Hiking with the Masses

It's particularly common with Chinese companies to treat their employees to an annual outing. The outing is usually a 2-3 day vacation taken with colleagues (and sometimes their spouses) and paid for by the company. This past weekend, the two of us went with Zach's company to Huangshan to see the famous Yellow Mountain area, a popular tourist destination and a place we've been wanting to visit for a while.

There are a few truths to every Chinese outing. First, there must be a flag present. And that flag is always held by a tour guide that likes to talk. Loudly. And Constantly. On all of the annual outings we've attended (this is our 4th), we usually tend to be the only foreigners, so we can't understand the tour guide, and never really know what is going on or where we're supposed to be. Fortunately, our co-workers know this, and are kind enough to let us know what time we need to get up (always before 7am) and when we're eating.

We were fortunate to have clear, crisp autumn weather for the trip.













Unfortunately we had to share it with a huge percentage of the Chinese population. We had to wait over 2 hours for the cable car just to get up to the hiking trails.

















And once we got to the hiking trails (which are really just miles of cement staircases placed up and down the mountain), it didn't seem to get any better.

A picture of Tiffany waiting patiently on the steps to get to the top of the mountain.





















Who knew you could feel even more claustrophobic outside of Shanghai?














Gorgeous mountain scene, but note the small, ant-like line of people on the staircase to get up the mountain.













So much for enjoying some peace and quiet in the mountains. These people were vicious, elbows were constantly thrown and cigarette stops put a hamper in that fresh outdoor air we were hoping to experience. Not to mention, there was a crossover of tour guides with their megaphones each giving their own individual commentaries.












Tiffany really misses her less populated, smoke-free Colorado hikes.



















What a fantastic view. And gloriously highlighted by the yellow flag!











Alone at last!












The saying 'Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute' hasn't seem to hit China yet, so there were plenty of workers around to pick up litter and sweep the steps (in between crowds, of course).




























There are a few hotels at the top of the mountain, and the only way to get there is on foot. Supplies for the hotels and restaurants must be carried up by porters like this one. Things we saw porters carrying: budles of sheets and towels, crates of beer, construction material, a flat screen tv, even canisters of propane! Luggage must be carried long distances by guests, as the hotels are at least an hour hike from the top of the cable car. Of course, you can always pay someone to carry your bags. Fortunately, we packed light!








Zach enjoying the sunset.











Regardless of crowds, the views were gorgeous.










The 2 hotels at the top leave a lot to be desired. Mr.'If it's not 5-star, I'm not staying here' Zach almost had a heart attack when he saw the door open to our neighboring room and thought we may be sharing our room with strangers. Fortunately, we had a double, unfortunately, we still had to share it with the bugs...
































After a 7 hour day of non-stop stair climbing and crowds, we spent the 2nd day in Huangshan at a small village called Hongcun. The water town was the setting for part of the film 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'. The town was lovely, but we (and our sore calves) were more relieved that it was flat and stair-free.

All in all, the trip was another eye-opening China experience, and allowed us to check off another place on our 'Must-See' List!

Our Own Personal Typhoon-The Fallout

As mentioned in a previous entry, we had a bit of a flooding problem a few weeks ago. After 4 days of hotel living, we were able to get our electricity and water turned on and moved back into our apartment. The wooden floors were quite warped, but after repeatedly voicing how grateful we were to be renters and not owners of not only the apartment, but also all the furniture, we sorted through the mess and moved on.

While on vacation, we received an email from our landlord informing us that they had found 6cm. of water between the concrete foundation and the wooden floor leftover from the flood. They had taken the liberty of moving all of our furniture and personal belongings to the balconies and covered them with a tarp (note our things under the red tarp on the balcony-not the most settling news considering it's typhoon season) so they could rip up and replace the floor. They were nice enough to put us up in an apartment within our complex for the remaining 2 weeks after we returned from vacation, and we did manage to sneak into our apartment to grab some work clothes to supplement our vacation attire.

As you can see by the pictures, our place is a mess. The workers have moved in to the apartment, and we had to laugh when we saw them smoking like chimneys as they laid down the wooden slats, drilling them into the concrete. We can only hope that the noise is irritating Tiffany's nemesis next door... The workers are leaving a healthy dose of cigarette butts between the slats, something we're sure will be left there underneath the floor providing us with kind of a built in air freshening system. We look forward to moving back in to our apartment, and again, cannot count how many times we've said 'thank goodness we're just renters'!

More Japan Pictures

If the last blog entry wasn't enough for you, check out more pictures from our trip at http://www.flickr.com/photos/tiffandzach/. Enjoy!

I Think I'm Turning Japanese

Here is what Tiffany and I discovered about Japan during our Golden Week Holiday to Osaka and Kyoto:

- Japanese like wooden houses for their temples (like this Buddhist temple from the town of Nara) and homes, even when they keep burning down. The Imperial Palace in Kyoto is actually not the original palace. It is, in fact, the place where the royal family used to go when the real palace had burned down and they were waiting for it to be rebuilt. That's right, the palace burned down so many times that they had to designate a special place to stay in the interim. Our tour guide attributed this to not only the wooden construction, but the fact that all the buildings were connected, so when one went up in flames, they all went up.

- There are a lot of deer in Nara, that are not afraid of humans. It was even safe for Tiffany to be around them. She did not get hurt for once!





- We stopped in Kobe for the famous Kobe beef. It was delicious, if a bit artery-clogging. Also, a lot of fire was used in the cooking, as you can see here, where it looks like one of the chef's heads is on fire. Don't worry, no Japanese chefs were harmed in the preparing of our meals.




- In Himeji there was this huge white castle that was built a very long time ago and managed not to burn down. Tiff and I climbed to the very top and there were lots of trap doors and hiding places for samurai in case the castle came under attack. It reminded me of that arcade game Kung Fu, where you had to keep advancing up levels. Or Game of Death, the Bruce Lee movie, where at the very top was the toughest opponent of all, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Tiffany thought the hiding places were excellent napping spots...


- Japanese have a very unique appetite, for items like these, melon Fanta soda and Roots, a cold coffee drink. Basically their appetite was about 180 degrees from Tiffany's. But she was a trooper and only ate at McDonald's twice and KFC once. I had sushi as much as possible and I can tell you for certain that sushi in Japan is AWESOME! Waaaay better than anything in the US. I really couldn't believe it and I have no idea why, but it is truly fantastic.


- There are cheap tourist attractions in any country. In Japan you could hire these runners to pull you around town. But it's so hilly that most of the time you'd be better off walking.






- It is true that Japanese people are VERY quirky dressers. All the weird Hello Kitty stereotypes about Japanese? True!









- There are all the bright, neon lit streets that you could want, packed with people at night.

- These two were perfectly dressed for a day of temple touring in last night's club wear.


- There are plenty of Mr. Miyagi-type old people who look very peaceful and happy, and spend their days painting, fishing and generally living relaxing lives. But if Cobra-kan ever comes looking for trouble... watch out!






- Tiffany peeking out at the Golden Pavilion temple in Kyoto.




- Cute traditional Gion neighborhood in Kyoto. We saw a few geisha shuffling through the streets.











- View from temple overlooking Kyoto.






- Homey little Japanese diner we found in Osaka's Minami district. A great combination of kitsch and noodles!














- A family of statues in a small shrine in Kyoto.










- Kyoto Station, a modern steel construction, 11 stories high, with train station, hotel, department store and tons of restaurants. Tiffany frequented the Mr. Donut daily to supplement her rice-only Japanese meals :o












- The Japanese LOVE gardens. And they are very skilled at creating them. We saw some of the most beautiful, lush gardens of incredibly intricate design. Can you find Tiffany in this picture?














- The gardens always featured carp, however, which eagerly gaped at our hands in hopes of some fish food, and scared the bejeezus out of Tiffany. I was hoping there might be mutant fish mounted with lasers, but there were not. They did seem ill-tempered, at least.








- The sky is beautiful in Japan. We had some rain the first few days and then it cleared up into the most amazing, non-China polluted skies we had seen in a very long time.









- Here is a very interesting modern building in Osaka. There are two long escalators that go to what they called the Hanging Garden, because it feels like at the top you are suspended in air.









- And at the top we found this interesting model that didn't have anything whatsoever to do with the modern building and its hanging garden. But it sure looked neat.













- "Okonomoyaki" a classic Japanese dish which I tried for the first time. Fair tasting, but not worth its stomach space in sushi, in my book.



















- We HEART Japan!

Our Own Personal Typhoon

Last week, Shanghai was in a panic about a 'Super Typhoon' that was supposed to be the biggest typhoon that had hit Shanghai in decades. School was cancelled for two days, and some offices were closed (unfortunately, our companies decided to take the risk and remain open). We also received lots of emails from concerned friends, as apparently the Super Typhoon was front page news around the world. While Tuesday and Wednesday did bring bouts of torrential rain, the whole experience was nothing close to a natural disaster.

Unfortunately, we had our own typhoon to deal with on Thursday. I was at work when I received a call from our apartment building management office telling me to 'come home immediately, a water pipe has eruptus'. That last word is not a typo, it was the official diagnosis of the property agent. I rushed home and was met with a flooded lobby and a waterfall coming out of the elevator bank, not a good sign considering we're on the 16th floor. Since the elevator was out of commission, I walked up 16 flights of stairs (not an easy feat in heels and a suit). The water that was pouring down the steps made me feel like I was in some terribly bad horror movie. I finally got to my apartment and was met by 10 people waiting for me to open the door. As soon as we entered, they found the busted hot water pipe and shut it off, leaving all of us up to our ankles in water and the apartment full of hot steam. The rest of the crew spent a good 5 hours squeegee-ing our now buckled wood floors as Zach and I tried to salvage our floating belongings. On a side note, the 10-person emergency crew working in steam bath conditions for 5 hours only cost us $25!

Zach and I immediately fled to the nearest hotel and spent the weekend consoling each other over buffet meals. The real hero of the weekend was our ayi (housekeeper). After arriving on her usual Friday cleaning day only to find a sopping aftermath with no electricity or running water in our apartment, she sprung into action. She spent the day yelling on the phone, and then left, only to return Saturday. I returned home to check out the situation and found her screaming at someone on the phone. Five minutes later an extemely cowed electrician arrived to turn on the electricity, and ayi assured me that running water was soon to follow. The moral of the story is "Do not unleash the wrath of ayi." She had an apartment to clean and you'd best not get in her way!

After 3 days of hotel living, we've got our electricity and cold water turned back on. We're hoping for hot water by tomorrow, but you never know in China. Thankfully, with ayi on our side, we are in good hands!

Comings and Goings

September has been quite busy at the Chan/Tomaszewski household in terms of guests. We had the privilege of hosting one of our best friends here in China, Meredith, during her last few weeks in China. We had a lot of fun with our extra roommate, and even though she's only been gone a few days, we miss her already!



She's now making her way back west to start her new life in NYC, and is taking the long route home and stopping in India, Dubai, Turkey, and Croatia.

Earlier in the month, we were also happy to meet up with our China friends, Ting (Rachel) and Stacey. Ting is currently going to school and working in Manchester. and continues to be baffled by the fact that people pay to get tan, since whitened, pale skin is so envied in the East. She is also living with a group of Muslim guys, and had plenty of entertaining cross-cultural stories to share. She has a new appreciation for the utter confusion Zach and I felt when first arriving in China, and we had a good laugh about being the 'clueless foreigners' and discussed how humbling and challenging living abroad can be, regardless of where you're from.

And we finally had our first non-family, repeat guest, Superstar Deb Heydel! Deb is a Georgetown friend, and made the trip to visit us in June, 2006. She was back in Asia this month for a meeting in Japan, and was sweet enough to skip over to Shanghai for a few days to catch up with us. We had a great time reminiscing about DC days, ahh grad school....

We're guest-free for October (as far as we know), but look forward to more visitors in November!

A Day in the Life of Zach

A quick "day in the life" entry. Here I am heading out the subway escalator in the morning. It takes me about 30-40 minutes door to door in the morning. Not bad, I just had to get used to the crush of bodies on the subway. And honestly, I have noticed it getting more crowded over the last year. It's been like literally watching China grow.

Speaking of which, the most visible sign of growth has been the new construction of high rise buildings going on. Here is where I emerge from the subway, and straight in front of me is the ongoing construction of the World Financial Centre, or WFC building. To the right is an elementary school. I was just walking by today and realized the entire school had been razed to the ground. Literally I think they did it over the weekend or something.

Walking to the Credit Suisse office every morning, I pass the Jin Mao Building, which was the highest office building in Shanghai. Right next to it is a construction site for the World Financial Centre, which will be about 60 feet taller, and the highest building in the world. At least for a month or so. I think Dubai is building a tower right now as well that will be even taller. WFC, as it is known, is on the right and looks like a giant bottle opener. The opening at the top used to be designed as a circle, but the developer is a Japanese firm called Mori, and so the circle was supposed to symbolize the sun from the Japanese flag, and that caused a huge political uproar. So Mori was forced to change the design to a more square, bottle opener looking top.

This is the view of WFC on my way to work. This was back in about May. You can see Jin Mao to the right of it, which was still taller at the time. Pretty much all hours of the day and night you can see welding torches sparkling on the upper floors. It is absolutely amazing to think that this entire structure was built during our time in China. I think none of it was there when I first started work in Feb 2006.

Here's a shot of the WFC today. It has been "topped out" at this point, which means the structure is complete. Now all that remains is to finish the glass wall exterior, and all the interior stuff. It should be done around June of next year I think. We are hoping to move our office there, but they are asking about 5 times the rent we are paying now. Then again, our current office is a run down old circa 1996 building, which is ancient by Shanghai standards!

Here is my current office building, the Shanghai Stock Exchange, where every day people stand around the big stock index board and watch their fortunes rise. I think the index rose 130% last year and is up about 98% this year. Unfortunately you have to be a Chinese citizen to invest :(

This is the lobby of the building. Every time a new company lists on the stock exchange (about once a week it seems), the lobby fills up with celebratory flowers and signs and there are big signing ceremonies, balloons and such.

And here is my humble, Class B office. Our space is getting a bit tight, so they took the corner office and tore it down, replacing it with smaller desks that hold another 5 people!

Oh, and the bathrooms reek of cigarette smoke. Ever since they banned smoking in the hallways (God forbid I know), the boys have reverted to their high school ways and created an opaque, nicotine fog in the bathroom, as if the pollution outside our office wasn't bad enough!

And here is my cubicle. The cubicle walls and even my chair are the exact same color, brand and size as my cube in New York from 10 YEARS AGO. I don't know what was creepier, seeing the same replica office furniture as New York but in China, or realizing that I started working ten years ago... which, by the way, my summer intern asked me the other day what kind of music I listened to, whether it was "stuff from my era" or not. "Era?!?" I screamed. Then I made him run laps around the building in the 95 degree sticky heat for the rest of the afternoon in his bare feet. At least in my head.

And here is Fanny. No that is not her real name, she has a Chinese name. Ok, yes, she did choose Fanny as her English name... Fanny, in this picture, is about 7 months pregnant I think. Notice she is wearing her navy blue pregnancy smock. It is a very trendy and popular accessory for pregnant ladies to keep the pregnancy cover-up on every day during the pregnancy. Can you guess why? It is because it protects the baby from all the dangerous electromagnetic waves, invisible, but flying around recklessly through the atmosphere. You know, cell phones, Xerox machines, computers, you name it. At first I thought it must be a lead jacket then, but no, it feels just like cotton. But it is "special" fabric they tell me. It seems to be one of those crazy things that everyone just started doing and so you better do it too, just in case, you know.

Anyway, that is a quick day in the life of Zach and Credit Suisse!