Chinese Weddings

Since being in China I have been invited to two Chinese style weddings and seen countless wedding photo shoots, both here and in some of the southeastern countries I have visited.

In China, the wedding ceremony has without a doubt evolved over the years, especially in the last century as the East and the West have begun to mix, but it certainly is a fun event in which to take part.  Now, most ceremonies include a little bit of both the East and the West.  For example, the bride may wear a white dress and carry a bouquet at a wedding party, but she may not walk down the aisle to meet her husband in a formal ceremony.  Of course, the wedding all depends of the couple and their family background, religious beliefs, personal tastes, etc, but there are a few things I think (anecdotally) that take place at every Chinese wedding.  Every Chinese wedding turns out to be a huge party, or celebration, where friends and family are served tons of food and lots of alcohol is consumed.  The size varies.  The first one I went to had 3 huge tables that could hold around 16 persons each.  The last one I went to had about 30 tables of 8 people each.  It was interesting, but the last ceremony I went to included the ceremony at the front of the room with the bride and groom.  While the bride walks down the aisle and the two share a drink and friends talk, everyone is eating and talking at the same time too.  Afterwards is something you do not see in the States very often.  The bride and groom go to every table to make a toast and drink an entire glass of beer or mixed drink each time.  With 30 tables, that is a lot of alcohol.  By the end of the party, everyone is having a great time and all are very happy for the couple that just got married.

I got to attend these ceremonies because those getting married were either one or both of the couple.  It has been great to see the family aspect of working in a restaurant in China.  Many of my other co-workers also attended or helped with the weddings.

China7 065.JPG  A feast at each table!



Ketchup

I am going to write as if I had just finished the day for each of these posts.  In reality, I am writing based on notes that I took after the different events occurred and on memories that I have now.  Currently, I am in Hong Kong, staying with the Harrison family, of which my dad met the father of the home, Mike, about two and a half years ago while biking through China with Fayetteville Christian School.  The Harrison’s have been so nice to let me stay with them, and like so many other places I have visited, many of which you have not heard about, some of which I may write about in this post, it has been such a blessing to have a nice place to sleep, relax, shower, and reenergize.  A post on Hong Kong, one of my favourite (shout out to the British there) cities in Asia, will come, but for now let’s take a look back on the past few crazy weeks.

China Turns Sixty

I woke up today to the sound of Macy’s Day Parade?  No, it is China’s National Day Parade and they are going all out because they are sixty and so many things have changed since fifty!  The parade was interesting.  While during the Olympics, China may have wanted to show the world how great it is, during the parade today, China was showing its people how great it is.  I was very intimidated by Chairman Hu’s greeting to the troops, even though I did not understand it, and the masses marching by, but was put to ease by the beautiful floats from each province that followed.  The parade was a weird mix of military might and a Thanksgiving Day parade.  The announcers must have studied the tapes of what it sounds like to announce a parade, because it was spot on.

China’s birthday was not only a parade for me.  I went to a huge feast with the sushi chefs and played pool with them afterward.  Then, after working dinner at Hatsune, went over to Alan’s hotel room (he was kicked out of his house for a few days for the National Day because his home was too close to all of the official action).  We had a great holiday birthday party and watched the evening’s festivities on TV and the fireworks could be seen reflecting of the buildings outside.  The party later moved to the bar downstairs and then to a night club.  I learned that I cannot keep up with Russians.  One of Alan’s good friends drove me in his Maserati with two Russian models to the night club.  Champagne and vodka were free flowing all night and I felt it the next day.

Like drinking, China is a place of highs and lows.  You can feel great one minute, and horrible the next.  For example, you may find out a government regulation prevents you from doing something that you want to do, but later find out that you can get around it by doing something even better.  I do not have any good examples now, but it is definitely a feeling that I get sometimes.  Oh, here is one.  I bought these really expensive (by Chinese standards) tickets for the China Open Finals.  They were around $285 USD each, but thinking this must be a great tournament like the U.S. Open and certainly something you do not get to go to everyday, I bought them.  It turns out that even though there are great players in the tournament (Roddick, Nadal, the Williams sisters, etc.), this event was empty!  I got the same ticket for Annie Hoyle and Clara Stam after negotiating outside the stadium the day of for $20.  That is like 90% off, or 1/14 of the original price!  Crazy!  That is both a low for me and a high for them!  J  But the highs and lows do not stop there, I got a piece of the action when the day before I scalped a VIP ticket for half the price, and the day of the finals, I got a VIP ticket free as someone was leaving the event.  China is crazy.

Zhong Qiu Jie or Mid-Autumn Festival

This is a huge thing in China.  Basically, not going into detail about its origins, which you can look up on Wikipedia and I would have pretty much copied and pasted anyway, this eight day holiday kicks off when the family gets together to have a meal and then go outside to look at the moon (the biggest of the year) and eat mooncakes and drink hot tea.  Besides the story behind looking at the moon, this is your basic harvest time festival and was a lot of fun to be a part of.

I joined the staff at Karaiya and Hatsune for their respective staff parties.  Each restaurant had quite a feast set up, and the food prepared by these friends, as always, was delicious!  Annie Hoyle joined me mid-way through and the staff had a great time getting to know her.  After some more beer drinking and dancing Annie and I left for her side of town, Weigongcun.

China5 008.JPG: Eating a mooncake in Karaiya with Mandy!

China5 030.JPG: The guys going crazy over the feast in Hatsune!

On Sunday, October 4, I went to church with Annie and Gary and we travelled in the afternoon with some other friends to Lama Temple to check it out and pray for the people there.  That night I went with Annie to have dinner with John and his wife Regina, whom I met earlier in the day.  They were meeting up with some Mongolian friends to play his guitar and their traditional stringed instrument, the morin khuur.  It was really fun listening and singing, and as Annie had to depart for a small group meeting, the person who would change my life in China as I know it walked in the door, Jin laoshi.  She is a free spirit, probably labeled genius as a child, now in a middle aged woman’s body with a very distinct Mongolian face that is beautiful, yet worn after many years and many experiences.  Later, I would discover that she took part in the incident in 1989, and she is such a fascinating woman.  I will without a doubt write a post on her later.  She has been very kind to me and I have already met up with her in a coffee shop with her, been over to her house twice (first to make a voice recording and second to make dumplings), and gone to Beijing’s 798 art district with her.  Other friends and some of her students have been around too during those times.  By the way, laoshi means teacher in Chinese.  Jin laoshi teaches English and may hook me up with some recording jobs to get my beautiful voice on tape for the masses to hear!

Annie and a whole bunch of her friends from Wheaton are studying Chinese for one year in Beijing.  While visiting Annie this weekend following the Zhong Qiu Jie festivities, I enjoyed the guys’ apartment on the 13^th floor in the same building all to myself!  What a blessing, and a nice time to be alone and get some laundry down in a machine!

China5 045.JPG  View from the guys’ apartment in Weigongcun

I thought this is worth mentioning for memories sake.  The night before heading to Annie’s neck of the woods, I took care of more ambassadors before the staff parties, one from Kuwait and one from Peru.  I mention these people because they are easy to remember.  I have met all sorts of successful business men and movie stars, of whom I have never heard.  I will go talk to a group at a table and afterward one of the staff will say, “Do you know who you were talking to?  That was so and so!”  I also saw Jackie Chan’s son one night and maybe I can get Obama to stop in when he visits mid-November.  J

This week I also went hiking with Gary and his parents one day during their holiday.  We went north of Beijing near the Ming tombs and saw a cool dam and hiked thousands of steps up this mountain to see some pavilions.  It was so nice to meet Gary’s parents and we had a great time together.

China5 113.JPG Hiking with Gary and His Family

Following the October 1^st National Holiday parade, the floats have been on display in Tiananmen for the masses to come see.  I went with Johnny Ma, one of the bartenders of Hatsune, in the afternoon, during his day off, to go check out the floats.  We had a fun time walking around and taking pictures together and walked under Mao’s portrait to the toll gate for the Forbidden City.

China5 196.JPG Johnny with the Masses

China5 210.JPG In front of the Forbidden City

China5 203.JPG Patriotic haircut.

China Open

I attended the China Open ATP Tennis Tournament for both the semi-finals and finals.  Alan and Hannah and Annie and Clara joined me for the finals between Novak Djokovic and Marin Cilic.  Novak started out as the weaker player but his one year of experience as Alan and I discussed helped lead him to a 6-2, 7-6(4) victory over Cilic.  This event was a lot of fun, but empty!  I guess tennis is just not that popular in China yet.  But, I got to see big names for a pretty decent price.

China6 029.JPG Great seats!

If you have been looking for a reference to ketchup, sorry to keep you waiting, but now you and I are all caught up (almost ).  Life is good!



Singapore Sling

September 24-29 I went to Singapore to get my visa renewed for another 30 days.  I chose Singapore because Alan was going to be there as well to watch Formula1 and invited me to join him for some of the festivities.  First, booking a ticket to Singapore and second, finding a ticket to the race.  Alan booked the ticket for me and I flew over with his wife Hannah as the seats on his flight were already fully booked.  Second, after a few attempts to get tickets through friends of friends, I ended up buying the last ticket at a great discount from a British company called bookF1.com.  I lucked out as my dad had called them in the dead of night in Britain and left a message to save the ticket for me.  My seat was so great that during the practice and qualifying rounds I was able to sit with Alan and Hannah, who were just two sections over in the pit grandstand.  Grand Prix was such an experience!  So much money is poured into the sport, it is no wonder that, if you follow the sport, many companies have pulled their sponsorships during these past troubled economic times.

So, Friday I arrived to Singapore around 5:30 am with Hannah.  She checked in and I went to meet my host for couchsurfing. Couchsurfing is this great project that allows people to travel on a shoestring and meet really cool people along the way.  I was really lucky and stayed close to the heart of town with a girl named Lisa from Indonesia who has lived in Singapore many years now working for Cisco Systems.  She had an extra room in her apartment and accepted me as a guest for the long weekend.  This arrangement turned out to work very well and despite being scared that I would hardly see her and give the impression I was solely using her for the free place to stay, we actually got to hang out a lot, going to a night club complex one night and church the next day.

To continue, Alan, Hannah, Vince (Alan’s partner in Shanghai), and I met up to watch some F1 and then we moved on to a restaurant called IndoChine to have the best dinner of my time in Singapore, complete with papaya salad, oysters, and champagne. During this time I was able to get to know Alan and Hannah, as well as Vince a lot better.  Vince is a really great guy and brother in Christ.  I may visit him in Shanghai sometime while I am in China.  Later Friday night we went to this great club called The Pump Room, in a boardwalk area called Clarke Quay, where a band was performing songs from the seventies and eighties.  It was absolutely packed and the line went out the door for at least thirty feet, but no need to fear, Alan is here.  I watched him work his magic, or in his terms, “Do business.”  He moseyed up to the front and as if inquiring about the club, made a deal to enter and stand in the VIP area next to the band with two bottles of Dom Pérignon.  What a great start to a once in a lifetime weekend…at least so far. J

I woke up Saturday morning and departed the apartment to meet Alan at Sentosa Island Golf Course.  This is Singapore’s premier golfing destination, and it was absolutely beautiful.  Though I grew up next to a golf course for many years, I never really played.  I was always into tennis, and in many ways, still am.  But, I have enjoyed golf here in China as well.  Alan has taken me a couple of times and I am getting a little bit better each occasion.  Golfing in China is such a luxury.  From the time you arrive to the course and park your car, I do not think you ever touch the golf bag.  You have your own personal caddy who helps you find the ball you hit into the rough, choose the club for the distance they tell you that you are from the green, and clean the ball on the green and sit it perfectly on the grass for that Tiger Woods-esque putt you will make, after they tell you where to aim.  J  So, the golfing was amazing.

Alan teeing off.

After golf we headed back to Alan’s hotel and cleaned up for dinner at a nice Japanese restaurant.  Alan likes to try out these places and compare them to his own venues.  After dinner we went to the race track, which ran literally right next to the building we were dining in, to watch the qualifying rounds.  What a rush!  We were sitting on the second row as cars flew by at hundreds of miles per hour.  Without a doubt, you have to wear ear plugs to comfortably enjoy this event.  One other cool thing about the weekends festivities were the additional entertainment provided for guests, including Ozomotley   (a band I really enjoyed listening to), Carl Cox, the Backstreet Boys, and other street bands and performers.  Later in the evening I went out with Lisa to Saint James Power Station, a huge complex with over 9 venues in one huge building.  We had a great time bar hopping and checking out all of the unique venues.

I woke up on Sunday and decided to join Lisa for church, which is held in the conference room of a nice hotel on Orchard Road.  It was nice to visit this community and see their passion for Christ.  It was a very charismatic place and there were lots of happy people, which made me really happy.  So, on to the big event!  Alan met me in the Pan Pacific lobby and after racing around a little to get his luggage situated for his departure that night, went over to the track.  I walked over with Vince, and enjoyed the conversation and dinner he bought me at one of the food stands.  The beginning of the race sounded just like Mario Kart on Nintendo, with the beeping and red and green lights going off for the cars to start.  It was great.  We met up midway through the sixty one laps and Alan handed me a nice glass of champagne to enjoy the race with.  It was classic, champagne at a Grand Prix race.  After the race, Alan and Hannah headed for the airport, and having decided to change my air ticket back one day to explore Singapore more, I went over to watch the Backstreet Boys!  It was a cool to see them perform and here some of the songs I could recognize from middle school years.

On the track post race.

I reserved Monday to do as many touristy things as possible, and I had a large list to accomplish thanks to Matthew Mlot.  He had sent me a list of things to do earlier in the summer when I thought I would visit Singapore from Thailand.  The list also included things I must eat, many of which I found, but some that I did not, which gives me a reason to go back to Singapore.  J  So here is the run down.  First, I took the MRT (subway) out a ways from the center of the city and climbed Bukit Timah, Singapore’s last remaining primary rainforest and tallest point in the country.  I climbed all 164 meters of it and enjoyed some wildlife along the way, including huge lizards and singing birds.  Next up was the zoo!  I enjoyed a Chicken Rice lunch there and walked around for a few hours, of course taking a look at every exhibit.  I say that because, looking back on it, I find it kind of funny that I made a point to try to see everything.  I took the map and looked at it throughout my time to make sure I did not miss anything.  This happens when I go to Disney World as well and could see a little of my dad’s drive in me to run ahead and see everything.

At the summit of Bukit Timah.

Great sign from the zoo, which reminded me of a video I had seen on one of those RealTV shows.

I went back to the apartment to shower up and pack up for my flight back to Beijing.  From the apartment, Lisa and I headed for the Raffles Hotel to try out the famous Singapore Sling, a fruity drink invented there at the turn of the 20^th century and somehow made famous around the world.  It was delicious, of course, and definitely a touristy moment!  I took looks of pictures with Lisa, my Sling, and me.

Singapore Slings!

After this I quickly moved Lisa and myself over to the New Asia bar on the 73^rd floor of the Swissotel Hotel.  It was a fantastic view complimented by our delicious chicken barbeque pizza and bottle of champagne.  What a combination and what a great ending to an amazing four days.  I finished with a toast to our new friendship and thanked Lisa again for letting me stay with her.  We both went down under the building to the MRT subway and parted ways, she to home, and me to the airport via the train.  I will close with a picture of Singapore’s amazing skyline, taken during the Backstreet Boys concert.

Uniquely Singapore

Post Long Overdue (i.e. You get three for the price of one)

There is so much to learn about China!

Among many other things China has allowed me to do, one is read.  I have enjoyed reading my Bible, The Bourne Identity, Made It: in China, the Triumph of John and Betty Stam and many others.  I am bouncing around, but just finished a large part of the bookOutliers, by Malcolm Gladwell.  As I am learning many of the successful people in the book have been in the right place at the right time, not to mention other factors such as being raised in the right way.  (This reminds me of the lectures given by Gerald Unks in his class at UNC entitled “Education in America”).  It is sad to say, but I believe the U.S. is no longer the right place to be if you really want have a great chance at becoming an “outlier.”  I am sure it can be done, but a point that Malcolm Gladwell proves well, and many successful entrepreneurs would agree, the larger the opportunity, and the lesser the amount of risk, the greater the possibility of reward.  China is the new place to be.  This idea leads me to want to read the book China’s Megatrends: The 8 Pillars of a New Society by John and Doris Naisbitt, the author’s of a supposedly good book called Megatrends that came out in 1982, and made a lot of correct predictions based on common sense and trends.

China is such a fascinating place.  As an American, you come to the country thinking patriotically that your country is the best, and in many ways it still is, today.  China is such an irony, but it works so well.  The entire system behind life here is different.  I like to say and have seen it written before that, in the U.S., you do something until someone tells you to stop, and in China, you do nothing until someone tells you can start.  But despite this mentality, and I think it is changing some with the liberalization of the market, things can feel the same here as they do at home.  You can go out for a beer, enjoy a movie, and chat with friends at the coffee shop.  If you want to pretend you are in America, you can, as my drama teacher Ken Strong taught us at UNC, “Suspend your disbelief.”  I was talking on the phone with my dad last night about the big life decisions that I can make.  I am so excited to be back home, with friends and family, and will enjoy my time with them more than ever, and even grin and bear the times that may annoy me, just because I realize how great life with them is.  But, at the same time I am feeling called to something bigger and better.  Is that China?  This night, I was talking with a couple at the restaurant that I have gotten to know over the past month.  The gentleman, who first ventured to China from Texas in 1993, let me know that China is a slippery slope.  He mentioned the patriotic attitude he had when he first arrived, and still has today, and the intimidation of being in such a different kind of place (especially back then), but said he has stayed not because of the government and life here, but because of the people.  When you get down to it, he said the people of China are worth staying for.  They are so very hospitable and kind.  Is it because I am an American?  I do not know entirely, but their spirit nonetheless is great.  As the American poem “The New Colossus,” by Emma Lazarus goes, “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”  The Chinese here are yearning to be free and have such a great spirit.  The opportunity for business and faith in Christ in China is huge!

Joseph Zhou, one of the cooks at Karaiya, and Me, just after Kristen’s birthday party

Eating a Delicious Meal with some of the Guys

Now, for a few housekeeping things.  In other words, some notes from my trip so far so I do not forget all the awesome experiences I have had. Not too much thought here.  Well, maybe some.  Let’s see what comes out!

On the night of Friday, September 18, I got in to the apartment late, just in time to watch hundreds of tanks pass by on their way to Tian’anmen to practice for the country’s sixtieth year anniversary celebrations.  After that I went out with some of the staff I ran into on the street to go to Karaoke!  This was not my first time and was disappointed with the English selection, but had a great time with this group.  The hospitality of these friends is amazing.  They will not let me pay for anything, and this includes dinners that they cook in the apartment, so I have resorted to buying stuff without asking them like, chip snacks at karaoke and moon cakes for the apartment.

On Saturday, September 19, I got a call from of the friends I have met at the restaurant.  He works for the Spanish Embassy and told me he would like to have 25-30 at the restaurant that night!  I got up out of bed and got to working and eventually arranged everything for him and cleared a good section of the restaurant for his reservation.  This was a very demanding bunch and I learned a lot, and it the end was very happy with the outcome.  In the group were three ambassadors, from Spain, Portugal, and Malta!

I woke up the next day and went to church.  I met Gary there and had a nice service, but enjoyed the part afterward most!  Annie, Gary, a new friend, Sunshine, and I picked up some food and went for a picnic in Haidian Park.  It was great!  We sat down in the grass, shared a good meal, and read through the first two chapters of Romans together.  It was such a great time and very special to be sharing the gospel, what it means to me, and the things that I struggle with.  Romans is such a great book, and it reminded me of my small group leading days with Matt Mlot two years ago.  I went with Annie afterwards to her apartment and met her apartment mates and spent the night two flights down in the guys apartment who are also studying here.  The next day, Monday, I went to class with Annie and with my base in Chinese did well, and we had a killer dialogue about going swimming.

Haidian Park!

As the time approaches to go to Singapore, I went golfing with Alan today, Wednesday, September 23.  We took off from his place in the morning in his BMW Z8, limited edition, of which 1000 were made (only 5 are in all of China).  Driving with Alan is like driving in a video game.  All the cars around you are going about half the speed of your car, and you just wind in and out of the traffic.  It is amazingly fun.  He has had his engine tuned and installed racing brakes so it has the feeling of a racecar.  At one point we were cruising down the highway at a cool 140 mph, and the car did not even feel close to being topped out.  For the first time out on the course in a long time, I did alright.  Playing definitely makes me want to get more into the game.  Back at home, I joined the staff for a dinner including two fish they had caught in the pond at the park.  What!  Yes, it’s true.  We ate fish from a city park, and besides having lots of bones, they tasted pretty good!

Post on Singapore Singtel Formula 1 Grand Prix to come.  This was an amazing weekend, unforgettable on so many accounts…Entire Portuguese chickens on the airplane, free room and new friend, Dom Perion, amazing scenery, Backstreet Boys, the zoo, and more! A simple visa run turned into an all-out adventure of a life time!

Front row seats!

Is This Real?

I have that weird butterfly feeling in my stomach right now and I cannot stop smiling!  I cannot help but think how much of a life changing trip this has been and how much more life changing I have to come!  I feel like the luckiest man on earth.  Why, you ask?  Traveling abroad and living abroad has given me such an appreciation for what I have back home, the love that has been showered on me my entire life, the potential I have to do whatever I want to do in life, my faith in an awesome God, and the list goes on and on…I just want you to know that life is good.

I have not told many people about my living situation yet, but it has certainly been an adventure.  I have been living with 17 other Chinese men in a three bedroom apartment with one living room (with bunk beds of course), one kitchen (with bunk beds of course), and one bathroom (thankfully no bunk beds).  This has been an unbelievable opportunity to practice my Chinese, get to know people from all over China, and just plain live with a good group of people.  My awesome boss Alan has given me money for my own room in an apartment of my choice, but I have strangely been pulled to stay where I am for right now.  I have found great apartments, but when it came down to moving it just did not feel right.  I felt like I would be a little too far from the action and even lonely.  It felt like I was purposefully isolating myself.  So, my ideal situation is finding a room in the apartment building or neighborhood I am in now, which is what I am working on now.

Nobody told me it gets cold in Beijing!  Just kidding.  I was just surprised today as I woke up for church to a very chilly day that had come in with the recent rain.  Cold fronts would not surprise me back home, but I felt like it was such a contrast that it caght me off guard, and made me really happy at the same time, because the thought of snow and warm places with hot coffee made me feel really good.

I met up with Wei Da today and went to church for the second time in Beijing.  I really enjoy this particular church, called Haidian Christian Church.  It is government sponsored, but so far to me seems like not much censorship is going on with regard to people being passionate and sharing their testimonies.  And guess what… I looked across the room today and saw Annie Hoyle’s beautiful face!  What a small world.  I am excited to check out her apparently awesome apartment, hear how her schooling in Beijing is going, and have her over to dine at the restaurant (and dine at hers).  Going to church is a real good thing for me.  With all the opportunities and growth taking place in China today, it is easy to think all day about how to make money in this country.  Church was a wake-up call that I can be happy without being extremely rich (look at the guys I live with now, and they do not even have Christ!).  This has always been a huge question in my mind.  How do a balance my potential for success (and world domination) and my undevided devotion to God?  Many great people whom I love and respect have always tried to help me think about that question, and given me some good insight.  It is a fun, and sometimes pride inducing question to ask, so I have to be careful when I think about it.

So, my thoughts on this post’s title, Is This Real?  My time in Beijing just feels so surreal, for many reasons, including jogged memories, inconsistencies that would not take place in the U.S., and small world encounters and opportunities that seem to occur daily.  I was telling Wei Da today that it is unbelievable to be sitting in the same dining hall I had been in a little over a year ago and play basketball with employees of the restaurant that I remember from last year, like it was just yesterday.  Inconsistencies?  On my way home today I discovered, one at a time, that every subway stop that I wanted to get off at was closed for the practice and rehearsal for China’s huge 60th birthday celebration on October 1.  We were even forced to get off the train at one point and transfer lines to keep the trains open for volunteers and keep unwanted people out of Tian’anmen Square.  And I love Wyatt Bruton’s comment that I will paraphrase.  You are walking along luxury aparments at one point, turn the corner and go under a bridge, and find yourself in the middle of a migrant slum.  In my case, I exit my place of work at night, a really nice restaurant in a really nice area, and find laborers who have been working on widening the road, sleeping on metal pipes they will install for water drainage the next day.  Amazing.  I look forward to keeping you updated.

Beijing Welcomes You

This post was written on Saturday, August 29^th.  Following the Weber protests in China a few months ago and with the upcoming 60^th anniversary of The People’s Republic of China, many websites have been restricted meaning I have no facebook, no wordpress, no youtube, and no picasa.  Thankfully, my sister Shelby has volunteered to help me post on this site.  If you need to get in touch with me, try my e-mail at willmiller.nc@gmail.com.  Now to the post!

Today I felt a real sense of excitement.  I met up with Wei Da, my roommate from last summer, to look at apartments.  It was very hectic in my mind.  I wanted to find a place today, or at least know that I did not want the places I was looking at or the one William, another roommate from last year, showed me the day before.  As the day went on I finally decided with Wei Da I could use more time.  We called the touts and told them we would let them know in a few days.

I split with Wei Da around 2:00 and decided to walk through the supermarket.  This is almost like a place of refuge…something comfortable, something cool, something nice, something that reminds me of home!?!?  I got a chocolate brownie blizzard from Dairy Queen and walked around.  I talked with some girls selling flavored milk and bought two small boxes of peach.  It is amazing how many people are hired in this particular supermarket to give free samples.  There must have been 50 people employed to do so.  The amount of manpower China has never ceases to amaze me.  The street I work on is being widened and they have had people working on it the entire time, 24 hours a day, using shovels and picks for work that Americans would have totally mechanized.

Back in the dorm, I took a nap and got up to the phone ringing.  It was someone we had talked to about renting a room.  Of course, I did not understand them, on the phone, or their text message.  But, I was able to communicate by pinyin (Chinese written in English characters) that I would call them back when I had a friend that could speak better Chinese and they understood!  Postdate: I am looking at this post now and wanted to comment that I have learned a lot of Chinese, even since this day.  I am still staying with the Chinese roommates as of September 4.  I realized I did not have a good feeling about some of the apartments or their locations.  They were certainly nice and in good places, but too far by public transport from possible work venues, or friends.  I am happy where I am, but still looking for my own room, which would provide a more quiet (but lonely?) atmosphere and internet access!

So, to continue…I called Wendy, a manager I knew from last year, to see if she was at work at the new Hatsune on Salitun street in a place they call The Village.  She was and I would head over later that night to check out Hatsune, as well as Kariya Spice House.  As I stepped out the door I felt a cool Beijing breeze I had not experienced before.  It was so refreshing and so invigorating.  The combination of the autumn weather and the excitement of Beijing made me so happy.

I enjoyed the warm welcome Wendy just inside of Hatsune from the cool city outside.  I had the delicious butterfly roll and miso soup.  I got to practice making suggestions with the person next to me at the sushi bar.  It is nice to have a place to call home, so to speak, or a place where people know you.  I went back into the kitchen and saw a lot of people I knew from last summer at the Hatsune on Guanghua Road.  We made plans to play basketball, and we have since then done so!  It was a really good time.

P.S.  I enjoyed the 40% discount given to employees.

Sa Pa, Vietnam!

Sa Pa is a town in the northwest of Vietnam about 8 hours by train from Hanoi and surprisingly close to China.  It is world renowned for is beautiful valleys filled with terraces of rice and grazing water baffalo.  I spent four days and three nights here trekking, with two nights in homestays and one in a hotel.  While Sa Pa is certainly on the beaten path, I had a wonderful time with my guide, Lan and the others in my group!  I cannot wait to put up some pictures.

After Sa Pa I have been debating whether or not I wanted to go to Halong Bay or Ninh Binh.  For the longest time I was planning Halong Bay.  It is marketed here as a must see place, but every tourist I met said it was sad to see how the area is run.  They say it is beautiful of course, but that it is spoilt by the huge mass of tourists that are pushed through every day on tour packages, usually running one night on a boat in the bay and one night in a bungalow on Monkey Island or one night in a hotel on Cat Ba Island.  While I am sure the expereince depends on the person, their expectations, and their personality, I was not personally ready to go into another toruist feeding frenzy alone.  I will save this place for a group of friends or a romantic getaway on the boat.

So, I think I have made the right decision…Acutally, now I know I have made the right decision because I am in Ninh Binh right now!  It is exactly what I was looking for.  I think I was the only tourist off the train and I have seen maybe four other tourists this entire time, thus no hassles, no tourist traps, no attitudes.  The people seem nicer off the beaten path.  The people of Ninh Binh actually smile and at dinner tonight a group of older guys gave me some rice wine to cheers with them.  I could never imagine this happening in Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi.  I am really loving it here and feel like I can relax some after the exhausting trekking and train ride from Sa Pa. 

One other new experience I have had for the past two days is manual motorbiking in a foreign country.  The bikes here are actually easier to work than the ones back home.  There is no hand clutch.  You only need to change gears with your left foot.  The brakes are the same as a motorcycle back home.  I have had good times on the bike.  The last day in Sa Pa I went to see a cool waterfall with multiple tiers and a pass to another valley with a beautiful view of Fansipan Mountain, the highest in Indochina.  Riding through the mountains was so exillerating!  Today I cruised around and outside of Ninh Binh.  I chilled in some rice fields and looke through some temples and a cave.  I hope to see more caves tomorrow, possibly the national park nearby, and take a boat ride on the river through the jagged limestone cliffs.  I will let you know how it goes and post pictures when I get back ot my computer in Bangkok, or in China.  I begin the next leg of my journey on Wednesday, August 26, when I arrive to Beijing’s airport at 6:30 in the morning.

Taxi Drivers Tarnish Vietnam’s Image

I wore my Grand Canyon shirt on this part of the trip and I had to keep reminding myself what it says on the back, “The journey is the destination.”  Over the course of the story I am about to tell you I repeated that so many times to keep my composure.  The opinion given in the title of this post is based on anecdote, but I have always had trouble with the cab and mortor cycle drivers.  I do not really want to write this, but know it will be interesting and funny to read later.  I arrived late to the Hanoi airport on Saturday night around midnight.  I knew taxis normally cost $13 and that I may pay a little extra for the late hour.  I was prepared to pay $15.  Rather than go to the official cab line, which I am 95% sure was closed, I negociated a deal for $15.  We walked to the cab and on the way the driver tried to pick up two other passengers saying we would each pay $15.  I began to barter, then the other people were a little weirded out to share a cab, and I agreed, and insisted I have my own cab for $15.  The driver agreed and we set off.  Before hopping onto the highway he pulled over in a dark parking lot and said his English phrase, “Five minutes.”  I said okay.  He got back to the cab and I thought we were off.  All this time he was complaining about how little I was paying him.  Now, imagine arriving to RDU international airport, hopping into a taxi, leaving the terminal, only to take the large loop back to the terminal to pick up more passengers!  I was shocked!  I ordered him to keep going, despite some people about to get into the cab, but they did not because it was not metered (I can gauarantee no cabs were metered at this time, which I am sure these tourists later found out).  So, we set off again.  This time, as we were getting onto the highway the guy started poking me on the leg and crying about how $15 was not enough.  He wanted $20.  I refused and remained silent despite his continued crying.  I kept saying to myself, “The journey is the destination.”  We stopped to pick up two locals along the way.  I was not protesting at this point becasue these people were pretty much stranded and I knew that all things considered I held the ultimate bargaining chip.  As long as I had money to pay the driver I would make it to the hotel alright.  These seems so feudal but it kept me comfortable and feeling safe.  Otherwise, this guy could have dropped me off anywhere or pawned me off to the highest bidding hotel.  I finally made it to the hotel and went inside.  I clearly typed in the dollar amount, $15, and then multiplied by 18,000 to get the amount in dong, 270,000.  Then the driver followed the protocol that every driver here has done so far.  In no particular order, he asks for tip, pretends he does not have change, trys to shortchange you, and tries to make up some different exchange rate.  And the guy at the hotel, who is supposed to be on my side, even tried to help him out with the exchange rate gig until I said I would turn on the computer to check.  Wow, what a night.  Thanks for letting me vent! 

I have had an alright time in Cambodia’s temples and Vietnam’s cities.  I have seen more temples and museums than one can fathom.  I look forward to heading to Sa Pa in the northeast to go trekking and get out of the city for a while.  I have also learned a lot from traveling on my own, and in these two countries.  I look forward to some routine and smiling faces back in Bangkok and Beijing.  It feels like everyone here looks down on me as a tourist and I have to look down at them as potential con artists.  I guess I got a little of what I asked for when I first wanted to travel.  This is like the Wild Wild West, but set in Asia.  Though I must say, I feel more and more able to deal with it each day, and there is certainly many sides.  I know so many kind people in Bangkok.  I am sure there are some in Cambodia and Vietnam.  I have just been along the backpacker’s trail, where people are trained to go after money each and every day.  On one final note, it has broken my heart to see the poverty that some people live in, and scares me a little that in order to deal with it you almost have to become hard to it.  I have made a conscious effort to walk among the homeless and it interests me to see them look at me with a certain eye you do not see elsewhere.

Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon, Vietnam

From the moment I entered this city I loved it, the lights, the thousands of motorbikes, the buzz, the shops, the people out on the streat eating and drinking.  Cambodia did not really have this energy.  I actually just felt really bad for Cambodia and its people.  Normally in a foreign country, I can relax a little and smile with the locals I run into, but my travel sense told me to do otherwise.  It was as if I always had to be on guard from being ripped off and always saying no to people.  Cambodia needs to shape up and treat foreign tourists like an industry, not an instant ATM machine.  But, at the same time, I can not blame them.  They have been through some of the roughest history I have ever seen.  Learning about Pol Pot and the Khmere Rouge told me about the atrocities that were committed against his own people.  Some estimates place the number murdered in this genocide at three million!  So, Cambodia’s “Great Leap Forward” destroyed its people and their culture.  They have come a long way, but they still have far to go and I hope they can hold onto hope and push through to educate and encourage a new generation of Cambodians.

So, now I am in Saigon.  The country, or at least the city,  feels so much more developed and while there are still poverty, it seems people are happier and doing well.  I got ripped off my first minute here and got into a cab, which ended up charging me the equivolent of $8, and I stopped him before I even got to the area at which I wanted to stay.  I got him to write a receipt, but I don’t think I will spend the energy to report him or even know if he gave me the correct information.  The second cab I got into said his meter did not work.  I negociated him to 20,000 dong while we were in the car, and we set off.  At our destination I gave him 100,000 and he tried to give me back only 60,000 without flenching (the other cab driver tried to short change me too).  I just sat there until he gave me more, but still not enough!  I was thinking what I could do rather than just sit there and pulled out my camera to take a picture of his taxi ID and he gave me the money.  He was pissed, but I wanted to make a point that you cannot just push tourists around.

I hopped on the back of a motorcycle and joined the masses to go to a puppet show advertised in the brochure map I had.  It was awesome riding around the city at night and felt so good!  I got there too late, and just ended up walking around town and enjoying the sights.  I saw a huge open air concert, men playing Chinese checkers, and people eating and enjoying the night air.  I thought I would join some locals at a local eatery and sat down next to two old men.  We got to talking a little, only a little, because they knew almost no English and I don’t know any Vietnamese.  When I told them I was American they said, “So you English.”  I insited I was American and the had bad looks on their face.  I think I will find out why today when I check out the war museams documenting the American atrocities in the American War.

Siem Reap, Cambodia: Famous for Angkor Wat

I have a few posts sitting on my computer that should come before this one, but I just had to write to keep you updated!  I departed Bangkok yesterday and took a 3 hour bus ride to the Cambodian border.  I got off and began the process of procurring a visa and crossing the border.  I was warned about the extra costs of the visa process just off the bus, so I passed that test with flying colors.  Actually, I passed all tests with flying colors until the very end!  I did indeed need a paper visa and rather than just hand the $20 bill over for one I asked the price and got something a little more inflated.  I was told to expect little things like this and I took it in as part of the experience.

I shared a cab with three others, an American, an Indian, and a Japanese…what a motley crew.  As we moved from the border whatever Thai I could use before slowly became useless at each toilet and drink stop…awww!  I miss surprising people with the little Thai I know now.

Today I woke up at 4:30 a.m. to head out to the temples!  My driver was actually a worker of the guy I had negociated the deal with the day before.  Quick sidebar: everything is negociated here.  It takes a lot of energy, but actually makes a lot of sense.  The deal goes on when both parties feel they are benefiting, and usually the foreigner pays a lot by Cambodian standards, but is happy with the services.  OK: This is a slow sidebar.  This bartering reminds me of a few simple rules I use… Starting out, most negociations are a zero-sum game, meaning they are competetive, not cooperative, meaning you probably will not see this person again in your life.  So, starting out, never enter the negociation showing you actually want want you are bartering for.  Next I have seen and used two tactics that work well.  Simply state the price you think it is worth and walk away or state a price well under and meet in the middle, and walk away too if you need to.

Anyway, my driver was Oun, pronounced like the number one.  Following some friends advice (JB and Taylor), I said I wanted to go to Wat Ta Prohm for sunrise.  “There is no sunrise there is the reply.” I want to go anyway.  Äre you sure?”  Yes. “”It is closed.”"  Let’s sneak in.  “You want to go there?” Yes.  Äre you sure” Yes.  OK.

It was amazing!!!!  I had the whole place to myself and it was one of my favorite temples.  Huge trees are growing over the ruins and it was as if I was walking upon it as an explorer, rather than a tourist.  This is the temple that Laura Croft’s TombRaider was filmed in.

Next were some other great places…The Royal Palace, The Reclining Buddha (some of the temples have been converted from 11th century Hindu influence to 16th century Buddhism influence), Bakong, Angkor Thom, and Angkor Wat.  Angkor Wat was great!  Definitely the grandest out of the ones I visited.  I will put up some great pictures when I can.  Afterward, my driver and I, upon my insitence, had a great afternoon meal together, chilled in hammocks, and walked a around in the rice fields before going back home.

Tomorrow, Oun will meet me at the hotel at 7:00 am and take me to a temple 30 km away and also some temples around a larger circuit in Siem Reap.  After that I go to the bus station and head for Phnom Penh!