Rick Wang's Weblog

Since my return from traveling, I have been loafing about and relaxing. The relaxation soon turned to boredom and I turned to MMOs for relief from the boredom. I've gotten quite addicted to Atlantica Online, logging in over 1000 hours despite finding it an overly grind-based game with many glaring design flaws. In the game, I have a level 107 cannon character named "Failcascade", a level 67 staff character named "Myself", and a level 30 chainsaw character named "welp". I suppose my fascination stems from the turn based nature of the game and interest in solving puzzles strategically. As a so called free to play game, Atlantica is full of trap doors to sucker people into spending money at their cash shop. I set a hard limit of $50 before going in and have held fast to that limit. I tried to get into Chronicles of Spellborn, but the client keeps crashing so I think I will wait for it to get out of beta. Runes of Magic isn't bad but it is difficult to get back to single player auto-attacking after the wealth of strategic options in Atlantica.

These are the media I plan to consume in the near future:

Movies
The Agronomist (Jonathan Demme, 2003)
Dead Man's Shoes (Shane Meadows, 2004)

Books
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Robert M. Pirsig, 1974)
No Logo: No Space, No Choice, No Jobs (Naomi Klein, 2000)
The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China (Ralph D. Sawyer, 2007)
The Name of the Rose (Umberto Eco, 1980)
Focault's Pendulum (Umberto Eco, 1988)

August 14 to December 17
Days of travel: 128

Connections Costs: $2569 ($20/day)
Accommodations Costs: $2302 ($18/day)
Other Costs: $5891 ($46/day)

Total Costs: $10762 ($84/day)

Monthly Burn Rate (30.5 days): $2564/month

Not as low as I had hoped, compared to Mark and Jack's combined $12,000 for both of them, but I will learn from the experience. I estimate cooking food all the time would have saved about $20/day, or $2520, the amount of connections costs.

Today marks the end of my second week in Morocco. I have found that the Arabic I learned in community college was rather insufficient, and I had to start in the Beginner 1 class mid-session. It seems all people at the language school are more knowledgeable than I am, and I despair at being unable to understand their presentations. In order to satisfy my thirst for information, I have taken to reading English translations of books in the school library. I finished reading an abridged version of Ibn Khaldun's the Muqaddimah, and two short books that summarize the prophets from an Islamic perspective. I find religion to be an increasingly fascinating topic, and am highly disappointed that most people are not interested in religion. Maybe it would be fun to be a religious scholar for a while.

I have also done another financial analysis, and my total expenditures including travel home add up to $9927.11. As of today (108 days), this is a total of $92/day. However, I expect my cash on hand to last me through Morocco due to the low cost of living. If it does, I will be on track after two weeks (to 121 days) to drop down to $82/day. If I were to spend $60/day for the four nights in Dublin and Ireland, I would reach a final figure of $81/day, or a burn rate of $2480/month. Of course it is clear that this average rate blurs together the low cost of living in Morocco with the high cost of living in Iceland.

14 August 2008 - 15 November 2008 (94 days)

Inter-City Connection Costs: $2215 ($24/day)
Lodging Costs: $1793 ($20/day)
Other Costs: $5032 ($53/day)
[Iceland Merchandise: $213 ($2/day)]
Total Expenditures: $9040 ($96/day)

Approximate cash burn rate: $2928 / month

Despite my best efforts, total expenditures jumped from $85/day to $96/day. The cost of the Iceland flights and lodging was reflected in the incresed connection costs (+$3/day) and lodging costs (+$1/day). The 66 North pants and jacket, costing $213, only accounted for an increase of +$2/day. The remaining +$5/day must be a mix of fees and the higher cost of living. For example, credit card has a 3% foriegn transaction fee and I have been using it heavily since Iceland, and even more heavily after losing my ATM card in Paris. I have also been using non-bank ATMS, due to lack of Global ATM Alliance banks, incurring more penalty from the $5+1% fee. My goal is to get down to a $85/day burn rate, which means a painful per diem of $57 through the rest of the trip. The Arabic language school is approx. $20/day while the homestay is approx. $18/day. This leaves me $19/day for travel and costs. I will approximate travel and return flight at $355, or $12/day. This leaves me only $7/day for misc.! I don't know if I will really be able to reduce it so much.

14 August 2008 - 22 October 2008 (69 days)

Inter-City Connection Costs: $1389 ($21/day)
Lodging Costs: $1342 ($19/day)
Other Costs: $3119 ($45/day)
Total Expenditures: $5850 ($85/day)

Approximate cash burn rate: $2600 / month

Costs do not include advance payments for lodging/services/connections after 22 October 2008, things pertaining to Dublin-Copenhagen-Iceland-France-Spain-Morocco. I am rather surprised by the high number of other costs, which are mostly food and intra-city transportation, but also include atm fees, souvenirs, museum entrance, laundry. The other costs also include the approximately $130 I spent to replace my stolen backpack & contained items on the Brussels-Dordrecht train. Other costs would be upgrades like a travel blanket ($38) or getting scammed in Rome ($40). Much of the expense is due to the higher cost of living in Western Europe. Ireland, Denmark, and Iceland will probably be fairly expensive as well. I will have to seriously tighten up my budget to pull through the upcoming months. Final burn rate at end of trip is likely to be higher considering the addition of Arabic language school tuition in Morocco, and higher cost of return flight.

Despite my previous post from Brussels, lately I have been finding more time for internet. Since Brussels, I have been through Netherlands (Dordrecht, Amsterdam), Germany (Bremen, Berlin), Czech Republic (Praha), Austria (Wien), Hungary (Budapest), Slovakia (Bratislava), and Italy (Milano, Roma). It has been a lot to take in over the past month and filled up many pages from my paper and pencil journal. Other than Austria, the trip has been rather low cost from Germany to Slovakia, and much lower in stress. I have also been travelling solo after Amsterdam, parting ways with Mark and Jacy over connections and scheduling. Favorite city thus far is still Dordrecht, and new favorite beer is Pilsener Urquell from Czech Republic.

Buda Castle at night is probably the most impressive sight I have seen yet, followed closely by Praha Castle. Overall I am met with an overwhelming amount of history in these cities, recalling names from the history books and the Bible. However, I am facing some sensory and brain overload and have increasing trouble appreciating museums and structures. Consider that the British Museum took me nearly the entire opening hours and I did not finish, while recently I walked through the Vatican museum, including the Sistine Chapel, in just under 2 hours. After the Lourve in Paris, I simply cannot walk into more art museums, and missed the Italian masterpieces on display in Milano and Roma. I did not even try looking for art museums through Germany and Eastern Europe.

The latest news is that Alitalia canceled my Rabat-Rome-Los Angeles flight, so I am faced with the decision of booking an alternate flight, staying in Morocco longer, or continuing my travels. I am still taking in more information to decide. On one hand, I'd like to get back home and refresh, but on the other hand, trans-atlantic flights during Christmas season are prohibitively expensive.

Brussels is awesome. However, the purpose of this entry has nothing to do with Brussels. I am making a note at this point to stop updating my Google map and web blog because it is taking up way too much internet time. It would be no problem at home but the internet cafes generally have old machines that struggle to run the now complicated google map. I am starting a pen and paper journal tomorrow and possibly backwriting. Not sure. Weblog and map will be updated after trip is complete. Internet only for mail, transport, and wikitravel now.

Friendlier and cheaper than Paris. Slower paced. Less standard tourist things to see. Excellent CouchSurfing experience with Xavier and his friend Cecile. Tried French cheeses, foie gras, nutella, beet sugar, French beers, wine, and supermarket crepe. Did laundry. Walked through graveyard. Nearly went to Brussels one day late in schedule confusion. Roamed as usual.

Hard to find internet cafes in Paris. Typing on AZERTY keyoard layout is hard but manageable since I had tried alternate keymaps before. Cost of living is very high. Cheapest restaurant meal was around 10€. The city is beautiful in many ways. The self-cleaning free public toilets are downright frightening. Went to various tourist locations and also wandered about quite a bit, all marked on Google map. Power walking the Louvre, due to the futility of actually looking at the whole museum in one day, was quite an experience. People in France are much nicer than the stereotype we have in the States. Looking forward to Lille and Couchsurfing with Xavier. Couchsurfing our last day in London with Susanah was a good experience.

Here are the original principles I have tried to follow:
1. Balance depth & breadth
- Do not visit the same attraction more than once
- Take the time to experience each area
- Try to engage locals in conversation
- Try to read a local paper
2. Balance cost & experience
- Try to eat what normal people in the area eat
- Obligated to eat signature dishes at any cost
- Pay for primary attractions at any cost
- Go budget on secondary attractions

Addendum from actually travelling:
- Ask for bill upfront and clarify misunderstandings
- Tip is not necessary, unlike in America

London is a city of friendly people but shockingly high pollution. My fingernails blackened as well as my nasal mucus. It is kind of disgusting. It is also expensive to move around via Underground (subway/rail) or bus. The system is designed so that you get charged more for going through Zone 1, but all the routes go through Zone 1. A total racket! Mark ad Jacy are highly frugal, making it quite an adjustment to spend more money in the cheaper city of Chicago, while spending less money in the more expensive city of London.

The pace has also quickened significantly. Mark and Jacy tend to travel in couples-mode, where they will match pace with each other and keep within their own bubble. In contrast, I prefer to move slowly, talking to the local populace, getting lost and finding out all sorts of neat trivia. I think the main difference for this is a newlywed couple would be more defensive and forward looking, while I act as someone with nothing to lose and live for the present. They are even tallying expenses on the fly to keep track of cost of living! As a result, we have been moving through locations very fast.

Some of the more notable locations thus far have been the Camden area, with its nice walk along the locks and plethora of shops geared towards the younger crowd. The London Bridge Farmers' Market was also fascinating with the assortments of high quality foods being offered for sale. I did not really enjoy the National Gallery by Trafalgar Square, due to dislike of classical art. I also found myself very irritated at the mess of tourists photographing and videorecording in the main downtown tourist areas. Who actually wants to look at pictures and especially a video later on? I usually find myself falling asleep of boredom when viewing others' vacation pictures. The Saturday walk through the City of London (a small area within Greater London, mainly used by financial institutions) was excellent because there was almost nobody walking around except a few tourists and some filming groups.

This entry is being written retroactively after being in London for several days. What I remember of the last few days in Chicago included meeting all sorts of nice people, checking out the former Union Stockyards and Bubbly Creek, disappointing Chinese food, and a wild goose chase for quality soul food through the Chicago South Side. The Historical Museum at Lincon Park was top notch and highly recommended (free on Mondays). I was pleasantly surprised to see many facets of Chicao represented, including the Catholic history and labor history. The dioramas were top notch and totally blew me away. I would soon miss the cheap CTA system after arriving in London and getting a rude awakening with the Underground's costs. In a nutshell, the one day pass with an Oyster card in London costs about the same as a seven day pass on the CTA.

Getting used to the city. Noticed Chicago bathrooms do not have toilet seat covers like California ones. What do people do? Sit the bare ass on the toilet seat with a quick wipedown? Or lay out a makeshift cover with toilet paper? Interesting times. Visited Millenium Park, named for the new millenium but opened in 2004 after delays. Very surprised to see Segway tours being offered, as well as some city police riding Segways. Excellent jazz concert, a tribute to Nat King Cole, by the Chicago Jazz Orchestra. They've got another event on Monday so I will have to check that out. Pilsen is totally little Mexico and reminds me of South San Diego somewhat. I even had to dig up my terrible Spanish at times to defuse the "no speak english" replies from some of the locals. Green Mill Lounge in Uptown was totally rocking. I arrived early and had to pay the cover charge but ended up liking the band and staying anyway. Didn't have enough energy to stay for the jam session after though, only caught a few sounds. The place was packed. I've never seen another venue so packed with jazz fans. It even had a cool trapdoor leading to the basement area, from the Prohibition days. Sparks from the el fell on me as I walked under. Thirty seconds later, an abundance of smoke filled the area I had just passed through. A memorable sight and smell. The main Chicago Public Library is huge and gives guests 1 hour of internet access. Having problems with Air France flight booking from Rabat, Morocco. Waiting on clarification of the situation before searching for alternative booking. Returned fluffy quick dry towels and got the more expensive window wipe style towels.

If Order is patterned, and Chaos is randomnized, does making the random choice in a consistent manner result in Order anyways? Is breaking the pattern in itself yet another pattern?