More Beijing

Great Wall

Pictures of Beijing

Temple

Hot pot


Forbidden City


Tiananmen Square

Pumpkin stuffed with bean curd. Yummm

That is all oil with some fish and some chilies. Those little black things they call flowering pepper. They make your tongue numb. They are tpyical in schezwan food. I don't like them too much.

The Western Media Lies and Ruth Rants

I had this interesting conversation with my guide yesterday. He was telling me that he felt the world was against China. He sighted several examples of how the Western media has said terrible things about China. Most recently there was some kind of parallel made between China's government and Hitler. I didn't get the details. These things are taken very personally by the Chinese people, who apparently have a ton of nationalism. He asked if I heard of various rallies around the world in support of China (re: the Olympics) and I said that I hadn't, but that I hadn't been looking and I wasn't surprised that there was people around the world supporting China. In SF, when the torch was there, there were large numbers who showed up to support and protest the Olympics in China.

Anyway, he was pretty passionate about the fact that the world is misinformed because the Western media lies to us and we don't understand what is going on. He went on about how these Tibetan monks had killed and burned a bunch of people and did I know about it? No I didn't. So, I went and did some reading,which is some what hard to do here considering the access issues. I decided to check out this site that he asked me to look at www.anti-cnn.com. A really good thread if your interested is at http://www.anti-cnn.com/forum/en/thread-18-2-1.html
There is a guy in the US and a two Guys here in China debating back and forth. It's an interesting read if you have the time or inclination.

Anyway, I have to say I am surprised at the effectiveness of the brainwashing. I am not claiming for one minute that Americans have never been lead astray or that Media is unbiased. There are tons of things that have been effectively hidden from the American people, though I think it is getting harder to do this with the Internet.

As a current example, I was shocked to see the numbers of Americans (sorry if you are one of them) who bought into the sound bites of news during the beginning of the Iraq war. I remember hearing some of the crap that was broadcast-- IE: that stupid picture the showed where there was for sure "weapons of mass destruction" and thinking, how in the hell can anyone with an average intelligence be falling for this? Or how about the crazy link that was suddenly made between September 11th (which we bombed Afghanistan for) and Iraq? We had to go into Iraq because we THOUGHT there was weapons of mass destruction and we wanted to find them. Yet, when Korea told us- hey we are going to make a bomb...what did we do about it? Nothing, apparently we'd rather fight off a country that might have weapons of mass destruction then one we know for sure has a bomb. The reasoning just doesn't add up. Despite everything, Americans overwhelmingly supported the war and EVEN reelected the wonderful man who got us into the mess and has since made a further disaster of our nation and economy.

Where was I? Sorry for the rant, but is is important to note that people do tend to believe what they want, not necessarily the facts. Oh yeah, china....

Here they have an excuse for being misinformed. Currently news sights like the BBC, CCN, even wikapedia and even my blog are ban in China! Even if these news sites were not ban they don't have access to China therefor there are only two views that the Chinese people can read, the one from their government and if there lucky enough to get access, the one the rest of the world is trying to piece together with only partial information. It is no wonder that when they hear an entirely different account of what happened from outside that they would question it. The thing I can't understand is, why would they even believe anything in the news here? The Chinese government has every reason to lie and no incentive to tell the truth.

I explained this to my guide. Also, I wanted to know, why would the western media want to make up lies about the Chinese people or government? I asked, unless you have a friend who saw the monks killing people or you saw it yourself how can you believe it? And if the Chinese government doesn't have anything to hide why not let the outside media in? Even if it is not American, English or German media? What about the Indian or Malaysian media?

Oh, I found out why there are no beggars or homeless people in Shanghai. It turns out that you actually have to be born in Shanghai to live in Shanghai without permission. So you get issued this ID card and that card only entitles you to go certain places without permission. This is one way the government is hoping to keep the poor people in the country side farming and the business people here. It seems that it really kind of creates a system where you really get stuck in a certain economic pattern unless you are lucky enough to be in one of the cities where the economy is booming.

On a side note: I read today that breathing the air in Beijing, where we will go tomorrow, is equivalent to smoking 70 cigarettes a day.

Old Shanghai

So we went to the only Confucius temple in Shangahi. It was almost completely destroyed during the "cultural revolution" but has since been rebuilt.

We also went to a Buddhist temple. One thing I learned about Chinese style Buddhisms is that when when Buddhisms was first introduced to the Chinese they rejected it because they thought it discriminated against women. It was only after they introduced female incarnates of Buddha that the religion was accepted.







Old Town/ Yuyan Gardens

More Shanghai

At home in the US my feet are unusually wide. I can never find any dress shoes that fit properly. If I can get my wide foot in the front then the back is usually too big and the heals slip off my feet when I walk. On the rare occasion that I find one that fits in the front and back, my arch is still so high that the shoe does not support it which means that my feet get very tired very quickly. Ok... and I'm a baby, I'll admit that. I know tons of women with scares all over their feet that wear heals all the time and never say a word! Anyway when I read on line about this place called "Hot Shots" that makes custom shoes and does a great job, I decided to check them out. It was not cheep. I spent about the same as I would in the US. (I don't get too crazy on shoes, but i believe in buying something high quality that lasts a long time). I got one pair of boots for $210. And two pairs of heals for $100 each. If they work out then I will be so, so happy and the store has kept my measurements on file so that I can order more over email if I want. I can't wait. I won't have the shoes for at least a month because I don't want to pay for air mail. I had a dream last night that when I got them they were the wrong color, and the wrong style.


I went for a fabulous Shanghai style Dim sum lunch yesterday at a place called Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant. It was so, so good. For that I really didn't need hot sauce. The natural flavors of the food were completely showcased.


The bumpy deep fried ball on the assorted plate in the back is a steamed bun with crab row stuffing. It was one of my favorites. The shrimp is ground up into a paste stuffed rolled into a ball, steamed and then possibly flash fried. The Adkins diet fans could make an excellent case here. The Chinese people (at least in Shanghai) seem to eat a ton of meat, and very little else. I expected that there would be rice with every meal but that is not the case at all. What little carbs there are are in a light exterior, but there is tons of protein and TONS of oil. I can't believe how oily things are. (the meal above is more of an exception to the oil because in dim sum most everything is steamed. My absolute favorite thing that I have eaten so far is in the far back of that assorted plate and you can't even really see it. It's a cake with salty cashew nuts covered by black sesame seeds. I am not sure what was in it other then the obviously stated but it was amazing. The green veg dish on the left is some kind of greens with lilies. You eat both. It tastes like kale.



The pastry thing with the straw coming out if it is basically like a seafood stock. You drink the inside and leave everything else. The other things in the bamboo baskets are called Nanxiang Steamed Buns. You put them on a deep spoon, bite a little hole in the side, suck out the juices (Which is delicious) then drop it in this vinegar, ginger mixture which fills the pastry part back up, then eat the whole thing. It's quite good. Insides are stuffed with various things like crab, mushrooms and shrimp.


Above, picture of them making dim sum.

As I have mentioned in previous posts there is a China town with in Shanghai. Here you will find more traditional style Chinese architecture. Most of Shanghai is made up of very tall sky scrapers. On a side note, It is really unbelievable how big and how developed this city is. Despite the fact that there is a ton of smog, the city is very, very clean. There are virtually NO beggars and NO homeless people and no crime. On the surface it appears that in this aspect communism really works. There are other really terrible things like all of the the relics and buildings that were thousands of years old that were destroyed in the 1950s "cultural revolution." Obviously people had to give up even the most basic freedoms of religion, freedom of the press, to name a few, but one can't help but wonder if some how this system could be adjusted to work. After having traveled in Mexico and India where the people are starving, the city's are trashed and tons of people are living on the streets one begins to wonder what would those people give up to have shelter and food? Hell even in SF the city is trashed and everywhere you look there is a strung out homeless person begging for money. I don't know...I know I bought my own car when i was 16 because I didn't want my parents to be able to take away the keys (the freedom of a teen). The problem with the government providing you with everything is that then then they can totally control you. The other problem is motivating people and getting innovation. How do you motivate someone to work harder when everyone gets paid the same? How do you get the Microsofts or the Googles of the world when everyone is taught to be a robot and do what they are told? In a communist system, you go in put in your time and go home? Anyway, lots to think about. I was just expecting to see all this poverty and even after driving through the country side I don't see it. Maybe they do like India did at one time (during what i think they called the "beautification" of the cities) where they round up all the really poor people and take them to concentration style camps, sterilize them (through castration or other means) and make them work for nothing.

Ok...i got of track...and now i have to run...more later.

Food and Shanghai

I find the food particularly fascinating in China. I had a guide yesterday so I felt a little more adventurous. I have never minded trying really weird stuff but I want to know what I am trying and I prefer to watch someone else eat it before me. This approach as managed to land some things in my mouth that I found particularly disgusting. A fish eye in Belize and a cow brain in Mexico were the worst thus far. I have however enjoyed many of the strange things I have had such as cow tongue tacos. For me traveling is as much about the food as seeing the city. I have luckily never gotten sick eating random dishes or street food in other countries.

China host a whole other level for the courageously adventurous and I have to say, I am certain there are things served here I that will put my spirit of adventure to the test. Yesterday I tried a few new things. To start-- duck chin.... (See below)



The Duck Chin was really good. It was less greasy then duck with a nice crispy exterior and very flavorful. My guide told me the best part was the tongue but I disagree. The tongue just tasted like crispy skin with fat. The other dishes that you see up there are mushrooms (center), crispy shrimp imperial rolls (left), bbq pork covered in a flaky pastry far left, and egg clustered (far center). I also had jelly fish, which I thought was crunchy in a gelatinous way as opposed to a fried way, but very bland. It didn't taste like anything. (see below)



One thing I am loving here are all the mushrooms. They seem to have a lot of different varieties pan fried and topped with a delicious sauce. I have found it surprising that much of the food is some what bland. It varies from region to region and I think Shanghai, in particular, has a sweeter, blander food. Praveen and I find ourselves asking for hot sauce all the time. I was reading this morning that the spicier dishes are usually the ones that aren't fresh. I read that Chinese people feel that a lot of spices covers up the taste of the food and therefore only want to season it heavily when the food is bad! I guess I'll just keep ordering my hot sauce on the side. There are other regions though where more spices are used like Hunan or Schezwan. I haven't seen those styles on too many menus here though.

I love the Dim Sum!!! Today I am going for some Shanghai style Dim Sum.

Vincent, my guide, was making fun of me yesterday because I was eating the garnishes. He told me when a vegetable accompanies a meat dish it is usually just to balance the ying and the yang (I think what we call presentation). It's not like parsley though, yesterday it was bok chow, which I like and I will keep eating, garnish or not.

One thing I haven't eaten that I do find interesting is the amount of pickled meat that they eat here. If you walk in to a convenience store you will see tons of packages of vacuum sealed chicken wings, chicken feet, pork and all kinds of stuff. I had the weirdest thing on the mountain. It looked like a hot dog but I think it was a SPAM dog!!! People were eating them like popcorn. On our hike instead of cliff bars they would be toting around tons of packages of various meets and then at little rest stops everyone would stop to eat the SPAM dogs. It was good in a sick and twisted kind of hot dog way.

Here are some pictures from my adventure yesterday.



This was a beautiful bride on the street posing for pictures. I learned that in china they have two bridal dresses- the white dress then the more traditional red dress.



This is a TV tower. I think its cool. This whole area was built in the 90s. The development over here is insane! The newer area of Shanghai has this very futuristic look and the older area has a more traditional Chinese look mixed in with a lot of other architectural styles like French and English who came here and built a ton of stuff before they fled in 1949. I like the contrast. The futuristic stuff reminds me of the Jetsons. You can also see the smog is really intense. I got a headache mid way through the day that never went away. It's really, really bad.

They also have this tunnel through the water that you see above. It takes five minutes and costs $7. I guess only tourists can afford to use it. It's really crazy. It feels like a cross between a Disneyland ride, a Pink Floyd show and a mushroom trip. The subway like car you sit in is all glass and there are lights flashing everywhere and these plasma like screens that raise and lower in front of the tracks with swimming fish and meteor showers. The strangely dark thing was the blow up human shaped dolls that look as if they jump in front of you only to be smashed (see below)

More Pictures

Can't view my blog- pictures

So I can edit my blog, but I can't view it. I am assuming it is censored. I also can't get on the slide website which means i have to load up each picture individually. Humm. Interesting. I am off with a guide here in a minute. Praveen is at work. We had a great day yesterday except each of us is so sore we really can hardly move.

My back, despite the three hour walk down the mountain with Praveen's backpack (he carried mine) is great. I was really expecting that if the medicine man fixed anything it would be ruined from that hike. We had written down some of what he said and found someone to read it to us. Apparently part of what he was saying is that my blood in the lower part of my back is so clogged it's black. Praveen did say that it was pretty dark. Isn't your blood always black or blue before oxygen gets to it? Anyway, whatever. If my back is better- I'm happy. I'd do it all over again!

There was this weird tradition on this mountain to buy a lock and engrave the name of your lover on there and put in on one of the chain links up on top of the mountain. There were hundreds of thousands of locks up there. Praveen thought it was stupid but I thought it was fun so we did it.

Sunday Huangshan and Qijong

The way that they built the trails on this hike was crazy. There were lots of places where they just some how added stairs and trails right to the side of the mountain.


I don't think many of the Chinese people are accustom to our version of outdoor activities. This hike was intense. I can hardly walk today! There were lots of women out there in the middle of no where walking around in high heels???
One big cultural differences that I just don't understand is that here in China everyone travels in a tour group. On Sunday the trails were so packed that we couldn't even enjoy ourselves. You literally had to fight for your piece of ground. If that wasn't bad enough, every once in a while you'd be lucky enough to be standing next to one of the tour group leaders and his loud speaker blaring into your ear!! Thank God Saturday was better! Why when you live in a country so populated would you want to join hundreds of others IN A GROUP on vacation????

So after seeing loads of guys carrying things like this, I realized one reason why things up here on the mountain were so expensive. You have to hike several miles around the mountain all up and down steep hills to get to the different hotels. If i had to carry everything I wanted to eat in, I'd probably be eating cliff bars.

Sunday: So we've been in Huangshan for the last few days which is this exorbitantly expensive park in Eastern China. Although it has been an expensive trip, it is really breathtakingly beautiful. It is suppose to have a lot of clouds, but the weather has been beautiful here so we have had nothing but clear blue sky. The clear sky is a nice change from Shanghai, where I am told that it is grey because of the pollution nearly all of the time. I was hoping that there would be clouds today but no such luck. It looks like it will be another beautiful clear day! Oh well!

The park is surrounded by majestic peaks with trees that look like what ever that tree was on the "Karate Kid." There are also Rhododendrons- huge ones everywhere and they are all in bloom. The paved trail runs dangerously close to the edge of the mountain. If I were scared of heights this would have been a pretty scary hike. Also the stairs winding up and down are not for the unfit, though we saw plenty of people young and old out there taking their time and struggling to get up and down the hills. When we returned to the hotel the craziest thing happened. We decided that it was time to get a foot massage and have a beer. I've never had a professional foot massage before and though everything up here on this mountain seems over priced $20 for 50 minutes seemed like a deal waiting for me. The massage itself was painful, but in a good way. Praveen was there with his little translation book trying to communicate with the guys massaging us. My masseuse had mastered the phrase,"No pain. No gain." Personally I'd prefer that they shut up and get to work on my legs and feet, but it was cute watching Praveen chat with them. The guy rubbing me hit a couple of unbearably sore spots in my feet which he told me were related to my lower back and my neck.

My lower back has given me problems for years. My neck however is was only sore because I get a big fat failing mark in the art of packing. Praveen had told me we needed to hike a half hour from where the tram dropped us and the hotel. There are no cars up here. If you want any easier transportation you have to have someone carry you, which they will do for a fee. They have these chairs that you can sit in supported by two poles with a guy at either end. I might consider that for the trip down. So anyway, by the time we reached the hotel my back was killing me from carrying my bag. What Praveen didn't tell me until after we got here is that he expects me to walk back down for three hours with that pack. Anyone who has done any serious hiking knows the down hill is the hardest on the knees- especially for me. My knees are not that good.

Back to the massage. After this guy was done giving me this foot massage, turned leg massage,turned back massage- which was freaking fabulous- he told me my back was not so good and asked me to stay put. He brings back this other guy who takes a wet towel puts it below my feet, sits in front of me- does these tai-chi type movements with his hands, sticks his finger out and with out touching me begins to send electric shocks though my hands. I was so taken back I almost cried. It was completely amazing. He ran his finger, above but along my thumb and strong electric shocks jolted me. It wasn't painful but did make me jump a little. He then went over my pointer finger and I had the same reaction, but when he went over my middle finger I felt nothing. He repeated the process over my entire hand and each time I felt an electric shock on every finger except my middle finger. Some how between the translation book, Praveen and this other guy's very broken English they communicated to me the reason I couldn't feel anything in my middle finger was because there was a blockage that was not allowing the blood to flow in my back and that this was all connected. I am certain I have several "blockages" of some kind, I have always had very poor circulation and though bikrum yoga helps, I've never really found a way to cure it. So this guy tells me that for $70 he can fix my lower back and neck using something called Qijong. I am totally, perplexed, intrigued and emotional from this strange experience so I agree. Praveen is suspicious so he joins me in this little back room. Now it's just me and Praveen and this medicine man that can't even communicate a little bit in English. We played some charades to try and communicate. I really wish we could have talked because what follows only gets wierder.

I am glad Praveen was in the room because I had no idea what was happening so he was able to tell me about it later. So the guy directs me to sit on this bed. Then he takes this small bowl that looks like a small goldfish bowl. He puts some kind of camphor in it and lights it on fire. He then puts the bowl with the open side towards my skin on my back and my skin begins to get sucked inside forming a bubble like thing. Like I said, I didn't know any of this was happening. What I thought was happening is that he had some kind of hot clamps that he clamped down on my back and some how as my muscles released so too, did the clamps until they almost fell off. He does this in five spots and leaves them there until the fire goes out. He then motions to Praveen to come and take a look at something on my back. In the small of my back some how blood has come out. He shows Praveen what looks like a small pin prick but there was no pin and I never felt a prick. I am a little weirded out. No one is speaking English and I don't know what's happening. Praveen seems totally freaked and asked me several times if I am okay. I am fine, but I am trying to figure out what the blood is. I thought for a second he removed some kind of worm from my back and that totally freaked me out. Turns out there was no worm, just blood. I am still not sure what that was about. So this medicine man then puts several bandages with something that feels like tiger balm on them and we again play charades until we figure out that I am not to remove them and not to take a shower for 12 hours. He again asks me to lay down and does this electrical current thing over my entire body, which he has done three other times by now. This time I can feel the electricity jolting my body pretty much everywhere as he runs his finger up and down over my major veins. One really weird thing is that aside from just feeling this very strong electrical voltage running through my veins, when he got close to my ears, I could hear the electricity. It sounded like a mosquito buzzing in my ear. Tired and perplexed Praveen and I paid the guy the 500RMB ($70) and went to bed.

This morning we woke up to try and see the sunrise. At 4.15am my body was asking me why the hell I was climbing up to the top of a mountain with out coffee and with a poor night's sleep. I was hoping it would be worth while, unfortunately there were thousands of other people there as well and it was really hard to find a place to see the sun. Oh well. Back to the hotel for some coffee and to start a new adventure,,,,

China- Shanghai

We arrived in China a few days ago after a 13.5 hour painful plane ride. Mentally I had prepared myself for 10 hours, so the extra time was tough. I managed to keep myself awake reading a book called "The Namesake," which I have been meaning to read forever. It's about some kids born to an first generation Indian couple and their experience growing up in the US not knowing if they are Indian or American. Though I think the subject is fascinating and could make a fabulous book, this one wasn't it. Why it made it on the NY Times best seller list I'll never know, but it's now off my list.

Praveen's company owns an apartment in Shanghai. It's a cute, contemporary style place
with American style toilets, which I love and Asian style beds, which I hate. Basically you sleep on an elevated floor. Its so freaking hard that if you sleep on your side for any length of time your shoulder gets practically displaced.

Before going to bed, Praveen wanted to get something to eat so we ventured out.
Since he has been here on business before he knows his way around a bit and much to
my surprise seems to have a knack for picking up the language, which I have to say
seems practically impossible. Every combination of letters makes a completely different sound to what it would in English. Even if you get the sound combinations correct there are like 4 different "tones" you have to master, which I find totally difficult.

His company has these index cards that you can give to cab drivers that will get you to and from the apartment. They have English one one side and Chinese on the other.
Praveen has been managing to get the pronunciations right when we get in a cab and need to go somewhere. I am totally impressed. He keeps asking where my phrase book is and I hate to sound like a dumb American, but though I have looked at it, it seems nearly impossible for me to grasp any of it. Language is definitely not a strength of mine.

Okay so back to the food experience. First off, I hate bad Chinese food. When i think of bad Chinese food the first thing that comes to mind is The China Palace, a little Chinese place in my home town which is edible but not very appetizing. I never knew there was any "other" kind of Chinese until I moved to SF and tasted some really good varieties. Obviously we have no idea what to order being that there were no English translations and no English speakers. Luckily there were pictures. So we took our chances and ordered something that looked like beef and I think tasted like beef. Hopefully it was, I'll pretend it was anyway. It was not very good. Kinda like the China Palace. Oh well. Time for bed.

That night I was so tired, the rock hard bed didn't matter. I sleep tell around four then took my favorite new companion on over seas flights- ambien- a very gentle but effective sleeping pill that doesn't leave you tired or groggy when you wake up.

The following morning we needed to start with something easy so we went to the spa.
The spa building has 7 or 8 stories. Apparently in China they work all day then go to the spa. You can even stay overnight for an extra $3. They have restaurants,
bars, game rooms, and lots of different body treatments. I saw some weird treatments like eyelash combing. I wonder what that is???

I was escorted to my locker by a lovely lady that spoke a little English. She could understand me enough to tell me that despite the fact I didn't see any other naked people, I should be totally undressed, at least I had hoped that is what she was saying. The spa wasn't busy since it was the middle of the day and I guess everyone else was at work. The people working there all had clothes on, which makes sense and since labor is cheap, there were tons of them. They seem to have this similar infatuation with westerners as I experienced in India. I am not sure where that comes from, but I don't mind it. It's better then the alternative, I suppose.

So I walk into what looks like an area that has a hot tub and I think I am going to get in but this lady guides me to the shower, where she shakes a finger at me when I begin to use soap, so I assume, no soap. I rinse off then let her guide me to a table where she puts on a luffa in the shape of a grove and begins rubbing my cold, naked body. I remember Praveen telling me about a similar experience and I now understand how he got himself into it. I figure, everyone needs a full body exfoliation and I remember how soft and silky his skin was upon his return. A few times through out the somewhat painful scrub she pulls out an unidentifiable packet of something and asks (i think) "do you want this?" Not really sure what
"it" is I just sit back and enjoy the ride and nod "yes." I was a little worried because I was suppose to meet Praveen on the third floor in 20 minutes (from the time I got there) and I began to realize that every time I said yes to something, I was agreeing to another treatment. First the body scrub, then the 20 minute milk bath, then some bamboo scrub. Finally I learned to say no. I went up to find praveen still patently waiting. Anyway, it was fun.

We went to this street that sounded like 'cheap' street in English- where they have all the knock
offs. The weather report for where we were going over the weekend said it was going to be raining the whole time and I hadn't brought a rain
jacket so we went there to buy one. I got a North face jacket that looks pretty darn good
for $40. These really annoying mafia guys followed us the whole time. Apparently they hassle
the shop keepers for a cut of what you buy. There were 7 of them. They were awful. If I had
a weapon I probably would have hurt one of them. I grasped my umbrella a few times and really
resisted wacking them with it. I can't imagine what the cost must be on this GORTEX jacket
if they sell it for $40, the shop keeper has his up keep, then the Mafia needs paid after that.

Anyway. We took a flight last night to Huangshan, where we are going to spend a few days hiking through
the clouds.