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Wed, 28 Sep 2005
OO.org 2.0 beta for OS X finally found!!!
here it is:
Free OpenSource Software Mac User Group
[/travel/china] permanent link
Wed, 14 Sep 2005
culture: fashion, family, friends, isolation
last night we were hanging out with one of priscilla's students turned friend. she's very sweet, has a gorgeous apartment, and was probably the prettiest and most well-styled chinese person (rare!) i've met on my china travels . the magazine China Vogue came into existence this month, which apparently is regarded as a sign of the maturation of china's fashion scene. the chinese director of vogue said that while chinese people are familiar with "quality" brands, china generally has little sense of a true style. I have to agree. by no means do i expect all chinese people to have style, but even the people that can actually buy expensive clothes still generally look bad to me. i know it's probably some side effect of growing up in OC that has brainwashed me, but i really can't help it. fortunately, i don't think i care quite as much as i'm making it look like i do right now, but i had to at least point it out.
anyway, we were all talking (and priscilla was thankfully translating) about differences between chinese and western people in terms of interactions with strangers. in china, strangers generally don't talk to each other unless there's some specific event that occurred to them simultaneously that would necessitate an initiation of contact. and without a specific reason to initiate a conversation, the one who would initiate the conversation would be considered either acting inappropriately or just plain crazy. for example, if a chinese man were to talk randomly to a girl on the bus, it would be perceived as inappropriate and possibly even perverted. even without the potential gender dynamic issues, chinese people would probably consider a random conversation weird or nuts. but, that's not to say that you wouldn't try to at least say hi or strike up a conversation with, say, your neighbor.
on the other hand, western foreigners in xiamen are perceived as more "open" and any contact, random or otherwise, would be perceived as normal. not sure if that's a xiamen thing or not... western foreigners in xiamen are pretty scant, so perhaps this phenomenon would not be quite the same in a place like beijing or shanghai.
this type of thing is interesting to me because i'm constantly feeling as though social norms in the US are increasingly centered around isolation or gathering based on capitalism. everyone is socialized these days to want their own everything: cars, houses, furniture, broadband internet, mobile phones - you name it some company is trying to sell you an individualized something or other. at the same time, we increasingly regard places like starbucks as the place to meet and hang out, rather than a park or a public space. so, even though westerners may appear more "open", to me that's simply a facade that's been built up over time to deal with the already limited interaction that we're getting on a daily basis. we, as humans, still need to interact, so those few moments we get with strangers are treated with a capitalistic approach (i.e., "what can i get out of this?") and with a face that is not truly reflective of the self. at the same time, it's amazing to me that in a country like china, full of potential random interactions with strangers, there's such a stigma attached to those random dialogues. it seems no culture has overcome the dichotomy between isolation and interactoin.
[/travel/china] permanent link
cathay pacific & some US vs. China transportation observations (not reserving judgment, of course)
for some reason, i always had it in my head that cathay pacific was a luxury-style airline where even economy class had you feasting on a fancy, gourmet meal while being massaged to a soft tissue mass. well, 3 flights later i have to say they're better than most but certainly not the well-pampered existence i had (too willingly) anticipated.
here's a pic of my meal on the 1hr flight from xiamen to hong kong:
an interesting sandwich with pork, green onion and mushrooms, fruit (most notably lychees stuffed with pineapple), and a overly sweet not-quite-juice drink. overall not bad, certainly for a 1hr flight. but not "gourmet" as i had imagined all my life.
in general, my complaints about cathay pacific would include:
which leads me to a point about general differences between chinese and us airlines. on xiamen airlines, it felt like i was really on a nice chinese bus with wings. in xiamen, the buses all have tv screens at the front blaring some stupid advertisement or bad, repetetive music. so, it turns out that xiamen airlines does the same shit. they use the little flip-down screens not for movies or news, but for really bad advertising and music. and they insist in blaring the noise over the main speakers for the whole duration of the flight. not only that, but they leave the cabin lights on the whole time. if i had been trying to sleep, i would have been in hell. at least US flights turn the cabin lights off thus leaving it up to you if you want to sleep or stay awake.
which leads me to the point that cathay pacific tries hard to make you conform to their schedule, while united and continental leave it up to you whether you want to engage with their schedule. cathay pacific not only will turn off the cabin lights when they think you should sleep, but they also make you turn off your individual light even in the event that you would, say, want to read a book. then when they want you to eat, the cabin lights go on and they start making blaring announcements. no sleep for you, buddy!
in contrast, any other western airline will turn off all the lights, let you control your own personal reading light when you see fit, and generally will let you engage with their set meal times when you choose to.
to paraphrase keanu reeves (neo) in matrix 2, the problem for chinese airlines, it seems, is choice.
[/travel/china] permanent link
Mon, 05 Sep 2005
genes of the world?
i'm convinced i'm some sort of ethnic mutt despite my pure chicano heritage. mexicans have always correctly identified me as mexican. i go to lebanon & keep my mouth shut and pass for lebanese. the palestinian owner at burger gourmet in oakland thought i was one of his son's friends. rahul thought i looked like john abraham. michael thought i looked like Imhotep from The Mummy...
the list goes on & on & on...
so, now some random drink vendor in jimei thinks i look like i'm from western china (he said it was the eyes). you decide:
[/travel/china] permanent link
Sun, 04 Sep 2005
comfort & a squat toilet
most of the time, i would prefer that i go #2 in the comfort of my own home. so, it's only appropriate that I've experienced the true usefulness of the squat toilet in the comfort of a cafe in xiamen we lovingly call the "living room".
since my last visit, Priscilla has hosted other western visitors in xiamen and has taken some of them to the 'Sun Dance Kid' Cafe. interestingly, those visitors independently claimed that not only was the cafe like hanging out in someone's living room, it also resembles our future living room (apparently our living room will be spacious, have a highly eclectic music & dvd collection, and feature random Chinese children banging on drums).
so, yay for the squat toilet. I have to say it was not as bad as i had imagined. a word of caution though: watch where you aim.
[/travel/china] permanent link
in China, again
i'm currently in china visiting Priscilla for 2 weeks. we'll be hanging out in jimei & xiamen until Tuesday. then we go to huangshan and shanghai. hiking, sightseeing, and just chillin.
we hadn't seen each other since may, and after this we're probably not going to see each other until Xmas. :( that's quite a long time considering this current visit is the sixth time we've seen each other in the past year. i don't know how that's all going to affect us, but if we've been OK this long something tells me we'll be OK 'til then. but i will miss dishing out po-pos & belly rubs.
anyway, lots of eating so far. we've spent some time in a hotel in xiamen, courtesy of one of Priscilla students. so, we've worked out and swam a couple times. isn't xiamen lovely? if you haven't visited Priscilla yet, you better try to get out here in the next couple weeks!
be here, whenever.
[/travel/china] permanent link
Wed, 29 Dec 2004so, after the longest journey yet, i am on the bus to jimei, the town where priscilla lives just outside xiamen. this is my story.
getting to newark, and pimpin southwest
i had been working on a tech project for days & hadn't really been sleeping. so, the night before i left i still hadn't packed & was intending on catching the 12:10pm flight on United from SFO to HKG. alas, i overslept and didn't even come close to making it. in fact, i was getting my shit together & packing from about 10am to 8:30pm that very day. "what were you doing?" you might ask. well, i went to berkeley bowl and bought nearly $100 worth of groceries to take to priscilla, stopped by the YEC to grab some old macs and recycle them at the ACCRC, opened a bunch of old mail to make sure i didn't need to pay anything, & finally packed a huge suitcase which i filled to the brim with goodies for priscilla and a couple changes of underwear for me (yes, enough to change daily).
now, you might also be asking why i'm so casual about making a flight, especially the international kind. well, it would have really been nice to make that flight, and i fucked up by not planning my time better. as it is, i'm already a day behind in getting to china. however, my job at southwest allows me some benefits that i have completely taken advantage of. for instance, i can fly standby on any southwest flight, anytime, anywhere. same with jetblue and continental, and that includes international flights. it doesn't cost me a thing. flying united is a bit more typical in price: i can fly them at an ID90 rate, which means that i pay 90% off the full coach rate. to hong kong this equals $200 one way. so, with the right amount of pre-planning & a little luck, i can pretty much get around the globe for free. now, the the only problem in my case is it's busy season for flights to hong kong, or asia for that matter. so, missing a flight that i've scoped out as having a good chance on is super-counterproductive.
back to the timeline: i missed the 12:10pm flight. the next option was to take continental from SFO-EWR (beautiful newark, NJ) @ 10:10pm. but it takes me an hour to get to SFO on BART from my house, so leaving @ 8:30pm wasn't a good plan either. to make matters worse, the train was held at MacArthur station for a bit while i watched some cops walking around and talking to some folks.
so, i scrambled to call folks with cars: henry, mei-ying, malachi, harmony, jeremy... to no avail. harmony gave me some good advice, however: BART is the fastest way to get across the bay, so if you're in a hurry BART from the east bay to Embarcadero & then catch a cab from there. I did that and ended up missing the flight anyway. :( my last chance was to get on the very last flight @ 12:40am to houston & catch the flight to newark from there. luckily i got on, transferred @ IAH, and newark was finally in my sights.
to be continued...
[/travel/china] permanent link
Tue, 12 Oct 2004
10/11/04 - The Journey Comes to a Close
it has been a long week but i cannot believe it's already over. i had to say goodbye once more to priscilla, which was easier than last time but possibly more uncertain since i don't know for sure when i will be coming back. though i think becoming a veteran asia traveler has eased the stress. for instance, i don't freak when i'm on the bus to china. now i know each stop and how to past customs without saying a word. i also can talk my way into the california fitness in hong kong so I don't have to feel like such a bowl of jelly. i'm hyperaware of people staring at the 'foreigner' and it can wear on me. but, i also feel at ease with my approach to being in a foreign place. a big smile and conveying gratitude can go a long way...
as for priscilla, she is doing very well with her cute, little apartment and a decent wage even by US standards. she shows no signs of being apprehensive about speaking mandarin - she just does it (well, that is in the context of her introversion). i know she will be just fine but perhaps by the end of this school semester she will simply be burned out. all the more reason for me to come visit so we can travel around china again. :)
i'm thinking about coming back for a weekend in early december, so if anyone has anything they want me to bring her, let me know! (i'll also be passing through HK, so if you need a digital camera or something let me know about that too.)
of course, until i come back i will miss her very much. it was very easy for me to be with her again. i was flipping out a little bit without her and i think my outlook right now is much more stable. not that i think she has a calming force on me necessarily, but she definitely gives me a sense of balance, analysis, and perspective that completes me. and she's my cherry pie to boot. ;)
so, back to oak-town i go. i'll have my last 'authentic' bowl of congee (i'm so not vegetarian right now)
[/travel/china] permanent link
10/07/04 - Baby Bottoms Everywhere
apparently chinese babies do not wear diapers. instead, they just have pants with open seams on their seats. now, i'm not quite sure of their usefulness as i've never seen one in 'in action'. but, they don't seem so open that you could avoid messes completely. ah, i shouldn't even speculate; i don't know how they work. i just know that any random glance at a baby probably means you can get a glimpse of their wrinkly rears, which has to be one of the cutest things i've ever seen. and they're ubiquitous to boot! one thing of note: the method seems to work quite well as most of the children i've seen that can walk do not have the open pants.
today, we had time for one activity: we rode on a bamboo raft down the "nine bends river". after a harrowing bus ride and lunch (after realizing that the rafts were not operating from noon to 1:30pm) we meandered our way down the bends with the help of our blue-clad navigators. calm, peaceful, shallow, and happy-go-lucky are words I would use to describe the journey. we fought off bugs, smirked when the guys crashed into the rocks, and wondered the whole time if it was ok that the whole raft floated about an inch below the top of the water.
now we're taking the train back from wuyishan to xiamen. it's another ride in a 'hard' sleeper car, which is fine. there were some gorgeous views of the sunset behind the mountains. many many pictures were taken today. i have a 512MB and a 128MB card completely filled.
i've discovered two things about myself this trip:
•i love food from street vendors. it's always cheap. it's usually made to order. and despite getting the occasional weird item, it's almost always good to excellent. there's something to be said for simple surprises.
•i like talking to people. most everyone can say hello. some see me and spew their complete catalog of english knowledge. but today we talked with a woman who knows english quite well, and i found myself longing for deeper conversations with those that have general knowledge of the local scene.
i asked priscilla today if she thought people here treated her differently once they found out she couldn't speak mandarin well. basically she said that it was a matter of fact for them and that it didn't really matter. the concept of overseas chinese is nothing new, so the idea of an ethnic chinese person visiting china after having been raised elsewhere is quite common. i, on the other hand, have had a different experience within the U.S.
[/travel/china] permanent link
10/06/04 - Trying to Sleep on the Train
last night we hopped on a sleeper car on a train to wuyishan. it was packed and i was highly skeptical we'd be able to sleep. especially since there was a girl in the bunk across from me that decided to use her cell phone ring tones as her primary source of entertainment. oh, and her 'boyfriend' kept her (and me) up 'til at least midnight. however, i was pleasantly surprised to find that the guy eventually left, hardly anyone smoked (at least not during the middle of the night), and despite the fact that i woke up multiple times i feel pleasantly refreshed. green tea in my new 'high tech cup' helps (most chinese folks can be seen carrying around these individually-sized personal tea containers with built-in filters).
in general, hardly anyone smokes here (according to priscilla). this makes for an interesting paradox: not a high percentage of smokers in the country where the government is the world's largest cigarette producer. anyway, the lack of smoke is great, since smokers can generally light up anywhere, anytime.
oh yeah, i got spit on last night. we were at a bus stop, waiting for our bus to take us to the train station. as we walked by this guy he spat right as priscilla passed his line of sight. i'm glad he waited 'til she passed, but he neglected to check if anyone was behind her. hello? in a country packed with people, why are you blindly gonna spit without looking? chances are pretty high you will hit a target, e.g., ME. it got on my whole left side. my exposed arm, my shirt, my shorts, and - you guessed it - my face. pat victor on the back though cuz i didn't even glance. amazingly, i instantly perceived it as a fact of life.
[/travel/china] permanent link