Was looking through some stuff left from the trip and found this very interesting list of teas and their effects that I got while I was in Beijing (had to “translate” a little from the strange English)
1. Litchi Tea (Black Tea) – stimulates the appetite. Add rose bud tea to reduce age spots.
2. Green Tea – enhances memory, reduces alcohol and cigarette hangovers, postpones aging and resists cancer
3. Imperial Oolong Tea – warms up the stomach, improves blood circulation, reduces inflammations, add red dates to improve your blood quality.
4. Jasmine Tea – cools you down, improves live functions, improves the eyesight and makes you resistant to radiation(!!??)
5. Pu-erh Tea – lowers blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes. Burns fat and makes you sleep. Add fresh ginger slices to treat arthritis.
Enjoy you teas!

Collected all of my favorite pictures of the trip into one collection 🙂

So… back in NY for almost a week now… it is hot and humid here and all very familiar.
I think what strikes me the most, comparing the US to Asia (Japan mostly) is that everything is big here – the streets, the sidewalks, the cars, the food portions, and the people.
The subway though… ridiculously small, no air conditioning in the stations, and very old and dirty. Granted that it is one of the oldest subway systems in the world but in a world hub like NY you would expect a little more out of it.
I heard that the trains cannot run any faster because they can’t really tell exactly where each train is once they leave the station! In Japan they inform you on multiple LCD screens within the train, how minutes it will take to each station along that train’s path. They could probably tell you how many seconds as well!
In any case, I’m loving to be back… been hanging out at home mostly getting me jet lag off and organizing my photos, computer and starting to think about next semester at school and future projects 🙂

Back home! All AOK! Good to be back! Sleep!!!!!

Well… Venice… hehehe… ended up not sight seeing in LA except for this last day where I got Burn’s car and went to Santa Barbara with Weber – another Brazilian who was visiting a friend there.
At night we all went out to a very animated Italian Restaurant on Washington and went back to Burn’s place for my “good bye” event 🙂

Having a great time here with Burns… this was the perfect last stop for my trip… sunny beach and great people. Tomorrow I definitely have to go out and explore the rest of LA 🙂
Here are some pictures of the bike ride and the beach with Burn’s friends and a video of some parts of the bike ride.

Almost over the jet lag… ended up staying awake for something like 30 hours… met up with Burns for his famous “innocent” beer… ended up going to Santa Monica pier where live music was being played and people were hanging out on the beach… followed by two or three other bars. Very interesting scene!