April 20, 2004

so so so ...

it turns out i'm going to brown this fall for a phd in computer science. ok.

Posted by cce at 01:32 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

April 12, 2004

jetlag

just switch "am" to "pm" (or vice versa) and that's the time zone i just came from. this is a battle i can win. vincero. this melatonin seems to be working, though.

Posted by cce at 11:23 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 09, 2004

hongkers

eraseme.jpg

yo, just a quick entry from the pacific coffee branch on the peak in hong kong ... here i am with friend sophie! hong kong is just as wonderful as i'd remembered it, minus the sars masks. okay!

Posted by cce at 05:33 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

April 05, 2004

beijing

just arrived at the hotel in beijing; my initial impressions are that it's a bit different now than the first time i was here in december '00:

  • the taxi drivers didn't try to cheat us at the airport, as they did when i first arrived -- this probably owing to the big sign the authorities posted with estimated fares to various destinations outside.
  • the traffic was much more sedate -- no one seemed to go over 100 km/h, and the driver did not attempt to use an entrance lane as an exit lane, as i've past experienced,
  • there are crazy construction sites and new apartment buildings sprouting up everywhere, even out to the remoter areas towards the airport. development does, in fact, seem to be an immutable truth.

    Posted by cce at 06:03 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

    • April 03, 2004

    suzhou

    went to suzhou and zhouzhuang today, the "venice of the east," to look at canals, gardens, and ride in a gondola. okay, a chinese gondola.

    spotted in giant letters on a billboard outside the suzhou new industrial area:

    发展是硬道理 DEVELOPMENT IS AN IMMUTABLE TRUTH

    ... this after driving past construction workers plowing down quaint ancient-looking chinese homes along the grand canal to make way for new euro-villa condos. my parents lamented the chinese lack of concern for historical buildings, but it's hard fighting an immutable truth. if the old doesn't go, the new won't come, as they say.

    (on a related note, this blog would certainly benefit from a digital camera. too bad i'm generally a "late adopter.")

    Posted by cce at 10:45 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

    April 01, 2004

    shanghai

    arrived in shanghai. we're staying at the historic Peace Hotel, unthinkable by my $10/day standards, but i'm starting to get use to our swank 1930's art deco accomodations. the place was built back then by baghdad jewish rich-dude Victor Sassoon, who made a lot of money in opium, i hear, and then bought basically all of shanghai. the place is pretty well preserved; the "Old Jazz Bar" downstairs is like a scene out of the movie "Shanghai Triad".

    just went to a yonghe (their logo is the asian colonel sanders, it's funny) to fill up on noodles and soup dumplings; now it's time to sleep off my jetlag with a full belly. ok.

    Posted by cce at 11:50 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack