my first rant

3/31/05 Thursday - Got a call from the desk. One of my colleagues left something for me. It was my sign. Sweet! Went to a Japanese restaurant with PS and Marat. You'll never guess what they ran out of . Rice. Can you believe it? I've never heard of an Asian restaurant that had no rice. I'm afraid a rice famine is starting to rival the Irish potato famine. Just kidding. We got there late (21:30) but still. No rice? Make another pot! Anyway, the food was good and pretty cheap. About 240RMB ($30) for three of us. The waitress told me they didn't take AMEX so I used my MAC card. I left my other credit cards in the hotel room. That reminds me, I need to get those. Anyway, as we were walking out, we saw the AMEX logo on the cash register then again on the door. They apologized but there was nothing we could do. When we left, we had to dodge some of the toughest panhandlers I have ever encountered. These women are pretty amazing actually. They seem to work in packs. I wouldn't be surprised if they share their booty. It is a Communist country after all. There are about 3 women in each pack. They hang out in front of the places where business travelers (esp. Westerners) frequent. When they see you coming or going, they start running after you. It's not a quick pace but you can't get away from them at a normal pace. They all have a bowl or cup of some sort. Some have walking sticks but I swear they are for intimidation more than balance. Most of these women seem quite Reubeunesqe so the begging business must be profitable. Marat says a good job around here pays 1000RMB per month. If they can get 30 RMB per day begging, they do pretty damn good. I imagine on a good day, 30 is no problem. Part of me wants to give these women some money but I never do. I don't give to panhandlers in the States either. I know what Jesus said about giving to the poor and "what so ever you do to the least of my people you do unto Me" and all that but I don't want to perpetuate the problem. I mean if panhandling becomes profitable, why would anyone try to get a real job? I've seen all sorts of beggars in China: kids, women, women with kids, old men (although very few abled bodied men I might add), people with arms and/or legs missing, blind people, everyone. WTF?!?! This is a Communist country. Chairman Mao and all that crap. Cradle to grave care from the government? It's all a fucking lie. Maybe there was a time when that was the case but that has ended. It's now every man for himself over here. If you get old or sick or lose your job, you're screwed. Good-bye, thanks for playing. For your consolation prize, you get an old soup bowl and your very own street corner. Most of the women I've seen have a metal bowl or cup with a handle. In Shanghai they just use their hand (unless they are blind or have no hands then they have a cup of some sort). One woman in TEDA actually had an orange, disposable plastic bowl that you get from 3RMB soup in the local convenience stores and supermarkets. BTW, I haven't seen any 24 hour stores in TEDA, these people must actually sleep unlike Shanghai.

Welcome to the Parrot

3/30 - Noticed Motorcycles Control Room sign at one of the stations. It should have read Train Control or Station Control or something. Something got lost in the translation. Marat "liberated" for me. Went to the Parrot for dinner. Nice place. The guy I took for the owner is actually the head chef or as his card says, "Food & Beverage Director". Mike Dority is his name. Originally from NC but lived in TX and Alaska as well. He's having a pig roast on Friday night. I can't wait. I asked the only obvious question "Carolina or Texas style?" (Those are 2 of the 4 major BBQ styles in the U.S. for you uninitiated.) He laughed and explained it to me something like this. When he first did a pig roast about 6-8 months ago, he went on the web to do some research. He took some ideas from the Cubans and some from the Alabama rednecks. He calls it a Cuban Redneck Chinese pig roast. I'm salivating already.

kimchi and a present

3/29/05 Tuesday - Went to Korean restaurant with PS. Pretty good stuff. All sorts of different kimchi. Who knew? Marat came late and said he had a present for me. I thought it would be something silly or work related. He produced 3 Havana Cohibas. Not sure of the exact size but they looked to be big coronas or possibly Churchill's. I'll have to look them up later. His friend got them from Cuba. Hopefully he can get more for me next time.

PS - Not post script but a coworkers initials. He's Korean. Apparently a bunch of the Korean guys go by their initials.

Marat - Crazy Russian American. Drives me insane over email but hysterically funny in person. He's been in China since 1999. Not sure how he handles it.

on to TEDA

3/28/05 Monday - Met my ride at the hotel. Took mini bus from Beijing to TEDA. 5 guys plus driver and about 6 huge transformers (I found out later they weighed 65 kg or over 140 lbs.). They laughed after I got in because I balanced the weight of the transformers. Apparently they were riding lopsided before they picked me up. I had my own seat and needed all of the room. The two hour trip was interesting. Aside from being smashed in the seat, it wasn't bad at all. They were doing major construction on the highway and for most of the trip, only one side of the highway was open. We were headed east but riding on the westbound side for a good part of the trip. In the states they would have one lane open in each direction. Not sure where the traffic was rerouted. Apparently the trip is 3-4 hours when the highway is closed. I really hope they reverse the traffic on the way back or else I'll be miserable. On the way I noticed a few things. First of all the air is atrocious in Beijing. I guess I first noticed that at the hotel. Much worse than in Shanghai. I guess the amount of industry close to the city center contributes. Also, the dry air and the surrounding desert to the northwest also contributes. They had better clean up this place by the 2008 Olympics. I also noticed the area around the roadways is filthy. There is trash everywhere along the road. In places there was trash right up to the crops and farm animals. I did see a sheep herder with about 20 sheep on a path in one big pack. That was pretty neat. I wondered if there was a pecking order to who gets the view and who has to sniff butts. Anyway, there were piles of trash, lose trash and just general crap everywhere.

arrived in Beijing

3/26/05 Saturday - Arrived Beijing 21:30. Met driver at airport. 45 minutes to hotel. No regular rooms available. Upgraded to suite. Nice room - living room, 1/2 bath, bedroom, full bath w/ separate shower. Crappy view. Construction site.

3/27/05 Sunday - Jet lagged. Slept most of the day. Only 2 English channels - CNN and HBO Asia. Breakfast was OK, nothing to write home about (LOL). I just realized why the hotels over here usually have cooked tomatoes and beans on the breakfast buffet. A full English breakfast! Now it all makes sense. Not that I really eat that stuff too much but after my vacation to England, I sorta got used to it.

Introduction

Currently, I'm working in TEDA, Tianjin, China. TEDA stands for Tianjin Economic and Technological Development Area. Basically, the Chinese government took a big swarth of land and decided to build it up. I'm here working on the light rail system to get people from the city of Tianjin to this area. I've been to Shanghai 12 times working on a similar project. Hopefully my thoughts aren't too boring.