http://www.7sided.com Tidbits from my travels Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:04:56 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en A few pictures of a couple of waterfalls in the Black Hills of South Dakota. [gallery] http://www.7sided.com/2008/10/black-hills/ I spent yesterday afternoon in deadwood and saw a little of the oktoberfest celebrations.   I must say the wiener dog races were interesting... [gallery] http://www.7sided.com/2008/10/deadwood-south-dakota/ I'm back home now.  After three flights I landed in South Dakota in time to spend the 4th of July weekend with a few relatives. http://www.7sided.com/2008/07/back-home/ This is a unrestored section of the Great Wall about 2 hours outside of Beijing. [gallery] http://www.7sided.com/2008/07/great-wall/ Here are better shots of the scorpions and grasshoppers I eat in Beijing. [gallery] http://www.7sided.com/2008/07/more-scorpion-shots/ [gallery] http://www.7sided.com/2008/07/kaifeng/ A few shots around Luoyang city.   I went shopping for a few souvenirs and ran across a shop that sell nothing but large springs.  Now if i only know what they were used for... my guess is agricultural equipment. [gallery] http://www.7sided.com/2008/07/luoyang-city/ I saw the Longmen Grottoes ouside of Luoyang (Wikipedia link) last week. The complex includes several hundred buddist carvings into the hill sides on both banks of the Yi River river. [gallery] http://www.7sided.com/2008/07/longmen-grottoes/ I visited Hua Mountain, 2 hours away from Xi'an by bus, this week.  The mountain is one of the 5 holly Taoists mountains in China.  I did not have time to clime to the top, but did make it part of the way up. [gallery] http://www.7sided.com/2008/07/hua-mountain/ A few pictures from around the city of Xi'an. [gallery] http://www.7sided.com/2008/07/xian-city/ I ate a Scorpion for the first time today.  It was pan fried and crunchy, but was actually quite tasteless. [gallery] http://www.7sided.com/2008/06/scorpions/ I took a few long exposure night shots in Xi'an.  Here are the ones that came out. [gallery] http://www.7sided.com/2008/06/night-shots-of-xian/ Below is an updated map on locations I have visited this year.  I have also started to add the places I will visit next. This map can also be found here. View Larger Map This map lists the places I have visited during my travels. Key Yellow: Current location Blue: Cities have visited Purple: Locations I plan ... http://www.7sided.com/2008/06/updated-travel-map/ I saw the Terracotta Soldier's Army outside of Xi'an this week.  The army consists of about 8,000 clay solders with about 1,000 of them restored to their original condition.  The others have been left how they were found; in pieces when the underground area they are kept in was burnt ... http://www.7sided.com/2008/06/terracotta-soldiers/ Pictures from the ancient city of Pingyao.  This city is famous as it is one of the few cities in China with it's original walls intact.  The old portion of the city looks like it is stuck in 1850. [gallery] http://www.7sided.com/2008/06/pingyao/ A few pictures from Datong.  I will post the rest of my pictures to my main gallery later. [gallery] http://www.7sided.com/2008/06/datong-pictures/ Here are some view of the new 2008 Olympics complex in Beijing. [gallery] http://www.7sided.com/2008/06/olympics-stadium/ Pictures from the Temple of Heaven Park in Beijing. [gallery] http://www.7sided.com/2008/06/temple-of-heaven-park/ I saw this bike (okay, actually its a trike) outside of Tienanmen square in Beijing and had to take this picture. http://www.7sided.com/2008/06/who-said-motorcycles-are-fast/ I spent today in the city of Datong viewing magnificent and huge Buddhist sculptures at the Yungang Grottoes.  Tonight I take an overnight train to Pingyao. http://www.7sided.com/2008/06/datong/ Today was my last day in Beijing. I am going to Datong tomorrow. After this city, I may detour into Mongolia for a few days or head South to a city near Xi'an. Here are a few more pictures around Beijing, including the Temple of Heaven park and ... http://www.7sided.com/2008/06/final-day-in-beijing/ Yesterday I made it inside the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace.  The weather did not always cooperate (it started raining later in the day) but the sights were still interesting. [gallery] http://www.7sided.com/2008/06/beijing-sight/ I arrived in Beijing yesterday.  While it was misting and foggy all day, I was still able to make it to to a couple of the more famious places, Tienanmen square and the Forbidden City, and will continue exploring today. [gallery] http://www.7sided.com/2008/06/beijing/ Today was my last day studying Chinese in Harbin.  I am currently in Shenyang (a few hundred miles south of Harbin) and will board a train to Beijing in about an hour. After visiting Beijing I plan on seeing may other locations, so check back here for more frequent updates then of late. Also, I will not ... http://www.7sided.com/2008/06/on-to-new-places/ While walking around Harbin recently I found about a 15 block area in the middle of town that was being prepared for modern apartment and office buildings. However, as the area already has buildings, they have to need to be torn down first. The scene was quite different from ... http://www.7sided.com/2008/06/construction_in_china/ Last weekend I finally got out of the city and went to a small town near Mongolia with a few friends. We stayed in a semi-traditional Mongolian tent a few miles out of town. It was nice to see the stars for once. The next day we went to a ... http://www.7sided.com/2008/06/taikang/ Yesterday was a national holiday in China and I went to the main shopping district in Harbin to check out the action. (Information about the Dragon Boat Festival can be found here.) Some pictures from yesterday. [gallery] http://www.7sided.com/2008/06/dragon-boat-festival/ I had dinner with a few classmates and two of my professors last week. Here are a few pictures. http://www.7sided.com/2008/05/79dinner/ Here are a few shots of Changchun at night. This video best viewed from your browser. Please open this posting in a new window if viewing it from a RSS reader. http://www.7sided.com/2008/05/changchun-at-night/ We rented a couple of tandem bikes when we visited Jingyuetan National Forest Park last week. Here is a short video. This video best viewed from your browser. Please open this posting in a new window if viewing it from a RSS reader. http://www.7sided.com/2008/05/bike-ride-through-jingyuetan-park/ I went to Changchun this weekend with a few friends. Below are a few pictures of the city. All the pictures I took are located here. http://www.7sided.com/2008/05/changchun/ I just finished the process of updating this site to the latest versions of my blog software. The site should now look a little better for those of you using Internet Explorer to view it. Also, updated the design of the links section on the left hand side of the main ... http://www.7sided.com/2008/04/website-updated/ Here is an eleven minute video showing clips from a traditional Beijing Chinese opera (京剧) I saw last week. This text will be replaced var so = new SWFObject('http://www.7sided.com/wp-content/mediaplayer.swf','mpl','320','240','8'); so.addParam('allowscriptaccess','always'); so.addParam('allowfullscreen','true'); so.addVariable('height','240'); so.addVariable('width','320'); so.addVariable('file','http://www.7sided.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/Beijing_Opera.FLV'); so.addVariable('searchbar','false'); so.write('player'); http://www.7sided.com/2008/04/chinese-opera/ Here are a few scenes of downtown Harbin viewed from across the river.    This text will be replaced var so = new SWFObject('http://www.7sided.com/wp-content/mediaplayer.swf','mpl','320','240','8'); so.addParam('allowscriptaccess','always'); so.addParam('allowfullscreen','true'); so.addVariable('height','240'); so.addVariable('width','320'); so.addVariable('file','http://www.7sided.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/harbin-panorama-wmv.flv'); so.addVariable('searchbar','false'); so.write('player'); http://www.7sided.com/2008/04/harbin-panorama/ Below are a couple of pictures and a short video of a sidewalk folk dance performed outside a local bank each weekend. This text will be replaced var so = new SWFObject('http://www.7sided.com/wp-content/mediaplayer.swf','mpl','320','240','8'); so.addParam('allowscriptaccess','always'); so.addParam('allowfullscreen','true'); so.addVariable('height','240'); so.addVariable('width','320'); so.addVariable('file','http://www.7sided.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/sidewalk-folk-danceavi.flv'); so.addVariable('searchbar','false'); so.write('player'); http://www.7sided.com/2008/04/sidewalk-folk-dance/ After two months of studying in China, I can read the sign shown below.  I will leave it up to your imagination on if I can read the English or Chinese however... Picture Source http://www.7sided.com/2008/04/reading/ The building across from my apartment is currently under construction, but is almost finished. To celebrate the completion of the project, the construction workers lit two large string of firecrackers and lifted to to top of the building them up with cranes. Here is the video: http://www.7sided.com/2008/04/fireworks/ Below are a few pictures and a movie of the San Francisco Skyline I took last month.  The first two images were taken as the sun was rising. This video was taken from an elevator in the St. Francis hotel in the Union Square district of San Francisco (located here). Each beep is ... http://www.7sided.com/2008/03/san-francisco-skyline/ Here is a map listing the places I have visited.  A large version can be found here. Key Red: Current location Blue: Cities have visited Tree: National Park Camera: Historic Monument or Ruin Swimming: SCUBA Diving location http://www.7sided.com/2008/03/travel-locations/ Today was my birthday.  I am now either 27 or 28.  I say either because in the West you are zero years when you are born, but some places around here count your age from 1.  I prefer 27 as it makes me seem a little younger :) Here are a few ... http://www.7sided.com/2008/03/birthday-party/  Here are a couple more videos of the traffic in the Daoli Shopping Distric of Harbin. http://www.7sided.com/2008/03/traffic/ Below are a few picture taken around the city of Harbin, China.  More pictures can be found here. http://www.7sided.com/2008/03/harbin-pictures/ Today is my first full day in Harbin, China (map).  The trip itself was uneventful, but very long.  The overseas flight alone was about 13 hours.  I will post some pictures of my school in my next post. http://www.7sided.com/2008/02/in-harbin/ I attended a Junior Achievement Blowling event with several coworkers last night.  I had a good time, even though my bowling scores were terrible!  More pictures can be found here. http://www.7sided.com/2008/02/junior-achievent-bowling/ I survived the the great pillow fight of San Francisco on Valentines day! I have placed the pictures i took here. Closeup fight Overview http://www.7sided.com/2008/02/pillow-fight/ Here is a video of me sledding down a hill tonight.  It was about zero degrees and was to cold! http://www.7sided.com/2008/01/sledding/ http://www.7sided.com/2008/01/suprise-birthday/ I just got a new camera and have been playing around with it a bit. Below is a time lapse video taken while driving. http://www.7sided.com/2008/01/new-camera/ Below are a few movies from my recent SCUBA trip to Cozumel Mexico. http://www.7sided.com/2007/12/hello-world/