We do have friends in China afterall

Our friends Brad and Vicky came to Beijing for a few days. We met them in the New York City public school world. They're now here studying Chinese and teaching. Strangely enough, they introduced us to a bar that has a pretty solid, fair priced beer selection and music of a respectable nature. It was a miracle that I didn't hear Hotel California (unplugged version) or Celiene Dion's Titanic Ballad while sitting in a public space for more than an hour. Brad and Vicky currently live in Jinan (not worth visiting, according to them) but they're moving to Chengdu, a place we've already thought of traveling to, but now we'll be there for sure.

On another note, we're heading off to Japan for about two and a half weeks and we'll return for the second half of the Olympics. Is it ridiculous that we're leaving before the start of the chaos? I have mixed feelings about it, but that's the way it turned out. We had planned to do a lot more traveling this summer if it weren't for visa issues that both of us are dealing with mainly as a result of the Olympics.

We'll be in Tokyo from the 2nd - 10th, Kyoto, 11th - 15th and back in Tokyo again from the 16th -19th. In Tokyo we're meeting up with Luhan's aunt, her cousin and two friends from New York who happen to be in town. I'm ready for some wild karaoke nights, neon, sushi galore, Japanese bar food and a thin, thin wallet.

If you give me your address I'll send you a nice postcard with something special written on it just for you.

Pringles

The excitement of going to our grocery store still has not worn off. So, I thought I'd write a little about Pringles. You know 'em and you love 'em. How many flavors of Pringles are you aware of? So far as I can see there are 22 flavors of Pringles in China. Here is a listing of the flavors available: Finger Licking Braised Pork, Sizzled BBQ, Tomato, BBQ Steak, Refreshing Lime, Tomato Ketchup, Spicy Chicken Authentic Original, Salt & Pepper, Cheesy Cheese, Presto Italiante, Finger Lickin' Braised Pork, Cucumber, Kimchee, Medeterranan Aroma, Aromatic Braised Chicken, Crispy Roasted Chicken, Black Pepper Ribeye, Sour Cream & Onion, Thai Curry.

The potato chips have just as much variety, if not more. When it comes to snack flavor variety the Asian world has definitely got us beat.

Disappointment

Tears filled my my eyes upon learning that I would no longer be able to bring my magnet or fan with me when traveling on the bus.

Apartment

Some folks have been asking what our apartment looks like. It's in an older brick building that actually has a little character. Those of you that have traveled to Asia know what I'm talking about, most of the apartment buildings are hideous and China is no exception to this. We live on the 5th floor and it's a walk-up so I've been hittin' the stairs hard. We have a small dining room and kitchen with a fairly moderate sized living room and bedroom. The bathroom is an all in one deal like the ones I experienced in Korea except it's so small that a shower curtain can't separate the showering area. It took some time to get used to, but it's not so bad now. I would say it's about the size of a typical one bedroom in NYC(manhattan), maybe a little bigger. With the windows open it's really quiet at night because it's back in a little neighborhood. I shot a little video with my handy cell phone because it's too hard to photograph.UPDATE: The video doesn't work on my end. Blogger videos may be blocked here in China. Does it work for you?

Beat the heat!

I’ve been noticing that there’s a trend of belly exposure as a means of cooling down. At first I thought that only construction worker type guys participated in this technique, but let’s face it, the heat doesn’t discriminate. I’ve been seeing all types of men (only men) walking around like this, even with a suit on. Well, you know what they say about being in Rome and all..I gave this air conditioning method a shot on a few occasions and honestly, I had a lot of success. I highly recommend it to all that suffer.

Cell Phone Spam

As soon as I signed up for a cell phone plan I started getting spammed with messages about health insurance, stock investments and other spam oriented things. Most of them I can't even open. Within the last two days I received 16 messages. It's a pain in arse because I have to keep deleting them. When we talked to the service provider they told me that part of my plan is agreeing to receive their e-newsletter which they send out about three times a day. I can't opt out of it so I guess I'll have to keep deleting.

As some of you may know, one of the main reasons I moved to China is to eat Chinese food. Of my thousands of loyal readers many of you have been writing to me asking me to report on food and "booze" (Jewitt). Now, this is something I definitely want to do, but it's been overwhelming so far. The news is good though for those of you thinking about traveling here. Pretty much everything you want to eat (hot spicy Chinese food), need to eat (vegetarian) or love to hate to eat (Hooters, TGI Fraday's, Pizza Hut, KFC..) exists in some way if you're willing to pay for it. You can expect to pay a little less than NYC prices for western food mainly because there is no tipping. Chinese food, however, can also be quite expensive or incredibly cheap depending on where you go and what you eat. So far, nearly all of the Chinese food is new and unique to me. First of all, a lot of of the vegetables that you really can't get, or have never seen in the US fill entire walls in grocery stores here as well as multiple pages of menus. Also, the Chinese eat parts of animals that would make most westerners cringe. But, you don't have to eat those things if you don't want to. Secondly, Chinese food in America is mainly influenced by Cantonese Chinese folk (Southern China), the main group of Chinese immigrants. Now, in urban Chinatowns across the US I'm sure the Cantonese style food is pretty authentic, but outside of there we're talking about American Chinese food which is basically the equivalent of cheap fast food with very little resemblance to a real Chinese dish. Even in NYC we could never find Northern Chinese restaurants. So, if you managed to get through my little rant, this is why I was excited about moving here to eat. Last night we rode our bikes to a little spot that Luhan used to frequent during her college days. The place is known for crawfish, crayfish, or crawdads....whatever your preferred dialect may be. They come in heaping portions because you can really only eat the tail after you break it open and the rest just gets piled up. They we're damn spicy and I think they were cooked with garlic cloves, chiles, and some sort of seasoning salt. Also, we had another more traditional northern Chinese soup called Suan Cai Bai Rou which tasted a lot like a Korean soup with sour cabbage, white pork, and clear noodles. Something else I enjoyed is called Ya Gan which is duck liver. Fried rice and another Beijing style tomato based soup was also included.

Weather

Honestly, the weather here has been terrible. I've seen blue sky two times since I've arrived. Pollution may be the first thing that comes to your mind as it does mine when I'm riding my bike down the street pretending that I can catch a glimpse of the sun. From what I gather, the constant overcast is not common for this time of the year and is a result of pollution and the fact that Beijing is situated with mountains to the north and west. In any case, there's some serious overcast, humidity and heat. Yesterday happened to be one of those blue sky days and we finally got to explore some more of the city now that we bought bikes. One particular area we headed to is called Nan Luo Gu Xiang. It's basically just one long, long street with hutongs on either side.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutong)on both sides. Refreshingly, it's lined with trees as well as cafes, restaurants, antique stores and small bars. Places like this are few and far between with all of the new construction. It's too bad knowing that a lot of Beijing could have looked like this if there were more urban planners with taste. The picture with the goldfish tank ceiling is from a little Korean cafe. I thought it was pretty slick.

The Chinese are explicit with signs

Often times the warning/danger public signs in Beijing show consequences as well. This one, in the subway, lets you know what not to do with your fingers unless you want blood to drip furiously.

Acupuncture

For the past three years I've had a series of back problems mainly stemming from a weightlifting fumble when I was in Korea. Having seen various doctors in NYC with little success I thought this would be a good idea. I've been prescribed physical therapy on many occasions, but the results, even after sticking with it for a few months were weak. From what I've seen, acupuncture in the west is more of a new age experimental practice and often quite expensive. In my old neighborhood of Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn I spoke with a specialist that charged $120 a session. Who can afford that? Well, I guess a lot of folks in that neighborhood, but for the average Joe it's not realistic. Over here Acupuncture perceptions are different than what I thought. Acupuncture is Chinese medicine and really only prescribed at Chinese medical clinics. Here, there are wester style clinics and Chinese medicine clinics. It seems that only old people and poor people go to Chinese medicine clinics. Rarely do people with money believe in Chinese medicine from what I'm told. This is interesting how these perceptions are completely different compared to the type of people that visit the acupuncturist in Carroll Gardens. I, or rather Luhan did some research and we found a Chinese clinic nearby. It lacks the fancy tranquil spa like qualities of the place in Brooklyn, but that's not what I'm looking for. The doctor took an x-ray and prescribed me to 10 sessions for a total of about $80. Does it help? I'm not sure yet...I'll see after a few sessions. The pre session cupping treatment is not something I thought was necessary, but the doctor sees otherwise. So, I get cupped. I have pictures of that, but only by request will they be made available. Here is what wikipedia has to say about cupping...if you are so inclined. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_cupping

Jetlag = Blurred account of the last 3 days

Jetlag. Those of you that have suffered feel my pain, but damn do I suffer. From what I understand and according to Luhan's mother, it's much harder to readjust your body to the 12 hour difference if you're the type of person with a regular schedule. I'm pretty regular when it comes to that. Anyway, I've been falling asleep in various places like award ceremonies, Ikea, the supermarket and the dinner table. At this point I think the worst is over. The second day we were here Luhan was invited to attend this absolutely insane award ceremony that was to be broadcast as a primetime special on television. I'll explain a little background information on a second hand account as there are some things I don't fully understand. In 1993 Luhan and a few other girls were chosen by the Chinese Government and sent to Monte Carlo, France to represent China in a pep rally for China to become the host of the 2000 Olympics. I think they sang some old communist songs or something like that. Obviously, even with their efforts, China didn't become the 2000 host and it went to Sydney, but the girls became sort of famous for their support during the time constantly appearing on the news. So, the award ceremony celebrated hundreds of people that helped contribute to the 2008 Olympics including past gold medal winners, but also pop stars and movie stars. It was staged in this monstrous stadium unlike anything I've ever seen. This is a link to a Chinese news station video clip. Copy the whole link including "mms://". It should open in windows media player. mms://media.xinhuanet.com/guoneixinwen/080704211701_wanghanlin_xinwenlianbo_300_20080704_12.wmv
After this, we went to an after party where more awards were given out(above picture). This was held in a banquet hall with round tables full of food, wine and Chinese liqueur. I was definitely the only foreigner in this place. The commissioner of the Chinese Olympic committee was handing out awards and making his away around to each table toasting with shots of Chinese liqueur. He saw me and said, "Holy Shit!" No, just kidding, we chatted a bit. This was quite an introduction to Beijing I must say.

Bags

After the tedious craigslist deals and a sidewalk sale, this is everything we currently own. Somehow we managed to get all to China. This is the first I've updated this here in Beijing so there will be a few posts right off the bat. There's such an array of perspective to take on the last few days, but I want to try to keep things short and sweet in an attempt to not bore anyone so that they'll return to this frequently and keep in touch with me.