Portugal’s Napoleon Complex

Posted on August 21, 2011 by

The sound of rain hitting the siding of the ship almost drowns out the footsteps on the metal plank. People begin to stow their luggage as attendants hand out immigration cards. Located about 40 miles to the east of Hong Kong, Macau is China’s other Special Administrative Region (SAR). The city-states function essentially as independent countries and maintain international borders between themselves and China proper. On my final day in the South China Sea before returning to Beijing, I boarded a ferry from Hong Kong to explore the former Portuguese colony.

Macau served as Portugal’s last holdout in Asia until 1999, when it was handed back to China. Portugal’s other former Asian strongholds, Goa and Malacca, had long before been claimed by neighboring powers. As the final stop on the eastern sojourn from Lisbon, Macau became the terminal destination for many of the Crown’s conquered people. The Lusophone was at its peak in Macau – Brazilians brought açaí, Africans from Mozambique brought spices, Indians from Goa brought basmati, and Malaysians from Malacca brought Javanese noodles. Globalization, for better or worse, became an economic and political reality in Macau, 300 years before the British wrested Hong Kong from the Chinese.

Less than twelve square miles, Macau is exceptionally small and can very easily be covered on foot. While not well-known in the West, Macau is the world’s gambling mecca. With annual profits that eclipse Las Vegas’, the SAR attracts (mostly mainland Chinese) tourists from all over Asia that come to enjoy many of the vices outlawed in other parts of continent. While the city is almost exclusively known for gambling, the old city is one of the most fascinating I’ve visited. At the end of day, I found myself wishing Macau, along with its unusual blend of cultures and people, was larger.

The Portuguese influence is everywhere: cobbled back streets, baroque churches, stone fortresses, art deco buildings and restful parks and gardens. It’s a unique fusion of East and West that has been recognized by UNESCO, which in 2005 named 30 buildings and squares collectively as the Historic Centre of Macau World Heritage Site. Grand mansions and cobblestone roads are filled with Buddhist temples, Catholic churches, jade sellers, incense houses, and the sounds of clicking chopsticks and songbirds in a grand and lofty city that was built to resemble Lisbon. The old downtown of candy-colored colonial buildings, banyan trees, narrow hilly streets, and low-key neighborhood restaurants serve as living vestiges of the nearly 500 year Portuguese rule. The unique blend of Chinese and Portuguese culture, architecture, and food are irresistible for the peripatetic traveler.

A city with two faces, it is this fusion of Mediterranean and Asian peoples, lifestyles, temperaments, and food that makes Macau such an interesting place.

After waiting out the rain a bit at the international ferry terminal, I took a cab to Macau's central plaza


I used my (very limited) Portuguese!


At Macau's Plaza do Senado. Though the city is a gambling mecca with annual revenues quite a bit higher than Las Vegas, Macau is full of vestiges of Portuguese colonialism.


Candy-colored buildings all throughout the SAR make Macau a really neat place


The Macanese flag!


Trying to find St. Paul's Church...


The Plaza do Senado is completely tiled with black and white wave pattens


Catholicism, unlike neighboring Hong Kong or the PRC, continues to play a strong role in Macanese society - thanks colonialism!


Winding streets


Had some Macanese noodles flavored with coconut milk, turmeric, pulled pork, and African spices. Macau was heavily influenced by the other Portuguese colonies in Africa and India. Many of these people were indentured and traveled to Macau from Mozambique and Goa and fused their own cuisines with the Chinese.


Cloudy and pretty desolate day - perfect for exploring


Once a home for a Portuguese governor, now a court


Inside the "Portuguese Museum"


This cured pork is amazing. From these large sheets, it's cut into strips. Again, lots of African spices make these awesome snacks.


Narrow


There is is - the ruins of St. Paul's Church


Built in 1602 by Italian Jesuits, the church (and the rest of the walled city) was destroyed in a typhoon and an ensuing fire in 1835, leaving only this impressive façade

At the top of hill facing away from the ruins, one can see modern Macau. The Hotel Lisboa can be seen in the distance.


Profile


Some of the walls of the old city remain


Oh, ni hao 你好

The ruins of St. Paul's Church are a UNESCO site; here, a parting shot


Just passing by

I love these buildings

A tiny temple behind St. Paul's Church


Wandering


Empty park


The Eastern Foundation...?

Like moss in a stone crack, people live near and on colonial ruins


A lonely graveyard on a rainy day


Mailbox


Mansion


I liked this store - the owners kept talking to me in Cantonese and ending up giving me some of their pork strips for free


I love slowing walking through these streets


Coconuts painted with Chinese characters


Very narrow between homes


Like a more run-down version of Lisbon


Street vendors are pretty much my favorite


Stately


More pastel-colored plazas


Government building. As Macau is technically a SAR like Hong Kong, it enjoys a huge degree of autonomy from the mainland


Deserted pathways


Cool tree


In different senses of the words, old meets new


Trash can sign!


Jorge Álvarez, the first Portuguese explorer to reach Macau in 1513, is memorialized in the commercial district of the SAR


In the distance, the Macau Tower. Apparently the locals overwhelmingly dislike it, as it it just another attempt by local authorities to turn their city into a gaudier version of Las Vegas.


Tiled sign


Having walked over two miles, I finally reached the best preserved mansion in the city. Here, the circular entryway.


Decorated wood portico


I want to live here


Central green space


Now, trying to find my way out...


Macanese life


The the southern tip of the Macau Peninsula, the A-Ma Temple pays homage to the Taoist goddess Matzu, the protector of seafarers.


Lighting incense


Praying


Like in HK, circular incense makes the area really hot!


Open and large circular windows


The land across the water is China, essentially a different country, as Macau, like HK, has an international border between itself and the PRC.


Finding a cab back to the ferry terminal was really difficult...back to Hong Kong, and from there, Beijing

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Into the Fragrant Harbor

Posted on August 19, 2011 by

Suddenly there was blue.  A sky patched with a few ivory clouds gave way to verdant hills and cerulean waters.  In the distance, one could make out the faint outline of the skyline; down below, the world was lost in a forever blue abyss.  The sound of zippers and the click of pens – passports and immigration cards emerged as the plane began its downward arc.  The late afternoon sun was blinding as China Eastern 503 from Shanghai-PuDong touched down on the runway – farewell, China.  “Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived at Chek Lap Kok International Airport.  Welcome to Hong Kong.”

Hanging under the belly of the People’s Republic in the mouth of the Pearl River Delta, Hong Kong is an unusual place.  Officially referred to as a Special Administrative Region (SAR), it is de jure part of China but in reality, it is far from such.  Hong Kong has a Beijing-appointed governor, but its citizens enjoy a wide array of freedoms and civil liberties not found on the mainland.  Hong Kong is among the freest capitalist economies on the planet, a far cry from even the not-really-Communist-anymore guys up north.  It has a partially democratically-elected legislature (with a fully democratic one being phased in over the next several years), maintains an international border between itself and China, can join world bodies independent of its overlord, mints its own currency, and has a separate immigration, visa, and customs regime.  PRC citizens need a special permit to travel to the SAR and it was not until 2004 that PRC citizens could visit the city without a government-organized group.

Hong Kong is one of the most iconic and well-known cities in the world.  Traditional Chinese junk boats ply Victoria Harbour alongside ferries as supertankers from the Gulf and cruise ships bound for Bangkok and Osaka lay idle in the distance.  Cantonese, an odd sounding language related to Mandarin that also flies under the banner of “Chinese,” seems out of place spoken under signs for quays, carriageways, and WCs.  The jewel in the British Empire’s East Asian crown, Hong Kong sits geographically on a peninsula physically part of the Chinese mainland as well as on a series of islands, most famously the aptly-named Hong Kong Island. 

On the southernmost tip of Kowloon peninsula facing Hong Kong Island, the hectic Tsim Sha Tsui area is the embodiment of that vapid cliché “East meets West” but also of the entire SAR:  Sheratons and herbalists, Guccis and Indian hawkers, Earl Grey and coconut water, and Sunday morning buffets and durian fruit stalls all coexist here.  It’s artery, Nathan Road, is a never-ending flow of foreigners and developing-world migrants, each seeking something different in a city tinged with a drop of Asia.

After all, Hong Kong is as much Milan as it is Minsk.

After four amazing days in the Chinese capital Beijing, we left for Hong Kong via Shanghai. From the Tsim Sha Shui (TST) promenade facing south towards HK Island.

Obligatory pose

Mi madre

One of the last physical remnants of the Crown on the TST promenade


HK may not be my favorite place, but sunset produces one of the best views in the world

The HK version of Hollywood Boulevard; here is Jackie Chan's handprints.


Bruce Lee


Zoomed in on the eastern part of Hong Kong Island near the area called "North Point." So many Japanese companies!


Leaving the TST promenade at nightall, we head up Nathan Road, the main commercial artery of the district. Unlike Orchard Road in Singapore, Nathan is full of high-class Western stores as well as more traditional elements, from herbalists to durian vendors


Dried roots and seeds


Dried anchovies . Hong Kong uses its own currency, not the Chinese renminbi. HK$8 = USD$1


The next morning, we get up early for a long (and hot) day of exploring HK Island (in the distance)

In front of HK Island


A tribute to Hong Kong cinema, much of which is immensely popular in the PRC. Yay capitalism.


Boarding the Star Ferry to cross Victoria Harbour. This has to be the best cost-to-value ride of anywhere - HK$2 (25 cents in USD) for a boat ride across one of the most iconic places on the planet


Our incoming boat


Crossing


From the ferry pier, we walked to the Peak Tram, the colonial cablecar that takes people up to the top of Victoria Peak


Hello colonialism - the St. James Cathedral


The view from the top of the Peak. HK is often considered the most vertical city in the world due to space constraints.


In the other direction, tankers from the Gulf wait


Lots and lots of boats waiting for port clearance


After the Peak, we took a cab to a town called Aberdeen on the south side of Hong Kong Island. The world's largest floating restaurant, the aptly-named Jumbo Restaurant, is here.


After lunch, we paid a boat-woman to take us around Aberdeen's infamous harbour, filled with traditional boat people live and work entirely on their ships


Amid the glass and steel, a glimmer of traditional HK life


More


Leaving Aberdeen, I noticed a sign for a tour guide...in Hebrew! !מתל–אביב...להונג–קונג

Back from HK Island, we seek out the Peninsula for the famous (and a necessary evil as a foreigner) tea time


We waited for about an hour - but the tea and snacks make it worthwhile


Evidence

Later that night, a walk down busy Nathan Road to...


...the nightly laser show. The skyline of Hong Kong Island as viewed from the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade.

Blurry, but you can sort of see the lasers on the top of the buildings


The next day, we took a massive walking tour of the central and western parts of HK Island. In the Admiralty district, I was getting juice made from...


...rambutans (the "hairy fruit")


Up narrow streets


We found our way to a traditional dim sum house. With signs only in Cantonese, we were the only Westerners there. As ladies like this come by, you pick the dim sum you want its recorded on a card.


View of the busy restaurant


Off to find the snake store


Two young people came in while we were taking pictures. The man grabbed a snake from the wire cage, cut with a knife, and then drained some blood into a white fluid. The people drank it like a shot - nothing like warm snake blood!


All kinds of birds' nests


I love signs


Ambling to the western coast of Hong Kong Island


Neat sign


Used in Chinee traditional medicine; also sighted in Beijing


The famous Cat Street, a narrow alley in the SW part of HK Island that sells all sorts of knick-knacks and gaudy Chinese stuff. Apparently selling on the street in front of the actual stores is illegal - the police officers make the stall owners "shut down" but really it's just a coded message for "wait till I'm gone."


Hanging ornaments on Cat Street


Nearby is the Man Mo Temple. Man Tai and Mo Tai were gods thought to bestow academic prowess and were worshipped by students.


Circular incense on the roof


Local art


Pressing sugar cane into a drink (had some in Korea - it's good!)


Bamboo scaffolding doesn't seem too safe...

The world's longest escalator transits people who live in the Mid-Levels but work further down the slope


Signs from the escalator


Bamboo


The Yuen Po Bird Market, a place where local traders come to buy and sell songbirds, a symbol of luck in Chinese traditionalism


Oops


Crickets for sale


For sale


Lots for sale - where do they go at night?


Durians are known for their putrid odor (they are banned on the Singapore MRT!) but after having one as a pancake in Kuala Lumpur, they actually are pretty good


Fish, also a lucky animal, for sale at the Lei Yu Mun Fish Market


The next day, we went to Hong Kong's largest island, Lantau, to take the cable car to the world's largest Buddha


The wait for the car


Going up


Glass bottom!

The view of the airport from the ride up

The entire ride took about 30 minutes

A sign pointing to world monuments upon arriving at the top


View of the Buddha


In front of one of many statues encircling Buddha

The sun actually came out

Buddha's birthday was a few days before, so lots of incense sticks lay on the stone stairs and around these heavy torches

The nearby Po Lin Monastery


Incense holder


Neat sign


Inner circular door to the main complex


The shrine to Buddha


Praying to Buddha in the distance


Bye, Buddha! 再见！

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Flash and Fervor

Posted on May 25, 2011 by

The glimmer of glass and steel competes against the buzz of neon signs.  Hushed streets, whispering of a bygone age of monks and swordsmen, intersect the city.  Asymmetrical beauty – a Korean vision for planning their once and future capital – create winding passages in decorated palaces.  The mountains and the Han River provide a fitting backdrop for the Hermit Kingdom.  Long isolated from the world but pushed into the global economy by the edge of a blade, South Korea is now one of the most developed countries in world, rivaling the West and even its former imperial ruler Japan for international accolades. Seoul, its gleaming capital, has emerged as one of the leading financial centers in Asia, one of the most populous cities in the world, and one of the greenest and most eco-friendly metropolitan areas on the planet.

I had been wanting to visit Korea for a long time.  Korea has something that China does not – it’s own tastes.  Maybe due to its rapid industrialization relatively late, young people in China want Nikes, an iPhone, and BMWs.  That definetely exists in Korea.  But what is different is that along with well-known Western brands, there exists an entire collection of distinctly Korean stores, music, and other cultural identifiers that make Korean culture different than any other.  It’s not just that these items exist, it’s that people actually want them.  It’s refreshing to hear K-pop when exploring Seoul by night; the homogenization of the world thankfully skipped a few steps in Korea.

As the taxi whizzes you through a city surging with energy, you’ll witness cherry blossoms blooming in a desolate park, the crystalline outline of skyscrapers upon the sidewalk, ornamental tea shops steeping flowers and herbs the same way they have for nearly a millenium, and the scars of a war that split a people once forever unified.  As you can discover pretty quickly, Seoul is disarming – bright lights and a swarm of people and a crazy language.  But that’s part of it.  It’s quirky and a little bit weird.  However, Seoul itself is a timeless birthright of a people and culture that transcends modernity.

A long post like this would usually have an even longer body of text, but I think the pictures here give a good progression of my time in Korea.

Taken from the DMZ on our way back to to Seoul - finally exploring the Korean capital!

Leaving the DMZ tour HQ, we start walking through downtown Seoul

Odd statue

Along the banks of a small stream offshoot of the Han River, a local arts "district" has emerged

The Statue of Admiral Yi Sun-sin is dedicated to the new type of turtle boat, geobukseon, that helped in defeating the Japanese navy in the late 16th century

The façade of the Korean Museum of Art

An ancient ruler of Korea in the middle of a wide boulevard

The entrance to Gyeonbokgung (literally the Palace of Shining Happiness), one the ancient citadels to a Korea long gone

Closer shot of the Gyeonbokgung gate; it was closed now, but we return it to the following day...

Antiquity meets modernity

An English sign!

Lanterns adorn practically every street

Finally, Gyedong-gil, a local food street in Seoul. Here, the Korean take on hot pot. All meals in come with a healthy potion of side dishes, like kim chi, radish, and dried anchovies.

The next day, Korean BBQ for breakfast! Koreans prefer metal chopsticks to wood or plastic ones found in other parts of East Asia. Allegedly this is because back in the days of the Joseon dynasty, the kinds used silver chopsticks as silver as thought to retard potential toxins. The local populace, unable to afford silver, used cheaper iron to emulate their leaders.

Back at one of the main things I wanted to visit in Seoul, Gyeonbokgung Palace. Built in 1394 by King Taejo of the Joseon dynasy, Gyeonbokgung suffered heavy damage during the Japanese occupation of Korea, as did all of the other royal residences.

Looking back at the entrance gate

Passing through a series of gates leads to...

...awkward photo op.

Most of the palace consists of empty spaces like this - the Japanese destroyed almost 75% of all the royal palace structures in the city.

Another photo with soliders who recreate how Gyeonbokgung used to be like 800 years ago

Neat stairway statue

Beautiful latices on the the lower side of the roofs

Even in the face of the Japanese torch, the beauty of the original design is evident

In the distance, rain begins to fall

A slanted picture, but even something as insignificant (at least to the Western perspective) as a doorway is intricately detailed

Walking along a small waterway within Gyeonbokgung

Restored mahogany, but still representative of what the palace was

Island temple

A dragon on the roof...?

A parting shot as we left Gyeonbokgung Palace for...

...the Noryangjin Fish Market on the south side of the city. I love going to local food/fish markets and have tried to in many of the places I go - Khan al-Khalili in Cairo, Bazurto in Cartagena, Colombia, and the Sydney Fish Market in Australia.

From the upper floor looking down

Typical vendor

Sea cucumbers

What are these?

Squids in tank

The walkway

Octopi

Looking back

Grilled fish at a local restaurant directly adjacent to the Noryangjin Fish Market

Next stop - Gyeongdong Market, specializing in Eastern medicines

Some sort of wriggling worm

Ground vegetables and roots

Herbs wrapped like hay

Ginger and other roots form the staple of Korean ancient medicine

Making our way to the second-largest royal palace, but the best well preserved and a UNESCO World Heritage site, Changdeokgung Palace

Me in front of the main hall

Inside

One of the many halls in Changdeokgung

Another

Sliding doors form the entrance to all of the main palace buildings

The paths in Changdeokgung are elevated so all of the palace buildings and halls are in small "valleys"...

...like this

Our hostel, almost every restaurant, and the main historic sites all required visitors to remove their shoes

The Joseon prices' placenta is based inside this large stone capsule. People came and prayed to it.

Walking around the king's lake, still in Changdeokgung

Ancient stone tower

Leaving Changdeokgung Palace from the east gate

Lunch (also the only time with non-metal chopsticks) of spicy ramen

Our next stop was the Seodaemun Prison, a symbol of Japanese cruelty and aggression during the occupation of the Korean peninsula

The Japanese brutally tortured their Korean captives in this building

The bark of this tree has scratches all over it - the Japanese took people to the building behind to be hanged, so the inmates grabbed onto this tree to resist

The main prison grounds

At the Seoul Antiques Market, I got some ginseng tea. Eh, at least it is supposed to be healthy.

A snack made from beeswax - the bees themselves are still clearly in encased within the treat

In front of a giant South Korean flag on the side of a building

The Seoul Metro uses specially designed trains that are really wide, much wider than any subway system I've ever used

A final dinner at a Korean BBQ restaurant, with the typical collection of Korean side dishes. We sat on the floor with our shoes off here.

The restaurant

Crazy ad

Goodbye South Korea, back to Beijing

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Tattered Flag

Posted on May 17, 2011 by

Like a twisted scar, the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea is a living relic of the war that divided the peninsula and on a larger scale, it epitomizes the Cold War.  The DMZ is the literal flashpoint for something that weighs heavily in the Korean psyche.  Since a peace treaty was never signed by both parties, the two states remain in a technical state of war.  The DMZ represents, physically and emotionally, the national traumas of the past and now with the sinking of the Cheonan and the bombing of Yeonpyeong island, the present and future security situation of living next to an increasingly violent neighbor.

To visit the DMZ, you must be in a tour – independent travel is prohibited.  The UN, manned by around 95% South Korean soldiers (the remaining are US troops), has jurisdiction over the southern side of the Joint Security Area (JSA).  Called Panmunjom, the JSA used to be a small area where soldiers and negotiators from the North and South would move about freely in an albeit small area.  Due to the Ax Murder Incident in the 1970s (captions explain), the JSA exists in name only.  Instead, it is a harshly demarcated area where the opposing soliders stare at each other behind opaque glasses, where the border is drawn to the centimeter, and where every move is recorded, literally.

The entire area weaves together a story of something that perhaps is hard for an outsider to grasp, myself included.  Guns are not drawn and bullets are not whirling through the air.  Sunlight peaks from behind clouds as the spring breeze lazily wafts across the landscape.  In an odd way, the DMZ is at peace.  However, it would be a mistake to confuse topical calm for a deeper halcyon root.  In the same way that violent sites of the past, such as Nazi concentration camps, are tranquil but evoke strong and palpable emotions, the same idea can be applied to the DMZ.  But in Korea, the conflict still rages.  Through the relative calm, there is urgency and discord, tension that is part of Korea and the Korean people.

The weary flag limps on…

There will be a a larger post on Seoul itself, but the captions with these pictures tell the story pretty well.

These blue houses, set up by the UN for face-to-face dialogues between the two sides, straddle the border to the centimeter. In the foreground, South Korean soldiers are only 20 meters from their North Korean counterparts. The building in the background is in North Korea, and according to our guide, is full of soldiers taking pictures of us from the upper floors.

Another view - South Korean soldiers face North Korean soldiers in the background. Here you can see the top of a tour group on the North Korean side, probably from Russia.

Yup, a Russian your group on the North Korean side. It was odd being in a tour on the South Korean side and seeing another group in the North taking pictures of us.

Inside the blue houses, a South Korean solider guards the opposite door. Behind him is North Korea.

South Korean soldier

Me with a South Korean solider, literally 5 feet from North Korea

Though the blue houses (where I was for this picture) are technically UN territory, I was on the North Korean side of the border. This concrete barrier is the exact line of demarcation, with the North being on the left and South Korea on the right.

Before we could actually visit the Joint Security Area (JSA) with the two sides' soldiers facing each other, we received a briefing of the current state of the conflict by UN soldiers.

The badge

The outside of the UN briefing building near the actual JSA and line of demarcation

This monument honors the spot where two American soldiers were killed in 1976 in what is called the Ax Murder Incident. Instead of the current situation in which the JSA is clearly and harshly divided between the two sides, it used to actually be a joint security area. Both North Korea and South Korea had operations throughout this area. However, a tree was blocking one of the South's observation posts. Two soldiers began to chop it down as North Korean soldiers observed. Suddenly, they were attacked with axes by other soldiers from the North. This led to a serious deterioration of relations between the two Koreas and led to the current arrangement of the split JSA.

Within the DMZ, there are two villages with large flags on both. The largest, which is the second-largest flagpole in the world, sits on the North Korea side. The South calls this a propaganda town, as the North Korean regime plays positive sayings about Kim Jong-Il and says the town is paradise. Instead, it is merely a facade of empty buildings (and in my opinion, old Soviet-style buildings don't exactly exude images of grandeur). This picture I found online as taking pictures on the bus is nearly impossible, but it was really eerie to see the North Korean flag flying in the near distance. Oddly, in order to counter the propaganda messages spewing from the North, the South drops empty ramen canisters from the air.

The Bridge of No Return - in 1953, the two sides agreed to exchange prisoners of war. The only stipulation the captives were given was that if you cross this bridge, you will never be able to return.

The town of Imjingak located directly outside the DMZ is now dedicated to providing visitors with information but more importantly, personal stories, about the Korean War and the zone

A monument dedicated to those who have lost their lives defending the border

Ribbons with messages of hope for reunification line the chain-link fence

Another

The most militarized place in the world, the Korean DMZ, is over the fence.

From an observation post, we were told that taking pictures past this line was not allowed. Also from our guide: at almost all of these sites, we were being watched and recorded by similar North Korean observation posts.

From behind the line, North Korea hazily appears in the distance

One of our final sites was the Third Tunnel. In the 1990s, the South Koreans discovered four tunnels dug by the North Koreans under the DMZ in order to facilitate a large and secret attack on Seoul. The North Koreans covered the walls in coal and said it was a mine, though the Korean peninsula has almost no coal. Presumably there are more clandestine tunnels that have not been found. We descended into the 3rd Tunnel to see how they were built and how an advancing North Korean army would proceed in invading the South. Here, an statue at the entrance to the tunnel shows the world pushing the two Koreas together.

Our final stop was the Dorason Train Station. Built in the early 2000s during a relative thawing of relations between the North and the South, and visited by former US President George Bush, the train station is the northernmost train station within the South Korean side of the DMZ with plans to link Seoul and Pyongyang. It's strange to walk into a modern but completely deserted terminal with signs for "Trains to Pyongyang." Times surely have changed...

I love signs

A sign showing the proposed train reunification across the DMZ linking Seoul and Pyongyang

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Something There Is That Doesn’t Love a Wall

Posted on May 4, 2011 by

What sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, and spills the upper boulders in the sun, and makes gaps even two can pass abreast?  Finally…the Great Wall of China.

One of the wonders of the world, the Great Wall is one of the symbols of China.  Beginning around 500 BC and continuing through the 16th century, the wall of today was constructed by many dynasties attempting to seal off their northern border from nomadic invaders.  Today the wall remains only in sections, though the PRC government has spent tens of millions of dollars renovating and restoring this world monument.

A group of us journeyed to the Mutianyu section of the wall on a Friday morning.  This section is the second-most touristed part, but is the best preserved.  The other sections farther out from Beijing are practically devoid of anything beyond creeping vine and the leering gaze of condors.  You can hike among crumbling ruins and even camp on the wall without ever seeing another person.  Oh well – those sections take hours to get to, and given that we were on the school’s budget, we opted for an ideal compromise.

Pictures!

Sign!

The initial climb up to the ridgeline

Map explaining the possible routes up to the wall

First sighting

Guiding post

Absolutely beautiful mountains guard Beijing to the north. Barring invaders made it across these peaks, this wall was here to stop them.

The Mutainyu section is the 2nd most visited section of the Great Wall, but it is the best preserved and not that far from Beijing (~75 km to the NE)

Climbing...

...and falling with the contours of the mountains.

View of the mountains through a guardtower window

Looking back at our trail so far

Me towards the end of the walkable part of the Mutainyu section of the Great Wall of China taken by an Australian couple from Brisbane (I told them how it poured when I was there!)

Some of the group

This section of the wall is a one-way trek - you have to venture back the same way you came

A final descent

Afterwards, a decent meal at a restaurant at the base of the wall

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Through a Certain Strand of Light

Posted on May 3, 2011 by

A thousand dreams, a thousand prayers.  Enough incense to fill the jasmine sky.  From the relative chaos of ancient Beijing to the tranquility of the northeast mountains, the Summer Palace has served as a spiritual and now cultural relic of China’s imperial past.  Built by the Jin Dynasty in the 12th century and expanded by the Qing in the 17th, the complex is a series of buildings, halls, and towers spread over a handful of kilometers around the dark and deep Kunming Lake.

Originally known as the Garden of Clear Ripples, the site was an important place for the royals to escape the vernal heat of their pancake-flat capital, Beijing, while still being able to perform their important spiritual obligations.  The focal point of the compound is the Tower of Buddhist Incense that sits on the north side of the lake.  From there, temples and pavilions radiate outward around Kunming, coalescing into the tortoise-shaped Nanhu Island in the southeast of the lake, the Hall of Joyful Longevity, and the Hall of the Sea of Wisdom.  Inside of these rooms, bronze pots house incense in the same manner as it has for nearly 800 years.  Etched carving and stone steles adorn the exterior under intricately latticed roofs, a living birthright of timeworn China.

Designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Summer Palace is the archetypal Chinese garden, and is ranked amongst the most noted and classical gardens of the world.

The pictures tell a better story…

After walking about a kilometer from the subway, I entered the Summer Palace at the north gate. Here is Suzhou Town, a small village slightly away from the main sites, this is now filled with reenactments of how it used to look hundreds of years ago.

Crossing the bridge

Another view

Ugh, these bridges are really steep

Traditional lamps

This picture would have been mildly decent, but my camera apparently had some moisture on the lens...

Under the main bridge heading south towards the actual Summer Palace

Another traditional home

An old man will write a Chinese name for you onto parchment

I really like this sort of neoclassical Chinese art

Man selling wind flutes to silly French tourists

Leaving Suzhou Village for the actual Summer Palace...

Spring blossoms adorn the Summer Palace

Schoolchildren blowing bubbles near centuries-old royal halls

Ancient meditation hall

Getting closer to the main site...

...and along the way, a man crafts blades of grass into insects.

Across from him, Buddhas gild the outside of the building. People stopped and prayed to these.

Ah, finally. The main symbol of the Summer Palace, the Tower of Buddhist Incense. The structure stands over 62 meters high (almost 19 stories), arcing gracefully among the clouds and watching over deep Kunming Lake. On the first day and fifteenth day of the lunar month, Empress Dowager Cixi would come here to pray and burn incense.

The view of the rest of the enormous Summer Palace compound the the top of the Tower of Buddhist Incense. Down below is the Hall of Dispelling Clouds, a magnificent complex that served as dressing rooms for Empress Dowager Cixi as well as her birthday celebrations. I want to go to her birthday party.

Facing west from the Tower, the crystalline outline of Fragrant Hills pagoda is visibile. A trip for next week.

The Baayun Pavilion is located directly adjacent to the Tower of Buddhist Incense. It is constructed almost entirely of bronze (barring things that needed to be made from stone), though it's hard to tell from this picture.

Descending from the Tower into the Empress' dressing room and birthday party area, the Hall of Dispelling Clouds. She had some nice stairs...

...as well as some impressive decorations. This is a Kirin, a mythical beast present in many East Asian tales. It's been been covered, probably to prevent annoying tourists from desecrating it with Wrigley's. Side note: this is where I met some young Israelis who had just finished their military service. They saw my IDF shirt and started to talk to me.

Looking up

Leaving the Hall, the view of the path around the huge spring-fed Kunming Lake. I planned on walking the several miles around it, but it soon started to pour.

Silly Chinese tout

On the side of the lake is China's first and most intricate rock art made for the royals. It's, well, interesting.

Granite mist moving over the lake

One of the bridges to the small isles that line the inside coast of Kunming

Willows wave against the backdrop of an imperial pavilion

Sidewalk poetry

As the rain started to fall, I made it my goal to at least get to the main island resting on the east side of the lake

Nanhu Island and the Seventeen-Arch Bridge. The lake looks like a tortoise, though this shot in rain from an off angle doesn't exactly show that, with the long bridge as the stretched neck. It is unknown if the Emperor created it with this in mind, but it's still pretty cool.

From Nanhu looking back through the rain

Running back towards the subway, a good 45 minute journey

A final shot of the Tower of Buddhist Incense before ducking into the Beigongmen subway station.

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The Elusive Canadian Llama

Posted on April 26, 2011 by

One of my favorite things about Beijing is exploring the ancient citadels of dynasties long past.  The Lama Temple has been on my t0-do list since arriving in the Chinese capital. Building on my streak of never taking a cab while traveling solo (with the exceptions of getting to the Great Pyramids in Giza, Egypt and to the incredibly distant airport in Sofia, Bulgaria), I set forth on the Beijing Metro with about a three-quarters mile walk upon arriving at the closest station.

Constructed in 1694, the Lama Temple, also known as the Yonghe Temple, is one of the largest Tibetan Buddhist complexes in the world.  It originally served at the residence of the Qing Dynasty’s eunuchs, eventually shifting into a temple under the Qianlong Emperor.  This is when the temple became an important Buddhist monastery and a critical node for Tibetan philosophy in northern China.

The temple itself is situated on a east-west axis.  From the verdant entryway, the opulence of the halls and the grandeur of the Buddhas grows until you reach the eastern terminus.  Tibetan characters are interspersed among Chinese axioms, reflecting the past occupants and the work that the site housed.  Mothers show their children how to bow with incense above their heads while elderly people are wheeled up to see Buddha.

Allegedly, the Lama Temple only survived the erasure of the Cultural Revolution by the direct intervention of Premier Zhou Enlai, which is really good, because on a less smart-sounding note, it’s really cool and well worth an hour and a half to explore.

Anyway…pictures!

Also known at the Yonghe Temple, the site has received millions of dollars from the Communist Party to restore it. Entrance fee - 40 RMB (~6.10 USD)

The entrance path

Approaching the main temple site

Since the relaxing of religious constraints by the state in the early 1980s, the Lama Temple has become a popular place for Beijingers to pray to Buddha. Incense sticks are placed in a tub of embers and then held above the head as one bows and kneels facing the gilded statue.

Another - meditation and prayer in front of the Buddha

Another shot of people lighting incense for prayer

Ancient incense pot. Coins lay scattered around its base.

One of the many spiritual statues that adorned the Lama Temple

Kneeling to Buddha

Blooming flower blossoms near the Hall of Heavenly Buddha

As your progress further and further back into the Lama Temple, the number of people thins dramatically

An absolutely giant Buddha - nearly 30 feet tall and located in the far rear of the temple!

Horrible picture (never again am I giving my camera to Canadians), but the giant buildings with walkways to the far west of the complex

A slightly better shot

A spinning drum inscribed with Tibetan characters

Lion statue gracefully guarding the entrance to the mega Buddha

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My Kind of Town Has All That Jazz

Posted on April 21, 2011 by

We travel nearly 9000 miles and yet Chicago still finds a way to insinuate its way into our daily lives.  This time, though, is different – we actually look forward to going to our university complex.

Taking a few lessons from Frank Sinatra’s “My Kind of Town,” it really is remarkable that we are able to study (and “study”) in such an amazing facility as the University of Chicago Center in Beijing.  This is the school’s second international scholastic node after Paris with a new center in Delhi set to open in several years.  Located on the 20th floor of the Zhongguancun Culture Plaza building directly adjacent to our dormitories at Renmin University, the UChicago Center in Beijing contains a host of amenities that make it extremely attractive to work in: large, nearly floor-to-ceiling windows surrounding the entire building, a large student area with water and a professional coffee machine, couches galore (much softer than our beds at Renmin), and fast wireless internet that is already “over the Great Firewall of China.”  While still getting a few kinks out of the daily operation schedule, the University of Chicago in Beijing is an in an incredibly facility run by a highly capable (with great singing voices!) staff.  Especially the more-than-a-receptionist Coco; she rocks.

The University of Chicago Center in Beijing is an amazing site located on the 20th floor of the Culture Plaza building adjacent to Renmin University (where we live). Here, the front desk area with our amazing receptionist Coco.

A 3D map of the UChicago campus in Hyde Park greets visitors upon arrival

The Zen Garden - a nice study (and apparently nap) zone in the corner of the building

The view of Haidain District in NW Beijing from the UChicago Center

This curving wall has portraits and captions about all of the Universitys Nobel Prize Winners

Tables and couches constitute a large study area

The student lounge - with a coffee/espresso/cappuccino machine! Also, a dinosaur discovered by famed UChicago paleontologist Paul Sereno graces the edge of the room.

Classroom

The library

Art exhibit

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Sharks, Quarks, and Parks

Posted on April 18, 2011 by

The red pulse beats calmly and rhythmically from the core.  Like a stone dropping into still water, waves emanate from the center.  You can feel that idea in Beijing.  The Chinese capital wields incredibly influence over world politics – in realist terms, Beijing is objectively the second-most important city on the planet after Washington.  It’s a humbling feeling to know you are truly in one of the great poles of global order.  In the Chinese mind, the world really does revolve around their modern capital.  Unlike the relatively new upstarts of Shanghai, Shenzen, and Hong Kong, Beijing seems confident of its role to rule over China ad infinitum.  The drum beats on in Beijing as it has for millennia.

The school has been taking us on some excursions throughout the city on Fridays.  While overall they have been decent, my one major complaint is that I wished the school would take us to more, well, unconventional and far-flung sites.  We can visit the tourist sites on our own; we are here for three months, so I wish the university would facilitate some harder-to-get-to trips that I wouldn’t necessarily do/be able to do on my own.  Oh well.

Anyway, the pictures from several trips!

The group in Tiananmen Square as we make our way to the Clock Museum in the Forbidden City

Guard in front of the gate that marks the entrance to the Forbidden City

Me in front of the gate to the Forbidden City, directly adjacent to Tiananmen Square

Entering the Forbidden City. We were heading to the far north-east side of the complex to visit the Clock Museum, so we had no time to explore the rest of the sites here. The city definitely deserves several hours!

The clocks in the Forbidden City Clock Museum were neat and really intricate, but sadly made me extremely tired

Trying to leave the massive maze of the Forbidden City...

Modern Chinese soliders march against the backdrop of ancient China as we wait for our bus to our next stop

Next stop: the National Center for Performing Arts. To the east of Tiananmen Square, this is one the largest and most advanced theater facilities in the world - certainly fitting for the Chinese capital.

Pretending to be Asian, I look really dumb...

The "egg" is surrounded completely by shallow water, so the entrance is a glass tunnel underneath the lake

Entering the foyer

Our tour guide, "Krystal" (her Chinese name is something completely different), gave us a very odd speech that sensationalized the construction of the theater. Everything inside, from the rare marble in the floor to the endangered Brazilian wood composing the ceiling, was said to be the best. Krystal: "This stone from faraway province is best in world. Many lives destroyed, but perfect building!" Not exactly what she said, but basically.

Dramatic shot

My boss! Sec. Clinton visited the National Center for Performing Arts just recently on her most recent trip to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao.

A exhibition showcasing the Chinese and international performances that have occurred at the center

As the cultural capital of China, many famous people have visited here

Entering Beihai Park. This giant white pagado, dating back several hundred years, sits on a small island in the middle of the large site. In the giant lake, you can (and we did) rent boats to paddle around the tranquil environ.

Silly Chinese people

In front of a lion (?) statue

Lion?

Walking around the island in the middle of Beihai Park

A man gently writes Chinese characters on the ground with a large brush

Uh...what?

Eating lunch at a lakeside restaurant in Beihai Park - noodles with beef past and several kinds of vegetables

Chrysanthemum tea

Ornate traditional doors cut across the park

A peaceful way to spend an afternoon lakeside

This was my first time to Beihai Park - now Ive been there three times because its so awesome to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon here.

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Aerial Cascade

Posted on April 5, 2011 by

The Temple of Heaven (天坛) is one of Beijing’s most visited sites.  It is a giant complex on which many prayer halls form the area where the Qing and Ming emperors would make their annual walk from the Forbidden City to make offerings for a bountiful coming year.  Built in 1406, the area’s many building and pathways are all designed to worship, as the name implies, heaven. Everything here has a purpose – the color, the number, and the shape were not arbitrary decisions, but instead are deep-seated reflections of ancient Chinese culture that still influences life today.

For example, the number nine is a royal number representing the emperor.  Marble slabs in multiples of nine can be found throughout the area.  Also, the shape of a square represents the Earth while heaven is a circle.  The main architectural sites are squares upon rounded mounds, and then the actual temples are again circles on top of squares.  The duality of heaven and Earth is underscored throughout the grounds in subtle, yet striking ways.

I usually like writing longer pieces here, but I think the pictures and their captions are actually better.  I apologize for the long delay in posting.  Expect new posts soon!

Starting the day off with a hearty breakfast

I took the subway to the Temple of Heaven and I wasn't really sure what side to enter from. Apparently, I came in through the "less awesome" side, the East Gate.

The park is huge

Chinese soldiers

Elderly people gamble for money in the Long Corridor, a series of 72 interconnected rooms which symbolized the 72 earthly fiends. Sacrificial animals had were kept here as they had to be at least 200 paces away from the altar, the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. At midnight of day of the sacrifice, they are led out of their bays.

An old man uses water and a brush to create temporary messages on the floor.

The detail of the roof - it's hard to imagine that when this entire complex was used by the Ming and the Qing dynasties, no nails were uses for any of the construction!

People playing dominoes in the Long Corridor

Foot badminton

These people were literally screaming as they threw down cards

Another shot of the large open spaces. People practices tai chi in the distance.

The main attraction, the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. Getting closer...

Ah, here it is. Every year during the winter solstice, the Ming and Qing dynasty emperors visited this hall to offer their sacrifices to the heavens.

Odd little urn thing

The inside of the Hall where the emperor would, as the name suggests, pray for good harvests in the upcoming year.

Me in front of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. Built in 1406, the Hall is over 12 stories high and sits upon 3 marble bases. Everything here has specific reason why it is included - its number, position, and color reflect the culture of ancient China.

Panorama shot. Click for larger image.

This door is called the 70 Year Old Door. During the annual commute from the Forbidden City to the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, this door was set up for the ailing Qianlong Emperor to shorten his path. In order to guarantee his successors wouldn't be lazy and continue to take the door, he decreed that one could only use it once they became a septuagenarian. He was the only person to use it.

One of the many buildings that directly surround the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests

Taichi in the park

Lady praying to...

...the Nine Dragons Juniper. This tree, rolled into what kind of/sort of/doesn't look like nine dragons, is also almost 1000 years old.

Chinese people decorate their masks, unlike in other Asian countries.

Playing with traditional streamers

Adorable

Many of these trees were several hundred years old with some nearing 800

Another building that looks like the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. However, behind here is what is called the Echo Wall. People on opposite sides of the hall can hear each other if they both face the back wall, even if whispering. Perfect parabola!

The unattractive Circle Mound. Like the Echo Wall, the sound reflects perfectly when standing in the middle. Lavishly built with nine stone dragons, surrounded by multiples of nine stones, and and three marble stone levels, this was an important altar when it was built in 1530.

Asian tourist yelling in the middle of the Circle Mound

Man playing Chinese flute

Nearest subway station to the Temple of Heaven

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