Summary of February Trips

Today's Weather: 65F sunny, currently 54F

Local Time: 1020pm

Last week, was Chinese New Year on Sunday followed by traveling Monday - Sunday.

Monday - Wednesday was Suzhou and Hangzhou

Chinese New Year

It is unlikely to find a comparable fireworks display in the United States.  Fireworks are used to scare away bad luck and other odd things. There are no professional fireworks displays, so each family buys their own fireworks and sets them off.  Also business do the same practice for similar reasons.  To make a long story short, the fireworks don't go as high in the air, it seems.  Thankfully, the hotel we are staying in was shooting off fireworks.  It was very loud and I enjoyed it very much.  I watched from the 5th floor open window, the fireworks were exploding about 9 floors in the air.  Pictures of fireworks seem pointless, but I guess I have a few videos.  The air started fairly clear that evening though after midnight, there was a fog across the city from firework smoke.  Very impressive.

Suzhou (Sue-Joe)

Suzhou was an interesting place to visit.  We traveled as a group with a tour guide from Monday to Wednesday with a set agenda.  We saw a temple, a silk factory, and a garden.  The weather was quite bad, upper 40s and misty/fog.  We had some adventuring around the hotel area that night, but nothing ground shaking.  Visited a TGI Friday's.  I didn't like the mozzarella slabs because they were breaded in something rice based.  ):

Hangzhou (Ha-ng-joe)

Hangzhou was also a good place to visit.  It is a richer vacation area.  There is a very large lake there that is rather pretty but the weather didn't improve much.  We visited a cave.  Then we had lunch and visited the large lake that afternoon.  The weather was mid 40s, foggy, and windy.  The cave was kind of an upsetting experience for me.  I have been to caves in the United States, so when it showed up on the agenda I was excited to learn something about Chinese geology.  It is obvious that it was not that kind of experience.  It was a very Chinese tourist attraction.  They did not have english speaking guides so our hired tour guide translated what they had said.  Before, the tour started, we were offered an extended tour with a boat ride in the cave for not much money.  Many of us opted for this upgrade because it was a "45" minute boat ride.  After entering the cave, we learned that this was not something the DNR would be running.  Neon lights lite cave walls, over a wet stone path.  There was also nothing protecting the geology from the tourists.  The cave had lots of "Hey, that looks like a dragon."  It never once talked about the minerals or how long the cave had been there.  They had actually really screwed things up in that way.  In the caves I had been in before, the guides said touching a forming stalagmite can ruin the formation for many many years.  There was nothing stopping the tourist from touching these.  In fact, there were a few ground formations that actually had cement poured around it and they were in the middle of the path.  It was surprising.  I actually started laughing when I heard a few of the things they "found" in the rocks, dragons, elephants, etc.

We walked up 200 stairs, to look at something and then five minutes later walked back down the stairs.  As we exited the stairs a lady was handing incense out, people were taking it without asking questions.  I avoided this lady, because it did not seem right.  Well, as it turns out we had stumbled on a buddhist temple inside this cave.  People lite the incense and put it in the holder.  Once it goes in the holder, you are expected to donate.  Psh. Lame.  Some people did, some didn't.

Now we have arrived at the end of the first tour and the boat tour is about to start.  I see them bailing water out of the boats, GREAT.  We load up these wooden vessels with 9-12 Americans and they were built for 12 Chinese people.  The edge of the boat was no more than an inch out of the water, leaning the wrong way added some water in the boat.  Unfortunately (or fortunately) the boat ride was not 45 minutes, but rather 4 to 5 minutes and less than a football field long.  They actually used dynamite to make this pond.  The drill holes were visible on the rock face - absolutely wrong. 

Other things that were just wrong were:

- The cages animals for tourists to look at.

- The dead trees with hot glued on decorations.

- The fake dinosaur fossil.

- The train used to exit.  Which - at one point you had to duck in the train as to not hit your head while exiting the cave with low clearance.

I wrote a lot right there, and I am sorry.  I think that caves should be maintained and studied, not faked up for money.

We visited a large lake that afternoon and took a longer boat tour, it was windy and cold.  That evening we went out for a few drinks at a bar recommended by a Silicon Valley expat who owns the local subway sandwich shop.  We also visited a tea field, where they attempted to sell expensive tea to our group - and some people bought it.

We returned to Shanghai on Wednesday night, very tired.  Six of us turned around on Thursday and went to Beijing.

Beijing in Short 

I visited many sites in Beijing.  It was a very good trip.  I have many pictures from the trip and the weather was pretty good for the most part.  There were a couple of sunny days.  I saw; The Great Wall, The Summer Palace, The Temple of Heaven, the Drum Tower, Forbidden City, Tiananmen square, Olympic Bird's Nest, Ming Tombs, Chinese Tradition Medicine Clinic, and a Jade Craving Factory.  We made the most of our short visit.  One day we had a tour guide and that was the best way to get to the Great Wall for sure.  I initially did not think the Great Wall was going to be worth seeing, but it is fairly impressive actually.  It was an enjoyable trip.  I learned a lot more about China in Beijing because it is not nearly as westernized as Shanghai.

Minhang

This weekend our group is moving from downtown Shanghai about 40 minutes out of town.  It will still be densely populated but we will be relocating to the Mechanical Engineering campus.  I hope that the move goes well and will being much better internet connections to all of us.

Thanks for reading,

Biber

Great Wall in pictures

The trips went well last week. I am rather busy at this point with catching up with a few things. I will continue blog writing later this week.

Jon

Traveling

I will be away from Monday the 15th to Sunday the 21st.

Monday - Wednesday

Hangzhou and Suzhou

Thurs - Sunday

Beijing

Have a good week. I'll take some pictures and hopefully get some good stories!

JBiber

Month in Review and Chinese New Years

Temp: 3C - Partly Cloudy

Time: 3pm Sat

This post is a few updates with some thoughts on the first month in China.

Go Karts

Last night (Friday night) there was a small group of us interested in going out to the local indoor go kart business.  If you have ever been to Indianapolis' Fast Times, this is roughly the same thing.  The track had best times in the low 40sec area and it was 550m long.  The best carts were going in the upper 20s on average.  I say the best carts, because unlike Indy's track, the karts here are not all identical.  In fact, the karts are from a variety of manufacturers but apparently all use a Honda 4stroke 160cc engine.  This lead to many karts not being tuned properly and therefore a few "fast karts" emerged.  We bought three sessions at 8 minutes per session for about 22usd.  In Indy, the same amount of time (8 minutes x 3) would cost 60usd ($20 x 3).

The way the operation is run is a bit different.  First, the more obvious and interesting variation - the place serves alcohol.  There is a large bar that has viewing windows from above to watch the racers from while drinking.  The more risky drinkers will then go downstairs and drive - mostly because it is China and why not.  No one from out group was about to do this, but at the same time.. who knows what the future may hold.

The other large deviation from the policies of indy's kart track is there are ... no rules what so ever.  Aside from the obvious - don't get out of the kart, don't drive against the flow of traffic.. there is nothing that said no bumping like in Indy.  Clearly if you are allow to bump, you are allow to slam the crap out of each other and spin people out.  So that is what happened.  I have never been to a karting business that allowed this, but no one mentioned it once it started, so it escalated.  While the primary objective was to get the best lap times, the secondary objective is to screw over the other people on the track so that you can get the best lap time.  Needless to say, it was an experience.  The lighting was very poor so the video I shot was very dark.

Chinese New Year

February 14th is the Chinese New Year.  Today, Saturday, is New Years Eve.  We will be going out as a group to a fancy restaurant on Purdue's tab.  I am excited for just about one reason.  China is the world's manufacturer of fireworks.  I am told that there is no match for the fireworks that will be seen tonight through tomorrow.  If the expectations have been appropriately set, this will be the closest thing I will ever come to the sounds of a war zone.  I am also told there will not be too much partying going on because it is a very family oriented holiday.  It ties in with the very superstitious Chinese folk.  There is a large emphasis on luck around these parts.  For example, to have many fours a phone number is very unlucky because it sounds like death.  Sixes are good fortune and are associated with good business.  Eights are the luckiest number.  It is a very real thought process for the Chinese people.  The holiday for students is celebrated a week before and a week after.  This is the equivalent of Christmas around these parts or winter break.

ME 497K

This week has been a holiday for many students and teachers so we only had one class, the Purdue professor taught course.  This was the final week for this course because the professor will be returning to the US this week.  Each day we had five hour sessions.  Mon - Wed we worked on our final project then Thurs / Fri we presented.  Most all of the students are glad to have that class out of the way.

Valentine's Day

It may be of interest to some people to know that V-day is celebrated here.  The same superficial crap that is promoted in the US is carried along on this side of the ocean as well.  This year, I am told, is not as big of a deal because there is a bigger holiday falling on the same day.  Since the Chinese operate on the lunar calendar on a social level and the international calendar on the business level, many holidays appear twice.  One of our teachers said it is not a big deal that V-day is on the same day as CNY because there is another V-day later in the year.  Another note, the lunar calendar is not as long as the international calendar (<360 days).  Every few years, the Chinese calendar repeats a month.  Occasionally, there are two Mays in the same year, back to back.

One Month In...

-Expats

We are consistently told that talking to ex patriots is a waste of time in China because it is not part of the China experience.  I say the longer an expat has been around, the more useful information they can share.  We routinely have found very good information from the expats in China.  It has been part of the China experience just talking to these people and finding out great places to go visit. 

-Culture

The culture is very different from home.  As I mentioned above, there is a much stronger emphasis on luck.  There are other odd parts of Chinese culture that still continue to confuse me.  It has been an interesting experience to see how different it is in this way.  It has been a learning experience from the beginning.

-Frustrations

Many of the frustrations come from a gap in communication or understanding in general.  Chinese people never appear frustrated because they have been taught from a very young age to not show emotion.  That is a large cultural difference from back home.

Coming to China is not regrettable.  The only things I'd like to change are my knowledge of Chinese so that I could really get deeper into the culture and understand the world around me better.  That being said, it is difficult to be away from home and I miss a lot of friends and family.  I like hearing from all of you and know whats going on while I'm away.  Please keep in touch.  Though only a month has gone by, it is already starting to feel like I am running out of time to see everything there is to see in China.

JBiber

Happy Chinese Lunar New Years Eve (Saturday)

Happy Chinese New Year  (on Sunday)

Happy Valentines Day (on Sunday)

Good Luck America at the Olympics!!

Nanbei Lake and Super Bowl Weekend

Weather:  16C sunny with a hint of blue in the sky (hazy)

Local Time:  10am

Formula 1 Tickets

Friday afternoon, I came back from class and counted the money.  I had over 7400 yuan cash in hand.  Oddly, the preferred method of payment was cash on delivery.  They do not accept international credit cards on the website or over the phone.  I had a scheduled delivery time of noon to two and after about an hour the man showed up with the tickets in the lobby.  I was happy when he used the hotel's money counting machine rather than going through by hand.  I now have my ticket in hand and I am ready for the mid-april weekend.  Hopefully the weather is great.

Shanghai Vehicles

It sounds like cars must be less than ten years old.  The cars around here are rather usual.  It is quite common to see the big brands, Honda, Toyota, BMW, VW, and Chevy.  There are some local name brands as well that I'm not familiar with.  There is the occasional Porsche.  The most odd thing to many of the Americans around here is the luxury associated with the brand name Buick.  Buick is the luxury of China from what I'm told.  There are still Park Avenues being manufactured here, where as in the USA that car went out of production in 2007 or so.  That being said, it is not the same exact car as in America.  They have a newer body style and look quite nice.  If I come across a parked car, I'll try to take a photo.  Police use many kinds of cars, VW, Buick, and Chevy from what I've seen.  Taxi's are almost all VWs.  They are an older body style, but if I have heard the rules correctly taxi cabs are not allowed to be older than five years.

Knock-Off Markets

I didn't make it to the KOM this weekend, but some of my friends went.  The KOM is a place where they sell items with name brands that are not actually name brand items, this is where my PSA experience happened the previous weekend.  I called my friends in the morning and told them I would likely need some more athletic shorts and a better back pack for my upcoming biking trip.  I told them what I was willing to pay and kindly accepted the burden.  I was out looking for colts jersey's at the time (good game saints) when I got called about the shorts.  I got two pairs of tennis shorts for about 11 usd.  Not a terrible deal.  I also ended up getting a "North Face" hiking backpack for 13.50usd.  All items are quite usable, and I used the backpack on the biking trip the next day.

City Shop

I had a shopping list from the trip coordinator, and I figured that many of the items would be difficult to find at the local supermarket.  I had heard about an international type store not far, so I headed to City Shop.  Armed with my new backpack I was ready to purchase items, there is a charge for bags (.2 yuan per plastic bag).  I found some more cheese, I also was able to get some Munchies (Cheese Fix) as well as some American Lays BBQ.  I also found some gatorade and powerbars.  It was expensive, I spent about 36usd on what would have been 25-30 in USA but I was happy to have them on the trip.  That being said, the gatorade doesn't taste the same as back home.  There are chips in the Chinese supermarkets, but they aren't classic flavors that I'm use to.  I've tried many of these chips and found that the favors are strikingly accurate.  Roasted Chicken, BBQ Pork Ribs, Tomato and (something random), as well as shrimp and other very unpromising flavors.  Having some home style bbq chips is amazing.  I will enjoy food way to much when I get home.

Big Bang Theory

I brought along a few seasons of Big Bang Theory.  I am surprised to see how many engineers haven't seen the show.  It is one of my favorites these days.  Over the weekend there was a bit of a BBT party in my room.  About twelve of us crammed into my room and watched a few episodes from season one.  Those who hadn't seen it liked it a lot, those who had seen it enjoyed it.  I heard someone say, who would know you can make so many jokes referencing science and math - I thought of my friend Dave who will always try that pun or joke no matter how corny it may be.

Brasil Steak House

Saturday night was another one of the amazing experiences at the lovely B-BBQ.  A long story short, we went to the a bbq that was just about 20 minutes walk away and costs 99 RMB or about 14.50usd.  We were enjoying the all-you-can-eat protein fest.  I was with an adventurous set of friends so we tried some of the odd dishes.  I ate; grilled chicken, chicken wings, roast beef, steaks, beef tongue, duck, chicken wrapped in bacon,  sausage, flan, fruit bread, cooked bananas, garlic bread, lasagna, and other things I can't think of right now.  It was again one of the top meals of my lifetime.  Those restaurant are amazing and if you can find one it is completely worth it.  I feel fortunate that I was able to eat at one for only 15usd because normally they are much more expensive than that.

Nanbei Lake

On Sunday this weekend, marking one month since I left the USA, I went on a biking trip with an outdoors group I found via a website for weekend entertainment in Shanghai.  I knew going into it that the weather wasn't going to be the best, but I also knew going into it that I was the only male going on the trip.  I had high hopes that the six other women would be about my age, athletic, fun, attractive, and adventurous.  I wasn't too shocked to be greeted by an older group of women who were mostly all forty plus except for the guide who was probably in her late twenties.  The weather in Shanghai was a light rain and about 55F.  That morning, I walked to the meeting point in shorts and was passing folks with very large coats and very shocked looks on their faces.  Nanbei Lake is about two hours outside of Shanghai to the southwest.

The conversation on the bus was fairly basic at first for a group that was unfamiliar with each other, occupation, time in shanghai, and location were the dominate questions. (Teachers + business people, Canada;south Africa; France; Germany) After a bit of small talk I wanted to ask some useful questions.  I started by asking the expatriates if they were making local wages or international wages.  They talked about how they're making more than they would be making in their home counties because of the housing allowances, displacement fees, hardship bonuses, etc.  They noted it was a very good deal and they were able to live a lifestyle of luxury because of living in Shanghai.  I also brought up health care, to ask how the systems work in their home countries.  The general consensus was the socialized system is usually full of trouble as far as how long it takes to get care as well as a quality of care being generally lower than a private system.  They said that if you can afford to have private health care and if it is available in that country, it would be the way to go.  Better conditions, faster treatment, don't need to wait for an MRI where as with the social medicine plan it's possible that the MRI could take over a month to get.  We stopped at a rest stop and it was odd.  You can see a good example of the weather in the panorama.  It kept up with tradition of not caring to heat the facilities or have doors installed on the building.  I also very much enjoyed the translation of the signs at the rest stop.  (Above photos)  We continued on and got to the park.

 

I don't know really how much to describe about the park.  The weather was misty and cool.  We rode around the lake for awhile in the morning and stopped at some of the interesting places.  There was an island that had a Chinese Garden on it, it was connected to mainland by a footbridge.  It was a very nice garden.  The most unique and serene part of the lake was it was nearly completely still.  The reflections were unbelievable.  I have quite a few pictures but I don't want to spoil the fun by posting all of them.  I borrowed a 5 MP point and shoot camera to take on the trip, it fairly well.  The park was different than the American equivalent because despite paying admission there were definitely people living in there.  Houses, fruit fields, restaurants, hotels, tourist attractions, small shops, etc.  It was very odd because at some points we were riding through back alleys of these small villages.  The residents all had their gardens to live off of and wild chickens and ducks.  It was a different experience.  We rode around quite a bit in the morning and had lunch at a Chinese restaurant.  It was nothing special, more chopsticks practice.

The afternoon started on the bike but then switched to hiking.  We went up at 200m tall hill and when we got to the top we could see all the misty fog we'd be walking through the entire way up.  We were quite literally in the thick of it.  Pictures of this location didn't really show anything other than about 250 ft of visibility.  As the hike continued the fog cleared a little bit.  We saw some bamboo growing and visiting some "scenic view" spots that were essentially worthless from the fog.  We finished the afternoon at a small fortified Daoist Temple.  It was interesting to see that very old building still being used.

Other quick observations: 

The highways have bumps from small elevation changes; over two hours this probably happened four times.

The highways have tolls, it could have been the one road we were on, but it was fairly expensive and multi stops.

There is an "I-Pass" type RFID system to pay tolls, if the car has the equipment installed.

They use worms for fishing here too.

Many quickly build structure use bamboo.  Even in Shanghai, bamboo is used to build construction scaffolding. 

Despite not many people being in the park as tourist, almost all the shops were open and staffed, begging for business as we passed.

Super Bowl

I did get to see game 44 in its entirety.  I even saw The Who over halftime.  Outside the US, the game was broadcast on ESPN apparently.  The commercials that were seen on CBS were not shown here.  I was happy to see the game, it was great.  I enjoyed almost all of it.  There were a few plays I would like to have not happened, but the Colts had a great season anyways.  I'm not that into The Who, and the last few games have left me wanting MTV's management of the Super Bowl again.  They haven't been allowed to manage it since the wardrobe malfunction.  I would rather hear new music and keep the generations that watch the Super Bowl together as a nation current with music, not fall into tradition.  I'm living where tradition is taken into account in nearly everything that is done.  It is a hindrance to progression.

These are my thoughts,

JBiber