goodbye Penang, hello (again) KL

An adorable 50's-style lamp that I really wanted to take (but of course, didn't). It was on the coolest bedside table, too!

This kitty stayed out in the courtyard with me late at night as I caught up on the internet. She's a lot friendlier than she looks.

When this kitty slept, she slept like a log!

At Penang we stayed at Cheong Tze Fat Mansion (that name's probably not correct, I'll check it later), really cool restored mansion with 38 rooms, all themed! We were in Penang for two days - it's a nice historic city and we explored it a bit, mostly enjoying all the different kinds of food! A mix and sometimes fusion of Indian, Malay, Chinese, and Thai, and possibly even more. Night markets are the coolest and by far my favorite part of experiencing the cultures out here. The only bad part about Penang is I've gotten the worst mosquito bites here than on our entire trip! :( Need more mosquito repellent, badly. Now we're on "vacation" (read: stop travels, rest) before we get on to a crazy month of WORK.

I ♥ fruit

Rambutan (part of the lychee family!) is one of my favorites out here!

Ladyfinger! Sweeter than a banana :)

Mangosteen! Here they say it's the queen of fruit. Outwardly it looks like a woody eggplant, but what's inside tastes amazing.

Great thing about this trip is that all the fruits are in season! Night markets are chock-full of fruit stands and they're super cheap and delicious. Yum yum yum.

excerpt - The Graveyard Book

"...You're alive, Bod. That means you have infinite potential. You can do anything, make anything, dream anything. If you change the world, the world will change. Potential. Once you're dead, it's gone. Over. You've made what you've made, dreamed your dream, written your name. You may be buried here, you may even walk. But that potential is finished."

-- The Graveyard Book, "The Convocation," pg. 179. by Neil Gaiman

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I vowed to stop buying things after Cambodia (goods at the night market were so ridiculously cheap - will post much-overdue photos sometime...). But at the airport, waiting for our flight to Bangkok as I browsed the airport bookstore, I see this title peering at me, telling me "You've been wanting to read me, you've been waiting. And now that I've gotten the Newbery Medal, there is no excuse for you NOT to read me."

So I hand over $14, (well $15 because I got two more postcards...) and when I return to the waiting area near our gate my friends ask "You got another book?" And I smile and say yes, I open to the first page, of which I already knew the first line by heart, and I begin to read.

And now less than 3 days later, (I finished it two days ago) I am once again reminded of why Neil Gaiman is a master of words. Forget J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter. Neil does with the Graveyard Book what she did with Harry Potter one hundred times better in a fraction of the volumes written. He knows his readers aren't stupid, he doesn't spell everything out, and he constantly reminds me of how beautiful compassion, courage, and selflessness in beings are.

Thank you, Neil.

missing Vietnam

especially the pho.

biking to the beach (Hoi An)

Spent yesterday morning riding bicycles through the countryside in Hoi An to an unspoiled beach where we frolicked until lunchtime; then we rode back and took a walking tour of downtown Hoi An. Beach photos below!

Mounting bikes after stopping by a construction site for a house. We are architecture students, after all.

Beautiful beach full of lush palm trees, clean white sand that's probably 100º F, ouch, and clean blue-green water. With jellyfish.

A handful of tiny sand dollars, crab carapaces, and shells with holes - which I later stringed on to a bit of palm fiber I found.

Pineapple juice at lunch. Mmm, frothy.

Close-up on the shell necklace.

Hanoi to Hoi An, Vietnam

Halong Bay

I am getting progressively worse at keeping tabs on this blog, but with good reason, as internet connection is faulty in the hotel rooms.

I'm sitting outdoors in a covered patio because the wireless connection's the strongest here. There are lizards crawling around on the hotel walls, bugs flying and biting, and frogs and birds screaming at and calling to each other in the trees. There's a group of locals karaoke-ing, the air is hot and sticky and it hangs in the air like a giant, hovering cloud. There are two kittens peering at me from under the table. They look like they want to come say hello, but they are much too shy and frightened to do so. Mama cat is nearby so they are safe and have a place to go.

Tomorrow we bike to the beach and explore downtown Hoi An! Should be a very interesting day.

HONG KONG >>> China

Oh man how I've missed the blog-o-sphere (I can't believe I just said blog-o-sphere)!!!

some poopies tussling in Suzhou; they made me miss mine!

First day in Hong Kong after two weeks in China. We started off in Beijing, then went to Dunhuang (near the Gobi Desert), Xi'an, then Shanghai, a small stop to Suzhou, then Shanghai again. China is very stringent about what is viewable on the web and as a consequence I couldn't blog or watch videos on YouTube - a huge thumbs-down to censorship. Thanks, China.

I wrote notes to myself for each thing we did in China, so I'll probably backtrack and post to the actual dates, just because I can. wooo!

Xi'an (6/5 - 6/7/09)

Xi'an - one of the oldest cities in China and home of the famous Terra Cotta Army that protected the tomb of Qin Shi Huang - China's first emperor.

Leaving Dunhuang for Xi'an, in one of the tiniest planes I've ever flown in - three seats and an aisle wide!

At a terra cotta soldier-making factory. A broken soldier in the rubble outside of a kiln.

Unfired clay heads made with the local clay, which is a nice dark brownish grey.

At the actual site of the real terra cotta warriors...!

Outdoor floor detail at the Grey Mosque - the first/only Muslim place of worship in Xi'an.

Lychees being sold on the street. I really wanted to buy some dried kiwis but didn't get the chance!

We went to a dumpling house that made dumplings in the shape of what's inside. They were not that good, but these walnut dumplings were divine.

Dunhuang (6/3 - 6/5/09)

Dunhuang is a little town right out by the Gobi Desert - more of a farming town and less hectic as a city like Beijing, though bustling and busy in itself. A really beautiful and quiet transition from city to country.

Hello camel!

We rode camels to the Singing Sand Dunes in the Gobi Desert.

Orange booties to cover up shoes and pant legs and keep sand OUT. such was the fashion that day.

Camels resting after our intial trek to the dunes.

I got a sweet red hat to keep off the sun, everyone said I looked like Jessie from Toy Story!

Nearing dusk, leaving the dunes.

Beijing (5/31 - 6/2/09)

The CCTV by Rem Koolhaas of OMA - it was only a couple blocks away from our hotel!

The Great Wall itself on our second day in Beijing. We walked up the steeper side, man was it rough!

A friend took a photo of me with the Wall in the background! "One world, one dream."

Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Take that, M-A-O!

The Olympic Stadium, aka the Bird's Nest, by Herzog & DeMueron.

The Water Cube by PTW Architects and ARUP.

Beijing was an enormous shock after Japan. Our guide during our stay in Beijing informed us that the city underwent enormous changes and modernization, especially in preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games. Aside from the more developed areas, other places brought such words as "squalid" and "poverty-stricken" came to mind. We rode the subway once and it was crowded, stuffy and nauseating. The people there push and shove without batting an eye, and I never once learned the word in Mandarin for "sorry" or "excuse me" (as opposed to Japanese - "sumi-ma-sen"). So I definitely felt culture shock there, and much of our group experienced homesickness and rancor at the environment. But Dunhuang proved to be a better change after three days in Beijing.

Tsukiji Fish Market (Tokyo)

Some of us woke up around 3:00 AM this morning to get out of the hotel by 4:00 so we could witness the daily goings-on at Tsukiji Shijo - the famous Tsukiji Fish Market! This is basically where all the world's tuna comes from, along with tons of seafood. Bidding for the gigantic bluefin tuna begins around 5:30 AM and it's over basically in a matter of minutes. Then the fish gets taken to local restaurants and/or packed onto airplanes and shipped worldwide. This goes on every single day! Didn't include shots of the actual market, but here are shots of the sushi I had for breakfast.

The Sakura platter. It cost 3600 ¥, but I had to go big, there's no telling if I will ever have the chance to have sushi this fresh ever again.

It included unagi (eel) which was cooked with a mini torch separately from the rest of the fish!

Our sushi chef (probably in an attempt to educate us) brought out a bit of the root of the Japanese horseradish, which is what wasabi is made from!

He was quite an amazing character, saying "JJANG!" punctuating his movements while preparing the sushi, and he gave an extra dollop of uni to everyone in our group. WOW.

This is our last day in Tokyo :(. Tomorrow we depart for Beijing. I feel like we didn't spend enough time in Tokyo, but I am grateful we came here anyway no matter how short our stay was. I will miss Japan.

rainy days in Tokyo

Stick-on at Harajuku street. tiiight.

A thrift store in Harajuku had this USC shirt gracing one of their piles. REPRESENT, haha.

Crocheted/knit vests, how funny.

Murakami flower pins for 726 ¥ each (OUCH!) at a museum (?) store in Roppongi Hill.

A Murakami dinosaur/monster key chain at the same store. So cute! something like 1080 ¥. I got asked very nicely not to take photos of the Murakami merchandise right after I took this photo :(

Today we hopped around looking at development malls and it was alright. The rain in Tokyo today didn't help. After "school" two of my friends and I went looking for Harajuku street and we found it, but due to the rain and maybe because it's a school day (???) none of the Harajuku kids were there - although we did pass by many fashionable peoples. I'm sad that it is expected to rain during the rest of our time in Tokyo - we are only here for one more day! Fish market tomorrow morning at 4 am, so I am going to bed now!

Yokohama

Today was a free day and we went to Yokohama solely to see the Yokohama Pier Port Terminal by FOA (Foreign Office Architects). We took the Shinkansen from Kyoto to Yokohama, which took about 2 hours and 21 minutes, then after some confusion with a transfer rail, we walked several blocks across streets, over bridges and around construction to finally arrive at our destination.

This project put FOA on the map! A few more photos ahead...

We leave tomorrow morning at 6:30 AM - last night in Kyoto - destination Tokyo!

frog style (!!!)

I wasn't planning on going too crazy with buying things, but these frog keychains are very, very difficult to resist :X.

Frogs + Japan + bright colors + amazing themes = IRRESISTIBLE.

Himeji Castle and Engyogi

Today we went to Himeji Castle and Engyogi Shrine. Himeji Castle is more of a fortress than a castle, really, super-fortified with lots of hidden places within the main tower, and at Engyogi (which is where part of The Last Samurai was filmed) we did extreme climbing on mountain roads - some of them were sloped at what seemed like 45º!!!

Himeji Castle! FORTIFIED.

Specially-formed windows - bigger and wider in the inside, tapering to a smaller aperture to the outside, so you can shoot your enemies easily with arrows but they can't shoot you!

Imperial seals at Himeji.

Statues of monks at Engyogi.

Rocks stacked on a lantern at Engyogi.

Not a very picture-heavy day today. Possible free day tomorrow - we were supposed to go to Tokyo but we are probably going to be staying in Kyoto. People losing their passports is no fun :(.