Lost in China - Shandong Province - Linyi - Yang Fu restaurant

Situated at the edge of the river of Linyi, I stumble across a family restaurant call Yang Fu（洋福）. Serving up local oddities and fresh seafood from the the many rivers of Linyi, this mid size restaurant is fear factor heaven!

 Surprisingly, it is considered a luxury here to eat stuff people don't want to eat. We were the only one at the restaurant. It can seat more than 200, but only 5 were there that night. Inside fresh ingredient are display ranging from cicada to sea cucumbers, still very fresh and alive, they were cooked to order.

Word of advice, eat it with a knife and fork. Chopsticks are impossible with this delicacy!

Prickly Sea cucumber, very chewy, imagine eating a salty gummy worm dip in oil. People here believe that the shape of the object is directly related to treatment of the certain part of the human body with the same shape; in this case, this sea cucumber is supposedly to cured impotence.

Aah, The infamous cicada. If you don't know what these are, they are the insect that make all that noise in your trees and garden. You can listen to it here for a reminder. They say, you are what you eat, this is certainly true for these little buggers, they taste like wood! Yet with a little marinade and salt, it is palatable with rice and a heck of a lot of sauce.

And NO they don't explode in your mouth, they are crispy from the outside in, no green oozing juice as you would expect or imagine. Use chopsticks for yourself and scoop generously into your friend's plate. This is not the best thing I tasted, but definitely not the worse.

When eating in china always expect to have a veggie dish; this I believe is steam kelp. Crunchy and slippery, it is few of the least strangest ingredient you can find here.

Baby Scorpion flavored potato chips!

One of the most expensive item on the menu, Chinese people will order this dish to impress their guest. Fresh baby scorpion deep fried on a bed of crispy potato chips. Cooked with stingers and pincers intact, you do not need to take them off when you eat them, although scary at first, there was no pain and the stingers soften up with your saliva. They virtually have no taste, basically like eating some very crunchy anchovies.

This very good meal must be eaten with very good friends! Or they will probably hate you for bringing them here. The food was well cook and very good, just the ingredient will make most people scream for a local McDonald. So when you are in China...come to Linyi, and enjoy some of the finest food no one will ever want to eat.

Lost in USA - Florida - Pensacola Beach

Known as one of the whitest sand beaches on earth, going here will give you the feeling of living on an island without living on one. With that being said, I spent most of my life going to Galveston beach where the water was clear as mud, going here gave me hope that not all beaches in America suck. The sand were kept sparkling clean and white, the tourist crowd were minimal; in other words there are plenty of space to lay on your back without smelling another person's butt! Views include a blue sky, endless horizons of emerald colored water, and bikini clad babes. Whether you are in florida for disneyworld, or trying to unload those worthless real estate that you invested in, visit pensacola beach to unwind and enjoy this close to home paradise.

Lost in China - TaiShan Mountain

There's no better place to get lost than in china; one, it is freaking huge; second, there are too many people! People literally make a living path that you must follow and avoid. Though intimidating in vast urbanize areas and population density, certain parts of China still remains pristine and lightly touched by human kind. My lost journey start here on my 2nd week in China, in Shandong province, near the city of Tai'an; north of the city is one of china famous landmarks: The TaiShan Mountains.

The little white speck on the stairways are not dirt on your monitor, they are people.

Standing roughly 5000 feet tall(~1500 meters), considered to be one of china's tallest mountain. Being a local tourist hot spot, few foreign tourist actually venture through this mountain. Equip with a bountiful amount of stair steps; giving confidence to the brave, yet turning some into little girls halfway reaching the top.

MAN >>>> GIRL

Scaling all the way to the very top took me and a friend of mine about 4-5 hours to reach the top(most of the time was spent resting and goofing off) Along the way to the top, we bought a walking cane as each step begin to feel like an arthritis attack. Furthermore, many food vendors serve as pit stop to seduce tourist, however I must give them props, without them I don't think it is possible to even reach the top.


Workers must carry supply everyday for their shop on the mountain. Ah, graffiti back in the old ages! Actually they are poems and famous writing inscribe on the rocks.




Finally at the top! These gate are known as the gate to heaven because behind them are many bathrooms and food!


Holding my breath to save oxygen, The oxygen up here is very thin, so be prepared.

In all, this was a tremendous amount of work to go through, but it is definitely worth the climb. Reaching the top give you a belief, a belief that if you can climb this mountain than you can accomplish anything. Just like what a pyramid scheme salesman would say: "See you at the top!"


The best part is you don't have to climb back down, just take the cable car in style.

Always lost

Hi My name is Phu, and I am directionally challenge. Always finding myself lost and in weird and unusual places that I Have not been and been to before. The worst part is I have a GPS, a map, a guide, yet I get lost using them. I guess it runs in the family, I have a few family members that we have no idea where they went so...I considered myself lucky to be able to find my way back home to able to share with you guys places to go, people to meet, food to eat, and cultures to see. Let's go get lost, don't make it a frustration, it's funner than you think(unless you get kidnap).