China Diaries

The delicious morsel pictured here is a specialty, and reputedly one of the culinary treats, of Xiamen: seaworm gelatin.

It sounds disgusting and looks even worse, but, surprisingly didn’t smell disgusting.  In fact, it didn’t smell like anything at all.

I had no idea what the technique was for eating this dish so I waited for everybody else around the table to dig in before embarrassing myself.  Apparently the secret is this: tons of black vinegar.

Pour the black vinegar over the jelly until it reaches the brim of the cup then start mixing.  This turns the whole dish into what is, effectively, seaworm halo-halo.  Once the vinegar is mixed in enough you can dig in and enjoy the worms.

The first surprise is that the dish is cold.  Not lukewarm, but cold.  As in, Jell-O fresh out of the fridge cold. 

The second surprise is that the jelly itself is pretty tasty.  It tastes of a good chicken or vegetable stock, not at all pungent or "eew"-inducing. 

The third surprise is that the worms themselves don’t actually taste like anything.  They’re just lumps of chewiness in the jelly. 

The end taste is a savory/sour (because of the vinegar) one that isn’t at all bad.  It’s not something I would hunger for in the wee hours of the night, but it’s also not something I would shy away from in the future. 

In the end the only reason that I didn’t finish the small cup was that it was too filling and my brain kept yelling at me, "you’re eating worms!"

Some things are just too difficult to get over.

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Ah, scenic Guangzhou.

Back in town again for the twice yearly Canton Fair.  It’s never an eagerly anticipated trip, mainly because Guangzhou isn’t my favorite city.  It’s a big, dirty, unremarkable place.  Very much like Manila in that regard but with even fewer nice places to hang out.

I actually had some free time after setting up the booth so figured I’d do what little sightseeing I could.  I’m staying at the Park View Hotel this time around, definitely a step up from the pits I’ve stayed at before and, astoundingly, it actually does have a park view.  It’s located right next to Yuexiu Park, just a five minute walk  down the road from the Yuexiu metro station, the China Hotel, and the old grounds of the Canton Fair.  Convenient, in other words.

I paid the 5 RMB entrance fee and just started walking around.  It’s a large park, with mature trees, bamboo groves, and, scattered here and there, different sports and recreational facilities for those that want to do more than walk.

Facilites such as this gem:

An international competition-standard lawn bowls green. Talk about random. I would have expected a ping pong area (which they had) or basketball courts (which they also had), but a bowling green? A very nice one too. Surprises abound in this place.

The park was a nice find. I’d been through this area tons of times because of the trade shows but never really paid attention to the fact that this huge park was right there. It’s the typical business-trip mindset, visit a place but never really see it because your whole schedule is work-oriented. It is a shame but at least I’ve made up for it partly this time around.

Now for these guys:

This is not what it looks like. The whole of Yuexiu park is located on a hill, or several hills I suppose. These folk are walking uphill, but facing downhill. Yes, they are walking uphill backwards. This seems to be a popular past time here in China. I’ve seen people doing this in Xiamen too but there were a whole lot more of them doing this in Guangzhou. They combined their backwards climb with some vigorous arm swinging (into a hugging position then out to the sides) which I’m sure makes this quite the exercise.

This is the famous (?) statue of the Five Celestial Rams.

Famous in China apparently because there were literally busloads of tourists lining up to see this. I suppose that it symbolizes Guangzhou somehow, but I was more interested in this particular detail:

I dig that “wtf?” expression on the large goat’s face. I have yet to determine whether this is a she-goat or a male goat with a particularly large appendage.

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This one was at Yuexiu Park in Guangzhou.

My understanding is that this is their version of “please do not pick the flowers”. The stranger thing is that this was in the middle of a grass field. The nearest flower bed was about ten meters away from this sign.

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This sign was at the Guangzhou Fair a few months ago.

It was posted over the door to a common stairway so I really have no idea why it says what it does.

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As I mentioned in this post, here’s a sign with "translation" that is completely useless.

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I’ve got to go to the USA for business and my transit flight happened to be through Beijing. As luck would have it United flies out of the brand new Terminal 3 so I get to treat myself to some architecture porn.

From the runway as we landed and taxied to the terminal it already looked huge. There’s an earlier post from last year where I briefly commented on the size of this place. Inside it’s even larger.

Our domestic flight, a China Airlines 737, surprised me by parking at the domestic wing of the new terminal. Our gate was at the tail end of the domestic wing and, as you can see from the sign, it was a bit of a walk to the baggage claim.

I obviously had my camera out and ready as soon as I realized we would be disembarking at the new terminal.

The place is all angles, exposed girders, air, and light. Pretty spectacular.

Impressed by the general look of the place I was curious how the details were finished. Some of the most important details of any airport, for me at least, are the restrooms, so I ducked into one on the way to the arrivals hall.

Unfortunately the lavatory facilities seem to have been designed with no connection to the design of the rest of the terminal. Disappointing really. At least they provided ledges in front of the urinals for bags and such.

And of course I’m sure Sir Norman would be appalled at the fortune plant and pot parked at the entrance of the restroom. Again, not in keeping with the overall terminal design.

At the baggage claim area I was let down again. I’m used to the baggage claim of the Hong Kong International airport, also by Foster, with it’s high ceilings, accessible signage, and generally open feeling. This one is almost claustrophobic. The carousels are tightly spaced, signage is low…this was beginning to let me down in a major way.

On a positive note I got my bags really quickly. The much vaunted baggage handling system of the new terminal seems to be working like a charm. The bags were already trundling around the carousel when I got there. Plus points on that score.

Off to the international check-in. I could have gone through the international transit lane but for some reason my bags couldn’t be checked in directly from Xiamen so I had to do this the long way.

Signage to the international departures check-in was decent. It’s in the same wing of the terminal as domestic arrivals so it was a simple matter of following the signs and taking an elevator from the 1st to the 4th floor. Much simpler than the old haul of trucking the baggage from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2. Plus this terminal was much less crowded.

I had a nightmare of a time at the United check-in. I’ll save my vitriol for face to face story time. Let’s just say that UA needs to get their shit together and get some friendlier staffers.

From what I’d seen of the terminal from various reports online, and I guess because of the Norman Foster heritage, it’s always struck me as a larger version of the HK airport. True enough, the check-in area and subsequent international departures hall seem to be almost plan-for-plan replicas of the HK ones. This would be a case of if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it.

I had lunch at a noodle place, mymill. Decent food. At least this was an improvement over what the HK airport was like when it first opened. I remember that experience and the lousy food options available. Terminal 3 here is already stocked with some local chains, a couple of Starbucks outlets, McD’s, Burger King, Pizza Hut, and even a bar that serves draft Guinness. Plus points again.

Incongruity #2 is this massive dragons-holding-a-globe statue before the entrance to the gates. This is clearly fixed in place. Feng Shui or just a matter of taste of the official that approved the airport plans? Either way, it’s a big clash with the modern design of the terminal.

My flight was at one of the E gates at the other end of the Terminal. Unlike HK which really is one giant ass building, BCIA T3 is split up into 3 segments. The first segment where I landed, checked-in, and had lunch is the domestic check-in/arrivals/departure and international check-in. The second segment, the D gates, was still under construction, and the third segment, E gates, is the international departures wing. As an aside, the press has been calling this the largest terminal in the world but that’s kind of cheating if you consider that the segments are actually different buildings.

Anyway, because of this break up there is no way to walk from one segment to another, passengers have to take the shuttle train. It’s a couple of minutes between wings and it’s a rather pleasant ride.

The median and the sides of the tracks are nicely planted and there’s some cool switching action on the tracks themselves. The train cars aren’t limited to one track but can cross over just before reaching the stations. Geeky but cool.

Arriving at the E gates wing the first thing up is the health/quarantine inspection. This isn’t anything more than a couple of booths with thermal cameras checking for fevers, etc. Immediately after that is immigration, customs, and security. Here I have to give BCIA super plus points. From the time I arrived in the train to the time I was in the terminal walking through the Duty Free was about three minutes, and most of that was spent getting patted down very thoroughly by a female security officer. No, I didn’t enjoy it but she was the most professional and thorough wand-wielding security officer I’ve ever run across. The immigration officer was quick and very friendly. If ever going through immigration could be called a nice experience then this was it.

My first impression of the international wing: sterile and antiseptic. This bit is much quieter and empty than the domestic wing. I mean empty in terms of people and restaurants as well. No starbucks, no burger joints, although there is a Pizza Hut, an "Irish" bar, and a couple of restaurants. My advice if you ever need to lay over for a while at BCIA is stay in the domestic wing until you need to go to your airplane. There’s just more options for entertainment and dining.

Incongruity #3 and #4 are these pavilions and houses in the International wing.

Combined with the high ceiling it almost felt like these were archeological finds on a space station. Kind of a disconnect with what you expect to see in a place like this.

I walked around for a little bit then sat down for the rest of my layover at the Lucky Shamrock Irish restaurant. They provided power points for laoptops but no Internet connection, decent coffee, and good but expensive beer.

Quick summary of my BCIA T3 experience: nice new terminal, big improvement over the old Beijing terminal, but left me comparing it to the Hong Kong airport and falling short against that competition.

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We bought a new camera for the office so I brought it home over the weekend and ran it through its paces. Here are some shots of the neighborhood:

This is a view from the patio, looking backwards at the apartment block.

This is the view from the patio of Xiamen at night.

Along the boardwalk of Yuandang Lake where the inlet from the harbor is.

More of Xiamen at night, this time from the park. The islet in the middle where the trees are is where all the white herons nest

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I got home the other day and was getting ready to put a load of laundry in the wash when I noticed these two little birds hopping around next to the washing machine. I thought they would fly away as soon as I approached but they just kept on hopping around.

As I got closer I was able to see that they were actually two chicks, still young enough that they hadn’t yet learned how to fly. The one bird hopped back to the corner, where there was a small gap to my neighbor’s patio, and disappeared. The other one hopped closer to the wall where the washing machine was, cozied up to a paint can that was there, and proceeded to pretend that I wasn’t there.

I snapped the photo above and the little bird just kept on looking at the wall. Put my laundry in the wash and the bird was still staring at the wall. I figured I’d just leave it alone and when I returned an hour later to get my clothes out of the machine it was gone.

I hope it made it back to its nest and wasn’t gobbled up by a neighborhood cat or something.

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The interiors of our new facility are now under construction and we swung by yesterday to see how things were going. It’s early days yet but it’s still exciting to see the plan coming to life.

There’s a small crew of workers laying in a brick wall for one side of the office. The crew is made up of women prepping the concrete and lugging it to the guys laying the bricks. I find this interesting becuase the first time I saw women doing "heavy" manual labor here I was surprised.

Honestly, this is the only country I’ve been in where I’ve seen women doing heavy, load-bearing, back-breaking physical labor jobs such as construction and demolitions. Even in Manila this type of job would be men only.

These women are not just doing light stuff like scraping the concrete from the bricks but are seriously carrying heavy loads around. It’s cool, in a way, because there are no restrictions, and there shouldn’t be, on who does what kind of job. It’s just not that common anywhere else.

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Seriously, wtf?

Is there even a point to translating a Chinese phrase, restaurant/store name, real estate development into English if all you’re going to do is translate a portion of it?

Who or what is the "Chuang", notice how it’s capitalized, of this "yan"? Why should I care? Why did they even go to the trouble of having English words in there? For all I know this sign is advertising some guy’s spectacular wedding tackle.

This particular sign is just one level up from those that print out the pinyin pronounciations of the Chinese characters. I’ll post some photos of this idiocy up when I get a chance.

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