Jonah Horowitz

Today was amazing. We toured the three gorges. The three gorges are upstream of the three gorges dam that I will see tomorrow. Eventually the water will be about 30m higher than in is now. Keep that in mind when looking at my pictures. I've posted them to my Flickr account, and I've also put a few below.

We started the morning with bad elevator music blaring out of the boat's PA system at 5am. The purpose of this was to get us up in time for our 6:30am tour boat. The tour boat was a smaller boat that took us up a branch of the Yangtze river. From this boat we transferred to a really small, almost canoe, boat that held about 20 people. This boat was powered by rowers at first and eventually, when we got to the river (as opposed to the lake) they pulled the boat up the river with ropes. The scenery through the whole thing was really amazing. The people pulling the boat were pretty amazing too. There are some pictures below. I was told that for all the effort the people who pull the boat put in, they get paid 25 Yuan, or about $3 US.

After our adventure up and back down this branch of the river we were taken to see a "performance." It was about 20 minutes of dancing and singing. I should also mention that the people pulling us up the river, as well as the people doing the performance are part of a "minority group" in China. One of the 53. The dance performance was entertaining. After it ended we returned to the main boat. We stayed on the main boat for most of the rest of the day.

On the main boat we traveled from x to y. On the way we went through all three gorges. It was amazing scenery. Again, check out the pictures. At the very end of the day we went to visit the White Emperor Temple. It was pretty tacky and lame in general, just check out these rope lights on the pagoda. On the way back from that I bought an amazing dinner from what was essentially a street vendor for 4 R.M.B, or $0.50. I also picked up a small bottle of ice tea for the same amount from another vendor. The dinner was a better deal.

Shortly after getting back on the boat and finishing my dinner I had to endure some endless story over the PA system, complete with bad music. I almost killed someone I swear. After just about forever, it finally stopped. I am about to go to bed, I have to get up at 5am tomorrow morning again!

Posted by Jonah Horowitz at 9:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last night we found out that we couldn't do any work this weekend so everybody on my team decided to leave Wuhan for the weekend. James, Jun and Leon all left to go see their families. Since I have no family to visit in China, I decided to do some sightseeing. Leon offered to show me around Hong Kong and Macau, but I really wanted to see the Three Gorges before they are submerged forever. I figured this was pretty much my best/last chance to do so. Hong Kong will probably always be there, at least it will be there longer than the Three Gorges. After some last minute calls around to different travel agencies in Wuhan last night we found a tour operator who was leaving for the Three Gorges Saturday morning (today) and returning Monday morning. I decided to go for it, and at only 760 Yuan, it seemed like a pretty good deal.

This morning I got up to go to the tour bus, but on the way there Jun called to verify things and they told him that the price was different for foreigners. Instead of 760 Yuan it was now 1800 Yuan. Jun was not about to take any crap like that so we went to a travel agent we were walking by instead. They found a tour (probably the same one the other guy was going to sell me for ~700 Yuan. I paid extra to have my own room, so the total was 1250 Yuan (about $150 US). We finished the arrangements at 10:15, and the bus was leaving at 10:30 so we ran out the door of the travel agent and over to where the bus was.

Turns out we didn't have to rush. The bus didn't end up leaving until almost noon. I was nervous about going on the tour myself because I don't speak any Chinese and I have been dependent on either Leon or Jun the whole time I've been in China. This is the first time I've ventured out on my own. Jun assured me that the tour guide would most likely speak English and that things would be okay. Well, my it turns out my fears were well founded. The tour guide does not speak any English. Fortunately, there is another person on the tour with me who does speak English. His name is Huang and he has been very helpful. He is from the Chinese province of Fusan, across from Tiawan. I also met a very nice Tiwanese man named Paul who also speaks English. Paul is an airline pilot for Eva Air. Between Paul and Huang I think I'll be ok without an english tour guide.

It's pretty clear that I'm not on a "foreigner" tour. The boat I'm on is pretty crappy, even if it is a "4 star" boat. Nobody on the boat's crew speaks English, and there are no pretty pictures in the menu. I'm very grateful for Huang's assistance. If it wasn't for him, I don't think I would have had dinner tonight.

Posted by Jonah Horowitz at 9:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So... the other night we were playing some drinking games here in Wuhan. I just had to take a video and share this one with you. It's just odd. Basically it's rock, paper, scisors, and after each throw, if you win you act like you're slapping the other person and they have to move their head like you are. If you throw a tie then you act like your kissing. If the other person doesn't do the correct action, then they have to drink. I think it makes more sense if you just watch the video.

Posted by Jonah Horowitz at 7:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (1)

Things I want to check out once I get stateside.

Cool Nalgene Bottle Hacks

Cool Burning Man Photos

Posted by Jonah Horowitz at 3:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm currently traveling in China with my buddy Robin Goodfellow (in the picture below).

Oh, and also, I'm saying "China" meaning really Wuhan. I'm sure things are different in other parts of China, but I'm not sure which things. I'm going to make this post about the food. I think food is one of the most widespread ways of sharing culture that we have in the world, and since we all eat several times a day, it's one of our most direct ways of experienceing other cultures.

The Food

First thing about the food, and I know this sounds obvious but, what you can order in a Chinese restaurant in the United States is pretty much completely different from what you can order here. I'm told that in Beijing and other cities with a lot of American travelers that there are restaurants that actually cater to "American Chinese," but in a real Chinese restaurant you will not find any Moo Shu or General Tso's or whatever you're used to in the US.

Another strange thing about the food here is that it seems like every place we go has the same menu, or at least it is all pretty similar. The only differences have been when we went to a Thai and a Korean restaurant. The restaurants here have menus with pictures in them for the most part, so you don't have to know Mandarin to be able to order.

My first night in Wuhan, Leo, the sales lead for the Gemini office in Beijing, took us out to dinner at a very nice restaurant. I think he was trying to see what he could get me to eat. It was my first time eating almost everything at the table including Snake, Bullfrog, Sea Turtle, and Chinese Lake Crab. All of it was interesting, and most of it tasted pretty good. One thing that I think is interesting is that food in China is less "prepared." What I mean by that is that the food takes more work to eat when you get it, and if it is meat, it is more likely to resemble the animal you're eating. They do not serve chicken without the bones, and the turtle they served me came as a whole turtle. Here is a picture of the some of the dishes once they arrived at the table.

The last point I guess I want to make about the food is that there is basically no dairy industry in China. According to this website, "China's per capita consumption of dairy products is only 13 kilograms a year, much lower than the average 300 kilograms reported in the developed countries and the world average of 100 kilograms." About all the dairy products I've had here have been imported. I took a picture of the labels from the hotel's continental breakfast.

Posted by Jonah Horowitz at 12:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Jonah Horowitz at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Fake beauty, video about transhuman tricks used on models:
Cory Doctorow:
The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty (bus-ads with pictures of beautiful, but heavy, or old, or off-average models) has posted a video called Evolution. It depicts an attractive -- but blemished and drab -- model being prepped for a bill-board, from the makeup to the photoshop. It's a very effective short film.

Regrettably, it's a stupid Flash video without a pause button, volume control, or fast-forward/rewind buttons. Argh. What a dumb way to do advocacy. Link (via Plasticbag)

Posted by Jonah Horowitz at 2:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Jonah Horowitz at 1:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Awesome ad from the september fund.

Posted by Jonah Horowitz at 1:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What's the best defense they've come up with so far? "Hey, we've been letting our guy molest these kids for years! Why bring it up now? Must be political."

Link

Posted by Jonah Horowitz at 4:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tips 18

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim quickly he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed and getting to the patient within 3 hours, which is tough. Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. But doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

1. Ask the individual to SMILE.
2. Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.
3. Ask the person to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently, ie: It is sunny out today)

If he or she has trouble with any of these tasks, call 9-1-1 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

-- Passed along by Michael Hawley

Posted by Jonah Horowitz at 9:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)