Manilla Vanilla...

So this summer a few of us decided to go to a nice beachy location...

the small island in the middle of the Philippine Islands called Boracay. Unlucky for us though, we had to make a stop through Manila to get there. No offense to any Filippinos, but Manila is vanilla. Just like any other big city Ihave been to, except maybe slightly more dirty, loud and dangerous. My first experience was a clean, comfy room with a nicely placed fake window. To be completely honest, it reminded me a little of Tijuana. Well I spent the first day by myself wandering around the hot streets of Manila waiting for Sean, Younjoo and Holly to arrive.

Manila is filled with Jeepneys, Tricycles and shaddy cab drivers that try to con you out of every peso you have and blame it on the 'traffic.' Which brings me to that topic, I am pretty sure Manila is perpetually in rush hour.

However, Manila did have some bright sides... There was tons of western food, TGI Fridays, Hard Rock Cafe, California Pizza kitchen and Wendy's!!!...but the best was the Filipino roasted chicken (other than the cheap buckets of beer, not to be confused with the buckets o'liquor in Thailand). When the rest of the group arrived we also had a nice tour through the old part of Manila with our trusty tour guide, Anthony DeGuzeman, who loved to remind us that he had Facebook, and we should add him as a friend...

Finally, off to the beach... Boracay here we come

Scooooooter....

So back in the beginning of June I decided to follow in Trent's footsteps and 'Go Mobile.' I purchased an electric scooter. After doing a little searching online, I settled on a 2 week old scooter for 1600 RMB (~$230). It goes about 35-40km/h but was a little smaller than I expected, but it was a pretty good deal seeing how most of them retail for around 2000RMB. To date, this was the best purchase that I have made in Shanghai. After charging that baby up, it was time for Trent and I to experience a whole new dilemma in food choices. This is the common debate of the day, "where do you want to eat?" "I don't know... where do you want to eat?" "I'm down for whatever, you pick...".....as the daily debate goes. Now with an increased radius of possible food choices, the decision wasn't any easier.

Well, the scooter has opened me up to a seeing a whole new side of Shanghai. Small tree lined lane streets with locals eating outside their shops on mini chairs and table, more tiny hole in the wall restaurants, and the hustle and bustle of weaving through traffic, riding on sidewalks, honking your horn at pedestrians who seem to be oblivious to anyone but themselves and especially figuring out what streets to Not drive on...(aka no bike lanes, fast traffic, and screaming oh sh*t as you try to make it to safety).

The downsides of having a scooter...1) You hate walking Anywhere, as it feels like your barely moving. 2) Charging the battery...sucks (must weight about 40 lbs, and parking is no where near my building)

So, if moving to Shanghai....I suggest buying a scooter. My best purchase to yet...

Shanghai World Expo...

It is an interesting time to be in Shanghai, its the time of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo!!!! Well, thats what the dozens of Haibao and constant streaming of commercials has been telling me since I got here way back in September. Who or what is Haibao you ask?? Well its the weird Gumbo shaped copy of a creature pictured on the left. (Yes, China loves to copy things...everything at that). Well as of May 1st, it is open and running full steam, for better or worse. I've been to the expo twice now, once with Trent for a school report and once with my parents when they came to visit. This is a combination of what I thought about this so called 'World Expo.'

What is the World expo anyways?? I still am not quite sure after being there twice. I thought it was going to be a showcase of what the future was going to be like in say... 20 years, or the latest technological achievements of the countries participating. Well I think I've come to the conclusion that the World Expo is really just one big culture fair / souvenir shop on steroids. Don't get me wrong, the outside of the pavilions are pretty spectacular to look at, especially at night... but the insides are seriously lacking.And by lacking,

I mean lacking anything that really blew me away or would make me want to keep coming back. Except for getting the Coke bottle at the Coca Cola pavilion that after you shook it, it would turn to basically a Coke slushee, which was pretty darn cool. But anyway, the pavilions just seem to be showcasing the culture of their country, trying to convince people tomaybe one day go and visit, and of course trying to sell whatever junk souvenirs they are famous for at exorbitant price because hey, its the World Friggen Expo! Well here is the UK pavilion, a pretty cool porky pine looking thing made of thousands of recycled plastic LED filled rods.

Well, it was an interesting experience non the less, and I can at least say I've been to one World Expo in my life. I can rest easy knowing that I checked that off my list of life long achievements. O, and pictured below, a case of the famous idea that 'Chinese can sleep anywhere.' This picture was taken from the Netherlands Pavilion, I guess this couple thought they could sleep below a country's pavilion without being noticed. I like the special touch of the expo map blanket.

Hong Kong with a little Macau Mixed In

Chinese New Year was quickly approaching, and there seemed to be no better place to celebrate than in Hong Kong. So I jumped on a plane to Hong Kong to meet up with Trent, as the rest of my travel partners would be arriving the next day. Well upon arriving at the Hong Kong airport, I realized I didn't have my debit card.... Uh ohhh... Well I withdrew the last HK$500 I had left in my Chinese account and hopped for the best. I got on a train and headed to the hostel to meet up with Trent, realizing again that for some reason our phones don't work in HK, odd. Well it worked out and the next day we set off to go sight seeing. Here is the spectacular view of the HK skyline... well where it should be anyways. Later we checked out the famous bar area of Lan Kwai Fong, basically and expats bar haven.

The next day was the CNY parade, good thing our hostel was located on the same street as the parade route. We headed downstairs with a few beers to quench our thirst w

hile we try to hold our spot. Honestly, the parade wasn't all that great. We did get to see the San Diego Charger girls, a random place to get a little feel of back home. Well we headed to Lan Kwai Fong again to celebrate CNY and meet up with the rest of our MAIS group who were in HK as well.

The last day me and Trent headed out to Macau to see what all the hype was about.Macau hailed as the Vegas of the East, we were excited to experience what it had to

offer. To be honest, not all that much. Definitely not like vegas at all...The casinos were ok at best, mostly small rooms with a few slot machines and card tables. Nothing much to write home about, much less on this blog. So instead I've added a picture of what the old town looks like, a resemblance of the Portuguese colonial history.

And that was the end of what was an unforgettable blitzkrieg vacation through SE Asia, HK and Macau. I can't wait for what next year's spring festival vacation will have in store for me. Who knows, maybe a little Vietnam, Cambodia, Bali, Laos??... maybe all of the above.

On to กรุงเทพมหานคร (Bangkok)

So after leaving our last stop in paradise we started our journey to the congestionthat is Bangkok. It only took a 3 hour ferry ride, a bus ride, and a 10 hour overnight train ride to get there. The overnight train was.... well interesting to say the least. When morning comes, the beds fold up and at every stop vendors get on and off of the train selling breakfast items, mystery fruit with spicy sugar and other knicknacks. The first day we spent just wandering around the city, seeing what Bangkok was all about. Ate some delicious food at hole in the wall restaurants, enjoyed the fantastic street food and tried to find out what all this talk about Bangkok was all about. We took the river taxi, which was amazingly efficient, I wish Shanghai took greater advantage of such an efficient form of transportation running through the city. It was interesting to see the monks waiting for the ferry in a separate line, as they can't be touched by women. There was even aspecial area for them to stand on the ferry with a "Reserved for Monks" sign. I guess only in Thailand...

The next day we decided it was imperative that we go to a Thai Boxing match,after all not seeing a Thai Boxing in match in Thailand would be like going to China and not seeing the Great Wall of China. So we got our tickets for around 1500 Baht, the premium seating and got ready to see 10 matches of face busting action. It was definitely an experience to remember.

My last day in Bangkok I hit up the famous market street of Khaosan, bought a few souvenir T-Shirts and tried one last time to absorb everything that was Thailand. The last stop on this whirlwind vacation is back in China... well technically anyway. Here I come Hong Kong and Macau.

Koh Phangan

The next stop on our South East Asia tour was the small island of Koh Phanagn off of the east coast of Thailand. After a long-tail boat ride from Railay we hopped onto a bus to cross from the west to the east coast of Thailand, then we took a 3 hour ferry ride, then jumped into a pickup truck taxi to finally make it to our hostel in the island of Koh Phangan, known around for the world for their infamous 'Full Moon Parties.' We got in late in the afternoon andwent on a mission to figure out how to get to Bangkok...After figuring out that 'minor' detail we decided to check out the 'full moon party' even though it wasn't a full moon.It turned out to be a pretty spectacular event, if your into a party on the beach that includes: fire spinners, fire spinners on stilts,a flaming jump rope, sand pails of liquor, cheapbeer, o and thefact that we were in Thailand? Well yea, If you like that sort of thing then you could say it was a spectacular party... or as one my fellow travelers always said ("it was the cat's meow"). And yes, if you were wondering. I DID do the flaming jump rope... more once, o and the flaming hoop jump (not pictured). Both were pretty darn exhilarating.

Well the next day we wandered around the little

island town looking for some more delicious Thai food and seeing what there was to be seen. During the day we saw more of the infamous 'Bucket o' Liquor,' basically a concoction of your liquor of choice, and a mixer conveniently sold in a the form of a bucket, all for the low price of around US$6. Not bad... Well I spent most of the day sitting on the beach, dreading leaving this island paradise, with clean air, blue skies, and my beloved beach.... because the next stop was back to the dirty, smoggy, polluted, crowded city of Bangkok....This was the my last view I had before leaving on tour of what seemed like every possible form of transportation that Thailand has to offer...

Next stop... Paradise

After leaving the party town of Phuket, we hopped on a boat and headed for the isolated beach town of Railay. The only way to get there is by the infamous Long-Tailed boats, which does require you to get a little wet... After a few hour ferry ride, we were in an 'island paradise' (although its more of an isthmus). The next mission was to find a place to stay, as we decided to go here without any idea about where we were going to stay. So after a 2 hour exploration mission, we finally found a place within our budget. After our very tiring journey, I was more than happy to settle down to a nice meal of pad thai, the quintessential mainstay of Thailand. Spending a few days here to relax on the warm white sand beaches was just what I needed after spending a few months in the relentless Shanghai winter. I explored the 'island' encountering monkeys, impromptu rock climbers, caves, and the holly grail of Railay adventure. The climb to the lagoon. Involved me climbing supposed trails nearly straight up... repelling nearly straight down, all in my favorite hiking shoes, Rainbow's. The last day on Railay was spent on a snorkeling trip that ended with a sunset dinner (delicious seafood Thai curry, rice, and potatoes) on a deserted island. What more could you ask for? Oh yea, a Chang...

The Greatest Trip Ever... Continued

Well we caught our Air Asia flight over to Thailand, all of a 10 minute flight when you take in the time change... anyway we arrived to find our hostel was no where to be found... After walking up and down for 30 mins (good thing I bought a fake NorthFace backpack for 15 bucks) we finally found it and were glad to be in Thailand...It was night time, and we were ready to experience Thailand, and Patong Beach for that matter. The magic that greeted us was and endless street of neon signs, bars, clubs, and the infamous "Lady Boys" of Thailand. After a night of exploring we called it quits, and I went to sleep ready for the beach...

From the photo on the right...a Lady boy in action. But hey at least the bars in Thailand aren't trying to lie or anything. "Maybe 20 gorgeous girls, a lot of ugly girls, plus a few fat ones!" They tell it how it is...

The next day was all about relaxing after our two days of traveling to get there. We relaxed under the endless supply of beach chairs and umbrellas, there were conveniently shifted by our attendees to block out the intense southeast asian sun. The water was warm... almost too warm. It felt like i was taking a bath in one ginormous bath tub. Well after a day at the beach we decided to take advantage of the happy hours... well more like happy days (happy hours that last from 10am till 8 pm).

Our next and last day in Patong Beach was to be filled with ATV riding, Elephant Trekking, and a Monkey and Snake show. All were fun, and all felt quintessentially Thai. Next on our makeshift Thailand extravaganza itinerary was Railay, Thailand. A beach town that is only accessible by the famous Thailand long tail boats...

Spring Festival Vacation...

So its been a while since my last post, but this is about my spring festival vacation... AKA the greatest trip of my life. So we started off this trip with a train ride to Hangzhou, China. Followed by a flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Next, the crew (Dana, Megan, and Erika - Fellow MAIS students) spent the most of our extended layover (1 Day) exploring the city. This was our first exposure to the southeast asia weather...90 degrees with 90% humidity. Far different than the 40 and rainy winter we left in Shanghai. You can't go to Kuala Lumpur without seeing the Petronas Towers, its like going to China and not seeing a bowl of rice. Well here they are in all of their glory.

We were happy to leave Malaysia after a day, and we were more than ready to experience the highest concentration of best beaches in the world. Off to Thailand!!

New Year's in Shanghai!!

The next week Sean arrived in tow with 3 koreans from Seoul. One of them being his girlfriend Yoonjoon. They arrived just in time for a dinner I booked at an all you can eat/drink Tepanyaki place. So me, Holly, Sean + 3 koreans, and my roommate Lloyd headed over to meet up with what had to be half my school (Telfort teachers) all eating at the same place. After a delicious meal we headed over to the usual spot, the Bulldog for New Year's eve countdown. Which turned out to be quite disappointing... definitely not the same as in in America. Well to end the night me and Holly jumped in a cab back home, which turns out many don't use the meters and we were charged the standard 100 kuai cab ride home (normally 20).

The next day I took them on a day of sightseeing around Shanghai. The usual thing such as the French Concession, the Bund, and Yuyuan gardens. We ended the day at a little known spot on the Bund where you can get an awesome view of the Bund at night and have a few beers. On top of a place called Captain's Hostel.

The last day we had to hit up the other side of the river, Pudong. We took a look at the skyscrapers such as the Pearl Tower, Jin Mao, and the Shanghai World Financial Center (SHWFC).I took them on a hunt to find a bar that I heard about where you don't have to pay to go up.

We found it in the Hyatt hotel where they had some good seats by the window on the 91st floor of the SHWFC. We took in the night with a round of Mojitos as we waited for the skyline to light up. $12 drinks weren't bad for an hour of hanging out on the 91st floor with a fantastic view of the Shanghai skyline... All in all, a good day

Venice of the East...

After our cold trip to Beijing we flew back to Shanghai to catch the bus over to Suzhou, only to find that it was snowing in Shanghai! In Suzhou we had a few interesting experiences. Got off at the wrong stop in Suzhou and took a quite expensive taxi the rest of the way. Our first dinner was at a place where they spoke almost no English despite their English menu. We ended up getting a full set meal served to us, that 'we' thought we hadn't ordered. I guess 'they' thought we had, and resulted in about 15 mins of staring at each other. We ended up getting something that was note very tasty, and wished we had kept what they gave us in the beginning. Well we saw the sights: the old city streets, the canals, and the pagodas. Took in some cheap souvenir shopping and hopped on the train back to Shanghai...

Holly has Arrived! Off to Beijing!!

So after a long 4 months apart, Holly finally arrived in China for a visit during the holidays. We decided to head up the the seemingly Arctic north of China, Beijing. When we arrived the highs were around -12C (10 F), or basically the coldest we've ever been. After taking an hour long taxi ride through traffic we arrived at our Hutong Hostel. The next day we decide to take an excursion to the Forbidden City, but decided it was too cold to spend 2 hours walking around outside and headed around to Wanfujing Shopping street. The next day we took off on our mission to see the Great Wall of China. We bundled up and took the train out to the Great Wall. Here we are with our Christmas spirit. After asking a Chinese tourist to take our photo, it turned into a full on photo session with Holly as the spotlight. They asked to take a photo with her, then called over their friends, who attracted another group of Chinese tourists who wanted to take their photo with Ms. Clause.

After hiking up and down the Great Wall, we took the train back and decided to go and check out the Olympic stadiums. It was dark by the time we got back, and it was for the better, as it was quite the sight to see when the Bird's Nest and Water Cube are all lit up at night. Not to mention the what seemed to be

100 Christmas trees lining the walkway. After a successful day in Beijing we decided

to head back for our free dumpling at our hostel. The next day we took a free walking tour of the hutong area and saw some other local sights, as well as had some Peking duck. It was quite a successful, but cold.... very cold visit to Beijing. Next we were off to Suzhou...