A Pork-Free Vacation

Gong Xi Fa Cai! Tiffany and I headed down to Malaysia for the Chinese New Year holiday two weeks ago, ready to escape the wet, cold Shanghai winter. Malaysia was like the rest of Southeast Asia, warm and tropical, a welcome respite for our chilled bones. The country was an interesting cultural mix. Some people looked more Indian, others more Chinese, and nearly every blended shade in between. Malaysia also has a very large Muslim population, and this was visibly apparent everywhere we went, and painfully apparent every pork-less meal we ate. In the Year of the Pig, we found nothing but beef bacon, turkey ham and chicken sausage.We started out in Kuala Lumpur (or “KL”), home of the famous Petronas Twin Towers, a pair of spiraling 88-story, 1,500-foot silver skyscrapers (about 30 feet taller than Chicago’s Sears Tower), connected by a sky bridge 41 stories high. The view was amazing; the city looked like a thick field of dense tropical greenery dotted with gray groups of buildings here and there. Even vertigo-prone Tiffany could appreciate the vast overview of the lush landscape.




















Once safely back on the ground, we set out to explore the city streets.







And immediately got lost. And then got even more lost. Armed with three separate maps, we were nevertheless undone by a maze of unmarked KL streets. We had fun wandering through random streets and alleys. Small marketplaces and food stands littered the sidewalks and hawkers called out with their siren songs of fresh fruit, multi-colored cold drinks, and skewers of meat and seafood. We found long stretches of imitation luxury goods, and found that our life in Shanghai had immunized us to their appeal (and not even I need 3 Dolce belts!) It was chaotic and crowded and full of fascinating people watching.We then visited KL’s major park, and walked through the national museum and a butterfly park.














We took a quick flight to the island of Penang, which was once a British colony. We even stayed in the colonial part of the island called Georgetown! The city had lots of beautiful old architecture, and the famous E&O Hotel, named after the colonial Eastern and Oriental Trading Company.















Finally, we took a 2 hour boat ride to Langkawi, an island beach resort, for some rest and relaxation.

I think this was when Tiffany and I realized that throughout our trip was an undertone of slight discomfort. Not in an obvious way, but subtle reminders along the way that while the Muslim and non-Muslim communities could peaceably live intermixed throughout the same country, they were still definitely two very separate cultures. The breakthrough realization moment came on the boat trip, where we were seated behind two beachwear-clad European girls and a young Muslim couple. The Muslim boyfriend was seated in between his girlfriend, in full-black burka regalia, and the two (for lack of a clearer description) white girls. Apparently having every body part but your eyes covered forces one to develop some very effective eye movements, because it only took one hard look from behind the veil, and the boyfriend jumped up out of his seat as if he’d sat on a tack, and quickly switched seats with his secretive senorita. Maybe it was just our inexperience in living among Muslims, but Tiffany and I were ill at ease among the black burkas, unable to tell if the veils hid laughing mouths, or tired yawns, or even bored expressions from having foreigners like us unsubtly trying to subtly stare at them.Anyway, it was an interesting experience that became no easier upon our arrival to the beautiful resort at Langkawi. As we skipped between the pool, beach, restaurants and spa in our scant beachwear, we often walked by the black robed women, and while we felt a bit underdressed in front of them, we felt more sympathy for what looked to be a mobile oven, fully covered in layers of black material under the humid 90 degree midday sun. Unfortunately, we did not see any of the highly touted 'Burkinis' that we've seen mentioned quite frequently on BBC.

To break up our lounging by the pool and reading on our balcony relaxation routine, we did take a boat tour of the highly anticipated Langkawi mangroves.
















We got to see lots of wildlife along the ride. Fortunately, we spent most of the time on the boat, and weren't able to get too close to the monkeys on shore.



The tour also included a stop at an outdoor, rudimentary outdoor aquarium, where we got to see gigantic fish and touch a stingray.








We also stopped to see some bat caves. All I could think of was Ace Ventura, Pet Detective, as the sharp, biting reek of guano (bat poop) cut into our nostrils.









All in all, the trip provided some interesting city and cultural exploration opportunities, as well as some much needed blue skies and clean air. But at the end of the week, we were ready to get back to the hustle and bustle and pork filled menus of Shanghai.

365 Days of Pork

It’s official, we’ve finished the Year of the Dog and have entered the Year of the Pig. To welcome in the New Year, it’s common for most companies to have their annual New Year parties. These events are similar to the traditional office Christmas Party in some ways, lots of food and alcohol are served, bonuses are distributed, senior management gives annual performance speeches, etc. But the Chinese version of the annual party is almost like a combination of a a night at a karaoke lounge and a work version of American Idol.


Many of the departments spent countless weekends honing their routines or working on costumes. Our HR team recreated the ever popular Riverdance routine, and the only guy in the department was nominated to become the Chinese version of Michael Flately, Lord of the Dance. They went so far as to hire a professional coach to teach them the moves. Out of respect for the time and effort expended by the group, I will restrain from commenting on the performance.








Housekeeping went out of their way on the costume front.














For those departments less musically inclined, ‘embarrass the laowai (foreigner)’ games were created. I was brought up on stage to reenact different times of day on a human clock…..







And then, in a game I still don’t fully understand, we were blindfolded and lead around the stage. Apparently, we were quite entertaining, as the crowd went wild.






After attending two of these dinners back to back, Zach and I fled Shanghai, and what was sure to be a firecracker filled week, and headed to Malaysia. We’ll update you on that trip soon, but if you’re interested in seeing some of our pictures, check out www.flickr.com/photos/tiffandzach.

Happy Valentine's Day!- Take 1

In the ever constant exportation of American everything to the rest of the world, Valentine's Day is not left out. In fact, it seems that Chinese do Valentine's day bigger than Americans, or at least they do it more often. Apparently, the Chinese celebrate not only the traditional February 14, but also a separate, Chinese Valentine's day, which is the 7th day of the 7th month of the lunar New Year (sometime in August). And due to some sort of leap month in 2006, it was celebrated 3 times last year. Valentine's Day is celebrated quite traditionally here. As expected, florists are doing mad business, the day price of roses is exorbitant, and restaurants pull out all the stops with romantic, overpriced, set 'love menus'. What struck me as a little odd, but not surprising is the lengths guys have to go through on the holiday(s), at least in Shanghai.

To give some background, Shanghainese woman are renowned for wearing the pants in the family. It's standard protocol for Shanghainese women to collect their husband's checks and issue 'allowances' back to him, and Zach and I have seen on more than one occasion a Shanghainese woman yelling at her boyfriend/husband on the street, only to have the boyfriend/husband resort to a submissive, crying mess. In fact, our Chinese teacher validated this positioning, by telling us her parents were a very traditional Shanghainese couple, her father did all the cooking and cleaning, and when it came to family decisions, her mother made the decision and her father would listen to and agree with her mother. As a disclaimer, this female dominated arrangement is only popular in Shanghai, and according to Chinese friends, does not carry to other cities or provinces. Due to the unique nature of the Shanghainese relationship dynamics, it apparently makes Shanghainese men a hot commodity for other Chinese women who are looking for husbands.

This relationship is apparent on Valentine's Day. Last year, Zach and I were out and about walking the streets of Shanghai, and saw dozens of Shanghainese women being lovingly followed by their boyfriends, each struggling with gigantic bouquets of flowers, to what we assume was to an expensive 'love feast'. And bucking tradition this year, I decided to surprise Zach by sending flowers to his office. When I told my assistant my plan, she laughed at me and responded 'That is so interesting', which her token phrase for most things I do and loosely translates to 'you Americans are so funny and strange'. After leaving my office, I could hear her telling the other girls in the office, which sent them into fits of giggles. Zach's office reacted similarly, in fact, you can see his office 'ayi' in the right of the photo giving him and his bouquet the stare-down. When he called me to thank me for the flowers, I heard fits of laughter in the background, and he said they did not believe the flowers could have been from me, but must be from some secret admirer! Either way, we seem to continue to perpetuate the belief that Americans are unpredictable and strange.

Frosty Harbin

Tiffany and I visited Harbin last weekend, one of China’s northernmost cities and very near the Russian border. It is famous for the annual snow and ice festival, and famous for its freezing temperatures. The snow and ice festivals were monumental displays of precision sculpture, and distinctly Chinese. That is, the Chinese seem to have a flair for the melodramatic, or tacky, to someone less generous. Tiffany and I were hugely entertained, in fact, the gaudier and more outrageous the better. After all, what’s the fun in experiencing a different culture if there are no differences? Suffice to say, we were not disappointed.






We started with the snow festival, where some famous sculptures were remade in snow, like “Crane Kick Squirrel” and “Mao the Mouse”, or whatever that animal is. Buddhas showed up everywhere, of course.

















Even on the streets the Harbin locals got into the spirit of the festival.






One motto of the city seemed to be, “We get one tourist event a year, so milk those lao wai (foreigners) for all they’re worth.” Everywhere we went there were opportunities to spend money. This beautiful snow castle had inner tube slides that you could pay to ride down. Here’s Tiffany flying down a similar slide. I have to say, the speed and lack of any safety equipment whatsoever made for quite an exhilarating ride!




You could rent an ice sled to push yourself around, or even bikes on ice.











Of course, Tiffany’s favorite was the dog sled ride. This 6 minute lap around the ice rink cost us $25. And with a dog that cute, how could we refuse?


Here I am taking a nice nap in a snowy hammock.

There was an entire “main street” carved in snow, with little shops you could actually enter and buy hot tea and souvenirs.














We randomly saw this Harbin local taking his daily backward walk, wearing an Oakland A’s cap. I tried to ask him what he thought about this year’s team, but there was some disconnect. Either that, or he was just too disgusted by their draft to comment.




After the snow festival we were hounded by a street salesman to come into his restaurant and have some tea. So we ended up making a nice contribution to the Harbin Street Sellers after receiving the bill of $15 for our tea and peanuts. We knew we’d been ripped off, but this poor guy was standing out in the cold all day, and his restaurant was empty, so we didn’t feel so bad.

We stopped for lunch at Pizza Hut and witnessed the Crafty Chinese Woman at her finest. Apparently taking time off from constructing snow and ice sculptures, this woman literally spent 20 minutes at the “One serving only” salad bar, piling coleslaw in layers, and using cucumber slices to stabilize her structure. Like I said, everywhere we went we saw very impressive building creations.




As night fell, Harbin turned into a disco. Or at least it felt like it. Colored lights flashed across the city and lit our way like a Chinese kaleidoscope.











A quick stop at Starbucks, oh wait, no that’s “USAbucks”. Knockoff coffee?









We got to the ice festival and it was spectacular, a rainbow spectrum of neon, backed by bass-thumping techno music blaring throughout the park. Believe it or not, all these fluorescent monuments were constructed with blocks of ice, and carved to a meticulous finish.










After taking a horse drawn carriage tour of the festival to get our bearings, and handing over the required tip to our driver (actually he asked in Chinese for a “toll” charge), we wandered around the mammoth ice structures.

Ice mazes, ice tunnels, ice cathedrals, ice replicas of the Forbidden City, there was something for everyone.










I even found a tank sitting in the courtyard.










Of course, Tiffany found some dog/fox-like creature that she paid to cuddle with. She had to return the animal, but got to keep the fleas.
The next day, before we had to leave, we got to take a nice long stroll through Harbin. It is a vast, snowy, frozen tundra of a city, and we had a great time experiencing it!