I'm back now--got home last night, close to midnight.
- Working in sales in China would be awful. The Chinese concept of hospitality far exceeds that of America's, so Chinese salespeople are always taking their customers out to dinner, or out around town, or whatever. Both weekends I was in Asia, I had representatives from my suppliers take me around the cities I was staying in, and not for 2-3 hours, either. It would be tough to not have a life.
- The Chinese idea of hospitality can get pretty old after a while. It's nice to have people look after your every need, but at the same time, I was never able to get any alone time, other than when I was in my hotel room or the bathroom. Between the general lack of privacy and having meetings every day of the week, I got to the point where I was tired all the time by the time I'd been there a few days. I'm still feeling pretty exhausted now.
- Anything goes in Taiwan. ANYTHING. From unusual fashions to crazy haircuts to the scooter phenomenon, Taiwan isn't the most orderly place in the world...but that also makes it a very cool place, too. You just have to make sure you don't get hit by a scooter or car.
- I'm glad I grew up in a place where the value of food is typically determined by how good it tastes, rather than by how difficult it is to obtain, how exotic it is, or how nutritious it is. I ate some downright nasty food, including pig blood, seaweed and abalone. I managed to avoid some even nastier things, like jelly made from seafood parts, but I won't always be this lucky.
- Like Mexico, the sodas in China taste better. Since I don't drink tea, coffee or alcohol, my Chinese colleagues quickly learned to request Sprite for me at every restaurant we visited. It wasn't always available, though. In Chinese areas, restaurants tend to specialize in certain foods/drinks. So, if you go into a teahouse, don't expect to get any soda, bottled water, beer or anything else. Fortunately, they don't care if you bring in stuff from the outside.
- HK is still a really cool place. Being there again was a big thrill for me, even if it was for less than 48 hours. I got plenty of chances to use my Cantonese and eat local food, included a blessed plate of bbq pork over rice with choi sam vegetables (no idea what the English name is), with the ginger/green onion sauce on top. Man, do I miss that stuff.
- Business class rules. Going back to coach for my non-business travel will be a major drag. No wide, reclining seats. No lounge with free food and internet access. No 12342134897565 offers for drinks during the flight.
- The Chinese need for group interaction and decision making is incredibly inefficient. Seriously, do we need to talk for 20 minutes just to say "no"? Do we need to bring 18 people to a meeting when two will do? Do we need to recap every decision five times in the course of a three-hour meeting? China will be a major powerhouse when people learn to think and act independently.
- I have some really cool co-workers in China. It was great to put faces with names of people I've been having conference calls and trading emails with for as many as two years.
- The Chinese need to learn to accept air conditioning. I'm sorry, but keeping every room at 80F just doesn't work for me. It's so uncomfortable for a big white man like me to wear slacks and long-sleeve shirts and sit in meeting rooms at that temperature all day long. When I got back, I hopped on a scale and was expecting to find that I had gained like 10 lbs, but I'd actually gained no weight. I'm sure the lack of A/C was a big contributor to that, as were some other...er...unmentionable problems.
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Thursday, April 30, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
taipei afternoon
I arrived in Taiwan on Thursday night. It's interesting--despite the fact that the people are Chinese, there were some things that I noticed were quite different than mainland China right away. The accent is a lot different than the Chinese spoken on the mainland. Tons of people ride scooters here. The cities don't look very planned, in the sense that there are really old, crappy looking buildings right next to brand new, shiny ones. The people dress better and the women are more put together--makeup, hair and all that. And, it's not as crowded as I was expecting it to be.
Most of my time has been spent working, of course. I went to an LCD panel factory yesterday, which was pretty interesting--the parts I understood, anyway. I had to wear a face mask, head mask, full body suit and rubber boots to go in the factory. They don't make such things breathable, so I was covered in sweat by the end of the 30-minute tour. Yummy.
We had hot pot for dinner last night. If you're not familiar with this, it's where you sit at a table and have a pot of boiling, flavored water (e.g., curry or hot pepper) into which you put meats and vegetables to cook. I hadn't done this since 1999, so I was happy to do it again. I'll post some pictures when I get them from my colleagues.
We walked around a night market after dinner, which was fairly entertaining. There were all sorts of trinkets and strange foods for sale. I would have been up for getting food there instead of in a restaurant, but my American colleague was afraid of getting sick and thus played Officer Buzzkill for the evening.
We had meetings this morning (talk about lame--Saturday meetings suck), and decided to head into downtown Taipei after that. Our first stop was a teppan-style restaurant, which was good times. During the meal, one of my Chinese colleagues asked me what the craziest food I'd ever eaten was, so I proceeded to run through my usual list--pig blood, duck tongue, pig's ear, snake, etc. He wasn't too impressed with my answer, and then proceeded to tell me that when his sister had her baby, the placenta was cooked up and served to him and other people in the family. He claimed he wasn't told what it was until after he ate it, but since he was extolling the virtues of the placenta (i.e., it's really good for you and all that), I'm not so sure I believed him. Talk about disgusting.
We decided to hit Taipei 101 after lunch. 101 used to be the tallest building in the world, and it's still taller than anything in the U.S., which makes it the tallest building I've ever been in.
The area around 101 is quite nice--high-end shops, shopping malls, etc. I was quite surprised to find a long line of people waiting to get into the local Cold Stone. It reminded me of being back in Utah on a Friday night.
It's overcast today, so the views from the top of 101 weren't as great as they otherwise would have been.
There was some interesting art in the observatory at the top of 101. I have no idea what purpose it served, but it made for some interesting photography.
Yours truly with some of my colleagues I'm traveling with:
Most of my time has been spent working, of course. I went to an LCD panel factory yesterday, which was pretty interesting--the parts I understood, anyway. I had to wear a face mask, head mask, full body suit and rubber boots to go in the factory. They don't make such things breathable, so I was covered in sweat by the end of the 30-minute tour. Yummy.
We had hot pot for dinner last night. If you're not familiar with this, it's where you sit at a table and have a pot of boiling, flavored water (e.g., curry or hot pepper) into which you put meats and vegetables to cook. I hadn't done this since 1999, so I was happy to do it again. I'll post some pictures when I get them from my colleagues.
We walked around a night market after dinner, which was fairly entertaining. There were all sorts of trinkets and strange foods for sale. I would have been up for getting food there instead of in a restaurant, but my American colleague was afraid of getting sick and thus played Officer Buzzkill for the evening.
We had meetings this morning (talk about lame--Saturday meetings suck), and decided to head into downtown Taipei after that. Our first stop was a teppan-style restaurant, which was good times. During the meal, one of my Chinese colleagues asked me what the craziest food I'd ever eaten was, so I proceeded to run through my usual list--pig blood, duck tongue, pig's ear, snake, etc. He wasn't too impressed with my answer, and then proceeded to tell me that when his sister had her baby, the placenta was cooked up and served to him and other people in the family. He claimed he wasn't told what it was until after he ate it, but since he was extolling the virtues of the placenta (i.e., it's really good for you and all that), I'm not so sure I believed him. Talk about disgusting.
We decided to hit Taipei 101 after lunch. 101 used to be the tallest building in the world, and it's still taller than anything in the U.S., which makes it the tallest building I've ever been in.
The area around 101 is quite nice--high-end shops, shopping malls, etc. I was quite surprised to find a long line of people waiting to get into the local Cold Stone. It reminded me of being back in Utah on a Friday night.
It's overcast today, so the views from the top of 101 weren't as great as they otherwise would have been.
There was some interesting art in the observatory at the top of 101. I have no idea what purpose it served, but it made for some interesting photography.
Yours truly with some of my colleagues I'm traveling with:
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
fashions i've recently popularized
Farmers' hats like these are popular in Mexico, but somehow the trend hasn't made it to the U.S. That's about to change.
Riding a bike is infinitely more pleasurable when you add an ill-fitting vest and helmet to your ensemble.
Some people like Ferragamo. Others like Jimmy Choo. Personally, I'm a plastic bootie man.
My hair couldn't take another perm, so the last time I needed a change, I opted for an umbrella and a big camera bag on my belt loop instead. The chicks couldn't keep their hands off.
Riding a bike is infinitely more pleasurable when you add an ill-fitting vest and helmet to your ensemble.
Some people like Ferragamo. Others like Jimmy Choo. Personally, I'm a plastic bootie man.
My hair couldn't take another perm, so the last time I needed a change, I opted for an umbrella and a big camera bag on my belt loop instead. The chicks couldn't keep their hands off.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
lo que comen los mexicanos
It wasn't until the day before we came home that we actually bothered to attempt a conversation with other people at the resort. In doing so, we realized that we hadn't spent much time off the reservation, and thus hadn't really had an "authentic" Mexican culinary experience (the resort's food, while great, was definitely targeted at a gringo's palette). We always enjoy sampling the local cuisine wherever we go, so we hurriedly decided to take a taxi into town to search for a good place to eat what the locals eat.
I asked our taxi driver for recommendations, and made it very clear that we wanted to eat authentic Mexican food. I even asked in Spanish in order to convey my desire for authenticity. As such, I was a bit disappointed when we found his two recommendations, as nary a Mexican was to be found anywhere but the kitchen or waiting tables in these establishment--not a good sign when you're looking to go the local route. Even worse, the prices were on par with or higher than what we'd pay for white-man Mexican food in Minnesota, and there's no way any regular Mexican could afford that. So, we decided to go off the beaten path in search of something without tourists. This is what we finally settled on:
Los Portales was a bit of adump hole in the wall. It was not enclosed, and thus had no air conditioning. I don't know that they actually washed the dishes, as each plate was covered with a plastic bag, on top of which the ordered meal was placed. A robust, sweaty woman worked the grill, churning out tacos, tortas and fajitas (believe it or not, they actually eat this stuff). And, much to our delight, there were no tourists in the place, and no one spoke English.
We ordered some flank steak tacos and chicken fajitas, and really enjoyed everything we ate. The food was fresh, the sodas were slammin', and the service was pretty lousy, as is often the case in such eateries. The cherry on top of this joyous experience was watching the locals struggle with trying to figure out the exchange rate so they could accept my American dollars. Good times.
3 tacos + 1 plate of fajitas + 4 bottles of orange soda = 110 pesos (not quite $10)
Average price of a meal at our cab driver's recommended restaurants = 200 pesos
Yeah, I'm glad we did what we did. The food was awesome and obviously very cheap.
After lunch, we walked down the street toward the ocean. I don't think I could ever get tired of looking at the ocean in this part of Mexico:
We had arranged for our cab driver to pick us up later in the afternoon, and had a lot of time to kill after lunch, so we decided to employ one of my old HK tricks and kill time in an American (i.e., air-conditioned) establishment, which in this case was Haagen-Dazs. We ordered a bottle of water and one of their ice cream cone creations, and it ended up being more expensive than our entire lunch at the previous joint (still not as expensive as the $23crime against humanity cone we got in Rome last year, but still...). The ice cream was good, though, even if they had to substitute apples instead of the usual strawberries in our order (apples + ice cream = weird) due to an apparent shortage. Given the price, maybe next time we'll just keep sweating and go get some Mexican popsicles. We probably could have gotten ten for the price of one Haagen-Dazs ice cream atrocity.
I asked our taxi driver for recommendations, and made it very clear that we wanted to eat authentic Mexican food. I even asked in Spanish in order to convey my desire for authenticity. As such, I was a bit disappointed when we found his two recommendations, as nary a Mexican was to be found anywhere but the kitchen or waiting tables in these establishment--not a good sign when you're looking to go the local route. Even worse, the prices were on par with or higher than what we'd pay for white-man Mexican food in Minnesota, and there's no way any regular Mexican could afford that. So, we decided to go off the beaten path in search of something without tourists. This is what we finally settled on:
Los Portales was a bit of a
We ordered some flank steak tacos and chicken fajitas, and really enjoyed everything we ate. The food was fresh, the sodas were slammin', and the service was pretty lousy, as is often the case in such eateries. The cherry on top of this joyous experience was watching the locals struggle with trying to figure out the exchange rate so they could accept my American dollars. Good times.
3 tacos + 1 plate of fajitas + 4 bottles of orange soda = 110 pesos (not quite $10)
Average price of a meal at our cab driver's recommended restaurants = 200 pesos
Yeah, I'm glad we did what we did. The food was awesome and obviously very cheap.
After lunch, we walked down the street toward the ocean. I don't think I could ever get tired of looking at the ocean in this part of Mexico:
We had arranged for our cab driver to pick us up later in the afternoon, and had a lot of time to kill after lunch, so we decided to employ one of my old HK tricks and kill time in an American (i.e., air-conditioned) establishment, which in this case was Haagen-Dazs. We ordered a bottle of water and one of their ice cream cone creations, and it ended up being more expensive than our entire lunch at the previous joint (still not as expensive as the $23
Friday, April 17, 2009
the only way to fly/12 hours in tsim sha tsui
I ended up having to fly coach from Minneapolis to Newark in order to make my Hong Kong connection, but that was OK—I’d rather have been slightly uncomfortable than miss my flight to HK.
The Newark to HK leg was my first opportunity to experience business class, which is even better than first class, based on my couple of experiences with that. The seats almost fully reclined, and had motorized controls for every part of the seat, from leg support to lumbar support. I was offered a drink as soon as I got on board, and was served a multi-course meal not long after take-off. The meal consisted of a duck breast appetizer, a salad, bread, New York strip steak with white and green asparagus, and an ice cream sundae for dessert. Of course, these were just my selections—there were multiple selections available for each course, and the stewardesses frequently asked if I’d like to sample multiple selections. Over the course of the meal, I was asked at least 15 times if I wanted something more to drink or eat. The service really was great. We were later served a breakfast meal just before we landed—kind of strange considering the fact that we were landing at 7:00 in the evening, but I guess the plane was running on New Jersey time.
The flight itself was really interesting. I’ve long known that most Asia flights take a course that goes over Alaska, which seems strange if you’re used to normal maps, but makes sense when you factor in the curvature of the earth. In the case of this flight, however, since we departed from the East Coast, we flew north over the Canadian maritime provinces, then over Greenland and the Arctic Circle, then down through eastern Russia, Mongolia and finally China. The weather was very clear over Canada, Greenland and the Arctic Circle, so I saw some amazing terrain like I’ve never seen before, except on TV—ice fields, snow-covered mountains and plains as far as the eye can see, large cracking sheets of ice over the Arctic Ocean, etc. In many ways, the view from my window was the best part of the flight.
We arrived in HK on time, and I was greeted at the airport by my friend, Venus. I first met Venus in 1997 when I was teaching English classes as a missionary in the Kwun Tong district of HK. We’ve kept in touch ever since that summer, and this was the first time that we’d seen each other since 2000. We stopped first at my hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, and then took a taxi over to the Star Ferry so that I could take some pictures of Victoria Harbour. I’m glad to finally have some decent digital photos of it (I didn’t buy my first digital camera until after my last trip to China, nine years ago), and it was really cool to see again. The island side of HK has one of the coolest skylines of any city in the world.
After we wandered around the ferry pier for a while, we went to dinner at a Shanghai-style vegetarian restaurant. Vegetarian places would normally not be my first choice, but it was actually pretty good and it was good to try something new. I just wish I’d had more of an appetite. Venus ordered a ton of food (she probably thought I still had the voracious appetite of my under-nourished missionary days), but I was jet-lagged and tired. Still, it was fun to go out, have some good food and to talk. My Cantonese is definitely rusty, but about 90% of the conversation was in Cantonese, so it’s still serviceable if a bit child-like.
Hopefully the jet lag will go away soon. I didn’t get back to my hotel until after 11pm, and only slept until 3am. I’m crossing the border into Shenzhen in a few hours, and then have meetings until late afternoon, when I’ll get on another plane to go to the city of Xiamen, in southeastern China. Good times.
And now, some random photos from the streets of Tsim Sha Tsui for Holly (since I doubt the rest of you know what that is):
The Newark to HK leg was my first opportunity to experience business class, which is even better than first class, based on my couple of experiences with that. The seats almost fully reclined, and had motorized controls for every part of the seat, from leg support to lumbar support. I was offered a drink as soon as I got on board, and was served a multi-course meal not long after take-off. The meal consisted of a duck breast appetizer, a salad, bread, New York strip steak with white and green asparagus, and an ice cream sundae for dessert. Of course, these were just my selections—there were multiple selections available for each course, and the stewardesses frequently asked if I’d like to sample multiple selections. Over the course of the meal, I was asked at least 15 times if I wanted something more to drink or eat. The service really was great. We were later served a breakfast meal just before we landed—kind of strange considering the fact that we were landing at 7:00 in the evening, but I guess the plane was running on New Jersey time.
The flight itself was really interesting. I’ve long known that most Asia flights take a course that goes over Alaska, which seems strange if you’re used to normal maps, but makes sense when you factor in the curvature of the earth. In the case of this flight, however, since we departed from the East Coast, we flew north over the Canadian maritime provinces, then over Greenland and the Arctic Circle, then down through eastern Russia, Mongolia and finally China. The weather was very clear over Canada, Greenland and the Arctic Circle, so I saw some amazing terrain like I’ve never seen before, except on TV—ice fields, snow-covered mountains and plains as far as the eye can see, large cracking sheets of ice over the Arctic Ocean, etc. In many ways, the view from my window was the best part of the flight.
We arrived in HK on time, and I was greeted at the airport by my friend, Venus. I first met Venus in 1997 when I was teaching English classes as a missionary in the Kwun Tong district of HK. We’ve kept in touch ever since that summer, and this was the first time that we’d seen each other since 2000. We stopped first at my hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, and then took a taxi over to the Star Ferry so that I could take some pictures of Victoria Harbour. I’m glad to finally have some decent digital photos of it (I didn’t buy my first digital camera until after my last trip to China, nine years ago), and it was really cool to see again. The island side of HK has one of the coolest skylines of any city in the world.
After we wandered around the ferry pier for a while, we went to dinner at a Shanghai-style vegetarian restaurant. Vegetarian places would normally not be my first choice, but it was actually pretty good and it was good to try something new. I just wish I’d had more of an appetite. Venus ordered a ton of food (she probably thought I still had the voracious appetite of my under-nourished missionary days), but I was jet-lagged and tired. Still, it was fun to go out, have some good food and to talk. My Cantonese is definitely rusty, but about 90% of the conversation was in Cantonese, so it’s still serviceable if a bit child-like.
Hopefully the jet lag will go away soon. I didn’t get back to my hotel until after 11pm, and only slept until 3am. I’m crossing the border into Shenzhen in a few hours, and then have meetings until late afternoon, when I’ll get on another plane to go to the city of Xiamen, in southeastern China. Good times.
And now, some random photos from the streets of Tsim Sha Tsui for Holly (since I doubt the rest of you know what that is):
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
playa maroma
Becca and I got home on Monday night. I wish I could say it's nice to be home, but...
I took some more sunrise photos early Monday morning, and then Becca was good enough to come swimming with me around 7:30am. Not a bad way to end our vacation.
Some photos from that morning:
I'm flying to Hong Kong later this morning. I think my total flight time is 19 hours, since I have to fly to Newark first. Joy.
I took some more sunrise photos early Monday morning, and then Becca was good enough to come swimming with me around 7:30am. Not a bad way to end our vacation.
Some photos from that morning:
I'm flying to Hong Kong later this morning. I think my total flight time is 19 hours, since I have to fly to Newark first. Joy.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
deep tissue domination
As part of the little lady's birthday present back in February, I promised her that she could get some spa treatments when we were in Mexico. When I saw the price tag, I didn't really want to keep my promise, but went ahead and let her choose the two treatments she wanted most. I also decided to get a massage myself, since my back hurts quite a bit from all the sitting I do in uncomfortable chairs at work. It gets so bad that I can feel the knots in my back, and thus figured that a deep tissue massage would be just what my back needed.
I must say, this was one of thegayer more unusual experiences of my life. I was shown to a locker and was instructed to change into the ill-fitting robe and slippers I was given. With the robe only coming half-way down my legs, I'm sure I looked very cute. Once I was done with that, I was told to sit in a dimly lit waiting area until my masseuse was ready for me. This seemed a little weird--there no chairs to sit on, only several beds. There were drinks and snacks, magazines and newspapers to read, and candles all around. There was another guy waiting there, and he seemed just as uncomfortable with the situation as I did. Fortunately, I only had to wait a few minutes.
I was led to a cavern-like area with a shallow pool in the middle. There were several rooms on either side of the pool, and the entrance to each room was covered with drapes, almost like a tent. I was instructed to take off the robe and lay on the massage table, where I was covered with thin sheets, which were used to cover the parts of my body that weren't being worked on at any given time. Yeah, just a tad uncomfortable. The slow gurgle of the water in the pool, the dim light and the new age elevator music in the background made for a relaxing atmosphere, but man, did this Mexican woman have her way with me. I figured that "deep tissue" meant that I'd get rubbed pretty hard, but I didn't think it meant that she'd push her elbows super-hard into my back or pull on my neck the way she did--a day and a half later, it's still sore. She pulled on my fingers, arms and legs until they cracked. Despite all this, I had to stifle the giggles at various points during the experience, especially at the end, when she signaled the completion of my massage by walking around the bed with a triangle and ringing it. I don't know if this is a ritual in some country like Tibet or what, but come on...could we be any cheesier?
Ultimately, it was a good experience and I'm glad I did it (well, not price-wise, but it's only in China that I've gotten bargain massages), but it was really odd...and not exactly masculine. It wasn't any wonder that every guy that I saw in there looked like he was embarrassed to be seen in there. I'm sure I had the same look on my face.
I must say, this was one of the
I was led to a cavern-like area with a shallow pool in the middle. There were several rooms on either side of the pool, and the entrance to each room was covered with drapes, almost like a tent. I was instructed to take off the robe and lay on the massage table, where I was covered with thin sheets, which were used to cover the parts of my body that weren't being worked on at any given time. Yeah, just a tad uncomfortable. The slow gurgle of the water in the pool, the dim light and the new age elevator music in the background made for a relaxing atmosphere, but man, did this Mexican woman have her way with me. I figured that "deep tissue" meant that I'd get rubbed pretty hard, but I didn't think it meant that she'd push her elbows super-hard into my back or pull on my neck the way she did--a day and a half later, it's still sore. She pulled on my fingers, arms and legs until they cracked. Despite all this, I had to stifle the giggles at various points during the experience, especially at the end, when she signaled the completion of my massage by walking around the bed with a triangle and ringing it. I don't know if this is a ritual in some country like Tibet or what, but come on...could we be any cheesier?
Ultimately, it was a good experience and I'm glad I did it (well, not price-wise, but it's only in China that I've gotten bargain massages), but it was really odd...and not exactly masculine. It wasn't any wonder that every guy that I saw in there looked like he was embarrassed to be seen in there. I'm sure I had the same look on my face.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
barbecue at chichen itza
One of the highlights of this Mexico vacation will forever be our visit to Chichen Itza, the once great center of Mayan civilization and culture. We got on a bus early yesterday morning and spent the next three hours or so on the road, picking up other tourists and making our way to the site.
The entrance to Chichen Itza was chaos--tourists everywhere, locals selling clothing and trinkets, tour guides yelling to their groups, and so on. Things were much quieter once we got past the gate, though. This is what greeted us once we got inside:
El Castillo, or the Temple of Kukulcan (Quetzalcoatl) dominated the portion of Chichen Itza that we were able to see. The temple's size isn't the most impressive thing about it, though. It was constructed according to astronomical observations, and is thus full of symbolism: four sides representing each of the seasons, 91 steps per side representing each day of the season (4 x 91 = 364 days per year--quite accurate for having been constructed 700-1000 years ago), and levels that were constructed to show a serpent's body on the side of the steps on the spring equinox.
People aren't allowed to climb the temple any more, so this is as close as we were able to get:
The Great Ball Court was a place where a game, probably like racquetball, was played. The ball court has interesting acoustical properties. A person whispering on one end of the court can be heard on the other side of the court. A noise made by a player in the court will echo 7-9 times. All of these things were supposedly done on purpose. Again, impressive for something built so long ago.
I always find carvings and sculptures interesting, regardless of what the site or culture is. Chichen Itza had no shortage of such things. The styles were quite different than the Greek, Roman and Egyptian styles we tend to learn more about in the U.S.
The Temple of the Warriors is another impressive part of Chichen Itza, primarily for the hundreds of columns that surround it.
By the time we'd seen a lot of this stuff, we were pretty miserable. Our resort is right on the beach, so even though it's been really hot (high 80's to low 90's) every day we've been here, it's been breezy enough that it hasn't mattered. Chichen Itza, on the other hand, is more than 100 miles inland. It was hot and humid, and the fact that we both already had sunburns didn't help matters. Not wanting to make matters worse, I wore long sleeves and long pants, and then bought a ridiculous looking cowboy hat from a vendor. I think I would have been sweaty and uncomfortable regardless of what I wore, so I'm glad I went with this completely out-of-place ensemble. Anyway, there was lots of complaining in our tour group, and I heard at least one couple fighting about what to see and what not to see due to the distance (like any city, Chichen Itza is not compact). We decided to see as much as we could in the limited amount of time we were given, though, and I'm glad we did. I always have a lot more fun when I get away from tour groups.
We walked to the Cenote Sagrado ("sacred sinkhole") on one side of the city. Offerings, including human sacrifices, used to be made here. Kind of weird to see a big hole filled with water dozens of meters down.
We took advantage of shade any time we could find it, which was not all that often. Here's Becca taking refuge behind a column in another temple complex we walked to.
We were out of time right after we visited this temple, so we had to head back. I wish we'd had more time, but with the heat, I don't know that we'd have lasted much longer anyway. Whatever the case, Chichen Itza was one of the coolest places we've ever been, and if you're ever in central Mexico, I highly recommend it.
After we were done at Chichen Itza, we were taken to the nearby Ikkil sinkhole for lunch and swimming. Unfortunately, we didn't know that the swimming would be part of our tour, and didn't have swimsuits. Too bad, because the water looked really clear and refreshing.
Lunch left quite a bit to be desired. It was a buffet of items that seemed to be the Mexicans' best approximation of what they think Americans eat when they're in America. I experienced this many times when I was on study abroad in China--you show up at some hotel or cafeteria, and then you're given a pile of fried rice and kung pao chicken. Um, great. I don't know about you, but when I'm in another country, I want to eat what the locals eat...At least, enough to know whether or not I'm willing to eat more of it. Alas, this is one thing in this trip that's definitely been lacking.
It took what seemed like an eternity to get back to our hotel. I slept, watched videos at my iPod, and occasionally looked out the windows at the flat Mexican countryside. We got back to our hotel just in time for a nice sunset, though.
The entrance to Chichen Itza was chaos--tourists everywhere, locals selling clothing and trinkets, tour guides yelling to their groups, and so on. Things were much quieter once we got past the gate, though. This is what greeted us once we got inside:
El Castillo, or the Temple of Kukulcan (Quetzalcoatl) dominated the portion of Chichen Itza that we were able to see. The temple's size isn't the most impressive thing about it, though. It was constructed according to astronomical observations, and is thus full of symbolism: four sides representing each of the seasons, 91 steps per side representing each day of the season (4 x 91 = 364 days per year--quite accurate for having been constructed 700-1000 years ago), and levels that were constructed to show a serpent's body on the side of the steps on the spring equinox.
People aren't allowed to climb the temple any more, so this is as close as we were able to get:
The Great Ball Court was a place where a game, probably like racquetball, was played. The ball court has interesting acoustical properties. A person whispering on one end of the court can be heard on the other side of the court. A noise made by a player in the court will echo 7-9 times. All of these things were supposedly done on purpose. Again, impressive for something built so long ago.
I always find carvings and sculptures interesting, regardless of what the site or culture is. Chichen Itza had no shortage of such things. The styles were quite different than the Greek, Roman and Egyptian styles we tend to learn more about in the U.S.
The Temple of the Warriors is another impressive part of Chichen Itza, primarily for the hundreds of columns that surround it.
By the time we'd seen a lot of this stuff, we were pretty miserable. Our resort is right on the beach, so even though it's been really hot (high 80's to low 90's) every day we've been here, it's been breezy enough that it hasn't mattered. Chichen Itza, on the other hand, is more than 100 miles inland. It was hot and humid, and the fact that we both already had sunburns didn't help matters. Not wanting to make matters worse, I wore long sleeves and long pants, and then bought a ridiculous looking cowboy hat from a vendor. I think I would have been sweaty and uncomfortable regardless of what I wore, so I'm glad I went with this completely out-of-place ensemble. Anyway, there was lots of complaining in our tour group, and I heard at least one couple fighting about what to see and what not to see due to the distance (like any city, Chichen Itza is not compact). We decided to see as much as we could in the limited amount of time we were given, though, and I'm glad we did. I always have a lot more fun when I get away from tour groups.
We walked to the Cenote Sagrado ("sacred sinkhole") on one side of the city. Offerings, including human sacrifices, used to be made here. Kind of weird to see a big hole filled with water dozens of meters down.
We took advantage of shade any time we could find it, which was not all that often. Here's Becca taking refuge behind a column in another temple complex we walked to.
We were out of time right after we visited this temple, so we had to head back. I wish we'd had more time, but with the heat, I don't know that we'd have lasted much longer anyway. Whatever the case, Chichen Itza was one of the coolest places we've ever been, and if you're ever in central Mexico, I highly recommend it.
After we were done at Chichen Itza, we were taken to the nearby Ikkil sinkhole for lunch and swimming. Unfortunately, we didn't know that the swimming would be part of our tour, and didn't have swimsuits. Too bad, because the water looked really clear and refreshing.
Lunch left quite a bit to be desired. It was a buffet of items that seemed to be the Mexicans' best approximation of what they think Americans eat when they're in America. I experienced this many times when I was on study abroad in China--you show up at some hotel or cafeteria, and then you're given a pile of fried rice and kung pao chicken. Um, great. I don't know about you, but when I'm in another country, I want to eat what the locals eat...At least, enough to know whether or not I'm willing to eat more of it. Alas, this is one thing in this trip that's definitely been lacking.
It took what seemed like an eternity to get back to our hotel. I slept, watched videos at my iPod, and occasionally looked out the windows at the flat Mexican countryside. We got back to our hotel just in time for a nice sunset, though.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
american food sucks
When we visited Italy, Greece and Turkey last year, we immediately noticed that the food was a lot better. Not because we love Italian, Greek or Turkish food (we do, but that's beside the point), but because the food was fresher. Vegetables tasted like they didn't come out of a can. Dairy products tasted like they actually came from an animal, not a factory. Meat tasted more natural.
We're noticing the same thing in Mexico, and it even extends to artificial foods and drinks, like soda. The minibar in our room is, like everything else here, included in the price. We get bottles of Sprite and Fanta stocked every day (I go through the stuff like crazy), and they taste way better than their American counterparts. Both taste like they were made with real sugar instead of corn syrup. The Sprite is less carbonated and thus much smoother. The Fanta doesn't taste like I'm ingesting orange-flavored sea water every time I take a sip. We also get orange juice in the minibar, and the story is the same: it actually tastes like real oranges. The kind I've actually eaten.
The same is true for all sorts of other foods we've been eating, from refried beans to steaks. I'm enjoying all the freshness and vibrant, intense flavors. Just one more reason why I am not eager to return home.
We're noticing the same thing in Mexico, and it even extends to artificial foods and drinks, like soda. The minibar in our room is, like everything else here, included in the price. We get bottles of Sprite and Fanta stocked every day (I go through the stuff like crazy), and they taste way better than their American counterparts. Both taste like they were made with real sugar instead of corn syrup. The Sprite is less carbonated and thus much smoother. The Fanta doesn't taste like I'm ingesting orange-flavored sea water every time I take a sip. We also get orange juice in the minibar, and the story is the same: it actually tastes like real oranges. The kind I've actually eaten.
The same is true for all sorts of other foods we've been eating, from refried beans to steaks. I'm enjoying all the freshness and vibrant, intense flavors. Just one more reason why I am not eager to return home.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
mexico at dawn
I woke up around 3:45 this morning, so once I was done working, I decided to walk over to the beach and catch the sunrise. It was beautiful--I couldn't have asked for better weather or conditions for taking pictures. Today is going to be a good day.
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