Hello from Beijing
Sunday, February 22, 2004
Hong Kong: city of neon lights
Been a busy weekend! Catching up on errands, enjoying some good meals, hopping about town. I did manage to crop some pictures from Hong Kong for you. Enjoy!
every night at 8pm
the incense coils at the local buddhist temples
a modern city with old China charms
up on the peak
Monday, February 16, 2004
no, not hong kong. beijing skiing!
First things first: An apology to everyone who sent me an e-mail over the past week and a half and hasn't gotten a response.
I still love you. But the Beijing Internet does not: For some reason, yahoo was struggling last week, and
most days, I couldn't even log on. Now, I'm down in Hong Kong, using Tricia's superfast connection (and! no blocked pages even!), and trying to catch
back up. YOU may be the proud recipient of an e-mail from me soon.
Hong Kong is amazing: warm, sunny, busy, palm tree-d, colorful, and full of tacos. In the first day alone, we managed to have
Mexican, Middle Eastern and Indian food (since then, I've discovered the supermarket and am now sitting here
with a tub of hummus. Heaven.) We've been running around and exploring and enjoying a bit of Western culture.
Though I sort of miss Beijing's off-the-beaten-path, not-fully-integrated-to-the-Western-world quality,
I have to say it's nice to enjoy some good ol' fashioned capitalism sometimes. Not to mention an abundance of Prada.
And English language books. Pictures to come.
In the meanwhile, pics from last weekend's skiing adventure -- my first time on the slopes EVER.
They say people ski in China like they drive, and that is not a compliment. It is chaos on snow, I tell you --
not necessarily the best scenario for a beginner. But I'm happy to say that after several ridiculous spills, I
managed to master the snowplow and slowly skied my way down bunny slopes 1 and 2 many successful times. For my
final run I ever took a turn on the intermediate hill (I was crazily out of control, but still upright. Whooo.) Winter Olympics, here I come.
Newsflash: The aforementioned Tricia (who has very nicely lent me her very cute apartment and her extremely adorable dog for a few
days while some slightly shady people procure me a new visa for China) lives on the 27th floor of a high-rise
a little ways up the hill from the center of Hong Kong. Every night at 8pm, fireworks shoot off the tops of about a dozen twinkling skyscrapers down the hill -- basically even
with my eyesight. It is one of the prettiest things I have seen in a long time.
not an easy feat, taking a picture while on skis at the top of a hill
no concept of lines at all. none.
sort of like how i do it
Thursday, February 5, 2004
on top of one of the (semi-) deserted island
I'm back with Thailand: Part 2. All that sun
and relaxation seems like a distant memory now, but
I'll still try to hit some highlights. Let me take a
second to get into the moment by dreaming of frozen
pineapple juice hand-delivered while I sit by the
pool... Very nice. Okay. Here we go. Mike and I spent
quite a bit of time laying in the sun at our resort,
though also went into the crazyish tourist town for a change of
scenery. One day, we took a boat tour out and around
the small, uninhabited islands nearby, and hiked
around and went snorkeling and
stuff. I can't wait to go back to Thailand. There are
so many more places to explore!
bottomless restaurants!
along the road into town: a local fisherman shack
During our short time in Bangkok, we did what
any other self-respecting American expat in Asia would
do: eat Mexican food. Seriously, you can't get it in
Beijing (oh, Taco Bell, how I miss ye), but Bangkok --
being somewhat more Western and cosmopolitan -- has a
much-talked-about spot that serves up authentic fare.
(Its name? Senor Pico of Los Angeles.) There were
nachos, and guacamole, and fajitas, and enchiladas.
And it was goooood.
the tuk tuk, a popular mode of bangkok-ian transportation
serving all your plastic wrapped buddha needs since 1962
they love the colonel as much as the chinese!
We also hit the main Bangkok sights: Wat Po
(home of the reclining Buddha and an enormous area of
gardens and spires and temples) and Soi Cowboy (one of
the, er, infamous streets of Bangkok. Nudge, nudge.
Wink, wink.) It was quite the range of cultural
activities.
wat po
wat po
ride 'em cowboy
And now we're back in the land of Mao. It's the last night of the Spring Festival (aka the Chinese New Year) which means lots of fireworks, but hopefully also an end to those fireworks. They've been going off for two whole weeks.
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
our little beachfront hotel
I am back! I have tons of pictures! And stories! And even a slight tan (yay). And a bit of a cold (boo). But first things first: I've finally gotten around to starting up an archive, and so the first leg of the adventure can now be found here. I know those of you still using dial-up (hello grandma and Duncan) should be thrilled that all the old pictures don't have to reload each time you come here. Consider this my Chinese New Year gift to you, minus the cute little hongbao red envelope.
And now, back to Thailand: It was warm, it was beautiful, it was everything Thailand is supposed to be. We had a little time in Bangkok, but spent most of the trip on the beaches of Koh Samet, an island in the Gulf of Thailand that's a three-hour bus trip from Bangkok. Our resort was quiet and beautiful, but there's also quite a bit of local Thailand to experience on the island (not to mention a good amount of fun-loving tourists). More stories tomorrow. For now, see the first set of pictures for yourself.
we stayed in a little hut...
...next to a little lilypond
that's right: not only was the food not dirty, it was also quite delicious. a winning combination.
the thai love dogs. or at least the tolerate them quite a bit. they are all over the place.
some nights, we would walk to the big main beach for dinner. once the tide goes out, the restaurants line the beach with rugs and pillows and tables, and you have noodles and fresh fish and pina coladas and listen to the waves and watch the people go by
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
Happy New Year! I'm a little early (New Year's is tonight) but in the holiday spirit, as I'm officially on vacation. Very loud fireworks have been going off for days (though all these little kids running around with firecrackers is a little unsettling. Hmmm.) I'm a bit sad to miss all the festivities, who can argue with 90 degrees? Not me. Especially when it is currently a frosty 16 degrees (wind chill 0) here. It is colder here than New York now. Brrrr.
Chinese New Year's resolution number 4 (after eat more fruit, be less cranky, and stop eating so much fried food) is to take more pictures and update the site more often. Expect many Thailand photos nex week on my return!
an added bonus: here's a little preview of where we're going courtesy of Walter, Bangkok host and recommender of resorts
Sunday, January 18, 2004
China has become alive. It's Chinese New Year's Day on Thursday, which is best described as if Christmas and (western) New Year's got wrapped into one and lasted for seven days. The transformation is really incredible: Decorations are up everywhere, people are laughing and smiling and buying flowers and eating big meals in all of the restaurants. The subways are teeming with people -- both arriving in and leaving the city -- and their multiple suitcases. It's overwhelmingly cheerful, even as it gets grayer and colder.
Of course, there's a downside. (There always is.) Remember that no-vacation rule? In order to take five days off for the Chinese New Year, we have to work the weekend before. That amounts to 10 days in a row working 10-12 hours per day. (I'm only on day seven now and I'm beat.)
The (other) upside: On that tenth day, I'm heading to Thailand! It has beaches! And little huts! And hammocks! And deserted islands! And curry! I plan to bring books and a bathing suit and nothing else. Heaven.
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
a little light snow
the daily commute: so many people!
on the subway
making some new friends
One last thing: Happy birthday, dad!
Thursday, January 1, 2004
chinese santas everywhere!
Happy New Year! Whooooooo. It wasn't quite the same without Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve party, but we had a good time nonetheless. The past week has really been quite a blur of celebrations and parties and resting (and, of course, working. In China, they don't believe in vacation days, so if you want to take off on New Year's Day, you have to work the weekend before. Which I did, and which is really as annoying as it sounds. Sigh.) The Christmas decorations were out in abundance in the days leading up to the holidays and Christmas Eve is a big party-as-hard-as-you-can kind of night for the Chinese, so of course we partook in the local tradiion. Next, we're gearing up for the Spring Festival (aka Chinese New Year, aka the lunar new year), a week of fireworks/food/fun that starts on January 21. I have 5 days off from work. I hope to see a little of the action, and then flee the country for warmer weather.
saddest little tree in town
sometimes, people's dinners hang out on the streets
apparently technically correct, but still: bwaahahahahaha...
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