KYLC and dancing

So...KYLC (or next generation as it now wants to be called, but our church is still resisting, as KYLC rolls of the tongue better but yea), in-any-case, was an epic conference. In essence it was a leadership conferance that was designed to help teach us to lead bible studys and other christian groups in general as well as some talks on parts of John and Genesis. Was lots of fun, did so many random and embarrasing things (which im afraid to say are prob gona pop up on facebook at some stage -.-) but yea learnt alot and had lots of fun

The John talkes were given by Grant Reitief, a guy from South Africa, had some really good talks on Jesus's teachings and meanings as well as the relationship of the father and the son and how it affects us and how we can try and live in current sociaties views of chrsitianity and some values that we should have that go against social expectations. Further the study we were preparing was on John 14: 1-7 which was where Jesus explained to his diciples how he is the way the truth and the life and is the only way to heaven as well as a deeper relationship with the Father. So yea wasnt too hard to prepare the actual study, but in the preparation of the study it was great to really go over the passage in a vairaty of ways to really understand and get the most out of it which was good for future quite times (when i learn to do them regularly) but yea lots of fun

The Genesis talks were also great (i thought they were mostly better) and were given by Carl forgothislastname, in any case it was good to study a very overstudied section of the bible. This was especially true of the Gen 1 which is a super overdone and contraversial passage where he talked about the revelations in Gods creation and how the days are more of a structure and how it is kind of sort of compatible with science (ok so mabe not that revolutionary but still good) and then there was the rest of Genesis which i wasnt as familiar with which was interesting to study about the generations after Adam and Eve and stuff (though i phazed out for the Noah talk) but yea funky stuff

umm appart from talks plenty of other fun things. Had a game of Catan which was fun, hilarious how Ronnie and I were so intense in the bargening and trying to outbid each other in trades with other people, but yea still fun (i won in the end =PP), otherwise playing dare Jenga (whoeva loses has to do a dare) and stuff was fun. One of the epic things that we did that was lots of fun (and going to be epicly embarassing) was waking up at 5 am and going to a look out at the 3 sisters and watching the sunrise, however as the sunrise was at about 545 and then we couldnt see the sun till bout 6 ish so we spent about an hour taking stupid photos and vidios (well the vidio thing kind of rolled over into free time cos 0f a uhhhh stupid dance but thats another story) so yea plenty of silly banana things that we did.
IN ANY CASE
lots of fun and probobly lots that i forgot
anyway

2day i went out to a jazz dance class which was alot of fun and then had a hard training session at wing chun so im TIRED... but yea, dancing was lots of fun so gona see if i can make it a regular thing
anyway
thats all for now =D

End of Beijing...Hong Kong...New Years...New friends and stuf

Yea iv been a lazy hobbits for a while now...like a massive while now
Anyway lets go in chronological order now
so, Beijing, the last week was populated by some more obscure things like the Beijing planning museum, an epic place where they show long term plans for the infrastructure of the place as well as a HUGE scale model of the entire Beijing. So yea that was fairly epic, and very typical of the Chinese to plan out the entire city (albit it creates a super efficient transport system which makes me lament the failing public transport in Sydney). Anyway we also went out to the Beijing zoo where we walked around, saw some of the great cats in like prison cages...very depressing, like they were seriously in prison cells with nothing natural, just a huge concrete cube with double bars on the front...super sad way to treat creatures of any form, specialy these ones, naturally they weren't happy and so growled at anyone who passed. From there we went to visit some Pandas, not as Giant as i had come to expect, considering they are called the Giant Pandas but still awesome. They were very fat and funky and lazy, basicly all of the ones we saw were asleep cept one that was actually alive and eating some bamboo. Funniest one was that we saw a panda up in a tree, like...i dunno just in a tree...kinda funny. And to end the trip....i got sick. it wasn't fun at all -.-
Anyway
From here went and met the parents in Hong Kong. HK hasnt changed too much since i was last there, albit the weather was alot better, as was the food as my uncle gave us a whole heap of places to eat. Food was awsome there, found that roast goose is much better than roast duck, good sticky rice place in a random side ally and some really good siu lum bao round the corner as well as a good crispy chicken place (my uncles favourite place) which also has a killer yum cha that is in the area... Anyway
as for Hong Kong proper, basicly it was just shopping...shopping...and a whole heap more shopping, got a bit boring and repedative after a while (and with the dollar dropping like a rock thanks to the finacial crisis) it wasnt a complete stuff ourselves with clothing and other random things but there were plenty of kul things there, Highlights included this jewelry store where you could custom make neclaces and bracelets and stuff (like pick wat things were put on the neclaces) so that was fun creating things for friends and ourselves. Another kul place was the Antique market lane thing (though not as good as the one in Beijing) but there were some kul things there (more swords which i couldnt take home -.-) anyway found some funky belt watches from the old HK police force and a kul telescope thingame which was kinda funky =D.

Appart from shopping we also went to this theme park for a day called ocean park, been there before but there was some chrismas themed shows there that we went and saw. Ended up being quite a good outing as there was this ice skating show which was kinda like Cirque du Soleil on ice (kinda) which was very kul, went to see more pandas which were even fatter than the other ones but yea...that was ocean park,

For Chrismas we went to Macau for the day, chilled at the Venitian (some super massive casino hotel place) and just went around the place, kinda nice feel to it (outside of the hotel area) as it has like an old town feel, kul paved streets that remind me of europe (kinda) but yea. the highlight of the day was that we saw a real Cirque du Soleil show there called Zaia in a custom built theater which was awsome. The actual show was a little light on tricks and not quite up to some of their other shows standards, but the set and aerial stuff was very good (probobly because they could do many funky things with a custom built place) but still was an epic experience none the less.

Ummmmm and the only other thing of note about HK was that i actually met up with Jono there which was awsome as we've both been traveling (he's been in America) so yea that was awsome, while his hair still continues to grow, but yea lol kul to see him and hang in a completely random place... but yea fun fun

aaaaaaaand now we fast forward to new years eve/day. Didn't really do anything too special just went over to Matt's house and hung there, cought up on wat everyone has been doing and just chilling, and then leaving BEFORE midnight lol, still made it home before midnight and got to see the fireworks, kinda anticlimatic being by myself at home in the first seconds of the new year but still good fun night none the less.

Ummmm and now we are basicly at the last couple of days were chilling with Pris, Barny and a whole heap of Pris's girl friends (Felicity aka Flick (neva quite got that one but anyway), Lulu, J (im assuming short for a longer name), and.... Sarah (i think) who wasnt around for a whole heap of time but yea) kul people overall (well they dont hate me which is always a good start =P)
Anyway
so yesterday was a massive LOTR marathon (extended editions =DD) but yea that was lots of fun (albit there were multiple moments which were spoiled kinda by the group mentality) however it was refreshing considering iv watched them all way more times than is considered sane or healthy though the crowning moment goes to Lulu spoiling Elrond's image forever as she reconised Hugo Weaving (the actor who plays Elrond) as being from Priscilla queen of the desert playing a drag queen... yea basically blew his serious face and character from that point onwards but anyway... multiple other funny moments (some awesome puns from Jordan which melted others brains again =P)
Today was a more active day where we all met up again in the city to go play Lazer challange in the city (darling Harbor) but yea lots of fun, finally some new scenery from the five dock one, so that was good fun (came 6th overall twice in a row =D) then went and stuffed ourselves with icecream from a place called french riviera so that was good (well depends on ur definition of good) but yea then walked around for a bit and then that was about it...
wow
epic blog there
and then i went and died (special easter egg for those who bothered to survive till this point) =PPPP
anyway ill try update more (i hope) regularly so that i dont have to do these epic ones recounting like a months worth of stuff
=D
till next time =D

Xian's army of Terracotta Warriors

Okeday, the main highlight of the past few days has been a relatively solo trip of us going to xian by ouselves. So to get there and back we caught an overnight train, 11 hours each way, so it was an epic trip, fortunately we had beds so it was ok but still on the way there there seemed to be some compulsion of the train drivers to blow their horns every 5 minites as like a greeting to each other or something -.- it was anoying. but yea otherwise the train trip was fairly ok, (lots of fun when u do it with friends tho and highly recomended if traveling around with friends).

In Xian itself the first day we visited the terracotta warriors, which while they were impressive, it was hard to see some of them and the army part was mostly buried and still in pits which made it kind of anoying to get good photos. Still it was really interesting to see them, further they are impossibly hard to dig up because they have to use brushes to get the dirt of them so that they dont break anything so its a LOOOONG process. also on top of all that some genious general back in like 1500 BC or something decided to loot the place and break all the soldiers so they have had to be put back together on top of them being dug out. so yea its taking a long time. Still very kul to see them, and the building that they have been housed in (well the warehouse/building things have been built around the pits) but they are really funky, like modern architecture with the typical old school chinese twist with the roofs and stuff, kul stuff.

Also while in Xian on the second day we went to see the Bell tower and Drum tower they were cool, with the said bell and drums in each tower, and there were lots of displays and a mini concert that involved drums and bells (oviously) and yea kul places in generl. Then we went down to the muslim quarter of xian, it was a really interesting part of town where there were lots of interesting stalls and like side street food. Some of it looked a bit seedy but overall it was a great place to just walk around and see some of the weird things that were around. Some side streets had buchers with like multiple pigs just hanging, someone was walking wat looked like his pet goat around, alot of stores were selling birds...like yea randomly caged birds, was fairly odd.

For the most part food was fairly standard stuff but i did brave one random sweet thing from a stall in the streets was a rice pudding like thing with a sweet sause of some form spread on one side and then nuts and suggar were spread over it, then it was speared on a couple of satey sticks for portability. Overall it was tasty and didnt kill me which was good =D

UMMMMM yea thats bout it for that trip which has been most of the past few days...and yea
O
one more food for thought question that came up in discussion over this trip which i have forgotten to post: how can you know when God is telling you to do something and how can you know when it is you own desire or ambition, and how do u know to tell the two appart.
that was fairly badly phraised to in essence how can some of the major actions in life that some people account to God calling them to do something, how do u know when it is God's calling or your own want for God to call you in that direction?
still no concrete answer on that one, probobly because God speaks to all of us in differant ways
but there you go
=D
till next time

Hutong Highs

Okeday so again havnt done too much in the last few days. Highlights have been visiting a Hutong (a bit of the houses where old beijingers used to live). They are like mini courtyard houses, so fairly self explainitory, a courtyard surounded by four rooms. Funniest thing about the whole set up was that in one of the bedrooms, there was the traditional enclosed bed thingame, but it was faceing a 32 inch TV... culture and tech all in one room. What fun. Annnnnyway... the weather is freezing...quite litererally in this case, lowest has been -10 but for the most part it's been just negative single digets. the lakes are also starting to freeze over which is kul, unfortunately probobly wont be around when they become ice skateable on, but thats for another time.

On the weekend we were again mostly just couped up in the apartment, but had nice long deep and meaningful convos (which have been going on for most of the trip) but yea. Interesting questions that are raised are like why do you believe in God? (if you decide to cop out and say faith) what gives you that faith? then there is the basis of beliefe in religion, and all kinds of other really obscure things, also started reading some of C.S.Lewis's more obscure stuff, namely mere christianity, realllllly interesting book (if ur brain dosnt start to melt within the first few pages) but gives insight into the nature of humans and natural laws and stuff (more things that we have been discussing). but yea, some interesting things to consider, (also been talking about relationships and stuff). Went out to a couple of pubs with my cosins, and found that im not a huge fan of beer...but yea. Plenty of other deep stuff that we talked about, just not able to currently think of them all... but its been interesting none the less =P
aaaaaaanyway
that would be about it for now
o
im leaving for Xian tonight so all interneting is probobly gona b limited for a few days, but yea, should b fun
=D

Summer palace and lazy days

Okeday, not such a long post as there is less to really update on.
So the highlight of the last few days has been the summer palace. The place is huge, like 2.9 square kilometers huge, albit there is a significant portion of water in the place. the day was really nice so there were plenty of photo oportunities, which lead to the problem of my memory card filling up...so now i need to find alternative ways of storing stuff... which sucks. in any case back to the summer palace, its realllllly big and has winding forest trails and temples interspaced around the area. It was an epic journey through the area as once we got in we just lost ourselves in the forest just following our nose really just kind of exploring and discovering new nooks and crannys. Even when we decided to head for the exit it took us an hour to find after a whole heap of wrong turns and discovery of new areas and temples. kinda fun really =D albit tireing on the legs.

Otherwise, the last couple of days have been fairly relaxing, iv managed to come down with a couph and cold, but otherwise just staying indoors watching tv series which has been adicting and otherwise just buming around.

On the foodish front the best thing that we've had over the past couple of days was the beijing duck. This puts all duck to shame, like its epicly awsome....in awsome ways... and yea otherwise food has been nice as always, and still hasnt killed us which is always a plus =D Had some rural chinese food as well, alot of pepper and lamb, tasty though. Ummmmmmm
otherwise thats it for now

wereGreat Wall of China

So its a fairly self explainitory blogpost, well kinda
So...today i went to the great wall (of china oviously) so that was epicly awsome. All the tv series and infinite documentories do it justice and then there is the fun of just wondering around. Well as much wondering as you can do on a wall. but yea...it was huge, and steep, like reaaaaaaaaaly steep. so we took a cable car up and went left and at the end there was a huge stair case, like 500 stairs all uneven and at a 45-50 degree angle, it wasnt particularly fun. though that was probobly our fault as being boys, at the base of the stairs, we looked up and were like, yea we can run up this, we can do it...clearly we failed...hard...not the hottest idea we've had. None the less it was an epicly awsome experience, the views were good and the weather was good (about as little wind as you can get that high up). Also, after the mega climb and walk back, we went right taking more photos and other fun epic cool stuff until we reached the end. Now to get down there are a few ways, you could walk (not a particularly good idea) there was the open cable car if you wanted to freeze, the closed one for softies...or you could just tobbogin down. So clearly Jus and I...walked down... just kidding oviously we tobbogined down, it was really good, actually i didnt slow down as much as i should thus was rewarded by a fliping of the toboggin, fortunately i managed to get it back together and keep going. Fun none the less.

Also over the weekend went out to the dirt markets (thats the local name for it, normal people just call it the antique market). This was a much better market than any other we've been to, because it has plenty of awsome kul things. however, the kulest of all things was that there were multiple (MULTIPLE) WEAPONS STALLS. they were awsome, like there was this mad claw glove with spikes on the back (iv got photos with me wearing one) and there were plenty of swords, axes, knives, halberds funky 3-in-1 weapons (think a handle with an axe head coming of one side, sword coming of the top and spear on the bottum) also a few maces, armor, also there was one stall with a kuni pouch and kuni in it (for those who dont know what that is its a throwing knife pouch with throwing knives in it, think of that pouch the blind girl in house of flying daggers used) so that was fairly awsome.

Food wise there hasnt been too much interesting happening, but there has been one good find is this pancake like thing that is cheap and sold from street stalls and stuff which is a staple breakfast or lunch food called jien bing (i think that the spelling) anyway its a massive crepe with egg spred on it to hold it together, then a paste like thing is spread on it (like vegimite im told, but it tastes better cos i hate veg usualy) sometimes the sprinkle a bit of chillie then some coriander and cucumber that have been choped up are dumped on top, to finish a fried piece of dough or something fried and tastey is put on top, the pancake folded up and served hot and ready to eat (all normally for less than 1 au$). so yea...we've had some mexican stuff when going out, nothing out of the ordinary really, aaaaaand finaly another kind of kul thing is that you can buy premade crispy duck (the ones that you use with the pancakes) from supermarkets around the area. so yea. Good stuff.
Otherwise..... thats it for now

Rest of Week 1

Okeday so as the tital implies, this basicly covers the last few days of Beijing 08 =P
Sooooooo for the last few days there has been a bit of veging at chris's watching more movies/TV series but food has been interesting. for one there was a pizza place that had MASSIVE pizza, like, its new york style (and sized pizza) like... it was hugely huge, so that was fairly epic (1 pizza feeding 3 ppl till we were full). Also went to TGI Fridays last night, another bit of good american meat and food and stuff (fried macaroie and cheeze) but yea. On the asian side of food, there is a mad hot pot place that i wish was back in Aus cos its mad in the way that each person get's their own pot of soup and its like doing a mini steam boat, kinda. good stuff. Also had some good food at a place called home away from home, usual asian stuff, though had thing mad chicken dish (not gona bother as its spelled in mando -.-) anddddddddd also went to a shanghi place which had fairly good dumplings
and yea

So thats been foody highlights (spread over the week). on the what we have been doing front...wednesday was basicly a blowout, so much wind that we basicly did nothing. so yea that was a bit of a cop out. Anyway, Thursday was an improvement, as while we still stayed inside it was because we were preparing for a thanksgiving party, so jus and I made a couple of apple crumbles, which actually turned out quite well, tho prob couldv done with more sugar. The party itself was fun, was at Chris's place so alot of his friends smoked, but it was still all good. Further they were almost all amreican so good to talk to people who understood everything i said. also had a couple of good stories and some of the guys were good to talk to, so a fun night overall, o yea and another thing, i never got thanksgiving as a holiday in america, so i heard a story about the origin of thanksgiving. So a guy Pat gets up and puts on the woody allen accent (drawling american accent with very articulated words). the short version is basicly when the americans first arrived in america, they befriended the indians (with feathers not dots) and invited the chief's family for dinner to help develope bonds between people. Unfortunately what the Americans didnt realise was that the Chief's family was his whole tribe, so when the Indians arrived, there wasnt enough food. Luckly for the americans the indians were good at hunting, so the chief sent out his hunters, and they came back with wild turky and there was food for all. And thus they ate and gave thanks, thus developing the holiday thanksgiving. Of course thats all rubish according to Chris's friends, basicly all thanksgiving was was that at the end of the American civil war, President Lincon decided that people need something to cheer them up, so declared a day of thanksgiving for peace, which has become the major american holiday to this day. I liked the first story better but thats just me. Also, the food for thanksgiving is just weird (traditional thanksgiving food). for one the turky, while quite normal in itself, the stuffing is like made of apples, and raisens, to the point it was super sweet, like it was nice, just realllllly odd. Further there is the sweeds (sweet potatos), again nothing unusaual about mashed sweet potatos but heres the thanksgiving twist, put the mashed sweeds in a pot cover them with marshmallows (no joke) and bake till the marshmallows are browned. Further is the pumpkin pie, which you may have heard off, is basicly exactly that, pie crust with rost pumpkin that has been whizzed up with heaps of sugar and cinamen untill it is sweet enough for the pie. like yea... weird stuff, but all really good and tasty (marshmallow sweeds were a personal favourite).

Anyway, Friday was taken up by the awsomeness of the Temple of Heaven, again another must see along with forbidden city, structuraly the place looks like all old chinese temple places, but the most epic thing about it all was that the entire structure is made of wood. Also while the place itself was great, the gardens that surounded the place were epicly awsome too, they have rows of massive cedar trees and all kinds of those kind of twiggy kul trees that make great shots along with sunsets. but yea, also alot less people wondering around the gardens, so its really tranquil and feels fairly untouristy (or we just got lucky).

Aaaaaaaaaand yea...that about covers it for what we have done... hoping to do the dirt markets and stuff over the weekend, one thing that has been disapointing this trip (appart from my failing at mando) has been the markets, the ones we have been to have all been fairly failing, mabe its just because they are always in your face, and you cant browse anything at all without them trying to get you to buy it. but yea.
thats it for now.