Having spent a few hours poking about around the neighbourhood of my friend Becky's place I came back to settle into watch a horror movie as I felt like I owed at least a little something to the evening and Halloween just isn't a big deal here. A quiet night in it was not meant to be...
Becky called me about an hour into Black Sheep (see it, very good zombie-sheep movie) to annouce that there was a big staff party that night for EF (the company we both teach for) here in Shanghai. However, before we got anywhere near the orgnized staff party we got word that the event was a bust and that everybody had headed to a bar called Windows Scoreboard.
We arrived to a packed out Chinesse Sportsbar filled with about 1/2 westerners and 1/2 locals at around11. An odd sight to lay eyes on. However, the beer was cheap (about 1.20 Canadian) and the music was good. And so the drinking began... Beer after beer until it was suddenly 4am and Becky and I were drinking with the bar staff. She had to work this afternoon so she wisely took the empty bar as an omen that it was time to retire for the night. Me, never one to call it a night early had pallied up with a Philopena waitress and we decided that we should carry on later into the night. Thankfully Becky wrote her address on my arm and on a piece of paper so that I could get a taxi to take me back.
The waitress, whose name totally escapes me, and I headed off to another Windows bar and drank full on until the sun chased the night away. Fortunately the dawn was enough to force a little sense into me and I stumbled into a taxi. Handed the driver my piece of paper and promptly passed out.
When he dropped me off in Becky's neigbhourhood it was on the opposite side of the street to where I was used to and because of that and the countless beers I was totally lost. I did however, find a hotel, I went in and asked how much a room was. They quoted me a price in the 50$ range so I decided to move on. I phoned Becky pleading for her help. She had a wee chuckle at my expense and told me the hotel was just across the street from her building complex...
The beauty of China is that at 7 in the morning their are a bevy of street vendors selling all matter of breakfasts and so I sat down on the curb to a meal of 1.25 Liters of Gatorade and two freshly made beautiful crepes. Before stumbling my way to up to Becky's flat.
Turns out even with that grub and Gatorade the beer won. Hangover 1 Clinton 0.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Back in the Saddle
So for a longtime the blog has sat silent. It is time to fire it up again. Sorry about the wait, but until just yesterday I was unable to access my blogging account. The Great Firewall of China had shut me out, however, yesterday talking to another backpacker they pointed out that you can access blogger to post blogs, you simply cannot view them. Looks like I am back in business.
To bring those up to speed who I did not see over my 1 month vacation in Victoria, I've moved to China with my good friend Emily-Anne. We are living in the south of China in a city called Shenzhen, about 45 minutes and one quick border away from downtown Hong Kong.
We are both going to be teaching English for a company called English First, however, because of visa complications for me I have had to wait about a month before I can start teaching. Emily-Anne on the other hand was able to start straight away. I look forward to starting next week when the final bits of requisite paperwork will arrive.
We have found a lovely 2 bedroom apartment on the 21st floor of a brand new building. The views are amazing and it is about a 10 minute walk into work.
I am sorry this blog doesn't have more stories of adventure but I do promise to start adding those soon as I am now capable of uploading
Will have more for you soon.
To bring those up to speed who I did not see over my 1 month vacation in Victoria, I've moved to China with my good friend Emily-Anne. We are living in the south of China in a city called Shenzhen, about 45 minutes and one quick border away from downtown Hong Kong.
We are both going to be teaching English for a company called English First, however, because of visa complications for me I have had to wait about a month before I can start teaching. Emily-Anne on the other hand was able to start straight away. I look forward to starting next week when the final bits of requisite paperwork will arrive.
We have found a lovely 2 bedroom apartment on the 21st floor of a brand new building. The views are amazing and it is about a 10 minute walk into work.
I am sorry this blog doesn't have more stories of adventure but I do promise to start adding those soon as I am now capable of uploading
Will have more for you soon.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Imminent Return
I was going to be hush-hush about this but word has leaked.
I am going to be in Victoria this Thursday night (the 30th) and will be staying for about 10 days until I fly out to Shanghai.
If you´ve been reading this I´d love to catch up while I am in town. However, I will not have my cell phone so please get me on my folk´s home phone (250)598 3986
I am going to be in Victoria this Thursday night (the 30th) and will be staying for about 10 days until I fly out to Shanghai.
If you´ve been reading this I´d love to catch up while I am in town. However, I will not have my cell phone so please get me on my folk´s home phone (250)598 3986
I Tarzan, You scary as hell.
Yesterday afternoon´s ATVing was absolutely brilliant. The boys and I got on our Quads around 2 for a crash course on steering them. There was couple from New York with us as well and it was a definite highlight of the afternoon when they both had to ask how standard transmissions work as everyone in NYC drives automatic.
Introductory course out of the way it was on to some gravel roads to open them up a little. They weren´t huge machines only 350cc but you could do some impressive fishtailing in them. It wasn´t long before the lads and I were drawing the ire of the guide for pushing the quads close to their limits.
We soon left the gravel roads behind and were driving through rolling green hills of cow paddocks, splashing through half meter deep muddle puds and generally having a riotous time.
Then we got to the real technical riding. Which started with a steep downhill descent over loose muddy rocks. I locked up the brakes once to avoid the guide who had slowed suddenly and began to spin sideways until I gave it a ton of gas and sprayed mud every which way. At the bottom of the hill was a big creek crossing, about 1 meter deep and about 20 meters wide, which our guide cautioned us to keep going or risk going over into the drink. It was an amazing experience to push through a couple of such crossings. The final one I found a deep spot with my front right tire and nearly lost the quad, luckily my other 3 tires held traction and I was able to get through.
We all came back in one piece, caked in mud and smiling from ear to ear. A great day!
This morning we were up early to do a canopy tour, which is walking through cloud forests checking out various bits of wildlife atop a number of different suspension bridges. It was amazing to see the jungle canopy and a variety of cool little animals. The clear highlight of the morning was getting up to the final bridge. To get up to it it was necessary to scale the inside of a strangling ficas tree, which had killed its host tree. It was amazing to climb up the 12 meter inside of a tree and out on to the bridge looking down at the canopy below.
However, as cool as both the above two tours were they paled sharply with what the afternoon had in store. Ziplining! Zipling, for those who don´t know, is when you don a rock climbing harness connected to wire lines by a simple wheel and zip on lines from stand to stand usually for pretty good distances. Another tidbit for those out of the loop. I hate heights and turn into a bit of a baby by them, and were I not with the Irish crew there was no way in hell I would´ve done this.
The first few lines were pretty civilized, 30 meters long and about 15 meters high. Good fun and built up the confidence. They got progressively longer until we were flying about 700 meters about 75meters up! But the real oh shit moment of the trip was when we went to do the ¨Tarzan Swing¨which was leaping off of a perfectly good platform 20m up and swinging out from it for 15ish seconds. I was terrified and tried to back out, however Carl and Carolyn weren´t having any of it, and over I went. I promise I will post Carl´s video of it soon as it is classic. I was shaking with adrenaline after. It really was a wonderful day!
Introductory course out of the way it was on to some gravel roads to open them up a little. They weren´t huge machines only 350cc but you could do some impressive fishtailing in them. It wasn´t long before the lads and I were drawing the ire of the guide for pushing the quads close to their limits.
We soon left the gravel roads behind and were driving through rolling green hills of cow paddocks, splashing through half meter deep muddle puds and generally having a riotous time.
Then we got to the real technical riding. Which started with a steep downhill descent over loose muddy rocks. I locked up the brakes once to avoid the guide who had slowed suddenly and began to spin sideways until I gave it a ton of gas and sprayed mud every which way. At the bottom of the hill was a big creek crossing, about 1 meter deep and about 20 meters wide, which our guide cautioned us to keep going or risk going over into the drink. It was an amazing experience to push through a couple of such crossings. The final one I found a deep spot with my front right tire and nearly lost the quad, luckily my other 3 tires held traction and I was able to get through.
We all came back in one piece, caked in mud and smiling from ear to ear. A great day!
This morning we were up early to do a canopy tour, which is walking through cloud forests checking out various bits of wildlife atop a number of different suspension bridges. It was amazing to see the jungle canopy and a variety of cool little animals. The clear highlight of the morning was getting up to the final bridge. To get up to it it was necessary to scale the inside of a strangling ficas tree, which had killed its host tree. It was amazing to climb up the 12 meter inside of a tree and out on to the bridge looking down at the canopy below.
However, as cool as both the above two tours were they paled sharply with what the afternoon had in store. Ziplining! Zipling, for those who don´t know, is when you don a rock climbing harness connected to wire lines by a simple wheel and zip on lines from stand to stand usually for pretty good distances. Another tidbit for those out of the loop. I hate heights and turn into a bit of a baby by them, and were I not with the Irish crew there was no way in hell I would´ve done this.
The first few lines were pretty civilized, 30 meters long and about 15 meters high. Good fun and built up the confidence. They got progressively longer until we were flying about 700 meters about 75meters up! But the real oh shit moment of the trip was when we went to do the ¨Tarzan Swing¨which was leaping off of a perfectly good platform 20m up and swinging out from it for 15ish seconds. I was terrified and tried to back out, however Carl and Carolyn weren´t having any of it, and over I went. I promise I will post Carl´s video of it soon as it is classic. I was shaking with adrenaline after. It really was a wonderful day!
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Borders
Through out my trip I have crossed a number of borders and they never cease to fascinate me. For example, when Heather and I left Victoria all those nights ago we were checked by American border officials in Victoria and then again when we arrived in Seattle. Two things about this were really interesting to me. First, the fact that we have people from the US in Canada which stamp your passport and usher you into a small waiting room. What country am I in at that point? Is it Canada? Because we are certainly on Canadian soil in a Canadian owned and operated building. Or is it like an embassy in which it is sovereign land of the other country gifted by the host country. Furthermore, if a murder was committed there whose law is tried under and is the death penalty a possibility?
A second complicating factor in my mind is the fact that I again was checked by customs officials when I arrived in America. Between the time I was first checked by American guards in Canada and those in Seattle what country was I in? Did I have rights under either the American Constitution or the Canadian Charter? It is this kind of grey air that allows Camp X-ray to exist in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
As I travelled South some more strange things happened on borders. The border between Mexico and Guatemala is demarcated by a bridge of about 300 meters in length (as was the one between Honduras and Nicaragua is likewise demarcated) This seems a petty question, but as the bridge is in no man´s land whose laws govern its construction and who pays for and does the upkeep on it?
On a more serious level is what borders represent. They rarely, if ever, demarcate clear lines between regions or ethnicity's. For example, the people of Washington state speak, sound are pretty much indistinguishable from people in BC. For the most part we can see all their newscasts, share the same climate and geography.
So what is the point of borders when it seems pretty clear that people change by regions and not arbitrary lines. To see how arbitrary those lines can be look at a map of Africa! It is pretty safe to understand that the straighter a line is the more arbitrary.
So are borders a tool of peace or war? I ask this because the obvious answer seems to be of war, the fact that there is a line dividing groups from others they identify with or resources they cover creates a desire and an impetus for military conquest. However, what would happen if there was not clearly demarcated lines? The Ottoman Empire used to work very much like this, their authority or border essentially ended where ever their ability to assert control ended. However, this meant that for the people far removed from the center and living on the regions that there was frequent warfare on and around their land.
It seems clear to me that the European Union has the correct solution to this problem because with free trade it eliminates the coveting of people/resources, allows for people to settle where and with the people that they identify with. The one reservation I have is that the surrender of sovereignty that things like a common currency entail. Although I think I shall save my thoughts on what currency represents for a later date.
A second complicating factor in my mind is the fact that I again was checked by customs officials when I arrived in America. Between the time I was first checked by American guards in Canada and those in Seattle what country was I in? Did I have rights under either the American Constitution or the Canadian Charter? It is this kind of grey air that allows Camp X-ray to exist in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
As I travelled South some more strange things happened on borders. The border between Mexico and Guatemala is demarcated by a bridge of about 300 meters in length (as was the one between Honduras and Nicaragua is likewise demarcated) This seems a petty question, but as the bridge is in no man´s land whose laws govern its construction and who pays for and does the upkeep on it?
On a more serious level is what borders represent. They rarely, if ever, demarcate clear lines between regions or ethnicity's. For example, the people of Washington state speak, sound are pretty much indistinguishable from people in BC. For the most part we can see all their newscasts, share the same climate and geography.
So what is the point of borders when it seems pretty clear that people change by regions and not arbitrary lines. To see how arbitrary those lines can be look at a map of Africa! It is pretty safe to understand that the straighter a line is the more arbitrary.
So are borders a tool of peace or war? I ask this because the obvious answer seems to be of war, the fact that there is a line dividing groups from others they identify with or resources they cover creates a desire and an impetus for military conquest. However, what would happen if there was not clearly demarcated lines? The Ottoman Empire used to work very much like this, their authority or border essentially ended where ever their ability to assert control ended. However, this meant that for the people far removed from the center and living on the regions that there was frequent warfare on and around their land.
It seems clear to me that the European Union has the correct solution to this problem because with free trade it eliminates the coveting of people/resources, allows for people to settle where and with the people that they identify with. The one reservation I have is that the surrender of sovereignty that things like a common currency entail. Although I think I shall save my thoughts on what currency represents for a later date.
So I lied...
The hostel I am staying in has free Internet and as I am in the highlands of Costa Rica waiting for my ATVing tour to start I figured I would put a little time into the blog.
After Leon the boys and I headed to Granada for 3 days. Where a friend of theirs joined us. Her name is Carolyn and she too is Irish. The town was good fun and had a lovely colonial feeling.
Afterwards it was beach time and we headed off to San Juan Del Sur in southern Nicaragua.
We spent the first day on the town´s beach but the waves there were just barely suitable for boogie boarding so we piled onto the hostels 4 wheel drive truck heading off to the big surf beaches. The waves were spectacular! Nice even breaks with clear gaps between them so that you can easily pick out the waves you want.
It was in watching these waves that I saw possibly the most exciting sight of my trip. I was body boarding as one of the lads had wanted a go on my board and as I was watching for my wave to come I saw a large turtle (about 2/3 of a meter across) playing in the wave. He too was surfing the face of the 3 meter wave. It was so amazing that I didn´t pay enough attention to what I was doing and got tossed around so badly that I had reach down quickly to recover my shorts that the wave had mostly off.
The next morning we were up early to continue our travels. It was another long day of travelling, 60 minute taxi ride, 45 minutes at the border, 3 hour bus ride, and then 2.5 hours of another bus that was so full that all the boys and I had to stand. All of which served to deliver us in Monte Verde, Costa Rica. (It is in the North East, part of a massive wildlife reserve.)
Later this afternoon we are off to do a bit of ATV riding and then up tomorrow morning to go ziplining (flying from stands to stands anywhere from 25 to 55 meters over the forest canopy)
After Leon the boys and I headed to Granada for 3 days. Where a friend of theirs joined us. Her name is Carolyn and she too is Irish. The town was good fun and had a lovely colonial feeling.
Afterwards it was beach time and we headed off to San Juan Del Sur in southern Nicaragua.
We spent the first day on the town´s beach but the waves there were just barely suitable for boogie boarding so we piled onto the hostels 4 wheel drive truck heading off to the big surf beaches. The waves were spectacular! Nice even breaks with clear gaps between them so that you can easily pick out the waves you want.
It was in watching these waves that I saw possibly the most exciting sight of my trip. I was body boarding as one of the lads had wanted a go on my board and as I was watching for my wave to come I saw a large turtle (about 2/3 of a meter across) playing in the wave. He too was surfing the face of the 3 meter wave. It was so amazing that I didn´t pay enough attention to what I was doing and got tossed around so badly that I had reach down quickly to recover my shorts that the wave had mostly off.
The next morning we were up early to continue our travels. It was another long day of travelling, 60 minute taxi ride, 45 minutes at the border, 3 hour bus ride, and then 2.5 hours of another bus that was so full that all the boys and I had to stand. All of which served to deliver us in Monte Verde, Costa Rica. (It is in the North East, part of a massive wildlife reserve.)
Later this afternoon we are off to do a bit of ATV riding and then up tomorrow morning to go ziplining (flying from stands to stands anywhere from 25 to 55 meters over the forest canopy)
Saturday, August 25, 2007
All is Quiet on the Internet front
My appologies that I've been so quiet on the net lately. I am still travelling with the Irish lads today we are heading off to Costa Rica. I will be relatively quiet on the blog until about the 31st and then I promise to do a big update for everybody as the net is very expensive in Costa Rica.
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