Pulpology: Mark & Sonia's Intercontinental Absurdities!

Back in Malaysia

2008-11-18T13:05:00-05:00

We managed to grab a ridiculously early-morning flight out of BKK -- the upside was that there was absolutely no sign of the hideous soul-numbing Bangkok traffic! -- and we're now in Penang, Malaysia. Since internet access is pretty cheap and abundant around here, we may have a bit more time to post and catch up on previous posts. Pics, too, as there are SOOOOOOO many good ones from our time in Thailand.

In the meantime, we already miss our comfy Bangkok oasis at Ma Tuk's. Upon arriving in Penang, we stopped at the guesthouse that had been arranged for us by a local couchsurfer. (We'd originally planned to surf with him, but I guess he doesn't have space this week.) The place, shall we say, was a little rough around the edges. Particularly after our week in the lap of luxury! So we picked another place around the corner. The Hotel Hong Ping is still sorta in the budget range at roughly $20 a night, but feels much safer and comfier. We're in the main hub of Georgetown, the primary city on Pulau Pinang (Penang Island) and there are tons of restaurants, pubs, and of course internet cafes! We'll probably do a bit of siteseeing this afternoon and will try to book a scuba daytrip to nearby Pulau Payar in the next day or two.

Bangkok, in a nutshell, was awesome. The legendary Thai hospitality was in full swing, as Zoe's family showed us an amazing time. We saw temples, gardens, wildlife... to say nothing of all the food. Traditional Thai meals, Japanese Sukiyaki, Vietnamese, fresh seafood, amazing fruits and satay and other snacks... Mark and I suspect they were trying to fatten us up like two Christmas geese! We joked that we won't need to eat anything the entire rest of the trip. And our "suite" by the pool was absolutely divine. Totally spoiled. We also got to meet up with Bruce & Anne, and check out some of the sites with them. It was wonderful to catch up with what they've been up to in Perth, and give them the lowdown on all the usual suspects at home.

Onward and upward! We'll be in Penang for a few days, then it's on to Kuala Lumpur for some more couchsurfing and a gourmet dinner. What was I saying about not eating anything the rest of this trip...?

First week - a recap in pictures

2008-11-13T00:00:00-05:00

We haven't had much time to blog during the past week -- too much to see and do! -- but I thought I'd put together a highlights reel with a few teaser pics, for those of you waiting patiently at home.

Singapore: multi-culti

Clarke Quay

lucky Buddha on Temple Street

Masjid Sultan

Sri Veeramakaliamman

Bangkok: temples, food, Zoe, Loy Krathong, and more food

Wat Phra Kaeo

mango sticky rice!

new monk initiation ceremony

Mark and Zoe in Chachoengsao

oktapodi surveys the homemade krathongs

Loy Krathong dancers in Thonburi

Sawatdee! We made it to Bangkok!

2008-11-11T17:30:00-05:00

Haven't had much internet access lately, but I did want to check in quickly from Bangkok. We finally managed to make it out of Singapore (more details to be backfilled shortly) and are hanging out with Zoe and her family, eating our way through Bangkok. Yum!

Pics and stories when I have some more time...

Greetings from Singapore!

2008-11-07T15:00:00-05:00

We made it through the gauntlet of flights and timezones with very little drama, albeit very little sleep. Tuesday night was a blur of election celebrations -- people, the state of Virginia went BLUE for the first time in over four decades, can you gimme hallelujiah? -- and last-minute packing and prep. We had to leave at the butt-crack of dawn for our 7am flight on Wednesday, so you can imagine how much fun that was. But we managed to make it on our flight to Chicago, connecting flight to Hong Kong, and layover to Singapore, with nary a hiccup. We even lucked out and sat behind a deadheading flight attendant who kept passing us surreptitious snacks from the depths of the plane's galley. And in a bizarre twist, seated in front of us on the airport shuttle to our hostel in Singapore was a guy named Joel from Arlington, who'd just taken the same series of flights and would be in Southeast Asia for the exact same amount of time as us. If we see him on the flight back I'll have to buy him a drink.

Got in late on Thursday night, checked into Fern Loft Backpackers on East Coast Road, and tried to get some sleep. Unfortunately we only booked one night, and they're full tonight, but David the owner is an extremely friendly and helpful guy and got us a spot at their other location downtown. We grabbed some lunch at a nearby Vietnamese place, and had a lovely conversation with manager Priscilla over a delicious claypot meal. If you're ever in Singapore, definitely seek this place out! Details below. Unfortunately we didn't take the camera with us (blame the jetlag!) so there are no pics of this delightful woman, but she was great fun to chat with. And the food was deeeeeeelish! Not just because it was our first real meal in about three days, either.

David gave us a ride over to Fern Loft River Valley, where they checked us into another nice room and booked our bus ride to Malacca tomorrow. We had some vague notion of wandering around town, but opted for a nap instead. And now, if we can rouse ourselves, it's out for some more of Singapore's legendary chow! We had a brief debate earlier about whether or not there really is any "Singapore" cuisine, but it seems as though the endless choices of Chinese, Indian, Malaysian, Vietnamese, and other Asian fare *is* the native nosh. Multiculturalism is what it's all about in this incredibly neat and orderly town. It's a nice unchallenging place to land and shake off the jetlag for a bit.

RECOMMENDED:

Fern Loft Backpacker Hostel, East Coast Road
693A East Coast Road, Singapore 459058
tel: +65 6449 9066
* near the airport and lots of restaurants
* friendly staff, especially the owner
* reasonably-priced, by Singapore standards ($40 for a private room/$14 per dorm bed)
* free internet/wifi, and there's a pub downstairs so it's a pretty social place

Claypot Cuisine
723 East Coast Road, Singapore 459071
Tel: 6444 5546
delicious Vietnamese food, extensive menu (with pictures!); and be sure to seek out Priscilla, the gregarious manager who loves to make everyone feel at home

Fern Loft River Valley
301 River Valley Road, Singapore
* walking distance to Clarke Quay and not far from Orchard Road
* same friendly staff
* a bit pricier than the other location, but roomier and sunnier

The packing game

2008-11-03T00:00:00-05:00

Today's photo of the day captures that "oh s**t!" moment where it seems like there's just no way all this STUFF is gonna fit into two packs and two daybags. So much for traveling light... Oh well, we'll cram it all in there somehow...

(By the way, this photo was taken with my spiffy new Nikon D40, which I spent all weekend noodling around with. Many thanks to everyone who's chipped in!)

One week to go

2008-10-28T16:45:00-05:00

Whew, it's been a busy few weeks nailing down the final trip details. And with just over one week to go, it's just about time for the last-minute freakout. Except things seem pretty well under control, at least for the moment. I did go through the reality-bites doldrums for a while last week. Does that happen to other people too, or is it just me? It's the phase in travel planning where you transition from daydreaming and inspiration to figuring out what is actually feasible. When it's time to fill in the blanks, what seemed like a good idea on paper can turn into a complete impossibility. Suddenly that straight line on the map from Point A to Point B becomes a nearly-impassable three-month slog during monsoon season. Or that CouchSurfer you'd been chatting with is no longer available to host. Or you realize that you've got an impossibly long list of places to see and there's no way you can fit all that into four weeks. It's something of a buzzkill, but it's also a test of one's planning mojo, where the women are separated from the girls.

Fortunately I'm up to the task.

I've gradually made peace with the fact that this trip will not be a leisurely slow-travel meander off the beaten path, but rather a tightly-controlled power-walk through the Top 10 Must-See Spots of Bangkok and Malaysia. Well, let me correct that: we will have lots of time in Bangkok, and I'm hoping that we'll get to sample the local flavor with Zoe and family. But the Malaysian portion of the program is getting a little crammed. And I was disappointed to learn that in order to fit everything in, we'll need to take several flights. It ups our carbon footprint significantly, and I much prefer the adventure of taking local ground transport. The good news is that low-cost carrier Air Asia has ridiculously cheap fares. And this is allowing us to visit lots of fun spots on the Peninsula as well as the states of Sabah and Sarawak on Malaysian Borneo.

The whirlwind itinerary is looking a little something like this:

- fly to Singapore - spend a day chilling out and recovering from jetlag
- take a bus to Malacca/Melaka - meet up with CouchSurfer Mr Yee Tea for a cooking lesson, and surf with him for the night
- take a bus to Kuala Lumpur, fly from KL to BKK
- spend a week in Bangkok - hang out with Zoe and her family, hook up with Bruce & Anne, celebrate Loy Krathong and see the sites in and around Bangkok
- fly back to Malaysia, spend 2-3 days in Penang with another CouchSurfing host
- take the bus to Kuala Lumpur and stay there for 2-3 days - hopefully participating in a CouchSurfing potluck/meet-up
- fly Malaysian Borneo and do 3 days of diving around Semporna (Sipadan, Mabul, etc)
- take a bus to the Sepilok area and spend 2 days at a Kinabatangan homestay, with some sort of jungle/river tour as well
- take the bus to Kota Kinabalu and crash there overnight
- fly to Kuching on the other end of Borneo, spend a few days with another CouchSurfer and visit the local longhouses (possibly also Bako National Park)
- fly from Kuching to Singapore, and then back home

I've updated the map and calendar pages, and will be posting a more detailed Google map when we get back, to show exactly where we've been. In the meantime, the rest of the pre-trip to-do list awaits!

Mid-week culcha

2008-10-23T17:25:00-05:00

This week we had the opportunity to attend two fun mid-week cultural events. It was a great reminder of the diversity of entertainment options right in our own backyard.

On Tuesday night, we joined some friends at a performance of Bread and Puppets Theater. We weren't entirely sure what to expect, as the site is rather vague and nobody seemed to have any real information about the show. But the price (free) was right, as it happens I'm a fan of both puppets and bread, and when you go in with almost no expectations there's nowhere to go but up. Plus, you had me at "free."

I'm pleased to report that the show was AMAZING. The troupe at this performance consisted of eight people who alternately played ragtime instruments, marched around with flags, operated giant cardboard and papier-maché puppets, and danced on stilts. The subject matter was intensely political, which makes sense given BPT's roots in activist pacifism and participatory street theater. (You can find some historical information on the "Tour Schedule" page of their site... scroll down past the dates... poor usability but it is worth the effort!) The Tuesday night show had been advertised as the more "family-friendly" of BPT's Washington performances. So when things got a little heavy towards the end with a haunting piece about the war in Iraq, leaving the audience in contemplative silence, it was a bit of a surprise to hear the announcer plug the Wednesday show as "somewhat darker," and not as suitable for kids. But hey, I'm all about people exposing their kids to controversial subject matter as food for thought. I was totally encouraged that there were some kids in the theater when we went to see Bill Maher's "Religulous" a few weeks ago. Discussion and debate are not just for grownups.

Oh, and yes they did in fact serve bread at the end of the show! With some spectacularly garlicky aioli sauce. No vampire problems that night.

Wednesday's entertainment was a bit more lighthearted. We're big fans of Cirque du Soleil, both the Vegas extravaganzas and the touring shows. When I discovered that "Journey of Man," the 1999 film featuring Cirque performances, was coming back to the IMAX theater at the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum, I jumped at the chance to get tickets. I do love me some IMAX. And we don't get down to the Smithsonian complex nearly enough. As I exited the Metro at the Smithsonian stop, which drops you off in the middle of the National Mall, I enjoyed the stroll between the Washington Monument and the Capitol Building, with a lovely fall sunset as a backdrop. Somehow it never gets old to wander around among such powerful national symbols; after living in the DC area for almost two decades, I still get a bit of a rush. It's like being on a movie set.

And speaking of movie, the IMAX film was absolutely stellar. Filmed over a two-year period using Cirque performers from around the world, "Journey of Man" is a celebration of the stages of life from birth to death. The visual imagery is stellar, and the music is just as delicious. As icing on the cake it's narrated by Ian McKellan. Sitting in a darkened theatre surrounded by that Gandalf voice is always a good thing in my book. After the movie we chatted up Aba Kwawu, president of the PR firm that handles Cirque's DC runs. (She also had the fun job of handing out the door prizes while wearing a clown nose.) How cool would it be to work for the most kickass circus in the world?

We topped off the night by stopping for some pho on the way home. Unfortunately my favorite Pho 75 was closed for the night, but a block away Pho 50 was still open. (Why 75? Why 50? Why not a more creative name?) We had just enough time to gulp down a big bowl of the rich broth -- perfect eats for the increasingly chilly weather -- before they closed up shop. I used to be somewhat perplexed by the huge Vietnamese contingent in Falls Church, but now I just shut up and happily slurp my pho. Ten points to anyone who can tell me the story behind that inscrutable naming scheme, though...

What would you tell yourself?

2008-10-21T12:10:00-05:00

A fasctinating discussion has been flourishing lately on CouchSurfing's Independent Women list, and I thought I'd fire it up here to see if y'all had any interesting comments to add.

The original question was:
"What if... you could go back in time and tell yourself something (besides the winning lottery numbers). What would you say?"

The original poster offered her own words of wisdom to herself at various ages. Lots of fabulous chix chimed in with their own thoughts, and here are mine:

I'd tell my 6-yr-old self not to take everything so seriously, and that if you're able to laugh at yourself the rest of the world is not nearly so scary.

I'd continuously tell my 13- to 18-yr-old self that geeks rule, and that not being the popular kid gives you much more strength and independence as an adult. Oh, and by the way, life is MUCH cooler after high school!

I'd urge my 20-yr-old self to take that semester or year abroad, that the comfort & safety of the familiar will be there when you get back, although perhaps you won't need it nearly so much.

I'd tell my late-20s self to go for it, dream big, take those risks, but also have a financial safety net in case things don't work out exactly as planned.

And I can't help but wonder what my 40- 50- or 60-yr-old self would tell the present me... I suspect it would have something to do with: things always work out for the best, even if it doesn't seem like it at the time; there are no easy answers and that's what keeps things interesting; and never lose the childlike sense of wonderment that comes from trying new things. To piggyback off that a bit, two things my now-98-yr-old grandmother has been telling us our whole lives: never stop learning, and keep your body as active as your mind. I think she's onto something... she made it to 98, after all.

What wisdom would you go back and tell yourself?

We're Going to Thailand! (and Malaysia!)

2008-10-15T12:30:00-05:00

Ya gotta love it when a totally-unplanned-for plan comes together.

It all started when our expat friends Bruce & Anne, DC transplants living in Perth, mentioned they were going to be in Bangkok in mid-November. We'd been considering taking a short trip to SE Asia... not short by typical American vacation standards, but considerably shorter than the extended travel we'd been hoping to undertake. One month total, focusing primarily on Malaysia and possibly also Indonesia. Why those two countries? A number of reasons, but I have to admit that ever since I started researching the scuba diving off Malaysian Borneo, I've been hooked. Jacques Cousteau called Sipadan, a tiny island off the East Coast of Borneo, some of the best diving in the world. You can dive there pretty much year-round, and supposedly it's an amazing place to see large animals. There are also a plethora of dive sites on nearby islands Mabul and Kapalai. And, bottom line, how cool is it to casually say, "Oh, yeah, we'll be doing some diving in Malaysian Borneo next month"?

We'd been seriously considering a one-month trip to this area, substituting Bangkok for Indonesia, when I found out one of my co-workers was going back to Thailand to visit family in November. The exceptionally-fabulous Zoe has been living in the US for some time now, but her mom still lives in Bangkok. She's goes back to visit occasionally, and I've seen pictures of the house. Suffice it to say, I'm planning to try to get adopted by Zoe's mom when we visit. Zoe offered that we could stay with her, as it turned out she would be there at the same time as Bruce & Anne. Sweeeeet.

Add to all this the fact that Loy Krathong, one of the biggest Thai holidays of the year, is also happening within this same window, and you have the makings of an insanely good time.

So, the general plan is to fly in and out of Singapore, since that's by far the cheapest hub in the region. (In case anyone's interested, I found the best fare on Vayama. I think the airlines are running scared because ticket prices seem to have dropped across the board.) We'll leave DC on November 5, the morning after the presidential election. And I fervently hope we leave on a note of celebratory elation due to an overwhelming Obama win, as opposed to a bitter hangover from drowning our sorrows after a McCain win. But I digress... We'll spend the week of Nov 9 in Bangkok, celebrating Loy Krathong and hopefully discovering some hidden gems only locals know about. Somewhere around Nov 18 we'll head south down the peninsula, stopping to visit whatever strikes our fancy. The last week of November and first week of December we'll spend time on Borneo, diving and hanging with orangutans and dodging headhunters and the like. We return to DC on December 4. And then, unfortunately, it's back to work the following week.

Stay tuned for more details as the plans evolve. This trip will be a little weird for me, as it's somewhere between a free-wheeling backpacker jaunt and a totally scripted type-A vacation. I hope to strike a balance somewhere in there! If anyone has any suggestions for must-see stuff in southern Thailand or Malaysia, do let me know.

Some of you may have noticed the little ChipIn widget in the sidebar. Taking a page from the Book of Joan, I've decided to ask for what I want for my birthday. (Just be glad I'm not declaring it a national holiday and announcing how many shopping days are left until November 6!) I've been wanting a better camera for some time now, so I thought I'd give an opportunity for folks to contribute towards this item. Many thanks to Beth at Wanderlust and Lipstick and Crystalicious for getting the ball rolling! The sidebar widget's a bit small and some of the text gets cut off. But anyone who chips in will get a postcard from Thailand or Malaysia. I'm planning to get a Nikon d40, which is a digital SLR that is a few generations behind the latest & greatest but has gotten consistently good reviews. If I get more than I need to buy the camera, the remainder will be donated to The Women's Center, a local DC charity that has been providing services to women, families, and the community for over 30 years.

Food for Thought

2008-10-12T00:00:00-05:00

There's been some good stuff in the blogosphere in the past week or two... seems like a good time to do a roundup post:

Divine Caroline's "Love This Site!" Awards lists a ton of quality blogs/sites, not to mention some familiar faces in the travel category. Browse the list, and feel free to vote if you find something you like. Nominations will be accepted until November 30, 2008 and winners will be announced in early December.

Nomadic Matt wrote a great article about How to Vote in the U.S. Election While Overseas. Whether you'll be traveling on the big day, or are just looking to avoid the lines by voting absentee, this piece has all the information you'll need to do your civic duty.

Hey, guess what, the economy's in the crapper! Shocking, I know. There have been a plethora of articles in the travel community encouraging us to nevermind the bad news, get out there and see the world. Here are a handful of my favorites:

* Almost Fearless - The Economy is Falling Apart, Should I Travel?
* Everything Everywhere - It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine
* Wanderlust and Lipstick - Eco (nomic) Travel

I heart Ira Glass! NPR's "This American Life" has done a fantastic podcast that explains the whole economic meltdown thing in plain English. Despite the cheeky title (Another Frightening Show About the Economy) it's actually pretty enlightening. Keep in mind that it's slightly outdated, as recent events have been spinning pretty fast. But it provides a good solid foundation for understanding what the *&^%! is going on.

I got another article published on Matador. It went up on Oct 3 but I only just now realized it (duh). Faithful readers will recognize familiar content, but it's packaged in a slightly different way from the blog entries: "24 Hours at Burning Man." As always, I appreciate any comments, Stumbles, Diggs, or whatever else you can do to help promote the piece!

And, finally, because we could all use a laugh in these troubled times:

Everything Zen? I don't think so.

2008-10-07T00:00:00-05:00

I had a thump-yourself-on-the-forehead moment last Friday night. We were out at a club with some friends, and when I got up to use the ladies' room I left my purse behind, not really thinking twice about it, figuring it would be watched after by the folks sitting in our small group. When I got back, the friends were gone, and so was the purse. I tried to stay calm as we scoured the club for our group. My logical brain attempted to drown out the panic by stating calmly and clearly that one of our peeps had grabbed it and taken it with them for safe keeping. My wallet, cell phone, car keys, house keys... all in good hands. Meanwhile my emotional brain kept drumming up worst case scenarios and shouting "Stupid! What were you thinking? You'd never do this while traveling!"

And that little voice, while a bit overwrought, is right. If I were in a foreign country or even another city, I'd never in a million years leave my valuables sitting unattended, ever. What's particularly ironic about this is that things are *not* particularly secure on the American homefront these days, especially if the hand-wringing daily news is to be believed. Regardless, there's something about being close to home that lulls me into a false sense of security. It got me thinking about other ways this happens:

* Crossing the street. Indie Travel Podcast just did a funny (and informative) episode about this. I tend to be one of those pedestrians who quickly looks both ways and then darts out into traffic, against the light or in the middle of the block or whatever suits my need to get from point A to point B. But in some countries this behavior may bring about bodily harm or a huge fine. According to ITP it can cost you 200 Euros in Austria! It's not something to be taken lightly.

* Giving out personal info. While traveling, I would never dream of giving out my hostel or hotel address to a complete stranger. Yet a few weeks ago I got a brisk slap of reality when our Craigslist rental ad got hijacked by some spammers in Nigeria. (Yes, really. How retro! How very 1996!) At first I couldn't figure out why someone would take the time to scrape my content and one picture of the outside of our house, list it at half the price, and change the email address. Then when people started showing up with further instructions about wiring money to a Lagos bank account, I finally got it. It's my own damn fault for including our address with the original post. I stupidly thought "What's the harm?" Well, there ya go, question answered. Fortunately I think I was able to get Craigslist to take down the spamalicious ad before any really stupid people got bilked out of their cash. At least I hope so.

Back to the purse-snatching incident, it did turn out that one of our friends took it along with her when she moved to a different part of the club. Why she didn't bother to wait till I got back from the bathroom to migrate, I'll probably never know. But all's well that ends well. And I think the lesson here is that it's time to kick off my comfy slippers and hit the road to slough off some of that false sense of security.

What are some ways you take things for granted in your comfort zone?

How Well Do You Know Your World?

2008-10-02T12:30:00-05:00

I don't have anything profound to say this week, so I thought I'd share a fun little time-waster. I found this widget on the TravelPod site some months back. It's basically a geography quiz that gets progressively harder with each level. I did OK, for a dumb Amerkan. I will warn you that it's slightly addictive!

brought to you by TravelPod, the Web's First Travel Blog ( A TripAdvisor Media Network partner )

Corporate Housing, a new frontier?

2008-09-23T13:00:00-05:00

There haven't been many new blog posts lately, as I've been trying to catch up on all the Burning Man stories. These are now fully uploaded, so go forth and read 'em, if you haven't already. Pics are also strewn throughout the stories, but if you want to see them all at once, they're here.

So what's new with the house? Nothing yet, but we've been considering posting it on a corporate housing rentals site. This is an interesting concept, as it would allow us to rent for shorter terms and more money per month. Of course it costs something to post a listing on a site like this, but for once it may actually be worth it. Where would that leave us? Well, ever since the episode with The Nice Professor Lady, we've been considering taking a shorter trip towards the end of the year. India was at the top of the list, until I realized it would be high season with Diwali coming up. Higher prices, more crowds, harder to get last-minute reservations... no thanks! Hm, what about Indonesia & Malaysia? We could fly in and out of Singapore, do some great scuba diving, groove on the cultural scene, maybe even hook up with that guy we met at SFO who has a house on Bali. And then our expat friends in Perth mentioned they'd be in Bangkok in mid-November. Ah, a plan starts to form! Where we go, and for how long, depends on how things work out with this corporate rentals site. If we find a good short-term tenant, we could conceivably take off for three months or so. If not, we may take a 3-4 week trip.

What do you think? Any recommendations?

In the meantime, I've been dipping my toe into the travel writing pool. Some of you already know about this, because I've been tooting my own horn for a few weeks now. (Write your own joke here...) But for the rest, I'm proud to report that I've had three small bits of publishing success of late:

1) a few of my pics were chosen to be a part of the online Burning Man Image Gallery

2) I became a featured correspondent on AdventureUs.com

3) another handful of photos got published in a Matador article

...and I'm in conversation with the Matador editors about doing a written piece on Burning Man. Woo-hoo! Please visit these sites if you get a chance, and support the folks who support nascent travel writers and photographers.

Interestingly enough, Rolf Potts has just published a new book. I stumbled across one of his bestsellers, the time-honored classic Vagabonding, at a formative point in my travel planning. And now when I'm considering getting more involved with travel writing, his latest book is about that very topic. Have any of you travel geeks read "Marco Polo Didn't Go There" yet? He's doing both a virtual and a real-world book tour to promote the new book, and I look foward to hearing the reviews from the travel community.

Don't worry, it's not anthrax!

2008-09-09T15:30:00-05:00

Today's Moment of Zen is brought to you by the letters U, P, and S.

So our remaining boxes that we had shipped back from Sacramento arrived today (thanks K&C for your help with that errand!) and as the UPS guy dropped them off in the front hallway, he raised one eyebrow and said, "There's some weird powder coming from these."

At which Mark & I chuckled and assured the poor guy it was just Playa dust, y'know, from Burning Man. And then we proceeded to have the "Burning What?!?" conversation until the UPS guy'd had enough and left, shaking his head.

Heh. You can take the Burners off the Playa, but you can't ever quite get the Playa (dust) off the Burners and their stuff!

PS. For those of you keeping score at home, the Nice Professor Lady fell through. So it's back to the drawing board to try to find a tenant! :(

One step closer?

2008-09-06T15:00:00-05:00

We had a very promising meeting today with a prospective renter. She's a professor at Penn's Wharton biz school and needs a place for her family to stay while they renovate their Arlington home. Seems very responsible; she showed up exactly when she said she was going to; we had a nice conversation with her. Quite possibly the perfect tenant. The catch? (And you just knew there was one, didn't you?) They only need the house for three months, October - December. Right after Christmas they are moving back into their house, no matter what. ::: sigh :::

I don't want to jinx this, since it's not finalized yet. But if this situation comes to fruition it raises a whole slew of new questions. Should we go for it? (Answer: hells yeah, accept what the universe provides!) Where would we go for an abbreviated 3-month trip? (Answer: probably India.) Would we come back in January, or try to rent it out to someone else from remote? (Dunno the answer to that one yet.)

The very real possibility of moving out in three weeks looms large on the horizon. The good news is that we'll probably have to move even less stuff out than we'd originally planned, since our prospective tenant is OK with our storing stuff in the basement. This is one of the silver linings to having a 3-month rental term. But still, all of a sudden it seems like there's a ton to do in a short period of time! We should know within the next week whether or not it will all come together for October 1, and in the meantime we're trying to mentally prepare ourselves for some big changes. Fasten your seatbelts, friends and neighbors, I think we're about to go for a wild ride!

PS. Oh, and meanwhile I've been posting some of our Burning Man pictures. Still working on backdating some blog entries to fill in the gaps and answer the inevitable "What the...?" questions, but anyone dying for a sneak peek can take a look.

Back from The Playa

2008-09-03T16:00:00-05:00

Quick note just to let everyone know we're back in the "default" world after our adventures at The Burn.

Whoooooooo, it's gonna take some time to shake the dust from our brains and sort out all the stories and pics. Rest assured, they will be posted here as soon as possible!

Temple Burn

2008-08-31T00:00:00-05:00

The first order of business, after a breakfast mimosa, was tackling the cleanup of the RV, which looked hungover after yesterday's rampage. Fortunately, with four of us working together, it didn't take long to clear out the empty cups, wash the dishes, set aside random personal items left behind, and sweep at least some of the dust out. Ready for the next party!

The afternoon was surprisingly chilly, which didn't bode well for the evening's activities. After a brief stop at Fur Bar -- dancing girls and a duck on a pole, what more could you ask for? -- we whipped up a clams marinara dinner and got ready for the Temple Burn.

It was a long, long hike out there, as expected, and it was indeed bitchin' cold! Fortunately we were bolstered by Eileen's mostly-whiskey-with-a-splash-of-coke communal beverage. Somehow we managed to arrive at the Temple mostly together, despite a stop to see Ember's mushroom art burn and a visit to the porta-potties. About a dozen of us joined hands to form a human chain, and wandered into the crowd to find a spot. By the time we settled in, it was nearly time for the Temple to burn. There wasn't much pageantry, or at least we couldn't see much of anything going from where we were sitting. The crowd got silent and sat down, and a woman sang an Eastern-sounding chant over the loudspeakers. Very slowly, the Temple started to go up. It had a totally different feel from last night's burn, no hoopla, no fireworks, no techno music, just the sound of the fire crackling and the occasional sniffle from the crowd. Except for the howling, frigid wind -- and one asshat up front who just wouldn't sit down -- it was quite peaceful and contemplative.

I'm not sure how long it actually took for the Temple to fall, but the structure turned out to be pretty durable. First the top layer caved in, then eventually even the huge pillars at the corners toppled over, bringing the entire thing down in a slow-motion crash. A symbol of the boundless nature of the American Dream? Or a testament to the durability of the Basura Sagrada we all carry around with us? You decide...

By that time, the crowd was done, frozen and ready to head for home. Which was unfortunate because a gigantic dust storm chose that moment to kick into high gear. And thus commenced one of the most surreal moments in an already-surreal week. Imagine, if you will, trying to walk through a blinding snowstorm, people criss-crossing in front of you in random

patterns, no real sense of which direction is home, no streets or signs or landmarks to guide the way, visibility limited to about two feet. It was absolutely terrifying. Ahead, what seemed like miles away, a dim beacon shone weakly. I had no idea what or where it was, but it was at least some sign of civilization, better than wandering forever on the unforgiving open Playa. So we headed towards it. For what felt like hours. It was a cold, grueling, hellacious trek. Radical self-reliance, my ass! What kind of insane event organizers let a bunch of drunk/high/hippie-ravers wander the frozen wilderness in the middle of the night without so much as a directional sign? The outrage!

Well, obviously we made it back to camp without anyone having to gnaw off a leg or roast a campmate over an open flame for sustenance. But it was quite a frustrating end to the week. Irritated, and frozen to the bone, there was nothing left to do but burrow in and try to sleep.

The Man Burns in Zero Days!

2008-08-30T00:00:00-05:00

Burn Day. The main event. Culmination of the yearlong burner countdown (any communication from the Burning Man team inevitably includes the line "the Man burns in [x] days"). The big day had finally arrived. Strap in kiddies!

We began the day with a ride out to the Temple of Basura Sagrada, an enormous structure meticulously constructed from burnable trash, recycled materials, and "the tossed-off detritus of American society." On the way, we passed by the Man, a flurry of pre-burn activity cordoned off by Rangers guarding the perimeter. The wind was starting to kick up, and it was getting hard to see. On the path between the Man and the Temple, we had to stop a few times until we could see more than two feet in front of our bikes.

At the Temple, the first thing I noticed was the din of myriad cans and metal sheets and hanging wooden pieces clanging together. Very different from last year's model, which was only appropriate because this year signified a new group of Temple designers and builders. It had a groovy double-helix spiral staircase in the middle, allowing visitors to climb up to the second level for a phenomenal view of the Man and the city. The ever-present tribal drums and chanting were taking place on the ground level. Palpable emotion filled the air as people brought items of tribute and catharsis, wrote messages on the Temple walls with markers, or just sat in silent contemplation. It's a deeply personal experience to contribute to this project, whether in celebration or sadness or a combination of both.

Plus the people-watching was stellar, as the dust storm continued to gather force. A woman with antlers strapped to her head. An entire family of bees -- mama bee and two little baby girl bees. All manner of bedouin sheiks and bellydancers and scarf-swathed travelers trying to shield against the elements. And more than a handful of brides and grooms in every variation of the traditional wedding garb. Apparently this was *the* day to get hitched at the Burn.

After about an hour of contemplation and people-watching, we descended the staircase and made our way back to camp. Taking a more direct route back, we passed right by the enormous "BUMMER" art installation, a supersized Humvee measuring 38 feet long x 18 feet wide x 16 feet high, painted khaki on one side and bright colors on the other. Well, you can't just pass by something like that without stopping to climb inside it! And while we were on the roof, an art car passed by blaring tunes. It deposited a few of its passengers onto the Bummer, which instantly became a Bummer Dance Party. What better way to epitomize the duality of the American Dream...

Another stop en route to home was Kaleidoscope Kamp, home of Alina and Elina who'd visited us yesterday. They beckoned us to come in and enjoy some fabulous Persian treats, including a stellar mint lemonade concoction that made me want to fall to the floor and weep with gratitude. (Did I mention it was hot out there??) Add a pair of accordion players, and you have yourself a party! They also had some kaleidoscope spinny thing out front, but I was far too overheated to consider such a thing.

Back at GBOF, Pringles fired up the Barefoot Bliss again, while I opted to chill out in the RV. I used cooking as an excuse to fire up the generator and wallow in the AC for a bit. There'd been some talk of a big communal dinner before the Man burned, complete with a birthday cake for Ember, so I decided to whip up a big batch of tuna pesto shells to contribute to the festivities.

And that's when all hell broke loose.
(In a good way.)

The dust storm cranked up into a total whiteout. Major. Freakadelic. A few people had already come into the RV, and bit by bit about two dozen more piled in before the end of the day. It was a full-on fest! We ate, we drank, we jaminated. We weren't sure the Man would burn that night. We didn't much care.

Highlights from that festive Burn Afternoon Whiteout:
* Oktapodi gets violated by Bitchezz and Forward (hey, *that's* not my Happy Place!)
* filling out the census... all day long...
* weird Kegelcisor people
* Heather wants Beatles. Lee wants Metallica. Pringles delivers: Beatallica!
* Mama Love luvvvvvvs on some Malibu!
* cake for Ember (and *damn* was it sticky to clean up the next day!)
* group primal scream at the end of "Won't Get Fooled Again" (yowwwwwwwwwww!)
* Lee lays on the horn and Solveig is miffed (but who sleeps at Burning Man?!?)

After listening to the exceedingly unhelpful Burning Man Radio all afternoon, the group decided to head out to the Man and see if His Dudeship might not burn this evening after all. By about 9pm, it was finally starting to clear up, and it turned out to be a most excellent night. We all scrambled to get our costumes together. I gave Lee half my crin, which looked absolutely stellar on him, and we all trooped out towards the Esplanade. Of course the group got completely split up, and we wound up hanging with a bunch of firefighters. (Actual firefighters, from SF, with a big red truck and everything.) As expected, there was lots of commotion, lots of drunk/stoned/high/just plain out of it people wandering around. I was busy trying not to have my flounce go up like a Roman candle because of the ash from some idiot's cigarette when I had the following Mensan conversation:

Drunk/Stoned/High Dude: Oh, hey, did you get married today?
Me: No, this is just a costume.
D/S/H: That's so cool, it must've been a beautiful ceremony! I saw one or two on the Playa today!
Me: No, it's not real, it's...
D/S/H: Oh, hey, is this your husband?
Me: No, we're not...
D/S/H: Congratulations, you two!

Riiiiiiiight. Party on, Wayne.

With little warning -- and, surprisingly, no fire conclave -- it was time to burn the Man. First his arms raised. And the Rangers and other volunteers assumed their position around the perimeter. And then the fireworks. Lots and LOTS of fireworks. Then a gigantic fireball from somewhere within the tower holding the Man aloft, and he began to burn. The whole thing took a while to catch, and then another while for him to fall over. And at that point the crowd rushed in and started dancing/drumming/chanting around the enormous bonfire. I had no desire to get closer... Not only was I attired in a highly-flammable ensemble, but the smoke from all the burning wood was wreaking havoc on my contact lenses. Honestly, by that point I was a bit over it. I was just happy to find a spot to sit down and observe the chaos raging around us. Art cars blaring musical cacophany. People dancing around the remains of the man. Cranes and lasers and more musical mishmash off in the distance. A bit of impromptu fire-spinning from the disappointed conclave members who never got to perform, despite a whole year of practice.

The full-frontal 7-day weekend was starting to catch up with us, and sheer exhaustion set in. We did try to find the rest of our GBOFers, who were supposedly at 11:00. But it's surprising how disorienting everything gets once the Man is no longer there to indicate which way is 6:00. After wandering around a bit, we opted to go home, try to warm up, and catch a few hours of sleep.

A day of mellow hospitality

2008-08-29T00:00:00-05:00

In keeping with the "one day on, one day off" motif, today was a very chillaxed day. Pringles set up his "Barefoot Bliss" footcare station -- his gift, to anyone needing respite from Playa Foot or just wanting to kick back for a bit -- while I played hospitality manager. Together we fed & watered & pampered almost two dozen lovely ladies who wandered our way. It was a fun way to spend the day, and we met a wide variety of people, from Danish Julie to recent bride Elina. Lots of good conversation, good times!

The evening was just as mellow, with a few hours of hanging out on the "front stoop" with our campmates, and a phenomenal sunset that provided some stunning photo opps:

Who needs art when you can converse with a Purple People-Eater?

2008-08-28T00:00:00-05:00

Whew, a busy day! In an attempt to make up for yesterday's sloth, I took a look through the "Where What When" guide to see what might be worth checking out. This extensive program guide lists all organized activities for the entire Burn... meaning anything anyone took the time to write up and send in ahead of time. It could be anything from sunrise yoga classes to Libertarian tea parties to tutu-making workshops. The first half of the guide lists one-off events by date and time, and the second half lists repeating events that happen at the same time each day. After spending about half an hour trying to process all this information and circling events that looked interesting, I got completely overwhelmed and blew a circuit in my brain and needed a time-out with a cold beverage.

I recovered enough to make a selection: hop on an art car and take a tour of some of the more far-flung Playa art. This seemed like a good choice for two reasons: (1) we'd been been trying to get a ride on an art car, and (2) a lot of the big art installations were pretty far away. Hey, we could kill two birds with one stone! One small catch: the departure point was on the other side of the city. But it was in the direction of another camp we'd wanted to visit anyway, so we decided to make it work.

We geared up with the appropriate accountrements -- goggles, sunscreen, hats, sunglasses, water, dust masks, bike locks, and a few sundry items -- hopped on our bikes, and pedaled off. About five bumpy, dusty, hot minutes into this little trek I had a small meltdown as I realized my bike was completely uncomfortable and there was no way I was gonna make it. But what other choice did I have? Walking there was simply not an option. So I gritted my teeth and got back on the horse, so to speak. Not every minute at Burning Man can be a barrel of monkeys. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it. I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, even if my ass is killing me I will MAKE IT to 4:30 Plaza!

As planned, we did stop on the way at Pee Funnel Camp, which, as the name would imply, was a camp giving out Pee Funnels. A wonderful public service to all those with two X chromosomes! En route to the art tour, we encountered Barbie Death Camp & Wine Bistro. Huzzah! I'd been looking forward to visiting this camp since I first heard about it. Where else could you revel in the destruction of The Blonde One and her various compatriots, while enjoying a festive glass of either red or white wine? Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, the French Maid Brigade came by and dusted everyone off. (And we were all sooooooo dirrrrrrrty.) A moment of sublime synchronicity, to be sure.

By that point, it was 2pm, the appointed time for the art car tour. We made it to what we thought was the correct location, but the guide and the map are two separate documents and of course we'd only brought the guide. (We found out later that we were at 4:30 Portal instead of 4:30 Plaza. Good grief.) But, once again, the Playa provides. What could have been a frustrating experience turned into one of the highpoints of the event, as we ran into a gentleman decked out entirely in purple and accessorized with not one but two gold bags. After discussing the finer points of travel in India, he reached into the depths of his gold suitcase and produced two George Bush voodoo dolls. Brilliant! After that we attempted to find a reflexology workshop, but it was already full, so we checked out the Topless Teeter Totter of Terror and had a glass of cold lemonade a nearby camp. At this point the heat was just past the point of ridiculosity, so we headed for home, stopping for a bit of shade at Bacon Camp. Like ya do.

Back at GBOF, all I wanted was some shade and massive amounts of hydration. But somehow I found myself caught up in a fire safety meeting, and since I was too hot & tired to move, I just sat through it. While many of the folks in our camp would be spinning fire at the conclave that performs just before the Man burns, several others would be volunteering as fire safeties. I have to admit I wasn't really listening to much of what was being said at this meeting, but it was good to know that *somebody* would be out there keeping an eye on the flaming stuff.

After a quick dinner of Thai peanut chicken and salad, and an even quicker clean-up (there's only so clean you can ever really get, with all this dust around), it was time for an evening of cat-herding. The night's highlights:

* mysterious smoke rings appear in the sky
* The Wet Spots perform at Center Camp
* Spike's Vampire Bar... what the hell were they serving, anyway??
* Pringles wins an elephant g-string at the funk bar
* I Heart Unicorns
* Bollywood tunes at Ashram Galactica
* PEX's blacklight opera
* a visit to Porn & Eggs (the leopard bride performs!)
* DIY dance party at Duck Bar
* Tree of Knowledge
* nightcap of popcorn tasting (JiffyPop=scary!)

Today, the circus comes to me

2008-08-27T00:00:00-05:00

I gathered up a small posse around noon, and we tried to find the Prescription Burn pancake breakfast, really we did. We rode all up and down Hummer Street, asked around, showed off the temp tatoo, tried to find the good docs. But nobody seemed to know anything. It was a bit frustrating -- there was a pinky swear involved, people! -- but a good Burning Man lesson. Things don't necessarily play out as planned, but that doesn't mean you can't have fun along the way! En route back to camp, we were beckoned to come visit Juicy Moosey's and had a lovely shot of JD to start the day off right. Breakfast of champions!

For most of the rest of the day, I just hung around camp and let the circus come to me. I found this to be a nice perk of our camp location, just two blocks off the Esplanade: lots of traffic from interesting people and fabulous art cars. I didn't even have to venture outside GBOF camp to witness all sorts of innnnnnnnteresting stuff.

A few of today's highlights:

* Seattle Heather brings her 16-year-old daughter by for a foot massage, but instead winds up taking her next door to get teabagged for science. (Mother of The Year, I tells ya!)

* Snap into a Slim Jim!

* Codrin is soooooo drunk... and why are my hands green?

* Lee peruses the Constitution.

* Bitchezz gets a yoga adjustment (and an earful of yackety-yack) from a crazy random Aussie. Maybe that'll teach him to stop offering bike assistance to hot damsels in distress. Probably not.

* "T" from The Motel stops by to shock us with tales of debauchery, and we wind up warping his fragile little mind instead.

Evening. The air finally started to cool down a bit. Time to attend a wedding! I didn't know much more about this affair, other than it involved two DC-based friends of GBOF, and it was supposed to happen at sunset on the Esplanade. Ehm, OK, but what time is sunset? Nobody really knew. We aimed for about 7:30, and got cleaned up as best we could, and tried to herd the cats. Ah, another Burning Man lesson! It's only ever possible to get a maximum of three people coordinated at any one place at any one time. The corollary to this theory is that you'll always be missing *one* person, even if ten others seem to be ready to go. Accordingly, by the time we had a quorum, and rode down to where the nuptials were supposed to be, we'd missed it. Oh well. We did manage to enjoy some champagne and cake at the reception, so it's allllll good.

The main event for the night was a "white" party at the Opulent Temple, a large scale art & sound camp on the far reaches of the Esplanade. (Keep in mind that GBOF camp is at 8:00, and the Opulent Temple is at 2:00, so it's just about as far away as it could possibly be.) The Opulent Temple is a collaboration of some folks from the SF underground community, and consistently draws top DJs like Tiesto and Oakenfold. So we knew it'd be worth the trek, and we were right!

Despite losing Bitchezz at one point, and almost picking up some random whiskey-swigging aggro-girl, we all managed to make the journey across the open Playa, with Lunar leading the way. Taking a short cut across the Playa, rather than following the slightly smoother path around the Esplanade, was certainly the quickest way to get there. But it was definitely a challenge. Without warning, smooth patches of Playa yielded to huge sand dunes or deep ruts. It's hard enough to avoid these in the daytime, but at night it was near impossible. After skidding horizontally off my bike for the third time (you should see the lovely technicolor bruise on my right shin! now that's art) I decided it was time to walk the damn thing. Playa One, Sonia Zero.

Miraculously, we all managed to meet back up at the dance party, Bitchezz included. (How in the world did Mama Love find him? Must be some kind of homing beacon.) Even on the outskirts, it was a thunderously loud mass of about a thousand white-clad, glowstick-twirling ravers, with a DJ spinning tunes in a booth that periodically shot out huge flames from between enormous projection screens. A flimsy-looking platform rocked and thumped about 20 feet above it all, with more dancers and twirlers and bubble-blowers, and flames blasting from the corner pillars. One hell of a party!

Pringles and I climbed up the rickety platform and sat on the edge, taking in the view for a good while. It was a great vantage point to people-watch, and the fear of imminent doom only heightened the experience. Fire-spinners and twirlers of various glowy items did their thing off to one side while the crowd danced before the DJ and projection screens. Just beyond the perimeter of the party, enormous art cars rolled by blasting their own tunes. And beyond that, stood the Man, hundreds of flickering theme camps behind him. It was a pretty amazing sight. And another "life doesn't suck" moment!

Exploring the neighborhood

2008-08-26T00:00:00-05:00

We awoke in the morning to find a very different scene. The sun had come out, the wind and dust had stopped, and while it was still a little chilly, it was warming up nicely. Thaaaaat's better! Apparently we missed most of the debilitating 12-hour Dust Storm From Hell yesterday, but today was shaping up to be a marvelous sunny day. Timing is everything.

We took most of the morning to chat with our campmates, set stuff up, and get our bearings. Since we'd decided to conserve space in the RV's black water tank and use the public facilities during the day, it was nice to discover that our camp was located just around the corner from the porta-potties... close enough to get there quite easily, but not close enough to smell it! Across from the pots was a two-story club camp called Raise The Bar that pumped out music all day and night. Fortunately it was pretty decent music, for the most part, including a good bit of Thievery Corporation. Sweet!

Part of the setup, besides re-arranging items in the RV and some of its many storage spaces, was getting the bikes Playa-ready. Having a bike at Burning Man is essential, because of the long distances between points in Black Rock City. However, this is one of the few cases in life where having MORE pieces of flair is actually a good thing. Because we bought our bikes used in Sacramento, we didn't have as much opportunity to sass 'em up as others in our camp, but we did try to deck them out with a few fun accessories from home. Mark found a great horn for his bike. I attached a few flowers that had previously been used as napkin rings at my Aunt Barbara's Easter table, plus some pink duct tape that went smashingly with the bike's pink & purple paint job. We affixed the headlamps -- critically important for both lighting the way and helping prevent people from smashing into you, nothing worse than being a darkwad! -- and planned to add a few glowsticks after dark. They weren't nearly as stylin' as Bitchezz's Teenage Mutant Turtlemobile, or Cookie's Bugs Bunny bike with its own portable shade structure, but our bikes were ready for action.

A word about Playa nicknames. In keeping with the "radical self-expression" tenant of The Burn, lots of veterans adopt a Burner name. This is meant to reflect a key aspect of your inner self, one you often have to keep hidden while in polite society. Or sometimes it's a funny name that describes a situation you found yourself in once, or a personality quirk, or something that just tickles your fancy. One of our campmates is known as Ember, short for Nuclear Ember, which is an anagram of her full name. (Geeks rule!) Our dear friends Tony & Christina become Bitchezz & Mama Love in Burner circles. Mark is known on the Playa as Pringles. I, having already had many aliases in my checkered past, decided not to adopt a Playa name, unless a good one presented itself during the course of the week.

Bikes decked out, costumes unpacked, Playa names dusted off, we were ready to go out exploring. By this point, the heat of the afternoon had set in. Plus, we realized about a block into our little jaunt, all those warnings about the Playa being soft and unpredictable weren't just hype! See, the Black Rock Desert is what's left of a prehistoric lakebed that has dried up and turned to a fine sandy powder. Hence the name "Playa," which means "beach" in Spanish. Consider riding a bicycle on the wet hard-packed sand near the oceanfront... challenging, but not impossible. Then imagine a big dry sand dune popping up in the middle of that wet sand. Ay-yeeeeee! Add to that a bunch of ruts and bumps and potholes, akin to the finest DC streets, and you have yourself quite a sand trap. Water trucks went by from time to time, spraying down water in an attempt to flatten and smooth out the "streets," but this didn't help. (Except that it was always amusing to see a bunch of dirty ragged Burners scampering behind the trucks, looking for a free shower.) It was tough going, to say the least.

We did manage to visit Center Camp, which, as the name would imply, is at the center of things and provides a space to display medium-sized art installations, perform on one of several stages, practice hooping or yoga or any other movement that strikes your fancy, or purchase coffee. Ice and coffee are the only two things you can buy at Black Rock City. Everything else, from snacks to mixed drinks to handmade crafts, is gifted. It's quite a different modality from the "default" world. Trying to explain this to people who have never been to a Burn is a bit challenging. It's not really a barter system, as you're not expecting to get anything in return when you give someone a gift. Some gifts are quite elaborate. Many big theme camps have fully-stocked bars, lead workshops, or provide gourmet meals. A lot of people bring necklaces or tshirts or stickers or other handmade items to give out. Gifting can be as simple as passing out donuts (which I helped do at one point, and it was amazing how grateful people were for a donut hole at 2am) or it can be as elaborate as setting up the Playa's only four-star luxury resort (such as the Ashram Galactica, conveniently situated right on our block). It's a truly astonishing system.

Some other highlights from that afternoon's jaunt:
* visiting and then returning to the Golden Cafe, a delicious bar with a live music stage next door where Pringles plugged in his guitar and jaminated (plus he struck up a fortuitous conversation with Heather and Gregarious, who turned out to be excellent companions the rest of the week)

* a stroll down Bonneville Street to the Lazy-A** F**kers Camp, where we were greeted with the Breast Analysis Wheel (stolen from the camp across the street) and a man with a cardboard box on his head, doling out Free Breast Examinations

* Nemo's "Coach Rico" outfit... brilliant!

After a quick dinner, we headed out with Forward & Crystal to check out the Man. This year's theme was The American Dream, so the tower holding up His Dudeship was decked out with international flags. Someone pointed out that there was no American flag on the tower. Oooooooo, deep! This was another chance to check out the Esplanade (not in an RV this time!), the innermost concentric circle closest to the Man where most of the big party camps are located. Techno music thumped and bumped from every corner. Crazily lit up art cars, bikes, and people streamed by. Fire spinners did their thing at Fire Conclave in the middle of it all. It was nuts! From the top of the Man's tower, the view was unbelievable, like being in the middle of the world's biggest rave, on the moon. Not bad for the first day!