The food in Cambodia was amazing. Every Cambodian meal I had was delicious. They used a lot of meat and rice, like the Chinese, but it was prepared differently. Nothing was fired and the meat was always somewhat spicy. It was not spicy like curry, it was just a hint for flavor.
The roads in Cambodia were absolutely horrible. One or two roads around the Old French Quarter were somewhat decent, but outside of that, the newest major road was barely chip and seal. The road we took into the country side was what I assume to be a high way. The government had started work on improving it. Construction was even more unorganized then back in the States. There were no lanes blocked off by orange cones, just piles of gravel dumped haphazardly in the middle of the road. Everyone traveling on that road would just have to figure out how to get around it. Later down the road it turned to dirt. Interestingly enough, the Cambodian government still had a toll booth on the dirt road. Whether the road was "paved" or not did not improved the condition of the road for the most part. Driving was often slow because there were so many pot holes and other giant imperfections. No matter where you were, I don't think there was much rule of the road. I don't remember seeing any traffic signs or lines on the road. It was more or less free for all.
The Cambodian people seemed pretty nice (unless they were trying to get money out of you). Our driver, Tong, was very polite and helpful. In the restaurants, the waiters/waitresses seemed to enjoy interacting with customers. At one, the waiter thought Wes and Francesca were related. We thought this was humorous as they look nothing alike. Wes pointed out to the waiter that they even have different ancestral backgrounds. The waiter then took interest in the fact Americans have diverse backgrounds. When I told him I was Scottish and German he asked if I could speak Scottish. He seemed very disappointed and confused when I told him Scots speak English. And on the topic of language, everyone seemed to speak English pretty well. Most had only had a slight accent and rarely were we ever asked to reword our sentences into simpler phrases. Even the children were nice (except for the ones described below). If we passed them while they were playing they would often wave and say "Hello." In the markets the vendors were less aggressive then in China or even Hong Kong. However, out at the temples, the vendors act pretty desperate. Typically, you would tell a vendor "I already have one" to get them off your back (telling them you don't want it invites them to try to convince you otherwise). On a couple of occasions the vendors replied "But you haven't bought one from me!" A common thing all of them would do is ask "Where are you from?" When I replied that I was American, they would also list random facts such as the capital is Washington D.C., the biggest state is Alaska, etc. It was almost always in the same order too.
The corruption in Cambodia was pretty bad and became very apparent. Cambodia is a democracy with freedoms, but still carries the burden of corruption like most other developing nations. Tong would speak freely on the subject when we asked him. At the temples you need a license to give tours. However, there were plenty of people without license trying to give tours to people. They wouldn't ask for money until the very end. To do this, they have to pay off the police. The same goes for selling things at temples, you have to pay the police. On a couple occasions I even saw the police standing with the vendor (my guess either making sure he gets his cut or was being paid a little extra for protection). At the Bayon temple we even had a police officer try to give us a tour. They are pretty aggressive and often catch you if you try to sneak away. Fortunately, we managed to lose that police officer and did not run into him again.
Often times you would see kids selling stuff, mostly at the temples but some on the streets of Siem Reap. When I say kids, I mean easily under 10 years old an no supervision what so ever. They would have simple and small items like post cards, bracelets, fans, and magnets. They were just as aggressive, if not more, then the adult vendors. At Angkor Wat one little girl was very aggressive and followed me around while I was looking for where Tong parked. Like everyone else she asked me "Where are you from?" which after responding that I was from the States she very rapidly said all kinds of facts about the states. She ended with "Your President is Obama. You know Obama? I am his daughter. I am Sasha! You need postcards!" Fortunately at that point I finally found Tong and the little girl left with out me having to reply to such an odd argument. Another argument the kids would use, and use frequently, is that they have to pay off the police. Sadly this is true. I never found out if what the children were doing was technically illegal (it would certainly be for the parents if this was happening in the States) but law or no law they system would work the same. The police are underpaid and everyone wants money.
On the topic of money, the way currency is used in Cambodia (or at least Siem Reap, but I have a feeling it is the same in most parts of the country) is quite interesting. Cambodian current is called the riel and is US$1 to about 4,130 riel. I was looking forward to having to have over 100,000 in currency on me. However, when I got to Siem Reap, everything was quoted in US dollars. In fact, the ATMs only gave out US dollars. The visa and the tickets to the temples, both from the government, were paid for in American dollars. It was the preferred currency. Even though cash registers everywhere were full of American bills, the American coins were no where to be seen. So if there were ever cents involved (for example I got ice cream for US$1.50) the change was given in riel. Everyone just rounded US$0.25 to 1,000 riel. By the end of my trip, I was used to using two different currencies in the same transaction.
The poverty in Siem Reap was pretty bad, or at least it seemed to us Americans. There were a lot of shacks. The poorest were out in the country side. Tong said that if we wanted to see poor people we would have to drive about 80km out of the city (he didn't think those living in shacks in the city were poor, he called them "normal"). The area around the river was the poorest we saw, and it was pretty poor. When we got off the boat a small group of children started to follow us. There were a couple adults not too far away yelling at them, and each time they yelled the children got more aggressive for money. One little girl seemed rather shy and didn't say anything. She just pointed to the empty water bottle I was carrying. I noticed she had a bag full of empty plastic bottles. I handed it to her and she seemed pretty happy. There was one little boy who kept asking for money. After we got in the car, he banged on the window asking for one dollar. Despite the depressing first impression, we did see a lot of hope. At one point we ventured out of the Old French Quarter to see what the typical life was for a local. There was a surprising amount of development hidden from the main road. There were apartment buildings (granted no where near the standard we are used to, but significantly better then a dirt floor). Schools were also everywhere. Even in the floating village, the most common building (aside from a house) was a school. Friday was the only school day we were there and the schools we saw open were overflowing with children. Cambodians are definitely eager to develop and are making progress on that front.
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Siem Reap: Day Four
Our flight left Siem Reap at 8:30AM in the morning. We had Tong take us to the airport. There was only one other flight that morning so we got through check in, paying the departure tax (which cost more then the visa), and security pretty quickly. We got into Kuala Lumpur at 11:30AM and our connecting flight to Hong Kong did not leave until late afternoon. So we decided to get lunch at the Petronas Towers. On the way there my camera died so I have no pictures, but the two towers were very beautiful. On the way there we also pasted vary large and beautiful looking mosques. At the base of the towers was a very modern mall. I found the environment inside very interesting. It was a mix of Western and Islamic culture. Most women were wearing head scarves, yet in the center of the mall was a big promotional demonstration for make-up in perfect English. We found a Malaysian restaurant to have a quick lunch in. I had some sort of shredded beef which was one of the best meals I have ever had. The seasoning and spices they used gave it a very unique and delicious taste. Afterwards we headed back to the airport and caught our flight back to Hong Kong. Most of the day was spent traveling but the quick stop at the Petronas Towers was well worth it. It was too bad we didn't have a whole day to explore Kuala Lumpur.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Siem Reap: Day Two
At around 5:30AM Francesca and I decided to stop trying to sleep and just check in. The departure hall of this terminal was poorly set up. We had to wait in line to get to the area with check in desks and then wait in line once we found the desk we needed. Checking in was pretty quick and our boarding pass was just an ordinary receipt. We then had to make our way back through all of the masses of people to get to the other side of the hall to go through immigration and security. Once we got through all of this mess and found Wes on the other side. We had to wait another 30 minutes before they called our flight. We walked out on the tarmac to our plane and our flight was only two hours long.
We arrived in Siem Reap at 8AM (we passed through a time zone). The scenery was a lot different then I had expected. It was flat, light vegetation, and very dirty. All the roads I saw were dirt and I half expected use to land on a dirt runway. The airport in Siem Reap was actually very nice, but very small.
There were only two other plans at the airport. When we walked into the airport we had to buy a visa. It was only US$20 and then we got through immigration. At this point we were pretty happy that they took American dollars. However, once we got into the airport lobby and looked for a taxi, we realized that everything in Siem Reap was in American dollars. In fact no ATM offered anything other then American currency. We got a taxi to take us into the city to the hostel we had pre-booked. Our driver was named Tong and said that he could dive us around for the whole day for $25. We agreed. Tong then took all the things off the car that identify it as a taxi and hid his company ID. At first I assumed it was because we hired him for the day, but I think it was because he was using the company car to make extra money on the side. In any case Tong was a pretty nice guy. He is a student at Phnom Penh studying history and his dream is to one day become a tour guide. Throughout the day he gave us lots of information on the history and meaning of things around Cambodia for free.
Our hostel was pretty nice. It was called Shadow of Angkor (frequently misspelled as Shaow of Angkor) and was on the eastern edge of the Old French Quarter.
In the area were a lot of old French colonial buildings. It was also the nicest part of the city. Our room had three beds, a private bathroom, and most importantly an air conditioner. Cambodia was very hot and very humid.
After we got settled into our hostel we decided to go into the country side and take a boat ride down the river. While driving out to the river we got to see a lot of the farm land. We saw many fields of rice and lotus. The ground was very similar for both, somewhat flooded.
The lotus is very important to Buddhist and it is also a vary tasty snack. We got to walk around a lotus farm and try eating it. The lotus fields had lots of life in it with all kinds of frogs and insects going about their business. The seeds taste somewhat like a sweet pea. There were also a lot of oxen and cattle wondering around.
The area around the river seemed depressing. Everyone lives in shacks and there seemed very little economic activity. The ground was all dirt. Cambodia has a wet and dry season. It is currently the dry season and during the wet season the river rises quite significantly. This means it is very difficult for anything to grow and erosion seemed common place. All the shacks were built up high on pillars. We found our boat and started down the river. We were the only three people on the boat in addition to the boat driver and his son. His son would help dock the boat and help fix the engine every time it went out (not the most reliable motor). Going down the river we saw all kinds of daily life. Some people were fishing, some were transporting produce, while others were on their way to school. Most of this was done in small boats about the size of a canoe. The water was very muddy but there appeared to be little garbage in the water. Along the edge of the river near the shacks, however, there was plenty of trash. It seemed like those that lived there would just toss refused out the door and not worry about it. At the end of the river was Cambodia's giant lake. One the lake was the floating village.
This was a decently sized village made up of entirely boats. This was to enable the fishermen to be close to the fish while not being troubled by rising and sinking water levels. There were houses, churches, schools, restaurant, police station, and even a basketball court and a vegetable garden, all floating on the lake. Here is a video of us overtaking a school that was being moved.We docked at the restaurant. Inside they had a little shop and a section where they raise fish and crocodile. Killing crocodile for their skin and meat is very common in Cambodia. We were not hungry but I did buy a small Cambodian flag. After we looked around (it was three stories high so the top was a good observation deck) we got back on the boat and head back to where Tong was.
Tong took us back into Siem Reap which by that time we were hungry and wanted some authentic Cambodian food. We went to this restaurant that was hidden but somewhat upscale. Even though it was pretty nice compared to most of the other places in Cambodia, the meal was still cheap. I ordered Lok Lak (I think that is how it is spelled) beef. It was very very good. We ended up sharing everything so I also had some very good vegetable dishes and chicken. Afterwards we went to a cultural center, but there was not much going on there and it was very touristy so we left early.
We then went to an artisan school for woodworking and masonry. This place was not touristy at all but they let outsiders come in and look around. The older man (who I am guessing is the headmaster) was quite happy to show us around while Tong translated for us. The main part was a big hut which had a bunch of students working on giant wood carvings.
There were a few students working on smaller figurines, but for the most part the carvings were of panels with carvings of temples such as Angkor Wat. These were easily over 5 feet in length and 3 feet wide. Just outside was where the masonry students were working. They were working on all different size statues in various stages of creation. One of the finished statues of an ancient Cambodian king, which was a little smaller then life size, took over a month to make. Lying around in the rubble were bits and pieces and statues that were student mistakes. I found a small head of King Jayavarman VII (the Great Buddha king who converted the ancient Khmer Empire from Hindu to Buddhism) and asked the old man if I could buy it. He kept trying to tell me it was a student mistake, but I still thought it was done pretty well as it was about finished. He ended up agreeing to sell it to me for US$10. This was a pretty good deal since I couldn't tell it was a mistake and the other ones started at well over US$100.
On our way back to the hostel we passed by a monument to the Killing Fields. The Killing Fields is where Pol Pot tortured and killed a significant portion of the Cambodian population to solidify his power. Today, Cambodia is a democracy (but has a corruption problem) and is trying to move on from the Pol Pot area. The monument had a bunch of bones collected from the Killing Fields and had a few exhibits to show what a horrible situation the Pol Pot reign was.
The signs that explained what happened were very condemning of the era.
Right next door was a Buddhist temple which was holding religious activities. There were monks chanting and many people were sitting in and around the temple. We went into the temple and sat in on the chanting. Before we could go in we had to take off our shoes and then sat quietly and watched. I am not sure what was going on but in front were older monks facing a big statue of Buddha. They were the ones doing the chanting. On one side were the younger monks, who were playing with cell phones for most of the chanting. It was somewhat comical.
Afterwards, we had Tong drop us off at our hostel and told him that we would hire him again tomorrow. We wanted to wander around the area near our hostel as there were many shops and restaurants near by. There was a small shopping complex one block down. It was basically a warehouse with all kinds of little independent shops inside. They sold similar things to the markets in China (artwork, fabrics, carvings, etc) but all Cambodian related. In the center was a wet market which smelled horrible (no ventilation). We ended up eating at a place called Cambodian BBQ which was recommended by Lonely Planet. There we ordered crocodile, kangaroo, and chicken. Crocodile is a lot like chicken, but the kangaroo was amazing. The meat looked a lot different from other meats and had a very different taste. Part of it could have been the seasonings they used, but it was still very good. Even though it was not that late when we finished we were still very tired from not having sleep the night before, the extreme heat, and all the things we did during the day.
Album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2285717&id=7725102&l=de803
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2285721&id=7725102&l=2ad09
We arrived in Siem Reap at 8AM (we passed through a time zone). The scenery was a lot different then I had expected. It was flat, light vegetation, and very dirty. All the roads I saw were dirt and I half expected use to land on a dirt runway. The airport in Siem Reap was actually very nice, but very small.
There were only two other plans at the airport. When we walked into the airport we had to buy a visa. It was only US$20 and then we got through immigration. At this point we were pretty happy that they took American dollars. However, once we got into the airport lobby and looked for a taxi, we realized that everything in Siem Reap was in American dollars. In fact no ATM offered anything other then American currency. We got a taxi to take us into the city to the hostel we had pre-booked. Our driver was named Tong and said that he could dive us around for the whole day for $25. We agreed. Tong then took all the things off the car that identify it as a taxi and hid his company ID. At first I assumed it was because we hired him for the day, but I think it was because he was using the company car to make extra money on the side. In any case Tong was a pretty nice guy. He is a student at Phnom Penh studying history and his dream is to one day become a tour guide. Throughout the day he gave us lots of information on the history and meaning of things around Cambodia for free.Our hostel was pretty nice. It was called Shadow of Angkor (frequently misspelled as Shaow of Angkor) and was on the eastern edge of the Old French Quarter.
In the area were a lot of old French colonial buildings. It was also the nicest part of the city. Our room had three beds, a private bathroom, and most importantly an air conditioner. Cambodia was very hot and very humid.After we got settled into our hostel we decided to go into the country side and take a boat ride down the river. While driving out to the river we got to see a lot of the farm land. We saw many fields of rice and lotus. The ground was very similar for both, somewhat flooded.
The lotus is very important to Buddhist and it is also a vary tasty snack. We got to walk around a lotus farm and try eating it. The lotus fields had lots of life in it with all kinds of frogs and insects going about their business. The seeds taste somewhat like a sweet pea. There were also a lot of oxen and cattle wondering around.The area around the river seemed depressing. Everyone lives in shacks and there seemed very little economic activity. The ground was all dirt. Cambodia has a wet and dry season. It is currently the dry season and during the wet season the river rises quite significantly. This means it is very difficult for anything to grow and erosion seemed common place. All the shacks were built up high on pillars. We found our boat and started down the river. We were the only three people on the boat in addition to the boat driver and his son. His son would help dock the boat and help fix the engine every time it went out (not the most reliable motor). Going down the river we saw all kinds of daily life. Some people were fishing, some were transporting produce, while others were on their way to school. Most of this was done in small boats about the size of a canoe. The water was very muddy but there appeared to be little garbage in the water. Along the edge of the river near the shacks, however, there was plenty of trash. It seemed like those that lived there would just toss refused out the door and not worry about it. At the end of the river was Cambodia's giant lake. One the lake was the floating village.
This was a decently sized village made up of entirely boats. This was to enable the fishermen to be close to the fish while not being troubled by rising and sinking water levels. There were houses, churches, schools, restaurant, police station, and even a basketball court and a vegetable garden, all floating on the lake. Here is a video of us overtaking a school that was being moved.We docked at the restaurant. Inside they had a little shop and a section where they raise fish and crocodile. Killing crocodile for their skin and meat is very common in Cambodia. We were not hungry but I did buy a small Cambodian flag. After we looked around (it was three stories high so the top was a good observation deck) we got back on the boat and head back to where Tong was.Tong took us back into Siem Reap which by that time we were hungry and wanted some authentic Cambodian food. We went to this restaurant that was hidden but somewhat upscale. Even though it was pretty nice compared to most of the other places in Cambodia, the meal was still cheap. I ordered Lok Lak (I think that is how it is spelled) beef. It was very very good. We ended up sharing everything so I also had some very good vegetable dishes and chicken. Afterwards we went to a cultural center, but there was not much going on there and it was very touristy so we left early.
We then went to an artisan school for woodworking and masonry. This place was not touristy at all but they let outsiders come in and look around. The older man (who I am guessing is the headmaster) was quite happy to show us around while Tong translated for us. The main part was a big hut which had a bunch of students working on giant wood carvings.
There were a few students working on smaller figurines, but for the most part the carvings were of panels with carvings of temples such as Angkor Wat. These were easily over 5 feet in length and 3 feet wide. Just outside was where the masonry students were working. They were working on all different size statues in various stages of creation. One of the finished statues of an ancient Cambodian king, which was a little smaller then life size, took over a month to make. Lying around in the rubble were bits and pieces and statues that were student mistakes. I found a small head of King Jayavarman VII (the Great Buddha king who converted the ancient Khmer Empire from Hindu to Buddhism) and asked the old man if I could buy it. He kept trying to tell me it was a student mistake, but I still thought it was done pretty well as it was about finished. He ended up agreeing to sell it to me for US$10. This was a pretty good deal since I couldn't tell it was a mistake and the other ones started at well over US$100.On our way back to the hostel we passed by a monument to the Killing Fields. The Killing Fields is where Pol Pot tortured and killed a significant portion of the Cambodian population to solidify his power. Today, Cambodia is a democracy (but has a corruption problem) and is trying to move on from the Pol Pot area. The monument had a bunch of bones collected from the Killing Fields and had a few exhibits to show what a horrible situation the Pol Pot reign was.
The signs that explained what happened were very condemning of the era.Right next door was a Buddhist temple which was holding religious activities. There were monks chanting and many people were sitting in and around the temple. We went into the temple and sat in on the chanting. Before we could go in we had to take off our shoes and then sat quietly and watched. I am not sure what was going on but in front were older monks facing a big statue of Buddha. They were the ones doing the chanting. On one side were the younger monks, who were playing with cell phones for most of the chanting. It was somewhat comical.
Afterwards, we had Tong drop us off at our hostel and told him that we would hire him again tomorrow. We wanted to wander around the area near our hostel as there were many shops and restaurants near by. There was a small shopping complex one block down. It was basically a warehouse with all kinds of little independent shops inside. They sold similar things to the markets in China (artwork, fabrics, carvings, etc) but all Cambodian related. In the center was a wet market which smelled horrible (no ventilation). We ended up eating at a place called Cambodian BBQ which was recommended by Lonely Planet. There we ordered crocodile, kangaroo, and chicken. Crocodile is a lot like chicken, but the kangaroo was amazing. The meat looked a lot different from other meats and had a very different taste. Part of it could have been the seasonings they used, but it was still very good. Even though it was not that late when we finished we were still very tired from not having sleep the night before, the extreme heat, and all the things we did during the day.
Album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2285717&id=7725102&l=de803
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2285721&id=7725102&l=2ad09
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
New Territories Rotary Club meeting
Monday evening I attended a New Territories Rotary Club meeting. Before leaving for Hong Kong the Fairfield Rotary Club back in Ohio asked if I could represent them at a Rotary meeting while in Hong Kong. I was to exchange banners on their behalf (Fairfield's banner for New Territories' banner). Earlier on in the semester I managed to track down the Rotaract Club at CUHK (the University level extension of Rotary) and ask if I could attend a meeting. They said that was no problem and the president of Rotaract, Joanne, offered to take me to their parent club's (the New Territories chapter) meeting.
We meet at the train station on campus at around 6:30pm. Accompanying Joanne were two new Rotaract members Gabriel, and Kate. The meeting was at the Sheraton Hotel all the way down in Kowloon. This was a very high end hotel. When we walked into the conference room where the meeting was held there was a round table of old Chinese business men having a serious conversation. It was the board meeting for the chapter and to me it fit the stereotype of intense, powerful Asians conducting business. The rest of us took a seat at on of the other table while we waiting for the general meeting to begin. I have been to Rotary meetings in Wooster and Fairfield, but this was very different. It was a lot smaller and extremely formal. There were only two rows of tables and at the front was the podium flanked by seats reserved for officers. Behind the podium were the all the major banners for the club (Rotary International, the Four Way Test, etc) which then had all the banners that were exchanged. I saw banners from Singapore, Philippines, Texas, California, and Taiwan. The tables were decorated for a formal affair. Even the chairs had, what I guess you would call a chaircloth. Waiters would bring you snacks (still really fancy food) and drinks. The snack was a dumpling (vegetables and maybe prawn? Didn't really taste like sea food) and what I think was some sort of fried fish. The meeting started on time but was all in Cantonese. Fortunately Joanne tried to translate most of it for me as it was happening. This was also done in a very formal manner. The president had worn some sort of ceremonial piece that went over his shoulders. It looked like it had a bunch of name plates on it, perhaps past presidents. His name was Dr. Peter Pang (pronounced Pan) and was a plastic surgeon for Hong Kong celebrities. The two other Rotaract members gave a short presentation on a fund raiser they recently had (they made over HK$11,000) and then it was my turn. I just gave a short explanation of where I came from and why I was there. I mentioned that I was not officially in Rotary but have been working closely with the Fairfield chapter to bring their Ethical Business Guide to the Internet. I then gave the Fairfield Rotary's banner to the president while he gave me one of theirs.
The guest speaker for that night was Dr. Rebecca Lee who described herself as a scientist, adventurer, and Earth fighter. She talked a lot about her trips to the North and South Poles and what she saw as the effects of global warming. It was all in Cantonese but Joanne again translated. It was a bit awkward because Dr. Lee would tell a joke, everyone would laugh but me, and then Joanne would translate, and I would find it funny after a delayed period of time from the original joke. In any case, she had lots of interesting pictures of what it is like to live in these places for an extended period of time. Then right before the meeting ended we sang Happy Birthday to the president-elect in both English and Cantonese.
After the meeting was over, there was a dinner. I was told this would cost HK$300 and the Rotaract members were interested in getting home since it was late on a Monday night. However, the other member insisted that we stay and waved the fee for us. We all sat at a round table and helped ourselves to the various dishes. There were all kinds of food. One dish was a whole fish with the head, fins, and everything. People would just scoop up the part they wanted. There was also a dish that looked like fried chicken but after biting into it I am really not sure what it was, but it definitely was not chicken. The one thing I found interesting from dinner was how much Joanne was going out of her way to make sure I was fine. She kept moving my plates and glasses around when ever it looked like I might bump them or get sauce from another dish onto another (the way they serve food invites a mess, and I believe to some extent it is a sign of a meal enjoyed). Back home I probably would have gotten annoyed quickly but in China serving the guest is very important so I did not interfere. I did not get back to my room until about 10:30pm.
The Rotary meeting was defiantly a lesson in the culture of Chinese business. Right before I had told Joanne that I was going to follow her lead since I was unsure of what I should do. Her response was that she did not know either. She said that these meetings are very intimidating for the Rotaract members. She mentioned that she does not plan on joining Rotary when she graduates because it is so intense. They are also very strict about who can get in. They only let a very small number (2-3) in each year and have limits on certain professions. For example, the club can only have five doctors for every fifty members. Everything is so formal and positions are important. In fact my presences apparently caused some controversy. I was pretty comfortable and relaxed most of the meeting and I thought they seemed to enjoy having me. However, Joanne later explained that this was not quite what really happened. Originally, the president-elect was suppose to introduce me but then he became concerned when he found out my position. He asked Joanne (in Cantonese so I did not know this at the time) whether I am either a Rotaract or Rotary member. When Joanne answered that I was neither, his response was "Well then how am I suppose to introduce him?" and ended up not introducing me at all. Joanne also said that she had never seen Rotary so unfriendly before. To me they seemed fine, granted they did not really talk to me at dinner but I just assumed that was because they were discussing things in Cantonese that related to the club (they were as Joanne translated part of the conversation) and did think I was interested in the conversation. Apparently some of the member were suspicious of me because I was not an official member. I just took it as a lesson that it takes a lot of effort and experience to get a have decent read on what Chinese are really thinking. I am glad I went and look forward to presenting the New Territories banner to the Fairfield Rotary.
We meet at the train station on campus at around 6:30pm. Accompanying Joanne were two new Rotaract members Gabriel, and Kate. The meeting was at the Sheraton Hotel all the way down in Kowloon. This was a very high end hotel. When we walked into the conference room where the meeting was held there was a round table of old Chinese business men having a serious conversation. It was the board meeting for the chapter and to me it fit the stereotype of intense, powerful Asians conducting business. The rest of us took a seat at on of the other table while we waiting for the general meeting to begin. I have been to Rotary meetings in Wooster and Fairfield, but this was very different. It was a lot smaller and extremely formal. There were only two rows of tables and at the front was the podium flanked by seats reserved for officers. Behind the podium were the all the major banners for the club (Rotary International, the Four Way Test, etc) which then had all the banners that were exchanged. I saw banners from Singapore, Philippines, Texas, California, and Taiwan. The tables were decorated for a formal affair. Even the chairs had, what I guess you would call a chaircloth. Waiters would bring you snacks (still really fancy food) and drinks. The snack was a dumpling (vegetables and maybe prawn? Didn't really taste like sea food) and what I think was some sort of fried fish. The meeting started on time but was all in Cantonese. Fortunately Joanne tried to translate most of it for me as it was happening. This was also done in a very formal manner. The president had worn some sort of ceremonial piece that went over his shoulders. It looked like it had a bunch of name plates on it, perhaps past presidents. His name was Dr. Peter Pang (pronounced Pan) and was a plastic surgeon for Hong Kong celebrities. The two other Rotaract members gave a short presentation on a fund raiser they recently had (they made over HK$11,000) and then it was my turn. I just gave a short explanation of where I came from and why I was there. I mentioned that I was not officially in Rotary but have been working closely with the Fairfield chapter to bring their Ethical Business Guide to the Internet. I then gave the Fairfield Rotary's banner to the president while he gave me one of theirs.
The guest speaker for that night was Dr. Rebecca Lee who described herself as a scientist, adventurer, and Earth fighter. She talked a lot about her trips to the North and South Poles and what she saw as the effects of global warming. It was all in Cantonese but Joanne again translated. It was a bit awkward because Dr. Lee would tell a joke, everyone would laugh but me, and then Joanne would translate, and I would find it funny after a delayed period of time from the original joke. In any case, she had lots of interesting pictures of what it is like to live in these places for an extended period of time. Then right before the meeting ended we sang Happy Birthday to the president-elect in both English and Cantonese.
After the meeting was over, there was a dinner. I was told this would cost HK$300 and the Rotaract members were interested in getting home since it was late on a Monday night. However, the other member insisted that we stay and waved the fee for us. We all sat at a round table and helped ourselves to the various dishes. There were all kinds of food. One dish was a whole fish with the head, fins, and everything. People would just scoop up the part they wanted. There was also a dish that looked like fried chicken but after biting into it I am really not sure what it was, but it definitely was not chicken. The one thing I found interesting from dinner was how much Joanne was going out of her way to make sure I was fine. She kept moving my plates and glasses around when ever it looked like I might bump them or get sauce from another dish onto another (the way they serve food invites a mess, and I believe to some extent it is a sign of a meal enjoyed). Back home I probably would have gotten annoyed quickly but in China serving the guest is very important so I did not interfere. I did not get back to my room until about 10:30pm.
The Rotary meeting was defiantly a lesson in the culture of Chinese business. Right before I had told Joanne that I was going to follow her lead since I was unsure of what I should do. Her response was that she did not know either. She said that these meetings are very intimidating for the Rotaract members. She mentioned that she does not plan on joining Rotary when she graduates because it is so intense. They are also very strict about who can get in. They only let a very small number (2-3) in each year and have limits on certain professions. For example, the club can only have five doctors for every fifty members. Everything is so formal and positions are important. In fact my presences apparently caused some controversy. I was pretty comfortable and relaxed most of the meeting and I thought they seemed to enjoy having me. However, Joanne later explained that this was not quite what really happened. Originally, the president-elect was suppose to introduce me but then he became concerned when he found out my position. He asked Joanne (in Cantonese so I did not know this at the time) whether I am either a Rotaract or Rotary member. When Joanne answered that I was neither, his response was "Well then how am I suppose to introduce him?" and ended up not introducing me at all. Joanne also said that she had never seen Rotary so unfriendly before. To me they seemed fine, granted they did not really talk to me at dinner but I just assumed that was because they were discussing things in Cantonese that related to the club (they were as Joanne translated part of the conversation) and did think I was interested in the conversation. Apparently some of the member were suspicious of me because I was not an official member. I just took it as a lesson that it takes a lot of effort and experience to get a have decent read on what Chinese are really thinking. I am glad I went and look forward to presenting the New Territories banner to the Fairfield Rotary.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Yangshuo: Day Three
We planned on meeting outside the hostel at 11am to head out for breakfast. Since we could only fit four to a room the French were in one room while the rest of us where in another. Nolwenn, Marie, and Adrien also were leaving that night since they has classes on Monday they did not want to miss. So they were going to check out at 11am while we gathered together. However, we encountered another problem with the staff at the Yo Yao Hotel. One of the staff members checked them out by looking at the room to see if anything was wrong. They found that part of the toilet seat was broken. The French knew about this but only discovered it late the night before which was the first time they used it. The staff was refusing to return their deposit (50 yuan) due to damages. The real suspicious thing was that when the room was inspected, the staff member went straight to the toilet and looked at nothing else. After a long long session of arguing (mostly through Mandy since the staff could only speak broken English at best) a older man came in. We assumed he was the husband of the lady we were arguing with the most and the owner. He seemed to be more co-operative then anyone else we had dealt with at this hotel. He just said that they should pay what ever they feel like they should. The French decided to split the deposit and take only 25 yuan back. The rest of us decided we should check out too as we have been annoyed enough with this place. After successfully checking out of the Yo Yao Hotel, we went down the street a little ways to a restaurant we saw that had dumplings to get breakfast. It was very good and again cheap (12 yuan for 12 dumplings). While eating breakfast various locals would come by and try to sell us stuff. For the most part we would turn them away. But one local was trying to offer to be our tour guide for the day. Since we didn't have much of a plan yet we agreed to hire her. She charged us 50 yuan for the whole day split between the seven of us (that would be about US$1.10 each). We then rented bikes (ranging from 10 yuan to 20 yuan for the whole day) so we could go out and see stuff in the country side.
Our tour guide, Linda, took us outside of the town.
This was the first time that we had left the few blocks that tourist usually stay in. The town of Yangshuo was a little bit bigger then I had assumed but it was still fairly small (maybe a tad smaller then Orrville). In any case, it did not take us long to get into farming land. All of Yangshuo and the surrounding areas are noticeable richer then most of China. It is still very poor, but at least everything is well maintained and people at the very least seem to have something to do to stay busy. The farming in the area seemed very traditional. 
All the farms were perfectly well kept with everything planted in very nice rows. The amazing thing was that it was all done by hand. There were no tractors, no machinery, just men with simple gardening tools. All the plots were way too small for any modern day equipment to be practical. A lot of the famers were trying to sell their goods either in town or along side the road. The popular one was oranges but it didn't look like much else was in season (a couple of places did have strawberries). The condition of the roads varied greatly, and often had no subtly transition. One minute you would be on recently paved road that obviously had a lot of time and resources put into it (not like the chip and seal stuff we have in the country back home) and the next minute you would be on a dirt road with no gravel. Most of the houses were small two story brick buildings. The brick was the local imperfect hand made type, and the few buildings we saw under construction seemed to be progressing very slowly (I think they were all individuals building the houses). Farm animals seemed to roam about freely. I saw plenty of oxen go between houses and on into fields. They seemed well trained though. At one point we passed a local taking 3 oxen (including a calf) down the road. He walked with one of the oxen while the other two followed and didn't seem to care that we were riding by them on bikes. Chickens were a common sight too. They seemed just as comfortable hanging out with humans as they did themselves. At one point we came to a Buddhist temple, Jianshan Temple. 
There wasn't anything unique to this temple but since we had a guide with us she explained a lot of things, like how to pray. You kneel before the statue and bow three times for good luck. Each time we bowed a monk near by would bang a gong. It was pretty neat to finally understand what was going on. We continued on to look into some water caves near by but ultimately decided to head back to Yangshuo since it was getting late. We needed to grab dinner in time for the French to make their bus. We dropped our bikes off and on the way to the restaurant we checked in to a different hotel. It was not a nice as the night before but we got two rooms with two large beds each and a private bathroom for each room at a cheaper price so it was not that bad. We ended up eating dinner at the same place we had breakfast at since it was so good. The staff there really liked us as we were able to talk to them about celebrities (they really liked Brittney Spears and Michael Jackson) and we helped them with some English translations. After dinner Nolwenn, Marie, and Adrien left while Kalen, Chase, Mandy and myself wondered around town to enjoy Yangshuo at night. 
Night is when the markets become real active and the street is accented with all the neon lights. After a couple of hours checking out different places were went to bed.
Album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2282959&id=7725102&l=8c380
I also added video to the last post. I have been experimenting around with it on my camera and by no means is the video that amazing. I missed videoing a lot of the cool stuff.
Our tour guide, Linda, took us outside of the town.
This was the first time that we had left the few blocks that tourist usually stay in. The town of Yangshuo was a little bit bigger then I had assumed but it was still fairly small (maybe a tad smaller then Orrville). In any case, it did not take us long to get into farming land. All of Yangshuo and the surrounding areas are noticeable richer then most of China. It is still very poor, but at least everything is well maintained and people at the very least seem to have something to do to stay busy. The farming in the area seemed very traditional. 
All the farms were perfectly well kept with everything planted in very nice rows. The amazing thing was that it was all done by hand. There were no tractors, no machinery, just men with simple gardening tools. All the plots were way too small for any modern day equipment to be practical. A lot of the famers were trying to sell their goods either in town or along side the road. The popular one was oranges but it didn't look like much else was in season (a couple of places did have strawberries). The condition of the roads varied greatly, and often had no subtly transition. One minute you would be on recently paved road that obviously had a lot of time and resources put into it (not like the chip and seal stuff we have in the country back home) and the next minute you would be on a dirt road with no gravel. Most of the houses were small two story brick buildings. The brick was the local imperfect hand made type, and the few buildings we saw under construction seemed to be progressing very slowly (I think they were all individuals building the houses). Farm animals seemed to roam about freely. I saw plenty of oxen go between houses and on into fields. They seemed well trained though. At one point we passed a local taking 3 oxen (including a calf) down the road. He walked with one of the oxen while the other two followed and didn't seem to care that we were riding by them on bikes. Chickens were a common sight too. They seemed just as comfortable hanging out with humans as they did themselves. At one point we came to a Buddhist temple, Jianshan Temple. 
There wasn't anything unique to this temple but since we had a guide with us she explained a lot of things, like how to pray. You kneel before the statue and bow three times for good luck. Each time we bowed a monk near by would bang a gong. It was pretty neat to finally understand what was going on. We continued on to look into some water caves near by but ultimately decided to head back to Yangshuo since it was getting late. We needed to grab dinner in time for the French to make their bus. We dropped our bikes off and on the way to the restaurant we checked in to a different hotel. It was not a nice as the night before but we got two rooms with two large beds each and a private bathroom for each room at a cheaper price so it was not that bad. We ended up eating dinner at the same place we had breakfast at since it was so good. The staff there really liked us as we were able to talk to them about celebrities (they really liked Brittney Spears and Michael Jackson) and we helped them with some English translations. After dinner Nolwenn, Marie, and Adrien left while Kalen, Chase, Mandy and myself wondered around town to enjoy Yangshuo at night. 
Night is when the markets become real active and the street is accented with all the neon lights. After a couple of hours checking out different places were went to bed.Album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2282959&id=7725102&l=8c380
I also added video to the last post. I have been experimenting around with it on my camera and by no means is the video that amazing. I missed videoing a lot of the cool stuff.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Yangshuo: Day Two
Despite being scheduled to arrive in Guilin at 6am we pulled into the station at 7am. It was somewhat annoying as the staff on the train kept waking us up telling us "20 minutes" about every 30 minutes starting at 5am. While getting ready to leave we realized that the cabin next to ours was occupied by three French exchange students from CUHK: Nolwenn, Marie, and Adrien. We had known that there was a possibility of running into them in Yangshuo but we had no idea they were in the cabin next to us. So all seven of us decided to sick together. When we left the station the first thing we had on the agenda was to figure out where the docks were so we could catch a boat to Yangshuo. That was solved rather quickly since there were people just outside of the station wanting to sell us tickets. Mandy was able to negotiated the price as she spoke Mandarin. After they refused to accept our price we left, and about 2 minutes later they came back and agreed to the price. They took us to this makeshift box office set up inside the lobby of a hotel where we paid and got our tickets. The lady then took us around the corner to a restaurant where we could get breakfast. It was 3 yuan (US$0.40) for a big bowl of rice noodle soup with chunks of pork (they were tender and legitimate parts of the pig). We were then taken to a small bus which picked up a bunch of people to be taken to the dock.
The docks were about an hour drive away and a tour guide talked every second of the trip. I didn't pay attention to the tour guide at all since it was all in Mandarin. We were then dropped off at the shop area near the docks while we waited until our boarding time. Here we noticed Guangxi is much colder then Hong Kong. It was not freezing but jackets did make a difference. After waiting for a while it was time for us to be rushed to dock where our boat was waiting. The boat was not too big. Inside were seats and tables, while a stair case lead up to an observation deck. We were the only group of Westerners and every now and then there would be a tour guide making an announcement about something we were passing but it was all in Mandarin. We headed down the river in a convoy of three. The mountains were quite amazing and really only pictures can describe (unfortunately it was hazy that day). Along the way we saw lots of rural Chinese going about their daily lives. Some were washing their clothes in the river, others were herding oxen, and some were making bricks. Bricks seemed to be a common industry in the area and it was all done by hand. They were digging with shovels, backing in wooden shacks, and just stacking the bricks (all imperfect by our standards) along the river side for someone to pick up later. Every now and then a merchant would attach himself to our boat and try to sell us stuff. They had simple bamboo boats (4 or 5 long pieces of bamboo tied together) and would row out to us and tie their boat to the side of ours. They would then walk up and down the side of the boat just outside the window and try to sell us things ranging from fruit to fans to jade. None of the crew of our boat seemed to care that merchants kept boarding the ship. At one point there was a merchant on each side of the boat selling the same things. It looked like a couple of the passengers were having fun playing them off each other. The boat ride was suppose to take 4 hours but it ended up being well over 5.
By the time we got to Yangshuo we were all ready to find a place to put our bags and rest a little bit. The problem was the dock was some ways from the town. The one street that went to town was packed with vendors trying to sell all kinds of things. At the docks there were a couple ladies trying to sell us rooms for the night at different hotels. They followed us all the way down the street before we agreed to check one of them out. It was the Ya Yao Hotel. It was pretty nice inside, looked a lot like a nice hotel back home. We had our own beds and our own bathroom, all for about US$4.10 each per night. Once we got settled in and took a little break we decided to go explore the town. Before we left the lady who had brought us to the hotel tried to sell us tickets to all kinds of stuff locally. We were not sure what we wanted to do yet and it took some convincing to get her off our back so we could go out and explore the town. Yangshuo seemed like a festive town that was very well maintained.
The streets were stone and the buildings were all very clean. A couple of streets down from our hotel was West Street which was where all the bars, restaurants, and shopping are. It reminded me of Park City or some other American mountain resort town, but with a strange Chinese feel. It had all the nice quaint buildings but with neon signs out front.
One of the first things we did was to buy tickets for the Impressions Light Show that evening. This show is famous across China as it is directed by the same guy who directed the opening show at the 2008 Olympics. We went to a travel agency called "Panda Travel Service" to buy the tickets. Before we could we were asked a strange question "Do you have a tour guide?" We said no. Apparently if you have a tour guide you cannot purchase the tickets from them. After eating dinner at a brick oven pizza place (I know sounds strange in China but it was very good) we wondered around some of the shops. They had lots of art work, clothing, trinkets, and pretty much what ever else you may be interested in. We then met back up at the Panda Travel Service building to board the van to the show, but there was a problem. Apparently the lady we bought the tickets from had called our hotel to make sure we did not have a tour guide. The lady at the hotel claimed we did. After a bit of argument it was finally figured out that the lady at the hotel had lied (the travel agent said that she has done this before) because she was upset we did not buy the tickets through the hotel. We were a bit annoyed but in any case the van was leaving and we could go. The show was just outside the town. The stage was the river with the back ground being the mountains which were lit up. The show is hard to describe. There were a lot of performers singing and dancing, but all accented by light. Most of the performance was on the water, either on rafts, along the edge, or on this platform that was like a dock that could pivot across the water. Afterwards the van took us back to town and we grabbed a quick snack before bed. Album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2282957&id=7725102&l=7b9f9
The docks were about an hour drive away and a tour guide talked every second of the trip. I didn't pay attention to the tour guide at all since it was all in Mandarin. We were then dropped off at the shop area near the docks while we waited until our boarding time. Here we noticed Guangxi is much colder then Hong Kong. It was not freezing but jackets did make a difference. After waiting for a while it was time for us to be rushed to dock where our boat was waiting. The boat was not too big. Inside were seats and tables, while a stair case lead up to an observation deck. We were the only group of Westerners and every now and then there would be a tour guide making an announcement about something we were passing but it was all in Mandarin. We headed down the river in a convoy of three. The mountains were quite amazing and really only pictures can describe (unfortunately it was hazy that day). Along the way we saw lots of rural Chinese going about their daily lives. Some were washing their clothes in the river, others were herding oxen, and some were making bricks. Bricks seemed to be a common industry in the area and it was all done by hand. They were digging with shovels, backing in wooden shacks, and just stacking the bricks (all imperfect by our standards) along the river side for someone to pick up later. Every now and then a merchant would attach himself to our boat and try to sell us stuff. They had simple bamboo boats (4 or 5 long pieces of bamboo tied together) and would row out to us and tie their boat to the side of ours. They would then walk up and down the side of the boat just outside the window and try to sell us things ranging from fruit to fans to jade. None of the crew of our boat seemed to care that merchants kept boarding the ship. At one point there was a merchant on each side of the boat selling the same things. It looked like a couple of the passengers were having fun playing them off each other. The boat ride was suppose to take 4 hours but it ended up being well over 5.
By the time we got to Yangshuo we were all ready to find a place to put our bags and rest a little bit. The problem was the dock was some ways from the town. The one street that went to town was packed with vendors trying to sell all kinds of things. At the docks there were a couple ladies trying to sell us rooms for the night at different hotels. They followed us all the way down the street before we agreed to check one of them out. It was the Ya Yao Hotel. It was pretty nice inside, looked a lot like a nice hotel back home. We had our own beds and our own bathroom, all for about US$4.10 each per night. Once we got settled in and took a little break we decided to go explore the town. Before we left the lady who had brought us to the hotel tried to sell us tickets to all kinds of stuff locally. We were not sure what we wanted to do yet and it took some convincing to get her off our back so we could go out and explore the town. Yangshuo seemed like a festive town that was very well maintained.
The streets were stone and the buildings were all very clean. A couple of streets down from our hotel was West Street which was where all the bars, restaurants, and shopping are. It reminded me of Park City or some other American mountain resort town, but with a strange Chinese feel. It had all the nice quaint buildings but with neon signs out front.One of the first things we did was to buy tickets for the Impressions Light Show that evening. This show is famous across China as it is directed by the same guy who directed the opening show at the 2008 Olympics. We went to a travel agency called "Panda Travel Service" to buy the tickets. Before we could we were asked a strange question "Do you have a tour guide?" We said no. Apparently if you have a tour guide you cannot purchase the tickets from them. After eating dinner at a brick oven pizza place (I know sounds strange in China but it was very good) we wondered around some of the shops. They had lots of art work, clothing, trinkets, and pretty much what ever else you may be interested in. We then met back up at the Panda Travel Service building to board the van to the show, but there was a problem. Apparently the lady we bought the tickets from had called our hotel to make sure we did not have a tour guide. The lady at the hotel claimed we did. After a bit of argument it was finally figured out that the lady at the hotel had lied (the travel agent said that she has done this before) because she was upset we did not buy the tickets through the hotel. We were a bit annoyed but in any case the van was leaving and we could go. The show was just outside the town. The stage was the river with the back ground being the mountains which were lit up. The show is hard to describe. There were a lot of performers singing and dancing, but all accented by light. Most of the performance was on the water, either on rafts, along the edge, or on this platform that was like a dock that could pivot across the water. Afterwards the van took us back to town and we grabbed a quick snack before bed. Album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2282957&id=7725102&l=7b9f9
Thursday, February 19, 2009
French Dinner?
Earlier this week I was invited by Pierre to his French dinner night. He and some of the other French exchange students were cooking French food and had invited some non-French exchange students such as myself. We had baguette, ratatouille, red wine and crepes for dessert. The French students claimed it was not as good as the real thing due to the limited choice in supplies but it was still very good.
I did realize a cultural phenomena that I had not considered before. In terms of understanding culture I have been focused on how Westerners relate to the Chinese. I had not considered the difference among Westerners themselves, let along the dynamic of a multicultural group trying to survive in a culture not represented by the group itself. That night countries represented were France, United States, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Korea, Japan, Canada and China. All of us were getting along and exchanging stories of their home country.
This night also led me to another realization, perhaps even more practical. The world is very much globalized. There are all these students of many nationalities at one school. Furthermore, we all know that we can go to Hong Kong and find multinational business men. We can shop at IKEA or get food from McDonalds. Despite the dinner theme being French food, there was nutella from Germany, the wine from Australia, and the jam was Smucker's, right down the road from my home in Wooster. A very small big world we live in.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Taipei: General Impressions
First of all, the week I was there was the beginning of Chinese New Year. This meant that there were fireworks everywhere. While landing at night in Taipei I saw quite a few fireworks. It was pretty neat seeing them explode at eyelevel all across the city. During the week we heard sporadic fireworks. I am not sure if Taipei had any organized fireworks show, but the locals set off plenty on their own. They would set them off at night and during the day and it didn't matter where they were. Back home I am sure setting off fireworks in the middle of the city with lots of people around would land you in jail pretty quickly. There were even kids running around shooting them off. No one seemed to mind. Things would be exploding the street and bystanders would keep on walking as if nothing was happening.
Secondly, there are no westerners. I didn't expect to see many, but I figured there would be at least some since the west does a lot of business with Taiwan. Out side of the hostel, I don't think we saw any. The locals took notice. They weren't as obvious as the Mainland Chinese in Shenzhen but we were paying enough attention to notice. While on the train ride back to Taipei, there was a Taiwanese who took a picture of me. She tried to do it discreetly but we saw my picture on her camera screen as she was proudly displaying it to her travel companions (I think family). Chase complained a lot that the locals gave me a lot more attention then him. Pierre didn't seem to care at all, but it was probably because I was the only one with curly hair and facial hair.
The food in Taiwan was also very good. Before I left, everyone who had been there before said the food was great, but I the food surpassed all of my expectations. Everywhere we went, from Taipei to the costal villages, the food was unique and cheap. They even had milk as a common drink. A bottle of Dr. Milker brand milk costs about US$0.75.
Another thing that stood out to me was the police presences. Having been in Mainland China only a few days before, the difference stood out even more. There were few cops and security guards. I only say one group of them bigger then two and they were directing traffic. We approached them to ask for directions and they were very friendly and helpful. They seemed to make it their mission to help us out. Westerners are rare in both Shenzhen and Taipei, but in Taipei the cops where much more accepting of foreigners whereas the Shenzhen cops seemed paranoid of us.
One odd thing I noticed was the placement of some buildings. Along paths there were a decent amount of abandoned (or looked abandoned) buildings. While walking up a mountain to a park in Keelung, the path went through a restaurant. As far as I could tell the restaurant had not name (there was nothing posted in English or Chinese) and the building looked like it may have been abandoned at one point. There was quite a bit of activity with a woman singing and a couple of chefs cooking things for the handful of patrons. You had to walk through this place to get to the top which was kind of odd. Then when we went on our hike we pasted many private homes (some more of shacks). We were no where near a named road, just people living out in the forest along a national park path (or what ever the Taiwanese equivalent is). I was interesting to see a society that was so backwards they didn't even have a mailing address.
The weather for the most part was somewhat depressing. I think we had one clear day. The forecast called for rain everyday that we were there, but fortunately it was only a real issue once. It typically rained at night or while we were on the bus.
And finally, I must note the sanitation. It was pretty bad. There was trash everywhere. Garbage bags were not put in a central location, they would just put it where ever on the street when ever they needed to. Sometimes they would just leave the bags in the elevator. The beach in Daili was just plain disgusting. All kinds of stuff washed up on the rocks and no one ever cleaned it. Some places look more like a landfill because the beach was not rocks or sand, it was just garbage. However, the drainage was pretty good. Despite all the rain, there were hardly any puddles and on the streets caught a whiff of sewage about as often as any major American city.
Overall, it was a very good trip. We saw a lot and experienced a lot that westerns don't. Taiwan is quite a unique place.
Secondly, there are no westerners. I didn't expect to see many, but I figured there would be at least some since the west does a lot of business with Taiwan. Out side of the hostel, I don't think we saw any. The locals took notice. They weren't as obvious as the Mainland Chinese in Shenzhen but we were paying enough attention to notice. While on the train ride back to Taipei, there was a Taiwanese who took a picture of me. She tried to do it discreetly but we saw my picture on her camera screen as she was proudly displaying it to her travel companions (I think family). Chase complained a lot that the locals gave me a lot more attention then him. Pierre didn't seem to care at all, but it was probably because I was the only one with curly hair and facial hair.
The food in Taiwan was also very good. Before I left, everyone who had been there before said the food was great, but I the food surpassed all of my expectations. Everywhere we went, from Taipei to the costal villages, the food was unique and cheap. They even had milk as a common drink. A bottle of Dr. Milker brand milk costs about US$0.75.
Another thing that stood out to me was the police presences. Having been in Mainland China only a few days before, the difference stood out even more. There were few cops and security guards. I only say one group of them bigger then two and they were directing traffic. We approached them to ask for directions and they were very friendly and helpful. They seemed to make it their mission to help us out. Westerners are rare in both Shenzhen and Taipei, but in Taipei the cops where much more accepting of foreigners whereas the Shenzhen cops seemed paranoid of us.
One odd thing I noticed was the placement of some buildings. Along paths there were a decent amount of abandoned (or looked abandoned) buildings. While walking up a mountain to a park in Keelung, the path went through a restaurant. As far as I could tell the restaurant had not name (there was nothing posted in English or Chinese) and the building looked like it may have been abandoned at one point. There was quite a bit of activity with a woman singing and a couple of chefs cooking things for the handful of patrons. You had to walk through this place to get to the top which was kind of odd. Then when we went on our hike we pasted many private homes (some more of shacks). We were no where near a named road, just people living out in the forest along a national park path (or what ever the Taiwanese equivalent is). I was interesting to see a society that was so backwards they didn't even have a mailing address.
The weather for the most part was somewhat depressing. I think we had one clear day. The forecast called for rain everyday that we were there, but fortunately it was only a real issue once. It typically rained at night or while we were on the bus.
And finally, I must note the sanitation. It was pretty bad. There was trash everywhere. Garbage bags were not put in a central location, they would just put it where ever on the street when ever they needed to. Sometimes they would just leave the bags in the elevator. The beach in Daili was just plain disgusting. All kinds of stuff washed up on the rocks and no one ever cleaned it. Some places look more like a landfill because the beach was not rocks or sand, it was just garbage. However, the drainage was pretty good. Despite all the rain, there were hardly any puddles and on the streets caught a whiff of sewage about as often as any major American city.
Overall, it was a very good trip. We saw a lot and experienced a lot that westerns don't. Taiwan is quite a unique place.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Taipei: Day Four
This was our last full day in Taipei. We decided to spend it doing some miscellaneous things in the city that we were not able to do earlier. Unfortunately it was raining pretty hard so that limited what we could do. We first went down the street from our hostel to the Taipei Handicraft Market. It was actually more of a store that sold craft things relating to Taiwan and Chinese culture. It was mostly art and jewelry. After buying a few items we headed out to what is nicknamed "The Golf Ball Mall." (I don't remember the actual name, everyone there calls it The Golf Ball Mall). This was a very large mall that had a 10 story sphere on one side. Half of the sphere was on in the inside, half was outside. 
The stores inside were not anything unique but the architecture was. We got lunch in the mall and then headed back to our hostel for a while. We stayed there until dinner, which we decided to look for those famous soup dumplings (called xiao long bao). The restaurant that everyone recommended was Din Tai Fung. We showed up around 7pm and the place was packed. The restaurant was three stories high but very narrow. They gave us a number and told us it would be about an hour (we were 50 numbers away). We decided that was fine and looked at a menu to figure out what we wanted. While waiting an Italian man noticed us and started a conversation. We were the only Westerners there, which was probably why he was so excited. He said that he loved Din Tai Fung so much that he ate there everyday. He gave us recommendations on everything on the menu. He then introduced us to the owner, who has set up restaurants all over south Asia and has become a multimillionaire from his soup dumplings. He didn't speak much English but he was very nice. As soon as this happened we some how got a table despite having over 20 more numbers to go. Inside the restaurant was pretty nice. It wasn't over the top fancy but it was just a nice Chinese restaurant. The waitresses were very well trained, doing most everything for us in a very perfect form. They then started bringing out our orders. We got one order of pork, one of vegetable, one of pork and crab, all with soup in them. Additionally we had an order of pork and fried rice. Each dumpling order had probably around 8 dumplings. We also got a free order of spicy shrimp. When it was delivered we just looked at it and asked "Did we order that?" The waitress just said "It is free," bowed, and walked away. At this point we were all very confused but then a different waitress can over and explained that it is a new dish and they want feed back. After we had finished it, the owner came back with another waitress who asked how we liked it. We told her we really liked it and the owner seemed very pleased (he didn't say anything while at our table, but just smiled). There is no other way to eat xiao long bao then with chop sticks. They are relatively small dumplings so I could eat them in one bit, but barely. You pick them up with the chop sticks and then dip it in sauce (1 part soy, 3 parts vinegar, and some strands of ginger). You then hold a soup spoon under the dumpling when you bit into it so you can catch the soup that falls out. The xiao long bao (with pork) was probably the best meal I had ever had. There are no words to describe it. For desert we had these little dumplings filled with sesame. As odd as it may sound, it tasted just like chocolate. For all that amazing food our bill turned out to be about US$10. Afterwards we looked for a jade market, but it was not open that night. We headed off to bed since it was starting to get late and we had to get up the next morning really early to catch our flight.
The stores inside were not anything unique but the architecture was. We got lunch in the mall and then headed back to our hostel for a while. We stayed there until dinner, which we decided to look for those famous soup dumplings (called xiao long bao). The restaurant that everyone recommended was Din Tai Fung. We showed up around 7pm and the place was packed. The restaurant was three stories high but very narrow. They gave us a number and told us it would be about an hour (we were 50 numbers away). We decided that was fine and looked at a menu to figure out what we wanted. While waiting an Italian man noticed us and started a conversation. We were the only Westerners there, which was probably why he was so excited. He said that he loved Din Tai Fung so much that he ate there everyday. He gave us recommendations on everything on the menu. He then introduced us to the owner, who has set up restaurants all over south Asia and has become a multimillionaire from his soup dumplings. He didn't speak much English but he was very nice. As soon as this happened we some how got a table despite having over 20 more numbers to go. Inside the restaurant was pretty nice. It wasn't over the top fancy but it was just a nice Chinese restaurant. The waitresses were very well trained, doing most everything for us in a very perfect form. They then started bringing out our orders. We got one order of pork, one of vegetable, one of pork and crab, all with soup in them. Additionally we had an order of pork and fried rice. Each dumpling order had probably around 8 dumplings. We also got a free order of spicy shrimp. When it was delivered we just looked at it and asked "Did we order that?" The waitress just said "It is free," bowed, and walked away. At this point we were all very confused but then a different waitress can over and explained that it is a new dish and they want feed back. After we had finished it, the owner came back with another waitress who asked how we liked it. We told her we really liked it and the owner seemed very pleased (he didn't say anything while at our table, but just smiled). There is no other way to eat xiao long bao then with chop sticks. They are relatively small dumplings so I could eat them in one bit, but barely. You pick them up with the chop sticks and then dip it in sauce (1 part soy, 3 parts vinegar, and some strands of ginger). You then hold a soup spoon under the dumpling when you bit into it so you can catch the soup that falls out. The xiao long bao (with pork) was probably the best meal I had ever had. There are no words to describe it. For desert we had these little dumplings filled with sesame. As odd as it may sound, it tasted just like chocolate. For all that amazing food our bill turned out to be about US$10. Afterwards we looked for a jade market, but it was not open that night. We headed off to bed since it was starting to get late and we had to get up the next morning really early to catch our flight.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Taipei: Day Three
The third day in Taiwan we set completely aside for a long hike. Just east of Taipei are lots of trails. The one we picked to do was from Fulong to Daili which was about 10km long. We woke up early (8am) to get a quick breakfast and head out on the train. The train ride was about an hour and half and there were no seats left. The train, unlike the metro system, was not designed to have people stand. There were no bars to hold on to, we just stood in the isles. The train was packed with lots of other people also standing. Needless to say, it was a long train ride. The scenery did make up for it as most of the train ride followed a river out in the country side. When we got to Fulong we immediately started looking for the beach. 
Fulong was pretty small (one road) but had lots of people visiting due to the popular beach. We never figured out how to get to the beach but we kept seeing it while standing behind a fence. We really were more interested in finding food. We stopped in the visitors' center hoping to find a café but the only food they served was expensive desert (and oddly enough "Fried Toast"). We talked to the equivalent of a park ranger who was very helpful in showing us where we could hike and how to get to the trail head. We were given about 5 different maps all with different details and none of which were in English. We then walked down the one and only road in Fulong to look for food. We picked a small family restaurant and had the most amazing fried rice with pork. I got what I thought was just apple juice that turned out to my surprise to be sparkling. I was excited about it but Pierre thought I was crazy (it must be common in France). After paying for the meal (it came out to be about US$3) we started to walk the trail. The trail started off nicely paved with white lines drawn on both sides. It didn't take long for us to get into rural Taiwan. 
We saw lots of farms and run down shacks. There were not too many locals outside, but the one old lady we did pass eating a bowl of rice on her porch did seem friendly. As soon as we started going up the hill we saw the layered rice patties (I am assuming they were for rice, but nothing was growing in any of them at the time) along the hillside. 
The paved path then ended in what we first believed to be a dead end. It just became some ones parking area adjacent to a house with a wall then cliff. Thinking we missed a turn we walked back to the next intersection. There it seemed clear that the direction we were originally going was the correct one. So we turned around and went back the same direction again. We investigated the area around the dead end for a while until figuring out that what we thought was the gravel path to a different house nearby, was actually the path. The path literally went through some ones front yard. From there it started to become forest. I would describe it as semi-tropical and dense. 
The path then became a road as it passed a park. This park had rice patties separated by stone walls on flat ground. We didn't stay too long as there were lots of people. The trail then followed a stream which had waterfall after waterfall. At one point the stream joined another stream, both having a waterfall at the joint. 
The path left the river at a set of stairs. These stairs were really steep and went up quite a ways. There was easily a thousand steps which we had to take a break part of the way up. We passed a stone inscription. Apparently the popular thing for ancient Chinese generals to do was to inscribe things on rocks in hard to reach places. 
At the top of the climb the forest ended and the scene looked like a hilly meadow. 
Where the path starts to descend again was an observation point that overlooked the small ocean side village of Daili. After spending some time resting and looking out over the ocean we began the decent which took a lot longer then we had expected. The path cuts back and forth all the way down the mountain side. At the bottom was the ruins of an ancient inn that didn't look like much other then two squares of stone, but it was interesting. The trail ended in Daili at a temple. We didn't look at the temple since we had spent some much time at several the other day and this one didn't look that unique. In stead we went to the beach front. It was mostly stone and very very polluted. Trash was everywhere. We then got on the train back to Taipei. The train station was incredibly small and the train wasn't that big either. It was a long train ride home (I think about 2 hours but we were stuck at one station for a while). We were so exhausted we got some pizza and went to bed.
Album:
Fulong was pretty small (one road) but had lots of people visiting due to the popular beach. We never figured out how to get to the beach but we kept seeing it while standing behind a fence. We really were more interested in finding food. We stopped in the visitors' center hoping to find a café but the only food they served was expensive desert (and oddly enough "Fried Toast"). We talked to the equivalent of a park ranger who was very helpful in showing us where we could hike and how to get to the trail head. We were given about 5 different maps all with different details and none of which were in English. We then walked down the one and only road in Fulong to look for food. We picked a small family restaurant and had the most amazing fried rice with pork. I got what I thought was just apple juice that turned out to my surprise to be sparkling. I was excited about it but Pierre thought I was crazy (it must be common in France). After paying for the meal (it came out to be about US$3) we started to walk the trail. The trail started off nicely paved with white lines drawn on both sides. It didn't take long for us to get into rural Taiwan. 
We saw lots of farms and run down shacks. There were not too many locals outside, but the one old lady we did pass eating a bowl of rice on her porch did seem friendly. As soon as we started going up the hill we saw the layered rice patties (I am assuming they were for rice, but nothing was growing in any of them at the time) along the hillside. 
The paved path then ended in what we first believed to be a dead end. It just became some ones parking area adjacent to a house with a wall then cliff. Thinking we missed a turn we walked back to the next intersection. There it seemed clear that the direction we were originally going was the correct one. So we turned around and went back the same direction again. We investigated the area around the dead end for a while until figuring out that what we thought was the gravel path to a different house nearby, was actually the path. The path literally went through some ones front yard. From there it started to become forest. I would describe it as semi-tropical and dense. 
The path then became a road as it passed a park. This park had rice patties separated by stone walls on flat ground. We didn't stay too long as there were lots of people. The trail then followed a stream which had waterfall after waterfall. At one point the stream joined another stream, both having a waterfall at the joint. 
The path left the river at a set of stairs. These stairs were really steep and went up quite a ways. There was easily a thousand steps which we had to take a break part of the way up. We passed a stone inscription. Apparently the popular thing for ancient Chinese generals to do was to inscribe things on rocks in hard to reach places. 
At the top of the climb the forest ended and the scene looked like a hilly meadow. 
Where the path starts to descend again was an observation point that overlooked the small ocean side village of Daili. After spending some time resting and looking out over the ocean we began the decent which took a lot longer then we had expected. The path cuts back and forth all the way down the mountain side. At the bottom was the ruins of an ancient inn that didn't look like much other then two squares of stone, but it was interesting. The trail ended in Daili at a temple. We didn't look at the temple since we had spent some much time at several the other day and this one didn't look that unique. In stead we went to the beach front. It was mostly stone and very very polluted. Trash was everywhere. We then got on the train back to Taipei. The train station was incredibly small and the train wasn't that big either. It was a long train ride home (I think about 2 hours but we were stuck at one station for a while). We were so exhausted we got some pizza and went to bed.Album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2277391&l=412f8&id=7725102
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Taipei: Day Two
On the second full day in Taiwan we decided to go to one of the outlying cities, Keelung. We went to the train station, which was conveniently located across the street from our hostel, to figure out how the train system works. The station was pretty simple but had a sense of grandeur at the same time. The board displaying the train times seemed out dated as panels flipped rapidly to change information. We eventually bought our tickets and went to the platform to wait for our train. All the platforms were underground, and after our train left we were still underground for quite some time. When we emerged, we were in a much more rural part of Taiwan. I saw shacks with small vegetable gardens around them and lots of other rural poverty. Probably the strangest thing I saw was a half completed high rise that seemed abandoned for some time. Surrounding the building was shacks and lots of vegetation. The exposed steel framework looked rusted and it was clear construction stopped long ago. We reached Keelung after a little more then an hour train ride. Keelung is a shipping port on the northern tip of Taiwan. It seemed small for a city but there was plenty of activity. 
We wondered around for a bit. We went through a very crowed street market that sold mostly food. A scoop of snails or a tentacle on a stick were common items sold. We then went to lunch at a very small local restaurant. None of them spoke English and there was no menu so it took some creative communication methods to order. After trying to talk to each other in our native languages we ended up going to another patrons table and pointing at what we wanted. We each got a bowl of rice with minced meat (I'm fairly certain it was pork). It was NT20 each which is about US$0.60. It was very good. We then headed up the hill to a park that overlooked Keelung. It was an interesting view but nothing sensational. We didn't stay too long before deciding to try to go to the limestone cape in Yeliu. We had no idea how to get to Yeliu. We assumed by bus but all the bus schedules were in Chinese. After spending some time trying to figure it out we eventually just got on a bus that had a destination in English written on it that seemed close to Yeliu. The driver didn't speak English either so we looked at a map posted in the bus. That map was also not English so we tried to match it up with ours which was in a language we could read. We didn't make any progress as the map posted didn't have enough features for us to identify where we were going. Fortunately there was a woman on the bus who spoke English and recognized our problem. She told us that we got on the right bus and then told the driver to alert us when we got to the Yeliu stop. The bus traveled through the country side and stopped at all kinds on little towns. I wondered what it would be like if buses ran regularly through the country side in Ohio. It was about an hour before the bus driver started shouting to use in Mandarin that this was where we wanted to get off. 
Yeliu is a small harbor village. It only had a couple of streets but they were long and followed the shore line. It took us a little time to figure out how to get to the limestone cape. It's official name is the Yeliu Geological National Park. There was a long building that was a market we walked through. It turned out that was a mistake. It was a lot longer then it looked, poorly ventilated, smelled like fish, and at the end was the exit to the park. So we walked back around the building and found then entrance and paid the small fee it get in. Inside there were a ton of people walking around the strange limestone formation. The limestone formations are rather hard to explain. They seemed like giant mushrooms. 
I wondered around a bit looking for places there were not a lot of people and just generally relaxing by the ocean side. We stayed until dark at which point we walked back to the bus stop to figure out if there was a way to go straight from where we were to Taipei. The few signs were in Chinese so that didn't help. I managed to find an Indian man how spoke English and he seemed pretty confident that where he was standing was where the bus to Taipei stops. It wasn't long before a bus came but it was too full for Chase, Pierre and I to all go. We waited about 10 minutes before two buses came at once for Taipei which we had no problem getting on. It rained the whole way back to Taipei and took well over an hour. The bus stop we got off at was right by our hostel and we ate a quick dinner at Burger King since it was so late and then went to bed for the night.
(second half)
We wondered around for a bit. We went through a very crowed street market that sold mostly food. A scoop of snails or a tentacle on a stick were common items sold. We then went to lunch at a very small local restaurant. None of them spoke English and there was no menu so it took some creative communication methods to order. After trying to talk to each other in our native languages we ended up going to another patrons table and pointing at what we wanted. We each got a bowl of rice with minced meat (I'm fairly certain it was pork). It was NT20 each which is about US$0.60. It was very good. We then headed up the hill to a park that overlooked Keelung. It was an interesting view but nothing sensational. We didn't stay too long before deciding to try to go to the limestone cape in Yeliu. We had no idea how to get to Yeliu. We assumed by bus but all the bus schedules were in Chinese. After spending some time trying to figure it out we eventually just got on a bus that had a destination in English written on it that seemed close to Yeliu. The driver didn't speak English either so we looked at a map posted in the bus. That map was also not English so we tried to match it up with ours which was in a language we could read. We didn't make any progress as the map posted didn't have enough features for us to identify where we were going. Fortunately there was a woman on the bus who spoke English and recognized our problem. She told us that we got on the right bus and then told the driver to alert us when we got to the Yeliu stop. The bus traveled through the country side and stopped at all kinds on little towns. I wondered what it would be like if buses ran regularly through the country side in Ohio. It was about an hour before the bus driver started shouting to use in Mandarin that this was where we wanted to get off. 
Yeliu is a small harbor village. It only had a couple of streets but they were long and followed the shore line. It took us a little time to figure out how to get to the limestone cape. It's official name is the Yeliu Geological National Park. There was a long building that was a market we walked through. It turned out that was a mistake. It was a lot longer then it looked, poorly ventilated, smelled like fish, and at the end was the exit to the park. So we walked back around the building and found then entrance and paid the small fee it get in. Inside there were a ton of people walking around the strange limestone formation. The limestone formations are rather hard to explain. They seemed like giant mushrooms. 
I wondered around a bit looking for places there were not a lot of people and just generally relaxing by the ocean side. We stayed until dark at which point we walked back to the bus stop to figure out if there was a way to go straight from where we were to Taipei. The few signs were in Chinese so that didn't help. I managed to find an Indian man how spoke English and he seemed pretty confident that where he was standing was where the bus to Taipei stops. It wasn't long before a bus came but it was too full for Chase, Pierre and I to all go. We waited about 10 minutes before two buses came at once for Taipei which we had no problem getting on. It rained the whole way back to Taipei and took well over an hour. The bus stop we got off at was right by our hostel and we ate a quick dinner at Burger King since it was so late and then went to bed for the night.Album:
(second half)
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Shenzhen: Where the Real is Surreal
Yesterday, Chase and I decided to go to Shenzhen which is the city just on the other side of the boarder in mainland China. It was the first of China's special economic zones (SEZ).
Once we got through immigration and customs we were immediately underwhelmed. Shenzhen was rather bland. It was flat, very static and uninteresting buildings, and very few people. To be fair to the later, it is the start of Chinese New Year so a lot of people had left already. There were a few shops just across from the station that we decided to check out. In one of the convenient stores Chase and I got dumplings and meat on a stick. Not exactly sure what it was but it was good. We also walked into a KFC to see what it was like. It was at that moment that I realized there was not a single thing in English, anywhere. This continued throughout the day. Almost no one we can across spoke even a little English. We decided to try to figure out if there was somewhere more interesting to go to in the city and to find a market. Back in the station we found a couple of pamphlets for visitors but they were very poorly done. We managed to get two maps (both with completely different information on them) that were not helpful at all. One had too big of a scale, the other was too small. The larger one had a map key, but only sort of matched some of the symbols and colors on the map. The other had no key at all. So we decided the best thing to do is go somewhere else in the city and wonder a round for a bit. The Shenzhen subway had two lines and we felt that where they intersect might be a good place to start. On the subway I began to realize just how much of a police state China is. On each train there were multiple police officers going up and down the train constantly. Each station had more. On the surface and on the streets they were everywhere. We saw all kinds of combination of security guards, police, and military personnel constantly. There was one police officer whose beat was apparently just the seating area of a McDonalds. It was almost humorous when they took notice of us. I remember passing by a group of military officers and one of them saw me. His posture immediately changed. He had somewhat of a stern look but it seemed like he was thinking "A Westerner! Finally some excitement!...wait, what am I suppose to do? I'll just stand over here and watch." Once we got to the stop we went up to the surface.
The exit we got out on was in a Sheraton Hotel which seemed very out of place. It was a sleek solid black building with fountains out front. Surrounding it was bland, run down towers. However, in the streets there was a New Years market which was something Chase and I were looking for. While walking the street all the booths reminded me of the vendors at the Wayne County Fair (although a lot less formal and significantly more crowded).
Many of the shops were selling New Years decorations which were just as cheap and commercialized as many of our holiday's decorations have become in the States. One of the vendors was selling fried baby birds. Chase bought a dozen for 10RMB (about US$1.50). I tried one, the seasoning was really amazing but the chick itself was not. At one point a girl probably about our age came up to us and said in decent English "Excuse me, you are the first foreigner my mother has ever seen. Can she take a picture we you?" At first I thought that would has to be impossible in such a large city. But then I glanced around and realized that so far Chase has been the only other Westerner I had seen. We agreed and made the mother was very excited. Once we made it down one street of vendors we wondered into an adjacent mall. Again, it seemed out of place. It was really fancy. At one part there was even a live band with a rather large audience. Chase and I grabbed a quick lunch at a Pizza Hut. The menu had some English but the important thing was we knew what we were ordering. The waiter greeted us in English which surprised me and I started giving him my order in English. However, greetings were apparently as far as his English went so we ended up ordering by pointing at pictures. The prices were comparable to back home but this Pizza Hut was super fancy and played classical music. After we finished eating I was determined to buy something from the market. There were all kinds of interesting and unique trinkets. There were also the obviously mass produced items but I wasn't very interested in those. As I started looking at the items I was surprised none of the shopkeepers were paying attention to me. They just ignored me while I looked through their wears. One man did show me a kaleidoscope but didn't pressure me beyond that. After looking a few booths I created a list in my mind of the things I would try to buy and whatever I could get at a decent price I would go for. So I ask one of them how much an item was. The item was a box that contained a set of colorful blocks with pictures and Chinese written on them. The box was worn and the blocks were dirty, but it looked pretty neat. When he gave me the price I didn't understand a word he said, but he held up two fingers. Chase and I debated a little bit on what he meant. We guessed it was either 200RMB for the set or 2RMB for each. I then tried to ask him what they were. He made a gesture that suggested writing or rubbing. I'm not convinced he understood my question since I had trouble thinking how that applied to the blocks in question, but I decided to go ahead with the bargaining. The first step was to establish what two meant. I didn't get very far until Chase came up with the idea of using his phone to type numbers. He typed 200 (so it was for the set) and I then type in 50. He shook his head and turned away. So I moved on and went to his neighbor and asked about an old booklet that had Chinese and drawn pictures in it. After a couple of numbers went back and forth we quickly settled on 65RMB. The man was so excited (I know I paid too much for it, but they know I have more money then their average customer) but it was my first choice item to begin with. With that transaction, the whole side of the market immediately went hyperactive. A white man was buying things! It was less then a second that the first man with the blocks was poking me waving a cell phone with a number on it. It was still too high so I offered lower and he shook his head again and walked away. In the mean time, the man I bought the booklet from gave me change. By that time I had a second offer. My guess is that he wanted to negotiate tough by walking away but was worried he would lose the Westerners business. I continued to negotiate on the blocks but for the rest of the time his partner (perhaps son?) participated too. I found the whole thing humorous. The older man acted tough and would walk away from my offer, but the younger guys would immediately show me his cell phone with a lower number. This went on for a while with every one communicating only with numbers on a phone. When we finally agreed on a price they were ecstatic and I decided I had spent enough money for one day. All the other shop keepers were showing me all kinds of stuff, but the prices were rapidly skyrocketing. I just walked away. The problem was that even though the vendor on the other street did not see me buy anything, they saw I was carrying things that were obviously purchased at the market. The very last vendor did manage to nab me, but I only showed a little interest because he did have some pretty neat things and I didn't want to buy anything more. As I walked away the man came back to me and wanted to see the things I purchased. I let him see, as at the time Chase was distracted by a child playing some sort of instrument and I wasn't going anywhere soon. The man then showed me some posters I had not seen before, mostly propaganda posters of Mao. I decided since I was in China I should get one. His offer was so cheap I felt like I shouldn't even bargain lower and took it. At that moment I decided to stop buying things again. We decided to go back to the subway and try another station. The one we came out at had a mall attached to it underground. This mall was very tight and compact. Each store was probably about the size of half a small dorm room. The stores seemed to go on for ever in a rather labyrinth like manner. It took us a while to figure out how to get out. Once outside, we found it drab like before and didn't spend much time there. I did however, buy a piece of amazing chocolate cake for only 4RMB (.60 cents). We then headed back to the station to get back into Hong Kong. When we got there we decided to eat at a local restaurant before leaving. The food was very good, but we got poor service. I don't think the poor service was because they were poorly trained or that they didn't like us. It was more of they didn't know what to do with us. This was a theme that seemed to have been carried on through out the day. When ever I tried to wave down the waitress she seemed to have a panic attack, run to talk to her manager and then the manager would just look very confused while they both walked away together. After we paid we walked across the street into the station to go though immigration and customs. I wasn't sure if I should declare the items I bought so I asked the guy at the declaration desk about the rules. This led to another bizarre encounter. The guy asked to see my items. I showed him them and asked me to open the box. He picked up one of the blocks and looked at them. He put it down and immediately asked for my passport. I gave it to him and we quickly ran off and talked to another customs agent. At that moment I realized that the box probably looked like something drugs would be smuggled in, so I had a feeling that it was going to be a while before I was going anywhere. The guy came back with two additional agents, a girl and an older woman (I'm guessing she was both of their superior officer). The guy didn't stay much longer but the other two women looked through my three items very extensively. I have a feeling the guy didn't know much English, the girl did, and the woman was the one who made decisions. I was asked all kinds of questions about the items. They wanted to see receipts and I explained that I bought them in the market so I didn't have any. Thankfully they never asked what the items where because to be honest I had no idea. For a while they seemed really serious. The older woman went through every detail of the items, pointing out imperfections, nicks, and read every bit of Chinese on the blocks, poster, and the entire booklet. Then the mood started to change. The older woman just seemed confused the girl laugh several times. I think she found it humorous I bought a Mao poster, asking at one point "Do you like Mao?" I responded with the safest thing I could think of at the time "I find him...interesting" which resulted in her laughing again. The woman took charge and the girl started making small talk with us asking about why we were in Hong Kong. At that point I knew eventually I would be able to leave. The girl explained to us that what they were concerned about was the value. While I was entangled with customs, Chase picked up a pamphlet that explained the rules. If I would have done that first I would have known this was a waste of time but one of the rules was that customs could confiscate anything that is deemed a national relic. Despite not knowing exactly what I bought, it did make me feel a little better that customs took that much time and personnel to decided if it was that special or not. Eventually I was let go and didn't have to fill out any paper work. The whole day seemed so surreal. I doubt that I am even coming close to conveying the bizarre world that is Shenzhen.
Album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2275760&l=16fb7&id=7725102
Once we got through immigration and customs we were immediately underwhelmed. Shenzhen was rather bland. It was flat, very static and uninteresting buildings, and very few people. To be fair to the later, it is the start of Chinese New Year so a lot of people had left already. There were a few shops just across from the station that we decided to check out. In one of the convenient stores Chase and I got dumplings and meat on a stick. Not exactly sure what it was but it was good. We also walked into a KFC to see what it was like. It was at that moment that I realized there was not a single thing in English, anywhere. This continued throughout the day. Almost no one we can across spoke even a little English. We decided to try to figure out if there was somewhere more interesting to go to in the city and to find a market. Back in the station we found a couple of pamphlets for visitors but they were very poorly done. We managed to get two maps (both with completely different information on them) that were not helpful at all. One had too big of a scale, the other was too small. The larger one had a map key, but only sort of matched some of the symbols and colors on the map. The other had no key at all. So we decided the best thing to do is go somewhere else in the city and wonder a round for a bit. The Shenzhen subway had two lines and we felt that where they intersect might be a good place to start. On the subway I began to realize just how much of a police state China is. On each train there were multiple police officers going up and down the train constantly. Each station had more. On the surface and on the streets they were everywhere. We saw all kinds of combination of security guards, police, and military personnel constantly. There was one police officer whose beat was apparently just the seating area of a McDonalds. It was almost humorous when they took notice of us. I remember passing by a group of military officers and one of them saw me. His posture immediately changed. He had somewhat of a stern look but it seemed like he was thinking "A Westerner! Finally some excitement!...wait, what am I suppose to do? I'll just stand over here and watch." Once we got to the stop we went up to the surface.
The exit we got out on was in a Sheraton Hotel which seemed very out of place. It was a sleek solid black building with fountains out front. Surrounding it was bland, run down towers. However, in the streets there was a New Years market which was something Chase and I were looking for. While walking the street all the booths reminded me of the vendors at the Wayne County Fair (although a lot less formal and significantly more crowded).
Many of the shops were selling New Years decorations which were just as cheap and commercialized as many of our holiday's decorations have become in the States. One of the vendors was selling fried baby birds. Chase bought a dozen for 10RMB (about US$1.50). I tried one, the seasoning was really amazing but the chick itself was not. At one point a girl probably about our age came up to us and said in decent English "Excuse me, you are the first foreigner my mother has ever seen. Can she take a picture we you?" At first I thought that would has to be impossible in such a large city. But then I glanced around and realized that so far Chase has been the only other Westerner I had seen. We agreed and made the mother was very excited. Once we made it down one street of vendors we wondered into an adjacent mall. Again, it seemed out of place. It was really fancy. At one part there was even a live band with a rather large audience. Chase and I grabbed a quick lunch at a Pizza Hut. The menu had some English but the important thing was we knew what we were ordering. The waiter greeted us in English which surprised me and I started giving him my order in English. However, greetings were apparently as far as his English went so we ended up ordering by pointing at pictures. The prices were comparable to back home but this Pizza Hut was super fancy and played classical music. After we finished eating I was determined to buy something from the market. There were all kinds of interesting and unique trinkets. There were also the obviously mass produced items but I wasn't very interested in those. As I started looking at the items I was surprised none of the shopkeepers were paying attention to me. They just ignored me while I looked through their wears. One man did show me a kaleidoscope but didn't pressure me beyond that. After looking a few booths I created a list in my mind of the things I would try to buy and whatever I could get at a decent price I would go for. So I ask one of them how much an item was. The item was a box that contained a set of colorful blocks with pictures and Chinese written on them. The box was worn and the blocks were dirty, but it looked pretty neat. When he gave me the price I didn't understand a word he said, but he held up two fingers. Chase and I debated a little bit on what he meant. We guessed it was either 200RMB for the set or 2RMB for each. I then tried to ask him what they were. He made a gesture that suggested writing or rubbing. I'm not convinced he understood my question since I had trouble thinking how that applied to the blocks in question, but I decided to go ahead with the bargaining. The first step was to establish what two meant. I didn't get very far until Chase came up with the idea of using his phone to type numbers. He typed 200 (so it was for the set) and I then type in 50. He shook his head and turned away. So I moved on and went to his neighbor and asked about an old booklet that had Chinese and drawn pictures in it. After a couple of numbers went back and forth we quickly settled on 65RMB. The man was so excited (I know I paid too much for it, but they know I have more money then their average customer) but it was my first choice item to begin with. With that transaction, the whole side of the market immediately went hyperactive. A white man was buying things! It was less then a second that the first man with the blocks was poking me waving a cell phone with a number on it. It was still too high so I offered lower and he shook his head again and walked away. In the mean time, the man I bought the booklet from gave me change. By that time I had a second offer. My guess is that he wanted to negotiate tough by walking away but was worried he would lose the Westerners business. I continued to negotiate on the blocks but for the rest of the time his partner (perhaps son?) participated too. I found the whole thing humorous. The older man acted tough and would walk away from my offer, but the younger guys would immediately show me his cell phone with a lower number. This went on for a while with every one communicating only with numbers on a phone. When we finally agreed on a price they were ecstatic and I decided I had spent enough money for one day. All the other shop keepers were showing me all kinds of stuff, but the prices were rapidly skyrocketing. I just walked away. The problem was that even though the vendor on the other street did not see me buy anything, they saw I was carrying things that were obviously purchased at the market. The very last vendor did manage to nab me, but I only showed a little interest because he did have some pretty neat things and I didn't want to buy anything more. As I walked away the man came back to me and wanted to see the things I purchased. I let him see, as at the time Chase was distracted by a child playing some sort of instrument and I wasn't going anywhere soon. The man then showed me some posters I had not seen before, mostly propaganda posters of Mao. I decided since I was in China I should get one. His offer was so cheap I felt like I shouldn't even bargain lower and took it. At that moment I decided to stop buying things again. We decided to go back to the subway and try another station. The one we came out at had a mall attached to it underground. This mall was very tight and compact. Each store was probably about the size of half a small dorm room. The stores seemed to go on for ever in a rather labyrinth like manner. It took us a while to figure out how to get out. Once outside, we found it drab like before and didn't spend much time there. I did however, buy a piece of amazing chocolate cake for only 4RMB (.60 cents). We then headed back to the station to get back into Hong Kong. When we got there we decided to eat at a local restaurant before leaving. The food was very good, but we got poor service. I don't think the poor service was because they were poorly trained or that they didn't like us. It was more of they didn't know what to do with us. This was a theme that seemed to have been carried on through out the day. When ever I tried to wave down the waitress she seemed to have a panic attack, run to talk to her manager and then the manager would just look very confused while they both walked away together. After we paid we walked across the street into the station to go though immigration and customs. I wasn't sure if I should declare the items I bought so I asked the guy at the declaration desk about the rules. This led to another bizarre encounter. The guy asked to see my items. I showed him them and asked me to open the box. He picked up one of the blocks and looked at them. He put it down and immediately asked for my passport. I gave it to him and we quickly ran off and talked to another customs agent. At that moment I realized that the box probably looked like something drugs would be smuggled in, so I had a feeling that it was going to be a while before I was going anywhere. The guy came back with two additional agents, a girl and an older woman (I'm guessing she was both of their superior officer). The guy didn't stay much longer but the other two women looked through my three items very extensively. I have a feeling the guy didn't know much English, the girl did, and the woman was the one who made decisions. I was asked all kinds of questions about the items. They wanted to see receipts and I explained that I bought them in the market so I didn't have any. Thankfully they never asked what the items where because to be honest I had no idea. For a while they seemed really serious. The older woman went through every detail of the items, pointing out imperfections, nicks, and read every bit of Chinese on the blocks, poster, and the entire booklet. Then the mood started to change. The older woman just seemed confused the girl laugh several times. I think she found it humorous I bought a Mao poster, asking at one point "Do you like Mao?" I responded with the safest thing I could think of at the time "I find him...interesting" which resulted in her laughing again. The woman took charge and the girl started making small talk with us asking about why we were in Hong Kong. At that point I knew eventually I would be able to leave. The girl explained to us that what they were concerned about was the value. While I was entangled with customs, Chase picked up a pamphlet that explained the rules. If I would have done that first I would have known this was a waste of time but one of the rules was that customs could confiscate anything that is deemed a national relic. Despite not knowing exactly what I bought, it did make me feel a little better that customs took that much time and personnel to decided if it was that special or not. Eventually I was let go and didn't have to fill out any paper work. The whole day seemed so surreal. I doubt that I am even coming close to conveying the bizarre world that is Shenzhen.
Album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2275760&l=16fb7&id=7725102
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Demand to Serve
Today I went to Sha Tin to the New Town Plaza mall with Chase to buy a few supplies for our trip to Taipei next week. All I needed was a bag and he was looking for a camera. This was the first time I actually spent any time shopping in New Town Plaza. Most of the sales representatives spoke broken English and at times passed us on to someone with better English. However, the thing that stood out most was the fact they demanded to serve you. Back home most sale representatives will be nice and some will be helpful. In Hong Kong they are rather forceful. Not forceful in the way street vendors are in demanding to sell something, but just forceful in being helpful. For example, at one store Chase was looking through a rack of various items and when he was done he began to put them back. One of the employees quickly rushed over and said that she would put them back. When I was looking at some bags at the Columbia store, one of the zippers got stuck while one of the sales clerks was walking by. He quickly told me he would do it and opened it for me before I could respond. Another odd service was at McDonalds. You go and order your food, wait for it, and then go sit down. However, there are no trash cans or places to put your trays. Why? Well there are men and women dressed in suits to take those away and clean up your table for you. Yes that is right. McDonalds in Hong Kong hires people to dress business professional to clean up after guest who eat in their fast food restaurant. The same thing happens in the canteens (only they are not dressed as nice). I have gotten in the habit of just abandoning things like that because by the time I push back my chair they have the table cleaned (they really pay attention and are really fast at serving customers they think are in need). They never ask if you need help, they just do it. To most back home this probably sounds like pushy or impatient employees, but a lot of these instances came off as having good intentions. It is interesting to note that most people would at first find it a little insulting to have someone do everything for you. However, it is insulting to them if they cannot serve you. They rush to go out of their way to serve the customer without asking (I assume asking for help is a sign they are not doing their job and thus somewhat insulting) and they wont accept tips.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Language Barrier
Although Hong Kong is officially a bilingual city (English and Cantonese), English is still a challenge to some locals. To a visitor the language barrier would not be much of a hindrance. Bargaining doesn't really require complex phrases and ordering food can be done with pointing. However, for more complicated issues that are involved with living here, language becomes an issue. The other day the shower head broke in my flats bathroom and so I went down to the building manager's office to report it. The problem was the manager didn't know what I was talking about. At first she thought I had locked myself out of my room. It took a little effort to convince her I didn't need keys. Then she said something I didn't understand and kept pointing at the computer (Perhaps she thought I couldn't connect to the internet). Finally she got on the phone and called a resident tutor (our version of RA) and I talked to her. The RT's English was much better and then she conveyed the problem to the manager. When I returned to my flat later that day there was a new shower head installed.
The problem is everywhere has processes. It is not just China, it is back home too. I am frequently reminded of freshman year trying to learn how all the dinning halls work. Miami makes it convenient by making every dinning hall different. The difference is back home if you are confused about a process you can ask and if you do something wrong you are corrected in English. At the dinning halls here you tend to guess what you are suppose to do and then get yelled at in Cantonese. So far I got down that you order and pay for your food at the first counter. But then you are given a receipt. Everything on the receipt is written in Chinese except for a number. I understand that the number corresponds to an order. The tricky part is redeeming your food. Sometimes you get multiple receipts, that’s for a drink order or other side order. There are also different counters to get your food depending on the canteen and what they serve. Some times you turn in your receipt and then they give you your order and sometimes you have to wait until the food is ready and then you trade in your receipt for your food. The servers are very busy and I can understand how they might get frustrated with a foreigner trying to do the wrong thing, especially since they correct you in Cantonese or very bad English. There have been several times when I was at the wrong place to get my food and I don't think the server understood that I had no idea what was going on. I am eventually learning but it’s a very odd way to learn.
The problem is everywhere has processes. It is not just China, it is back home too. I am frequently reminded of freshman year trying to learn how all the dinning halls work. Miami makes it convenient by making every dinning hall different. The difference is back home if you are confused about a process you can ask and if you do something wrong you are corrected in English. At the dinning halls here you tend to guess what you are suppose to do and then get yelled at in Cantonese. So far I got down that you order and pay for your food at the first counter. But then you are given a receipt. Everything on the receipt is written in Chinese except for a number. I understand that the number corresponds to an order. The tricky part is redeeming your food. Sometimes you get multiple receipts, that’s for a drink order or other side order. There are also different counters to get your food depending on the canteen and what they serve. Some times you turn in your receipt and then they give you your order and sometimes you have to wait until the food is ready and then you trade in your receipt for your food. The servers are very busy and I can understand how they might get frustrated with a foreigner trying to do the wrong thing, especially since they correct you in Cantonese or very bad English. There have been several times when I was at the wrong place to get my food and I don't think the server understood that I had no idea what was going on. I am eventually learning but it’s a very odd way to learn.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
