(*Drum roll*)....
44,185.31^ rounded down by several hundred miles.
^ Information given by Wayfaring Map service.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Nerd Mecca and Joypolis
Yesterday, I had a full list of temples and the palace. But before this was Akihabara, a district in Tokyo dedicated to computer parts, video games, dvd's, anime, manga, and general nerd paraphernalia. This was another aspect of Tokyo I was not aware of before coming here. I had heard about this from some friends who were decidedly not nerds. So my expectations were low.
Akihabara is nerd mecca. It is a pilgrimage every nerd should make once in their life. I spent three hours walking up and down a giant store dedicated exclusively to all the old toys I used to play with as a kid. Transformers, Power Rangers, Gundam, NES, SNES, Sega, you name it, it was there. It was amazing. Then I left that building, and found a square mile of shops dedicated mostly to the same thing. It was amazing. I found so many amazing things that I could not buy. Mostly cause they cost a fortune now that they are collectors items. I ended up spending the whole day there. It was awesome.
That night two friends and I went to a cool sushi restaurant. The ones where the plates go round a conveyor belt. I stuck to the cheap plates. It was still delicious. As we were walking back, a building with a big Bandai sign caught our eye. Bandai made most of the toys I mentioned in the paragraph before. They, along with Nintendo and a few other companies, are directly responsible for my nerdiness. After a little investigation, we found out that that was indeed Bandai HQ, nestled in the strangest part of Taito, Tokyo. My friends and I started flipping out.
Today we went back there and took pictures. They had a museum of their most succesful toys, which we shamelessly drooled over. Tokyo has been one giant nerd and nostalgia trip. It's been awesome. After this, we decided to take a hike to the harbor district in Tokyo. We had heard about two cool parks. Muscle Park, an offshoot of Ninja Warrior, and Joypolis, and indoor amusement park by Sega. Muscle Park was a huge letdown. I was expecting obstacle courses. Instead I got a little kids playground. Complete with a ball pit. It was sad really.
Joypolis on the other hand was awesome. All the latest video games, but on steroids. My friend, Lloyd and I spent the whole day there going on every ride and video game imaginable. My favorite was the giant oversized Tetris game. It wasn't too complicated either, and would be fairly simple to build. But I think I have enough nerd projects that I haven't finished.
Anyway, tomorrow I change hotels to a Capsule hotel! This is where your bed is literally a hole in the wall. It's a strange Japanese custom, but I'm interested to see how it works. After that, it's off to Honolulu! Back to USA. Now that I have been to a dozen countries all over the world, I can safely say that there is no place like home. Internet there might be expensive, so my next few posts may very well come from good old NJ. If I don't get to post til then, it's been fun everyone, and I'll see you all soon back home!
Akihabara is nerd mecca. It is a pilgrimage every nerd should make once in their life. I spent three hours walking up and down a giant store dedicated exclusively to all the old toys I used to play with as a kid. Transformers, Power Rangers, Gundam, NES, SNES, Sega, you name it, it was there. It was amazing. Then I left that building, and found a square mile of shops dedicated mostly to the same thing. It was amazing. I found so many amazing things that I could not buy. Mostly cause they cost a fortune now that they are collectors items. I ended up spending the whole day there. It was awesome.
That night two friends and I went to a cool sushi restaurant. The ones where the plates go round a conveyor belt. I stuck to the cheap plates. It was still delicious. As we were walking back, a building with a big Bandai sign caught our eye. Bandai made most of the toys I mentioned in the paragraph before. They, along with Nintendo and a few other companies, are directly responsible for my nerdiness. After a little investigation, we found out that that was indeed Bandai HQ, nestled in the strangest part of Taito, Tokyo. My friends and I started flipping out.
Today we went back there and took pictures. They had a museum of their most succesful toys, which we shamelessly drooled over. Tokyo has been one giant nerd and nostalgia trip. It's been awesome. After this, we decided to take a hike to the harbor district in Tokyo. We had heard about two cool parks. Muscle Park, an offshoot of Ninja Warrior, and Joypolis, and indoor amusement park by Sega. Muscle Park was a huge letdown. I was expecting obstacle courses. Instead I got a little kids playground. Complete with a ball pit. It was sad really.
Joypolis on the other hand was awesome. All the latest video games, but on steroids. My friend, Lloyd and I spent the whole day there going on every ride and video game imaginable. My favorite was the giant oversized Tetris game. It wasn't too complicated either, and would be fairly simple to build. But I think I have enough nerd projects that I haven't finished.
Anyway, tomorrow I change hotels to a Capsule hotel! This is where your bed is literally a hole in the wall. It's a strange Japanese custom, but I'm interested to see how it works. After that, it's off to Honolulu! Back to USA. Now that I have been to a dozen countries all over the world, I can safely say that there is no place like home. Internet there might be expensive, so my next few posts may very well come from good old NJ. If I don't get to post til then, it's been fun everyone, and I'll see you all soon back home!
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Real Life Giant Robots... and Baseball
Hello TOKYO! First let me start by saying, Lost in Translation was just terrible. That movie was one of the worst films I've ever seen. It also did not portray Tokyo correctly at all. At least not the side I'm getting to see. The movie portrayed Tokyo as dreary and strange. While I kind of get the strange bit, I don't get the dreary thing at all. I love this city. It's clean. Everyone is friendly. The food is delicious. And there is a ton to do, especially for a nerd like me. I will admit though that everything is really expensive and the subway system makes no sense at all. None. They showed me a map of the subways and trains. It looks like those drawings where a 6 year old just grabs two fists full of crayons and starts drawing.
Anyway, my first few days in Tokyo. The first day I woke up late and chose to do one of my nerd exhibits first. Now if some of you haven't seen my nerdier side, let me explain it. I love video games, giant robots, and giant spaceships. If you have 1 or more of those things, I'm sold. One of my favorite tv series in the giant robots arena is Gundam. It's an old giant robot series from 70's and 80's originating in Japan. I got very lucky on this trip, because the 30th annual Tokyo Gundam Expo was this weekend. I did not plan that at all, I just lucked out. So yesterday I went. They had toys, robot model kits, vintage everything from when the series started in the 80's, promotions for newer Gundam series, and of course Gundam video games. I don't mean like Xbox games, I mean the giant arcade games where you have a giant console full of buttons and get to drive one of the giant robots! I was in nerd heaven. Consequently... I'm a terrible robot driver. These two 6 year old Japanese kids schooled me. But it was still awesome!
That took pretty much all day, so by around 3 I went back to the hostel. Two friends I had made, Sebastian and Heinrick, decided they wanted to go to a Japanese baseball game at the Tokyo Dome and invited me. It sounded cool, and was pretty cheap so we went. They had never been to a baseball game, so I explained all the rules. It was a lot of fun! The Japanese don't really get as rowdy as American fans. Instead they have specific chants for parts of the game or certain players. They chant through the whole game. It's interesting to say the least. It was also the longest game I've ever attended. Seriously, we were there for 4 hours and it was only the bottom of the 6th. We just gave up and left. It was still fun though.
Today I woke up late again. (I'm starting to run low on gas. I'm sleeping a lot more lately.) Today was the day where I went to the big Gundam statue! So according to the tv show, a Gundam robot is around 60 feet tall. A few years back to commemorate the anniversary of Gundam, they built a 1:1 size statue of the robot in Tokyo! Unfortunately they took it down... BUT they recently rebuilt it in a town 3 hours outside of Tokyo by train! Again, I didn't know this until a few weeks before I got here, so I did not plan this at all. So today I took the long train ride out. It was awesome! How often do you get to see one of your favorite tv shows come to life in a big way. (Pun intended) I spent a good two hours walking around taking pictures, and again looking at merchandise and exhibits around the statue. The thing didn't move much, just the head every 30 minutes or so. But it was still awesome!
I finished off the day today going to Subiya, the part of Tokyo with the giant crowds crossing the busy streets and all the shops. It's like 5 square blocks of Time Square like areas, all with nice shops. After that I went to the Pokemon Center!... which was kind of a let down. It's a tiny shop with some Pokemon stuff. Not even a lot of stuff. I took some pictures, but it looks better than it is. You'd think they'd have something better in Tokyo. Whatever. Tomorrow is the electric part of the city, Akihabara. It's a big section with electronics, video games, and general nerd stuff. Until next time!
Anyway, my first few days in Tokyo. The first day I woke up late and chose to do one of my nerd exhibits first. Now if some of you haven't seen my nerdier side, let me explain it. I love video games, giant robots, and giant spaceships. If you have 1 or more of those things, I'm sold. One of my favorite tv series in the giant robots arena is Gundam. It's an old giant robot series from 70's and 80's originating in Japan. I got very lucky on this trip, because the 30th annual Tokyo Gundam Expo was this weekend. I did not plan that at all, I just lucked out. So yesterday I went. They had toys, robot model kits, vintage everything from when the series started in the 80's, promotions for newer Gundam series, and of course Gundam video games. I don't mean like Xbox games, I mean the giant arcade games where you have a giant console full of buttons and get to drive one of the giant robots! I was in nerd heaven. Consequently... I'm a terrible robot driver. These two 6 year old Japanese kids schooled me. But it was still awesome!
That took pretty much all day, so by around 3 I went back to the hostel. Two friends I had made, Sebastian and Heinrick, decided they wanted to go to a Japanese baseball game at the Tokyo Dome and invited me. It sounded cool, and was pretty cheap so we went. They had never been to a baseball game, so I explained all the rules. It was a lot of fun! The Japanese don't really get as rowdy as American fans. Instead they have specific chants for parts of the game or certain players. They chant through the whole game. It's interesting to say the least. It was also the longest game I've ever attended. Seriously, we were there for 4 hours and it was only the bottom of the 6th. We just gave up and left. It was still fun though.
Today I woke up late again. (I'm starting to run low on gas. I'm sleeping a lot more lately.) Today was the day where I went to the big Gundam statue! So according to the tv show, a Gundam robot is around 60 feet tall. A few years back to commemorate the anniversary of Gundam, they built a 1:1 size statue of the robot in Tokyo! Unfortunately they took it down... BUT they recently rebuilt it in a town 3 hours outside of Tokyo by train! Again, I didn't know this until a few weeks before I got here, so I did not plan this at all. So today I took the long train ride out. It was awesome! How often do you get to see one of your favorite tv shows come to life in a big way. (Pun intended) I spent a good two hours walking around taking pictures, and again looking at merchandise and exhibits around the statue. The thing didn't move much, just the head every 30 minutes or so. But it was still awesome!
I finished off the day today going to Subiya, the part of Tokyo with the giant crowds crossing the busy streets and all the shops. It's like 5 square blocks of Time Square like areas, all with nice shops. After that I went to the Pokemon Center!... which was kind of a let down. It's a tiny shop with some Pokemon stuff. Not even a lot of stuff. I took some pictures, but it looks better than it is. You'd think they'd have something better in Tokyo. Whatever. Tomorrow is the electric part of the city, Akihabara. It's a big section with electronics, video games, and general nerd stuff. Until next time!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Anti-climatic End to China and Delta Airlines FAIL
I wish there was some big story to end this on, but there isn't. The last day I packed, researched Japan, and took it easy. I tried to go to the Summer Palace. Even took some pictures and walked around. But it was a rainy day, and I didn't like my pictures very much. Didn't even bother posting them.
I did try to go the Wangfujing street markets. These are the ones where they sell all the cool and gross foods right there on the street. I thought they served fried scorpion and seahorse. I was even excited to try them, and maybe a little scared. I took a few steps into the market, walking toward a vendor with scorpions on a stick. I was ready to go.... and then one of the scorpions moved. NOPE. DONE. I don't have many rules, but one of them is that my food must be dead. D-E-A-D. DEAD. Thanks for playing. See ya next time. After that I went to a Pizza Hut, followed by a Cold Stone Creamery.
Today I woke up at 4am for a flight to Japan. This was by far the worst transit experience I have had so far. Delta Airlines and Beijing Airport, you fail in so many different ways. To start the day off, they confiscated my airline bottles of alcohol. Now it was just two of the little bottles, but they would have helped me sleep through the flight. They made it through 3 seperate inspections. At the gate, two Chinese guards confiscated them saying they weren't allowed on. When I asked why, their English all of a sudden got bad. Really? You're scamming people out of little liquor bottles? Whatever.
The flight was a disaster. I have never had turbulence that bad. At one point we dropped so sharply and suddenly, a woman who wasn't wearing her seat belt actually lifted almost a foot or two out of her seat right in front of me. It just got scary at some point. I buried my head in my book and did my best not to think about it. So now I am in Narita in Tokyo, tired, hungry, and very angry. And my checked bag looks like it went through a meat grinder. It's disgustingly dirty, one strap is completely missing, and my padlock is gone. Not the one closing my baggage, the one I had carefully placed on the outside of my bag. It made it all the way around the world that way, but apparently Delta didn't like the look of it and had broken it off. It wasn't even closing any openings! So in my last bit of complaining here, I'll just say this. DELTA AIRLINES YOU FAIL!
BUT after that experience, I am now a strong proponent of a cure to bad travel. One hot shower, and one hot Big Mac. (Big Mac can be replaced by any unhealthy and warm meal.) This is all it takes to make you feel better. It won't fix any problems, simply bring you the comfort you need and clear your head. But a lot of times that's all you need. Anyway, Tokyo is awesome! There's technology all over the place. My toilet has a computer! More details on the land of the rising sun to come soon. Expect all of them to be nerdy in nature.
I did try to go the Wangfujing street markets. These are the ones where they sell all the cool and gross foods right there on the street. I thought they served fried scorpion and seahorse. I was even excited to try them, and maybe a little scared. I took a few steps into the market, walking toward a vendor with scorpions on a stick. I was ready to go.... and then one of the scorpions moved. NOPE. DONE. I don't have many rules, but one of them is that my food must be dead. D-E-A-D. DEAD. Thanks for playing. See ya next time. After that I went to a Pizza Hut, followed by a Cold Stone Creamery.
Today I woke up at 4am for a flight to Japan. This was by far the worst transit experience I have had so far. Delta Airlines and Beijing Airport, you fail in so many different ways. To start the day off, they confiscated my airline bottles of alcohol. Now it was just two of the little bottles, but they would have helped me sleep through the flight. They made it through 3 seperate inspections. At the gate, two Chinese guards confiscated them saying they weren't allowed on. When I asked why, their English all of a sudden got bad. Really? You're scamming people out of little liquor bottles? Whatever.
The flight was a disaster. I have never had turbulence that bad. At one point we dropped so sharply and suddenly, a woman who wasn't wearing her seat belt actually lifted almost a foot or two out of her seat right in front of me. It just got scary at some point. I buried my head in my book and did my best not to think about it. So now I am in Narita in Tokyo, tired, hungry, and very angry. And my checked bag looks like it went through a meat grinder. It's disgustingly dirty, one strap is completely missing, and my padlock is gone. Not the one closing my baggage, the one I had carefully placed on the outside of my bag. It made it all the way around the world that way, but apparently Delta didn't like the look of it and had broken it off. It wasn't even closing any openings! So in my last bit of complaining here, I'll just say this. DELTA AIRLINES YOU FAIL!
BUT after that experience, I am now a strong proponent of a cure to bad travel. One hot shower, and one hot Big Mac. (Big Mac can be replaced by any unhealthy and warm meal.) This is all it takes to make you feel better. It won't fix any problems, simply bring you the comfort you need and clear your head. But a lot of times that's all you need. Anyway, Tokyo is awesome! There's technology all over the place. My toilet has a computer! More details on the land of the rising sun to come soon. Expect all of them to be nerdy in nature.
The > Wall of Some Big Asian Country
Finally on the third day the weather was clear! I was going to go to the Great Wall of China! This was an easy 2nd for the top tourist sites I wanted to see on this trip, just behind the Pyramids. There are a bunch of different sites you can go see near Beijing, and originally I wanted to do this big hike between the Simatai section and another one. But in July they started more work on the Simatai section, so it won't be open for a while. Lame. BUT... I was also running low on money, so I went to the only part of the wall accessible by public bus alone, Badaling!
Of course this is the closest section, and so the most crowded. But I knew a few tricks for avoiding that. For starters, when you get off the bus (I was the only non-Chinese person on that bus FYI) they will try to lure you onto the chair lift. THIS IS A MISTAKE! At the top of that lift is a river of people all the way back to the main entrance. Don't do it! Instead walk to the main entrance and take a left, away from the river of people. You will immediately be met by several sections of wall that feel like a straight vertical climb... because they pretty much are. But keep going! Because after your 3rd heart attack, is a part of the wall with only 12 to 24 people. And it's big, and flat, and there are guard towers where cool breezes move through the stone and cool you off quickly. But the best part is the view. You can see the wall snake around for miles in either direction. You cannot see this view from any other part of the Badaling wall. It is worth every bit of the horrible pain you will go through to attain it.
If Badaling, the most overcrowded and touristy part of the wall, was that amazing, I can't even imagine how the other parts are. If I had hated the rest of my trip to China (which wasn't even close to true), the Great Wall alone would pull me back. I'm gonna have to come back at some point, I just have to. It was that much fun. Anyway, I put up lots of pictures on facebook. Sorry I haven't been able to put them on the blog. If I had known Blogger's pictures upload was this bad from abroad, I would have done something else. But it's too late now. Oh well, on to the last days in China!
Of course this is the closest section, and so the most crowded. But I knew a few tricks for avoiding that. For starters, when you get off the bus (I was the only non-Chinese person on that bus FYI) they will try to lure you onto the chair lift. THIS IS A MISTAKE! At the top of that lift is a river of people all the way back to the main entrance. Don't do it! Instead walk to the main entrance and take a left, away from the river of people. You will immediately be met by several sections of wall that feel like a straight vertical climb... because they pretty much are. But keep going! Because after your 3rd heart attack, is a part of the wall with only 12 to 24 people. And it's big, and flat, and there are guard towers where cool breezes move through the stone and cool you off quickly. But the best part is the view. You can see the wall snake around for miles in either direction. You cannot see this view from any other part of the Badaling wall. It is worth every bit of the horrible pain you will go through to attain it.
If Badaling, the most overcrowded and touristy part of the wall, was that amazing, I can't even imagine how the other parts are. If I had hated the rest of my trip to China (which wasn't even close to true), the Great Wall alone would pull me back. I'm gonna have to come back at some point, I just have to. It was that much fun. Anyway, I put up lots of pictures on facebook. Sorry I haven't been able to put them on the blog. If I had known Blogger's pictures upload was this bad from abroad, I would have done something else. But it's too late now. Oh well, on to the last days in China!
Rainy Day in Beijing
Day two was a full on let down. It was raining so I couldn't get to the Great Wall just yet. So I tried to go to the Military Museum, but it and most other museums in Beijing are closed on Mondays. Fantastic. So I spent most of the day hiking to the CCTV and Olympics buildings to take some pretty awful pictures. I also went to the Silk and Pearl markets, but more on them in a second. First I want to give you guys my impressions on China and the Chinese, which I was pretty surprised by.
Most of them are pretty obvious and expected. There are a lot of people. They are all shorter than me, and thus walk slower than me. The one thing I didn't expect is the level of commercialism. Not globalism, commercialism. In the sense that China has brought commercialization to it's own population. Instead of stores like GAP or Burger King, you have Chinese companies and stores doing the same thing. You will see the same clothing store chains, all Chinese. That's not to say their parent or partner corporations are not the same as the GAP, but it seems more like China is moving into that phase of a economic super power. The one where it begins to create it's own monsters of the commercial world, the same as the US and Europe has done. That was just my impression anyway.
Back to the markets, which still retain some of that haggling and deal finding spirit that China is so famous for. I went in looking for sunglasses, and came out with every but. Actually I came out with sunglasses. Fake Oakleys, that I haggled the guy down to $15 from $25. I still got ripped off though, because 24 hours later they broke. And not even when I was wearing them! I put them down in one piece on the desk, woke up from a nap, and there were 3 big cracks in the plastic. Meh, what was I really expecting? Anyway, I also got a 4gb flash drive for about $12 down from $40! I don't know who this girl thought she was selling to, cause I was never paying $40 for a flash drive. I can't imagine she knew I was a CS major, but still.
The markets are fun, but you gotta be careful, and can't be afraid to be firm with the vendors. One girl selling purses grabbed my wrist at one point and started to scream and pull me into their booth. In the middle of a big crowd of people, none of whom thought it was out of the ordinary. They also didn't think it was strange when I ripped my hand away and not so politely told the girl to get lost. In the end it was all fun, and you can find some pretty crazy stuff there.
Most of them are pretty obvious and expected. There are a lot of people. They are all shorter than me, and thus walk slower than me. The one thing I didn't expect is the level of commercialism. Not globalism, commercialism. In the sense that China has brought commercialization to it's own population. Instead of stores like GAP or Burger King, you have Chinese companies and stores doing the same thing. You will see the same clothing store chains, all Chinese. That's not to say their parent or partner corporations are not the same as the GAP, but it seems more like China is moving into that phase of a economic super power. The one where it begins to create it's own monsters of the commercial world, the same as the US and Europe has done. That was just my impression anyway.
Back to the markets, which still retain some of that haggling and deal finding spirit that China is so famous for. I went in looking for sunglasses, and came out with every but. Actually I came out with sunglasses. Fake Oakleys, that I haggled the guy down to $15 from $25. I still got ripped off though, because 24 hours later they broke. And not even when I was wearing them! I put them down in one piece on the desk, woke up from a nap, and there were 3 big cracks in the plastic. Meh, what was I really expecting? Anyway, I also got a 4gb flash drive for about $12 down from $40! I don't know who this girl thought she was selling to, cause I was never paying $40 for a flash drive. I can't imagine she knew I was a CS major, but still.
The markets are fun, but you gotta be careful, and can't be afraid to be firm with the vendors. One girl selling purses grabbed my wrist at one point and started to scream and pull me into their booth. In the middle of a big crowd of people, none of whom thought it was out of the ordinary. They also didn't think it was strange when I ripped my hand away and not so politely told the girl to get lost. In the end it was all fun, and you can find some pretty crazy stuff there.
Forbidden Palace, City, and Starbucks
Wow, two weeks with restricted internet access make Greg go... something.. something. Not to say that China and Vietnam weren't fun to travel in, but censorship gets to me. Especially on that large a scale. Anyway, I'm back in a country that promotes a more liberal freedom of speech, and also has a ridiculously fast internet connection. So here come the stories and pictures!
First up was the Forbidden City. It is actually called a bunch of things, Forbidden City, Imperial City, Forbidden Palace, and Imperial Palace. There's even a Starbucks (Forbidden or Imperial, whichever you prefer) inside somewhere. I couldn't find it though. The place was PACKED when I was there. It was impressive. The actual Palace was gorgeous. You go through like 6 gates before you get to it though, in fact a lot of people walk right past it thinking it's another gate. (Like one very clueless Jersey kid.) There were museums, but they are the kind I hate. The buildings that were designed for something else, but they still pack as many people as they can in there to see the exhibits. I hate that. Instead I just enjoyed walking amongst the streets and gates. It's a breathtaking structure.
Next came the Temple of Heaven. This is what I wish every tourist attraction was like. It is a giant park, with plenty of space for everything. It just happens to have a series of gorgeous temples in the middle of it. You pay to get close to them, but not much, and even then there is plenty of room to walk, view, and take pictures without wanting to kill every person walking around with a parasol in their hands. (Doesn't matter who is holding it, man, woman, child, the parasol thing is annoying. Just wear a hat!) What was really cool were all the people in the park. All of the retired Chinese pretty much just hang out here all day. They play mahjong, practice singing, dancing, yoga, martial arts, and every other park activity you can imagine. There was one old guy whose face showed his age, but he was ripped. He looked like someone had taken an older man's head and placed it on a marine's body. At this point, I was absolutely beat. I went back to the hotel and crashed hard.
First up was the Forbidden City. It is actually called a bunch of things, Forbidden City, Imperial City, Forbidden Palace, and Imperial Palace. There's even a Starbucks (Forbidden or Imperial, whichever you prefer) inside somewhere. I couldn't find it though. The place was PACKED when I was there. It was impressive. The actual Palace was gorgeous. You go through like 6 gates before you get to it though, in fact a lot of people walk right past it thinking it's another gate. (Like one very clueless Jersey kid.) There were museums, but they are the kind I hate. The buildings that were designed for something else, but they still pack as many people as they can in there to see the exhibits. I hate that. Instead I just enjoyed walking amongst the streets and gates. It's a breathtaking structure.
Next came the Temple of Heaven. This is what I wish every tourist attraction was like. It is a giant park, with plenty of space for everything. It just happens to have a series of gorgeous temples in the middle of it. You pay to get close to them, but not much, and even then there is plenty of room to walk, view, and take pictures without wanting to kill every person walking around with a parasol in their hands. (Doesn't matter who is holding it, man, woman, child, the parasol thing is annoying. Just wear a hat!) What was really cool were all the people in the park. All of the retired Chinese pretty much just hang out here all day. They play mahjong, practice singing, dancing, yoga, martial arts, and every other park activity you can imagine. There was one old guy whose face showed his age, but he was ripped. He looked like someone had taken an older man's head and placed it on a marine's body. At this point, I was absolutely beat. I went back to the hotel and crashed hard.
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