Bread
I think of bread as being anywhere between San Fransisco sourdough to rye to Wonder white. Potato Bread, cottage, Italian sesame loaf, split top country, English muffins, bagels; hard or soft, biscuits; dropped or cut. Even the low carb options that are not really bread at all would be much appreciated in this place of rice and noodles.
Wait though, it's not that bread doesn't exist. There's a lot of bread here. I just don't recognize most of it. Bread here is usually sweet. I tried some Bimbo bread (Bimbo is based in South America)... I figured South Americans wouldn't screw with bread. Sweet, almost a smell of sugar. Just doesn't work with a ham sandwich, cheese and mayo.
Finally, I found a type of bread called "Morning Breakfast" that's the closest thing to "bread" as I know it - a pretty standard white bread. It comes in mini packages of 6 slices for as much as twice that much of most other kinds. I pay the premium.
KFC
MWM, It's pretty much the same. Colonel Harland Sanders secret recipe was not screwed with. However, I've not delved beyond the original recipe sandwiches. There's lots on the menu that I don't recognize, but I didn't go to KFC because I was feeling adventurous. It was wholly a need for something familiar. Haven't been to Cold Stone, DQ or Haagen Dazs yet.
Chinese Food
I can be quoted as saying, "a billion people can't be wrong," when people asked me how I would handle the food over here. Turns out that a lot of the billion go to Thai and Korean restaurants. Ultimately, there's a lot of "normal" food here that is sometimes difficult to stomach because of what it is (not how it tastes), like pork blood noodles (usually served with mostly wheat noodles, but present for flavor). There's another set of food that's hard to take because the tastes are just hard to deal with, I blogged about some of these in "Adventures with Hairy Crab in China". I had a street vendor flat bread, with Sesame seeds on it. It had the taste of eggs, and was warm - 1 yuan for a decent sized piece. I'm betting that the locals can pay even less for it, but I'm not about to attempt to bargain at my skill level not for something so inexpensive. I've had great Thai, Japanese and Korean BBQ here. I had some "O.K." Chinese food, but as they say... nothing to write home about.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Great Wall Hike
For those who saw the pictures as they were still uploading, they now have more captions, and show up "in order".
27 October 2007
North East Beijing Territory
Some people from work were talking about a Great Wall Hike. I was reluctantly invited to go along, after being told many times that it would be a lot of up and down, and it's very strenuous...
Gubeikou
The group starts off at a break-neck pace, and I become winded almost immediately. I think, "this is not a good sign". Then we start heading up this very steep trail, I find myself and two others are lagging behind already. The rear trail master (there are three) tells us to take our time, and rest if we need to (but we haven't been walking for more than 10 minutes).
Advise or not, I had to stop twice. Finally, I made it to the top of the wall. As I go from one tower to another (down and up), I note that I'm lagging behind the bulk of the group. The two with me becomes one ahead, and one behind (with the tail trail master).
Military Base Leads to Up-Close Rural Life
So, I reach the point on the wall that guards an active military base. Note how they built a barrier on top of the wall to make sure we don't go past.
The Hike Leaves the Trail here to walk around in the valleys and past the base. During this part of the hike (downhill without a stone walk), I make up some time, and I was actually jogging in some areas.
In some ways this was the most interesting part of the hike. We went through two little rural villages - lots of pictures, starting here.
After about an hour of this, I found the mid trail master waiting for me with two other hikers that doubled back a bit. They asked me how far behind the rear trail master was, and they had been two towers behind when I left the wall, and I hadn't seen them since.
Back up to the wall
So, the greater bulk of the hiking group were here pausing a little before going up an even steeper trail than any I'd done before. They had already rested, and bounded up the hill. It was like a goat trail, criss crossing up a steep hill. I didn't get any pictures of this - can't really see the trail anyway. There are some shots of the view looking back over the trail though.
Lunch
By the time I got to the lunch tower, the rest of the group had been there for 15 minutes. But the person at the tail never caught up while we were there. While I sat eating my sandwiches, and drinking more water, my legs started hurting. Then, just then, we were off again. Second tower on, the mid trail master was walking with me, and I almost lost my balance a few times. My legs were cramping, and I was trying to work through it.
The rest of the group was already two towers ahead. By the fourth tower, the mid trail master said he was going to leave me to option 1 with the rear trail master and the other slow hiker. The mid trail master, was now the new rear trail master. I was disappointed with myself, but also knew that I realistically couldn't have done the full hike.
Jin Shan Ling Park
When I finally made it to the border of Jin Shan Ling Park (Actually, I'm still not sure, nobody was there to check the ticket I had) - I'm guessing in that I spotted a trash can in that tower, and this is where evidence of restoration work was noticeable. Two towers from here, I stopped - I saw the parking lot. A minute later, the rear trail guide called to me to make sure I wouldn't go any further, as this was our exit.
Ride to Si Ma Tai
Me and the other slowpoke rode in a hired van with the rear trail-master to a restaurant at Simatai. It was a 40 minute drive, and when we arrived we still had an hour and a half of waiting for the rest of the hiking party. I definitely could not have made the journey.
I had a lot of time here to take shots of the Simatai wall.
27 October 2007
North East Beijing Territory
Some people from work were talking about a Great Wall Hike. I was reluctantly invited to go along, after being told many times that it would be a lot of up and down, and it's very strenuous...
Gubeikou
The group starts off at a break-neck pace, and I become winded almost immediately. I think, "this is not a good sign". Then we start heading up this very steep trail, I find myself and two others are lagging behind already. The rear trail master (there are three) tells us to take our time, and rest if we need to (but we haven't been walking for more than 10 minutes).
Advise or not, I had to stop twice. Finally, I made it to the top of the wall. As I go from one tower to another (down and up), I note that I'm lagging behind the bulk of the group. The two with me becomes one ahead, and one behind (with the tail trail master).
Military Base Leads to Up-Close Rural Life
So, I reach the point on the wall that guards an active military base. Note how they built a barrier on top of the wall to make sure we don't go past.
The Hike Leaves the Trail here to walk around in the valleys and past the base. During this part of the hike (downhill without a stone walk), I make up some time, and I was actually jogging in some areas.
In some ways this was the most interesting part of the hike. We went through two little rural villages - lots of pictures, starting here.
After about an hour of this, I found the mid trail master waiting for me with two other hikers that doubled back a bit. They asked me how far behind the rear trail master was, and they had been two towers behind when I left the wall, and I hadn't seen them since.
Back up to the wall
So, the greater bulk of the hiking group were here pausing a little before going up an even steeper trail than any I'd done before. They had already rested, and bounded up the hill. It was like a goat trail, criss crossing up a steep hill. I didn't get any pictures of this - can't really see the trail anyway. There are some shots of the view looking back over the trail though.
Lunch
By the time I got to the lunch tower, the rest of the group had been there for 15 minutes. But the person at the tail never caught up while we were there. While I sat eating my sandwiches, and drinking more water, my legs started hurting. Then, just then, we were off again. Second tower on, the mid trail master was walking with me, and I almost lost my balance a few times. My legs were cramping, and I was trying to work through it.
The rest of the group was already two towers ahead. By the fourth tower, the mid trail master said he was going to leave me to option 1 with the rear trail master and the other slow hiker. The mid trail master, was now the new rear trail master. I was disappointed with myself, but also knew that I realistically couldn't have done the full hike.
Jin Shan Ling Park
When I finally made it to the border of Jin Shan Ling Park (Actually, I'm still not sure, nobody was there to check the ticket I had) - I'm guessing in that I spotted a trash can in that tower, and this is where evidence of restoration work was noticeable. Two towers from here, I stopped - I saw the parking lot. A minute later, the rear trail guide called to me to make sure I wouldn't go any further, as this was our exit.
Ride to Si Ma Tai
Me and the other slowpoke rode in a hired van with the rear trail-master to a restaurant at Simatai. It was a 40 minute drive, and when we arrived we still had an hour and a half of waiting for the rest of the hiking party. I definitely could not have made the journey.
I had a lot of time here to take shots of the Simatai wall.
KFC Story
23 October 2007
8 Gate Shopping Mall
So I go alone to the KFC. I look at the choices, and the cashier gets the picture menu that they bring out for illiterates, and I point to it with two fingers and very haltingly say, "Wo You Er..."
The kid behind the counter looks at me like I'm an idiot and says, "Yeah, you want two... I get it", in a perfect 'lost youth', American accent.
8 Gate Shopping Mall
So I go alone to the KFC. I look at the choices, and the cashier gets the picture menu that they bring out for illiterates, and I point to it with two fingers and very haltingly say, "Wo You Er..."
The kid behind the counter looks at me like I'm an idiot and says, "Yeah, you want two... I get it", in a perfect 'lost youth', American accent.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
How Time Does Fly
MiniVan
Pollution
There are good days and bad days. I've been told that I've not seen the best or the worst of the pollution here. Check out these two photos, both were taken in the daytime, on very different days:
It's getting late... I'm off to find a late dinner.
Fun Taxi
Pollution
There are good days and bad days. I've been told that I've not seen the best or the worst of the pollution here. Check out these two photos, both were taken in the daytime, on very different days:
It's getting late... I'm off to find a late dinner.
Photos
Photos
Check out my photos. Right now there aren't that many, but the set will grow soon. Most of the posted photos have been mentioned in previous blog posts. I'm excited about getting a place to share them, so I'm posting about it before it's well populated. I promise I'll get more photos out there soon.
Credit Due...
Special thanks to Vital Systems Support for setting up the photo hosting.
Check out my photos. Right now there aren't that many, but the set will grow soon. Most of the posted photos have been mentioned in previous blog posts. I'm excited about getting a place to share them, so I'm posting about it before it's well populated. I promise I'll get more photos out there soon.
Credit Due...
Special thanks to Vital Systems Support for setting up the photo hosting.
Monday, October 22, 2007
My First Weekend
The Hotel Elevator
18 19
15 16 17
11 12 13
8 9 10
5 6 7
1 2 3
The Mandarin word for four is phonetically identical to the word for death. It's a difference of tone. Note the missing numbers. Eight however, is considered a lucky number. I'm on 15 (which makes it 13 floors from the bottom, "uh-oh").
Work
This word better describes the bulk of my weekend than anything else. Big install at the company back home, and I'm 13 hours away -- who better to take the "overnight" than the guy who just got to China and hasn't seen anything touristy yet. Yeah, sure there's the malls (more on that soon). It makes sense, the night shift is my day and someone had to do it. Really, there isn't anyone else whom I would have wished it upon, but there you go. So Saturday afternoon, and Sunday 9am to 9:30pm.
Sunday
Working all day means that Sunday wasn't any better than the previous one. At least I'm over the jet lag.
Saturday Morning
I didn't have a bad Saturday at all. Not too far from here are two malls, right near eachother. They are within walking distance, so I don't have to brave a cab alone.
First one is 8 Gate. I ate dinner here in a previous entry, but I decided I'd explore both of the malls a bit. It has a cinema in the lowest level (two below ground), and several international stores, including a Dairy Queen, Cold Stone Creamery, Starbucks, Nike, and a whole bunch of other non-food related ones that I can't remember anymore.
The 8 Gate mall is 5 levels, and seems to have a hotel on top of it (I think). The building is somewhere around 25 to 30 stories tall.
The other mall is mostly underground, and I think it's official name is the Zhong Guan Cun Shopping Center, but most folks call it Carrefour Mall. Carrefour is the closest grociery store, though the lower level of Carrefour is something slightly worse than Target having bicycles and housewhere's, etc.
This mall is absolutely huge, and I'm not convinced that I've seen all of it. It would make a great map for a shoot-em-up video game - in that the corridors don't seem to "go" anywhere, but are numerous, long, and open up into slightly larger areas where vendors are waiting with their wares.
For a single mall, it also has very distinct areas. I mean areas where vendors are on tables, with heaping piles of vegetables or shoes. And areas where I feel I'm outclassed by the fancy store-fronts. There's also a Children's world, where there were kids actually skating around in the mall. Just different.
At the end of all this exploring, I went to the Carrefour (very crowded - hard to not get stressed when shopping here) and bought a dozen water bottles, and some "American Classic" flavor potato chips (not in the mood for chicken flavor chips yet) and some sandwich stuff.
Saturday Night
London Chinese Girl (LCG), Singapore Girl (SG) and another guy in from the India office (ID) called me up and suggested we go find pizza. This place was in one of their guide books, and is not far from the Hotel (by taxi).
Dinner at the Kro's Nest. It's a pizza place, with full-size pizzas with almost regular pizza like ingredients. Really reasonably priced, too. A 20" large pizza for 140 (totally feeds four for about $25).
Afterwards, we came back to the hotel and met up with this guy from Australia of India descent, who invited us over (he's across the hall from me). Also into technology and a Pink Floyd fan. We had a few drinks and sang Pink Floyd songs loudly at eachother. It would have been really embarrassing, except for it being so much fun.
Sorry -- Another long one, I know.
18 19
15 16 17
11 12 13
8 9 10
5 6 7
1 2 3
The Mandarin word for four is phonetically identical to the word for death. It's a difference of tone. Note the missing numbers. Eight however, is considered a lucky number. I'm on 15 (which makes it 13 floors from the bottom, "uh-oh").
Work
This word better describes the bulk of my weekend than anything else. Big install at the company back home, and I'm 13 hours away -- who better to take the "overnight" than the guy who just got to China and hasn't seen anything touristy yet. Yeah, sure there's the malls (more on that soon). It makes sense, the night shift is my day and someone had to do it. Really, there isn't anyone else whom I would have wished it upon, but there you go. So Saturday afternoon, and Sunday 9am to 9:30pm.
Sunday
Working all day means that Sunday wasn't any better than the previous one. At least I'm over the jet lag.
Saturday Morning
I didn't have a bad Saturday at all. Not too far from here are two malls, right near eachother. They are within walking distance, so I don't have to brave a cab alone.
First one is 8 Gate. I ate dinner here in a previous entry, but I decided I'd explore both of the malls a bit. It has a cinema in the lowest level (two below ground), and several international stores, including a Dairy Queen, Cold Stone Creamery, Starbucks, Nike, and a whole bunch of other non-food related ones that I can't remember anymore.
The 8 Gate mall is 5 levels, and seems to have a hotel on top of it (I think). The building is somewhere around 25 to 30 stories tall.
The other mall is mostly underground, and I think it's official name is the Zhong Guan Cun Shopping Center, but most folks call it Carrefour Mall. Carrefour is the closest grociery store, though the lower level of Carrefour is something slightly worse than Target having bicycles and housewhere's, etc.
This mall is absolutely huge, and I'm not convinced that I've seen all of it. It would make a great map for a shoot-em-up video game - in that the corridors don't seem to "go" anywhere, but are numerous, long, and open up into slightly larger areas where vendors are waiting with their wares.
For a single mall, it also has very distinct areas. I mean areas where vendors are on tables, with heaping piles of vegetables or shoes. And areas where I feel I'm outclassed by the fancy store-fronts. There's also a Children's world, where there were kids actually skating around in the mall. Just different.
At the end of all this exploring, I went to the Carrefour (very crowded - hard to not get stressed when shopping here) and bought a dozen water bottles, and some "American Classic" flavor potato chips (not in the mood for chicken flavor chips yet) and some sandwich stuff.
Saturday Night
London Chinese Girl (LCG), Singapore Girl (SG) and another guy in from the India office (ID) called me up and suggested we go find pizza. This place was in one of their guide books, and is not far from the Hotel (by taxi).
Dinner at the Kro's Nest. It's a pizza place, with full-size pizzas with almost regular pizza like ingredients. Really reasonably priced, too. A 20" large pizza for 140 (totally feeds four for about $25).
Afterwards, we came back to the hotel and met up with this guy from Australia of India descent, who invited us over (he's across the hall from me). Also into technology and a Pink Floyd fan. We had a few drinks and sang Pink Floyd songs loudly at eachother. It would have been really embarrassing, except for it being so much fun.
Sorry -- Another long one, I know.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Friday Night Out
October 19
Adventures with Hairy Crab
A group of people who are working in the office, none of whom are from China, decided we'd do dinner as a group. Singapore girl (whom was part of Thursday's dinner) heard that Hairy Crab was in season and that this particular restaurant had it. A quick search on the internet wasn't very promising, but I promised myself I'd keep an open mind. So, off we went in two cabs (there's a four person limit per cab, and we were a party of 5). Only two in the party know enough Mandarin to talk to people, so I rode with Singapore Girl - who has the stronger skills.
SG and Chinese London Girl (CLG) ordered stuff for the group. The Other American (OA) and London Dude (LD) were also there. The food started to arrive.
There was this sliced beef with onion and green peppers - which SG and CLG ordered for us non-Asians (neither of them eat cows).
Fried chicken bones, which was basically joints and cartilage deep fried with cashews. I tried one, and wasn't able to take the cartilage part, so I spit that out. It tasted like Fried Chicken should - it just didn't have any muscle.
There was this chicken broth and mushroom soup. The mushrooms were not a type that I recognized, and were decidedly tough and stringy.
Chicken dumplings. Like chicken pot pie back home, except the "crust" is similar to a large soup wanton noodle instead. Mmmm.
Papaya, Ginger and Fish. The Papaya was whole, but also formed a sauce with chunks of ginger and rings of fish fat (that is to say, it's the fat layer off of a fish - under the skin and above the meat. I tried this too, and didn't really like it. Papaya is very strong, but I liked the ginger bit.
Hairy crab. Well, that's what the menu said, but SG was immediately convinced that it wasn't really hairy crab at all. She went through it looking for something to eat and really couldn't find anything. Myself, I ate a few tiny skinny legs worth of meat, but couldn't find anything substantial either.
At this point, OA and LD were both thinking that I'm just crazy for listening to these Asian folks at all. Dessert came and there were custard pies (which LD really liked) and durian puffs. Whether or not anybody would eat it became a joke. CLG took a video of me trying while quietly laughing. .. At the table they suggested that another name for it was Jack Fruit, but it turns out (thanks Google) that it's definitely durian. It wouldn't take long to get used to, but I really wasn't in the mood with a camera in my face.
Really - nobody really liked any of the food (which wasn't cheap by local standards). It was approx $30 each. The service was good, and the presentation was great, but as SG said, "It's not Szechuan".
Cleaning the Palette
Afterwards OA went back to the hotel, and the remaining four of us went to a bar for a few drinks. It took a while to find a bar that wasn't a restaurant or a "club". Finally we did, and I had a Heineken or two. We got back here just before 10PM.
Adventures with Hairy Crab
A group of people who are working in the office, none of whom are from China, decided we'd do dinner as a group. Singapore girl (whom was part of Thursday's dinner) heard that Hairy Crab was in season and that this particular restaurant had it. A quick search on the internet wasn't very promising, but I promised myself I'd keep an open mind. So, off we went in two cabs (there's a four person limit per cab, and we were a party of 5). Only two in the party know enough Mandarin to talk to people, so I rode with Singapore Girl - who has the stronger skills.
SG and Chinese London Girl (CLG) ordered stuff for the group. The Other American (OA) and London Dude (LD) were also there. The food started to arrive.
There was this sliced beef with onion and green peppers - which SG and CLG ordered for us non-Asians (neither of them eat cows).
Fried chicken bones, which was basically joints and cartilage deep fried with cashews. I tried one, and wasn't able to take the cartilage part, so I spit that out. It tasted like Fried Chicken should - it just didn't have any muscle.
There was this chicken broth and mushroom soup. The mushrooms were not a type that I recognized, and were decidedly tough and stringy.
Chicken dumplings. Like chicken pot pie back home, except the "crust" is similar to a large soup wanton noodle instead. Mmmm.
Papaya, Ginger and Fish. The Papaya was whole, but also formed a sauce with chunks of ginger and rings of fish fat (that is to say, it's the fat layer off of a fish - under the skin and above the meat. I tried this too, and didn't really like it. Papaya is very strong, but I liked the ginger bit.
Hairy crab. Well, that's what the menu said, but SG was immediately convinced that it wasn't really hairy crab at all. She went through it looking for something to eat and really couldn't find anything. Myself, I ate a few tiny skinny legs worth of meat, but couldn't find anything substantial either.
At this point, OA and LD were both thinking that I'm just crazy for listening to these Asian folks at all. Dessert came and there were custard pies (which LD really liked) and durian puffs. Whether or not anybody would eat it became a joke. CLG took a video of me trying while quietly laughing. .. At the table they suggested that another name for it was Jack Fruit, but it turns out (thanks Google) that it's definitely durian. It wouldn't take long to get used to, but I really wasn't in the mood with a camera in my face.
Really - nobody really liked any of the food (which wasn't cheap by local standards). It was approx $30 each. The service was good, and the presentation was great, but as SG said, "It's not Szechuan".
Cleaning the Palette
Afterwards OA went back to the hotel, and the remaining four of us went to a bar for a few drinks. It took a while to find a bar that wasn't a restaurant or a "club". Finally we did, and I had a Heineken or two. We got back here just before 10PM.
A Note To My Readers...(from China)
BlogSpot and China
BlogSpot and China do not appear to get along very well. This editing interface (blogger.com) works intermittently, but does work most of the time. However, my page at blogspot.com is simply not available to me.
If you are one of the nice folks whom have posted a note, I cannot reply (I only know about them because of the moderation interface) except in this very public way (or via Email). Thanks for your notes, and here are some public replies.
Lost Day in China
TD, When I say I went the wrong direction, it is that --- not as far as I walked this day --- in a different direction is the Zhong Guan Cun Shopping District. KFC and Cold Stone Creamery would have agreed with me on the Lost Day, but instead I went the other way, and found nothing very interesting.
Short Update in China
TD, The tea was probably oolong, but I haven't had it again to ask someone to confirm. Considering how simple tea is, it can really have a lot of flavors.
I thought I would mention though that Japanese restaurants are not actually so rare. I've seen two (which also means I was able to recognize them as Japanese). This is a fairly large metropolitan area, and even though I can't read much (about 10 to 15 percent of public signs and product labels have English translations -- only about 5% of business signs). That's not to say that all of the locals "like it", there is no shortage of Mazdas on the roads either.
Big Night in China
TD, No, I've seen no traffic accidents. "The Other American" did - but only the aftermath. A mangled bicycle, a dented taxi and broken glass.
TD & DH: After about a week you realize that along with the insanity of breaking all the rules, everybody in cars move with a determined sense of caution, which often makes traffic ooze instead of move. The merge thing is part of that ooze. Those whom are a little less cautious will simply get around those who are a little more cautious.
Crossing streets - especially large streets - the dynamic changes with crowds. The crossing is simply done in the form of safety by numbers. Where the lead - least cautious - walkers take the risk and lead the way for the rest of the group. Crossing a street alone is pretty much what I described though.
DH: I think HongKong tracks more closely to Brittan - as they were the law of the land until fairly recently. Audio crossing is definitely a downtown London sound.
UD: Hey, everyone... It's my Uncle! ... I'm still working out how to get some photos in the blog, there are lots of sites that can help don't exactly agree with me from here (either intermittent or non-existent).
BlogSpot and China do not appear to get along very well. This editing interface (blogger.com) works intermittently, but does work most of the time. However, my page at blogspot.com is simply not available to me.
If you are one of the nice folks whom have posted a note, I cannot reply (I only know about them because of the moderation interface) except in this very public way (or via Email). Thanks for your notes, and here are some public replies.
Lost Day in China
TD, When I say I went the wrong direction, it is that --- not as far as I walked this day --- in a different direction is the Zhong Guan Cun Shopping District. KFC and Cold Stone Creamery would have agreed with me on the Lost Day, but instead I went the other way, and found nothing very interesting.
Short Update in China
TD, The tea was probably oolong, but I haven't had it again to ask someone to confirm. Considering how simple tea is, it can really have a lot of flavors.
I thought I would mention though that Japanese restaurants are not actually so rare. I've seen two (which also means I was able to recognize them as Japanese). This is a fairly large metropolitan area, and even though I can't read much (about 10 to 15 percent of public signs and product labels have English translations -- only about 5% of business signs). That's not to say that all of the locals "like it", there is no shortage of Mazdas on the roads either.
Big Night in China
TD, No, I've seen no traffic accidents. "The Other American" did - but only the aftermath. A mangled bicycle, a dented taxi and broken glass.
TD & DH: After about a week you realize that along with the insanity of breaking all the rules, everybody in cars move with a determined sense of caution, which often makes traffic ooze instead of move. The merge thing is part of that ooze. Those whom are a little less cautious will simply get around those who are a little more cautious.
Crossing streets - especially large streets - the dynamic changes with crowds. The crossing is simply done in the form of safety by numbers. Where the lead - least cautious - walkers take the risk and lead the way for the rest of the group. Crossing a street alone is pretty much what I described though.
DH: I think HongKong tracks more closely to Brittan - as they were the law of the land until fairly recently. Audio crossing is definitely a downtown London sound.
UD: Hey, everyone... It's my Uncle! ... I'm still working out how to get some photos in the blog, there are lots of sites that can help don't exactly agree with me from here (either intermittent or non-existent).
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Big Night
After work, left with two women from the office who are also from other places and staying at the same hotel. One from Japan the other from Singapore. They also wanted to go shopping, then eat, and I didn't have anything better to do...
One Thing I Really Don't Like
In traffic back home, if someone speeds up into a merge lane, and tries to get ahead of everyone else - it's considered rude, and overall the majority of people will not do that. Here, merging and even changing lanes is an art of war. It seems to be the responsibility of the least overtly aggressive driver to get out of the way... back to merging though. Imagine that merge lane, where it is simply considered by everyone the preferred place to be. Go to the front, merge aggressively, and everyone else will wait. Except, someone has just swung around the far side of the person who is doing the aggressive merge - so now the lane is two cars wide (and the bicycle lane is mostly gone). Then what really caught me off guard, is when a full size bus came all the way around - driving partly on grass to make that merge lane three deep, and cut in front of everybody.
A side effect of this merge process is that the bicycles - which there are actually fewer bikes than cars, but there are still many bicycles - have no where to go, so they simply start weaving through the traffic randomly.
And crossing the street is a game of timing and nerves. If you can't cross the street before the cars will get to you, judge the aggressiveness of the driver against the aggressiveness of the car that's already coming at you from the other lane. Step in front of the less aggressive car, and they will slow down. Imagine this in an intersection where there are 30 people crossing the street this way, often deciding on different "less agressive" and with little regard to crossing lights. Conclusion... traffic sucks.
Shopping
Went to Wal-Mart. Three levels, and only the top level looked like anything resembling a Wal-Mart in the states. Grocery in the basement, clothes and electronics on the top level, other stuff and checkouts on the main level.
Food
Afterwards, dinner across the street from the Wal-Mart. The waitress offered to take our bags, and then jokes that she would take them home. I totally got it from the body language alone. Dinner over here with other people means that many dishes are ordered, and everybody eats a little of everything. This works out especially well if you don't like something particular. There was this sweet and sour sparerib dish that looked really good in the picture, and was mostly a pile of bones on the plate. Otherwise there were two potato dishes, and a green vegetable (hard to say what it was - but it was green, and fully cooked, so I ate it).
One Thing I Really Don't Like
In traffic back home, if someone speeds up into a merge lane, and tries to get ahead of everyone else - it's considered rude, and overall the majority of people will not do that. Here, merging and even changing lanes is an art of war. It seems to be the responsibility of the least overtly aggressive driver to get out of the way... back to merging though. Imagine that merge lane, where it is simply considered by everyone the preferred place to be. Go to the front, merge aggressively, and everyone else will wait. Except, someone has just swung around the far side of the person who is doing the aggressive merge - so now the lane is two cars wide (and the bicycle lane is mostly gone). Then what really caught me off guard, is when a full size bus came all the way around - driving partly on grass to make that merge lane three deep, and cut in front of everybody.
A side effect of this merge process is that the bicycles - which there are actually fewer bikes than cars, but there are still many bicycles - have no where to go, so they simply start weaving through the traffic randomly.
And crossing the street is a game of timing and nerves. If you can't cross the street before the cars will get to you, judge the aggressiveness of the driver against the aggressiveness of the car that's already coming at you from the other lane. Step in front of the less aggressive car, and they will slow down. Imagine this in an intersection where there are 30 people crossing the street this way, often deciding on different "less agressive" and with little regard to crossing lights. Conclusion... traffic sucks.
Shopping
Went to Wal-Mart. Three levels, and only the top level looked like anything resembling a Wal-Mart in the states. Grocery in the basement, clothes and electronics on the top level, other stuff and checkouts on the main level.
Food
Afterwards, dinner across the street from the Wal-Mart. The waitress offered to take our bags, and then jokes that she would take them home. I totally got it from the body language alone. Dinner over here with other people means that many dishes are ordered, and everybody eats a little of everything. This works out especially well if you don't like something particular. There was this sweet and sour sparerib dish that looked really good in the picture, and was mostly a pile of bones on the plate. Otherwise there were two potato dishes, and a green vegetable (hard to say what it was - but it was green, and fully cooked, so I ate it).
Short Update
I'm pretty much over my jet lag, but I feel like I'm getting sick. I went to bed early last night, to try to get some much needed rest. I didn't eat dinner, but I had a huge lunch.
I had dinner two nights ago at this really great Korean style BBQ place. They cook the food right at the table. The menu has pictures and a few English descriptions which helps me a lot. I asked for the lamb in Mandarin, 'I want this' (while pointing). The tea there smelled and tasted like dirty feet.
I had dinner two nights ago at this really great Korean style BBQ place. They cook the food right at the table. The menu has pictures and a few English descriptions which helps me a lot. I asked for the lamb in Mandarin, 'I want this' (while pointing). The tea there smelled and tasted like dirty feet.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Reporting for Duty
October 15
Haidan District, Beijing
There's a building a few blocks over from my Hotel room that has strobe lights on top of it. It's tall enough to require them if the building were in a flight path, but there are buildings as tall around it, and they don't seem to need strobe lights. Hmph. So, I close the hotel curtains all the way. If I strain, I can still sense the strobe, but with the curtains drawn and my eyelids closed, it doesn't exist. Zzzz...
Woke up a little panicked ... it must be full daylight outside. It feels so "late". I draw the curtains a little... Of course not. 5:10AM is quite an improvement over yesterday, maybe I'll be able to face this work thing. Head down for the Hotel's breakfast. No hard boiled eggs today, but they have sliced cold peppered beef and sautéed vegetables. Interesting. That and more steamed buns, and add a bowl of corn flake cereal. I poured a glass of some sort of juice... turned out to be peach.
Head back up to the room to grab the computer and my camera, and back to the lobby. That other guy shows up two minutes later, and someone else from the office comes too. We all share a taxi to the office. The day is very clear. Not at all as smoggy as it was when the jet landed. Blue skies, and lots to see. I take pictures of lots of things, but the most interesting things I see - I end up with photos of large buses.
I catch a glimpse of the Summer Palace, and a huge, official looking building with a rocket in front of it (Saturn V size maybe). Got a picture of the tip of that rocket. Get off this big road on an exit marked 'Converge Wild Land'. A few kilometers later, and we pass horses in the street. The homes and store-fronts are decidedly run down, and I start to wonder if we could really be going to the high tech software seat of China.
ZhongGuanCun Software Park, Beijing
We drive through a guarded gate, and there's two buildings that have something that could only be described as a flying saucer propped up over the gap between them. Those and most other buildings in the immediate area are under construction. Work is not far past here.
Way to make a first impression...
I arrive and there's about an hour before the "visit kickoff" meeting. I start setting up my computer, pull out a power strip, and plug in my laptop. Hmm, the laptop isn't seeing power. I thought I was being smart by bringing along a power strip so that I could use multiple electronics (all of which are auto-switching voltage items, laptop, phone charger, etc). Turns out the power strip itself couldn't deal with the voltage, and fried - blowing the circuit breaker. I didn't realize that was what happened, until the power was back on, and I plugged the powerstrip in again. The facilities guy, who didn't speak any English, came over grabbed the power strip and read the back, shaking his head and saying many, many soft words to my host.
I knew he was scolding my stupidity. I apologized to my host.
The kick off meeting turns out to be a meeting in which I am supposed to be the leader. The person who called the meeting, my host, immediately became my center of attention as I get him to tell me what my agenda is (as he called the meeting, and my laptop never really got running). So, I write all of this down on a giant white board, and start going through the Agenda points one by one. Overall, I think I did pretty well considering I didn't know what to expect.
Haidan District
Trip home it was dark, so I didn't really see anything that I'd recognize. Lots of lights on buildings, some pretty cool. Went to dinner with the other American. Opposite direction from the way I had walked previously, and a few blocks away there's this "City Mall" -- clearly labeled in English. We went to this place called Pastarito. I used my first Mandarin words to a non-English speaker here. I ordered Lasagne (by asking for number 28). A small proud moment.
Afterwards we found the grocery / super store (and attached Mall). I bought some more Coke Light, and the other guy bought Peanut Butter and bread. I will probably return soon to do a full grocery run.
Haidan District, Beijing
There's a building a few blocks over from my Hotel room that has strobe lights on top of it. It's tall enough to require them if the building were in a flight path, but there are buildings as tall around it, and they don't seem to need strobe lights. Hmph. So, I close the hotel curtains all the way. If I strain, I can still sense the strobe, but with the curtains drawn and my eyelids closed, it doesn't exist. Zzzz...
Woke up a little panicked ... it must be full daylight outside. It feels so "late". I draw the curtains a little... Of course not. 5:10AM is quite an improvement over yesterday, maybe I'll be able to face this work thing. Head down for the Hotel's breakfast. No hard boiled eggs today, but they have sliced cold peppered beef and sautéed vegetables. Interesting. That and more steamed buns, and add a bowl of corn flake cereal. I poured a glass of some sort of juice... turned out to be peach.
Head back up to the room to grab the computer and my camera, and back to the lobby. That other guy shows up two minutes later, and someone else from the office comes too. We all share a taxi to the office. The day is very clear. Not at all as smoggy as it was when the jet landed. Blue skies, and lots to see. I take pictures of lots of things, but the most interesting things I see - I end up with photos of large buses.
I catch a glimpse of the Summer Palace, and a huge, official looking building with a rocket in front of it (Saturn V size maybe). Got a picture of the tip of that rocket. Get off this big road on an exit marked 'Converge Wild Land'. A few kilometers later, and we pass horses in the street. The homes and store-fronts are decidedly run down, and I start to wonder if we could really be going to the high tech software seat of China.
ZhongGuanCun Software Park, Beijing
We drive through a guarded gate, and there's two buildings that have something that could only be described as a flying saucer propped up over the gap between them. Those and most other buildings in the immediate area are under construction. Work is not far past here.
Way to make a first impression...
I arrive and there's about an hour before the "visit kickoff" meeting. I start setting up my computer, pull out a power strip, and plug in my laptop. Hmm, the laptop isn't seeing power. I thought I was being smart by bringing along a power strip so that I could use multiple electronics (all of which are auto-switching voltage items, laptop, phone charger, etc). Turns out the power strip itself couldn't deal with the voltage, and fried - blowing the circuit breaker. I didn't realize that was what happened, until the power was back on, and I plugged the powerstrip in again. The facilities guy, who didn't speak any English, came over grabbed the power strip and read the back, shaking his head and saying many, many soft words to my host.
I knew he was scolding my stupidity. I apologized to my host.
The kick off meeting turns out to be a meeting in which I am supposed to be the leader. The person who called the meeting, my host, immediately became my center of attention as I get him to tell me what my agenda is (as he called the meeting, and my laptop never really got running). So, I write all of this down on a giant white board, and start going through the Agenda points one by one. Overall, I think I did pretty well considering I didn't know what to expect.
Haidan District
Trip home it was dark, so I didn't really see anything that I'd recognize. Lots of lights on buildings, some pretty cool. Went to dinner with the other American. Opposite direction from the way I had walked previously, and a few blocks away there's this "City Mall" -- clearly labeled in English. We went to this place called Pastarito. I used my first Mandarin words to a non-English speaker here. I ordered Lasagne (by asking for number 28). A small proud moment.
Afterwards we found the grocery / super store (and attached Mall). I bought some more Coke Light, and the other guy bought Peanut Butter and bread. I will probably return soon to do a full grocery run.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Lost Day
October 14
Zhong Guan Cun District, Beijing
3:50. Really? No, can't be. It feels like I slept all day. Yep, 4:10 AM. Still pitch dark outside. This must be that jet lag people kept warning me about.
I'm already unpacked, no chance of going back to sleep. I spend the next 45 minutes watching the end of Karate Kid 2, dubbed in Mandarin, with Chinese sub-titles. I was totally lost until the big dramatic fight scene at the end.
I found an English speaking news channel on television. I love watching news from places where I'm not from. It seems like a long format news station (much like a news magazine). The perspective is not nearly as anti-American as American news is anti-Everyone_Else. It really struck me as to the difference in news styles. It was more like the BBC. It was more like, well, news.
My head is fuzzy, but I don't feel tired yet. So I take a shower.
I have to stop here, and say that -- as you can tell, I've not felt very positive about my experiences so far -- this shower in my hotel room is really, really nice. It has a double shower head switchable to a hand-held shower head. It just feels nice. The water pressure is really strong, too.
I go down to eat the hotel breakfast:
2 steamed buns with different fillings
2 pieces of "baked bacon"
1 Fairly McDonald's style potato cake (they call it potato pie)
1 piece of very British tasting sausage
1 Hard Boiled brown egg
1 French style croissant
There's another American here that I'm supposed to be able to meet up with, and
at 10 in the morning I call him up. Of course, he's younger than me so he's sleeping, and says he'll call me back later.
This is the point where the jet lag really starts bugging me. I'm all restless, but tired too. I start to watch some DVDs that I took with me (there's a DVD player in my room). About 1pm, I'm totally annoyed that I didn't get a call back, and decide to go see what I can find.
I'll start by simply saying that I walked in the wrong direction. I didn't know it then. I did find a 7-11, a McDonalds, someplace called Big Pizza, and a Dairy Queen - all along a road that was so wide it had pedestrian bridges across it at regular intervals. I totally didn't bring the camera (should have).
On the way back to the Hotel, I stopped by the 7-11 and bought a can of Pringles, some Laundry Soap and a liter of "Coke Light". When I got back here, I puttered around a little, drank some Coke Light, ate half the Pringles, cleaned my dirty clothes (not much, but wanted to figure out how the machine worked) - it's a "Washer / Dryer", and all of the instructions are in Chinese, so I sort of guessed, and ended up with clean dry clothes two hours later.
I ate some Ramen noodle type thing for Dinner (the hotel had a few items that they started me off with - including tea bags and bottled water). About 9PM, the other American called me back, and told me that he had fallen back to sleep, and didn't wake up until 2, and that he had tried calling then. We made arrangements to meet up in the morning.
Tired and fuzzy, and having taken no useful pictures... I went to bed. Tomorrow is the first day at work.
Zhong Guan Cun District, Beijing
3:50. Really? No, can't be. It feels like I slept all day. Yep, 4:10 AM. Still pitch dark outside. This must be that jet lag people kept warning me about.
I'm already unpacked, no chance of going back to sleep. I spend the next 45 minutes watching the end of Karate Kid 2, dubbed in Mandarin, with Chinese sub-titles. I was totally lost until the big dramatic fight scene at the end.
I found an English speaking news channel on television. I love watching news from places where I'm not from. It seems like a long format news station (much like a news magazine). The perspective is not nearly as anti-American as American news is anti-Everyone_Else. It really struck me as to the difference in news styles. It was more like the BBC. It was more like, well, news.
My head is fuzzy, but I don't feel tired yet. So I take a shower.
I have to stop here, and say that -- as you can tell, I've not felt very positive about my experiences so far -- this shower in my hotel room is really, really nice. It has a double shower head switchable to a hand-held shower head. It just feels nice. The water pressure is really strong, too.
I go down to eat the hotel breakfast:
2 steamed buns with different fillings
2 pieces of "baked bacon"
1 Fairly McDonald's style potato cake (they call it potato pie)
1 piece of very British tasting sausage
1 Hard Boiled brown egg
1 French style croissant
There's another American here that I'm supposed to be able to meet up with, and
at 10 in the morning I call him up. Of course, he's younger than me so he's sleeping, and says he'll call me back later.
This is the point where the jet lag really starts bugging me. I'm all restless, but tired too. I start to watch some DVDs that I took with me (there's a DVD player in my room). About 1pm, I'm totally annoyed that I didn't get a call back, and decide to go see what I can find.
I'll start by simply saying that I walked in the wrong direction. I didn't know it then. I did find a 7-11, a McDonalds, someplace called Big Pizza, and a Dairy Queen - all along a road that was so wide it had pedestrian bridges across it at regular intervals. I totally didn't bring the camera (should have).
On the way back to the Hotel, I stopped by the 7-11 and bought a can of Pringles, some Laundry Soap and a liter of "Coke Light". When I got back here, I puttered around a little, drank some Coke Light, ate half the Pringles, cleaned my dirty clothes (not much, but wanted to figure out how the machine worked) - it's a "Washer / Dryer", and all of the instructions are in Chinese, so I sort of guessed, and ended up with clean dry clothes two hours later.
I ate some Ramen noodle type thing for Dinner (the hotel had a few items that they started me off with - including tea bags and bottled water). About 9PM, the other American called me back, and told me that he had fallen back to sleep, and didn't wake up until 2, and that he had tried calling then. We made arrangements to meet up in the morning.
Tired and fuzzy, and having taken no useful pictures... I went to bed. Tomorrow is the first day at work.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Welcome to Beijing...
October 13
Beijing, China
Considering timezones, I landed 26 hours after I took off, with no sleep to speak of.
Looking out the windows, it wasn't possible to see very far. This must be one of the 'bad' smog days.
I remembered to take some pictures of the Airport terminal on the way to customs.
My employer was nice enough to arrange for me, a ride from the Beijing Airport to the Hotel. A very nice gentleman who didn't speak any English but "This way", "Please" and "Thank you" was holding a sign with my name once I got past customs into the main area.
He grabbed two of my three bags, and started walking me towards where he parked the van. As we left the Airport, there was a certain smell. It was not particularly strong, but it was particularly industrial. I couldn't smell it after an hour, and only notice it now for a minute or two after walking outside. I imagine after another day, I probably won't notice it at all.
We got to the Hotel van (a Buick minivan), and he started driving. Merging - I notice immediately is a factor of who's front bumper is in the space first. It seems to be the responsibility of the slightly slower person to slow down more to let in the more aggressive driver. Even out of the toll gate where several lanes have to merge all at once. I didn't get a picture of that though. I did get a picture of the Beijing Ikea store, an MG dealership and a glimpse of the Olympic Stadium.
I got here, and the service was very good, but even the English speaking front desk staff were very difficult to understand. They had to repeat themselves several times while explaining to me the various charges they were putting on my credit card. The housekeeping staff said hi to me, but I had a very, very hard time understanding what they were asking me to do. They were all patient with me (Cultural training note: In China, it is considered the listener's responsibility to understand, not the speaker's responsibility to clarify), and I eventually did what they needed me to do (sign an inventory form).
I took several pictures of the hotel room, and a close-up of the TV and DVD player remotes. I unpacked, used every hanger in the room - and almost all of the drawer and shelf space. I called my wife, and Emailed several people (after getting my laptop connected), and finally went to bed around 9PM local time.
Beijing, China
Considering timezones, I landed 26 hours after I took off, with no sleep to speak of.
Looking out the windows, it wasn't possible to see very far. This must be one of the 'bad' smog days.
I remembered to take some pictures of the Airport terminal on the way to customs.
My employer was nice enough to arrange for me, a ride from the Beijing Airport to the Hotel. A very nice gentleman who didn't speak any English but "This way", "Please" and "Thank you" was holding a sign with my name once I got past customs into the main area.
He grabbed two of my three bags, and started walking me towards where he parked the van. As we left the Airport, there was a certain smell. It was not particularly strong, but it was particularly industrial. I couldn't smell it after an hour, and only notice it now for a minute or two after walking outside. I imagine after another day, I probably won't notice it at all.
We got to the Hotel van (a Buick minivan), and he started driving. Merging - I notice immediately is a factor of who's front bumper is in the space first. It seems to be the responsibility of the slightly slower person to slow down more to let in the more aggressive driver. Even out of the toll gate where several lanes have to merge all at once. I didn't get a picture of that though. I did get a picture of the Beijing Ikea store, an MG dealership and a glimpse of the Olympic Stadium.
I got here, and the service was very good, but even the English speaking front desk staff were very difficult to understand. They had to repeat themselves several times while explaining to me the various charges they were putting on my credit card. The housekeeping staff said hi to me, but I had a very, very hard time understanding what they were asking me to do. They were all patient with me (Cultural training note: In China, it is considered the listener's responsibility to understand, not the speaker's responsibility to clarify), and I eventually did what they needed me to do (sign an inventory form).
I took several pictures of the hotel room, and a close-up of the TV and DVD player remotes. I unpacked, used every hanger in the room - and almost all of the drawer and shelf space. I called my wife, and Emailed several people (after getting my laptop connected), and finally went to bed around 9PM local time.
Getting there is NOT half the fun
October 12
Minneapolis, MN, USA
So, I'm in China for the next few months, and getting there is not half the fun.
Don't get me wrong, it wasn't an unpleasant flight - as flights go. It just wasn't fun. 13 hours chasing the sun the whole way, and really not being able to catch any sleep. I was in a middle seat of a 747 - row 60 (only two rows from the absolute back), and even with my noise canceling headphones in, there was just too much light, and too much going on. Drink service every 90 to 120 minutes or so.
I was between two very nice women, Jennifer and Gretchen. Both of them were flying with people who had been given upgrades to business class. Jennifer was very friendly, and told me about her children and about her friend, who is an Ex-Pat on year two of her assignment. Gretchen was less sharing, but works for "the University" as some sort of Foreign Programs coordinator.
I have an iPod, and had loaded several movies on it, so I watched some, but kept having to pause it for interruptions anyway. One of the interruptions occurred when the in-flight movie suddenly shut-off, and both Jennifer and Gretchen commented on how obnoxious it was.
First Meal - another iPod movie on pause. "Our selections for this meal are Steak or Curry Chicken," on the PA. 20 minutes later (remember, row 60)... only Curry Chicken left. It sort of worked out. There was so much curry smell in the air, the steak would have tasted like curry. It wasn't bad for airline food, but it wasn't "good" either.
October 13
Flying Over North East Asia
On two of my leg stretching walks around the cabin - I took some pictures out one of the massive exit door windows. One of those - maybe two and a half hours out of landing, I got a picture of what looked like a forest fire, except on what basically looked like dark brown desert.
I give up on movies after two and a half, and finally decide maybe I'll try to sleep for real. 10 minutes later, snack time is announced. Chinese noodle bowl (pretty much Ramen Noodles with a few "actual" vegetables). After snack, I tried to snooze a little, and then more in flight movie problems made everyone restless.
I slept for about 15 minutes. Pure exhaustion.
Meal two (also lunch). Choices this time was a Turkey and Cheese on a Pretzel roll, or some sort of Chicken and Noodle thing. I got my choice, and ... the Turkey and Pretzel roll were fine, but the Cheese was really greasy making the whole meal hard to stomach.
I slept another 5 minutes - I think - then the descent starts.
Minneapolis, MN, USA
So, I'm in China for the next few months, and getting there is not half the fun.
Don't get me wrong, it wasn't an unpleasant flight - as flights go. It just wasn't fun. 13 hours chasing the sun the whole way, and really not being able to catch any sleep. I was in a middle seat of a 747 - row 60 (only two rows from the absolute back), and even with my noise canceling headphones in, there was just too much light, and too much going on. Drink service every 90 to 120 minutes or so.
I was between two very nice women, Jennifer and Gretchen. Both of them were flying with people who had been given upgrades to business class. Jennifer was very friendly, and told me about her children and about her friend, who is an Ex-Pat on year two of her assignment. Gretchen was less sharing, but works for "the University" as some sort of Foreign Programs coordinator.
I have an iPod, and had loaded several movies on it, so I watched some, but kept having to pause it for interruptions anyway. One of the interruptions occurred when the in-flight movie suddenly shut-off, and both Jennifer and Gretchen commented on how obnoxious it was.
First Meal - another iPod movie on pause. "Our selections for this meal are Steak or Curry Chicken," on the PA. 20 minutes later (remember, row 60)... only Curry Chicken left. It sort of worked out. There was so much curry smell in the air, the steak would have tasted like curry. It wasn't bad for airline food, but it wasn't "good" either.
October 13
Flying Over North East Asia
On two of my leg stretching walks around the cabin - I took some pictures out one of the massive exit door windows. One of those - maybe two and a half hours out of landing, I got a picture of what looked like a forest fire, except on what basically looked like dark brown desert.
I give up on movies after two and a half, and finally decide maybe I'll try to sleep for real. 10 minutes later, snack time is announced. Chinese noodle bowl (pretty much Ramen Noodles with a few "actual" vegetables). After snack, I tried to snooze a little, and then more in flight movie problems made everyone restless.
I slept for about 15 minutes. Pure exhaustion.
Meal two (also lunch). Choices this time was a Turkey and Cheese on a Pretzel roll, or some sort of Chicken and Noodle thing. I got my choice, and ... the Turkey and Pretzel roll were fine, but the Cheese was really greasy making the whole meal hard to stomach.
I slept another 5 minutes - I think - then the descent starts.
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