In the U.S. we do our best not to bump into people, and if we do, we apologize. In the Chinese culture they don't think anything of it. Dave refers to walking down the street as a big game of chicken. People generally will not move to avoid bumping someone. I am still in the habit of moving out of the way of others. Dave has gotten tired of dodging people, so he walks a straight line. He's bumped a few. Of course he has size on his side and I do not. The only time this bothers me at all is when people are walking with umbrellas. People carry umbrellas for both rain and sun. They tend to carry them low, directly above their head, and they don't worry about hitting anyone in the face.
Bodily noises are not considered rude. I have had people sitting next to me on the MTR or bus and taxi drivers burp very loudly and think nothing of it. In fact, they make no attempt to quiet it, they open their mouth wide and let it out! I'm thankful my kids are on the older side and I am not trying to teach them that this is rude. It would be difficult to do here.
Lines are another interesting thing. People are very polite waiting for the minibus. Since there are limited seats on these buses whoever is at the stop first gets to get on first. I have never encountered a problem with this. The same holds true for taxi lines. However, I have stood in lines at grocery stores and other places and had people step in front of me without thinking twice.
It is not uncommon for people to stop in the middle of a sidewalk, stairs, grocery store aisle, etc. without any consideration for the people around them. There usually is no attempt to move to the side before they do whatever they need to do or talk to the person they're walking with. Of all of the cultural differences, this is probably the one that really bothers me. In the grocery store it is not uncommon to have someone park their cart, blocking the entire aisle, and stand there looking at something making no attempt to let anyone get by them. I have gotten to the point that I just move the cart now. Sometimes they will look at me, but more often than not I get the impression that they expect other people to move it. I have been walking up stairs with two people in front of me and they will stop all of a sudden to talk to each other blocking the stairway. They expect you to push by.
Driving in Hong Kong is on the opposite side of the road from the U.S. I am guessing that this is a result of Hong Kong formerly being a British colony, because in mainland China they drive on the same side we do. Now in London you are also expected to walk on the left side. Here there are arrows indicating that you should do that in some places, but in others the arrows indicate the opposite. There truly seems to be no right or wrong side on which to walk. This goes back to the first paragraph, you just walk down the middle and play chicken with the people coming towards you.
I am sure there are many other differences that I no longer notice. It will be interesting to see what stands out to us when we are back in the U.S.
View
View from our house
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Shanghai
I have fallen a little behind in my blog postings the past couple of weeks. I will begin with our most recent adventure Shanghai.
PJ's baseball team travelled to Shanghai this past Friday to participate in the China Cup Tournament. This is a four team tournament between the International School of Beijing, Shanghai American School-Puxi, Shanghai American School-Pudong and Hong Kong International School. All teams participate in a China Cup Tournament and the locations rotate year to year. This year baseball and tennis were at the Shanghai American School in Puxi. All of the athletes have "home stays", meaning they stay with families of athletes from the hosting school. PJ and two of the jv players stayed with the family of a boy on the Puxi jv team. Nothing too exciting to report from his home stay as it was an American family. The father was a West Point grad now working for Ikea. PJ's team won the 3 round-robin games easily (they 10 run ruled each team). They beat Shanghai American School-Pudong in the Championship 4-1.
Shanghai American School-Puxi is located way out in the suburbs of Shanghai. We stayed at a hotel in Puxi thinking that we would be relatively close to the school, but we were a 45 min. drive. The campus is beautiful and large. There are some local shops outside of the campus and then a brand new mall. The only stores open in the mall at this point were Burger King and Subway. Apparently it is not uncommon in China for something to be built and then they wait for people/businesses to come. We are told that the Pudong campus is the newer campus and it is also way out in the suburbs, but on the other side of Shanghai. My friend who swam for Michigan State and whose daughter swims for Duke said the Pudong campus has one of the most beautiful natatoriums she's ever seen.
Friday, before the game, Dave took the girls and I to a neat little section of town, Jing'an, with some shops, art stores and restaurants for lunch. It was a little like Stanley Market, but nicer. Just a neat area to see.
After the games on Saturday, Dave, the girls and I went to the Fabric Mart. This is where Dave has gone in the past to have shirts and suits made. He has also gotten belts here. We bought some scarves for gifts and I bought a couple of belts. That night we went into Shin Tian Di for dinner. This is a popular ex-pat area with lots of restaurants. Dave wanted to take us here to his favourite Chinese restaurant, South Beauty. As you would expect, China Chinese is a little different from American Chinese. There were a lot of fish dishes with the skin and head still on the fish. We opted for some chicken and pork dishes. I ordered a chicken with spicy peppers dish and proceeded to drink a liter and a half of water! It was good though:)
Sunday after the game we took PJ with us and went to the "Fake Market". This was a new one for Dave. In the past he has gone to a market under the Science Center for his "fake" goods, but this one had Abercrombie and American Eagle, so the girls requested going there. That was quite the experience and lesson in bargaining! We hadn't taken 10 steps into the mall when we were approached to look at merchandise. Meg wanted a watch, so I stopped there with her. After getting the watch for half price the woman led me into a hidden room to look at her "best quality" purses. To get to this room they open a door that is covered with merchandise on the outside. Inside there is more merchandise, then two more doors were opened to take us back into the room with the purses. Dave actually had to call my phone to find out where Meg and I had gone. Each of the kids took a turn at bargaining and they all did well. PJ can't help but smile when he punches his offer into the calculator. No prices are posted. The salesmen all give you a price and then say, "but for you my friend, this price because you are my good friend". Dave always responds with, "No. For you my friend, this price." I find it is easiest to just not have much money on you. This is what I did with the purses and got them for 1/3 of the price. As soon as you start to walk away they will call you back and come down to your number. They want the sale. At one point we had the entire family, except for Meg, in a secret room looking at watches. The room was so small that Meg got stuck outside of it in another secret room, but she couldn't tell where the door was to get out. We did lots of Christmas shopping!
That night we met up with a friend and co-worker of Dave and his family. They have been in Shanghai for about a year and a half. They took us to a restaurant in the "Bund". This is an area of Shanghai right on the river. It is beautiful at night as all of the buildings light up in different ways. The name of the restaurant is Mr. and Mrs. Bund. It was French cuisine. The restaurant was located in a high-end mall. We were unable to find the elevator when we first entered the mall and tried going up to the restaurant in what ended up being the service elevator. When the doors opened we were greeted by two employees of the restaurant, one pushing a dumpster filled with food remnants. Dave looked at us and said, "Well guys, that's what you'll be eating tonight." The two employees kept staring at us and talking the whole ride back down. We found the proper elevator and made our way back up to the 6th floor. This time we were greeted by a closed door. At first we thought maybe we were too early, but no. They keep the door locked and you must ring a doorbell to get in. Then you are greeted by a line of greeters dressed in blue jeans and suspenders. The dinner was very good and the view was spectacular.
I was very impressed by the effort to have "green space" that has been made in Shanghai. There are lots of new trees being planted and little "park" (not really big enough to walk through) areas all over. I will also say that you will never catch me driving in Shanghai. I am not sure that there are any "rules of the road" other than to try not to get in an accident. We saw several accidents. We had a hired driver for the weekend. I recommend this or using taxis. The taxis are even less expensive than in Hong Kong. It is important to have the "Shanghai Taxi" app on your iPhone, though. Very few speak English. There are mopeds, motorcycles and bikes everywhere. Most places they have a separate lane. They seem to cross the street in huge groups. It is amazing more don't get hit. Your best bet for crossing a street is to be in the middle of a pack of people. Shanghai is enormous and we did not have enough time to see anything historical on this trip. We will definitely go back.
We flew back on Monday since the kids did not have school. We arrived at the airport early so changed to an earlier flight. Bad move. That flight was immediately delayed. We sat in the airport 2 hours before they brought in a new plane and we finally boarded. Then the pilot came on the intercom to say the plane had taken a bird strike to one of the wings and they needed to check with engineering in Hong Kong to make sure it was still safe to fly. An hour later they said they needed to check with Airbus. Another half hour and they said they need to fill in the damage and tape it. That sure gave me a warm fuzzy. Finally, after sitting on the plane for 3 1/2 hours we took off. We made it safely to Hong Kong. I will say, the Chinese are much more patient sitting on planes than Americans. Apparently they are very used to it.
I have fallen a little behind in my blog postings the past couple of weeks. I will begin with our most recent adventure Shanghai.
PJ's baseball team travelled to Shanghai this past Friday to participate in the China Cup Tournament. This is a four team tournament between the International School of Beijing, Shanghai American School-Puxi, Shanghai American School-Pudong and Hong Kong International School. All teams participate in a China Cup Tournament and the locations rotate year to year. This year baseball and tennis were at the Shanghai American School in Puxi. All of the athletes have "home stays", meaning they stay with families of athletes from the hosting school. PJ and two of the jv players stayed with the family of a boy on the Puxi jv team. Nothing too exciting to report from his home stay as it was an American family. The father was a West Point grad now working for Ikea. PJ's team won the 3 round-robin games easily (they 10 run ruled each team). They beat Shanghai American School-Pudong in the Championship 4-1.
Shanghai American School-Puxi is located way out in the suburbs of Shanghai. We stayed at a hotel in Puxi thinking that we would be relatively close to the school, but we were a 45 min. drive. The campus is beautiful and large. There are some local shops outside of the campus and then a brand new mall. The only stores open in the mall at this point were Burger King and Subway. Apparently it is not uncommon in China for something to be built and then they wait for people/businesses to come. We are told that the Pudong campus is the newer campus and it is also way out in the suburbs, but on the other side of Shanghai. My friend who swam for Michigan State and whose daughter swims for Duke said the Pudong campus has one of the most beautiful natatoriums she's ever seen.
Friday, before the game, Dave took the girls and I to a neat little section of town, Jing'an, with some shops, art stores and restaurants for lunch. It was a little like Stanley Market, but nicer. Just a neat area to see.
After the games on Saturday, Dave, the girls and I went to the Fabric Mart. This is where Dave has gone in the past to have shirts and suits made. He has also gotten belts here. We bought some scarves for gifts and I bought a couple of belts. That night we went into Shin Tian Di for dinner. This is a popular ex-pat area with lots of restaurants. Dave wanted to take us here to his favourite Chinese restaurant, South Beauty. As you would expect, China Chinese is a little different from American Chinese. There were a lot of fish dishes with the skin and head still on the fish. We opted for some chicken and pork dishes. I ordered a chicken with spicy peppers dish and proceeded to drink a liter and a half of water! It was good though:)
Sunday after the game we took PJ with us and went to the "Fake Market". This was a new one for Dave. In the past he has gone to a market under the Science Center for his "fake" goods, but this one had Abercrombie and American Eagle, so the girls requested going there. That was quite the experience and lesson in bargaining! We hadn't taken 10 steps into the mall when we were approached to look at merchandise. Meg wanted a watch, so I stopped there with her. After getting the watch for half price the woman led me into a hidden room to look at her "best quality" purses. To get to this room they open a door that is covered with merchandise on the outside. Inside there is more merchandise, then two more doors were opened to take us back into the room with the purses. Dave actually had to call my phone to find out where Meg and I had gone. Each of the kids took a turn at bargaining and they all did well. PJ can't help but smile when he punches his offer into the calculator. No prices are posted. The salesmen all give you a price and then say, "but for you my friend, this price because you are my good friend". Dave always responds with, "No. For you my friend, this price." I find it is easiest to just not have much money on you. This is what I did with the purses and got them for 1/3 of the price. As soon as you start to walk away they will call you back and come down to your number. They want the sale. At one point we had the entire family, except for Meg, in a secret room looking at watches. The room was so small that Meg got stuck outside of it in another secret room, but she couldn't tell where the door was to get out. We did lots of Christmas shopping!
That night we met up with a friend and co-worker of Dave and his family. They have been in Shanghai for about a year and a half. They took us to a restaurant in the "Bund". This is an area of Shanghai right on the river. It is beautiful at night as all of the buildings light up in different ways. The name of the restaurant is Mr. and Mrs. Bund. It was French cuisine. The restaurant was located in a high-end mall. We were unable to find the elevator when we first entered the mall and tried going up to the restaurant in what ended up being the service elevator. When the doors opened we were greeted by two employees of the restaurant, one pushing a dumpster filled with food remnants. Dave looked at us and said, "Well guys, that's what you'll be eating tonight." The two employees kept staring at us and talking the whole ride back down. We found the proper elevator and made our way back up to the 6th floor. This time we were greeted by a closed door. At first we thought maybe we were too early, but no. They keep the door locked and you must ring a doorbell to get in. Then you are greeted by a line of greeters dressed in blue jeans and suspenders. The dinner was very good and the view was spectacular.
 |
| The chair they brought for my purse at Mr. & Mrs. Bund  |
I was very impressed by the effort to have "green space" that has been made in Shanghai. There are lots of new trees being planted and little "park" (not really big enough to walk through) areas all over. I will also say that you will never catch me driving in Shanghai. I am not sure that there are any "rules of the road" other than to try not to get in an accident. We saw several accidents. We had a hired driver for the weekend. I recommend this or using taxis. The taxis are even less expensive than in Hong Kong. It is important to have the "Shanghai Taxi" app on your iPhone, though. Very few speak English. There are mopeds, motorcycles and bikes everywhere. Most places they have a separate lane. They seem to cross the street in huge groups. It is amazing more don't get hit. Your best bet for crossing a street is to be in the middle of a pack of people. Shanghai is enormous and we did not have enough time to see anything historical on this trip. We will definitely go back.
We flew back on Monday since the kids did not have school. We arrived at the airport early so changed to an earlier flight. Bad move. That flight was immediately delayed. We sat in the airport 2 hours before they brought in a new plane and we finally boarded. Then the pilot came on the intercom to say the plane had taken a bird strike to one of the wings and they needed to check with engineering in Hong Kong to make sure it was still safe to fly. An hour later they said they needed to check with Airbus. Another half hour and they said they need to fill in the damage and tape it. That sure gave me a warm fuzzy. Finally, after sitting on the plane for 3 1/2 hours we took off. We made it safely to Hong Kong. I will say, the Chinese are much more patient sitting on planes than Americans. Apparently they are very used to it.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Macau
The kids and I just returned from two nights in Macau. We stayed at the Westin Beach Resort which was nice since we were there to relax. We did do a little sight-seeing, but not too much. We did not get into the ocean as we were warned in advance that the water is particularly dirty here and there have been cases of e coli.
Macau was a Portuguese colony and you can definitely see the Portuguese influence all around! I would say that the Portuguese influence is much more evident on Macau than the British influence on Hong Kong. Everything on Macau was in three languages: Portuguese, Mandarin and English. The architecture had a definite Portuguese influence to it. While there were many locals who looked Chinese, there seemed to be almost as many who looked Portuguese.
We took the Turbojet ferry from Hong Kong to Macau. It was very crowded, but thankfully only an hour ride. Unlike other ferries I have taken, we were assigned a seat and there was no walking around or walking out on the deck. Poor Meg had a woman in front of her getting sea sick on the ride over.
The weather on Macau was beautiful! Perfect for a little Marco Polo in the pool. There were very few people in the pool, which was good considering the competitiveness of our family games:)
We went to Fernando's for dinner that night. This restaurant came highly recommended from several people. Fernando's is little more than a shack on Hac Sa beach. It is a "no fuss" place, but serves incredible food and it was packed. I had the garlic shrimp. They come with the shell and head still on. PJ tried one and said "That's the best shrimp I've ever had!" PJ and Grace had the grilled pork steak. I am not a huge pork chop fan, but that was the best pork steak I've ever had. Meg had the pork ribs which were also fantastic. It is definitely worth visiting Fernando's if you are ever in Macau.
The next day we took a trip downtown to visit St. Paul's Cathedral. St. Paul's was built in the 1500s and burnt down in 1853. The facade is still standing as a reminder of times past. A definite piece of Macau's Portuguese history.
The kids wanted to do a little shopping so we walked around a bit. We finally made it down to Senate Square and the shops on the streets surrounding it. It was a little like Stanley, with slightly better prices. There wasn't much to Senate Square, but again, it was neat to see the architecture and how it differs from that in Hong Kong.
Before leaving Macau this morning we took a trip to the Giant Panda Pavilion. There were two Pandas, Kai Kai and Xin Xin, ostriches, lemurs, different types of monkeys and a pair of black swans. It is always fun to see the animals at play. Unfortunately the pictures of the lemurs didn't turn out well because of the fence. They were the funniest of all the animals there and we enjoyed watching them follow each other around, play leap frog, etc.
This video, with the picture that follows, is for all of you that I know will find it humorous:)
Macau was a Portuguese colony and you can definitely see the Portuguese influence all around! I would say that the Portuguese influence is much more evident on Macau than the British influence on Hong Kong. Everything on Macau was in three languages: Portuguese, Mandarin and English. The architecture had a definite Portuguese influence to it. While there were many locals who looked Chinese, there seemed to be almost as many who looked Portuguese.
We took the Turbojet ferry from Hong Kong to Macau. It was very crowded, but thankfully only an hour ride. Unlike other ferries I have taken, we were assigned a seat and there was no walking around or walking out on the deck. Poor Meg had a woman in front of her getting sea sick on the ride over.
The weather on Macau was beautiful! Perfect for a little Marco Polo in the pool. There were very few people in the pool, which was good considering the competitiveness of our family games:)
We went to Fernando's for dinner that night. This restaurant came highly recommended from several people. Fernando's is little more than a shack on Hac Sa beach. It is a "no fuss" place, but serves incredible food and it was packed. I had the garlic shrimp. They come with the shell and head still on. PJ tried one and said "That's the best shrimp I've ever had!" PJ and Grace had the grilled pork steak. I am not a huge pork chop fan, but that was the best pork steak I've ever had. Meg had the pork ribs which were also fantastic. It is definitely worth visiting Fernando's if you are ever in Macau.
 |
| Waiting outside of Fernando's |
 |
| Waiting outside of Fernando's |
 |
| Waiting outside of Fernando's |
 |
| Waiting outside of Fernando's |
The next day we took a trip downtown to visit St. Paul's Cathedral. St. Paul's was built in the 1500s and burnt down in 1853. The facade is still standing as a reminder of times past. A definite piece of Macau's Portuguese history.
The kids wanted to do a little shopping so we walked around a bit. We finally made it down to Senate Square and the shops on the streets surrounding it. It was a little like Stanley, with slightly better prices. There wasn't much to Senate Square, but again, it was neat to see the architecture and how it differs from that in Hong Kong.
Before leaving Macau this morning we took a trip to the Giant Panda Pavilion. There were two Pandas, Kai Kai and Xin Xin, ostriches, lemurs, different types of monkeys and a pair of black swans. It is always fun to see the animals at play. Unfortunately the pictures of the lemurs didn't turn out well because of the fence. They were the funniest of all the animals there and we enjoyed watching them follow each other around, play leap frog, etc.
This video, with the picture that follows, is for all of you that I know will find it humorous:)
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