After taking Kelly to Thailand where we enjoyed beautiful, hot weather, I took Kelly to the opposite extreme in Harbin, the capital of China's Heilongjiang Province, which borders Russia. Harbin is known for its artic temperatures and its annual ice festival - an amazing display of ice and snow sculptures. It was freezing cold, with sub-zero temperatures at night and teens during the day, although the wind made it feel much colder. I can easily say I have never felt so cold in my life. But the experience was definitely worth it (although at the time I did question whether I'd ever feel warm again).
Kelly and I grabbed some Northeast Chinese food before heading off to the Siberian Tiger Park. The park houses several hundred endangered Manchurian Tigers as well as lions, rare white tigers, an extremely rare liger (a lion & tiger hybrid that was an incredibly beautiful animal), cheetah and leopard. The goal of the park is to breed tigers and save them from extinction. You ride in mini-vans that take you through the park, safari-style. We got to see the cats up close. People bought live chicken to feed the tigers - a man in a jeep covered in heavy-duty chains would drive into the park and release the chicken and everyone would watch the tigers rip the chicken apart. There is no way that these animals will every be able to survive in the wild since they probably associate cars and people with food. The tigers and lions followed the jeep whenever it came into their area. They know that jeep = food. They're fed and don't really hunt for their food. Apparently you can buy a cow to fee the tigers too. It arrives in a dump truck with then tips backwards until the cow falls off. Since cows are expensive, we didn't see anyone buy a cow. But we did see the tigers get fed - both live chickens and chunks of raw meat.
After the Tiger Park, Kelly and I hit Zhongyang Dajie, or Central Avenue. We lived in the Russian neighborhood, and Central Avenue is the center of it. Beautiful Russian buildings lined the street, which also had ice sculptures in the middle. Since it was the official opening day for the festival, hordes of people, Chinese and lots of Russians, were out on the streets. We had Russian food at a cute Russian restaurant that also served as a little museum. Kelly tried this sugar-covered fruit candy served on a stick afterwards and promptly became addicted to it. We had it several more times afterwards.
After dinner, we visited Zhaolin Park right next to our hotel for the miniature ice-sculpture festival. There were castles and pagodas and sculptures all made out of ice. It was incredible.
The next day, we went up to the top of the Dragon Tower, the 2nd tallest tower in the world, and the tallest in Asia. The tower housed the most random mix of stores and displays, including a dinosaur exhibit, pets for sale and a touch exhibit (like the ones you would find in a science museum), a display of old movie posters and a Tang Dynasty artifacts exhibit. From the top of the tower (we could go up to 180m, 190m, 193m, 203m and 206m), we could see all of Harbin, but it was a gray, cloudy day. It was also super windy and cold up there!
We also visited the St. Sofia Church, a Russian Orthodox Church built in a Byzantine-style architecture. It was magnificent - totally not something you would expect to see in China. The buildings around it were knocked down and a beautiful European-style square was built around it. After that, we went to the Songhua River, which is frozen solid (over 1.5m of ice we were told) where we say people swim laps in a pool surrounded by ice. It was so cold (-12 degrees Celsius), yet these people were swimming. It was unbelievable. I felt cold just watching them.
Kelly and I went to see the baby Beluga whales and polar bears at the Harbin Polarland Aquarium (in part because it gave us a bit of time to warm up) before heading to see the snow sculptures on Sun Island. The snow sculptures were incredible. The snow was packed so tightly that it might as well have been ice. Many of the snow sculptures were still not finished, so we saw sculptors chiseling and shoveling away at the snow. It was amazing to see. We went directly to the Harbin Ice and Snow World afterwards where we saw the big ice sculptures. The built Porsches, a Church, Greek Temple, Chinese pagodas and more, all entirely out of ice. And everything was light up at night. It was beautiful. However, by that time, I had already freezed into a block of ice and didn't try to go down the ice slide or seriously explore the buildings built of ice (you can climb them, go inside, etc.).
Before heading back to Beijing via our first overnight train experience, we had more Russian food. The Borsche was wonderful since it warmed us up. The overnight train was an interesting experience. It had 4 beds per small little room and each bed also had a little tv attached. Ear phones are provided. So I watched Armageddon on tv and then parts of Shaolin Soccer before sleeping. It was much nicer than I had expected.
Back in Beijing, Kelly was tired of visiting tourist sights so she left Beijing this morning without going to see any of the main Beijing sites like the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven. I guess she'll just have to come back again...
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Monday, January 7, 2008
Xi'an
Xi'an was the capital of ancient China and has over 3,000 years of history. It's one of those cities you're supposed to visit if you come to China. This is where China was unified for the first time under Emperor Qin Shihuang during the Qin dynasty and where the famous Terracotta Warriors found in his mausoleum are located. It's also the only major Chinese city with it's city walls intact. Thus, Kelly and I made the trek out to Xi'an on New Year's Day as part of her China trip.
We arrived in Xi'an and met up with my former Chinese professor from Harvard. He was born and raised in Xi'an and was visiting his family in Xi'an over Christmas/New Year's break. He took us out to lunch at Xi'an Hotel, where we sampled a bunch of local Shaanxi Province snacks (called "小吃", which literally translates to little eats). Then we visited the Bell Tower, the Drum Tower and the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. Afterwards, Kelly and I walked down one of the streets in the Muslim Quarter where the Hui Minority are located, and ate at a restaurant there. Unfortunately Kelly did not feel well, so she could not eat anything except a bit of soup and porridge.
The next day, we went with a small tour group to visit the major sites - the Tang Dynasty Winter Palace and the Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shihuang and the Terracotta Warriors, which are all located about an hours drive outside the city. The Winter Palace was a replica of the former Winter Palace, located at the foot of a mountain and fed by natural hot springs that supplied water of 43 degrees Celsius. Only the Emperor, some of his officials and his favorite concubines could use the bath houses and pools built there. We also learned about the famous beauties/concubines of the Tang Dynasty. The most famous was a fat lady with a beautiful face called Yang Guifei who had a skin disease. The other 3 women all had flaws too - one had small earlobes, another narrow shoulders and another big feet, all considered unattractive features. None of them were perfect.
The mausoleum is just a huge mound of earth, disguised as a hill, with trees planted over it to hide the tomb. The tomb has still not been opened so there's not much to see here because there are dangerous levels of mercury gas inside the chambers. They believe that lots of jewels and artifacts are still buried in the ground. 1/3 of the population was employed in the building of the tombs and all the things that went into it since they believed in the afterlife. In addition, lots of princes and princesses, all the concubines that did not have kids and a lot of the artisans and slave builders were buried alive down there. The emperor was known for his extreme cruelty. Thus, this was also the shortest Chinese dynasty at 14 years long.
About a kilometer away in multiple pits are the terracotta armies and horses. There were foot soldiers, archers, generals, horses and chariots. When they were found, only one statue was intact. All the others were in pieces. The warriors we see on display have been carefully pieced back together. Every warrior has a different face. They were originally colorful but exposure to the air made them lose their colors within three days. Thus, many of the terracotta warriors still have not been excavated and probably won't be until they figure out how to maintain the colors. There are thousands of them, even though you can only see a few hundred. It was really impressive.
That night, we went to an old Xi'an restaurant to have a very traditional meal of "yangruopaomo". It's mutton and bread in a rich broth. You have to break the bread into small pieces by hand - the smaller the better. It actually takes a while to do and makes your hands really tired. Then the restaurants puts in broth and meat. It was really tasty, so well worth the effort.
On our last day, we visited the Shaanxi museum that walked us through the history of Shaanxi Province and Xi'an. It was the center of the Chinese empire for some of the most properous dynasties in China, including the Han and Tang dynasties during which the Silk Road was active. China did not used to be closed off to the world and trade with the Persian empire was active during this time. In fact, polo was a popular sport during the Tang dynasty! Many of the emperors were good polo players, a sport they adopted from the Persians. After the museum, we went to visit the city walls. Unfortunately we did not have time to ride a bunch around the city walls, which are 14 km in perimeter. Lastly, we stopped by the Great Mosque, but it actually just looked like a Chinese temple. We quickly grabbed lunch before heading back to Beijing. We had "ruojiamou," which some people refer to as Chinese hamburgers, and dumplings in a sour soup. Both are Shaanxi specialties.
Xi'an was extremely polluted - much worse than Beijing. Smokestacks right in the city and outside spewed smoke into the air, blocking all sunlight from the city, making the entire city look gray. It was also colder than Beijing. We stayed in a new hotel right on Dong Dajie (East Avenue) inside the city walls, which was located near the Drum and Bell Towers. However, the heat in the hotel, which could not be controlled in the room was not enough to ward off the frigid winter air. We were glad to be back in my warm apartment when we got back to Beijing. A day of respite before heading to Harbin up north, near the Russian border...
We arrived in Xi'an and met up with my former Chinese professor from Harvard. He was born and raised in Xi'an and was visiting his family in Xi'an over Christmas/New Year's break. He took us out to lunch at Xi'an Hotel, where we sampled a bunch of local Shaanxi Province snacks (called "小吃", which literally translates to little eats). Then we visited the Bell Tower, the Drum Tower and the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. Afterwards, Kelly and I walked down one of the streets in the Muslim Quarter where the Hui Minority are located, and ate at a restaurant there. Unfortunately Kelly did not feel well, so she could not eat anything except a bit of soup and porridge.
The next day, we went with a small tour group to visit the major sites - the Tang Dynasty Winter Palace and the Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shihuang and the Terracotta Warriors, which are all located about an hours drive outside the city. The Winter Palace was a replica of the former Winter Palace, located at the foot of a mountain and fed by natural hot springs that supplied water of 43 degrees Celsius. Only the Emperor, some of his officials and his favorite concubines could use the bath houses and pools built there. We also learned about the famous beauties/concubines of the Tang Dynasty. The most famous was a fat lady with a beautiful face called Yang Guifei who had a skin disease. The other 3 women all had flaws too - one had small earlobes, another narrow shoulders and another big feet, all considered unattractive features. None of them were perfect.
The mausoleum is just a huge mound of earth, disguised as a hill, with trees planted over it to hide the tomb. The tomb has still not been opened so there's not much to see here because there are dangerous levels of mercury gas inside the chambers. They believe that lots of jewels and artifacts are still buried in the ground. 1/3 of the population was employed in the building of the tombs and all the things that went into it since they believed in the afterlife. In addition, lots of princes and princesses, all the concubines that did not have kids and a lot of the artisans and slave builders were buried alive down there. The emperor was known for his extreme cruelty. Thus, this was also the shortest Chinese dynasty at 14 years long.
About a kilometer away in multiple pits are the terracotta armies and horses. There were foot soldiers, archers, generals, horses and chariots. When they were found, only one statue was intact. All the others were in pieces. The warriors we see on display have been carefully pieced back together. Every warrior has a different face. They were originally colorful but exposure to the air made them lose their colors within three days. Thus, many of the terracotta warriors still have not been excavated and probably won't be until they figure out how to maintain the colors. There are thousands of them, even though you can only see a few hundred. It was really impressive.
That night, we went to an old Xi'an restaurant to have a very traditional meal of "yangruopaomo". It's mutton and bread in a rich broth. You have to break the bread into small pieces by hand - the smaller the better. It actually takes a while to do and makes your hands really tired. Then the restaurants puts in broth and meat. It was really tasty, so well worth the effort.
On our last day, we visited the Shaanxi museum that walked us through the history of Shaanxi Province and Xi'an. It was the center of the Chinese empire for some of the most properous dynasties in China, including the Han and Tang dynasties during which the Silk Road was active. China did not used to be closed off to the world and trade with the Persian empire was active during this time. In fact, polo was a popular sport during the Tang dynasty! Many of the emperors were good polo players, a sport they adopted from the Persians. After the museum, we went to visit the city walls. Unfortunately we did not have time to ride a bunch around the city walls, which are 14 km in perimeter. Lastly, we stopped by the Great Mosque, but it actually just looked like a Chinese temple. We quickly grabbed lunch before heading back to Beijing. We had "ruojiamou," which some people refer to as Chinese hamburgers, and dumplings in a sour soup. Both are Shaanxi specialties.
Xi'an was extremely polluted - much worse than Beijing. Smokestacks right in the city and outside spewed smoke into the air, blocking all sunlight from the city, making the entire city look gray. It was also colder than Beijing. We stayed in a new hotel right on Dong Dajie (East Avenue) inside the city walls, which was located near the Drum and Bell Towers. However, the heat in the hotel, which could not be controlled in the room was not enough to ward off the frigid winter air. We were glad to be back in my warm apartment when we got back to Beijing. A day of respite before heading to Harbin up north, near the Russian border...
Friday, January 4, 2008
December in Beijing and Thailand
December was a crazy month. Between work, the stomach flu, business school applications, January's visit (the first friend to visit me in Beijing!) and getting ready for the Thailand trip, life was pretty overwhelming. But b-school apps have all been submitted and I survived the stomach flu. I think Jannie had a good time in Beijing (despite the fact I was a sick hostess) - took her to some of my favorite restaurants in Beijing, including Pure Lotus (Vegetarian), Middle 8 (Yunnan food), and Dintaifung (Shanghai/Taiwanese). We even went swimming. Jannie attempted to teach me how to tread water in preparation for Thailand. She wasn't very successful, but I think I'm slowly getting better at it (but will still drown probably if the water is too deep).
After trying to make it to the Thai beaches all summer and failing, I finally made it to the Thai beaches in December! Since I submitted my b-school apps before leaving for Thailand, I was able to enjoy a worry free vacation. I met Kelly and Nan in Bangkok and we flew to Phuket together. Jannie joined us there. We stayed at the Hilton Phuket by Karon Beach. The resort was gorgeous and the Karon beach was awesome - soft white sand and clear blue water. The weather was fabulous as well (absolutely no rain!). We went to the much busier Patong Beach about 10 minutes away also to jet ski, which was fun. We also spent one of the days going to Ko Phi Phi with stops on Monkey Beach and Maya Beach. Beijing is cold and nasty, so it made me appreciate the warm weather and beautiful beaches and ocean even more. Having Nan with us also made everything easier since she spoke Thai.
Since Kelly managed to convince the people at Air Asia to switch our flight to the next morning, Kelly and I were able to go with Nan to Natalie's (our other Thai friend who is half Brazilian, half Thai) house for Christmas Eve dinner. Dinner was such a lovely affair. We all got dressed up for the event. Natalie's family lives right outside Bangkok in a gorgeous house which was beautifully decorated for the holidays. Her mom (Brazilian) cooked everything. Since they don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Thailand, she still wanted to have a gathering of family and friends to give thanks, so there was even a huge turkey and honey-cured ham. It was delicious. We also tried Brazilian dessert and an amazing passionfruit flavored mousse.
Kelly and I flew to Chiang Mai Christmas morning and visited the major sites there over the next 3 days. We went to Doi Suthep to one of their most holy temples. It was really beautiful. We also visited Doi Inthanon where we saw a couple of waterfalls, the highest point in Thailand and the King and Queen Pagoda. Of course, we also rode elephants (was fun but what a bumpy ride!), an ox cart and went on a ride on a bamboo raft along the river. We had lunch at this pretty outdoor restaurant with a great view of the river. We also visited the Night Bazaar (a night market) and the big Warorot Market by the river. My favorite thing in Chiang Mai was the cooking class Kelly and I took. We learned how to make Tom Yum Soup, Pad Thai (one of our favorite Thai dishes even though most Thai people don't actually eat it), Som Yum (Payaya Salad), Glass Noodle Salad, Penang and Red Curry, Spring Rolls, Chicken with Cashew Nuts and Mango Sticky Rice (Thai food anyone?!). The food actually turned out really well. I'm excited about trying it at home sometime, although it would require fish sauce, oyster sauce, lemongrass and kaffir leaves (I think that's what they are called - they're so fragrant and really do a lot!).
After Chiang Mai, Kelly and I went back to Bangkok. We stayed at the Royal Orchid Sheraton right by the Chao Praya River. We met up with Nan. Nan took us to a Pad Thai restaurant (that's all they serve pretty much but they do it so well!). The food was so good, even though it was all just variations of pad thai. Need to work on my pad thai so it tastes just as awesome. I got a haircut and Kelly permed her hair. Major makeover!
We had fabulous food throughout our entire trip. In Phuket, we ate at this hilltop restaurant overlooking Phuket Town. The restaurant was a simple, cute outdoor place that served really delicious Thai food. We had really good Tamarind Prawns, Glass Noodle with Seafood, Fried Fish with Garlic and Pepper. In Chiang Mai, Kelly and I found Ginger & Kafe. The Thai food was delicious and beautifully presented. The restaurant was a part of a store (Ginger) that was like a smaller and cuter version of Anthropology. The restaurant itself was whimsically decorated. We both loved it. We also ate at the restaurant of a famous cooking school called the Wok where we tried Khao Soi, a traditional north thailand noodle in curry dish. It was really tasty. In Bangkok, Natalie and Nan took us to a Thai restaurant where we ordered a feast of crispy fish with sweet and spicy sauce, shrimp balls, chicken with cashew, pineapple fried rice, salty crispy fish salad and a bunch of thai desserts. We also got french pastries from Lenotre - a really good french bakery. And of course, we could not end our Thailand trip without paying a visit to Mango Tango - Kelly's favorite dessert place. We had mango sticky rice with mango ice cream and mango pudding. The mangos in Thailand are just awesome.
Kelly and I arrived in Beijing to find out that we had missed 2 of the most polluted days in Beijing. The pollution index was a whooping 421 out of 500 (so much for blue sky days) on Thursday the 27th and maxed out the scale at 500 on Friday (they stop measuring). The sky was basically black. On a bad day in NYC, it's 72. Beijing defines blue sky days as 100 or under on the scale and they claim to have had over 250 in 2007. A significant number of blue sky days falls between 95 and 100 which is still pretty polluted. But the pollution has been okay since we got back.
I took Kelly to a Xinjiang restaurant with Mary and Jia. Mary did all the ordering of course (hooray for Uyghur speaking person!) so we had a fabulous meal. For New Year's Eve, Kelly and I went pearl shopping, got ourselves facials, then had a Chinese-style banquet with a group of people at Dadong Roast Duck Restaurant where we had a ton of peking duck. We celebrated New Year's Eve at a house party which was a fun way to send off 2007. Hope 2008 will be a fun and fabulous year.
After trying to make it to the Thai beaches all summer and failing, I finally made it to the Thai beaches in December! Since I submitted my b-school apps before leaving for Thailand, I was able to enjoy a worry free vacation. I met Kelly and Nan in Bangkok and we flew to Phuket together. Jannie joined us there. We stayed at the Hilton Phuket by Karon Beach. The resort was gorgeous and the Karon beach was awesome - soft white sand and clear blue water. The weather was fabulous as well (absolutely no rain!). We went to the much busier Patong Beach about 10 minutes away also to jet ski, which was fun. We also spent one of the days going to Ko Phi Phi with stops on Monkey Beach and Maya Beach. Beijing is cold and nasty, so it made me appreciate the warm weather and beautiful beaches and ocean even more. Having Nan with us also made everything easier since she spoke Thai.
Since Kelly managed to convince the people at Air Asia to switch our flight to the next morning, Kelly and I were able to go with Nan to Natalie's (our other Thai friend who is half Brazilian, half Thai) house for Christmas Eve dinner. Dinner was such a lovely affair. We all got dressed up for the event. Natalie's family lives right outside Bangkok in a gorgeous house which was beautifully decorated for the holidays. Her mom (Brazilian) cooked everything. Since they don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Thailand, she still wanted to have a gathering of family and friends to give thanks, so there was even a huge turkey and honey-cured ham. It was delicious. We also tried Brazilian dessert and an amazing passionfruit flavored mousse.
Kelly and I flew to Chiang Mai Christmas morning and visited the major sites there over the next 3 days. We went to Doi Suthep to one of their most holy temples. It was really beautiful. We also visited Doi Inthanon where we saw a couple of waterfalls, the highest point in Thailand and the King and Queen Pagoda. Of course, we also rode elephants (was fun but what a bumpy ride!), an ox cart and went on a ride on a bamboo raft along the river. We had lunch at this pretty outdoor restaurant with a great view of the river. We also visited the Night Bazaar (a night market) and the big Warorot Market by the river. My favorite thing in Chiang Mai was the cooking class Kelly and I took. We learned how to make Tom Yum Soup, Pad Thai (one of our favorite Thai dishes even though most Thai people don't actually eat it), Som Yum (Payaya Salad), Glass Noodle Salad, Penang and Red Curry, Spring Rolls, Chicken with Cashew Nuts and Mango Sticky Rice (Thai food anyone?!). The food actually turned out really well. I'm excited about trying it at home sometime, although it would require fish sauce, oyster sauce, lemongrass and kaffir leaves (I think that's what they are called - they're so fragrant and really do a lot!).
After Chiang Mai, Kelly and I went back to Bangkok. We stayed at the Royal Orchid Sheraton right by the Chao Praya River. We met up with Nan. Nan took us to a Pad Thai restaurant (that's all they serve pretty much but they do it so well!). The food was so good, even though it was all just variations of pad thai. Need to work on my pad thai so it tastes just as awesome. I got a haircut and Kelly permed her hair. Major makeover!
We had fabulous food throughout our entire trip. In Phuket, we ate at this hilltop restaurant overlooking Phuket Town. The restaurant was a simple, cute outdoor place that served really delicious Thai food. We had really good Tamarind Prawns, Glass Noodle with Seafood, Fried Fish with Garlic and Pepper. In Chiang Mai, Kelly and I found Ginger & Kafe. The Thai food was delicious and beautifully presented. The restaurant was a part of a store (Ginger) that was like a smaller and cuter version of Anthropology. The restaurant itself was whimsically decorated. We both loved it. We also ate at the restaurant of a famous cooking school called the Wok where we tried Khao Soi, a traditional north thailand noodle in curry dish. It was really tasty. In Bangkok, Natalie and Nan took us to a Thai restaurant where we ordered a feast of crispy fish with sweet and spicy sauce, shrimp balls, chicken with cashew, pineapple fried rice, salty crispy fish salad and a bunch of thai desserts. We also got french pastries from Lenotre - a really good french bakery. And of course, we could not end our Thailand trip without paying a visit to Mango Tango - Kelly's favorite dessert place. We had mango sticky rice with mango ice cream and mango pudding. The mangos in Thailand are just awesome.
Kelly and I arrived in Beijing to find out that we had missed 2 of the most polluted days in Beijing. The pollution index was a whooping 421 out of 500 (so much for blue sky days) on Thursday the 27th and maxed out the scale at 500 on Friday (they stop measuring). The sky was basically black. On a bad day in NYC, it's 72. Beijing defines blue sky days as 100 or under on the scale and they claim to have had over 250 in 2007. A significant number of blue sky days falls between 95 and 100 which is still pretty polluted. But the pollution has been okay since we got back.
I took Kelly to a Xinjiang restaurant with Mary and Jia. Mary did all the ordering of course (hooray for Uyghur speaking person!) so we had a fabulous meal. For New Year's Eve, Kelly and I went pearl shopping, got ourselves facials, then had a Chinese-style banquet with a group of people at Dadong Roast Duck Restaurant where we had a ton of peking duck. We celebrated New Year's Eve at a house party which was a fun way to send off 2007. Hope 2008 will be a fun and fabulous year.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Uniquely Beijing...
Beijing is a city that is literally morphing and transforming right before your eyes. There is palpable sense of excitement and energy in the air. In general, people are optimistic - their incomes are higher than ever before, given them a new spending power that they could not even dream of in the past. Consumerism is very much part of the "new" culture - the Chinese love to buy and spend. The whole concept of Chinese being avid savers may seriously end with this new generation of "little emperors." Many only children live at home, spend all that they make, and then take money from their parents. At least in the cities, the younger generation is pretty open and liberal. They don't sell tampons or pads in the women's bathrooms at restaurants, but they'll sell condoms. It's rather bizarre.
And everywhere you look, there is construction (the Central Business District is expanding by 50% according to someone here). Along with that comes the destruction of old hutongs. One day, the hutong across the street from my apartment was there. Then suddenly, these flags bearing propaganda about the Olympics and the good of the people (or something like that... my Chinese is a bit rusty) went up and the next thing I knew, the hutongs were gone. No doubt, they have been razed to make way for new modern residential towers much like the ones I live in right now. Office towers and residential buildings are popping up all over the place. I wonder where the local displaced people have been forced to move... there are already 6 rings in the city and the 6th ring is really far away and the public transportation is really terrible...
But even the destruction of the hutongs happened in typical Chinese fashion. Labor is just so ridiculously cheap (for example, our "ayi" or housekeeper gets 15RMB an hour... about $2USD. That's including the 50% premium we give her because she's fantastic and I have issues paying someone 10RMB an hour), that no machines were involved. Little men with picks and hammers stood on the roof of these buildings and knocked them down using brute force. For those of you that don't believe this, I have pictures to prove it. It was a bit disconcerting. Worker's safety is also not an issue. There are no laws protecting these people. Lives are pretty much considered expendable here which is sad.
I went to an interesting talk on the development of Modern Dance in China. The speaker implied that the government's recent embrace of modern dance (once considered a corrupting Western influence to be avoided at all cost) was a result of events such like the pending Olympics, which has really driven them to adopt things considered modern and new and reject the old. So out goes hutongs and in comes modern dance and modern buildings. However, I hope that they find some happy medium between 5,000 years of history and modernity. While they are preserving and restoring the main historic sites, there are a lot of other smaller things that deserve protection. China is still very much looking for an identity and hopefully they will find it soon.
Another crazy thing: the government doesn't really think twice about inconveniencing people. They've shut down Dongzhimen subway station, the station near where I live, which may be the busiest subway stop in the city. There are a few additional buses, but you think they'd try to find a better solution that closing an entire stop for 6 weeks. They're building a bunch of new subway lines (which is absolutely necessary!) but the construction is blocking off a couple of lanes on several major streets so traffic has been atrocious. 1,000 new cars are added to the roads everyday. There's no way that can continue. The pollution and air quality is terrible so expansion of public transportation will be really important.
I still haven't made it to any of the hutongs yet. I should do that before more of them disappear.
And everywhere you look, there is construction (the Central Business District is expanding by 50% according to someone here). Along with that comes the destruction of old hutongs. One day, the hutong across the street from my apartment was there. Then suddenly, these flags bearing propaganda about the Olympics and the good of the people (or something like that... my Chinese is a bit rusty) went up and the next thing I knew, the hutongs were gone. No doubt, they have been razed to make way for new modern residential towers much like the ones I live in right now. Office towers and residential buildings are popping up all over the place. I wonder where the local displaced people have been forced to move... there are already 6 rings in the city and the 6th ring is really far away and the public transportation is really terrible...
But even the destruction of the hutongs happened in typical Chinese fashion. Labor is just so ridiculously cheap (for example, our "ayi" or housekeeper gets 15RMB an hour... about $2USD. That's including the 50% premium we give her because she's fantastic and I have issues paying someone 10RMB an hour), that no machines were involved. Little men with picks and hammers stood on the roof of these buildings and knocked them down using brute force. For those of you that don't believe this, I have pictures to prove it. It was a bit disconcerting. Worker's safety is also not an issue. There are no laws protecting these people. Lives are pretty much considered expendable here which is sad.
I went to an interesting talk on the development of Modern Dance in China. The speaker implied that the government's recent embrace of modern dance (once considered a corrupting Western influence to be avoided at all cost) was a result of events such like the pending Olympics, which has really driven them to adopt things considered modern and new and reject the old. So out goes hutongs and in comes modern dance and modern buildings. However, I hope that they find some happy medium between 5,000 years of history and modernity. While they are preserving and restoring the main historic sites, there are a lot of other smaller things that deserve protection. China is still very much looking for an identity and hopefully they will find it soon.
Another crazy thing: the government doesn't really think twice about inconveniencing people. They've shut down Dongzhimen subway station, the station near where I live, which may be the busiest subway stop in the city. There are a few additional buses, but you think they'd try to find a better solution that closing an entire stop for 6 weeks. They're building a bunch of new subway lines (which is absolutely necessary!) but the construction is blocking off a couple of lanes on several major streets so traffic has been atrocious. 1,000 new cars are added to the roads everyday. There's no way that can continue. The pollution and air quality is terrible so expansion of public transportation will be really important.
I still haven't made it to any of the hutongs yet. I should do that before more of them disappear.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Matchmaking in People's Park
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.
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.
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!
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