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May 31st, 2004

07:00 pm - quit pushing the damn button Ok. Here's my first topic. Machines don't really hold any sense of urgency. When you hit an elevator button once, it starts the machine and it starts working, even if it is already in motion with other people. It will keep that memory and, as soon as it's done with it's first job, it'll start back down to you. If you hit it again, or ten more times, it's not going to come any faster. And, what's more, it hasn't forgotten you. I'm sure that I'mtelling this to people who don't need to hear it, because it should be common sense. But the morons who stay in the hotel building I'mm in don't understand this fact. There are four elevators, each servicing different floors, and there are always about 15 people in the waiting room. Every goddamn ime I'm in there, there is some stupid bitch hitting the button every three seconds. I want to punch her in the face, but I really don't want the commies after me this late in the game. STOP pushing the fucking button!!!!! It knows, already. I really hate people. Anyway, today was pretty boring. I bought a bunch of VCDs, and a couple of magazines for the plane ride. The office at the hotel said they'd give me an alarm clock to wake up early, but I don't trust it, so I'm not going to sleep. That will also help me sleep on the plane. This is my last entry from China, because I don't have any more money. I will update on when I get back into Atlanta, which is about 5:30 pm on Tuesday. I am going to be one tired bitch. I didn't sleep at all on the last flight, but I think things will be different this time around. Well, talk to you in the states. Current Mood: cheerful Current Music: The Bee-Gees/ Stayin Alive

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May 30th, 2004

11:02 pm - Fucking hot here It's 11 at night, and it's fucking hotter than Florida in July. Goddammit. I'm never going to Africa. I hate the heat. I'm moving to Sweden. I want to see the pyramids, but that's about it for me and the heat. Dammit. I've gone through three shirts today because they keep smelling reall, really bad, I tried spraying hair spray on this one to make it smell better, and it's working at least so far. I have to find out how to get to the airport express station tomorrow, because I have to be there by 615 in tha mornin, yo. blah. I don't know if cabs start that early here, but I guess they do. I also have to find out if my hotel will knock on my door to wake me up, if not, then I'm spending the night in the airport. And that will suck balls. I've been extremely rude to the tailors and fake rolex salesman. It's kind of fun. Well, I'm going to drink my chocolate shake and go back to the hotel. Later. Current Mood: hot

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04:05 pm - clean Well, I'm back in Hong Kong. The train only took 24-1/2 hours, so as soon as I got there, I got a ride to the hotel and took a shower. I was watching a British TV channel. They watch some weird shit. I watched a kid's show called Rubberdubbers, about this kid's bath toys that come to life when he's not there, and they are always teaching valutable lessons. I guess Barney is fucking weird, too, but this was just lame. I feel sorry for kids these days. I learned all I needed to know from the muppets and He-man. Well, I'm off to a veggie restaurant that I found before I left. I only have two days, so I don't have time to go out to Lama Island to see my friends, which is all good, because I have just enough shit to do here. Later. Current Mood: happy

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May 28th, 2004

04:48 pm - tired I just got back from the Lama Temple and Cunfuscius Temple. They were quite beautiful. The Lama Temple has a 50 meter tall copper statue of Buddha. Fuck it's big. And they don't let you take pictures in the buildings, so I snuck a picture outside one of the side doors, and you can't even see up to his knee in the pic. The Confuscius temple had a shitload of big stones that had thirteen stories carved into them. That was awesome. They had them all in one huge room, and there were about 150 stones. Well, I'm off. It's really hto today, and I feel like I'm going to fall asleep at this computer. Current Mood: tired Current Music: none-I miss music

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12:09 pm - lazy I'm taking it easy today. I was supposed to get up early to go to the Maosaleum, because it's only open from 8:30 to 11:30, but I decided against that. I was suppoed to go with Patrick, the Swedish kid, but I'm sure he got there anyway. I didn't get out of bed until 11, when "housekeeping" started knocking on my door. I just went to McDonald's, got some fries, and in a moment I'm going to the Lama Temple. It's going to be crowded, but it will be nice, nonetheless. I stayed up late last night, and when I got in, around 1, I walked into the bathroom to find a note from my roommates. It was pretty funny, actually. They were acting like my mother, asking me who I thought I was staying out this late, and why didn't I call. Then I get out of the bathroom, and all of a sudden the lights are on and both girls are sitting up in their beds, staring me down. But they couldn't hold a straight face. I am really tired, and don't plan on doing too much tonight. I think Patrick and I are going to go to the bar street tomight. It's kind of like Buckhead. It's pretty funny to sit back and watch people. Well, I'm out. Got shit to do. Current Mood: awake

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May 27th, 2004

04:24 pm - Back in the USSB Well, fuck. Nevermind. We couldn't get on the train. Now I'm stuck in Beijing for two more days. The two girls from South Africa got tickets for the same train, so we went together. It was also nice, because I had some trouble getting there last time. We get to the station, find our train number on the board, and we go wait where it directed us. Then I heard our number being called over the speaker, so we walked up to the gate. As I show her my ticket, she motions for another girl to come over and the girl takes my ticket, motions for me to follow, and darts off running. Fuck. Our bags were heavy, and we had no idea why we were running, dodging and running into people left and right.She takes us back outside, turns left and then we knew how we'd fucked up.....customs. We didn't think of going through customs, because normally you have to check your shit somewhere closer to Hong Kong. Not this one. This was a direct express train, with no stops, so we were supposed to check them in there. There is a big sign in the custom's window that reads in english "late comers are not permitted 20 minutes before departure" Fuck. We have 12 minutes before this bitch leaves. Then the lady takes us to a ticket office, and luckily the ticket lady speaks english. She tells us that we missed the train, and she prints us tickets for the next one, in two days. No one told us to check our bags in, and one of the girls is pissed. The other one was ok, because she had been upset that she hadn't seen the great wall yet. I was fine with it, because I have five days before I leave from Hong Kong, and staying in Beijing saves me money. Taking our bags back to the hotel sucked, and then they told us that they were full already. Fuck again. We ended up getting a double room, and they added a third bed. It's much nicer, actually, than the hostel rooms. The bed is much more comfortable, and the bathroom floor is actually dry. Not bad in all, but I am really tired now from all of that tunning around. Well, more updates tomorrow. Current Mood: content

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09:53 am - Leaving OK, fuckers, I'm getting ready to leave. I went out to that bar street last night, and it was just as lame as it is in ATL. It was amusing seeing all of the little morons trying to look their best, though. Oh well. I'll try to update tomorrow night. See ya. Current Mood: awake

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May 26th, 2004

07:32 pm - Winding down in stride Well, it's official. Ali is a bitch. He just emailed me last night and told me that he's not meeting me at all. Fucker. Now I have to stay in Hong Kong for four days for nothing. I may be in luck, though. There are two girls from South Africa staying in my room, and they are going to Hong Kong on the same train as me. One of them is living on an island there, and I almost had a free place to crash, but her friend is taking up the only available room. Unfortunately, it's too expensive to stay on that island, but they've invited me to hang out, so I will probably take the ferry a few days out there to do just that. There's a beach there, so I'm going to try to even out this farmer's tan. I just emailed all of the shit I bought back to the US, because I am pretty sure they're not going to let me bring my swords on the plane. I also bought my little brothers in Florida some toys, so I sent those as well. I really don't have any room to carry all of that shit anyway. They are playing really shitty music in this cafe. First they started playing really horrible Chinese rap, and now it's back to R&B. Oh well, I have my fanta, and my Toblerone, so I'm happy.I don't go back to work until June 4th, and I get back on the 1st, so I at least have a couple of days to rest. And as soon as I get off work on Friday, I'm driving to Birmingham to see my best friend Ana, and her mom and I are going to make fun of her, like we always do. I just got back from the Wangfujing street market. That place fucking rocks. On a side street, there is a half mile stretch of little carts, with all kinds of different foods, and it's really cheap. I bought a plate of noodles, and kebob of tofu, and some vegetable dumplings for 18yuan, which is about two bucks. Bad ass. Some little fat, retarded, homeless kid tried to steal my fanta from me on the street, but I ripped it from his fat little grasp and politely told him to fuck off. The only downfalls of Wangfujing are homeless people and art students, and both are very overzealous. Poor people will stand right beside you while you order food, and try to take the change given out of your hand. Art students always want your "opinion"(money) of their artwork. I leave at 12:47 in the afternoon tomorrow, and it's a 26 or 29 hour ride. Oh what fun. I tried taking a sleeping pill that someone gave me last night, but I still couldn't sleep. This is starting to suck. Well, it's time to roll outta this piece, and finish my packing. Later. Current Mood: content

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May 25th, 2004

02:04 pm Well, now I feel better. I had to get out of the hostel. This Irish guy was pissing me the fuck off. Arrogant douchebag. He's been pissingme off for a couple of days, but I let it go, but it's raining, so we're all kind of stuck here, so I went around the corner to an internet cafe. I just watched homestarrunner.com to calm me down. It's kind of a shitty day, and I have stuff to do. I have to go to the market and the bank. I was going to go to a club with this Swedish kid tonight, but I think I'll juststay at home. I found this really cool street market on the street that has some really good food for cheap, so I think I'm going to eat dinner there if it stops raining. I need to go to the international market to get some food for my train ride on thursday, and I'm tired of PB&J. Well, I'm leaving now. Have fun. Current Mood: amused

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May 24th, 2004

11:06 pm - HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAH. I justfound out that there is a brothel downstairs in the hotel we are staying at. I've been hanging out with this guy from Sweden all day, and he said that he heard that rumor. I kept seeing girls dressed very well going downstairs, so I just thought it was a club or something. We decided to investigate. We went downstairs and said we were just checking the place out, and the guy at the bar said it was for karaoke. We walked down the hall into a bigger room, and there were about thirty girls just sitting around. There wasn't even a TV around. Karaoke my ass. HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAH. Current Mood: giddy

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02:20 pm I just bought The Great Gatsby and The Old Man and the Sea. Maybe that will keep me company. Plus, this 28 hour train ride is going to blow ass. At least I got a soft sleeper. Maybe I'll sleep better then I have been here. Current Mood: drained

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May 23rd, 2004

10:02 pm - sleepless in beijing I haven't slept too much since I've been on this trip. I think it may be starting to take a toll. I don't think the Bagua classes help, either. I went to a tibetan restaurant after class today, and when I tried to leave, I literally could not get out of the chair. The waiter was looking at me confused as I tried to push myself up onto my feet, only to find that they weren't working. They were on strike for awhile. I decided that I can't do four hours a day of these classes. It's ok though, because I'm almost done with the weapon form, and about halfway through the empty hand form. I've got three more days, and two hours each day. Plus, it's cheaper this way. Even though I haven't used even close to all of my money, I'd like to bring some back with me. Plus, I know I'm going to get raped in shipping charges to mail the shit I bought and the swords back to the US. The weekends are kind of a pain around here, because foreigners get harrassed by art students who have exhibitions everywhere. They start talking to you and following you like they just want to chat, and then after awhile, after they've given you their life story and they've asked you yours, they ask you to take a minute to look at their stuff. I've tried telling them that I didn't have any money, but they just say that they want your opinion, and that it doesn't matter if you don't buy anything. Then yougo in, and they start telling you prices of stuff, and it takes about ten minutes of polite arguing to finally get it through to them. I bought my little brothers some chinese robot toys, and then went to Pizza Hut. It's actually a big, nice restaurant here. It's expensive, though, so I can't go back. Some of the people staying in this hostel are very loud, and I don't like loud people. They stay up all night watching movies in the TV area, and they don't shut up. This place is really nice, but the beds are hard and I still can't sleep. And another guy in my room keeps turning off the AC and opening the window, so I wake up in a sweat and can't relax after that. Beijing is a very romantic city. If you walk round at night, every bench has a couple holding each other, and walking through tianeman square, all of the couples are bundled up close flying kites. For some reason, it's windy in the square 24 hours a day, perfect for kite flying, and every where you turn is a scene straight out of a love story. It's kind of depressing, actually. Current Mood: restless

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May 22nd, 2004

05:56 pm - fuck I'm tired I just had a four hour private kung fu lesson. Goddammit. It was awesome, though. He's teaching me this crescent moon shaped sword(I forgot the name). It's bad ass. I'm taking Bagua, which is a taoist internal style of kung fu. I can't find anyone to teach it in the states, so I wanted to take something home with me. I missed my train to Xi'an. I got on the right bus, but the wrong direction, so I didn't go to the train station. I could have busted my ass and gotten there on time, but I'm glad I didn't. I wanted to actually relax on my vacation, and the first half has already been hectic enough. The teacher is really nice, and there's a student from England who has been translating alot of his stuff for me. Goddamn. I can still hardly breathe, and I've already gone home, taken a shower, and sat on the internet. Hope all is well. Talk to you soon. Current Mood: exhausted

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May 19th, 2004

10:12 pm - on my way It's about 10:30, and I'm fucking tired. We didn't really do that much today. We decided to take it easy after our hike on the Great Wall. We took a bus to the Summer Palace. It was very relaxing. The artwork there in ridiculously detailed. There are way too many trinket shops, though. That seems to be the theme of China. I'm going on a night train to Xi'an tomorrow. I think the hostel I booked has internet access, but I could be wrong. If I am wrong, then I won't write any more journals until I get back from seeing the Terracota Warriors. That should be saturday or sunday, for me. Later. Current Mood: tired

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May 18th, 2004

11:01 pm - Great fucking wall I have never felt this good in my entire life. I took an 8 mile hike on a remote part of the Great Wall. It's the most amazing thing I've ever done. I was tired, and it was a hard climb, but it was so invigorating, that it didn't seem as bad. My friend Nate, however, was having alot of trouble. He wasn't feeling so good. He threw up twice, and once it ended up hitting the wall. As much fun as I had, I can still never say that I puked on the Great Wall. Damn. Some parts are extremely hard, and with steep inclines, but it was cool as shit. It took about 4 1\2 hours, but I could have made it quicker if I wasn't waiting for Nate. I took alot of pictures, too, and that also took some time. There are alot of "guides" on the busier parts, who start helping you and telling you stuff, and after they've helped you for a couple of hours, they ask you to buy a book from them for 80 yuan. I thought they were with the tour company we went through. I could have got through by myself. I didn't need a guide. If I knew she was selling something, I would have told her way earlier that I wasn't paying. But they want you to feel sorry for them, and feel that you owe them something. Oh well. I can't tell you enough times how cool that was. You are surrounded by mountains on all sides, and they are so massive and beautiful that they don't seem real. I am tired as shit now. I think I might go walking around the forbidden city tomorrow with Nate. I'm going to try and find a good photo place, to develop my pics. I have 200 now. Well, I'm going to get ready for bed. Talk to you later. Current Mood: accomplished

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May 17th, 2004

05:30 pm - about to strom in beijing I'm really glad I met Lu and her friends. She helped me so much, I couldn't believe it. She ordered everything for me, they constantly filled up my tea cup at restaurants, and tried to carry my bags, but I wouldn't let them. I told them they didn't have to stay with me so long, that I didn't want to keep them from having fun, but they said that they would hope to find someone to do the same if they ever came to Meiguo (America). I got a hotel room at their school last night. The desk wasn't going to rent me one, because I'm a foreigner, but Lu convinced them that I was her friend and they eventually gave in. I couldn't believe the hospitality. I thyanked them a thousand times. They even woke up at 530 with me to come get me and take me to the train station. Taishan really is a beautiful place. I took over 100 pictured there alone. I'm currently at a hostel here in Beijing, and I'm starving. I'm going to try to find something to eat before the storm comes. Talk to you later. Current Mood: happy

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05:13 pm - somewhere between heaven and hell Well, this is pleasant. I was having one hell of an argument with a cab driver. He refused to take me to the internet cafe I wanted to go to from the train station. He just kept repeating "Binguan" (hotel). And I kept repeating bu binguan, and repeating the address where I needed to go. Then he did the very best thing. He asked a passer-by if she spoke english, and she did. I told her where I was tr ying to go, and she said that we didn't need a cab, and she would take me. He was pissed. Her name is Lu, and she's a medical student at the Taishan Medical College. She took me to a place near her school that had internet access. Then she said she had to have a picture taken for school, and then she would take me to a restaurant. I was lucky to get here on Saturday, because they are out of school, and she had nothing to do. She stayed with me all day, and took me around the town.... OK. now skip to the morning after, when I woke up to the the sunrise at the top of the mountain. 5\16\04 5:11am I'm standing just below the peak of Taishan, but I see no sunrise in store for us this morning. They came banging on everyone's door at 4. I got up, walked outside, to witness the most surreal part of my trip thus far. I walk out of the hotel to find one thousand Chinese walking in droves up the mountain, in the dark, where the mist is so thick you can't see five feet in front of you. It's like something from some bizarre art film. And most of them are wearing big green army trenchcoats that they rented from the shops. I join them, and try to follow behind the three people that have flashlights. Then, God decided to play another joke. It started raining. I was scrunched under a small tunnel next to the Azure Cloud Temple, stuck, for 30 minutes. When I say stuck, I mean stuck. There were two hundred other people stcuk with me as well. That is by far the most uncomfortable and akward I have ever felt. When the rain lightened, I risked breaking my back and puched through the crowd to start haeding down the mountain. Fuck it was cold. The sun must have just come up, because I went from writing with the pad directly in front of my face, to almost full daylight, minus the clouds. I think my fingers are going to fall off. Current Mood: cold

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04:33 pm - Bitches ain't nothin but suits and popsicles Well, I have a lot to catch up on, and I'm going to try and do this in chronological order, from what I wrote down in my journal. Here goes. 5/17/04 8:03am: What a fucking weird trip. The whol thing doesn't seem real. I'm currently on a train to Beijing, with six hours left on the trip. I bought a ticket yesterday. They said there no sleepers left, only standing room. I could have left last night, but I thought it would be better for me to get a hotel and get some sleep, since I was going to have to stand for seven hours. Plus, I really didn't want to get to Beijing in the middle of the night. Luckily, so far, the train hasn't filled, and I'm sitting in an empty seat. We've been riding for an hour, and we're back in Jinan. Now we're moving again. As I was climbing down Taishan yesterday, I ran into a man from Scotland. Fraser has lived in China for 19 months now, teaching English in Beijing. He helpedme understand a few things, but there was one thing that neither of us could figure out: Chinese obsession with wearing suits. They wear them everywhere. While doing construction, working on farms, and even climbing mountains. They also love popsicles. Every stand on Taishan sells them. On the trip up the mountain: I never want to see another step again. I'm buying a one-story house, lowering my car, and I'm never watching What About Bob? again. I just climbed over 11,000 steps in less than 17 hours. Taishan mountain is composed if 6,660 steps. I didn't think I was going to make it up/ The first half is relatively easy. Big steps, lots of beautiful scenery. The second half, however, is treacherous. The steps get very small, and you're climbing at about a 75-80 degree incline. I had to take a cable car some of the way after the first half. I had already walked around the whole town with Lu and one of her classmates, so I started the journey tired.I could barely move. It got to the point where I had to stop at every flat spot to rest, and every new step climbed was an astonishment. So I took the cable car, and almost cried when I found out that it didn't go all the way up. I thought my heart was going to stop. They let you go ahead and finish the last 500 steps, and that's just to the little town area, not to the peak. The steps are about half the size of your foot, and a strong gust of wind could really knock you off, if you're not careful. And that's not the half of it. When I got to the top, the real nightmare began: finding a hotel.I found one for 160 yuan, but I wanted to find better. I was accosted by a man younger than me trying to find me a binguan (hotel). I was so tired that I agreed. I told him my price, and he took me to few hotels, but I started to feel very uncomfortable being with him. At one point, he went off the path and led me through the woods to get to a hotel where he knew the people that wroked there, younger people like himself. The next thing you know, I have 3 little Chinese guys practically pushing me into a room, surrounding me with no one else around. The room was nasty, and the bathroom consisted of a sink and a big bowl to shit in. I'm not shitting ina bowl. I started to get really angry, but I couldn't let that show. I thought for a second that I was going to get mugged, sop I puched through them and shouted "Wo bu yao" (I don't want). I had been saying this for about ten minutes now, but they wouldn't let me leave, so I had to use force. They started yelling back, but I made no comment, just started walking faster to get the hell out of there. Then, the little bastard who started it followed me. He tried to argue, and I tried to ignore him, but then got into it with him for another ten minutes. I use the term "argue" on my part, but really, I just repeated the only four sentences I know pertaining to the situation. I finally decided that I would pay more money and go to the Shen Qi hotel, the only nice one on the mountain. The kid still followed me, trying to yell and make a big scene, to embarass me. I wanted to punch him in the fucking face, but I knew I had to ignore him. I'm too lazy to spend my trip in a communist prison. He kept yelling at me, and to all of his friends, pointing and babbling whatever the fuck he was saying. He was trying to get me to give in. He doesn't know me very well. On the way to the Shen Qi, is the backwoods way he led me before, and when we reached that point, he started motioning for me to follow, I waved my hand one last time and said wo bu yao. He finally stormed off as I headed up the steps to the hotel. I can't even explain to you how tired I was. It was a very weird feeling. You really don't think you can go another step, but at the same time, you have no choice. It was cold as fuck on top of the mountain. As I get to the desk, the concierge ploitley tells me that they are full. Goddammit. Every other place is dirty as all hell, but I gave in and accepted my defeat. I would not, however, show my defeat to that fucking mongrol who was pestering me, so I hid on the steps for about 15 minutes until I knew he was gone. By that time, it was almost 8pm. I was getting very delirious, and I felt wretched. Most places were filling up by then, so they wouldn't bargain for a cheaper price. I ended up pa ying 280 yuan, and I was too tired to argue. I just wanted sleep and a fucking shower. When I get to the room, I find that the hot water won't be turned on until later. ha-fucking-ha. I tried to bathe with my bottled water I had for the way up, but it didn't work very well. I finally said fuck it, and went to bed. I didn't sleep very well. Thirty minutes after I fell asleep, I woke up to banging on my door. It was the guy coming to turn on the hot water. But guess what? Mine was broken! Back to sleep. Don't want to think about it. Then, at 10pm, someone randomly comes by to bang on my door, for no reason. Thanks. Let's just end this with saying that that night sucked. Current Mood: drained

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May 14th, 2004

08:43 am - leaving hong kong Well, I accomplished my first mission last night. I found someone who does real massage. I got a 45 minute footrub for about 15 bucks. Not bad. I went back to the guesthouse, took a pain killer, and tried to sleep, which still didn't happen, as tired as I was. I got probably about 3-4 hours sleep, so I guess I'll be fine. I'm walking to the bus station today to get to Guangzhou. I don't know the next time I'll be near a computer, but there should be one in the Guangzhou airport. And, yes, for those of you who are wondering, I saw it last night.............an old Chinese lady wearing a Tesla shirt. Current Mood: anxious

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01:22 am - no giant robots sorry, goose. No Casshern. It wasn't playing at any theatres in the area. Maybe in Beijing. I just got to a fucking nice hotel in Guangzhou. To bad I can't afford to stay here, but I did just buy my plane ticket to Jinan. I've got about 5 hours to kill. I'm going to go hit up the Five Genies taoist temple, and then on to a vegetarian restaurant in the area. Mainland China is a little cooler. Hong Kong sucks. There are more traditional buildings here, but I still can't wait until I get out of the Guandong province. Cantonese is mainly spoken here, and it just gets fucking confusing trying to tell if they speak mandarin or not. More to tell about the bus ride here, but this place is too expensive to take up that much time. gotta go, fuckers. by the way, this will be backwards from my next entry, because of time differences. stupid computers. Current Mood: content

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