Saturday, February 25, 2006

Shaolin Martial Arts in Nanjing Posted by Picasa
QQ Plays Nanjing Posted by Picasa

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Train to Nanjing

The train ride to Nanjing today took over 3 hours but was pleasant with the exception of the two beer guzzling and belching fellows that sat in the seats facing me. They talked non-stop for three hours in a dialect I could not understand. It may have been that universal language that drunks use but I'm inclined to think it was one of the thousands of local dialects in China. While Mandarin is nearly universally understood throughout China people often revert to their local languages. The people of Shanghai, Hangzhou and Suzhou, all cities within about 75 miles of each other, speak mutually unintelligible dialects.

I'm here representing Greater Peavine at the Plum Festival.

Monday, February 20, 2006

Old Shanghai

An hour-long ride on doubledecker bus#911 took me from my neighborhood to Fuyuan Garden in the old "Chinese City" portion of Shanghai. This is what remains of the old walled city and while highrise apartments are going up all around it, Fuyuan survives. I found a very good vegetarian restaurant there today and brought a bag of vegetable dumplings (caibao) home for dinner. I didn't buy any today, but Fuyuan is full of real and fake antiques, Mao posters, and trinkets of all variety.
Fuyuan Tea House Posted by Picasa
Traditional Starbucks at Fuyuan Garden in Shanghai Posted by Picasa
Fangbang Street Shanghai Posted by Picasa

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Xiantiandi

I took bus # 925 downtown this afternoon and explored the xiantiandi area just south of People's Square. Xiantiandi is one of the few restored old-style neighborhoods in Shanghai. It's very attractive - filled with one-story brick building now occupied by the likes of Starbucks, Le Maison, and numerous upscale eateries and retail shops. Oddly enough, the corner of the block is occupied by the hall where the first communist party congress in China was held. The communist hammer and sickle on the building wall looks incongruous in the midst of all the capitalist consumerism. I predict that Panera Bread or some other modern business will someday occupy the hall itself.

After a walk around Xiantiandi I ventured further south and stumbled upon Zentral, a health cafe that serves a lot of vegetarian dishes. I had ginger and mushroom dumplings and a ginger ale for about US$4 and it was quite good. Oddly enough, all of the customers were Westerners though.

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Winterscape Posted by Picasa
Snow in Shanghai Posted by Picasa
Shopaholic

When I opened the shades this morning I got a shock - snow covered the palm trees and grounds out my window.

I'm beginning to worry. I'm spending an inordinate amount of time shopping - or at least window shopping. I guess I'm just curious about what's for sale in this foreign land and where I can get it. All this research could come in handy though. You never know when you'll need Skippy Peanut Butter, clothes hangers or a Mister Donut - but I know where I can find those things and more.

I spent much of this Saturday walking around my neighborhood exploring stores. I discovered Trust-Mart, a supermarket about a 15-minute walk away. This is a very modern discount retail chain with everything from $30 bicycles to 10 cent dried tofu. The store makes a valiant effort at making expats feel welcome by posting English signs - but they really need to hire someone that can write English. I bought music from a shelf marked "top salad" (top sales?), potato chips from the "slised tuber" section and skipped the "powder meat" aisle altogether. On the way out of Trust-Mart I had to pass through a scanning device. They must be fans of Ronald Reagan - "trust but verify".

Speaking of tortured English (the Chinese call it Chinglish) I told you about the Homely Vegetarian Meat Balls I got at the organic market but I forgot to mention a frozen food item I did not buy - "Vegetarian Intestines". Yes, mock intestines for those vegetarians that just can't quite give up their taste for menudo.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Moon Over Hangzhou and Magnets for Sale

I returned from a two-day biz trip to Hangzhou this afternoon the same way I went - by train. It's two hours each way and quite a pleasant trip, with the exception of the overcrowded train stations. I went "soft seat", which means I didn't go "hard seat" - the preferred mode of travel for the peasants (a catch-all word for farmers and poor people in China). It had been over 10 years since I took a train in China and it has really changed. The trains aren't much nicer but the service is. Capitalism, er, "socialism with Chinese characteristics", reigns on the trains. All the train workers have turned into salesmen and women - walking up and down the aisles selling everything from drinks to hotel rooms to magnets which are guaranteed to improve your blood circulation.

Hangzhou is built next to the famous West Lake. Surrounded by mountains, pagodas and gardens, West Lake looks like China is supposed to look. It was beautiful. I had a hotel room overlooking the lake and the view at night - with a full moon over the still lake - can't be beat.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

A typical grocery store run. 56 rmb (US$7) worth of items. US food companies have cracked the China market. Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Auto Plant Tour

I toured a joint venture auto manufacturing plant today. It was interesting seeing the robots welding the parts together and following the whole process from stamping sheets of metal into parts to the finished product rolling off the line.

It's really cold in Haishang today and I had a long wait trying to get a taxi home tonight. I had missed the shuttle bus by five minutes because we were late getting back from the auto plant so I had to walk around for an hour trying to find an empty cab. At rush hour and on bad weather days there is a shortage of taxis here.

Monday, February 06, 2006

The Grand Theatre (with roof on upside down) with the Marriott in the background. Posted by Picasa
Nanjing Road - shopping street Posted by Picasa
Getting My Chi in Order

I joined a tai chi class that meets in the recreation center in my neighborhood. I had taken a few classes with momlls last year - just long enough to figure out that it's harder than it looks. Walking around the city parks and sidewalks I've seen people over 80 doing their exercise and they look so graceful. One old fellow was doing dips and splits so low to the ground I couldn't believe it. It looked like he was doing the limbo and playing basketball at the same time. Right now my goal is to stand on one leg without falling over.

Friday, February 03, 2006

Holidays x2

The Chinese New Year lasted Mon - Wed this week so this was a short work week in China. I really like the idea of getting off on the holidays of two countries. That's an unexpected benefit of this job.

If you haven't tried Skype yet give it a try. You can talk and even video conference around the world for free.

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Thinking Food

Calisooner has been filling us in on the Chinese (lunar) New Year in San Francisco, with special attention to the traditional foods. The one I find most interesting is the black hair moss. I don't think I've ever had that but he said it looked like (appropriate for the Year of the Dog) the hair off a black dog. I'm sure it's yummy but its hair-like-ness would be a hurdle I'd have to get past.

Here in China I have been eating things that don't look like hair. Dumplings, cheese and crackers, Gardenburgers, stir-fried rice - pretty much what I like. I found some vegetarian "oyster" sauce at the market so I'm set for stir-fry.

One more thing about food. There's plenty of familiar foods I can't find here but there's more than I anticipated. Quite a few American food companies have set up operations in China and are doing quite well. Lays Potato Chips, Coke, Pepsi, Sarah Lee etc. And a lot of stuff is imported from the US but, of course, is more expensive. One thing I like is that the supermarkets have imported foods from all over the world - things I couldn't get at home. Pesto sauce from Italy, jams from Spain, roti bread from India, beans from France, cheese from New Zealand, etc. I'm trying a lot of things I haven't had before. Still, I miss a real Mazzios pizza.