Diwali was on Tuesday and I took the day off work. I have never done that before but being that this was the first time I was away from my family, I felt like being close to the only family I have here, Chase.
So we woke up and got into our new clothes- traditional Diwali custom. I relaxed and surfed the internet celebrity sites, particularly Perez Hilton. It's my one weakness on the weekends!
We still had so many groceries from our delivery service that I cooked a four course lunch. And then we headed out for a day at the climbing wall at Ritan Park and then massages after. We got foot massages and Shiatsu massages. Total indulgence for two hours. I feel so spoiled here in China because we are able to afford luxuries so easily.
Then we went on a quest to find the only Indian grocery store in Beijing. It is run by an old Chinese couple and has all the basics for an Indian kitchen- spices, vegetables, and pickles! Too bad I don't know how to cook Indian food. So we went to the Taj Pavillion where we had a great dinner and after met an Indian family. It was nice to have that connection with them.
Tonight, the Indian Embassy of Beijing is hosting a cultural evening with performances by children, and a dinner followed by fireworks. Unfortunately, we already bought tickets to see Kanye West in concert.
Yes, I know, I'm going to see Kanye West. Not because I particularly like him or his music. Well, I do like his music. But if he was in Austin, I would never go see him, but somehow now that I'm in Beijing, it is just the buzz of the event that has us going. Chase and I are pretty excited to see the spectacle of the event and see how Chinese people react to American music.
Well, before that I'm going to a yoga class, shopping for clothes, getting a pedi and mani, and getting some cardio in. Wow, life is tough around here....
Friday, October 31, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Cuan Di Xia Day Two
We woke up well rested the next morning and surprisingly warm. The sun was up and I was looking forward to our hike. As we got dressed, the laoban, brought breakfast. It consisted of a few hardboiled farm fresh eggs, cornmeal soup, pickled radish, sprouts, and white buns with fermented tofu to spread on them. The fermented tofu was certainly a taste I had to get used to and so I used it sparingly on my bun. The cornmeal soup was so bland, so I began adding the pickled radish for better flavor. And the sprouts made me happy. This breakfast was definitely less satisfying than normal European fare but that was my first taste of a real Chinese breakfast so I enjoyed the opportunity.
Chase and Fernando vetoed taking the normal route that everyone else takes to get to a viewing point. So we basically had to do a lot of scrambling off the beaten path. Several times Chase or Fernando had to pull BeiBei and I up rocky hillsides covered with slippery fall leaves. It was an adventure and I'm sure they were both yawning, but BeiBei and I were feeling the adrenaline. It was worth it. Here are some pictures of our time at the top....
Here we are at the summit of the Dragonhead Mountain.
You can see the village below.
A better view of the village.
We came down the mountain the normal way and by that time my ankle was feeling pretty wobbly. It's not completely healed. I have run twice on a treadmill and every time I do my ankle tightens up all around. It's amazing how much your body needs to be in tune. Chase and I went for massages yesterday and got foot massages as well as Japanese Shiatsu body massages and I must say my right foot had so much "junk" that needed to be worked out. Anyways back to the other point. We were famished and sat down for a meal at a hutong in the front of the village. The three meat-eaters ate this...
A WHOLE LEG OF "LAMB"
I sat as far away as I could and tried hard not to look at what they were doing. This picture still makes me queezy. Chase has been on a meat-eating phase since he moved to China. Mostly because there is so many ways the Chinese cook meat than what we are used to in America. And I think he's also enjoyed the seafood and the prices for this kind of food. But after this meal, he told me that he's been feeling bad about how much meat he's been eating.... mostly for the environmental reasons. He's switching back to more seafood he says.
We hired a car with a driver to take us back to Beijing and that was another adventure in itself. He was driving pretty fast... although only 60 kph it felt really fast as we are not used to moving more than 30-40 in the city. So I tried to stay awake for the ride just in case I had to hold on for my life. But I fell asleep for about 20 minutes. Chase and I used to joke about how easy it for Chinese people to fall asleep. They can nod off for a few minutes almost anywhere... on the bus, waiting in line, in the subway, sitting in a chair, etc. And so now I have adopted their ways. I love my sleep. Infact, it's time for that right now.
Will write more on Diwali tomorrow.
We headed to the Dragonhead Mountain which shelters the village. The village faces it on the south (good fengshui) and the sun was just coming up over the mountain top. Fernando spotted this scorpion on the way. It was out even though the temp was only around 10 degrees celcius.
Chase and Fernando vetoed taking the normal route that everyone else takes to get to a viewing point. So we basically had to do a lot of scrambling off the beaten path. Several times Chase or Fernando had to pull BeiBei and I up rocky hillsides covered with slippery fall leaves. It was an adventure and I'm sure they were both yawning, but BeiBei and I were feeling the adrenaline. It was worth it. Here are some pictures of our time at the top....
Here we are at the summit of the Dragonhead Mountain.
You can see the village below.
A better view of the village.
We came down the mountain the normal way and by that time my ankle was feeling pretty wobbly. It's not completely healed. I have run twice on a treadmill and every time I do my ankle tightens up all around. It's amazing how much your body needs to be in tune. Chase and I went for massages yesterday and got foot massages as well as Japanese Shiatsu body massages and I must say my right foot had so much "junk" that needed to be worked out. Anyways back to the other point. We were famished and sat down for a meal at a hutong in the front of the village. The three meat-eaters ate this...
A WHOLE LEG OF "LAMB"
I sat as far away as I could and tried hard not to look at what they were doing. This picture still makes me queezy. Chase has been on a meat-eating phase since he moved to China. Mostly because there is so many ways the Chinese cook meat than what we are used to in America. And I think he's also enjoyed the seafood and the prices for this kind of food. But after this meal, he told me that he's been feeling bad about how much meat he's been eating.... mostly for the environmental reasons. He's switching back to more seafood he says.
We hired a car with a driver to take us back to Beijing and that was another adventure in itself. He was driving pretty fast... although only 60 kph it felt really fast as we are not used to moving more than 30-40 in the city. So I tried to stay awake for the ride just in case I had to hold on for my life. But I fell asleep for about 20 minutes. Chase and I used to joke about how easy it for Chinese people to fall asleep. They can nod off for a few minutes almost anywhere... on the bus, waiting in line, in the subway, sitting in a chair, etc. And so now I have adopted their ways. I love my sleep. Infact, it's time for that right now.
Will write more on Diwali tomorrow.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Our Trip to Cuan Di Xia
So Friday night, Chase and I decided to join Fernando and his girlfriend, BeiBei on a trip outside Beijing. Chase and I have been talking about leaving the city at least once a month and this was our outing for October. In November we are looking into visiting Shanghai. Even though that's not really the countryside, it's at least going to be away from Beijing pollution and the hum-drum of every day life.
So we took the subway to the western most edge of the system and then took a 3 hour bus ride to Cuan Di Xia. Cuan Di Xia is a small village 90 km outside of Beijing. The residents lived there nestled between mountains, far away from everyone and were self-sustaining. Most of the city was built during the late Qing and Early Ming Dynasties. So the architecture is really representative of that era. There are 76 preserved hutongs where you can spend the night.
Our bus ride was good. Here's a picture of BeiBei shielding herself from the sun. Someone on the bus even took out their umbrella! Chinese (and most Asians) people do not like being tan. So even just a bit of sun shining on them prompts covering up in any way possible.
On the way we saw evidence of angular plate tectonic folding.
I made Chase take a picture of this truck carrying coal. We heard mining noises throughout the valley. Chase thinks they are just mining for rocks for making concrete. Fernando thought they were mining for Uranium. I think that Coal's the real possibility. Here's the evidence:
As soon as we got to the village, we started orienting ourselves to find a guest house. Chase and I had imagined a picturesque village where we could buy antiques, stay in a cozy guest house, and do some hiking. Our Western influenced mindset gave us a different hopes for what it would be like. Here's BeiBei and Fernando towards the end of the village.
The guest houses were not renovated hutongs like I imagined. They were poorly kept and I really wish a bit more effort was made in saving and protecting this site. At least it gave us a true picture of what life was like in this mountain village- no heating, no running water, and freezing cold air. I was the coldest of everyone as I truly believe I should be living in the tropics because of my body type. So here I am sitting closest to the radiator with gloves, two beanies, my warmest jacket, a scarf, and about 3 layers on under my jacket. No one else is so bundled up.
The specialty of the house was a chicken and mushroom dish which came out to be a soup. In my effort to be sociable I accepted to have some of the soup and break my vegetarianism. They were out of all of the veggies dishes I was interested in- no potatoes, eggplant, or tofu. So this was one of my only choices. In case you were wondering, I am doing pretty well in maintaining my vegetarian diet and I feel bad every time I eat chicken nowadays (something that I didn't mind doing in the US... something has just changed). But more on that later. I think this picture is great because they use every part of the chicken including the head and the claws, etc. Here's a picture of the head.
Like I said earlier, our accomodations were pretty unexceptional. But don't worry, we were enjoying the idea of "roughing it." Here's Chase in our room with a built in brick bed. The bed had several layers of comforters on it and we added a few more.
The only source of heat was a small hole in the ground where the laoban, or landlord/boss, lit a small log. The heat is only intended to warm the room until you fall asleep. We were remarkably warm with the comforters they gave us even though the outside temperature was reading 1 degree celcius. I especially enjoyed using the pillows they gave us which were stuffed with wheat husks.
After we ate and drank some really strong rice liquor of the region, we headed back up to the top of the village to look at the stars. In Beijing, we can not see any stars even on clear pollution days. So this was a real treat for us city dwellers. I couldn't take my eyes of the stars. I was in such amazement at the amount of stars in the sky. I felt like a child in awe of the wonder of the Universe. And then I saw a shooting star! That was the highlight of my weekend. It shot clear across the sky and Chase was able to look up in time to see the tail end of it. Another interesting aspect of the night sky was that we were able to see the Milky Way and Chase and I realized that for the first time we were seeing the other side of the Milky Way because usually we have been on the Western Hemisphere, looking up at the sky. This side of the Milky Way is definitely long, stretching across the whole sky, but not nearly as bright as the other side and towards the end of the left side, it splits into two branches. This leads me to believe we were looking at the side the Earth is closest to. We got some rest as we were freezing cold and needed to have energy for the big hike we had planned.
So we took the subway to the western most edge of the system and then took a 3 hour bus ride to Cuan Di Xia. Cuan Di Xia is a small village 90 km outside of Beijing. The residents lived there nestled between mountains, far away from everyone and were self-sustaining. Most of the city was built during the late Qing and Early Ming Dynasties. So the architecture is really representative of that era. There are 76 preserved hutongs where you can spend the night.
Our bus ride was good. Here's a picture of BeiBei shielding herself from the sun. Someone on the bus even took out their umbrella! Chinese (and most Asians) people do not like being tan. So even just a bit of sun shining on them prompts covering up in any way possible.
On the way we saw evidence of angular plate tectonic folding.
I made Chase take a picture of this truck carrying coal. We heard mining noises throughout the valley. Chase thinks they are just mining for rocks for making concrete. Fernando thought they were mining for Uranium. I think that Coal's the real possibility. Here's the evidence:
As soon as we got to the village, we started orienting ourselves to find a guest house. Chase and I had imagined a picturesque village where we could buy antiques, stay in a cozy guest house, and do some hiking. Our Western influenced mindset gave us a different hopes for what it would be like. Here's BeiBei and Fernando towards the end of the village.
The guest houses were not renovated hutongs like I imagined. They were poorly kept and I really wish a bit more effort was made in saving and protecting this site. At least it gave us a true picture of what life was like in this mountain village- no heating, no running water, and freezing cold air. I was the coldest of everyone as I truly believe I should be living in the tropics because of my body type. So here I am sitting closest to the radiator with gloves, two beanies, my warmest jacket, a scarf, and about 3 layers on under my jacket. No one else is so bundled up.
The specialty of the house was a chicken and mushroom dish which came out to be a soup. In my effort to be sociable I accepted to have some of the soup and break my vegetarianism. They were out of all of the veggies dishes I was interested in- no potatoes, eggplant, or tofu. So this was one of my only choices. In case you were wondering, I am doing pretty well in maintaining my vegetarian diet and I feel bad every time I eat chicken nowadays (something that I didn't mind doing in the US... something has just changed). But more on that later. I think this picture is great because they use every part of the chicken including the head and the claws, etc. Here's a picture of the head.
Like I said earlier, our accomodations were pretty unexceptional. But don't worry, we were enjoying the idea of "roughing it." Here's Chase in our room with a built in brick bed. The bed had several layers of comforters on it and we added a few more.
The only source of heat was a small hole in the ground where the laoban, or landlord/boss, lit a small log. The heat is only intended to warm the room until you fall asleep. We were remarkably warm with the comforters they gave us even though the outside temperature was reading 1 degree celcius. I especially enjoyed using the pillows they gave us which were stuffed with wheat husks.
After we ate and drank some really strong rice liquor of the region, we headed back up to the top of the village to look at the stars. In Beijing, we can not see any stars even on clear pollution days. So this was a real treat for us city dwellers. I couldn't take my eyes of the stars. I was in such amazement at the amount of stars in the sky. I felt like a child in awe of the wonder of the Universe. And then I saw a shooting star! That was the highlight of my weekend. It shot clear across the sky and Chase was able to look up in time to see the tail end of it. Another interesting aspect of the night sky was that we were able to see the Milky Way and Chase and I realized that for the first time we were seeing the other side of the Milky Way because usually we have been on the Western Hemisphere, looking up at the sky. This side of the Milky Way is definitely long, stretching across the whole sky, but not nearly as bright as the other side and towards the end of the left side, it splits into two branches. This leads me to believe we were looking at the side the Earth is closest to. We got some rest as we were freezing cold and needed to have energy for the big hike we had planned.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Yoga
I practiced yoga at home today for the first time in over a week. If you don't know already, I sprained my ankle for the first time in my life. My reason is lame: I fell down two whole steps. Yes, it was a short staircase and I just didn't see the elevation change so I completely came down on my right ankle. It's been off and on. I iced and rested the first few days. Chase bought a herbal Chinese aerosol spray called Yunnan Baiyue. It worked pretty well and immediately. And it would bring pain relief and improve circulation and blood flow. And then I've been wearing an ankle brace. So this morning it felt stable enough to do standing poses. And that's what I did. In fact, doing standing poses were more like a cure than anything I felt this week. They stabilized the muscles in and around my ankle. They stretched and worked the ankle that I had left pretty much limp all week. And it felt good to get blood flowing and the muscles working in that ankle. I tried a few balancing poses and felt wobbly and now my ankle does feel "tired" but that's mostly because I've kept it so unused this week.
Also another fun thing I did was turn on some music. It helped me be more expressive in my movements-- almost like I was dancing like how Shiva would dance if he was doing yoga. I love self expression and keep nudging to Chase that I'm going to take up dance lessons again. He thinks I'm kidding, but I really need a creative outlet in the form of dance. And there's a great modern dance company in Beijing, so I'm looking forward to taking one or two classes a week.... once my ankle heals completely of course.
So our weekend has been pretty slow. We watched UT beat Mizzou this morning and now we are off to register to vote. I also am going to the Indian store now in my quest of Chai tea. There's no chai in any of the grocery stores in Beijing. I know it would be easier to just make my masala myself, but I can't find cardamom either. So off we go.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Long Day
Get up, shower, decide I need to straighten my hair, wake up Chase by making a smoothie, go over and really wake him, eat breakfast, write more for the Parent Ed workshop tonight, bolt out of the door.
I'm at work at 8:09, one minute to spare. The lady who was my san lun che driver... that's what the little tuk tuks around Beijing are called.... was really talkative and I was able to hold a conversation with her for the ten minute ride to work... so yay for my Chinese! Anyways, she was so sweet I decided to give her 7 kuai instead of 5 kuai and she simply refused. Well, she was willing to take it until she found she didn't have anything but a 5 RMB.
Work all day. Speak to a new employee, Farnoosh, during lunch, get my classroom clean, meet with a parent for a half an hour long discussion, meet with Helen, print copies of my handouts for the parent night, meet with another set of parents, Lunch Menu Tasting evening with parents at the school, and give a presentation on Montessori, and parent ed until 9:30pm.
I am drained!
It was my first time to ever be the lead of a Montessori presentation and even though I think my presentation was dry, I really do enjoy talking about Montessori. It is my passion. I love explaining to parents how children think and develop.
I am so tired. I have to go and unwind.
More in a day or two.
I'm at work at 8:09, one minute to spare. The lady who was my san lun che driver... that's what the little tuk tuks around Beijing are called.... was really talkative and I was able to hold a conversation with her for the ten minute ride to work... so yay for my Chinese! Anyways, she was so sweet I decided to give her 7 kuai instead of 5 kuai and she simply refused. Well, she was willing to take it until she found she didn't have anything but a 5 RMB.
Work all day. Speak to a new employee, Farnoosh, during lunch, get my classroom clean, meet with a parent for a half an hour long discussion, meet with Helen, print copies of my handouts for the parent night, meet with another set of parents, Lunch Menu Tasting evening with parents at the school, and give a presentation on Montessori, and parent ed until 9:30pm.
I am drained!
It was my first time to ever be the lead of a Montessori presentation and even though I think my presentation was dry, I really do enjoy talking about Montessori. It is my passion. I love explaining to parents how children think and develop.
I am so tired. I have to go and unwind.
More in a day or two.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Nesting
We've been in Beijing now for a while and I still don't feel completely settled. I work more than ever here, which I guess it's a good thing and I should feel lucky to have a job given our world's economy right now. Anyways, I just don't seem to have the time to explore all the places to shop and buy things that we need. I just need to do more nesting...
So the other week, I joined the Beijing Organic Consumers group on Yahoo and have found out about a marvelous way to get Organic groceries! Organic Farm, Ltd. has been in operation since 2000 and they send you groceries every week. Twice a week if you want it! It includes most veggies, fruits, dairy, grains, and eggs. So that's how we'll be getting most of our groceries from now on.
This is a sort of luxury we could never afford in the US, but in China with the way labor is, it's very feasible. And I have the comfort of knowing we are eating healthy because in Beijing when we go out to restaurants, which is 4-5 times a week, we don't know the quality of the produce they cook with.
Also, I'm going to the Green Cow Organic Farm Festival this afternoon to do more research about the green food movement in Beijing and maybe pick up a few groceries, soaps, etc.
So the other week, I joined the Beijing Organic Consumers group on Yahoo and have found out about a marvelous way to get Organic groceries! Organic Farm, Ltd. has been in operation since 2000 and they send you groceries every week. Twice a week if you want it! It includes most veggies, fruits, dairy, grains, and eggs. So that's how we'll be getting most of our groceries from now on.
This is a sort of luxury we could never afford in the US, but in China with the way labor is, it's very feasible. And I have the comfort of knowing we are eating healthy because in Beijing when we go out to restaurants, which is 4-5 times a week, we don't know the quality of the produce they cook with.
Also, I'm going to the Green Cow Organic Farm Festival this afternoon to do more research about the green food movement in Beijing and maybe pick up a few groceries, soaps, etc.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Orang Utans in Borneo
The hotel we stayed at was attached to an Animal Reserve that helps rehabilitate orphaned or injured Orang Utans. We got to see four out of the seven three year olds they had. We watched them for almost an hour. Here are some of the highlights. They moved with so much ease in the trees and really resembled humans in their facial expressions, humor, body language, and emotions. There was one named Yoda who's big thrill was just get on tree limbs and just swing and generate momentum. He would often crash into branches but you'd find him a few minutes later doing the same thing a few trees over. They stayed mostly above our viewing platform, well aware they were on show. The tour guide for this adventure works with them on a regular basis and so one particular ham stayed close to him, hugged him, and climbed over him as he held on like she was a baby. I got the "mommies" for sure as their faces are like infants. Oh those eyes....
Often, orphaned Orang Utans (wow, that's some good alliteration) will overly show their affection by clinging to each other as they would their mother (sometimes for up to 7 years). Here are two babies trying to get the upper hand in grabbing and holding on to each other.
Look closely, yogis, the Orang Utan is in Yogi Nidrasana!
Monday, October 6, 2008
Pictures of the clouds
Here are some pictures of the clouds I talked about the other day. The sun was behind a set of clouds and somehow the rays were angled to make these beautiful neon streaks. The camera doesn't quite capture the light, but it's still just so remarkable that these colors are found in nature.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Flora and Fauna
Yesterday we decided to go on an organized tour of Mount Kinabalu Park (where the tallest mountain in Southeast Asia is) and to Poring Hot Springs for a dip in hot springs and a rainforest canopy tour.
First off, I'm sick. I got Chase's cold and so I slept almost all of the 2 hour journey to the Hot Springs. We first stopped off at a village. And here's a cool pic from the village market. They love their salted fish.
Next we arrived at the hot springs only to find it super packed with Malays on vacation. It's the end of Ramadan and a couple of nights ago was Eid-Il-fitr so there's no school for a week. There was no way to even maneuvre around to get in. So we hiked to the canopy tour which was packed as well. We waiting in line to get on the bridges you walk across for almost 1 hour!
Here's Chase and I on the first leg of the canopy.
It was beautiful but we didn't see any wildlife except for butterflies and insects. At the end of our hike we were told that some Raffelsias were blooming near by. The Raffelsia is the world's largest single flower (it can be up to 1 meter in diameter) that grows primarily in Borneo and some parts of Indonesia, the Phillipines, and sometimes in Thailand. We paid a hefty fee to enter this family's "private land" and we saw these two beauties.
The Raffelsia is actually a parasitic flower. It gets its energy from the decaying matter on the rainforest floor. And supposedly it's supposed to smell like rotting flesh. The two we saw were only 40-50 cm in diameter but still the largest flower I've ever seen.
We stopped by the Kinabalu Park and got a tour of some of the rare flora of Borneo including rare orchids. This one pops up on the illegal flower market for 1500 Ringits a plant.
Then we saw the Santa Claus orchid, known for it's uncanny resemblance to St. Nick's beard. Here's a picture of me with the orchid. Chase says I look like one of Santa's elves.
On the way home we saw some great rainbow streaks in the clouds. I have never seen anything so beautiful, reds, greens, neon colors, purples, blues, and yellow. We have no idea what caused this strange phenomenon, but I hope you can get an idea of how spectacular it was through these pictures.
Today we are going to the Nature Reserve at the hotel to view the Orang Utans. I am thrilled!
First off, I'm sick. I got Chase's cold and so I slept almost all of the 2 hour journey to the Hot Springs. We first stopped off at a village. And here's a cool pic from the village market. They love their salted fish.
Next we arrived at the hot springs only to find it super packed with Malays on vacation. It's the end of Ramadan and a couple of nights ago was Eid-Il-fitr so there's no school for a week. There was no way to even maneuvre around to get in. So we hiked to the canopy tour which was packed as well. We waiting in line to get on the bridges you walk across for almost 1 hour!
Here's Chase and I on the first leg of the canopy.
It was beautiful but we didn't see any wildlife except for butterflies and insects. At the end of our hike we were told that some Raffelsias were blooming near by. The Raffelsia is the world's largest single flower (it can be up to 1 meter in diameter) that grows primarily in Borneo and some parts of Indonesia, the Phillipines, and sometimes in Thailand. We paid a hefty fee to enter this family's "private land" and we saw these two beauties.
The Raffelsia is actually a parasitic flower. It gets its energy from the decaying matter on the rainforest floor. And supposedly it's supposed to smell like rotting flesh. The two we saw were only 40-50 cm in diameter but still the largest flower I've ever seen.
We stopped by the Kinabalu Park and got a tour of some of the rare flora of Borneo including rare orchids. This one pops up on the illegal flower market for 1500 Ringits a plant.
Then we saw the Santa Claus orchid, known for it's uncanny resemblance to St. Nick's beard. Here's a picture of me with the orchid. Chase says I look like one of Santa's elves.
On the way home we saw some great rainbow streaks in the clouds. I have never seen anything so beautiful, reds, greens, neon colors, purples, blues, and yellow. We have no idea what caused this strange phenomenon, but I hope you can get an idea of how spectacular it was through these pictures.
Today we are going to the Nature Reserve at the hotel to view the Orang Utans. I am thrilled!
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