Thursday, November 27, 2008

China, Beijing - Day 2

Tour of Tian Tan, Food at Three Guizhou Men, Hutong Almond Tofu

Beijing - Tian Tan
We were both massively hung over from the night before. After attempting to get up several times, we finally managed to leave the hotel around 1PM. Lunch was at a restaurant we randomly picked (well, not so random, this one had the most locals eating in it) across the street from the hotel. We had bokchoy with mushrooms and a beef and tomato casserole.
The original plan was to go to the underground city that the communists built during the war but a quick call to Sindy changed that. Sindy and Dan had been at the Forbidden City for the last few hours and were heading to Tian Tan (Temple of heavenly peace) after some food. We decided to meet them at Tian Tan instead of the underground city as it was more historical (and touristy). After a 15 minute cab ride, we arrived at the Tian Tan complex south east of the city center.

Tian Tan
Tian Tan was where emperors came to pray. It’s a large complex that stretches a couple of football fields.

Beijing - Tian Tan
The main points were the alter, the small round temple and the large round temple. There are gardens surrounding the giant path ways leading to each. It took us about 2 hours to reach the main attraction, the large round temple, from the entrance.

Beijing - Tian Tan
The sun was setting and Tian Tan was closing shortly after we reached the end. Dan and Sindy never made it as they couldn’t catch a cab by Tiananmen Square after lunch.

Beijing - Tian Tan
On our way back to the entrance, we were greeted by what seems to be tenors singing songs from the cultural revolution era. It was groups of people congregated in the park leading to the entrance.

Beijing - Tian Tan
They were just hanging out in the park on a Sunday afternoon singing songs, playing chess, kicking hacky sacks and playing badminton.
By the entrance we met a girl from California who suggested that we check out the “pearl market” across the street. The “pearl market” was more like a giant department store/flea market with different floors selling different stuff: 1st floor: electronics, 2nd floor: clothing and shoes, 3rd floor: jewelry, basement: pearl. The setup is stalls and counters after stalls and counters selling similar things. I picked up a LED flash light after some hard bargaining.

Beijing - Three Guizhou Men
Lori made reservations for us to eat at a minority food restaurant called Three Guizhou Men. It’s a pretty classy restaurant decorated by a lot of modern Chinese art pieces (this place was opened by an artist). Sindy and Dan brought their friend Rich (who works in Beijing). The food here was amazing. The most memorable dishes was the spare ribs (spicy and falling off the bones. pictured above) and the quail soup (flavorfully clean, perfect for an unexpectly cold Beijing night).

Beijing - Cafe Alba
For dessert, Lori took us to Alba Café located in an area where they converted Hutongs into boutique shops (similar to Houhai but less touristy). The café was housed in a converted Hutong. We sat at the attic area upstairs which only fits a table of about 6 (so we had the whole upstairs to ourselves).

Beijing - Cafe Alba
The almond tofu here was amazing: very dense, lots of almond flavor.

We (Simon, Sindy, Dan and I) ended the night with a full body massage at DragonFly in Sanlitun.

Full set of Beijing pictures here

Saturday, November 15, 2008

China, Beijing – Day 1

The VIP Treatment
My dad had arranged his friend Mr. Chen to take care of us in Beijing. I didn’t expected a crazy VIP style treatment. He had a sign with my name in both Chinese and English when we came out of the terminal. He then took us outside to a parked Mercedes with a driver waiting. Too bad all our luggage didn’t fit. Mr. Chen ended up taking Dan to her hostel in a taxi and the driver took us to our hotel to check in. After we settled in a bit, Mr. Chen came up, gave us some items from my dad (a burner phone, some cash and a bunch of tourist info) and took us to dinner. The place he wanted to take us to, Quanjede – oldest Peking duck place in Beijing, was way too packed and had a 40 minutes wait. We opted for a rain check and went to Korean barbeque across the street.
Korean BBQ
The Korean BBQ was unlike any I’ve seen back in the states The meat is grilled over a giant pot of red hot coal.
Erguotou Baijiu
Mr. Chen asked us if we drank and ordered a bottle of baijiu. Simon thought it was beer (ha!) This brand, Er guo tou, was what Mr. Chen and my dad drank when they first met 16 years ago. It was 102 proof (56% alcohol). It is definitely not a sipping drink. I find it pretty good if you take a swig and breath out the minty burning sensation. Dad told me that the way that business men drink in China is that you toast and take a shot with everyone there individually (so if there are 13 people, you'd be drinking 12 shots in your round plus 12 more for everyone who toasts you). The loser (first to get drunk) pays for everything (dinner, drinks, whatever they do afterwards). He claimed that he has never had to pay for dinner, etc.

Carepackage FAIL
After dinner, we went back to the hotel and rested a bit before heading out to Sanlitun to meet up with Barbara. Barbara and her friends were having dinner at The Opposite House (this is also where Diana works). We gave Dan and Sindy a call to let them know, grabbed Barbara’s carepackage from her mom (it’s a suitcase of magazines and random stuff you can’t get in China like Frosted Flakes) and jumped into a cab. When we got there, we got out of the cab, went around to the trunk to grab the suitcase but as soon as both side doors slammed, the cab driver jetted – with the carepackage in the trunk. I ran after the cab but about 3 blocks later, the baijiu made a reappearance and I left a part of myself by a tree on Sanlitun. With no other option, we walked to The Opposite House with our heads down to let Barbara know the bad news. She was quite disappointed and shocked. We met a couple of her expat friends. Simon had a Brooklyn Lager at the bar. Dan and Sindy stopped by and went out to grab food. Diana stopped by to say hi and went back to work (she manages one of the restaurants there).
Barbara: we'll try our hardest to make this up to you when we get back stateside.

Broken Key and Outback Steakhouse
Barbara had another friend from out town who is staying with her. She got a call from him when we’re about to head to another bar, telling her that they couldn’t open her door. Since she lived in the area, we decided to walk back to help them. For most of the 15 minute walk, Barbara and her friend Manny argued how long the walk is. Barbara insisted it was 5 minutes and Manny 20. When we got back to her place, she opened the door with no effort. She then grabs his duplicate key to show him how it’s done. She stuck the key in, turn and the key snapped. We tried tweezing the stuck part out with no avail. The security guard at her complex was no help. Diane (one of Barbara’s friends) ended up calling the Police and got a referral for a locksmith. They came within 30 minutes with a cop; they called the police separately to make sure everything’s legit. The locksmiths ended up replacing the barrel. This must be one of the worst night Barbara’s had for a while. Not wanting to end the night on a gloom note, we went out to an expat bar in Sanlitun called Tun. The place was filled with expats and was blasting 90s rock – awesome. We met the owner Chad, a nice fellow from the states who decided that he liked China better. After downing giant pails of delicious mojitos, we headed to another place. Barbara wanted to show us what the club scene is like in Beijing and took us to Vic’s (next to the workers’ stadium). Vic’s is housed in a U shaped building with a Outback Steakhouse in the middle. The club is huge, with many sections playing different kinds of music (American). The feel is just like any other club I’ve been to. We ended the night eating Chinese burritos I bought from a street vendor in our cab on the way back to the hotel.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

China – Day 0: To Beijing

We got to the airport without a hitch. Dan even had enough time to pick up breakfast sandwiches from Parisi bakery (ham and egg on a roll) for us. I have to confess that I am an over packer. My giant suitcase was 10 pounds over weight. Good time Simon was also an over packer and had enough room in his carryon to stuff 10 pounds worth of my crap.

Power adapter on the airplane
Power adapter FAIL: we called a day early to get premium seating. They don’t cost extra, you just have to call. I called and requested an aisle seat with power. Little did I know that you need an adapter for power on airplanes. They don’t rent the adapter either. Nope, if you want it, you have to shell out $125 for it. We didn’t need power bad enough to justify the $125.

I’m too pampered by JetBlue and their fancy on flight DirectTV. For some reason, I came on this flight expecting to watch about 8 hours of FoodTV or Travel Channel. There was no FoodTV, no Travel Channel, no DirectTV; only the few preselected movies on crappy screens. I kept the screen off during the flight. I did manage finish the lectures on Chinese history, read a couple of chapters of the book I got for this trip “It must be something I ate” and sleep.

Continental Airline - Dinner/Lunch
The food on this 13 hour flight was mediocre at best: the beef was dry during dinner but had a sweet sauce that made it ok, the burger was mushy, and the omelet was kind of gross. At one point, I asked the stewardess what she recommended and she replied that she brings her own food.
What was super awesome about this flight was the middle seat between Simon and I was empty. It wasn’t a packed flight so most of the middle seat in the middle column were empty.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

China - Part 13: Emails from Happy

Happy is Jenny Kwan's friend. She's been recently.

i wish i can go to HKG too... lucky you..

HKG - for clubbing - Beijing and No.9 are hot spots, you can also check out this site for their details - - - http://www.hkclubbing.com/Nightclubs/Hong_Kong_Night_Clubs_and_Discos.html

Beijing Club
2/f, 3/F & 5/F Wellington Place
2-8 Wellington Street
Central
Hong Kong Tel: 2526-8298

CLUB No.9
Happy Hour:
Monday to Friday / 06:00pm to 09:00pm
Clubbing Hour:
Monday to Saturday / 09:00pm to 05:00am

3/F, The Galleria, 9 Queen’s Road, Central, Hong Kong
Tel: 852 2973 6899
Fax: 852 2973 6799
Email: info@clubno.9.com
Website: www.clubno9.com

Club Cixi
Shop A
G/F On hing Building
1 On Hing Terrace
Central Tel 2286 0333

Shanghai - these are the places to be...

Mse

M2

BABYFACE

or Xin tian di

China - Part 13: Emails from Barbara

I've known Barbara since the 7th grade. We also went to the same high school.

Night life, Beijing is at once coooler and less cool than you'd imagine. It offers a lot of variety and the places can be just as swanky as New York, just with a Chinese twist to it...a dn I don't mean "chinese" as interpreted by lower east side hipsters...but mainland chinese as in slighty over the top, just one too many blingy items, almost russian sort of chinese...you'll see. There is interesting things every night of the week, as there is a really cool chinese indie rock scene, but the bread and butter will be saturday night, As I said, I live right in the expat bar club area and will show you guys around. Though I might skip out on all the touristy things, cuz...jesus... the great wall the 10th time... ;)

As for the list of items, much appreciated, but what I'd really like is if you could just swing b y mom's restaurant in Chinatown and pick up a care package for me. It will include a few girly items but also some books... I AM SOOOOO BOOK STARVED here! Also,if either of you smoke or drink hard alcohol, I suggest picking some up at the duty in USA, BEFORE CHINA, cigarettes and alcohol are cheap here, but many on the market are fake...and this isn't paranoia, just advise. I myself am a big whiskey fan ;)

// after we told her where we're staying
thanks so much guys. Not to be a bummer, but you're pretty out of the city center. Luckily, the taxis are cheap but the traffic can be killer here. You'll have to rely on public transit at peak times, but warning it can and is always very crowded. It makes croded subways in New York seem like deserted islands ;) The tourist stuff, Tianmen and Forbidden city is in the south center of the city. The bars and restaurants for expats are in the east center of the city, where I am located. Your hotel is in the North West. Not a huge deal, but you guys are welcome to crash at mine if we are out too late on Sat.

China - Part 12: Email from Dad

Translated using Google Translate and my Chinese reading skills with some minor editing.

1. It will take about 1 hour and 30 minutes to get to the airport from the hotel in Beijing. You should get there 45 minutes in advance to check-in.

2. It will take about 1 hour to get to the airport from the hotel in Shanghai. You should get there 45 minutes in advance to check-in.

3. Beijing and Shanghai have frequent traffic congestion. You should leave for the airport 3 hours in advance from the hotel.

4. My friend who is picking you up from the airport in Beijing is Mr. Chen. He's about 1.8 meter (5'9") tall, owns a bridal shop and speaks Mandarin, Cantonese and English.

5. Mr. Chen will have a mobile phone and travel plans for you when you get to Beijing.

China - Part 11: Flights and Hotel

Flights within China:
Beijing to Shanghai
11/12/2008 12:25PM -> 2:40PM

Shanghai to FuZhou (Simon)
11/15/2008 10:30AM -> 11:35AM

Shanghai to ShenZhen (Me)
11/15/2008 3:15PM -> 5:25PM


Hotels:
Beijing: 北京市西西友谊酒店, 北京市西单北大街109号

View Larger Map

Shanghai: 上海市威伦酒店九江路外滩店, 上海市黄浦区九江路45号

View Larger Map

China - Part 10: Email from Wayne

Wayne is an expert when it comes to China. He spent a good amount of time there a couple of years back to study and went on vacation back in May.

Beijing:

Essential Websites:

http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/beijing/ (use this to look up the spots below)

Food:

Ding Tai Fung - incredible soup dumplings
Horizon in Kerry Center - dimsum
South Beauty - sichuan (in basement of Kerry Center)
Li Qun Kao Ya ($) or Made in China ($$$$$) - peking duck. Both are great, one's a awesome hole in the wall in a hutong the other is in the Hyatt
some hotspots
Bed, Bar Blu, Suzie Wong, Mix/Vics are going strong and still great places for a night out. Alfa not so much.
Nan Jie - to get completely trashed or to start the night. Mixed drinks start at RMB10, and you can get 12 shooters for RMB100. ridiculous right?
Block 8 - the hottest new club/complex in town
Centro - great jazz lounge in the Kerry Center, one of my fav chill spots in the city.

Q Bar also makes up some of the best cocktails in teh city (rooftop bar too)



Shanghai

Websites:

http://www.smartshanghai.com
http://www.shanghai-eats.com

Food:

Yuxin Sichuan Dish http://yuxin1997.com/
location 1 - 021-52980438
location 2 - 021-63611777

How Way Sichuan's # 64282777 (I think they have 3 locations)

Goto Jiajia Tung Bao by Park Hotel.. across da street is Fry's Dumpling..
eat @ both places. 1 shot. and the chicken is up to you..that's next door to jiajia tung bao on the same street.

Jiajia Tangbao (Near Park Hotel)
Address: 90 Huanghe Lu (by Fengyang Lu)
Phone: 6327 6878

http://www.shanghai-eats.com/portal/1548_0/Jiajia_Tangbao.aspx

Yang's Fry Dumpling
Address: 54 & 60 Wujiang Lu (near Shimen Yi Lu)

Another Locatio is across the street from Jiajia Tangbao @ 90 Huanghe Lu (by Fengyang Lu)

http://www.shanghai-eats.com/portal/1527_0/Yangs_Fry_Dumpling.aspx

Places:

1. Xin Tian Di -- lots of places to drink and stuff, lots of touristy ish too...Ding Tai Fung is there as well.

2. There's a "new" type of xin tian di area that's much cooler...intersection of Taikang Rd and Si Nan Rd. (gotta walk into an alley way and you'll see a bunch of shops begin to appear).

3. Clubs galore!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Re: Voting



I'm proud to say I made a real effort to vote this year. Being that I never changed my address, I had to vote in Brooklyn, for the district where my mom used to live. I stayed overnight at my mom's new place in Brooklyn and woke up extra early to get my vote in before my one day field trip to Maryland (9 hours of driving total for a 1 hour meeting - worth it? we'll see).

The voting system isn't the greatest. They didn't check my ID. I could have just grabbed the mailing from someone's mailbox and came in with it. The machines are archaic: very non user friendly buttons/levers. They were also rushing me where there were NO ONE behind me: "Are you ok? Do you need help?" - NO, I'm looking at all the goddamn names on these tickets!!!

All in all, I voted. Did you?

// update
BTW, I didn't get a "I voted" sticker. I'm glad the nice ladies at the various rest stop Starbucks along the NJ Turnpike took my word for it.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

China - Part 9: The Itinerary

Mine:
11/7 - New York to Beijing
11/8 - 11/12 - Beijing
11/12 - 11/15 - Shanghai
11/15 - 11/19 - Hong Kong
11/19 - 11/22 - Shunde
11/23 - Hong Kong to New York

Simon's:
11/7 - New York to Beijing
11/8 - 11/12 - Beijing
11/12 - 11/15 - Shanghai
11/15 - 11/18 - Fu Zhou
11/19 - 11/23 - Hong Kong
11/23 - Hong Kong to New York