Crazy Jimmy

Saturday, Alan, Cecelia and I took a trip to U-Town and then over to Walking Street. We picked up a few items at U-Town, an extra battery for my camera and a 4 GB SD memory card for the camera. It was interesting working through the charades at the counter where I stopped to look at the batteries. I pulled out my battery and showed it to them. The lady pulled out her calculator and indicated 65 RMB. I was confused a little since I indicated it was okay and she started to fill out a slip for the battery. I paid and no battery…then out of nowhere, the battery appeared on the counter behind the lady and she cut it from the plastic and gave it to me to try and fit into the camera. No problems, but I still don’t know how the battery I needed appeared. I guess it’s Chinese magic.

While trying to find our way for lunch, we ran into this kid (or more correctly, he ran into us). He was walking along with his two friends when he peeled off like a Blue Angel breaking formation and starting talking to us. Unfortunately for Alan, I said Hello once I heard him say Hello (first mistake….acknowledgement). I assumed he was like so many others that just would say “Hello”, giggle and move on…not this kid. This is a transcript of the communication with the kid who will be known henceforth as CK (Crazy Kid), Alan will be regarded as A, Scott as S…you get the picture.

CK: Where are you from?
A: United States
CK: So you are American. (editor’s note: well duuuhh!)
A: Yes
CK: I like Americans, I like speaking to Americans because I like to speak English. I’ve worked very hard to speak English and I like to find people that speak English so I can practice my English speaking. America is a prosperous nation.
A: China is very prosperous.
S: (walking away and laughing)
CK: How long have you been in China? What’s your impression of Suzhou so far?
A: (becoming more uncomfortable) I like it.
CK: But you know you really look so interesting.
A: (really uncomfortable now) I’m not so sure I’m glad to hear that.
CK: You see, with your white hair and your black sunglasses and you have a big nose.
S: (LMAO!!!)
CK: (garbled words, not sure what he said) You have such a carefree personality. You look so interesting; I like your sense of humor.
A: (looking for a way out…laugh)
CK: So my name is Jimmy, that’s my English name. This year I’m only 15 years old. Originally I should be in school; that is my passion. My mother and I were often beaten by my father. That’s why I have run away from home before. So now I carefree employment {editor’s note…what?}. This year I’m too young and I have no paper, so I accept disappointment. So they just told me employer look for Chinese license so I can just get a job. Because I can’t get a job every day.
A: (lights up a cigarette)
CK: I have no way out, even if I ask 3 plus 5 {editor’s note…huh?} but that’s what I keep for a long time so I’ll be able to study. I love study but now I have no opportunity to study because now I have a beautiful day I’m suffering to death.
A: (Laughing)
C: Help him out Scott.
S: (Tears flowing, can’t breathe from laughing so hard)
CK: Would it be convenient for you to buy me a bread?
A: (incredulous look) Um, I just didn’t know where this conversation was going.
CK: I understand, if you were to just help me a little bit.
A: Did you get your pictures (walking away talking to Cecelia who was filming this encounter)?

Once we knew his end game, we walked away and laughed about the encounter for hours. I had never seen anything like this. This kid spoke very fast and it was like a run on sentence. He just kept talking. This conversation was recorded so the transcript it accurate as far as what I could distinguish. It’s like he memorized sentences and then just strung them all together to weave a story. It was all intended for us to feel sorry for him and to give him money. I don’t think so. Sorry kid, try again with another group of Westerners. It was funny, I’ll give you that but I am not giving out cash here. I really wish I could post this video, it’s so odd but still entertaining but YouTube is still blocked. This was still the highlight of the day. Check back in soon, I’ll post on the Sunday excursion to the North Temple Pagoda plus I still owe the haircut experience (you like that, I’m using teasers now).

One more tidbit, the NFL Draft was this past weekend. Typically I would sit and watch the draft and have Tammy tell me how pathetic I am (it’s one of those “Honey you know I love you BUT…, type things). Even when I was at the soccer fields, I would walk (okay, run) down to the van to turn on the radio and see who was picked by which team. I know, it does sound exciting doesn’t it! Hey, some people watch American Idol and actually vote for these cookie cutter alleged pop stars. Of course when I was younger, I would pickup the draft preview magazines and see if I could figure out who should be picked next by each team. But I just switched to watching the draft in my Cowboys stuff waiting and trying to figure out who they would pick. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but when you’re an NFL junkie, it’s what you live for. Now that I’m in China, I could only read about who was picked and I didn’t get to watch any of it. I guess its okay, but football season is going to be tough. John Madden retired and he was the voice of football (BOOM! Brett Favre!) so I guess it makes it a little easier. I mean, c’mon Al “the hairpiece” Michaels, ugh! The only voice more annoying was Crazy Kid Jimmy (I like your sense of humor). Have a good one.

Super Shopper

This week Alan and Cecelia arrived in Suzhou so I've been able to "show off" my Chinese knowledge and experience. I mean after 6 weeks, I'm practically a native right? I'm certainly not an expert but sometimes just a few small insights to local living can be helpful. It didn't take long for me to provide my experiences and tips into living here, less than the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee. There's a lot more to learn for all of us. I've still got another 2 months (almost halfway there) before the family arrives to learn more so I'll keep pushing to find new things and pick up new information on the area between now and then.

Today (Saturday) I took them on a little trip around the area to see what can be seen. We stopped by a local supermarket, a western supermarket and then went to Bar Street to see some places along that street. I took them by the entrance of the Master of the Nets garden to see Kuojiatou Lane. This is a narrow old street market area with many small vendors selling just about everything. For the first time since I've been here I took a long look into the shops to look at a North Face jacket. These jackets are all over in Suzhou and are very popular with the Expats. I went into the shop with Cecelia and the older guy was pointing out the jackets to me. I looked at one that had a zip out fleece liner (which can be worn as it's own jacket) and had a Gore-Tex outer shell. It was a very nice jacket and I looked closely to determine how much of it was a knock-off. Typically you can determine knock offs by looking at some of the detail items like the draw string attachments, the zippers, the snap buttons, etc. The poorer knock off items will have just plain zippers and snaps, etc. The better ones will have pull strings with the North Face name and logo. Plus the better ones will have the Gore-Tex material and the shop owner will demonstrate by pouring water over the jacket to show how the water beads and rolls off. Anyhow, this was a higher quality jacket (not really for spring or summer, more of a fall/winter jacket) since it had North Face everywhere, the liner, the snaps, everywhere but the main zipper pull. I looked really closely at it while the shop keeper kept talking away, I ignored him since I couldn't understand but a few things. "Good quality", "Good price", "you like", etc. It was what I had been looking for and although I won't need the inner lining for some time, I know the rainy season is coming and my spring jacket isn't going to cut it since it's lost much of the ability to repel water. So I asked him how much for the jacket. He grabs his calculator and punches in 885, which signals me that it's 885 RMB. I just stared at him, "Good price". I shook my head and talked to Cecelia for a minute. He clears the calculator and shows me 750. I said too expensive and shook my head. I really didn't need the jacket right now so I wasn't going to buy anyhow. I spoke some more to Cecelia just about the price and stuff, just to show what's around the shop and talk a little bit about the market area. The shop keeper kept indicating to me to punch in my price to the calculator, "you", "you". I was trying to do the math in my head and remember all of the tips, start at 50% of the first price, start at 40% of the first price, walk away, etc. (Use the force Luke) I said no and would not type in a price. I just kept ignoring him when he put the calculator in my face, "your price, your price". I kept saying no and talking to Cecelia when he grabbed me and said, "looka, good price" and showed me 320 on the calculator. Less than $50 for a rainjacket with a removeable fleece inner liner. When he showed me that price, I said OK and then we just had to work through the color and size. His assistant helped me try on the jackets and find the right size. I thought the Large was still a little big but when you pull the draw strings and such, it actually is about the right size (it gives me room to grow, a medium would've worked except for the arm lengths were too short).

So now I've gone through my first negotiation with the local merchants. I really didn't do anything except wait for him to drop his price. I didn't go in expecting to buy (which gives me all the power in the world) and I never told him how much I was willing to pay, until he hit a price I thought was reasonable. If I had negotiated like I read about, I probably would've started off at about 440 RMB and we would've haggled back and forth from there in the wrong direction since it's a give and take and I'll bet the price would've been in the 500 RMB area when it was over. I would not have purchased at that level so maybe it would've gone down but if he was willing to sell to me at 320, he might have jumped at 440. In all honesty, I don't know if I got a good deal or not from an experienced Expat perspective but in my mind I got a good deal and all I did was just indicate I wasn't going to buy. Tammy will probably be much better at this than me since she's a bargain shopper and she knows what something costs, I'm less market savvy (and that's being kind). I know she's itching to see these markets and negotiate prices and stuff. She's a shopper (need some retail therapy) and now that she can have a large influence on the price....watch out Suzhou merchants!

I've learned that sometimes in negotiations, you don't have to say anything. Everyone here has told me that in many cases, you state a price and hold to it, if they don't budge then you walk away. If they want you to buy, they will chase you down the street. In retrospect, I could've just kept watching and waiting for a price but getting the jacket at about 35% of his original asking price seemed to be okay at the time. Later in the evening, when I asked Eric and Trish how much they paid for the similar jackets, I found out that I've got to be more cutthroat. They indicated that I paid about double what they did (DOH!). Okay, lesson taken. Eric said he will show me how to negotiate when we take a trip to Shanghai and see the copy market. He will be Mister Miyagi and I will be the Karate Kid (wax on, wax off).

One last thing, in our cab ride to Bar Street we ended up in a long string of traffic trying to turn right to cross the canal to the old city. Our cab driver decided that the traffic was too much and we weren't going to just sit there and wait for it to clear. So, he pulled into the oncoming traffic lane and started to pass the traffic. When a car came from the other direction, he would pull as close as he could to the traffic in the right hand lane (aka, the correct lane...just to clarify, it was a standard two-lane road) and wait for them to pass and then it was step on it and go-go-go. We must've passed 30 cars and just as he got to the front of the line of traffic, the light turned green so he turned right across the face of the car waiting at the light (who was going straight) on to the bridge and on to bar street. It was the first time they had ever seen anything like that. Me....it's old hat, I didn't even blink an eye. I thought he was a great cab driver because he saved us a lot of time sitting in the car waiting (maybe even a whole 2 minutes). I guess I'm starting to become acclimated to how they drive which is probably not a good thing.

Saturday continued & Dinosaur Park

After the tea picking and lunch, the EAS excursion included a stop at a nearby place to view a Ming Dynasty era home. Well, not only was it one home but it was a village of Ming and Qing (pronounced Ching) dynasty homes. It was about 2:30 in the afternoon when we arrived after leaving from Suzhou around 8:15 am. So it had already been a long day and most of the group was tired but we pressed on and went into the village to take a stroll and get some photos and also hear a little bit about the village along the way. I know I was tired and therefore I didn’t take the photos in the normal manner in which I snap a picture of an information stand and then take photos around the area so I can label the photos correctly. So my photos are kind of out there without a lot of explanation….I think we would’ve been better served to make a full day out of the village but that’s how it goes when you try to jam everything into one day. There really isn’t much to tell about the area except for a few observations.

The first one is that while we were walking on the streets, there was a smell in the air. After a while you noticed that you are walking on a street of thick stone “planks” that was elevated over something. It turns out that this was essentially a walkway over the open sewer system for the village. How lovely... guess what I did when I got home? I’ll take “What I did when I got home” for $400 Alex. What is washed my sneakers? That is correct, it’s your board, choose your category.

The second is that in many of these historic places, you need a guide to explain what you are seeing. I walked away from the group and walked a bit on my own and found the Back Garden area of the Prime Minister’s home but I missed out on some important information being told by our guide. Many villages were made with secret passageways (tunnels) and the homes were laid out to confuse any intruders (which is why you can get turned around and lost easily in these places, it’s not just me not wanting to ask directions). The roof tiles were coated with a green glaze to ensure they could withstand fire and if water was thrown on the roof, it would run down and douse any fire on the ground around the home. This village had an interesting history (besides the Ming/Qing dynasty stuff), during the Japanese occupation the villagers escaped from the Japanese by using the tunnels to leave the village without the Japanese knowing anyone was there. When the Japanese arrived, the village was deserted. Many of the older homes survived the Cultural Revolution by claiming to be a school for the masses and not as a historic site. Many of the stone carvings on the outer walls were damaged by hammer and chisel to deface them as was the directive of the revolution. Things linked to the past or artifacts, paintings, sculptures, etc. were damaged or destroyed during that time period. Many of the educated people in the country were sent to the fields to perform manual labor to prevent any possible dissent from the voice of power and students were used to enforce the will of the leaders. Things have changed in China but it’s a shame that much of their past was abandoned or destroyed. Now they are trying to reclaim the past and embrace it but in many cases you can see the differences between what was and what is. They don’t dust off many of the replica items to try and give the impression of age but it really doesn’t fool anyone (except perhaps me). Many of the temples are lacking the original pieces and replicas have been made to replace those items but you can see the difference in the craftsmanship, materials and detail work.

Dinosaur Park

On Sunday, the company celebrated a safety milestone for the Suzhou facility, one year without a recordable incident. Many associates traveled to Changzhou to visit the Dinosaur Park in this city. We traveled about 90 minutes by bus from the plant to see the park. Once we arrived, we were on our own to explore and see the sights inside the park. It was a combination amusement park, park and museum, it’s called China’s Jurassic Park. You can see from the pictures (you did look at the photos right?) that there were dinosaur replicas everywhere and it will be a good place to take the family. We took in a bird show and walked the park but did none of the rides since the lines for the rides were very, very long even from early in the morning. It was a nice park but it was getting warm and after Saturday, it didn’t take long to wear down.

Changzhou is less “Westernized” and therefore most everything was in Chinese. We walked through the museum but the only things that were in English were the names of the creatures and most of the time those were in Latin. So I was “confusedicus manisus” throughout the museum. It was interesting but a little more difficult to understand. Inside the museum there were signs posted all over indicating No Photos, obviously the Chinese didn’t understand the sign but I did. They were taking photos all over the place and the employees at the museum just watched. I still didn’t take any pictures just to be sure. It was the same outside throughout the park. Signs everywhere to stay off the grass but the Chinese would just walk across the grass to stand next to one of the dinosaurs for a photo. There was a “lawn enforcement crew” that walked around with whistles. When someone went on the grass, they blew the whistle. No reaction, I’ll blow it again. What, no reaction, I’ll blow it again and then as my final step I’ll walk towards them (across the grass, how ironic is that?) and continue to blow the whistle until they move away. Of course, as soon as “the whistler” turned their back, they went back out again for the photo. Funny to watch (Stop! Or I’ll say Stop again!). Because it was less Western, we ran into issues with lunch. No picture menus with English words just written menus (I’ll have a number 1 meal with a Sprite) so there was no real way to know what to order. I skipped lunch from the counter and ate my granola bars just to be sure (always be prepared). There was no getting back on to a bus for that long not knowing what I ate and how it will affect me. Not to mention that they sold stinky tofu as an option and that does wonders for your appetite. I could make a show to compete with The Biggest Loser, just make people smell that stuff while they’re trying to eat and I’ll bet they take off the weight. Again, this is popular here so it’s obviously me that’s the problem (shut up to all those that just said “I’ve been saying that for years”). To each his own, if stinky tofu is okay for you, knock yourself out.

Now because they see fewer foreigners, it was Scott’s picture day at the park. Typically when we are out, it’s one or two photos with some locals. In this case, it was probably 2 dozen photos taken with some of the locals. We were like the Jonas brothers (just a smidge older, so perhaps the Jonas brother’s crazy uncles, twiced removed) out among the public. In the museum, Steve and I stopped to wait on Sharon (right near the end of the one section of the exhibit) and a Chinese guy who was walking through stopped dead in his tracks when he saw us. He stared like you wouldn’t believe. I mean just dumbfounded, he just stared. I tried to ignore him but after 30 seconds on just staring at us I looked right at him and it freaked him out. It was like we were part of the exhibit and all of a sudden we moved (whiteyus humanis). He called his family over without even turning his head and they all came by to stare and then they walked away laughing. It was the oddest thing, it’s okay to be stared at for a few seconds when you catch people off guard but I mean this guy was over-the-top. It was probably a total of 2 minutes of the “interaction” between us but it seemed a lot longer. He was the oddest experience, the rest of the people were polite and always asked to have their photo taken with us. We’d laugh and oblige them every time. In one case, after the second photo and getting ready for the third, Steve and I decided to do our “Arnold” pose to show the American muscle and the Chinese guy followed our lead so that was probably the best photo of the bunch. It was mainly the teenagers that got the photos taken, so strange but you just laugh it off and move forward. At the end of the day we met near the entrance to the park. While we were waiting for the others to arrive is when the photo bombardment started. As other groups were also meeting up to leave, they got their photos taken with a bunch of Americans (there were 5 of us). Even the people from the plant joined in and were getting their pictures taken with us so it made for a lot of fun photos. Now despite the photo fun, this points out the importance of speaking the language (even if it is very poorly), the further we travel from Shanghai, the more limited the English exposure will be so it’s going to be very necessary to understand a little bit of the language. Thinking of it in another context, the more photos that people want to take is an indication of how much exposure they have to foreigners and ultimately English. How’s that for a rating scale, I’ll use cameras to rank an area (on a scale of 1 to ten, I would say that Changzhou was 3½ cameras). Charades works but add in a few key words and things would be a lot smoother. Reading Chinese……that’s another story.

On the ride home I was shown again that you can never put the camera away. While on the highway, I noticed a blue truck in the next lane. As we got closer I saw it had cages on the back all stacked up about 4 cages high. It almost looked like the chicken trucks you see on the highway in Georgia. The cages were too big to be for chickens, and there are things moving inside the cages. Then it hit me, it’s a bunch of pigs (Porky’s revenge….the day after). These pigs were taking their last ride (or first and last ride). I looked back to Steve and told him I should’ve had the camera but the moment had passed. Not 15 minutes later, we passed another truck but someone forgot to get their camera out (doh!)….. So I took the hint and got my camera out and waited for the next truck, and waited, and waited. Nothing. The camera goes away and I missed out on a great shot to have, the kids would’ve liked to see that photo. We stopped at Auchan rather than drive back to the plant since most of the associates live in that area (or at least closer than the extra 45 minutes to the plant). As we’re getting ready to get off the bus, there goes the pig truck. $%!&*%#$&*%!!!!! I could not believe it; I missed it after 3 clear opportunities. The moral of the story; when you see one piggy, never forget that there’s two more coming somewhere behind it (“fire in ze hole”), or what I call the “big bad wolf theory”. (Booo!)I know it’s bad but I’m keeping it (Jerk Store…..I’m going with Jerk Store.....Jerk Store!) just because I can.

Tea Picking

This past Saturday, Steve, Sharon and I went on a Tea Picking excursion out to Taihu Lake. A local tea farmer that produces and sells the Bilouchun Tea brand (which by the way is a very famous brand for Jiangsu Province) allowed us to go out to his farm and see how tea is picked and processed. This was an Expat Association of Suzhou (EAS) venture so it was the first time that I met other expats besides the ones I work with at the plant. So we arrived at the pickup point and traveled by bus the 90 minutes out to the area. The only interesting tidbit from this was that the bus stopped at a local hotel out near the farming area so we could use the restroom. They were not going to take the risk of using the toilets at the farm so we pulled into the hotel parking lot and took a potty break. Not something you would encounter on a typical bus tour in the US, rest stops yes but not at a fancy pants hotel to use the potty (although it was a nice potty). This would be a nice place to stay for a long weekend or something.

So after driving through a small town and taking some back roads (on the tour bus which was not really meant for these kinds of roads), we made it to the stopping point and got out to walk to the farmer’s house, about a 10 minute walk. We walked through the village past several homes and through a true Chinese neighborhood, not the city living in Suzhou but the true rural living. The area had orange trees, ginko trees and tea bushes for harvesting. There were “free range” chickens, cats and dogs. The one thing I notice here is that the pets aren’t treated the same as the US. The dogs, even those with homes all look like pets roaming the streets, not well groomed or cared for. I think this is where the term “mangy dog” comes from; the photo I took of the farmer’s dog is typical of what the local dogs look like. You’d almost think they were wild animals (mad dog, mad dog). I don’t think it’s that they don’t care about the animals; they just don’t view them in the same light as we do. Pets are animals and not family members. Shadow wouldn’t have survived for long here, one hop up on the bed to sleep and she’d be dinner.

So we arrive at the farm and get a quick tea tasting, see the photo of the tea. It’s green tea and to me it still looks like grass clippings and tastes like hot water filled with grass clippings. Tea just doesn’t seem to be for me but perhaps it’s an acquired taste (like if you’re marooned on a desert island for 3 years, it’d probably taste okay), keep in mind there’s no sugar or cream added to the tea, it’s just the leaves and water. I don’t get it but 1 billion people can’t be wrong, can they? So we taste and then grab our buckets and head out to the fields to pick some tea. The view was beautiful, we walked along a path overlooking the lake, it was a fairly clear day and it was just nice to get out and walk on a path without being surrounded by people. We got to the spot and watched a few workers techniques and learned that you needed to pick the new growth on the bushes. So we started to pick and after about 20 minutes, it was time to head back in. I didn’t even get the bottom of my bucket covered and many others were having the same issue. These leaves are about the size of a very small pine needle in length and perhaps twice the width of the needle. So we headed back to the farmer’s home to watch how the tea is prepared.

They first sort the tea leaves (not sure exactly how they sorted them but they did), they had 6 people around a table picking through the leaves and sorting them (she loves me….she loves me not….). Once they sorted the tea, they then put it into a large wok (for lack of a better description) and used their gloved hands to constantly move the tea along the heat pan to dry it and get out some of the water. After 15 minutes they transferred it to a second pan and heated it again. After the second heating, they would then dry the leaves for a given period of time. Once dry, they distributed the tea into the packaging materials. They showed us all how this was done. We could purchase the tea for 100 RMB for 250 grams, which was interesting knowing that the workers got 50 RMB for a day’s worth of work, so we were throwing 2 days pay into buying tea. Odd when you consider that angle to the story.

So after getting all of this information, we got back on the bus and headed to lunch. We stopped at a floating restaurant along the lake that was well known for it’s white menu (and I’m not talking honky white, it’s the food descriptions). White fish, white bait (I swear this is what she said and she said it several times so I’m sure I got it correct…then again this was the same woman that called the crab farmers, crap farmers but I digress) and white prawns. So they served the white dishes along with chicken, beef, chicken soup, tofu (there it is again) and vegetables. I saw the chicken soup come out and I was looking forward to it as it was spun around on the lazy susan. I dipped the spoon in to get some and as the spoon is coming up [insert the Jaws music here, dun, dun…..dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun….] I notice a comb, eyes and beak as Foghorn Leghorn is coming up from under the water staring at me (I say now, lookie here boy, what we have here is a failure to communicate). Okay, I didn’t scream although I’m sure I had a nice look on my face. It was the whole enchilada, skin, bones, everything. I did happen to allow Foghorn to return to the depths while I fished around (no pun intended) for some other portion of the carcass, preferably with meat. Disappointing isn’t it, Andrew Zimmerman would’ve said “Mmm, that’s good beak”. Other than that, the food was good. Just in case you were wondering, what’s the white bait, well it was basically scrambled eggs with some kind of aquatic creature meat in it. It looked like crab meat but I could not be sure. I didn’t eat it, I stay away from food from the local lakes and such since I know that they aren’t the same environmental restrictions in China so a lot of “stuff” gets dumped in the lake. The village where the farmer lived, the backs of the homes had the pipes going out from the house and on to the ground….for everything. There was an open sewer system alongside the streets and homes and guess where that all led? Since this was up above the lake, you know what they say rolls downhill. I’ve seen too many fish doing a backstroke and I would almost imagine it’s a relief for the fish to get caught (“Thanks pal, I was having trouble breathing down there”).

One last tidbit from the visit to share before I close this portion of the show. The bathrooms were the standard squatty potty at the floating restaurant. There were several eateries all lined up alongside each other. Well, the bathroom had one stall that contained a large window that faced the other restaurant. The ladies were beside themselves because if you were to use this stall, you’d be seen by less people on YouTube (which is still banned in China by the way, thanks to the idiots that posted the fake video). I’m not sure exactly who thought of this but I have noticed this in other places. The windows will be lower than what we expect in the US so there’s no hiding what you’re doing. I guess when you’re down in the catcher’s stance (that’s the old pepper boy) you like to look around and see what’s happening (Ni hao). We’re more used to the windows being much higher so you get the sunlight and stuff but don’t risk the peep show. Again just something else that’s different here in China.

Oops! Another item to be mentioned. This trip took a long time to be arranged. It has to be arranged through the government, believe it or not. If the government provides you with the information to look into the trip, you’re okay. If they don’t……there’s no trip. This was the first time the expat group was allowed to go in 3 or 4 years. Think about this, just a simple trip to see a tea field and pick tea with the locals needed government oversight and approval. So tell me again why the expansion of the government in the US is a good thing? Anyhow, the peak tea picking time is around Tomb Sweeping weekend and then each week after that it goes downhill. The tea isn’t as good the later it’s picked past that weekend. When they make the tea, they boil the water (Whew! I’m always worried about that) then allow it to cool to 80 degrees before they pour it over the tea leaves. That’s the optimal settings for green tea….allegedly. My optimal settings, dump it out and till in into the soil for mulch and then grab a cold one.

I’ll close this for today and post again soon about the other two places visited over the weekend and my adventure in the barbershop. Don’t forget to look at the photos, I posted all of the photos from the weekend just for you (and you, and you….). Enjoy!

Musac

As you know I eat early in the morning, around 6:35 I'm in the dining room (such as it is) grabbing my breakfast. I sit and eat my breakfast and as with anywhere (it seems) there is music piped in. [Side note: when you walk through the parks, they have fake rocks that they pipe music through, it's almost everywhere. Go to Hubin Park...music, Shang Fang Mountain....music. It seems a bit odd, all of the talk of harmony and getting in touch through meditation and you have a hard time escaping noise. You would think a park would be the last place to pipe in music but you'd be wrong. Birds, what birds....oh, you mean Freebird....Skynard! Wooooo!]

Ok, so back to the story. While I'm sitting there I begin to hear music I recognize and it's not something I would expect to hear in China. Now, I'm not sure who picked the musac CD but it makes me wonder. The songs "Amazing Grace" and "Morning Has Broken" are mixed in with the other songs. Keep in mind, no vocals, just the music playing. If you don't know, these are Christian Hymns (if you attend a church regularly you'll need to go to confession if you don't know these hymns). I haven't really heard traditional gospel music in a long time, we attended the service that played Christian Rock (Freebird! Just kidding), but growing up I heard these songs sung many, many times (although the quality of the singing was suspect at times, but then again who gets to decide what a joyful noise is?) . Are you impressed Mom! I mean Amazing Grace is like the "Go To" hymn, I would think that everyone would recognize it. I realize that China is maybe a bit more open now than in the past but you don't wear your beliefs (religious or otherwise) out in public. They turn their back and tolerate you as long as you don't draw attention to your beliefs and especially try to "force it" on others in a public place. Do that and you're asking for big trouble. Perhaps expulsion from the country but maybe not until you've been given the tour of a Chinese prison from the inside (oh look, here's the photo of me crying like a baby as they take me inside. Aww, there's the photo of me getting beaten, man that brings back memories...). So it surprises me that this music is playing, I mean it's non-threatening but I wonder if anyone really knows what the music is. I know Nan would love this story, probably call it a "hoot" and say that the good Lord works in mysterious ways. Anyhow, I thought this would be interesting and for me it brings some comfort to hear music you recognize from your childhood (oh no, not This Little Light of Mine again), even if it is elevator music. Coming up on Easter weekend, this seemed very appropriate to mention. The weekend looks busy, check back and see the photos of where I go this weekend.

MMmm, MMmm Durian

As I have noted in a prior post, Durian (I believe I mistakenly called is daschi in the post but since I’ve edited it, there’s no proof) is a fruit I first saw on Andrew Zimmerman’s Bizarre Foods. This is a guy that eats just about anything and everything. He even goes back for more when he finds the food disgusting (just to be sure….yep, it does taste like gym sock sweat wrung over moldy cheese). This is one of the foods that he intensely dislikes (along with oddly enough, Spam). A quick data blurb on Durian (warning, educational content…). Widely-known and revered in Southeast Asia as the "king of fruits", the durian is distinctive for its large size, unique odor, and formidable thorn-covered husk. The edible flesh emits a distinctive odor, strong and penetrating even when the husk is intact. Some people regard the durian as fragrant; others find the aroma overpowering and offensive. The smell evokes reactions from deep appreciation to intense disgust. The odor has led to the fruit's banishment from certain hotels and public transportation in Southeast Asia. The image below is from Singapore where the fruit is banned from the mass transit systems. I have seen the fruit at the local markets but I haven’t smelled it….yet. Or perhaps I did and just didn’t realize that the odor was coming from the fruit.

Anyhow, back to the story. Last night we went to the Banana Leaf restaurant down by Walking Street, it’s a Thai place. I’m having withdrawals from the lack of Thai food….this was a lunch staple back in Jonesboro. Flavors of Thailand, at least once per week, it was always good. So Jenny knew I am a Thai food junkie and knew that this was a good place to go so we hopped in a cab and headed to the area. We got to the Banana Leaf and it seemed empty until we stepped on the escalator and went to the second floor where it was bustling with activity. Always a good sign to see a full restaurant, it’s got to be good. We sat down and looked at the novel that was the menu (side note: many times the menus have too many options and we’ve gotten into the habit of putting “bookmarks” in the menu book to find what we want to order). I was used to the basics, L20, L24, L17, you know the standard routine for Chinese places in the US. We ordered many of the recommended items, pork neck, fish with mango, bbq sticky rice, green beans, fried noodles with chicken and last but not least (finally, an explanation) durian tarts. Yes, the same Durian that Andrew Zimmerman can’t eat. I was skeptical but decided to take the leap of faith by ordering the tarts (they were recommended). I have not strayed far from the path of “safe foods” but in this case, what harm could a tart be? {insert your own comment here} It was the desert so chances are I could get enough food in me (and hopefully it would stay there) that it wouldn’t ruin the meal. (cue the suspense music, like 24…..tic, tic, tic, tic, fade to black and go to commercial).

The food was excellent, not the same as the Thai place in Jonesboro but very good. The food is served like a Chinese place (clarification, not in the US) where you order a variety of items to share with a group rather than order individually. That’s common here which is why it is difficult to go to a Chinese place by yourself. When you order Sweet and Sour Chicken, you get a large place of Sweet and Sour Chicken (at least I hope it’s chicken). No egg roll, no chicken wing, no rice, no extras (can I have some duck sauce)…no fortune cookie either. So if you want something else, you have to place an order for egg rolls, rice and any other food you want to eat with the main course. So you’re sitting by yourself with 2 – 3 large plates of food in front of you that you take something from each, put it on your plate and eat it. You don’t just pick from each plate and eat it…that would be silly. They gave you a plate, use it. Oh, you want soup, that you have to order as well and unless you can ask, you don’t know what size bowl it’s coming in. It could be a “Jethro” bowl (you know, like the one Jethro used for cereal in the Beverly Hillbillies……try and keep up folks) or a simple small soup bowl perfect for one person. You think you could just order the Sweet and Sour Chicken and eat only that? I doubt it, it’s okay but you need something else as a change of pace even if it’s just plain sticky rice, otherwise it goes from a tasty meal to a mental challenge just to scarf down the next piece of chicken. At least that’s the way it is for me. There are times I’m still hungry but I’m tired of eating and so I stop eating, especially with the chopsticks. Do I want to go through the 10 minutes it’s going to take to eat these little groups of remaining rice? Nope, I’m done, time to move on. Remember when your mom told you there were kids starving in China? This is why….some Westerner has 4 heaping plates of food just for himself because he can’t handle just the entrée. They do have da-bow, doggie bags to take food home so I’m not wasting food. (cue the suspense music…..tic, tic, tic, tic, fade to black and go to commercial).

While we’re waiting on the food, there’s a band moving through the restaurant playing songs and dancing with the people. They stop at our table and start playing some old, folksy music and they get Sharon up to dance, then Steve and then Jenny. Me….I graciously decline to dance. There’s nothing that’ll ruin your appetite quicker than seeing the “white man” dance. Oh yeah, you know what I’m talking about. Word gets out and I’d be like Elaine after she danced at the office party (Seinfeld reference but you probably knew that). The dancing Santa Clause has better moves than I do (he also weighs more than me to but that’s another story). It was fun just to sit and watch, the entertainment made for a different experience and not one that I think the kids would enjoy so much but we’ll wait and see.

So finally, the moment has arrived. I’ve eaten enough to make it through another day and it’s time for the tart. It looks good, it doesn’t smell (a good sign) and the taste……no problem (whew, another crisis averted). It’s basically a pastry outer shell with a durian filling. The filling was sweet but didn’t have the pungent odor, nor the mushy, rotting onion flavor that I was almost expecting (and not in a good way). It was good, not great. I thought the durian custard-type filling was not bad at all. It did have a mushy texture which isn’t normally a good thing for me but it wasn’t objectionable enough to give me the “Pork and Beans” reflex (Oh c’mon!!! Pork and Beans from In Living Color, the Jim Carrey skit where he has the gagging routine. You really need to get out more.). So the moral of the story is…….Andrew Zimmerman is a wimp!!! I conquered Durian where he could not. Does this mean that I’ll buy the fruit and try eating it right out of the husk? Heck No! Are you crazy! It just means that if you cook something long enough and add enough sugar, it’s probably palatable. Keep eating those worms and testicles Andrew; I’ll toast you with a Durian tart. And remember, if something looks good….eat it. See you next time on Bizarre Foods.

Tomb Sweeping

Saturday, April 4th is the traditional time for tomb sweeping in China. According to the ChinaCulture.org website; Qingming, also called Tomb Sweeping Festival, on which people visit the gravesites of their ancestors, pay respects to the dead at their tombs and hold memorial ceremonies in honor of their ancestors. This is one of many ways to demonstrate filial piety. As part of honoring the dead, people would also spend some time cleaning the gravesite area. They would uproot the weed near the gravesite, plant some new trees, wipe the tombstones and decorate the tombstone with fresh flowers. If you're interested you can find more information at the following link; http://www1.chinaculture.org/library/2008-01/28/content_28849.htm.

It has been raining all day today so there's not much to do but laundry and hang around the apartment. This stinks but hopefully tomorrow will clear up so I can get out and do something. There's nothing worse than being stuck indoors all day long. I can only watch so much of 24 or the Simpson's. I have been working on my Chinese and spent probably 2 hours working on that so I did get some things accomplished but it still doesn't feel like anything was done today. It could be much worse I'm sure so I'll stop whining and hope that the weather clears. It's too bad because the Tomb Sweeping Festival is supposed to include flying of kites which I was really looking forward to just going out and watching the kites, perhaps tomorrow.

Friday Sightseeing

As you should know, the Chinese holidays don't line up with the holidays in the US and therefore we are on vacation today for Tomb Sweeping Day. I'll have more information on that tomorrow but today (Friday), it's Tiger Hill, the Hanshan Temple and Fengqiao Scenic Area.

Tiger Hill, known also as Surging Sea Hill, is a large hillock, standing 36 meters high and covering an area of some 14,100 square meters. The main attractions are; The Tomb of King He Lu: His son buried him in the hill and three days after the funeral, a white tiger came and sat upon the grave, seeming to be a guard. From then on, the place has been known as Tiger Hill. Tiger Hill Pagoda: The pagoda standing on the hill's summit is part of the Yunyan Temple. The oldest pagoda in Suzhou, it serves as a landmark of the city. Built during the Northern Song Dynasty (959-961), the 48-meter-high seven-story octahedron has leant towards the northwest in the past 400 years. Sword Testing Stone and Sword Pool: King He Lu was a zealous collector of rare swords and it is said that he tested them upon this stone, leaving the crevice on the rock. As for his swords, it is believed that they were buried beneath the Sword Pool as funerary objects. Lu Yu Well: Lu Yu was a master of tea art who wrote the first book on this subject, The Treatise of Tea.

Before we entered into the park, we watched a 30 minute video on Tiger Hill. A portion of the video can be seen in small version in the lower left hand side of the page on the following link http://www.tigerhill.com/EN/

30 minutes seemed to be a long time but it contained a lot of flowery speech to set the mood, my mood was "BO-RING!" but I sat through about 20 minutes before I got up and "stretched my legs". It provided a lot of history of the area but you had to weed through a lot of "stuff" to get to it. This really was a full day excursion that we did in about 3 hours. There is a lot to see and I know when I go back with the family, we'll take a little more time to be sure we see everything.

Hanshan Temple was our second stop on the tour. It is a living temple, meaning monks are there worshipping and stuff so it was very tough to determine when I could or could not take photos. I don't want to take pictures and cause anyone to lose face so I don't have many photos here (I watched Kung Fu as a kid and I know what a monk can do when pushed). The Buddhas in this temple were very nice, although with the photos I took you might notice a very familiar looking symbol on the chest of the Buddha figure. It's not what you think but it's very close. The temple was originally built during the reign of Tianjian in the Liang Dynasty. The poem of “ Mooring to the Maple Bridge at Night ” by Zhang Ji of the Tang Dynasty is so oft-quoted and widely loved that the poetic rhyme and the bell-tolling sounds have made the Hanshan Temple famous at home and abroad. The poem doesn't translate well but is known throughout the country. My picture is taken by the stone with the poem.

The scenic area took you out to see one of the busy waterways. We watched as bricks were unloaded from the barge using a very old technique. This was just an area to walk around and see a few shops and stuff. Not a lot to tell from this, we didn't walk the entire area becuase it was getting late and the walk would've been too much. It was a nice area but like everything else here, you pay to play.

Check out the photos, just click on the link and you're off. It was a very tiring day, a lot of walking. I don't think I've walked this much in my life but it's part of what is done here. I kinda enjoy walking around and seeing things but I think my shoes are going to wear out very quickly. My feet are larger than the average Chinese so buying shoes in Suzhou is going to be challenging. I'll probably have to go to Shaghai to shop for shoes. Enjoy the photos.