I spent Saturday walking around Shanghai with Morgan and her friends who were visiting from the States. We wandered into People’s Park, expecting it to be similar to any other Chinese park with the requisite rock garden and artificial lake. However, we found a lot more in People’s Park than just rocks and water. There were hundreds of people in the park, holding pieces of paper and chatting with each other. Upon closer inspection the pieces of paper were personals complete with stats on sex, age, weight, height, education and job. Turns out the park turns into a forum for matchmaking on the weekends, where anxious parents concerned about their children’s single status can go meet other parents and find their son or daughter a spouse! Some were even hung up on a clothesline like minimalist public art in the park. Many parents were also armed with photo albums of their children ready to show anyone interested. Some of these kids are younger than me, still babies really (I'm sure they're probably not worried about their future prospects on the marriage mart, just their parents!).
An English professor at one of Shanghai’s universities started talking to us. Not surprisingly, educated women have it tough in China since men find them intimidating. Her daughter is getting an MBA in the States so she’s coming out here in secrecy to help her daughter “look around.” We saw lots of signs for female doctors and such. It was all so fascinating. I also think that the Chinese found it funny that we were there. Several of them thought we were there to join the party and look for a significant other too. We were shown albums of pictures from parents who told us their sons spoke good English!
I left feeling so relieved that my parents pretty much leave me alone and harbor no grand illusions of being able to find me my true love in a Park. But it does make me wonder what my parents would have said about me, what qualities they think I'd be attracted to, and what they qualities they would look for in a guy for their daughter.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Thanksgiving in China
Many people have asked me whether or not I would get any turkey in China for Thanksgiving. It’s not celebrated by the Chinese who think it’s an American religious holiday and don’t understand that it has to do with English colonists giving thanks to the Indians for helping them survive. And I wasn’t even sure if they even have turkeys in China to be honest. But nevertheless, I did get to eat turkey at a couple of Thanksgiving meals in Shanghai, complete with all the fixings including stuffing, yam and cranberry sauce. Qin and Mike cooked for several days to prepare the Thanksgiving feast. For the expats in China, friends are substitutes for family.
On the flight down to Shanghai, I was reading the China Daily, the English newspaper in China. There was a funny article about how some American company that exports turkeys is working on trying to convince more Chinese people to celebrate Thanksgiving and eat turkey. They’ve even invested significant time and money into coming up with turkey dishes suitable to the Chinese palate. While the Chinese are pretty eager to adopt most things American and Western, I think this one is a tough sell, considering the fact that even my parents usually substitute chicken for turkey at Thanksgiving even after living in the States for almost 20 years. They think it’s just a tough and dry bird.
Besides stuffing myself on Thanksgiving food, since the food in Shanghai is awesome, I went out to several different restaurants over the course of the weekend. For lunch on Friday, Qin took me to the French Concession where we ate at this tiny French bistro called 570. The food was delicious and the neighborhood reminded me of the village. We ate at a Chinese fusion restaurant called People 6 that night. There are 3 “People” restaurants in China, People 6, 7 and 8. Although the name is completely uncreative, the owner must have a funny sense of humor since there is usually some trick involved in getting into the restaurant and finding the bathroom. I cheated getting in since I saw someone push the hidden button that opened the door but the bathrooms were hidden in a maze of mirrors. If you walk too quickly you might just run into the mirrored wall (almost did that several times!). People 6 was followed by Thanksgiving party #2 where I had really yummy pumpkin pie.
On Saturday, I went to Yu Yuan Gardens in the Old Town. It’s a traditional Chinese area with shops, restaurants and a garden. There were thousands of people there, local and foreign. We went to Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant, which supposedly serves some of the best Shanghai soup dumplings in the city. And it must be so since the lines were absolutely outrageous. The restaurant had an army of people making the dumplings on multiple levels. It was fun to watch while we waited for our table.
On Saturday night, I went with Qin and some of her friends to the Jay Chou concert. Jay Chou is probably the hottest male pop star at the moment in Asia, often referred to as the Justin Timberlake of Asia. The Linkin Park concert I attended the weekend before had been the largest concert in Shanghai but this one had about twice as many people. I was seriously worried we would get crushed in the crowds. There were 80,000+ people in attendance. The concert was quite a visual spectacle, with fireworks, fancy lighting and graphics on multiple LCD screens. I know that he’s singing in Mandarin, a language I understand okay, but I honestly just cannot understand what he says. Nevertheless, he is quite talented – plays the piano (classically trained), drums and traditional Chinese instruments in addition to writing a lot of his own songs and lyrics.
I grabbed one last Western meal for Sunday brunch at Xintiandi, a recently renovated block of traditional “lang houses” that houses a bunch of trendy restaurants and stores. It’s a fun area if completely commercialized.
On the flight down to Shanghai, I was reading the China Daily, the English newspaper in China. There was a funny article about how some American company that exports turkeys is working on trying to convince more Chinese people to celebrate Thanksgiving and eat turkey. They’ve even invested significant time and money into coming up with turkey dishes suitable to the Chinese palate. While the Chinese are pretty eager to adopt most things American and Western, I think this one is a tough sell, considering the fact that even my parents usually substitute chicken for turkey at Thanksgiving even after living in the States for almost 20 years. They think it’s just a tough and dry bird.
Besides stuffing myself on Thanksgiving food, since the food in Shanghai is awesome, I went out to several different restaurants over the course of the weekend. For lunch on Friday, Qin took me to the French Concession where we ate at this tiny French bistro called 570. The food was delicious and the neighborhood reminded me of the village. We ate at a Chinese fusion restaurant called People 6 that night. There are 3 “People” restaurants in China, People 6, 7 and 8. Although the name is completely uncreative, the owner must have a funny sense of humor since there is usually some trick involved in getting into the restaurant and finding the bathroom. I cheated getting in since I saw someone push the hidden button that opened the door but the bathrooms were hidden in a maze of mirrors. If you walk too quickly you might just run into the mirrored wall (almost did that several times!). People 6 was followed by Thanksgiving party #2 where I had really yummy pumpkin pie.
On Saturday, I went to Yu Yuan Gardens in the Old Town. It’s a traditional Chinese area with shops, restaurants and a garden. There were thousands of people there, local and foreign. We went to Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant, which supposedly serves some of the best Shanghai soup dumplings in the city. And it must be so since the lines were absolutely outrageous. The restaurant had an army of people making the dumplings on multiple levels. It was fun to watch while we waited for our table.
On Saturday night, I went with Qin and some of her friends to the Jay Chou concert. Jay Chou is probably the hottest male pop star at the moment in Asia, often referred to as the Justin Timberlake of Asia. The Linkin Park concert I attended the weekend before had been the largest concert in Shanghai but this one had about twice as many people. I was seriously worried we would get crushed in the crowds. There were 80,000+ people in attendance. The concert was quite a visual spectacle, with fireworks, fancy lighting and graphics on multiple LCD screens. I know that he’s singing in Mandarin, a language I understand okay, but I honestly just cannot understand what he says. Nevertheless, he is quite talented – plays the piano (classically trained), drums and traditional Chinese instruments in addition to writing a lot of his own songs and lyrics.
I grabbed one last Western meal for Sunday brunch at Xintiandi, a recently renovated block of traditional “lang houses” that houses a bunch of trendy restaurants and stores. It’s a fun area if completely commercialized.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Shanghai
I visited Shanghai for the first time this past weekend. I have to say, Shanghai is so much nicer than Beijing. A big cosmopolitan city, China’s financial capital is filled with a ton of amazing restaurants and great shopping. The skyline of Pudong, with its tall, striking skyscrapers, including the soon to be tallest building in China (beaten only by the yet unfinished but soon to be tallest building in the world in Dubai I believe), rivals that of Hong Kong. People talk about stocks there the way people discuss politics in Beijing – incessantly – leading to a stock market that most agree is completely overheated and based mostly in irrational exuberance rather than any real market knowledge. Shanghai’s stock market has doubled in less than a year. Selected as the host city for the World Expo in 2010, they have embarked on an intense campaign to ready the city for the event that rivals Beijing’s preparations for the Olympics in both scope and scale. There are ads everywhere about the expo which is still 3 years away.
I arrived at Pudong airport which is located about 30km outside downtown Shanghai. I took the Maglev which got me to the city in less than 8 minutes. The train, built with high-tech German magnetic levitation technology, reached a speed of 431km/hr (over 250 miles/hr) during the ride – it was incredible. I even took a picture just to prove it! The train doesn’t go anywhere at the moment except between the city and the airport. Of course, you might be wondering why the hell a city would spend a ton of money to build a high-speed railway that only goes 30km in total when the technology clearly only makes sense for longer distances. Rumor has it that China hired the German company so that it can watch and learn and then promptly kicked out the Germans after stealing their technology. While I don’t know if this is real or not, I do believe they plan to extend the train to Hangzhou eventually. There are also plans to build a high-speed train between Shanghai and Beijing (now this completely makes sense… right now, it takes 11 hours to travel between the two cities by train and this will be cut by half). Regardless, the train is pretty amazing.
Shanghai’s subway system is also really nice – very similar in design to that of other big major Asian cities including Hong Kong, Bangkok and Taipei. But you won’t forget you’re in China because the people are extremely rude, and push and shove. A girl was reduced to tears since people shoved onto the train at one particularly crowded stop without letting her off. It was unreal. Like every other place in China, there are just masses of people everywhere. I was so sure someone would get crushed on that train. It was completely out of control. This is why I avoid public transportation in Beijing unless forced by congested traffic during rush hour.
Across the river from modern Pudong is the Bund, which is lined with beautiful buildings with European architecture. We ate at New Heights, a trendy restaurant on 3 on the Bund, which had fabulous views of the rest of the Bund and of Pudong. The food in Shanghai was fabulous – better than Hong Kong (or maybe I just really miss Western foods). New Heights and Azul, the other restaurant I ate at with friends, were both delicious. Azul in particular had an amazing brunch, complete with scones, muffins, smoked salmon and an antipasto plate. Now, I am resolved to seek out more foreign restaurants in Beijing. I have grown tired of traditional Chinese food despite the variety since it is too heavy and greasy here.
The main reason I ended up in Shanghai this weekend was for a Linkin Park concert. I know that it’s really random for me to come out to China to see Linkin Park but it was the idea of a colleague who is a local person. Although she ended up cancelling on me, the tickets were already purchased so I ended up coming to Shanghai. Watching dorky Chinese guys sing to Linkin Park was a funny experience. But I have to say they were good – they knew all the songs and all the lyrics. They really do take their karaoke seriously in this part of the world. My friend said that they probably practiced for the concert. It will be interesting to see how the Chinese concert my friends are taking me to this weekend (Jay Chow – the “Justin Timberlake” of Asia) compares to this one. I’ve been told to “do my homework” and listen to Jay Chow’s music. Since he mumbles through all of his songs, I often can’t even tell that he’s singing in Chinese. It just sounds like gibberish.
It’s back to Shanghai tomorrow for Thanksgiving. I don't think turkeys exist here, so it will be interesting to see what kind of Thanksgiving meal my friends come up with!
I arrived at Pudong airport which is located about 30km outside downtown Shanghai. I took the Maglev which got me to the city in less than 8 minutes. The train, built with high-tech German magnetic levitation technology, reached a speed of 431km/hr (over 250 miles/hr) during the ride – it was incredible. I even took a picture just to prove it! The train doesn’t go anywhere at the moment except between the city and the airport. Of course, you might be wondering why the hell a city would spend a ton of money to build a high-speed railway that only goes 30km in total when the technology clearly only makes sense for longer distances. Rumor has it that China hired the German company so that it can watch and learn and then promptly kicked out the Germans after stealing their technology. While I don’t know if this is real or not, I do believe they plan to extend the train to Hangzhou eventually. There are also plans to build a high-speed train between Shanghai and Beijing (now this completely makes sense… right now, it takes 11 hours to travel between the two cities by train and this will be cut by half). Regardless, the train is pretty amazing.
Shanghai’s subway system is also really nice – very similar in design to that of other big major Asian cities including Hong Kong, Bangkok and Taipei. But you won’t forget you’re in China because the people are extremely rude, and push and shove. A girl was reduced to tears since people shoved onto the train at one particularly crowded stop without letting her off. It was unreal. Like every other place in China, there are just masses of people everywhere. I was so sure someone would get crushed on that train. It was completely out of control. This is why I avoid public transportation in Beijing unless forced by congested traffic during rush hour.
Across the river from modern Pudong is the Bund, which is lined with beautiful buildings with European architecture. We ate at New Heights, a trendy restaurant on 3 on the Bund, which had fabulous views of the rest of the Bund and of Pudong. The food in Shanghai was fabulous – better than Hong Kong (or maybe I just really miss Western foods). New Heights and Azul, the other restaurant I ate at with friends, were both delicious. Azul in particular had an amazing brunch, complete with scones, muffins, smoked salmon and an antipasto plate. Now, I am resolved to seek out more foreign restaurants in Beijing. I have grown tired of traditional Chinese food despite the variety since it is too heavy and greasy here.
The main reason I ended up in Shanghai this weekend was for a Linkin Park concert. I know that it’s really random for me to come out to China to see Linkin Park but it was the idea of a colleague who is a local person. Although she ended up cancelling on me, the tickets were already purchased so I ended up coming to Shanghai. Watching dorky Chinese guys sing to Linkin Park was a funny experience. But I have to say they were good – they knew all the songs and all the lyrics. They really do take their karaoke seriously in this part of the world. My friend said that they probably practiced for the concert. It will be interesting to see how the Chinese concert my friends are taking me to this weekend (Jay Chow – the “Justin Timberlake” of Asia) compares to this one. I’ve been told to “do my homework” and listen to Jay Chow’s music. Since he mumbles through all of his songs, I often can’t even tell that he’s singing in Chinese. It just sounds like gibberish.
It’s back to Shanghai tomorrow for Thanksgiving. I don't think turkeys exist here, so it will be interesting to see what kind of Thanksgiving meal my friends come up with!
Monday, November 12, 2007
Hong Kong and Macau
Hong Kong is a bustling city mixed with tall modern skyscrapers and old tenament buildings. It is also a lot more expensive than Beijing – comparable to New York City. Having to spend the equivalent of $40+USD on a meal rather than 40RMB was a bit shocking at first. While there are some cultural institutions like the Hong Kong Museum of Art, we did not do a whole lot here except shop and eat. Much like Singapore, the city is filled with shopping malls galore and restaurants. It was extremely commercialized, with huge, flashy signs everywhere. Many of the signs stick out perpendicular to the buildings so oftentimes, much of what you see is just a chaotic jumble of signs everywhere.
Qin and I stayed in Causeway Bay, a major shopping area on Hong Kong island. While waiting for her to arrive, I walked around and visited some of the more touristy sites on my own. I saw the Golden Bauhinia – a sculpture symbolizing the return of Hong Kong to China – by the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center along the waterfront, and St. John’s Cathedral. I also saw some of the old British colonial buildings on the island. Being a pedestrian in Hong Kong is very confusing. Besides the fact the streets are not straight, there are also a lot of pedestrian footbridges but it is not always clear how to get on to them or where they lead. In the Central area, the main business district, footbridges connect almost every building, and to get from point A to point B often requires going through buildings. It was so much easier to just follow Qin, who worked here for several months, and Malcolm, who is from Hong Kong.
Qin and I took the tram up to Victoria’s Peak for a view of the harbour on Friday. It was beautiful but a bit scary because you can actually see the layer of pollution in the distance from up there. Many people say that Hong Kong has gotten really polluted recently and rivals Beijing in that matter. We then went to Kowloon across the harbour where we shopped in Tsim Sha Tsui and Lady’s Street (where all the bustling street stalls are) in Mong Kok. At night, we walked along the promenade and then saw the sound and light show by the water. The buildings across the water had flashing lights that were coordinated to music. The new Batman movie was also being filmed but we did not actually see any of the film crews.
We ate at a Thai place for dinner one night (supposedly one of the best in Hong Kong), a local Cantonese restaurant called Zen for lunch on top of Victoria’s Peak the next day, and had sushi for dinner that night. Although everyone raves about the food in Hong Kong, I though the meals were good but not fabulous. We must not have been going to the right places. But seafood here was indeed extremely fresh. The Cantonese does not believe in eating dead seafood. It must be alive just prior to being cooked.
We went to Macau by ferry Saturday morning. The ferry was definitely no Staten Island ferry – instead, it was set up like an airplane on the inside with cushy assigned seats. We did not realize this and when we got to the terminal around 10:30, the next available ferry was at 2pm. So we walked around the Sheung Wan area of Hong Kong – the older and more traditional part. We meandered through Western Market and up little streets each specializing in a different dried good. There was a bird’s nest street, a dried ginseng street and even a dried seafood street. We shopped at the local candy store which carried different candies from all around the world. When we finally got on the ferry later, it got us to Macau in an hour. While the ride over was a breeze, customs was absolute chaos with long lines and angry hoards of shoving people so typical of China.
Macau is an even more interesting mix of new and old than Hong Kong. On the one hand, it is a World Heritage site filled with charming, old Portuguese colonial buildings and churches. On the other, it is also the most profitable gambling center in the world (the Chinese do love to gamble), filled with gaudy, mega-casinos. As such, Qin and I hoped on a shuttle and headed to the newly opened Venetian. The huge monstrosity (it’s got a man-made canal with gondolas!) joined a venerable group of already opened casinos like the Hotel and Casino Lisboa (truly hideous looking!), the Sands, and the Wynn with more along the way. Cotai Strip, the strip of land between Taipa Island and Coloane Island, where the Venetian is located, will soon become the new Las Vegas of the East. Multiple casinos are planned for both sides of the road that goes down Cotai Strip, including an underwater themed one, as well as several high-end hotels including the Four Seasons, the St. Regis and the Conrad.
We visited Taipa village where we sampled and purchased hand-made almond cookies that Macau is famous for. They are seriously absolutely amazing – they just melt on your tongue. Definitely just as good as the box Kelly gave me when she visited Macau earlier this year. We also tried some of the other little cakes and pastries – all were really yummy. We ate Portuguese food at a little Portuguese restaurant in the village for dinner, then headed to the Westin where we were staying at the tip of Coloane Island. The resort is beautiful but relatively far from everything.
Qin left early the next morning but I walked around Macau peninsula to see the main sites, including the Ruins of St. Paul. Although the streets curved every which way up and down little hills, it was impossible to get lost since at every street corner, there were signs pointing out how to get to each of the sites. I loved the beautiful colonial buildings although it was too early so I did not get to go inside any of them.
A ferry ride took me directly to Hong Kong International Airport later that afternoon, where I did not even have to go through Hong Kong Customs. They had little mini-check-in areas for all the airlines where they had your boarding passes waiting for you. It was so amazingly efficient. I left and came back to a cold, foggy Beijing, and no hot water again. It was so nice and warm down south…
Qin and I stayed in Causeway Bay, a major shopping area on Hong Kong island. While waiting for her to arrive, I walked around and visited some of the more touristy sites on my own. I saw the Golden Bauhinia – a sculpture symbolizing the return of Hong Kong to China – by the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center along the waterfront, and St. John’s Cathedral. I also saw some of the old British colonial buildings on the island. Being a pedestrian in Hong Kong is very confusing. Besides the fact the streets are not straight, there are also a lot of pedestrian footbridges but it is not always clear how to get on to them or where they lead. In the Central area, the main business district, footbridges connect almost every building, and to get from point A to point B often requires going through buildings. It was so much easier to just follow Qin, who worked here for several months, and Malcolm, who is from Hong Kong.
Qin and I took the tram up to Victoria’s Peak for a view of the harbour on Friday. It was beautiful but a bit scary because you can actually see the layer of pollution in the distance from up there. Many people say that Hong Kong has gotten really polluted recently and rivals Beijing in that matter. We then went to Kowloon across the harbour where we shopped in Tsim Sha Tsui and Lady’s Street (where all the bustling street stalls are) in Mong Kok. At night, we walked along the promenade and then saw the sound and light show by the water. The buildings across the water had flashing lights that were coordinated to music. The new Batman movie was also being filmed but we did not actually see any of the film crews.
We ate at a Thai place for dinner one night (supposedly one of the best in Hong Kong), a local Cantonese restaurant called Zen for lunch on top of Victoria’s Peak the next day, and had sushi for dinner that night. Although everyone raves about the food in Hong Kong, I though the meals were good but not fabulous. We must not have been going to the right places. But seafood here was indeed extremely fresh. The Cantonese does not believe in eating dead seafood. It must be alive just prior to being cooked.
We went to Macau by ferry Saturday morning. The ferry was definitely no Staten Island ferry – instead, it was set up like an airplane on the inside with cushy assigned seats. We did not realize this and when we got to the terminal around 10:30, the next available ferry was at 2pm. So we walked around the Sheung Wan area of Hong Kong – the older and more traditional part. We meandered through Western Market and up little streets each specializing in a different dried good. There was a bird’s nest street, a dried ginseng street and even a dried seafood street. We shopped at the local candy store which carried different candies from all around the world. When we finally got on the ferry later, it got us to Macau in an hour. While the ride over was a breeze, customs was absolute chaos with long lines and angry hoards of shoving people so typical of China.
Macau is an even more interesting mix of new and old than Hong Kong. On the one hand, it is a World Heritage site filled with charming, old Portuguese colonial buildings and churches. On the other, it is also the most profitable gambling center in the world (the Chinese do love to gamble), filled with gaudy, mega-casinos. As such, Qin and I hoped on a shuttle and headed to the newly opened Venetian. The huge monstrosity (it’s got a man-made canal with gondolas!) joined a venerable group of already opened casinos like the Hotel and Casino Lisboa (truly hideous looking!), the Sands, and the Wynn with more along the way. Cotai Strip, the strip of land between Taipa Island and Coloane Island, where the Venetian is located, will soon become the new Las Vegas of the East. Multiple casinos are planned for both sides of the road that goes down Cotai Strip, including an underwater themed one, as well as several high-end hotels including the Four Seasons, the St. Regis and the Conrad.
We visited Taipa village where we sampled and purchased hand-made almond cookies that Macau is famous for. They are seriously absolutely amazing – they just melt on your tongue. Definitely just as good as the box Kelly gave me when she visited Macau earlier this year. We also tried some of the other little cakes and pastries – all were really yummy. We ate Portuguese food at a little Portuguese restaurant in the village for dinner, then headed to the Westin where we were staying at the tip of Coloane Island. The resort is beautiful but relatively far from everything.
Qin left early the next morning but I walked around Macau peninsula to see the main sites, including the Ruins of St. Paul. Although the streets curved every which way up and down little hills, it was impossible to get lost since at every street corner, there were signs pointing out how to get to each of the sites. I loved the beautiful colonial buildings although it was too early so I did not get to go inside any of them.
A ferry ride took me directly to Hong Kong International Airport later that afternoon, where I did not even have to go through Hong Kong Customs. They had little mini-check-in areas for all the airlines where they had your boarding passes waiting for you. It was so amazingly efficient. I left and came back to a cold, foggy Beijing, and no hot water again. It was so nice and warm down south…
Monday, November 5, 2007
Halloween in Beijing
Halloween is celebrated by a small sub-section of people in Beijing - mainly expats and young local students and professionals. We went to a club called Vics that was covered with all the requisite Halloween decorations - cobwebs, pumpkins, smoke, etc. Even all the people working there were dressed up - as pirates, pumpkins, cats and ghouls. Nevertheless, it was still obvious I was not in NYC. Besides the fact the club was full of smoke, the costumes are very wholesome. While the notion of dressing up has taken hold, the notion of Halloween as the one day of the year where it's okay to dress like a tramp and wear very little (with no repercussions) has not make it over here yet. People were for the most part, fully covered. The one exception was this one expat who went dressed as a belly dancer and wore almost nothing. She definitely got lots of stares and amused looks.
Since I'm in Beijing so little, whenever I'm in the city, I feel the need to go out as much as possible. Went out 4 nights in a row, starting Halloween. Met some fun people Thursday night for dinner and then hung out with a bunch of them on Friday and Saturday as well. The expat circles are pretty small here and it does feel like everyone is a friend of someone you know. From my nights out at mainly expat hangouts, I've concluded that there are 2 groups of foreigners in Beijing - the first are interesting people who are doing really cool things here and the second are people who just didn't quite make the mark in the States (jobless, socially awkward, not well adjusted, etc.) who came out here because its a cheap playground for foreigners and you can achieve "cool" status by virtue of being white. So many local Chinese girls are willing to put up with anything to date a white guy (and some have a rule to date only white guys), making it easy for even the biggest losers to find hot girlfriends. The second group is in general quite weird. Needless to say, I hang out only with the first.
Qin and I are going to Hong Kong and Macau for 4 days starting this Thursday. It's freezing in Beijing and there's no heat, so I'm looking forward to a bit of beach time. Besides, I've faded into almost fashionable Asian paleness - a bit of sun will do me good. I've had to resort to sleeping in a hooded sweatshirt and DHA sweatpants and 3 layers of blankets to sleep. Can't wait for the heat to come on. Ironically, I've been told that it's much colder in the southern parts of China during the winter because there is no heat except in 5 star hotels and expensive new apartment complexes; thus, people in the south supposedly can handle the cold better. It's so miserable to have to stay almost as bundled indoors as outdoors, which is what I've basically had to do these past couple of weeks so can't imagine having to do that for a whole winter. Finally went out about bought a bunch of cashmere sweaters and a down jacket. Oh, and I finally have hot water again, after a week of only icy cold water. Just can't take anything for granted here!
Since I'm in Beijing so little, whenever I'm in the city, I feel the need to go out as much as possible. Went out 4 nights in a row, starting Halloween. Met some fun people Thursday night for dinner and then hung out with a bunch of them on Friday and Saturday as well. The expat circles are pretty small here and it does feel like everyone is a friend of someone you know. From my nights out at mainly expat hangouts, I've concluded that there are 2 groups of foreigners in Beijing - the first are interesting people who are doing really cool things here and the second are people who just didn't quite make the mark in the States (jobless, socially awkward, not well adjusted, etc.) who came out here because its a cheap playground for foreigners and you can achieve "cool" status by virtue of being white. So many local Chinese girls are willing to put up with anything to date a white guy (and some have a rule to date only white guys), making it easy for even the biggest losers to find hot girlfriends. The second group is in general quite weird. Needless to say, I hang out only with the first.
Qin and I are going to Hong Kong and Macau for 4 days starting this Thursday. It's freezing in Beijing and there's no heat, so I'm looking forward to a bit of beach time. Besides, I've faded into almost fashionable Asian paleness - a bit of sun will do me good. I've had to resort to sleeping in a hooded sweatshirt and DHA sweatpants and 3 layers of blankets to sleep. Can't wait for the heat to come on. Ironically, I've been told that it's much colder in the southern parts of China during the winter because there is no heat except in 5 star hotels and expensive new apartment complexes; thus, people in the south supposedly can handle the cold better. It's so miserable to have to stay almost as bundled indoors as outdoors, which is what I've basically had to do these past couple of weeks so can't imagine having to do that for a whole winter. Finally went out about bought a bunch of cashmere sweaters and a down jacket. Oh, and I finally have hot water again, after a week of only icy cold water. Just can't take anything for granted here!
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