Oh, the Joys of Internet Cafes

Actually I am at the hotel lobby of a pretty sweet little hotel in Luang Prabang. I am basically sweating like a beast but Laos has been rad so far. We got in earlier this afternoon after 3 nights in Siem Riep. I kind of expected Laos to be exactly like Cambodia but its far more laid back. Lots of backpackers and boutique artisan shops. Cambodia was awesome too, but way more aggressively tourist driven. Kia was getting sick of being called "lady", as in "hey lady, do you want water lady?". The answer was normally, "hell yes I want water, it is 90 degrees out I am about to pass out."
Headed to Bangkok in a couple days. Liz is there and her friend Erin might also be showing up in a day or two. Uh, can you say "party like an animal"?
We took tons of photos at the temples in Cambodia so I can bore anyone who is interested later. I imagine they will be featured on the blog once I get to download my memory card. Kia has been hogging the camera. I won't admit it to her but her photos are better than mine.
OK, going to sign off. Hope all is well.
Matthew

Ooooo Wee!

Beijing Summer Concert Series

Kunan and I went to the Beijing Pop Festival last weekend and rocked like champs. Photographic evidence follows. Brett Anderson was there, thats right loyal blog readers - THE Brett Anderson. Brett Anderson of Suede fame. Who is Suede you ask? I have no clue. Nine Inch Nails was there and Public Enemy did its best without Flava Flav or their normal DJ who I just found out is no longer Terminator X. According to Wikipedia Terminator X is now running an ostrich farm in South Carolina. Uh, weird.
Anyway, it was fun. The crowd was a strange mix of people. I am assuming this is because of the drastic variations in types of music that was presented. There were older Chinese rock and roll guys there for Cui Jin and Australians into industrial metal. Everyone got along fairly well.
OK photos. Enjoy. Kia shows up here on Thursday which is totally exciting.


Kunan + giant mojitos = awesome
The stage was set up with these rows of seats in the front. It was awesome to watch the security guards trying to make people sit down as the performances went on. They seriously wanted everyone to sit in their seats the whole time it was absolutely ridiculous.
OK, these go in series. There were these seats that the security guards were sitting in. We got away with it for a while....




Strangely enough, they never asked me to get up only Kunan....


Nine Inch Nails brought props.

Oh Hellz No

On Tuesday I was welcomed back to Beijing in a most unpleasant way. I got off of my 11 hour flight and headed into the office, because, well, I am just that good of an employee, and after about 4 hours of work I headed back to my hotel to get some rest. I strode confidently past the front desk and headed up to my little corner of Beijing on the 7th floor. I swiped my magnetic key and opened the door to a mess. There was some garbage on the floor of my kitchen. As my eyes panned up I realized that there was something very, very wrong. The freezer drawers were piled on my counter and there were various plastic bags thrown about the room. Some random papers I left were on the tables but other than that, everything I owned was gone. Totally gone. Electronics, clothing, toiletries, shoes, food, everything. I was convinced my sister (who had been staying in my place while I was in California) had left the door open and a band of Beijing bandits (I kind of imagined kung-fu versions of the Hamburglar) had run off with my things. Once I pulled my head together I called the front desk to explain that everything which had been in my apartment had vaporized. They proceeded to explain to me that I had checked out. Checked out, er no. So I head down to the front desk to explain that I had not checked out and abandoned my things to the hotel staff. They proceeded to apologize (kind of, kind of laugh about the situation) and to be honest I was not in the mood. 11 hours on a plane, 4am California time arguing about whether I had checked out and whose fault the situation was was not doing it for me. So the hotel staff puts me up in a temporary room for the night which had just been abandoned by a chain smoker and tell me that my things will be returned shortly. The next morning I woke up, headed down to my old apartment to find things still in the exact same state and steaming mad I tell the hotel staff that my stuff needs to be returned, in whole, by the evening. A work day later I come back to my apartment to find things surprisingly back to normal. Things were replaced in my apartment with a frightening sense of accuracy it was as though they had either a) expected me to come back or b) gone through my things before numerous times....
Yikes.
So my things are back, mostly, even my food was back although I hesitate to eat the frozen/refrigerated items because lord knows what happened to them during their 48 hour journey away from my fridge. The staff even put some flowers in my room as a apology. Yeah, I'm still not in the mood. I am a little concerned that my silent protest while I walk through the lobby is being mistaken as the same general disinterest that I likely displayed the first three months of my living at the apartment.
On lighter notes, Dad and Kirsten are in Tibet right now with Liz and are headed back to Beijing in a couple days. They expressed interest in Peking duck which I am obliged to help procure.