Archive for June, 2008

Day 76: Air China to USA

Monday, June 30th, 2008

Air China

Tomorrow I’m going back to California for two weeks. I get to fly on the wonderful Air China, which is always an adventure.

Seats can’t be reserved in advance online nor by phone, so I’ll have to check-in at the airport extra early to get a better seat. I hope to get there four hours early.

The two-hour pit stop in Beijing will let me visit Beijing Airport’s new Terminal 3, which opened three months ago. It’s the largest terminal in the world. (I like airports.)

Air China’s economy seats don’t have individual video screens, so I’ll get to enjoy the movies on the projection screen with everyone else, like in a theater.

Best of all, Air China passengers tend to have a distinct sense of conduct you won’t find in many other airlines’ passengers. They’re generally more – how should I put this – lively.

I can’t think of a better airline to spend more than 10 hours on. (Sometimes you have to look on the bright side to maintain sanity.)

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Day 73: Daniel in Shanghai photoessay

Friday, June 27th, 2008

My name is Daniel Kwan, and this is a photoessay of my life in Shanghai.

Shanghai
In April 2008 I moved to the crowded city of Shanghai.


I live in an old building next to a busy airport. It’s noisy sometimes.


I work with a bunch of Asians.

Lunch time
Everyday at work I line up for exotic Chinese food on tin plates.

Teacher
After lunch I teach my coworkers English. Or at least I try.


In my free time I like to sit and think about life.


On weekends I usually visit my woman.

The End.

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Day 64: Changfeng Park advice

Wednesday, June 18th, 2008

By the way, to anyone who decides to take a stroll through Changfeng Park in Putuo District: DO NOT use their public restrooms! OMG the place where you shit is literally a shit hole!

Well okay, a shit trench, which runs through three doorless stalls (yes, others can watch you poop) on each side. It’s like those toilets where you have to squat, but a lot worse because of the way it flushes. Wanna know how it flushes? You do not wanna know how it flushes. Okay I’ll tell you.

Being the adventurous type, I gave the shit ditch a try. (Okay, I really had to take a dump.) So there I was, squatting above the turd gutter and trying to defecate when I heard a rumble. Suddenly water blasted out of the pipe behind me and pushed all the crap forward, right between my legs, to the other end of the trench where I assume there’s a big drain. I didn’t go check.

So if you’re not into getting splashed by excremental particles, but you’re at Changfeng Park and you really have to number two, go to Disc Kart at the southeastern end of the park. They have clean restrooms inside on the second floor by the arcades. (They also have go-karts.) You’re welcome.

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Day 63: Karting again

Tuesday, June 17th, 2008

Went to Disc Kart with Jeanne again this past weekend. Three people flaked, which turned out to be a good thing because I learned that there are only two or three karts that run well. The karts there aren’t maintained to all have the same level of performance.

I drove four sessions this time. The first kart couldn’t really brake. The second one was faster and braked well but kept pulling to the side. Third one had unbelievably slow acceleration and shouldn’t even be on the track. Fourth one was perfect and I finally placed first with it, but it doesn’t mean anything since the karts all perform differently.

And it’s no wonder they’re so messed up. Look at the way people drive there. Straight into the barriers! And in the two hours I was there, I saw two different karts drive onto another kart. Luckily no one was hurt. The track officials just lifted the kart off each time and let them keep driving.

At one point, after a track official helped a kart get unstuck, he nearly got hit by three karts entering a corner at the same time. He had to jump away to avoid getting hit. They didn’t even slow down for him!

I have to admit though, being able to crash into other karts while trying to overtake them is kinda fun. No black flag for being an ass. This is something you’d normally only be able to do in video games like Gran Turismo, but it’s totally allowed at Disc Kart. Just don’t be surprised when someone slams into you in revenge!

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More pics of AMS Venus T5

Friday, June 13th, 2008

Some more photos of the AMS Venus T5 to show the fans and sides and stuff. Go here for my previously posted pics and general review.

AMS Venus T5

AMS Venus T5

AMS Venus T5

I’ve been using this unit for almost three months now, and so far so good.

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Day 57: Brain damage tablets

Wednesday, June 11th, 2008

Nao Can Pian
“OP, it’s time for your medicine!!”

Just a random pic my woman came across while browsing tianya.cn, a popular website in China. The thing the guy’s holding reads “brain damage tablets”. Go to this page if you want to learn the vocabulary in this pic.

By the way, I get the impression that online forums in China play a bigger role in society than online forums in the US. It’s probably because Americans have addictive television shows to watch and pr0n to surf online, so fewer people care about forums. In China, television shows suck big time, and certain web contents get blocked but forums are accessible.

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CCTV has selective memory

Monday, June 9th, 2008

About 70,000 have been confirmed dead as a result of the May 12 Sichuan/Wenchuan earthquake, and according to CCTV (translated at zonaeuropa.com), a candlelit vigil was held on June 4 in Hong Kong to commemorate the victims.

They forgot to mention that Hong Kong has been having that candlelight vigil every year, at the same location, on the same date, for the past 18 years. While the May 12 earthquake was a part of the event, it’s disrespectful of CCTV to distort reality and not even mention what victims the vigil is annually held for. But I suppose that’s to be expected from CCTV.

(Photo: Andrew Ross/Agence France-Presse)

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Day 50: Photos of my place

Wednesday, June 4th, 2008

I should have taken some photos of my place when I first got here, but not much has changed anyway, except I now have a real desk. It looks just like my desk at work. I feel like I live at this desk.
















P.S. – Remember 19 years ago this day.

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Day 47: Go-karting!

Sunday, June 1st, 2008

My new friend Jeanne introduced me and Lisa to Disc Kart in Putuo District yesterday. I had fun. My arms are still a little sore, even though I only drove one session (eight minutes), in which I placed third out of fifteen. If I didn’t fool around and try to drift all the corners, I totally coulda gotten first because the people there can’t drive!

If you wanna see total karting mayhem, this is the place to go. No flags, and apparently no rules. Lots of hilariously horrible drivers. Look at the above photo. Yes, people drove straight into the barriers! It happened a lot. And lots of bumping and ramming, even in the pit. One girl got rammed hard while parking and I swear her head whipped back 90 degrees, but the officials didn’t scold the guy who rammed her or anything! They probably see this all the time.

Anyway it was fun, and the course layout is awesome. Lots of different size turns. There’s no long straightaway, but that’s probably a good thing there considering how people drive. The line was about an hour long, but it was a Saturday afternoon so I hope it’s shorter at other times. I’m definitely looking forward to going again, so anyone in Shanghai who wants to go, hit me up!

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