Surf Roots, Software Thoughts » China

Peking Duck in Shanghai

Alex Loddengaard — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 13:32:07 +0000

After a long day of exploring the French Concession in Shanghai, my dad and I decided to go to the restaurant known for its duck. Even though Beijing is the place in China to have duck, the duck we had was astonishingly good, much better than any duck I’ve had in the US. It was pretty different than the duck you get in the US, though: a chef comes to your table with an entire roasted duck on his platter; he then proceeds to cut the duck into various categories of duck meat. One category is skin: he gives you a plate of the most rich skin I’ve ever had in my life. A different category is lean meat, and the final category is fatty meat + skin. The skin and fatty meat were so rich that we had to accompany them with little rice tortillas and plumb sauce, otherwise they were almost too rich. The combination of plumb sauce, skin, and meat, though, was fantastic.

We were so excited to have our duck that we didn’t notice the chef leave with meat to spare. After allowing us to eat for a few minutes, the waitress returned with a huge bowl of duck soup, which was also insanely good. The duck, soup, sauce, tortillas, etc cost $20, easily feeding two hugry people. Mmmmmm.

I didn’t have my camera at the time, so I suppose I’ll have to go back to take some pictures ;).

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Shanghai First Impression

Alex Loddengaard — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 14:13:41 +0000

I arrived in Shanghai today at around 2:00pm, and now it’s about 10:30pm. I can barely stay awake I’m so jetlagged, but I got a chance to check out the town. Christophe played tour guide, and here’s my first impression:

Shanghai drivers are the craziest I’ve ever seen. Crossing the street is like signing your life away. It’s awesome!
Food is BOMB. We had dumplings that were each around $.50. Mmmmmm.
The pollution is awful. You can feel the air in your mouth and throat, and it feels nasty.
Language barrier is pretty bad, but pointing and counting always works out.
All around, Shanghai is going to be a RAD place to live for a while :).

More updates about China soon!

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The Drain of Traveling

Alex Loddengaard — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 06:57:23 +0000

Starting June 18th I ventured off to Europe on a 7-week-long backpacking trip, returning to Los Angeles on August 7th. Just a week later I traveled to Cape Code, Massachusetts on the 14th of August and returned to Los Angeles on the 20th. I’m now going to hop on a plane for Shanghai on the 22nd, hoping to return in December (depending on China’s visa policies).

As insanely excited as I am for Shanghai, I’m feeling the weight of hopping around so much. I’m very excited to be living in one place for at least a few weeks, especially since that place is Shanghai, a city that will be unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. I long for sleeping in the same bed night after night, showering in the same shower, and even spitting my toothpaste into the same sink.

I have an unexplanable appreciation for traveling, but the lesson I have learned now is that travel should perhaps be spaced accordingly. Otherwise moving and sleeping in different beds and adapting to different shelters takes a toll on you, rather, it has at least taken a toll on me.

Shanghai, I’m ready :).

Photo credit: here.

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If Shanghai wasn’t exciting enough

Alex Loddengaard — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:57:02 +0000

I just found this. Mmmmmm.

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Europe Blogging Plan + Visa Update

Alex Loddengaard — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:42:46 +0000

I’ve been home now for three days or so, and I’m insanely behind on my Europe documentation. The plan is to write a post for each city that I visited along with a summary post. I have a few more days in Los Angeles, then I’m off to Cape Cod for a week, and finally I’m off to Shanghai. This should be ample time to get some good posts out there, so stay tuned!

In other news, I got my China visa application in on Friday. Unfortunately they’re being insanely stringent with their visa issueing, so I was only able to apply for a 30-day business visa. The plan is to reapply once the olympics are said and done, staying in Hong Kong temporarily if leaving China is necessary. Should be fun :).

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More Munich and Prague

Alex Loddengaard — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:18:08 +0000

Munich was awesome. My favorite city thus far for sure. Everyone is insanely friendly, the food is fantastic, the beer is flowing, and everything is affordable. We went to beer halls every night and sometimes at lunch. A beer hall is basically a big place, sometimes outdoors and sometimes indoors, where parties share tables and most people, old and young, order large quantities of beer. Typically you can only get the beer that the particular house brews, but one thing is always for sure, it’s all good. Apart from the beer halls, we visited a concentration camp, Dachau, and a gangster castle, Neuschwanstein.

Despite all that has already been mentioned, the best part of Munich is the people. The locals are insanely friendly, and lots of cool people flock to the capital of Bavaria. We met a 40-year-old local named Biernhard, two patent lawyers, a ton of Australians, more Germans, some Canadians, some Spanish, a few Americans, etc. I love it.

After five nights in Munich we left today for Prague. The first impression is good — half liter beers for around $1, cool sights, and an insane hostel. I’m super excited for the days to come.

Bonus story: China is being ridiculous with their visa policies now that the Olympics are coming up. More information to come soon.

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Another Big Travel Purchase

Alex Loddengaard — Sat, 24 May 2008 19:05:40 +0000

When will they end? Not yet. I still need a better pair of shoes.

Canon Rebel XTi Digital SLR (body only) - $509 from Dell
SanDisk 4GB Compact Flash Card - $28 from Dell

I’ll be using my dad’s lenses from his 35mm SLR that he never uses anymore. I believe he has a 75-300mm lense and a 28-105mm lense.

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More Travel Purchases

Alex Loddengaard — Tue, 20 May 2008 04:40:11 +0000

The travel purchases never end.

Traveler’s health insurance - $66 for all seven weeks of Europe
International Student Identity Card - $25
International Phone and SIM Card - $39 (includes $10 of talk credit)

I’m not even finished yet. In other news, my mom and I sewed an old sheet into a sheet bag for the hostels that don’t have bedding.

Bonus purchase: my team and I won our Google APM scavenger hunt, so I got a $50 gift certificate to the Google Store. I bought a Google bike jersey. Now all I need to buy to make my outfit complete is a nice pair of tight, short bike pants. Mmmmm.

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Mmmmm. DVDs.

Alex Loddengaard — Sat, 03 May 2008 07:05:47 +0000

I arrived in Los Angeles earlier this evening to spend the weekend with my family. I won’t get a chance to see them that much this summer seeing as how I’m going to Europe four days after school ends, and I’m going to China two weeks after I arrive from Europe. It’s always great seeing my family, and it’ll for sure be time well spent. This’ll also give me an awesome opportunity to put my family’s insane DVD collection onto my newly purchases iPod classic. I don’t think I’ll be able to fit all 300+ DVDs, but I’ve chosen 19 of my favorites including all three Lord of the Rings extended editions, all three Austin Powers, Gladiator, etc. Mmmmmm.

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Preparation Purchases for Europe and China

Alex Loddengaard — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 06:54:38 +0000

I’ve been buying things like mad in preparation for Europe and China. Take a look:

80GB Black iPod Classic - $250
Plastic Classic iPod Case - $24.95
3x 2GB SD Cards - $7.99 each
8GB USB Flash Drive - $31.99
Compact Card Reader - $11.99
Universal Plug Converters - $17.99
Lonely Planet Shoestring Guide to Europe - $18.47
Pocket Journal - $10.95
Black Passport Money Waste Strap - $11.95
Some sort of power adapter + extra battery - $?? (my Dad bought it for me at the Sharper Image sale)

All these new gismos are giving me something to play with. I’ve already encoded 20GBs worth of DVDs onto my iPod, and I’m absolutely astonished at the quality of the sound and video.

In other news, I’ve began researching the current culture in hopes of fitting in better. I’ve found some notable YouTube videos related to dancing and hair styles. It’s pretty unfortunate that I erased the mullet, because apparently they’re the cool thing in Europe along with strange dance moves. Take a look. I got some practicing to do.

You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video

I must admit, I’m a pretty big fan of the pump-up shoes. I’m gonna look to buy a pair while I’m over there.

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