Trip 2: Week 4

Shi Bu Shi
(pronounced in Beijingese "Sure, Boo Sure" with an emphasis on boo!)

It means literally "Is, Is Not?"

As with many things here, the label and the actual thing are only superficially connected. Living here is like living in a Vegas version of your real life. While it seems to me, living here for the majority of citizens is still very much like life in the middle ages. Not of course the growing and rising middle class who live quite well, but the majority of Chinese. I wonder how they will benefit from the growth of China?

On Tipping or Not

As an American, I feel guilty sometimes for not tipping for services which I am so accustomed to paying for in the States. It is like a unstated agreement with all the other foreigners to not begin tipping, as we have all become so used to getting things for nothing or close to it. Its like a flood gate scenario and you don't want to be responsible for the tidal wave. But to be fair, the idea of customer service does not exist here. Its a chicken/egg thing. Tips create incentive when service is aware of the possibility. The mentality here is that the foreigners happily pay a bit more for goods and go to places for foreigners expecting this hike, so why add tip?

Just know, even in fancy places the level of service you will receive is very basic. It may be more cultural than anything. Still trying to get a better sense of this whole issue, but the locals are getting savvy to what they might be missing out on. I can feel it.


Literally Translated

Public Bathroom = "Protect Your Health Room"


Local News Update

English language magazines are being halted starting with their summer issues, presumably for fear of possible content that could be exposed to the Olympic visitors, but who knows! There is not logic to the way media is controlled here. It is a crack down and all our magazines "That's Beijing" and "Time Out Beijing" will not be available as we've known it. Though the branding my continue to exist, the content and producers will be different. We can look out for a new project called "Beijinger" started by the folks who have been bringing us "That's Beijing." The weird thing is that usually they leave the foreigners alone to read and see what we want, knowing the general Chinese population neither has access or the desire for access to this kind of information. But now, something must be different as the rope has tightened. The biggest benefit to the status quo is that the language barrier is so strong, even for foreigners who have studied for years. Apparently, its still hard to decipher a menu, so how could you even begin to talk about bigger issues.

On the up side, blogger blogs seem to be allowed for the moment. Let's see how long that lasts.

I am learning as much as I can to try to understand what and why here. Trying to keep an open mind and keep perspective. Just hoping to make some observations, share some insight, and not sound like an ass.


Missing the air in New York and all of you who care enough to read this!

Love to you all.

I held a two week old human baby last night.

Trip 2: Week 3

Week Three has come and gone.

I spent a couple days touring the Lama Temple and the Summer Palace with some out-of-towners, as Henry worked his 8 - 6 shift. Both of these sites are must sees for a trip to Beijing.



Lama Temple (Yonghegong)

Once home to a Prince turned Emperor, Yongzheng, this lamasery for Tibetan Monks and tourist land mark, houses one of the most impressive sculptures I've ever seen. Standing approximately 60 feet high, this Maitreya statue was created from a piece of solid sandalwood gifted by the Dalai Lama to Emperor Qianlong in 1750. The trip from Nepal to Beijing took three years and the building it lives in was constructed around the finished sculpture.









The Summer Palace

The old summer imperial home is located just NW of the city. According to TravelChinauide.com, after an attack by the Anglo-French allied force, the current Summer Palace was built up from the ruins of the 'Qingyi Garden' (Garden of Clear Ripples) in 1888 by Empress Dowager Cixi via some questionable means. At this time she changed the name of this over 700 acre project to Summer Palace (Yiheyuan). It was designated as a Key Cultural Relics Protection Site of China in 1960 and a UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1998.





Find more photos on Flickr.



Qingdao or Bust! (or more popularly known as Tsingtao)




This weekend is a long weekend with the Dragon Boat Festival making Monday a National Holiday, so Henry & I are going away to the coast. To the home of Qingdao beer, a legacy of the German occupation there. We are excited about getting to the ocean, as the rest of the summer looks like it will be consumed by pre, post, and Olympic events for the news and I will be moving to Caochangdi to start my residence mid July.

Time will fly, then I will be back on the East Coast again. The future is still uncertain, but the summer promises to be full of opportunities.


Highlights of the weekend away:

Food

An Shi Stove in Hong Kong Garden area of town. It is a hip little Korean place with a a very east village feel. About 30% of businesses based in Qingdao are Korean owned therefore, there is a substantial Korean population living and working here. We noticed on our drive in from the airport that many signs were in Chinese & Korean, so were tipped off immediately.


Sights

We went to Zhongshan Park with the Zhongshan Temple (where I spotted someone's briefs being hung to dry just outside one of the buildings, refer to flickr!), the Arboretum, and the Zoo. Skipping the TV tower, as the fog laid low, and missed actually entering the zoo, as it shut at 5. We rode the lift (like a skilift, sans snow and skis) from Temple side to Zoo side and realized we have acquired an adult case of "fear-of-heights," making the whole experience much more of an adrenaline rush than an easy way to cover the vast landscape.

We also went to the Aquarium called Qingdao Underwater World, not to mistaken for the Qingdao Polar Ocean World. The Qingdao Underwater World is rated as AAAA tourist resort and is called a "modern large-scale eco-tourism project integrating marine tourism and science education." The reality of what I saw:

1/3 of the exhibits were colorless specimens in formaldehyde or dried/varnished ones
1/3 actual live fish/water mammals, some in very tight spaces, some in a larger tanks
1/3 shops with all of the above in some edible form or decorative form

It is hard to see how some animals are treated in all cultures, but here I felt spectacle was primary and education only a small room toward the exit that was easy to miss with the vast displays in all the retail shops. Contemporary China is full of contradictions. The things kept from the past like traditions of harvesting (and by that I mean killing) animals for parts used in food or "medicine," while all the benefit of the intellectuals of the past have been banished. It's a culture that has traditions without history. Even the origins of Communism and Socialism which were intellectual imports, have been so derived that it is hard to recognize the social benefits in China today.

Redstar
is an English language website that tells you all about Qingdao and the places to go, see, & eat!
It was a great find, as the lonely planet's section on the city is brief, but at least lead us to this.

Trip 2: Week 1 & 2 Back in Beijing

I am just getting my footing.

Feeling better about roaming around as getting lost in the freezing cold is no longer a problem. The sights are familiar & the language is slowly soaking in. My focus this trip is to make art, art world connections, and see more of China.


I love learning through the experience of food. Here is a special example...
Three Guizhou Men is a slightly up scale chain known for its fried ribs. The cuisine is inspired by the Guizhou region in the south, sandwiched between: Sichuan, Hunan, Guangxi Zhuang, & Yunnan. I am just learning about the 8 regional cuisines of China, so bear with me as I try to describe for you this tasty delight! It had the complex spices of Yunnan food with the hot (as in spicy) flavors of Sichuan. Guizhou is made up of over 18 ethinic minority groups, including Miao, Dong, Hui, Yi, Bouyi, Shui, Zhuang, and Gejia. The sum of which apparently contribute to the reason why it is home to more folk festivals than any other province in China! You can imagine the landscape as green countryside with terraced hillsides, waterfalls in forests, and home to the largest underground cave in China called Zhijin! (You will notice a reoccurring theme claiming the "largest" or "greatest" or "oldest" or "newest" of everything!)

I'd recommend the ribs and the sizzling beef. They also have these great potato cakes made of mashed potatoes that you are meant to dip into a bowl of orange tinted spices. You don't find a lot of potatoes in northern cuisines (as far as I have found) and potatoes are my favorite vegetable, so I miss it.

Hatsune is a solid staple for Japanese food and generally you will need to call ahead. It is Japanese as you'd find it in New York. I'm looking forward to trying restaurateur Alan Wong's new project called Haiku in Block 8, a development on the western edge of Chaoyang Park!


What I'm up to this week:

Three Shadows Sichuan Earthquake Benefit

The benefit was a huge success and I came away with an original set of New Photo. East Village costs about Y4,500 and are in limited supply, but I only budgeted myself Y2,000. Luckily, the was a collectors set of the first four issues of New Photo that was within my budget! It is a beautiful collection bound together in a handmade case with an essays by Wu Hung and Zhang Li.

Live music in Ritan Park at Stone Boat

The Stone Boat is a beautifully conceived of cafe/bar inside Ritan Park along the water. Frequented by both locals and foreigners and venue for a wide range of music, it is always an interesting place to spend some time, either with or without laptop. In the evenings, the park is closed to street traffic, but you can go in for Stone Boat. Started by a couple, her a Chinese local, him an American journalist.

Drinks on the roof of The Emperor

This boutique hotel on the east side of the Forbidden City is a sight to see and experience. Designed by GRAFT LAB, this very modern interpretation of Chinese imperial heritage is the first of its kind (as far as I have seen). Each room is named after an emperor, hence the grand title. Yin Bar, atop this bright orange hotel, is the kind of place that makes you feel as though you've been transported. The views are spectacular, as well as, the bevies and light bar menu offered. The menu itself is a work of art.


Day in Chaoyang Park

Chaoyang Park is the Central Park of Beijing. But imagine it as newly planted with a Disney World like component. Soft "Romantic" music pipped over the speaker system and a safari of staged wedding portraits as you wander this landscape, you are reminded of how every culture has its own ideals of love. Each photographer with his own long range lens lying in the grass hoping to capture that moment when there is the perfect light and angle of the couple in the mating ritual. I walked into a giant ladybug that houses the public restroom, where I encountered a gaggle of girls undressing and dressing the bride. Its hard to imagine this is the same room I worry about stomaching the odor and think how I will need to roll up my pants legs to save from soaking in the wetness from the squat stalls. It was like seeing the staging ground for the things you never think are based in reality, but really in reality. Anyway, I was especially impressed by a couple in matching wedding wear, reminiscent of the stylings of Prince circa early 80's. Now that was a sight to see. Some of the men here seem to be just as into the fantasy as the women.


Visiting galleries in the "Jiuchang (liquor factory)":


Arario Gallery
Jiuchang Art Complex
Beihuqu Road
Anwaibeiyuan Street
Chaoyang District, Beijing
100012 P.R. China

There is a part of town, where the population is mostly made up of Koreans. This Jiuchang Art Complex is just off this part of town, through construction sites and over dirt roads. It houses some galleries that have quite the reputation in Beijing. Arario is one such premier gallery. many of the galleries here seemed to be Korean-owned, which may account for its location. It is like many things in Beijing, a bit hard to find, but well worth the trip. Jiuchang was quite on the Friday afternoon I went to visit. All the spaces that were open, welcomed us and were eager to answer any questions. I was at a loss with out my name cards and enough Mandarin to network, but my Korean did come in handy a couple times.



Saturday Night at
Dos Kolegas a bar next to a drive-in movie theater!
I will try to sneak some photos of couples making out...



After a picnic dinner in Chaoyang Park, we walked to the north gate opposite Beijing's famous Drive-In Movie theater and Dos Kolegas which is in the complex housed by this theater. It was apparently the place to gather during the SARS scare, as it was exempt from laws against public gatherings, as one would assume the people were neatly contained in their metal cages they drove in on. From where I stood at the outdoor garden of Dos Kolegas, I could see no outdoor screen or the cars lined up with people watching the film. What I could see was a small body of water and some bright signs that looked more like signs in a motel parking lot. Not sure what the deal is with the drive in, but Dos Kolegas was like a mini music festival and house show rolled into one. Lots of expats and some locals that looked as East Village as you can imagine. It was the 3rd anniversary party, so it was pretty packed. At Y50 a head, they must make a killing. Some western customs are slow to be adopted, but here the locals traveled with their mini-mutts, just like Manhattan! Dog culture is catching on, but lots of people are still afraid of dogs, especially the big ones (meaning above the city limit of 14 inches).
The only place for a big dog is in the Villas just outside the 5th ring road. Though there is no guarantee that another rabies scare won't sweep the city and call for some unimaginable recourse. I will spare you if you don't know about this.

All in all, a good 2 going on 3 weeks! I've gotten myself a language tutor who is totally rad and a dog-lover too. She is a born and raised Beijinger and has a really good command of the English language despite never traveling to an English speaking land. Instead she has an American roommate and hosts travelers in their apt offering guidance, language, cooking, and anything you might need to make your trip more enjoyable. I would recommend staying with her to anyone wishing to really get a feel for Beijing. (must love dogs, ofcourse).

Love from Beijing.

Pinyin of the day:
Meiguo = USA = Beautiful Land

Pinyin statement of the day:
Wo shi Meiguoren.
I am an American person.


To Do List:

Further explore CaoChangdi Art Village (aka "The East Village")
DoArt
261 Caochangdi
Airport Service Rd.
Chaoyang District, Beijing
China

In the Aftermath

I have arrived to the nations capital just in time for the official period of mourning after the Quake of May 12th and multiple aftershocks. This is apparently the first time China has allowed the Media to be such an integral part of a natural disaster and the healing process that follows. Times are slowly changing...

National Days of Mourning
May 19, 20, & 21

3 minutes on Monday May 19 at 2:28 pm the streets stood still as the horns blared.

These symbolic gestures are the kind of thing that remind you that there are some universally understood truths. There are many cultural differences to be found and considered, but when natural disaster strikes, the whole world can stand still together. It is something we are all vulnerable to and therefore can be sympathetic towards. Even on the street, you can see a small difference in how people are treating one another. You see lending helpful hands here and there in a society where it is more common to see an "every man for himself" attitude. A light of hope at a devastating time for China.


Some BEIJING BASICS:

Though it is a time for reflection, there is always some humor to be found in the human condition.

A. That's Beijing
Is the Village Voice of Beijing, but in magazine format.
Check out some of TBJ's online offerings:

1)
My favorite singles ad is titled "Let's end the boring time."

2)



3) 1982
Warhol on the Wall


B. Insider's Guide to Beijing
A great guide book and offers the best Mandarin Phrasebook to communicate your everyday needs, such as...

1) (On ordering a drink.) Make it stiff!
Yao lie yidiannr!

2) (On ordering food.) Are there internal organs in that dish?
Zhei dao cai you neizang ma?

3) (On ordering my favorite locals cocktail.) Chivas and green tea.
Zhihuashi he lucha.


C. Urbane
China's Design Art Architecture Lifestyle Travel Magazine

You can pick up a copy at most foreigner frequented spas, bars, or restaurants
or get a free 12 month subscription by emailing them directly.

This months issue has features on One Way Street Library, a Master Diver who wants to teach the Chinese to dive, and Moganshan (once Shanghai's version of the Hamptons).


(D - Z: TBD)

PS Beijing's new airport designed by Norman Foster (also the designer of the world famous Hong Kong Airport) opened this February (must have been after my departure) and is "reputedly the world’s largest building – approx. 1.3m sqm mostly under one roof." Upon arrival, I was in shock and awe.
It was a completely opposite experience to when I arrive just after Christmas 07. The transformation is amazing. The whole city underwent a major growth spurt during my 2 and a half months state side.
Check out some photos of the airport, now Olympic ready.

Capital Airport
2003-08 Foster + Partners

Upon Arriving for the second time...

I believe in accepting indirect routes as opportunity for adventure.
For this trip out, I took a flight through Newark to Hong Kong via ATL.
It has been years since I have been in the Newark Airport. Things have changed.
The once thing I'm always wishing for in an airport existed here. The airport spa.
Last minute chair massages, nails or waxes! Yeah. I was really impressed with the changes. What I remembered of this place was something simpler, more streamline, and smaller. Just functional. Now, I might consider flying in or out of this place next time, considering LGA ultra short runway, and JFK's traffic, though easy to avoid with public transport.

15 hours after departing the New Newark, I found myself in New York time, but 12 hours ahead. I wound my watch ahead and tried to wrap my head around traveling 15 hours to get 12 hours ahead. The best part of the flight was watching Lost in Translation mins before landing. Laughing out loud at Bill Murray and the feeling of foreign-ness. It was a great place to put my head before landing.


Why I <3 Hong Kong ( <3 = heart )

I've only been here as a small child and had no memories. The only connection I have to it now, is that I have been dreaming of visiting with Henry there in his childhood place and thinking about how cool it would be to learn to sail and live by the ocean.
Hours before I left Atlanta to board my first plane, I got the dreaded call from Henry, saying that the earthquake news is keeping him at work and he would no longer be able to meet me in Hong Kong for our long weekend for our reunion tour! As an optimist, I decided to make the most of it and accept the things I cannot control. Life with a journalist. Turns out it was a perfect opp to remind myself how well I can travel solo. Besides, HK is about the easiest places to be. Arrived in the very well appointed airport. Put my extra luggage in lockers and took the airport express into Hong Kong! Super smooth. Easy to get a cab and was at my hotel in less than an hour door to door. I wouldn't know what the game plan was til I could check email and find out what Henry planned during my flight. Was ready to spend a couple days and take the train to Beijing, but luckily he booked me on a flight out the next afternoon, giving me enough time to do somethings in the city by myself.

Dinner in LKF, a touristy area I might have avoided if I had known what to expect, but it was good to see and have a quick Indian supper, fortunately just above street level that I could escape the frat party. After my delicious chicken tikka marsala, I strolled toward SOHO (South of Hollywood) and found the atmosphere there a bit closer to my taste in terms of a dinner date kinda feeling. Saw some commercial gallery spaces and photographed in the night light for a while. Then an early night at the Bishop Lei, which I would recommend to anyone looking for location and low key place to stay. Its connected to a Catholic Church and is run by the Archdiocese OF HK. Pretty rad story and all that you could need from a hotel, sans fluff. A rec from friends I really respect and know a thing or two about architecture.

Bright and early, I joined the hundreds of HK-ers strolling through the Botanical Gardens/ Zoological Park, which is free BTW and amazingly lush. I saw all the plams I could ever wish for and a beautiful Jaguar, baby monkeys, and so many birds. Photos soon to be on Flikr...Walked and found my way through to the Tram up to the Peak. Something all tourists do for the view of Victoria Harbor. Somethings are worth it, though you have to endure feeling like part of the pack. It was a great early morning thing to do. Then I had scoped out a dim sum place that I could go to before having to prepare for the airport again! Luk Yu Tea House, right next to the LKF area, but the streets are in use by cars by day and the streets feel more manageable. I tried three different types of dumplings (which rank up there as one of my favorite foods, by design and taste).

K- running out of puter juice, so TBC.

Later!

Please write to me. I miss ya'll already.

XXX
SJL