Shanghai Easter

Some cute, artistic Easter displays around town. The message of this holiday in China seems to be pretty clear: go shopping!!

New Beginnings

April 8, 2014

Just over 27 years ago, I entered the world and was followed up by my twin brother, Ryan. Now, 27 years later, this day marks some pivotal new beginnings. At 9:48pm, Rocky Mountain Time, Ryan and his lovely wife, Jill, welcomed into the world their own little girl, Rylee.

That very same day (Beijing time zone) marked my own beginning in that I received the official, approved documents and starter kit for my new business, freshly registered in Hong Kong. The starter kit came with an official company stamp, seal, and several copies of the paper work, packed away in a very legal looking box. 

Just look at the size of this kit compared to some of my heavy reading materials!

My package was delivered by a mail man on a scooter bike; my brother’s and his wife’s package came by way of stork delivery, and while the deliveries weigh about the same 6 pounds, 9 ounces), the Rylee package is entirely more adorable!!

Congrats to Ryan and Jill, and welcome baby Rylee!

Disney Land Hong Kong

My family and I were lucky enough to visit Disney Land and Disney World in the US, so I decided to try and relive some of the magic at Disney Land Hong Kong. There was certainly no shortage of magic, and all of my favorite Disney movie memories came back to me, like Tarzan swinging through the jungle of my mind. 

Still the experience was not quite the same. Beyond the obvious differences—my age, being without family on this trip, the Disney characters speaking in Cantonese—I noted a few other interesting differences for the destination being localized to China. The snack selection at the food carts can perhaps give readers a taste of this point:

Thinking back to my childhood trips, I remember the family coverage scheme that mom and dad had to run at Disney: since my folks had to manage three of us who were tall enough for the more adventurous rides, dad took us off to those, while mom had lil’ sis duty for the more gentle rides. (sorry you both missed out on the roller coasters!) This was not as significant a factor in Hong Kong, because I noticed most families (at least the large amount of those visiting from mainland China) have only one child, so the younger children’s rides had long lines, but the rides I sought out did not have a large presence of the older sibling demographic. These lines had young couples or young professionals on holidays, mostly. So I made it through most of the rides I was interested in without too much of a wait time, and the rides were definitely worth it!

Christmas in Shanghai

2013 marks my second year celebrating Christmas in China. The first was spent in Nanjing, a city of 8 million. This year, I am in Shanghai with around 26 million inhabitants. Shanghai is a very international city, which means I enjoyed a very eclectic, and international holiday season. My Christmas dinner, for example, was at a property owned by the Presidential Roosevelt Family, and featured Scotland smoked salmon, French blue lobster, Icelandic halibut, Australian beef, and more. Believe me, this was a delicious feast!

Always concert in Nanjing

I rested in Shanghai on the fourth day of vacation, complete with a nice body massage, and then went to Nanjing for day 5. My good friend in Nanjing, Andy, bought us tickets to his favorite pop star's concert. 

The star, Andy Liu, is 52 years old and he almost never stopped moving and dancing with the dance team. I hope I can move like he does when I reach that age! 

I could only understand a few words here and there of the songs, which means I need to keep improving my Chinese, but the show was still enjoyable.

Apart from the singing, there was also lights, smoke, and rain effects. Dancing and acting. One particular song was a recreation of the music video- I'm told- which is a good chance to add a little commentary. The music videos in China that I've seen are quite different from MTV, chiefly in that they are refreshingly free of constant booty-shaking and party-making. Instead, most videos tell a story, often a love story, and very often about the common man/woman. This particular video was about a man who meets a girl at a dance; he rescues her from an abusive bf, and they have a brief romantic rendezvous before the bf returns with his gang. In order to save the hero's life, the girl returns to her ex. But they fight again when they are at the evil mans apartment, and he kills her. It is a very sad story!

Concerts in China, if I may extrapolate from my one experience, are very different than those in the US: no mosh pits, everyone sits down for 90% of the show, for example. So I am glad I got to experience a different style of musical performance and presentation, and I actually quite enjoyed it! My vacation had all but ended with the concert, with only a train ride back to Shanghai on the schedule for day 6. It was a great, week-long holiday!

Huzhou

The train from Jiaxing to the next destination, Huzhou, was only one hour and I passed the time with some reading.

The taxi from the train station to the hotel was only twenty minutes, and that time was spent observing the scenery. Huzhou is dotted with small hills and is situated along Lake Tai, which is the third largest lake in China. The other primary attraction is an impressive Sheraton hotel that is one of the top ten modern architecture designs in China. 

Now, being that this hotel costs USD $500 a night, I did not stay there. Instead, I opted for a room at $50 a night, including breakfast, across the street.

The Sheraton lights up at night, so this was my window view: 

 The next day, after discovering that my included breakfast was not a good match for a western appetite, I went out to explore the lake. There is a very nice Fisherman's Wharf that was bustling with activity. Out floating on the water was a strange mix of giant rubber duckies and traditional Chinese warships, called junks. 

This was a no itinerary vacation, so I made time for a good rest on my second night in Huzhou. Then for the next day, I simply got up and casually explored. I went along one side of the lake for a good hour walk, then returned and thoroughly explored the Sheraton facilities.

Before long, it was time to get back on the train and return to Shanghai. Three days of vacation down, three more to go.

Jiaxing and Wuzhen

The Chinese National Holiday, celebrating the creation of the modern Chinese state, runs from Oct 1 to Oct 6. It's a week-long holiday, and the next few posts detail how I took advantage of the down time.

I arrived in Jiaxing on the first night and stayed at a very quaint hotel right on a lake. The morning brought a still, calmness that can't be found in crowded metropolises, and I was reminiscent of my many walks around the pond in my parents suburb. 

The draw of this destination is a place called WuZhen, which is a sleepy riverside community that has maintained the traditional style of old China. The town has a history of 1300 years. 

The tourist sites of particular interest were a 100 year old pharmacy, a fabric workshop where they make and dye indigo, a traditional fire department with old tools, and an ancient bed museum that displayed beds that had been preserved from past Chinese dynasties.

There was also a bamboo pole gymnast performance, which was staged on a boat in the water, and was incredible! The gymnast performed different feats of balance and strength on the pole, thirty feet above water, with no safety harness!

It was definitely worthwhile to "wander off the beaten path" and to see this place. The last picture below is a representation of a traditional Chinese wedding, which I took to give some inspiration to my family members who will be wed next year!