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Friday
Greg
craploads of zeros!
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1269.
That ray gun is mine!
I am super super super excited to say that I just found out that I will be an acknowledgement in the credits of EA’s upcoming game Dead Space! So sweet! I have no idea how much I can talk about the game, probably not much, but I can give you several links to official YouTube videos ( Strategic Dismemberment ). My friend Adam did the dismemberment tech for the game and he’s very proud of it, though he’s pretty sure ZeroPunctuation is going to rip the game a new one.
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In that trailer the narrator refers to a “telekinesis gun”, which is the thing that I helped out with. The game, in addition to some pretty cool lighting effects, relies heavily on physics simulation. Everything in the game applies forces on objects, and a physics simulator calculates the result. It looks pretty cool. The only problem, then, is that if you want to have a magic ray gun that moves things and you want things to move based the results of a physics simulator, then affectively have to know how to move things “in reality”! They found that objects flew too fast or looked keyframed or all kinds of aesthetically less-than-appealing results. So my friend Adam asked me how a controls person (what I am) would do to move to a destination point with a force input and discrete update rate. WELL, it just so happens that the magic force ray gun is almost exactly what every undergrad, and most graduate, controls problem analogizes to. So, I wrote him a two-page description of a pretty simple, and very reliable, algorithm for moving things with a magic ray gun.
I’ve been told that it works great for a number of their cases, but unfortunately not all. In some cases the result of my algorithm looks “too realistic”, which is to say the result isn’t very exciting but is what you would want such a device to do in the real world. It is being used in the game sometimes, though, so my name is in the credits. I’m so psyched!
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11:24 pm |
366 words in this post |
6 comments
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Monday
Greg
craploads of zeros!
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1268.
My heros are dying
I can’t even begin to express how sad it is that George Carlin died yesterday. He was a genius, and hysterically funny. I listened to his albums constantly as early as I learned to work the record player, so somewhere around the 5th grade or earlier. Enjoying Carlin was often an intelligence test of possible friends and, yes, some people didn’t make the cut.
It is weird to see these headlines this morning like “Carlin now headlining in heaven” when he was one of the loudest, shout-it-from-the-rooftops athiests I’d ever heard. What is very funny, though, is that even the Associated Press is quoting Carlin’s website for biographical information. Much of that biography is fiction and he proudly said as much in interviews, especially relishing his ever-changing stories of how his mother died, “In an ill-fated hot-air ballooning excercise” etc. He’s getting one more jab in at the end.
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12:35 pm |
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Saturday
Joey
Matt Damon
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1267.
Umm...
So Facebook says it’s Peter’s birthday today so I’m going to go out on a limb and say:
Happy Birthday Peter!
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09:51 pm |
20 words in this post |
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Jascha
Bean Bag King
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1266.
The Food
AUTO LOG WARNING: This is a long post.So I am going to lump all of my food experiences into one big thing. Many many great meals will be left out because I had so many, and to be honest, have forgotten quite a bit.
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China:
I am from the Bay, and I expected to recognize a good chuck of the food. No way. And the food is so varied that you can pretty much get anything. For instance, one would not think of the potato as linked to Chinese cuisine, but where Matt lives it is very much used (you can even get these Chinese hash browns everywhere there). Or cheese, but fried goat cheese dipped into hot sauce is a local food and excellent. I was also surprised to find that rice is considered poor man’s food and that you eat it at the end of the meal as a fill-me-up, not really during the meal. And soup (this is also true in Vietnam) is usually the last thing you eat and it just goes into your bowl where everything else had been. Anyway, some highlights:
Matt took me to a Sichuan place. Spicy and good. His favorite dish is called Grandma’s potatoes. It is basically American-style mashed potato, but with all sorts of spices in it and very hot. I was excited about it and thought I could make it at home. I told my Chinese labmate about it and she a) had never heard of it and b) found it on the internet and told me there is no way I could ever get the right oil and spices here. We also had these dry red beans with mint. I really don’t know how to describe them, but they are good. And Kung Pao chicken, which is great over there. More spicy. And of course a garlicky leafy green.
I think one of the best meals I have had in my life was also with Matt and a couple of his friends. I just love the Chinese style of eating where you order for the table and get to eat everything. Anyway, we had some kind of skewered shrimp with garlic and spices and you eat everything from head to tail. We had those red beans. And we had these pork ribs that I can’t describe very well but were absolutely amazing. Of course some kind of leafy green. A light soup with potato to wash everything down with. Soooo good. I’m forgetting some stuff as well. And with beer is cost about 30 yuan each (or a little more than 4 bucks).
bao tse (no idea how this is actually written): these are steamed buns that can be filled with lots of different stuff from pork to fennel to leek to mushrooms to sweet beans. The pork ones I probably ate 7 times at least for breakfast. The buns we get in the states are sweet (and actually I found these in Vietnam) but these bao tse are savory and you dip it in soy sauce, cilantro, and hot sauce (and MSG if you want. yes, MSG is actually a condiment). I liked these.
shao cao (again, no idea how this is written): this is not only good, but funny and semi-clandestine. Street food is apparently no longer legal in China. These shao cao places only exist at night. They have maybe 50 different skewers that you can choose from. You get a plate and pick up the skewers you want, they spice them and grill them. I had skewers as diverse as chicken feet, bao tse, dumplings, green onions, eggplant, stinky tofu, ribs, and plenty of other stuff that I dont know what it is. We had a shao cao place right outside our guesthouse in Dali, and this is perfect food for getting back from the bar. Matt told me that the cops can roll by on these place and they are gone in seconds. I can’t imagine getting all those skewers packed up so quickly. Oh, and its roughly a yuan per skewer.
Beijing Duck: there is something great about getting Beijing duck in Beijing. I went to the famous place where the elite Beijingers hang out at. We got one duck for three people. They bring out the entire duck (head and everything) and a guy wearing a dustmask. You are supposed to watch him carve it. When all is said and done, you get three plates of different meat. One is the normal duck meat with skin, another some fatty part with skin, and the other had some organs that I think was the liver. You also get duck soup from the stuff that leaks out. I liked all 4 of these things. You eat the duck the same way as in Chinese places in the States where you get pancakes, scallions, and plum sauce. Very very good.
Vietnam:
It was surprisingly different from Chinese food. Also very good, but less varied. And I saw roasted dog there, something I have no problem with, but is still a little weird as somebody from the States. As opposed to China where street food is illegal, it is pretty much the only way to eat in Vietnam unless you are a tourist. You just pull up a very small stool to a stand and plop. Some places only serve one thing, so you just get whatever it is they serve. But I dont know why the stool is so small. Vietnamese are pretty small, but even they had there knees at head level while eating. Strange.
Pho is eaten all the time in the North. I had it for breakfast. And you can get either chicken pho (pho ga) or beef pho (pho bo). I had both multiple times and was happy each time. So... fresh. I had my place in Hanoi that I kept going back to. The spring rolls that you get in the States are also popular there, but where I was they were usually fried. Very good. Also very fresh-tasting. For whatever reason, the mint and basil and other spices just tasted more fresh.
Fish sauce is in everything. I sat down at one place that had three types of meat on noodles with cabbage, peanuts, and fish sauce. And its actually soupy so you slurp up almost pure fish sauce. It was pretty good.
I was in Hanoi with an Aussie guy who ordered a roast pigeon. It really was a roast pigeon. It was chopped up, but it was obvious it was the entire bird as you could see two claws and a beak. I tried it... less meat than a quail even. The sauce was good, but I dont think I’ll be missing the pigeon.
In Halong Bay, food was included in our tour and you ate with the entire group. This was the only time I got to experience a large Vietnamese meal. You always get this water spinach, which is a weed in most countries but in Vietnam is sauteed with garlic and very good. I had a lot of fish in garlic. Squid salad, steamed clams, cuttlefish.. very good seafood.
The French influence is obvious there. And they did a great job. French rolls are everywhere, and I got snooty cheese on them. You could even find pate at street vendors. And some of the sandwiches are amazing. They have combined these French rolls with Vietnamese food. I found a sandwich vendor in Hoi An that I ate at three times because it was so good. In went chicken cubes, tomato, cucumber, and three sauces that I dont really know what they were. One was a hot sauce, one tasted like duck and I have no idea what the other one was. Scrumptous.
Hoi An had food that supposedly only exists there. In fact, my favorite food in Vietnam was there. It is called cao lau, and it is only considered cao lau if the water used to make it comes from a certain well in Hoi An. I had one of these everyday I was there. It is a noodle dish with pork, weird crouton like things, and then fresh spicing. There are large chunks of mint, and other herbs that I dont know what they were. Ah hah, I found the wikipedia on it complete with a picture (although I’m sure the recipe they gave is not right, there was way more herbs and things in it). Oh, and you load it up with hot sauce. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cao_lầu
And thats about it. read less...
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03:41 pm |
1415 words in this post |
4 comments
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Tuesday
Jascha
Bean Bag King
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1265.
Beijing
AUTO LOG WARNING: This is a long post.4:30 AM jet-lagged style:
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Beijing is not small. They say the size of the city is the size of Belgium. There are quite a few people there. Rush hour makes LA looks like a lazy drive in the countryside. It is also very polluted and you can feel it (they say a day in Beijing is the equivalent of 70 cigarettes). But that place has a buzz. With the Olympics coming up, you can almost feel the excitement. I dont know how they will be ready for it, as it is less than two months away an half the stuff they wanted for it wasnt ready. I flew to the new airport. Very nice actually. I rode the new metro (the first time on the trip I didnt take a taxi for local transport). Also nice and easy to figure out.
I did more sightseeing (and probably spent more money) in the three days I had there than the rest of my entire trip. The first day I woke up early and went to the Wall. The second I went to Tianamen Square and The Forbidden City. Tianamen is just... huge. Thats about it. And seeing Mao’s face on the entrance to the Forbidden City from there is quite strange. The Forbidden City was neat, but very crowded. I was upset to not get the Roger Moore narrated audioguide I was promised by Matt (I would have loved to see this place to a voice that could also say “Vodka martini shaken not stirred”). But they have a new system that is a fantastic idea, but the lady who narrates it goes on and on and on. It’s all done by GPS. You put the thing in your ear and as soon as you get somewhere a British lady starts talking to you. She tells you lots of stories about past Emperors or whatnot. Almost all of them involve concubines. It seemed like the Emperors had a pretty cushy lifestyle. I liked the names of the buildings. The Hall of Supreme Harmony was closed for renovation, but I could still check out the Hall of Middle Harmony and the Hall of Preserving Harmony.
I also went to the Summer Palace. I was determined to do nothing, but I got convinced to go there on my last day. Also very nice. Just huge. Its kinda like an enormous tea garden like in SF. There is a huge lake and you can walk around it as well as climb the Hill of Longevity. Buildings here had even better names, including the Hall of Understanding the Universe and the Bridge of Knowing the Fish. I took a 2 hour very peaceful nap.
My hostel was awesome. It was in a hutong. These are the old neighborhoods that are quickly being demolished in the name of progress. This was the only place in my entire time I spent in a dorm, because real money is actually spent in Beijing. But it had an awesome crowd, a rooftop area overlooking the hutong, and 4 yuan large Tsingtao beers. I enjoyed it quite a bit.
And I had Beijing Duck in Beijing. At a fancy place where the guy comes out and carves the duck in front of you. And they have ushers leading you to the bathroom. It was good. The only meal I had where I spent money, and well worth it. read less...
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06:10 am |
568 words in this post |
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Monday
Greg
craploads of zeros!
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1264.
Death of a Visionary
Stan Winston died today. While Jim Henson was a hero to me largely posthumously, Stan Winston has always been there making amazing creations, each one more elaborate and technically sophisticated than the last. I went into Mechanical Engineering and on to robotics because of Henson and Winston. My design of my robot head was based on books by the Henson Creature Shop, and on books by Cynthia Breazeal, who’s robot Leonardo was designed and built by Stan Winston and his company. Film and Animatronics have lost a legend. Horror and Sci Fi will never be the same. Now Rick Baker is the last champion of practical effects.
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08:57 pm |
113 words in this post |
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Sunday
Greg
craploads of zeros!
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1263.
Tide Website Launch!
Hey Everybody,
So a while back I put up a link to my tide website. Nobody commented on that post, which I assume meant that everyone was too embarrased to tell me that the site completely sucked  . Well, I am very happy to say that it no longer sucks. In fact, this site completely rocks! I have graphical calendars of all of the 2008 high and low tides for every location in the world that NOAA tracks. The interface is simple, you can find beaches/rivers in your area by a text-search or simply zooming in on a Google map. So for anyone who ever wants to know the tides because they’re going to the beach, tidepooling, surfing, ocean kayaking, or ocean sailing anywhere in the United States, Panama, Guam, The Coconut Isles from Outer Space, the Florida Keys, the Virgin Islands, or the Caribbean this is the site to go to!
Ok, I am really really excited, but I just launched the site. I’m actually advertising the site online and everything. I couldn’t have done it without tons of design help from Becca. She is almost entirely responsible for all the changes to the site that transformed it from the old, totally ugly and unusable site that I have since taken offline because of embarrasement. Becca is awesome. ... My mom helped too.
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07:14 pm |
233 words in this post |
3 comments
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Saturday
Jascha
Bean Bag King
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1261.
The Great Wall of China
A thousand thanks to Sean and Matt for telling me to do the wake up at 6 AM, drive for 4 hours to get out to an amazing stretch of the wall with very few tourists, walk along it over unreal terrain for 10 km, and take the bus back for 4 more hours. Unbelievably worth it. Thank you. I have heard bad stories about the locations closer to Beijing. But apparently a foot massage is included in that tour. I think I may have to go get one of these on my last day in Asia.
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10:30 pm |
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Friday
Jascha
Bean Bag King
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1260.
Hanoi
Exchanges with motorbike taxi drivers:
Driver: You want funky monkey?
Me:
Driver: You want boom-boom?
Me: No thank you.
Driver: Why not? You gay?
Driver: You want woman?
Aussie #1: Well I’ve already got three wives. I don’t need any more women. It’s trouble enough.
Driver: What do you want?
Aussie #2: Well, I could use a nice house, a car, maybe a girfriend, a good dog would be nice.
Driver:
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And thats about it for Hanoi. It has a lot of motorbikes. It has even more hotel scams. It has 15 cent homemade beer places everywhere. I had some great food. I liked it quite a bit after getting used to it. I saw the closed Ho Mausaleum. I went to the lake a few times and had ridiculously strong coffee. Oooh. Funny story. I ended up with tons of dong leftover. About 450,000 (or like 30 bucks, or enough to buy about 200 beers, or enough to buy about 25 bowls of pho, or about the amount an average Vietnamese person makes in two weeks). I was planning on blowing it at the airport, because I knew it would be useful only as toilet paper outside Vietnam. One problem. Once you cross security into the Hanoi airport, they do not accept dong, only US dollar. That is correct. The airport in Hanoi, the capital of VIETNAM, does not take VIETNAMESE dong. Hilarious. read less...
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08:39 am |
228 words in this post |
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Wednesday
Jascha
Bean Bag King
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1259.
Hoi An Again
Made it to Hanoi. Good. Had a few of those 15 cent beers last night so not feeling all that fantastic at the moment
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So Hoi An is a little picturesque town on the river, and only 5 km from the beach. The area of the twon near the river is quite old and very beautiful, but all the shops are tourist crap. There are over 500 places to get a tailor-made suit. It’s a lot. I debated getting one, because it truly is an amazing deal as a three piece suit costs you no more than 40 bucks. I met some Aussies who specifically made a trip out there because they needed a suit for work and thought it wasnt much more expensive to fly out here, buy one, and fly home than it was to get one made in Austrialia. But I got very sick of the worst sales pitch ever: “Helloooo, you buy something”. Yes, I buy something. Don’t care what it is. Just something.
I spent four nights there, which is awhile for such a small place. I felt I got to know it quite well. What kept me there (besides not wanting to deal with the transportation system here) was China Beach. A 2 minute motortaxi ride gets you out there. Its a 30km beach, and most of it is undeveloped and good. The motortaxis are all in cahoots with the little restaurants at the beach and drop you off at a specific one and you get a sales pitch. I actually liked these places for a beer, but I didn’t like the constant harrassment by peddlers to buy crap. “Happy hour! You buy something!” on cards, foot oil massage, and little snacks.
The only thing I actually did was go to My Son, a Cham ruin (from the people who brought you Angkor Wat) in the jungle. The ruin itself is not all that impressive, but set amongst the jungly mountains its quite pretty. Unfortunately, part of it was ruined in the American War.
The food was marvelous. I guess I’ll do a Vietnam food post all in one thing later. But they have stuff that is only native to there and doesn’t really exist elsewhere and was fantastic.
I fly to Beijing very early in the morning tomorrow. I was going to go see Ho Chi Minh’s embalmed body today, but didn’t wake up early enough as they wont let you in past 10:15. I guess its all as well. I feel a little weird going to things associated with the American War, and seeing Ho Chi Minh would be a awkward. And I’ve decided against buying any Vietnam paraphenalia because I’m afraid of being shot at in Texas. Although I really like the “Good Morning, Vietnam” shirts and I think that may be OK. Heh, I saw a UT Longhorn visor being sold here. read less...
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12:04 am |
481 words in this post |
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Monday
Jascha
Bean Bag King
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1258.
Hoi An
I am still in Hoi An, and leave in a couple hours on a FLIGHT back to Hanoi (hell no to the bus. damnit the keyboard í in Vietnamese. Oh well. Although ìf they lie to me about a plane flight, I may end up in a Japanese Encephalitis filled minefield on the Cambodian border. But it cóst me only 60 bucks. Worth it. But believe me I am not being pararanoid. Everybody hểre hás horror stories ò blatant lies)
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So I spent quite a bit ò time hểre. 4 nights. I đin;t do much either. The tơwn ís a quiet and on a nice river. The old buildings near the river are quite nice. The rest ò the tơưn. OK, thí will have to be done later. Keyboard tô mesed up. read less...
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11:01 pm |
135 words in this post |
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Saturday
Jascha
Bean Bag King
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1257.
Halong Bay
AUTO LOG WARNING: This is a long post.I am currently in Hoi An, which is apparently the tailor-made suit capital of the world. Holy crap there are a lot of these places. I arrived here in a pissed off mood after what ended up being 24 god damn hours on a god damn bus after being lied to repeatedly be different people. Just blatant in your face lies. But I am much better after two of the best meals I have had in Vietnam, as well as a day of doing nothing but relaxing on the surprisingly nice China Beach. But now I have to figure out how to get back to Hanoi. 24 hour bus ride is not an option. Anyway, Halong Bay:
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This could quite possibly be the most beautiful place I’ve ever been to. Certainly in the top 3 (Macchu Picchu and Death Valley being in that category). I had heard it was gorgeous, but I wasn’t fully prepared. It’s too bad though that its getting fucked up by tourists and locals combined.
Halong Bay has incredibly calm waters, and huge (like huge huge) jungly rock formations sticking out of them. It seemed like some kind of Greek myth. The haze made it all the more mysterious. And I had perfect weather, something that I hear is quite rare. I booked a 3 day tour out of Hanoi (pretty much the only way you can see the Bay is by tour). I don’t like tours, but this was worth it. The first day we went to a cave with the biggest stalagtites and stalagmites I believe I’ve ever seen. We then just cruised around the rock formations and went kayaking. I went swimming, and at first forgot that it was salt water because it is so calm... and polluted. That night we slept on the boat. Watching the sun set there was unreal. I can’t say it was a quiet sunset, because there was plenty of Vietnamese kareoke being blasted from the cabin below. Heh, that night I roomed with a Russian pothead, which was a hilarious combination.
The second day we went to Cat Ba Island. This is the biggest island on the Bay. Basically, it is jungly rock formations everywhere. We went for a hike, and I thought I was done with my fear of heights after being able to do Tiger Leaping Gorge no problem. No. I couldn’t do the last part of the hike. But man, beautiful. That night we slept in a hotel on the island. My roommate was a surprised-to-have-a-male-roommate Scottish girl who kept the AC on at 22 C. I told her my roommate at home puts the heater on when it dips to 25 (sorry Jen, but I had to point out most of the world is crazier than me when it comes to AC).
All meals were included, and good. There was fish at every meal. It was served communal style, and it was interesting watching the ediquette of everybody. And they gave us gringos forks, but I made a serious impression with the Vietnamese when I accidentally got seated with them and turned down the fork in favor of YOU FOUND THE SLIGHTLY LESS SECRET WORDs.
Anyways, incredibly beautiful. Too many people though. And too many people chucking shit into the Bay. But well worth it. read less...
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07:32 am |
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Thursday
Jascha
Bean Bag King
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1256.
Two awesome tales of kindness
AUTO LOG WARNING: This is a long post.I just got back from a cruise in Halong Bay, but I dont have time to talk about it. But I do want to write about two nice people (or groups of people).
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I’d been warned by a few that in Vietnam you continuously get screwed. This is true. I’ve decided to not care, and in the 12 days here, my estimate is that that will cost me about 50-100 bucks total. I think not caring is worth it. Although I just got fucked into buying what I didn’t realize was a 16 hour busride to Hoi An. Yes, I decided to skip second-rate Touristia of Nha Trang and instead go see something and also go see China Beach, which is supposedly very nice.
Anyway, the stories. I’m sitting having a beer in Cat Ba Harbor, and this Vietnamese guy asks me if I’m a footballer. I’m flattered, but I tell him I’m not. Apparently there was some international tournament in town. Anyway, we get to talking and he is a masseuse. He complains that he hates how all the massage parlors are actually for boom-boom and not the art of massage. I tell him I have been wanting a massage but have been too scared because I don’t want the boom-boom. He says, “Jaschu (people here really cant do my name), I want to give you a massage.” I think there has to be a catch here. He comes over and I got like a 20 minute face and neck massage. I didnt know the eyebrows and ears could be massaged. He finished by cracking my neck and my back. It was good. I ask him if he wants a beer, and he says “No, just wanted to show that Vietnamese massage is not boom-boom”, and he says good-bye and leaves. Awesome.
2) There were five Vietnamese guys no older than 20 years old on my tour. I could tell they didnt like foreigers at all. But for some reason, they loved me. I think it was because I could use YOU FOUND THE SLIGHTLY LESS SECRET WORDs. Anyway, despite the fact they speak no English, they invite me out for beers one night. I couldnt say no to 5 Vietnamese teenagers. Anyway, we go to this place by the harbor, and they order lots of beers that you share amongst yourselves. They also got tons more food that apparently goes well with beer. They got this like fish jerky stuff I didn’t like so much, and these amazing peanuts (Matt, the peanuts are Vietnam>China>USA) and this strange sour fruit you dip in chili powder. And they kept filling up my beer and pointing that I need to eat more food. I also had more cigarettes than I have ever had in my life because Matt had me scared when he said it was incredibly inpolite to turn one down in China. So I had 3 or 4. And they kept forcing me to eat and eat and eat. Anyway, when all was said and done, the waiter comes over for us to pay. They would not let me pay a single cent. Here we are in Vietnam, where despite the fact that I am a graduate student, I probably make as much as all of them combined as well as there parents combined. Yet they refuse to let me pay anything. Also awesome.
All right, time to go to my horrible busride that I a) dont want to take and b) probably paid way too much for but I listened to the sheisty-ass tourgroup owner on my cruise. I knew she was sheisty too. Damnit. read less...
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06:19 am |
601 words in this post |
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Monday
Jascha
Bean Bag King
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1255.
Kunming
I made it to Hanoi yesterday, and it feels like... another country. Tourism has been entrenched here for much longer meaning a) there are fat Americans walking around b) its a hell of a lot easier to do things and people speak English c) they know better how to rip you off (the god damn cab driver charged me over 20 bucks to go from the airport to the old town. It’s far, but there were signs at the airport saying it should cost much less. But you try arguing in Vietnamese) and d) prostitution is much more in your face. Oooh oooh. And people eat pho here not for just dinner, but also for breakfast and lunch. I’ve already had two bowls of pho. Phoantastic. Anyway, about Kunming:
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Matt has a good life. A lot of it is because it is so damn cheap to live in Kunming. He has a two-bedroom pad with nice furniture on the 8th floor (no stairs) of a large apartment complex that overlooks other buildings (and they amazingly all have solar panels on the top. How’s that for China never being eco-friendly). His fridge is empty because its simply too cheap to eat out. The public transportation seems pretty good, but you almost never have to take it because cabs are so damn cheap. And he eats for free at a Western food place because he tutors the wait-staff in English.
There is also a large expat community in Kunming. Pretty much everybody I met was awesome, and its so international. I played badmitton with two Italians and a Venezuelan. I played Monopoly on the computer (trust me, this is actually really fun) with an Australian and a Polish girl. And I had many beers with people from everywhere. It’s awesome. And most of the people there seem to really put in the effort to learn Chinese. Matt has both expat and Chinese friends. And seeing my 6'3" half-Italian half-Norwegian friend from college speak fluent Chinese never ceased to be funny.
Anyway, I spent quite a few days there just lying around watching DVDs, walking around and getting lost and hopping in a cab and paying so little, having amazingly food (one meal with his Kiwi friends rivals the best meal I have ever had in my life), and having Matt show me about. It was awesome. Thank you so much for everything Matt. And I hope you don’t mind me writing about you, but I figured it was cool after you linked to this site and now I have to be all self-conscious about writing well because people I don’t know are actually reading this thing.
For a fantastic blog run by a Californian who speaks Mandarin and lives in Kunming, I highly recommend reading www.mattschiavenza.com. I religously read it for the commentary not only on China as a whole, but on personal anectdotes. read less...
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02:58 am |
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Saturday
Jascha
Bean Bag King
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1254.
Random tidbits from a biased observer with a small sample size
AUTO LOG WARNING: This is a long post.So I decided to slow myself down and hang out with Matt here in Kunming for a few days. I decided I didn’t really feel like the 14 hour busride to the Vietnam border and later the all-night train from Sapa to Hanoi, so instead I decided to forgo Sapa and bought a plane ticket to Hanoi and will be leaving tomorrow. Anyway, I wanted to write a few little random tidbits from what I’ve seen here in China:
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- Driving here is insane. I thought Bangkok was the craziest driving I’ve seen, but here is even more amazing. It seems like anarchy out there, and every space in the road is allowed to be accessed at any point. Luckily, drivers honk every few seconds to let people know where they are. And pedestrians simply have no right of way, even if they have the walking man symbol. Cars turning right, or even cars going straight, will honk at you and avoid you as you cross the street. You really have to be paying attention. Then, when you reach the other side of the sidewalk and you think you are safe. Wrong. Bikes, motorcycles, and even cars will drive on the sidewalk. Yes, even cars. And they will honk at you to get out of the way. It’s hilarious.
- Food here is amazing. I’ll write a full post about it later. But I had a fruit I’ve never seen before that was the best fruit I’ve ever had. I thought it was lychee, and I bought a few and was excited about my lychee. But when, I tried to peel it, there was no peel and the whole thing was the fruit. I bit into it. Oh my god. It tasted like a big rasberry, with even more of a rasberry-ish flavor. So good.
- Spitting. It’s funny. Anywhere, people will make a huge loogie-gathering noise and just let fly. You can even do it indoors. The highlight spit was on the airplane. I actually think it’s kinda cool that you can just get rid of all the crap in your mouth and people don’t care.
- I’ve heard some funny noises. In Dali, I heard a band play Jingle Bells. The best was when I was walking around Kunming I saw some type of city vehicle that was spraying water on the street (I’m not sure why you need to spray water on the street, but apparently they need to), and the song it played to let people know it was there was “Hava nagila.”
- Seinfeld is funny.
- Warm beer. I don’t like this. The only places where you can get cold drinks is where they cater towards westerners. But I do like the size of the beer bottles that you get. And Tsingtao is much better here than it is in the States. Other beers are also OK, kinda Mexican beer-ish. And the Chinese drink Budweiser to look cool and whatnot, I suppose not realizing how bad it is.
- I was sitting at a park people-watching and something seemed weird to me. It took me awhile to figure out what it was. What is was was that every mother, father, or mother/father combo had only one kid with them. read less...
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03:05 am |
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Thursday
Jascha
Bean Bag King
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1253.
Lijiang
It takes about 4 seconds to realize you are in pure Touristia. However, it takes about another 4 seconds to realize that this Touristia is not catered to you.
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Lijiang is an old city about 8000 feet up I believe. It is surrounded by mountains, with the 55000 meter mountain looming in which the other side is the Tiger Leaping Gorge. It is inhabited by the Naxi minority, but currently many Han have capitalized on the tourism there. It seemed to me the Han treat their ethnic minorities the same way that we do in the States; find them interesting and its kinda fun to observe their strangely different culture. For instance, you see old women in Naxi dress and at certain times in the central square, they dance for all to see. Reminds me of a luau.
The old city is arranged in a manner similar to Venice. It is windy and curvy, amazingly easy to get lost in, and has canals that people still use to wash (ewww) things in. The buildings are beautifully built and have the cool blue-ish rooftops that slant like a skijump. But what is in all these buildings is mostly crap. And there are hundreds if not thousands of these shops. Just trinkets, jewelry, dresses, and whatever else you would want to buy at a Touristia. However, there are none of the “One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor!” shirts that you would find at a Western Touristia. In fact, I couldn’t find a single T-shirt that I would actually wear, despite the fact that I was in desperate need of one. No T-shirt that just said Lijiang or something simple on it. I guess the Chinese tourists don’t want this. I also counted 7 yak meat shops.
I thought the city was pretty and very touristy during the day, but at night it became astonishingly beautiful. All the shops close, but they light these red lanterns that make the entire city glow red. Looking at these red buildings going up the hill is very impressive.
Oh, and I figured out the mystery of the 30 yuan popcorn. At the most touristy of restaurants, they have both a Chinese menu and an English menu. The English menu has the same stuff but for about three times the price. And I hardly saw any Western tourists, but they have a good gig going on there. read less...
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06:59 am |
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Tuesday
Jascha
Bean Bag King
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1252.
Tiger Leaping Gorge, The escape from the fucking middle of nowhere China, and why I heart the French
AUTO LOG WARNING: This is a long post.Exhausted. And I apologize. I try to keep these short because travel logs are usually boring, but this one aint gonna be short.
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I went to the Tiger Leaping Gorge. I got dropped off at the base camp by a bus going to Shangri-la. Matt warned me that the gorge could be tricky, and that it probably would be best not to go alone. Well, the only other people that hopped off the bus was a French couple. I asked if I could join them, and they said sure. They didn’t mention that they had just been trekking in Nepal and were going to go at record-setting paces. Anyway, the gorge is a two day trek, with the first day being the brunt of the trek of 8 straight hours, with the beginning being a steep uphill. It is absolutely beautiful. The gorge is between a 5500m mountain and a 5300m mountain. The cliffs are spectacular... I’d say they put El Capitan to shame... and at the bottom is the Yellow River and all its nasty brownness. After just a couple hours we come across a guesthouse, and get some grub. I got some pumpkin and some pork something that was good.
A word about the French couple. They were awesome. They spoke fluent English, they were travelling for a full year, and we got along amazingly well. But man, they had a fast pace. There had been people that left way before us, and we passed all them without ever being passed. I’m in decent walking shape, but the mounds of Austin don’t compare to the mountains (and the altitude) of China. But, it worked out. We got to the Halfway House (our intended target) before anybody else did and got our pick of rooms. This was the most beautiful guesthouse I have ever stayed in. It is directly across from snow-peaked moutain and enormous cliffs. My room had a view of it all. Fantastic. And they had nice cold beer. Or 3. An American group was the next to show up, and they were a bunch of dip shits, so I was pretty glad to have the French. Then a second group of French-speakers show up, this time its a French guy maybe in his 50s with a Chinese wife (but fluent in French) who was maybe 20 years younger than him, and neither spoke English very well.
Anyway, after a perfect night’s sleep, the 4 French-speakers and I head out. The second day is supposed to be a breeze. It wasn’t. The Lonely Planet recommended that when you get to the road, you hitch a ride back to the base camp. The French couple were going to do this and then go on to Shangri-la. The French guy and his Chinese wife are going to my destination of Lijiang, so I decide I should stick with them. However, they want to go against the advice of the travel book and go to a town called Daju, which is across the river and not that far away. It turned out to be a wrong decision.
But, like most wrong decisions, it turned into an adventure. We begin walking along the road, before realizing its too hot and we should cab it. After negotiating with several people, we finally get one that will take us to the old ferry (the new one was busted) for 50 yuan. A long drive to the middle of nowhere. At what seemed like a random spot, he stops and points the direction to the ferry. It was not close. After walking through an hour or so of rice fields with very few markings telling us which way to go we come to the gorge where they ferry is. We take the trail down the gorge.
This is where my disposable cameras fail. I had used them all on the gorge. The ferry was ridiculous. I really wish I had a picture of it. It was pure rust, and the current was pretty damn strong there. And the ferryman were across the river. Our Chinese woman screams at them. They tell us we need to wait for more people to come. We wait for maybe an hour. A large group comes. The people emerge from their cave. I simply can’t believe this boat is gonna cross the river. It does. We get on. We make it across. Some day though, that boat is not gonna make it. Then we have to climb up the gorge. Hard, but we are now in Daju.
Unfortunately, we have missed the last bus. I can’t even explain how out in the cuts this place is. It’s beautiful, but I didn’t really want to stay there. It had the feel of West Texas. The French guy assures me we could hire a minibus. We could, but they required 300 yuan (its 20 to take the bus). After haggling, the Chinese wife gets it to 150. We do it. A hunchback shows up in a minibus, and seven people total from the ferry get in. I felt bad for the guy next to me because he had a stool instead of a seat. Had I not earlier seen the ferry, I would have called this bus rickety. But at least the ferry worked. The road we had to take went waaaay up, it was a shitty road, and the minibus was even shittier. I’m not sure how high we went, but the 5500 meter peak no longer looked that high. It was absolutely beautiful, but the minibus was not. Every 20 minutes or so, we had to stop at a stream, the driver would get out, collect water, and pour it into the engine. I’m serious. At one point, it took about 20 minutes to cool the engine down. The two hour trip from Lijiang to the gorge was 6 hours on the way back.
Anyway, I’m back in Lijiang and will go back to Kunming tomorrow. I need a vacation. But about the Tiger Leaping Gorge: it is amazingly beautiful, one of the highlights of my life, and if you want to see it you better get the hell over here in the next year or two because it ain’t gonna exist. The Chinese government is going to flood it by building a dam. Sad. Oh, and cell phones work there. I was astounded. read less...
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09:14 am |
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Sunday
Jascha
Bean Bag King
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1250.
The $4.50 bowl of popcorn
Either I got had or I really did order a 30 yuan bowl of popcorn
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I was wandering around Lijiang at night and happened upon the happening area. This was hands down the funniest bar/club area I have ever seen. It is along the stream in the old town on both sides. You can buy little candles and float them down the stream if you want. But the bars/clubs were a different world from our Western scene. First off, they are unbelievably loud. I would say twice as loud as the loudest club I’ve been to in DC. The music is like traditional Chinese music, but sped up and they techno the hell out of it. At some of these places, they supply people with sticks to bang on the table to make even more noise. There are also women outside in traditional Naxi dresses trying to get you into their establishment. At one particular place, I counted over 20 women, and they cheered whenever somebody went it.
At each of the places, there is an entertainer dressed in a bizarre manner. Either a guy with long hair or young women dressed in traditional clothing. I was fascinated by this girl hired to dance by the club that was in a traditional Naxi dress except altered to make her midriff show. She danced like a combination of some kind of traditional dancing but mixed with western grinding type dancing. I was OK with this.
And people are just hammered. Completely wasted out of their minds. It’s like seeing people walking out of a frat party.
Anyway, I found a place that was the quietest that I could find to get a drink. It had live music playing. I asked for a beer, and the waitress asked me if I wanted popcorn. I thought that sounded pretty good actually, and everybody around me was eating it, so I said yeah. Surely it couldn’t cost more than 50 cents. I get popcorn for free at Donn’s Depot, and I’m in a country where a taxi ride across town costs less than 3 bucks.
Not so. I went to pay and it was 60 yuan. They had an English menu, and sure enough it was 30 for the small bottle of Tsingtao (the first place I’ve been in China that has the size beer we are accustomed to and not the nice large ones) and 30 for the popcorn. Granted, this was probably the best popcorn I’ve ever had (I think they put some coconut or something in it. It really was fantastic), but at that price I felt like there should be a diamond every 10th kernal. But hell, what can you do? Just pay, and realize that even though you got ripped off it was only a few bucks. read less...
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05:35 am |
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Saturday
Jascha
Bean Bag King
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1249.
Dali
I spent a few days in Kunming, but I will be returning so I’ll save writing about that for later. I am now in Liajiang, where touristia meets China. Next post. So Dali:
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Dali is an old city nestled between a large mountain and a large lake. The scenery is excellent. We stayed near the old town at a place that simply did everything for us, and was run by the cutest little Chinese girl with the soothingest voice and I just wanted to pick her up and snuggle. All this for 40 yuan a night each (6 dollars) a night that included a nice room looking directly at the mountain.
We took advantage of the splendid scenery. We took a gondala ride that went maybe halfway up the mountain. What was awesome about this ride was that it supplied soothing music, which became much more necessary as the distance between poles increased and we were very high above the ground. We decided we were glad they didn’t play Bad Religion. Once at the top, we took a paved 11k trail winding along the canyons of the mountain and across streams. At one stream, there was a restaurant that made excellent noodles. This is a gig that places in the States need to capitalize on: noodle places in the mountains. At the end of the trek, we took a chairlift down, which was less scary than I was expecting.
The next day, we rented bikes. Embarassingly, I had not been on a bike since I was in Mexico... about a year and a half ago. We planned to do a lesiurely bikeride along the lake that was 18km to another town and back. We missed the town. We ended up going about 27 km to a place called Pleasure Boat Marina, which had a little stand with excellent Japanese-like cold udon noodles. The ride back was brutal (at least for me). I also wasn’t sure where to turn, so I overshot the turn to Dali and got semi-lost. The only thing that saved me was that I could see the famous Three Pagodas, and headed in that direction. To get a picure of how fast I was going, I was unable to pass for about 10km a guy in a ricksha who had a wife, a kid, and a few sacks of potatoes. Yeah, not in such good biking shape.
Anyway, twas nice. I’m now on my own without the Mandarin-fluent Matt, so this should be interesting. I’m also already behind my planned itinerary and I haven’t even been lazy. Eh.
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08:17 am |
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