Soaking Up The Culture

Tiff and I are now in the "final round-up" phase of our China adventure. That means hitting a few off-the-radar places we always wanted to visit, one last trip to favorite restaurants, and covering any potentially embarrassing omissions.

A few weekends ago fell into the last category. During our time in China, I have been to Beijing probably 15 times. However it was always been for work and I had never seen some of China's greatest cultural attractions. Namely, the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and the Summer Palace.

It's ridiculous because almost all of our visitors at least made it up to Beijing to see those three, great sites. But until our recent trip, I had never been. So Tiff and I had a full cultural weekend in Beijing and I am happy to now report that I have seen all three of those fantastic, historical places.

Our first stop was the Great Wall. Here, of course, you can see the pitfalls of asking a friendly passerby to take your photo. This one apparently was only in the mood for candids. I think he was the same tourist who, after explaining that the Wall protected China from invaders, answered his child's question of, "Where did the invaders come from?" with the brilliant response, after a pause, of, "Well... from both sides..." and then proceeded to cut off any follow up questions by pointing out with forced enthusiasm the location of the public restrooms.

The Wall sits on a mountain ridge and was breathtaking as we walked all along it, with beautiful views of the countryside "on both sides" of the Wall. The amazing thing was that, after hiking along for quite some time, we eventually tired, and looked around and at the map, and realized that we had walked just the tiniest fraction of the full length of this massive, ancient barricade.

We took the slide down, which was a thrilling way to end our hike. Basically you sit on a metal sled and with zero steering and limited braking ability, you fly (no protective helmet or seat belt of course) down a winding steel slide to the base of the mountain. I wish I had a picture to show you, but of course, both my white-knuckled fists were gripping the ineffective brake handle for dear life the entire time! The whole way down, I was re-thinking the insurance option we had waived. Of course, it was only 1 RMB (about 15 cents), so probably wouldn't have done much in an accident.

Our next stop was the Summer Palace, where centuries of ruling Chinese came to rest and relax. It is a sprawling spread of over 700 acres of trees, hills, water. We had a nice, tranquil stroll along the lakeside and through the graceful, hilly landscapes, imagining life as part of the royal, ruling families of China during feudal times.

Finally, back in the center of Beijing we experienced China, old and new. The old we saw first, at Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Again, it was hard to conceptualize the sheer enormity of the construction, and as we passed under Mao's watchful eye at the Forbidden City entrance, we walked through gate after gate, into seemingly endless numbers of vast, open courtyards.

The Forbidden City was the former imperial palace which was the home to twenty-four Chinese emperors over 491 years between 1420 and 1911. The Forbidden City is now known as the Palace Museum and is open to Beijing's visitors. The well guarded palace is surrounded by a moat 3,800 metres long and 52 metres wide. Intruders were discouraged by guards in watchtowers with bow and arrows.

And we saw new China being built around us all weekend, from the gravity-defying CCTV building under construction, to the "Bubble", as they are calling the Olympic swimming and diving center, along with the "Bird's Nest", the main Olympic stadium.

The Bird's Nest is the perfect symbol of China advancing into the future, with a complex weaving of steel and concrete, built to modern architectural perfection, in the form of an old China favorite.

The weekend was a great opportunity for me to see what Beijing has to offer outside of hotels and conference rooms.

Wild Wild World of Tiffany

One of the coolest things about our Asian travels is our access to animals. As many of you know, I'm a HUGE fan of animals. Due unknown reasons (possibly a weak PETA presence and legal systems that don't allow people to sue over missing fingers and rabies), I've had lots of opportunities to get my hands on lots of neat critters during the last few years. Here's a list of some of my favorites:

1. My best friend Kimmy and I came across a daily 'March of the Penguins' at a Japanese aquarium during our trip to Miyajima. Kim had to politely but firmly peel my fingers off this little guy in order to give the huge line of kids behind me a chance to get up close and personal with the little guy.

2. Sticking with aquatic themes, here I got to pet a very friendly dolphin in Indonesia. So soft and slippery!

3. After the dolphin incident, one of the trainers introduced me to Sandy, a quasi-pet monkey they had tied up. Zach was mentally chiding himself for not making me get rabies shots before moving to Asia as he saw me get up close and personal with Sandy. This was done with good reason, as right after this picture was taken, she but my finger. Fortunately, she didn't break the skin, as a safety precaution, we doused it with Purell and Zach watched me closely for a foaming mouth for a good week.

4. Zach kept me on a tight leash around monkeys after the biting incident, especially on our Cambodia trip, where they were often found meandering in the parks. Here I'm safely abiding by his monkey to Tiffany distance requests.

5. I got handed this adorable ball of fur during our trip to the Ice Festival in Haerbin. It was a money making ploy, but they picked the right target, as how could I not pay for a picture with this beautiful powder puff?

6. These guys weren't the softest, but they are the largest animals I've managed to pet (and bathe, and feed, and swim with). The Elephant Conservation Park in Thailand has by far been one of the coolest place we've visited on any of our trips, at least in my mind!

Next up on my animal wish-list: Koalas and Pandas!

Something Wicked This Way Comes

Zach received the following email from the head of his office last week. The funniest part is the somewhat 'posed' photograph of the supposed threatening subject that was captured on the security cameras.

Dear colleagues,
Some of you may have been aware that a strange lady visited CS offices on the 17th floor of Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) for a few times during and after the Chinese New Year holidays. The lady called herself Eva and apparently was in mental disorder. Upon our request, property management of the building has enhanced security measures to prevent further access attempts by this lady. The lady may be harmless in all probability, however, mentally imbalanced individuals can sometimes turn violent with little or no provocation and/or warning. Accordingly, to be safe, it is recommended that our staff avoid all contacts with this lady if you encounter her in or near the building. Please also call the building security immediately if you see her in SSE. A photo of the lady is attached below for your reference.

Best regards
Michael

Goooood Morning Vietnam!!

Tiffany and I just returned from Vietnam, where we celebrated Tet, or Vietnam's version of Chinese New Year. Thankfully we made it out just in time, as bad weather conditions across China were jamming up transportation everywhere, and right at the busiest travel time of the year.

Here, can you pick out Tiff and me in the crowd?Just kidding, that was the situation at the Guangzhou train station the day we left, where around 500,000 people were trying to get out of Shanghai! Luckily we were flying. Here we are during our stop at the Guangzhou airport:
(insert cricket noises here.) Lesson learned: Air trumps train travel in China during the holiday season, particularly during fluke, country-wide cold snaps.

We were expecting to warm up in Vietnam and duck the Chinese New Year's crowds. Little did we know, Vietnam was hit by the same cold weather as China, and they were celebrating Tet, Vietnamese New Year!

Here is Tiffany wearing 6 layers of clothes and feeling quite at home with all the traffic.

We visited the infamous Hanoi Hilton, built by the French during colonial times. It was flipped by the Vietnamese and used during the Vietnam War to hold American troops. Sort of looks like a nice French bakery!

I would never make it in the Big House...

They have kept on display the jumpsuit of John McCain, from when he was shot down during the war and held here. The placard next to this flight suit indicated that it belonged to the next US president! Tiffany was befuddled as she thought it looked a bit small for Barak Obama.....but then I jumped in and pointed out that it would fit Hillary perfectly.....

We then went to visit Ho Chi Minh, or as the locals call him, Uncle Ho in his mausoleum. He looked a bit shiny, and the rumor is they send the body back to Russia for an annual tune-up. We had a sneaking suspicion 'Russia' is a code name for Madame Tussaud's in Hong Kong.
Bobby Chinn, famous for World Cafe Asia on Discovery Travel and Living, has a restaurant in Hanoi. The food is a fusion of Egyptian and Vietnamese, and the restaurant has an interesting 'love den' feel (note the rose petals).

We also checked out the Temple of Literature, ancient collection of buildings, gardens and statues dedicated to scholars.

Tiffany goes nose to nose with one of the many turtles (a symbol of wisdom) that filled the temple grounds, while I search for inner peace through the sweet scent of incense.

Here Tiffany caught me looking debonair sipping coffee at Cafe Moca, a cool restaurant in which of my best friend's, Cali, has invested.We then headed to Halong Bay and spent the night on a Junk. It sounded a bit too close to camping for me, but Tiffany was sure to book us on a boat with individual cabins that included private bathrooms and heat. The views were fantastic.

We then headed south to Hoi An, a Unesco World Heritage site.

The city had beautiful architecture and was a nice break from bustling Hanoi.
We also welcomed in the New Year in Hoi An with plenty of fireworks (just in case we were homesick for China). After the show, we walked back through the deserted main market and came across a giant rat looking for food. We tried to keep our disgust at bay and told ourselves it was an auspicious sign for the year of the rat. Tiffany wasn't convinced, particularly when she almost stepped on a flattened mouse a few minutes later.
We also grabbed bikes and rode around the countryside.

And took a cooking class to perfect a few Vietnamese Dishes.
Unfortunately, the cooking class didn't go so well, as I got food poisoning the next day.While I was recovering, Tiffany trekked out to My Son, the ancient imperial village from the Cham Dynasty.

It reminded her of our trip to Angkor Wat.
Unfortunately, part of the area was bombed heavily by the US since the Viet Kong used the area as a hideout during the war. But it was still a beautiful and peaceful walk through the ancient ruins. Historians still haven’t figured out how the original builders managed to hold the big stone pieces together.

All in all, great trip, great country!

Welcoming The New Year with Hats and Rats

It's that time again, Chinese New Year. Leaving the year of the Pig and entering the year of the Rat means it's Company Annual Party time! During the previous 2 annual company parties, I've been made to do embarrassing things, like sing impromptu accapella in front of hundreds of employees or participate in games that I don't quite understand but that the Chinese seem to find hilarious. This year was no different, as our HR team made each department do some kind of performance. My marketing team (above) chose to reinact a joke onstage. The joke seemed to be on me, as I was forced to dress up as a traditional bachelor and had the most mandarin lines of the entire group.

Initially, the theme was going to be 'Roll Into the New Year' and everyone was to 'roll' into the ballroom. I'm not quite sure who came up with that idea, but it was fortunately changed to 'Hats'. I'm wearing a parrot on my head to go along with our skit, and the engineering guy next to me was creative enough to make a Rat Hat out of paper maiche, while Grace our HR director, channeled 'Pirates of the Carribean'.

One of the most entertaining things I've noticed in China is how much people love to sing. They sing all the time, walking down the street, at their desks, in the bathroom, pretty much anywhere's fair game. The kicker is they don't care if it sounds good or not. According to one of the girls on my team, she said singing makes people happy, so they love to do it even if they have terrible voices. As I mentioned before, performances were required from each department, and there was A LOT of singing. While some voices were great, a lot of them resembled bad American Idol auditions.
Dancing was also popular, and departments practiced for months with professional instructors. HR did a beautiful waltz.....

And some groups combine the singing and dancing. In order to fully focus on both, they actually tape their vocal part before the performance, and then play their voices over the speaker system so they lip synch to themselves while they dance. the funny thing is, a lot of them don't even bother to do the lipsynching part, but just dance along to their pre-recorded voices without moving their mouths.
The HR team took the performance seriously and spent a lot of time and money on their costumes....

They even taped on their shoes!
More hats....

All in all, it was another great annual party. Now Zach and I are off to Vietnam to really celebrate the Year of the Rat! Happy Chinese New Year! Xin Nian Kuai Le!