Timing
I must have been lucky so far. Since Australia is so connected with the rest of the world the news here isnt hard to see or hear. So when I'm sitting at the local food court in Sydney watching the flatscreen news TV I find out Beijing is buried under a blizzard? And especially when most travel is during the Chinese New Years - believe me I know its gonna get busy. But Im just glad Im not stranded there. Well I suppose the point is, I didnt plan on avoiding Beijing during this time. Just so happened to work out that way. And just so happened to work out that I landed in Melbourne on Australia Day weekend, and Barcelona on Merce Festival weekend, and Istanbul during PKK protest days, etc. Well its a nice change to see news everywhere.
And for some reason Australians are very keen on US politics. Like Bush's State of the Union was being televised live during lunch in Sydney. Its funny because I doubt anyone back home cares much for Aussie politics. I didnt watch; was more entralled with the fact that I knew the group sitting next to me were Thai. You can tell when you hear "mnak mnak wack nyak" or something nasaly like that really loud. At least for me its kinda neat to be able to pinpoint languages somewhat better now.
What else can I pinpoint? Landmarks. Like you know what these are:
...the Bayonne Bridge!
...the Bayonne Bridge!...AND MORE TO COME WHEN I GET BACK ONLINE! Somewhere in New Zealand =)
posted by Tashi at
7:13:00 AM
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Its colorful to say the least. A 10 minute metro ride gets you into Flinders Street and Federation Square. Where this week the Aussies were going nuts over the Australian Open in town...watching the matches live on the big screen here.
At least it looked cool at night. So thats Melbourne, I spent a few days here and must go back! 
And go back to experience the true Aussie culture. Which is pretty similar to ours back in the states with a few exceptions...like the language. Yes its English, but its Australish or something. Sunnies?
Nappies? 
I think they take words and just shorten them. At least their plastic feeling money is some of the most colorful Ive seen around the planet.
It feels almost like Charlotte, NC out here with the way the city is setup and all. Only difference is people get out and walk all over this small city in the state of Western Australia. I had planned to take a train from here all the way over to Melbourne. A three day journey across the outback. But too bad for me it sold out - guess everyones going east to see the Australian Open and whatnot. Besides it was a bunch of old people waiting to roll outta here and I wasnt gonna drop $1300 for the last gold sleeper seats left. Thats a little harsh, so of course this will have to wait for another time in the way future - when im like old or something haha.
Good fish and chips - maybe some that can rival what you get in London. 
So after catching the lovely sunset upon the Indian Ocean it was time to head to the Fremantle Prison. Heard the torchlight tours were the thing to do so thus I did. Back in the day there were "heaps" of convicts who built most of Fremantle, including this prison for themselves.
Tastes like really bad sour cream and onion haha. 
and Jen Ju Nai Cha - some sort of milk tea with little googey balls in it. 
Spectacular tasting too. What else tastes good here? Shenbing - like a dumpling but in hamburger form
And the McDonalds double decker filet o fish. I just had to try it.
The local kids hang out in hip Ximen
Off to the outback next.
The city had been previously noted for its abundant pollution, but when I rolled up it was quite refreshing, or something like that. 
Kaohsiung is famous for its night market seafood 
and the Love River - more like a tourist attraction ploy. 
Felt like Dublin or something with this famous Love River dividing the city up. The city is also divided by politics. Its a predominantly Blue Party-pro China type of town. Most of southern Taiwan is made of up people strongly associated with mainland China. But when you see a Green Party (Nationalist Party)-pro Taiwan independence or something-sign right here proclaiming their dominance over Taiwan its a bit stirring. I think this sign said something like the Blue Party sucks or whatever. 
The Green Nationalists just won a huge majority in the government too and wish to oust the current President who isnt in line with their lets make amends with the China mainland policy. At least one thing they want are more direct flights from Hong Kong and maybe other cities. Right now you can only fly to Taiwan from HK International if youre from China. Politics as usual here. 
with cousin Jessica. We met up with her friend Janine. For the chance at some all night KTV a.k.a. karaoke. 
They love their music in Taiwan. And they love their KTV. So much in fact, that they were singing from midnight to 8am straight. No joke. And its not like western karaoke...its Japanese style where you get your own little room with a disco ball type thing, giant screen TV to watch the songs video and sing to your friends. 
This LES sign gave me a good laugh. Yea, I miss the LES yo.
I think HK has to be in my top 5 favorite cities visited list, along with London, Paris, Cinque Terre and Istanbul. Not bad company aye?
First off, the skyline here can rival what we got in Manhattan. 
And each night they put on a Symphony of Lights show where all the towers light up to music as you view from across the harbor in Kowloon. 
By far one of the coolest things I'd seen yet. Not only are the skyscrapers impressive, but the view from atop the Peak is like looking down on the city you just created with Sim City. 
Almost surreal. But mad scenic hiking trails along the mountain backdrop of the city itself provide for some of the best views on a good sunny day. 
There's a British influence left behind - double decker buses and trams as well as driving on the left side of the road. They even remind you like in London to:
And quite a number of English speakers too. Its just a place with a good vibe. I feel it yo. I found this dim sum joint where only locals appeared to freqent - even though it was advertised in the tourist visitor center. So the dim sum here is so good its hard to get a seat anytime of the day. And when you do you have to fight for your own dim sum. Like we're used to an orderly procession of carts coming to your table. Not the case here. When the cart comes out of the kitchen, people flock to it and fight their way to the hot little buns and things. And good reason to as well. It was some good dim sum.
What I didnt feel was the hostel on Kowloon - the mainland side of Hong Kong. Not one of the best Ive been to. 
It was on the 13th floor of the Mirador Mansion. 
Dont be fooled by the name, its hardly a mansion at all. Just a run down apartment complex where notices warning tenants who fail to pay up rent are scattered all over. Not that I expected luxury, either, as Mirador and their competitors at Chungking Mansion run all the hostels in Hong Kong. They're really dilapidated apartment buildings with 13 stories. Its an odd place to have a hostel and even more sketchy when you book with one hostel and find out the guy also runs the other 5 on in the building, but all under different names. But the 24 hour internet cafe on the 10th floor was alright. 
Not that this view from our balcony or any of the Nigerians trying to pawn fake Rolexes to you bothered me at all. 
Thats life on Kowloon and its infamous Nathan Road. 
We should all strive to go there one day. I am surely going to go back again.
They call it the Venice of the East because of all the canal waterways in the city. Well when I got there it was all a construction zone outside the train station. 
Not knowing where to go I just started walking and ran into some other tourists - a girl and her mom from Tokyo. At least we were the only ones who spoke English out there haha. So we found some nicer canals and went to some Chinese garden place. it was alright. They left early so I backtracked my way to the North Temple and of course was offered more massages, this time in Chinese haha. I wanted to find some ancient road called Ping Jiang that was a market or something so asked some kids in the dumpling shop I had lunch in. They didnt know but thats ok, they also pointed me to the train station. Yet I had like 2 hours to kill so decided to walk back the way we came by cab. At least I still remembered the roads. But the funny thing was that kid had followed me on his bike, trying to tell me the train station was the other way. Even without a map I knew he was giving me a short cut but I had to explain that I wanted to walk the long way haha. He had limited English but somehow told me "my girlfriend wanted me to help you find the train station". It was so nice of them since they thought I was totally lost in their city. But I explained I knew where I was going and the kid rode on, maybe thinking I was crazy.
And I found the most awesome sesame sweet cookies so bought like a whole bag from the lady who ran a hole in the wall bakery on the street. I also got a bag of almond cookied, and thats after I kept going back to get one at a time haha. The kids selling them laughed at me and my crappy Chinese language counting skills.
So with all my cookies I kept walking on and found that they lit up the canal area at night. All the Venice-like buildings and pagoda, which really looked a lot Japanese, had been decked out in cool lights. I just sat there for a while eating cookies along the canal and checkin out the scenery, which was now under the dark evening sky.
Not a bad place, but I doubt its on a level comparable to Venice. Worth the trip too because my train back was a super fast CRH bullet train. Which in fact, is the same make and model as the Japanese Shikansen bullet trains. So the technology has made its way over to China. Kinda cool cause I felt like I was going to northern Japan again.
I stayed at 
Did you know that Yao Ming hails from Shanghai?
There were two younger guys who became translators. So after a while it wasnt that bad of a place to be in, especially since I heard they jack your stuff on the trains. One of the "translators", Mark, was studying English in university. He had been speaking for years so the two of us had a coherent conversation the whole time, with the occasional question or two from the other onlookers in nearby seats. Thats him passed out on the hard seat there. This guy smiling was real curious about me, the Chinese looking westerner.
Meeting Mark provided me an opportunity to find out what its like from the Chinese population perspective. So when I asked why are there no Lonely Planets about China in the bookstore? His reply was because maybe no one wants or needs to know where to go in China. Theres no market for the book. He also cited the fact that if I were to travel within the US from NY to Cali, I wouldnt break out a travel guide book, either. That may be so, but it wasnt a function of whether or not theres a market for the book, its a matter of why wont the Chinese government approve such western material on China? I wasnt going to win this battle because I could see the insider perspective from China is quite different.
But is the food good in Beijing? I guess its on par with restaurants I've frequented back in NYC (Big Wongs) and Charlotte (the Chinks). And I'm talking like the hole in wall joint down the road from my hostel where the guy cooking the food prepares the dishes outside in an alley haha. Maybe the food is just weird in some regards. For example, there's some good dumplings and meatlike Tibetan hamburger type things at the night market here. Right next to the normal cuisine are stalls selling scorpion, weird little bugs, snake, octopus, starfish, livers, deer, ostrich, fried ice cream and fruits covered in a sticky goo. 
Seems like the custom for the locals is to eat the weird stuff. But its actually expensive in Chinese terms (only a dollar, reallay) and I found out intended for the rich. For the rich in Beijing - probably because of this countrys economic boom - are the ones who dine on the finest Scorpion and freqent the best duck restaurants. You can tell which ones are for the wealthy too because the prices for a meal are over $10 and not $3 like normal. And I discovered McDonalds is on par with being an exquisite western eatery. Like they think McD's is the finest of what western foods has to offer so only the well-to-do can be found eating there. Pretty funny. And only the wealtheir may sport Nike shoes. And drive Ferrari's (theres a dealer down the road - next to the Rolls Royce and Lahmborghini ones). That was surprising to see, especially since I anticipated Beijing to look and feel kind of like India. After all, there are a billion people here too. But it sure doesnt feel like that with all their fancy malls and wide streets.
Every night youre solicited here for the AMP experience. Next door - the Wangfujing Hostel. 
Figuring it was some sort of showcase I stuck around till 5pm to see the flag being cerimoniously taken down. I guess their little changing of the guards routine. Its put back up the next morning with the same pomp and circumstance. I checked out the Forbidden City right across the street. Bunch of old red buildings with a lot of history. Maybe the pictures tell a better story. 
You can tell though all the frantic renovations are in preparation for a good image during the Olympics.
As you walk up the Wall, you are followed by the locals who are more like souvenir sellers. This lady followed us all the way up - the whole 3 hours - just to sell some stuff at the top. Along the way she was like a tour guide, pointing out stuff and really a nice person. They just want to make a living out here. I bought a big ass poster from her. Even though it was kinda overpriced, at least she was able to go home for the day and cook for her 2 kids.
This guy is the amry person assigned to the Wall. Its funny, when he saw us he ran ahead and hid behind the wall - because at the very top the wall ceases to exist. Well its actually crumbling and not safe to pass beyond the sign that reads "200 Yuan fine: DO NOT ENTER". 
So he's there to enforce the fine. But he just chills. We actually tried to bribe him to allow us to pass over and climb the steep crumbling part. Got him down to 60 yuan for the three of us but had to go back to the bus waiting to take us back to Beijing. I wasnt gonna miss another bus haha (recall my story at the Taj).
Keep heading east and you'll find yourself in what looks like Times Square. But its Shibuya. 
Home of all the Tokyo lights, sounds, traffic and insane pedestrian crossing. The intersection itself is the mass converging of 5 streets. But when you want to cross, all walkway lights are red. Until traffic ceases to move, and they all simultaneously turn green. Thats when you just weave your way through thousands of people per square foot any which way you'd like. The end result might as well be a mesh network swarm of pedestrians forming the Star of David. 
And if you think its confusing just to cross the street here - try finding an address. Everything is vertical. 1F, 4F, whatever F floor you want. 
You just have to know how to read vertically.
Ｂｕｔ ｉｔ ｗａｓ ｎｅａｔ ｔｏ ｓｅｅ ｈｏｗ ｔｈｅ Ｊａｐａｎｅｓｅ ｄｏ ｔｏ ｓｔａｒｔ ｏｆｆ ２００８． Ａｎｄ ｔｈｅ ｎｅｘｔ ｄａｙ ｔｈｅ Ｉｍｐｅｒｉａｌ Ｐａｌａｃｅ ｇｏｕｎｄｓ ａｒｅ ｏｐｅｎｅｄ， ｔｈｉｓ ｔｈｅ ｏｎｅ ｔｉｍｅ ｏｆ ｔｈｅ ｙｅａｒ， ｆｏｒ ｔｈｅ ｐｕｂｌｉｃ ｔｏ ｐｅｒｕｓｅ ｉｎ ａｎｄ ａｌｓｏ ｃａｔｃｈ ａ ｇｌｉｍｐｓｅ ｏｆ ｔｈｅ Ｅｍｐｅｒｏｒ ｈｉｍｓｅｌｆ. Ｓｏ ｓｅｅ ｆｏｒ ｙｏｕｒｓｅｌｆ， ｈｅｒｅ he ｉｓ．
And thats it from atop Tokyo.
