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Southern Hospitality in A-Town, Georgia

Written on: Saturday May 31st, 2008

A journal entry from: Conquer the Continent & Shanghai

Atlanta seems like a great place to live rather than visit.  The people are nice, the economy is holding up, and there's lots of things to do and great food to eat.  People here have settled in and don't really do much site seeing (ie: the Aquarium, World of Coke, or CNN) but rather stay at home or explore the many parks. 

The highlight of my trip was finding out that Douglas Jacoby (a preacher with like 5 degrees (including a Masters and PHD) lives here and I got to hear him preach.  I also got to drive a Jeep for the first time (again their version of the "compact" car.  Very different to the convertible I drove in LA but still an experience all together.  You just want to drive over the curb and go offroading through a trail or something.

I also bought a guitar for $5 and an instructional DVD and book for $3.99.  Things seem pretty cheap here.  I also had Chick-fil-A for the first time as well.  For a fast food place that specialises in chicken sandwiches, I felt like I was in a fancy restaurant because of the service.  The $1.49 cheesecake was also one of the best cheesecakes I've ever had. 

I hung out with my friend Laura here and her brother made me the best (and definitely the biggest) chicken quesadillas along with the best homemade salsa (not to mention the only) I've ever had.  Their "condo" reminded me of a cottage with a back balcony that overlooked a forest (with peacocks, chipmunks, and wild birds).  Of course all I got on camera was a squirrel eating out of a bird feeder.

The wine was incredibly cheap here.  I bought a few bottles and wrapped my winter jacket around them and stuck them in my luggage.  Definitely didn't need my jacket here as the weather was above 25 degrees Celsius everyday I was there. 

I did feel like the only Asian man here tho.  It's pretty much black or white here, not much in between.  They don't necessarily have a Chinatown here - they have more of an "Ethnictown".  "Where all the foreigners congregate"...I don't think it'd be a good idea to try the Asian food here if you're from Toronto.  What you should try is "soul food".  I had some grits for breakfast (at Flying Biscuit) and that was a cool experience.  Can't describe it to you, you have to experience it.  The tap water tastes like Dasani here.  However, the water at Piedmont Park someone told me they dump green colouring in the water to make it look green.

All-in-all Atlanta was pleasant.  If I had to work here, I'd come back. But other than that, I don't know.