Qingdao

This is a view of some of Qingdao, China. Pretty nice place.

Korean food

We had lunch today at an incredibly wonderful Korean restaurant. I must say, it is the best Korean food that I have had so far. It was very fancy and we had our own private waitress who stayed in our private room and waited on us only. High falootin stuff!

States I have visited

create your own personalized map of the USA

OK, I am just following along in the wake of those who have blogged before me, but, tough. I'm older than you guys and I have been in 38 states! So there, pbbbbbtttt.

Brazilian barbecue in China!

The advent of Brazilian barbecue in China just might outdo Starbucks! What a feast!

Countries I have visited (or at least been in the airport)

create your own visited country map

Misc Shanghai Pics

Waving Hello

Me and Mau waving hello from some university campus in Shanghai. (I don't remember the name of the university, except that I couldn't pronounce it)

Shanghai sights

I don't really know where this is, except that it is fairly near a wonderful restaurant called "Shanghai Uncle". Mmmm, mmmm, good! In fact, it was the best meal I have ever had in China!

Rough Start to a Long Trip

Well, we got a rough start to our two weeks of traveling.  While on the way to pick up my traveling companion to go the airport, a guy on a motorcycle pulls right out in front of me, while I was traveling at a pretty high rate of speed.  I hit the brakes, then hit him.

 

I reckon I put down about 475 yards of black marks, well, ok, about 40 feet.  And I skidded another 20 feet or so AFTER I hit him.  By God’s grace alone, that man didn’t die today.  I hit his motor cycle about at the handle bars.  I figure I was going about 50/60 kph when we collided.  It knocked parts of his motor cycle and my truck all over the road.  It really was a miracle that he didn’t die.  Another 6 inches out in the road and the truck would have struck his body, instead of his moto.

 

He ended up with a hurt ankle, but he was walking around and it didn’t appear to be broken.  I think he knew he was lucky to be alive.  There was a man there who spoke some English and he helped us sort it all out.  We were all set to let each person take care of his own stuff, until the man’s family member arrived.  She saw money signs since I am a white foreigner.  She got the man all riled up and the man started writing down my tag number.  Once we saw that, we said we should call the police.  I was afraid that they would go to the police later then try to claim it was a hit and run or something like that.  It just so happened that a policeman came by on his motorcycle and sorted it out for us.  He felt that we should each pay for our own.  That shut the female relative right up.

 

Anyway, to sum up, we made it to the airport on time and I am now typing this way above Viet Nam or somewhere.  I’ll send it when we get to Shanghai!

Two Week Trip

I leave tomorrow morning for a two week trip. I hope to post some exciting travel pictures.

Bloglines Subscription Correction

My wife pointed out this morning that the "Subscribe to Bloglines" button on the right hand column subscribes you to my "old" blog. I have corrected that as of a few moments ago.

Bloglines is a really cool tool that lets you check everybody's blog without having to actually go to their blog. A list of all the blogs you have subscribed to shows up and if any of them have new posts since you last checked, then it indicates that. It is pretty cool.

Tower of Babel

(Click on the picture for a bigger image.)

A friend of mine recently made a trip to Iraq and brought me back some of their money. On the back of this 250 Dinar note is the Tower of Babel. I find that absolutely fascinating.

More important than burritos

I think this sign sums up the failure to understand the gravity of the situation. If this man thinks the whole immigration issue is about trivialities like burritos, he is dead wrong. It is about the legal right to enter a country after going through all the "hoops".

I just got word that my Hong Kong visa is ready. I (and many others helping me) had to jump through bunches of hoops to live in Hong Kong LEGALLY. It irks me to think that folks think they can cross the border into the US then live off our "gravy train" without paying taxes or taking any civil responsibilities. I really do understand what it is like to live in a poor nation, but they must still jump through the hoops.

Do those who are planning these large protest events not think that everyone who lives in the USA is not decended from immigrants (including the native Americans)? Someone has dropped the ball in the thinking process. They are aiming straight for the emotional jugular vein.

Monkey Email

Go to THIS site to hear "me" speak. (Update: This link will only take you to the website to create your own Monk-email. My voice is no longer available as stored data 11/06)

Well, OK, then...

Well, just to let you know, I ended up having "a little bit" of fun yesterday. I didn't want to, but I was forced to.

Actually, it was a pretty good time. We all got sun burned, except for Emily.