New Years

After Kenneth picked me up we took the train to our hotel/apartment. Since it was New Years, we went over to one of the other Microsoft people’s apartments and had dim sum(hot pot) for supper, which is, I think, what people traditionally have. Kenneth and I had vegetarian hot pot, which isn’t really hot pot, but that is ok. (Hot pot is pretty meat-centric, I think.) We boiled some broth, and dumped some stuff in and ate it, so we went through the motions, anyway. C and Y, the other two Microsoft people, had real hot pot, with meat flavored broth and dough wrapped balls of things- fish balls, shrimp balls, chicken balls, beef balls, and then also chunks of meat. We all put some fun little rice patty things into the pot to cook too; they were about the size of a quarter and about an eighth of an inch thick, and were chewy but really good. We also had these weird translucent noodles. Well, we tried to eat the noodles. Since they were translucent, they were sort of hard to find in the broth. Also they were really slippery. So we didn’t actually end up eating many of them.

After supper we watched some of the New Years specials on tv. I slept through most of the tv-watching because I was pretty jet lagged, but from what I saw there were lots of silly skits and “Hello and Happy New Year from Mrs. Li’s fourth grade class in Jiangxi Province” and that sort of thing. No acrobats, which was lame. Looked terrible, I was glad I couldn’t understand most of it. Dreadful to have to be in the audience I expect, and to have to smile happily and wave whenever the cameras panned over you. But I guess if that is your sort of thing, it would have been ok. Looked horrible to me though, sitting there with a huge smile on your face trying to enjoy artificial good will, laughing at lame skits, staring bright eyed at has-beens up on stage singing and joking with the guests.

Of course, I might have been a little grumpy, what with the jet lag and all.

We heard intermittent fireworks all night. AAAALLLLLL Night. People are allowed to set off fireworks here. Kenneth and Y had bought some fireworks the day before, so around ten we went out to set off our own fire works. K and Y hadn’t been sure what to buy, so most of the stuff we had was fairly small, but that didn’t really matter. It was still really fun to set them off. We don’t get to blow things up in the US. I suppose that is probably for the best, but it is awesome- setting off fire crackers.

With one type of firework, we didn’t know to hold the tube with the explosives in it straight up. So we lit it, holding it kind of diagonally/horizontal. There were police officers hanging out all night in the public spaces, just sort of making sure that nothing went too wrong, keeping an eye on things, but pretty much letting people do what they wanted. However, when the police officers saw what we were doing, they ran over to us, as a group, screaming. . . something. I don’t speak Mandarin, so I couldn’t tell. But when the fireworks starting coming out of the tube straight at a parked van, we figured it out, and immediately pointed the explosives up towards the sky. Then we knew what the proper etiquette was for setting off fireworks. Learn by doing, I guess.

New Years part 2

The cops totally didn’t trust us after that though, and supervised our fireworking until we were done and went inside. Really, it was nice of them to make sure that we were setting explosives on fire the right way. We had a lot of fun setting off fireworks; I wish we could do it in America. It is a super good time, lighting stuff on fire. But I guess we were a pretty good case study on why you don’t let the general public blow stuff up. But it could have been a lot worse. We didn’t blow up the van, and nobody went to jail.
---
Fireworks are so loud and sparkly when you are up close. You light the fuse, and then there is this loud BOOM and fire and a big splash of color in the sky, and you are like: Wow. I did that. And the People’s Republic of China trusts me with the responsibility of not doing anything wrong with this stuff. That is so great. I want to light some more sparkly stuff on fire. So then you do, and no one stops you. Not even the police officers who are watching you nervously from across the parking lot.

When we had blow up all the stuff that Y and Kenneth had bought, we wandered around to see what else was going on. Turns out, not a lot. Mostly people doing what we had been doing, setting off their personal stock of fireworks. But it wasn’t a fun thing to watch, because we would be walking, and hear something going on, like a bunch of fireworks getting set off, but by the time we had walked over there, all the action would be done. After trying to see stuff for about an hour, we decided that we were cold, and went home. We did see people setting off fireworks out of their windows, which I thought was very exciting.

Back home, at midnight, we watched fireworks. Apparently that was the time to see stuff, but I was just too tired. What I was able to stay awake for was incredible though. Unbelievable. Pow pow pow, like if you found 20 popcorn poppers and put a bunch of microphones up them and then set them all going at once. Then you might gather a bunch of coffee makers and get them percolating and set up another pile of microphones in front of them. If you did that, and kept it up for a solid 30 minutes, you would hear what New Years in Beijing sounded like. Lots before and lots after too, but right at midnight it was crazy.

It kept going all week too. There were still fireworks going off a week later. Every now and then, not the same intensity, but still fairly consistently. We got to the point where we didn’t even look up; where I didn’t turn my head to see fireworks going off in the periphery of my vision. I think there was some festival a week after New Years or something, because there was another big night of fireworks about a week later, but the constant barrage was just crazy. I never thought I would get sick of fireworks, but for about a week Beijing sounded like a war zone. One part of the neighborhood would set off a round, then another part would answer. Then the first part would return the volley. Then a third part would explain that it wanted in on the action too. With all the smoking that people do here, I am surprised that Beijing hasn’t been turned into a smoking hole in the ground several times over.

Oh well. Chinese people do know how to have fun.

Airport

Here is a picture of the awesome Beijing airport.

Hong Kong

I am going to go a little out of order, because I am a little behind on blog posts, but we just went to Hong Kong and it was really fun. Also, Kenneth hasn't transferred the pictures off the camera yet, so I will put up a few pictures next time.

My favorite ting in Hong Kong was this FABulous vegetarian place called Light Vegetarian Restaurant. We got to Hong Kong on Friday and left Sunday, and we went to Light three times. One- because it was so super good, and two- because it was still in existence. All the other vegetarian places that were listed in our book were no longer around. In a city the size of New York, there must be enough patronage to support more than one vegetarian restaurant, but we couldn’t find any of them.

At this fabulous restaurant we ate a bunch of delicious dim sum- which are these little dumpling things steamed in wooden containers. They can be little dumplings that are basically a filling in a thin rice wrapper, or buns about 2 inches in diameter that are made of rice flour, but are a little more bread like. The fillings can be all sorts of veggie combinations: bok choy, water chestnut, carrot, mushrooms, celery, usually really salty to give the bland wrapping some flavor. They also have sweet buns, with red bean filling in them. They tasted like Chinese donuts without all the fat. Mmmm.

Our first time there, I ordered the taro root fish. The fish was awesome. It was basically mashed taro root (like mashed potato with a slightly different flavor) carved into the shape of a fish and deep fried. It was like a huge french fry.

Wandering around downtown Hong Kong made me feel like a hayseed. There are so many huge buildings, gathered together in groups, like a bunch of tall, angular, grey giants at a cocktail party, discussing some book you haven’t read. At their feet are well dressed people walking around doing important things, like going to meetings to talk about per capita sales revenue forecasts and then shopping in exclusive boutiques where the sales people all call you by your first name. It just exudes this sophisticated feeling that I haven’t really felt anywhere else. It isn’t intimidating exactly, more overawing. I really felt like I had just fallen off of the turnip truck. American cities don’t make me feel like that.

One night we went to the Kowloon night market. Kowloon sort of part of Hong Kong the city, I think, but it is labeled separately on the map. The following analogy might be somewhat appropriate- Brooklyn is to Manhattan as Kowloon is to Hong Kong.

Night market was fun. Lots of cheap crap to get, little stalls filled with tourist junk, t-shirts, bad crafts, that sort of thing. Shills trying to get you to come to their stall, tourists slowly ambling up and down the aisles. We walked around for a few hours until we were tired of walking and bargaining, and then sat at the big outdoor restaurant in the middle of the market to take in the scene. The restaurant had a very street food feel, and there were a bunch of folding tables and cheap plastic chairs set up all over the street, and about 15 waitresses running around getting people’s orders and carrying trays of seafood everywhere. They were fine with us just sitting and having a beer, so we sat and watched everyone eat and eat and eat. It was humid, hot, and sweaty, and everyone was smoking, and there were bright lights that killed any sense of pretension or sophistication. It felt like it was everyone’s night out to relax, to wear whatever was on top of the laundry pile, to eat too much and talk too loudly and sit too long: the opposite of downtown. It was a really great place to be.

One day we spent on the actual island of Hong Kong, where downtown is, and where a few other scenic places are. We went up to Victoria Peak, which bounds downtown on one side. (the bay is on the other side.) It is an interesting quirk of development that HK was built on this strip of land between water and mountain, so that it really does have to go up, rather than out. I think that makes the structure of a city a lot more interesting. Hong Kong is strictly limited by its environment, there isn’t anywhere to go but up, so you have to be creative about how you use the land.

I hear that Victoria Peak has amazing views of the city. It should, since it is a sharply ascending hill overlooking downtown. However, as we went up the funicular (ground based cable car) to get there, the clouds rolled in behind us, COMPLETELY obscuring any view of the city. We could barely see a few hundred yards around us. So we had absolutely no view of anything. It was totally lame, we walked around in whitish pea soup for an hour and then went back down. The park had a nice path to walk on though, so at least that was pleasant, even if there was no view to impress us.

We wandered around downtown some too. One place we walked through was the HSBC bank building. What is interesting about this building is that the bottom of it is open. The structure is supported by eight pillars (according to the guidebook, I feel like there were more) and there is a big open area at the bottom that you can walk through from north to south, just a big clear space. The building was built with its first floor elevated like this because of a principle of feng shui- the building couldn’t block the path between the seat of government and the main point of entry to the island, the ferry terminal. So they left the way clear for walking. It looks sort of unusual, but not anything I would have really thought about if I hadn’t read about it. It was kind of funny to me that a bank would care about that sort of thing though.

On Sunday there were packs of ayis hanging out in the bottom of the bank, having picnics and visiting. An ayi is a nanny/housekeeper (think Alice from the Brady Bunch) and there are a lot of them here, because labor is cheap. The ones in HK all seem to be imported from the Philippines, so they all like to hang out together on Sundays.

We also went around the back of the island to Stanley Beach. The best thing there was the phosphorescence. We were walking along the water, and Kenneth noticed the surf glowing when the tides crossed themselves coming in and out. It was like little swarms of lightening bugs in the water, really amazing. Then we saw kids throwing rocks into the water, and making the phosphorescence splatter out like glow in the dark paint in the water droplets. Kenneth thought this was cool, so he spent a while throwing rocks into the ocean, watching the water glow. Then he spent some more time throwing rocks and taking pictures. Then he wanted to throw rocks and look at the water glow. Eventually he was willing to leave.

That night we took the ferry back across the bay to downtown to see the skyline. It was nice, mostly my impression was that is was really long. Hong Kong is big.

Saturday was Valentines Day, so we saw a lot of couples out that night. The flower shops were selling these huge bouquets- all evening I watched heroic little Chinese women staggering around under the weight of their flowers, desperately clutching their sheaves of roses, swaying romantically into walls and other pedestrians.

Our last day we went to a big temple in Kowloon, and then a few markets. The temple was really crowded. It was big and colorful and packed full of people- the monks (or monk assistants) were doing some serious crowd control out front. We got ushered through the front gates with probably a mass of about a hundred people. We all poured over and around some of the lesser shrines, and through to the main hall. Everyone had incense, the air was thick and chokey with it. I also really thought it was interesting to watch worshippers getting their fortunes out in front of the main temple. People had a little cup with a bunch of sticks with different markings on them, and they would shake the cup until one came out, and that stick told their fortune.

Next we walked through the flower market, the bird market, and the fish market. I really liked the flower market. Piles and piles of flowers everywhere, it was beautiful. They mostly had cut flowers and bouquets, maybe that is normal, or maybe that is what they had stocked up on, since is was Valentines day weekend. Kenneth just wanted to walk through it as fast as he could, so we could get to the bird market and the fish market.

It is funny how vendors pile up together here. They all seem to gather up onto individual streets together.

Orchids grow like weeds in Hong Kong- it is a great climate for them.

Next we went to the bird market. It was a little sad, but not too much so. The birds were probably a bit unhappy, but it didn’t look like their conditions were too bad, for the most part. It isn’t really in the seller’s interest to harm the merchandise, after all.

The bird market exists because apparently little old Chinese men like to take their pet birds for walks in the park. I haven’t seen this yet, but I think this is really cute.

The bird market didn’t smell the best, but the sounds were gorgeous, with trilling and singing and chirruping all around. And some of the birds were really pretty. Also, there were lots of crickets for sale, presumably for feeding to birds. I thought that was kind of icky.

Next we walked down to the fish market. This is the street with all the fish sellers on it. I thought it would be more like a market where you bought food, but it was actually more of an aquarium type of place. There were fish of all sizes, the coolest were like two feet long, and looked like they would be hard to take down, if it was you vs the fish. Those were a few hundred US dollars. There were also lots of little fish in baggies hanging off racks in doorways for just a dollar or two. Kenneth wanted to get a hermit crab. I wanted to get an amemone and name it Friend. But we decided it would be too hard to transport them.

On our way out of town, we stopped by an island by the airport (the airport is way out of town on a flat island made of landfill). Tourists visit this little island by the airport because a few years ago a Buddhist monastery there invested millions of dollars in making an enormous Buddha statue/shrine at the top of a small mountain. Now lots and lots of people make it out to see the statue. Kenneth had wanted to skip the Buddha, since we have seem plenty of giant Buddhas, especially in Thailand, but I really wanted to go, and people recommended it, so we made time. It was definitely worth it- the approach alone made it worth while. It was at the top of 168 steps, and sitting at the top of a peak made it really impressive.

Also, the bus ride out to the Buddha was great. Not much to see, just some views of the island, which is nothing special. Our driver was the fun part. He either hates his job and wants to die in a fiery bus crash, or hates tourists and wants them to die in a fiery bus crash, or hates buses and wants to destroy one in a fiery bus crash. Or maybe he thinks he is a race car driver, and will not understand why he is dying in a fiery bus crash, when it eventually happens. Or maybe the driver wins a prize if he finishes his route first. I thought buses were supposed to follow a schedule, and arrive at specified times, but what do I know? The guidebook says that the ride to the Buddha statue takes about 50 minutes. We took 35. It was like being on a roller coaster. I mean, it was fun, because when you are on the bus, there is nothing you can do but accept that this is the nature of things and that you might be dying in a fiery bus crash today, so you may as well sit back and enjoy the ride, but it may have been a little too exciting for someone with a heart condition, or who was in the late stages of pregnancy.

There was a cable car going from the Buddha statue to the end of the subway line by the airport, so we took the car over the mountains and were almost at the airport, then got a cab the rest of the way. The cable car was fun, but there was one point at the middle where the car went over a peak and then precipitously down the other side for about 10 seconds. Everyone in the car went “Woooooaaaaaaah!!!” It felt like the bottom had dropped out of my stomach. I don’t think I ever really knew what that phrase meant until that cable car ride, but now I do. Ride was fun though.

Then we went back to Beijing.

The Flight

Catching my flight to China was very exciting. Part of the problem was that I only got to the airport an hour and a half before departure. I know I am supposed to get there two hours ahead of time, but I thought that since I was flying to San Francisco first, maybe I didn’t the full two hours. Turns out I was wrong.

At the check in counter, initially I stood in the regular economy class line, and tried to use one of the consoles to check in and get a boarding pass. Unfortunately, even though I typed in all my passport info twice, the little machine wouldn’t read my visa. So I ended up having to stand in the Special Persons Line, for those who need extra special help checking in. I was behind a group of 5 servicemen, each of whom had an extra bag to pay for and weapons to register, and a family with two small children. The family looked like they were going to be easy for the desk to deal with, until they got up to the front and I realized that one of the men with them was an interpreter, and that none of them spoke English. (Except, obviously, the interpreter.) So, if the machine had been able to read my visa, I would have been in plenty of time for my flight. Since it couldn’t, I had to wait in line for 45 minutes watching all likelihood of catching my plane tick away. But I guess that’s why they tell you to get there two hours early, to prepare for such contingencies. Still, it took an hour when it should have taken 5 minutes.

I finally got to the front, and the guy behind the counter typed in my visa stuff, checked me in, and called ahead to see if the plane could get my bags on. I took off running through security and through the terminals as fast as I could. I ran all the way to the gate, and squeaked onto the plane right before they closed the doors. I was completely winded and have decided that I need to work out more.

Then I collapsed into my seat, and sat thinking about how great I was for making it to the plane on time. Then I sat on the plane for an hour before they took off due to technical difficulties. As an added bonus, during my hour on the tarmac I got to stare at my boarding pass for my next flight, my connection to China, and watch the hour window that I had had between flights trickle slowly away.

Once we landed in San Francisco, I grabbed my bags and zipped off the plane. On the plane they had told us to go to for getting our connecting flights. Our plane had brought us to gate 90, and I just had to get to gate 97, so I figured I might be ok. I stood in the hall for a few minutes, trying to figure out which direction to go, but the corridor I was on ended at gate 90. Gate 97 was in the international terminal. Damn damn damn, Five lengths of hallway away. So I put my backpack on my back and grabbed my carry on suitcase around the middle (the handle had broken that morning) and started running. At the mouth of the international gate corridor there was an airline employee shouting “BEIJING!! BEIJING!!” and swinging her arms like a bystander in a race. I shouted my name at her and she radioed ahead for them to keep the door open. I made it with about 3 minutes to spare, gasping like a fish.

Once I was on the plane though, it was super awesome. Because I was actually traveling on New Years, the plane was only half full, since it is sort of like traveling Christmas Eve in the US- most people are already with their families. So I got to stretch out over two seats. Not as nice as what Kenneth had in first class, but Microsoft wasn’t paying for my seat. Still, it was like pseudo-first class.

Anyway, I finally got to Beijing. The Beijing airport is all it was advertised to be, definitely one of the most beautiful airports I have ever been in. Lots of majestic, sweeping glass ceilings, interesting and invigorating spaces, and light feeling, airy rooms. It felt sort of like a docking port for space ships, or a dealership for really fantastic cars. It is the kind of place you would want to film a Windex commercial in, but as a Windex executive, you probably don’t have the kind of pull needed to make that happen.

Totally cute: in immigration, the police officer who reviewed my passport had a little machine in front of her with her number and some buttons on it, and I could rate her on her speediness and customer service. There were 4 buttons: excellent, satisfactory, took too long, and did a bad job, with little smiley to little frowny faces on them. When she was done looking at my visa, the little buttons lit up to remind me to press one. She was fast, so I gave her an “excellent” and a little thumbs up as I passed by. Going through immigration here was a hell of a lot more efficient than it is at Sea-Tac, that’s for sure.

After I picked up my luggage (Which, incidentally, must have been carried to my plane in San Francisco as fast as I ran though the airport, so I was very impressed to see it arriving on my flight with me. Not that I ran very fast, more that the San Francisco airport people must be really on their game.) I had to pass through customs. In India they x-rayed everything, in Chile they x-rayed everything and then went through it with gloved hands. I don’t remember Thailand, but in China, like in Taiwan, apparently you just have to walk through a doorway that says “Nothing to Declare” to enter the country with your bags. So I walked through that doorway.

And luckily Kenneth was there to meet me, and we went to the apartment.

There is an Ikea here, we saw it on the way in.