Mr. Orange at my Barcelona rooftop hotel.

Do you know my theory on full immersion? I always try to live the way the people of foreign lands live. So I went and bought the most obnoxious orange bikini swimming costume I could find. I wore it around the hotel for days, drawing full disdain from roommate JB and anyone who may have come over while I was wearing it at Scotch time. I went to the beach in my orange bikini and matching bandanna, totally ready for full acceptance and immersion…until I realized everyone was wearing boardshorts. But I am bringing this look to America. Oh, you watch….

I have a lot of catching up to do. I know I keep promising posts, but I haven’t had the urge to sit inside, much less in front of a computer. The last few weeks have been some of the best of my entire life, and definitely the best of recent memory.

After I left China, I flew to London and had a couple of days there. I have been to London a million times so I didn’t have to try to run around sightseeing. I kind of just walked. I went to the Tate. I went to the flat in Battersea I used to stay in, and the pub (The Settle Inn) down the street. I took someone to Buckingham Palace, Westminster, Big Ben etc.. And we had Fish & Chips every single day. And then we went to Stonehenge. It was exciting to be at both The Great Wall and Stonehenge in the same week, but Stonehenge was kinda weird. It’s much, much smaller than you imagine. It’d right off of a road, actually in a fork. I also thought you could walk inside of it, but apparently you have to book in advance for that. I am happy I went, but not quite as exhilarating as The Great Wall. However, we spent a few hours in the nearest town of Salisbury, which is a great little town. It boasts England’s tallest spire and the church was nice. Smashing little town.

After London, we flew to Barcelona and I was taken to my hostel that I booked on the internet. It was probably 7′x5′ with a very uncomfortable bunk bed and no fucking windows or AC. We slept there one miserable night and vowed to find a better place for our next four nights. The problem was that Barcelona’s largest festival (St. Joan’s) happened that weekend. After hearing “no vacancy” 15 times we were beginning to lose faith. But all that changed when a gentlemen asked me if I wanted “an indoor room or an outdoor room”. I didn’t understand the question and just asked for whatever was nicer. He gave me the key to the outdoor room and said if I didn’t like it I could switch. We made our way up to the top floor and saw signs for “La Torreta” (The Terrace). Opening the door, we realized that the entire rooftop was ours and we had a two story building to ourselves. I, honestly, could have had 800 people over and had room on MY rooftop. The room was incredible; giant bed, two showers, a lounge upstairs with 12′ ceilings and windows that opened in all directions offering views of the whole of Barcelona. Needless to say, we entertained every night and had a great time. The final night was the festival and it was fun, but I was tired from my week and went home around 1AM.

And now I am in San Sebastian (Donostia) which is one of my favorite places in the world (if not my favorite). I am here with SN, DM and their girls and was kinda concerned about what they would think, but they are Cloud Nine-ing just as much as I am. It’s an incredibly wonderful place, smashing-er than Salisbury. We walked the Playa Concha today and went to Chilida’s Wind Combs. It is kinda rainy so I didn’t take any photos today, but I will. Our favorite thing has been the Pintxos; the Basque version of Tapas, only better. There are Pintxos bars everywhere you look in Old Town (where I am staying) and today we went from bar to bar sampling all we could. DM decided we should make a “Dirty Map” (think the published work of Diller+Scofidio or that gray room of objects project that I did a year or so ago) of the Pintxos bars in Old Town and we are gonna decide on a format and do that on Wednesday. Tomorrow, we are renting a car and driving to Gernika and Bilbao.

Aside from the touristing, pintxo-ing, and drinking, I am also here for academic reasons, which works very well being that I am the 5th Wheel. My interest in pursuing architecture began in the Basque Country in 2001. I also then began what became a 4 or 5 year study of Basque History, with a focus on the destruction of Gernika, and current Basque independence “problems”. I have decided to direct my thesis toward these topics, but so far I haven’t developed it much beyond that. That is my goal while I am here, and I am here at the right time. The last I knew the road to independence was looking good for the Basques and ETA had called for a ceasefire. The ceasefire has ended after 2 years, and ETA has declared an attack “imminent”. You would think there would be tension, but the Basques are an amazing, happy people. The only evidence I have seen is some pro and anti ETA graffiti. For every “Gora ETA” sprayed, there is one X’ed out. I am trying to concentrate this into an idea that could be made architectural and I have an idea or two, but I need to put more thought into them before I out them out here. The only thing I am sure of is that I support Basque Independence 100%, but I can’t justify killing even one innocent person. But I am thinking about taking a very controversial stance for my thesis. More later…

So. I haven’t stopped smiling in 3 weeks. The moment I got to Beijing I was rejuvenated and I haven’t stopped enjoying life since then. I have that insane motivation that one gets from traveling and my friends and I have developed ideas for at least 2 LLC’s when we graduate next year. I have been in 4 countries in the last month, did an architectural project in China, had an insane affair, been drunk inter-continentally with an amazing group of people, swam naked in the Mediterranean, walked the Great Wall, said “whatevs” to Stonehenge, ____________ on a rooftop overlooking Barcelona, and today felt the morning Basque wind on my face on a sculpted peninsula after having three Mimosa’s.

Life is incredibly fucking good. (Pictures soon.)

Great Wall / Not So Great Abs. That’s IW-R in the background. Between us we have 74 years of age and those are a lot of very steep steps. We made it to the highest point, albeit a few minutes behind the 20 year olds. It was hot, I slept 3 hours the night before, and I didn’t have water. I thought I might die, but it was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life.

Today is my last day in China. There is no way to describe to you how amazing it has been here. There have been a few food related obstacles, but all in all this has been one of those life altering experiences. There is nothing I love more than traveling. Absolutely nothing. To be here, at this point, studying architecture is one of the most important and relevant things I will ever do. But sometimes it is difficult to be anything more than an awe stricken tourist. It’s impossible to walk two miles (ish) on the Great Wall and not reflect on everything that has happened in your life, and the things that have brought you here. I have had a couple of moments where all of these thoughts/feelings came crashing to the surface and I felt happier than I remember feeling in my entire life; once on the great wall and once walking through a little forest at the Temple of Heaven. Perfect moments that make me breathe fire again.

Tomorrow at 10:20AM some friends and I are flying to London. I will be able to sit and collage / edit some photos and write more in depth about Shanghai, Beijing, Nanjing, Suzhou and Tongli. It’s all still sinking in. The speed at which China is developing is incredible. I have some decent photos / thoughts w/r/t this and will post them soon. I have been living in fast-forward and have had no time to sit in a hotel and write. But I promise I will. For now I will just say that Shanghai and Beijing are two of the most incredible fucking cities on the planet. And China is nothing like you think.

I have nothing to say.

Still don’t.

Olympic Stadium (Bird’s Nest) designed by Herzog & de Meuron. This might be the most beautiful building I have ever seen in my life. As architecture students we have studied this building to death, but seeing it is something else, inspiration maybe. It’s much larger than I imagined. We caught a glimpse from the bus on our way back from the Great Wall. A bus full of people educated to think critically about architecture were oohing and ahhing, myself included. it’s very, very impressive. China has a lot to prove (and to make us forget) and I think the rest of the world will be very surprised by what they see on their TV’s next summer.

This is as close as I could get to the stadium. I tried to just act important and walk in. When I was stopped, I flashed my Student ID to the Chinese security guard and said Arup (the structural engineers of the building) but that didn’t work. After that, I flashed 100 Yuan bills in the face of every security guard but that also didn’t work. Some of my friends are still there and if they get in I will post some of their photos.

Detail of the Skin / Structure. I wish I could say something more scholastic than “It’s fucking amazing” but for now that will have to suffice.

The Emperor’s Stone at the Temple of Heaven. Historically, only the emperor could stand here and perform rituals. Now they allow Kings to stand here and take touristy photos. Not surprisingly, I was the only one at the TOH wearing a Smiths shirt. But surprisingly, there were hundreds of people wearing shirts with a naked Joe Dallesandro from Andy Warhol’s Flesh. This photo is apropos because in a few days I will be going to Manchester to take a self-guided Morrissey / Smiths tour. So much to answer for.

I will get a phone when I get to London and give those of you that I have been ignoring a call. I haven’t recharged my SIM in Beijing and to be honest it’s really fucking nice not having a cell phone sometimes. Life is beautiful.

[[UPDATE]] BL sneaked into the stadium and the water cube after I left.  He took 300 photos and should have some on his blog soon.  You should go look at them.

Last night we went to Wangfujing, the night markets in Beijing. It is famous for it’s bugs, cooked and salted in front of you and then eaten as an appetizer. The list of things that I ate includes:

• Grasshopper
• Beetle
• Locust
• Centipede
• Seahorse
• Small Scorpion
• The tail end of a Large Scorpion
• Silkworm in a cocoon

To be honest, they weren’t that bad, they tasted like a salty potato chip. The beetle and the seahorse were the worst for me. The beetle popped a little and got very stuck in my teeth. The seahorse had a weird fishy taste. Anyhow, here is photo and video [just realized you can't load Google videos in China, I embedded them but have no idea if it works in the free world or not. if not, I'll upload when I get to London in a couple of days. in the meantime, here are the links. (((Bugs 1))) (((Bugs 2)))] evidence. By the way, totally fucking love Beijing.

A tray of Locusts. These didn’t taste so bad.

Silkworms in cocoons. This was the first one I ate and wasn’t so bad. I got drunker as the bug eating progressed, so the rest were relatively easy.

No one seemed to mind these except me. The texture was different from the “normal” bugs and there was a fish aftertaste that was a tad unsettling.

Grasshoppers are actually kind of good.

Centipede didn’t taste bad, it was just tough to get off of the stick.

Eating centipede.

Eating a beetle. This one was pretty bad.

DM enjoying a grasshopper.

BL enjoying a grasshopper.

JFK enjoying a grasshopper.

Full penetration.

That’s a locust.

Silkworm in a cocoon.

Scorpion.

And finally, the little disgusting seahorse.

Bon apetit. See you soon.

Being that this is my personal site, I am going to take off both the pointy and architecture hats and post some photos of myself in China simply being a tourist. After all, I am my own favorite subject matter. I am off to Beijing on Saturday and will be there for a week. After that I fly to London. I will keep you updated to my whereabouts and my whatabouts. Enjoy all of these lovely pictures of me (that I am too lazy to put in any meaningful order).

At a Shanghai Nightclub called G2. I was a lot more drunk about 3 hours after this photo.

About to kneel in front of a giant Buddha at a monastery / temple on Purple Mountain in Nanjing.

Us looking toward the man-made mountain under which somewhere the first Ming emperor is buried.

At the top of a long staircase on the very long path to the Ming Tomb. Nanjing.

Adjusting settings and listening to Prince, which oddly didn’t seem out of place at the Ming tombs.

One of like 40 thresholds on the way to the Ming Tomb. If you think I am arrogant or extravagant, you should get a load of this guy / emperor.

Guten Morgen from China. SN and I at a German restaurant in Shanghai. We could have maybe just had the smaller .5 liter Paulaners for breakfast, but when in Rome, Germany, China.

Train station from Nanjing to Shanghai. I didn’t get to ride the electromagnetic train that goes like 450 mph, but this one was nice. Wait, no it wasn’t. The only beer they had was warm Budweiser in faceted cans. And they only had 18 of those for a train of several hundred. My friends and I drank the train dry in about 4 minutes.

Standing on the steps in front of an antique market at some old palace or other. Bought an old Mao poster.

Dancing at G2 Nightclub in Shanghai. The pinky finger in China is equivalent to the middle finger in the US. I think I am directing it toward the guy behind me who kept trying to freak me.

JB and I drunk and sweaty at G2.

SN and I in a bikecab in Suzhou. We made this guy pedal a long way and then gave him a big tip and I have never seen a man happier in my life. I shot some great video from this trip.

Touristing like a motherfucker at the Confucius Temple in Nanjing. Bought bootleg DVD’s of live shows by Guns & Roses, Sex Pistols, Public Enemy and Radiohead for $6 total. Glasses by Chanel.

Dueling D80’s with BL.

Me and Chinese buildings. For the record, those fucking roofs are really hard to draw.

Sitting on the steps in front of an antique market at some old palace or other.

Shanghai nights. An incredible fucking city.

Alright. I will resume the architecture / urbanism posts that bore some of you and excite others of you. I can’t please all of you all the time, though perhaps I just did with all of these fantastic photos of terrific old me. I will write about and post some photos of Shanghai soon, I have a lot to say, it’s an awesome place and I had a great time. Word. Life.

I just presented my project.  I ‘ll go into detail on that later.  For now, I am off to Shanghai, with no work, strictly a tourist.  I’m leaving the laptop in Nanjing, so you won’t be hearing from me here for a couple of days.  I will also be away from email, but if you need to call, my phone number is here.

Hope all is well.  Send me an email, I would love to hear from you all.

Photos form Shanghai when I return… and maybe some video if I can get a chance to edit it.