Traveling in the US can be a very lonely act. Traveling anywhere in general can become a lonesome journey where one aims to lose themselves in solitude and to escape the general madness that can stretch from downtown to far borders of any suburb.

I feel that a substantial difference between our trip compared to others is the degree of openness, how much we are seeking others out, and always up for meeting someone we can connect with and possibly be friends. Because although many of us from the US seem to believe that simply flying to some destination, eating the food, buying the goods, and taking pictures constitutes traveling – we're missing a substantial chunk of the experience. We're getting the postcard fed to us by the chamber of commerce and nothing more.

Chances are good that we won't ever see or hear from some of these people again – but because the initial connection was made, because that wall which separates strangers is no longer there with these people we now consider friends, everything changes – and we experience China as it really is and not what is reported on the news.

Because although the media is partially correct in their delivery of facts, they are unable to convey what it is like to meet these people. To know them and find that common denominator that we share, even though we live on other sides of the planet.

We have handed out roughly 20 friend cards – and hopefully we'll hear back from everyone – some have already been writing and we still have so much time, and fortunately, many more cards to hand out.

So tonight we're here in Guilin, just north of Yangshuo and a day before we fly out for the next city - even though we experienced something different, something less pleasant and hopefully forgettable in the town of Yangshuo - everything else about this portion of the trip was worth the trouble.

We've met many other travelers from other parts of the globe. While there are obviously many obnoxious people that I am happy to never meet, the ones who have somehow broken past my own barriers have been quite excellent. Just because we're traveling doesn't mean that we haven't run into an A$$hole every now and then - so we keep away and turn to the other people that we'd rather meet. All of the people in these pictures.

So aside from eating our way through China, it would be accurate to say that we're... friending our way through China because that's also what we're doing. And the diversity that we've come across has been quite awesome.

Ireland, England, Australia, Nanning(China), and people from nearly every region of China - and then of course Alonzo Davis, an artist from Baltimore back in the 'States.

It's always good to have friends in far off lands and while it's been very convenient to meet people over the screen and through the internet, it's always better to have that face to face connection, when things seem to be effortless and the distance doesn't seem so great. When the distance between each of us seems as though it could be the reason we actually keep in touch.

But Leah makes it easy when she can turn anyone into a friend - even the vendors trying to sell us their wares... here's a good clip of both her Mandarin speaking skills, and her ability at haggling and friending the vendors. Have a great night.

[......The Review of a man, went insane ...]

Solstice Cafe and I think of Sunday mornings.

I love Sunday mornings. Before the dread and realization that monday happens overnight, you have a few hours to move slow, eat a good breakfast, and realize how great can be when you finally get a chance to actually stop thinking about things that matter to everyone else except us - specifically anything having to do with work.

We wake up from a dead sleep caused by a Saturday night of too much everything, settle into the car, and tune the radio to one of the acoustic sunrise stations and drive while Radiohead carries us to Solstice Cafe in Grant Park. There it is at the north end of a strip mall, next door to an vacant space, a dirty, old, rundown laundrymat, and a small mexican food market with a ceiling lined with pinatas, Solstice Cafe is a quaint, bohemian food spot easily below the foodie radar.

Simple metal tables painted over with an amateur painter’s touch, walls lined with paintings in various media and a bar serving both omlettes and alcohol, this is yet another secret spot unvisited by the hoardes of breakfast feeders searching for another order of biscuits, grits, and pancakes.

Solstice Cafe is what would happen if you turned an excellent bohemian coffee shop into a breakfast and lunch spot and then gave it a liquor license. The staff is friendly and on this particular Sunday morning, everyone seems to be gripping the hours before tomorrow as they sip their coffees and enjoy Sinantra crooning over the speakers.

The menu is lite, mostly consisting of eggs, sandwiches, potatoes and other simple fare. No pancakes, no super size servings. Just a quiet space away from the lines at the Flying Biscuit, Thumbs Up, and Crescent Moon - all with a huge painting of Elvis behind the bar.

Review Summary: 4.3 out of 5

Tags: Solstice. Cafe. Atlanta. Restaurant. Review. Grant. Park. Breakfast. Brunch. Best.

Solstice Cafe
562 Boulevard SE
Atlanta, GA, 30312
(404) 622-1976

Chef Liu 

On a lazy Sunday afternoon with a craving for chinese food gnawing at our insides, my girlfriend and I decided to make a jump over to Buford Highway and try out yet another new spot for lunch (new to us.) 

So I took her to Chef Liu’s. It’s on Buford Highway, about a mile ITP.  

As we got closer and I pointed out where we were going to be eating, my girlfriend made it clear to me that she did not want to eat at this shack in the middle of a parking lot! After some heated convincing, we opened the sliding glass door (sliding as in, like the one you have going your backyard) and sat at a table closest to the kitchen. Not that we could see through the bamboo shade hanging down and dividing the trailer.

Ambiance? It’s so awesome here. With six or seven plain tables set inside a trailer and little decoration other than the strip mall you see on the other side of the parking lot through the glass walls, Chef Liu’s is closer to what you might find in other countries that allow food to be sold from run down shacks on the side of the street - at least closer than most places you’ll find here in Atlanta.

Cold Noodle dishes, dumplings and soups are the main offerings here, although we also ordered a leek pie - absolutely delicious and we ate it long before our actual meals arrived. The pan fried pork dumplings are beautiful and look exactly like the picture in the overhead wall menu.  You won’t find these at P.F. Chang’s.

You can’t compare Chef Liu’s to a regular restaurant or most other places. It’s simply different and unique. Of course they don’t use the highest quality ingredients, of course it’s not food you would find at a ‘finer’ establishment - this is food for the masses, cheap food done well. Your food comes out fast and hot and you feel like you’re eating at some secret spot that only the best know about - no matter how many people eat here on a regular basis. About as quick as ordering food at Burger King or Wendy’s, but not as bland and generic as Panda Express - this is good, different fast food.

Sitting there with your limited basic mandarin you picked up from pimsleur during your morning commute, you over hear the waitresses talking to each other and with the customers - people who aren’t foodies obsessed with finding the most authentic anything. Just a spot to get good food reminiscent of their homeland while living in the deep south. This place is great and will always be near the top on the list of choices when I get that gnawing feeling for some dumplings and a slightly different menu offering.

Review Summary: 4.6

tags: Chef. Liu. Atlanta. Restaurants. Reviews. Chinese. Foods. Best. Dumplings. Buford. Highway. Shanghai. Noodles. Soups. Parking. Lots.

Chef Liu
5221 Buford Hwy NE
Atlanta, GA, 30340
(770) 936-0532

As luck would have it the mother is shot in the head and now Mr. Smith is the proud father of a baby boy. Running from very bad men, he tries to stay one step ahead of them not only for his sake but also to save the life of his prostitute friend and unravel the mystery as to why so many people have a special interest in the life or death of a new baby.

There are sushi snobs everywhere. Sushi in Phoenix? Ha. At least that’s what I used to think. Sure it’s easy to look down on everyone who thinks they’ve had good sushi after eating at Ra, or Zen 32 - but forgive them, this is Phoenix and they’re still learning about sushi and that’s okay.

When they’re done having bad california rolls and a happy hour menu full of pieces that fall apart, take them to Sakana in Scottsdale. I know, I said Scottsdale but don’t let that turn you away. Sakana is away from the cheesy old town and located in a non-descript strip mall on Hayden just east of Scottsdale Rd. You won’t be disappointed. In fact, you’ll be surprised at how awesomely fresh, clean and flat out delicious your food will be.

If it’s just you and a friend, I’d definitely recommend sitting at the bar and not only watch the sushi chefs work, but actually talk with them. While there are a few who would prefer not to say anything, there is usually at least one who’s up for anything and definitely up for you buying them a cup of saki.

The lunch and happy hour specials are excellent here. Order lots and try everything eventually. It’s all good.

We used to live deep in Phoenix at 36th st & McDowell and we’d make the trek to Sakana simply because anything else was bound to be sub-par. Sure Zen32 was practically in our front yard, but we’d simply keep driving.

Directors: Colin Stause, Shane Salerno

To give the Aliens time to grow, we are treated to some forgetable stories of some of the towns folk. We get the story of an ex-con returning home, his brother fighting a bully for the love a girl and the sad return of a solider and her daughter is not showing her the love she quite expected.

I drive past Dusty’s Barbecue everyday on my way home. Everyday. I’ve lived here for almost a year and I never got around to stopping by and having one of their apparently famous bbq pork sandwiches. What took me so long? 

I think many of us envision some of the best barbecue that can be found being made in small shacks out in the middle nowhere. Where no one goes and they have all the time in the world to slow cook meats with recipes created and perfected by long dead relatives. Dusty’s looks like that shack - even more so in real life than in that picture.

It’s even better when you step inside. Small and filled with two seater tables covered with red and white checkered-picnic- pattern table cloths, this place is great. It looks and feels great. It feels country, almost allowing you to escape the very busy intersection of Briarcliff and Clifton, a mile away from Emory and the CDC. Pig photos and ceramics of various sizes hang on the walls and sit on the shelves all over the place - and why not, they obviously love pork, just not in any sort of humanitarian-vegetarian fashion. 

People always talk about how they love hole-in-the-wall joints and how many times the best food is the least upscale. If you’re one who’s uttered those exact same words, well I say put yourself to the test and check out Burger Win - they serve chinese, malaysian, thai, buffalo wings, and hamburgers and fries. Try that.

It’s on the corner of Moreland and Mcpherson, just south of I-20. It’s not a restaurant. You order your food at the counter and stand, or sit… in one of the 3 chairs available for sitting. Except if you sit, you’ll be blocking the counter - so you stand. It’s so awesome.

Nestled in between 2 gas stations, at an intersection with four gas stations, a Checker, a Krystal, and a Mrs. Winner’s, you know this isn’t Alpharetta. The neighborhood looks rough and around 6 o’clock, traffic is busy and people stand on street corners for apparently no real reason (well, I could stereotype things and I know why they’re standing there.)

The lighted sign above the doorway says “Burger Win”. The story goes that the new owners simply took the “g” off of the “Wing” and just put the sign back up. (Actually, they got new menus and the real name of the place is Burgers Win. It’s an even better name since they primarily serve chinese, malaysian, and thai food - along with burgers and wings of course.

Owned and run by an elderly chinese couple, one takes orders and the other goes back to cook everything practically single handedly. Past the counter you can peer into their kitchen and witness a space smaller than the inside of a hummer. Furiously cooking both walk-in orders and the many call in & delivery orders, these people work.

Their menu is insanely huge. There are nearly 80 different items. If you have a craving for almost any food from Asia at 2:30 am, this is the place to go. They deliver until 3am, but the last order must be placed by 2:30am. They’re also closed Sunday and Monday.

I ordered the chicken fried rice with hot teriyaki buffalo wings. You know? It was really good. This isn’t fine dining but it’s honestly much more preferable than going to McDonald’s or any other fast food spot. Seriously, you want genuine hole-in-the-wall chinese takeout? Burger Win is the best place to go.

Review Summary: 4.6 out of 5

EatAllDay. Burger. Win. Atlanta. Restaurant. Review. Burgers. Chinese. Thai. East. Village. Best. Hole. In. The. Wall. Asian. Wings. Hot. Flavors.

Does Eiji’s unusual behavior towards Jack indicate that he knows of their affair? Will the ghost of Jack’s brother Shawn rise from the bottom of the ocean to take vengeance? Well you’ll have to watch to find out.