Thursday, January 31, 2008

Shanghai

I was really confused on our taxi ride in to Shanghai, because our hotel was near the river, but we never saw any water. As it turns out, we just couldn't SEE the river under the heavy smog cover. At least in Hong Kong, the smog appeared to lift in the evenings (hard to get a clear day shot). I didn't expect the air quality to be great, but was still unprepared for the amount of air pollution. I really just can't convey how bad it was. The river is not very wide, maybe a few hundred meters, and you still can't see any of the buildings on the other side. And the boardwalk is still packed withlocals just out for an evening stroll. Is this a clear day for this city? Is anyone else concerned?

The really funny/sad thing is that people are still taking pictures against the city backdrop. We end up paying a camera man 10rmb to take our picture too, just to see if he's going to digitally enhance it to include the city skyline. We take seven pictures, each from a different angle. He even takes a few twice. Of course, they all look the same – me and Derek in a big wall of smog. The only pictures I have from Shanghai. And only a small percentage of people are wearing facemasks. I don't think I would bother either if I lived here. I heard somewhere that living in Beijing is the equivalent of smoking 70 cigarettes per day, and wonder if that's better or worse than Shanghai.

But, other than the pollution, I really like this city. It's jam-packed with people spitting, rusted bicycles, taxis doing u-turns in intersections, shops blaring club music and nothing is orderly or works properly. Shanghai is too disorganized to put on any sort of tourist front, so it just comes across as “real life.” Plus, I'm enjoying my new-found celebrity as the biggest white girl in town. People slow down and stare at me -- not just passing glances, but long stares that often include dropping everything to watch me. Of course, it may also be because I'm bigger than just about everyone, usually at least 4-5 inches taller than most of the men.

It also turns out our hotel lounge is THE place to be at 3:30 on a Tuesday afternoon, as we were invited to sing "anything in English” by a group of 30 Chinese karaoke buffs. Of course, there were no English words or music, but here's our attempt at an acapella “Livin' on a Prayer” duet.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Hong Kong

So, I’m catching up on this blog a bit – it’s been hard to get online in China. Either the internet cafes are few and far between, or really expensive. It seems the “Great Firewall of China” really exists! I’m getting used to seeing a pop-up screen with Chinese characters (which I can’t read obviously, but assume mean “page unavailable”) redirect my search to government-approved sites. Even Wikipedia is blocked.

I arrived in Hong Kong a few weeks ago, and met my friend Derek from Seattle. We stayed in a teeny-tiny room in Kowloon, which is directly across from Hong Kong Island.

The city is much smaller than I thought it'd be. Isn't Hong Kong called the “New York City of the East”? It seemed to have a vibe more similar to Vancouver, BC, (kinda quiet with tons of shopping malls) and was not exactly screaming “China.” Which makes sense as it was not a part of China for so long. We took the tram to the top of Victoria Peak for a birds-eye view of the city, then wandered around the harborfront (with Hong Kong's version of Hollywood's sidewalk of stars, and a statue of Jackie Chan).

I had also heard Hong Kong was a hot-spot for cheap electronics and spent a few days looking for a new laptop (which I never got, they didn't seem that much cheaper than New York. Need to find a new source on Hong Kong). We still had fun though, but I'm really looking forward to Shanghai in a few days... it’s supposed to be China's answer to Hong Kong, whatever that means!

P.S. I also want to take this moment to send a quick note to my folks: Dad, I’m totally safe traveling with Derek. Check out this picture of what happened when we ran into Bruce Lee at the Victoria Peak Tram.... (ok, so he’s a wax figure, but check out how tiny he was!)



Thursday, January 3, 2008

Ubud, Bali

I'm writing from Ubud, Bali, which is in the center of the island and slightly southeast. It's hard to believe I've been here almost three weeks now, although Lisa (my old college roommate) and her husband Alec just left yesterday for Vietnam...

I met with the town's medicine man today: his name is Ketut Liyer and he claims I'll live to be 102 years old (although he said 101 earlier in the conversation, so maybe he likes me and decided to throw me an extra year). A woman just wrote a book about him called Eat Pray Love. It's not actually about him but he's a major character. Now he' s telling me that if I write a book to make sure he's in it. Obviously, he's been getting a lot of business... If any of you write a book, I'm sure he'd also like to be in it, also.

Ubud is a really unique town, not on the water, but built around Hindu temples and rice patties. Every family has their own temple, and most of them have been converted into guesthouses or restaurants, or guesthouse/restaurants. Indonesia is still in its rainy season though, so Ubud, not the coastal towns, is the place to be. I was on Nusa Lambangon for New Years, an island off the southeast coast, and we luckily had perfect weather until 11:59 on New Year's Eve when a tropical storm hit. Although we made the best of this also, as the restaurant owner herded us into the kitchen and brought out his finest champagne.

I am leaving Indonesia in a few days, and will be really sad to go. It's an absolutely beautiful island (except for Kuta, which is overrun with tourists and gross) with palm trees and lush foliage and geckos and stray chickens and dogs, very tropical. Plus, the people are so friendly. The three of us rented a car for a few weeks (which was umm... just $5 per day) and locals would knock on our windows at stoplights to ask where we were going, and where we were from. They weren't trying to sell anything, they were just friendly and curious. I rented a bicycle a few days ago to ride through town, and everyone (old men and women, kids and babies) shouted out hello, and a few people tried to give me high fives. quite the greeting! I sorta felt famous.

The other funny thing about Bali is that every local thinks Lisa and I are identical twins. We're about the same height and both blond, but people here really get confused...