Viking NGO

For the Children's Day holiday that occurs in Korea on the weekend around May 5th, Nick and I decided to take advantage of our given time off and escape the country. After not much deliberation and a lot of beer, we decided to visit our good friend and fellow Don; Jon Pastuszek in Beijing, China. This whimsical and slightly intoxicated decision turned out to be a great one....but don't they all. This trip to China was probably the easiest trip I have taken in my life thus far. Jon really set us up, and his proficiency in the Chinese language was incredibly time and effort saving. We were really able to take advantage of the short time we had, and see a lot of what Beijing had to offer.


Here's a shot of Jon's apartment. I was really impressed. Very spacious. I slept on the couch (because I love couches) and Nick slept on the spare bed in the background (because he's a pussycat that can't stay awake).


Jon's room. I don't think that there is a size name for Jon's bed. Double King sized bed or God sized bed is the best I can come up with. It's gigantic.


We ran into switch-hitting Mark Bellhorn (former Padre) while in Olympic Park

The "Bird's Nest"






The arena where bong-toking Michael Phelps made Olympic history



A large but temporary carnival was set up within Olympic Park.
I'm usually not a big Carnival guy. In the states, they are typically overpriced, sketchy, dirty, weird, and ran by an odd breed of "carneys" whom I have come to know too well from my four year summer stint at the Del Mar Fairgrounds..... But in Asia, carnivals are still all of the above except for the overpriced part, so now I'm a carnival fanatic.

Eating corn on the cobb at a carnival in China provided a moment of clarity as to how weird the situation was.

After our unforgettable carnival experience, we headed back to Jon's hood to grab some food and drink. Jon provided the loc' status so noone was messin.


Besides the fact that there are several horrible drivers on the road (it's a fact and not a stereotype), Beijing is one of the most bicycle-friendly cities I have ever seen. There are bike lanes everywhere.



And without further ado, here are a few videos surrounding our second Viking experience. At this point, I had ridden two differnet Viking rides in two differnet countries....in six days.