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):