China Trip - Part 1 (Beijing)

I have now been in Beijing, China for three days. The weather is hot, but not unbearable or as bad as I thought it would be. I had heard about the pollution before I got here, but I still wasn't prepared for the thick haze of smog that fills the city and turns the sun into a dull red disc in the sky. The city is huge and it is filled with countless large apartment buildings and broad avenues packed with cars.


Monday, my first day, I just spent exploring by myself. The taxis are very cheap here and there are over 90,000 of them in the city, so they are easy to catch. I started on the main boulevard that bisects the city and visited several of the markets. I started at a high-end shopping center where the staff bow to you getting on and off the escalator and then I went to the Beijing Friendship Store where I bought some Green Tea. Over at Silk Street, I had a fun time bargaining for a couple shirts. The first girl, got a high price out of me, but with that experience I was able to get a much better deal later on with the second.


Today, we went to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. The Square is huge and it is surrounded by gigantic buildings on all sides. The biggest building is Mao's Mausoleum at the center of the square. I wanted to see his preserved body inside, but it was closed as it is getting renovated for next years Olympics. We entered the Forbidden City which sits at the far end of the Square and has large portrait of Mao hanging over the entrance. We had a cool guide who told us all about the imperial city (I am going to have to see "The Last Emperor" when I get back) and took us to a great restaurant for lunch. Afterwards, we visited the Temple of Heaven which was built at what was considered the exact center of the universe for the Chinese.


Yesterday was great. We were able to escape the pollution in Beijing and go out to the Great Wall of China. It is in the hills about 2 hours north of the city. It was nice to see blue sky again and while the sun was still hot, there was a cool breeze blowing over the walls. We hiked all the way up to Tower 20 which is at the highest point of the reconstructed wall that we are allowed to climb. The wall follows the ridge line of the hills so there are allot of steps and hiking up and down from tower to tower. The last section is the steepest, a brutally long staircase and the last 40 steps I had to use my hands to climb but the view was worth it.


After the hike back along the Great Wall, Augusto and I rode a sledge down the hill. I sped pretty fast down the metal toboggan run with a hand brake to slow down if I got to close to the guy in front of me. Augusto forgot to slow down on the last turn and hit me pretty hard at the finish line. It didn't hurt but my legs went flying up into the air over my head. After resting up from the long hike we went to see the Chinese Acrobats (amazing!!!) and then to a really fancy restaurant for a Peking Duck Dinner. Lots of tanks filled with fish swimming around.


I was a little worried about if I would enjoy the food while I was here, but I am loving it. (Everything except the Peking Duck which I didn't dig.) They serve meals in restaurants potluck-style where we can order several different meat or vegetable dishes with rice to share. I am not much of a vegetable guy but I am really enjoying the broccoli served in some kind of butter sauce, the eggplant and the tofu cooked with an orange sauce I think. Some of the dishes are hard to explain. My favorite so far is the spicy chicken with peanut.


Tomorrow, I go cycling in the Hutongs, the older traditional neighborhoods in Beijing which show how the booming city used to look before it began modernizing so rapidly. In the late afternoon, we catch a 15 hour overnight train to the ancient Chinese capital, Xian, where the Terra Cotta Warriors were discovered.


p.s. The city really comes alive at night. The sidewalks are crowded not just with pedestrians walking around but residents bringing out little chairs and low tables to play cards, Chinese chess and several other domino-looking games I couldn't recognize. It is a huge city, but feels very communal. In the morning, you can see people doing Tai Chi on the sidewalks.


p.s.s. A lot of doorways here in Beijing have growling lion statues on either side of the entrance. I wonder what it means.


p.s.s.s I learned today that "Mei Guo" is the Chinese name for the United States which translates as "Beautiful Country". I haven't experienced any Anti-Americanism here in China (everyone is very friendly) and I have been surprised to see several men walking around the city wearing U.S. Army jackets. Strange considering how most of the world is pissed with America about Iraq.

Padres Game

I went to the Padres Game last night with a group from work. It was a blowout by the Padres who jumped out to a large lead early in the game with several homeruns to beat the Rockies, 8-0. We had tickets to the roof of the Western Metal Supply Co. building. It is a nice area with a good view of the field and free food and beer. I liked the self-serve nachos.

July 4th at the Beach

I spent July 4th at the beach with my family and my friend, Chad. It was a bit overcast but the sun finally began to burn through the cloud cover. Chad and I tossed the Frisbee for awhile and went swimming. The water temperature was nice and warm!


I went out surfing because the waves were good but I got stung by a couple of jellyfish. I saw a big purple one below me as I dropped in on a wave. I don't know when I got hit by the first one but as I was paddling back out my body started to sting all over. It felt like I was being attacked by a swarm of biting gnats. I decided to paddle back into the beach and felt something wrap around my left ankle as I rode up to the sand in some whitewater. I felt the effect right away as my ankle began to burn like it was on fire.


I haven't been stung by a jellyfish since I was a little kid. The lifeguard had some vinegar spray for my ankle, but I don't know much it worked. The stinging lasted for about an hour before fading away. I threw the Frisbee some more with my brother on the crowded beach and Chad grilled up some great burgers with bleu cheese cooked right in the middle of each one. Later that night, Chad and I went to go see "Knocked Up" and "Transformers". They were both great.

Memorial Day Weekend at Colorado River

I spent my Memorial Day Weekend camping out at the Colorado River. I drove out with my friend, Chad, on Saturday and drove back on Monday afternoon. It was his first time there. We were in a group of 20 in the uncrowded campgrounds of Pichacho State Park. I think the 18 mile dirt road helps keep the place under the radar which is nice. Chad and I got pretty light-headed from the leaky gasoline cans we filled up in Yuma for the boat.


The water was really high this weekend so most of the sandbars where we hang out during the day were submerged. We were lucky and found one of the few left above water tucked inside a reed-filled inlet that led to a small hidden lake. Chad and I decided to explore the lake on kayaks. It was beautifully surreal as we had to paddle through the multitude of dead trees poking up out of the water all over the lake. There was allot of wildlife; loud bullfrogs, large cranes and a small flock of vultures.


Most of our time was spent hanging out in the sun on our sandbar, tossing a Frisbee or snacking. We also got a good amount of boat time. It was my first time wake boarding in three years and Chad's first time water skiing in about fifteen. One of the kids we were with was very good and could get really high air on the wake board.


Six of us had a nice two hour float down the river from our sandbar to the North Dock on a makeshift raft of tied up inflatables with a beer-filled cooler sitting in the biggest inner tube. Casey and her boyfriend made everyone Bacon Cheeseburgers for dinner and we relaxed by the fire that I started.


On our last day, the river was mostly empty of boats so I got some nice pulls in the morning on the wake board with great flat water. Chad tried wake boarding for the very first time and was able to get up on just his third try. Very good. We all hung out at the North Dock before going for another float down the river. We ended up at a small submerged sandbar where we hung out for awhile tossing a football and hanging out in the sun.


On the way home, Chad and I stopped at Cracker Barrel in Yuma, AZ. It was the first time I have ever eaten there. I had the chicken breast that is covered in broccoli, cheese and some type of crunchy crust. It was really good.

Emery, my new Nephew

My brother, Jake, and my sister-in-law, Rebecca, had a new baby boy this weekend. His name is Emery and he just missed out on being an April Fool's Baby by coming one day earlier.


Emery is their second child after Ryder who is now 2 years old. Still no girl babies for my Dad, who now has five Sons and two Grandsons. The hospital room was quite crowded with all of us in there when we visited on Sunday morning.

Go-Cart Racing at K1 Speed

I went electric go-cart racing at K1 Speed on Friday night. They have a nice indoor track near Palomar Airport in Carlsbad. I went with Dave and a group of Vince's friends & family celebrating Vince's upcoming marriage. We all signed up for the Grand Prix Race Circuit which has 12 practice laps, 14 qualifying laps and the final grid start race with 16 laps.


The hardest thing to do while racing was passing. It is almost impossible to do it without bumping which can get you flagged. We had a welcome rest break between each set of laps. It was quite a workout on the hands and arms with the stiff steering wheel and all the constant sharp turning. My hands were shaking after each race.


My times improved through all three races. In the final race, my Best Lap Time was 32.41 seconds and my Average Lap Time was 33.35 seconds. I got my best lap times in the middle section of the final race after I finally passed the slower person in front of me. I then had lots of open room in front of me for a few laps before I caught up to the next position in front of me. I was stuck there for the rest of the race.


Vince had the pole position and finished in 1st Place and Dave jumped several positions in the final race to move into a surprising 3rd. The top 3 positions all got trophies. Afterwards we had a nice dinner over at the Karl Strauss Brewing Company. I had one of the best steaks I have had in awhile. Very tender and their Hefeweizen was very good.

Pre-Oscar Party in Hollywood

I drove up Wednesday night with Jacqueline to the New-Line Cinema Pre-Oscar Party in Hollywood. It was at the club, Mood, on Hollywood Boulevard. We had a hard time finding it because parts of the boulevard was blocked off as they set up for this weekend's Oscars. We ended up parking at the Kodak Theatre and walking through all the scaffolding and around the bleachers before we found the club a block away.


We had no problem getting into the club because we were on the list. We met up with Allie and the rest of the group who were already inside. We had a fun time dancing and hanging out. I didn't get home to Encinitas until after 4:00 in the morning. I was pretty tired, but at least I didn't have to go straight to work at 4:30 like Allie did.

North Hollywood on Dwellable

Coronado Bike Ride

On Saturday of this Labor Day Weekend, I went for a bike ride in Coronado with Chad and Fatima. We rode our bikes down through Little Italy to the docks to catch the San Diego Ferry across the harbor. We got a great view of the large aircraft carrier, the USS Midway, at the Navy Pier as we passed close by on the ferry.


This is my second bike ride in Coronado this year. There is a nice bike path that follows the San Diego Bay all the way to the south end along the Coronado's Silver Strand. It is a flat course, but it is a great place to practice riding in a paceline where we would take turns pulling off the front.


It was a beautiful sunny day, but there was a pretty strong head wind on the ride back up the bike path. That just gave us more motivation to keep a tight paceline to help conserve our energy.


After resting from our morning ride, we went to the Cadillac Diner in Hillcrest for a big meal to regain all the calories we had burned off.

Midnight Madness Bike Ride

Saturday Night I did the Midnight Madness Bike Ride with Chad and Fatima. It is an 18 mile course that starts and finishes in Downtown San Diego. People rode every possible type of bike and many wore costumes or pajamas. The ride started at midnight along the San Diego Harbor towards Point Loma and looped the lengths of Harbor and Shelter Islands.


Everyone had bike lights but it was still a little tough weaving our way forward through the large crowd of riders who started ahead of us. When the course reached Rosecrans Street, Chad, Fatima and I were able to get up to speed and haul ass towards Old Town and then back into Downtown to the finish.


We had a nice dinner at the Mona Lisa Restaurant in Little Italy before the race.

Fun Weekend

I had a fun weekend. I went to a party at Suzie's house Friday night, Medieval Times on Saturday, and a beach party at Tide Park in Solana Beach on Sunday.


Suzie's party was really fun. We played a drinking game version of Jenga and a game I have never heard of before, Body Jam! To play, you draw two pairs of cards to determine which body parts you have to use to carry two foam pieces to the bucket across the room without dropping them. I teamed up with Sara against Tiffany & Dave and Suzie & Kurt. After a tie and a triple play-off with Tiffany and Dave, Sara and I emerged victorious as the Body Jam Champs. I think all the Jello Shots helped get everyone in the proper game mood.


On Saturday, I went up to Orange County to celebrate my grandmother's birthday. The whole family went to Medieval Times where we were seated in the Blue Knight section. Our knight kicked ass in the games of skill, never missing a ring with his lance, but he was the first one to die in the one-on-one combat. Boooo! The food was quite good, even though you have to eat with your hands. This was my first time at Medieval Times, I have wanted to go ever since seeing it in the movie, The Cable Guy, with Jim Carrey.


I had fun hanging out at Tide Park in Solana Beach on Sunday. There was no waves but I had a fun time at the party throwing the Frisbee and playing wiffle ball. Blayne hit a nice walk-off double to lead our team to the win. The trash talker in the outfield wasn't able to get a handle on the line drive directly at him.

Helicopter Ride over North County

My brother, Joel, is a helicopter pilot and instructor at Civic Helicopters located at Palomar Airport, the busiest one-runway airport in the United States. He got his license last year and yesterday was my opportunity to go on a flight with him. I was a little worried that we wouldn't be able to fly because of the heightened security at US airports because of the arrests the night before in England of the terrorist plotters who wanted to blow up airliners with liquid explosives. It turned out to be no problem at this small domestic-only airport.


Joel took me up in the two seater helicopter that they called, 88 Spanky, the Love Machine. It is his favorite helicopter at work and was the one he flew to cover the Los Angeles and San Diego Marathons. It is a strange feeling taking off in a helicopter. You don't get that rush of speed you have in an airplane before takeoff, instead one moment you are sitting on the ground and the next you are going straight up. It feels like you are being lifted off the ground by a crane or something.


It was a beautiful day with hardly any clouds as we took off around 6:15pm. Within minutes, we were out over Baquitos Lagoon and heading for Leucadia. There was no doors on the helicopter so we enjoyed a nice cool breeze while watching the cars fight it out on the crowded freeway below. My head was on a swivel as I tried to take the whole view in at once. The ground seems so flat from the air, making it is harder to pick out landmarks I am so used to seeing everyday.


We flew over my house and out over Beacons Beach. The ocean was so clear below us and a few surfers gave us a wave as we flew overhead. We flew along at about 200 feet, the same height as the cliff, as we followed the coastline down to Swami's before turning around to head back to Beacons and buzz the house again. In such a small helicopter with no doors and a clear bubble, the sensation of flying feels so much more real than if we were in a bigger craft with smaller windows.


Leaving Encinitas, Joel let me fly for a while as we heading inland over Rancho Santa Fe toward Lake Hodges. At first, it was really tough because I kept overcompensating with the cyclic (stick that controls the rotors) but as soon as I concentrated on the horizon I started to get the hang of it. To fly forward and increase the speed I had to pull back on the stick until the front of the helicopter felt like it was about to go into a dive.


As we neared the high hills along the Del Dios Highway overlooking Lake Hodges, Joel took back the controls and headed in for a landing on one of the high ridges. We touched down at the end of a small dirt road at the edge of the ridge with a great view of the whole North Country area. I jumped out and Joel took off again to let me take a picture of the Helicopter in the air. For a brief moment, I thought he might play a practical joke and pretend to fly away and leave me stranded.


Flying back to the airport, Joel wanted to show me the runway and make a brief landing on it. Listening to him talk to the control tower in my headphones, I didn't even recognized his voice because he sounded so professional with all the flight jargon. The tower told us the airport was too busy at the moment so we just landed back at the helipad outside his hanger. I helped Joel and his boss wheel the helicopters back into the hanger before driving my car home on the boring roads. Heh!

Helicopter Photos

Sunset Surfing at Beacons Beach

With the heat wave we are having here in Southern California, it is nice to be able to go surfing after work. When I went out on Wednesday, I took a waterproof camera with me to take a couple of shots of what it is like outside in the lineup.


Like always, sitting outside waiting for your next wave is really peaceful and relaxing (unless the waves are huge).


The next best thing to actually riding a wave for me, is popping over or through the lip of a wave when you are paddling out.


The water is so warm right now. It is in the 70s, just perfect.


The best place in my opinion to watch a sunset is in the ocean, sitting on a surfboard.

Snorkeling at La Jolla Cove & Shore

I went snorkeling on Sunday with Chad, Fatima, Vince and Dave down in La Jolla. We went to the Cove first. For the last few years we have tried to come snorkeling here a few times every summer. The water was a little cold inside the small rocky cove but once we swam out into the open water the temperature warmed up. The visibility was not very great, but we saw the usual assortment fish with the bright orange Garibaldi being the most prominent.


The first cave along the cliff is pretty cool. It has two narrow openings that you can swim through into a decent size cave. There was a bit of a wave surge so I would use the forward swell to swim forward and then hang onto a rock along the bottom when the surge would suck back. The back of the cave opened out onto a rocky beach. We tried to get out on the beach for a brief stop but the waves were too rough against the rocks on the shore. Fatima lost one of her fins but Vince was able to rescue it before it was swept away. I was trapped with my back against a large rock as I got hit by wave after wave. I dropped my camera twice and I got scrapped up pretty good before I was able to escape back into deeper water.


Vince lost his mask while taking a picture with his camera so he headed back to the Cove. The rest of us swam further down the coastline to the second cave along the cliff face. The best visibility of the day was in the water outside. There were quite a few people on the little platform inside the cave that you can reach by going down the narrow tunnel steps from the old shell shop on the top of the cliff. The surge wasn't as bad there so I had less trouble entering and checking it out without getting washed up against the rocks.


After our swim back to the cove we were pretty hungry so we went to the Hard Rock Cafe up the street for lunch and a couple beers. The blue cheese burger with the horseradish sauce on the side was great.


After dropping Vince off at his car, we headed over to La Jolla Shores. Parking was hard to find but we finally found a spot by the Marine Room. I got stung when I stepped on a bee, but it was no big deal. We relaxed on the sand for a while before going out snorkeling again. We were hoping to see some of the leopard sharks that Kurt had told us were around this weekend, but all we saw was lots of stingrays and five foot long sandsharks.

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On Saturday, we went to Christina's Birthday Party at Moonlight Beach. I had a fun time surfing with Christina and playing quite a few games of sand volleyball. We had a nice bonfire after sunset.

La Jolla on Dwellable