Final Count Down (Part 3)

Not much, just went joy riding!

Ever since I went to the mountains north of Atlanta on my friend's car, I've always wanted to take mine here for a blast ride. Well, it's now or never! Do or die!

So this is really nothing much but me showing off my driving skillz! No speeding was involved... I think. Also, don't attempt this at home kids, big bro here has professional skillz that requires professional training.













I am going to miss Atlanta, really! As I took my last drive, before loading my car onto the trailer, a song rang in my head:

Georgia, Georgia,
The whole day through
Just an old sweet song
Keeps Georgia on my mind

I'm say Georgia
Georgia
A song of you
Comes as sweet and clear
As moonlight through the pines

Other arms reach out to me
Other eyes smile tenderly
Still in peaceful dreams I see
The road leads back to you

I said Georgia,
Ooh Georgia, no peace I find
Just an old sweet song
Keeps Georgia on my mind

Other arms reach out to me
Other eyes smile tenderly
Still in peaceful dreams I see
The road leads back to you

Georgia,
Georgia,
No peace, no peace I find
Just this old, sweet song
Keeps Georgia on my mind

I said just an old sweet song,
Keeps Georgia on my mind

Fair well, I'll be back!

The Final Count Down (Part 2)

The World of Coca Cola











How does the world’s most powerful brand conquer the world? Well, the secret is all here. Actually, not quite, because the World of Coca Cola museum is just another way they are trying to sell more coke to you!

So what is so magical about the Coke brand? That’s what this whole exhibit is trying to foster and convey. Needless to say, it has the most unique flavor that any beverage has. It gives the most satisfying sensation any beverage can, and has a universal appreciation from every corner of the world, a culture that has no boundary and accepted by all culture. That’s the magic! I think on top of all, Coke realized the value of its own brand from very early on and have always been very careful about how it sells itself. Although there was a pit fall in the 90s against Pepsi, Coca Cola is no doubt the most dominant brand of all times. The different icons that it has created, the bottle, the sizzling sound, the polar bears, the Santa Claus, and the festive emotion that it symbolizes, are all very much unchanged for decades. It has gone so far that it’s not about the taste anymore. It’s what it stands for. It’s Coca Cola.









So after all the cheesy rides that are nothing but irritating, comes my most anticipated part of the tour. The taste of coke products all over the world!!! Asia, North America, South America, Africa and Europe. You can really pick up a trend by tasting the sodas from different region. Asia is lightly flavored. North America is the regular stuffs. African tends to taste artificially fruity. European ones taste bitter, and South American taste like carbonated cough syrup. I don’t know how much does soda taste reflect the culture, but there’s definitely a story to be explored right there.













A part of the coke museum was also dedicated to “green”. The cups that they give out to people for the soda tasting is made of compostable resin, and they asked people not to use too many of them to reduce waste. The gift shop was full of products made of recycled plastics. The gift shop floor is made from bamboo, so on and so forth. It all seems pretty good, then the shop lady came up to me when I was looking at the recycled PET T-shirts.







“Do you have any question?”
“Yes Mdm, is this made of recycled PET?”
“Yes it is…”
Then I went on to tell her that even though it sounds good that the T-shirt is made of recycled plastic, the reality is, if it ends up in a landfill, it’s not going to decompose like a cotton shirt, and her head imploded….. then I went on to tell her the “other” side of the green story that is not so green, and her mind went through the big bang. It’s the reality bro, keep it real!

She said,”Now I can’t wait till the next meeting, because I am going to ask them all these questions!”

So I successfully corrupted an innocent mind. Bravo!!!

I think it is definitely comforting to see a giant brand like Coca Cola taking the initiative to be sustainable, but there’s still a looooong way to go. Let’s not take that foot step too quickly, or else it will just end up being one that stays forver, like everything else we’s done to this planet.

The Final Count Down (Part 1)

So I am moving…. Again. Before the sit was warm, I am already moving. I like Atlanta. No, I love Atlanta. Everything is great. The mountain, the city, the people, but not the traffic. I thought I found a place where I can take a good sit and chill… but no, life has to force me to be on the move again. So with only a few days before I had to flee, I decided to take the chance to visit a few spots where I’ve always wanted to visit.

Georgia Aquarium

I keep hearing about the aquarium. It’s has the biggest water tank in the world, a world class aquarium. The first time I saw the aquarium and it’s big “G” logo, I thought it was the HQ of the Golf channel… well, because the logo looked a like and CNN was right beside it, therefore the assumption. It was only later when I found out about this treasure in the city.



The ticket is probably the most I’ve paid for to get into a museum. $27! Oh well, it better be worth it! Walking into the aquarium, you will come to a central lobby where everything meets. It’s modern, contemporary, fancy and not a bit like a kids play ground, yet very approachable. Unlike most other zoos or aquariums that has a layout that forces the visitor to go by a certain route, the lobby is in the center of all of the exhibits along with cafeteria and the giftshop. So you are free to visit any of them at any order, and doesn’t have to get back in line if you wish to visit any one exhibit again! That’s nice. It’s a little confusing at first, but it is definitely much easier to navigate than most places.






Of course, I went to the exhibit that houses the biggest water tank first. It was a Wednesday, means there were a lot of school kids screaming and running around, and teachers yelling their lungs out to control these little crazy creatures. No wonder parents put kids on leash these days. Well, that’s a part of the package, and it was interesting to see the different reactions from different children. Some get all excited and jumped up and down. Some got really scared of the flying hammerhead and whale sharks. Some just lie on the floor for a nap.











So how was the biggest water tank?
Well, a few months ago a friend of mine posted a video of Okinawa aquarium’s water tank, the world’s second largest. It’s a stationary video with graceful music in the background to create a magical atmosphere, as if the viewer should be in awe with human’s awesome ability to bring such exotic deep sea creatures onto the land where everyone can see them.

Ok, so that’s reverse this a little. How about imagine deep on the ocean floor, there’s a huge glass cube with air inside and a bunch of naked humans running around. Will the whale sharks give a damn? Probably not.





So how was the water tank? It was pretty amazing, but that was it. Maybe I am just a freaking boring dude who can’t seem to appreciate the beauty of the water world. I simply cannot get pass the fact that I am still in a building looking at a man-made structure. If I really want to be awed, I’d learn to scopa-dive and go to the real deal.

That said, I still think the Georgia Aquarium is a top visit that everyone needs to do when they are in town.








( Reminds me of those indoor shrimp-fishing ponds in Taiwan where you can pay by the hour and your catch. They even have grills for you to grill your catch on the spot!)

Sport of Trust

One day, my landlord asked me if I want to join him for rock climbing on Saturday. Well, there’s no reason to say no since I have no plan for that day, but since I know nothing about rock climbing, and that I am afraid of heights, I was wondering if that was the right thing to do. Any ways, I took the challenge.






So off we went to Cleveland, GA where the cliff was. Oh wait, it wasn’t that easy. First of all, you have to hike for an hour up the mountain to get to the base of the cliff, then you have to hike across a platform of rock slopes using cables that have been planted to get to the base of the climbing site. At that point, I was really doubtful about whether I should have said no.







Basically, the cliff was on top of a mountain, and there was only about 3-6ft of flat land at the base of the cliff to hang out, then followed by a steep slope down the mountain.

Oh well, I was already there.

So everyone put on their harness while I stood there pretending that I knew what I was doing. So the first person to climb is responsible for putting in hooks that will guide the climbing route as well as setting up the safety measures. The lead climber will set up safety points along the way. This just means that the lead climber has to be very experienced.









And as I was standing around waiting for the lead climbers to get down, one of the lead climbers ran out of the rope as he was descending, and tumbled to the ground from about 15ft on the rock. Luckily, he was not badly hurt, but the shock of the fall made his limbs shake uncontrollably. For a rookie to see this before his first climb probably isn’t a good thing at all.

Oh well, I was already here.

So my landlord did one of the lead climbs and got back down. He then looked at me and asked me if I am ready…. Suuure I was. I put on the harness and my bike helmet(looks dorky) then he helped me with the ropes. I then put on a pair of old climbing shoes, which is best worn without socks and should be tight fit and made my first move, wondering what the height factor will do to me. The first step was tricky. There wasn’t much of a foot hold, but I managed to find a way up. Then it was now up to me to make my second move. Finding places to place my foot, and place to place my fingers, then finding the next spots that will help advance myself upwards. In the beginning, I was afraid that I won’t be physically fit enough to do this, but I was wrong. I quickly realized that it’s not about physical strength. It’s all about trust.



Trust of the rock.
Trust of the shoe
Trust of your fingers
Trust of the tinniest dents in the rocks to give you enough friction
Trust the harness, the rope and your belaying buddy.

It’s a sport of trust, which ironically is the biggest challenge of all things in this world.



It’s like the trust exercise where you fall backwards trusting that your team will catch you… except this time, it’s falling over a cliff.









Well, guess what, of all things to trust, I found myself the hardest to trust.

So I initially looked at the cliff and told my landlord that I am going to get to the half way point first then see how it goes. Well, I got the ¾ the route…. Not bad not bad. I made a second attempt, but thought I was done. So I got back down and played with the dogs that were running around like the rocky terrain were soft sponges. All of their tails were high up wagging, but mine was between the legs….















Anyway, the fun hasn’t stopped. My landlord decided to hike up to the top of the mountain because he’s never done that. I said sure! Well, instead of going by the proper route, one of the guys said we should just go the other direction and will get there soon. So we went, but it didn’t feel right.

I was right, there was no trail at all. It was rock climbing and bush whacking all the way. Yes the distance may be short, but we spent more time wondering how to get up there. I was pretty much on my fours utilizing my hands as much as possible. My landlord and another buddy were experienced climbers, so no problem for them. For me, I was grabbing onto everything I could, and it really didn’t help when all the bushes had thorns. Finally, we made it up there, with my hands and fore arms covered with thorn scratches and splinters. Not too bad, but it was irritating as hell. How did the top of the mountain look like? Well, it was just a bald spot where people can set up tents, and nothing else. So much for the effort huh? We then walked down on a fire road back to the car, sort of like an anti-climax.

On the way home, my landlord wanted to apologize if he put me through things that were too much for me. I said, you know what, if I didn’t come to this trip, I wouldn’t have done these things that would never have though of doing, so it’s all good.