Not Dead + Photos

I know, I totally failed to keep this blog going after I got back.  Oh well.  A ton has happened in the past few months. Most notably, I’m officially a grad student now, and my life no longer entails running around with a 50 pound backpack trying not to miss the overnight train.

Right now, I’m living in an awesome house in Palo Alto. It’s totally overgrown and falling apart. My “room” is in the garage, which gets all sorts of cold at night. Ok, so I’m basically living in squalor, but I’ve got 12 awesome friends alongside me, so it’s the best kind of squalor.

The real reason I even bothered to post this is that, although I’ve been making prints from negatives exposed over the summer for a few months now, I’ve only recently started to scan them, and I want somewhere to dump them online. The one up top is from Vietnam, a few days before I came home.

In addition to photos, I’m gonna start putting more of the usual rants and stories or whatever up here, so stay tuned. You know me, I love telling stories. Sometimes they’re even entertaining.

Vietnam + Home

Greetings from Hong Kong International!  I can hardly believe it, but after nearly three months of being constantly on the move, I’m coming home.  I’ve got plenty of stories about Vietnam, but I wouldn’t even know how to start them, as right now all I can think about is eating a huge sandwich from JJ&F.

Yeah, I’m pretty excited about coming home.  This is not to say I’m sick of traveling, and I’m sure that, if I didn’t have to go back to school, I could keep going for a while.  However, given that I can’t sustain being a transient bum any longer, I can’t wait to get back to all the stuff that I put on hold to travel.

If I don’t keep this post short, it will turn into a rambling mess, but before signing off, I want to parrot what thousands of people before me have said.  If you have ever thought about traveling for an extended period of time, do it.  It’s probably way easier, not to mention cheaper, than you think, and the hardest part is definitely putting down the money for your first plane ticket.  If you do manage to get over that hump, you’ll learn a ton about the world, even more about yourself, and you’ll meet tons of awesome, like-minded people along the way.  You’ll also get frustrated a lot, feel embarrassed when you can’t speak the local language, and spend lots of time on uncomfortable forms of transportation, but I promise that, in retrospect, somehow all of this will seem fun.

Anyhow, thanks for reading.  I’ve had a great time keeping this blog and, so long as none of you mind more mundane stories and photos from less faraway places, I’m going to try to keep writing, so check back every once in a while.

Cambodia

Hi again!  I’ve been traveling like crazy for the last week or so, but I’ve finally managed to grab some time to get you updated as Angus sleeps upstairs.  It’s been super wet here, and I’ve gotten thoroughly soaked the last few days, but enough rambling.

After saying goodbye to Angela the morning after my last post, Angus and I caught a train out of Bangkok to the Thai border town of Aranyaprathet, where we obtained Cambodian visas, got hustled really hard, and crossed into Poipet on foot.  Like most travelers who come to Cambodia, we wanted to head straight for Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat.  However, after hearing rumors of a rebellious provincial Vietnamese consulate in Battambang that waives the regular two day wait time for visas, we decided to head there first.

Fortunately, our info was good, and we were able to obtain visas within a few hours of arriving in town.  Although we initially only planned to stay in Battambang for one night, we ended up hanging around for two after being told by everyone that, unlike Siem Reap, Battambang offers a glimpse into what real day to day life is like in Cambodia, and after being in both cities, I can assure you that these people were 100% correct.

After our second night in town, which we spent playing pool at a local bar, Angus and I caught an early morning bus out to Siem Reap.  Unlike Battambang, which has very few businesses that cater to foreigners, Siem Reap was clearly designed for tourists, complete with multinational hotels and a “pub street”.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though – most of the restaurants and cheaper sleeping establishments were clearly Cambodian owned, and allowed people who might otherwise live in extreme poverty to enjoy some standard of living.

Anyway, after getting off the bus and ditching our bags, Angus and I rented bikes and pedaled the long road out to Angkor Wat in hopes of watching the sunset.  Unfortunately, it was cloudy, rendering the sun rather difficult to see, and as we were heading back into town it started raining buckets.  We were drenched within minutes, but managed to have an awesome time anyway thanks to a friendly tuk-tuk driver who let us skitch a few miles on the back of his cab for free.

For the next three days Angus and I explored the temples around Angkor.  While we never got to see a sunset that wasn’t horribly cloudy and uninspiring, the ruins in the jungle were truly one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.  Most people, when they think of Angkor Wat, think of the one temple of the same name that’s in all the pictures.  You know, this one.

However, it turns out that Angkor Wat was just one temple in the much larger city of Angkor.  While most of the residential structures in the city were made of wood, and are thus now long gone, the ruins of stone temples, both Hindu and Buddhist, still stand.  Riding bikes between the ruins, some of which are miles apart, Angus and I really got a sense of just how massive Angkor must have been in it’s heyday.  Pictures don’t really do it justice, but suffice it to say that it was the largest pre-industrial city, with a population of over a million people during a time when London was a measly town of 50,000.

The whole history of Angkor would take far more than this blog post to tell, so I’ll spare you it.  With that being said, I heartily recommend that you go if you ever get the chance.  I’m not usually a fan of big touristy sights, but Angkor was incredible.  If nothing else, it was astounding to see the remains of such a huge city that I previously knew almost nothing about.

Finally, this morning, after getting sick of our somewhat dysfunctional bikes, Angus and I caught a bus out to Phnom Penh.  This is just a stopover though, and tomorrow morning we’re heading to Saigon/HCMC via boat along the Mekong.  Things are a bit bittersweet right now, as I’m returning home in five days, but I plan to make the most of that time, so expect at least one more post before my return.

Thailand

Hello again from Bangkok.  It’s been way too many hours in transit since my last update, and I can’t wait to get you caught up.  Most important, I’m no longer traveling solo thanks to my friends Angus and Angela, who arrived in Bangkok via Australia about a week ago.  For those of you who don’t know them, here are some pictures so you can put faces to the names.  For those of you who do, dig Angus’ sweet glasses!

Friendship and camaraderie aside, one of the best parts about having Angela and Angus here is not having to worry about my lack of a debit card.  I’ve been able to transfer Angus money online and use his bank account as a proxy of sorts, so anybody who was worrying about me should stop.

Anyway, for the first few days after the Angelus’ arrival, we all wandered around the city, mainly checking out a lot of old Buddhist temples, which were quite unlike any I had ever seen before in China or Japan.  While I’m no expert, and I’m not sure if ostentatious gold leaf is quite my style, the craftsmanship that must have gone into these buildings was truly impressive.

In addition to all the old temples, Bangkok is ridiculously fun just to walk around in.  I didn’t know this before coming here, but Thailand is the only Southeast Asian country that has never been colonized by a Western power, and, wandering around Bangkok, it shows.  Unlike Tangier or Shanghai, which both manifest clear signs of their colonial past, Bangkok is clearly an invention of the people who live here.  With that being said, it is also a hugely popular tourist destination, and there are some pretty gross parts of the city, most notably Khaosan Road, that cater predominantly to drunk vacationers.  Fortunately, our hostel was located pretty far away from all of this nonsense in the quiet neighborhood surrounding the On Nut skytrain station, and we managed to have what I hope was an authentic experience.

After a few days of hanging out in Bangkok, Angus, Angela, and I caught the overnight train headed south to Surat Thani before boarding a bus to Krabi followed by a ferry to Koh Phi Phi, a tiny island probably most famous for being the location where The Beach was filmed.  The guidebook promised quiet, idyllic beaches and beautiful scenery, and it wasn’t far off the mark.  However, it conveniently failed to mention the horrible, touristy town filled with overpriced bars and stores full of Hawaiian print t-shirts.  Fortunately, like in Bangkok, our hotel was a bit removed, and we all somehow managed to enjoy ourselves.

While we all spent a lot of time just sitting on the beach, Angus and I did manage to get out climbing on the world class limestone around the island.  I was out of shape, and it showed, but I had great time anyway.  Don’t tell my parents, but the following picture is moments before the biggest lead fall I’ve ever taken.  Oops.

After a few days of vegging out on Koh Phi Phi I think we were all itching to move on, and last night we took the overnight train back to Bangkok.  Unfortunately, all of the bed-class tickets were sold out, and we had to spend the night in 2nd class seats.  While only marginally cheaper than the beds, and not nearly as comfortable, they were still far superior to the Chinese hard seats, and the night passed mostly without incident.

Tomorrow, Angela flies out of Bangkok for home, and Angus and I begin our overland journey through Cambodia to Vietnam.  While I’m excited to see Angkor Wat, I’m equally interested in seeing some of the more provincial big cities in the country, so expect lots of pictures whenever I update next.

How Not to Leave China

Whoa, it’s been a while.  Greetings from Bangkok, city where I can once again flush my toilet paper and not ruin all the plumbing.  Before you make a fuss over it, I know this post has no pictures, but I swear I’ve got a really good excuse.  Namely, that my debit card went missing and I just haven’t had the time to think about photography.  I’m not sure if the thing got stolen or if I just left it in an ATM, but I do know that, as I was packing just hours before my flight out of Guangzhou, I opened my wallet to buy bottled water, and my debit card wasn’t there.

As you might imagine, I freaked out pretty hard, especially because I only had about 50 RMB on me and couldn’t miss my flight unless I wanted to overstay my Chinese visa.  Fortunately, a really awesome Dutch guy at the hostel named Jan-Jaap agreed to front me 200 RMB after I transferred him money online, giving me a little room to maneuver and enough cash to pay for the 32km cab ride to the airport.

While getting on the plane went as smooth as it possibly could have, the flight itself was pretty stressful, and I spent most of it mulling over the potential consequences of going through customs with pocket change for money and no place to stay.  The latter actually ended up being a problem, and the border patrol official was not happy with the fact that I left the “Address” field on my immigration card completely blank.  Thankfully, after sensing my obvious desperation, he laughed and told me to just write Khaosan Road and be done with it.  This was a welcome departure from the super unhelpful attitude held by just about every figure of authority I had to deal with in China, and I was quite thankful for it.

Once I was through customs, I quickly turned my mind to the task of obtaining money.  Fortunately, the Bangkok airport houses an internet cafe right next door to a Western Union, making it possibly the best place in the world to get stranded.   I quickly got online and in contact with my parents, who agreed to wire me enough cash to get by for a few days.  Unfortunately, by the time I finished the Western Union was already closed.  With no money to pay for a hostel, I went about the tasks of buying ramen for dinner and preparing myself for a night on the airport floor, which ended up being incredibly sketchy thanks to some hammered dude with a scar running the length of his face who wandered around and hassled everyone.  Thankfully, he was eventually escorted away by the police, and I managed to catch a few hours sleep before the terminal got too noisy and crowded.  When morning finally came, I ran to the Western Union, got my money, and made my way to the Sukhumvit On Nut Guesthouse, where I’ve been hanging out for the last two days.

While I’ve spent most of those two days just relaxing and taking a much needed break from travel, tomorrow I’m excited to get out and meet up with my friends Angela and Angus who are arriving by way of Australia.  Anglea is hanging out for a week and Angus is going to travel with me for the remainder of my trip, so expect to see both of their faces up here at some point.  For now though, it’s pushing 4AM, which is way past bedtime.

Mixtape + Shenzhen!

www.megaupload.com/?d=HV9Y35KH

Ok ok ok.  I’m super excited about this.  As anyone who read my post about Beijing might guess, I’m way into Chinese underground music right now, so much so that I just can’t hold it in any longer.  Thus, allow me to introduce the SoT China Mixtape, which contains 11 awesome tracks by 11 independent Chinese artists spanning more than a decade.  It’s not really a survey of the contemporary scene in China, but rather just some stuff I’ve been rocking as I travel, so it’s pretty subjective.  With that being said, I have a pretty broad taste in music, and the mixtape includes everything from laid back indie and folk – which means something a little different in Chinese – to punk, noise rock, and weird electronic stuff.  Seriously, there is probably something you’ll like, so copy/paste the link up there and download that shit!

What else have I been up to?  Well, when I last left you I had a few days left in Shanghai, which passed mostly without event, after which I jumped on a train to Shenzhen by way of Guangzhou.  While the ride took almost 24 hours, I had the luxury of a bed this time, and the experience was quite pleasant.  When I wasn’t sleeping, I managed to put in some work on The Count of Monte Cristo, which I’ve been slacking on recently, and by the time I arrived in Shenzhen I was surprisingly well rested.

Shenzhen is kind of like Changsha in that there really isn’t anything well known or even interesting to see, and I wouldn’t have come if my friend Claire didn’t live and work here.  With that being said, I’ve had a great time hanging out with her and getting to know her roommates Reed and Eric, who haven’t yet complained about me totally crashing their sweet apartment, which is conveniently located right next to a metro stop and, more importantly, a life size chess set.

While seeing a familiar face and making new friends has been pretty awesome, I’m a bit less enthusiastic about Shenzhen as a city.  Because it was the first Special Economic Zone in China, there are tons of expat residents, most of whom seem to work for companies that act as middlemen between large western firms and local electronics manufacturers.  This, combined with the hordes of people that spill over from nearby Hong Kong in search of budget shopping on the mainland, means that the city is both well developed and quite wealthy.  Consumerism is the dominant religion, and almost every metro station houses a shopping mall.  Although this might sound ok to some, because so much of the city’s affluence is based on factory labor, there is also a massive wealth disparity, even relative to other Chinese cities, that is clearly visible wherever you go.  While I guess I wouldn’t really recommend Shenzhen to anybody who doesn’t already know someone here, it has at least been interesting to see first hand both the positive and negative effects that rapid industrialization can have on a place.

If you can’t tell, I’m a little short on stories, but that’s mainly because I spent so much time putting together the mixtape, so please, please go check it out.  For now, I’m about to hop on a train back to Guangzhou to meet up with my friend and ex-next door neighbor Natalie, who just moved there.  Apparently it’s someone’s birthday, and I’m invited along to KTV, which is Chinese for karaoke, so expect stories about me trying really hard to remember the two songs I know in Japanese and subsequently making a fool of myself.  See ya!

Almost Internet Famous + Shanghai

One of the greatest features of WordPress is the the little box that tells me what people have searched on Google to find my blog.  Because of this feature, I now know that SoT is currently the seventh result if you search “the dog walks freely in the street”.  Unfortunately, this is not actually the first line of a famous Ferlinghetti poem, and if you search the correct “the dog walks freely thru the street”, you probably wont find my blog before you get bored.  This is a major bummer, because when I posted the poem, I posted it with the correct opening line, and I thought for a second that I might be at the beginning of a meteoric rise to internet fame.  Oh well.

After Tom and I’s 16 hour PBR and ramen fueled epic to Hangzhou, our two hour trip to Shanghai on the brand new high speed train was like heaven.  During the ride, we swapped MP3 players, and Tom convinced me that, ok, maybe I do like Sufan Stevens, but only when he sounds like a less sucky Owl City.  In return, I introduced him to the wonders of Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains.  Shockingly, he actually enjoyed it.

Because Tom only had two days in Shanghai, after checking into our hostel, we immediately showered and left to check out the Shanghai nightlife.  To get the evening started, we hit up Cloud 9, a fancy bar on the 87th floor of some skyscraper in Pudong.  While I had been there before, the night time view of Shanghai stretching on seemingly forever was just as amazing as it was the first time, and Tom and I spent a good hour soaking it in, sipping on cocktails, and being terrified that, somewhere along the line, we grew old enough to fit in at such an establishment.

Unfortunately for us, while amazing, Cloud 9 is not exactly the cheapest place in the world, and after drinking enough to cover the minimum, we set out looking for somewhere to dance.  Eventually, after a pit stop at a FamilyMart to stock up on cheap beer, we ran across some super trendy place called Bar Rouge.  After paying the ridiculous entry fee, we were slightly disheartened to notice that, while there was indeed a dance floor, no one was dancing.  However, after meeting this crazy German who was similarly disappointed, we decided to get down on our own in the hope that people would join up.  Now, having both grown up on punk shows, Tom and I are somewhat crazy dancers even by American standards, which means that, by Chinese standards, we were totally insane.  At first, people appeared horrified by our erratic, flailing dance moves, but after about thirty minutes, the entire place was rocking.  Tom and I were on top of subwoofers, and hundreds of people were packed up against the bar and spilling out onto the patio losing their shit.  Basically, we totally brought the party to some super hip club in Shanghai.  You would think that, after providing such a service, they might totally hook us up with some free drinks or something, but when I went to buy a water at around 3AM, the bartender tried to charge me 200 RMB, which is like $30.  Risking dehydration, I not so politely refused, and headed back to the dance floor.

The next afternoon, having fulfilled our desire to live the life of disillusioned Chinese twenty-somethings for a night, Tom and I awoke intent on seeing the Shanghai Expo.  Months ago, Tom purchased tickets online through some travel agent that turned out to exist solely for the purpose of selling Expo tickets to foreigners, and was housed in a converted hotel room.  After scamming our way onto the hotel’s elevator without card keys, we arrived at the place only to find a sign on the door indicating that the agency was closed due to an “off-site meeting”.  Our grandiose plans thwarted for the moment, we spent the next three hours killing time in a five story Chinese electronics store.  Tom educated me on netbook processors, and me him on the Micro Four Thirds system.  This one guy who worked there was super stoked when, after he showed us an Olympus PEN E-P1, I pulled my old Pen-EE out of my pocket.  Eventually, we tried the travel agent again, and to our great surprise they were actually open.  Not wanting to waste a minute, we quickly grabbed our tickets and jumped on the subway to the Expo site.

Before going to the Expo, I really had no idea what to expect, or really what a World Expo even entailed.  After the fact, I was still a bit confused, but this Wikipedia article answered a lot of questions.  Basically, what I didn’t realize is that Expos don’t happen on a regular basis.  Instead, countries can elect to hold one whenever they want so long as they get it recognized by some international body.  Anyway, the Shanghai Expo was completely over the top.  The Chinese government literally bulldozed an entire five square kilometer warehouse district on the Bund to make room for the thing, which apparently gets over 250,000 visitors a day on a regular basis.

It would take way too long to detail everything we saw at the Expo.  There were tons of pavilions, and, to be honest, most were little more than advertisements for their respective countries.  Tom and I both agreed that wandering around and looking at all the crazy architecture was way cooler than actually going inside anywhere.  With that being said, it was really cool to see all the Chinese get stoked on everything, and I could totally understand how, if you never had the opportunity to travel the world and see the countries represented in person, it would be super exciting to go inside everywhere.

Eventually the Expo closed, and Tom and I returned to our hostel so that he could get up early for his flight home, which I guess I should say a few words about.  Instead of flying east back to the States like any sane person, Tom is probably now just finishing his one week journey west with overnight layovers in multiple countries.  Of course, when I asked him why he booked such a ridiculous itinerary, he replied that, somehow, it was cheaper.  Truly, Tom is a man after my own heart.

Since being left alone in Shanghai, I’ve been tending to a bunch of administrative matters.  Most notably, I got all my film developed, not nearly all of which is pictured above.  I also successfully navigated a China Post office and managed to ship a bunch of superfluous stuff home, finally ditching that stupid rug I bought in Morocco and freeing up tons of space in my bag.

Yesterday I went out looking for the Shanghai Stadium Climbing Center, which I never actually found.  However, the expedition wasn’t a total loss – while searching, I stumbled across a Transformers fan con, proving the existence of my nerd brethren abroad.

At this point, I’m sort of rambling, so I’ll shut up soon, but for what it’s worth, I’ve sort of fallen in love with China, although I can’t quite put into words why.  Suffice it to say that, more than any other country I’ve ever been in, Japan included, I could see myself living here sometime in the future.  I’ve been formulating vague plans to start learning Mandarin formally when I get back, but we’ll see if I actually follow through with them.  For now, I’m focusing on getting to Guangzhou and Shenzhen in a few days.

Oh yeah, also, expect a surprise on the blog soon.  What sort of surprise?  Nah, not telling.

Changsha and Hangzhou

Greetings from Hangzhou!  As the crow flies, I’m not terribly far from where I left you, but in terms of miles traveled in the wrong direction, I’m a world away, so let’s get caught up!  After putting my body through its paces and narrowly escaping death by broken bottle in Beijing, I managed to catch a fifteen hour train out to Changsha, where I met up with my buddy Tom, who has also been traveling the world for the last six weeks.  Because trains all over the country have been abnormally packed for the past few months, I had to ride on a “hard seat”.  With the exception of the self-explanatory “standing only” ticket, hard seat is the lowest class on Chinese trains, and, not surprisingly, is exceedingly uncomfortable.  By the time I arrived in Changsha, I was filthy, exhausted, and ready to sleep on the nearest horizontal surface.  Fortunately, Tom’s friend Lula, who works in Changsha as a translator, hooked us up with a sweet apartment on the 25th floor of one of those faceless Chinese high rises I’ve always wanted to explore.  After finding the building and knocking on what I hoped was the right door at the end of a dark hallway at six in the morning, I was warmly greeted by Tom before quickly passing out until noon.

Those in the know about China might point out that, aside from seeing some Maoist pilgrimage sights, there really isn’t much to do in Changsha.  However, after traveling for so long in places used to tourists, I really enjoyed getting off the beaten track and experiencing day-to-day life in a big Chinese city.  I spent most of my time shopping for groceries, reading, and going out to dinner with Tom and Lula, who was an amazing host.  One night she even took us out to get our feet washed, and, owing to my ticklish nature, I struggled pretty hard.  Fortunately, Tom and I were such novelties that the masseuse didn’t care and laughed along with us the entire time.

After a few days in Changsha, it was time for Tom and I to leave Lula and head out for Hangzhou.  Again, the only available tickets were hard seats, and before the trip I had a great time telling Tom how miserable the upcoming sixteen hours of his life were going to be.  On the day of our departure we saw Lula one last time during her lunch break and stocked up on ramen at the Carrefour underneath our apartment, which, to our great surprise, also sold tall boys of PBR.  We were skeptical about their authenticity, as there were numerous other PBR branded products nearby that definitely don’t exist in the United States, but all the English grammar on the cans was correct, so we purchased six of them.

There really isn’t much to say about the train except that, like my train to Changsha, it was long and painful.  Neither of us slept much, partially due to the guy directly across from us playing an annoyingly loud cell phone game, but we certainly drank all six beers, which sure tasted like real PRB, and tried to pass out.

In contrast to the train ride here, Hangzhou itself is amazing.  Unlike most Chinese cities, the place is clean and full of greenery.  We are staying right next to the somewhat famous West Lake, which, thanks to Lonely Planet, I learned was artificially created out of a swamp sometime in the 8th century in order to supply water to local farmers reliably.  However, in spite of its less than natural origin, the place was gorgeous.

Yesterday, Tom and I rented bikes and explored the park around the lake.  Chinese drivers are totally insane, and there was one close call where I almost took out a little kid, but everything was going mostly well until the tube from Tom’s already flat front tire decided to fly out from the side of his bike.  Not wanting to walk all the way back to the hostel, he simply folded the thing over a few times, shoved it back in, and kept going, albeit a lot slower.

After getting back to our hostel, we ventured across the street for food, played pool, and hung out with some kids from Wisconsin before going to bed.  All in all, life in Changsha and Hangzhou has been slow, relaxed, and a much welcomed break from the breakneck rapidity of Beijing.  Don’t get too settled in though.  I’m about to get on a train to Shanghai, which should offer plenty of opportunities for insanity before Tom flies home on Monday and I’m left traveling solo again.

Doc Talk Shock/Sleepless in Beijing

What up from Beijing!  My plane landed at 5 AM a few days ago, and, after a post-apocalyptic train ride into the city lit by the orange sun creeping its way through the smog, I’ve been living life non-stop.  I’ve yet to sleep before six in the morning, but I’ve also been here before and have seen lots of the big tourist sights, so it’s ok.

Last night I cut my teeth on the Chinese music underground and made my way down to D-22 to check out some noise pop.  I didn’t know any of the bands, so I did the kid-with-camera thing for a while.  Eventually, the lead singer from Doc Talk Shock, pictured above, walked up to me after their set, handed me a copy of their EP, and asked me to send him my photos.  I was one step ahead of him though – the bassist’s girlfriend had already written me a note with the same question and her e-mail.  Later on, I threw down in the pit with the Chinese kids, fell on a broken bottle, and cut the fuck out of my hand.  What I’m trying to say is that this shit was the realest.  You can tell by my face in the following rather underexposed photo.

After waking up this morning and listening to the Doc Talk Shock EP, I realized they were seriously onto something.  Full of sweet, cathartic distortion and fuzzed out energy, the record perfectly captured their insane live performance.  I needed to share it, but I couldn’t find a copy online, so I uploaded mine instead.  Please hit the following link and give these guys the respect they deserve.  Not only do they kill it live, but their EP is mad good, and they are truly doing it for the love in a country that doesn’t look too highly upon media distributed outside the mainstream.

www.megaupload.com/?d=2PGB2NDL

Getting back to stories, my night at D-22 culminated with me jumping in a taxi full of beer and strangers headed for Tienanmen Square to see the flag raising at 5 AM before crashing back at my hostel.  If you can’t tell, Beijing has been going pretty well.  Life is raw and full of spontaneity.  This is largely thanks to my Chinese friend Felix, whom I met the day I arrived.  Since then hes shown me around, hooked me up with delicious veg food, and generally been an all around nice guy.  He graduated from college two years ago and worked at his family’s construction company before realizing he hated it.  He subsequently quit, broke up with his girlfriend, and decided to travel until his money ran out.  We stayed up all night a few days ago drinking and talking about our lives and all our ambitions for living them with purpose.  It’s a great feeling to meet someone from a totally different culture and know that, to a certain extent, they have to go through all the same shit that you do.  As I was leaving Europe, I had all these doubts running through my head about why I was traveling and what this trip meant to me.  After meeting Felix and my other friends in Beijing, I don’t quite have any answers, but I do know that, whatever they are, I’m doing something right.

Budapest and Flight Delays

Ever since finishing my last post I’ve been worried about not delivering on my promise of a quick update before leaving Europe.  Fortunately, depending on how you look at it, my flight from Budapest to Beijing just got delayed, so now I get to blog from this massively overpriced cafe in the airport.  Delayed actually isn’t quite the right word.  I was originally flying on Aerosvit with a three hour layover in Kiev, but now, if I understand my new hand written ticket properly, I’m flying direct on Hainan Airlines.  Not bad!

Budapest was a whirlwind of crazy, and I almost got myself in a ton of trouble immediately upon arriving in the city. Namely, I either (a) narrowly avoided getting my shit stolen, or (b) ran from the Hungarian rent-a-cops.  I’m still not quite sure which.  See, my train from Vienna got delayed for four hours due to an electrical failure, and I had to run to catch the last metro of the night to my hostel.  This meant that I didn’t have time to buy a ticket, and when I exited at my destination, I got pulled aside by three rather sketchy looking individuals carrying what looked like homemade ID cards telling me I would have to hand over my passport and pay some ridiculous fine.  Thinking this was a scam, I loudly refused and ran out of the station into a cab.  Thankfully, the alleged security guards were all overweight and middle aged, allowing me to loose them in spite of my fifty pound backpack.  When I went to bed that night, I was certain that I had just avoided getting ripped off, but when I rode the subway again the next day, I noticed that all the official ticket checkers looked just as unofficial as the guys from the night before, so who knows?  In any case, nothing ever came of the incident, and it was soon forgotten as I basked in the glory my 10 euro a night air-conditioned loft at the Capital Hostel.

I saw a shocking number of culturally important sites in Budapest, largely thanks to Zoltan, one of the city’s free tour guides.  This is not to say he was employed by the city.  Rather, he was part of a “cooperative of independent local tour guides” that worked for tips.  To say his tour was epic might be an understatement – at one point it involved him lecturing about Marx and Weber while doling out shots of sketchy Hungarian alcohol in a park.  I tried to get a good picture of him, but all I wound up with was this one of him with his back turned.

Last night, I decided to leave Europe with a bang, so I went to check out some bars with a Kiwi from my hostel who was maybe fifty and claimed to be a multimillionaire.  Although he was questionable company, along the way we met a pretty cool middle school teacher from New York and a Japanese student who was super excited to learn that I studied abroad at his university, Doushisha.  I ended up not sleeping at all, and I’m sure that I look like hell right now, but that doesn’t matter because in a few hours I’ll be thirty some-odd thousand feet in the air en route to China!