Venice of the East

Many towns in China claim to be the Venice of the East but I think this one really is! Xitang is a small water town about an hour, by bus, away from Shanghai. Today was the last of my five days off and I didn't know what to do with myself. I've had this dream of biking around West Lake in Hangzhou, but my roommate Justin suggested going to Xitang instead. So I did!

I got up this morning and took a bus from Shanghai to Jiashen and then hopped on a local shuttle bus to take me to Xitang. I had read that it was not obvious exactly where the old part of the town was but I gathered if you walked around you could find it. My first clue that it was near was a large billboard advertising the beauty of the old part of the town. The billboard also reminded everyone that Xitang was used for the filming of some of the scenes of a recent James Bond movie. After wandering around for a bit I managed to stumble upon the old town. Wow. It was really beautiful. 'They' were right. It really was the Venice of the East. Normally, there is a fee to get into the old town but once again it pays to be in the off season. Not only were there no crowds, there was no entrance fee! And the weather was spectacular, not like the oppressive heat you get here in the middle of summer. I spent most of the afternoon just walking around, taking pictures, and enjoying the peace and relaxation.

Walking around Xitang is like stepping back in time. The only vehicles in the old part of the town are boats that run up and down the canals and the odd bicycle. Everyone else is walking. As in the rest of China, there were numerous groups of people playing mahjong or cards. Everyone seemed really relaxed. Even the shop owners didn't really hastle me. Maybe because it's the slow season. Maybe they need a break too from constantly hounding foreigners to buy there wares.

Here are a few pictures. If you want to see more you can check them out, and some more of my adventure on Yellow Mountain at www.flickr.com/photos/china-su.

Yellow Mountain Part II: Let the Adventure Begin!

Now for the real adventure.... Yellow Mountain. This Chinese rave about this mountain. They say things like "You will find viewing another mountain no longer worthy after you visit the Five Sacred Mountains. Nor will you find viewing the Five Sacred Mountains worthy after you visit Yellow Mountain". Don't ask me who said that. They jury is still out on it being the most spectacular scenery EVER, but it sure was nice! I read that they filmed, at least some of, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon on the mountain.

It was really beautiful and it was a different experience than hiking up any mountain of been up in North America for a few reasons. First, I wasn't hiking on a dirt trail. All of the trails have been laid out in stone, mostly stone steps since you are usually going up or down. I think this was originally done by some emporer so that he could go up the mountain. And by going up the mountain, I mean sitting in a sedan chair whilst someone carried him.

Secondly, there`s a shop every 0.5 kms or so selling drinks, snacks, kitch, batteries (thank God, mine ran out!). Not only are there small shops, there are numerous hotels throughout the area, some located within an easy walk of a cable car. So you run into people in dress shoes and fairly formal attire along the trail, which is a bit funny.

Thirdly, there was music (or should I say muzac) and public service announcements being broadcast from various locations along the way. It was quite annoying. The English portion of the announcements had to do with not smoking in the non-smoking areas. It was very loud, I could hear it from quite far off, and it was interspersed with the song Please Mr. Postman from the 60s.

Here are some interesting things about the mountain. I`m pretty sure everything that goes up or down the mountain is down by sherpas. That means if you are building a hotel, people carry everything you need up the mountain. When I was there, 300 meters of fiber optic cable were being carried up in 100 meter sections by about 40 men, or so, per section. It looked like hard work.

I also saw mattresses going up the mountain. Who knew one man could carry two twin mattresses up the side of a mountain. There is a constant stream of sherpas going up the mountain bringing food, Christmas decorations, you name it. When the come down, they are literally skipping down and I swear some were singing! They must feel like they are walking on air.

It looked like a really hard job. Going up the mountain and walking behind them I could see they had calves the size of my thighs. But even with legs of steel it was hard. You could see it in their faces and they would have to stop frequently and rest. They typically carried two loads, each at opposite ends of a long stick that they carried on their shoulder. They used another stick to help with the carrying and to use to rest the load on from time to time.

Once I was up near the top I started noticing sedan chairs for hire. Wow! And they started at only 100 RMB (about $15) depending on how far you wanted to go. I know what this lady is thinking. That sedan chair is looking pretty good right about now!

Have you watched The Amazing Race? Do you remember when they went to China? Remember the locks? Here they are!

Yellow Mountain was great. The senery was beautiful and even though I went in December, once the sun came up it was beautiful and warm. I`ve seen pictures of the trail during peak season and it doesn`t look like my cup of tea. Too crowded! Here are some random pictures of my day at Yellow Mountain.

Yellow Mountain Part I: Tunxi

Sunday night I found myself in the strange predicament of facing 5 days off. I had forgotten that I had annual-use-it-or-loose-it leave to take before the end of the month and my boss had booked me off this week. But... what do to??? I went home and talked to my roommate and he suggested Yellow Mountain. I'd heard good things about it and I needed to get out of the city for a while so off I went.

I took an overnight train to the town of Tunxi where I stayed at a youth hostel for about $7.00 a night. Nice place but not much heat! When I arrived at the hostel I couldn't help noticing that the staff were wearing their winter jackets... indoors. As I walked around the town I realized this was normal. People in the grocery store, the department store, all decked out in cold weather gear, at work. Also, every available woman seemed to be busy knitting a new winter sweater. Yikes! I need a bit of heat!!

I figured I would spend a day in Tunxi, then go up the mountain the next day. The highlights of Tunxi included a food street (yum!) and a street I think they called the old street. It was kept in the old traditional style, no cars, nice old buildings. I bought lunch, did a bit of shopping, then went for a walk around the town.

There was a nice old stone bridge and being a bright sunny day, everyone was out doing luandry. Many people seem to still wash their clothes in the river that runs through the town. Not sure how clean the water was!

The street running along beside the river had clothes and bed covers all out drying and airing out in the beautiful sunshine.

I’m not much for nightlife and the town seemed pretty quite at night, except for the ubiquitous KTVs (karaoke bars). There was a small park in the center of town in which one group of ladies were doing a fan dance and another were practicing. In front of one of the banks another group of ladies were doing a traditional dance. All dancing was done to traditional Chinese music. Cool!

This pagoda, that was very nice during the day, looked even better at night. It had red lanterns running up and down the inside that were all lit up. Hard to catch it on film with my point and shoot. Sorry the picture is so dark.

My Chinese Class

This is my Chinese class. We started out with six students, but something happened along the way. Now we are down to just us three. From left to right the students are John from New Zealand, me and Damon from California. The Chinese lady is our teacher Fan Ling Ling, from China. I would like to point out the it was my day off, and I rode my bike to school. That's why the boys look so much better dressed than me.

John, Damon and I all work for Wall Street (and Wall Street is paying for our classes) but we don't all work at the same location. Only Damon and I actually work together. Damon made me brownies for my birthday, which he served warm, right out of the microwave, topped with vanilla Haagen Dazs ice cream. Yum!!

Damon is also the star student, but he pays for a private tutor on the side (which is almost like cheating!). John and I struggle along. But even though it's a bit of a struggle to learn, I'm really enjoying it. In fact I think I'd like to continue my Chinese lessons when I return to Canada, or JiaNaDa as we like to say here in Shanghai.

I Ate this for Dinner Last Night

And I'm not sure what it was! I think I've even seen them in the grocery store in Canada, but I've never tried one before. I saw one split in two and wrapped in celophane on the discount fruit counter and I couldn't believe what it looked like on the inside. Wow! I had to try it! So I went and bought one that wasn't past it's best before date and took it home. It wasn't bad. A mild flavour. The inside was a soft pulpy sort of stuff and the black things are teeny weeny little seeds. Not sure if I'll buy another one. I'm sort of hooked on yellow (gold) kiwis. They are to die for!

Century Park

Shanghai's answer to Central Park. (And you didn't know it was a question.) Century Park is probably the largest park in Shanghai. It is located in Pudong, which is across the Hangpi River from where I live in Puxi (pronounced Pushi). Yesterday was a warm, sunny day with a predicted high of 18 so I decided to go and check it out. I had heard that you could take a passenger ferry across the river so I made finding this ferry my challenge for the day. I set out on my bike bright and early, around 11:00 a.m. I rode to the center of town and did a bit of shopping then went off in search of the ferry. It didn't take long to find it.

Back in the old days a ferry boat was the only way to travel between Pudong and Puxi. Now there are numerous bridges and tunnels. But I still counted three separate ferry services running between the two sides. As long as there is foot, bicycle and moped traffic I hope the ferry service continues.

Before I say any more I want to describe the Huangpi River. I still haven't taken any pictures of it but I will. It's something very much like the Queensway, or any other highway. There is a constant stream of bumper to bumper traffic, only this traffic consists of freighters, barges, floating billboards and tour boats. The boat traffic going up and down the river never seems to end. And to top it off, there are small ferry boats shuttling people across the river. Have you figured out the problem yet? The large ocean going vessels, which probably take the length of a few football fields to stop, are traveling up and down the river and these smaller ferry boats are cutting back and forth across the river in between these big behemoths. Does it sound dangerous? It should because I think it really is! But is was a really great ride. I couldn't go out onto the small open deck because I wanted to stay with my vehicle (i.e. my bike),but I peered out from between the bars of the gate and watched.

Once I got across the river it took me about an hour to get to the park (on my one-speed bike). Of course I took the long route. I always do the first time I go somewhere in Shanghai. It only took me about 35 minutes to get back to the ferry later in the day. The park was really nice. I paid 10 Yuan (about $1.60) to get in and spent an hour walking through the pathways and enjoying the relative solitude that existed there on a Wednesday afternoon.

Here are some pictures that I took while I was there. Not sure what this boat was for, but it was pretty.

The park had many small bridges. You could rent a small boat and toodle around in the waterways if you so desired.

Along with boat rentals, the park had a small amusement park, bicycle rentals and paddle boat rentals. You could rent a tandem bike or even one built for three! You could also rent bikes for two or four people in which you could sit beside each other and be covered with a canopy. They seemed to be quite popular! This is the lake on which you could paddle around in a paddle boat (or is that peddal boat? Not sure.)

The park had many quiet places where you could sit and relax.

There was one garden on the map that had to see. It was called Montreal Garden. I think I found it. There was no sign, but I think this was it. The maple leaves were a good clue!

All 'n all it was a good adventure. The park was nice, but I wouldn't want to live in Pudong. It is the newer, more modern side of Shanghai. The streets are wider and the character and charm that you can find in the small alleyways and neighbourhoods in Puxi seemed to be missing in Pudong. Mind you, they will all be gone soon on the Puxi side too.

What's in a name?

One of the first things I noticed after arriving in China, was that the students in our school adopted some very strange English names. I used to think that it was wrong to take on an English name if you are from another culture. I thought it was akin to eating hamburgers instead of a local dish like noodles or watching Friends on TV instead of... oh I don't know... instead of doing something less American. I used to think it was a sign of English imperialism. I used to think it was a sign of being consumed by a dominant culture. But maybe I`m wrong.

Now I'm getting sort of used to the idea, and many of the Chinese names are so hard to pronounce that an English name makes it much easier for me. Maybe I have warmed to the idea partly because the Chinese typically do not choose your typical English name. They choose English names that are distinctly Chinese. The Daves, Johns and Marys are few and far between. They have been replaced with names like Apple and Zero and Grass.

I have been making a list of the interesting Chinese names I have heard. Now if I could only find it.... Well, here are some of the interesting names I've heard:

Apple
Cherry
Orange
Fat Joe (he likes rap music)
Morning (a guy!)
Rambo (a skinny guy!)
Kathy (she can't say 'th', comes out like Kacey)
Grass
Rainbow
Echo
January (she was born in....)
Vivi (and you x-Coreleans thought there was only one Vivi in the world!)
Zero
Even
Miracle
Smile
Haze
Queenie
Ice Cream
Hymen (I`m not making this up)
Boner (Really, I`m not!)
Snow
Summer

I`ve been facinated with these names since I arrived and in talking to the students I`ve learned a few things that may shed some light on their choices. In China a person`s name can come from words such as beautiful or lovely or echo. In fact you can take two words that you like and take a written symbol from each, combine them together and form a name. It works. I think they try to do the same in English, however since we don`t have the same system of writing, they cannot mix and match like they do in Chinese so they just pick one nice word. I`m not sure if they pick the name based on what it means or how it sounds. I suspect some do one and some do the other. Sometimes I think they pick a word because it sounds like their Chinese name. Whatever the reason, I like it! I`ve been here for three months and I am still coming across new and interesting names.

Fashion Faux Pas?

They say, China will be the next big super-power. They say, Shanghai will be the financial center of the world. Does that mean that China will start setting the latest fashion trends? I already illuded to the fashion faux pas found in China in an earlier post when I mentioned that people wear pyjamas outdoors and I don't want to sound negative but.... The Chinese do not appear to have any sense of fashion, and to top it off they have the nerve to complain about my fashion sense!! (They think I'm too manly!)

I'm not sure why the Chinese dress the way they do, but I have a theory. According to my sudents, thirty years ago, or so, people did not have any fashion choice. When you went shopping you could buy a pair of navy blue pants, a navy blue skirt and white blouse, and that was about it. Now that China has opened its doors to the west, they have been inundated with western culture. There is a clothing shop on every corner and the Chinese are like kids in a candy shop. They want to try everything... all at once! There is no limit to the mixing and matching they will perform and the exotic combinations they can create. For example, the other day I saw a young woman on the subway. She was wearing silver high-top sneakers and a pair of short black denim shorts. She also had on black stockings. Not regular old nylons, but stockings. Those things that require a garter belt to hold them up. And yes, she did have on a garter belt. I knew this because I could plainly see it, sticking well out from under her short little denim shorts. At least it was black, so it matched. To top all of this off, she had on a baggy pink and white sweatshirt, like you'd wear if you were out working in the garden. What possessed her to put together this combination of clothes I don't know, but my senses are constantly being bombarded with these bazzar fashion combinations and permutations.

Last week, as I walked through my local supermarket I saw an attractive women. She looked to be around 30. She was wearing a bright pink terry cloth bath robe. It only came down to about mid-thigh, but that was no problem because she had a pair of matching pink terry pants to go with it. She was wearing a nice pair of heels and her hair and make-up were very well done, but for some reason she thought that this robe and pyjama bottoms made a nice outfit. In a way, I guess they did, but I just can't get past the fact that they are... pyjamas! Maybe it's my problem, not theirs.

My Bike!

I bought a bike today! It has one gear and a basket. :) I paid 300 RMB (about $50). I think I paid too much but I had to beat the guy down to get 'that' price. I took the subway to a small bike shop I'd seen when I'd been apartment hunting. I had a great time bargaining with the old guy that ran the shop and test driving bikes. He convinced me to buy what looked like a bit of an old clunker instead of another one that looked shiny and new. I think he was saying that the shiny new one wasn't as mechanically sound.

However, as I inspected my soon-to-be new bike I noticed the front breaks weren't adjusted properly. I pointed this out and the shop owner went about correcting the problem, with a hammer. Yup. Nothing a few wacks with a ball peen hammer won't fix! Everything looked OK after that so I paid my bill and off I went.

About 15 minutes into my ride, my left pedal fell off. Luckily I wasn't in the middle of an intersection! I rode back and picked it up. As I screwed it back on I couldn't help thinking it was on the wrong side. I couldn't get the pedal on the other side off to try and switch them so I kept on going, only every few minutes I had to stop and screw the pedal back on, as I seemed to be pedaling it off as I rode along.

I usually have a pretty good sense of direction and I was sure I knew my way home but I kept getting lost. Over and over again! I had a map but it was confusing. There was too much going on for me to concentrate on my route. I had cars and bikes and mopeds and people coming at me from all directions. Going through major intersections was a bit crazy, to say the least. It seemed that no matter how much I looked around for traffic, I was always taken by surprise by a wall of bikes coming at me from some direction in which I hadn't looked. At times it was a bit stressful but I loved it!

Between stopping to screw on my pedal, stopping to look at my map and getting repeatedly lost, it took me an hour and a half to get home. I think it should have been about seven or eight kms if I had taken a more direct route! Thank God the road signs are in Chinese and English or I'd still be out there now!

My ride home made me realize something. I never see Shanghai! I always travel underground on the subway. On my ride home, when I dared to take my eyes off the road, I finally got to see the city! It was great!

I'm a bit worried now that I don't have enough medical coverage to cover a bike accident. Could be a problem! Better make sure I always ID on me at all times. In case I'm rendered unconscious!

Too Many People?

What happens to you when you live in a city with over 20 million people? You stop noticing. You see people begging in the street and when they ask you for money you ignore them. You see people with no arms and no legs, you see people who are disfigured and you just keep on walking. Maybe it's because you can't help all of them, so you don't help any of them.

Today, I saw a well dressed young man. He had on a big traveler’s backpack. He was sitting under a tree on a narrow stretch of sidewalk on my way to the subway. He was just sitting there looking forlorn but everyone noticed him. Everyone stared as they went by. Why does everyone walk by the lady with the dirty little baby, on the same stretch of sidewalk, without even giving her a second glance?


I met my landlord today. He wears pyjamas. :)

Some Impresssions So Far

My apartment:
I found a nice apartment in Zhabei, just north of the center of Shanghai. It’s on the same subway line as my school so it’s pretty convenient. It still takes my about 45 minutes to get to work but I’m happy here. I live with a 23 year old guy named Justin. He is Chinese and speaks perfect British English. So good, in fact, that I told him he should be teaching English! Originally, I looked at 1 bdrm apts but once I finally found a nice one in a good location, I realized that if I moved in there I would be lonely. Justin is great company. We share the same taste in TV shows and movies and Shanghai is the land of pirated dvds. We spend a lot of time in the evening watching our latest finds.

Food:
Food in Shanghai is plentiful and delicious, for the most part. Unfortunately much of it is deep fried. There are people cooking and selling food on the street in almost every neighbourhood, although it sounds like that may change some day as more high rises go up and more and more of the old traditional neighbourhoods get torn down. You can buy dumplings and steamed buns and meat on a stick all for about 20 cents a piece. But, of course, everything comes with a price. I really started to pork out! So now I’m trying to eat healthy, make my lunch, stay away from the street foods. It’s hard.

Oh, yes, fast foods. There is the usual: McDs, Dairy Queen, KFC, but they have the most fabulous food courts here in all of the malls. All kinds of noodles and dumplings and rice. Very delicious, but not good for the waistline.

Shopping:
I heard before I left that Shanghai is a shopping mecca. True, there are department stores and malls just about everywhere. In fact, most office buildings seem to be shopping centers for the first few floors and small shops are ubiquitous in Shanghai. I have also found numerous underground shopping ‘mazes’. Areas that seem to have sprung up out of the subway system that spread out into complex mazes of hundreds of small shops selling clothes, jewellery, handbags, etc. In between the office buildings and subway stops, the streets seem to be lined with one small hole-in-the wall shop after another. Prices run the full gamut from very cheap to very expensive depending on where you buy it and how well you can haggle. But one thing’s for sure. Regardless of what you are looking for, you can probably find it in Shanghai.

People:
What can I say, there are about 25 million people in Shanghai. That’s a lot of people! I made the mistake of taking the subway during rush hour one day. Wow! 25 million people all rushing off to work and school at the same time. People pushing and shoving. It was complete chaos. Somebody in Ottawa described ‘the Chinese’ as gentle people. Obviously that person has never taken the subway during rush hour. I was pushed, I was shoved, I was elbowed and I was squished. When I finally arrived at my stop and managed to fight my way out of the car, while other people were pushing their way in, the scene outside the subway car was even more chaotic than within. Everybody that had exited the train was now running towards the escalator. It was as if someone had yelled ‘fire’ and everyone was in a panic to get out alive. Not a pretty scene.

Kids:
Kids are really special in Shanghai and not just because they are all adorable. I think people here really cherish there children. Not just the parents, everyone. People just seem to love kids. And I haven’t seen any obnoxious kids yet. No temper tantrums, no cranky kids, no crying kids, just sweet adorable little children. Maybe that's a positive side-effect of the one (or two)-child cap on families. I have seen so many cute things since I’ve arrived. Kids on the back of bikes, on the front of scooters, I can’t begin to describe all the cuteness I`ve seen. One morning I saw a lady headed towards me on her scooter. I could just barely see two little eyes looking out over the handlebars. As they went by I saw she had her son with her. He was standing on the running board but he was so small he could just barely see over the handlebars. Off they went with the wind blowing through his hair as they joined in with the rest of the rush hour traffic. So cute! But so dangerous!

Deaf People:
I ran into two Deaf people one day on the subway! I was very excited about that and I tried to sign to them but they couldn’t understand anything I signed!! I tried signing Canada like Lois showed me (‘5’ on my chest), which she thinks is how Chinese people sign it but they had no idea what I was trying to say! They were very nice and finally we just smiled and waved good-bye. I would really like to learn Chinese sign language but I don’t know how. If only I could have asked those two people I met in the subway.

Just one more thing before I sign off. I read this on the back of a book about China the other day. It described Bejing as being, among other things, a city in which pyjamas never go out of style. Same thing here in Shanghai, people wear pyjamas everywhere, out for a walk, to the mall. I guess you never know when you might want to take a nap! Which reminds me... don’t get me started on people sleeping on the furniture at IKEA!

Wal-Mart: Line 6, Pudong

I went to Wal-Mart today. I'm not proud of it, but I won't try and hide it. I needed some cheap, yet sturdy, shelves. I got out my map and off I went. I wasn't sure how hard it would be to find. I immerged from the subway dazed and confused, my usual state . I took a quick refresher with my map and off I went. As soon as I rounded the corner (onto Lin Yi Lu) there it was, in all it's oversized, American glory: a giant Wal-Mart sign. I went in to find the entire main floor full of food. Chinese food! There were turtles, crabs, ells and a variety of fish... all live. What caught my eye were the eels as they poked their heads out of the water, gasping for breath.

I found some shelves with drawers on the more American second floor. Perfect for my clothes but would I be able to get it home? No problem, I paid for the shelves then took my shopping cart out to the curb and jumped in a cab. The shelves fit perfectly in back and I hopped in front. I showed the driver my address (conveniently written in Chinese by my roommate) and off we went. Mission accomplished.

Street People

I've seen people with missing legs and arms. I've seen mothers with dirty little children. I've seen old people. I saw a boy whose faced had been badly burned. There are not a lot of street people here, but as opposed to Ottawa where some people seem to choose to live on the street, the street people here really look like they have suffered from hard times. They really look like life has given them no other choice. A common sight re street people is a mom sitting on the edge of the sidewalk with a young child, or sometimes two. As you pass by she starts sort of bowing forward, repeatatively, from a sitting position while the child sits and plays close by.

Today I saw something that was truely shocking. A man was sitting on the road begging for money. He wore only a pair of shorts and his body was covered in what I can only describe as lumps. Bigger ones were about the size of walnuts, some were not so big. His entire body - arms, legs, torso, head - was covered. As I re-read my description, it doesn`t sound bad, but when I saw him, it took my breath away. I should have given him some money but I didn`t. I think I was too overwhelmed by what I was seeing. I gave one of the street moms money later to try and make up for it.

Everything's Negotiable

I've been thinking about the red light situation in Shanghai and I have a theory. I think an intersection in Shanghai provides a metaphore for life here. Everything is negotiable. An intersection is just one more negotiation. A green light gives you a leg up but it doesn't mean you will come out on top.

Red Lights

Why have red lights if people don't stop? The Canadian in me thinks it's just wrong! But after giving it considerable thought, I think maybe it's OK. For me, stopping at a red light is a rule, it's something I have to do. Here it's more of a guideline. It's more of a yield sign. And it's not like the red light carries no meaning. It gives order to the chaos. It indicates who has the right of way. At first, intersections in China seem to be free-for-alls. But now I'm starting to think there is some order to the chaos.

First of all, size matters. There seem to be different rules for vehicles of different sizes. A bus or a big truck for example will usually stop at a red light. (Note the word usually. There are no absolutes in Shanghai.) A car will yield and probably only go if it's safe to do so. Mopeds, bikes, pedestrians, they seem to like to live on the edge. They will go anytime, anywhere, throwing regard for their personal safety out the window. Old ladies will make mad dashes to jay-walk through busy traffic; mopeds will play chicken with cars. And why? Why not wait 45 seconds until the light changes? When the light turns green, you still have to fight your way through people running the red light but I would argue that it is considerably easier. So why not wait?

I don't have an answer to the red light question, but I have noticed something else. I think any traffic manoeuvre is OK if it's accompanied by a blowing of your horn. Going through a red light? No problem, just blow your horn. See an old lady jay-walking in front of you? Keep going, but blow your horn. Going the wrong way on a one way road? Blow your horn. This 'rule' goes for mopeds too. There’s a foreigner on the sidewalk who’s in your way, as you drive down the sidewalk? Definitely, blow your horn! I heard that the government passed a law outlawing needless horn blowing, and it's actually much quieter now than it used to be. I haven't confirmed that yet, so it's still just a rumour. It may have been something done in Beijing during the Olympics.

Moon Cake

The mid-autumn festival is this weekend and everyone is out buying moon cake. I'm not sure exactly what it is but as it approaches the urgency for moon cake escalates. There seems to be a moon cake warehouse down the road from my hotel. There has been a constant stream of people going in and coming back out with a stack of fancy boxes in hand. Today there has been a constant mob of people surrounding the place. People are frantic to get their moon cake. As I walk past I get pushed and shoved by people fighting their way in through the crowd. Should I buy some? I'm not sure. It looks like it could be quite a struggle and I've heared that foreigners tend to not be so keen on it. And, moon cake isn't cheap. Well sometimes it is, but you can pay hundreds of dollars (not RMB) for a box of moon cake. I just want a little taste.

The Subway

I made it out of the subway today, by myself! I've been able to get in through the turnstiles, but I've been having trouble getting back out. Today I was determined to get out by myself. Previously I've had to go to the customer service counter and have them let me out through a 'special' gate (reserved for those too inept to go through the turnstile exit). I left the train and followed the crowd towards the exit gate, card in hand. I swiped. Nothing. The turnstile wouldn`t budge. But wait! I noticed someone at another turnstile insert his card into a slot. I did the same, thinking I'd finally got this thing beat! Again, nothing. I was determined to get out on my own today. I fiddled and fiddled. I turned the card around and upside down, reinstering it again and again. Nothing! Now a crowd was forming behind me. Most people quickly moved to another gate as soon as they realized there was a problem. Finally, a couple of people pointed to the side of the exit gate. There, I saw it. Another card slot! Cautiously, I insterted my card. Instantly, it was sucked in and this time when I pushed the turnstile, it moved! I was free! I made it out!

Silly, I know. But that's what happens when you can't speak the language, can't read the signs, and don't know how things work. I don't know what other people do, but I seem to just sort of bumple along and somehow figure things out, eventually.

Jetlag at the Noodle Shop

It's 4:45 p.m. I feel like I've been drugged, I'm so tired. If I go back to my hotel room I'll crash for sure and that won't help me reset my internal clock. I'm at a noodle restaurant, hoping that eating will help stop me from sleeping. I came here yesterday, pointed to a picture on a menu of choices that looked remarkable the same, and was served a lovely bowl of noodles, BBQ pork and bean sprouts. Today, I pointed to the next item on the menu and was told that I couldn't have that one (don't know why) but I could have the following one. Fine. They all looked pretty much the same in the pictures, which was funny because they all looked very different in real life. As usual, I received my meal in a matter of minutes, only this time it wasn’t so nice. Noodles, yes, but nestled in amongst the noodles were chunks of boiled chicken that I imagined had been hacked apart by a machete, leaving remnants of bone everywhere and bits of the boiled skin still hanging off the bits carcass. It didn’t look very appetizing, but I gave it a try. It was so full of bone fragments that I couldn’t eat it. The only way was to pop in a piece, chew off the meat, then spit out the bone. I suddenly started to understand the eating habits I’ve seen, and frowned upon, at Chinese restaurants at home. Along with the boiled chicken, with bits of white pimply skin hanging off it, there was boiled lettuce. What ever possesses people to boil lettuce? I'll never understand. I also received a small bowl of something that looked an awful lot like dirty dishwater. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do with it and the waiter looked a bit surly so I didn't want to ask, and by ask I mean act out a mime of my question with a lot of finger pointing and quizzical facial expressions. I was too tired to go down that road. So, I pushed the dishwater aside and focussed my attention on a larger bowl, working my way around the massacred chicken. At the bottom, when I finally reached it, was some very concentrated soy sauce. Couldn't help thinking that, had the dirty dishwater been added to the whole concoction, it my have made a nice soup!

I noticed that most people ordered a make-your-own soup. They received a very large bowl of what looked like my same dirty dish water. They also got small plates of meat and veggies and other things that I couldn't quite identify from my vantage point. I didn't quite get it. When it arrived, they just dumped everything into the bowl and ate it. Wouldn't it have been quicker and easier to do that in the kitchen and present the finished product at the table? The thirty seconds it took to deliver it couldn’t have made that much of a difference, could it?

Oh boy. I felt drugged when I dragged myself in here but pour some nice warm soup down me and now I'm barely conscious. And it's only just after 5:00! Maybe I need something sweet. There is no shortage of sweet things in Shanghai. My favourite are sesame balls. Just like the ones you get at dim sum, only better! Egg tarts also abound. Yes, eating in Shanghai is going to be a problem. Too much food and far too tasty.