Commies no longer seem that bad...

... after spending time in Philly. Yes Cerasoli, Brennan, Zese, Muneer and I went down to Philly for the Eagles/Giants game. Although I was disappointed with the outcome of the game I was pleased to experience first-hand how overhyped Philly fans are. The most threatened that I felt the entire weekend was by a 25 year old girl in a bar on Saturday night after one member of our party informed her that she was a second-class citizen. She was furious, but nothing a little DK sweet talk and a cocktail couldn't smooth over. Sure we got yelled at while at the game in our Giants jerseys, but I never really felt threatened at all.

The Philly Marathon also happened to be this weekend and that provided us with the Clown of the Weekend (I only wish that I was quicker with my camera so I had more footage):

How did the family walking by Barney the Dinosaur not do a double take???

Finally, one of the funniest moments of all time was Monday morning on Amtrak on the way home.
I was sitting at the front of the car near the bathroom. We hit a bump and the bathroom door slides open to reveal this big Carl Winslow looking MoFo sitting on the shitter with his pants at his ankles. I haven't laughed that hard in years...

WOW!

So I was bored down in Philly a couple of days ago and took a minute to figure out how many miles I've flown this year (Jan - Dec 2010, obviously a few flights are booked but I have not yet traveled). Drum roll please...     

123,158 miles - that's 4.95 times around the earth's equator - ridiculous!
That also doesn't include driving and trains, which would add at least another 5,000 miles...

Shanghai

My new Favorite city! Shanghai is the financial capital of China and it’s a legit Western style city located in Eastern China. Lots of incredible modern restaurants, some cool bars and clubs and tons of shopping – both huge department stores and small markets where you can get incredible deals if you possess bargaining skills like me.

Funny Story: We were told by our host never to pay more than 30% of the asking price in the markets. So after about 45 minutes walking around, one brilliant member of my group comes over to me and the following conversation takes place:

Guest: "I getting really good at this bargain thing"

DK: "Oh yeah, what did you get?"

Guest: While holding up a bag, "He ask for 180 for dress, but I get two"

DK: "So you got 2 dresses for 180? You could have done better; that's only 50% off."

Guest: "No. I get 2 of dress for for 180. That's what he wanted for 1. That WAY more than 50%, that very good"

DK, now speechless (i know that's rare), walks away shaking his head.

I kid you not, this went down. And yes she was Vietnamese so I hope you read her part with a broken english Asian accent...

Finally, we can file this under my 'I Love Foreigners' file:

Thanks for translating the unimportant part of the sign!

Beijing

Beijing was cool – very traditional, old school Chinese city. Did all of the tourist thangs – Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, The Great Wall:

The Western World is starting to enter daily life in Beijing, as evidenced by the photo of this cool Starbucks below, but there’s still a ways to go before kids are bumping Lil’ Wayne and watching Jersey Shore…

Lots of history, lots of historic/famous sites, and some real good Chinese restaurants (go figure). The meals in Beijing were ridiculous - yeah, chopsticks are pretty much just an extension of my hand at this point… But the coolest building we saw was my bar (yes I got a drink here):

F**K Communism!

So I’m not at all religious and I pay very little, if any, attention to politics, but G-D Bless democracy, the bill of rights and freedom of speech. I haven’t posted anything to my blog in nearly a week because once I got to mainland China my web access became extremely limited.

I asked my guide why I was unable to access my blog and he explained that in China the internet is heavily regulated – you are not allowed to visit YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc. – and blogs are barely legal. If you are granted permission by a government agency to have a blog it is then monitored and regulated by the government. This is just one of the ways that the communist regime prevents citizens from freely expressing their opinions and beliefs. Crazy stuff!

Okay, Dave just got serious for a minute – sorry about that, probably won’t happen again in the history of this blog but I found that really nuts and thought it was worth mentioning…

Master William!

So my first full day in Hong Kong was awesome! Went on a really interesting city tour, had an incredible Chinese dim sum lunch at/on a floating restaurant and now getting ready to go on a booze cruise followed by dinner.
Funniest moment of the day: While waiting for someone in the lobby of a hotel, I see this Chinese woman running up to us. My host/guide screams out "Hello Kitty!" Apparently the woman showing us around the property was named Kitty. I can now tell you first hand that the hardest thing in the world to do is hold in your laughter in a business setting after hearing an Asian woman (standing right next to you) scream "Hello Kitty!".

Despite the funniness and coolness described above the highlight was the first activity in the morning - TAI CHI & MEDITATION HOUR. Yes, you heard me right I got up at 7am to meditate and do tai chi. Our instructor was Master William. This guy is the F'in Man! He would choke out Mr. Miagi in under 60 seconds. He had size 6 Keds with Yin Yangs on them. That's right Keds with fucking Yin Yangs. So I had a Tai Chi session first thing in the morning - I killed it!

Off to Hong Kong...

Leaving EARLY tomorrow morning for Hong Kong, where blowjobs are like the New York Lotto - all you need is a dollar and a dream!

有一個偉大的週末，母狗

I Love Foreigners

I figured I'd post a video that I've already taken just to give you a preview of things to come...

This is just West of Agra, India. I guess it's simple logic - the quickest way to get 2 men & 3 sheep from Point A to Point B is by motorcycle...

Welcome Friends

As most (probably all) of you know, I am very anti-Facebook and to a degree anti-technology. There are good reasons for this, but sharing my photos/videos/thoughts/experiences most certainly is not one of them.

So I've decided to start a blog (I just learned that's short for weblog). If you haven't heard from me in a few days or weeks and find yourself wondering where in the world is ______ (you can either go with Carmen San Diego, Waldo, your choice)? Now you can simply check my blog...

I've never done anything like this so any and all feedback is most certainly welcome.
Finally, I hope you all enjoy the ride!