7 airports + 51 hours of travel i will be home in another 37!!
off to tokyo.
home!
Friday, August 10, 2007
Thursday, August 2, 2007
pink people
i'm tired. i haven't slept. studio just keeps going.
and going.
and going.
thank goodness for being able to put hot pink people in my drawings. that's what is keeping me going....
strange, i know. i'll take what i can get.
and going.
and going.
thank goodness for being able to put hot pink people in my drawings. that's what is keeping me going....
strange, i know. i'll take what i can get.
Monday, July 30, 2007
the game
loooong day of reviews for our project.
in case you don't know..."reviewing" consists of everyone pinning their work up on the wall, explaining it, and a group of "critics" tearing it apart. generally.
this is more or less what happened to me today.
my project is too expensive. never once in my academic career have i been asked to think of cost and now they are not only making me consider it, they are forcing us to produce a budget. And let me tell you -- producing a budget with no structural or costing knowledge or RESOURCES is next to impossible.
it is possible to make my project cost less, but it will never be cheap.
it's a sculpture.
so that's the game.
in case you don't know..."reviewing" consists of everyone pinning their work up on the wall, explaining it, and a group of "critics" tearing it apart. generally.
this is more or less what happened to me today.
my project is too expensive. never once in my academic career have i been asked to think of cost and now they are not only making me consider it, they are forcing us to produce a budget. And let me tell you -- producing a budget with no structural or costing knowledge or RESOURCES is next to impossible.
it is possible to make my project cost less, but it will never be cheap.
it's a sculpture.
so that's the game.
Monday, July 23, 2007
singapore sling
singapore is fantastic!
but firstly, why hasn't anyone ever told me how completely wonderful vonnegut is? i just finished breakfast of champions (i read cat's cradle earlier this summer) and he's so incredible i have clearly been living in the dark.
back to the point. singapore! amazing.
we (we=me, tom, eric) took the train down on wednesday morning and seven of the bumpiest hours of my life later we arrived in singapore, thankful we had not derailed. we proceeded to walk across town looking for a hotel as the 8 or so we had called before leaving were without vacancy. surprisingly, this was also the case with the next 10 we walked into (excluding 'hawaii hostel' which was NOT paradise - we tried to steer clear of anything charging hourly rates). we came across the strand finally and settled on it. apparently there was a huuge convention that comes to town only once a year and it was, thankfully, happening the day after we arrived. the point of this story is : we didn't sleep on the streets.
we walked down the main shopping drag, orchard road, which, incidentally, my friend dana's parents designed the landscaping for, had dumplings for dinner, and headed over to chinatown to explore. After two and a half hours of traipsing around singapore with our luggage we were exhausted and so crashed pre-midnight.
thursday we took ourselves on a tour of the city hitting all the major points: little india, kampong glam, downtown and the colonial district, chinatown, club street, and orchard road again.
that night we headed back out to chinatown for hawker food ('hawker' refers to food stalls on the street) and tiger beers (tiger beer is made in singapore). and much dancing on a disco floor later we crashed very-post-midnight.
friday we headed out to sentosa, a tiny island 500ish meters off singapore. it's entirely theme-parky and very odd. we hung out on the beach, reading and watching the handful of brides get photographed on the sand and IN the water. their dresses got soo dirty just in the sand alone i couldn't believe all of them were willing to climb into the water too! (note: these were individual brides unassociated with one another.)
from there we headed back into town to watch a free concert that was happening by the water. unfortunately it turned out to be an AWFUL malaysian rock band instead of the pleasant jazz/classical i was expecting. it was quite disappointing.
saturday was nature day. we hit the orchid gardens, the largest in the world, the botanical gardens, the rainforest, and a night safari. the orchid garden was my favorite thing we did in singapore.
it was sooo beautiful there and i got to have massive amounts of fun with my camera (see the dozens of pictures on flickr). orchids are fantastically magical. i wanted to have them all so i could look at them every day. 
the rainforest was rather comical because we ended up hiking (instead of the walk we were anticipating) for 2 hours up and down up and down. it was really steep and incredibly humid and i was wearing a white blouse and my falling apart sandals (they straps actually are half broken, but i love them anyway - i'm just worried they're going to give out on me). The ups were always anticlimactic because even on trails called things such as 'north view' there was no view. we also climbed to the highest point in singapore ("the summit") to no view. and then the night safari! well, it was admittedly kind of silly and hokey, but very cool. large animals are cool. i saw the biggest elephant i have ever seen too -- huuuge.
it was a wonderful trip. singapore is beautiful, incredibly clean, and has the most amazing public transportation sytem i've ever used. the metro took you everywhere, but the buses filled in the few gaps there were. There were maps and clear numbers at every stop which made it easily understood. the coolest part was the cards you could load money onto and quickly scan when you got on/off any bus/metro train. they were so effective that you didn't even have to take them out of your purse to scan them! how amazing is that?
singapore was by far the most colonial place i've visited on this trip. as a result of western influence it has no other readily apparent culture present. it is a completely western city. when i was walking downtown i actually felt like i was in charlotte. maybe it's this western ness that makes it so easy to like ( i think so)... i feel a little guilty about that, but i can't help but like it.
ESPECIALLY after arriving back in kuala lamepur last night. uuugh. i have never been so unhappy to be back anywhere as i was in the train station yesterday. i went to the bathroom and remembered about not liking KL. the floor was soaking wet and there was a haphazard line system AND only eastern toilets. (i'm not sure i've explained the eastern toilet before, though it's amazing that i could have possibly made it all summer without explaining one. anyhow, if you are unsure about what it is, look it up, it's much too grotesque to explain.) i did feel better after i got some much needed food in my system...
school is VERY busy now. we had a pinup today with our malaysian counterparts. my partner is on board with me now and i think it is going to be a very successful project - i'm excited about it. i do wish we had much more time than we do...anyhow, i should get back to my work, but i'll keep posting as my project and KL life unfolds.
but firstly, why hasn't anyone ever told me how completely wonderful vonnegut is? i just finished breakfast of champions (i read cat's cradle earlier this summer) and he's so incredible i have clearly been living in the dark.
back to the point. singapore! amazing.
we (we=me, tom, eric) took the train down on wednesday morning and seven of the bumpiest hours of my life later we arrived in singapore, thankful we had not derailed. we proceeded to walk across town looking for a hotel as the 8 or so we had called before leaving were without vacancy. surprisingly, this was also the case with the next 10 we walked into (excluding 'hawaii hostel' which was NOT paradise - we tried to steer clear of anything charging hourly rates). we came across the strand finally and settled on it. apparently there was a huuge convention that comes to town only once a year and it was, thankfully, happening the day after we arrived. the point of this story is : we didn't sleep on the streets.
we walked down the main shopping drag, orchard road, which, incidentally, my friend dana's parents designed the landscaping for, had dumplings for dinner, and headed over to chinatown to explore. After two and a half hours of traipsing around singapore with our luggage we were exhausted and so crashed pre-midnight.
thursday we took ourselves on a tour of the city hitting all the major points: little india, kampong glam, downtown and the colonial district, chinatown, club street, and orchard road again.
that night we headed back out to chinatown for hawker food ('hawker' refers to food stalls on the street) and tiger beers (tiger beer is made in singapore). and much dancing on a disco floor later we crashed very-post-midnight.friday we headed out to sentosa, a tiny island 500ish meters off singapore. it's entirely theme-parky and very odd. we hung out on the beach, reading and watching the handful of brides get photographed on the sand and IN the water. their dresses got soo dirty just in the sand alone i couldn't believe all of them were willing to climb into the water too! (note: these were individual brides unassociated with one another.)
from there we headed back into town to watch a free concert that was happening by the water. unfortunately it turned out to be an AWFUL malaysian rock band instead of the pleasant jazz/classical i was expecting. it was quite disappointing.saturday was nature day. we hit the orchid gardens, the largest in the world, the botanical gardens, the rainforest, and a night safari. the orchid garden was my favorite thing we did in singapore.
it was sooo beautiful there and i got to have massive amounts of fun with my camera (see the dozens of pictures on flickr). orchids are fantastically magical. i wanted to have them all so i could look at them every day. 
the rainforest was rather comical because we ended up hiking (instead of the walk we were anticipating) for 2 hours up and down up and down. it was really steep and incredibly humid and i was wearing a white blouse and my falling apart sandals (they straps actually are half broken, but i love them anyway - i'm just worried they're going to give out on me). The ups were always anticlimactic because even on trails called things such as 'north view' there was no view. we also climbed to the highest point in singapore ("the summit") to no view. and then the night safari! well, it was admittedly kind of silly and hokey, but very cool. large animals are cool. i saw the biggest elephant i have ever seen too -- huuuge.it was a wonderful trip. singapore is beautiful, incredibly clean, and has the most amazing public transportation sytem i've ever used. the metro took you everywhere, but the buses filled in the few gaps there were. There were maps and clear numbers at every stop which made it easily understood. the coolest part was the cards you could load money onto and quickly scan when you got on/off any bus/metro train. they were so effective that you didn't even have to take them out of your purse to scan them! how amazing is that?
singapore was by far the most colonial place i've visited on this trip. as a result of western influence it has no other readily apparent culture present. it is a completely western city. when i was walking downtown i actually felt like i was in charlotte. maybe it's this western ness that makes it so easy to like ( i think so)... i feel a little guilty about that, but i can't help but like it.
ESPECIALLY after arriving back in kuala lamepur last night. uuugh. i have never been so unhappy to be back anywhere as i was in the train station yesterday. i went to the bathroom and remembered about not liking KL. the floor was soaking wet and there was a haphazard line system AND only eastern toilets. (i'm not sure i've explained the eastern toilet before, though it's amazing that i could have possibly made it all summer without explaining one. anyhow, if you are unsure about what it is, look it up, it's much too grotesque to explain.) i did feel better after i got some much needed food in my system...
school is VERY busy now. we had a pinup today with our malaysian counterparts. my partner is on board with me now and i think it is going to be a very successful project - i'm excited about it. i do wish we had much more time than we do...anyhow, i should get back to my work, but i'll keep posting as my project and KL life unfolds.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
depress ing
i just met with my partner and it turns out she is only a smidgen less stubborn than i am - which is incredibly depressing.
they also added a major space/design constraint.
i am much less happy than i was three hours ago.
anyway, here was what i haaaad:
they also added a major space/design constraint.
i am much less happy than i was three hours ago.
anyway, here was what i haaaad:
Monday, July 16, 2007
frankly thailand
I am finally getting around to write about Thailand….which was a trip.
(Explicit Content Warning)
We left from Penang, Malaysia, where we visited as a class. It was the first place the British colonized and turned into a port city. They subsequently took over Malacca and then moved onto Singapore. We got to stay in a part of town known as “Georgetown” and the beautiful old Cheong Fatz Tze Mansion. It has the most brilliant blue color that comes from straight from the pigment in crushed indigo flowers. If you ever find yourself in Penang for some odd reason, I highly recommend it for it’s historical significance. And as a bonus, the Catherine Deneuve film “Indochine” was filmed there back in the day. (They were also filming a movie the day we left.)
Back to the point, we flew out of Penang and there was a total of 8 people on a plane that sat 50. For a while it was just the five of us - which we got a huge kick out of. An hour later we got to land on a perfectly green island surrounded by picture perfect turquoise water. Paradise!
The plan was to move around Phuket (perhaps the most popular island in Thailand, though out of season this time of year thanks to monsoons) as we pleased – beach hopping. The first night we stopped in Hat Kamala, then moving onto Hat Kata. The beaches were really beautiful, but ruined by tourists. Kamala was not touristy but it had TRASH on it, which I have never experienced on any beach and it was so disappointing (why do people think it’s okay to litter into the ocean EVER, much less into perfection?)
Kata was long and lovely but dotted with umbrellas and people people people. Tourists aside, and the vendors trying to sell you crap every five seconds aside, it was fantastic. And there was sun! We thought we were going to have to leave Phuket earlier than planned because it would be raining the whole time but quite the contrary. Beautiful weather.
The last thing worth mentioning about Phuket was the large number of kathoey (pronounced ‘Kuh-toy’ to the best of my knowledge), aka transvestites, there. If someone hadn’t pointed it out to me I probably wouldn’t have noticed because these women, or men, were HOT! I mean, I’m pretty girly for the most part, pretty feminine I think, and I felt like a man next to these ladies. If it weren’t for the adam’s apple you’d nneever know. (And sometimes you still don’t know). It’s really rather impressive.
This was more confusing than anything.
What turned out to be incredibly disturbing was the number of Thai women with older white men. Everywhere. Not just prostitutes (I think we only saw those in Phuket but I’m so oblivious to it who knows – and besides, who can tell the difference between a prostitute and a plain ole slutty girl sometimes?) but just younger Thai women. It’s creepy.
PSA: Please no one have a mid –life crisis and end up with a younger Thai woman looking for a better life. She may or may not have been a man in a former life ---- and it’s just not right. Thank you.
Anyhow, we left from Phuket Town on an early morning ferry to the islands of Ko Phi-Phi (Koh Phi-Phi Don and Leh). These are supposed to be some of the most beautiful islands on the west coast and…..the movie The Beach with Leonardo Dicaprio was filmed on Leh. Anyhow, we split up to stay on different parts of the island and three of us rented a long boat and a driver to take us out to Leh for a few hours (no one can stay on Leh, it’s just for day trips) to snorkel and swim.
So beautiful! I always laugh at the water in the rides at Disney and places like Frankie’s Fun Park because the color is so unrealistic but I’ve finally figured out where they get it from – Thailand. Ridiculous. This was much less populated and so we felt like we were exploring. Our drive took us to several coves and bays (we got to swim into a cave!) and we were generally all smiles. (How could you not be?)
The following day we headed back to Phuket and then off to Ko Samui, an island on the east coast. It was supposed to be sunny here, but all we got was rain and clouds. Our beach was quieter and long, white, and beautiful. It was nice to have some quiet time and get lots of reading done. My friend Eric was staying in the hotel right next to us with his family and they were kind enough to charter a catamaran to take us around one afternoon (by this time our numbers have grown to…7). While I was there I also took a catamaran up to Ko Tao two hours away – which is supposed to be on of the best places to scuba dive in the world. Since I don’t YET have my scuba license I settled for snorkeling and saw lots of pretty fish and coral..and some crazy other things.
In order to fly back to KL we had to fly up to Bangkok so we had decided to give ourselves a 24 hour layover in order to jet out and see what we could. It worked pretty well! We went to the famous night market there on Saturday and had delicious and CHEAP Chang beers, pad thai, and pineapple fried rice (yum!). Sunday morning we went to the HUGE market there bright and early. That was crazy. It only happens on the weekends and it was insane. You can get anything you could ever want (food pets shoes vintage tshirts antique furniture handbags candles etc) IF you can withstand the smells. I would not wish some of those smells upon my worst enemy. UGH. We didn’t have very long there and it was such a smelly sticky maze I didn’t buy anything except two glass rings for 50 US cents. (biig spender) But there was some pretty cool stuff – I even saw a Wild Dunes t-shirt for sale! If there had been a Clemson one I would have bought it no matter what. From there we visited the Jim Thompson house (he was an American who promoted silk manufacturing in Thailand and assembled several Thai houses to live in). Then we ran off to ride a ferry up the disgusting brown river to see Wat Bo and the HUGE golden reclining Buddha – which struck me as a little excessive, especially for Buddhism, but whaaaatever. And that was Bangkok.
I kept myself really busy with school last week and then crashed this past weekend. I don’t remember the last time I slept so much at once.
I am really pleased because on a sleepless night last week I came up with a concept for my studio project. I had been worried because I had nothing I was pleased with but it came to me out of nowhere and now it’s going somewhere. Anyhow,
I’m thinking about continuity in terms of flow and progression. Our site in Siem Reap, Cambodia, is surrounded by rice fields and so very in tune with the crop and weather cycles, as well as all those cycles associated with school. I’m really excited with where I’m going. My approach has been very different than everyone else’s, and as a result my project is very different. I haven’t gotten to speak with my partner about it yet, but my teacher has encouraged all of us to move forward because we have no other option time-wise. Hopefully there won’t be a problem as I am very attached to my ideas!
Anyhow, that’s all there is to it for now. I’m going to Singapore at the end of the week, to which I’m looking forward. I’m hoping to scan some of my work before I leave so maybe I’ll put it up here….
We’re posting on the project blog, so don’t forget to check it out every once in a while!
(Explicit Content Warning)
We left from Penang, Malaysia, where we visited as a class. It was the first place the British colonized and turned into a port city. They subsequently took over Malacca and then moved onto Singapore. We got to stay in a part of town known as “Georgetown” and the beautiful old Cheong Fatz Tze Mansion. It has the most brilliant blue color that comes from straight from the pigment in crushed indigo flowers. If you ever find yourself in Penang for some odd reason, I highly recommend it for it’s historical significance. And as a bonus, the Catherine Deneuve film “Indochine” was filmed there back in the day. (They were also filming a movie the day we left.)
Back to the point, we flew out of Penang and there was a total of 8 people on a plane that sat 50. For a while it was just the five of us - which we got a huge kick out of. An hour later we got to land on a perfectly green island surrounded by picture perfect turquoise water. Paradise!
The plan was to move around Phuket (perhaps the most popular island in Thailand, though out of season this time of year thanks to monsoons) as we pleased – beach hopping. The first night we stopped in Hat Kamala, then moving onto Hat Kata. The beaches were really beautiful, but ruined by tourists. Kamala was not touristy but it had TRASH on it, which I have never experienced on any beach and it was so disappointing (why do people think it’s okay to litter into the ocean EVER, much less into perfection?) 
Kata was long and lovely but dotted with umbrellas and people people people. Tourists aside, and the vendors trying to sell you crap every five seconds aside, it was fantastic. And there was sun! We thought we were going to have to leave Phuket earlier than planned because it would be raining the whole time but quite the contrary. Beautiful weather.The last thing worth mentioning about Phuket was the large number of kathoey (pronounced ‘Kuh-toy’ to the best of my knowledge), aka transvestites, there. If someone hadn’t pointed it out to me I probably wouldn’t have noticed because these women, or men, were HOT! I mean, I’m pretty girly for the most part, pretty feminine I think, and I felt like a man next to these ladies. If it weren’t for the adam’s apple you’d nneever know. (And sometimes you still don’t know). It’s really rather impressive.
This was more confusing than anything.
What turned out to be incredibly disturbing was the number of Thai women with older white men. Everywhere. Not just prostitutes (I think we only saw those in Phuket but I’m so oblivious to it who knows – and besides, who can tell the difference between a prostitute and a plain ole slutty girl sometimes?) but just younger Thai women. It’s creepy.
PSA: Please no one have a mid –life crisis and end up with a younger Thai woman looking for a better life. She may or may not have been a man in a former life ---- and it’s just not right. Thank you.
Anyhow, we left from Phuket Town on an early morning ferry to the islands of Ko Phi-Phi (Koh Phi-Phi Don and Leh). These are supposed to be some of the most beautiful islands on the west coast and…..the movie The Beach with Leonardo Dicaprio was filmed on Leh. Anyhow, we split up to stay on different parts of the island and three of us rented a long boat and a driver to take us out to Leh for a few hours (no one can stay on Leh, it’s just for day trips) to snorkel and swim.
So beautiful! I always laugh at the water in the rides at Disney and places like Frankie’s Fun Park because the color is so unrealistic but I’ve finally figured out where they get it from – Thailand. Ridiculous. This was much less populated and so we felt like we were exploring. Our drive took us to several coves and bays (we got to swim into a cave!) and we were generally all smiles. (How could you not be?)
The following day we headed back to Phuket and then off to Ko Samui, an island on the east coast. It was supposed to be sunny here, but all we got was rain and clouds. Our beach was quieter and long, white, and beautiful. It was nice to have some quiet time and get lots of reading done. My friend Eric was staying in the hotel right next to us with his family and they were kind enough to charter a catamaran to take us around one afternoon (by this time our numbers have grown to…7). While I was there I also took a catamaran up to Ko Tao two hours away – which is supposed to be on of the best places to scuba dive in the world. Since I don’t YET have my scuba license I settled for snorkeling and saw lots of pretty fish and coral..and some crazy other things.In order to fly back to KL we had to fly up to Bangkok so we had decided to give ourselves a 24 hour layover in order to jet out and see what we could. It worked pretty well! We went to the famous night market there on Saturday and had delicious and CHEAP Chang beers, pad thai, and pineapple fried rice (yum!). Sunday morning we went to the HUGE market there bright and early. That was crazy. It only happens on the weekends and it was insane. You can get anything you could ever want (food pets shoes vintage tshirts antique furniture handbags candles etc) IF you can withstand the smells. I would not wish some of those smells upon my worst enemy. UGH. We didn’t have very long there and it was such a smelly sticky maze I didn’t buy anything except two glass rings for 50 US cents. (biig spender) But there was some pretty cool stuff – I even saw a Wild Dunes t-shirt for sale! If there had been a Clemson one I would have bought it no matter what. From there we visited the Jim Thompson house (he was an American who promoted silk manufacturing in Thailand and assembled several Thai houses to live in). Then we ran off to ride a ferry up the disgusting brown river to see Wat Bo and the HUGE golden reclining Buddha – which struck me as a little excessive, especially for Buddhism, but whaaaatever. And that was Bangkok.
I kept myself really busy with school last week and then crashed this past weekend. I don’t remember the last time I slept so much at once.
I am really pleased because on a sleepless night last week I came up with a concept for my studio project. I had been worried because I had nothing I was pleased with but it came to me out of nowhere and now it’s going somewhere. Anyhow,
I’m thinking about continuity in terms of flow and progression. Our site in Siem Reap, Cambodia, is surrounded by rice fields and so very in tune with the crop and weather cycles, as well as all those cycles associated with school. I’m really excited with where I’m going. My approach has been very different than everyone else’s, and as a result my project is very different. I haven’t gotten to speak with my partner about it yet, but my teacher has encouraged all of us to move forward because we have no other option time-wise. Hopefully there won’t be a problem as I am very attached to my ideas!
Anyhow, that’s all there is to it for now. I’m going to Singapore at the end of the week, to which I’m looking forward. I’m hoping to scan some of my work before I leave so maybe I’ll put it up here….
We’re posting on the project blog, so don’t forget to check it out every once in a while!
Friday, June 29, 2007
school
i haven't spoken that much about my studio project -- but for pr and fundraising purposes we've created an ongoing blog (of which i am officially "blog master") about it.
i'm really invested in it, so please check it out!!
http://designcambodia.blogspot.com
i'm really invested in it, so please check it out!!
http://designcambodia.blogspot.com
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
off
traveling again!
tomorrow morning we leave for Penang, Malaysia (as a class). it's also known as georgetown as it was the first place the british colonized in malaysia. it's supposed to be great and i'm excited :)
on saturday we leave (and by we i mean my close friends) for THAILAND!
we fly up to phuket first. it's on the west coast and the beaches are supposed to be really beautiful (Ko Phi Phi is there and it's the beach from The Beach..the movie) but it's monsoon season so there won't be any sun. we have no specific plans for that area (but that's the plan)...and are going to move to the east coast when we please.
we have reservations on the east coast on wednesday july 4 so we will definitely be in Ko Samui by then....but i think we may take a mini bus over sooner than that.
i found a sweet place to stay in Samui thanks to my trusty lonely planet guide and you should probably check it out because it's right on the beach and it's really cool AND it's only costing 8 dollars a night. www.geckosamui.com
i hope it's going to be as cool as i think it is.
either way, 8 dollars a night is pretty awesome.
so i'm off for a while....glad to be traveling again :)
happy july fourth!
tomorrow morning we leave for Penang, Malaysia (as a class). it's also known as georgetown as it was the first place the british colonized in malaysia. it's supposed to be great and i'm excited :)
on saturday we leave (and by we i mean my close friends) for THAILAND!
we fly up to phuket first. it's on the west coast and the beaches are supposed to be really beautiful (Ko Phi Phi is there and it's the beach from The Beach..the movie) but it's monsoon season so there won't be any sun. we have no specific plans for that area (but that's the plan)...and are going to move to the east coast when we please.
we have reservations on the east coast on wednesday july 4 so we will definitely be in Ko Samui by then....but i think we may take a mini bus over sooner than that.
i found a sweet place to stay in Samui thanks to my trusty lonely planet guide and you should probably check it out because it's right on the beach and it's really cool AND it's only costing 8 dollars a night. www.geckosamui.com
i hope it's going to be as cool as i think it is.
either way, 8 dollars a night is pretty awesome.
so i'm off for a while....glad to be traveling again :)
happy july fourth!
Friday, June 22, 2007
after hiatus
it's been a long time!
i am in KL (Kuala Lumpur, but known as KL to everyone who knows, i guess) and the internet situation is not good, nor was it during my last week of travel. i'm writing from starbucks where i have either fortunately or unfortunately stumbled across something called a raspberry frappucino which is frozen and fresh and delicious.
the last bit of my travel, since i last wrote, included a short visit to saigon and then cambodia. it was very easy to see the french influence in saigon (ho chi minh city)....it felt very european in lots of ways. it was MUCH more developed than hanoi, but i still liked hanoi better. rough around the edges can be charming.
cambodia was WONderful. we stayed in siem reap beause this is where the angkor temples are (ankgor wat, ankgor thom, etc). i had assumed vietnam would be fairly undeveloped, even in the cities, but it turned out to be up and coming. cambodia was not. it was as i had expected vietnam would be, a small cluster of restaurants and then nothing else. it was quite primitive. if the temples weren't there i don't think it would even exist. but the presence of the temples is oh so big.
they are unbelievable.
our first full day there we started the morning off by riding elephants (which kind of makes me sad, but it was so cool!) through some ruins. elephants are amazing. so much personality in one trunk! for 1 USD (in cambodia they use american money, with the exception of change, which they give to you in their money because quarters are precious and hard to come by) i bought two bunches of bananas and fed the elephants! they slobbered all over me but it was totally worth it. i could have hung out with them all day.
then we walked over to the temples. the first one we saw was bayan and it was breathtaking. i have always wanted to explore (legends of the hidden temple, anyone?) and this felt like i was. there were no restricted areas and it was a complete maze of fallen stones and old carvings. what an accomplishment to make such a huge structure. it looks like a solid chunk of stone. being somewhere so significant gives me chills, even now as i write about it. the ability of humans to come together and create a structure so beautiful is really inspiring. (unfortunately, it's not quite that simple or lovely, but sometimes it's nice to pretend.)
we walked through several other temples and climbed incredibly steep steps and then finally got to see the jungle temple in ankgor thom. (this is the temple angelina jolie appeared in in tomb raider, which brought her to cambodia and began her love affair with the country, led her to adopt maddox, and three adopted children later she is a huge celebrity there.) anyhow, this temple is particularly remarkable because trees have managed to become part of it. they have grown in and through the stones, sending out roots until they at last reach dirt. it's pretttttty cool - and what i had been looking forward to the most. it feels like time.
after a wonderful siesta (yes, we got siestas while we were in cambodia) we went to ankgor wat. it was remarkable because of it's sheer size. the perspectives had been carefully thought out by it's creators, which was pretty cool too. there are large bodies of water in front of it, meant to reflect the temple and it still works perfectly. the sky was unbelievable that afternoon and made for some amazing pictures (before my camera decided to hate me and stop working). i like it here a lot, but the morning was still my favorite.
the next day we visited another temple known for its detail (it was VERY detailed). after siesta, we went to visit the site for our studio project. we are getting involved with a small school south of siem reap that is over crowded and in need of new facilities. the goal is to raise money (they anticipate it will cost 10 - 15,000 dollars) and build one of our projects. it was really an amazing afternoon and i am still really sad that my camera wasn't working because i have wanted so badly to be able to take pictures of people and since it's kind of rude to get in their faces i haven't gotten to. THIS was the perfect opportunity and now i only have other people's pictures. either way, it was pretty cool to get out of the town and see what it's like to live in a rural area. it was SUPER rural. pigs in their mud ponds in front yards...people sitting in hammocks underneath their raised houses, feet away from their two cows....rice fields everywhere. the children were beautiful.
the whole thing was exciting. i think our project is going to be incredibly challenging with all of the constraints proposed by our site (open air, tiny budget, large occupancy, multi functional, culturally appropriate), the very short time we have to design (one month), and we are to be working with a Universiti of Malaya student (which i think will work VERY differently than we are accustomed to).
(my friend tom took the picture i'm posting, i think it's really beautiful.)
my friends and i took a side trip to phnom penh to see the killing fields and genocide museum there. it was...scary to see what humans can do to other humans. PARTICULARLY when they are exactly like you.
it's a really heavy thing and since i'm about to start crying in starbucks, i'd rather not discuss it.
i knew nothing about it before this trip and i don't understand why. why doesn't school teach us about genocide?? it's important to see what humans are capable of doing to each other -- it's important to understand so we can stop killing others.
then KL.
thus far it seems...not that cool. none of my friends are complaining (those third year students that are with us are miserable and whiny and obnoxious and left this weekend for a resort elsewhere), but the general sentiment is there. our living accomodations are not that great, though definitely fine for two months (and very cheap -- 8 dollars a day). my roommate (who i didn't know anyway) dumped me to live with this boy on our trip and so now i am roomming with my friend niner, a boy, and it's kind of funny. (why can't boys put the toilet seat down???) the last time i spoke to him, miles said it sounded like a sitcom waiting to happen. back to the point, we have ants and i shower over the toilet seat. yes. the whole bathroom is the shower. to speak more about toilets, toilet paper is rare here. instead, there is a HOSE. one is expected to HOSE themselves off afterwards. this makes bathrooms wet and no surface clean. also, we live in a hospital. we direct cabs to the trauma unit of the hospital (though not one has offered to hurry or bothered to ask us if we're okay) and walk through the VERY long halls. it's weird, but strangely enough makes the whole situation better because it's SO funny. who lives in a hopsital? I DO! it will always be something to laugh about.
these are just the messy portions of the briefing.
what is great about this place, or fascinating anyway, is the large islamic population. it's interesting to observe and i'm still getting accustomed to it.
i will have to write more about it later, as i figure out more...
but i think i need to break for now.
i will be writing more frequently, though not every day since internet is spotty and life is slower.
to digress, today is my wonderful cousin Christie's wedding day and i'm missing all of the festivities and my family and i am sad and wanted anyone and everyone to think wonderful thoughts about her! it will be wonderful and i'm missing it :(
off to do some schoolwork.....
i am in KL (Kuala Lumpur, but known as KL to everyone who knows, i guess) and the internet situation is not good, nor was it during my last week of travel. i'm writing from starbucks where i have either fortunately or unfortunately stumbled across something called a raspberry frappucino which is frozen and fresh and delicious.
the last bit of my travel, since i last wrote, included a short visit to saigon and then cambodia. it was very easy to see the french influence in saigon (ho chi minh city)....it felt very european in lots of ways. it was MUCH more developed than hanoi, but i still liked hanoi better. rough around the edges can be charming.
cambodia was WONderful. we stayed in siem reap beause this is where the angkor temples are (ankgor wat, ankgor thom, etc). i had assumed vietnam would be fairly undeveloped, even in the cities, but it turned out to be up and coming. cambodia was not. it was as i had expected vietnam would be, a small cluster of restaurants and then nothing else. it was quite primitive. if the temples weren't there i don't think it would even exist. but the presence of the temples is oh so big.
they are unbelievable.
our first full day there we started the morning off by riding elephants (which kind of makes me sad, but it was so cool!) through some ruins. elephants are amazing. so much personality in one trunk! for 1 USD (in cambodia they use american money, with the exception of change, which they give to you in their money because quarters are precious and hard to come by) i bought two bunches of bananas and fed the elephants! they slobbered all over me but it was totally worth it. i could have hung out with them all day.
then we walked over to the temples. the first one we saw was bayan and it was breathtaking. i have always wanted to explore (legends of the hidden temple, anyone?) and this felt like i was. there were no restricted areas and it was a complete maze of fallen stones and old carvings. what an accomplishment to make such a huge structure. it looks like a solid chunk of stone. being somewhere so significant gives me chills, even now as i write about it. the ability of humans to come together and create a structure so beautiful is really inspiring. (unfortunately, it's not quite that simple or lovely, but sometimes it's nice to pretend.)
we walked through several other temples and climbed incredibly steep steps and then finally got to see the jungle temple in ankgor thom. (this is the temple angelina jolie appeared in in tomb raider, which brought her to cambodia and began her love affair with the country, led her to adopt maddox, and three adopted children later she is a huge celebrity there.) anyhow, this temple is particularly remarkable because trees have managed to become part of it. they have grown in and through the stones, sending out roots until they at last reach dirt. it's pretttttty cool - and what i had been looking forward to the most. it feels like time.
after a wonderful siesta (yes, we got siestas while we were in cambodia) we went to ankgor wat. it was remarkable because of it's sheer size. the perspectives had been carefully thought out by it's creators, which was pretty cool too. there are large bodies of water in front of it, meant to reflect the temple and it still works perfectly. the sky was unbelievable that afternoon and made for some amazing pictures (before my camera decided to hate me and stop working). i like it here a lot, but the morning was still my favorite.
the next day we visited another temple known for its detail (it was VERY detailed). after siesta, we went to visit the site for our studio project. we are getting involved with a small school south of siem reap that is over crowded and in need of new facilities. the goal is to raise money (they anticipate it will cost 10 - 15,000 dollars) and build one of our projects. it was really an amazing afternoon and i am still really sad that my camera wasn't working because i have wanted so badly to be able to take pictures of people and since it's kind of rude to get in their faces i haven't gotten to. THIS was the perfect opportunity and now i only have other people's pictures. either way, it was pretty cool to get out of the town and see what it's like to live in a rural area. it was SUPER rural. pigs in their mud ponds in front yards...people sitting in hammocks underneath their raised houses, feet away from their two cows....rice fields everywhere. the children were beautiful.
the whole thing was exciting. i think our project is going to be incredibly challenging with all of the constraints proposed by our site (open air, tiny budget, large occupancy, multi functional, culturally appropriate), the very short time we have to design (one month), and we are to be working with a Universiti of Malaya student (which i think will work VERY differently than we are accustomed to).
(my friend tom took the picture i'm posting, i think it's really beautiful.)
my friends and i took a side trip to phnom penh to see the killing fields and genocide museum there. it was...scary to see what humans can do to other humans. PARTICULARLY when they are exactly like you.
it's a really heavy thing and since i'm about to start crying in starbucks, i'd rather not discuss it.
i knew nothing about it before this trip and i don't understand why. why doesn't school teach us about genocide?? it's important to see what humans are capable of doing to each other -- it's important to understand so we can stop killing others.
then KL.
thus far it seems...not that cool. none of my friends are complaining (those third year students that are with us are miserable and whiny and obnoxious and left this weekend for a resort elsewhere), but the general sentiment is there. our living accomodations are not that great, though definitely fine for two months (and very cheap -- 8 dollars a day). my roommate (who i didn't know anyway) dumped me to live with this boy on our trip and so now i am roomming with my friend niner, a boy, and it's kind of funny. (why can't boys put the toilet seat down???) the last time i spoke to him, miles said it sounded like a sitcom waiting to happen. back to the point, we have ants and i shower over the toilet seat. yes. the whole bathroom is the shower. to speak more about toilets, toilet paper is rare here. instead, there is a HOSE. one is expected to HOSE themselves off afterwards. this makes bathrooms wet and no surface clean. also, we live in a hospital. we direct cabs to the trauma unit of the hospital (though not one has offered to hurry or bothered to ask us if we're okay) and walk through the VERY long halls. it's weird, but strangely enough makes the whole situation better because it's SO funny. who lives in a hopsital? I DO! it will always be something to laugh about.
these are just the messy portions of the briefing.
what is great about this place, or fascinating anyway, is the large islamic population. it's interesting to observe and i'm still getting accustomed to it.
i will have to write more about it later, as i figure out more...
but i think i need to break for now.
i will be writing more frequently, though not every day since internet is spotty and life is slower.
to digress, today is my wonderful cousin Christie's wedding day and i'm missing all of the festivities and my family and i am sad and wanted anyone and everyone to think wonderful thoughts about her! it will be wonderful and i'm missing it :(
off to do some schoolwork.....
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Saturday, June 9, 2007
get it while it's hot
today was a LOVELY day!
yesterday we flew down to central vietnam and drove 30 km from denang to hoi an.
this morning, our first and only day here, we walked into town at 6 to go through the markets and check out a few key sights -- namely the japanese covered bridge (which is fairly self explanatory).
at 8 we rented bikes and rode 6 miles to the beach. this was the looong scenic route, but it was VERY beautiful. we passed so many fields and small homes. tons of cows as well! there are cows everywhere -- on the side of the road and wandering through the fields and by 'wandering' i mean eating and pooping.
the beach was GORGEOUS and i wish we could have spent all day there. one of my friends and i splurged 15,000 dong (16,000 dong is a dollar) for a chair under an umbrella and it was quite worth it to get out of the sun. the sun seems to be hotter here than in hanoi but there is breeze off the ocean and it is much less humid so generally more pleasant.
when i got back to my bike to ride home the tire was flat. after a quick fill up i was on my way -- only to have it blow out again in less than five minutes. after the second time i began to walk back until a moped-taxi picked me up, signaling he could also accomodate my bike. i was desperate and assumed he would strap the bike on the back, so i hopped on. VERY quickly i found out he expected me to hold onto the bike as he drove. this was extremely difficult and uncomfortable and i am quite bruised thanks to it. everyone that passed us on the street, as well as those that were watching from the sidewalks was shouting at him and laughing. (i was laughing too because the driver didn't understand english -- not even "stop" or "slow"). finally our guide came back looking for me and he took my bike back so i only had to hold onto the moped to get home.
this was all before lunch ever happened.
our hotel has an infinity pool and so we got to spend some time playing fun pool games for five year olds (tea party, categories, have hand stand contests etc). it was so nice :) i don't remember the last time i got to play in a pool like that.
i took a long and much needed nap this afternoon...
after i woke up i walked into town to one of the many tailors (the strets are lined with tailors willing to make anything you could want) and got a wool jacket for $30. since it was so cheap i got to get a fun color (bright green) and not worry about it! they took my measurements and i just have to return at 9 tomorrow morning for a last fitting.
several of my friends got suits and have had a fitting already -- apparently they looked very nice. (a custom made suit goes for $60).
one of my girlfriends even had shoes made!
i'm looking forward to seeing my coat tomorrow morning....though it's very thinking about wool coats when it's so hot outside!
we leave our hotel at 11 tomorrow to fly to ho chi minh, formerly and much more beautifully known as saigon. yay!
yesterday we flew down to central vietnam and drove 30 km from denang to hoi an.
this morning, our first and only day here, we walked into town at 6 to go through the markets and check out a few key sights -- namely the japanese covered bridge (which is fairly self explanatory).
at 8 we rented bikes and rode 6 miles to the beach. this was the looong scenic route, but it was VERY beautiful. we passed so many fields and small homes. tons of cows as well! there are cows everywhere -- on the side of the road and wandering through the fields and by 'wandering' i mean eating and pooping.
the beach was GORGEOUS and i wish we could have spent all day there. one of my friends and i splurged 15,000 dong (16,000 dong is a dollar) for a chair under an umbrella and it was quite worth it to get out of the sun. the sun seems to be hotter here than in hanoi but there is breeze off the ocean and it is much less humid so generally more pleasant.
when i got back to my bike to ride home the tire was flat. after a quick fill up i was on my way -- only to have it blow out again in less than five minutes. after the second time i began to walk back until a moped-taxi picked me up, signaling he could also accomodate my bike. i was desperate and assumed he would strap the bike on the back, so i hopped on. VERY quickly i found out he expected me to hold onto the bike as he drove. this was extremely difficult and uncomfortable and i am quite bruised thanks to it. everyone that passed us on the street, as well as those that were watching from the sidewalks was shouting at him and laughing. (i was laughing too because the driver didn't understand english -- not even "stop" or "slow"). finally our guide came back looking for me and he took my bike back so i only had to hold onto the moped to get home.
this was all before lunch ever happened.
our hotel has an infinity pool and so we got to spend some time playing fun pool games for five year olds (tea party, categories, have hand stand contests etc). it was so nice :) i don't remember the last time i got to play in a pool like that.
i took a long and much needed nap this afternoon...
after i woke up i walked into town to one of the many tailors (the strets are lined with tailors willing to make anything you could want) and got a wool jacket for $30. since it was so cheap i got to get a fun color (bright green) and not worry about it! they took my measurements and i just have to return at 9 tomorrow morning for a last fitting.
several of my friends got suits and have had a fitting already -- apparently they looked very nice. (a custom made suit goes for $60).
one of my girlfriends even had shoes made!
i'm looking forward to seeing my coat tomorrow morning....though it's very thinking about wool coats when it's so hot outside!
we leave our hotel at 11 tomorrow to fly to ho chi minh, formerly and much more beautifully known as saigon. yay!
Thursday, June 7, 2007
ihearthanoi
it's hooottt.
but fantastic!
yesterday we went to ho chi minh's mausoleum and it was..odd. he's been preserved for forty years and as far as i'm concerned that is TOO long and weird. he looked like a wax figure of himself. it was very serious and hard to not feel so. we got there early so the line wasn't long but it got VERY long by the time we left. us ladies had to cover our shoulders and knees (which is too much when it's so hot outside) and no cameras were allowed. when my instructor was here last august he got rifle butted for stepping where he wasn't meant to -- so i tried to pay very close attention to the rules. incidentally, i was staring so hard at the body as we moved through (there was no time to hang out with ho) i ran into a guard which was startling and frightening (but okay in the end).
we also saw the one pillar pagoda as well as the center of government in vietnam, built by the french, and ho's living quarters.
it's very interesting to hear our guide talk about hcm (our guide speaks perfect english) becuase he is still very clearly in love with this man. i wonder how long this sort of respect and adoration will last? until thre is a regime change, i guess. i don't know anything about him really, so i'll be interested to read an unbias (as unbias as anything can ever be) when i get back to the states.
sometimes communism is very apparent here --
but vietnam and china have made me realize how loose of a term "communism" really is. i think karl marx would roll over in his grave.
we ended up seeing several other important sites in hanoi yesterday -- including a buddhist temple and the temple of literature, as well as the hanoi hilton (which was creepy....) we got back in the early evening and took an hour long ride on rickshaws -- the SLOWEST transportaton known to man -- and that was an amazing way to see the city. in the evening we went to see a water puppet show as this is very big in hanoi. it was a series of scenes including live music and puppets in water. pretty amazing! i enjoyed it, however touristy it may have been.
today we took a 3 hour driver to hai long bay which is surrounded by rock formations and was BEAUTIFUL. we got to swim in the ocean for a few hours and it was sooo enjoyable. i've never been in such salty and buoyant water! no tredding was necessary and floating has never been so easy!
i like it here a lot and hope to come back....i need to get some street food -- i have not been able to because no one else is interested....i will definitely have SOMETHING before the trip is over.
only 7 days left of traveling before KL and that also means only one week until Miles is 21!!!
i'm having the best time -- i wish i could share the full experience more fully.
we move to hoi an tomorrow -- central vietnam -- and i'll be interested to see the differences.
the other thing that's important about vietnam: war is bad. it hurts people.
but fantastic!
yesterday we went to ho chi minh's mausoleum and it was..odd. he's been preserved for forty years and as far as i'm concerned that is TOO long and weird. he looked like a wax figure of himself. it was very serious and hard to not feel so. we got there early so the line wasn't long but it got VERY long by the time we left. us ladies had to cover our shoulders and knees (which is too much when it's so hot outside) and no cameras were allowed. when my instructor was here last august he got rifle butted for stepping where he wasn't meant to -- so i tried to pay very close attention to the rules. incidentally, i was staring so hard at the body as we moved through (there was no time to hang out with ho) i ran into a guard which was startling and frightening (but okay in the end).
we also saw the one pillar pagoda as well as the center of government in vietnam, built by the french, and ho's living quarters.
it's very interesting to hear our guide talk about hcm (our guide speaks perfect english) becuase he is still very clearly in love with this man. i wonder how long this sort of respect and adoration will last? until thre is a regime change, i guess. i don't know anything about him really, so i'll be interested to read an unbias (as unbias as anything can ever be) when i get back to the states.
sometimes communism is very apparent here --
but vietnam and china have made me realize how loose of a term "communism" really is. i think karl marx would roll over in his grave.
we ended up seeing several other important sites in hanoi yesterday -- including a buddhist temple and the temple of literature, as well as the hanoi hilton (which was creepy....) we got back in the early evening and took an hour long ride on rickshaws -- the SLOWEST transportaton known to man -- and that was an amazing way to see the city. in the evening we went to see a water puppet show as this is very big in hanoi. it was a series of scenes including live music and puppets in water. pretty amazing! i enjoyed it, however touristy it may have been.
today we took a 3 hour driver to hai long bay which is surrounded by rock formations and was BEAUTIFUL. we got to swim in the ocean for a few hours and it was sooo enjoyable. i've never been in such salty and buoyant water! no tredding was necessary and floating has never been so easy!
i like it here a lot and hope to come back....i need to get some street food -- i have not been able to because no one else is interested....i will definitely have SOMETHING before the trip is over.
only 7 days left of traveling before KL and that also means only one week until Miles is 21!!!
i'm having the best time -- i wish i could share the full experience more fully.
we move to hoi an tomorrow -- central vietnam -- and i'll be interested to see the differences.
the other thing that's important about vietnam: war is bad. it hurts people.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
and on the 24th day it was hot
So much happens I could never tell it all
Like I totally forgot to tell you about the pop star that was with us in the airport when we first arrived in china and the throngs of screaming girls and how I poked him.
But let’s focus on the now: I am in Vietnam and it is – WONDERFUL.
Favorite place we’ve visited so far.
I’m in Hanoi and the scale is smaller which is refreshing and wonderful and it is bustling and alive. The colors are bright again (!) and the architecture has drastically changed. I have seen some of the narrowest buildings! One store I walked past today could barely function as a hallway at 3 feet wide, much less a clothing shop.
And it’s hot! It feels like South Carolina in the summer and we missed the peak hours. It has started raining and it was very welcome as far as I’m concerned.
I ate my first tiny bit of street food – two donut looking objects (donut hole like) for 5000 dong (16,000 dong = 1 USD) which is about 30 cents. The outside was really delicious and super sweet but the inside (I didn’t realize there would be an inside) was hollow and partially filled with something that I think was rice. It was fun to try whatever it was!
The traffic is absolutely insane. Maybe worse than Beijing – but different anyway. There are very few cars as they aren’t really allowed in the city so everyone is on motorcycle/moped/scooter things. There are no lights so everyone is always going. There are “crosswalks” but these are just suggestions. It’s a life size game of Frogger.
It was REALLY scary the first few times but I’m already feeling like I can handle it now.
I’m not sure what tomorrow entails entirely, but I do know we are going to see the Chairman Mao of Vietnam whose name escapes me since my knowledge of history is too poor. This is a really big deal and somewhat sacred as we are not allowed to show our knees or our shoulders. Pray for me in the heat.
I should run and go back to the unfun-ness that is washing my clothes in the sink and hoping they dry / hiding them from the hotel.
Like I totally forgot to tell you about the pop star that was with us in the airport when we first arrived in china and the throngs of screaming girls and how I poked him.
But let’s focus on the now: I am in Vietnam and it is – WONDERFUL.
Favorite place we’ve visited so far.
I’m in Hanoi and the scale is smaller which is refreshing and wonderful and it is bustling and alive. The colors are bright again (!) and the architecture has drastically changed. I have seen some of the narrowest buildings! One store I walked past today could barely function as a hallway at 3 feet wide, much less a clothing shop.
And it’s hot! It feels like South Carolina in the summer and we missed the peak hours. It has started raining and it was very welcome as far as I’m concerned.
I ate my first tiny bit of street food – two donut looking objects (donut hole like) for 5000 dong (16,000 dong = 1 USD) which is about 30 cents. The outside was really delicious and super sweet but the inside (I didn’t realize there would be an inside) was hollow and partially filled with something that I think was rice. It was fun to try whatever it was!
The traffic is absolutely insane. Maybe worse than Beijing – but different anyway. There are very few cars as they aren’t really allowed in the city so everyone is on motorcycle/moped/scooter things. There are no lights so everyone is always going. There are “crosswalks” but these are just suggestions. It’s a life size game of Frogger.
It was REALLY scary the first few times but I’m already feeling like I can handle it now.
I’m not sure what tomorrow entails entirely, but I do know we are going to see the Chairman Mao of Vietnam whose name escapes me since my knowledge of history is too poor. This is a really big deal and somewhat sacred as we are not allowed to show our knees or our shoulders. Pray for me in the heat.
I should run and go back to the unfun-ness that is washing my clothes in the sink and hoping they dry / hiding them from the hotel.
Friday, June 1, 2007
i'm in shanghai :) FINALLY.
we got in really late so i haven't seen anything...but i'm a block away from the bund (the area the english parceled off for themselves on the river -- it's the cool place to be).....
tomorrow we explore the shang.
not enough time here, but i feel that way about everywhere. :)
we got in really late so i haven't seen anything...but i'm a block away from the bund (the area the english parceled off for themselves on the river -- it's the cool place to be).....
tomorrow we explore the shang.
not enough time here, but i feel that way about everywhere. :)
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
I have officially contracted lung cancer.
This morning started bright and early at 4:30 and I am glad to say we are just sitting for the rest of the day; I need to recuperate. As soon as we got on the bus this morning my allergies attacked me – there must have been something in the air because everyone was sneezing – but might have (oh so thankfully) continued and worsened. On our way to the airport we went past Rem Koolhaas’ CCTV tower which is going up and it looks AMAZING. It’s two towers at opposite corners of each other that lean and eventually bridge across to touch one another.
At 7:40 we flew down to Dustville, China (also known as Pingyao). I thought Beijing was dirty, but this is muchmuch worse. Again, there is no sky and hardly any sun. The air actually smells bad. This is a tiny town and there is really nothing to do here, which I think is just fine I guess. It’s significant because it is a wall city. All of the old towns in China had walls around them but when they were “liberated” the walls were torn down because they represented old China. Tomorrow we are actually going to go on a full tour of the town but I just looked out my window and I can actually see the wall from my horrible hotel room!
I got teary today for these people. It’s so dirty here. They burn coal and the pollution just spills into the air. I can’t imagine what it’s like to not ever see blue sky. I would feel miserable. I’ve been here for four days and it’s made me feel awful! Physically and otherwise. It’s so noisy all of the time too. It must feel awful to have little control over your destiny. Maybe I’m being unfair, but China’s poverty seems very different than any I have ever witnessed before (though this is a short list). Poverty exists outside of excess, generally speaking, when I’ve seen it in Costa Rica and Puerto Rico, and if nothing else, in a beautiful lush environment. And poverty might not even be the right word for it….But what little I’ve seen of this seems to be much closer to LA’s situation. There are huge buildings on large properties and then crumbling homes a block over. It’s not even that all of Beijing is excessive, I mean the huge buildings are really that nice. There is just such desperation somehow in the impoverished societies’ existence. They are willing to stand around at all hours and try to sell anything they can because this is all they can do. There were so many diseased people on the streets also. Maybe it’s the pollution and dirt that makes it all much worse….I’m not sure. It’s a jumbled mess in my mind, it just doesn’t seem right.
I do not think the Olympics is going to help China’s image in the world’s eye.
This morning started bright and early at 4:30 and I am glad to say we are just sitting for the rest of the day; I need to recuperate. As soon as we got on the bus this morning my allergies attacked me – there must have been something in the air because everyone was sneezing – but might have (oh so thankfully) continued and worsened. On our way to the airport we went past Rem Koolhaas’ CCTV tower which is going up and it looks AMAZING. It’s two towers at opposite corners of each other that lean and eventually bridge across to touch one another.
At 7:40 we flew down to Dustville, China (also known as Pingyao). I thought Beijing was dirty, but this is muchmuch worse. Again, there is no sky and hardly any sun. The air actually smells bad. This is a tiny town and there is really nothing to do here, which I think is just fine I guess. It’s significant because it is a wall city. All of the old towns in China had walls around them but when they were “liberated” the walls were torn down because they represented old China. Tomorrow we are actually going to go on a full tour of the town but I just looked out my window and I can actually see the wall from my horrible hotel room!
I got teary today for these people. It’s so dirty here. They burn coal and the pollution just spills into the air. I can’t imagine what it’s like to not ever see blue sky. I would feel miserable. I’ve been here for four days and it’s made me feel awful! Physically and otherwise. It’s so noisy all of the time too. It must feel awful to have little control over your destiny. Maybe I’m being unfair, but China’s poverty seems very different than any I have ever witnessed before (though this is a short list). Poverty exists outside of excess, generally speaking, when I’ve seen it in Costa Rica and Puerto Rico, and if nothing else, in a beautiful lush environment. And poverty might not even be the right word for it….But what little I’ve seen of this seems to be much closer to LA’s situation. There are huge buildings on large properties and then crumbling homes a block over. It’s not even that all of Beijing is excessive, I mean the huge buildings are really that nice. There is just such desperation somehow in the impoverished societies’ existence. They are willing to stand around at all hours and try to sell anything they can because this is all they can do. There were so many diseased people on the streets also. Maybe it’s the pollution and dirt that makes it all much worse….I’m not sure. It’s a jumbled mess in my mind, it just doesn’t seem right.
I do not think the Olympics is going to help China’s image in the world’s eye.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
jaded
Today I was in tour guide hell.
We got up early to start our journey to the Great Wall and the tour guide talked the ENTIRE WAY and was upset with people for falling asleep. He was quite rude. And on top of that he took us to a JADE factory. I didn’t mention how yesterday he took us to a pearl factory. It’s very frustrating – apparently they take you wherever they want and there isn’t much you can do about it. (they get kickbacks for it) AND there were people in glass box actually carving the jade! The day started off so poorly, I thought it might be doomed.
Then we visited this place called Commune by the Wall that is a series of 20 houses all designed by different Asian architects (Shigeru Ban was amongst them). Gated and very high end – you can rent them for about $2,000+ a night. The economic split here has been very strange to observe…We only got to go in three of them, but it was a really cool idea. Unfortunately, they weren’t all upkept very well, because nothing in China is. The furniture was often very dirty and not something I would be happy paying thousands of dollars for! They were great party houses and I don’t think anyone would argue against having pieces of The Wall in your backyard….
It was also pretty amazing to see such clean modern architecture in China since so much has been dilapidated or…ugly.
But then came THE WALL and it was AMAZING. Completely redeemed the morning’s sour events. It turns out the wall is not continuous at all (though every picture ever taken would have you believe so). It is no longer taken care of either, so many unbroken sections are dividing as parts crumble. Because the wall is built over mountains there are varying levels of difficulty. We happened to go up a very advanced one.
No one EVER mentioned how there are stairs allll the way up the wall. It’s hardly even a wall! It’s allll stairs. The tallest were about 2/3 the way up my calf. It was not a piece of cake. Getting to the top (our section ended) made it all worth it. The wall just snakes across the hills.
I still can’t understand how it could have been built. If I had such a trying time walking up a fairly small section (about an hour’s worth of stair stepping) how could anyone have managed to carry all of the stones up there, and maybe what’s more, how in the world did they stay in place while the mortar was drying? Some of those stones are at a 45 degree angle…..
It was a little breathtaking. I wish I could have gone early in the morning when it was cool and there were no people – I think it would have been more.
It’s a pretty special thing to get to do. I’ve finally seen a Wonder of the World!
And what a wonder it is….
On our drive back we went past the main stadium for the Olympics and the swim stadium and both are amazing – but the main stadium (Herzog and de Meuron) takes the cake!! It is sooo cool. They are all about skin (the wrapper of a building), as you could maybe see in the Tokyo Prada building, and this is no exception. I’m excited for them that their stadiums are impressive!
Otherwise, I’m a little worried for the city. It is in such a rough state I really don’t know how they are going to pull it together for the world. I walked to a busy area a few blocks from my hotel last night and WOW. There were holes, granted small holes, but they were deeper than my leg and not marked in anyway. The sidewalks were hardly that, just dirt and very often interrupted with piles of rubble and holes. They did have construction crews out working on an area of the street but they were stirring up so much dust it seemed dangerous! And if not dangerous, down right disgusting.
It is so dirty, just so dirty.
I really wish I could stay longer just to understand it. The city is kind of awful. People push and shove and hock and spit and there is dirt everywhere and no sun and everything is huge.
I got stuck with a vendor who wouldn’t let go of my arm after I showed interest in a Mao watch (his arm is the ticker…it was pretty funny) and she actually would not let go of me. She seemed so desperate. It’s, it’s sad.
I feel awful about it.
We got up early to start our journey to the Great Wall and the tour guide talked the ENTIRE WAY and was upset with people for falling asleep. He was quite rude. And on top of that he took us to a JADE factory. I didn’t mention how yesterday he took us to a pearl factory. It’s very frustrating – apparently they take you wherever they want and there isn’t much you can do about it. (they get kickbacks for it) AND there were people in glass box actually carving the jade! The day started off so poorly, I thought it might be doomed.
Then we visited this place called Commune by the Wall that is a series of 20 houses all designed by different Asian architects (Shigeru Ban was amongst them). Gated and very high end – you can rent them for about $2,000+ a night. The economic split here has been very strange to observe…We only got to go in three of them, but it was a really cool idea. Unfortunately, they weren’t all upkept very well, because nothing in China is. The furniture was often very dirty and not something I would be happy paying thousands of dollars for! They were great party houses and I don’t think anyone would argue against having pieces of The Wall in your backyard….
It was also pretty amazing to see such clean modern architecture in China since so much has been dilapidated or…ugly.
But then came THE WALL and it was AMAZING. Completely redeemed the morning’s sour events. It turns out the wall is not continuous at all (though every picture ever taken would have you believe so). It is no longer taken care of either, so many unbroken sections are dividing as parts crumble. Because the wall is built over mountains there are varying levels of difficulty. We happened to go up a very advanced one.
No one EVER mentioned how there are stairs allll the way up the wall. It’s hardly even a wall! It’s allll stairs. The tallest were about 2/3 the way up my calf. It was not a piece of cake. Getting to the top (our section ended) made it all worth it. The wall just snakes across the hills.
I still can’t understand how it could have been built. If I had such a trying time walking up a fairly small section (about an hour’s worth of stair stepping) how could anyone have managed to carry all of the stones up there, and maybe what’s more, how in the world did they stay in place while the mortar was drying? Some of those stones are at a 45 degree angle…..
It was a little breathtaking. I wish I could have gone early in the morning when it was cool and there were no people – I think it would have been more.
It’s a pretty special thing to get to do. I’ve finally seen a Wonder of the World!
And what a wonder it is….
On our drive back we went past the main stadium for the Olympics and the swim stadium and both are amazing – but the main stadium (Herzog and de Meuron) takes the cake!! It is sooo cool. They are all about skin (the wrapper of a building), as you could maybe see in the Tokyo Prada building, and this is no exception. I’m excited for them that their stadiums are impressive!
Otherwise, I’m a little worried for the city. It is in such a rough state I really don’t know how they are going to pull it together for the world. I walked to a busy area a few blocks from my hotel last night and WOW. There were holes, granted small holes, but they were deeper than my leg and not marked in anyway. The sidewalks were hardly that, just dirt and very often interrupted with piles of rubble and holes. They did have construction crews out working on an area of the street but they were stirring up so much dust it seemed dangerous! And if not dangerous, down right disgusting.
It is so dirty, just so dirty.
I really wish I could stay longer just to understand it. The city is kind of awful. People push and shove and hock and spit and there is dirt everywhere and no sun and everything is huge.
I got stuck with a vendor who wouldn’t let go of my arm after I showed interest in a Mao watch (his arm is the ticker…it was pretty funny) and she actually would not let go of me. She seemed so desperate. It’s, it’s sad.
I feel awful about it.
Monday, May 28, 2007
china
CHINA IS CRAZY.
CRAZY.
we arrived yesterday to Beijing. I took a walk down the next street over from our hotel and it was the most insane thing i've ever seen. it's one of the old neighborhoods that are consistently getting torn down to put up high rises...and i can kind of understand why they would want to tear it down (it looked like a bomb had gone off in more than one place) but it’s sad that old Beijing will cease to exist before too long.
anyhow, i saw a baby in a cardboard box on the side of the road. that's what we're dealing with.
the next big world power has babies in boxes.
the usual suspects went to dinner with one of our friends that has been living here - on the aforementioned road. THIS was truly a hole in the wall. it's one of the more famous duck restaurants in beijing though and i guess even george bush sr has eaten there. it was, amazing. delicious. they brought two whole ducks to the table (heads and all) and proceeded to slice them up from there. (when we were walking to our table a staff member walked past us with two raw ducks just hanging on a string..) they sliced the head in half and i ate a tiny piece of duck brain. it was just sort of neutral - it melted in my mouth. dr b informed me it's not a good idea to be eating brains right now for health reasons, so i'm going to steer clear of such adventures in the future. but, when in rome. everything is family style here and we ate like kings and queens..for 12 dollars.
it's so cheap here.
it's also obscenely dirty. there is dust/dirt on everything because beijing is adjacent to a desert and strong winds are always blowing the dirt through (they have dust storms fairly frequently from what i hear). and the pollution...oohhh the pollution. forecast will call for clear skies, but cleark=yellow-brown-gray-colorless. the whole city is colorless and dingy. the sun is always glazed over.
it's disgusting.
the most noticeable thing besides the pollution, is the scale of the city. it's not quite vertical in the way tokyo was, but it's BIG. everything is on lots of land and just huge. the streets - i have never seen such large streets. i think it is so big to make you feel small - insignificant. it's effective too -- such built presence really does make me feel dominated and necessarily subservient in a way.
speaking of massive things...
today we went to tiananmen square. ONE MILLION people can fit in it at a time. i don't even know what that means.
apparently mao's body is preserved in one of the buildings bordering the square and i really wish we could have gone to see it...it's weird and creepy but i'd totally be into it.
from there we went to the forbidden city, which was disappointing at best. china totally lacks the design sense that japan has. everything is...ugly. the forbidden city is a big deal though -- so i understand why we went. it just kept going and going and going. it was where 26 emporers lived up until 1911 when the Republic of China was founded. Before then it was not open to the public.
in the afternoon we went to the temple of heaven, which was more interesting design wise, but still ugly.
today was difficult because it was super hot and there are people EVERYWHERE. these people aren't friendly the way the japanese seemed to be either; they push they shove they try to sell you stuff (i got hit twice by this man trying to sell me a parasol). in the bathroom line today i let someone go in front of me because there was an empty squatter stall and i wanted to wait for the western toilet and it opened the flood gates. no less than ten women pushed past and aggressively stole every stall. i had to shove my way in front of this lady as to not be left by my group! and worst of all, this women came into the stall with one of my friends who wasn't quiet finished up. she came inside!! that's prettty bold.
we're hitting up the great wall tomorrow (!!!) and hopefully driving past the herzog and de meuron olympic stadium that's going up right now. after we get back i am also hoping to go see the CCTV building rem koolhaas designed, it's in progress as well. there is a TON of construction going on for the olympics right now. apparently no new stuff is to be started in order to make sure everything in progress can be completed by july 2008. they are really trying to clean up their act for the rest of the world.
china is much more difficult to visit than japan - but i'm so fascinated and curious - i wish we could spend more time here.
CRAZY.
we arrived yesterday to Beijing. I took a walk down the next street over from our hotel and it was the most insane thing i've ever seen. it's one of the old neighborhoods that are consistently getting torn down to put up high rises...and i can kind of understand why they would want to tear it down (it looked like a bomb had gone off in more than one place) but it’s sad that old Beijing will cease to exist before too long.
anyhow, i saw a baby in a cardboard box on the side of the road. that's what we're dealing with.
the next big world power has babies in boxes.
the usual suspects went to dinner with one of our friends that has been living here - on the aforementioned road. THIS was truly a hole in the wall. it's one of the more famous duck restaurants in beijing though and i guess even george bush sr has eaten there. it was, amazing. delicious. they brought two whole ducks to the table (heads and all) and proceeded to slice them up from there. (when we were walking to our table a staff member walked past us with two raw ducks just hanging on a string..) they sliced the head in half and i ate a tiny piece of duck brain. it was just sort of neutral - it melted in my mouth. dr b informed me it's not a good idea to be eating brains right now for health reasons, so i'm going to steer clear of such adventures in the future. but, when in rome. everything is family style here and we ate like kings and queens..for 12 dollars.
it's so cheap here.
it's also obscenely dirty. there is dust/dirt on everything because beijing is adjacent to a desert and strong winds are always blowing the dirt through (they have dust storms fairly frequently from what i hear). and the pollution...oohhh the pollution. forecast will call for clear skies, but cleark=yellow-brown-gray-colorless. the whole city is colorless and dingy. the sun is always glazed over.
it's disgusting.
the most noticeable thing besides the pollution, is the scale of the city. it's not quite vertical in the way tokyo was, but it's BIG. everything is on lots of land and just huge. the streets - i have never seen such large streets. i think it is so big to make you feel small - insignificant. it's effective too -- such built presence really does make me feel dominated and necessarily subservient in a way.
speaking of massive things...
today we went to tiananmen square. ONE MILLION people can fit in it at a time. i don't even know what that means.
apparently mao's body is preserved in one of the buildings bordering the square and i really wish we could have gone to see it...it's weird and creepy but i'd totally be into it.
from there we went to the forbidden city, which was disappointing at best. china totally lacks the design sense that japan has. everything is...ugly. the forbidden city is a big deal though -- so i understand why we went. it just kept going and going and going. it was where 26 emporers lived up until 1911 when the Republic of China was founded. Before then it was not open to the public.
in the afternoon we went to the temple of heaven, which was more interesting design wise, but still ugly.
today was difficult because it was super hot and there are people EVERYWHERE. these people aren't friendly the way the japanese seemed to be either; they push they shove they try to sell you stuff (i got hit twice by this man trying to sell me a parasol). in the bathroom line today i let someone go in front of me because there was an empty squatter stall and i wanted to wait for the western toilet and it opened the flood gates. no less than ten women pushed past and aggressively stole every stall. i had to shove my way in front of this lady as to not be left by my group! and worst of all, this women came into the stall with one of my friends who wasn't quiet finished up. she came inside!! that's prettty bold.
we're hitting up the great wall tomorrow (!!!) and hopefully driving past the herzog and de meuron olympic stadium that's going up right now. after we get back i am also hoping to go see the CCTV building rem koolhaas designed, it's in progress as well. there is a TON of construction going on for the olympics right now. apparently no new stuff is to be started in order to make sure everything in progress can be completed by july 2008. they are really trying to clean up their act for the rest of the world.
china is much more difficult to visit than japan - but i'm so fascinated and curious - i wish we could spend more time here.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
So much!
Yesterday we went north to Sendai to see Toyo Ito’s Sendai Mediatheque. No one seemed to like it, but I think I did, at least conceptually. I’m glad we saw it though. It’s so weird seeing buildings in person when you’ve only ever imagined them through photographs. I like it.
Today we went to this place called Minka-En, which is a collection of about 20 old Japanese houses in various styles. Though it sounds a little hokey, it was really awesome to see. I wish we had had a little more time there so I could have gotten through all of them.
We came back near our hotel and went to the Mori Art Museum, which is on the 52ndish floor of a building in Roppongi Hills. It’s a viewing tower also, so we saw the entire city. It was unbelievable. As far as I could see there was city. So so crazy.
The exhibit we went to see was on Le Corbusier (he’s THE architect) and just opened today, which was amazing good fortune since today is our last day here. It was SO impressive. There were paintings and sculptures and models of every important project and sketches and two full size mock ups of his designs. It was so awesome. I wish I could fully explain, other than saying SO one million times.
I get really excited about architecture sometimes.
I keep thinking about Hayne and how he’s graduating today/tomorrow! I’m really sad I’m missing out, really sad, it makes me teary every time, but I’m so proud of him. I have been telling everyone, it’s probably kind of annoying. I’m a little bit jealous of him getting to graduate from something, to be quite honest.
No big plans for this evening, we’ve talked of going to the Park Hyatt which is supposed to have the best view in the city and was prominently featured in Lost in Translation….but after the view today I’m not necessarily that keen on it. Plus, I’ll be back and I’d rather go with my Lost in Translation buddy anyway. Ashes and Snow is here also and I missed it when it was in LA last year, so that’s an option too. It’s kind of tricky to get to, so I am not sure it will work out.
We have to leave at 6 am tomorrow for the flight to Beijing.
I love this city. I feel really excited for Miles and happy I got to find out all about it before he moves here. It also makes me feel a lot better about him being all alone out here, it’s such an amazing city I think he’s going to make it.
Yesterday we went north to Sendai to see Toyo Ito’s Sendai Mediatheque. No one seemed to like it, but I think I did, at least conceptually. I’m glad we saw it though. It’s so weird seeing buildings in person when you’ve only ever imagined them through photographs. I like it.
Today we went to this place called Minka-En, which is a collection of about 20 old Japanese houses in various styles. Though it sounds a little hokey, it was really awesome to see. I wish we had had a little more time there so I could have gotten through all of them.
We came back near our hotel and went to the Mori Art Museum, which is on the 52ndish floor of a building in Roppongi Hills. It’s a viewing tower also, so we saw the entire city. It was unbelievable. As far as I could see there was city. So so crazy.The exhibit we went to see was on Le Corbusier (he’s THE architect) and just opened today, which was amazing good fortune since today is our last day here. It was SO impressive. There were paintings and sculptures and models of every important project and sketches and two full size mock ups of his designs. It was so awesome. I wish I could fully explain, other than saying SO one million times.
I get really excited about architecture sometimes.
I keep thinking about Hayne and how he’s graduating today/tomorrow! I’m really sad I’m missing out, really sad, it makes me teary every time, but I’m so proud of him. I have been telling everyone, it’s probably kind of annoying. I’m a little bit jealous of him getting to graduate from something, to be quite honest.
No big plans for this evening, we’ve talked of going to the Park Hyatt which is supposed to have the best view in the city and was prominently featured in Lost in Translation….but after the view today I’m not necessarily that keen on it. Plus, I’ll be back and I’d rather go with my Lost in Translation buddy anyway. Ashes and Snow is here also and I missed it when it was in LA last year, so that’s an option too. It’s kind of tricky to get to, so I am not sure it will work out.
We have to leave at 6 am tomorrow for the flight to Beijing.
I love this city. I feel really excited for Miles and happy I got to find out all about it before he moves here. It also makes me feel a lot better about him being all alone out here, it’s such an amazing city I think he’s going to make it.
Friday, May 25, 2007
fish
I just got back from the fish market in Tokyo. Whoa. Biggest fish market in Asia. It gets going at five in the morning and runs until ten – we left at six. It was nothing short of remarkable. So many fish! I didn’t really realize how big tuna are. They had huge knives to cut through the tuna and the other big fish (I saw whale, it looked like meat) and the fish were stuffed with ice. The tuna meat was so beautiful.
Grossest thing: the eels with their heads partially cut (lots of fish were like this) and floating in their own blood – coupled with the eel that we saw it’s head get stabbed and stripped of skin. That was disgusting.
The market was crazy busy: carts flying everywhere willing to run you over, fish being cut, buckets and buckets of dead + alive fish (I saw an alive octopus and the biggest crab I have ever seen – three feet from one side to another).
Wearing flip flops was probably not the best choice (they were throwing fish guts+blood all over the ground, but there were lots of hoses running to wash it away) and we got some laughs at our feet.
On the street side of the market there were tiny restaurants with people lined up outside waiting to eat fresh sushi.
One of the coolest things I’ve done here.
Grossest thing: the eels with their heads partially cut (lots of fish were like this) and floating in their own blood – coupled with the eel that we saw it’s head get stabbed and stripped of skin. That was disgusting.
The market was crazy busy: carts flying everywhere willing to run you over, fish being cut, buckets and buckets of dead + alive fish (I saw an alive octopus and the biggest crab I have ever seen – three feet from one side to another).
Wearing flip flops was probably not the best choice (they were throwing fish guts+blood all over the ground, but there were lots of hoses running to wash it away) and we got some laughs at our feet.
On the street side of the market there were tiny restaurants with people lined up outside waiting to eat fresh sushi.
One of the coolest things I’ve done here.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
can we talk about how sweet my day was??
as a class we went around and saw Maki buildings. (Maki is this big Japanese architect, my professor says the most famous Japanese architect and maybe top five important architects in the world. I think maybe he is exaggerating...but I know hardly anything.) Anyhow, Steele, my professor, and I basically made fun of the buildings all day. They lacked inspiration and interest. Apparently Maki is very conservative and has been quite successful theoretically (with writings, etc) but not necessarily architecturally, as far as I can tell. i think it was probably important to see some of his buildings though.
We went to visit his office also, which always makes me excited about architecture -- arch offices are so cool. They have some big projects going on, biggest of all is one of the four towers going up in NYC where the World Trade Center was. We also got to meet him, kind of, he's prettttty old.
what really made my day was finding the capsule tower. i'm prettty proud of myself for this one -- i had to look it up online because no one knew where it was and even our translator was unsure how to get there on the subway -- but i figured it out! it really wasn't THAT difficult, but the subway maps are very confusing. i think tokyo is sitting on an entire system of subways, there is actually no dirt for at least forty feet below the whole city. anyhow, this building is really important because it was the first one to actually use capsules, distinct pieces, in it. it totally revolutionized the way architects thought about space -- at least it added a new dimension. AND worst of all, it's slated to be torn down!! i had a small heart attack when i got out of the subway (finally) because there was a demolition site right there. it turned out to be just down a few blocks, thank goodness. it is...remarkable. how anyone could want to tear something so beautiful down is beyond me.
i was there for ten or fifteen minutes trying to take pictures and all the while the passerbys stared at me. they would look at me and then all look up trying to figure out what i could possibly be so interested in. i got a huge kick out of this. but it also makes me sad because i know people just walk by and think nothing of it. they obviously think so little that they have to look to see what i'm photographing!
i came back into the area i'm staying, akasaki, and went to a cheap ramen place my guidebook recommended. i ate some weeiiird stuff, let me tell you. it was, as the menu accurately described, funky. it had pork, boiled and chopped, and some onions that i wouldn't have known where onions if i hadn't read it. the meat came in three ways, a huge chunk, weird strips that i THINK were pork? and bacon like pieces. there was also a boiled egg. roe was an option, but i declined.
i tried all of it, but basically ended up eating the broth and the noodles. i'm glad i had real ramen, but it was odd. quite odd. the place was cool though.
i'm now doing laundry, in a very weird washing machine with detergent that i hope will not ruin all of my clothes. we'll see.
there are models staying in our hotel. they are very skinny.
i had a long talk about the city today with my professor because there are lots of things i've been curious about -- mainly about the lack of public spaces in the city. there are never benches to sit on and places to just hang out. rarely, anyway. he says the idea of public space is very western and so totally foreign to asia. they are very private here; you go to work and then you go home to be with your family. this idea makes many other things make sense. we also talked about how the cities are pretty ugly, which is ironic for people with such design sensibility, and he said he thinks that is a result of the privacy issue as well. there is little need to make your cities beautiful if you aren't really spending time in them. so individual homes are lovely, but the public cities are not. the trash can issue (noted below) also makes sense, if you are never outside except in transit you would never need to throw anything away.
i take western-ness for granted.
things i have maybe mentioned and maybe not:
1. every single man wears a suit to work. suits everywhere.
2. there are soooo many vending machines. vending machines with alcohol, cigarettes, meals.
3. no trash cans anywhere. none. weird for such clean cities (kyoto is cleaner than tokyo)
for now.
tokyo is uhmazing.
as a class we went around and saw Maki buildings. (Maki is this big Japanese architect, my professor says the most famous Japanese architect and maybe top five important architects in the world. I think maybe he is exaggerating...but I know hardly anything.) Anyhow, Steele, my professor, and I basically made fun of the buildings all day. They lacked inspiration and interest. Apparently Maki is very conservative and has been quite successful theoretically (with writings, etc) but not necessarily architecturally, as far as I can tell. i think it was probably important to see some of his buildings though.
We went to visit his office also, which always makes me excited about architecture -- arch offices are so cool. They have some big projects going on, biggest of all is one of the four towers going up in NYC where the World Trade Center was. We also got to meet him, kind of, he's prettttty old.
what really made my day was finding the capsule tower. i'm prettty proud of myself for this one -- i had to look it up online because no one knew where it was and even our translator was unsure how to get there on the subway -- but i figured it out! it really wasn't THAT difficult, but the subway maps are very confusing. i think tokyo is sitting on an entire system of subways, there is actually no dirt for at least forty feet below the whole city. anyhow, this building is really important because it was the first one to actually use capsules, distinct pieces, in it. it totally revolutionized the way architects thought about space -- at least it added a new dimension. AND worst of all, it's slated to be torn down!! i had a small heart attack when i got out of the subway (finally) because there was a demolition site right there. it turned out to be just down a few blocks, thank goodness. it is...remarkable. how anyone could want to tear something so beautiful down is beyond me.
i was there for ten or fifteen minutes trying to take pictures and all the while the passerbys stared at me. they would look at me and then all look up trying to figure out what i could possibly be so interested in. i got a huge kick out of this. but it also makes me sad because i know people just walk by and think nothing of it. they obviously think so little that they have to look to see what i'm photographing!
i came back into the area i'm staying, akasaki, and went to a cheap ramen place my guidebook recommended. i ate some weeiiird stuff, let me tell you. it was, as the menu accurately described, funky. it had pork, boiled and chopped, and some onions that i wouldn't have known where onions if i hadn't read it. the meat came in three ways, a huge chunk, weird strips that i THINK were pork? and bacon like pieces. there was also a boiled egg. roe was an option, but i declined.
i tried all of it, but basically ended up eating the broth and the noodles. i'm glad i had real ramen, but it was odd. quite odd. the place was cool though.
i'm now doing laundry, in a very weird washing machine with detergent that i hope will not ruin all of my clothes. we'll see.
there are models staying in our hotel. they are very skinny.
i had a long talk about the city today with my professor because there are lots of things i've been curious about -- mainly about the lack of public spaces in the city. there are never benches to sit on and places to just hang out. rarely, anyway. he says the idea of public space is very western and so totally foreign to asia. they are very private here; you go to work and then you go home to be with your family. this idea makes many other things make sense. we also talked about how the cities are pretty ugly, which is ironic for people with such design sensibility, and he said he thinks that is a result of the privacy issue as well. there is little need to make your cities beautiful if you aren't really spending time in them. so individual homes are lovely, but the public cities are not. the trash can issue (noted below) also makes sense, if you are never outside except in transit you would never need to throw anything away.
i take western-ness for granted.
things i have maybe mentioned and maybe not:
1. every single man wears a suit to work. suits everywhere.
2. there are soooo many vending machines. vending machines with alcohol, cigarettes, meals.
3. no trash cans anywhere. none. weird for such clean cities (kyoto is cleaner than tokyo)
for now.
tokyo is uhmazing.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
TOKYO TOKYO TOKYO!!!
whoa am i excited to be here!
what a totally different place than kyoto. it's nice to be back in a big city!! and this is a BIG city. 28 million people i think?
we went out for the first time this afternoon to the shibuya district and as soon as we got off the train we were in the really famous tokyo intersection. apparenly it is also the biggest crosswalk in the world. the whole thing shuts down for a few minutes while hundreds of people cross. there are lights and screens and music and ads and people and it was crazy and wonderful.
we wandered and then headed towards what is called the champs-elysee of Tokyo. it's lined in trees and full of stores, mostly designer. on our way there we passed by the olympic swim stadium by kenzo tange - a building we've studied for four years. we just happened upon it! cities are amazing like that. but THEN we got to see dior, which was awesome, at least on the outside (the inside was lacking).
but we really went to see the Tod's store by Toyo Ito which was inspired by the trees lining the street - and the Herzog and de Meuron Prada store. The Prada store was AMAZING. I didn't really get any good photographs because it was really dark by the time we got there but..wow. Also REALLY funny because, as we were exploring, my friend Eric got stuck in a dressing room. They are a special feature because they are glass rooms and when you go in you can press a button that instantly fogs up the glass (craziest thing i have ever seen.) anyway, he pressed the button to lock the room, which apparently malfunctions frequently, and he got stuck. prada was not happy with us.
(this is tod's)
it was amazing to see four buildings in one day, four buildings i've only ever seen in pictures (we also saw the tokyo forum when we first arrived).
i am SO EXCITED for MILES!!!! he is going to have an amazing time here, and i'm excited to come back.
it's so beautiful in this curious way.
the people are amazing to watch. the girls are all decked out (teasing hair is big here, as well as black knee socks worn with heels). i am definitely underdressed.
i'm so excited so excited! i'm in tokyo!!!
what a totally different place than kyoto. it's nice to be back in a big city!! and this is a BIG city. 28 million people i think?
we went out for the first time this afternoon to the shibuya district and as soon as we got off the train we were in the really famous tokyo intersection. apparenly it is also the biggest crosswalk in the world. the whole thing shuts down for a few minutes while hundreds of people cross. there are lights and screens and music and ads and people and it was crazy and wonderful.
we wandered and then headed towards what is called the champs-elysee of Tokyo. it's lined in trees and full of stores, mostly designer. on our way there we passed by the olympic swim stadium by kenzo tange - a building we've studied for four years. we just happened upon it! cities are amazing like that. but THEN we got to see dior, which was awesome, at least on the outside (the inside was lacking).
but we really went to see the Tod's store by Toyo Ito which was inspired by the trees lining the street - and the Herzog and de Meuron Prada store. The Prada store was AMAZING. I didn't really get any good photographs because it was really dark by the time we got there but..wow. Also REALLY funny because, as we were exploring, my friend Eric got stuck in a dressing room. They are a special feature because they are glass rooms and when you go in you can press a button that instantly fogs up the glass (craziest thing i have ever seen.) anyway, he pressed the button to lock the room, which apparently malfunctions frequently, and he got stuck. prada was not happy with us.
(this is tod's)
it was amazing to see four buildings in one day, four buildings i've only ever seen in pictures (we also saw the tokyo forum when we first arrived).
i am SO EXCITED for MILES!!!! he is going to have an amazing time here, and i'm excited to come back.
it's so beautiful in this curious way.
the people are amazing to watch. the girls are all decked out (teasing hair is big here, as well as black knee socks worn with heels). i am definitely underdressed.
i'm so excited so excited! i'm in tokyo!!!
Monday, May 21, 2007
This morning we took an hour long train ride to Himeji to see the castle there. It is very lovely and all at once very different from Western castles and exactly the same. It was not opulent in anyway that I could see, other than pure size. The palaces and homes have been much more opulent. This seemed purely militaristic.
In the afternoon we took a cab over to Engyoji, a series of temples on a hill. It was a little too quick of a trip, but the large temple we got to see had the most beautiful porch I’ve ever been on. The hike up to the top was nice also and revealed a beautiful view at once.
So my time in Kyoto has come to an end. It’s really lovely here, particularly when you are inside the temples and shrines and palaces and castles. The city itself is kind of small and sprawling, definitely short. It really isn’t so lovely, though there are parts that you happen upon that are totally beautiful. It is mostly fascinating and wonderful. Sometimes conventional beauty doesn’t matter.
In the afternoon we took a cab over to Engyoji, a series of temples on a hill. It was a little too quick of a trip, but the large temple we got to see had the most beautiful porch I’ve ever been on. The hike up to the top was nice also and revealed a beautiful view at once.
So my time in Kyoto has come to an end. It’s really lovely here, particularly when you are inside the temples and shrines and palaces and castles. The city itself is kind of small and sprawling, definitely short. It really isn’t so lovely, though there are parts that you happen upon that are totally beautiful. It is mostly fascinating and wonderful. Sometimes conventional beauty doesn’t matter.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Today was travel intensive. Very travel intensive.
We took the train down to Ise and saw the Ise Shrine, sort of. There is a torii at the entrance and then a bridge over the sacred river. Within the complex there is the shrine which gets rebuilt every 20 years and is inside three fences. You are partially allowed inside the first, but no further. There is very little to be seen, but that is the point. It’s a funny thing to do, travel to see something that can’t be seen. But it is the shrine of all shrines.
(this is the view of the shrine)
I wondered a lot about this today, how curious it is for humans to construct something only good enough for the gods. And not even to keep it totally hidden, but expose just a bit. I’m totally fascinated by the idea of sacred space, but I don’t know that I understand it at all.
We took another long leg of the trip to this little village, which has been preserved for the past 200 years and is without any vending machines and essentially no power lines, etc.
This was, to be honest, disappointing. I mean, it would have been cool if we had not already seen 80 villages almost exactly like it, except with vending machines and the like.
We got back late, at 9ish.
Tomorrow we are going to Himeji Castle – supposedly one of the best castles left in Japan.
It too is a train ride away from Kyoto.
Tuesday morning (tomorrow is Monday) we take the train back up to Tokyo, which I am very excited about. I plan on readying the city for Miles :).
Oh! And my new favorite thing, because I knew everyone was wondering, are these little triangles of packed rice. There are lots of different kinds, but my favorite have soy sauce like stuff on the outside. SOOO yummy.
We took the train down to Ise and saw the Ise Shrine, sort of. There is a torii at the entrance and then a bridge over the sacred river. Within the complex there is the shrine which gets rebuilt every 20 years and is inside three fences. You are partially allowed inside the first, but no further. There is very little to be seen, but that is the point. It’s a funny thing to do, travel to see something that can’t be seen. But it is the shrine of all shrines.
(this is the view of the shrine)
I wondered a lot about this today, how curious it is for humans to construct something only good enough for the gods. And not even to keep it totally hidden, but expose just a bit. I’m totally fascinated by the idea of sacred space, but I don’t know that I understand it at all.
We took another long leg of the trip to this little village, which has been preserved for the past 200 years and is without any vending machines and essentially no power lines, etc.
This was, to be honest, disappointing. I mean, it would have been cool if we had not already seen 80 villages almost exactly like it, except with vending machines and the like.
We got back late, at 9ish.
Tomorrow we are going to Himeji Castle – supposedly one of the best castles left in Japan.
It too is a train ride away from Kyoto.
Tuesday morning (tomorrow is Monday) we take the train back up to Tokyo, which I am very excited about. I plan on readying the city for Miles :).
Oh! And my new favorite thing, because I knew everyone was wondering, are these little triangles of packed rice. There are lots of different kinds, but my favorite have soy sauce like stuff on the outside. SOOO yummy.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
today was lots of driving. we saw modern buildings for the first time -- tadao ando's buildings near kobe.
lovely. (see the flicrk site)
but it turns out i really like the old stuff...
though, ando's work, at least what i saw today, was very much about movement and procession. interesting how everything ties together.
tomorrow we have to be ready at 6 to take the train to ise to see the ise shrine. this is basically the shrine of all shrines -- it's a huge deal and gets rebuilt every 20 years exactly how it has always been done, since the first time, to keep the knowledge within a generation (a generation used to be a lot shorter...) we won't get back until very late so i'll probably be out of commission.
we don't have any more days in kyoto....we leave on tuesday and we are taking day trips tomorrow and monday. then to tokyo!
it will be interesting to see how different the cities are. kyoto is so old and tokyo is so new -- exactly the way japan is.
lovely. (see the flicrk site)
but it turns out i really like the old stuff...
though, ando's work, at least what i saw today, was very much about movement and procession. interesting how everything ties together.
tomorrow we have to be ready at 6 to take the train to ise to see the ise shrine. this is basically the shrine of all shrines -- it's a huge deal and gets rebuilt every 20 years exactly how it has always been done, since the first time, to keep the knowledge within a generation (a generation used to be a lot shorter...) we won't get back until very late so i'll probably be out of commission.
we don't have any more days in kyoto....we leave on tuesday and we are taking day trips tomorrow and monday. then to tokyo!
it will be interesting to see how different the cities are. kyoto is so old and tokyo is so new -- exactly the way japan is.
Friday, May 18, 2007
now
So I’ve been busy!
most impressive thing yesterday: the moss garden. An ENTIRE garden of 120 different kinds of moss. It was like being in a totally different world: a fairytale. So beautiful.
my favorite thing about moss, I realized, are the shadows that play on it. It becomes this carpet (in a way that grass can’t because it has too much tooth) for light to play on.
Today, four of us split from the group to go see katsura palace because only four slots were open at a time (it’s a very big deal, you have to apply). We missed out on going to Nara, the first permanent capital of Japan, and seeing Todai-ji, the biggest wooden temple with the biggest statue of Buddha in the world. And frankly, I’m not sure what the big deal is about Katsura. It’s supposed to be a good example of Japanese style, but it was free and probably because of this, not very well-maintained. Even if it had been as well-kept as everywhere else, I just was not taken aback by it.
However, the very good thing about the day was that we got to go to Fushimi-Inari Shrine, something that had gotten canceled due to a time restraint.
It is a 4 km long walkway lined with hundreds, maybe thousands of orange torii (the Japanese arch/gate) spaced only inches apart.
One of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. I was really sad our pictures didn’t turn out better (it was dark and they were blurry without flash and the highly lacquered torii reflected the flash when it was on…), but, maybe it’s best sometimes because I don’t know if the pictures could have matched the experience anyway.
The way the Japanese design, or have designed, seems so natural to me. Everything is about the journey. The simplicity and the blending of indoors and outdoors – it’s perfect.
This afternoon I went out for a couple hours by myself. I took the subway up to the Imperial Palace gardens to stroll and read. It was so wonderful and lovely. I felt truly happy.
I keep hearing people saying they’re getting tired of Japanese food and I don’t understand! Firstly, we haven’t even been here a week – and secondly, it’s soooo good I could never imagine tiring of it. Wanting variation, yes, but tiring, no.
The ramen is my favorite I think.
I did order something yesterday that wasn’t so good, these grey noodles I kept seeing and was curious about. They ended up being cold and bland and the broth you dipped them in before eating did not help. I’m not sure I understand having cold noodles – I think maybe they were meant to be hot.
Also, FYI, there are TONS of pastries here. I end up eating them for breakfast in the morning because they are so cheap and plentiful AND delicious. Who knew?
Probably the funniest thing about eating here: there is plastic food outside of most restaurants – depicting the menu’s contents. Recently when there haven’t been English menus we’ve had to take pictures and show them to order, as opposed to our regular pointing.
(these are the cold soba noodles -- in plastic form).
Weirdest thing I’ve seen to eat: a noodle sandwich, unrefrigerated.
Tomorrow we are heading down around Kobe (as in Kobe beef) to look at some modern architecture: Tadao Ando.
It’s lightning and raining outside right now….and I’m kind of enjoying it. I miss a good storm!
most impressive thing yesterday: the moss garden. An ENTIRE garden of 120 different kinds of moss. It was like being in a totally different world: a fairytale. So beautiful.
my favorite thing about moss, I realized, are the shadows that play on it. It becomes this carpet (in a way that grass can’t because it has too much tooth) for light to play on.
Today, four of us split from the group to go see katsura palace because only four slots were open at a time (it’s a very big deal, you have to apply). We missed out on going to Nara, the first permanent capital of Japan, and seeing Todai-ji, the biggest wooden temple with the biggest statue of Buddha in the world. And frankly, I’m not sure what the big deal is about Katsura. It’s supposed to be a good example of Japanese style, but it was free and probably because of this, not very well-maintained. Even if it had been as well-kept as everywhere else, I just was not taken aback by it.
However, the very good thing about the day was that we got to go to Fushimi-Inari Shrine, something that had gotten canceled due to a time restraint.
It is a 4 km long walkway lined with hundreds, maybe thousands of orange torii (the Japanese arch/gate) spaced only inches apart.
One of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. I was really sad our pictures didn’t turn out better (it was dark and they were blurry without flash and the highly lacquered torii reflected the flash when it was on…), but, maybe it’s best sometimes because I don’t know if the pictures could have matched the experience anyway.
The way the Japanese design, or have designed, seems so natural to me. Everything is about the journey. The simplicity and the blending of indoors and outdoors – it’s perfect.
This afternoon I went out for a couple hours by myself. I took the subway up to the Imperial Palace gardens to stroll and read. It was so wonderful and lovely. I felt truly happy.
I keep hearing people saying they’re getting tired of Japanese food and I don’t understand! Firstly, we haven’t even been here a week – and secondly, it’s soooo good I could never imagine tiring of it. Wanting variation, yes, but tiring, no.
The ramen is my favorite I think.
I did order something yesterday that wasn’t so good, these grey noodles I kept seeing and was curious about. They ended up being cold and bland and the broth you dipped them in before eating did not help. I’m not sure I understand having cold noodles – I think maybe they were meant to be hot.
Also, FYI, there are TONS of pastries here. I end up eating them for breakfast in the morning because they are so cheap and plentiful AND delicious. Who knew?
Probably the funniest thing about eating here: there is plastic food outside of most restaurants – depicting the menu’s contents. Recently when there haven’t been English menus we’ve had to take pictures and show them to order, as opposed to our regular pointing.
(these are the cold soba noodles -- in plastic form).
Weirdest thing I’ve seen to eat: a noodle sandwich, unrefrigerated.
Tomorrow we are heading down around Kobe (as in Kobe beef) to look at some modern architecture: Tadao Ando.
It’s lightning and raining outside right now….and I’m kind of enjoying it. I miss a good storm!
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
kyoto 1
it's a little chilly here and i mostly packed for the weather at the equator!
today was our first real day in kyoto - and of "school" - we went out to several palaces and temples and it was incredible.
(yesterday evening some of us walked around the city and wandered over to the river and the old district of town - geon - where the geishas are - AND we saw a geisha on the street! she was beautiful)
this is ryoan-ji --- the very first thing i was assigned to study in my arch 114 class at 10 on monday of my very first day of college ever --- it's basically the most famous rock garden ever.
it has fifteen rocks and 7 groupings. 15 is an important number in buddhism and there are 7 groupings because it was believed that you can only hold 6 thoughts in your head at once. also, you can never see all fifteen rocks at once.
we also went to the golden pavilion today, a home a shogun who abdicated the thrown built for himself. (a shogun is like the head military leader of japan, head samurai in a way. they coexisted with the emporers for a while.)
it is the gold-est thing i have EVER seen.
the colors of everything are super saturated and wonderful (still).
but most noticeably - i have never met a more wonderful people. the japanese are incredibly and unimaginably friendly at all times. they are always smiling and saying thank you and though communicating is difficult, they are never annoyed.
nevertheless, i have also never felt intimidated the way i do here. there is such a communication barrier (hand gestures only take you so far) it's....well, very different.
oh -- and maybe the coolest thing -- each of the temples has their own calligrapher and their own symbols. you have to buy a special book and then take it to the temple's calligrapher and for about 3 dollars (300 yen) they will draw in it. by the end the book will be (hopefully) full, but definitely incredibly gorgeous.
need to run off and shower in a bathroom that is as big as my shower at home! (everything is so small!!) we are headed out to dinner somewhere for my friend eric's 22nd birthday. should be fun!
today was our first real day in kyoto - and of "school" - we went out to several palaces and temples and it was incredible.
(yesterday evening some of us walked around the city and wandered over to the river and the old district of town - geon - where the geishas are - AND we saw a geisha on the street! she was beautiful)
this is ryoan-ji --- the very first thing i was assigned to study in my arch 114 class at 10 on monday of my very first day of college ever --- it's basically the most famous rock garden ever.
it has fifteen rocks and 7 groupings. 15 is an important number in buddhism and there are 7 groupings because it was believed that you can only hold 6 thoughts in your head at once. also, you can never see all fifteen rocks at once.
we also went to the golden pavilion today, a home a shogun who abdicated the thrown built for himself. (a shogun is like the head military leader of japan, head samurai in a way. they coexisted with the emporers for a while.)
it is the gold-est thing i have EVER seen.
the colors of everything are super saturated and wonderful (still).
but most noticeably - i have never met a more wonderful people. the japanese are incredibly and unimaginably friendly at all times. they are always smiling and saying thank you and though communicating is difficult, they are never annoyed.
nevertheless, i have also never felt intimidated the way i do here. there is such a communication barrier (hand gestures only take you so far) it's....well, very different.
oh -- and maybe the coolest thing -- each of the temples has their own calligrapher and their own symbols. you have to buy a special book and then take it to the temple's calligrapher and for about 3 dollars (300 yen) they will draw in it. by the end the book will be (hopefully) full, but definitely incredibly gorgeous.
need to run off and shower in a bathroom that is as big as my shower at home! (everything is so small!!) we are headed out to dinner somewhere for my friend eric's 22nd birthday. should be fun!
Monday, May 14, 2007
we went into narita last night ---
japan is beautiful. the colors are rich and the signage on the buildings is amazing. everything is remarkably quiet. sooo quiet. the cars the city the people.
i'm already having strange feelings about being a tourist. i've never traveled in a group like this either and it's a little difficult for me: no one seems to understand that you should be quiet where others are quiet.
and it seems most japanese don't speak english.
last night was really nice, but i got super tired. we had sushi japanese beer and such.
packing up and then on to kyoto -- which i am very excited about.
oh - and - the vending machines here are absurd. the diet coke cans are way cooler than ours (the coke are the coolest). you can get hot meals (good hot meals!) out of a vending machine! how amazing is that??
japan is beautiful. the colors are rich and the signage on the buildings is amazing. everything is remarkably quiet. sooo quiet. the cars the city the people.
i'm already having strange feelings about being a tourist. i've never traveled in a group like this either and it's a little difficult for me: no one seems to understand that you should be quiet where others are quiet.
and it seems most japanese don't speak english.
last night was really nice, but i got super tired. we had sushi japanese beer and such.
packing up and then on to kyoto -- which i am very excited about.
oh - and - the vending machines here are absurd. the diet coke cans are way cooler than ours (the coke are the coolest). you can get hot meals (good hot meals!) out of a vending machine! how amazing is that??
Sunday, May 13, 2007
at last
everything on this page is in japanese, it's very confusing for me.
i'm here!!
actually, it's been a little anticlimactic.
we made it over the ocean in about 10+ hours instead of 11.5 -- which was much appreciated. JAL (the airline) was quite nice, i was impressed with the service. the flight was LOONG and i started getting antsy around hour 4. we flew into Narita, which is an hour or two away from Tokyo by train and we are staying here for the night.
tomorrow morning we will check out at 9 and take the bullet train down to kyoto for several days. apparently, this will only take three hours. the first half of our two weeks in japan will be spent in kyoto and then we'll come back to tokyo for the second half.
there has not been too much to observe (yet) but it smells different here and is incredibly lush. veryveryvery green. also, the japanese seem incredibly friendly and i feel very white. being fairheaded suddenly makes me quite conspicuous.
oh - and - as miles had warned me - the toilets are extremely confusing. there are options to spray bidet pause and it will, without pressing a button, heat the seat and deoderize the bowl.
fun facts to know and tell, even if they are a little inappropriate.
anyhow, i'm going to join some people to explore (somewhere, though we are in the middle of nowhere) soon and then probably crash fairly early.
i'm feeling a very long way from home.
i'm here!!
actually, it's been a little anticlimactic.
we made it over the ocean in about 10+ hours instead of 11.5 -- which was much appreciated. JAL (the airline) was quite nice, i was impressed with the service. the flight was LOONG and i started getting antsy around hour 4. we flew into Narita, which is an hour or two away from Tokyo by train and we are staying here for the night.
tomorrow morning we will check out at 9 and take the bullet train down to kyoto for several days. apparently, this will only take three hours. the first half of our two weeks in japan will be spent in kyoto and then we'll come back to tokyo for the second half.
there has not been too much to observe (yet) but it smells different here and is incredibly lush. veryveryvery green. also, the japanese seem incredibly friendly and i feel very white. being fairheaded suddenly makes me quite conspicuous.
oh - and - as miles had warned me - the toilets are extremely confusing. there are options to spray bidet pause and it will, without pressing a button, heat the seat and deoderize the bowl.
fun facts to know and tell, even if they are a little inappropriate.
anyhow, i'm going to join some people to explore (somewhere, though we are in the middle of nowhere) soon and then probably crash fairly early.
i'm feeling a very long way from home.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
dreaming
i want to go here....but it's proving to be very difficult.
those chinese.
(i can probably get in trouble just for saying that....)
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
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