Christmas

Niña takes a nap on my lap

The gang

Still bar hopping in the Haight

Hobson's Choice

Amex love

Cha Cha Cha

Cha Cha Cha, in the Haight

Bridge School Benefit concert at Shoreline

Apple London, Regent St

Au revoir Paris!

With four days of hard work, local sightseeing, and culinary bliss,
I'm sad to leave Paris. On the business side, we accomplished
everything we wanted and more. On the fun side, I had some of the
best meals in my life.

The highlight for me was dinner at Maison de la Truffe, my favorite
restaurant this side of the Atlantic. I first went there in July with
my classmates, and was instantly hooked. Thr second you walk in to the
restaurant, the rich aroma of truffles nearly knocks you off your
feet. The meal started with fresh baguette and white truffle-infused
olive oil. My starter was a beef carpaccio with greens and generous
shavings of Burgundy truffles. My main course was grilled lobster
with a truffle polenta. Dessert was a truffle cream creme brûlée.
And I was drinking champagne.

Alec was happy, Alec was very very happy.

I'm currently traveling through the French countryside aboard the
Eurostar, on route to London for more meetings, then back to the US
tomorrow!

View from Apple Paris office

On the road again

So, apparently my travel days aren't behind me. Through a bit of luck
and good fortune, Apple is sending me to Europe for a week, in style.
This is my first international business trip, so I am excited and a
little nervous, but I expect to have a great time.

Fiddler's Green

Susie making friends...

Poker Night

With the boys...

Night out

Temple after XYZ after John Collins

Hits

A map of visitors to this blog, sorted by city:

Photo time

I've finally settled back in the US, time zone change and all. My time in China surpassed my high expectations - I had an amazing time. With the Olympic events, late-night clubbing, 2-hour massages, new friends, old friends, new food, and familiar food - we had a superb two weeks in China.

From the 4,000+ photos, I've narrowed them down to two albums:

China: http://picasaweb.google.com/alecdet/China

Olympics: http://picasaweb.google.com/alecdet/Olympics

This marks the end of my incredible summer, which took me to nine countries throughout Europe and Asia. I had been planning for this summer ever since I knew I was going to business school three years ago, and it certainly exceeded everything I had hoped for. I am excited about the new friends that I made on my travels, and will always remember the fun times we had together. I'm not sure when/if I'll ever get to travel like this again, but perhaps I can try...

Day in Napa

Taking the Gondola ride at Sterling Vineyards in Napa with M Lau

Good bye, Beijing

Ron and Alec part ways to their respective careers. This was taken in
the lobby of the Central Garden Hotel, where we spent the last few
nights in Beijing

Golden Jaguar

At the Golden Jaguar, enjoying the best meal of the trek!

Forbidden City

Currently at the Forbidden City beside Tian'anmen Square

Great Wall

Today we scaled the Great Wall, climbing around 1000 feet of steps.
It was a little foggy, but we had great views of the hillsides and
valley below.

Watercube

I shot this video of the watercube a couple nights ago.

More blogging

If you haven't checked our Ron's blog in a while, he has posted
several funny stories, and some of my photos and video: http://ron-fun.blogspot.com

China Doll

Men's 1500m about to start

CELEBRITY STATUS

NOT TO BE OUTDONE




Above: Picture of Alec Detwiler and his new found Chinese family.

Watching this scene unfold was hilarious. The lady asked Alec 3 times to take a picture with her child. At first we thought that she wanted him to take a picture FOR her, but in the end it was that she wanted to take a picture WITH him. Don't they look like they were meant to be?

Inside the Bird's Nest

Sitting 13 rows from the track... Watch for me as the runners turn the
corner!

Modern Pentathlon

Beijing at night

In Beijing

We made it to Beijing this morning after a "fun" overnight train from
Shanghai. We are now checking out the finals of the Modern Pentathlon.

NBA China

Alec and RonFun representing at NBA China in Shanghai

Yu Garden

Jen Case catching up on some reading, while a rain cloud passes

Video from soccer game

Blogging

RonFun is also blogging our travels in China. You can check it out at: http://ron-fun.blogspot.com/

Olympics

Watching Nigeria crush Belgium at the soccer semi-finals

Zhou Zhuang

About an hour outside of Shanghai is a small village that was
preserved over a century ago. It sits on the edge of a large lake,
and has canals running through it. They call it the "Venice of China".

Dim Sum

Jen Case and RonFun being adventurous atop the 49th floor rotating
restaurant, tasting the bean curd jelly thingy (loose translation).
Several famous leaders have dined here, including Nixon and H.W. Bush.

China trip update

It's hard to beleive that only three days have gone by on our trip; we have had a lot of fun and many adventures as the cultural acclimization continues. Our first day started with sightseeing on Victoria Peak, then across the harbor to Kowloon to check out Star Avenue (Chinese version of Walk of Fame). The view from Victoria Peak was incredible - the density of skyscrapers is impressive along with the architectual variety. At dinner that evening, sectionmate Matt Payne joined us as we celebrated the first night of the trip (and only night in Hong Kong). The night continued to a couple bars, Prive dance club, and late-night restaurant. We met a number of ex-pats along the way.

On our second day, we took a bus to Shenzhen (45 minutes away) to enter mainland China for the first time. Shenzhen is a massive city (14 million people!), with an impressive skyline. We spent the afternoon at the headquarters of China Vante, the largest real estate developer in China. We toured a few showrooms then spoke with a few execs. That night (Friday night), we hung out at a nice club, Richy, near our hotel, Lushan hotel. We partied in style with reserved tables, bottle service, and a new drink for me... johnnie walker and green tea.

Today was an incredibly relaxing day. We started with a late 10 am start, then stopped by Lianhua mountain (hill) for a nice view of Shenzhen. We then drove to a private beach 45 min east of Shenzhen for a few hours of fun in the sun, playing a modified-game of beach volleyball (inspired by the olympics no doubt). Along the way we drove by Shenzhen's massive shipping port, the third largest in the world.

In the evening, we had a nice Shanghai-style dinner, then proceeded to one of Shenzhen's signature spa & massage complexes. This was quite an experience. In short, I had the best massage of my life - a 2-hour body massage. I also received a 45-min foot massage while watching the olympics (saw the 100M final), and being brought drinks and watermellon.

The food so far has been great. We have enjoyed several styles of Chinese cuisine (Cantonese, Szechuan, and Shanghai), and most of the dishes are completely new to me. Some of the more memorable items include sea cucumber and pig nuckles. We have had pork, chicken, and duck served in ways that didn't look like pork, chicken, or duck. Some of the fun drinks include a sweetened herbal tea (apparently the "Chinese Coke") and a sweet rice wine served warm (very similar to sake).

Tomorrow we leave for Shanghai, after a Dim Sum brunch at a rotating restaurant atop one of Shenzhen's many skyscrapers.

Chillin' with Deng

At the top of Linhua mountain, Alec & Ron pay homage to former Chinese
leader, Deng Xiaoping, as he overlooks his crowning accomplistment
(?), Shenzhen

Company Visit

RonFun and I visiting China Vanke, largest construction company in China

Bruce Lee

On the "Star Avenue" in Kowloon

Victoria Peak

Enjoying the view of Victoria harbor with Ron Funderburk, aka RonFun

Krispy Kreme... Hong Kong airport?!

Heading west to the Far East

I'm now on my way to China, where I will spend two weeks with a group
of classmates. We start in Hong Kong, and will also spend time in
Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Beijing. I'm excited to see China up close
and take photos of the Great Wall. We also plan to see some Olympic
events as well. I hope to post often, as long as I don't get censored...

View from my room

The view from our new apartment is pretty spectacular. Here are two sunset shots from my room taken in my first week here. I hope to share many more sunset photos in the future.

Photo time

I've been back in the Bay Area the last couple weeks catching up with friends and family, and getting moved into the new apartment. I finally uploaded most of my France and Belgium photos... but there's more to go through later. Tomorrow, I start my last trip of the summer, heading to China for two weeks.

France and Belgium Photos

Next stop, Belgium

Yesterday was our last day in the Loire Valley. We visited Chateau de
Chambord (above), then drove to Paris. Today we head to Bruges for
three nights

Lunch in Vouvray

We had a sweet, insanely sweet, bottle of Vouvray, on our lunch stop
in Vouvray! I had a delicious cheese plate for dessert.