrong visa page, and actually asked if the photo depicted me or someone else) it was immediately apparent I was in China and no longer HK. The toilets became squatters, the roads became wide, and people wouldn't let me off the subway. I love queueing. Andrew was a wonderful host (and except for that suspect and judged guestbed, Andrew, your place is really quite nice) and we had Xinjiang food. I also got my hair washed, something I haven't even thought of doing since the days I lived with Candy.

Wednesday we had an uneventful morning lecture on business in China (which was really more of a case study) and a visit to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. The HKMA is located in the tallest building in HK, so the view was awesome. I also now know a completely unnecessary amount about HK currency. (Can you guess why they made the 5HKD coin round instead of hexagonal a few years back? Hint, it's not because it's cheaper to produce).

Back to campus for a weird lecture on Religion in HK. I was excited for this lecture, but then I didn't learn much. And it took me a while to realize why I couldn't stand the way the professor was talking when I finally figured out that he was talking to us the way I find myself talking to Chinese people with really poor English. We did get to watch videos of people climbing the bun tower for the Bun Festival though, always an entertainment.
Tower of Buns:

Wednesday night I went to Macao and watched my friends gamble and cavorted around gambling dens of sin and sort of learned how to play craps. I'm quite sure all the exotic dancers were actually men. And I lost Jae who was not recovered for almost 48 hours.

Friday morning we had a lecture on the geography and environment of Hong Kong. I didn't realize until this lecture (but now it just seems silly not to have realized it) that HK has so much greenery and wonderfulness because of a need for reservoir catchement. Apparently when the Brits arrived it was a blighted pile of dirt with minimal fresh water sources (97% of the habitat had been destroyed). Some more exciting geography tidbits:
-HK straddles three zoographical regions: Palaeoarctic, Ethiopian and Oriental.
-Central Park is 300 hectares, and Kowloon park is only a few, but they have the same number of bird species
-Only 20% of HK is urbanized, and that number probably wont ever rise above 22%. (Although if you think about it 10% is pretty huge. Also, I doubt developers would be on board with too big an expansion since the land price would drop too far).
-I can attest that the Shenzhen/HK border is probably one of the most starkly contrasting borders ever, but I didn't realize it was literally on the line of a catchement zone, which scares me a little.
-Rapid development is what keeps HK taxes so low since the majority of government money comes from land premiums on redeveloped land.

Friday morning there was a fake massive thunderstorm, so we weren't allowed to go hiking on Lamma Island. HKU took us to Stanley instead. A beautiful town, and actually quite homey as it reminded me a bit of the Cape, but not so much to do aside from shop and drink. I did check out several of the Tin Hau temples (of which there are so many all over HK). Tin Hau is the sea goddess worshiped by a good deal of local SE Asian religions. Stanley is also now home to some beautiful buildings, including Murray House and the pier, that were moved from Central after development there got too crazy.

For dinner they drove us all the way back to the New Territories, which struck me as completely illogical, but maybe if I ate seafood I would have appreciated it. The outside of the restaurant was certainly exciting in a grotesque sort of way. And the view was amazing.
Dinner:

View from Dinner:

After dinner I bid Sean adieu, and went out with some people for Natalia's birthday. Then I had the joy of retiring to the hotel to call border control and the Macao police department until 5:30 in the morning when Jae was recovered. Delight.
3 countries-ish in 7 days and only one student lost to a den of vice. Success.

In conclusion, proof of Hong Kong's civility:

The Mainland really needs this one:

Thursday I'm leaving to go couchsurfing through Fujian province. Mainly I'll be going to Xiamen, but I'll also have a random 16 hour stop in Wuhan (which makes so much sense, Qunar!) and a dayish in Wuyishan/Shangrao (Shangrao?! What the what?!). As always seems to happen to me on these last-minute holiday weekends, I'll be traveling via plane, bus, train (hard seat joys), possible hitch hike, and sleeping on someone's couch, in a tent, and god knows where else. Details to follow!

~L

P.S. I finally successfully joined a soccer team. Thus far we are undefeated.

P.P.S. I forgot to share this glorious notice that was in my elevator lobby earlier this month:

Train Travel in China

2010-04-07T22:50:00.013+08:00

While touring my family around China last week/dealing with their culture shock, I got to thinking about all the things I desperately searched the internet for before and shortly after moving to China. So, I thought I would start a new segment of this blog for other people who are moving to China and may also be desperately searching the internet. I'm sure they're out there, and it is very literally my job right now to know these things. I'm still trying to think up a catchy name for this, so let me know if you have any ideas. I'm going to start with describing everything you could possibly want to know about train travel. I'm open to suggestion for future topics!

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Often the best way to travel around China is by train. The long distance trains are for the most part cheap and efficient, and access far more places than planes (especially on the Eastern half of the country). That said, before you go all in on a train, check some flight prices, because travel between major cities, say Beijing to Shanghai, may be cheaper (and faster!) by air than by train. (Do factor in though, that overnight trains save money on hotel rooms).

(four sections of this post, short-linked here)
Kinds of Trains
Buying a Ticket
Reading a Ticket
Boarding and Riding a Train
Amenities

Kinds of Trains

Before talking about how to get a ticket, I should explain the different classes of train travel. There are 4: soft sleeper, hard sleeper, soft seat and hard seat.

A soft sleeper is the highest and most expensive class - about twice the price of hard sleeper. Contrary to the name implications, the mattress isn't any softer than in second class, but there are several other amenities. Soft sleeper cars are composed of 4 person private berths. There are 2 bunk beds and a small table in each. Each bed comes with two pillows and a comforter. The cabin will also have a hot water thermos and a trash can. Many trains will also provide a bottle of water for each passenger. Most never trains have temperature control and individual television sets (5 CCTV channels, no English) in soft sleeper cabins. Soft sleeper cabins can also control their own overhead lighting and have individual reading lights per bunk. All luggage must be stored under the lower bunks.

The second class hard sleeper cars are composed of six person public berths. Unlike the soft sleeper, you cannot close a door on the public hallway. There are 2 three person bunk beds per berth. The top bunk has significantly less headroom (and is the worthy location where I learned I was claustrophobic). Each bed comes with a pillow and comforter. The cabin will also have a hot water thermos and trash can. Opposite the cabin, in the hallway, is another small table with two fold up chairs. The tray under this table is for trash. Because there are six people instead of four, there is also an overhead luggage rack that runs the length of the corridor. Since the berth is public, there is no individual temperature or light control. Lights typically turn off around 10 or 10:30 PM, and on again around 7 AM. Newer trains have individual reading lights, but I would advise bringing a flashlight as getting a reading lamp is a bit of a gamble.

Soft seats are similar to airplane seats, or upper class seats in European trains. They're typically two, sometimes three across on either side of the aisle. Sometimes they recline, sometimes they don't. There is an overhead luggage rack.

Hard seats are not wooden benches, but they aren't particularly comfortable either. THey are most similar to padded or cloth-covered subway car seats, or maybe the benches in airport gates. Often these seats aren't reserved or assigned, so it's possible to get your seat stolen if you leave it. Hard seat cars also often sell standing room tickets, so you may fight that the whole car is crowded with people, or someone might have requisitioned the space below your seat as their bed. There is not much luggage storage.

There are several different kinds of train, as indicated by the letter in the train number. Here they are in order of niceness and speed: A "D" train (动车组) is a bullet train, usually travels between major cities. A "Z" train (直快) is a direct express train. A "T" train (特快) is an express train. A "K" or "N" train (快车or管内快车) is a fast train (but not as fast as you think, it stops at all big train stations). An "L" train (临客) is a temporary train (typically less well-managed). Any train with no letter and just a four-digit number fall somewhere between K/N and L.

Buying a Ticket

So, now that you want to go by train, how do you get a ticket? First check teh schedules and prices at huochepiao.com (for non-Chinese speakers, that means trainticket.com). The site is all in Chinese, but you can easily figure it out!

When you first get to the site, the top bar looks like this. I've labeled what matters in English. (Click to enlarge).

Use any online translator to get the city names you want to go to. Copy/paste them into the correct spaces. Then hit the big blue button to get the schedule.

The next page will return a grid that looks like this. Again, I've labeled what matters in English.

Figure out which trains fit your schedule and budget, and then write down the train numbers.

Now you're ready to go buy your ticket. No English-speaking window, no problem! Bring a paper with you that says exactly what you want. Even if you've never written Chinese before, you can print or copy from this template:

Just add in the missing stuff. You can use ordinal numbers. Do your best to copy the city names from a dictionary or translation website.

You can buy inter-regional tickets up to 21 days in advance (starting at 3 pm on that 21st day) and regional tickets starting 11 days in advance (starting at 3 pm on that 11th day). I would recommend buying as soon as you're able. You can go to the train station. Or a ticket vendor. This character, 票, pronounced piao (or pee-ow), means ticket and will be over the windows you want. Make sure you have enough RMB before you go, they only take cash!

When it's your turn, hand the agent your paper. You should already know about how much the tickets will cost, and the agent will likely point to the amount on their cash register. Hand over the cash and they'll give you tickets. You're done! (On a side note, you can return this ticket at a main train station for 80% of the face value).

Reading a Ticket

Ok, now you have a ticket. How to read it? Tickets are typically pink squares about the size of a business card. Here are some examples:

Soft Seat:

Hard Sleeper:

Soft Sleeper:

Boarding and Riding the Train

The day of your trip has come! The train station is a bit more streamlined than the airport, so you don’t have to be there as early. But it will be crowed, so I recommend getting there at least 30 minutes before your train departs. I usually allow 45.

At the train station you’ll have to go through a metal detector and a scanner. Odd as it sounds, I would recommend putting any Swiss army knives or similar blades in your jacket pocket rather than your luggage. They seem to be a bit more lax on the boxy scan than the luggage x-ray. This is especially true of any souvenir daggers you may have purchased. Put ‘em in your pocket.

Once through security, look for your train number on the big board. The number at the end of the row (after the times and destinations) is the platform number. If you have a sot sleeper ticket, there may be a fancy waiting room for you. You will know with it is time to board because everyone in the waiting room will make a mad dash at the ticket collector. Don’t panic! Stay calm. You have a reserved seat. If you want to join the panicked dash go or it, but it’s entirely unnecessary. Show the ticket collector your ticket. He will hole-punch it and give it back to you. Don’t lose the ticket (on a general note, if you’re ever given some sort of paper or form in China, don’t lose it. You will likely need it again).

Find your car. The seat numbers are fairly self-explanatory. For the sleepers it depends on hard or soft. In a soft sleeper, ignore the cabin numbers. Your ticket lists the individual bunk number. The placards have a large cabin number with the four bunk numbers in the corners around it. For the hard sleepers, the number refers to your half of the cabin. After the number is a character: 下 (bottom), 中（middle) and 上 (top).

Once the train gets going, the conductor will come around to check your ticket. They may simply glance at it, or they may exchange it for a plastic card. If you get a plastic card, they will come around again at the end of your journey to trade back. During the ride, if you want to take a breather on the platform of other stations, make sure you have your plastic card or ticket with you. When you get leaving the station!). This typically only happens when you get off t non-terminus stations, but it doesn’t hurt to be safe.

Amenities

Each train car has two bathrooms (typically one squatter and one Western, but sometimes to your destination, have your ticket handy, as someone may collect it as you leave the station (no ticket, no both squatters – regardless bring your own TP), a few sinks, and a boiling water dispenser. Most trains have a dining car, and every train will have snack cart vendors.

The majority of your fellow passengers will bring ramen with them for meals. Bring the kind in a bucket – you can use the hot water dispenser to cook it. Water dispenser is also good for tea and instant coffee. If you’re not into drinking hot water, bring water bottles with you. In terms of food, drink, alcohol, you can bring on board whatever you can carry. The dining cars and cards are pretty overpriced and not that delicious, so I would recommend bringing your own food and snacks. Other stuff to bring includes: sandals or slippers (for walking around the car), games, books, a flashlight or headlamp, etc.

Pack your suitcase so anything you might need during the ride is on top, they will be hard to access once they’ve been cosied away under bunks or in overhead compartments. Better yet, pack a small day bag you can keep on your lap or in your bunk bed.

Finally, make sure all of your ipods, cellphones, computers etc are fully charged. You have only a 50/50 chance of getting available or working outlets on your train.

Enjoy the ride! Any other questions or suggestions feel free to leave a comment or email me. How this helps someone!!

~Kono

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keywords: train travel in China, China travel, moving to China, sleeper trains, hard seat, soft seat, hard sleeper, soft sleeper, preparing for China, Chinese trains

Beijing Redux Con Familia

2010-04-07T17:47:00.015+08:00

Last week I had my first experience at the Hongqiao Airport. Far superior to Pudong! It's just as shiny, but has so many more food options! If I could count the number of times I've almost starved to death while hanging out at Pudong... (actually, I can - about three. Since I'm a huge cheapskate and almost always take the train or overnight bus. Actually, on that point, perhaps only the Pudong International terminal is dismal).

Anyway, the subway station still smelled new, and the whole experience was bright and shiny. Even the internet was better than Pudong. The only sad part was that I kept getting redirected from the economy class check in to the first class check in where I would be time after time rejected as I'm clearly not a first class passenger. Tedious. Do I look like I have a gold card with my keens and frame pack?

I was on my way to Beijing to meet the family. Mom, Dad and Clayton have finally made the trek to China after numerous passive-aggressive comments about my friends' parents coming over the past few years. The first day we didn't do much beyond eat noodles and then the jet lagged ones passed out while I read for a thousand years. On Thursday we first went to see wax/dead Mao. First Beijing thing that's changed: I forgot a lot of stuff. Second BJ difference: my accent is so understated and Shanghaiesque now. Third BJ difference: so much security! It was crazy. Before, anyone and their sidewalk-pooping child could just wander into Tiananmen whenever they wanted. Now we had to shove our way through a culture-shock inducing mass to be patted down and metal detected. Odd.

Welcome to China, culture-shocked family!:

On to Mao, who has no interest in seeing your handbags, cellphones and other superfluous capitalist items. He is, however, interested in you not leaving your wallet behind. After designating someone to guard your personal belongings, you go through MORE metal detectors! How many death threats does this dead guy get? Then you are given the opportunity to buy 3 kuai flowers which you drop off approximately 45 seconds later in front of a statue. Not even the dead guy. I'm 99% sure these flowers are simply returned to the shop another 45 seconds later to restart the cycle. Such is the life-cycle of mayflies and Mao flowers.

Then, of course, the main event. Mao. Is he real or wax? Will the guards smile? What will happen if I stop moving? Why is he covered in a hammer and sickle and not a Chinese flag? And the most important question of them all: which ~~capitalist~~ communist tsotchke should I buy at the gift shop to commemorate the event?

Next up, the Forbidden City, despite gale force winds (which, while unpleasant, did blow the smog away). Less scaffolding, more red paint than last time.

Got into a chatty jokester of a cab and took my family to the Chinese delicacy that is Hutong Pizza for lunch. Place is the same deliciousness. I impressed myself, and my cabby, by remembering how to get there. My talents are never-ending. Just down the hutong though is the lamentably empty space where Jaime's bar used to be. A moment of silence was had.

After lunch we went to the Kung Fu Show. Pretty shocking that there aren't any competing kung fu performances. It was good, although a it cheesy at times and could have easily done without the ballet bits. But, it's really hard to make kung fu not exciting. It made me miss Xiao Xie who was, (for the record), way more awesome at the majority of the tricks. Especially leopard impressions and random backflips. I was also excited to see the stuff he had taught me featured several times throughout the performance.

Friday morning we woke up nice and early for some Great Wall action. I let my dad be laowai and convince me to book a private car, but forced myself to speak Chinese with the driver the whole 2 hours to Jinshanling to prove I wasn't as laowai as he. We did the Jinshanling to Simatai hike. Still strenuous, but much better weather than last time. Of course the views are to die for. The zipline was way hao wanr again and I manned up and took a video this time. It was disappointing not to spend the night this time around.

Me on the wall. Family pics all on dad's camera:

Wall being awesome:

Pretty sure this wasn't there last time:

Clayton Ziplining:

We had lunch near Simatai. Since it was good Friday, I ordered fish for Ma and Pa. To their credit, they handled the presentation very well, and uncomplainingly picked around bones, eyes, scales etc. However, i do wish I had a photo of the perfectly wonderful toilet my parents resolutely declared to be the "worst bathroom in all of China." Excuse you, but the Flaming Staircase of Death takes that award, although I can't fathom how it didn't make it into that blog post. It was that awful I guess.

We took a short detour to the Olympic stadium on the way back, which was exciting for my pre-Olympic Beijing self.

On Saturday we slept in a but and then went to the hutongs south of Tiananmen for shopping and lunch. Mom needed silk, clearly. Switzerland has doubtless ruined my parent's perception of a good deal. Then we took the subway up to the drum tower. Parents needed coffee. Luckily the drum tower neighborhood is super posh and full of fancy places capable of getting him an espresso. After momentarily considering taking them to Bed, we went to Desserts Cafe because they have that adorable rooftop seating with bell/drum tower and coal hill views.

View from Desserts Cafe:

We probably shouldn't have stopped for coffee because we got to the tower 5 minutes before closing, not enough time to get a ticket and tour. However, like I said, it's a posh neighborhood. We walked down Gulou Dajie to Nanluo Guxiang hutong and window shopped. At one point we found a schoolyard that had forgotten to lock the gates, and Clayton and I played basketball until we got kicked out (Guard: "You two are white. And CLEARLY not students her). I took the fam to Plastered and made sure Clayton got an Obamao shirt.

Next we caught a cab to Beiwai because I wanted to have dinner at The Golden Peacock. We walked though East campus a bit, although not West (too bad!). I was pleased to see that Minzu Daxue Lu remained much the same. My favorite yogurt place was gone, but the dumpling house was still there, and the zhou place. I got nervous about Golden Peacock (I had heard sad rumours!) but it still stands! Tacky signs, long waits and all. 2 hours of potato balls, pinapple rice, deep fried bananas, Dai Jia rice wine, and gads of other deliciousness later, we headed for the hotel.

Nom nom:

I spent the remainder of the evening making awkward friends with old dudes and bar managers via phone trying to find a place for dad to watch MSU in the final four at 6 AM Easter morning. Future note college ball people: Irish Volunteers was a success.

Sunday we went to the Temple of Heaven. Beijing has a 15.5 million population. On this holiday weekend, at least 10 million of them were in the Temple of Heaven. But who should I run into? Hanna and Barbara! Madness! I didn't even know they were in Beijing. Much better pollution conditions than last time I went. Tiantan with a blue backdrop!

Sunday we also went to Wangfujing for tacky tourist shopping, Beijing duck, and scorpions and seahorses on a stick. Because that's what you do in Beijing with tourists.

We took the train Sunday night from Beijing to Shanghai. My first time in 1st class! and my parents' first time sleeping on a train. Minimal culture shock for them, massive luxuriating for me. Soft sleeper is still not worth twice the price of hard sleeper, but I was impressed by the temperature control, individual tvs, and complimentary slippers! Good job, train D313.

Posts about our Shanghai adventures are upcoming.

On Talk Shows and Tourism

2010-03-28T18:00:00.005+08:00

This past month has been super super busy, as I've been hinting at in past posts. The new students all arrived on March 1st, and we spend the next week orientating - a mixture of boring policy meetings and SUPER AWESOME get to know you activities. It was easier this second time around, although every new bike purchase or excruciating Wenke walk reeked of dejavu. This week of course also included the overwhelming stressful motorcycle event at the acrobatic show. I promise it will terrify me once more when I go again in April.

Toward the end of the second week of the semester, Fudan asked IES to represent foreigners on a new TV talk show, "Culture Matters." Of course I went. ICS, the International Channel of Shanghai, is our English language channel. From my extensive viewing of this channel, I know that their actors etc are of the highest calibur of foreigners pulled of the street with no acting skills. This could be my big break into the Chinese silver screen!

The concept of the show was interesting (comparing and contrasting East and West, new topic each week), and had a good deal of potential, but the multitude of takes and the crazy guests made it a long experience. The topic of the episode I filmed was Chinese movies and marketing them to the West. Of the three guests, one was incredible and made really interesting remarks. He was a high ranking official in the Film Bureau (I forget his actual title). The second guest was a Chinese movie producer, who apparently did not realize that the show was to be conducted in English. The third guest was an American movie producer, who kept getting frustratingly and severely off topic. Anyway, it was a random experience. Look for me on ICS, I'm interviewed on classic Chinese cinema, and I almost get decapitated by the mike boom.

The following day we went to Wuzhen as a group. Wuzhen is not what I was expecting. Based on highly scientific wikipedia research, it seems like a city akin to Suzhou - a water town that's adorable etc, but still a functioning city with residents and the like. Turns out Wuzhen is a major tourist attraction. It is a town, and one that is still inhabited, but the whole thing is gated off and they charge an entrance fee. The whole experience was a lot like plymouth plantation - a living museum of sorts. It was also SWARMING with Chinese tourist groups with matching hats. I think we were the only foreigners. One of the group had reversible pink burberry bucket hats. Wuzhen was interesting; a good look into life on the delta a few hundred or so years ago, but not at all what I was anticipating.

Recently I had a couchsurfer come to stay for an extended weekend, Danielle from Portland. It was nice to have someone to show around and be excited about being touristy with. Since I was working, she was on her own for a good bit of the time, but we were able to meet up evenings and such. And, since she was from Portland, I took her to the Boxing Cat. (Fun fact: Shanghai has two microbreweries, the Boxing Cat and the Bund Brewery). Here we are at the Boxing Cat:

Two weeks ago, I started interning at the Pudong Institute of the U.S. Economy. (Good luck googling them, they don't have a website per se, not to mention one in English...something I may volunteer to help them set up). They're a think tank that contracts with the Chinese government to research a lot of interesting stuff, not just the U.S. Economy. I'm assigned to work on projects having to do with human rights and how China is viewed by the West in that regard, as well as religious practice in terms of the Expo. (If you have any leads on those topics, let me know!). I've also done a few things on climate change in China, but human rights and religion are going to be my main focus there. It also sounds like I'll get to be doing some expo-related events and such through them. So far it's been a really great experience. They keep sending me to meet with smart, important people and interview them or take notes on their lectures etc.

Last week it was Pam's birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAM), and on the way to her party, I got to ride the new Line 7!! Technically it opened like, 2 months ago, but it doesn't really go places I usually go. This was overwhelming amounts of giddiness and excitement. Check out all that fancy chrome and orange paint!:

Oh, check out this "American Product" (that's what it's labeled) that I found in the frozen foods aisle of NGS!

I think that's about all that's been going on aside from the mundane office stuff and the Chinese classes. The weather is FINALLY improving and I'm starting to get really excited about the impending return of Picnic Tuesday. My family is coming for Easter (they land in Beijing on Wednesday), so I'll be getting touristy through Beijing and Shanghai through the next week or so. I'm also planning to live in the lap of luxury while they're here - soft sleeper trains, western restaurant brunches, gifts of cheese and chocolate from Switz, etc. If you have any ideas for what I should do with them (especially my 14-year-old brother), let me know.

~Kono

P.S. If you have any suggestions for the next video I put together, let me know!

P.P.S. I get homesick for you all all the time, so please keep me posted on your lives. I get ridiculously excited to talk to you!

Hello, Goodbye Shanghai

2010-03-24T15:15:00.010+08:00

Megan and Sean, this timely post is for you:

I've been saying for weeks that I'll talk about my random adventures in Hong Kong. It turns out that as a non-EU resident, I cannot apply for a Chinese visa while in the EU. Surprise! Luckily, I went to the states for two weeks prior to returning to China. So, I figured it would be no problem to swing by the Chinese embassy during my week in DC. You only need a minimum of 24 hours to apply for a visa.

Enter Snowmageddonpocolypse. The Chinese embassy was closed almost the entire week I was in DC. The one day it was open, public transportation and taxis were shut down. As I was lacking in Iditarod supplies, I couldn't make it across town. No problem, Lauren! You still have a week before your flight leaves! Problem. The following week was Chinese new year, during which all embassies and consulates were closed, due to open the day my flight left for China.

The logical solution was to switch my ticket to the next day, or even any day within the next week and then drive to New York for the day. Not so! I was informed that unless I wanted to spend $3000 plus on buying a new last-minute ticket on a different airline, the next available spot to switch my ticket to was at the end of March. Meaning I would STILL be in Boston. Good gracious. I tried calling China. I tried calling the state department. I tried calling three different airports and the airline that I was flying. No visa, no dice. The woman at Delta offered to pray for me. Grand.

After careful perusal of the Chinese embassy website, I came across a loophole saying you could apply for a special transit visa on arrival if you were transferring to Hong Kong or Japan and had bought the ticket 24 hours before your first departure from the States (or whatever your country of origin). Hong Kong doesn't require American citizens to obtain a visa, hallelujah! But, I discovered said loophole after the 24 hour mark.

I bought my ticket immediately and then proceeded to stress immensely. In Boston, the lady at the ticket counter had to call immigration, the state department and the Chinese government. Seems this is an underused loophole. Eventually she gave me a handwritten note - basically a second-grade hall pass - and warned me of the bajillion fines and deportation that awaited me. At the gateway in Detroit I was pulled out of line and my passport taken. Then we had to call immigration, the state department and the Chinese government. Eventually I was let on the plan with warnings of imminent deportation.

When I landed in Shanghai, the desk to apply for transit visas was unmanned, as it was past 5. So, a helpful janitor told me to just go through customs. Still not sure if this was correct, but that's what I did. At the customs desk there was massive confusion as to my lack of visa. I again showed my hall pass and the print out of the embassy website. Then I was escorted to a dimly lit, windowless room and my passport was taken away. About an hour wait later, it was returned, with a handwritten scribble on the visa page that apparently authorized me for a 24 hour stay in Shanghai. I had 12 hours until my Hong Kong flight, so I thought about swinging by my apartment with all my luggage, but was too afraid to leave the airport.

The next morning my flight to Hong Kong was delayed, but I made it! Upsetting though, since I was too late arriving to get to the Chinese consulate in time for visa application before the weekend. Had some difficulty finding my hostel, but eventually got there as well. I was a little too excited about riding on the top deck of the bus (Emma, you know how I feel about those), and stopped paying attention to the stop announcements. (Also a fun British holdover: all that free credit Tesco always puts on my British SIM finally got to be used before expiring!). Anyway, the hostel was great, and they upgraded me to a private room because they ran out of dorm space. I was originally sad about the lack of social life, but it ended up being amazing since I was beyond jetlagged.

[Hong Kong has a truly beautiful skyline]

The next morning Sean came back to Hong Kong and took me sightseeing. We went to the top of the peak via fununcular (as loyal readers know is one of my all time favorite modes of travel). Excellent planning as this turned out to be the only clear day of my visit. The view is spectacular. Then we took one of National Geographic's 50 places of a lifetime across to Kowloon. The waterfront in Kowloon was amazing for three reasons: 1. There was a Haibao. 2. There was a Chinese band playing a painful cover of Rihanna's Umbrella. 3. There is the Hong Kong Walk of Stars. This means I got to put my hands in the prints of Jackie Chan AND Bruce Lee. Enough said.

[One of the 50 places of a lifetime!!]

[Jackie Chan!!]

We also went to the Hong Kong museum and learned about a statue of people perched on really, really tall chairs through the magic of iphone and 3G (which absolutely without a doubt doesn't exist here).

The next day Sean had to work, and I had to get my visa. I'm glad I went to the consulate early. I was first in line and got some quality reading in. My application was done in 5 minutes once they opened, and when I left there was a line of at least 200 people that wrapped around the block. After this superfunness, I went to see the Giant Buddha on Lantau Island. Since I was really into alternative transport and circuitous routes on this trip, I took the ferry + scary mountain bus there. The buddha is 112 feet tall and is affiliated with the adjacent Po Lin Monastery. Don't be fooled, this is no ancient relic of Hong Kong - it was built in 1992. It's still pretty cool looking, especially since the weather was misty and the buddha was shrouded in mystery. Plus, there's a piece of the Gautama Buddha inside! I was thiiiisss close. I had a vegetarian lunch with my new pengyoumen from the bus ride and then headed back to the island by the incredibly more convenient MTR to meet up with Sean, tour guide extraordinaire, for dinner.

[Big Buddha]

Tuesday meant I got to go pick up my visa! I was pretty giddy. So much effort for that silly little pink paper. Then I had the whole morning before my late afternoon flight. The weather was nice, if a bit hazy, so I just sat outside and read and absorbed vitamin D, and got painfully sunburnt. Met Sean for lunch and said goodbye, then headed for the airport.
[View from my sunburn:]

Delay, delay, delay again, cancelled. Will I ever get to China!? Finally someone at the desk came up to me and the 3 other foreigners on my flight and told us that we would have to come back Wednesday morning. We whined and he offered us 100 yuan. Then he turned around and offered the far more irate Chinese passengers hotel rooms for the night. Then denied doing so when I called him on it. Just because I'm white doesn't mean I don't speak Mandarin. More arguing, and the foreigners got hotel rooms too! Only to arrive at the hotel and be told that we were expected to all room together, because as foreigners we must know each other, right? No thank you, I would prefer not to room with the three strange men who happened to be on my flight. More arguing and then I got the nicest hotel room I've had in a long long time. Glorious! And then I befriended my other weary foreign travelers (who were all there on visa issues - if you have a resident permit in China, you have to leave the country every three months to keep it valid).

Drinks at the hotel bar turned into clubbing in downtown Hong Kong, which turned into KTV, which turned into the most random night ever. Got back to my beautiful hotel room around 5, approximately 4 hours to takeoff. But, I made expo friends and had to speak in Spanish most of the night because it was the only shared language between myself, two French guys and a Spaniard. Who knew I remembered any Spanish? (Suck it, Senor Abadia).

Back to the airport where my flight was (obviously) delayed again. Finally made it back to Shanghai exactly one week and two hours from when I left Boston! Welcome to the 21st century! I had been sending hourly updates to my boss with what was going on. She only responded once, and briefly: "The world is flat but the roads are not yet paved."

~L

An Homage to Sean: My Morning Commute

2010-03-19T20:31:00.006+08:00

While you're all waiting for some backlogged posts on my past month, I've made a video homage to Sean. (Sean, I considered making the soundtrack Oh Canada, but it just didn't flow as well). Here's a look at my typical morning commute. Buckle your seatbelts, the roads are not kindly paved.

If it doesn't work for you, try this youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULywIThdn5I (no sound sad)

Upcoming: Spontaneous Hong Kong, Wuzhen, couchsurfing, being on Chinese TV, the return of Picnic Tuesday!

~L

P.S. Check out Sean's morning commute here: http://seanages.blogspot.com/2010/01/happy-new-year.html

The Land of the Free

2010-03-09T15:56:00.014+08:00

It's time to catch up on my time in America, which was in February. I know, I'm behind. Orientation ends tomorrow, and a quasi-schedule will start by next week, and hopefully soon I'll be able to emerge from my piles of blankets - it's COLD here and my heat is WEAK.

So, after I left London, I headed for New York. New York was fantastic, and went much like my time in London: catching up with old friends by night and museuming while they were at work by day. I spent a good deal of time with Nancy, and had the opportunity to meet her friends from her new job (she's working at Rockefeller University because she's brilliant). Her friends are lovely, her job has a most excellent teachers' lounge, her apartment and roommates were wonderful and Nancy as always was awesome. I miss my friends - you should all move to China. I also saw the Vagina Monologues with Dan and went sightseeing with AJ. Turns out all three of these people live literally within a stone's throw of each other. And I thought New York was big. At the end of the week I got in touch with Kelsey and Emily, friends of mine from junior high who I had lost touch with. It was so surreal to visit them and meet their friends and hear about where their lives are now. By day I visited the Met, the Whitney, the MoMA, the Museum of Natural History, and about every deli that makes bagels in the city. So, here are some pictures. I wasn't that great about taking lots of them while in NY (or America or that matter). This will be a less-picture heavy post.

I love that the Met organizes it's furniture collections with period-themed rooms.

The classic MoMA city view:

Kelsey and Emily!:

From New York I took the bus to Boston for just a day because for various reasons it made more sense to fly to DC round-trip from there than to double-bus. On the way to the bus station, my subway train stopped for about a year at each stop, severely throwing my time-planning off. Someone on the train looked at me and my bags, saw my head frantically darting from my watch to the subway clock, and asked if I was going to Port Authority, and if so was I trying to catch the 1:00 bus? He wasn't even planning on getting off at the same stop, but told me that he was worried I would miss the bus if I was carrying both bags, so he got off the train with me, insisted on carrying my duffel bag, and ran down the street with me after my bus that was pulling away from the curb. I made it and that man, wherever he is, is amazing.

My plane landed in DC during the approximate 5 hour window between snow storms when planes were actually allowed to land. All public transportation had been suspended, which I attempted to tell all the wandering lost-looking tourists by the metro. I asked if anyone wanted to split a cab downtown and only one of the shellshocked people took me up on it. So I made friends with an AP reporter. We took a cab as close as we could get to Dupont, and then mountaineered our way over the snow to our final destinations. I went to Sara's first, where I was snowed in for the next two days with her and Kyla (since, the night of my arrival, the city got about 3 or 4 more feet!). I was laughing when I read about the snow before I got to the city, but after arriving I can now attest that snowpocalypse/snowmageddon/whatever they're calling it was for real. This also resulted in some major visa drama for me. I was supposed to get my visa for China while in DC (since I could just pop into the embassy, it only takes a day), but the embassy was snowed shut the entire week! More on how I had to sneak into China in my next post on impromptu Hong Kong.

So, in DC I stayed with Sara, Kyla (who flew in all the way from Seattle because she ROCKS), Lisa and Kelsey, as well as had a chance to catch up with countless people. Turns out I know a lot of people in DC, and a lot who moved there after I moved out. I also had a chance to go to a few Smithsonians, make snowangels on the mall, have a few snowball fights, and eat a ton of various African cuisines (DC food I miss you). I left on one of the first planes allowed out of DC, so my trip was pretty much characterized by snow. I've never seen the city so creepy and shut down. Here's some photos:

Snowy White House:

Freedom Square Snow Angels:

Just.So.Much.Snow!

Just looked out the window, and coincidentally, it's snowing in Shanghai right now! Rare magic!

After DC I went to Boston where I stayed with Rachael and the Glorious 44 Litchfield. I also caught up with several friends who are still in Boston and got to hear about what they've been doing. Drove by my old house which was eerie. Took care of business and bought all sorts of contraband to bring back to China with me (vanilla extract! baking soda! moisturizer!). Had a fantastic valentines day. Ate all sorts of fantastic home cooking. Oh, and freaked out over and over for inordinate amounts of time about my visa situation. So, some photos:

Fanieul Hall from the North End:

Old State House:

The 'Bury from the Air:

Whenever I get my act together I'll catch up on the blog, promise! Posts to come: Hong Kong adventuring and talking my way into China, Orientation and new kiddos, ADPi reunions at Bar 88 and Wuzhen.

The Rest of Europe, January Style

2010-02-28T13:05:00.023+08:00

It's been a lot of time and a lot of travel since I last posted. Apologies to my one or two readers! Last I wrote I was in Switzerland. Since then I've turned 23 (ugh does that sound old)(I will hate myself for that parens when I'm actually old), and added a few visas to my passport. This post will be photo heavy and word light. As always, click to enlarge.

After I became old, I did some more skiing, most notably at Titlis. Titlis is a totally underrated ski area in the Urner Alps just on the edge of the bernese oberland that had absolutely stunning scenery, great snow, and minimal crowds. A big part of these excellent views is due to the fact that Titlis is part mountain skiing, and part glacier (= stellar powder). This can be enjoyed on your skis, or via the world's first revolving cable car! I was joined on my first cable car ascent by a group of Taiwanese tourists, who disappointingly expressed no surprise at my Chinese language skills throughout our entire 20 minute conversation. Anyway, gorgeous skiing at 10,000 feet in the literal heart of Switzerland. Highly recommended. These pictures do it absolutely no justice.
Glacier Skiing:

World's first revolving cable car:

Mountain Skiing:

View From the Top:

Toward the end of January I left by train for Brussels where I met up with Savannah, a friend of mine from Beijing. She's getting her masters, and was an excellent host. We did all the touristy things, which resulted in this highly unflattering photo of me being quintessentially Belgian: eating a waffle covered in deliciousness while standing in front of Manneken Pis, on my way to a brewery.

We also visited the Atomium, a leftover from the Expo of 1958 (being Shanghaiese, I have a deep and profound appreciation for all things expo-related). It's (obviously) a unit cell of iron magnified 165 billion times. The structure now operates as a museum of post-war Belgian life; each sphere is an exhibit hall. While wandering through the atom, Savannah and I saw a sign written in French that we didn't entirely understand so we decided to just walk past it and see visually what it meant. Turned out to be a private wine tasting. Even though we weren't invited, the hosts took a liking to the bumbling, illiterate Americans and let us stay and gave us free wine in exchange for stories about New York Jews. Seriously.

The Atomium in all it's eerie glory:

Traveling through the Atomium tubes:

Below the Atomium is Mini Europe, kind of like the world's first Epcot, also built for Expo '58 and unfortunately closed for the winter. A short walk from the Atomium is a Chinese garden and a Japanese pagoda. King Leopold II built them between 1901 and 1905 because he wanted to be able to walk through exotic architectural works without having to do all that exhausting travel. Clever guy. The gardens were pretty surreal, and reminded me of the Chinese garden in Zurich (which was built by Kunming, it's sister city, in a case of the first instance of sister cities actually meaning anything that I know of).

Mini Europe - how many destinations can you identify?:

The Japanese Pagoda:

Other Brussels highlights include such culinary delights as: pomme frites, chocolate, beer, absinthe and the best salsa in the world.

The Grand Place:

From Brussels I took the Eurostar to London. I almost missed my train because I forgot about having to go through passport control, which doesn't really formally exist between countries in continental Europe. I made it with 5 minutes to spare and had a lovely tunnel ride. At St. Pancras I met my friend Elizabeth who kindly offered her flat in Stratford for me to use while I was in London (she recently moved, but the lease on her old place wasn't up yet). In all, I spent about a week in London visiting various friends and places, and copious museuming while my friends were at work or in school. I got to geek out over the Rosetta Stone, ancient jewlery, and mummies! Plenty of pubs, football matches, and a failed pub quiz. Lots of shopping but as I'm impoverished, no buying. Curries curries and curries. No Madame JoJos this time, but pub hopping in West Wickham with the Beynons is always a thrill. Wonderful ways to spend my days. Other delightful hosts include: Kira, another Beijing friend who is getting her masters at SOAS and who visited me in Switzerland earlier, and Emma, and old FDL friend who I lived with last time I was in London.

The best part of the Natural History Museum:

The Victoria and Albert Museum:

Harrods:

The Eye:

(I learned that you can rent out cars - quite affordably - of the Eye for bachelor's parties, and they'll set up a bar in there and everything. This sounds AWESOME until you remember that it takes 45 minutes to complete a cycle, and there's no bathroom on board).
Shopping in Camden:

Thames:

Trafalgar Square:

The British Museum:

After London I left for three weeks in the States which I'll catch up on soon. And then there was the epic saga that was my return to China. All for future blog posts. I'm now (finally) back in Shanghai. I'm almost settled back in, and my students are already arriving. First day of the new semester is tomorrow!

~L

Gehry and Gstaad

2010-01-14T21:15:00.000+08:00

Earlier this week, I visited my dad's campus to meet him for lunch. Most of you know my dad works for Novartis, a pharmaceutical company headquartered here in Basel. A few weeks ago the International Herald Tribune wrote a piece on the campus, which I believe re-ran in the Times a few days later: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/arts/design/27novartis.html?_r=1&scp=6&sq=novartis&st=cse

Anyway, the campus is really cool because each building is made by a different accomplished architect or artist collaboration, Gehry, Siza, Federle etc. Originally all the buildings were intended to be white squares, but then they decided that might be boring. Everything is still pretty square, but exciting to look at, and then of course there's the incredibly non-square Gehry. The campus also has the world's largest freestanding glass building. It's only used as a security checkpoint! But it's all glass, not even structural supports.

So, the main street, Fabrikstrasse:

The Diener & Diener/Federle:

The Sejima and Nishizawa collaboration:

The Gehry:

Last weekend I went skiing in Gstaad. Notable for the ridiculous weather. Here's a photo from the top.

You can see a bowl of alpine peaks just peeking out above a cloud. That is the cloud I descended into and stayed in all day. There was a visibility of between 5 and 10 feet. And cliffs. So I had to feel for death with my poles. It was terrifying, but I wasn't about to waste a day on skis. Even though at times the whiteout was so bad that I actually felt nauseous, as I literally couldn't tell what was up or down and couldn't see my feet and there was just impenetrable white in every direction. Weird to feel claustrophobic while in what ~~would normally be~~ actually is an incredibly open space.
The view from my chairlift, just before the chair in front of me faded from view:

So, my most eventful skiing in a few years. Also, the train I took to Gstaad was called the White Bull. I'm quite convinced this is the tackiest thing Switzerland has to offer. The train had bullprints down the aisle, and occasional seats covered with "white bull" fur. Every time the train left a station there would be a Southwestern "yeeehawwww welcome to the white bullllll" except awkwardly in German. The guy who brought the coffee cart around was dressed in a white bull costume.

Hopefully I'll be traveling a bit soon. Will definitely be in London by the 28th, New York on the 2nd, followed by DC and Boston. Let me know if you're going to be in those places. I'll be looking for playmates/places to stay.

Basel Doldrums and December Review

2010-01-04T22:14:00.006+08:00

It's been over a month and a whole new decade has begun since my last post. Quick review of my eventful december:

Marina came to visit! It was so wonderful to have a friend come by. I've been getting pretty lonely in Shanghai lately, and feeling homesick. I regret that I was kind of busy when she did come (it was finals/end of semester prep time) but I'm so glad that she did! We did all the touristy things, did a lot of shopping and even threw in some obligatory KTV. Marina gets a shoutout for mastering the essentially Chinese practice of riding on the back of my bike to get everywhere. She also brought me a ridiculous survival package - coffee, reeses, jolly ranchers and tide pens galore.

Oh, and we went to the top of the Jin Mao and marveled at the ridiculousness that is the Giant Bottle Opener. Shanghai, you are ridiculous.

The end of the semester was so sad. My students were all really awesome - as I'm sure you all know by now - and I was really sad to see them go. I do get to keep two for next semester though! I'm optimistic for the next group. I didn't really know what to expect this past fall, and my non-expectations were certainly exceeded. Spring, you've got some work to do, but mainly I'm just excited to meet you all and be better at my job since I know pretty much how things work now.

Due to a last minute scheduling change, I found myself with almost two months off between semesters rather than the two weeks I originally expected. A blessing and a curse. Great, because who doesn't enjoy vacation time? Not so great, because I'm poor and thus can't travel too much. Right now I'm still at my parent's house in Switzerland where I've been the worst tourist ever. I've rarely left the house, although to my credit it has been raining quite a bit. Mostly, though, it's because I don't really know what to do in Basel as a single person who doesn't speak German. Ideas welcome. That said, the flight from Istanbul to Basel is one I sincerely recommend a window seat for.

Basel from the air (note the background Alps:

And, my parent's village from the air:

I did get out for a bit with a family road trip to Luxembourg and the Black Forest. Luxembourg was EVEN MORE adorable than Switzerland (see posts from March 2008) - as if that's even possible. I failed at finding my grandfather's cobble shop (is there a name for that, like cobblery or something?), but I would like to go back and try and delve deeper into the Melsen clan.

The Black Forest (southwestern Germany) was also adorable and pretty much made of gingerbread houses and cuckoo clocks. We threw in the Heidelberg castle for good measure.

I spent my first New Years with family and not friends for the first time since I was about 10. That was weird. Mom, Dad, Clayton and I went to the oldest bridge over the Rhine to watch the fireworks display. It was impressive, but a bit lonely, as you look around and everyone else was in giant groups of friends and couples. I've since learned that it's Swiss tradition to spend Christmas with your family, and then ditch them to spend New Years with your friends, which explains this a bit. Regardless, the fireworks were pretty and I had several embarrassing conversations with people on the tram in German. Surprise: my German is not up to par. Also, this dude filled his backpack with fireworks, threw a bunch of matches at it, and ran:

But, like I said, things have been painfully slow recently. If you're in Europe right now, PLEASE let me know. I WILL visit you. Or you can swing by here.

~L

Shanghai Stuff

2009-12-01T23:11:00.004+08:00

For about the last week, my showers have been excruciating. So, so, so, sososo hot! My shower has always had basically two settings: hot and cold. There's no such thing as warm. This hasn't been a problem before, because the hot temperature has been perfect. So, I've chalked up the past week's pain to the sudden turn of cold weather and being too weak (like going straight from playing in the snow to a hot tub and it kinda burns).

Then, today, I looked at the water heater. After some serious translation and lots of button pushing (my water heater, like my washing machine, closely resembles an MP3 player), I pulled out the units converter. Somehow, my water heater had reset itself to 47 degrees - in American that's about 117 degrees. Pain. Perhaps most disturbing is the fact that it can go up to 99 degrees - over 200 in American.

It's been fixed.

Also, my trials with baking in a toaster continue. Again, with the Celsius! 120 degrees sounds so low. I was baking a chocolate cake today and actually burnt the top! I didn't even know that was possible, and I'm dying of shame.
All ended up just fine, though:

Anyways it's so crazy that the semester is going to be over so soon! And then I'm off to an unplanned 2 month plus couchsurf of unemployment. Any ideas what I should do from mid-December to mid-February?

~L

Front Row Center

2009-11-30T00:49:00.003+08:00

at Armin Van Buuren.

No big deal.

I love puppy posses.

2009-11-19T23:59:00.000+08:00

On Thursday morning we had a lecture at NCCU by Professor Chung-li Wu of the Institute of Political Science Academia Sinica on Taiwan Politics and Government. Professor Wu explained Taiwan’s Democratic Electoral System; it’s political parties, constitution, and the five branches of government. Professor Wu went into each branch (or Yuan) in depth: the Executive, Legislative, Judicial, Examination and Control. Professor Wu also discussed the major world organizations of which Taiwan is a member (including the WTO) and those that it is not recognized by (including the WHO) and the effect this has on government practice. Professor Wu finished his lecture by discussing the most recent major elections held.

Following this lecture, we went to the Taipei Municipal Muzha Vocational High School, headed by principal Chen-Huei Hsu. The school of 2000 students is one of only seven public vocational, and 30 senior high schools in Taipei. It has 162 teachers and 47 staff. The majority of students continue on to science and technology universities in Taiwan. Though traditionally vocational enrollment has been declining, with the economic recession Muzha Vocational High School has found its enrollment numbers rising, possibly because of the demand of vocational jobs. Tuition at the school is $10,000 TND per semester. After this brief information session and a campus tour, we were paired up with Muzha students for lunch and discussion.

This lunch was fairly awkward. Actually really awkward. But really, I guess no matter the language barriers, luncheons with 16 year olds surrounded by curious pre-teen onlookers is going to be awkward. Lunch was followed by a MASSIVE photo session, when conversation simply dissolved into a seeming competition between the students to see who could get the most photos taken with the foreigners. Our bus was actually stormed on the way out by people eager to get their photo taken with Barack Obama.

Thursday afternoon we visited two companies: Taiwan Mobile and Saab. Taiwan Mobile deals in phones, wireless communications and cable television and internet. The company boasts 6.25 million customers, a 30% cell phone market share, and $2.06 billion in revenue. Taiwan Mobile is now starting to enter the wireless repeater market in a push to replace landline phones. Taiwan Mobile’s parent company is the Fuban Group.

Saab is a car company based in Sweden and owned by General Motors. We visited Saab’s Taiwan headquarters for a look at how a foreign owned company operates in Taiwan. The facility we visited mainly did repair service. We had a chance to tour the facility and to ask questions. The manager talked with us about the current economic market and about the hiring and training process of employees – which are often directly sourced from vocational high schools in Taipei.

Thursday night I went with Anna and Isabelle to a vegetarian restaurant called Om Ah Hum. According to my guide, the "red toy poodle" claims all the attention at the restaurant. Little did we know, this meant a literal POSSE of TEN miniature poodles ALL in DIFFERENT OUTFITS. Usually clothed animals make me sad, but this was just too much cuteness. Too much. The one dressed as a piggy may have peed on Isabelle. I am possibly in love with the one dressed in plaid. They were often found sleeping in piles of cuteness, or riding around in the POCKETS of the owner's APRON.

After dinner (which was insanely delicious) we went night-marketing (oh my God, again) and got fun clothes. The night market near Taida is much more bohemian and cutesy than the others. I wish we had had more time to spend there. We eventually ended up at a coffee shop till 2am. I love, love, love that coffee shop culture exists in Taiwan. It's one of the main things I miss in Shanghai, and a huge impetus for considering moving here.

Of Milkshakes and Tea Meals (a side of Government)

2009-11-18T23:38:00.001+08:00

Tuesday morning we went back to NCCU for lectures etc. In the morning we had a lecture on environment and community development. I had been hoping for a look at Taiwan's environmental policy, but instead it turned out to be a case study on some village where the fish were threatened and what they did about it. It was interesting, but not necessarily what I was hoping to learn about.

Tuesday afternoon we were able to attend a session of the Legislative Yuan where we witnessed some of a debate on legalizing U.S. beef imports. Following this audit, we met with a representative from the KMT and the DPP, Taiwan’s two major political parties. First we met with Yun-Kuang Kuo, Director of the KMT Department of Overseas Affairs. Mr. Kuo gave an overview of the KMT party and answered questions students posed on politics in Taiwan. These questions included both KMT-specific questions (such as the party’s official stance on various issues) and general Taiwan questions (such as with whom Taiwan maintains formal diplomatic relations). Students also inquired, and received answers to, Mr. Kuo’s personal opinions on what is needed in government reform, the presence of lobbies in the legislative debate, the current economic situation, and the path towards normalizing relations with Mainland China.

Next we met with Representative Wong of the DPP. Representative Wong is a second term legislator and a former women’s rights activist. Our session with Representative Wong was also run in a question and answer format, and because of her background, much of the initial discussion centered around women’s issues in Taiwan. Representative Wong also discussed political and inter-party corruption, major accomplishments of the DPP during their years of majority rule, the DPP stance on Taiwan-China relations and the future goals of the party.

Tuesday night I went with some NCCU students, Anna, Isabelle, Shaun and Jose out for a life-changing meal and some more night-marketing. We went to Kiwi Burger, a New Zealand burger place that makes amazing veggie burgers. It was arguably my first real Western meal since August, and it was amazing. There was goat cheese. And fries. And cranberries. And I got a MASSIVE milkshake. So fat and heavenly.

On Wednesday morning we had the opportunity to visit the National Palace Museum. At the museum we saw various works of Chinese history, dating from prehistoric times to the Qing dynasty. These included works (mostly statue, vessel and tool) made of bronze, jade, porcelain and ivory.

The museum was so, so so crowded though. No one was really able to enjoy anything because you were constantly being shuffled about by bajillions of people. It was hard to hear our tour guide and difficult to stay at any one exhibit longer than about five seconds. I wish we had a longer amount of time, and less crowding to contend with.

For lunch Crystal took us to a restaurant where everything was made out of tea. Cool concept. I had bubble tea (of course), green tea dumplings, and Stephen, Isabelle and I split waffles made from tea for dessert.

After lunch, Amanda, Stephen, Ann, Shaun and I went to the hot springs at Beitou. It was an awkward experience. I was, of course, the only person in a two piece. We were collectively the only white people and the only people under 60. There were 6 pools. One freezing, one kind of freezing, one lukewarm, one warm, one hot, and one scalding. You were supposed to start cold and work your way up. Success, although I couldn't stay at either extreme for longer than 15 seconds. I'm pretty sure I may have experienced actual burns in the top pool, and my lungs were cold 5 hours later from the cold one. My lungs.

Then we went to Danshui, a port town just north of Taipei. We checked out the night market, and sampled a bunch of snacks. Some delicious (kale filled dough thingies), some foul (wind dried, unknown bird eggs). The meat eaters had the danshui specialty: tofu wrapped around noodles and clams. We took a water taxi up to the Lover's Bridge, and I later met up with Anna and Isabelle for some more shopping and Sassy delights.

Mondays in Taipei

2009-11-16T23:13:00.000+08:00

On Monday morning we had a lecture at NCCU by professor Chen-shen Yen entitled Taiwan Religion and Culture. It turned out to be really interesting, but I do wish it had more to do with religion. Professor Yen’s lecture was an excellent introduction to our trip as he gave a good overview of he ethnic, linguistic and religious makeup of the island before delving further into his topic. Professor Yen also covered identity issues faced by Taiwanese populations: Zhangzhou versus Quanzhou, Minnan versus Hakka, Han versus Indigenous, Ming (Han) versus Qing (Manchu), Chinese versus Japanese, Taiwanese versus Mainland, Taiwanese versus Chinese, and Taiwanese Chinese versus Chinese Taiwanese. Next, the professor discussed the various theories of Taiwan’s origin. These theories fall into three camps: Southern (Taiwan), Northern (China) and Austronesian (Australia and Indonesia).

Aside from the ethnic population divides discussed earlier, Professor Yen also went over cultural and religious cleavages including: ethnic versus sub-ethnic, linguistic cleavages, regional cleavages (East versus West), religious identity, and vertical versus horizontal class cleavages. Finally, Professor Yen ended his lecture with a discussion on Taiwan’s relationship with Mainland China, and the possibility of reunification, with an emphasis on the ramifications on Taiwanese identity.

Then we had a quick tour of campus. The capus was really nice and the weather was gorgeous. They had a ton of fabulous amenities and a bunch of the buildings are built into the surrounding hills. It's metro accessible, but it's way on the edge of town so you can go for hikes and walk along the river, and from several academic buildings there's a wonderful view of the city.

On Monday afternoon we had a lecture at NCCU by professor Yih-Chyi Chuang on The Economic Development of Taiwan, which was intersting and the professor was great, but I will never be totally fascinated by a subject that always leaves me feeling so lost. The lecture began with some data on population, imports and exports, land use and industrialization of the island. Professor Chuang touched on the narrowing wealth divide between rural and urban incomes, the structural change brought on by rapid industrialization, and the recently growing unemployment rate.

Next, professor Chuang discussed some important historical economic policies. These included: the 1953 Land to the Tiller program, the 1949 Compulsory Rent Reduction act, the 1951 movement to sell public land to tenants, the 1960s outward oriented development policies, the 1968 implementation of Export Processing Zones (EPZs), the 1979 development of research and development institutes and industrial and science parks, and the 10 major infrastructure construction projects of the 1970s.

After a discussion on Taiwan’s export partners and markets, including its largest – China – Professor Chuang ended his lecture with a set of goals he felt the Taiwanese economy was now faced with. The first is to normalize relations with China, and the second to expand Taiwan’s economic cooperation with other countries.

I did have an opportunity to duck out in the middle of the lecutre for a bit to meet with the head of GW's study abroad office who coincidentally happened to be in town checking out the school for a future exchange program on the same day that I was there.

On Monday I also asked out host at NCCU - the dean of the OIC International Affairs School - about graduate school. They offer a few programs in English that really interest me - various Asian studies degrees, cross strait relations, Masters in IA, etc. Also, a masters here is extremely cheap, and the government is offering substantial scholarships to foreigners for next fall/academic year. If I can figure out if the program is internationally recognized, I'll be looking into it further.

Monday night, Darci, Ann, Anna, Isabelle and myself, along with some NCCU students, went out to the night markets. It was raining, which blew, but we saw a bunch of shops and got to try a bunch of interesting snacks. We visited Shida and Taida, and tested noodles, tire cookies, brown sugar bubble tea (omg so good) and began out ongoing addiction with a spectacular store called Sassy.

After we got back, Anna and I went out again in search of a mysterious night market that was apparently all delicious food. We walked for about 500 hours, epically failed and got wet feet, but did come out successful re: deep fried taro balls. Picked up some beer and watched what became out new favorite show: Role Play Queen. After dark, or maybe all day - we've only watched TV at night, channel 85 and 88 became softcore porn. From midnight to 1 AM is Dancing Queen - an upskirt camera dancing show. It's as awkward as it sounds. Then, at 1:30, Role Playing Queen comes on. I think the two shows are linked as some sort of variety show. Role Playing Queen begins with the host dressed as a nazi marching girls dressed as sexy soldiers around. Then he dances and juggles a blow up doll, then we cut to the store. Each night the girls don a different costume which progressively comes off during the show as they complete various variety show tasks. Anna and I have become committed to the drama of teh show - you can call in and vote for your favorite girl - and we're rooting for "sexy cat."

Taiwan I: Salad Ice Cream

2009-11-15T23:50:00.002+08:00

Getting to Taiwan from China is a bit weird, because it’s a quasi-international flight. Obviously China and Taiwan have differed views of Taiwanese sovereignty. We took off out of the domestic terminal in Shanghai, but we had to go through customs. We landed in the international terminal in Taipei, but though we went through customs, we didn’t have to fill out any declaration forms. We ere checked for swine flu and there was a produce sniffing dog, though.

We were met at the luggage claim by our hosts from NCCU and then changed money and bought SIM cards. The situation is so “one country” that you can’t change RMB to TND in the mainland, so we had to do it here. And the Chinese cell phones don’t work. And it was way complicated for the Chinese nationals to get permits to come here. Nuts.

Then we checked into our hotel and went to dinner. This city has a great vibe. Laid back, modern, stylish. I know that sounds contradictory, but whatever. People have been so friendly – the restaurant gave us gifts when they heard it was our first time in Taiwan. They also devised a special, and beautifully presented, menu for me, even though we ate at a steakhouse. For desert I had vanilla ice cream in a chocolate bag. Yes, it was as awesome as it sounds, but no, it wasn’t Chinglish as suspected. This is a salad:

Unfortunately, I’m a bit too full now to go out snacking. Huge disappointment as all of my research tells of Taiwan being a nation of night markets and xiaochi. And you know how I feel about eating my way through ravel. Food + travel – culinary tourism as the secret to happiness.

So, while I’m disappointed at missing Obama’s visit, and challenged by the traditional characters, I’m really optimistic for this week and this city.

Mmm Cake

2009-11-09T22:01:00.001+08:00

Sometimes you have to get creative in China.

And make cake in a camp stove.

Nom.

Just Some Taiwan Anticipation

2009-11-08T21:28:00.005+08:00

Two weekends ago it was Halloween - what did you dress up as? I toyed with the idea of going as blackmail (wearing black and postage stamps) or stealing the classic Megan and going as gum-under-shoe (all pink with a shoe tied on my head), but ended up being distracted by other matters and copping out, going as a nudist on strike.

The day before Halloween I made a last minute decision to go to Hangzhou (杭州) for the weekend. I needed to get out of Shanghai (those of you who knew Mason - RIP - understand. I've been pretty torn up for the last week), and have been meaning to visit my friend Drue there for some time anyhow.

Hangzhou is beautiful, and certainly doesn't seem like a city (or by China standards, small town) of around 7 million. It takes about two hours to reach the city from Shanghai by bus. I took a sketchy van/bus/面包车 which was cheap and oh-so-legitimate. My fellow passengers were quite nice; I befriended the other young girl in the back row and someone even produced After 8 mints!

While I'm not sure that Hangzhou is truly is a cross between Lake Geneva and Aspen, it did have lovely parks and the lake was pretty remarkable. I highly recommend renting a boat for a few hours. Also, next time I go I'm for sure spending at least one night in one of the "vacation huts" along the shores.

Drue and his friends were lovely hosts and I had a great time. We visited a bar where one of their friends had his debut DJ event, carved pumpkins, met some Russians, and played some good old American drinking games at Zhi Da.

This past week has been relatively uneventful. A little bit of class, a little bit of actual work. I am however fully engrossed in planning for Taiwan!! We leave next week Sunday. It should be a pretty excellent time. If anyone has ever been to Taipei (台北) and has some suggestions, I would absolutely love to hear them.

Hope all is well with everyone.

~L

P.S. I forgot: this week I rode go-karts in China. It was surreal.

The UN and Global Challenges Conference

2009-10-30T12:12:00.006+08:00

I just got back from a conference held at Fudan today by the United Nations Foundation on the subject of the UN's current global challenges. I was really excited for the conference, given the topic of interest and the star studded panel of people-who-have-influenced-so-much-of-my-studies-and-research. But, I walked away feeling more frustrated and limited than before.

The talk had such potential for giving real information, but it seemed as though the panelists underestimated their audience's intelligence and came unprepared to give that information, or even just opinions - which is really what we were all looking for. Granted, they received several fluff questions that I could have easily answered (but they didn't really even go in depth into answering those) but they also got some great questions which they pretty much avoided answering entirely.

Each panelist started off the discussion by stating what they thought the major problem facing the UN was, and a question and answer followed. Senator Timothy Wirth talked about climate change. Professor Emma Rothschild talked about climate change as a source for the economic crisis and urban planning as a way to combat both issues. Professor Ni talked about what his students talked about. Ted Turner talked about nuclear proliferation and climate change in terms of energy production. Muhammad Yunus talked about technology and the UN as a vehicle for our generation. Professor Yuan Ming talked about a need for leadership and and a projection of Chinese culture. Then the Q&A started.

After that (seemingly) good start (since the Chinese professors didn't actually say anything), things just got frustrating. Yunus started things off by talking about how nothing can be created until you imagine it. Without a vision you're just drifting. Having a vision leads to organization, and common vision leads to inspiration. You should use this inspiration to start small and then get involved big. This is great, but frustratingly was the answer to almost every question. The panelists responded to almost every inquiry ("What should we do about climate change?" "What is the UN doing about internal reform?" "How should we use technology?" "How do we influence the people in power?") with a plea to our generation to join the UN or government organizations. Over and over again it was the "have a vision and go for it, the power lies in the young generation" speech. Who are you, Walt Disney? We've all heard the "if you can dream it you can do it" speech. What we were looking for was the inspiration for that action and the affirmation that SOMETHING is going on among the higher-ups right now. Also, is the UN doing anything NOW, or is it just WAITING for my generation to join up and fix it - because thats what all these appeals were making things sound like.

Not to mention, I, and my peers would LOVE to get involved with the UN or a government organization, but for someone of my age, means and experiences it's so easy to feel limited by the opportunities available. Don't talk to me like I've never tried and that there are limitless opportunities out there if I'll only commit myself to them. I guarantee you half the people in this room have tried and it's not that we're all under-qualified - we come from some of the best universities and the best international affairs programs, but the fact is those internships are competitive, there are only so many entry level spots available in government, the UN can't take everyone who was a vision - you need to do something big to stand out so we needed inspiration from you to feel like it was POSSIBLE for us to become involved.

After the discussion was over I went up to Senator Wirth and attempted to articulate this, although I think he thought I was more accusing him of denying me some state department internship or something, which was not my intention. He gave me a little talk on the UN Foundation not having the resources to provide internships for more than 20 or so people. I tried to backpedal and say that I understood that - which I do - and explain that I just wanted some advice on what else I could be doing. Myself and so many of my peers are unable to get these opportunities, what else can we do to educate ourselves and work towards bettering the world? He had nothing to say besides commenting that the internet must be a great resource.

The internet is a great resource, but I want to learn and I want to one day be able to make a difference, and I want to not be frustrated by the lack of achievement I have going with my "vision." Sometimes it's not enough to "post it to my wall for inspiration" per Mr. Yunus' advice and too often the "start small action" is under-appreciated and overlooked. The least you could do is give me an idea of what is going on on the international stage regarding these issues right now. What should I use the internet to be researching?

All that said, there were some interesting ideas discussed in this panel and I did take copious notes. Professor Rothschild in particular had really interesting things to say regarding urban planning and specific changes that could be made in the economic model of mass consumption in developing countries. Mr. Yunus discussed his utopian vision of a world without passports and visas, and the problem institutions being based on state lines even though these problems are cross-boundary. He also talked about the philosophical interpretation of the human being as profit-maximizing. But, none of these ideas were expanded upon the way I would have liked. It seemed like the panel thought they were talking to uninformed children. They asked if we had ever heard of Model UN or the Copenhagen summit. Sure, there are people who haven't, but not those people who fought to get tickets to this particular conference.

Bottom line, you're preaching to the choir and I think we all really wanted to hear a bit more.

红河水无事盛鱼， 任往自如