St. Patty's Day Weekend
Went out to an amazing Japanese dinner with Eden and Bennett, where we met a bunch of Bennetts friends. Several Chinese girls who spoke English as well as I do, which was amazing. They had never been to the US, but worked for Intel in marketing. We followed up dinner with a trip to an Irish pub. Some of Eden's friends invited us out there. We arrived realizing that, oh yeah, it was St. Patricks day. I have never seen so many white people anywhere in Asia. The place was packed with students, tourists, and ex-pats.
We went out to another bar after a few beers and Irish car bombs, at which point my recollection of the night becomes a bit hazy. I spent a very lazy day recovering Saturday, then went out again. I went to a Japanese place where I met several Italian girls. They were shocked that an American could speak Italian, and I hadn't had that much practice with my Italian in a long while. Ended up going back to their place for Italian coffee afterwards. They are students at the local language university.
Sunday was my Tibetan day. I went to the largest Tibetan monastery outside of Tibet. It was amazing. A stunning, HUGE buddha there. Loads of tourists, though most were Chinese. My favorite part was observing Chinese praying at the shrines, mixing tourism and religion. Everyone purchased incense to give as offerings to the Buddhas, and the place was lined with pads for you to get on your knees and pray.
I unfortunately brought my camera with no battery. I'm sure with the host of visitors I have coming, that I will be back. Pictures will come then.
I went to buy more clothes, following my "new clothes are cheaper than laundry" philosophy. I followed my shopping up with dinner at a great Tibetan restaurant, where I ate a first course of yak steak covered in orange juice. Orange juice turned out to be an orange sauce. It was okay, but I think there's a reason yak has yet to infiltrate American menus. This was followed up with a lamb and beef dish which was nothing short of incredible. I wish I'd ordered two of it instead. Nothing too exciting that night, I was getting ready for a busy week. Highlight to come: MS Press conference.
We went out to another bar after a few beers and Irish car bombs, at which point my recollection of the night becomes a bit hazy. I spent a very lazy day recovering Saturday, then went out again. I went to a Japanese place where I met several Italian girls. They were shocked that an American could speak Italian, and I hadn't had that much practice with my Italian in a long while. Ended up going back to their place for Italian coffee afterwards. They are students at the local language university.
Sunday was my Tibetan day. I went to the largest Tibetan monastery outside of Tibet. It was amazing. A stunning, HUGE buddha there. Loads of tourists, though most were Chinese. My favorite part was observing Chinese praying at the shrines, mixing tourism and religion. Everyone purchased incense to give as offerings to the Buddhas, and the place was lined with pads for you to get on your knees and pray.
I unfortunately brought my camera with no battery. I'm sure with the host of visitors I have coming, that I will be back. Pictures will come then.
I went to buy more clothes, following my "new clothes are cheaper than laundry" philosophy. I followed my shopping up with dinner at a great Tibetan restaurant, where I ate a first course of yak steak covered in orange juice. Orange juice turned out to be an orange sauce. It was okay, but I think there's a reason yak has yet to infiltrate American menus. This was followed up with a lamb and beef dish which was nothing short of incredible. I wish I'd ordered two of it instead. Nothing too exciting that night, I was getting ready for a busy week. Highlight to come: MS Press conference.
posted by Kyle | 9:45 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home