David's Blog

For a while, I wanted to take a trip around the world. It's an interesting thing to be able to say that you've done. There are very few opportunities do it. Now was one of them. The airline alliances offer special deals on around the world tickets. It's cheaper than flying to each place individually if you want to visit a lot cities along the way. The OneWorld Alliance has a nice online itinerary planner to plan such a trip. I ended up booking a string of one way tickets because I was only making 4 stops. It's fun to spin a globe and figure out where you can go without flying too much at once or making unnecessary connections. The route I came up with was LAX-London (nonstop Air France), London-Tel Aviv (nonstop El Al), Tel Aviv-Dubai (Jordanian Airlines connecting in Amman), Dubai-Hong Kong (nonstop Emirates), Hong Kong-LAX (nonstop United). Over 37 hours of flying time, the longest leg being the last from Hong Kong, around 12.5 hours. The Pacific is big!
I forgot that I was going around the world until right when the plane landed in LA. Immediately I realized that I had left LA 50 days prior and after flying continuously east, had arrived back where I started. Thus confirming what scientists had suspected since 500 years ago! I applauded myself the way Magellan's crew must have done upon completion of their circumnavigation, although mine was a bit faster.
I was very fortunate to have stayed healthy the entire trip but I caught something the last couple days in Hong Kong. At first I had no energy. Once I got home, it was just nasty coughing. Googling SARS, a doctor visit, and three weeks later, I was back to normal.

Posted by David at 5:56 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

A stark contrast to Dubai's $21 Mojito, is Shenzhen's $7 dinner. I wasn't trying to save a buck. I went to a decent restaurant. I had a chicken and fried rice entree, a plate of sushi, and a large bottle of my new favorite beer, Tsing Tao. I didn't have to leave a tip, but the meal was so cheap and I'm so generous, I did anyway and still didn't break $7 (around 50 yuan). In Hong Kong, for $7, all I got was the Tsing Tao;( None of the waitresses spoke english, but the menus had pictures and another customer helped translate. I liked it so much I went back there again the next day.

In general I stay away from big brands while abroad. I didn't travel around the world for something I can get in the US. But I succumbed to the Pizza Hut figuring they had english menus and I was tired of playing menu charades. Translation mistakes are quite common. Usually it's a conjugation error. This Pizza Hut serves "interesting and exotica pizzas":

Labels: china, food, shenzhen

Posted by David at 6:36 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

7-Elevens are very common in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. I think this one in the Shenzhen customs hall qualifies as the smallest one ever.

Labels: china, shenzhen

Posted by David at 6:19 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

No Arrowhead or Sparkletts trucks in Shenzhen. If you want to deliver 5 gallon water bottles around here, you do it by bike. Carrying 4 on each side, that's 40 gallons of water which is over 300 pounds. Props to anyone who not only can ride a bicycle with that much weight, but can also prevent it from collapsing. Notice how close the bottles are to the ground. No sharp turns for this guy.

Labels: china, cycling, shenzhen

Posted by David at 6:00 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

This was one of the few signs that had an english word: "subway". Even though no one outside the US calls subways, "subways", why else would there be stairs going underground if this wasn't a metro station?
The answer is that this was merely an underground passage to cross the street. I hate going down and up stairs to cross the street.

Since bikes are very popular, they were clever to have a smooth incline in the middle for rolling a bike. A couple times I saw people ride down them. A good idea if you can keep it straight and not end up on the steps. Too steep to ride up though.

Labels: china, shenzhen, transport

Posted by David at 5:20 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Continuing with my global comparison of hotels, this so far is the best deal. MetroPark Hotel in Shenzhen. $70 for a 4 star hotel. The best price was directly from their website. It has a kitchen area, a seperate bedroom, and a really nice bathroom. I wish I could have something like this for $70 in every city I go to.

It's location is very central. I had a map and even though I couldn't read any of the street names, I was still able to walk to it from the border. There was a supermarket across the street but the lines were always so damn long. People are shopping 24/7. Look both ways before crossing the street. You won't get hit by a car, but those bikes pop out of nowhere.
The hotel also offers massages for $9/hour. The foot massage is legit, but they'll try to upsell to other services. Welcome to China.

Labels: china, hotel, shenzhen

Posted by David at 4:41 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Shenzhen is on the other side of the border with Hong Kong. It's very big, very dense, and has grown a lot recently. All the big buildings look new. It's obviously not a touristy city because no one speaks english; not retail vendors, not restaurants. But they're more than happy to sell you stuff anyway. Many people have english-chinese translation software on their phones.
Sales people are very aggressive. If they even catch you glimpsing at their product out of the corner of your eye, they will try to make a sale. The fact that there is no synergy between your needs and their inventory is no impedence. The best thing is too keep your eyes closed or keep your eyes wandering. Don't make eye contact with a salesperson. Don't even think about stopping to look at an item, don't even think about touching an item. In chinese sign language that translates to "I want to buy this item".
The main items for sale are clothing, watches, handbags, and sunglasses. I've read China Inc, so I knew there are a lot of counterfeit items for sale. The clothing is very low quality. I don't know anything about handbags. The sunglasses were Rite-Aid quality with fake logos like "Oakey". You could buy glasses for around $3 or $4, watches for $10 to $20. Some of the fake watches looked really good. Some vendors were claiming they were real. There are a lot more vendors than there are sources of products, so lots of people are selling very similar items. It's worthwhile to shop around and bargain.
One guy was selling toys. Plastic painted toys made in China and not approved for export. Ya, that should be safe. I'm sure his quality control team has higher standards than Mattel.
You see a lot of hawkers in the street. People who lay out some items for sale on the street. Usually little trinkets like jewelry. I never saw anyone buying from them. I have no idea how they can make a living. I'm pretty convinced everything is a front for prostitution. Massages are an obvious front, but even a handbag vendor tried to upsell me a massage.

Labels: china, shenzhen

Posted by David at 3:55 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I knew I was in trouble when the signs pointing to the exits in the metro had only chinese characters. Most signage throughout Shenzhen had no latin characters either. Fortunately I was prepared with a backup plan, colloquially known as eeny meeny miny moe.

Labels: china, shenzhen

Posted by David at 3:43 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Since China took over Hong Kong, the official phrase is "one country, two systems". I don't know any countries with a moat this wide, fences on both sides, and really secure controls to pass through it. It's 2 countries.

Labels: china, hong kong, shenzhen

Posted by David at 3:30 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I will always get in the slowest line and there's nothing I can do about it. Whether it's the checkout in a store, customs at an airport, anything. If there is more than one line, no matter how well I vet each line, I not only get in a slow line, I get in the slowest of them all. Some vetting criteria (which have proven useless) are:
1. Length of the line. A shorter line (assuming there is one) is enticing. It means fewer transactions need to be processed ahead of you and it feels like you're closer to getting thru.
2. Momentum of the line. This one really should work. A line that's moving well should continue to do so. It means the cashier or customs official is efficient and not wasting time.
3. Profiling the line. Who holds up lines the most? The correct answer is the person in front of you. But we want to believe the family with 10 kids is going to be slow showing all their passports and in a retail environment, the woman with 2 shopping carts full might take a while.

So why does none of this work? Why am I always in the slowest line? As with everything else, a very small percentage of people screw things up. It's not that some people are slow, it's that a small handful of people are really really really slow. And you can't predict who it will be, but it will be someone in your line. It's the guy whose passport expired, whose credit card doesn't work, the thing that puts everything on hold and the line stops. And then you start looking at every other line and realizing how fast those lines are going and you hesitate to jump to the back of a line because you are next, but as you discover, it would have been faster to go another line than to have waited for the guy who's trying to explain why he doesn't look like the picture in his passport or the cashier who disappeared for 10 minutes to check the price of a banana.

So what's the answer? The best solution to this problem is that whenever there is more than one cashier or customs agent, there has to be only one line that feeds into all of the checkouts. A lot of places, especially in the US already do that. Checking in baggage at LAX, going thru customs at LAX, many retail stores. It ensures that the retard in front of you won't slow you down. It's the most fair. Everyone waits an equal amount of time, everyone gets thru without any major delays.
It may be a while before those in charge of line logistics read this post, so meanwhile, the best strategy when traveling with at least 1 other person, is that each person in the group should go to a different line and whoever gets to the window first is joined by the rest.

Labels: random

Posted by David at 1:34 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

If you're ever departing from gate C3 at the Taipei airport you might wonder whether you're waiting for a plane or stuck in a Hello Kitty store. Well, it's both.
The theme and design of the adjacent store continues into the waiting area with pink hello kitty chairs and a pink chequered floor. Is this some kind of reality advertising?

Labels: ads, airports, taiwan

Posted by David at 8:30 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I have a hotel recommendation: Hope Hotel
It's in a good location across from the central train station. It's near a lot of shops, restaurants, and a metro station. It's clean, spacious, and comfortable. And not expensive, around US$50/night.
It's on 4th floor of a building. Not to be confused with the Love Hotel on the 3rd floor or the 5th floor men's bathhouse draped in rainbow flags whose patrons so kindly pointed me back to the 4th floor.

Labels: hotel, taiwan

Posted by David at 1:00 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Technically the title of this blog should be "Food I Never Saw Before Part 3", but I can't pass up writing "octopus on a stick" as much as possible.

Taipei has a tremendous variety of food. I ended up eating Japanese food a lot. There's so many options for good food and it doesn't have to be expensive. I'll try to break down the various options. First you have restaurants with storefronts along the street like you'd see anywhere else. My favorite was an all you can eat BBQ. The trays of raw meat just kept on coming. I rediscovered the carnivore inside me. Why eat vegetables when there's all this meat?

Then you have some indoor food courts like at a mall. It can be a court of separate restaurants or a court of cafeteria style options with a shared seating area. The immediate observation is that everyone involved in the food industry is wearing gloves and masks. Yay for hygiene. The gloves, I like, but the face mask instilled a sense more of fear than safety. Woah there buddy, if you need a hospital mask, maybe I don't want you to prepare my food. Or, if you're wearing a mask, do you know something about this food I don't? I have to say, thankfully, my stomach had no unwanted surprises.

Next on our hierarchy are small vendors which I don't know an english word for. They're not pushing a cart or with a hot dog stand. The have permanent fixed locations either along the pedestrian night markets or on the ground floor in the busy parts of town. They're usually a mom and pop operation. Mom cooking some stew in a big pot in the back. Pop serving over the counter as people line up on the sidewalk. At lunch time, the sidewalks get crowded. Everyone goes to his favorite vendor, each of whom has a very specific menu. Like the In-N-Out model. Ordering goes quick, there's only one or two items, it's good quality food, and it's cheap. Occasionally there's a few chairs or a table, but generally people just walk up, get the food, and go. Convenience and time seem to be important. No long lunch breaks around here.

I only saw one small supermarket in 5 days in Taipei. I was like, where do all these people buy food? I'm convinced there are markets somewhere, but part of the answer is people out eat all the time. Why buy raw goods and cook when it's faster and maybe even cheaper to buy it already made? Initially I was suspicious of street vendors, but the fact is, they rely on repeat customers, the food is fresh, and you can see their entire storage and production process. Far shadier things can occur in a restaurant.

Lastly, in our food options, is the portable food stand/cart. One that I partook in sold slabs of fried chicken. I don't know exactly what part of a chicken it was. No bones, no skin, not a breast, but not ground either. Somehow they made a slab of boneless fried chicken. It was good. There's also drinks that come in a small bag instead of a cup. The strap of the bag hangs on your wrist and you drink from a straw. It leaves the hand free. Don't grab the bag or the drink squirts out!

You also might see someone holding a stick, biting an octopus that has been impaled on it. Don't they look so tasty in a big pile like this? This is a crowd favorite. Mmm....octopus on a stick.

From Taiwan

On a more pleasant note, how about an apple on a stick? Wouldn't you like to eat an apple cut into a spiral and elongated? Very creative. Extra points for presentation.


This as all very eco-friendly. The food is not grown far from where it's sold. There's not much useless packaging, and global food chains don't dominate. Despite the west's best marketing efforts, people still really like their local food and I'll mourn the day a Taiwanese child asks for McDonalds, unless of course, they roll out the new McOctopus-on-a-stick.

While writing this post, I discovered this webpage which has a lot of good info and pictures about food in Taiwan.

Labels: food, taiwan

Posted by David at 11:00 AM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

On two separate occassions in Taipei, in crowded public men's restrooms, a female employee came in and started cleaning. No reaction from anyone, like this was the most normal thing. Which begs the question... Would a man cleaning a women's restroom while women were in there be equally insignificant?
On the topic of bathrooms, Taiwan gets a tip of the hat for its very abundant and clean public restrooms which, conveniently for mothers, are always accompanied by baby changing and nursing stations.

Labels: taiwan

Posted by David at 4:43 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Walking on the sidewalks of Taipei, you really have to watch your step, and there won't be any voice or sign reminding you to do so. It appears that every store is responsible for the sidewalk along its storefront. And not all businesses seem to operate on the same elevation. Many end up being a step up or down from their neighbor. Sometimes the transition is angled, sometimes it's just a step. In either case, I found myself not paying enough attention to the floor.

Labels: taiwan

Posted by David at 3:58 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I already wrote about the rules at a Hong Kong park that were a bit ambiguous and also took the fun out of being in a park.
Taipei had a similar sign but this one is better. It has english text along with the pictures so you can be sure that urinating is banned instead of just assuming so.
The other good thing is that this doesn't ban fun stuff. It bans real stuff like damaging things, graffiti, fireworks, and gambling. Although one wonders why "no clothes washing" and "no clothes drying" had to be separate violations. Maybe it was hard to come up with one icon to represent both.

Labels: taiwan

Posted by David at 3:32 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Here's a great idea. Set up a carnival game in the middle of the street and give kids BB guns so they can shoot at balloons and anything else they unintentionally hit.

Labels: taiwan

Posted by David at 3:19 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Labels: taiwan

Posted by David at 3:14 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

After seeing the world's tallest building currently under construction in Dubai that I blogged about earlier, it seemed appropriate to visit the building in Taipei it will soon be replacing.
The Tapei 101 tower really sticks out. It's not a city of skyscrapers. It's a generally sprawled low rise city whose leaders thought it would be cool to have the world's tallest building.

From Taiwan

They are very proud of this big yellow damper ball that rocks to counteract the motion of the building.

I was more impressed with the amazing panoramic view of the whole city from the top.

Labels: taiwan

Posted by David at 2:56 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I noticed that all the receipts I got at the market or any store looked the same. A thin white paper strip with a red circle at the top. I asked about the receipts and was told every receipt is a lottery ticket because the government wants to encourage people to play the lottery. That's interesting, but the reason didn't make sense. Sure, governments make money off the lottery because people pay for the tickets. If you give them out for free, who pays? Something didn't add up but as a consumer what could be better than having an opportunity to win money every time I buy something? I also pondered the fact that every business issued a similar receipt but didn't realize what a significant role that fact played in this puzzle. In spite of my tendency to overthink things, this time, I wouldn't fight it. If receipts are lotto tickets, so be it. Just one more thing for me to blog about.

Fast forward several months later. Here I am backdating blog posts and I decide this post will be more complete if I can dig up some background info. When I need info, I wiki it. Wiki's got good info. But Google finds it. So in order to wiki something, I google wiki. Say what? What does it mean to google wiki? It means I include "wiki" as part of my search query on Google. In this case, I google "taiwan lottery wiki". Couldn't I go to wiki and type "taiwan lottery"? What if there's not a wiki for that exact phrase? Or what if Google is my homepage and I don't want to type any more than I have to? Google finds the most relevant wiki. So the next time someone tells you something you know is total baloney, you say "woah, woah, woah, you're totally wrong there buddy, and I'll prove it just as soon as I can google wiki." (editorial note - Google's official policy is that they prefer people not use the verb "google", but rather "search on Google" or "perform a Google search". Well, that's not going to happen, so in the meantime, to disambiguate them, I capitalize the proper noun Google, and lowercase the verb google. Whether or not "wiki" is a proper noun or verb is an equally important topic, but is beyond the scope of this post. Even I can only digress so much.)

Back to the lotto tickets. The Google search leads me to a wiki on uniform invoices. "Uniform invoices" comes up when I search for "taiwan lottery"? ¿Que? It seems odd, but then the answer becomes clear. The Taiwan government requires all merchants to use the same receipts to standardize their sales tax collection. And what better way to make sure that a transaction is reported than by giving the customer an incentive to demand the standard receipt. Make it a lotto ticket!! Freakin genius! So often, the tax avoider is more creative than the tax collector. Round of applause, Taiwan, you are a formidable foe.

Labels: taiwan

Posted by David at 11:25 AM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

This fruit was pretty popular in Macau. I asked the name of it but couldn't remember. It looks like a cross between a pineapple and a porcupine. Covered in sharp spikes but cut it open and there's normal fruit inside.


Mmm...sheets of meat. I don't know what animal this is. Probably pigs. Meat sold by the sheet, sitting in stacks along the street. I don't know how it's prepared or maybe people just bite into it. Either way, not appetizing.


Yes, I've seen eggs before, but I haven't seen them stacked in a pile like you'd find loose apples and oranges. I guess this works well for people who don't want to buy a whole dozen, but what if you do? Are you just carrying a bag with 12 eggs? Seems a little fragile to just carry around without the cardboard cartons.

Labels: food, macau

Posted by David at 3:57 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Macau is just a 1 hour, $20, ferry ride away from Hong Kong. Former Portuguese colony. Now, like Hong Kong, also a special region of China, which they still stamp your passport to get in and out of.

From Macau

The best way to describe it is...
...China...

...meets Portugal...

...meets Las Vegas...

...all in 10 square miles.
The main attractions are the ruins of St. Paul's cathedral:

and the Casino Lisboa Hotel.
It's the gold building that's twice as tall as everything else. Can't miss it.

I like historical peculiarities like Macau and Gibraltar. They occupy such as small piece of land, but have a very distinct identity. They find a niche in the global economy and maintain their autonomy. They have a very rich history and the relics of that, such as language, architecture, and place names, remain.

Don't bother reserving a hotel in Macau. Like Las Vegas, nice hotels with cheap rates lure in the gamblers. At the ferry terminal there are many legitimate hotel brokers offering great rates and free transport to the hotels. Bring cash. Everyone accepts Hong Kong dollars.
I stayed at the Holiday Inn for about US$65. You can pack real light. Every hotel in Asia seems to provide disposable razors and toothbrushes.

Labels: hotel, macau

Posted by David at 3:11 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Hong Kong island has about 45,000 people per square mile. Compare that to Los Angeles city with 8,000/sq mi. Can you imagine if there were 6 times more people in LA? You'd have a lot more tall buildings.

And it might get pretty crowded on the mall escalators:

There's more people walking on the streets at midnight than there are in downtown LA at lunchtime. Retail stores don't close til midnight. You can shop whenever you want.

There's a great system of buses, trams, and metros for moving people around. The same prepaid "Octopus" card works on all of them. Just tap and go. The card can stay in your wallet or purse; it's RFID. The trams are exactly opposite to US buses. You enter from the back, exit at the front, and pay as you leave. The best innovation of all is that metro lines connect from the same platform. You don't walk up and around in a maze of hallways and escalators. You walk straight across to the next train. When the doors open it's a sea of people. It wouldn't work any other way.

But how can that be? Instead of intersecting at only 1 station, connecting lines run parallel for 2 stops. Each stop transfers to a different direction. In a normal metro system you'll see both directions of one line on the same platform. In Hong Kong, they're on different levels. It takes longer to get down 2 levels of tracks, but the transfers are so quick.

Labels: escalators, hong kong, transport

Posted by David at 11:38 AM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

You don't know who Kam Po Wong is? He's only Hong Kong's best cyclist! The Lance Armstrong of Hong Kong. Well, I know who he is and it looks like people in Hong Kong know who he is too. I saw him in 2 ads in one day. Tiger Woods and Kobe Bryant endorsements don't sell anything in this town.

Labels: cycling, hong kong

Posted by David at 1:37 AM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Wherever I go, I seem to always take pictures of dead fish. There's just such a wide variety. Always something I haven't seen before. The open markets in Hong Kong were a new experience. First off, it's very hot and humid and combined with dead animals, it doesn't add up to a pleasant smell. There are some signs reminding people about food safety, but refrigeration is still very undervalued. The solution is buy it fresh. So fresh, you saw it alive. The picture below shows a fish vendor. There's some shallow tanks where the fish swim around, and when the customer picks it out, they toss it back to the guy with the knife, and 3 seconds later it's gutted and in your bag.
  
There was also a vendor with cages and live chickens near the cart with dead chickens. Fortunately I didn't see them kill any chickens. The other interesting thing is that chickens and ducks, even when you buy it at a supermarket, still have their heads on. The long neck is turned back and the head is tucked under the wing, so the packaging looks the same except you got this chicken head pointing up behind the wing. I guess I don't like to be reminded that what I'm buying was an animal and that it had a head. I can also assume the head stays with it because people like eating it. Which made me wonder...what happens to all the chicken heads in the US? Cat food anyone?

Labels: food, hong kong

Posted by David at 1:07 AM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

We've got Safeway Select, europeans have Euroshopper. There's nothing wrong with the off-brands. They're cheaper, but at least they choose a name that doesn't imply a lack of quality.
In a Wellcome (the most common supermarket chain in Hong Kong) you might want to blame the marketing team for the lackluster sales of "No Frills" peanut butter.

This next one doesn't say Cheerios. But that bumble bee and his honey nuts sure do look familiar. But what's this Kellogg's logo doing here? Does General Mills know about this? My hunch is this is a Chinese counterfeit.

Labels: food, hong kong

Posted by David at 1:02 AM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

The best thing about Hong Kong is everything's around the corner. The supermarket, ikea, 7-11, a karaoke bar, a massage place, the bus stop, the metro station, a computer store, 20 restuarants, a movie theater, a tailor. Or a better way to put it is...if it's not around the corner, it probably doesn't exist. (the caveat being a plunger which I searched far and wide for) I first went to ikea. Sparing me a trip thru the death maze of nordicly named housewares, the ikea greater suggested I go to Wan Chai (the neighborhood where hardware stores are). This is representative of the general commercial geography. You know the Simpson's episode where Homer asks where to buy a hammock, and he's told "try the hammock district"? Hong Kong is kind of like that. All the bars in one place, all the hardware stores in one place. Why set up shop next to all your competition? Go to another neighborhood where people need you!
It's around 9 PM, and I'm heading on the tram to Wan Chai keeping my eyes open for any potential sellers of plungers. 9 PM is as good a time as any for shopping. Everything's pretty much open til midnight. You wanna shop. They wanna sell. 11:30 PM and the streets are as crowded as downtown LA at lunch time. A far cry from western europe where god help you if you need anything after 5 PM.
The world really could use more Rite-Aids. Supermarkets have food. Drug stores have medicine. Electronic stores have batteries, cosmetic stores have lotion and soap, some random stores have houseware and kitchenware items, the newsstand has magazines, office supply stores have office/school supplies etc. But at the end of the day, it shouldn't be too much to ask for a hanger, sunscreen, peanuts, a watch battery, and a pencil without having to visit more than 1 store!
So there I am walking down the streets of Wan Chai, looking for a plunger. Lot of stores selling bathroom fixtures...faucets, toilets, etc. Surely someone who sells toilets or plumbing material sells plungers. As I use my international sign language, I learn the local pronunciation is "plunjy" and no one really knows where to buy one. Great. But they do enjoy my hand motions as I explain what I'm looking for. The real joys and adventures of travel aren't seeing the taj mahal or the great wall of china (neither of which I've seen) but rather the search for an elusive houseware item in a foreign land.
I was not going to accept failure as an option and after a signficant search, I located a hole in the wall hardware store. Off a random corner, with an entrance not high enough to stand fully upright, and elderly man sits behind a work bench. One dim light bulb on. His elderly wife in the background. He's helping someone fix a doorbell. Random odds and ends hang from the ceiling. Hoses, garden tools, light fixtures, an assortment of things that lead you to assume there's a plunger around here. I say the word, make the hand motion, he knows what I'm talking about. He has one, and he'll sell it for $3. 3 freaking dollars! (24 hong kong dollars to be exact). This gentlemen with his grey beard and his store not big enough for 2 people at once, has made me so happy. It's not about the plunger anymore. It's about me, wherever I am, overcoming obstacles. And writing a blog about it.
PS: I'm not the one who clogged the toilet.

Labels: hong kong, random

Posted by David at 11:54 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

It's usually previously unknown animal based products that startle me. But what the hell is this? Maybe their strawberries need a haircut. Or maybe it's Rambutan!

Labels: food, hong kong

Posted by David at 11:53 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Something about hearing bagpipes didn't alarm me. It's a busy dense city. You hear a lot of stuff. But after a while of bagpipes, I finally looked out my 6th floor window.

How great is this city? You don't have to go anywhere. The excitement comes to you! When's the last time I looked out a window and saw a parade?
After watching it a while from up high, I went outside to see it up close. Hong Kong is crowded enough as it is. Close the streets and put on a parade...it's only going to get worse. I never figured out what the parade was for, but every marching band that could possibly exist was there. It kept going on and on. One group after another....sweating profusely. It was around 90 degrees, as humid as it gets, and these kids (lots of elementary and high school bands) were marching thru town carrying huge instruments and wearing these full uniforms. It was uncomfortable just standing in the shade. At least these guys had hats on.

From Hong Kong

Labels: hong kong

Posted by David at 11:18 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I thought the US was pretty good at regulating potentially fun things to the point of not being fun. However, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department in Hong Kong, is a global leader in making parks not fun. Let's take a look at all the banned activities as we enter Victoria Park. From left to right.
1. No walking on grass or no shoes on grass.
2. Not sure. Either no carrying large items, or no weighing things with a big scale.
3. No holding and/or picking flowers.
4. No dogs.
5. This is a toss up. Either no feeding birds or no arguing with chickens.
6. This one could be interesting. I want to say it's no urinating, but I've never seen a non-contiguous stream of urine like that before, nor have I seen it collect on the ground in distinct spheres. It would help greatly if the source of said stream was shown, but the red strik-thru quite inconveniently hides the exact origin. A 2nd interpretation is no tapping eggs with a crooked cane.
7. No lying down or no sleeping.
8. Not a clue. Could be no graffiti or no drawing squiggly lines. Maybe it's a jump rope? Or it's intentionally ambiguous so police can bust someone they don't like and make up an offence.
9. No bicycles.
10. No skateboards.
11. Finally an icon with no red line thru it. Looks like a man throwing something in a trash can. Throwing stuff away in a garbage can is allowed! I would not have known otherwise. None of the icons ban littering though, do they?
12. The allowed activities list was short lived. Alas, a red strike thru appears again. This time we may not use remote control cars.



Let's see. What can we do? We can walk on the paved areas in the allowed direction. Yes, for the benefit of runners, the running path has a designated direction. Sitting on benches was also quite popular among park visitors. I'd like to think that since this sign was so specific, everything else not listed must therefore be okay. Guns, rollerblades, those kinds of fun things.

Labels: hong kong

Posted by David at 1:28 AM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

If I really wanted you to guess if this was an airport or mall, I wouldn't have written the previous post about getting to the airport.
All clues aside, this sure looked and felt like a mall to me. Not just some duty free shops as you make your way to the gate. When I walked into this main area from security, it wasn't at all obvious where, if at all, a departing plane (especially the one corresponding to my boarding pass) might be found.

Labels: airports, dubai

Posted by David at 11:30 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I had been warned that there was a lot of traffic in Dubai in the mornings. So I heeded that warning and gave myself extra time. A 9 AM flight isn't particularly early. I checked out of the hotel, they called a taxi, and it felt like forever, pacing back and forth outside and inside. The streets around the hotel were empty. Where are the damn taxis? One finally came after 30 minutes, (29 of which had not been budgeted into my travel plans). I felt relieved to finally be on my way. No such luck. We were sitting in traffic, worse than LA traffic, if it's possible to imagine. The driver assured me once we got out of the central ring it would go fast. But at 0 mph, leaving the central area is not happening soon enough. Even an ambulance had no option but to sit in traffic, sirens on, but not moving. Note to self: when in Dubai have medical emergencies during off peak hours only. In my 4 days there, I had not felt the urge to wake up early and consequently was unaware of the morning gridlock. Behind the tallest, fanciest, biggest of everything, Dubai has a lot of people trying to get to work, and not enough roads to get them there. However they are in the midst of building a vast under and over ground metro system.
After zigging and zagging through many side streets, we finally started going full speed. My specialty is cutting it really close with flights and this was no exception. Fortunately, Emirates airlines has its own terminal at the Dubai Airport and there was no line for anything. Nice work guys. I get through security where a security guard seeing the water bottle in my hand informs me that's not allowed, "so I should put it in my backpack". Thanks for the suggestion. I'll do that. Sure wouldn't want to be seen doing something that's not allowed. The same system that x-rays carry-ons upon arrival, doesn't care what I take out...as long as it's hidden. I'll miss this place.

Labels: dubai

Posted by David at 11:00 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I like mojitos but bars and alcohol aren't so prevalent. Pretty much only available to foreigners in hotels and it ain't cheap. I dropped by the Jumeirah Emirates Towers to check out the view from the top.

From Dubai

On the 51st floor is Vu's bar. They offer many drinks including mocktails. A mojito without alcohol is $12 or a real one is $21. Hmm, either way I'll set a personal record, so give me the alcohol. It was a very good drink and the view was ok but could have been better. It looks smoggy but actually it's sand in the air. Since this building is so much higher than others you have to look down steeply to see anything. The angle of the windows doesn't make it any easier. This was literally the best photo I could take. I haven't decided whether to title it "Still life with mojito" or "Mojito enjoys the view". I'm sure the waitress would call it "Stupid White Guy's Photo #137"
   

Labels: dubai, food

Posted by David at 8:45 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Across the river from Bur Dubai is Deira. Not as touristy but still nice to visit and do some shopping. But one thing becomes painfully obvious, a lack of available taxis. Dubai is too big for walking. I like buses but I can't always figure out where they're going unless I know the end destination shown on the front. The previous day in Bur Dubai I took 6 taxi rides. I never waited more than 10 seconds. Right when I needed one it was there.
At the end of the day, I ended up in the Golden Souk (that's how they spell shuk) where I purchased this very sharp looking dishdash (made in China)

When it's time to leave, everyone else had the same idea. There's no designated place to wait for taxis. The only taxis that come are snapped up quickly after dropping people off. It's not an orderly process. The odds are against me and my taxi hailing abilities. The bus station is right across the street. So I hop on one, not to go home, but to go somewhere with better odds of procuring a taxi. Buses are cheap, around 50 cents. We get to a bus terminal which seems like a good place to find a taxi. And there are a lot there, but only long distance shared taxis. I couldn't believe it. My odds had not improved. Taxis waiting for people who want to go far. People waiting for taxis that will go nearby. So inefficient. I'm getting hungry and frustrated. I walk along the road, I walk to nearby stores. Nothing. Sensing that I'm in need of a taxi, someone approaches me offering a ride. I appreciate the entrepreneurial spirit, addressing the needs of an unserved market. It's tempting, but the business of private unsolicited drivers gets too much bad publicity these days. Sorry. So I board another bus that sounds like it's going in the right direction and amazingly it gets me home. I made it.
Tip for taxis in Dubai: No problem with taxis if you're near the fancy parts of town, hotels, malls, financial district, etc. Go somewhere not so rich or touristy and you might have a problem. Solution: have the taxi wait for you. Waiting charge is around $11/hour. Or get more familiar with the bus system. It's a good system if you know where you're going.

Labels: dubai

Posted by David at 8:30 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

In this post I will attempt to capture a real day in the life of Dubai. Dubai is all about shopping and where else should I go but the largest mall outside the US, the Mall of the Emirates. Malls are not a trend, they're a necessity. Either spend your day in the air conditioned mall or fry an egg in the parking lot. Every thing is enclosed and air conditioned, even the bus stops.

I take a taxi to the mall, snap a photo of the world's tallest building currently under construction, and have a nice chat with my Pakistani driver. With some exception the hierarchy of jobs and nationalities goes like this: Indians are construction workers, Pakistanis drive the taxis, southeast Asians serve you food and drinks, Arabs stamp your passport. If you're successful you own a store selling clothing or electronic hardware. And if you're really successful, your store is air conditioned.


As I enter the mall I find the world renowned indoor ski run. Yup, it's true, it's there. Snow in the desert. They've done it. You can rent everything but bring your own gloves and beanie. Tuesday nights is the snowboard halfpipe.


The direction arrows in the mall drive me nuts. I'm convinced they have no correlation to actual location and someone enjoys watching the white guy go the wrong way.


Fortunately I have nowhere in particular to go and by no coincidence I find the supermarket and food court without delay. I've never been to a Carrefour before but this one must be the biggest ever. Thanks to price controls and pegging the dirham to the dollar, prices are remarkably good.


McDonald's and other American chains are pretty popular with the locals, but I opt for some Lebanese food. Some kind of thin veggie covered pizza, fries, hummus, and grape leaves.


After lunch I walk around some more and admire the architecture and nice interior.


Then I catch a live performance that occurs multiple times a day. There's always one thing or another being broadcast on the loudspeaker. If it's not a blonde woman singing in a tight dress, it's the Allahu Akbar call to worship. Hold the Gucci bag, I'll be back in 5 minutes.


My trip to the mall wouldn't be complete without cruising by Rodeo Drive. Made me feel right at home.


And if that didn't remind me of LA enough, there was a Lamborghini conveniently parked outside.


But I'll pass on that ride. I'll take one of these beautiful Camrys instead.
(Can someone from the Toyota grammar department confirm that the plural of Camry is not Camries?)


It's getting late. Take me to the Burj al Arab hotel.

Labels: dubai

Posted by David at 8:15 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Why do I like shopping for food in foreign countries? Reason #1, I'm hungry. Reason #2, signs like this:

When I see a sign like this, I also see the big bright neon "blog this" sign on top of it. Any tourist with a camera handy would do the same. One of those things you just don't see anywhere else. Dubai is interesting like that. Progressive and modern with all its foreigners and pork for them to eat, but still not giving a choice to their own people. Alcohol is the same way except more strict in that you won't find it in a market. I suppose its allure is more than a sign can deter.

Labels: dubai

Posted by David at 8:00 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Here would be a fun game for the David Letterman show. It might not have the same appeal as "Know Your Cuts of Meat", but still a fun challenge. Do you know your arabic logos?

Labels: dubai

Posted by David at 7:00 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I blogged earlier about what $150 buys you in central London. Barely enough room for a bed. Easy to capture in one photo.

Fast forward 3 weeks, I can barely fit the dining and living rooms of my $100/night Dubai hotel in one photo:

Two thumbs up for the Golden Sands Hotel & Apartments. It's one of the biggest hotel/apartment chains in Dubai. They've got 10 of these that all look the same. Makes it easy to walk into the wrong one. They're all nearby in the center of Bur Dubai. Very clean and in good shape. Dubai has a reputation for expensive hotels, but except for a few over-the-top hotels, the prices are reasonable.
What exactly did I get for $100/night? I calculated around 1500 square feet. 5 beds, 3 bedrooms, living room, dining room, huge kitchen, balcony, 2 bathrooms, a laundry room, and this arrow sticker on the ceiling so I know which way to pray.

It was really a damn shame to have this much space and be travelling alone. How did I get such a great deal? Well, I booked a studio apartment on booking.com which was a bit cheaper than the same room on other sites. Then when I got to the hotel, they were all out of studios, 1 bedrooms, and 2 bedrooms. What left but to give me a 3 bedroom? Rack rate for it was around $1000/night. Where you stay has a huge impact on your overall impressions of where you travel, so to me, Dubai is freakin awesome.

I've never had my own laundry room while travelling so I took advantage of it. You'd think that a hotel which provides soap and shampoo in the bathroom could provide detergent in the laundry room. Nope. So I had to buy some Tide at the next door super market, Spinney's. Yup the biggest supermarket chain in Dubai is called Spinney's.


What's the one downside of having a laundry room in your hotel room? Well, actually two downsides. The first was the dryer got really hot and smokey and I thought was going to burn the place down. Fortunately it's pretty darn hot and dry in Dubai, so you can put your clothes on the balcony for about 15 seconds. That'll do the trick. A drying machine in Dubai? C'mon. Do eskimos need a refrigerator? But I digress. The main downside is that your key is in the slot to keep the electricity on. And while the refrigerator is on a different circuit (as I learned after calling the lobby), the washing machine will turn off when you leave the room. How I thought of that ahead of time is beyond me. My usual discovery process involves D'oh moments such as:
1. Washing machine is on.
2. Pull the key out as I leave.
3. Washing machine goes quiet.
4. D'oh!
I'm not in Dubai everyday and I really would have preffered to put the laundry in and then go do something productive like find an internet connection and login to facebook.

Labels: dubai, hotel

Posted by David at 6:00 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I had read up on the Dubai airport and most comments were about how crowded and busy it was. First stop was the customs hall, the biggest I've ever seen. Long row after row. It was very orderly and quiet though. The arrival monitor showed flights from everywhere (Khartoum, Brunei, you name it, this was the crossroads of the eastern hemisphere), even flights from places I never heard of. Where's Surabaya? Felt like I was in the lobby of the UN building. Africans and Indians in their national attire; whites, asians, middle easterners. All the customs agents were men and women dressed in traditional arab attire. This was at 1 AM. People are coming and going from all over the world 24/7.

I had a US passport and just came from Israel. You can reference websites that say otherwise, but in practice, everyone's welcome. Just don't bring drugs and don't be gay. Both are severe crimes. Unmarried couples can't share hotel rooms, but I don't know how widely enforced that is.
Customs took 30 minutes, luggage came quickly, thought I was outta there. Not. Dubai has the biggest, tallest, most expensive, longest of everything...including taxi lines. Took another 30 minute before I entered an air-conditioned volvo wagon. Dubai has the cleanest taxis. All of them nice new cars, mostly camrys, drivers (mostly Pakistani, some Indian) in uniform. Waiting for the taxi was an experience. 85 degrees at 1 AM, outside and only some fans to blow the air around, hoards of Indian men awaiting the arrival of relatives. A hectic yet orderly scene.

Labels: airports, dubai

Posted by David at 12:42 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Never saw this before, but a great idea. Baby strollers provided by the airline, much like a luggage caddy. Most people don't carry on strollers, then they've got to lug their kids through customs and baggage claim. Emirates is one of the few profitable airlines in the world. Is it a coincidence that they know what customers want?

Labels: airports, dubai

Posted by David at 12:33 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

There's no direct flights from Israel to Dubai. I bet there will be soon though. The only convenient option is Royal Jordanian Airlines (I really would prefer to call it Air Jordan) thru Amman. I had some time to kill in the Amman airport. I would have like to take some pictures but I just didn't want to look like any worse of a tourist than I already did. But sitting opposite a mirror gave me a discreet idea. Where's the camera?

I didn't sit there too long. Lots of people were smoking. In fact, the only thing more prevalent than smokers were "No Smoking" signs. Everywhere I turned, a smoker, and a no smoking sign. I really wanted a picture of that but just wasn't sure how appreciative of my photography the locals might be.
The flight to Dubai went smoothly and I have to say, of all the flights I took, Jordanian Airlines was the best. Plenty of space and legroom, very comfortable seats which I suspect were leather, and best of all was the food. When they brought out the meals it smelled like a middle eastern restaurant.
Maybe their security could be better. Upon boarding to Dubai, I showed them my Tel Aviv - Amman boarding pass. Woops. They all look the same.

Labels: airports, jordan

Posted by David at 4:04 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

What's the world's shortest international flight? Tel Aviv to Amman is 25 minutes and a Google search turned up nothing shorter. It sure felt longer. I sat in the plane more on the ground than in the air. The flight comprised of a steep takeoff heading the wrong way (I'm sure the flight would be under 20 minutes if it took off going east), a turnaround, and then quite possibly the fastest landing (and/or the slowest braking) I've witnessed because we didn't stop for a while. And when we did stop it was nowhere near a terminal. Perhaps special treatment for flights from Israel.

Labels: israel, jordan

Posted by David at 3:48 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post