Well it was hard to believe that I went from catching the garder at a wedding to a high school visit in the western suburbs of Tokyo all within 24 hours (by the way, I think catching the garder means that I am going to be the next to marry...hmm, we'll have to see about that). Anyway I didn't sleep at all after the wedding and not much on the plane so by the time I arrived in Tokyo I was exhausted!!! I still had a 2 hour bus ride to my hotel. I barely made it to my room before I passed out.
On Tuesday I had two school visits to go to, the thing with Tokyo is that it is really expensive to take a taxi anywhere, rates start out at around 6 dollars, so I decided to take the metro. Tokyo has so many subway lines, the map looks like a jigsaw puzzle. I spent about 30 minutes staring at the map trying to figure out where to go before I even bought my ticket. It ended up taking about 2 hours to get to my first visit but i was able to get there on the first try without getting lost, so in the end I was definitely happy. By Wednesday, I had the metro down, and was able to get to my first visit within 30 minutes.
On Tuesday night I was able to go out with my friends mom for dinner in Tokyo. It was a really good place, kind of like a test kitchen of sorts, we had about 12 different courses of small dishes, maybe a piece of sushi, a bowl of a cold soup, abalone pudding, cooked fish, gingko beans and finally finished with beef. The beef was so good! It was cut up just like sushi into bite size pieces and with a little bit of wasabi on top it tasted phenomenal!
Unfortunately by the time I woke up on Wednesday I was sick. Not from the food or anything that I had eaten in Tokyo, but just because by now I was worn out from travelling and the lack of sleep. I was barely able to get through my visits before I passed out in my hotel room at 3p.m. It is now 5a.m. the next morning and I have finally woken up after a nice 14 hour sleep. I am feeling much better, my throat doesn't hurt nearly as much. My only regret is that I didn't get to have the sushi dinner that I wanted to have last night. I was just too exhausted and sick to get up. I hope next time I come I'll be able to have a good sushi dinner (I hear there is a decently good sushi restaurant in the terminal, if I find it I am going to get some, even if its only 10a.m.)
Well this was one of the shortest trips I have ever taken to the other side of the world and now I am on my way home. I will be back in Boston by Thursday afternoon eastern time. Unfortunately I only have about 2 days before I head back out to Nassau, Bahamas; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago. Keep a look out for more blog postings next week!
P.S. because I got sick I was unable to take any pictures of Tokyo, but it is by far one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been in. I really enjoyed the 10 minute walks from the subway station to the schools through suburban sections of Tokyo. Hopefully next time I will have more time to explore and take some pictures.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
The languages of China
Today I finally realized that there are two languages in China, the main language being Mandarin and a new language that has been emerging over the past decade...auto better known as beeping (car horns).
While we may think it is against our better judgement to pull out in front of a tractor trailer, it tends to be a common practice in this society. With the sophisticated system of beeps cars can actually communicate with each other which allows them to use the rules of the road more as guidelines instead of the law, this can even allow them to drive the wrong way on a busy highway and not cause an accident.
The system is based on the one-beep, two-beep, short-beep, long-beep system, for instance if a driver beeps once it means that he is on your right or left and to watch out for him if you decide to switch lanes, two beeps means you are going to run into me back off! When multiple cars are beeping at you it means that you have broken a vital law of the communication system which usually is due to drivers who are not proficient in this very complex language.
The effect on the passenger of any taxi is the equivalent of a 45 minute workout or a loss of 10 years on your lifespan. Some people who are thrill seekers may like to bungee-jump or skydive, however for many a trip in a Chinese taxi far exceeds any thrill of skydiving. Add to it the inability to understand the second language in China (Mandarin) and you have one hell of an adventure, you truly put your life in the hands of the driver and in many cases you do not know if you will live to see your destination.
While we may think it is against our better judgement to pull out in front of a tractor trailer, it tends to be a common practice in this society. With the sophisticated system of beeps cars can actually communicate with each other which allows them to use the rules of the road more as guidelines instead of the law, this can even allow them to drive the wrong way on a busy highway and not cause an accident.
The system is based on the one-beep, two-beep, short-beep, long-beep system, for instance if a driver beeps once it means that he is on your right or left and to watch out for him if you decide to switch lanes, two beeps means you are going to run into me back off! When multiple cars are beeping at you it means that you have broken a vital law of the communication system which usually is due to drivers who are not proficient in this very complex language.
The effect on the passenger of any taxi is the equivalent of a 45 minute workout or a loss of 10 years on your lifespan. Some people who are thrill seekers may like to bungee-jump or skydive, however for many a trip in a Chinese taxi far exceeds any thrill of skydiving. Add to it the inability to understand the second language in China (Mandarin) and you have one hell of an adventure, you truly put your life in the hands of the driver and in many cases you do not know if you will live to see your destination.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Beijing
Well Beijing is completely different from the last time I was here 2 years ago. On Sunday I was able to go see the Olympic Green which is massive! I spent over an hour and a half walking around and seeing the National Stadium (the Birds nest), National Aquatics Center, and the National Indoor Stadium. It was really cool to see the place that just held the olympics. Afterwards I was able to have my favorite Chinese dish Gong Bao Ji Ding.
Today it was pretty cold out but otherwise a beautiful day. I was able to visit a couple of schools and meet with a couple of students in the hotel. In the evening I went to dinner with the representative for Kaplan in Beijing. The food was really good, we had fish in a spicy sauce, sharks fin and sausage. All of it tasted so good and the amazing thing...IT WAS ALL TOFU!!!! Yep everything was made from tofu and it tasted so realistic, the fish by far was the best dish, but the sausage actually tasted like real sausage, not bad for tofu!
Tomorrow I am off to Tianjin for the day which should be fun, another ride on a bullet train. I'll update everyone before I leave Beijing.
Today it was pretty cold out but otherwise a beautiful day. I was able to visit a couple of schools and meet with a couple of students in the hotel. In the evening I went to dinner with the representative for Kaplan in Beijing. The food was really good, we had fish in a spicy sauce, sharks fin and sausage. All of it tasted so good and the amazing thing...IT WAS ALL TOFU!!!! Yep everything was made from tofu and it tasted so realistic, the fish by far was the best dish, but the sausage actually tasted like real sausage, not bad for tofu!
Tomorrow I am off to Tianjin for the day which should be fun, another ride on a bullet train. I'll update everyone before I leave Beijing.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Taiwan
Ok, I have a confession to make...I'm in Hsinchu right now, anyone know where that is? I didn't think so, Johnny you're probably the only one. This city southeast of Taipei doesn't have much, except for TV in the cabs (I watched the Dodgers/Cubs game between visits) and a TGI Fridays which is where I had dinner (I know I know, not exactly native food). After close to 4 weeks on the road it was nice to have a nice american style dinner. I love the food over here, but every once in a while you need to have food you know.
Well Taipei isn't all its cracked up to be, there wasn't really much there. I visited the two schools and walked around the area a bit but there really wasn't much there. Hopefully next time I'm in Taipei I will have time to see Taipei 101.
I actually liked Hsinchu a bit better. It was smaller and seemed a bit newer (and I was able to get a good sandwich). All in all I really didn't do much in my two days here, time to go on to Beijing. My flight tomorrow is at 8 in the morning which means I need to be at the airport around 6ish, which means I need to leave my hotel in Hsinchu by 5. Its going to be an early morning...
Oh one more big thing to tell you, so I booked a hotel here in Hsinchu for the night because I figured it was too far from Taipei to visit for the day, by car it usually takes over 2 hours. But once again the transportation has amazed me. The bullet train took me from Taipei, through 2 additional stops before Hsinchu in 25 minutes, all for less than 10 dollars. If I took a train from Boston to New York it would cost at least 100 dollars and would take over an hour! Man these bullet trains move fast!
Well Taipei isn't all its cracked up to be, there wasn't really much there. I visited the two schools and walked around the area a bit but there really wasn't much there. Hopefully next time I'm in Taipei I will have time to see Taipei 101.
I actually liked Hsinchu a bit better. It was smaller and seemed a bit newer (and I was able to get a good sandwich). All in all I really didn't do much in my two days here, time to go on to Beijing. My flight tomorrow is at 8 in the morning which means I need to be at the airport around 6ish, which means I need to leave my hotel in Hsinchu by 5. Its going to be an early morning...
Oh one more big thing to tell you, so I booked a hotel here in Hsinchu for the night because I figured it was too far from Taipei to visit for the day, by car it usually takes over 2 hours. But once again the transportation has amazed me. The bullet train took me from Taipei, through 2 additional stops before Hsinchu in 25 minutes, all for less than 10 dollars. If I took a train from Boston to New York it would cost at least 100 dollars and would take over an hour! Man these bullet trains move fast!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Singapore
The Grand Prix night race was fun to watch! There were over 50,000 tourists in Singapore for the event so everywhere was packed, but I was able to watch the race on TV. It is definitely a fast race, and the night makes it even harder, there were a number of accidents, luckily it ended up not raining so that road was dry, preventing even more accidents.
On Monday night I decided to check out the Night Safari, apparently the only night zoo/safari in the world. It is just like a regular zoo but the animals are much more lively at night, since many of them are nocturnal anyway. I was able to catch the Creatures of the night show and took a 45 minute tram ride around the park to see animals from small mousedeer to leopards, lions, giraffe, zebra and elephants. Many of the animals came right up to the tram. Afterwards I was able to walk around the many trails to see the animals. It was cool because I was there when many of them were being fed so they were a lot of fun to watch. I saw some Hyena's fighting over some meat and a lot of Hyena "laughing" was happening it was actually really cool to hear. I ended up staying at the safari until about midnight.
On Tuesday night I was able to get out with an alumni for a really good native Singaporean dinner (which is very similar to Chinese, the style coming from the island of Hainan). We stayed out late talking about NU and Singapore.
On Wednesday I travelled to Taiwan which took most of the day, I am currently in Taipei for some visits. Unfortunately I don't know how much time I am going to get for sightseeing as I leave tomorrow morning for Hsinchu, a city about 20 minutes away by bullet train.
I am currently watching the Red Sox game in the middle of 2 visits so at least I'm able to follow one sport.
The end is near, on Saturday I move on to Beijing, my final stop before heading back to Boston. This trip has been a lot of fun, a little bit stressful and very exhausting but I'm looking forward to getting home for a while. I'm hoping to take some more pictures of Beijing and will post them when I get there.
On Monday night I decided to check out the Night Safari, apparently the only night zoo/safari in the world. It is just like a regular zoo but the animals are much more lively at night, since many of them are nocturnal anyway. I was able to catch the Creatures of the night show and took a 45 minute tram ride around the park to see animals from small mousedeer to leopards, lions, giraffe, zebra and elephants. Many of the animals came right up to the tram. Afterwards I was able to walk around the many trails to see the animals. It was cool because I was there when many of them were being fed so they were a lot of fun to watch. I saw some Hyena's fighting over some meat and a lot of Hyena "laughing" was happening it was actually really cool to hear. I ended up staying at the safari until about midnight.
On Tuesday night I was able to get out with an alumni for a really good native Singaporean dinner (which is very similar to Chinese, the style coming from the island of Hainan). We stayed out late talking about NU and Singapore.
On Wednesday I travelled to Taiwan which took most of the day, I am currently in Taipei for some visits. Unfortunately I don't know how much time I am going to get for sightseeing as I leave tomorrow morning for Hsinchu, a city about 20 minutes away by bullet train.
I am currently watching the Red Sox game in the middle of 2 visits so at least I'm able to follow one sport.
The end is near, on Saturday I move on to Beijing, my final stop before heading back to Boston. This trip has been a lot of fun, a little bit stressful and very exhausting but I'm looking forward to getting home for a while. I'm hoping to take some more pictures of Beijing and will post them when I get there.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Hong Kong
Well the typhoon passed through Hong Kong within the first night that I was there. It became a signal 8 typhoon shortly after I arrived in my hotel, which is lucky because I later found out that during a signal 8 typhoon taxi drivers are supposed to drop you off at the nearest safe place for you to wait out the storm. If I hadn't arrived to my hotel by the time the signal was hoisted, I would have been stranded somewhere! The storm definitely picked up in intensity throughout the night but by the morning it had died down again to a signal 3, basically just some strong gusts of wind. Unfortunately the rain continued for most of the week. I was able to get out to my visits on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday but because of the rain, I didn't really leave the hotel until Friday evening.
On Friday, after my visits, I did get a chance to visit Stanley Market, which is on the other side of the island, away from the central area of Hong Kong. This is one of the places that I have wanted to visit since the last time I was in Hong Kong. It was just like any other asian market in China or Bangkok, but its right on the bay so it is really nice to walk around. I was able to pick up a few things and spend some time relaxing after the long week.
On Saturday I had the whole day to myself before the Alumni dinner that I was attending in the evening. I decided to check out the last remaining "big" thing for me to see, big being the key word. I went out to Lantou Island to see the Po Lin Monastery and the Tian Tan Buddha or the "Giant" Buddha. This is the largest outdoor bronze Buddha in Asia so it is something you have to see! In order to get to the village where the monastery is located you can either take the MTR (subway) to a bus that takes an hour to get there or you can take the MTR to a gondola that takes you over the mountains. I took the gondola to get the scenic view of the island and Hong Kong. I have put up another slideshow with all the pictures. It was really cool to go up over the mountains and see the whole island by gondola, I definitely recommend it. The monastery and Buddha were a bit disappointing. I mean the buddha was great to see, because it was so massive, but that was all it was, there wasn't much there besides this buddha and its not even that old. The construction was finalized in 1989 and the formal ceremony was in 1993. It was still a good day's trip to get out of downtown Hong Kong, see some of the attractions and have a really good lunch. I had sweet and sour pork and spicy string beans with minced pork, it was good! Afterwards I saw a show called "Walking with Buddha" which basically in 15 minutes described how the "Buddha" became the buddha.
In the evening I went off to dinner with some coop students and alumni which was really cool. I heard about all the coop jobs that students are doing around Hong Kong and got to speak with some alumni that I knew. We had a 12 course meal (thats not a typo) which featured sharks fin soup, and abalone along with a ton of other really good native Hong Kong food. We ended up spending 6 hours together for dinner.
I have not said it enough, the subway systems in Asia are awesome. The MTR here in Hong Kong is so easy to use and so efficient! I used it for all the visits that I could. Hong Kong is definitely one of my favorite cities to visit. I'm hoping that next time I come it will be good weather for me to go up to The Peak (the mountain that the city is built on the edge of) and see the city at night. It is supposed to be amazing.
I have now just arrived in Singapore just in time for the Singapore Grand Prix season to begin. Tonight there will be the first ever night grand prix race in the city, so its packed (which now explains why my hotel cost so much). It should be an interesting evening and it should be fun to watch the event in the city.
On Friday, after my visits, I did get a chance to visit Stanley Market, which is on the other side of the island, away from the central area of Hong Kong. This is one of the places that I have wanted to visit since the last time I was in Hong Kong. It was just like any other asian market in China or Bangkok, but its right on the bay so it is really nice to walk around. I was able to pick up a few things and spend some time relaxing after the long week.
On Saturday I had the whole day to myself before the Alumni dinner that I was attending in the evening. I decided to check out the last remaining "big" thing for me to see, big being the key word. I went out to Lantou Island to see the Po Lin Monastery and the Tian Tan Buddha or the "Giant" Buddha. This is the largest outdoor bronze Buddha in Asia so it is something you have to see! In order to get to the village where the monastery is located you can either take the MTR (subway) to a bus that takes an hour to get there or you can take the MTR to a gondola that takes you over the mountains. I took the gondola to get the scenic view of the island and Hong Kong. I have put up another slideshow with all the pictures. It was really cool to go up over the mountains and see the whole island by gondola, I definitely recommend it. The monastery and Buddha were a bit disappointing. I mean the buddha was great to see, because it was so massive, but that was all it was, there wasn't much there besides this buddha and its not even that old. The construction was finalized in 1989 and the formal ceremony was in 1993. It was still a good day's trip to get out of downtown Hong Kong, see some of the attractions and have a really good lunch. I had sweet and sour pork and spicy string beans with minced pork, it was good! Afterwards I saw a show called "Walking with Buddha" which basically in 15 minutes described how the "Buddha" became the buddha.
In the evening I went off to dinner with some coop students and alumni which was really cool. I heard about all the coop jobs that students are doing around Hong Kong and got to speak with some alumni that I knew. We had a 12 course meal (thats not a typo) which featured sharks fin soup, and abalone along with a ton of other really good native Hong Kong food. We ended up spending 6 hours together for dinner.
I have not said it enough, the subway systems in Asia are awesome. The MTR here in Hong Kong is so easy to use and so efficient! I used it for all the visits that I could. Hong Kong is definitely one of my favorite cities to visit. I'm hoping that next time I come it will be good weather for me to go up to The Peak (the mountain that the city is built on the edge of) and see the city at night. It is supposed to be amazing.
I have now just arrived in Singapore just in time for the Singapore Grand Prix season to begin. Tonight there will be the first ever night grand prix race in the city, so its packed (which now explains why my hotel cost so much). It should be an interesting evening and it should be fun to watch the event in the city.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Bangkok, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong
When I last left you, Rich, Matt and I were going into Bangkok on our day off. We went to see Wat Pho, the temple of the Reclining Buddha. This was a really cool temple. It was different than the temples I have been used to in China, the designs were a bit different but it was really cool to see the different types of Buddhas. It was also nice to finally have a day off.
Before I continue with Saturday, I definitely want to tell you about our Friday night. We started the night off right with a one hour Thai massage. This was absolutely amazing but not what you are probably thinking a massage would be like. Think about a ball of uncooked dough. If you want to make pizza you have to beat, knead and strech the dough out into the shape you want. Matt, Rich and I were the dough. We had every muscle in our body worked on, from our toes to our head. At points the massage would hurt a bit but in the end the feeling was great. I have never felt so loose and flexible as I did after the massage. My shoulders which have been carrying the weight of my two carry-ons felt great after the massage. For 8 bucks, this is a massage I am planning on getting everytime I go to Bangkok. After the massage, we walked around our area for a bit and grabbed dinner at a decent asian/thai buffet. We finished off the night relaxing in our apartment with some beer and ice cream.
On Saturday, after Wat Pho, we tried to see the Palace but unfortunately you need to have pants so that will be an adventure for next time. In the early afternoon Matt and Rich headed out to India and I spent the rest of the evening catching up on e-mails and follow visit reports.
On Sunday I travelled to Guangzhou, China. If anyone wants to see what China was like in the late 80's early 90's, go to Guangzhou. It is very polluted, you can look directly at the sun during midday but only see the outline. Unfortunately I had some problems when I arrived in Guangzhou. I decided to take a taxi, but he couldn't understand the hotel I was asking him to go to. It took 30 minutes to get him to understand where to go. Not the greatest welcoming. When I arrived in my hotel I met the counselor from South China Normal University so I was able to go out and enjoy another native dinner. Visits in Guangzhou were interesting, it was really hot out and the first school I visited had two separate campuses about an hour and fifteen minutes apart so there was a lot of driving. I actually found it hotter in Guangzhou then in Bangkok, but apparently my experience of Bangkok was unusual since there was only light traffic and the temperature was comfortable.
On Monday evening I took the express train from Guangzhou to Shenzhen, which was cool. It was different from the train between Shanghai and Nanjing, there was actually a bit of countryside between the two cities so that I could see some of the field. Southern China is all rolling hills and mountains so it is very beautiful (once you get away from the Smog).
Shenzhen was a lot like Guangzhou only newer so a bit nicer to be in. The hotel I stayed at was right on the harbor and within a short walk of the schools I was visiting and the ferry terminal to Hong Kong. All in all I didn't get much time to explore Guangzhou and Shenzhen, but that was ok with me. In the evening I took the ferry to Hong Kong, which would have been nice if it wasn't raining.
I have now arrived in my hotel in time for the Signal 8 Typhoon warning to be issued which basically means there is a hurricane over us. It is pouring and the winds are reaching 60+ miles per hour, but don't worry, I'm safe! But I don't think I will be leaving the hotel anytime soon. I can hear the walls creak everytime the wind blows. Apparently this will pass by tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have some more interesting stuff to talk about tomorrow!
Before I continue with Saturday, I definitely want to tell you about our Friday night. We started the night off right with a one hour Thai massage. This was absolutely amazing but not what you are probably thinking a massage would be like. Think about a ball of uncooked dough. If you want to make pizza you have to beat, knead and strech the dough out into the shape you want. Matt, Rich and I were the dough. We had every muscle in our body worked on, from our toes to our head. At points the massage would hurt a bit but in the end the feeling was great. I have never felt so loose and flexible as I did after the massage. My shoulders which have been carrying the weight of my two carry-ons felt great after the massage. For 8 bucks, this is a massage I am planning on getting everytime I go to Bangkok. After the massage, we walked around our area for a bit and grabbed dinner at a decent asian/thai buffet. We finished off the night relaxing in our apartment with some beer and ice cream.
On Saturday, after Wat Pho, we tried to see the Palace but unfortunately you need to have pants so that will be an adventure for next time. In the early afternoon Matt and Rich headed out to India and I spent the rest of the evening catching up on e-mails and follow visit reports.
On Sunday I travelled to Guangzhou, China. If anyone wants to see what China was like in the late 80's early 90's, go to Guangzhou. It is very polluted, you can look directly at the sun during midday but only see the outline. Unfortunately I had some problems when I arrived in Guangzhou. I decided to take a taxi, but he couldn't understand the hotel I was asking him to go to. It took 30 minutes to get him to understand where to go. Not the greatest welcoming. When I arrived in my hotel I met the counselor from South China Normal University so I was able to go out and enjoy another native dinner. Visits in Guangzhou were interesting, it was really hot out and the first school I visited had two separate campuses about an hour and fifteen minutes apart so there was a lot of driving. I actually found it hotter in Guangzhou then in Bangkok, but apparently my experience of Bangkok was unusual since there was only light traffic and the temperature was comfortable.
On Monday evening I took the express train from Guangzhou to Shenzhen, which was cool. It was different from the train between Shanghai and Nanjing, there was actually a bit of countryside between the two cities so that I could see some of the field. Southern China is all rolling hills and mountains so it is very beautiful (once you get away from the Smog).
Shenzhen was a lot like Guangzhou only newer so a bit nicer to be in. The hotel I stayed at was right on the harbor and within a short walk of the schools I was visiting and the ferry terminal to Hong Kong. All in all I didn't get much time to explore Guangzhou and Shenzhen, but that was ok with me. In the evening I took the ferry to Hong Kong, which would have been nice if it wasn't raining.
I have now arrived in my hotel in time for the Signal 8 Typhoon warning to be issued which basically means there is a hurricane over us. It is pouring and the winds are reaching 60+ miles per hour, but don't worry, I'm safe! But I don't think I will be leaving the hotel anytime soon. I can hear the walls creak everytime the wind blows. Apparently this will pass by tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have some more interesting stuff to talk about tomorrow!
Friday, September 19, 2008
Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, wow...
Well I know its been a while since my last post, and thats because I couldn't get a good internet connection in order to tell you all about my last week! Last time I wrote I was in Shanghai so to finish that up we spent the day on Tuesday visiting two schools with varying amounts of students and then headed to the airport for Kuala Lumpur.
We arrived in KL late at night and took the KLIA express in to city sentral where we were staying. We ended up just grabbing dinner and heading to bed. On Wednesday we met up with the AEO tour (Bob Tour) for our visits to two international schools and one university. It was a nice day but the highlight was hearing Bob's stories from the Vietnam War on. Some of them are so bizarre that they just must be true. He is our own Forrest Gump.
I have been asked to describe KL and Malaysia since most of the people I know have not had the chance to visit. For this trip I was the most excited about visiting KL and Bangkok because I didn't know much about it! Guess what? Malaysia is exactly like Singapore! I don't know what I was thinking, they are on the same island and only hours apart by car, so I don't know what I was expecting Malaysia to be like. But for those of you who have not been to Singapore either, Malaysia is a very tropical country with lots of palm trees, very well built up (I have pictures of the Petronas Towers which I will put up as soon as I get them on the computer), they have been heavily influenced by the british as a lot of the english accents are U.K. accents and they drive on the left side of the road. Unfortunately we were only there for 24 hours as we left that afternoon to head to Bangkok. By 10p.m. we were in our hotel in Bangkok which actually is not that bad as all I have heard about Bangkok is the bad traffic and hot, humid heat.
Bangkok has been awesome. This is the first city that I have had free time in and its been over a week and a half in Asia. Thursday and Friday combined, Matt, Rich and I visited 5 schools (unfortunately the way I scheduled them, we took a taxi from one side of the city to the other, then back again, each way taking at least an hour). On Thursday night we invited 9 counselors to dinner at a restaurant that was recommended to me by none other than the famous Emily Hopwood. Boy does she know her stuff because everyone was raving about "The Blue Elephant" prior to our dinner and everyone was still raving about it after dinner. It was a great first introduction for me to a number of the schools around Bangkok, and gave me a chance to really get to know them in a better way than just 15 minutes before our visits. The food was amazing too. Our table of counselors did it the right way by ordering a bunch of different dishes and sharing them all; we had Penang Kai (chicken in a yellow curry) Black Curry Chicken (really hot but good!), lime curry seabass (the fish is really good here), duck, Thai lamb massaman (lamb is really popular here, I definitely like it!) and of course the most famous which we had to get, pad thai. This was an awesome way to try a bunch of really good, really thai dishes and I loved everyone one of them! We finished off with a Thai specialty dessert Mango sticky rice which is steamed rice with coconut milk (makes it really sweet) over a fresh piece of Mango, yum!!! All in all not a bad evening, really great conversation with the counselors and really great food!
Matt, Rich and I are off to the Palace and Wat Po so I'll talk about our Friday events later today when I get back (sneak peek, there was a thai massage!)...
We arrived in KL late at night and took the KLIA express in to city sentral where we were staying. We ended up just grabbing dinner and heading to bed. On Wednesday we met up with the AEO tour (Bob Tour) for our visits to two international schools and one university. It was a nice day but the highlight was hearing Bob's stories from the Vietnam War on. Some of them are so bizarre that they just must be true. He is our own Forrest Gump.
I have been asked to describe KL and Malaysia since most of the people I know have not had the chance to visit. For this trip I was the most excited about visiting KL and Bangkok because I didn't know much about it! Guess what? Malaysia is exactly like Singapore! I don't know what I was thinking, they are on the same island and only hours apart by car, so I don't know what I was expecting Malaysia to be like. But for those of you who have not been to Singapore either, Malaysia is a very tropical country with lots of palm trees, very well built up (I have pictures of the Petronas Towers which I will put up as soon as I get them on the computer), they have been heavily influenced by the british as a lot of the english accents are U.K. accents and they drive on the left side of the road. Unfortunately we were only there for 24 hours as we left that afternoon to head to Bangkok. By 10p.m. we were in our hotel in Bangkok which actually is not that bad as all I have heard about Bangkok is the bad traffic and hot, humid heat.
Bangkok has been awesome. This is the first city that I have had free time in and its been over a week and a half in Asia. Thursday and Friday combined, Matt, Rich and I visited 5 schools (unfortunately the way I scheduled them, we took a taxi from one side of the city to the other, then back again, each way taking at least an hour). On Thursday night we invited 9 counselors to dinner at a restaurant that was recommended to me by none other than the famous Emily Hopwood. Boy does she know her stuff because everyone was raving about "The Blue Elephant" prior to our dinner and everyone was still raving about it after dinner. It was a great first introduction for me to a number of the schools around Bangkok, and gave me a chance to really get to know them in a better way than just 15 minutes before our visits. The food was amazing too. Our table of counselors did it the right way by ordering a bunch of different dishes and sharing them all; we had Penang Kai (chicken in a yellow curry) Black Curry Chicken (really hot but good!), lime curry seabass (the fish is really good here), duck, Thai lamb massaman (lamb is really popular here, I definitely like it!) and of course the most famous which we had to get, pad thai. This was an awesome way to try a bunch of really good, really thai dishes and I loved everyone one of them! We finished off with a Thai specialty dessert Mango sticky rice which is steamed rice with coconut milk (makes it really sweet) over a fresh piece of Mango, yum!!! All in all not a bad evening, really great conversation with the counselors and really great food!
Matt, Rich and I are off to the Palace and Wat Po so I'll talk about our Friday events later today when I get back (sneak peek, there was a thai massage!)...
Monday, September 15, 2008
Nanjing, Shanghai
Well I will tell you one thing about international travel, it does mess with your sense of time. We are on our last day in Shanghai, and I wasn't planning on having time to blog again but since I decided to wake up at 5a.m., two hours before I'm meeting Matt and Rich for breakfast I guess I have time to tell you about Shanghai.
I arrived in Shanghai on Saturday afternoon to eerily beautiful skies, was able to tell that taxi how to get to my hotel and arrived around 3pm. By 4pm the beautiful skies were gone and the typhoon that originally had been heading for Hong Kong was heading up the coast. From about 4pm on Saturday until last night (Monday night) it has rained pretty steadily. Unfortunately that put a damper on any sightseeing.
I have been talking with my friend Michelle, who I met in Anhui when I visited China last time, for a long time about meeting up and luckily she was able to come to Shanghai Saturday night. It was wonderful to see her but she arrived at 11p.m. at night! We hung out for a while and caught up on everyone else and where they are (Bai Ma, Mei mei says hi) and eventually I had to go to bed because we were planning on leaving very early Sunday morning. I was able to get to bed by 12:45 and woke up on time at 5a.m., took a shower and headed downstairs for breakfast at 6a.m., only to find the place dead and closed. I asked one of the hotel employees why the cafe was not open, she proceeded to tell me it opens at 6a.m., I told her it was 6a.m. but she only laughed at me and told me it was 5a.m.! I was still on Seoul time. So I didn't meet Michelle at 11p.m. or go to sleep at 12:45, I was an hour ahead! Anyway luckily I was already wide awake.
On Sunday morning Rich, Matt and I took a train from Shanghai to Nanjing. The trainride was about 2 and a half hours so we really got to see the "countryside" (really it just looks like one big city, with skyscrapers throughout the country). Nanjing is famous for the "Nanjing Massacre" that occured before World War 2. It has been said (By the Chinese Government) that over a million people were massacred and raped at Nanjing by the Japanese. Most people believe that around 200,000 died in this massacre, which is still a significant number. Unfortunately we weren't going to be able to see any of the history of Nanjing as we were only there for the day. Today we were visiting the High School Affiliated to Nanjing Normal University, with a bunch of students who had just begun the first class of the IB program. All of these students were Chinese Nationals, which was a great find by Rich! Most schools we visit in China are international schools, who are prohibited from enrolling Chinese Nationals. We spent an hour speaking with the students about how to choose a college, how to finance a college and how to apply. We then spent the afternoon meeting one-on-one with any student who would be interested in our respective universities. I believe we all had a steady stream of students. Afterwards we returned to Shanghai on the bullet train (reaching speeds of 206 km/h at one point) and enjoyed some native chinese dishes at a restaurant before heading to bed.
On Monday we didn't have a school visit until 11a.m. so I was able to sleep in a bit (that might be why I woke up so early this morning). September 15th is the Mid-Autumn Festival in China, an new national holiday started this year by the Government so most schools were closed, however we were still able to visit Shanghai Community International School's Hongqiao campus and Pudong campus. We spoke to about 40 students at the first visit (all foreign students) and about 15 at the second campus, with about 7 students being Chinese nationals who came to hear the presentation. Overall the day was great, and we were able to see a bit of the city while driving between the schools.
Everything is cheap here (except for the beer). Most taxi rides cost between 3 and 4 dollars and meals are on average less than 20 dollars for a nice dinner. Unfortunately today we are on to two schools that are on the way to the airport and we won't have time to see anymore of Shanghai. In the end it has been ok since it has rained everyday. Maybe next year I'll be able to get back to the Bund or Xintiandi.
Tonight we are off to Malaysia, I'm really excited about this visit as I haven't been able to get any information from anyone I know, since not many have visited! Travelling with Rich and Matt is great. Our three schools compliment the spectrum of available colleges and universities across the nation both in geographic perspectives and size and style of school. Pepperdine is on the west coast above L.A. with about 8,000 students and is considered a comprehensive university. Colorado College is in Colorado Springs and has roughly 2000 students and is considered a liberal arts college and Northeastern is on the east coast in Boston with 15,000 students and is considered a National Research University. It really gives the students a good idea of the different types of colleges they can attend. Thats all for now, sorry about the lack of pictures, the camera died and I forgot to recharge it, but I hope to post new pictures soon! See you in KL.
I arrived in Shanghai on Saturday afternoon to eerily beautiful skies, was able to tell that taxi how to get to my hotel and arrived around 3pm. By 4pm the beautiful skies were gone and the typhoon that originally had been heading for Hong Kong was heading up the coast. From about 4pm on Saturday until last night (Monday night) it has rained pretty steadily. Unfortunately that put a damper on any sightseeing.
I have been talking with my friend Michelle, who I met in Anhui when I visited China last time, for a long time about meeting up and luckily she was able to come to Shanghai Saturday night. It was wonderful to see her but she arrived at 11p.m. at night! We hung out for a while and caught up on everyone else and where they are (Bai Ma, Mei mei says hi) and eventually I had to go to bed because we were planning on leaving very early Sunday morning. I was able to get to bed by 12:45 and woke up on time at 5a.m., took a shower and headed downstairs for breakfast at 6a.m., only to find the place dead and closed. I asked one of the hotel employees why the cafe was not open, she proceeded to tell me it opens at 6a.m., I told her it was 6a.m. but she only laughed at me and told me it was 5a.m.! I was still on Seoul time. So I didn't meet Michelle at 11p.m. or go to sleep at 12:45, I was an hour ahead! Anyway luckily I was already wide awake.
On Sunday morning Rich, Matt and I took a train from Shanghai to Nanjing. The trainride was about 2 and a half hours so we really got to see the "countryside" (really it just looks like one big city, with skyscrapers throughout the country). Nanjing is famous for the "Nanjing Massacre" that occured before World War 2. It has been said (By the Chinese Government) that over a million people were massacred and raped at Nanjing by the Japanese. Most people believe that around 200,000 died in this massacre, which is still a significant number. Unfortunately we weren't going to be able to see any of the history of Nanjing as we were only there for the day. Today we were visiting the High School Affiliated to Nanjing Normal University, with a bunch of students who had just begun the first class of the IB program. All of these students were Chinese Nationals, which was a great find by Rich! Most schools we visit in China are international schools, who are prohibited from enrolling Chinese Nationals. We spent an hour speaking with the students about how to choose a college, how to finance a college and how to apply. We then spent the afternoon meeting one-on-one with any student who would be interested in our respective universities. I believe we all had a steady stream of students. Afterwards we returned to Shanghai on the bullet train (reaching speeds of 206 km/h at one point) and enjoyed some native chinese dishes at a restaurant before heading to bed.
On Monday we didn't have a school visit until 11a.m. so I was able to sleep in a bit (that might be why I woke up so early this morning). September 15th is the Mid-Autumn Festival in China, an new national holiday started this year by the Government so most schools were closed, however we were still able to visit Shanghai Community International School's Hongqiao campus and Pudong campus. We spoke to about 40 students at the first visit (all foreign students) and about 15 at the second campus, with about 7 students being Chinese nationals who came to hear the presentation. Overall the day was great, and we were able to see a bit of the city while driving between the schools.
Everything is cheap here (except for the beer). Most taxi rides cost between 3 and 4 dollars and meals are on average less than 20 dollars for a nice dinner. Unfortunately today we are on to two schools that are on the way to the airport and we won't have time to see anymore of Shanghai. In the end it has been ok since it has rained everyday. Maybe next year I'll be able to get back to the Bund or Xintiandi.
Tonight we are off to Malaysia, I'm really excited about this visit as I haven't been able to get any information from anyone I know, since not many have visited! Travelling with Rich and Matt is great. Our three schools compliment the spectrum of available colleges and universities across the nation both in geographic perspectives and size and style of school. Pepperdine is on the west coast above L.A. with about 8,000 students and is considered a comprehensive university. Colorado College is in Colorado Springs and has roughly 2000 students and is considered a liberal arts college and Northeastern is on the east coast in Boston with 15,000 students and is considered a National Research University. It really gives the students a good idea of the different types of colleges they can attend. Thats all for now, sorry about the lack of pictures, the camera died and I forgot to recharge it, but I hope to post new pictures soon! See you in KL.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Shanghai - mmm yum!
Well I know its only been a few hours since my last post, and most likely most of you aren't even up yet but I had to tell you about my first few hours in Shanghai. I was able to get into my hotel ok and watched a little TV before I decided to grab dinner. The place that I went to was awesome because it had my favorite dish, gong bao ji ding, basically its chicken, red peppers, cucumbers and peanuts in a spicy sauce. I haven't had it in two years but it was just as good as I remember, and to cap it off I was able to have ju hua cha, my favorite type of tea, Chrysanthemum tea!
Last Day in Seoul
I know I said that I would blog again before leaving Seoul but unfortunately that didn't work out. I ended up getting more dumplings for dinner (I branched out from the pork and vegetable to the spicy shrimp and vegetable, fish and fried pork dumplings) and before I knew it I fell asleep right in the middle of eating my dinner. I figured this was a sign that I needed to go to bed.
Saturday morning I woke up and took the shuttle to Incheon Airport for my flight to Shanghai. I was flying China Southern Airlines which of course had to have the longest line for checking in for your flight. But luckily I met Adam Walsh an English teacher at Seoul University and a journalist for Groove Magazine (an ex-pat mag in Seoul). If anyone has met my brother-in-law Rod, Adam is the spitting image so we got along pretty well. He was on his way to Shanghai too so we talked the entire time up until check-in and then ended up sitting next to each other on the flight. Adam has been in Seoul on and off for the last four years. He teaches at one of the few respectable universities in South Korea and writes articles for "The Groove Magazine" in Seoul. His latest article was on the Dokdo islands which are disputed islands between South Korea and Japan. He was able to give me some great tips and places to go next time I'm in Seoul. Hopefully he'll still be there next year so that he can show me around too.
When we finally arrived in Shanghai, just like any airport outside of the U.S. it only took about 20 minutes to go through immigration and before long I was in my taxi to my airport. I'm glad that I still remember what little chinese I know as I was able to tell the taxi driver where to go. By the time I arrived at my hotel in Shanghai it has begun to pour. I was hoping to meet my friend "mei mei" who I met in Anhui two years ago but due to the weather and her current job we'll have to wait till tomorrow to meet up. Worst of all I can't get folderwave to work here so I won't be able to do any GPA re-calcs! Well its time to grab some dinner, maybe hit up the gym before bed.
Tomorrow Rich, Matt and I will be going to Nanjing to visit some students there. I forgot to mention, over the next week I'll be traveling with Rich Dawson from Pepperdine University and Matt Bonser from Colorado College. Hopefully I'll have more interesting stuff to talk about tomorrow.
Saturday morning I woke up and took the shuttle to Incheon Airport for my flight to Shanghai. I was flying China Southern Airlines which of course had to have the longest line for checking in for your flight. But luckily I met Adam Walsh an English teacher at Seoul University and a journalist for Groove Magazine (an ex-pat mag in Seoul). If anyone has met my brother-in-law Rod, Adam is the spitting image so we got along pretty well. He was on his way to Shanghai too so we talked the entire time up until check-in and then ended up sitting next to each other on the flight. Adam has been in Seoul on and off for the last four years. He teaches at one of the few respectable universities in South Korea and writes articles for "The Groove Magazine" in Seoul. His latest article was on the Dokdo islands which are disputed islands between South Korea and Japan. He was able to give me some great tips and places to go next time I'm in Seoul. Hopefully he'll still be there next year so that he can show me around too.
When we finally arrived in Shanghai, just like any airport outside of the U.S. it only took about 20 minutes to go through immigration and before long I was in my taxi to my airport. I'm glad that I still remember what little chinese I know as I was able to tell the taxi driver where to go. By the time I arrived at my hotel in Shanghai it has begun to pour. I was hoping to meet my friend "mei mei" who I met in Anhui two years ago but due to the weather and her current job we'll have to wait till tomorrow to meet up. Worst of all I can't get folderwave to work here so I won't be able to do any GPA re-calcs! Well its time to grab some dinner, maybe hit up the gym before bed.
Tomorrow Rich, Matt and I will be going to Nanjing to visit some students there. I forgot to mention, over the next week I'll be traveling with Rich Dawson from Pepperdine University and Matt Bonser from Colorado College. Hopefully I'll have more interesting stuff to talk about tomorrow.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Seoul
Well this post is long overdue as I'm just about done now with Seoul, however everything went well and it was actually a lot of fun. Yesterday, I had my first two visits at KIS and Daewon Foreign Language School. I decided to take the taxi to KIS so that I could get a chance to see the city. It was nice to see just how big Seoul is, it took me over an hour to get to KIS which is just outside of Seoul. After the visit I decided to try out the subway and I am glad I did. Seouls subway system is much cleaner and more efficient than any I've been on in the U.S. I have used the subway for every other visit so far.
One thing that I have had trouble getting used to is that people walk on the left. It took me running into a half a dozen people before I realized it was me that was causing the problem.
Last night I went out to dinner with one of the counselors to a place called Shabu Shabu which is very similar to shabu zen in Boston only by far better. Beef, seafood, vegetables, noodles and rice. It was amazing and really filling. I have pictures which I'm hoping to be able to post soon.
After my last visit today I went to the food court near my hotel to get some lunch. I was thinking of eating at "Love for Women" just because of the name but decided to go with my favorite meal, dumplings. They are absolutely amazing, good thing there is a gym in my hotel otherwise I am going to come back to Boston 100 pounds heavier than before!
Not much else is happening. I have the rest of the evening to explore Seoul a bit and do GPA re-calcs yay! Hopefully I'll post again before I leave Seoul. Hope everything is going well in Boston, New York and California.
One thing that I have had trouble getting used to is that people walk on the left. It took me running into a half a dozen people before I realized it was me that was causing the problem.
Last night I went out to dinner with one of the counselors to a place called Shabu Shabu which is very similar to shabu zen in Boston only by far better. Beef, seafood, vegetables, noodles and rice. It was amazing and really filling. I have pictures which I'm hoping to be able to post soon.
After my last visit today I went to the food court near my hotel to get some lunch. I was thinking of eating at "Love for Women" just because of the name but decided to go with my favorite meal, dumplings. They are absolutely amazing, good thing there is a gym in my hotel otherwise I am going to come back to Boston 100 pounds heavier than before!
Not much else is happening. I have the rest of the evening to explore Seoul a bit and do GPA re-calcs yay! Hopefully I'll post again before I leave Seoul. Hope everything is going well in Boston, New York and California.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Counting Down The Days
I officially have 13 days until I leave for Asia. I feel like I am running out of time! Now I do have most of my schedule set, however I am missing one very important thing, my Chinese visa!
I will be travelling to Southeast Asia this fall for Northeastern University. As an Assistant Director for Undergraduate Admissions I get the awesome job of travelling around the world to recruit students to Boston, Massachusetts. This fall I will be visiting: Seoul, South Korea; Shanghai, China; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Bangkok, Thailand; Guangzhou, China; Shenzhen, China; Hong Kong; Singapore; Taipei, Taiwan; and Tokyo, Japan. All within a 6 week span, and if this is not enough I will also be travelling to the Carribbean to visit High Schools in Trinidad & Tobago, the Dominican Republic and The Bahamas.
This is my first time blogging but I'm hoping to be able to share with everyone my experiences from September 9th until November 3rd...Enjoy.
I will be travelling to Southeast Asia this fall for Northeastern University. As an Assistant Director for Undergraduate Admissions I get the awesome job of travelling around the world to recruit students to Boston, Massachusetts. This fall I will be visiting: Seoul, South Korea; Shanghai, China; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Bangkok, Thailand; Guangzhou, China; Shenzhen, China; Hong Kong; Singapore; Taipei, Taiwan; and Tokyo, Japan. All within a 6 week span, and if this is not enough I will also be travelling to the Carribbean to visit High Schools in Trinidad & Tobago, the Dominican Republic and The Bahamas.
This is my first time blogging but I'm hoping to be able to share with everyone my experiences from September 9th until November 3rd...Enjoy.
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