Overheard

Me: Guys, I don't want you watching Jetix right now. If you want to watch TV, you can watch something educational.
Ethan: This IS educational.
Me: Oh yeah? What is it teaching you?
Ethan: How to FIGHT.
Me: Exactly.

Sophie got in a fight

A fight with the hardwood floor, that is. She tripped and fell this morning and gave herself a fat lip and swollen face. Ouch.

But she's not letting it keep her down. Hopefully it won't stop her from giving out kisses, which she likes to do unprovoked.

Overheard

Post Office Employee: Oh, I'm sorry. I can't take your credit card. It's not signed on the back.
Me: Oh... What if I sign the back of the card right now?
POE: Okay.
(I sign.)
Me: Can you take it now?
POE: Sure.

Luckily, when I signed the receipt at the end of the transaction, the signature matched the one I had just put on the back of the card. So the transaction was OBVIOUSLY legit.

It reminded me of this.

Sophie's favorite spot in the house

Her favorite spot, apart from her mother's arms, is next to the iPod. Our iPod does double duty as our stereo system, and it is situated only inches from the ground. Fortunately for us, it seems to be pretty durable.

Our little Sophie loves to dance, and she has been known to belt out a song or two at church. A video of her dancing to Flock of Seagulls can be found here.

Boo-yeah.

Ethan lost his first tooth today.

Overheard

Ethan: Dad, guess which episode of "Playground" is my favorite episode.

Me: Hmm. I don't know. Which one?

Ethan: THERE IS NO SHOW CALLED "PLAYGROUND." BOO-YEAH.

??

Mitt at Strawberry Farms

A good overview here, including a photo of Mitt and dad.

Today is the first day of school...

...at the Indiana School for Blond Children.

Here they are waiting for the bus with nervous anticipation--what Andrew said feels like "mealworms" in his stomach:

Happy birthday Miles

Fashion statement

This is Andrew saying, "I have my own opinion about things but thanks for the input anyway."

The last 2 days

The last 2 days in Beijing were the most memorable. We visited the Forbidden City again (see the post below), and afterward our taxi driver got a ticket on the way to Silk Market, where I stocked up on Chinese Transformers and other cheap souvenirs for the kids:

We went to Top Electronics City, an amazing electronics mart that one of our partners in Beijing owns. You can get any kind of electronics in the hectic building, and everything is negotiable:

Here's a Beijing parking lot for bikes. How does a person ever find his or her bike again once it's parked? Beijing was designed and built before many people had cars, so there are few places on the street to park actual cars--although drivers manage to park them on the streets anyway.

Our last night in Beijing was spent in the countryside at the amazing home of the former teacher to Mao's grandson. In addition to being a powerful property developer, she is a member of the People's Congress and is friends to many powerful people in China. After we left her home, the newly appointed vice president of China was coming to stay at the home with his family for a month. The home has about 10 bedrooms, an indoor pool, theater, and karoke room. Here's the view from the park in her backyard:

At her home we noticed a calligraphy set and some doodlings on a table (see below), so we asked if they were hers. It turns out they are the doodlings of her very good friend, M. L. Han, the "Chinese Picasso". He spent the Cultural Revolution in prison where the government severed the tendons in his wrists to prevent him from ever doing calligraphy again. When he got out he had surgery to reattach the tendons and now does semi-controversial art that criticizes the government.

On the final day of our trip, our friend sent us to the Great Wall of China in her chauffered van conversion. Here's dad testing out the massage chair en route:

The Great Wall of China is a place I never thought I'd visit. Notice the blue sky--it's the only time we saw the sky during the entire trip:

Have you ever seen those t-shirts that say "I'm huge in Japan?" A couple of different groups asked to take a picture with me on the Great Wall. Uh, okay.

Chinese graffiti on the Great Wall:

On the way to the airport we visited one more restaurant. At this one, instead of ordering from a menu, patrons select what they want to eat directly from the aquarium tanks.

Snake tea, anyone?

We encountered many opportunities in China. There is so much to do! As I've written repeatedly, things are changing there so quickly. One of our colleagues in China, Tao Min, grew up hoping that one day he'd have a job that allowed him to earn enough money to buy a bicycle and have enough food to eat. He says that if someone had told him when he was a teenager that he would one day own a car (a chauffered Audi A6 at that), he never would have believed it. People who are against globalization need to talk to Tao Min. It's exciting to see the change and the opportunities that people in China now have access to.

After more than a week of travel and 25 hours of airports and airplanes during the return to Indy, it's nice to be home. Sophie didn't remember me at first, but she quickly caught on.

I am looking forward to heading back to China soon to follow up on all of the work we need to do.

Forbidden City

On Wednesday morning Dad and I ran over to the Forbidden City to see the parts we weren't able to see before it closed the other day. Miraculously, there was almost no one there for the first 20 minutes. It was surreal.

Within minutes, though, it looked like this:

More Beijing

A quick post tonight, because it's late.

A long time ago, the emperor of China used to employ a box of sticks like this for "polygamous activities":


We were guests at a restaurant today that was founded by descendants of the imperial family, who have adopted their ancestor's box of sticks and turned it into a menu. You pick what you want to eat by pulling the sticks out of the box.

Here's dad and me at the restaurant in our matching outfits:


Here's a photo of a bird at the restaurant that could speak Chinese. Seriously. I can't even speak Chinese, and I'm not a bird.


Check out this crazy building we saw today. When it's done it will look like this, but for now it looks like it's going to fall over:


Can you spot the guy breaking into an apartment? Just another day in B-town:


Tonight I went with our friends Steve and Jenny to a Chinese foot massage palace, which is a very Chinese type of experience that is hard to translate into a blog post. Everyone needs to experience it at least once. It was the kind of massage that makes you sore the next day. I've never been handled so roughly. During the massage we sat in huge recliners and watched Chinese soap operas and infomercials. The massage lasted for an hour, included shoulders, feet and head, and only cost a few bucks. Here are my feet in the pre-massage soak--does anyone know what this mystery liquid is?


Tonight on the way back from the massage palace Tiananmen Square was lit up with spotlights. I held the camera outside of the taxi so you can all see how cool communist propaganda can look. The video is here. (note: shaky camera warning)

Beijing

We're in Beijing now.

Yesterday was our final day in Shanghai, where we spent the morning and afternoon driving around the city looking at real estate projects with the government official who orchestrated the development. In the evening we got on a plane for the 2-hour ride to Beijing. When we left Shanghai it was raining unbelievably hard.

People here say that if you want to see what China used to be like, go to Xi'an. If you want to see what China is like now, go to Beijing. And if you want to see what China will be like in the future, go to Shanghai.

Shanghai is the economic capital of China, and Beijing is the political capital. Shanghai has 23 million residents, and Beijing has around 13 million. It's hard to fathom.

We went to church this morning at the Beijing Branch, which is officially recognized by the government here. The government allows the branch to meet as long as only ex-pats attend. They meet on the 4th floor of an office building, but when you walk inside it looks like a normal chapel. There were probably 125 people in attendance.

After church we went to lunch at a restaurant that is famous for its roasted duck. The food here is fascinating, which is a euphemism "I can't wait to get home and eat food without heads." At the restaurant today, we ate duck number 449,603:

After lunch we took a quick ride over to the Forbidden City, which of course is famous for being the spot where they anachronistically filmed Mulan. Here's dad trying not to fall out of the limo:

Here's a photo of Mao, Dad, and me:

Speaking of Mao, tonight we ate dinner with a woman who used to teach English to Mao's grandson. When she was young she was shipped off to Mongolia for 10 years of forced labor. Upon her return, she somehow got into the good graces of the government, became the teacher for Mao's grandson, and is now a very wealthy real estate tycoon. So many of the people we meet here have remarkable stories like that. Their life stories are symbolic of the entire recent history of the country, going from life as a peasant to hardship under communism and then eventually to wealth.

China seems to have an endless supply of young women who are hired as receptionists to show people where to go in buildings. Everywhere we turn they are standing around waiting to assist. And they do a very good job: they all speak English and will go out of their way to cheerfully help. China also seems to have an endless supply of young men in military uniforms who stand around and guard things:


The Forbidden City was very crowded today. At one point as I was moving through the crowd I felt a hand pushing me on my lower back. I turned to see a little old Chinese lady who didn't think I was moving fast enough. Sometimes you just have to push in the crowd, and no one seems to mind. Here's a photo of a few of Beijing's residents:


More useless observations:

• The car of choice for government and business elites in Beijing is the Audi A6. The windows are always tinted and the cars are always black. Everyone important has a driver to take them around. There are a lot of Audi A6s on the road.

• Yesterday I saw a glimpse of blue sky for the first time since we've been here. There is a constant haze of pollution and humidity here that makes it impossible to see more than a mile away. People in Beijing and Shanghai never know if it's cloudy or sunny, because the sky is always a hazy gray.

• Many of the construction sites here shut down for the summer because it's too hot. The workers go back to their parents' homes to help them cope with the heavy rain and floods that also happen at this time of year in many parts of China.
  

• There are no logical rules about driving in China. Right of way is determined by size and whoever gets to a spot in the road first. In America right of way is determined by speed and direction, which makes more sense to me. In China it's okay to turn left in front of oncoming traffic, or to make a right turn from a middle lane, as long as you're there first. No one seems to get upset about this, it's just how it works. If a driver wants to turn left on a busy street, he or she simply sticks the nose of his or her car into oncoming traffic, then inches forward until the cars stop and make room. It makes for very exciting taxi rides.
  

• Speaking of taxi rides, they are amazingly inexpensive here in Beijing. Around $2 for a 10-15 minute trip. Everything else here, unfortunately, seems to be priced at about what you'd expect in America.

• The FC Barcelona soccer team is staying in our hotel in Beijing, although we have yet to run into Ronaldinho. There were 15 Audi A6s parked in front of the hotel this morning to escort the players to their exhibition game against a Chinese team, and people have been waiting outside the hotel with posters all day hoping to get an autograph.

• People in China seem very family friendly. I have seen lots of happy couples holding hands and families spending time together, usually with 3 generations. There are lots of children running around here, but I have yet to see a single pregnant woman.
  

• China is a country made up of at least 55 ethnic groups, including the Mosuo, a tribe with strange ideas about marriage.
  

Shanghai, Day 2

Yesterday was quite the day. We met in the morning with an ex-pat attorney who is helping set up the real estate venture over here. For lunch we visited a local restaurant (see below) where they served us a chicken that was still smiling at us, if you know what I mean. In the afternoon we visited some real estate projects, including an apartment building that is being converted to million dollar condos and a mall filled with teenagers who were buying stuff. At night our Chinese partner through a party to celebrate the partnership and the launch of their new quarterly magazine.

The CEOs of many of China's largest companies were among the attendees. Dad sat next to the chief economist for the central committee during the dinner. It turns out the Alan Greenspan of China is very much a free marketeer. We met a woman named Mme. Wong, who runs the largest auction company in China, and who, it turns out, is a graduate of BYU-Hawaii. She was very surprised and pleased to run into a couple of BYU grads in China, but not as surprised as we were.

China is an interesting mix of old and new. At the party last night, our host pointed out to me that all of the successful CEOs at the table represent the first generation in their families in 800 years to achieve success in business. Some come from families of peasants, others families of laborers.

This is a country where most people can remember the first time they got a refrigerator or a TV. (Refrigerators, I am told, were probably not in widespread use until as recently as 10 years ago.) Fifteen years ago when mom and dad were here they had a government minder assigned to them who took them to only authorized places. Now we can get in a car and go anywhere, including to a mall filled with teenagers with extra cash. Given the rate of change here, it's amazing the country has held together as well as it has.

Some photos:

Old and new. All of the tall buildings in Shanghai have been built in the last 15 years.

Dad receiving an award of a lucky pig at the dinner last night.

Dad being interviewed by the China's equivalent of the Wall Street Journal.

For Andrew and Ethan

On the menu at the restaurant today: Fried milky fish with spiced salt, poached chicken feet and fried duck chins.


Also, in the poached section: Poached pig's offal, pig's tongues. pig's liver, and jelly fish. Maybe we should have ordered poached jelly fish as revenge for the one that stung Andrew in Hawaii.

Shanghai, Day 1

Shanghai is a place where old meets new. So much seems to have been built in just the last 15 years. For example, check out the beautiful skyline, which was undeveloped land just 20 years ago:


Here's the view out our hotel window. If it looks hot and smoggy, that's because it is.


It's an exciting place, with all of the changes in the political, commercial and physical landscapes. Tonight we walked by the site of the first meeting of the Communist Party in China (in the photo below). Ironically, the house where the meeting was held is now surrounded by an outdoor mall, in the style of Irvine Spectrum. There's a small plaque marking the site.


I had a fun experience buying a shirt this afternoon (yes, I underpacked). The women at the store didn't speak any English, and I can only say things in Chinese like "the man is riding on a horse." Not helpful. We somehow managed to figure out my shirt size and they figured out how to take my credit card (not as easy as it sounds). On the streets outside our hotel, 7 different guys approached me within ten minutes, trying to sell fake Rolexes and Mont Blanc pens. Anyone want a souvenir?

Our Chinese friends took us to an excellent restaurant tonight where we had some of the local cuisine...nothing like Panda Express, that's for sure. It was extremely good food. There was even a duck involved, a la Christmas story, but it was also very good.

Our friends also took us to a rooftop hangout on the Bund, the main street along the river Pu with all of the old colonial buildings. The Bund is where Grampy once saw beggars rolling dead bodies down the street (seriously?). Things have changed a bit since then. Here's the street now. No dead bodies, just lots of fancy restaurants. I took this photo on the fly so it's hard to see behind the cars and bus stop, but you get the idea: