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From the Motherland to the Holy Land…

February 23rd, 2010 by Johanna | Leave comments | Filed in China, Travels, USA! USA!

I’m off to Israel for the next 12 days.

Coincidentally, there is a huge issue tying all three countries — the U.S., China and Israel — together: Iran’s nuclear program.

Israel will be sending a delegation to China later this month to persuade China to sanction Iran so that Iran might decide it’s against their interests to keep trying to make nukes.

China, of course, prefers to just negotiate with Iran. Though Israel has gotten Russia on board somewhat, China is a stubborn little child and is unlikely to back down because of a) their ties to Iran, but mostly b) pressure from the West, which it hates.

Ye Hailin, the international relations professor quoted in the article, showed a keen understanding of how Iran works and China’s position: Iran’s desire to develop “nuclear power” cannot be measured with money, and ties in deeply with their dignity and honor. In the same vein, China will lose face (OH HELL NO) if it bows to Western pressure and get very little appreciation in return. Naturally, articles like this one won’t entice China to come around any more.

China is still a developing country from more than just an economic standpoint. Psychologically, Beijing has developed about as much as a 5-year-old. Note to Beijing: The world will never take you seriously, no matter how fast you develop or how big your economy is, until you start being responsible for goodness’ sake without needing recognition for it.

CNY fireworks show puts Fourth of July to shame

February 14th, 2010 by Johanna | Leave comments | Filed in China, Reflections, Stories, Travels

The Chinese are so different so often that sometimes it’s easy to forget they still are fundamentally like the rest of us.* Enter the Lunar New Year. The atmosphere leading up to the big day is something akin to the end of the year for us Christians/Westerners. The warm holiday spirit infuses everybody and everything. People are happy, animated and generous; there is an electricity and excitement that even a complete hermit or someone who had just come out from under a rock would be hard pressed to miss.

And then, when the clock strikes midnight, something really magical happens. Or it did last night. There was no 10-second countdown. The Chinese countdown lasts much longer and builds up for days. Fireworks, firecrackers and sparklers go off randomly during the day and night the week before, gradually more and more often in anticipation. And then–

Up on the 32nd floor of a downtown Tianjin hotel, we got a fantastic view of the city from our room. And as far as our eyes could see, there were fireworks going off in every corner, every street. Imagine! — this was happening all across the country!** It was near-spiritual to witness. We’ve never seen anything like it. The Chinese went crazy! More gunpowder was used that night than in the two World Wars combined! We watched for about 15 minutes, crawled back into bed and fell asleep to the blasts, which died down within an hour but lasted into the night.

* I don’t mean to imply that they’re not people — just that they’re really different.

**Granted, Tianjin is a relatively big city, so perhaps in the little villages, the show wasn’t so spectacular.

Reining in the tiger

February 11th, 2010 by Johanna | Leave comments | Filed in China, Travels

Spring Festival is still three days away and there is an official week-long holiday for it, but people are already starting to celebrate. The city is clearing out. Every morning, there has been fewer and fewer people on the streets and bus to work. I like it!

Someone somewhere is setting off fireworks right now. I’ve heard a few these past few days; I’ve seen smoke so far, but not yet a show.

I’ll be off to Tianjin for a few days Saturday. The smart foreigners have fled the country, but I’m looking forward to the temple fairs — if I can find any. My first real Chinese New Year!

More on Datong

August 24th, 2009 by Johanna | Leave comments | Filed in China, Shenanigans, Travels, Work

I wasn’t planning on writing anything for work about my mini-holidays, but I had such an adventure in Datong that I thought it’d be a pity to leave it all out. It turned out to be a little info guide for would-be visitors to Hengshan and the Hanging Monastery.

The long road home

August 13th, 2009 by Johanna | Leave comments | Filed in China, Stories, Travels, USA! USA!

1223 Beijing time

Beijing Capital International Airport — Less than an hour until my flight. I think I might even be boarding soon! But I’m in a small cafe in the corner of the gate, which is tucked in the basement below all of the other terminals. My return to the U.S. has not begun well. Air China overbooked Flight 981, so I got stuck with an aisle seat. For 13 hours. Oy.

Then I had to walk probably a mile and half with all of my stuff (there’s a lot of it) to Gate E52, which ended up being in the basement. Now I’m sipping a latte, which is actually a cappuccino, and it’s really small, and I paid 29 kuai for it. I wanted to use the Internet, but it’s not working. I guess I already have spent 229 kuai today, charged to my debit card, which I hope won’t rack up huge conversion costs. Please, Wachovia, spare me.

This is my first coffee I’ve had since I left the States. I can’t believe I’m leaving still …

Goodbyes were short and sweet but otherwise anti-climactic, as goodbyes usually are. Shouldn’t there be something to mark my leave? I barely notice that I’m gone.

I miss Beijing already. My last picture of Beijing is one of my breakfast, a shao bing jia jidan.

Byebye, Beijing =(

1248 Beijing time

Aboard CA Flight 981 — It gets worse. After walking for a mile and half, I then had to be transported to the airplane via bus, a ride that lasted about five minutes. Then I had to climb stairs to the door of a Boeing 747-400 in the blazing Beijing heat that struck a couple of days ago, under a sun that isn’t being blocked by the usual Beijing smog. Just to be clear: I’m carrying the maximum-size carry-on suitcase, a large bookbag and a huge purse that weighs even more. Everything is stuffed full. Thanks, China Air, for being too cheap to rent a real terminal. Oh, and I’m also in heels, which I decided to wear because they took up more room in my suitcase than my flip-flops. I realize I am a bit excessive and have completely dressed and packed wrong for the occasion, but don’t they realize that some people have three months worth of luggage? I paid 200 RMB for my overweight luggage, which if it had been 2 kilograms more would be triple that price. Actually, it was 2 kilograms more. I had to repack my luggage and cram things into my carry-ons and other checked bag. Oy.

Please, please, Wachovia, do not make me pay a ridiculous amount for paying in a different currency.

Less than 10 minutes until scheduled takeoff. Half of the people aren’t even seated, yet, so we’ll see. (more…)

Cat and Joh’s Great Datong Ice Cream Adventure

August 11th, 2009 by Johanna | Leave comments | Filed in China, Food, Shenanigans, Stories, Travels

After coming back from our big adventure to the Hanging Monastery, we rested for a bit at our hotel. We decided we weren’t very hungry but should eat anyway around 8 p.m., so we went to the hotel next door. It had a pretty nice restaurant (we had eaten there the night before). We ordered some vegetables, xiao chi and dao xiao mian (knife-cut noodleds), a regional specialty. It was very good and a lot of food. You may recall that we weren’t hungry. We stuffed ourselves silly. At the end of the meal, Catherine starts telling me about how southern Chinese people traditionally believe that there are compartments in our stomachs for each flavor and that her sweet compartment is still hungry. I told her mine was, too. It was bingqilin time. (more…)

Datong: Really is all the same

August 8th, 2009 by Johanna | Leave comments | Filed in China, Reflections, Travels

Just back from Datong. I need to go meet a friend, though, but here are a few thoughts:

Datong, briefly: It’s nasty and dirty. China is, in general, but Datong is nasty and dirty in a different way. Shanxi is infamous for its coal mines, and the dust from the coal supposedly blankets the whole province. I don’t know if the dust in Datong was coal, though, it was mostly just very fine dirt. I suspect it was everywhere because Datong seemed to be tearing up all of its roads. Everywhere we went, we would drive at least on two really really bumpy dirt roads that looked to be once paved. Our hotel room had a bunch of bugs, including roaches. There also is no ice cream in Datong, which I will elaborate on later.

China, generally: My mini-holidays are over, and the next time I travel somewhere, it will be to go home. Getting out of Beijing has made me realize how spoiled this city has made me, though. Which is interesting to think because of how living in Beijing has made me realize how spoiled the States has made me. Beijing has culture; I mean, it has different people from different backgrounds, and they all clash with each other. At the same time, Beijing is still Beijing, still China, and it is so without losing its identity and history. It is surely changing rapidly, but getting lost in its hutongs will still transport you back in time. Datong was uninspiring, everywhere the same. In Beijing, vendors at markets vary very little, and the whole city of Datong was like that. Every store on a street by our hotel was a little convenience shop (more on this later). Another street was all mian guan (restaurants selling noodles). Of course, Datong is not a big city like Beijing. Perhaps it’s a good sign of progress that China has cities like Beijing, which was so different just 30 years ago. But, though cities are always ahead of the wave, they are not necessarily harbingers of the future.

Qingdao ahoy!

August 8th, 2009 by Johanna | 1 comment | Filed in China, Shenanigans, Stories, Travels

Actually, there isn’t anything ! about Qingdao. Wait, no, there is one thing, and here it is:

The one good thing about Qingdao: I found an ice cream place that serves ice cream on a waffle cone — three delicious scoops for only six kuai! And on our last night, I tried to get some for dessert, but the place had already closed. Devastated, I loitered around for a few moments. The really sweet guy who worked there noticed me, and perhaps even remembered me from a couple of days before, and said he can still get me some ice cream on a waffle cone if I wanted it. He was all smiley and happy to serve me, too. It was the cutest thing ever, and it made my night.

Besides that, Qingdao was full of potential greatness, but we were let down repeatedly. Perhaps it was because we had absolutely no idea where Qingdao was, what it looked like or what to do there, no plans and no time to think about any of these things. But I was still expecting something exciting. (more…)

If you’re ever in Dandong, stay at the Crowne Plaza.

July 27th, 2009 by Johanna | Leave comments | Filed in China, Travels

A rather unfortunate fact: My favorite part about my mini-holiday to Dandong was the hotel I stayed at. Crowne Plaza Dandong was probably one of the best things I’ve ever treated myself to. This is not a slight on Dandong (the town was fun), but Beijing has been rather rough on me. I think I’ve only recently began to realize how much I needed to get away, and staying here has been one of the most pleasant outcomes for things I wasn’t expecting. In fact, I am enjoying my last few moments of Dandong at a dessert cafe in the lobby of my hotel. Here, they have rather decent (above China average) Wi-Fi and homemade ice cream. The staff is so friendly and helpful. I love our doormen, who call cabs for us twice a day, open the doors for us, and greet us upon our return with “Hui lai le, Yueh xiaojie?” I love the travel service guys who kept our bags and shoes nice and safe for us. I love the pool, accessible only through the locker room, which had amazing shampoo, conditioner and lotion (and flowers and hair dryers), and its Nemo float. I love the beds, which had pristine white down comforters and pillows. I love how clean I feel here.

And now I have to leave. I will return post-hard seat with a sore ass.

Thoughts from Dandong

July 26th, 2009 by Johanna | 1 comment | Filed in China, Travels

First impressions: Dandong feels like the Myrtle Beach of China, complete with waterfront seafood restaurants and an island with a small amusement park. There are bright neon lights at night, a road and walkway along the river and lots of public spaces. It is in these public spaces where Dandong comes alive. Many groups of people, young and old, gather around: to play jianzi (the Chinese hackey sack), play music, listen to music, people-watch, dance, exercise, swim, fish, catch frogs or just enjoy the night air. Walking along this riverfront drive, one finds it impossible to go more than 100 meters without stopping to watch — something.

North Korea: I saw the Ferris wheel! It looked lonely and out of place (after all, Kim Jong-il just put it there for show and didn’t intend for any North Koreans to actually enjoy it). It wasn’t lit up at night, either, but little of the DPRK was — a stark contrast to Dandong right across the Yalu River. I wonder how the North Koreans I saw through a telescope feel: envious? thankful? confused? curious?

North Koreans: North Koreans are farmers living in sad houses, as best I can tell through a telescope off the Hushan Chang Cheng (Great Wall at Tiger Mountain). I saw some again at the Duan Qiao (OK, the broken bridge), and they were playing (or washing) in the water at a really tiny beach. (more…)

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