As soon as we dropped off our bags, we were off! First, food was sought after – udon here we come. We went to Udon Mentsu-dan, which was highly rated. The thick noodles, savory broth, and tender meat was exactly what I expected out of our first meal. “Beer-u Kudasai!” Once we got that beer and said a round of Kampai, we were ready to venture off. 

Walking around, it was definitely getting to be a packed Saturday night out on the streets. We wanted to go to Robot Restaurant, but the shows need to be booked ahead of schedule, so we are planning on doing that tomorrow.

We stopped by the 7-eleven to get energized, as it has been s long day already and we didn’t want to crash early. Refreshing coffee out of a can was bought haha, read up that Japan has been doing it for a while, even before the US. Lot of brands to choose from, and the weird part is you can get the steel cans warmed up in water and they sit in a special heated area (yes they are warm to grab). 

Our first stop was some random bar alley, we got into a personal 4-person standing bar. It was getting weird…. the older lady didn’t speak a lick of English, so a lot of the convo was broken and gestures. Didn’t see the penis statue on the bar table either…she sort of grabbed it and was maybe hinting at something?? After the weird convos, getting sake from a carton, and sardines, the total price was like $20 per person. Did we get ripped off? Probably.

Other activities done:

• Mall/arcade – these games were intense, and the people were too
• Another bar – tofu and sake was gotten here (tofu not by choice, they just made us buy it)
• Don Quixote (a shop full of random things spelled wrong)
• Getting lost some more

Today, I just woke up and we are getting ready to tackle a tour of Akasuka (north of Tokyo), and potentially see the Mori Art Museum, get ramen, stop by the Edo, and have another night of going out (maybe the Robot Restaurant is in our forecast!) 

• Podcast featured below never made it to episode 2 (yogurt discussions were heated, don’t want to talk about it….)
• Still living that fantastic MPLS life in Uptown 
• Adventured around the US this year – including Chicago, NYC, and Denver
• Loving my job, family, friends and amazing girlfriend 
• Continuing to read more, listen to others, meditate/reflect, and be creative daily

It has been too long since I have ventured abroad! I think I am still on the Asia train mentally. China was fantastic last year – culturally stimulating and a great way to catch up with friends and make new memories. Earlier in the year, couple friends and I were debating on South Korea and Japan. Not sure how Japan was chosen and to be honest I was hesitant since I was banking on traveling for work one day (half our engineering team is in Mishima), but I said fuck it! Work trip = too many constraints. I don’t think I would have time to go to a robot cafe, experience street food of Osaka (might try pufferfish, might not), bike Kyoto (hopefully I don’t die), stay at a Buddhist temple, and stay in the Geisha district of Japan! 

Stay tuned, this will be a good one. Now, I need to sleep. Because like all of my traveling experiences, cheap flights =ridiculous hours. And I am a big procrastinator and insomniac. Adios

Taking the subway and getting to our hostel was pure chaos as usual. I think it took about 3 line changes and about a hour in duration, but it was only like 7 yuan per person. The hostel we were staying at was the first hostel so far that was packed with foreigners. Shanghai in general is very westerner friendly and everyone speaks English it seems. Our first thing we did on our arrival was nap and then find some food. We ate at some western place mainly because we sort of craving it after eating oily food for about a week haha. Plus, these are places Nate can’t necessarily find in Chengdu. The places looked like a Wendy’s and was called Magaroni (yes, not macaroni). It was a weird combo of Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese food, but super cheap and didn’t taste that terrible. 

We went to the Bund at night. It was very scenic and I had no idea so any buildings could be crammed into one area. It makes any skyline I have seen in America look puny. We walked around the area a bit and decided to eat at Hooters (not my decision entirely). It was a typical experience, although can’t say I have been there in America before. Cute girls in the “hooter” shorts, wings, top 40 music – what more could Americans in China ask for :|haha. But it was really nice because we talked to the girls to give us some ideas for bars and nightclubs to check out. We all decided we wanted to really go hard in Shanghai. The nightlife is supposed to be great.

In the morning, we went back to the Bund area and went to Nanjing Road, which is famous for its market and shopping. The plaza was enormous, filled with both foreigners and locals. Big fashion area with large Uniqlos, Meters, Zaras, etc. I didn’t think I would be into this, but I stopped by a Uniqlo and fell in love with some jeans. It’s hard to find nice clothes that actually fit me since I am short, but China is great since I am part of the 99% in terms of height! Plus, Uniqlo makes quality stuff and do free tailoring which I took advantage of. Meters/Bonwe was also an interesting Chinese brand, the largest fashion icon in China I believe. Sort of like H&M but with more “unique” things. When I say unique, I am not just talking about clothing styles, but also what is written on the clothing. Stupid/hilarious sayings that don’t make sense and misspelled words (not sure if to be cool or actually misspelled haha). So that was cool to check out and finally figure out where all these people were getting these weird clothes from. I would totally buy some stuff if I had room. I would also buy online, but sadly they don’t have an online store. 

We saw some really unique architecture in the Old French Concession area. European style and it felt like I wasn’t in China for a block. On Nanjing Rd, which seemed to stretch forever, we found a soup dumpling place. Really good but I think that I didn’t expect how hot it would get on the inside (for you Minnesotans, think first time biting into a Juicy Lucy). Basically, I spilled all over my clothes. 

We went hard our last night in Shanghai and went to the night clubs. One of the girls in the hostel recommended a street to check out, after our last night out had been a complete bust. We ended up chilling at the hostel bar beforehand and met this dude, AJ who was celebrating his birthday alone…..you can’t do that! So of course we celebrated with him a bit and then things ended up a bit weird.

So if you are a foreigner in China at the clubs, you are the entertainment. What I am trying to say is that we got the VIP treatment near the stage. We got bottles upon bottles, perfect view of the dancers, and plenty of interesting stares – all for free. These guys pounced on the opportunity to get us in their establishment as soon as they saw us walking down the street. Promotors dragged us in and got us a table right away. Yeah, sort of sketch right? But we embraced it, they were drinking with us and we all just didn’t really care to be honest. Like I said, we are the entertainment so they wanted to please us (although I’m sure the alcohol was shite). We got to the point where we were the only foreigners dancing on their lackluster stage, but it was fun! The night ended up back at the hostel with the spainards pulling the fire alarm and having to write a an apology for disturbing everyone – sort of looked like an apology I would expect from a 5 year old, hand writing and all. I slept through it because I was fairly gone and had some fried noodles in me. Perfect way to end the night

Morning was rough, especially since we needed to check out and spend the rest of the day wandering around until our flight at night. We just sort of did the same shit. Shanghai is full of good food, shopping, and bars I decided. Not a bad thing though. 

I spent the remainder of my China trip back at Hollys Hostel in Chengdu. We went out and met some of Nate’s teacher friends who are awesome, I smoked some hookah (which in retrospect was probably stupid due to the pollution already killing my lungs, but whatever), and we made a large Italian potluck of pepper, bacon, green onion, Alfredo pasta and garlic bread to celebrate the end of an amazing journey. 

Checklist of everything China did for me:

Got to see amazing sites I have read about as a kid

Tried unique food in every area

Observed Chinese culture – good and bad

Got out of my comfort zone frequently 

Made new friends

Spent time with some of my best friends. These memories will last forever and I am glad I got to do this sooner rather than later. 

We were greeted at our hostel by Susan who helped us find a place to try Beijing duck for dinner that night (thank god it was open). We met Nate’s brother and his girlfriend there as well and we had a feast! 4 ducks, duck hearts, veggies, beef. You should have seen the table…..full of meat. We sat for hours and hours and couldn’t finish it all. It was quite the experience tho. The cook cuts full roasted duck in front of us into pieces, we grab with chop sticks, place the duck onto dumpling style tortillas with duck sauce and green onions/veggies, roll, enjoy. 

Afterwards we went to a Hutong for some nightlife. The people have awaken! Everyone was out! Bars/clubs/shows were everywhere. Hype men outside trying to convince to go into there place. Of course we did the usual and got some cheap booze and walked around drinking haha. Beijing is so damn populated, felt like I couldn’t move half the time. 

We called it sort of an early night to get a good start for the Great Wall. It turned out that it took a hella long time to make it out there by bus and taxi. In fact prob better off with the train but eh whatever. The unfortunate thing is that pretty much right when we got there, it started raining pretty hard. As we continued to walk up the wall, the rain got harder. We were walking through strong streams of water. We were completely drenched and my shoes were essentially ruined haha. Chris didn’t even have a jacket and we were getting some insane looks from people. But honestly, despite this weather, I thought that it was one of the most impressive things I have done in a while. With the rain, it started off cloudy, but when we dismally made it to the watch tower, you could see it clearing up. Steam rising from the mountains, the wall stretching out in the distance. Magnificence. 

The ride back was a long one and when we got back we had to eat, plan our hostel for Shanghai (yeah we are last minute as fuck), and sleep for an early morning at Tiennamen Square! 

When we got there, the square was packed with Chinese and Foreigners taking selfies with the govt buildings and statues. People wanted to take photos with us, especially nate, since we were American. The amount of security was insane. Guards and military prancing around with cold faces, no blinking allowed. The Chinese Dream was truly in the air.

The Forbidden City was full of palaces and interesting artwork/statues. Again, along with the square, just a bunch of people taking selfies. In fact, side note, China’s selfie game is strong in general. Need a selfie stick? For sure there is one 100 m away lol. It was so packed that it was hard to see the inside of the palaces, since going inside was not allowed. You just had to peek through windows.

After the square and city, we had to say goodbye to Susan. It was great having her to help us plan out things to do in Chengdu and Beijing , since it is hard for to decide sometimes. She was very sincere and we all became friends. We were starving so we went to the nearby mall to eat Korean Raman and fried chicken. Korean fried chicken is soooooo filling and amazing. It had some garlic type breeding on it. The Raman was a little oily for my taste, but equally delicious for a long day. 

We went and chilled at the mall before we had plans at night to meet Nate’s brother. Activities consisted of buying new shoes and socks since mine were soaking wet and drinking lol. Of course people watching and getting into the culture went on as well. We went to the snack market nearby and got some good footage of Nate and Cory trying scorpion on a stick (Google idiot abroad China for our motivation). It was so fucking gross when we were looking at them. Some of them were still moving. It took some walking around and a lot of Bian Jiu to get the courage to go through with it. In the end, both said it wasn’t as bad as they thought. Salty popcorn? I really wanted Nate to vomit and get sweet go pro footage. Oh well.

We were stuffed for lunch but met Alex for light food and drinks still. We drank beers and had some great and random discussions. I’m sure their girlfriends thought we were strange, but no one can’t stop us having a good time! We decided to drink more than anticipated and got back at 12 am. Yeah sounds like an early night, but we had to wake up at 345 am for our flight at 6 am the next morning lol. Shanghai is hopefully ready for us. We just got to our hostel and are all delirious. Need all the sleep…..

   
 
   
    
 
   
    
    
 
N

Even though we had about 2-4 hrs of sleep total, we decided to embark on our first priority – finding food. We went to this fast food noodle place. Think McDonalds but noodles. In fact, we went when primary school just got out and their was a huge group of kids that filled up the whole place. I think we paid about 8 dollars for 4 different types of noodles and drinks to sample everything. Afterwards, Nate said there was a really good sandwich place we should try out. However, it turns out that it wasn’t a sandwich place. We didn’t know what was going on. At our table, there was bowls of bread. We each got two pieces to tear up into tiny pieces. This bread was really stiff and floury – the process was exhausting lol. It was like we were making croutons for this place. After finishing the task, we handed the bowl to the cook and waited patiently. A little later, our lamb, noodle, bread soup arrived. I believe it was called yang rou jia mo. So filling. So much bread. Such great lamb.

All that food and the lack of sleep made us crash hard! We napped for about a hour, but honestly I wanted to keep sleeping. What is the perfect activity for lack of sleep and being extremely full? Biking 8 miles of course. Excuse me, biking 8 miles on the city wall! It was absolutely breathtaking – a great way to see the scenic views of the city. We used tandem bikes and got some pretty sweet shots on them (well at least Cory did, I was driving). Nate had his go pro and got good footage too, in fact him and Chris crashed/broke the chain and captured it all haha. 

We went out a bit at night to the Muslim market. There is a pretty large Muslim group of Chinese people that sell food and gifts in this area of Xi’an. This sandwich I had, rou jia mo, was delicious and very unique. It was sort of scary eating street food, I have had bad past experiences too, but everything tastes so good. 

The next morning, we went to see the Terracotta warriors. The bus ride there was a little obnoxious and took forever, but it was nice to take a nap on it. When we got there, we were bushed by a sea of tour guides. They explained to us, “how can you understand Chinese culture without a tour guide?!”. There are English signs everywhere and it is now worth paying per person (not sure how that really makes sense…). It was amazing to see that there are people continuously working on discovering more ancient statues, weapons, and architecture in the area. The Warriors were preserved so well that even the color was still on some of them to a degree. The weapons had really advanced coatings of chromium on them which was cool.

We went out our last night in Xi’an. Stopped by a Chinese Walmart to by some Bian Jiu, but not just any Bian Jiu……three penis wine (dog, lamb, cow). Lol. Cory, Nate, and I cheers to a fucked up night. The wine made us all a little aggressive but it was a fun night of street food (chicken feet) and bars outside. We even met some locals who told us Beijing might not be as fun since things will be closed when we arrive, due to the parade for victory day….Luckily this is only the case for the first day.

I walked out my door and Nate handed me a helmet. That’s right, I was taking a motorcycle through the city to the nearby mall to eat! It was definitely a rush and it was beautiful out. I have been to India before so I know how traffic laws can easily be disobeyed. No one yields, people drive on sidewalks, and little did I know, but motorcycles are somewhat illegal (living on the edge). You can even ride them in the bicycle lanes and in crosswalks. Imagine that in America haha. 

The mall was your typical mall, random things going on the middle, wide assortment of shops, and food. We went to was this fish grill/barbecue place that was known for its spicy food and I mentioned that I really wanted some. It was fish, lot of sichuan peppers, mushrooms, lotus, tofu (which was some of the best tofu that I have had). At first I really enjoyed the spice, but eventually this pepper that is known for its numbing effects took its toll. Hard to explain, but felt like fire ants all over my lips. 

I went to Nate’s job with him because he had to work a couple of hours. I did not know what to expect, although I know a lot of people that have teached English in other countries. The place was sort of in a mall/business complex indoors. Nate teaches people individually and gets/negotiates a schedule when he gets into work. It is really chill and you can teach as much or little as you want. The kid he was teaching was a high schooler that plans to come to California for college and wanted to brush up on algebra, which is cool because Math is Nate’s middle name and it was really fun to teach. It was really fun meeting him and other foreign teachers there, it seems like a place that I could definitely see myself working for the environment. 

We picked up Cory and Chris from the airport. It took a bit to get everyone due to some technical difficulties (Chris’s bag was lost), but everything worked out. We went out that night for Dry Pot. It was awesome! Again another spicy dish full of meat and veggies (plenty of oil obviously…..). We drank a lot of beer that night and roamed around, it was great seeing the city at night. 

The next day, Cory, Chris, and I decided to venture off ourselves to find the nearby temple/museum. To be honest, it was mostly just reading history of emporers in the past not a whole lot on the shrine/religious element. But it was still interesting. Most of it seemed recreated to make money for admission, but so it goes. I was absolutely starving so I convinced Nate to meet us for food. We got…….ramen. Yeah it is not Chinese, but sometimes you need a break from the oily food haha. Seriously. Regardless, it was amazing and just what I needed. After lunch, we roamed the mall (again I know that doesn’t seem exciting, but it is good people watching and interesting to see what things you can buy). 

At night, Susan and Nate took us out to a fancy hot pot restaurant. I have always wanted to try hot pot in Minneapolis! So exciting! If you haven’t had hot pot, let me explain briefly:

1. Order veggie/meats
2. Get a huge pot of spicy oil and some “cleaner” oil/broth. They are separated.
3. Wait for the pot to get hot and boiling 
4. In another bowl, prepare some oil (from a can they give you? Lol), spices, etc
5. Put the food in hot pot and cook. Grab with chopsticks and then put in your individual bowl of oil you made. Eat and enjoy

Yeah…..lot of oil, but what’s new?

We went to a night market afterwards to try some snacks on the street and drink a bit more. It was a great ending of our time in Chengdu. Xi’an flight was early the next morning so we needed to sleep a little early to get up at 4 am (déjà vu from my Europe trip). 

Yo, ok so I have been on an emotional roller coaster for the past 18 hours. So first flights domestic to Seattle were great, but of course the fucking Shanghai flight had to be obnoxious. 

I am one of those people who love flying. I love being able to sometimes have a great convo with people, staring out at the sky, enjoying some peace with music/movies/books. But shieeeeeeet, people can bring you down. I sat next to this old lady who played Bejeweled 24/7 while leaning diagonal over my personal bubbles, then had someone who who chewing some minty chewing tobacco and spitting the whole trip on the other side. Convos or trying to tell them to stop annoying me in general? Nah man, that didn’t happen, they were in their own little world.

Got through customs surprisingly easy. I love the visa forms are such a pain in the ass to fill out, yet most of my custom experiences are a walk in the park. Shanghai airport tho? Not what I was expecting. I figured it would be sort of touristy seeing how many big corporations are there, but it was very Chinese and a lot smaller than I thought. First experience taking a China Eastern Airlines: fuck fuck fuck. First of all, attendants weren’t there and the plane was so everyone was trying o board the plane and panicking lol. Second, when the attendant finally showed up, she was like, “oh my b, I forgot to tell ya’ll that your flight is delayed! Don’t worry I WON’T tell you what time it will be at!”. I know sometimes these things are not in our control, but I wish people were more transparent. 
After a couple hours of waiting I got to Chengdu. Free wifi here is nonexistent without a telephone number…..so I was playing the waiting game. One conveyer belt was used for all luggage and it was slow as fuck so anoth hour was waited getting my bag. 

Light at the end of the tunnel was seeing Susan’s baller SUV, that had a rear camera in the rear view mirror? (Strange, prob not safe, but I thought it was cool), and seeing the Jesus like Nate with a Chicago Bulls Jersey. 

I am sort of jet lagged and prob pissed off the staff here coming so late, but I am staying at Hollys Hostel, down the street from Nate. 

The reason that I need a break is because I cannot stand a mediocre life. Repetition bores me, small talk sucks, and adventure is life. I’m going to just keep this sweet and short, but here’s to having an awesome time with some of my best friends in a country rich of culture. 

But enough rambling, so in Ireland we had to take a bus right away from Dublin to Galway. Although I wasn’t able to really explore the Dublin scene, including the Jameson and Guinness distillery and brewery, I really am not too disappointed. Galway traditional Irish music, a baller hotel that we splurged on, and drinking a fine couple of pints of Guinness as soon as we got off the bus at 10 pm was worth it. I was super impressed with the older people who got together and played for hours in the pub we were in….simply amaZing. I found out that they had just met each other and just started playing that night. It was funny that their first exchange of handshakes was only AFTER they finished playing for a packed pub. Oh and the Guinness….much smoother than in the US. Not sure why, might be pseudo effect, but it was refreshing.

In the morning we went yet again on another bus to the Cliffs of Mohr. If you haven’t heard of this place, please look it up. The most scenic place I have been too. Luckily for us, it didn’t rain. I got some breathtaking views and was at bliss that I could enjoy a nice hike along the 700 meter high cliff.

At night, Cork was our destination to meet Liz’s friend who offered us a place to stay. Let me just get this clear right now, we were fools to book flights so early. Fuck. I mean we had to take a bus from Cork at 430 in the morning, so what do we do? Drink all night! Yeah, the crowd in Cork is much more young because of the nearby university and there are much more late bars. I found out, contrary to the general belief, that Ireland bars are not open 24/7 and you cannot buy alcohol anytime. There are some strict laws in weekdays and thus you need I find the right areas to go in order to get your alcoholism fix (joking…I’m not alcoholic).

It was really sad to leave Liz. We had some great times getting lost, experiencing language barriers, and trying to see the most of the cities in a 2 day time frame on average. I am certain tho that we will both make our way to Europe again and who knows, maybe together.