cultural capital of the world

that's what they call Paris, at least. some of the most important and notable museums are in Paris; Paris is home to the can-can; outside of America, jazz finds its second home in Paris. literature, opera, ballet, fashion--the list goes on.

today, however, Paris took culture to another level. i happened upon the strangest thing i have ever seen in Paris, something that defies words and can really only be conveyed through pictures. i leave you with this:

keeping with the spirit of timely blogging, i offer you a list of positive and negative impressions of that mysterious oriental country, China. i'm honestly forcing myself to come up with a list of positive impressions, so as to not appear utterly negative. i'm working on it...

the positives:

• best chinese food i've ever had
• unreasonably cheap beer
• unreasonably cheap everything, for that matter
• one Great Wall
• something other than european architecture
  
• trandem bicycles available for rent on the boardwalk
• Bubble tea
• stiff ping-pong competition
• 5€ full-body, 1.5 hour massage
• Korean barbecue
• traditional tea ceremony
  

the negatives:

• arteries caked with MSGs
• large-scale absence of fruits and vegetables in daily diet
• continual stares
• the radio amplified across the campus in weihai every morning at 6:30 am
• people spitting everywhere
• inter-city transportation
• inter-city transportation
• inter-city transportation
• traveling 100 miles in 5.5 hours
• being elbowed out of a "queue"
• not being able to communicate very well(admittedly my fault)
• ugly architecture, on the whole

and on a final positive note, the morale boost of the trip came when neal and i were in weihai and passed a group of young schoolchildren, 6 years old i'd say. as we walked by, i heard one boy ask, "zhong guo ren?", meaning "chinese people??" despite his friend's quick dismissal of us as foreigners, i was elated to be mistaken for a chinese person.

all in all, i'd recommend visiting China. just be prepared to be shocked by a culture so different from your own.

b-a-n-a-n-a-s

one might so label a maiden voyage in China. about a week into my stay in China, neal asked me what one word i would use to describe China. the word that came to mind was "a mess", the French translation "bordel" literally meaning a brothel. i'm not sure if that comparison fits, but that country is certainly a piece of work. i believe Neal's word choice was "insane". speaking of Neal, the Foreign Expert himself has thoroughly chronicled our trip together in China, and i'd like to refer you his way for a detailed explanation. however, i'll also give you my own little take on things.

i went to China with few expectations, having done zero research about our intended destinations. Beijing did not meet my non-existent expectations for a capital city, as it was entirely too spread out, with remarkably little of interest to see. as i say that, i do think the Temple of Heaven and the Taoist temple we visited were interesting. and the Great Wall was not to be missed, but does it really count if it's a 3 hour bus ride away? instead, what i enjoyed most was the novelty of being in China, particularly the novelty that is dirt cheap. we took taxis everywhere, beer cost us 30 cents per liter, we ate dinner for 5 bucks per 3 people! my best memory from Beijing comes from our last evening there when, tired from the day of visiting temples and whatnot, we relaxed in the hostel courtyard with some Tsingtaos, before feasting at a Xingjiang restau down the way. there we ate the best potato chips i've ever tasted, along with delightfully seasoned lamb that fell off the shank. and chicken hearts, yum. gosh, i'll never forget that meal.

as Neal mentioned in his version, Xi'an did not get off to a good start, with crummy service at the hostel and an overpriced dinner. but saturday morning we were back at it, looking forward to the day seeing the famed TerraCotta Warriors. i confess i was a bit disappointed, as the site was expensive for Chinese standards, and it was altogether touristique. sunday, par contre, was a day extraordinaire, as we bussed out to Huashuan to hike one of China's 5 holy mountains. 2100 meters and 5 hours later, we settled down for a chilly night's sleep in a Taoist monastery on the mountain. the way down was considerably faster, though not much less strenuous---the two-day hike left me sore for days!! fortunately, and somewhat painfully, a 5€ full-body massage back in Weihai took away a good bit of the stress.

Weihai provided a delightful contrast to our brief visits to Beijing, Xi'an, and Qingdao, as i was able to take it slowly and see what life in an average Chinese town is like. we played some tennis, shopped for tea sets and gifts downtown, rode a trandem bicycle along the water, sang karaoke, went out in a motorboat in the Yellow Sea. i even played basketball with some uni students while Neal was in class. however the most unique experience was certainly visiting a Korean bathhouse. having never had much locker room time in high school, the completely naked thing was entirely new to me. i'm glad to say i didn't have to get over any uncomfortableness, but was just able to appreciate the cultural experience.

i have more to say about China and its oddities, but that'll be in the next post. zai jian.

China

greece--a bit late

this is me trying to retroactively chronicle my excursion to Greece. nevermind that it was over a month ago, or that since then i've gone to China, with yet more chronicling to be done.

well greece started off with a bang, as i left my cellphone in the taxi from the athens airport to the hotel. despite my repeated calls to myself(!), i or he did not pick up. we even tried a few taxi companies, but to no avail. needless to say, i wasn't thrilled. the first day was spent primarily eating, starting with a gyro lunch. now this wasn't the gyro i'm accustomed to in america, the shaved lamb that comes from the large rotating spit of meat--it was pork instead. and a gigantic portion. fortunately for me, i was getting a bit of exercise wheeling my dad around, and at times carrying him up stairs.
tuesday we hit the main attraction, the acropolis. tickets were normally 12 euros, but i paid 4 as a student and my parents paid zilch as a handicapped person and his escort. but we more than made up for it when we hired a private tour for a hefty 80 euros. the acropolis was remarkable, but i felt it lacked something that could really paint a picture of what it must have been like. we did get our fill of crumbling ruins, however, as the one ticket got us into 12 different sites. and all were crumbling. we saw temples and churches and markets and theatres and even an ancient public bathroom.

on wednesday we headed to the port to catch a "Flying Dolphin" headed for the island of Hydra. we settled on Hydra as we needed an island reasonably close to Athens, and the icing on the cake came in the fact that no cars are allowed on the island. instead, everything is transported by donkey! without a doubt, Hydra turned out to be my favorite part of Greece. or at least of the 2 parts i saw. we stayed in a beautiful hotel, with a charming south african lass as hostess. and it was refreshing to have little to do more than stroll through the streets, window shopping and snapping photos of the harbor. i gladly took the opportunity to hike to the top of the island, to a Greek Orthodox monastery that overlooked the island and the sea beyond. there i was met by a "brother", who beckoned me inside, led me into the chapel, and then gave me water and a piece of turkish delight to fortify myself for the journey back to the town. it was very pleasant to get off on my own, not hampered by crutches or a wheelchair.

everywhere we went in Turkey and Greece, i eagerly ordered stuffed grape leaves(dolmades), as it's one of my favorite mediterranean foods. in Hydra, i was desperate for some pasticio--greek lasagna, but was unsuccessful in my search. (fortunately, Olympic Airlines served it on our return flight to Paris--flying outside of america affords much more interesting meals.)

i honestly can't remember anything else that happened after Hydra, so i'll leave you with some pictures. enjoy.

Athens

well neal and i are here in Qingdao. i know that means i have a lot to update on the past 10 days or more, but i figured i'd tell you what we're up to now. we arrived yesterday on a bus from Weihai. the bus was comfortable enough, but the movie line-up was less than pleasant. we had a typical early 90's asian action movie, followed by something starring patrick swayze and rowan atkinson, and then finished up with a Chinese action movie involving horses and swords and bad dubbing.

our accomodations, on the other hand, have been stellar. thanks to kimberly(i don't even know her last name), a fellow couchsurfer, we are staying in a spacious apartment with our own set of keys and a pretty cool gal to chat and hang out with. upon arriving last night, we dropped our stuff off at her apartment, grabbed a quick street dinner, and then hurried to the movie theatre to see Spiderman 3. !. it was not superb. i didn't expect it to be, and it certainly didn't exceed my expectations.

this morning we went to the Tsingtao brewery, possibly the number one attraction for westerners to this city, though i wouldn't quote me on it. we forewent the tour and just had a pitcher of beer instead. at 11 a.m. following our imbibing, we headed for Tortillas mexican restaurant. in China. it wasn't exactly mexican, but i know Neal was glad to break up the monotony of chinese food. this afternoon we visited the two churches in town, one catholic and one protestant, as well as a park overlooking the city and the waterfront. tonight we're aiming for a good dinner, the Paulaner bar for a german brew, and maybe a club to catch Kimberly's co-worker's band. tomorrow we're going to go to an International church, eat lunch, and then head back to Weihai.

if the internet connection gets any better in Weihai, i'll update on the rest of our trip. stay tuned...