A Chinese Thanksgiving

The Little Cook

Thanksgiving was further experience in the surreal given the differences in timezone and holiday practices.  In China, as you’d expect, Thanksgiving is just any other working day. So Thanksgiving can’t be celebrated on its usual Thursday, this shifts everything your used to experiencing.  The concept of syncrhony : simultaneous occurrence is a modern notion that first developed in the information age of the telegraph; prior to then all time was “local time” : when the sun was highest that was noon.  You were so far away otherwise there was no idea that it was the same time everywhere or different times in different places.  Facebook connects different sides of the world together that exaggerate the differences; so when everyone is expressing thanks and putting in turkey’s to cook in China we are just working.

Making Crust

Thanksgiving was planned for Saturday evening.  With Church we divided up all the members hosts and attendees.  Hosts indicated the number of people they could accommodate and then attendees were assigned.   We were limited to accepting four guests because we had other guests we planned on inviting.  Julie Lefgren, a old friend that I’ve known since I was in Jr. High, came up from Nanjing and brought a friend Emily who was visiting China from Utah.  We invited over the Sheppards with their two boys, Austin works at Amazon and they just relocated to Beijing and just moved into our building.  Finally we invited George our friend from Uganda, his wife Tiisa couldn’t attend because she was convalescing back home with her mother.  We were joined by Whitney and Alex Putnam who arrived a few months ago, she is teaching English and her husband just got a job in accounting with HP and Sean and Samantha Floyd who have lived here for four years, she teaches school at YCIS and Sean works for a Sante Fe a relocation company.

Trimming the Crust

We ordered a 9 KG cooked turkey with stuffing and gravy from April Gourmet catering, they provided delivery and the total cost was 1300 rmb (around $200 USD).   We shopped around to a bunch of places, but we choose April because it was close, (we shop there often), they cooked it for you and they delivered.  We made assignments to others, they signed up for mashed potatoes, jello dish, green beans, rolls, asparagus, peas and we signed up for the yams and pumpkin pies.  Emilie brought stove-top stuffing with her from the USA so we’d have stuffing in and out of the turkey.    I went shopping on Friday with Mrs Li to the local morning market to buy yams, celery and onions and then Sofi and I went shopping later in the day to Jenny Lou’s to buy brown sugar, marshmallows and spices and fixings for the pies.  Sadly in Beijing you can’t buy frozen pie crusts so that was one more detail we’d have to tackle before dinner.

Breakaway

Saturday I went out to ISB to play in an early morning Turkey Bowl, though I didn’t play at all I just took photos of everyone else, but I find I am much less likely to get hurt that way. Back home we cut and boiled yams and Julie, Emily and Sofi set out to make homemade pie crusts using a recipe from Julies Mom. And the usual the chaos of the cooking moment ensued and I got caught up getting all the details ready.  In fact looking back I don’t have many photos and that’s mostly because I am so busy otherwise occupied.  Chopping celery, and onions (sniff); sauting and mixing up the stuffing. Slicing the yams and adding layers of butter and brown sugar. Stac made the pies and we got about setting up the table. Guests arrived, a few late. The Putnams took 2 hours to arrive due to traffic in a taxi (they realized later it would have been faster on the subway). George got lost trying to find our place and I hoped on the Flying Pigeon (bicycle) to go look for him.

Eventually it got to be 5:00 pm and the turkey that was supposed to arrive at 4:30 was still not here. We called to inquire and were told it would be soon. Around 5:30 the last guests arrived and the turkey was delivered at the same time. The turkey was fully cooked but ice cold. Somehow it had been finished at 3pm and had been left to get cold.  I pretty much lost it at this point.  The entire point of me ordering a turkey was so we didn’t have to worry about it. (That and the fact our oven was way too small to cook a turkey and everything else).  I told the delivery girl I wasn’t willing to pay; and I called the manager and asked him what he was going to knock off the price to make it right. I was pretty angry.  (The next day, Sunday, at church I happened to be in the bathroom in a stall at the same time that Miles and Kent Morris were washing their hands.  Kent said to Miles : “I heard your turkey showed up cold” to which Miles replied : “Yeah my Dad threw a fit”).  We agreed to settle up later

Chin Twitcher

I started reheating the coagulated gravy, and slicing off bits of ice cold turkey to put on a plates and throw it in the oven.  Everyone gathered into the kitchen and we said a blessing.  I was still wrapped all up in the adrenalin of a cold turkey and just piled up potatoes, yams, stuffing and gravy and left the turkey for my second plate.  Finally after heating up four plates of turkey we got everyone fed and settled into the familiar post-gorging rhythm of sitting around and talking.  We listened to stories of George and Uganda’s who drink 20 liters of milk a day and a Wild Animal Kingdom park in Beijing where they put you in a small wire enclosed car with meat hanging from the car where bears and lions come up and pull the meat off.   All in all Thanksgiving was wonderful.  Each bit of food was a tiny bit of heaven : the yams, the stuffing, the pumpkin pie and the turkey.  Eating with friends from long ago and newly made in a far away land made it all the more special.

Categories: By Mark, living in beijing | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

A Birthday Hike

Every year I like to take the morning off and hike up to the summit of Mailbox Peak. This year in China that wouldn’t be possible so I opted to take the entire day and go for a solo backpacking trip and hike to the Great Wall. This is my story.

The Birthday Geek on a Peak

There is something surreal about experiencing holidays in a foreign land in a future timezone from most everyone that knows you.  This year my birthday (11/24) fell on a Thursday and coincided with Thanksgiving.  However since Thanksgiving isn’t an observed holiday we will celebrate it on Saturday the 26th (more about that in a future post after its past).  China is 14 hours ahead of the Pacific Timezone, so as of this writing (11/25 at 6am) Thanksgiving is over in the US,  my birthday is already past and we have yet to celebrate Thanksgiving here.   So many birthday wishes via Facebook are already belated and references to Thanksgiving dinner on my birthday are incongruent.  Just part of the surrealism that abounds in China.

Smokin`

This week fierce northern winds blew into Beijing, this brought out the gloves, and scarves and hats and blew out all the pollution.  Beautiful blue skies.   I left work early around 3pm.  I rented a car from Robert so that Stac and the kids wouldn’t be without transportation.  I headed north east on the G45 towards HuaiRou exited at #13 a few km’s sooner than JianKou and headed to the north west on the S308 HuaiChang Lu to the village of HuangHuaCheng. The time was around 4pm and the sun was cresting just above the ridge line of the mountains and casting long shadows. Many narrow country roads in China are lined on both sides with trees every 15 feet or so; result of organized labor programs. Their trunks are always painted white for the first three feet or so, they say to ward off insects. As I drove down the tree-lined lanes their shadows cut across the road; passing country folk riding on bikes and motorcycles. Families gathered to collect their children from school and others huddled against the wall bundled up against the cold chatting with one another. I was suddenly overwhelmed by a surreal feeling of “I’m in China, driving”.

He Guards the Way

I had the location of the section of the Wall on my phone I knew it was coming up on the right and kept my eye out for the road. I drove right past the turn off on my maps and had to turn around. A narrow cement lane between two restaurants matched the map and I asked a lady if this was the way to HuangHuaCheng she confirmed and I turned from the narrow blacktop country road to a single lane of cement winding up through the barren persimmon trees. I soon came to a gate and a compound. A house with dry corn laid in the driveway with a guest house next to a pile of coal, a chicken coup a small stable and 9 dogs chained to poles and in cages all greeted me with a loud choir of barking. An old wrinkled man walked up. I’d been previously warned by Earl about him and so I asked him if I could park my car and how much it would cost. He said 25 for me and 10 rmb for the car. I parked next to the coal and started change my clothes; things had gotten quite cold and so I put on a pair of tights and light hiking pants, two zip tops and longsleev polypro, hat and gloves. Around 4:44 I threw my pack on back and walked carefully up the road past the last of the dogs making sure I stayed out of the reach of the end of their chains.

The end of the Day

The Wall is a short 1/3 of a km walk up the rest of the cement road. The wall to the west (left) has been restored a few years ago, I was headed up the wall the east (right) which is unrestored. My goal was to find a large tower to camp in, there was a large tower in good condition a short 250 meters up the Wall but I wanted to be a bit further up the ridgeline so I kept on going. As is the case with most of the Wall its very steep and as with most ridgelines you can’t often see whats up ahead. Every now and then I’d catch a far off glimpse of what appeared to be the arched windows of a tower high up on the ridge. As I kept hiking the sunset kept fading behind me; given how clear the skies were the color kept lasting on and on. As the last bit of light finally drained out of the sky I finally arrived at the large tower. Typically towers on the Wall have a large arched entrance on either end at the wall with a window on either side and then three windows on the opposite sides. This means that in the corner of the towers there are windows on either side of you, this can get quite breezy when the wind blows. In one corner of the tower someone had filled in the end window with bricks and another doorway this gave me some protection and was just wide enough for me to pitch my Big Agnes tent.

Camping on the Wall

By the time I finished pitching the tent my hands were numb and I quickly crawled inside to snuggle into my bag. I had Big Agnes insulated blow up pad stuffed inside a 15 degree Big Agnes bag (there seems to be a pattern in the gear brand here). I kept on my socks, and pulled on another pair and put on my hooded orange puffy and synched up the bag and curled up with the iPhone and read my book The Litigators by John Grisham. I quickly warmed up and after reading for a couple of hours I set my alarm for 5:15 am and turned in for the night. When I sleep at home in my bed I won’t recall the next morning stirring at all, typically when camping I’ll toss and turn every hour or so though I usually still sleep fine. This night was one of the soundest nights I have had sleeping outdoors.

The next morning I woke a few minutes before the alarm went off. I put on my shoes, bundled up in hat, gloves and a puffy jacket; threw my camera and some water in the pack; put my headlamp on and headed up the Great Wall. Just above the large tower where I was sleeping the Wall hits a large cliff and goes straight up. Amazingly the builders were very committed to the route of the Wall and they built straight up cliffs : putting steps or crenellations anywhere they can fit, or along the sides of the cliff. Given it was dark and knowing that most of these cliff faces are typically unclimbable at worst and sketchy at best I opted to go to the left knowing that trails usually skirt around until you can safely rejoin the Wall. I found a trail and began clawing my way through the brush along the base of the cliffs. Eventually I reached a point where I could trend downward through the brush or try climbing up a fairly steep slope of mixed dirt and rocky cliffs. I decided to go up. I clawed my way up the dirt with a few dried vegetable belays and a couple of holds on the rock. Eventually I reached a small ledge/hole on the steep slope where I could stop and rest.

Smoggy Mountain Morning

From here things became straight rock above me for a short bit until the edge of the Wall 20 meters above; there was a crack but not much to really grab or step on to push up. When things get too hard generally your trying to hard and you should consider alternative routes. But getting back down was not so straight forward, still pitch black dark the headlamp and thick shrubs didn’t really allow me to see far enough to make the right decisions on which direction to head and where to place hands and feet. So I headed back up to my ledge and hunkered down to wait for the sky to lighten enough to see. I pulled out my iPhone and started reading my book again. An hour passed before there was sufficient light; sadly I was on the opposite side of the ridge of the rising sun so I wasn’t even able to enjoy any color. I put everything in my packed, synched it down tight and carefully down climbed. At the base of the cliff I was able to now head down and around where I ran onto an obvious trail and was able to re-climb back onto the wall.

The Winter Wall

From here I followed the wall up several steep hills; a large peak the tallest on the ridge line beckoned me on. The Wall took a left turn heading north west and the ridge line went right heading easterly. From here there was a trail intermixed with a lot of wading through the brush. Eventually I reached the very shrubby peak with a small pile of rocks and an old triangular tower that hand toppled. Tired and warmed by my hike with the sun shining on me I dropped my pack and sat down on a warm flat rock to take a break. Sadly I’d lost my water bottle in the dark wading through the thick brush but I did have a cliff bar and I at it and sat down to finish the last few pages of The Litigators. Satisfied with the end of a good book (finally!, Grisham has written crap for the last few years) I picked up my pack and made my way back down the Wall.

Until It All Falls Down

When I came to the steep section where I’d been cliffed out I stayed on the Wall right up to the cliff and downclimbed this time staying on the “right” if you were climbing up. There were several holds and places where bricks were cemented into the cliff face, using these and some holds it was possible to downclimb and probably would have been even easier to climb up. Arriving at the tower I got in my tent and thirstily downed my other bottle of water and climbed in my sleeping bag to warm up. Then I packed back up and wandered back down the compound of the old wrinkly man; changed and drove back down the village.

The Ancient Wall

I parked on the main road and walked across the street to where a young man was hanging the thick quilts on the door for the winter. I asked about lunch and ordered some fried noodles and some dumplings. He took me into their home and had me sit on their kang, a traditional Chinese bed with a thin reed mat on cement. Outside a square brick firepit was stoked with a fire that transferred heat into the room and under the bed so you could stay warm and toasty. He turned on the English channel of CCTV and left me to sip a cup of hot herbal tea while his mother cooked my lunch. Occasionally he’d wander in and talk to me about how dangerous the Wall was to camp on and how it was way too cold to sleep over night.

After downing my food I headed south down the country lane towards the G-45. Looking at the map I could see an alternative route that went over the mountains and came out north of Huairou, so on a whim I turned and headed east. The small road went through tunnels and around bends. As I came down on the otherside I passed a sign that said MuTianYu was only 4 km away, on a whim I called Julie Lefgren who was in town with a friend; I knew they were out on the Wall and though perhaps they might be at MuTianYu. Julie said yes, they’d just finished hiking and were going to eat at Subway and they’d love a ride home. Merrily we drove home back through the smog and cold to Beijing, but I’d been away from it all for at least one night on the Wild Wall.

 

More Info

Categories: By Mark, living in beijing | 7 Comments

A Chinese Wedding

A Chinese Wedding

I had the opportunity to attend a co-workers wedding this past weekend. As the boss I was asked to be a special guest and to make a small speech of congratulations. I was honored to be invited and to be asked to participate; I was also excited to see a Chinese wedding.

The Wedding Stage

My observations should be read in light of several facts. While there is a very strong ideal of American weddings, with a church, stately music and long procession down the aisle I come from a long line of Mormon weddings. The ceremony occurs in private in a Mormon temple with only family and close friends (less than 50), typically there is a brunch afterwards and then a break until we reconvene at the wedding reception in the evening; usually these take place in the gym of a local church that has been carefully decorated to hide its basketball like quality. Alternatively this is my only Chinese wedding so its difficult for me to tell how much of what I experienced was traditional or typical.

The Master of Ceremonies

Lu Yu and his bride to be both live in Beijing. She works as a prosecutor and Lu Yu works as a software engineer. Lu Yu is from the Yanqing district of the Beijing, still technically within boundaries of the Beijing Municipality, but its 90 kilometers from the city center out past the BaDaLing Great Wall far enough away that it is more countryside than the city. The wedding was to occur at 11:08 am, the most propitious time and date to be married according to the Chinese calendar. Lu Yu told me that his wedding wouldn’t be super fancy, and would be simpler; much of this I would guess is his reaction to weddings that you can observe in Beijing where you can see a Lamborghini driving down the street next to the sea of bikes and enclosed motorcycles.

Spotlights in the Wedding Hall

Sofi and I left our apartment at 9am and we arrived around 10:15. The wedding was located at a big wedding hall 新风酒店 (New Wind Hotel). There was a large red arch entry way; a balloon structure made of polyester and air held aloft by the electric blower. Lu Yu told me that the morning would involve him “stealing the bride”, where she would be barricaded in a local house and he’d have to bribe her “escape” with red envelops hongbao and other gifts. We just missed them arriving at the wedding hall in a long line of black Audi sedans; thousands of exploding fire crackers announce their arrival. We walked up the four flights of stairs to the fourth floor to a large hall with a large archway of flowers at one end, 12-15 large round tables that could each seat 12 people each and at the other end a stage draped in pink with two flower encrusted intertwined hearts. Lu Yu introduced me to his parents and his brides parents and we sat at the table with other fellow Amazonians. Lu Yu came up with the master of the ceremonies (MOC) to discuss the proceedings and my part, that I’d be first introduced and then later be asked to come up on stage to give my speech.

Cigarettes and White Lightning

The tables add had two large bottles of orange juice, a red bottle of BaiJiu, a plate of candy and a plate of cigarettes. Baijiu (白酒) translates to White Wine, but its really distilled liquor though this was only 38% or 76 proof.  If your ever in China and someone asks you if you want some wine to drink this is probably what your gonna get.  The table also had sunflower seeds as a snack and everyone sat around chewing seeds and chatting as guests arrived. Most everyone was dressed rather casually, jeans, t-shirts or sweatshirts. The parents of the bride and groom were dressed a little nicer, but virtually no dresses or suits except for the to be married couple.

Walking to the Stage

Sometime shortly after 11 but not coinciding exactly with the designated time, the lights in the hall were turned off and things got very very dark except for two spot lights that were centered on the back corner and loud music blared over the speakers closely resembling the Eye of the Tiger theme from Rocky. The MOC announced the wedding was to commence in a very loud professional announcer like voice. Then he came running through the arched banner at one end through the tables to the stage at the other end where he took several bows in the spotlights. He reminded me of a cross between a game show host and the announcer at boxing match. The spot lights, the music and showers of confetti all contributed to the sensation of stylized, choreographed and orchestrated event.

The Announcer and the Couple

My ability to understand all of what went on is limited to the smattering of Chinese I could understand. But the general outline was fairly easy to follow. First there was a series of questions from the MOC on stage to the wedding couple who were gathered under the arch of flowers. There was a serious officious tone to a series of questions to Lu Yu to which he answered a loud “YES!” and the same to his bride to be. Then the couple walked between the rows of tables under spot lights with people throwing rose petals on them. The rest of the main events were :

  •  I made a speech : excusing the fact I had to speak in English, honored that could attend Lu Yu’s wedding on his happy day and I wished him and his wife a long life and happiness and love with each other and through their children.  Mine was translated by the MOC.  He said a lot more words than I did leading me to believe he was very liberal in his translation.
  • Lu Yu’s brides boss also made a speech, his in Chinese and I am sure sounding much better. He even got a few laughs.
  • the couple exchanged rings, Lu Yu got a bit nervous and had hard time getting the ring on her finger
  • they exchanged a kiss, it was a nice moment afterwards
  • father’s on both sides gave a short speech, it was cute seeing their awkwardness at speech making in the bright lights of the spot lot and the pride and emotion in their eyes.
  • the couple used a long taper to light a heart shaped tier of candles
  • the couple poured a huge bottle of wine over a tiered stand of wine glasses while they all filled from the overflowing
  • the couple toasted each other with a glass of the wine and drank with arms intertwined
  • the couple presented a cup of tea to each other’s mother’s calling them mother
  • the bride threw her wedding bouquet into the crowd of hopefuls, who included men and women; in fact the person who caught it was a guy and he gave a short speech as well with everyone laughing because of some confetti he had hanging from his lip
  • the bride and groom threw small stuffed animals that were surrounding the wine glasses and candles into the crowd.  Zhihui’s wife caught one and she gave it to Sofi.

The Couples Kiss
A Sweet Moment
The Married Couple

Through out all of this the MOC provided a bravado and official stream of speech and commentary on all the events.  Guiding and leading all the participates through the process, he would even raise his hands in the act of clapping to queue the audience to respond in kind.  In all this ceremony from the audience there was constant loud chatter and talking at the tables as individuals gave speeches and lots of cheering and clapping as well.  And then it was over, the lights came up and immediately the Wedding Hall waiters started bringing out the food. Somewhere in all of this I assume the couple were pronounced Man and Wife or maybe they said “I do” with their resounding “YES!”  The workers of the Wedding Events started taking down big blankets that had covered the windows and sealed out all light for the dark ceremony.  The plates of food kept coming one and after another.  By tradition guests should have enough food that they can’t eat it all.  There must have been at least 20 dishes at each table.  The food was good, but was on par with what you’d expect trying to feed 15 large tables at all once.

红包 - Red Envelope
The Pile of Food

The bride changed into a traditional red Chinese dress and then her and Lu Yu proceeded to make their way to every guest at every table where the bride filled the glass of each person who stood and toasted them and gave a hongbao stuffed with 100’s of rmb to the couple.   It wasn’t only the bride and groom that came around making sure everyone had enough to drink but aunts and uncles came around as well. At our table only three of the men were drinking baijiu, everyone else was drinking water or juice.  Food was finished, and Lu Yu came around for one more happy toast.  As he kicked back his glass he whispered to me (“my bottle of baijiu is filled with water”).  And then everyone cleared out the wedding hall and we went
home.

HaiJiao gets a Refill
Lu Yu Toasts

Lu Yu told me that close friends and family members would gather back at his home for more celebration.  Sofi and I fought the traffic back into Beijing and home.  A great day for a Chinese Wedding.  In reflection its not surprising given the great fulcrum of the communist revolution there is no spiritual overtone to the wedding, but amidst all the revelry it was hard to pick out the tradition that tied the past to the present.  Everything was definitely focused as all good Chinese gatherings are on food and celebration.  I was honored to be invited.

The Wedding Hall

All of the photos on Flickr here.

Categories: By Mark | 9 Comments

Best of October 2011

October during China’s Golden Week we visited Vietnam. Click through on any photo to comment or for more details.

1.
Too Cool for Nam

2.
Stan and Anise

3.
Sea of Scooters

4.
The Power of Vietnam

5.
Long Bien Bridge

6.
She Rides

7.
Happy in Vietnam

8.
Hallooo

9.
Smiling Eyes

10.
Good Morning Vietnam

11.
Golden Morning

12.
Fishing Baskets at China Beach

13.
China Beach

14.
Gorgeous Sofi ~ Gorgeous Light

15.
The Day is Done

16.
The Towers of the Wall

17.
Valley of JianKou

18.
The Wall's Descent

19.
St. Sophia Church

20.
Toward the Yellow Cliffs

21.
Game of Cards

22.
The Dragon's Spine

23.
HuangYaGuan Coumpound

24.
The Shining City

25.
A Not So Angry Bird

26.
Pumpkin Cookies

27.
Cutest Witch Ever

28.
Scary Hands

29.
Happy Halloween

Categories: By Mark, photography | Leave a comment

JianKou – The Middle Path

Dawn Patrol

I returned to Jiankou for my fifth visit in October with Miles and some workmates John Rodgers and John Darrow, who were visiting from Seattle. We stayed at the Zhao’s Hostel and arose in the dark. We took the main concrete path past the parking lot heading south to the Wall just to the east of the TianTi / Heavenly Ladder.

The Golden Staircase

(Map) We hiked west towards the Heavenly Ladder, which was just as narrow and steep as the last time Miles and I went up it. The next hill is the aptly named Eagle Flys Upward a very steep cliff, where the wall up the face is vertical and crumbled. There is no use trying to climb the wall here, but you can make your way up on the left/southside of the Wall climbing up rocks, dirt and roots to the top.

Where Even the Eagle Flies Upward

From there it is straight forward hiking up and down the ridge lines to the Beijing Knot. The fall colors were out and many of the leaves were already falling along the trees growing from the base of the Wall. We had gorgeous views down in the valley of JianKou, one of the prettiest places I’ve seen outside of Beijing.

Valley of JianKou

After the Beijing Knot is a very steep descent, much steeper than I’d remember. Nearly vertical you can step your way down a path along the wall, the vertical crenelations offering you something to hold on to. Normally this would be doable with careful footing but we ended up running into JianKou hiking traffic jams. There were between 4-5 hiking groups of 25-45 people. All heading south alone the Wall, opposite of our direction, they were ascending while we were descending. This was very very time consuming waiting for people (slow) and dangerous climbing down between groups and with way too many loose rocks and bricks to knock down on people. Miles no matter how many times you tell him to watch his feet he would kick a small rock loose now and then. Mostly it was slow slow slow.

The Beijing Knot

I really like the section from TianTi to the Knot but the descent from the Knot is really a pain with traffic. From there we had to end our hike and head back down the middle of the valley to Zhao’s as we were out of time. This was my first time taking the trail up the middle of the valley, which comes out directly south of Zhao’s hostel. I was sad we hadn’t had time to hike the middle section up to the 9 Eye Tower, its a beautiful section of the wall.

The Wall's Descent

I can’t wait to go back and see the Wall in winter with snow, not sure how much I’ll be able to climb around but we can hike up to the Wall at least.

Categories: By Mark, hiking, outdoors, travel | 1 Comment

Vietnam

Smiling Eyes

The first week in October China celebrates National Day, the anniversary of the founding of the Peoples Republic of China.  Their equivalent of our 4th of July, except where the US only gets one day they get an entire week.  We planned to visit Vietnam as a family, we had some old friends from Cache Valley who lived in Hanoi (Stan and Nga) and they said October was one of the best times to visit.

We booked tickets through Ctrip to Hanoi connecting through Honk Kong and then made our in country plans for Hanoi and Hoi An, south of Da Nang.  As the holiday approach Stac’s parents health deteriorated. Emilie ended up in the hospital with a bladder infection and gall stones and Roy’s gall bladder and congenital heart failure continued to worsen.  They entered a care facility and three weeks before travel day we got a call from Craig who said the doctor had told Roy that he had 2 weeks to 2 months to live.  Stac made the decision to travel home to see her Dad, say goodbye and take care of arrangements.  I stayed behind to play Mr Mom and we sadly canceled Stac’s Vietnam ticket and bought her a ticket to the States.

Bound for Vietnam

Saturday of the flight was a bright sunny blue sky day that is rare in Beijing but more likely in late September.   We put the last of our things in our backpacks, called Stac on Skype and headed to the airport with Mr Wang. As we eventually arrived at our gate the attendants told us we be delayed taking off by 20 minutes due to a late arrival. After boarding we sat on the runway another 10 waiting in line for a spot on the runway.  All told we were 30 minutes late departing and this meant our one hour layover in Hong kong between flights was going to be tight. With no control we kicked back to enjoy the 3 hr and 15 minute flight to the fragrant habor.   We flew Dragon Air a Hong Kong airline and they were impressive, clean, courteous and some of the best airplane food I’ve ever tasted.  The kids especially liked the Haegen Daaz ice cream for dessert.  There maybe direct flights to Hanoi but if you can’t get those I recommend taking Dragon Air.

The Old Quarter of Hanoi

Enroute the pilot was able to make up a few minutes and we landed at 5:20; we taxied for 10 agonizing minutes and finally arrived at the gate. We were at row 45 in the last 1/4th of the plane. Finally we exited the ramp and a short stewardess was waiting at the gate exit holding a sign for our Vietnam flight. She had a large group of 15 people or so behind her; she asked for our boarding passes, checked our names on a list and then put a sticker on our shirts. She turned to the group and said in halting English : “The flight leaves soon we have to walk quickly.”. She then turned and started a very fast walk/slow trot  a fellow passenger said “I guess she meant run”.  We all set off trying to keep up and follow her as we weaved in and out of other travelers who weren’t on such tight schedules.

Big in Vietnam

We must have sped walked for at least a quarter mile.   While running through the airport following the sprinting stewardess suddenly a small girl ran up beside us and said : “Hi Miles”. A girl from Miles class was on our same flight to Vietnam.  Small world in Asia when your traveling on a national holiday. We got through security and waited to regroup and then up the escalators and another mad dash through the shops and pedestrians until we shortly came to the gate. 5:55 we had made it with minutes to spare.

Too Cool for Nam

The flight was full from Beijing to Hong Kong and Miles and I had sat together while Sofia had her own seat. The flight to Vietnam had the same arrangement. Miles and I were in row 25 and Sofia was in 29. After settling in the stewardess approached me and said Sofi and myself had to switch, row 29 was an exit row and she was too young and small to be responsible for opening the door. So I had to suffer through having 6 inches of extra leg room and hope the kids didn’t fight through the flight.

We landed in Vietnam and after grabbing our bags entered the customs area. Those with a visa went and stood in line. In doing research on-line for a visa I’d come across a visa upon arrival process. I had filed with a site who provides paperwork online and after paying $25 vi paypal I was emailed an attachment to print off and bring with me in the airport. Seemed a bit fishy, but an email to Stan confirmed the papers looked legit.  There was a longish line in front of a counter at a large office with glass windows down it’s length that said Visa upon Arrival. This appeared to be the visa factory, it was about 40 feet long and had 4-5 guys inside in green uniforms.  At the other end of the office was another glass  window and an even larger crowd gathered.

Stan and Anise

Typical of most first time travel experiences, your not really sure where to go or what to do. Often these are circumstances where there seem to be no signs or explanations, you are just expected to figure it out.  So I stood in the first line and did the standard “see what everyone else is doing.”  I had Sofi go get me another set of applications on the counter and started filling out the visa application. Instructions weren’t very clear and  now I wondered if I had wasted my money on the email visa. Unsure I attached the copies of the email attachment and waited in line with my visa photos.   When I finally got to the counter the gentleman took my passports and all my paperwork and set them in a huge stack of other passports and paperwork.  He just pointed down the hallway to the other counter.  So I walked down the hallway and in the process observed the visa factory. After taking your passport, they were processed at a station that printed off visa with sequential numbers on the normal visa paper.  These were then affixed in the passport. Then the passports were taken across the room to a table with a myriad of stamps and red ink where they were stamped. Then back across the room to another station where a bunch of data was manually typed into an ancient looking printer machine that spit out receipts in triplicate.  Then a guy at the counter on the other end showed the passport at the window and the owner paid the visa fee, retrieved their passport and headed for immigration.

Sea of Scooters

The fee was $25 USD, and if you didn’t have USD then it was 200 RMB, at 6.5 exchange rate this is more like $30 USD but they didn’t have change so no choice but to pay.  The stack of passports was huge and the crowd waiting just as large.  A group of 25 or more Chinese tourists in a tour group all waited.   I kept pacing up and down the glass windows in the hallway trying to see the progress of my passports. Finally an hour later they were done and we made for immigration and then found our driver from the hotel waiting for us.

As we drove the 45 minutes from the airport to the old section of Hanoi I was struck by how slower the cars drove in Vietnam.  And there were so many motorcycles and scooters; they outnumbered the cars by 10 to 1.  And everyone was wearing helmets.  Cars in Vietnam are taxed at 100% encouraging everyone to drive scooters instead.  There was a flow and rhythm to the scooter traffic as they weaved in and around each other, turning and merging in chaotic ballet where magically no one seemed to crash into each other.  When you crossed the road on foot this scooter flow moved around you, you slowly walked into the road and intuitively the scooters lean to the left and right and flow around you as if you’ve some sort of magnetic scooter repellant.

Happy in Vietnam

We spent three nights in the old quarter of Hanoi at the Hanoi Elegance Ruby Hotel, one of many small boutique hotels.   The old quarter is the original section of the city, with very small narrow lanes; originally 36 streets to buy 36 things : bamboo, wood, metal, fruit etc.  The Ruby Hotel was on a very narrow alley Yen Thai Street that was too small for a car to fit down, in between two slightly larger streets.  We stayed on the top floor in room 805 which was big enough to accomodate a second single bed for Sofi and Miles and I stayed in the double bed.  The room across the hall 801 was a bit smaller but had a balcony and a nice view of the old quarter.  The staff were all very friendly, spoke excellent English and the made to order breakfast with crepes and eggs was awesome.

Scooter Hogs

Following my usual pattern of morning outings – I was up before dawn to wander the world before it awakens. This maybe true in America but in Vietnam things are busy at 5 am already. I walked down to Hoa Kiem Lake where by 5:30 am there was already a myriad of people walking around the lake in their early morning exercises.  Games of badmitten went on adjacent to women doing dances with their red fans and couples dancing to music from a portable boom box. I was back to the hotel before the kids awoke and after breakfast we headed out to see Ho Chi Minh.  I was hoping to cross of my list seeing 2 out of the three embalmed dead  communist dictators, but Ho was in Russia for maintenance so we wandered around the memorial seeing the bamboo house he lived in and the very small and disappointing one pillar pagoda (small!).  From there we took a pedi-cab through the streets to the Literature temple an old confucian temple with hundreds of stelle and stone turtles celebrating scholars.  We then met Stan and Nga and their two children for a delicious lunch.

The Power of Vietnam

The next morning I decided to walk down to the Hong Seng River and then up toward the Long Bien bridge. During the Vietnam War the US had tried repeatedly to bomb this bridge.  Under the bridge I came across the tail end of a vibrant fresh market that starts at midnight as the boats unload from the river and the goods are dispersed through out the city.  I stood with my back against a pillar at the markets gate and watched the hustle and bustle of the traffic.  Woman after woman passed me by carrying heavy loads of goods, most on long sticks on their shoulders balanced on either end and some carrying loads on their heads.  Not sure what the men in Vietnam do, but they certainly don’t do the heavy lifting.  I didn’t see a man carrying anything not once.  Some were on scooters but the woman did all the raw power work.   On a whim I decided to walk across the Long Bien bridge. There are two small concrete lanes with traffic flowing in either side. Down the middle is a set of train tracks.  There are no cars allowed on the bridge, only scooter traffic.  On either side of the lanes is a 3-4 ft wide (narrow) sidewalk that is made of rectangular concrete blocks laid in metal frames. There are gaps between each block where you can see down to the river hundreds of feet below. Occasionally a corner is broken off and there is a bit more of the river showing. I walked away from Hanoi across the bridge. There were only a handful of scooters here and there passed me. The river is very wide and the bridge is long.  In the middle of the river you can really see the red color of the water and the namesake of the Red River.

Long Bien Bridge

On the other side of the bridge I walked to the other side and began the long walk back.  Here at 7 am in the middle of rush hour the entire lane was full of scooters and there was a huge page of them waiting to get on the bridge.  I walked along the narrow sidewalk and every so often I heard a honk behind me and someone would actually pass me on the walkway on a scooter.  As I walked back a train came slowly chugging down the middle tracks.  There appear to be no fast trains in Veitnam.  Behind the train came a crew working on rail maintenance, tightening bolts and checking the timbers.  Finally on the other side I watched from the bridge the flow of scooters merge with the cars and busses.  More scooter ballet and chaos as the traffic merged together.  That day the kids and I went off to see the Hanoi Hilton, the infamous prison were John McCain was held in prison.  The prison is dark and the spooky music they played over the speakers added to the mood.  Afterwards we met Stan and Nga at the Lenin Park and had a drink at a local cafe next to the Vietnam Military History Museum. Miles loved wandering among the tanks, planes and helicopters, which were all captured US versions during the war with America.  The Vietnamese are very proud to have never lost a war and to have always repelled invaders.  (Eventually anyways, the Chinese occupied for quite some time in the Ming Dynasty).

In the Surf

Tuesday we flew into Da Nang in a light rain on local Jetstar Airways.  We met the driver from the Palm Garden Resort and rode the 30 minutes down to our hotel outside Hoi An.  The Palm Garden lives up to its name with lush gardens set on the ocean.  Reminded me a lot of Hawaii.  Our room wasn’t quite ready and we went across the street to get some lunch.  For $10 US we enjoyed a plate of fried rice, steamed rice, fried noodles and a grilled fresh fish.  Back at the hotel we were shown to our deluxe garden room on the second floor; nice fresh, airy and clean. Despite the fact it was raining and cloudy the kids wanted to immediately swim in the pool. I sat under the umbrellas and watched my bit-torrent downloads of US TV while they cavorted in the pool. I remember that feeling when I was a young traveler with my family and swimming in the pool was the best time. Not sure why swimming is anticipated and enjoyed so much by kids but they swam and swam for over two hours. Their swimming lessons at BCIS have paid off and they both completely comfortable in the water. Miles doesn’t even have to get out and wipe his face every 2 minutes when he gets water in his eyes.

Good Morning Vietnam

Wednesday the kids were up at 7:30, they wore their bathing suits to breakfast and were in the pool by 8 am.  After three hours in the pool we went out to the beach were I sat and read Information (not your light vacation reading) while they dug in the sand and played in the surf.  We got lucky and the sun came out and the rain seemed to be a thing of the past.  After almost 8 hours in the water we showered and went into the city to meet Kari Roe and Steve Saito, who I both work with at Amazon and just happened to be in Vietnam at the same time as us.  We walked around the old city of Hoi An, took a ride on the river in a boat (Miles got to drive) and then found a place to have a nice dinner.  The crab was especially delicious.  I wasn’t that impressed with Hoi An.  I’ve been to tourist traps before (YangShuo) but it seemed everything was cookie cutter and everyone was selling the same dribble and crap and everyone seemed to be pushier than they were elsewhere.

Remnant of American War

Thursday we were up early off to Hoi An,  we’d signed up for a motorcycle tour with Hoi An Motorcycle Adventures. Steve and Kari joined and Miles, Sofi and myself.  We each had Honda motorcycles which required shifting but had no clutch.  We had Pete our guide from Australia, another Vietnamese employee rode his motorcycle with Sofi on back. Miles and I were on another motorcycle and Steve and Kari on their own.  We set off through the countryside for the ruins of My Son.  We rode on small country lanes through rice fields and villages.  The country people were all so beautiful, so genuine, their smiles and “halloos” as we rode by were infectious.  At one point we rode down a steep road and came to a stop at a river.  Here we waited for a boat to come from the other side.  We rode our bikes up on the boat and then were ferried to the opposite side.  Pretty cool way to get across a river!  From there we rode to an abandoned US air force base :  a large black top runway set among huge hillocks where helicopters had once been parked.  It was surreal to stop and ponder all the effort, the pain, the suffering that war had wrung so long ago from both sides and now it seemed all for naught.

Hallooo

We rode and stopped for lunch for some noodles and then on again until My Son an ancient burial ground for the Cham Kings.  The site was the longest populated ruins in South East Asia from 400 AD to 1300 AD.  We peered at that the scrolled script of their ancient writing preserved on stone stele that has never been translated.  We wandered through the towers covered in weeds and growing jungle.   Afterwards we rode back through the countryside toward Hoi An one final bit of adventure when we rode through a flock of a couple of hundred ducks and then through a river that crossed the road.  What a great adventure and a great way to see the countryside of Vietnam, definitely the highlight of the trip for me.  Although it was an long 8 hour day and covered 100 km, the kids had a great time and traveled well.

Fishing Baskets at China Beach

Friday was pool and beach day again. The sun was shining strong as we swam in the pool and then played in the surf.  Miles had on his googles and was fearless.  He’d dive under the crashing waves and then raise his arms triumphantly smiling and cheering.  Other times he’d let the waves hit him squarely in the chest and knock him down.  As the sun set on the beach, it was pretty much a perfect day (except we were missing Stac) and a great closing to our time in Vietnam.

China Beach

Saturday was an early and long travel day as our flight left Da Nang at 6 am, which mean’t a 4:15 am departure from the hotel.  Our flight from Hanoi left for Hong Kong at 10 am and we finally arrived back home in Beijing at 1:00 pm where we headed straight for Din Tai Fung for a lunch of dumplings!

More Information

Categories: By Mark, travel | 7 Comments

The small picture vs. the big picture

People are always saying you should step back and look at the big picture, there are quotes on it, websites that list the 5 best ways to look at the big picture and so forth. Here in China, I’ve learned that I can’t look at the big picture but I have to step back and look at the things right around me instead. I’m choosing to look at the small picture.

CCTV BuildingThis week while driving in the car I looked out to the direction of where I should on a clear day be able to see the CCTV building but that day I couldn’t because of the smog. This normally frustrates me. Not because I love the building but it’s a landmark I look to when it’s clear out, kind of like “yeah it’s clear enough that I can see the CCTV building”, I do it with the mountains as well (which I didn’t even know were out there for the first 2 months). When I can’t see it I know it’s a really bad pollution day.

Recently while flying back from the US I met a woman on the plane that works for the US embassy. She was telling me how she knows the guy that wrote the program for beijingair.info. She said that normally (like in the states) the pollution index wouldn’t reach over 200. Yet here in Beijing he put the highest index at 500 thinking there would be no way it would ever get that high. He called that index “Crazy bad”. Sure enough it’s been that high, there have actually “crazy bad” days. I guess he’s been asked to change the wording so that on the website it won’t say “crazy bad” when it reaches 500. Personally, I kind of like it. It is crazy bad if you think about it.

The Morning that WasBack to looking out at the CCTV building and not being able to see it. Normally this would really bother me and make me hem and haw for a minute and long for the nice blue skies(just kidding, I’m from Seattle, I really mean the foggy raining skies) of WA. I instead looked down at the road and buildings around me and at a park near our place there were people fishing, walking their dogs and also children playing and the air looked ok (though and I tried not to think about it but the air is still polluted and bad) and it was beautiful. I realized that here in Beijing I can’t look out and at the big picture (because for one thing Beijing is just too huge and overwhelming even on a clear day), I can find beauty and feel at home right here in my little area of Beijing.

I find beauty in the old men that take their birds outside in the morning and hang their cages from trees while they go talk with other old men. It’s like the birds need a little fresh air and the men get to socialize. I find beauty in the grandparents that are out walking around with their “one” grandchild, helping them play at the play ground while they talk to other grandparents. I find beauty in the simple structures of old neighborhoods. I’m learning to find beauty in small and simple things and to not let the pollution, the massiveness of the city in the big picture bring me down and cloud (no pun intended) my way of thinking while living in Asia.Hutong

Chuck Palahniuk (an American author) said, “the trick to forgetting the big picture is to look at everything close up.” I couldn’t agree more.

Categories: By Stacey, living in beijing | 3 Comments

Information : A review

I just finished reading Information by James Gleick.

Its a dense book that is by no means an easy read. (Try reading it on vacation) But its a worthwhile read. It covers the broad topic of information, which I describe initially as the encapsulation and reduction of facts or representations about “things”. This started with language. The word (think of this as spoken) “tree” represents and reduces the all the complex reality of what a tree is. Then the alphabet as a written representation of language had another level of abstraction and representation. The printing press was another revolution in the spread of information.

Then we enter the modern age with the rapid changes that took place with the invention of the telegraph, which encapsulated alphabet as dots and dashes. We accept the nature of the telegraph without thought. But it took them quite a while to figure out a scheme to represent language via an electric pulse. Now try to imagine how you would do this for Chinese a pictographic language. How would you transmit this phrase 我是中国人 via a telegraph?

Then came the telephone, which was able to represent via waves and pulses the actual spoken language across distances. With the telegraph and the telephone we finally begin to have the need for synchronized clocks and the idea of simultaneity was first realized, that it could be the same time in New York as it was in Boston.  Quote : “Formerly all time was local: when the sun was highest, that was noon. Only a visionary (or an astronomer) would know that people in a different place lived by a different clock.  The railroads required standard time, and the telegraph made it feasible”.  This became a trend where information was transmitted fast, and then faster and then faster still.

And finally the binary representation and digitization of information, which originally came from the desire to build machines that do complicated math calculations that were laborious for human computers.  “I wish to God these calculations had been executed by steam” : Charles Babbage.  They worked out how represent in the simplest fashion numbers and state transitions and calculations.  Gleik then shows how this computer was used to store information and how that process was exponentially revolutionized with the internet and the furthering of the network that first began with the telephone.

There are many biographies, anecdotes and examples along the way to illustrate his points and demonstrate how information has changed and grown through civilization until now.

Things that struck me as I read :

  • written language : the transformative power of written language on civilization is astounding, its so common place for me I’d never really considered it.  I won’t discuss it much here but I found these chapters illuminating.
  • redudancy : all information systems have built in redundancy.  Example of the written English alphabet : 0vr m1nd5 c4n d0 4m4z1ng 7h1ng5!
  • rejection : each generation has trouble adapting to and grasping the importance of the next “big thing”.  Plato distrusted the written word : “this invention will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practice their memory”.  The church disdained the printing press.  The age of the telegraph thought the telephone was a toy : “Business people thought it unserious. Where the telegraph dealt in facts and numbers, the telephone appealed to emotions.”
  •  “information overload” is a complaint that is not new, it first started happening just after the printing press.  “there are too many books to read” to “there are too many emails to read”.  Our pace is rapidly expanding the flood of information though.  Makes me want to really really hone my email filters.
  • balance : I do need better balance in how I connect with and interact with information.  Its not like I don’t get out in the outdoors enough, but in the time when I am not outdoors I am definitely a information junkie and sometimes its unhealthy and out of control.  Management, balance and priorities are important.  I didn’t really unplug on my vacation last week until I turned off my work email on my iPhone.
  • irony : the fact that I read this book on the Kindle, on my iPhone and iPad though, and am writing a review on the internet is not lost on me.  This section of the book : “Most literate persons, when you say, Think of a word, at least in some vague fashion think of something before their eyes, Ong says, where a real word can never be at all. Where do we look for the words, then? In the dictionary, of course. Ong also said: It is demoralizing to remind oneself that there is no dictionary in the mind, that lexicographical apparatus is a very late accretion to language”.  This read in a book where I could click on any word and instantly get the definition
Categories: By Mark | 1 Comment

letting go

For those that don’t know I am in the US visiting my parents and especially my dad who is passing away. I’m headed back to China in two days and the two weeks I’ve been here have flown by. I say goodbye to my parents tomorrow(saturday) and I’m not looking forward to it. This week has been full of a lot of letting go moments and the end of things for me. It’s been tough. When I say them or write them out, they sound superficial but they are a part of my parents and who I am as well. I had to shut off their phone services, their number they’ve had for over 45 yrs. I stopped their newspaper, their mail and took my dad’s cat “Miss Kramer(reference to Kramer from Seinfeld)” to the Humane Society. I’ve been taking photos and clothes to them all week that they don’t want sold in an estate sale. All my mom wanted was photos of her kids, grandkids and a photo in their living room of her two sisters. It seems so unreal.50 Golden Years
I was thinking today that I have called their telephone number from school growing up to when I lived in Germany, nannied in Rhode Island, taught English in Taiwan and all through my marriage.I called their number almost daily for the first three months after Mark and I got married, racking up a hefty phone bill. I called that number when I found out I was pregnant with Kiah, when we found out that Sofia’s birth mother chose us and then again when we found out about Miles. It seems strange to never call it again. Not that I can’t call another number and really it’s the person on the other line that I care about but it’s this letting go of things from my past that makes me sad.
This is not a “China” entry and I apologize for that but at this moment in my life, it’s what is going on.
Kiah (our oldest) is getting married on December 20th in Logan, Utah. She’s getting married in the same place that Mark and I were married, where my parents were married and also my grandparents. I asked my dad before I left to try and hold on until December and his reply was “that’s my plan”. I wouldn’t be surprised if he did, he’s a strong and determined person. It was beyond hard to say goodbye and thinking it might be the last time I gave him a hug or saw his face. He told me I’d been a special daughter and that Mark and I were raising three amazing kids. He also said that it had always meant so much to hear my voice on the phone whenever and wherever I had called from, that it had always made their day.

Letting go is never easy, no matter what it is. I’m learning and trying to find peace in letting go. It was a blessing to be able to go back to my home, to my parents and spend time with them, with my dad. We did a lot of laughing and a lot of crying and it was worth the long trip home.

“Death is a challenge. It tells us not to waste time… It tells us to tell each other right now that we love each other”. by Leo Buscaglia

Categories: By Stacey | 11 Comments

Best of September 2011

Click through on any photo to comment or for more details.

1.
On top of the Wall

2.
300 kmh

3.
Doorway

4.
Neon Nanjing

5.
Drum Tower

6.
Waiting for the Goal

7.
Welding at Night

8.
A new day

9.
Mimi

10.
Tate

11.
The Grandmother

12.
Familial Ties

13.
Night Shopping

14.
Biking in the Sun

Categories: By Mark, photography | 3 Comments