photos & weather

http://christineinchina.shutterfly.com/

spent free time today creating this photo album just for you! it's what i have so far ... up until we get to harbin, which is where we are going to school. stay tuned for my next update, which will include photos from the siberian tiger zoo we visited!!! zoos outside the U.S. are so much better cuz there's none of those pesky restrictions and such .... you'll see ... hee hee.

also, people are asking if i'm safe and dry .... and the answers is yes and yes! the flooding in southern china is news everywhere but here (gotta love the fact the government controls all the TV channels!). but please note we are in northern china and flooding and rains are down south. that would be like hearing about a flood in mississippi and asking if people in newfoundland are ok. so rest assured, all is good weather-wise!

CD

beijing!

Beijing

We off to Beijing to visit China's capitol and famous landmarks like Tianenmen Square and the Forbidden City. We take our second domestic flight … this one by an airline that never advertised its name once! We have no idea what it was called …. Something like huian air? It’s only a short flight, but we still get 2 drinks and some snacks. The main difference between American airlines and Chinese ones is on Chinese ones you always get a meal no matter what … and multiple drinks … but you have to return your tray tables to their upright and locked position 30 minutes before landing. The in-flight entertainment is interesting, as we’ve seen biographies of both Shirley Temple and Yogi Bear.


Upon landing we meet our new tour guide “John” who takes us to the forbidden city. Yay! We make plans to find the starbucks inside, since it’s been a hotbed of controversy lately, but we cant’ find it. How can people complain about it, if it’s so hidden? Anyway, we walk from one end of the forbidden city (called ‘forbidden’ since back in the day it was only open to emperors and higher ups, not commoners) to the other … then we hit Tianemen Square. Last time we were here I asked our tour guide where the massacre happened and he was like ‘what massacre? There was no massacre. There was only a discussion!’ so I wanted to ask again. Unfortunately, I asked John right when were in front of the main government building (the equivalent of the US capital building) and he’s like ‘we will not talk about the massacre here … there are too many ears and cameras. We will only talk about massacre on bus.’ Yay! He didn’t deny it! He did get really paranoid and start looking around … and totally changed the subject and had us continue walking to the other end of the square.



It was a little surprising to me to hear how few students had heard of the massacre …. Which reminded me I’m the oldest person on the trip … but once we get on the bus John didn’t hesitate bringing it up. He’s like ‘let’s talk about the massacre from 1989. I can only talk about it in private, not public, since speaking of it is forbidden and we can get in trouble.’ But he doesn’t mind telling us about it, since he was actually one of the student protestors there that day. He said students had gathered to peacefully demonstrate not against the party itself, but the government didn’t quite see it that way. he said when bullets were firsw fired and blood was first shed, he thought they were part of the fireworks show ... but then it became clear something had gone terribly awry. he said about 300-400 students were likely killed that day, and the number could be as high as 1,000 ... but they will never know for sure, as the government immediately covered it up and denied it ever happened. to this day, it's illegal to speak about it publically, but john tells us he will talk about it privately ... although it makes him uncomfortable since he's afraid of being spied on and prosecuted. :(

chinese TV

words you will never hear in a U.S. broadcast: "And now for sports, here's the latest in badmitton news ..."

how funny ... this CCTV is a riot ....

The City Wall – Chariots of Fire!

The next day we visit the city wall … the Chinese are big on walls and moats … not only did the country have a wall … but most cities had walls too! So we climb to the top of the xian city wall, which is 14 km long … and spy some rickshaws down the way. We pile in 2 each and ask what the Chinese word for fast is (Hui!). we scream at our chariot drivers to go hui hui! And we race down the wall … they totally get into it … but one thing we didn’t realize was the wall was made of cobblestones … and after all those centuries … some of them are missing (potholes are universal it seems). We were bouncing around violently as our guides don’t slow down …. And we couldn’t stop laughing! The only regret is not wearing my sports bra that day! Oh well it was fun … we’re 10 minutes late to meet the group, but it was totally worth it ….

Clubbing

The kids all went to a nightclub, but I just wanted to crash. Turns out I missed quite the event …. The kids were the hit of the club .. showing the Chinese how to dance and freak on each other … the Chinese tried to play along and mimic them … and they sort of got the idea …. But didn’t quite get that girls and boys can freak …. Girls and girls can freak …. But boys and boys shouldn’t really freak! That’s another club! Oh well …. It seems everyone had a good time.

Xi’an (cont)

For dinner we had a ‘dumpling feast’ … since dumplings are a big deal here. It was awesome, as I find dumplings to be edible, unlike some of the other crap we’ve been served. We had veggie … pork … mushroom and shrimp … red bean …. All kinds …. All delicious. One thing we noticed … was that if a table didn’t finish their dumplings, the waitress put them back in the big bin, and redistributed them to another table. Resourceful! (but kinda gross).

After dinner we walked next door to see the Tang Dynasty show … something you’d see in Vegas … singing …. Dancing … acrobatics … drinks …… there was one interpretive dance done that was inspired by the No. 4 most beautiful woman in the emperor’s concubine. Not sure why she was chosen to have a dance made about her …. I hope girls no. 1 – 3 aren’t jealous!

We totally did the cheesy photo opp at the end … where we got to dress up on costume with the performers. Yay for cheese! I’ll take it in any form I can at this point.

Fashion notes

The same fashion trend I noticed last time is still in effect … it’s anklet panty hose worn with sandals, we don’t know why the girls don’t go barefoot with sandals … they dig these anklets! The other trends that have found their way over here are black leggings cut off at the knee or mid-calf worn under dresses … and empire waists. People wear at least one pair of jade at all times … and cell phones are tricked out with charms, photos, tags and ringtones. Everyone is constantly playing games on their cellphones, or texting. No matter how much you think people are attached to their cells in the U.S. … it’s even more prevalent here!

June 8 – Shanghai to Xi’An

Today we head to the airport for a domestic flight on China Eastern (the southwest or Frontier Air of china). We’re heading to Xi’An to see the No. 8 Wonder of the World, the Terra Cotta Soldiers! There were more than 720,000 made over a span of 38 years at the request of a loopy emperor, who wanted to maintain his dynasty and rule in the afterlife and built these soldiers to help him do that. Didn’t quite work out, as he was eventually overthrown and most of his soldiers were destroyed. Of the 720,000, only 8,000 have been restored and are on display at this fabulous site.

The soldiers were discovered in the 1970s when four farmers found them while digging in their fields. The four founders, who were once friends, are all now bitter enemies and hate each other. Good times! They’ve fought over the fame and notoriety which came from being the discoverers of such a significant archeological and historical treasure … it’s kind of a sad and ironic story. Anyway, while we were there, the most famous of the founding farmers was there signing his book. We were not allowed to photograph him, and he even held a fan in front of his face that read ‘no photos please!’ to prevent this from happening …. It was actually quite funny!

There are three pits of soldiers you can visit … the first pit is HUGE … about the size of your average airplane hangar, and only natural lighting is used – flash photography is not allowed! Interesting note, when the soldiers were found, they were all painted – they even still had their rosy cheeks! But the exposure to air and light turned them black through the years. In the first pit, the soldiers are still the terra cotta color and they are lined up in a certain order … with the lowest ranking soldiers first … then officers … then generals .. then emperors. The second pit has one of the only chariots found …. 4 horses and the soldiers behind them …the chariot didn’t make it, but you can see where it would have been. The third pit we visited showed how the soldiers were found … all jacked up and busted … pieces everywhere …. It’s amazing how much work had gone into restoring them. As Melanie and I cruise around, we find another cheesy Chinese photo opp … we pay $20 US to dress in terra cotta warrior costumes and get our photo taken! We feel like we’re in those big sumso wrestling costumes … but once you get into these costumes you just want to have a sword fight! We get the nice lady to take our picture with our own camera … This is no costume prop … the swords are real and heavy!

We love the city of Xi’An … our guide “Maggie” tells us it’s a city of 8 million people, and although it is not the most populous city in china in present day, it was the “No. 1 big city in china in 2000 B.C.!” it is also the “No. 1 Education City” as it has more colleges here then anywhere, and has the “No. 1 hot springs in china!”

Maggie, who calls Xi’An home, shares with us some interesting tidbits about china and her city … for example China invented 4 key items that impacted the rest of the world: paper, printing, gun powder and the compass. She told us about the Tang Dynasty, which featured “plump women with big bottoms” …. I love the Tangs! These are my peeps!

Xi-An, a former capital, is an ancient city, and no building is more than 6 stories high. It also doesn’t have a subway system, as if they were to dig one, they would likely hit many historical relics still buried. She said they plan to build one within 20 years, but it will take a long time due to the careful job they must do with excavation.

Shanghai

We take the bus to shanghai and I go over the intinerary with our tour guide “Tony” to see when my shopping time will be. It appears he jam-packed the schedule so there’s only 20 minutes of free time …. This simply won’t work!! I have tons of shopping to do and need to make it back to my favorite local market. I remember the hullabaloo I caused last year when I insisted on more shopping time and got in a fight with tour guide “eddie” who called me some colorful names in both Chinese and English … I brace myself for my request with Tony …. I tell him I’ve already been to shanghai and done all the stuff they had on the agenda, and I wanted to split from the tour and do my own thing. I braced for the lashing out I was about to receive …. Deep breath …. And tony comes back with a ‘no problem! I’ll show you were to get a cab. Meet us at the hotel at 10.’ No way!!! I was free! I love tony … tony No. 1!!!

so the bus lets out at the pearl TV tower (shanghai’s space needle) and they go one way and I go the other to get my cab. This will be a good exercise for me as I want to live in shanghai someday, and want to make sure I know how to get around. We’re spoiled on a tour bus with tour guides … everything seems so simple … how would I do without my security blankets? I stood there for a few minutes just taking it in … one by one the group disappears and I’m left standing there …. Not familiar faces in sight … all alone ….. cars whizzing by … people running up to me offering to take my portrait … people running up to me offering to steal my handbag … I wondered if it was too late to rejoin the tour …

But I stuck it out and walked up to an available cab. I knew where I wanted to go, and I’ve got a half semester of LBCC Chinese class under my belt. That should do it! I approach the cab and say “Yu Garden” … relieved that I am going to a very simple place to pronounce, as well as very famous tourist attraction. It’s like going to NYC and asking a cabbie to take you to Times Square.

Or maybe not. He just stared at me. YU GARDEN, I say again, trying not to do that thing where when someone doesn’t understand you, you just say it louder. He just waved me away and now I’m back on the curb. I try again with the next available cab … “Yu Garden” and the guy tries talking to me in Chinese, rather strongly and adamantly. I’m really not sure how hard this is going to end up being … but it seems more difficult than it needs to be. In the meantime some locals approach the cab, get inside and speed off. Bastards.

Now there’s no cabs. I wait and stroll … but no dice. I am next to a huge giant traffic circle and decide to start walking toward it as there’s taxis zipping through it. There aren’t really any crosswalks here for pedestrians … you just wait and go when you can. Except in a traffic circle, the pace is even more fast and furious …. Any hesitation and it’s death by bus, taxi, Honda or bicycle. This is live Frogger. But I see the carrot dangling ahead of me … all I have to do is cross the street and I will arrive at SUPER BRAND MALL … yay! From across the street I see the first store inside is H&M, so that’s all the motivation I need. I stick with a pack of locals as we dodge traffic together and find great comfort in the confines of the Kylie Minogue collection of H&M once I arrive in the mall. I thought about just staying here and doing mall shopping. I see the H&M tunic I bought was $5 cheaper in the US and realize I am here to bargain shop, not mall shop! Upon exiting the store I see a tourist information booth and ask the nice man there if he speaks some English. He does! Jackpot! I tell him I can’t find a cab to take me to Yu Garden. He doesn’t understand ‘Yu Garden’ either, so I show him the photo of it on my camera. He’s like ‘Oh! Yu Garden! It closed today!’

Me: I don’t want to go to the garden itself, just the stores around it for shopping.
Him: Yu Garden closed today.
Me: that’s ok. I don’t want to go into the garden. I just want to go to the neighborhood it’s in. the stores around it will be open. I want to go shopping in the stores AROUND yu garden, not INSIDE garden.
Him: but Yu Garden is closed. No taxi will take you there.
Me: Yu Garden neighborhood only!
This went on for 5 more painful minutes before I gave up on the taxi idea and asked for a bus. He gave me a map and told me take the tourist train to the other side of the pudong river, then said I could catch a cab from there to Yu Garden.


The only thing I regret about taking the tourist train is that no one was there to experience it with me. I took some video of it to help capture the magic … but it really doesn’t do it justice. It’s basically a little pod car, like the thing you ride up to the top of the St. Louis arch in, but only seats 4. It’s almost all glass …. Which allows passengers to see the magical laser and light show that suddenly starts upon departure … along with cheesy English narrative, about how you are entering a space tunnel. I swear this is not to be missed … if you are into cheese … and since this is the land of no dairy, all cheese is welcome!

So I get to the other side of the river, where yu garden is, and enjoy the spectacular Bund …. The strip along the river where you can see the amazing shanghai skyline. I snap a few photos and try to catch a cab. No luck. Same thing. They all just start talking to me in Chinese and speed off. Guess that means I’m walking! The walk wasn’t that bad … took about an hour …. And I was relieved to finally get to where I was going. I remember this shop I went to last time I was here, and I loved the girls who work here, as they’ll make the pearl necklaces and jewelry in front of you.

I visit my first favorite stall and get some pearl necklaces made (they have to be hand-made because American necks are much bigger than the dainty swan-like Chinese necks! The girl working today is the sister of the girls who owns the shop and makes all of her own jewelry, and she starts making the necklaces gets to work on three of them and I browse the rest of the store, looking for more treasures. She automatically gives me the prices at half off sticker price, which you usually have to bargain down to …. So that makes life easier. I feel bad haggling for a lower price, since she’s already giving me such a great deal and automatically halved the prices, but I ask for a few bonus pieces since buying in quantity usually warrants some free gifts! I tell the girl I’ll be back in a few years, and she tells me to bring my friends! I have her card so if anyone ever goes to shanghai, you must stop by her store! Her jewelry is truly magical and unique.

The market is only open until 9 p.m. and it’s now 8 …. That means one hour left for my final store … the other pearl shop I like, which I visited on my first visit. These girls knot all of the necklaces and let you choose your own clasp … I love participatory jewelry making! and will also make anything for you. I like them because they also have lots of jade, turquoise and coral to choose from. I get my list of people to buy for and get to work.

The best is when I get to mom’s pearl request and they pull out the expensive tray. “For mama!” They say. The price is triple and I’m like …hmmmm ….. I say we can get the other pearls for mama, as she will think they are still beautiful …. But they refuse … they are like ‘she give you life!!! These are mama pearls!!!’ so mom, if you’re reading this, you get by far the most expensive pearls!! But they did throw in the earrings for free … yay!

It’s now 9 p.m. and I still need some necklaces made … I ask if they are going to close and they say no! I have three girls working on my order and they just keep knotting and creating fabulous little treasures for everyone! I finally get done with my order … but not before they sell me about $110 more worth of stuff at the last minute …. Who knew I needed a jade necklace too? I made the mistake of telling them I didn’t want to just have a jade necklace because I had nothing to wear with it … so before I knew it they were measuring my wrist for a bracelet, and whipping out some earrings. The whole set was $25 … made right before my eyes …. How can a girl say no to that? I helped them close the shop around 10 p.m. … one of the girls helping make all of the jewelry was from the silk shop next door, so since she wasn’t in her store, she lost some business … so how I had to buy something from her as well … oh well … she did have a nice selection so I was happy to help her out too. I asked them for one last favor … could they help me get a cab back to the hotel? They were too happy to help, and had me in the cab and on my way in no time … we agreed to still be friends, and I would come back the next time I’m in shanghai … I have their card too!

I get to the hotel … the 45-minute cab ride cost me about $4 … and decide to have dinner at an intriguing place called “West Food Café” … upon entering I’m handed a pack of toilet paper(?). not sure what to make of it, but I eat anyway. The menu had a bunch of random items … ribeye steak … spaghetti with mushrooms … nothing really caught my eye … and the waitress stood over me and watched me review the menu … hovering …. A close hover …. An uncomfortable hover, made even more uncomfortable by the fact I’m the only one there and it’s completely silent … she stood over to me like she was going to grade me on my performance on selection. I had to pick something just to end this uncomfortable situation! so I decided on ‘seafood rice with cheese’ thinking it would be seafood risotto. Not really sure what I was thinking as it was a big bowl of rice covered with melted cheese on top …. Under the layer of cheese was some shrimp (eyes, antennae and legs still in effect, poking through the melty goodness) and other random animals in shells. The meal also came with minestrone soup and a croissant …. And I ordered some mango-orange juice, which was served slightly warmed. Cant’ say I was satisfied, but at least I scored some TP, which is very coveted in this land. Yay!

Hungzhuo

Here in the town of “No. 1 Lover’s Lake,” our tour guide ricky (who introduced himself as “Ricky! Not Ricky Martin, but Ricky Chan!”) points out that hung zhuo is a leisure city compared to the more hardworking Shanghai and Beijing. He says the normal work day in China is 9 – 5 … but Shanghai is more like 7 a.m. – 10 p.m…. and hungzhuo is more like 10 – 4. He said it is also famous for having residents with beautiful white skin …. Even the boys! Boys are also very metro here .. and help women with housework, chores and cooking … which is not found elsewhere in china, as men are generally more macho and don’t help with women’s work … the gender roles are still very traditional here … although women usually do work so the family has more income.

Ricky also told us about the university system here. All college students must take the same standardized test …. Which is administered on the same day throughout the whole country. Depending on your score, you will either score a nice job … or if you finish in the bottom half …. “you will drop to the bottom of society” says ricky. When you think that only half of all students are even accepted into college …. There’s certainly some pressure to succeed! Universities in china graduate millions of students each year … making competition for jobs pretty intense.

June 7 Accident

We see the aftermath of a collision between a bicyclist and a taxi. The tour guide points out it was not our bus driver who hit them.

June 7 – No. 1 Lover’s Lake!

So today we went to West Lake, which is the “No. 1 Lover’s Lake in all of China!” we have no idea what this means or how it’s measured (marrigage proposals here? Children conceived here? Used condoms found here?). we take a boat tour of the late …. Which really is quite pretty with the lovely surrounding park and bridges … but the highlight of the trip isn’t the beautiful scenery and peaceful serenity … it’s the fact that we have become the CSULB version of the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow. If you know anything about California or CSULB in general, you know it is diverse beyond belief. And that is true for our tour group, which accurately reflects the makeup of our state and student body. We have Latinos, African Americans and Asians on the trip … as well as pacific islanders and gringos. Needless to say, this is not a combination that is frequently seen in mainland china. Five minutes into our boat tour, locals start asking to take photos with Danny, one of the African Americans. The upper deck of the boat, probably held 40 people, and 35 of them were Chinese, and 35 of them wanted photos with Danny. Then the two girls in tank tops. Then the girl with blue eyes. It was total chaos, but fun. The tour guide was kind of getting mad since no one was listening to the story of the No. 1 Lover’s Lake … but she had been overruled by something a little more entertaining. One of the locals asked Danny if he was into boxing, then asked if he liked Tyson, and pretended to bite his ear. Then he was like “Holyfield!!!!” another guy was like “Tyson!!!” it was a little odd, but danny diplomatically stated that he was an “Ali” guy …

Karaoke

It seems karaoke is the thing to do in china … kids don’t really go to bars, but they do go to karaoke. About half of the tour went to one last night, and now we know why they may be so popular …. They are combined with brothels! I haven’t gone to one, but I will definitely report back if I do!

Peeing

While we were driving to our next city, Hungzhuo, traffic was stopped and we see a guy standing in the median, which is lined with bushes. He’s just standing there … we can’t see his hands …. Hmm … it’s our second public pee display! We all start waving and hollaring at him until he sees us and about jumps out of his skin! He closes up shop and runs back to his friends across the street …. His friends are laughing harder than we are, but the guy refuses to look at us again … I mean, if you’re going to pee in public, why would you go in the median of a busy intersection? I swear, some things you just can’t explain.

Hot/cold beverages

There’s no ice in beverages in china. When eating a hot meal, one should drink a hot drink. Even if it’s 100 degrees outside. Evidently the whole balance of the universe will be thrown off if one mixes a cold beverage with a warm meal! This is one of the hardest things to get used to. Even the orange juice in the morning is warm … as is the milk for cereal (I have had neither). Today I went to starbucks for some home cooking and tried to order an iced tea. They don’t have it!!! It was hot and muggy and I just needed something iced and didn’t feel like a frappucino, even though it was slightly tempted by the new red bean flavor …. So I got an iced coffee instead. It took 3 people to help me order after I threw them off with the “iced” request … but we finally got it. Thanks starbucks! (p.s. I was also intrigued by the green tea cheesecake! They also have those pre-made sandwiches, but the names are “chicken and mayo” and “egg and mayo” instead of chicken salad and egg salad. Oh, and they also had green tea éclairs!)

June 6 – Shopping!

Ok, finally what I am here for! We hit two shopping spots today … pearls and silk. Did just die and go to heaven!?!?! I can’t reveal too much because some of these will make appearances as Christmas presents, but it was fun to help the other kids get pearls and explain to them just what a great deal this is. The No. 3 freshwater lake in china is famous for producing the no. 1 rare pearl, the gold pearl. A pendant with one gold pearl costs about $600 U.S. and they don’t negotiate too much with them. By the time I left I was offered a smaller one for $100 “best price for you1” and I declined, even though it was really hard.

The silk factory was next, and I love the story of the silkworm. My favorite part is when 2 silkworms “marry” they will stay together and create their cocoons, which turn out to be super huge, making the threads the longest and most coveted of all. Only about 7-8 per 100 end up “marrying” which shows how rare they are! All of this goes into making silk from Suzhuo the “No. 1 best spot for silk in the world!”

Super Vacations

So our tour guide company is called ‘super vacations’ and our leader Tony walks around with a ratty ‘Super Vacations” flag we are to follow. He also has a microphone. To get our attention he just says “super vacation! Super vacation!” and then he’s added “super boys! Super girls! Super boys and girls!” it’s pretty funny and cracks us up. It is well documented from my last trip that I didn’t really get along with my tour guides … but I am pleased to say Super Tony is the best so far!

Traffic Jungle

On the way to the hotel, we almost killed our first bicyclist. There is such an “urban dance” between all of the bicyclists, taxis, tour busses, pedestrians … it’s amazing there aren’t more collisions – however, there are plenty of near-collisions. There’s no such thing as jaywalking, because a lot of the street corners don’t have signals … you just go when you can! And there’s no such thing as pedestrian right of way ... no one has right of way … you just go and may the bravest and luckiest soul win!

International Parenting

At a photo op spot on the lake in Wuxi, a Chinese family was trying to pose for a photo. One daughter was NOT happy to be there – probably an 8th grader. Mom and dad were trying to make this family vacation thing a fun get together, and the kids weren’t having it. The girl looked as if she’d rather be anywhere else than with the ‘rents …. And the boy was pouting and stomping around, and stood about 8 feet from the rest of the family for their photo. The dad yanked him by the elbow and made him stand together with the rest of the family … I swear, it’s a scene that’s played out in every household in America … and now china! We were laughing and the mom saw us … she was like ‘I ask him to take 5 nice photos with us … with smile … then we promise him ice cream!’ it was apparent the kid was nowhere near posing nicely for 5 photos.  oh well, it just shows how parenting tactics, such as bribery with sweets, truly is international. Bribery works in all cultures!

WUXI

After the afternoon in shsanghai, we load the bus and head to nearby city Wuxi (woo-shee), where we will visit a garden, a lake and pearl factory. Our tour guide explains on the trip over that this is a small city in china … it is not like shanghai. we ask how big …. 5 million says tony. That kind of tells you the scale of just how huge china is … shanghai has 18 million people, so to them, a city of 5 million is a sleeply little burg. (for perspective, NYC has 8 million, and we consider that huge).

Last year I saw several people relieving themselves in public in China. I thought maybe I just caught the country on a bad week or something, but as we’re pulling into our hotel driveway a little kid runs into the driveway, pulls down his pants and relieves himself right there. Good times.

We head to a lake in the morning …. Our tour guide tells us it’s the third-largest freshwater lake in china! She then tells us which is first and second, and their average depths and sizes. Someone points out that they love to measure and rank things here. Everything is the “number one place” for something … and if not, they will tell you it’s second or third. We’d love to get our hands on this master ranking list … it’s fascinating!

June 5

So the first day we only got 30 minutes for shopping in shanghai … I was bummed! By the time I got my bearings (which was a mcdonalds next to yuyuan gardens) and found my favorite pearl shop, it was practically time to go. It turned into a nice bargaining chip, as the more in a hurry you are and the more you threat to leave, the lower the price becomes! I only got a couple presents there before running back to meet the group at one place we all know …. Starbucks! i swear, it was the one thing everyone took a photo of when we saw it … forget the thousand-year old temple or 75- year old garden … there’s the place with frappaccinos!

The record still holds!

I swear ... this is totally going in the record books. I took another 12-hour non-stop flight and didn't pee once! this is the third of my career!! i was totally planning on going this flight ... even asked the nice lady at the asiana airlines counter for an aisle seat ... she gave me the back row! this was a boeing 777 plane .... HUGE! so i was set. i'd have free access via the aisle, and then not have to really walk anywhere since the bathroom was right next to me. on the other side, i'd have to listen to the toilet flush about 3,200 times in the next 12 hours. anyway, we're all settled into our seats ... the plane has taken off ... i've made uncomfortable small talk with the guy sitting next to me .... when WHAMMO! he offers to buy my seat from me. he's like 'what's it worth to you' ... since i normally don't sit in the aisle or in the back it didn't have a lot of sentimental value. i said i wasn't sure. he needed to close the sale, so he says 'look, i don't eat on planes, i only drink beer non-stop. so it's going to get annoying if i keep bugging you to get out.' he did have a point ... so i asked him his price and we settled on $60. i thought about giving it to him for free, but i can't turn down cash within 24 hours of a major shopping excursion .... DOI!

so the flight wasn't bad at all ... i watched 'the holiday' and realized cameron diaz is perhaps the worst working actress in america. what else .... oh! they give you free socks on this airline! fun! the air waitresses dress in chic tapue from head to toe (head-to-taupe?)

so we land in seoul at 5:20 a.m. and our flight doesn't leave until 10:20 a.m. We kill time by eating korean potato chips and checking out their fancy new airport. this ain't no LAX!

after arriving in Shanghai after our 2-hour connecting flight, we hit the ground running and started seeing the sights. i can't really even remember what we did, since we were all pretty much in a fog. we realized we never got a june 4 ... we left june 3 and woke up on june 5 ...same clothes, same everything for two straight days. we were all stanky and needed to brush our teeth and shower .... but the tour guide ("Tony") didn't care and kept dragging us around. we finally got to our hotel at 8 p.m. and immediately showered. it was the best shower EVER!!! we totally relished it and savored every second .... then afterward we sat there and talked about how great our showers were. my roommate is a fellow MBA student, lauren. there's 5 MBAs on the trip, and the rest of the 31 are undergrads .... and boy are they young! more later ....

part deux

Leaving tonight from LAX ... will try to keep blog updated again! first stop ... seoul, then shanghai!

potato chip tasting party recap

here's some comments overheard during our potato chip tasting party:

Smoky Creamy Bacon:
Darryl: "This tastes like smoke ... ciggarette smoke!"
Sean: "This is like eating a charcoal briquette."
Amy: "This tastes like the smoke when I burn something in the kitchen."

Onion Crispy Crab:
Caron: "This tastes like the aquarium."
James: "This is the nastiest chip I ever had."

Seaweed:
Amy: "This tastes like i am eating the ocean floor."
Lori: "Oh I love seaweed!" (she really liked it)
Caron: "This one really tastes like the aquarium."

Ketchup Pork:
Amy: "This is amazing. It's good!"

French Chicken:
Kara: "This tastes and smells like chicken dog food." (note: she did not elaborate on how she knows what dog food tastes like).

Mexican Tomato Chicken:
Alex: "I've been to Mexico. This tastes like nothing Mexican."
Cindy: "Hey, I'm Mexican! I'll try this one!" (silence. she did not comment further).

advice: tour groups

i hate tour groups and thought i would never do one. i'm pretty good about getting around and learning my way on my own, and i've done a lot of solo travelling. so when inquiring about extending this trip to include shanghai and beijing, i was advised that a group would be easier since travelling in asia includes that language problem -- i wouldn't even be able to read the street signs -- and the group tour would be able to negotiate better rates that i could on my own.
i'd also be with the rest of the MBA students, etc .... so i decide to do it.

i learned i really don't need a tour guide and they are often more trouble than they are worth. true, the flights, the confirmations, the hotels, the transportation, hotel bookings, check-ins and check-outs made things nice and smooth, but we were stuck on an itinerary with no escape route, and little free time. there's also the tipping hassle, which always turned into drama.

Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing have sophisticated subway, rail and bus systems that make getting around easy. cabs are plentiful and cheap. all of these modes of transport are better than sitting on a bus, stuck in traffic.

so now that i've been to asia, i can honestly say you can definitely get around without being on a tour. learn about the area you are going beforehand and know where you want to go. hotels (4 stars and above) are great about helping you with arrangements, and since it's the tourism industry there will be someone on staff who speaks english. street signs are mostly in chinese and english in the big cities, so you can get a sense of where you're going ... and nothing beats an efficient rail system and walking.

so if you're willing to do a little pre-work and don't need to be coddled, i say it's def. OK to do it solo. asia isn't intimidating, but it helps to learn a few key words, such as please, thank you, hello, ice water, etc.

advice: meals

cecilia, who arranges all study abroad programs for students at long beach state, learned something big here. when advising students prior to departure, she always tells them to experience the local culture and food and not to just hang out a pizza huts and mcdonalds.

but after three weeks on this trip she would have killed for pizza hut. in fact, we tried to hit one one night, but it had just closed. there was almost a mass suicide at the front gate! i can't remember being so let down .... santa claus, tooth fairy .... nothing compared to pizza hut closing early.

my advice would be to mix it up, but make sure you get what you want. i was adventurous with the food (snails, stinky tofu, unidentified mollusks, etc.), but i also didn't feel guilty about sneaking a mcdonalds ice cream cone on the side (plus they're only like 20 cents). going on a tour with meals included can be a blessing (what convenience!) and a curse (we're stuck with this again). so maybe try a package that includes just one meal a day, like lunch .... that means you're free to explore the city for a funky dinner. breakfast is easy enough to do on your own.

also, if you're sick of the food, dont' feel stuck. this is the land of cheap goods and cheap eats. you'll find something appealing ... don't be afraid to venture out on your own. most places have handy picture menus -- good for pointing!

advice: hotels

let's just say they're very generous with their stars here. hotels are cheap enough to splurge on a 4-star and be comfortable. we stayed mostly in 3-stars, and the difference is huge (think days inn vs. sheraton). if you do 5-star, you'll be paying western prices ($200/night or so), but it's worth it to go 4-star ($60 - $80/night) if you find the right place. 3-stars are fine in a pinch, but they wouldn't be my first choice ... the key is finding a shower you feel cleaner getting out of than into, and that's more likely to happen at a 4 star.

advice: overall

maybe you're wondering if you should take a trip to asia. here's some thoughts to ponder to pre-screen yourself:

Hong Kong: anyone can enjoy.
Taiwan: great. taipei has anything you'd find in a big city. rest of island is beautiful with many undeveloped areas, such as the east coast. lots of unobstructed coastline and cultural treasures at the national palace museum.
China: not for the faint of heart, but it depends on the area you visit. we were always in SEZ's (Special Economic Zones), which are the designated areas the communist governement decided to give capitalism a whirl, so they cater to tourism. still , most tourism is targeted toward chinese and japanese so don't expect Western standards. even shanghai and bejing are a little rough around the edges. low costs once you're here though, so that helps balance things out. if you're a camper you could handle south china, but if not i'd stick to the shanghais and beijings. you will run into 'hole in the floor' no matter where you are, so be prepared. carry your own TP at all times.

end of trip tidbits

number of nights on trip: 29
number of different hotels: 21

item most regret not getting: chairman mao messenger bag for me; gold metal mesh slouch bag for gold metal mesh queen amy

item most regret getting: ear 'massage'/knuckle ear pounding from palm reader. (it still hurts)

new favorite chinese ritual: hot tea with meals

previously thought standard items no longer taken for granted: western toilet; lotion; napkins at meals; complimentary ice water; concept of ice water

best surprise: beijing

area took most getting used to: south china

most friendly locals: taiwan, esp. taipei

best markets: Taipei (night); Hong Kong (day)

best skyline: Hong Kong, then Shanghai

best food: it's all the same

No. of photos taken: 989
No. taken first 2 days: 234
No. taken last 2 days: 14

food i refused to eat: chicken feet, pigs feet, frog, fish head, tripe, jelly fish (i've already eaten it before and have no need to re-eat it), various disgusting eggs, including green and brown ones (not the shell, the yolk is brown or green).

food i tried: stinky tofu, coconut juice (this is huge for me), squid, octopus, snail, other small mollusk sucked out from his shell, duck blood soup broth

sign i was tired of shopping: shanghai marc jacobs store had 30 percent off sale and i didn't even flinch

unexpected trip side effect: since i am now used to 100-degree temps, i now get the chills when it's 86 degrees or lower, rather than my usual 75 degrees.

thing i'd never thought i'd say upon arrival in LA: 'wow, smell that clean air!!!!!" (china features 5 of the world's 10 most polluted cities. sometimes your boogers are black).

No. of Times ....

• we saw beggars - 1 (China)
• heard someone say "bless you," "excuse me," "pardon," "sorry," "oops," "didn't mean to do that," or "sorry i just carved my initials into your rib cage with my elbow" - 0
• we saw someone use tissue before or after sneezing, wheezing, coughing, hacking or blowing nose - 0
• saw someone defecate in public - 2 (thanks, china)
• saw someone hurl in public - 3 (thanks, china)
• a spewed chunk landed on me - 1
  
• saw someone pee in public - 2
  
• i used a hairdryer or curling iron on trip - 0
• we saw blue sky - 4
• i ate a meal without chopsticks - 1
• i used sunscreen - 0
• i got sunburned - 0
• i thought i was tan, but turned out to be dirt - 3

Best/Worst

Best:
Taiwan: Night Markets; Southern tip; Rugged East Coast; Hello Kitty promotion
Hong Kong: International flavor; Harbour
South China: Cheap prices; Jilin Univ. students
North China: Beijing's culture and history; Shanghai's architecture
T-shirt slogan: Snoopy t-shirt exclaiming: "F*ck it! Just F*ck it!" worn by chinese girl at jilin univ.

Worst:
Taiwan: Higher prices; chaotic traffic
Hong Kong: Cars on wrong side of road; vicious/mad taxi drivers
South China: Overall filthiness
North China: Pollution/smog; rudeness

Happy Fourth

Since we're not leaving today until 8 p.m. (our tour guide thought it was 8 a.m.) it leaves us time to do some last minute cramming of tourist activities.

we head back to the forbidden city but go inside this time. these are the digs where emperors used to live and stuff and they were so opulent and filled with servants that emperors rarely left the grounds. commoners weren't allowed (thus the name), so it gave them some protection too. it's about 1 million degrees outside, but i can't be too upset since it's one of the few days this month where we've seen blue sky.

after that we head to the summer palace, sort of like the chinese emperors' crawford, texas ranch, and it's beautiful. trees (which means shade!), water, dragon boats, pagodas, gazebos, etc. it really would have paid off nicely to be friends with the emperor and have him invite you over for the summer, or a weekend.

our last stop is Mr. Tea, a famous teahouse even visited by Queen Elizabeth. they do the hard sell and try to get us to buy $20 tea, but it's sold outside for $3. everyone passes but bill, who loads up on teapots, teacups, tea, etc. that easily set him back $100. see, if he was more of a shopper he could have found these items at the market for no more than $10. oh well.

we head to the airport 3 hours early and no one complains. we take off at 8 p.m. so it's darktime in beijing, and as we lift off over the city i see some fireworks going off in the distance. must be some expatriates. since we land at LAX at 5 p.m. i'll get to celebrate the Fourth twice. can't think of a better day to fly back or end the trip!

Peking/Beijing Duck

so on the way back from the Wall we stop at the nearby Ming Tombs, which were .... well, the dudes aren't even in the tombs anymore, so like whatever. it's still hot out. we eat ice cream.

so it's our last dinner together and most of us decide to split from the group because when in beijing, one eats peking duck. we head for the most famous peking duck restaurant in all of peking, founded in 1864 and so famous even kings and queens have eaten here! i bet yao ming has too!

i love duck, but i got a little freaked out at their picture menu (popular with foreigners), when i saw they served the duck in phases like first the deep fried webbed feet, then the neck soup, then the duck hearts, then the duck part of the duck. i guess that's just an 'option' and you don't have to have it that way.

so we stick with tradition and just order our own peking duck (it's just me, poom, ann, taka and brett). our waiter suggests some appetizers and we cave. we get our bill before the food arrives and it's like less than $15 per person so we order more stuff.

the perfectly roasted and glazed duck is wheeled over on a cart and presented to us tableside as a chef in a crisp white coat starts carving it. the waiter shows us how to properly eat it all up:

1. get 'pancake' (looks like a white crepe about the size of a small corn tortilla)
2. get 2-3 pieces of sliced duck with chopsticks
3. dip duck pieces in thick soy sauce (consistency of ketchup) and 'paint' the tortilla with them, speading the soy sauce ketchup evenly
4. add onion slices to top of duck slices and place in middle of tortilla, fold up like a burrito and eat!

it's totally fun and you can eat without chopsticks, which is the best part. we are presented with the duck's card of authenticity, complete with his serial number and farm info on where he was raised! i sorta feel bad about eating him, but not really. it's the best meal of the trip.

the wall ... and the wailing

so july 3 is is "The Day" ... we're going to badaling about 2 hours north of beijing to climb the wall. this is what we've all been waiting for ... it's the reason we decided to extend our trip. since our original tour was only scheduled to cover the southern china region, and since the wall is only located on the northern border, we had a whole country to cross to get here. would it be worth it?

to start with it's another scorching day ... temps in the triple figures and humidity not far behind. this section of the wall, as with most sections, were built high atop the mountains that separate china from mongolia. as we're approaching, my eyes are glued on the lush green mountains looking for any sign of concrete. i see some straight ahead and can't contain my excitement. 'is that the wall?!?!? is that the wall?!?! our tour guide doesn't share my enthusiasm and utters the chinese equivalent of 'like, doi' while the rest of the gang plays it cool .... but i know they're all excited too.

we pay our entrance fee and take a bazillion photos before we even start to climb. it's so hot outside (by now it's about noon) we all stock up on water and i buy a nifty green pearly parasol to help keep the sun off me. there's no shade on the wall.

the walls looks like it goes straight up the mountain and for the first time i realize it's all steps. i thought you climbed a staircase or a ramp to get up to the wall, then you just walked along the wall ... nope. you climb stairs AND a ramp to get to the wall and then the whole damn route is steps. big steps. imagine what the stairmaster in hell looks like and that's how big the steps are.

this is going to be a doozy. there's about 5 stations you can see as the wall heads up the mountain and i wonder how far i'll make it. you can see others climbing, and most only make it to the first station before turning around and coming back. i wonder if it will satisfy me enough to just be *on* the wall ... or if i really needed to do all that climbing. peer pressure got the best of me and after stalling about 15 minutes checking out the souvenier stand .... drinking water .... fixing my umbrella .... tying and retying my shoes ... only poom is left so we decide to head up together.

the steps are even steeper and higher than they look.... and they're worn down in the middle from years of wear making them grossly uneven. this is fertile ground for sprained ankles. i am winded by the time we climb the stairs and the ramp to just get to the wall itself. but there's old ladies ahead of me and if they can do it ....

i keep climbing and can't help but wonder how i can do 40 minutes on the stairmaster at the gym and can't handle 5 minutes of stairs here. i guess they're not really "stairs" ... that sounds too dainty. these are the huge stone boulders from hades! the umbrella helps as a shield, but sweat is still dripping down my face. in streams. when is the last time you had streams (not droplets, not beads) running down your cheeks and dripping off your nose? or was i just crying .... then i felt something crawling on my leg and reached down ... but it was just all the sweat dripping down them too.

if there was one thing that made me happy, aside from finally being able to cross this off my life's to-do list, it was that i wasn't the only one having trouble -- everyone was suffering. we were all miserable .... and we had all paid to do this! what a scam! i thought this might be what childbirth is like ... everyone is miserable going through a tortuous experience experiencing such great depths of physical pain and mental exhaustion ... but then there is that great reward at the end and the misery turns to triumph, pride and accomplishment. so i keep going.

i make it to the first landing and contemplate turning back down, but the this is where everyone turns around and heads back down. i head up to the next station and take a little breather. the steps are a lot less crowded up here so it makes it easier to take little breaks. i've been climbing for about 20 minutes now and the rest of the group is ahead of me too far to see.

i head out for the third station and start to feel woozy. i have only fainted one time in my life (9th grade, mrs. perrigo's front yard) and if i didn't rest it would be two times. not wanting to collapse on a great wall of stone in foreign land, i rested. i made it up to the fourth landing, but knees were shaking, face was sweating, eyesight getting spotty. i needed to sit so i plopped down next to a chinese boy (left) and a father and daughter from miami (right). we were all pooped. i stayed there until a local woman approached the garbage can and instead of throwing her empty water bottle away, hurled. she was about 3 feet away from me, so i didn't get any riccochet. i felt bad for her, but was glad it wasn't me.

a few minutes later the kid next to me spit. everyone spits everywhere in china. it's totally disgusting, but i wasn't too alarmed. but when someone does it that close to you it gets your attention and creeps you out all the more. but that was just a prelude to what came next ... which was his lunch of chicken and rice. a chunk landed on my shoe and i pretended not to care. the kid starting crying, as kids do when they throw up, and i felt really bad for him. nothing is sadder than a sick kid. it made me wonder about how important was it to climb this damn wall anyway -- people were miserable, puking, passing out -- and for what?

it made me think of the wall in a whole new way ... as an ancient form of chinese torture. not for the enemy but for their own soldiers who had to patrol it. as someone pointed out when we asked why it was built in the first place (to protect against the mongolians), weren't the mountains enough of a barrier? i mean who was going to climb these mountains (torture enough) and *then* mount an attack? anyway, my brain was getting foggy and the puke smell baking in the sun got to me, so i had no choice but to head up to the next station.

at this landing there was a lookout ledge and i sat down here for the next hour. there was a nice breeze and i got a chance to cool off. i was about halfway up the wall and i knew the others would have to come back down this way, so i waited for them and people-watched. there is great people watching here .... tourists from all over ... experiencing the universal language of pain.

a woman was practically crying as she descended with her husband .... her calfs were cramping and she was in pain. another guy totally bit it descending, which appears to be even more challenging than the ascent. great.

the olympics are coming!

beijing is getting ready to host the 2008 olympics and the whole damn country is fired up about it. you know they're serious when 'beijing 2008' fake merchandise is the first stuff you're hit with each time you get off the bus.

everywhere you turn they're trying to sell you bucket hats or baseball caps with the pirated logo for $5 ... but we all decline ... repeatedly ... and save our olympic souvenir shopping for the officially sanctioned store at the airport. we feel our money is better spent that way.

by the way, after seeing the pageant the students at Jilin University put on for us, and the little cultural show at the miniature china theme park ... and the acrobatics show in shanghai ... all i can say is set your tivos now for the opening ceremonies ... i am sure they will be like nothing we've ever seen.

big trouble in little china

so we're at tienemman square walking around at this local approaches us trying to sell a 10-pack of postcards for 20 yuan (about $2.75). poom and i have partnered on buying the 10-packs, splitting costs and the pack. but as per usual before any purchase in this fascinating land, one must bargain.

we get him down to 10 yuan and start flipping through the cards to make sure they're not all of the same thing or from the '50s. he starts getting a little nervous and we sense he wants to close the deal and fast. being MBA students, we naturally pounce and offer 10 yuan for 2 packs. he amazingly agrees and as i'm holding the cards digging in my purse a police officer approaches ... gently puts his arm around the peddler ... and guides him away to the paddy wagon in the middle of the square. it was the most powerfully silent and awkward encounter i've ever witnessed ... the peddler's head just dropped ... the chinese policeman guided him away with the 'come on, son' shoulder grip ... and i'm left holding the contraband he made no effort to recover.

my first instinct was to run, my second was to take a photo. brett, a fellow traveller, said he was advised to never take photos of police activity in other countries ... but that sounded like totally boring and so not me. so we compromised and i took a photo of the kid being put in the paddy wagon, but i didn't zoom in.

'tanks' for the memories.

beijing, home of the non-massacre

this is a starkly different city than shanghai ... and i like it. it's the political center of china ... their washington DC. it's also way more historical and there's great effort to preserve that. shanghai is a little more cosmopolitan, like it's trying to be NYC. anyway, in beijing, buildings aren't allowed to be over a certain height, so things like mao's mosoleum and the national art galleries appear more prominent.

the city layout is also interesting. the center of the city is considered the forbidden city and tienemman square (ajacent to each other), and the rest of the city surrounds this site in rings. i think there are six rings now, so addresses and locations are like 'we're in the fourth ring' or 'we're in the second ring.'

i am determined to get along with this tour guide and am pleased he greets me first and compliments my brazilian Kappa shirt -- yay! a sports fan! we'll get along. his name is 'vincent' and we immediately go over the itinerary to make sure we're hitting all of the spots we want in our short time frame (another plus!). our first stop is tienneman square, definitely a priorty on everyone's list. he drops us off and lets us wander around for a half hour. now, at this point of the trip you can probably tell i'm getting a little punchy .... but the square is so big and i wanted to know exactly where the massacre of 1989 happened. that footage of the kid getting run over by the tank still burns in my head.

'so this is where the massacre happened, right? which part'
'there was no massacre. that is all misunderstanding.'
'really?'
'yes. i was here that day and nothing happened. i was here in the morning and then came back in the evening. nothing happened.'
'oh, i thought we heard there was some trouble with student protesters and the military? maybe some deaths?'
'oh no, nothing like that. and i am not a Party member, but i was here that day and nothing like that happened.'
'so what did happen that day? what did you see?'
'well ... there were lots of people, but everyone was in control. there was nothing out of control.'
(i give skeptical look)
'well maybe there were a couple accidental deaths. but they were not massacres, just accidents.'

i decided to leave it at that and wander around on our own. the international students really didn't want to press the issue further and tried to explain to me that they thought the kid actually got out of the way of the tank and was never actually run over.

tour guide drama

on the way to the airport our tour guide reminds us today is the day he collects his tips from us. on the bus ride into town he told us the rate was $1/day for the bus driver and $1/day for himself. funny thing ... now he was saying his rate was $4/day and $3/day for the driver. silence.

this has been happening all trip where it starts out everything is paid for, or gratuity is supposed to be low or nothing, then when we get to the airport we're hit with rates 200% higher than anticipated. since this was the eighth time this has happend this trip i decide to speak up.

'i thought it was $1/day for each of you?'
'no. that is rate for local guide. i am international guide who speaks english so i command a higher rate.
'that's fine, but why did you tell us on the bus ride in that you were $1/day?'
'no i did not.'
'i am pretty sure you did, and this caused confusion with ceilia also, who you had this conversation with earlier today at the hotel.'
'there was no issue, i am $4/day.'
'i guess i'm a little confused over the discrepancy ... '
(silence)
'keep your money! i don't want your tip!'
(silence)

eddie wasn't a big fan of mine ... earlier i had asked him to point me in the direction of a stamp shop and when we stumbled upon one he pointed it out saying it was the only one in shanghai. i refused to believe that in a city of 17 million people there was exactly one stamp shop and asked him how he expected me to believe that. it was an interesting conversation and ended with him storming off then coming back to me three minutes later saying "CHRISTINE, YOU ARE VERY DEMANDING! YOU ARE NOT LIKE ASIAN WOMAN!"

i mean, he was right on all counts so i couldn't help but chuckle ... at his accuracy and the fact that i now had the perfect tombstone inscription.

off to beijing

when we get back to shanghai around 5 p.m. our tour guide offers to take us on a river tour of the city to see the spectacular city skyline, but i feel the need for some alone time and shopping. i have a taxi take me to the local market downtown and shop for pearls. it's pretty fun and i make friends with the girl selling them, who shows me how to check for different qualities. she tells me to buy myself the better quality and get the lower quality for my friends, which i thought was funny.

anyway, she knotted the strands for me and let me choose the clasps, so it was another participatory shopping experience, like the time a few days ago when i admired a jewelry maker's necklace and she made me the matching bracelet right there while letting me pick out the stones!

two boys on the trip are total freaks who hate shopping (whatever), but i told them what amazing deals they could get over here and surely there must be upcoming birthday and christmas gifts to purchase for someone back home ... so they gave me a list of moms, sisters, friends and asked me to pick up some stuff for them and they'd pay me back. i love shopping assignments! it just makes me crazy to think there are people trekking all the way to china who don't like shopping so therefore they are missing out on the spectacular discounts to be had ... so i think a new perfect job for me would be as a tour group shopper! everyone would give me names, ages, characteristics of people to shop for and i'd get presents for everyone, while they are out hitting the clubs, which is exactly what they did. it was a total win-win as they got their free time and i had my shopping assignments.

i stayed out a little late after i made friends with this family who ran a shop. i was to get bill some luggage to carry home his newly-purchased goods and i negotiated hard for this samsonite wheelie ... i had to leave the shop twice and come back to get the 200 yuan price ... but only after i agreed to buy the 'omega' watch they were selling. we had such a good time bargaining and speaking each other's broken language i left the store with a bag full of stuff i had no intention of buying ... but it was still cheaper than going to a club ... and i had tons more fun.

tomorrow morning we head to the airport for beijing!

one night in shanghai

so we spend most of the day touring gardens and such again. and, much like the food, everything is starting to look the same.

we visit the 'water villiage' of tingli, which is a little village on the water -- sort of like the naples or venice of china. it's pretty much a tourist trap and we're bombarded by beggars ... either asking for money or our empty water bottles to recycle. at the entrance we saw a security guard and a chinese lady get into a huge screaming match which drew a crowd, including us. the only English phrase used was 'i'll kick your ass' by the male security guard. i think he was embarrased when he realized we knew what he said and giggled. glad to report no punches were thrown and no asses were kicked.

i declined to visit this garden and instead chose to wander around the little village and visit the shops on my own. after three and a half weeks of doing everything with a group i crave and value free time more than anything. plus it's 100 degrees outside with major humidity.

i stop by the shops and try to make deals but the locals are also sooo hot and tired they don't even get up out of their chairs to greet me, which is like totally rare. i understand and let them rest and turn this into more of a 'window shopping' experience.

next up

heading back to shanghai tomorrow, after our one day trip here to suzho. .... saw a few gardens and a silk embroidery factory ... it's a charming little city .... let's call it the seal beach of china. i'll probably do some shopping on the walk home.

so we visit a silk factory tomorrow and i think another villiage or garden thing and then back to shanghai for one last night before heading to beijing, where we'll see the Wall supposedly. we'll be there july 2 and 3 and then leave for LAX on the Fourth. i probably won't be back online before beijing.

peace out ......

things i haven't seen in three and a half weeks

1. bleu cheese
2. marinara sauce
3. a blond male (well, except for sven, the norwegian foreign exchange student we met at the HK internet cafe)
4. a Gap, Banana Republic or Old Navy
5. a wall street journal or new york times
6. a "friends" rerun
7. skinless, boneless, white chicken
8. paper towels in a public restroom
9. a decent, bright orange, perfectly curved cheesy poof
10. cheddar cheese
11. an african-american, or an african for that matter
12. sports center
13. the word "restroom" as this part of the world prefers the word "toilet" .... it's such an ugly word! i hate it the way kelly hates the word "moist" and a shirtless george costanza.
14. a spork
15. TRL
16. a 'no smoking' sign
17. a restaurant bill for more than $6 u.s. per person
18. a deli (and for that matter, a sandwich)
19. anything whole wheat or multi grain
20. a price that wasn't negotiable

worst diet ever

i have never actally starved and gained weight at the same time until this trip. everything i eat is white ... rice, rice puff rolls, bread, rice soup, noodles, tofu, bamboo, ice cream ... all of it! i try to eat meat for protien, but it's all served with skin still on and slathered in oil. the veggies are all served in a pool of grease too. there's not a lot of beans, and the beans they do have are all sweetened .. mcdonalds even has a red bean sundae .... and this is a region that does not eat salad. cecilia and i broke from the group in search of salad and finally found one .... we devoured them and were never happier! oh, another reason i figured i was gaining weight was due to the fact i was downing four candy bars a day ... so many new ones to try! i ran out of power bars :(

some notes

just going through my notebook for some nuggets ....

i know i emailed some of you this one, but can't remember if i posted it. it's worth a repost if i did ..... we passed a restaurant in zhuhai that featured neon pictures/signs of all of the animals it serves in its restaurant. there was a neon cow .... pig .... goat .... and (stop here if you are reading lori e.) ...... a cat. meow, indeed.

same day, saw dog on the menu. it was one of those picture menus and it looked like a stew of some sort. (note to self: no more stews). rumor has it they prefer black lab.

umbrellas are used in all kinds of weather. rain of course, but they are also handy in the sun as a shield! everyone uses they, and you are likely to see more of them during a hot sunny day than rainy one.

in driving through the agricultural regions in the south of china it looks like they are using the same methods they have been for years .... it was like a bus trip through time.

men in china will grow fingernails long .... not all of them .... usually just a pinky but sometimes more than one ... as a status symbol type of thing to signify that they are not manual laborers. no one else thinks it's gross.

most often seen fast food chains, in order:
1. KFC
2. McDonalds
3. Pizza Hut
4. Subway

not seen:
taco bell (in fact, no mexican food anywhere!)
burger king

questions asked to me by students at jilin university:
1. are students allowed to ask questions in class in america?
I exlained that not only are they encouraged to ask questions, but often class participation is part of one's grade, so if they don't ask questions, they get lower marks. it seemed like this was a big rumor to them, that i just confirmed to be true. he was astonished. see, in china when the professor or any teacher lectures they ask for questions at the end, but you're not suppsed to actually ASK any ... that is considered rude and insulting to the professor, as you are implying that he was not clear in his presentation and that you are questioning his research when he is mighty prof and you are little student.

2. how did you get your family to allow you to come overseas?
this was hard to explain, and they didn't really understand that my family really has no say in when/how i go overseas! i mean i told my parents i was going ... but i didn't *ask* them if i could go. the guy who asked this one said his mother would never permit him to to overseas because she would fear for his safety. and he didn't understand why my parents weren't as equally concerned .... it was just a foreign concept to him. it actually made me sad, because you could see he really wanted to travel.

they are proposing building a bridge from zuhai in the south of china to hong kong. it would take about 30 minutes to travel ..... can you imagine a 30-min bridge? they are really trying to promote south china (when i say south china i mean the area across the water from hong kong) as a tourist destination ... more affordable than HK, but still close ..... many of the students in college are majoring in tourism, as china is getting ready to surpass france as the top tourist destination (ACCORDING TO USA TODAY). and the thing is, a lot is focused on domestic tourism ..... the middle class incomes have tripled in the past few years in china, and the countries economic growth is in like it's 15th year of steady growth (def. at a rate way higher than u.s.!!!!) and they have like 18 billion people as potential customers! oh, did i mention hong kong disneyland is opening in september?

those little white lies

ok, something that's a recurring theme throughout all three countries we've visited is the vagueness ... the little white lies that are told constantly. naturally, i've started tracking them because they drive me nuts. i read in the tour books that asians hate to disappoint people or upset them, so they often sugar coat things or don't tell you exactly how it is for fear of upsetting you -- you remember the classic seinfeld episode where they waited 'just a few minutes' for their table that never came ....

anyway, here's a list:

Q: are we going to china during the rainy season?
A: no, it will be very hot. don't bring a coat or anything long sleeves. just short sleeves and shorts. (we all know how that turned out -- turns out this region gets 90 percent of its rainfall during may, june, july. nice.)

comment: all fees will be included in the trip
so far off base i can't even begin to tell you how far off base this is.

comment: this is the last time i'll collect tips
so far off base i can't even begin to tell you just how crazily far away from reality this comment is.

comment: ALL REGIONS HAVE THEIR OWN UNIQUE STYLE OF CUISINE
I THINK WE ALL KNOW THE REAL ANSWER TO THAT ONE

COMMENT: the restaurant is walking distance from the hotel. just a few minutes.
turned out to be 45 minutes away ..... BY CAR.

comment: the boat ride is only 30 minutes long.
it was an hour and ten minutes.

comment: coconut juice doesn't even taste like coconut.
i can't believe i fell for that one. people are always getting me to try and eat my two least favorite foods on the planet ... coconut and salmon .... by claiming they taste nothing like they are supposed to. they are always wrong.

comment: tip your tour guide and your bus driver $1 u.s. per day, each.
two days later it was magically upped to $4 per day. each. i asked him to explain the discrepancy and he said that's just what it cost. i asked to clarify why he quoted a different price earlier and he said something something about not wanting my stupid tip anyway. i am so confused.

northern?southern china differences

ok< so i am on a random internet terminal at an english style pub in suzhou< just an hour outside of shanghai and the keyboard is a little wacky> anyway< here are some observations about differences in the regions:

northern is more cosmopolitan and more international> think of the united states and the north vs> the south< as there are some similarities> north is economic engine on global scale with beijing and shanghai >>>> tall skyscrapers >>>> int"l headquarters for many huge corporations >>> higher incomes and salaries >>>> more international flavor>

in the south (SORRY THE PERIOD KEY DOES NOT WORK AND SOMETIMES IT SWITCHES TO ALL CAPS ALL ON ITS OWN AND I AM TIRED OF SWITCHING IT BACK, SO SORRY BUT I AM NOT YELLING) THE FOCUS IS MORE ON CHINESE CULTURE AND LOCAL HISTORY AS WELL AS CHINESE HISTORY. THEY ARE MORE CHINESE SUPERSTITIOUS, SUCH AS NO BUILDINGS HAVE A FOUR IN THEIR FLOORS .... SO NO FOURTH FLOOR ON THE ELEVATOR .... NO 14TH FLOOR .... NO 24TH FLOOR .... AS THE NUMBER 4 IS CLOSE SOUNDING TO THEIR WORD FOR DEATH SO THEY BELIEVE IT IS BAD LUCK (KINDA LIKE THE UNITED STATES AND 13)> in fact< i stayed on the thirteenth floor during this trip!

THE SOUTH IS LESS DEVELOPED AND THINGS AREN'T AS REFINED .... A FOUR STAR HOTEL IN THE SOUTH IS MORE LIKELY TO BE A THREE ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD. BUT ON THE OTHER HAND, COSTS ARE WAY CHEAP ... I GAVE A GUY 10 YUAN FOR A BOTTLE OF WATER AND A BOTTLE OF ORANGE JUICE (ABOUT $1.15) and he handed back a stack of bills as change> i swear i got more money back than what i paid>

also< china is trying to make shanghai the new hong kong >>>> so hong kong will now never have the tallest building in the world or china< as the chinese govnt wants the tallest buildings to be in shanghai instead so it rejects all proposals for taller buildings in hk.

IN THE SOUTH, IT'S CANTONESE WHICH MEANS THEY HAVE A NEW DIALECT AND SLIGHT DIFFERENCES IN FOOD ... THEY ARE FAMOUS FOR WONTON NOODLE SOUP AND I WILL CONFIRM THAT IT IS INDEED FABULOUS. THE ONLY OTHER THING I NOTICED THAT WAS DIFF. WITH THE FOOD WAS THEY USE PUMPKIN IN DISHES MORE IN THE SOUTH.

WHEN WE WENT UP NORTH TAKA ASKED OUR NEW TOURGUIDE EDDIE FOR HIS FAVORITE DISH -- PORK BELLY. EDDIE INSISTED THEY HAD NOTHING OF THE KIND ... TAKA EVEN DREW A PICTURE OF IT! INSTEAD EDDIE WENT ON AND ON ABOUT A DISH COMPLETELY AUTHENTIC AND NATIVE TO THE NORTHERN CHINESE AND ORDERED IT FOR TAKA ..... NATURALLY IT TURNED OUT TO BE THE EXACT SAME DISH WITH ANOTHER NAME. TO THIS DAY EDDIE REFUSES TO BELIEVE US WHEN WE TELL HIM WE'VE HAD IT IN JUST ABOUT EVERY RESTAURANT FROM TAPEI TO KENTING TO SHENZEN. THERE IS EVEN A JADE CARVING OF IT IN A FAMOUS TAIWAN MUSEUM!

best 'name' brands

ok, so i told you about the 'giorgio arami' shirts they have here, here are the other top fake brands.

VAINS for VANS shoes
Channel for Chanel
Kitty Kitty for Hello Kitty
Kerl Legerfald for Karl Lagerfeld
Haddeon Gags for Haagen Daz

and the trip winner:

"Happy the Bruin" for "Winnie the Pooh"

northern china -- less than a week to go!!!

i am back in china -- this time shanghai. as one of the schoolgirls said in zhuhai (southern china) .... "shanghai!!!?!?! that is modern city!!!"

unfortunately, it's not modern enough to allow access to blogspot, so i still can't check out your comments. i got a chance to briefly in hong kong, at the 15-minute speed cafe, so thanks, they are always fun to read.

i will write more later, because we are pressed for time again today ... our tourguide "eddie" is great -- right up there with taiwan peter -- but the days are totally packed with stuff to do. we didn't even have time for dinner tonight (no complaints there!) but we did have time for the world famous shanghai acrobats!!! it was basically like watching little chinese pixies twist into pretzels and then contort into another pretzel-like position .... with a teapot balanced on their head. who wouldn't be up for that?

so it was like 95 degrees today with an inhuman amount of humidity. and the only thing worse than humidity is humidity carrying smoggy smog. you know how when it snows real hard, there is a white out? today we had a smog out. did i mention china features 5 of the 10 most polluted cities in the world? oh welll ..... the architecture is amazing ... so many creative buildings! it's an architect's playground!

we went for a little city tour today in the morning and went up in their Space Needle Equivalent structure. had lunch at World's Cheesiest Polynesian Tribute Restaurant, and visited Yu Gardens, another tourist spot. i'm not complaining, because we're back in a big city and i love it. traffic here is a bitch though ..... i long for the 405 ....... the city has tripled in size here since 1999 and get this ... to cut down on car traffic they now auction off car licenses ... so you can't just buy them .... going rate is around $4,000 US!

cecilia prayed for rain again since the heat was killing us and it came in the form of two pounding thunderstorms at approx. 3:30 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. i'm soaking wet again ... .. the rain was actually coming through the umbrella. i am not making this up. we did have time to visit a pearl shoppe and got to see them open oyster with many pearls inside ... all ripe for the taking! i have never really been a pearl girl, but i guess the prices are amazing. shanghai is famous for freshwater pearls so this is the place to get them. if anyone wants some let me know .... i can get you a nice string -- white, pink, purple, black -- round or irregular ... large or small for like $15 - 20 - $25. guaranteed legit! the museum even showed us how to check them to see if fake. bracelets, earrings too! email me if you want any as i can't read the posted comments anymore :(

tomorrow we take bus to suzhou .... a neighboring city where we will check out some stuff and visit a silk factory. i am still having fun but have been going nonstop since june 6 .... getting a little tired .... really looking forward to getting back home. four weeks is way long time.

oh, and group dynamics have changed. a lot. three new guys joined the trip. for now, i'll just refer to them as Loud, Louder and Ugly American. details to follow ......

HK for a day

so we had to get up early today to catch the morning 8 a.m. ferry back to hong kong. this was goign to be interesting as everyone's baggage, emotional and otherwise, has about tripled. it's been a long three weeks i can't believe we even have longer to go. we're all sorta jealous of the professors and classmates heading back to LAX today, but excited to do some more shopping in two new cities!

eric and johnny leave, as do all of the profs, which means it's just the non-chinese speakers left ... me, cecilia, the two thai girls, and taka. it will be fun negotiating the prices at the market with no native speaker present. you can't even use your hands to hold up fingers since have a totally different way of doing numbers with hands! it's kinda cool though, and it's all on one hand, which makes it handy for holding up item and negotiating price simultaneously! if the number is higher than 10, we just take turns punching numbers into a calculator, clearing them, re-entering them and clearing them in mock disgust and anger.

we visited the ladies market which is just named that way even though it has goods for all. the prices weren't as high as we expected so many purchases were made. we keep trying to save our mojo for china where prices are way cheaper, but it just didn't work so well last night. in fact, we have all bought second pieces of luggage to haul stuff home in.

later, we walkd around the charming park by teh harbor and then hit the night market. taka bought these three sqeezy/slimy toy things that you throw on the ground, they splat, then reform. he got them for $10 HK and we all had a chuckle when three booths down the guy was selling them for $5. taka took off for the booth where he made his purchase to scream injustice and funny thing .... the guy had forgotten english all of a sudden! he did give taka a free extra toy .... but no refund. hee hee.

negotiating in tough. sometimes i go too low and they rip the calculator out of my hand and wave me away in disgust, but that's usually after the winning bid, when they've already snatched the money out of my hand. i've never really made an enemy for purchasing something before (can you imagine nordstrom doing this?) so it's something to get used to. sometimes i want to go back and give the vendor a few more dollars, a pat on the back and an open invitation to stay at my house if they ever come to california to just not be mad at me anymore ... but i fear they will kick me in the teeth or something if they see me again. good thing i'm leaving town tomorrow. off to shanghai!

Jilin University

so we are at this university near zuhai in the guangdong area of china (which we refer to as Canton). we'll be attending lectures today and tomorrow, staying in the dorms overnight and attending a lecture the following day before leaving.

the rain has stopped for now and it's back to being hot and humid. this area reminds me of what the palm desert campus must be like ... no escape from the heat! as we walk down the hall to our lecture classroom, where we will be hearing a chinese professor talk about doing business in china, we notice about 100 students already in the classroom and they erupt into cheers when we enter the room. amazing. i wish i got that reception everytime i entered class!

anyway, it made us feel very welcome, and indeed their opening remarks to us were "warmly welcome! warmly welcome!" tooo cute.

after the lecture (which was the standard 3 hours, no break ... those poor chinese students!) we had a dinner put on by their hospitality students which was my favorite so far. you could tell they tried to mix in some american things, so in addition to the regular plate of shrimp, pork dish and chicken .... we had a little dish of fries, neatly stacked into a pyramid shape, with some sort of tomato soup to serve as ketchup, some chicken wings (no blue cheese or celery, but who cares!), and a salad of apples, bananas and mayo -- not to be missed! also, fanta orange soda!

after the fantastic dinner, where we were joined by some local students, helen, patrick and gigi, we headed down to a performance hall where they totally put on a pageant for us! it was a combo of american idol ..... solid gold ... the view .... and travel channel all rolled into one! again, when we entered the auditorium everyone clapped and cheered and they had the first row reserved for us, which featured a table covered in red velvet fabric and plates of watermelon, bananas and plums for us to enjoy during the singing, dancing and Q&A session.

it was sweet .... we were all very touched by all the work they put into their program. the host professor said they worked on it for 10 days!

anyway, i feel much better about china now .... i think that's just wnat i needed. it didn't even bother me too much that my dorm room bed was covered in ants.

best signage

ok, so this place does have the best bad english translation signage of all.

best t-shirt slogan:
"milk fed"

best ashtray sign:
"kill the cigarette place"

best 'keep out' sign:
"visitor prohibition"

misery loves western toilets

nothing cheers a girl up more than stumbling upon a western style toilet! they are the gem of the trip. there's another professor who adores them as much as i do and i told her i found one at this museum we stopped at and she literally ran for it. western cans are usually for handicapped, but when it comes to using "hole in the floor" i am indeed handicapped. (in fact this signage on this one said "invalid only").

at the restaurant yesterday i really had to go .... i had held it all day and it was time to let go ... but the only thing is the restroom floor was coated in a layer of grease, so it was impossible to get traction, and thus, hit the hole. imagine trying to pee with one leg on a dock and one on a boat slowing pulling away.... and being relaxed enough to pee. doesn't quite work, so i closed up shop and just waited till we got back to the hotel.

first impression of china

ok, so i should probably share my first impressions of mainland china. you know how they say first impressions last a lifetime or something like that? anyway .... we were on the bus to our hotel or theme park or something like that and we were driving along the main drag and passed a bus stop where a man was holding his butt-nekkid kid in a sort of squat position, bouncing him up and down ... the kids knees were up by his ears and the rest of him was just hanging out for the rest of the world to see. we were like "what the .....?" and "jason" was just like "he's just trying to get his kid to go poop." we were like "uh, on the sidewalk?" and he's like "uh .... yea" ... in a tone that was like "where else do you expect him to go."

not too long later i saw a guy peeing on the side of the road ... at least he was doing it into a bush ... and then there's the spitting. everyone spits, everywhere and often. oh, and my friend stephanie warned me about this, but they don't use kleenex/tissue here for blowing noses .... they just blow it all out and let it land where it lands. snot rockets abound. there's no covering of mouths when coughing or sneezing either. oh, and no napkins are given at restaurants either. we always have to ask them, which is an ordeal unto itself..... the last time i tried asking for them i was given a plaid wool blanket. but when we do get them, they are in the form of kleenex. i came prepared and brought some huggies wet wipes with me, and let's just say they are gold.

shifty tour guide

i have not taken to "jason" too well ... we just get the feeling we're being taken for a ride by him ... we prepaid our tour fees, which included meals .... so when we got taken out to lunch yesterday by the garment maker/fashion designer jason and our bus driver conveniently joined us (tour guides never eat with the tour group) ... so this makes me wonder what he did with the lunch fee we pre-paid? i bet our friend "jason" just make a nice little payment to himself .... he's not even letting us keep the ticket stubs to our visits to museums and such .... he's one shady dude .... giving everyone the bad vibe. when we first landed, he asked me if i had a job for him in america! oh well .... just trying to roll with it .....

thank god cecilia and i found this internet place. we tried to ask for directions from our hotel, but "jason" wouldn't let us speak to the hotel staff, he just told us to walk around and we'll find one if we go "that way," pointing to the marshlands. so cecilia and i did our best international sign language to two blokes on the street and asked them for "internet" and "email" station. they pointed in a nicely-lit direction, so we headed that way.

we came to a nice hotel and decided to ask them. while waiting at the concierge desk a totally blitzed local with red eyes and a redder face screamed "HELLO!!!!!!!" to us and asked us what we needed. we did our internet/email universal hand signals and he totally got it and offered to walk us over. but this being a professional hotel, recognized that he was in no position to cross streets, let alone walk, let alone be conscious in this present state, so they assigned a bell boy to walk us over to internet land.

here's a side note ... the people here are taller than taiwanese, but skinnier. way skinnier. as in their belts go around them one and a half times. i am not kidding -- they have to wrap them around to the back belt loop. so this guy was a one-and-a-halfer too, but dressed in a snappy white outfit and dandy white cap. he took us up to the internet place -- we never would have found this place on our own -- so we happily tipped him with our hong kong money (you can use HK money here, since the rates are comparable to the chinese RMB -- HK $ is actually worth a little more!).

so this internet place is unlike any other we've seen. you know how i said we're in poverty striken land here? this is probably one of the most sleek, modern places i've been, including US! remember in that movie "9-to-5" where there were just rows and rows of desks with typewriters? it's the same idea here, but all desks with flat screen monitors, webcams and fancy headphones. there must be 300 workstations here ... music playing ... no lighting ... drinks available .... clean keyboards ... lumbar support chairs ... and it's about $1 U.S. per hour.

China, Day 2 or 3 or something like that

ok, somehow we averted another theme part nightmare and did not go to the mini amazon rain forest or learn about ancient mayan culture. whew! our tour guide was like "it appears you may not be interested in the itinerary, so why don't you tell me what you want to see?" we were all like .... uh, we just want to see real china and maybe do some shopping. where are the markets? he totally was not into that idea for some reason so he made us think of something else. dr. sy was like "well, we are here to see the real china, so why don't you take us somewhere real ... like ... uh ... a garment factory?"

the guy was like "really? you want to see factory?" we were all like "YEA!!!!!" so somehow he arranged a visit and that is what we saw. we had to swear to no photos, though, so you'll just have to go on my colorful play-by-play and descriptions. the clothing factory was for "a-joy fashions" which makes women's clothes for the 20-35 year old hip chinese woman. the designer is also the head of the company, so he oversees everything! all creative and all business make for a very busy guy!

we drove about 40 minutes outside of town to a very blue collar area in a blue collar land ... they don't see many tourists in these parts i reckon, based on the amount of staring and leering received. the factory is located on the second floor and as we enter the building, there's a strange sort of yellow-brownish liquid bubbling up from a manhole cover in front of the building, creating a little pool of stankiness. we walk around it and head into the dreary building, which has wet floors and no lighting.

upon arrival to the second floor there is a bright showroom where local buyers are placing their Fall/Winter 2005 retail orders, and samples hang on four racks. the primary garment colors are green, orange, gold, purple, red and magenta/pinkish. almost all of the garments contain some embroidery .... and almost all of the garments are totally cool! i would totally wear these clothes! well, i mean i would have in the fifth grade, when they would have fit me. but still, i am impressed! these are clothes that would appear in fancy little boutiques ... not Wet Seal or Forever 21.

the owner greets us and we ask him questions via "jason" and johnny, who serve as translators. we head over to the sweatshop, i mean "assembly room", and there they all are. there's about 100 sewers working frantically on the fall and winter items we just saw. the room is divided into four sections, with each section working on a specific item. there's the red skirt section, purple skirt section, green shirt section and brown coat section. there's about 25 workers in a section, working right next to each other -- packed like a city bus at rush hour with each person sewing on his/her own machine. they can reach their arms out and touch about 8 other co-workers without getting up from their seats.

yes, there are boys here sewing! i would say half of the workers are male. they all looked about 18-26, and none of them seemed very happy. not one smile was returned. :( they make about $200 a month (US) and work six days a week, 10 hour days with a 1-hour lunch break. and that's the offseason. then during the busy seasons they work more ... often well into the night/morning. the live in dorms nearby and all of their meals and living accomodations are taken care of.

they are also given one job to do, so there's not job rotation/job sharing. so for example, if you are assigned to the red skirt team, then you are assigned to be "zipper girl" or "hem boy" for the duration of that skirt order's life. so it's not like you do zipper one day, then hem the next ... once you are zipper girl on something, you stay zipper girl! then when that order is done and there is a new garment to make, you may be assigned a new area of responsibility.

afterward, we went to the owner's office and asked him more questions and generally had a very interesting conversation. i think he liked us too because he offered to take us all to lunch. i sorta wanted him to take his crew to lunch, or at least buy them ice cream or lip gloss or something instead, but we headed off to lunch after some haggling ..... the professors wanted to take him out to lunch instead .... but ultimately the garment maker won out and we were treated to a lunch at a nearby restaurant. it was an interesting afternoon and sure beat the amazon theme park!

welcome to china, sort of.

the ferry to china wasn't bad ... it was stormy rainy and way choppy water .. and they told us it would be 30 min and it was 60 min ... i didn't throw up though, but i probably could have .... now the trip has turned into "watch christine get seasick!"

but getting across the border was no problem. i don't know why all the guidebooks made such a big deal about it -- we just had to get our passport and paperwork checked 3 times at three different stops, but we were able to do it within 15-20 min total i guess ....

we met our new tour guide "jason" (they all give themselves western names -- "randy" and "roger" were our HK guides) and i immediately sense there is no itinerary ... because he throws out the idea of visiting a theme park! i mean, what?

we suggest going to the hotel first and that is an ordeal unto itself. we're staying at allegedy the nicest hotel in the city of shenzhen, the century plaza -- four star, but it took us more than an hour to check in, for which there are no reasons given. upon checking in we have to put down a credit card deposit, which is also a trip first, and which makes everyone a little nervous. but what can you do. we're all just trying to roll with the punches at this point.

then we are instructed to meet the tour guide in the lobby in 15 minutes, which turns into 30, but no one's complaining yet. we end up going to a theme park indeed .... it's a little miniature historical version of china that you drive around on a little train and look at. we have to pay an extra $3 for the train ride (of which i am sure the tour guide gets a nice cut), but it provides us with some humor. it's the only little train ride where seat belts were actually needed -- not that we had any!

our driver must have been late for dinner or something because he tore through that park like a chinaman fleeing for hong kong! we literally had to hang on for our lives. "ming dynasty, left!!!!" ... "Summer palace, right!" .... "Great Wall, left!!!!" ..... we were whipping our heads back and forth so bad we got seasick again ... and photos were impossible .... i had to take some -- just blurs -- just because it was too damn funny. we saw 3 and a half thousand years of history in about three and a half minutes.

then it was dinner, conveniently located right at the theme park, and can i just say this .... all of the food officially is the same, but each region and country claims to have great differences and uniqueness! but now having been to all three areas, china, HK and Taiwan, i am officially ok to proclaim it all the same!!!!!

here's the drill for meals, close your eyes and you'll practically be here with me:

1. enter rice
2. enter chicken dish (skin on)
3. enter pork dish (fat on)
4. enter leafy green veggie dish
5. enter shrimps (feets, eyes and antennae still on)
6. enter fish (head, tail attached)
7. enter tea
8. enter side of hot peppers/sauce
9. watermelon for dessert

that's pretty much it. sometimes for variation there's eggs at breakfast and the rice is served in soup fashion .... but this is EVERY DAMN MEAL. can you tell i'm getting testy? i really hope tomorrow is better ..... i took "jason" aside and told him we are NOT a theme park group ... we just want to shop and have free time, duh .... i thought he got the message until today, when he announced TWO theme parks on the itinerary for tomorrow ... one where they have somehow recreated the Amazon right here in mainland china ... and other one that examines the ancient Mayan culture ... great. i would love to see their take on this ... this from the culture who -- to this day -- refuses to admit there were any casualties in tieneman square!

anyway, i've turned to rant ... oh! and i can't read your comments! china, or at least this internet station where we are, has blocked blogspot addresses! so i can post on blogger, but just can't check the finished product! what a country .... tomorrow will be better i keep telling myself ...

peace out for now ... i've got to find "jason" and get my point across about the theme parks .... again .....