The China a tourist doesn't see

Monday was the night of my first party. The party was scheduled to start at 5:30... or that was the time we were supposed to get there since Smarda and I were hosting the party. Most people in China live in apartments making gatherings difficult to have at one's home. Even with a house, the number of people invited would make it difficult anywhere. The first night there were 27 people and the 2nd night was 26. The restaurant is similar to a catering hall. There is a main dining room for small parties less than 10 downstairs. On the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floor are rooms of varying size which you reserve. Our room had 3 tables in it. Not only does this give you additional privacy, it makes it family friendly so kids of all ages can attend. Although as I learned, the kids do not stay in the room anyway. They run all over the building. Which isn't bad either because everyone else on the floor has rooms so if the kids are bothersome, the other parties can close the door. However, based on the noise in our room, I am sure nobody notices. One of the kids asked why my forehead is so deep, why my nose is so big, and why I have so much hair on my arms.

We specifically asked Smarda's aunt to come early to the party because she is known as a good orderer. And if you ask, everyone will say she is. Same sort of thing happened the second night where we asked an uncle to come because he too is a good ordere. I laughed at the title but after attending the two parties and seeing what gets done, I bought into the concept. What qualifies somebody as a good orderer is a person that conducts a lot of business involving dinners and drinks. As I learned, ordering chinese food is very complex. It is not as simple as there will be 6 people lets get x number of dishes. The food menus are 20, 30, or 40 pages. Each dish serves different numbers of people and only somebody who eats out a lot will know what is good. As an example, each table had 19 dishes ordered at the second party. And the selection of foods at the second party was better than the first.

Each party was almost exactly the same from my view with only the players changing. Anyone with children immediatley forced them to speak their english with me. They know only slightly more english than I know chinese but it was good to hear some english. After being introduced to everyone, we all sat down and ate as the food came out in constant waves. I asked for beer and 500 mL of Bud Ice came out. I wasn't even aware that Bud Ice was still made. Anyway, I was given a glass that was better designed for after dinner drinks than for beer. So I got them to give me a taller glass that is still smaller than a pint or a mug. I only made this mistake the first night. As the dinner progressed, people would come over to me and toast me... ask me to drink with them. When they did it, no big deal, we chink glasses and then I take a gulp of my beer. Well this happended continuously. I was then informed everyone had toasted me, it is now my responsibility to go around to each table and return the honor. Only difference being that as the toaster, I am expected to finish my beer. It would have been no problem if I kept my shot glass. So I was forced to pound luke warm bud ice (I asked for it cold and it wasn't so cold). Same thing happened the second night but instead of waiting for everyone to come to me to toast, I went to them first and took them off guard.

The party cost about $300 each night. And as a result of the party, we were invited by guests to return the favor. Not having much time, we were forced to turn down many of the requests.

My food just arrived so I will post more later...

Last days in Beijing

Our second day in China was a guided tour of Tianmen Square, Forbiden City, Summer Palace, and Temple of Heaven. The square, forbidden city, and temple of heaven are all aligned on the chinese meridian. The meridian cuts each site in half. The chinese feel that this and not greenwich england should have been the prime meridian. Supposedly the next thing to be built on this line is the olympic village for the 2008 olympics.

The Forbiden City was amazing. You walk through gate after gate after gate until you finally are in the emperors quarters. The most outside of the area is the old city wall. Tianmen square is just inside this wall. Next up is the imperial city wall, followed by the outer court, inner court, and forbidden city itself. Our tour guide for the day was militant in walking. I think I would have preferred getting the audio tour and exploring on my own. The english version of the tour is narrated by former 007 Mr Moore. The buildings within the city were constructed in traditional chinese methods being know concrete, metal, or nails. Only in wood. One of the fascinating things with chinese architecture is that everything means something. For example, yellow is color of the earth and is only used by emperors. 3 is an important number but not as important as 9 because 9 is the largest single digit odd number. On doors into the Forbiden City, there are 9 rows of 9 knobs on the center door which only the emperor can enter. Within the Forbiden City is a mini Forbiden City which costs a little extra to enter but is well worth it. One of the emperors stepped down from the thrown so as not to be emperor for the same length as his grandfather. So he moved to this mini Forbiden City.

The next stop on the tour was the Summer Palace, a lakeside retreat for the emperor and his family from May through October. Much of this was under construction so we didn't get to see too much of it. There were a lot of areas here to explore and relax but our tour guide was having none of it. The frommers book recommends 3 hours to tour this attraction and we did it under 30 minutes. There was an audio tour at this location too and I should have taken it...next time.

The final stop of the day was the Temple of Heaven. This is a round blue structure (symbolizing heaven) which I posted a picture of in a previous blog. Prior to the Temple, is a structure used for ceremonies. Going out from the center were 9 rings with the inner most ring containing 9 sections and the outer countaining 81. All because 9 and multiples of 9 are very good. Then within the Temple, there are 28 columns in 3 circles. The inner most cirle had 4 columns representing the 4 seasons. The 2nd row had 12 columns representing the 12 months of the year. And the outter most circle was also 12 representing the 12 parts of a day. This was also the site where Smarda took a tumble twisting her ankle.

Saturday night we went to the pedestrian street in Beijing to walk around. We wandered onto a food street which has booths all over the place selling various foods. Meet on a stick could be had for 1 to 4 Yuan... less than $0.50.

Censored in China

I am now in Suzhou and I still can't view my blog. Smarda is here with me at the internet cafe so I will be brief. In my next post I will go back and take you through our last day in Beijing and the first couple here in Suzhou. But first, lets go through the foods I have eaten. Our tour guide in Beijing said that the chinese will eat anything that flies except a boeing and anything with four legs except a table. Meant to be humorous, it is closer to the truth than you realize as I list out the foods I have had in 3 days of Suzhou...

Wanton Soup, Xiaolong Bao (soupy buns), Pig Thigh, Cow Tongue, Chinese vegetables with no english names, Fish, Chicken Tofu, Roast Duck, Mushrooms (wood ears), Blood Soup, Fried Chicken, Crystal Shrimp, Sardine type fish, Rye bread filled with vegetables, Warter mellon (red and yellow), Lotus Root stuffed with sweet rice, Turnips, Snails (fresh and salt water), Silver fish, Fresh water fish, chicken soup, meat & brown hardboiled eggs, chinese zuchinni, chicken feet, Pig stomach, lima beans, jelly fish, sauteed enochi mushroom, cowfu (braised gluten), dead shrimp, scallops, chinese eggplant, beef, harvest platter, pickeled vegetables, tofu w/ crab meat, gao - sticky rice cake, mushroom soup, eel

So far the only food I outright refused to eat was drunken shrimp which are fresh water shrimp put into a wine sauce. The catch is that they are put in the wine alive and drink themselves to death. However, you see them moving in the bowl. Some people enjoy eating these because they like the jump on their tongue. And some that appear dead still have a last sump in them when you bite down. Proper technique is to chomp their head off first. Then while it has been murdered in your mouth, squeeze the meat out of the shrimp and spit the shell out.

I hope to be in an internet cafe again on Friday when I will go into detail about my 2 coming out parties...

Some Pics From the first 2 days

Here are some pics from the first 2 days... I hope this stuff is getting posted as I think I am being prevented from viewing my own blog. Somehow I can post but not actually get to my site.

Entrance to Ming Tomb


Great Wall



The forbidden city





And here is one more pic from today

The Great Wall

Smarda and I are just concluding our first full day in China. Except for the weather being a little cloudy and windy, it is going well so far. Today began early as the tour company picked us up from our hotel at 7:40. Stop #1 on the tour was the Ming Tombs. Pretty interesting temple not to far from the Great Wall. It houses 12 or 13 emperors from the Ming dynasty. All of them have not been excavated as the Chinese have not determined how to preserve what they will find in the tombs. I think the one we saw today was for Jun dy or Judy or something like that. After climbing the 15 or so steps, you enter the tomb which has high ceilings supported by pillars of wood. Each pillar is a single tree trunk similar to mahogany in strength. Apparently the tree would need to live for 1000 years to grow to the necessary height. Inside their is also a giant statue of Ming. At the base of the statue people throw money for luck.

The Great Wall was pretty amazing. Over 4000 miles in length, the first section of the wall was completed around 250 BC. Like any good tourist destination, people are dropped off by the bus load. Upon entering, you can either go right and up a more gradual section of the wall or go left and attack a steeper part. Of course we went left. The top of the wall is as wide as a city sidewalk and often wider. The terrain varies between smooth inclines and steps. I have some good pictures of this and will try to post them soon. At some points you are walking almost completely vertical. Similar to other developing and 3rd world countries there really isn't any liability laws here. Which makes the hike on the wall that much more fun. Because you really could hurt yourself if you aren't careful.

The walk up to the wall and on the wall are vendors selling goods. As is the case anywhere in the world, vendors can speak enough of any language to make a sale. Once a vendor sees you coming (and you are not Asian), they yell "Helloooooo" emphasizing the o at the end. It is pretty comical. One of the big sellers this season is the "pee pee boy." It is exactly that. When water is poured in the little boy pees. So as I am walking the wall I will hear "Hellooooo, t-shirt 1 dollar, rolex 20 dollar. You like pee pee boy?" It just cracks me up. Good thing too because climbing the wall proved a little painful at certain points.

Another interesting thing that I learned in my limited time is that no matter what I say to the vendors on the great wall, at the tombs, on the street, they will continue to push the sale. I have repeatedly used the phrase Bu Yao which means I don't want. Instead of stopping them, they either pretend it was not said and continue to push for the sale or laugh that I said something in Chinese and then continue to push the sale. When Smarda says it they will stop. And if they don't she will scold them basically calling them crazy. And that gets them to stop. When she and I are walking next to each other, they ignore her and tag me as the mark and begin the pursuit.

Random incident of the trip so far...
We check into the hotel at 9pm last night. I decide we should take a little walk because we have been traveling for so long. As we waltz down the street past a McDonald's, KFC, 7-eleven, Baskin Robbins, and Sizzler (yep fast food chains appear to be a top US export) a street women walks up to us and begins speaking to Smarda in mandarin. The gist of what she is saying is that you look like a nice person will you buy my baby. Smarda refuses multiple times and the lady starts asking me. I have no idea what she is saying but I say Bu yao and she spits at the ground near my feet. Not sure if the interaction offended her or if it was me in particular.

I am still exhausted from the flight and 12 hour time difference. I will write more and hopefully get some pictures up soon.

Departure is fast approaching

Only 1 week until I begin another journey to a foreign land. I am really excited about the 2 weeks I will be spending in China. Similar to my trips to Paraguay, much of my time will be spent living in the same accomodations as the locals and not a hotel. Unlike Paraguay, there will be plenty of tourist things to see.

Since I was in India in January, I do not think I need any shots for this trip. I have a plane ticket and visa. The first 4 days will be spent in Beijing. We will be on an English speaking tour in Beijing.

After Beijing, Suzhou will be our destination. Only 1 hour outside of Shanghai, it will be our homebase for the remainder of the trip.

Well, expect the first post May 19th or 20th depending on internet access.