Came back to my university classmate's apartment in Berlingame, two days had a good rest.
The helmet George gave me
New one!
A small circle north of San Francisco I have done
The date stamps, beautiful?
Showing posts with label San Francisco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label San Francisco. Show all posts
Sunday, December 13, 2009
6 - 7 Nov 2009
6 - 7 Nov 2009 Burlingame
Came back to my university classmate's apartment in Berlingame, two days had a good rest.
The helmet George gave me
New one!
A small circle north of San Francisco I have done
The date stamps, beautiful?
Came back to my university classmate's apartment in Berlingame, two days had a good rest.
The helmet George gave meNew one!A small circle north of San Francisco I have doneThe date stamps, beautiful?
5 Nov 2009Greenbrae - Burlingame
5 Nov 2009
Greenbrae, Marin - Burlingame 40.6 miles (65 km)
When we had breakfast I asked Goerge's mom her address where she was born in China, I think maybe when I come back to China I can help her find some clues, but his mom can not remember so clearly now.
The same way as the first day I started my American trip but opposite. When I came back to San Francisco I went to China Town to have a look. To my surprise, I did not know why China Town looks like this: dirty, unfriendly and the people themselve don't have Chinese faces from a Chinese view. In my mind European countries or American cities should be very beautiful and clean, but it is not ture, in Paris all over dog shit on the street, in Munich and Switzerland a lot of cigarette butts on the street, of course Beijing I should say is dirty also, but this China town is not only dirty but also low decoration, their advertising style is last centery 80s in remote countryside in China, but there is the biggest China Town in the world and it is in America where it is the most developed country in the world! I do not know why, but it makes me think back to last centery in China. I pushed my bike down the street, I tried to smile to China Town's Chinese, but I did not get any reply, but the cold face. Their look seems to ask me, are you all right? why smile to me? I think we are from the same background, we should talk easier than others, but I can not conmunicate with them. The most funny feeling for me is I think their faces are not very Chinese who live in mainland China. Today I went to China Town, what I want to find is the feeling back in China, but it failed.
When I was in Europe and this time in America a lot of people asked me, do Chinese eat dogs? I think most of Chinese people do not eat dogs, some minorities in China are prohibited to eat dogs, in my opinions, just Cantonese eat dogs, not only dog, they eat everything in this planet. I do not know why, and mostly Chinese outside Chinese is Cantonese, so when foriegers see Cantonese eat dogs, it means all of Chinese eat dogs. In China we also has a lot of rumors the same as Chinese eat dogs, for example, we think German is a very cold and unfriendly nation, but when I was in Munich the local people are so friendly; we think American old people will die lonely, because we believe American people do not mind family, but I think it is not ture, at least in California. I wrote a long article about if Chinese eat dog or not, what I want to say is if you want to know a real country or real culture, you MUST go to there and figure it out.
A German biker
Back to Golden Gate Bridge
China Town's Taiwanese friend Guozihao
China Town
Greenbrae, Marin - Burlingame 40.6 miles (65 km)
When we had breakfast I asked Goerge's mom her address where she was born in China, I think maybe when I come back to China I can help her find some clues, but his mom can not remember so clearly now.
The same way as the first day I started my American trip but opposite. When I came back to San Francisco I went to China Town to have a look. To my surprise, I did not know why China Town looks like this: dirty, unfriendly and the people themselve don't have Chinese faces from a Chinese view. In my mind European countries or American cities should be very beautiful and clean, but it is not ture, in Paris all over dog shit on the street, in Munich and Switzerland a lot of cigarette butts on the street, of course Beijing I should say is dirty also, but this China town is not only dirty but also low decoration, their advertising style is last centery 80s in remote countryside in China, but there is the biggest China Town in the world and it is in America where it is the most developed country in the world! I do not know why, but it makes me think back to last centery in China. I pushed my bike down the street, I tried to smile to China Town's Chinese, but I did not get any reply, but the cold face. Their look seems to ask me, are you all right? why smile to me? I think we are from the same background, we should talk easier than others, but I can not conmunicate with them. The most funny feeling for me is I think their faces are not very Chinese who live in mainland China. Today I went to China Town, what I want to find is the feeling back in China, but it failed.
When I was in Europe and this time in America a lot of people asked me, do Chinese eat dogs? I think most of Chinese people do not eat dogs, some minorities in China are prohibited to eat dogs, in my opinions, just Cantonese eat dogs, not only dog, they eat everything in this planet. I do not know why, and mostly Chinese outside Chinese is Cantonese, so when foriegers see Cantonese eat dogs, it means all of Chinese eat dogs. In China we also has a lot of rumors the same as Chinese eat dogs, for example, we think German is a very cold and unfriendly nation, but when I was in Munich the local people are so friendly; we think American old people will die lonely, because we believe American people do not mind family, but I think it is not ture, at least in California. I wrote a long article about if Chinese eat dog or not, what I want to say is if you want to know a real country or real culture, you MUST go to there and figure it out.
A German biker
Back to Golden Gate Bridge
China Town's Taiwanese friend Guozihao
China Town
Friday, December 11, 2009
25 Oct 2009 Greenbrae, Marin - Saumel State Park
25 Oct 2009
Greenbrae, Marin - Saumel State Park 16 miles (26 km)
Said goodbye to George and his mom, hope to see them again in China. Today all the way are Redwood trees around me, the very huge trees almost block out the sunshine. I just rode 26 km to west of Greenbrae, got in a Redwwod park named Saumel, camping for only $3 per night, so I decided stay here one night. At campground I met a Taiwanese and a Canadian biker couple. We talked all the night by the light of the fire. I can not understand all of what they said, but I enjoyed it very much.
Said goodbye to George and his mom
Redwood trees
Saumel State Park
Greenbrae, Marin - Saumel State Park 16 miles (26 km)
Said goodbye to George and his mom, hope to see them again in China. Today all the way are Redwood trees around me, the very huge trees almost block out the sunshine. I just rode 26 km to west of Greenbrae, got in a Redwwod park named Saumel, camping for only $3 per night, so I decided stay here one night. At campground I met a Taiwanese and a Canadian biker couple. We talked all the night by the light of the fire. I can not understand all of what they said, but I enjoyed it very much.
Said goodbye to George and his mom
Redwood trees
Saumel State Park
24 Oct 2009 Burlingame - Marin
24 Oct 2009
Burlingame - SFO - Greenbrae, Marin 40.6 miles (65 km)
The first day of my cycling trip crossing America! Pedaling on the bike again is such a wonderful feeling. My destination is NY I know it is such a long way! I think it is more than 4,000 miles - about 6,400 km. I do not know how long it will take me. The first thing is going to post office to get a date stamp, I think this is a cool way to record my trip. The stamps themselves are very beautiful and for yourself you can easy remember which day where you were, and of course it cost nothing except the time spent waiting for the officer to give you a date stamp.
When I got on Golden Gate Bridge I met a guy George, we talked such long time. Finally he brought me back to his home and gave me a place to sleep for the night! He lives in Greenbrae, Marin County. More amazing thing is his mother who is 86-years old was born in Wuhan China in 1924!!!!! She can still speak a little bit Mandarin what she remembered as "Hello","Thanks" and "I am full". She saw the Japanese invaded China during the Second World War with her own eyes and left China in 1952 because of the widespread Red politics going on all over China.
From San Francisco I headed north in the direction of Orgen and Idaho, because I would like to see a couple who live in Boise, Idaho. They gave me an amazing memory: in March 2007, I met them at the border China and Laos. They were bikers as well but we were going the opposite way. They were heading from Laos to China, and I was heading from China to Laos. We stayed at the same hostel and exchanged a lot of information including emails. When I got back to Beijing in April, 2007, I sent email to them said I am safe back, but I got two replies, one is from them the other is not. The other mail sender said we were in Tibet in August/September 2006 at the same time, and then sent me photo, to my surprise she is an Aussie girl that I met in Tibet cycling over the highest pass of about 15,000 feet! That day this Aussie girl and I got caught in heavy snow, so we had to go into a tent with some Tibetan nomads to keep warm. An hour later she left and we did not exchange email. I thought I would not get any more news of her, but I unexpectedly got her news from this couple who live in Boise!!! The couple did not know the Aussie girl as well, but in 2007 when they headed to Tibet, they wanted to get some information from other bikers, so their friends introduced friends who introduced friends and finally they got the Aussie girl's email. This is like a circle - a bikers' circle! I met the Aussie girl again in 2007 in Beijing, and now we are very good friends. Each couple of months for the last 2.5 years we have met in Beijing, it is a such a wonderful feeling. In the summer of 2007, after we met again, she went to Vietnam, on a very local Vietnamese train she met a Chinese guy who knows me!!! this Chinese guy I did meet him in Laos in March 2007. It is so amazing: I met an Aussi girl in Tibet in 2006 and another Chinese guy in Laos in 2007 then they both met on the train in Vietnam in 2007!!! What a small world!
So from San Francisco I headed north to see the couple who brought me this wonderful memory, because it is destiny and fate that brought us together.
Burlingame - SFO - Greenbrae, Marin 40.6 miles (65 km)
The first day of my cycling trip crossing America! Pedaling on the bike again is such a wonderful feeling. My destination is NY I know it is such a long way! I think it is more than 4,000 miles - about 6,400 km. I do not know how long it will take me. The first thing is going to post office to get a date stamp, I think this is a cool way to record my trip. The stamps themselves are very beautiful and for yourself you can easy remember which day where you were, and of course it cost nothing except the time spent waiting for the officer to give you a date stamp.
When I got on Golden Gate Bridge I met a guy George, we talked such long time. Finally he brought me back to his home and gave me a place to sleep for the night! He lives in Greenbrae, Marin County. More amazing thing is his mother who is 86-years old was born in Wuhan China in 1924!!!!! She can still speak a little bit Mandarin what she remembered as "Hello","Thanks" and "I am full". She saw the Japanese invaded China during the Second World War with her own eyes and left China in 1952 because of the widespread Red politics going on all over China.
From San Francisco I headed north in the direction of Orgen and Idaho, because I would like to see a couple who live in Boise, Idaho. They gave me an amazing memory: in March 2007, I met them at the border China and Laos. They were bikers as well but we were going the opposite way. They were heading from Laos to China, and I was heading from China to Laos. We stayed at the same hostel and exchanged a lot of information including emails. When I got back to Beijing in April, 2007, I sent email to them said I am safe back, but I got two replies, one is from them the other is not. The other mail sender said we were in Tibet in August/September 2006 at the same time, and then sent me photo, to my surprise she is an Aussie girl that I met in Tibet cycling over the highest pass of about 15,000 feet! That day this Aussie girl and I got caught in heavy snow, so we had to go into a tent with some Tibetan nomads to keep warm. An hour later she left and we did not exchange email. I thought I would not get any more news of her, but I unexpectedly got her news from this couple who live in Boise!!! The couple did not know the Aussie girl as well, but in 2007 when they headed to Tibet, they wanted to get some information from other bikers, so their friends introduced friends who introduced friends and finally they got the Aussie girl's email. This is like a circle - a bikers' circle! I met the Aussie girl again in 2007 in Beijing, and now we are very good friends. Each couple of months for the last 2.5 years we have met in Beijing, it is a such a wonderful feeling. In the summer of 2007, after we met again, she went to Vietnam, on a very local Vietnamese train she met a Chinese guy who knows me!!! this Chinese guy I did meet him in Laos in March 2007. It is so amazing: I met an Aussi girl in Tibet in 2006 and another Chinese guy in Laos in 2007 then they both met on the train in Vietnam in 2007!!! What a small world!
So from San Francisco I headed north to see the couple who brought me this wonderful memory, because it is destiny and fate that brought us together.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Biking across America 1
20 Oct 2009
All night I did not sleep, because I was packing and waiting for the sunrise.
7:00 am I left home, standing alone on a Beijing street corner in the early morning I felt a little bit sad and lonely, then I took the subway to the airport.
10:00 am the airplane took off from Beijing stopped for a couple of hours in Hong Kong, and landed in San Francisco at almost the same local time that I left from Beijing, but I flew more than 16 hours already.
My American visa's expiration date is 21 Oct, which is very fateful for me, because my idol Jack Kerouac, died on 21 Oct 1969: It means that I stood on American soil, 40 years and a day after he passed away. I did not choose the exact day-21 Oct- because I do not want to get any trouble at the customs in San Francisco.
I prepared a lot of answers for the American immigration, but they did not ask me many questions and gave me a 6-month I-94 card! I am very surprised: usually, the first time come to America just get 1-3 months, I am so lucky.
I stayed at my university classmate's apartment in Berlingame, south of San Francisco. This time I did not bring my bike from Beijing, it is too difficult when you get on and off the plane, so the first thing I needed to do is buy a bike. I am pretty lucky I got a used bike for $ 150, it is a Specailzed - almost new one, and I bought two used panniers, a front rack and a front bike light, etc for $ 110.
Destination 6920 miles
Landed in San Francisco
I-94
New bike
San Francisco: English-Chinese-Spanish
Oakland
Berkeley
All night I did not sleep, because I was packing and waiting for the sunrise.
7:00 am I left home, standing alone on a Beijing street corner in the early morning I felt a little bit sad and lonely, then I took the subway to the airport.
10:00 am the airplane took off from Beijing stopped for a couple of hours in Hong Kong, and landed in San Francisco at almost the same local time that I left from Beijing, but I flew more than 16 hours already.
My American visa's expiration date is 21 Oct, which is very fateful for me, because my idol Jack Kerouac, died on 21 Oct 1969: It means that I stood on American soil, 40 years and a day after he passed away. I did not choose the exact day-21 Oct- because I do not want to get any trouble at the customs in San Francisco.
I prepared a lot of answers for the American immigration, but they did not ask me many questions and gave me a 6-month I-94 card! I am very surprised: usually, the first time come to America just get 1-3 months, I am so lucky.
I stayed at my university classmate's apartment in Berlingame, south of San Francisco. This time I did not bring my bike from Beijing, it is too difficult when you get on and off the plane, so the first thing I needed to do is buy a bike. I am pretty lucky I got a used bike for $ 150, it is a Specailzed - almost new one, and I bought two used panniers, a front rack and a front bike light, etc for $ 110.
Destination 6920 miles
Landed in San Francisco
I-94
New bike
San Francisco: English-Chinese-Spanish
Oakland
Berkeley
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