Adventures in China
The following is a series of emails I sent to family and friends while traveling through Beijing and Tianjin in 2012.
Sent: 5/10/12
Subject line: Greetings from Beijing!
Let me start with a little background.
This is my first real international trip. I traveled to Vancouver in college, and the longest flight I've ever been on was to Hawaii. I never studied abroad or did the post-college-backpacking-through-Europe, and I certainly never had any interest to hit Mexico. In fact, when David first told me he would be traveling to China for work and suggested I join, my response was an immediate no. I didn't want to deal with the long flight or spend all the money to visit a place I had never wanted to go to. I imagined it would be like Times Square on steroids, with overwhelming crowds, no fresh air, entirely too much madness, and no flexibility for the everyday germophobe. (OK, so all those assumptions now ring true, but I'll get to that in a bit.)
I started asking around and quickly realized it was time to just woMAN up and jump on this opportunity. When it came down to it, I had enough money to go, especially with David's Marriott perks and his company expensing certain parts, and I realized it had been a while since I hopped out of my comfort zone. Ya, I lived out of a suitcase in NYC for two months after college. Ya, I've been to many cities in the U.S., but traveling to the other side of the planet? Go big or go home!
THE FLIGHT:
SO, getting out here was an experience in itself. Our flight out of San Fran was delayed for seven hours because the cargo door of the next plane was damaged, so we had to wait for a plane to come from Korea and be turned. Time passed quicker than I anticipated, and we are also traveling with David's boss and her husband, who are great. (OH... and United threw me a $250 E-Certificate, so I can't complain.)
When we hopped on our actual plane, I settled into my Economy Plus window seat while David and the other two headed upstairs to Business Class. I thought I would die being on a plane this long, but it turned out to be OK! I sat next to two kind men - one from China who teaches finance and one from India who works for Intel.
"The man on the plane"
I will never forget the man from China. After the flight, I realized that we talked for SEVEN HOURS (And no, I didn't get his name. I can't tell you how many times I've annoyingly said, "The man on the plane said this, the man on the plane said that.") He was drawing maps of China, writing out timelines of the history, teaching me basics of the language, telling me about things to expect and more.
I have had so much fun interacting with the people here -- even just saying as little as "hello" and "thank you" and "good" in their language. I have a feeling that most Americans don't make much of an effort -- especially at American hotels like the Marriott -- as the staffers have been over the moon with my attempts to communicate. Some have even asked me how long I've been studying the language. REALLY??? At the end of the day, though, smiles are universal and I can't tell you how many people I've locked smiles with. It's been truly fulfilling to eat, breathe (well, breathing pollution isn't exactly the most gratifying thing), see, hear and take in this culture so far. I'm grateful for every experience -- no matter how uncomfortable I am.
If you're still reading, congrats. I realize this is getting long. ;) I'll try to cut to the chase.
Some highlights of what we've seen/done so far:
Subject line: Greetings from Beijing!
Let me start with a little background.
This is my first real international trip. I traveled to Vancouver in college, and the longest flight I've ever been on was to Hawaii. I never studied abroad or did the post-college-backpacking-through-Europe, and I certainly never had any interest to hit Mexico. In fact, when David first told me he would be traveling to China for work and suggested I join, my response was an immediate no. I didn't want to deal with the long flight or spend all the money to visit a place I had never wanted to go to. I imagined it would be like Times Square on steroids, with overwhelming crowds, no fresh air, entirely too much madness, and no flexibility for the everyday germophobe. (OK, so all those assumptions now ring true, but I'll get to that in a bit.)
I started asking around and quickly realized it was time to just woMAN up and jump on this opportunity. When it came down to it, I had enough money to go, especially with David's Marriott perks and his company expensing certain parts, and I realized it had been a while since I hopped out of my comfort zone. Ya, I lived out of a suitcase in NYC for two months after college. Ya, I've been to many cities in the U.S., but traveling to the other side of the planet? Go big or go home!
THE FLIGHT:
SO, getting out here was an experience in itself. Our flight out of San Fran was delayed for seven hours because the cargo door of the next plane was damaged, so we had to wait for a plane to come from Korea and be turned. Time passed quicker than I anticipated, and we are also traveling with David's boss and her husband, who are great. (OH... and United threw me a $250 E-Certificate, so I can't complain.)
When we hopped on our actual plane, I settled into my Economy Plus window seat while David and the other two headed upstairs to Business Class. I thought I would die being on a plane this long, but it turned out to be OK! I sat next to two kind men - one from China who teaches finance and one from India who works for Intel.
"The man on the plane"
I will never forget the man from China. After the flight, I realized that we talked for SEVEN HOURS (And no, I didn't get his name. I can't tell you how many times I've annoyingly said, "The man on the plane said this, the man on the plane said that.") He was drawing maps of China, writing out timelines of the history, teaching me basics of the language, telling me about things to expect and more.
- "If you don't fight your way to the subway or through lines, you'll always be the last one."
- "Don't drink the water."
- "Most public bathrooms will not have toilets."
- "There is no such thing as personal space."
- "Capacity is a foreign concept."
- I had no idea that the symbols in the Chinese language were like phrases and not individual letters of an alphabet or that there were various dialects around the country and differences between the north and south. (For example, folks in the north eat more wheat and tend to be taller, while folks in the south eat more rice and tend to be shorter. In the past, when the north and south would fight, the north would usually win.)
- I also had no idea that the Chinese don't speak in tenses and don't really ask, "How are you?" They see no point in exhausting the sentence if they've pointed out any inkling of time. For example, they don't say, "Yesterday, I went to the store." They say, "Yesterday, I go to the store."
- In their language, "Ni hao" - pronounced "nee-HOW" means "You good." Yes, with a period. Not a question mark. They don't ASK each other how they're doing. They see no point in chewing the fat or small talk. It's "you're good ... I'm good ....let's move on."
I have had so much fun interacting with the people here -- even just saying as little as "hello" and "thank you" and "good" in their language. I have a feeling that most Americans don't make much of an effort -- especially at American hotels like the Marriott -- as the staffers have been over the moon with my attempts to communicate. Some have even asked me how long I've been studying the language. REALLY??? At the end of the day, though, smiles are universal and I can't tell you how many people I've locked smiles with. It's been truly fulfilling to eat, breathe (well, breathing pollution isn't exactly the most gratifying thing), see, hear and take in this culture so far. I'm grateful for every experience -- no matter how uncomfortable I am.
If you're still reading, congrats. I realize this is getting long. ;) I'll try to cut to the chase.
Some highlights of what we've seen/done so far:
- Spent three hours at the Silk Factory, bargaining-bargaining-bargaining for brand name and knock-off goods. The boys were busy bargaining for watches while I got a pedicure and David's boss got a massage. The roles should have been reversed, eh?
- Visited The Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square (we lost our tour guide for a few minutes after we gave her all our bags/before we went into Mao's tomb/as David's boss' husband got kicked out of line b/c he had a camera in his pocket ... and we were probably 4 out of 10 Americans on the whole square that day), Sacred Way, Temple of Heaven, Llama's Temple (one of the Buddha statues is four stories tall), Hutong alleys, the BIRDS NEST!!!!, the BUBBLE!!!!, the TORCH!!!!!
- Walked the longest corridor in the world (Empress Ci Xi never wanted to be in the sun) at the Summer Palace. It was cool to finally hear about a woman in power.
- Climbed the Great Wall (also took my first ever cable car ride). This was absolutely amazing. We hiked a part that is less crowded/less public. This was absolutely unreal. Surreal. Hasn't set in.
- Visited a clossinae factory (Google it. The process is INSANE. I'll post a video when I get back.)
- Tasted teas at an official government tea house (LYCHEE TEA IS YUM.)
- Spent a couple hours drinking with a couple old boys from the U.S. on the Marriott concierge floor. One plans to retire at 75 and is closing in on 5 million miles with American Airlines while the other spends 3/4 of the year working in Juarez at a manufacturing plant.
- Many people here not only pick their nose in public, but they also look at it.
- Going to the bathroom in a subway station restroom (ya, I've actually already done that) is no different than using 95% of the restrooms here, as most don't have toilets and require you to squat. Yep. The first few times I was absolutely horrified, not only because I am the world's biggest germophobe and there is usually no hand soap, toilet paper or paper towel (THANK YOU, LESLIE for advising me to pack kleenex and hand sanitizer), but because the smell is unimaginable and most of the doors don't go all the way to the ground. Need I say more?
- Babies don't wear diapers here. They literally wear onesies with the butt cut out. Today, I actually saw a man pick up his daughter (who was wearing a tu-tu), run her over to a bush and hold her legs open so she could pee. That actually happened. And as our tour guide confirmed that this is common practice, she herself admitted to wearing crotch-less underwear in the summer. LOL! That wasn't awkward.
- There aren't nearly as many Starbucks as I had expected, but BOY there are a TON of Kentucky Fried Chickens. I've only spotted one Starbucks so far and they had no idea what to do with my gift card. They just handed it back to me.
- I take water for granted. Brushing your teeth (and especially getting a mouthguard clean - haha) is a bit challenging with bottled water.
- I take raw fruit and veggies for granted. (Thankfully we packed two gallon-sized ziplocs with energy bars, fruit leather and fruit ropes.)
- My stomach is apparently stronger than I think it is. *knock on wood* .... Wait till you see the photos of some of the meals we've had ... even for lunch. We've been getting into traditional dishes... and they've been delicious!
- THE TRAFFIC IS INSANE. People in Beijing haven't been driving cars nearly as long as we have (some say 10 years, some say 25-30, I guess I could just google it, but I really don't trust ANYthing I read in print or on the web here), pedestrians have no right aways, there really is no concept of "lanes" or "laws" here ... just guidelines, so it's nuts.
- There's really no such thing as blue sky, and the sun lives behind a giant lampshade, otherwise called pollution. It gets worse each day until it rains, then builds up again.
- My tastebuds are warming up to curry.
- Deep-fried meatballs are surprisingly nasty.
- Duck is delicious. I'm sure I've unknowingly consumed some other meats and mystery poultry as well. We actually passed a sign that said "donkey meat."
- The bumble bees at the Great Wall are so fat they fly slowly. They are HUGE and living the high life like the pigeons at the top of the Empire State Building.
- The internet is truly censored and blocked here. When you bring up Google, it brings up Google Hong Kong. If you search "blind man," nothing pops up related to Chen. If you search "Chen," you get these results: http://screencast.com/t/en9aVNTbmnvB. YouTube is also blocked, so clicking on those Chen-related videos takes you nowhere.
- Our tour guide only had good things to say about Mao. Interesting. And Mao looks exactly the way he looks in the iconic photo hanging in Tienanmen Square as he does in the open-to-the-public glass case he is laid to rest in.
Subject: Greetings from Tianjin!
Sent: 5/15/12
Here I write you from the Westin in Tianjin (which is a few hours south of Beijing), where we arrived Sunday night.
DISCLAIMER: This is another long email, and the next one will be even longer, I think. I would be writing this all down for David and I to remember anyway, so I figured I would share these journal-like entries with y'all in case you were interested, as I know some of you are, and it has been SO great to hear from you. It's honestly been kind of hard to feel so disconnected from so much and be restricted from my usual modes of communication. So, thank you for taking the time to read all my thoughts and respond.
See, I'm the type of person who could watch hours of someone else's home videos, or would be so interested to read this much from someone else's vacation or experience on anything ... but I realize that not everyone is the same. So, my apologies in advance if these emails come off as self-indulgent spam! I just want to document as much as I can when I have down time (which has definitely increased now that David's at work and I'm on my own), and I hope that some of you can find some of this beneficial if you ever head out to China or know someone who will. Really, though, I hope some of what you've read makes you realize how good we have it in America. This trip has made me love my home, my daily life, my job, my family and friends more than I ever-ever-ever thought I could, and for that I am forever grateful.
Since I last wrote, we hung up our sightseeing hats for a few days and hung out locally. After hitting the ground HARD those first four days, David and I hit a wall that caffeine and Clif bars couldn't fix (and I couldn't stop waking up at 3 a.m.). Saturday night, we weren't even hungry. I had wine and M&M's for dinner. David had beer and M&M's. The plan was to go get Peking duck and hit a karaoke bar, but after denying the whole obligation-to-go-out-on-a-Saturday-night-especially-on-vacation and admitting the whole I'm-going-to-act-annoyed-that-you-are-complaining-about-a-stomach-ache-even-though-I-don't-want-to-go-anywhere-either act, four out of four us didn't even leave the JW Marriott. Such a travel sin, I know, but I'm so grateful to be with a man who values down time just as much as I do ... even on vacation. To me, down time on vacation is just as valuable as sightseeing.
The "best" part of staying in the hotel is the fact that there aren't any movie rental options and there are about 7-8 channels in English, which is the same for the Marriott and Westin. There are four news channels that I assume are filtered/edited, the standard hotel promo channel, HBO -- which is really just a rotation of bad Bruce Willis movies, Cinemax -- which is far from what you're thinking as well, and a network called DIVA Universal). Oh, DIVA Universal. It's Lifetime meets ABC Family meets Oxygen. Ya know, A-list acting, intriguing plots and everything David lives for. ;) We may or may not have gotten sucked into a movie called "Play the Game."
We hit the hotel gym one of the days. I only lasted a few laps in the pool after one of the men hocked a loogie into the water and a little kid stole my kickboard. Or maybe the real reason was because my heart was about to fall out of my chest. (There's a reason I won "Most Improved Swimmer" on the WRHS swim team.) I wandered in and quickly out of the steam room, as I think it may have been mistaken for a bathroom at one point. [Insert Stanley Steamer joke here.]
As I met David by the weights, I heard some powerful water start to fall. I thought it was a waterfall, as I saw one by the hot tub. Turns out there was a FLOOD! Water was pouring out of the ceiling and through the lights RIGHT in front of the EXIT. I thought this was it. This was the end. David told one of the attendants and she was like, "Yes, exit over there," and he goes, "No, there is water coming out of the ceiling." She goes, "Let me show you exit," and as we walked closer she panicked. I started to panic, too. Now I know why flight attendants are never supposed to show concern on their face. I thought something crazy had gone down upstairs. I was seeing visuals of protests gone awry, surprise invasions, you name it. David goes, "Let's stick around and see what happens." I go, "Are you kidding? I'm not going to drown in the basement of the Marriott." He goes, "We're on the second floor." LOL...
ANYWAY... we found exits in the changing rooms and took the stairwell back to our room, as they had to shut down the elevators for a while. Phew! We survived. ;)
On Sunday, we packed up for our noon checkout and ate and drank lightly (David and I have gotten so much grief for our rookie bladders) before our drive to Tianjin with David's boss, her husband and David's coworker Joe, who arrived in Beijing on Friday. Joe is so nice. He's from Mongolia, in his early twenties and visiting his family for a month after working out here. It's great to have him around, as he speaks both languages and can translate when needed.
Before piling five people and all our luggage into the car Joe rented, we all decided to grab a quick bite. Seven bottles of champagne and 15 plates of food later, this "quick bite" turned into three hours of indulging in an insanely delicious Mother's Day buffet we discovered in our hotel after getting kicked out of the Ritz Carlton for being too scrubby. They, of course, told us there weren't open tables b/c of Mother's Day, but we were escorted from restaurants that had PLENTY of open tables and literally followed all the way back to the Marriott. Pretty crazy. So, we had a ball at this brunch. We were requesting Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber songs from the live band, eating Peking duck, lobster, crab, desserts and more. I'm pretty sure I had eight glasses of champagne. Never had that much in my life. Two words: sea level.
Needless to say, our ride to Tianjin was entertaining. I'm sure Joe felt like a cab driver on New Year's Eve.
Now, I'm not going to lie. I was pretty close to booking an earlier flight home. David told me he would likely be working longer hours than he thought and we both kind of feared that Tianjin would be a heavy factory town. Everyone we talked to about the city didn't have much to say about it, other than it's good for one or two days and to expect pretty much no one to speak English. I started daydreaming about my comfort zone, Whole Foods, biting into fresh apples, stuffing my face with greasy American pizza, drinking iced Americanos, ICED WATER, organized traffic, going to dinner with friends, cleaning our apartment, watching all the shows I've been missing .... etc. It all just sounded too good.
An early flight home would have cost $700 to change (then dropped down to $250 the morning of), but I decided to just stick it out. Plus, it turns out that I would have missed my flight if I left when David's boss' husband left. He had trouble figuring out the train system on the way back from Tianjin to Beijing and ended up having to take a cab -- and just BARELY made it. BUT, according to David, there's no way I would have made it into my Coach seat on time. So it turns out I made the right choice. AND... based on the experiences I've had in Tianjin so far (good and bad), I'm glad I stayed.
Welp, I have a noon massage at the spa!
To be continued....
Sent: 5/15/12
Here I write you from the Westin in Tianjin (which is a few hours south of Beijing), where we arrived Sunday night.
DISCLAIMER: This is another long email, and the next one will be even longer, I think. I would be writing this all down for David and I to remember anyway, so I figured I would share these journal-like entries with y'all in case you were interested, as I know some of you are, and it has been SO great to hear from you. It's honestly been kind of hard to feel so disconnected from so much and be restricted from my usual modes of communication. So, thank you for taking the time to read all my thoughts and respond.
See, I'm the type of person who could watch hours of someone else's home videos, or would be so interested to read this much from someone else's vacation or experience on anything ... but I realize that not everyone is the same. So, my apologies in advance if these emails come off as self-indulgent spam! I just want to document as much as I can when I have down time (which has definitely increased now that David's at work and I'm on my own), and I hope that some of you can find some of this beneficial if you ever head out to China or know someone who will. Really, though, I hope some of what you've read makes you realize how good we have it in America. This trip has made me love my home, my daily life, my job, my family and friends more than I ever-ever-ever thought I could, and for that I am forever grateful.
Since I last wrote, we hung up our sightseeing hats for a few days and hung out locally. After hitting the ground HARD those first four days, David and I hit a wall that caffeine and Clif bars couldn't fix (and I couldn't stop waking up at 3 a.m.). Saturday night, we weren't even hungry. I had wine and M&M's for dinner. David had beer and M&M's. The plan was to go get Peking duck and hit a karaoke bar, but after denying the whole obligation-to-go-out-on-a-Saturday-night-especially-on-vacation and admitting the whole I'm-going-to-act-annoyed-that-you-are-complaining-about-a-stomach-ache-even-though-I-don't-want-to-go-anywhere-either act, four out of four us didn't even leave the JW Marriott. Such a travel sin, I know, but I'm so grateful to be with a man who values down time just as much as I do ... even on vacation. To me, down time on vacation is just as valuable as sightseeing.
The "best" part of staying in the hotel is the fact that there aren't any movie rental options and there are about 7-8 channels in English, which is the same for the Marriott and Westin. There are four news channels that I assume are filtered/edited, the standard hotel promo channel, HBO -- which is really just a rotation of bad Bruce Willis movies, Cinemax -- which is far from what you're thinking as well, and a network called DIVA Universal). Oh, DIVA Universal. It's Lifetime meets ABC Family meets Oxygen. Ya know, A-list acting, intriguing plots and everything David lives for. ;) We may or may not have gotten sucked into a movie called "Play the Game."
We hit the hotel gym one of the days. I only lasted a few laps in the pool after one of the men hocked a loogie into the water and a little kid stole my kickboard. Or maybe the real reason was because my heart was about to fall out of my chest. (There's a reason I won "Most Improved Swimmer" on the WRHS swim team.) I wandered in and quickly out of the steam room, as I think it may have been mistaken for a bathroom at one point. [Insert Stanley Steamer joke here.]
As I met David by the weights, I heard some powerful water start to fall. I thought it was a waterfall, as I saw one by the hot tub. Turns out there was a FLOOD! Water was pouring out of the ceiling and through the lights RIGHT in front of the EXIT. I thought this was it. This was the end. David told one of the attendants and she was like, "Yes, exit over there," and he goes, "No, there is water coming out of the ceiling." She goes, "Let me show you exit," and as we walked closer she panicked. I started to panic, too. Now I know why flight attendants are never supposed to show concern on their face. I thought something crazy had gone down upstairs. I was seeing visuals of protests gone awry, surprise invasions, you name it. David goes, "Let's stick around and see what happens." I go, "Are you kidding? I'm not going to drown in the basement of the Marriott." He goes, "We're on the second floor." LOL...
ANYWAY... we found exits in the changing rooms and took the stairwell back to our room, as they had to shut down the elevators for a while. Phew! We survived. ;)
On Sunday, we packed up for our noon checkout and ate and drank lightly (David and I have gotten so much grief for our rookie bladders) before our drive to Tianjin with David's boss, her husband and David's coworker Joe, who arrived in Beijing on Friday. Joe is so nice. He's from Mongolia, in his early twenties and visiting his family for a month after working out here. It's great to have him around, as he speaks both languages and can translate when needed.
Before piling five people and all our luggage into the car Joe rented, we all decided to grab a quick bite. Seven bottles of champagne and 15 plates of food later, this "quick bite" turned into three hours of indulging in an insanely delicious Mother's Day buffet we discovered in our hotel after getting kicked out of the Ritz Carlton for being too scrubby. They, of course, told us there weren't open tables b/c of Mother's Day, but we were escorted from restaurants that had PLENTY of open tables and literally followed all the way back to the Marriott. Pretty crazy. So, we had a ball at this brunch. We were requesting Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber songs from the live band, eating Peking duck, lobster, crab, desserts and more. I'm pretty sure I had eight glasses of champagne. Never had that much in my life. Two words: sea level.
Needless to say, our ride to Tianjin was entertaining. I'm sure Joe felt like a cab driver on New Year's Eve.
Now, I'm not going to lie. I was pretty close to booking an earlier flight home. David told me he would likely be working longer hours than he thought and we both kind of feared that Tianjin would be a heavy factory town. Everyone we talked to about the city didn't have much to say about it, other than it's good for one or two days and to expect pretty much no one to speak English. I started daydreaming about my comfort zone, Whole Foods, biting into fresh apples, stuffing my face with greasy American pizza, drinking iced Americanos, ICED WATER, organized traffic, going to dinner with friends, cleaning our apartment, watching all the shows I've been missing .... etc. It all just sounded too good.
An early flight home would have cost $700 to change (then dropped down to $250 the morning of), but I decided to just stick it out. Plus, it turns out that I would have missed my flight if I left when David's boss' husband left. He had trouble figuring out the train system on the way back from Tianjin to Beijing and ended up having to take a cab -- and just BARELY made it. BUT, according to David, there's no way I would have made it into my Coach seat on time. So it turns out I made the right choice. AND... based on the experiences I've had in Tianjin so far (good and bad), I'm glad I stayed.
Welp, I have a noon massage at the spa!
To be continued....
Subject: Tianjin Part II
Sent: 5/17/12
Ni hao!
DISCLAIMER: Just when you thought my emails couldn't get any longer.... this one takes the cake.
No more potty talk or stories about watching TV or hitting the gym. Time to recap on my solo experiences in Tianjin.
Here's the skinny on this city. Its not-so-skinny population is over 12 million, which is bigger than NYC. It's one of the fastest-growing second-tier cities in China. What's NOT growing, or existing for that matter, is a tourist population. Since Sunday night, I've seen four Westerners outside of the hotel. Inside the hotel, I've met one man from England at the bar (he was SO boring, but it was SO exciting to talk to someone who speaks English), seen one woman with platinum blonde hair in the lobby and maaaybe five Westerners at the main restaurant.
In short, I am FAR from INVISIBLE here. Everywhere I go, I'm stared at. There's nothing weirder than being in a foreign country by yourself, not really sure where you're going in a city that's not tourist-friendly... with all eyes on you. These are not celebrity stares. I feel like I'm stuck in that nightmare where you show up to school naked. They look at me with confusion, sometimes with disgust, and very rarely with a smile. The only hellos I get are from goofy teenage boys with a laughing audience of friends sporting electrocution-style orange-gold hair. Apparently that's a hot look. The whole experience is altogether crazy, exhausting and eye-opening (no pun intended).
So, below are some stories I've been jotting down in the mornings this week. This will be the last manifesto before we leave on Saturday at noon and arrive back home on Saturday around noon. Weird. Time is weird. Thanks again for bearing all my babbles and sending your responses. It's been so awesome to hear from you, as I've started to go a little nuts on this final stretch. ;)
Hai Di Lao: A yummy hot pot spot
Once the "drunk bus" arrived in Tianjin on Sunday and we all got acquainted in the very retro chic Westin right in the heart of downtown, we headed out to a chain called Hai Di Lao, which is a hot pot-style restaurant, meaning they boil all the food in the middle of your table. (It's pretty popular in China and one of the guys we were with had been to one in L.A.! It's definitely worth a visit if you ever have a chance.)
One side was boiled in hot spices, the other side was boiled in mushroom broth. I think we were there for about four hours in our own little private room, which seems to be pretty standard for a lot of authentic Chinese restaurants. They boiled a LOT of meat, poultry, tofu, seafood, vegetables, fruits, greens and noodles as everyone used ladles and chopsticks as they fancied. (P.S. - every group meal has consisted of everyone picking for what they want with their own chopsticks. Double-dipping at its finest. Germ-sharing all the way. As you know, a HUGE thing for me to overcome.)
This meal was one of the best. My favorites were the noodles made of beans (a man came into our room and danced/performed with the long, stretchy noodle before dropping it into the water), lotus root (basically eating the insides of a lotus flower, which has been a very favored and symbolic flower in China for hundreds of years) and sweet potato sticks.
The Chinese massage
I've had two massages in my life. Both were so basic (we're talking a 15-min. free office massage and a standard back massage in Steamboat), but both still managed to be painful and incredibly awkward. So, on a trip where the theme is "run from comfort," nothing is more fitting than a friggin' Chinese massage. When I made the reservation, I told the woman, who was from India, that I am a wuss and need a soft, basic massage. (And, yes, Leslie ... it still hurt!!!)
I was taken into this elegant room with a perfect temperature, dim lights, complete silence and a smell so great, I was in heaven. But, I guess anything would seduce your senses after your nostrils have been swimming in garlic, cabbage, Szechwan pepper, urine and cigarettes and your ears have been bombarded with honking horns, motors, bike bells and Chinese conversations.
The woman opens a closet and says, "Here's your robe, slippers and underwear ... go ahead and put these on and someone will be with you shortly." I looked at a small cardboard box she pointed to when she said "underwear" and I go, "Did you say underwear?" She goes, "Yes." This might be standard practice, but I got a good laugh out of these over-sized undies that felt like a cotton shower cap and looked like a diaper. I got my robe on, then was greeted by a sweet Indonesian woman. As she started exfoliating my feet and calves, we bonded over how challenging it is that most folks don't speak any English in Tianjin. This woman's lived here for two years, though, and still doesn't know a lick of Chinese. That's mind-boggling.
She gets up, goes over to the table and says, "OK, remove your robe and lay face down." She didn't turn away or anything. Ha!! So I turned around and snaked my way into position as fast as possible. Let's just say that for the next 90 minutes, I would have paid money to see my facial expressions -- going back and forth from a scrunched face to eyes wide open. Every part of my body BUT my private parts was touched. She even massaged my forehead and pinched my fingertips. What? Again, maybe this is standard practice with a full-body massage, but it was super weird! I can't seem to draw a line between something that's good for my health and the fact that a complete stranger is working their hand into my upper thigh. HAHA... NO thank you.
ANYWAY. Let's talk about soft serve now, shall we?
Ripped off at Dairy Queen
After a ton of walking around one day (went through shopping malls with American goods that played American pop music with no Americans to be found, walked into a random, gorgeous, Catholic cathedral across from a Starbucks, and witnessed two beggars with no legs or no wheelchairs just crawling around through crowds pushing cans of money).... I was SO hot and I couldn't find ANYwhere to eat lunch that I knew would be OK to eat. The area I was in was dominated by street vendors selling everything from raw kabobs to fish on a stick and people ordering food from windows that are reminiscent to movie ticket windows in the States. So, when I saw a Dairy Queen, I thought, "BLIZZARD. LUNCH. YES."
Naturally, three people butted me in line while I checked out the limited menu, then I ordered a small M&M blizzard. The total was $20.50 in RMB. I gave the woman a 20 and a 5. She took my money, I waited for change, then she shooed me to the side. I said, "I think I need change." Her response of course made no sense. She started talking to the other folks behind the counter and they all were looking at me. I held up four fingers saying, "I need four dollars back." I didn't care about the 50 cents at that point. They all started laughing and talking again, throwing their hands in the air, all crowding around the cash register.
Then, a woman comes over with a pen and paper with five fingers up and a look on her face like, "Please, you idiot" and writes ".50" ... SO I assumed that the 5-dollar bill, which is smaller in size than the standard bills, was actually for 50 cents and not 5 dollars. SO, I started laughing, put my hand over my heart and said, "I'm SO sorry...haha...thank you...shieh shieh!!!"
The next day, I realized I was ripped off. My lunch total at another place was 220.50. I gave the woman two 100s, a 20 and that 5-dollar bill again. She brought me back $4.50. I rest my case. Thanks a lot, DQ... (and that certainly wasn't the only time I got ripped off).
Side note: DQ's cakes are absolutely amazing. It puts D Bar and any Food Network competition to shame. The detail and creativity is incredible. (We walked by a cake shop our first night that has a cake for two million dollars. It's like 10-feet high and covered in swans.)
Ping pong gone wrong
So there really isn't a "story" to this, really, other than the fact that we thought Joe was taking us to a ping pong hall one night. David and I were envisioning tables of people competing in a divey bar filled with good booze and cigarette smoke. Turns out we cabbed it 45 minutes across town to go to a local rec center with the internal auditors D has been working with. They brought PBR inside (which I'm pretty sure was not allowed, as there were kids all over) and tiny pink cups to drink out of.
Later, David goes, "You should have gone upstairs. There were people playing badminton EVERYwhere." I go, "Well, thanks for telling me to go up there!" He goes, "Ah, I'm sorry, I was a little distracted when I accidentally walked into the girls' bathroom and everyone started screaming at me."
Eating alone
With David at work and no way to friend any locals or tourists, I've done a LOT of eating alone.
Most mornings, I've headed down to the breakfast buffet on the main floor, because their coffee is to die for and who doesn't love a buffet?!? One morning, I had a late start, and didn't make it down there until 10:50 a.m. and I was STARVING. When I asked the hostess if breakfast was still going (I didn't see anyone eating, but I saw food), she pointed to her watch and said what I heard as "Something-something-something... 11:30." So I thought breakfast went till 11:30, and this same woman seated me at a table and asked if I wanted coffee or tea. I was in the clear, right? BUT... some workers were packing up the food, my rice porridge was gone, and the man mopping the floor looked at me like I was committing a sin when I finally got my hands on some veggie noodles and baked beans. He started shouting something at the hostess, which I'm sure was, "What does this woman think she's doing?" As I'm filling my plate, another woman comes over and explains to me that breakfast is over and lunch begins at 11:30. I look at her, look at my plate and say, "So... what do you want me to do with this?" She goes, "I sorry" and walked away.
SO, I sit down and start eating when ANOTHER woman walks up and says, "I sorry, but lunch starts at 11:30, breakfast no more." At this point, I was irritated and when I am HUNGRY, things get scary. I look at her and say, "Well, I was seated here and I'd like to at least finish my food." She goes, "I can take some fruit for you," basically implying that she could box something up and send me on my way. In a pretty stern voice, I say, "Can't I just eat HERE?" She goes, "I sorry" and walks away. Needless to say, a lot of dirty looks were thrown my way as I ate my noodles 'n' drank my tea.
Later that day, I was the only American, the only woman and the only person dining alone in this nice little Chinese place that David and his coworkers had visited the night before. I ate an entire dish (like PF Chang's size) of sweet chicken (which tasted nothing like chicken, PS) with mango and peppers. It took them two hours to bring me my bill, because in China, there is never a rush to get through a meal at a restaurant. (Luckily I brought the latest issue of BUST Magazine with me!) I couldn't hear myself think over the open-mouth chomping of all the businessmen (and the chomping thing is pretty standard here). Apparently, it's also standard for most employers to give long lunch breaks. Joe's friend, who works at a bank, has a 2.5-hour lunch break. I guess dining out over long meals is part of most jobs! I could get used to that...
Fine Dining at Pizza Hut
Eating at Pizza Hut in China is not like eating at Pizza Hut in America. The atmosphere is much more formal and the menu is about 10 pages long with items you would never expect to see, like steak!! We ordered a bottle of wine ... lol ... and laughed at some of the crust options, which include pieces of visible shrimp baked into the crust in mini bowl-like holders. David tried some chicken wings, chicken thighs and pork, while Joe dug into a steak, and I stuck to pepperoni pizza. It was pretty good!
The Homeless Boy
In order to get from our hotel to the main areas with shopping, food and a sprinkling of familiar places like Starbucks and KFC, we have to walk on the same stretch of concrete in front of a building under construction while dodging people on foot and bikes and passing a sidewalk that is home to a few homeless people. One is an old man who lays on his back facing away from the crowds, while an older woman faces him on her hands and knees continually bowing her head. Then, there's a little boy who sits Indian style on a blanket with a mug to his side, his feet on the street and his bum on the ledge, shaking his head side to side with a smile on his face. No fail. All the time. They all sit in the same spots, moving with the exact same actions, like robotic window decorations.
As I was walking to get some tea before I called it a day, I started to walk through that stretch. This time, the boy was actually standing and talking to some people. He saw me, yelled something and started to follow me. I didn't know what to do, so I started walking faster. Next thing I knew, his little hands were tightly latching onto my arm. He was walking with me, talking to me in his language, still smiling and speaking in a soft yet strong voice. I don't think I've ever felt so many emotions at once: nervous, scared, helpless, SO sad for him and embarrassed for me.
Everyone already stares at me everywhere I go in this city, but now they were REALLY all staring. I just kept walking, trying to look as much at ease as I could, b/c I had no idea how people would react and I just wanted out of this situation. I looked down at his face as we walked. His chubby little cheeks had dirt on them, his mouth was bordered by blisters and dried saliva, and I will never forget how sticky his hands were. I felt the stick on my skin until I was able to rinse my arms.
I really don't know what to make of that experience at the moment, other than it had an incredible impact on me. I want so badly to help others, especially vulnerable children, have the opportunity for a better life. David and I want to make this happen in the future, whether through adoption or volunteering or both.
It will be quite interesting to see how our experiences in China will impact our life decisions to come.
Sent: 5/17/12
Ni hao!
DISCLAIMER: Just when you thought my emails couldn't get any longer.... this one takes the cake.
No more potty talk or stories about watching TV or hitting the gym. Time to recap on my solo experiences in Tianjin.
Here's the skinny on this city. Its not-so-skinny population is over 12 million, which is bigger than NYC. It's one of the fastest-growing second-tier cities in China. What's NOT growing, or existing for that matter, is a tourist population. Since Sunday night, I've seen four Westerners outside of the hotel. Inside the hotel, I've met one man from England at the bar (he was SO boring, but it was SO exciting to talk to someone who speaks English), seen one woman with platinum blonde hair in the lobby and maaaybe five Westerners at the main restaurant.
In short, I am FAR from INVISIBLE here. Everywhere I go, I'm stared at. There's nothing weirder than being in a foreign country by yourself, not really sure where you're going in a city that's not tourist-friendly... with all eyes on you. These are not celebrity stares. I feel like I'm stuck in that nightmare where you show up to school naked. They look at me with confusion, sometimes with disgust, and very rarely with a smile. The only hellos I get are from goofy teenage boys with a laughing audience of friends sporting electrocution-style orange-gold hair. Apparently that's a hot look. The whole experience is altogether crazy, exhausting and eye-opening (no pun intended).
So, below are some stories I've been jotting down in the mornings this week. This will be the last manifesto before we leave on Saturday at noon and arrive back home on Saturday around noon. Weird. Time is weird. Thanks again for bearing all my babbles and sending your responses. It's been so awesome to hear from you, as I've started to go a little nuts on this final stretch. ;)
Hai Di Lao: A yummy hot pot spot
Once the "drunk bus" arrived in Tianjin on Sunday and we all got acquainted in the very retro chic Westin right in the heart of downtown, we headed out to a chain called Hai Di Lao, which is a hot pot-style restaurant, meaning they boil all the food in the middle of your table. (It's pretty popular in China and one of the guys we were with had been to one in L.A.! It's definitely worth a visit if you ever have a chance.)
One side was boiled in hot spices, the other side was boiled in mushroom broth. I think we were there for about four hours in our own little private room, which seems to be pretty standard for a lot of authentic Chinese restaurants. They boiled a LOT of meat, poultry, tofu, seafood, vegetables, fruits, greens and noodles as everyone used ladles and chopsticks as they fancied. (P.S. - every group meal has consisted of everyone picking for what they want with their own chopsticks. Double-dipping at its finest. Germ-sharing all the way. As you know, a HUGE thing for me to overcome.)
This meal was one of the best. My favorites were the noodles made of beans (a man came into our room and danced/performed with the long, stretchy noodle before dropping it into the water), lotus root (basically eating the insides of a lotus flower, which has been a very favored and symbolic flower in China for hundreds of years) and sweet potato sticks.
The Chinese massage
I've had two massages in my life. Both were so basic (we're talking a 15-min. free office massage and a standard back massage in Steamboat), but both still managed to be painful and incredibly awkward. So, on a trip where the theme is "run from comfort," nothing is more fitting than a friggin' Chinese massage. When I made the reservation, I told the woman, who was from India, that I am a wuss and need a soft, basic massage. (And, yes, Leslie ... it still hurt!!!)
I was taken into this elegant room with a perfect temperature, dim lights, complete silence and a smell so great, I was in heaven. But, I guess anything would seduce your senses after your nostrils have been swimming in garlic, cabbage, Szechwan pepper, urine and cigarettes and your ears have been bombarded with honking horns, motors, bike bells and Chinese conversations.
The woman opens a closet and says, "Here's your robe, slippers and underwear ... go ahead and put these on and someone will be with you shortly." I looked at a small cardboard box she pointed to when she said "underwear" and I go, "Did you say underwear?" She goes, "Yes." This might be standard practice, but I got a good laugh out of these over-sized undies that felt like a cotton shower cap and looked like a diaper. I got my robe on, then was greeted by a sweet Indonesian woman. As she started exfoliating my feet and calves, we bonded over how challenging it is that most folks don't speak any English in Tianjin. This woman's lived here for two years, though, and still doesn't know a lick of Chinese. That's mind-boggling.
She gets up, goes over to the table and says, "OK, remove your robe and lay face down." She didn't turn away or anything. Ha!! So I turned around and snaked my way into position as fast as possible. Let's just say that for the next 90 minutes, I would have paid money to see my facial expressions -- going back and forth from a scrunched face to eyes wide open. Every part of my body BUT my private parts was touched. She even massaged my forehead and pinched my fingertips. What? Again, maybe this is standard practice with a full-body massage, but it was super weird! I can't seem to draw a line between something that's good for my health and the fact that a complete stranger is working their hand into my upper thigh. HAHA... NO thank you.
ANYWAY. Let's talk about soft serve now, shall we?
Ripped off at Dairy Queen
After a ton of walking around one day (went through shopping malls with American goods that played American pop music with no Americans to be found, walked into a random, gorgeous, Catholic cathedral across from a Starbucks, and witnessed two beggars with no legs or no wheelchairs just crawling around through crowds pushing cans of money).... I was SO hot and I couldn't find ANYwhere to eat lunch that I knew would be OK to eat. The area I was in was dominated by street vendors selling everything from raw kabobs to fish on a stick and people ordering food from windows that are reminiscent to movie ticket windows in the States. So, when I saw a Dairy Queen, I thought, "BLIZZARD. LUNCH. YES."
Naturally, three people butted me in line while I checked out the limited menu, then I ordered a small M&M blizzard. The total was $20.50 in RMB. I gave the woman a 20 and a 5. She took my money, I waited for change, then she shooed me to the side. I said, "I think I need change." Her response of course made no sense. She started talking to the other folks behind the counter and they all were looking at me. I held up four fingers saying, "I need four dollars back." I didn't care about the 50 cents at that point. They all started laughing and talking again, throwing their hands in the air, all crowding around the cash register.
Then, a woman comes over with a pen and paper with five fingers up and a look on her face like, "Please, you idiot" and writes ".50" ... SO I assumed that the 5-dollar bill, which is smaller in size than the standard bills, was actually for 50 cents and not 5 dollars. SO, I started laughing, put my hand over my heart and said, "I'm SO sorry...haha...thank you...shieh shieh!!!"
The next day, I realized I was ripped off. My lunch total at another place was 220.50. I gave the woman two 100s, a 20 and that 5-dollar bill again. She brought me back $4.50. I rest my case. Thanks a lot, DQ... (and that certainly wasn't the only time I got ripped off).
Side note: DQ's cakes are absolutely amazing. It puts D Bar and any Food Network competition to shame. The detail and creativity is incredible. (We walked by a cake shop our first night that has a cake for two million dollars. It's like 10-feet high and covered in swans.)
Ping pong gone wrong
So there really isn't a "story" to this, really, other than the fact that we thought Joe was taking us to a ping pong hall one night. David and I were envisioning tables of people competing in a divey bar filled with good booze and cigarette smoke. Turns out we cabbed it 45 minutes across town to go to a local rec center with the internal auditors D has been working with. They brought PBR inside (which I'm pretty sure was not allowed, as there were kids all over) and tiny pink cups to drink out of.
Later, David goes, "You should have gone upstairs. There were people playing badminton EVERYwhere." I go, "Well, thanks for telling me to go up there!" He goes, "Ah, I'm sorry, I was a little distracted when I accidentally walked into the girls' bathroom and everyone started screaming at me."
Eating alone
With David at work and no way to friend any locals or tourists, I've done a LOT of eating alone.
Most mornings, I've headed down to the breakfast buffet on the main floor, because their coffee is to die for and who doesn't love a buffet?!? One morning, I had a late start, and didn't make it down there until 10:50 a.m. and I was STARVING. When I asked the hostess if breakfast was still going (I didn't see anyone eating, but I saw food), she pointed to her watch and said what I heard as "Something-something-something... 11:30." So I thought breakfast went till 11:30, and this same woman seated me at a table and asked if I wanted coffee or tea. I was in the clear, right? BUT... some workers were packing up the food, my rice porridge was gone, and the man mopping the floor looked at me like I was committing a sin when I finally got my hands on some veggie noodles and baked beans. He started shouting something at the hostess, which I'm sure was, "What does this woman think she's doing?" As I'm filling my plate, another woman comes over and explains to me that breakfast is over and lunch begins at 11:30. I look at her, look at my plate and say, "So... what do you want me to do with this?" She goes, "I sorry" and walked away.
SO, I sit down and start eating when ANOTHER woman walks up and says, "I sorry, but lunch starts at 11:30, breakfast no more." At this point, I was irritated and when I am HUNGRY, things get scary. I look at her and say, "Well, I was seated here and I'd like to at least finish my food." She goes, "I can take some fruit for you," basically implying that she could box something up and send me on my way. In a pretty stern voice, I say, "Can't I just eat HERE?" She goes, "I sorry" and walks away. Needless to say, a lot of dirty looks were thrown my way as I ate my noodles 'n' drank my tea.
Later that day, I was the only American, the only woman and the only person dining alone in this nice little Chinese place that David and his coworkers had visited the night before. I ate an entire dish (like PF Chang's size) of sweet chicken (which tasted nothing like chicken, PS) with mango and peppers. It took them two hours to bring me my bill, because in China, there is never a rush to get through a meal at a restaurant. (Luckily I brought the latest issue of BUST Magazine with me!) I couldn't hear myself think over the open-mouth chomping of all the businessmen (and the chomping thing is pretty standard here). Apparently, it's also standard for most employers to give long lunch breaks. Joe's friend, who works at a bank, has a 2.5-hour lunch break. I guess dining out over long meals is part of most jobs! I could get used to that...
Fine Dining at Pizza Hut
Eating at Pizza Hut in China is not like eating at Pizza Hut in America. The atmosphere is much more formal and the menu is about 10 pages long with items you would never expect to see, like steak!! We ordered a bottle of wine ... lol ... and laughed at some of the crust options, which include pieces of visible shrimp baked into the crust in mini bowl-like holders. David tried some chicken wings, chicken thighs and pork, while Joe dug into a steak, and I stuck to pepperoni pizza. It was pretty good!
The Homeless Boy
In order to get from our hotel to the main areas with shopping, food and a sprinkling of familiar places like Starbucks and KFC, we have to walk on the same stretch of concrete in front of a building under construction while dodging people on foot and bikes and passing a sidewalk that is home to a few homeless people. One is an old man who lays on his back facing away from the crowds, while an older woman faces him on her hands and knees continually bowing her head. Then, there's a little boy who sits Indian style on a blanket with a mug to his side, his feet on the street and his bum on the ledge, shaking his head side to side with a smile on his face. No fail. All the time. They all sit in the same spots, moving with the exact same actions, like robotic window decorations.
As I was walking to get some tea before I called it a day, I started to walk through that stretch. This time, the boy was actually standing and talking to some people. He saw me, yelled something and started to follow me. I didn't know what to do, so I started walking faster. Next thing I knew, his little hands were tightly latching onto my arm. He was walking with me, talking to me in his language, still smiling and speaking in a soft yet strong voice. I don't think I've ever felt so many emotions at once: nervous, scared, helpless, SO sad for him and embarrassed for me.
Everyone already stares at me everywhere I go in this city, but now they were REALLY all staring. I just kept walking, trying to look as much at ease as I could, b/c I had no idea how people would react and I just wanted out of this situation. I looked down at his face as we walked. His chubby little cheeks had dirt on them, his mouth was bordered by blisters and dried saliva, and I will never forget how sticky his hands were. I felt the stick on my skin until I was able to rinse my arms.
I really don't know what to make of that experience at the moment, other than it had an incredible impact on me. I want so badly to help others, especially vulnerable children, have the opportunity for a better life. David and I want to make this happen in the future, whether through adoption or volunteering or both.
It will be quite interesting to see how our experiences in China will impact our life decisions to come.