Last days of Europe

Apologies for the lengthy delay - Lo-Lin and I have been busy job hunting in Dubai. It really is a full-time job.

So, because I haven't set up a proper VPN or proxy server, we won't have Flickr for this post...so on to the text!

From Oct. 1 through Oct. 17 we traveled all across: France, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Italy, and Monaco. We stopped in: Paris, Annecy (France), Zurich, Bern, Geneve, Vaduz (Lichtenstein), Milano, Torino, Nice, Monaco, Cannes, Avignon (France), and Dijon. Yeah - lengthy trip.

Take-aways:

1. French people are amazing. I was surprised that few people would respond to me in English - but I really believe it has to do with not being confident in speaking English - or speaking with an accent. Everyone I met was extremely friendly and helpful. On wikitravel, we realized quickly that the areas that are more "dangerous" are just more ethnically diverse - OUR TYPE OF PLACE! In Paris, the place we stayed was alright - but the surrounding neighborhood was awesome. Very culturally diverse and open. Every time we ate out or bought food - the people joked in English and welcomed us with open arms.



2. Avoid Milano Shopping. Sure, it is the "capital of fashion", but everywhere we went, we were ignored and people were just plain rude. Luckily, Lo-Lin and I realized this after 3 hours and decided to go to Serravalle Designer Outlet (Click on English on the bottom). It is about 90 minutes southwest of Milano and WOW. The staff at each store were extremely nice. I picked me up a pair of Salvatore Ferragamo shoes. Oh yeah I feel stylish now wearing way too expensive shoes.



3. Annecy France is a beautiful town. A colleague from my MBA program recommended this town. Lo-Lin and I drove there not knowing what to see and found one of the more beautiful places on Earth. The lake area and downtown is quaint and relaxing. We could have spent a week here and just done nothing but relax. We had amazing food and really enjoyed our day here.



4. Switzerland is goofy and expensive. Driving into Switzerland, they charged you 30 Euros to get in, they stick a sticker on your window and don't check your passport. Switzerland is crazy expensive. We ate in most of the time, but had some really good food on the streets. One of the best things ever: bratwurst wrapped in bakery dough and baked. wow. too good. It is like France meets Iowa in a $5 walkaway.



5. Monaco and Nice are beautiful, but run down. It felt like Santa Barbara, CA, but it was great to put on shorts and wander around. The beaches aren't sandy, but still beautiful.



6. Dijon is the perfect place. We stayed on the edge of the city centre and walked in for dinner. The streets are tree-lined and the city centre compact and very - University-like. We ate at a nice place and really enjoyed the entire city.



7. Emirates Airlines isn't all that. Maybe if you fly first/business class, but cattle class - they are just like all of the other airlines. Oh and anything over 20KG PER PERSON (not per bag) is 30 EUROS per KILO

Overall, the trip was amazing. It will be a time that is never forgotten.

Hopefully, I'll be able to get pictures online someday soon.

Dubai/Sharjah

We have arrived in Dubai and are staying in Sharjah. Due to the government's lovely decency laws - Flickr is banned. I'll find a way around it - just give me an hour or two of free time.

Lo-Lin and I will update on our France/Switzerland/Italy trip very soon. For now - we are looking for jobs!

And we are OFF!

Good bye Brussels! Good bye Belgium! Land of wonderful beer, chocolate, cheese, and meat products! We bid you farewell.

Yes, our lovely 2 months in Brussels has come to an end. It was nice recharging the batteries here for a couple of months. Sadly (and not so sadly) our journey takes off tomorrow with a train ride to Paris. and from there:

1) Paris, France to Annecy, France
2) Annecy, France to Geneve, Swizterland
3) Geneve to Bern, to Zurich, Swizterland
4) Zurich to Vaduz, Liechtenstein to Milano, Italy
5) Milano to Torino, Italy
6) Torino, Italy to Monaco to Nice, France
7) Nice, France to Dijon, France
8) Dijon, France to Paris, France

Yep - a big roundtrip through the region. 15 days total with 12 or 13 in a car. This is the last "real part" of our honeymoon. Then, we are off to Dubai. no jobs yet, but we will work out something.

We both are excited to move on to the next adventure. Brussels has been extraordinarily chill and a great place to take a break. The people here are super friendly and our flat ended up in the best of places - St. Gilles Parvis. A very multi-cultural neighborhood that has a market every Wed through Sun. The people are great and friendly. No real negatives. We could have had a "better place" to stay - but it didn't affect us too much. Better than staying in a hotel and being on the move constantly.

We leave for Dubai on Oct. 16 and arrive Oct. 17. We will see you all around then! (with tons of pics)

Amsterdam! Sept. 19-21

Amsterdam. The land of (perceived) sin. The Las Vegas of Europe. Nah. Not really. ;) Lo-Lin and I don't party too much. Really - we go to bed well before midnight.

On Friday, we came to the city early and went to the Van Gogh Museum. It truly is a first class museum. In addition to the Van Gogh material, we both really liked the "Druskel Prints" exhibit by H.N. Werkman, a famous Dutch printer. We went to the Diamond factory across the street. Fun times. Then, off to our hotel.

Normally, hotels are hotels. But, we stayed at the QBic Hotel. Ala Japan capsule hotels, this is a bit bigger (not much) and has everything built into the "Cubi". A table, bed, tv, bathroom all in one unit. The hotel is almost fully self-service (check-in/out, food, etc.). It was neat, but I didn't like the lighting. I also didn't like that we had to ring up the caretaker every time we wanted in - because it was inside the World Trade Centre buildings and on the weekends. This was a really neat hotel though and I recommend checking them out. It was right on the metro and tram lines and provided easy access to downtown.

Friday night, we met up with C. Shaa, Justin, and Jeff for some drinks/dinner. Great times. I hadn't seen C. Shaa since my going away party in Iowa City (2005). She lives here with Justin and is a corporate lawyer. EVIL! Nah. It was a great time hanging out.

Saturday, Lo-Lin and I went shopping all day and bummed around. Lo-Lin had her first experience of the Red Light District. For those uninitiated - it really isn't that big and it really isn't as sleazy as you have heard. Yes, there are prostitutes in some of the windows and yes, marijuana is semi-legal - but really, the only thing that makes it crazy is the amount of tourists. Afterwards, we headed to Wynand Fockink....but more on that later.

We then met up Jeff and his friend Joy who was visiting from L.A. We took them down to Wynand Fockink. I discovered this place a couple of years ago when I was visiting Amsterdam - they started in 1679 and still make jenever - essentially gin, before the English taxed the French and caused chaos. It is in a back alley of downtown Amsterdam, near Dam Plaza and absolutely stunning. The staff are amazing well versed and treat everyone extremely well. After a few rounds, we decided to wander around and figure out food. We ended up at some Sichuan Chinese place - it was decent. After that, we went home. exhausted.

Sunday - WINDMILLS!

Before we headed to the windmills, we had breakfast at Pancakes Amsterdam. WOW. I ordered a savory pancake with spinach, pine nuts, garlic oil, and cheese. Lo-Lin, for some reason, got the American pancakes. Surprisingly - the American pancakes were amazing too! They had 3 stacks of pancakes with like...a 1/2 pound of bacon on top, covered in maple syrup. wow. GO THERE.

We then headed over to Zaanseschans...i.e. the land of the windmills near Amsterdam. ;) Lo-Lin, Jeff, Joy, and I hit the tourist destination early on in the day and had a wonderful time. The windmills were turning and you could go in (we didn't - 5 euros for a flight of stairs to stand on it didn't seem like a good investment). The whole place was quaint. Bought a couple of things and then headed back to Brussels.

Amsterdam is and always will be a neat place to go.

16 pictures

Sept. 13 - Bruges, Belgium

Lo-Lin and I had agreed to go to Bruges for a day when I got back from Dubai. On the plane back to the EU, In Bruges was showing on the flight. Hilarious mob movie based in Bruges with Colin Farrell. I highly recommend it -- plus the movie was shot in Bruges, so going there after seeing the movie was fun (he was shot here!).

Bruges is a city that still has much of its medieval architecture and is what I remember as being "classic Europe" in my grade/high school textbooks. I think they took every picture from German castles and Bruges and put them in the textbooks. The city is stunningly beautiful and is filled with canals. Wandering through the city, you could tell the people there tried to keep it "the old way". I highly recommend going there for some relaxation.

A couple of the highlights

• The Belfry of Bruges. For 5 Euros a piece, we went up the 366 steps - luckily stopping at points in between. The stairwell starts wide and then narrows so that only one person can go up (or down) at a time. A logistical nightmare. I imagine many people have taken a spill down those narrow stairs. The views were amazing and the bells started going off as we got to the bell tower (my ears rang all day).


• Canal tour. I've been on the ones in Amsterdam before and this way, by far, better. Open boats through the canals let you see an inaccessible side of Bruges.


• Friet Museum (and Chocolate Museum). I liked the friet museum (potato fries) way too much. The museum showed the history of the potato from its North American roots all the way through today's friet shops. It was fun, cute, and, at the end, delicious. We had some fries - mmm good. The Chocolate Museum was neat for historical value, but way overcrowded.

Now, for some pictures. 27 pictures
This first picture was taken in the morning.

Sept. 1 - 9 - Dubai Job Hunt

I went to Dubai, United Arab Emirates from Sept. 1 through 9th for a more in depth job hunt. The time I was there was the beginning of Ramadan. Yes, it is a religious holiday and everything slows down, but my primary purpose was to meet people I had talked to electronically already (all expats) and to see if I could turn over any stones while I was there.

A brief Muslim religious lesson about Ramadan. Ramadan is a Muslim religious observance of the time during which the Qur'an was revealed to Muhammed. It is a time of personal reflection, worshiping God, self-discipline, and sacrifice. Therefore, Muslims fast during daylight hours and break at iftar - resulting in obtaining of food during the day being difficult. From a non-Muslim experience: no drinking of anything, eating of anything, smoking, or chewing gum in public. There are also no movies at the theaters. On the other hand, iftar is a nice relief to the day's fasting. I went to proper iftar dinners at a few hotels. Very extravagant and rich food. It was really good.

I spent most of my time on the phone, meeting with people, or applying for jobs...and not much time taking pictures. In addition, it was really hot - between 105-110 F the entire time. I made the mistake of going for a pre-dawn run and was wiped out.

Here are the 3 photos I took:



BTW - if anyone knows of a economist/financial analyst/consulting position in the Middle East or North Africa - my email is mike AT triple-zero DOT net =)

August 22-24 - Rotterdam and Den Haag

Before I headed out to Dubai, Lo-Lin and I wanted to take a quick trip to the Netherlands. Some stuff fell through, so we decided on Rotterdam and Den Haag rather than Amsterdam. I had been to Rotterdam previously, but never Den Haag. This time, due to being "lost in my head" because of the Dubai job search - I didn't take that many pictures.

Rotterdam is a neat place. It has a unique balance of class, along with an industrial infrastructure. It kind of reminds me of Chicago. The weather wasn't so amazing the entire time: cold, drizzly, windy - but it was nice to have a weekend away from Brussels. We didn't really do much besides walk around and explore, but that was more than satisfactory for us. As per usual, we stopped at Pizza Hut to check out the menu - and were sadly disappointed. Very Americanized. We had "all you can eat" at the Japanese restaurant. The food was decent, but we had to go RIGHT when they opened - they have a reservations list that is filled well in advance. Our hotel, NH, was super nice and comfy. On the Sat. night after Den Haag - we ate out, got some beer and came back to watch some TV.

Den Haag - we didn't know what to expect. You hear about the place all of the time because of the international courts, so we expected a very opulent place. It was. The city was pretty relaxed, food was crazy expensive, and the shopping was even more expensive. We didn't buy much - just wandered around and took pictures. We ran into an outdoor sculpture art show (see pics).

The time has come for pictures:
9 pictures, mostly of Den Haag

Sorry for the lack of posts

It has been almost a month and we didn't post at all! Sorry. Lo-Lin isn't the posting type. She says she will post in Chinese (maybe).

It has been quite a month. First, I went to Dubai for my job search. I met a few great people, had some good conversations, and stayed in my hotel because of the heat (105-110 degrees Fahrenheit the entire time). Sadly, I didn't come back with a position - but we are going to keep trying. I've only recently figured out how to express the position I really want - in construction/engineering it is called "project controls". Lo-Lin has started looking for a statistician's position too. We will be headed back to Dubai from Oct. 17 through Nov. 13.

We'll be posting about our recent trips in the next few posts: Den Haag/Rotterdam and Bruges. Lo-Lin went to Antwerp and Gent by herself so she may post something. =) This weekend: Amsterdam!

On a side note, the American (and world) economy is hurting because of the recent collapses. I don't know what to think. I'm a heavy believer in a free market economy with appropriate controls. As an established free market economy - aren't firms that show irresponsibility liable for their actions? Maybe we should let them fail and allow the market to self-correct rather than tax the individual to rescue these irresponsible firms. The type of action the government has taken allows for a propped up system of irresponsibility in the financial services sector (and housing too!). Let them collapse and allow the properly investing firms to pick through the bones. Yes, I'm a bit of a pessimist, but really - why should I pay for the irresponsibility of others - especially those that are highly educated and know better?

It really is a slippery slope - shouldn't the government cover my individual investor losses because I made irresponsible decisions? Even though my losses are much smaller - why should we have a discriminatory practice (big loss vs. small loss) of who receives assistance and who does not?

Brussels

So, we've been in Brussels for almost 3 weeks now. I haven't updated much about the city at all. We live just south of city centre and next to Halleport - the last standing entrance gate to Brussels.

Our flat is decent and livable, but nothing to write home about. There is a big market in St. Gilles Parvis every Wed., Sat., and Sun. - but on the other days, there are still a few vendors selling their goods. We've got to know the cheese/meat guy pretty well. Great food. We haven't really gone out to eat much in the area except to get donar kebap from the guys next to the Halleport. We've done the tourist stuff - Mannekin Pis, Grand Place, chocolate, beer, etc. We even made it to the Flower Carpet (turn down your speakers before hitting the link)

We are finally settled in.

So, this weekend we are headed to Rotterdam.

A few sets of pictures:

Set 1: 14 photos mostly of our drive to Belgium. Including the autobahn and 104 MPH driving. =)



Set 2: 5 photos of the flower carpet.



Set 3: 20 photos of Jeff's visit to Brussels. Including the Cantillon Brewery (they make the last traditional lambic/gueuze - by natural fermentation)



Until next time.

Heidelberg - Land of Schnitzel

This will be a short post, primarily because we only spent one day in Heidelberg. Our primary mission: Meet up with Shelly and some of her friends for a going away party. Easy enough. We got off to a late start and the GPS messed us up, so we didn't get over there until about 2:30. The city is beautiful. Heidelberg is an old university city with a beautiful castle - just what someone would imagine based on their high school textbooks.

We visited the castle, did some shopping, met up with Shel and her friends, and ended up at the most amazing restaurant - Heidelberger Schnitzelhaus. OMG. 101 schnitzels. seriously awesome. I want to go back and try every one. I was tempted by the Mole Schnitzel, but ended up with a Roquefort-filled one. nummmmmmmmy. and beer. of course. beer. lots of it.

This time: 25 photos. Mostly castle

Next stop! All aboard!

Our next stop, Heilbronn, was going to be nice because I'd have a chance to catch up with Shelly - an old friend of mine from my Iowa days. She graciously offered to host us. (shelly - thank you again) Heilbronn is a smaller town and as we rolled in on the train - I decided that this is the Iowa of Germany. Yep. Green rolling plains and gentle farming with infrequent big industry. Just like Iowa.

I won't go into too much detail, but Shelly and Keith made the week awesome. Took us to meet some friends, had some dinner, made some food, drank some beer, saw an 80's rock cover band, ate lardo, and just had some fun. The last day, Lo-Lin and I walked up to the vineyards. Beautiful.

I just wanted to make 2 additional comments. Beer here is not as exciting as in other places around the world, rather it is straight forward, good tasting, and plentiful. Enjoyable all the time. The second comment is food-based. I love food and Heilbronn did not disappoint. I've been wanting to try proper lardo for a while. For the uninitiated, lardo is pork fat with a bit of crispy skin that has been melted and spread like butter on bread (or pizza or other mediums). It is *rich* and creamy, but a little bit of texture too. It sounds gross (Shel wouldn't touch it), but it is top notch country cuisine. The vendor even asked me twice (he spoke English well) - Are you sure you want this? You know what this is? =) Yep. and I loved it. p.s. it was served with another piece of bread with pork tartare ;)

Now to the photos: 36 photos. This one is of some sort of meat/cheese filled baguette that I had. SCRUMPTIOUS! The meat salad in the pictures looked great too.

Berlin. The land of ...weird.

Much has been forgotten about Berlin, so this might be a little cloudy.....

As with most countries/cities - finding public transportation from the airport to the city is an enigma. A few cities get it right: Amsterdam, Chicago, Tokyo. Berlin doesn't get it. After lugging our bags onto the bus, we maneuvered our way off onto an U-Bahn...and then to another U-Bahn. Finally there? Wrong. Our first place fell through, so we stayed in what seemed like the middle of nowhere - about 6 blocks away from the U-Bahn in southeastern Berlin. Get there - no air conditioning. doh.

I won't go into much about what we did, but we both weren't too impressed. Between the seemingly disrespectful aspect of the younger generation (nonsensical graffiti, destruction, and throwing bottles on the ground on public transport) and the sadness of the sites - I don't know. As a tourist, the place wasn't for me. I bet if I found myself there for some time - say 3 or 4 months - I could figure out the underside of Berlin. The clubs, art life, the food - I'm sure I could seek it out and it would be wonderful, but the short time span didn't allow me those luxuries, sadly.

Highlights:

• 6th floor of KaDeWe - the first one. omg. food heaven. Lo-Lin had to drag me out of there.


• Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche. This is a bombed out church. One of the few remainders from WWII.


• Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. The outside is impressive and most people see this and leave. Underneath there is a very sad memorial.


• Joe's Beer Garden. near the Kaiser Wilhelm Church. First time I saw Liter-sized beer.


• Donar Kebap. The shop near our hotel was the best by far. The guy was extremely wanting to help us and give us the food that he had made - in the best possible manner.

Lowlights:

• Curry-wurst. I was led to believe that this rocked. Lame. Curry mixed with ketchup and bratwurst. lame. lame. lame. Curry fries were much better. Culinary disappointment!


• 40 euro ticket on the U-Bahn. I didn't pay it. It will probably come back on me at the most inopportune time.


• German people in general. They just weren't very nice in general. The beer staffer at Prader even grunted at me.


• Obama. I can't seem to get away from him. We arrived when he spoke in Berlin. We go to Brandenburg Gate and he's staying at the hotel next to it. If he was the President of the United States, I would be more respectful - but he's a junior senator from my home state, Illinois, acting like he is the leader of the U.S. That is disrespectful.

On to some pictures. 33 photos.

Finally back!

After a bit of a struggle, we are finally back online. Lo-Lin and I arrived in Brussels, Belgium on 8/1 and have been working to get proper Internet since then. Thankfully, Marianna (our downstairs neighbor) is amazing. =) So, the updates will be coming, slowly but surely over the next day or two.

Germany

We're currently in Heilbronn, Germany visiting Shelly!!! I don't have much to update right this second (cooking dinner), but more - after we get to Belgium on Friday.

Finland!

We're both kind of tired of traveling, but a change of pace should be good: Europe. Our first stop was Finland. Upon arriving and figuring out how to get to the hotel (more bus!), it was very odd to feel like we were in Denver again.

The hotel: Hotel Katajanokka - a Best Western hotel. This was a very odd, but nice hotel - a former jail. Our room was 2 cells that had been combined. Very odd, but really nice. The hotel breakfast was even good. Thumbs up for Finland!

The only real negative about Finland was the price of everything. Food was a bit costly - especially in comparison to Germany (where we are now). Donar Kebap - awesome lamb meat sandwiches - are 6 euros in finland and 2 in germany. Beer was about the same cost ratio, sadly. But, we had fun. Finland is really nice and beautiful. We did a lot of walking around the city. Not a whole lot of sightseeing.

25 photos.

Japan

Ahh...Japan. Land of supposed weirdness. My first trip to the country and Lo-Lin's second. The flight was an overnight from Thailand, but once we arrived - I knew I loved Japan: Mass organization and politeness. Our first experience with this was right out of the gate at the train. The attendant told us the price of the tickets and we were hesitating - maybe thinking about other options for a good deal. She then said something along the lines "well, there is a slower train, about 45 minutes longer, for half the price." - perfect! Especially since it was 7:30 AM and we couldn't check into our hotel yet.

The hotel was quite nice and in Kamata, just south of Tokyo proper and north of Yokohama. A couple of friends commented that it was "way too far" to experience Tokyo. Yeah, the 5 min. walk to the station and the 10 min. ride into the main areas - definitely not too far - especially considering the roughly $100 USD difference in a per night charge for hotel.

We did some touristy stuff: sushi, Imperial Palace, Senso-ji Temple, etc. Also, just walked around and checked out some different areas. Overall, very pleasant.

On the last night we were there, Yokohama had a huge fireworks festival, so we headed down there. wow. the people. I don't even know how to estimate the number of people, but we found a spot about 1.5 blocks away from the harbor - the closest spot with no people....and the harbor is about 2 miles long. All filled with people - that didn't include the surrounding harbors. Great street food + beer + fireworks. lovely.

55 photos. Enjoy!


btw - this is the Asahi Beer Building

Thailand!

As I mentioned previously, Thailand is an interesting place. Both Lo-Lin and I were not impressed by what we saw, but I hate to make judgment before seeing the entire country. We only had a chance to visit Bangkok and Pattaya. The highlights of the trip are:

1. Diving. My first time diving. Wonderful experience with great instructors.


2. Thai spicy papaya salad. omg. some of it was really really hot

32 photos. Lots of fun

Hong Kong!

Long delayed post on Hong Kong finally coming to fruition.

We stayed on Lantau Island (gasps of horror from the Hong Kong residents), just outside of the city proper. Why? Lantau Island is a local place where Hong Kong tourists go. It is a 30 min. ferry ride from Central and about an hour bus ride from the airport. And its quiet and nature-like with very few cars.

We had planned to swim in the ocean, but the rain wasn't letting us - so we made it one afternoon in the pool. Other than that, we went into the city and hung out with Jon Dica. It has been many years since we last hung out - very nice to see him and to meet Maria. We mostly walked around the city, ate, and saw some sights. Pretty relaxing overall. I liked Hong Kong in that it had good public transport, a lot of food, and numerous things to buy. On the other hand, I wasn't as happy with the quality of "things to do". Lantau Island was nice, as we were able to paved road hike to see a waterfall.

- 65 photos

A couple of the food highlights for me: These huge shrimp-like things on Lantau (massively huge), clams and rice noodles steamed with garlic, and Hong Kong Beer. I was also a huge fan of the Beijing Roast Duck and the oyster pancakes. Nummy.

Love and photos

A quick photo fill-in update

My parents' last night in Kaohsiung - a quick set of 6 semi-blurry photos of both our families eating out.

My parents' last nights in Taiwan - a quick set of 16, including crazy Taiwanese baseball game.

Dinner out with the Su family - set of 9 with some food love

Kaohsiung Dry Goods Market - set of 10 photos of the Kaohsiung Dry Goods Market - lot of interesting food

Restaurant trip to "Old Taiwan" Restaurant - set of 17 photos with Lo-Lin's nieces at a nostalgia-themed restaurant.

Whew. Quick and dirty.

Back online...for a bit at least

As we sit in our hotel room at 7 PM on a Tuesday evening, I look out the window at a pretty chaotic scene: Pattaya, Thailand. Someone had joked that it was the "whore capital" of Thailand and I blew it off - it really is the "whore capital". We are staying at the Queen Victoria Inn in the middle of the nightlife district (a respectable inn, btw). Outside, for an uncountable number of streets each way - "beer bars", or more aptly - the place where Thai women sell themselves to Western men. We are both kind of weirded out and I don't know if we are going to go out tonight...maybe just stay in and catch up on communications with family/friends. who knows.

So, we went to Hong Kong (thanks Jon!). That post will be coming soon, but I (Mike) wanted to comment on something that has been bothering me. In Hong Kong, I started to feel it, but in Thailand - I had this odd feeling that something was just off - something that I hadn't felt in China or Taiwan. While Lo-Lin and I ate our overpriced Indian/Thai food in Pattaya - the revelation came:

I don't want/like to bargain for basic services.

Don't get me wrong, I like bargaining for goods and extended services (ex. diving trips/clothing/DVDs/etc.), but basic taxi rides, grocery stores, restaurants, previously contracted services, or healthcare shouldn't have to be bargained for. In both Hong Kong and Thailand, I've felt like that every single thing I want had to be bargained for. For example, we contracted for a bus ride from Bangkok to Pattaya. Specific price including luggage and dropping off in the beach area within 2.5 hours. We take the 4 hour ride to an area outside of town where they drop us off and say thanks and leave - with local taxis nearby. After getting swindled out of another 100 baht ($3.3 USD), we finally made it to our hotel. Is it the fact that I'm white make people believe I am wealthy? Yes, I can afford the extra 3 bucks, but I didn't get what I contracted for. Jon and I had a good conversation about the Hong Kong jade market - tourism is down and the market is declining because you can only rip off tourists for so long before people stop coming (they have a notorious habit of selling non-jade to tourists).

On another note: Pattaya is very weird. We just returned (btw - about a 4 hour break in writing) from dinner and our street is hopping. The (maybe) girls are in close to nothing and there is a concert in the street OUTSIDE OUR WINDOW. Seriously, we can look down onto it with people singing along. Sleep will be at a premium later tonight.

Alas, I forgot the point. Pattaya is weird. The town is filled with a couple of groups of people that are ...just weird: ok, one group in particular: 45-65 yr. old white men. There are an overabundance of these white men prowling for Thai girls - and most have one, if not two, Thai girls on their arms. *cringe* I'm a bit lecherous at times, but this is over the top. EVERYWHERE.

ok. tomorrow is diving with Lo-Lin. I'm really looking forward to it, if we can get some sleep. Hopefully the ladies, white men, and ladyboys shut if off at a reasonable time.

I'll be sure to make a huge picture update next time of the last days in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Bangkok.

Healthcare

While we are in Taiwan, Lo-Lin suggested that we handle a lot of healthcare issues. My first question, why? America has the best, right? Not necessarily so. The problems started last week when I broke the arm off of my eyeglasses. I have/had beautiful ProDesign Denmark frames for the past 6 years. The last frames I had broke after 8 months and the shop in Denver replaced them for free. The same model broke again last week - after 16 months. I thought really expensive titanium frames would last a while, but I guess I am wrong. So, we had to fix these issues.

Eyeglasses/contacts
In America, most eyeglass stores require you to have an up to date eye exam (cha-ching $60-90 bucks if you don't have insurance). In Taiwan, they check your prescription for free. yep, for free. No, we didn't use Lo-Lin's Taiwanese healthcare, just went in. Since my prescription hasn't changed - it was really easy. I bought new frames and daily contacts (I have an astigmatism, so its more expensive): total: NT$7400 ($247) for everything and a 3 day turnaround. The frames I bought are high-end and would cost at least $500 in America alone. The winner: Taiwan

Eye doctor
I'm preparing to get Lasik surgery and wanted to get the full checkup. You know the ordeal - they test every single thing. In America, $60-90. here: NT$500 ($17). Oh, and I didn't need a 2 week advance appointment and wait an hour. I went day of and waited approximately 20 minutes. The winner: Taiwan

Dentist
In America, you typically need a 2-4 week advance appointment. In Taiwan, 1 day appointment. The dentist cleaned my teeth himself, after waiting for Lo-Lin to get hers done. She waited 5 minutes before seeing the dentist. The only disappointment was that the dentist did not check the condition of my fillings. I know that 2 of my fillings need repair, but he didn't bother to check. The cleaning itself was SO much better than in America. In America, they use this metal hook scraper thing to force the stuff off your teeth. In Taiwan, they use pressurized water. It is obvious which one hurts MUCH less. Alas, I paid $900 ($30) for my cleaning. The winner: split.

One last day in Taiwan and we are headed to Hong Kong.

In other news, we tried to go to Cosplay Cafe, but there was a 75 minute wait for lunch. Wow. The waitress was dressed in cat ears and tails, called me "Master", and politely asked me if "it was ok that we waited 75 minutes". This place is definitely for the Japanese lover in you.

Hong Kong here we come!

An updated schedule for where we are headed:

1. Hong Kong: Thurs. 7/10 through Mon. 7/14
   We are staying on Lantau Island and heading into the city proper for evening fun. I can't wait to see Jon/Dica.


2. Thailand: Mon. 7/14 through Thurs. 7/17
   The first night we are staying in Bangkok, then the next two nights in Pattaya


3. Tokyo: Fri. 7/18 through Mon. 7/21
   My only dream for this trip is to go to the 2008 July Grand Tournament for Sumo.


4. Helsinki: Mon. 7/21 through Thurs. 7/24
   I don't know much about Helsinki, but we are staying in a converted prison near the center of the city.


5. Berlin/Germany: Thurs. 7/24 through ??8/1??
   We don't have definitive plans, but it looks like we will be staying in Berlin for 2 nights when we get there and then meeting up with Shelly in Stuttgart for some wine drinking fun


6. Brussels: 8/1 through 10/1 - we have a 1 BR flat organized for these two months. rest. relaxation. seeing some friends (Frank Eye-d! and Jeff Wiant) and maybe hosting some others.

I don't think I need to say this, but we both can't sit still.

Wedding reception day!

In case you were not aware, Lo-Lin and I had three, yes three, wedding receptions. We got married at the Denver County Recorder's Office and had events in Denver (Colorado), Moline (Illinois), and Kaohsiung (Taiwan). The final event was held on June 29, 2008 at the Lees Hotel near Lo-Lin's parents' home. We both knew this was a more formalized event, but the ceremony of it all was pretty extravagant. Upon entering in Dress and Suit #1, we were introduced by a gentleman that Lo-Lin's father knew. He spoke English, but I understand his Chinese better. ;) After the introductions, cake ceremony, champagne pouring, we finally got to sit and have a little bit to eat before we were rushed off to change into Dress and Suit #2. After changing, we came back down and were re-introduced - followed by going to every table and saying hello to everyone - all 250+ people. Immediately upon completion, we got to eat a little bit of food and then had to hand out chocolates to everyone..and boom. done.

The whole process was 2 hours: noon to 2 PM. No alcohol (ok, a bit of wine), and very little stress. We just wandered around. I was disappointed that I didn't get to eat a lot of the food BUT!!!! I got to have my thousand year old scallops and black chicken soup (the chicken is black meated; not just dark meat).

On to the pictures!

Catch up - Picture Post

As many couples understand, having two cameras and aggregating the pictures is difficult at times. I primarily post blog and flickr stuff, so it should be easy - except when we take tons of pictures. So, first and foremost, I have added pictures to two Flickr sets:

Our trip to Kenting

and

Aaron and Sarah's Last Day here at Kaohsiung harbor

Next up, when Sarah and Aaron arrived in Taipei, Lo-Lin and I met up with them. Sarah was gracious enough to help us out with the hotel room at the Sheraton (be happy check in!) and we went to the zoo (tremendous fun).



More to come soon...with a real content post soon.

EU Visa action!

A Taiwanese citizen has to go through a lot to travel. Lo-Lin finally got her visa for the EU.

Kenting Vacation!

One of the parts I was most excited about during the entire honeymoon was the trip to Kenting. Ever since our two day, one night visit last year, I have been infatuated with Kenting. It is a beautiful place and very few foreigners are there. Basically, Kenting is a vacation spot for Taiwanese and it is absolutely beautiful.

So, Monday morning after my parents, Aaron and Sarah all arrived, we rented a van and went to Kenting. We got on the road later than expected, but we had to stop at Carrefour supermarket (imagine Wal-Mart). Bought a lot of food and then finally headed out. The drive down to Kenting is primarily small highways, but no interstate, so it took forever.

Lo-Lin had rented a 4 bedroom house for the group of us...a few minutes from the south beach of Kenting. The house was stunningly nice and well maintained, as well as Western in many respects. We paid ~$800 for 4 nights for the entire house. Very reasonable too.

The whole trip consisted of eating, drinking, hot, hot, and more hot, beaches, not swimming, getting yelled at for swimming, and then some swimming. The rest, you can see in pictures:

Wedding photos

First, I must explain the difference of Taiwanese/Chinese wedding photos and American wedding photos. In America, typically a photographer shoots day-of photos in the wedding attire with the entire bridal party and it is a relatively quick process. In Taiwan, one must endure a day full of agony and have, well - crazy photos taken.

The Friday before our Taiwan reception (3rd of 3 wedding receptions), I was informed that we would be taking wedding photos and it would last "all day". Mike, in his business-mindset, thinks - ok. 9-5. not too bad. The whole process won't be bad. We head over at 9 AM and the make up starts. Yep, make-up. A whole lot of it. Not just for her, but for me too. We get into our. *stop* let's reverse this.

The Wednesday before our Taiwan reception. Lo-Lin informs me that we must go to "pick out wedding dresses". I know that Taiwan is different, so she, her mom, and myself go to France Taipei Bridal near her parents' home. A lot of talking, they are excited to have a white man in there (always too funny), and after 2 cups of really sweet cold black tea - we head upstairs to look at dresses. Dresses. Wow. Lots. After trying on about 15-20 of them - we have our selection: 5 dresses for the pictures. 2 dresses for the reception (1 of them was for both). 2 hours eliminated from my Wed. evening.

So, back to the chaos of Friday. So, we got into our clothes. I had a suit with many different shirts. Then, we start the photos. My Chinese is poor at best. Turn head left...tilt down....chin up...this goes on for 2 hours until lunch. They bring us some basic food and we change. More pictures. More pictures. More pictures. Then at 4, we have a snack. Then, we leave! Park. OMG. 90+ degrees and 90+% humidity. Then, somewhere in between and then the ocean! By this time, I'm pretty grumpy, but happy to be almost done. We get back, have dinner and I'm thinking - time to go home. WRONG!!!!!!!

Seriously, 9 hours of stuff and I was done. We waited almost an hour and then, we really had to do stuff. From the 200 photos they took, we had to pare it down to 30. and then choose some special things. It was 7:30 PM and her parents and sister-in law came to help. We chose the special ones and still had to narrow down from 140 to 30 pictures overall. Lo-Lin felt my grumpiness and told me to go home. Thankfully. She and her mom dealt with the remaining madness and she got home about 1:30 AM.

9 AM to 10 PM - I was there. 9 AM to 1:30 AM - Lo-Lin was there. wow.

Well, here are the results (btw - there are two types: photoshopped groups and individual photos):

Just back from Kenting + Wedding time!

We are finally back and settled from our Kenting trip. No typhoon - just big waves and very little Internet. Also had another wedding reception. Photos + more coming soon.

From one natural disaster to another

This weekend we met up with Aaron and Sarah in Taipei, and will be picking up my parents tonight at the airport. It is a bit hot and humid, but bearable. Tomorrow, we are headed to Kenting on the southern tip of the island. Beautiful place and I've been there before. We have a house for everyone and just can't wait to relax for a bit.....but

Typhoon Fengshen "Frank" is on its way! Yes, after being around the U.S. flooding natural disaster, Lo-Lin and I have made our way into the path of a typhoon. Seriously. If you look at the previously linked map - it is expected to hit the southern tip of Taiwan island about Tuesday morning at 9 AM. Wonderful. Aaron is excited - "How often do you have a chance to experience a typhoon!?" No one really knows which way Fengshen will twist, but the odds are that we will be hit a bit, but not head on. But who knows.

Until next time

The flood

I must say something about the flood. I'm from Illinois, really close to Iowa. My parents live pretty close to the Mississippi River (I guesstimate 1000-1500 feet). They won't get flooded due to their living on the side of the river valley thankfully, but many of our friends are affected. I hope everyone's homes made it through the madness. On the Friday before we left for our trip, Lo-Lin and I walked down to the levee and took some pictures. My hometown is not fully affected, but the water was/is about to spill over the levee. Anyways, I wanted to share some photos from our walk.

Bye Bye America

So, this is our blog. Lo-Lin and I are sitting in Norita airport, Japan, waiting on our flight to Taipei, Taiwan (btw - it is not in Taipei - it is in Taoyuan - an hour away *shakes head*). Picking out a name for our blog took an hour because we are both goofy from lack of sleep (we left our Chicago hotel at 9 AM this morning - and it is technically 4 AM the next day; but 6 PM here - with little/no sleep on stupid long airplane flights). As you can see, we look like ....you make up your mind.