Our first inter-China travel

Our first domestic trip within China was to see the famous Giant pandas. Our friends Tom and Donna were interested in seeing the pandas as much as we were, so we planned a trip to see them when Tom & Donna’s college-age kids were here from the US at the end of January. (Interestingly, both my Chinese tutors were genuinely surprised when I told them that China is the only native place in the world for pandas…other than China the only place they live is in the zoo!)
We hired a well-known travel agency that has a package trip to Chengdu for a long weekend and off we went. We flew from Shanghai to Chengdu, about 3 hours westward. We arrived in Chengdu and went for a traditional Sichuan-style lunch. Sichuan is very spicy, so we had to ask for some less spicy food for Livi and Gigi, but truth be told, we all focused on the less spicy dishes! We’re wimps.
There were 8 of us in total (Joe had an unexpected trip to the US). We piled into the bus (not a mini-van, an actual tour bus, but not the motor-coach kind, more like an 80s-era bus bus.) Off we went to the Chengdu Panda Research Center. As we drove the snow began to fall. It is typically cold in Chengdu in the winter, but it very rarely snows. So we trooped through the research center in the snow, which was actually very peaceful and beautiful. It turned out to be a lot like a zoo, except it was all Giant pandas. And they were so close up, it was amazing. Not like our zoos in the US where everything is far away and behind bars and glass and more glass. They were literally 10-15 feet in front of us munching on bamboo. I think it’s one of the first things we’ve done here in China that really and truly captured Gigi and Livi’s attention, they loved the pandas! And even though pandas are wild animals, there is something about them that is so adorable that you are just delighted to be standing there watching them for as long as the guide will let you. They are the friendliest looking bears!
The next day, Saturday, we hopped on the bus for a 4 hour trip to Woolong Nature Reserve, which is the biggest panda research, breeding and rehabilitation center in China. And it’s up in the mountains. These are all things we knew before we left. What we did not know was that it would be snowing. And that the road up into the mountains is 2 lanes, barely, with very few guardrails, and a sheer 100-300 foot drop off of one side. And that it’s totally normal, commonplace even, for one bus to pass another bus, around a corner, in slippery conditions.
To say that we were all wondering about the wisdom of taking this trip would be an understatement. Everyone had a different reaction to the drama unfolding on the road in front of us. Nick (age 20) stuck his head in a book, Tracie (age 19) moved up to the front of the bus in order to be the one witness who saw the tragic accident unfold, and Livi and Gigi and Cari (age 12) watched a movie on a portable DVD player. Tom, Donna and I were alternately awed by the scenery and the shacks and terraces where people were carving out an existence, and appalled by the driving moves we saw on the road. More than a few “oh shits” came out of our mouths as cars, vans, and busses skimmed by each other.
We were GREATLY relieved to arrive in Woolong at the hotel. And then we stepped out of the bus into the -4 degree weather (that’s about 24 degrees F). We knew ahead of time that the hotel does not heat the entire place in the winter (considered a waste of energy when there are not very many visitors), and we also knew that they would provide space heaters and electric blankets for our individual hotel rooms. Knowing that is different than stepping into the lobby of the hotel and realizing it might actually be colder than outside! The hotel was the only one in the village, and the restaurant attached to the hotel was also the only one in the village.
We went over to the restaurant for our lunch and had the disturbing discovery that the restaurant was not heated either. It’s a bad sign when the fountain and pond INSIDE a restaurant are covered in ice. We sat around our table, bundled in ski jackets, hats, gloves, and scarves, with hand warmers in our pockets. And let me tell you, it is not possible to eat with chopsticks while wearing gloves. Nor is it possible to get the food off the lazy susan, onto your own plate and into your mouth before it gets cold when it’s -4 degrees. We all ate very quickly and reported back to our guide, ready to go to the Panda Center. We were excited about this panda center because part of the tour was getting to do an hour of volunteer work with the pandas. We had no idea what we’d be doing, but it is such a rare opportunity to interact with these animals that we were game for whatever.
We get to the Panda center and check-in. I don’t know much Chinese, especially in Sichuan province, but even I know what “tai da le” means, especially when accompanied by giggles behind the hand. It means “too big”, and they were referring to our friend Tom, who is 6’5”. For volunteer work we were required to wear mechanic-like overalls, and as you can imagine, they did not have one single pair of overalls that would fit him. But they decided he couldn’t go on without it, so they literally shoved him into the overalls. The poor guy! The pants legs only came down about 4 inches below his knees, and he had to hunch over because the overalls were about 6 inches too short between his shoulders and his crotch. We were in tears laughing as this well-known Chinese panda researcher shoved Tom into these overalls.
Decked out in our overalls we went out into the research center. This center also looked like a little like a zoo, but many of the enclosures are built directly into the side of the mountain and are huge, so they retain the natural habitat the pandas would be used to. They split us up into pairs and sent us off in different directions with a researcher.

Cari (Tom & Donna’s 12 year old niece) and I hit the jackpot. We went with the researcher who was supervising the monthly weigh-in of the mama pandas. The cool thing about this is that they have to take the panda cubs out of their enclosure to get the mama bear to come to the scale. We were literally a foot away from 3 month old panda cubs. We were not allowed to touch, but still, to be that close and hear their noises and see how playful they are was just amazing. Our poor friends Tom, Donna, Nick and Tracie got the raw end of the deal. They cleaned panda poop out of enclosures…sometimes having to crawl on their hands and knees through blackberry bushes to get to the area where the pandas like to do their business. This was the second time on the trip where people seriously wondered why we paid for this experience, but the best was yet to come…
Sunday morning dawns as cold as ever, and snowing again. We eat a very quick and cold breakfast, only to discover that the bus won’t start. They are going to try a few different things to get it started, so we all congregate in one hotel room, combining all of our spaceheaters. Even with all our space heaters in one room, we sat around playing cards with our coats on. 2 hours later our guide comes in to report that she called the local mechanic, but he’s already left on holiday for Chinese New Year. So her next plan is that we ride the public bus that comes by. We are all game because we really do not want to spend another day in this freezing cold hotel. Then our guide says to us, “I’m just afraid that you might not like the public bus. You see, the people are local Tibetan people and they are very poor, and they smell like butter and Yak.” OK, see if you can keep a straight face when someone tells you you are getting on a bus with a bunch of people who smell like butter and Yak!!! Not possible.
At noon, when the public bus is scheduled to come, we all troop out to the road to wait. At 12:15 our guide delivers the bad news that the bus isn’t coming today. Apparently the driver is also on holiday and the Sunday route just isn’t running. Huh. So we go back to the room and huddle around the heaters while she continues making phone calls. An hour later, she summons us outside to the two mini-vans she has found. These are not your typical mini-vans, they are easily 15-20 years old, and they are very skinny, definitely only two people per bench seat. And one of the mini-vans has a huge puddle of oil leaking under it. We all pile into the two vans and the driver shuts the sliding door. And then he shuts it again, and again and again. The door will not latch closed. After about 12 tries he just leaves it and climbs in the driver seat. Our guide sits next to the door and holds it closed and off we go. To say that we went careening down a mountain would be totally and completely accurate. Tracie devised a song in her head titled “Arrive Alive”. Sheer terror led to laughter as our mini-van darted in and out and around other cars and buses. Despite a traffic jam in a tunnel (which, eerily, was only partially complete), we made it down the mountain to another bus that the company had sent for us. Eventually we made it back to the Chengdu airport at 5:30, the culmination of a day that had begun at 7am. We gratefully went into the airport’s KFC restaurant and ordered chicken sandwiches. (Did I mention that we had been living on granola bars and peanuts since breakfast because the restaurant wasn’t set up to feed us lunch?) Just as we thought things were back under control, the orange drinks that we ordered with our sandwiches were delivered to the table, PIPING HOT. ????? Ah, as we like to say here when there is nothing left to say…TIC (This is China).

A Tale of Two Parties

Joe was invited to two different Intel holiday parties here in Shanghai. The first was the business group he belongs to and was hosted at the Paulaner Brewhaus. It was very similar to the Intel parties we have attended in the US, with a buffet dinner (western and Chinese food), a band, and door prizes. But there were some dead give-aways that this was a Chinese party. The first thing is the party invitation. The email sent out (which Joe forwarded to me) said all the usuals about date, time, place, but then it had a line that said "Dress Code" followed by the words sexy, high heels, short dresses. So that should have been our first clue that we are no longer living in the world of ultra-political correctness. (BTW - for those of you reading my other recent blogs, this is the fateful party for which I ventured into the stores to buy a dress.) Another give-away is that there was, of course, karaoke. And there was a drinking contest. For those of you not well-versed in Chinese culture, drinking and ceremony are essential components of parties and banquets. This, combined with the need to save face, results in some very drunk people! I have heard from some Shanghainese friends that at Chinese weddings the bride and groom are required to go to every table and toast “Gambei!” (which means bottoms-up). I surely would have passed out if this had been required at my own wedding! Anyway, I digress. This first party we went to felt like a combination of western and eastern, which makes sense when you think about it being an Intel party in China.
Now, the second party we went to was for the entire Intel campus in Shanghai and it was done in traditional Chinese banquet style. There were so many people we took up 2 floors of a 5 floor restaurant. We sat at round tables with the lazy-susan in the middle and had a waitress who served our table. There was a stage and there was planned entertainment for the entire evening. They had 2 mc’s, one Chinese speaking and the other English speaking, but the majority of the evening was of course in Chinese. This presented a little problem for us, not because we didn’t understand what was being said, but because we couldn’t LOOK like we didn’t understand. You see, long before we came to China we were friends with Tom and Donna Rampone. Tom is now a VP at Intel, and a nicer guy you will never meet, so titles are mostly irrelevant to him when it comes to friendships (as far as I can tell.) But here in China where titles are paramount, he is known as “the big boss”. And of course he sits at the first table in front of the stage, and since there are cameras at this party panning the room, they frequently focus on the head table. Because we knew Tom and Donna before China, and because the admins were kind enough to group all the English-speakers together, we were sitting at the head table. So there we were, pasting a pleasant smile on our faces, trying to look interested in the numerous speeches and toasts so that when the camera swung around, we did not look like idiots. It’s a lot of pressure! I have new sympathy for the celebrities sitting around at the Golden Globes.
But the entertainment for this evening was really great. They had a Chinese opera performer, a comedian, 2 different sets of dancing troupes, awards, and of course a singing contest. Interestingly enough, the singing contest wasn’t actually planned. They had some dead space, and since the entire evening is focused on what’s happening on the stage, they had to fill it. They just asked for volunteers from the audience to come up for a singing contest. And amazingly, 12 different people went up there and participated! Maybe that would also happen in America, but I just can’t conceive of that many people voluntarily jumping up on stage in front of co-workers and singing.
So during all the many different performances on the stage, there were children everywhere. At first it was just one or two kids creeping up towards the stage. Then it was about a dozen of them. And their parents all remained seated. Then more kids came, until there were easily about 25 kids talking, shouting, and milling about the front of the stage. Then they started to get restless, so they ran around in front of the stage. And THEN, a few of them got bold and decided it looked like more fun up on the stage. They climbed up the steps and just wandered around the stage while the two MCs were announcing and giving out awards. And all the while, not a parent in sight. It didn’t even phase any of the Chinese folk, while of course everyone at our table was guffawing over the way the children were running around like little hooligans. There is definitely a different standard here! Finally one of the MCs bribed the kids with chocolate to get them off the stage.
It was our first Chinese banquet, the food and the entertainment were good, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, despite being on camera.

I'm in a shopping nightmare

All ladies, listen up! If you ever wanted inspiration to hit the gym, move to China...and then try to go shopping for clothes.
I have not managed to work-0ut since we've moved to China other than the bike trips to Gigi's school, but finally after New Year's eve I started dragging my butt to the gym. And in reality, the only reason I went was because I realized that we were going on a vacation in New Zealand in a month and I will have to wear a bathing suit. (What, exactly, I thought I could change about my body in one month at the gym is a mystery to me.)

Anyway, it turns out that New Zealand and a bathing suit is the least of my problems. The day after I hit the gym for the first time, I had to go shopping for a dress for Joe's work party that is next week.
OH MY GOD. I live in a country of little tiny stick-people! Intellectually, I knew this, and I see it everywhere. But it's different to go into the stores when you HAVE to find something to buy. I even made a point of going shopping at a couple stores that I know carry "bigger" sizes. In the US I am a size 8 or 10. Here in China, I had to shimmy, shake, and squeeze my way into the dresses labeled US 10, Eur 40! So after the first trip to the dressing room with 2 dresses in size 10 I had to surrender and get the size 12. OK, if this was just a number game it would be depressing, but I could get over it.

But it's not just about the size, it's also about the style these Chinese women can pull off. The dress style that is "in" right now in China (no idea if it's also "in" in the States or not) is the very very short shapeless shift dress, or very very short fitted sweater dress. Either way, if you are anything but a stick, you look ridiculous. In the shift dress I looked like I was wearing a sack and in the fitted sweater dress I looked like a sausage!
And did I mention that if you ask for a bigger size than what's on the rack the sales-people don't even ask what bigger size, they just look at you sadly and shake their heads? Ugh.

But, in case anyone out there was wondering, I finally found out who looks good in skinny jeans. Chinese women. There's one fashion mystery solved.

Talk to you soon, I'm off to the gym...