The Great Wall Chase

I would like to say the reason I've been away from blogging is because I've been working on the short film below for the last 6 months. (But the reality is not this sexy, the busy-ness of life had simply gotten the better hold of me.) Anyways, here is a little bit of fun for you to enjoy... A special thanks to my friend Gabe and the Chinese Hawkers on the wall...

Click To Play

This is a comedic short about the hawkers who peddle you goods on the Great Wall. It's shot on location in the Shimatai stretch of the Great Wall. If you get a chance to visit, please do say hi to the two ladies who starred as themselves in the film. (and congratulate them on their newly acquired internet movie stardom!)

I have to give credit where credit is due. The idea for this film came from the hawkers. They just kept following us up and up the wall, even when we repeatedly told them that they were wasting their time and energy. We weren't interested in those tour books at all. It was their persistence that gave birth to the concept for this short video.

Well, in the end, the hawkers persistence paid off. (I have a suspicion they knew what they were doing all along.) They sold two books to us. You can check out the hagglers teaching Gabe, my friend and the other star of this short, a lesson on haggling at the end of the film.

Enjoy!

So That's How They Felt...

We woke up yesterday morning to hear the news of the sunken cruiseliner off the shores of Santorini, luckily all the people were rescued.

You see, we are going to Santorini this summer for my cousin's wedding. We are planning to take a little 4-5 day cruises in the Aegean before arriving in Santorini. And what is the name of the ship we are scheduled on? You guessed it, the Sead Diamond!

What are the chances of that?!?

Strangely, I found myself thinking of a group of people that I have never once in my life thought about before, what about those people who were booked to go on the Titanic after its fateful voyage?

A Guizhou Photo Slideshow

Here is a slide show of photos I shot in Kaili, Guizhou during a rehersal for a performance for some visiting VIPs back in November of 2005. (You'll see the Miao and Dong people represented in these photos)

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Kaili is in the eastern part of Guizhou province and is a gateway city to minority villages in the area. Some of the major groups in the area are the Miao, the Dong, and the Ge. Enjoy!

Loy Krathong

Testing out a New Video Serice with this old slideshow that I had made of photos I took at the Loy Krathong festival back in Nov 2005.

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One of the neat things that is done here, in addition to the traditional float, is the the floating of lanterns that fly up into the air. It is pretty awe-inspiring to see the night sky lit up with hundreds of these flying lanterns, a symbolic act of people purging themselves of their sins and impurities.

Here is an Excerpt from Wikipedia:

"Loy Krathong is a festival celebrated annually throughout Thailand. It is held on the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar, in the western calendar this usually falls into November.

“Loi” means “to float”. “Krathong” is a raft about a handspan in diameter traditionally made from a section of banana tree trunk (although modern-day versions often use styrofoam), decorated with elaborately-folded banana leaves, flowers, candles, incense sticks etc. During the night of the full moon, many people will release a small raft like this on a river. Governmental offices, corporations and other organizations also build much bigger and more elaborate rafts, and these are often judged in contests. In addition, fireworks and beauty contests take place during the festival...

... the act of floating away the candle raft is symbolic of letting go of all one's grudges, anger and defilements, so that one can start life afresh on a better foot. People will also cut their fingernails and hair and add them to the raft as a symbol of letting go of the bad parts of oneself. Many Thai believe that floating a krathong will create good luck, and they do it to honor and thank the Goddess of Water, Phra Mae."

Chinese Ingenuity - Part II

One of the unsettling things in China, that takes a bit of getting use to, is that most value judgements are made from a practial point-of-view.

A case-in-point of how this plays out can be seen in the traffic pattern in Shenzhen. It is very common to see people driving the wrong way onto an off-ramp of a highway. (or the vice-versa: getting off an on ramp) This happens usually for two reasons:

1. The driver went off at the wrong exit, so is re-tracing his steps.
2. It is shorter and less of a hassle to get onto the highway than taking the long roundabout way of properly getting on the highway.

This is a pretty common occurence in Shenzhen. However, recently, the police have caught wind of this and have began cracking down on this. The city has recently installed thousands of new surveillance cameras.

A problem you say? Not at all, it's just another opportunity to see Chinese ingenuity at work.

The other day as we were getting on a highway, we saw some cars coming off of it in the wrong direction, I also saw some people parked along the side of the street. Apparently what was going on was that there is a camera on the on-ramp, so what the drivers were doing is pulling over before they performed their counter-flow manuvering, putting a cardboard or plastic bag over their license plate, perform the manuver, then afterwards removing the incriminating evidence. Naturally the obvious solution, right?

Well, that's the Chinese, practical approach to solving the camera problem, which enables people to continue to pursue the practical, shortest paths approach to driving.

Chinese Ingenuity - Part I

My parents' company had a large shipment of merchandise that was coming into China from the US by air. It was being taken care of by a shipping company and it was suppose to go directly into the interior of China, to Sichuan province.

The delivery was taking longer than expected so they decided to track the shipment. The shipping company indicated that the cargo was being sent by air through China Eastern Airlines. It had a legitimate air tracking number, upon more detailed detective work, they found out to their dismay that the cargo arrived by AIR into Shanghai and then was put on a truck by China Eastern Airline where it made the two day ground journey to Sichuan. Luckily the merchandise made it safely and cleared custom in Sichuan province.

Only in China would you send something by AIR and they would tell you it's by AIR, only to find out later it was put on a truck to complete its journey. (although to their credit, it was an "AIR"line truck)

The only upside is that it was a bit cheaper. (And that it DID arrive!)

I guess the lesson is that you never know what you are gonna get in China, it's full of surprises and "ingenuities".

Anshun - A Photographic Impression

Anshun is a small city in the western part of Guizhou province, we just happened to be there on 元宵节 (yuanxiao festival), the fifteenth of January on the lunar calendar, which officially marks the last day of the New Year celebration. Locals display lanterns and eat rice balls to celebrate! Oh, and they set off a whole bunch of fireworks and firecrackers. (right in your path at times!)

Enjoy the pictures...


















A girl selling fruit, it's pretty amazing that they take the time to carve out the pineapple and prop it on a stick for you to eat like a popscicle.

















A lady trying to peddle off one of her colorful balloons to one of the passer-bys celebrating new years.


















Grandma and granddaughter spending some time together, the new year's all about families getting together.

















Some more modern lanterns for sale for the kids.


















A row of old houses left over from the yester-years of Anshun


















A typical Chinese billboard/bulletin board. (aka Somebody's front wall)

















An old catholic church built by early missionary and converts, I believe it's over 100 years old.

















a sign found in the catholic church courtyard, which states: "Fully implement government policies, Respect citizens' faith."

















The church has a mix of Chinese and western architecture, it has a pagoda and a steeple.

















The locals associate big inflatable things with Chinese New Year, so here is a rainbow bridge thing-a-majig in the celebration spirit.

















the lady sun lantern is now shining and displaying her glory. (Make sure you don't miss the cool skateboarding lantern in the background)

















Ahh... the Anshun Candyman with his mobile cotton candy maker.
























Here is a picture I took while running away from a firework gone awry. It was suppose to explode in mid-air, but didn't do so until it hit the ground.

















"Take your best shot with the pellet gun, break a few balloons and walk away with a chintzy gift you didn't want in the first place!"

















Somebody got to stay up past their bed time.

















My friend Gabe checks out the local BBQ Pit, where you can get any type of meat on a stick and pineapple on a stick. My friend from my college days use to fondly refer to these stands as peddloing "Hepatitis on a stick".



















Oops... this picture is out of order, but anyways, here is a girl joining in the festivities by trying to pick out her favorite lantern. She was having a real hard time, because I think she liked all of them.
























A lady selling tofus on the grill to the throngs of people out celebrating New Years! Guizhou is known for street side eateries like this one.
















A water color work done by a local artist of what Anshun use to look like in the 1960s.

Hair Appointment

I arrived in Shenzhen last night after a couple of whirlwind weeks of traveling throughout Southwest China. (Some pics to come later)

After being on the road for two weeks, I decided it was time to pamper myself and splurge for a $5 Shampoo/Hair cut. Getting a hair cut in China is quite the enjoyable 1 hour experience, 45 minutes of which is spent shampooing and massaging your scalp.

As I was getting my head massaged and my hair shampooed for the nth time, I decided at that moment that if this is any indication of what being a metrosexual might feel like, I could be a metrosexual. I mean, how can anyone not enjoy this kind of pampering?

I digress, what I meant to share with you is a bit of the conversation I had with the girl who was shampooing my hair. She is part of the huge migrant labor force in China trying to make a better life for themselves by going off to the big cities. She arrived in Shenzhen from Hainan Island about 5 months ago.

Me: "What's the weather like in Hainan this time of year?"
Girl: "Similar to here, it's very tropical."

Girl: "So what's the weather like in America?"
Me: "Well, it depends on where you are in America..."
Girl: "Oh..."
Me: "It's kind of like China, if you are in the Northeast, the weather is different from if you are here in the south."
Girl: "Really? I thought America was just America. So it's like China, huh?"

Girl: "So where is Australia in America?"
Me: "Mmm... actually Australia is not in America..."
Girl: "So where is Australia?"
Me: "If you go Southeast from here, you'll get to Australia, it's like a big island."
Girl: "Hainan is a very big island, people think that it's just a little island and are surprised at how big it is."
Me: "Yes, Australia is a very, very big island."

Girl: "So... do you use American money in America or do you use Renminbi?"

The Dreaded Day Arrives...

The dreaded day has finally arrived.

Today marks a significant day in my life. As those of you who know me well, I love food. I am not so much of a connoisseur of fine and exquisite haute cuisine, as much as someone who just loves good, meaty, hearty, down-home-cooking type of cuisine. (Basically food that real people eat)

Ever since my first memories I can remember preferring meat to vegetables, dark meat (legs and thighs) to white meat (breasts), and fatty meat to lean meat. (Btw, Asians can perform the miraculous when it comes to preparing fat.) Over the years of training I have come to appreciate vegetables more and more. (First for their nutritional and health value, and now slowly for their taste. ) Eating Vegetables is like drinking wine, it's an acquired taste.

I remember in college I would eat a salad "naked", namely with only lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and no dressing, no bacon bits, nor croutons, or anything that were considered "excess". I would justify my eccentric salad eating habits to my friends by explaining that I ate salad strictly for health reasons and not for taste. I didn't enjoy it, but I needed it.

Well, to put it simply, a lot has happened since college and it culminated in what happened today. The moment I've been dreading as a kid and vowed that I would never do...

I had a salad for lunch.

I've had salad with many meals, but today against my better judgment and my primal instinct, I crossed over the threshold, I had only a salad for a meal. During my layover at O'Hare Airport, I passed on McDonald's, American Chinese food, Pizza, hot steak subs, healthier subway subs on my way to the salad bar.* What is going on?

It is a seismic event in my life; I feel the foundations of all that I've ever known shifting. My world is spinning, I need some time to process this, and I need some red meat.


*I hate to admit this, but I found my body and my mouth craving a salad today as I passed over my normal selections. Well, at least it was a chicken Caesar salad, not completely vegetarian, I loath the day when I eat a completely vegetarian salad!

To the One I Love

To the girl I fell in love with when we were both young and naive.

To the woman whom I have come to love deeply through the laughs, the fights, and the tears.

We were both in way over our heads. Our marriage and our love were far more real and raw than I could have ever imagined with my childish, romantic notions.

Thank you for loving me for whom I am with all my faults and quirks. Thank you for putting up with me and my cheesy humor, my overly-optimistic outlook, and my girly-man romantic heart.

I love you. Happy Valentine's Day, "Laopo"!