John and Sun-Ling's China Adventures

Final post

2008-01-05T22:54:00.002+08:00

This is our last post to meckleychina.blogspot.com. Thanks for reading and for all your comments and emails.

Our future adventures will be posted to meckleyearth.blogspot.com. See ya there!

Tomorrow, after 5 days in Kunming, we fly to Myanmar (Burma) where there is no Internet access. So we don't expect to make our next blog post - at meckleyearth - until the second week in February.

-john and sun-ling

Winding down

2007-12-28T17:00:00.000+08:00

Today is the last working day for both John and I. We will be packing over the weekend, moving our stuff to my parents' place on Monday. On Tuesday we'll be flying to Kunming, China to get our visas for Burma/Myanmar. We will fly to Mandalay, Burma on Sunday 1/6.

Here we are

2007-12-11T21:41:00.000+08:00

Haven't seen us for awhile. Well....here's a recent pic taken on the Bund in Shanghai.

Finally

2007-12-02T16:41:00.001+08:00

After 2 years of living in Shanghai we finally happened to walk by St. Ignatius Cathedral, located one block from our apartment, when it was open.

We were out yesterday and noticed a bunch of tour buses parked in front of the cathedral so we headed over, acted like we new what we were doing, and walked right in past the guys with blue badges around their necks.

Also noticed about 10 guys with the clerical collar, so it must have been an official church outing of some kind.

Inside, fairly traditional architecture. See photo below. A few people were praying. We noticed a photo of Pope John-Paul II in one of the chapels.

Inside.

Lit up at night during the Special Olympics last fall.

It's beginning ....

2007-12-02T16:37:00.000+08:00

... to look a lot like Christmas in Shanghai.

Loaded

2007-12-02T16:26:00.000+08:00

Three-wheeled bicycles are used to haul anything and everything in China. In the past month we've seen a few real loads.

The Styrofoam loads are common. Every expat has a photo. The ice load is unusual. That guy was really struggling.

Going to the dentist

2007-11-23T11:46:00.000+08:00

I just got back from the dentist. My third time in the chair since we've been in China.

My insurance from Intel covers dental up to about 100 USD per year. You don't actually pick a dentist, but a dental clinic. When I looked on the list of approved dental clinics, there was one called iMD located about 10 minutes walk from our apartment. The first visit I brought Sun-Ling with me, but since then I've been back twice by myself with no problems.

So on Tuesday of this week I called up iMD and requested for an appointment on Friday at 10AM with Dr Wang, the dentist I had on my second visit who speaks English, does a good job, and has a sense of humor. I reminded them that I have GBG insurance since for some unknown reason they need to have a GBG specialist in the office during my visit to process the paperwork. I found that out last visit. OK. I'm in.

So today, I arrived right at 10AM. They had my file ready, asked to make a copy of my insurance card and ID, and had me fill out the patient section of the insurance claim form. The usual kind of claim form with a teeth diagram, and lots questions about dependents, dates, policy numbers, etc.

Dr Wang goes by the English name of King Wang which is slightly humorous if you speak Chinese since wang means king. So he's King King. I told you he had a good sense of humor. Also, Elvis is called Mao Wang in Chinese which translates to Cat King which makes a lot of sense if you are old enough to remember 1950's hipster lingo.

I walked back to a bay, they don't have rooms, and sat in the chair. A smiling Dr Wang asked "How can I help you today?" "Please clean my teeth" I replied.

In China the dentist does all the work, while the assistant only adjusts suction, spray, etc. This clinic uses ultrasound to clean the teeth.

The cleaning, flossing, and polishing took about 30 minutes. King Wang reminded me to floss every day which I already do. I took my chart up to reception and paid the 19 RMB Co-pay (about 3 USD). Then I asked for a copy of my records, which are in Chinese. And I got them to put a copy of my panorex on my USB disc. See below. I was back home at 11.

Living away from our house

2007-11-13T10:29:00.000+08:00

We have lived in four apartments in the past four years; two in Shanghai and two in Jacksonville. Those have been fantastic experiences for us, though it was not completely our choice the first time around. I love the choices and freedom apartment living afforded us. I would even venture to declare that home ownership is overrated, except

1. Having a house gives me a tremendous amount of security. If ever our wild escapades go awry, we can retreat home anytime.
2. Recently we were almost thrown out of our apartment by our landlord for the last two months of our Shanghai stint because they wanted to sell. It's awful when someone else messes up your plan.

Now we are about to embark on a new phase where we will again test our family motto: Home is where we are together.

The big five-oh

2007-11-05T20:44:00.000+08:00

The in-laws threw me a surprise birthday dinner for my 50th at the Dolar Shop hotpot restaurant. Here are a few photos. Johnny's getting older. ;-)

Fun at work

2007-10-30T08:45:00.000+08:00

I commute to work every day in a shuttle bus provided by Intel. Last week we had an evacuation drill. It was lots of fun. [That's my head sticking out the top of the bus window.]

Moving on

2007-10-17T19:49:00.000+08:00

John just had a BIG birthday. We decided it's time to start the next phase of our adventure. We are quitting the tech world. The plan is to work in Shanghai until the end of the year. After the new year, we will head south to travel in southern China and northern SE Asia. When it gets too hot to run around, we will retreat to our house in Raleigh. In the fall we will come out to travel again for 6-9 months. We have no idea of how long and how much traveling it will take to get rid of this travel bug ...

We are back

2007-10-09T13:33:00.000+08:00

We are back from Japan. A short report will follow this weekend - longer reports to trickle out over the following weeks and month - but for now one photo taken at the Nagasaki Kunchi Festival.

The adults patiently await the Dragon Dancers but the children are just plain frightened.

Checking in from Japan

2007-09-24T20:47:00.000+08:00

A short hello from Kanazawa, Japan using our new gear - the Nokia n800 and Asus access point - in our hotel room.

Just got back from the rooftop traditional Japanese bath. Great!

The most fascinating building in Shanghai

2007-09-16T08:05:00.000+08:00

John and I have been pounding the streets in Shanghai looking for/at Art Deco buildings. We finally got around to seeing the Shanghai Municipal Slaughterhouse which we have known about for some time. Yet we were astounded by the magnificence of the place. Its sinister, bloody past added to its fascination.

The main building is fronted by an elegant art deco facade that spans 80 meters. All the slaughtering took place in the roundish building inside in the style of a Roman basilica. There are corrals everywhere for driving animals.

Across the street sits the imposing incinerator, a perfectly proportioned symmetrical building topped by two chimneys.

When originally built in 1933 this was the largest modern slaughterhouse in the Far East. In the days of the People's Republic, the building was first left unused (or continued as a slaughterhouse depending on which source you read), then manufactured pharmaceutical products, and then was storage for a hotel. Today it is being turned into an upscale shopping & entertainment area, under the name of "Shanghai Millfun 1933."

The wonderful young lady who showed us around said they have already signed up a couple of restaurants. As a vegetarian I am not sure I would be able to stomach food in a place where so many animals met their end and so much blood flowed. We also learned from her that this year's Design Week (starting 11/15) will be hosted by Millfun 1933.

There are supposed to be two other slaughterhouses like this, one in the UK and another in the US. I would love to find those and learn about their current incarnation.

Here are the photos.

The magnificent front facade.

The sturdy legs of the main entrance.

Interior ramps, corrals, and walkways.

The sinister incinerator.

An artist's rendition of Shanghai Millfun 1933 entertainment complex.

To see all the photos, click here.

New lab (toys) for the road

2007-09-13T19:18:00.000+08:00

Being the Luddites we are, we held out on the digital camera until right before we came to China. That turned out be THE greatest toy for John, even more than his guitars. In fact, we are so in love with it, we are reluctant to upgrade and decided to buy a few "accessories" for it, since taking our Thinkpad on the road is out of the question.

Here's what we bought:

Asus WL-HDD 2.5 ( Wireless AP 80Gb HD = NAS)

Transcend TS-RDM2R (Multi-Card Reader)

Nokia N800(MID - Mobile Internet Device or Tablet PC or UMPC)

With this setup, we can

Backup photos from the camera onto a hard drive by taking the CF card out of the camera, inserting it in the Transcend card reader, and connecting the card reader to the Asus box via mini-USB

Get on the Internet directly with the N800 when there is a wireless connection (hopefully a free Wi-Fi hotspot) or through the Asus AP when only a wired connection is available.

Look at photos on the hard drive with the Nokia using file sharing over the wireless LAN.

This setup is like componentizing (is that word) a laptop. We will have a full run with the new setup in Japan, where we may be found on Skype occasionally.

(Technical details:

We have had "The 800" for 10 days now. Very good engineering. We bought a jacket for it. It runs Linux with the Opera browser.We had a fun time installing xterm/shell and trying to remember vi. ;-)

The 800 with its jacket.

It look me several days to find a device like the Asus. It is a wireless router as well as backup hard drive. I am so glad that they make such a device!

We had hoped to plug the camera directly into the Asus, but we had to buy the Transcend. It is a bit of an overkill.

Everything is working as planned, except I cannot get to CIFS to work 100% on the Nokia. Talk about ironic. The workaround is to use FTP to look at the photos.

I'm published!

2007-09-12T15:36:00.000+08:00

The dream of many photographers is to get published in National Geographic. Well, I didn't get published in National Geo, but I did get a photo published in the July issue of Shanghai Talk, a local English language magazine.

[Of course we now have at least 4 copies floating around the apartment. ;-)]

They needed a wide angle photo of the Shanghai Exhibition Center for their monthly architecture column and spotted my photo on flickr. The rest is history.

Here's a scan of the mag. Excuse my boasting but it was the highlight of the summer for me. ;-)

Trip Report - Nanjing and Yangzhou

2007-09-11T20:43:00.000+08:00

Finally a brief report from our trip last Spring to Nanjing and Yangzhou. The cherry blossoms and plum blossoms were in full bloom as were the rapeseed.

Rapeseed you say? Canola oil is made from rapeseed. China is the world's largest producer of rapeseed and the fields outside Shanghai were bright yellow with rapeseed blossoms.

We stayed in an old Art Deco hotel in central Nanjing, checked out some historic architecture, made a side trip to Shecun Town before heading over to Yangzhou on Saturday morning.

While Nanjing, the former capital, is on the busy southern bank of the Yangtze River, Yangzhou is just an hour away on the north bank. The highlights for the tourist are Shou Xi Hu (Slender West Lake Gardens) - and the many canals that thread through the town, including the Grand Canal.

Canal lit up at night.

At Slender West Lake: One willow, one flowering fruit tree, one willow, one flowering fruit tree,and on and on.

And finally the famous Five Pavilion Bridge.

We had a great time. The photos from Nanjing and Shecun town are here.

The photos from Yangzhou are here.

And a short video of the rickety bus ride back from Shecun Town is here.

And last but not least, my experimental Google Map of Shecun Town. Feedback on this is most welcome.

View Larger Map

We go to a wedding OR John gives a speech

2007-09-08T11:08:00.000+08:00

Last weekend we attended a wedding in Nantong, China, a medium-size city on the north bank of the Yangtze River, about 3 hours from Shanghai. One of my team members, Wang Ning, was getting married and she invited me to be the ZhengHunRen or "Master Witness". More about that later.

The wedding was Saturday at 6PM and early that afternoon the car that Wang Ning arranged for us arrived at 1:00 PM. The driver was one of those "professional" drivers who makes every maneuver possible to gain advantage including driving on the wrong side of the road. ;-)

We made good time and arrived at the Yangtze River Ferry at 3PM. The major cities of the Yangtze river delta - Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Ningbo, and Wuxi - are south of the river. Nantong is to the north and is not as well known although she claims to be "the first modern city in China". More later.

There is a new bridge across the Yangtze just south-east of Nantong that will open next April, but for now we have to ride the ferry. The driver knew exactly how to work the system to beat the long lines and we wound up waiting for only 10 minutes instead of hours. Literally he just drove directly to the front of the line.

These ferries were similar, maybe identical, to the ones we rode this spring to cross the Yangtze at Zhenjiang. It was raining so I did not get out of the car to take photos.

We got to Nantong about 4:10. Wang Ning and soon-to-be-husband Shen Tao were waiting to greet us at the Youfei Hotel, the only 5-star hotel in Nantong. The bride and groom escorted us to our room. This was our first chance to meet the groom, an entrepreneur from Nantong, and he seemed like a really good guy.

Room 616 in tower B was excellent. We took a nice short nap before dressing and heading downstairs at 6PM for the wedding.

Sandy, who had ridden with us from Shanghai, was the sign-in lady. We signed in and had our photo taken with the bride and groom. We also had a brief chance to meet both sets of parents who were very cordial.

The Chinese pre-wedding rituals are distinctly different from those in the US. In the US, the bride and groom do not see each other the day of the wedding and the "photo taking" and "receiving line" occur between the ceremony and the reception (while I'm usually starving). ;-)

In China, the bride and groom and their families greet the guests as they arrive, photos are taken with each guest, and gifts (red packets) are received. I like it.

The wedding was on the 3rd floor in a very luxurious banquet room with 28 X 10-person tables. We were seated in the 2nd row of tables. The decorations were fabulous - lots of white flowers. See the photos.

The wedding banquet started on time at 6:48 (according to Sandy). The bride and groom walked down the aisle to the stage amid some very loud welcomes by the M.C. yes, the MC. No minister as this is the wedding ceremony not official civil marriage.

Next, I was introduced as the ZhengHunRen and I walked up to the stage with spotlights blazing, and gave my speech - in Chinese. Basically the ZhengHunRen, or Master Witness, is a respected family member, friend, work colleague, or former teacher who gives a short 3-part speech: a welcome, a few kind words about the bride and groom, and a concluding "may you be united forever, in sickness and health, etc, etc".

I was happy to get my speech over with early as I had been practicing it in Chinese for a week and was of course nervous. Much thanks to Sun-Ling and my colleagues at work for their help and encouragement.

The wedding then proceeded with all the usual bits. The tower of champagne glasses, candle lighting, toasting, exchanging of rings, eating, etc. There was a new twist that I had not seen before at a Chinese wedding - a band performed about 5 songs while we were eating.

The food was excellent and the red wine was tasty. We toasted the bride and groom, the bride's parents, the groom's parents, and finally the bride and groom again before the wedding wound down around 9PM.

We went back up to our room were I ditched my coat and tie and we headed out for stroll. The rain had stopped and we were treated to the first comfortable evening of the summer. Nantong has many canals and bridges. We made a short circuit, and on the way saw a magnificent art deco building from the early 1950's. A real gem. Awesome.

Crashed around 10:30.

Slept in a bit on Sunday. Had a very good breakfast at the hotel and then Wang Ning's parents picked us up for a short tour around Nantong. First stop: a daylight photo op at the art deco building. Second: the home of Zhang Jian (1853 - 1926), nicknamed the “King of Nantong” who started the Nantong Institute of Technology, the first textile college in China, and founded the first private museum in China. Thus the city tag line of "the first modern city in China".

Then to the nearby Wang family home. A neat old style compound. We drank tea and chatted with grandmother Wang who is the only family member living there now.

Then a brief visit to the nearby Tianning Buddhist temple - very cool. Took lots of photos.

Then over to the apartment of the newlyweds - big and new - before heading off to lunch. Finished lunch around 2PM, went back to hotel, packed, and checked out. The driver had us back at our apartment at 5:30.

It was not raining so I took a ton of photos on the ferry.

Some photos are below. To see all the photos click here.

The bride and groom greet guests and take photos.

The banquet room. Check out the photos on the back wall of the bride and groom.

John gives a speech

The view from the Hotel of downtown Nantong.

The People's Palace.

Tianning Temple

The view from the ferry

"Broken China: A dysfunctional nation"

2007-09-03T07:06:00.000+08:00

Recently I came across a very insightful article on the Internet: Broken China: A dysfunctional nation.

Now that we have been here for almost two years, we have a better picture of China. We would like to see her having a brighter future. However, there are many things that bother us and puzzle us. This article does a better job of explaining this than we could ever do ourselves.

Update

2007-08-31T12:31:00.000+08:00

Hey all,

It's been awhile since our last post. Everything is fine. Just not much going on. It's been very hot in Shanghai for the last 6 weeks and we have been mostly staying inside, or working, or planning our upcoming Japan trip.

Shanghai was not effected buy this summer's floods and rats. And the typhoon Sepat that hit Taiwan and Fujian brought a few showers and a few gorgeous, windy days of blue skies and white clouds; but little relief from the heat.

We did mange to get out a few times during this "blue sky period" to continue our quest to visit and photograph all the historic Art Deco buildings in Shanghai. Click here to see the latest shots.

This weekend we will attend a wedding in Nantong, a city about 3 hours away from Shanghai. John will make a speech in Chinese. Look for a full report next week. ;-)

-john and sunling

Going to Japan again

2007-08-11T12:00:00.000+08:00

We decided to go to Japan for the Chinese National Day (10/1) holiday week, 9/22 to 10/7

Japan makes an interesting destination from China. There are sharp differences.
* cost of living
* level of civility
* big empire (China) conquered by small-island country (Japan) in WWII

At the same of time, there are so many connections.
* ancient Chinese culture in Japan
* modern Japan culture in China
* dense population centers

I am busy trip planning. This time I decided to give Triptie a try. Click here to see our itinerary in progress.

Gridlock (updated)

2007-07-31T20:49:00.000+08:00

UPDATE: August 09, 2007

In a recent email to a friend in Shanghai, I coined a the new phrase "driver induced gridlock" to describe the type of gridlock caused solely by impatient, ignorant drivers as opposed to gridlock caused by too much traffic, accidents, bad weather, etc.

----------------------------------------

Original Post: July 31, 2007

Traffic congestion in Shanghai is usually not too bad. Many people use public transportation (ferry, bus, subway, and light rail), bike, take taxis, or walk. But during rush hour the subway is packed, buses are crowded, traffic moves slowly and empty taxis are few.

One of the busiest intersections in Shanghai - Nandan Lu and Caixi Bei Lu - is just below our apartment window. It has loads of pedestrian, bus, motorbike, bicycle, and bus traffic due to it's proximity to a major metro station, a major business and shopping district, a sports stadium complex, and a major north-south expressway.

It is amazing to peer from our window and watch the action - the flow of humans and machines. However, last Saturday night, the flow became a trickle. Gridlock. Even though there was no accident, no construction, and the traffic lights were working, the flow came to a momentary stop.

Here's a photo.

After about 10 minutes the grid became unlocked.

Huang Yu

2007-07-28T16:27:00.000+08:00

The 3-wheeled bicycle plus driver is the real workhorse of China. They carry anything, anyone,anywhere, anytime. Their common name in Shanghai is huang yu ("yellow fish" or "croaker") as in the past these wagons were mainly used to transport fish. Northerners have a different name.

Last night we saw a huang yu moving an incredibly large load - probably Styrofoam - and Sun-Ling spotted it just in time for me to shoot this video (I apologize in advance for the overly long credits. Sometimes I just can't help myself with Windows Movie Maker).

Here are a few other shots of 3-wheelers in action.

My summer projects: #1

2007-07-28T12:55:00.000+08:00

Summer is hot in Shanghai. I tend to stay indoors. Last Saturday the two of us nested in our apartment all day. Didn't even unlock the door to take out the trash.

This is a great time to catch up on reading. One of my bookgroup books for the upcoming year is "Leaving Mother Lake." I had known about the book soon after our arrival in Shanghai. The book is a memoir of a celebrity from a matriarchal minority group. I did not feel compelled to read the book, because 1) I abhor self promoters. 2) I am skeptical of the claim of matriarchal society.

Nevertheless I would read any book for a bookgroup. Once I got started with the story, I got totally immersed. I read other books on the subject. I am up to 5 books. I found the celebrity every bit annoying as I suspected. She also turned out to be a sociopath -- the details in her memoir by a Chinese writer is drastically different from "Leaving Mother Lake." But the story has all the issues I am interested in: indigenous cultures, women's issues, religion, influence of modern culture, effects of tourism, etc.

While in the process, I finally managed to read my 1st Chinese book cover to cover since coming to Shanghai. I was only looking at travel guide books before. I also learned how to buy used Chinese books online. And, I learned that my initial intuition was correct -- there is no true matriarchal society. They are matrilineal at best.

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A word about Chinese Minorities or Minority Groups: 97% of Chinese are Han, like myself. There are officially 50+ minority group with distinct languages & cultures, but I recently learned at the founding of the Republic in the 50s, 600+ groups applied for such a status.

Shenyang Trip (Updated with link to full trip report)

2007-07-20T14:12:00.000+08:00

A few weeks ago we made a weekend trip to the city of Shenyang in the northeast of China. UPDATE: READ the full trip report over on meckleyearth. The purpose was three-fold: visit the parent's of a friend, escape the heat of Shanghai, and check out the sights in Shenyang - the original capital of the Qing Dynasty. Also this would be our first north of the Great Wall.

We enjoyed the trip quite a bit even though it was hotter than Shanghai. 8-) Highlights were:

Dinner with the Wangs
The Imperial Tombs (east and north)
General Zhang's Home
The Qing Imperial Place
Government Square at night
The Tawan Pagoda
Chairman Mao's Statue in Zhongshan Square
Eating at a Jiaozi Restaurant
Ladies riding bikes with hat, scarf, and gloves

Imperial Tomb

To see all the photos click here (they all have descriptions).

To see video of kids roller blading around General Zhang's statue, click here.

To see video of the Shenyang people exercising/dancing at night in Government Square, click here.

World Population Day

2007-07-12T16:23:00.000+08:00

For most westerners, one of the first things that comes to mind about China is the "one child policy". However, China has slowly been loosening the "one child policy". Read this article from the July 11th (World Population Day) edition of China Daily. It is generally accurate based on my conversations with friends, co-workers, and family.

Two observations on Chinese movies

2007-07-07T16:38:00.000+08:00

John and I have done a pretty good job keeping up with top Chinese movies that make it to the West. We have seen a few more since we moved to Shanghai. There are two things we found to be really different about Chinese movies

Observation #1. Romantic love is never requited. Lovers never end up to be happy couples. One or both usually die, or marry someone they don't love, or you name it. Best known examples of this are Hero and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. This may not apply to the very silly movies which we stay clear off. The one exception we found so far is Comrades: Almost a Love Story. The search continues...

Observation #2. Movies that start out funny may not be comedies. In fact, they can have very devastating endings. An example is Happy Times. I don't even feel like listing more of them here. I distinctly dislike, rather, cannot stand these movies. I feel so cheated.

Once again, it all has to do with expectations. Since Observation #2 is a rather recent revelation, I have not learned to adjust my expectations. On the other hand, Observation #1 has held true for so long that now I just assume someone dies in the end, so I am not disappointed.

Chinese Hotels

2007-07-07T14:35:00.000+08:00

On our recent trip to Zhenjiang, China we stayed at a cheap, new, modern hotel in the center of town. It's part of a chain: Hanting Inns & Hotel. [I can't find a website to insert the link.]

Used to be I could lump Chinese hotels into two groups. The first: excellent 4 and 5 star hotels with clean rooms, English speaking staff, over priced but decent restaurants, and run by international companies with experience doing business in Asia. This would be the Marriots, Hiltons, Crown Plazas, Regals, etc. Price: 400 RMB and up.

The second: worn out 3-star hotels with moldy and stained carpet, ancient elevators, drained swimming pools, inattentive staff, over salted food, and intermittent hot water. Price 150 to 400 RMB. (20 to 50 USD). And I should not forget my favorite feature: The between-the-bed master console with 17 knobs and switches to remotely control the TV, mirror lamp, reading lamps, fridge, AC, etc. I should really take a photo of one of these.

Recently there are some new budget hotel chains; Jin Jiang, Home Inns, Hotel 168, and Hanting Inns, which are attempting to bring together low cost, modern style, good service, convenient location, and cleanliness. Time will tell if they manage to pull it off.

Last year we stayed the SSAW hotel in Hangzhou which had a truly "European Modern" look, including see-through bath. So after staying the Hanting in Zhenjiang with a similar look for 155 RMB per night, we are hoping for a trend.

Our room in the Hanting Inn in Zhenjiang, China. Near the intersection of Jiefang Lu and Zhongshan Lu.

Our room in the SSAW Hotel in downtown Hangzhou.

Movie Theater Scene in Shanghai: Then and Now

2007-07-07T12:26:00.000+08:00

I grew up during the cultural deprivation of the Cultural Revolution. Although there were 5 movie theaters within a 200 meter walk of my home, only a handful of movies would be shown over the span of a year: Chinese Government propaganda films and a few North Korean imports which were much more popular.

By the time I was old enough to go to the movies by myself, the scene was much improved; more movies, different themes, and more imports beginning with Eastern European Communist Block countries. I loved going to the movies. It seemed like I was going to the movies several times a week. In addition, a big variety of movies was also shown on television.

Nowadays all the movie theaters in Shanghai are set up pretty much the same way as the US (stadium seating for example) except the popcorn is sweet not salty and the seats are sold by seat number not general admission. In addition to Chinese movies, top US action movies are very popular. For the last few weeks "Pirates of the Caribbean 3" showed all day long at 3 out of the 4 screens at a nearby theater. Prices of tickets also match US level too: 90 RMB (~$12) for premium showings.

Recently an art house movie theater has set up shop, but we are yet to visit.

Road Rage

2007-07-04T20:48:00.000+08:00

One day last week on the way home from work, the shuttle bus came to a stop on Humin Elevated Expressway and I woke me from my nap just in time to see a guy running down the middle of the highway. He stopped about 50 meters in front of the bus and started arguing with the driver of a minivan. I quickly pulled out my mobile phone and snapped this photo as we drove by. They are not dancing. ;-)

In Flight

2007-06-29T21:44:00.000+08:00

A few weeks ago we flew to Shenyang on Spring Airlines, a low-fare carrier based in Shanghai. They really are a budget airline. You get a free bottle of water, but must pay for all other snacks, food, and beverages. All seats are economy class and the leg room is pretty tight. There are no magazines in the "seat pocket in front of you" and there is no in flight entertainment... Well that's not exactly true. Watch this video I shot.

Photos from ZhenJiang Trip (updated)

2007-06-28T20:06:00.000+08:00

All of the photos (with descriptions) from our recent trip to ZhenJiang can be found here.

And a few videos here, here, here, and here.

Riding the Ferry from Zhenjiang to Guazhou (and back)

2007-06-18T18:45:00.000+08:00

A few weeks ago, Sun-Ling and I made a weekend trip to Zhenjiang, China.

Zhenjiang, an ancient town, is located about 100 miles west of Shanghai at the confluence of the Yangtze River and the Grand Canal. It is mentioned by Marco Polo as the place he landed after crossing the Yangtze on the way to Hangzhou. I did not verify this from the original source but it’s mentioned in all the Zhenjiang travel websites so it must be true. ;-)

One cannot exactly retrace the Yangtze crossing of Polo from Guazhou on the north bank to Zhenjinag on the south but you take the modern ferry from the outskirts of Guazhou (a very small town even by Chinese standards) to the outskirts of Zhenjiang. The cost is 3 RMB each way and you get to walk on the ferry along side the cars, taxis, buses, tractors, and bicycles. Bus #110 takes you from the Zhenjiang train station right to the ferry landing in about 30 minutes. The ride itself is fantastic, about 15 minutes long, you can basically go anywhere on the ferry, and there is lots river traffic to watch.

There appeared to be 4 ferries operating the day we were there with almost no waiting time between departures. Strange to me as there is a massive, newly completed bridge just a few hundred meters downstream. The talkative ticket taker told us that the ferry is kept open/running for military reasons and that it’s cheaper than the toll on the bridge.

Once on the Guazhou side, it’s a 10 to 20 minutes walk along the Yangtze River levee to Guazhou town and the Ancient Ferry Scenic Park or you can hire a minivan or taxi. The fare is anywhere between 2 to 10 RMB per person depending on your negotiating skills. We walked. See photos. We had to ask directions several times. See video.

The Ancient Ferry landing at Guazhou is now a park, admission 8 RMB (about 1 USD), where one can see the old landing (a bunch of rocks and concrete) and the newer, operational, canal locks. The park is not well maintained.

We did not have time to find the old ferry landing on the Zhenjiang side but the guide books say it exists.

Here are some photos and some video of the ferry excursion.

Boarding the ferry at Guazhou. We are boarding the one at left. The one at right has almost arrived. Check out the tractor.

Riding the ferry. You can see the new bridge in the background.

Walking to Guazhou along the levee that protects the town from the Yangtze (river to the right).

Video of Sun-Ling asking directions in Guazhou Town.

The site of the ancient ferry landing at Guazhou.

Locks on the Grand Canal - part of the Ancient Ferry Scenic Area.

The one on the left is loading, the one I'm on has just pulled out.

Video of the ferries in action.

Bad climate

2007-06-16T14:30:00.000+08:00

We went to Shenyang last weekend. My first trip outside the Great Wall. I felt rather cheated by the weather. We flew 1200 km northeast, mostly north, from Shanghai to Shenyang. The daytime high in Shenyang, a city that got 1 meter of snow early this March, was 10 degrees higher than Shanghai. It was hot. I thought Shanghai had bad climate - one wishes for summer in the winter and winter in the summer....

Now I am convinced that the whole of China is plagued by bad climate. It never fails to amaze me that this great a population density could be produced in such a bad climate. I guess mass migration is conditioned by both culture and economy.

Shanghai's Bad Climate - The Proof

2007-06-16T14:23:00.000+08:00

Last year I published an hypothesis on this blog

Shanghai has the coldest winters of any city in the world at similar latitude and elevation.

On purpose, I published the statement with no supporting data and was a bit surprised to receive no comments, questions, challenges, nor congratulations to what I thought was a brilliant, new, and provocative insight. Sigh....

So, now with much humility, I am belatedly publishing the proof. I used data from BBC Weather comparing Shanghai's January weather to that of San Diego, New Orleans, Marrakech, and Alexandria. As a bonus, July is also included.

Here is the same data. [I've been playing with google docs again. ;-)]

GFW strikes again

2007-06-12T15:31:00.000+08:00

Since June 7th, I see this when I log into my flickr account.

No pics! That's right. I can upload photos, edit titles and descriptions, but I can't see the photos themselves. Looks the Great Firewall of China - GFW - has struck again.

The current official Flickr position is

11 June 23:30 (PDT)
We know images from Flickr are still blocked and definitely care very much about our friends who cannot access pictures. We have been contacting people to hopefully get a positive resolution with restoration of photos, but this of course has not happened yet. The Flickr team is very sorry for this continued issue and will update you when we have more to share.
Posted 66 minutes ago.

Riding the Bullet Train to Zhenjiang

2007-06-03T10:47:00.000+08:00

China Railways has recently introduced new "bullet trains" on several routes in and out of Shanghai. The trains are called CRH in English, short for China Railway High-Speed, and Hexie Hao "The Harmonious" in Chinese.

I took some photos earlier this year of the CRH's rolling by the Lianhua Lu Metro Station on their way to Hangzhou. Last weekend we finally got to ride one as we spent the weekend in Zhenjiang, China - a city on the Yangtze River, east of Nanjing.

I left work early and we arrived at Shanghai Station just after 5PM. We tried to enter the station via the usual Soft Seat Waiting Room but were politely told we must enter through the CRH entrance. Duh. How did we miss those blue CRH signs?

Avoiding the scuffle at the ticket entrance (a guy and his girl friend tried to enter without tickets) we headed down to platform 13 where the sleek (you might say virile) new CRH was boarding for the 17:30 trip to Nanjing - the D442. Great! And to my delight, just across the platform another CRH was waiting - the 17:35 to Nanjing (D444). I handed the luggage to Sun-Ling and took a few photos before getting on the train.

Unlike the Japanese Shinkansen, this train does not travel on specially built tracks. It uses the regular "electric-overhead" tracks and the highest speed we noted on the car-end ticker was 205 km.

Looking at the photos, you see a "nose cap" on the locomotive. That's because the normal 8-car trains can be coupled together, nose-to-nose, to make a 16-car train. You can see this in the video. The train to Zhenjiang was 8-car, the return 16.

With a 3 X 2 seat configuration, tray tables, seat-back "car-layout" diagrams, smart attendant's uniforms, men's standing toilets, and 100 percent non-smoking cars, the CRH is reminiscent of the Shinkansen. However you will find no "silence car", bowing conductors or polite "cart girls". Both trains we rode were filled with the usual busy and boisterous crowd, with about 10 "standing room" patrons per car, and unflappable attendants.

The cars have differing seat capacities and configurations which don't always agree with the seat-back charts. Car #3 on our return trip had 85 seats - 17 rows.

The rows of seats can be flipped around to face the other way. Wanna see how it's done? Click here.

We were pleasantly surprised to see orderly queues at the Kunshan Station, the first stop. Passengers boarding the train were lined up to enter at the rear of their assigned car, departing passengers left through the front exit. The doors are at platform level which makes entering and exiting quite easy.

We were able to buy the 2 sets of tickets just 5 days in advance from our local Xujiahui branch of China Railways. However, the all the return trains from Zhenjiang were sold out for Sunday night so we bought return tickets from Nanjing, the station of origin even though it cost more.

On Sunday we had a bit of a problem at the Zhenjiang Station. In China, train tickets are not checked by a conductor but are checked as you enter the station/platform and as you board the train. So when we presented our Nanjing to Shanghai tickets to the guy checking the tickets at the CRH entrance to the Zhenjiang Station, he gave them a long hard look. Then he called over his supervisor. She look at them for awhile and then let us through with the caveat that she couldn't guarantee our seats on the train.

Of course we had no trouble claiming our seats once on the train. You can watch us board the train and Sun-Ling boot out the interlopers on this video.

Here are a few more photos from the Shanghai Station.

A walk through the Jewish Quarter

2007-05-22T15:46:00.000+08:00

The past Saturday (19 May) we took a walk through a part of Shanghai called Tilanqiao by the locals (after the old fishing village there) and also known as the "Former Jewish Quarter" due to the fact that about 24,000 Jews lived there during WWII, escaping persecution in Europe.

During World War II, the city of Shanghai provided refuge to a Third Wave of Jews escaping from persecution in Europe. During this era, there was a great contrast between the stateless refugees who fled from war-torn Europe and the established Jewish entrepreneurs who were prospering in Shanghai. Now, the Sephardic and Russian business communities worked together to organize food, shelter and clothing for the European refugees.

From 1938 on, some 20,000 Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria escaped to Shanghai, the only place in the world that did not require a visa to enter. Among them was Michael Blumenthal, who later became U.S. Secretary of the Treasury in the Carter Administration, and the late Shaul Eisenberg, who founded and ran the Eisenberg Group of Companies in Israel.

Between 1939 and 1940, approximately 1,000 Polish Jews escaped to Shanghai, avoiding certain death. Among these, all the teachers and students of the Mir Ygshiva, some 400 in number, miraculously survived and continued their studies in the Beth Aharon Synagogue, the only place of worship with space enough to hold the entire Yeshiva. They escaped Poland through Vilna, obtained transit visas to Japan from Sugihara Chiune, the Japanese consul in Kovno, and finally made their way to Shanghai.

The Japanese invaded China in 1937, and later occupied the area around Shanghai. From December 1941 to 1945, the Japanese interned the population of Shanghai Jews who were citizens of Allied countries. "Stateless refugees" from Germany, Austria, or Poland were relocated to a ghetto in Hong Kou ("Hong Kew"), while those from neutral countries like Iraq and Russia were left alone. Despite these difficult conditions, the Jewish community adapted to retain its culture, tradition and social lifestyle.

By the end of the war, Shanghai was home to approximately 24,000 Jews. After the end of the war in 1945 and with the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the community dwindled, with many Jews emigrating to Israel, the United States, Australia and Hong Kong.

-From www.chinajewish.org.

The Jewish Quarter is north-east from where Suzhou Creek meets the Huangpu River. It's actually quite close to downtown, a few minutes from People's Square by taxi, and just across the Huangpu River from the Pearl Tower.

We rode Metro Line 1 to the Yangshupu Station and for our first stop headed east, away from the Jewish Quarter, to the historic (founded in the 1880's), sprawling, riverside, and still operational, Shanghai Waterworks. Unfortunately the museum was closed and according to the guard "not open to individuals". Hmm. However we had a good view of the historic buildings through the fence and luckily the road in front was torn up for repair and offered a good view of some humongous water pipes. Great guy stuff!

Rode bus #21 3 stops back west. After getting our bearings, we hit the sites, all roughly clustered around the intersection of Houshang Lu and Zhoushan Lu: Houshan Park with a plaque commemorating the "Stateless Refugees", the Vienna Cafe, and the Synagogue which was under renovation but due to reopen in August.

Vienna Cafe.

View to Houshan Lu.

While walking around we saw these guys playing a type of billiards game. Sun-Ling says she remembers seeing it played when she was a child.

In addition to the Jewish history, this area is also home to a prison and a Buddhist temple.

The Shanghai Tilanqiao Prison,formerly known as the Shanghai Municipal Gaol, is almost right across the street from the synagogue, and features a magnificent art deco gate (no photos allowed but here is an old photo I found on the web), guard towers with guards and guns, and an impressive complex of brick buildings, mostly art deco. We asked the guard about getting a tour. He said there tours for officially invited groups, but not for individuals. Hmm.

On one side of the prison is an art deco hospital; formerly and/or currently the prison hospital. On the other side, a line of shops. And in the shadows behind, a flower and bird market from where you can see inmate's laundry hanging in cell windows.

Prison hospital.

Just a few blocks away at 73 Kunming Lu, in the XiaHai Miao Buddhist Temple and Nunnery open daily from 7AM to 4PM (7AM to 7PM on the 1st and 15th of the lunar month). The recently refurbished temple is home to about 30 nuns. We arrived at 3:45 and got to see the 4PM prayers. Vegetarian food is served on the 1st and 15th.

Here is the main temple.

Two of the four guardians.

Just down the street is a vegetarian restaurant. We bought 6 vegetarian zongzi "to go" for 6 RMB total.

A few block south and west of the temple, at 505 Dong Changzhi Lu, is this awesome example of Art Deco architecture, the Lester Institute of Technical Education.

Just before grabbing a taxi home, we saw this unidentified structure on the riverbank. Hmm. Maybe a viewing stand of some sort.

Finally, from the newish Yangshupu Metro Station: Drinks, Meds, and Photos.

To see all the photos from May 19, 2007, click here.

Quality of Life

2007-05-20T20:21:00.001+08:00

The quality of life in Shanghai has just improved. I spotted these Nacho Cheese and Rock Taco flavored Doritos at my local Family Mart in XuJiaHui. I tried the Nacho Cheese (3.40 RMB a package) - not as cheesy as the ones in the States, but still quite tasty. Correction: Careful reading of the package reveals that the name is "Nacho Cheesier" NOT "Nacho Cheese". Hmm.

Testing Windows Live Writer

2007-05-18T18:38:00.001+08:00

More testing

A Funeral

2007-05-14T15:38:00.000+08:00

Last Saturday we attended the funeral of Sun-Ling's Great Aunt, her maternal grandmother's younger sister, who had gone into a coma on the 3rd day of the Chinese New Year and died without regaining consciousness. She was over eighty and in poor health for many years.

The funeral was in Shanghai, not far from our apartment. Upon arrival at the funeral home - four floors and able to support several simultaneous funerals - we signed in and each received a black arm patch, bottled water, small blue towel, and a single long stem yellow flower.

The ceremony was short: a few words from a representative sent by her former work unit and a few words from the oldest son. After the traditional bowing, the open coffin was tenderly loaded with flowers, blankets, paper money, and other afterlife necessaries, then nailed shut and sent to the crematoria.

We, along with all the other mourners, then walked outside, dropped our arm patches in a small open fire (on the sidewalk), swung a leg over the fire (symbolic jumping over the fire), and all boarded a bus to go to lunch.

Here is a photo of Sun-Ling and Great Aunt - we called her Mei Do Na in the local dialect - on the 1st day of the Chinese New Year, just a few days before she went in to the coma.

Fujian Trip (photos and video)

2007-05-13T09:09:00.000+08:00

I'm way behind on travel journals. So, in the meantime, click on the links below for some video from our trip to Fujian, China around Jan 01, 2007 and click here for all the photos (which have descriptions).

Jammin' musicians

Elementary School Marching Band

Buddhist Temple Rituals

March of the Flight Attendants

That's all.

rain or shine ...

2007-05-12T15:33:00.000+08:00

It's getting bright and sunny at 30 degrees north latitude. Time to buy that summer umbrella, hat, and gloves.

The Red Menace is gone

2007-05-08T03:45:00.000+08:00

"It's killin' me. I can't eat, I can't sleep--all I can see is that giant red sun in the shape of a CHICKEN!" Cosmo Kramer

While we were in the US, the giant red JVC sign across from our apartment was replaced by a giant blue Mercedes sign. While I'll miss that gentle red glow, I welcome the new cool blue rays.

Taiji mania

2007-05-07T01:10:00.000+08:00

True to footage seen on TV and photos in National Geographic, morning exercise goes on in every nook and cranny in China. Our neighborhood is no exception. In fact it takes place right in front of our building. John has to dodge taiji swords and fists every morning in order to make it to his bus.

I had been wanting to get into taiji ever since we came to Shanghai. When we moved to Xujiahui in October, I didn't feel I could brave the winter mornings. So when I got word that a new class was starting after the first Full Moon (beginning of March), I was all ready.

The first couple of weeks, classes started at 7. Then it was 7:30, which was not a problem since John gets up at 6:50 for his 7:30 bus.

The problem was that class seemed really fast for me. From beginning of March to mid April (when we left for our US visit), we went through a 24-move set, 88-move set, and a 52-move fan set! Classes take place Monday thru Saturday everyday for about one hour. When I slept in on Saturdays or when we went on weekend trips, I end up studying with videos. So, for a month and half, all my spare time was devoted to studying taiji, first thing when I get up and last thing before I go to bed.

I found I really like taiji. With yoga, I only manage to put in time, not posture. Compared to my elderly classmates, I do relatively well in taiji. Only relatively. Much to my surprise, taiji is hard work, not the mere arm-waving-in-slow-motion as I initially expected. It's really hard on the kneels; I cannot kick; I cannot squat low enough. And it takes a lot of concentration; it's meditative; the fan and 88-move make my heart beat! I can already tell my taiji sessions will be one of the highlights of our Shanghai experience.

Here's the view from our apartment balcony of Sun-Ling's taiji class. She is at far right in green top.

Our Clivia (updated)

2007-05-06T14:59:00.000+08:00

After 5 years, 8 attempts, and 50 bucks, I finally get a clivia to flower. Yeah! Here's the photo.

Too bad we won't be able to fully enjoy it as we are headed to the US for 2 weeks.

UPDATE on May 6: I was wrong. The clivia was still blooming after our return from 16 days in the US. Thanks to our 6th floor neighbor for a great job watering our plants while we were away.

Start of Summer - 立夏 - Lixia

2007-05-06T13:09:00.001+08:00

In addition to the traditional Chinese lunar calendar, there are 24 solar periods in a year; e.g., 3/21 Spring Equinox, 6/21 Summer solstice, 4/5 Clear & Bright (tomb sweeping). 5/6 is "Start of Summer" (立夏Lixia).

When I was growing up, we were given hard boiled eggs to eat and play with. We would weave individual satchels out of colorful yarns for the eggs. We were also given herb sachets to ward off bugs for the upcoming summer. Since I grew up in Shanghai before bathroom scales, we headed off to the scale vendor around the corner to get ourselves weighed.

The egg eating & children weighing traditions stem from days before air condition and refrigeration when the hot summer made people loose weight due to lost of appetite and increased stomach flu. In fact, my father-in-law has a theory that Americans are fat because of air condition :(

Earlier today we headed out to the nearby Longhua Temple Fair and caught some of the children weighing and egg action.

Two kids with eggs around their necks.

The weighing ceremony (1 RMB). A girl with pigtails is on the scale (lower middle right)

And finally, it's not a fair without a Midway.

And additionally, last night we went over to my parent's and I made "egg holders" for my nephews. You really need colorful yarn, but all I could find was string. John was amazed that I remembered how to make them.

In this photo, Ian (at left) has his egg around his neck. Ethan (at right) has a New Year's ornament around his neck.

The Police - Disc 2

2007-04-11T14:55:00.000+08:00

The Police – Disc 2

As most if our friends know, we are cutting edge on some technologies and Luddites on others. Email in the 80's, home wireless in 2000; but first CD player in 1995 and first mobile phone in 2005; never an MP3 player nor iPod.

When we came to China in 2005 we brought about 40 CDs from our modest collection: Neil Young and The Clash for John, Sting and the Police for Sun-Ling, along with REM, The Who, Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, Pretenders, Mana, Lucinda Williams, Miles Davis and others.

The audiovisual equipment in our apartment (aside from our 3 laptops) consists of a DVD/CD player, TV, and a set of 5.1 speakers. We are in the habit of putting one CD in the player and playing it repeatedly until we get tired of it. Some CDs last but one listening. Others are played over and over again. In fact, we played disc 2 of The Police box set Message in Box about 50 times in a row - before, during and after the Chinese New Year holidays; some days we listened to it 3 or 4 times - before I swapped it out for disc 3. We never actually got tired of disc 2. It was just getting strange. ;-)

Other CD’s that recently yielded repeated listenings: Beggar’s Banquet, London Calling (currently in the player and getting better with each repeat), disc 4 of the Buffalo Springfield Box Set, Time Fades Away, and Who’s Next. In contrast, Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks only survived only a single repeat.

Final word: my old friend and music buddy Dave sent me a CD of some of his older stuff which I played about 10 times in row. "Buy My Book" – Excellent!

Qingming - Qingtuan

2007-04-05T20:44:00.000+08:00

April 4 was Qingming Festival or Tomb Sweeping Day. The traditional food for Qingming is qingtuan and we have eaten our way through several packages of these tasty green dumplings with red bean paste inside.

And here's the view from our apartment window earlier this evening.

Another one bites the dust

2007-04-03T15:38:00.000+08:00

My team decided to go bowling for our Q1 team event. And thus the streak that started so quietly on September 21, 1957 came to an end on March 9, 2007 with my second visit to the Shanghai International Bowling Resort; but this time I could not opt out and so bowled for the first time in my life. I think I bowled an 83 and an 87. It's over. My epitaph can no longer be "He never bowled."

Here's a blurry photo of the sad event.

I also got in about 30 minutes of badminton doubles which I greatly enjoyed.

Fujian, China - Part 1 - Shanghai to Quanzhou

2007-03-27T19:51:00.000+08:00

We had such a good trip to Southeastern China last New Year's holiday that we decided to return this year to visit Quanzhou and Xiamen in Fujian Province. Read Part 1 of the story at meckleyearth

The highlight of our first day in Quanzhou was the mosque, built about 1000 AD in the Persian style, and modeled after a mosque in Damascus. It’s the first Mosque we’ve seen in China that was not Chinese architecture.

For all the photos of day one click here.

And here is video of our bicycle rickshaw ride.

Clothes make a person?!

2007-03-24T09:50:00.000+08:00

While foreign banks are permitted to operate in China, a minimum of 100,000 RMB is required to open an account with any foreign bank in order to protect domestic banks from......

On the ground floor of our apartment building there are several foreign banks. In keeping with our laid back approach to personal finance management, we never bothered to pay them a visit, though I walk by them everyday.

One day, after coming home from a trip, I saw two employees from the Heng Seng Bank standing outside handing out folders that looked like info packets. I got curious. I tried to catch their eyes as I approached, but nothing happened.

After a shower and a change of clothes, I headed back out. The two were still standing outside. However, they spotted me this time and called out. I immediately concluded that I was snubbed the first time around. I walked on by without looking at them. One proceeded to run after me....

I was rather baffled by the whole thing. Presumably these guys are judging everyone that walks by and putting them into 2 categories: Those who may have 100K RMB to invest and those who don't.

Chinese are big suckers for brand name products, particularly clothing and accessories. There are recent books with in-depth studies on this phenomena. When I walked by them the first time, I had on a Columbia windbreaker, Esprit jeans, and Italian boots from LL Bean. The second time, I had on a Jones New York tweed jacket, Docker khakis, and Tommy Hilfiger loafers. The first outfit had bigger names and more expensive items. I thought that would put me in the "may have 100K RMB" category. But no.

So, some possible reasons for "the snub" [edited by John].
1) Has nothing to do with clothes. The second time I was leaving an "up-scale" apartment complex.
2) Windbreakers and boots are not worn by those who have 100K RMB to invest.
3) Tommy is cooler than Esprit.
4) They were randomly snubbing some people who "may make over 100K RMB" just to have some fun.

Guangdong and Macau - A quick report

2007-03-21T20:46:00.000+08:00

Just got back from a quick trip to Guangdong & Macau. Guangdong is the province of China where they speak Cantonese, and the major city ,Guangzhou, used to be called Canton. Macau is the former Portuguese colony that returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1999.

This was our 2nd trip to Guangdong, last year we spent 4 days in Chaozhou area. Click here to read trip report.

This time we took advantage of some cheap flights on Spring Air, China's new no-frills discount airline, and visited (one day each) Zhuhai (the mainland city that borders Macau) Macau, and Guangzhou.

A great trip. The weather was so-so but the food was tasty, the beer cold, the coffee brewed, the tea hot, the people friendly, the hotels satisfactory, the churches renovated, and my companion superb.

Here are just a few photos. The full report will come later.

At 500 meters long, this building on the campus of the Zhuhai branch of Zhongshan University is the longest (or largest) classroom in Asia. All the classrooms are in this one building. The nearby library is also awesome.

And along the Zhuhai waterfront, there is an airplane in this strip mall parking lot.

As Macau was a Portuguese colony until 1999, many of the old Chinese ways are still preserved like burning these huge incense coils for ancestors.

And one gets a flavor of the Portuguese influence at the Ruinas de Sao Paulo.

In Guangzhou, we stayed at an old hotel on leafy, laid back, Shamian Island.

And enjoyed the lively downtown pedestrian mall at night.

Vegetarian in Shanghai

2007-03-14T11:27:00.000+08:00

Being vegetarian in Shanghai is both easy and hard. It is easy because of the amazing varieties of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and grains along with many forms of soy and wheat. Walk in any good size supermarket and the produce section makes Whole Foods seem ordinary. In addition there are "wet markets" - a lot like "farmer's markets" in the US - on every block. Finally there are mega markets, much like Super Walmarts, that have "imported foods" sections and even "bulk" sections. For posterity, the current megamarts are:

-Carrefour (French)
-Metro (the German company Metro AG is the world's 3rd biggest commercial company)
-LianHua (Shanghaiese)

However, since I don't have an oven, my repertoire becomes limited. In addition to the usual Chinese stir fry and soy sauce bruise, I made spaghetti regularly. A coworker's recent trip to Thailand added red and green curries. When I find tortilla chips in the stores - usually imported from Mexico - I make salsa for microwave nachos. [John's comment: Sun-Ling is quite modest. Her "usual Chinese stir fry" is usually astoundingly delicious and while the variety doesn't change much day-to-day, the change from season to season is significant.]

Eating out is an entirely a different matter. There are half a dozen "pure" vegetarian (no eggs, no dairy) restaurants in Shanghai. We used to frequent them until we (mostly me) got tired of Chinese food and Chinese restaurants. The other problem (mostly John) is that they are so pure that they don't serve beer. Now we seem to eat out only at overpriced restaurants that serve Western food. For posterity I list them here.

-"Element Fresh" - Western breakfast
-"Zentral" - Cold sandwiches
-"Blue Moon Dinner" - great fries, tofu burger, and Soda Fountain Coke
-"Blue Frog" - veggie burger
-"Kraze Burger" - OK fries and tomato/mozzarella sandwich from this Korean chain
-"Gino's" - Great veggie pesto pizza with olives and pineapple - our fav
-"Travel Coffee" - Mushrooms and gluten with rice
-"Henry's Microbrewery and Grill" - Great beer! - ho hum food - good fries
-"The Commune" - Sandwiches & coffee on Taikang Rd
-"Demarco's" - Wood oven pizza
-"New Heights" - great view
-"M on the Bund" - not if I'm paying!

Also we eat at various ethnic restaurants; some foreign and some Chinese.
-Thai - Several - only OK.
-Vietnamese - So-so.
-Xinjiang - Several good Xinjiang style restaurants near our apartment - one with singing and dancing - Xinjiang dark beer is tasty
-Turkish - "Thousand and One Nights" - great spicy salads
-Japanese - "Ichiban" - Just around the corner and very vegetarian friendly
-Italian - "That's Amore" - authentic

And street food.......too many to name.

When we eat out with family and coworkers, it's usually at huge and loud Chinese restaurants. Chinese people enjoy a lively and bright environment for eating, as supposed to the subdued and dimmed places in the west. It goes without saying that we always eat family style although recently "personal" hot pot restaurants are in. This means that we sometimes must eat around the meat and not worry about what's in the liquid, that is if we choose to not go hungry or appear extremely unsociable.

Conclusion: Being vegetarian in Shanghai is both easy and hard, loud and quiet, family and personal, eat in and eat out, local and foreign, cheap and expensive, and usually pretty darn tasty. [can you tell that John wrote this last sentence? ;-)]

Chinese New Year - Fireworks

2007-03-04T21:18:00.000+08:00

Here's some video of the Chinese New Year's Eve fireworks.

The first is the view from our back balcony into the apartment courtyard. The second is the view out to the street. Hope they convey some of the noise, excitement, visuals, and fun of Chinese New Year in Shanghai.

Chinese New Year - Postscript

2007-03-02T09:25:00.000+08:00

I ran out of steam and never did a post for Feb 24, the last day of the Chinese New Year public holiday. Not much happened. We stayed at home. I finished up my Feb 23 blog post. We watched a movie.

I still have unprocessed video of the New Year's fireworks. Look for that in March.

I've also decided to take the Pig of the Day idea one step farther and have a photo for every day of the Year of the Pig. You can follow my efforts at this flickr set: Year of the Pig.

Chinese New Year - Feb 23, 2007

2007-02-23T18:22:00.000+08:00

The next to last day of the holiday. Many pigs were spotted. See the end of this post.

The weathernet promised clear skies and temps in the high 50's so about 11:00 AM we set off for Hongkou District where Sun-Ling grew up for some historic building viewing.

We hopped on bus #10, almost right in front of our apartment, which took us all the way to Lu Xun park in Hongkou. On the way we got a good look at Huai Hai Lu, People's Park, and North Sichuan Lu.

Pre-1939, the Hongkuo district had lots of residential housing - it was not a commercial district. There were many villas like these. You could almost imagine you were in Europe.

And many townhouses like these.

The weather was pleasant and old folks were soaking in the rays on Duolun Rd.

On Duolun Rd - the only church in Shanghai built in Chinese style architecture.

There were many cinema's in this district. Here's one, the International Cinema on Haining Lu.

417 Zhapu Lu - at the corner of Haining Lu. Sun-Ling's childhood home. Her family lived on the 3rd floor of the building at center right with the orange and blue first floor exterior. Their "space" also included the rooftop of the beige building next door which now has a small shed.

There was an historic movie theatre across the street; however, it no longer functions as a movie theatre, but is divided into an Internet Cafe, a disco, and several restaurants. The original facade is obscured by signage.

At the other end of the block was this fire station which is still used today - I think.

We stopped at Mr Pizza - almost underneath Sun-Ling's old home, for a veggie pizza. Later we stopped at the New Asia Hotel for a couple of Iced Coffees. Crossed Suzhou Creek, walked along the Bund, and rode the subway home.

There are a number of major historic buildings on the North side of Suzhou creek. We checked out all the ones in the photos below, including a quick peek in each lobby.

The Post Office, were Sun-Ling bought stamps for her stamp collection.

The Astor Hotel - since 1846.

Broadway Mansions Hotel and Waibaidu Bridge.

And some different views of the Pudong skyline. Well, the Pearl Tower remains the same but at least the foreground is different. ;-)

Ceramic pigs.

Hanging Pigs.

Giant Papercut Pigs.

more pig

and more pigs

Delivery

2007-02-23T10:11:00.000+08:00

Getting goods delivered in Shanghai is super easy and inexpensive (or free). I think it has to do with cheap labor, population concentration, and family cars are just beginning to become popular.

A lot of the times delivery is free. It goes without saying, we get our 5-gallon water bottle for the water cooler delivered free. Among the more reasonably priced and accessible beers, John likes Carlsberg best. We get them delivered by the 12-bottle case in the 20 oz size. Our fruit vendor delivers with a phone call though they are only 150 meters away. I order on the web from our grocer (Lianhua, a huge chain). Delivery is free for 20 RMB purchases, 2 RMB otherwise.

I do quite a bit of my purchases online. Next day delivery is 5-6 RMB for the 1st kilogram 100 kilometers around Shanghai, including pickup and dropoff. Now, whenever I need to get something to a friend or relative, I use the courier service too.

The only problem with delivery is that you have to be there to receive and sign. For small things, I have them delivered to my office. In the lobby of our apartment building, there is an Ayi from 8am to 8pm. The Ayi is kind enough to sign for us. The other day we picked up a small piece of furniture when cruising the street. It got delivered and was waiting for us with the Ayi in the lobby before we even got home.

Chinese New Year - Feb 22, 2007

2007-02-22T18:32:00.000+08:00

A slower pace.

The fireworks and firecrackers kept us up past 1:00 AM. Sun-Ling was up early. I dozed until 9 or so.

With no real plan for the day, we had some breakfast and watched the weather. When it looked like the sun might come out, I headed to Lian Hua Rd Metro station to try to shoot a photo of the new CRH bullet train as it came through. Sun-ling headed to IKEA to buy some some food.

Limited success for me as one train came by from the north at 1:41 and one from the south at 1:52. It's hard to get a good photo of a bullet. ;-)

This bullet train, known as the CRH (China Railway High-speed), from Shanghai to Hangzhou, is actually two bullet trains hooked together as you can see in this series of "coming", "joined in the middle" and "going" photos.

Coming towards you.

Two joined in the middle.

Going away.

We met at home around 2:30 and set out again at 3:00 for more historic architecture viewing. Ho hum. Not much cool stuff today.

Here's one apartment building that caught my eye on XinHua Lu.

One of the historic villas, 483 XinHua Rd is now the Hai Fei Xuan tea house. Good place for a break. Sun-Ling had a Mango Milkshake and John had a Coffee Ice Cream Snowy (like a milk shake).

Here's the historic villa.

Check out the bird carved from melon rind in SL's shake.

Rode bus 946 home. Dinner at home. Watched movie "A Sigh" by the Chinese director Feng Xiaogang. Pretty good.

Pig of the Day.

Ancestor Worship & Winter Solstice

2007-02-22T17:37:00.000+08:00

In December, just before the Winter Solstice, we made a trip to Shanghai's Jade Buddha Temple (Yifo Si) with our friends Brian and Debbie who were visiting from the US. For centuries the Chinese have been celebrating the Winter Solstice - a turn from Yin to Yang as the days get longer - with offerings to Heaven and Ancestors. However, the amount of activity astounded us. The whole temple complex was buzzing with activity.

Debbie and Brian at Jade Buddha Temple.

Crowded main courtyard.

If one has loads of money to honor Heaven and your Ancestors, you can hire monks to parade and chant. You can even put on black robes and process and chant with them(see video below).

Less expensive, one buys silver paper, folds it into the shape of silver bars, puts it in a red box or red bag, and then burns it in urns at the temple. Typically the ancestor's name is written on the outside of the red bag so the money can be "delivered".

It takes a long time to fill up several bags so if you have many ancestors, you bring your folding camp chairs and food to the temple as you will spend the whole day there.

People lined up to burn the red bags of money for their ancestors.

Alternatively, the average Chinese may just come to the temple, and burn incense and pray. This photo from a visit a few days earlier to the City God temple.

Here are some videos.

For more info on China and the Winter Solstice click here.

Finally, here's a photo of one of the two Jade Buddhas at the temple.

Chinese New Year - Feb 21

2007-02-21T19:07:00.000+08:00

Year of the Pig: Day 4.

Plan: Forecast says a clearish day so we'll do another DIY walking your of historic buildings. Then, since it's the eve of the 5th day of the new year, we will stay up for midnight fireworks which traditionally welcome the God of Fortune/Wealth. These fireworks will rival the New Year's Eve fireworks in intensity but not duration.

Once again the Metro was full of people with gift bags and baskets. Here's a shot I took while waiting to get on the train in the Xujiahui Station. Notice the big glass doors/barriers for safety and crowd control.

Another nice winter day. Old folks were sitting in the sun. This lady was looking for a good spot to catch some rays.

We wandered around looking at old buildings. Actually it's not wandering. Sun-Ling has done some great research.

Some "soon to be renovated" historic apartments on Jianguo Rd.

The doorway of the Anting Apartments.

Greenish pre-1949 modernista home.

We popped into an antique store and bought a table for our apartment -- 100 RMB including delivery.

Stopped in Senses restaurant for a latte and cappuccino.

We ended up near Sun-Ling's Grandfather's (on father's side) younger sister's house. We call her Little Grandma. And after a call to Ma to get the exact street, we stopped in. Little Grandma's daughter and son-in-law were there and we had a good visit with lots of snacks: pistachios, tangerines, candied walnuts, candied hickory nuts, Picnic candy bars from Australia, various seeds, and hot tea. Forgot to take a group photo.

Just around the corner from Little Grandma's house was this meat shop.

Took a taxi home.

The fireworks were again more than awesome. The restaurant across the street let off a barrage. And our neighbors in the courtyard made some of the loudest noise I've ever heard. Wow!

I've been experimenting with my camera settings in an attempt to get some better fireworks shots.

From our courtyard balcony.

From our Nandan Rd balcony.

Towards Gateway Towers.

Pigs of the Day.

Chinese New Year - Feb 20

2007-02-20T10:33:00.000+08:00

Today is the 3rd day of the Year of the Pig. The plan: Lunch with Sun-Ling's father's relatives. Try to shoot a photo of the new CRH bullet train. Catch the new 007 movie with Sun-Ling's nephews. Dinner out.

Made it to the 11:30 lunch on time today. Again, most people on the Metro were carrying a gift bag or basket. I managed to sneak a shot.

There were two tables for today's banquet. Eating. Talking. Toasting. Etc.

Packing the leftovers. Grandmother and Beckham. Who knows?

The lunch lasted until 1:30 so I missed my chance to photograph the CRH train. Maybe tomorrow.

We rode the Metro back to XuJiaHui. Sun-Ling's father's older brother, his children and grandchildren, who were all at lunch, met us at our apartment.
Father's older brother's family.

After a short visit, we took the two grandchildren - boys ages 16 and 15 - to see the new 007 movie, Casino Royale, which we all liked. Chinese refer to Casino Royale as the new "007" (ling ling chi) movie, not the new "James Bond" movie. I guess the numbers are easier to pronounce.

Gino's was the next stop for lasagna, spaghetti, and pizza; finally put the boys on the Metro about 8:30 PM. They are good eaters. Good kids.

Pigs of the Day.

Hapig New Year ;-) poster seen in at Gino's bakery.

From a poster in a bank.

Chinese New Year - Feb 19

2007-02-19T18:02:00.000+08:00

The weather forecast was for clear skies. No family activities were planned So our plan for the day was to check out some of the historic buildings in Shanghai on a DIY walking tour.

First stop was at Gateway Towers to buy tickets for tomorrow's 4:30 showing of the latest 007 movie. We are taking Sun-Ling's nephews (the sons of two of her cousins). While waiting for SL to buy the tickets I took this shot of the mall dome with the red lanterns.

As we walked along Huai Hai Lu in the Embassy/Consulate District, the streets seemed almost deserted. The even the normally kinetic street sweepers were relaxing.

The Consulate Guards were out for a walk on a winter's day.

The famous Normandie Apartments - at left.

The famous Empire Mansions (apartments).

24 Fuxing Xi Lu (Magy Apartment) faces the corner. A super Art Deco building. One of my new favorites.

Willow Court (apartments) - the yellow building at right-back.

We made two pit stops today. First at 1:30 for iced coffees, onion rings, fried noodles,and deep fried rice balls. And again about 4:30 for 2 coffee milkshakes. Yum!

Home at 5:30. SL made a tasty spicy Thai stir-fry.

Evening: I worked on uploading photos to Flickr and writing this post.Sun-Ling watched Million Dollar Baby. We were both interrupted several times by more fireworks in the courtyard. Fun!

Pigs of the Day.

McDonald's poster by a bus stop.

Poster on the door of a restaurant.

Chinese New Year's Day - Feb 18

2007-02-18T20:00:00.000+08:00

Xing Nian Hao! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

After finally falling asleep around 2:00 AM, I awoke around 6:30 to the booming sound of more fireworks. I suspect that the cleanup crews were firing off unspent shells. Who knows? I put in my ear plugs and went back to sleep.

Sun-Ling was up at 8:30 and took this photo of fireworks cleanup in our courtyard.

We got up at 9:30 and I could tell that we would be late for a 11:30 lunch banquet hosted by Sun-Ling's mother's cousin.

By noon we had straightened up the apartment, drunk some coffee, stuffed a small backpack with red packets for the nieces, toy trucks for the nephews, gifts for Sun-Ling's Aunts, showered and dressed, and were in a taxi to the restaurant.

Two tables. Toasting. Eating.

The younger generation toasts Sun-Ling's parents. [The beer is only for Sun-Ling's dad. ;-)]

The oldest generations.

The food.

At 2:30 we headed to Grandmother's younger sister's apartment to visit her and her children. Snacks!

On the way to the Metro we ran into our old fruit vendor, Mr. Liu, from when we lived at LuoXiu Lu. He was selling holiday fruit baskets and boxes on a busy corner. It was great to see him and wish him a Happy New Year. That's him standing next to Sun-Ling.

Then back to XujiaHui to search for Pig of the Day. We have a winner and runner-up.

Exhausted, we headed back to our apartment for a nap.

After some traditional Nian Gao (new year rice cake) tofu and mushroom soup for dinner, we watched a movie Perfume: The Story of a Murderer and went to bed.

Chinese New Year's Eve - Feb 17

2007-02-17T13:33:00.000+08:00

I slept in to 10. Yeah! I made a cup of Balinese coffee with our new automatic drip coffee maker - thanks Bill Gates - and enjoyed the morning alone.

Sun-Ling had to work, but came home at noon.

Minor crisis. In order to make the butter cream icing, a mixture of water and sugar must be heated to 235 degrees F - no more, no less - and then mixed with egg yolks. The first two attempts to heat the mixture failed. The first was too hot, a quagmire, and the second too cold, soup. Finally, after an emergency run to the Family Mart for more eggs, we learned the quirks of our new thermometer and the gas stove, and the third batch was a success. There will be desert tonight!

Nian Ye Fan (New Year's Eve Dinner)is a Chinese tradition. You eat dinner with your family. We rode the un-crowded Metro to Sun-Ling's parent's for Nian Ye Fan. Although the subway was not crowded, everyone seemed to be carrying a bag of fruit, or candy, or gifts. We were all headed to Nian Ye Fan.

Here's the Pig of the Day shot taken inside a Line #2 subway station.

The Nian Ye Fan hot pot was delicious and around 9:00 PM Sun-Ling's sister and family stopped by and the kids got red packets.

Here's the hot pot.

Number two clutching his red packet and candy.

Arrived back at our apartment about 10PM. After last year's spectacular fireworks viewing at LiuXuo Lu, we wondered if the fireworks at Xujiahui could compare. We wondered if the management of our complex would even allow fireworks.

After noticing extra water buckets and fire extinguishers at the lobby doors we figured that fireworks were on for the apartment courtyard.

As it got closer to midnight, we rushed back and forth between the courtyard and the street as the displays got bigger and louder.

Sun-Ling said the view to the courtyard was like watching an IMAX movie - loud and you can't see the whole thing without moving your head - as our neighbors set off some big ones.

The view to the street was hazy with smoke. The nearby He Ji restaurant started firing around 10:30 and didn't stop until 1:00 AM.

You can see Sun-Ling's head sticking out our bedroom window.

I have more photos and video of the fireworks that I'll post later.

CNY vs Xmas

2007-02-17T11:27:00.003+08:00

We are staying in Shanghai for CNY (Chinese New Year) after all. It seems totally not our style -- not traveling over a long holiday and experiencing something a 2nd time rather than seeking out new experiences.

Most of the expats have headed out of town/country. Most of the ladies in my bookgroup look upon CNY with disdain. It took me a while to recognize that it's similar to the disdain that my parents held for Christmas when they first came to the Stats. My dad, who is a bigger atheist than I, refused to acknowledge Christmas because of its religious origin. I now know it's cultural. It never fails to amaze me how people are so ingrained by their cultural backgrounds.

Because of John, I started to experience Christmas. Over the years John and I have developed our own traditions and rituals. Now he is experiencing CNY with me. Our cross cultural marriage certainly seems to have more benefits to reap than difficulties to overcome. Now the two of us have been together for so long that we find our own happiness and joy whenever and wherever we are around the world.

I have very fond memories for CNY. CNY used to be a major production and truly a highlight of each year, considering I grew up in China during the much botched state planned economy. Stocking up on goodies (nianhuo) started a month before the new year as extra rations were allotted including cooking oil, sugar, tofu, and meat. Foods that were absent during the year would make their rare appearance. It's like you can only find eggnog during the Xmas season.

We always got new clothes (usually made by a tailor or my grandmother) for the New Year. Cloth and cotton padding (for blankets and quilted clothing) were also rationed.

We received extra spending money (red packets) which I usually blew on fireworks in one day. During the first few days of the new year there was lots of visiting with relatives which meant free flow of sweets for us kids and catching up with cousins.

While the traditions of fireworks and visiting flourish, the food situation has changed the dramatically. The variety and availability of food here year round makes the States pale in comparison. Thus the formerly New Year's treats are not that special. John & I each gained ten pounds over last CNY. It does not look like I have learned my lessons this year :(.

Chinese New Year's Eve Eve - Feb 16

2007-02-16T15:35:00.000+08:00

I've decided to blog a day by day account of our Chinese New Year festivities. New Year's Day this year - the first day of the Year of the Pig - is Sunday, February 18.

The Pig. What a great symbol! Here's a shot I took today.

Today, Friday the 16th, was the last day of work for me as Intel gives us 8 days off, going back to work on Sunday the 25th. Sun-Ling must work tomorrow, then she has 7 days off.

As in the US, most Chinese white collar workers get to go home early the day before a long holiday. So just after lunch I walked down the aisle, wished everyone a Happy New Year, announced I was going home early, suggested they should leave early as well, caught the shuttle bus to the Dongchuan Lu Metro station, and was home before 3PM.

On the way home, I got a call from Sun-Ling saying we are invited to dinner tonight by an Aunt and Uncle on her Mother's side. So that's the plan for tonight. It was not revealed if we are eating at their house or out.

My next task was to give a red gift packet (Hong Bao)to our maid (ayi). It's common to give domestic workers a New Year's bonus or time off with pay or both. Xiao Xiao was very happy to get the red packet and some days off next week.

Dinner was at a somewhat fancy restaurant in one of the malls near Jingan Temple. We rode the Metro. It was raining but the mall is right above the Metro Station so the umbrella did not come out.

Turned out the dinner was mainly for Aunt's co-workers. She has several businesses. There were three tables of 10 each. One for the men to smoke, drink, and loudly toast each other. One for the wives and small children. We sat at the table for older children and a few of the wives.

The three tables (back to front: men, wives, the rest of us)

Two of the children were on holiday from university in Australia. So Sun-Ling and I quizzed them about school, Australia, internships, etc.

Here's Anthony who is going to school at Canberra and just finished an internship with Mary Kay (yes, the cosmetics Queen) in Shanghai.

The food was good with lots of vegetarian items, the beer was cold, and the restaurant an inferno - lots of people and halogen lighting.

Check out this fancy deep fried in tomato sauce fish dish.

And another shot of our table.

It was all over at 9:15 and we rode the subway back home.

It's a festival

2007-02-11T18:47:00.000+08:00

It seems to me that the Chinese like to get started on Chinese New Year festivities as soon as possible after the solar New Year. Thus recently we have attended one wedding and 2 birthday parties. Note how western traditions have been adopted into Chinese culture: white wedding dress, birthday cake and candles.

Sun-Ling's cousin's wedding (Jan 21). There goes the bride!

Sun-Ling's Father's birthday (Jan 30)

Sun-Ling's co-worker's birthday hosted at our apartment (Feb 11)

Wacky Promotions - IT Takes 5IVE

2007-02-11T17:25:00.000+08:00

It is quite common in Shanghai to see people dressed in wacky costumes promoting a business, an activity, or a product.

Here are three recent examples I managed to capture.

Last weekend, these two mascots were handing out leaflets at the opening of a new Standard Chartered bank branch in front of our apartment.

Yesterday, these guys on stilts were attracting attention in front of Grand Gateway Towers promoting the Adidas ad campaign "IT Takes 5IVE".

Around Christmas, this Kirin Klaus was hawking a new brand of Kirin tea drink.

Visitor Map

2007-02-05T21:19:00.000+08:00

Last summer I was wondering how many people actually visit this blog so I installed a free hit counter, www.statcounter.com. One of the features of statcounter is a mashup with Google maps showing where visitors come from.

Here's a recent Visitor Map. Looks like most visitors come from the East Coast of the US, which is where most of our friends and family live. Makes sense since this blog is not public; that is, you have to know the URL in order to find.

A weekend trip to Shaoxing

2007-02-04T19:35:00.000+08:00

In November 2006 we made a weekend trip with Sun-Ling's parents to Shaoxing, a town of about 300,000 southwest from Shanghai between Hangzhou and Ningbo. We stayed in a neat hotel, the LaoTaiMen, which used to be the home of some wealthy local.

Sun-Ling and I stayed in the 2nd floor room above the doorway to the left.

Shaoxing is best know as the home of Lu Xun, China's greatest modern writer. In the center of town one can visit the Lu Xun Family Home, the Lu Xun Museum, and the elementary school he attended. We did them all and they were actually quite interesting with good English signage.

Here's a photo of the 4 of us in front of the Lu Xun Museum.

Shaoxing is also famous for is rice wine. We tasted a little bit at dinner Saturday night. Not to my liking. Give me a cold beer!

We visited some of the other sites like Number Eight Bridge, East Lake, and the Mausoleum of Emperor Yu. However, the most interesting thing in Shaoxing in my opinion is that the local boatman row their boats with their feet which you can see in the video below.

Here's a photo in case you didn't watch the video.

We rode the express train both ways. Here's a video of us boarding the train for the return to Shanghai.

To see all the photos from Shaoxing, click here .

Neat Freak

2007-02-01T21:01:00.000+08:00

The new maid is a neat freak.

When we changed apartments and districts this past November, we also changed maids. I liked Xiao He, the old maid. She was talkative – although I rarely understood what she said – did a good job, and it turned out that we were born in the same year. I'm 3 months older.

Our new maid is Xiao Xiao. She is not talkative, does a great job, and it turns out that she is 3 weeks younger than Sun-Ling.

Xiao Xiao is a neat freak.

She washes clothes every day because she can't stand the smell of a single dirty sock in the laundry basket.

The garbage can is lined with several layers of plastic bags. When one bag is full, pull it out, take it outside and the next one is already in place.

Last week she stacked the loose change on my dresser by denomination.

She prunes yellow leaves off my orchids before I do.

Not only does she fold my socks neatly in the sock drawer, she stacks them by color. Wow!

A Narrow Escape

2007-02-01T10:46:00.000+08:00

Last week I attended an Intel offsite at the Shanghai International Bowling Resort. This offsite was a combination of aligning goals for 2007 and team building. As offsites go it was actually pretty good and we got a lot of "goaling" accomplished from 8:30 to 3:30.

Then it was time for team building. As some of you know, I have managed to avoid bowling for my entire life up to this point. I want to have "He never bowled" inscribed on my tombstone. So this was going to be tricky.

My team has gotten used to fact that I'm a vegetarian. That wacky American. But no bowling? Luckily the Shanghai International Bowling Resort has a badminton court next to the 5-lane alley and I was able to convince a co-worker to bring his spare battledore (that's the official translation of badminton racket into English from Chinese) and I spent a whole hour playing badminton with the guys and gals I work with.

The streak continues!

Boy was my arm sore the next day.

Do vegans play badminton?

Photo of the Day

2007-01-26T21:55:00.000+08:00

One of my photos was Photo of the Day at the The Shanghaiist.

japan videos

2007-01-22T21:48:00.000+08:00

Here are all the Japan videos.

Boarding a Bullet Train

Riding the Bullet Train

Okuno-in Monks

Meiji Shrine 360

Kiyomizu Temple - Kyoto

Japan 2006 - Kyoto and Nara

2007-01-21T14:18:00.000+08:00

Parts 4, 5, and 6 of the trip reports of Japan are over at http://meckleyearth.blogspot.com/.

All of the photos from Japan are on Flickr. Click here.

Preview of Kyoto and Nara:

Kyoto Imperial Palace Garden:

Himeji Castle

Nara: Temple Guardian:

Nara: Moon Viewing Fair procession

Japan 2006 - Part 3 - Tokyo - Asakusa to Shinjuku

2007-01-13T15:55:00.000+08:00

Part 3 of the Japan trip is now up on meckleychina.

Here's a preview.

Tourists taking a modern rickshaw to see the sites in Asakusa district

Shinjuku at night.

The famous Japanese vending machines.

Japan 2006 - Part 2 - Mt. Koya to Tokyo

2007-01-10T16:17:00.000+08:00

I have posted Part 2 of our Japan trip report over on meckleyearth. To only see the photos, click here.

A preview:

Rock garden at the Fukuchi-in, the temple/hotel where we stayed on Mt. Koya.

The food was tasty, the owner gracious, and the beer cold at this DIY teppanyaki restaurant in Tokyo.

My new babysitter

2007-01-07T22:13:00.000+08:00

John and I got used to spend a lot of time together when we went to live in Jacksonville. I guess we felt we need to stick together in a new place.

Coming to Shanghai I felt an even greater need to stick with John all the time. Besides going our separate ways to work and the occasional team outings, we pretty much do everything together. However, I was going off to book group once a month and yoga weekly. I had uneasy feeling that I was leaving him behind to fend/entertain himself, even though I suspect he is happy that I am not around to order him around.

My one comfort has been that the digital camera we bought right before we came was the best investment ever. The thing really keeps John occupied and out of trouble, evident in his prolific bodies of work on flickr, blogger, and youtube.

Now, included in our new apartment is a single gym membership at the club right beside our building. John is automatically the winner in the family because of his recent visit to the emergency room. He can workout there up to three times a week -- he is averaging one :( The important thing is that it's comforting for me to know that he is busy working out at the gym when I am at yoga or bookgroup.

Our new apartment

2007-01-07T18:12:00.000+08:00

It has been a long time since I was able to sit down and write for our blog, because
- Moving and settling into our new apartment took quite a bit of efforts
- We tried to catch the last of the fine Fall weather doing things outside (walking around the town & traveling outside the town) before we hibernate for the winter
- We had a few visitors (work & personal) from the US
- We went away for New Year to catch some warmer air

I am sitting down writing, because
- About ten days ago an earthquake in Taiwan took down major communication cables making it impossible (at first) and painfully slow (then) to surf US sites from China.
- My heal spur needs a break
- Trip planning for Chinese New Year is stalled. I am disgusted with the outrageous airfares.

Therefore, I am writing from our not so new apartment. The first thing I want to report is that this apartment is warmer than our previous one. Why? Here are a few theories
- This building is a few years older than the previous one which means the concrete has had more time to dry.
- Our unit is in the middle instead of on the end.
- The windows and doors are heavier -- I have not yet heard the wind howl.
- It is a warmer winter than the last over all.

In China when you buy a new apartment, townhouse, or even single family house, most of the times it means you are buying a concrete box. You end up hiring your own construction crew to finish the place the rest of way. John's bus stop narrowed our search to this complex and the complex across the street. The one across the street is newer and more upscale -- their units are semi-finished. But for me, seeing the same bathrooms and kitchens, unit after unit, reminded me of mass produced subdivisions in the States; besides I didn't come across a unit with a particularly good view.

I like the view from our apartment. We are on the 11th floor overlooking a busy intersection - one of the top 5 busiest intersections in Shanghai says John. The street noise can be very annoying. There is a lot of beeping (horn blowing) during rush hour. John jokes that those drivers really give him an urge to acquire a gun and use it. Even then I still like our apartment. Maybe it reminds me how I grew up -- on a busy street corner.

The other bad thing about this apartment is that the kitchen counters are designed for the shorter Chinese people. They are 3 inches lower. John likes to complain about it when he is doing the dishes on the weekend. It's a good thing that we have an Ayi (maid) during the week.

In any case, we now have three bedrooms and two bathrooms. We can easily put up guests -- hint, hint -- unless our landlord sells the apartment. Just when I felt we were settled in, I got a call from our landlady saying that they want to sell the place and we need to show the apartment for her. It took me by complete surprise. Later it found out that they paid 3,500,000 RMB at the peak of the real estate boom a couple of years ago. They don't expect to get all of that back, but they won't sell below 3,000,000 RMB. Now I am really thinking we got a good deal going, considering our rent is 7000 RMB. Real estate is really overpriced in Shanghai. If you were not in it before the boom, you are pretty much out of luck. Prices have come down some. I don't know what they will do, but I know 3,000,000 is a lot.

Footnote: In the 6 weeks since the landlady first called about selling the apartment, only one person has actually looked.

Thanks for reading.

Japan 2006 - Part 1 - Fukuoka and Mt. Koya

2007-01-07T17:34:00.000+08:00

I've posted Part 1 of our Oct trip to Japan over at meckleychina. To go right to the photos, click here.

Two fellow Mt. Koya pilgrims with nifty rain gear.

Nanjing, China - 2006

2007-01-06T14:40:00.000+08:00

In September, we spent a weekend in Nanjing, China and enjoyed it immensely. If you want to go directly to the photos, click here. Most have good titles and descriptions. Otherwise, you can read the full trip report by clicking here.

Preview: Looking up to Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum from the "preferred" photo location.

Frogeye Underwater Camera

2006-12-26T10:07:00.001+08:00

I have received several emails about the underwater shot of Sun-Ling snorkeling in Bali.

Jay wrote:
Anyway, I remember your Canon underwater camera (or was that
S----'s?), and I thought you'd probably have an underwater digital camera or an underwater housing (I've seen a few of those). But a Lomo Frogeye? I've seen Lomo cameras the past few years and thought they were pretty neat, but for me they came a bit too late--since getting a digital camera I don't think I've been able to finish a roll of film in another camera. My three Canon SLRs (well, my prized Canon T90 died a month or two before I got my Nikon Coolpix), two Olympus XAs, Minolta Panoramic, and Yashica T5 all sit gathering dust. :-/

Your photos looked neat. Did you just get a photo CD back with the processed photos or....?

Do you have any other Lomo cameras? People seem to collect them.

Sun-Ling's cousin here in Shanghai is quite the amateur photographer. He shoots slide film, has it developed and then scanned. He never has slides mounted, just keeps the positives - 4 to a strip.

The cousin does not speak much English, so I'm not exactly sure what happened when he offered to get my Bali slide film developed and scanned... because...it took like 2 months to get the positives and digital images back. Some images were scanned backwards, maybe all of them, hard to tell. Some were 2MB scans. Some were 600K. So I just don't know. I thought he took his stuff to a regular retail place but maybe he has friends with connections.....I did not get a CD. He transferred them from his hard disk to our memory stick.

Anyway the shots came out OK even though I hate the fact that the Frogeye flash cannot be "turned off" as far as I can tell.

I have just the one Lomo. Maybe I'll shoot some more slide film with the Frogeye over the New Year holiday and get it developed and scanned myself.

After borrowing S----'s Canon underwater camera, we bought our own, a different model, the Canon Sure Shot A1 Underwater. It worked will for about 4 years until it developed a leak. It was a neat camera. Panorama. Flash control. Decent Auto settings. Good for over and under water.

Click here for more info on the Lomo Frogeye.

Here it is.... among the skyscrapers of Shanghai....My Frogeye!!!

Bali 2006 - Part 6 - Amed, Lepah Beach, Snorkel and Sail

2006-12-25T10:08:00.000+08:00

I have posted the final part of the Bail trip report over on meckleyearth.

Here's a preivew:

Sun-Ling posing for our Lomo Frogeye underwater camera.

Sailing at sunrise in the Lombok Strait. Also taken with Lomo Frogeye.

Shopping for Xmas Eve Dinner Party

2006-12-24T15:11:00.000+08:00

Sun-Ling and I are having a few friends over for dinner on Christmas Eve, so last night we went out to one of our nearby supermarkets to buy stuff. The Christmas carols were blaring so I discretely set my camera on the shopping cart and took some video.

This supermarket is in the basement of a shopping mall and was not particularly crowded last night.

The folks in blue uniforms are supermarket staff.

Enjoy!

Bali 2006 - Part 5

2006-12-23T21:34:00.000+08:00

May 18th, our 15th wedding anniversary, was a fantastic day as we transitioned from interior Ubud to coastal Amed Beach, stopping at old Tenganan Village and Tirtagangga Water Palace on the way. The whole report for May 18 is posted over at meckleyearth.

If you only want to see the photos, click here.

The local sailing canoes, jukungs, on Lepah Beach.

Bali 2006 - Part 4

2006-12-20T13:52:00.000+08:00

I have stopped using Live Journal for posting our long trip reports. From now on I will post them on our sister blog: www.meckleyearth.blogspot.com. As time permits, I will move all the Live Journal reports to meckleyearth.

For part 4 of our May 2006 trip to Bali where we visited Monkey Forrest Preserve, relaxed at a Spa, and took in a Bamboo Gamelan performance, click here. See preview photos below.

Dancers

John tries out the bamboo gamelan

Some photos of our new apartment

2006-12-14T18:36:00.000+08:00

We have been living in our new 151.5 square meter apartment in the Xujiahui District for almost 2 months. Sun-Ling's landlord-financed upgrades are coming along. Here are some photos I took several weeks ago. Since then, the living room sofa cushions have been upgraded and the study has increased it's state of disarray. Enjoy!

To see all the apartment photos click here.

Our living room.

View from our apartment to Sun-Ling's office in GangHui Tower. It's the tallest tower in the middle of the photo.

Bali 2006 - Part 3

2006-12-07T16:05:00.000+08:00

Ubud Bali - May 16, 2006

Today's plan: Do the Rough Guide "A rice-paddy walk through Ubud Kaja", parallel and east of yesterday's walk.

Up at 7:45, breakfast at the hotel, but got a late start on the walk. The temperature was 82F and the skies clear, so we had excellent views of the Gunung Agung volcano and rice terraces.

Stopped around 11AM to chat with a local man, Renta Wayan. He climbed a nearby coconut tree, brought down a coconut, and chopped it open for us. We chatted a bit and gave him 5K RP for his troubles which he gladly accepted. Although not pushy, he became evident that he hangs out by the track to chat up tourists. He could say hello in several different languages, including Chinese.

The rice paddies and terraces were very cool. This time of year - after the harvest - ducks are allowed to forage in the paddies. We saw many ducks. Also, it is the time of year to repair irrigation channels and we saw much evidence of this.

The walk north out of town was not as pleasant as yesterday as today we ran into a small business of some kind every 500 meters or so, each trying to extract money from tourist by selling art, knickknacks, food and drink, etc.

It seems that we missed the turn around specified in Rough Guide and crossed the river by walking in/on an aqueduct instead of a normal bridge. (See photos). So actually the first hour of the walk back was not on any established track, but just a cross country ramble on the rice terraces, generally headed south. It was quite fun. Finally we hit the main track and came back into town on the famous "Graffiti Road".

Ate lunch at the Lotus Cafe: Storm Pale Ale (A local microbrew - yes!), mango juice, nasi goreng served in a pine apple, and tofu curry. Total of 111K Rupiah. The Lotus Cafe has a great view of the town palace with its temple and water garden of lotus flowers. A very relaxing lunch with a fine pale ale.

Next stop was the local Market for some souvenir shopping. We spent about 200k RP on boxes, hand bags, and various pieces of cotton clothing. And finally, a dip in the pool.

Dinner at the Terrace View restaurant near Monkey Forrest. Excellent! Ankor Beer, Sprite, Gado-Gado, Sayur with tofu soup. The night was clear and we had an awesome view of the Southern night sky including the Milky Way. And we were able to "see the Southern Cross for the first time."

Walking back to the hotel, the long way, we checked out some of the local massage places for a possible "couples" massage the next day.

SLHOTD: Dinner and rice paddy walk.

JHOTD: Cold beer hello!

Ducks in a paddy

Sun-Ling drinking fresh coconut water.

Renta Wayan: Linguist, rice farmer, and coconut climber

Great view of the volcano

Local women threshing rice.

A scarecrow to keep the birds out of the rice fields

Ready to harvest

This local is much more graceful crossing the aqueduct than we were. But both Sun-Ling and I made it across with dry feet.

My two sphygmomanometers

2006-11-28T13:07:00.000+08:00

It's been two weeks since my trip to the hospital and I feel good. I took two days off from work which of course made be feel better. The doctor told me to check my blood pressure 3 times a day which I do with my two sphygmomanometers - one for home and one for work. Also, I've started working out at the gym next to our apartment. Well, not exactly "working out" since I've only been once. Anyway, I'll give a full report in a few weeks after I've been a few times.

Thanks for all the "Get Well" and "Happy Thanksgiving" messages.

My two sphygmomanometers:

Bali 2006 - Part 2

2006-11-26T17:11:00.000+08:00

Ubud, Bali - May 15, 2006

Today's plan is to do the "Campuhan Ridge Walk" north of town as described on page 203 of our Rough Guide, with a stop at the Neka Museum on the way back to town. And the 7:30 performance of the Kecak dance. A full program!

Up at 7:15AM. Breakfast at Sri Bungalows: The egg and tomato jaffle (a sealed toasted sandwich)was very tasty; the coffee was very bad.

A local woman, accompanied by little one, with her basket of small offerings and joss sticks. Each morning, she will make offerings at the many small shrines located around the hotel.

A shrine just outside our hotel.

Looking at a shine in the courtyard of a neighboring hotel.

We were out and walking by 8:15 and easily found the turn off for the path. Excellent walk up the ridge from the river confluence. Saw several men and women cutting and/or carrying elephant grass.

This is a shot of the Pura Gunung Lebah temple that is by the river confluence.

Women carrying cut elephant grass back to town. The grass can be used for roof thatching.

A grass cutter with hat, pole, and sickle. The pole is used to carry bundles of grass, one on each end.

The same cutter.

Work in progress.

Another grass cutter with a 2 bundles of grass, a pole, and a sickle on hip.

After 30 minutes or so the ridge spread out and we were walking though terrace rice fields. The view of the volcano was so-so as the day was a bit cloudy. Turned left, crossed the river and headed back to Ubud and the Neka Museum. Passed many temples and family compounds.

The ridge top walk looking south to Ubud.

This should be a great view of the volcano but it was too cloudy.

Temple statue.

Just before Neka we saw this guy plowing his rice field.

Just a short while later we saw the Rosetta stone for the world traveler. ;-)

Ate lunch about 12:30 at Nuri's, just across the street from Neka Museum. 51K for one large bottle of H2O, Pepsi, Pineapple Juice, rice w/veggie dish, and Nasi Goreng. The place is run/owned by an American and his local wife.

Then toured Neka Museum - 20K rp each. Seven pavilions with very good descriptions by Rough Guide. Excellent display of modern and traditional art by locals and foreigners. The foreigners came to Bali to be influenced by the Balinese culture and natural settings. Many of these foreigners ended up mentoring, encouraging, and influencing a whole generation young locals artists. Photos without flash were allowed so I took many photos. You can see some of them here.

Here’s one example: “Three Masked Dancers” by Anton Kustia Widjaja

Locals playing “keep away” soccer with “shirts and skins” teams.

Walked back to the hotel, arriving at 3:30, just in time for a refreshing dip in the pool and a shower. Total walking for the day: about 10 km or 6 miles.

Then off to dinner at Gayatri Restaurant: One large Bintang, Orange Lemon soda, chili sin carne (beans and rice), rice and eggs w/peanut sauce (nasi goreng). All for 83,000 Rupiah, about $10.50 US.

The last activity of the night, and maybe the highlight (for John) of the whole trip was the Kecak dance, which we caught in town for 20K rp each. Months ago I posted some video of this a capella performance. Click here. Most excellent and unexpectedly so. Following the Kecak was fire dancing which may have been genuine but it seemed hokey to me.

SLHOTD: Ridge-top walk

JHOTD: Kecak dance

Shanghai Diarist

2006-11-24T17:05:00.000+08:00

For good description of what it's like to live in Shanghai, read these five diary entries.

Bali 2006 - Part 1

2006-11-19T21:52:00.000+08:00

May 13 - Shanghai to Singapore to Bali

Just 6 days after returning from an exhausting trip to Tibet, we were off to Bali. Why Bali? It's a tropical island paradise. The weather is perfect in May and itÂs the low tourist season. And May 18th 2006 would be our 15th wedding anniversary.

Up at 6:00 AM. In a taxi by 6:30 and headed to the Pudong (PVG) airport. The 8:45 AM flight to Singapore, our first ever on the famous Singapore Airlines, left on time and arrived at Singapore Changi Airport 4hrs and 40 minutes later. A nifty airport with a very luxurious orchid garden (photo below) and free internet kiosks. Also has a movie theatre. We ate dinner at an Indian restaurant: Pakora Platter, Uttapam, and a Masala Dhosa for 17 Singapore dollars total.

Orchid Garden in Changi Airport

Caught the 4:40PM flight to Bali which left on time and arrived on time at the Denpasar Airport at 7PM local time. No problems entering Bali. As expected we paid $25 US on-the-spot each for a 7-day Indonesian visa. Got 1,000,000 rupiah, yes one million rupiah (1 Chinese RMB = 1000 Indonesian rupiah) from ATM. 1000 rupiah is about 12 cents in USD. Negotiated a 140K taxi ride to our hotel in Ubud. The posted prepaid rate is 175K but in the low season it's a buyer's market.

Arrived at Graha Ubud Hotel on Monkey Forrest Rd after a one hour ride in the dark in which we saw many motorbikes with Mom, Dad, and Junior dressed up and headed for a festival. The temperature was pleasant and the air not as sticky as I had imagined. We had a reservation for 3 nights at 30USD per night. Checked in and immediately headed out for a cold 630ml Bintang (the local beer) and a piece of cake for Sun-Ling. Saw many foreigners in the several blocks of Monkey Forrest Rd we walked. Then back to hotel and crashed.

May 14 - Ubud, Bali

A good night's sleep in Graha Ubud Bali Hotel. Had to cut off AC in middle of the night because it got too cold. Our room is actually a 2 rooms; a sitting room and a bedroom. The sitting room has a table, chairs, fan, and a fridge. The $30US per night included a slowly delivered breakfast of fresh juice, fresh fruit, coffee, and fried noodles.

During breakfast, we decided to switch hotels because the Graha pool was greenish and the hotel was generally "not kelp up". Spent the rest of the morning wandering up and down the Monkey Forrest Rd, the main north-south drag, looking at hotels. There were many available rooms at reasonable prices. John wanted a room in a hotel with a pool. Finally, we decided on Sri Bungalows just across the street and the 2nd place we looked. The bedroom room was big with a killer bed (more later), AC, fan, and very nice veranda. The bathroom was big with shower and tub and small window. There was no TV or fridge. No problem. The furniture was neat and art hung on the walls. The pool was clear, blue, and refreshing. The price of 300K rupiah per night (about 38 USD) included tax and breakfast.

The bedroom.

Sun-Ling relaxing on the veranda.

The pool!

After checking out and moving to Sri it was time for lunch which we ate at the Nyuh Gading Restaurant just down the road. We shared a gadogado and some sort of tempe dish. No drink. Sat on the 2nd floor overlooking the football field. A group of boys in some sort of religious procession passed by below. They were playing music, chanting, drumming, and 2 of them were dressed up as the front and back of a cow or maybe an elephant (photo below). Anyway, we enjoyed a relaxing lunch.

Walked all over Ubud checking out the local bookstores looking for a decent copy of a Lonely Planet Bali or Rough Guide Bali. Yes, we arrived without a Bali guide book. More about that later. We passed the main Hindu Temple which is also used for performances and festivals. Finally, bought a new Rough Guide at AryÂs bookshop in city center. Then back to Sri Bungalows for a fantastic swim in the pool. Out to dinner at Bambu. We had a cold Bintang, a ginger beer, Cap Cay, and Nasi Goreng for 83K rupiah total including 10%tax and 5% service charge. And extracted another million rupiah from an ATM on the way back home.

Back street scene with festival poles.

Women carrying gravel to a construction site.

The town palacpavilionce pavillion

SLHOTD (Sun-LingÂs Highlight of the Day): The veranda.

JHOTHD (JohnÂs Highlight of the Day): The pool.

Family emergency

2006-11-14T19:38:00.000+08:00

Monday evening 5pm I was trying to finish a few things at work before I headed home to cook dinner. Monday & Wednesday are cooking days. Out of the blue I got a call from John, he was waiting for an ambulance to take him to the hospital. He was having trouble breathing and felt dizzy.

I immediately told myself not to think of the worse, but to solve the problem at hand. I didn't inquire or quiz John any about his condition. He must know his body best. I made a call to my mom asking her which is the best hospital in Shanghai that John should be taken to. Mom said Zhongshan, or Ruijin. Then she said Zhongshan is also closer. I called back John's coworker and John to let know them that he should be taken to Zhongshan. I then looked on the web to figure out exactly where the hospital is. It looked to be a 20 minute walk from my office. By then the ambulance had arrived at John's office. Since his ambulance was going to be longer than 20 minutes, I set out for the hospital on foot.

Walking afforded me time to think and reflect. John just had a physical, courtesy of Intel. His two problematic areas looked good. His blood pressure was good. His cholesterol was up by a few points, but LDL was down, HDL up, Triglycerides down. But that may not mean anything. His grandfather died in his late fifties of a heart attack. How am I going to face his parents if anything happens to him?! Would we have to go home for treatments? He cannot die, since we have only been married for 151/2 years and there are so many things we are looking forward to together. We have been together for a lot and we will be together for sickness and health. This will just be a problem we have to solve. I really regret that we had not check out all the different medical facilities and had established a relationship with someone we trust. We were not planning on being sick....

I got to the hospital before the ambulance as expected. I asked a couple of nurses. They assured me that there is nothing I need to do before hand. Now I know that I asked the wrong people wrong question. Those nurses were only concerned with registering patients. When John finally arrived in the ambulance with his coworker Yubo, there was none of the rushing around as seen in "ER." Some of the hospital personnel did proceed to look for a bed, undoubtedly prompted by the ambulance staff. Someone mentioned that there is a special ward for foreign patients, presumably gives better care. John gets loaded back into the ambulance and driven 50 meters, all the while I was kicking myself for my stupidity -- I could have figured out all that before he got there.

The special ward did look a lot nicer and was not crowded. There were precisely one doctor, one nurse, and one aid. I was immediately informed by the nurse that how much everything was going to cost, e.g. at 3 times of the market rate. The doctor happened to have another patient so it took us a couple extra minutes to get her attention. She examined John in English. I hardly had to do any translation. John's blood pressure was 180/100, something the ambulance crew did not measure! She ordered two sets of blood test and CT. The nurse came in with a pill that went under his tongue and to draw the blood. For the CT, John had to be wheeled to where we original came. Since there was only one aid, Yubo was a great help with maneuvering the bed.

Once he came back from the CT, there was the long wait for results. Yubo went out to get some food and water for us. The doctor came in for an EKG. It looked good. She said it was all probably due to the high blood pressure. I relaxed a little and gave my mom an update over the phone. John dozed off by the time Yubo came back. Yubo and I chatted while I ate the dinner he brought back for me. Yubo was not at all impressed with the "special" ward, which is really pay-more-get-better-care, at least supposedly.

Around 8:30, blood test results and CT finally came -- everything looked normal! I was so relieved. We were given some medication. I gladly paid the bill -- only if money can buy favorable diagnosis.... Under the circumstance, we had the most favorable outcome. A couple of years ago John had cholesterol problems, we fixed that ourselves. Now we just have something new to work on.

John goes to the hospital

2006-11-14T15:41:00.000+08:00

Monday afternoon about 5PM, after a typical busy day at work:
interviewed a candidate for a contractor position, assembled and sent out my team's monthly status report, attended 3 or 4 meetings, handled 100 emails, decided whether to pay an invoice for 36KRMB from a vendor, etc., I got up from my cubicle and walked to the bathroom. On the way back to my cube I suddenly felt like I was going to collapse. After sitting down for another minute I felt a lot worse including some discomfort in my chest. Since a colleague ten years younger than me had just had a heart attack (non-fatal) and I had felt uncomfortable several times over the weekend, I asked our department admin to call an ambulance.

The ambulance arrived in less than 15 minutes although it seemed longer. While waiting I called Sun-Ling and she determined I should go to ZhongShan Hospital, near our apartment in XuJiaHui. I was feeling worse by the minute. The ambulance, a small work van with flashing lights on top, arrived manned by a driver and an attendant. My spirits flagged. They looked more like gas station attendants in their navy blue coveralls then the well-trained EMTs you see on TV in the US.

I needed some help climbing in and one of my team members, Yubo, road along with me. They put an oxygen tube in my nose...sort of....they put an oxygen tube near my nose and I put it in my nose. They hooked a pulse monitor to my finger, and stuck heart monitor sensors on my chest. They gave Yubo a little black pill to put under my tongue - some traditional Chinese medicine that eventually made my lip and gum numb. Kinda like dipping snuff.

The route to the hospital followed the same route of the company bus I usually ride so from lying on my back I mentally charted the journey per toll booth, on ramp, etc. The one attendant asked me if I was feeling better or worse. "Not better, not worse" was the answer. Sun-Ling later asked me did I think I was going to die. "No" I said. I just kept thinking that I did not want to die on the Humin Elevated Highway.

So we eventually got to the hospital and they wheeled me in to the "regular" entrance where Sun-Ling was waiting. After a minute, they put me back in the ambulance and took me to the "foreigners wing" or maybe it's called the "VIP" wing and in a few minutes I was in a bed in a 7th floor room, not in the emergency room, but in a regular room. Soon, a young female doctor came in and asked me some questions. When did you start feeling bad? Etc. Checked me for abdominal pain. I guess she thought I might have appendicitis. Then she took my blood pressure. It was 180/100. Wow! That's not good.

Then a nurse took 2 vials of blood, hooked me up to a saline bag, and gave me a yellow pill - western medicine this time - to put under my tongue. Then I had to pee. That's another story. My first experience with the "urine pot".

Then they moved me off the bed and on to a gurney and wheeled me over to the regular wing to get a CT scan. That gurney ride was terrible. I'm prone to motion sickness and I felt terrible by the time we arrived at the CT scan room. Sun-Ling and Yubo helped push me around as the sole "orderly" was a female about 95 years old. Just joking, she was about 50. Sun-Ling says it's common for family members to help with hospital care. Luckily the CT scan took only few minutes as I was starting to get claustrophobic. Then another nauseating ride back to my room.

The doctor came back and said the initial blood work was OK, but it would be another hour until the results of the CT scan and extended blood work would be known. She measured by BP again: 150/90. I was exhausted and almost fell asleep. Yubo went out for food and water. I did not hear him came back.

The doctor returned. She brought out the EKG machine, hooked me up, and took a reading - OK - no heart attack. The results of the CT scan were also OK The extended blood work showed no kidney problems, etc. My BP was still 150/90.

It was now about 8:30 and I was free to leave. Sun-Ling had a fist full of receipts, my personal medical booklet, and a few boxes of prescription medications for me. It's pay as you go. By this time I was feeling a bit better, knowing that I would not die on foreign soil. ;-) But seriously, my experience gave me another perspective on why we need a solution to quickly get our soldiers safely home from Iraq.

So we left the hospital, Sun-Ling, Yubo, and I. We walked about 50 meters to the main drag and hailed a cab, dropped Yubo off nearby, and were back home around 9PM.

Sun-Ling took this photo of me lying in my bed just before I checked out.

View from our window

2006-11-05T20:42:00.000+08:00

Here's a shot from the balcony of our new apartment in the XuJiaHui district of Shanghai.

We go to a wedding

2006-11-05T18:26:00.000+08:00

A few weeks ago we went to my team member's wedding. Keshuang and CaiFeng had actually been married in a civil ceremony some months before. The "wedding" we attended was the public ceremony and banquet for friends, family, and coworkers.

We took a taxi with a coworker and his wife to QingPu, a suburb of Shanghai and the bride's home town. The banquet was at the QingPu Hotel which appeared to be hosting several weddings that day. We signed in and handed over our red packet filled with cash -- the only appropriate gift.

The wedding started 30 minutes late at 11:30. The bride and groom marched down the "aisle" amid confetti and fireworks (see photo below). The best man, father of the bride, and their former university professor said a few words, rings were exchanged with the usual western vows, the bride and groom bowed to their parents, a "LOVE" candelabra was light - sorry I do not have a photo of that one, you have to imagine it -- and then we ate.

During eating, the bride and groom came around to each table for a toast. Later, the bride drew names from a basket and a few lucky guests received gifts. After playing some friendly, traditional jokes on the bride and groom, the wedding was over.

More photos from Shanghai Art Museum 2006 Biennale

2006-10-30T14:04:00.000+08:00

I published some additional photos from our September visit to the Shanghai Art Museum 2006 Biennale. Click here to see them.

We are still very busy outfitting our new apartment. I hope to post some photos of it this week.

Also, it's just over one year since we moved to Shanghai, so you can expect a One Year Report in the next few weeks.

A Busy October

2006-10-19T11:03:00.000+08:00

It's been a busy October.

We spent the first week of the month in Japan. I hope to get the trip report posted sometime in 2006 but I'm way behind as Bali and Nanjing remain unreported as well. The short report: Japan was awesome! See the photo below.

The second week of the month was spent looking at apartments in the XuJiaHui area of Shanghai. We found a nice 3-BR apartment on the 11th floor of the "Ya Du" complex which is close to Sun-Ling's office, Metro Line 1, and the Intel shuttle bus stop.

Thus, the 3rd and 4th weeks of the month will be spent packing, moving, and settling in to our new home. Updates to this blog will be sparse.

Our new address is:
300 Nandan Rd
Bldg 8, #1101
Shanghai 200030
China

John enjoys a cold beer with the vegetarian dinner served to us in our room at a Buddhist temple/inn on Mt Koyasan.

Tibet Clockwise - Part 6

2006-10-14T20:28:00.000+08:00

For the final installment of our May 2006 Tibet trip click here. We travel 45 kms outside of Lhasa to Ganden Monastery. The drive along the Lhasa River was awesome.