Cicadas (and a rat)

It's been quite wet out the past couple of days. I think we caught the edge of the Typhoon that hit Taiwan. It's not surprising, though, as it is monsoon season. Today after work it had stopped raining so I walked from my work in Apgujeong to the Kim's Club (a very large grocery store) near the Goseok Terminal (Seoul bus terminal) It was just under an hour of walking. I should have taken more pictures, I suppose. When I walk I always try to take different random routes to where ever it is I am walking to in order to see what ever there is to see. The buildings, signs, shop names, kinds of shops, etc are all interesting to see. There are a couple of buildings I really want to take pictures of but I'll have to wait until it is not so over cast (and rainy).
One thing I have really noticed here and in China are the cicadas. Where I grew up, we don't have them. I had heard of them, of course, but had never heard or seen any until I came to Korea. They are SO LOUD!!!!!!! In the six years I have been here, I haven't really seen many but have certainly heard them! I love the sound they make (as long as it isn't right outside my window when I'm trying to sleep!). The first one I actually encountered wasn't until my 4th year or so when one was stuck in a classroom and the students and Korean teacher were freaking out. I had to rescue them, AND it. It wasn't until this year that I started seeing the casings/skins. They are absolutely EVERYWHERE!! [my finger is there for sizing]I first noticed them when I went to one of the palaces downtown during my first week of summer vacation (I had 2 wks).Now I am seeing them everywhere here; both the casings AND the adult cicadas.On a tree at Deoksugung (a palace). Can you see them? The one higher up is a bit hard to see. The lower one I noticed immediately.Here is a video to show how loud they are.

A cicada on a tree in Qingdao, China (taken the second week of my summer vacation).
Along where I was walking today, in one of the apartment complexes, the casings were all over the trees as if they were nuts or something (except they are on the trunks as well as all over the leaves).If you haven't seen them, they are hard to miss. They really are big.
On my walk today, I turned a corner and a little thing nearly ran over my foot. It ran into a little indent in the wall to hide, but there was no way out of it other than the way it came, sort of trapping it for my inspection. A young rat, about the size of my hamster, but not as cute. It's tail is obviously broken. Poor thing. With all the rain it was probably looking for a dry place to hide out.

China might move in on North Korea!??

This doesn't sound so good, but I suppose it kinda sounds like something the US has in its plans for North Korea and other such countries on their list.

China 'plans to send troops into North Korea'
By Richard Spencer in Beijing Last Updated: 2:10am GMT 10/01/2008
China is planning to send troops into North Korea to restore order and secure its nuclear arsenal in the event of the regime’s collapse.
According to a new report, Beijing would send in the People’s Liberation Army if it felt threatened by a rapid breakdown in Kim Jong-il’s rule over the country.
China would seek to win the backing of the United Nations first, but would be prepared to act unilaterally if necessary.
“If the international community did not react in a timely manner as the internal order in North Korea deteriorated rapidly, China would seek to take the initiative in restoring stability,” said the report by two Washington think-tanks.
Based on extensive interviews conducted in China, including with PLA academics, the report’s findings back up previous indications of China’s major change in attitude to Kim Jong-il after the North Korean nuclear test of October 2006, and also demonstrate its willingness to assert itself in international affairs.
Separately, Beijing today announced its ambitions in space for the coming year, including the launch of 15 rockets and 17 satellites as well as its first space walk.
According to PLA academics quoted by the report, which was written by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies and the US Institute of Peace, the army has three “missions” in a failing North Korea.
One would be humanitarian — to deal with refugees or the consequences of natural disaster.
The second is peacekeeping and maintaining order, and the third requires it to deal with contamination from a military strike on North Korea’s nuclear facilities, and to secure nuclear weapons and materials to prevent them getting into the “wrong hands”.
The report said that there were disagreements among its sources as to whether China still wished to preserve its “special relationship” with North Korea, the only country with which it has a formal, mutual defence alliance.
But they agreed that Beijing would neither intervene to replace Kim Jong-il, nor to prevent him being replaced by others.
The Chinese government’s prime concern was stability, though there was thought to be no immediate danger of a breakdown.
China’s foreign ministry spokesman said she had “no knowledge” of the plan, but did not deny its existence.
Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Beijing’s People’s University, said the plan might have been drawn up when the North Korean regime was under greater pressure than now.
It was still unclear how it would react in future, though. “China, as with other powers, is a little confused about this,” he said.

Pepsi II

Long but kinda cool Chinese (?) Pepsi commercial.

Chinese hospital scams

I wonder if these things (or similar things) happen in other countries.

Scandal brews over tea-for-urine switch
BEIJING (Reuters) - A group of Chinese reporters came up with a novel idea to test how greedy local hospitals were -- pass off tea as urine samples and submit the drink for tests.
The results: six out of 10 hospitals in Hangzhou, the capital of the rich coastal province of Zhejiang, visited by the reporters over a two-day period this month concluded that the patients' urinal tracts were infected.
Five of the hospitals prescribed medication costing up to 400 yuan ($50), the online edition of the semi-official China News Service (www.chinanews.com) said in a report seen on Wednesday. Of the hospitals, four were state-owned.
"It makes one shiver all over even though it's not cold," the China News Service said after its reporters and colleagues from Zhejiang Television tested the hospitals.
The Southern Metropolis Daily newspaper said in a commentary on Wednesday: "Healthy people are diagnosed with diseases. Small ailments are said to be serious problems. Patients have become automatic teller machines for the hospitals."
The failure of health reforms and rising costs of medical care have sparked social discontent and become flashpoints for unrest in the world's most populous nation, where millions cannot afford to consult doctors or buy medicine.
Health Minister Gao Qiang has accused greedy hospitals of charging excessive fees and prescribing unnecessary and expensive medication.
Market reforms in the past two decades have cut off state subsidies to many hospitals and left the health care system in need of life support.
State media have reported patients committing suicide because they cannot afford exorbitant medical costs.

spit

One of the things I hate the most about walking around here is trying to avoid the gobs of spit that are EVERYWHERE (not to mention the puke). It is disgusting. Apparently South Korea isn't the only place/country with a spitting problem:

Foreigners gobsmacked by Shanghai cab spittoons
Foreigners are spewing bile at China's latest plan to curb spitting in Shanghai, the country's financial capital, which is slated to host the 2010 World Expo.
Authorities here -- eager to put the city's best face forward while under the international spotlight -- plan to distribute 45,000 "spit sacks" to Shanghai cabbies, to curb the common habit of rolling down the cab window and expectorating onto the street.
But the proposal has foreigners spluttering with rage.
"This solution is a recipe for disaster," seethed one reader in an email printed in the Shanghai Daily on Saturday.
One of the many risks of the plan -- which involves fixing a sack to the metal grill which surrounds the driver's seat -- is that the bag may spill and unleash the "malodorous aroma of spit," the reader added.
Another respondent said he was afraid drivers might toss the bags out of their windows and be encouraged to hawk even more.
Local authorities are stunned by the livid reaction, the paper reported.
"We will persuade the drivers not to spit in the presence of passengers, and consider stabilizing the paper bags in unnoticeable corners near the driver's seat as improvements to our plan," health promotion campaign official Ni Yanhua was quoted as saying.
The "spit sack" follows an earlier innovation in Shanghai's public hygiene, after the city attached spittoons to garbage cans on sidewalks.
The spittoons were not seen as a success, since residents mistook them for ashtrays.

Baduk

Baduk is more commonly known as Go. It is a board game that is considered to be the most complex game in the world (more challenging than chess). It originated in China but is very popular in China, Korea, and Japan, as well as around the world. The game is played by two players (black and white) on a 19 by 19 board (grid). The players take turns placing their stones on vacant points/intersections (there are 361 intersections!).

What Is Go?

You can find online games of baduk, downloadable games, and there are even tv channels here that are strictly baduk (showing games and strategies and such).

Anyway, I found this article and found it very interesting. It is sort of related to my last post about hagwons (private schools/academies that the kids go to after school). I'm posting the whole article because I think it is worth reading.
I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before or not, but when Koreans do things, they go all out. They always play the part/dress the part/live the part/etc. (I'll save explaining that for another post.)

Becoming a Professional Player in Korea
During 60 years of professional baduk history in Korea, there have only been about 210 professional players. Only 35 of them were female. As in other sports, becoming a professional baduk player means taking a long and difficult road.
In Korea, a certified student who studies baduk at Hankuk Kiwon (Korea baduk Association) seeking to become a professional player is called a yongusaeng. At any time in the yongusaeng league, there are 120 boys divided into 10 classes and 48 girls divided into four classes, class 1 being the strongest (for both the boys and girls) and 10 the weakest (4 for girls).
A tournament among the yongusaeng takes place every month, and classes are reorganized each time according to the results. The top four players of each class will move up to the next class, while the worst four will be demoted to a lower class. When a new yongusaeng joins the league, he or she will get the lowest position in the weakest class to start with, regardless of his/her strength.
A qualification tournament to select new yongusaeng takes place every four months. To be selected, an applicant must be under the age of 18 and be in the top 12 of the hundreds of players participating in the qualification tournament.
Every month, four of these newcomers have the honor of joining the weakest yongusaeng class in place of the students cut in the monthly yongusaeng tournament. All 12 new students are incorporated into the yongusaeng classes, four at a time, over three months.
The competition among all the yongusaeng _ including the lowest ranked newcomers _ to join a higher class and not to be kicked out of the league, is incredibly intense. During week, when there are no league games, the yongusaeng spend most of their time studying baduk. They replay the professional games, review their own games from the yongusaeng league, study new joseki variations, solve life and death problems and play other yongusaeng.
Some of the yongusaeng, whose ages range from eight to 18, even give up regular education to have more time to study the game. They study baduk from morning to night, except for a little exercise during the day to keep their health.
There are about 15 private baduk academies in Korea (otherwise known as baduk tojang), with between 10 to 20 yongusaeng. Most of the teachers at these private academies are professional players, and they play teaching games and review them with their students.
Each academy also has other students who aspire to join their ranks of the yongusaeng. Their number ranges from 50 to 150. That means there are more than 1,000 students at any given time who want to become yongusaeng.
However, the number of players who are able to go professional is very small. The number of newly made professional players differs each year according to the situation of the Korean baduk scene, but it is always less than ten.
In recent years, new professional players were born in the following manner.
The three players with the highest scores in the yongusaeng tournament, and five who qualified in the annual professional qualification tournament become professional players. Since a student older than 18 cannot stay a yongusaeng, a player over that age is technically barred from becoming a professional player.
The fiercer the competition, the more miserable the students who do not succeed by the time they turn 18. Most of them develop future careers that have something to do with baduk because they love the game so much.
However, even for those few students who are able to go professional, there is still a long and difficult way to go, for the competition becomes even more cutthroat once they enter the professional baduk world.
The writer is a baduk professor at Myongji University and a professional player of the game.
[The Korea Times]

Russian???

This is referring to what I mentioned in the last post about people thinking I am Russian.
Since arriving in Korea, I have often been asked if I am Russian. It is not just the Koreans asking me that, either. After I got here in the fall of 2001, the foreigners that lived in my building thought I was Russian. One of them told me that after she met me. She wasn't sure why they thought that. During that first year here in Korea, I was constantly being followed by drunk Korean men thinking I was Russian. I even had one grab my ass and ask "ol-ma" which means "how much." I don't think I need to explain that any further.
Sales people, taxi drivers, and other Koreans that I encounter often ask if I am Russian. Either that or if I am American. It is not often that they just ask where I am from. Strange.
My previous contract in Korea I was in Goyang City, which is just north-west of Seoul. A couple of times I was even stopped by Russian women thinking I was Russian.
When I was in Shanghai, in China, I was asked either where I was from, or if I was Canadian. That was also a bit odd, I thought. Maybe they get a lot of Canadian visitors there??? The two Estonian guys I met in Suzhou (at the KFC, if you remember that post), said that I looked like I could be Russian, as I had some features that were very Russian-like. Interesting.
There are Russian women all over South Korea. They are usually 'dancers', etc (or other types of entertainers, if you know what I mean). I heard that they make a lot more money here than than would if they stayed in Russia. Anyway..... It is strange that so many people seem to think I am Russian. Not just that I am Russian... but that I am a Russian in Korea... knowing what the majority of them do here. It is usually fairly easy to spot the Russians in the foreigner areas in Korea, as they tend to dress a bit differently.
Many of the Korean night clubs have Russian dancers. During my first year, in Anyang (just south of Seoul), I went to a dance club where they had a little space for a dancer on either side of the stage. During the dance songs, a dancer would be in the little space in basically lingerie or a bikini or such. They weren't dancing so much as wiggling. Then during the breaks with slow songs, they would appear wearing evening gowns, and would wander around mingling with the crowd of drunk Korean men.
Anyway....
My friend/co-worker Kelly didn't believe me when I told her that I kept being asked if I was Russian... until she showed her mom a picture of me and that was EXACTLY what her mom asked. LOL.

my cricket "house"

I mentioned this in my Shanghai Day 5 post. This is the little cricket house that I was talking about. It isn't much of a house, more of a coffin, I think, but the guy at the bug market called it a house. He didn't really speak much English, though. This fits inside the house, to hold the cricket. It is open on both ends and the lid of it comes off, too.

Shanghai Day 5: July 31, 2006

(written September 9, 2006)
Okay… so it’s a little late.
I ended up sleeping in fairly late again. I guess I was still exhausted from the previous day’s adventures.
I started my day by heading for the Longhua Temple (the oldest and largest monastery in Shanghai) and the Longhua Pagoda (originally built around 977, but reconstructed several times). There were not many people around when I went. Maybe because of the heat, or maybe because it is a bit out of the way. I don’t think it is on the standard tourist agenda. There is a very fancy, fairly new looking shopping complex across from it, but it seemed a bit empty.

The Pagoda is really cool, as is the fat laughing Buddha in front of it. The Buddha has little people all over it. Unfortunately, you can’t do anything but look at the pagoda and take pictures. I would have liked to have gone inside. Oh well.
The temple complex is beautiful. I am glad that I decided to go out of the way to see it. It is always nice to go to places that aren’t overrun with tourists, or any people, for that matter. Crowds are annoying when you are trying to take a good picture.After I spent some time wandering around taking everything in, I headed for the Flower, Bird, Fish and Insect Market. VERY interesting. The first thing I noticed was the strands of little woven basket like balls, containing crickets. Crickets from movies popped into my head: the cricket in Mulan, the cricket in The Last Emperor, etc. A lot of the shops were cricket related. Cricket cages, cricket food dishes and houses, etc. I bought some of the little dishes: some for me, some for gifts. They would be good for something, I suppose; a ring dish, maybe? I also bought a pottery cricket container. A guy said something about it being a cricket house. And showed me how the dishes would sit in it. I kept thinking… that is strange to put it in a solid container with a lid. I didn’t really think about it, though. Once back at the hotel, it came to me, that it is probably a tomb/casket type thing for the crickets after they die. Funny. Some of the dishes they were selling were quite intricately painted, and not so cheap. Others, you could tell were quickly done, and mass-produced. There were crickets being sold all over the market. I have a full set up for a pet cricket. Now all I need is the cricket. I would have bought a cricket there, but I figured they wouldn’t let me on the plane with one so I decided against it.

[One of the tables along the outside of the market. The hanging woven balls contain the crickets. You can see the round pottery cricket "houses" and other cricket accessories on the table.]

There were also lots of stands selling fish and birds. I also saw some selling rabbits and kittens. It made me sooooo sad, though, as they all looked very sick. I am pretty sure that there was even a dead one in one of the cages, with other kittens. They were all flopped down on the floors of the cages, not moving. Most of them, you could only see their chests rise and fall from breathing. It was soooooooooo hot in there. I kept thinking I wish I could buy them all and take them home. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option. The shops also sold cat toys and food. The dogs that were being sold at a few places in the market seemed to be in much better condition. They were in somewhat enclosed rooms, with fans blowing on their cages. They looked relatively healthy.
I then wandered around the corner to an antiques market; basically a long pedestrian street with little stands set up the entire length of it. They sold a wide range of things… jewelry, coins, boxes, knives, pictures, books, etc. I only bought a couple of things: a necklace pendant and a mahogany cricket cage. Not sure what I’ll do with the cage, but it is really cute. A lot of the things being sold were obviously not antiques, but were being sold as such. I guess some people believe what they are told, and will spend the money thinking they are getting the real thing.
I didn’t do much else that day. MONEY!!! I basically ran out of money. I had enough for dinner. I ended up just having the Shanghai Rice at the hotel. Something safe. Something cheap and tasty.
An early night.

JinMao Tower... the Hyatt Hotel's Atrium.

Looking down:

Looking up:

the Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai

I mentioned the JinMao tower in Shanghai Day 1, and will get back to it in Shanghai Day 6 when I get to it.
The JinMao Tower is the 5th tallest building in the world (actually the 4th height as the Petronas Towers are identical, and so tied at 2nd). From Forbes.com:

The buildings observatory and highest floor is the 88th.
The Grand Hyatt Hotel is from the 54th to the 87th floor. It is the world's highest hotel above ground level. The Hotel has the tallest atrium in the world, going 33 floors up. I didn't particularly appreciate the view down the atrium from the 88th floor (being that I'm afraid of heights and you have to lean over to see down the atrium). Looking up from the bar on the 55th floor wasn't so bad. It also supposedly has the world's longest laundry chute, at 420 vertical meters (Lonely Planet Guide)
There are 61 elevators in the building. Thinking about it, I can understand the need. For example, there are 2 elevators from the ground floor to the hotel lobby on the 54th floor. From there, you have the hotel elevators, and the 2 elevators to the 3 floors of restaurants. There are also the 2 elevators to the 88th floor. Every bunch of floors must have elevators to the group and then elevators within that set of floors. I couldn't imagine the entire building relying on one set of elevators. That would be a very long wait!!
The top of the tower is supposed to be able to sway up to 75 centimeters in case of a storm!!!! I could not imagine how that would feel to be standing on the 88th floor when that happens. Ugh.

Shanghai Taxi Regulations... glad I read them.

From the posted regulations in some of the taxis in Shanghai:

The passenger is entitled to refuse payment under any of the following circumstances where the driver:
1. smokes in the car, uses a cellular phone wislt driving, spits or litters out of the car.
2. abuses the passenger, behaves rudely and does not use the polite expressions of the taxi company (For example: good morning/Afternoon/evening, thanks/thank you, goodbye/bye-bye.)
3. does not wear the uniform of the taxi company.
4. does not accept the taxi card of voucher
5. fails to comply with the passenger's request on the Air-conditioning or the sound system.

I'm not sure if the regulations are for all taxi companies, or just for that company, but I found them very interesting. Especially since my second last day in Shanghai, a taxi driver tried to scam me. He wasn't wearing a uniform, and was trying to sell me handbags and watches, like many of the people that approached me on the street with photo cards. Every other taxi driver that I had, was wearing all white, or some sort of suit. Many of them even had white gloves on. I was going the exact opposite route that I had taken that morning, and noticed that the meter started going up at a very fast rate, right from the beginning. By the time I was back at the hotel, the meter read more than twice as much as I had paid that morning. (I only paid the basic fare of 11 Yuan that morning). The meter had to have been tampered with to have done that. I asked him about the total, he motioned that to go the other direction it was a shorter distance, as the way we had just had to take was a round about way. I'm not stupid. Even a round about way would not have more than doubled the distance gone. I showed him my map and said that he was wrong. I said I was not stupid and was not going to pay that much. I showed him the reciept from my morning taxi. He just laughed and said okay.
Maybe some people never think twice about what the meter says. That taxi didn't have the regulations posted, as it was a different cab company, but it came to mind during the ride, and made me pay attention.
I tried to tell someone in the hotel about it, trying to report it, but they just shrugged their shoulders.

Shanghai Day 4: July 30, 2006 Part 2: the Train back to Shanghai

(written August 4, 2006)
It took me a while to figure out where to buy my tickets. At first, I asked and was sent in the wrong direction. Finally at the ticket sales area, I had to ask which line was for Shanghai, as the signs were only in Chinese. Half of the line-ups were VERY long, the other half were very short. A guard directed me to one of the shorter lines. I confirmed with a person in the line that it was for tickets for Shanghai. There was a big argument going on between some of the people in line in front of me and the woman behind the counter. I’ve no clue what it was about, but there was quite a bit of yelling going on, and it lasted quite a while. When I finally did get to the counter, I asked for a ticket for Shanghai. She asked if the 7:15 train was okay. And showed me the screen. The ticket said 7 Yuan. I asked if it was a soft seat ticket. She said, “No soft seat.” I asked if it was possible to get a soft seat ticket. She said, “No soft seat.” I paid the 7 Yuan and got my ticket. There was no specified seat on the ticket, very different from my 24 Yuan soft seat ticket that morning. Getting worried…
I was hungry and so headed for the KFC that is conveniently located mid station. The place was overflowing. There wasn’t much of a line-up to order, but once I got my food, I had nowhere to sit. People were standing around with their trays, waiting for others to finish and get up. I stood at the end of one counter until someone got up.
A couple of guys from Estonia ended up sitting in front of me, so we started chatting. They had been in the country for the day, on a tour of mostly foreigners. They were not sure how they ended up on that tour, but enjoyed it. They had been in China for 2 weeks, in Beijing and Shanghai. The next day they were heading for Hong Kong. Casper and Martin were their names. Martin is an actor (a “star”) in Estonia. Casper is a show writer. They were very interesting to talk to. A nice break from a day of hearing constant Chinese chatter. They had the same type of ticket as I did, only for a train at 8:15pm. I lost track of time a bit and was running late so I ended up not getting their email addresses. Oh well.
I went into the station to find my train. There were different waiting rooms for each train. There were so many people sitting around the waiting room for the train. I was wondering if they all had the same type of ticket. Then, a bell rang and the light started signaling that the train was on it’s way in. Everyone got up and started piling through the gates and over the gates. Deciding not to get left behind, I pushed my way along with the front of the people. The train was not there, so everyone just waited along the side. There were no marks as to where the doors would be, so everyone was a bit spread out. When the train did finally pull in, it was a rush to the doors. Everyone had to wait, though, to let people off the train. Then it was all pushing and shoving to get on. Being used to pushing and shoving in Korea, I was right there in the front pushing my own way on the train. I managed to get a seat at the window, in the right direction (going backwards would have made me sick). The seats were hard benches with high backs, facing each other around a little table. There was no air conditioning, and the fan above was not working. I think it was around 40 Celsius. NOT NICE. The train was so dirty and smelly. There were toilets at the ends of the cars. I didn’t venture to use one, but could smell them almost the entire trip. The train was so slow. When it was moving, it wasn’t so bad, as the windows were open and I had a bit of a breeze blowing on me. People were standing in the aisles and between cars. Everyone was hot and sweaty.
The train stopped in a place called Gun San (Gun Mountain) to let some people off and then kept going. Then it stopped. In the middle of nowhere. For no apparent reason. And sat there. And waited. And waited. There was no air movement at all, I felt like I was suffocating. Several trains passed, but our train didn’t move. Finally, about 45 minutes later, it was on its way again. When I finally did get to the Shanghai station, I was soooooooooo glad to be off that train. Pulling into the station, I questioned the girl beside me as to whether or not that was the last stop. She said yes. I asked because I had read that a lot of the trains stop at another station in Shanghai before the main one. It turns out that the girl spoke English quite well. She was from Xian, and was a university student studying International Trade. If I had known that sooner, the train ride might have been a bit more enjoyable. She was in Shanghai to visit her uncle. A friend met her at the station and they helped me find a taxi to take me to my hotel. (Some taxis said no, for some reason).
Xian is another place in China that I would really like to go. That is where the terracotta army is.

Boy was I happy to be back in my hotel room. I had a nice quick shower to scrub the train off of me and crawled into bed.

Shanghai Day 4: July 30, 2006 part 1: Suzhou

(written August 4, 2006)
Suzhou is a little city/town about 100 km west of Shanghai. It is known as the "Garden City, Venice of the East" due to its systems of canals and water ways. It contains more than 100 gardens (big and small). It also has a reputation as having the most beautiful women in China. There is a famous Chinese proverb about the city (and another city): "In heaven there is paradise, on earth Suzhou and Hangzhou".

I actually managed to get myself up early enough to head for the train station. I was there by around 7:30. When I got out of my taxi at the underground drop off, there was a guy standing there, waiting for people to get out of taxis. He asked me where I was going, I said Suzhou. He said okay. I said I had to get a ticket. He said okay. He said it is 20 Yuan. He said I had to pay at the little booth. I was stupid enough to think that it might actually be that easy to get a ticket. I paid the money and the guy said to follow him. I said I wanted my ticket. He said to follow him. He took me to the main ticket office, where there were soooooooooo many people lined up. He said no… follow me. I followed. He then took me to the opposite end of the station, to the soft seat ticket office. I was actually there too early, as the soft seat tickets office didn’t open until 8. I guess to catch the earlier trains, I would have had to buy my tickets the day before. The guy said I had to wait… obviously. I had already decided that he had scammed me. I said I needed to get something to drink. He said he would wait there, and pointed me to a little shop. He was gone when I got back. I managed quite well without him. My ticket was 24 Yuan. I was on the 8:30 train to Suzhou.
The train was very nice: comfortable, fast, air-conditioned.
Once I got to Suzhou, I was trying to figure out what to do. Several people were walking around trying to get people to go on organized tours. One of them showed me pictures of the places that I could go on the tour. I said I didn’t understand Chinese. He said that was okay, that the tours were the same for Chinese or English. The price for the tour, including the entrance fees for 4 places and the transportation was 140 Yuan. The tickets alone added up to around 120, I think. Against my better judgment, I hopped on a bus. The guide spoke a little bit of English, but not much. After a very short wait, the bus was full and we were off. We stopped in front of some sort of temple or but didn’t go in. Then I was told to go to another bus, which was going to the places that I had selected (I hadn’t really selected any places, as I had no idea what the pictures were of that they guy had shown me). Once on that bus, I had to wait for about 10 minutes before they were ready to go. Once we were on our way, the tour guide was talking non-stop, in Chinese, of course.
The first stop was the Couple’s Garden or The Garden of Couple’s Retreat. It covers an area of about 0.8 hectares; a nice little garden. Within the garden, there are several buildings, all with different names.
The Inkslab Returning Studio (from the information board in the room):

Xuan Zu, the owner of the garden, had his inkslab lost, which was later re-obtained by Bing Cheng, thus the studio gets the name. Laud out in the pattern of study room, the studio is an ideal place for study, and the couplet in the studio is written by Liu Yong.

Thatched Cottage in the Depth of the City (from the information board in the room):

As the main building of the eastern garden, it appears lofty and spacious and is the place where the owner of the garden meets his guests. The rosewood furniture is set out in the traditional pattern of main hall and the stele was inscribed by Liang Tongshu, head of the four calligrapthers during the reign of Emporer Qiantong and Emporer Jiaqing.

The guide talked for a while before letting everyone wander for a half hour. We were led out the back way to get onto wooden boats to be taken back to the buses.
The next stop was the North Temple, which has the tallest pagoda south of the Yangtze River. The pagoda is 9 stories high. I climbed to the top for the view. There is construction going on in some parts of the temple complex, so not all areas were accessible. While I was in the pagoda, I think everyone else from my bus was checking out the temple complex, so I avoided the crowds in both. There is a beautiful little garden and pond in one corner of the area, beside a teahouse/gift shop. When I was back there, a girl from the teahouse was feeding the fish and turtles, talking to them. There were several kinds of fish in the pond. I’m not sure exactly what they all were. Some of them were huge. There were so many turtles in the mix, too.
The bus then took us to the city moat where we piled onto a boat for a tour. Once again, everything was said in Chinese. I sat on the wrong side of the boat, as most of the interesting looking buildings were on the other side. Too bad.After the little boat trip, we were escorted to a silk factory. I got to see how the silk was gathered and processed. The place smelled of silkworm pupa… reminding me of many of the little snack stands on the streets in Korea. Shudder… A single strand is taken from each cocoon. Several are twisted together and then wound up onto a spool. Another method is to soak the cocoons and remove the pupa, then wash the silk and stretch it out to make the inside of a pure silk blanket/comforter/duvet. Then they tried to sell some of the blankets and other silk things. The prices were not so great, though. The same silk scarves that I had haggled down to 3 for 75 Yuan in Shanghai were priced at 80 Yuan each. Not much of a deal. Needless to say, I didn’t purchase anything, nor, I think, did anyone else.
Then we were herded back on the bus for a very short drive (basically across the street) only to be ushered into a small room with tables and fans and a small stage. I managed to get a nice seat right in the breeze of a fan. There were more than one group there, and most people ended up having to stand. A man and woman entered the stage, each with an instrument. They played a very short song. The man sang a very short song, and then the woman sang a very short song. They both played during both. Then the stood up, took a bow and left. The whole thing lasted maybe 3 minutes. Then we all had to get up and go. All I could think was… that was strange.
Lunchtime. We were taken a short distance away for lunch. Most of the group disappeared in the building. After noticing my confusion at what to do, the guide told me to just sit down at a table and order something. With the menus all in Chinese, that wasn’t quite possible. I told her I wanted something that was not fish. She pointed at what a couple of people were eating and asked if I wanted something like that. I had no idea. Finally, she took me to the back where the dishes were being prepared. I got to choose 3 little dishes: a chicken/vegetable dish, cucumber salad, and a cabbage salad. I also got some vegetable soup and rice. The meal cost me 15 Yuan. It was actually quite tasty.
After lunch, we went to the Feng Bridge, a small foot bridge attached to an old gate/tower type structure. Another tour guide (the same company) was talking non-stop in Chinese. I asked the guide from my bus what the place was. She said she didn’t know how to explain it in English, except that it was an important bridge. That helped. She said I could wander for 30 minutes and then meet down were the little boats were. A couple that was on my bus asked me if I understood Chinese. They looked like everyone else on the bus, but they were Chinese Americans. They said they didn’t speak Chinese (they obviously did, though, as I heard them speaking to some of the other people on the bus). I asked the guy if he know what the place was. He said he didn’t know, but the gate was supposedly built during the Ming Dynasty, or something like that. Anyway, it was very old and important.I did figure out what it was thanks to an information board in the gate/tower (sorry, my photo of the info was not so clear):

The Iron Bell Pass is the historical remains of Ming Dynasty in the resistance against Japan. Int eh years under the rule of Emporer Jiaqing, Governor Shang Weichi and County Magistrate ?? supervised the construction of this strategic pass in 1557. In the ninth year of Emporer Dao ?? it was changed into a chamber of cultural star (?) which was destroyed later. In 1986, Suzhou People's Government reconstructed the pass and chamber for the tourists to visit.

One of the most interesting things there was a statue of a man in a reclined position, holding his finger out. People were going and rubbing the finger. You could tell that was the thing to do, as the finger was all nice and shiny. I, too, of course, had to get a picture with the yank my finger statue.
At the boats, we all got on one and went for another little boat ride. This time the boat was air-conditioned. We didn't actually go very far, though. A bit pointless if you ask me (I suppose if I had actually understood what was being said by they guides, it would have been a bit more worth my while).
The next stop was just as pointless, if not more so. We all shuffled upstairs in a little non-descript building where we had to find a seat around one of two rooms. We did a tea tasting: basically a thimble full of 3 different types of tea. The woman preparing the tea was, I assume, talking about the type of tea and how to properly make the tea. The room was so hot, even with the air-conditioner on in the corner. I’m not sure what one of the kinds of tea was. It was little mould-like balls/shapes. Not a bad taste, though. Then they were trying to sell different sets of tea, teapots, etc. Once again, everything was very over-priced and no one bought anything.
The last stop was just to see Dragon Hill from a distance. Dragon Hill is a man made hill – a tomb of the founder of Suzhou. On top of the hill is the Yunyan Pagoda, which is leaning about 2 meters from its original position. To actually go into the garden, up to the pagoda, I would have had to pay to get into the park. The guide said that it really isn’t worth it, as the hill is just a plain garden with a pagoda on top. It is just as good to take pictures of it from a distance. I would have gone for it, but was already feeling tired. It was a long day already, and I was all sunned out.
The bus was back to the train station at around 5:30pm.

Lions (Jing'an Temple gate)

The 'male':The 'female' (that is a cub under her paw):

Shanghai Day 3: July 29, 2006

(written July 31, 2006)
I had planned on getting up early to catch a train to Suzhou, but once again, I couldn’t even drag myself out of bed. I guess all that shopping really did wear me out. When I finally did get up, I decided I would hit a couple of the temples around Shanghai.
I started with the Jade Buddha Temple. The temples here all charge an admission fee of 10 Yuan. At the Jade Buddha Temple, they also charge an admission to actually see the famous (white) Jade Buddha, and, of course, don’t allow you to take pictures of it. Everywhere else in the temple complex, and in all of the other temples, you can take pictures. The temple was quite nice to wander around. It was built sometime between 1911 and 1918.
Some pictures from within the temple complex.Jing'an Temple
Then I went to the Jing’an Temple, the Temple of Tranquility. It was originally built in 247 but was partially destroyed, and then turned into a plastics factory during the Cultural Revolution. Since 1999, they have been doing renovations. Just another temple.
Pictures around the Jing'an Temple.I hopped into a taxi for the Yuyuan Gardens and Bazaar, to see the Temple of the Town Gods. I didn’t find the temple, or the garden, but I did find some sort of bazaar, which closed shortly after I got there. I found some great silk shirts that fit me very nicely. I will have to try to find some more similar shirts (or the same shirts in different colors).
Running out of money!!! Not a good thing. I’m doing too much shopping.
I decided to head back to the hotel in order to find something to eat, and to stop shopping. I went down to the hotel’s restaurant. All of the reviews that I read on the hotel said that the restaurant sucked. I gave it a try anyway. The menu didn’t look very appetizing with things like “pig sack” and sharks fin something or other and a bunch of other very nasty sounding dishes. I guess it doesn’t help that I don’t like seafood. I am sure many of the dishes are very good for someone that likes fish/seafood. There were two simple rice dishes. It took them a while to understand my question as to whether or not there was fish or any kind of seafood (like shrimp) in the rice. There isn’t. One is fried rice; the other is soup. I ordered Shanghai Rice, the soup. It is a simple soup broth with mini bok-choi vegetables, mushrooms and rice. VERY delicious. I just happened to order the best thing for me on the menu. Living in Korea has made me really like rice in my soup. Now, whenever I have any kind of soup, I crave rice to put in it.
I went to bed early, as I really wanted to catch a train for Suzhou. I would have to get up around 5 or so in order to catch an early train, so that I would have plenty of time to look around Suzhou.

Shanghai Day 2: July 28, 2006

(written July 31, 2006)
I ended up sleeping in fairly late. I had set my alarm but when it went off, I was so tired, I couldn’t even drag myself out of bed and let myself go back to sleep. When I did finally wake up, I decided I would head for the museum. I didn’t make it far before I went into a few shops and ended up loaded with purchases. I had to head back to my hotel to drop them off, and pick up my backpack, incase I did any more shopping. I headed for the museum, shopping along the way. I went via Nanjing Donglu, which is only a couple of blocks from my hotel, and starts at the Bund. It is one of the main shopping streets in Shanghai.

A long stretch of it is pedestrian only. Tons of clothing, perfumes, silks, and anything else you could think of. I did a little bit of shopping on the way, but decided to hold off until after my museum visit. The museum is in the Renmin (People’s) Square and Renmin Park area. There are several other important buildings there, including the Art Museum and the Shanghai Grand Theatre.
I was at the museum until they closed. I was able to see everything, although the last room I was only able to do a quick walk through. They had a special exhibition on about Assyria. I enjoyed that very much.
The museum is 4 floors, with many different (mostly permanent) galleries: bronze, ceramics, sculptures, calligraphy, painting, seals, furniture, jade, etc. The coin gallery was closed. Oh well.

Detail on a piece of furniture.

They started herding everyone out at 5. I just made it into the little museum bookstore for some post cards before they shut the door. I was the last one they let in.

The front of the museum and some other buildings around the People's Square area.

After the museum, I headed back down Nanjing Donglu. I was hungry so I was trying to find somewhere to eat. I was thinking of just going to McDonalds, as it is always fast and easy. There is a McDonalds on almost every block of the Nanjing Donglu, but most of them only serve ice cream, milkshakes and drinks. As I was wandering along, a couple of Chinese art students started talking to me. I remember when I was in Beijing, a similar thing happened. They were having an art showing and it was the last day. They were from another city in China, and were just there for 3 days. They wanted me to go with them to see their art. I decided why not… I was thinking of looking for some sort of art to buy. The girl spoke English quite well, and really wanted to talk. Their art show was set up in a little room in one of the buildings along the street. Their professor sat at a desk while they took me around the room to talk about the paintings. The girl talked about the meanings of the different pictures. The walls were covered in paintings, all done buy them and their classmates, and a couple by their professor. Then they asked if I wanted to buy any of them, of course. I ended up buying two paintings, coincidentally, one done by each of them (not because they were their paintings, but because they were the paintings that I liked… and I had my eye on them before they told me who painted them). Of course, I had to negotiate a good price. Still, they are some of my most expensive purchases in Shanghai. One is for me; the other is a gift (unless I decide to keep it??).
Still hungry, they suggested a place to eat. It was a little Suzhou Chinese restaurant not far off the main street, where they usually go for lunch. (Suzhou is a small city somewhat near Shanghai. It is also referred to as the “Venice of the East” as it is covered in little canals and waterways.)

The little restaurant.

They took me into the place and helped me pick out my dinner (the menu is only in Chinese, of course) before they had to go. I had a beef noodles dish. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was very good! It was a good meal for only 12Y (less than $2 CAD).

Night views of Nanjing Donglu.

Then I made my way back to my hotel, still doing a bit of shopping on the way. Nanjing Donglu is all lit up at night. The shops close around 9:30pm, and the street is packed until long after that.
It is much easier to find clothing that fits in China than in Korea. It's not that Chinese people are bigger. I'm not sure of the reason, exactly. Several of my Korean friends that are not stick thin often have to order their clothes online, as they have a hard time finding things that fit well. I should look at some pairs of pants or such before I leave, as I know that they are next to impossible for me to find in Korea.
The day exhausted me, and all I did was go to a museum and do a bit of shopping.

Shanghai Day 1: July 27, 2006

(written July 29, 2006)
I had to get up quite early. I left my home just after 7AM. The airport in Seoul sucked. I was there the standard 2 hours early, thinking I could check in, get my return stamp for my VISA and then sit down for some breakfast. Things didn’t quite work out that way. I got there and looked at where I was to check in. I was on the 10:30am Shanghai Air flight to Shanghai. The board said to go to L for Shanghai air. I went there, but the only line-ups were for another airline. There were Shanghai lines with notices saying they would open at 9:30am. I thought that was a bit odd. I went to get my return VISA stamp, and then changed some money. I went back and still nothing. I wandered around a bit, asking people, and they all directed me to L. Finally, around 9:30, someone told me that no, I was supposed to be at E, the Korean Air check in counters, as it was a joint flight, serviced by Korean Air. Why could no one have told me that before all of the asking and wondering and worrying??? So I went to E. They told me I should be at L. Argh. I told them that the counters at L told me I had to be at E. So then they sent me to D, to the Korean Air flight to Japan line-up, which was sooooooooooooooooo long. I waited a while and eventually, at around 5 to 10, they finally realized that I was in a hurry as I was supposed to be boarding around 10:10. Once at the counter it was fine. The window seat I had requested when buying my tickets was not listed, but there was one window seat still open. I then went through the gate to security. I was stopped, as they spotted something in my bag. I had been very careful when packing, to make sure I didn’t put anything in there that wasn’t supposed to be in there. I guess I had missed my little key chain scissors that I had taken off my key chain (I took them off thinking I couldn’t take them on the plane… but I guess they fell into my bag when I was packing). They told me I had to go back out and check in at the L counters. I said, no, I checked in at D. They told me I was wrong. Either way, I had to go back out to check in again. I went straight to D. After talking to a couple of people, they took me to the front of the line, where they put my little scissors into a little check in envelope and off it went. I then got to go through the side gate of the security, to skip the line, as my plane was starting to board already. I made it, at least.
The flight ended up taking off a half hour late, but then was uneventful. They served a hot meal. I’m not sure exactly what it would be called. It had a bread layer, a beef layer with mushrooms, and another bread (onion bread) layer on top, all baked. A bit odd, but not too bad.
At the Shanghai airport, everything was pretty much standard, except I had to go to the carousel to pick up my little envelope. An airport worker lady was standing there holding it, waiting for it to be claimed.
I had to figure out how to get to my hotel. While I was looking at my book, a guy asked me if I needed help. I told him I needed to get to the Metropole Hotel. He said the best way was by bus, as one went right to that area. He directed me in the right direction and told me which gate number to wait for the bus. Once there, I asked a couple of people. They all just shrugged their shoulders and said no. I went onto one bus and asked. A girl spoke English and said the bus I should have been on just left one minute before. She told me the best thing to do would be to get on the next bus, which would take me to the (Renmin) People’s Square, where it was an easy taxi ride to the hotel. I said Okay, as I just wanted to sit down, and get to my hotel. Stress.
The bus dropped me off at the YMCA hotel. I knew it was in the right area, but I had no idea where to go from there. One of the guys from the YMCA hailed me a cab and told the driver where I wanted to be. Finally… my hotel.
Even though I only had my backpack, purse and computer case, the bellboy insisted on putting my bags on the trolley. What ever. I checked in and got to my room.
One of the things that the hotel advertised was complementary Internet in the rooms. I tried to hook up my computer. Problem. They hadn’t put the proper cable in my room, so I had to call down for one. Then, my computer showed that it was connecting to the Net, but I couldn’t log on to the hotel’s system, and still can’t. When I click on Login, all I get is a page saying: “SORRY, REFUSE TO CONNECT! THE REASON IS: THE CHECK OF PORT CAN NOT PASS!” How frustrating. They say it is not the hotel system or the connection that is the problem… it is my computer. That is all they would do. I have to spend 10 Yuan for half an hour use of the Net in the little one computer business center they have in the lobby. I guess that is not so bad, but when I came expecting to be able to hook up my computer in my room, it is a bit disappointing. I’m still trying to figure it out.
I spent around 4 hours trying to figure it out, having them make me move my things to try it in another room, only to move me back when I got the same response.
Finally I decided enough was enough and went out for a bit of wandering. I made my way around one of the little walking tours that my Lonely Planet guide suggested around my area. It was a nice walk, but not so interesting; just buildings to look at. Then I walked along the Bund. The Bund is the street along the river. It is all historical buildings from the 20s? 30s? Very nice. You also have a great view of the Pudong area, where the Pearl Tower is.

The Pearl Tower is a TV tower with big pink balls. The Jinmao Tower, China's tallest building, is the pointy building to the right in the distance. The observation deck of that is on the 88th floor.

After a while wandering up and down the Bund, I headed back to my hotel. After resting for a bit, once it started getting darker, I headed back to the Bund again to see it at night. All of the buildings are lit up, so it is a beautiful place to look around. I had supper at a little Italian restaurant called Ristorante Truffle. I had spaghetti Bolognese. It was very good. I ordered mineral water as my drink. They opened a hug glass bottle of water from Greece or somewhere like that. Why didn’t they give me the smaller bottle?? Strange. I almost finished the bottle, though, so I guess it wasn’t so bad. One of the waiters stopped to chat with me for a bit. He is from the Philippines. He had just gotten back to Shanghai from a 3-month vacation at home. My pasta and water cost me a whole 130 Y… about $18 CAD?? Not cheap, but the foreign food restaurants in Shanghai generally aren't.
After eating, I decided it was time to head back to my hotel. It was already getting late, and I was exhausted. It was a VERY long day.
The exchange rate is about 7 Yuan per $1 (Canadian).