Day 8: Where's the McDonalds?
Hi Girlies. Can't wait to see you again soon and to crank up the barbecue. I'm enjoying the food but I'm finding myself looking around for something a bit more Western at times. I actually think a Big Mac would be quite tasty right now.
We had a formal banquet last night and they served all sorts of very traditional Cantonese food in our honor. We've been going out to eat pretty much every night and enjoying all sorts of different Chinese style foods. Like on Wednesday eve, we went to a really spicy and tasty Sechuan restaurant. But the banquet was pretty special. I had a couple of firsts: Roasted Peking duck, rabbit legs, chicken legs (pickled and baked), sea cucumber, jelly fish, a bunch of other unnamed sea foods things, and what I thought at first were grasshoppers which actually ended up being duck tongue. How can you mistake a duck tongue with a grasshopper? Well, it wasn't just the tongue, but also the vocal cords. Together, those two pieces of tasty roasted fowl have a very strange look. The tongue is tough on top, kind of like a shell, and attached are these two long and curled sinewy pieces of muscle and vocal cords that look like antennae. As with ever single item they served, there was symbolic meaning: eating the tongue is supposed to help you keep a strong voice and a strong presence.
This morning I was so stuffed from the meal that I decided to skip breakfast and instead just woke up early and went for a walk. There is a really nice park across the street behind the National Library called Black Bamboo Park. It was early, 6:20 or so, but you never would have guessed by the number of folks out for morning exercise. Here is where I found all the older folks who I don't see out on the roadside sidewalks. Folks were strolling, playing badminton, kicking hacky sacks, dancing in groups with load music blaring, doing taichi, etc. The park has lots of quiet out of the way nooks surrounded by bamboo stands and naturally sculpted limestone formations; it reminded me a bit of Japanese zen gardens. Each little nook was occupied by someone doing there own private, quiet taichi session. Very cool.
After a mile of just strolling and absorbing the scene, I found myself outside the west gate of the park. Wow, it wasn't any later than 7 or so and here on the street was a thriving, hustling, bustling market. All sorts of vendors selling their goods off the back of their bikes, their carts, their horse and trailer, their blankets. Melons, live fish, vegetables, spices, jewelry, books, silk, clothing, plastic back scratchers, you name it. And I as walked through the masses of people, the market was growing and growing as new vendors appeared. But as at the Wall the other day, all of a sudden a message was passed from vendor to vendor like an electric shot. Frantically all the vendors gathered up their stuff and vanished into the nearby hutong alley neighborhood. Just like that, literally within minutes, where there was a bustling corner market, there was none. And along came these two very unofficial looking officials, kind of like Laural and Hardy in poorly fitting uniforms, no guns, no night sticks, just some over-sized official looking hats and poorly fitted shirts. They strolled passed where the market had been, talked to a few folks, and then strolled on. Pretty funny. As they rounded the corner, vendors started trickling back out of the alley and setting up shop again.
I went on and walked through the hutong and into the University district for another half hour before heading back to the hotel for a shower. Going back through the park, I just couldn't get enough of the contrast between groups of folks doing taichi and the hustle and frantic energy out on the streets. I watched one group for a while, took a few pics, and was invited to join. I had to decline but was then invited to come back tomorrow to learn the "ABC" of taichi. The style they were doing was based on some monks from the mountains west of here. It is all centered around the handling of a sword. I might go back on Sunday AM.
This evening I hooked up with Pat's wife and son, and Roger's wife, Annie (Pat and Roger had an official dinner with the Chinese again - I was not envious) to go see a traditional Chinese acrobat show. We squeezed into a taxi at 5PM. The theater is near the Temple of Heaven, a 15 minute drive during non-rush hour. It took an hour and a half! Oh my God, I will never complain about Boulder traffic again! The show was amazing. All sorts of great gymnastics, umbrella spinning, plate juggling, hat throwing. And it was in this somewhat run down theater. Pretty cool to not have everything be all glitzy and touristy; though the crowd was mostly tourists.
That's all for now. Eat a burger for me. One more morning of conference and one afternoon of sight seeing left.
Enjoy your hike!
Love,
Dad
PS: I gave my presentation and workshops today. They went very well. I ended up having to put a special session together afterwards since there was so much interest. The Chinese weather service folks will most likely change their whole software set up for teaching their forecasters (there are 50,000 people to train!!) based on what I showed them.
We had a formal banquet last night and they served all sorts of very traditional Cantonese food in our honor. We've been going out to eat pretty much every night and enjoying all sorts of different Chinese style foods. Like on Wednesday eve, we went to a really spicy and tasty Sechuan restaurant. But the banquet was pretty special. I had a couple of firsts: Roasted Peking duck, rabbit legs, chicken legs (pickled and baked), sea cucumber, jelly fish, a bunch of other unnamed sea foods things, and what I thought at first were grasshoppers which actually ended up being duck tongue. How can you mistake a duck tongue with a grasshopper? Well, it wasn't just the tongue, but also the vocal cords. Together, those two pieces of tasty roasted fowl have a very strange look. The tongue is tough on top, kind of like a shell, and attached are these two long and curled sinewy pieces of muscle and vocal cords that look like antennae. As with ever single item they served, there was symbolic meaning: eating the tongue is supposed to help you keep a strong voice and a strong presence.
This morning I was so stuffed from the meal that I decided to skip breakfast and instead just woke up early and went for a walk. There is a really nice park across the street behind the National Library called Black Bamboo Park. It was early, 6:20 or so, but you never would have guessed by the number of folks out for morning exercise. Here is where I found all the older folks who I don't see out on the roadside sidewalks. Folks were strolling, playing badminton, kicking hacky sacks, dancing in groups with load music blaring, doing taichi, etc. The park has lots of quiet out of the way nooks surrounded by bamboo stands and naturally sculpted limestone formations; it reminded me a bit of Japanese zen gardens. Each little nook was occupied by someone doing there own private, quiet taichi session. Very cool.
After a mile of just strolling and absorbing the scene, I found myself outside the west gate of the park. Wow, it wasn't any later than 7 or so and here on the street was a thriving, hustling, bustling market. All sorts of vendors selling their goods off the back of their bikes, their carts, their horse and trailer, their blankets. Melons, live fish, vegetables, spices, jewelry, books, silk, clothing, plastic back scratchers, you name it. And I as walked through the masses of people, the market was growing and growing as new vendors appeared. But as at the Wall the other day, all of a sudden a message was passed from vendor to vendor like an electric shot. Frantically all the vendors gathered up their stuff and vanished into the nearby hutong alley neighborhood. Just like that, literally within minutes, where there was a bustling corner market, there was none. And along came these two very unofficial looking officials, kind of like Laural and Hardy in poorly fitting uniforms, no guns, no night sticks, just some over-sized official looking hats and poorly fitted shirts. They strolled passed where the market had been, talked to a few folks, and then strolled on. Pretty funny. As they rounded the corner, vendors started trickling back out of the alley and setting up shop again.
I went on and walked through the hutong and into the University district for another half hour before heading back to the hotel for a shower. Going back through the park, I just couldn't get enough of the contrast between groups of folks doing taichi and the hustle and frantic energy out on the streets. I watched one group for a while, took a few pics, and was invited to join. I had to decline but was then invited to come back tomorrow to learn the "ABC" of taichi. The style they were doing was based on some monks from the mountains west of here. It is all centered around the handling of a sword. I might go back on Sunday AM.
This evening I hooked up with Pat's wife and son, and Roger's wife, Annie (Pat and Roger had an official dinner with the Chinese again - I was not envious) to go see a traditional Chinese acrobat show. We squeezed into a taxi at 5PM. The theater is near the Temple of Heaven, a 15 minute drive during non-rush hour. It took an hour and a half! Oh my God, I will never complain about Boulder traffic again! The show was amazing. All sorts of great gymnastics, umbrella spinning, plate juggling, hat throwing. And it was in this somewhat run down theater. Pretty cool to not have everything be all glitzy and touristy; though the crowd was mostly tourists.
That's all for now. Eat a burger for me. One more morning of conference and one afternoon of sight seeing left.
Enjoy your hike!
Love,
Dad
PS: I gave my presentation and workshops today. They went very well. I ended up having to put a special session together afterwards since there was so much interest. The Chinese weather service folks will most likely change their whole software set up for teaching their forecasters (there are 50,000 people to train!!) based on what I showed them.
