Passing through Austin
May 6, 2007
Caught a mid-day flight from San Jose to Austin today. on AA, the airplane was not full, and was on-time. When we landed, I was thinking about those poor people who had to sit in the airplane in Austin back in January or Feb...
Walking into the airport, I was counting how many times I had been to Austin. The firs time was almost 7 years ago (before the current airport was open) when David and I came to check out UT Austin. I think I had been here 2 more times since, once during our first cross-country flight, and another time to attend David's graduation.
The photo on the blog is one taken from the airplane as we flew over Mt Hamilton's Lick Observatory shortly after we took off, with the central valley in the background, and the snow-capped Sierra mountain range in the background (photo isn't that great), from the air, the long line of snow tops were pretty impressive. We haven't been to Mammoth in a while, and they still have pretty good snow, I hope I can make another trip before the season is over. Then I started thinking about what it would be like to fly into Tibet in a few months, where there would be a sea of mountains...
I spent most of the 3 hours on the plane reading the book "The Story of Tibet, conversation with the Dalai Lama" by Thomas Laird. It's one of the books I bought to read for the upcoming trip to Tibet. It's the thickest one, but now that I started reading it, I think I will finish it soon because it was very engaging to read. Being born in Taiwan, and brought up with the Chinese view, it was natural for me to think of Tibet as part of China. but now I wish they can just co-exist peacefully, preserve the uniqueness of the place and people. It so happens today's San Jose Mercury News has an article on Tibet, It's not exactly drilled into the heads of Chinese (and Taiwanese) school children that Tibetans had sacked the capitol of the Tang dynasty and installed a puppet emporer for a short time, but it is widely known that the Wengcheng princess went to Tibet to marry the Tibetan ruler Songzen Gampo. She had a great influence in bringing Buddhism into Tibet, and the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa was erected to house the buddha statue that she brought to Tibet (the statue was shattered during the cultural revolution, but some fragments remain there to still be worshiped). Anyway, a facinating book so far.
My destination today and for the week (in class) is San Marcos, about 29 miles south of Austin. I don't expect to have much time to do any sight-seeing. Although I would like to see the bats under the Congress bridge in Austin.
I won't be seeing David on this trip, since he happens to be in SF this week.
Walking into the airport, I was counting how many times I had been to Austin. The firs time was almost 7 years ago (before the current airport was open) when David and I came to check out UT Austin. I think I had been here 2 more times since, once during our first cross-country flight, and another time to attend David's graduation.
The photo on the blog is one taken from the airplane as we flew over Mt Hamilton's Lick Observatory shortly after we took off, with the central valley in the background, and the snow-capped Sierra mountain range in the background (photo isn't that great), from the air, the long line of snow tops were pretty impressive. We haven't been to Mammoth in a while, and they still have pretty good snow, I hope I can make another trip before the season is over. Then I started thinking about what it would be like to fly into Tibet in a few months, where there would be a sea of mountains...
I spent most of the 3 hours on the plane reading the book "The Story of Tibet, conversation with the Dalai Lama" by Thomas Laird. It's one of the books I bought to read for the upcoming trip to Tibet. It's the thickest one, but now that I started reading it, I think I will finish it soon because it was very engaging to read. Being born in Taiwan, and brought up with the Chinese view, it was natural for me to think of Tibet as part of China. but now I wish they can just co-exist peacefully, preserve the uniqueness of the place and people. It so happens today's San Jose Mercury News has an article on Tibet, It's not exactly drilled into the heads of Chinese (and Taiwanese) school children that Tibetans had sacked the capitol of the Tang dynasty and installed a puppet emporer for a short time, but it is widely known that the Wengcheng princess went to Tibet to marry the Tibetan ruler Songzen Gampo. She had a great influence in bringing Buddhism into Tibet, and the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa was erected to house the buddha statue that she brought to Tibet (the statue was shattered during the cultural revolution, but some fragments remain there to still be worshiped). Anyway, a facinating book so far.
My destination today and for the week (in class) is San Marcos, about 29 miles south of Austin. I don't expect to have much time to do any sight-seeing. Although I would like to see the bats under the Congress bridge in Austin.
I won't be seeing David on this trip, since he happens to be in SF this week.
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A few minutes from the hotel I found the Kobe Japanese Steak House. I sat at the sushi bar and overheard the sushi chef talking to one of the waitresses in Chinese. So I talked to them and found out the restaurant was owned by a Chinese guy from Taiwan. Many people who work there were Chinese. I had BBQ Eel bowl ($9.95) and a seaweed salad (4.95). The food was good, and I was happy to have a little conversation since I went there by myself. I asked them if there were any good Chinese restaurants nearby. Not that I was looking for Chinese food, but just to get the local opinion. So they said if they wanted Chinese food, they would go into Austin.
The restaurant has a sushi bar, and a grill part, where chefs cook for you at the table. There were pretty good crowds there when I arrived, mostly young (20-30'ish) looking people. I didn't take any photos because I wasn't thinking about writing a review, but later I changed my mind, so no photos, but the food looked and tasted good.
A few nights later, I went back to this restaurant with a friend, and sat at the grill part of the restaurant. I had the "fish of the day - Salmon" dinner, and my friend had the Scallops. The chef came and cooked in front us. A couple nearby had to order foods without butter because of allergy, and the chef accommodated them just fine. We had soup, fried or steamed rice, fish or scallops, vegetables. Mine was $10.95 plus tea (1.95) and another seaweed salad (4.95), and an ice cream (1.95) for dessert. We noticed that they put on the bill calculated numbers of tips at 15%, 18% and 20% so people don't have to calculate themselves. That was a nice touch.
My dish had 2 big pieces of salmon, I was able to finish only one piece. Both dinners were delicious. The waiter recognized me from the other night and said hello to me.
The restaurant has a sushi bar, and a grill part, where chefs cook for you at the table. There were pretty good crowds there when I arrived, mostly young (20-30'ish) looking people. I didn't take any photos because I wasn't thinking about writing a review, but later I changed my mind, so no photos, but the food looked and tasted good.
A few nights later, I went back to this restaurant with a friend, and sat at the grill part of the restaurant. I had the "fish of the day - Salmon" dinner, and my friend had the Scallops. The chef came and cooked in front us. A couple nearby had to order foods without butter because of allergy, and the chef accommodated them just fine. We had soup, fried or steamed rice, fish or scallops, vegetables. Mine was $10.95 plus tea (1.95) and another seaweed salad (4.95), and an ice cream (1.95) for dessert. We noticed that they put on the bill calculated numbers of tips at 15%, 18% and 20% so people don't have to calculate themselves. That was a nice touch.
My dish had 2 big pieces of salmon, I was able to finish only one piece. Both dinners were delicious. The waiter recognized me from the other night and said hello to me.
The towering onion dome which se...
4 meals being prepared in front ...
Chef tossing the eggs around bef...
Plate and pot of green tea
