For whatever reason, my huge post about my trip so far has been deleted by blogspot. I'll have to reenter everything later. I only have a few min to update that I'm alive and well, staying at L'Abri in Rochester, MN. I have been here for several days relaxing, reading, working, and visiting with other travelers.
I'm not certain how much longer I'll stay at L'Abri, but I may try to make it to the Campaign for Liberty in Minneapolis on September 2nd if I'm still in the area. If not, I'll be leaving soon for the North Lakes bike route to Canada! I'm very excited...this will be my first leg of the trip alone!
A major benchmark in my "prejourny" has been reached. Yesterday was Bob's wedding. Bob is a longtime friend of mine and one of the friends who I think I'll keep in touch with throughout my life. We might even get to meet up in Vietnam together. (his wife was born in Vietnam and grew up in Sioux Falls)
I was one of the groomsmen along with several other good friends. Wall had to get new suits. Mine didn't fit me quite as well as I'd like - I think I've been spoiled by Shanghai's fabric market.
I didn't realize my hair had grown so long!
Bob and Hanh before the wedding during a photo shoot at the Japanese gardens in Sioux Falls.
There's Bob waiting for his bride. Dan, a professional musician from The Spill Canvas, played the music for the ceremony. He did a really good job. He composed a song for them, and did his own version of The Get Up Kid's "I'll Catch You". I still have it stuck in my head. :)
I don't remember what these were called...but they're some sort of Vietnamese qipao. They looked rather chinese to me.
Sean and Trent on ice.
The Daytona gets marred for marriage!
Today I got my bike tuned up. She's running clean and smooth, ready for the journey ahead!
Right now, I'm staying with my friend Sean in Sioux Falls. I'm doing the final planning for my tour. (and waiting for my trailer) Nic , my friend from South Dakota who lived in Shanghai with me for 7 months, fand his brother Morgan might be riding with me for the first several days. That will be a welcome comfort! If all goes well, I should be leaving Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning!
I was one of the groomsmen along with several other good friends. Wall had to get new suits. Mine didn't fit me quite as well as I'd like - I think I've been spoiled by Shanghai's fabric market.
I didn't realize my hair had grown so long!
Bob and Hanh before the wedding during a photo shoot at the Japanese gardens in Sioux Falls.
There's Bob waiting for his bride. Dan, a professional musician from The Spill Canvas, played the music for the ceremony. He did a really good job. He composed a song for them, and did his own version of The Get Up Kid's "I'll Catch You". I still have it stuck in my head. :)
I don't remember what these were called...but they're some sort of Vietnamese qipao. They looked rather chinese to me.
Sean and Trent on ice.
The Daytona gets marred for marriage!
Today I got my bike tuned up. She's running clean and smooth, ready for the journey ahead!
Right now, I'm staying with my friend Sean in Sioux Falls. I'm doing the final planning for my tour. (and waiting for my trailer) Nic , my friend from South Dakota who lived in Shanghai with me for 7 months, fand his brother Morgan might be riding with me for the first several days. That will be a welcome comfort! If all goes well, I should be leaving Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning!
Everything is so far going pretty well. On Monday I got a bus from Sioux Falls to Rapid City, SD. I met some interesting people on the bus. A traveling author, a "rodeo girl" model, a prostitute, a Cuban moving to rapid city with his "soul mate", and an Italian who quit his job and was traveling through the US. Meeting such varied people is very invigorating. I found it amusing that the rodeo girl from Texas thought i wasn't an American because of my "accent".
I'm now spending my last day at my brother's house at the base of the Black Hills. We went on a 2 day hiking/camping trip in the Black Elk Wilderness. The weather was perfect, and we saw very few other signs of human activity. Not quite the Yukon, but certainly good enough for me! I wonder when I'll be able to do something like this again. We found a perfect camping spot by this area:
I feel like i've never been in a more still and quiet area. The sky was completely clear and not even a gust of wind to rustle fallen leaves. Tomorrow is Bob's bachelor party. Very soon I'll be on my own on my bike!
I'm now spending my last day at my brother's house at the base of the Black Hills. We went on a 2 day hiking/camping trip in the Black Elk Wilderness. The weather was perfect, and we saw very few other signs of human activity. Not quite the Yukon, but certainly good enough for me! I wonder when I'll be able to do something like this again. We found a perfect camping spot by this area:
I feel like i've never been in a more still and quiet area. The sky was completely clear and not even a gust of wind to rustle fallen leaves. Tomorrow is Bob's bachelor party. Very soon I'll be on my own on my bike!
http://www.chinatravel.net/forum/Chinese-Visa/791.html
My good American friend in Shanghai wrote this. This guy fought the system hard to stay in China! Hope this gives perspective to how difficult it is to be in China right now for us laowai.
My good American friend in Shanghai wrote this. This guy fought the system hard to stay in China! Hope this gives perspective to how difficult it is to be in China right now for us laowai.
Well, the day finally came! 8/8/08. Known to many as the official opening day for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
I think it is pure irony that my last day is on 8/8/08, as the whole reason I'm leaving is directly related to the Olympics. What I mean by this is: China's policy regarding foreigners changed because of the Olympics, under a normal situation i wouldn't have had to leave china...and since i am already back in US, I was not asked to come back to China with Daktronics...so my only choice is to quit and do something different, as i don't want to live in South Dakota. The date 8/8/08 is just by chance, as this is when everything happened to come together for me to leave.
Today was busy with all things "quitting" related - exit interviews and such. It really seemed to end on a good note though. With future endeavors and hopeful prostrations in mind, it's full steam ahead!
I wont have access to a computer to update for a while. I'll be heading to Rapid City to visit my brother and do some outdoorsy activities. Then, my good friend Bob's wedding in Sioux Falls on the 17th.
I need a ride to Sioux Falls this weekend, as I have a bus to catch to Rapid City on Monday at noon. If I'm unable to find a ride by Sunday morning, I will ride my the 55 miles to Sioux Falls. I've been buying so much stuff for this trip...but I'm still missing two important items: panniers and a sleeping bag. I should be able to take care of these things in Sioux Falls and/or Rapid City though. Unfortunately, I wont have much time to test out my equipment. Two nights ago I replaced my chain, cleaned all the chain rings and gears and replaced my tiers with Kevlar puncture proof tires. This actually took all night to get everything put back together. I somehow even managed to puncture one of my tubes when I was putting everything back together! *doh* Well, after all said and done, my bike now rides much smoother!
I'd better get going! Cheers!
I think it is pure irony that my last day is on 8/8/08, as the whole reason I'm leaving is directly related to the Olympics. What I mean by this is: China's policy regarding foreigners changed because of the Olympics, under a normal situation i wouldn't have had to leave china...and since i am already back in US, I was not asked to come back to China with Daktronics...so my only choice is to quit and do something different, as i don't want to live in South Dakota. The date 8/8/08 is just by chance, as this is when everything happened to come together for me to leave.
Today was busy with all things "quitting" related - exit interviews and such. It really seemed to end on a good note though. With future endeavors and hopeful prostrations in mind, it's full steam ahead!
I wont have access to a computer to update for a while. I'll be heading to Rapid City to visit my brother and do some outdoorsy activities. Then, my good friend Bob's wedding in Sioux Falls on the 17th.
I need a ride to Sioux Falls this weekend, as I have a bus to catch to Rapid City on Monday at noon. If I'm unable to find a ride by Sunday morning, I will ride my the 55 miles to Sioux Falls. I've been buying so much stuff for this trip...but I'm still missing two important items: panniers and a sleeping bag. I should be able to take care of these things in Sioux Falls and/or Rapid City though. Unfortunately, I wont have much time to test out my equipment. Two nights ago I replaced my chain, cleaned all the chain rings and gears and replaced my tiers with Kevlar puncture proof tires. This actually took all night to get everything put back together. I somehow even managed to puncture one of my tubes when I was putting everything back together! *doh* Well, after all said and done, my bike now rides much smoother!
I'd better get going! Cheers!
Well, blog, here we are. I'm new to this whole blogging thing, so please bare with me.
The purpose of this blog is to keep my friends and family in the know on my whereabouts and whatabouts, as it can be difficult to keep in touch in the analog world.
Just to make sure we're all on the same page, lets make sure we're all up to speed on what has been going on:
After finishing animation school in 2004, I moved back to South Dakota and got a job working for Daktronics as an animator/motion graphics designer in the Keyframe department. After two years, I decided I was ready to leave South Dakota, so off to Europe I went for some backpacking with my sister. Upon return to my parent's in NY, I received a call from Daktronics to do some work on site in Macau. Awesome! Just what I was looking for! One thing led to the next and before I knew it I was living in Shanghai after a generous offer from the Daktronics Shanghai GM. My purpose was to set up a motion graphics/animation studio to support the Chinese market. Overall, I had an excellent experience. It's so hard to summarize my two years, but it's fair to say that I experienced so many new things and grew a ton in many different ways. Any foreigner in China has ups and downs, but in short: I loved living in Shanghai! The people were vivacious, the food was incredible, the culture was intriguing. The pace of life was faster than I could have ever anticipated or imagined. For those who want a visual idea of what Shanghai may look like, here is a short video of me riding my bike through downtown Shanghai this May:
Biking in downtown Shanghai from inMotion on Vimeo.
Having a taste of some excitement, and the idea of adventure, I bought a 750cc Chiang Jiang WW2 era sidecar motorcycle. The ultimate goal was to take an epic journey across China with this. This became my undoing...the beginning of the end, if you will. I had only had the sidecar for two weeks when I was pulled over and jailed for 7 nights for not having a popper shanghai motorcycle license. Upon release my visa was canceled and I was sent back to South Dakota. Again, here's some visuals of my last ride on the sidecar as I was taken to jail:
Escorted to jail in China in my sidecar motorcycle. from inMotion on Vimeo.
I even got a moment on Yahoo news: An American Jailed in China
I'm not sure if I'll be able to go back to China, but one thing is for certain, there is no way that I'll be able to go back before the Olympics are over.
I am now a man without a home and thirst for adventure. I'll be resigning my position at Keyframe as of 8/8/08 - iroinially the day the Olympics start in Beijing. My plan is simple: to bike from Sioux Falls, South Dakota to New York City. And when I say bike, this is what I mean. The journey will take my 1700 miles, though the farmland of the Midwest, across southern Canada through Toronto, and down to Niagara Falls in New York. Once there, I will hopefully be meeting my father to finish the trip with along the Erie Canal.
View Larger Map
Hopefully this trip goes well! Once I arrive in New York, I am now going to be keeping productive doing freelance design and animation. So feel free to contact me for all animation needs! I do plan on going back to Asia, if not China sooner rather than later. I'd love to spend some time in China studying the language more seriously as well. This winter, I hope to find myself somewhere trekking the ancient ruins and jungles of Cambodia or relaxing in southern Thailand.
That's all for now...please leave a comment, I'd love to hear your thoughts and advice! :)
The purpose of this blog is to keep my friends and family in the know on my whereabouts and whatabouts, as it can be difficult to keep in touch in the analog world.
Just to make sure we're all on the same page, lets make sure we're all up to speed on what has been going on:
After finishing animation school in 2004, I moved back to South Dakota and got a job working for Daktronics as an animator/motion graphics designer in the Keyframe department. After two years, I decided I was ready to leave South Dakota, so off to Europe I went for some backpacking with my sister. Upon return to my parent's in NY, I received a call from Daktronics to do some work on site in Macau. Awesome! Just what I was looking for! One thing led to the next and before I knew it I was living in Shanghai after a generous offer from the Daktronics Shanghai GM. My purpose was to set up a motion graphics/animation studio to support the Chinese market. Overall, I had an excellent experience. It's so hard to summarize my two years, but it's fair to say that I experienced so many new things and grew a ton in many different ways. Any foreigner in China has ups and downs, but in short: I loved living in Shanghai! The people were vivacious, the food was incredible, the culture was intriguing. The pace of life was faster than I could have ever anticipated or imagined. For those who want a visual idea of what Shanghai may look like, here is a short video of me riding my bike through downtown Shanghai this May:
Biking in downtown Shanghai from inMotion on Vimeo.
Having a taste of some excitement, and the idea of adventure, I bought a 750cc Chiang Jiang WW2 era sidecar motorcycle. The ultimate goal was to take an epic journey across China with this. This became my undoing...the beginning of the end, if you will. I had only had the sidecar for two weeks when I was pulled over and jailed for 7 nights for not having a popper shanghai motorcycle license. Upon release my visa was canceled and I was sent back to South Dakota. Again, here's some visuals of my last ride on the sidecar as I was taken to jail:
Escorted to jail in China in my sidecar motorcycle. from inMotion on Vimeo.
I even got a moment on Yahoo news: An American Jailed in China
I'm not sure if I'll be able to go back to China, but one thing is for certain, there is no way that I'll be able to go back before the Olympics are over.
I am now a man without a home and thirst for adventure. I'll be resigning my position at Keyframe as of 8/8/08 - iroinially the day the Olympics start in Beijing. My plan is simple: to bike from Sioux Falls, South Dakota to New York City. And when I say bike, this is what I mean. The journey will take my 1700 miles, though the farmland of the Midwest, across southern Canada through Toronto, and down to Niagara Falls in New York. Once there, I will hopefully be meeting my father to finish the trip with along the Erie Canal.
View Larger Map
Hopefully this trip goes well! Once I arrive in New York, I am now going to be keeping productive doing freelance design and animation. So feel free to contact me for all animation needs! I do plan on going back to Asia, if not China sooner rather than later. I'd love to spend some time in China studying the language more seriously as well. This winter, I hope to find myself somewhere trekking the ancient ruins and jungles of Cambodia or relaxing in southern Thailand.
That's all for now...please leave a comment, I'd love to hear your thoughts and advice! :)
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