"Club" Dance Class

Last night I went to a dance class called "Bar/club" (酒吧） style dance. I was interested what it would be like. I actually was going to a bar after the class, so at least my choice of exercise clothes were appropriate for both places.

So, I got to the dance class. Kids were running around playing with exercise balls as big as them. One guy was inside stretching and wearing a sweatband on his forehead. Some women in their 50s or 60s were standing against the wall. A couple walked in.

The woman in charge of the dance studio asked "Where are your friends?!" I'm always asked why I'm alone here... whether it is eating by myself at restaurants or going to random events alone. I think it's a Chinese thing of always doing things with other people.

Anyway, the class started as we danced and did various steps to electro remixes to popular songs like those of Justin Bieber. Then another song came on with profanities every 30 seconds while the kids continued to push the exercise balls around us and sometimes accidentally hitting us with them.

I love China for this reason.. a chaotic "bar/club" style dance class where 50 year old women and straight guys also swung their hips around to Mariah Carey songs...

Vietnam Feb 2013 (a summary of highlights in pictures)

My solo 10 day trip to Vietnam in Feb. was characterized by amazing food, beautiful scenery by motorbike, coffee, history of the war, and great people I met.

Places traveled:  HCMC, Hoi An, Hue, Dong Hoi, Phong Nha park
I like visuals, so I'll provide you with some of those:

FOOD

My favorite...
Hoi An speciality - (hoanh thanh chien) Fried wontons with a salsa-like topping.
Mine had diced, grilled pork, tomatoes and onions.

SCENERY (BY BIKE)

Bike tour with some couchsurfers outside of Hue

My great traveling companion to Phong Nha caves. Thanks for driving!!

Rural paths outside of Phong Nha National Park

COFFEE
(every day, twice a day)

Vietnamese coffee is sooo good.
Maybe it's the generous portion of condensed milk which makes it taste so good and smooth.

BOMBS
Traveling anywhere around Vietnam makes you realize how affected and devastated the country was (and in some areas still is) by the Vietnam War.

Ruins of a church in Dong Hoi destroyed by American bombs

Driving through the countryside, I saw many pools of water that are 'fish ponds' from bomb craters.
There is some ironic saying about how America graciously donated thousands of fish ponds to Vietnam...

INFO ABOUT MY TRIP

Ummm I don't remember many details about each place since it was months ago, but in the future I will be more detailed so maybe this blog can actually help those of you who plan to travel to the same places I did.

I will write down what I remember about the trip overall though:

1.  I felt cheated most of the time (money-wise).
 I thought people were always after my money even though I clearly did not look like a luxury traveler (I usually had a backpack or cloth bag attached to me). This didn't apply to less-touristy places I ventured to for meals, where I got the local price without even asking for it.

2. The environment in Dong Hoi felt unfriendly.
Very few foreigners in the city of Dong Hoi, and I did not feel welcome when I walked around.. In fact, I felt pretty uncomfortable walking around the city alone. Too bad.

3. Good food everywhere, but I was never full.
Really great, fresh-tasting food in each city I visited. I had to eat like 6 meals a day though because I was always hungry. Maybe it is because I am American and we are used to unnecessarily large portions?

4. My favorite moments were riding bikes (motorbikes and bicycles) through countryside and villages.
Bikes are a big part of Vietnam and a cheap way to see the country. If you are too scared to drive one yourself (me), find someone else who doesn't mind being the driver.

(Not about mold)

I didn't create this blog to talk about mold. The purpose was to blog about my travel experiences in SE Asia and life in China. I also hoped to blog about travel in general because I love reading travel blogs.

Not only do some of them contain really useful information if you are planning a trip, but I find them very entertaining to read, and keep me sane by letting my mind wander to faraway places from my desk where I sit all day.

Today I was exploring CHEAP options for October holiday (national holiday in China). October is still the monsoon season for many Southeast Asian countries… I did some research and found that maybe Northern Laos and Northwest Malaysia would have decent weather around this time. Don't know yet how expensive plane tickets are to Laos, but I assume they should be pretty cheap to KL, Malaysia since its the main AirAsia hub.

I will make some posts now about my Chinese New Year travels that I took in February to get us in a travel-psyched mood :)

More mold

Today I wore a moldy dress because I had no other clean office clothes. It started as a seemingly sunny day, and so I figured that the sun would kill the mold on my dress during my twenty-five minute walk to work.

However I was sweating and now I feel really gross. Also the sunshine only lasted an hour and then it started raining. I left all my windows open of course because I thought it was actually going to be sunny.


Today I learned that typhoon season isn't the wettest time of the year for Shenzhen. I have the Spring to look forward to for that.

MOLD - adjusting to a tropical climate

For the past two weeks, the subways in Shenzhen have smelled like feet and mold. My umbrella has become attached to me at all times, because I have come to the conclusion that it rains every thirty minutes.


Shenzhen has insane humidity, and is in the midst of its typhoon season. I am from the Northeastern US where it can feel humid from time to time, but actually isn't. Shenzhen's humidity has been above 80% for the past two weeks now!!

I have also been cleaning mold for the past two weeks now. It is sadly my go-to activity when I am not at work.

Nasty.

It. Is. Everywhere.

White, brown, yellow or green spots






It is also making me obsessive about cleaning.

Recognize this from above? Yes, I cleaned it :)

(A simple solution of bleach and water will kill all types of mold.
However, it also slightly lightens the paint on the wall.. sorry landlord)

Yesterday I went to a Chinese corner, and met some really nice people. I was especially excited when I talked to a Chinese girl and she brought up the topic of mold in Shenzhen! How weird I've become... I've been taking before and after pictures of places where I've killed the mold in my apartment (see above for one example).. and now I enjoy it as a subject of conversation.