tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51271555507803787602012-01-29T08:00:04.030-08:00A Rear View ShireAn ongoing journal of my life and times away from home, San Diego. Currently centered on China, but having previously focused on travels in Japan and South Korea as well, this will continue to be updated with the latest of my travel experiences.sandiegosonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09921229328584955917noreply@blogger.comBlogger621100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127155550780378760.post-929579238225512962012-01-29T02:06:00.000-08:002012-01-29T02:08:40.211-08:00The Soft Grand Pre-Re-OpeningOkay, so probably anyone reading this knows by now that I'm teaching in Korea, and that it's been roughly 18 months since my last post. So, let's get on with it!
I have no idea how often I'll be posting about Korea topics here... at some point I might even do some retrospectives on travel in Asia in 2010. I'm sure you can handle it.
So, just the other day, I reached the milestone of sandiegosonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09921229328584955917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127155550780378760.post-8185094008399790422010-09-08T02:51:00.000-07:002010-09-08T02:51:35.227-07:00Oh yeah, that bit.So, I was going to write about the last day of my trip in Xiamen, but it just isn’t that interesting. I’ll throw in a couple of pictures to discuss the few highlights, but there weren’t many.
Jing and I’s first stop on the itinerary for the day was the Xiamen University, which has the repuation of being the most beautiful of all university campuses in Southern China. It was a bit of a snoozefest sandiegosonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09921229328584955917noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127155550780378760.post-35647470558143850132010-08-28T19:21:00.000-07:002010-08-28T19:22:18.594-07:00The King DonutSo, the next day, Jing and I got up bright and early to get a bus to Yongding Village, or Yongding County, depending on how you want to translate it. I guess county works a bit better, its not just one small village.
There’s one distinctive thing about Yongding county, and that’s the legacy left behind by the Hakka ethnic peoples who live in the area. The Hakkas were a pretty mobile people, andsandiegosonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09921229328584955917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127155550780378760.post-36957694716957228012010-08-22T22:09:00.001-07:002010-08-22T22:09:09.142-07:00A Taste of the Old World
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Nevertheless, its still sandiegosonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09921229328584955917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127155550780378760.post-2454942462659837202010-06-29T04:10:00.000-07:002010-06-29T04:10:46.788-07:00Into the Expo
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In truth, I should have quite a few more pictures to support this story, but I've since discovered that a good number of the ones that were relevant were way too washed out; also, if anyone can tip me on how to embed video into these blog posts, I can put up a couple of those also.
Anyway, so, roaming around Shanghai, if you go to any of the "sandiegosonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09921229328584955917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127155550780378760.post-16501614117589048952010-06-19T10:36:00.000-07:002010-06-19T10:36:37.630-07:00Not Exactly Chingrish, but...So, here's another simple picture story.
China is also a land of many stores that feature English names, for reasons that escape any notion of logic. I find them in places where the number of English-speaking Chinese people is almost nil, but even in a place like Shanghai, there aren't that many. Nevertheless, they probably think it helps branding somehow, making it seem classier or more sandiegosonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09921229328584955917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127155550780378760.post-85333126700664973042010-06-19T01:35:00.000-07:002010-06-19T01:35:39.848-07:00Finally, an episode of ChingrishThis has been a long time coming. It won't be the last entry I do about funny signs in Asia, that's for sure. Most everyone knows, or at least has heard of, the suspicious translations to be found in Asia, so here I am to show you some of the gems I've come across!
Now, let it be said that its almost never actually a challenge to understand what the signs are saying. And sometimes, there isn't sandiegosonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09921229328584955917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127155550780378760.post-57861741497638531582010-06-18T00:06:00.000-07:002010-06-18T00:06:50.199-07:00A New Era Continued (featuring the impossible)As I'm sure many of you know, China is a place of remarkably fast-paced progress and development. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the place was close to a barren wasteland a few decades ago. Double digit growth, toppling Japan for #2 GDP in the world, blah blah blah.
The truly important story here is that thanks to their disregard for reality, China can pull off the impossible. You know the old sandiegosonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09921229328584955917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127155550780378760.post-67181487441070520622010-06-17T10:04:00.000-07:002010-06-17T10:08:13.088-07:00A New Era Continued (featuring bears)So, I'm going for a different feel for a bit.
I've still got some long form stories within me to tell, but those are on hold. In fact, I'm working on writing them also, but I'm writing various things.
For the time being, I'm going to start doing roughly a post every day about some smaller topics, usually involving one picture and a small story. I know this is actually pretty typical of blogging sandiegosonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09921229328584955917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127155550780378760.post-29127996022793070922010-05-22T03:58:00.001-07:002010-05-22T04:00:47.260-07:00The End of This Road
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sandiegosonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09921229328584955917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127155550780378760.post-18009702800190831202010-01-16T05:31:00.000-08:002010-01-16T10:14:59.809-08:00Dallying in Dali
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sandiegosonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09921229328584955917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127155550780378760.post-79500221099185763502009-12-14T05:59:00.000-08:002010-10-06T19:47:26.459-07:00Soul Searching in Shangri-La pt. II So there we were at the entrance of our first ever Tibetan Buddhist monastery. I'm not really sure what kinds of preconceptions any of us had about it, and the culture of the area. It's one of those topics, you know, the sort of thing everyone has heard of, but most people know nothing about, and are nevertheless attracted to it because of this discrepancy. I tried to keep my mind clean of itsandiegosonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09921229328584955917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127155550780378760.post-51440802630105230212009-12-14T01:55:00.000-08:002010-01-03T08:36:15.760-08:00Soul Searching in Shangri-La pt. I
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Well, I'm pretty well settled into Shanghai, by now, and life here is fantastic. But! It's not time to tell that story yet. I've got catching up to do, so I'm going to tell the rest of Japan now, then get to Korea, although Korea might be slightly abbreviated, depending on my mood.
Where we last leftsandiegosonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09921229328584955917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127155550780378760.post-1057788622002000892009-09-09T05:31:00.000-07:002009-09-09T05:33:07.893-07:00Excuse us for this brief intermissionInternet in Shanghai has been a bit shoddy for a bit, but things are getting better. Expect updates recommencing within a few days!sandiegosonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09921229328584955917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127155550780378760.post-29792779654859013872009-08-26T06:05:00.000-07:002010-01-03T08:40:57.916-08:00Osaka SucksI'm putting up the stories about Osaka right now also, because I don't know when I'll next get a chance, and I'd rather get it out sooner rather than later. For those who're just checking now, there's also a second day of Kyoto below, so don't skip it!
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Sooooo Monday begins. I get up early-ish, but only by my standards; I know almost every person reading this works at a real job, and gets up at 6 or 7am every day. I got up at probably around 9am, and I tried to take it easy to begin with. I had made some slight preparations for the trip up sandiegosonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09921229328584955917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127155550780378760.post-51221267361525137602009-08-07T18:47:00.000-07:002010-01-03T08:45:13.291-08:00Well, today, the real today, was pretty crappy, but I’m going to try to keep that out of this writing. WARNING: This is a pretty long entry.
In this entry, I’m going to talk about my Mount Fuji (mis) adventures. It started on Sunday; Sunday was a day almost as frustrating as today, although it had some saving graces. I was planning on meeting a Japanese friend of mine that I met years ago sandiegosonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09921229328584955917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127155550780378760.post-4059254701402769932009-08-04T07:52:00.000-07:002010-01-03T08:45:38.316-08:00Plastic Choco-mirukuDay 3
The first, by far most important objective of the day was to take my skateboard to a skate shop and get it in working condition. I did my research the night before, and it turned out there was an all-purpose sports shop with a skating section not far from my hostel, so I skipped over there quick as I could.
If you had told me a year ago that I'd be trying to use Japanese to get my sandiegosonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09921229328584955917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127155550780378760.post-34196619859952254112009-08-02T03:29:00.000-07:002010-01-03T08:46:01.763-08:00The First Day Out, or, Japanese Water Cannons
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Day 1:
So, I stayed up sandiegosonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09921229328584955917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127155550780378760.post-19105573120128892902009-07-16T23:04:00.000-07:002009-07-17T00:33:35.145-07:00Pacific Beach, San Diego, Part IThis is my home. Or, you know, the beach at the end of my street, which I've been to so many times that I think of it as my own.There've been plenty of times when I would walk, run, or skate down here at least once a day. Being less than a mile from my house, it's pretty easy to do.After hitting the end of the street, and turning left around the edge of a small hotel complex, this is what I seesandiegosonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09921229328584955917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127155550780378760.post-3365452117583559502009-07-16T21:46:00.000-07:002009-07-16T22:23:27.366-07:00Orc Invasion PracticeThis is just going to be a photo post. Taken today, 7/16, at the UCSD archery range.Is that Orc I smell?If you look really carefully, just to the right of my left hand, there's a blur of an arrow in flight.Elisa's fiery reflexes catch another arrow in flight in the forefront of this pictureThis one's kind of hard to see, but the arrow she just released can be seen as though still resting on the sandiegosonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09921229328584955917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127155550780378760.post-31861753568366400262009-07-06T00:53:00.000-07:002009-07-06T01:18:56.599-07:00A Wild Sheep ChaseOkay, so I'm lagging on putting up pictures. In the meantime, though, I'm going to say a few words about stuff I'm reading. I just read this novel, "A Wild Sheep Chase", by the Japanese author Haruki Murakami.Its a weird one, although anyone who has read any Murakami won't be surprised by this in the slightest. The only other work of his I had read prior was The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which sandiegosonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09921229328584955917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127155550780378760.post-72567084730091957902009-07-04T01:59:00.000-07:002009-07-04T02:04:52.540-07:00'Nuff Said.This isn't what this blog was created for, but, still.... you have to read this. Period.Wrestling Midgets 'Killed By Fake Prostitutes'sandiegosonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09921229328584955917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127155550780378760.post-73152861259299081712009-06-29T23:40:00.000-07:002009-06-29T23:43:13.321-07:00And so it begins...This is my first post in this blog, which will be the site of all my forthcoming adventures in Japan, Korea, China, and perhaps (hopefully) beyond.I'm due to set out exactly a month from today, July 29th 2009. When I do so, it'll easily be the farthest from home I've ever gone in my entire life. To fill the interim until that point, though, I'll put up a smattering of pictures from my home thatsandiegosonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09921229328584955917noreply@blogger.com1