It's all in the name

EtonHouse has a practice of putting each student's picture followed by his name on the classroom's door. In the Chinese division class that's beside mini-b's, there are a couple of names that caught our attention. 3 boys named Sunny, Grace, ....and my favourite is, Leakey. I feel sorry for that kid.


microbeanie is 4 months & 3 weeks old
minibeanie is a 2.5 year old toddler

Beijing Trip

The trip to Beijing was a really nice getaway. We stayed at a boutique hotel that was within walking distance to Tiananmen located in a quiet street amidst hutongs and local eateries. With only 3 full days in the city, all we could really do was the mandatory tourist sights - Forbidden City, Great Wall & Temple of Heaven.

Having an ice cream break in the Imperial Garden, Forbidden City

Then, there were of course the evenings where we hunted down Beijing's famous ducks. The first evening, we went to the almost obligatory QuanJuDe (全聚德) where the dish is supposed to originate in the late 1800s. We even headed to the original shop (there are now several branches ;) where the old shopfront was preserved. Despite the wait of 50min, even though we got there at 5:30pm, it was well worth it as the Peking Duck was the best I'd ever eaten. There was none of that heavy layer of fat that I'd come to associate with Peking Ducks eaten in Singapore or Chengdu. Instead, its skin was crispy and the chef had nicely included a sliver of meat. All in, I could eat a whole lot of it without feeling guilty! :D

minibeanie's favourite dish of the house was its liver (盐水鸭肝). It was tasty & soft... quite unlike the overboiled chicken liver pieces sold in Singapore's chicken rice stalls. Again, I could finish off the whole plate if it wasn't for the nagging voice in my head that tells me preggies shouldn't be eating too much liver for their Vitamin A :P

Other dishes we tried were their deboned webbed feet dipped in a wasabi-like radish sauce (芥末鸭掌) as well as fried duck hearts (火燎鸭心). Both were good but weren't in the same league as their Peking Duck or liver.

The other duck restaurant we tried was Da Dong (大董), a new-age restaurant that married tradition with avant garde blending of flavours & serving. The tradition I was referring to was what they're famous for - Peking Ducks roasted in a good old fashioned wood-fired oven. The new age twist in their menu was in the way they served some of their appetizers or dishes - 3 little mouthfuls of appetizers on a long plate, soup in a martini glass... u get the idea. Well, we stuck to their Peking Duck and liver since that was our first visit. Again, the food did not disappoint :)

So, if anyone wants to try the best Peking Ducks in Beijing, here's an article written in Chinese on the Best 5 places to have the duck in Beijing. Otherwise, print out the addresses at the bottom and show it to your concierge to make the reservations 3 days ahead.

全聚德 (no reservation taken; dinner queue starts at 4:30pm -no kidding!)
崇文区前门大街32号

大董
东城区东四十条甲22号南新仓国际大厦1-2楼(东四十条桥西南)
Tel: 010-51690329 51690328


minibeanie is 1 year, 10 months, 1 week & 2 days old
microbeanie is 25 weeks 1 day in utero

One year on

Today marks the anniversary of the 8.0 earthquake that devastated so many lives in Sichuan. Read the blog's posts on the earthquake here.

According to China Daily, more than 87000 people are dead or missing and by an official estimate, more than 5000 children. I feel so blessed that we escaped unscathed from the quake.... if we have a moment to spare in our busy schedules, let us pause, reflect and pray.

Emei getaway

Our weekend trip to Mount Emei was wonderful. We arrived on Saturday at our hotel nearly 2pm. We decided to hit the road for the summit almost immediately because of a natural phenomenon that was supposed to take place between 3 and 4pm - the sea of clouds (云海). And it was just as well because our driver took an hour to bring us to 2700m. From there to the summit of 3079m, it was to be a 1.5 km hike followed by a 2 minute cable car ride to the Golden Summit (金顶).

Dada carried minibeanie on the baby carrier when we began the climb. The air was moist as the entire mountain was enveloped in clouds - we were walking in clouds! Unfortunately, that also meant we couldn't see much beyond. So much for for the 'sea of clouds'. Thankfully though, it was cool because soon we were huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf. Excellent cardio workout! I have to add that dada was complaining of sore knees and our friend was feeling faint while the slight expectant lady in the group was still rather sprightly after the hike :D

The cable car ride was nice although it passed in a haze - literally! :D We arrived at the Golden Summit without too much time to spare as the last ride was at 6pm :( Ascending a long flight of steps, we were met by the world's highest golden Buddha, Puxian. It stands at 48m tall with a weight of 660 tons. The 10 head sculptures in 10 directions of Puxian signify the boundless practices and wishes of Puxian. At the summit was also the monastery that was founded as early as 1st century AD. I wish we had time to explore the place a lot more leisurely and read up on its history!!

Quite amazingly, we were the only the only foreigners around. And of course, minibeanie always gets the attention of all the ladies.

Puxian shrouded in clouds on our ascend

Clearer weather on our descent

The mission for next day was Good Tea Hunting. We went tea tasting at the renowned Emei Xueya 峨眉雪芽 (Snow bud of Emei? Transliteration is always a tricky if not hilarious affair ;) and after that, found our way to another company which had a tea plantation in the vicinity. Zhuye Qing's 竹叶青 ("Green bamboo leaves") tea plantation/tea house/museum grounds were beautifully landscaped in the traditional Chinese style. All in, we tasted and bought some great green tea only grown in Sichuan.

There are altogether 6 categories of tea with green tea being the least processed and not in the least fermented. [Green tea, 绿茶, is not to be confused with another category of 'green' tea that is fermented 青茶). Green tea has to be made with 85C water - too hot and its essential oils evaporate thus changing its taste. Green tea shouldn't be steeped unlike black tea as the first and second brew have the most delicate of flavours. Subsequent brews would result in a slightly bitter palate. The type of vessel is also important. One has to use either glass or porcelain with the former preferred as the unfurling and dancing tea leaves are a visual treat by itself.

A couple of months ago, I was so keen to learn about tea that I bought a Chinese book on tea! ... along with a Chinese dictionary ;D I realized that there was a real dearth of knowledge among the English literature on Chinese tea. All the books on tea I found on Amazon were superficial in depth and nothing more than glossy picture books. Perhaps I should research and write a book on Chinese tea :) I wonder if there's interest in this topic...


minibeanie is 1 year, 9 months, 2 weeks & 2 days old
microbeanie is 21weeks 6days in utero

Getting away

My advice to any would-be parents is, "get away before your whole life changes!" And I was really glad we went to Buenos Aires in my 20th week before minibeanie came along (in fact, it was somewhere above Brazil when I felt the first definitive kick from minibeanie). Two years on, just when we get comfortable with the toddler routine, we feel that our world is about to be rocked again.

[deep breaths]

There's no time like the present so we thought we should make some holiday plans in the next 3 months. First stop. Mount Emei (峨眉山). We'd been pathetically sequestered in Chengdu city for a year, so besides claiming to have seen the pandas, we should add 1 of China's most sacred Buddhist mountains to our list. After all, it's 'merely'* 150km away.

Like many of our trips here, the impetus was a friend visiting. Thus, this weekend, I've arranged for us a driver and his car to be our chauffeur for the 1.5 day trip. Accommodation has been booked in a 5* hotel at the foot of the mountain with hot springs. Unfortunately, I won't be able to partake in the hot springs but I'm hoping that we get some magnificent views at the summit, visit Emei's famous tea plantation (峨眉雪芽) and visit some monasteries, supposedly the birthplace of Shaolin martial arts.

Can't wait!


* no distance is near enough with a toddler!


minibeanie is 1 year, 9 months, 1 week & 5 days old
microbeanie is 21 weeks 2 days in utero

Behind the Great (Fire)wall of China

Last year, we posted our frustration-then-triumph at having overcome China's firewall. To date, like so many inconveniences or quirks to put it mildly, it hasn't bothered me too much. Blogspot was once blocked and so was wikipedia but with the Olympics in August, they were suddenly accessible again. Recently, the Chinese threatened to block Google if it does not remove objectionable sites from its search engine. Good grief!!

I don't understand how the Chinese bureaucrats decide which websites should be blacklisted. Pornography...yes. Proponents for a free Tibet..yup. Sympathizers for an independent Taiwan... I think so too. Pediped.com, a US children's shoe company?? Unbelievable but true. I can't access Pediped unless it's through a proxy server.

And here's another incredible example. Valleyfarm.com.au - an accommodation at Australia's Yarra Valley. Go figure. I wonder how does a website make into China's infamous blacklist? Pencil pushing bureaucrats deciding they don't like its name? Throwing the dice? Spinning the bottle? Forgive me for my cynicism but its arbitrariness baffles me. Actually, the reality is that I've stopped wondering the whys, wherefores, hows etc. Many things in this country are done contrary to common sense (which goes to show it isn't that 'common' after all) so it's just easier to shrug it away with what a friend said the other day, "TIC - This is China".


minibeanie is 1 year, 5 months & 2 week old

Different takes on privacy

Our concept of privacy is culturally tinged. What is sacrosanct or impolite may not be viewed by someone else in a different culture. I've lost count of the number of times a 'well meaning' person on the street has remarked that minibeanie ought to put on a pair of shoes or socks. Nevermind that it's sweltering summer in May and June. I used to reply politely that "it's ok, he's not cold" but there had also been moments when I retorted, "it's no business of yours". Not proud of those times but really, it's NOYBB! More often these days though, I play dumb and not dignify it with a reply.

Privacy, or the sphere of personal space, is a cultural thing. It's a well-known joke that when an Arab and a Finn is standing in a conversation, the pair will 'dance' around the room. The Arab with his much smaller notion of personal space will inch towards the Finn. Then the Finn, who is known for not even wanting to see his neighbour's cottage while in his own, will inch away from the Arab. Hence, the dance. Joke/anecdote aside, I've had many strangers besides proffering their advice, pinch or touch minibeanie. I appreciate the compliment but he's not a slab of pork in Carrefour to be tested for freshness.

The latest incident that spark this tirade is receiving a mail from Haagen Dazs' marketing department. I signed up as a member online but I did not recall anywhere where I check I want to be kept notified of Haagen Dazs promotions. No biggie because there's the "delete" button. But what really raised my heckles was the moron who put everyone's email address on the cc list. My email is private and even though, in all probability most people on that list do not give a hoot who I am, I still don't appreciate my email address being circulated out in the open. And no, there isn't even an 'unsubscribe' line in the mail. This will NOT be happening in Europe or the US so perhaps in a densely populated country of 1 billion, the concept of privacy is a foreign one.

minibeanie is 11 months & 1 week old

grumbles

There are many challenges on living in China. Here are some of the recent incidents that had me tearing my hair in frustration, surrendering or just plain amused -

• a transfer from our Singapore bank account to our account in China of the same bank has taken more than a week to effect. The reason? The transfer form listed only 1 of the account holders as beneficiary. Hellooo? does anyone in China know what a JOINT account means?
• a friend booked both the BBQ areas in our condo for a big party one friday. On the day itself, it was discovered that 1 of the areas had been mistakenly double-booked. This came as no surprise because the management office's booking system was crap. Bookings were all manually written on a piece of paper based on when the booking was made rather than when the booking was for.
• to be kind to the landlord, instead of banging a couple of nails into the walls to hang our pictures, we used 3M's wall hangers which can be removed without removing the paint as well. Well, not so sure if we did any good because when we cleaned the wall with an alcohol swab to rid it from minute particles, we cleaned off a good layer of paint as well! :D so much for Chinese paint....
• paying for items in departmental stores entail taking a bar-coded tag to the cashier, paying for it, then taking the receipt with the tag back to the sales lady where your item is located Before she would hand over your purchase. It's such a Soviet style convoluted process.
• DH was playing ball with minibeanie one evening when he bounced the ball in our living room. No biggie except that the bounce managed to implode the sealant between the floor tiles. There's now a 3cm long gap between the tiles. Chinese quality.
• there's only ONE model of baby gate in the whole of China. I kid you not.
  

minibeanie is 10 months, 4 weeks & 1 day old

The not-so Great Firewall of China

Freedom!! Freedoooomm!!!

It took us only a few surfing sessions to realize that something was seriously wrong. Wikipedia didn't send any data, and mommy was unable to access minibeanie's blog.

A quick check with mr Google reminded us of the 'Great Firewall of China'. Seems to be true. They _try_ to block some sites.

Well, let me direct you next to a nice open-source project called 'Tor' (The Onion Router), which encrypts traffic and uses relay nodes all over the world to exit to the internet from random locations.

This blog entry is proof that it works. Blogger thought we were in Germany, as the Tor network chose Gunzenhausen to exit the encrypted space to the open internet.

Big thanks to the open-source projects! Tor is now installed on all our machines, likewise OpenVPN will be.

(posted by daddy)

minibeanie is 7 months, 1 week and 4 days old