So, China doesn't allow Blogspot, and thats why I haven't been updating my blog recently, but I'm now in Bangkok (briefly) on my way to India and finally have access again! Here's what I have been doing for the past few weeks.
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of my favorite cities, and for this trip I was there for a full week! Unfortunately for most of the week it was rainy and not great for sightseeing. For the first few days, Jen and Ian were still with me and we were able to celebrate Jen's birthday in Hong Kong at a good restaurant that one of our counselors recommended. I had Peking Duck fajitas which were awesome! The counselor that recommended this place called the restaurant after we arrived and told them it was Jen's birthday so they brought out a piece of cheesecake for her, it was great!
I did get out a bit on the weekend to meet with a few alumni, but overall the "free time" in Hong Kong was a bust. My last night in Hong Kong, Signal 8 was raised, meaning that a typhoon was passing very close to Hong Kong. It was an interesting evening and when I woke up it was just as windy and rainy as when I went to bed. So naturally I spent 7 hours in the airport as my flight was delayed over and over again. I was able to take some pictures but not enough.
Shanghai
By the time I made it to Shanghai it was late Tuesday night, which didn't leave much time for sightseeing. I was really excited to visit Shanghai this time because I chose a hotel near YuYuan Gardens and market, which is a great place to buy trinkets and jewelry (especially pearls).
After my visits on Wednesday I was able to get some time (just one hour) to do some shopping in the market and walk around the gardens. I was able to get all my shopping done and save a lot of money!
Over all I didn't have much time to explore Shanghai but I did get time to explore the market right around me which was all I was hoping to do.
Hangzhou
On Friday I took the train to Hangzhou, a city about 2 hours south of Shanghai, and one that I have not been to yet. This city is well known for West Lake. I have heard rumors that this is the most beautiful city in China, The Emperor used to visit here, and this city has the most beautful women. I won't comment on the last point but West lake is a beautiful location and my hotel was right along the water so it was a great view! I was able to get some pictures of the area which were nice, but on walking back to the hotel I was stopped by an old Chinese man who talked to me for about 10 minutes telling me stories about the lake and, telling me about his past (going to Church University and travelling and living in San Francisco). It was a cool experience to talk with one of the locals. Unfortunately right after this it was time to head to the airport for Beijing.
Beijing
I was amazed at how clean Beijing was this time! I read in the news when I arrived that the Chinese government has promised to curb its carbon emissions over the next few years and the difference was staggering. Before the Olympics pollution was awful in Beijing, it would hurt your eyes and lungs and you couldn't see that far. During the Olympics, the city prohibited any more contruction until after the games so that the pollution would clear up and the city was beautiful, but when I visited last fall right after the Olympics and again this spring the pollution was back and as bad as ever. I was amazed to see bright blue skies when I arrived and it stayed clear the entire time I was in Beijing. Sadly thats the only thing I can tell you about Beijing, nothing else really happened during my stay, I didn't get time to explore and by days were so packed with visits that all I wanted to do was to rest when I arrived back from the visits at night. I couldn't even go on Facebook or Blogspot to stay in touch with people! Ah well, off to Bangkok on Wednesday.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
No Blogspot in China
Hi Everyone,
Unfortunately China has blocked blogspot so I cannot access my blog. I have some pictures from Hong Kong, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Beijing that I will put up when I arrive in Bangkok on the 23rd. I'll update you with all my new stories then!
Unfortunately China has blocked blogspot so I cannot access my blog. I have some pictures from Hong Kong, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Beijing that I will put up when I arrive in Bangkok on the 23rd. I'll update you with all my new stories then!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Where in the world is Darren?
For those of you that don't know, Narita airport in Tokyo is about an hour and a half outside of the city. So by the time we arrived in Tokyo around 9pm and took the bus to our hotel, it was almost midnight with our first visit at 8:30 in the morning the next day and at least a 45 minute commute away! Luckily it was the last day of visits for the week and we had jammed it full with 2 visits in Tokyo and a joint program in Yokohama a city less than 30 minutes away by train. Some of the photos you see in the Tokyo 2009 slideshow are of Matt, Ian and Peter giving their presentation at one of the schools in Tokyo, pretty impressive for less than 6 hours sleep!
Tokyo is stop 3 on my 7 week trip to Asia and its good to know that someone is keeping a watch on me, below is my nieces map that she is following my trip on!
Well the most important part of this whole blog is that for the first time ever I have an entire weekend in Tokyo! A full day of visits wasn't going to stop us from enjoying the city and all recommendations lead to Shibuya, one of the bigger hang-out areas of Tokyo. I was as always in the mood for sushi and lead the guys on a hunt for a sushi-go-round (see my spring Tokyo blog for my obsession with sushi and conveyor belt sushi). Eventually we found one after about 45 minutes of searching and sat down for a big meal of sushi. Its great when you go to a sushi-go-round because you can just grab the plates from the belt and eat whatever looks good to you, and I ate a lot! Overall the quality was good but not the best I've seen in Tokyo, but the experience was great.
After dinner it was off to a very local Japanese bar called "Hobgoblin." Actually its like the largest Expat pub in Tokyo. We were going to meet a counselor from one of our schools there and when we stepped out of the elevator we were welcomed by the roar of dozens of Expats, I was back in an Irish pub in Boston! In true Tokyo style we talked with the counselor and each other for the rest of the night sipping on "native" Guiness. Hey we never said that travel was work 24 hours a day!
(On a side note, after much debate I have decided that "The Postman" has surpassed "Waterworld" for the worst movie ever made, especially starring Kevin Costner, are you trying to ruin your career??)
Saturday was filled with kilometers and kilometers of walking! Since we were staying in Ginza it was a great location to walk and check out the Imperial Palace. Like the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Imperial Palace is home to the Emperor of Japan. Unlike the Forbidden City, The Emperor of Japan is still alive and well and living in the Imperial Palace. After much attempt at getting inside the compound we gave up and just took pictures from across the moat. The Emperor of Japan is the only living and current head of state entitled "Emperor" in the world and the current Emperor is Akihito.
We spent a good portion of the day walking around the outer grounds and gardens of the palace enjoying a beautiful Summer day in Tokyo. By midday Ian and I were hungry for some sushi and on the way back to our hotel we found this little sushi bar on one of the side streets of Ginza. Both Ian and I believed it was the best sushi we have ever eaten anywhere in the world, it was amazing!
Before we returned to the hotel we had one last stop to make, the Sony building! It was cool to see 4 floors of new and upcoming products from Sony, nothing futuristic like I was expecting but some cool upgrades to cameras and video camcorders.
After a quick breather its back out into the city, this time to explore Harujuku, a famous location in Tokyo where the qwerky...i mean eccentric youngsters of Tokyo come to hang out.
...Viewer beware, this video might make you want to remove your eardrums...
After Harujuku and a nice dinner of tempura its off to the famous Shibuya crossing. My friend Peter took this video the night we were there and had over 167,000 views by the next morning, thats crazy!!!
After Shibuya it was back to the hotel for an early night to bed. In the morning we were going to visit Tsukiji Market the largest fish market in the world! When we arrived at the market at 5am to the disappointment of all of us the market was closed on Sunday's, the one day we decide to wake up at 4:30am to visit! We'll have to try again another day.
Sunday was a very interesting day. After having explored Shibuya twice in the previous two days and having seen the Imperial Palace, Sunday was dedicated to visiting a Japanese Onsen. Just like a hot spring in America, a Japanese Onsen is frequently visited by many Japanese. The Onsen that we visited had natural springs that brought Iron rich water from deep in the ground to the surface. There were 6 separate springs and many individual springs to choose from ranging from 18 degrees celsius to 42 degrees celsius. Due to the highly enriched iron in the water, the water appeared black and you could not see your hand an inch under the water. It was a fun but crazy experience sitting in the Onsen for a few hours, letting our tired muscles relax and recuperate in the hot water, but hanging out with dozens of naked dudes is not my style. Thanks for a cool Japanese experience but its one that I probably won't do again soon.
On the way back from the Onsen, the group of us stopped for Crepes in (where else?) Shibuya. These crepes were awesome, you could get anything from ice cream and chocolate sauce to eggs and sausage in your crepe, I went with the first option. While the Crepe was awesome and worth the wait in line, we happened to be standing next to a Japanese street game show and unfortunately the person with the mic had the most obnoxious voice in the world, by the time we were leaving Matt, Ian and I were literally holding Peter back from attacking the person and destroying the microphone. Before heading to bed we had to get some real food so Ian, Peter and I stopped by a 24 hour sushi bar right around the corner from our hotel, most of the sushi was good except for one piece of white fish. Ian tasted it and said "Guys, you are definitely not going to like this" which at that point of course Peter and I ate it and in the end only one of us actually was able to finish the piece and it was not me (that was the first really bad experience with sushi).
In the morning we woke up again to try to see Tsukiji Market and finally it was open! Check out my photos to see tons of fish available for purchase in the market. Each day Tsukiji handles over 2000 metric tons of seafood, and it all creates an intoxicating aroma! After a day full of visits highlighted by our charming good looks and a very successful parent program its off to our next destination. Unfortunately this is where Peter and Matt are leaving us for home. While I'm very envious of them returning to the states it has been a fun filled week traveling with them. For Ian, Jen and I its off to Taipei.
Thanks for a fun filled week of travel:
Tokyo is stop 3 on my 7 week trip to Asia and its good to know that someone is keeping a watch on me, below is my nieces map that she is following my trip on!
Well the most important part of this whole blog is that for the first time ever I have an entire weekend in Tokyo! A full day of visits wasn't going to stop us from enjoying the city and all recommendations lead to Shibuya, one of the bigger hang-out areas of Tokyo. I was as always in the mood for sushi and lead the guys on a hunt for a sushi-go-round (see my spring Tokyo blog for my obsession with sushi and conveyor belt sushi). Eventually we found one after about 45 minutes of searching and sat down for a big meal of sushi. Its great when you go to a sushi-go-round because you can just grab the plates from the belt and eat whatever looks good to you, and I ate a lot! Overall the quality was good but not the best I've seen in Tokyo, but the experience was great.
After dinner it was off to a very local Japanese bar called "Hobgoblin." Actually its like the largest Expat pub in Tokyo. We were going to meet a counselor from one of our schools there and when we stepped out of the elevator we were welcomed by the roar of dozens of Expats, I was back in an Irish pub in Boston! In true Tokyo style we talked with the counselor and each other for the rest of the night sipping on "native" Guiness. Hey we never said that travel was work 24 hours a day!
(On a side note, after much debate I have decided that "The Postman" has surpassed "Waterworld" for the worst movie ever made, especially starring Kevin Costner, are you trying to ruin your career??)
Saturday was filled with kilometers and kilometers of walking! Since we were staying in Ginza it was a great location to walk and check out the Imperial Palace. Like the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Imperial Palace is home to the Emperor of Japan. Unlike the Forbidden City, The Emperor of Japan is still alive and well and living in the Imperial Palace. After much attempt at getting inside the compound we gave up and just took pictures from across the moat. The Emperor of Japan is the only living and current head of state entitled "Emperor" in the world and the current Emperor is Akihito.
We spent a good portion of the day walking around the outer grounds and gardens of the palace enjoying a beautiful Summer day in Tokyo. By midday Ian and I were hungry for some sushi and on the way back to our hotel we found this little sushi bar on one of the side streets of Ginza. Both Ian and I believed it was the best sushi we have ever eaten anywhere in the world, it was amazing!
Before we returned to the hotel we had one last stop to make, the Sony building! It was cool to see 4 floors of new and upcoming products from Sony, nothing futuristic like I was expecting but some cool upgrades to cameras and video camcorders.
After a quick breather its back out into the city, this time to explore Harujuku, a famous location in Tokyo where the qwerky...i mean eccentric youngsters of Tokyo come to hang out.
...Viewer beware, this video might make you want to remove your eardrums...
After Harujuku and a nice dinner of tempura its off to the famous Shibuya crossing. My friend Peter took this video the night we were there and had over 167,000 views by the next morning, thats crazy!!!
After Shibuya it was back to the hotel for an early night to bed. In the morning we were going to visit Tsukiji Market the largest fish market in the world! When we arrived at the market at 5am to the disappointment of all of us the market was closed on Sunday's, the one day we decide to wake up at 4:30am to visit! We'll have to try again another day.
Sunday was a very interesting day. After having explored Shibuya twice in the previous two days and having seen the Imperial Palace, Sunday was dedicated to visiting a Japanese Onsen. Just like a hot spring in America, a Japanese Onsen is frequently visited by many Japanese. The Onsen that we visited had natural springs that brought Iron rich water from deep in the ground to the surface. There were 6 separate springs and many individual springs to choose from ranging from 18 degrees celsius to 42 degrees celsius. Due to the highly enriched iron in the water, the water appeared black and you could not see your hand an inch under the water. It was a fun but crazy experience sitting in the Onsen for a few hours, letting our tired muscles relax and recuperate in the hot water, but hanging out with dozens of naked dudes is not my style. Thanks for a cool Japanese experience but its one that I probably won't do again soon.
On the way back from the Onsen, the group of us stopped for Crepes in (where else?) Shibuya. These crepes were awesome, you could get anything from ice cream and chocolate sauce to eggs and sausage in your crepe, I went with the first option. While the Crepe was awesome and worth the wait in line, we happened to be standing next to a Japanese street game show and unfortunately the person with the mic had the most obnoxious voice in the world, by the time we were leaving Matt, Ian and I were literally holding Peter back from attacking the person and destroying the microphone. Before heading to bed we had to get some real food so Ian, Peter and I stopped by a 24 hour sushi bar right around the corner from our hotel, most of the sushi was good except for one piece of white fish. Ian tasted it and said "Guys, you are definitely not going to like this" which at that point of course Peter and I ate it and in the end only one of us actually was able to finish the piece and it was not me (that was the first really bad experience with sushi).
In the morning we woke up again to try to see Tsukiji Market and finally it was open! Check out my photos to see tons of fish available for purchase in the market. Each day Tsukiji handles over 2000 metric tons of seafood, and it all creates an intoxicating aroma! After a day full of visits highlighted by our charming good looks and a very successful parent program its off to our next destination. Unfortunately this is where Peter and Matt are leaving us for home. While I'm very envious of them returning to the states it has been a fun filled week traveling with them. For Ian, Jen and I its off to Taipei.
Thanks for a fun filled week of travel:
Friday, September 11, 2009
Kamsahamida Seoul!
Wow, so Seoul, is a pretty cool city when you finally get a chance to explore it and hanging out with other people in Seoul makes it really fun! By now I'm sure you realize that I'm not actually in Seoul but I'm trying to catch up on my blog because I have had an amazing couple of weeks thanks to Ian Fisher, Jen Russell, Matt Bonser and Peter Boston. For Seoul, and Tokyo the 5 of us took the cities by storm! It all starts with...
Monday, August 31st 9:00a.m. Singapore time
Ian: "Don't know if you've heard from Jen but a typhoon warning in Tokyo has delayed my flight and canceled hers..."
Hmm maybe I'll be starting in Seoul by myself but luckily Ian's flight was able to leave a little later and make it to Seoul before the start of our visits which is good because I was really looking forward to group visits in Seoul hoping to bring in more students to each visit.
Ian Fisher is a rep from Reed College in Oregon and like me attended his institution prior to working for it. You never know what to expect when you plan group travel, many times you don't get a chance to meet each other before you say "yeah! lets spend 2 weeks together working for 16 hours a day in a stressful environment," but luckily every group I have been a part of has been a lot of fun and this one was no different. Ian and I got along easily and before I knew it he was trying to lead me around Seoul (he has never been there), and as he told me, like his Dad I would wait until we were going the wrong way to say anything.
Seoul is a massive city, think New York City and each of your visits are as far apart as possible one side to another. It easily took an hour each way to get to our visits on the first day, but true to form, with more than one admissions counselor visiting we were able to draw a bigger crowd. By the end of the day it was time to explore Seoul! This is my third visit to Seoul but the first with enough time to really explore the city, so Ian and I walked around for about an hour seeing the City Hall area and Cheonggyecheon stream.
Ian had also heard that the street food was awesome and when we found a cart, we jumped on it, eating whatever they were selling. We still don't know exactly what we ate, I know I had fish paste on a stick (tastes much better then it sounds) and we had spicy and hot rice cake and fish something that was amazing...
We topped it all off with the best donuts I have ever had. This old guy was making and selling the donuts on the street for 50 cents a piece, 2 for 25 cents a piece and you could dip it in as much sugar as you wanted. These donuts were the best, you could actually feel your arteries constricting as you ate them but they were great! I think all together we spent no more than 5 bucks on the entire dinner.
By the next day Jen had finally arrived from the U.S. to join us for our visit, and it was right in time. Our first visit was an hour taxi ride away, but the school visit was great and my wife is going to love the gift they gave me! By the afternoon Matt and Peter had arrived in Seoul to meet us at our final visit for the day. Neither of them had ever been to Seoul and somehow I failed to mention the awesome, easy and efficient bus service that runs from the airport directly to our hotel, so instead they took a train to another train to the subway to the hotel, but either way they arrived safely.
That evening while Jen and Peter met with alumni, Ian and I took Matt on a tour of the city, basically seeing what we saw the day before and eating the exact same street food as the night before but it was still awesome! We then went to a couple cool bars in Seoul, where we were pretty sure we were the only foreigners for about a mile radius but no one cared and we had a lot of fun!
The next day was our last in Seoul and it was sad for all of us as we had a great time in the city. We went to the first visit early in the morning which gave us a lot of time to eat one last lunch in the Lotte Hotel underground market. This is the same market I have mentioned in previous blogs where they have tons of different vendors, and of course my favorite dim sum and sushi. This time I also had a pineapple and kiwi fruit juice where they basically took chunks of pineapple and kiwi and blended it up then added just enough water to make it a juice but it tasted great.
Good times in Seoul, now off to Tokyo.
Monday, August 31st 9:00a.m. Singapore time
Ian: "Don't know if you've heard from Jen but a typhoon warning in Tokyo has delayed my flight and canceled hers..."
Hmm maybe I'll be starting in Seoul by myself but luckily Ian's flight was able to leave a little later and make it to Seoul before the start of our visits which is good because I was really looking forward to group visits in Seoul hoping to bring in more students to each visit.
Ian Fisher is a rep from Reed College in Oregon and like me attended his institution prior to working for it. You never know what to expect when you plan group travel, many times you don't get a chance to meet each other before you say "yeah! lets spend 2 weeks together working for 16 hours a day in a stressful environment," but luckily every group I have been a part of has been a lot of fun and this one was no different. Ian and I got along easily and before I knew it he was trying to lead me around Seoul (he has never been there), and as he told me, like his Dad I would wait until we were going the wrong way to say anything.
Seoul is a massive city, think New York City and each of your visits are as far apart as possible one side to another. It easily took an hour each way to get to our visits on the first day, but true to form, with more than one admissions counselor visiting we were able to draw a bigger crowd. By the end of the day it was time to explore Seoul! This is my third visit to Seoul but the first with enough time to really explore the city, so Ian and I walked around for about an hour seeing the City Hall area and Cheonggyecheon stream.
Ian had also heard that the street food was awesome and when we found a cart, we jumped on it, eating whatever they were selling. We still don't know exactly what we ate, I know I had fish paste on a stick (tastes much better then it sounds) and we had spicy and hot rice cake and fish something that was amazing...
We topped it all off with the best donuts I have ever had. This old guy was making and selling the donuts on the street for 50 cents a piece, 2 for 25 cents a piece and you could dip it in as much sugar as you wanted. These donuts were the best, you could actually feel your arteries constricting as you ate them but they were great! I think all together we spent no more than 5 bucks on the entire dinner.
By the next day Jen had finally arrived from the U.S. to join us for our visit, and it was right in time. Our first visit was an hour taxi ride away, but the school visit was great and my wife is going to love the gift they gave me! By the afternoon Matt and Peter had arrived in Seoul to meet us at our final visit for the day. Neither of them had ever been to Seoul and somehow I failed to mention the awesome, easy and efficient bus service that runs from the airport directly to our hotel, so instead they took a train to another train to the subway to the hotel, but either way they arrived safely.
That evening while Jen and Peter met with alumni, Ian and I took Matt on a tour of the city, basically seeing what we saw the day before and eating the exact same street food as the night before but it was still awesome! We then went to a couple cool bars in Seoul, where we were pretty sure we were the only foreigners for about a mile radius but no one cared and we had a lot of fun!
The next day was our last in Seoul and it was sad for all of us as we had a great time in the city. We went to the first visit early in the morning which gave us a lot of time to eat one last lunch in the Lotte Hotel underground market. This is the same market I have mentioned in previous blogs where they have tons of different vendors, and of course my favorite dim sum and sushi. This time I also had a pineapple and kiwi fruit juice where they basically took chunks of pineapple and kiwi and blended it up then added just enough water to make it a juice but it tasted great.
Good times in Seoul, now off to Tokyo.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Singapore
Well its been a while since my last post but I have been pretty busy! Last time I left you I was just finishing up my second day in Singapore and the rest of my time there was just as fun. On Friday I watched the Dodgeball tournament at ICS in Singapore and then went out to a nice mexican dinner (in Singapore) with the school counselor, principal and about 4 of the teachers. It was a lot of fun and I got to learn alot more about the school and how challenging their curriculum is, not to mention the enchiladas were pretty good for halfway around the world!
On Saturday I had a lot of free time but just as I was about to head out into the city I heard from my colleague from Skidmore who was in Singapore too, we decided to meet up and have lunch/sightsee in Clarke Quay. Clarke Quay is a big tourist spot in Singapore and the restaurant hub, right along the river in the middle of Singapore. It has every type of food you can imagine and is a great place to hang out on the weekend. It was alot of fun having lunch there so we ended up going back to Clarke Quay for dinner with two other colleagues from Colorado College and Kenyon College. It was a fun night but unfortunately I woke up to pouring rain for all of Sunday, which was disappointing as I was going to explore the bird park but it did allow me to catch up on my work. On Sunday night I was able to get out for a bit and had dinner with one of the alums I see regularly which was great for my last night in Singapore...until the spring! Next onto Seoul!
I've added pictures from Singapore, enjoy!
On Saturday I had a lot of free time but just as I was about to head out into the city I heard from my colleague from Skidmore who was in Singapore too, we decided to meet up and have lunch/sightsee in Clarke Quay. Clarke Quay is a big tourist spot in Singapore and the restaurant hub, right along the river in the middle of Singapore. It has every type of food you can imagine and is a great place to hang out on the weekend. It was alot of fun having lunch there so we ended up going back to Clarke Quay for dinner with two other colleagues from Colorado College and Kenyon College. It was a fun night but unfortunately I woke up to pouring rain for all of Sunday, which was disappointing as I was going to explore the bird park but it did allow me to catch up on my work. On Sunday night I was able to get out for a bit and had dinner with one of the alums I see regularly which was great for my last night in Singapore...until the spring! Next onto Seoul!
I've added pictures from Singapore, enjoy!
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