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
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Sunday, December 7, 2008
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
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
Thursday, December 4, 2008
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
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
Monday, December 1, 2008
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
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
Friday, November 28, 2008
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.
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.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Breaking in to Tianammen and entering Forbidden Cities
Ok, the last couple of days have been fairly epic =D
as the tital implies, the highlight of the last couple of days has been the forbidden city and Tianammen square. Anyway the breaking in part was fairly awsome =P
so at the end of the forbidden city there is a multigated enterance to the square, so we saw a contingent of guards marchin towards the square, so being tourists we snaped away, but then we looked behind us and locals and stuff were rushing towards some of the other gates. joining in the fun we ran along with them, until we saw them trying to shut us out of Tianammen, so there was a mini scrum happening like the people vs the guards so jus and me jumped in and did a big push through the gate. was mad. =D from there we waited around for the lowering of the flag, a patriotic event for chinese people, but yea bit boring but gets back to your roots =D
anyway
the forbidden city itself was reaaaaaly kul, it kept getting bigger and more awsome, it just like kept going opening up into bigger courtyards, and more epicly epic temples of harmony. Everything there is a temple of harmony, there was the temple of earthly harmony, temple of heavenly harmony, temple of peaceful harmony, temple of uber harmony, temple of jordan-is-leet =PPP but yea
appart from the cliche naming it was really good, planing on uploading fotos laterish =D but yea
ummm yesterday was less awsome, just went out to a market which was fairly meh, and hung round at chris's place, caught up on some heros and house and started a bit of Chuck (which is fairly good actually) and dr horribles sing along blog (search it its hilarious) but yea good stuff, albit wasting a bit of time here but w/e =D
aaaaand yea
mando lessons are...sucky, like its majorly hard to learn and just...sucks...like i'd prefer to do 3h of ecos with moore again then do these -.- but mabe if i get better or something, i can see myself eventually doing it to get to a fairly fluent level (when i get home that is) i cant see myself speaking any better after this week, but ill percevere anyway
=D
aaaand thats been it really,
planing some trips out to shanghi and xian (teracota war place) but yea this is gona b awsome
=D
o yea there is this mad DVD place with TV series and DVD's (4 bucks each =D) but the best bit, if they dont work...u can return them...thats rite returnable fakeish dvds an awsome concept =D
anyway
thats it for now
as the tital implies, the highlight of the last couple of days has been the forbidden city and Tianammen square. Anyway the breaking in part was fairly awsome =P
so at the end of the forbidden city there is a multigated enterance to the square, so we saw a contingent of guards marchin towards the square, so being tourists we snaped away, but then we looked behind us and locals and stuff were rushing towards some of the other gates. joining in the fun we ran along with them, until we saw them trying to shut us out of Tianammen, so there was a mini scrum happening like the people vs the guards so jus and me jumped in and did a big push through the gate. was mad. =D from there we waited around for the lowering of the flag, a patriotic event for chinese people, but yea bit boring but gets back to your roots =D
anyway
the forbidden city itself was reaaaaaly kul, it kept getting bigger and more awsome, it just like kept going opening up into bigger courtyards, and more epicly epic temples of harmony. Everything there is a temple of harmony, there was the temple of earthly harmony, temple of heavenly harmony, temple of peaceful harmony, temple of uber harmony, temple of jordan-is-leet =PPP but yea
appart from the cliche naming it was really good, planing on uploading fotos laterish =D but yea
ummm yesterday was less awsome, just went out to a market which was fairly meh, and hung round at chris's place, caught up on some heros and house and started a bit of Chuck (which is fairly good actually) and dr horribles sing along blog (search it its hilarious) but yea good stuff, albit wasting a bit of time here but w/e =D
aaaaand yea
mando lessons are...sucky, like its majorly hard to learn and just...sucks...like i'd prefer to do 3h of ecos with moore again then do these -.- but mabe if i get better or something, i can see myself eventually doing it to get to a fairly fluent level (when i get home that is) i cant see myself speaking any better after this week, but ill percevere anyway
=D
aaaand thats been it really,
planing some trips out to shanghi and xian (teracota war place) but yea this is gona b awsome
=D
o yea there is this mad DVD place with TV series and DVD's (4 bucks each =D) but the best bit, if they dont work...u can return them...thats rite returnable fakeish dvds an awsome concept =D
anyway
thats it for now
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Chinese weekend
Ok, so basicly just an overview of the first weekend here in china
sat was more of an orientation day, kinda with just general chatting in the morning followed by a bike-ride around the local area. But this bike riding is hardcore, like... if u want to pass a car or cross a street just look for a vague opening and just ride in front of cars and hope they stop for u
or to get acccross an intersection just ride in the general direction and kinda do a bit of a weaaving pattern thing...is hardcore. As is driving (not that im driving but taxis and stuff) like 3 lane highways become 4-5 lane as there are no real road rules/lanes/even directions. To turn is like on a bike, just head in the general direction until u hit the area u want, without smacking any bikes along the way...its chaotic. fun to watch tho =D, o yea also on the bike ride was a mad market where they sold food and stuff (it was a local market not a touristy one) so like ppl were shouting mad asianness everywhere and like selling all kinds of random things (and not so random things), got some fotos, have to post them somewhere eventually but like frying fish on the floor and selling buns that were still steaming (and other seedier things like raw whole chickens) and mad hand made noodles (dunno bout hygene, but they looked mad) and there were random trucks parked throughout the whole place that were piled with cabage, and stacks of ginger and garlick in a corner somewhere, kinda kul really, also explored some of the side allys and stuff, kul stuff
after that went to a clothing market place and a place called the Village. the market was like a fairly standard tourist market with butloads of the same stalls selling he same clothing but ther was some mad stuff there, Jus got a kul coat and i was considering getting a 3/4 length trench coat, but considering the shocking exchange rate decided against it HOWEVER when we got back to Simons he had a spare he was about to give away (and it was real) so iv now inherited that =D
ok and the Village is like... well it kinda feels like world square (place in the middle of the city) cept its a bit bigger, it is a western kinda place with legit stores and all, had one of the flagship apple stores there (looks kinda like the sydney one with extentions) and a mad addidas store where u can design your own shoe which u can then buy (for some rediculous price) which was kul aaaaand yea.
food was also good though we have been having more western food then asian, but went to a place called home away from home (thats the actual name of the resterant) which was good for asianness, and also had some korean BBQ last nite (sunday)
during sunday itself went to church with Simon and Bridget which was kul, its kinda like a very mini hillsong (kinda) tho its all expats (foreiners) so basicly all white guys and gals =P
since it was designed for an older demographic it was a bit heavier than im normally used to but it was still interesting, also the music team had the maddest drum, like, its a square box, about the height of a stool (mabe a bit taller) which u sit on and kinda just drum from between your legs and stuff, and u can make sounds of the bass, snare and wateva the drums above the bass drum are called. It was awsome. After went out for lunch then in the arvo Jus and i went down to the olympic park, which was fairly epic, the birds nest is very kul, the girders that make the next itself are HUGE like MASSIVELY HUGE, so yea that was epic, (and very photogenic) the water cube was a bit more anticlimatic, it kinda looked better on TV really, but still kul, also took some silly fotos, but still good =D
anyway
thats about it for now =D
fairly epic really, this is gona b one epic trip to document =P
sat was more of an orientation day, kinda with just general chatting in the morning followed by a bike-ride around the local area. But this bike riding is hardcore, like... if u want to pass a car or cross a street just look for a vague opening and just ride in front of cars and hope they stop for u
or to get acccross an intersection just ride in the general direction and kinda do a bit of a weaaving pattern thing...is hardcore. As is driving (not that im driving but taxis and stuff) like 3 lane highways become 4-5 lane as there are no real road rules/lanes/even directions. To turn is like on a bike, just head in the general direction until u hit the area u want, without smacking any bikes along the way...its chaotic. fun to watch tho =D, o yea also on the bike ride was a mad market where they sold food and stuff (it was a local market not a touristy one) so like ppl were shouting mad asianness everywhere and like selling all kinds of random things (and not so random things), got some fotos, have to post them somewhere eventually but like frying fish on the floor and selling buns that were still steaming (and other seedier things like raw whole chickens) and mad hand made noodles (dunno bout hygene, but they looked mad) and there were random trucks parked throughout the whole place that were piled with cabage, and stacks of ginger and garlick in a corner somewhere, kinda kul really, also explored some of the side allys and stuff, kul stuff
after that went to a clothing market place and a place called the Village. the market was like a fairly standard tourist market with butloads of the same stalls selling he same clothing but ther was some mad stuff there, Jus got a kul coat and i was considering getting a 3/4 length trench coat, but considering the shocking exchange rate decided against it HOWEVER when we got back to Simons he had a spare he was about to give away (and it was real) so iv now inherited that =D
ok and the Village is like... well it kinda feels like world square (place in the middle of the city) cept its a bit bigger, it is a western kinda place with legit stores and all, had one of the flagship apple stores there (looks kinda like the sydney one with extentions) and a mad addidas store where u can design your own shoe which u can then buy (for some rediculous price) which was kul aaaaand yea.
food was also good though we have been having more western food then asian, but went to a place called home away from home (thats the actual name of the resterant) which was good for asianness, and also had some korean BBQ last nite (sunday)
during sunday itself went to church with Simon and Bridget which was kul, its kinda like a very mini hillsong (kinda) tho its all expats (foreiners) so basicly all white guys and gals =P
since it was designed for an older demographic it was a bit heavier than im normally used to but it was still interesting, also the music team had the maddest drum, like, its a square box, about the height of a stool (mabe a bit taller) which u sit on and kinda just drum from between your legs and stuff, and u can make sounds of the bass, snare and wateva the drums above the bass drum are called. It was awsome. After went out for lunch then in the arvo Jus and i went down to the olympic park, which was fairly epic, the birds nest is very kul, the girders that make the next itself are HUGE like MASSIVELY HUGE, so yea that was epic, (and very photogenic) the water cube was a bit more anticlimatic, it kinda looked better on TV really, but still kul, also took some silly fotos, but still good =D
anyway
thats about it for now =D
fairly epic really, this is gona b one epic trip to document =P
Friday, November 21, 2008
Touchdown =D
Okeday so basicly all iv done is arrive in china and sleep but still,
anyway the plane trip was good (dark knight was showing) as was a few other flicks which iv seen before, but still entertaining enougrvh that i managed to survive. Also listened to the coldplay track viva la vida which was great (some of the stuff on it is better than the tital track) but yea that was new for me. aaaaaaand yea otherwise it was a stock standard plane trip really (albit a 12 hour one but still)
arrival was actully WAY less painless than everyone made it out to be, as everyone at the airport speaks a modicon of english and the place is easy enough to navigate (albit it is MASSIVE) like hugely huge. but yea, just kinda rolled on out and everything was golden really, nothing to it =P although we may have goten lucky too
anyway after that just went back to my cos's place and chilled there talked for a bit and all aaaaand thats bout it woke up and am now doing his, and really thats been my first few hours in beijing =D but the place looks great (ish) though u can smell the polution it dosnt seem too lifethreatening (for now =P) but yea chinese classes start monday so theres the weekend to do wateva before we get thrown in the deep end
anyway ill update ofenish wheneva theres something to update bout
anyway the plane trip was good (dark knight was showing) as was a few other flicks which iv seen before, but still entertaining enougrvh that i managed to survive. Also listened to the coldplay track viva la vida which was great (some of the stuff on it is better than the tital track) but yea that was new for me. aaaaaaand yea otherwise it was a stock standard plane trip really (albit a 12 hour one but still)
arrival was actully WAY less painless than everyone made it out to be, as everyone at the airport speaks a modicon of english and the place is easy enough to navigate (albit it is MASSIVE) like hugely huge. but yea, just kinda rolled on out and everything was golden really, nothing to it =P although we may have goten lucky too
anyway after that just went back to my cos's place and chilled there talked for a bit and all aaaaand thats bout it woke up and am now doing his, and really thats been my first few hours in beijing =D but the place looks great (ish) though u can smell the polution it dosnt seem too lifethreatening (for now =P) but yea chinese classes start monday so theres the weekend to do wateva before we get thrown in the deep end
anyway ill update ofenish wheneva theres something to update bout
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Last couple of days/ pre-china prep
So...it hasn't been too long since the last blog but stuff has happened
soooo probably starting from what i first remember would be quantum of solace (new bond flick) which was really good, albit suffered from a bit of incoherence as the whole thing sometimes seemed to meander to give excuses for more action, or rush to move to the next fight, but yea also seems to be a trilogy as it dosnt really have a great ending (like very open ended kinda like gears that it poses more questions than it answers) but there u go
alsooooooooooo ummm ok losing track of time but also had a 'pre-china briefing' from my uncle which was basicly sumed up in cab drivers are stupid, we r stuffed without chinese aaaaand basics of how to not get lost within five seconds of leaving the plane, but yea
hmmm cant remeber when my last blog was, but just to mention in any case that on sat chilled with my cosin (jus) again as he crashed at my place after a party =P so got lots of gaming done while waiting =DDD and then just gamed some more on sat during the day, and co-op finished gears 2 which was awsome, accept that the end was kinda anticlimatical (the fight itself not the boss) and yea... great stuff... like fallout, but way too much to bother boring the details of its awsomeness
aaand yea, barny is still forgeting how to have fun post-IB (he only just finished -.-) but yea least he borrowed some adicting games to suck part of his life out, also he finaly worked out that he does have time to play games...as having nothing to do, like NO work ever (for 3 months) is epicly awsome =D
man so much to do
ill try update more in China/HK, tho i dunno how much ill use facebook but yea (no im not getting twitter as i dont have enough access to computers to twitter) and neither do i want to twitter -.-
anyway next update will b asianerised =P
soooo probably starting from what i first remember would be quantum of solace (new bond flick) which was really good, albit suffered from a bit of incoherence as the whole thing sometimes seemed to meander to give excuses for more action, or rush to move to the next fight, but yea also seems to be a trilogy as it dosnt really have a great ending (like very open ended kinda like gears that it poses more questions than it answers) but there u go
alsooooooooooo ummm ok losing track of time but also had a 'pre-china briefing' from my uncle which was basicly sumed up in cab drivers are stupid, we r stuffed without chinese aaaaand basics of how to not get lost within five seconds of leaving the plane, but yea
hmmm cant remeber when my last blog was, but just to mention in any case that on sat chilled with my cosin (jus) again as he crashed at my place after a party =P so got lots of gaming done while waiting =DDD and then just gamed some more on sat during the day, and co-op finished gears 2 which was awsome, accept that the end was kinda anticlimatical (the fight itself not the boss) and yea... great stuff... like fallout, but way too much to bother boring the details of its awsomeness
aaand yea, barny is still forgeting how to have fun post-IB (he only just finished -.-) but yea least he borrowed some adicting games to suck part of his life out, also he finaly worked out that he does have time to play games...as having nothing to do, like NO work ever (for 3 months) is epicly awsome =D
man so much to do
ill try update more in China/HK, tho i dunno how much ill use facebook but yea (no im not getting twitter as i dont have enough access to computers to twitter) and neither do i want to twitter -.-
anyway next update will b asianerised =P
Saturday, November 15, 2008
The Begining
Well this would be where i start saying something deep and meaningful about life or something... except that i dont really have that many insightful deep meaningful things to share (or i cbb to) wateva the case
pretend that this is something deep and meaningful that has impacted ur life (not that many people actually know about this impactful piece of awsomeness =PPPPPPPPPPPPPPP) aaaaaaand i dunno mabe ill start thinking about wat else to blog about some other time...hmmmmm
well i suppose i may as well start with wat iv done so far in the extended holidays, which has been
-Play heaps of games (fallout 3 is leet) (so is gears 2)
anyway
ummmmmmm
saw jono sometime earlier in the week just bumed around here played games talked and yea...didnt do too much that makes for inspirational bloging
saw my cos too anddddddddddddd basicly did the same thing, cept more games but yeaj
aaaaaaand finally i saw pris and saw body of lies which was ok and then chilled at her place, which she cant get in to cos she dosnt know which key it is to open her door
-.-
anyway
plenty of things i could say about some of the convos with her
but then i dont think id b living too long (safe to say barny u featured prominently =P)
anyway
thats bout it for now (ish)
tho should b interesting to blog from china (thus why iv started bloging now)
pretend that this is something deep and meaningful that has impacted ur life (not that many people actually know about this impactful piece of awsomeness =PPPPPPPPPPPPPPP) aaaaaaand i dunno mabe ill start thinking about wat else to blog about some other time...hmmmmm
well i suppose i may as well start with wat iv done so far in the extended holidays, which has been
-Play heaps of games (fallout 3 is leet) (so is gears 2)
anyway
ummmmmmm
saw jono sometime earlier in the week just bumed around here played games talked and yea...didnt do too much that makes for inspirational bloging
saw my cos too anddddddddddddd basicly did the same thing, cept more games but yeaj
aaaaaaand finally i saw pris and saw body of lies which was ok and then chilled at her place, which she cant get in to cos she dosnt know which key it is to open her door
-.-
anyway
plenty of things i could say about some of the convos with her
but then i dont think id b living too long (safe to say barny u featured prominently =P)
anyway
thats bout it for now (ish)
tho should b interesting to blog from china (thus why iv started bloging now)
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