Football versus Football (versus Football)

We get TV channels from Australia and so we have been watching Rugby on television for the past couple of months. We’ve learned many things from watching that perhaps you might not know. First, there are three different leagues (at least) that play variations of Rugby.

The Australian Football League plays a brand of football that combines a little soccer, with football and (as odd as it sounds) ultimate Frisbee. We don’t understand many of the nuances of the game but the ball can be moved from end-to-end through hand passing or by kicking and catching the ball. Goals are scored by kicking the ball between the middle sticks, the center sticks are worth 6 points, the end sticks are worth a point. There is some tackling involved but it’s not an extremely rough game (I can say that because I don’t play it, let’s just say it’s not as violent, the collisions are less extreme). I think we may have seen this type of football every once in a while at home. This usually features a lot of scoring and the ball can go from end to end very quickly through a series of kicks and accurate hand passing. Our Kiwi friends (just to be clear, New Zealanders are called Kiwis, don’t make the mistake of calling them Australian, they don’t like that.) have indicated that the AFL is a “less than manly sport”. Although it seems to put more butts in the seats and has a large fan base, it isn’t for the “Blokes” it’s for the “Sheila’s”. I guess you could call me a Sheila because this looks like a game I could’ve played in my youth (and I would’ve screamed like a girl when I got tackled).

Then there is the National Rugby League. This is the man’s game. Based on what I have seen, I think it’s mandatory that you have at least 35% of your body covered with tattoos (not that it makes them bad people) in order to play in this league. All the scrums, the bone-crushing tackling and “five meters and a cloud of dust” type game. They get so many touches to move the ball as far as they can through either running on their own or pitching the ball back to their teammates. The players are built like tanks and just try to destroy each other. This one is okay to watch but there are times where you just wonder how they can take the abuse. Here you can see the bones break and watch the guy stagger off the field (with the birds flying around his head, coo-koo, coo-koo) and see the blood that you’ve been missing (John Madden would have a heart attack from trying to keep up with the bam, boom, whap). This is the game our Kiwi friends like, but it’s doesn’t have the draw of the AFL. Honestly, I enjoy watching either game although I don’t know that I understand the rules. For the NRL, they score a “try” (what we would call a touchdown) and it’s worth 4 points but in order to score the ball has to touch the ground inside of the try line. They even use instant replay to determine if it is a “try” or “no try”. After a try, they have to attempt a “field goal” worth 2 points. There is usually not a lot of scoring in this game which I think that is what takes away from some of the fervor (like soccer in the US, a lot of movement but usually not a high scoring game). However, in either league, the fans are just as rabid as any college/pro Football fan from the US. You’ll see them painted up, dressed in outlandish costumes and swearing at the players like any “good” fan would be in the US.

The third league is the Tri-Nations Rugby. This is a blocked channel (pay per view) so we’re not sure exactly what goes on with that league but I suspect that it is a lot like the NRL. This is the league that our Kiwi friends watch. In an effort to understand the sport, we (Tammy and I) have asked to be able to watch rugby with our friends to help explain the rules (while we drink beer and watch the screens at The Blue Marlin). Keep in mind that these are true fans so probably after about 10 minutes of questions they will hate us since we are interrupting the game. So, we’ll learn something and have to find new friends.

So today (Sunday), the AFL held their Grand Finale for the Premiership of the League. We would call this the Super Bowl. The match pitted Collingwood (a team we have watched all the time since they always seem to be the team on the telly) versus Saint Kilde. It was a back-n-forth match with Collingwood taking an early lead but Saint Kilde pulled close and tied the match very late in the game. It came down to the final seconds with a tied score and it seemed neither team had the upper hand. So as the final seconds ticked off the clock, there was no other score and the game ended in a draw. The players all dropped to the ground exhausted and we just watched wondering “what do they do now”? The announcers indicated the game was a draw but none of the players looked like they were happy at all. In the NFL, we would go to overtime to decide the contest. Well, this isn’t the NFL and we found out that the game would remain as draw and the teams would play again next weekend to decide the winner. WHAT!?!?!?!?!? Next week?? 100,016 people in attendance and they didn’t get to see the winner. Can you imagine? You pay around $150 USD for the cheap seats (to see the Super Bowl) and you don’t get to see the winner. Instead, you have to try and get tickets for next week’s game and hope to get lucky. I should mention that this game is about the same length of time as an NFL game so the players are worn out and expecting the season to end today but now they have to turn around and get ready for next week. We watched the Australian News channel after the game and found out there is even more to this story. They are actually postponing the start of the Cricket League season, the Spring Horse Racing season will also be pushed back and many other events (soccer matches, etc.) have been moved out to prevent clashing with the Grand Final. It would be like the Super Bowl being played on the same day that the NBA and MLB start their respective seasons. No one wants to have to compete for the audience so they are holding off a bit. I know you are asking yourself, “What happens if the replay match ends in a draw?” (Thanks for asking) They add 5 minutes of extra time to decide the contest (and what if that doesn’t decide the match? How do I know, I just started watching this!). Why don’t they have the same rule for the Grand Final original match? I don’t know but from what we heard and read, it doesn’t seem that they will change that very soon (like MLB taking years and years to accept video replay, in sports things take time to change).

With things not looking so good for my Cowboys thus far into the season, I may have to become a Rugby fan and forget about the NFL. Unfortunately, the Rugby season is just about over so I’ll be left without anything to watch. The silver lining to this is that I don’t have to watch the Cowboys stink it up, I can just get up on a Monday morning and find out if they won or lost (hopefully they win). It’s kind of a rehabilitation program for football addicts (but without the 12 steps, only 1 step; move to China). So whether it’s football (NFL), football (AFL) or football (NRL), I’m going to watching if and when I can.

Taikang Lu

So while we were in Shanghai, we decided to take a visit to a place where Tammy had been in the past Taikang Lu. I had never been there and was interested in seeing the area so we hopped on the Metro and headed to Taikang Lu. There was a shop there that I wanted to see that we called the propaganda shop. I was hoping to find photos or posters of Lei Feng (see my post on ObamaMao to get some background on Lei Feng, or of course just do a search on your own) and see what else was available at this shop.

Taikang Lu is in essence a group of narrow alleyways that branch off Taikang Lu (Lu = Road so Taikang Lu = Taikang Road) which contain a multitude of shops and restaurants. We had an overview map of area because it could be like a rat maze (who moved my cheese?) but the area wasn’t so large that you could not locate an exit or get too turned around (unless it was happy hour). There were three main alleys with small corridors in between. There were photo print shops, (which sold photo prints of China/Chinese that you might see from National Geographic in black and white). There were prints of artwork (some very odd) and of course the obvious postcards and souvenir type photos for sale (along with a map of the Taikang Lu shopping district). There were shops with the obligatory Chinese souvenirs (that we can find in Suzhou for much, much cheaper price), some with slightly different stuff but the prices were a little high so we looked but didn’t touch. There were small restaurants throughout the complex that served food from all over the world so that was interesting to see. From the outside, it didn’t appear that these places could serve more than 6 people but they had a second floor that could allow for much larger groups of people. Tammy and a group of friends ate at one of the Thai places on their last trip to the area.

The place we came to see was the propaganda shop. This place sold a lot of the Mao stuff, shirts, cups, posters, lighters, etc. In addition, they sold many other things like poster reprints from magazine ads for Chinese products. These were interesting to scroll through and see all of the advertisements. We had seen many similar ads in the museum under the Pearl Tower so we at least knew that the reprints weren’t just for the foreigners and suckers (or maybe they were). They also had the ObamaMao shirts which they tried to sell to us but I told them I already had one (I mean who wouldn’t want one?). We asked them if they had Lei Feng posters but they said that Lei Feng was too good for posters. Odd. It was a strange statement to hear since they had Mao posters everywhere (Mao wasn’t “too good” for posters, hmmm). Then as we look around, we do find at least one Lei Feng item. A old style butane lighter. What does that say to you? I think it’s a little bit of a contradiction (too good to print but okay to use his image for cigarettes) but then again, what do I know? Some of the posters they had were really simple prints (10 RMB each, buy 6 get one free) but others they had were more complete and were better replications of the real posters (starting at 200 RMB). We looked through the good posters and found many that were a little disturbing for a US citizen. One was of Shanghai during the Cultural Revolution. In the center of the image were two representations of the US that were being punished by the masses. There was another poster about Taiwan and the US. There were others of course but these two stood out from the others in my mind. Other color posters contained the flowery images of Mao surrounded by the masses of citizens (from all corners of the country), the majority of posters were like this. It was very interesting to see all the different depictions of the workers, citizens in all of these posters from the Cultural Revolution. It may have happened some time ago but looking at some of the posters, you could almost feel the purpose behind the drawings. It was an interesting shop and a place I will return to in a future trip to Shanghai (after all, you can never have enough of Mao).

The other shops kind of paled in comparison to this shop but they were still interesting. We stopped into a leather bound book shop where we got one of the leather bound notebooks and I picked up an interesting mouse pad that might have belonged at the propaganda shop. There were several other shops we walked through and browsed but we didn’t find much else that peaked our interest. Upon leaving the alleys, we noticed a car across the street surrounded by a hoard of Chinese. We looked again and noted the car was a Rolls-Royce. There were a handful of cops around the car and a lot of Chinese taking photos and walking around the car. They were obviously waiting to see who owned the car. Tammy and I talked about walking towards the car like it was ours but we decided to just move on (after I took my photos). We headed back to the Metro (as opposed to hopping in the Rolls) to zip back to the hotel for our evening hors d’oeuvres (never pass on free food & drinks).

Photo album update

Just a quick note folks to tell you to check out the link to Scott's photos from China, I have added some photos of our recent excursion to Shanghai. Take a look.

Peace Man

I know that you are dying to know, where did you stay in Shanghai? Go ahead and admit it; you can’t wait to find out. So I won’t torture you any further and tell you that we stayed at the Peace Hotel in Shanghai. I know that this won’t mean much to you so I offer you a chance to find out more about the Peace Hotel at this link; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Hotel.

In case you don’t want to check, I’ll drop a few facts about the Peace Hotel on you. The Peace Hotel is a Shanghai landmark and it is on several of the Top 10 lists of things to do in Shanghai. It is located on the end of East Nanjing Road (Shanghai’s Walking Street) and is next to the Huangpu River waterfront. Many famous and important people have stayed at this hotel and now the Dudley name has been added to the long list of dignitaries that have spent time at this hotel.

How did we (the little people) gain access to this hotel? Well, Tammy knows people and was able to use her connections to get us a room and gold level access to the hotel. Otherwise, I don’t think we stood a chance of staying at this hotel. Anyhow upon our arrival at the hotel, we indicate that we are looking for the Gold Level check-in (after all we didn't want to be associated with the normal rif-raf). The lady behind the desk asks our names and once she verifies the information, she escorts us to the elevators and takes us up to the 9th floor to check-in. We walk off the elevator with our backpacks, shorts and t-shirts probably looking more like the cleaning crew (from the street since the cleaning people at the hotel were pretty nicely dressed) than important guests but they treated us like we were superstars or something. They checked us in and explained the hotel amenities to us and then the butler showed us to our room. The butler, Charlie, was dressed in a tuxedo with tails (seriously, tails) and he showed us that we had to use our room card to use the elevator to get to the floors where we needed to go. He showed us to our room and then offered us a welcome drink called the Fairmont 29. It was a Prosecco (sparkling Italian wine) with cranberry juice. The Peace Hotel is part of the Fairmont chain of hotels (hence the Fairmont) and the Peace Hotel was completed in 1929 (you guessed it, the ’29 portion of the name). It was an okay drink, I’m not much of a wine person but they went through the trouble to make it so I at least tasted it (several times). He left us to look around and consider the surroundings of the hotel. The bathroom was large and contained an old style 4-leg bathtub, the bed was huge and soft (you kind of sunk into the bed & pillows when you laid down on the bed), the décor was very old style and all-in-all, it was a super room. We had our own single-serving expresso machine and a mini-bar, super soft bath robes and just huge, soft towels. It was everything we had imagined and more. For the gold level status, we had access to the 9th floor lounge. We would eat breakfast in the lounge, had afternoon tea/coffee options and hors devours in the evening. The lounge remained open until 10:00pm.

Allow me to describe the lounge options in more detail. For breakfast, there was a large spread put out to eat. First, there was a chef there to make our eggs to order, omelet, scrambled, whatever you wanted. Then there were the Asian options, dumplings and a few other items (like steamed veggies & noodles, salmon). For the Western breakfast was bacon (crispy bacon….man how I missed crispy bacon), sausage, oven roasted potatoes, fresh fruits (raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, dragonfruit, cantaloupe, etc.), small muffins (blueberry, chocolate, plain, frosted peach, wheat), small fruit Danish (kiwi, peach, raspberry, strawberry, plain) banana bread, fruitcake (no mistaking that), some cereals and a German meat and cheese section. Not to be overlooked was the options for juice (freshly squeezed/juiced…of course), orange, carrot, apple-watermelon, and apple. And of course, freshly ground & brewed Italian coffee. I mean, we walked around just staring at all of the options. We were there between 9:15 and 9:30 in the morning so we were the late comers to breakfast but we only saw three other couples eating there. I have to tell you, it was delicious! I had eggs both mornings, nothing like eggs in the morning (especially ones that you don’t have to cook yourself). So that was just the breakfast, they had two televisions on, CNN and BBC were on the TVs and there was plenty of reading options both in Chinese and English. We sat down in our queen anne chairs at our table and ate our luxury breakfast with someone there to check on you every 5 minutes.

The afternoon tea consisted of tea (duh!), coffee or juice. Along with this were several small snack items. More fruit, Danish, dark chocolate tarts and a chocolate mousse topped with fresh berries. It was too much. I normally don’t drink too much coffee since it can lead me to get the shakes but I had to try it. This time, they scalded the milk for us to give us the expresso feel. So you add in a bunch of sugar from the chocolate and I was sweating later on with the sugar/caffeine rush.

The hors d’oeuvres for the evening “snack” consisted of a few dishes from the restaurants in the hotel. So we had cashew chicken, coconut shrimp and fancy fish sticks from the Dragon & Phoenix restaurant. Plus you had option for tea, coffee, beer, wine or other spirits. We chose the beer (we are Americans damnit! We love our beer!) along with a little of each dish to taste what is served in the restaurants. The fancy fish sticks were a little “fishy” for us but the other items were great! The funny thing was that everyone seemed to know what we were drinking despite them not being there when you picked the drink. We could’ve even open our own beers but service was what they were there for (despite the fact that it was just us).

In the main lobby of the hotel, after 5:00pm there was a three string ensemble playing classical music to relax you and remind you that this isn’t Kansas anymore Toto. The doorman were very polite and security personnel were there at every entrance to ensure that only guests made it into the hotel. Otherwise there would have been a lot of locals going in and out of the hotel all day long to take photos (not that I would blame them).

On Thursday, we asked to see the view from the rooftop of the hotel. We had heard many things about the view and wanted to see it for ourselves. I took many (many) photos from the rooftop since you could see the Pudong district across the river. You could see around the bend of the river, a view you could not see from ground level. When we got on top of the roof, we found that we were above many of the other rooftops for surrounding hotels and had a super view of the area. It was simply amazing and hard to describe what we could see. It was just a great view up and down the river. The only thing we missed was photos from the rooftop at night. They had a party on the roof so we weren’t granted access to see the view. However, we did get some really good photos from the previous evening so although it was disappointing, it wasn’t a total loss.

The Peace Hotel is also known for the Jazz Bar. Unfortunately for us, we didn’t know the Jazz bar required reservations so by the time we found out, it was too late. So, we “settled” for the calm, quiet of the Cin Cin Lounge (a drink and cigar bar in the hotel). It was a very nice place to sit, have a drink and reflect on the day. As with all of the other places, the staff were extremely accommodating. How accommodating were they?!? It was a little chilly in the lounge and Tammy was rubbing her shoulders and giving the “brrr” routine. One of the waiters came out a door and saw her and turned right around and went back in the door. A moment later he comes out with a shawl for her to put on to stay warm. How many places would do that? We took the chance to try some different beers, I tried the Australian Redback beer. It had a similar flavor to a German Heffeweisen but was clear and not cloudy like a typical Weiss beer. It was a very good beer. Tammy had a German Hefiweisen which was very good as well. We sat and talked (imagine that) for a couple of hours before we headed back to the room for the night. It was enjoyable to just sit and know that we didn’t have to be home or have anyone waiting on us.

Of course, we return to the room to find that the turndown service had everything ready for us to crash for the evening. It was something that we are not accustomed to and although it would be nice to have that done all of the time, it isn’t who we are. I can see how perhaps people can get used to this treatment but there is a downside to that. You begin to accept that you are entitled (read better than others) and forget that the people that provide the service are people as well. We would say hello to all around the hotel from the maids to the guys standing in the halls to help you with anything you needed. Some seemed a little surprised when we would allow them into the elevator with us or we would say good afternoon or whatever. I mean we had one of the ladies apologize for not knowing our names although she had never met us. One of the young girls in the Cin Cin apologized for pouring the beer wrong. It was so odd for us; we’re just people like them. Like I said, it was nice but it’s not like we’ll be staying here again so we enjoyed it while it lasted (our 15 seconds of fame).

Single in Shanghai

This week, both of the boys went to camp for school. I know, I know, what a tough gig for the kids. Go to school for a month and then head out to camp. Three days away from school, books, homework to work on their “soft skills” (touchy-feely stuff to the lay person) and their teamwork skills. It is not your typical school activity for NA schools but it is something that happens here every year from Grade 6 - 12. It is a good chance for them to build relationships and Warren enjoyed his trip to Anjie last year (you might recall his blog post) so we knew this was coming but this year included both boys. In case you were wondering, the school doesn’t foot the bill for camp. If you want the kids to go, you pay. How much? Does it really matter!?!? Gear for camp….___ RMB, Cost for camp ___ RMB, 3 days without the kids….PRICELESS!!! Tammy and I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to get away by ourselves without the kids (without the kids!!!!). What would we do, where would we go, how could we do anything without the kids? All good questions but we knew this was coming so we had time to plan and be ready for the trip. I took some time off from work and we made plans for a couple of days in Shanghai.

It has been a L-O-N-G time since we’ve done anything without the kids. Seriously!! I don’t know that I remember the last time that both of them were gone somewhere at the same time. In fact, we believe it is the first time since the addition of child #2 that we’ve been able to get away for more than just one night (and even those times were few and far between). We’re not complaining, I mean that is what happens when you decide to have kids. Being a parent means that you chose to have kids and therefore you are responsible for the kids and you have to be the one to make the sacrifice (it doesn’t take a village, it takes parents!). So when the opportunity comes around that the kids get away….”Run Forrest!!!”. The challenge is that now we have to talk to each other (Holy Dr. Phil Batman!).

Tammy’s connections got us a great place to stay (more on that in another blog) which was Phase I of the journey. Phase II was to decide what were we going to do. After all, there was no one there to say “I don’t want to do that!”, “How much longer?”, “My legs are tired!”, “I’m hungry!”, and so on (and so on and so on). I mean, no kids! Hmmmm. What to do, what to do? We had the chance to do things that we can’t do with the kids around. So, we made a mental list. Top on the list as you might imagine…sleep (c’mon people, we’re married for crying out loud, get your mind out of the gutter). So we would try Taikang Lu, Yu Garden, Copy Market, and whatever else we would feel like doing. Phase III, we already had a good idea of where we would eat. Din Tai Fung is an absolute MUST every time we go to Shanghai. The xiaolongbao (Shanghai Steamed Dumplings) are delicious and if you every have the opportunity, you have to try this dish. If you like dumplings, you’ll love xiaolongbao. What makes xiaolongbao special? It is the very thin skin of the dumpling and the way that the juices from the meat inside the dumpling are trapped creating essentially a small soup broth inside each dumpling. There is a special way to eat them to get the most from the experience and just trust me, they are delicious. New York City Pizza is also one of the places we love to go because we get a good thin crust pizza with jalapenos that we have a hard time finding in Suzhou. Back home, we would order pepperoni pizza with peperoncini peppers (add a little spice without being over the top burners) but here we can’t find pizza in Suzhou with either the peperoncini or jalapenos. So, when we found a place that we could get the jalapenos on the pizza (and it is very good pizza), we try and stop by each time we can. After that, we really didn’t have much for plans for eating except to say, eat what we want, when we want and where we want (I don’t like that, I don’t want that, I want a burger, blah, blah blah). Usually we have to find places where the kids can eat, this time it was all about us (what a concept).

We even decided to take a walk along the river and get photos from both sides of the river, photos towards the Bund and photos towards the Pudong side of the river. Shanghai is an interesting city due to the history and nothing shows it more clearly than looking at the skylines for both sides of the river. The Bund side has more old style European style architecture and the Pudong side is very modern architecture. We had never taken a walk along the river, especially at night and we wanted to have that experience. Not to say that we couldn’t do this with the kids but it was much easier without the extra comments thrown in. [Editors note: It may seem that we’re slamming our kids and throwing them under the bus with this post. I think all parents understand what we are saying. You can love your kids but there are times where they push your buttons and they make you want to auction them off at the corner for whatever pocket change you can get. Does that sound wrong? To paraphrase “Take my kids….please”.]

So Wednesday, we hopped on the train and headed to Shanghai to see if we can still survive by ourselves without the kids or anyone else around. Well, that is without anyone else we know since Shanghai has over 18 million people. We left from the new Suzhou SIP railway station which was about 10 minutes away from the house. Clean, empty and modern would be words to describe the station. After all, it is new so there isn’t much else to say about it. It wasn’t full of people so we got to sit back and relax as we waited to board the train. When the train was called, it wasn’t the typical mad rush to get through the check-in, it was orderly and without any rush at all (kind of anti-Chinese if you will). When we got on the train, we found people in our seats but they got up and stood up. There are standing room tickets (really, standing room on a train that travels at very high speeds, not what you would call a safe place to be but then again, it might be better to end it quickly, as Stephen King would say "I want to sit at the front of the plane so I can be the first to the crash site.") they sell for the trains now so these people had gotten on the train somewhere before our stop and sat in the seats until we got there. It was awkward since one of the people was an elderly lady. We tried to get them to take the seats and we would stand but they would have nothing to do with it. We felt badly but they weren’t going to accept the seats so we sat down and tried to ignore them as the old lady was hacking up a lung during the ride. This was one of the new “G” trains which go faster than the old “D” trains. The G train gets to speeds in excess of 300 kph (we saw the maximum speed of 315 kph on the readout) so it’s very fast to get around. We made it to Shanghai in less than 25 minutes which is super. It makes you wonder why trains don’t make it in the US, but that’s another story. So upon arrival, we transfer to the Shanghai Metro (subway) system to get around. We packed light and had everything in two backpacks just to be sure we could get around easy. We learned early on that rolling luggage is a huge pain in the butt when traveling so now we have learned how to use backpacks to get around. This is one of those changes we have incorporated into Chinese life for us. Before, just to go to my parents house 3 hours away meant 2 large suitcases and a whole bunch of other stuff. Now, the motto is pack light or don’t go at all. So, we got on the metro and headed to Din Tai Fung for lunch. We had the Xiaolongbao, Pork Steamed Buns, Chicken & Shrimp Spring Rolls and Fried Rice for lunch. It was good and not too filling (with the exception of the steamed bun, that spends some time in your belly while you try to digest it) so we still had plenty of energy to burn to head on to the hotel where we were staying. To find out where we stayed, you’ll have to check back and find out, this is too big a tale to add to the lengthy first day posting.

More Scooter News

As you know, I have an e-bike/scooter whatever you want to call it. I ride it back-n-forth to work just about every day, it’s about a 30 minute ride to go the 14.5 km to the office. As I have taken this trip more and more, I begin to understand some of the driving habits of the locals (don’t misconstrue this as thinking it’s okay, I just understand more).

Just to review, the bike lanes they have here have lights at the intersections just like for cars. There is a straight ahead arrow and a left turn arrow (I guess you are free to turn right whenever which makes sense). When the arrows are red, don’t proceed (unless you decide you want to proceed), at least that is the “rule”. Some abide by the rules but many do not, they kind of coast on through an intersection but they do try to ensure that nothing is coming when they do. However, there is an interesting dynamic that some drivers pay the same attention as the bike riders. The left turn light is on for the cars in the intersection, so the e-bike left turn light is also on. Some drivers will go straight through the intersection after “faking” the left turn. They will go into the left turn lane and then veer back into the other lane and through the intersection they go, so you still need to be on guard for the “lane changers”. I wondered why they would not stop and wait for the light and I think I have the answer. Several weeks back, I thought I had charged my battery but it turns out that I did not have it charged nearly as well as I thought. A little background into riding on a battery to try and help with the understanding for this situation. We have a battery meter on the “console” of the scooter. The battery drains much more when you are starting from a stop position and doesn’t drain nearly as fast when you are riding at a constant speed. So, since my battery power was low, when I stopped and then hit the gas to get moving, it was a very slow start (I could’ve crawled at a faster speed) and the battery power dropped quite a bit each time I stopped and started again. When I talk about starting slow, it takes nearly the whole intersection before you get to any kind of good speed. So, if you are used to hitting the gas and getting through the intersection quickly, it ain’t happening. Because you are so much slower, you need to really pay more attention since you don’t have the option to zoom across the intersection and the car coming up quickly is now going to be a bigger problem because you can’t get across fast enough. So, the battery drains faster if you stop. The battery also drains faster if you run at top speed all the time. So, combine these two facts and I understand why they don’t want to stop at the lights. It could be a matter of making it to work on a charge; pushing your scooter the last couple of blocks to work or being late to work. So once they hit speed, they are loathe to change since it will create more issues with the battery. I made it to work but the battery power was less than 50% when I got to work and even when I tried to run at top speed, the top speed with the low battery power was around 30-35 kph versus my normal 40-45 kph. It may not sound like much but it really makes a difference.

Second note, riding in the rain. Yes, I have done it. The Chinese have these ponchos that drape across the front of the scooter and over them (kind of a tent from the front of the scooter). It looks weird and I don’t really like the poncho thing so I don’t have one. I have a good rain jacket that I can wear in the rain. My legs don’t get too wet until you actually stop. Now on my rain jacket is a hood so I should have enough protection. However, I learned a lesson about the ponchos, they cover your legs and everything else so while you have this on, you really can’t get wet except in the face and on your hands. The rain jacket worked okay until I stopped and my legs would start to get wet. Also, any water that might run down the jacket and pool anywhere drops on the legs so I may stay relatively dry while riding, the legs get wet every time I stop (another reason not to stop). The other problem is the hood. It’s tough to turn your head with the hood on and see anything going on around you, in fact it is almost impossible. So this is why they don’t look, they keep on going. Looking to the left and right doesn’t work because the hood doesn’t allow you to turn you head and see anything. On the one hand, riding in the rain reminds me of my childhood where getting wet didn’t really matter (until you reached the house…”you’re not coming in with those wet clothes”). On the other hand, I’m not young anymore so getting wet isn’t a lot of fun. A little rain isn’t so bad but when it starts to downpour, it becomes a problem. Friday coming home I passed a local by riding through a large puddle and “accidently” splashed him from the spray of the bike (it wouldn’t have happened if he didn’t decide to force me to ride so wide of him due to his weaving and bobbing). I didn’t realize I would kick up that much water, “Aiya!!!’ Is what he said when I gave him a quick dose of water, I looked back and waved and indicated I was sorry. I really was but if he had stayed in a straight line I wouldn’t have been forced to ride through the deep puddle. The lack of windshield wipers on my glasses doesn’t help either. Coming home, not a problem. I can get changed into dry clothes but riding to work in the rain is an issue since I don’t carry a change of clothes with me. So far, I’ve been lucky and haven’t gotten rained on (hard) going to work but my luck will probably run out soon. I always have the option of riding the bus into work so when the weather looks bad, I can bypass the scooter. I have that option, something that the locals may not have.

Riding at night, this week I had to stay late and drive in the dark. Although the street lights are everywhere and the city is pretty well lit, I still didn’t really trust riding in the dark very much. While in the US, I bought one of those reflective vests to wear for just such a scenario (the prices here were crazy high for these vests). The scooter I have has lights, blinkers and all of that but I still wasn’t really all that enthused about riding at night (I also purchase reflective tape at home and put it on the scooter a couple of weeks back). But, I really had little option so I put on the vest, turned on the lights and headed home. The headlight wasn’t much to speak of. It really put out very little in the way of a light to see much but with the streetlights, it wasn’t so bad. Keep in mind that the bike lanes have trees on both sides to give it kind of a natural roof but those trees also cut down on the amount of light in the lane. It wasn’t too bad, I was careful at the intersections and was taking my time. Then, the lights went out! Seriously, many of the lights stay on until a certain time of night and then go out so the illumination I had was greatly diminished. I knew I was in the bike lane and I was headed in the right direction but I could not see any potholes or anything else in my way. I also had to watch out for the locals because they don’t turn on their lights. They depend on the street lights to help them along (remember what I said about the batteries, the lights also drain the batteries so they keep them off). Even with the newer e-bikes, they ride without turning them on so I’m at least giving a warning to people coming at me but I have limited warning of them. It’s so stupid. Then I’ve got some of the Chinese that I pass that want to flick on and off their lights on their scooter. I wasn’t really clear as to what they were doing until the next intersection where one couple passed me for a moment and then I passed them. He flicked his lights again at me and I realized he wanted to see the reflection from my vest (ugh!). I may be wrong but it seemed that is exactly what he was doing. I made it home in one piece but riding at night adds to the “pucker factor” a little more. There’s less congestion in the bike lane but when you can’t see what is ahead of you, it’s very disconcerting.

Last piece of news. Last month, it seemed that the local government was on a crackdown against the scooter riders. At many of the major intersections around town, they had people in uniforms with red flags. These “red flag people (RFP)” would stop the scooter riders at the white line on the pavement that indicated where they should stop and wait for the light to change. They would also point to people riding with two on a scooter and indicate one had to dismount. The RFP were like traffic cops but without the badge. I can only assume that they were there to try and re-educate the scooter drivers that when the red arrow was on for the scooter lane, it meant stop and wait. Typically, even if they stopped (and there was no guarantee of that) they would continue past the white line until they were out into the turning lane or worse. Cars turning right would have to take the wide turn to avoid them or they would turn between them and the white stop line since there was plenty of space. The worst past was that once someone went past, it became a free-for-all, everyone started to creep through the intersection. It always has worked like this. If one person goes, another follows and so on until the light actually turns green. Anyhow, back to the story, the RFP were there to enforce the rules and would blow their whistles at people that violated the rules. I even saw actual cops come over the “assist” in enforcing the rules. If you creeped over the white line, they would ask you to move aside and “talk” to you. It was an interesting dynamic. Scooters with two people had one get off, the driver would proceed through the intersection and wait on the other side. His passenger would walk across the street, hop on and off they would go to until the next RFP caught them. This went on for several weeks. The problem was that although they were enforcing the rules, it created a HUGE logjam of scooters at intersections and when the dam burst, it was pure chaos. People trying to weave and bob around with nowhere to go. It was actually more dangerous and made life a whole lot more miserable as we would wait at the intersection. While you waited, if you left a crack between you and any of the scooters around you, someone had to try and squeeze through to get just a little further. Nevermind that he had a very slow scooter and would hold up everyone else when the “restart” flag was dropped. It really made for a much rougher ride. Then, all of a sudden, it was over. No more RFP anywhere and things pretty much went back to normal. It was so weird. I guess the hope was that people would learn and adopt a new method to riding but it didn’t really happen that way. Most of the traffic still flows the same in the scooter lane but some have learned to stop when the red light is on. Unfortunately, they decide to stop right in the darned middle of the lane rather than off to the side.

Overall, I like the scooter a lot but it’s a love-hate relationship. I love the scooter but I hate having to ride it because there really is no etiquette or rules as far as how you ride or how you should ride with people around you. I’ve had some close calls, with the closest being a lady that swerved into me as I passed her and our handle bars hit. The tractor trailer that decided to blow through the light (he at least hit his horn to give me the warning I needed to put on the brakes) and the car that took a right hand turn from two lanes over. It’s a matter of always being on guard and when the guard slips, that’s when you get into trouble. The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat all rolled into one.

A second look

As I indicated in an earlier post, I would begin to post observations we made in our return to the US. We’ve had been gone from the US for over a year and there were some interesting things we noticed upon our return. Prompted by our friend Lon’s blog post (check out LonLangston.com), I will start with the #1 observation made by all Expats that returned from the US….Americans are fat!

This was the first thing that struck us as we walked off the plane in Detroit (and maybe there’s a post coming from Tammy regarding her experience in the “Motor City”). Being in China, the vast majority of the population is small people, I don’t know the average height or weight but they are just smaller people. At first, it’s a little overwhelming to see how small everyone is but after a while, you become accustomed to it and you hardly notice it, with some exceptions. When you see Jacob & Warren walk by Chinese and notice their height versus the locals (given their age, it’s really interesting). Tammy also notices this during her workouts at the local gym. She has to come home and mention that she’s the biggest person in the class (and complain that the women need to eat a burger, the skinny so-and-sos). So, when we get off the plane we knew we weren’t in China anymore. More than anything else, it was the sheer size of the people that made you take notice. I don’t know that I can really describe it well enough for people to understand (and I’m sure that some reading this are saying “He’s talking about me, that skinny so-and-so.”), but believe me, you can’t help but notice. You look around and you see person after person that is overweight (or undertall), it is scary. When we were in the US, it wasn’t really all that obvious to us but now; it’s like a slap in the face. Wake up and smell the cheese fries with bacon! When we were at the Sam’s Club, I’ll bet every 3rd person I saw was overweight and if I had to venture a guess, 3 out of 4 of those people would be classified as obese. It was just plain crazy! It’s been said for years that America is the fattest country on the planet. I used to think that all of the stuff about Americans being fat was just piling on by those who run down the country at every opportunity. However, in this case, they may be 100% right (but I will admit, I haven’t traveled around the world enough to know the size of the people in Denmark so I’ll say that for the countries that I have visited, the US has the title, hands down). When you look at food portions at restaurants and see that eating has become a competitive “sport” in the US; it’s not surprising that obesity is on the rise.

Another observation, how about those bad tans! In China, in many of the cities having a tan is a signal that you are a “peasant” since you work in the sun all day long. It’s a status thing to be “white” here so in the cities, you’ll see them walking around with umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun. Also, many of the products here contain a bleaching agent to assist with the tan-o-phobia. So when you see a Chinese woman’s legs, many times they are pasty, flour-white with no muscle definition. It’s actually disturbing to see how white their legs are and to see what lengths they go to keep from tanning (despite the fact that their skin tone is naturally darker than the average Caucasian). So, when we go around in the US we encounter the tanning salon tans that just slap you in the face. You know those “natural look” tans? Being tan is one thing, but not everyone can pull off the George Hamilton look and most didn’t. Don’t try so hard, keep a healthy tone and when you start to look like mahogany wood, it’s time to cut back a little (just a little tip from the guy that burns to a crisp without SPF 5,000).

My cellphone observation leads me to state that one positive to living in a foreign country is that despite the “noise” around you, not understanding can be a good thing. You don’t have to hear people’s problems even when you’re not trying to listen to their conversations. Back home, people on their cellphones seem to go out of their way to ensure you hear their inane babble. Unfortunately, I could understand and it reminded me of how useless cellphones can be. Why do people insist on just walking around and talking to other people, can’t they just walk around the mall for 5 minutes without having to be on the phone? Did they really need to tell the person on the other end of the line about their troubles; can’t personal issues remain just that? Call them, tell them there is a sale or something but the rest of the conversation could wait until they were face-to-face….couldn’t it? I’m not saying the conversations were any different than what the Chinese have on their phones but I can’t understand the Chinese so it somehow makes it better. Having said that it seems that there is something that many people have in common, they seem to think that the use of a cellphone requires a voice decibel level somewhere between a fire engine siren and a jet engine.

We almost had forgotten what it was like using a full size washer and dryer. Man, what a treat! In Suzhou, our washer is small and the dryer is even smaller. We are limited to maybe two pairs of pants, some shirts and socks in the washer for a full load (and the dryer is even smaller despite the fact that we “upgraded” to a larger model than the one that came with the apartment). Needless to say, it takes some time to do the laundry and it’s almost a full time occupation with the kids changing clothes all the time. It sure was nice to do one load for one day’s worth of clothes. It made us remember what it was like to have those conveniences. They do sell these in China but the apartments aren’t built to house such things and I’m not certain that you could find a place where it would fit.

Another “luxury” in the US was the ability to drink the water out of the faucet. In China, you don’t drink the water from the tap (unless you want/need a cleansing). We have a water dispenser in the apartment (you know, one of those upside down jugs of water) and a separate faucet at the kitchen sink with drinkable water. Otherwise, you can bathe with it but don’t ingest it. Now I have seen the Chinese drink from the sinks in the bathrooms at work but I would never try that. It supports one of my key points about the Chinese, despite their small build, they can handle a lot. Living with the air quality and water quality has to build up a strong immune system that can knock down many bugs that might take out others.

Sleeping in a nice, soft bed was yet another benefit to going home. In China, it seems that everyone has a “Flintstone bed” (you know, hard as a rock). They sell “pads” for the beds but they aren’t like the foam mattress pads at home (unless you want to pay through the nose). They are essentially, moderately thick quilts that go over the mattress. They add very little to pad the mattress but it’s better than nothing (barely). You get used to the beds being like they are but the first few nights are really tough. Lift your head up too far off the mattress and drop it down and you could knock yourself out. Seriously. The first time Jacob went into his room and plopped on the bed, he complained that he broke his butt on the bed…it’s that hard.

How about those gas prices??? It’s crazy!!! I don’t remember what the cost was before I left but c’mon, it seems to have skyrocketed upward. I know that many leaders want the US to be like Europe, keep the gas prices climbing like that and we will be just like Europe. It was a little different to be able to drive again but it didn’t take much to get back into the swing of things. We had one of those dual-fuel cars which could run on either ethanol or gas. Now the ethanol was cheaper but it had an obvious drawback. You didn’t get the same gas mileage so you would use more ethanol to go the same distance, overall it seemed a wash to me. I know that many sing the praises of ethanol and alternative fuels but if you have to use more….where’s the gain?

While in Greenville, we were in Barnes & Noble to look at some books in the International section. A couple and their daughter came down the aisle and much to our surprise, they were speaking Chinese. It was odd but funny at the same time. Here we were back in the US and we hear a language that has become very familiar to us (this doesn’t mean we understand it but we recognize it when we hear it). They were talking about the prices of things. The girl was looking for a Chinese-English dictionary so we pointed her to the Berlitz one that we have. For once, we were able to help the Chinese and not the other way around.

Before I left, I asked some of the kids at work if they want me to bring them back something from the US. They asked me a question that left me a little surprised. “I don’t know? What is made in the US?” Wow, good question. I thought about it and there really isn’t a lot of manufacturing that is strictly a US thing now. Everything seems to be made in China. I mean Harley-Davidson, but a motorcycle seemed a little excessive and they sell them in China as well. The only other thing I could think of was like a gun manufacturer (trying to get a gun into China….not really a good move). Maybe you can think of something but it’s a pretty difficult question. So much is now made abroad that it is difficult to think of many things that are made exclusively in the US.

While in the US, we ate at two places on our “must eat” list. Five Guys Burger and Fries (fat American comments be damned!) and at Flavors of Thailand, one of my favorite places. We can get burgers and Thai food here but it just isn’t the same. Getting a greasy burger with jalepenos and a bag of fresh cut fries (with the grease just soaking through the paper bag….Mmmm!), it is something we don’t seem to find here. Burgers (many are “meat” patties, more closely resembling a meat loaf than hamburger) in Suzhou you can eat at a small handful of places. Many restaurants serve them but most are just plain awful. You learn quickly where the good ones are and where to order something different. So when we made our list of places to go, Five Guys was near the top. Sometimes you just got to have the quick cholesterol fix and it definitely hit the spot (where’s my Lipitor?). The Thai place was just as it always has been, delicious. We didn’t eat out much while at home (Chic-fil-A, Weathervane, etc) so we made it count when we did go out. The drawback, the cost (very expensive in the US to eat out) and the tipping. In China, you don’t tip (ever). It isn’t part of the culture. Back home, you tip and the expectations for the tip are always increasing. We almost forgot to tip at the one place but remembered before we left the table. Don’t forget the taxes. In China, when the menu says 35 RMB, when the bill comes it is for 35 RMB. It makes things so much better. It’s the same everywhere you shop. You pay what the item costs are so everything is rolled in and you don’t get the additional charge when you hit the front counter. Tips and taxes, things you kind of forget about but quickly need to remember when you go back home.

Overall, we had a good visit back to the US but the time change leaves you at a disadvantage. You can push yourself to around 8:00pm but no matter how later you stay up, you are awake and ready to take on the day really early (4:00 – 5:00am). We expected it so it wasn’t a surprise but it still makes for a little bit of a difference day and working around to get things done early in the day before you hit the wall in the middle of the afternoon. We did a lot of shopping to buy pants, shoes and other things that are more difficult to locate the proper sizes in Suzhou. We brought back to the US many of the local trinkets from China (fans, silk art, glass globes, etc.). I think we ended up almost even with the weight of the bags in both directions. It is the way things happen when you make these trips. We know many Expats that go home and stock up on items that are more difficult to locate in China (or if they can be located, the brands are just not as trustworthy as the brands we know). So we went, we saw, we conquered. And then, it was back to China where we are the foreigners; that can be a good thing.