|
chihwunk
|
read my profile
sign my guestbook
Name: Daniel
Birthday: 1/25/1981
Gender: Male
Interests: cities, jazz, books, maps, local politics, museums, acoustic guitar, npr
Expertise: hanging out at coffee shops, riding public transportation in LA
Occupation: Executive
Industry: Legal
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
11/10/2003
|
|
SubscriptionsSites I Read
|
|
|
|
| Melted PlasticI've eaten crickets, snakes, dogs, frogs, silkworm pupae, and cicadas, but today was my first time eating melted plastic. It happened at school with a turkey sandwich that I had packed for dinner in a plastic container. Because today is Sunday, the cafeteria at school is closed and I couldn't find any paper plates on campus. So I just put the sandwich in the microwave oven on the plastic lid of the container. The sandwich, after two minutes of being nuked, was a little soggy but nonetheless delicious. But after I finished the sandwich, I noticed that there was were two spots where the plastic had melted. When I was eating, there was something stuck to the sandwich and I thought it was just melted-then-hardened cheese. But I think that was actually the plastic...
The plastic container lid that I used (and ate). Dang it... I hope it's not too bad to eat melted plastic...
| | |
| This Thanksgiving, I am Thankful for...
As I park my car and walk towards my apartment, I see one of
my roommates leaving to visit his parents for Thanksgiving. I tell him to have
a safe trip, wish him a Happy Thanksgiving, and go up to my apartment. When I
enter my bathroom to wash my hands and to take a piss, I see that my roommate
had left a nice, small--well, not so small actually--gift for me: a ball of
s&*t stuck in the pipe of the toilet. Given that we don't have a toilet
plunger, I grab a pair of wooden chopsticks, poke through the layers of toilet
paper hovering over the crap like nimbus cloud, and break up the ball into
little pieces. I flush the toilet but see the water rise even higher. I
immediately take a step back from the toilet but when I see that the water
stops short of the brim of the bowl, I wait a little bit for the water to
recede enough for my second attempt. I take the chopsticks again and break up
the little pieces of crap into even little-er pieces. I flush the toilet again,
and this time I am relieved to see the water completely flush along with all its
contents. Thank God for wooden chopsticks. I am just glad that I didn't have to
use my plastic ones. Thanks Roommie, and Happy Thanksgiving to you too, buddy.
P.S. Wow, it's been a while since I even signed on to Xanga. With all the hype and popularity of Facebook, I am not even sure if anyone uses Xanga anymore. Nonetheless, I was inspired to write today and made that short entry above.
Quick Update on Life
Just a quick update on life is that I began law school-- yes, finally. The semester is almost over and the finals are right around the corner. Although I am studying like never before, I always feel like I am not studying enough. But one thing is for sure: I love it in law school (and I say this without a tint of sarcasm). I truly feel that I am doing what I am supposed to be doing right now, and it's a hell of a satisfying feeling.
Update on the Last Entry
The restaurant is named Henley's. It's American-Italian and is located in Buena Park behind Washington Mutual Bank at the intersection of Beach Blvd. and La Palma Ave. Here is a small online review about the place: http://graveyardhaunts.com.We still don't have a website for it; I will probably try to make one over the winter break. Please stay tuned. Meanwhile, come and eat and tell others about it, please.
| | |
| Help: Restaurant Name Needed
Our family is opening a small restaurant and is looking for a name. It's a small place that can serve about 70 people at a time and it will serve American dishes-- sandwiches, burgers, steak, chicken, grilled fish, ribs, wine, beer, some pasta (am I pushing it when I call pasta American?), etc. (for those in Ann Arbor, think of Red Hawk). It's a sit-down place with booths and tables. Price range will be about $10-$25. If you have any suggestions, could you share? Thanks!
| | |
| LONG OVERDUE UPDATE
It's been a crazy long time since I posted and promised to update with pictures from the trip around SE Asia. Dang, that was almost six months ago. Anyways, here are some pictures for you to enjoy.
Vietnam
In July, my mom, who was traveling in Korea, came down to Vietnam to travel with me around SE Asia. Our first destination was Mekong Delta River in the southern part of Vietnam. We are on a little canoe wearing the traditional Vietnamese hats, which men actually don't really wear.
It looks so fake, like that boat ride from Disneyland. Doesn't it?
In the Mekong Delta River area, we had to take a couple of ferries to get from one side of the river to the other. One of the ferries was named after me. Puhaha.
Rice paddy. Because of its year-around warm weather with abundant rain, Vietnam harvests rice three times a year. Vietnam is one of the top rice exporters in the world.
For one night, we stayed in this cottage. The entire trip was $18 per person for a 1-night-2-day trip.
We are in a city called Can Tou (sp?) and we had to take this cyclo pulled by a motorcycle to go to a boat which then took us to the cottage we stayed at.
Big ol' snake trying to choke me. I look like I'm smiling here but I am really pissing in my pants. Actually, not really. Well, maybe really...
A little boy holding onto his mom on a scooter. Do you think this is dangerous? Usually, they don't even use that belt thing that wraps around the kid so that he wouldn't fall off the bike. The mask is to protect him from the smog and the hat from the crazy Vietnamese sunlight.
This is one of my last pictures of Vietnam I took before leaving that country. The view is of downtown Hochiminh City from the highest building in maybe the entire country. From this view, Vietnam looks nothing like a developing country. Dang... I miss that place. Tam biet va hen gap lai, Viet Nam!
Hong Kong
My mom and I have now arrived in Hong Kong, a city that I've been wanting to visit ever since I first learned about it in elementary school. We are sitting inside a double-decker tram.
That's the gorgeous Bank of China building in the background.
A street market.
At a night (street) market. I am sweating like crazy.
College friend Deepak and Me. Deepak and I lived in the same dorm our senior year in college. Deepak is Indian but he was born and raised in Hong Kong. After attending college in the States, he eventually returned to Asia. When I saw him in July, he was visiting his family in HK from his language study program in Beijing.
This ferry takes you to the Hong Kong Island. There are under-the-water subways that take you there too.
A beautiful night skyline of Hong Kong. I absolutely loved that city so much. I can totally see myself possibly living there in the future.
Singapore
And now we are in Singapore. Inside a cab.
My mom with the downtown financial district of Singapore in the background. Let me tell you, traveling just with your mom is not the easiest thing to do in the world. But looking back, I am really glad we got to travel together. It was just too bad that my sister and dad could not travel with us because of their work.
This is college friend Stephen Suryo. He is Chinese-Indonesian who came to the States to attend college. After college and grad school, he got a job in Singapore, just a hop away from Indonesia. He was a great tour guide for us.
Me and Suryo (his last name sort of became his nickname in college) in front of the Merlion, the ultimate icon of Singapore.
I got a little thirsty.
There is this one resort/park area called Santosa that Singapore claims to be the southernmost point of the Asian continent. But if you think about it, Singapore is an island and technically is already outside of the Asian continent. To me, it seemed like a bit stretched claim by Singapore.
I wasn't sure what the risk was of entering this flat lawn. Was it illegal to step on grass? Did I do something that would make me deserve getting beaten with a paddle?
But how criminal can walking on the grass be compared to this kind of outrageous littering that some Singaporeans do? No, Singapore wasn't sparkling clean as I thought it would be, but still, it was one of the cleanest places I had been to. I think this was the only dirty part of the city that I saw.
Sitting at a coffee shop. I hadn't shaved for a while.
In front of the Singapore City Hall.
Mom in front of a statue of Sir Raffles, who I think is one of the founders of the British colony of Singapore. Singapore has a fascinating history of various cultures coming together, becoming a British colony, then becoming independent and joining Malaysia as one of its states, then getting kicked out of Malaysia, becoming a tiny sovereign island nation with no money and no natural resources, and, under the leadership of its unrelenting first prime minister Lee Kwan Yew, becoming one of the richest nations in the world.
Me and my mom in Chinatown of Singapore.
This is Little Arab. Singapore is truly a melting pot of Chinese, Malay, Indian, European, and Middle Eastern heritages.
These are some Singaporean friends my mom and I made during our travel. We actually met those girls in the picture while we were traveling in Mekong Delta in Vietnam. Then we met up with them again in Singapore. They took us to Chinatown for good Chinese food and then we had dessert together at this little but extremely crowded place.
My last night in Singapore was spent with a couple of friends from college-- Suryo and Eddie Tong, who is now a professor at National University of Singapore (the three of us went to the same church in college.) Singapore is famous for amazing food at these outdoor food stall places called hawker center.
We had all kinds of dishes, including sting ray, and I ended my last night in Singapore indulging in the sin of gluttony.
My mom and I parted our ways in Singapore. She went back to Korea and I returned to Vietnam for a one-day layover to head to my last destination, Taiwan.
Taiwan
Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world--for now.
It was a foggy day, so the picture isn't so clear, but here is a view of Taipei, the capital of Taiwan.
This is a Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial. Yes, I have a lot of these pictures that I took of myself with one arm extended to hold the camera.
Here is a guard (he doesn't move at all) inside the memorial getting his coat straightened out by another security guard.
Taiwan has Buddhist temples at almost every intersection. This is one of them.
First night in Taipei. I had to stand in the middle of the intersection to take this picture.
A night market in Taipei.
  
The food at these night markets was extremely delicious and cheap. Of course, I had to try boba in Taiwan, too. It definitely tasted much more genuine than boba from the US (yeah right, like I could tell...)
I stayed in this hostel in Taipei. I spent total $300 for five days of traveling in Taiwan, including food, transportation, housing, and everything else.
After Taipei, I took this sllloooww train down to Tainan, a smaller city in the southern part of Taiwan. When I was little, I was one of those kids in love with trains. So I decided to take the slowest train available with the most number of stops from Taipei to Tainan to enjoy the ride as much as I could.
Looking out the train window at the countryside of Taiwan.
And here I am in Tainan. It's a much smaller city than Taipei but it's the historical capital of Taiwan. The city reminded me a lot of Vietnam; Tainan was like a much cleaner, orderly, developed version of Hochiminh City.
Public transit in Tainan is not as easy to use as the one in Taipei. So I decided to do what the local do and rented a scooter. Unlike Vietnam, you must wear a helmet in Taiwan.
A Taiwanese man on a vintage scooter. I wish I had that here in the States.
This used to be a military fort back in the days in Tainan.
A fish market in Tainan.
Nicely displayed fish heads.
After two days in Tainan, I returned to Taipei. I was walking on the street of Taipei when I saw this man selling these little bread things on the street.
And it was one of the MOST delicious things I had ever eaten in my life.
This is in front of the President's Office in Taiwan. It's sort of like the White House, except the president doesn't live but only works here. Yes, I am trying to look hard... The President's Office was one of the favorite places I visited in Taiwan, a place full of modern political history of the island considered to be a rogue state by mainland China.
And if you happened to be from mainland China, you could not enter the President's Office at all. Dui bu chi, mainlanders.
My last morning in Taiwan before going to the airport to return to the States after 7 months of living and traveling in Asia. I decided to have one more cup of boba before leaving Taiwan. And they even made it to-go.
SO, that's the overview of my awesome traveling in Vietnam, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. I learned so much about their culture, history, and, best of all, people. I will always have fond memories of these places.
It's almost been six months since I returned to the US. Since then, I have studied for the LSAT, taken the LSAT, applied to law schools, started studying Chinese again and begun dating Alice  Right now, I am looking for a job to have until I start law school in the fall.
Well, that was a crazy long update with a lot of pictures. Hope you enjoyed them all!
| | |
| HKA quick hello from HK! I am obsessed with cities and I have a list of
cities around the world that I want to visit. HK is definitely one of
those cities, and I am pretty thrilled to be here. I have many pictures
to share and will share more later once I return to the States but here
is one for now. A typical skyline picture of HK that every tourist
probably takes from a place called The Peak. But what can I say? This
was my favorite place to visit (went back there again during the night
time).
| | |
|
