Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Taiwan!

Made it to Taipei, Taiwan!

Bittersweet though.  

I could tell right away that this city is cool.  Clean, people are helpful and friendly, drivers obeying traffic laws, nature mixed with city.....similar to Hong Kong.

All this made me think of this analogy- Shanghai is similar to maybe Cleveland....maybe a dull Sacramento....Detroit?  Whatever- what I mean is When they built Shanghai they pretty much bull dozed everything in their way, poured 12 trillion tons of concrete on the ground, and called it good.

As a result, it lacks character and depth when you consider it's natural surroundings and environment.

Unfortunately what you get is dirty air and cranky people (in my opinion).

Hong Kong and Taipei aren't like that.  There are large swaths of natural forest, hills, clean waters, and on and on....all reminding me of home.

Enough.

I booked a fishing guide to take me out tomorrow.  They'll pick me up at the hotel and take me to the Yeelee River.  $100 gets you a full day fishing, transportation, and lunch.  Don't tell my clients that!

That was the good news.  The bad news is that I told my guide I brought a 3 weight fly rod and he said it was too heavy!

By Oregon standards, a 3 weight is light, and small- stocked fish are usually on the agenda when you're talking 3 weight.....so if a 3 weight is too heavy here- how small are the fish?  Guess we'll see.....

Last, in 3 days Sarah and I have been in Hong  Kong- back to Shanghai (one night), and are now in Taipei.  Funny thing is Taipei and Hong Kong feel similar because we're staying at the same hotel- and both have views of some of the worlds tallest buildings.  Just odd.

I leave you with some photos of the views- first in HK, second in TT....


Friday, May 10, 2013

Ok.....

Ok, ok, ok ok ok ok ok ok ok ok.....

I'm not gonna lie.

I ain't be tellin no non truth  yo.

Straight up here you go.....

If you haven't been to Hong Kong you need to go.

I think god put me on this earth just to spread the word of Hong Kong!  This place is sweet!

First of all- most all the chicks have most their teeth.  Take that shanghai!  

Second- about one in five people on the street are "western".....feels like home!

Third- the food is donkey on Opposite Day.

What more do you want?  Move it folks and get you some!





Congratulations!

To Chris and Shuree Jones of Portland Oregon!

Shuree did the truffle shuffle and out came Quendra.....just like on Goonies with the bowling ball....except it was a baby.

At 8 pounds 9 ounces, Quendra came in smack in the middle of summer and winter steelhead size....more on the summer steelhead size I'd say....but then again- not everyone catches big fish!

In honor of her birth, I wrote a poem:

Congrats to Chris and Shuree
We hope she looks like uncle Calee
For that is as good as can be
Remember this when she is three
At least she knows where to pee

At four or five she'll come alive
And you both will take a dive
But look not for a place to thrive
And rather just stay alive

Soon she'll be a pre teen
And your buddy ross is a dancing queen
But 8th grade is only the beginning 
Boyfriends soon with a promise ring

High school will come and go
College will soon follow
By that time we'll all be old
Quendra still young and bold

But our time will fade away
Your legacy, here to stay.....

By Calee Cariaga


Thursday, May 9, 2013

Hong Kong!

Dude- this is not me just saying this because I know everything like I do.....I'm saying this cause it is what it is.

Hong Kong is 3 times cooler than the coolest city in the mainland.

Top 10 things about Hong Kong:

1.  Clean Air
2.  Friendly People
3.  Good Food
4.  Outdoor Activities
5.  Clean Streets
6.  Beaches
7.  Disneyland
8.  English Language 
9.  Shopping
10.  Donkey

Didn't see that #10 coming did you?  Well it's true.

We are staying next door to the worlds 3rd tallest building- in Kowloon...and we have a cool view of the bay looking on Hong Kong Central.  I'll include some pics.  

Tonight we are going to an area called mid level to check out the scene, then to the sneaker street to check out the shoes, then to the temple night market to check out the.....temple night market.

Tomorrow we are gonna try to pull off a 10k over a ridge called Dragons Back.  It ends up in an old village called Shek O....which is apparently cool.

Tomorrow night I'm getting my tattoo, if I can find the place I read about.  It's gonna be cool.

Sunday we're gonna kick it before we bounce back to SH.  I kinda want to check out one of those old Chinese style boats- they call them "junk boats" here....but the activity list in the hotel has wake boarding as a possibility.....and there are sharks in the bay.....and I've always wanted to try to take on a shark.

Last week Dade and I rallied Beijing- here are some pics from that trip, and one pic from our hotel here.....I tried to get these BJ pics up before but we have been having some Internet issues at home....