Blogging from Baoding

[david_dawei]

Zack: If you really mean, chu le ba (as in go)... In my wife's circles, they just say "zou ba" (and less frequently, zou le)... as in [let's] go ... as many phrases do in chinese, it is loosely used in related meaning: it can also mean: [ready to] go? or as to imply [i'm ready to] go.

 

if you really mean, chi le ba (eat), then you need to practice typing more

 

I think the suffix 'ba' is more common in the more northern beijing dialect areas... they will "ba" sentences to death...

 

 

Dennis: Those are wiki pictures.. can't answer to them! ... there are a few 'blank' days from too much er guo tou... and there are some days of it that I wish I could not remember

 

DanR: I'll leave CFL with only one bloggity blogger for now...

 

[Roger:] The ubiquitous "R" finds it's way into may words in the northern beijing dialect areas.. as a suffix joiner; Yi ping pi jiu (a bottle of beer) would be stated as yi pingr pi jiu... So, not sure if an "R" is being added to the "He" part??.. will have to listen around here to others pronounce it. My wife is a 'proper' pronunciation maniac... just ask Dennis or DanR whom she would correct without hesitation...

 

Here is a Hebei map... http://www.maps-of-china.net/province/hebeim.htm

 

one will see Baoding at "7 o'clock' relative to Beijing... and see the Tinjian triangle formed... will comment on that in reply to Tony... Also, Hebei is abbreviated as ¼½ (ji4--to hope).

 

Tony: The phrase is certainly derogatory to baoding city people as is "Jing You Zi" is to Beijing ren (oily) and "Wei Zui Zi" is to Tianjin ren (all talk)... there's my triangle story.

 

But, here is the story of Gou Tui Zi, according to my wife:

Part I: Traces back to stories of how historically many Eunichs were from Baoding and had the desire to work in the king's court... (historically true)

Part II: Some special workers for the king (if he possessed a bad leg) would cut off their leg for the King's use (not sure how historical vs fictional but such is the way of myths). Such dismemberment left the worker as not very useful... so a dog's leg was taken in like turn; as a dog is man's best friend, the king's special worker gave of himself, literally (they myth gets more incredulous as it goes).

Part III: Became a derogatory use for those [in baoding] who worked for Japanese... people were useless [i'm assuming... as is a dog without a leg]. How to tie it back to the Eunich...I'm guessing that one can probably figure that out...

[lostness]

Zack: If you really mean, chu le ba (as in go)... In my wife's circles, they just say "zou ba" (and less frequently, zou le)... as in [let's] go ... as many phrases do in chinese, it is loosely used in related meaning: it can also mean: [ready to] go? or as to imply [i'm ready to] go.

 

if you really mean, chi le ba (eat), then you need to practice typing more

 

I think the suffix 'ba' is more common in the more northern beijing dialect areas... they will "ba" sentences to death...

 

 

Dennis: Those are wiki pictures.. can't answer to them! ... there are a few 'blank' days from too much er guo tou... and there are some days of it that I wish I could not remember

 

DanR: I'll leave CFL with only one bloggity blogger for now...

 

[Roger:] The ubiquitous "R" finds it's way into may words in the northern beijing dialect areas.. as a suffix joiner; Yi ping pi jiu (a bottle of beer) would be stated as yi pingr pi jiu... So, not sure if an "R" is being added to the "He" part??.. will have to listen around here to others pronounce it. My wife is a 'proper' pronunciation maniac... just ask Dennis or DanR whom she would correct without hesitation...

 

Here is a Hebei map... http://www.maps-of-china.net/province/hebeim.htm

 

one will see Baoding at "7 o'clock' relative to Beijing... and see the Tinjian triangle formed... will comment on that in reply to Tony... Also, Hebei is abbreviated as ¼½ (ji4--to hope).

 

Tony: The phrase is certainly derogatory to baoding city people as is "Jing You Zi" is to Beijing ren (oily) and "Wei Zui Zi" is to Tianjin ren (all talk)... there's my triangle story.

 

But, here is the story of Gou Tui Zi, according to my wife:

Part I: Traces back to stories of how historically many Eunichs were from Baoding and had the desire to work in the king's court... (historically true)

Part II: Some special workers for the king (if he possessed a bad leg) would cut off their leg for the King's use (not sure how historical vs fictional but such is the way of myths). Such dismemberment left the worker as not very useful... so a dog's leg was taken in like turn; as a dog is man's best friend, the king's special worker gave of himself, literally (they myth gets more incredulous as it goes).

Part III: Became a derogatory use for those [in baoding] who worked for Japanese... people were useless [i'm assuming... as is a dog without a leg]. How to tie it back to the Eunich...I'm guessing that one can probably figure that out...

 

Yes David, I meant CHI le ba...I'll practice while you're away, I won't let you down!

[david_dawei]

March 27: First day, Departure

 

I applied the same technique I usually do in preparation for going to china; I pack at the very last minute, and that means I have up until the minute I leave for the airport; as well, I prefer to not sleep the night before or only get hour or two at most. I have found that staying away as much as possible until the first night in china assures that I’ll fall asleep the first night and quickly get into the new timezone.

 

Although we got up at 4:00am and once at the airport I searched for a few minutes and thought I had forgotten my passport, we otherwise had an uneventful, though mostly sleepy flight from Florida to Chicago. I chatted briefly with the guy next to me who was a executive VP for a welding company who purchased parts from Chinese firms. He was going on to Shanghai and then Ningbo. I told him I knew of someone in Baoding who had some instrumentation like he described and offered to email him some details after I got to Baoding and talked to the friend.

 

In Chicago, we had a four hour layout which was quite useful since a few work items had not completed by the time I left and I was constantly on the computer or phone. But the main thing that struck me, being my fifth trip, was the number of westerners waiting to get on the flight to Beijing, whom were mostly older folk.

 

The United flight to Beijing is as I always remember it: Too long, aching knees, full of movies and a contrast in the western vs eastern stewardess; the former often acting like they are in a position of power and reminding the passenger plebs of their low-dom, while the latter are as friendly and courteous as you would want. I intermittently slept, stood up, walked around, and rubbed my legs…. For 14 hours. The young Chinese lady next to me had gone to Indiana for a business trip; seems their company in Hangzhou sells items which this American company bought but was having a problem with it. She and an engineer were on a face saving mission.. she said, “they were pleased”… Upon hearing she was from Hangzhou I mentioned the famous lake (west lake) and asked her about a movie set in Hangzhou which title escaped me at that time (I looked it up and it’s Yuan Yang Hu Die, A West Lake Moment).

 

Beijing Capital Airport has added a new wing and I think even enlarging further in advance of the Olympics. We arrived in the new section which was simple and yet impressive. The first site which caught my eye as usually is the Chinese ladies all dressed alike, hair pinned the same, and toting the same luggage. For all the lack of individualism, I feel a sense of ‘power in numbers’, where the feeling is an aesthetic and elegant one. For those who want to know: China bank is on the main floor and most of the other banks (Bank of China) are on the upper floor as well as some food places. It’s worth the trip up a level to see it.

 

Normally we take a taxi from the airport to the train station to her hometown, but my wife decided we should save some money and take a bus to the nearest point of the station and then taxi to the station; this turned out to be a great idea and savings. Ask any information booth to confirm which bus to take and which stop to get off of… in fact, it was so close that the taxi guy really disliked taking us as it was ‘too short’ for his time. But the bus took about an hour and gave me the first time to really see Beijing during the transfer. To both of us, the city seems cleaner and we guessed that they were painting or at least washing buildings down. Once at the station, my wife went to buy the tickets and forget one trick she was aware of; if your too late to get tickets for a train (because it’s too close to departure) you can just get on and pay once on the train. We had a two hour wait for the ‘fast’ train. We walked outside the station to find a place to eat and went to the hotel next door which had a restaurant on the tenth floor to usher in our first Chinese meal with the Beijing local beer, Yin Jing):

京酱肉丝jing jiang rou si (thinly sliced pork stripes in a brown sauce with strips of scallions)

姜汁菠菜 jiang zhi bo cai (chinese spinach in ginger sauce)

 

I wanted to get to the station since the wait is often a long line… and this time, instead of following her, I said I will push through the crowd; Instead of being about 200 people back I cut that in half. She said was already ‘chinese’ my first day… I could only think about the next 30 people I could of cut through. We had two large suitcases and the train trip is usually the biggest pain of the trip since the seating is often cramped. It turns out she bought slightly more expensive tickets and we were in a new train with seating assignment and easy luggage storage… Trip was more than an hour and we then had to haggle for a taxi since we were once again too ‘close’ to the home from that station. She pushed through the first few inquiries (ni chu nar—where are you going) knowing they want the choicest trips.. got all the way to the street and in usually fashion she acts as if she has no interest in anyone and forces them to walk next to her. One guy finally says he will do it… as we put the bags in the truck he announces the prices of 20 RMB, which my wife almost cuts his head off in a diatribe fashion. I know this ploy and know she is about to walk away from the guy, so I take the lead and I turn and start to walk away and she follows and the guy is casting another fish line at her… again, forces him to come to her by quickly catching up to her stride…. Once again, it works, she gets her price. Once at the home we went out quickly for a massage a stone’s throw away. That was the ticket to ensuring we’d sleep like a baby… make that two babies…

Edited March 28, 2008 by DavidZixuan (see edit history)

[david_dawei]

March 28, first day full day in China:

 

In the past, I would wake up around 3-4am and not be able to sleep; today, I slept to 6am which was a good first night start. After some restlessness we decided it was simply time to go eat breakfast. I realized in the morning that I did not hear the KTV blasting all night as usually; we are next door to it. Certainly most street vendors and sellers are up by 4am and trying to get themselves ready for a hard days work. Across the street from our place is plenty of small restaurants and street vendors. My wife has the plan already: We would buy some of Baoding famous donkey meat from the vendors and take it to a restaurant so we can eat inside. Our first Chinese breakfast seems to be the real inauguration for arriving in china, too many dishes which all got consumed easily:

¿Èâ»ðÉÕ lv rou huo shao (donkey meat in a pita¡­ god it¡¯s good)

»ìãç hun dun (the Cantonese is Wan Tan and gives us our Wonton soup). Those intereseted in chinese cosmology will find hun dun is personified chaos; the soup divine.

²èÒ¶µ° tea egg (boiled egg which sat in vinegar¡­ overcooked but not bad)

¶¹¸¯ÄÔ tou fu nao (tofu brain; bits of tofu which might appear as bits of brain in a delicious white sacuce with garlic¡­awesome).

СÃ×Öà xiao mi zhou (traditional small rice porridge)

 

Then¡­ back to bed¡­ later registered with the local police¡­. Then went out for lunch although we didn¡¯t place the order, it was uncanny that we ate some of my favorite dishes:

Õ¨ÖªÁË£¬zha zhi liao (circada, ala locust¡­ crunchy and full bodied, although the little legs sometimes get caught in your teeth)

Ë®ÖóÓ㣬shui zhu yu (extremely spicy fish with my favorite tingly Sichuan pepper)

¼Ò×öС°×²Ë£¬bai cai (veggie dish)

À°°ËËâÉշʳ¦£¬La ba suan shao fei chang (really my favorite dish: pig stomach with garlic).

 

Went to get a hair wash for 2 RMB¡­ slept some more¡­ got up and went for a ¡®medical¡¯ massage (focus on points and meridian instead of simply relaxation massage).. worth the 12 RMB. Finished the day with dinner:

Áï´øÓ㣬dai yu (Belt fish¡­ I¡¯ve never taken to this fish very well)

¸¯ÖñÏãÂó,fu zhu xiang mai (tofu skin with vegetable in white sauce)

ÕÖ±ýzhao bing (beef and pancake soup; you can order the amount of beef you want, we ordered 100mg¡ªnot enough).

 

First full day behind us and a full stomach for sure¡­

 

Needless to say, the city is what I recall although this trip is unusually bad air; maybe Beijing is blowing it in every direction to clear their own. I coughed most of the day, having come to china with a horse voice didn¡¯t help. This always feels like the land that time forget; not much changes here but the weather and prices; in some cases, only the US equivalent has changed due to the weaker dollar. The trash is still everywhere (for Dennis) and the hallway to the apartment is worse than being outside since the windows are all broken and the dirt settles and never washes away from the rain. Add in the hallway cookers filling up the walls and handrail with coal soot; Navigating up the steps at the previous night I remembered not to touch anything, despite it was pitched dark walking to the top floor. It rained hard during the afternoon which gave the outside overcast day a reason to gray but the temperature dropped a bit in the evening. With no heat in the building, it means a few more covers. At least there is a hot water tank installed in the bathroom so I can have a steamy 10 minute shower if I work the controls right. There is no kitchen proper in this apartment, save a heating top which will begin to boil water in about 15 seconds! Tomorrow I expect about the same day except no need to wash the hair¡­

[IllinoisDave]

Keep 'em coming David. With Christine in China for the next monthas well, I get to live vicariously through two people.

[Don]

March 28, first day full day in China:

 

In the past, I would wake up around 3-4am and not be able to sleep; today, I slept to 6am which was a good first night start. After some restlessness we decided it was simply time to go eat breakfast. I realized in the morning that I did not hear the KTV blasting all night as usually; we are next door to it. Certainly most street vendors and sellers are up by 4am and trying to get themselves ready for a hard days work. Across the street from our place is plenty of small restaurants and street vendors. My wife has the plan already: We would buy some of Baoding famous donkey meat from the vendors and take it to a restaurant so we can eat inside. Our first Chinese breakfast seems to be the real inauguration for arriving in china, too many dishes which all got consumed easily:

¿Èâ»ðÉÕ lv rou huo shao (donkey meat in a pita¡­ god it¡¯s good)

»ìãç hun dun (the Cantonese is Wan Tan and gives us our Wonton soup). Those intereseted in chinese cosmology will find hun dun is personified chaos; the soup divine.

²èÒ¶µ° tea egg (boiled egg which sat in vinegar¡­ overcooked but not bad)

¶¹¸¯ÄÔ tou fu nao (tofu brain; bits of tofu which might appear as bits of brain in a delicious white sacuce with garlic¡­awesome).

СÃ×Öà xiao mi zhou (traditional small rice porridge)

 

Then¡­ back to bed¡­ later registered with the local police¡­. Then went out for lunch although we didn¡¯t place the order, it was uncanny that we ate some of my favorite dishes:

Õ¨ÖªÁË£¬zha zhi liao (circada, ala locust¡­ crunchy and full bodied, although the little legs sometimes get caught in your teeth)

Ë®ÖóÓ㣬shui zhu yu (extremely spicy fish with my favorite tingly Sichuan pepper)

¼Ò×öС°×²Ë£¬bai cai (veggie dish)

À°°ËËâÉշʳ¦£¬La ba suan shao fei chang (really my favorite dish: pig stomach with garlic).

 

Went to get a hair wash for 2 RMB¡­ slept some more¡­ got up and went for a ¡®medical¡¯ massage (focus on points and meridian instead of simply relaxation massage).. worth the 12 RMB. Finished the day with dinner:

Áï´øÓ㣬dai yu (Belt fish¡­ I¡¯ve never taken to this fish very well)

¸¯ÖñÏãÂó,fu zhu xiang mai (tofu skin with vegetable in white sauce)

ÕÖ±ýzhao bing (beef and pancake soup; you can order the amount of beef you want, we ordered 100mg¡ªnot enough).

 

First full day behind us and a full stomach for sure¡­

 

Needless to say, the city is what I recall although this trip is unusually bad air; maybe Beijing is blowing it in every direction to clear their own. I coughed most of the day, having come to china with a horse voice didn¡¯t help. This always feels like the land that time forget; not much changes here but the weather and prices; in some cases, only the US equivalent has changed due to the weaker dollar. The trash is still everywhere (for Dennis) and the hallway to the apartment is worse than being outside since the windows are all broken and the dirt settles and never washes away from the rain. Add in the hallway cookers filling up the walls and handrail with coal soot; Navigating up the steps at the previous night I remembered not to touch anything, despite it was pitched dark walking to the top floor. It rained hard during the afternoon which gave the outside overcast day a reason to gray but the temperature dropped a bit in the evening. With no heat in the building, it means a few more covers. At least there is a hot water tank installed in the bathroom so I can have a steamy 10 minute shower if I work the controls right. There is no kitchen proper in this apartment, save a heating top which will begin to boil water in about 15 seconds! Tomorrow I expect about the same day except no need to wash the hair¡­

 

À°°ËËâÉշʳ¦£¬La ba suan shao fei chang (really my favorite dish: pig stomach with garlic).

I think this might be pig colon, or large intestines. Plus, no smell no fun, so should not be clean too harshly. Wow you are really chinese if you eat this.

[Joanne]

March 28, first day full day in China:

 

In the past, I would wake up around 3-4am and not be able to sleep; today, I slept to 6am which was a good first night start. After some restlessness we decided it was simply time to go eat breakfast. I realized in the morning that I did not hear the KTV blasting all night as usually; we are next door to it. Certainly most street vendors and sellers are up by 4am and trying to get themselves ready for a hard days work. Across the street from our place is plenty of small restaurants and street vendors. My wife has the plan already: We would buy some of Baoding famous donkey meat from the vendors and take it to a restaurant so we can eat inside. Our first Chinese breakfast seems to be the real inauguration for arriving in china, too many dishes which all got consumed easily:

驴肉火烧 lv rou huo shao (donkey meat in a pita… god it’s good)

混沌 hun dun (the Cantonese is Wan Tan and gives us our Wonton soup). Those intereseted in chinese cosmology will find hun dun is personified chaos; the soup divine.

茶叶蛋 tea egg (boiled egg which sat in vinegar… overcooked but not bad)

豆腐脑 tou fu nao (tofu brain; bits of tofu which might appear as bits of brain in a delicious white sacuce with garlic…awesome).

小米粥 xiao mi zhou (traditional small rice porridge)

 

Then… back to bed… later registered with the local police…. Then went out for lunch although we didn’t place the order, it was uncanny that we ate some of my favorite dishes:

炸知了，zha zhi liao (circada, ala locust… crunchy and full bodied, although the little legs sometimes get caught in your teeth)

水煮鱼，shui zhu yu (extremely spicy fish with my favorite tingly Sichuan pepper)

家做小白菜，bai cai (veggie dish)

腊八蒜烧肥肠，La ba suan shao fei chang (really my favorite dish: pig stomach with garlic).

 

Went to get a hair wash for 2 RMB… slept some more… got up and went for a ‘medical’ massage (focus on points and meridian instead of simply relaxation massage).. worth the 12 RMB. Finished the day with dinner:

溜带鱼，dai yu (Belt fish… I’ve never taken to this fish very well)

腐竹香麦,fu zhu xiang mai (tofu skin with vegetable in white sauce)

罩饼zhao bing (beef and pancake soup; you can order the amount of beef you want, we ordered 100mg—not enough).

 

First full day behind us and a full stomach for sure…

 

Needless to say, the city is what I recall although this trip is unusually bad air; maybe Beijing is blowing it in every direction to clear their own. I coughed most of the day, having come to china with a horse voice didn’t help. This always feels like the land that time forget; not much changes here but the weather and prices; in some cases, only the US equivalent has changed due to the weaker dollar. The trash is still everywhere (for Dennis) and the hallway to the apartment is worse than being outside since the windows are all broken and the dirt settles and never washes away from the rain. Add in the hallway cookers filling up the walls and handrail with coal soot; Navigating up the steps at the previous night I remembered not to touch anything, despite it was pitched dark walking to the top floor. It rained hard during the afternoon which gave the outside overcast day a reason to gray but the temperature dropped a bit in the evening. With no heat in the building, it means a few more covers. At least there is a hot water tank installed in the bathroom so I can have a steamy 10 minute shower if I work the controls right. There is no kitchen proper in this apartment, save a heating top which will begin to boil water in about 15 seconds! Tomorrow I expect about the same day except no need to wash the hair…

 

You live like a King. .... The comments came before I reached the end of this post.

Edited March 29, 2008 by Joanne (see edit history)

[Dennis143]

Nice travelog, David. Seems I am walking each step with you. Looking forward to reading tomorrow's.

[david_dawei]

March 28, first day full day in China:

 

In the past, I would wake up around 3-4am and not be able to sleep; today, I slept to 6am which was a good first night start. After some restlessness we decided it was simply time to go eat breakfast. I realized in the morning that I did not hear the KTV blasting all night as usually; we are next door to it. Certainly most street vendors and sellers are up by 4am and trying to get themselves ready for a hard days work. Across the street from our place is plenty of small restaurants and street vendors. My wife has the plan already: We would buy some of Baoding famous donkey meat from the vendors and take it to a restaurant so we can eat inside. Our first Chinese breakfast seems to be the real inauguration for arriving in china, too many dishes which all got consumed easily:

¿Èâ»ðÉÕ lv rou huo shao (donkey meat in a pita¡­ god it¡¯s good)

»ìãç hun dun (the Cantonese is Wan Tan and gives us our Wonton soup). Those intereseted in chinese cosmology will find hun dun is personified chaos; the soup divine.

²èÒ¶µ° tea egg (boiled egg which sat in vinegar¡­ overcooked but not bad)

¶¹¸¯ÄÔ tou fu nao (tofu brain; bits of tofu which might appear as bits of brain in a delicious white sacuce with garlic¡­awesome).

СÃ×Öà xiao mi zhou (traditional small rice porridge)

 

Then¡­ back to bed¡­ later registered with the local police¡­. Then went out for lunch although we didn¡¯t place the order, it was uncanny that we ate some of my favorite dishes:

Õ¨ÖªÁË£¬zha zhi liao (circada, ala locust¡­ crunchy and full bodied, although the little legs sometimes get caught in your teeth)

Ë®ÖóÓ㣬shui zhu yu (extremely spicy fish with my favorite tingly Sichuan pepper)

¼Ò×öС°×²Ë£¬bai cai (veggie dish)

À°°ËËâÉշʳ¦£¬La ba suan shao fei chang (really my favorite dish: pig stomach with garlic).

 

Went to get a hair wash for 2 RMB¡­ slept some more¡­ got up and went for a ¡®medical¡¯ massage (focus on points and meridian instead of simply relaxation massage).. worth the 12 RMB. Finished the day with dinner:

Áï´øÓ㣬dai yu (Belt fish¡­ I¡¯ve never taken to this fish very well)

¸¯ÖñÏãÂó,fu zhu xiang mai (tofu skin with vegetable in white sauce)

ÕÖ±ýzhao bing (beef and pancake soup; you can order the amount of beef you want, we ordered 100mg¡ªnot enough).

 

First full day behind us and a full stomach for sure¡­

 

Needless to say, the city is what I recall although this trip is unusually bad air; maybe Beijing is blowing it in every direction to clear their own. I coughed most of the day, having come to china with a horse voice didn¡¯t help. This always feels like the land that time forget; not much changes here but the weather and prices; in some cases, only the US equivalent has changed due to the weaker dollar. The trash is still everywhere (for Dennis) and the hallway to the apartment is worse than being outside since the windows are all broken and the dirt settles and never washes away from the rain. Add in the hallway cookers filling up the walls and handrail with coal soot; Navigating up the steps at the previous night I remembered not to touch anything, despite it was pitched dark walking to the top floor. It rained hard during the afternoon which gave the outside overcast day a reason to gray but the temperature dropped a bit in the evening. With no heat in the building, it means a few more covers. At least there is a hot water tank installed in the bathroom so I can have a steamy 10 minute shower if I work the controls right. There is no kitchen proper in this apartment, save a heating top which will begin to boil water in about 15 seconds! Tomorrow I expect about the same day except no need to wash the hair¡­

 

À°°ËËâÉշʳ¦£¬La ba suan shao fei chang (really my favorite dish: pig stomach with garlic).

I think this might be pig colon, or large intestines. Plus, no smell no fun, so should not be clean too harshly. Wow you are really chinese if you eat this.

yes, intestine.. just got in the habit of saying stomach.

 

Today we had the basically the same breakfast and then hotpot for lunch...

[david_dawei]

March 29: Day two

 

The rain continued a bit today and that gives the shop owners an excuse to mop their sidewalks and steps since one shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth; free water [rain] to wash the outsides.

 

The weather was basically chilly most of the day and yet people seem to refuse to wear enough clothes... instead, one sees a sea of blank looks as they bicycle and walk and moped around in the chill. Women are equal of men in everyway; hacking, spitting and snorting through this all.

 

Since we were up early, but at least still sleeping through the night, got to see the children working in the food areas and also some going to school, many stopping at the street vendors and getting an early education in trade and finance. Those on bikes already understand the way of the road; seize any opening and get to the spot first.

 

Traffic here is always fascinating... and I forgot about the eternal left hand turn; even after the light is red, another 20 vehicles will go through the read like a funeral is in motion. Oncoming traffic usually just waits. Right turn on red is silly; no need to even stop for that red... just merge and get to the spot first... only those going straight tend to stop the most. Driving on the opposite side of the road is just the quick detour to keep from stopping too much... and amazing how it produces a cascading effect of the opposite traveling vehicles to just move over and get out of the way, although it is their through way.

 

We went to the park this morning and watched all the various sports and exercises going on... This is a city which seems to pride itself on carrying out the traditions of early morning exercise. Quite a few would pick their favorite tree and then proceed to pull all the energy they could from the tree in various forms. One lady yelled at the tree in repetitive bursts; my wife said she is using the tree to strengthen her lungs... I figured she must not be married since no one would want to have a wife with that strong of lungs.

 

In normal fashion, we scoped out all the massage places we can as we walk around... and found a few more today. All the good places require a taxi ride and we're without her death ride moped... But we found one place that will train people on how to excite the 'qi'; we may study under that for a month's fee. It seems intriquing since it's not clear how much of Qi Gong they use or not. Qi Gong fell out of favor with Falun Gong's rise and fall... after the government banned that, nobody dared risking association with it. My wife was hestitant to talk to me about it a few years ago. Another spot offers free clinics on self-massage, so we'll back another day.

 

Today she went to the dentist for a cleaning, 50 RMB. I'll go another day. We stopped at our favorite computer store where you can buy most any american movie in packs, averaging 4 RMB per disk; each disk usually holds about 4-6 movies, so that means each moving is less than 1 RMB. Also bought a 5 meter network cable for 15 RMB. Looked around at prices and the 4 MB memory sticks are going for 130 RMB; the computers around 4000 RMB on the low end. Guys were building systems on the third floor, inserting motherboards and running wires around the desktop cases. Any piece of electronic can be bought here.

 

Sidewalks on some blocks can be tough to navigate since the businesses use the frontage as workspace; particularly those building something who need space... welders are constructing all sorts of sign posts and supports; repair shops are fixing motorcycles/mopeds; bed filling is being applied in layers to make a cover, etc.

 

And everything I saw today, I've seen in every trip... and suspect I will continue to in my lifetime...

Edited March 29, 2008 by DavidZixuan (see edit history)

[david_dawei]

A traveler's Observation and Experience

 

I've encounted this twice already and am ready to write about it... and since I've encountered this practically everyday I've spent in china (now past six months worth), it's time to talk candidly about one of the most dreaded encounters a westerner has coming to china: The eastern 'hole in the ground' toilet.

 

It seems to me that from a purely pragmatic point, this should be one of the seven wonders of invention of the world... How simple and useful could one get and how easy (in theory). The infamous 'squat' position is used in daily life by young and old; many will squat down here to eat, take a break, plan a game, or just to chat. Young children often don't wear diapers since squating anywhere you want to relieve yourself is so much easier, faster and cleaner. Today a boy dropped down and did his business and with typical child-like play, decided to swing his thing a little and make a picasso of his own urine on the ground...

 

My very first experience of 'squatting' was a few years ago and on a train... I don't recommend this as your first experience but it was mine... As I headed off, someone was kind enough to motion for me to put my shoes on first... good thing since the floor was covered in piss and in a moving training you slide around like an ice dancer. The first mystery to me was, which way to face... seems trivial but this was incredibly important as I was to find out.. since I choose the wrong 50% chance I had; I discovered it later on a second visit that the other direction revealed sway bars to hold on to... But my first experience was as one attempting an ice dance while squatting and aiming really is important in such situations... but I made it through that ok...

 

The key to toilets, which is the best kept secret, is that you must have your own toilet paper. The trick that we use is that anywhere we go to eat we ask for napkins since both ends of the body are going to need them... and we save half or more for such later need. Of course most will tell you to bring your own and have a handy stock ready, but what's the fun in that if you can play the risk of remembering to get some from a restaurant or not.

 

During a visit through Yunnan, I meet some of the most worse outhouses in the world; the flies even were too disguised by it; most would go into the adjacent trees. At one restaurant, the bathroom was unisex so that men and woman simply were in stalls next to each other. In a few shopping mall bathrooms, there are no doors and guys literally squat next to each other and most of the time will share a cigarette with his new found buddy and chat away to pass the time.

 

I find it a handy position when you have limited paper from a restaurant, like yesterday... you can get good at minimizing your work and your cleanup... I'll admit, I rarely see a western toilet, so if you even get to use a western one on your trip, I hope you do the host country some pride and pass up that easy opportunity for a true test of courage

[Dan R]

[Roger:] The ubiquitous "R" finds it's way into may words in the northern beijing dialect areas.. as a suffix joiner; Yi ping pi jiu (a bottle of beer) would be stated as yi pingr pi jiu... So, not sure if an "R" is being added to the "He" part??.. will have to listen around here to others pronounce it. My wife is a 'proper' pronunciation maniac... just ask Dennis or DanR whom she would correct without hesitation...

 

 

He isn't kidding. David I'm surprised you don't get smacked for using dialect.

 

Where is the throat treetment in your story??? What did she come up with?

 

Did you try the black pepper tea? Are you sucking on salted dried plums?

[yuan fen]

Traffic here is always fascinating... and I forgot about the eternal left hand turn; even after the light is red, another 20 vehicles will go through the read like a funeral is in motion. Oncoming traffic usually just waits. Right turn on red is silly; no need to even stop for that red... just merge and get to the spot first... only those going straight tend to stop the most. Driving on the opposite side of the road is just the quick detour to keep from stopping too much... and amazing how it produces a cascading effect of the opposite traveling vehicles to just move over and get out of the way, although it is their through way.

 

I think so also, simply fascinating. If one really watches the motion of order, to me it is like an ocean reef in some ways. A school of fish as if on a single plane, which travel a speed faster than others, in harmony sway in either direction to go around another creature that is not in the same flow. Within a reef a vast community of creatures collide.

 

The sights, smells, and noises all have a similar aura in a city no matter where you are in China. Some embrace it, others do not. Those who are visiting and those who have experienced living there sometimes seem to have a different view, but that perception is unique to its own.

 

 

 

And everything I saw today, I've seen in every trip... and suspect I will continue to in my lifetime...

 

But, there are those moments that something new is experienced.

That is what I find most intriguing.

 

I read your entries each day. As I enjoy to read them, I¡¯m positive you enjoy to write them. Nice descriptive writing.

[Randy W]

 

. . .

 

The infamous 'squat' position is used in daily life by young and old; many will squat down here to eat, take a break, plan a game, or just to chat.

 

. . .

 

 

You can tell an Easterner from a Westerner in this respect - an Easterner will squat with their feet completely flat, and their knees virtually at a 180 degree angle. The Westerner will squat on the balls of their feet, leaning slightly forward to keep their balance. The Easterner's balance is maintained by the flatness of their feet, and that the center of gravity is above the feet.

[IllinoisDave]

So far in three trips I've avoided the dreaded "squat." Mostly because I spent most of my time in Shanghai, a few days in Beijing and about a week in Shenzhen, all with adequate supplies of "western" toilets.

 

The closest I came was at one of the Ming tombs. When we got there I was "in need" but not in emergency mode. So I checked out the toilet and found only holes and one occupied stall. I decided I could wait and we started off on the tour. About a minute later I realized I wasn't going to be waiting and that taking the tour was out of the question without some relief.

 

I figured it was time to face the music so I got my supply of TP from Christine and headed into the belly of the beast. When I walked in I noticed that the last stall that had been occupied before was now empty. Figuring it couldn't hurt to make sure, I looked in expecting to see another hole. To my great surprise, there sat the most beautiful "throne" I'd ever seen. Whew!

 

Keep the stories coming David. Each one brings back mostly fond memories.