Goodbye, 2008

It's that time of year again. The list from the beginning of 2008 was carried out pretty well, with at least a 50% success rate. Here's a list of what I'd like to see happen in 2009 for myself. See you in OH NINE!

1. Get new DSLR and new point and shoot
2. After getting #1 done, take more pictures
3. Fit into a size 30" jeans again
4. Recycle/reuse/conserve more
5. Be healthier in general
6. Stop renting
7. Go out more
8. Drink (it really is socially crippling to not drink)
9. Smoke less
10. Make more lists

Below is the worst animated GIF I've ever seen in my life.

On turning 30

Just over an hour ago I turned 30. For the first time on a birthday I felt like I'm getting older. That'll probably change tomorrow morning when I go back into work and do the same thing I was doing before my birthday. But tonight I'll just sit in front of the computer, try to do some work and contemplate 30 for a bit.

UPDATE: It's morning and I've contemplated and yeah, it's like any other age. BUT 30 did bring me this, the MOST ADORABLE birthday wish ever.



ONE MORE UPDATE: I was just sent this. SO cute.

Early birthday!

I'm taking a break from the China Diaries to report a perfect early birthday. This morning Patrick woke me up with a breakfast in bed. Eggs, ham and tasty toast. He also crocheted a beanie (!!!!) for me (see below).

After breakfast I was taken to the California Academy of Sciences, which I have been talking about on a regular basis. It was a great mixture of old and new. The T-Rex skeleton, the African Hall, the pendulum and the PENGUINS were there. Penguins pretty much are the bestest things on earth. A few new additions to the Academy included a living roof, a shark and ray pool, a new planetarium and a rain forest. The rain forest is by far my favorite new addition, where birds and butterflies zoom around freely. The only thing that sucked REAL HARD was that my camera crapped out again and I lost all the pictures I took at the Academy. Fucking shit fuck to that, man.

We went to Park Chow for lunch since it was right there on 9th Ave. If I had to give it a Yelp rating, it would get three and a half stars. The spiced apple cider and calamari were good, but my Thai-style noodle entree was a soupy mess. Patrick thought his eggplant parmesan was "mediocre," and this from someone who LOVES his eggplants.

Afterwards we went to San Jose to join Micah and Kelsey for a romp at Christmas in the Park and dinner at Johnny Rockets. I love that my old co-workers are still there because I get hooked up! We ended the night with hot chocolate and some Rock Band.

Thanks for an awesome day, monkey!

(Since I lost all the pictures I took with the DSLR, all photos were taken with my phone.)

Saturday morning on the N. Everyone must have partied real hard the night before.


New beanie made with love


Astroman Patrick


Rain forest. It'll frizz your hair, 4realz


Anaconda. It dont want none unless you got buns, hon.


So-so Thai noodles and eggplant parm

China diaries, pt. 2

The adventure continues...

Day 5: Xian
It smelled like there was a fire going on somewhere in Xian and it was close enough to smell. I was pretty damned sure of this and even Googled "xian fire"...but I was wrong, I think. Maybe the Chinese government was just covering it up? I don't know why they'd do that, but then I also don't understand why they felt the need to superimpose FAKE fireworks into the Olympics opening ceremony coverage. Anyway, it smells like a fire for the next couple days.

The first place we visited was "The Tomb Mound of the Qin Mausoleum" according to the sign. It was pretty much a tomb in the shape of pyramid with lots of trees to make it look like a natural mountain. There were some picturesque views from the top. Also at the top were lots of poor locals trying to sell whatever they had: fake jade bracelets, fake ancient coins, and Chinese combination locks. They are aggressive once you've shown interest in anything they're selling. One woman followed us half way down the pyramid/tomb/mountain until we bought here 15 yuan something or other.

We later went to see the terra cotta warriors made for the emperor of China, which I've always wanted to see first-hand since my first art history class in college. There weren't as many as I had thought/hoped there would be. The ones that were there, however, were pretty fucking cool. The detail that went into everyone sculpture was amazing.

Last stop of the day was the bathhouse made from hot springs that housed some emperor's favorite concubine. This was a former residence of Cheng Kai Shek.


Walking up the Qin mausoleum


Terra cotta army


Soldiers posing in front of the statue of a concubine

Day 6: Xian/Luoyang

Day 6 and still smoggy. I hadn't seen the sun in two days. We took a five-hour train ride from Xian to Luoyang, home of the peony festival. In Luoyang we drove to Shaolin Temple, where young monks are taught martial arts and also the setting of a favorite movie when I was a kid.

We also visited the Giant Goose Pagoda, but that might have been in Xian. I'm not sure; I think the smog is getting to my memory at this point.


Giant Goose Pagoda


Prayer cards


Some lucky German got a "player" card

Day 7: Luoyang

Ugh, the day of the runs!! I went to the bathroom 6 times in the morning. I think it was the weird fruits that my grandma bought at the dirty train station in Xian.

We went to the Longmen Grottoes where individuals and royalty alike carved shrines with buddhas into the limestone along the Yi River. While we were there, a group of women were performing a fish release ritual. They were chanting for a while and the fish they brought were in plastic grocery bags flopping around. Not surprisingly when they finally released them into the river, a good amount of the fish went belly up. :(



Grottoes


Fish in bags


More grottoes

Day 8: Luoyang/Zhengzhou

OMG! The sun came out!! I was so excited to see actual blue skies. It was still pretty cold, though. That morning I found some Imodium AD I always pack when I travel but had somehow forgotten about the day before. Thank god for that because my grandma had some stuff that warned about blurry vision and drowsiness. That's no way to enjoy a site-seeing vacation. I think those saved my life. Also, I found out that Anh Cua, our tour guide, had 11 cars and a few homes. That's when I stopped feeling bad that he was paying for so much of our trip and even considered asking for loans.

I forgot where we went that day, or if we actually did anything, so here are a few random pictures.


Pagoda Forest at the Shaolin Temple


All of us in front of the Shaolin Temple


Lots of buddhas

China diaries, pt. 1

It's almost kinda maybe a homecoming since, you know, I've never set foot in China, but my forefathers/mothers have. Initially I hadn't planned to go, but decided to make the trip to China after all. Luckily, Lark travels all the time and suggested I sublet my place while I'm away. Subletting was definitely a sound financial decision as it helped pay for most of the airfare.

To make a long story short, China has breathtaking natural and man-made sites to see, the food was disappointing, greasy and sometimes unidentifiable, and the air is smoggy. I took daily pictures and brief notes daily on my beloved iPhone and this is what I ended up with:

Day 1 - Fujian Province/Xiamen

SFO to Hong Kong to Xiamen. Flying into Xiamen, I could only see the peaks of the tallest mountain tops—everything else was hazy at best. From the airport my sister and I were picked up by my aunt and grandma who had arrived a week earlier. With them were a van-load of distant relatives. The first stop we made was to a restaurant in a small town where my grandma grew up. We ended up eating shellfish I'd never seen before and I swear I ate tubeworms.



Touching down in Xiamen


Family grave site


Neighbor's cow

Day 2: Beijing

Flew into Beijing hoping that the air would be clearer and was disappointed. It was also nutshrinkingly cold. Thank god for thermal underwear. Our tour guide, or Anh Cua ("uncle") took us for a walk around Tiananmen Square area for a bit. The Forbidden City was closed so we kept wandering. Street vendors sold starfish, scorpions, pupas on stick. As tempting as that was, we ended up eating at palatial restaurant where we had a Peking duck with its own serial number.


Crikets and scorpions


Peking duck restaurant where the servers just stood around waiting for patrons


Balconies of the hotel we stayed at; the colors were constantly changing and must have been real fun at night for the building across the street

Day 3: Beijing

We went to the Great Wall where the memory card in my camera stopped working. I was completely bummed out and gave up climbing the extremely steep wall. I had to start using my aunt's horrible Panasonic point-and-shoot which was better than my iPhone (or nothing at all). There were lots of vendors at the Great Wall, all of whom were extremely aggressive and tried to sell me things in Chinese which I didn't understand. Our driver made me nervous so I couldn't watch the road while we were in the car. I learned that lane markings were to be used as a rough guide and by no means mandatory. After the Great Wall we drove to the nearby tombs of the emperors of the Ming Dynasty. The tombs were deep, deep underground and there were LOTS of stairs.

Late in the afternoon we made it to the Bird's Nest, which was pretty crowded. Huge screen TVs played bits of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.


Shot of the Great Wall of China


Posing at the Bird's Nest


We also made a stop at the Summer Palace

Day 4: Beijing and Xian

For some reason it went from really cold to pretty warm in Beijing the next day. It might have been because we hiked the Forbidden City from beginning to end. It was a massive walled city which housed Mao's mausoleum. MASSIVE. The architecture was definitely beautiful, but it got repetitive after the third or fourth building.


Tiananmen Square


One of the buildings in the Forbidden City


Dragony turtle