tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22779960894371697522024-03-13T13:08:04.272-07:00Gordon in ChinaGordon Flagghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014774398347814031noreply@blogger.comBlogger59125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277996089437169752.post-79693133141108207292007-12-01T18:57:00.000-08:002008-04-28T17:41:53.903-07:00Signing Off:Zaijian!As I'd anticipated, my last weekend here has proved to be mostly nonstop activity: Almost immediately after returning from the visit to Gongbei I wrote about in my last entry, I was whisked off to dinner with the guys from the Zhuhai propaganda departments and most of the folks who'd gone with us to the Meixi arches and dinner afterwards a few weeks ago. Instead of taking photos, I used the videocamera to record the presentation of some of the dishes and several of the toasts, which were particularly numerous and enthusiastic last night. <br /><br />At noon Mr. Jeung will be coming by to take C***o, R****i, and me to Cuiheng, a small village about 30 km north of Zhuhai, to see the birth site of Sun Yat Sen (his house has since been torn down, but there's a recreation of it), Tonight there'll be one final dinner, and then I'll finish my packing (how many DVDs can you cram into one suitcase? We'll find out) and turn in early to be well-rested for my flight home. I'll be leaving the campus at 8 for the two-hour drive to Guangzhou, where I'll fly Korea Air to Seoul and change planes there for O'Hare. <br /><br />I can't really say that the two months have gone by quickly — I've done and seen so much that it somehow feels like I've been in China much longer — but I have a feeling that once I'm back in Chicago I'll wish that I could have stayed here a few more months (and not just because of the ice storm I've heard just hit the city). I'm counting on the pleasure I'll get from seeing all my friends (and boring them with tales of my experiences) and from being home for Christmas to compensate for how much I'll miss Zhuhai, my colleagues, and most of all my students.Gordon Flagghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014774398347814031noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277996089437169752.post-43823309916698925302007-12-01T01:20:00.000-08:002007-12-01T01:24:35.663-08:00Goodbye Gongbei — This Time for Sure!I'd said goodbye to Gongbei earlier in the week after I made what I'd thought would be my final shopping trip there. But a couple of days ago I remembered that I'd brought the tiny videocamera that I use for work to China with me, and I'd never even used it. So, just in time, I took it to my last class and asked my students to say hello to my family and friends back in America (those of you in Chicago will be able to view it soon, if you'd like).<br /><br />Encouraged by the results, I realized that video would be by far the best medium to convey the sights and sounds of Gongbei (as well as those of other places I've traveled, but it's too late to revisit them armed with the videocamera). So I went back there this afternoon to document the back alleys and food markets, and I have to say that the results are quite vivid and evocative. After I get back, I plan to edit this post to add one or two of the videos; I've got a full plate awaiting me at home though, and this is relatively low-priority, so don't expect it for several weeks). But again, Chicagoans will be able to see them much sooner than that.Gordon Flagghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014774398347814031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277996089437169752.post-8505914970334517372007-11-30T04:22:00.000-08:002008-11-13T14:09:53.171-08:00Final FotosSince I've only got a couple of more days here in China, I figure it's now or never to post these miscellaneous photos that didn't quite fit into the subjects of any of my previous entries. <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R1Av_EsXpfI/AAAAAAAAA_o/yJ01SUe_TQI/s1600-R/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1806.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R1Av_EsXpfI/AAAAAAAAA_o/yiUPHx23T6M/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1806.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5138659935467841010" /></a>The living room of my apartment is very bright, thanks not just to the large sliding glass doors but to the blindingly white floor tiles and white walls that are found in every recently built Chinese home. <br /> <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R1Av_UsXpgI/AAAAAAAAA_w/zz0DLhR-kM4/s1600-R/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+353.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R1Av_UsXpgI/AAAAAAAAA_w/T3lqoXw-ZNE/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+353.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5138659939762808322" /></a>Students on their way back from class; most travel on bicycle. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R1AtSUsXpcI/AAAAAAAAA_Q/Q6v6hvCZkRs/s1600-R/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+537.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R1AtSUsXpcI/AAAAAAAAA_Q/qKR1c-bQC1c/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+537.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5138656967645439426" /></a>At the beginning of the semester the various student clubs on campus recruited new members one weekend; this, obviously, is the kung fu club. <br /><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R1AtSksXpdI/AAAAAAAAA_Y/WnxgHZsBRzc/s1600-R/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+545.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R1AtSksXpdI/AAAAAAAAA_Y/K3IPeR3Qb10/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+545.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5138656971940406738" /></a>People here absolutely hate the sun, and use their umbrellas to protect themselves from it. Me, I've been seizing the opportunity to sit on my balcony and bask in it right up until this week, when it finally turned too nippy. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R1AtUksXpeI/AAAAAAAAA_g/Y9iysk7PBrc/s1600-R/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+818.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R1AtUksXpeI/AAAAAAAAA_g/7qlToW4My30/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+818.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5138657006300145122" /></a>Kids at the Jusco department store in Zhuhai transfixed by a video featuring some anime-derived toy. <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R1ArQEsXpaI/AAAAAAAAA_A/cWIvZJrAOak/s1600-R/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+874.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R1ArQEsXpaI/AAAAAAAAA_A/xQClB0zyyJ0/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+874.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5138654729967478178" /></a>Every afternoon after the last class, the field across from my building (my apartment is the one to the right of the one with the white sheet over the railing) is filled with students playing soccer. The smoke in the background comes from a nearby construction site where they're burning rubbish (the smell sometimes got into the laundry that I dried on the balcony, as all Chinese do).<br /> <br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R1ArREsXpbI/AAAAAAAAA_I/cYDMwvcXBuw/s1600-R/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1656.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R1ArREsXpbI/AAAAAAAAA_I/xwXBEt6pqns/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1656.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5138654747147347378" /></a>I join hungry students lining up for duck in the dining hall.<br /><br /><br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R1Ao50sXpZI/AAAAAAAAA-4/w1cZnTMQE3A/s1600-R/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+885.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R1Ao50sXpZI/AAAAAAAAA-4/bItssk6htJk/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+885.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5138652148692133266" /></a>Here's the Duck Man (I obviously don't mean Carl Barks).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R1AmcUsXpYI/AAAAAAAAA-w/Xe5xavwV9JA/s1600-R/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1808.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R1AmcUsXpYI/AAAAAAAAA-w/UOJ4t9bl6Gw/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1808.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5138649442862736770" /></a>I quickly grabbed this shot of the sun sinking behind the campus as I left the classroom building after my final lecture last night, on my way to my farewell banquet. <br /><br /><br />Besides these unused (till now) photos, there are also a number of blog entries I never had a chance to write — for example, I wanted to do one on China's smells, which are everywhere, unlike antiseptic America — but in a few days I'll be blathering about such observations to anyone who'll listen.<br /><br />I didn't even get to finish all the novels I brought over to read in what I correctly figured would be a fair amount of downtime between classes. I made it through <em>Man's Fate,</em> but I got bogged down about two-thirds of the way through <em>Bleak House,</em> so I turned to something livelier: <em>Huckleberry Finn.</em> Since I don't have any English-language magazines (I was tempted by the latest issue of <em>The Atlantic </em>in Hong Kong, but the price was about US$12), I expect I'll be spending a lot of time with the by-now-tattered paperbacks on the 13-hour flight back.Gordon Flagghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014774398347814031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277996089437169752.post-18876577158152915722007-11-29T21:17:00.000-08:002008-11-13T14:09:54.743-08:00Final Farewells<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0_Cx0sXpQI/AAAAAAAAA9w/SYjU5XmeASA/s1600-R/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1825.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0_Cx0sXpQI/AAAAAAAAA9w/a8wWsoL_kUU/s400/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1825.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5138539861067146498" /></a>My official duties here are now completed: I just finished teaching my last class — the Friday morning session — and after taking this group photo I said the last of my goodbyes to my students (although I expect I might run into some of them around campus this weekend, or at the farewell party the English Club is giving me Sunday night). <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0_BQUsXpPI/AAAAAAAAA9o/56LSb-4Hlog/s1600-R/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1826.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0_BQUsXpPI/AAAAAAAAA9o/dzUHkPL_2Ps/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1826.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5138538186029901042" /></a>The class gave me this lovely scarf, which they said they all took part in knitting (I imagine a sort of student quilting bee). I told them (with some exaggeration) that now I was glad it would be cold in Chicago when I returned, because that would give me the opportunity to wear it.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R02TiEsXpNI/AAAAAAAAA9Y/uyo5ZnSt6mc/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1802.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R02TiEsXpNI/AAAAAAAAA9Y/uyo5ZnSt6mc/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1802.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137924963484280018" /></a>These two students had heard it's a custom in America to give an apple to the teacher, so they brought these to my final Wednesday class.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R02S1ksXpMI/AAAAAAAAA9Q/n4GxHm5qBW0/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1804.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R02S1ksXpMI/AAAAAAAAA9Q/n4GxHm5qBW0/s400/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1804.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137924198980101314" /></a>I'm glad I took these pictures of each of my classes (note that I'm holding one of the apples in this one); I'm sure I'll be pulling them out (or, since they'll be on the computer, pulling them up) frequently in the coming months when I want to recall the main thing that made these two months in Zhuhai so special.<br /><br />Yesterday I also gave the last in my series of Thursday-afternoon lectures on various aspects of American culture, this one on holidays. I've especially enjoyed the Q&A portions of these lectures because they gave me an opportunity to interact with the students who aren't in my classes or even enrolled in the Foreign Language department. As is often the case, the questions this week weren't what I expected: I'd thought the audience would ask mostly about the major holidays, especially Christmas, which took up a disproportionate amount of my text (could someone be homesick here?), but they seemed more interested in such minor celebrations as St. Patrick's Day and April Fool's Day (I was asked for examples of pranks they could play on their friends; all I could come up with offhand was taping a "Kick me" sign on someone's back and gluing a coin on the sidewalk). <br /><br />One student did ask me to sing a Christmas carol, and belive it or not, I complied with an a cappella rendition of "Jingle Bells" — I wish my freinds could have been there to hear that! (Actually, I don't.)<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0_hy0sXpUI/AAAAAAAAA-Q/1QN8viex9BM/s1600-R/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1812.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0_hy0sXpUI/AAAAAAAAA-Q/OUy0hb7JSFw/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1812.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5138573963107476802" /></a>Last night after the lecture the Foreign Language faculty gave me my farewell dinner, a bit earlier than I'd expected because Presdient Wong (I have the place of honor on his left here) was going to be away this weekend. Professor Sun, the department head, is sitting on my left. We went to the same place in the Doumen district, west of the city, where they had said goodbye to my couuntryman Ken a few weeks earlier; it's said to be the best restaurant in the entire district, and after dining there twice I can readily believe it. This will likely be my last chance to post pictures of food, so let me present just a few of the 20 or so courses that we enjoyed: <br /> <br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0_hzUsXpVI/AAAAAAAAA-Y/uVsmvD_uIfo/s1600-R/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1809.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0_hzUsXpVI/AAAAAAAAA-Y/674CtvfChCk/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1809.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5138573971697411410" /></a>The meal concentrated on local seafood, including two standbys I never get tired of: these sea snails . . .<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0_hz0sXpWI/AAAAAAAAA-g/wA0NEFZow5g/s1600-R/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1810.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0_hz0sXpWI/AAAAAAAAA-g/lh59lvM80kI/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1810.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5138573980287346018" /></a>. . . and these spiced-up oysters served on the shell. <br /> <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0_h0EsXpXI/AAAAAAAAA-o/-fGj-N8geoE/s1600-R/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1814.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0_h0EsXpXI/AAAAAAAAA-o/clZaonKGbMM/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1814.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5138573984582313330" /></a>Each of us was served a portion of what I was told was a "deep sea fish."<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0_eDEsXpRI/AAAAAAAAA94/MYjI4k6gMNU/s1600-R/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1815.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0_eDEsXpRI/AAAAAAAAA94/pi-fcntP1JM/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1815.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5138569844233839890" /></a>Two varieties of chicken: roasted on the right and — I don't know, boiled? Poached? — on the left.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0_eFUsXpSI/AAAAAAAAA-A/BWxd0xclaRY/s1600-R/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1817.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0_eFUsXpSI/AAAAAAAAA-A/mU1ubLgCa6w/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1817.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5138569882888545570" /></a>Spicy crab, the likes of which I will not have for a long, long time.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0_eF0sXpTI/AAAAAAAAA-I/Yf_kPFHf39o/s1600-R/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1818.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0_eF0sXpTI/AAAAAAAAA-I/gsohOfvlvLY/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1818.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5138569891478480178" /></a>This pork was tender and delicious — and was accompanied by an assortment of spices to dip it in — but it also had a layer of fat as thick as the meat. Sometimes, though, you just have to ignore health concerns.<br /><br />Many toasts were given, of course, and the pijiu flowed freely. I was repeatedly asked to return to teach again in the future; often such alcohol-fueled statements are insincere gestures, but I have a genuine sense that the offer stands. And as I've said, I sincerely hope that I can take them up on it someday.Gordon Flagghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014774398347814031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277996089437169752.post-57434770882350498682007-11-29T16:53:00.000-08:002008-04-28T17:43:37.739-07:00Goodbye GongbeiMy final week here has been a heady mixture of melancholy and anticipation. While I'm eager at this point to return to my family and friends, the imminent prospect of leaving Zhuhai behind has been making me feel understandably downhearted. <br /><br />I even felt sad taking the bus to Gongbei Tuesday afternoon for what I expect will be my final shopping trip here and passing the familiar landscape for the last time — a mood that was enhanced by the sentimental-sounding Chinese tunes playing over the bus's speaker system. My sorrow was tempered by a growing confidence that I'll be coming back to teach here again at some point. But even if I return, I won't be teaching this particular batch of students again (although since they're all freshmen, I may see some of them around campus if I can get back here within three years). You can come back to take a dip at the same spot in the stream, but the water's going to be different then. <br /><br />The shopping trip turned out to be a bit of a bust: I was hoping to buy some cheap shoes to take back to Chicago, but most of them seemed shoddy even by Chinese-manufacturing standards, I had trouble find ones in my smaller-than-average size, and I couldn't bargain the price down to what I was willing to pay for the second-rate product. My clothes-shopping expectations have been spoiled by the five-story Beijing Silk Market, which offers a better selection, higher quality, and easier bargaining thanks to most vendors' knowledge of basic English. <br /><br />So, characteristically, I went back to the DVD stalls, where I can always find my size and I've figured out the going prices. By this point, I'd bought all the must-have items, but I picked up a few more music videos they recently added (including Scorsese's Dylan documentary: The extra live performances that weren't included on the PBS broadcast were worth the US$3 alone) and some French classics that I'd passed up because the packaging didn't indicate that they had English subtitles (this time I asked the clerk, who said that the Chinese-language labeling promised them; we'll see).<br /><br />I walked back to the bus stop through the back alleys that I'd found so exotic (and that I'd photographed extensively) on my first visit there. I still get a huge kick out of the rude, bustling scene — and I'm still stumbling upon alleyways that I hadn't explored before — but they no longer seem so quaint that I feel compelled to pull out my camera every few seconds. <br /><br />I'll likely be coming back to the city before I leave China next Monday — I think Mr. Jeung wants to see C***o and me one more time — but I don't think I'll be venturing back to Gongbei — at least not this time around.Gordon Flagghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014774398347814031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277996089437169752.post-51336450122243927532007-11-27T14:55:00.000-08:002008-11-13T14:09:56.237-08:00Hong Kong, Day Two<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yhU0sXpFI/AAAAAAAAA8Y/hTmbM6uksfI/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1774.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yhU0sXpFI/AAAAAAAAA8Y/hTmbM6uksfI/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1774.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137658654037091410" /></a>Even though I'd gone to bed fairly early — before midnight — I managed to sleep until nearly 8 the next morning. Another way that Hong Kong is more Western than it's Chinese is that the inhabitants don't start their day at the crack of dawn (due, I suppose, to how late they stay up). My room was on the second floor, overlooking the street — I hadn't had the presence of mind to request a higher floor when I checked in — and I'd worried about street noise waking me up early (as had been the case in Macau); but the block was surprisingly quiet.<br /><br />After checking out, I'd thought of getting some congee (rice porridge), since that's what they have for breakfast in all the classic Hong Kong gangster films. But then I remembered that I don't even like congee, so I headed for a nearby coffee shop on Nathan Road instead, where I scanned the latest issue of <em>Time</em> and relaxed to the sounds of smooth jazz. And I felt my first slight twinge of Christmas spirit when they played Ella swinging "Rudolph." <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yhVEsXpGI/AAAAAAAAA8g/3ZSUPzOUV4Q/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1789.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yhVEsXpGI/AAAAAAAAA8g/3ZSUPzOUV4Q/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1789.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137658658332058722" /></a>My next stop was going to be the Hong Kong Museum of Art, but it didn't open until 10, which left me with nearly an hour to kill. So I headed for a Starbucks down on Salisbury Road, where I got another cup of coffee, grabbed a <em>Herald-Tribune,</em> and took them over to the harbor promenade. It may not have been as spectacular in the daylight as it had been the night before, but sitting by the water enjoying that great view on a balmy late-November morning, sipping a cup of Joe and reading an actual newspaper rather than a computerized simulation, I experienced a near-transcendent sense of well-being.<br /><br />The art museum turned out to be hosting a fairly spectacular traveling exhibition of Treasures from the British Museum, but I was nearly as impressed by the permanent collections — devoted entirely to Chinese art — which included calligraphy, painting, and a chronological, well-annotated survey of the nation's ceramics. A gallery on the top floor (which had a nice view of the harbor) was devoted to southern-Chinese painters from Guangdong province. <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yhV0sXpHI/AAAAAAAAA8o/gHLDTWRtxJo/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1795.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yhV0sXpHI/AAAAAAAAA8o/gHLDTWRtxJo/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1795.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137658671216960626" /></a>To the east on the promenade is a fairly new Avenue of the Stars, which consists mostly of slabs in the walkway devoted to the leading lights of the Hong Kong film industry, a la Hollywood Boulevard, many of which include handprints in cement, a la Grauman's Chinese (ah—<em>there's</em> the connection) Theatre. Surprisingly, although they have stars, many of the most prominent figures, such as Wong Kar-Wai, haven't gotten around to making their handprints yet. <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R02QGksXpJI/AAAAAAAAA84/WYDo50tOFxg/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1775.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R02QGksXpJI/AAAAAAAAA84/WYDo50tOFxg/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1775.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137921192502994066" /></a>By this point, I had exhausted all the must-do activities I'd planned and was beginning to run out of steam. So I walked back toward the ferry terminal by way of Kowloon Park (urban Hong Kong doesn't have nearly as many parks as Macau; this one is a welcome escape from the hectic scene on nearby Nathan Road), an HMV store (where I nearby bought a non-bootleg copy of Jia Zhangke's first feature until I realized that the package didn't indicate whether it was subtitled), and Harbour City, an enormous shopping mall where I'd noticed an inexpensive all-Asian food court (Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, Indian) when I was here a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, I picked wrong and had a barely palatable plate of pad Thai; the view of the harbor was nice, though (even if it looked out at Kowloon rather than Central).<br /><br />I caught a ferry that got me back to Zhuhai by 5. Despite the common language and short geographic distance, the culture shock couldn't have been much greater if I'd been returning from New York or Paris. After the modern commercial and cultural Mecca of Hong Kong, Zhuhai's grubbiness struck me as disconcerting and off-putting. But by the time I caught the bus back to the campus I'd regained my bearings and my affection for the city — crass as it may be compared to its more glamorous neighbor — was beginning to return.Gordon Flagghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014774398347814031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277996089437169752.post-91001079417456136882007-11-26T21:16:00.000-08:002008-11-13T14:10:00.791-08:00Hong Kong, Day OneI got up early Sunday morning for my two-day trip to Hong Kong. While the process of getting there from the campus is relatively easy, it takes long enough — a one-hour bus ride to Zhuhai city, a short hop by cab to the port, then an hour-and-a-half ferry — that anything other than an early start would seriously cut into my time there.<br /><br />Two ferries go from Zhuhai to Hong Kong; one arrives at Hong Kong Island, on the south side of Victoria Harbour, and the other at Kowloon, on the north. I'd planned to take the latter, since the terminal is just a short walk from where I'd booked a room. But when I got to the port in Zhuhai I was told the boat to Hong Kong Island would be leaving in a few minutes, so I decided to take that one instead of waiting another hour to go to Kowloon. I'm glad I did: I hadn't planned to spend any time on the island, which is modern and westernized (at least in the area near the harbor) compared to the more Chinese-feeling districts of Kowloon, but I enjoyed wandering around Soho, a neighborhood in the Central district (south of HOllywood Road) that I remembered from my previous visit ten years ago. <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ygE0sXpCI/AAAAAAAAA8A/kVfOEqf7t7w/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1674.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ygE0sXpCI/AAAAAAAAA8A/kVfOEqf7t7w/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1674.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137657279647556642" /></a>A short walk from Queen's Road Central (a major east-west thoroughfare) leads to the pedestrian escalator (in Cantonese <em>dihn tai,</em> or electric ladder) that carries foot traffic up the steep hills to the Mid-Levels.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yicEsXpII/AAAAAAAAA8w/MuJw5AiXTkQ/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1677.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yicEsXpII/AAAAAAAAA8w/MuJw5AiXTkQ/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1677.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137659878102770818" /></a>The nearby streets are filled with Western restaurants of all varieties (including this Krispy Kreeme doughnut shop). Although the options — from pizza to tacos — seemed alluring, I figured that since I'd be home in about a week (and since it wasn't quite lunchtime), I'd hold out a bit longer before indulging myself in comfort food.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ygFUsXpDI/AAAAAAAAA8I/VMzYp5M04pU/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1686.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ygFUsXpDI/AAAAAAAAA8I/VMzYp5M04pU/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1686.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137657288237491250" /></a>The escalator passes by the Graham Street Market. Although the requisite array of produce and unrefrigerated meat and fish were on display, it seemed a bit tame after the freewheeling markets on the Mainland. Maybe it was the occasional English-language signage or the hilly bisecting streets, but it seemed more like shopping on Stockton Street in San Francisco's Chinatown. <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ygGEsXpEI/AAAAAAAAA8Q/lZIBsIyYSd4/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1688.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ygGEsXpEI/AAAAAAAAA8Q/lZIBsIyYSd4/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1688.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137657301122393154" /></a>Since there's no Thanksgiving here to give them the official go-ahead, the shopping malls were just now getting around to putting up their Christmas decorations. <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yfU0sXo-I/AAAAAAAAA7g/UkspQkPiUEU/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1691.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yfU0sXo-I/AAAAAAAAA7g/UkspQkPiUEU/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1691.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137656455013835746" /></a>Landing on Hong Kong Island gave me another opportunity to take the Star Ferry to Kowloon.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yfVUsXo_I/AAAAAAAAA7o/O7LHFFadOuQ/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1695.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yfVUsXo_I/AAAAAAAAA7o/O7LHFFadOuQ/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1695.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137656463603770354" /></a>The view across the harbor to Hong Kong Island remained magnificent.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yfXUsXpAI/AAAAAAAAA7w/JURponKX5yk/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1700.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yfXUsXpAI/AAAAAAAAA7w/JURponKX5yk/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1700.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137656497963508738" /></a>I'd originally thought of booking a room in the Chungking Mansions — the grungy cluster of guesthouses depicted in Wong Kar-Wai's <em>Chungking Express </em>— but I chickened out and booked a room at a nearby place that was slightly more respectable and nearly as cheap, just a few blocks off Nathan Road, Kowloon's main north-south drag. <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yfX0sXpBI/AAAAAAAAA74/jIuzjiAcs9c/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1699.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yfX0sXpBI/AAAAAAAAA74/jIuzjiAcs9c/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1699.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137656506553443346" /></a>The room was spartan and as small as any I've ever stayed in — even standing outside the doorway, I couldn't get far enough away to shoot the entire room — but it was spotless and comfortable. The price was certainly right, just HK$300 (about US$38). <br /><br />I decided to get some background for my exploration of the city by beginning at the Hong Kong Museum of History, which is larger, newer (it opened in 2001) and more elaborate than its counterpart I'd visited in Macau. <br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yeOksXo8I/AAAAAAAAA7Q/0EDufwLoXWs/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1707.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yeOksXo8I/AAAAAAAAA7Q/0EDufwLoXWs/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1707.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137655248128025538" /></a>After a couple of hours at the museum, I walked north towards the Mongkok district. It don't know if it was a Sunday-only thing, but a number of large east-west roads were closed to auto traffic, and pedestrians were taking full advantage of having the street to themselves. <br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yeRUsXo9I/AAAAAAAAA7Y/uKp5AUQgnxk/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1715.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yeRUsXo9I/AAAAAAAAA7Y/uKp5AUQgnxk/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1715.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137655295372665810" /></a>The last time I was here, I regretted not making it to the famous bird garden . . .<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ybKksXowI/AAAAAAAAA50/1MsEsEK0fSA/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1724.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ybKksXowI/AAAAAAAAA50/1MsEsEK0fSA/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1724.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137651880873665282" /></a>. . . where (mostly elderly) men take their feathered pets out for a walk and while the time away chatting (presumably about avian topics).. <br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ybLUsXoxI/AAAAAAAAA58/28r8ibKZjLs/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1727.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ybLUsXoxI/AAAAAAAAA58/28r8ibKZjLs/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1727.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137651893758567186" /></a>Adjacent to the bird garden is Flower Market road, where locals come to buy — surprise — cut flowers. <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ybM0sXoyI/AAAAAAAAA6E/VL7dPKLj4A0/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1712.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ybM0sXoyI/AAAAAAAAA6E/VL7dPKLj4A0/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1712.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137651919528370978" /></a>A park near the bird garden has public ping pong tables.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ybNUsXozI/AAAAAAAAA6M/8PLH43G0uFk/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1731.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ybNUsXozI/AAAAAAAAA6M/8PLH43G0uFk/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1731.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137651928118305586" /></a>It looks as though the ballet and foot boxing may be taught in the same facility.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yYx0sXorI/AAAAAAAAA5Q/2qyVwXDuZgc/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1741.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yYx0sXorI/AAAAAAAAA5Q/2qyVwXDuZgc/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1741.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137649256648647346" /></a>By this time it was getting near dusk, so decided to walk back to Nathan Road and head south to the Temple Street Market, the city's most famous night market. I figured I wouldn't buy anything — the Mainland prices make even Hong Kong's best bargains seem wildly overpriced, and most of the clothes for sale weren't anything I'd be seen wearing anyway — but I knew I'd enjoy the lively scene.<br /><br />I'd read there were some shops on Temple Street selling bootleg DVDs, but I figured the prices would be so much higher than on the Mainland that I wouldn't do more than browse. The pre-bargaining prices were indeed about twice those in Zhuhai — just over US$3 each — but nonetheless I bought a few music DVDs, including the new release of Bob Dylan's early appearances at the Newport Folk Festival, as well as some nicely packaged sets that crammed the entire oeuvres of Wim Wenders, Antonioni, and Ki-Duk Kim onto three discs apiece (now I can catch up on the early works that I'd missed in the Film Center's Antonioni series earlier this year). <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yYy0sXosI/AAAAAAAAA5Y/E-BU20tjT9c/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1740.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yYy0sXosI/AAAAAAAAA5Y/E-BU20tjT9c/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1740.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137649273828516546" /></a>The outdoor dining scene was tempting, but rather than join the diners here, I decided to vary my usual fare. If I was going to pay Western prices, I felt, I may as well have some Western food. Actually, I didn't venture all that far west: I opted for a mutton curry at a Pakistani restaurant not far from Temple Street.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yYzUsXotI/AAAAAAAAA5g/gEEmA0u8Alo/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1753.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yYzUsXotI/AAAAAAAAA5g/gEEmA0u8Alo/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1753.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137649282418451154" /></a>A large reason I'd wanted to return to the city after the brief day trip I made with C***o and R***i a few weeks ago was to bask in the visual splendor of Hong Kong at night, especially the dazzling neon signage. <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yYz0sXouI/AAAAAAAAA5o/lSkeoEdc4ZM/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1747.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yYz0sXouI/AAAAAAAAA5o/lSkeoEdc4ZM/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1747.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137649291008385762" /></a>Although the increasing commercialization of the Mainland is producing similar scenes, especially in the largest cities, there's still nothing quite like that to be found in Hong Kong.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yXUksXooI/AAAAAAAAA44/aidCXadUBk8/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1757.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yXUksXooI/AAAAAAAAA44/aidCXadUBk8/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1757.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137647654625845890" /></a>Some of the swank retailers on Nathan Road are decked out for the holidays.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yXV0sXopI/AAAAAAAAA5A/EesQcLsPW1A/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1767.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yXV0sXopI/AAAAAAAAA5A/EesQcLsPW1A/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1767.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137647676100682386" /></a>I topped off the evening with my absolute favorite thing about Hong Kong: the nighttime view of Central and Wan Chai from the promenade along Victoria Harbour. My piddly little Kodak point-and-shoot can barely suggest the magnificence of this vista, which I strongly feel to be one of the absolute glories of modern civilization. I was tempted to purchase a postcard of the view and take a photo of that for posting; but since it's probably one of the world's most-photographed scenes — a guess borne out by the dozens of shutterbugs I saw with tripods and decent equipment along the promenade — I'll have no trouble locating an image any time I want to remember it.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yXWksXoqI/AAAAAAAAA5I/2jEBQ3ezDKE/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1770.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0yXWksXoqI/AAAAAAAAA5I/2jEBQ3ezDKE/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1770.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137647688985584290" /></a>Heading back to my guesthouse, by this time — nearly 11 — I was pretty well exhausted from my day's ramblings. But even at this late hour — and on a Sunday, no less — I was amazed at the number of shops that were still open: not just tourist traps and convenience stores, but clothing boutiques and other retailers.Gordon Flagghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014774398347814031noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277996089437169752.post-16348303913205484362007-11-24T14:43:00.000-08:002008-11-13T14:10:01.453-08:00My StudentsI was all set today to blog about my two days in Hong Kong, but I'm experiencing a recurrence of the problem uploading photos that I experienced earlier in my stay here. So while I'm waiting for that to resolve itself (as it always eventually does), I'm going to write a little bit about my students — who are, after all, the reason I came here.<br /><br />Most of my postings have been about a selective group of topics — traveling, hiking, restaurants — that must make it seem like I'm on an extended vacation here. But I've been devoting a good portion of my time to my teaching activities — not just conducting the classes, but also preparing lessons (made more difficult by my unfamiliarity not just with the textbook but with teaching methods) and writing my weekly lectures on American culture. <br /><br />Although I initially approached my duties with some trepidation, I have to say that the experience has been an unalloyed delight. When I arrived, several Foreign Language faculty members warned me that the students here were a disappointment compared to the harder-working, more intellectually gifted ones that you'll find at more-prestigious schools, including Jilin University's main campus. While that may be true — they certainly don't share the single-minded dedication to their studies that I've seen among the young scholars in Ling's family — I've found most of the youngsters here to be dedicated to their studies and ambitious about their futures, especially in comparison to their American counterparts. <br /><br />The students in my classes — they're all freshmen, since this is the Foreign Language department's first year — seem so much younger than the ones back home: less worldly and more enthusiastic. Unlike in the States, where attending college seems to be a given after graduating from high school, they view higher education as a treasured opportunity that, if they do well, can open the door to a good job, the chance to experience other cultures (that's a big reason most of them selected this major), and the ability to provide for their parents later on (filial piety, one of the Confucian virtues, remains huge here). <br /><br />Their childishness — they strike me as more like high-schoolers than college students — and lack of guile — it would never occur to them to try to act like sophisticated adults now that they've left home — brings out a paternal affection on my part. That feeling seems to be mutual: I find many of them confiding in me in a way that I'm certain they don't with the other teachers. One girl (and as I've said before, I use that word consciously: It's nigh impossible to think of them as grown women) confided in me over lunch about her frustration over her parents' orders not to have a boyfriend until she graduates. And several students who aren't even in my classes have struck up conversations with me to express regrets over their choice of a major (a common complaint, since students have to pick their field of study at age 17, at the time they enroll in college); none of the upperclassmen are able to be Foreign Language majors, since the department didn't exist when they entered the school.<br /> <br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0itgEsXomI/AAAAAAAAA4o/jkyRpuDSygY/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1654.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0itgEsXomI/AAAAAAAAA4o/jkyRpuDSygY/s400/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1654.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136546141543309922" /></a>I enjoy all my students, but my Thursday class is probably my favorite; their overall level of English fluency is a bit higher, which makes it easier to engage them. Last week as I walked in, they called out in unison “Happy Thanksgiving Day.” <br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ip7UsXokI/AAAAAAAAA4Y/S8rirgsczmM/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1669.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ip7UsXokI/AAAAAAAAA4Y/S8rirgsczmM/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1669.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136542211648234050" /></a>During the mid-period break they presented me with this oversized card they'd made; everyone in the class signed it with such messages as "Wherever you go, we will keep you in mind forever," "Thank you for giving such an unforgettable experience to me," and "You're our 'family member' forever."<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ip8UsXolI/AAAAAAAAA4g/JT4FG3FBl4k/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1666.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ip8UsXolI/AAAAAAAAA4g/JT4FG3FBl4k/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1666.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136542228828103250" /></a>A student in another of my classes gave me this album with two photos she'd taken with her cell phone camera (the rest of the book was filled with "Love Is..." cartoons).<br /><br />Now that I'm starting my last week of classes, I'm feeling strong pangs at the prospect of abandoning my young charges (and a bit of guilt at taking off before the semester's over, which makes the separation harder for the students). I assume that "real" teachers develop a sense of detachment that makes it easier to leave their students behind each year. If I ever do this again — and I hope to — I'm going to have to master their catch-and-release approach.Gordon Flagghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014774398347814031noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277996089437169752.post-22940088770885333042007-11-22T20:39:00.000-08:002008-11-13T14:10:04.339-08:00A Hilly HikeThe American I met a few weeks ago (whom I've tried e-mailing at the address on his business card, but the messages kept getting returned; I think John's guess that he's CIA might be right) told me that there was a road going up to the top of one of the nearby mountains, and after my morning classes Wednesday I thought I'd investigate.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ikAEsXofI/AAAAAAAAA3w/uyyYKd7hnog/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1559.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ikAEsXofI/AAAAAAAAA3w/uyyYKd7hnog/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1559.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136535696182845938" /></a>To get to the road, I had to cut through the apartment complex next to the South Gate restaurants, which is continuing to add new buildings. The scaffolding around this one, like that seen in other construction in China, is not metal but bamboo.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ikBUsXogI/AAAAAAAAA34/B72AdIPBMfY/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1562.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ikBUsXogI/AAAAAAAAA34/B72AdIPBMfY/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1562.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136535717657682434" /></a>This poster seems rather ominous; can Ling, or anyone else, explain it?<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ikCksXohI/AAAAAAAAA4A/tQg8ygHYn_o/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1567.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ikCksXohI/AAAAAAAAA4A/tQg8ygHYn_o/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1567.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136535739132518930" /></a>Earlier I mentioned how common banana trees are around here. They're even found in the middle of a residential complex.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ikDksXoiI/AAAAAAAAA4I/_tX7mVF_6-g/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1571.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ikDksXoiI/AAAAAAAAA4I/_tX7mVF_6-g/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1571.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136535756312388130" /></a>A short walk through the residences took me to the narrow road — barely wide enough for a single car — leading up the mountain.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ijA0sXobI/AAAAAAAAA3Q/kQIhM6XF2cM/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1575.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ijA0sXobI/AAAAAAAAA3Q/kQIhM6XF2cM/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1575.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136534609556119986" /></a>After walking less than five minutes, the road already rose over the tops of a group of high-rise apartments next to the newer complex.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ijCEsXocI/AAAAAAAAA3Y/15uB_vgMqko/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1597.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ijCEsXocI/AAAAAAAAA3Y/15uB_vgMqko/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1597.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136534631030956482" /></a>For some reason I'd thought that the road went straight up to the top of the mountain; but instead it took a gentle, gradual incline. It's a popular hiking path; I saw about a dozen other people on my two-and-a-half hour walk. <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ijC0sXodI/AAAAAAAAA3g/OrakHcTM_cA/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1591.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ijC0sXodI/AAAAAAAAA3g/OrakHcTM_cA/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1591.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136534643915858386" /></a>The route wrapped itself around the entire mountain, offering views in various directions. <br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ijDUsXoeI/AAAAAAAAA3o/itv527BDKbo/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1586.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ijDUsXoeI/AAAAAAAAA3o/itv527BDKbo/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1586.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136534652505792994" /></a>The campus lay in the distance to the east. In this hazy telephoto shot, my faculty-housing building is on the left in front. <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ih1EsXoZI/AAAAAAAAA3A/2voHpyizZcw/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1580.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ih1EsXoZI/AAAAAAAAA3A/2voHpyizZcw/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1580.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136533308181029266" /></a>On the other side of the mountain I could barely make out the sea and nearby islands in the distance. <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ih2EsXoaI/AAAAAAAAA3I/1g0IR3gCdRA/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1605.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0ih2EsXoaI/AAAAAAAAA3I/1g0IR3gCdRA/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1605.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136533325360898466" /></a>Below are some of the small factories along the highway to San Zao; the town is further in the distance but not visible in this picture. <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0d2eEsXoVI/AAAAAAAAA2g/0-IDOUGGPPg/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1607.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0d2eEsXoVI/AAAAAAAAA2g/0-IDOUGGPPg/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1607.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136204159067332946" /></a>There was virtually nothing here to remind me that I was in China; it resembled a bucolic country road back home.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0d2fksXoXI/AAAAAAAAA2w/CfhVh0B3mdc/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1627.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0d2fksXoXI/AAAAAAAAA2w/CfhVh0B3mdc/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1627.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136204184837136754" /></a>This appears to be a trail that goes off from the road into the woods. If I make it back here, before I leave China, I might just see where it goes. . . .<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0d2gUsXoYI/AAAAAAAAA24/AtVoUY-qvX4/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1628.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0d2gUsXoYI/AAAAAAAAA24/AtVoUY-qvX4/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1628.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136204197722038658" /></a>. . .or maybe not, since (judging from the exclamation mark) this might just be a warning sign nailed to a nearby tree. <br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0d1EksXoSI/AAAAAAAAA2I/PERaaA0ruFM/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1637.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0d1EksXoSI/AAAAAAAAA2I/PERaaA0ruFM/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1637.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136202621469040930" /></a>I'm guessing I walked maybe 4 or 5 km when I decided I'd better turn around; it was getting near dusk, and I didn't want to be stuck finding my way back in the dark. I'd hoped to travel to the end of the road, where I suspect it comes out on the other side of the mountain (two or three cars had driven by me without returning), but that'll have to wait for another hike. By the time I reached the bottom, it was barely light enough to take this shot to give you an overall view of the mountain. <br /><br />I decided to walk back by way of the South Gate restaurants, with the vague hope that I'd run into some of my students and join them for dinner (the all-text menus make it nigh impossible for me to dine there by myself). But I hit the jackpot when I met a fellow teacher who was on her way to join some of the other Foreign Language faculty members for dinner and invited me along.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0d1FEsXoTI/AAAAAAAAA2Q/-F8UUHvBCbw/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1641.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0d1FEsXoTI/AAAAAAAAA2Q/-F8UUHvBCbw/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1641.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136202630058975538" /></a>We went to the same restaurant I'd been to twice before (I've forgotten the Mandarin name, but it translates to Night of the Dream), which by all accounts is by far the best one in the shopping center (most of the others are small storefront ones with a limited menu).<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0d1FksXoUI/AAAAAAAAA2Y/x9MIXe9vnQc/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1650.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0d1FksXoUI/AAAAAAAAA2Y/x9MIXe9vnQc/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1650.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136202638648910146" /></a>No pictures of the dishes this time, since many of them were ones I'd had (and shot) previously. But I was honored with many toasts, which my fellow diners used my camera to document. <br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0aeT0sXoRI/AAAAAAAAA2A/F28sdO2e45U/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1651.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0aeT0sXoRI/AAAAAAAAA2A/F28sdO2e45U/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1651.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135966488462074130" /></a>When our host, Professor Sun (with whom I'm toasting here), bought the last two bottles of beer (this was after most of the food had already been eaten and I'd thought we were getting ready to leave) I made a token demurral, noting that I had to teach a class tomorrow morning; but since nearly everyone else had an earlier class than mine, my objections were ignored (as they would have been under any circumstances).Gordon Flagghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014774398347814031noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277996089437169752.post-27447072140157026522007-11-22T16:15:00.000-08:002008-11-13T14:10:05.643-08:00The President's PadTuesday afternoon President Wong's wife took C***o, R****i, and me to Zhuhai to show us their apartment in the college-owned complex. Their unit is on the top floor of the building across from the one we'd visited last weekend. We took an elevator up to the eleventh floor — the first elevator I've been seen in a residential building in China (even ones as tall as seven stories, like the one I live in on campus, have only stairs), but I suppose that as modern high-rises become as common as they are in Zhuhai, they're likely to become standard. <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0Ye8ksXoNI/AAAAAAAAA1g/39xG7f-hiVo/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1537.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0Ye8ksXoNI/AAAAAAAAA1g/39xG7f-hiVo/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1537.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135826451053387986" /></a>The Wongs’apartment has two floors — another rarity for China — with two bedrooms on the lower floor and three upstairs.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0Ye80sXoOI/AAAAAAAAA1o/i7T0CW1fRKM/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1543.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0Ye80sXoOI/AAAAAAAAA1o/i7T0CW1fRKM/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1543.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135826455348355298" /></a>Also unusual are the large windows that flood the living room with light, and the chandelier. <br /><br /><br /> <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0Ye9UsXoPI/AAAAAAAAA1w/9HCiH98NZFk/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1544.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0Ye9UsXoPI/AAAAAAAAA1w/9HCiH98NZFk/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1544.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135826463938289906" /></a>The apartment boasts many modern conveniences, like a projection TV with a large screen that lowers from the ceiling.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0Ye9ksXoQI/AAAAAAAAA14/GwVPHHZj_P4/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1538.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0Ye9ksXoQI/AAAAAAAAA14/GwVPHHZj_P4/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1538.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135826468233257218" /></a>The eleventh-floor balcony affords a sweeping view, but unfortunately it encompasses nothing but the other high-rise residential buildings that have gone up in the past few years or are under construction.<br /><br />After touring the apartment, we headed off for foot massages (which seem to be the favorite affordable luxury among many Chinese people) and then an early dinner (C***o had to be back in time for a 7:00 class) at a hot pot restaurant. <br /><br />Hot pot, for those who don't know, is a style of dining that originated in the north where thinly sliced meats, noodles, vegetables, and other ingredients are cooked at the table in pots of boiling, seasoned broth. I prefer to have hot pot in the winter — it's a great way to warm up on a cold day — but it's popular here year-round. <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0YdqksXoJI/AAAAAAAAA1A/KMqYJjMRZ7I/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1548.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0YdqksXoJI/AAAAAAAAA1A/KMqYJjMRZ7I/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1548.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135825042304114834" /></a>The restaurant we went to — located in the Jida district behind the Jusco department store I've been to several times — had a feature I've never seen before: a table with condiments to add to the sauce that you dip the cooked items into.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0Ydq0sXoKI/AAAAAAAAA1I/uIVkIqqVyFE/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1550.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0Ydq0sXoKI/AAAAAAAAA1I/uIVkIqqVyFE/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1550.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135825046599082146" /></a>Beef and lamb are the standard meats used in hot pot. They were accompanied by four or five different types of greens . . .<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0YdrUsXoLI/AAAAAAAAA1Q/62ALSd5lfes/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1556.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0YdrUsXoLI/AAAAAAAAA1Q/62ALSd5lfes/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1556.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135825055189016754" /></a>. . . and several varieties of noodles.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0YdrksXoMI/AAAAAAAAA1Y/CCH1FVZD3es/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1555.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0YdrksXoMI/AAAAAAAAA1Y/CCH1FVZD3es/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1555.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135825059483984066" /></a>Restaurants in China always have individual pots for each diner; in America, for some reason, there's always a single large communal one that everyone dumps their items into, which strikes me as a far inferior system. Although all the restaurants I've previously been to in China brought out butane burners for each pot, here there were electric burners built right into the table. <br /><br />Back home Ling and I have often served hot pot as a holiday dinner — it's graced our table at Christmas more than once — but this meal came a couple of days too early for me to think of it as a Thanksiving stand-in. It would have seemed an inappropriate substitute anyway: Cooking a small tidbit of beef in less than a minute strikes me as the antithesis of roasting a turkey for hours.Gordon Flagghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014774398347814031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277996089437169752.post-54102031787689359512007-11-21T22:48:00.000-08:002008-11-13T14:10:05.842-08:00Thanksgiving Dinner<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0WooEsXoEI/AAAAAAAAA0Y/S3ifaqCL5As/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1659.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0WooEsXoEI/AAAAAAAAA0Y/S3ifaqCL5As/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1659.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135696356493992002" /></a>As Hilary consoled me, duck is just as good as turkey — maybe better. But unfortunately, it doesn't come with cornbread stuffing or cranberries.Gordon Flagghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014774398347814031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277996089437169752.post-66750014534995931102007-11-20T15:02:00.001-08:002008-11-13T14:10:06.560-08:00DVD DelightsAlthough I hadn't been planning to buy any DVDs when I went to Gongbei on Monday, I decided to drop in on a shop that had the largest and most varied selection that I had seen anywhere in Zhuhai. I didn't spend much time there when I first stumbled upon it, mostly because their labeled price was 30 yuan per disc, twice the standard elsewhere; even if you take that as a starting point for bargaining, it wasn't a good sign. But as soon as I commented on the high price the clerk offered to halve it, and when I said I'd buy at least ten if he'd cut the price to 12 yuan — about $1.60 — he agreed (after checking with a manager, a move that might have been just for show).<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0NoNksXoAI/AAAAAAAAAz4/5StSaFnJ8cs/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1529.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0NoNksXoAI/AAAAAAAAAz4/5StSaFnJ8cs/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1529.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135062582529859586" /></a>I selected three vintage Chow Yun-Fat movies, plus <em>The Myth,</em> a 2005 Jackie Chan Chinese film; Ling and I saw a little bit of it on a TV in a department store the last time we were in China, and it looked watchable — certainly better than any of his American efforts. <br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0NoN0sXoBI/AAAAAAAAA0A/SVgi93ugFNk/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1531.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0NoN0sXoBI/AAAAAAAAA0A/SVgi93ugFNk/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1531.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135062586824826898" /></a>I was surprised to see these obscure arthouse titles for sale in China: The top two are compilations of early American avante-garde cinema; <em>The Pervert's Guide </em>is an idiosyncratic bit of film criticism that I missed when it played the Film Center a few months ago; and <em>Come and See</em> is an acclaimed Soviet WWII saga from the 1980s.<br /> <br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0NoOUsXoCI/AAAAAAAAA0I/PwYEvNy_CGw/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1532.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0NoOUsXoCI/AAAAAAAAA0I/PwYEvNy_CGw/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1532.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135062595414761506" /></a>The classics: Godard's <em>Breathless,</em> Schlesinger's <em>Billy Liar, </em>René Clair's <em>Under the Roofs of Paris,</em> and a Keaton hodgepodge of obscure shorts, commercials and TV appearances, and other miscellany. <br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0NoO0sXoDI/AAAAAAAAA0Q/SsrSKB102g8/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1535.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0NoO0sXoDI/AAAAAAAAA0Q/SsrSKB102g8/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1535.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135062604004696114" /></a>Leaving with my haul of rarefied cinematic works, I headed for the back alley shop where I'd previously bought a few Hollywood pics of more recent vintage for a third of the price of the mall stores. This time I bargained the price down to 4 yuan, just over 50 cents — the cheapest I've ever bought DVDs in China (or, I suppose, anyplace else). I couldn't resist the chance to pick up a few titles that had come out since I left Chicago, to cut down on what I'll have to catch up on upon my return (although actually, none of them are likely to have made my must-see list). Brian De Palma's <em>Redacted</em> had only been in theatres for three days when I bought it; sometimes these newer-than-new bootlegs are made with a camcorder held in front of the screen at a preview, but in this case it was duped from a studio screener — the ID code ocassionally surfaced at the bottom. And I bought the cheaply packaged set of the first five seasons of <em>Scrubs</em> largely to satisfy my curiousity about how they squeezed 100+ episodes on just five discs.Gordon Flagghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014774398347814031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277996089437169752.post-80236352753247594152007-11-20T14:48:00.000-08:002008-11-13T14:10:07.390-08:00The Gongbei RoutineI'm a bit behind in my blogging, due largely to the fact that the pleasant weather has been enticing me to spend as much time outdoors as possible — especially after hearing the forecast of holiday snow for Chicago. And my plans to catch up tonight were nearly derailed by a fortuitous encounter earlier this eveing that led to a dinner with much <em>pijiu</em> and <em>gambei</em>ing (which I'll report on in a future posting). But I'll try to overcome my slight inebriation to forge ahead with my posting plans. <br /><br />On Monday I made my usual weekly shopping trip to Zhuhai city. There wasn't anything that I particularly needed to buy, but after languishing on campus all day Sunday, I just wanted the change of scene. I must have made the trip between the college and Zhuhai a dozen times by now, but I still haven't tired of looking out the window at the countryside, the people, the shops, and even the crazy traffic. <br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0Nl-ksXn9I/AAAAAAAAAzg/_9DpqVCUgqc/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1518.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0Nl-ksXn9I/AAAAAAAAAzg/_9DpqVCUgqc/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1518.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135060125808566226" /></a>After alighting from the bus, I strolled through that stretch of restaurants with the lively outdoor dining scene that had so impressed me one night last week. But as I expected, the stretch was pretty dull during daylight, even at lunchtime. <br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0Nl-0sXn-I/AAAAAAAAAzo/WhXg75v8TFE/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1516.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0Nl-0sXn-I/AAAAAAAAAzo/WhXg75v8TFE/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1516.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135060130103533538" /></a>This sidewalk dishwasher gives you an idea of the sanitation standards here.<br /> <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0Nl_EsXn_I/AAAAAAAAAzw/WfY3qT1KDcc/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1522.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0Nl_EsXn_I/AAAAAAAAAzw/WfY3qT1KDcc/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1522.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135060134398500850" /></a>I ducked into a building that turned out to contain one of those vast indoor food markets that had impressed me, first in San Zao and then in Jida. Besides the merchants selling the same sort of produce that you commonly see at the outdoor markets, these enclosed ones also sell meat . . . <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0NknUsXn7I/AAAAAAAAAzQ/SNCWGjmppjY/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1523.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0NknUsXn7I/AAAAAAAAAzQ/SNCWGjmppjY/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1523.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135058626864979890" /></a>. . . and fish. And as you can see, refrigeration doesn't enter into the picture at all. But what I'm now finding more interesting than the lack of refrigeration is my level of acceptance of it. On my first visit to China, some ten years ago, I found such practices shocking. Six weeks ago, when I arrived for my teaching stint here, I suppose I would have made note of it. But now I barely even shrug. Perhaps it's my awareness that my the ingredients of my dinner that night will likely have been treated in such a fashion; it's either accept or starve. <br /> <br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0Nkn0sXn8I/AAAAAAAAAzY/gyt61D1Mln4/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1526.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0Nkn0sXn8I/AAAAAAAAAzY/gyt61D1Mln4/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1526.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135058635454914498" /></a>When the food's been cooked, like these roast birds and other meats, the lack of refrigeration's a bit easier to accept. Even so, I decided to head for the undergrund Port Plaza mall for my favorite restaurant with the English-language menu. <br /><br />After a tasty chicken curry, I headed upstairs and outside to the less genteel market area where the genuine bargains are to be found. I hadn't been planning to shop for DVDs that day — I'd figured I'd stock up before returing to Chicago — but I wound up finding some surprising titles that I just couldn't resist; I'll detail them in my next post. <br /><br />Lugging my sackful of DVDs, I headed for the bus stop by way of the side streets and back alleys that I found so enticing the first time I encountered Gongbei. But again, I strode right by sights that would have had me pulling out my camera a month ago. Even the incredibly brazen streetwalkers (my online research has confirmed my assumption that the district is a hotbed — pun intended — of prostitution) didn't faze me. I'm not jaded — I still love taking in the scene — but at this point I guess I can state that I longer feel like a gawking tousist.Gordon Flagghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014774398347814031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277996089437169752.post-3736103602348260422007-11-18T04:09:00.000-08:002008-11-13T14:10:10.554-08:0021st- and 19th-Century ZhuhaiOn Saturday, I tagged along again as one of C***o's coleagues took her to Zhuhai city to see the apartment buildings the college owns there. Apparently once you've worked at the college for a certain number of years, you can get a unit in the buildings; many faculty have both a residence on campus and one in the city (which explains how they can stand living in a region as desolate as the one surrounding the campus — they don't, at least not all the time).<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DXN0sXn3I/AAAAAAAAAyw/fH_73s81r5Y/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1419.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DXN0sXn3I/AAAAAAAAAyw/fH_73s81r5Y/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1419.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134340207685377906" /></a>The buildings are very modern — they went up within the last two years — and look essentially like the hundreds of others that are sprouting up around the city, especially on its outskirts. (These are in a similarly undeveloped part of town; other than dozens of other apartment buildings of similar vintage, the nearby area is largely barren, with hardly any retail stores or much of anything else)<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DXO0sXn4I/AAAAAAAAAy4/A9zVdctii7U/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1420.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DXO0sXn4I/AAAAAAAAAy4/A9zVdctii7U/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1420.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134340224865247106" /></a>We got a tour of the interior of one of the units, which are somewhat larger than the standard Chinese apartment, but with the same ubitquitous white walls and white vinyl tile on the floors. The landscaping is nicer-than-average as well, and there's even underground parking. President Wong lives in the building across from the one we visited.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DXPksXn5I/AAAAAAAAAzA/Xd94bb-Cf5M/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1424.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DXPksXn5I/AAAAAAAAAzA/Xd94bb-Cf5M/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1424.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134340237750149010" /></a>Other new construction going up nearby dwarfs the older dwellings that probably aren't long for this world.<br /><br /><br />We then joined about a half-dozen other people, some of whom I think lived in the complex, for a tour of nearby attractions. As usual, no introductions were made (or, more precisely, half-introductions were made: C***o told the newcomers, in Mandarin, who I was, but never said anything to me about them), but I learned later that the three men all worked for Zhuhai's propaganda office, which meant that they promoted tourism to the city (I told C***o that the proper English word was "marketing" — "propaganda" connoted political objectives — but she insisted that was their actual title. <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DXQEsXn6I/AAAAAAAAAzI/324W1zL9dBA/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1438.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DXQEsXn6I/AAAAAAAAAzI/324W1zL9dBA/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1438.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134340246340083618" /></a>Our first stop was the stone archways located at the site of a village called Meixi, built by the emperor in the late 1800s to honor Chen Fang, the first Chinese consul to Hawaii. There were originally three archways, but one was destroyed by the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution. <br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DU1UsXn0I/AAAAAAAAAyY/OBc_yU5ElKo/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1449.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DU1UsXn0I/AAAAAAAAAyY/OBc_yU5ElKo/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1449.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134337587755327298" /></a>The grounds also include the residences Chen built for himself and his sons in the 1890s after he returned from Hawaii, where he'd started several businesses, served in the legislature, and married a princess.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DU2EsXn1I/AAAAAAAAAyg/daBFI2ZI83c/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1451.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DU2EsXn1I/AAAAAAAAAyg/daBFI2ZI83c/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1451.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134337600640229202" /></a>The outdoor dancing room in Chen's residence combines Romanesque arches with Chinese ornamentation. <br /> <br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DU3EsXn2I/AAAAAAAAAyo/wNI2HUj-G2M/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1457.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DU3EsXn2I/AAAAAAAAAyo/wNI2HUj-G2M/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1457.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134337617820098402" /></a>One of the buildings contained a wax museum depicting notables who hailed from Zhuhai. All eras were covered, from these early nobles to Communist Party leaders to China's first world table tennis champion. <br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DU0ksXnzI/AAAAAAAAAyQ/KxPSPxZmgHk/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1443.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DU0ksXnzI/AAAAAAAAAyQ/KxPSPxZmgHk/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1443.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134337574870425394" /></a>More interesting was a small museum featuring a collection of 65 plaques from Chinese businesses and homes. The exhibit combined calligraphy and culture, although it obviously would have been more meaningful if I could have recognized what the plaques said.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DTEksXnvI/AAAAAAAAAxw/i3dAvICGlbM/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1463.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DTEksXnvI/AAAAAAAAAxw/i3dAvICGlbM/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1463.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134335650725076722" /></a>Next on the itinerary was the nearby Agricultural Research Center, also known as the Agronomic Wonders Land (or, as the sign says, "Agricultural Paradise"). Unfortunately, we arrived there at dusk, too late to do anything other than take a quick look at a few of the many greenhouses on the grounds.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DTFksXnwI/AAAAAAAAAx4/x0FV_ELFqtI/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1475.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DTFksXnwI/AAAAAAAAAx4/x0FV_ELFqtI/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1475.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134335667904945922" /></a>By then it was dinnertime, so we drove to a nearby restaurant. Our private dining room (where the waitress is icing a bottle of red wine — but it's Chinese wine, so that can only help) included the standard television set for post-dining karaoke . . . <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DTG0sXnxI/AAAAAAAAAyA/Xr2plVI5_Ao/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1468.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DTG0sXnxI/AAAAAAAAAyA/Xr2plVI5_Ao/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1468.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134335689379782418" /></a>. . . but also a ping pong table, an accoutrement I'd not seen before.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The dinner was another consistently scrumptious banquet, with one knockout dish followed by another, and then another — it’s kinda scary how blasé I've gotten about the meals here, and I know I'll look back at that placid acceptance in disbelief when I'm back home in a few weeks. I'll constrain myself and only post a few shots of dishes I hadn't had before: <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DRkEsXnsI/AAAAAAAAAxY/GR52ZS0-Pzg/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1477.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DRkEsXnsI/AAAAAAAAAxY/GR52ZS0-Pzg/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1477.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134333992867700418" /></a>These savory little pigeons weren't an alternative to duck . . .<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DQeEsXnoI/AAAAAAAAAw4/Y_PxfuSYPGk/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1482.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DQeEsXnoI/AAAAAAAAAw4/Y_PxfuSYPGk/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1482.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134332790276857474" /></a>. . . because that came later, albeit in a casserole rather than roast.<br /> <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DRk0sXntI/AAAAAAAAAxg/Qmlz8CR2QUw/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1480.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DRk0sXntI/AAAAAAAAAxg/Qmlz8CR2QUw/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1480.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134334005752602322" /></a>These pancakes were eggier than typical. <br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DQeksXnpI/AAAAAAAAAxA/RXFWnWG_Hp0/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1486.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DQeksXnpI/AAAAAAAAAxA/RXFWnWG_Hp0/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1486.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134332798866792082" /></a>Okay, these clams aren't new — but don't they look great? <br /> <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DQfUsXnqI/AAAAAAAAAxI/Kr9cqZLoPBM/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1499.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DQfUsXnqI/AAAAAAAAAxI/Kr9cqZLoPBM/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1499.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134332811751693986" /></a>Near the end came these pan-fried items made of a Japanese-like glutenous rice flour, but with some sort of cruncy vegitable that varied the texture interestingly. <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0Biv0sXnhI/AAAAAAAAAwA/M5Y0XyBN3MQ/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1510.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0Biv0sXnhI/AAAAAAAAAwA/M5Y0XyBN3MQ/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1510.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134212148940480018" /></a>The meal was obviously wonderful, but what made the evening stand out was the liveliness of the group, spearheaded by the three propaganda officials. The one in the middle is apparently their boss, judging from the way they deferred to him. The guy on the right had a rollicking sense of humor that I enjoyed even if I couldn't understand his jokes.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DTHksXnyI/AAAAAAAAAyI/sNehfhK64OQ/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1474.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DTHksXnyI/AAAAAAAAAyI/sNehfhK64OQ/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1474.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134335702264684322" /></a>The rest of us (including, here, C***o, R****i, C***o's colleague, and the younger propagandist's wife) largely sat back and participated in the many toasts. As often happens when I'm a guest at one of these banquets, the men all wanted to share one-on-one toasts with me, so I drunk more than my share that night; once again, I impressed them with my capacity, and they loudly voiced their approval every tim I drained my glass. And I learned a new flourish from the jovial pudgy fellow: At the end of each <em>gambei,</em> I'd invert my glass to accentuate its emptiness. <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DPN0sXnnI/AAAAAAAAAww/Xytleu9GKJw/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1497.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DPN0sXnnI/AAAAAAAAAww/Xytleu9GKJw/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1497.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134331411592355442" /></a>I don't think I've mentioned that at these banquets there's always a waitress standing by — and often two — to refill glasses, replace dirty plates, and attend to any other needs. It's a level of service that's obviously lacking in the States, and I especailly miss it at Chinese restaurants there — it's just not the same when you have to pour your own tea. <br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DPNksXnmI/AAAAAAAAAwo/twN9N6hSNQo/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1493.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/R0DPNksXnmI/AAAAAAAAAwo/twN9N6hSNQo/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1493.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134331407297388130" /></a>The head propagandist turned out to be a remarkably talented singer, who entertained us with everything from traditional Chinese songs to Italian arias. He was so good that the rest of us were too intimidated for karaoke (which to me was just an added benefit of his performance).<br /><br />Considering the vast quantities of pijiu I'd ingested (as well as just a bit of liquor), I was in pretty fair shape when I arrived home. But just the same, I was glad that I didn't have class — or much of anything else I had to do — the next day.Gordon Flagghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014774398347814031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277996089437169752.post-79313740193615313782007-11-16T07:51:00.000-08:002008-11-13T14:10:12.188-08:00Spouting Off on Sports<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rz49G0sXneI/AAAAAAAAAvo/-aI58quRPUM/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1391.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rz49G0sXneI/AAAAAAAAAvo/-aI58quRPUM/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1391.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133607812682194402" /></a>Thursday afternoon I gave the latest in my weekly series of lectures on American culture, this one on sports in the U.S. (delayed, ironically, by the campuswide sports event held last week). While I don't consider myself much of a sports fan (and many of you will call that assessment a vast understatement), as I told the students, sports are so pervasive in America that you can't live there for as long as I have without absorbing enough knowledge to talk on the subject for an hour or so. Even so, I was tempted to take Aaron's joking advice (based, I assume, on his current gig teaching Entertainment Journalism at Columbia College) to just make stuff up during my lectures, since who'd be the wiser? However, some of these kids follow the NBA avidly enough that I'd suspect they could call me on any fraudulent info on that sport. <br /><br />However, the entire group of several hundred students possessed near-total ignorance of baseball or American football (just <em>football,</em> of course, refers to what we'd call soccer), although they feigned interest in my explication. Basketball is another matter: My previous visits to China had already revealed the high level of interest in the sport (when the Bulls were playing in the championships, the games seemed to be followed here nearly as closely as back home). I was a bit surprised, though, that while many of the kids — and not just the boys — watch NBA games, they play little attention to the Chinese Basketball Association. My queries revealed that the Americans’far superior level of play trumps nationalism. <br /><br />The lecture seemed to be as well received as my previous ones, and I think that I managed to handle the questions fairly well; I even adequately fielded one on World Wrestling Entertainment (which I still think of as the WWF).<br /><br />Afterwards, Mr. Wong — the president of the college and Ling's longtime friend — took me to dinner, along with two other foreign-language teachers: Hyoung Su (a.k.a. Leo), the Korean instructor whom I've shared a couple of meals with already, and Ken, the other American currently on campus. The faculty have been trying to get Ken and me together ever since I got here, but our schedules hadn't meshed till now. He's a Tourism Management teacher at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, which has a reciprocal arrangenemnt with the same department here (one of my own classes is under the Tourism department; obviously, English would be a valuable skill for anyone taking Chinese people to the U.S. or vice versa). Ken's only here for six weeks, and he's going back Monday; his imminent departure was apparently the occasion for the dinner. <br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rz49HEsXnfI/AAAAAAAAAvw/dGIhF_xILt4/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1394.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rz49HEsXnfI/AAAAAAAAAvw/dGIhF_xILt4/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1394.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133607816977161714" /></a>Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get a very good pic of Ken; in this dim one he's between Wong (who was, obviously, seated next to me) and one of the college's vice-presidents (I didn't get his name or exact title; introductions here are often abrupt or even nonexistant, which is why business cards are so useful). <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rz49HksXngI/AAAAAAAAAv4/m9gkHmfd1N8/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1395.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rz49HksXngI/AAAAAAAAAv4/m9gkHmfd1N8/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1395.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133607825567096322" /></a>It's been a while since I've photoblogged individual dishes, so here's a selection of what Wong ordered. This was the first time I'd seen chicken feet other than as a dim sum item. <br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rz46L0sXnaI/AAAAAAAAAvI/VOWqCfxdASE/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1397.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rz46L0sXnaI/AAAAAAAAAvI/VOWqCfxdASE/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1397.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133604600046656930" /></a>One of the best ducks I've had so far this trip, obviously surpassing the version I've been enjoying regularly in the campus dining hall. <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rz46MUsXnbI/AAAAAAAAAvQ/WoQqJJ2DJtI/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1398.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rz46MUsXnbI/AAAAAAAAAvQ/WoQqJJ2DJtI/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1398.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133604608636591538" /></a>I don't think I've been to a banquet here that hasn't included shrimp — but that's fine with me. <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rz46MksXncI/AAAAAAAAAvY/La6APD--SAY/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1400.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rz46MksXncI/AAAAAAAAAvY/La6APD--SAY/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1400.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133604612931558850" /></a>I think this delicately spiced fish soup, served in a coconut shell, was the best soup I've had here. <br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rz44w0sXnWI/AAAAAAAAAuo/ds-XNvQUXnI/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1403.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rz44w0sXnWI/AAAAAAAAAuo/ds-XNvQUXnI/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1403.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133603036678561122" /></a>Two more regional standbys: whole steamed fish . . .<br /> <br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rz44xksXnXI/AAAAAAAAAuw/exOwgyZRc_w/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1405.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rz44xksXnXI/AAAAAAAAAuw/exOwgyZRc_w/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1405.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133603049563463026" /></a>. . . and sea snails. <br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rz44x0sXnYI/AAAAAAAAAu4/psQ0DutHWms/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1406.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rz44x0sXnYI/AAAAAAAAAu4/psQ0DutHWms/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1406.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133603053858430338" /></a>The picture's a bit dark-looking, but so was the dish: Pork cooked with black tea leaves. <br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rz44yEsXnZI/AAAAAAAAAvA/oyx79xZZTd4/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1409.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rz44yEsXnZI/AAAAAAAAAvA/oyx79xZZTd4/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1409.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133603058153397650" /></a>Pastries for desert. Unfortunaely, I was still enjoying the other dishes when this plate was brought out, so I missed out on the custard tarts, always one of my favorite ways to end a meal. But I did manage to take full advantage of the plate of watermelon, papaya, and other fruits that came later (not pictured because I was too busy chowing down to shoot it before my fellow diners did damage to it).<br /><br />This evening featured even more toasts than usual, many of them to mark Ken's leaving. We were drinking strong Chinese liquor (which I don't enjoy much normally — I'm a wine and beer guy — but the bottle we had here was top-shelf stuff, and even I could appreciate the difference) before we switched to pijiu later. At banquets, tablewide toasts are supplemented by ones between just two individuals: Wong and I drank a toast to Ling, and then another one to C***o. I drink enough without getting more than slightly tipsy that I now feel up to a real challenge: Hyoung Su and I are planning to go out drinking together next weekend.Gordon Flagghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014774398347814031noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277996089437169752.post-12376125525270499442007-11-16T05:44:00.000-08:002008-11-13T14:10:13.159-08:00Return to the South Gate Restaurant<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rz40f0sXnUI/AAAAAAAAAuY/ZlCTaTANMDg/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1410.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rz40f0sXnUI/AAAAAAAAAuY/ZlCTaTANMDg/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1410.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133598346574273858" /></a>Ever since the English Club took me to that restaurant outside the campus's South Gate, I've been wanting to take C***o and R****i there, and we finally made it there tonight. C***o ordered, with some suggestions from me based on my prior visit, and I paid the minimal check. I had guessed that the place serves mostly Northeastern food, and I was right; it turns out the owner is from Changchaun, Ling and C***o's home town. <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rz40gUsXnVI/AAAAAAAAAug/ruJdwFYyUsA/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1416.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rz40gUsXnVI/AAAAAAAAAug/ruJdwFYyUsA/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1416.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133598355164208466" /></a>C***o ordered so much that we took home leftovers — that doesn't seem to happen much here (the uneaten food usually just goes to waste). We had the sauteed shredded potatoes that are popular in the Northeast, as well as a lamb and scallions dish, chicken and mushrooms, and the pork moo shoo that I had enjoyed so much with the English Club. After C***o and I drank about half of the bottle of wine I bought her in Hong Kong a week ago (Rongli doesn't care much for western wine), we also polished off a couple of large (one pint) Tsingtaos. The bill came to 78 yuan — just over $10. Back home, the beers alone would cost more than that. And,of course, dining outdoors in mid-Novmeber is a treat in itself. Is it any wonder that I'm already beginning to get glum about my departure in a couple of weeks?Gordon Flagghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014774398347814031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277996089437169752.post-20774827180290781212007-11-15T16:34:00.000-08:002008-11-13T14:10:16.573-08:00From Mountain to Sea<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rzz6hksXnNI/AAAAAAAAAtk/4T3_pNZINss/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1245.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rzz6hksXnNI/AAAAAAAAAtk/4T3_pNZINss/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1245.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133253129987923154" /></a>It was another gorgeous day Wednesday — every day since we returned from Hong Kong last Friday has been sunny and in the 70s — so I decided to make that return visit to Jin Shan Park in Zhuhai that I've been promising myself. This time, instead of riding to the top, I walked up a long, steep series of stone steps . . . <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rzz6kEsXnOI/AAAAAAAAAts/f0w4EImzufQ/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1237.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rzz6kEsXnOI/AAAAAAAAAts/f0w4EImzufQ/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1237.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133253172937596130" /></a>. . . under the cable cars . . . <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rzz6n0sXnPI/AAAAAAAAAt0/F8eiu15r8nk/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1234.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rzz6n0sXnPI/AAAAAAAAAt0/F8eiu15r8nk/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1234.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133253237362105586" /></a>. . . and past the toboggan that I'd taken down the mountainside a few weeks ago.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rz0kP0sXnSI/AAAAAAAAAuM/zbzadgR0r3E/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1247.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rz0kP0sXnSI/AAAAAAAAAuM/zbzadgR0r3E/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1247.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133299004533611810" /></a>The view from the top looking to the north was just as impressive as it had been the first time (although perhaps it paled a bit after viewing Hong Kong from Victoria Peak last weekend). <br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rzz6sksXnRI/AAAAAAAAAuE/bHw2oDmZz1Q/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1260.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rzz6sksXnRI/AAAAAAAAAuE/bHw2oDmZz1Q/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1260.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133253318966484242" /></a>Since I was by myself this time I had a bit more time to explore the summit, and I noticed another route down, this one on the southern side of the peak, which I decided to take for variety's sake. The view wasn't quite as interesting as the one to the north, if only because the buildings were further away. <br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rzz4bksXnLI/AAAAAAAAAtU/Rer9-TV8AG4/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1272.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rzz4bksXnLI/AAAAAAAAAtU/Rer9-TV8AG4/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1272.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133250827885452466" /></a>The southern descent was much longer but more gentle, althoough the unevenly spaced steps made it a bit tricky to navigate at points. A spot about halfway down afforded a good view of the summit and the toboggan tracks. As I descended I noticed several smaller paths off to the side, all paved and most with steps. It's not exactly Runyon Canyon, but for an urban climb it's not too shabby. <br /> <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rzz4cUsXnMI/AAAAAAAAAtc/QilJqRTPh-s/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1279.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rzz4cUsXnMI/AAAAAAAAAtc/QilJqRTPh-s/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1279.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133250840770354370" /></a>The trail came out on the other side of that pond with the child-devouring plastic bubbles. I crossed the street and reached Haibin Park, a pleasant but nondescript park I'd visited on my first solo trip to Zhuhai.<br /> <br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rzz1JksXnEI/AAAAAAAAAsg/7-Jn4Tin5tU/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1293.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rzz1JksXnEI/AAAAAAAAAsg/7-Jn4Tin5tU/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1293.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133247220112923714" /></a>I cut through the park and crossed a four-lane highway to reach the South China Sea. <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rzz1J0sXnFI/AAAAAAAAAso/fRUN3OsJwiQ/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1309.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rzz1J0sXnFI/AAAAAAAAAso/fRUN3OsJwiQ/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1309.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133247224407891026" /></a>Nearby was the Fisher Girl statue, one of Zhuhai's most popular attractions. The pearl she's holding over her head is the symbol of the city: Zhuhai means "Pearl City," and pearls are still farmed to the north of here. <br /> <br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rzz1KksXnGI/AAAAAAAAAsw/Zb3FmIu5k70/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1322.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rzz1KksXnGI/AAAAAAAAAsw/Zb3FmIu5k70/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1322.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133247237292792930" /></a>If this highway is Zhuhai's Lake Shore Drive, this must be Oak Street Beach. <br /> <br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzzygEsXnBI/AAAAAAAAAsI/zUnrjK0PR9s/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1328.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzzygEsXnBI/AAAAAAAAAsI/zUnrjK0PR9s/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1328.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133244308125096978" /></a>It's so popular to take wedding pictures — with the bride and groom in full western garb — by the ocean that a whole section of the beach is devoted to the activity. <br /> <br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzzyiEsXnDI/AAAAAAAAAsY/GG6ce9a_TFE/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1335.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzzyiEsXnDI/AAAAAAAAAsY/GG6ce9a_TFE/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1335.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133244342484835378" /></a>Just like on Lake Shore Drive, exclusive-looking high-rise apartment buildings line the road overlooking the water.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rzzyg0sXnCI/AAAAAAAAAsQ/EWoh9gtQ_jU/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1331.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rzzyg0sXnCI/AAAAAAAAAsQ/EWoh9gtQ_jU/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1331.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133244321009998882" /></a>Sometimes it's hard to make sence of what I see here.<br /> <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzzxLUsXm-I/AAAAAAAAArw/W8365mcCrrs/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1340.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzzxLUsXm-I/AAAAAAAAArw/W8365mcCrrs/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1340.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133242852131183586" /></a>I had planned to just walk along the sea until I started to tire, then take a cab to Gongbei to catch the bus back to campus. But the stroll was so pleasant (despite the cars whizzing by) and the day so nice that I just kept going.<br /> <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzzxL0sXm_I/AAAAAAAAAr4/G5Z8PIW9iVs/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1346.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzzxL0sXm_I/AAAAAAAAAr4/G5Z8PIW9iVs/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1346.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133242860721118194" /></a>After a couple of kilometers I reached the Lovers Road, where the seaside path widened and a narrow parkway separated it from the busy street. (As I mentioned last month, the name was suggested by premier Li Peng after he observed the many amorous couples strolling there.)<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rzzv-EsXm7I/AAAAAAAAArY/Js04nu-3Hhk/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1357.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rzzv-EsXm7I/AAAAAAAAArY/Js04nu-3Hhk/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1357.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133241524986289074" /></a>I timed my walk well: The sun was setting just as I approached Gongbei. (The buildings to the left on the horizon are Macau; Gongbei is to the right.) I figure I must have walked 8 or 10 km, not even counting my trek up and down Jin Shan Mountain. <br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rzzv_ksXm8I/AAAAAAAAArg/AQ0_ia4QdGE/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1378.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rzzv_ksXm8I/AAAAAAAAArg/AQ0_ia4QdGE/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1378.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133241550756092866" /></a>As I discovered last week, Gongbei is even more lively after dark (although my photographic ability is unfortunately diminished; but click on the pictures to enlarge them for more detail). I walked to the bus stop through a section I hadn't explored before — a wide back alley between two larger streets — and discovered a vast dining district with rows of restaurants, all with tables outdoors.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzzwDEsXm9I/AAAAAAAAAro/WG6V-DXuZGQ/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1387.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzzwDEsXm9I/AAAAAAAAAro/WG6V-DXuZGQ/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1387.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133241610885635026" /></a>A bit further on, the alley opened up into a sort of plaza with dozens of tables, all served by restaurants off to the sides. The diners were eating some fantastic-looking dishes — one group was enjoying a huge fish covered with a thick, rich sauce that was served right in the wok — but even I didn't have the chutzpah to walk up to the table and take a photo. <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rzzu2EsXm6I/AAAAAAAAArQ/UWZpI06W0Lw/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1382.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Rzzu2EsXm6I/AAAAAAAAArQ/UWZpI06W0Lw/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1382.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133240288035707810" /></a>All of the amazing and varied food came out of a series of small, sparsely appointed kitchens like this one. I continued on to the bus stop, pleased with the discovery that even after all my weeks here, I could still stumble upon a scene exotic enough to stop me in my tracks.Gordon Flagghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014774398347814031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277996089437169752.post-81382968657046466402007-11-13T02:54:00.000-08:002008-04-28T17:55:26.967-07:00It Might as Well Be SpringsToday the wife of Mr. Wong, the president of the college, invited C***o, R****i, and me to go back to the Ocean Hot Springs Resort that I had visited a few weeks ago. I thought of trying to get out of it — although I'd enjoyed myself there, I didn't feel compelled to make a return visit — but it's bad form to turn invitations down here, especially ones from such a highly placed source, so I figured I might as well accept.<br /><br />And as it turned out, I think I had a better time there today than I had on my initial visit. That seems to be true of a lot of things I do here in China: When I repeat something I've already done and I don't have to worry about learning the ropes or committing a cultural blunder, I enjoy myself more. When I pay a return visit to a town, I no longer have to fret about taking the wrong bus or getting off at the wrong stop. And despite the problems with my visa, my second day in Macau, when I began to know my way around, was much more satisfying than my first. <br /><br />In addition to getting to spend more time in my favorite pools — mostly the herb-infused whirlpools — I also did a couple of things today that I had missed out on the first time around: We sat in a pool where hundreds of tiny fishes nibble at your skin (and I defy even the most skilled wordsmith to adequately describe <em>that</em> sensation!), and we all had half-hour foot massages (afterward I said that my feet felt so good I didn't want to ruin it by using them, and asked if they could arrange for someone to carry me; it's risky to make jokes like that in China, though, because there's a real chance they'll take you seriously and either think you're crazy or rush out to find someone to comply with your demand — or both!). <br /><br />Afterward we had a quick meal in the resort's restaurant — C***o had to get back to teach an evening class. Once again I left my camera in the loocker room, and it's too bad because we had a couple of dishes from Guangdong province that I hadn't seen before. But I suspect my fellow diners were glad to escape my eccentric habit of photographing my food before eating it.Gordon Flagghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014774398347814031noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277996089437169752.post-78726226895724630372007-11-12T02:54:00.000-08:002007-11-12T04:41:32.043-08:00An Unexpected EncounterI was on my way back from getting a haircut in the strip mall near the campus South Gate when I glimpsed something I hadn't previously seen in my five weeks here — a fellow <em>laowei.</em> I'd noticed a few westerners at the mall and the supermarket in Zhuhai city, and they were more common in Shenzhen and Macau (and of course Hong Kong is swarming with them); but this was the first one I'd seen in the environs of the campus. <br /><br />We both did slight double-takes and then struck up a conversation. Turns out he's lived with his wife, who's from Zhuhai, in the apartments next to the strip mall (I photographed a chicken coop there in my early wanderings around the area and posted it on the blog) for three years. He seems like an interesting fellow: He's an international "venture consultant" who was in the Marines in the early 1970s, is trained as a cultural anthropologist, and says that for several decades he hasn't lived in any country for more than two years until he came to China. <br /><br />Even though we chatted for nearly an hour, I didn't really get to find out that much about him (and he didn't express all that much interest in me) because he was busy pontificating about a vast range of subjects, from doing business with the Chinese to the works of anthropologist Gregory Bateson. I joked that after lecturing to my students for over a month, it was refreshing to be on the receiving end. He might be full of hot air, but he did have a lot of facts at his disposal and I did learn quite a bit from him, from the macro (China's policies on alternative energy) to the micro (the grocery and restaurants outside the South Gate only opened a few weeks before I arrived here).<br /><br />I'm a bit curious about how he wound up here (not just in China or in Zhuhai, but in a fairly remote area that must have been even more undeveloped when he came here) and how he met his wife (who was standing by patiently the whole time but contributed little to the conversation despite my occasional efforts to include her). He's also got some sort of business scheme brewing, but he wanted to keep the details under his hat, and I wasn't particularly interested in prying into it anyway. In any case, we traded e-mail addresses, and we'll probably get together for dinner next week, either at one of the samll restaurants in the strip mall or a Szechuan one he knows in San Zao; so I'll probably learn more about what brought him here then.Gordon Flagghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014774398347814031noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277996089437169752.post-61180501549419807072007-11-10T16:46:00.000-08:002008-11-13T14:10:19.718-08:00Shenzhen to Hong Kong<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZajw0v2DI/AAAAAAAAApE/FoaBRVeizQs/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1115.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZajw0v2DI/AAAAAAAAApE/FoaBRVeizQs/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1115.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131388395883321394" /></a>Despite being kept awake by the rowdy students in the international dorm, I woke up early Friday morning so I decided to explore the campus a bit. As I mentioned in my previous post, the lake in the center of the caampus — less than a block from our dorm — is surprisingly scenic. It would seem downright bucolic if it weren't for the skyscrapers in the background. <br /> <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZakw0v2EI/AAAAAAAAApM/TtAd5hyc7Sg/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1112.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZakw0v2EI/AAAAAAAAApM/TtAd5hyc7Sg/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1112.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131388413063190594" /></a>With such an attractive view of the lake, I'd assumed this building was faculty housing; but it turned out to be a student dormitory. <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZalQ0v2FI/AAAAAAAAApU/9VsZNNPdePk/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1119.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZalQ0v2FI/AAAAAAAAApU/9VsZNNPdePk/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1119.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131388421653125202" /></a>As I circled the lake I saw, and heard, maybe 20 students standing at water's edge, reading aloud from their English textbooks — and this was before 7 a.m.! <br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZamA0v2GI/AAAAAAAAApc/PYjkWjDVrNQ/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1120.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZamA0v2GI/AAAAAAAAApc/PYjkWjDVrNQ/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1120.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131388434538027106" /></a>I'm going to suggest this technique in my classes; such solo declamation exercises seems to be a good way to gain the confidence to speak loudly, something my shy, insecure students have a problem with.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZYIw0v1_I/AAAAAAAAAok/WmprphU8M9c/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1127.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZYIw0v1_I/AAAAAAAAAok/WmprphU8M9c/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1127.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131385733003597810" /></a>Before we left for Hong Kong, Gao took us to a nearby dim sum restaurant. He was surprised when I told him how popular dim sum was back home, and I expressed my vast happiness at his taking me here — otherwise I would have missed out on the chance to have dim sum in the region where it originated. <br /> <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZYJQ0v2AI/AAAAAAAAAos/iqARIHaz8mE/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1132.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZYJQ0v2AI/AAAAAAAAAos/iqARIHaz8mE/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1132.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131385741593532418" /></a>As you'd expect, the dim sum here beat just about any that I've had in the States (although one memorable meal I had at Harbor Village in Monterey Park matched it for variety and perhaps even quality). Two more rounds of dishes followed these, including the best chicken feet I've ever had.<br /> <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZYJw0v2BI/AAAAAAAAAo0/OC5NC4RqzSU/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1130.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZYJw0v2BI/AAAAAAAAAo0/OC5NC4RqzSU/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1130.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131385750183467026" /></a>This concoction of sweetened liquid taro under a taro crust is the best taro dish I've ever had; come to think of it, it's probably the only taro dish I've ever liked at all. <br /><br />Getting to Hong Kong from Shenzhen is a breeze: Take the city's new subway (it opened in 2004) to the border, go through immigration (the process was a bit speedier than it had been when enetering Macau), then hop on a train that leaves every five minutes or so for Kowloon. The train passes through the New Territories, a vast rural area that serves as a weekend getaway for urbanites; from what I've read (and saw from the train), the region is urbanizing rapidly. <br /><br />In Kowloon we transferred to the subway to Hong Kong Island, where we'd take the tram to the top of Victoria Peak — one of the two things I'd insisted we do in our brief day in Hong Kong. Now that we were somewhere where English is spoken widely (and C***o and R****i's Mandarin wasn't always understood), I was taking over as guide — as well as host, since I had plenty of HK currency left from my trip to Macau, as well as an ATM card that I could use to obtain more. <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZYKg0v2CI/AAAAAAAAAo8/VldYdr2_rBU/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1136.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZYKg0v2CI/AAAAAAAAAo8/VldYdr2_rBU/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1136.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131385763068368930" /></a>There's a Madame Tussaud's in the galleria on the peak; this figure of Hong Kong's biggest star greeted the crowds lined up for the tram. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZXQQ0v17I/AAAAAAAAAoE/P8XkraaBYc4/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1142.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZXQQ0v17I/AAAAAAAAAoE/P8XkraaBYc4/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1142.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131384762340988850" /></a>The tram hauling passengers to the peak — the highest point in the territory — has been running since 1888.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZbzg0v2II/AAAAAAAAAps/2rcIF25sFxs/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1156.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZbzg0v2II/AAAAAAAAAps/2rcIF25sFxs/s400/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1156.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131389765977888898" /></a>The view from the peak was stunning. It was amazing to be able to gaze down on the tops of the tall skyscrapers we'd seen from the street below.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZXRg0v19I/AAAAAAAAAoU/7BAa8TQRyCY/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1158.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZXRg0v19I/AAAAAAAAAoU/7BAa8TQRyCY/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1158.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131384783815825362" /></a>Expensive houses line the peak, even near the summit (in Hong Kong movies, this is where the wealthy mob bosses and drug lords always seem to live).<br /> <br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZXSA0v1-I/AAAAAAAAAoc/KUEx-JeMN6Q/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1169.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZXSA0v1-I/AAAAAAAAAoc/KUEx-JeMN6Q/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1169.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131384792405759970" /></a>Descending to the street, we took a cab to the pier for the Star Ferry to Kowloon — the other must-do in Hong Kong. <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZUZg0v13I/AAAAAAAAAnk/I--9X1leLJM/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1176.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZUZg0v13I/AAAAAAAAAnk/I--9X1leLJM/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1176.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131381622719895410" /></a>The view looking back at Hong Kong Island is iconic. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Disembarking in Kowloon, we wandered down Salisbury Road (going past the famous Peninsula Hotel), turning north on Nathan Road, the area's main north-south drag. By this time, C***o and R****i's energy was flagging — they hadn't been as enthusiastic about seeing Hong Kong in the first place as I had — so we veered in the direction of the terminal for the ferry that would take us back to Zhuhai. I had hoped to get to the markets further north, which I remembered fondly from my initial trip to Hong Kong ten years ago (Ling and I were here shortly before the handover in 1997); but I didn't particularly mind heading back early, because by that time I knew I'd be coming back for a solo return visit — this one overnight — before I left China. <br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZUZw0v14I/AAAAAAAAAns/CV41_aYIsR0/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1186.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZUZw0v14I/AAAAAAAAAns/CV41_aYIsR0/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1186.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131381627014862722" /></a>By the end of the 70-minute ferry ride to Zhuhai, I was ready to head back to campus. But C***o and R****i wanted to spend a few hours shopping in Gongbei (prices in Hong Kong are prohibatively high for mainlanders, which was one reason they were less eager to hit the markets there than I was). As it turned out, I was glad we stayed in Zhuhai, because it gave me a chance to see how lively Gongbei is at night. Since C***o and R****i hadn't been there before, I continued to serve as guide, showing them the shopping areas I'd previously frequented by day (including the underground Port Plaza mall).<br /> <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZUaQ0v15I/AAAAAAAAAn0/5nXJBa4Z0iE/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1188.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZUaQ0v15I/AAAAAAAAAn0/5nXJBa4Z0iE/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1188.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131381635604797330" /></a>There's a bar street in Gongbei that was pretty dead in the daytime, but I knew would be a raucous scene after dark. A couple of dozen stalls like this offer outdoor imbibing year-round. <br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZUaw0v16I/AAAAAAAAAn8/tfGkBtuQ28s/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1196.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZUaw0v16I/AAAAAAAAAn8/tfGkBtuQ28s/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1196.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131381644194731938" /></a>A side street jutting off from the one with the bars . . . <br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZRfA0v11I/AAAAAAAAAnU/WnrIt2XKpLc/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1211.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZRfA0v11I/AAAAAAAAAnU/WnrIt2XKpLc/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1211.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131378418674292562" /></a>. . . had six or eight restaurants that all had outdoor and indoor dining. <br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZRdw0v1zI/AAAAAAAAAnE/HDkvPQLN_GI/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1208.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZRdw0v1zI/AAAAAAAAAnE/HDkvPQLN_GI/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1208.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131378397199456050" /></a>C***o and R****i picked a Szechuan place . . .<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZTog0v12I/AAAAAAAAAnc/YryNxMg6Oic/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1205.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzZTog0v12I/AAAAAAAAAnc/YryNxMg6Oic/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1205.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131380780906305378" /></a>. . . that served a nice, spicy boiled fish. It's a treat to still be dining outdoors in November. <br /><br /><br /><br /> <br /><br />On the bus back to campus a bunch of students recognized me from my lectures — I'm easy to recognize — and we had a nice chat (as an English instructor I'm never off-duty). As much as I enjoy exploring China, after all the traveling I've done this week I'll be quite quite contant to stick close to campus this weekend.Gordon Flagghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014774398347814031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277996089437169752.post-90892509861128126622007-11-09T22:06:00.000-08:002008-11-13T14:10:21.144-08:00Zhuhai to Shenzhen<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzVQyw0v1xI/AAAAAAAAAm0/9XmX1RZlTSw/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1072.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzVQyw0v1xI/AAAAAAAAAm0/9XmX1RZlTSw/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1072.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131096183488370450" /></a>The school held a big campus-wide sports event on Thursday and Friday — students from the various departments competed against each other in various games — so C***o, R****i, and I took advantage of the cancelation of classes to travel to Shenzhen — the huge, thriving city that was the first of China's Special Economic Zones — and Hong Kong. After my travel travails earlier in the week, I was perfectly willing to let the two of them arrange the itinerary and handle the bookings.<br /> <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzVQ0A0v1yI/AAAAAAAAAm8/yUYnAu2REBI/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1076.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzVQ0A0v1yI/AAAAAAAAAm8/yUYnAu2REBI/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1076.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131096204963206946" /></a>We took an early-morning bus to Zhuhai, where we caught a high-speed ferry for the hour-long voyage to Shenzhen . . . <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzVOzw0v1uI/AAAAAAAAAmc/Db3BNaRILC0/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1082.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzVOzw0v1uI/AAAAAAAAAmc/Db3BNaRILC0/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1082.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131094001644984034" /></a>. . . where we were met at the ferry terminal by Mr. Gao, a colleague of Ling's and C***o's from back when Ling was teaching at Jilin University. He took us to a swanky hotel for lunch at a fancy buffet that was loaded with not only Chinese dishes but other Asian fare like salmon sashimi, maki, and Malaysian skewers as well as a few Western items. Just for variety, I supplemented my selection of Asian food with a plate of leafy lettuce from the salad bar and several rolls from the bread basket (crusty bread is one of the things I've missed here the most). It was the first time I'd used a knife and fork in five weeks. <br /><br />We then were given a brief tour of downtown Shenzhen, which was enough to confirm what I'd read about the city: Compared to the rest of China, it's a soulless place that's given itself over to Mammon. Since being designated an SEZ iun 1979, it's burgeoned from a tiny fishing village to a metropolis of over 9 million. With a few horizontal exceptions like a massive government bulding and an even larger exhibition hall, the central area is nothing but office towers. Even the most modern sections of central Beijing and Shanghai have older structures interspersed among the new ones; but without the signage, there'd be nothing much in downtown Shenzhen to indicate that you were in China — or anyplace in particular. It's even largely barren of the subtropical plam trees that are everywhere else in the region. <br /><br />Gao is dean of Shenzhen University's International Office. The school was founded in 1983 and Gao joined the faculty in 1987, which makes him something of a pioneer here. He proudly showed us around the campus, which is quite a contrast with the college in Zhuhai where I'm teaching: Unlike the sterile, utilitarian architecture, sparse and unimaginative landscaping, and flattened topography of Jilin University Zhuhai College, SZU has an impressive variety of buildings, plenty of trees lining the streets (including a small section of forest they left intact in the center of the campus), and gentle hills that don't impede the students' bicycles. Where the dormitories in Zhuhai are identical, massive barracks lined up next to one another, the ones at SZU are smaller facilities scattered around the grounds. Even the artificial lake — a requisite for campuses here, I'm guessing — is genuinely charming, unlike Zhuhai's rather dull version. Around 30,000 students are enrolled, about twice as many as JUZC. <br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzVO0Q0v1vI/AAAAAAAAAmk/RlE4_6awefI/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1084.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzVO0Q0v1vI/AAAAAAAAAmk/RlE4_6awefI/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1084.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131094010234918642" /></a>The library was the campus's very first building, constructed in 1987, and the exterior is remarkably like the Brutalist style of Walter Nesch's libraries at the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago from the same period. <br /> <br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzVO0w0v1wI/AAAAAAAAAms/x6M35npdZ5s/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1088.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzVO0w0v1wI/AAAAAAAAAms/x6M35npdZ5s/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1088.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131094018824853250" /></a>The growth of the university has been such that they're constructing a new library, across from the existing one; Gao said the old facility will continue to be used once the new one opens. <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzVMcw0v1rI/AAAAAAAAAmE/PdIK_6wS7lA/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1091.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzVMcw0v1rI/AAAAAAAAAmE/PdIK_6wS7lA/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1091.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131091407484737202" /></a>Inside, the library looked much like modern ones in the States (and better-maintained than many). It holds well over 3 million volumes, along with many electronic resourses — another vast contrast with Zhuhai College (whose library I've been embarrassed to blog about, although I expect to get to it before I leave).<br /> <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzVMdg0v1sI/AAAAAAAAAmM/gznxZb5cIko/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1090.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzVMdg0v1sI/AAAAAAAAAmM/gznxZb5cIko/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1090.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131091420369639106" /></a>I would like to have taken a full tour of the library, but that wasn't high on anyyone else's agenda. I did notice a lot of public-access computers, OPACs, and these self-checkout stations. <br /><br />Gao put us up overnight in the dorm that houses international students as well as foreign faculty — and this was one area in which Zhuhai seesm to outshine SZU: My faculty apartment in Zhuhai is new and spacious, but this room was something of a dump. True, it was on one of the students' floors, but I got the impression that the faculty quarters were little better. And I was unpleasantly surprised by something I'd never expect in Zhuhai: rowdy students carousing until well after midnight. I was told the next morning that they were the international dorm's Korean students; the behavior did strike me as very un-Chinese (or at least un-Chinese-student) . <br /> <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzVMfA0v1tI/AAAAAAAAAmU/FIGNqJ8Qh8c/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1100.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzVMfA0v1tI/AAAAAAAAAmU/FIGNqJ8Qh8c/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1100.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131091446139442898" /></a>After settling into our rooms, we went out to explore the surroundings outside the campus. While C***o and R****i browsed at a department store, I wandered the streets, but I didn't find any markets or particularly interesting shops (of course, it's all relative — if this were my initial visit to China, I'm sure I would have found every storefront fascinating; but at this point it takes more than a kitschy botique or a downhome-looking restuarant to divert me. The only thing I found worth photographing was this fellow selling pastries he made on a burner on the back of his bicycle. <br /><br />I'd been hoping to do some serious shopping while in Shenzhen —there's an area near the border where Hong Kong residents, as well as foreigners like me, come to buy cheap knockoff clothing and DVDs; but once again, that wasn't on anyone's agenda but mine. And unfortunately, I don't foresee coming back to Shenzhen, at least not on this visit to China. <br /><br />I met up with C***o and R****i at a Yunan restaurant where we had a simple dinner of noodles, and then we headed back to our dorm and turned in early so we could get an early start the next morning (for all the good that did us, thanks to the noisy students).<br /><br />Next: Shenzhen to Hong Kong.Gordon Flagghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014774398347814031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277996089437169752.post-45781313821344282052007-11-06T23:16:00.000-08:002008-11-13T14:10:24.632-08:00More MacauAfter settling into the Holiday Hotel for my enforced sojourn in Macau, I set off to explore the neighborhood, and to try — unsuccessfully — to find an Internet cafe to let C***o know what had happened (I was scheduled to have lunch with her and some other faculty on Tuesday; fortunately, my next class wasn't until Wednesday). <br /> <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFxqSpAelI/AAAAAAAAAlU/F3UnX1D8e5s/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+957.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFxqSpAelI/AAAAAAAAAlU/F3UnX1D8e5s/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+957.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5130006421923986002" /></a>If Macau's known for one thing, it's its casinos. Hong Kong residents have long flocked here to gamble (any HK film fans remember the <em>God of Gamblers </em>movies?), but now many mainlanders and foreigners come as well. <br /> <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFxtypAemI/AAAAAAAAAlc/Wr2d-1Y5Avg/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+961.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFxtypAemI/AAAAAAAAAlc/Wr2d-1Y5Avg/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+961.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5130006482053528162" /></a>Local tycoon Stanley Ho had a 40-year monopoly on casinos here, but recently the scene has been opened up to deep-pocketed competitors like Vegas's Steve Wynn, who opened this gargantuan one last year. <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFxuipAenI/AAAAAAAAAlk/K4FMKE4GI9A/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+954.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFxuipAenI/AAAAAAAAAlk/K4FMKE4GI9A/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+954.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5130006494938430066" /></a>Closer to my hotel, there were small shopping streets leading from the Lardo do Senado with food stands, electronics stores, and clothing stores like this one. I guess "Ick" means something different in Cantonese. <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFuPSpAegI/AAAAAAAAAks/druYf9Fmd7M/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+984.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFuPSpAegI/AAAAAAAAAks/druYf9Fmd7M/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+984.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5130002659532634626" /></a>Many of the food stands sell these strips of dried, sweetened pork and other meats.<br /> <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFxzypAeoI/AAAAAAAAAls/yneRMGSJZBc/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+979.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFxzypAeoI/AAAAAAAAAls/yneRMGSJZBc/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+979.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5130006585132743298" /></a>When you apply for a Hello Kitty Visa card, you also get a Hello Kitty rice cooker. <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFx0ipAepI/AAAAAAAAAl0/N83ODuSWk3g/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+955.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFx0ipAepI/AAAAAAAAAl0/N83ODuSWk3g/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+955.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5130006598017645202" /></a>Many of the restaurants have tanks of fish in front, from which customers select their meal before entering. <br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFvpCpAeiI/AAAAAAAAAk8/T4-GZj4-yso/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+980.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFvpCpAeiI/AAAAAAAAAk8/T4-GZj4-yso/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+980.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5130004201425893922" /></a>I got an early start the next morning — even the side street where my hotel was located sees a constant flow of noisy motor scooters. I had breakfast at a Starbucks in the Lardo that I figured would be filled with toursists and Western businessmen, but turned out to be occupied largely by locals. The coffee and apple strudel were a bit pricy — about like back home — but I got to enjoy an <em>International Herald-Tribune </em>— the first I'd seen since my last trip abroad — as well as the song stylings of Bonnie Raitt and James Taylor. <br /> <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFvpypAejI/AAAAAAAAAlE/7bu3_RnUgfk/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+973.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFvpypAejI/AAAAAAAAAlE/7bu3_RnUgfk/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+973.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5130004214310795826" /></a>After breakfast I spent a couple of hours in the Macau Museum, which has a terrrific series of exhibits detailing the history and distinctive culture of the territory. Nearby are the Ruins of the Church of St. Paul — essentially just the facade of the building, which was destroyed by fire in 1835 (at that time it was serving as a military barracks after the Jesuits were expelled in the 1700s). <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFvqSpAekI/AAAAAAAAAlM/F-IxYa_fuiE/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+971.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFvqSpAekI/AAAAAAAAAlM/F-IxYa_fuiE/s320/%E7%85%A7%E%89%87+971.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5130004222900730434" /></a>Here's what's propping it up. <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFuOipAefI/AAAAAAAAAkk/z62qvT46Obc/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+998.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFuOipAefI/AAAAAAAAAkk/z62qvT46Obc/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+998.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5130002646647732722" /></a>You can climb to the top from the rear and enjoy the view looking down towards the Lardo.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFuPypAehI/AAAAAAAAAk0/FRAQnydKrbY/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1004.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFuPypAehI/AAAAAAAAAk0/FRAQnydKrbY/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1004.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5130002668122569234" /></a>Not too far from the ruins is the Luis de Camoes Garden, a favorite spot for locals to play games . . .<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFs2CpAecI/AAAAAAAAAkM/hn7qqgLUsPo/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1011.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFs2CpAecI/AAAAAAAAAkM/hn7qqgLUsPo/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1011.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5130001126229309890" /></a>. . . and play music on erhu and pipa.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFs2SpAedI/AAAAAAAAAkU/Vu_Zr9cuDn8/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1031.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFs2SpAedI/AAAAAAAAAkU/Vu_Zr9cuDn8/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1031.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5130001130524277202" /></a>I had lunch on this block at a little Portugese reastaurant where I got a pork dish that was just okay — or maybe I'm losing my taste for Western food.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFs4CpAeeI/AAAAAAAAAkc/BEEK0WG5VgI/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1023.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFs4CpAeeI/AAAAAAAAAkc/BEEK0WG5VgI/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1023.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5130001160589048290" /></a>Kun Ian Temple — a half-block from the restaurant — is said to be the most active Buddhist temple in Macau. It was quite tiny compared to the massive one I visited outside Zhuhai a couple of weekends ago. <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFp2ipAeZI/AAAAAAAAAj0/vWmROVhVnVY/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1026.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFp2ipAeZI/AAAAAAAAAj0/vWmROVhVnVY/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1026.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129997836284361106" /></a>This practitioner can't put down her cell phone even when burning incense. <br /> <br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFp4CpAeaI/AAAAAAAAAj8/oHemGUR7n14/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1032.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFp4CpAeaI/AAAAAAAAAj8/oHemGUR7n14/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1032.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129997862054164898" /></a>Behind the temple is a cemetary this includes this high-rise mausoleum. <br /> <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFp4SpAebI/AAAAAAAAAkE/RhBWsSNpfvI/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1036.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFp4SpAebI/AAAAAAAAAkE/RhBWsSNpfvI/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1036.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129997866349132210" /></a>Next I strolled to Guia Hill, the highest point on the peninsula. By this point in the day — mid-afternoon — I was tired enough that I took a cable car to the top. <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFn8ipAeWI/AAAAAAAAAjc/Ye-E1l1p6CI/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1050.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFn8ipAeWI/AAAAAAAAAjc/Ye-E1l1p6CI/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1050.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129995740340320610" /></a>The view to the south <br />from the peak. In the distance is the 4.5-km. bridge to Taipa Island. <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFn9SpAeXI/AAAAAAAAAjk/aH-DcCetxIs/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1051.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFn9SpAeXI/AAAAAAAAAjk/aH-DcCetxIs/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1051.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129995753225222514" /></a>Looking north towards Zhuhai, which was where I wanted to be. <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzGn_ipAeqI/AAAAAAAAAl8/48VcDonRuLs/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1055.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzGn_ipAeqI/AAAAAAAAAl8/48VcDonRuLs/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1055.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5130066160624106146" /></a>The lighthouse at the top is the oldest one on the China coast. <br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFn9ypAeYI/AAAAAAAAAjs/3NRlYqhgrB4/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1070.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzFn9ypAeYI/AAAAAAAAAjs/3NRlYqhgrB4/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+1070.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129995761815157122" /></a>Just enought time for one more garden, Lou Lim Ioc, a tiny gem dwarfed by the surrounding skyscrapers. <br /><br />I enjoyed the chance to explore Macau in greater depth, and unlike the dissatifaction I felt the previous day with the rather inchoate sense I had of the place, my wanderings made me feel like I had developed a general familiarity with at least the central part of the peninsula. But I have to admit that in the back of my mind I was counting the hours all day until 4:30, when my visa would be ready for pickup. I had some slight trepidation that there'd be a snag and I'd be exiled from China even longer; but everything worked, and I sailed through immigration and was back on the bus to the campus less than an hour after getting the visa. While I managed to make lemonade out of my predicament, I have to admit that I had a huge sense of relief to get back "home" to my campus apartment. <br /><br />After my adventures in Macau, I wouldn't mind staying put for a while. But I previously made plans to go to Shenzhen and Hong Kong with C***o and R****i tomorrow and Friday, weather permitting (there's an all-campus sports event that preempts classses; but if it rains — and it was cloudy most of today — the classes will be back on). That'll mean I won't get back to blogging until the weekend, but I should have plenty to report then.Gordon Flagghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014774398347814031noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277996089437169752.post-22825256334869811872007-11-06T19:24:00.000-08:002008-11-13T14:10:26.573-08:00A Day — and Then Some — in MacauMonday I got up early and headed for Macau — right across the border from Zhuhai — for what I'd intended as a day trip; I wound up getting a lot more than I bargained for, but I'll get to that later. <br /><br />Even though Macau, like Hong Kong, is ostensibly part of China now (it's officially designated a Special Administrative Region), the border crossing seemed just as bureaucratic and slow as thouse I've experienced between countries elsewhere. I waited in a long, slow-moving line for 45 minutes to exit China; a short walk in an enclosed area led me to another line where I waited for just about as long to enter Macau. Even though I'd gotten a fairly early start, the hour-long bus ride to Zhuhai from the campus plus the two slow-moving lines meant it was getting near linchtime by the time I reached Macau.<br /><br />I would have taken a bus to the downtown area, but I had no local currency (both the local pataca and Hong Kong dollars are accepted here; the latter actually seems more common) and the bills the ATM gave me (HK$500, worth about US$64) were too large to break easily; so I just strolled in that direction to take in random sights. <br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzE8hCpAeUI/AAAAAAAAAjM/2C6HVU3qfko/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+911.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzE8hCpAeUI/AAAAAAAAAjM/2C6HVU3qfko/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+911.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129947988893923650" /></a>Macau was a Portugese colony until 1999, and the architecture — as well as such infrastructural elements as cobblestoned streets and tiled sidealks (and the palm trees) — give it a distinctly Mediterranean feel, albeit with Asian aspects.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzE8hipAeVI/AAAAAAAAAjU/skZqeuBgWWA/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+913.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzE8hipAeVI/AAAAAAAAAjU/skZqeuBgWWA/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+913.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129947997483858258" /></a>I'm guessing from the word "albergue" that this is the gate to a lodging. (Where English is the second langauge in Hong Kong, here it's obviously Portugese, which has near-parity with Chinese on signage.) <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzEy4ipAeRI/AAAAAAAAAi0/sUgh3MmN7NM/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+943.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzEy4ipAeRI/AAAAAAAAAi0/sUgh3MmN7NM/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+943.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129937397504571666" /></a>This is a school of some sort; many such impressive structures were not listed on my tourist map. <br /> <br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzEy5CpAeSI/AAAAAAAAAi8/YByRnpisF0k/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+917.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzEy5CpAeSI/AAAAAAAAAi8/YByRnpisF0k/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+917.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129937406094506274" /></a>Although Macau was less Westernized than I'd expected — certainly less so than I remembered Hong Kong as being from my trip there ten years ago — upscale retail extablishments were plentiful on the main streets. <br /> <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzEy5SpAeTI/AAAAAAAAAjE/9WScyc9uujk/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+900.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzEy5SpAeTI/AAAAAAAAAjE/9WScyc9uujk/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+900.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129937410389473586" /></a>On the side streets, though, the markets and shops were much like those you'd find anywhere on the mainland. <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzExwSpAeOI/AAAAAAAAAic/2EP5sz4m3a0/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+939.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzExwSpAeOI/AAAAAAAAAic/2EP5sz4m3a0/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+939.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129936156259023074" /></a>The bright signs above many of the shops resemble those in Hong Kong. <br /> <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzExwypAePI/AAAAAAAAAik/hGjVhqlYgck/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+937.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzExwypAePI/AAAAAAAAAik/hGjVhqlYgck/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+937.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129936164848957682" /></a>Largo do Senado (Square of the Senate) lies in the heart of the peninsula (the urbanzied part of of Macau, connected to the mainland; there are two less-developed islands below it). The large Portugese-style buildings are now retail and hotels, aimed at tourists. <br /> <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzExxSpAeQI/AAAAAAAAAis/cPLXKDlS7UU/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+941.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzExxSpAeQI/AAAAAAAAAis/cPLXKDlS7UU/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+941.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129936173438892290" /></a>This little guy seems to be the city's mascot (Macau Mallard?); someone should tell him that it was Beijing that won the Olympics. (Actually, he's touting the Asian Indoor Games, which were held here recently.)<br /><br />After wandering around largely aimlessly for most of the afternoon, I was beginning to tire and was ready to head back. Even with a map, I was having a bit of trouble navigating, and was feeling a bit frustrated that I wasn't developing more of a feel for the layout of the city. It took more than an hour to reach the border on foot, so by then I was feeling genuinely beat.<br /><br />I breezed through the Macau departure station — late in the day, the lines were much shorter — but when I tried to re-enter China, I was told that my single-entry visa would not allow me to be readmitted. (I had wondered a bit if that might be the case, but figured it wouldn't be a matter of re-entry since the declared status of China and its former colonies is "One Country, Two Systems." When I'd left China I asked the clerk if I'd be able to re-enter, and he said yes; but apparently he didn't understand my question.)<br /><br />I was sent back to Macau with the address of a travel agency, the China Travel Service, where I could apply for a new visa. This time I got a multi-entry one, and I paid a considerable surcharge for overnight rush service. <br /><br />The travel agency also booked me a room in a small hotel at the more-than-reasonable price of HK$230 (just under US$30), which was the only bargain I found in Macau (prices tend to be pretty close to what you'd find in the States, but that's hard to shell out after a month of living on the yuen; that's why hordes of Macauites flock to Zhuhai every day to shop). <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzEwoSpAeNI/AAAAAAAAAiU/KU5mLk7wW5o/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+969.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RzEwoSpAeNI/AAAAAAAAAiU/KU5mLk7wW5o/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+969.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129934919308441810" /></a>The Holiday Hotel (I had to make sure the cab driver didn't take me to the Holiday Inn) was a quite acceptable facility on a fairly quiet street in what turned out to be an ideal section of town: a block away from the lovely Portugese building in my first picture above, and a short stroll from the Largo do Senado. I was well-positioned to start the extra day that I now had to explore Macau . . . but that will have to wait till my next entry.Gordon Flagghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014774398347814031noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277996089437169752.post-16870326469596450092007-11-03T22:37:00.000-07:002008-11-13T14:10:30.861-08:00Any Old PortYesterday (Saturday) Professor Sun, the Foreign Langauge Department chair, and Delia (whom I'm begun calling by her actual name, Wang Jing, since everyone else does) offered to take me and a fellow foreign teacher, the one from Korea, for a bit of sightseeing. Unfortunately, they're not used to entertaining foreign visitors, since this is the first year of the department's existance, and they seemed at a bit of a loss as to where to take us. (Actually, I seem to know as much about Zhuhai attractions as they do, thanks to my research; but I didn't want to be pushy, and besides, I wanted to see what they had to offer).<br /><br />Professor Sun came up with the idea of taking us to Zhuhai's seaport — not the one downtown used by the ferries and pleasure boats, but the commerical port where the big seafaring vessels dock. It was a long drive (at least 50 km from the city, out near the hot springs resort I visited last weekend) through an unappealing industrial area blighted with chemical factories and the like; and when we finally got there, we weren't allowed to enter due to security restrictions (which I'd somehow thought might be the case, but once again, I didn't want to play know-it-all). <br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1rrCpAeMI/AAAAAAAAAiM/ljnIlyhdswY/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+817.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1rrCpAeMI/AAAAAAAAAiM/ljnIlyhdswY/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+817.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128873937832278210" /></a>We drove back along the seacoast and pulled off at a spot where wholesalers drive right up to the ocean in refrigerated trucks . . . <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1m_SpAeKI/AAAAAAAAAh8/IODArIWftvo/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+788.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1m_SpAeKI/AAAAAAAAAh8/IODArIWftvo/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+788.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128868788166490274" /></a>. . . and fishing boats dock there to sell their catch. <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1nBSpAeLI/AAAAAAAAAiE/o-qR2ziMOUY/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+794.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1nBSpAeLI/AAAAAAAAAiE/o-qR2ziMOUY/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+794.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128868822526228658" /></a>I have to say that I found this more interesting than the shipyard would likely have been. It was fun to learn how the fish markets like the ones I've seen in Zhuhai and San Jao obtain their merchandise. And they'll even sell directly to the public, if you bother to make the trek there: Professor Sun bought a fish that he'd prepare for dinner during the weekend (I didn't learn how much money he'd saved by eliminating the middleman, but it couldn't have been any fresher).<br /> <br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1l2CpAeII/AAAAAAAAAhs/fiRNpyCdh1c/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+858.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1l2CpAeII/AAAAAAAAAhs/fiRNpyCdh1c/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+858.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128867529741072514" /></a>We then made the long drive back to Zhuhai, where we met a few other Foreign Language faculty for lunch at what I'd been told is one of the city's best restaurants. (I find myself using the formulation "I've been told" quite a bit, since I've got no way of verifying such things for myself.)<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1l3ipAeJI/AAAAAAAAAh0/0WWxpNWxjI8/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+848.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1l3ipAeJI/AAAAAAAAAh0/0WWxpNWxjI8/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+848.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128867555510876306" /></a>It's common for restaurants — especially in coastal regions — to display live seafood at the entrance, so you can select your dinner. <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1ksipAeFI/AAAAAAAAAhU/1x50KeiO3IU/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+853.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1ksipAeFI/AAAAAAAAAhU/1x50KeiO3IU/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+853.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128866267020687442" /></a>What's less common is to have snakes on display for the choosing. (Unfortunately, snake wasn't on our bill of fare that day.)<br /> <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1ktSpAeGI/AAAAAAAAAhc/_RwOQF0i7Gw/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+847.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1ktSpAeGI/AAAAAAAAAhc/_RwOQF0i7Gw/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+847.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128866279905589346" /></a>Inside, in the lobby, roast poulty and other items are behind glass display cases.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1ktypAeHI/AAAAAAAAAhk/GNrHujXXFtg/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+823.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1ktypAeHI/AAAAAAAAAhk/GNrHujXXFtg/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+823.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128866288495523954" /></a>Upstairs in our private dining room (I've neglected to mention that at nicer restaurants — and even many everyday ones, like the place I was taken by the English Club — large groups almost invariably choose to dine in their own room rather than in the main public area), I enjoyed another unbelievable meal (I mean, without the pictures, would you believe any description I could come up with of how well I've been dining?). In my month here, I've been served many of the dishes — particularly the local specialties — repeatedly; but when it's something as delicious as these shrimp, how could I mind?<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1isSpAeCI/AAAAAAAAAg8/8OJo-V7JYqg/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+827.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1isSpAeCI/AAAAAAAAAg8/8OJo-V7JYqg/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+827.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128864063702464546" /></a>It seems like rich dishes often come second — In this case, pig ears, pig liver, and boiled eggs marinated in pig juices. <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1isipAeDI/AAAAAAAAAhE/s4AcJ04jv3s/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+829.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1isipAeDI/AAAAAAAAAhE/s4AcJ04jv3s/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+829.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128864067997431858" /></a>I've only included this simple-looking bowl so I could mention that it's crocodile soup.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1isypAeEI/AAAAAAAAAhM/LOrVn1xywLk/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+830.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1isypAeEI/AAAAAAAAAhM/LOrVn1xywLk/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+830.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128864072292399170" /></a>This is the first time I've been served lamb here — it's usually eaten in the west or northeast — and I was glad to see it.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1hVSpAd_I/AAAAAAAAAgk/ybIlFUC1LL4/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+832.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1hVSpAd_I/AAAAAAAAAgk/ybIlFUC1LL4/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+832.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128862569053845490" /></a>Nondescript greens, for pacing between the heavy meat dishes.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1hVypAeAI/AAAAAAAAAgs/GrDMubaG4_o/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+833.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1hVypAeAI/AAAAAAAAAgs/GrDMubaG4_o/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+833.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128862577643780098" /></a>Probably the best whole steamed fish I've had here yet — and that's saying something.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1hWCpAeBI/AAAAAAAAAg0/RhckJnTs1fE/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+835.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1hWCpAeBI/AAAAAAAAAg0/RhckJnTs1fE/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+835.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128862581938747410" /></a>Oysters on the shell, much like I had at the seaside restaurant near campus.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1f7ipAd8I/AAAAAAAAAgM/iyzhiUOGh8Q/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+836.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1f7ipAd8I/AAAAAAAAAgM/iyzhiUOGh8Q/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+836.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128861027160586178" /></a>Steamed octopus, mild and very tender.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1f7ypAd9I/AAAAAAAAAgU/QsXNLL8thPA/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+837.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1f7ypAd9I/AAAAAAAAAgU/QsXNLL8thPA/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+837.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128861031455553490" /></a>Mussels, just a bit spicy.<br /> <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1f8SpAd-I/AAAAAAAAAgc/0CO1gz7MiO0/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+839.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1f8SpAd-I/AAAAAAAAAgc/0CO1gz7MiO0/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+839.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128861040045488098" /></a>A tofu preparation; a bit bland, but lovely to look at.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1ecCpAd6I/AAAAAAAAAf8/xvxQIXAEq5M/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+840.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1ecCpAd6I/AAAAAAAAAf8/xvxQIXAEq5M/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+840.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128859386483079074" /></a>Undersea snails; these always seem to be the spiciest dish of any meal at which they're served.<br /> <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1ecypAd7I/AAAAAAAAAgE/TR7xgi-NE9s/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+842.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1ecypAd7I/AAAAAAAAAgE/TR7xgi-NE9s/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+842.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128859399367980978" /></a>A selection of fried pastries came near the end of the meal. Two were savory — one had meat and some crunchy veggies, the other shrimp — and two sweet, with egg yolk or bean paste.<br /> <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1b-ypAd5I/AAAAAAAAAf0/lx3B9fhX0dU/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+843.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1b-ypAd5I/AAAAAAAAAf0/lx3B9fhX0dU/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+843.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128856684948649874" /></a>This pancake had a durian filling; not as noxiously pugent as the raw fruit, when cooked it has a pleasantly delicate taste, sweet and a bit nutty. <br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1b-CpAd4I/AAAAAAAAAfs/5Vswq4Geiuo/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+844.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1b-CpAd4I/AAAAAAAAAfs/5Vswq4Geiuo/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+844.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128856672063747970" /></a>The standard fruit finale, this time a bit more elaborate by being carved into a phoenix. <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1b9SpAd3I/AAAAAAAAAfk/vWi-q3mHI2c/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+841.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ry1b9SpAd3I/AAAAAAAAAfk/vWi-q3mHI2c/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+841.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128856659178846066" /></a>As I've said after previous trips to China, there's often more food left on the table at the end of a banquet here than there is at the beginning of a meal at a Chinese restaurant back home. Surveying the damage are one of the faculty memebers and our driver. (One of the most democratic things about this country, and something I really like, is that the drivers are always invited to share in the meal rather than waiting in the car or van; and they never, never, partake in the drinking.)Gordon Flagghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014774398347814031noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277996089437169752.post-34809162081287836762007-11-02T16:52:00.000-07:002008-11-13T14:10:33.979-08:00The English Club<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RyxIsipAd1I/AAAAAAAAAfU/X0SsaBm2fG0/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+860.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RyxIsipAd1I/AAAAAAAAAfU/X0SsaBm2fG0/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+860.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128554005718398802" /></a>Last night I was invited to dine with the campus English Club at one of the small restaurants located outside the college's South Gate. It was dark and dimly lit when we arrived, so I went back and took this picture of the place this afternoon; believe me, it's a lot more lively on a Friday night. <br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RyxHRSpAdzI/AAAAAAAAAfE/D-LxjEZyuKE/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+721.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RyxHRSpAdzI/AAAAAAAAAfE/D-LxjEZyuKE/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+721.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128552438055335730" /></a>The first of the evening's many toasts. Hard-working Chinese students have little time to devote to extracurricular activities, so it's no surprise that the club supplements its weekly early-morning English-reading sessions by the campus lake and other academic endeavors with social outings like this. The tall fellow with the Beatle haircut is the group's chairman; seated next to him is his girlfriend, whom the others joshed by calling her his "wife." <br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RyxHUCpAd0I/AAAAAAAAAfM/Grit9FlJkiw/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+711.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RyxHUCpAd0I/AAAAAAAAAfM/Grit9FlJkiw/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+711.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128552485299976002" /></a>Make no mistake: Even though the restaurant looks none-too-impressive compared to the elaborate ones I've been taken to in Zhuhai, the students eat very well when they come here. The first dish was chicken and mushrooms in broth with wide translucent noodles. <br /> <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RyxGLipAdxI/AAAAAAAAAe0/B0-v6kx8dnY/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+712.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RyxGLipAdxI/AAAAAAAAAe0/B0-v6kx8dnY/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+712.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128551239759460114" /></a>It was followed by very tender pieces of beef cooked with hot red peppers. (The first two courses led me to guess, correctly, that the restauarant specialized in northeastern fare.)<br /> <br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RyxGPSpAdyI/AAAAAAAAAe8/xxw7iEX9_dM/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+713.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RyxGPSpAdyI/AAAAAAAAAe8/xxw7iEX9_dM/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+713.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128551304183969570" /></a>This dish is called "fire fish," and it's cooking in the foil after it's been put on the table — although you can't see them in the picture, it's enveloped in flames.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ryw9yipAdlI/AAAAAAAAAdk/5IeS9hntwi4/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+717.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ryw9yipAdlI/AAAAAAAAAdk/5IeS9hntwi4/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+717.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128542014169708114" /></a>Unveiled, it turns out to have a crisp crust flavored with a slightly spicy sweet-and-sour sauce.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ryw9zCpAdmI/AAAAAAAAAds/b4yN7yHV3mM/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+716.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ryw9zCpAdmI/AAAAAAAAAds/b4yN7yHV3mM/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+716.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128542022759642722" /></a>A mild dish with green veggies, unseasoned pieces of chicken, and I forget what else. (I should have taken notes, I guess, but my constant photographing makes me seem eccentric enough without jotting down recipes as well.) <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ryw-mipAdoI/AAAAAAAAAd8/AUc_T4vKXr8/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+719.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ryw-mipAdoI/AAAAAAAAAd8/AUc_T4vKXr8/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+719.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128542907522905730" /></a>Shrimp on skewers, and plenty of them.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ryw6NipAdeI/AAAAAAAAAcw/MkVdCdefVT8/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+723.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ryw6NipAdeI/AAAAAAAAAcw/MkVdCdefVT8/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+723.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128538079979664866" /></a>Breaded, deep-fried squid, almost as common on tables here as those small boiled shrimp.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ryw6PypAdfI/AAAAAAAAAc4/bLHlPT6T4og/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+724.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ryw6PypAdfI/AAAAAAAAAc4/bLHlPT6T4og/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+724.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128538118634370546" /></a>Batter-dipped fried bananas. This dish is usually prepared with sweet potatoes, or occasionally apples; but considering the plentitude of bananas in these parts, this version makes sense.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ryw2rypAdcI/AAAAAAAAAcg/jxdzR1hYX7w/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+732.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ryw2rypAdcI/AAAAAAAAAcg/jxdzR1hYX7w/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+732.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128534201624196546" /></a>Of course, there were all kinds of toasts going on while we were noshing down. Defying their club's name, the members didn't always converse in English, so I often didn't know whom or what we were drinking to — not that it mattered. (Their English actually tended to get better the more they drank; it loosened their inhibitions without appreciably lessening their vocabulary.)<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ryw6TipAdgI/AAAAAAAAAdA/5OAwMTaFViE/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+726.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ryw6TipAdgI/AAAAAAAAAdA/5OAwMTaFViE/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+726.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128538183058880002" /></a>Fried tofu, creamy-soft on the inside. Another mild dish.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ryw6WipAdhI/AAAAAAAAAdI/0F7sfjkvNa4/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+727.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ryw6WipAdhI/AAAAAAAAAdI/0F7sfjkvNa4/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+727.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128538234598487570" /></a>Chicken with celery.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ryw2qCpAdbI/AAAAAAAAAcY/QdMmPGQUpII/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+729.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ryw2qCpAdbI/AAAAAAAAAcY/QdMmPGQUpII/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+729.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128534171559425458" /></a>Moo shu pork, eaten wrapped in the accompanying pancakes. I haven't had this dish in a while; I'd forgotten how tasty it can be.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ryw2sCpAddI/AAAAAAAAAco/ayYx1NKyu4A/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+733.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ryw2sCpAddI/AAAAAAAAAco/ayYx1NKyu4A/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+733.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128534205919163858" /></a>Eggplant casserole. <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ryw1ZipAdYI/AAAAAAAAAcA/Q7b8l6Qeuo8/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+742.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ryw1ZipAdYI/AAAAAAAAAcA/Q7b8l6Qeuo8/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+742.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128532788579956098" /></a>Just like the grown-ups, the kids keep ordering long after everyone's hunger has been slaked; I thnk we barely touched this final chicken dish. <br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ryw1dCpAdZI/AAAAAAAAAcI/OpnOtVqKXxA/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+744.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/Ryw1dCpAdZI/AAAAAAAAAcI/OpnOtVqKXxA/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+744.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128532848709498258" /></a>The chairman challenges me to <em>gambei</em> — Bottoms up!<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RywuOypAdSI/AAAAAAAAAbU/-X8TrttKQf8/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+766.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RywuOypAdSI/AAAAAAAAAbU/-X8TrttKQf8/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+766.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128524907314967842" /></a>The girls keep up with the boys — And, by the way, I explained to them that in America you were considered to be an independent adult once you're in college, so it's insulting to be called a "girl." They saw my point and took it under advisement, but I don't think my little English-usage lesson is going to alter anyone's vocabulary. And truth to tell, most of them are so girly-girlish that it's hard to call them anything else. <br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RywuPCpAdTI/AAAAAAAAAbc/q2JSW4uzVfU/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+756.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RywuPCpAdTI/AAAAAAAAAbc/q2JSW4uzVfU/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+756.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128524911609935154" /></a>The evening's winding down, but there's still <em>pijiu</em> left to finish. <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RywuPipAdUI/AAAAAAAAAbk/K4H_kLyMDbE/s1600-h/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+763.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PJM58nMVbYI/RywuPipAdUI/AAAAAAAAAbk/K4H_kLyMDbE/s320/%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+763.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128524920199869762" /></a>One final toast, and it's back to the dorms. Even though I was sober — Honest! — they insisted on walking me back to my apartment to make sure I got home safely. I found their solicitude sweet (if maybe just a wee bit cloying). The evening was tremendous fun: I was flattered by the rapt attention the students paid my every word and touched by their gestures of friendship; I'm certain I'll remember that long after I've forgotten how delicious the food was.Gordon Flagghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014774398347814031noreply@blogger.com2