Random Episode in China #1 from Glenn McElhose on Vimeo.
In case you haven’t seen any of the earlier posts, (Pre-China Trip, Random Ep 4 or some quick writes) we recently took a quick run out to China to taste and learn about Puerh tea (wikipedia link, recent Time article we’re sort of mentioned in) . Amazing trip. We had a great crew led by Austin @ 7 cups in Tucson and made our way around south eastern China, near Kunming. We’ll have more to share soon about Puerh, like, what it is, where it’s from, how it’s made and the making of some crazy paste/tar like substance (made from Puerh, not some kind of drug stuff) that is an old tradition and is making its way back – interesting stuff.
The following video segment is a continuation of the randomly shot randomian thought random show project with Tim Ferriss and Kevin Rose. This time, we’re not in a library nor are we out on a boat dock fishing for fish – we’re on a street corner in Jinggu. At night. And it’s not really cold outside. It’s slightly humid with a dusty breeze coming out of the southwest. None the less.
Audio Note: Most of this was recorded with a Shure-VP88 stereo condenser mic (good with headphones). Apologies for when I don’t have it pointed in correct direction (sounds like they’re behind us). None the less (2).
Other quick links:
Twitter posts – from Kevin @goodtea (see older posts for China links, some cool GPS location determination markers, not sure on accuracy)
Cool episode. It’s interesting to see Kevin’s reaction to the culture changes. I’ve always wanted to go to china or a similar country, and often wonder whether the sanitary culture changes would ruin the experience for me.
Look forward to the next episode.
that was great
I love your Beijing trip vids and pics. Reminding me why I love China so much. Can’t wait to see the one from Yin Bar. Speaking about the Time article, Twitter is all abuzz with Puer Tea and its imminent rise to the tea throne.
I can’t wait to see your next Random.
Glenn, I just snagged a domain name after I saw it had expired last month from someone else who didn’t renew it, and decided to develop it. Well.. I started it, but it needs content, so nevermind the bareness of it.
There’s one thing I do want to ask though. Is the red leaves in my header image, tea leaves?
Hey Glen, nice video! I think you guys touched on all the key aspects of being a Westerner in Asia for the first time: using the bathroom, mosquitos, and gross food (like Tim eating a chicken face).
I just got back from a month-long self-supported bike tour across Thailand. We kept a blog about our travels if you’re curious — feel free to scrub out the URL from this comment, I’m don’t want to link-spam, just wanted to share it with you in you’re interested: http://biking-thailand.com
Looking forward to more videos!
Hey Amanda, thanks for the note. I shall be posting the Yin bar episode next – shall be much cleaner content wise than this ‘potty’ style one, probably not as funny/random though. It is interesting as to the buzz about Puerh. We were told that it was super popular about 4 or 5 years ago in China/Hong Kong – and that it then drastically dropped off. The problem now is that when it was popular, many not-so-high quality places started making Puerh – and now, there are a lot of Puerhs out there that aren’t as good as what one could get a decade ago. Thus, we were told, one should be aware of their source. The places we visited were mostly organic, high quality places – more on the family style plantation size instead of large corporate. Anyway, great seeing you in Beijing and we’ll get more from our trip out soon!
Great video Glenn – I was waiting for your China footage to come out
Also, you edit videos much faster than I do. I’m still got tons of footage from Bangladesh that I have yet to edit 
Thank was so funny. Christine says that if Kevin had been a woman he would never have made it with the toilets. Great video…
That was interesting AND fun to watch.
Great video, Glenn! I actually spent 4 months teaching English in Yangzhou in 2003 and a lot of this totally brought me back. Especially the pooping part. I’d often see parents stop with their kids in the middle of a sidewalk to take a shit or piss. Kind of mind-blowing. However, cheap as all hell beer and buying food from the backs of bicycles totally makes up for it.
I’ve actually begun posting writing and photos from my time there if you’re interested in checking it out. First post went up yesterday here: http://www.drawandquarter.com/arrival-september-15-2003-950am/
That was great! I think you should make an iTunes podcast channel with the random vids, so we can download them to our iPod directly.
Very interesting to watch these videos. I will have to take your hints about how to prepare before going to China. I would be like Kevin and not enjoy the bathrooms, but would enjoy every things else.
This is funny as hell. Love the illustrations. Coincidentally, a few days before you posted this video, a new student from China had a similar culture shock as Kevin, wrote a post asking where he can find a squatting toilet on campus. Naturally, several of the guys chimed in and offered advice…some even tried to analyze the entrance angle if you know what I mean….
Check this out, if you can read Chinese:
http://www.umasscssa.org/forum/thread-15491-1-1.html
Hey, Glenn, awesome video! How did the Psyllium Husks Powder and whatever else you took to prevent stomach problems work out for you?
[...] Glenn: The following video segment is a continuation of the randomly shot randomian-thought random show [...]
hey glen! What camara do you use for record diggnation?
JVC-GY HD200 – like the ergonomics of it a lot, especially for ENG style shooting. otherwise, tis getting a bit out of date compared to all of the other crazy camera’s out and coming out.
This is awesome! I laughed especially hard during the part about the bathroom situation — it brought back some serious memories. The running joke was that with each new traveler we met the topic of bowel movements was sure to come up within the first 5 minutes of the conversation.
Great job guys!! Are you monetizing this? If so, let me know.. I’d be very interested to hear about your experience.
Cheers!
Ryan
[...] doesn’t hurt that I find him adorable too – adventurousness and smarts really gets a girl like me [...]