Day 7 Denver, CO to Avoca, IA

We head out from Denver not really sure where we're going, just aiming for somewhere between Omaha and Des Moines. Not a whole lot of excitement just a lot of driving and crappy road food for lunch. We've taken to stopping at truck stops for massage breaks and come to realize that all the truck stops now have wireless internet. Yippee! We arrive in Omaha around 8pm looking for somewhere to have dinner. According to the map, which admittedly isn't very detailed, it looks as though most of the businesses are on the other side of the bridge in an area called Council Bluffs. We stop in a pizza place which is closing and ask the woman working there if there is a restaurant nearby that would be open - "well, there's a Red Lobster and an Applebee's right down the road near the Wal-Mart" not to be a snob but this isn't exactly what we're looking for. We decide to disregard this lady's advice and head back over the bridge into what we later learned is the heart of Omaha. We come across a Cajun Jazz club that looks promising - we go inside and ask them if there's a good pizza place nearby. They direct us to the old market district a few blocks away. Unfortunately the pizza place they recommend is closed, however, there are tons of other restaurants still open just down the street. This little area of Omaha is actually really cool - restaurants and bars line the cobble stone streets and people were actually out eating at 9:30pm on a sunday. We decide on a "contemporary Italian" restaurant called Vivace that looks pretty nice. As an appetizer we are offered a watermelon and strawberry soup with tarragon and champagne that is absolutely delicious. I have some goat cheese pizza and Marc some scallop ravioli while we eavesdrop on the older couple next to us as they get their fortune read. We are very pleasantly surprised with Omaha, but decide to push on a little further so we can make it to Chicago at a decent hour the following day. As soon as we hit the road a huge electrical storm starts. The sky is lighting up every couple of seconds with bolts of lighting. It's really pretty cool looking minus the fact that I'm driving and it's happening right over my shoulder in my blind spot. Marc's bi-minutely exclamations of "Wow, did you see that?" directly in my ear don't really help things for me. Coming to realize that there's not really a whole lot outside of Omaha, Marc gives Young Dave a call for some internet assistance. Dave directs us to a town called Avoca which apparently has some hotels. We pick the first one we come to after getting off the freeway which is run by an Indian couple and smells strongly of curry. Our room smells a bit like cherry cough syrup but we settle into bed anyway. Good times.

Day 6 Casper, WY to Denver, CO

I've been way behind on the blogging - no internet in the French countryside- but now I've got nothing but time.

We wake up after a great nights sleep in a real bed at the Parkway Plaza Hotel and take some much needed showers. It occurs to me that we spent Friday the 13th in a town called Casper - as far as I know there were no ghosts - however my toilet kit did fall off the shelf by itself in the middle of the night. Hmmmmm...... We go downstairs and have a solid breakfast of omelette and pancakes, which we get for free as the front desk woman was feeling friendly. We hit the road for Denver and a return to civilization. The drive is pretty uneventful, minus lots of road work which seems to be the trend on this trip. We pass through a town called Cheyenne which is notable because it seems an alleged murderer is also passing through at the time after killing his wife. Yeehaw. We arrive in Denver around 3pm and meet up with Jacquie, a friend of mine from my trip to Barcelona. Jacquie takes us to meet up with her brother and friends and together we head to the Denver Art Museum. The building is pretty cool looking though very much a Frank Gehry ripoff. Who the hell are you Daniel Libeskind? Anyway they have an exhibit going on that is the personal collection of Vicki and Kent Logan, contemporary stuff that focuses on people and spans the globe. I think it's all pretty awesome, in fact there are few pieces within the exhibit that I don't like. Apparently I am the only one - Marc and Jacquie do not agree. Whatever, y'all just don't appreciate art. After the museum we head to dinner - to a "Mediterranean" restaurant called Soleil. Marc and I are in dire need of something un-fried that does not resemble a hamburger so this place is perfect. Apparently mediterranean means Spanish so we have some decent paella and cava and are completely satisfied. As it is Bastille Day we decide that we need to do something French so we cross the street for some dessert crepes and then head to the liquor store for a bottle of French wine. Jacquie takes us to Washington Park near her house - a really nice place with a little lake with lots of ducks. We sit on a bench for an hour or two drinking our bottle of wine and talking about life and love etc. Very French indeed.

ATW – You just can’t avoid the fish head

While the previous visit to Maoming had me looking for a convenient place to throw-up several times, I have avoided the odd food dishes for most of this visit. I say this now with only one night left to go, and all bets are off for that last night, but the food has been much more palatable for my whitey tastes. One night I had eel soup (aka snake fish) and it was one of my favorites. It was seasoned, and looked, like gumbo and was supposedly a local dish. We frequented a placed named Mao Jia, and it was explained to me that the food is in the Hunan style, which is were good ole' Chairman Mao called home. It, for me, was clearly the best restaurant in town. The interior reminded me of Californian restaurants - exposed brick and odd, unrelated photographic artwork. The food was excellent, though my final meal, turned interesting. I had held out against the fish head platter suggestions on several previous nights, but when the seven or so dinner plates arrived, one was fish head. It was covered in spices and didn't really look much like a fish head, and fortunately I picked some of the meat on the edge and then filled up on the other six offerings. I only squirmed a little when they turned over the head and started eating all the insides. I had finished eating by that point. One of the other dishes was 'knee joint'. Or at least that's what I'm calling it. It was the lower portion of a busted leg bone, with no meat and just a big ball of fat and cartilage stuck on the end. You were also given a straw to suck out the marrow. I tried one and then moved on, but these were extremely popular among my fellow diners. All other dishes were fairly normal and rather spicy, especially the rabbit meat on skewers.
I also tried KFC for a couple of quick lunches. It was rather uninteresting but fast, and the food mostly tasted like US fast food, just much smaller portions. I think there were chicken feet on the menu, but I never tried them, but I did try the Chinese version of cole slaw. I'm not sure what was in it, no cabbage for sure, but just gobs of a mayonnaise-like substance. I couldn't force it down if I had to.

ATW – Maoming

The flight from Bangkok to Guangzhou was uninteresting and quick. The international arrival terminal at Guangzhou is much nicer than the domestic terminal that I flew into last time here, but that was the extent of the excitement at the airport. Thirty minutes on a bus to the bus station, an hour wait, and then four and a half hours on another bus to Maoming rounded out my day. Maoming is still not much of a tourist destination, or at least I can't communicate my desire to see something besides a shopping mall, hotel, or restaurant. It's nice and hot here, but not nearly as steamy as Bangkok.

ATW – Bangkok Adventure (part 2)

Part two of the full day began after some relax time at the hotel pool. I had four goals for the evening: ride the Skytrain, find a new party shirt, find some good Thai food, and find some good beer. Based upon my travel books I could accomplish all four within the same block. How perfect! The only drawback (for me, that is) was that this block was in the middle of Bangkok's red light district, called Patpong. I rode the Skytrain to get to Patpong (goal #1 complete), and wandered through many merchant stalls looking for a good shirt. Tons of illegal DVDs, fake Nike shirts, and just tons of crap were everywhere, but no decent party shirts. So goal #2 was never completed. After wandering up and down streets and being harassed by way too many people and called way too many things, I finally found the street that was supposed to have the good beer and thai food. The Thai food restaurant could not be found, but I found the British Pub, and hoped to be drinking some decent beer soon. Turns out they had Heineken and Tiger on tap and VB in bottles. I settled for a few pints of Tiger and then ate some of their food, which was actually quite good. The pub clientele consisted of just me and four semi-old white dudes, so after an hour of that, I decided to call it a night after only partially completing my goals. I breezed back through the red-light area which was in full party mode by this time and hopped back on the Skytrain and was back to my hotel in no time. A couple more Singhas in the hotel lounge and that was the end of my day. Next stop, southern China.

ATW – Bangkok Adventure (part 1)

A little delay in posting this, but the work in China is wearing me out. The last thing that I want to deal with when I get back to the hotel is the computer. So, it's a week late, but here's a little bit about Bangkok.
I had one full day to explore, so I set off with big ambitions in the late morning. I hopped on a river boat and headed quite a ways up the river. Then I got back on land and started just wandering around. While waiting to cross one of the streets, some random dude started talking to me, and it eventually lead into some story about how the yellow tok-toks (three wheeled buggies) were only 20 baht (about 60 cents) today. The driver would take you to all of the Temples and places that you wanted, and even wait for you. The only catch (I figured out later) was that you had to be taken to various 'Export shops' and at least feign interest in the merchandise (jewelry, clothes, crap). I got three temples (including a 40 foot Buddha), lots of sickening gas fumes, and two shops in my three hours of tok-tok riding. The big upside for the driver was that he got government sponsored gas coupons for taking the tourists around. He really wanted me to spend the day with him going from shop to shop, but I had had enough and was starving (see previous post about the horrid sausage). My last stop was the Grand Palace. I got yelled at as I entered because I was wearing shorts, but even after figuring out that I could rent some pants, I decided to forget the Grand Palace and wander around what appeared to be a religious festival. I assume that's what it was because there were lots of monks with microphones, and people trying to rip the tourists off. After one complete and boring walk around the event, it was now time to head back to the hotel and get cleaned up for the evening adventure. Part one of the full day was at a close.