I haven't posted in a few days since I've been really busy here at work in China. I get up at 7AM, generally work till 8PM or later, go home and do some homework for school and go to sleep at 11 or so!
So a few quick notes:
- The Chinese people are all generally very friendly. They are eager to talk to you in English and like to practice other languages. They also appreciate the broken Mandarin I speak back to them from my handy dandy lonely planet guide
- Haven't eaten too many exotic things since the hot pot I tried last weekend. We did go to this hole in the wall Chinese place called "Jo Mama" or something like that. The food was great and 6 of us are for under $20 including drinks! Plus there was a ton of leftovers.
- My hotel restaurant, where I generally eat breakfast, only seems to have one CD that they play on a loop. I think it's the best of Craig David. Now I used to like "Fill me in" and all those other songs but after hearing them every morning since Saturday, my patience has expired!
- I haven't mustered up enough courage to try Chinese breakfast yet. They have all these dumplings and noodles at the buffet but they labels are not very insightful so I don't want to bite into some mystery meat!
- This Saturday I'm going to some mountains near Beijing and on Sunday we hit up the great wall! Can't wait.
AJ
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Full day in Tianjin
Have to head out in a little while to go to Beijing for the day but I wanted to write a quick summary of my day yesterday. I slept pretty well throughout the night and got up at 9:30 to have some breakfast. One of my friends/co-workers picked me up at noon to take me on a tour of the city. People had said that there isn't much to see here but I was pleasantly surprised to discover the contrary.
We went to a couple of "mall" type stores where I browsed and bought a few handicrafts etc. The general merchandise here isn't cheap (like clothes and electronics) but groceries and handicrafts seems pretty reasonable. I got stared at a lot since I was probably the only non-Asian looking person roaming around. There were tourists from other Asian countries but very few other tourists that I saw. On this cultural street we went to some of the shopkeeprs could not help asking me all sorts of questions and trying to practice their english. Everyone is very friendly and genuinely interested in your background and culture. This one little asian girl who must have been 3 or 4 was very cutely trying to practice some English with me. I tried not to make her too conscious but she got a little shy after a few sentences back and forth.
Anyway, short update for now. I need to catch a cab to the train station so I can meet up with my ex-boss and head to Beijing. Should be fun. I'll try to post the pics from my first few days soon.
AJ
We went to a couple of "mall" type stores where I browsed and bought a few handicrafts etc. The general merchandise here isn't cheap (like clothes and electronics) but groceries and handicrafts seems pretty reasonable. I got stared at a lot since I was probably the only non-Asian looking person roaming around. There were tourists from other Asian countries but very few other tourists that I saw. On this cultural street we went to some of the shopkeeprs could not help asking me all sorts of questions and trying to practice their english. Everyone is very friendly and genuinely interested in your background and culture. This one little asian girl who must have been 3 or 4 was very cutely trying to practice some English with me. I tried not to make her too conscious but she got a little shy after a few sentences back and forth.
Anyway, short update for now. I need to catch a cab to the train station so I can meet up with my ex-boss and head to Beijing. Should be fun. I'll try to post the pics from my first few days soon.
AJ
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Domo Arigato Mister Roboto
Greetings from Tokyo. I made it here after my epic 13 hour flight. It actually wasn't too bad with the fairly good food, crappy movies, and reading material I had. I slept a bunch as well so I could get used to the local time as easily as possible. It's 1:10AM my time so I do want to go to sleep but I'm sitting close to a window to mazimize the light I can get to prevent me from fallllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll...... had you there for a second huh? :)
First impressions of Japan? It's very clean and everything seems to work really well. Example? The escalators make a nice light hissing noise. The elevator doors whisper open and closed. Everything seems well oiled, for lack of a better word.
Thankfully most people speak English so finding my way around wasn't too bad. Of course I'm in the lounge which is by gate 12 and my flight leaves from gate 58! That ought to be a fun hike. I think I'm going to roam around the terminal and take some pics before my flight. I'll probably be writing from China next!
AJ
First impressions of Japan? It's very clean and everything seems to work really well. Example? The escalators make a nice light hissing noise. The elevator doors whisper open and closed. Everything seems well oiled, for lack of a better word.
Thankfully most people speak English so finding my way around wasn't too bad. Of course I'm in the lounge which is by gate 12 and my flight leaves from gate 58! That ought to be a fun hike. I think I'm going to roam around the terminal and take some pics before my flight. I'll probably be writing from China next!
AJ
From Howdy to Konichiwa to Nin Hao
I'm writing from the Dallas airport right now. I left Austin this morning at 6:45AM (after sleeping at 1AM and waking up at 4:30AM) and my flight out of here is in another hour or so. I had to give myself extra time in the Dallas airport in order for the wonderfully efficient folks in US immigration to allow me to "exit" legally. But that's a different story.
I'm flying from Dallas to Narita (Tokyo, Japan), and then on to Beijing. From Beijing I'll be taking a limo to Tianjin which will be my final destination thank goodness. I've flown a lot but never over the Pacific and never over the international date line. I live Dallas at noon on the 15th and get to Japan at 3PM on the 16th!!! It's a 13 hour flight but I lose more than 24 hours! Can I get a refund please?
I plan to blog somewhat regularly during my two weeks of travel. Hope to post some pics along the way as well. I get to go to the beach in China over the weekend before 4th of July. My ex-boss is posted in China and his team is going via train to this beach town (that is supposedly and coincidentally the town where Tsing Tao beer is brewed). I figured it would be a great way to see the countryside and mingle with the Chinese team over there. We'll see if my "vision" of this trip matches up to the "reality".
More later. From Texas, we'll see all y'all later.
AJ
I'm flying from Dallas to Narita (Tokyo, Japan), and then on to Beijing. From Beijing I'll be taking a limo to Tianjin which will be my final destination thank goodness. I've flown a lot but never over the Pacific and never over the international date line. I live Dallas at noon on the 15th and get to Japan at 3PM on the 16th!!! It's a 13 hour flight but I lose more than 24 hours! Can I get a refund please?
I plan to blog somewhat regularly during my two weeks of travel. Hope to post some pics along the way as well. I get to go to the beach in China over the weekend before 4th of July. My ex-boss is posted in China and his team is going via train to this beach town (that is supposedly and coincidentally the town where Tsing Tao beer is brewed). I figured it would be a great way to see the countryside and mingle with the Chinese team over there. We'll see if my "vision" of this trip matches up to the "reality".
More later. From Texas, we'll see all y'all later.
AJ
Sunday, June 04, 2006
That new toy smell
We all like new gadgets and toys. Why? Partly because opening something new for the first time is cool. Knowing that you are the first person to open and touch a new gadget or piece of electronics is an experience that, for some, borders on religious. Much like that (toxic!) new car smell, that smell and tactile feeling of a plastic toy newly liberated from it's shrink wrapped prison is amazing. For all of you that can't get enough of it there's a site that caters to your fetish:
Unboxing.com
See all types of gadgets and electronics being slowly, lovingly, sensualy unwrapped and opened. Now go take a cold shower!
(just goes to prove the axiom that there's something for everyone on the internet)
Unboxing.com
See all types of gadgets and electronics being slowly, lovingly, sensualy unwrapped and opened. Now go take a cold shower!
(just goes to prove the axiom that there's something for everyone on the internet)
Friday, June 02, 2006
We were are all immigrants at some point
BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Web users to 'patrol' US border
Texas lawmakers are setting up webcams along the Mexico-Texas border to allow internet users to monitor the border 24-7. I know this is better than vigilante justice that some areas have resorted to but in typical fashion this seems to be addressing the problem rather than proposing a solution to the root cause.
To me this is just another way to feed the cycle of xenophobia that has been growing in world as of late. I'm not just talking about American's afraid of everyone else and vice versa, I'm talking about people not trusting one another. Unlike what the media would like you to believe you are not always in imminent danger and not everyone hates you or wants to do you harm. allowing regular Joes to "patrol the border", besides entertaining the conservative elderly while they point and click their way to immigration enforcement, seems like a poor way to address the problem.
What is the problem? Well there isn't one simple answer and I'm sure if you ask 10 different experts they'd give you 10 different answers. In my opnion the issue is one of integration and of a wealth gap. My highschool history prof once told us an interesting anecdote of the migration patterns of the "white Americans" and how they were driven from the center of city to he periphery of the city and then to the suburbs where they lived in gated houses with security systems to keep "the others" out. Are "other people" really a danger to you and me or are there third-parties that would like you to think so.
I'm not blaming the integration issue on white people. Every race is guilty of shutting out other races because that is what the kids observed the elders doing. Just because something was done before doesn't mean it has to be done again. Still I suppose many have said before that history repeats itself, but we should resist the necessity to act like those before us have acted.
The wealth gap is also an issue that has been exacerbated in recent times. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. The GDP difference between the US ($11,750 B) and Mexico ($1,006 B) is collosal and the per capita GDP difference is huge ($40K vs $10K)! Where such a large delta occurs one can reasonably expect the forces of the free market to cause the supply in labor to want to move over to where the equilibrium price is higher.
Beyond illegal immigration, the wealth gap just seems wrong to me. In Pakistan I saw beggars on the street under billboards for Porche's new Cayenne SUV. Something doesn't seem right about that from a common-sense perspective. When the gap between rich and poor gets to be overwhelming, the imaginary walls we build to protect us from the poor masses will only stand for so long.
Texas lawmakers are setting up webcams along the Mexico-Texas border to allow internet users to monitor the border 24-7. I know this is better than vigilante justice that some areas have resorted to but in typical fashion this seems to be addressing the problem rather than proposing a solution to the root cause.
To me this is just another way to feed the cycle of xenophobia that has been growing in world as of late. I'm not just talking about American's afraid of everyone else and vice versa, I'm talking about people not trusting one another. Unlike what the media would like you to believe you are not always in imminent danger and not everyone hates you or wants to do you harm. allowing regular Joes to "patrol the border", besides entertaining the conservative elderly while they point and click their way to immigration enforcement, seems like a poor way to address the problem.
What is the problem? Well there isn't one simple answer and I'm sure if you ask 10 different experts they'd give you 10 different answers. In my opnion the issue is one of integration and of a wealth gap. My highschool history prof once told us an interesting anecdote of the migration patterns of the "white Americans" and how they were driven from the center of city to he periphery of the city and then to the suburbs where they lived in gated houses with security systems to keep "the others" out. Are "other people" really a danger to you and me or are there third-parties that would like you to think so.
I'm not blaming the integration issue on white people. Every race is guilty of shutting out other races because that is what the kids observed the elders doing. Just because something was done before doesn't mean it has to be done again. Still I suppose many have said before that history repeats itself, but we should resist the necessity to act like those before us have acted.
The wealth gap is also an issue that has been exacerbated in recent times. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. The GDP difference between the US ($11,750 B) and Mexico ($1,006 B) is collosal and the per capita GDP difference is huge ($40K vs $10K)! Where such a large delta occurs one can reasonably expect the forces of the free market to cause the supply in labor to want to move over to where the equilibrium price is higher.
Beyond illegal immigration, the wealth gap just seems wrong to me. In Pakistan I saw beggars on the street under billboards for Porche's new Cayenne SUV. Something doesn't seem right about that from a common-sense perspective. When the gap between rich and poor gets to be overwhelming, the imaginary walls we build to protect us from the poor masses will only stand for so long.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
UK firm to unveil wall-socket PC - ZDNet UK News
UK firm to unveil wall-socket PC - ZDNet UK News
Wow, now this is cool. The entire PC fits inside a standard wall socket and is powered over ethernet. I doubt this is the future of techonology since we are probably moving towards all client side based computing, but for those without ultra fast network connections this is quite a breakthrough.
Can you picture the day when you walk into home depot and pick up a fan, an extension cord, and a wall socket PC!?
Wow, now this is cool. The entire PC fits inside a standard wall socket and is powered over ethernet. I doubt this is the future of techonology since we are probably moving towards all client side based computing, but for those without ultra fast network connections this is quite a breakthrough.
Can you picture the day when you walk into home depot and pick up a fan, an extension cord, and a wall socket PC!?
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