In one word.

Shanghai: Fun
Turks: Knob
Amit: Knob
Sloany: Knob
Oscars: Memories
3 and 3 Blingual Development School: Hell
Apartment: Sick. (As in good.)
Ayi: Awesome
Mongolia: Random
Nomads: Cool
Smoking Habit: Destructive
Yunnan Province: Beautiful
The-Random-Dude-who-got-me-a-black-market-ticket-into-Tibet: Magic
Beijing: Olympics?
Getting needles stuck into your eye: Painful
Tibet: Tragic
Everest Base Camp: Surreal
Nepal: Relaxing
Masala Chai: Heaven
Nepalese Locals: Weird
Japanese Food in Nepal: Amazing
Books: Sanctuary
Long Bus Trips: Meditation
Spanish: Amazing
Swedish: Amazing
Kiwi-who-live-in-the-UK: Awesome
India: Head-Spin
Varanasi: Deadbabies
Kingfisher Beer: Rotten
Pokara: Heaven
French Toast: Routine
Himach Pradesh: Beautiful
Camels: Stinky
Journal: Friend
Home: Nerve-racking
India: CHEAP!!!!
China: Frustating
India-Pakistan-Border: Run-DMC
Travel: Freedom

Eight Days Left

Down to single digits down. The countdown has begun.

In eight days, I will be leaving the safety of Shanghai and beginning my big Trip. My first stop: Beijing, courtesy of the 12 hour overnight train. I will be hanging in Beijing for a week before departing on the train to Ulaatar Bator in Mongolia.

Going to post as often as I can on the road. I want to remember this trip. Blogging seems the best means to do it.

Till then,

Ed

My Trip: a quantitative approach.

Sometimes numbers speak even louder than words.

Countries Visited: 2
Cities Travelled: 5
Jobs: 1
Jobs I have had and quit: 3
Blog Posts: 36
Group Emails: 2
Facebook walls posts received since I left Oz: 113
Flickr Photos: 0 (Note I only recently purchased a camera and flickr premium account)
Amount of times I have sung ABC's: 60
Houses stayed: 7
Fake DVD's purchased: 24
Dinners eaten at home: 10 (approx.)
Dinners eaten out: 150 at least
Memorable Hangovers: 6
Epiphanies/Turning Points in Trip: 3
Low Points: 1
Entourage re-runs watched: 50
Cigarettes smoked: Cannot reveal this stat.
Subway ridden: 130 plus
Taxis taken: 200 for sure
Haircuts: 2

Regrets: 0

Letter from Abroad

Xijiahui Church - about five minutes walk from our house; one of the only churches to survive the Cultural

Revolution. Note: there is no connection between the content of this posting and this picture. I only posted a picture because you probably more likely to read it with some sort of visual stimulation.


Recent Group email I sent to everyone. In case anyone didnt receive it, or if you felt like reading it again, here it is. Plus saves me having to explain myself again on this blog.

Family and Friends,

This email is long overdue. I have been meaning to send this for a few weeks now - I had even written a draft email, it was ready and rearing to go, I kid you not. However, in the nature of travelling, where plans change as fast as a McDonald's drive-thur, the draft I wrote soon became void, the information expired so to speak. And so here I am starting another one.

Since I last entered your inboxs, maybe about 3 months ago I believe, I have experienced my fair share of things ("things" is such a pathetic noun, but in this case, I think it adequately describes the complete randomness of my time here in Shanghai - drunken expeditions, cultural frustrations,and an array of amusing situations. Colloquialisms exist for a reason - just use them).

Anyway, to ensure that I do not continue to go on tangents as I tend to do when writing (read previous sentence) , I thought I would use bullet points to structure this letter; my attempt to clearly capture some of the key things (that was intentional) that have been going on. Also I was thinking of you, the reader: you want the news, the goss; not have to endure the painful task of reading my amateur attempts at creative writing.

I digress. Onto business.

Japan

Returned from Japan just over three weeks ago, where I spent two glorious weeks during the Chinese New Year holiday period. (How cultural of me.). I began the trip staying with my father and stepmother in Fukuoka, Japan - the capital of Kyushu, the southernmost island of Japan. Following that reunion, I headed down south to Kagoshima: my birthplace, home of the great Mt.Sakurajima, a town that, for me, permeates such a sense of rural friendless that it is almost tangible. My time in Kagoshima was pretty uneventful, but fun nevertheless: endless trips to the local onsen, hanging out with my uncle and grandma, catching up with distant family friends.

Although I lie, I did do a road trip to this town called Chirian, a quaint little place in the middle of nowhere, built in honour of Japan's fallen Kamikaze pilots. All the streets were lined with these small temples, commemorating each fallen pilot. Truly amazing - the Japanese war machine was really something back then. Oh...how things have changed. After the intensity of Shanghai, Japan was a great pit stop - my quasi-spiritual home and birthplace- and I definitely arrived back in China rested and ready to tackle the "Middle Kingdom" again.

Shanghai, China

Trying to summarise one's cultural experience in a paragraph or two is by no means a easy feat, but I will give it a try. Firstly, let me start by saying this: Shanghai is truly an amazing place - Whore of China, Paris of East, the list of allegories that have been used to describe this place could take up this whole email. By day, Shanghai's 40,000 taxis weave its roads; by night, the skyline transforms into something out of Gotham city - you have to blink twice to make sure that no, you weren't accidently transported into Stan Lee's apocalyptic universe. It's an awesome city (other than the pollution), and I would recommend visiting it if you ever get a chance.

On a personal level, everything is going pretty smoothly. My weekends, for better or worse, tend to revolve around "extra-curricular activities" with the two lads I am here with. Our Ayi (maid) arrives promptly every Sunday to clean up our mess, do our laundry, and engage in other domestic duties that we are too lazy to do. The cost: a mere eight Australian dollars a week. (Apparently, we are paying her too much.). We have befriended a good bunch of people, and with it, social activities plenty. Although the initial euphoria of arriving somewhere new has long since dissipated, it certainly is a great life here.

And the teaching job. Well, how should put this? There are some things that are driven by financial incentives, economics at its purest form...this is certainly one of them. If any of my friends back home were to see me in action, singing Mary had a Little Lamb to a bunch of three year olds who have no idea what you are on about, I would probably be mocked for the rest of my young adulthood. The teaching is pretty tiring (up at 6am, back at 5pm) and I am not really enjoying it. Not so much because of the teaching itself, but of the routine I have found myself in: waking up early, living for the elusive "Weekend", that sort of thing. This is not why I wanted to travel, or so I have been thinking as of late.

Trip Update:

Which brings me finally to the third, and perhaps most important, aspect of this email: updating everyone on my travel plans. In light of teaching job (which I hate), I have decided to quit and begin my travels much earlier than I planned.

The three of us (Sloan, Turks and I) originally planned to undertaking the great Trans-Siberian Railway from Beijing to Moscow in June. Unfortunately, since that cost too much, we had to scrap it. Sloan decided to move to Spain to be with his girlfriend, which left Turks and I. After much discussion, we decided that we would leave Shanghai in June - explore China for a month, head across to Tibet, before heading down into Nepal and India, with the goal of arriving in Europe around the end of August/start of September.

However, since I have had enough of English teaching, our plans have changed once again. Turks is off to explore South East Asia. And me, well, I am off to Mongolia in about three weeks. I am going to head up to Beijing, before hopping on the Trans-Mongolian railway to Ulaatar Bator. I am planning on staying in Mongolia for about 3/4 weeks before heading back into China, where I will meet up with Turks in the South. From there, we will continue our original plan: Southern China, Tibet, Nepal, India, and from there, Europe. To be honest, I am a bit nervous about travelling alone, but it will be a challenge, an experience to remember I hope.

Bring it on, I say!!

Anyway, I hope you are all well and enjoying yourselves. Please drop me a buzz - I would love to hear how you are all doing....hearing from family and friends keeps me sane.

Take care and stay safe,

Eddie

St Patrick's Day in Shanghai

Now that my blog seems to be working again (the infamous Great Firewall of China had blocked it for a while there), I thought I would take this opportunity to post some photos for recent St Patrick's Day in Shanghai, China. We sunk Guiness and the like from 11 am till 12pm that night, and in a unprecented first, I - yes me, Edward Harran - was the last one standing!

Enjoy people.
Amit and Sloany

The Crew









Random Irish Expat

To see more photos click here

Response to Shanghai: The Musical Part 2

For your enjoyment....

Ipod Therapy

In a city such as Shanghai, personal space is an item that is stripped away from you when you pass through customs. Zhonghang Park: packed and denser than the New York rush hour. A beach to relax and watch the sunset: only on big screens now. Thus when in need of exactly that - spiritual medidation, "me" time, however you describe it- one must use his resources and surroundings as best as he can.

Take your ipod (or borrow your friend's in my instance) and watch.

Rhet Miller- Question.
Feel like you are in one of those coldplay-esqe film clips, walking along, everything in semi-surreal slow motion. Deattach yourself from everything, as though you are watching from above, observing the people and the insanity around you. The cacophony of taxi horns can be heard faintly through your earphones.

Something for Kate - Pinstripe (Acoustic)
Walk past a restaurant and stand on the corner. Take a breath and just observe Stop. Young girls arm in arm hurry past; bikes with crates full of rubbish rush past you - you have to take a step back to let him past. The music washes over you, you smile, this feels better than drugs - as though you are, for the briefest of moments, taken some sort of new-age drug that transforms to parallel universe, an alien planet, and you - only you- are invincible and oblivious to everyone else.

Butterflies and Hurricanes - Muse
The sky continues to glow in the bask of the city lights; the buildings tower over you, the neon signs and wide screen TVs bigger than Godzilla myself. An assault of all your senses. Look down, all you see in an army of feet and shoes without faces. For a moment, you let your wacky creative mind indulge itself, imagining that the feet are without owners, sick of their masters and now running away, a braveheart crusade for freedom, fighting for the right to wear what they want and finally walk on clean surfaces for once in their lives.

Look across. A lady is handling out some sort of product - cleaning you believe - and you stall in shock as the lyrics of the song inexplicably seem to correspond with her mouth gestures for a split second. You laugh, realising the stupidity of it.

Look way ahead. A stage stands high above a crowd of excited Shanghaiese, intoxicated by the M/C's words. I wonder what she is saying, what she is selling? Once again, ipod in ears, you imagine she is marxist minister of yesteryear, advocating the benefits of buying things, whilst explaining in intricate detail about the importance of giving back to the modern land. The paradox that is China alludes you again - capitalism on steroids in a country that (well, once anyway) preaches communism. You laugh and carry on.

How to Save Your Life - The Fray
Walk home. With the music having washed over you, you feel somewhat relaxed and re-energised. A homeless man sits on the ground up ahead, his clothes are dilapidated and faded. A small child sits in his arms, evidently cold from the night. You pull out your wallet and hand him a 5 yuan note. You are feeling generous. He takes ungratefully, shoves in his jacket (rather than his small basket in front of him), and carries on. No thank you, no nothing. You laugh that the absurdity of the situation. Normally, you would feel angry, probably smirk a rude remark under your breath, but you are feeling better now.

Switch off your ipod and walk home. Mission Accomplished.

Response to Shanghai: The Musical

Just wanted to share with everyone a video reply I received from my good friend Adrian in response to my last post - Shanghai: The Musical.

Adrian is an audio producer (is that your official title age?) at a Brisbane Radio Station and with the help of his technical skills added some extra audio features to it. It is very funny. Those of you who know my wacky sense of humour will understand why I loved it. Thanks Mauro....

Response to Shanghai: The Musical - YouTube

Shanghai: The Musical!!!!

Dear All,

In need again for a creative outlet on a Sunday afternoon, I decided to film some local Chinese acts at Zhongshan Park. Located about 20 minutes by Subway from my apartment, the park, on a weekend, teems with life. Couples, both young and old, paddle along in bicycle boats. Chinese choir chapters congregrate at various locations throughout the park, unashamingly singing totheir heart's content; the park: a stage for all. Kites daggle in the sky, adding to the quaint ambience of the park. Actually quaint was probably the wrong adjective - the park is more dense than the monday morning rushhour in Brisbane.

I originally wanted to embed my YouTube Video on this blog, but my severe lack of HTML skills prevented me otherwise. Instead you will have to click on the link below to have a look at the video I made.

Shanghai: The Musical - YouTube

Apologies for the amateur editing. The acts however will make The Eagles seem like that dodgy band that played at your high school formal. Actually I lie - I am just hoping you will click on the link.

Peace,

Eddie

A guide to getting frustated in three easy steps

A beginner's guide to getting incredibly frustrated and irritated in three easy steps. By following these three simple steps, you will in no time be in one of the worst moods of your life.

Step 1:

Go to a Chinese Post Office. Ask for your parcel that is being held there. They inform you that you need a passport to pick up your parcel, even though you have identification that specifically states you are you, and that you live at the address written on the telegram.

Step 2:

Go to a Chinese Post Office. Ask to have your late Christmas presents sent home. Unfortunately, the Post Office does not have large enough boxes to fit that picture you bought for your mother. This will undoubtedly leave you even more angry, knowing that you could only send half the package.

Step 3:

Go to a Chinese Post Office. Walk to the International Post counter. Fill out the paper work - watch as the customer representative walks off for 15 minutes. Whilst waiting, observe a Chinese lady as she pushes in front of you and gets served first. After a mountain of unnecessary paperwork, it is finally your turn. Wait patiently and try not to get too angry. The man at the counter informs you that you cannot send food Australia. You argue noting that of course you can sent food to Australia. The man at the counter persists, saying that Australia does not allow any type of food into the country. I continue to argue back, citing examples of incidents when I have sent food from Japan back to Oz. Finally, in defiance or through my sheer persuasion I don't know, watch as the man at the counter turns a blind eye and changes the name of contents for you from "food" to "gift". Just when you think everything is finally running smoothly, wait another 5 minutes until he informs you of the price - 302 RMB; a cost that is triple the amount of the actual contents of the package. Pay reluctantly.

Mission Accomplished: You will be very frustrated. Through following these three easy steps, you will be guaranteed to be incredibly shitty and ready to punch someone.

NB: To further enhance your annoyance, repeat these three steps without a native Chinese speaker assisting you. In completing this guide, I had a Chinese person to help me out. However, if you want get in a really bad mood, simply follow the same steps without a Chinese speaker, and you will guaranteed to be a such a terrible mood that you will want to kill someone.

Eddie

Shanghai Memoirs

Photo Album from Shanghai for those non-FB users.

Click Here

Internet goes down in China!

Yes thats right....

After an earthquake erupted off the coast of Taiwan, the fiber-optical cables, which provide China with its access to international sites, were damaged. As a result, the last two weeks have been extremely tough - slow or practically no connection to a wide variety of sites. Strangely though, facebook.com still seemed to work. In the last two days luckily, access has returned back to its normal speed.

The earthquake for me highlighted two things. How can a country of 1.3 Billion possibly survive without the Internet for even a day? Can you imagine the lost of revenue just from that? It is mind bogging to think how it would have adversely affected overseas and Chinese businesses in China. Yet somehow, no one seems to see it has too big a deal - if that happen in Oz, I am sure you would have riots larger than Cronulla. Secondly, more importantly, I have come to realise that I really am a Internet geek. Ah well

Happy New Year to All!!! All the best for 2007

Pre-school teaching in China

Highlights from my time as an English teacher at the Bilingual Development Intelligence School. Enjoy...

Christmas Lesson in front of parents. As part of the Christmas open day, parents could stand on in and watch their children receive a English lesson. Little did they know that the English teacher had no qualification or training and practically had no idea what the hell he was doing. I thought the Santa Claus suit might disguise the fact that I was an idiot.

Excursion with some work people to a dodgy theme park.

The "Einstein B" class - (From Right) Sunny, Lizzie, Eddie, Michelle.

Me standing in front of a plastic giraffe. Exciting stuff...

Sunny and I. Sunny is the head teacher in our class. She is the one the kids are terrified of and shut up as soon as she speaks.

Lizzie and I. Lizzie is the Ayi, or maid, in our class. She basically looks after the kids if they start crying or want to go to the toilet etcetra.

Dinner with work people at a Chinese Hot Pot Restaurant.

Work People...and Turks. I made him come with me.

Perhaps the greatest moment of the evening. Turks and I with a group of random Chinese people who wanted to take a photo with us. Whilst this was happening, the whole restaurant stopped and was observing us with curiosity.

Shanghai - The Good, The Bad, and The Plain Absurd

Nin Hao*,

When one moves to a new location - whether it be a new suburb, a new city, or in my instance, a new country- the typical pattern usually occurs. The first few weeks are filled with intense jubilation, as one acclimatises himself to his surroundings. After a while however, one's observations and perceptions change: the good becomes greater; the cultural differences that were once oblivious suddenly annoy you; and, perhaps more significantly, the weird transforms to a whole new level of absurdness. And so it is in this time, that I present to you the latest in the Passenger to Nowhere series - "The Good, The Bad and The Plain Absurd - a reflection of the random idiosyncrasies of Shanghai."

Enjoy...

The Good

Food: Yes I know, a fairly typical response that any traveller would put in his Good list. But I rate this factor more so due to the diversity of cuisine you can get here. Turkish, Japanese, Hotpot...you name it, you got it. All at a reasonable price too.

Sherpas: Sher...what you ask? Although I could have put this in the food section, I thought it deserved a category in its own right. To put it simply, Sherpas is a takeaway service where you can order any food from any restaurant you like. That's right - so if one person feels like Thai, another like a Pizza, and another a burger, well you can do it. Unfortunately the luxury of being able to order anything from any restaurant does come at a price (excuse the pun.) Nevertheless, a perfect remedy after a big night out.

Chinese People: There are a number of cultural differences that I will not even attempt to understand, but generally speaking, I have been quite impressed by the kindness of the Chinese people. Or maybe it is just my ego growing - I kept getting remarks about how my eyes are so beautiful. At my interview, the principal remarked that Sloan, Turks and I were "very goodu looking."

Our Apartment: Spacious and simple, our apartment is very sweet. With three bedrooms, a gym, large living area, our apartment should serve us nicely whilst in Shanghai.

Ayis: Here in China, everyone has an Ayi, or maid. Our maid comes in every Sunday for four hours. She does our laundry, cleans our dishes, vacuums the floors etcetra. As I watch her do her thing, I always have this deep sense of guilt for being such a slackass. But you know what they say, when in Rome, do as the Romans do.

Shanghai itself: Whore of the Asia, Paris of East - a city does not get these nicknames for nothing. Shanghai really has everything under the sun...well maybe under the cloud of pollution. You can entertain yourself fairly easily here - whether it might be exploring the myriad of streets in the French Concession, bargaining at a local market, or sitting down watching another pirated DVD. I could really get use to it here.

The Bad

Taxi Drivers: If you are not careful, Taxi drivers here will take advantage of your lack of local knowledge and parade you through the streets, charging you a fair that might have cost you next to nothing. Then again, taxi drivers here work 21 hours straight...I guess if an loawai (foreigner) hoped into my cab on my last hour, I would rip him off too.

Homeless people: Seriously I have never seen so many homeless people in my life. They vacant every street corner, every sidewalk, even in the Zoo. I truly question the sincerity of some of them- especially when you see women in Gucci clothes begging you for a coin or two. On the other hand, some of them truly have it tough.In a country with little to no welfare, people here with any kind of physical deformity are pretty stuffed. (Read "Dissipation of Sympathy" Post - coming soon)

Road Rules: Road rules do not exist. Period. You want to get somewhere - you drive. Pedestrian stop - ah well, doesn't matter, I will just keep driving. Lanes - does that mean you have to stay inside that area? You get my point. Let's just say- I have had a number of close calls already, luckily Turks or Sloan were there to grab me.

Lack of Sanitation: Umhh, how should I put this? Here is a example: kids under the age of seven have no need for toilets. Yes that is right: for some absurd reason, children are excluded from the rules of using a toilet. If I child needs to do his/her thing, the sidewalk or patch of grass usually is sufficient.

Shanghai Zoo: Voted the best ecological Zoo in Shanghai, this zoo was anything but. I am seriously tempted to report this park to an animal welfare group, but I am sure someone has done this already. Visitors were throwing rocks and food at the tigers; the deers were enclosed in a pen caked in mud; and kangaroos, the iconic emblem of Australia, lived in this small cement cage that made me sick. I will post some photos when I get a chance.

The Weird:

Flat soft drinks: For some inexplicable reason, all the soft drinks here are flat. Well, not completely flat, but flat enough that you look at your bottle and ponder that the slight difference in taste.

The Great Firewall of China : Before arriving to Shanghai, I had heard about the infamous great firewall of China. According to a number of blogs, the Chinese government employs over 20,000 government workers to monitor the blogsphere. Moreover, in the last week, bloggers now have to register their name and ID with the government if they want to start any kind of website or blog. Umhh...love the freedom of speech in this country. Hopefully I won't get arrested for this post. If I do, I will ring you from jail.

Pre-school Christmas Parties: Imagine this: 200 kids and their parents singing and dancing to a techno-infused Jingle Bells anthem, whilst 4 foreigners dance on the front stage, laughing hysterically. The audience, in seeing the foreigners laughing, believe we are laughing in joy, when in reality we are laughing at the absolute randomness of the situation, which makes the situation even all the more funny. Christmas 2006 - a Christmas I will never forget.

Manners: The notion of manners here seems non-existent. I should not criticise too much, perhaps I should rephrase - the concept of what constitutes good and bad manners differs greatly. For example, it is more than acceptable to spit your food out if you do not like it, nor it is rude to eat with your mouth full. Very strange....

Peace.

Eddie

*Shanghai Dialect- Hello

I love KFC!

After applying for hundreds of jobs over the internet, it seemed as though I was doomed to live off cheap dumplings and flat coke for the next six months here in Shanghai. Thus when turks, Sloan and I decided to take a trip to neighbouring Suzhou, it seemed like the ideal opportunity to get our minds (well mine especially) off the stress...or at least to delay in some way the fact that the week ahead would be terrible.

How does this have any relevance to KFC you ask? Well I will skip the details of our weekend adventure and cut to the chase. After arriving at Suzhou train station at third o'clock to head back to Shanghai, it came with a shock when we learned that the next train would not be departing till eight that night. Frustrated, we found ourselves a table in the local KFC, counting down the minutes till the train would arrive. After a couple of hours of sitting on this table, a dutch man and his Taiwanese girlfriend sat down with us. (NB: In KFCs in China, there is no such thing as a empty table, every seat is accounted for.)

After chatting with this dutch man and his girlfriend, we soon learnt that the lady was the recruiting officer for a group of prestigious bilingual schools. She offered all three of us jobs then and there. A couple of days later, we had an "interview" - in which case meant they assumed we had accepted their job. Today I had my first day, where I spend the morning riding on merry-go-rounds, playing with kids, and getting repeatedly told by the principal that I am handsome. Not bad if you ask me. More importantly though, the pay is pretty good for China, which means I will be able to save a bit before we all head off on the Tran-Siberian railway to Europe.

The point of the story - I will never use KFC's name in vain again, even if its chicken is the worst-tasting ever.

Peace.

-e-

Will post photos of our suzhou trip.

First Posting in China.

Ok, Ok, Yes, Yes. I am sick of everyone complaining. I am tired of your random emails asking me where my posts are. But the honest truth is - I have been slack. Well, maybe slack isn't the right word to adequately describe it - busy more like it.

In the midst of my cultural adjustment to China, getting a post up hasn't been my first priority. Plus, the internet cafes here aren't exactly the conductive environment to sitting down and writing a decent post. Even now, I can heard some Chinese guy screaming, who knows what, across the whole room, no doubt probably arguing about some video game. Anyway I disgress. I am making excuses. I promise I will write (and post pics) as often as I can. I had originally envisioned writing a blog with incredibily well-written posts, so you could all sit down and read in awe at my polished writing skills. But I figured that would be much as a waste of time, since the purpose of this blog is to share with you what has been going on. Plus I would be showing off. I will stop rambling - onto business.

Thursday, Day 18 (I think): It has been three weeks since we have arrived in Shanghai. The first week mainly consisted of us exploring the city, going out and getting incredibly intoxicated, recovering from those nights, and exploring some more. All in all, it was very exiciting week. We stayed with a friend's of Turks' brother who was kind of enough to accommodate us and show us around when we first arrived. We then moved into another person's house for about another week. We have now found a really cool apartment in an suburb called Xijihai - nice place, 3 bedroom, TV, DVD Player, Big kitchen, Ayi etc etc. Costs us 6300 RMB (For Aussies, divide that figure by 6 and you will get what we pay per month) -the fact is its cheap. Now, we are mainly hunting for jobs as our funds continue to dwindle. This weekend we are planning to go to an area called Suzhou - a rural town (of 5.5 million, small for China) to explore and get out of the smog and shitty weather we have all been experiencing.

So there you go. I did it. I finally posted on my blog. I will post more soon, once I find a job.

Peace out