Is This Thing On?: December 2008

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Friday, December 26, 2008

cafeteria

made it to the casino. Rehearsal went pretty well. Having a snack and then who knows. ;)

Off to AC

I'm off to rehearsal, then down to Atlantic City for the Show tomorrow night. I'll try to take some pics to post later.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

I can't believe I forgot to take a picture last night... damn... it would have been pretty impressive. We took Simon, Joyce and Hsin-Ping out for sushi at Blue Ribbon. As soon as we sat down we ordered a hot sake to warm us up from the cold. They comped us a starter (Nam and I are regulars there) of mackerel sashimi with a special dipping sauce followed by a grilled Japanese eggplant topped with miso. The Sashimi arrived next: perch, tuna, yellowtail, needlefish, snapper, salmon, and a few others that I can't remember. Then they brought out the sushi and maki. The centerpiece was a whole lobster; they made sashimi from the tail and maki from the meat in the head, and there was a miso-butter sauce for dipping. In addition, there was a special house-cured unagi made into box-sushi, anago, masu (tasmanian sea trout), otoro maki, chutoro sushi which was seared with a thin slice of garlic on top, dragon roll, hamachi, penshell, spanish mackerel, and more. After the meal they brought us a special dessert sake and hot tea.

I really meant to take a picture... ugh, oh well.... I guess we'll have to go back tonight!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

BEARS

BEARS WIN!

Monday, December 22, 2008

Hello Again!

We've been back from China for about 10 days and I think that the jetlag has subsided; I'm finally able to sleep through the night.

I've been busy over the last few days preparing for another Atlantic City show this coming weekend. There are two performers: 青山 (qing shan) who is a very famous Taiwanese singer from the 1970's, and 關菊英 (guan juying) who is a Hong Kong star from the '80s and has had a recent hit with a Chinese TV show theme song called 無心害你 or I Didn't Mean To Hurt You; here's a link to the video.

There is a LOT of music to prepare, including several really long medleys so I've got my work cut out for me for the next few days. Anyway, if you're free on Saturday night and want to see the show let me know and I'll try to get tix from the promoters. It's at the Showboat casino's "House Of Blues" which is kind of ironic given that the music is about as far away from blues as you can get.

Simon and Joyce, who were our hosts in Shanghai, are in town at the moment as well. We're going to take them out for dinner tomorrow night along with Hsin-Ping. I'm really looking forward to it!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

New Heights

This is the World Financial Building which is one of the tallest skyscrapers in the world at the moment. The 100th floor observation deck is at the top of the square cut-out part and offers spectacular views in all directions, including straight down through a glass floor!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Going Home 回家

We're at the airport in Shanghai (pudong). It's going to be a really long day of travelling. We have to connect in Hong Kong for our flight back to NY so we'll be on airplanes and airports combined for about 22 hours today if I'm adding it up right. I might not post again for a couple of days; I've heard that West to East jetlag is really tough.

It has been an amazing month of travel but i think we are both looking forward to going home.

BTW - We've got a lot of pictures and stories to share with anyone who's interested.

The view from 100 stories up

the observation deck looks down on the JinMao building and the Oriental Pearl Tower, formerly the tallest buildings in Shanghai. The Bund is also visible on the left along the river.

we're going to miss these

These are called 豆沙小籠包 and they are the most delicious treats. Little steamed dumplings with very sweet red bean paste filling. We've gone to this place 6 times since we've been in Shanghai. There are a few places on NYC to get these, but they're just not as good.

Monday, December 8, 2008

How Polite

doesn't anybody here check this stuff?

I mean come on, really.... cliocoddle?

peppers

suzhou

We did a day-trip to suzhou today. The weather was beautiful and we were both excited to go. We got an early start (for us) and decided to take a cab to the main train station; this turned out to be a mistake. We got stuck in horrible traffic and by the time we got to the station, the train we wanted was sold out. We bought tickets for the next train but it's departure time was two hours later. After finally arriving in suzhou, we immediately bought our return tickets and then headed straight for the center of the old city. Unfortunately they've turned the centuries-old classical Chinese buildings in the center of town into a shopping arcade full of cheap souveniers. Slightly dissapointed, we decided to abandon any sightseeing plans and just walk. We were really lucky because our walk took us through some very real neighborhoods where local people were out in the ancient, narrow streets socializing and preparing to cook their dinners. The people here are fascinating; there are some real characters! We had a very strange experience at dinner. We went to a fairly up-scale restaurant we had read about. We ordered a cold chicken dish, a broiled eel, Chinese broccoli, and two bowls of rice. Our waiter remained tableside, pen and pad in hand. I tried to explain that we were done ordering but he kept saying "bu gou" or "not enough". Confused, we added a soup to our order but this didn't seem to change our situation. By this point there were three waiters standing around us trying to speak to both of us in rapid-fire Chinese. Then they somehow produced a typed up menu in English! And began pointing to the appetizers. I again tried to explain that we didn't want any more food, but this was not satisfactory. Eventually they brought the English speaking manager over who looked at our order and said that, "yes, this will probably be enough and if you're still hungry you can order more". In the end, we could only eat about half of the food on the table.

China

When you're walking down the steeet and you see this, you know you're in China.

Game Of Death

It's called KFC, but it's not the one you're familliar with (although that one sadly seems to be the most popular restaurant in China). No, this one stands for Kung Fu Chicken and yes that's Bruce Lee on the sign, pictured in the yellow track suit he made famous in his film, Game Of Death. Makes you think twice before eating there.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Cold

It's been really cold here the last couple of days, but it's supposed to get warmer over the next few days, reaching into the 60s (for those of us who still use farenheit degrees) on Tuesday. We tried a new restaurant for dinner last night which had a really excellent eggplant dish and a very good duck dish. Afterwards we got foot massages at a place close to the apartment. The girl who worked on me was built like a tank and must have studied iron fist technique at the Shaolin temple. She treated my feet like a couple of Idaho spuds on thanksgiving and may have temporarily ended my running days. We are still planning on going to Suzhou tomorrow, hopefully I'll be able to walk!

I would have done this but....

I would have gotten one of these if my name was Ketut.

Jade Buddah Temple

This is the entrance to the Yu Fosi, or Jade Buddah Temple in Shanghai. It is a functioning Buddist temple replete with yellow-clad monks and giant statues of various Buddist dieties. Most of the other people there were praying and burning incence for their ancestors so we didn't get too many pictures as we felt it would have been a bit disrespectful. The Jade Buddah itself is very beautiful but they don't allow photography in the chamber where it's located. I've posted a few snapshots from around the temple.

Guarding the Temple

Fish

Reclining Buddah

Buddish?

Next Gig

I'm totally going to wear this getup on my next gig.

Friday, December 5, 2008

more chinglish

New Coat

Woooooah!!!!

this train is really really fast! When it makes a turn, the bank angle feels like it's almost 90 degrees.

sick

I've been out of action all week with a nasty cold. We were going to go to Suzhou today but we've postponed that until Sunday or Monday. I think I'm feeling a bit better today (knocking on wood) but I'm going to take it easy. Last night we had excellent japanese food at a place in the French concession. Today after lunch we are going to ride the maglev train to the airport and back; I've heard it reaches speeds in excess of 400kph!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

昨天晚上的晚飯

We ate here for dinner last night. It's right across the street from the apartment. We had a sweet & sour fish and pea shoots.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Sgt. Shanghai's Lonely Hearts Club Band

These guys sound every bit as good as they look. :-)

We got our coats from the tailor today and they look great. Next we had soup dumplings for lunch and then did a bit more shopping; everything is so cheap here it's hard to believe. We're back at the apartment now but will probably go out again for dinner. I'll try to post more tomorrow.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

sorry

I haven't been posting because I started to come down with a cold yesterday and spent most of the day in and around the apartment. Not feeling much better today, but I have to get out and do stuff today or will go bonkers.

for Kelly

kelly wanted to see a pic of the "jade" bracelet from hong kong so here it is. It's probably nephrite or glass, but it looks nice and we had fun buying it.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Back in Shanghai

We're back in Shanghai. We just barely made our train becuase we were determined to try beggar's chicken which is a local specialty in Hangzhou. It took a lot longer than we thought it would so we had to speed-walk back to the hotel to get our bags, wait for a cab, sit in a traffic jam and then negotiate the station in Hangzhou which is mobbed with people and has very confusing signs. In the end we had less than a minute to spare! We are both happy to be in Shanghai; it feels like home here.

tea for two

before leaving hangzhou we wanted to go to a cha lou (tea house) as they are very famous in this area. You sit in a semi-enclosed room with your friends and everyone orders the type of tea that they want. There is a kettle of hot water over a low flame just within reach outside of the room that is kept full by attendants. The quality and variety of teas are unlike anything you can find outside of China but the best part is that you can snack on a variety of delicious small foods that you bring back to your room from a buffet. It's sort of an all you can eat thing because you only pay for the tea; I understand why people often spend all day at these places.