The End!

I've left Beijing and I don't know when I'll be back...and that is so hard to say out loud. Leaving Beijing was one of the toughest and most emotional things I've done in a long time. An intense outpouring of love from my friends made me realize how much I loved the city, the people I met there, and how I had more friends in that city than in any other single location in the world. As Rory reminded me, "Don't be sad that it's over, just be glad that it happened!" We are all made of different chapters, and they open and close with the flow of life. My Beijing chapter has just finished, but I know that China will always beckon me back and I will find time for it again and again. Thank you, thank you, thank you to China, Beijing and every person that I have grown to know and love there! I can't wait to see you all again!

For now I am closing the "Experiencing China" blog, as I would be doing it injustice because I am no longer living there. I graduated with an International MBA degree and accepted my first job in the United States. However, it is with a global company so I will definitely be able to enjoy various cultures and seek out the new perspectives that so often drove this blog. As an ending note, I've included some of the graduation pictures. So long for now, it sure has been fun sharing life with all of you! 再见朋友们!


These are most of my classmates that did the Chinese track of the IMBA!


My Family (minus Kelsey)


And my Aunt and dear friend Courtney that also trekked to Columbia to watch the graduation!

End of April 2009 in Beijing

The end of April in Beijing brought with it beautiful weather and fun outside! First stop: Boating with Rory and the gang!

We got 10 people on the electric boat!

And puttered around the lakes in Houhai, all is green in Beijing!

It was also my last month to enjoy some of the favorite Chinese foods! This is what a typical spicy soup for Hot Pot looks like! You cook the raw meat and vegetables in the red pot, dip it in the peanut sauce in the front and enjoy! Mmmm.

Rory's adopted Chinese family also invited us for a lovely homemade dinner!

And last but not least...flowers! Everything started blooming so it was time to trek out to the many parks in Beijing and take pictures with the flowers!

Guests in Beijing!

In the beginning of April, two friends came to Beijing. John- a first-timer and Adrian- a returnee. I spent the first part of the month seeing Beijing again through the eyes of a newbie. Here are some of the adventures:
The group at brunch on Sunday:

With Adrian and John at the Saddle:

Back at Mutianyu section of the Great Wall:

And coming down the great wall on the toboggan slide:

At Korean BBQ with Zhangyi:

On Jingshan hill overlooking the forbidden city:

The classic Chinese baby pants...how do they do that potty training so early???

At the 798 Art District, which one am I?

The Panjiayuan Antique Market:

And the good ole Chinese acrobatics!

Good Times in Seoul!

I went for a long weekend in Seoul to visit my cousin Laura and to add one more Asian place to the list before I move back to the States in May. We did lots of fun stuff, so instead of narrarating it, I like lists! 16 things we did in Seoul:

1) Visited Gyeongbokgung Palace:
(I realized how much the Koreans borrowed from Chinese as all of the buildings looked just like Beijing's Forbidden City and the titles of each were in Chinese characters.)
2) Watched a changing of the guards at the palace
3) Ate traditional Korean BBQ: (Mmm Mmm Good! Done over coals in the middle of your table)
4) Walked along Insadong street, (fun art and culture pedestrian area)
5) Bought great street jewelry! (I like the street jewelry much better than in China. It is original and inexpensive!)
6) Ate Korean pancake and powdered rice cubes from the street vendors
7) Met up with an old Korean friend that I studied with in Beijing.
8) Spent a night at a fancy wine bar. (We don't really have these in Beijing. The wine list was a book!)
9) Went to the Dr. Fish cafe where fish give you a pedicure by eating at the skin on the bottom of your feet. Weird!
10) Enjoyed Turkish, Thai, Indian and American delights at various restaurants throughout the trip.
11) Walked along the Cheonggyecheon Stream that runs south of the palaces while sipping Lattees.
12) Went to the large COEX Aquarium (saw my first two-headed turtle)
13) Took silly pictures in one of the crazy Asian photo booths
14) Enjoyed the plethora of cafes and donut shops on every corner!
(No, even more than that, multiples on every block! Who knew the koreans were so into coffee, donuts and belgian waffles?)
15) Went to the top of N Seoul Tower to gaze upon the city.
16) Toured the National Museum of Korea

In summary, a good time was had by all! And thanks to Laura for all the hospitality!

Trip to Guangxi III: Final Thoughts

I wanted to include the last thoughts or pics on the trip to Guilin before I move onto the next thing. Yangshuo's foreigner-hangout and really the only interesting strip in the city is called Xi Jie, or West Street. We went a couple of times for shopping, coffee, etc. Xi Jie at night:

When you get out of the big cities, you see a lot of interesting vehicles in China. Like these old trucks with exposed engines. They make quite the clanking as they putter down the street and are really only used for trash, landscaping, etc.

Back in Guilin we visited the Elephant Trunk Hill. Apparently to Chinese people, this is a symbol of this city. Of course, I had to demonstrate where the hill got its name:

Around the mountain were photo ops with various local cultural outfits. I chose to go the fisherman route. These are my fish-catching birds:

I couldn't find many specialties in Guilin except for Mifen, or "rice noodles." I'd say this is one province with relatively few offerings when it comes to food. These noodles are served up with a little meat and pieces of vegetables and then you add as much pickled vegetables and spices to the soup as you can handle. It's OK...but pretty uninteresting compared to other Chinese foods.

However, rice wine and corn juice were both new to me on this trip! Rice wine was not so good...I just wanted to try it because I was amazed they had found yet another way to eat rice. Corn juice, however, is fabulous. It is served warm with a bit of honey...like a thin, sweet soup. We ate it practically every day we were down there, so this was definitely a good culinary find.

That's all for the Guilin trip. Next stop: Seoul.

Trip to Guangxi II: Yangshuo

The village of Yangshuo is the launch-pad village for the trips to Lijiang River, which was my last blog. We stayed 2 nights in this town, set in a background of those beautiful pointy mountains. This was the first night, as we waited for a bus to a show.

Besides the river, a must-see is the show by famous director Zhang Yimou. (Many popular movies and most recently, the Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony Creative Director) The show was based outside, and this was the audience as we waited in the moonlight:

The show started with a vocalist in the lake and mountains lit-up in the background.

The torches lit up all around the lake as the minority peoples sang from all directions...first men then younger girls:


There were all sorts of creative dance and props on the water, representing various parts of this Southern China culture...


Then the show ended with hundreds of singers linked hand-in-hand walking across various platforms over the water in lit-up outfits. With impressive coordination they turned the lights on and off creating patterns and rhythms with the music.

Zhang Yimou certainly does an amazing job of creative directing as well as creating art with large numbers of people. I was very much reminded of the Olympics opening ceremony as I watched this show. It's called "Impression Liu Sanjie" if you are ever down there and interested in going!

Trip to Guangxi: The LiJiang River

I'm on a long weekend trip to the Southernmost part of China to a province called Guangxi. This province that borders Vietnam (as shown on the map) is famous for its scenery that appears in the classical Chinese paintings, songs, etc. A must-see for any long-term China traveler. I'm not going in order here but I will skip right to the LiJiang River and Yangshuo, where we went on our second day. These peaks that jutt out of the water are the most unique mountains I've ever seen, and the same ones that I've always seen in images of China.

In fact, the place where we were initially dropped off to take a boat was the exact image from the 20 RMB bill...(as I'm trying to show you in this picture. But you can click it for a larger image)!

The locals live off of the land as it is green and full of life. These guys had two very different methods of fishing...One with a bamboo boat and the other with a trained bird:


Then we ate some of their catches as we got to our half-way point. The crabs and fish were fried whole so we ate them that way. Quite tasty actually!


That's all for the Lijiang River. I'll share more from the town of Yangshuo and the city of Guilin soon!

Beijing Birthday + Weekend Brunch

This was my third birthday in Beijing and they have all been wonderful so far thanks to great friends! We had a lovely steak dinner (first and probably last in Beijing this year) followed by a party hosted at my friend Chris's house. These are some of the peeps from the party!





Thennn...comes Sunday brunch! We have set out to be connoisseurs of the Beijing champagne brunch offerings. This week's offering: The Intercontinental Hotel.
Major plus: Pork ribs and other BBQ imported from Texas, USA and cosmopolitans included in the buffet.
Minus: Service not as good and poor live music doesn't meet up with the Westin's jazz singer from New York. We enjoyed ourselves immensely as another "Sunday Funday" came to an end.


Attendees line-up:


Group shot of everyone after they came around with loads of cotton candy:


The evening continued at a friends nice pad back on the East side of Beijing. Altogether a good day and an enjoyable birthday weekend.

Cuandixia Village, Day Trip!

Every now and then you just gotta get out of the city. And when that time comes, I'm oh-so-thankful for the occasional friend that owns a car in Beijing. We chose a page out of a Beijing day-trips excursion guide and decided to roll out on Saturday morning for a deligtful day of driving, exploring and blue skies in Cuandixia village, 2 hours West of Beijing.

This village was built during the Ming Dynasty (some 500-600 years ago) and still stands in a quiet valley with little temples, mountain paths and numerous family-owned inns and restaurants.



A charming day trip. Although there is certainly not much along the lines of entertainment in these little villages, I highly recommend it for the walk, blue skies, local cuisine and just recharging your batteries again before Monday!

Weekend Bliss

Bubbalicious! After 2+ years of living in Beijing, I FINALLY went to the infamous Bubbalicious brunch at the Westin Hotel in Beijing. It is 4 hours of eating scrumptious international selections and enjoying free-flowing champagne. This was the entrance to the brunch:

The dining room

Rory and I got there first and started brunch with sushi, sashimi and champagne! This of course was followed by selections of Belgian waffles, eggs benedict, Indian curries, seared Foie Gras, lamb chops, French cheeses, caviar, Chinese dumpling soup, and anything else you could possibly dream up. (Yes indeed, 1 brunch = 1 week at the gym)

The whole group:

My favorite section: desserts. Yes, that is a chocolate fountain. My personal best dessert award: hot sweet-bread pudding.

And it was family friendly! Kids were all around, entertained by clowns and a kid's section. They had an ice cream and candy bar just for them. I was amazed to see how many families managed to spend the entire 4 hours enjoying the food and drink without kids getting restless. Heck, even I was entertained!

Other memorable weekend times were crazy karaoke on Friday night...

and hanging out with some good-lookin homeboys from USC on Saturday night!

So do I really have to start classes next week? The thought of joining the real world after a weekend like this can be painful.

February and The First Snow

Snow came down for a few days in Beijing and was the first precipitation this city has seen in a long time. It was only miserable for one morning as everything was slush and mud. After it warmed up a bit, it just added a nice touch to the trees and buildings in the city. These ladies were walking like me in the first few hours, trying not to slip!

The same afternoon I went to orientation at Tsinghua University, where I will be doing the last credits of my MBA. This is one of the main buildings on campus:

Other notable events were a trip to the Olympic Water Cube to see some Chinese pop music awards:

The stage was built out over the swimming pool and commercial breaks were occupied with fountains and syncronized swimming. Impressive.

There have also been costume parties and dress-up:

Spa days for newcomers to Beijing:

And good eats as we get back into the swing of things with some amazing Beijing restaurants! Check out these delicious dumplings:

Lantern Festival: Festivity and Fire

Yesterday was the Chinese Lantern Festival. It is the 15th day of the first month of Chinese traditional calender and it marks the end of New Years festivities. It is now the year of the Ox, which I am proud to say is my year. There are images of the Ox all over the city and have been fire works every day, with major displays all over the country on the first day and last day of the New Year period.

Last night being the last legal day the Chinese could set off fireworks, the dangerous displays began. As I was walking with friends to a favorite Mexican restaurant, we felt like we were in a war zone with shells flying all around us. Later that night, I heard that the new CCTV building was on fire and almost cried. Thankfully, it wasn't that building (it's brand new and an amazing feat of architecture as the two towers are leaning towards each other to meet in the middle). But it was the adjacent, also newly constructed and unopened Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

Some lives were lost, many people injured, and traffic shut down for miles. It is so sad to see such a large and new building in the heart of Beijing burn down because of the idiocy of fireworks that go on during New Year. Hopefully this will introduce some new regulation and control for next year's festivities.

Bangkok III: A Cultural Show

On our last night in Bangkok we went to see Siam Niramit, which is a big show and culture exhibition for tourists...a little like a mini-Disney. I enjoyed it nonetheless because it was quite elaborate and showed a lot of traditions, dances and costumes from Thailand!

I loved the intricacy of these ancient Thai-style costumes. Dressed like this they looked like the images of the gods in their temples. The dances were also very beautiful.


They had also built a traditional Thai Village to walk around before the show. They had people performing and making Thai snacks for people before we went in. This one was a coconut treat, very yummy:

Posing with one of the performers after the show:

Before I end the Bangkok blogging, I wanted to throw in a few miscellaneous pictures from events over the last couple of days. One night we met up with some old friends from China. Two Thai and one Japanese classmate that I studied with in Beijing were in Bangkok. We all got together for some Thai food and catch-up time:

We also went to the Bangkok aquarium. Here's ZhangYi checking out a Sting Ray:

This is just me trying to imitate an enormous ugly fish:

Well, that's all from Bangkok folks! I'm leaving to go back to Beijing. Time to get back to the real world. It will be much colder and a lot less beachy,...but somehow I still miss it!

Bangkok II: A River Trip

One afternoon in Bangkok we did a highly recommended river trip. We rented a Thai-Style "long boat" for two of us and did a two hour trip around the large river and smaller canals. The river houses are very lively with people washing, cooking, etc. along the banks and little boats with wares and foods for sale.



We were a little surprised to see this enormous lizard along the banks near the boat. He was the size of our alligators:

This guy didn't seem to mind that tourists were passing by while he was doing his morning fishing in his underwear:

A woman selling snacks out of her boat:

Bangkok by boat is definitely a different feeling from walking along the streets. I highly recommend it for those of you that are going to visit!

On to Bangkok! The Grand Palace

After 3 more nights in the Patong area of Phuket Island, I finally left the island that was my home for 3 weeks and went with Zhang Yi to Bangkok. We'd spend 4 nights there! On the first day we went to the Grand Palace and adjoining temple:

The Grand Palace...is quite Grand!

The decorations on every wall, pillar and statue were very ornate and mostly mosaic work. Sometimes images of flowers or graphics and many were images of Buddha or other gods.


Exiting the palace we met some eager and cheerful street vendors. Zhang Yi...the shopoholic that she is, always stops!

More shopping. Thailand has gems and silver galore, and at cheaper prices that China!

Later that night we wandered along KhaoSan road, where we were staying. Every square inch is full of people selling something or some street food. We stopped for fresh mango in coconut juice. Mmmmm.