Last night we celebrated the completion of our project. I'll be here for another week to ensure that everything cleans up nicely.
We went to an interesting place called Andres Carnederes (http://www.andrescarnederes.com). It is a Colombian steakhouse and was a significant amount of fun. We started off eating a ton of appetizers and beer.
This place had 5 floors, with live jazz and people in festive costumes would come around and throw confetti on your tables and play saxophone accompanied by cymbals. It was a fun place.
In North America there seem to be a large number of girls who don't like beer. South America is no exception, but they have a trick. If you add 3 parts beer to 1 part club soda, then the bitterness is removed from the beer and it becomes a girly drink. I tried it and it isn't too bad.
I had a strip-loin steak and it was a little charred on the outside as all meat seems to be in Colombia. After many many beers and glasses of wine, it was midnight and we had just about had enough. Our project manager paid for the night and then it was time for bed.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Plaza de Bolivar
I went for a walk today down Caprerra 7 and found Plaza de Bolivar. It is a massive plaza with a ton of pigeons, Bogota Cathedral, the national parliament building, city hall, and the supreme court. It was pretty cool. Here are some photos.
This one is the mayor's house
This is the parliament building.
Here is the Catherdal.
This one is the Supreme court building. Cool eh?
Sorry this post wasn't that exciting, I'll find something better for the next one.
This one is the mayor's house
This is the parliament building.
Here is the Catherdal.
This one is the Supreme court building. Cool eh?Sorry this post wasn't that exciting, I'll find something better for the next one.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
The wallet
So far, we've been quite lucky in Colombia. I was under the impression that this was a dangerous place run by drug cartels and you wouldn't be able to walk around at night. However, in the 4 weeks that I've been here, I haven't had a moment when I didn't feel safe. People here are really friendly.
However, (there is always a however) one of the guys finally met up with fate. As he was getting out of the taxi on his way home from the bar on Saturday night, he noticed that his wallet was missing from his front pocket and that the pocket was partially turned inside out. It had been stolen!
They called the police and the taxi driver went back to that bar. The taxi driver pointed to the police, a group of ruffians who had been standing outside of the bar all night. The police patted them down and guess what they found? The wallet! The taxi driver, returned the wallet to the hotel and it was recovered. We figured that it was a 1:1,000,000 chance that the wallet was going to be recovered and it looks like we beat the odds!
Anyways, I am going to continue carrying only one credit card and an expired driver's license as long as I am here just in case the same thing happens to me.
However, (there is always a however) one of the guys finally met up with fate. As he was getting out of the taxi on his way home from the bar on Saturday night, he noticed that his wallet was missing from his front pocket and that the pocket was partially turned inside out. It had been stolen!
They called the police and the taxi driver went back to that bar. The taxi driver pointed to the police, a group of ruffians who had been standing outside of the bar all night. The police patted them down and guess what they found? The wallet! The taxi driver, returned the wallet to the hotel and it was recovered. We figured that it was a 1:1,000,000 chance that the wallet was going to be recovered and it looks like we beat the odds!
Anyways, I am going to continue carrying only one credit card and an expired driver's license as long as I am here just in case the same thing happens to me.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Discrimination
So yesterday I learned what it was like to be gay. Well... at least discriminated against as gay. The rest still remains a mystery.
Louardi and I were trying to find a taxi on our way back from work and we had crossed the street so we could get a cab going the right direction. One factor that we hadn't considered was that on this side of the street, we would be outside of a motel.
Now, a motel in Colombia is not the same as a motel in Canada. In Colombia, it is a place where lovers go to get away from their families and have some fun. It is NOT a place to sleep.
Anyways, it was about 2am and here we were, 2 men outside of a motel. We tried to flag down a cab and 8 empty taxis drove right by us. Eventually we realized what we looked like and decided to cross the street again to the original side. Now that we had distanced ourselves from the motel we tried to flag a cab again. The first empty cab stopped for us!
Anyways we had a good laugh.
Louardi and I were trying to find a taxi on our way back from work and we had crossed the street so we could get a cab going the right direction. One factor that we hadn't considered was that on this side of the street, we would be outside of a motel.
Now, a motel in Colombia is not the same as a motel in Canada. In Colombia, it is a place where lovers go to get away from their families and have some fun. It is NOT a place to sleep.
Anyways, it was about 2am and here we were, 2 men outside of a motel. We tried to flag down a cab and 8 empty taxis drove right by us. Eventually we realized what we looked like and decided to cross the street again to the original side. Now that we had distanced ourselves from the motel we tried to flag a cab again. The first empty cab stopped for us!
Anyways we had a good laugh.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Museo del Oro
Last Saturday we went to the gold museum. This place had so much gold that yes, it looks like there is something about that El Dorado legend. There were four galleries, the first talked about the metalurgy, the blends between gold, silver and copper, and the manufacturing methods. The second talked about history (biggest and most boring). The third talked about the religions. Apparently the shamens used to use the cocoa plan to go into trances and see the world from a different perspective. They also used to use it to transform into different animals. I think they were just always high! The final gallery was just a ton of gold! Here are some photos:
This is what they used to wear, a breastplate. Massive earrings, and that thing covering his face is a nosering. Yeah, heavy nosering! It is supposed to look like a aguar.
There I am with something shiney!
The last room was called the offering room. You walk in and it is dark, then doors close and it is black, then lights start revealing silhouettes of motifs that you have seen throughout the museum. A light show continues and soon you see that the silhouettes are gold. There is soooo much of it! This is the centerpiece. There are several layers of gold and there is a huge emerald in the middle.
This is what they used to wear, a breastplate. Massive earrings, and that thing covering his face is a nosering. Yeah, heavy nosering! It is supposed to look like a aguar.
There I am with something shiney!
The last room was called the offering room. You walk in and it is dark, then doors close and it is black, then lights start revealing silhouettes of motifs that you have seen throughout the museum. A light show continues and soon you see that the silhouettes are gold. There is soooo much of it! This is the centerpiece. There are several layers of gold and there is a huge emerald in the middle.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monserrate
I've put off writing this post because I needed to get pictures from one of the guys with us. So here it is.
One day we too a walk to a place called Monserrate. This is a church on the top of a mountain overlooking Bogota. There are four ways up. First there is the Gondola, Second there is the Funicular, third there are the stairs. Finally, for the really devout, you can go up the stairs on your knees. The elevation gain is about 2000 feet.
The top is at about 10500 feet and you can actually feel yourself get out of breath pretty quickly. We took the gondola up and the funicular down.
Looking down was a little scary, Man was it steep!
Behind us in this picture is a massive statute of Jesus overlooking the city on another mountain. Sort of like Christ the Redeemer in Rio I guess. Pretty cool anyways.
Here are a few more photos from the top:
Mmmmm, lunch at the top. This is the kind of stuff we eat here. Lots of fried Banana.
This is the funicular to the bottom.
We passed this on the way home and I love the picture! I once again dedicate this to my vegetarian sister.
One day we too a walk to a place called Monserrate. This is a church on the top of a mountain overlooking Bogota. There are four ways up. First there is the Gondola, Second there is the Funicular, third there are the stairs. Finally, for the really devout, you can go up the stairs on your knees. The elevation gain is about 2000 feet.
The top is at about 10500 feet and you can actually feel yourself get out of breath pretty quickly. We took the gondola up and the funicular down.
Looking down was a little scary, Man was it steep!
Behind us in this picture is a massive statute of Jesus overlooking the city on another mountain. Sort of like Christ the Redeemer in Rio I guess. Pretty cool anyways.Here are a few more photos from the top:
Mmmmm, lunch at the top. This is the kind of stuff we eat here. Lots of fried Banana.
This is the funicular to the bottom.
We passed this on the way home and I love the picture! I once again dedicate this to my vegetarian sister.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Paper
What I will do for some paper.
I needed 10,000 sheets of pre-punched, 3-hole, letter-sized paper. That wouldn't be too difficult to find in Canada, but in Bogota it was nearly impossible. We asked our sponsor for an address of a place and they sent an address and some contact info. I got into a taxi with the address and was a little worried when the taxi driver said over the radio that his passenger only spoke English. I almost expected to be driven to some back alley. Half an hour later I was there, safe.
The first issue when I got there was that I didn't speak Spanish and nobody at the store spoke English. We ended calling the woman who gave us the address so she could be a translator for us on the phone. It was a little embarrassing, but it got the job done. Next I was told that I would have to wait for half an hour for the paper to be punched, it didn't come pre-punched! I went upstairs and watched as a guy used a drill-press to drill the holes in my 10,000 sheets. Not only that, but it took him an hour and a half to do it!
Okay, so that was done and they even helped me carry the 40lbs (2 boxes) of paper to the curb. Next I had to get back to the site.
I had forgotten to bring the address with me, but I knew the name of a well known landmark across the street. It has been tried, tested, and true landmark for all of the other team members so far on the project so I figured I would be okay. I'm not sure if it was my accent or what, but I gave the name of the landmark and the driver started driving. About 5 minutes of going the wrong way I realized that the driver had no idea where he was going. I told him "Norte El Dorado" and this kind of surprised him.
After arguing a little, he stopped the car and told me to get out. I owed him about 5,000 pesos but didn't bother paying. I was now in a back-road with 40lbs of paper and no idea where I was. It took about 5 minutes before another taxi came buy. I decided to talk to him this time before getting in. As soon as he realized I only spoke English, he drove away.
Another 5 minutes past and I finally managed to get another taxi. This time I jumped in before talking and then just said "norte" (north). He started driving to where our site was, under my directions. Now I don't actually have the city memorized and had never really paid attention to directions in the car. This was incredibly frustrating.
I made us take sooooo many wrong turns. I think the driver was getting a little frustrated. Eventually we passed the right road by accident, took a U-turn about a kilometer away, and then passed the road again. The driver pulled over and pointed to his watch as if his shift was over. I refused to get out this time and we continued. We made another U-turn about another kilometer away, and then finally got to where we needed to be.
We stopped at the gates outside the complex and a security guard came up (I had never actually been stopped here before). He asked me for my I.D. and I gave him my company badge. He noticed that it didn't match the IDs for the rest of the people working there (we are on a contract for that company). Once again the lack of Spanish was a problem. He eventually radioed to someone and gave them my name. They radioed back that it was okay (I never actually gave my name to anyone so I don't know how they knew me). After an hour and a half with this taxi, the ordeal was over!
I never want to put that much effort into getting paper again.
I needed 10,000 sheets of pre-punched, 3-hole, letter-sized paper. That wouldn't be too difficult to find in Canada, but in Bogota it was nearly impossible. We asked our sponsor for an address of a place and they sent an address and some contact info. I got into a taxi with the address and was a little worried when the taxi driver said over the radio that his passenger only spoke English. I almost expected to be driven to some back alley. Half an hour later I was there, safe.
The first issue when I got there was that I didn't speak Spanish and nobody at the store spoke English. We ended calling the woman who gave us the address so she could be a translator for us on the phone. It was a little embarrassing, but it got the job done. Next I was told that I would have to wait for half an hour for the paper to be punched, it didn't come pre-punched! I went upstairs and watched as a guy used a drill-press to drill the holes in my 10,000 sheets. Not only that, but it took him an hour and a half to do it!
Okay, so that was done and they even helped me carry the 40lbs (2 boxes) of paper to the curb. Next I had to get back to the site.
I had forgotten to bring the address with me, but I knew the name of a well known landmark across the street. It has been tried, tested, and true landmark for all of the other team members so far on the project so I figured I would be okay. I'm not sure if it was my accent or what, but I gave the name of the landmark and the driver started driving. About 5 minutes of going the wrong way I realized that the driver had no idea where he was going. I told him "Norte El Dorado" and this kind of surprised him.
After arguing a little, he stopped the car and told me to get out. I owed him about 5,000 pesos but didn't bother paying. I was now in a back-road with 40lbs of paper and no idea where I was. It took about 5 minutes before another taxi came buy. I decided to talk to him this time before getting in. As soon as he realized I only spoke English, he drove away.
Another 5 minutes past and I finally managed to get another taxi. This time I jumped in before talking and then just said "norte" (north). He started driving to where our site was, under my directions. Now I don't actually have the city memorized and had never really paid attention to directions in the car. This was incredibly frustrating.
I made us take sooooo many wrong turns. I think the driver was getting a little frustrated. Eventually we passed the right road by accident, took a U-turn about a kilometer away, and then passed the road again. The driver pulled over and pointed to his watch as if his shift was over. I refused to get out this time and we continued. We made another U-turn about another kilometer away, and then finally got to where we needed to be.
We stopped at the gates outside the complex and a security guard came up (I had never actually been stopped here before). He asked me for my I.D. and I gave him my company badge. He noticed that it didn't match the IDs for the rest of the people working there (we are on a contract for that company). Once again the lack of Spanish was a problem. He eventually radioed to someone and gave them my name. They radioed back that it was okay (I never actually gave my name to anyone so I don't know how they knew me). After an hour and a half with this taxi, the ordeal was over!
I never want to put that much effort into getting paper again.
Friday, October 23, 2009
A night at the circus.
So here I am, in Bogota, on a Friday night. What do I do?
I started off looking for a place to have dinner. I walked around the commercial area and couldn't find anything and so I headed over to the bull fight arena where I was sure there would be some restaurants. I found myself walking down a dark street and suddenly no one was around. I knew it was time to get out of there so I headed to where I heard some loud music. It was a bar, so I figured it sounded friendly enough and walked in.
A man greeted me at the door and offered me a beer which I gladly accepted. I walked into the bar to find that there was no one in it. The man who offered me the beer remained outside and it was a little weird. It was the kind of place I would expect to see a Colombian mobster hang out. This was way worse than the dark street so I drank my beer as fast as comfortable and left.
Learning from my mistake, I quickly headed to where I heard the most noise. I found myself on a crowded street which was closed to traffic. The first thing I came across was a volleyball/soccer match. Someone had put a tennis net across the street and people were playing volleyball without using their hands. It looked like anyone could join but I stayed on the sidelines as they were insanely competitive.
I found a pizza place on this street and had a beer and pizza while watching the festivities. The next stop I came to had some really good jugglers. These guys (and girl) had a ton of makeup on and were completely in the clown costume. They juggled knives while on unicycles and balancing glowing orbs on their heads. I was mesmerized by these guys for about 20 minutes. Now I know where Cirq du Solei originated from.
A few feet later I met a mime. This is the first person I have met in Colombia who actually speaks my language. He gave me a sticker and so I gave him a couple of coins.
The next thing I came across was a jump-rope competition. There was a rope for adults and a rope for kids. Anyone could jump in whenever a round started, then whoever messed up had to leave the rope and the rest remained. Some of these guys were really good!
I eventually started heading back and on my way back I met a guy with a leather jacket and a really cool mohawk. He said something in Spanish which I think had the word 'coca' in it. I said "no hable espanole" and he replied "wanna smoke something?". I said no thanks and walked on. I guess I should expect to be propositioned for stuff like that while in Colombia.
My last stop was when a guy with dreadlocks in a ponytail, a handlebar mustache, and oversized clownboots grabbed my arm and wanted to teach me how to ride a unicycle. I politely refused as I have no idea what he is saying.
It was a fun and cheap few hours. It would be great if I found more streets like that in Canada. Man, I'd be there everynight!
I started off looking for a place to have dinner. I walked around the commercial area and couldn't find anything and so I headed over to the bull fight arena where I was sure there would be some restaurants. I found myself walking down a dark street and suddenly no one was around. I knew it was time to get out of there so I headed to where I heard some loud music. It was a bar, so I figured it sounded friendly enough and walked in.
A man greeted me at the door and offered me a beer which I gladly accepted. I walked into the bar to find that there was no one in it. The man who offered me the beer remained outside and it was a little weird. It was the kind of place I would expect to see a Colombian mobster hang out. This was way worse than the dark street so I drank my beer as fast as comfortable and left.
Learning from my mistake, I quickly headed to where I heard the most noise. I found myself on a crowded street which was closed to traffic. The first thing I came across was a volleyball/soccer match. Someone had put a tennis net across the street and people were playing volleyball without using their hands. It looked like anyone could join but I stayed on the sidelines as they were insanely competitive.
I found a pizza place on this street and had a beer and pizza while watching the festivities. The next stop I came to had some really good jugglers. These guys (and girl) had a ton of makeup on and were completely in the clown costume. They juggled knives while on unicycles and balancing glowing orbs on their heads. I was mesmerized by these guys for about 20 minutes. Now I know where Cirq du Solei originated from.
A few feet later I met a mime. This is the first person I have met in Colombia who actually speaks my language. He gave me a sticker and so I gave him a couple of coins.
The next thing I came across was a jump-rope competition. There was a rope for adults and a rope for kids. Anyone could jump in whenever a round started, then whoever messed up had to leave the rope and the rest remained. Some of these guys were really good!I eventually started heading back and on my way back I met a guy with a leather jacket and a really cool mohawk. He said something in Spanish which I think had the word 'coca' in it. I said "no hable espanole" and he replied "wanna smoke something?". I said no thanks and walked on. I guess I should expect to be propositioned for stuff like that while in Colombia.
My last stop was when a guy with dreadlocks in a ponytail, a handlebar mustache, and oversized clownboots grabbed my arm and wanted to teach me how to ride a unicycle. I politely refused as I have no idea what he is saying.
It was a fun and cheap few hours. It would be great if I found more streets like that in Canada. Man, I'd be there everynight!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Malta
In my continuous desire to try new things when I go to new places, I found a soft drink that I had never heard of. It is called Pony Malta and was easily the worst drink I have ever bought. It had this sweet molasses taste and I couldn't quite put my finger on it. When I made a terrible face after my 3rd or 4th sip (I can't believe I made it that far), someone commented: "That's beer!". It sure didn't taste like beer. Upon further consideration, we realized that it was wort, the first step in making beer.
Now it made sense. I like to home-brew and usually taste the wort before I pitch the yeast and this was a similar taste (although I think mine is better). I can't believe they would make a drink like that! It must have been a mistake that someone decided to market.
After a little more research I found out that there are around 100 brands of Malta. I don't get it!
Anyways, enough on this subject...
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Another Crazy Night
So we had another one of our infamous nights last night.
The night started off at the hotel bar. We started off as 6. I was the new guy on the turf and the others had been working here for about 6 weeks. They are all the blue collared types and are all huge, rough looking guys, so they are definitely the type of people I'd want when walking around at 3am in Bogota. The 6 of us all met up and then found some other English businessmen and had a drink with them. One of them was named Ziggy and apparently they drink a few beers in the taxi on their way home from work every day. Anyways they gave us a good laugh and kept us entertained for a little while.
So we started getting bored of the hotel bar and wanted to find something fun to do. We asked the bar manager, who was happy to make some suggestions and asked if he could come with us. Having a local is always a good idea and this guy seemed like fun so we said yes! Next one of our friends had found himself a girlfriend in his 3 weeks here so he called her up and two more of her friends. So.... 6 Canadian dudes and 4 Colombians.
(sorry about the pink, I think my camera has almost had it).
We found a neat restaurant downtown. It was 9:00 at this point, so it is a good thing that we had that bar guy with us because he was able to talk his way into getting a table for 10 without reservations. I had no idea what to order so I asked him to get me something Columbian. He ended up ordering some sort of bite-sized fish fillets covered in a spicy vinaigrette kind of thing for appetizer and then some sort of pulled meat, with really good potatoes, fried banana and avocado for dinner.
During dinner, the music was a little louder than it would normally be at a restaurant and I noticed that it was run by a DJ on a balcony. They were playing 80s music and after a few drinks these tough Canadian guys started singing along with the songs and moving to the beat. I have to admit, I may have joined.
Before I knew it, the music was so loud that we couldn't speak, no one was sitting down anymore, and the place had turned into a night club. I have to admit, the music in South America is so much better than it is in North America, it is a lot more fun! So after a few more drinks and a few hundred thousand pesos we closed up the bar (yes, we were the last to leave). The one guy said goodbye to his short-term girlfriend with lots of tears (as he left the next day) and half an hour later we found ourselves in the cab on the way home. We arrived back at around 3:30am.
Now the next morning was a bit of a panic for me. I woke up 10 minutes before our shuttle left for work and had to run. I made it on time according to my watch, but couldn't find anyone. I called the guy that missed out on the night before and he informed me that I had arrived about 70 minutes early. Somehow during the night I must have set my watch 70 minutes fast (possibly in an attempt to make it in the same time zone as my wife). Anyways, that is another mystery.
The night started off at the hotel bar. We started off as 6. I was the new guy on the turf and the others had been working here for about 6 weeks. They are all the blue collared types and are all huge, rough looking guys, so they are definitely the type of people I'd want when walking around at 3am in Bogota. The 6 of us all met up and then found some other English businessmen and had a drink with them. One of them was named Ziggy and apparently they drink a few beers in the taxi on their way home from work every day. Anyways they gave us a good laugh and kept us entertained for a little while.
So we started getting bored of the hotel bar and wanted to find something fun to do. We asked the bar manager, who was happy to make some suggestions and asked if he could come with us. Having a local is always a good idea and this guy seemed like fun so we said yes! Next one of our friends had found himself a girlfriend in his 3 weeks here so he called her up and two more of her friends. So.... 6 Canadian dudes and 4 Colombians.
(sorry about the pink, I think my camera has almost had it).We found a neat restaurant downtown. It was 9:00 at this point, so it is a good thing that we had that bar guy with us because he was able to talk his way into getting a table for 10 without reservations. I had no idea what to order so I asked him to get me something Columbian. He ended up ordering some sort of bite-sized fish fillets covered in a spicy vinaigrette kind of thing for appetizer and then some sort of pulled meat, with really good potatoes, fried banana and avocado for dinner.
During dinner, the music was a little louder than it would normally be at a restaurant and I noticed that it was run by a DJ on a balcony. They were playing 80s music and after a few drinks these tough Canadian guys started singing along with the songs and moving to the beat. I have to admit, I may have joined.
Before I knew it, the music was so loud that we couldn't speak, no one was sitting down anymore, and the place had turned into a night club. I have to admit, the music in South America is so much better than it is in North America, it is a lot more fun! So after a few more drinks and a few hundred thousand pesos we closed up the bar (yes, we were the last to leave). The one guy said goodbye to his short-term girlfriend with lots of tears (as he left the next day) and half an hour later we found ourselves in the cab on the way home. We arrived back at around 3:30am.
Now the next morning was a bit of a panic for me. I woke up 10 minutes before our shuttle left for work and had to run. I made it on time according to my watch, but couldn't find anyone. I called the guy that missed out on the night before and he informed me that I had arrived about 70 minutes early. Somehow during the night I must have set my watch 70 minutes fast (possibly in an attempt to make it in the same time zone as my wife). Anyways, that is another mystery.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Arrival in Bogota
Hi All,I'm back and in Bogota, Colombia. I've been here for about 12 hours now (including sleep) and I haven't been mugged once! Arriving at the airport was pretty standard except that the line for immigration was about the length of the terminal. Fortunatley those guys were fast and I was out in 10 minutes.
I was a little nervous getting into the taxi as there were two drivers. The taxi had my hotel's name on it and they were both wearing suits so it seemed legit. I was expecting them to turn around and mug me once we got to a sketchy area. I think one of them was there for security.
Security here is funny, About 25% of the people you see on the street are dressed like soldiers and are carrying M16s. One of the guys I am with said that if I don't see a soldier nearby, I should not go to the ATM. Fair enough. The other funny thing I saw was an add for tourism in Columbia. The slogan was "The only risk is wanting to stay". Oh man...
On the drive we went to the complete opposite side of the 9 million person city, but only went through about 2 or 3 traffic lights and made it in less than 1/2 an hour. I love how places like this seem to manage their traffic without lights better than we can with lights. I noticed a few other funny things about driving here while we were on the road. For example, all drivers and passengers on motorcycles wear this bight yellow vest which has the licence plate on it. Also, all commercial vehicles have their licenceplates on the back, painted on the sides, and painted on the roof, but not on the front. Strange?
The city itself is quite nice, It's surrounded by mountains and is way up at around 8500 feet. I want to do some more exploring, but I probably shouldn't leave the city. There is a funicular somewhere around here that would be fun to take up one of the mountains.As I continue the trip, I'll keep you posted!
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Malaria
There is a blood drive at work today, I tried to give but they wouldn't let me! Apparently I have Malaria. Everyone who has been to China in the past 364 days has Malaria. I don't feel like I have Malaria. But if I have stepped outside of Hong Kong in the past 364 days then I have Malaria. I tried.
I have a potential trip to Columbia, if I step out of Bogota, I will also have Malaria for a year. I'd better not go!
I have a potential trip to Columbia, if I step out of Bogota, I will also have Malaria for a year. I'd better not go!
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Dallas
Hi All,
I'm just finishing a project in Texas and I've been incredibly busy to the point where I haven't updated this site recently.
I've had a few interesting weekends here but as a whole, Dallas really isn't that exciting. I went to the Fort Worth stock yards with my uncle Bill a couple of weekends ago which was interesting. We saw a few texas long horns which you don't see in my home province of Alberta. We also went to a bar for a tequilla shot. This bar had these cool saddles instead of barstools.
A few nights ago was our qualification. We went to a Brazilian restaurant where we had a massive all-you-can-eat meat night where the waiters would come to your plate with skewers of meat. Later in the evening we had a few beers around the pool and I brought out my guitar. We sang until about 3am.
Last night we went to see Star Trek in the theater. I was disappointed that there were not many costumes there, but I was not disappointed with the movie. I'm spending my weekend watching all of the first ten movies now.
My trip is coming to an end, but I'll keep posting next time I get somewhere interesting.
I'm just finishing a project in Texas and I've been incredibly busy to the point where I haven't updated this site recently.
I've had a few interesting weekends here but as a whole, Dallas really isn't that exciting. I went to the Fort Worth stock yards with my uncle Bill a couple of weekends ago which was interesting. We saw a few texas long horns which you don't see in my home province of Alberta. We also went to a bar for a tequilla shot. This bar had these cool saddles instead of barstools.
A few nights ago was our qualification. We went to a Brazilian restaurant where we had a massive all-you-can-eat meat night where the waiters would come to your plate with skewers of meat. Later in the evening we had a few beers around the pool and I brought out my guitar. We sang until about 3am.
Last night we went to see Star Trek in the theater. I was disappointed that there were not many costumes there, but I was not disappointed with the movie. I'm spending my weekend watching all of the first ten movies now.
My trip is coming to an end, but I'll keep posting next time I get somewhere interesting.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Playing with photo stitching
Okay, I am not anywhere exciting yet, but here are some panoramic photos from 2006 that I finally stitched together tonight: Click the images to see them bigger.
Spencer took this photo. If you really zoom in, you can see where we parked on the highway.
This one is on the island of Capri in Italy.
This is from a snowshoe trip.
The last one here is a work in progress. For some reason I can't get my right arm to show up. I swear I am actually there.
I head to Dallas in a couple of weeks, I'll keep writing then!
Spencer took this photo. If you really zoom in, you can see where we parked on the highway.
This one is on the island of Capri in Italy.
This is from a snowshoe trip.
The last one here is a work in progress. For some reason I can't get my right arm to show up. I swear I am actually there.I head to Dallas in a couple of weeks, I'll keep writing then!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Hong Kong
After my trip from Macau I was exhausted and as soon as I checked into my hotel, I fell asleep. Once I finally woke up, I surveyed my surroundings to figure out where I actually was and decided to go check out the country.
First of all, I've never seen so much crammed into such a small place. Everywhere you looked you could see reflections of this. Even my hotel, which was the best one they had (top floor, corner) was tiny! It was definitely just a place to sleep and nothing else. Walking around the city, I got the impression that people tend to spend their time outside. There were tons of people everywhere.
The city itself I didn't find that impressive. There were buildings, buildings and more buildings. It is a city that has been built up instead of out due to geographical constraints I tried to take some pictures of the scenery, but they all turned out the same. There are two things to note in this picture. 1) Double decker buses, it goes with the saving space theme of the city. and 2) they drive on the wrong side of the road. It is a former English colony and the influence is still present. Unlike mainland China, people here actually spoke English which made things much easier for me even though I was expecting to hear nothing but Cantonese. Even the street names reflected this. Causeway bay, Russell road, etc. These are not typical Chinese names.
After exploring a while, I came across a meat market. This is not the same thing as we would expect in Canada, they actually sold meat. The funny thing was, it was all sold outside on hooks. No refrigeration, insulation or anything of the sort. I had to take a picture. I'd like to dedicate this photo to my vegetarian sister Tara. I could tell the meat was fresh, because out of the seafood, half of the fish were still flopping around. Another trick that I learned when I talked to someone was that when choosing your meat, take the one with the most flies. This is the freshest. If there are no flies on the meat, then it is past its prime.
Unfortunately I didn't get to Mount Victoria and I didn't get to take the starlight ferry as I didn't have much time in Hong Kong. I headed to the airport that this point. I loved the airport and it was probably my favorite part of Hong Kong.
It is right between the two runways and there are tons of windows so you can watch aircraft taking off and landing. Being the airport it is, there are also a ton of large aircraft to check out. I looked and didn't see any A380s. Too bad!
Well that is the end of my trip to China. Two months was a long time and I am glad to be home. I will be heading to Moscow in Russia for a week at the end of March. I'll continue my blog then.
Che Che!
First of all, I've never seen so much crammed into such a small place. Everywhere you looked you could see reflections of this. Even my hotel, which was the best one they had (top floor, corner) was tiny! It was definitely just a place to sleep and nothing else. Walking around the city, I got the impression that people tend to spend their time outside. There were tons of people everywhere.
The city itself I didn't find that impressive. There were buildings, buildings and more buildings. It is a city that has been built up instead of out due to geographical constraints I tried to take some pictures of the scenery, but they all turned out the same. There are two things to note in this picture. 1) Double decker buses, it goes with the saving space theme of the city. and 2) they drive on the wrong side of the road. It is a former English colony and the influence is still present. Unlike mainland China, people here actually spoke English which made things much easier for me even though I was expecting to hear nothing but Cantonese. Even the street names reflected this. Causeway bay, Russell road, etc. These are not typical Chinese names.
After exploring a while, I came across a meat market. This is not the same thing as we would expect in Canada, they actually sold meat. The funny thing was, it was all sold outside on hooks. No refrigeration, insulation or anything of the sort. I had to take a picture. I'd like to dedicate this photo to my vegetarian sister Tara. I could tell the meat was fresh, because out of the seafood, half of the fish were still flopping around. Another trick that I learned when I talked to someone was that when choosing your meat, take the one with the most flies. This is the freshest. If there are no flies on the meat, then it is past its prime.Unfortunately I didn't get to Mount Victoria and I didn't get to take the starlight ferry as I didn't have much time in Hong Kong. I headed to the airport that this point. I loved the airport and it was probably my favorite part of Hong Kong.
It is right between the two runways and there are tons of windows so you can watch aircraft taking off and landing. Being the airport it is, there are also a ton of large aircraft to check out. I looked and didn't see any A380s. Too bad!Well that is the end of my trip to China. Two months was a long time and I am glad to be home. I will be heading to Moscow in Russia for a week at the end of March. I'll continue my blog then.
Che Che!
Macau
I finished my last night shift in China and decided to go to Macau right afterwards before I left to come back home to Canada. To get to Macau was easy, I just had to take a taxi to the underground market and then walk across a bridge and through a few checkpoints.
Macau is essentially the Las Vegas of China. It is similar to Hong Kong in that it is a foreign colony that has been recently handed back to the Chinese government but isn't integrated into China yet. It was a Portuguese colony and everywhere you look you see things written in both Chinese and Portuguese. The architecture looks somewhat Spanish and there are other races there other than just Asians. Many of the people look like they are part Asian, part Portuguese.
When I got to the other side of the border, there were a ton of free buses to the various casinos. The first place I went was the Venetian. This is supposedly the second largest building in the world (sq ft wise). I left my bags with the concierge and tried my luck at the tables. Now I am not too familiar with the value of the Hong Kong dollar which is used there, and it was my first time in a casino, but it seemed like a high rolling place. I was expecting to spend around $20CAD which is a bit less than $200 HKD while I was there, but then found out that the minimum bet at any table was $200 HKD. Anyways I played the minimum bet for a little while and by the end of my stint on the roulette table, I had won just over $1000 HKD.
While I was playing roulette, two guys came up behind me and each placed $5000 HKD on the table. They placed their chips. One guy lost it all in one round and the other guy increased his amount ten-fold. Not bad!
I walked around after that to explore the building and it was huge. The thing which I thought was the coolest, and maybe this is just the engineer in me, but they had spiral escalators! I can't even imagine the design that was required for that.
After that, I figured that the best public transportation to get around Macau was the free hotel buses. So I grabbed my bags, headed back to the border and then took the MGM Grand hotel bus. The MGM was nice, but exactly the same as the Venetian. There were big halls and lots of card tables. The minimum bet here was $50 HKD so I guess the Venetian was a little crazy.
After this I went exploring a little more. There were more casinos and stores that were expensive enough that they didn't need price tags. If you have to ask, you can't afford it. Sorry, Katie, I didn't get you anything from the Gucci, Prada, or Mont Blanc shops. In the photo on the left, you can see the Wynn hotel and the MGM grand is in the backround.
The last place I went to see was the Grand Lisbon which is the tallest building in Macau. I have two pictures of it below. One was taken from the base of the building and the other was taken from the van on our drive home from work. We literally had to drive around Macau to get to work every day. I couldn't go earlier because I didn't have the multiple entry Chinese visa.
By around 4 o'clock I had been awake for 24 hours and was exhausted. I headed to the ferry and sailed to Hong Kong.
Macau is essentially the Las Vegas of China. It is similar to Hong Kong in that it is a foreign colony that has been recently handed back to the Chinese government but isn't integrated into China yet. It was a Portuguese colony and everywhere you look you see things written in both Chinese and Portuguese. The architecture looks somewhat Spanish and there are other races there other than just Asians. Many of the people look like they are part Asian, part Portuguese.
When I got to the other side of the border, there were a ton of free buses to the various casinos. The first place I went was the Venetian. This is supposedly the second largest building in the world (sq ft wise). I left my bags with the concierge and tried my luck at the tables. Now I am not too familiar with the value of the Hong Kong dollar which is used there, and it was my first time in a casino, but it seemed like a high rolling place. I was expecting to spend around $20CAD which is a bit less than $200 HKD while I was there, but then found out that the minimum bet at any table was $200 HKD. Anyways I played the minimum bet for a little while and by the end of my stint on the roulette table, I had won just over $1000 HKD.While I was playing roulette, two guys came up behind me and each placed $5000 HKD on the table. They placed their chips. One guy lost it all in one round and the other guy increased his amount ten-fold. Not bad!
I walked around after that to explore the building and it was huge. The thing which I thought was the coolest, and maybe this is just the engineer in me, but they had spiral escalators! I can't even imagine the design that was required for that.
After that, I figured that the best public transportation to get around Macau was the free hotel buses. So I grabbed my bags, headed back to the border and then took the MGM Grand hotel bus. The MGM was nice, but exactly the same as the Venetian. There were big halls and lots of card tables. The minimum bet here was $50 HKD so I guess the Venetian was a little crazy.After this I went exploring a little more. There were more casinos and stores that were expensive enough that they didn't need price tags. If you have to ask, you can't afford it. Sorry, Katie, I didn't get you anything from the Gucci, Prada, or Mont Blanc shops. In the photo on the left, you can see the Wynn hotel and the MGM grand is in the backround.
The last place I went to see was the Grand Lisbon which is the tallest building in Macau. I have two pictures of it below. One was taken from the base of the building and the other was taken from the van on our drive home from work. We literally had to drive around Macau to get to work every day. I couldn't go earlier because I didn't have the multiple entry Chinese visa.
By around 4 o'clock I had been awake for 24 hours and was exhausted. I headed to the ferry and sailed to Hong Kong.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Coffee? Zhuhai China
Once again, I have to say that everywhere is overstaffed here. We just got off our night shift and went to the hotel restaurant for some breakfast before bed. This restaurant has around 20 tables, 10 of which were occupied. We counted a grand total of 9 servers for this buffet breakfast. That does not include the 4 cooks.
We have been going to this place every morning for 2 months now so they know us pretty well. We have also spent the last week on night shift so they know that we don't want coffee in the morning as we are about to go to bed. Still they offer.
It may be that we are just tired, but when the fifth of the nine servers asked us for coffee in that 30 minute period, we burst out laughing. She wasn't too sure what we were laughing at and we decided not to fill her in as insider knowledge could damage future studies.
I just read this post and it really doesn't seem that funny anymore. I think I should go to bed.
We have been going to this place every morning for 2 months now so they know us pretty well. We have also spent the last week on night shift so they know that we don't want coffee in the morning as we are about to go to bed. Still they offer.
It may be that we are just tired, but when the fifth of the nine servers asked us for coffee in that 30 minute period, we burst out laughing. She wasn't too sure what we were laughing at and we decided not to fill her in as insider knowledge could damage future studies.
I just read this post and it really doesn't seem that funny anymore. I think I should go to bed.
Driving - Zhuhai, China
I just realized that I have spent 6 weeks here and have not yet mentioned driving here. It is definitely a topic worth noting.
The rules of the road here are a little different from Canada, so much so that my company does not allow any of us to rent cars here. The first thing I looked for was stop signs. I once heard that stop signs say STOP in english everywhere in the world except for Quebec. I wanted to validate this in China. I looked and still to date I have not seen a single red octagon in China. It turns out a stop sign here is an upside down triangle. Which is also rare to see. Needless to say, people don't stop for much.
Motorcycles, these do not seem to abide by any laws. I see them on sidewalks, on the street, and even going the wrong way on streets. On the way to work, we go on a street that has 6 lanes (3 each way). The right lane seems to be reserved for 2 things: passing, and motorcycles going the wrong way. Normally I would think that these do not mix, but apparently it works here.
There also seems to be no maximum capacity on motorcycles or bicycles. It is not uncommon to see bicycles, going the wrong way on a street, carrying four propane tanks. That just doesn't seem safe to me. It is also not uncommon to see a family of four on a single moped. Ussually it is the dad driving, with the kid standing in the foot area. The wife sits side-sattle on the back and carries a baby in one arm and holds on with the other arm. Helmets are ussually omited in these cases. The one thing that actually made me stop and laugh was a man with a dog on a scooter. The man drove the scooter and the dog stood on his hind legs in the front and had his front paws on the handlebars.
Taxis here are incredible. They charge 10 yuan (2 dollars) to get most places in the city. If the place is far, it can cost as much as 20 yuan (4 dollars). The catch is that they all drive mark 2 VW jettas and don't have seatbelts. The doors are also locked and can only be opened by a lever that is beside the driver. Even the window handels are missing. This seems like a safety hazard to me, but if the Chinese govenment says it's safe then I have full confidence in the system.
I think my favorite story was from Daniel, our project manager. He took a taxi from the airport and the taxi driver was going over 100 km/h. This is fine, except he was speeding slightly. So when there was a speed trap, instead of slowing down, he would pop up onto the sidewalk and continue his pace. Daniel could not wait to get out of that car.
We have a driver that we call at all hours of the night. He is a good driver, and I almost felt sorry for him when I called him for 3:30am this morning, except then I found out that he makes more than I do. Chinese people never make as much as we do, so I can't really feel sorry for him.
The rules of the road here are a little different from Canada, so much so that my company does not allow any of us to rent cars here. The first thing I looked for was stop signs. I once heard that stop signs say STOP in english everywhere in the world except for Quebec. I wanted to validate this in China. I looked and still to date I have not seen a single red octagon in China. It turns out a stop sign here is an upside down triangle. Which is also rare to see. Needless to say, people don't stop for much.
Motorcycles, these do not seem to abide by any laws. I see them on sidewalks, on the street, and even going the wrong way on streets. On the way to work, we go on a street that has 6 lanes (3 each way). The right lane seems to be reserved for 2 things: passing, and motorcycles going the wrong way. Normally I would think that these do not mix, but apparently it works here.
There also seems to be no maximum capacity on motorcycles or bicycles. It is not uncommon to see bicycles, going the wrong way on a street, carrying four propane tanks. That just doesn't seem safe to me. It is also not uncommon to see a family of four on a single moped. Ussually it is the dad driving, with the kid standing in the foot area. The wife sits side-sattle on the back and carries a baby in one arm and holds on with the other arm. Helmets are ussually omited in these cases. The one thing that actually made me stop and laugh was a man with a dog on a scooter. The man drove the scooter and the dog stood on his hind legs in the front and had his front paws on the handlebars.
Taxis here are incredible. They charge 10 yuan (2 dollars) to get most places in the city. If the place is far, it can cost as much as 20 yuan (4 dollars). The catch is that they all drive mark 2 VW jettas and don't have seatbelts. The doors are also locked and can only be opened by a lever that is beside the driver. Even the window handels are missing. This seems like a safety hazard to me, but if the Chinese govenment says it's safe then I have full confidence in the system.
I think my favorite story was from Daniel, our project manager. He took a taxi from the airport and the taxi driver was going over 100 km/h. This is fine, except he was speeding slightly. So when there was a speed trap, instead of slowing down, he would pop up onto the sidewalk and continue his pace. Daniel could not wait to get out of that car.
We have a driver that we call at all hours of the night. He is a good driver, and I almost felt sorry for him when I called him for 3:30am this morning, except then I found out that he makes more than I do. Chinese people never make as much as we do, so I can't really feel sorry for him.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Another Restaurant - Zhuhai China
Well I went to another restaurant and this place was very much a Hit/Miss place. It was another one of those cases where the menu was all in Chinese and the waitress could only say "I don't speak English". To give her credit, she did say it very well.
The first dish we ordered was supposedly chicken. Now the chicken was served with a bunch of spices and such. It looked good until we noticed three things. First, the chicken was served cold which I can deal with. Second, in traditional Chinese fashion, they cut the chicken evenly. Slicing through bone so there are pieces of bone in every little bit. Third, it wasn't just chicken breast or wings or thighs, it was the entire chicken. I noticed this when I grabbed a foot. We put that plate to the side and continued with the others.
We got a big plate of green beans with a ton of chili peppers and other crazy Chinese spices. Since birth, I have been completely against green beans and have not been able to stomach them. Tonight, I couldn't get enough of them. They were incredible. I think I may actually like green beans now.
We had a few other plates and I think I ate another foot, although it didn't have any bone in it. The rest of the meal went well until we heard a noise in the ceiling. At first I thought it was water flow. Then we realized what it was. Rats! The noise started and then grew louder and came from everywhere in the ceiling. We instantly stopped eating (we were done anyways) and asked for the Midan (cheque). On the way out, I thought I heard squeaking and got the shivers as soon as we were out the door.
The first dish we ordered was supposedly chicken. Now the chicken was served with a bunch of spices and such. It looked good until we noticed three things. First, the chicken was served cold which I can deal with. Second, in traditional Chinese fashion, they cut the chicken evenly. Slicing through bone so there are pieces of bone in every little bit. Third, it wasn't just chicken breast or wings or thighs, it was the entire chicken. I noticed this when I grabbed a foot. We put that plate to the side and continued with the others.
We got a big plate of green beans with a ton of chili peppers and other crazy Chinese spices. Since birth, I have been completely against green beans and have not been able to stomach them. Tonight, I couldn't get enough of them. They were incredible. I think I may actually like green beans now.
We had a few other plates and I think I ate another foot, although it didn't have any bone in it. The rest of the meal went well until we heard a noise in the ceiling. At first I thought it was water flow. Then we realized what it was. Rats! The noise started and then grew louder and came from everywhere in the ceiling. We instantly stopped eating (we were done anyways) and asked for the Midan (cheque). On the way out, I thought I heard squeaking and got the shivers as soon as we were out the door.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Night on the town
When we finished dinner, we went back to the hotel to get beers from our minifridges and then seven of us took a taxi to a local nightclub called Yesterdays. We were drinking in the car and singing too. This is where my memory starts to get a little hazy. We had a few beers at the nightclub and Daniel challenged some of the locals to a game of dice, a local drinking game where you try to get poker hands. We have no idea how to play and Daniel lost bad. He doesn't remember playing. They had a stage with Chinese people singing and everyone dancing around. At least that's how I remember it. I later heard that it was only me dancing along. That is the extent of my memory of the evening. I heard the rest of the story from the people I was with the next day.
I woke up this morning at 5:00am, fully clothed with the exception of pants, and laying partially on my bed. The chairs were also flipped over. I had a cut in my hand and there was a bloody bandaid on the bathroom floor. I went back to sleep and got woken up at 1:00 pm by Daniel on the phone asking if I had seen his phone or wallet. He lost them. I went back to sleep and got up at around 3:00pm. Surprisingly I wasn't that hungover. I met with the rest of my team in the lounge, all of whom were in rough shape themselves. Then the stories started comming out.
First of all, I guess I put a beer on the table rather hard and it exploded in my hands which would explain the cut in my hand. I then went to the bathroom for a bandaid from the concierge guys in there. Then I went to use the urinal. One of the concierge guys started massaging my shoulders while I was peeing. I finished and ran out and told the others. That has to be one of the strangest things that has happened to me in a washroom, but they all got the same treatment.
After that, it was around 1:30 and the place was clearing out. There was no more singer on the stage so I guess I got up and dance. From my friends there, they told me that it wasn't regular dancing, it was more like kung foo dancing. I got the attention of the entire club. Oh boy. The club closed at 2:00am. We then went home and I don't remember paying the cabbie, but I guess I did.
A couple of the others went to the bar next door called Tommorows and got lost trying to find it. They went down the wrong hallway and walked into a room with a bunch of people with straws in their noses and white powder. Whoops! I guess there were even Chinese security guards there. I don't know what the guards were doing there, but they sure weren't checking for drugs.
So that was my insane evening. I'm here for another week and then heading back home to Montreal.
I woke up this morning at 5:00am, fully clothed with the exception of pants, and laying partially on my bed. The chairs were also flipped over. I had a cut in my hand and there was a bloody bandaid on the bathroom floor. I went back to sleep and got woken up at 1:00 pm by Daniel on the phone asking if I had seen his phone or wallet. He lost them. I went back to sleep and got up at around 3:00pm. Surprisingly I wasn't that hungover. I met with the rest of my team in the lounge, all of whom were in rough shape themselves. Then the stories started comming out.
First of all, I guess I put a beer on the table rather hard and it exploded in my hands which would explain the cut in my hand. I then went to the bathroom for a bandaid from the concierge guys in there. Then I went to use the urinal. One of the concierge guys started massaging my shoulders while I was peeing. I finished and ran out and told the others. That has to be one of the strangest things that has happened to me in a washroom, but they all got the same treatment.
After that, it was around 1:30 and the place was clearing out. There was no more singer on the stage so I guess I got up and dance. From my friends there, they told me that it wasn't regular dancing, it was more like kung foo dancing. I got the attention of the entire club. Oh boy. The club closed at 2:00am. We then went home and I don't remember paying the cabbie, but I guess I did.
A couple of the others went to the bar next door called Tommorows and got lost trying to find it. They went down the wrong hallway and walked into a room with a bunch of people with straws in their noses and white powder. Whoops! I guess there were even Chinese security guards there. I don't know what the guards were doing there, but they sure weren't checking for drugs.
So that was my insane evening. I'm here for another week and then heading back home to Montreal.
Celebration dinner
Well we finished our project yesterday and we are so happy. I will be staying another week to ensure the remaining issues are fixed. We had a formal dinner last night and it was incredible. This was followed by a celebratory night on the town. We went to a place called the boat restaurant which is a big boat on an island. We ordered a bunch of neat dishes and everyone had a little of everything.
First of all we had lobster. I've only had it once before so it was really good to have. They had it available two ways, one with soy sauce and the other with cheese and noodles. We had the cheese and noodle selection. Two lobster's came, (one for each table) and it was soooo tasty. Another dish we had was goose feet. I've never tried this before, but you eat the webbing which is really just skin and you eat the meat around the bone. Strange, and difficult with chop sticks, but it was also good. We also had crocodile, squid, oysters, and a few other things here and there. I've never had food like that, it was really really good.
We sat down and when we started eating, the waiter filled tiny glasses (1/2 ounce) with a liquor. I think it was called Maotai or something but it was a rice drink that was around 60% ABV. There were a few toasts and this stuff burned on the way down every time. Eventually things started to pick up and the gumbays began. As far as I know, Gumbay is the Chinese word for 'bottoms up'. Everyone toasted everyone else and would finish their drink. There were about 20 people so I had around 20 half-ounce shots of this stuff. Then Daniel, our project manager challenged the authority there to drink a wine-glass full of this stuff. The authority said he would if three more people from our company joined in. I was one of the ones chosen and that is where it went downhill. It really didn't burn as it was going down (I was doing it fast though) but man it did not sit easily once it was in my stomach. I managed to avoid being sick though.
By this point our dinner had ended and we were all feeling really good. We went back to the hotel to get beers from our minifridges and then seven of us took a taxi to a local nightclub called Yesterdays.
First of all we had lobster. I've only had it once before so it was really good to have. They had it available two ways, one with soy sauce and the other with cheese and noodles. We had the cheese and noodle selection. Two lobster's came, (one for each table) and it was soooo tasty. Another dish we had was goose feet. I've never tried this before, but you eat the webbing which is really just skin and you eat the meat around the bone. Strange, and difficult with chop sticks, but it was also good. We also had crocodile, squid, oysters, and a few other things here and there. I've never had food like that, it was really really good.
We sat down and when we started eating, the waiter filled tiny glasses (1/2 ounce) with a liquor. I think it was called Maotai or something but it was a rice drink that was around 60% ABV. There were a few toasts and this stuff burned on the way down every time. Eventually things started to pick up and the gumbays began. As far as I know, Gumbay is the Chinese word for 'bottoms up'. Everyone toasted everyone else and would finish their drink. There were about 20 people so I had around 20 half-ounce shots of this stuff. Then Daniel, our project manager challenged the authority there to drink a wine-glass full of this stuff. The authority said he would if three more people from our company joined in. I was one of the ones chosen and that is where it went downhill. It really didn't burn as it was going down (I was doing it fast though) but man it did not sit easily once it was in my stomach. I managed to avoid being sick though.
By this point our dinner had ended and we were all feeling really good. We went back to the hotel to get beers from our minifridges and then seven of us took a taxi to a local nightclub called Yesterdays.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
The hole in the wall resturaunt
We just went to a really good Cantonese restaurant. This place was amazing as it really did look classy and the food was incredible. But there were a few things which made this restaurant less than five-stars.
1. Location: First we had to walk through the darkest alley we could find. I was expecting to walk into an opium den. Then we had to walk through an arcade and out the other end into an even darker alley. A little ways down this alley was the resturaunt
2. Limited selection: They had a great sizzling plate of chicken which looked good. But we were there late so the guy came back later to tell me there was no chicken in the kitchen. Okay, fair enough. Then I choose the donkey meat. Nope, still no dice. Soft-Shelled turtle? Nope. Eventually I had to settle for the sizzling beef. I would have loved to try the turtle.
3. Language barrier. After they told us that the options were not available, they never brought back the menus to choose new things . We had to go and take menus from them. We tried asking them for menu's but I guess our mandarin has too thick of an English accent to be understood by the Cantonese living in a Mandarin-invaded city.
4. The love shack: While this may be a name my Dad calls his weekend house, it also applies to this restaurant. One of the waiters was making out with a girl in a booth not to far from us. The manager came and yelled at him, and he went back to work for a moment, but the girl stayed right where she was.
Despite all of that, it was the second hottest chinese food I have ever tasted and was probably the best I have had. I'd go back!
1. Location: First we had to walk through the darkest alley we could find. I was expecting to walk into an opium den. Then we had to walk through an arcade and out the other end into an even darker alley. A little ways down this alley was the resturaunt
2. Limited selection: They had a great sizzling plate of chicken which looked good. But we were there late so the guy came back later to tell me there was no chicken in the kitchen. Okay, fair enough. Then I choose the donkey meat. Nope, still no dice. Soft-Shelled turtle? Nope. Eventually I had to settle for the sizzling beef. I would have loved to try the turtle.
3. Language barrier. After they told us that the options were not available, they never brought back the menus to choose new things . We had to go and take menus from them. We tried asking them for menu's but I guess our mandarin has too thick of an English accent to be understood by the Cantonese living in a Mandarin-invaded city.
4. The love shack: While this may be a name my Dad calls his weekend house, it also applies to this restaurant. One of the waiters was making out with a girl in a booth not to far from us. The manager came and yelled at him, and he went back to work for a moment, but the girl stayed right where she was.
Despite all of that, it was the second hottest chinese food I have ever tasted and was probably the best I have had. I'd go back!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
A ghost story - Zhuhai, China
It's been a crazy week and I haven't been able to get to my blog this week and haven't really done much worth mentioning outside of work anyways. We did go to a restaurant the other day and passed by a hotel on our way. I heard a great story. The story is as such:
A woman was hosting a large party at this fancy 5-star hotel for a group of Japanese businessmen. She decided to give them a little extra and hired several hookers to this party. Now this is not that uncommon it seems in China. I have seen so many hookers here. The thing that makes this story special is that she hired 400 hookers to this party. Obviously no-one went home lonely! The police ended up finding out about this and took the appropriate action as 2 conditions were currently met: China's current anti-smut fad and she had forgotten to pay the police ahead of time. She was arrested and sentenced to death.
Now I'd love to turn that into a ghost story somehow, but I am not sure of the best way to do it. "If you ever go to that hotel with a hooker and listen carefully, you can hear her cheering you on" may be a good way to do it, but I need some feedback. Let me know!
A woman was hosting a large party at this fancy 5-star hotel for a group of Japanese businessmen. She decided to give them a little extra and hired several hookers to this party. Now this is not that uncommon it seems in China. I have seen so many hookers here. The thing that makes this story special is that she hired 400 hookers to this party. Obviously no-one went home lonely! The police ended up finding out about this and took the appropriate action as 2 conditions were currently met: China's current anti-smut fad and she had forgotten to pay the police ahead of time. She was arrested and sentenced to death.
Now I'd love to turn that into a ghost story somehow, but I am not sure of the best way to do it. "If you ever go to that hotel with a hooker and listen carefully, you can hear her cheering you on" may be a good way to do it, but I need some feedback. Let me know!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
The Night Life - Zhuhai, China
We haven't really had a busy week this week so we have had some time for fun at night. But is there really anything to do in Zhuhai at night? Not really. We've gotten to know the girls (the servers, not the hookers) at the Irish pub downstairs and they have a pretty good music DVD collection.
The other night we chose "Pink Floyd - The Wall - Live in Berlin" and played it on the big screen there. By the end of the night we were all singing along as loud as we could to the strange songs that make up that album.
Tonight the choice was "Santana - Supernatural". Once again we sang along with all of the words and then were dancing our ways back to the elevator. The concierge and front desk girls who now know us by name, politely smiled as the Chinese tend to do while we hummed and danced our way past.
As soon as we got into the elevator, the Chinese music hit us and it was an immediate buzz kill. It is so different from anything we listen to that it instantly erases anything that you may have in your head. It is a great prescription that I will keep in mind next time I am stuck on the Oscar Myer song.
The other night we chose "Pink Floyd - The Wall - Live in Berlin" and played it on the big screen there. By the end of the night we were all singing along as loud as we could to the strange songs that make up that album.
Tonight the choice was "Santana - Supernatural". Once again we sang along with all of the words and then were dancing our ways back to the elevator. The concierge and front desk girls who now know us by name, politely smiled as the Chinese tend to do while we hummed and danced our way past.
As soon as we got into the elevator, the Chinese music hit us and it was an immediate buzz kill. It is so different from anything we listen to that it instantly erases anything that you may have in your head. It is a great prescription that I will keep in mind next time I am stuck on the Oscar Myer song.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Peking Duck - Zhuhai, China
We went out for dinner tonight to try another Chinese specialty: the Peking Duck. They bring this whole duck to the table, which is marinated in some sort of peanut sauce I think. While it is in front of you, they cut the skin off and put it into dumplings with cabbage and some other stuff. Then they take it away.
I was worried that they would run away with the rest of it, but then they came back after a little bit. They had sauteed it with random veggies and gave us large lettuce leaves to make our own rolls.
One thing that I didn't know before is that the locals here call it a Beijing duck. Apparently Peking is the old name of the same city. Sort of like the Mumbai-Bombay thing.
This was a short post so I added a picture too. I think one of my Chinese new year's resolutions is to put more pictures on my blog.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
The Dragon Dance - Zhuhai, China
Happy new years.
This morning we saw a dragon dance at our hotel which was really neat and loud. I guess the whole point is that the dragons come and scare the bad luck away. These guys were really good. There were two dragons and two people per dragon. At one point they jumped on each others shoulders as if the dragon was standing on its hind legs.
They also did a lap around the cherry blossom tree which is what everyone is supposed to do on new years. You do three turns in one direction and then two turns in the other direction. It is supposed to give you luck in wealth and love etc for the next year.
The cherry tree is decorated with red envelopes. Apparently the parents give their children lucky money in those envelopes every year. The kids put the money under their pillow on new years eve and then it means that when they wake up, they've aged one year.
This morning we saw a dragon dance at our hotel which was really neat and loud. I guess the whole point is that the dragons come and scare the bad luck away. These guys were really good. There were two dragons and two people per dragon. At one point they jumped on each others shoulders as if the dragon was standing on its hind legs.
They also did a lap around the cherry blossom tree which is what everyone is supposed to do on new years. You do three turns in one direction and then two turns in the other direction. It is supposed to give you luck in wealth and love etc for the next year.
The cherry tree is decorated with red envelopes. Apparently the parents give their children lucky money in those envelopes every year. The kids put the money under their pillow on new years eve and then it means that when they wake up, they've aged one year.
Happy Chinese New Years - Zhuhai, China
Zing naan quai lur. That's happy new years in mandarin (my own spelling).
China is one big party at new years. Last night we kept hearing fireworks but couldn't see them from any of our hotel windows. We had a few beers and a few glasses of wine and then went to the beach for midnight. The city of Zhuhai doesn't put on any fireworks, but the locals were all over it. There were so many fireworks shooting up at once and we sat and watched for what seemed like a couple of hours. They were being lit all around us and at one point the ash from some of them were falling directly ontop of us. There were also people lighting sparklers and planting them in the sand.
One type that they lit was really neat. There was fuel in what looked like one of those red chinese lanterns. They would light the fuel and hold it for a moment and then let it go and it would fly away. There were tons of these floating accross the sky. The fireworks that were lit really were like what a big city would use (High caliber stuff).
I don't think the fireworks have really ended yet as I keep hearing a few still going off and it is already 11 am!
China is one big party at new years. Last night we kept hearing fireworks but couldn't see them from any of our hotel windows. We had a few beers and a few glasses of wine and then went to the beach for midnight. The city of Zhuhai doesn't put on any fireworks, but the locals were all over it. There were so many fireworks shooting up at once and we sat and watched for what seemed like a couple of hours. They were being lit all around us and at one point the ash from some of them were falling directly ontop of us. There were also people lighting sparklers and planting them in the sand.
One type that they lit was really neat. There was fuel in what looked like one of those red chinese lanterns. They would light the fuel and hold it for a moment and then let it go and it would fly away. There were tons of these floating accross the sky. The fireworks that were lit really were like what a big city would use (High caliber stuff).
I don't think the fireworks have really ended yet as I keep hearing a few still going off and it is already 11 am!
Friday, January 23, 2009
The Dysentary and the Pharmacy - Zhuhai, China
In my last post I mention an interesting encounter with an octopus. Well now I think I am living to regret it. I think I caught something, and nothing good. I wasn't feeling good last night and when I got back to the hotel I realized that I had some pretty bad gastro stuff. Anyways, I went to work this morning and then left part way through because I wasn't feeling too good.
I took this opportunity to explore the Chinese pharmacy market. Wow. Now you may remember with my Mayflower post that when you are in a restaurant, you often have 8 people surrounding you while you order. Well a pharmacy is no different. Also, everything is in Chinese, and nobody speaks a word of English. So this experience involved playing sherades with the four clerks to try to get them to understand my problem.
First I made a drinking motion to simulate peptol bismal. The clerks brought me to the booze counter. Then I made a pill popping motion to simulate medicine, the clerk looked a little uneasy and motioned cocain sniffing back to me. No No No! Eventually I point to my rear and she brings me to the digestive system. I look at a few items, but they are all in chinese so the store clerk has to open them as there is a small blerb written in english inside the package.
I found one pack that said dysentary on the pack so I exclaim "yes, yes!". I think she understood that because she finnally smiled and sold it to me. I tried the pill, not sure what it would do, and I think I am feeling a little better now. Time will tell.
I took this opportunity to explore the Chinese pharmacy market. Wow. Now you may remember with my Mayflower post that when you are in a restaurant, you often have 8 people surrounding you while you order. Well a pharmacy is no different. Also, everything is in Chinese, and nobody speaks a word of English. So this experience involved playing sherades with the four clerks to try to get them to understand my problem.
First I made a drinking motion to simulate peptol bismal. The clerks brought me to the booze counter. Then I made a pill popping motion to simulate medicine, the clerk looked a little uneasy and motioned cocain sniffing back to me. No No No! Eventually I point to my rear and she brings me to the digestive system. I look at a few items, but they are all in chinese so the store clerk has to open them as there is a small blerb written in english inside the package.
I found one pack that said dysentary on the pack so I exclaim "yes, yes!". I think she understood that because she finnally smiled and sold it to me. I tried the pill, not sure what it would do, and I think I am feeling a little better now. Time will tell.
The Octopus
Everything is going great in China at the moment. I've been working hard lately, but also finding time to go out at night. Every night is a new restaurant, and it is impossible to find any western food, which means that there is a ton of strange things on my plate.
The other night we went for sushi and one of the guys got a plate of octopi. They were a little big to stick in your mouth whole, but we only had chopsticks and you couldn't really bite them in half. I tried one and it kind of tasted like peanut butter. The gross part (the part that really made me almost loose it) was when you tried to bite on the meaty head, it would slide through your teeth so it was really hard to chew.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
The New Years party
I went to my Chinese sponsor's New Years party and it was incredible. This is like their version of our Christmas parties so it was a big do. The other people in my group were trying to get me to sing a song in front of everyone. There were a lot more people than I expected (~250). We did sing a song together on stage, but it was a French song, and only one of us knew the words so we mumbled and it was really embarrassing.
We met the leader of the communist party and the leader of the labor union here and when he grabbed the microphone, it sounded like a Mao rally. Everyone was cheering and it was actually pretty fun and it was easy to get caught up in the atmosphere.
The funniest part was all of the drunk Chinese people. They have this thing called gumbay, which is their way of saying cheers and bottoms up. People kept coming over to our table and saying gumbay. Then we all had to cheers and finish our wine. I never had more than a half glass of wine poured, but we must have done that 20 times. And somehow (I don't know how), my wine glass was never empty. The waitresses would come by and pour you more without telling you, even if you were still holding the glass.
The authority who will be evaluating our product was so smashed. He kept gumboing us and told one of the guys on our team, that if he doesn't drink more, we would not get qualified. I went to the washroom and there were several people sick. It was so messy! The best part is that it was a family function. There must have been 30 kids under 10 years old.
The food was also ridiculous. We had so many dishes. I think the funniest was their favorite delicacy. They bring in a dish with a whole baby pig. There are no eyes on it, instead, they have maraschino cherries in the eye sockets. Inside the maraschino cherries, they stuck LED lights that flashed. So we had a dead pig with (alternating) flashing red eyes. It was so weird. Another weird part about that dish was that the only part that we were supposed to eat was the skin. The skin was precut so you could grab it with your chopsticks.
Afterwards we went for a beer at an irish pub downstairs in the lobby of the hotel. All of us were pretty drunk. After that I went back to work. :) I worked yesterday from 6:30 am to 4 am with my only brake being the drunk fest. It was one heck of a night.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
The Language Barrier - Zhuhai, China
So I speak English and only English. I'm used to not knowing the local language, but I had a meeting today which just blew me out of the water. The chinese guys there kept speaking in chinese amongst themselves and the Quebecers that I work with kept speaking in french amongst them selves. So there I was caught in the middle, knowing a language common to everyone in the room, but understanding not a word that was said.
Now, the Quebecios from my company always speak french unless talking directly to me, which is annoying. But then one of them told me how she thought the Chinese were really rude that they tend to speak chinese amongst each other right in front of them. I responded saying that I am quite used to it (I deal with them more than anyone as well). Then I told her that it is funny, but when they read our manuals, they sound them out in english, so I end up understanding more of what they are saying than what my own team is saying. I think she got the hint.
It would be nice to learn another language, and I am trying with French. But it is also hard to just learn one more language. I mean right now I am caught between french and chinese, which do I choose? Well I live in Quebec now so I will choose french, but I spend the majority of my day talking to chinese people, so shouldn't I learn that too? But how can I attempt to learn a third language when I can't even speak a second? Ahhhhh, frustrations!
Now, the Quebecios from my company always speak french unless talking directly to me, which is annoying. But then one of them told me how she thought the Chinese were really rude that they tend to speak chinese amongst each other right in front of them. I responded saying that I am quite used to it (I deal with them more than anyone as well). Then I told her that it is funny, but when they read our manuals, they sound them out in english, so I end up understanding more of what they are saying than what my own team is saying. I think she got the hint.
It would be nice to learn another language, and I am trying with French. But it is also hard to just learn one more language. I mean right now I am caught between french and chinese, which do I choose? Well I live in Quebec now so I will choose french, but I spend the majority of my day talking to chinese people, so shouldn't I learn that too? But how can I attempt to learn a third language when I can't even speak a second? Ahhhhh, frustrations!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Pizza Hut - Zhuhai, China
I went to a Pizza Hut tonight for some familiar food and it was completely different from Canadian ones. Not only were there more rice dishes than pizzas, but the pizzas that did exist all had seafood on them. Seafood? That's weird. Even the stuffed crust pizza was stuffed with shrip. It was kind of cool though. Now I have some pizza for lunch tomorrow. Anyways that is all I have on that topic.
day off and electronics - Zhuhai, China
On my day off I went exploring and got quite lost. Fortunatley I got a card from the hotel that has "drive me to the holiday inn" written in chinese. I was able to get a taxi to take me home for 10 yuan (2 dollars). I went to an underground market (that is it's name, seriously) and bought an mp3 player. It also plays movies, games and has an 8 megapixle camera on it. Grand total? 200 yuan ($40CAD). I figured it was a good purchase. I couldn't believe how many cell phone stores there are. I can't find a regular electronics store here. I think the people to cell phone store ratio here is about 3:1. I have no idea how they stay in business. Apparently I can get a good iPhone knock off for about $100. I am tempted even though I would never use it.
Getting ready for new years - Zhuhai, China
Everything is being decorated here for Chineese new years. There are tangerine trees every where and red banners and lanters. Its really neat. I read in the paper today that they expect 3.32 billion trips within china this new years season! It seems like this is their christmas. It should be fun. I guess there is a dragon dance nearby that I might go check out. I am excited to see what is going to happen. I'll keep you posted.
Drives to work - Zhuhai, China
We have a 30 minute drive to work every day and we get the same driver every time. Work is in a free trade zone and when we pass the customs post, the guards always salute us. It makes me feel important. Our driver doesn't speak english but we get by with over-the-top facial expressions and gestures. He is a nice guy and we invited him in to see some of the stuff that we work on. He was really happy and got really excited. He pointed to some buildings on our drive home the other day and said "maccau". So apparently we are really close the the city/country/island of Maccau. Too bad I don't have a multiple entry visa. I guess it is the Las Vegas of China. That would have been the perfect place to spend chinese new years.
Names - Zhuhai, China
The people here are really nice. There are a couple of guys at the hotel who know english and now know us by our first names. They give us suggestions on where to eat and where to get beer and such. They all seem to have stripper names like Candy and Carry, but apparently it's just because their names are completely non-pronounceable. The only one that does sound Chinese is Kuma. But apparently his name is huge!
Sunday, January 11, 2009
The Fondue - Zhuhai, China
One of our more interesting meals was a place that had big bunsen burners sunken into the table. I had no idea what I was doing and started pointing at things on the menu. I don't speak Chinese so I wasn't sure what I was getting. Apparently I missed the point entirely. My colleagues came to my rescue. The point of this place is to choose two broths which they bring in a big bowl and place in the dip of the table. Then you order all of the things that you will dump into the broth and everyone takes what they want from the pot afterwards.
So we started off with slices of lamb, brussell sprouts (or chinese equivalents), cabbage, etc. Then they come by with a plate that none of us can name. Apparently that was what I ordered during my frenzied pointing. It had some meat with thick bones, but also had scales. It kind of tasted like calamari but I know that doesnt have much meat, bones, or scales. We eventually decided it was frog legs. Whether that is right or not, I have no idea. So that is my first taste of frog legs.
So we started off with slices of lamb, brussell sprouts (or chinese equivalents), cabbage, etc. Then they come by with a plate that none of us can name. Apparently that was what I ordered during my frenzied pointing. It had some meat with thick bones, but also had scales. It kind of tasted like calamari but I know that doesnt have much meat, bones, or scales. We eventually decided it was frog legs. Whether that is right or not, I have no idea. So that is my first taste of frog legs.
The Mayflower - Zhuhai, China
So here I am in Zhuhai, China. I have been here about a week and everyday we've had something different and a little weird for dinner. Well I went out for dinner last night to the Mayflower and it ended up as a gong show.
Now this is a seafood place (which we didn't know until we got there). But it isn't the type of place where you just order from a menu. Instead they take you to an aquarium where you choose which crab or fish or lobster you want. There is something a little strange about looking a crab in the eyes before you sentence it to be your dinner, but hey, I did it.
We ordered a ton of different dishes and each one came with it's challenges. So many challenges that the manager (who is the only one who speaks english there) came to help teach us how to eat.
First they dropped off some pumpkin seeds. I took one and ate it, only to spit it out when I heard the waitress scream. Apparently I was supposed to bite the shell and eat the pit. Then we got a plate of rice. We had no forks, just chop sticks. And this rice wasn't sticky either! So all of us loaded it on our plates and began eating it grain by grain. Someone came by and started shoveling it into a bowl and holding it up to his mouth, demonstrating how to eat that kind of rice.... okay! a little closer! Finally the crab came. I don't think I've every actually had crab, and so I had no idea what I was doing. I was trying to rip legs off and biting the shell to crack it. It was messy to say the least. Eventually they came by and helped me out by handing me one of those cracking devices. Phew. I felt a little silly that night.
Now this is a seafood place (which we didn't know until we got there). But it isn't the type of place where you just order from a menu. Instead they take you to an aquarium where you choose which crab or fish or lobster you want. There is something a little strange about looking a crab in the eyes before you sentence it to be your dinner, but hey, I did it.
We ordered a ton of different dishes and each one came with it's challenges. So many challenges that the manager (who is the only one who speaks english there) came to help teach us how to eat.
First they dropped off some pumpkin seeds. I took one and ate it, only to spit it out when I heard the waitress scream. Apparently I was supposed to bite the shell and eat the pit. Then we got a plate of rice. We had no forks, just chop sticks. And this rice wasn't sticky either! So all of us loaded it on our plates and began eating it grain by grain. Someone came by and started shoveling it into a bowl and holding it up to his mouth, demonstrating how to eat that kind of rice.... okay! a little closer! Finally the crab came. I don't think I've every actually had crab, and so I had no idea what I was doing. I was trying to rip legs off and biting the shell to crack it. It was messy to say the least. Eventually they came by and helped me out by handing me one of those cracking devices. Phew. I felt a little silly that night.
Starting Off
Hi All,
I have a new job where I am doing a lot of traveling, so I am going to start a blog off all the things that happen to me during these trips.
Enjoy!
I have a new job where I am doing a lot of traveling, so I am going to start a blog off all the things that happen to me during these trips.
Enjoy!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)