When I first moved to China, I decided that I still wanted to stay connected to the US. Part of that is keeping a US phone number that can both send and receive calls and text messages. Luckily, thanks to products like Google Voice and Skype, doing so is now cheap and easy.
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Archive for the 'travel' Category
Staying Connected Overseas with Google Voice and Skype
March 11, 2010Exciting new running site
August 2, 2009Those of you who run a lot and those of us that want to go running a lot but don’t have inspiration may be interested in my sister Erin’s new blog. She’s writing up a lot of Boston running tours with historical information about the places you will run by. She’s also doing the same thing for San Francisco, where she lives now.
Eventually, I believe the idea is to turn them into podcasts that you can listen to as you run at 7-8 minutes per mile.
Anyway, I’m excited for her and thought I’d help her spread the news. Feel free to tell any of your friends in Boston or San Francisco to check out cityruntours.com.
“Summary”
September 1, 2008Well, Alisha had a good idea with her summary of her recent trip through Europe, so I decided to give it a try with my Asia trip.
Total Distance (not including to and from America): 3020mi (4860km)
Number of different types of transportation: 6
Friends visited: 3
Map of my trip in Korea and China
Best Places to get pictures taken:
- Tiananmen Square (Beijing)
- The Bund (Shanghai)
Tastiest food:
- Hongdong Garden (Gimhae, South Korea)
- Huangting in the Peninsula Hotel (Beijing)
Most surprising food:
- Duck Heads (Shanghai – I thought we were ordering shrimp)
Best meal for the buck:
- Jianbing (Beijing and Shanghai – almost a breakfast burrito for 30 cents)
Best Restaurant slogan:
Check out the logo - Mr. Pizza is a player
- Mr. Pizza – Love for Women (South Korea) Also winner of the best pizza ingredient: crust stuffed with mashed sweet potatoes.
Sketchiest transportation:
- Halfway between a vespa and a motorbike. With three people. And all our luggage. But it was only 5 kuai! (70 cents?)
Most appropriate exit from a museum:
- Leaving the Urban Planning exhibit in Shanghai into a giant underground mall from which it took over 45 minutes to find an exit.
Most surprising meal (for someone else):
- Taking a girl I had just met ten minutes before to a 5-star restaurant (Huangting) because I had budgeted too much money and had decided to take the first person I met to the most expensive restaurant I could find.
Best hotel feature:
- Renting a cell phone for $1.50/day. Wow, what a great idea.
Best Club:
- Coco Banana (best fellow dancers, too)
Most awesome and intimidating Chef:
- KungFu Pasta Chef making longevity noodles on my birthday.
Best Athlete:
- Michael Phelps
Best conversation:
- 35 minutes of talking to a taxi driver in Beijing who guessed that I’d lived in China for two or three years. That was the moment when I really got Chinese.
Most frustrating 20 minutes:
- Getting stopped on the great wall by men from the army and not having a ticket because my tour guide was trying to scam us and having to speak for the two guys from the Netherlands as well because I spoke Chinese. We eventually just paid them again, and then I had to convince the tour guide to give us our money back at the end. Haha.
Best choice for what to pack:
- A week’s supply of Immodium AD
Place most likely to return:
- Beijing
Hmm, I guess that’s enough for now. If you want, I’ll put more up later when I think of them!
Asia
August 25, 2008Well, the whole “blog my trip thing” didn’t work this time… Internet access was spotty in China to say the least. I did write a journal, though (I’m almost done!), but I haven’t decided if I’ll publish it or save it for me. Perhaps I’ll put up a few stories.
Sorry for the unanswered expectations, guys!
My passport’s back!
August 1, 2008Quick update:
I just got my Chinese visa! I dropped the application off at A. Briggs Passport Expetitors near Downtown Crossing last Friday, then just had to wait. I’ve heard some horror stories from people whose visas got stuck in the consulates for weeks or months, but I was optimistic (and perhaps foolhardy). Today, it showed up at work at 10:00! My passport is back with the actually-quite-attractive Chinese visa on page 12.
The only strange thing is that it was issued in 华盛顿 (Washington D.C.), even though I thought I’d have to get it from New York…
Regardless, it’s here, and this trip is really happening!
Off again!
July 30, 2008Well, I know, I know. I’m a terrible blogger (thanks, Gemma!). However, I’m leaving for another long trip soon, so I’m planning on updating from internet cafes, etc. like I did last summer. That was actually a lot of fun and I enjoy looking back on the stuff I did even now.
This time, however, I’m headed to East Asia. Specifically, Korea and China. My flight leaves Boston the morning of August 9th, heads to Chicago, where I’ll pick up my sister, Laura, then goes direct to Seoul. From there, we’ll head to Busan/Gimhae, back to Suwon, and Seoul again for one day. Then, I’ll leave Laura in Korea with her friend Diana, and I’ll fly to Beijing. I’m not going to stay long, however, because I’m going straight to Shanghai for a few nights, before returning to Beijing to watch a few Olympics events and visit my friend Mike from high school.
Right now, I’m trying to work out how to travel between Beijing and Shanghai. I’m thinking about the Z5/Z6 sleeper trains, but am unsure of how to book them online. I’ll make it work, though.
Finally, if anyone wants a postcard, just email me your address and I’ll put you on my list. Wish me luck!
Korea. In France.
July 24, 2007Monday morning, I packed up at the hotel and headed over to the B&B on the Metro. Younghee met me at the station to help me move my stuff to Mr. Lee’s house. My bed was one of ten six-foot-long bunkbeds in the basement. After we filled up our waterbottles, we left for the city.
The same company that runs the free Berlin walking tours also organizes free NewParis walking tours starting at St. Michel Plaza, so we wanted to go on it. Again, the tour guide was very eloquent and excited about her city. We saw Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Seine (we smelled it, too), more churches, the Champs d’Elysee, and more museums. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate this time, so partway through, the rand became unbearable and everyone was soaked. Soon after the tour was over, though, the sun came out again. We decided to walk to the Eiffel tower, since we were so close. Read the rest of this entry »
Groovin’ on a Sunday Afternoon
July 23, 2007
It’s been a while since I wrote in my journal, so bear with me if I forget a few details. Right now, I’m sitting in a park in Barcelona feeling quite sick, but I suppose we’ll get there in time…
Last Sunday, Sam, Younghee, Eunhee, and I agreed to meet at the Louvre again at 1:00. I arrived a few minutes early because I didn’t want to appear to be perpetually late. Sam soon found me, and we started to wait together for the girls. This time, they were the ones who were an hour late. Turns out, they had some trouble moving from the hotel to the B&B where they planned to stay for a while. However, they did say that the B&B was nice, and the owner had beds available for 18 Euro/night including breakfast, internet, etc. It sounded too good to be true, so I said I’d check it out. Read the rest of this entry »
You Can’t Rush Paris
July 15, 2007On Saturday, I planned to meet my friends Younghee, Eunhee, and Sam at the Louvre pyramid at 4pm for Bastille day. I thought I would take the 10:40 direct train, get to Paris at 12:08, and check in to my hotel with plenty of time. Naturally, by the time I arrived at the train station at 10:00, all the trains were booked until 2:40, meaning I could not make it to Paris before 4:08. Oh well, this was the best I could do, so I sent an email saying I’d be late and started the long wait. Read the rest of this entry »
Waiting for the Paris Train
July 13, 2007Today started out great. As I walked to the laundrymat, I passed Thai Coffee (the restaurant next door), and Nam came out to yell “Hi, Michael!” I said, “Good morning!” and headed off to my day.
After washing my clothes, I had a bit of trouble getting the dryer to work. Luckily, two friendly French-speaking men decided to help me out. I bought the wrong token for the dryer – the 3.50 Euro one, not the 0.60 Euro. After I bought the right one, they were even nice enough to buy the other off of me, when I offered it to them for free (since I won’t be coming back).
Next, I went sightseeing. First, I saw Manneken Pis, a famous statue of a boy urinating into a fountain. I was fairly surprised by the size of the statue; pictures make it look huge, but in reality, it’s tiny. I must say, I’m glad I’m going to be getting out of the Conner 3 environment next year; my exact thoughts at the statue went, “Woah, it’s so small; I thought it would be much bigger… That’s what she said.”
Nearby is a famous courtyard, the Grand Place. The architecture is all 1700s, so it looked very scenic. I also wanted to see the Royal Palace and the European Parliament, so I started to walk that way.
One of the best things about Brussels is the fact that they have signs everywhere explaining the sights nearby, so as I walked, I could tell what I was passing. In front of the Royal Palace, there is a large garden where I decided to eat a waffle with cream and relax in the shade next to a fountain. The street vender’s waffle was absolutely delicious. I don’t know how they made it sweet, crispy, and tender all at the same time, but it worked. In fact, I think I’m going to stop writing for a little while to go find one (I’m currently in a train station)…
Well, that one wasn’t as good as the last, but I did get to put Belgian chocolate ice cream on top, which was quite a bonus. Anyway, after the park, I continued on to the European Parliament complex, but only saw it from the outside. I couldn’t tell if there was a tour/guest entrance, but I was alright with that.
Actually, I just realized that I missed a stop. In between Grand Place and the park, I went to the Museum of Ancient Through Modern Art. Personally, I think that just makes it a general art museum, but who am I to say? I decided to only see the modern (19th Century – Present) sections this time, both to save on time and because I haven’t seen much of it yet on this trip. Really, even though I’ve grown to appreciate art much more than when I was younger, I still didn’t see a large percentage of the works that impressed me. Only three or four even made me want to stop and think.
Finally, I wanted to see the Atomium and Mini-Europe, but because they were on the last Metro stop, I also didn’t think I had time at 4:00 to go and see much. Instead, I took a short nap at the hotel, then walked around the city and took photos in the botanical gardens.
For dinner, I decided to go with Thai again; it really was delicious before, plus they were really friendly. This time, I ordered without Nam’s help, and ended up with rice, green curry, beef, coconut milk, and peppers. Nam told me that it would be too spicy for my sensitive Western palate, but I insisted. Yes, it was spicy; the coconut milk, however, calmed the peppers a little and made the whole dish bearably delicious. At the end of dinner, it was 9:30. I took a picture of the sunset and went to bed.
