Cold beverages 1

Because Taiwan can be so hot, there are an amazing variety of drinks available. And 7-eleven, center of life, has half the store devoted to drinks. Above, top left is cantaloupe juice. I am increasingly fond of cantaloupe and I often get this sweetened (only 20% juice) punch. They also have some cantaloupe sodas, which can be too sweet. The next one, honey herbal jelly, has a soft honey flavor with little bits of jelly floating in it. Taiwanese people seem to enjoy texture in their drinks, and while it takes a little getting used to, I'm getting used to it. The jelly has a delicate, slightly herbal flavor with just a hint of something like menthol that makes your mouth feel a little bit cool. The last beverage here is almond milk, which I love. Many stores have stands selling a version of the stuff and the smell is hard to resist. Unfortunately, I often find the stand version has more odor than flavor. This store bought stuff has a perfume-y flavor that is especially good hot in the winter (7eleven is happy to nuke it for you), but also good cold in summer.

Vietnamese Food - Keelung

Here are some shots from my favorite vietnamese place in Keelung. It's just a stand, at the end of the textile section of the market, with uncomfortable stools and a cd stand next door that keeps the same taiwanese song on repeat for the entire night, and has had that same song on repeat for going on a year, and my god, it drives me crazy, though I think it may be teaching me taiwanese. But I go there because the food is delicious and the old vietnamese lady who runs it with her husband is nice and usually understands my poor mandarin. Anyway, I get pretty basic stuff there. You can see the spring roll above, a rice flour skin with bbq pork, rice vermicelli noodles, basil leaves, and green onion inside. My favorite part is the sauce, which is a sweet brown bean sauce with peanuts, chili, and this sour-sweet pickled carrot radish concoction. You can also see it on my huh fen on the left. Those are fat rice noodles (I'm particularly fond of the) that you find in thai rahd nahr. This dish is served cool, with the noodles, slices of imitation turkey, actual pork preserved in it's own skin with black peppercorns and flavors I can only describe as french, peanuts, chili, more of the sweet-sour pickled radish-carrot concoction, chopped mint and basil, fried shallots, bean sprouts, and a sauce that is a mixture of lime juice, fish sauce, and sugar. On a hot day, this "cold" dish really hits the spot. I tried to create it at home, but, no.

Mohinga!

This is the mohinga I get in the burmese neighborhood near the nan shi jao mrt station. You can't see all of the details, so let me explain. It is an incredibly rich and thick fish broth with sweet little onions, rice noodles, boiled eggs, cilantro, and a cracker made of deep fried yellow dal, which adds wonderful texture. The richness of the flavor comes from whatever else they do to the broth as they liquify some unknown fish. You can see some chili in the right hand pic - that went in there too. It's a great mix of south asian and southeast asian flavors, and is the national dish of Burma, or Myanmar, or whatever. I usually order some burmese tea, which is the same as thai tea (orange, spiced with some unidentified spice - I've heard tamarind seed - and mixed with condensed milk) as far as I can tell. These pics were taken last friday - I went with my friend Lyon. He ordered 2 bowls of mohinga to go, and told me he ate one for dinner and couldn't resist eating the second. And I'm not surprised - it's the kind of thing you will eat even if you aren't hungry.

Crap!

The other night I noticed I had a very large moth in my apartment. How odd, let me just get a shoe, oh it banged into my arm and fell on the WAIT A MINUTE! THAT'S NOT A MOTH, THAT'S A GOD DAMNED COCKROACH! Needless to say, I pounded the hell out of it with my shoe and took a shower, scrubbing my infected arm thoroughly. I sometimes forget that those fuckers have wings - I wish that I could forget that forever.

curse of the golden flower

I just saw this movie. I was very impressed visually. Anyone who appreciates impressionism, and could imagine it animated with a psychedelic chinese palate would enjoy the first 2/3 of the movie. Zhang Yi Mou is a painter, and his composition and use of color are always amazing. Although the last third is also visually stunning, I would only recommend it to fans of over the top tragedy and wholesale slaughter. It's pretty bloody and pretty much everyone dies. Chinese people really seem to enjoy tragedy. Like Hero, I sometimes feel like the martial arts is thrown in to attract viewers, but it doesn't seem like Zhang cares very much, other than as an excuse to use more color and set up another tableau.

my shopping at trad. mrkt.

Here is a pic of all the stuff I was able to buy at the market for under 500 nt. Laundry detergent, 2 sponges, 2 potatoes, 2 jhong tse, I huge carrot, 3 bananas, 1 package mushrooms, 1 chinese eggplant, 1 massive mango, and one papaya milk. And I had change in my pocket.

jhong tse 2

Close up of my dumplings. The one on the left with the peanuts (and an egg you can't see) is northern style. The one on the right is southern style - slightly more expesive with mushroom and chestnut.

Jhong tse

I will probably make some factual errors below - I'm remembering the best that I can.

This was just before dragon boat festival (last week) so of course there were lots of jhong tse. These are traditional rice dumplings that I may have written about before. The story behind this holiday involves a patriotic man who was ignored by his king. In despair at seeing his country go down the tubes, he threw himself into a river. In his memory, on this day people have races in dragon boats, which I guess are symbolically racing to rescue him. They also eat these steamed dumplings, which have sticky rice wrapped in a bamboo leaf. Symbolically, I think they are for the fish to eat instead of the man. There are two types of jhong tse in Taiwan, Northern and southern style, the difference being that in the northern the rice is fried first whereas in the southern it is not. Inside the dumplings you will usually find some pork, and some combination of peanuts, shitake mushroom, egg, chestnut, and maybe something else. I find them pretty delicious - note the best ones are usually someone's homemade recipe made by grandma's hands, though these were very good as well.

fruit stand

Here is some of the fruit at the market. The selection here is really outstanding, and the quality is consistently good. On this day at this stand I bought a huge mango that I struggled to get down in one sitting. A huge breakfast for me.

traditional street market Banchiao

About 5 minutes from my apt., I have a traditional market, which consists of a covered street with a lot of stands. Here is a shot of some of the vegetables that I can get there. Communication isn't always easy - these guys don't get too much of my mandarin, and their taiwanese accents are pretty heavy for me. They don't speak too much mandarin here, actually, and I probably know about 10 words in taiwanese. But I get nice stuff at a good price.

hakka soup and tang yuan

The other thing I always get at this place is the tang yuan (soup balls). The come in this rich pork broth with lots of greenery and bits of pork floating in it. Shallots and cilantro give you little hits of flavor. Unfortunately, I don't have a good shot of the balls, but they have a unique, soft chewy consistancy, and the filling is more pork with various flavors. The joy of these is the contrast in textures - The chewy tang yuan with a solid pork filling contrasted with the crispy greens and the silky broth makes it a joy to consume.

hakka style fried noodles

I really like these noodles, and they are very cheap (35NT) because this is a student area. You can see the chinese chives on the left - they are soaked in a sweet soy sauce. Mixed in the noodles are bits of cabbage and fried shallots, for a nice base of flavor.. The piece of pork in here is not huge, but is tender and delicious. The noodles themselves, having been fried with the shallot and cabbage, have a surprisingly deep flavor, salty, oniony, sweet and delicious.

hakka place 1

The Hakka are a group of people in China who have been displaced from their homeland, so they are spread throughout china (and taiwan). This is a restaurant I like to go to near the main train station in taipei. It's decorated with wood and old style chinese stuff - nice!

Mochi ice cream

In the nightmarket, the idea is to walk around and graze on various things. On this night I wasn't that hungry, so in addition to the sausage I only had a mango mochi ice cream. Mochi is a gooey concoction mad from glutinous rice flour. I'm a fan - it's chewy and yet soft. And this particular mochi is filled with creamy ice cream, which makes a nice contrast, especially when You let it warm up a little so the ice cream is soft but still cold. I'm not a huge sweets guy, but I do like these. If you look closely at the green sign, you might be able to see the "Mike" flavor. My hope is that this is supposed to me milk flavor, but, you know, I'm not going to taste it.

sausages and dentistry

Shi Lin night market is famoust for their large sausages. I have a class of teenagers who do nothing but joke about the large sausages available there. The one I had on this particular rainy night was black pepper flavor, and it was pretty good, spicy and a little sweet.

In related news (and what could be more related to food than dentistry?), I went to the dentist today and found a little something. I have to go on monday for some more work - joy. Nice to be insured, though.

More Guo tieh and soup

Some more shots - the black pieces in the soup are the pig blood. I often see the signs for pig blood soup here, and while I appreciate people's willingness not to waste parts of an animal they kill, I'm just too American for that.

Guo Tieh and suan la tang

When I first arrived here, this is something I ate quite a bit of, guo tieh (pot stickers) and suan la tang (hot and sour soup). It's ubiquitous and cheap here - there are several chains that sell it and many independent stands have it too. It's cheap, easy to find food, kind of like a hamburger in the usa. The food pictured is from a chain near my apartment. You can see the 2 sauces they give with it - a mildly spicy sauce and a semi sweet soy sauce. I seldom use them, preferring a mix of soy sauce, rice vinegar, and a dash of sesame oil. And I generally add something similar to my soup. I like the soup from this place because it has a pepperiness and a strong, smoky onion flavor - I notice at least one kind of green onion along with white onions and shallots. Like a lot of the hot and sour soup here, this has the congealed pig blood in it - basically a dark brown strip with the consistency of tofu and little flavor other than a vague iron-y-ness. Still, I don't love it and have to avoid thinking about it or even looking at it while I eat it.

last shots

Here's a few more shots of the stand. They were happy to let me have a photo, but quickly covered the pot of boiling water, I don't know why. Maybe to hide the secret recipe. Note the chinese looking layout to the stand - it wouldn't be out of place here in Taiwan.

where I ate

This stand was right by a very busy road, and the air was filled with tuk tuk fumes and the roar of loud trucks and buses. I meant to get more of it in the pic on the left. In the pic on the right, you can see the remains of my tea, along with the water they wanted me to buy and my beloved spice rack. I'm especially fond of the chili in vinegar.

Thai Chinese soup

Walking on this busy street I saw something that reminded me of Taiwan - a woman sitting in front of a big bowl of a pork green onion mixture making dumplings! Of course I haven't seen this yellow style in Taiwan, and the very yellow noodles are obviously made from the same dough. I'm curious about the Chinese in Thailand - these guys certainly looked more chinese than malay or thai, but different from the people in Taiwan. I wonder where most of them come from. I was also very aware of the number of Indians in Thailand on this trip. Apparently, they make up the bulk of the tourists, and there is a very large community in Bangkok and elsewhere.

The soup was wonderful with a rich pork broth, at least two kinds of onions, and cilantro. Along with the dumplings and noodles there was barbecued pork and rich greens (I may have added a little bit of chili as well). The white round is a slice of daikon, which I'm not the biggest fan of. But that didn't stop this from being a fantastic dinner (along with the tea, spring roll, and papaya salad I had already eaten.)

Thai iced tea

This is a cart I bought some very good tea from. It reminded me a bit of the carts you see all over India selling chai, with a big pot of simmering tea and various containers of God knows what. He strained the tea through a muslin bag and mixed it with the thick milk. It was different from the thai tea I usually get outside of Thailand because it wasn't so sweet - although he added sugar, the condensed milk was unsweetened and I have to admit I preferred it. Again, very nice about the photo - hard to imagine why everyone was so patient with annoying tourist photo requests.

Spring Rolls

These were some little spring rolls I saw on the street right after my salad. Served very very hot with some sweet spicy sour sauce and a little toothpick to eat it with, the one I bought was really great. And only 5 baht, even for a tourist.

Papaya salad 2

Here are some more shots of the papaya salad. Note the long green beans in the salad - they taste a little bit bitter but add a contrasting flavor and texture to the salad. I should mention that Thai people, though aggressive with their business seem to be almost universally friendly and accommodating when there is no money involved. Everyone I asked about a photo (and this is in Bangkok) said yes and smiled for my shot. This lady and the guy to the right who sold juice were very nice.

thailand - Green Papaya salad 1

I'm back from Thailand. Unfortunately, I don't have as many photos as I would like - I feel slightly more paranoid about my camera in Thailand because of all the people grabbing at me to get my attention and sell me something. Not as relaxing as I would have liked, but of course I had good food. Above you see some green papaya salad I bought on the street. This little beauty along with some sugary orange juice concoction from the cart next door cost me about 40 baht. This salad can be ok outside of Thailand, but never seems to be anything other than great in Thailand. The truly sublime stuff has crab meet along with the fiery chili, lots of lime, fish sauce, sweet tomatoes, peanuts, and the little brine shrimp that show up in so much Thai food. While this salad was great, it wasn't my favorite - they used the dry chili instead of my preferred fresh, and didn't have the crab. By the way, 2 things I learned in thai this trip: prik = chili and alloi = delicious. Mei (with a rising tone, i think) seems to be the question word, so to ask if something is delicious you say Alloi mei?

papaya milk.

I'm not generally a huge fan of milk. But I like papaya and the combination can be nice. I think papaya is supposed to have enzymes that help digest protein, so I like to drink it when I eat meat. Note the huge bottle of water - I go through at least one of those every evening. Clearly, I believe in the value of hydration.

Shuei jiao

So, here you have an over exposed shot of my dumplings, along with the pot of boiling shuei jiao and the table on the street where the girl makes them at lightning speed. Of course she also handles the money and doesn't wash her hands much (occasionally she'll dip 'em in a bucket of water, no soap) but I figure the dip in the boiling water kills most things. So far, so good, touch wood. It's worth the risk, imho.

tsong yo bing

Here is my Beijing tsong yo bing. You can see that I couldn't wait and took a bite.

shuei jiao and beijing tsong yo bing

This was my lunch today. Tsong yo bing is popular in taipei, but the taiwanese style is more of a flat pancake, filled with some kind of green onions and is usually very oily. This place near my work does something different - a coil of hollow bread, just a little crispy on the outside with a soft, slightly oily inside filled with chinese chives. It's really good - slightly salty with a good onion flavor. I like it with chili sauce or by itself. It's 30 Nt.

I also had shuei jiao (I'm not bothering with pinyin, just writing it like I think it sounds, btw) from the place I like near my work. These are the standard water dumplings, homemade with a pork mixture shoved in a wrapper of dough and boiled in a huge pot. The ground pork is mixed with green onions, and sometimes a little black pepper, ginger, and soy sauce. They usually throw some sesame oil on top before they serve it to keep it from sticking to the box. I usually dip it in a soysauce, rice vinegar mixture which adds a nice salty sour sweet flavor. It's 50 NT (maybe 1.75 us) so it's a bit pricey, but worth it.

The end result, 10 minutes later

Well, that was good. If I'm a good boy, I will be regular with this. Future posts should look at my neighborhood traditional market, filled with amazing fruit and vegetables, along with chickens being slaughtered and pigs being butchered in front of you. I also have an excellent fried rice place and a fish soup place in my hood that I want to post about. I'm going to thailand soon, so that provide something. And I will be in a nightmarket tonight, so maybe I will add more later.

My dinner, sunday june 3rd

closeups

Dinner Time with foot

Liang Mian on the left. Mian Xian on the right. My foot on the bottom. Yum.

mian xian shop

This is the shop. Maybe you can see the menu and the prices. They also have tian bu la, which is their transliteration of tempura and literally means "sweet, not spicy." In taiwan, the tempura is different, usually involving a fish mash inside a fried coating. i like it - though i prefer the japanese version.

mian xian

big pot of mian xian. Note the pot of intestines middle left and the cilantro and cash in the upper left.

rebirth

So, I'm going to start posting again, at Charlie's suggestion, with a focus on the food I'm eating. Today I will be discussing Mian Xian (sounds more like mien shienne) and Liang Mian that I buy in my neighborhood. These are noodle dishes, they are both very delicious, and at 60 NT (under 2 us dollars) for both with all you can drink cheap tea, a great bargain. I ate them tonight and it was great.

I like the Uh Ah Mian Xian. Uh Ah is the onomatopoeic taiwanese word for oyster, and this mien xian has oysters along with fine noodles and a thick broth. Usually they sprinkle a little cilantro on top and I occasionally add a bit of chili, though it's not neccesary. I always have to ask them to omit the pig intestine they like to add - I tried it once and found it a bit rubbery with a fairly foul flavor - not for me. Without them, the mian xian has a great, smokey oniony flavor with meaty chunks of oyster and an herbal note from the cilantro. It is wonderful on a cold, wet night, but still good on a hot day.

Liang Mian means "cool noodles" and is perfect for a hot day. It's very simple, with fairly standard noodles topped with sliced cucumber and a slightly sweet, nutty sauce that I think is Miso though it may also have some peanuts involved. I never add chili to this because the flavor is pretty delicate, and I can't say I enjoy it as much as the mian xian, but I do like it and order it to balance the strong flavors in the mian xian. The crispy cucumbers and the soft but firm noodles are a nice contrast.

I'll try to get those pics up soon.

well, it's been a long time. I should post more, or maybe I shouldn't. Anyway...

May- I went back to the nyc area for several weeks. It was a lot of fun.

June- I went to Taroko gorge, Taiwan's grand canyon. I went alone and it was beautiful. I saw a spider as big as my hand. I watched a world cup game in a crappy hotel room. Oh, and I won my office world cup pool (I bet on Italy, because England was already taken).

July - Nice and hot. I went down to the beach in Kenting and met up with my former coworker Danesh who was in Taiwan for a few weeks. I had a nice time sitting on the beach, reading my favorite japanese writer (Natsume Soseki) and relaxing in cafes.

August - I turned 35 this month. I have been running all summer in an attempt to stop myself from getting too fat. My boss told me he was leaving in september to go back to school. The 7-11's have been giving away Doraemon magnets - I currently have a full set - and selling Hoegarten beer, which I like. Other than my birthday, which was just ok, I had a nice august.

September - here I am. I have a new boss. A new office (good- fewer roaches, not rats and therefore no rat feces around the office bad - my workspace is even worse. I miss my old boss. The new office seems to encourage my crazy students to act even crazier.) Life is currently up in the air while I decide what my next move should be. I'm looking at visiting Charlie in London this November, and hopefully seeing my mom in france and maybe catching a soccer game while i'm in england.

I guess that's about it. I have an ipod now, but I'm afraid to take it outside because it's too damn pretty and expensive. I drink a lot of tea. I'm not currently going to chinese class, though I'm still working on my own and having a language exchange. and the cat is still driving me crazy.

anyway

So, that was fun. It was enjoyable to reminisce about my vacation, and it made me glad I kept a journal. So I got back in early January, worked for a few weeks, then came chinese new year. I went to Taichung to see my coworker Rodger (he showed me around), and went to a Burmese neighborhood with my boss Lyon (we ate delicious Mohinga, and more. I bought some mango chutney type things and spices. Lyon bought Beedhis.) I need to go back to that neighborhood sometime. February, nothing happened. March, I discovered a reasonably priced thai massage place nearby. I have enjoyed that, though they just raised their price so I can't go as often.

Right now, Sherry is taking care of something in the usa, so richard is watching her dog, shiao pang (little fatty). He is a big sweet black lab with a destructive tail and an interest in putting things in his mouth. Last night he came over and r's cat freaked. It started making deep moaning noises and steered clear. The dog was curious and would occasionally approach, scaring the cat. Finally, the cat started hissing and eventually swiped at the dog's nose, drawing blood. Dominance settled, the cat set about staring the dog down and basically being unpleasant. I know that it's a territorial thing, but seeing this annoying, unaffectionate cat stare down a sweet dog that just wants to please made me feel a little angry and more negatively towards the cat than I have ever felt. I wish we had a nice dog instead of a mean spirited cat living here.

thailand journal entry

The landing in Bangkok was unpleasant - I experienced sharp shooting pain in my ear, like someone was jamming an ice pick into my head. Nice. I guess I'm getting sensitive to air pressure, just what I need. I felt pretty delirious when I arrived. I reserved a hotel and was ready to go when I realized I had forgotten to pick up my bags. I was really disoriented and had to get back in to the secure area, which took forever and was no fun, while a driver was already waiting for me. It took about an hour. I had already wasted time trying to get a visa that I didn't need. Note- travelling without a brain is not a good idea. That pain really wacked me. I stayed the night (or at least a few hours of it) in a hotel near the airport, then moved to a different, nicer hotel in the city. I spent the morning walking around the area, bought an arsenal cap, some dvds, and an amazing green papaya salad filled with all kinds of strange delicious things and fiery hot. The weather was sunny and beautiful in the 90's. It felt very good. In the evening I went to see Muay Thai and drank beer. I got back to the hotel, talked to Cindy and went to bed. Today I just hung out around the Siam center area looking at fancy malls, etc. and by the pool near my hotel. I will got home and get a massage and maybe some good food. (I ended up getting ok food at one of the seafood places where you pick the fish and they prepare it for you as you like.)

I slept well that night (after I watched a soccer game - they are constantly playing in Thailand) and left for Taiwan the next morning. It was nice to be back, but kind of sad too. Colder. But I enjoyed speaking Mandarin again. I had a melancholy afternoon unpacking, cleaning, and reminiscing.

india journal entry 5

(this entry was written in a starbucks in Bangkok. All of the others were written in the beach house in Puri, except for the first one which was written in the Bangkok airport on the way out, and this next little part which I'm remembering now)

The time in Puri was quite nice. The weather was wonderful and we strolled on the beautiful beach. I think Kevin swam, though I never went further than wading my feet in. This because the fishing village to the left used the beach as a bathroom, so the sand was littered with feces. And if you walked far enough to the right, you discovered the stream leading from the sewer to the water. A little too much poo for my taste. Still, the sand was nice, it was exciting to see the fishing boats, and I love sleeping near the sea. There were some nice, semi wild dogs around with lots of cute puppies, but of course they added to the poo quotient. The house had stairs leading directly to the beach, and a nice lush garden on the opposite side. Our cook made eggs and toast for us every morning but one, and I was smart enough to ask for the onion and chili eggs, which were delicious. For our final meal, we had coconut shrimp with lots of naan and daal. Yum. Before we left, a pearl salesman came and Shastine bought some beautiful pearls, including dark bluish ones that I have never seen before) for the jewelry she makes.

Day in Konarch

We went to the sun temple in the evening, which was a lot of fun. Erotic art, ruins, many locals asking to take photos with us, etc. Our tour guide was quite old, but helpful if a little hard to understand sometimes. We saw some aggressive monkeys as we left stealing food and generally looking dangerous. The sun was setting on the temple, which was nice, but the mosquitoes were also coming out in greater numbers. Afterwards, we met Jamie and Matt and went for beers at their hotel. I should mention that we had a personal driver arranged by the house which felt very Raj to me. He played Michael Jackson's greatest hits over and over.

The next day, I woke up early and had an Ayurvedic massage. It was ok, but it was in a hut and it was still cool in the morning, so it wasn't as relaxing as it could have been. I liked the stinky ayurvedic oils though. On the way out of Orissa we stopped and bought the cheap colorful lanterns that are everywhere here. Our driver had changed to Indian music at the request of Nora and Shastine, which was a nice change to be honest. The Orissan countryside was very beautiful, filled with palm trees, tropical fields, farmers, temples, etc. and the weather was sunny and warm. When we got to Bubaneshwar, we ate some mediocre overpriced food and visited the misnamed peace pagoda. This pagoda had been built by some japanese in the 70's. Forceful monks dragged us to various locations and blessed us in all sorts of ways, marking foreheads, giving leaves to eat, chanting, etc. and then hitting us up for money. No chance of peace here! Nice view of the area, though, as it was built on a hill.

Outside of Bubaneshwar, we visited the meditation caves used by Jain ascetics and we were completely swarmed by mosquitoes. You have to hand it to those jains, being able to meditate while millions of mosquitoes attacked. Shastine bought some food to give to monkeys from one of the hawkers who swarmed the car when we got out, but there was nary a monkey to be seen other then some disinterested guys hanging out on a fairly distant rooftop. The caves weren't that great, though I did enjoy imagining what it was like to be there meditating for years in a tiny cave. graffiti on the walls now, of course.

For the train back to Kolkata, the girls had first class tickets while Kevin and I shared a cabin with a family of serious snorers. Kevin slept deeply, I slept just ok and felt tired when I arrived in the city. When we did arrive, we took a taxi to Ruichi's (Shriya's mom) to drop off our bags. It was still very early, and noone was answering the door, so Kevin and I went for a walk and chat around the neighborhood while the girls waited to be let in. When we came back, they were inside and asleep. We chilled and I took a nap after they woke up. A shawl salesman with gorgeous hand embroidered cashmere and other shawls showed up and I was impressed with how beautiful and ornate they are. We ate delicious biryani and papadam with lots of lime pickle that Ruichi had prepared by her cook. We went out and did errands and walked. I bought spices and hung out with Kevin. We took the Kolkata subway until I said goodbye and got off to return to Ruichi's and pick up my bag. I had a quick tea there, then took a rickety cab to the very mosquitoey airport. After a long wait, I was off to Bangkok.

india journal entry 4

1/2

We walked around the area of our chateau after that, did some shopping, etc. Came back and slept, which felt great - I was still very tired. Woke up, drank beer, and played dominoes (Shastine beat the crap out of me). Kevin woke up and we went out for a huge dinner and drank a bit more beer. Came home and took a shower (the bathrooms were a bit dicey - lots of bugs and problems with hot water. But the shower felt wonderful. ) Went to bed and slept soundly. This morning we ate breakfast at a hotel next door to our villa with Matt and Jamie.

Will's wedding

was very interesting. Lots of chanting, throwing offerings (ghee, mostly) into the sacred fire, etc. Delicious food, as usual. I hung out with Leslie which was fun. Before the wedding, Will rode in on a horse while a great Indian marching band played and all of Will's friends and familly (including me) danced in front. It was hot, and I was wearing the same korta I had danced in the night before, so things may have been getting a little funky, but it was fun. While Will's bro was distracted from his role as protector, Shriya's sisters stole Will's shoes. It's traditional for him to then bribe them to get them back. Negotiation went on for most of the day as various items from both sides were stolen (Jack showed particular skill and enthusiasm) until Will caved and gave all the money he had. In the evening we went to the second oldest golf club in the world (from back in the raj days) and had more excellent food. Finally we went to a bar/club at a hotel which was expensive but fun.

Dance Party

The day before the wedding, there was a day party where all of the women got their mehti (the henna/hand design thing). Everyone hung out and chatted and helped the women (who couldn't move their hands for a couple hours) eat lunch and drink water. Later, we came back to the same place for an Indian dance demonstration, Will,Jack, and Matt's capoeira demo, and finally a dj and dancing on the stage. This was the first stage in the funkifying of my korta.

india journal entry 3

1/1

Took the train for Puri from Calcutta last night. I was so exhausted I could barely stay upright long enough to get into the train. We (Kevin, Shastine, Norah, and I) sat in the busy Calcutta train station and ate some snacks I got while we waited. I got about 9 hours of sleep in the rugged sleeper car. It was cold and loud, but I was knocked out. I felt much better after having got about 20 minutes of sleep the night before. There was some challenge involved in finding our driver and getting to the guest house when we arrived in Puri, and of course we were besieged by taxi drivers and hotel buskers while we waited. We finally made it here and it's really nice - an old, charming building on the beach with high ceilings and a friendly staff who wait on us and make us delicious meals. We just got back from a walk and we saw the big local temple that we are not allowed to enter. We gave a guy 50 rupees to take us to the top of a roof so we could see the temple a little bit better. Lots of monkeys involved.

india journal entry 2

12/29

Calcutta is the dirtiest place in the world. The air is unbelievable - just stepping outside makes me feel filthy. I''m already over my intestinal problems, which is nice. I'm surrounded by amazing food, none of which I can eat. I'm sharing a room with Josh - Will's cousin who I knew in high school - which is fine, though it's a bit more expensive than I would have expected. Yesterday I walked all over through filthy streets crowded with people. I bought a korta, shirts, sheets, a blanket, pillow cases, a bag, etc. All very cheap. Today people are getting hennaed and I'm going to try to find a phone to make an international call. I need to take more photos. My pants got very dirty yesterday, so I need to buy more today and get some laundry done. (those pants - chinos - were ruined with an oil stain as I brushed up against some kind of exposed machinery on an unbelievably crowded street. They're teaching pants now.)

india journal entry 1

well, here are the entries i made in my journal when i was in india back in january. perhaps not as fascinating as they should be, considering how great india was.

thoughts on thai airways:

Marketing possibilities-
1. Market to aviation history buffs who want to fly in an antique plane.

2. Market to contortionists looking for new challenges.

The airport in bangkok offers excellent simultaneous foot and shoulder massages for 600 baht.
But, the room I was given to crash for a few hours kicked me out 2 hours before my plane started boarding for Kolkata. It was a miserable, dingy room, but i really appreciated having it. The thai food in the airport, overpriced and small portions, was still the best thai food I had had in years!

i'm back!

sorry it's been so long! I've got a lot of catching up to do, and i will start with India. I was there over New Years and I have some stuff that I wrote in a journal that I plan to put up. I will do it soon, but now just rest assured that I am still alive and still thinking of you, my adoring public.

election

just a quick post. it's quite rainy and cold now - unpleasant weather to ride my scooter in. Had to buy a new raincoat yesterday, and i wear semi-waterproof pants every day. yuck.

last week was the big election, which to me meant annoying trucks blocking traffic and blasting indecipherable messages over a loud speaker. the green side lost out to the blue side, apparently. Whatever that means. i'm glad it's over.

gearing up for Will's wedding in india. it feels like it's coming up, and i'm really looking forward to it.

stache pt.2

i shaved my ridiculous mustache to an almost pencil mustache last night. I got rid of the pencil stache this morning.

new

Well, the weather is lousy now, winter has begun. Up until this week, it has been sunny and in the 80's, just right. Now it's rainy and cold and i'm grumpy all the time. i'm kind of bored, so I'm growing a fu manchu mustache. it looks disgusting - one of my students saw me, pointed to around his mouth and said: "teacher, yuck." that about sums it up. richard was up when i got up yesterday to eat breakfast wearing jeans and no shirt. he correctly pointed out that i looked like a gay biker. why am i doing this? ...

richard's cat fell off the balcony on saturday night and broke his pelvis. he has one of those plastic things around his neck, and seldom eats or drinks. he looks doped and miserable (which he is).

chinese class is moving brusquely, but i continue to enjoy it. i got my visa and plane ticket for india, so now i just need some shots. I also renewed my alien resident certificate this week. I have been sick (wow! so different...) and busy, so my workouts have suffered, which has no doubt contributed to my crappy mood. hopefully, photos will come soon.