Chinaman in China: Flashback to 2002

THE ROUTINE

Arrived in China and spent New Year's in Shanghai with Jason, Scott and his friend from Japan (left). Arrived in Jinan, the "City of Springs" (right), later to become a place I would call my second home.

Afternoons and weekends were spent at Aston 1 (left), teaching whacky adults and kids (right).

Many evenings/early mornings were spent at the Fang (below). Kabab sandwiches with Tabasco. Qingdao beer for 10 kuai. Puking in my favorite sink. Endless drinking and fun.

Tuesday night was Jiaozi (Dumpling) night (below). Yu Xiang Rou Si dumplings. Chuarn dumplings. Alice's Di San Xian Dumplings. Sometimes, even a little snake baijiu to wash down the beer, or was it the other way around.

Wednesdays was always Weiwei's night (left). Everyone's gotta try a testi or two (right). Probably spent more hours drinking here than teaching every week. F---s you! Hwangscabo!

Days off were spent at the gym (left), and exploring the city looking for weird stuff to eat. Rabbit head (right).

TIMELINE

Spring Festival trip to Qingdao (below), Huangdao, Weihai, Penglai and Yantai. Froze our asses off on the way there in the van. Two cases of Baotuquan Beer helped warm us up a little though, from having to move around holding in our pee. Visited the infamous alley in Huangdao. Bill fell into mud/quicksand and then tied bags around his shoes. Had beers on the beach on a nice, sunny winter day. Many roast beef sandwiches at the French bar. Oh, and the fireworks! 1,000 kuai can buy a whole lot of bang.

Dog Hot Pot with Brad and Jason. Tasty stuff. First go at the100/10 Challenge. Ended up attempting (and succeeding) all by myself for some reason. Climbed Taishan the night after (left). Pitch black with crappy flashlights. Wicked windy and freezing at the top. Saw the sunrise though! Trip to Weifang for the International Kite Festival (right). Missed it by one day.

May Day holiday. First trip with Christopher. Shanghai, Wuyishan (right) and Xiamen (bottom). Hard seated it for two night in a row (left). Kicked his ass in Hong Kong Poker because he was "sick". Came back with a nice tan.

Donkey. Had the branch (it wasn't a twig) and berries (below).

Surprise b-day party for Karen (left) and David (right).

Summer came along. Simply amazing. World Cup 2002. Many nights spent at Weiwei's (left). The whole country basically stopped to watch football. Attempted 100/10 Challenge again. Christopher made comments about somebody's nipples. Dog Hot Pot again with Brad, Rishi and Angie. Discussing guns over a meal of dog hot pot and paw. Rishi liked it as you can see (right).

4 months off. Had about 30,000 kuai in the bank and many places to go. Went to Jiuhua Shan and Huangshan (the Yellow Mountains) (below). Latter among the most beautiful in the world.

Trip out west with Christopher and Kelly to Xian. We spent like 5 days there, but can't remember what we did. Best Shaobing in China there. Then off to Xiahe (left) and Qinghai (right and below)...

Lanzhou, Jiayuguan (left), Dunhuang (right)...

And finally Xinjiang. Hopped off the train at Hami to pick up some Hami melons (left). Made it to Kashgar (right). Real kababs. Shou Zhua Fan (their rice you can eat with your hands). Nang (Xinjiang bread). Delicious.

Rented a Santana with driver and traveled along the Karakoram Highway (road to Pakistan) (left and right).

Got back to Kashgar. Down to Hotan. Took a wicked nice bus across the Taklamakan Desert to Urumqi. Had a 48 hour train ride back to Jinan. Don't remember what we did the whole ride, but I'm sure there was lots of HK Poker being played.

Rested up in Jinan and then hit the road once again. Trip to Shanghai (left), Putuoshan (right), Shaoxing, Hangzhou (bottom).

Went back to Jinan to relax for a while, then off again. Trip to Shanxi and Sichuan by myself. First stop. Datong. Yungang Buddhist Grottoes (left) and the Hanging Monestary (right). Then Pingyao (bottom).

From there, straight to Sichuan. Was feeling lonely so I joined a Chinese tour group. Meet a cool Taiwanese kid to hang with. Jiuzhaigou (left). Scenery along the road (right).

Joined another Chinese tour group with the Taiwanese friend and went to Emei Shan (left) and the Leshan Big Buddha (right). Back to Chengdu. Hot pot (bottom). Holy crap was it spicy.

Went back to Jinan by train straight from Chengdu. Only a 36 hour ride. Rested and then off again by myself. Trip to Hong Kong (left), Macau (right), Hainan (bottom), Guangzhou.

Got back in time for the Aston Christmas Party at that bar I can't remember the name of now. Christmas Day in the apartments (below).

New Year's trip to Shanghai. Stopped in Zhouzhuang (left) and Yixing first. Then off to Shanghai to join the rest of the crew. Each put in 200 kuai into a pool for spending for the night. Somehow had money left over the next morning! Amazing considering the 60 kuai Guiness's at O'Malleys (right).