Hong Kong: A Shopping Mall Disguised as a City

Whew! What a great day we had today ... walking and shopping throughout Kowloon. It started with us venturing out, by ourselves, on the HK Subway. It was clean, well marked and remarkably easy to use. We only spent a few minutes trying to buy our subway ticket from what turned out to be an ATM, but soon found and negotiated the ticket machine.

It's easy to find the right subway stop when they have such catchy names:

Our first stop was the Flower Market, followed by a visit to Goldfish Street where Marc fit right in. Goldfish are "very, very lucky" for the Chinese and they buy Goldfish every day, like we might buy a bubka from the bakery. To my knowledge they do not eat the Goldfish which is very unusual because they eat EVERYTHING that moves (except cars, trucks and buses), including deer antlers.

Even though I have long since sworn off Chinese watches, I was enthralled with the nice lady selling $3 ladies watches. I picked up six. Watch Lady then spent about 20 minutes working on each watch for me: checking and setting the time, checking the latches, taking off links to size the watches for me (and Temi, Becky, Julie and Allie) and putting each in a fresh plastic baggie. I liked her so much and she worked so hard to ensure I got a good product that I decided to engage in Reverse Bargaining. That is, I tried to give her MORE than the $18 I owed her for the six watches and she kept bargaining me DOWN to $18. She thought I was nuts and this just adds to the pervading notion that Chinese are better at math than Americans. Two hours later, we moved on with our six watches.

Marc suddenly felt compelled to buy a kimono.

At this point we had walked about five miles throughout Kowloon (which is part of Hong Kong) and my feet were really killing me. We ducked into the Yue Hwa Chinese Department Store where we bought "special good fortune Chinese" outfits to wear to Thanksgiving Dinner at the Stalders. As we were going down the escalator, we noticed the Chinese Medicine Department, where the locals pick up their herbs, special rubbing products and acupuncture needles. They were promoting a new "special lucky Chinese medicine ultrasound acupress machine" which is basically acupuncture without the needles. (Sure to be a big seller.) I agreed to a twenty minute medical trial to find out if this works on Westerners. Since nothing on me "hurt", I told the technicians that my feet were tired from walking. They wired me up to the machine and zapped the "special-tired-from-walking-right-foot" pressure point on the tip of my right forefinger for twenty minutes.

It doesn't work but I must say, it felt good to help advance Chinese Medicine here in Hong Kong. And it did feel better to sit down and get off my feet for twenty minutes.

Then we did a bunch of other things, ate a hamburger and pizza for lunch (ahhhhhh...) and wrapped up the day at Swiss Optical Shop so we could pick up the eight (8!!) pairs of prescription glasses we had ordered last night. Now -- if you have never been to Hong Kong, you may not know that the Hong Kong Optometrists are EASILY the finest Optometrists in the world. And, their fabulous line of designer glasses frames are EASILY one-third the price of frames in the USA.

We bought multi-focal glasses, reading glasses, sunglasses reading glasses, regular sunglasses, small fit-in-the-shirt pocket glasses. Here's a photo of Marc with our new BFF Optometrist in Hong Kong - Pierre Chang. "Pierre" ... go figure.

Time to pack it all up. Going home tomorrow!

Hong Kong in Pictures

Hong Kong is AMAZING! I'm too busy shopping (Chinese: Shah-ping) to write a blog. Enjoy these pictures from Hong Kong.

Dr. Marc to the Rescue

4,000 years of acupuncture here in China and good ole' Dr Marc was pressed into service to perform Western Medicine.

We're sitting here on the runway in Shanghai - waiting to take off for HK and one of our travel mates, Tom, passed out, came to and then had a full blown seizure. Oy vay ... Don't ask.  His wife screamed and Marc rushed over, shoved the plastic water bottle between his teeth and tended to him. Thankfully, Tom came to - with no visual impairment but Marc said Tom had to get off the plane.

After some frantic calls to try to find "the best hospital in shanghai", Tom, his wife and another couple traveling with them were taken off the plane. Marc said that it was an act of god that we were on the runway and not in the air!

Well.  You can't imagine what's going on here. (I'm writing this from the plane). Every one of our travel mates is breathing a sigh of relief that Marc did not go with them to the hospital. They are afraid to do anything unless Marc is with them.  So far, he has assisted two travel mates who have fainted, a few with diarrhea, and several colds.  What a vacation!!  Haha

Shout out to our friend Tom for a quick recovery and a return to USA at some point. For now, Tom has been "Shanghi-ed".

EXPO Blog

As you may know, the International EXPO has been in Shanghai for the past six months.  We were able to get tickets and attend today with Gail and David and their good friend Yi Jin as our guide and translator.  This was quite lucky since the EXPO is closing in a few days.  There are about 190 Country, State and Business Pavilions -- you can "google" it to read all the details and stats.  Like everything else in China, it was too vast to be able to take a photo to show what it looks like so you can also look that up online.

We concentrated on countries today and were able to see the exhibits for Spain, the African nations, Israel, France, Sri Lanka, and Italy (OBVIOUSLY where we ate and drank lunch).  The most popular pavilions such as China and Japan had long lines so we were not able to see them. It's hard to explain how remarkable this EXPO is for the Chinese.  Their lives have been so isolated that very, very few have ever been outside of China.  It's a big deal for them to travel to Shanghai to get to the EXPO - and so it is incredulous how many photos they took of every single exhibit and display.  They are devouring the cultures and information of other countries.

At the end of the day when we were dragging our feet and our tushies - exhausted after 6 hours of touring.  The USA Pavilion had a long line, but with our American passports, we were able to cut the line and enter through a VIP gate.  Almost as an afterthought (since we were pooped) we entered the USA Pavilion.  As we were waiting for the start of the program, a mother and her two daughters (one of whom was fluent in English) started smiling at us and touching us.  The daughter told us that her mother said we were very beautiful.  The mother kept talking to us in Chinese, smiling and mugging for photographs with us.

It took a while to fully understand why they were so enthralled with us, but the essence was this:  This family was so excited to be entering the American Pavilion and they could not believe their good luck of walking into the American Pavilion with four Americans!!  The daughter made a big speech about how they have the greatest of respect for America and the American citizens.  It was quite a moving scene and I hope the photos capture it a bit.

The USA Pavilion was extraordinary and the highlight of the day for us.  They showed three fantastic movies.  We were in there with a few thousand Chinese and we were the only American guests.  We laughed at the jokes in the movies, clapped and cheered.  I'm not sure whether the Chinese guests understood all the innuendos of the films -- but it was clear that being in that Pavilion was a highlight for all of them as well.

It felt great!  What a wonderful day at EXPO and thanks to Gail, David and Yi Jin for hooking us up with tickets and shepherding us through the EXPO.

Visit to the Shanghai Foreign Language School

Ni hao (Chinese shout out) to our new friends Jack (12th grade), Bofan and Minhui (both 10th grade)- all Camp Rising Sun Alumni and their teacher Shirley who welcomed Marc and me as their guests at the Shanghai Foreign Language School yesterday.  Thank you for greeting us, welcoming us and helping us understand what it means for a student from China to have the opportunity to study in America.  Good luck to Jack who is applying to several colleges this year in the USA.

Our guests were delightful, bright and articulate.  Their English language skills "wowed us"!  We look forward to greeting Bofan in Princeton in a few weeks when he comes to participate in an international math competition.  See what I mean? Wow!

Peking Duck Dinner at Quan Ju De

We had a delicious Peking Duck and corn pizza dinner with old friends Gail and David (who are traveling through Shanghai on business) at Quan Ju De in Pudong. Corn pizza -- the perfect comfort food!

Now that we're in the big city, the  food has really improved. Sauteed bok choy, spicy kung pao chicken, seafood and noodles, corn pizza (!), Peking Duck (with all the trimmings), beer and watermelon for $36 a couple!   I could get used to this...

Shanghai: Definitely not Mao's China

Wow!  From the Yangzi River farming villages to Shanghai. 29 million people here (remember NYC has 8 million ). It's new, it's clean, it's safe, it's bustling.

The REAL culture shock is the Peninsula Hotel - newly opened on the Bund. This hotel is "over the top."  And - I must say I deserve it after two weeks of squatting-to-pee out in the country.

Like so many things in China it's sensory overload and almost too much to desribe. When were you last in a hotel where there were six telephones and each was on a console that controlled every light, TV, radio, called for a housekeeper, concierge or masseuse, had  a language setting, enabled bluetooth, a variety of other regular hotel service and had a button to press for VOIP, i.e. You can call anyone, anywhere in the world for free!  (If you're wondering why I haven't called you it's because I'm too busy writing these blogs.)   Of course, there's an espresso maker, stereo system, fax machine, incredible bathroom with "rain forest shower" (my most favorite feature), ming vases, unlimited lychee nuts (yes, daddy...unlimited fresh lychee nuts) and drum roll....in the walk in closet there's a "nail dryer". As if anyone who stayed in a room like this polishes her own nails.

A far cry from the squat toilets if Xi'an. There's no way to capture it in a photo so I'm just attaching a photo of the console of buttons in the spa bathtub and Marc drinking his morning coffee in the lobby from silver service.

You've come a long way, China.

The Market and the Chinese Nanny

We visited the market in Feng Do, looking for some afternoon snacks because we haven't had enough to eat.  (That's a  joke - we have each gained five pounds.)  Dad was looking for a little kosher nosh and discovered the pig stand: pig noses, pig faces (yes - they sell pig faces), pig knuckles (boring), pig feet, pig hearts, and pig testicles.  They all smell like day-old Peking Duck.

As we left the market (with the five little Lubins in tow), I was looking for a Chinese nanny to bring home to help me take care of the little Lubin brothers.  (Since I am starting this new full-time job in Nov.)  There were a bunch of nannies sitting on the stoop and I asked for volunteers.  They all wanted to come with us.  Which one do you think I should bring home?

We are on the move - heading east on the Yangzi.  Can't wait for the next adventure.  Of course we need to get a larger table for dinner tonight with the little Lubins and the nanny.

Little Brothers for Becky, Julie & Allie?

The children in China are soooooo cute  and friendly.  You know how dad has always wished for sons to carry on the Rubin (pronounced here:  Lubin) name?  Well, we visited the elementary school in the new old village of Feng Do (pronounced:  Fondue - as in Chocolate) or maybe it was the old new village of Feng Do.  I can't remember.  It is a "relocation village" where families who were displaced by the construction of the Three Gorges Dam were sent to live.  All the parents are in the "big cities" working in factories to make textiles for Mikey or hats for David Dickstein, and the little children are left in Feng Do to be raised by their grandparents.

So --- back to the story.  Daddy thought the kids were so cute that he thought we should bring home a few.  Specifically:   a few boys.  He chatted them up and finally picked out five.

We are so excited --- the Lubin name will live on.

Landslide on the Yangzi River

Extra! New Flash from Three Gorges

This morning we passed through the first of three gorges on the way to the famous Three Gorges Dam. As we came around the bend we were stopped and sent back. It turns out there was a huge landslide just ahead of us blocking the passageway.

A bunch of sticks and mud floated by and the clean up boats were cleaning it up. (They clean up everything here!!). We started through a second time and were turned back again. Great adventure!!  We may have to circle back to Feng Do and continue on a bus. Great excitement here on the Yangzi!

We may have missed the Typhoon but got to experience a landslide!!  Cool.

Tai Chi at dawn on the Yangzi River

Our boat, The Yangzi Explorer, is first class.  Our staterooms are all suites and the boat is luxury (China-style).  Remember the story of “Ping” the duck on the Yangzi River?  Well, Ping has been replaced by a steady stream of barges bringing coal and other products to the great cities of China.  It’s awesome on this river.  The sun is shining.

At the break of dawn, many of us more adventurous travelers were on deck with Dr. Li, the Tai Chi Master (who also is the ship’s doctor …Buddha – help us all) who led us in early morning Tai Chi.  We are one with Confucious.

The pictures say it all.

Farklempt in China

This trip has far exceeded anything that I ever could have imagined.  Every day is sensory overload.  

There are billions of people here.  They are friendly and beautiful and everyone is working.  They sweep the streets with handmade brooms 24 hours a day.  As soon as a leaf falls off a tree, a gardener rakes it up.  

Every time we turn around, the old world meets the new world.  Women are washing laundry in the river in the shadow of skyscrapers.  Farmers are riding bicycles into the cities that are laden with 100 lbs of fruit and vegetables just off their farms – next to brand new modern buses bringing millions of Chinese tourists into the cities.  Mothers pedal their children to school on the backs of their bicycles and a city like Chongqing has over 40 colleges and universities that have opened in the last ten years.

Last night, after a spectacular day in Chongquin we boarded the Yangzi Explorer – a luxury riverboat for a three day cruise down the Yangzi, stopping at small villages along the way and steering through the Three Gorges.  

I have a feeling the best is yet to come!

An Afternoon at the Zoo

We popped over the Chongqing Zoo for a visit with the Panda Bears.  The panda-keeper actually woke up the pandas from their mid-day nap and lured them out of their cool caves so we could watch them eat their bamboo.  Yes – in China they do stuff like that.  If we came all the way from America, they were happy to wake up Ling Ling, Ting Ting, Bing Bong, Ding a Ling and Wing Wang so we could see them  and watch them chomp.  They each eat 85 lbs of bamboo a day.  

I have so many gorgeous pictures – I don’t know how to choose.  Here are a couple.  Enjoy.

As we walked through the zoo, a group of Chinese entertainers who were getting ready to put on a concert started saying “hello…hello…hello”.  Chinese who are trying to practice their English language skills take advantage of any opportunity to practice saying “hello.”  Our guide told them we were from Hollywood and they immediately sang a song for us – auditioning for their big break to get to Hollywood.  Before we knew it they turned the tides and asked us to sing for them.  China’s parks and public places are full of people spontaneously singing and so this is a perfectly natural occurrence.  Fortunately, one of the ladies in our group is a professional singer and she led us in the Star Spangled Banner.  Our new Chinese friends joined in and before we knew it we were singing together – performing for all in the middle of the Chongqing Zoo.  We had more admirers than the Panda Bears.

Stuff like this happens all the time in China.

Chongqing: Ever heard of it?

Have you ever heard of the city called Chongqing?  Probably not. And until two days ago neither had I.

Do you remember the Chinese “chop-suey-in-a-can” back in the 50’s that was made by a company called Chung King?  It was named for a town in southeastern China on the Yangzi River, currently known as Chongqing.  It is the biggest city in the world!!  And, I bet you’ve never heard of it.

I am totally at a loss as to how to describe it.  There are 34 million people living in Chongqing – that’s the population of California and more than 4 times the population of NYC.  It makes NYC look like a little village.  There are more than 10,000 (yes!! 10,000) skyscrapers and it has dozens and dozens of areas – EACH of which has a skyline that is bigger than the skyline of NYC.

Of course, it is known as the “foggy city” as China battles pollution from millions of cars and manufacturing.  But look through the fog in these photos to get a couple of views of Chongqing.  Twenty two bridges cross the Yangzi River in Chongqing and at least ten more are going to be built.  Communism…go figure.

Unemployment is less than 4%, there is not a bit of schmutz or as much as a single wad of chewing gum on the street.  There is not a spot of graffiti.  People are well dressed, happy and they all pointed and took pictures of us as though we were the only Caucasians they had ever seen.

China has 100 cities with a population of more than 1 million, and ten cities of over 10 million.

We are totally and completely blown away by what is taking place here in China.

Typhoon in China

Although we are in southern China tonight, we are flying north tomorrow to Chonquing - well clear of the typhoon that's messing with Hong Kong.

The weather here in Guilin is gorgeous. Here are some pictures from today: Marc in a rice paddy, and the two of us on a boat floating down the Li River.

Xi'an

It's is so hard to describe China. The only way is to do it in bits and pieces. We?ve just left Xi'an - which actually was an ancient capital of China. But still, for most of the last century, a rural community. Today it has a population about the same as New York City, and at least 500 skyscrapers under construction. (Maybe more!) With the urbanization of China, hundreds of millions of farmers have relocated to the urban areas. Think Co-Op City in the Bronx - now multiply that image by 100 - that's Xi'an. We're going to a city in a few days that has a population of 34 million - really! It;s called Chongqing and it is the largest city - population wise - in the world! (NYC is about 8 million.)

You cannot imagine the pollution in Xi'an. It's just a way of life. Take a look at these photos. The fuzzy ball in the sky above the construction crane is the early morning sun. The pollution is caused by manufacturing, mostly millions of cars, and the climate itself.



And - oh yes - the city continues to grow. Even with the one child per family policy in China, check out the kids that pour out of the schools at lunchtime.



They are building subways, high speed trains and working on other ways to move people around that are more environmentally friendly. But for now, it's like nothing else I have ever experienced.

As I write this, we are flying to Guilin and will spend this afternoon on a cruise on the Li River. It's is supposed to be gorgeous. So, tomorrows pictures should be good!

This continues to be an amazing trip!

The Rest of the Story

After a week in China one would think I would have the bathroom issues under control. In some ways, I have learned a lot. Many public toilets have at least one "western style" stall and so whenever we are approaching a bathroom stop, I rush forward, trampling my fellow travelers, in order to be the first one to reach the toilets and the one western style toilet among a dozen squats. It's not a problem when I'm in a group of Chinese - they actually prefer the squats - go figure.

We American ladies queue up for the toilets clutching and sharing our bits of tissue paper which we hastily grabbed from the hotel earlier in the day. The Chinese just clutch their children who they take with them into the squats. No paper for them. Ewwww.

I was actually getting very optimistic as we drove to the big modern airport at Xi'an early this morning, expecting a bunch of modern toilets before boarding the airplane. Not only was I faced with all squats when I went into the bathroom (holding my boarding pass, passport, carry on bag and tissues) but I ended up in one that had a door that didn't close. There I was holding one pant-leg and carry on with my right hand, clutching my wiping tissues in my left hand, holding the door closed with the top of my head, biting my boarding pass and passport in my teeth.

It's really something when you look forward to the airplane flights because the airplane toilet is the best one you?ll have all day.

Photo is of my friend and me demonstrating the correct way to squat.

Don't even get me started on what it's like to make a doo-doo in this country.

Have Your Ever Heard of the Terra Cotta Warriors?

In 1974, a Chinese peasant farmer was digging a well near Xi’an, when he came upon one of the world’s greatest archeological discoveries – an underground army of life-size clay warriors whose purpose was to guard the tomb of Qin Shihuang, an Emperor who unified China in 221 BC. Over 8,000 soldiers (and some horses) are believed to be underground, guarding Qin’s tomb. Today we viewed an excavation pit – the size of the Big House at Michigan (football field) where more than 2,000 warriors have been unearthed. The soldiers (many of which have been painstakingly reconstructed) are in perfect Qin Dynasty formation with archers, chariot drivers, infantry, etc. Every face and hairstyle is unique. Word is – it took 700,000 people 40 years to construct. Google it for the whole story – it’s too much for me to write.

The point is – that like everything else in China – it is way too vast to describe. Enjoy our photos!

Noodle Soup in Xi’an

In general, I wouldn’t tell someone to go to China for the food. Don’t get me wrong, it’s better than Chinatown, USA food; however, it does get monotonous after a while. Maybe it’s not even the food; it’s just eating three full meals a day on a tour – that is becoming tedious. However – there is an exception. It is well worth traveling to Xi’an, China for a bowl of the local noodle soup. It is amazing.

My friend, Wun Hung Low is the noodle soup chef at the Golden Flower Hotel in Xi’an. He stands behind his little booth, kneads the dough, hand pulls it (100 times) and throws the fresh noodles in a pot of water. Then he prepares a bowl with a bit of sesame seed, scallion or parsley, special soy sauce, a ladle of perfectly flavored special noodle soup broth and scoops up the noodles from the pot with his chopsticks(!!) and tosses the luscious noodles into the bowl. You can finish the soup with your choice of vegetables, a slice of beef, some pork mush or tomatoes. You then can add in a dash of ultra spicy red stuff – but it doesn’t even need it.



Yesterday, I had noodle soup for dinner. Today I had it for breakfast and lunch. I’d be eating a cocktail-hour bowlful right now if I wasn’t typing this blog. It’s simply the best soup I have ever eaten. We are bringing Wun home with us to open our own little soup kitchen back in the USA.