Back from the Wild West

We just took a trip to Toronto and New York and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. For some reason, this time back felt really good. Much better than the last time back. Perhaps getting reconnected with friends and family was the main reason. Perhaps it was seeing the City again that gave me a dose of how good things could be. NYC is a great place to revisit for former residences since we know exactly where to go when we are back. These are places that really represents the essence of NYC. They are not the tourist attractions that a resident never goes to unless taking out of town visitors.

Anyway, this time back I fulfulled my cravings of pizza, steak and hot dogs. I even took a "pizza tour" where I ate at 5 of the top 20 pizza places according to New Yorker Magazine. I will be reviewing each of these restaurant in upcoming entries.

Anyway, I am now back in Shanghai and back to reality for the time being....

Qingdao

The first week of October is known as "Golden Week" (黄金周）. This is one of two weeks in China (other being the week of Chinese New Year) where the country is off from work for the entire week. Needless to say this is a perfect opportunity to take off and to a little traveling.

During this period me and the wife traveled to Qingdao in Shangdong province, about a hour's flight north of Shanghai. Qingdao is known in China and internationally as the city that produces China's most famous beer - Tsingtao beer. This city was under the control of the Germans earlier in the 1900's and it was at that time that the Tsingtao brewery was established. German influences are evident here in its architecture.

The city is situated right along the ocean, and despite its Chinese name 青岛- literally translated as "Green Island", this city is not an island.

While planning for this trip we were pleasantly surprised and then apprehensive when we discovered that the Tsingtao Beer Festival was being held right at the time we were planning on visting. We were happy that we stumbled upon the highlight event of Qingdao on the calendar because normally this event is held in August. This year Qingdao held the sailing events in both the Olympics and Paralympics from August to September. Therefore the beer festival was postponed until October. What we were apprehensive about was the specter of going on vacation during a weeklong holiday to a city holding its biggest festival of the year. This had all of the ingredients of a week filled with a sea of humanity vying for all the recreation resources the city had to offer.

In reality while there was some sites where there were crowds of people, our worst fears were really never realized. The beer festival was attended by lots of people, but just enough to make the ambiance festive instead of becoming overcrowded. The food at the festival was overpriced and not too tasty, but the combination of beer, music and a general festive atmosphere made for a great time.

We also toured the Tsingtao beer museum which detailed the history of the company and there was a live brewery along with a bottling facility. The end of the tour in the museum brought us to a bar where we were given samples of Tsingtao draft and Tsingtao raw draft beers. The beer museum is also located in Qingdao's "Beer Street". This street is strewed with seafood restaurant serving of course, Tsingtao beer. This is a great place to relax in the evening especially when there are lots of people sitting on outdoor tables.

When we were not drinking beer, we were touring the city with its German influences. The city has a leisurely pace that was quite welcoming considering where we live.

Overall, I found Qingdao to be a nice place to visit for a few days to get away from the madness of urban life.

Visit to Taipei

I had a revelation on a trip to Taipei last month. The place where I was born has become a modern world class city right under my nose.

I left Taiwan in 1978 and did not make a return trip until 1994. Since then I have been going back there every 3 to 4 years. On my initial trip back to Taiwan, the country was evolving. Conditions reminded me of the way Shanghai looks outside of the downtown area. Things were still under construction and had somewhat of a third world feel to it. The air was very polluted from factory pollution and construction sites. The traffic patterns was very much like they are currently in Shanghai - wild and not for the faint of heart.

Even though I have been going to Taiwan every so often since that initial trip, I somehow did not noticed the changes as they were subtle. During this trip, I reminisced about that initial trip and realized just how much the city has changed. The city now has a new subway system which has alleviated much of the traffic problems that plagued it the past. That along with the move of the manufacturing sector to mainland China has really lessened the pollution. The development of a highway system along with the completion of a high speed railway system has also led to an efficient transportation system.

The other aspect of improvement in Taiwan is the culinary scene. The native Taiwanese food has always been a favorite and is best eaten in the multitude of street stands. This is an aspect of dining that is far better than what Shanghai has to offer. There is also a high quality of fare of foreign influence.

Service has improved to an excellent quality in all aspects of the service sector. It appears that what American would consider a middle class lifestyle is within reach of many Taiwanese.

I still remembered on my initial trip back to Taiwan in 1994 I never thought that I could actually live in Taipei, but after my recent trip I must admit that my birthplace has become a very livable place.

weekend trip: Huangshan

One of the goals during our stay in China has been to travel and explore Asia as much as we can. With this sentiment in mind forms the basis of our spontaneous weekend trip to Huangshan （黄山）.

My wife's co-worker was planning to go to Huangshan with relatives and asked us to go. This was last Wednesday and we were to go on Saturday. Visit a place in China with a legendary status that we have never been? Absolutely.

Huangshan has a special place in Chinese history as it is often acclaimed in Chinese art and literature. It is known for it beauty and spectacular scenery. One of the most surreal and beautiful sights is the "sea of clouds" (云海）. Since the peak is above cloud level the ebb and flow of the clouds between and through the ranges can be observed at these mountain tops.

Huangshan is about a 6 hour bus ride from Shanghai or an 11 hour train ride. Why the difference? This is because Huangshan is on the western side of a mountain range and since Shanghai is east of Huangshan, there are quite a bit of mountain terrain between them. The railways of China has been in existence for many number of years while the highways have only been developed on a mass scale recently. This means that the railway track were built around the mountain range in the distant past, while newer technology was available to build the highway through the mountain range.

We decided to break up the trip by leaving Shanghai for Hangzhou, another place of legendary status in China that is situated at nearly the half way point between Shanghai and Huangshan. This affords us a shorter bus ride Saturday morning and more time and energy for the hike.

There are 3 trams that takes visitors up to the peak. These trams rides can fit up to 6 people and takes about 10 minutes to go to the top. When we reached the top the, the Huangshan revealed itself in a surreal way. It had rained earlier in the day and the peak was intermittently shrouded in fog throughout our 2 day visit. Certain lookout points revealed views of the clouds shrouding and moving between the peaks. Other areas offered stunning views of deep gorges on artificial concrete trails cantilevering off the side of the mountain.

Our first day and a half consists of hiking on trails that were sparsely trekked, that is probably because we were no where close to the more famous areas of the peak. This afforded us the feeling that we were really in tuned with nature. One trail we hiked on - the Western Steps was a 5 hours hike that was physically grueling as it interval between climbing and descending steps. This was also where we saw the deepest gorges. By the end of day two we descended on to the more touristy side of Huangshan. It was every bit the China tourism nightmare. The trail was narrow and there were throngs of people clogging up these trails. Some parts of the trail was hazardous as there were too many people trying to climb and descend on the same trail. We were so busy dodging people that I don't remember seeing anything worth remembering. It was a good thing that we got to this area to take the tram down the mountain and we only spent about 1 hour in this area.

Overall, if one were to visit Huangshan and hike off the beaten trails one will be rewarded with the best that nature has to offer.


Logistics:

In visiting Huangshan, one should plan to stay overnight for at least one night. Lodgings are available at the peak and at two different points at the base of the mountain. At the base of the mountain there is a small town called Tangkou (汤口）which is right outside the front gate of the Huangshan recreation area. This is about 20 minutes bus or cab ride to the trams. Accommodations here are spartan by western standards, with rooms available for around 80-100rmb. The other area at the base of the mountain is the city of Tunxi (屯溪), which is about an 1 hour cab or van ride away from Tangkou. As this is the main springboard point to Huangshan, there are hotels of all types and the area airport is located here as well. If budget permits, I would recommend that a visit to Huangshan should be spend overnight in hotels at the peak. Hotels up there are 3 star quality and they run about 1000rmb and up. Dorm rooms costs about 220rmb but the rooms tend to be dirty and uncomfortable. The quality of all accommodations at the peak do not justify the price, but the walk to see the sunrise at 4:30 in the morning might. The tram to the peak of Huangshan costs 80rmb and the entrance fee to the Huangshan recreation area costs 202rmb.

To get to Huangshan from Hangzhou, there are buses available for 100rmb from the west bus station to Tangkou (3.5 hours) or 85RMB to Tunxi (2.5 hours). From Shanghai, there are buses available from the Hutai street station to Tangkou (6 hours) for 130rmb and 100rmb to Tunxi (5 hours).


Here is a map of the Huangshan area:

http://www.maps-of-china.net/tourism_map/h_touristmap1.html

Weekend Trip: Wuzhen

Last weekend I took a trip to Wuzhen in Zhejiang Province. This is about 80 miles southwest of Shanghai and is a city along the Grand Canal in China.

Like many places of interest in China, the government has taken the opportunity to make money on it. This use to be just a sleepy village along the canal, but now the government has renovated it into a tourist destination. The old houses along the canal has renovated interiors while leaving the exterior in its original state. It is hard to tell how much of the town is the original structure and how much is actually replicas of the original architecture.

The entry fee for this "park" or village is 120RMB ($17) and the renovated hotels cost 268RMB ($38) for single room, 468RMB for a double($67) and 528RMB for a triple($76). Once you enter the village, if you wish to stay overnight, you must stay in one of these hotels. These prices might sound reasonable in US dollar terms, but for the locals it is a large sum of money. The people who can afford to stay in these hotels tend to be white collar types.

The scenery in this village is quite nice, especially at night when the banks along the canal are illuminated.

Overall, this town is a quite relaxing place to spend a quiet weekend.

I am back!!

Well, its been a long hiatus for me on this blog. I guess it was a combination of being lazy and our two week return to NYC in the past month.

Our trip back to NYC was a hectic one. Its amazing how short two weeks can be when the time are filled with reunions with friends and family. I think I had nearly every lunch and dinner in a restaurant with various friends and family members. I think this is probably the thing that I missed most about living abroad is the companionship of friends and family.

We have made some friends over here in China, but I think once a person reaches a certain point in life it becomes difficult to make real friends. Perhaps there are too many other reasons to be acquaint with someone at this age that might have very little to do with true friendship. Perhaps because at this age, we have the lost the innocence and cannot truly open yourself up to new acquaintances.

In any case, I really enjoyed our time back in NY. There were moments that I thought "it would be nice to come back and live here again" and there were other moments I thought "now I remember why I left in the first place" and other moments I thought "Wow, this is something that I can't get/do in Shanghai" and then there were other moments I thought "Man, I can get/do that in Shanghai but not here".

Well, whatever we do in the future, the one thing that I can always say that NY is my home.

Yangzhou weekend

No that is not me.



This past weekend was a 3 day weekend. Last Friday was the Qingming holiday or 清明节 in Chinese. This is traditionally the day were one "sweeps the tomb" in remembrance of deceased family members. This sounds like a solemn day, but now in modern times the Chinese have turn this into a day to enjoy oneself after the duty of tidying up the tomb has been completed.

Since neither me or my wife has any deceased close family members entombed in China, we chose to spend the 3 day weekend in Yangzhou, an old city in nearby Jiangsu Province. The trip to Yangzhou from Shanghai ranges from 2 1/2 to 4 hours depending on the mode of transportation. The travails of our conveyance will be covered in an upcoming blog.

The main attraction of Yangzhou is the Slender West Lake (瘦西湖). It borrows the name from the more famous West Lake (西湖) in Hangzhou. Calling this a lake is a bit of a misnomer since it reminds one of a river or stream than a lake or pond as hinted in its name. The site itself is quite scenic with a winding body of water and its numerous bridges. If one had time to stop, reflect and enjoy the scenery this could be a very pleasant place to visit. However, this is one of a few long weekends on the Chinese calendar so the place was swarmed with people, many from Shanghai. Therefore, I could not really described this experience as pleasant.

One of the other things that we noticed about Yangzhou is that since it is located along the Grand Canal of China (of which Slender West Lake is a part of) there were many small canal within the city. There was a charm to the city that does not exist in Shanghai.

The city has an interesting dining experience that is similar to the dimsum experience in Cantonese cuisine. The Yangzhou people have a tradition of the weekend brunch just like the Cantonese. The food at these events however, pale in comparison with the dizzying array of delicate and delicious food at a Cantonese dimsum. Not to say that the food at a Yangzhou brunch is not good, as a matter of fact the food is pretty good. It primarily consists of steam buns filled with various fillings, wontons, steamed tofu slivers in a crab based broth and the crab soup buns. The crab soup buns are very interesting as it consists of no meat, just crab broth. One uses a straw to draw the soup from the bun before eating the floury skin otherwise the soup will be spilled all over your plate and table.

I found the city to be a nice mix of old and new with a pleasant backdrop of water and greenery.

Hong Kong

Me and the wife visited Hong Kong last weekend and had a pleasant time. This was the first time that we both visited Hong Kong together.

There is a distinctly different atmosphere between Hong Kong and Shanghai. Even though both have spanking new high rise buildings, fast pace and Chinese people, there was a different feel to Hong Kong. The pace was actually faster than Shanghai, but there is far more civility in Hong Kong. The streets in Hong Kong was perhaps even more congested with humanity than Shanghai in areas like Causeway Bay and Mongkok. The thing that was noticeably missing in Hong Kong are the ubiquitous bicycles and motor scooters present in Shanghai.

We did some shopping for things which are lacking in quality in Shanghai. For me it was a pair of shoes. Chinese branded shoes in China are decidedly inferior. I purchased a pair of Chinese brand sneakers about a year ago and after a month, I had to toss them because the soles of my feet were starting to hurt me. The imported brands are more expensive in Shanghai than Hong Kong due to the high import tax in China. So I made out with a pair of good comfortable shoes during our visit.

The food in Hong Kong is also much better than Shanghai. The best of all is that many restaurants are open late into the night which is really not the case in Shanghai. The kind of night life that I experienced in Hong Kong exceeds even New York and I really missed that during my time in Shanghai.

Needless to say, I think I will be visiting Hong Kong sometime in the future again.