On China and More

Love Me Some Scary Creature Liqueur

2011-02-03T13:29:00.004+09:00

People on the river make what they call "Whiskey" and marinate a creature in it. In fact, from what I gather they begin the marination when the river snake snake, scorpion, cobra, or insanely huge poisonous centipede still moves with life. After it dies of alcohol poisoning it is positioned in good display. This is not the first time I've come across this sort of thing, but definitely the most shocking display. The woman selling these in a small village called Whiskey Village informed me this will cure pretty much any problem I have and some of the bottles even have instructions printed on the label sort of like what you find on a bottle of cough syrup. In the end I bought the one with the Giant Centipede and drank nearly half of it on the spot as I thought about all of my problems. No, really though, I did buy it to serve as a nice addition to my liqueur cabinet.

Morning Alms in Luang Prabang

2011-01-30T13:09:00.007+09:00

Around the corner from where we are staying the monks make their morning rounds and the local residents provide alms, a Buddhist ritual. This takes place at around dawn when they quietly linger down from the monastery in small groups. They're given sticky rice, and perhaps some other food, but I'm not quite sure what. All around Luang Prabang there are signs asking people to please respect this process by being discreet with photographs and making sure to remain lower than the monks as they walk by.

Admittedly, here I am, a tourist taking photographs of this process and already feeling a bit guilty, though discreet, low and still I was. At the same time, I couldn't believe what a group of middle aged French tourists were doing. Coming out of nowhere they practically ran at the monks snapping pictures with a flash directly in their faces. One group actually took turns so that each of them could have a shot standing in front of them as they walked by. It was a chaos of flashing, shouting, laughing and posing, which to me, seemed like a throwback to the colonialism past. Why the hell you would want a picture of yourself in front of them with a big shitty grin on your face is beside me.

Welcome To The Jungle

2011-01-27T17:40:00.019+09:00

Beijing at this time of the year is the equivalent of a winter desert, a cold and windy desert. I don't say this with exaggeration as there hasn't been a hint of precipitation in more than two months. For this reason, Luhan and I decided to escape to somewhere with sun, moisture, and a little edge. We are in the jungle in Laos. At the moment, we're in Luang Prabang and I'll get to that in another post, but in the meantime I wanted to write a bit about our last 4 days deep in the jungle.

Deep in the jungle we were, but not entirely without comfort and I would even go as far as to say bliss. Both of us like to work hard and play hard we do as well. We stayed in one of five bungalows built by a German couple about ten years ago. Comprised mainly of local teak wood, stone and bamboo, the bungalow was a sanctuary. Beautiful furniture imported from Thailand, a stone enclosed outdoor shower and a deep bathtub below french windows that peered out onto an enormous veranda overlooking the Nham Khan river. It would be difficult to think of anywhere else in the world I could more thoroughly enjoy my novel, "The Quiet American" and ponder the 1950's U.S. involvement in Vietnam and the French colonialism that preceded it.

Having our base in place we set out on a seven hour hike through the surrounding jungle with our local guide. It was a grueling, but fascinating trek and I can't say I didn't relish in the fact that the exercise alone meant something to me after all the beerlaos I had been drinking. Throughout this journey we would come across two tribes, the Khmer, who fled from Cambodia during the Khemer Rouge and the Mong who migrated from Mongolia about 50 years ago. Besides the jungle itself this is what we were mainly going to see. Although encouraged, we took very few pictures of the villagers after we were simultaneously overcome with this awkward notion of photographing at will. It really just seemed unfair and invasive.

In terms of both of these tribes, I must say, these were in fact the most remote people I have seen. They seemed a bit more distant than even the autonomous groups in the mountains of Nepal we visited last year. Upon entering the Khmer village the first thing that struck me was the obvious abundance of children and even more obvious lack of birth control. Whats more is that these children were mainly naked and caked in dirt and what appeared to be ash. At the same time they all seemed to have the sniffles which seemed a strange phenomenon to be considering the heat. Needless to say, they were happy as most children are. We walked around for a bit then sat silently and observed a man melting metal so that he could craft new knives to prepare for the slash and burn agricultural warfare they would soon unleash in various parts of the mountain. I had our guide ask him about the origin of the metal to be melted. After translating, the man showed us small pieces of cars from which I have no clue how he obtained and then with a grin pulled out a piece of what he said was an American bomb.

Further into the day we reached the Mong tribe buried way up in the hills. The families and villages were scattered and we made short visits. Like the Khmer, the Mongs had many children as well. In fact, our guide introduced us to a man who had two wives and an accumulation of 21 children. When we met him inside his smoke filled home, he was preparing soup and one of his daughters lay on a bamboo bed beside him while his wives and remaining children were split up between his pig farm and chicken farm far outside of the village. Inside his home I saw various hanging calendars with what I believe were Laos superstars, all fading and browning from the moisture. I also saw what I think was a framed wedding picture also hanging, but unlike the calendars it was preserved in a cloudy plastic bag. This one daughter of his was chosen to be the one that could go to school and therefore, I joked that she was sort of the princess - they agreed.

The remaining trails, sharp switchbacks and creek walking led us to see very little wildlife. Our guide explained that there is in fact very little wildlife because anything and everything will be eaten. Every once in a while we would hear a gunshot and we talked about the possibility of which animal it might have been, a bird, a monkey, a rat, the occasional leopard, all fair game and present in this jungle. Near the end of our little adventure we came across the remains on a tiny fire and some feathers. Someone out gathering wood must have had a quick lunch.

As cliche as it may be, yes, we also rode elephants, or an elephant I should say. What a spiky beast this was, but strong indeed trudging us along through the river and patiently stopping and starting at each command from our guide as he took nearly 30 pictures. Why do we want 30 pictures of us on the elephant? Really, why do we want pictures at all? I can't be sure that pictures have much capturing power in this environment that occupies many more senses than are accessible by photograph alone. On the other hand, I love me some nice pictures.

How far will Chinese companies go to avoid creativity?

2009-12-08T10:52:00.003+09:00

Here we have a brown paper baguette bag that I got from the supermarket yesterday. Look closely and you'll see the brand is "Wekipedia." I don't even know where to start with this one, it's just so absurd. I just really wish I could ask the person who made this decision to explain their thought process and perhaps a few other names they were throwing around. But then I'd have to ask the people who named the various apartment complexes such as Beijing Hills, Moma, Upper East Side, Central Park, and wait, the fast food place KXC. The list goes on and on, but my favorite to date is this one. I don't think anything more can be said about it, just bizarre. I love it here.

Oh, the things you see in China

2009-11-05T09:51:00.003+09:00

Two photos I've recently snapped on my phone:

Even in the metropolis of Beijing, you'll still find a few folks using what appears to be a home phone on the street. I'm not quite sure how it works, but I'd like to get one. It's much more durable than my iphone.

Last weekend in my hotel I spotted this ashtray (at least I think so) with a no spitting reminder.

Begnas Lake and the Royal Trek

2009-10-09T18:48:00.007+09:00

Pokhara is the Nepal town that everyone raves about. Both Luhan and I have always felt that if everyone is talking about something it probably isn't really that good, so we opted to stay a little outside the city and away from the thousands of people trying to end up there. We eventually planned to get into Pokhara, but got stranded in Jomsom for two days...more on that later.

So, we ended up at the lake Begnas Resort for two days. To get into this place someone comes to pick you up in a canoe and you travel for about a half hour to the other side of the lake where they've carved out a nice spot with cottages, gardens, and an all natural swimming pool. Again, a very relaxing place indeed. It's a bit hot during the day, but in the morning and evening it's quite pleasant. They also serve deboned fish from the lake.

My favorite hike came from this part of the trip. From Lake Begnas we climbed up to get on a trail called the Royal Trek after Prince Charles hiked it in 1993. It was about 2 hours before we reached the highest point of the mountain. You can see a video here. As was still pretty early we caught the tail end of the sun rise and were able to look out into the highest mountains in the world. I wish we were smarter because if we had had sleeping bags we could have camped up there.

Nargarkot to Bhaktapur

2009-10-09T17:24:00.007+09:00

With every intention of escaping Kathmandu ASAP we decided to head up to Nargarkot, a mountain about a two hour drive outside the city with supposed views of distant snow capped mountains. A woman I worked with at the British Council suggested a place to stay called the Fort Resort and it really was a superb stay. Both Luhan and I are incredibly picky about our hotel choices as those that have traveled with us before probably know. Both of us have had our days of roughin' it, but it's comfort we seek now. The Fort has a one main building and stone cottages spread out over the mountain side. Anyway, the Fort turned out to be the best place we stayed during the whole trip. Set up about 7,000 ft both the sunrise and sunset are something to be seen as you actually look down on the clouds and mountains. We stayed there for two days and basically just read books and relaxed in the sun.

Heading out of Nargarkot we wanted to check out the ancient city of Bhaktapur. I thought it was within striking distance by foot, after a grueling 6 hour hot, sun baked walk we gave up and hitched a ride. The people of Bhaktapur still lead an almost pure indigenous lifestyle, in this city built in the 15th century. It really is a pleasant place, but the motorcycles just kill it. Back to Kathmandu, then off to Pokhara.

Back in the dust covered, glue sniffing Kathmandu

2009-10-09T16:11:00.004+09:00

Quick, how many things are wrong with this picture to the right? I saw this beauty on the wall of a restaurant.

My friend J sent me an email a few days ago with a link about the glue sniffing gangs in Kathmandu. Now, I've seen this in person on my way to pick up Luhan at the airport, but the kids were like 8 - 10 years old, max. From the window of my taxi I saw a few young kids fighting over what I thought was candy. Then I saw one of them huffing a brown paper bag in and out. Another kid quickly grabbed it and frantically tried to inhale some more fun and the cab driver pointed and said they were bad boys. The most disturbing part about it was how many people were around not giving a flying fart. I guess these kids grow up to become the ones in the article and the ones that design the above wall hanging.

So, in the past few weeks we've been spoiled like the rich, shit on like the poor and at one point stranded for two days. The temperature has been so hot and cold so quickly it's hard to figure out what to wear. I must say that the world that exists within the Himalayan mountains should be seen before you die. I'm going to make three more short posts just to break it up a little, that way it won't be so boring and there will be more pictures, because after all everyone just looks at the pictures anyway.

MIKO Noodles

2009-09-22T22:42:00.003+09:00

I kept seeing this commercial for MIKO Noodles on TV, it kept repeating over and over again. The advert was at least a minute long. It was basically a story involving this old Japanese guy slurping noodles. When I went out to get some things at the little store near us I discovered the MIKO noodles and was easily sold by the advertisement. They cost 15 Nepalise Rupees, .02 USD. They were worth each penny, let me tell you. They claim to use Japanese technology...impressive.

Monkey temple

2009-09-20T15:33:00.010+09:00

Headed out to the Monkey Temple a few days ago. My Colleague Zak and I hired one of the hundreds of rickshaw drivers to haul us out there. After bargaining for a fair price we settled on this tiny little guy, though at the time we didn't think much of his size. On two occasions we had to get out because he got stuck in some mud. It was actually quite a terrible ride because there was so much dust you basically had to close your eyes and try and cover your mouth. In total it took about 40 minutes or so before he let us off at the bottom of a steep hill and near the entrance of the temple.

On the way there I saw some pretty horrific scenes of poverty and pollution mingling together in ways I never thought was possible. I photographed a couple of things that stuck out, but it would be quite rude and uncomfortable to take pictures of many of the other things I saw.

Soon after the rickshaw let us off we walked over a small bridge with a stagnant river passing underneath it. I could smell the water from above and it wasn't a pleasant smell to say the least. Never have I seen so much garbage, all piled on the banks of the river and in the river itself. What's more, looking down the river a bit I could see women and children swimming or bathing in the water. A picture of this is in the post as well as one from another account on the way back in which a giant cow decided to lay down in a pile of garbage and mud causing a traffic jam.

Now, the temple (Swayambhunath) was quite interesting being one of the oldest holy sites in Nepal. What I found most interesting was the fact that monkeys, stray dogs, pigeons, homeless people, orphans and monks could all live together and only fight a little.

First impressions: Kathmandu

2009-09-08T11:59:00.012+09:00

Kathmandu, a city of about a million and a half people. Traffic lights and traffic rules for that matter are apparently absent, cows and yaks roam the streets in competition with stray dogs for a few measly scraps left in piles of colorful garbage brushed up against the side of street curbs. And the cars, bicycles and motorcycles scream by in clouds of exhaust fumes that just about make you gag. All this with a beautiful back drop of the picturesque, often cloud covered Himalaya mountains endlessly stretching, slicing clouds at the edges of the valley hinting at some notion of nature, fresh air and cleanliness.

When we exited the plane into Kathmandu airport it reminded me a bit of south America, minimal, dire need of remodeling and stale. As we walked through a long hall to where I presumed the VISA processing station would be a small peculiar looking Nepali man waited anxiously with a bouquet of flowers. He was sweating and I could tell he was nervous, even from far away because he seemed to be almost shaking. As I got closer he suddenly shouted, "Your Excellence!" and forced the flowers into, no not me, but the chest of what I think was a Korean man decked out in an over sized conservative suit, the kind republicans wear. The whole thing scared the shit out of me because as this happened a security guard stuck out his arm and stopped me and a few others from moving forward and possibly disrupting this incredibly awkward scene. I looked for the Korean man who was probably some sort of government official while I waited in line for my VISA, but he mysteriously disappeared most likely through some secret exit. 'Your Excellence' is easily my new favorite way to great someone, absolutely astounding.

From here on I haven't been out too much because I'm working. But I snapped a few pictures, one from my apartment and some random street shots. I heard there is a casino in the hotel beside my apartment building with free drinks and dinner. I'm quite tempted by this. I'll be out and about soon enough as I have about six weeks here, so rest assured you can look forward to some more posts.

Plenty of things to do in Beijing

2009-04-20T10:49:00.014+09:00

As of a few months ago LuHan has been working for a British NGO as a translator, interpreter, and project developer. One of the projects they have is called "One Plus One." To make a long story short, it's basically a full fledged radio station operated entirely by blind people.

One of the things they were working on was finding a theme song for their radio station. They contacted some studios and it was quite expensive. So, LuHan told them that I could probably write, record and produce it for half the price. You guys know I get quite a kick out of doing stuff like this, so I couldn't pass it up. In the end, I made three versions. You can listen to one here.

Disabled Dog

2009-03-10T22:17:00.003+09:00

I snapped this with my phone today on my way to get lunch. This dog actually ran up beside me and I gave it some lovin'. I don't think it was able to really understand the fact that it's hind legs were turned into wheels. The dog had full mobility, turning, running, stopping, sniffing...

Cormorant fishing

2009-02-24T17:41:00.011+09:00

I think one of the most interesting things we did throughout our travels in Southern China was participate in cormorant fishing. A cormorant is a type of bird...this will explain rather than me writing it Interestingly enough, the picture in that wiki entry is from Erhai lake in Dali, where we went fishing. In Chinese it's called the sea. Along the coastal sections of the lake there are small fishing villages and some of them fish with Cormorant birds. We were able to take a little expedition with a few of these fisherman one morning.

It's amazing how much control the fisherman have over the birds. They actually respond to the fisherman's calls and always bring fish back to the boat like the good little birds that they are. Sometimes they are loured in by the fisherman when he dangles a little fish. Nonetheless, it's impressive. On our boat we must have watched the birds dive in and pull out more than 7 or 8 fish.

I've decided to just put all of my pictures up from this trip here. For your enjoyment I'll also include some thoughtful captions. As soon as I get pics from others on the trip I'll post them as well, so check back.

Being back in Beijing and getting back into the swing of work is quite nice I must say. I do like the adventure, but it's tiring.

Chinese New Year - explosions in the night

2009-02-17T09:46:00.020+09:00

So, my friends Joel and Jordan came to visit for about three weeks and the madness has ceased. I'm finally getting back into the swing of things. Joel is on a boat to Tokyo and should be arriving in another day. He'll be back in Beijing at some point before heading back to Seattle. Jordan is in Boston, hopefully.

Along with LuHan and two of her friends we traveled quite a bit, mostly in Southern China (Yunan Province). I'm going to write a bit about these travels in the coming days, but first I wanted to rewind to the beginning, Chinese New Year.

Although I will attempt, I can't begin to describe how absolutely insane this experience was. Joel, Jordan and I all said to each other at one point that this was easily one of the most spectacular things we have ever witnessed. Now, I'd have to say that the three of us are not easy to amuse.

The history of setting off fireworks on this holiday is quite simple. It's to scare off the evil spirits. It makes sense right? No one wants those evil spirits lingering around in the night. For about 7 or 8 years fireworks were banned inside the city center in Beijing. Last year was the first time in a while they were allowed to go at it again. Keep in mind that this is taking place everywhere in the entire country at the same time.

Growing up in suburban/semi country America we came to know fireworks quite well around the 4th of July, in fact I used to try and make them myself. Fireworks in our world existed in three ways. One, the legal fireworks like sparklers, snakes and other relatively harmless displays. Two, going to see a professional show at the local fire hall or in the city. Three, having someone drive to the southern states to get illegal fireworks. These included things like roman candles, black cats, m-80s, and rockets. Obviously, choice three was the best. And even with these semi dangerous fireworks we had a ton of fun. We all had a sense of underlying safety that we followed most of the time. We would go out to a huge field, keep away from houses, and warn people when there was a fire in the hole. So, for us three yanks this was our perception of fireworks coming into this.

The night before Chinese New Year we were out at this Japanese whiskey bar that I fancy when a couple of Chinese guys blazed in handing out what looked to us like sticks of dynamite. I couldn't believe the size of these things. Then, they encouraged us to come with them to fire them off on the street. We are in the middle of a gigantic international city and blowing off an explosive just seems ludicrous. Well, when in Rome...This brief session of lighting these things off really gave us an insight as to what the coming evening and week for that matter would be like. As we set these "double boomers" off on the street we could not believe that one could purchase these things on the corner and not have a license to activate them. These were easily equivalent to a quarter if not a half stick of dynamite. They literally shock the ground in front of you and caused an immediate sense of panic as the explosion echoed between the buildings. These particular ones would stand up straight, explode, then shoot another ball into the air with an equal explosion. At one point one of them fell over and we had to run to take cover not knowing where the hell it was going to shoot. It blew up near some girl that probably had to change her underwear shortly after. After this night we had a glimpse of what we'd be in for, but not really.

Let me just break it down for you. During this time period anyone can buy various explosives like I mentioned above, even ones far more powerful and set them off ANYWHERE they want. This is all in good fun, of course. You can put them on the sidewalk, in the street, beside a car, in front of your building, or in the path of a crowd of people. I must say that in no way was there direct intention to harm others or even destroy property, just pure negligence and chaos. The various types of fireworks are equivalent to the size of what you would see being let loose at a professional fireworks display in a small town in America.

The next night, the 17.4 million people of Beijing blew the shit out of their city. From dusk till dawn it was like being trapped in a war zone. I've never been in a war, but this is what I imagine it sounding like. When you stood at any point and spun completely around the sky was lit up with colors and your ears were pounded with massive explosions. Your body shook and you felt alert looking around for a fire in the hole. There were no warnings. It was incredibly ridiculous and dangerous, but we loved every minute of it as we drank beer and roamed around our neighborhood. The peak of the event was of course around midnight and for a solid hour we couldn't even talk to each other without screaming.

For the climax we went out in front of our building near one of the main streets and just stood there in complete amazement as people spent fortunes on gunpowder and sent it all up in flames. While the three of us were standing there occasionally jumping and ducking I think it was Jordan who said to turn around and look at the building beside us because one of the hotel rooms was spitting out flames. And yes, sure enough the room was on fire. We called the police, although they probably already knew as a crowd of hundreds watched from across the street. The building didn't go up, and it was eventually put out (the pictures to the right document a different fire, read on). The night continued and finally when we turned in. It was nearly impossible to sleep with the remaining explosions randomly shaking our apartment. If the evil spirits survived this night, they must be pretty strong.

When we returned to Beijing a week later after traveling we learned that there would be another night of fireworks for the end of the festival, as according to the Lunar calendar. Once again the city would be up in smoke. We all had dinner at LuHan's parents and her mom bought some fireworks for us to set off. Of course, they were amazing and soon that feeling of "I can't believe people are doing this" returned.

We left her parents by taxi and headed out to meet some friends at another bar when we got stuck in traffic on a bridge. As we moved slowly, Joel, this time said that there was a building on fire ahead of us. You could only see the flames in the reflection of another building because it was only burning on one side, so it was a little hard to tell how serious it was. About one minute later when we got closer we could see that this was a serious fire about to engulf a 70 story building. At this point we were right beside it and the thick, bright orange fire was mainly at the base, but climbing steadily. The smoke came off in thick black clouds which made it impossible to see above. We had the windows down in the taxi and panicked a bit when we heard what I think were the windows of the building exploding. That sound was surreal and all I could think about was the twin towers for some reason. This was no longer interesting, but serious and awful. We were only about 200 yards away from the building now and traffic was moving slowly. At one point we could feel the heat coming from the fire and that's something I'll never forget. I've never felt heat like that before, especially from such a distance. We closed the windows and actually contemplated getting out of the car and running. We saw others evacuating, probably from the building itself or another nearby. I remember seeing a man with a baby running away. Finally we pushed through and got off the bridge. As we drove away we watched through the rear window as the flames circled the building. Later we decided to walk back to see the end result. It was over, the building was destroyed.

Will they allow fireworks next year, or have lessons been learned? You can read here about the fire.

The above pictures were ones that I snapped with my cell phone. There are a few of the fireworks scene in general and the others were from our tortuous taxi ride. The video below is of the scene around midnight in our neighborhood. It went on like this for hours. I only wish the sound on my camera had better quality.

A short walk around Xian

2009-01-19T22:40:00.011+09:00

As many of you know, I travel quite a bit for work, but I rarely have any time to explore. It's all work and no play, usually.. For some reason or another I had a long morning free last weekend in Xian, a big ol' city southwest of Beijing.

Xian is one of the oldest cities in Chinese hisory. You wouldn't know this by looking at it because honestly, it looks like every other Chinese city. Just outside the city there are a lot of ancient ruins, the famous Terracotta warriors and a few monuments worth noting, but I didn't have time for anything except an hour long stroll around a section the city wall built in 1370. It was quite a hazy day and I could barely see anything in the distance. I'll get back to Xian one day and check out some more things.

Quite possibly the ugliest couch ever..

2009-01-12T08:14:00.006+09:00

Last weekend I was working at a university in Dalian when I discovered the couch in the room I had to work in all day. I can only imagine what was going through some one's head when they decided to take on this piece of furniture. It has the resistance of a log and it's slick, possibly finished in vinyl.

I might be crazy, but this building looks like it has problems

2009-01-03T18:44:00.003+09:00

On my way to the gym this morning I noticed this building that appears to have some structural inconsistency. I'm no architect, but comparing the building on the right to it's twin on the left leads me to believe that it may have some serious problems. If you follow it from the bottom to the top and compare the amount of space between the two buildings as you get to the top you can see what I'm talking about. Well, I hope I'm wrong.

Recent travels

2008-12-28T00:14:00.020+09:00

My longtime friend Dan (Pittsburgh) came for a two week stint in the ol' red country.
We had a great time traveling, eating, and attempting to deal with language/culture barriers. During his first week we hung low in Beijing because I still had to work for half of the week. The following week we headed out to Shanghai for four nights, then Hangzhou for two nights.

In Beijing, Dan and I (Luhan was working)hit up a few touristy things such as Tienanmen Square, Forbidden City, and the Houhai shopping area. We managed to do a short trip out to the Great wall and it was amazingly quiet, probably because it was freezing. Interestingly enough, when you're on the top, there's no wind which makes it not nearly as cold as below. The following day we checked out Mao Zedong's pickled corpse and both had doubts about its legitimacy. This is all I can say about that.

I realize now how different it is traveling with another foreigner rather than Luhan. It creates a whole new set of circumstances or rather opportunities for people to try and sell us things we don't want and swindle us.

On Saturday we headed out to Shanghai via airplane. Dan and I were on our own for the first two days and I think we did fairly well. Shanghai is a lot different than Beijing. Traveling around the city is a bit easier as the city seems to be more of a tight knit. It also presents a whole new architectural style. I'm mainly referring to the old structures that can be compared to the downtown part of NYC and the old buildings in the French concession area with their European vibe. But, the modern buildings, I think far surpass the style of anything new being built in Beijing. To me, parts of Shanghai reminded me of an unkempt Tokyo with a layer of dust.

Finally, we took the fast train to Hangzhou which was about an hour and a half south. I heard so many good things about this city, so I was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately it didn't live up to its reputation of being a quiet small little place. First off, the traffic was worse than Beijing. We sat in traffic for more than an hour on one occasion. Secondly, the area around the lake turned out to be a tourist trap with overpriced restaurants. The lake itself was really nice and we took a boat tour. On the last day we were there we decided to go out to this temple at the top of a mountain. It's called Ling Yin. This is easily the best temple I've been to in China, so far. It's spacious and not overflowing with tourists. There's a section of trails on the side of the mountain with Buddhas carved into the stone. And the temples themselves had a really different feel than any of the ones I've been to in Beijing. I highly recommend this place and it's reason enough to visit Hangzhou.

Hot Dogs!

2008-11-22T03:47:00.002+09:00

Out in front of my apartment complex there's a strip of about five small businesses tucked away underneath the apartment buildings facing the street. There's an herbal store, a dumpling restaurant, and a few other knickknack shops. In the middle of it all is rather odd looking hot dog shop called "No More Bunz." What the god damn does that mean? I have no idea, so for quite a while I was stubborn and only eating Chinese food.

Finally, after two months or so contemplating this place I decided to give it a go (as the Brits would say). The fine little shop changed my life. In fact, the dogs weren't that expensive when it really came down to it and they're loaded with a choice of condiments.

They offer a standard dog (you know what this is) , Italian (Italian sausage), and German (Brat!). At this point, it's hard for me not to stop there after work. Fortunately they close really early.

Mao Zedong's wings

2008-11-12T19:43:00.018+09:00

A little while back Luhan's father asked me if I liked airplanes. We were eating dinner and I had trouble deciding whether I did like airplanes or not. I guess airplanes are OK, so I said yes. Boy was he excited. Apparently he had been trying to get someone to go with him to this aviation museum a bit out of town. The next morning we were off.

We drove out with him and Luhan's mother to this old somewhat neglected museum. It was interesting because it was like someone decided to build it, perhaps in the 80's and then do absolutely nothing to maintain it.

There were two main sections. One was a gigantic space inside of a mountain. Lined up in rows were mainly dusty replications of all sorts of aircraft dating back to the Wright brothers. But the real gems lie out in an overgrown field amidst at least 25 real airplanes. Here I'm talking about Mao Zedong's personal fleet. The picture of me on the couch was taken inside one of his planes. Also, you can see Luhan on the stairs of the same plane. I wonder what Mao would think if he knew I was lounging on his couch? I'll ask the preserved man when I make it out to visit him.

I also found a plane with a description beside it explaining that it shot down an American plane. That gave me a strange sort of feeling and I kicked it. Just kidding.

I'm still not sure how I feel about airplanes, but it sure was cloudy that day.

Mad man in neighborhood

2008-11-07T13:17:00.006+09:00

So, this morning I awoke to find this posted to the apartment building beside ours. At first I thought it was an ad of some sort, but now that I'm fluent in Mandarin I read the text below. Ok, Luhan read the text. Apparently, this man (image I'm assuming came from a security camera) has robbed a few people at knifepoint. More specifically, his victims have all been foreigners.

I really didn't think this kind of nonsense happened in Beijing, but of course, I'm nieve. His attacks actually happened a few subway stops away from us, which is pretty far to be posting signs in our neighborhood, but I guess the community gets pretty fired up when someone is at large.

The sign warns that the victim should hand over his loot as the man has already stabbed a russian refusing give in.

As you can see, this is about as exciting as it gets these days. I'm working a ton and ready for a break. Luhan will be in NYC, Florida and San Francisco over the next week mainly to attend a wedding, but sounds more to me like a vacation.

Food for thought

2008-10-14T16:05:00.005+09:00

I'm slowly realizing that I should keep a running tally of snacks that I find, photograph them and post them all in one shebang. But, I guess I'm just not that slick of a blogger. I know there are a few readers who appreciate learning about Chinese snacks and checking out their packaging. So, I'll keep it coming.

These are Spicy Duck Necks. From the same brand I also found Spicy Chicken Claws, but I was in a hurry and didn't snap a pic.

What happens when 13 billion people are given a 9 day vacation at the same time?

2008-10-05T10:42:00.000+09:00

ANSWER: You learn a valuable lesson about overcrowding, unthinkable lines, and personal space.

We're nearing up the end of our national holiday vacation. More than near I should say as it's Sunday morning now.

As of lately, the weather in Beijing has been perfect fall weather so I really couldn't see the point in traveling around the country when there's still so many things I haven't seen in the vicinity. I've been eager to see Summer Palace(an old summer resort for Empress Dowager Cixi), and the Great Wall (supposedly the only man made structure in the world that can be seen from space).

On Wednesday we headed out to Summer Palace using the transportation formula taxi - subway - bus - taxi. As we drove up and approached the entrance the shear amount of people literally made me gasp. Everyone from everywhere was here. At this point I was counting on the huge grounds the Summer Palace encompasses to swallow up some of these people so that I could actually feel like I could relax. Waiting in line to get through the gate made me nervous and uneasy, but we finally made our way in, or should I say we were finally pushed and pulled in. At some point I want to write a little about line culture here and how the sudden influx of people transitioning directly from cave life to city life has changed common mannerisms.

Summer palace is a gigantic park that includes a variety of palaces, a lake and a number of gardens. It was built in 1750, which doesn't make it that old for something in this region of the world. I have never seen so many people gathered in one place in my entire life. One of the bridges looked like a scene from the evacuation leading up to hurricane Katrina. The four of us (Luhan, myself, Angela and Mao) stuck around for a little while, rented a boat and explored by lake. This made it easier to escape the masses. All in all it's definitely a spot I want to return to, but never again on national holiday.

On Thursday, Luhan and I finally put together a little trip out to the Great Wall. There are a lot of points to visit the wall from Beijing. Some are more popular than others and given our experience from the day before, we opted for the less explored route. We made a plan to hike on the wall from one town(Jin Shan Ling) to the next (Simatai). At that point we'd stay over night, then head back to Beijing.

To get to Jin Shan Ling from Beijing we had to leave pretty early, take a bus to the last stop in Beijing, then hire a driver to take us the rest of the way. The total travel time is about 3 hours. Once we made it to the outskirts of Beijing we met a driver that was willing to take us the rest of the way. After negotiating a price we hopped into his tiny little beat up car that probably hadn't been inspected in years. Now, this is the first time I've been in a rural area of China and also the first time I've been on the highway outside the city. The type of driving behavior I witnessed still makes me cringe. First of all, these people apparently think that a two lane highway is actually 4 as they include both shoulders. On numerous occasions we passed people, and were passed by others on the shoulder. Secondly, if someone wants to pass someone else(keep in mind that this is all a two lane highway) but another car is coming at them it simply doesn't matter. The other person will either have to stop or pass by on the shoulder. It's like a racetrack and anything goes, but no one really seems to get angry.

Finally we made it in one piece and started our hike. We took cable cars to the top of the mountain to give a us a little head start. It was such a relief to find that the wall was not packed with people and that we could hike at will seeing people only now and again. It was a tough climb with some slopes as steep as climbing a ladder. The wall hasn't had many renovations in this area leaving the terrain to be worn down over the last 400 years. This stretch was a perfect day's hike and I would recommend it to anyone looking for an overnight trip to the wall.

At about five o'clock we made it to our destination, a little guest house beside the wall. We hung out there with this French guy named Frank, drank beer and watched the owner's anxious little boy kick around an empty coke can for hours.

We headed out in the morning, hit the racetrack and made it back to Beijing in one piece. You can check out my photos here

Great summary of the subprime mortgage crisis

2008-09-25T18:39:00.002+09:00

While I am in China I still try and keep up with US news. I've been following this, but I haven't always been clear about what happened. This really summed it up for me. It only takes about 3 minutes to read. But, beware there is some graphic language in it. Check it out.

Mingling with the locals

2008-09-21T18:37:00.009+09:00

Have you ever read the introduction to a Lonely Planet or another guide book and the author starts rambling about how their experiences living in the said city are just flourished with authentic cultural experiences everyday? For example, I remember reading in the Kyoto Lonely Planet about how the author wakes up every morning, strolls down the path of philosophy to contemplate his daily activities. Next, he heads downtown to share stories with the locals at the fish market. After having lunch and relaxing in the public bath he then sets out to watch Geishas walk by. The reality for the average traveler is far from the dreamy scenes created by our friends that write these books, but occasionally you can get a real taste as I found out yesterday.

While climbing the five flights of stairs to our walk up apartment I heard some blaring, screeching sound and I couldn't tell what it was or where it was coming from. When I got inside I opened up the window to have a listen. I could tell it was some sort of traditional music being blasted from the courtyard of the apartment building beside ours. Now, I'm usually not one for traditional music, especially the watered down acts that fill up Times Square and various other subway stations I've encountered in NYC. This being the guys from the Himalayas playing Celine Dion songs, or the Jamaican guy playing Mozart on his steel drum. But what I heard was not like anything I've heard before, which is sad, I know. It was loud, abrasive, melodic, free form music. I couldn't resist going down to have a closer look.

When I got there there were about four or five guys gathered around a table. They each had a different type of horn. I can't claim to have too much knowledge of horns, but they looked fairly unique, definitely old. I just hung out and an old lady smiled at me and kept directing me to go closer. Finally, I nudged in a little closer to where they were playing so that I could get a better view. As soon as they saw me their faces lit up and at least three people motioned for me to come over. They were clearly excited for me to be there, but it wasn't my intention to get too close, because after all, it was a little strange. They were all smoking cigarettes and drinking jasmine tea, which they continuously offered me as well as a wooden block instrument to join in on their little session. When I looked closer at their instruments I could see just how incredibly worn in their they were. They brought out all sorts of tiny little horns, changed the tips around, and even played tricks with cigarettes. My favorite part was when one of the guys just started screaming in this high pitched voice. It was hard to believe that this sound was coming from his mouth. I hung out with them for about an hour and I have to say that without a doubt this was much more interesting than anything else I've seen in Beijing so far. I managed to catch a bit on a cell phone video and I also snapped some shots with my camera.

Fall in Beijing

2008-09-16T22:11:00.007+09:00

So, as people have told me again and again the fall is beautiful here. It hasn't rained for quite sometime and there have been plenty of blue sky days. This is a big change from the last month. The temperature has been mild as well. Everyone seems to be outside taking advantage. Our plans changed and we never made it out to the great wall or summer palace. We ended up laying low all weekend having dinner with Luhan's family on two occasions and staying out way too late on another. I finally had an "expat" night like the days in Korea. You sure do meet some interesting folk here...

We did manage to make it out to Bei Hai park which is centrally located in Beijing. It's definitely my favorite park that I've been too in the city mainly because there are trees and once you get inside the stressful sounds of bumper to bumper traffic are drowned out. There's also an enormous lake where you can rent boats.

Photos

2008-09-10T20:32:00.002+09:00

I'm in the process of uploading photos if you want to have a look. I'll periodically update new albums with China photos. Being that we have a three day weekend in light of a Chinese holiday that Luhan can't recall we'll head out to either the great wall or summer palace. According to the Chinese, there are only a few nice weekends left before winter starts. They say fall is extremely short. I don't have a winter coat.

A little taste of home

2008-09-07T17:04:00.007+09:00

The other day someone asked me what American food is. They wanted to know what Americans eat with examples for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I've tackled this question before on numerous occasions, but it just never gets easier. Usually I end up concluding that unless you live near a decent city the food is boring. Having traveled around quite a bit after college it didn't take me long to realize that while America topples many countries in various cultural aspects, food is not one of them.

Now, having said that, there is one meal that America does master and that's a proper breakfast. This is something that I can't live without and I'm sure that there are a few of you out there that would probably agree (J?). Unfortunately, this proper breakfast can only be taken in on occasion unless your looking for a faster route to heart disease.

We heard about a place called Grandma's Kitchen that serves up western food and specializes in American style breakfast. I've been craving it for a few weeks now and we finally made it out. My expectations are usually pretty low when it comes to western style restaurants in Asia, but Grandma's Kitchen is a gem. Hard wood floors, flowers, rafter like ceilings and grandma oriented decor set the mood for this place. My first impression was Cracker Barrel without the Cookie Cutter cheesiness feel if that makes sense. The menu has all of your favorites, so there's no need to get into details. We had a western omelette, sausage gravy/biscuits, french toast, bacon, scrambled eggs, fresh baked bread and coffee with refills. Typically the Chinese don't understand the concept of free refills.

So, when you come to visit this is where we'll go for breakfast at least once.

Gettin' into the swing of things

2008-09-04T22:24:00.005+09:00

Sorry I haven't been updating as frequently, but really, I'm trying to be on top of it. Did I just apologize for not posting? I thought I promised myself that I wouldn't have to come to this. I've been quite busy with some mishaps and what not but all is well.

We headed out to Tiananmen Square a little while back to catch up on some of the main cultural attractions that Beijing has to offer. I thought about doing this rather quickly before the adventurous feeling of being in a new place settles down. I lived in NYC for nearly six years and I never seemed to make it to the statue of liberty, but I did make it to the Empire State building last year. Places that attract lots of people are usually just too much of a hassle for me. This is mainly because I'm really cool.

Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City which sits behind it probably require a little more time than we gave it especially if you have an interest in Chinese history. I'm not going to lie, my Chinese history knowledge is not something I'd brag about. Forbidden City has 980 different buildings and most of them have been converted into small museums/exhibits. After visiting quite a few temples around Tokyo and Kyoto I can definitely see the similarities from a historical standpoint. What I found interesting when comparing the two is that In Japan you are restricted as to where you can walk and where you can take pictures. Here in Beijing there are barely any restrictions. This leads to two totally different experiences. If you are not allowed to take a picture of something or walk beyond a certain area your curiosity will probably convince you that it's sacred and perhaps create a feeling that you're special in some way. It's also easier to preserve things and keep them natural or recreate things and keep them in perfect recreated form for decades to come. When people, and I mean thousands of people a day are allowed to roam at will, naturally wearing things down the average Joe becomes more connected to the history. They also throw Popsicle sticks around as well as bottles and candy wrappers. But in all honesty I can't decide which way is better. Growing up in the US we really don't have a history beyond 350 years. Many of the historical sites you see here are well over 1000 years old.

There are very few places left in Beijing that represent ancient China. During the cultural revolution the idea was to destroy everything that represented the old way and replace it with a gigantic pink apartment building. Well, the apartment buildings didn't come for sometime after, but..

By far, the best thing about Tiananmen Square is called the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall. I state this with full confidence even though I haven't actually been there yet. We tried to get in, but it's only open in the morning. This, I kid you not is where Mao's body is on display inside a crystal coffin. He's been preserved in the same way your buddy preserved his first deer kill. People wait in a line to have a look at the guy who's been resting for nearly 35 years. I will get there soon!!

Above are some pictures inside Forbidden City.

Everything has a price

2008-08-26T00:28:00.003+09:00

The other night we were out shooting pool at this little bar called "Pool Bar" when I had to use the bathroom. After I finished, I slowly made my way over to the bar and gently placed my 200 RMB (about 30 USD) down covering the corners with my beer mug so that it wasn't blown away by the AC. Looking the bartender in the eye I said thank you and headed out the door.

High school baseball game

2008-08-21T10:26:00.004+09:00

While Beijing spent millions of dollars on its over the top Olympic sports complexes, the baseball stadium was constructed with scaffolding. It reminded me of a few high school baseball fields pieced together. To enter you had to climb al the way up the back stairs and then go back down to your seat which had no backrest.

This was not a surprise being that China has very little interest in Baseball at the moment. They do have an Olympic baseball team, but they won't be picking up the gold, silver or bronze. From what I understand, when the games are over they'll be tearing this down. I guess there's no point in spending big bucks on it.

The game was like a lazy day at work that never seems to end. Before the 11th inning there were only four combined hits. In the 11th they used the new Olympic rule to force the game to an end. They automatically put runners on first and second with no outs. This is funny because I was just talking with my friend Dan from Pittsburgh about this and he said that he didn't want to watch baseball because of this stupid rule. Well, I saw it play out and it worked exactly like the Olympic committee planned. The game was over after the 11th. The US hammered Japan after receiving the forced crutch. The rule is pretty lame being that it completely changes the game.

Many people think that both the US and Japan wanted to lose. The loser plays Korea while the winner plays Cuba.

Upon entering and exiting the stadium I was amazed at the amount of ticket scalping. Easily, there were hundreds of scalpers. They were prepared with signs in many languages. Like scalpers anywhere in the world they were annoying.

To end on a bright note, beer (bud, tsingtao, yanjing) were all about .75 each. I paid $8.00 in Tokyo. Also, we made it out of the stadium and on the train in about 8 minutes.

Back in Beijing

2008-08-20T11:37:00.004+09:00

We made it back with little trouble. Little trouble was that Luhan apparently over stayed her Visa by one day. The folks at the Japan embassy here in China originally told her that the first day didn't count. Well, they were wrong and we had to pay about 40 dollars in order to leave. In that instant, the friendly, apologetic, smiley Japanese were no longer the same people I remembered throughout our travels. The big picture in the situation makes me angry, but I guess the reality is that China is an enormous country and many people go places only to never leave. Essentially this is immigration. But wait, there is a right way to go about doing this, right?

Ok, just two last things on my fascination with Japanese technology. Lets go back to the grocery store. All of the items in the grocery store have a digital price tag so that all of the prices can be controlled with the click of a mouse.

Also, the Japanese have been using this bar code system that's coordinated with cell phones. The picture above is an advertisement for this system. When you aim your cellphone camera at the code it scans it, connects to the internet and downloads the information associated with that code. There are tons of ways that the system is used. For example, in some grocery stores these bar codes are on things like vegetables and meat. Aim your cell phone at the bar code and find out information about the cow your beef is coming from or where your vegetables were grown.

I picked up this mint julep soda the other day. It was solid.

ALRIGHT, enough about Japan. I'm back in Beijing where people don't bow or constantly apologize. Tonight I'm heading out to the Japan vs. America baseball game.

Birthday party at Hooters!!

2008-08-17T12:15:00.002+09:00

Just kidding. I did, however, contemplate this idea when we were in Beijing because there is a Hooters very close to us and Luhan has never experienced such an establishment. Yes, she too can see the irony of Hooters in Asia. Can you think of a better place to have your 30th birthday party than Hooters in China?

I settled for quite the opposite here in Tokyo. A friend of Luhan`s aunt wanted to take us all out for a traditional Japanese course dinner. There were six courses, none of which I can clearly remember because I really couldn`t determine what most of the food was. There was definitely sashami, rice, miso soup, a huge raw snail and some tempura, but also many things I couldn't identify.

Afterwards, we headed to a sky lounge hotel bar on the 46th floor. It was sort of like the bar in Lost in Translation. Sorry, I couldn't bring myself to take pictures in either of these places. I like to think that I know when to be a tourist and when to put the camera away.

We have a few more days left. I'm making dinner for everyone this evening and it’s a rainy day. So, tomorrow we'll wrap things up by heading to the fish market at 5 am. The morning fish market auction comes highly recommended by J．　

baseball game at Tokyo Dome

2008-08-14T11:34:00.000+09:00

Last night Luhan`s aunt and cousin took us to a baseball game in the evening. This is something that I wanted to do while in Japan because I know that the Japanese are crazy about baseball and have a baseball league that actually dates back before world war two. This is the only baseball league in Asia with a solid history.

Tokyo Dome is smack dab in the city and pretty much resembles any other dome stadium in America. Unfortunately since we didn`t plan in advance we could only get standing tickets which were about ten dollars a pop. After scurrying around for a bit we were able to position ourselves in right field with a pretty good view. I must say, it was tough standing for an entire baseball game, and of course it had to go to twelve innings. Overall, the Giants and Tigers produced a pretty low action game, but it was entertaining. The "beer here!" folks that we see at American baseball games were fairly young Japanese girls and they carried a mini keg of beer on their back so that they could serve draft beers rather than cans.

Right beside the stadium is this enormous rollar coaster which goes around and then through a building. We rode it after the game and I thought that I was going to die during the initial drop. You get this amazing view of Tokyo for about 3 seconds, then...

I turned 30 today here in Tokyo! Don't chuckle because you'll be there soon, if you haven't already passed.

Japan, so far...

2008-08-11T19:56:00.000+09:00

Japan has been amazing. It's really hard to sum up what it's like living here if you haven't been here. We're fortunate enough to be able to stay with Luhan's aunt in a quiet Tokyo neighborhood. My suggestion to you is to take a vacation here at some point. Innovation, beautiful modern architecture, service galore and quality quality quality seeps from this country. Sure, you have to pay for it, but really, these folks have got their shit together. Off the top of my head, this is why:

ALL of the trains are on a time table that's on the money and they stop exactly where they're supposed to. Whether the train is express, semi-express or local, you'll know exactly when it's going to be there.

The buses also use a system (see picture from kyoto) to tell you where each bus is currently on it's route. Now, this is something I could never understand why they cannot do in Brooklyn. The sad part is that this system looks at least 20 years old.

Japanese beer is excellent, for an Asian country. They have much more of a Japanese beer selection here than what you see in the states.

You can eat a great lunch at 711 or Family Mart for 5 to 8 USD.

Besides having heated toilet seats they also do wonderful things to clean you (us eyour imagination for the details).

Just last night I was in a 24 hr grocery store at about 1:30 am and they were blasting the first Run DMC album throughout the store while Tokyo suburbanites bought their kid's lunches for school.

Thoughtful design exists in everything, even my metro card.

more...

We're in Kyoto at a Hotel, and at the moment we're watching the Olympics. This is our last evening here before heading back to Tokyo for a week. We've been out and about on bicycles and foot tearin' up the town. The heat is brutal and the sun turned me pink. In a few minutes we'll be heading out to this sushi joint we've hit once already. It's easily the best sushi I done ever had. The Japanese guys scream at you when you enter, then scream again when you leave. My favorite piece is the salmon with salmon roe. In second place is the shrimp that are literally taken from a fish tank near the sushi bar and moved onto your plate for some soy sauce and wasabi soaking. I've also been enjoying the Yakitori, BBQ skewers. I've included a picture from a Yakitori evening. When we get back to Beijing I'll post all of the pics on Flickr if you're so inclined to see them.

We do have friends in China afterall

2008-07-31T22:55:00.000+09:00

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

2008-07-27T10:28:00.000+09:00

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

2008-07-24T13:33:00.000+09:00

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

2008-07-22T14:23:00.000+09:00

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!

2008-07-21T12:05:00.000+09:00

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

2008-07-19T19:16:00.000+09:00

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.

2008-07-16T12:32:00.001+09:00

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

2008-07-14T23:35:00.000+09:00

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

2008-07-11T11:06:00.000+09:00

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

2008-07-09T23:33:00.001+09:00

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

2008-07-06T09:54:00.000+09:00

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

2008-07-06T09:43:00.000+09:00

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.

Blue & Gold pool sharks

2008-06-30T14:16:00.000+09:00

Last night in the East village. After dinner at Peter Luger's we had a little going away party at Blue and Gold, a small dive with a decent pool table and a better jukebox. J and I ran the table for more than six games just like it should be. When we're on, it's a pretty good night. It'll be a while before we all get together like that again.

Last BBQ in Brooklyn

2008-06-29T10:58:00.000+09:00

It's official. Our plane leaves on Monday morning and we'll be in Beijing twelve hours later. One last BBQ a few weeks ago. It rained hard and long so we had to head to my apartment. The park would have been nicer. We grilled on the fire escape. Through the wind and rain I used an umbrella to shield the grill. A throw away grill lies on the other side of the fire escape where it has remained for about one year. We had a BBQ when we first moved in. Good times. Full, warm stomach. Myself, Luhan, Dan, his wife Su (below), Jocelyn, Euna, Su's cousin and Joel, Dan's friend from college.