Cheers from the Philippines!

I know I promised you all an awesome post about Hangzhou, but I haven't quite gotten around to it yet.  I've pretty much been working 10-12 hour days in the factory ever since I got back, and sleep is my number one priority when I get home; yes, I now refer to the Sheraton (whichever one I am in) as "home."
I will actually update you about Hangzhou probably when I get back to the states, but for now, I'll tell you a bit about my adventures of the past few days...

Monday morning, I went on an adventure to the Beijing University Shenzhen Hospital to pick up some medication.  Though everything was actually pretty efficient, it still took 3.5 hours from leaving the hotel to making it back to the factory (Shenzhen city is actually the opposite direction of the factory from our hotel, and it was rush hour).

Brightly Colored Medication from the Chinese Hospital

I was relieved to have my prescription, though I was a bit unsure about it since it required me to take 14 pills instead of the usual 1 pill, and the pills were rather brightly colored (turns out this is what they are supposed to look like).  Surprisingly, the whole trip, taxis, registration, and medication included, only cost about 700RMB (~$112).

Monday night, not really feeling better, I phoned my dad to confirm that I was taking the right thing.  It turns out that what I was taking was actually a different, somewhat weaker drug than the stronger stuff that my prescription was actually for, but he said it should work fine.

Rash on Forearms

Tuesday morning, I woke up to find a rash on my legs.  Assuming it was just heat rash, I continued on with my day; however, after lunch, the rash had spread to my entire body.  Since I am already covered in spots, you couldn't really see it unless you looked at the inside of my forearms (still not sure if you can really tell in this picture).  It's basically just small red dots, and it wasn't itchy, but quite disconcerting.

I got back in touch with the doctor I saw, and she suggested to stop taking the meds she gave me and take some benadryl.  I have pretty much been taking benadryl every four hours or so since then, and the rash is slowly disappearing.

I did not get much sleep Tuesday night as I had to get up at about 4am to check out of the hotel and head to the Hong Kong airport to come here (to the Philippines).  Of course, I would first have any health problems in China as soon as I am going on vacation...

I was a bit weary about coming here with a rash and an infection, but I was hopeful that I could get it taken care of before I start playing Ultimate on Friday.

A driver, recommended by a co-worker, picked me up at the hotel at 5am in a car with right side steering (how they drive in Hong Kong).  It was a bit strange to be driving on the ride side of the road AND steering from the right side of the car, but I guess that's what happens in an area so close to Hong Kong.  He gave me the proper papers to sign, and then drove me straight through immigration and to the airport in about an hour (I was told it would take AT LEAST 1.5-2).  I didn't even have to get out of the car at immigration; he just opened the door and had me look at the guy.  I'm still working on understanding how the roads switch sides after the border crossing.

When I got to the Philippines, it was of course rather hot and humid, but I was (and still am) stoked to be on vacation.  Getting a taxi was rather interesting because your options are:

1. Pay a set fare that's way over-priced and leave immediately (I was offered anywhere from about 500 to 800 pesos, $12-20)
2. Wait in line for about 20 minutes for metered taxis (costs about 200 pesos, $5)

I initially agreed to pay 530, not wanting to wait in line, but after the driver realized her car couldn't go where I needed to go, and they started making me wait for a new car, I decided I may as well wait in the taxi line.  It's not like I REALLY had anywhere to be.

I got to the hotel and checked in to my rather small room at the tourney hotel that I will be sharing with two others later on in the week. The hotel is super cheap, costing only $20/night. One friend is planning to sleep on the floor, and I'm curious to see exactly where.

Tune Hotel Makati

My first goal was to obtain my medication, which was amazingly easy, and only cost $15.  I proceeded to buy myself a beer to celebrate, which cost <$1, and then get lost trying to find my way back to the hotel.  Makati City is not so easy to navigate, and I don't have a phone to depend on here.

After successfully making it back to the hotel, I went out to lunch with my friend Amy, and then we met up with Leigh and Baby Girl (that's his nickname) to head to the Mall of Asia. There is an ice rink right in the middle of the first floor, and we stood on the second floor watching it for awhile.

Ice Rink in the Mall of Asia

We then wandered in to the Lush store, where one of the employees had me play this game below.  I closed my eyes, she spun the color pallet thing, and then I had to open them and choose the first three colors that jumped out at me.  I believe the result is as follows:

Game I Played at the Lush Store

 1st pick (feeling secure)- this is supposedly my biggest worry or concern right now
2nd pick (success)- this is supposedly at the back of my mind (perhaps because I just left the factory for vacation?)
3rd pick (in charge)- this is a big strength of mine

Surprisingly accurate I think...

After a bit more wandering, we had some dinner and headed back to the hotel to sleep, which I am so excited to do in about 20 minutes.  I leave you all with the amazing view of the sunset over the Manila Bay from the 2nd floor terrace of the Mall of Asia.

Sunset over the Manila Bay viewed from the Mall of Asia Terrace

P.S. Please offer comments on the new formatting.  I spent way too long working on it tonight...

Er Gong Park and Tianjin Round Robin

I was all excited to tell you all about my awesome weekend in Hangzhou when I looked back through my posts and realized that I never posted about my day-trip into Tianjin before I even returned to the states.  Seeing as I don't have a ton of time to write these posts these days, this one and the one about Hangzhou will (hopefully) be mostly visual.  Here's a brief recap of my day in Tianjin (that would be the actual city of Tianjin):

Er Gong Park

I took the light rail, which is about a 10-minute walk from the Sheraton, into Tianjin.  Despite Google telling me it would take an hour and a half, it actually took about 50 minutes.  This gave me some time to wander before meeting the Beijing and Tianjin Ultimate teams for our round robin (basically a mini tournament where everyone plays everyone).  I wandered around Er Gong park before finding Er Gong stadium (where we were playing), which was confusingly NOT in Er Gong park.  The park, however, was quite pretty, so I took a bunch of pictures.

Driving Range in the Park

Here are two couples on the Ultimate team for comparison.  I'll let you decide which couple appears to have more energy (this is before we even started playing).

Leigh and Baby Girl Napping 

Joe and Amy Fake Fighting

Full Photo of All Participants

After the round robin, our teams went to a restaurant together to eat, drink, and be merry.  The costume theme (because there is ALWAYS a costume theme at tournaments in Asia for some reason) was "tight  'n bright,"which basically means lots of brightly colored spandex (something I seem to own a lot of).

Chase Finishing off the Corn

Chinese Guy Photographing the "Crazy Foreigners"

Some Teammates Show off their Tight and Bright Attire

Post party, I took the train back to Tianjin while the rest of the Beijing team took a party bus back to Beijing.  At the time, I was sad to leave them all, but it was definitely worth it to FINALLY get a day to sleep in at the hotel, particularly since I had a free massage awaiting me the following afternoon :D

Sheraton Dameisha Resort

As a lot of you are aware, I'm currently staying at a beach resort along the southern coast of China just northeast of Hong Kong.  Here's a map of the location.  Upon returning to China, I spent one day back in Binhai at the Foxconn factory, and now I am working at a BYD factory outside of Huizhou (yes they make phones in addition to cars!)

View Out my Balcony

Unfortunately, I am working a lot, so I haven't yet spent any time at the resort, but at least I have a great view in the morning!  I have A LOT more to write about my trip to Hangzhou last weekend, but for now, here are a bunch of pictures of the resort since a lot of you have been asking me for them.

I took these first few the first morning I woke up at the resort.  It wasn't particularly sunny, but you still get the idea.

View Out my Balcony 2

View Out my Balcony 3

My Balcony

 These next few I took a few days later during breakfast, which is also a buffet here.  I've gained about 5 pounds due to daily breakfast buffets since I got to China in August :(.

View from the Breakfast Restaurant

Lounge Chairs Outside the Restaurant

Koi Pond (close-up of above)

That morning, there also happened to be a HUGE fancy wedding getting underway, so the front of the hotel was packed with Rolls Royce's.  There were also four Lamborghini's of different colors on the far side, though I didn't catch a picture of them.

Line of Rolls Royce's Outside Hotel