China – A Visit to the Dragon

The Old & New Mingled Together

As I waited in the shiny hopping Hong Kong airport for my flight back to Penang on Sept. 3, I saw 5 monks in butterscotch-colored robes walking down the corridor. They carried black backpacks, maybe with a few laptops inside? This mixture of ancient tradition and modernity was an apt final image for me. Over 4 days in Shanghai, 3 in Guilin (a medium-sized city in the southwest) and 2 in Hong Kong, I got a good look at this country that many once referred to as the sleeping dragon.

Key Observation/Learning

I knew before my trip that China wasn’t remotely a backwards country, but now that I’ve visited, I can say I really know. Certainly, the Olympics impressed me and the rest of the world. Yet, I still expected a bit of a Communist-bloc feeling about the place – like Eastern Europe prior to the end of the Iron Curtain. Not at all. While the citizens surely are crystal clear on what can/cannot be done or said, the general feel on the streets is not one of fear or anxiety.

Things I enjoyed about Chinese culture
- The custom of spending time outdoors and the focus on daily exercise – tai chi, walking, dancing, etc.
- The reverence for ancestors and respect for the elderly
- The penchant for celebrations and festivals (though they are based on some darn sad and disturbing legends)
- Almost every element of design and decoration has a symbolic link to good fortune, longevity, prosperity, and happiness or some other positive concept. The US has its iconic images to be sure, but not nearly to the extent of China, with these images, as well as feng shui, embedded into almost every aspect of daily life it seems

Memorable moments/images
- The Shanghai Museum's architecture – a circle on top symbolizing heaven, a square design on the bottom which represented earth.
- The prices in Shanghai – great deals everywhere, from the museum bookstore to the clothing boutiques.
- At the animal sanctuary outside Guilin, the tigers lounging in the hot, humid weather like frat boys sleeping off a hangover. The bears at the same place frolicking about – charming furry balls of fun wacky on the junk.
- The local fresh market in a Shanghai residential neighborhood – more orderly than the one in Penang, but still far different from anything we have in the US – the buckets of crabs and eels on display, the massive winter melons, the jugs of Chinese wine, the piles of hundreds of watermelons.
- Olympics highlights were still being played on TVs all over.
- The slurping of noodles and soup is common and perfectly acceptable manners.
- The hip women in Shanghai look great in flats. A woman with a chic pixie haircut wearing a sleeveless ruffled white cotton shirt and black flowing pants comes to mind.
- The traffic in Guilin – pedestrians walking headlong into traffic seemingly fearless of being hit, pedestrians milled everywhere on the roads.
- In the city of Suzhou outside Shanghai, there’s a million people and 600,000 bikes. It was raining on the day we visited. Bikers in long bright-colored rain ponchos – green, yellow, blue, red, purple, raspberry – populated the streets. People walking with umbrellas speckled the sidewalks with similar colors.
- The young waiter in Guilin who so clearly wanted to chat with us, practicing his English. He had a sweet handsome face with high cheekbones and spoke, among other things, of his adoration of Yao Ming, the basketball player – “he’s a hero here.” I wish I’d taken his picture.

Below are a few pix from my journey. I am thrilled to add this country to my life list of places visited.

At the market

The French Concession section of Shanghai

A scene from the Jade Buddha Temple in Shanghai

The stunning karst rock formations outside Guilin

A herd of cows on a tea plantation outside Guilin

Food Luck

“Undoubtedly, Kong Tai had fook, or luck… My extended family, and indeed most Chinese, believe unequivocally in fook, an awesome commodity bestowed on some… Fook is taken so seriously that it is perceived as a living and breathing entity.”

This excerpt is from a book I recently finished titled, Days Gone By: Growing Up in Penang by Christine Wu Ramsay. The line above describes her great grandfather, who emigrated in 1876 from China to Malaysia at the age of nineteen. He went on to make a huge fortune in mining that sustained his immense family for generations.

I’ve decided I have a tiny bit of fook myself because I have a sassy Chinese neighbor, Laura (her English name, she has a Chinese one as well), who bestows food upon me multiple times weekly. There are only two units per floor in our building, and Laura lives in the other unit on my floor. She has a large family and often shares portions from their dinners. I’ve received all kinds of scrumptious vittles.

Laura has high standards too. The other night she texted me, asking if I wanted some Chicken Rice, a local specialty. It took me about 2.2 seconds to text back, saying SURE! An hour later I got another text – “The rice is not so tasty tonight. I’ll give it to you another time when I improve it.” Laura’s mother lives with the family, and I’ve been lucky enough to sample her food as well – including a delicious simple pork dish. I’m grateful for the luck that landed me next to Laura and her family – I have food fook!

Above is a dumpling Laura gave me called otak otak. The outer wrap is made out of banana leaves. It was already cooked – all I had to do was warm it up. Then, I peeled the leaves and voila! A scrumptious spicy-but-not-too-spicy fish mixture is found inside.

China Next!
I depart for China soon – you’ll hear from me after that. Shanghai, Guilin and Hong Kong – here I come.

Merdeka Day

Malaysia's version of Independence Day is August 31. In 1957, the country officially left British rule and gained indepence. Factoid: Singapore was originally part of Malaysia, but became self-governing in the mid-1960s. Happy Merdeka Day!

Final Thought of Jasmine
I buy flowers at the wet market weekly (very affordable compared to the US), and I’ve gotten into the habit of buying jasmine blossoms (often used as offerings to Hindu deities) and placing them in bowls around the house – they yield a beautiful fragrance for a few days. I have my own jasmine plant now on my balcony, and I am “harvesting” blossoms from there too. The bowls are from a Japanese ceramics shop I’ve found in town. From now on, jasmine will forever remind me of Penang.

Take care my citizens of the world - good fook be upon you!

We melted on Penang Hill. There's nothing left.

A few days ago, we tackled a portion of Penang Hill, which is 2700 feet high. We knew we didn't have time to get to the top, but we figured we'd take a whack at it. Parts of the trail are nasty steep. Ton of course bounded up the trail like a billygoat, whereas I wanted to curl up in a sweaty little ball of death.

The hill area is rich in rainforest biodiversity with a number of rare species. Bird calls and squawks ring through the trees and at times the hum of insects reaches a fever pitch, silencing conversation. You see lots of ant activity as they march their way across the trail in neat orderly lines.

Penang Hill is Malaysia's oldest hill station. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the rich - both British and Chinese - built bungalows on Penang Hill for taking a holiday and escaping the heat. A local Realtor told me that the few homes which still exist on Penang Hill command a high price. A small hotel and restaurant functions at the top and you can find a Hindu temple and a mosque there as well. Most people took (and still take) the railway or other forms of transportation to get up Penang Hill. In the above picture, you can see the city of Georgetown, where we live, in the distance.

In 30 minutes, we made it up to a break area. We were told that the summit was one more hour. We'll do that next time. Look at me - can you say sweaty?

On the way down, a massive clump of branches right above Ton's head rustled as if something was about to fall to the ground. It was a monkey! They are quite common in the forests, parks and gardens here. The moment was quite the adrenaline rush - at first we didn't know what the heck was happening, we just heard the crashing of leaves and branches. He didn't bother us though, he just checked us out.

At one point, there was a proposal for large-scale commercial development on Penang Hill, but this idea was defeated by public petition - a people power victory! The entrance to the trail we took is right by the Penang Botanic Gardens, which we strolled through before tackling our hike. The picture in the blog header is of a local group practicing morning tai chi. Check it out!

Until next time, peace out to my fellow citizens of the world!

Our New Normal

We’ve officially been here two months. Amazing how easy it is to achieve a “new normal” in that amount of time. Things that seemed quite different at first aren’t remotely strange now. The warmth and friendliness of people – expats and locals alike – continues to inspire us. The level of hospitality here truly impresses me. Citizens of the world unite!

Update on Operation Roach Eradication (ORE)
Those of you who recall the July 9 posting are aware of Ton’s focus on cockroach annihilation. Last week, we discovered a bad leak in our hallway. To fix it, the building folks had to bang a small hole in the wall of the hallway closet. They decided to leave the hole open to let the area dry out – they’d return in a few days. As soon as they left, Ton was on the job. He grabs the roach spray and marches to the hole. ““I’m going to spray a bunch of roach killer in there because I don’t want anything coming out of there and infesting the house.” Fumes galore. Later as we prepared for bed, he said, “Leave the light on in the hallway closet. Roaches prefer darkness.”

Challenge Foods
I’ve been challenged by some blog readers to eat some new and funky foods. Below are just a few of the things Ton and I have tried. I’ve never eaten so many new foods in such a short time in my life.

• Murtabak – I had this for Sunday Brunch at our neighborhood Indian spot. It’s the Indian version of a burrito – in my case, veggies and egg wrapped in a square pastry shell.

Rambutan – A small sweet fruit that you must break out of its thick, tough “pod,” which is reddish-pink and hairy.

Hokkien Mee – Penang is famous for this local dish. Known as “street food” because you typically buy it from a hawker stall on the street, it consists of noodles and prawns (shrimp) in a clear spiced broth. I had them hold off on the chilies. We were taken by a local to one of the most popular Hokkien Mee stalls Penang, in the Pilau Tikus section of town not far from our condo.

• Dragon Fruit – This fruit is the size of a softball, has bright red skin and white firm fruit with black seeds. Ton liked it. I didn’t – not much taste and kind of waxy in consistency.
• Crab Laksa – hello?! Awesome. Noodles and crab in thick orangey-brown gravy made of coconut milk and shrimp paste. Spicy but I could take it.
• Durian – Many people have challenged me to try Durian, but I’m gonna duck that one for awhile. Ha! Despite its odd smell (some liken it to dirty diapers or vomit), the durian fruit is revered here. At the wet market, sellers will cut the large fruit in half and customers assess the “meat” very seriously.
  

The slide show below shows pictures of various food sights as well as dishes we've eaten around Penang. The picture in the blog header is an eye-catching snack we had in a Singapore's Chinatown.

Rookie Move
Despite the fact that we have an array of guidebooks and maps, Ton and I headed out with neither on Saturday to check out the famous mansions in town. We found the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion no problem, but learned after we parked, that the only way to view it was on a tour at either 11:00 or 3:00. It was noon. So we asked the guy if the Pinang Peranakan Mansion was walking distance.

He said sure, take a right, walk awhile, then a right at the church, then it’s to the left. Ton and I head out – at noon I remind you – to find the mansion. After about thirty minutes of wandering in which we had sweat droplets crawling over every inch of our bodies, we gave up, too tired to track it down in the intense mid-day sun. “I think this qualifies as a rookie move,” summed up Ton. Yep.

We did however see the Goddess of Mercy Temple and the Kapitan Keling Mosque on our travels, and I found an Asian ceramics shop with gorgeous plates, teapots and cups of all sizes. I will go back there to purchase a few items when I am not drowning in my own pool of sweat.

Maddening Question That's Bugging Us (no pun intended)
Since various locals have started to lurk around this blog, I’m hoping one of you can answer this one because Ton and I are stumped. Perhaps someone back home can tell us too. Since we’re in the tropics here with lots of jungle around, we expected it to be very buggy, particularly with annoying flying things that bite us. Yet no. When we walk to dinner in the evening or sit outside on our lanai sipping some vino, we never get a bite, not even one tiny red welt.

In other tropical climates, I’ve been eaten alive, but not here. We spent an hour the other night at the Gurney Hawker stands, outside the whole time, and again not a bite. Storm drains here often have still water lying in them, yet no bugs. Not that we’re complaining, but we’re curious what’s going on. Inquiring minds want to know!

Coming Home

Just returned from four days in Singapore, which we thoroughly enjoyed. A post to come on that shortly.

First though, a note of welcome: I’ve heard through the grapevine that many friends of friends and co-workers of friends are receiving this post via forwarded emails. Welcome my virtual pals! Make a comment to the blog site if you’re in the mood.

Answer to Last Week's Challenge Question
Paul Pelletier, our friend and trainer extraordinaire, submitted the most prompt answer – “It is called a wet market because they wash the floors every morning [with hoses]. They are also called ‘wet market’ in the Philippines, Guam and a few other places I have been.” However, my dad’s wife Sissel also emailed a week later with this, which is also true – “maybe they keep spraying the vegetables and the fruit with water, hence the wet market.”

Either way, when you go to the wet market, you have to get used to the concrete floor being wet and occasionally slick. Good job to both of you! You each get a goodie from Southeast Asia when I see you next.

Next Challenge Question
Occasionally as I’m walking through town, I see a side entrance to a building with a few rules or warnings posted such as “No loitering” or “Watch for motorbikes” etc. One phrase I have seen is “No Naked Light.” What does that mean?

(Anyone is allowed to participate in this one, even if you live on Desert Trumpet Road. Note: to win your prize, you must post your answer to the blog!)

Parting Thought
I had an odd realization as I waited in Singapore yesterday for my flight back to Penang (Ton had caught a flight to Tokyo earlier). As many of us do when lingering around an airport – annoyed by our heavy awkward bags even though we swore we were going to pack light and cranky about our empty stomachs because the flight overlaps with the dinner hour yet there’s really not enough time to grab some food, I thought “I can’t wait to get home.” And it sort of shocked me to realize that I was thinking of Penang. Just six weeks on the ground and I already was viewing our condo on Persiaran Gurney (Gurney Drive) as my true ‘hood.

And while certain stresses in Penang exist, like addresses that are impossible to find as you navigate roads filled with kamikaze motorbikes and water bottles that are impossible to twist open due to a sweating condensation that makes them so slippery they violently shoot through your hands and slam onto the floor, I realized for the first time what an affection I’ve developed for our little patch of Southeast Asia.

And how I like seeing the security guards smile and wave at us as we drive in or leave for an outing,

and how I dig that the Asian horse statue I bought at an antique shop greets me as I open my condo door,

and how I find the little patch of ocean I can see from my bedroom grounding and soothing for a reason I can’t really name,

and how the array of colored city lights I see out the windows when I go to bed at night causes me to close my eyes with a smile on my face.

And of course, how I like having the freshest produce I could ask for at my fingertips every morning at the wet market.

With that thought, I sign off.

Below are a few shots from around the neighborhood. The couple on the rocks were seated right across the street from my building, checking their laptop while facing the strait between the island and the mainland. The one of Ton and I is taken at a favorite Indian spot right around the corner from our pad - brunch there is to die for. The road picture is just down the street from our building at sunset after a storm had moved through.