Baton Rouge & New Orleans

The first time I was in New Orleans was 3 years ago (around August 22, 2005). Katie and I drove down there from Philly with 2 other friends from college. Our friends were to enter graduate school at LSU in Baton Rouge, about an hour drive from New Orleans.

3 years ago, despite being in Baton Rouge for a few days, my time in New Orleans was spent only in the airport to return back to Philadelphia. At that point, I was a little upset that I did not get to see the city, but figured I would get back there in the future.

One week later, on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit, New Orleans flooded, a majority of the city was decimated, and thousands of people were displaced.

3 years later on August 8th, my friend was graduating from LSU. Katie and I flew down in support.

Here is the LSU Tiger.
There's the graduation girl (with parents).
And some delicious breakfast after graduation... grits, eggs and biscuit.
The day after graduation, we went over to New Orleans for some site seeing. I believe this is one of the famous/old sites in the city.
Typical street in New Orleans. In the past, New Orleans had been "owned" by the Spanish, French and then the Spanish again, before it got into the hands of the US in the Louisiana Purchase.
After strolling around New Orleans proper, my friend Adam took us on a tour of the Lower Ninth Ward. This is where the levee broke and heavily flooded the area.

Currently, the Lower Ninth is fairly empty. There are many empty plots of land of where homes once stood and people once lived. If homes have not been demolished, they may look like this. The Lower Ninth is for all intensive purposes one step away from a ghost town. But there is a bit of construction occurring. Not nearly enough though. And then there are homes like this. Completely dilapidated and which need to be flattened. It's amazing to think that people once lived in this structure. It's even more amazing that no person or developer has come into this area to rebuild it.
The levees have been rebuilt but nearly nothing else has. Are the new levees strong enough or tall enough? These are the thoughts that fill my mind as Hurricane Gustav approaches and is about to reach land on September 1, 2008. This new Hurricane while predicted to make land fall weaker and farther from New Orleans than Katrina did, is still a concern (with massive potential downpours). After all, predictions are just that and there is no predicting what could occur to New Orleans again. Granted, there will be much less destruction, due to a smaller population and less buildings; but there is a feeling that history will repeat itself and too soon.

I hope one day there will be a solution for this beautiful city. A city in which socioeconomic status plays a part in its past and hopefully less in its future.

Chinese Food

Below is most the food I partook in while in China.

Here's some history. Beijing used to be called Peking. If you are looking at a pre-1950 map, it will say Peking and not Beijing. It may be wrong in the year, but it's good to know. With that said, Beijing is well know for it's duck: Peking Duck.
This was my first meal in China and was probably the best. It was some sort of meat (we think it was beef) with some dark sauce. Plus the light meat was chicken (or so we thought).
Yep, fondue Chinese style: Hot Pot. Raw meat cooked in water is awesome.
I forget what I ate here because it was forgettable. It was a generic meal at a tourist location. Ben and I had a few of these in Beijing & Xian.
Night of dumplings: We were so close to finishing it all.
Best noodle place in Beijing. They were fresh and had good toppings to add. The 2nd picture below is some of the compliments that joined the meal.
Somthing fancy looking.
I forget what this is, but if I took a picture of it, it must have tasted good or smelled good.
The best curry dish in China.
Dumplings again...
While in China I also ate chicken heart and some other body parts I have never had before.

I believe this concludes the Asian posts. Going forward, I hope to have some good posts (be prepared for my New Orleans post), but once I start a career (job), things may slow down.

Perhaps I will start to make up stuff and write about other peoples' adventures.

Thoughts?

Random Japanese Thoughts

Below are some observations I had of Asia, mainly Japan...

- Japan has very clean streets. It's amazing how a country can be so clean if there are no trashcans anywhere. Apparently, you are supposed to carry around your trash with you until you get home.

- Chinese drivers are at war on the road. Don't dare to cross the street when the light is not in your favor. Use the underground paths when possible.

- Japan drivers on the other hand, are scared of their own shadow. Due to this, I only heard a total of 9 car horn honks while I was there. That is 0.3 each day.

- I walked to school 45 minutes each day, uphill both ways. Plus I had to carry my awesome mac in my school bag. This couple with the simple food over there caused me to shed 3 pounds. It's funny, and completely explainable how there was a 10 pound swing in my weight between France and Japan.

- Have you ever walked into Trader Joes and felt completely welcome and yet at the same time wonder how the employees can be so darn happy? Well, every service oriented establishment was like this in Japan. There was always an over the top welcome from every single employee, and then a thank you for stopping by. I loved every second of it. It was quite a difference from what we see here in the US.

- Don't attempt reservations in Japan, they are not a concept there. People sit too long for a meal and the servers don't know how to estimate. Plus, since they are so nice and cannot say no, they will tell you it will be 20 more minutes... over and over again. I was only fooled once... ok twice.

- I ate sushi almost every day and did not get sick, nor have I shown signs of mercury poisoning to this point.

- In conveniences stores (such as 7/11 which are every where), men read magazines at the shelves. However, they do not ever buy them. Interesting concept that does not happen here in the states.- Green Iced Tea is really good. It is unsweetend, tastes healthy and it is one of the things I will miss the most about Japan.

- Vending drink machines are everywhere (where I bought multiple Iced teas a day).

- In public places, there are either really nice bathrooms with remote control toilets or a hole in the ground. It was always a gamble to see what you were going to get.

- Japan is expensive. Not the same way as Europe, but groceries are just as expensive as eating out.

p.s. I took the Wonderlic test yesterday.

Japan Food

Below I will show a bunch of pictures showing the food I ate in Japan.

This is the fist meal John and I shared together in Japan. Good ole simple Ramen.One of my first encounters with green tea happiness. This is a green tea frappe I think.
Again with the good ole simple ramen.
This is the table at a ramen place. Many many toppings to be added.
In this pic: rice with sea weed, raw egg (for meat), miso soup, bowl of beef with some veggies.
This is a typical old style Japanese Restaurant. We are sitting on the floor with our legs under the table. Theoretically, our legs should be crossed, but I cannot do that for the life of me.
Apparently Tokyo is famous for the Tokyo Bananas.
Note to reader: They are not real bananas and are less healthy.
Kinda like a twinkie but with banana filling.
This here is a super-duper sized apple. It cost $5 and was almost worth it.
Here I am with a few of my friends at a sobe place (buckwheat noodles). See that stack of red bowls, each has soba in it. When eating a soba meal, it usually comes with dipping sauce like soy sauce.
This ramen shop is in what is known as "piss alley". The ramen at this place has tempora vegetables in the bowl.
In this picture is a bottle if green tea and some edemame flavored chips. Green iced tea in Japan is amazing. Unlike America, there is no sugar added, or at least very little.
A fantastic simple meal of sushi and sake.
Some friends enjoying some ramen.
For some reason, crusts of bread are hard to find in Japan. This is a crustless sandwich with the ends closed. Within the sandwich is sweet peanut butter. I never bought this type of sandwich again, but I found it important to show.
Moochi: Rice dough on the outside.. the green ones are green tea rice dough. On the inside: bean, perhaps red bean.
You may have heard of conveyor belts in Japan... it's real and and it's awesome.Each item of food is on a colored plate. When you are finished, you hand in your plates, they are scanned, counted, and then you pay. In the middle of his picture is a big bowl of wasabi.
Below is where I eat sushi almost everyday for lunch.
This is a plastic version of what I eat most days.
In Kyoto I had a great ramen meal. They key: go to a place with a long line. I was not sure what I ordered, but I just pointed and prayed and it worked out great.In Nagoya at the Sumo match... sake and beer.
After a long day in Nara, I ate lunch at 4pm and this is it. Egg and vegitables.

As you may be able to see, the meal is made in the kitchen and then put on the griddle table in front of the customers eyes.
Some beverage I enjoyed in Tokyo. If you look closely, you will see catnip in there. I am still not sure if that is Kosher.
Beautiful Sushi
When it comes to soft serve, typically in the US it is chocolate and vanilla. Not in Japan, it was green tea and vanilla.
In short, green tea items are huge in Japan and I loved them all. I wish the US had the same products as in Japan, but that's not how it works.

Even after eating all this great food in Japan, I managed to drop some pounds. Unbelievable. From gaining 7 pounds while in Paris, neutralizing while in the US, and then losing 3 while in Japan, my weight fluctuated 10 pounds throughout the year... not bad. Although I am not a doctor, so what do I know.

Hope you enjoyed.