Last weekend, I went to Tianjin, a port city that China was forced to open up to the West in the 19th century. Since I was in Henan, I tried to rush back to Beijing in time to catch the train with the colleagues I was going to Tianjin with, but really dense fog in Beijing ruined those plans. Many of the pilots in China are relatively new and inexperienced since the aviation industry in China is growing so rapidly. Thus, even though the planes are equipped with technology to land and take off in heavy fog, they decided to just shut down the airport. Since I was away, I did not realize that the fog had been a problem for almost a week. When I finally did get back to Beijing, it felt almost surreal – dark, misty clouds covered everything, making even the building down the street difficult to see. The next morning, I embarked on my first train experience – on my own. Masses of people were everywhere, pushing and shoving like their life depended on it. But eventually I did managed to get on the right train and made it to Tianjin. When I arrived there, a mass of taxi cab drivers approached me like a pack of wolves. I could barely understand most of them but managed to get one of them to take me where I wanted to go.
As a result of its history, Tianjin is a cool mix of local and foreign. On the first day, we went to visit the Ancient Cultural Street and the Old Chinatown, where we sampled a ton of local snacks, and visited some cool arts and crafts stores. It’s funny that a city in China has a Chinatown, but for a while, it was occupied by all these foreign players. The French, English, German, Austrians, Italians, Belgians, Russians and Japanese all established their own concessions in Tianjin, so there is a ton of buildings with European architecture. We walked around the Wudadao area the next day, where it completely does not feel like you are in China. We saw beautiful Italian palazzos, old German and British buildings, and even an old French church.
Since Tianjin is so close to Beijing (only an hour by high-speed train), definitely want to come back. We saw the Tianjin Olympic Stadium, which is called the “water drop” in Chinese, where they will be hosting some of soccer matches for the Olympics next year. The stadium is a beautiful combination of metal and glass. It in the sun, it was shiny and reflective, and it does sort of resemble a water drop. Am trying to get Olympic tickets for next year for events in both Beijing and in Tianjin. But alas, the website crashed within half an hour yesterday when the tickets went on sale. Now, they are not sure when they are going to sell tickets again. The problem is the tickets are priced way too low (to make the games accessible to the local people). Ticket prices start at 30RMB, the equivalent of less than $5. Even the most expensive tickets to the women’s gymnastics finals only cost about $40! Craziness. I’m just planning to see what I get and then if anyone is interested in coming to China for the Olympics, let me know! Should be fun.
First it was heavy fog in Beijing, and this week it’s crazy windstorms. They blow up all the dust on the ground, sending huge swirls of dust and debris everywhere. There are heavy sandstorms in the winter which blows sand all the way from the Gobi desert to Beijing. Not looking forward to those. The sand supposedly coats anything and everything outside – including people. And I decided not to go to Africa so I wouldn’t have to deal with lack of electricity or hot water. However, even in my building, I haven’t had hot water in almost a week (thank goodness for the showers at the gym!) and they are cutting electricity tomorrow for several hours. I guess you can’t take anything for granted here. Tonight is Halloween. Should be an interesting experience here in China! But alas, I am lame and costumeless. Did not even know where to go to get one (not that I've had time to shop)...
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Monday, October 29, 2007
Hygiene
I spent the past week in Henan province, one of the regions where there is a high-prevalence of HIV infection due to the blood selling schemes in the 1990s. The town I stayed in is pretty rural and is surrounded by villages and farms. This is what most of China is like – not big modern cities like Beijing and Shanghai, but rural towns and villages. As a result, some of the modern comforts and even habits you are used to is not available here (although to be honest, sometimes people’s habits not much better in Beijing!).
For example, despite the speed and progress of development in China, good hygiene is still a serious problem. The constant hacking and spitting of phlegm, the bathrooms that smell perfumed with urine, the lack of soap and toilet paper in many of the bathrooms has given me a renewed appreciation for Purell (Kelly – I should have brought the big bottle like you said!). People just hack loudly and spit freely even in public – they don’t even try to be discreet about it. Cab drivers hack and spit out the window, people walking on the streets just hack and spit on the street. People even spit indoors. Besides the fact that it transmits germs, it is just truly gross.
And even after being in China for more than two month, I still approach every public bathroom experience (including at airports, restaurants and hospitals) with great trepidation. Although many bathrooms have western style toilets, many of them still only have squat toilets. Although they are technically more sanitary, I dislike using them. You’d think that if people grew up using squat toilets, they’d have figured out how to use it without peeing all over the place. Not the case though. But even the squat toilets can be considered a luxury in some places where the “bathroom” is pretty much just a gutter. In addition, you can never forget to bring toilet paper with you. It seems like such a basic necessity, but it is just not provided in many places.
If you visit Beijing, you will notice that there are many public bathrooms on the streets. Although there are many renovated hutong courtyard houses with all the modern amenities, most of the old hutong buildings (the ones they are knocking down left and right to make way for modernization) still do not have bathrooms. Thus, people still rely on these public bathrooms. They are to be avoided except in the most desperate of situations. And the B.O. here is simply atrocious. Deodorant has clearly not made it to this country. I try to avoid hot, crowded places (like the subway which is not air-conditioned). Enough said.
Kelly is convinced that living in China for a year will shorten my life by five. I originally told her not to be silly, but I’m beginning to concur. I think I have inhaled more second hand smoke this month than my entire life prior to moving to China. People are allowed to smoke everywhere. 50% of Chinese doctors smoke (and one of them told me that there have been studies that prove that people who smoke and those who don’t have the same life expectancy…). The tobacco industry is government-owned so there is absolutely no incentive for the government to encourage people not to smoke – it is just too lucrative for them. People smoke in front of children with lung infections, pneumonia and TB. Some doctors even smoke during patient consultations. It is just crazy. They pretty much consider it an inalienable right.
On top of that, the pollution in Beijing is really out-of-control. I really don’t see how the Chinese government will be able to clean up the air by the Olympics next year. On bad days, it feels like you are walking through a cloud forest. It appears foggy all the time and even buildings just a short distance away is barely visible through the haze. They claimed to have had over 250 blue-sky days last year. Not sure who makes the determination that the sky is blue in Beijing, but I can assure you there’s no way they can have that many. I’ve only witnessed a handful. Oh, and I mentioned that I’ve already been to China’s most polluted city – Linfen. It’s apparently also the world’s 2nd most polluted city. Some city in Azerbaijan beat out Linfen to earn the ignominious honor of world’s most polluted city. As a result of the combination, I seem to have developed a cough that won’t go away.
Many of the kids I’ve seen suffer from infections as a result of their depressed immune systems. However, most of the adults did not really understand the importance of hygiene. When a kid dropped some M&Ms that I had given him on the ground, his grandmother tried to pick it up off the ground and put it in the kid’s mouth (granted M&Ms are a luxury to them, one that many of the kids were enjoying for the first time, but eek!!!). In addition, I have seem so many little hands (and big hands!) caked with dirt during my site visits that I started to lecture the parents on the importance of cleanliness – on how even simple things like washing your hands more often can make a difference and prevent the transmission of germs and diseases. I also try to emphasize to smokers that they should NOT smoke in the presence of children. Maybe that is my contribution to public health in China, since I can’t actually treat patients.
For example, despite the speed and progress of development in China, good hygiene is still a serious problem. The constant hacking and spitting of phlegm, the bathrooms that smell perfumed with urine, the lack of soap and toilet paper in many of the bathrooms has given me a renewed appreciation for Purell (Kelly – I should have brought the big bottle like you said!). People just hack loudly and spit freely even in public – they don’t even try to be discreet about it. Cab drivers hack and spit out the window, people walking on the streets just hack and spit on the street. People even spit indoors. Besides the fact that it transmits germs, it is just truly gross.
And even after being in China for more than two month, I still approach every public bathroom experience (including at airports, restaurants and hospitals) with great trepidation. Although many bathrooms have western style toilets, many of them still only have squat toilets. Although they are technically more sanitary, I dislike using them. You’d think that if people grew up using squat toilets, they’d have figured out how to use it without peeing all over the place. Not the case though. But even the squat toilets can be considered a luxury in some places where the “bathroom” is pretty much just a gutter. In addition, you can never forget to bring toilet paper with you. It seems like such a basic necessity, but it is just not provided in many places.
If you visit Beijing, you will notice that there are many public bathrooms on the streets. Although there are many renovated hutong courtyard houses with all the modern amenities, most of the old hutong buildings (the ones they are knocking down left and right to make way for modernization) still do not have bathrooms. Thus, people still rely on these public bathrooms. They are to be avoided except in the most desperate of situations. And the B.O. here is simply atrocious. Deodorant has clearly not made it to this country. I try to avoid hot, crowded places (like the subway which is not air-conditioned). Enough said.
Kelly is convinced that living in China for a year will shorten my life by five. I originally told her not to be silly, but I’m beginning to concur. I think I have inhaled more second hand smoke this month than my entire life prior to moving to China. People are allowed to smoke everywhere. 50% of Chinese doctors smoke (and one of them told me that there have been studies that prove that people who smoke and those who don’t have the same life expectancy…). The tobacco industry is government-owned so there is absolutely no incentive for the government to encourage people not to smoke – it is just too lucrative for them. People smoke in front of children with lung infections, pneumonia and TB. Some doctors even smoke during patient consultations. It is just crazy. They pretty much consider it an inalienable right.
On top of that, the pollution in Beijing is really out-of-control. I really don’t see how the Chinese government will be able to clean up the air by the Olympics next year. On bad days, it feels like you are walking through a cloud forest. It appears foggy all the time and even buildings just a short distance away is barely visible through the haze. They claimed to have had over 250 blue-sky days last year. Not sure who makes the determination that the sky is blue in Beijing, but I can assure you there’s no way they can have that many. I’ve only witnessed a handful. Oh, and I mentioned that I’ve already been to China’s most polluted city – Linfen. It’s apparently also the world’s 2nd most polluted city. Some city in Azerbaijan beat out Linfen to earn the ignominious honor of world’s most polluted city. As a result of the combination, I seem to have developed a cough that won’t go away.
Many of the kids I’ve seen suffer from infections as a result of their depressed immune systems. However, most of the adults did not really understand the importance of hygiene. When a kid dropped some M&Ms that I had given him on the ground, his grandmother tried to pick it up off the ground and put it in the kid’s mouth (granted M&Ms are a luxury to them, one that many of the kids were enjoying for the first time, but eek!!!). In addition, I have seem so many little hands (and big hands!) caked with dirt during my site visits that I started to lecture the parents on the importance of cleanliness – on how even simple things like washing your hands more often can make a difference and prevent the transmission of germs and diseases. I also try to emphasize to smokers that they should NOT smoke in the presence of children. Maybe that is my contribution to public health in China, since I can’t actually treat patients.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
The Etiquette of Formal Meals in China
Over the course of the past month, I’ve had to survive countless formal meals with our partners in the Chinese government. These formal meals are important for the development of “guan xi,” a term that is hard to translate but sort of means relationships. Guan xi is an integral part of doing business in China and is developed over time over lunches and dinners, much like in the U.S. However, the level of binge drinking and smoking that takes place at these events has me convinced that many Chinese men are quite frankly, alcoholics. People toast each other left and right over the course of these meals, which usually takes place in private rooms within the restaurants and sometimes lasts hours, saying “gan bei,” which means dry glass. So people end up draining their glasses many times each meal. The bigger the glass, the more drunk people get. In addition to drinking beer, they drink “bai jiou” or “white wine” – a type of hard liquor made from red sorghum or another grain (it tastes sort of like tequila according to a colleague). It is generally considered really bad form to not drink when being toasted. The Chinese believe that willingness to drink a sign of honesty as liquor loosens tongues – it is a demonstration that you have nothing to hide.
In order to get things accomplished in China, our relationships with our partners at both the national, provincial and local levels are all extremely important. At each site we visited last month, we were served elaborate, multi-course meals, and of course, alcohol. It is impolite not to drink and no one wants to offend officials or doctors. As a woman, it has been tough, but not impossible to pass up the liquor with excuses that it is harder for you to drink as much as they can and take just a tiny sip of beer to placate them, but there is serious pressure to drink if you are a man. Some of these officials are seriously like tanks they can consume so much alcohol in one sitting. It feels sort of like initiation into a frat, with the drinking a part of the hazing (although the pressure to drink a lot stays pretty constant). One of the doctors I work with said that people have hold her that at the local, more grassroot level, the more you drink, the higher up you can go on the government ladder – basically, it’s a requirement to be successful. In addition, there is nothing one can do about the clouds of smoke. The restaurants even provide cigarettes at the table to patrons.
It is also important at these multi-course banquets to always ask what type of meat goes into a dish before trying it. In some areas, the specialty of the city/region is something that you don’t want to eat (like dog meat in Nanning) and they might order it for you to try. In Anhui, they ordered donkey at one of the dinners, which I managed to avoid.
I am still torn on whether it is okay to eat fruit without peeling it, raw vegetables and sushi. Every meal here is elaborate – breakfast is pretty much the same as lunch and dinner – when you’re on the road traveling with a bunch of Chinese doctors. I sort of miss a nice plain salad and a simple sandwich. But some people here wash their vegetables in a solution of diluted bleach to make it safe to eat. I’ve definitely had my fair share of raw fruits and veggies already(not washed with bleach) but so far it seems to be okay. And I was craving sushi so badly that I ate it twice this weekend even though my mom thinks I should avoid anything raw at all cost. I really miss the simplicity of fresh fish on a bed of rice. Maybe this is all just building up my immune system. Or maybe it’s just a matter of time before I inevitably get sick from being bad and ignoring professional advice on food safety. Arrgh.
I used to wonder why restaurants would only provide one copy of the menu to each table, regardless of the number of people in the party. Turns out it is the norm for one person to do all the ordering for the table. Ordering an elaborate, multi-course meal is considered an art. You have to pick several cold dishes to start, usually a soup and a variety of meat and vegetable dishes (usually heavy on meat since meals too heavy on vegetables might be taken as or considered an insult to the guests of honor at the meal) that not only highlights the specialties of the restaurant, but is also a visually pleasing blend of colors and a palatable mixture of flavors. I think you do get judged as a woman based on how well of a job you do at that. Something I need to work on since I don’t want to mess up if I were ever asked to do it for the table. However, luckily, most of the menus are thick, beautifully bound books with pictures of just about all the dishes (another reason why they only give you one per table – they must be really expensive to print). They are fun to flip through and make it easy for even a foreigner who can’t speak Chinese to order a meal. You can eat really well by just pointing at pictures. Bon appétit!
In order to get things accomplished in China, our relationships with our partners at both the national, provincial and local levels are all extremely important. At each site we visited last month, we were served elaborate, multi-course meals, and of course, alcohol. It is impolite not to drink and no one wants to offend officials or doctors. As a woman, it has been tough, but not impossible to pass up the liquor with excuses that it is harder for you to drink as much as they can and take just a tiny sip of beer to placate them, but there is serious pressure to drink if you are a man. Some of these officials are seriously like tanks they can consume so much alcohol in one sitting. It feels sort of like initiation into a frat, with the drinking a part of the hazing (although the pressure to drink a lot stays pretty constant). One of the doctors I work with said that people have hold her that at the local, more grassroot level, the more you drink, the higher up you can go on the government ladder – basically, it’s a requirement to be successful. In addition, there is nothing one can do about the clouds of smoke. The restaurants even provide cigarettes at the table to patrons.
It is also important at these multi-course banquets to always ask what type of meat goes into a dish before trying it. In some areas, the specialty of the city/region is something that you don’t want to eat (like dog meat in Nanning) and they might order it for you to try. In Anhui, they ordered donkey at one of the dinners, which I managed to avoid.
I am still torn on whether it is okay to eat fruit without peeling it, raw vegetables and sushi. Every meal here is elaborate – breakfast is pretty much the same as lunch and dinner – when you’re on the road traveling with a bunch of Chinese doctors. I sort of miss a nice plain salad and a simple sandwich. But some people here wash their vegetables in a solution of diluted bleach to make it safe to eat. I’ve definitely had my fair share of raw fruits and veggies already(not washed with bleach) but so far it seems to be okay. And I was craving sushi so badly that I ate it twice this weekend even though my mom thinks I should avoid anything raw at all cost. I really miss the simplicity of fresh fish on a bed of rice. Maybe this is all just building up my immune system. Or maybe it’s just a matter of time before I inevitably get sick from being bad and ignoring professional advice on food safety. Arrgh.
I used to wonder why restaurants would only provide one copy of the menu to each table, regardless of the number of people in the party. Turns out it is the norm for one person to do all the ordering for the table. Ordering an elaborate, multi-course meal is considered an art. You have to pick several cold dishes to start, usually a soup and a variety of meat and vegetable dishes (usually heavy on meat since meals too heavy on vegetables might be taken as or considered an insult to the guests of honor at the meal) that not only highlights the specialties of the restaurant, but is also a visually pleasing blend of colors and a palatable mixture of flavors. I think you do get judged as a woman based on how well of a job you do at that. Something I need to work on since I don’t want to mess up if I were ever asked to do it for the table. However, luckily, most of the menus are thick, beautifully bound books with pictures of just about all the dishes (another reason why they only give you one per table – they must be really expensive to print). They are fun to flip through and make it easy for even a foreigner who can’t speak Chinese to order a meal. You can eat really well by just pointing at pictures. Bon appétit!
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Great Wall
I've always considered the Great Wall, which recently got selected as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World, one of those things I should see because I am in China, not one of those things I am particularly excited about seeing. I mean, it's just a big, long wall (or so I thought). Since I had not seen it yet and we had visitors at the office from other countries who wanted to go to the Great Wall earlier this week, I tagged along with them. We were short on time so we went to the Mutianyu section of the wall, approximately 90km outside Beijing. On a clear day in Beijing, you can make out the faint outlines of the mountains on which the wall is built on the horizon (but this is a rare sight indeed). We had a relatively pollution-free week and really good weather so it was a great time to go.
There are 2 ways to up the mountain to the wall - hike up hundreds of steps or do it the lazy way and go up via cable cars. We decided to walk up. I have to say I was really impressed with the wall when I made it up there. You can see the wall stretch in both directions as far as the eyes can see. It was built over the course of 2,000 years and measures about 20,000 km, going all the way out to Gansu province in the west. Beijing is definitely not the only place where you can catch a glimpse of the wall - it's just the most convenient one for visitors. The views from the wall are beautiful. Although the trees have not changed colors yet, the mountains were tall and majestic and surround you on all sides. While there is some development in the area, I think the government has done a good job maintaining the pristine beauty of the countryside here for visitors to enjoy.
There are many sections of the wall you can visit around Beijing. Some are completely renovated and feel very fake, but there are other sections that are unrenovated (in fact, sections of it are crumbling) where walking along the Great Wall makes you feel like "you are walking on a part of history." I'd definitely want to try hiking from Jinshanling to Simatai sometime this month. Now that I've actually seen the wall, I am excited about that trip!
There are 2 ways to up the mountain to the wall - hike up hundreds of steps or do it the lazy way and go up via cable cars. We decided to walk up. I have to say I was really impressed with the wall when I made it up there. You can see the wall stretch in both directions as far as the eyes can see. It was built over the course of 2,000 years and measures about 20,000 km, going all the way out to Gansu province in the west. Beijing is definitely not the only place where you can catch a glimpse of the wall - it's just the most convenient one for visitors. The views from the wall are beautiful. Although the trees have not changed colors yet, the mountains were tall and majestic and surround you on all sides. While there is some development in the area, I think the government has done a good job maintaining the pristine beauty of the countryside here for visitors to enjoy.
There are many sections of the wall you can visit around Beijing. Some are completely renovated and feel very fake, but there are other sections that are unrenovated (in fact, sections of it are crumbling) where walking along the Great Wall makes you feel like "you are walking on a part of history." I'd definitely want to try hiking from Jinshanling to Simatai sometime this month. Now that I've actually seen the wall, I am excited about that trip!
Monday, October 8, 2007
More on Mooncakes and My First Blue Sky Day
Just to emphasize the silliness of the whole mooncake-giving culture in China, here are some stats as reported by China Daily, the English language newspaper controlled by the government. Approximately 250,000 tonnes of mooncakes were sold last year for Mid-Autumn Festival. The cost of all the mooncakes – a whopping $1.42 billion (11 billion RMB). They come in with all sorts of fillings and all a wide range of price points. In Chengdu, I saw advertisements for mooncakes with shark fin and bird’s nest (basically bird spit collected in caves – really expensive stuff). To impress clients, family members, friends, etc., the Chinese spent exorbitant amounts buying mooncakes, which can cost hundreds of dollars a box and which come in extravagant packaging.
According to the China Daily columnist, “consumption of mooncakes has one simple purpose – to maintain relationships.” It’d be more accurate to say “the exchange of mooncakes” as opposed to “consumption.” People basically give this stuff to each other even though I am certain that no one actually eats all the mooncakes he or she receives. In addition the writer added, “How many mooncakes one gets measures his intangible value. The more you receive, the more respect you have.” By this logic, I am pretty much valueless and wholly unrespected since I only received 3 boxes (and that’s already more mooncakes than any one person can actually consume!). It’s all just so wasteful and ridiculous!
And in exciting news - Beijing was absolutely gorgeous today. We had our first clear day since I arrived in China almost 2 months ago. For a change you can see the color of the sky (it's really blue!) and see things in the horizon. Definitely a momentous occasion in my mind.
According to the China Daily columnist, “consumption of mooncakes has one simple purpose – to maintain relationships.” It’d be more accurate to say “the exchange of mooncakes” as opposed to “consumption.” People basically give this stuff to each other even though I am certain that no one actually eats all the mooncakes he or she receives. In addition the writer added, “How many mooncakes one gets measures his intangible value. The more you receive, the more respect you have.” By this logic, I am pretty much valueless and wholly unrespected since I only received 3 boxes (and that’s already more mooncakes than any one person can actually consume!). It’s all just so wasteful and ridiculous!
And in exciting news - Beijing was absolutely gorgeous today. We had our first clear day since I arrived in China almost 2 months ago. For a change you can see the color of the sky (it's really blue!) and see things in the horizon. Definitely a momentous occasion in my mind.
A Boat Trip up the Yangtze River
For October holidays, my friend Reshma and I decided to do what the locals do – take a boat trip up the Yangtze River from Yichang to Chongqing to see the famed Three Gorges on a Chinese cruise ship. We arrived in Wuhan, traveled across Hubei Province by bus to Yichang where we met another friend and headed to Changyang, a sleepy little farming town about an hour outside Yichang, for a day of hiking before making it back to Yichang to see the Three Gorges Dam prior to embarking on our river cruise.
Changyang was a pretty little town surrounded by mountains next to a river. We were there for National Day (October 1), one of 3 major holidays in China where residents get the full week off. It felt like the entire town was out on the streets and in the main town square. One of the things we noticed right away was the profusion of shoe stores (I just don’t see how this small town can support this many shoe stores), clothing stores and babies. Out in the countryside, the one-child policy is less stringently enforced, and we saw babies everywhere. Many people carried them in baskets on their back. The babies in China don’t use diapers – instead, they were pants with a split crotch and parents literally hold them over trash cans and street corners whenever nature calls. A bit unsettling to see when you are walking down the street. This happens everywhere, not just in Changyang.
In Yichang, we visited the Three Gorges Dam – the biggest dam in the world. The massive dam was built to supply energy to an increasingly power-hungry country. The local people were very proud of it. The project has been going on since the late 1990s and will finally be completed in 2009. It has displaced over 1 million families (many of them not properly compensated) and when completed, the rising waters from the dam will flood many cultural sites, including filling in parts of the Three Gorges. The dam contained a 5-layer ship lock and a massive wall that spans the river. It is quite a tourist spectacle, with buses hauling thousands of people there daily to several designated viewing sites to see the monstrosity. The scale of the whole project is really quite impressive. However, there are concerns that shoddy work went into it and that the damming of the river will cause serious environmental degradation.
Our Chinese cruise is definitely not for the faint of heart. Reshma and I were the only foreigners on the boat. Even though the 2 of us were in a first class cabin – it was small and very basic. In some of the cabins, we saw 6 beds cramped into the same space as our room, which is crazy. The Chinese were loud, they smoked incessantly, and they were aggressive and pushy (and unapologetic about it). But the views of the Gorges were beautiful (reminds me a bit of Halong Bay, but not as impressive) and it has been interesting seeing what a typical, mid-upper class Chinese family vacation is like.
At Shennonxia, we took a smaller boat up the Shennon River where we saw the rock formations up close. We also got to take small wooden boats rowed by the local “boat trackers.” Before we left, the guide had been explaining in Chinese that we would get the opportunity to see the local way of life there, but because of my imperfect Chinese, all I could understand was that we would see people doing something and we ladies don’t need to worry about our sensibilities since they won’t be doing it naked as they used to do it because of tourism in the area. It turned out that he was talking about the boat trackers – now they row and pull boats in underwear or shorts as opposed to in the buff, but there were pictures of them doing it naked all over the place (they show their naked behinds). We also got to see a performance where someone juggled knives and meat cleavers, something they do in the area. It was fun to watch – definitely a “do not try this at home” type of performance.
We stopped by the White Emperor Town in the evening. Perched on a cliff overlooking the waters, the temple at the top could only be accessed by a set of stairs with hundreds of steps. As a result, there were locals who carried people in these seats attached to bamboo poles all the way up to the top. The temple commemorates an event detailed in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which I feel like I should read. Neither Reshma nor I had read the novel and we know almost nothing about Chinese history so while it was a pretty stop, we really could not understand the historical significance of the site.
On the second day of the cruise, we stopped at Ghost City near the town of Fengdu in Chongqing Province. It was definitely my favorite stop. Numerous temples have been built atop a hill with sculptures of demons and ghosts since the Tang Dynasty. We walked down Ghost Street, which, according to legends, is a bazaar for the nether world. It is dotted with some altars and temples, as well as a bunch of little shops selling Halloween-style masks. It felt sort of like a Chinese version of Salem, MA. A bunch of demon sculptures lined both sides of the path up to the Ghost Palace, which for some reason we couldn’t get into.
However, we were able to go up the other side of the hill to the temples that lined the hillside. We climbed up over 400 steps to get to the base of the temples, passing by the Thanks Giving Temple, to reach the Temple of Light. More steps led us up past yet more temples to the very top to the hill where the Palace of Heaven (the path was also lined with sculptures of demons) was located. The climb up was really pretty with views of Fengdu across the river and the fauna-covered hills surrounding the temples. I guess all the creepy temples with names such as Palace of the King of Hell were in the other area, inside Ghost Palace.
I couldn’t quite understand whether the local people believed it was a place representing hell. Despite all the demon and ghost sculptures, you’re supposed to light incense for peace and serenity. Either way, Reshma and I definitely had a great time there.
We arrived in Chongqing City, at the crack of dawn yesterday. Chongqing is built on a bunch of steep hills overlooking the Jialing River and the Yangtze River. The two rivers meet at Chaotianmen dock, which is built to look like a ship (and it really does!), where we disembarked. As a result of the hills, there are almost no bikes in this city. The streets looped up and down the hilly slopes, making navigating the city difficult even with a map. Some roads are so steep that some of the cars had trouble going up. The weather there was also really hot – over 90 degrees even though it’s October. The weather during the summer often exceeds 100 degrees, earning it a place among China’s 3 furnaces, alongside Wuhan and Nanjing (2 cities I’ve stopped through but have not visited).
After we dropped off our bags at the hotel, we decided to join a tour to what we thought were the Dazu Caves, a set of Buddhist Grotto Caves about 2 hours outside Chongqing. Instead, we found ourselves going to random stops around the city, including the Ciqikuo Ancient Town and the Huguang Immigration Museum. Although I asked several times if we were going to the caves, the answer was always yes. Turns out that my Mandarin Chinese failed me badly – we ended up at the Zhazi Caves (in my own defense – Dazu Caves and Zhazi Cave sound really similar, especially when people speak with such different accents!), a former coal mine turned prison during the Kuomingtang (KMT) rule in the 1940s. So instead of taking Reshma to see caves filled with Buddhist murals and sculptures (a World Heritage site), we ended up touring a couple of notorious prisons. The second prison, Baigongguan, used to be a former villa that U.S. diplomats stayed at during visits to China. Both were located up in the mountains surrounding the city. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to visit Dazu Caves today since we had to return to Beijing.
I definitely join tour groups in China with a bit of apprehension since they usually involve a lot of random shopping stops and very little time at the actual sights. This one was no different. The tours are sometimes unavoidable since it is difficult to get to some of the tourist sites otherwise. Getting to Dazu Caves requires taking a bus to Dazu County and then another bus to the caves. We thought a tour would make it easier to get there. But in the end, we got stuck touring the production site for spices that went into Chongqing’s famous hotpots, which ended at the company’s store, and watching a knife demonstration (a live infomercial) at their Olympic center (I think it’s actually just a stadium since I don’t think any Olympic events will be taking place here).
But the day ended well nonetheless. We walked around downtown Chongqing, visited their Liberation Monument, found the Arhat Temple (which we could not go into since it was closed by that time of the night), took a cable ride over the Yangtze to the south side of the city and had a really yummy dinner right by the river. The views from the cable car station, which is on top of a hill, and from the cable car as we were crossing the river were both really neat. We got a bird’s eye view of some old sections of the city (though much of the old buildings are being knocked down for new high-rises along the river). When it got dark, the city was lit up by neon lights. There were lights on buildings and even lights along the bridges and highways. It was rather Vegas-like but fun.
We spent most of the day back at Ciqikuo Ancient Town. We got chops made with our names in ancient Chinese, sampled a bunch of Chongqing snacks, browsed through some local arts and craft, bought some souvenirs, visited the Bao Lun Temple and learned about the history of ceramics in Ciqikuo (the name means ceramics). The views from the temple were really pretty since we were so high up.
Now, I’m back in Beijing after spending 3 weeks on the road. Will upload more pictures from my trip to Picasa.
Changyang was a pretty little town surrounded by mountains next to a river. We were there for National Day (October 1), one of 3 major holidays in China where residents get the full week off. It felt like the entire town was out on the streets and in the main town square. One of the things we noticed right away was the profusion of shoe stores (I just don’t see how this small town can support this many shoe stores), clothing stores and babies. Out in the countryside, the one-child policy is less stringently enforced, and we saw babies everywhere. Many people carried them in baskets on their back. The babies in China don’t use diapers – instead, they were pants with a split crotch and parents literally hold them over trash cans and street corners whenever nature calls. A bit unsettling to see when you are walking down the street. This happens everywhere, not just in Changyang.
In Yichang, we visited the Three Gorges Dam – the biggest dam in the world. The massive dam was built to supply energy to an increasingly power-hungry country. The local people were very proud of it. The project has been going on since the late 1990s and will finally be completed in 2009. It has displaced over 1 million families (many of them not properly compensated) and when completed, the rising waters from the dam will flood many cultural sites, including filling in parts of the Three Gorges. The dam contained a 5-layer ship lock and a massive wall that spans the river. It is quite a tourist spectacle, with buses hauling thousands of people there daily to several designated viewing sites to see the monstrosity. The scale of the whole project is really quite impressive. However, there are concerns that shoddy work went into it and that the damming of the river will cause serious environmental degradation.
Our Chinese cruise is definitely not for the faint of heart. Reshma and I were the only foreigners on the boat. Even though the 2 of us were in a first class cabin – it was small and very basic. In some of the cabins, we saw 6 beds cramped into the same space as our room, which is crazy. The Chinese were loud, they smoked incessantly, and they were aggressive and pushy (and unapologetic about it). But the views of the Gorges were beautiful (reminds me a bit of Halong Bay, but not as impressive) and it has been interesting seeing what a typical, mid-upper class Chinese family vacation is like.
At Shennonxia, we took a smaller boat up the Shennon River where we saw the rock formations up close. We also got to take small wooden boats rowed by the local “boat trackers.” Before we left, the guide had been explaining in Chinese that we would get the opportunity to see the local way of life there, but because of my imperfect Chinese, all I could understand was that we would see people doing something and we ladies don’t need to worry about our sensibilities since they won’t be doing it naked as they used to do it because of tourism in the area. It turned out that he was talking about the boat trackers – now they row and pull boats in underwear or shorts as opposed to in the buff, but there were pictures of them doing it naked all over the place (they show their naked behinds). We also got to see a performance where someone juggled knives and meat cleavers, something they do in the area. It was fun to watch – definitely a “do not try this at home” type of performance.
We stopped by the White Emperor Town in the evening. Perched on a cliff overlooking the waters, the temple at the top could only be accessed by a set of stairs with hundreds of steps. As a result, there were locals who carried people in these seats attached to bamboo poles all the way up to the top. The temple commemorates an event detailed in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which I feel like I should read. Neither Reshma nor I had read the novel and we know almost nothing about Chinese history so while it was a pretty stop, we really could not understand the historical significance of the site.
On the second day of the cruise, we stopped at Ghost City near the town of Fengdu in Chongqing Province. It was definitely my favorite stop. Numerous temples have been built atop a hill with sculptures of demons and ghosts since the Tang Dynasty. We walked down Ghost Street, which, according to legends, is a bazaar for the nether world. It is dotted with some altars and temples, as well as a bunch of little shops selling Halloween-style masks. It felt sort of like a Chinese version of Salem, MA. A bunch of demon sculptures lined both sides of the path up to the Ghost Palace, which for some reason we couldn’t get into.
However, we were able to go up the other side of the hill to the temples that lined the hillside. We climbed up over 400 steps to get to the base of the temples, passing by the Thanks Giving Temple, to reach the Temple of Light. More steps led us up past yet more temples to the very top to the hill where the Palace of Heaven (the path was also lined with sculptures of demons) was located. The climb up was really pretty with views of Fengdu across the river and the fauna-covered hills surrounding the temples. I guess all the creepy temples with names such as Palace of the King of Hell were in the other area, inside Ghost Palace.
I couldn’t quite understand whether the local people believed it was a place representing hell. Despite all the demon and ghost sculptures, you’re supposed to light incense for peace and serenity. Either way, Reshma and I definitely had a great time there.
We arrived in Chongqing City, at the crack of dawn yesterday. Chongqing is built on a bunch of steep hills overlooking the Jialing River and the Yangtze River. The two rivers meet at Chaotianmen dock, which is built to look like a ship (and it really does!), where we disembarked. As a result of the hills, there are almost no bikes in this city. The streets looped up and down the hilly slopes, making navigating the city difficult even with a map. Some roads are so steep that some of the cars had trouble going up. The weather there was also really hot – over 90 degrees even though it’s October. The weather during the summer often exceeds 100 degrees, earning it a place among China’s 3 furnaces, alongside Wuhan and Nanjing (2 cities I’ve stopped through but have not visited).
After we dropped off our bags at the hotel, we decided to join a tour to what we thought were the Dazu Caves, a set of Buddhist Grotto Caves about 2 hours outside Chongqing. Instead, we found ourselves going to random stops around the city, including the Ciqikuo Ancient Town and the Huguang Immigration Museum. Although I asked several times if we were going to the caves, the answer was always yes. Turns out that my Mandarin Chinese failed me badly – we ended up at the Zhazi Caves (in my own defense – Dazu Caves and Zhazi Cave sound really similar, especially when people speak with such different accents!), a former coal mine turned prison during the Kuomingtang (KMT) rule in the 1940s. So instead of taking Reshma to see caves filled with Buddhist murals and sculptures (a World Heritage site), we ended up touring a couple of notorious prisons. The second prison, Baigongguan, used to be a former villa that U.S. diplomats stayed at during visits to China. Both were located up in the mountains surrounding the city. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to visit Dazu Caves today since we had to return to Beijing.
I definitely join tour groups in China with a bit of apprehension since they usually involve a lot of random shopping stops and very little time at the actual sights. This one was no different. The tours are sometimes unavoidable since it is difficult to get to some of the tourist sites otherwise. Getting to Dazu Caves requires taking a bus to Dazu County and then another bus to the caves. We thought a tour would make it easier to get there. But in the end, we got stuck touring the production site for spices that went into Chongqing’s famous hotpots, which ended at the company’s store, and watching a knife demonstration (a live infomercial) at their Olympic center (I think it’s actually just a stadium since I don’t think any Olympic events will be taking place here).
But the day ended well nonetheless. We walked around downtown Chongqing, visited their Liberation Monument, found the Arhat Temple (which we could not go into since it was closed by that time of the night), took a cable ride over the Yangtze to the south side of the city and had a really yummy dinner right by the river. The views from the cable car station, which is on top of a hill, and from the cable car as we were crossing the river were both really neat. We got a bird’s eye view of some old sections of the city (though much of the old buildings are being knocked down for new high-rises along the river). When it got dark, the city was lit up by neon lights. There were lights on buildings and even lights along the bridges and highways. It was rather Vegas-like but fun.
We spent most of the day back at Ciqikuo Ancient Town. We got chops made with our names in ancient Chinese, sampled a bunch of Chongqing snacks, browsed through some local arts and craft, bought some souvenirs, visited the Bao Lun Temple and learned about the history of ceramics in Ciqikuo (the name means ceramics). The views from the temple were really pretty since we were so high up.
Now, I’m back in Beijing after spending 3 weeks on the road. Will upload more pictures from my trip to Picasa.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Chengdu
Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan Province, which is famous for its spicy cuisine. Sichuan Province is also the main habitat for panda bears - considered a national treasure. We came here for a conference where Herb was supposed to be the main speaker, teaching Sichuan Province's doctors about pediatric HIV/AIDS treatment and care. However, the hotel they picked to hold the event was smack in the middle of the military district. We were not allowed to stay there, nor was he allowed to lecture for more than half a day in the end.
I stayed several days in Chengdu, a couple with colleagues during the conference and then on my own for a couple more. It was a city of several firsts for me. Since half the guys I work with are gay, including my direct manager, I ended up going to my first gay bar with him and a couple of other people. Definitely a very interesting experience, complete with underwear modeling and drag show. The men were so androgenous that they actually looked like really pretty women in drag. I definitely think that Chinese society is becoming liberal very rapidly. I've definitely noticed a ton of "adult health" or "couples health" stores - which someone pointed out were sex shops. They are not hidden in back alleys but had prominent signs. I found it a bit surprising.
I went to get a massage at this place where the the masseuses were trained at the Chengdu Traditional Chinese Medicine University. While I was there, I decided to be adventurous and get "scrapping" and "cupping" done on my back as well. Scrapping involves scrapping your back with a porcelain spoon to improve circulation. They believe that in spots where you have stress or tension, scrapping releases tension by drawing the blood to the surface and leaving a bruise. Cupping involves heating glasses with fire to remove oxygen from the glass, and then quickly cupping your back with the glass so that it creates a suction effect on your back. It is supposed to draw toxins out by drawing blood to the surface and leaving a bruise also. Places that are normal should not bruise. However, my back must be in bad shape since it is currently a mass of horrible looking bruises. I seriously look like a battered wife or something - it's pretty terrible. Don't think I believe in the effects of either.
A visit to Chengdu is incomplete without seeing a panda, so I visited the Giant Panda Breeding Research Base. The fall is when the baby pandas are born and I had heard in the news that a couple of panda bears had given birth to twins. I was excited about seeing panda babies. It was a rainy and dreary morning but I saw several month-old pandas (not as cute as you would imagine) and one about 2 months old (this one was adorable) in the "panda nursery." The 9 1-year old cubs that were playing in their enclosure were so adorable - they chased each other around in their playground and climbed trees. It was fun to watch. The adult bears are rather boring though - they just eat and sleep. I also watched a video about the panda breeding process at the center. Pandas are sometimes just unable to find a mate and breed, so they've resorted to artificial insemination.
I also made it to most of the other sites in the city including Wenshu Temple, the Green Ram Temple, the Wuhou Temple and Du Fu's Cottage, but one of the best parts was definitely the food. I tried Sichuan Hot Pot (but I was a chicken about spicy food so my co-workers order it not spicy) as well as tons of little Sichuan "snacks." We tried 24 different kinds at one restaurant - it included dumplings, noodles, sweets and other little dishes. I also tried several snacks at Jinli, an old street in the middle of the city right next to Wuhou Temple. You walk up and down the snack street there where just about everything is less than a dollar and you create a meal out of snacks. It was delicious and fun. I met a couple of local Chinese people who were shocked I didn't know what some kind of candy was and ended up eating with them. The candy looks like cotton candy rolled in peanut powder, but rolled up in small pieces. It was not that good. Oh well.
One of the other fun things about Jinli was also the arts and crafts on display. Chengdu is famous for its blown candy. They blow candy into animal figures just like you would blow glass. It is incredible to watch. There is also some type of candy art where they draw pictures using molten sugar which then hardens and becomes a lollipop. Also - there was a booth with Shadow Puppets. They make these puppets attached to sticks dance behind a lit-up screen. It is fun to watch.
Sichuan also has its own form of opera which involves a mix of more traditional opera, some acrobatics, fire-blowing, face-changing and slap-stick humor. The acrobatics was amazing to watch but the face-changing was really what made Sichuan Opera unique. The actors would cover their faces for a second and they would literally change their faces to a different mask. But it's instantaneous - I still don't know how they do it. Definitely something to go see if you are in Chengdu.
Am in Hubei province now where I will be taking a boat ride up the Yangzhi River to see the Three Gorges. Really looking forward to that - it's supposed to be beautiful.
I stayed several days in Chengdu, a couple with colleagues during the conference and then on my own for a couple more. It was a city of several firsts for me. Since half the guys I work with are gay, including my direct manager, I ended up going to my first gay bar with him and a couple of other people. Definitely a very interesting experience, complete with underwear modeling and drag show. The men were so androgenous that they actually looked like really pretty women in drag. I definitely think that Chinese society is becoming liberal very rapidly. I've definitely noticed a ton of "adult health" or "couples health" stores - which someone pointed out were sex shops. They are not hidden in back alleys but had prominent signs. I found it a bit surprising.
I went to get a massage at this place where the the masseuses were trained at the Chengdu Traditional Chinese Medicine University. While I was there, I decided to be adventurous and get "scrapping" and "cupping" done on my back as well. Scrapping involves scrapping your back with a porcelain spoon to improve circulation. They believe that in spots where you have stress or tension, scrapping releases tension by drawing the blood to the surface and leaving a bruise. Cupping involves heating glasses with fire to remove oxygen from the glass, and then quickly cupping your back with the glass so that it creates a suction effect on your back. It is supposed to draw toxins out by drawing blood to the surface and leaving a bruise also. Places that are normal should not bruise. However, my back must be in bad shape since it is currently a mass of horrible looking bruises. I seriously look like a battered wife or something - it's pretty terrible. Don't think I believe in the effects of either.
A visit to Chengdu is incomplete without seeing a panda, so I visited the Giant Panda Breeding Research Base. The fall is when the baby pandas are born and I had heard in the news that a couple of panda bears had given birth to twins. I was excited about seeing panda babies. It was a rainy and dreary morning but I saw several month-old pandas (not as cute as you would imagine) and one about 2 months old (this one was adorable) in the "panda nursery." The 9 1-year old cubs that were playing in their enclosure were so adorable - they chased each other around in their playground and climbed trees. It was fun to watch. The adult bears are rather boring though - they just eat and sleep. I also watched a video about the panda breeding process at the center. Pandas are sometimes just unable to find a mate and breed, so they've resorted to artificial insemination.
I also made it to most of the other sites in the city including Wenshu Temple, the Green Ram Temple, the Wuhou Temple and Du Fu's Cottage, but one of the best parts was definitely the food. I tried Sichuan Hot Pot (but I was a chicken about spicy food so my co-workers order it not spicy) as well as tons of little Sichuan "snacks." We tried 24 different kinds at one restaurant - it included dumplings, noodles, sweets and other little dishes. I also tried several snacks at Jinli, an old street in the middle of the city right next to Wuhou Temple. You walk up and down the snack street there where just about everything is less than a dollar and you create a meal out of snacks. It was delicious and fun. I met a couple of local Chinese people who were shocked I didn't know what some kind of candy was and ended up eating with them. The candy looks like cotton candy rolled in peanut powder, but rolled up in small pieces. It was not that good. Oh well.
One of the other fun things about Jinli was also the arts and crafts on display. Chengdu is famous for its blown candy. They blow candy into animal figures just like you would blow glass. It is incredible to watch. There is also some type of candy art where they draw pictures using molten sugar which then hardens and becomes a lollipop. Also - there was a booth with Shadow Puppets. They make these puppets attached to sticks dance behind a lit-up screen. It is fun to watch.
Sichuan also has its own form of opera which involves a mix of more traditional opera, some acrobatics, fire-blowing, face-changing and slap-stick humor. The acrobatics was amazing to watch but the face-changing was really what made Sichuan Opera unique. The actors would cover their faces for a second and they would literally change their faces to a different mask. But it's instantaneous - I still don't know how they do it. Definitely something to go see if you are in Chengdu.
Am in Hubei province now where I will be taking a boat ride up the Yangzhi River to see the Three Gorges. Really looking forward to that - it's supposed to be beautiful.
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