Urine for a change...

Day 3. I got a chance to ride the Chinese Subway again. The last ime I rode it was back around 1993 when I used to make my multiple hour, multiple modes of transportation solo trips to Beida University to play for the Bangladesh University Cricket Team. It was always a colorful trip, with my limited mastery of the language, coupled with a half assed idea of where I was really going, to getting to the subway and getting on a connecting bus and then waiting for our illustrious bad boy captain, Shakil Bhai to pick me up on his high speed motorcycle. One of my 'distinkt' memories of China was the experience of getting on public transportation. As a morning 'vitamin', a lot of locals would indulge in a nice chew of garlic. Being at close proximity,in an enclosed place, with a lot of people, who seemed hell-bent on assassinating Count Dracula with their breath was a harrowing experience.

Things have changed dramatically now. It seems that this habit is not as prevelant anymore...and the subways are dramatically clean and beautiful.




I live in NYC, where a subway trip is like getting on a sweaty, humid, urine swoaked, crazy town express with freaks on every corner. Beijing has left nyc far behind. Being the princess that I am, I upgraded from riding the NYC virus metro, to the NJ path train which is phenomenally better and (once my WTC station was removed by world politics) to the NY Water ferry,(which was a like a little harbor cruise every morning)....to the perfect commute I have now ( a 10 minute walk from 3rd avenue to 6th)....on the days I actually I make it in to work that is ..;)

Bull in a China Shop.... and Pork Surprise...

Second half of day two was spent at the pearl market.... I still can't understand how women can spend all that time in one store and end up buying just one thing... I spent my time talking to my new Naval psychologist friend. It was a fun trip overall ... A few minutes into it and I was already haggling with the vendors.... One of the store owners , an old roundish chinese lady and I got into it over some pashminas I was going to buy for my mother and aunt...we went back and forth for a long time with her asking ridiculously high prices and me countering with ludicrously low ones.. towards the end she was so exasperated with my hard nose negotiating that she kept laughing and hitting me.... a good time was had by all and I ended up getting a good deal...and a sore forearm....
I wonder if I can do this in nyc...


Later that night we met the entire reunion posse for dinner at another chinese place...:).... it was wonderful to meet old friendly faces again....dinner was as usual a banquet.... but thanks to our fearless leader there were plenty of non chu-ro(pork) dishes for me... My memories of my past china studies trips are littered with a myriad of dishes- all made every part of a pig you can imagine....I used to presented with pig feet, tongue, ribs, snout, rump.. you name it... and the one dish we couldnt identify - it was safe to consider it Pork Suprise...so I used to just eat rice and hope the ONE chicken dish that was coming wouldn't be chicken claws like last time in Datong....

Running a reunion is a like running a ship that just finished hitting an iceberg... u need organization, attitude, effort, patience and more patience...(in the wake of some hissy fits) and my friend Justin had it all except for one thing...... an affinity for Harry Potter books. Thanks for the efforts Hoss.

Heaven under construction....

Day 2. July 18 began with a traffic clogged trip to
the Temple of Heaven. We lost half of our group on the way there...guess we forgot every important place in China has four main Gates....

The temple itself was under restoration...so we couldnt see much....kinda prophetic ...the last time I was there Heaven was complete and now it needs a little bit of repair work before it shows itself....the other smaller sites were open though...as we waded through the humidity... I took some interesting pictures...when I grow up I want to be professional photographer.... and my first entry is the one below...

There and Back to Beijing.....

This July we held the our annual high school reunion back in the Motherland. I guess all the reunions before that in a way tried to recapture the magic of our times there but this one was brute force total recall. Here are some notes:


Sat 16th July- Boarded a international flight for the first time since 2001. Was elated to leave homeland security behind....'no fly' list my eye. 13 Hours straight in a continental airlines synthetic chair is enough to drive a human being insane...(also I had to remind myself not to get up too suddenly to stretch) ...flight went over the north pole and at 1 billion ft altitude so looking out the window was inviting a cornea burn and an ozone shower...it would be much nicer if we traveled at that speed (600 Mph) at a 100 ft weaving in and out of traffic ..now that would be a ride I would pay for ....I wonder if I'd last 13 hours though......watched the same frasier episode 6 times.... and ravenously ate every single meal that came by including my friend's who was sitting next to me ...funny how doing absolutely nothing physical still makes me hungry....

Landed at a hazy Beijing International Airport... airport has changed a whole lot...I didnt recognize anything.....its huge...with grand entrances and facades .... immigration was a synch ...even though it was without a protocol officer doing all the work and I had no RED passport this time...good bye diplomatic immunity....another obvious thing was the PLA.... or lack there off...they used to be everywhere....I couldnt find any...and no guns ...or the ubiqutous AK-47...quite a change from the Orwellian States of America...

Driving to the hotel was like walking through a erector set toy store ....Skyscrapers seem to be going up everywhere....the skyline is changing rapidly...and of course traffic is insane.... before the only cars plowing the road were the small box shapped yellow cabs, the high powered diplomatic cars and the white plated police audi a4s.... now its packed with private cars...every make and every model...and all kinds of drivers....:)



Jet lag hit me like a truck around 4pm ...i was out like a light...and when I woke up I didnt know where I was...time, country or place....we went to dinner at a chinese place (ahem..) right next to Frank's Place...(which is still there)...got lost on the way there...ended up walking around near the worker stadium where we saw a bunch of people learning how to Ballroom dance on the pavement...only in the PRC....