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Qinhai Lake

We arrived in Xining a couple of nights ago and our first experience here was nearly being ripped off by a taxi driver. He tried to charge us 170 RMB from the airport to the hostel when it normally costs 80 RMB. There was a long argument on the street after arriving at the hostel and the hostel owners had to come out to help us argue. This was the first time any taxi driver had tried to swindle us but I guess we were ripe targets since we were carrying backpacks and spoke English. The first day ...

Authentic Beijing Foods

I am very fortunate to have relatives from Beijing. We had dinner with an uncle a couple of times during our stay in Beijing. The first was a hot pot dinner. The style of hot pot is similar to hot pot from different regions but with slight differences. The soup was not spicy and the dipping sauce was basically made from sesame paste. The ingredients put into the hot pot were many different cuts of lamb and beef, vegetables, thin glass noodles, wide glass noodles, tofu, and other goodies. The res...

Olympic Men’s Marathon

Our final Olympic event was the men's marathon which was held on the last day of the Olympics. We met another American near PKU at the 29 KM marker of the route. The security was tight and orderly. Basically, we had to stand several feet back from the barricade behind a rope. The crowds slowly gathered as the morning went on. The race started at 7:30 am and we expected the runners to get to our spot between 8:30 am and 9 am. It was getting close to 9 am and there was still traffic on the street....

Beijing Urban Planning Museum

Wow! To me, this is a must see museum! But thats because I have a degree in civil engineering and a minor in geography. Even if you don't have a background in architecture, urban planning, geography, or environmental studies this museum is still worth seeing. There's an area that describes Beijing's transportation system and the technologies used to support the transportation system. Intelligent Transportation Systems technologies are used throughout the city to support the transportation kiosks...

Olympics Events

This blog would not be complete without a mention of the Olympics events that we did attend. It was widely written in the press that attendance at many events were on the low side. Many factors could have contributed. First, there were many outdoor events where it rained. Second, many tickets include several matches. Once the feature match is over, spectators then leave. Also, many tickets were given to sponsors' employees. Those employees perhaps did not show up to all their events. Maybe they ...

Fast Food Beijing Style

Back home most people think of Chinese food simply as "Chinese" food. So the saying is that here in China, they just call it "food." The truth is, Chinese food could not be more diverse. There was a noticeable difference in the diets between Beihai and Liuzhou and only 6 hours of driving separates the two places. If there's a big difference between two places that are somewhat close, imagine the diversity throughout a country this large! Here in Beijing we stumbled upon a food court on top of a ...

Expat Life

We met a friend from the states living in Beijing for Trivia Night at a German pub. The crowd was all foreigners from the USA, Australia, and other English speaking countries. Seems that you can live in Beijing and pretty much live the same lifestyle as in the USA. That is, eat the same food, work with only English speakers, hang out at purely western bars, etc. If you quickly browse through the local expat magazine you'd think you were in Vegas or something with all the advertisements for ultra...

Where is Beijing?

Its been a few years since I've been in Beijing. I'm not sure if I'm in the same city. The Olympics has transformed this city into an impressive modern metropolis. The streets are well manicured with shrubs and trees. The subway system is modern, clean, and efficient. There are more cars on the roads than bicycles now. The downtown area is full of new tall office buildings and shopping malls. My first trip to Beijing was back in 1996. The city seemed dark at night then. There was a layer of dust...

Face Painting for BTV

Today we found ourselves walking around Beijing as we were heading to a movie theater. We then ran into a BTV-7 (Beijing Television) film crew on the streets interviewing people. The reporter was a super cute young female with a heart shaped China flag painted on her cheek. I encouraged my cousin to go talk to her and without hesitation he did. The cameras started rolling and the first question was something like "Hi, would you like to get your face painted to show your Olympic spirit?" My cousi...

Liuzhou Food

This is a belated description of a few interesting meals we had in Liuzhou. After a couple of weeks in Liuzhou we were treated to a local specialty, Liuzhou snail rice noodle. Our boss took us to a small restaurant that pretty much only serves this dish. Basically, its a bowl of rice noodles in soup topped with some vegetables, some meat, peanuts, and pickled beans. You can add other toppings such as a sausage or boiled egg if you are in the mood. The soup broth is what makes this dish unique. T...