Lay'ed Out for Dead

Layout class has proven itself a worthy adversary this semester... Every assignment seems to smash together about as many ideas as possible. So if you'd like to make your own layout assignment, just smash together as many verbs, nouns and funny noises as possible. For instance...

San Francisco Cable Car Chinese Takeout/Delivery

or...

Wonky Style Bohemia Artist, who sniffs paint & loves Spam Sandwiches, Room

Next look forward to layouts like Trailer Park Streamliner Hair Salon/collection of Trolls and Snowglobes. I'll let you think I'm kidding for now.

Annnnd.....I'm back!

Sorry, no updates from Vietnam. There was barely a moment to spare between eating and sweating. Anyhow I'm back and sadly school Spring break is over so it is immediately back to work and gettin' educated. Overall the trip was a great learning experience and I saw plenty of things I'd never have gotten to see if not for this trip. However I am happy to be back in the states *hugs own bed & Western style toilet*

Hong Kong, but not for long...

We've touched down in Hong Kong! What a difference from where we've been at for the past couple days! The past few days have been visiting distant relatives, and family friends of my parents throughout parts of China. We were dragged around so much I don't even know where we were at within some points of the trip.

Anywhoo onto to Hong Kong! What a great great place. Its like San Francisco, but a better night life and much cleaner, safer, cheaper, efficient and awesome'er BART system that takes you farther. We are only here for one night before we fly out to Vietnam tomorrow morning so we tried to make the best of it. Street food and bargain hunting for souvenirs and knock off purses was on the agenda! I'll check back in with you all if I have some semblence of Internet connection in Vietnam. Although, China has completely surprised me with how easily Internet access is available no matter where we've been. Kudos I say.

Suzhou & Shanghai

Greetings from the Far East again my friends! This trip is winding down fast and my dogs are achin! I've walked more and eaten more than ever. Things are balancing each other out though, thank goodness. Today I am broadcasting from our hotel room in Shanghai, it is 1:41am I should be asleep because the wake up call is in 5 hours and most of you know what a grump I am when I am woken up or lacking sleep. Anyhow in Suzhou, most well known for their beautiful well educated women and pearls, we took a lovely riverboat tour and learned about the Suzhou temple's history in the city.Here is a lovely scenic spot in the Suzhou temple. Oooooh....

This little guy from the Suzhou pearl plant, he looks good
enough to eat...than wear!

Than off to Shanghai we went where they were known for their silk and oddly enough...their beautiful women... The silk worm factory was pretty awesome. There were giant vats of silk worms getting unraveled like little spools of thread. Than the little silk worm gets ripped out of his cocoon, tumbling into a vat of water and sure death. Like magic!...than he was tossed into the garbage, thus ending the life cycle of a silk worm. Just like how they taught us in science class!

And here are our little silk worm buddies, good enough to
eat....than wear or sleep on.

Throughout the China trip I've been running into this suspicious looking fella. I've been calling him "Toothpaste Boy." Dad has corrected me however and has informed me that he is some sort of sea creature of sorts. I'm still investigating. Until than, I figured I'd make friends.

So here I am returning what appears to be the local Shanghai greeting performed by Toothpaste Boy.

Nanking & Wixu

We are about 5 days into our adventure and I've eaten and seen so much I can barely account for it all. We've seen a small part of the Great Wall and by small I mean itsy bitsy. As we approached the steps we thought "Yes, were gonna walk to the top!" We were done when we hit the second tower. The steps are super uneven and steep. I kept fearing I'd tumble down like a turtle. Upon our return to the hotel we stopped by the infamous Olympic Birds Nest where the opening ceremonies took place. It may seem far away in the photo but infact thats the air pollution in Beijing giving the illusion of warped atmospheric depth.
The next day, we packed our bags and off to Nanking we went. Lots of food, sites and history here as well. The Nanking market was filled with some interesting bites of food. Like Duck blood noodles and fried scorpions, tastey tastey huh? I tried both and I really think I could go the rest of my life without either. Scorpion tasted like a dried shrimp you could find in green mango salad with a punch of curry. Duck blood noodles, I don't even want to recall its flavor. Let's just leave it at that. Also in Nanking I spotted Mimi who appears to have followed me on this trip, cleverly disguising herself by hiding her tail.

Hey ya'll, I'm Cultured!

Greetings from Beijing! After an exhausting travel period of nearly 24 hours we have arrived! Thats 24 hours of nearly inedible airline food. (Ken I suggest you make that for fancy Wednesdi IF you figure out what it is!) Things are going swell so far. The room I share with my sister at the Sheraton is nice, however on first encounter that window shower thing is awkward. To our relief theres an automated screen. 5 star on the creepy meter, but still good.
So far Beijing has been amazing, lots of sites to see. The old relics of buildings seem to pop out from the most unexpected places. Mcdonald's right next to the Emperor's Summer Palace? Yes, Totally normal. In the first day alone we've seen The summer palace, the Forbidden city, the Imperial Gardens, Tienamen Square and the main Military gate. Its like the reader's digest version of history. Along with the fantastic sites include awesome, awesome advertisements and logos. For instance, the favorite I've been seeing around town is on Haier air conditioning units which hang out from every single windowed apartment. Nothing says keep cool like stripping to your underpants with your best mate and sharing an ice cream cone!

More to come!

Selfish Giant

This is Snow & Morty Frost. Two designs from my water coloring class based on characters from Oscar Wilde's short story, The Selfish Giant. This story starts out sweet and loverly much like any other childrens fairytale but eventually takes a busted tire, back country detour straight into the Bible Belt! You should read it yourself, I dont want to ruin it for anyone. IN FACT, it makes a perfect bed time story for your children. Because nothing say's "Sweet Dreams, my Love," quiet like a bleeding Christ child at the end of a story (oops! I've said too much!). Oscar Wilde, you're a silly, silly man. BUT, you did rock that "Snape" hairdoo of yours way before Harry Potter came out. Props to you!

Read on, Pokemon! The Selfish Giant Short Story

CHA CHA CHINA!

Photo Courtesy of Google!

Good Monday to you all! As a first post for March it seems appropriate to share good news, doesn't it? Well, well people for the next couple weeks I will be in Asia! That's right, The BIG C, Big Red, Motherland!!! I'm definitely excited to say the least. The sites, the culture, THE FOOD! Send in your souvenir requests now because I take off soon!

Also I'll try to blog while I'm there. So don't worry, I'll be your eyes!