Slow Dinner

So recently I went to Germany and Austria, and one thing that struck me was the overall slow pace of the meal. While I realize that's generally a European thing, especially compared to the faster pace of American dining, it's something I really payed attention to since I was traveling and dining alone.

It may also be a function of eating at a lot of beer gardens and related establishments with extensive outdoor seating. Oftentimes you seat yourself and a waiter will eventually notice you and ask if you want a beer. When you're ready for the menu (or another beer), you eventually wave the waiter over and then order a while later at your convenience. After the dishes have been cleared I was never asked for the check, and I was generally let be to nurse my drink and look around. Eventually whenever I felt like leaving I'd go settle the bill and leave. I personally enjoyed this style of dining, when everything happened whenever I wanted to and the establishment didn't dictate the pace. Of course there were always Americans complaining about how slow the service is, since they wouldn't take the initiative to have their meal at their desired pace.

What I also enjoyed was that at these places there would be many large tables, so oftentimes you'd be sitting near other people and it's a great way to chat with the locals. Usually it would involve all of us laughing at me for being an idiot in some way or another, but always in good fun.

Nissan Rogue and Marketing

I recently returned from a trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, and while there rented a Nissan Rogue (which was an upgrade over the booked Nissan Sentra courtesy of my National Executive status). Over the 5+ days of the trip, I ended up driving the car 1,349 miles and ended up getting a pretty good feel for the car to the point I had to take a second to figure out how to drive my own car when I got back home from the trip.

The Rogue, in my opinion, is straight up awful, and essentially felt like a crossover SUV based on the Versa or Sentra. If you've driven either of those cars, you know that both of those cars are incredibly weak. A Versa starts at 109 horsepower, and a Rogue starts at 170 horsepower, which is not necessarily ideal for going through the mountains of a national park. Even National straight-up told me that the Pathfinder at 284 horsepower was a much better option.

Through those 1,349 miles there was many challenging points for the car. At its weak power it particularly struggled on hills. At about 6 degree incline the car maxed out at around 50 mph, and at a 10 degree incline the car would not travel above 38 mph (my car, with 228 horsepower on the base model, has no issues getting past 35 on a 24 degree incline near my place). Additionally, the car really struggled on turns, and in general the balance did not feel stable. The center of gravity felt way too high for a crossover, especially since I had previously driven a 2005/6-ish Honda Pilot when I had my permit (and when I initially had my license) and that felt incredibly stable compared to the Rogue. It also didn't help that any time a car passed in the opposite direction on those rural highways the hood would shake profusely as if it would become detached in the front and obscure the windshield.

Now, I understand that not everyone is looking to take this car through a mountain pass in the snow or drive it over uneven gravel to get to a river. However, these cars are marketed as such to the general public, when most of them will never need these cars for those purposes. Of course that's marketing at work.

Nissan Rogue Pitch (Click to Enlarge)

I believe that this kind of marketing is used to make people feel like their car can do anything; that it's some status symbol of some point (look at me, I'm outdoorsy!) that's easy to display. Obviously this seems to work, as the Rogue is still around and selling. However, the vehicle itself is next to useless in any challenging condition requiring anything beyond basic all-wheel drive functions. I'm not even sure the car would make it up my parent's driveway, which might be 25 degrees, during a snowstorm. While I think the Rogue is much better suited for city driving, advertising it as such isn't going to drive sales as much as advertising it an an outdoors car, which is too bad for consumers who don't look at all the specifications before buying a car.

Visiting The South

This past weekend I traveled to the deep south for the first time (because we all know Florida doesn't count as the deep south), spending the weekend in the Mississippi gulf coast town of Ocean Springs. Naturally I wasn't expecting how the south is portrayed in the media and entertainment industries where everyone sits on their porches with sweet tea overlooking vast plains of grass (and other portrayed stereotypes). However, I am unable to provide a great perspective, as I was pretty busy with an event most of the weekend and I wasn't able to really explore. I was only able to go out to eat once, and that was the Wendy's next to the hotel because the Waffle House was too far away. All my other meals were catered as part of the event, which didn't help me explore the south.

That being said, there were a good number of observations. Everyone I engaged with seemed happy to just chat and shoot the breeze, starting with my taxi driver from the airport, who essentially gave me a small commentary of the coastal areas we were passing from Gulfport to Ocean Springs and continuing onward with the drivers of the shuttles for the event. At Wendy's (and a restaurant at the airport) every customers were addressed as Sir of Madam. They're also really into their soda (or coke as they call it). The Wendy's had one of those touchscreen soda machines, but the selection was huge-they carried seemingly every known variation of Coca Cola (including the flavored variations) and Fanta flavors (lime) that I had never heard of before. No wonder obesity is such a problem. They also really like their sweet tea, and I have to say it's quite tasty, and I even took the liberty of making my first Arnold Palmer (and I see why people like it so much). However I would have to say that the Mississippi gulf coast is a place I would like to stay for an extended period of time-sure the food would be good for a few days, but after a while I would easily get bored.

A Slight Redemption, With A Twist

Two Thursdays ago (I know, I'm bad at this updating thing), I went to see a second performance of the Seattle Symphony. However, the adventures began before I even arrived at the concert hall.

I previously detailed my various bus adventures, including someone getting arrested and my poor luck involving the downtown tunnel station. This time both were combined when someone was arrested on the bus heading towards the downtown tunnel station. When the bus arrived, the driver wouldn't let anyone on, citing that the engine was overheating and needed to cool down. After about 10 minutes, we were allowed to board the bus, but the bus wasn't moving. Several minutes later, the police arrived to arrest a rider. Apparently he had been drinking and was verbally threatening other passengers. At this time, the bus driver then spoke to the officers and we disembarked from the bus to catch the next bus to the tunnel station. Needless to say, that bus was pretty packed with two busloads of riders, and I barely made it into the auditorium before the program began.

Tchaikovsky & Dvořák

Thursday, September 18, 2014

7:30 PM

Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg - Richard Wagner

Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23 - Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky

Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso – Allegro con spirito
Andantino semplice – Prestissimo
Allegro con fuoco

Daniil Trifonov, Piano

-Intermission-

Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op. 70
Allegro Maestoso
Poco adagio
Schertzo: Vivace - poco meno moso
Finale: Allegro

This time I had orchestra level seating, which means I had a more "standard" view of the orchestra (sorry no pictures). Overall I felt that the orchestra played more as one cohesive unit, which was a nice improvement over the previous performance. I was pretty excited to see the Tchaikovsky piano concerto performed, though it would be difficult for anyone to match the legendary Van Cliburn. Trifonov is a very technically talented pianist, though he seemed to give off a nervous vibe, hurrying through certain passages; more concerned about finishing without a mistake than being expressive. His movements were a little jerky, and this was most evident when he was walking/bowing/etc. It seemed to reflect some lack of elegance and stage presence, reducing his ability to truly bring music to the audience. Overall the performance was pretty good, but definitely not great. My next date with the symphony is this Saturday, a performance that Hillary Hahn has pulled out of due to medical concerns. We'll see how that goes...

Flying Lufthansa Long-Haul (AKA United, Step Up Your Game)

Adapted from my trip review I wrote in Flyertalk

Firstly, I'm not one of those people who fly all the time, whether it be for work or pleasure. Nor do I generally fly premium cabins or have access to lounges. However, I have flown some and have achieved some low-level elite status (that doesn't really get me much), and now I understand the system much better thanks to places like Flyertalk. (I'm also not quite as smitten and exited when I do occasionally fly domestic first class on US-based airlines, unlike my other flight review, which was my first time in any premium cabin.)

This flight, as part of my trip to Norway, was a lot of firsts, which I will be highlighting. Beginning with: first long-haul flight on Lufthansa!

 Airbus 330-300 (Click to Enlarge)

The Downtown Tunnel Station and Murphy's Law

Early I wrote about how I see weird things on the bus, and I continue to chronicle my bus adventures. Recently, most of my trips that involve the downtown tunnel stations seem to result in some kind of issue/incident.

My Murphy's Law experiences began in May, when I was trying to go SEATAC airport. A bus had broken down at the first tunnel station (Westlake) going southbound, and the bus wasn't towed into the middle area of the tunnel (between the two lanes) for about 20 minutes. My bus going downtown showed up right after the bus had been moved out of the way and they were boarding passengers into the alternate bus. This meant that the light rail (train) that goes to the airport can't run, so the resulting fiasco resulted in three trips worth of commuters trying to cram into a single train. It also didn't help matters that we had to depart the train one stop away from the airport and board another train because the train was beginning to overheat. My return on that trip featured the "phantom bus" that never showed up.

More recently I ran into another similar incident coming home from downtown. In this case I didn't see any cause of an incident, but there were at least 3 full busloads of people waiting for the university express, which is not a normal sight. After the next university express bus arrived, only a small handful of individuals boarded the bus. Since this route is run every 15 minutes, it would have taken over an hour to board a bus. Instead I boarded a bus above the street to head back to campus. However, while we were going up Broadway in Capitol Hill, we were temporarily slowed by a small march speaking against the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict, further delaying my return to campus (and work :P).

Granted I take the bus most days to and from work without incident (though today something happened which resulted in all the buses I could take home from the office between 6 and 7 to arrive at 7), but apparently I seem to attract mistakes when I take pubic transit downtown.

Upgrade!

This past weekend I received my first (!) free upgrade to first class on my own! Finally being a lowest-tier elite has its perks! All you have to do is fly a leisure-traveler-intense flight, such as out of Las Vegas late on a Sunday, which, you know, we all do all the time...

/end sarcasm

Also, winter quarter sucks. It always seems to be the busiest, dreariest, and generally least happy quarter of the year. All this rain definitely doesn't help...

Worst Flight Ever?

Red-eye, SEA to IAD

The plane has a 3-3 economy configuration, and I have the isle seat on the right side. Soon thereafter, a family of 7, with none of the five children seemingly above 6 (and they definitely acted the part), sat down around me-three children across the isle, one more in front of me, and the remaining three across the isle from her. Then a family with a newborn (definitely less than 12 months) sits down the row behind me.

As soon as the plane starts moving (and by that I mean as soon as we pull out of the gate) the baby starts screaming, and I could not drown out the baby's screaming with my over-ear headphones (or at least to the point I could barely tolerate my music without busting my ears). Throughout the flight, the parents tried to placate the baby to no effect, even carrying the baby up and down the plane (and probably waking up half the passengers that could actually fall asleep). I'm not sure how the baby managed to scream almost nonstop for almost 5 hours, but the baby finally fell asleep...as we landed at 530am.

Of course, the fun didn't end there. As soon as the seat belt sign was off, the father of the family of 7 sprung up and grabbed several (probably 7) pieces of luggage from the overhead bins and placed them in the aisle, thereby blocking almost everyone from going anywhere, which was a problem because he couldn't seem to get his kids to take a suitcase and get off the plane, and no one was able to get off the plane for about a good minute after the first class passengers got off.

My advice on flying with very small children: don't. If your child cannot behave and control themselves in public, don't fly with them until they can. If you absolutely must fly, fly when it's not going to disrupt everyone else, especially on a red-eye. You can't go around telling everyone that your child will behave because you think that your child is special and thus obviously can't have any faults because you're a perfect parent. This is obviously not true and is just an indication of people's lack of taking personal responsibility.

Food Is Amazing!

For me one of the highlights of being back in China is the food and eating all sorts of unique and wonderful treats. Granted this time I haven't eaten anything too adventurous yet, but I've still got two weeks left here. Also, I'm not sure about half the things I eat, because sometimes I'd rather not know what I've eaten. But the highlights:

-I'm fairly certain I've had curdled blood. I'm not entirely sure, but I think it showed up in a soup somewhere.

-Chinese snails are different than French snails. In France, the snails are usually somewhat large and picked out with a small fork. In China, especially in rural China, the snails are really small and you actually suck the snails out of their shells.

-白酒 (white liquor). That stuff is really strong and has been described as the combination of gasoline and alcohol, which is not entirely inaccurate. It's pretty difficult to drink the first time around, but it kind of grows on you, even with it's strong finish. It seems that it doesn't go to your head quite as much as other drinks, though it might be because I've only had it with meals.

-Pig ears/tails/etc. are very common, so it's nothing really too exotic, and same for jellyfish.

-Duck head was very interesting. It's not very meaty, and it's a little hard to pick around it if you're trying to avoid any part of it in particular.

-Right now I'm in 湖南 (Hunan) province and there are peppers everywhere and it's pretty awesome.

-Frogs legs, though they taste like any other meat...

-Red dragonfruit, while it tastes like regular (white) dragonfruit, is incredibly rare (and looks bloody if you get it all over your face...)

Going to a restaurant in China is also a much different experience. In a restaurant in China, the wait staff is there to serve you, and they really do-you can ask most anything of them (especially at good restaurants and restaurants where you can get a private room). For example, when they bring out a big bowl of noodles for the table, you can ask them to portion it out for you.

Travelling outside the country is also nice because airlines serve food. It's not really a huge perk, but it's a nice plus. For a 90-minute flight, we got a hot lunch of rice, beef, and veggies that is larger than a meal you'll see on an international flight on a major American carrier.

Back To The Motherland!

Navigating an Intersection in Central Stockholm

(Click to Enlarge)

Sweden, like a good handful of European countries, is generally pretty bike-friendly, pedestrian-friendly, and has good public transport. To outsiders, the intersection might look like a jumbled mess of everyone going everywhere, but within the chaos there's dictated organization. It took me a few minutes of watching to completely figure out what's going on at this intersection. Some interesting things showed up, though. If you wanted to get from the left side of the picture to the bottom (by car), you had to go through the intersection and then take a left turn around the building in the top right to end up at the top of the intersection.

I did forget to draw a green arrow from the buses up top to the bottom (and I misspelled buses in the picture...). I'm too lazy to change it, but I'm sure you get the idea :)

Scandinavia: Snap Judgements

Internet has been really spotty out here and the connections are pretty sporadic, but here it goes.

So far I've been here almost five days, and it's been a good bit of time.

Stockholm:
-The people are really nice (and helpful as well, which is really awesome).
-Also, almost everyone knows Swedish and English. Most people seem to know a third language as well (about as well as we study a secondary language in the States).
-The city is really bike-friendly. There are bike lanes along most roads and intersections.
-Things seem a little expensive here, but I'm not a very good judge of what Swedes consider expensive
-I've had a ridiculous amount of smokes salmon and meats, though from I've heard that's not an everyday occasion
-The city itself is really beautiful and public transit works
Edit: The girls here are also very beautiful ;)

Helsinki:
-A ridiculous number of people smoke here, especially in places where there are "no smoking" signs.
-The city tends to smell really bad. Even after it rains, it doesn't have that characteristic clean smell. It still smells like crap all the time.
-The layout of the city is really organized and looks really nice.

I'd definitely have to say Stockholm is the better city :P Granted, I only spent one day in Helsinki and most of the rest of the time was spent in Stockholm.

How Airlines Keep Their Best Customers (and Flying on the Dreamliner!)

On my most recent journey back to California I flew first class for the first time. I received a free upgrade to first class and I can now see how airlines can retain their elite fliers. After my small regional flight I had two flights on first class: PHL->IAH->LAX.

I Think US Airways Sucks

Of course most US-based airlines suck, but my recent trip seemed to take the cake.

In my opinion, Philadelphia is one of, if not the, worst airports in the country. A transfer at the airport was a 25-minute walk and a shuttle. On the shuttle, we drove past a bag lying outside on the ground. This bag, which had previously fallen off a luggage cart, had its checked tag on and was being soaked in the rain. After our shuttle passed the luggage, another luggage cart passed the bag and didn't pick it up.

Nice.

Brazil Days 7, 8 and 9: The End

I got a little busy with relatives visiting, group meeting stuff, research, and beginning the grad school application process. So...

Day 7 (July 12): Leaving the Amazon

In the morning we went and visited the local rubber man. Currently most of the world's rubber production is in Malaysia since the trees were exported out of Brazil and production is cheaper there. Throughout the morning he scratched trees and collected the rubber. To make his various items (ranging from wallets to gloves to condoms), he would layer the rubber sap on the molds one at a time and dry them over a fire. After a short while we went around the area to sample some local wild fruit and to just wander around a little.

Collecting sap from the tree (Click to Enlarge)

Drying the layers (Click to Enlarge)

To finish the morning we went to the local school, which children arrive using a school boat. The first thing I noticed was the soccer field next to the school-even by the river, soccer is a huge part of the life.

Soccer field at the school (Click to Enlarge)

The school itself consisted of about 10 rooms, and the school served many people. Young children attended classes during the morning, teenagers attended during the afternoon, and adult classes were in the evening. There were a few computers but for the most part the education was pencil and paper-based, which is a refreshing departure from our internet-dependent society.

The local schoolhouse (Click to Enlarge)

After returning to our lodge, we had lunch and prepared for the journey back to Manaus. It was sad to leave such a beautiful place, but all good things do come to an end. After arriving in Manaus in the mid-afternoon, we hung out in town until dinnertime, when we were taken to the airport. In the airport, check-in for a flight usually doesn't begin until about 2 hours before the flight, and since we had a 3:30am flight, we had to bum around the airport for several hours. After checking in (and 2 gate changes within 15 minutes of departure), we boarded the 4-hour flight returning to Rio.

Brazil Day 6: Jungle Adventures

Day 6 (July 11): Jungle Adventures

It was already light out when I woke up past 6am, and outside we were greeted by this lovely pair of small birds.

Birds outside the lodge in the morning (Click to Enlarge)

After breakfast we headed up the river to go for a jungle hike on a trail. However, we ran out of motor oil so we had to take a slight detour to an unmarked area. At the beginning we found an ant nest, which locals use to mask their scent (especially from the hornets). You let the ants crawl up your arms before smashing the ants and spreading their guts all over.

Chao spreading ants on herself (click to Enlarge)

For our hike, our guide took a machete and essentially sliced a trail through the jungle, cutting through foliage along the way. The jungle was quite dense throughout, and there were a lot of neat things to see. Our guide showed us many twigs and branches that the locals extract from for medicine. We also found some brazil nuts, which have a nice crunch to them. One of our fellow travelers also tried a bug that's found in a fruit, saying that it basically tasted like the fruit.

The jungle is dense stuff  (Click to Enlarge)

A furry caterpillar (Click to Enlarge)

After a few hours of going through the jungle, we returned to the boat to head back to the lodge for lunch (slowly of course, since the motor was going pretty slow).

Brazil Day 5: On the River

Back to writing! The GREs are over and now it's time to start looking at grad schools.

Day 5 (July 10): In the Amazon

We got up around 5:30am to pack up and head back to the lodge. The previous night was mostly uneventful for me, as I was one of the first to fall asleep and wasn't bitten by any mosquitoes during the night. Some of the others had a few issues with mosquitoes and the humidity and had a slightly rocky night. The sun was rising over the river on our way back, and it was definitely quite a sight.

Sunrise over the river (Click to Enlarge)

Early morning from the lodge (Click to Enlarge)

After breakfast we took some canoes out on the river. Since the water was at a high level, we could canoe through parts of the forest, which was really cool. Along the way we saw some massive ant and hornet nests (around one foot long) on the trees. On the way back Chao tried to swim back against the river, but after a few minutes she had made very little progress. Very soon afterwards the boat was rocking due to people shifting their weight too much when they were changing their paddling sides, causing us to take on too much water and sink. Unfortunately for me I lost my glasses and my point and shoot decided to take a little bath in the river (which means no more pictures for the rest of the day on the river).

After lunch we went piranha fishing, which, like any other fishing, is an exercise in patience and persistence. We fished in some quiet forested areas, and used a very basic setup of fishing line attached to the end of a stick. Our bait was pieces of chicken on the end of the hook. Catching the piranha was a little tricky, as they like to nibble away at the food and then swim away. To catch a piranha, you have to pull the line up as soon as you feel the nibble and hope the hook catches the fish. After a few hours, the seven of us caught six piranhas-the guide caught five and I caught one. We almost got a couple more, but the hooks didn't quite catch the fish well enough.

Sunset from the lodge (Click to Enlarge)

Before dinner, one of the dogs became really hyperactive and started humping people's legs. After dinner we went caiman spotting. They're not easy to spot (at least for me), but the one thing that stands out is their eyes, especially when you shine a flashlight at them. Out guide even reached into the water and pulled out a caiman, which measured about 50cm. It was a relatively young one (they grow up to 5m), so it wasn't very large and heavy. Afterwards it was off to bed before the jungle hike in the morning.

Brazil Days 3 and 4: To the Jungle!

Day 3 (July 8): Travel Day

We had an early flight out of Rio to Sao Paulo (the smaller airport). We got to the airport early and got bumped up to a flight that was leaving an hour earlier. It was mostly uneventful, except for the fact that there was food, which is common among non-US-based airlines (tried Guaraná for the first time!). I'd also have to say there was more legroom, but it wasn't noticeable since I'm pretty short.

Upon arriving in Sao Paulo we took a taxi to Ibirapuera park, where we more or less wandered around for most of the day (without Evan, who went to his conference). It rained on and off, though that didn't seem to deter the many runners and bikers in the area. For lunch, I tried something called an açaí frooty, which resembled an açaí frozen yogurt covered in bananas and granola. In the afternoon we went to the nearby planetarium, where we had no idea what was going on and we ended up falling asleep. I still don't think I know anything about astronomy in Portuguese.

Later in the afternoon we went to the other airport in Sao Paulo to catch our flight to Manaus. At the airport I tried a salgado (a meat-stuffed pastry) for the first time, and I'd have to say it was pretty good. Our flight at 11:30pm was nothing unusual in Brazil, as most airports fly 24 hours to increase volume. This was also the first time we learned that Brazilian airports tend to change gates of planes a lot (only once this time).

Brazil Day 2: Tijuca National Park

Day 2 (July 7): Tijuca National Park

Breakfast at the hostel was pretty basic: bread, guava jam, cheese, ham, and a few other small things. Afterwards we took a taxi out to Tijuca National Park, which is a little ways away from Rio. I was asleep for most of the ride, but the taxi driver drove us a good bit into the forest. When we got off, we weren't exactly sure where we were (which was a general theme for me at least...). We soon found a posted map and started our walking for the day.

In general I had no idea where we were going, but it was definitely an adventure running around the place. We saw quite a few things, including some very nice waterfalls and lots of fruit trees. The park was very heavily forested, so it was pretty hard to get good views of Rio.

Brazil Days 0 and 1: Arrival in Rio de Janeiro

I'll be gradually chronicling my trip to Brazil last week. Woo! Lots of pictures with the SLR!

Day 0 (July 5): Travel Day
The day was mostly uneventful, consisting of plane flights. I packed light, squeezing everything (including my SLR with three lenses) into a backpack. Preparations were pretty extensive (and expensive), which included typhoid and yellow fever vaccines and malaria medication.

Day 1 (July 6): Arrival in Rio
I arrived in Rio de Janeiro around 8:30am. After going through customs and navigating my way out of the airport, I boarded the Rio Ônibus line 2018 to head to the hostel ($R 12). (Some advice on the Ônibus: The bus will stop anywhere on its route, so when your stop is coming up, go and tell the driver where you would like to get off. Also, I would not recommend taking the Ônibus back to the airport since the buses aren't regular and they won't always stop for you.) Instead of taking the Ônibus all the way to Ipanema, I got off in the city and took the metro to Ipanema ($R 3.20 for one ride), saving about 45 minutes on my route to the Hostel Harmonia. I got there in time for the end of breakfast and the end of Roger Federer destroying Djokovic at Wimbledon. After Chao, Evan, and Neal arrived from Teresópolis in the early afternoon, we settled in and headed over to Sugarloaf Mountain (Pão de Açúcar) after a lunch at Galitos. In Rio the buses are pretty interesting. When you board the bus there is someone who sells you a ticket after which you proceed through one of those small rotating gate counters.

The second hill of Sugarloaf (Click to Enlarge)

Sugarloaf consists of two hills: the first hill can be reached by cable car or by foot, and the second hill can be reached by scaling the hill (rock climbing) or by cable car from the first hill. It was a pretty decent climb to the first hill through the densely-forested hill. By the time we reached the first hill it was almost sunset, and it was quite a sight.

Christ the Redeemer from Sugarloaf (Click to Enlarge)

Sunset over Rio (Click to Enlarge)

After returning from Sugarloaf, we stopped at some restaurant next to the hostel for some dinner before an early night.