Victoria Peak:
The perfect viewing point of Hong Kong
Wait. What is all that green stuff?
Trees?
I thought all of Hong Kong was exactly like
its skyline.
Buildings. Tall Buildings.
Very Tall Buildings.
And more Tall Buildings.
Apparently not.
I see more trees than sky scrapers!
Jin Eu Market:
“Be careful. Is a city. Watch your wallet”
Our taxi driver counseled us before we left his
cab to wander the streets of the goldfish market.
What might one buy at a goldfish market?
Well, goldfish for one thing. Also,
Blue fish, green fish, orange fish, purple fish,
Speckled fish, spotted fish, big fish, tiny fish,
Bottled fish, bagged fish, dead fish, live fish.
And every other imaginable form of “adjective + fish”.
(other possible options for adjective include but are by
no means restricted to: plastic, hollow, jade, wriggling,
monstrous, school of, neon, darting, and fluorescent.)
Monday, October 26, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Beijing: The North Capital
Our first night in Beijing: 3 hours on an airplane, 1 very bad airplane dinner, 1 grandfather throwing up on the bus, 1 stroll past Tiananmen Square and the entrance to the Forbidden Kingdom (technically called the Palace Museum), 1 strange paper pet named Fredrico, 1 group picture with a bunch of random Chinese people, 1 Mao Zedong watch purchased, and fairly comfortable beds at the Jade Garden Hotel. All in all, quite a wonderful (and eventful) night.
As we maneuvered our way through the crowd milling about in front of the main gate to the Forbidden Kingdom (it’s closed at night) I noticed many people taking there picture with the huge portrait of Mao Zedong hanging above the gates. I especially noticed a very happy looking little boy posing with his legs spread wide apart and his hands clasped behind his back. His father was proudly taking a picture on his phone, while the boy’s mother took a picture of her dearest son and Mao with a camera. Other family members stood around beaming at the heart-warming image of their young relative posing in front of “the greatest Chinese leader of the 20th century” I looked on, slightly confused at their smiling faces. Why were they smiling at the larger than life portrait of Mao? Had they forgotten who Mao was? Had they forgotten what Mao had done? Then it hit me: They didn’t know. They didn’t know that Mao had indirectly killed tens of millions of people. They didn’t know that he had directly killed tens of millions of more people. How much did they now about the recent history of their country? Did they know that Mao had ordered the police to let the Red Guards ravages through people’s houses? Did they know that he had condemned ancient Chinese relics to be burned and smashed? How much did they now about the scholars sent to labor camps to be “re-educated”? My guess is, not much.
The Forbidden Kingdom is HUGE. And when I say HUGE I don’t mean, wow, look at that mansion it has five floors! I mean wow, look at that huge cluster of richly decorated mansions, courtyards, streams, and stairways, oh, and by the way did you notice that there are over 9,000 rooms?
Strangly it was built to hold the Emperor, his family their servants, and no one else. Why, you might ask yourself, is it so big?
It is so big because the Emperor had one official Empress, but also had 3,000 concubines.
This courtyard is like the “mud room” to the Forbidden Kingdom.
As we strolled through one of the many routes of the Forbidden Kingdom our guide told us about the fengshui of buildings. Each building had animals on the crests of the roof, but because of fengshui there were only odd numbers of animals on the roofs. Special stone barriers stop “negative energy” from entering separate courtyards. The yellow of the tiles is only used by the Emperor because yellow is an imperial color.
The Great Wall is truly Great. Long lengths of rock wall connect towers on distant mountain tops. The blue sky (strange for Beijing) stretched endlessly above the orange trees. It was a Great day to climb the Great Wall.
As we trecked up the forest of staircases we admired the trees, blue sky, rocks, and of course, our newly purchased Panda Hats.
As we maneuvered our way through the crowd milling about in front of the main gate to the Forbidden Kingdom (it’s closed at night) I noticed many people taking there picture with the huge portrait of Mao Zedong hanging above the gates. I especially noticed a very happy looking little boy posing with his legs spread wide apart and his hands clasped behind his back. His father was proudly taking a picture on his phone, while the boy’s mother took a picture of her dearest son and Mao with a camera. Other family members stood around beaming at the heart-warming image of their young relative posing in front of “the greatest Chinese leader of the 20th century” I looked on, slightly confused at their smiling faces. Why were they smiling at the larger than life portrait of Mao? Had they forgotten who Mao was? Had they forgotten what Mao had done? Then it hit me: They didn’t know. They didn’t know that Mao had indirectly killed tens of millions of people. They didn’t know that he had directly killed tens of millions of more people. How much did they now about the recent history of their country? Did they know that Mao had ordered the police to let the Red Guards ravages through people’s houses? Did they know that he had condemned ancient Chinese relics to be burned and smashed? How much did they now about the scholars sent to labor camps to be “re-educated”? My guess is, not much.
The Forbidden Kingdom is HUGE. And when I say HUGE I don’t mean, wow, look at that mansion it has five floors! I mean wow, look at that huge cluster of richly decorated mansions, courtyards, streams, and stairways, oh, and by the way did you notice that there are over 9,000 rooms?
Strangly it was built to hold the Emperor, his family their servants, and no one else. Why, you might ask yourself, is it so big?
It is so big because the Emperor had one official Empress, but also had 3,000 concubines.
This courtyard is like the “mud room” to the Forbidden Kingdom.
As we strolled through one of the many routes of the Forbidden Kingdom our guide told us about the fengshui of buildings. Each building had animals on the crests of the roof, but because of fengshui there were only odd numbers of animals on the roofs. Special stone barriers stop “negative energy” from entering separate courtyards. The yellow of the tiles is only used by the Emperor because yellow is an imperial color.
The Great Wall is truly Great. Long lengths of rock wall connect towers on distant mountain tops. The blue sky (strange for Beijing) stretched endlessly above the orange trees. It was a Great day to climb the Great Wall.
As we trecked up the forest of staircases we admired the trees, blue sky, rocks, and of course, our newly purchased Panda Hats.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Guangzhou
While reading Lost on Planet China I came upon a section about boarding trains in China. J. Maarten Troost, the author of Lost on Planet China, described his experience as a new and inexperienced zookeeper might describe feeding wild tigers and monkeys. Hoards of people elbowed and shoved there way to the front of the train platform. Once the train arrived people scrambled over each other to obtain seats. While Troost tried to board, he glanced at the woman next to him, and realized that her seat number was the same as his. Once on the train Troost’s only seating option was a hard piece of floor between two chairs. The men around him chain smoked and screamed at each other in Chinese.
After reading this frightening (but hilarious) account, I prepared myself for the train ride to Guangzhou. After much wandering about the train station and many mind-numbing conversations in Chinese we bought five express tickets on the 7050 train to Guangzhou.
The train ride proved mostly uneventful. No sharp elbows driven into my ribs. No three foot grandmothers pushing their way past me to the front of the line. The most exiting thing that happened was the explosion of my seltzer over a five-foot radius around me. Sadly, this five-foot radius included Kif, Stirling, Isabel, Jacek, the woman sitting in front of me, the 5-year-old boy sleeping on the lap of the woman in front of me, the woman in a short green dress next to the sleeping child, and the woman staring out the window at the passing farms.
Once the train arrived, we climbed off and were pulled through a dimly lit tunnel by a stream of people into the bright sunlight of Guangzhou. We surfaced, wandered about in the blazing sun, then dove back into the ground. The underground world of China is quite astonishing. Underground life seems about as lively as the world above. Tables staked with cheap ceramic cups and plates lined one side of the metro tunnel, while on the other side jeans and t-shirts hung up. Men and women shuffled by sipping tea and munching chicken feet with rice. Restaurants, moon cake shops and shoe stores filled the underground metro tunnels. After maneuvering through the groups of shoppers, sellers and travelers, we bought green metro chips and descended another level to the metro platforms.
We climbed up the steps of our metro station destination and were greeted by the familiar and repulsive grin of Ronald McDonald. After glancing past the golden arches down a street lined with trees and trash we turned to find a much more inviting sight, our hotel. A marble doorway with “China Hotel” engraved above it stood not three feet away from us.
After dropping our bags off at the China Hotel we ventured out into the streets of Guangzhou in search of a Cantonese flavored lunch. What we found was a “South Ocean Seafood Village” which was in fact an incredibly nice dim sum restaurant. We ate our fill of crunchy greens and sea urchin roe then visited a nearby park.
At the park we increased our “qi” on colorful metal machines, observed multiple ping pong games, pedaled a boat across a lake, watched wedding photos being taken, and witnessed a child catch an incredibly small silver fish with a bit of string.
Our first day in Guangzhou was quite a success, including explosions, strange and delicious food, fortification of personal qi, and swift travel.
After reading this frightening (but hilarious) account, I prepared myself for the train ride to Guangzhou. After much wandering about the train station and many mind-numbing conversations in Chinese we bought five express tickets on the 7050 train to Guangzhou.
The train ride proved mostly uneventful. No sharp elbows driven into my ribs. No three foot grandmothers pushing their way past me to the front of the line. The most exiting thing that happened was the explosion of my seltzer over a five-foot radius around me. Sadly, this five-foot radius included Kif, Stirling, Isabel, Jacek, the woman sitting in front of me, the 5-year-old boy sleeping on the lap of the woman in front of me, the woman in a short green dress next to the sleeping child, and the woman staring out the window at the passing farms.
Once the train arrived, we climbed off and were pulled through a dimly lit tunnel by a stream of people into the bright sunlight of Guangzhou. We surfaced, wandered about in the blazing sun, then dove back into the ground. The underground world of China is quite astonishing. Underground life seems about as lively as the world above. Tables staked with cheap ceramic cups and plates lined one side of the metro tunnel, while on the other side jeans and t-shirts hung up. Men and women shuffled by sipping tea and munching chicken feet with rice. Restaurants, moon cake shops and shoe stores filled the underground metro tunnels. After maneuvering through the groups of shoppers, sellers and travelers, we bought green metro chips and descended another level to the metro platforms.
We climbed up the steps of our metro station destination and were greeted by the familiar and repulsive grin of Ronald McDonald. After glancing past the golden arches down a street lined with trees and trash we turned to find a much more inviting sight, our hotel. A marble doorway with “China Hotel” engraved above it stood not three feet away from us.
After dropping our bags off at the China Hotel we ventured out into the streets of Guangzhou in search of a Cantonese flavored lunch. What we found was a “South Ocean Seafood Village” which was in fact an incredibly nice dim sum restaurant. We ate our fill of crunchy greens and sea urchin roe then visited a nearby park.
At the park we increased our “qi” on colorful metal machines, observed multiple ping pong games, pedaled a boat across a lake, watched wedding photos being taken, and witnessed a child catch an incredibly small silver fish with a bit of string.
Our first day in Guangzhou was quite a success, including explosions, strange and delicious food, fortification of personal qi, and swift travel.
Macau
As you may (or may not) know the Chinese have a Mid-Autumn festival, because of this holiday many people have work off and kids have a break from school. Kif had a break at the law school because of this and we decided to go on a trip. Macau, a small island, seemed an ideal spot to spend our vacation.
Macau was a Portuguese colony until 1999 when Portugal returned Macau to China. There are still some Portuguese speakers in Macau, though we did not encounter many. People in Macau seemed to have a good grasp of English making bargaining more understandable, but definitely not easier.
The first hotel we stayed at was called the IFT. It was a school for tourism. The lady at the counter was a student and all of the workers as well. When we went to dinner the waiters were obviously new students, or just learning how to serve food (and poor water). Aparantly pouring a proper glass of water is much more difficult than it seems. As a very nervous girl began to pour Isabel a glass of water, her hovering teacher swooped down and will issueing a constant stream of rebukes (all in Cantonese, so I actually have no idea what he was saying) showed her how to properly poor a glass of water. After this scene a student wanting to learn the ancient form of “smoothie delivery” shuffled to our table. He was so nervous he forgot how to hold a glass and his chattering teacher had to remind him how. Overall the dinner was delicious including grilled bass, quail, African chicken, bacalau potato pie, spaghetti, crème bru le, rhubarb crumble, caramel ice cream, peach serradura, and flan with maracuja and carrot sauce.
To be Continued... (maybe)
Macau was a Portuguese colony until 1999 when Portugal returned Macau to China. There are still some Portuguese speakers in Macau, though we did not encounter many. People in Macau seemed to have a good grasp of English making bargaining more understandable, but definitely not easier.
The first hotel we stayed at was called the IFT. It was a school for tourism. The lady at the counter was a student and all of the workers as well. When we went to dinner the waiters were obviously new students, or just learning how to serve food (and poor water). Aparantly pouring a proper glass of water is much more difficult than it seems. As a very nervous girl began to pour Isabel a glass of water, her hovering teacher swooped down and will issueing a constant stream of rebukes (all in Cantonese, so I actually have no idea what he was saying) showed her how to properly poor a glass of water. After this scene a student wanting to learn the ancient form of “smoothie delivery” shuffled to our table. He was so nervous he forgot how to hold a glass and his chattering teacher had to remind him how. Overall the dinner was delicious including grilled bass, quail, African chicken, bacalau potato pie, spaghetti, crème bru le, rhubarb crumble, caramel ice cream, peach serradura, and flan with maracuja and carrot sauce.
To be Continued... (maybe)
Monday, September 28, 2009
Da Fen: City of Art
Da Fen, a beautiful town filled with art and recreations is about 30 driving from our apartment. The buildings in Da Fen are painted pink, orange, and multicolored. While at Da Fen we saw 5 Mona Lisas, 2 Obamas, 3 Ches, 4 Audrey Hepburns, 1 Beckham (spelled Bakeham) and 1 Alan Greenspan (former chair of the federal reserve). We saw hand painted copies of Van Gogh, Degas, Andy Warhol, and Picasso.
While roaming the art filled allies I spied a “hippie store”. Hanging outside were an amazing pair of red flower patterned pants. I tried them on and asked how much they were “zhe ge duo shao qian”. After bargaining and finding another pair of grey capris I wanted I decided I really needed her to cut down her price, so I started to walk out. She immediately dropped the price about 50 yuan, or 7 dollars. We haggled some more but she thought I wanted them “tai pian yi” (too cheap) and I thought she was trying to sell them “tai gui le” (too expensive).
I should mension she was beautiful and was the first Chinese I had ever seen with curly hair, in fact it was so curly she probably couldn’t fit anything bigger than a chopstick threw each curl. After her price did not come down enough, I started to walk out for real. We walked out and around a corner and were inspecting an ice cream cart when she walked up behind us and offered us a cheaper price. We walked back to her store and finally settled on a price after much laughing and repeating of our preferred price. I now have two new pairs of pants that are “hen ku”.
While roaming the art filled allies I spied a “hippie store”. Hanging outside were an amazing pair of red flower patterned pants. I tried them on and asked how much they were “zhe ge duo shao qian”. After bargaining and finding another pair of grey capris I wanted I decided I really needed her to cut down her price, so I started to walk out. She immediately dropped the price about 50 yuan, or 7 dollars. We haggled some more but she thought I wanted them “tai pian yi” (too cheap) and I thought she was trying to sell them “tai gui le” (too expensive).
I should mension she was beautiful and was the first Chinese I had ever seen with curly hair, in fact it was so curly she probably couldn’t fit anything bigger than a chopstick threw each curl. After her price did not come down enough, I started to walk out for real. We walked out and around a corner and were inspecting an ice cream cart when she walked up behind us and offered us a cheaper price. We walked back to her store and finally settled on a price after much laughing and repeating of our preferred price. I now have two new pairs of pants that are “hen ku”.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Mid-Autumn Festival Speech
While I was sitting in an empty room at the law school trying to memorize a poem about being far away from home and the Mid-autumn festival a man came into the room and said hello, in English. I replied Nihao (hello in Chinese) he asked me what my name was (in Chinese) and we had a short, very short, conversation in Chinese. Then he switched to English and told me that he thought that maybe his professor was my mother because she had said that she had two daughters and one son, and he had realized that maybe I was her daughter. I replied that yes I was her daughter. We both continued our work, I laboring over “du zai yi xiang wei yi ke” and he murmuring to himself in English.
After a couple of minutes he said something along the lines of “Today is maybe the Mid-autumn festival party. I have to give a speech.” At this point, I, not quite understanding what he meant, though he had asked me to give a speech at the Mid-autumn festival party. He quickly cleared up the confusion then continued, “I think maybe I (emphasis on the I) have to give a speech, and I maybe was thinking you can listen to my speech and tell me if I have any problems with my pronunciation.” I agreed and he handed me two sheets of paper with tiny blue cursive writing on it.
He began, “Welcome Dean, Welcome professors, Welcome students, and especially, Welcome new students” He went on talking about STL (the school) and how it had its flaws but that the students were the ones who were going to improve it. He talked about how you don’t abandon a baby or a child because it is not a grown person yet, and how the students had been called upon to modernize the Chinese judicial system. He said that the school would give the students wings of freedom and power. He recited all of this with a blank expression staring at the white wall behind me. Once he had finished we both returned to our work.
A couple of minutes ago he came up to me again and asked me to pronounce a j then a g. He seemed baffled, but said them correctly. He then wrote “give” and “jeep” and had me pronounce those. He is now trying to understand Isabel’s name. She came in to tell me we are leaving.
Last night at the Mid-autumn festival party, he recited his speech in front of everyone, staring at the white wall behind me.
After a couple of minutes he said something along the lines of “Today is maybe the Mid-autumn festival party. I have to give a speech.” At this point, I, not quite understanding what he meant, though he had asked me to give a speech at the Mid-autumn festival party. He quickly cleared up the confusion then continued, “I think maybe I (emphasis on the I) have to give a speech, and I maybe was thinking you can listen to my speech and tell me if I have any problems with my pronunciation.” I agreed and he handed me two sheets of paper with tiny blue cursive writing on it.
He began, “Welcome Dean, Welcome professors, Welcome students, and especially, Welcome new students” He went on talking about STL (the school) and how it had its flaws but that the students were the ones who were going to improve it. He talked about how you don’t abandon a baby or a child because it is not a grown person yet, and how the students had been called upon to modernize the Chinese judicial system. He said that the school would give the students wings of freedom and power. He recited all of this with a blank expression staring at the white wall behind me. Once he had finished we both returned to our work.
A couple of minutes ago he came up to me again and asked me to pronounce a j then a g. He seemed baffled, but said them correctly. He then wrote “give” and “jeep” and had me pronounce those. He is now trying to understand Isabel’s name. She came in to tell me we are leaving.
Last night at the Mid-autumn festival party, he recited his speech in front of everyone, staring at the white wall behind me.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Dancing in a Typhoon
Jacek, Isa, and I wandered around the “exercise room” in our apartment complex. This exercise room is actually two clustered groups of very strange exercise machines, strangely placed outside. The machines include sculling contraptions, strange wood platforms screwed together that appear to be for strengthening arm muscles, and yellow circles with the yin and yang sign on them that spin when pushed. After long consideration, Jacek decided that these swirly circles must be to improve your inner chi, because no other obvious reason was apparent.
As Jacek toned his abs, Isabel stretched her calves, and I worked my back incredibly hard (I would find this out the next day when I awoke to find that my back muscles felt like they had been put through a cheese processor), incredible amounts of rain began to fall from the grey sky. It was raining neither cats nor dogs. It was raining more along the lines of hippos, possibly even whales, and definitely the remaining bursts of Typhoon Koppu.
We scrambled to the nearest shelter, which happened to be a very scrawny tree; in fact, we probably would have stayed dryer if we had stayed without “protection”. We sent a scout out, usually Jacek, to find another relatively dry spot. After multiple dashes through the torrents of rain we made it safely and soaking to our apartment.
Once inside the dry haven of our rooms, we hurriedly swapped our more than damp clothes for a dry pair, removed our shoes, and as we sprinted out the door onto the slippery marble tiles, shouted to Dad, “We’ll be back!” Outside we splashed in puddles, observed goldfish from a very close distance, according to the rushing guard, too close. We climbed over Elephant chess tables, hopped on smooth stone “foot massage” paths, and to the astonishment of little, old Chinese women, who rushed by huddling under their umbrellas, dragging their protesting grandchildren by the elbow, tried to build dams out of twigs (fun, but unsuccessful).
Once we were soaked to not just the bone, but to the bone marrow, we slid up to our 14 floor apartment laughing and shouting, “We danced in a Typhoon!
As Jacek toned his abs, Isabel stretched her calves, and I worked my back incredibly hard (I would find this out the next day when I awoke to find that my back muscles felt like they had been put through a cheese processor), incredible amounts of rain began to fall from the grey sky. It was raining neither cats nor dogs. It was raining more along the lines of hippos, possibly even whales, and definitely the remaining bursts of Typhoon Koppu.
We scrambled to the nearest shelter, which happened to be a very scrawny tree; in fact, we probably would have stayed dryer if we had stayed without “protection”. We sent a scout out, usually Jacek, to find another relatively dry spot. After multiple dashes through the torrents of rain we made it safely and soaking to our apartment.
Once inside the dry haven of our rooms, we hurriedly swapped our more than damp clothes for a dry pair, removed our shoes, and as we sprinted out the door onto the slippery marble tiles, shouted to Dad, “We’ll be back!” Outside we splashed in puddles, observed goldfish from a very close distance, according to the rushing guard, too close. We climbed over Elephant chess tables, hopped on smooth stone “foot massage” paths, and to the astonishment of little, old Chinese women, who rushed by huddling under their umbrellas, dragging their protesting grandchildren by the elbow, tried to build dams out of twigs (fun, but unsuccessful).
Once we were soaked to not just the bone, but to the bone marrow, we slid up to our 14 floor apartment laughing and shouting, “We danced in a Typhoon!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Safari Park- and lack of Xiong Mao
To get home from the law school we take the 43 bus. The bus stop is next to a 10 foot wall covered in vines. On the other side of the wall a tall wooden structure is visible. On Thursday discovered that we live a 2 minute bus ride from the abode of three giraffes. These giraffes live as part of the Safari Park which happens to be about three minutes from our apartment. On Thursday we went to the Safari Park. We saw beautiful birds, monkeys, chickens, elephants, penguins, zebras, donkeys, tigers, deer, raccoons, peacocks and fish.
After being dragged through the maze of animal cages by a very, very reluctant horse, we climbed and slid on raised platforms over tigers, lions and bears, oh my. In fact, we fed the lions raw chicken on a stick, held baby tigers, and bobbed apples with the huge bears.
In a small part of the swan lake huge plastic tubes floated in the water, calling to us to figure out what they were. A man explained to us that we had to climb in and he would push them out in the water, then we tried to run in them. Basically they were huge hamster balls, but in water. They were so much fun!
After being dragged through the maze of animal cages by a very, very reluctant horse, we climbed and slid on raised platforms over tigers, lions and bears, oh my. In fact, we fed the lions raw chicken on a stick, held baby tigers, and bobbed apples with the huge bears.In a small part of the swan lake huge plastic tubes floated in the water, calling to us to figure out what they were. A man explained to us that we had to climb in and he would push them out in the water, then we tried to run in them. Basically they were huge hamster balls, but in water. They were so much fun!
(Stirling took this picture)
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
In CHina! September 3 (China time)
It is 3:54 pm in Utah, +14 hours= 5:54 am in CHINA! The internet in the airport is in Chinese so I have to guess on what to click. The air is really wet, even inside the airport. The chairs are blue, so is the ferry counter, for which we are waiting to open. In about two hours we will be on a boat to Shenzhen! (and hopefully more sleep)
Monday, August 24, 2009
ZHONGWENYING: Chinese Camp! 2
While at the ropes course, I encountered a very strange bird.
Another bird of the same strange species.
My fearless roommate perilously perched in the sky.
DingDing: Ready for takeoff.
A DANGERously high pole, which soon after taking this picture, I began to climb.ZHONGWENYING: Chinese Camp! 1
On the right is Riley's head, after an unfortunate incident with a certain flying paddle.
Also on the right: Haolaoshi!
(and Parker in
the background)
NI HAOThis is my shiyou he pengyou Liz or Bo Ya Li (riri)!
As you can tell, I am having trouble with formatting!
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Look this up!
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