China 2009 - 2

12 Feb 2009.


After flying from Beijing to Kunming we picked up our luggage, met YQ at the airport, and then caught another flight to Jinghong. We were on our way to Xishuangbanna.

Something is lost in translation I'm sure, but how would you feel if you were taking a flight on "Lucky Air" airline?






Here's something I've never seen on another airline - sponsorship/advertising on the overhead bin doors.












The inflight magazine was also very different compared to others I've seen. I'm not sure I'll be buying a perfume called, "Completely Woman Smell."










This article would not make it through censorship in the states. I'm sure there is a lot of relevant medical information, but . . . .












this illustration would definitely not make the cut.












Xishuangbanna airport is pretty small compared to the other airports I traveled through in China. When we left Beijing the temperature was about 32°F (0°C), but we were definitely in the tropical climate here with temps in the high 80's (F).





I was pretty surprised to find that the lights in the terminal were turned off (this pic is from the baggage area), but I found out fairly quickly that electricity is conserved throughout southern China. If there is any amount of daylight streaming in from the windows, lights are turned off or dimmed.

Hotel room lights are also very subdued with about 25 to 40 watt light bulbs in the lamps.



I snapped this photo to show the use of the brooms used for cleaning the sidewalks and streets. I saw so many people doing this activity and was totally amazed about how efficient it is for keeping an area free of debris. In the states you see landscape and city workers with noisy, gas-powered blowers. This low-tech solution is just as fast, is quiet, gives someone some real exercise, and doesn't pollute or use up fossil fuels. Hello, America? What are we doing to ourselves????

The woman that is in the long dress is from the Dai ethnic group. The women wear lovely dresses. I don't know if this woman was an airport worker or was arriving to meet a passenger.




Here's the bartering for a taxi ride to our hotel. I think we were overcharged for most of these kinds of services. Jim, Sean, and I were about the only Caucasians to be seen for this geographic area during our visit.









Xishuangbanna isn't a major hub, but there seemed to be a lot of traffic through here the day we arrived.












Here's our first botanical example that we were in a tropical region - Bauhinia in bloom in the airport parking lot.







The ride from the airport to our hotel gave us our first taste of what driving in southern China is like. Everyone drives with their horns blowing constantly. I compiled a video of the ride for you to get a sense of what it's like to drive. I'll have some more videos to post later on.







When we arrived at the "Good Chance Hotel," there was a wedding photo shoot going on near the entrance. Note the hoop slip under the dress.

So, we flew on Lucky Air and stayed at the Good Chance Hotel. I thought we should have played the lottery while we were in the area.








The lobby of the hotel was dark. This takes some getting used to, but, after a few days, it seemed pretty normal to be in dimmed rooms.










Meanwhile, the photo shoot continues outside. I loved the floral decoration of the car.














Here's another view of the decorated car.









None of the hotel desk staff spoke English, so it was really great that we had YQ to translate and navigate the details. The hotels require a deposit before you can get your room key. Their credit card connection wasn't working, so we had to pay cash up front.

I'm not sure if the red lanterns are up all year round, but these seemed to be there to celebrate the Chinese New Year.







This is the view from my room. I dropped off my luggage and then we reconvened in the lobby to go explore the neighborhood and to look for a restaurant.


One thing that is very different about China compared to America is the way merchandise is sold. We're used to shopping malls, shopping centers, and mega grocery stores in our urban areas. Big cities such as Beijing have similar arrangements in some areas, but in the rural south commerce is still done the way it might have been 30 years ago or more throughout China. Individual shops are lined along the street, most of which are open via a roll-down door at the front of the stall. There may be living quarters at the back of the store.

Every sort of store lines the streets. I have a lot of pics to post later that show some of the diversity of goods and stores, but here is a snapshot from the area around our hotel in Jinghong.




The first thing that caught my eye were these woodcarvings from the burl of some tropical tree. The shop was dark so I didn't wander in, but I think that is the norm for a lot of the shops. The only light going in was from the open door in the front.









Sean needed a memory card for his camera, so YQ went in to another store that was all lit up to ask about where he might find a camera shop.








The guy looking through the curtain is not witnessing a peep show. That was the internet cafe.












Some of the upscale shops had lights and windows, but all of the front openings, whether glazed or not, had garage-style doors that were closed at night.










I'm not sure if this was a shop or just some laundry hung out to dry.













I loved seeing all the two and three-wheeled modes of transportation.













Many of these bikes and trikes had a small motor to assist the pedaling.











I particularly enjoyed seeing the produce carts whiz by.










It was getting pretty late in the afternoon, nearing sunset, actually, and these workers were still going strong in laying concrete for a new sidewalk.










This youngster was having his own kind of fun with the wet cement.










I did a double take when I saw this rolling down the street.










After strolling around the neighborhood near our hotel, we didn't spot a restaurant that offered local fare. We took a cab to a part of town nearer the outskirts, which put us into an area that had several Dai restaurants. These are open-air restaurants with the "rooms" consisting of covered porches sitting a single group around a table.







All of these porches were already occupied when we came to the restaurant, so they put up an extra table in a courtyard in the back. You can see the laundry hanging there, too.










The place settings were wrapped in plastic, which indicated they were sterilized. That table cloth is a dozen or more thin sheets of plastic, which are peeled off one at a time after patrons finish their meal and leave.









I felt as if we were banished to the kids table, but then I found out over the next several days that the Dai people prefer to sit on short stools at low tables. More on that in a later post.










After a while a covered porch opened up and we moved to nicer accommodations. YQ did the ordering for our meal. The server is wearing a traditional Dai dress.










The meal is served in waves of dishes. These were the first to arrive to the table - a lovely soup, stir-fried banana flowers, some pork, and pineapple sticky rice. The banana flowers and sticky rice were my favorite two foods of the entire trip. Yum!







I put several foods on my plate at the same time, but this isn't how it's supposed to be done. I adapted to the local style for other meals - taking just a chopstick's worth of food into the bowl or onto the plate at a time.








I was feeling pretty jet lagged by the end of the meal and so I asked if we could return to the hotel. I had only four hours sleep after coming off that long flight, so I was really ready to be horizontal.

Here's my room at the Good Chance Hotel. All of the beds in the hotels where I stayed were very firm - as in nearly rock hard. Most of them were too short for me, too.






Here's your typical courtesy bar - everything on the top shelf is for sale. Boiled or bottled water is provided as is tea.











Here's the address for this establishment if you're interested in taking your chances at the Good Chance hotel.










All the hotels had western style toilets in the rooms, but usually had Asian style ones in the public restrooms.
















Most of the hotels offered courtesy combs, toothbrushes, soap, and shower caps as well as slippers.










I encourage you to click on the picture and actually read what this sign says. It was posted in the bathroom. After reading it, scratching my head and laughing a bit, I looked at the goods on the bathroom counter to try to figure out what category went with a particular item.














I never did figure out which one of these was an electric condom, nor how an electric one differed from a regular one, nor why anyone would want something that said "electric" to be connected with one's nether regions. Perhaps this is a cultural difference that shouldn't be explored in too much depth. . .

China 2009 - 1

This is the first of many posts about my recent trip to China. I left the states on Feb 10 and returned on Feb 22. I went over for an editorial board meeting and scientific meeting, plus a tour of some scientific research centers and a chance to visit some pristine tropical rain forest. It was a very full itinerary and I learned a lot, plus I saw a lot of really interesting things and ate some very different foods.

The flights from Ohio to Beijing are long, except for the hop to Detroit. I had a flight from Detroit to Narita, Japan and then a flight to Beijing. The flight from Detroit to Narita is more than 13 hours, which is very uncomfortable in economy class.

When I handed my boarding pass to the flight attendant at the gate in Narita, Japan I was handed a different boarding pass, which bumped me up into business class. Hurray for frequent flier status! It was so nice to stretch out for a bit and to take a nap. That flight was not quite 4 hours, but it was enough comfort to get me a bit more relaxed than I was. The nap really helped.

I was met in Beijing by the managing editor of the Journal of Systematics and Evolution, and was taken to my hotel. I arrived pretty late in the evening and arrived to my hotel (Fragrant Hills something or other) just before midnight. I had to be up early the next day for a ride to the airport to catch another flight to Kunming.

The room was comfortable and modern, but you can't drink the tap water anywhere in China. Fortunately, purified bottled water and a hot pot for boiling water are provided at all the hotels.




Most of the better hotels have a room safe. Those cylinders are for smoke hoods in case of a fire evacuation. Slippers are also provided at all of the hotels, which is something one can quickly get used to.







A driver from the Chinese Academy of Sciences took us (myself and my colleagues, Jim Doyle and Sean Graham) to the airport. We left the hotel at 6:30 am, which meant I had about 4 hours of sleep at best.

I arrived in Beijing in the dark and drove to the airport the next morning in the dark, so I really hadn't seen any of China until the sun rose while we were at the airport. The sky is very smoggy in Beijing. I put that down to being in a huge city, but it turns out that the air is smoggy in most of China. In the urban areas, the pollution is what we would expect to see in the states plus the effect of dirty coal burning power plants, but in the rural areas, the pollution is mostly from smoke. The forests are burned for agricultural clearing. More on that later.


After checking in for our flight, we found a Subway sandwich shop that sold coffee. This is about the only cup of coffee I had for the entire time I was in China, except for the time I spent in Shenzhen. Calling the stuff I had there coffee is pretty generous, though. I switched to drinking tea for the most part, which wasn't such a bad deal. The teas in China are lovely to drink.








Every flight I had in China still offers food to passengers. I was very curious about what would be in the box.












The green container had a yogurt of some sort. The roll was a sweet bun and that meat thing was some kind of salad.










Rice and some kind of fish ball stuff. Interesting, but not really very edible.













I had the window seat and found that most of the land was covered in clouds or smog. As we moved southwest, the air cleared as we approached Kunming and I saw the mountains for the first time.









This area looked to be pretty well protected with forested slopes.










The closer we got to Kunming, though, it was clear that the forest had been cut down and burned for plantations and other agricultural applications. I couldn't tell what was planted on the hillsides, but the forest was definitely gone. You can see some of the smoke plumes form the fires in this image.









Agricultural lands mixed in with urban areas,













gave way to the city. There are so many people in China! It's hard to imagine the size of the population from the states, but being in the urban areas brings it home to reality.






L to R: YQ (Qiu Yin-Long), me, Sean Graham, Jim Doyle


YQ, my colleague from the University of Michigan, is co-editor of the Journal of Systematics and Evolution. He organized our itinerary and traveled with us throughout the southern parts of China we visited. He met us at the aiport in Kunming and we caught another flight to Xishuangbanna from there.





Airports in China are a bit different than other places I've been. For one thing, the shopping areas remind me of open air markets.












Ah, yes, the ubiquitous Colonel Sanders. I can't imagine why anyone outside the states would want to eat this stuff.
















Here's something you don't see in the states - mangosteen fruits from a family called Clusiaceae. I didn't purchase any here, and, in fact, I was scolded for snapping the picture. I finally had a chance to taste some when I was in Shenzhen - delicious! More on that later in this series of posts.




Ok, ladies, prepare yourself for some different toilet experiences if you travel to Asia. This is the Asian toilet, and I have to say, this one was a very clean and tidy one. I'm standing at the front of the thing (the drain hole is toward the back). To use it, you stand with your feet on either side of the oval and squat down. You hope that previous users have had good aim so that you don't have to step in anything that is disgusting.

You don't flush toilet paper (if there is any available, that is - I carried tissue packs with me wherever I went because most of the toilets don't have TP) down the drain, but place it in a basket next to the door. So, even if there is a flush toilet, the place stinks to high heaven. There's usually an attendant present in the rest room that goes around with a long pair of wooden tongs and a stiff broom to clean up the misses (or, rather, messes). Ew.

The nicer toilet facilities have clean stalls and doors. Most do not - they have short walls with open stalls. Anyone with shy kidneys would probably die from a burst bladder - you deal with it or suffer. Oh, and btw, if you do happen to visit a toilet that offers a western style commode, be prepared to lift the seat and use it as a squat toilet anyway unless you want to sit on someone elses footprints - yes, footprints. I can't imagine the balancing act that must take place for someone to climb up on the seat of a toilet and use it for squatting. Ew, again.


Here's the other cultural difference that westerners need to acclimate to - the use of chopsticks for every meal. Restaurants tend to offer slippery plastic chopsticks that are challenging to use with slippery foods such as noodles. Tables are relatively tall compared to our usual ones in the states, which makes eating with chopsticks a little easier because your mouth is nearer the food.

I didn't go hungry, but I wasn't very fast at putting the food into my mouth, either. There were so many interesting foods to sample it's hard to know where to start. I took photos of just about every meal and I'll try to post pictures from several of them to give you an idea of what real Chinese food is like. I can say, up front, that American Chinese food is not what you eat when you're in most parts of China. More on that topic in later posts - stay tuned for some culinary adventures.

A visit to New York, NY (prelude to China 2009)

I had a quick day trip to NYC in January to obtain a travel visa to China. Because my time line was pretty tight, I had to do this in person.

I arrived early in the morning and caught a cab to the west side of Manhattan. The Chinese consulate is on 42nd street, next to the Hudson river.







I snapped a few photos from the cab on the way across town.













It was a sunny, but very cold day. Traffic at that time of day is pretty heavy, but cabs navigate it very well.
















After putting in all my paperwork, I had a few hours to spend. My colleague, Kobi, met me and we did a bit of sightseeing and shopping during my free time. I had never visited Times Square and since we were in the neighborhood, I made my first visit there.









A self-portrait with Kobi in Times Square.












It's bigger than I had realized. I can't imagine what it would be like on New Year's Eve with so many people gathered there.











It's like one huge billboard that is constantly shouting at you.


















Seems like a lot of fuss for advertising, but, hey, it is Times Square.















Here are a couple of more pics of the area.
































We went to the Rockerfeller Center to have lunch.

















WTF??? This is way over the top for an advert, I think. I could see that for Côte d'Or or some other tasty chocolate, but Hersheys????? I guess I'm a chocolate snob.

Central Ohio Woodturners Meeting - January 2009

I haven't had much success in attending the club meetings this past year, but I did manage to have a Tuesday evening free for the January 2009 one.




I actually brought in some pieces for the show-and-tell table, also.












I always enjoy looking at what our club members have been making.













We're still meeting at OSU, but I hear that we are scouting new digs in the near future.












There are more than 200 members in the club and a typical meeting will have around 100 attendees.












Kirk DeHeer was this month's guest demonstrator. He was in town for the woodworking show that is held the third weekend of January.









Just a couple of random shots to share.












It was good to see everyone and catch up on some news.