Ben's Travel Adventures

Sports Fandom is the Same the World Over

I went to a soccer game in Beijing (Beijing vs. Chengdu) and my takeaway was simple: sports fandom is sports fandom and intense, crazy fans are all over the world. It's universal. Nothing felt as global / common as the soccer game experience.

Village Outside Beijing and Spending Two Hours in a Police Station

I took a 2.5 hour bus from Beijing to a village outside the city, aiming for a couple days of relaxation and reading. City life, especially a day as large and hectic as Beijing, can be draining, and a village in the mountains sounded like a nice reprise.

I packed a backpack with a few clothes, some toiletries, a copy of my passport, my Kindle, and a couple old-fasioned books, and set out for the subway which would take me to the bus station on the outer western side of the city. Unfortunately, with no access to a printer (truly unfortunate when you need to print out Chinese characters), I had only the pinyin name of the village.

It was my first time riding the subway alone which means I had to decipher the signs and figure out my route. It was easier than expected, with much additional English signage added in preparation for the Olympics.

I arrived at the subway station, exited, and tried to find the bus stop for bus 192. This proved more challenging. I asked a couple people, got pointed in a direction, and eyed the signs for the 192 stop. Eventually I found it, but I was already pretty tired, and I noticed the sky go from grey-from-smog to grey-about-to-rain, and I considered turning back and abandoning my village trip and just staying in Beijing to read.

At the 192 stop there were lots of taxi hawks and other people hassling me, screaming at me in Chinese, etc. The usual fare. When the bus arrived, I boarded, showed the ticket lady my destination. We tried to communicate. She pointed out of the bus and ahead on the road, as if I were not on the right bus. This confused me -- two locals I had asked on the street said 192 in this direction was the right way, as did the online guidebook I consulted. The taxi hawks followed me onto the bus and started screaming "No! No! No!".

I got off the bus. I walked ahead in the direction the woman pointed, as much to get out of the sight from the touts as much as to find the right bus.

Luckily, up ahead I found another stop, and waited, and a bus came. This time around, the ticket man looked at my destination and told me to come on-board. I gave him my pen and notebook (which I always had at the ready) and he wrote down the fare. 16 RMB. I paid and sat, awaiting the two hour bus ride ahead.

By this time it was already about 5:30 PM and darkness was approaching. Not good, because I was to arrive in a small town, and then find a taxi to take me to the village. Harder to do in the dark.

The ticket man tried to talk to me as we approached my destination -- what he was saying, I have no idea, I just prayed he wasn't trying to tell me the town was sketch or that there were no taxis or something.

I got off in Zhangtaing (sp). By now it was 7 or 7:30 PM and pitch dark. I couldn't see anything, let alone any taxis who would be able to take me to the village that, while somewhat known, I did not have written down in characters so all bets are off. I decided 10 seconds after arriving in the town that I would go to the village the following day, and stay at a hotel in the town.

It was drizzling rain and there were puddles. I had to badly go to the bathroom, and I was also starving. The first people I bumped into started harassing me, of course -- what they said, I have no idea, but it does pretty tiring to always be accosted and sold to.

I walked into a restaurant -- their door, like so many restaurant doors, is not a door but rather vertical, cut pieces of plastic that you push open and through. Everyone at the restaurant turned and looked at me and laughed or talked amongst themselves while pointing at me. In small towns, away from a big city, they don't see many tall, white men.

I made the eating motion with my hands (mime the hand sipping soup with a spoon by my mouth), the "waitress" nodded and told me to sit. A few people stood by my table and watched me. I flipped through the menu, which luckily had pictures, and once again faced the predicament of eating alone at a Chinese restaurant. Since everything is family style, it's hard to pick dishes for just one person. You usually have go to with dumplings or noodles. Because I was feeling hungry, I ordered two full family style dishes.

After placing the order, I tried to ask how to go to the bathroom. In most parts of the world, saying the world "toilet" does the trick, but not in China. After a good full minute of body language miming, they figured it out, and pointed outside the restaurant, and across the street. That I was not going to do. I did not know whether I should fully trust the restaurant staff, and frankly the darkened shack across the street looked intimidating. So I held on.

I ate the food, paid the $1.50 it cost me, and then wrote the word "hotel?" on my notebook and showed it to them. They did a translation or figured out the word and made a phone call. Then one of the guys led me outside, to the left, and to the front of the police station. At first I hesitated. The last thing I wanted to do was deal with the police, and I thought they had maybe misinterpreted my request for a hotel. Then I remembered that Chinese law says foreigners are supposed to check in at a town wherever they spend the night.

This is where the real clusterfuck began. No one in the police station spoke the slightest bit of English. Not a single word or sound. As usual for China, it was wildly overstaffed, with about eight officers sitting in their chair, doing nothing.

They asked for ID. I first gave them my California iD card. Not, they needed more ID. Then I gave them the copy of my passport. No, they still weren't satisfied. Then I realized that I was majorly screwed without my real passport. I considered bringing it, but decided against, thinking there was an above-0 chance I just stay the day in the village, and when it's on my person and I'm robbed, I'm really screwed.

They talked among themselves and tried to communicate to me but failed. I didn't really know what the hold-up was. One cop called a friend who spoke very broken English, and he got on the phone with me and told me, "They must require you passport."

This was the problem. They kept thinking I had my passport but wasn't showing it; in fact, I was trying to tell them I only had a photocopy. We were in a standstill. No one knew what to do.

I finally got the phone and called my contact in Beijing who spoke both languages. She explained my situation to the cop. They went back and forth a bit. Then the cop called his supervisor in Beijing who spoke a bit of English. They agreed I needed to leave the town right away and return to Beijing to be with my passport. "According to Chinese law it is illegal to travel without your passport."

I got on the phone with the supervisor. We had an exchange, and then he said sternly and weirdly solemnly, "Sir, it is in your best interest to leave the town immediately." For some reason this kind of freaked me out -- I sensed some subtle warning in his voice, like if I didn't leave the town something was going to happen. Something bad. So I agreed to leave, but how? It was almost 10 PM and Beijing was three hours away by car. The supervisor told me to take a 100 RMB taxi. He then checked with the local cop if there were any taxis...but no. There were none.

So they told me I was to stay the night at a hotel, but leave at 8 AM the next morning. I agreed. They walked me to a hotel. I paid 200 RMB and go on my bed and read.

The next morning was grey and drizzily. I left my hotel at 8:30 AM, wandered around the streets of the town a bit. Nobody was working. Dozens of people standing on the street, doing nothing. Not exactly surprisingly -- there are few businesses in the town, other than a hotel or two and a restaurant or two. I'm guessing unemployment in the town is 40% or so.

Then I went to the bus stop, and went back to Beijing. No village, no reading getaway. Just some time in a bus and some time in a police station.

The Scale of China

It's really, really hard to convey the scale of China. My usual strategy is to talk about the number of cities that have, say, over 10 million people in them, or whatever.

Here's one fun fact we learned the other day: the best hospitals in China have on average daily outpatient numbers of 10,000 people. 10,000 outpatients every day. The biggest hospital in the world is in China: 5,000 beds.

Also, there are 470 million pigs alive in China right now.

Sanitation and Health in China

The country is going bizerke over Swine flu. But there are so many things that could be done to improve sanitation and health in the country....instead they're installing more temperature-reading devices at the airport.

Hand soap in bathrooms are rare. Paper towels are even rarer -- the drying device of choice is the hot air blower. These, of course, almost never get the job done, so people are disinclined to want to wash their hands in the first place.

Then there's food cleanliness -- in particular cleanliness of plates and dishes and tables. This is an area of weakness all over the third world.

My Current Moment

I find myself using the handle of a disposable hair comb to scoop peanut butter out of a mini, emergency jar of peanut butter, given to my new friend when he went to Sichuan Province ("I'm afraid you might starve," he was told), and then the jar of peanut butter was passed onto me.

So, to recap: in Beijing, using a hair comb (the handle part) to eat peanut butter right out of the jar.

It is my first taste of peanut butter in five weeks. And it is glorious.

Etiquette at Dinners

We learned about Chinese business etiquette at meals. It's remarkable how hierarchal and authority-driven it all is.

American etiquette, vis-a-vis power and status, might call for the most important person to sit at the head of a rectangular table, collect the check, and initiate a toast if necessary.

Chinese etiquette is so much more elaborate. The most important person sits facing the door and then people sit in different positions based on decreasing levels of importance. If you chime drink glasses with someone of higher status, your cup is to be slightly below theirs when the cups connect. There's much more. It's complicated.

Eating in China

What's the history of family-style eating? You know, the method of food serving where it's all put on communal plates in the middle and each person helps himself.

I'm told that this became the Chinese-way originally as a way to save / conserve resources and food.

Is it possible that this style of eating somehow reduces overall individualistic tendencies or culture in a country in general? (I strongly prefer individual plates to family style.)

Other observations on Chinese eating: there is usually a single bowl or plate and all food you eat gets managed from that bowl (usually filled with rice on the bottom). The idea of side plates or bowls is uncommon (I even asked Chinese people about this and they confirmed that extra side, empty plates for bread or other food are rare).

Given the smallness of a typical plate or bowl, you inevitably have to put some food directly on the table (not on a plate). Or some food just spills over. Given how unclean most of the tables are, food gets dirtier more easily.

Chopsticks get the job done most of the time but there are times which call for a knife. But knives aren't used.

As in all poor countries, Coca-Cola is more common than water at meals. Anything but water is served at meals.

Napkins are not a big deal, and sometimes not offered at all at cheap places.

A Rural Village Outside Beijing

In any country it's true: the big city doesn't represent the whole country. California is way more and way different than San Francisco and Los Angeles alone. New York is not America.

In China this is important to remember. How many tourists have visited Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai, and then report back home on "China"? Really, they saw Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai. Not China.

Yesterday, we drove four hours north of Beijing to a small village admittedly ready to accept tourists but still pretty basic. It was beautiful countryside. Less polluted, more breathable than Beijing proper. We hiked around the village, around water, up a mountain of sorts, and took in all the natural beauty. And it was beautiful, the rolling hills, sun off the lake, the grass and trees. I'll post pictures later to make the point.

At night some of us lay on the top of the castle and watched the stars, to the play-by-play astronomy commentary by a budding astrophysicist. I haven't done that in awhile -- stargazing. I should do it more often. On a clear night, in a non-urban place, with meteor-showers in the sky: this is quite a tranquil experience. If you ever want to feel unimportant and small, just spend a night looking at the stars (lying down -- on your back -- do it right for the full experience).

The following morning we went to the less touristy part of the Great Wall. I was at the Great Wall three years ago, but the section closest to Beijing, and so packed with tourists (and thus, touts). The section we went to this time around was remarkably uncrowded and therefore more pleasant. What to say about the Wall? The great Richard Nixon put it best, perhaps, when it said something to the effect of, "It is, indeed, a very great wall."

I appreciated the beauty of the non-cityscape, but found myself itching to return to Beijing, oddly enough. I think this was for the high speed internet connection and showers that awaited me; I'm guessing if I had those amenities in the village, I would have wanted to stay a great while longer.

Back in China

"Get me out of here." Those were my first thoughts upon landing back in Beijing after the pretty painless 12 hour non-stop from San Francisco.

It's not the first time I've had moments of instant regret of sorts when arriving in a place that's dirty, dangerous, poor, or some combination. It's usually followed by some immediate action toward following through on the regret -- checking to see if I can change flights, change hotels, or in some other way improve my situation. I remember settling into my "bed" in the hut that was planted in the water deep in the Amazon jungle in 2008, bugs all around me, and thinking, "Why oh why did I leave behind my nice lifestyle in the U.S.?"

Usually, though, things improve, and I look back and feel proud and glad I did it.

In Beijing, I think my early discomfort stemmed from sleep deprivation more than anything. I'm still recovering from South America. But there are also real things about China that make life difficult, and no matter how good the "moments" are, China will never be one of my favorite countries. The smog and pollution in Beijing is insane; the language is absolutely foreign to me and I have trouble communicating even basic things; the food is decent but usually too spicy, even in the east (the west's cuisine is crazy spicy); there are holes not toilets.

My first two weeks in Beijing I will enjoy the soup-to-nuts services of my hosts and fellow delegates here. Thinking back to when I was here solo in 2006, I am absolutely amazed I got around and functioned on my own. I think once you have a host or someone who knows the ropes, you immediately cede control of the situation and become pretty helpless on your own. You're in "follower" mode. Had I landed in Beijing knowing I'd be fending for myself, my attitude would be different and more aggressive toward making myself get to where I need to go.

In 2006 I was in China in October. Now it's August. Then, the weather was pleasant, save for smog. Now, the weather is miserably hot and humid. If I've learned one thing through travel, it's that I really do poorly in extreme temps in either direction. I'm a man of moderate temperature and regular fog.

The good news: I think I've gotten most of my negativity out of the way, the sky is actually blue today in Beijing, and I'm beginning to get some sleep on my rock-hard mattress of sorts. I feel like better times are on the way.

Impossible Loads on the Rickshaws - Pictures

My friend Geoff Workman sent me this link to incredible pictures of people carrying impossible loads on a bike or rickshaw. I couldn't capture these sights on my own camera, so I'm glad there's a web site that does it so well itself.

Link: Lords of� the Logistic.

How Chinese People Choose Their English Name

"How did you choose the name Alan?" I asked a Chinese guy named Alan. His real, Chinese name existed in characters and now, due to modern developments in the world, in pinyin. But his parents never assigned him Alan.

"Oh, my English teacher in school gave it to me."

"How did he choose Alan?"

"He said I looked like an Alan."

Then I remembered Peter Hessler (as described in River Town) doing the same thing when he taught an English class. He went around the room on the first day of school, gave everyone an English name, and that's the one they carried for the rest of their life.

Wouldn't that be fun? "Ok, you're a Chuck. You, well, you look like a Dick. Yep, I think Dick is just about right."

India's Democracy Prevents It from Doing What China Can

China displaced more than a million people to build three gorges dam. The government basically said, "Get up. Move. We're destroying your villages and local culture because this is a national interest."

In India a politician proposed to move a slum out from beside a freeway and try to develop the area a little bit. Outrage ensued and the people exercised their voice and vote. The slums remain. The freeway is still a joke.

China wanted to develop Shanghai at the cost of moving some current residents. Residents protested. Government: "Fuck you." 10 years later Shanghai is one the most developed skylines in the world.

China's authoritarian rule allows it to affect change quickly. One reason they've been growing so much.

In India, a democracy of a billion people slows decision making to a crawl. Meanwhile, the infrastructure here is still a joke.

In the long run India's political system is more sustainable, I think, but in the short term -- if you view people as numbers and GDP as God -- it's clear which system is working better.

You're So Good at Chopsticks!

If you travel to China and Japan or any other country that uses chopsticks you'll find the locals always compliment you on your chopstick use.

It's like they think no one else in the world uses chop sticks to eat their ethnic cuisine.

They may also race over a fork, even if you haven't yet picked up the chopstick, because your white skin shouts "I hate the sticks, gimme the metal."

I'm not a big fan of chopsticks. I didn't know how to use them effectively prior to my Asia trip. Nonetheless, I have come to appreciate their utility. Certain small nuts are well suited to the chopstick.

Still, all in all, it's hard to beat the fork and knife combination when it comes to sheer versatility, grip, and predictability.

Laying Low in Kunming

My brief stay in Kunming reiterated for me the benefits of a big but not crazy big city. San Francisco is only 800k population -- this is pretty small compared to most "big cities". It maintains a homey feel while still thriving as a metropolis. One reason why I adore the City by the Bay. Kunming is a big city in Yunnan Province but is nowhere near as chaotic, loud, and polluted as Beijing and Shanghai.

After my first full day of tourism with my host, Alan, during which I hit the big sights, I spent the next two days laying low, writing, working online, and exercising. I did wander around a bit and caught some ethnic minority singing show, pretty cool, and also found myself in the rougher outskirts of Kunming where the living standards were the lowest I've seen in China. In these parts you'll see mushrooms everywhere -- mushrooms are a big export of Kunming -- but instead of being stored in sanitary conditions, they're spewed all over the dirty back alleys. There also were endless people frying, stirring, mixing, and generally cooking a variety of food on the street. I wouldn't touch it for the life of me. I was tempted buy some fruit one guy was selling (watermelon and cantaloupe) but remembered the sage advice of my guidebook which said they douse the fruit with tons of water to keep its veneer exterior. I wish I was invisible so I could take lots of pictures, but unfortunately, this is impossible to do when everyone is looking at you... to pull out a $300 digital camera in the midst of the scene would be awkward. I can stomach some awkwardness -- say, being able to hail a cab whenever I want and escape back to the nicer part of the city, while the skinny rickshaw bikers pull unimaginable loads, or the pushing-70 years-old woman who lives based on how many shoes she can shine on the street -- but taking pictures seemed too hard.

One street I crossed contained a truly horrible sight -- a disabled, homeless man lying in the middle of the street. People walked around him and cars dodged him. People just didn't give a shit. Can you imagine a guy lying in the street with mangled arms and legs and no one doing a thing?

If I had more energy I would have made the five hour bus trek to Dali, which was my original plan, or the 45 minute flight to Lijang, both beautiful cities that attract most of the Kunming tourists who aren't golfing. Alas, I preferred the small neighborhood of my hotel, two solid workouts (though no ping pong, despite an earnest second try), internet, and my iPod.

Nearing the one-month mark, most weary travelers can relate to the sense of accomplishment each day brings. It takes so much energy to simply live each day and complete the small tasks, especially when you're solo and on a modest budget, that any extra perk -- an interesting cultural experience, a funny conversation with a local, a solid two hour workout -- is worth celebrating. A large task, like a five hour bus ride, can crush you.

Written on Bangkok to Mumbai flight, Thai Air

Asking for Water in China

I gave the Europeans a hard time over the summer for their assault on h2o.

China is worse.

First, you can't drink from the tap. A pain.

Second, asking for water in a restaurant is too challenging. I ate at Steak King across the street from my apt in Shanghai two days in a row. Same waitress. On the first day I asked for water, and pointed to "water" on the menu (which had the corresponding Chinese characters below the English phrase). It cost 4 yuan so I assumed it'd be mineral water or something.

She brought me a mug of boiling hot water. No tea, no flavor, just hot water. Might I ask what anyone would do with a cup of boiling hot water? I told the waitress, No, I want cold water. She didn't understand. I said, "Ice". She brought me back the SAME MUG except with ice cubes in it. Now I had a cup of boiling hot water with ice cubes. Two counteracting forces fighting vigorously for what they believe in. 10 minutes later the ice won and I drank lukewarm water.

The next day I went through the same routine with the same waitress. Only this time i made it clear when ordering, "COLD water. ICE!" She nodded. She brought me a mug of boiling hot water. I sent it back. I said, "ICE". She brought it back boiling water w/ ice cubes.

I know I'm doing something wrong...when Eisen ordered for me I got a tall glass of cold, iced water. Not boiling water. Maybe I should ask for boiling, hot water?

All I Want to do Is Play Ping Pong

You can probably imagine how excited I was to get in several good games of ping pong, my favorite sport, while I'm in China. But I haven't seen a SINGLE PERSON playing. Apparently it's only big in universities.

With only a couple more days left here, I resolved to find a game. In my hotel there's a ping pong table but, alas, I have no one to play with and no one was around. So I headed over to a gym that was recommend to me. Sure enough, there was a table and paddles. First I did my workout (bike, treadmill, weights, elliptical) and then I resolved to find a playing mate.

No obvious candidates in the sparsely populated gym. There were of course 15 staff / trainers standing around doing nothing. I went up to one of the trainers and told him I wanted to play ping pong.

Six of them gathered and talked to decide how to fulfill my request. They said, "You want ping-pong?" I said I wanted ping pong, yes. The English speaking trainer came back and said, unfortunately, their boss won't let them play ping pong with me because they're supposed to be working.

I would have fought harder but I had already used my negotiating power to lower the daily fee from 98 to 50 yuan (my first successful negotiation in China).

Then, oddly, she came back and handed me two rackets and a ball. I walked over the table and waited awkwardly for five minutes. WTF is going on? Why can't one of them just take a break for 10 minutes and give me their best stuff? Finally a woman came over and said "I'm very sorry, we're not allowed to play since we must work." I said, "Couldn't you 'train' me on how to hold the racket?" She didn't understand. I gave her back the paddles, embarrassed, and left the gym.

I feel like that kid who goes around and says "Will you be my friend?"

I'm sure if i was 5 inches shorter and 30 lbs lighter i would have had an opponent within minutes. What some call "our boss won't let us" I call "the intimidation factor." :-)

Welcome to Real China

I'm in Kunming, China in Yunnan Province, about a 2.5 hr flight west of Shanghai. Yunnan Province borders Southeast Asia and is a quick flight from Thailand, Vietnam, etc. I'm happy I'm here because, while Kunming is still a big city (6 million people and growing), it's small and more remote when compared to Beijing, Shanghai, Guanghzo, and Hong Kong.

The best part about Kunming is its ethnic minorities. About 50% of the city is the majority Chinese race (Han Chinese) and 50% minorities. Most of the minorities have dark skin but some, near Russia, have pale white skin.

My contact Alan, who's lived in Kunming his whole life and is the husband of a friend of a friend, met me at the Kunming Airport this morning and drove me to my hotel. I dropped off my stuff (I'm glad I upgraded hotels from the piece of shit place I had a reservation at....Dalian taught me to pay more and get English speaking front desk staff) and then headed back out with Alan. I didn't really know what Alan had in mind for me or how much time he was going to spend with me.

Our first stop was to a local, authentic Yunnan restaurant (Yunnan cuisine is famous). While eating we watched the big stage in front of us while various ethnic minority dancers performed. Amazing stuff. All the dancing is built into the restaurant. "Now THIS is different," I told myself while slurping noodles and meats out of this big bowl of steaming soup which cooks the meat. The dancers from Tibet and all over China were dressed in stunning clothes with bright red and orange colors.

Next we headed to Alan's office so he could show me his work. He works with Kunming Municipal Government, so given my experience working with dozens and dozens of local governments we could chat about Chinese vs. American styles. He works in import/export, trying to get people in other countries to buy Kunming company products or set up manufacturing in Kunming. This place is growing like mad and there are tons of investment and development opportunities.

Then we drove to a beautiful, lakeside park and wandered through an art gallery. It's all by this one famous local artist. The second floor is a tribute to America. Yep, a tribute to American troops who helped Kunming fight back against the Japanese during WWII. Pictures of American troops and Air Force planes.

We then took three cable cars up this huge mountain to get a birds eye view of Kunming. Beautiful! We hiked around in this mountain where paths and steps are carved out of rock. Nestled into the rock are various Buddhist and Taoist shrines. Kunming is already at a high altitude and going into the mountains made the air even thinner.

All this brought us to dinner time where we dined at another local Yunan restaurant. Unfortunately I couldn't enjoy the food because I had to go to the bathroom so badly. I tried to go to the bathroom but found it without toilets. It was the squat method. Having not done my homework, I freaked out and decided to hold it until back at the hotel. Oops. I did manage to hold it, but I was uncomfortable throughout our dinner.

Kunming day 1 proved adventurous thanks to the generous hospitality of Alan. I'm here two more nights and will probably work on my book some, since cookie cutter tourism opps are scarce, but I will try to wander around a bit and try to get my head around western China.

Live Chickens in Shanghai

My Mom freaked me out when she told me I should expect to see a lot of live chickens running around in China.

It hasn't been the case but in Shanghai I did, for the first time, see a guy biking with about 10 chickens on his back. A cop was giving him a ticket so it was probably illegal. I mean, they were hardly covered and if I wasn't careful I could have been given a good peck and probably would have picked up some disease. Click the picture to enlarge.

Is It Dead or Is It Dinner?

Welcome to the East.

Bye Bye Shanghai

My five nights in Shanghai was the longest I stayed in one city.

I'm glad I did. I met some tremendous people and had a lunch and/or dinner every day during my stay. I will summarize all that I learned from these A+ people in a later post.

Outside of meetings, I walked along the Bund, the #1 tourist spot. The Bund is a walking area along the main river which separates the Pudong part of the city from the Puxi part. Most tourism is in Puxi and that's where my apartment was too. I did go to Pudong for one meeting in the Citigroup building but there's not much to see there other than amazing skyscrappers, which are better seen from across the shore.

The Bund was good but not great. I don't think it's worth the hype. It's certainly a beautiful skyline though.

I also wandered through Old Town and a couple gardens. People's Square is a nice bamboo enclave from the traffic. I finally checked out the Shanghai Museum, highly recommended by my Lonely Planet guide. Good stuff. Lots of good Chinese landscape paintings, which I like, and some jade and bronze sculpture. The English audio guide is worth the investment.

Not once in Shanghai did i use public transit -- taxi everywhere. It's so cheap. To flag a cab costs about a $1.50 and it stays at that rate for the first several minutes. Plus, they're omnipresent.

The food scene in Shanghai is solid and cosmopolitan. With locals I ate authentic Shanghai dumplings and noodles and tried as hard as I could to stay away from spicy stuff, which I don't like. On my own I patronized Pizza Hut, which was fantastic, and the place across from my apartment at least three times. "Steak King" serves Western food and Chinese food. I often got both: some dim sum plus a steak, for example. And who knew kiwi juice could taste so good? One night I ate with Eisen's family in their apartment, sans Eisen since he was traveling. The Mom is so nice and so Taiwanese. I love how every Chinese family has a massive rice cooker which seems bottomless.

Two of my days were punctuated by lengthy workouts at Fitness First in Plaza 66. It's a huge facility and one time I got lucky and watched "Meet the Parents" while on the elliptical. So many great lines in that movie.

The one frustration with my apartment was the lack of breakfast. Each morning I trekked out and tried to find breakfast. (I also searched in grocery stores for cereal to stock the fridge but with no success). Until I found a hole in the wall buffet style Chinese breakfast, this caused daily morning stress. I also had to eat a LOT of food because I now know my malaria medicine only works on a really full stomach and lots of water (I take my pills in morning).

All in all, Shanghai is the business and financial center of China boasts tons of tourist infrastructure, and is relatively easy to navigate. This doesn't mean it's exempt from all the troubles which plague China (more on that later), but I can see why many expats choose to live and work in Shanghai. As i've said before, some cities are good to visit, some good to live, some both. Beijing has more slam dunk tourist attractions, Shanghai may be a better living destination.

KFC and Pizza Hut as Premium Brands - And Glories of McDonald's

KFC and Pizza Hut are kicking McDonald's ass in China.

They're everywhere. And locals tell me the food is excellent and they're positioned as premium brands.

I'm a big fan of Western fast food chains in China and other Eastern countries. The whole line about McDonald's ruining local cuisine or culture is such horseshit.

McDonald's and its ilk give the locals choice. If the locals didn't like the food, they wouldn't eat there and McDonald's wouldn't be there. So a Chinese person wants a break from noodles? Big deal -- give him a burger! It doesn't make the noodles any less real. So a Parisan doesn't want to sit in a cafe for two hours for lunch? Big deal -- give her something fast! (McDonald's in Paris, btw, is one of their biggest success stories.)

People who sit at home in the States and say McDonald's in all these countries takes something away from the local feel haven't traveled. I never eat McDonald's at home -- I think it's vile. But abroad I eat there all the time. It's a nice break from the local fare. And I'm damn glad I have that choice.

Overstaffed China

Everywhere in China there have been too many employees.

There's probably two dozen security guards outside this apartment complex I'm staying in.

Each restaurant has way too many wait-staff.

At the Shanghai museum there were three security guards for each room.

There are as many taxi cabs as in New York City plus tons of bicycles and some cars. My understanding is the government flooded the market with taxi drivers to curb some unemployment, but they really overdid it since I haven't had to wait more than 25 seconds of a taxi.

The overstaffing problem affects business culture too: instead of focusing on productivity or quality of each employee, you just hire more people since labor is so cheap. The Chinese solution to problems is often, "throw more bodies at it." The American approach is, "Let's re-engineer our business processes to optimize our business." :-)

Family Style Eating - Pros and Cons

In Chinese restaurants all food is served family-style (dishes in the middle that each person takes from).

In general, I am not a fan of family style set-ups because it turns the meal into a collective exercise of eating instead of individual responsibility of a plate. I prefer to know that one plate is mine and I can eat it. In a family style set-up, you're constantly gauging how much you are eating versus others. You also have to serve little bits of food onto your own plate before eating. Finally, every time there is one last dumpling or one last piece of bread, it sits for there 10 minutes, no one wanting to take the last piece.

At dinner tonight I did reap a benefit of family style, as will be the case when you are dining with small eaters (if you're hungry) or big eaters (if you're not hungry). If you don't worry about perception, you can dominate a family style set up by consuming much more food than you would have if you had just a single plate. A family style setup avoids one of my great agonies when eating with other people at a restaurant. I finish my plate. They nibble at their plate. Still half a plate of food. Waiter comes by. "Are you done?" "Yes". Waiter takes plate. I think to myself: Would it have been rude to have asked if I could have finished plate of food? Would it have hurt the person to at least offer it to me? 'Why yes, Joe, I'd love to finish off your burrito. Not only that, I'd love to wash it down with that full glass of water you haven't touched.'

Given the high cost of failure of the meal, I'd rather not leave it to chance, no matter how compelling the small-eater-family-style set-up can be. Stick with individual plates. If you're dining with me and choose the restaurant, please don't pick a family style place, and please don't choose a do-it-yourself speciality place, either (unless it's Swiss fondue!).

Suzhou, China, and Life of an Expat

Suzhou is a medium sized city 1.5 hrs by car from Shanghai. It's a popular tourist spot for people who like gardens since there are many beautiful gardens / temples scattered throughout the city. And like everywhere else in China, Suzhou has much real estate development, in particular Irvine, CA-like industrial parks.

Suzhou is a good city but I wouldn't recommend it unless you're a real garden buff. My visit was great because I had a contact there -- someone who works for a company which helps Western businesses assess the China market and then helps them get set up in China if they do want to a) manufacture in China (easier), or b) sell to the Chinese market (harder). I had a good dinner with him and then we went over to one of his friends' house, an Australian ex-pat, and watched Game 1 of the World Series. Most English speaking people in China, I've found, illegally pirate in Philippine TV which offers broader sports and news channels than the Chinese state media.

There were a few other ex-pats there and I wondered what the typical friend distribution is for an ex-pat. 50/50 ex-pat friends and local friends? 75/25? All ex-pats tell me they have local friends, but I suspect it's skewed farther to the ex-pat side than sometimes say. The reason is no matter how fluent in Chinese you are, this is still a homogenous society that's suspicious of their own people, let alone foreigners. The kind of social bonding that occurs when, say, watching a World Series baseball game, is a different can of worms than simply getting along with someone in the office. A social life is probably the most difficult for an ex-pat: you don't want to be one of those foreigners who's in on a sweet ex-pat package and hangs out with other foreigners all the time, because then you lose local culture and contacts, and why are you in China for the first place? On the other hand, let's face it, you're working really hard all day long to figure out what's happening around you, trying to process a different language, and so forth, and on the weekends you want to take a break.

I expect to do an extended stint of overseas study and/or work, and this will be a consideration.

Of course you can always solve the social life challenge the way most ex-pats do, which is just be a workaholic!

 

The Sights of Shanghai (pictures)

Seeing Poverty

Some guy in Shanghai shoved a mangled hand in my face while I was sitting on a bench and asked for money.

A skinny kid opened my taxi door in Suzhou and put a cup in my face and shouted money. He wouldn't leave me alone as I tried to pay the driver so I had to punch him in the stomach to get him off my lap.

The backroads of Shanghai consists of dirty streets, dirty water, dirty clothes hanging on electrical wires, and run down shacks.

It's hard to describe poverty. It's hard to take pictures without all the locals looking at you like the rich Western dick who's fascinated by their impoverished state.

I suspect I'll see much more of it in India.

Day 21: Another Day, Another City, Another Blog Reader, Another Penthouse Apartment

I bused from Suzhou to Shanghai and had a learning moment: how many times during the day do you think we are annoying or hurting somebody without even knowing it? The inspiration for this thought was the person in front of me in the cramped, aging bus. My knees were pressed right into his cushion and he felt like leaning back and rocking his seat 5-6 times during the 1.5 hour trip, exerting painful pressure on my knee caps. And he didn't even know it. I don't blame him, but it struck me how oblivious he was to my pain, and how much pain I may cause others without a hair of a clue.

Once in Shanghai I made my way to a blog reader's house. It was one of those somewhat nerveracking but in the end super rewarding moments of meeting someone in person who's been reading my blog. I gave serious concern to not staying with this reader, because I just felt like I didn't know enough about him, a Google search didn't reveal much, and I didn't want to be in an uncomfortable (or dangerous) position.

My fears were not only unfounded but, like every other blog reader I've met on the road, completely trumped by amazing gratitude for having Eisen, my Shanghai friend, now in my life.

I knocked on his door, heard running feet, the door flew open, "Ben!!!". The first thought that crossed my mind was the Japanese game show host in the movie "Lost in Translation" whose exuberance overwhelms the poor Bill Murray.

After salutations Eisen led me to my own apartment. He owns a spare apartment that his sister stays in sometimes when visiting Shanghai. Completey furnished and spacious.

Another day, another city, another blog reader, another penthouse for myself. Come on, I'm telling myself, as I open the door to my new home for the week, this is crazy, this is too much. Eisen also hooked me up with a cell phone and helpful map and a couple good books on business and China, and then we headed to a restuarant across the street for a late lunch. He ordered some excellent dim sung and we chatted. A Singaporean who spent most of his adult life in Taiwean, Eisen and his family now live in Shanghai where he's achieving loads of success producing music.

I spent the late afternon studying a Shanghai map, orienting myself (my Mom knows how important this is to me ;-), and setting up a few meetings with entrepreneurs and VCs. I then met Eisen and one of his music partners for dinner. We went to a Chinese place which serves traditional Chinese and seafood.

The setup was like that in the Dalian hotel: all the food is put out in glass cases and you walk around and point, they write down, and then bring out the food. J helped me decide what we'd eat -- like every other Chiense restuarant, it was going to be family style again. He picked a fish and then he and the waitress lady had a long back and forth. Afterwards I asked J why they talked so long, and he said, "Communication difficiluties," obviously perturbed. Amused, I asked, "What do you mean?" He said, "I told her I wanted that fish. She kept asking questions about how I wanted it cooked. Finally I told her, How should I know how to cook the fish? You're the cook, right?"

We had a long dinner conversation on politics, Asia, languages, history. We concluded that there's so much going on in the world in so many different places. The world IS a big place. Each country has its own issues and much as I try to remember the details, I know I'll retain little. Both Eisen and his friend spent many years in Taiwan and neither is a Chinese citizen, so they have the good perspective of living in China and speaking the language iwth the dispassion of a foreigner.

The waiters and waitresses rolled around the resturant in roller blades! Hard cement floor so it worked well. Never seen that before. Apparently it's a Thai thing.

Then we headed back to J's place and he showed off his massive recording studio and he and Eisen played a couple of the mixes. Impressive stuff, even though it's hard for me to judge musicial quality. Then we flipped on his TV whcih has many stations. We put on Al-Jazeera. First time I'd ever seen Al-Jazeera. Super interesting. The first show was a South Park-esque cartoon and, amazingly, was making fun of Middle Eastern traditions! The cartoon had two characters. One guy was dressed in a very western outfit wearing his turbon in ghetto style. He met another guy and they kissed, then exchanged words, then kissed again. Over and over, kiss after kiss. Hilarious. The next show was the news. Very formal. The only word I understood was "America". America this and America that. I'm sure the words "evil" and "bomb" and "killing" were nearby. Interstingly, the entire news show had a sign language guy in a split screen. Eisen made the joke that that to sign "America" the guy put two fingers on his head like devil horns.

I Only Crap at Four Star Rated Toilets

Seen outside the Forbidden City:

American Chinese Food vs. Chinese Food and Globalization of Cuisine

American crepes are not like French crepes.

American Japanese food is like Japanese food, in my brief experience.

American Chinese food is a mixed bag. If you go to Chinatown I think you can find a lot of similarities between what's actually eaten in China and what's eaten in an American Chinatown.

But for most of us who order take-out or eat at that cheap place down the street, it's more different than alike. Here in China I've seen more meat sans sauces. It's more spicy here, too. At the Chinese place I eat from in SF you can order soft tortilla wraps and stuff it with "musho pork" - a mix of lettuce and meat. In Beijing, you are supposed to dip Peking Duck into the dark sauce and then wrap the tortilla around the duck. Much different. I've also seen no sweet and sour chicken and no chow mein. Just one example of a tactical difference.

China is also a HUGE country and the food varies from region to region. Americans probably only eat from one region or the most popular flavors from each region.

While I've liked the Chinese food I've eaten, I probably like Japanese better.

My opinion on globalization and cuisine is that the very best Chinese food in San Francisco is probably as good as the very best Chinese food in Beijing. A five-star French restaurant in San Francisco is probably as good as a five star French restaurant in Paris. But, you'll find many more "very best" French restaurants in Paris than in San Francisco. What you get in the native land is more quantity of the five star. Also, a "pretty good" French restaurant in Paris will likely be better than a "pretty good" French restaurant in San Francisco. The equality only exists at the top tier.

The Beijing Duck

I had a fantastic lunch on Saturday with Catherine Cao of the China Environmental Fund, a VC firm that invests in green tech and businesses with an environmental/social conscious, and her husband Peter, who formerly was involved in IBM's public sector CRM in China and now runs a software company.

When they asked what my preference for food was I replied as I always do, "Take me some place where locals eat, some place that I wouldn't otherwise go in to." They took me a popular and high end restuarant that serves Beijing style Chinese food. Fantastic food! And I have to say: the Beijing duck is world famous for good reason.

The locals dip the duck into two kinds of sauces and then wrap it in a tortilla. I did that and also ate it raw. The crust of the duck -- which is suppose to be the least healthy for you -- was so sweet and tender. You must try it.

Our conversation was fun too. Given the terrible pollution in China, I'm stoked someone as smart as Catherine is trying to make a difference (and take advantage of a huge opportunity) through the VC model, and both she and Peter had good insights on the current business and political scene in China.

Thanks guys for a great Beijing lunch!

A Night at the Beijing Acrobatic Show

Beijing's acrobatic show is a great deal.

The hotel my host lives at bought me really good tickets to a sold out show. I took a $2 taxi over there, settled in next to four Americans from Danville, CA, and enjoyed the jumping, tossing, dancing, and mind blowing flexibilty and stunts. I even bought an ice cream sandwich during the performance.

The American next to me was one of those guys who speaks his emotions ("You've gotta be kidding me!" or "Unbelievable!"). While normally I don't like these kind of people (especially those at movies who say things like, "No Jack, don't do it!"), tonight it made the evening even more enjoyable.

Welcome to Beijing!

Well my fortune has turned around: I'm in Beijing, my body has assimilated to the malaria medicine with no further side effects, I'm in the wonderful apartment in a hotel of my host (an exec at Apple Computer), thanks to Tom Cole of Trinity Ventures, and I had two productive days exploring the city.

When I arrived in the afternoon yesterday Beijing was ugly: loud, polluted, tons of people, havoc on the streets, BMWs next to bikes next to rickshaws. Business suits next to disheveled old men carrying rice. But the situation got nicer, quick.

The hotel my host lives in is top tier and includes a variety of restaurants, a CitiBank ATM, fluent English staff, full size gym, and other amenities.

I started my day with a warm breakfast in the hotel and then did a two hour workout. It had been several days since I worked out and I felt the difference almost immediately, despite my strained tendon behind my left knee which I hurt in the Japan alps. Then I had lunch at the Italian restaurant in the hotel where I had garlic bread and pizza (yum). At 12:45 my guide showed up -- through the hotel I hired a private guide for $25 who would lead me through Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City. Hiring a private guide is highly recommend by just about everyone and I know that in Beijing and Shanghai I will do this.

My guide just graduated from college so could offer a nice youthful perspective on things. In addition to asking her questions, she had plenty of questions about America, and her dream has always been to visit California "and see Clint Eaststood and Desperate Housewives and 24" (she's a big 24 fan - season 1 just aired in China).

Tianemen Square was "good not great". It's just plain massive. Well kept. But it's really just...a square. Of course, what most of us think of when we think of Tienanmen Square is not what my guide thinks of! The Forbidden City was better: tons of cool red buildings, ornate architecture, interesting emperor history. My guide did a good job adding color to the scene.

As we walked through the Forbidden City my guide asked me, "Is Chairman Mao famous in America?" I said people who knew he was, but he wasn't famous. I asked her if he's famous in China. She said, "Oh yeah, definitely, we learn his book early on. We get tested on his book."

We sat on a bench in the Forbidden City to rest and we chatted. Among other tidbits, she told me 1 billion out of the 1.3 billion people in China are farmers. She asked if I liked Kelly Clarkson (I do). Then, we taxied back to my hotel and I paid her a handsome tip (but still ridiculously cheap by dollar standards).

Today I joined a small tour group to the Great Wall of China. It's about 1.5 hours out of Beijing by car. The area around the wall is full of people trying to sell you souvenirs. It goes something like this: "Hello! Banana! Hello! Strawberry! Hello!" or "One shirt one dollar! Hello! Hello! One shirt one dollar!"

I rode the gondola -- or as they call it, "cable cars," which confuses a San Francicasn like me -- up the mountain to the top of the wall. A guy from Zurich, my home away from home, was in the gondola next to me. The gondolas don't step when you get on and don't stop when you get off and they scream "move! Move!" as you get on and off.

The Wall is spectacular. No surprises there. I walked along it, up and down, up and down, for two hours. Fresh air. I happened to walk next to two young women. I'm pretty sure they were Lesbian and they told me they were studying Eastern medicine before heading back to the States. Where else? San Francisco. Near Golden Gate Park.

In the car ride I chatted with a nice couple from Hong Kong. They talked about how they're worried China's culture and past will dissapear in all the modernization.  They asked what Americans thought of China's rise. I said it's hard to speak for Americans, but me personally, I think a richer and better China is good for the world.

On our way back to Beijing proper we stopped in a silk factory -- where you can buy silk, the tourist operator gets a cut I'm sure -- but it will still pretty interesting. We saw how they make silk clothes and sheets and manhandle the worms.

So far, Beijing has been good to me. I can't say it's taken my heart, but there are clearly some world class tourist attractions which make it exciting for any foreigner.

SF Gifts Made in China

As usual I brought along some San Francisco souvenirs to give to my hosts in Asia. As I was ripping off the price sticker on a San Francisco bookmark here in Beijing, I noticed the phrase "Printed in China."

Doesn't that kind of take some of the magic away?

A Husky American Voice with Safety Intructions

October, 2006

In Europe, to refer to the English language, they'll show a British flag and any recordings in English will be with a British accent.

In Asia, in pre-recorded messages, it's a mixed bag -- sometimes American accent, sometimes British.

On the plane today in Shanghai China Southern Air played English instructions in one of the huskiest American accents I've ever heard. The kind I'd expect to hear from someone just in from hunting and ready to sink his teeth into some deer.

Startlingly reassuring, I must say. Eloquent in a way that's totally un-British!

On Being a Spectacle in Dalian

There are no western tourists here in Dalian. In fact, I have yet to come across any English speaking person other than that airline attendant who helped me in the airport and one other guy (more on him soon). Yes, this includes the non-English speaking hotel front desk and staff.

Because there are no western tourists or businesspeople as far as I can see, I'm assuming the locals here in Dalian -- an urban city right across the way from Korea in NE China -- don't see many Caucasian, English speaking foreigners.

My basis for this opinion is I have become a goddamn spectacle anywhere I walk. You may think all this attention would be cool, but it's extremely irritating.

At first I thought the restaurants were just overstaffed, which they probably are. Then I realized my sheer presence commanded a wait staff of 5 or 6 people who studied my every move.

For lunch I walked a couple blocks down the way from my hotel and resolved to find the McDonald's or KFC that I saw on the taxi ride over here to try to make up for the "breakfast" the hotel served, which despite my meager appetite to my sickness, was thoroughly disgusting. Unable to find these beacons of sanitary, edible food, I did see one restaurant with an English sign: "BBQ". Aha! Once inside I was seated, handed a menu, I looked at four pictures of "meat" and, out of desperation, chose the fifth picture that seemed to look like nachos.

While waiting for the food to arrive, three -- three! -- waiters sat at the table next to me and just stared at me. Uncomfortable, I took out my China guidebook and pretended to read. Then one of the guys came and stood over my shoulder to look at what I was reading. WTF? I kept "reading" and fortunately he walked away. Then two other waitresses came over and kept looking at my plate as I ate it -- which turned out to be corn paste -- and then offered me a spoon to supplement my chopsticks. I used the spoon as a knife to cut the corn paste (sounds yummy, no?).

For dinner I went to the "Western restaurant" in the hotel. Not a single piece of Western food. I walked into the "restaurant" to find a confusing buffet style of options spread all over the place. Everyone in the restaurant started staring at me. About five staff people started surrounding me. One woman started following me, right behind me, with a notepad. WTF? Finally a young man dressed as a chef came up to me and explained, in English, how to work the restaurant. He's probably the only person in the whole hotel to speak any English. He realized I didn't have a clue what to eat so he said "you want this salad and some lamb?" I said yes. "Beer?" I said no, I wanted water. "No water." So I said orange juice, the closest watery substance I could think of.

I then was seated at a table and didn't dare crack open the book I brought along with me, because I felt that would further insult the Chinese tradition of sharing a meal with others (dining solo, as I was doing, is rare). So I stared straight ahead, into a wall, afraid to turn my head and endure the curious, probably friendly but to menacing, glares of every waiter and chef and most patrons. The salad came to my table and was terrible. The "lamb" tasted like rubber and looked as processed as your favorite Hollywood star's boobs. The orange juice boasted 1% orange, 99% urine.

I got up to pay my bill, creating another spectacle as my height always does. Six mis-communications later and the chef -- who had been re-assigned from the kitchen to the Ben Casnocha Entourage -- escorted me downstairs to help me use my credit card at the front desk. While they processed the card and he asked where I was from, I said San Francisco, and they all started giggling. A week ago I would have laughed with them, happy that California has such positive connotations abroad. Instead I focused on the status of the credit card swipe.

A few minutes later I escaped back to the safety of my hotel room, which is warm, wired, and ringing with endless honking horns and undrinkable water in the bathroom. Can't wait to leave Dalian. And no, I didn't take any pictures, why would I want to memorialize these past two days?