Chinese New Year on the Bund

My trip to Shanghai went fairly smoothly for the most part. The Airport Express subway took longer than expected so I actually only arrived with a few minutes to spare for checking in and all that. I forgot how fantastic domestic travel is since I've only done it once before. I went through security one time and then just wandered in the airport waiting for my flight and was able to grab my bag and walk right out with no disturbances. I arrived about 15 minutes before my friends so I waited for them in the arrival hall and then we took a taxi to our hostel. We had no plans for the trip only that we had a few things that we wanted to see at some point. The first night was new year's eve so we walked around Nanjing road and got some Yoshinoya take-out and then went to see the fireworks and the Pudong skyline on the Bund.





One day we took the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel over to the Pudong side which was a totally cheesey experience but I loved it. There isn't much in Pudong but we went over to see the Jinmao building. We were there in the afternoon so the bar on the top floor (87th) wasn't open but there was a restaurant on the 86th floor in the Hyatt so we got some wonton soup and steamed buns.

One night we wandered around the French Concession area and then went to see an acrobatic show. I definitely liked it better than the one in Beijing since it wasn't nearly as cheesey. The costumes and the staging were much simpler which allowed the acrobatics to be the focus instead of the strange bird costumes and awkward poses in the Beijing show.

Another day we went to the YuYuan bazaar and garden. This was by far the best part of the trip and really the only thing that excited me in three days.

The bazaar was a labyrinth of small alleyways with food stalls (soup buns!) and other vendors that was so hard to navigate because it was completely packed with people.



The garden was really stunning with little ponds and fish and all kinds of interesting architecture and rock gardens.

Shanghai Noon!

I just bought a $100 return flight from Beijing to Shanghai for Chinese New Year. When I ring in the year of the ox at midnight the night of the 25th (noon in North America) I will be in Shanghai trying not to be burnt by roman candles and ridiculously unsafe fireworks. I cannot wait to see children lighting fireworks with cigarettes in the middle of the streets and the Bund (the popular area in Shanghai) all aglow. I am meeting a girl who works at another campus at my school and her boyfriend at the hostel in Shanghai which means that I have to drag my ass there by myself. It's funny because I've flown internationally quite a few times for 13-14 hr flights and I am equally as nervous for a little two-hour journey. I also have my ticket in hand for Harbin on Valentine's weekend which I am totally excited about. It's in northern China by the border to Russia and is apparently ridiculously cold this time of year. I will be layering up and looking for the nearest ice bar once I get off of the plane! Happy year of the ox everyone! One more day of work and if I'm lucky and all my kids go home it will only be a half day!!!

Beijing Breakfast

In Beijing it's very popular for locals to eat a breakfast crepe called "jian bing" in the morning (or really any time of the day for that matter). For example, there was a cart on the street Saturday night at about 1am selling jian bing for about 50 cents. It's a large, thin crepe with double egg, parsley, scallions, hot sauce and some other sauces painted on and then this crispy fried "thing" is wrapped up in the middle of it. I'm not sure what the fried thing is if it's just noodle dough or something like that. Overall they are pretty tasty. I got one at the bottom of mutianyu a couple months ago. I found it a little salty and a little too rich but it was "howcher" (delicious) nonetheless.
Look on youtube for a video of how they are made...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxmkgglG71I

A note on mandarins...

I don't know about you, but part of what signals Christmas time in Canada beyond the crisp snow smell in the air and the gaudy light displays, is an abundance of mandarin oranges that flood grocery stores in December. Nothing says Xmas season to me like seeing those crates of oranges that are so sweet they seem sinful. Naturally, coming to China I was psyched to find these little orbs of wonder all over the place! Why, even in Korea I remember noting an influx of mandarin oranges around December, minus the wooden crates. While there are oranges here--many, many kinds of oranges, there aren't those little wooden boxes full of oranges. Yes, I know that the boxes facilitate trans-continental shipping but really, it just isn't the same without them. Also, there are either really large oranges, ones that are slightly larger than the mandarins I'm used to, or these little tiny ones that have leaves attached and roll off of all the grocery store shelves. The little ones taste exactly like mandarins but they are 1/2-2/3 the size and come with leaves! They are so small it takes more effort to peel them than to eat them! (They are probably the size of a ping-pong ball). I guess these will have to suffice in filling the void of the missing mandarins...

I Rock My Hot Pot...

Last night I went for my weekly Wednesday night dinner to a hot point joint in my neighbourhood called "I Rock My Hot Pot." It was only the second time I've been for hot pot in China and it didn't disappoint. I have to admit, though, I still yearn for Korean shabu shabu which was far and away better than anything that I've had in Beijing.

Anyhoo, "I Rock My Hot Pot" has a condiment bar overflowing with oils and sauces and spices for diners to concoct their own dipping sauce which was really too overwhelming for me. I'm simple of mind and simple at heart sometimes and really I just longed for the wasabi/soy combo that we got in Korea. I made myself a garlic peanut sauce that had a variety of others sauces and herbs mixed in. I chose a mushroom broth that boiled rapidly in my own personal little hot pot. My friends and I split a mixed greens platter, shitake mushrooms, yam noodles, tofu paper,some root called Sukinyuku or something, and OSTRICH meat! Although it all sounds bizarre, it was delightfully normal and surprisingly palatable. I rocked that hot pot, that's for sure.

I've also been doing a little bit of cooking over the holidays which means that I have gained a dress size just in time for new year's resolutions! I had eggs benedict on New Years Day and I made a broccoli pasta bake with some leftover frozen broccoli and some chocolate chip cookies and banana bread to take into work.

For those of you curious, I'm planning on taking pictures (when I remember) of my lunches at work. The school gives us lunch that we pay 100kwai a month for (5 kwai a day which is about $1). Here's one pic of chicken drumsticks and a mushroom and bok choy stirfry over rice--that lunch was much tastier than some of the tofu concoctions that come my way!

Stay tuned...

Happy New Year, Happy New You...

Happy New Year Everyone.

I'd like to say that I did something very exciting to rush in the new year in Beijing like sleeping outside at the Great Wall and watching the sun rise in 2009 before North Americans did. Sadly, I came down with a cold the day of my cooking course and was lame and outta commission for most of my holiday. Bummed out and mucousy, I spent the night reflecting on 2007-8, a very tumultuous and intense time in my life, while trying not to have a nervous breakdown about the prospects of 2009.

While everyone older than me can calmly state, "You're young, travel now," I am starting to feel that swift push towards middle age with every shrivelling egg and gray hair that I find. I fear I am on my way to becoming an old lady with cats, minus the cats thanks to an adoption attempt in the fall that didn't work out. Now all I need to do is take up knitting again, join Lavalife, and live in my parents' basement in the middle of nowhere. There is a short window of time after uni when quarter-life crises abound, yet being penniless and without a career path is acceptable. Then, in the blink of a hangover-induced crusty eye, you find yourself alone, with the prospect of cats, a mountain of debt and a bitter chip, nay block, upon your ever-fattening shoulder. Not only does the debt seem to increase, but so do the number of grays, wrinkles, exes, enemies, jean sizes, and false hopes. And to top it all off, you probably wake up to friends that are in pre-marital bliss, playing home in their new Toronto condo palaces or enjoying that wonderful period of engagement, toting rocks and glowing hearts. I now ask myself every day, "What the hell happened to me?!" and "Where the hell am I going besides a quick trip to the bitter farm?!"

One would think that the Fengshui in Asia would sort a girl out but sadly, this chick is too hard to crack. You can go around the world and still have to face your demons, only in translation. And while handling things that are ridiculously difficult overseas only helps to make things ridiculously easy when returning home, I'm starting to wonder what kind of damage all this does to one's nerves. They say one "trick" is to face your fears but how much fear is normal? And can you ever really change that much? We talk about it in terms of leopards and animals that don't change their spots, usually referring to my exes--uh, I mean men who cheat--but I can't help but think that I will never really change. Sure, I can leave the house without day-long pep talks like I required through most of my younger days, and I can eat bananas and hard-boiled eggs, but I'm still a fearful girl clinging to the leg of anyone that I can find, more than willing to let you talk for me.

I am now in month 5 of my 10-month contract in Beijing and am trying to decide what to do next. I am now strongly considering (about 70% decided) Japan as the next stop on my Glutton for Punishment fear tour. So now, I am frantically trying to "get shit done" and see China before I leave--I've still not left Beijing and barely seen any of the city for that matter. If I leave I plan on coming back with a backpack and camera full of memory. If you know me, you also know that I am as flighty as can be, a true carrier of my nickname "Cindy so Windy," and will probably change my mind with my underwear tomorrow. However, for the time being that is what I am pondering.
On my itinerary for things to see in China before I leave are:
-the rest of Beijing including Temple of Heaven, Tianamen (I know, silly that I haven't stood and taken pics yet), Forbidden City, see an opera in the Egg
-Datong and the Hanging Monastery, plus the grottoes nearby if time allows
-Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an (a weekend any time)
-Harbin Snow Fest (hopefully Feb. 13-15)
-Inner Mongolia desert trip and camel/jeep tour (hopefully May 1st-3rd)
-Guilin gum drop mountains
-all of Yunnan province (maybe during Chinese New Year)
-Shanghai
-etc, etc!!!
-I also want to go to Taipei. Not sure why, but I've wanted to go since Korea and would like to actually get to do it.

SIGH. Tough life, such hard decisions. What's a girl to do?!
I can order anything in Beijing and pretty much make whatever I want happen...now if I could only find Dial-a-mate...dial-a-raise...dial-a-beneficiary...