The following takes place between 7:00am and 4:00pm. The events are in real time.
I wake up at 7. I have a 10am flight. I go home today.
I pack my things and check out. I have €7.5 left. Exactly how much I need to retrieve my bags at the airport.
I walk towards the train station, dragging the endless chocolate I bought yesterday on top of Kuldeep's bag.
I get to the station and find the track I need to be on, track 6. I can't find a ticket counter. And I have no money anyway.
I meet a couple of Germans, a father and son going home to Toronto. They are going to the airport too, so at least I know I'm going on the right train.
I board the train and put my stuff overhead. The train begins to move and I see the conductor begin her rounds. I stow away into a bathroom for a while.
Two minutes before we are set to arrive, I peek my head out of the door to the WC and catch the attention of my German friends. They give me a thumbs up. I leave and sit with them.
No more than a minute later, the conductor starts coming back. Our eyes meet briefly as I turn and run down the cars. She follows.
She is too close to me for me to duck into the bathroom next to our car, so I break through several ranks of standing passengers and close a between-car door before I lock myself in another bathroom.
As I hear her pass by the bathroom, I feel the train stop. I leave the bathroom. I turn again and she catches my eye, and turns back, but I dive back through the now exiting passengers, grab my things and get off the train. I have saved myself €5.10.
I get into the airport and find a luggage cart. I go to the lockers on floor 0 where I stored my bags yesterday. Miraculously, they are still there. I pay the remainder of the €7.5 I didn't pay the machine yesterday (only paid €1), which is a pleasant surprise since now I have €1 left over from this part of my journey.
For the first time since I left for Moscow, the airport is crowded. Good thing I actually got here 2 hours in advance.
I wait in line at check-in for a while. Then security, in one of those endless lines that never quite seems to stop, though you never get to the front. When I finally get out of security it is 9:15, and they are beginning boarding.
I settle into the plane at 9:39. It's an American Airline flight so, unlike Etihad from Beijing and Abu Dhabi, I have no personal tv with an endless list of movies, and no complimentary eyeshades or earplugs.
But I'm almost home, so it's ok. I've been away for just shy of 10 weeks, and what a 10 weeks it's been! But it's about time I go home.
At 10:50 a flight attendant comes on the PA system: "Ladies and Gentlemen, the aircraft door is now closed, at this time if you have a cellular or electronic device--- I'm sorry, the airplane door is still open. I apologize."
At 10:17 we take off, twelve minutes late. New York City, here I come.
I pass the time on the flight by reading SkyMall, watching the terrible tv they have on the plane, and horrible movies, like The Bounty Hunter. They show 30 Rock, which I haven't gotten into yet -- in fact, I haven't seen more than a few episodes, but they decided, for some reason, to play one of the only ones I've seen.
We touch down at 11:39. It's been 9 weeks and 4 days since I've been on American soil.
I wait forever for my bags, and finally walk out into the airport meet-and-greet section. My mother is waiting with a picture of me, in lieu of a sign with my name.
After the reunion hugs, we carry my bags to the car. It is 12:30.
We drive to Stamford, where my father is waiting. We meet at 2 at Lucky's, a 50s-themed burger place near my dad's office.
I taste real meat for the first time in weeks. It is amazing.
We spend the lunch catching up, and they want to hear stories of my travels.
My dad goes back to work at 3:15. My mom and I drive back home. We arrive at 4.
I am home. Home. It's been a while, and it's good to be back. Home.
8/20/10
8/19/10
Brussels in 26 Hours
We landed in Brussels at ten to 8 local time. I found my way to passport control and stood in line for a bit.
Nothing is ever easy -- I got my bags and went to get money out of the ATM. But when I got money out in the UAE I took the last of the money in my checking account. So while I have plenty of money in savings, I got denied by the Belgian bank that took my card -- and I was not willing to pay $1.50 per € at Travelex, when €1 buys only $1.25.
So I called TD Bank and transfered some money over - it was most annoying.
Next I decided I didn't want to lug my big backpack around, so I looked for lockers to place my things. I found them on floor 0, out next to the taxi stand. I got locker 03-06 and locked my things.
I went to the train platform with my remaining baggage and got a ticket. In doing so, however, I realized I had forgotten my itinerary, hostel confirmation, and email from Stephen detailing what I am to do today back at the locker.
Back to the locker, then back to the train. My ticket cost €5.10. I settled on the platform. It was 9:20, so this whole ordeal so far was only an hour and a half, but it felt so much longer.
The train came at 11:30. I took it to Brussels-Midi, where I was told would be most convenient for Botanique, my final metro destination.
I think around here is a good time to point out that I know nothing about this country, its history, its people, or the city of Brussels. Before I was booking flights home this summer, I had no interest in being here. But I had to stop somewhere on my way home from the UAE, and my choices based on price were this, Manchester, or London. I'd never been to this country, and I figured "为什么不?"
Now, in my hasty decision making, I don't even know what language(s) they speak here. I think it's Flemmish and French. But I can't be sure. And nothing is in English. Fortunately, though, whatever languages they do have up are similar enough I can read them.
The metro system is pretty confusing here. The map seems like a confusing line graph. I bought a day pass for €4.50, since one ticket is €1.70, I'll pay for it with three trips.
The metro train arrived and I, silly me, assumed it would be pretty speedy to the stop I needed to get off in for my hostel. But it kept stopping short in the middle of tunnels, turning it's power off and on again - I thought we kept on hitting people. What the train did have, though, was an accordian player who was most entertaining. I didn't tip him.
I walked into the open air for the first time and was amazed how brisk it was. Having been in Beijing all summer, and then in 110° weather in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, I was not prepared for this. But I was pleasantly surprised.
I got a little lost wandering through the back streets of old Brussels, but I found my hostel, the hostel Van Gogh (an old studio of the famous artist), a little before 11. I checked in and locked my things in the locker room (my bed wouldn't be ready until 2pm) and at 11:15 I set out for my adventure. Since I was 2 hours behind schedule, though, I cut out my first stop, the flea market.
I discovered that they speak French here, which is good to know, though I don't speak French.
Took the subway to Louise for my first stop. Got off and walked to Place Poelaert. Word on the street is it has a great view.
They were right. The Palace of Justice is being renovated but is still beautiful, and the view is amazing.
I continued on my walking tour, following my Google directions I had printed out several days ago.
I couldn't find the Grand Synagogue, though I did find another synagogue (maybe they're one and the same but my directions say nay). I continued through Grand Sablon, the old part of town. On the way I sat down in Place Saint-Jean Plein to people watch.
At noon I got up. My original itinerary had me going to the Mannekin Pis next, the famous statue of the little boy peeing, but when Stephen sent me his itinerary I reorganized mine to include his at this point. So I began meandering towards the central bus station down Rue Duquesnoystraat.
I got to the central station and walked inside. I looked for a sandwich shop called PAIN, because Stephen said to, but couldn't find one. Strike one on his itinerary. There was a Panos, but no PAIN. So I had something at Panos, hoping they were the same (I found out later they were).
I got on a bus to do a sightseeing tour, as Stephen insisted I do. He specifically told me to get on the red bus, not the blue bus. I got on the blue bus. It was a €16 mistake.
I got off asap and walked back to get on the red tour. Stephen said I could get off anywhere in the first seven stops but to definitely get off at 7 (this bus route is a hop-on hop-off system so I am not forced to stay for 90 minutes straight). Fortunately, in my walking tour before this, I had seen almost all of stops 1-7. So I chilled until stop 7, passing all the places I saw earlier today and also the European Parliament on the way.
I must say, I do hate doing organized tours like this. But this tour did have some good information, and since it's hop-on and hop-off, I could and did use the bus as a taxi between stops that Stephen wanted me to go to.
I got off at 1:30 at stop 7 and looked for the American bar that Stephen wanted me to find. I couldn't find it for the life of me. (though I found out later from Stephen that I had found it, it was just closed. It's a place called Take Eat Easy next to where I had my beers) Strike two. But Stephen said to drink a few beers, so I stopped in a bar and drank a few beers. Two Hoegaarden, a good, Belgian, mass-produced beer. Later I'd go for local brews.
I got back on the bus at 2, and relaxed, "bask[ing] in Brussels," as Stephen suggested. I planned to get off at the last stop, stop 13, but the driver went right past it and went back to the station. No worries, it was only a few extra blocks.
At this point it was 3pm, and I still had the two main attractions in Brussels to see; the Mannekin Pis and the Grand Place. I headed to the former first.
The Mannekin Pis is hilarious. Crowds of people to gather just to watch a statue of a young boy who, thanks to piping and a continuous water supply, has the worlds most overactive bladder. I took the obligatory photos and moved on.
I've also not yet had the major Belgian specialties at this point; waffles and chocolate (though by now I'd had a little beer). I went to a waffle place next to the Mannekin Pis before I went to the Grand Place. The waffle was amazing -- why did it have to be so edible? I wanted it to last longer.
The Grand Place isn't very big, but that's not why they call it "Grand." Two buildings lining the cobblestone square are adorned in endless gold leaf, dating to the seventeenth century. An impressive gothic city museum takes another side of the square. The third side is an ornate statue-infested set of store fronts. And the last site or the square is almost exclusively reserved for the Cathedral. From where I stood, I could see 96 statues lining the facade, and another ten spots where statues have been stolen or destroyed. Each figure was unique. It was magnificent.
As Stephen insisted, I went next to the southeast corner of the square. I was to find another PAIN, or Panos, as I learned from Stephen it is also called. There was nothing in the southeast corner, nor down the streets off the corner. In fact, exploration down the corner found me back at Place Saint-Jean Plein.
In texting with Stephen, however, I found that he made the mistake of saying southeast when he meant northeast. I found the Panos and, as instructed, ate another sandwich. It was just as good as the first time.
Next, as instructed, I walked back towards the square and looked to my left, to find a chocolate shop Stephen mentioned. I went inside, sampled their chocolate fountain for free, as well as several truffles - all amazing - and then made excuses to leave without buying. Because Stephen said so.
Next I stopped at a bar a few doors down, which Stephen said had great beer. I drank the recommended Amber beer, brewed in-house. Once again, slam dunk suggestion.
Next Stephen had me going to one of his "favorite bars in Europe." That's a tall order to fill, but when I finally found Au Bon Vieux Temps at 4:40 down some alleyway in a street a little ways northwest of the Grand Place, I understood why.
Au Bon Vieux Temps is dark, kind of eerie at first, and buried deep in an alleyway. The windows inside are stain glass, the bartender looks like a female version of that smoking caterpillar in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland -- and she smokes just as much, maybe moreso.
There's only one beer on tap, Diekirsh, a Luxembourgish beer. I sat down and tried to order it, but two French-Belgians and one Flemmish-Belgian refused to let me order such "Merde."
They insisted on Duvel for me, my new friends. I never got all their names, but one had a broken hand, dark complexion, endlessly long dreadlocks, and a laugh that wouldn't stop -- I blame the alcohol. Another was Flemmish and spoke that, Dutch, French, English, and a little Russian. Then there was Leo, a chubby French-Belgian who kept buying me beer as he was later and later for work that started 3 hours before he ended up going tonight. He and the Flemmish guy work at the Casino down the street from Au Bon Vieux Temps as cooks.
While I sitting and talking with these guys, two girls came in and sat down. Somebody said something and one of the girls started arguing with the bar-Madame. It got pretty heated and the girls walked out. This prompted catcalling and sexual jokes from the drunk guys at the bars, and the girl who was arguing came back in.
She and the bartender went face to face and the two women started arguing full force. Dreads-man tried to intervene, and so did Michel, who I think owns the bar (or is a regular, everyone knew his name).
It turns out one of the girls who walked in is Arab, and recently the chainsmoking barkeeper got assaulted by some Arabs. Oh well.
Next I met a man who I've dubbed Mr. [Insert Relevant Name Here]. Mr. Skull and Bones was speaking broken French and was very drunk. He asked Flemmish-guy if he was from Belgium. Then he asked if I was. I said no, America. Mr. Overly-friendly then stands up and puts both hands on my shoulders, so happy to meet an American. Too happy.
I asked where he was from and he said Connecticut. "Me too," I said. "Where in Connecticut?"
"Do you know Skull and Bones?"
"Yes, my dad was Scroll and Key." I said.
"Do you know Bush?"
"Yes.."
"President Bush?"
"Yes, he was in Skull and Bones."
Mr. Grabby grabbed my shoulders and said "Looks like this one has promise!" Things went downhill from here.
"Do you know how old I am?" was the next comment from Mr. TMI, "I'm 60 years old, and I've been through every f*cking war you can imagine."
Without going into exhaustive detail, Mr. Nobody tried to explain he didn't exist; he showed me his passport, devoid of stamps (though I saw one in the back page). He then attempted to recruit me to the CA, which I assume is the same as the CIA, with a few beers added.. He told me "you know, kids today think every f*cking thing is a cinema! But sometimes, a real situation comes up, and you need to step up to the plate! You've been on my radar for some time, kid, and I think you can help. I don't exist in this country, I need an American to be my partner. Someone on-grid. What's your name?"
"Justin Smith." I smiled.
He said "you think I'm crazy? You think I'm nuts. But no matter. Just remember this for when they question you. After WWII, 125 scientists were taken to Mexico and given American citizenship. Among them was Vincent Von Bram. Vincent Von Bram! VINCENT VON BRAM!!!!!"
"Ok, I got it." things couldn't get much weirder, right?
Leo stepped in to be drunk in our faces. He said "What the hell comes from Connecticut?" I told him "Tobacco, helicopters and submarines.
Mr. Seventh-Day Adventist chimed in "and then all the submarines were shipped down to the f*cking Florida coast in the 70s."
"Why?" Inquiring minds want to know.
"The f*cking Bermuda triangle! Don't ever move to the coast of Florida. Trust me, I've got bullet wounds all through me. Wisconsin is good, Chicago is great--"
"I go to school there." I don't go to school there.
"I know." He doesn't.
I can't make this stuff up, it's too good.
It was at 6:30, sometime after I finished the sixth beer that Mr. Throws-Money-Away bought me and when Leo and Flemmish-guy were leaving I talked my way into leaving Mr. Clingy.
So Leo and Flemland (my bid for the name of the Flemmish half of the Belgian state when the country inevitably breaks up) and I left, and Mr. Stalker followed for a while. I asked Flemland for directions to the hostel and said "Adieu" to them as they went to work in the Casino -- Leo 3 hours late.
Got back to the hostel at 7, pretty tipsy (which, considering that I bought one beer of my own at Au Bon Vieux Temps, is pretty impressive), and at 8:15 I left for dinner.
I wandered around the Bourse area for a good 45 minutes before I found a good deal. €19 special with Parma ham for an appetizer, mussels as a main course, and the chef's special for dessert (the door guy said the dessert special was Angelina Jolie, but it turned out to be cheesecake). That and free beer which I talked my way into made for a good deal. I don't usually eat mussels, but when in Rome...
I sat in the alleyway outside, and watched the people passing as I ate. The mussels were great. And like I said, I don't like mussels. The last thing I haven't gotten (enough of) yet, is chocolate.
I left the restaurant and wandered down roads a block or two off Grand Place. I stopped into a few recommended chocolate shops and a few no name shops. I got a ton of chocolate, as per request, for my dad.
Just before eleven I lay down on my back in the middle of Grand Place to contemplate my life and my trip this summer. At 11 sharp all the lights went out in the square. I was confused until the music began...
The lights on the cathedral in the square began to match the music, and I watched in awe as there was a ten-minute synchronized music and light show in the middle of the square. I don't know if this is a regular thing but I'm glad I was here to see it.
I walked to the tram stop at bourse and took it to Rogier and then the subway back to Botanique, where the hostel is. The trip was free, since it was my fourth trip by metro of the day and I had the day pass I had bought.
I got back just before midnight, and checked into my room finally. Room 36, three floors up from the lobby.
I got my top bunk settled in and was about to go to sleep when two Australian guys came in. We chatted for a while, then at 1 or so I fell asleep.
Tomorrow I go home.
Nothing is ever easy -- I got my bags and went to get money out of the ATM. But when I got money out in the UAE I took the last of the money in my checking account. So while I have plenty of money in savings, I got denied by the Belgian bank that took my card -- and I was not willing to pay $1.50 per € at Travelex, when €1 buys only $1.25.
So I called TD Bank and transfered some money over - it was most annoying.
Next I decided I didn't want to lug my big backpack around, so I looked for lockers to place my things. I found them on floor 0, out next to the taxi stand. I got locker 03-06 and locked my things.
I went to the train platform with my remaining baggage and got a ticket. In doing so, however, I realized I had forgotten my itinerary, hostel confirmation, and email from Stephen detailing what I am to do today back at the locker.
Back to the locker, then back to the train. My ticket cost €5.10. I settled on the platform. It was 9:20, so this whole ordeal so far was only an hour and a half, but it felt so much longer.
The train came at 11:30. I took it to Brussels-Midi, where I was told would be most convenient for Botanique, my final metro destination.
I think around here is a good time to point out that I know nothing about this country, its history, its people, or the city of Brussels. Before I was booking flights home this summer, I had no interest in being here. But I had to stop somewhere on my way home from the UAE, and my choices based on price were this, Manchester, or London. I'd never been to this country, and I figured "为什么不?"
Now, in my hasty decision making, I don't even know what language(s) they speak here. I think it's Flemmish and French. But I can't be sure. And nothing is in English. Fortunately, though, whatever languages they do have up are similar enough I can read them.
The metro system is pretty confusing here. The map seems like a confusing line graph. I bought a day pass for €4.50, since one ticket is €1.70, I'll pay for it with three trips.
The metro train arrived and I, silly me, assumed it would be pretty speedy to the stop I needed to get off in for my hostel. But it kept stopping short in the middle of tunnels, turning it's power off and on again - I thought we kept on hitting people. What the train did have, though, was an accordian player who was most entertaining. I didn't tip him.
I walked into the open air for the first time and was amazed how brisk it was. Having been in Beijing all summer, and then in 110° weather in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, I was not prepared for this. But I was pleasantly surprised.
I got a little lost wandering through the back streets of old Brussels, but I found my hostel, the hostel Van Gogh (an old studio of the famous artist), a little before 11. I checked in and locked my things in the locker room (my bed wouldn't be ready until 2pm) and at 11:15 I set out for my adventure. Since I was 2 hours behind schedule, though, I cut out my first stop, the flea market.
I discovered that they speak French here, which is good to know, though I don't speak French.
Took the subway to Louise for my first stop. Got off and walked to Place Poelaert. Word on the street is it has a great view.
They were right. The Palace of Justice is being renovated but is still beautiful, and the view is amazing.
I continued on my walking tour, following my Google directions I had printed out several days ago.
I couldn't find the Grand Synagogue, though I did find another synagogue (maybe they're one and the same but my directions say nay). I continued through Grand Sablon, the old part of town. On the way I sat down in Place Saint-Jean Plein to people watch.
At noon I got up. My original itinerary had me going to the Mannekin Pis next, the famous statue of the little boy peeing, but when Stephen sent me his itinerary I reorganized mine to include his at this point. So I began meandering towards the central bus station down Rue Duquesnoystraat.
I got to the central station and walked inside. I looked for a sandwich shop called PAIN, because Stephen said to, but couldn't find one. Strike one on his itinerary. There was a Panos, but no PAIN. So I had something at Panos, hoping they were the same (I found out later they were).
I got on a bus to do a sightseeing tour, as Stephen insisted I do. He specifically told me to get on the red bus, not the blue bus. I got on the blue bus. It was a €16 mistake.
I got off asap and walked back to get on the red tour. Stephen said I could get off anywhere in the first seven stops but to definitely get off at 7 (this bus route is a hop-on hop-off system so I am not forced to stay for 90 minutes straight). Fortunately, in my walking tour before this, I had seen almost all of stops 1-7. So I chilled until stop 7, passing all the places I saw earlier today and also the European Parliament on the way.
I must say, I do hate doing organized tours like this. But this tour did have some good information, and since it's hop-on and hop-off, I could and did use the bus as a taxi between stops that Stephen wanted me to go to.
I got off at 1:30 at stop 7 and looked for the American bar that Stephen wanted me to find. I couldn't find it for the life of me. (though I found out later from Stephen that I had found it, it was just closed. It's a place called Take Eat Easy next to where I had my beers) Strike two. But Stephen said to drink a few beers, so I stopped in a bar and drank a few beers. Two Hoegaarden, a good, Belgian, mass-produced beer. Later I'd go for local brews.
I got back on the bus at 2, and relaxed, "bask[ing] in Brussels," as Stephen suggested. I planned to get off at the last stop, stop 13, but the driver went right past it and went back to the station. No worries, it was only a few extra blocks.
At this point it was 3pm, and I still had the two main attractions in Brussels to see; the Mannekin Pis and the Grand Place. I headed to the former first.
The Mannekin Pis is hilarious. Crowds of people to gather just to watch a statue of a young boy who, thanks to piping and a continuous water supply, has the worlds most overactive bladder. I took the obligatory photos and moved on.
I've also not yet had the major Belgian specialties at this point; waffles and chocolate (though by now I'd had a little beer). I went to a waffle place next to the Mannekin Pis before I went to the Grand Place. The waffle was amazing -- why did it have to be so edible? I wanted it to last longer.
The Grand Place isn't very big, but that's not why they call it "Grand." Two buildings lining the cobblestone square are adorned in endless gold leaf, dating to the seventeenth century. An impressive gothic city museum takes another side of the square. The third side is an ornate statue-infested set of store fronts. And the last site or the square is almost exclusively reserved for the Cathedral. From where I stood, I could see 96 statues lining the facade, and another ten spots where statues have been stolen or destroyed. Each figure was unique. It was magnificent.
As Stephen insisted, I went next to the southeast corner of the square. I was to find another PAIN, or Panos, as I learned from Stephen it is also called. There was nothing in the southeast corner, nor down the streets off the corner. In fact, exploration down the corner found me back at Place Saint-Jean Plein.
In texting with Stephen, however, I found that he made the mistake of saying southeast when he meant northeast. I found the Panos and, as instructed, ate another sandwich. It was just as good as the first time.
Next, as instructed, I walked back towards the square and looked to my left, to find a chocolate shop Stephen mentioned. I went inside, sampled their chocolate fountain for free, as well as several truffles - all amazing - and then made excuses to leave without buying. Because Stephen said so.
Next I stopped at a bar a few doors down, which Stephen said had great beer. I drank the recommended Amber beer, brewed in-house. Once again, slam dunk suggestion.
Next Stephen had me going to one of his "favorite bars in Europe." That's a tall order to fill, but when I finally found Au Bon Vieux Temps at 4:40 down some alleyway in a street a little ways northwest of the Grand Place, I understood why.
Au Bon Vieux Temps is dark, kind of eerie at first, and buried deep in an alleyway. The windows inside are stain glass, the bartender looks like a female version of that smoking caterpillar in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland -- and she smokes just as much, maybe moreso.
There's only one beer on tap, Diekirsh, a Luxembourgish beer. I sat down and tried to order it, but two French-Belgians and one Flemmish-Belgian refused to let me order such "Merde."
They insisted on Duvel for me, my new friends. I never got all their names, but one had a broken hand, dark complexion, endlessly long dreadlocks, and a laugh that wouldn't stop -- I blame the alcohol. Another was Flemmish and spoke that, Dutch, French, English, and a little Russian. Then there was Leo, a chubby French-Belgian who kept buying me beer as he was later and later for work that started 3 hours before he ended up going tonight. He and the Flemmish guy work at the Casino down the street from Au Bon Vieux Temps as cooks.
While I sitting and talking with these guys, two girls came in and sat down. Somebody said something and one of the girls started arguing with the bar-Madame. It got pretty heated and the girls walked out. This prompted catcalling and sexual jokes from the drunk guys at the bars, and the girl who was arguing came back in.
She and the bartender went face to face and the two women started arguing full force. Dreads-man tried to intervene, and so did Michel, who I think owns the bar (or is a regular, everyone knew his name).
It turns out one of the girls who walked in is Arab, and recently the chainsmoking barkeeper got assaulted by some Arabs. Oh well.
Next I met a man who I've dubbed Mr. [Insert Relevant Name Here]. Mr. Skull and Bones was speaking broken French and was very drunk. He asked Flemmish-guy if he was from Belgium. Then he asked if I was. I said no, America. Mr. Overly-friendly then stands up and puts both hands on my shoulders, so happy to meet an American. Too happy.
I asked where he was from and he said Connecticut. "Me too," I said. "Where in Connecticut?"
"Do you know Skull and Bones?"
"Yes, my dad was Scroll and Key." I said.
"Do you know Bush?"
"Yes.."
"President Bush?"
"Yes, he was in Skull and Bones."
Mr. Grabby grabbed my shoulders and said "Looks like this one has promise!" Things went downhill from here.
"Do you know how old I am?" was the next comment from Mr. TMI, "I'm 60 years old, and I've been through every f*cking war you can imagine."
Without going into exhaustive detail, Mr. Nobody tried to explain he didn't exist; he showed me his passport, devoid of stamps (though I saw one in the back page). He then attempted to recruit me to the CA, which I assume is the same as the CIA, with a few beers added.. He told me "you know, kids today think every f*cking thing is a cinema! But sometimes, a real situation comes up, and you need to step up to the plate! You've been on my radar for some time, kid, and I think you can help. I don't exist in this country, I need an American to be my partner. Someone on-grid. What's your name?"
"Justin Smith." I smiled.
He said "you think I'm crazy? You think I'm nuts. But no matter. Just remember this for when they question you. After WWII, 125 scientists were taken to Mexico and given American citizenship. Among them was Vincent Von Bram. Vincent Von Bram! VINCENT VON BRAM!!!!!"
"Ok, I got it." things couldn't get much weirder, right?
Leo stepped in to be drunk in our faces. He said "What the hell comes from Connecticut?" I told him "Tobacco, helicopters and submarines.
Mr. Seventh-Day Adventist chimed in "and then all the submarines were shipped down to the f*cking Florida coast in the 70s."
"Why?" Inquiring minds want to know.
"The f*cking Bermuda triangle! Don't ever move to the coast of Florida. Trust me, I've got bullet wounds all through me. Wisconsin is good, Chicago is great--"
"I go to school there." I don't go to school there.
"I know." He doesn't.
I can't make this stuff up, it's too good.
It was at 6:30, sometime after I finished the sixth beer that Mr. Throws-Money-Away bought me and when Leo and Flemmish-guy were leaving I talked my way into leaving Mr. Clingy.
So Leo and Flemland (my bid for the name of the Flemmish half of the Belgian state when the country inevitably breaks up) and I left, and Mr. Stalker followed for a while. I asked Flemland for directions to the hostel and said "Adieu" to them as they went to work in the Casino -- Leo 3 hours late.
Got back to the hostel at 7, pretty tipsy (which, considering that I bought one beer of my own at Au Bon Vieux Temps, is pretty impressive), and at 8:15 I left for dinner.
I wandered around the Bourse area for a good 45 minutes before I found a good deal. €19 special with Parma ham for an appetizer, mussels as a main course, and the chef's special for dessert (the door guy said the dessert special was Angelina Jolie, but it turned out to be cheesecake). That and free beer which I talked my way into made for a good deal. I don't usually eat mussels, but when in Rome...
I sat in the alleyway outside, and watched the people passing as I ate. The mussels were great. And like I said, I don't like mussels. The last thing I haven't gotten (enough of) yet, is chocolate.
I left the restaurant and wandered down roads a block or two off Grand Place. I stopped into a few recommended chocolate shops and a few no name shops. I got a ton of chocolate, as per request, for my dad.
Just before eleven I lay down on my back in the middle of Grand Place to contemplate my life and my trip this summer. At 11 sharp all the lights went out in the square. I was confused until the music began...
The lights on the cathedral in the square began to match the music, and I watched in awe as there was a ten-minute synchronized music and light show in the middle of the square. I don't know if this is a regular thing but I'm glad I was here to see it.
I walked to the tram stop at bourse and took it to Rogier and then the subway back to Botanique, where the hostel is. The trip was free, since it was my fourth trip by metro of the day and I had the day pass I had bought.
I got back just before midnight, and checked into my room finally. Room 36, three floors up from the lobby.
I got my top bunk settled in and was about to go to sleep when two Australian guys came in. We chatted for a while, then at 1 or so I fell asleep.
Tomorrow I go home.
8/18/10
Dubai to Abu Dhabi - Carpet Market and Shisha
I woke up at 6:30 when Veronica left. She had an 8:55 flight this morning to JFK, so she had to leave early.
I woke up again at 8:15. I cooked eggs for breakfast and packed up. I checked out around 9:45 and got a cab to the water taxis. Today's goal -- Persian carpets.
I spoke to my parents a few days ago, and they gave me a budget to work with for Persian carpets while I'm here. This may be the last time in a long time we'll have an opportunity like this -- Obama just signed a law banning Persian imports from Iran after September 28 of this year.
I took a water taxi to Deira before I figured out that the carpet souq on the map in my book was in Abu Dhabi, not Dubai. So I took a water taxi back across the river and then a taxi back to the hotel to figure out where the hell the Persian rugs were.
I found out where to go and got back on a water taxi to Deira at about 10:45.
I made it to a cab and asked for the Carpet Souq on Naif Road. He laughed. He said there's no such thing as a carpet market - if I want that I'd have to go to Sharjah, which is a while away, though still in the Emirate of Dubai.
"Screw it," I thought. My only goal today is a carpet, and I know for a fact there's a carpet souq in Abu Dhabi. So, as much as I'm loving Dubai, I'll have to go to Abu Dhabi.
So I went back to the hotel; again. Got stuck in horrific traffic and only got back at 11:30.
I left the hotel and went to the bus station. I got there at 11:58 and the bus left at noon. I bought my ticket, threw my bag under the bus, and boarded.
I slept the entirety of the bus ride. We got in a bit after 2 and I went to Novotel to leave my bags while I shopped.
I left and got a cab at 2:30 towards the Carpet Souq, praying I'd find it this time.
Found it around 3. Immediately something was abundantly clear -- I was the only person in the market. The ball was in my court.
But despite this great bit of luck, I couldn't seem to find a handmade carpet to buy. Well, I could, but none with good enough quality. I was looking for something Persian, handmade. All I got was Afghani handmade, and not well made at that. A good rug will have at least 600kpsi (knots per square inch) and the Afghani carpets were topping 144 at their best.
I must have stopped in, without exaggeration, 20 shops, all with the same result. I looked, they threw down several carpets (with one shop it was more like several dozen) on the floor, I asked again and again for the finest possible handmade carpet, and nothing came.
At 4:30 I left for the hotel. When I got back I used the business center computers for a while -- you need to pay 15AED if you're a non-guest, but I just walked in and starting computing, so they assumed I lived there and let me use the computers for free.
At 6:57 the call to prayer (or some equivalent) was broadcasted throughout the city to announce Iftar, the fast-breaking meal. I left to get dinner.
I found myself at Special, a little three-restaurant/café chain in the Corniche area. In an hilarious oversight of franchising, all three Specials are within a mile of each other, and two of them are virtually next to each other, separated by a parking lot.
I sat down at 7:21. Food service didn't begin until 7:30, so I waited.
The food was alright, but the shisha was amazing. I had orange Sisha, and the taste wasn't overpowering, but wow was it strong and delicious beyond anything I've had before.
Like yesterday, as the room filled up, everyone had their own shisha, a 2.5 foot tall hookah with a 1.5 foot handle at the end of the tube. My coals were changed by the designated coaler, the man who carries hot coals in a giant ladle and whose sole job is to replace coals. He takes his job seriously, too; he would spend five minutes (literally) before he found the perfect four little coal pieces to replace my hardly-used ones.
I ate and then relaxed with my shisha for two and a half hours. A little after 10 I headed back to Novotel.
I relaxed for over an hour in the business center. I even took a little nap on a couch. It's funny, I think, to be using the hotel services without being a guest, but oh well. I survive.
At 11:30 I sauntered to the lobby, where I picked up my things. I rested in the lobby, fighting sleep by the minute.
At midnight I got into a hotel car and drove to the airport.
Nothing of note happened at the airport.
I boarded my Etihad Airways flight to Brussels at 2:05 and fell asleep as soon as I was settled.
I woke up again at 8:15. I cooked eggs for breakfast and packed up. I checked out around 9:45 and got a cab to the water taxis. Today's goal -- Persian carpets.
I spoke to my parents a few days ago, and they gave me a budget to work with for Persian carpets while I'm here. This may be the last time in a long time we'll have an opportunity like this -- Obama just signed a law banning Persian imports from Iran after September 28 of this year.
I took a water taxi to Deira before I figured out that the carpet souq on the map in my book was in Abu Dhabi, not Dubai. So I took a water taxi back across the river and then a taxi back to the hotel to figure out where the hell the Persian rugs were.
I found out where to go and got back on a water taxi to Deira at about 10:45.
I made it to a cab and asked for the Carpet Souq on Naif Road. He laughed. He said there's no such thing as a carpet market - if I want that I'd have to go to Sharjah, which is a while away, though still in the Emirate of Dubai.
"Screw it," I thought. My only goal today is a carpet, and I know for a fact there's a carpet souq in Abu Dhabi. So, as much as I'm loving Dubai, I'll have to go to Abu Dhabi.
So I went back to the hotel; again. Got stuck in horrific traffic and only got back at 11:30.
I left the hotel and went to the bus station. I got there at 11:58 and the bus left at noon. I bought my ticket, threw my bag under the bus, and boarded.
I slept the entirety of the bus ride. We got in a bit after 2 and I went to Novotel to leave my bags while I shopped.
I left and got a cab at 2:30 towards the Carpet Souq, praying I'd find it this time.
Found it around 3. Immediately something was abundantly clear -- I was the only person in the market. The ball was in my court.
But despite this great bit of luck, I couldn't seem to find a handmade carpet to buy. Well, I could, but none with good enough quality. I was looking for something Persian, handmade. All I got was Afghani handmade, and not well made at that. A good rug will have at least 600kpsi (knots per square inch) and the Afghani carpets were topping 144 at their best.
I must have stopped in, without exaggeration, 20 shops, all with the same result. I looked, they threw down several carpets (with one shop it was more like several dozen) on the floor, I asked again and again for the finest possible handmade carpet, and nothing came.
At 4:30 I left for the hotel. When I got back I used the business center computers for a while -- you need to pay 15AED if you're a non-guest, but I just walked in and starting computing, so they assumed I lived there and let me use the computers for free.
At 6:57 the call to prayer (or some equivalent) was broadcasted throughout the city to announce Iftar, the fast-breaking meal. I left to get dinner.
I found myself at Special, a little three-restaurant/café chain in the Corniche area. In an hilarious oversight of franchising, all three Specials are within a mile of each other, and two of them are virtually next to each other, separated by a parking lot.
I sat down at 7:21. Food service didn't begin until 7:30, so I waited.
The food was alright, but the shisha was amazing. I had orange Sisha, and the taste wasn't overpowering, but wow was it strong and delicious beyond anything I've had before.
Like yesterday, as the room filled up, everyone had their own shisha, a 2.5 foot tall hookah with a 1.5 foot handle at the end of the tube. My coals were changed by the designated coaler, the man who carries hot coals in a giant ladle and whose sole job is to replace coals. He takes his job seriously, too; he would spend five minutes (literally) before he found the perfect four little coal pieces to replace my hardly-used ones.
I ate and then relaxed with my shisha for two and a half hours. A little after 10 I headed back to Novotel.
I relaxed for over an hour in the business center. I even took a little nap on a couch. It's funny, I think, to be using the hotel services without being a guest, but oh well. I survive.
At 11:30 I sauntered to the lobby, where I picked up my things. I rested in the lobby, fighting sleep by the minute.
At midnight I got into a hotel car and drove to the airport.
Nothing of note happened at the airport.
I boarded my Etihad Airways flight to Brussels at 2:05 and fell asleep as soon as I was settled.
8/17/10
Dubai - SkiDubai and the Best Hummus in the World
We woke up at 8. I ran outside and got some stuff for breakfast. I made eggs in the kitchen in our apartment.
At 9:15 we left for Jumeira Mosque. We went to the metro station and found our way (which was really hard, considering there's one functioning line in the city) to the red line south. 9:31 the train arrived. Dubai has the worlds first fully automated, driverless metro system.
We got off at the Mall of the Emirates and got a cab to the mosque. Unfortunately we had been told the wrong station to get off at and we ended up getting a 36AED ($10) taxi fare and to the mosque around 10:20, missing the only tour of the day by 20 minutes. It was disappointing, but we move on. We tool some pictures and got a cab to Burj Al Arab (which costs about the same as the ride to Jumeira Mosque, but with a minimum 10AED per cab to and from the metro station and 6.5AED apiece for metro tickets, we figured it was worth it).
We stopped outside Burj Al Arab, the seven-star hotel that's the poster-child for Dubai, and were turned away at the gate. No one can enter without a reservation. We had to take pictures from afar.
Right next to the entrance for the hotel was Wild Wadi Water Park. I had read about it but never knew it was so convenient. If I had we probably could have gone swimming -- and there were no lines today, too! Oh well, I thought, next time.
On to the Palm, a man-made series of islands and peninsulas that form a giant palm tree from above. The structure can be seen from space, it is so big.
Of course, being that big, when you get on the Palm, you can't see the fronds or the shape of the thing.
We wandered through the end of the palm, looked out into the Persian Gulf, and walked into the Atlantis hotel and resort complex.
The architecture was ornate and awesome (in the biblical sense), the decorations were elaborate and exorbitantly expensive. It actually felt like being underwater -- the hotel was even equipped with a massive aquarium, much like the one at the Dubai Mall.
We snuck up to the top floor to try to get a glimpse of the palm from on high... We saw the ends of a few fronds from the 22nd floor of Atlantis but that's it.
We went downstairs, lamenting the fact we hadn't brought bathing suits for the endless lazy river at a water park next to the hotel, but such is life.
At 12:30 we got a ticket on the monorail that goes through the Palm Jumeira. We waited for a while and took it to the end of the Palm, back on shore.
At this point we split up. Veronica went back to the apartment to go to the beach and bask in the 100°+ Arabian sun, and I went to the Mall of the Emirates to explore the shops and go to Ski Dubai, my biggest goal of this little excursion, and 90% of the reason I chose to stay for a little while in Dubai and not go directly home.
Walked into the Mall of the Emirates at 1:30. I couldn't ski for half an hour (only between 2 and midnight), so I wandered towards it. And of course, since this Mall is HUGE, I got to the window overlooking the ski slopes in 20 minutes, so I went right in a few minutes early.
They tried to get me to buy the ticket at the desk, but Marshall is smart and had an electronic receipt from SkiDubai.
I went through the entrance gate and to where I collect my ski clothes. I got in the empty line, which was run by a very cute French girl named Amelie. She asked for my shoe size and when she did the conversion to European sizes she exclaimed "Is impossible!" I wear a 13.
Next she wanted to know what size ski pants and jacket. She asked "do you want loose and baggy or tight and faggy?" with appropriate (or not) pantomime to match.
I got my stuff from Amelie and changed. I picked up skis, which they fitted to the ski boots I'd been given, and got poles upstairs before the entrance to the slope, and entered the ski slope around 2:10.
It was cold! I haven't felt real cold in a long, long time. Ow. I got my skis on and hopped right on the lift to the top.
SkiDubai is the world's largest indoor ski resort (how many can there even be?), and deserves the title. Sure, the place is no Jackson Hole or Tahoe, or even Butternut, but considering the impossibility of constructing and maintaining a 400m ski slope with high ceilings and a chairlift in a desert that tops 110° regularly, this is a really cool project.
The ski area has two main slopes, one "blue square" and one "black diamond." I put these in quotes because they are both green circle slopes. I guess technically the black is a black diamond by steepness, but it's too short to be really difficult. It is the only black diamond indoors in the world, though.
There's also a terrain park on the edges, and a kiddy slope and ski school area at the bottom, but I didn't explore those too much (except the terrain park).
At 3:20 I got a call from Veronica. She found a tour thing with Camel riding and dinner and a Safari into the desert for 150AED, but I'd have to leave right away. I didn't want to do it - I was enjoying my skiing and I didn't want to spend the last half of the last full day I have in Dubai in a tourist camel camp. I would rather do the markets tonight. Veronica went on the tour.
I went up the ski lift a little bit later, and there was a film crew up there. They asked me to interview about SkiDubai for NTDTV, an international news organization based in New York. I interviewed, fairly well I think, and then they filmed me going down the slope.
I stopped at the bottom for a bit and started chatting with an employee. He seemed nice enough. His name was Jack.
Later, when I was leaving around 4:45 (I had 3 hours on my 2 hour ticket, it was free for some reason), I bumped into Jack and we started talking again. I asked him how he got the job and he gave me his card and invited me to apply for next summer. That would be fun.
It took me 30 minutes to find my way out of the Mall of the Emirates, and then I spent a while on the Metro, zipping between skyscrapers.
Around 5:45 I got back to the apartment. I rested for a while. At 7, when the fast could be broken for Ramadan, I left for the markets. But I couldn't get a cab right away, as all Muslims were at Iftar, the nightly ritual of breaking the Ramadan fast, so I got on the computer.
Stephen Wagner, my good friend from Wash U, has been to Brussels countless times, and generously offered to guide my one-day tour through Brussels. He sent me an email a few days ago, with maps and an itinerary to see the city and have a good time. I printed it all out and took it with me to the markets.
At 7:40 I got a cab to the spice souq, hoping to find it this time.
I arrived just before 8. As I stepped out of the cab, spicy aromas filled my senses. I got down to the bargaining, and while I only bought some frankincense and coal, I got 60AED of frankincense and 20AED of coal for 30AED total. I'd call that a win.
Walked north to the Gold Souq, and found that it was the souq we had wandered into yesterday, where I got the two hookahs. I wandered farther down it, marveling at the gold, silver, and diamonds that don't just line the street... They infest it.
At 8:30 the call to prayer went out. This was the first time I've heard it since I've been in this country; it's a hauntingly beautiful call. Granted, it came from a loud speaker, not a man on the top of the minaret (I forget his official name), but it was beautiful nonetheless.
I got back to the apartment at 8:50 or so. I opened the door, and was surprised to see Veronica back already.
At 10 we went out to a place near the Lebanese Village. We sat down and ordered. I had chicken and beef shwarma. We ordered the hummus as well, and shisha (hookah).
The shisha was the best hookah I've ever had. Every person in the restaurant had their own hookah, and each one was giant and sitting on the ground, with a huge, double handed handle on the pipe. It was amazing.
The hummus was equally incredible. In fact, I loved it so much that I asked to buy a container of it afterwards, and the owner gave me one for free.
The schwarma was really good too. So much food for so cheap.
We walked back and got back to the apartment a little bit after midnight. Veronica has a flight home tomorrow morning so we went to bed around 1 so she could get up early.
At 9:15 we left for Jumeira Mosque. We went to the metro station and found our way (which was really hard, considering there's one functioning line in the city) to the red line south. 9:31 the train arrived. Dubai has the worlds first fully automated, driverless metro system.
We got off at the Mall of the Emirates and got a cab to the mosque. Unfortunately we had been told the wrong station to get off at and we ended up getting a 36AED ($10) taxi fare and to the mosque around 10:20, missing the only tour of the day by 20 minutes. It was disappointing, but we move on. We tool some pictures and got a cab to Burj Al Arab (which costs about the same as the ride to Jumeira Mosque, but with a minimum 10AED per cab to and from the metro station and 6.5AED apiece for metro tickets, we figured it was worth it).
We stopped outside Burj Al Arab, the seven-star hotel that's the poster-child for Dubai, and were turned away at the gate. No one can enter without a reservation. We had to take pictures from afar.
Right next to the entrance for the hotel was Wild Wadi Water Park. I had read about it but never knew it was so convenient. If I had we probably could have gone swimming -- and there were no lines today, too! Oh well, I thought, next time.
On to the Palm, a man-made series of islands and peninsulas that form a giant palm tree from above. The structure can be seen from space, it is so big.
Of course, being that big, when you get on the Palm, you can't see the fronds or the shape of the thing.
We wandered through the end of the palm, looked out into the Persian Gulf, and walked into the Atlantis hotel and resort complex.
The architecture was ornate and awesome (in the biblical sense), the decorations were elaborate and exorbitantly expensive. It actually felt like being underwater -- the hotel was even equipped with a massive aquarium, much like the one at the Dubai Mall.
We snuck up to the top floor to try to get a glimpse of the palm from on high... We saw the ends of a few fronds from the 22nd floor of Atlantis but that's it.
We went downstairs, lamenting the fact we hadn't brought bathing suits for the endless lazy river at a water park next to the hotel, but such is life.
At 12:30 we got a ticket on the monorail that goes through the Palm Jumeira. We waited for a while and took it to the end of the Palm, back on shore.
At this point we split up. Veronica went back to the apartment to go to the beach and bask in the 100°+ Arabian sun, and I went to the Mall of the Emirates to explore the shops and go to Ski Dubai, my biggest goal of this little excursion, and 90% of the reason I chose to stay for a little while in Dubai and not go directly home.
Walked into the Mall of the Emirates at 1:30. I couldn't ski for half an hour (only between 2 and midnight), so I wandered towards it. And of course, since this Mall is HUGE, I got to the window overlooking the ski slopes in 20 minutes, so I went right in a few minutes early.
They tried to get me to buy the ticket at the desk, but Marshall is smart and had an electronic receipt from SkiDubai.
I went through the entrance gate and to where I collect my ski clothes. I got in the empty line, which was run by a very cute French girl named Amelie. She asked for my shoe size and when she did the conversion to European sizes she exclaimed "Is impossible!" I wear a 13.
Next she wanted to know what size ski pants and jacket. She asked "do you want loose and baggy or tight and faggy?" with appropriate (or not) pantomime to match.
I got my stuff from Amelie and changed. I picked up skis, which they fitted to the ski boots I'd been given, and got poles upstairs before the entrance to the slope, and entered the ski slope around 2:10.
It was cold! I haven't felt real cold in a long, long time. Ow. I got my skis on and hopped right on the lift to the top.
SkiDubai is the world's largest indoor ski resort (how many can there even be?), and deserves the title. Sure, the place is no Jackson Hole or Tahoe, or even Butternut, but considering the impossibility of constructing and maintaining a 400m ski slope with high ceilings and a chairlift in a desert that tops 110° regularly, this is a really cool project.
The ski area has two main slopes, one "blue square" and one "black diamond." I put these in quotes because they are both green circle slopes. I guess technically the black is a black diamond by steepness, but it's too short to be really difficult. It is the only black diamond indoors in the world, though.
There's also a terrain park on the edges, and a kiddy slope and ski school area at the bottom, but I didn't explore those too much (except the terrain park).
At 3:20 I got a call from Veronica. She found a tour thing with Camel riding and dinner and a Safari into the desert for 150AED, but I'd have to leave right away. I didn't want to do it - I was enjoying my skiing and I didn't want to spend the last half of the last full day I have in Dubai in a tourist camel camp. I would rather do the markets tonight. Veronica went on the tour.
I went up the ski lift a little bit later, and there was a film crew up there. They asked me to interview about SkiDubai for NTDTV, an international news organization based in New York. I interviewed, fairly well I think, and then they filmed me going down the slope.
I stopped at the bottom for a bit and started chatting with an employee. He seemed nice enough. His name was Jack.
Later, when I was leaving around 4:45 (I had 3 hours on my 2 hour ticket, it was free for some reason), I bumped into Jack and we started talking again. I asked him how he got the job and he gave me his card and invited me to apply for next summer. That would be fun.
It took me 30 minutes to find my way out of the Mall of the Emirates, and then I spent a while on the Metro, zipping between skyscrapers.
Around 5:45 I got back to the apartment. I rested for a while. At 7, when the fast could be broken for Ramadan, I left for the markets. But I couldn't get a cab right away, as all Muslims were at Iftar, the nightly ritual of breaking the Ramadan fast, so I got on the computer.
Stephen Wagner, my good friend from Wash U, has been to Brussels countless times, and generously offered to guide my one-day tour through Brussels. He sent me an email a few days ago, with maps and an itinerary to see the city and have a good time. I printed it all out and took it with me to the markets.
At 7:40 I got a cab to the spice souq, hoping to find it this time.
I arrived just before 8. As I stepped out of the cab, spicy aromas filled my senses. I got down to the bargaining, and while I only bought some frankincense and coal, I got 60AED of frankincense and 20AED of coal for 30AED total. I'd call that a win.
Walked north to the Gold Souq, and found that it was the souq we had wandered into yesterday, where I got the two hookahs. I wandered farther down it, marveling at the gold, silver, and diamonds that don't just line the street... They infest it.
At 8:30 the call to prayer went out. This was the first time I've heard it since I've been in this country; it's a hauntingly beautiful call. Granted, it came from a loud speaker, not a man on the top of the minaret (I forget his official name), but it was beautiful nonetheless.
I got back to the apartment at 8:50 or so. I opened the door, and was surprised to see Veronica back already.
At 10 we went out to a place near the Lebanese Village. We sat down and ordered. I had chicken and beef shwarma. We ordered the hummus as well, and shisha (hookah).
The shisha was the best hookah I've ever had. Every person in the restaurant had their own hookah, and each one was giant and sitting on the ground, with a huge, double handed handle on the pipe. It was amazing.
The hummus was equally incredible. In fact, I loved it so much that I asked to buy a container of it afterwards, and the owner gave me one for free.
The schwarma was really good too. So much food for so cheap.
We walked back and got back to the apartment a little bit after midnight. Veronica has a flight home tomorrow morning so we went to bed around 1 so she could get up early.
8/16/10
Dubai - Burj Khalifa
Woke up at 7:30 to my phone ringing. Veronica wanted to know if I were up. I told her to call back at 8.
We met downstairs at 8:30ish and checked out. I left three of my four bags at the hotel for two days. We got a cab and headed to the bus station.
On the way I realized I had left my phone charging in the hotel we turned around and went back.
Got to the bus station at 9 sharp, hopped on the bus to Dubai, paid 15AED each and the bus left 2 minutes later, as soon as we sat down.
It was an uneventful bus ride. We passed a mosque here, a camel racetrack there. Most of it was desert.
At 10:20 we passed through Jumeira, a city in the Emirate of Dubai. The city is right on the border of the desert. Just desert, desert, then BAM! Skyscraper. We'll be back here tomorrow, when we go skiing and to Burj Al Arab -- speaking of which, as we passed through Jumeira, on the left we saw Burj Al Arab, and then on the right I got a perfect glimpse of the outside of the skiing place, Ski Dubai.
At 10:30 we passed Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building. We would return later, but we got a few pictures nonetheless.
My first impression of Dubai - oasis. The desert sits right next to the city, and the city is incredibly colorful and vibrant. The buildings are brand new, and the grass (yes, there is grass) is a perfect green. The water in the fountains is crystal clear, the glass of the buildings shimmers in the sun. And then there's harsh desert terrain right next door.
We got off the bus at 10:55 in Dubai and the bus station. We got a cab and for 11.50AED we found our way to the Golden Sands Hotel Apartments.
We checked in at 11:30, and made our way to room 216. Walked in to the apartment. It was a good size apartment, with two sofas, a big bed, a bathroom, a tv, a washing machine, a fridge and freezer, a microwave, a stove, pots and pans, and a coffee pot. It was a mini house -- and this was the cheapest room I could find in Dubai.
We rested inside for the hottest time of day until 2:45, when we went to the Dubai Museum on Dubai Creek -- got there by a private taxi that the hotel has. Luxury mom-mobile at the same taxi cost.
The museum is built under an old fort, and costs 3AED apiece (less than $1). It wasn't worth much more than that. Just old pots and a little history of Dubai. The most interesting thing was the population increases. In 1969 the population was 59,000. In 1977, 207,000. Today, it's well over a million, maybe 2. Wow.
Next we walked towards the Bur Dubai Souq, a market next to the water taxi across to the other side of the creek. We wandered through some back streets and found the souq. Immediately it was like Morocco again. We were everyone's friend, until we walked out. Everyone wanted to talk to us.
The Dubai market was clothing-oriented, and Veronica spent the time trying to find a scarf. I got one too, as a present for a friend -only 20AED ($5.50) which, considering this is one of the most expensive places on earth, is pretty good.
We took a water taxi to the other side of the creek, into Deira. We wandered around for a while, through what we wanted to be the spice market, but what turned out to be more like the gold market. We saw the world's largest gold ring! Really, it was certified by Guinness.
I got two really miniature hookahs, one for me and one for a friend.
When 6pm rolled around we headed back. We got on a water taxi and went back to the scarf shop, to our friend Jalie, from, where I got another scarf, this time for my mom. Then Jalie spent a good 20 minutes talking to us about the differences between our cultures; about how children in the USA leave the home and don't come back, and in Afghanistan they stay with their parents and support them. How in the USA we have public displays of affection, but in Afghanistan they know that if you truly love someone you don't need to show it to the world, just to each other in the privacy of your own home.
At 6:30 we booked it back to the apartment to drop off our stuff and head to Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world (in fact, the tallest structure in the world).
7:04 we left for Burj Khalifa - we were going to take the metro, but we decided instead to take a cab, as it was going to be no more than 25 dirhams ($7).
We arrived at 7:15, and tried to get inside. We were turned away, being told that we were in a restricted area, and that the entrance to the top (which is aptly named "At The Top") is through the Dubai Mall, the worlds biggest mall, right next door.
At 7:56 we arrived at Will Call for Burj Khalifa for our 8:00 reservation. We gave them our online receipts and they gave us tickets. We went inside.
The building is a self-guided tour, and everyone needs an appointment to go up so, unlike the Empire State Building, there were virtually no lines. We waited for maybe 15 minutes after a long leisurely walk before they let us into the elevator to the top. While we waited, we watched an educational video - 828 meters high, concrete weighing the equivalent of 100,000 elephants, elevators at 10 meters a second, etc.
We timed the elevator; 140 floors in 1 minute and 4 seconds.
The views were breathtaking. It was just after sunset and so you couldn't see forever -- and we couldn't see Burj Al Arab, the Palms, the World Islands, or Ski Dubai (though we could make out the outlines of all of them, and I could see pretty well if I strained my eyes). But the feeling of being that high up, in the tallest building in the world, of seeing the full expanse of the Dubai Mall from above, of seeing the Dubai Fountain, and the city skyline that didn't exist 20 years ago-- that was incredible.
We went down at 9. We walked for a bit through the mall, when we stumbled onto an aquarium. It was a huge aquarium, with sharks, stingrays, fish galore, and even a diver. It was incredible. There was even a tunnel where you could go under the water, but it was 25AED, so we opted out.
We left the mall before 10, and got a cab back to the hotel.
At 10:30 we went to grab dinner at Lebanese Village, a front-desk recommended restaurant, near the apartment.
The food was alright, the hummus was amazing, and the lamb tongue (yea, I had lamb tongue) was half decent. And it was a little too expensive.
We got back a little after midnight and hung out for a bit before we went to sleep.
I slept on the bed and Veronica on the couch. We went to bed at 1.
We met downstairs at 8:30ish and checked out. I left three of my four bags at the hotel for two days. We got a cab and headed to the bus station.
On the way I realized I had left my phone charging in the hotel we turned around and went back.
Got to the bus station at 9 sharp, hopped on the bus to Dubai, paid 15AED each and the bus left 2 minutes later, as soon as we sat down.
It was an uneventful bus ride. We passed a mosque here, a camel racetrack there. Most of it was desert.
At 10:20 we passed through Jumeira, a city in the Emirate of Dubai. The city is right on the border of the desert. Just desert, desert, then BAM! Skyscraper. We'll be back here tomorrow, when we go skiing and to Burj Al Arab -- speaking of which, as we passed through Jumeira, on the left we saw Burj Al Arab, and then on the right I got a perfect glimpse of the outside of the skiing place, Ski Dubai.
At 10:30 we passed Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building. We would return later, but we got a few pictures nonetheless.
My first impression of Dubai - oasis. The desert sits right next to the city, and the city is incredibly colorful and vibrant. The buildings are brand new, and the grass (yes, there is grass) is a perfect green. The water in the fountains is crystal clear, the glass of the buildings shimmers in the sun. And then there's harsh desert terrain right next door.
We got off the bus at 10:55 in Dubai and the bus station. We got a cab and for 11.50AED we found our way to the Golden Sands Hotel Apartments.
We checked in at 11:30, and made our way to room 216. Walked in to the apartment. It was a good size apartment, with two sofas, a big bed, a bathroom, a tv, a washing machine, a fridge and freezer, a microwave, a stove, pots and pans, and a coffee pot. It was a mini house -- and this was the cheapest room I could find in Dubai.
We went to a supermarket nearby and got some snacks, and came back to the apartment for breakfast at 12.
We rested inside for the hottest time of day until 2:45, when we went to the Dubai Museum on Dubai Creek -- got there by a private taxi that the hotel has. Luxury mom-mobile at the same taxi cost.
The museum is built under an old fort, and costs 3AED apiece (less than $1). It wasn't worth much more than that. Just old pots and a little history of Dubai. The most interesting thing was the population increases. In 1969 the population was 59,000. In 1977, 207,000. Today, it's well over a million, maybe 2. Wow.
Next we walked towards the Bur Dubai Souq, a market next to the water taxi across to the other side of the creek. We wandered through some back streets and found the souq. Immediately it was like Morocco again. We were everyone's friend, until we walked out. Everyone wanted to talk to us.
The Dubai market was clothing-oriented, and Veronica spent the time trying to find a scarf. I got one too, as a present for a friend -only 20AED ($5.50) which, considering this is one of the most expensive places on earth, is pretty good.
We took a water taxi to the other side of the creek, into Deira. We wandered around for a while, through what we wanted to be the spice market, but what turned out to be more like the gold market. We saw the world's largest gold ring! Really, it was certified by Guinness.
I got two really miniature hookahs, one for me and one for a friend.
When 6pm rolled around we headed back. We got on a water taxi and went back to the scarf shop, to our friend Jalie, from, where I got another scarf, this time for my mom. Then Jalie spent a good 20 minutes talking to us about the differences between our cultures; about how children in the USA leave the home and don't come back, and in Afghanistan they stay with their parents and support them. How in the USA we have public displays of affection, but in Afghanistan they know that if you truly love someone you don't need to show it to the world, just to each other in the privacy of your own home.
At 6:30 we booked it back to the apartment to drop off our stuff and head to Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world (in fact, the tallest structure in the world).
7:04 we left for Burj Khalifa - we were going to take the metro, but we decided instead to take a cab, as it was going to be no more than 25 dirhams ($7).
We arrived at 7:15, and tried to get inside. We were turned away, being told that we were in a restricted area, and that the entrance to the top (which is aptly named "At The Top") is through the Dubai Mall, the worlds biggest mall, right next door.
We found our way to Dubai Mall, and got a quick snack to break our Ramadan fast to hold our stomachs for a while before dinner.
At 7:56 we arrived at Will Call for Burj Khalifa for our 8:00 reservation. We gave them our online receipts and they gave us tickets. We went inside.
The building is a self-guided tour, and everyone needs an appointment to go up so, unlike the Empire State Building, there were virtually no lines. We waited for maybe 15 minutes after a long leisurely walk before they let us into the elevator to the top. While we waited, we watched an educational video - 828 meters high, concrete weighing the equivalent of 100,000 elephants, elevators at 10 meters a second, etc.
We timed the elevator; 140 floors in 1 minute and 4 seconds.
The views were breathtaking. It was just after sunset and so you couldn't see forever -- and we couldn't see Burj Al Arab, the Palms, the World Islands, or Ski Dubai (though we could make out the outlines of all of them, and I could see pretty well if I strained my eyes). But the feeling of being that high up, in the tallest building in the world, of seeing the full expanse of the Dubai Mall from above, of seeing the Dubai Fountain, and the city skyline that didn't exist 20 years ago-- that was incredible.
We went down at 9. We walked for a bit through the mall, when we stumbled onto an aquarium. It was a huge aquarium, with sharks, stingrays, fish galore, and even a diver. It was incredible. There was even a tunnel where you could go under the water, but it was 25AED, so we opted out.
We left the mall before 10, and got a cab back to the hotel.
At 10:30 we went to grab dinner at Lebanese Village, a front-desk recommended restaurant, near the apartment.
The food was alright, the hummus was amazing, and the lamb tongue (yea, I had lamb tongue) was half decent. And it was a little too expensive.
We got back a little after midnight and hung out for a bit before we went to sleep.
I slept on the bed and Veronica on the couch. We went to bed at 1.
8/15/10
Abu Dhabi
The plane landed early. We were supposed to land at 6:40, but we touched down at 5:45. I got to watch the descent - Etihad has a thing that lets you watch a camera on the front of the plane while it moves.
Apparently I didn't need a visa, so I breezed through passport control and customs (they even didn't find, in their x-Ray of my handbaggage, the Chinese rip-off DVDs they supposedly don't approve of - not because of copywrite infringement, but because of the passionate kissing and partial nudity).
Went to an ATM and pulled out some cash, 1000 Arab Emirates Dirhams (AED), at about 3.6 to the dollar. The bills look really cool.
I got a cab (which was a luxury chauffer car) to my hotel. It's a fixed rate of 70AED to Abu Dhabi, or $20, and I figured it was worth it in the heat. Besides, I got there incredibly fast, as my driver went 160km/h the whole way -- I guess they can do that when the roads are all less than 10 years old, and thus smooth as a baby's bottom in this very recent city.
On the way we passed palm trees galore, flatness, adobe-looking homes, and the occasional mosque, all the while listening to the radio (98.7, all Qur'an, all the time). Not to mention we passed dozens of cranes; I counted over 40 on the way to the hotel alone - this country is building faster than the cars drive. I kept thinking to myself, "Where the hell am I?!" This country just sprouted out of nothing in the last 40 years.
Arrived at quarter to seven at Novotel. Checked-in to Room 1607, left a note for Veronica to that effect, and brought one of my bags up. A few minutes after I got to my room, the valet came with the rest of my bags. I didn't tip him -- I read that tipping isn't expected but it is greatly appreciated.
Veronica landed in Dubai sometime around 5ish. She could, at the earliest, catch the 6am bus - first bus of the day - to Abu Dhabi, which would get her to the bus station down the street from the hotel around 8 or 8:30. So in my time to kill, I went swimming. As we used to say in China, "为什么不?" "Why not?"
I swam for about 50 minutes in the fifth floor outdoor pool. Got out at 8:15 and showered the clorene away in my room.
Relaxed for a while. At 10, Veronica still hadn't arrived so I went downstairs. I shot her an email, wondering where she was, and a minute later she wandered through the doors.
Veronica checked into room 1703 and settled in.
At 11 we left the hotel. I spent some time on our walk figuring out the arabic numbering system based on the license plates. 1=١ 2=٢ 3=٣ 4=٤ 5=٥ 6=٦ 7=٧ 8=٨ 9=٩ 0=٠ -- it wasn't too difficult, but it took a little time to realize that the numbers go left to right, while the text is read right to left. Weird. We walked north to the Corniche, which in peak seasons is apparently a walkway very much like the Bund in Shanghai - right on the water and lively. But when we went, at 11, it was almost midday in one of the hottest days of the hottest month in this country. It was 108° today. There was not one person on the Corniche.
It was really cool anyway -- not heat-cool, though. There was no humidity, so no sweat, but we were parched so quickly it was insane.
We passed fountain after fountain, something like 20 in all. Most of them I had to splash my face in to keep cool. We had forgotten water; and we're not allowed to drink in public anyway until sundown at 7.
We walked for an hour and gave up being outside. We got back at 12:15, and took a siesta. At 1 we got online in the business center for free.
Apparently I didn't need a visa, so I breezed through passport control and customs (they even didn't find, in their x-Ray of my handbaggage, the Chinese rip-off DVDs they supposedly don't approve of - not because of copywrite infringement, but because of the passionate kissing and partial nudity).
Went to an ATM and pulled out some cash, 1000 Arab Emirates Dirhams (AED), at about 3.6 to the dollar. The bills look really cool.
I got a cab (which was a luxury chauffer car) to my hotel. It's a fixed rate of 70AED to Abu Dhabi, or $20, and I figured it was worth it in the heat. Besides, I got there incredibly fast, as my driver went 160km/h the whole way -- I guess they can do that when the roads are all less than 10 years old, and thus smooth as a baby's bottom in this very recent city.
On the way we passed palm trees galore, flatness, adobe-looking homes, and the occasional mosque, all the while listening to the radio (98.7, all Qur'an, all the time). Not to mention we passed dozens of cranes; I counted over 40 on the way to the hotel alone - this country is building faster than the cars drive. I kept thinking to myself, "Where the hell am I?!" This country just sprouted out of nothing in the last 40 years.
Arrived at quarter to seven at Novotel. Checked-in to Room 1607, left a note for Veronica to that effect, and brought one of my bags up. A few minutes after I got to my room, the valet came with the rest of my bags. I didn't tip him -- I read that tipping isn't expected but it is greatly appreciated.
Veronica landed in Dubai sometime around 5ish. She could, at the earliest, catch the 6am bus - first bus of the day - to Abu Dhabi, which would get her to the bus station down the street from the hotel around 8 or 8:30. So in my time to kill, I went swimming. As we used to say in China, "为什么不?" "Why not?"
I swam for about 50 minutes in the fifth floor outdoor pool. Got out at 8:15 and showered the clorene away in my room.
Relaxed for a while. At 10, Veronica still hadn't arrived so I went downstairs. I shot her an email, wondering where she was, and a minute later she wandered through the doors.
Veronica checked into room 1703 and settled in.
At 11 we left the hotel. I spent some time on our walk figuring out the arabic numbering system based on the license plates. 1=١ 2=٢ 3=٣ 4=٤ 5=٥ 6=٦ 7=٧ 8=٨ 9=٩ 0=٠ -- it wasn't too difficult, but it took a little time to realize that the numbers go left to right, while the text is read right to left. Weird. We walked north to the Corniche, which in peak seasons is apparently a walkway very much like the Bund in Shanghai - right on the water and lively. But when we went, at 11, it was almost midday in one of the hottest days of the hottest month in this country. It was 108° today. There was not one person on the Corniche.
It was really cool anyway -- not heat-cool, though. There was no humidity, so no sweat, but we were parched so quickly it was insane.
We passed fountain after fountain, something like 20 in all. Most of them I had to splash my face in to keep cool. We had forgotten water; and we're not allowed to drink in public anyway until sundown at 7.
We walked for an hour and gave up being outside. We got back at 12:15, and took a siesta. At 1 we got online in the business center for free.
We spent an hour checking on email and such; there's not much tourist stuff in this city, and wandering the streets is too hot. Besides, food is illegal until 7-- so we figured we'd just rest and at 7 would eat and wander and shop and eat and drink. Veronica went to her room.
At 2:15 I went downstairs and spent a while talking with Murthy, the Concierge. I asked him about places to eat and smoke (UAE is a shisha heaven, so they say). He gave me some inexpensive places that are very close to the hotel.
I went upstairs at 3 and siesta'd, hungry for dinner later. A little jet lag hit me and I lay still for a few hours. Watched Blade Runner on tv.
At seven sharp (sundown was at 6:55) we left the hotel. Immediately we felt a marked change between then and daytime. Restaurants had suddenly opened up; people were walking down the street; shops were open; and the temperatures had cooled a bit.
We walked down 2 blocks to Automatic, a place that the concierge recommended.
At 2:15 I went downstairs and spent a while talking with Murthy, the Concierge. I asked him about places to eat and smoke (UAE is a shisha heaven, so they say). He gave me some inexpensive places that are very close to the hotel.
I went upstairs at 3 and siesta'd, hungry for dinner later. A little jet lag hit me and I lay still for a few hours. Watched Blade Runner on tv.
At seven sharp (sundown was at 6:55) we left the hotel. Immediately we felt a marked change between then and daytime. Restaurants had suddenly opened up; people were walking down the street; shops were open; and the temperatures had cooled a bit.
We walked down 2 blocks to Automatic, a place that the concierge recommended.
We went back to the hotel after dinner. It was about 8:45. I went to my room for a 30 minute nap, jetlagged a bit. I set an alarm for 45 minutes from then and took a nap.
•••
I woke up just shy of 3am; I had fallen asleep. Called Veronica in her room - oh well. I went back to sleep.
•••
I woke up just shy of 3am; I had fallen asleep. Called Veronica in her room - oh well. I went back to sleep.
8/14/10
My Last Day in Beijing -- On My Way Home
Woke up naturally at 10:15. Took my last shower in my room and got to packing.
Miraculously, I managed to pack everything I owned by noon into four items -- my big backpack was the largest, stuffed to the gills with everything I owned; next was the black rolling bag I got from Kuldeep via Cole, with every souvineer I got here and then some; then my blue backpack, filled with everything I'll need in the UAE and Belgium; finally was a plastic bag, holding my shot chess set and my briefcase from work.
A little after noon I took all of these bags, piled them on top of me, and carried them downstairs and checked out, for the last time (I had checked out for Korea and Shanghai, too).
I bumped into Jeeyoung, and she and Jonas and I went to the fancy Sichuan restaurant next to the entrance to the hostel for breakfast (well, lunch for them).
We had some really weird dishes, but overall it was alright -- we finished and went back to the hostel at 1:30, where we immediately turned around to go to Yashow.
When we got there I called Shanshan. She and Veronica were upstairs on the second floor, and we met up with them for a bit before we went souvineer shopping on the fifth floor.
Jonas and Jeeyoung and I wandered around for a while. I bought a bracelet for 5元 and a pen that shocks the clicker for 10元.
We left around 2:30 and Veronica and Shanshan went elsewhere for a family dinner with Shanshan's family. I didn't say goodbye formally because I planned on seeing Shanshan later tonight and I'll see Veronica tomorrow in the UAE.
Jonas, Jeeyoung and I went to a DVD store and Jonas got a few DVDs. Then we went to the post office, where I finally got around to mailing back the two people's IDs and wallet and credit card I found in Boryeong. It cost 50元 to send the two packages, but they'll have the peace of mind that no one fraudulently charged money to the card or stole their identities -- that's worth $7. On the return address I simply wrote, "A Good Samaritan, Found in Boryeong, Korea."
We stopped next at a sex shop, where I haggled in half the price of a gag gift for a good friend at home.
I went back to the hostel then, at 4. Jonas and Jeeyoung went to the Village to pick up some more stuff. We agreed to meet at 6 for dinner.
I hung out with Sunny (荣荣) for a while, playing foosball (we tied, she's surprisingly good), talking and such. I got her facebook info so we could stay in touch while I'm home. At 5 she got off work and left the hostel.
Mingwei came to the hostel and Jonas and Cole and Jeeyoung and Chris (Denmark Chris) and Mingwei and I went to dinner. We went to an Italian restaurant behind the hostel, out the back entrance.
Before we left, Jeeyoung asked me to finish her beer, which was maybe 75% full. I downed it, during which Chris asked me to do the same. I took his, and downed that immediately after I finished Jeeyoung's. The owner of the hostel, who had just gotten himself a draft pint of beer, saw this and passed me the pint while I was drinking Chris's beer. I downed that, though with the clapping and cheering and jokes it was hard to keep a straight face, and I had to stop briefly once or twice.
It was a delicious albeit expensive meal. I had a pizza with several types of cheese on it, Jonas had a pizza too, the others had pastas.
After dinner we all had a brief siesta in the hostel. Jonas and Jeeyoung went to a small concert a friend of Jonas's was throwing; I said goodbye to both of them, sad to see another set of friends disappear.
Cole and Mingwei and I went out to Sanlitun, to Smuggler's. We had couple of shots apiece -- A Blow Job shot and a Godfather shot -- but I wanted to make my own, so I talked to the bartender and he let me. I made 5 shots of what I call a Lactose Intolerant Russian (a little different from a white russian, this has vodka and kahlua, and then bailey's instead of milk) for the three of us and Mingwei's two friends who joined us, JJ and JS. After those we had Blue Kamakazi shots, then a gin and tonic apiece.
After this, it was about 10:30 and we went outside. I said my goodbye to Mingwei and Cole and I went back.
We chilled at the hostel for a bit - I saw Chris and said goodbye. I said goodbye also to Baobao, the little dog I've become so damned fond of. He looked sad to see me go -- somehow he knew; maybe it was the giant backpack on my back.
It was 11:30 and I got a cab to the airport, terminal three. The departure ramp for cars was closed so we wandered around downstairs for a bit before we found how to get in. I paid and got a cart and carted my stuff the ridiculous length to the Etihad Air check-in counter.
My backpack was oversized and 32.5kg (!!!) so I had to bring it myself to the oversized baggage section. I was also told to "run to the gate." It was 12:20, my flight was 1:30.
Apparently there's a shuttle to be taken to the gate. But they neglected to tell me that the shuttle was out of service. I was fortunate to bump into an equally unfortunate passenger who speaks fluent English. She found a bus down a floor which brought us to the E terminal.
We got to the E terminal and got to security. It was a little awkward to put all my pocket contents into a tray when I realized I had a sex toy in one of them -- the present I bought earlier today. Oh well -- I placed the toy in a prominent position in the tray and smiled. I got through without issue.
Through security there was a man waiting with a trolley. He offered to drive me to the gate for only 10元. It was the best 10元 I've ever spent.
I got on the plane and settled in at 5 to 1. We watched the safety video (which started with a passage from the Koran...) and took off a little after our scheduled time. I slept.
Miraculously, I managed to pack everything I owned by noon into four items -- my big backpack was the largest, stuffed to the gills with everything I owned; next was the black rolling bag I got from Kuldeep via Cole, with every souvineer I got here and then some; then my blue backpack, filled with everything I'll need in the UAE and Belgium; finally was a plastic bag, holding my shot chess set and my briefcase from work.
A little after noon I took all of these bags, piled them on top of me, and carried them downstairs and checked out, for the last time (I had checked out for Korea and Shanghai, too).
I bumped into Jeeyoung, and she and Jonas and I went to the fancy Sichuan restaurant next to the entrance to the hostel for breakfast (well, lunch for them).
We had some really weird dishes, but overall it was alright -- we finished and went back to the hostel at 1:30, where we immediately turned around to go to Yashow.
When we got there I called Shanshan. She and Veronica were upstairs on the second floor, and we met up with them for a bit before we went souvineer shopping on the fifth floor.
Jonas and Jeeyoung and I wandered around for a while. I bought a bracelet for 5元 and a pen that shocks the clicker for 10元.
We left around 2:30 and Veronica and Shanshan went elsewhere for a family dinner with Shanshan's family. I didn't say goodbye formally because I planned on seeing Shanshan later tonight and I'll see Veronica tomorrow in the UAE.
Jonas, Jeeyoung and I went to a DVD store and Jonas got a few DVDs. Then we went to the post office, where I finally got around to mailing back the two people's IDs and wallet and credit card I found in Boryeong. It cost 50元 to send the two packages, but they'll have the peace of mind that no one fraudulently charged money to the card or stole their identities -- that's worth $7. On the return address I simply wrote, "A Good Samaritan, Found in Boryeong, Korea."
We stopped next at a sex shop, where I haggled in half the price of a gag gift for a good friend at home.
I went back to the hostel then, at 4. Jonas and Jeeyoung went to the Village to pick up some more stuff. We agreed to meet at 6 for dinner.
I hung out with Sunny (荣荣) for a while, playing foosball (we tied, she's surprisingly good), talking and such. I got her facebook info so we could stay in touch while I'm home. At 5 she got off work and left the hostel.
Mingwei came to the hostel and Jonas and Cole and Jeeyoung and Chris (Denmark Chris) and Mingwei and I went to dinner. We went to an Italian restaurant behind the hostel, out the back entrance.
Before we left, Jeeyoung asked me to finish her beer, which was maybe 75% full. I downed it, during which Chris asked me to do the same. I took his, and downed that immediately after I finished Jeeyoung's. The owner of the hostel, who had just gotten himself a draft pint of beer, saw this and passed me the pint while I was drinking Chris's beer. I downed that, though with the clapping and cheering and jokes it was hard to keep a straight face, and I had to stop briefly once or twice.
It was a delicious albeit expensive meal. I had a pizza with several types of cheese on it, Jonas had a pizza too, the others had pastas.
After dinner we all had a brief siesta in the hostel. Jonas and Jeeyoung went to a small concert a friend of Jonas's was throwing; I said goodbye to both of them, sad to see another set of friends disappear.
Cole and Mingwei and I went out to Sanlitun, to Smuggler's. We had couple of shots apiece -- A Blow Job shot and a Godfather shot -- but I wanted to make my own, so I talked to the bartender and he let me. I made 5 shots of what I call a Lactose Intolerant Russian (a little different from a white russian, this has vodka and kahlua, and then bailey's instead of milk) for the three of us and Mingwei's two friends who joined us, JJ and JS. After those we had Blue Kamakazi shots, then a gin and tonic apiece.
After this, it was about 10:30 and we went outside. I said my goodbye to Mingwei and Cole and I went back.
We chilled at the hostel for a bit - I saw Chris and said goodbye. I said goodbye also to Baobao, the little dog I've become so damned fond of. He looked sad to see me go -- somehow he knew; maybe it was the giant backpack on my back.
It was 11:30 and I got a cab to the airport, terminal three. The departure ramp for cars was closed so we wandered around downstairs for a bit before we found how to get in. I paid and got a cart and carted my stuff the ridiculous length to the Etihad Air check-in counter.
My backpack was oversized and 32.5kg (!!!) so I had to bring it myself to the oversized baggage section. I was also told to "run to the gate." It was 12:20, my flight was 1:30.
Apparently there's a shuttle to be taken to the gate. But they neglected to tell me that the shuttle was out of service. I was fortunate to bump into an equally unfortunate passenger who speaks fluent English. She found a bus down a floor which brought us to the E terminal.
We got to the E terminal and got to security. It was a little awkward to put all my pocket contents into a tray when I realized I had a sex toy in one of them -- the present I bought earlier today. Oh well -- I placed the toy in a prominent position in the tray and smiled. I got through without issue.
Through security there was a man waiting with a trolley. He offered to drive me to the gate for only 10元. It was the best 10元 I've ever spent.
I got on the plane and settled in at 5 to 1. We watched the safety video (which started with a passage from the Koran...) and took off a little after our scheduled time. I slept.
8/13/10
Last Day at the Office
I woke up at 8, showered and got my stuff together. Went downstairs to have breakfast.
I called Alex to find out where she was so I could say goodbye -- she was to leave while I was at work.
To my surprise, Alex was not asleep. In fact, she was outside the hostel, sitting on a stoop with Max, one of the twins, and Chris from CT.
The two (Chris had not) had stayed up all night, as today they were both leaving. They were sipping Mountain Dew and Red Bull to stay awake. We talked for a bit and I had breakfast.
At 9:40 I had to leave, and so I said my goodbyes to Alex, the third of our original group of five Americans to leave. I hope we meet again. She has my number and such so it shouldn't be too difficult (she goes to school in Boston, so not too far from home either).
Now it's just Cole and me. And then there were two.
I got to work a tad past ten for my last day. There was no morning work (I had two memorandums to edit but they were on others' desks and I couldn't get to work on them immediately, so I waited), so I finalized my itinerary for the UAE and Belgium.
Ian, my mentor on this internship, took Evonne and I out to lunch to a cafe down the street for my last meal. I had a duck salad and chicken breast. Evonne naively ordered a T-bone steak, which was four times more food than she could eat - it was real American portions.
The meal was good and the company was too. We walked back to the office and went our separate ways.
I got a call from Joel in Hong Kong at 2:15, who told me no more work was needed on the project I've been doing for him. Done.
Wrapped up all my work in the afternoon. I gave Mark my key card, sent an office-wide email out, thanking them for a great 6 weeks, got listed on the PH alumni list, and made the rounds to say goodbye to everyone I worked with. It was very final.
I left late, 7:30 or so. The office was throwing me a karaoke party after work and it wouldn't have made sense to go back to Sanlitun just to turn around and go to Karaoke.
Got to Karaoke at PartyWorld at 8 with Della; we were shown to the wrong room at first, but we found the others. The only people who had showed showed were Emma, Shuang, Shirley, and a few others; a few of the secrataries, and Emma and Shirley's husbands. Later we were joined by Baker and Ethan and the other two interns, as well as Evonne.
The company had spent a lot of money on me, seeing as this was a going away party for me; we had 1000 yuan to spend on food, plus the cost of the room. We sang song after song until 10:30, when our room rental expired.
Emma gave me a ride home after KTV, and I got to the hostel a little after 11. I got changed quickly, collected Cole from his room, and went out to meet Veronica, Lixuan, Shanshan, and Milton, and several others from their program, at Kokomo in Sanlitun Village (they had contacted me, begging me to come out).
We met up with them on the rooftop bar, and Veronica starting giving me shots of Malibu Coconut. I took 4 in a few minutes to catch up to everyone else.
After Kokomo we went to the Door, next to Smuggler's (which was packed), and someone passed around more shots; this time of Skyy vodka. I took two. Then I got a draft beer. Downed it. I bought Milton and myself glasses of Absinth. Downed that (though a little more slowly than the other ones). I had been drinking for an hour.
1 hour in, with 6 shots of hard liquor and 2 shots of absinth and a beer in me, I was feeling buzzed. We all went back to Kokomo and I danced with Shanshan on the roof for a while.
After, we spent some time on the couch in the corner before we called it a night. I said my solemn goodbyes to Milton and Lixuan -- hope I'll see them again, they're good guys.
Shanshan and Veronica and I walked out of the bar street and passed the Creperie. It's a French Crepe place which I've been dying to try. The three of us sat around and enjoyed mediocre (by French standards) but delicious crepes for a while, fleshing out business ideas and talking about our plans tomorrow for Veronica and my last day.
I left then, a little after the crepe place closed at 2, and got a rickshaw back. I got the price to 10元 but he begged for more when I got back to the hostel. I didn't give it to him.
I got in around 2:30, and fell asleep around 3:30.
I called Alex to find out where she was so I could say goodbye -- she was to leave while I was at work.
To my surprise, Alex was not asleep. In fact, she was outside the hostel, sitting on a stoop with Max, one of the twins, and Chris from CT.
The two (Chris had not) had stayed up all night, as today they were both leaving. They were sipping Mountain Dew and Red Bull to stay awake. We talked for a bit and I had breakfast.
At 9:40 I had to leave, and so I said my goodbyes to Alex, the third of our original group of five Americans to leave. I hope we meet again. She has my number and such so it shouldn't be too difficult (she goes to school in Boston, so not too far from home either).
Now it's just Cole and me. And then there were two.
I got to work a tad past ten for my last day. There was no morning work (I had two memorandums to edit but they were on others' desks and I couldn't get to work on them immediately, so I waited), so I finalized my itinerary for the UAE and Belgium.
Ian, my mentor on this internship, took Evonne and I out to lunch to a cafe down the street for my last meal. I had a duck salad and chicken breast. Evonne naively ordered a T-bone steak, which was four times more food than she could eat - it was real American portions.
The meal was good and the company was too. We walked back to the office and went our separate ways.
I got a call from Joel in Hong Kong at 2:15, who told me no more work was needed on the project I've been doing for him. Done.
Wrapped up all my work in the afternoon. I gave Mark my key card, sent an office-wide email out, thanking them for a great 6 weeks, got listed on the PH alumni list, and made the rounds to say goodbye to everyone I worked with. It was very final.
I left late, 7:30 or so. The office was throwing me a karaoke party after work and it wouldn't have made sense to go back to Sanlitun just to turn around and go to Karaoke.
Got to Karaoke at PartyWorld at 8 with Della; we were shown to the wrong room at first, but we found the others. The only people who had showed showed were Emma, Shuang, Shirley, and a few others; a few of the secrataries, and Emma and Shirley's husbands. Later we were joined by Baker and Ethan and the other two interns, as well as Evonne.
The company had spent a lot of money on me, seeing as this was a going away party for me; we had 1000 yuan to spend on food, plus the cost of the room. We sang song after song until 10:30, when our room rental expired.
Emma gave me a ride home after KTV, and I got to the hostel a little after 11. I got changed quickly, collected Cole from his room, and went out to meet Veronica, Lixuan, Shanshan, and Milton, and several others from their program, at Kokomo in Sanlitun Village (they had contacted me, begging me to come out).
We met up with them on the rooftop bar, and Veronica starting giving me shots of Malibu Coconut. I took 4 in a few minutes to catch up to everyone else.
After Kokomo we went to the Door, next to Smuggler's (which was packed), and someone passed around more shots; this time of Skyy vodka. I took two. Then I got a draft beer. Downed it. I bought Milton and myself glasses of Absinth. Downed that (though a little more slowly than the other ones). I had been drinking for an hour.
1 hour in, with 6 shots of hard liquor and 2 shots of absinth and a beer in me, I was feeling buzzed. We all went back to Kokomo and I danced with Shanshan on the roof for a while.
After, we spent some time on the couch in the corner before we called it a night. I said my solemn goodbyes to Milton and Lixuan -- hope I'll see them again, they're good guys.
Shanshan and Veronica and I walked out of the bar street and passed the Creperie. It's a French Crepe place which I've been dying to try. The three of us sat around and enjoyed mediocre (by French standards) but delicious crepes for a while, fleshing out business ideas and talking about our plans tomorrow for Veronica and my last day.
I left then, a little after the crepe place closed at 2, and got a rickshaw back. I got the price to 10元 but he begged for more when I got back to the hostel. I didn't give it to him.
I got in around 2:30, and fell asleep around 3:30.
8/12/10
Alex's Last Night
I woke up at 7:30 and was out the door just after half past eight.
My cab driver asked me if I was working in Beijing. I told him yes and for a few months. He wanted to know how long I'd been studying Chinese -- I told him I've been in country for 3 months. It was a little white lie, but only a little. I've spent three months here, but spread over 4 years.
We got to talking, and I asked him if he spoke English. He said he knew how to say "你好," but never actually said "Hello." I think he was embarassed.
I told him that English was very difficult, and the grammar especially, but that Chinese was very difficult too. He agreed about written Chinese, "太难了," but said spoken Chinese was easy. I had to set that straight.
I said speaking the words is easy, but the tones are impossible. He didn't know that English didn't have tones.
I told him the story of my final test my first year of Chinese, where Mr. Fray asked us "你会骑马吗?" or "Can you ride a horse?" and due to tonal confusion, we thought he said "你会骑妈妈," or "You can ride your mother." The taxi driver got a laugh out of that.
I sat down at my desk at 9am sharp. Xiaochen was the only one in the office, literally. I got to the work I was sent late last night so it could be done asap, then spent the remainder of the day on my projects.
Towards 6 I got a call from Veronica. She's about to go home as well, and she had planned to go to the UAE for a short layover -- but when she found out I was stopping over she wanted to tag along. So she spent today making some calls to switch her flights around, and was calling to find out where I was staying.
At 6 sharp I got a call from Stephanie, asking for me to stick around for 15 minutes while she writes an email for my review. I stuck around for 30 before it came. It wasn't all fruitless, though -- I at 6:30 I got 181元 in reimbursement money from the company, which I put in for several days ago.
I left the office at 6:40 and got a bus just before 7.
Got to the hostel at 7:30, and packed a bit upstairs.
At 8:30 Alex and I sat down for her last meal in Beijing at Aunt Characteristic Home Dish. I treated, it being her last night, and we ordered a duck. That's it. A duck. It was amazing.
We had wanted to go to Karaoke with a bunch of people but as the night wore on, everyone cancelled -- Milton, Lixuan, Veronica, Shanshan, Baoxin (Milton's old roommate); they all cancelled. Cole, Alex, Jonas, Jeeyoung and I were left. Also, Mingwei joined us. But we didn't have enough people for the KTV place we wanted to go to so we went instead to Smuggler's in Sanlitun.
Cole and I went ahead, met Mingwei at Smuggler's, and were soon followed by the other three. The six of us spent a few hours drinking and laughing and having a good time.
At one point close to midnight, I looked up and saw a familiar face. It was that woman who harassed Kuldeep like crazy on Ross' last night!! The one who Kuldeep tried to pawn off on everyone, including me (and I deflected her saying I wasn't into economics like she was, but into post-colonial, pre-antebellum history...). We took a stealthy photo for Kuldeep.
At 2 we all found ourselves back at the hostel (except Mingwei, who went home via his driver). Everyone gathered in Jonas' room (he booked the king sized bed starting last night because he got fed up with not having a private room) for some more drinking but I declined, last day of work tomorrow and such.
I went to my room, attempted a little more packing, and went to sleep at 2:45 or 3.
My cab driver asked me if I was working in Beijing. I told him yes and for a few months. He wanted to know how long I'd been studying Chinese -- I told him I've been in country for 3 months. It was a little white lie, but only a little. I've spent three months here, but spread over 4 years.
We got to talking, and I asked him if he spoke English. He said he knew how to say "你好," but never actually said "Hello." I think he was embarassed.
I told him that English was very difficult, and the grammar especially, but that Chinese was very difficult too. He agreed about written Chinese, "太难了," but said spoken Chinese was easy. I had to set that straight.
I said speaking the words is easy, but the tones are impossible. He didn't know that English didn't have tones.
I told him the story of my final test my first year of Chinese, where Mr. Fray asked us "你会骑马吗?" or "Can you ride a horse?" and due to tonal confusion, we thought he said "你会骑妈妈," or "You can ride your mother." The taxi driver got a laugh out of that.
I sat down at my desk at 9am sharp. Xiaochen was the only one in the office, literally. I got to the work I was sent late last night so it could be done asap, then spent the remainder of the day on my projects.
Towards 6 I got a call from Veronica. She's about to go home as well, and she had planned to go to the UAE for a short layover -- but when she found out I was stopping over she wanted to tag along. So she spent today making some calls to switch her flights around, and was calling to find out where I was staying.
At 6 sharp I got a call from Stephanie, asking for me to stick around for 15 minutes while she writes an email for my review. I stuck around for 30 before it came. It wasn't all fruitless, though -- I at 6:30 I got 181元 in reimbursement money from the company, which I put in for several days ago.
I left the office at 6:40 and got a bus just before 7.
Got to the hostel at 7:30, and packed a bit upstairs.
At 8:30 Alex and I sat down for her last meal in Beijing at Aunt Characteristic Home Dish. I treated, it being her last night, and we ordered a duck. That's it. A duck. It was amazing.
We had wanted to go to Karaoke with a bunch of people but as the night wore on, everyone cancelled -- Milton, Lixuan, Veronica, Shanshan, Baoxin (Milton's old roommate); they all cancelled. Cole, Alex, Jonas, Jeeyoung and I were left. Also, Mingwei joined us. But we didn't have enough people for the KTV place we wanted to go to so we went instead to Smuggler's in Sanlitun.
Cole and I went ahead, met Mingwei at Smuggler's, and were soon followed by the other three. The six of us spent a few hours drinking and laughing and having a good time.
At one point close to midnight, I looked up and saw a familiar face. It was that woman who harassed Kuldeep like crazy on Ross' last night!! The one who Kuldeep tried to pawn off on everyone, including me (and I deflected her saying I wasn't into economics like she was, but into post-colonial, pre-antebellum history...). We took a stealthy photo for Kuldeep.
At 2 we all found ourselves back at the hostel (except Mingwei, who went home via his driver). Everyone gathered in Jonas' room (he booked the king sized bed starting last night because he got fed up with not having a private room) for some more drinking but I declined, last day of work tomorrow and such.
I went to my room, attempted a little more packing, and went to sleep at 2:45 or 3.
8/11/10
Like A Rolling Stone
Work was more of the usual.
I did find out two important things about the UAE for my visit soon, though:
1) Ramadan started today, so when I get there it will be illegal to eat or drink or smoke in public, punishable by arrest, during daylight hours; and
2) Dubai is home to Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building.
So part of the day was spent lamenting the future lack of sustainance and booking a ticket to the top of the tallest manmade structure on the planet (which, interestingly enough, costs less than a ticket to the top of the Empire State Building, though it's over twice the height).
Had lunch with Evonne at the Japanese place in SOHO Building A and spent the afternoon at work, well, working.
I left at 6 and got the bus at 6:22. While yesterday's bus was characterized by obscene traffic and non-existent bus movement, today things went more smoothly. I got off at 6:45.
As of today, I've been traveling for 58 days. And I got a haircut a few days before I left. But I haven't gotten one since. So, needless to say, my hair has become quite the little Jew-fro. And when last night my hair was compared to that of Jonah Hill, I decided it was time for a haircut. There are a few places on Chunxiu Lu where my hostel is, so before I even got back to the hostel I stopped in for a haircut.
My Chinese is decent, but I'm not up on my haircutting vocab, so I mostly pantomimed that my hair was too long and it should be short. She cut it in a matter of minutes for 20yuan ($3).
Alex passed by while I was inside and came in to keep me company.
The haircut was over circa 7:10. I had cut it quite short - not too much shorter than usual but a huge change to what it was until today. I figured I was about to go to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, with temperatures around 110F every day, and I should probably not have a sweater growing on my head.
I went back to the hostel after the haircut and changed. Went downstairs and Alex and I sat around for a while. Jonas joined us, and Jeeyoung. We had the hostel's free hotpot they do on Wednesdays for dinner.
During hotpot I got a text from work: "Marshall, can you come in on nine tomorrow?" Ugh. Kill me with the time.
"Sure, I'd be happy to!" hmmmm.
At 8:30 Alex went up to nap and Jeeyoung and Jonas went to buy Jeeyoung her native Korean Soju (that vodka-like stuff).
Eventually Cole came back and we all gathered (with Patrick, who intruded on our group most rudely) outside the hostel in the courtyard, as the weather was fantastic by Beijing standards (not even a drop of sweat at the end of the night after 4 hours outside!).
We rolled cylindrical stone seats to the tiny table and got a bunch of beer from the local Circle Q. That, plus the Soju and my gin I still had from earlier last month, and we had enough alcohol for 15 people, which is about how many we ended up entertaining. Max, one of the English twins (I remembered his name!) joined, and Chris from CT, and several more too.
We played a Korean drinking game Jeeyoung taught us (using the Soju cap to flick with your fingers until bits come off, then shots to the people adjacent to the successful flicker), as well as a beer-Russian Roulette game to the AC/DC song Thunderstruck (one drinks until the song says "thunder," then the next, and so on. But some people get "thunderstruck," which means they get to drinking and then there's a long solo and they have to keep drinking for a long long time).
I spent some time with one of the stone chairs on it's side, standing on it like a rolling log-- Cole joined in and we tried to do some cool tricks with them. I managed to balance on one, move to another one, turn the rolling stone around, roll back to the first stone, and get back on. It was my night's crowning achievement -- and I did that drunk.
Also, tonight I learned Sunny's Chinese name.
Sunny works at the hostel; she's a cute Chinese girl who's been flirting with me since day one ("Oh my Goddddd!" "为什么?!"). It's been advantageous, to say the least, because she's given me lots of free stuff, probably up to 150 yuan in value. Her Chinese name is Rongrong (荣荣). I need to figure out how to keep in touch with her because she and I have become very good friends.
At 1 I went upstairs and at 1:45 I slept. Gotta be in early, after all.
I did find out two important things about the UAE for my visit soon, though:
1) Ramadan started today, so when I get there it will be illegal to eat or drink or smoke in public, punishable by arrest, during daylight hours; and
2) Dubai is home to Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building.
So part of the day was spent lamenting the future lack of sustainance and booking a ticket to the top of the tallest manmade structure on the planet (which, interestingly enough, costs less than a ticket to the top of the Empire State Building, though it's over twice the height).
Had lunch with Evonne at the Japanese place in SOHO Building A and spent the afternoon at work, well, working.
I left at 6 and got the bus at 6:22. While yesterday's bus was characterized by obscene traffic and non-existent bus movement, today things went more smoothly. I got off at 6:45.
As of today, I've been traveling for 58 days. And I got a haircut a few days before I left. But I haven't gotten one since. So, needless to say, my hair has become quite the little Jew-fro. And when last night my hair was compared to that of Jonah Hill, I decided it was time for a haircut. There are a few places on Chunxiu Lu where my hostel is, so before I even got back to the hostel I stopped in for a haircut.
My Chinese is decent, but I'm not up on my haircutting vocab, so I mostly pantomimed that my hair was too long and it should be short. She cut it in a matter of minutes for 20yuan ($3).
Alex passed by while I was inside and came in to keep me company.
The haircut was over circa 7:10. I had cut it quite short - not too much shorter than usual but a huge change to what it was until today. I figured I was about to go to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, with temperatures around 110F every day, and I should probably not have a sweater growing on my head.
I went back to the hostel after the haircut and changed. Went downstairs and Alex and I sat around for a while. Jonas joined us, and Jeeyoung. We had the hostel's free hotpot they do on Wednesdays for dinner.
During hotpot I got a text from work: "Marshall, can you come in on nine tomorrow?" Ugh. Kill me with the time.
"Sure, I'd be happy to!" hmmmm.
At 8:30 Alex went up to nap and Jeeyoung and Jonas went to buy Jeeyoung her native Korean Soju (that vodka-like stuff).
Eventually Cole came back and we all gathered (with Patrick, who intruded on our group most rudely) outside the hostel in the courtyard, as the weather was fantastic by Beijing standards (not even a drop of sweat at the end of the night after 4 hours outside!).
We rolled cylindrical stone seats to the tiny table and got a bunch of beer from the local Circle Q. That, plus the Soju and my gin I still had from earlier last month, and we had enough alcohol for 15 people, which is about how many we ended up entertaining. Max, one of the English twins (I remembered his name!) joined, and Chris from CT, and several more too.
We played a Korean drinking game Jeeyoung taught us (using the Soju cap to flick with your fingers until bits come off, then shots to the people adjacent to the successful flicker), as well as a beer-Russian Roulette game to the AC/DC song Thunderstruck (one drinks until the song says "thunder," then the next, and so on. But some people get "thunderstruck," which means they get to drinking and then there's a long solo and they have to keep drinking for a long long time).
I spent some time with one of the stone chairs on it's side, standing on it like a rolling log-- Cole joined in and we tried to do some cool tricks with them. I managed to balance on one, move to another one, turn the rolling stone around, roll back to the first stone, and get back on. It was my night's crowning achievement -- and I did that drunk.
Also, tonight I learned Sunny's Chinese name.
Sunny works at the hostel; she's a cute Chinese girl who's been flirting with me since day one ("Oh my Goddddd!" "为什么?!"). It's been advantageous, to say the least, because she's given me lots of free stuff, probably up to 150 yuan in value. Her Chinese name is Rongrong (荣荣). I need to figure out how to keep in touch with her because she and I have become very good friends.
At 1 I went upstairs and at 1:45 I slept. Gotta be in early, after all.
8/10/10
"No Poker!"
Got out of bed at 8:15, got to work at 9:30 as Stephanie requested, and reviewed the two page memorandum for her she asked me to come in early for.
At 12:30 we had a 2 hour merger & acquisition presentation, with lunch provided.
In the afternoon I wrote a letter on Ian's behalf and researched for the two memorandums I'm writing. I left work at 6 and got the bus at 6:20.
This morning I sent out a mass text to various people around Beijing, inviting them all to dinner. Several were available, and we agreed to meet at 6:45-- which would usually be a decent time if I had indeed gotten out of work at 6, like I did. But the bus was caught in the most horrific traffic, and I didn't arrive near the hostel until 7. So I got off at the Worker's Stadium stop instead of the Worker's Gymnasium and went straight to Kro's Nest (instead of changing first) for free beer night.
Lixuan, Veronica, Milton, Alex, Cole and a few others were there. I got two free beers before they ran out (only the first keg is free). Actually, I got one, but when they ran out I hid mine and Lixuan told them I had been promised a free beer and never got it, so I got a second one for free.
Last week (or was it two weeks ago? How time flies!) when Cole and Maya and I were at Kro's Nest, we tried to play a friendly game of cards. But we were yelled at; "No poker!" Everywhere we attempted to play a simple card game the response was the same; "No poker!" But we were never even playing poker! Gambling in China is incredibly illegal, yes, but paranoia is a little much when you can't differentiate between friends having a good time and friends passing money back and forth.
Anyway, the irony is that after dinner, when Cole and I got back to the hostel, we got small change for 100 yuan and bought into a heads-up poker game for 50 yuan each, cash game, and the entire two hours we played, no one came up to us and yelled "No poker!"
Jonas bought in while we were still in the early stages of our game. Being a cash game, anyone could join at any time and cash out at any time. Jonas lost fairly quickly, and didn't feel the need to buy back in. Then a new person came by, Patrick, who is from the US but has been moving around for years. He bought in twice, and Cole and I knocked him out twice, for a total loss of 100 yuan. To be honest, he started to really annoy me while we were talking -- it's rare for me to judge someone harshly like that after just meeting them, but he was way too forward and unrelenting and closed-minded for my tastes. His overall excruciatingness very quickly became, well, excruciating.
After about 2 hours Cole cashed out with 57 yuan or so, slightly up, and I had just shy of 200 -- I quadrupled my money. It was a good game, and damn does it feel good to nix the chips and play for hard cash. And there was no "No poker!"
After the game, I had a beer or two with a bunch of people sitting outside the hostel for the last few hours of my night. I met Tom, from England, and two identical twins from England (one named Eden, I forget his brother's name), who were chill, and Chris, from Connecticut, who is in China for Shaolin Martial Arts training. Alex was with us for a while, and Jeeyoung, and Patrick (who went downhill in my book even more as he got drunk and belligerant).
At 12:30 I went upstairs to sleep. Instead I packed a bit, and at 2 I went to bed.
8/9/10
The Post Not Worth Reading
I woke up with relative ease considering how little sleep I got last night. Got dressed, had breakfast and went to work. On the way we passed the worst accident I've seen so far -- a cab (surprise!) and a motorcycle... And the cyclist was dead on the street, a crowd of people around him.
Spent the morning booking my hostel in Brussels (a place that used to be Van Gogh's studio) and figuring out what to do for the day I'm there, as well as doing an inventory for Ian so we can return a bunch of items for a client. The afternoon was research and preparation of two memorandums.
I left at 6 and got the bus at 6:17. Instead of getting off at my usual stop, though, I stopped at the Yashow Market stop -- I had some souvineer shopping to do.
I got fourteen souvineers for friends and only paid 200元, which is a bargain, to say the least, considering I got 9 t-shirts, 3 little figures, some bottle openers, an incense holder and a fan. I was too lazy to argue so I just told people how much it was worth (I've been in enough of these markets to know... it makes things easier)
Got back to the hostel at 7:45 and got from Cole a spare suitcase he didn't need. He had gotten it from Kuldeep, who got it for a trip to Shanghai but couldn't bring it home. I need it for all my extra stuff I've gotten here.
Cole and I went out at 9 for dinner at Aunt Characteristics, where we saw Alex, who was on her way to the hostel to rest, feeling a bit sick. During dinner I got a text from Stephanie, from the office, asking me to be in at 9:30 tomorrow. Great. I responded "happy to"...
After dinner, Cole and I got Alex and at 10 the three of us got foot massages at our usual place.
After an hour we paid and floated to the hostel. I spent a while chatting with Steffan and Jeeyoung, the Koreans, and Jonas and a few more. Steffan is going to Mongolia tomorrow morning so I said goodbye to him at 12:30 when I went up to sleep -- gotta be up early, after all.
Spent the morning booking my hostel in Brussels (a place that used to be Van Gogh's studio) and figuring out what to do for the day I'm there, as well as doing an inventory for Ian so we can return a bunch of items for a client. The afternoon was research and preparation of two memorandums.
I left at 6 and got the bus at 6:17. Instead of getting off at my usual stop, though, I stopped at the Yashow Market stop -- I had some souvineer shopping to do.
I got fourteen souvineers for friends and only paid 200元, which is a bargain, to say the least, considering I got 9 t-shirts, 3 little figures, some bottle openers, an incense holder and a fan. I was too lazy to argue so I just told people how much it was worth (I've been in enough of these markets to know... it makes things easier)
Got back to the hostel at 7:45 and got from Cole a spare suitcase he didn't need. He had gotten it from Kuldeep, who got it for a trip to Shanghai but couldn't bring it home. I need it for all my extra stuff I've gotten here.
Cole and I went out at 9 for dinner at Aunt Characteristics, where we saw Alex, who was on her way to the hostel to rest, feeling a bit sick. During dinner I got a text from Stephanie, from the office, asking me to be in at 9:30 tomorrow. Great. I responded "happy to"...
After dinner, Cole and I got Alex and at 10 the three of us got foot massages at our usual place.
After an hour we paid and floated to the hostel. I spent a while chatting with Steffan and Jeeyoung, the Koreans, and Jonas and a few more. Steffan is going to Mongolia tomorrow morning so I said goodbye to him at 12:30 when I went up to sleep -- gotta be up early, after all.
8/8/10
Sunday, Day of Rest
I woke up at 10:39, or so said one of my roommates when I asked. I got up and got to packing. My stay in Shanghai was far too short.
As I began packing, a guy came in for the same reason. His name was Heikki, from Finland.
We got to talking and packing, and we each checked out of the hostel. Heikki works for some Finnish company in a city about 30 min away, but he finds the city boring so he spends his weekends at LeTour in Shanghai.
We checked our emails (Maya had posted a video of my awesomeness in Shanghai from Denmark on Facebook; I couldn't watch yet but I could see myself in the screenshot!) and left our bags with the front desk.I took Heikki down to the Muslim noodle shop for my third meal in Shanghai thus far. We each got beef noodles and shared some lamb fried rice. It was 18 yuan total - so cheap and so delicious.
Heikki and I went our separate ways at 1 at Nanjing West Road Subway Station, a few stops from Jing'An on line 2. I went north on line 10, he went south.
I had figured with today I would do some shopping, but when I went to a market I've never been to (Qi Pu market, ironically pronounced "cheap-oo") and found it deserted, boring, and with worse products than Beijing has on its worst days, and when I realized I was too tired to even say "不要!" I knew I needed to go back and relax. So I left without buying anything and got back on the Subway to go back to the hostel.
I got back at 2:20 and relaxed for a while. I listened to music and watched a movie on my iPhone (Nake Gun 33 1/3, a Leslie Nielson classic).At 5:30 I stopped next door to the hostel and got a back massage. It was heavenly --- except of course for the few moments I said "ow" from pain and she thought I said "好" (hao), for good, thus pushing harder; oh, and there were the several times she tried to tickle me; and there were the times the entire massage parlor reverberated with the sounds of her pounding her fists against my back --- and she liked me enough she gave me an hour-long massage for the price of the 45-minute.
6:40 I got back to the hostel next door and took a beer and a short nap. This hostel is the place where I learned to enjoy beer, forcing myself for a month to have at least one beer a night until I liked it, so I had to have some more Tsingdao Beer from here before I left.
At 7:15 I got my bag and left the hostel. I stopped first at the Muslim noodle place again, though - even three times in two days just isn't enough. I got lamb noodles and beef fried rice. Still great.
A tad before 8 I got to heading to Jing'An for the subway. I had my ticket ahead of time which I got earlier today and so I breezed onto the platform.
I got to HongQiao Airport Terminal 2 at 20 to 9. No one was in the airport, so everything went quickly. I was at Gate 30 at 9:02.
I looked down to my ticket. August 8, 2010. 2 years ago today, I was here in Shanghai, in Malone's bar, watching the Olympic Opening ceremonies. Two years ago today I was preparing to go to Beijing for the Olympics. Two years ago today I watched in awe as 2,008 drummers drummed in perfect unison. But that was a different world and a different China - every time I come here it's a different China; this country changes so rapidly.
As the plane taxied away from the gate I noticed the family that had occupied the middle column row of 3 seats in front and to my left had gotten off the plane. I took the empty row in the crowded plane - I guess spreading out isn't what the Chinese usually do.
I lay down on the seats and relaxed for the flight. We landed early, at 11:51, much to my surprise since I was spacing out - thought for a moment we had hit something...
I walked towards the taxis, thinking I would have to splurge on a taxi home since the last airport express train is at 10pm or something, but as I walked outside I saw a [Chinese only] sign detailing bus routes back. I checked the map and found one going to 东直门 (Dongzhimen), which is a mere 11元 cab ride from my hostel. So with the 16元 for the bus the trip from the airport became a 27元 affair instead of a 100元 one.
The bus left at 12:25 and after traffic (whittling a four-lane highway with 5 lanes of cars down to 2), looking down at all the cabs meters we passed (in traffic a little ways outside the airport they were already mid-40元 range) and a few accidents on the road (every accident I've seen this summer has had a cab involved, surprise surprise) the bus arrived at 东直门 and I got a cab to the hostel - getting in at 1am sharp.
Alex was up and I put down my stuff and went out with her to get her a snack because she hadn't eaten dinner yet and she was starving.
We stopped at the Circle Q (yes, not K..) across the street from the hostel and Alex got some random stuff off the counter, including a "hamburger," which ended up being a cold cut of some mystery meat on bread.
Sat back down in the hostel and I got a beer and told Alex about my weekend. Bumped into Jonas, who had turned his very impressive tattoo into something far cooler with his tattoo guy while I was away - he was very excited, being from Denmark as he is, to hear about my EXPOdition with the Little Mermaid statue from Copenhagen.
At 2 I went upstairs and showered, and by 3:00 I was asleep, though with the amount of relaxation I did today I probably could have stayed up all night.
As I began packing, a guy came in for the same reason. His name was Heikki, from Finland.
We got to talking and packing, and we each checked out of the hostel. Heikki works for some Finnish company in a city about 30 min away, but he finds the city boring so he spends his weekends at LeTour in Shanghai.
We checked our emails (Maya had posted a video of my awesomeness in Shanghai from Denmark on Facebook; I couldn't watch yet but I could see myself in the screenshot!) and left our bags with the front desk.I took Heikki down to the Muslim noodle shop for my third meal in Shanghai thus far. We each got beef noodles and shared some lamb fried rice. It was 18 yuan total - so cheap and so delicious.
Heikki and I went our separate ways at 1 at Nanjing West Road Subway Station, a few stops from Jing'An on line 2. I went north on line 10, he went south.
I had figured with today I would do some shopping, but when I went to a market I've never been to (Qi Pu market, ironically pronounced "cheap-oo") and found it deserted, boring, and with worse products than Beijing has on its worst days, and when I realized I was too tired to even say "不要!" I knew I needed to go back and relax. So I left without buying anything and got back on the Subway to go back to the hostel.
I got back at 2:20 and relaxed for a while. I listened to music and watched a movie on my iPhone (Nake Gun 33 1/3, a Leslie Nielson classic).At 5:30 I stopped next door to the hostel and got a back massage. It was heavenly --- except of course for the few moments I said "ow" from pain and she thought I said "好" (hao), for good, thus pushing harder; oh, and there were the several times she tried to tickle me; and there were the times the entire massage parlor reverberated with the sounds of her pounding her fists against my back --- and she liked me enough she gave me an hour-long massage for the price of the 45-minute.
6:40 I got back to the hostel next door and took a beer and a short nap. This hostel is the place where I learned to enjoy beer, forcing myself for a month to have at least one beer a night until I liked it, so I had to have some more Tsingdao Beer from here before I left.
At 7:15 I got my bag and left the hostel. I stopped first at the Muslim noodle place again, though - even three times in two days just isn't enough. I got lamb noodles and beef fried rice. Still great.
A tad before 8 I got to heading to Jing'An for the subway. I had my ticket ahead of time which I got earlier today and so I breezed onto the platform.
I got to HongQiao Airport Terminal 2 at 20 to 9. No one was in the airport, so everything went quickly. I was at Gate 30 at 9:02.
I looked down to my ticket. August 8, 2010. 2 years ago today, I was here in Shanghai, in Malone's bar, watching the Olympic Opening ceremonies. Two years ago today I was preparing to go to Beijing for the Olympics. Two years ago today I watched in awe as 2,008 drummers drummed in perfect unison. But that was a different world and a different China - every time I come here it's a different China; this country changes so rapidly.
As the plane taxied away from the gate I noticed the family that had occupied the middle column row of 3 seats in front and to my left had gotten off the plane. I took the empty row in the crowded plane - I guess spreading out isn't what the Chinese usually do.
I lay down on the seats and relaxed for the flight. We landed early, at 11:51, much to my surprise since I was spacing out - thought for a moment we had hit something...
I walked towards the taxis, thinking I would have to splurge on a taxi home since the last airport express train is at 10pm or something, but as I walked outside I saw a [Chinese only] sign detailing bus routes back. I checked the map and found one going to 东直门 (Dongzhimen), which is a mere 11元 cab ride from my hostel. So with the 16元 for the bus the trip from the airport became a 27元 affair instead of a 100元 one.
The bus left at 12:25 and after traffic (whittling a four-lane highway with 5 lanes of cars down to 2), looking down at all the cabs meters we passed (in traffic a little ways outside the airport they were already mid-40元 range) and a few accidents on the road (every accident I've seen this summer has had a cab involved, surprise surprise) the bus arrived at 东直门 and I got a cab to the hostel - getting in at 1am sharp.
Alex was up and I put down my stuff and went out with her to get her a snack because she hadn't eaten dinner yet and she was starving.
We stopped at the Circle Q (yes, not K..) across the street from the hostel and Alex got some random stuff off the counter, including a "hamburger," which ended up being a cold cut of some mystery meat on bread.
Sat back down in the hostel and I got a beer and told Alex about my weekend. Bumped into Jonas, who had turned his very impressive tattoo into something far cooler with his tattoo guy while I was away - he was very excited, being from Denmark as he is, to hear about my EXPOdition with the Little Mermaid statue from Copenhagen.
At 2 I went upstairs and showered, and by 3:00 I was asleep, though with the amount of relaxation I did today I probably could have stayed up all night.
8/7/10
Shanghai EXPOsed
I woke up at 4am with an angry Zambian man standing over my bed. He was quietly yelling at me, telling me in no uncertain terms to get out of my bed. I asked why, he said he'd been in that bed for four days and I had taken his bed.
Now granted, I was in bed 8 and I had been assigned bed 7. But bed 7 had been taken when I arrived and bed 8 was not only empty of bags, but of sheets and blankets as well. I didn't really argue; I was too tired and saved my energy. But I did get up and he grabbed the blankets of bed 7 on the top bunk and brought them down while I moved my stuff up. What was his stuff doing in bed 7?
I fell back to sleep and awoke just shy of 10. I slowly got ready and was out the door somewhere around 11.
Down to Jing'An temple, and through the myriad tunnels to line 7. Took the line south to Houtan, the first stop that's next to the Expo (so I was told), though next to is a very vague word. I had to walk for about 20 minutes before I got to the entrance.
Bought a student ticket for 100 yuan and breezed through security.
The first pavilion I saw was the USA pavilion, but the line was too long and the USA has no VIP citizens entrance - so I didn't go inside.
I wandered around and found the Canadian pavilion. I figured "I can get into this!" I walked up to the Chinese guy at the door and he let me through without much argument - I said my passport was at my hotel.
I went inside and a Canadian woman asked if she could help me. I told her I was here to see the pavilion. She asked for my Canadian passport - I didn't have it. She asked for a Canadian drivers license. I don't have that. She asked where I was from. I told her BC, in a little town called Wobegon just north of Victoria. She radios for some guy named Jason, who's from BC, when I refuse to sing them a Canadian song -- I left. Oh well. Onto the next one.
There was no line for the Caribbean Community Pavilion. I went inside. Breezed through superficial displays of "traditional" Caribbean items. Dominica, Saint Lucia, Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Haiti, Belize, Barbados, Guyana, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Suriname, and Jamaica. Onto the next one.
As I moved from place to place, I began to realize that the most interesting thing about each one is the architecture. Nothing really had anything special inside, or at least nothing worth waiting four hours for.
Went past Romania, Russia, Croatia, The Netherlands (really cool flower building), Germany, Ireland, Norway, Ukraine, Turkey, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Bulgaria and Denmark.
The Danish pavilion was the one I came here to see.
In Copenhagen there is a statue of the Little Mermaid, an homage to Hans Christian Anderson. For the EXPO, the Danes shipped the statue to Shanghai, and placed her above a pool of Danish water (the Danes refused to let their beloved statue rest next to foreign seas) in the center of their pavilion. The pavilion itself is just a big spiral, allowing a visitor to walk up and then down, or bike up and down. But in the middle is the statue.
Now Maya, my Israeli friend who left Beijing several days ago, is currently in Copenhagen. And, where the statue used to be, there is a giant tv screen with a 24-hr live video feed of the mermaid in Shanghai.
Adding these two things together, Maya and I devised a plan to take pictures of the mermaid and I in Shanghai, from Copenhagen.
But I arrived at the pavilion at 1:30, so I had to wait for Maya to get up (Denmark is 6 hours behind me).
I got to walking again. Dipped my feet in the shallow pool surrounding Finland, but I got yelled at. I moved on. Got into the Australian Pavilion - a weird structure of hanging flowers inside and intertwining tubes on the outside - but got bored and left. The architecture is amazing. The insides are not.
Past Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Cambodia, and New Zealand.
At 2:20 I arrived at the much-hyped Chinese Pavilion, a red upside Mayan-like Pyramid. Undoubtedly beautiful, but once again not worth entrance.
Kept moving, now through the South Asia and Middle East region. Sultanate of Oman, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates. I would have gone into this one, but I am going to be there in a week, so what's the point?
I passed Qatar and Morocco, then came across gold. Lebanon, Iran, and Korea DPR. I was at the end of the expo - I had just walked the entire distance.
By beautiful luck, there were no lines at the North Korean pavilion. I went inside.
North Korea did the best they could to show their prosperity. There were pagodas and rock formations inside of their rich history. A beautiful skyline of Pyongyang was on one wall, with a statue of the "Tower of Juche Idea" in front of it. Rising from the skyline poster was the giant pyramid hotel, a famous landmark in Korea since the government seems to have built it for tourism that doesn't exist, and never finished it because they had no money -- a shining example of the quality of government in Korea DPR. There was a fountain of happy children, lit colorfully, and there were pictures of the mystical fairgrounds (complete with ferris wheel) that can be seen from the northern border with China.
I bought two books (I had to); a condensed biography of Kim Il Sung, and Kim Jung Il's "On the Juche Idea of our Party." And because I bought these, the North Korean woman selling them gave me "The Immortal Woman Revolutionary 3" for free.
I headed back to Denmark, stopping at 4pm for some food (breakfast) at a Cantonese restaurant. By Chinese standards the food was expensive, but by western standards not at all. While I waited for my food, I started reading Kim Il Sung's biography. Fascinating stuff.
I walked past Nepal and Taiwan, and I got to the Danish pavilion about 20 to 5. Maya had been up for 40 minutes in Copenhagen and was on her way to the video screen.
I went to the Chinese guy guarding the gate to Denmark's "Citizen's Only" entrance. I asked to get inside and he asked for my passport. I explained my friend was in Denmark and I needed to see her. He asked for my passport. I gave him my American passport and he let me in?
I walked up to the man guarding the body of water that the Little Mermaid statue is in - I explained in Chinese what I was trying to do, and asked for his help. He agreed to help but wouldn't help me muster support.
I started looking for white faces, and pulled aside two westerners who were willing to help; Robert, from Germany, and Jamie, from Binghamton, NY. They helped me find two more; Victoria (England), and Peter (Netherlands).
The five of us and this security guard spelled out expo proudly for a full minute while we waited for Maya to take the photo. It was a fail - I had tried to use the statue as half of an X, with me being the other half. But we tried again - and failed again, as we spelled our word on the wrong side of the statue. And we tried a third time. Success. With Peter and Victoria making the E, Robert on the P, Jamie and the guard making an O and with me as an X, we spelled out EXPO, with a photo being taken 8,271 kilometers away. I got two text messages from Maya right before my phone went dead: "It was awesomeeeeeeeeee" and "thdt was fucking brilliant!"
Take a photo with a mythical amphibious creature from 8,271km away utilizing 7 nationalities and 2 continents. Check.
We five westerners wandered up the Danish pavilion - not much to see besides the statue. Peter actually is working at the EXPO so he took us to the Netherlands Pavilion, which is one of the more interesting structures, and got us inside without a line. There were some OK exhibits, and I did see a lock of Van Gogh's hair, but nothing much else. We tried Germany too but Peter could only bring one guest and Robert could get in, being German, but that would leave two of us behind.
We walked past Iceland and Switzerland (a giant ice cube building and a big ski lift, respectively), the UK and Italy. We went our separate ways by Luxembourg which, for such a small country, had a very long line. I collected all their emails to send them the photo once I get it from Maya.
I wandered to the road, past Cuba (which I snuck into through the exit... A reverse Elian Gonzalez, if you will) and Venezuela and hopped on a bus that took me to the 7th gate exit. I walked south to the subway and went back to the hostel. Arrived just shy of 8, my EXPO goals accomplished.
While I rested I had a weird flashback -- the pool table at the hostel; I christened that table 2 years ago! I was the first person to ever play on it. It's been through some rough times since then...
I rested for a bit and headed out at 9:45 to meet Michael in what was, according to him, the Pudong district across the river, but what was in fact very close to the hostel (he looked at the map wrong). He was lazy and refused to come to the EXPO for the best picture ever so I had to go to him.
We were supposed to meet at a McDonalds in the subway station but I showed up and he wasn't there. And then McDonalds closed. So I sat on the steps for a while, waiting.
Richardson showed up at the top of the stairs and I joined him. We walked back to the apartment his family was staying at, and I met the whole clan.
The two of us went down to the building bar and had a beer and played some air hockey - until Michaels brother called us over and the family and I went out for massages.We got foot massages down the street, 35 for an hour. I wouldn't say they were better than those I have in Beijing, but they were good nonetheless.
After the massages we went our separate ways. I tried to convince Michael to go out, but he has a flight home at 1pm tomorrow, so he went to sleep.
I took a taxi back to the LeTour and went to sleep around 2.
Now granted, I was in bed 8 and I had been assigned bed 7. But bed 7 had been taken when I arrived and bed 8 was not only empty of bags, but of sheets and blankets as well. I didn't really argue; I was too tired and saved my energy. But I did get up and he grabbed the blankets of bed 7 on the top bunk and brought them down while I moved my stuff up. What was his stuff doing in bed 7?
I fell back to sleep and awoke just shy of 10. I slowly got ready and was out the door somewhere around 11.
Down to Jing'An temple, and through the myriad tunnels to line 7. Took the line south to Houtan, the first stop that's next to the Expo (so I was told), though next to is a very vague word. I had to walk for about 20 minutes before I got to the entrance.
Bought a student ticket for 100 yuan and breezed through security.
The first pavilion I saw was the USA pavilion, but the line was too long and the USA has no VIP citizens entrance - so I didn't go inside.
I wandered around and found the Canadian pavilion. I figured "I can get into this!" I walked up to the Chinese guy at the door and he let me through without much argument - I said my passport was at my hotel.
I went inside and a Canadian woman asked if she could help me. I told her I was here to see the pavilion. She asked for my Canadian passport - I didn't have it. She asked for a Canadian drivers license. I don't have that. She asked where I was from. I told her BC, in a little town called Wobegon just north of Victoria. She radios for some guy named Jason, who's from BC, when I refuse to sing them a Canadian song -- I left. Oh well. Onto the next one.
There was no line for the Caribbean Community Pavilion. I went inside. Breezed through superficial displays of "traditional" Caribbean items. Dominica, Saint Lucia, Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Haiti, Belize, Barbados, Guyana, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Suriname, and Jamaica. Onto the next one.
As I moved from place to place, I began to realize that the most interesting thing about each one is the architecture. Nothing really had anything special inside, or at least nothing worth waiting four hours for.
Went past Romania, Russia, Croatia, The Netherlands (really cool flower building), Germany, Ireland, Norway, Ukraine, Turkey, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Bulgaria and Denmark.
The Danish pavilion was the one I came here to see.
In Copenhagen there is a statue of the Little Mermaid, an homage to Hans Christian Anderson. For the EXPO, the Danes shipped the statue to Shanghai, and placed her above a pool of Danish water (the Danes refused to let their beloved statue rest next to foreign seas) in the center of their pavilion. The pavilion itself is just a big spiral, allowing a visitor to walk up and then down, or bike up and down. But in the middle is the statue.Now Maya, my Israeli friend who left Beijing several days ago, is currently in Copenhagen. And, where the statue used to be, there is a giant tv screen with a 24-hr live video feed of the mermaid in Shanghai.
Adding these two things together, Maya and I devised a plan to take pictures of the mermaid and I in Shanghai, from Copenhagen.
But I arrived at the pavilion at 1:30, so I had to wait for Maya to get up (Denmark is 6 hours behind me).
I got to walking again. Dipped my feet in the shallow pool surrounding Finland, but I got yelled at. I moved on. Got into the Australian Pavilion - a weird structure of hanging flowers inside and intertwining tubes on the outside - but got bored and left. The architecture is amazing. The insides are not.
Past Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Cambodia, and New Zealand.
At 2:20 I arrived at the much-hyped Chinese Pavilion, a red upside Mayan-like Pyramid. Undoubtedly beautiful, but once again not worth entrance.
Kept moving, now through the South Asia and Middle East region. Sultanate of Oman, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates. I would have gone into this one, but I am going to be there in a week, so what's the point?
I passed Qatar and Morocco, then came across gold. Lebanon, Iran, and Korea DPR. I was at the end of the expo - I had just walked the entire distance.
By beautiful luck, there were no lines at the North Korean pavilion. I went inside.
North Korea did the best they could to show their prosperity. There were pagodas and rock formations inside of their rich history. A beautiful skyline of Pyongyang was on one wall, with a statue of the "Tower of Juche Idea" in front of it. Rising from the skyline poster was the giant pyramid hotel, a famous landmark in Korea since the government seems to have built it for tourism that doesn't exist, and never finished it because they had no money -- a shining example of the quality of government in Korea DPR. There was a fountain of happy children, lit colorfully, and there were pictures of the mystical fairgrounds (complete with ferris wheel) that can be seen from the northern border with China.
I bought two books (I had to); a condensed biography of Kim Il Sung, and Kim Jung Il's "On the Juche Idea of our Party." And because I bought these, the North Korean woman selling them gave me "The Immortal Woman Revolutionary 3" for free.
I headed back to Denmark, stopping at 4pm for some food (breakfast) at a Cantonese restaurant. By Chinese standards the food was expensive, but by western standards not at all. While I waited for my food, I started reading Kim Il Sung's biography. Fascinating stuff.
I walked past Nepal and Taiwan, and I got to the Danish pavilion about 20 to 5. Maya had been up for 40 minutes in Copenhagen and was on her way to the video screen.
I went to the Chinese guy guarding the gate to Denmark's "Citizen's Only" entrance. I asked to get inside and he asked for my passport. I explained my friend was in Denmark and I needed to see her. He asked for my passport. I gave him my American passport and he let me in?
I walked up to the man guarding the body of water that the Little Mermaid statue is in - I explained in Chinese what I was trying to do, and asked for his help. He agreed to help but wouldn't help me muster support.
I started looking for white faces, and pulled aside two westerners who were willing to help; Robert, from Germany, and Jamie, from Binghamton, NY. They helped me find two more; Victoria (England), and Peter (Netherlands).
The five of us and this security guard spelled out expo proudly for a full minute while we waited for Maya to take the photo. It was a fail - I had tried to use the statue as half of an X, with me being the other half. But we tried again - and failed again, as we spelled our word on the wrong side of the statue. And we tried a third time. Success. With Peter and Victoria making the E, Robert on the P, Jamie and the guard making an O and with me as an X, we spelled out EXPO, with a photo being taken 8,271 kilometers away. I got two text messages from Maya right before my phone went dead: "It was awesomeeeeeeeeee" and "thdt was fucking brilliant!"Take a photo with a mythical amphibious creature from 8,271km away utilizing 7 nationalities and 2 continents. Check.
We five westerners wandered up the Danish pavilion - not much to see besides the statue. Peter actually is working at the EXPO so he took us to the Netherlands Pavilion, which is one of the more interesting structures, and got us inside without a line. There were some OK exhibits, and I did see a lock of Van Gogh's hair, but nothing much else. We tried Germany too but Peter could only bring one guest and Robert could get in, being German, but that would leave two of us behind.
We walked past Iceland and Switzerland (a giant ice cube building and a big ski lift, respectively), the UK and Italy. We went our separate ways by Luxembourg which, for such a small country, had a very long line. I collected all their emails to send them the photo once I get it from Maya.
I wandered to the road, past Cuba (which I snuck into through the exit... A reverse Elian Gonzalez, if you will) and Venezuela and hopped on a bus that took me to the 7th gate exit. I walked south to the subway and went back to the hostel. Arrived just shy of 8, my EXPO goals accomplished.
While I rested I had a weird flashback -- the pool table at the hostel; I christened that table 2 years ago! I was the first person to ever play on it. It's been through some rough times since then...
I rested for a bit and headed out at 9:45 to meet Michael in what was, according to him, the Pudong district across the river, but what was in fact very close to the hostel (he looked at the map wrong). He was lazy and refused to come to the EXPO for the best picture ever so I had to go to him.
We were supposed to meet at a McDonalds in the subway station but I showed up and he wasn't there. And then McDonalds closed. So I sat on the steps for a while, waiting.
Richardson showed up at the top of the stairs and I joined him. We walked back to the apartment his family was staying at, and I met the whole clan.
The two of us went down to the building bar and had a beer and played some air hockey - until Michaels brother called us over and the family and I went out for massages.We got foot massages down the street, 35 for an hour. I wouldn't say they were better than those I have in Beijing, but they were good nonetheless.
After the massages we went our separate ways. I tried to convince Michael to go out, but he has a flight home at 1pm tomorrow, so he went to sleep.
I took a taxi back to the LeTour and went to sleep around 2.
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