lol nice.

Good haircuts are hard to come by for less than $20, apparently. Not sure when they got so darn pricey. The extra shampoo and scalp massage is a bonus.

 

thats one of the things I like about Asia.
You get treated well for not alot of money and any service provided is usually done well.
Waitresses (sorry, not alot of guys do that job in Asia), are attentive, but at a distance and out of sight. they dont hover around, but are attentive to your drink level and will be there to see if you are ready for another (or will pickup on the motion for another).

 

Yeah. Don't think anyone can beat the service out there. Puts Americans to shame. It's one of the hurdles of transition when we moved back to the States after tree years in Japan. The difference is night and day.

 

Fascinating observations, Stan. Hopefully someone in the NEW administration will get the message and pull us back together. We have been sliding down the slope for too long. Keep up the notes - - luv it.

Bob

 

love this thread stan! thank you for taking out some time to do it!

really important to hear from people who have been there/seen things!


and fronty is the well travelled Okie (from oklahoma)
sorry that you didn't get to five continents, but i hear antartica is available for oil exploration..

 

Great observations Stan

I think the first thing you will notice once you leave there is that 30 mins out of China, you will be hungry again

 

One of the things I noticed about China and the US was that more companies are starting to make their products in the US again. Here is an example. BOSS seats for snowmobiles, I went to order one this spring and they said hold off until fall, we're coming out with a new version. Well, the new version turned out to be custom made in the USA (not China), by north american workers. They gave me a sheet with all the different specs I could choose from and its $65.00 per seat more, but the quality is there and its nice to know I'm supporting people in north America. I inquired why they are making them in the states again and they said they had too many quality control issues, so they upped the price and are making them here. I thanked the girl and said $65.00 more to buy a locally made product is more than worth it to me.


I hope this trend continues.

 

Mmmmm War Wonton

 

Been too busy to take the time to make any new posts, but can now do so. This coming week is a national holiday, so I have from today (Saturday) until Friday night off. Have to go back to work next Saturday morning. 7 days off and on 7 days. It's strange, but that is the way they do things here. On Friday at work there was a bit of what we would consider a Christmas eve atmosphere with folks not working very hard, and taking off early for vacations etc. Some locals took the entire week of so that gave them a two week vacation,

Winter is coming. The last couple of days have been quite cool with a stiff breeze. My first time wearing a wind breaker to work. Not looking forward to the coming cold.

The women here are mostly very attractive. Don't look at the men, so no idea what they look like. A common style is for them to wear what appears to be a type of black, thick pantie hose, but don't think that is what it is. Some wear a sort of black patterned hose. (they are not hoes) On top of that they then wear a very short skirt or dress. The odd one wears short, tight shorts, sometimes with boots. The effect is extremely um, shall we say, very sexy. Eye candy. Almost never see anybody that is overweight. Hey, don't yell at me; just because I am on diet does not mean I can't enjoy drooling over the menu.

Was talking to one of the older Canadian ex-pat women here and we got talking about shopping. She is about 5' 4" and only a tiny bit overweight. I would imagine that in her twenties that she would have been considered petite. Anyway, she told me that she never shops for clothes here in China. I asked why not and she said that it is too depressing. Of course I asked why. She told me that for her size, all the women's clothes here were marked 'large'. Just goes to show how small the average Chinese woman is compared to the North American women. Wanted to laugh, but as I value my life, had to be very diplomatic and assure her that she was not large.

Something that is conspicuous by it's absence is the sound of aircraft. Unless I am near the airport I have not yet heard any aircraft flying around. That is probably because there is no civil aviation in this country. Only military and commercial.

It appears that every country that manufactures a car has some of their vehicles on the streets here. Was told that only 6% of the Chinese own cars, but that is enough for the government to start to limit the quantity of cars on the road and in Beijing they are now holding a monthly lottery to see who can take delivery of a new car. Have not yet verified that bit of news. Judging by the traffic here the visual indication is that at least 50% own cars due to the congestion at times.

Still getting used to the way drivers treat pedestrians here. Been in quite a few taxis that want to turn right at a stop light with a mob of pedestrians and bicyclists crossing over. The driver will drive on the wrong way against traffic on the left of the stopped traffic and then turn right across 2 or 3 lanes of traffic and horn blowing, just drive thru the pedestrian crossing. He does not stop for anything or anybody, but just keeps moving slowly. Or sometimes, not so slowly. Watched a cop just watch one of wild these scenes and do nothing.

There appears to be dozens of banks with different names here. Only seen 2 or 3 banks with a common name in different parts of the city, such as the Bank of China. One bank had a name that in English was quite profane. Immediately thought of some of the nefarious DTR members and what they would do to distort that name. Not here on DTR of course. In my hotel there is a HSBC, so use that.

Just discovered that I can get a tailor to come to the hotel to measure me for any clothes I want. He will make me a quality shirt for about $14. Less if I order a batch. Waiting for my wife to arrive and then will get a cheongsam made for her. She is small and shapely, so it will look great on her.

Have watched many guys trying to back into a parking area or parallel park. It is quite entertaining. Some of them are a lot worse than the stereotyped bad female driver. Many of them get their wife or passenger to get out and direct them in. Even then it can take many tries to get parked. They are very obviously new drivers. Have not yet discovered how a drivers license is issued here, but it obviously does not include parallel parking.

At work there are ping pong tables at most floors and they are used a lot during the breaks. One area even has two badminton courts inside the building. It gets a bit distracting to try to work when somebody is playing because they get quite noisy.

When I came to China I was expecting to see a lot more males than females due to their one child policy. Much to my surprise there appears to be high female population walking around the city and at work. Just watching the people walking on an average sidewalk gives the impression that there are almost as many females in the streets as males.

China is known for it's tea, so been digging into that a bit. One of the Chinese I work with has done some teaching on this subject and gave me the following. I like the story of the 3 cups of tea. Considering that English is her second language, she did pretty good:

Chinese Tea Culture

Culture is not a foreign word to us. In our lives or during our study, we have a lot of chances to run into it, for example cuisine culture, alcohol culture, and of course tea culture. But what is the definition of Culture?

Here are the definitions I found in my humble dictionary:
1, The particular system of art, thought and customs of a society
2, Artistic and other expressions of the mind and the works produced by this

From the above two definitions we can come to the following conclusions about culture:
1, It is a form of art
2, It contains a lot of mental expressions
3, It has become a custom of a certain society

Now let’s take our minds from the broad culture of China to our specific Chinese Tea Culture. What’s the content?
Color / Shape / Aroma / Taste / Utensil / Byproduct / Atmosphere / Anecdotes / Customs
History of Tea
First, let’s borrow the time machine from Sheldon and Lenard in Big Bang and go back through some of China’s historic periods.
1, 5000 years ago, human beings were still very primitive on this planet. They lived their lives by hunting and gathering. People lived in destitution. Then, Saint Shennong (Saint Peasant) appeared. He helped people discover 5 main cereals by tasting various plants to feed themselves and he also helped people discover tea as a kind of beverage and medicine to cure their various diseases and lift their spirits.
2, 2000 years ago, Chinese people began to cultivate tea plants. Tea began to play a greater role than it had before.
3, (AD 618-907) In Tang dynasty, Luyu wrote The Book of Tea. This is the first book about tea and it is referred to as the Bible of Tea. After that, generations of tea fanatics have practiced their rituals following this book even until today.

It was in 119BC that emperor of the Western Han sent his ambassador, Zhangqian, and his team to go west, and to take the most precious products – silk, tea, and porcelain with them, along with their good will to all the countries and their people. This was the form of the desert silk route. The later dynasties created 2 other silk routes, one through grassland and the other through sea. Through these roads, along with caravans and merchant ships, Chinese tea began to spread into most corners of the world. They found their places on the tables of emperor and common people alike.

Category, Water and Utensils
Generally speaking, there are 7 kinds of tea – Green tea, Yellow tea, White tea, Jade Green tea, Red tea, Black tea and Flower tea. Actually, to connoisseurs, there are only 6. They consider flower tea as nothing but sensationalized fragrant tea for outsiders.
The category of tea is based on its level of fermentation. Through complicated processes – sun drying, smothering, swinging, cooling, rolling, baking, piling and drying. Tea makers assist different teas achieve their best flavors according to their years of practice.
To make a good cup of tea, it’s not enough if all you have is perfect tea leaves. Good water and utensils are all crucial. They will help the aroma permeate the air and enchant its consumers.
Fresh mountain streams are said to be the best choice for water when it comes to utensils, it really depends on the tea. Utensils of different materials go better with different teas. The most complicated utensil is used for Jade Green tea. Attributed to its sophisticated rituals, it is also called Kungfu tea.

Now I want to introduce you to the top 10 famous teas in China.

Legend of tea names
1, Dongting Biluochun - Green whelk in the spring

It was said that this tea got its name from an emperor during the Qing dynasty – Qianlong. When he traveled to Suzhou and tried this tea, he was very impressed by its beautiful shapes in the water and its special aroma. He asked for its name and then was told that it was called The Scary Scent. He was very disappointed and he thought it desired a more attractive name. He renamed it Green Whelk in The Spring.

2, Dahongpao – Big Red Robe

The three original tea trees are more than 1000years old. They grow on the top of a steep rocky mountains. In ancient times, the monks that lived in nearby temples trained monkeys to help them to pick up sprouts in the spring. Now people use step-ladder to get the buds. People call it big red robe because the new sprout is blood red. When it sprouts in the spring, it really looks like a big red robe from a far distance. These threes also have received a special honor that no other trees have ever beheld – they have real red robes given by an emperor in Ming dynasty.

3, Dongding Woolong

In 1855, a poor young man in Nantou county, Taiwan was sponsored by his fellow villagers to attend the civil servant examination. He passed the exam and was selected to be the mayor of a city in Fujian province. Before his inauguration, he went back to visit his family and sponsors. He took 36 tea trees that he got from Wuyi mountain to express to his sponsors his gratitude. These trees were cultivated carefully on the tip of Phoenix Mountain, they were the first tea trees in Taiwan. The name came from the difficult stunt people did when they tried to pick up tea leaves – the mountain was so steep and the rainy climate made it even more slippery, so people had to be very careful and keep their toes rigid. In local dialect, this is called Dong Ding.

Anecdotes

1, The tap of gratitude
Emperor Qianlong liked to travel disguised as a merchant, and his bodyguards were disguised as his friends. He’s a very experienced tea connoisseur. When he was in his palace, he had all his things done by his servants. He didn’t have the chance to show his tea – making technique. So, when he was out of his palace, he preferred to brew tea for his followers. This put his subsequences in a dilemma. For if it was in the palace, they had to perform certain ritual to show their gratitude. But when they were outside, the most important thing was safety. So they came up with this idea to tap on the table instead kneeing. Because of this, it has become part of China’s Tea Culture.

Customs – San Dao Cha
1, The story I heard
When I traveled in Yunnan in 2001, I heard this saying for the first time. The tea hostess told me that this is the custom of people who serve their guests in the Bai people. When they offer you the tea for the first time ( the first cup), it’s bitter - Life is bitter. The second time, it’s sweet - Love is sweet. The third time, it’s as simple as water - a real friend is like water. He or she nourishes you all the time but you may neglect him or her. Only when you lose this person, will you know what you had.

2, The original meaning of San Dao Cha
When I searched on line for this presentation, I found the original meaning of The Three Cups of Tea. It’s like advice given to young men. When a young man grows up and wants to go outside study on his own, seek his fortune or put down roots. The whole family will hold a party for him. During the party, the most honored elder will serve tea for this young man with a tile jar. First, he will set the empty jar on the fire and turn it to heat it evenly. When it is hot enough, he’ll put some tea leaves into it. After a while, a smoky aroma will come out. He then pours hot water in and offers the tea to the young man. It’s extremely bitter. - Life seems wonderful in front of you, but you have to work your way out through hard work and perseverance. Definitely you will suffer. Then he’ll offer tea for the second time. But this time he’ll add honey to it. It’s sweet. - Only after hard work, can you have the chance to be successful. The third time, the tea will be served together with fried rice, pepper and salt. It has many different flavors all at once. – On your road, you need to reflect on your own actions now and then. Learn from your successes and mistakes.

3, Three Cups of Tea – Greg Mortension
Greg Mortension - American adventurer, he climbed the second highest mountain (K2) in 1993. He failed and lost his way all by himself. He was saved by villagers of Korphe, a remote village on the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The villagers nourished him back to health with goat milk and tea marinated with yak butter. The following are what the villagers told Greg:

u When we offer you the first cup of tea, you are totally a stranger
u When we offer you the second cup of tea, you are our friend
u When we offer you the third cup of tea, you are considered a family member, we will protect you with our body and blood

Moved by these villagers, Greg decided to do something for them. Then through his unparallel hard work, he has set up more than 1000 schools for the children in this area.

It seems that tea is potent not only in curing certain diseases but in unifying people isolated by languages and social forms. Actually in Asia, among connoisseurs the highest level of tea drinking is called “ Cha Dao” – the Dao of Tea. Surpassing all the forms and rituals, the aim is to understand the meaning of life, the interrelationship between all livings and the secret of the universe.

To some extent, we are all on our way of seeking Dao – through our career, through our family and through our happiness and sorrows. Here, I may you all be successful on your own journey of seeking Dao.

Thank you all for coming here, please wait a minute and enjoy a cup of tea as well as some snacks I brought here this morning.

 

I only made it to the suit comment before I had to post.
Make sure you get his card. you will be on fine, if you can get a swatch of material and send it to him, he can have your new suit delivered roughly where.ever you are in a couple weeks.

 

So who here would like to work for the wages most of these service people make, or live in the condition they live in daily? Think about that when you take about us going down hill......we could do better ,but do you really want to trade places?

 

Sorry, I must have missed something because I can't relate your comment to the intent of this thread? Please explain.

 

Well, you were able to get as much with the haircut as you did for the amount you paid because the poor service people are working for slave wages and are happy they can get that. My friends son is an EE for Motorola and has married a native Chinese woman.......she tells a very pitiful tale of the common folks in the country. The masses and the country as a whole can not be equally compared to the USA. Some of us want their suits due to the cost.....no thought is given to the wages (or lack there of) of the tailors. The wealthy over there are making trillions off us selling us cheaply made products using slave labor.

 

Isn't this the subject for a separate thread?
You can't compare the wages of the Chinese or the Mexican's or some other developing country to America due to the dramatic difference in the cost of living. Compare apples to apples in a separate thread and we will talk. Are you aware of the high and climbing percentage of American's living below the poverty line? Last I heard it was 1 in 8 and for the blacks, it is getting close to 28%. Seems to me that the Chinese are starting as a country to obtain a standard of living as good as, or in some cases, better than the American's who for many reason are going downhill.
Please stay with the intent of this thread,or if you do not like it, start a new thread.

 

Guess I misunderstood your comments......my apologies.......enjoy you time in China.