Trip to Computer City

Guest post here from Zach.

Last week I traveled to Chengdu's Computer City to buy a computer monitor and cord for home. When I got home I realized that I should have documented the trip. So this morning I charged up the digital camera and retraced my steps.

Computer City is a giant four story building where people sell, build, and fix computers, cameras, stereos, and more. Amazingly, there are two stores across the street from each other and Chengdu has four total!

First I went to check out the previously owned electronics in the market next door.

I walked through a mall that apparently was inspired by this scene from Blues Brothers.

After much searching, I finally found the used electronic section. It had hundreds of stores competing in computer stacking and hoarding.

Where are all the customers?

Proud computer hoarder

After awhile, I decided it would be better to buy new things, so I headed over to the real Computer City next door where they sell the exact same stuff.

Despite the abundance of electronics for sale, I could not find the cord I was looking for. When I told an employee what I wanted, he disappeared for about five minutes and returned with exactly what I needed. I can only guess he built the cord himself in back.

Probably not the same guy, but a very similar looking guy helped me find the special cord I was looking for.

Can you imagine the Best Buy salesman soldering circuits for digital cameras at his desk?

The finished product at home:

A Cup of Tea

You really can't beat sitting outside with some good company and enjoying a cup of tea... 

Yi Bēi Chá

And remember, the straw is necessary to avoid tea leaves becoming "teeth leaves". 

Swan Lake

A beautiful black swan and her babies. Happy Thanksgiving!

More Baby Monkeys

I was going through my Emeishan photos last night and thought these two pictures were quite cute. 

Panda!

We finally went and saw what the hype is all about! All those summers spent at the Houston Zoo, I was back to my ol' crazed zoo-child self. It's always exciting to see the real, live beasts up close. Although, pandas are not at all ferocious, I still feared one sitting upon me to crush all my bones and organs. AH!

Fear me, for I shall cuddle you to death! RAWR!

It was a pretty rainy day so all the red pandas were being lazy and sleeping. This was a bit disappointing after all of my hours spent researching YouTube on how fun and playful they're suppose to be. But we did happen to arrive just in time for the "sub-adult" Giant Panda feeding. And a panda NEVER misses a feeding!

This may be the only exercise this beast gets. 

This was the only red panda that was awake.
He has a pretty grumpy look on his face, too!

My hair always does this when it rains...

These shoes rock.

We stopped by the North Market the other day and stumbled upon the shoe section, which I never knew existed... after donating dozens of shoes to Goodwill before I left, I think my shoe prayers have been answered.

Seriously, this is just ONE stall out of literally HUNDREDS!! I think we walked for thirty minutes and saw nothing but shoes. A lot of people try to avoid the market due to the huge expanse, crowds, smells, etc. but I love it! Not just for the shoes, you can buy ANYTHING in your dreams there.

Tasty Treats from the Chinese Streets

Zach often makes fun of me for waving to the hairdressers as we walk by the salon, saying that they are the only people I know in the neighborhood. I want to make it clear that this is not true! I also wave to the bakers. The bakers and their goods are also my close friends... I'm pretty good at picking my friends, huh?

This photo is not of my bakery but I recognize a few of the treats in the display. Chinese baked goods are topnotch. Just the right amount of sweetness for my taste!

Emeishan 2: The Monkey Battle Continues

Day 2 was a little slower hike than Day 1. My legs were burning! The only thing that kept me moving at a decent pace were the monkeys following just out of sight. They'd appear around the corner as I stopped to catch my breath and even walked right beside me through parts of the trail. I used the calm approach when dealing with monkeys, as we had quickly discovered that raising a stick to them only excited them more. All of the shopkeepers were armed with slingshots. Hopefully the monkeys don't get their hands on those!

Here are some pics from Day 2:

Zach at the Monastery
Day 2 AM

Which way do we go? UP!

The monastery we stayed at from a distance.

Zach, Glen, and Monkey

A rest at a beautiful red temple.
Almost to the TOP!

Insert picture of summit... oops. well, we didn't actually make it to the top. We ran out of time and wanted to make sure we caught the last bus back to Chengdu (we had school the next day). I don't mind because it means we will just have to go back again someday!! :)

The trip wouldn't have been complete without a terrifying
bus ride back down to the bottom.

Emeishan 1: the hike up... and down... and then up again...

I'm really glad we got to take a trip to Mount Emeishan before the weather gets too cold here. I had heard a lot of great things about the mountain in the daxiang range, and it certainly lived up to the hype. We had a wonderful two day hiking/monkey-fighting trip with a few friends. We gave ourselves two days to get to the top of 3,099 meters (starting at 500 m), and once we stepped onto the trail there was no turning back... seriously.  After I had decided I'd had enough at my 6 billionth stair step, a shop keeper laughed and told us it was another 6 hours up the mountain to the  next bus stop. Of course it feels great knowing that I didn't give up (although, I really didn't have a choice).

We hiked about 6-7 hours each day and stayed on the mountain overnight in a monastery.  We needed our rest after billions of stairs and battling monkeys in the mist/rain. Here are some photos from the first day!

The First 1,000 Steps

Ready to give sweet monkey hugs!

Monkey Territory

Preferred Hiking Position

End of Day One
Happy to be next to the fire!

Election Day

As the presidential race heats up, we've had a bit of electoral excitement here at school as well. Student council elections have wrapped up but I want to share some of the posters from the campaigns that I thought were real winners (with permission, of course).

Not enough mudslinging for my taste, but they gotta start somewhere.

Hong Kong, Part Two

After enjoying two days in Hong Kong, we decided to ferry on over to Macau for a day trip and some gamblin'. Over on the west side of the Pearl River Delta, they do things a little different. It was a Portuguese colony and is now a SAR of China, like HK. We spent the day going to a few gardens, historical sites, the history museum (my favorite part), and the old red-light district (Zach's favorite, jk his favorite was the casino). We ended the day with a fancy dinner at the Clube Militar de Macau- a fantastic blend of Portuguese and Macanese cuisine. We didn't win any money (the minimum bets were a little steep for our pockets) but we had a great day!!

Sao Domingo Church
Check out that sweet tile!

Rua da Felicidade
("Happiness Street, or the ol' red light district)

Casino Lisboa and Zach in the dark

We still had a day and a half left in HK, here are some pics to sum it up!

Hong Kong Garden Aviary 

View from the top of the Peak Tram

Modern teapot @ the Museum of Tea Ware, HK 

Hong Kong, Part One

Jessica, Zach, and I visited Hong Kong during the school fall break. It was a nice week away from work and a great opportunity to explore the eastside of China. Very different from life here in the 'du, I stuffed myself with Western food, lazily rode every escalator available, and took total advantage of the touristy markets.

Jessica at the Jade Market

But seriously, they have the longest escalator in the WORLD!  Most of you know that I do not like escalators, but after frequent shoelace assessments and carefully planning to step between the cracks, I did it! I rode the freakin' longest escalator there ever was.

Mid-Levels Escalators

At the top, we walked around the botanical gardens (always a favorite of mine) and scoped out the Peak Tram. The line was two hours long, no bueno. So we decided to go another day and spent the rest of the night at Lan Kwai Fong- the famous bar street on HK Island. I loved the neon signs, which apparently is great lighting for wedding portraits.

So romantic!

7-Eleven taquitos??

I'M BACK! YIPPEE!!

Zach showed me a new way to upload pictures and it seems to be working!! Sorry for the looong delay :(

I have lots of pictures from the last 3 weeks (Hong Kong, Emeishan, etc.). So, please start checking again, as I will be posting... daily, hopefully.

Here are the first pictures of Zach and me in Asia together at the Hong Kong airport. He wasn't prepared for my new martial art skillz!