Cool things you would want to try/do at least once in your life if you dared...

hate to burst your bubble, but the NBA Store isn't all that great...i've been a few times...

i have interviewed with the director of corporate account management of the rockets, though....and it seems like an awesome organization to work for...(it was a mock interview for a class i was taking)

 

Anyone remember Peter LaFleur's opinion about goals? That quote sums me up perfectly when it comes to stuff like this. I've found that if I set out to do specific things to get a thrill, something goes wrong so that it doesn't go like I planned, so I end up not getting that thrill. So, don't set out to do them. As long as I'm having a good time-I don't care if it involves paragliding, visiting natives in Asia, or screwing around a southeast Texas city with your buddies-that's what I want to do.

 

I'd like to jump off a building someday.

 

Ride down the Pacific Coast Hwy on a Ducati 996

 

-Take a dump without being interrupted
-Practice piano without being interrupted
-Spend a day without having the TV turned on
-Sleep in
-Go out at 10 p.m. and shoot pool

anyone else have kids?

-- droxford

 

Done:

Surfed in Hawaii

Surfed in Mexico

Surfed in California

Lived in Hawaii

Snowboarded in Montana and Alaska



To Do:

Land an arial

Pull into a head high or bigger tube and make it out

Surf in Costa Rica

Improve my Ultimate Frisbee skills

Be in the best shape of my life at 40

 

Done:

Been to Cancun.

Been to Jamaica

Been to Rockets games, both season and the playoffs.

Played in snow (awesome).

To Do:

Dunk a basketball on a 10ft goal. I may be able to do it now if I got the footwork down, especially if I could get a perfect pass for an alley-oop, but since I can't do it in a game, I never really try it.

Get a HDTV. I will definitely need it for next-gen gaming and movies on Blu-ray/HD-DVD (hopefully BR).

Attend E3. I'd really like to do it this year or next year considering the buzz about next-gen consoles, but that isn't really a possibility. Guess I'll have to miss playing games that look like this at E3:
http://www.gabosgab.com/images/photos/face/front.jpg
http://www.gabosgab.com/images/photos/face/left.jpg
http://www.gabosgab.com/images/photos/face/right.jpg

I also need to play an online game. Be it a MMORPG, a FPS, or whatever, I need to play one.

I'd like to go skiing/snowboarding sometime. I'd probably suck at it, but it sounds cool.

I'd like to visit Japan sometime. I hear they got stores that have entire floors dedicated to games. They probably have a whole stand just for Mahjong games on the Dreamcast.

 

Done:
- skiing
- attend nba games
- multi-lingual (4 languages + 2 dialects now)
- traveled along the Silk Road in China

To do:
- travel to Japan
- travel to Iraq
- sky diving
- getting a license for a motorbike (500cc and above)

 

Tell more, has been an interest of mine for a while, I'm going to try to work my way down to Kashgar this summer I think.

 

Sorry... not to stray too far from SJC's initial post. I tried to cut it shot but I'm still excited over the trip...

I took a train from Shanghai to Lanzhou (Gansu province) to travel along the HeXi corridor. Before that, I would visit the vicinity such as Hezuo, Xiahe, and Langmusi to see the beautiful Tibetan monasteries. Don't miss the museum in Lanzhou and the grassland at Xiahe though, they are worth visiting.

After that I traveled north to Wuwei then Jiayuguan, where you can see the western tip of the Great Wall, the magnificent Jiayuguan fortress, and the Wei Tombs. Next stop would be a mini bus ride along the desert to Dunhuang to visit the Mogao Caves. Here you can only see a few of the caves, which are decided by the tour guide. I would suggest going there on your own and sneak behind different tour groups, so that you can see as many caves as possible.

Next stop would be Turpan. This is one of my favorite, lots of historical sites, delicious Muslim food, and a town small enough to walk around. Oh, and the lovely 40+ celcius heat. I fell sick in just-another-city Urumqi, as the temperature dipped to a rainy-15c here. Here you can go to Tianshan before traveling south to Kashgar.

In Kashgar, you won't believe that you are in China at all, more like ... Afghanistan. Of course, the locals are Uygurs and Huis. Time your visit so you can see the bazaar, and pig out at night along with cheap Chinese beers/cigarettes. I was fortunate enough to have a local bringing me around because my Japanese partner miraculously met his Uygur friend here. He was studying Chinese in Changchun while she's studying Japanese there to be a tour guide/translator. We had a good time there.

Also, you can take the less-traveled southern route around the Taklamakan Desert, but it'd take longer.

I slowly traveled back to Urumqi, Lanzhou, then XiAn. I would have loved to stay in XiAn for at least 2 weeks because there are so many things to see around here. You MUST visit the museum to get to know the history a bit.

Some tips:
- Visit during June to October, when most of the attractions are open, weather is nice, and access is possible.
- Find a few partners along the trip to share the cost.
- Check with the hotel/locals first on the bus/taxi/van/boat fare before departing. And start bargaining if can.
- As with any place you'd travel to, learn the language. I speak Chinese, so it's not much of a problem and I had been a good help for Westerners.
- You'd definitely be ripped off, be it by the Chinese, Tibetans, Uygurs, etc. Don't get too agitated.
- Go there as soon as you can, the Chinse are everywhere now and bringing along their values/competition/habits, which are not necessary a good thing for travelers, IMO. Duh, it's China afterall.
- Talk to locals, I was invited to their cosy homes. You'd learn much more from them than travel books.

It took me about two months for the trip, which I had to quit my job for that. My career has stalled ever since, but I would do it again if I can. I hope you'd enjoy as much as I do when you go there.

 

i bungee jumped when i was 18 on a trip to Destin. i'll never do it again. it was fun. but i've done it. no more.

 

Not quite trekking, but I took a 4-wheeler over the continental divide, an amazing experience. I definately reccomend it to anyone who has the chance.

 

LOL!!! As i was scrolling down, I said to myself, "This guy must have kids!"

 

Fantastic help, I am printing this out and keeping it. I've been to the surrounding regions, both north and south, but never the Silk road area itself. Have been trying to decide for months whetehr I could do it by myself or if i needed a packaged tour. But I don't speak a lick of Chinese so I'm not sure how I'm going to work that.

Same story with ethnic chinese in Tibet btw. if you ever want to see it, go NOW, before the finish the railroad.

I'm quitting my job too for this thing too. If it's not to coarse, would you mind telling me how much your budget was and what your accomodations were like?

 

Done:
-5 super models at one time
-travel the world
-save the world
-go to the moon
-and more stuff too
need to do:
-nothing..i've done everything

 

Package tours offer cheaper but hastier trips. They would waste time by stopping at gift/jade/antique shops coz. the shops are paying the operators to bring you there. If you are bringing family members or shopping is your priority, then this is more suitable.

If you control your budget carefully and have time to spare, I say do it yourself and go meet some new buddies from all over the world, share your same interestes and different experiences, and spend time to chat with the locals. China is a changing country, hungry to learn about the rest of the world as much as letting the world learn about them. You'd be amazed by how many "Hello!" you'd get from the shy kids and young people, especially in the poorer regions.

Check out the services offered by local travel services. If the season is right, you can easily find enough people to organize a
tour quickly. You can bargain to spend more time at certain attractions and skip the not-so-interesting ones. At some places,
hire a taxi or rent a bike for the day trip - another luxury you won’t get in packaged tours.

You can also check out the bigger travel services in the areas, such as China International Travel Service (CITS) and China Travel Service (CTS).

For language, you should be able to find someone that speaks understandable English. To impress them to your benefit, catch them off guard by brandishing a few short and simple perfect Chinese. But make sure crucial info. are written down coz. they tend to make mistakes. Get the receipts to avoid confusion. Also, you might have buddies that can speak Chinese. I met a French lecturer and a Japanese student who spent 3 years and 7 years respectively in China.

For $$, I spent less than $2,400 USD, of which $400 was for the return flight between Singapore and Shanghai. It's gonna cost more if you are flying from Europe/U.S. etc. Next costly item would be land transport, specifically train (200+ Yuan/trip). It's a huge country after all. I allowed myself to spend more by the end of the trip in Shanghai.

For shared accommodation (2-10 ppl. hotel), I paid 15-40 Yuan; for comfortable single bedroom hotels, I paid 100-120 Yuan. For the latter, the hotels will bug you with massage and special service at night. Lonely Planet gives a good guide on the hotels but bookings are not 100% reliable. I stayed in a combination of both to balance the shock

Note that some hotels are not open for foreigners; hence, they offer very cheap rates. People get paid to cajole you to these hotels. So avoid them, and for another reason, I stayed twice in these hotels and I had constipation. The toilets were disgusting, the flush didn't work, the dump wasn't aimed right, and you'd have two new friends smoking and squatting beside you without barrier.

 

Where do I sign up?

 

Okay your insane.... I'm a marathoner and the one ultra race I want to do is the Comrades in South Africa. 89KM about 55 miles. It's supposed to be just breathtaking scenery.

http://www.comrades.com/home.asp?id=127

 

This what I have knocked off so far:
Marathon
Adavanced Diving
SkyDiving
Skiing (scary as hell)

To do:
Bungee
Stand Up Comedy
Great White shark dive
Balloon trip in africa
surfing
sailing
windsailing
direct a movie