Holy Sh!t! An Asian in 8th Place at the Tour de F@cking France!
Japanese rider Fumiyuki Beppu (Skil-Shimano) was able to hang with the break today and get himself a top ten finish. The highest an Asian has ever placed in the Tour. No, Kazakhstani Alexandr Vinokourov does not count. My mind is exploding.
I meant to make my predictions for this year’s Tour and here I am a little bit late.
Overall/Yellow – Lance Armstrong
Points/Green – Tom “Tommeke” Boonen
Climbers/Polka Dot – Andy Schleck
Young/White – Roman Kreuziger
edit: Woops, I forgot that Andy cannot win both the Polka Dots and the White jersey.
French Open – Upsets Galore!
(Rahael Nadal at the Beijing Olympics)
Growing up Asian-American it is almost a prerequisite that I enjoy watching tennis. Maybe it’s because it is similar in nature to ping pong or maybe it was watching our hero then teenager Michael Chang tear it up against Ivan Lendl at the French Open.
This year I watched several matches mostly my new favorite from the Olympics Serbian Novak Djokovic. This weekend the 4th seed Novak was knocked out by German Phillip Kohlschreiber. I was really hoping for a final match between Djokovic and the seemingly unstoppable Raphael Nadal, but sadly neither one made it.
In honor of both I leave you with this video clip of Novak’s impresonation of not only Nadal, but also Maria Sharapova.
South America Rewind – Saqsaywaman
In the fall of last year I took a trip to South America. I’m only now getting to posting my pictures from the trip so if you see me in Chicago do not be confused. If you’ve missed any of my previous entries just click “South America” in the tags area. – jeff
(Click here for a larger view of this panorama)
I visited Saqsaywaman* today which is one of the more spectacular ruins in Peru and conveniently one of the closest. Most tourists join a tour or cab it to the nearby sights, but I opted to walk because:
A. it is good training for the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu
B. getting lost by foot is more difficult than by car
C. I ate a lot of turkey & potatoes at Thanksgiving last night
D. and I can spend as much time there as I want.
The toughest part of the hike was just getting out of Cusco via the impossibly steep stairs that make up Rebalaso avenue. Vendors along the way were selling cocoa tea leaves. The idea being that the same plant that’s used for cocaine is good to treat altitude sickness as well. Perfectly legal in Peru I nonetheless refused thanks to the fear instilled in my after watching a couple episodes of Locked Up Abroad.
Highlights from the ruins:
1. The most striking aspect of Saqsaywaman are the multi-leveled fortifications. There are 3 tiers and according to the tour group I eavesdropped on there are 22 walls. Apparently from above it all looks like a puma so vendors sell small figurines and Puma t-shirts. The stones that make up the ruins are enormous and the Lonely Planet says there’s one that weighs over 300 tons. Which begs the question: Did they weigh the stone or just guess? I bet lasers were involved.
2. The parade grounds lay between the fortifications and the Radadero (a large hill with tiers of stone walls). Okay its just a big empty field, but I bet there were blood sacrifices there.
3. Adjacent to all the ruins is a large hill with a large statue of Jesus on the cross. One of these days I’ll have to go to Brazil and check out their’s too.
*Phonetically Saqsaywaman sounds like “Sexy Woman.” Yup.
S.A. Rewind – Beard!
Thank you Katy S. for use of the picture of me.
If you typed “jeff kao” in a search engine to get to jeffkao.net looking for treasure trove of goofy pictures of me then you probably been pretty disappointed. What can I say? I like to take photos, so I’m seldom on the receiving end of a camera lens. Well you all are in luck with today’s post.
When I was packing for my trip I carefully thought about each and every item before it was packed. Then I looked at that pile and I cut in half. Then I cut in half yet again. One of the first things to go was my razor and my more than 3 ounce can of shaving gel. So what happens when I don’t shave for 30 days? Hilarity.
South America Rewind – Cusco, Peru
In the fall of last year I took a trip to South America. I’m only now getting to posting my pictures from the trip so if you see me in Chicago do not be confused. If you’ve missed any of my previous entries just click “South America” in the tags area. – jeff
The average temperature so far in Cusco has been about 70-75 degrees during the day and around 40 at night. As nice as the highs are, the lows to me are a still a bit too much to sleep through without heat, something the hostel didn’t have. So I packed up my bag and walked up the steep stone steps to the Del Prado Inn. No more hostels for me. The Del Prado is a bona fide hotel with hot water, and heat!
Cusco is a pretty small city with a population of about 300,000 compared to Lima’s 8.2 million. There are a lot more tourists here since Cusco is the gateway to Macchu Pichu and the Sacred Valley. Similar to Brugge, Belgium it has an old timey feel. Unlike Brugge Cusco has structures that actually date back to incan & pre-incan times and the locals still dress in traditional clothing.
South America Rewind – Back in Cusco, Peru
In the fall of last year I took a trip to South America. I’m only now getting to posting my pictures from the trip so if you see me in Chicago do not be confused. If you’ve missed any of my previous entries just click “South America” in the tags area. – jeff
Of all the concerns I had for my trip (pickpockets, muggings, malaria, scorpions, Maoists, etc) the one I worried about the most was altitude sickness. Cusco is about 11,000 feet above sea level and while it isn’t Everest’s 30k it is still significant. One of my favorite books is Into Thin Air which spends quite a bit of time talking about the death zone and the dangers of being at elevation. So I’m very much aware of the possibility of my head exploding.
Today I walked around the city (slowly) and took some pictures. I checked into my hostal which is just okay. I may research nicer digs later.
Later the next night…
Holy shit! My head feels like it is enormous. I thought maybe I could ride out the altitude change without drugs, but I am popping pills like a fiend now. I walked around for awhile after grabbing dinner and found the door to the hostal locked. I knocked waiting for the owner. No answer. I then pounded on the door. Still no answer. I called the hostal from a pay phone. Nothing. Taking a cue from About A Boy I then knocked on the door to the tune of U2’s Zoo Station until finally the door opened. I asked if there was a curfew and all I got were apologies. Then as I got to my room’s door I realized that the lock didn’t actually work and that if you lifted the door you could bypass the deadbolt completely. Nice. I’ll definitely be finding a new place in the morning. Now where are those pills?
Boston Marathon
Check out Dana’s website. She’s been writing not only about her time running the marathon, but also all the prep that’s gone into it.
This weekend was the Boston Marathon and it was a huge success! I tagged along to watch Dana crush the race with an amazing time and help out anyway I could. It was pretty fun and I also got to see a lot of the Boston area Kaos.
- Originally I was going to take my bike but it felt like way too much trouble considering our hotel was in the suburb of Revere and the green line of the “T” doesn’t allow bikes.
- I found a spot that was about a mile away from from the “T” stop near the 16 mile mark and rang my Team Pegasus cowbell & took pictures.
- The entire time I was able to use my iPhone to get Dana’s splits every 5k. 3G coverage in the Boston area is excellent, much better than Chicago
- I have been in quite a few crowds this past year (Beijing Olympics, San Diego Comic Con, Obama Acceptance Rally, Cubs in the Playoffs to name a few) and while Boston during the marathon wasn’t the worst it was definitely a force to be reckoned with.
1. It really is a lot of people (Wikipedia claims 500,000 people)
2. Lots of other stuff is going on (Red Sox, Celtics, & Bruins were all active)
3. The “T” while easy to use is got really over crowded
4. The vast majority of people are tourists
5. Point to point races are tough to spectate.
- Everyone was extremely friendly both locals & tourists.
AVQ&A – Most Rewatched Movies
Every week the writers for The Onion AV Club answer a question. I thought I’d share my own answers to one of their previous Q&A’s.
This week for me is: What’s your most-rewatched movie?
If this question only related to the last couple of years than it would be Boogie Nights and by a lot. When I was at school living in the dorms Paul Thomas Anderson’s masterpiece was on all the time on HBO and there was seldom a day that we didn’t turn on the TV and end up getting roped into watching it again & again. Even to this day I still put the DVD on when I’m cleaning my apartment. But no, I’m afraid my most re-watched movie by a long shot is The Three Amigos. When I was a kid my family would rent the VHS cassette every single weekend despite my sister’s protests. All I can say in my defense is that The Three Amigos is a great film that still to this day makes me laugh.
