Mas Para Sol

New York City

2010-02-03T18:04:00.000-08:00

So I am planning a trip to China in February. In order to make the trip I need to obtain a Chinese visa which needs to be applied for in person or via a courier. As I have the time and had not been to NYC I decided to make a trip out of it and go to NYC for a week. Thanks to Alice and Mrs. Lee who made this a great trip for me and gave me an insiders perspective on NYC. Here are some photos.

It was raining when I arrived in NYC

View of the west-side coast of Manhattan one block over from the Chinese consulate.

City view.

Another...

Outside the hostel where I stayed in Chelsea. ~$27 a night, not bad for Manhattan. Though hostels in Manhattan can be found for ~$15.

Walking around, oh and there is Greenwhich village. A tribute to London?

Oh, Macys!

Wood escalator at the top of Macys.

And the inside of Macys, which is a lot like most malls to be honest...

Times Square

X^2 again. Get it? times=x square=^2 ? Bad joke.

They have musicals here.

I got a cannoli and cappuccino in Little Italy instead...

Around Brooklyn Bridge on the Manhattan side.

I think this is actually on the Brooklyn side after walking over the Brooklyn Bridge

On the Brooklyn Bridge

Another view

The bridge had a lot of good views...

...

Brooklyn...

The city back on the Manhattan side, aww yeah.

Park Place...like Monopoly I thought...

The post office.

View from the top of the Empire State building 1

View from the top of the Empire State building 2

View from the top of the Empire State building 3

I am now in the 101 club everyone!

SNL Display at the NBC building around Rockefeller Center. Rockefeller center is in fact a collection on several buildings across 2-4 blocks or so...

Flags around the ice-rink

Wisdom and Knowledge Shall be the Stability of Thy Times

and the ice-rink with the Zimbabwean and Lebanese flags across from each other...

There is an ice-rink at central park too. When it is cold enough anyway, and... IT WAS COLD ENOUGH.

Brrrrrrrrr

Vacant Chess tables. I blame the cold.

Coolest Carousel Ever.

View from Central Park.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

I get to be a judge for a poetry slam in the Nuyorican Cafe. The poetry was excellent.

The hostel organized a pub crawl type thing which ended at Webster Hall club NYC. Quite a famous place as I later read about it. Something about bands getting their start etc...

And the same West-Side bay view one block over from the Chinese consulate after getting my visa 5 days later...

Ladies and Gentlemen...The United Nations!

Idealism printed into concrete.

Grand Central Station

Inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It really had tons of amazing displays. Whole replicas of ancient ruins in cathedral sized rooms.

A walk along the bay.

There is pier 17. Piers 1-16 are conspicuously absent.

NYC beaches are derelict.

A pier, a sailing ship long put to harbor.

And leaving NYC. The place had a true magical air. You could feel the ocean breeze. The streets are straight, offering views down many blocks. The whole of Manhattan island is built, developed, cosmopolitan. It is a place that has made history in a good way, and will hopefully continue to do so. It felt like the capital of America. Like the ideal which every other city in America echoes.

Leaving Hong Kong and Plans to Return to China

2010-02-02T13:13:00.000-08:00

This post is long overdue since I left Hong Kong December 10th 2009.

What can I say? The last few days in Hong Kong I went out with the friends I had met here. Went to concerts and around town. Hong Kong felt so much like home, I somehow knew I would be going back. And so I have traveled to NYC to get my visa for China and to attend Tsinghua University, where I will take Mandarin classes there. (Posts forthcoming)

For now, here are some photos that capture the memories of the last few days in HK.

Random photos on a wall around Hung Hom, this captures everything about what is so perfect in Hong Kong culture.

A parade in Sham Shui Po

A view of Hong Kong from the bay in my neighborhood of Fortress Hill

A view of the outlying residential district of Chai Wan. (Not to be confused with Wan Chai)

Another view of Chai Wan.

Entrance to the bird market on the Kowloon side.

The bird market

Random, around Mong Kok I think.

This deity is a signal for a vegan restaurant. I am not sure of the exact history or details.

A roller coaster on the top floor of a mall in Mong Kok. The novelty had long been dispelled leaving the roller coaster vacant and closed.

An ice rink at the top of the same mall.

A look at the metro map. I look at the gray at the top left where the subway lines have not yet been connected. "That is Shenzhen" Kim says. "In 10 years they will connect the lines and the boarder between mainland China and Hong Kong will be open." I look at the map, and try to imagine what kind of world that would be like. Then I turn around, and breathe in Hong Kong once more...

Cool lanterns outside a restaurant in Wan Chai.

View inside the Hong Kong airport.

The mountains which surround the airport and photos of the planes...

Hong Kong Photo Update

2009-12-03T07:11:00.001-08:00

OK, been a while, here a bunch of photos...

A view of Kowloon Peninsula from Causeway Bay. People probably still live on those boats.

One of the 3 cultures which populated Hong Kong lived their whole life on boats.

Looking into Central from Causeway Bay

Breakdancing under the bridge on a Sunday at Causeway Bay

One Sundays all the house workers from the Philippines/Indonesia and elsewhere get the day off by work. They spend it by picnicking in Victoria park. Sitting on plastic sheets and eating packed lunches or fruit.

A photo of me at Kennedy Town, an outlying suburb of HK city, and the end of the tram line.

Paper clothes and other items to be burned at a funeral. The idea is that the material items go up in smoke with the spirits and give the dead a comfortable afterlife.

Kennedy town scene

Strange Fruit

The Bank of China tower which is the symbol of Hong Kong. It is free to go to the 43rd floor for the view.

A select view from the Bank of China tower

I love riding the trams, I am going to miss them!!!

A sunset at Causeway Bay. Just chill.

The Horse Races at Happy Valley

The race track. The whole area is full of expats. You hear thick British accents and occasional French way more than Chinese...

Rose Mansion at Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon.

Another view in the TST area of Kowloon. Kowloon is somewhat lower scale than the Hong Kong island side. It always feels good to get back to the island.

Odd steep staircase in the street where I live...

I don't remember where I got this shot at all. Possibly riding the top deck of a tram...

Free Friday arts show at the HK arts center. This whole event felt like something I would do at home. Low turnout, bad acoustics, and a general feeling of "meh'.

Tia Chi in the park. I went for two mornings. Javier, my classmate, has been going for weeks and is now adopted by the group. They gave him a fan. :)

Walking back to TST on the Kowloon side of the bay. The buildings are decked for Christmas.

Random show at a random bar below the Hopewell center. I was the only one in the audience. I requested "I will survive" and they played it quite well. Interesting accented version...though all the songs were in English...

Taking the Ferry to Kowloon. There is the HK Arts and Convention center in the far distance, and the Ferry Term directly in the near distance.

Yeah, almost the same photo...just the HK convention center there...

This is a shopping center in Kowloon as soon as you leave the Ferry. I forget the name of it. There are so so so many shopping centers in Hong Kong. It is huuuuuuuuuugeee. I can't describe it. Most people don't think HK is that big of a city, I guess it isn't, but it sure is compact. There is no way you could know where every store is. It is always changing. I see delivery people lost on the streets with maps asking for directions. Hong Kong is big. I don't care what people say!

Giant people, escalator. Sometimes art happens...

Kowloon is known for fakes. Fake Rolex's, fake Polo T-shirts, fake Prada, fake I-phones, Fake Air-walks, fake whatever... How do you know the Rolex's aren't fake? A guy with a gun guards them.

A bubble tea place. Bubble tea is oh sooo good. Particularly if you are shopping. Notice how overstaffed the place is. That is another thing I am going to miss. The overstaffing. Service is excellent, tips are non-existent.

Random view of Kowloon park. Largest walled park or sommat.

Display at the Health and Sanitation museum where I got a free packed which contained: alcohol hand sanitizer, baby wipes, and 5 of those face mask things people wear to defend against Swine flu..The Kowloon peninsula of HK is the most densely populated place on Earth, but if you want some alone time, just go to this museum, it is always empty.

Oh, hey, tenuous, solid, covert, duplicitous, profitable. ;)

Kowloon Park ready for the East Asia games which will launch this Saturday, the 5th.

Random furniture!

More randomness, cause that is a city...

This is how they sell aquarium fish. Though retail tends to spill out into the streets for every kind of item. Got to maximize the rent value. Ultimate business people. Please remember.

Some random game around Mong Kok.

The Temple of the "Temple Street" night market in Kowloon.

Closer view...

Christmas decor back around TST...

H1N1 prepared. Free face masks. (See museum post)

Ughhh, I should not have posted this one. Anyways, me being a cliche...

Kowloon Park, East Asia Games, etc...

Another view of Central from the Tram lines...did I mention missing the trams?

Some medicine thing... acupuncture...etc..

Some weird shop like two blocks down from where I live. Just look at those jeans!

Hanging out on the top floor terrace of Javier's plush apartment building. We drink tea, eat 99% cocoa chocolates, talk about our past and futures, soak in the view. This is the city life.

View from the terrace.

Mercedes in Wan Chai. Javier's neighborhood, and my second neighborhood/hang out.

You also spot the occasional Roles Royce, Porsche, Lamborghini, etc...The teacher at school was adamant in insisting that Mercedes Benz is not an expensive car...what a different world this is...

I went to the park in central today. Here is a view off the tram...

In the Aviary of the Park...

There are the Koala bear buildings. Called that since it looks like Koala bears are climbing the towers...

Another view of Central...

That is it for now.

Feels like Ages since I posted

2009-11-29T09:01:00.000-08:00

I have a lot of back posting to catch up on, but I thought to re-cap today as a snap shot. I woke up and found Joan in the hostel and asked if he wanted to go with me to the Christie's auction at the Hong Kong arts center. Rachel, a girl I met the other night, who edits a Chinese Art Magazine, gave me the tip.

And so we went to the art center for the auction, free and open to the public. The auction showed live updates of the prices in Hong Kong dollars, USD, Euro, Chinese Yuan, and Singapore dollars. The first painting went for 6 million u.s. dollars. The next were more tame in the 120,000s or so.

Then we went to the modern art gallery to see the pieces that would be auctioned on Monday. It was a plush setting with people saying things like "We just flew in from Bali", and a free tea/coffee service while you took in the art. The art was amazing, modern, fresh, engaging, and compelling. Here is a list of some artists I liked for later googling:

Kim Dong Yoo -Gene Kelly vs. Frank Sinatra

Hiroshi Kobayashi - Step into the myst

Zeng Chuanxing

Kei Hiraga

Koji Hoyori

Yin Zhoayang

Kim Joen

Kim Jung Sun - When we were young

Hang Hao - My Things

Kosuko Okahara - Ibasyo

After Christie's we went for lunch. I had a noodle soup with Crab row dumplings. Essentially dumplings with bright orange crab eggs inside. They tasted good, like crab. Then I went to Victoria Park to study. A large American man made eye contact and sat down on a bench next to me. He started in on his story: He was hired as a guide for a business man to go to China. But they got turned down at border because he failed to get Chinese visas for the mainland. Now he was stuck in HK, which he didn't like because people don't make eye contact, or smile, etc... and this was really the first time he left the hotel to explore the city. He held a big 16oz McDonalds cup with a coke slurpee inside. I talked to him for a while and then left to go get a hair-cut, and do some light shopping. Later in the evening I met up with more people from the hostel to go out for dinner. The orders got all confused, but the food was good anyway. It was a great time. I love Hong Kong.

Kim Jung Sun - When we were young

On auction at Christie's

Fried Tofu Blocks

2009-11-21T07:23:00.000-08:00

Kim took me and another classmate to Sham Shui Po. The restaurant he took us to had the best food I have eaten in HK, and shopping the neighborhood was fun.

The top floor of the wet market, where there are always restaurants...this is like a food court in a mall....

View of the market

Fresh fish, their hearts were still beating.

Frogs

Cuttlefish

More seafood

Tofu and bean sprouts

und Camera parts

After parting with Kim, the next day I went to IFC in central Hong Kong, on the Hong Kong island part. Or the "Manhattan" part if you will, where I live. :p

Like a bridge over city rooaddds

Security guard?

Pabst Blue Ribbon with Chinese characters leaning against oranges. Perfect. By the way, the oranges in the wet market were from Florida! I recognized the PLU and everything!

Back on the Kowloon side, in Kowloon Tong. Here is a 4 story Christmas tree. No really, check out the escalators in the background...

Around Kowloon Town. A peaceful mountain "college" part of the city.

Pond/Park

There University of Hong Kong where I will apply to attend shortly.

Around Mong Kok in Kowloon

Near Sham Shui Po in Kowloon

They make medicinal teas here for cough and cold, constipation, acne, and other things I forget.

I tried some for cough and cold, it was like drinking a cough drop. The ingredients are turtle shell and herbs. I did feel better afterwards.

Victoria Park nearby where I live.

Victoria Park again with the city buildings watching it.

The My Little Airport Show!
The show was great. Everyone was low key, sitting around drinking green tea. Good scene. Here is a photo of the stage with Nicole and AhP singing.

Ray, who met me at the metro, guided me to the show, translated the Cantonese between songs, and was generally awesome.

My photo with AhP and Nicole of My Little Airport.

A video from the show.

We went to Kowloon Town

2009-11-17T05:01:00.000-08:00

On Monday I met up with Amy, who Judith introduced me to and we went to the Hong Kong history museum. There I learned about China the past 100 years, how they turned to communism to throw out imperialism, and then turned to socialism to throw out communism. This is where they stand today.

The museum also contained a history of Hong Kong, a place occupied by both the British and the Japanese. The trip to the museum was followed by the light show (again) and a trip to the night market. Then a trip to the zoo/botanical garden the next day. Here are das fotos:

Hong Kong Street Scene in Wan Chai

Old Skool Violin

Me mit giant statues in the Hong Kong history Museo

So glad I don't have to enter one living in HK

Ladies Market in Kowloon (For men and ladies and everyone)

Statue on the walk of stars

Light show again

The Night Market

Hong Kong is like San Francisco with a lot of hills, so they have movators.

Another Hong Kong city scene

Toys at the indie basement place where I got the My Little Airport tickets

Soy Milk in vending machines instead of soft drinks. This is so how the world should be.

A night scene of Fortress Hill, my neighborhood in Hong Kong

This evening I went to Mong Kok in Kowloon (pronounced Cow-loon) to buy tickets to the My Little Airport show this Friday. There I meet Ray who gives me a high five when he finds out I am going to the Friday show and agrees to meet me at the metro stop and guide me to the show. We talk My Little Airport, mourn the loss of Nicole, and then talk more indie. Turns out he is a sports commentator for Ping Pong. We then talk about the upcoming Asian games to take places in Hong Kong before my cell phone starts ringing. It is Kim (the guy from the airport who I have kept up with via email). He is setting a time to meet tomorrow so he can show me where to shop.

K: where are you now?
P: I am in Mong Kok.
K: Too expensive! I meet you tomorrow. Bring walking shoes, it will be cold, dress in layers. Don't keep your money in one place. Different pockets, don't let the shop keepers know how much you have.
P:Got it.

And so I am lucky to have Kim, possibly the world's most frugal person, as a guide to Hong Kong shopping. For if there is one thing which predominates in Hong Kong it is shopping. In most Western cities you have cafes and bars lining the streets. In Hong Kong you have retail. Electronics, shoes, clothes, food. Sometimes it spills over into the streets. These are the ultimate business people. Not good, not the best, the ultimate. Go anywhere in the world, and you will find a grocery run by Chinese. Frugality combined with respect, dedication, and hard work, help get these guys there. Perhaps their only flaw is that they are too focused on efficiency and customer service. You barely finish your plate and a drink before it is whisked away, and while you could sit at a restaurant for hours after, the whole feel of the culture tells you to do otherwise. Hong Kong is for moving on, ever on. Keeping on. But the people are so friendly and helpful. I met Kim at the airport and now he is meeting me to show me around. I met Ray at the indie record shop and he will meet me also. It is just so nice. Feels like home.

Weekend mit Judith

2009-11-15T02:48:00.000-08:00

Friday class ended and one of my fellow students, Alice from Italy, invited me along to meet a friend and see the giant Buddha. The friend turned out to be Judith from Germany, who is currently working in Beijing as an intern for a German engineering company, and was in Hong Kong to renew her visa. Turns out a lot of people working in China come down to Hong Kong for a few days to renew their visas back to China.

In any case, Judith had it in mind to see most of the major sites of Hong Kong within the space of a weekend, and didn't mind having company. Pushing back the hazy feeling that 13 hours of jet-lag can create I was happy to tag along with Julia for a tour that included:

Going to Launtau island and riding a tram up to see a giant statue of Buhdda.

Running to see the nightly light show along the water.

Catching another tram to the peak to see a birds eye view of the city.

Catching a ferry to Macau island to see the Portuguese ruins, try a bunch of snacks, and see the Las Vegas style casinos (plus leave $5 HKD richer)

Going to Lan Kwai Fong in Hong Kong to streets full of expats and bars

Being the only white people eating traditional dim sum on a Sunday morning

Going to Stanely on the opposite side of Hong Kong island to walk the tourist shops, listen to an acapella group sing Puccini, and take a coffee.

Here are the photos:

Before Buddha buy Hello Kitty Paper Towel...

View from the tram on the way to Buddha...

Ohhhhhhmmmmmmm.........

I felt 57% more enlightened:

Statues give offerings to Buddha...

Buddha's view...

Meine Freundes Alice und Judith:

Prayers at the temple:

Und das temple:

Snap shot of the light show, which is hosted by the sky scrapers in the area...

View from the peak: The "Postcard" photo...

Macau Island from the Ferry:

Street of Macau, packed with people and with vendors giving samples:

The ruins of Sao Paolo, an artifact of Macau's Portuguese past...

Taking a photo from the floor...whaaaat???

The butter crumble cookies they make there...

Sample?

Happy cakes...

Macau is "little Vegas"?

Not so grand actually...

Judith pointing out the holiday decorations of the snowy weather Macau will never see...

On the way to Stanley:

View of Stanley Plaza...

A mangrove tree...yes...

vaser es schoone.

After all this I say bye to Judith and wonder how she managed to create the job she did in Beijing at the age of 22, and I also wonder how she had the gusto and the togetherness to plan such a weekend...Maybe it is because she is living in Beijing, a place renowned to be bustling and active and accomplishing things at an unprecedented rate? Your environment affects you deeply, make no mistake. Or maybe Judith is a driven person who wants to get the most out of life, and travel surely does it.

Now I feel like I have covered most of the sites of Hong Kong, and I am willing to let any more of them come as they may, while I try to get to know the little neighborhood where I find myself and all the people in it, and if they will laugh a little less as I learn to speak Chinese. :)

Arriving in Hong Kong

2009-11-11T06:21:00.000-08:00

I left from Raleigh to Chicago for a 1 hour lay-over. I wondered the halls of the terminal, as you might do knowing you are soon going to be confined to a seated space for 16 hours. Right by the gate for the flight to Hong Kong was a foreign exchange terminals. I know they are a bad deal, and that there would be on-lookers who would look down on me in pity, but thought it would be good to have some HK dollars for the bus just in case.

Sure enough, a man (mid 50s / Asian) comes over and starts shaking his head as I am exchanging travelers cheques. He is wearing one of those fly-tackle fishing jackets with 20 pockets on the front. He comes over to talk to me and tell me what a bad deal I got exchanging my 40 U.S. dollars and how much better the rate will be at Hong Kong banks.

It is a good thing though because the advice starts:

"Don't go to ATM, OK? ---- Service fees"
"If you go into a shop and the person is wearing better clothes than you, don't buy there. OK? It is for tourists. Bum around see this watch?"

He shows me a flashy watch with a silver band and 3 clock counters on it.

"How much? How much you think?"
"I don't know, $15 dollars maybe"
"2 dollars, 2 dollars U.S., have fun, find deals"
I make an impressed face, but I am not really blown away or anything.

I guess I could buy hot property in HK, why not? Someone is going to do it...or then again, maybe not...

As the conversation progresses to things to do in HK in general I take out my guidebook and point out how it is from the library. We are having a frugal off. He brushes it off as mere common sense. In my experience there are two kinds of people when it comes to money. Those who find pleasure in spending it, and those who find pleasure in accumulating it. The extreme people in this latter group take frugality to another level, it is a passtime, a sport. I am probably one of them.
Anyway, my new friend introduces himself and promises to guide me through the airport in Hong Kong and so he does. He introduces himself, his name is Kim.

In between we fly over Alaska and the North of Russia to go south to Hong Kong. We do this because with globes a straight line isn't the shortest distance between two points, and it is better to go to the north pole where there is a much shorter distance to go around the world. And so we fly over ice. It is crystal clear and I take many photos. The sun sets and an hour later rises again. People close the shutters in the aeroplane. Below is ice, below is the border between America and Russia, but there are no people down there, no signs of life, or politics, and therefore no war or struggle or conflict. Just ice, lots and lots of it, and snow, and how the wind had combed it, and the sun hits it in patches.

Landing in Hong Kong is great. The climate is humid and warm and pleasant. The people are pleasant, trim, fashionable, and internationals. A French girl sees my backpack and comes to give me a day pass on the underground that she couldn't use, she is on her way out. Kim leaves me at the buses with his email, and I have a friend in Hong Kong. Things are off to a great start. I ride a double decker bus on the top and take videos going in to the city. I miss my stop, and have to walk to find my hostel. On the way I buy a tooth brush, and tooth paste, and ice-green tea, and a persimmon. I find the hostel, but they are overbooked, and so we go to the dorm room and clear out backpacks and laundry from the floor, and lay down a mattress, and put sheets on it, and soon, I will go pass out there. The clock is 13 hours ahead here and if I wake up early from jet lag I will try find some people practicing Tai Chi in the park that Kim told me about...

Photos:
The Chicago Airport, which doubles as a disco from 1-5 a.m. weeknights..

A photo of a plane for my nephews...

A circle rainbow type thing? I think, anyone know? (It is under the wing...)

Ice over Alaska / Canada (This was sunset)

Snow covered mountains on the Russian side...(This was the sunrise an hour later)

Hong Kong Airport and a photo of Cathay Pacific official airline of HK...

Democracy Needs Some Exercise

2009-11-03T18:34:00.001-08:00

I worked the polls today for the local election. This meant spending 6a.m.-8:00p.m. in a church and checking to make sure people are authorized to vote before giving them a ballot. We, however, only had 45 people come to the polls, leaving a lot of empty time in the day to read Gödel, Escher, Bach, chat with other officials, take an interest in the surroundings, drink lots of free coffee, and of course, appreciate America at its finest. During election day. The time to exercise that well defended right to vote.

My chief judge, a women in her late 50s, folded her arms and looked out the window at the vacant parking lot "You know what really irritates me? That people don't come out to vote. People in other countries die for this." She looked like Clint Eastwood in any movie you care to name. Cars whizzed by on the road oblivious.

"Yeah" said Bill, my co-worker and former Vietnam veteran in the air-force. The kind of guy who saw people die to defend that very right. I think Tom my other co-worker would have also agreed, as he was in WWII, but he was too absorbed with trying to get the laptop to work.

"Would you like some hot apple cider?" One of my co-workers offered. I have to admit I was tempted. It was early, and ignoring my usual inclination not to drink sugar on an empty stomach I had this vision of some piece of authentic Americana. This quaint old lady who had grown up at a time when things were done properly. Hell, this cider was probably fresh from the apples in her garden.

My heart sank when she said it was sugar free, and there I was confronted with a envelope full of powdered apple cider. It was quintessential Americana alright. Everything that is right and wrong with this country all at once. I politely declined. In Frankfurt they pressed apple cider from fresh apples right on the street, and sold it. I didn't mention this fact, it always leads to awkwardness.

"You know what they say about retirement" Bill said, "You are too busy to do anything".
The chief judge laughed.
"Yeah" she said, then she walked over to me and gave me a pointed look "and if your're retired I am going to slap you".
I pursed my lips and looked down at the table. Clint Eastwood alright.

45 people came to vote. An old Italian couple who had the best accents, but had been here for 18 years. An 80 year old African American woman, and another who was 22 with two kids, and to top it all off, an Irish woman. It is the minorities and foreigners who take the most interest. Particularly in these small elections. And they deserve credit for it.

Next Trip: Hong Kong

2009-10-26T12:53:00.001-07:00

I am going to Hong Kong from November to December. It should be a good trip and probably quite full of tourists since the winter months have good weather. I will take courses in Cantonese there...

Bridget Bardot

2009-10-02T09:09:00.000-07:00

It is 12:15 in the afternoon and here I sit drinking half a glass of Shiraz and eating some 99% cocoa Lindt chocolate, a memento of Frankfurt. I look out the window and contemplate how much of this is truly living. It is true, comfort is nice, it is what we crave at work. What I really love doing though is reading about science, curing curiosity, so to speak.

So in the next few weeks I am finalizing my applications to graduate school and planning a winter trip to Shanghai. Did I just write that? I think to myself..."Yes", I answer.

This world is melting miracle.

Another Chapter

2009-09-20T19:28:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a night walk in the suburbs of Cary listening to C.S. Lewis's book Till We Have Faces, looking up at the sky and feeling I was in the fiction world Lewis was describing. For that is what suburbs are, a blank canvas for which to project our dreams and fancies.

I kept walking and thought of this new virtual internship I am starting. Building a gene annotation database for genes involved in biological aging. It seems perfect. Walking further I felt like I was breathing in digital air. A kind of incarnation of artificial life from a Michael Crichton novel. Like something that burned, and felt wholey strange and new.

I started to walk back to my house and looked at the stars in the sky and how they faded under the glowing brightness of the street lamps...

Change

2009-08-11T10:17:00.000-07:00

I just finished watching the head of google, Larry, Sergey and Eric speak at last years Zeitgeist (2008).

In their speech was a notable outcry for people to work to change the world. The model they carry at Google is one of 70-20-10

Where 70% of resources are spent on core functions
20% go to side function that are related
10% go to dreams and far out goals that really can change the world in a big way.

There is no reason not to adopt this model in our everyday life. I think it would be good to make a list of organizations which are trying to change the world. There sure seems like there are a lot of them, but how many are successful?

I think it is rather easy to get pulled into a mindset of life where we feel or think that our time is absorbed by things we have to do, that we are just trying to get by, and it is better to leave the world changing to others. It is good to make the effort to stay out of that.

The Top Floor Office

2009-06-22T17:45:00.000-07:00

Here is the view from the top floor of the N.C. State library where I sometimes come to write and do work for HealthAliciousNess.

What, are you saying a top floor office is meaningless? Well that is a bit startling I suppose...
There is talk among the employees of a Holiday party this year, or we might just have a cook out this fall.

What is going on otherwise? Besides working on the garden, taking a family trip to the outer banks, reading books, and sitting down and typing questions like:
"How can I add value to people's lives?"
and
"What do I want my day to day life to be like?"
and coming up with answers.

Other questions are:
"Where to apply for graduate school?"
or
"What biomarkers of human aging are known?"

It is fun stuff when you put it all together. I hope everyone is well. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you.

Paul.

Fibroblast

2009-05-12T16:04:00.000-07:00

I attended a stem cell symposium which entailed what we know about cells that have the ability to change into other cells and thus fabricate our bodies. Professors from UNC, MIT, Duke, Yale, and more, gave speeches, showed graphs and figures, and occasionally had playful powerpoint slides.

Breaks were punctuated with snacks, bottled water and coffee, plus the usual suspects of softdrinks.

Thus I learned that a single stem cell can repopulate the entire marrow of a mouse, that over time stem cells stop regenerating and focus on differentiating, and that the two professors from MIT flew themselves down from Boston.

It seems like way more than a year since I set off to Belize. Looking back, it was still a great trip. Sometimes I want to travel again, but mostly, I am focused on purpose and curiosity. Quotes tend to sum things up, so here are some that define this time for me:

"If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours." Henry David Thoreau

"There is something within me that might be illusion as it is often case with young delighted people, but if I would be fortunate to achieve some of my ideals, it would be on the behalf of the whole of humanity." Nikola Tesla

"I am credited with being one of the hardest workers and perhaps I am, if thought is the equivalent of labour, for I have devoted to it almost all of my waking hours. But if work is interpreted to be a definite performance in a specified time according to a rigid rule, then I may be the worst of idlers. Every effort under compulsion demands a sacrifice of life-energy. I never paid such a price. On the contrary, I have thrived on my thoughts." Nikola Tesla

His house is in the villiage though

2009-04-10T19:45:00.000-07:00

I might start working again. I know, it burns, it burns. But in fact it isn't that bad because the job will be part time, at a university, and tie into my current learning interests. Specifically the work will be in a lab conducting comparative genetic analysis on microbial organisms. The process is known as Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) ... It will at least give me something complicated sounding to WOW people with when they ask "What do you do?" ... as opposed to the answers I give now...

I have also started a website on the molecular causes of biological aging

Science of Aging

This includes outlining major discoveries in the Science of Aging timeline.

The website has been picked up and linked by major websites like:
The Methuselah Foundation
FightAging.org
The Ouroboros Blog (which has made two contributions to the timeline)

It seems like 10 years ago since I quit my job as a health care analyst and started a journey to travel the world, be an entrepreneur, and return to grad school. The time I was at work I had it in mind to study aging...one day... and when I have enough money. It was my deferred life plan. The dream I sacrificed for, but which I could have started at any time. It doesn't seem odd to think about it now, following your dreams is hard work. It is more work. It is fun and rewarding. But it is more work. I will also say that dreams are obscured. Or never what is expected, but have to be carved by life in a way, like a puzzle piece cut to fit.

I went to the mountains to see snow in April. I collected some video clips presented for your viewing below:

I think I will ride out the summer here, particularly if I start working and applying to grad schools, then it would be good to travel. And where to go? Good question, both Japan and France are on the list. Tokyo or Nice? Montepillier or Kyoto?

The Shepherd

2009-02-25T06:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I drove to Charlotte to attend the Flavors of Carolina conference. On the way I listened to Michael Crichton's book, State of Fear, and passed cable service trucks, pick-ups, and semi-trailers which decorate the daytime U.S. highway.

The conference was being held in the Shriner Conference Center, a large one-story building located in a shopping center and festooned with two white globes on the top. Bland tile covered the floor before running into dull carpet in a cave like room made dark coming in from the sun.

People were busy setting up displays for their various food businesses. The atmosphere was the strange blend of anticipation and gravity that results from being in a large room with lots of people.

I helped my Mom set up her booth displaying business items for her bakery business Mediterranean Treats. The booth next to us belonged to Twiddle Dee Farm, and James.

James was a tall black man, young in his look and happy in his nature. After he got out of the army, he went to raising sheep.
"Was the army a good experience?" I asked.
James paused "Good and Bad." He said, then let out a laugh.
"Why sheep?"
"Well, I just couldn't go back to raising cattle, and I was looking for something new. I am a retired veteran really, but I knew I needed to do something, I would go crazy just sitting around."

I knew what James meant, and the more I talked to him, the more I fell in love with his story. How he tends and herds sheep. How he spends time out in a field. It drew me in. The retired soldier gone from the world of conflict to quietly tend his flock and become a shepherd.

Is it really not worth writing about...

2009-02-10T06:53:00.000-08:00

Abundance, or having more than you can handle, is strange feeling, but that is how I feel. Like I am trying to cope with opportunity. It is like when you try to carry too many apples and you know that one is going to slip out of your hand, so your start running to the table, hoping to make it, while the voice in the back of your head is screaming for you to go back and just carry sensible amounts.

That is what it feels like.

I want to travel, or more to the point, I feel obligated to travel considering my life situation. The truth of it though, is that I want to learn and explore ideas. I love it, I love reading history, I love writing my perspective of the facts. I love having my curiousity pulled in novel ways. And it seems odd to be given the chance to do this, nothing but time to explore, no obligations, no struggles, just the pleasure of exploring.

It seems like nothing worth writing about. Like all movies that fade out on the lovers once they go off to live happily ever after. At the same time, it seems like the perfect thing to write about.

If anyone is interested to keep up with what I have been reading, you can check out my media review: http://pauls-media-review.blogspot.com/

task chairs

2009-01-17T18:49:00.000-08:00

I went for the job interview. It was for The Umstead Hotel and Spa. The directions on the website instructed job applicants to go round the left, to the back of the building, and enter there. I went and parked by the loading dock. I was the only car in the lot. I figured I was parked in the wrong place, but suppressed the realization.

I walked in. The place was packed. I knew I had parked in the wrong place. They gave me a job application. I filled it. The interview went well. We went around the place, it was very nice. I felt like I was looking into a new life, one in a line waiting to be lived.

I also went to an all day seminar last Friday at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. It was for non-coding RNA. Graduate students gave poster presentations there. Out of the 20 or so posters there, at least 18 presenters were engaged in conversation. I went to one of the vacant ones, half out of sympathy, and half out of social convenience. The title on the poster was impossibly specific, something like: The effect of non-coding RNA on l-beta binding sites during non-time-differentiated binding. The girl started talking immediately. I did the only rational thing which was to nod and smile. I also tried to read the poster and come to grips with what was being said to me. What I was really reaching for was a safe question, something that said I had an inkling of what was going on.

"Why are you studying this?" I asked. "Dr. X and Dr. Y were looking into it and I took the project" she answered. It seemed kind of odd to me, but the gist of the answer is: for the sake of science. At first, this bothered me, but I thought about it and it occurred to me that not everything need be technology driven.

I got some books from the library on the cell, and am writing a history of cell theory for my HealthAliciousNess website.

I am also keeping some blogs as daily challenges. One is to create a drawing each day, and thus learn to draw. Another is a journey back over the content and concepts of mathematics.

Leaving Germany and On

2008-11-03T14:28:00.001-08:00

I left Germany. I meant to post photos and write a whole conclusion. But, you know. You know? Basically it was a great trip, I met a lot of great people, I met a city, I met a country. Leaving was tough. It is always tough. An environment sinks into you, weaves itself into your fabric. I went from the city of Frankfurt to the mountains of North Carolina. I walked by trees but felt buildings.

I am here now, I am applying for jobs, I am blogging, I am listening to Bob Marley! :)

It occurs to me how long it has been since I have had a job. I mean, I left work in April of 2008 but it feels like years and years ago. Time doesn't fly by anymore. I think that is the first thing I noticed with a job. A month was nothing, a week was a nano-second.

Anyway, I am applying for jobs. I want to work in a busy kitchen. One at a hotel or resort, or Mcdonalds. ;)

I am also blogging. I have decided I want to find out why people get older and so I am going to dedicate my energy to that. And the way to understand it, is to write about it.

Saturday and a trip to the Former Cistercian Monastery Kloster Eberbach

2008-10-19T03:40:00.000-07:00

Saturday starts off with fog coming off the River Main, becuase it was cold over night and it starts getting warm when the sun comes out.

The flee market has one of those fiber glass light thingies, that I rather like.

Oh no, guy looking at me while I take a photo!

Later he looks away like I am not there and nothing happened because that is the unspoken way of things in the city.

The Frankfurt Skyline I can't seem to tire of.

The Family I am staying with was kind enough to drive me into the country today for a visit to the Cistercian Monastery: Kloster Eberbach

We hiked up the hill a ways, and well, this was the view:

View inside the monastery which was built around 1100, you can imagine Monks living in a place like this dormatory style.

A rather striking image of the Virgin Mary.

A statue with no hands, but I think really it is coz people stole things like the hands at various times over the centuries.

A stained glass window, very old, around 1100 or so. It conforms to the law of the time that nothing in the church should have a fixed image or be very colorful...

Some views inside the Cathedral...The whole area of the Cathedral was used in the the film [u]The Rose[/u] mit Sean Connery.

Presses and barrels for making wine...

After touring the Monastary came wine tasting, and after that it was a trip to the IKEA mega mart, as large as SAMS club, and packed with all things Swedish! Like...

Meatballs!

Fish eggs in a tube!

And crisp bread, immer crisp bread!

View from the outside...

And there is Toys R Us!

City Textures

2008-10-17T11:47:00.000-07:00

Textures of a city. Underground, overground, teens hanging out with their skateboards doing tricks, the refined going to the Rolex shop and buying, people walking in and out of the subway, routine or special event?

A photo of the Hauptwache term near Galeria Kaufhof, showing the underground subway, the large shops of the city, and an old cathedral off to the right:

Up at Alte Oper a red carpet event is underway for the opening of a movie exclusive to Hessen:

The photograph-y types work their cameras and the stars stand and smile in the cold air.

Frankfurt Foto Update!

2008-10-14T12:14:00.000-07:00

Jah, das fotos.

Flags at the Alte Oper Platz for the Entrepreneurs of the year, I think each one got a new BMW with a t.v. on the dash or something...

This is palm garten.

So I took a photo of this potato sales person and he then got the idea to give me an apron and then take my photo pretending to sell potatoes... My teacher says the Germans eat potatoes like Italians eat pasta, but it must be a country thing coz it is pretty difficuilt to find potato dishes here in the city.

A more villiage like neighborhood of Bockenheimer Warte, about 15 minutes walk from my West End neighborhood.

Ahh, the Mercedes building macks a big ornament. Go figure.

Und dis ist ein view uber dien River Main. (pronounced "Mine")

Und eine oder view.

It's fall in West-End. (Vest End)

Tall buildings. Aww yeah.

Goethe Platz.

More tall buildings.

Cool old building/restaurant for chronological contrast. Word!

Ahh the building they are building at Oper Term, nice coz I know I can always walk to it and be back in my neighborhood. No really, I can't tell you how nice it is because ich bin ferlauren oft oft oft.

Stop. Flower time!

Aww yeah, Bockenheimer Warte again...

Und eine otter time.

Fruit market, mit das mangos, persimmons, pineapples, und just about everything else. No Mamey Sapote though. Tsk.

Das kinder und das frucht markt.

Marzipan, look out!

Yeah, so what is it like to be in the big city? It is pretty stimulating actually, there is always something going on. Today the police closed down the streets to make way for the Turkish head of state, and then they have closed the Oper platz for the same reason. The city book fair is also taking off today. There is just a lot around to make you aware of the world. The city is alive, and it is invigorating. I find I appreciate hearing music much more, and when I sit down to do something I really concentrate, because I appreciate the time apart. The city drives me to be more creative, more eccentric, and more focused.

Contrast this to suburbs and well, suburbs feel pretty flat really. It is like music there gets absorbed into the vast hegemony. It has nothing to bounce off of, nothing to give it shape. Suburbs are a comfortable environment. They are where you go to check that the castle you built is still functioning and the new garden fountain is still running.

In some ways I think one could concentrate more in a suburb, and a big part of all this is just that a big city is rather new to me. The surrogate mother I am staying with spends a lot of time reading and doesn’t seem to enter the city for its own sake. I guess she knows it too well, and even interesting events can become predictable and mundane over time. At that point, it would be nice to have a garden, and neighbors running around outside. In some sense, every place is what you make it.

Still, I grow more and more comfortable in the city. The stores and cafes take on a familiarity, and it is nice to be comfortable in something that is a living organism. People watching, event watching, window shopping… All these things become a part of the background, a kind of dynamic canvas for life to paint images.

Die Dame

2008-10-12T12:18:00.001-07:00

Playing chess along the River Main on a Sunday:

There is language in life, the everyday words we think in and try to express our ideas to one another with. Then there are things which reveal aspects of our personality beyond language. Things like music, art, style, and taste. Chess is also one of these things.

Chess tells you a person’s world view and intelligence in a matter of moves, things like:
1. What is the best first move?
2. Do you value your pawns?
3. What is a worthy sacrifice?
4. Fight for position or for some scheme?
5. Play with reckless flair or conservative defense?
6. Have an overall plan and strategy?
7. Take as much time and care in the beginning as in the end?
8. Have a mission and philosophy to guide you from start to finish?
9. Are you just making a move because it feels right? Or because it looks right to your peers?

There are people you could ask these questions to in language and not get anything close to the answers you would expect. Yet the varying levels and consequences of these points and thoughts become conspicuously apparent in chess. It is interesting to see how people react to the game, and to know that you yourself are somewhere on a line with it, and to know that sophistication is limitless.

Saturday Flohmarkt

2008-10-11T05:28:00.000-07:00

Today marks a Saturday in Frankfurt and so I thought I would do a post about a typical day. I have made a trip to the zoo and to the botanical/greenhouse garden with some friends from the school, but those both seem too typical to blog about. You know?

So anyway, here is my room in Frankfurt:

The building I live in is over 100 years old, with tremendously high ceilings, and is located on Underlindau in the glamorous, Mercedes filled, West-End.

This Saturday morning was cloudy and set in with fog. In my 14 days here thus far, there have only been two mornings this foggy.

On Saturdays there is a large Flea Market (Flohmarkt) by the River Main where you can get a fresh made waffle with cherries, and a coffee for 3 Euro:

It is nice to know it was made by an outsized German lady into the pastries, but in all honestly, hardly anyone here in the city is outsized.

The fluhmarkt then has your typical kitschy imports like NYPD exercise wear, or Dolce and Gabana Underwear.

Then there are the more classic antiques like an old record player or brass embossed frame/cupid etc...

Other finds of note was an awesome ABBA book replete with some of the tackiest costumes and photos you can imagine. It was seriously difficult not to buy it. Someone also had some rather large photos on North Carolina beaches! Crazy. "How did you get these?" I asked. "Ve vent to North Carolina last yih-air, vould you like to bi-eee dem? 20 cents?"

No thanks.

The more I travel, the less differences I see. After all, this was a Saturday flea market not unlike the one I consistently don't go to in Raleigh. It still had old crap for sale on the cheap, or not-so-cheap-as-it-should-be. And it also had the fatty confections and concessions. The only differences were the prominence of German, Arabic, and Spanish languages, and the fact that beer was being sold at 9a.m. and most people were buying and drinking it. (Just like in Belize!)

I guess the other difference is that it was nearby, and in a more romantic atmosphere, but that could just be because I am new here. Really, the amount and kind of people one is with shapes a place more than anything in my opinion. Going around Frankfurt on my own is very different then going around with Japanese, Finnish, or Mexican people. Each one tends to impart their own reactions that actually changes the perception of the city. Even in my home town of Cary, there is a difference between shopping alone, and going shopping with someone. If you are with someone who has an empty mind and bad taste, every aspect of the place you are in will be annoying. At the same time, if you are with someone artistic, you might be led to see things you otherwise have overlooked again and again. The same is true with yourself. How much you know about the history, the geology, the future, etc...of a place, all the more you will appreciate it.

There is no end to how much you can appreciate a certain place, or the combinations of people you can be with in a particular place, and I get into debates as to the worth of spending time in appreciating the physical world against spending time studying and discovering the world of information and logic. Unraveling the mysteries as it were. The answer is to invest some time in both, but it will take some time to get the ratios right, I think I am just going to study as much as I can till I need a break, and then go out and try to see something new in the world.

Back to School

2008-10-10T13:25:00.000-07:00

I am enrolled in a language school here in Frankfurt, and it is different being back in a formal class setting after a break of 5 years. Now I see the class only in terms of what I want to learn, and the teacher as more of a partner than an authority.

There are plenty of times where the teacher will be talking and boredom sets in. There is also the general fatigue of sitting in the same place for an hour and half and being obliged to pay attention to a static subject. It is kind of unnatural.

In my view, the most productive thing that can happen in such moments is to try create subsequent unexpected lessons. There is a Japanese girl in my class who is meticulous, tidy, and driven. She never leans back in her chair. NEVER! All the other students take moments, often whole minutes, to sit back and lean in their chair. Try to keep a straight posture for 90 minutes and see how you do, don't mind the light burning pain in your spine. I found sitting up straight helps reduce daydreaming, and keeps you focused on the class. Amazing! Just amazing! What other lessons are in the periphery?

Ich bin ein Frankfurter

2008-10-05T03:02:00.000-07:00

It was difficult not to compare flying in to Frankfurt with flying in to Belize. The landscape below revealed misty mountains in contrast to the aqua blue waters of the Caribbean.

It was nice to see the Frankfurt Airport again though, replete with a bounty of Lufthansa jet planes:

When arriving at the airport there is a notable presence of U.S. military. Most of them look like civilians, but it is their chatter about where they are going to get deployed "Afghanistan or Iraq?" and the occasional camouflage bag which tips you off. It is difficult to ignore the military force here in general. Flying in to Germany it is hard not to think of WWII movies. On the plane I imagined what it would be like to be on a plane and have to parachute down into Germany to fight a war. I don't know how all those soldiers found the courage. It is amazing!

The people in the military that I met were kind, cheerful, and friendly. They had a business as usual attitude about arriving, and helped me get on the right train into Frankfurt:

After getting slightly lost in the subway, and having two Germans ask me in German which was the right subway line for them I finally found my feet and my stop, and exited at Alte Oper, home to a restored opera house which is at the heart of my neighborhood here in Frankfurt:

Once settled I turned back around to explore the city on a Sunday. Most shops are closed on Sundays in Frankfurt, but there is still plenty of life on the streets. People out with family for a walk, or meeting friends to take some drinks...
I found the Frankfurt Stock Exchange:

Then listened to a marching band at the central square:

Then checked out the fire department fundraiser which they need in order to pay for their Mercedes Fire Trucks.

Then went along the walkway by the river main:

Then got a beer along the river and gave a toast to this great and social city, a big city with a little city charm, it felt to me.

Ich bin ein Frankfurter!

International Transit

2008-10-02T10:54:00.000-07:00

Post for Saturday, September 27, 2008

International transit areas are designed to drown out noise, and lessen the effect of large crowds, you feel small and insignificant being in one. Filled with commissions from local artists, over-priced eateries, and viewing windows, one can only do so much before all options are exhausted.

Sit around and try to guess everyone’s culture by their clothing, hairstyle, facial features, accent, or make up. Try to cling to some kind of purpose and you find that life has put you in a situation were you have an absence of purpose, all you have is patience and expectation.

I saw some airport employees out in the airplane parking lot and envied them. I envied their camaraderie, their carefree manner, the way that waiting and expectation seemed not to bother them, part because of being in company, but mainly because they had sold away a portion of time in their life to someone or something else. Whatever they were doing, whether it be active, or a matter of killing time, it was on someone else’s time, it was someone else’s responsibility. They didn't really have to worry what was coming next, it had been planned and it didn't cost them anything. Sitting around and waiting was just a matter of course, a matter of obligation, and there was no need to question it.

I took a walk, I strolled the large halls and looked at the city commissioned art. I basked in the freedom of being able to do so, and then I remembered why I was where I was, and I was happy.

Next Trip: Frankfurt, Germany

2008-09-20T09:29:00.000-07:00

In about a week I will be heading off to Frankfurt for 4 weeks to learn some German and get to know the city. I will be staying with a family there, a single Mom of two college kids.

Next trip: Maine

2008-07-11T07:30:00.000-07:00

I will be flying off to Maine tomorrow to spend some time in Portland and then on to Bar Harbor. While I am there I will probably spend a lot of time blogging here on a website I have been working very hard to create. The website is a catalog of fruits and vegetables, nutrition facts, and health information. You can check it out if you want:

http://www.healthaliciousness.com

There is also a nutrition facts comparison tool, have a look if you like:

http://www.healthaliciousness.com/nutritionfacts/

Go the the "drinks" category, and compare beer, wine, and whiskey. I think you will be surprised....if you drink such stuff of course. :p

I find I have a real passion for produce, fruits, and vegetables. Usually when I travel I go in search of these things, to me, they are what define a place. I have been batting an idea in the back of my mind to drive down the east coast and work at different farms along the way till I get to Florida. After that my Mom mentioned that she might go to Lebanon at the end of September and I would love to start in at England and travel down to meet her there, and maybe push on to the Emirates, sail down to India, and push on to East Asia until December...

The Update

2008-06-26T12:49:00.000-07:00

I spend my time now divided between Cary and the mountains:

Usually when I am in the mountains, walking around, my thoughts are something along the lines of: "This is nice" or "Life is good" and there honestly isn't much more than just plain contentment. Sometimes I get thoughts like "maybe I should go back to playing violin in an orchestra" or "maybe I should travel the east coast and visit different farms" but there isn't much of those self-improvement type thoughts, and I think a big part of that is that I am content with the person I am, what I am currently doing, and what my goals and plans are in the world. It is a good feeling.

There are two cherry trees in the mountains and I spent a lot of time picking, processing, and well, eating cherries...

The interesting thing was that as soon as you thought you had really cleared out the tree, you would look around and there would be more cherries...lots and lots more cherries.

Lots. OK?

It is a good thing having a cherry tree, picking cherries, and then eating them. There are no regulations attached, no security codes or badges, no taxes, no chemicals, no responsibility, and there is plenty, so much that you are happy to share. It is what I would call an organic experience, it beckons to what it means to be human.

San Ignacio

2008-05-29T13:32:00.001-07:00

The local Hi-Et Hotel

No one I talked to had eaten at the delicious seafood restaurant. And not just because it looks so deadly...

I feel like I could have lived here for the rest of my life.

San Ignacio is a friendly little place with a large fresh fruit market, numerous pubs and eateries, and friendly people. It has its charms, people sit on their verandas and watch the world go by, people drink beer at 7 a.m. for breakfast, go and sit at a table with a chess set for 5 minutes and someone will come by for a game. Everything is a two minute walk away. There are no lines in grocery stores, just one long counter where the price of your items are tallied and everyone looks for change at the same time. There is a lot that is good, in other words.

At the same time it is not without its annoyances , walk two steps outside and you hear: "Taxi?" "Taxi?" "Need a cab?" "Hey buddy, where are you going?" "Taxi?"

I have never seen a place so flooded with taxis. They need to go to Barcelona, over there people wait in long lines for a cab. I saw actual fist fights break out over cabs in Barcelona...but that is the way it is with the world, isn't it?

Another nuisance of San Ignacio is the general listlessness and sketchiness of certain people. There are those who drag themselves into conversations just to end up asking for a dollar. Bums hang out by food vendors wanting to pressure you for a bite. All this can be avoided with practice, but it is startling at first.

Time really is the main thing to settling into a place or lifestyle. My first 10 days traveling were tough. I couldn't concentrate on music or books. I spent a lot of time comparing costs of goods and coping with new possessions and routines. But with that done, I feel like I could have pressed on and traveled for a long time. I started listening to music again, I felt like I could start to write a book...it just took some time to adjust.

Still, I am glad I am home now. I know there is a lot to do here, and I won't be bored. I did a lot during my time in Belize:

Climbed Mayan ruins
Sailed the Caribbean
Swam with sharks
Hung out at pubs till the late hours
Made my way through small water-filled passages of a cave

I think more important than those things though were the little things I encountered:

I saw tour guides give a beer to fishermen who had been out all day
I bumped into people and had a coffee with them
I peeled a coconut on the beach
People were kind to me, paying for my cab, giving me water, giving me fruit samples
I talked with store keepers about their troubles and debts
I saw Lebanese T.V. in grocery stores

I can't think of any more right now, but there were a lot of nice little moments of kindness and civility that always made my trip.

At the time I felt like I could have pressed on, rode a bus into Guatemala, and then to Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama...really though, I didn't have much of the heart or gusto to see all that just now...there will always be another day, and more adventures waiting for me...

Cahal Pech

2008-05-23T10:37:00.000-07:00

Cahal Pech is located at the top of a mountain just 20 walking minutes from San Ignacio, yesterday I decided to go up to the park:

As I was not in a tour yesterday I got a chance to compare the difference between tour travel and solo travel. In general, going to a site solo is more peaceful and the meaning is all different. You are not seeing things and hearing a theoretical story. All the ruins are there as they are, and their meaning is what it is for the present time. Old ruins that once belonged to some civilization. Also, going solo means you can take tons of time. I climbed to the top of the tallest ruins and had a rest under the shade of a tree there. After that I ate my lunch which I had packed while taking in the view.

Actun Tunichil Muknal

2008-05-22T08:05:00.000-07:00

Actun Tunichil Muknal is a giant cave system that was sacred to the ancient Mayans. To get there we had to drive across rural farmland once thought to be inhabited by 10,000 Mayans around 800-900 A.D.

From there we had about a 1-2 mile hike through streams in the jungle. Along the way we saw a rubber tree, and a tree infested with termites. The termites are high in protein and a good survival resource if ever caught in the woods alone. We got to taste them and they taste remarkably, amazingly, like carrots...with a hint of mint.

In the jungle:

From the jungle we got to swim into the cave system. The water was rather cold, though not terrible. Inside the cave we had to negotiate extremely small and confined passage ways in water that was chest deep if not deeper. I began to find out that I am a bit claustrophobic.

The cave was amazing and full of crystal made mostly of calcium, but some copper and iron also. The full effect of the cave was to make you feel the magic and pulse of life again. Seeing walls covered in calcium really brought home what an amazing miracle life is. How every element comes together to create every different type and form of life on the earth.

Inside the cave were many Mayan artifacts. Mostly pots, but also some stones for grinding corn. Due to lack of rain and therefore lack of crops and food the Mayan civilization began to go into decline. Only elite leaders were allowed into the caves where they mutilated and bleed themselves. The elite Mayans in the cave would burn whatever blood they collected, hoping the dark smoke would form dark rain clouds and please the gods. However, as none of this worked, the elites soon turned to sacrificing themselves, leaving behind bones and skulls in the caves:

The national geographic shot:

All this brought home an important message: Any civilization or person which can afford it, will adopt strange and illogical traditions in the hopes that it will make their life richer and better. Kind of like us with the U.S. congress...or something.

The effect of seeing such history does lead to interesting questions though, i.e.: What traditions do I have that are just as misguided and useless, what can I do that will actually look as if it made a difference in 900 years, and if there is nothing, then what is all the point of this effort?

At the guest house where I stay are people who can make enough money in 4-5 months to afford spending the rest of the time traveling. Generally drained and apathetic types, these guys tend to be long stay residents of the town, they potter about town, meet the locals, and perhaps jot down vague impressions for a later day novel. Thus it is that they are slowly whiling away life in a $10/night guest house and doing whatever to fill days...and yet, I can't say it is that much worse than anyone who spends 40 hours a week going to any job just to pay the bills. What is the net cost, what is the net effect on a soul? Is it not also some kind of strange hypnosis by which time can pass and one can stay seemingly unconscious?

I don't want to sound cynical here. I think there are plenty of people that have found work that satisfies and excites them so they are truly productive to the fullest each day. However, I also feel there are plenty more who are just on a treadmill, afraid to take a crack at whatever their passion is in life, and in this case, it doesn't make much difference if you are hanging out in a small Central American town or an office cubical. Like the Mayans who made a sacrifice to burn their blood, taking a job for some "necessity" an easy way out. The idea being that self-sacrifice is always justified and must lead to some greater good. The result is the postponement of the need to take a serious look at ones own life and see where or what exactly is the responsible and sensible thing to do with it.

This has come home to me recently because I will be heading back soon and I am looking forward to it. I am genuinely excited to try be an entrepreneur, to start and work new and different jobs where I can test my current skills and learn new ones. Most people I meet seem to want to keep traveling forever, the alternative of home is a dull and painful one. In this case, I feel a sharp contrast. As good as all the adventure of this trip has been, I am ready, even excited to get back, and to get started.

I think there is a lot that has been learned about the world we live in, and a lot more which can be learned. I feel like there is some duty for everyone to fill in which they increase the learning and knowledge of the world. As they progress consciously and actively, they create a new form and identity. An identity of complexity that cannot be broken apart or studied, one without origin or end.
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"Whatever his antecedents, he was something wholly other than their sum, nor was there system by which to divide him back into his origins for he would not go. Whoever would seek out his history through what unraveling of loins and ledgerbooks must stand at last darkened and dumb at the shore of a void without terminus or origin and whatever science he might bring to bear upon the dusty primal matter blowing down out of the millennia will discover no trace of ultimate atavistic egg by which to reckon his commencing."Cormack McCarthy - Blood Meridian

"The man who believes that the secrets of this world are forever hidden lives in mystery and fear. Superstition will drag him down. The rain will erode the deeds of his life. But that man who sets himself the task of singling out the thread of order from the tapestry will by the decision alone have taken charge of the world and it is only by such taking charge that he will effect a way to dictate the terms of his own fate." Cormack McCarthy - Blood Meridian

Sailing Ships

2008-05-20T15:02:00.000-07:00

I left San Pedro and found myself in Caye Caulker about an hour later. A laid back beach town Caulker is nice, but as I had took a day trip there before I found myself wanting to push on to the mainland. I was thinking of heading on, but then saw a sign for a 3 day sailing and camping trip going out the next day, so by the magic that is impulse, I decided to take the trip and stay the night on Caulker.

The sailing trip was very nice, 3 British students studying to be doctors, 10 Harvard Law students about to graduate, 3 Caribbean Garifuna guides, and a sprinkle of solo travelers like myself, made the mix for the journey south along the coast of Belize, from Caye Caulker to Placencia.

The trip consisted of sailing clear blue waters with occasional stops to snorkel and see tropical fish. The first night we stopped off at an impossibly small island (pictures later) pitched tents and had a camp fire. The next night was at Tobacco Caye, which was a little bigger, and at least inhabited by other people. 3 hotels, two restaurants, two bars, and a handful of houses, gave the place an air of civilization. Still, we pitched tents and camped again. One of the bars had live music in the form of 3 drummers. Perfect for dancing.

The trip had an interesting dynamic. The Harvard Law students all had their impending graduation in mind, and their new jobs to start. It was a sharp contrast of my recent departure from the formal working world, and it seemed odd to hear their worries and concerns about their jobs ahead. We were the same age and yet in completely different worlds.

I spent a lot of time working on the ship. I washed dishes, got to cook a meal once, dropped and raised the anchor (that means hauling up a very heavy chain), and even got to sail the boat. I am not sure, but I feel that this helped me get more of a connection with the crew. The best way to understand someone is to try do their job and see the work that weaves the center of their reality. If I am going to make a connection with the Caribbean Garifuna culture, I feel like that is the closest I will get. I think the trip to them seemed odd. Us tourists paying money to be taken down a coast line they knew with their eyes closed. Kind of like tourists paying me to drive them 200 miles along I-40 East, or something... In any case they were very nice. Towards the end of the trip we traded photos of our family and I am very proud to say, they gave me a crew t-shirt!

After the trip, I stayed the night in Placencia with my new British friends. In the morning we took the bus inland, and parted ways at San Ignacio were I am typing this now. They continued on to the border and into the Guatemala...

So far, San Ignacio is very nice. A mountain town, full of fruit stands, and a much lower cost of living than the islands. It feels like a breath of fresh air, it feels more like reality. I like it very much.

Around Ambergris

2008-05-16T05:33:00.000-07:00

Last day on Ambergris Caye

Today I left Ambergris Caye so here are a few scenes from the place:

Dennis, the woodcarver. "Sit down, you ain't got no place to go"

The school. Note the cart with the parasol nearby the fence to sell candy to the kids.

One the whole, Ambergris is a charming place. I can see how people end up moving or retiring here. Downstairs from where I stayed is a bar. Most of the 'locals' (i.e. people who have moved to the caye) hang out at that bar. I went down to meet them one night. They are a mix of British/Canadian/American people. Charming, cheerful, gregarious, and friendly, it was good to meet them all. The bar was outfitted with a bell at the corner. Whenever someone would ring it, they would buy shots of Jaeger for everyone in the bar.

The bar is owned by an English gentleman who by the end of the night was singing along to Beetle songs in the back corner. Joining him was a Scotish gentleman who was rallying fans for a big Glasgow soccer match. "THARTY SIX YARRS OF HISTREEY" he bellowed, adding weight to the impending match. Click for photos and coverage from the night at the bar

The really nice thing is that you run into these people, and other people you meet, quite often on the caye. The place only has three main streets: front, back, and middle. It becomes almost like a Northern Exposure, or MASH episode or something. Interest is built simply by coincidence. "Oh, I just bumped into so and so" or "there goes such and such, must be on his way to so and so's." It is very nice and certainly a feature missing from Cary. There you are lucky to bump into anyone you know maybe once a year.
The small town effect doesn't just create interest, but it creates a kind of charm. You can just bump into someone, and then decide to join them for coffee. This happened to me today when I bumped into Laurie, a full time blogger for the caye. (see her blog) I always think a good lithmus for a place being a nice place to live is the ability to bump into someone and then have a coffee with them at a sheik outdoor place. In that regard, Ambergris passes the test.

As I am leaving I want to talk a little about how it was coming to this place and how it was those first few days backpacking alone. For one thing, I was pretty home sick (still am), I missed the comfort of home, I missed my usual activities and routines...but on the other hand, each day the caye grew on me more and more. Now that I am leaving, I find that I will really miss it. I will miss the new routines and activities I have for myself here. Strange how people are like that, eh?

I kind of feel torn, like I should stay on, even if just for a week. It will let me get to know the place more, I could have time to volunteer at the school...but, that would be the easier way out...right now, more adventure awaits...or if it doesn't, then I can always return! :)

Snorkeling with the Sharks

2008-05-15T19:24:00.001-07:00

I went snorkeling today, and met Sue, an experienced diver who agreed to protect me from all that could go wrong on a snorkel expedition, and I must say, she did watch my back, and she stuck her head up from time to time to make sure I was OK. Most kind.

Belize has 174 miles of coastline all of which has a barrier reef that is part of the second largest coral reef system in the world (behind Australia's Great Barrier Reef). We started by pulling up to a line of buoys:

OK everyone, lets get ready to snorkel!

No, really, get your flippers on!

At this point both the guide and Sue immediately say "Oh, they won't bother you." And in fairness, they were right. The guide even caught one in his arms for us to touch:

Nurse sharks feel like they have scales, almost like a snake. The guide said they feel like sandpaper, and I would agree with that too. In any case they have rough skin. I have no idea what their teeth feel like, and I will gladly leave that a mystery for the remainder of my life.

In the water we also got to touch some sting rays that did not have any stingers. They feel very soft, and almost slimy. The guide was practically hugging one in the water and had his hand in it's mouth. He had a kind of slow feeding tube to keep the fish around.

Going through the reef was cool too. Snorkeling is a nice experience. First you are afraid to get in the water, but once you are in, you are taken over by distraction. It is another world down there with so many cool schools of fish to see. Plus bigger fish like barracuda. We got to see and follow 4 sea turtles for a while which was just great. For the most part, snorkeling is like all the nature programs, but "more real", and you tend to notice more. As you drift about you go from shallow to deep waters, sometimes abruptly. At one point we approached a steep cliff that was lined with coral. It is the closest I think I will get to the feeling of flying.

When you snorkel, there is always a current on you, and when you go from shallow to deep the temperature can really change abruptly. Our guide would often take dips down to the bottom floor. We even came upon a small cave and he swam right in. I tried to follow, but let me say this: stick your head down 4-5 feet under the ocean and you will feel sharp pain in your ears. Very sharp. Sue and the guide said I should hold my nose and blow air out my ears, but the thought was too upsetting. If I am going to lose hot air, it is going to be when I am talking, thank you very much!

Lamanai

2008-05-15T05:14:00.000-07:00

Laminai is an ancient Mayan ruin which is only partly excavated. Built around 3000 a.d. the Laminai site was never abandoned and had Mayan Indians living on it till 1981 when the Belize government turned the ruins into a park, and by the magic of law, what was once peoples homes now became a tourist attraction.

The pyramids, or temples, were often built by leaders as monuments to themselves. Thus, most of them are not hollow, have no rooms, and serve no purpose other than to represent a ruler's greatness in history. And they do that well.

Climbing to the top!

At the top!

On the way back from the ruins we went through the villiage of Bomba. Bomba was a run down sort of place where one out of every two buildings was falling apart neglected. I asked Oliver, a nice chap from London, to snap a photo of me next to this tire which had fallen over by the river. We thought it would be good to do a "Tires of the World series" Not a bad idea. Collections really are funny things. They tend to give people a sense of purpose and accomplishment. I.E., look at all the stamps, coins, cards, games, marbles, cars, money I have collected! I am being productive...etc...to be fair, it is hard to argue with this, collecting various things isn't a bad thing to do in life. Especially if it can pay off later, like with money. But it does seem disheartening that so much of a sense of accomplishment does weight in on having a mission like this.

Lately I have also been debating types of travel. Is it better to stay in one place for at least 2 weeks and get a grip on things. Thus, you only see one city, but you get to know it properly. Or to bus your way through a country in 2-3 days, "seeing" everything, but not really "knowing" it? I guess it depends largely on where you are, and what you want to do. In life, there is never enough time for all the combinations.

micky mouse

2008-05-13T12:41:00.000-07:00

Travelling alone with frugal habits is a grinding experience. You tend not to buy into things. Imagine setting out to Disneyland for and indefinite period of time just to try gain an appreciation of the place. When people ask you how long you are staying, you say "Oh, I don't know... a month maybe", "Oh, you're lucky" they say right away, "but it isn't really Micky Mouse", you want to say back, "it is just some guy in a suit."

I don't want to sound bitter, I am just saying this is an aspect of things down here, it is geared for tourists, and I knew that going in...I can say that I have learned two key lessons from the experience:

1. It is easier to buy into the charm of things when you are in a group
2. Having set plans for the day is a big determinate of success and happiness

This second is the most evident. Everyone makes plans and obligations for themselves when no one else decides to impose some on them, and it is a big part of human happiness. I don't know if it is because having tasks and obligations are such a powerful form of distraction, or if people just need structure in their everyday lives. But I do know that having plans makes a good deal of difference.

Thus it is that I am going to go see some Mayan ruins tomorrow, then go snorkel at a coral reef game reserve on Thursday. Then on Friday I have been invited to tour a school where I might go on to volunteer the next week.

Today I went to Caye Caulker, It is a lovely island town, with sandy streets, one central main street, a few grocery shops, restaurants, laundry, and a post office. The rest is hotels and one hostel. It all seems nice, and to me, it seems like it is "set-up" for young backpackers, as those were the people mostly around, other than a few locals and east-asian business owners.

After Caulker I stopped by the library here on San Pedro. It is mostly a library for kids, and it was nice to see them smiling at me as they looked at their books and joked around with each other. Seeing them is an encouragement to go volunteer at the school. I also wish I had brought a few books or magazines, as the library could probably use them.

....

Oh, and before I forget I met a student from UCLA today who is here to save the crocodiles. She was actually inspired by the crocodile hunter and so is now making this her mission before going on the grad school to study crocodile pathology. It was inspiring, and I think the next time I travel, it would be good to have a mission like this, which is in line with life goals...

fish fillet

2008-05-12T20:04:00.000-07:00

Ambergris has a very small town atmosphere. You tend to see, or bump into the same people again and again...I have met and made friends with a grocery store owner here now. We chat back and forth..."I need to be patient, if I rush, I won't get anything done" he told me today. This is basically "haste makes waste" and well, it is a way of life here I think...

Later in the evening a crowd gathered as someone had caught a big dorado(mahi-mahi), I don't know how much it weighed, but it was one of those fish that was as tall as the guy who caught it when they hung it up. After weighting it they gutted and filleted it right there on the dock. The guts attracted a 2-3 large sting rays and kids gathered to hold guts close to the surf as to draw the sting rays closer. After that they picked up the mud of the surf and made it into balls, which they threw at the rays...

A lady I met told me that I could volunteer at one of the schools here, and possibly the library. I will go check out the library tomorrow and might try the schools later on. To be honest, I don't know if I have the heart for it, but I think I should at least try.

Lists

2008-05-10T20:06:00.000-07:00

Getting airlifted out of your country and finding yourself in a completely different place is usually a shock to the system, and leaving Cary N.C. to arrive in Ambergris Caye, Belize is no exception.

Leaving your environment forces you to realize all the dependencies you had in your home. (i.e. getting shot out into space would suddenly make you realize just how important air is to you). I mention this since I am now going to list all the differences that have come to my attention in my first ~18 hours here:

Tap water is not recommended, which makes drinking water $1.50 a gallon, and I used to complain about Cary water prices...
I also used to complain about no sidewalks in Cary, but the situation is much the same here. Not that big of a deal since most everyone drives golf carts.
People are really, really laid back. Really. I found out that I am a work-a-holic.(if you guys can believe it!) My brain kept on telling me that I needed to be doing something, that I am lazy...though what else would a work-a-holic say?
Electrical outlets, electricity, cell phones, Internets, all this stuff is now scarce. This goes with backpacking and staying in hostels instead of hostels or resorts. You are forced to slow down. Today my mission was to call home and get drinking water. When was the last time that took you most of the afternoon?
Then again, beach is like 30 seconds away from everywhere, so everything has its pluses and minuses...

Tropical fruits, hand-made arepas, watching Lebanese t.v. in Lebanese owned stores... is all in there too...

What to pack?

2008-05-07T18:50:00.000-07:00

(in order of importance)
1. Passport
2. Some U.S. cash and rest to rely on CC card or Debit
3. Large backpack
4. 4 changes of clothes - 1 pant, shorts/t-shirts** / long sleeve shirt / floppy hat (or cap coz I don't think I have a floppy hat)
5. Smaller Day pack
6. Sun screen
7. Some kind of insect repellent
8. Swim suit
9. Towel
10. Pocket knife
11. Snorkel
12. Goggles
13. Thin sheets (blanket maybe)
14. mp3 player (music and audio books)
15. batteries and battery recharger
14. Mag light
15. Wash cloth
16. Rope for hanging wet clothes to dry
17. Zip lock bags and maybe a small tupperware
18. Digital camera
19. Laptop (maybe)
20. Books (various and maybe)

**no tank tops

Let us go then, you and I,

2008-04-23T18:21:00.000-07:00

You have reached the travel blog of Paul House, thank you for your visit.
Trip to Belize: May 10th, 2008

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belize