Drake Meets His Chinese Family

It didn't take very long before Drake was adjusted to the time difference.  I think babies are better at taking cue from the sunlight and darkness.  However, we were traveling in another country after all.  Drake was a busy little man. He had to stay up for a few late family gatherings which he met his granduncles, grandaunts, cousins and his great grandmother (who is 97).  Drake was a big hit with the family.  I didn't get to hold him much since there was always someone in the queue to hold him.  He also collected quite a few red envelops.  It is tradition that the elders give the new member of the family red envelop at their first meeting.

Drake also drew a bit of a crowd wherever he went.  Mixed babies are still a novelty in China.  People constantly commented how gorgeous his eyes were and he looked like a real life doll.  As a mother, of course, I was really flattered, especially when he was very well behaved when people who he never met before picked him up.  When I was at the spa, every shop girls wanted to play with him and passed him around like a little puppy. I got really nervous since one of them could just take him away and he probably still wouldn't cry.

Everyone might love babies, but China wasn't particularly a baby friendly place.  There was no such thing as changing table anywhere.  I felt very odd changing him in the middle of a restaurant where people were eating but I soon got use to it since no one else cared.  Babies can get away with anything.  No ramps where there were stairs. I really appreciated my Kelty Kids stroller that converted into a backpack.  It was a great investment!  I did think 99% of the people tried their best to accommodate Drake.  The other 1% were the idiots who had no problem smoking right next to Drake.

One funny thing I noticed was aside from commenting on how big Drake's eyes were, people always thought Drake was wearing too little clothing.  China was still a little chilly in the March.  But not so cold that Drake needed 10 layers.  All Chinese children we saw including Drake's cousins wore so much clothes they couldn't even put their arms down and they always had red cheeks.

We had a great visit in China. I am so glad Drake's Chinese family got a chance to meet him and Drake got a taste of his heritage so early on in his life.

Drake's going to China

We are on the road again.  The plan is for Drake and I to go to China for 2 weeks and then Greg will meet us in Shanghai to head to Australia for 3 weeks. This will be the first trip with Drake, our 7 month old baby. I am really excited and nervous about this trip.  Excited because Drake will meet his family from China for the first time.  Nervous because Drake will take his first 12 hour flight.

We arrived at the airport very early to check-in. I requested a baby bassinet for Drake which put me in a bulkhead seat. When our flight was called I really appreciated because of Drake we got to board the plane first.  No waiting in the aisle for people to put away their luggage or showing up at our seats with no overhead compartment space left.  It definitely took some stress out of traveling with an infant.

Even though I was seated at a bulkhead seat, it didn't guarantee us a bassinet. It was first come first served. Once the plane reached altitude, I asked the stewardess for one right away. It was about 75cm long and held a baby up to 20lbs.  There were two studs on the bassinet that were inserted into the bulkhead in front of my seat.  There were two pieces of flaps that zipped together over the bassinet which acted as the seat belt.

Even though I was so happy to have the bassinet, Drake didn't get much sleep on the flight.  The stewardesses (and other random passengers) kept coming by to play with him, especially when he was about to fall asleep. I could tell he was getting really tired and increasingly fussy.  But I didn't have the heart to tell people stop bothering him.

Drake however did have a very good appetite.  I brought tons of food with me on the flight: an apple, a peach, two hard boiled eggs, steamed carrots and oatmeal.  He ate them all.  I packed a big bag of dry oatmeal for the trip.  Just add hot water and butter. Easy and healthy!

When we finally arrived in Shanghai, I was running on about 20 minutes of sleep and was happy for this flight to be over.

A Trial Trip to Los Angeles - Part II

Continue from previous post: A Trial Trip to Los Angeles - Part I

4. Travel gear - The first thing we have to deal with is the Drake's mobility. Currently we have a Uppababy Vista stroller, Ergo Baby carrier, and Baby Buddha sling. The stroller is too bulky. The sling or the carrier is compact, but a 20lb baby can be hard on the back after awhile.

I started researching light weight travel strollers for when we are tired of back carrying Drake. Aside from the typical stuff, I found this interesting car seat stroller combo. The Lilly Gold Sit n' Stroll is a stroller that converts into a car seat. I thought this will be so great when we rent a car to get around in Uluru however the car seat is only safety rated in the USA.

Our friend who has travelled with his baby extensively highly recommended the Kelty baby backpack.
It is a much more appropriate back carrier for our trip. I didn't think we needed another one until I found Kelty also made a backpack that converts into a stroller. Unfortunately, they have discontinued it so I turned to the good old Craigslist and found one that was really good condition for only 100 bucks.


We were pretty excited to try it out.

Pros:

• It was super light weight at only over 9 lbs. It also suppose to be able to hold up to 50 lbs.
• It was comfortable on the back with a good support.  Hubby took Drake out for a morning stroll everyday. 
• Its overall shape is upright instead of diagonally which meant it took up less space when in or moving through crowds.
• It acted as a high chair very well. Perfect height and didn't have to take Drake in and out in restaurants.
• Good under carriage space. We were able to store water, neck pillow and both of our jackets.

Cons:

• It didn't fold as well as traditional travel stroller. Only the handle part was foldable. It took up half of the space in our car trunk. But we didn't have any issue checking it at the gate of our flight.
• It didn't turn very well. It was great going in a straight line. But if I wanted to be agile and make quick and sharp turns, it was nearly impossible.  It took a bit to get use to.
• The stroller was only recommended for babies who could sit upright on their own which explains the lack of back support. I used a neck pillow to solve this issue. Drake was able to catch some Z's in it but didn't look all that comfortable to me. Then again I am not a baby.

Speaking of which, the second thing is Drake's sleeping arrangement. The three popular choices seem to be Kidco Peapod, Baby Bjorn and Phil&;Teds. The Peapod was recalled in November due a case of tragic infant suffocation death.  Although I believe it was a freak accident, I decided not to go with Peapod because it folds into a circle which is an awkward shape to fit into a backpack, suitcase or a overhead compartment.  Baby Bjorn has the same issue.  It folds into a shape of a large suit case.  It also had no side access.

Phil&Teds recently upgraded the crib from 9 lbs to only 7 lbs.  It hasn't gone on sale and unknown when they will go on sale.  With our travel date approaching fast, we decided to just get the Traveller II.

Pros:

• It is the most light weight and compact travel crib on the market.  It folded into a small tub shape that can fit into anything easily.  
• Once set up, it is almost as big as a regular crib.
• The side opening was really good to have if I wanted to lay down next to Drake before he falls asleep.
• It kept the light out relatively well (although the new design takes away this feature with all mesh sides).
• I just love the chic design

Cons:

• It took awhile (10 minutes) to put it together and take it apart and pack.

Before this trial trip, we asked for advice from friends about traveling with kids. They all gave us good ideas and suggestions.  However every child is different, your friends' experience isn't necessarily going to be the same as yours.  That is why we needed to do a trial trip.  We really didn't end up doing too much sightseeing.  We didn't have to deal with jet lag.  But we are still so glad we did it. We got to know our son much better.  Hopefully it will come in handy when it is time for our big China and Australia trip.

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Location:Vancouver

A Trial Trip to Los Angeles - Part I

We are planning a 5 week long trip to China and Australia with our son Drake but in the past 6 months one thing I have learn is that babies can be a bit unpredictable. They are in a constant state of change (and that is also why they are so amazing!). Hubby and I decided to do a trial trip to Los Angeles over the long weekend to help us and Drake better prepare for the big one.

Here is what we learn during the trip.

1. Airport - Learning the airport routine was the major reason for us taking this trial trip.  I feel much more relaxed now I know:

• I have to take Drake out of stroller and hold him through the metal detector while his stroller is being examined.  
• There is a security line up especially for families.
• Traveling with a baby means pre-broading. This may seems trivia but I didn't expect how much of a stress defuser it was! You don't have to fight for overhead cabin space and tons of time to get settled.
• Do diaper change before boarding. The lavatory on the plane was small and had no changing table. Of course for our long flight the lavatory will not be avoidable, but at least we will minimized the time in there.
• Wait to feed until on board, well, during take off.  This will help with the ear thing. 

2. Sleeping with noise - A few weeks before the trip, we started played music while Drake napped. My favourite is the World Beat channel on one of the cable channels.  We stayed in Venice Beach which was very noise with cars going by and people singing and yelling during the day, Drake had very little trouble napping through all that.

We downloaded an App called White Noise that played airplane noise and we would play the App while Drake fell asleep every night. Both of flights we took were night flights.  Drake had a little trouble falling asleep going to LA, but still managed to get some sleep.  It was his first flight after all!  Coming back he was an angel, slept the whole time including taking off and landing.  The ironic thing was he woke up only once and it was due to the guy sitting behind me clearing his throat really loudly every 5 or 10 minutes.

3. Packing - We brought 4 outfits, 2 pjs, and 5 bibs for the 3 day weekend.  Drake only went through 3 outfits, 1 pjs and 4 bibs.  Of course it is always good to have extras.  I brought a rubber bib (to put on top of the cloth bib) for feeding time which was great in saving Drake's outfits.

We only packed one toy for Drake. There were already a lot of new things and people for Drake to look at that we didn't need tons of toys to keep him amused.  One thing we were really glad we did is keep the toy on a string.  The string simply kept the toy from dropping on the ground.  It was especially helpful on the plane!  No more smushing my face against the food tray while fishing around blindly on the oh-so-clean airplane carpet looking for the toy that Drake wants to place in his mouth constantly.

We also made sure we packed Drake's sleeping blanket. Whenever I cover Drake with his blue fluffy doggy blanket he knows it is sleepy time.  On route to LA he was being a Mr. Screaming Pants but as soon as we put the blanket on him he calmed down and fell asleep. One or two items of comfort and familiarity was a must for Drake.

To be continued...

Temple Fair

It is now officially year of the dragon! The parking lot was littered with last night's fireworks bits in the morning. I wondered if the cars with alarms still had any juice left.



The start of the new year marks the start of temple fairs. Although temple fairs rarely happen at temples anymore, the name nevertheless has stuck. These fairs are full of traditional Beijing snacks, folk art, performances, acrobatics, and useless trinkets and toys.

There are at least 7 or 8 different fairs around Beijing area. We decided to check out Ditan, the biggest one. The entrance fee was 10 RMB (1.7 CAD) per person and opened from 9 to 5PM daily for 1 week after New Year's day. Ditan was packed full of people, shoulder to shoulder. We had to fight our way through to every booth but it definitely felt like new year!

Decorated gore, a folk art craft.




Really not sure what this is suppose to be. We even came across a guy dressed up as this character. Hmmmm....




A sedan ride around the park.




This I found really funny. All the bamboo sticks sticking out of the garage bags were from the thousands of BBQ meat skewers sold at the fair.





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Location:Beijing, China

Happy New Year

The loud cracking of fireworks hasn't stopped since this morning. The neighbourhood is in full throttle welcoming the year of the dragon. Our family is celebrating the New Year in Beijing this year. Due to lack of space, we decided to host New Year dinner in a restaurant. I must admit I was a little disappointed. Small part of me was looking for that childhood memory of what New Year should be like.

During the day we cleaned the house. It symbolized a clean "sled" to start the new year. Dinner was great. Fish for a plentiful year, fried pineapple turnover for a sweet year, chicken, braised pork, veggies and of course dumplings! One dish baffled me a bit. Mashed yam set on a potato chip and topped with jam. It was a strange combo, but it tasted light, fluffy, sweet with hint of savory.






When dessert came around, the waitress dropped serious hints that she would like to go home soon and celebrate new year with her family. We felt bad for her and left shortly. As soon as we hit the street we were bombarded with people everywhere setting off even louder and brighter fireworks.

Line of firecrackers just about to be lit.






By the intersection of our neighbourhood, they set up a giant dragon head lantern made out ceramic plates, spoons and cups.






Dragon lantern all lit up at night.






Everyone gathered in front of the TV right around 8 to watch CTV's annual spring festival show. We ate more food like sunflower seeds, peanuts, oranges and candies as we commented on the celebrities that showed up perform, the quality of the sketches, and other random gossip. Minutes before midnight, the neighbourhood became insane. Imagine that the Celebration of Lights wasn't lit up way out in English Bay but rather in the parking lot ten meters away. I felt I could reach out and catch a spark. It sounded like a war zone. Car alarms were going off everywhere. I watched everything like a little kid with my mouth open. People looked like they were having so much fun. I was kicking myself for not buying fireworks too. People didn't stop with the fireworks until close to 2AM.

Fun note, it is tradition that during your zodiac year, you have to wear something red on you all year long. A popular item is red underwear!






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Location:Beijing, China

My second home town - Nantong (南通)

During the culture revolution, my parents were sent to the country side from Shanghai to experience “peasant life”. When it was over, they were sent to work in a mid size town north of Shanghai named Nantong. I spent most of my childhood here. Mom and I arrived in town in the afternoon. I had caught a cold and spent the night nursing a sore throat and headache. My aunt made me hot ginger tea with brown sugar before and after dinner. It really worked miracle. Next morning I was feeling much better and got my energy back.

Mom and I decided to trace our life from 20 years ago. We started in the downtown area. Although I came here 5 years ago, I barely recognized anything. The clock tower that normally serves me as a landmark was again under construction, the government owned department store my mother use to be manage was bought out by a Japanese company a few years ago, and the aisles I use to run up and down after school all had disappeared.

We walked by the art research institute my father use to work for which was across from the public park I use to love going to on weekends. On the back of park was the elementary school I attended for eight years. I nearly missed it since the area opened up new roads and countless new buildings. I asked the reception for my old English and Math teacher. Unfortunately, today is Saturday and no one was around.




After our stroll down memory lane we had a big family dinner with my aunts, uncles, and even a new addition to the family. The cousin I grew up with just had a new baby girl. She was so sweet and definitely star of the night. I just can’t believe my childhood playmate now is not only someone’s husband but also a doting father. I felt more grown up than ever.




Baby Yiyi in her lady bug outfit!




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Location:Nantong, China

Wishing Grandma a Really Long Life

We are headed to Nanjing to visit my 95 year old grandmother. She not only watched me growing up, she is also the only grandparent I have left. I am excited to see her and do some much needed catching up. She lives in a nursing home and rooms with two other ladies. Grandma is very independent.  She cleans her own space, doesn't need any help going down stairs, and she still reads the newspaper everyday. For being over 90 grandma gets 80 RMB (13 CAD) per month from the government. When she turns 100 her compensation goes up to 130 RMB (22 CAD).

We took grandma out for lunch and took her for a walk around the neighborhood. She is really mobile for her age. Grandma kept on telling me how tall I have gotten. Not sure why since I am in my thirties and had stopped growing long time ago. She even asked about my husband who she met in 2003. Did I mention she has fantastic memory!

I wanted to buy some New Year goodies for grandma. After we dropped her off, mom and I went to check out the temple fair at Fuzi (夫子庙) Temple. Temple is usually the busiest place during the New Year period. In front of the temple, there was this huge golden wish tree. People can buy red ribbon and write down their wishes on it and then the ribbon gets thrown onto the tree. The higher it can be thrown the better chance the wish coming true.




Setting up for new year shows.









After getting rice cake, hairy crabs (grandma's favourite and mine too), and new shoes, we dropped them off at grandma's and said our good-byes. Tomorrow mom and I head for Beijing.

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Location:Nanjing, China

Moganshan Art District

China's art scene has been red hot in recent years. Not only attracting domestic, but also many international collectors. Beijing transformed an old industrial park full of decommissioned factories and warehouses into an art community called Factory 798. The other major cities started to follow suit. Moganshan (莫干山) is Shanghai's answer to 798.

Moganshan is actually located at 50 Moganshan Road. Sometimes it is also referred to as M50. Although much smaller than 798, Moganshan still holds its own. The community houses about 20 independent painting, photography, sculpture and other media galleries, workshops and studios. There are also trendy cafes.




The building exterior is kept pretty much the same. Inside I was surprised at how good the Chinese contemporary art scene has advanced. The different styles and innovative subjects made me wish I could take many of the pieces home. My father is an artist and I have always loved his ceramic work, so I tend prefer ceramic pieces like this one.







There is not a lot of graffiti around Shanghai, except for Moganshan. When we pulled away there were a couple of graffiti artists busy working on the outside walls of one of the buildings.

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Location:Shanghai, China

Street food and seafood of Shanghai

I have been in Shanghai for a few days now. I have been eating non stop. Good thing I have been walking a lot too. My favourite types of food are street food and seafood.

For breakfast instead of cereal, I would get a couple of steaming hot vegetable and meat buns with a cup of freshly squeezed soy milk.

For lunch I would have the one and only Nanxiang (南翔) steamed dumpling. Their flagship resturant is located within Chenghuang (城隍) Temple. There is always a long lineup for these delicious bit size of heaven. The buns are sold in 16 per serving and I ate them all!







For dessert I would get my favorite childhood treat: candied hawthorn. So much better than candied apple.




For afternoon snack, I would get a savory or sweet pastry baked in one of these clay ovens. When biting into the pastry, the ultra crispy shell is first thing that hits my lips. The flavour are locked tight inside, so what hits the taste buds on my tongue is the completeness of what went into that little pastry. It doesn't get any better than this. I also highly recommend clay oven baked sweet potato. The bits that gets caramelized are the best.



The perfect dinner to me is a seafood feast. There are a few streets in Shanghai full of nothing but seafood restaurants with fresh seafood on display outside.















Winter is best time for hairy legged crabs. I have eaten so much crabs since I got here that my tongue is all cut up. People believe hairy crab has a lot of "cold" element or chi. Hence, tons of ginger and garlic are put into the dipping sauce to balance out the cold and make sure you don't catch a cold.





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Location:Shanghai, China

A Very Karaoke New Year

Today is New Year eve. My day started out with a trip down memory lane. I grew up in the neighbourhood called Jiangxi North Road where my grandparents had a tiny corner unit of maybe 250 square feet. Down the street was an intersection road nicknamed “little triangle” where grandpa taught me how to ride a bike. In the southern corner of the “little triangle” was a very popular restaurant where grandma use to buy me treats and wonton soup.





Little triangle is still there today. The restaurant had disappeared and replaced with little shops of street food. The tiny corner unit was torn down years ago and converted into a mall. One thing that hasn’t changed is that it is still hassling, bustling and full of life.












I didn’t want to brave the crazy crowd down on the Bund where all the big New Year light shows and fireworks were held. A few years ago I fought the crowd and had a great time, but for hours I couldn’t get a cab to get back to my hotel.

I met up with some old friends who decided singing Karaoke, China’s favourite pastime, was a great way to ringing in the New Year. I am no Celine Dion, not even William Hung, but I tagged along. The karaoke bar is located in a large mall in the Hongkou district. Our private room was big enough to house a small concert equipped with big screens, disco balls, flashing lights and auto applause. I snacked and spectated mostly. I really wish I was more musically inclined. Everyone who sang was loving it.

Unfortunately, I was feeling my age and didn't even make it pass midnight. I slept through my last few hours of 2011. Hopefully that will give me a lot of energy in 2012!

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Location:Shanghai, China

Delays and Jetleg

I have been looking forward to my New Year trip to China for awhile now. After checking in, security and duty free shopping I got to the airport just in time for boarding. Everyone even all settled in on time. The captain then informed us the plane had an excessive amount of luggage which was taking awhile to load. I was a bit puzzled since Air Canada announced in the fall reducing economy class to one piece of check-in luggage. Half an hour later I felt the plane pull out of the gate and it stopped. The captain announced there was a fuel leak and mechanics were on their way. I feared the worst. Half way through “Cowboy and Aliens” we were told we had to change planes. Everyone simultaneously grunted at the announcement.

Not sure why they had to pick another gate that was all the way on the other side of the airport. Murphy’s law! By the time we all settled in again, we were delayed for more than 3 hours. Good thing I had no connection flight. I only hoped my poor mother who was picking me up was checking her email and voice mail.

The flight lasted 12 hours. I watched about 3 movies and took random naps in between. When I finally arrived I discovered that mom had in fact not checked her email or voicemail. We grabbed some late dinner at a Taiwanese restaurant before I crashed hard into dreamland.

By 4AM I was bright eyed and brushy tailed. Car horns were already going off. Good morning Shanghai! I took my time getting ready for the day which also included getting breakfast take out from down the street. After lunch we headed out to People’s Park, Shanghai’s city centre. Shanghai is known for its shopping. For middle of the road goods, Raffles has many of the familiar brands such as Columbia and Nike. But I was looking more at the shops with local designs and branding. I found some really unique pieces that I don’t see very often in North America. For higher end goods, it is an easy 15 minute walk to Huihai Zhong Road. They have the standard Louis Vitton, Coach, Apple Store and etc. The bargains can be found underground of the park. Little tiny shops all jam packed with cloth, shoes, phone accessories and sparkly jewelry.

Shopping can be a very tiring sport. After a few hours, I was done and headed back to the hotel for another early night.


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Location:Shanghai, China

My Childhood Memories of Chinese New Year in China

Some of my favourite childhood memories are celebrating Chinese New Year in China. For a couple weeks leading up to it red and gold coloured decorations were everywhere and people would greet each other with lucky sayings such as "Gong Xi Fa Cai" 恭喜发财(wish you wealth) or "Wan Shi Ru Yi" 万事如意 (all your wishes come true). Mom and Dad would take me around and visit our relatives around town for dinner. Of course my favourite part was receiving my red envelops full of money from the aunts and uncles. New Year dinners were always the most delicious. The families normally pull out all the stops: Chinese pork sausages, freshly fried spring rolls, eight treasure sweet sticky rice, just to name a few. After dinner, oranges and tea were served and the adults would eat sunflower seeds and chat (gossip) for hours about the their year. I would play with cousins and was fed candy and treats in the other room. On the way home, I would sit on the bar of mom's bike all bundled up. I can only hear the wind blowing by and see the road underneath me rolling on which always made me sleepy. Occasionally, I would hear mom muttered to dad "it is a cold night" and then to me "almost home". 

For New Year's Eve and as long as I can remember, we had dinner at home with grandma. After dinner we would all anxiously sit in front our 15" coloured TV and watched CCTV's annual five hour long Chinese New Year Celebration show until midnight. Back in the early 80's China had about four TV channels. The show is kind of like Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve but imagine it being watched by an entire country of 1 billion people at the same time. I am pretty sure it is the highest rated show ever in the world every year. We would, of course, eat sunflower seeds, oranges and drink tea during the show. The comedy sketches were always my favourite. I also really like the pop stars they would have on the show which was not very often. The show always had way too many folk singers who would sing old folkie or red songs. Sometimes I would catch my mom, even my grandma humming along. I really wish we had PVRs back then. The stand out performers on the show often become household names the next day. Dashan or Mark Rowswell is a Canadian who was the first foreign national to become a domestic (while completely unknown to the west) superstar after appearing on the New Year show. I can still remember seeing him on the show and being amazed by his command of the Chinese language. 

When midnight hit I would rush to the balcony and watch the fireworks go off all around us. The sky would be lit up bright one flash at a time. Mom would say to me "you are now another year older." 

The next day, I would sleep in and wake up to breakfast of New Year dinner leftovers. Mom would put me in a new outfit. We would walk around the neighbourhood and chat with the neighbours. It was like Halloween, everywhere we went people would feed me candy and sweets. People would stop by our house for well wish chats as well and give me more sugary treats. I am sure mom gave away treats too. But as a kid I tended to only care about whether I got candy or not. 

Chinese New Year is technically two weeks long. But it never seemed long enough in my memories. I blinked and it was time to head back to school.

Note: 2012 Chinese New Year is on 23rd of Jan and it is year of the Dragon.

Chinese CEOs Book Their Own Room at the Shangri-La

Currently, there are almost one million millionaires in China (Previous blog on who are the China's wealthiest?).  With all this new found money, where are they spending it?  According to Business Insider, Chinese spent more money on luxury goods than Europe and the U.S. combined (click here for article).  Last year emerging Asia accounted for around 50% of global luxury sales, most of which came from China.

The Chinese are not only very practical people, but also they place high emphasis on culture of "face". It is no surprise these millionaires are buying up half of world's tangible luxury goods such as cars, jewelry, and fashion.  These are all things that can give a person a lot of face.  In terms of entertainment or service based purchases, these millionaires like spend money on travel, golf and yoga.  Travel is their favourite method of relaxation.  According to most recent Hurun Report, the most popular destinations include France, USA and Australia.  Canada unfortunately didn't even make top 10! Tourism Canada has a lot of work to do. Annually, on average they make three international trips, spend approximately 190,000 RMB (31,000USD) on travel and 160,000 RMB (26,000USD) on shopping.  Hurun wasn't able to clearly separate any stats between business and leisure travel.  The feedback from the millionaires often was that leisure travel is mixed in with business travel.  From my personal experience I feel if the millionaire's family resides in China primarily, his/her family or leisure trips are often to domestic destinations such as Sanya, Hong Kong or Yunan.

The thing that surprised me the most was that 57% of these millionaires and billionaires book their own hotel and make their own itinerary through mostly travel websites rather then utilizing premium travel professionals. After some thought, I am actually not surprised.  As I mentioned earlier the Chinese are very practical people, therefore it is important that the "product" that they receive has to fit the price.  The major tangible products within the travel service industry are hotel and air.  Everything else or what I like to call "creation of the ultimate experience" is a bit of a fuzzy area in terms of its value.  It is not that the Chinese millionaires don’t appreciated it; they are still not yet very familiar with this concept and not sure of its value since it is not tangible.  If they are unsure of the value of the service, it will be hard for them to trust others to provide them the service for the value.

I am still here!!

I have been ignoring the blog-sphere for awhile. It has been a very busy summer, although it came very late. I am working on starting out on a new partnership with a US company called Extraordinary Destination Wedding. The company specialised in customized exotic weddings. Until recently, couples thought an exotic option was to be married in Italy for example, but with celebrities like Katy Perry who recently opted to be married in India, people are now starting to think beyond the beach for their weddings and they are truly following their adventurous hearts with dare to be different attitude. According to the World Tourism Organization, in 2020, China will overtake France to become the largest tourist country. China is becoming more and more intriguing for couples from all corners of the globe. Her romance lies in its mystical culture and the serenity of its natural beauty. China couldn’t have over 1.3 billion people without a little romance. So she knows a thing or two about weddings. China has great potential in the wedding business out bound and in bound. It is a multi billions business.

I am also planning my South America trip in September. I will only be gone for about 3 and half weeks. Since I am trying to get to Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, I don't have a lot of time and there is tremendous amount of planning involved. But planning is half of the fun. I sometimes learn more during the planning stage than the actual trip. The actual trip then becomes a visual download of my research. It is truly a fascinating process.

I have also decided to learn how to roller blade as an adult!! Talk about off balance. But practice makes prefect and I have been practicing 3 times a week by the dog park. Summer is always so short. I have to make the best of it. Always mixing hard work with tons of fun!

Obsessed with Cars

Being stuck in traffic bothers me in many levels. Idling is not good for the car, waste of gas, bad for the environment and most of all, I just hate siting still! I can't imagine being stuck in traffic for 9 house, let alone 9 days. That is exactly what happened in Beijing last summer. The jam was 62 miles long!

I have always been frustrated with why the Chinese government is not doing more to curb the country's appetite for cars. But as I learn from my family and friends in China, it is actually pretty hard and expensive to own a car in China by western standards.

1. Training is expensive and testing is rigorous (and ridiculous at times). To get a license potential drivers must have at least 58 hours of instruction in a certified course that costs around $300 to $500, a considerable sum in China. The actual testing includes the written exam, a technical course and two driving tests. Some jurisdiction even require potential drivers to pass a medical check up. Being too short, color-blind, suffer for nervousness or high blood-pressure, have trouble jumping have been routinely been the reasons people got denied the privilege to drive. Some are rejected because their thumb is not the right shape, or they are missing a finger or they can’t hear well in one ear.
   
2. Registration fee is expensive. Fees doubled between 2000 to 2005 to $4,600 per vehicle that is more than twice the city’s average per capita income.
   
3. license plate is very hard to come by. Only limited number of them are issued every year. In some cases, a highly desirable license plate (i.e. the ones with a lot of "8" in them) is auctioned off at a higher price than the car itself. You think your local DMV is bad, the people of Chinese might have wait for months to get a license plate.
   
4. Car is pretty expensive to purchase in China. A middle of the road car like Toyota Corolla can cost up to 200,000 RMB (approx: $30,700 CAD). That is almost double than what they sell for in Canada.
5. In major cities, highways access alternates everyday depending on the last digit of your license plate number. There are also rules against driving on highways if you have an out of province license plate. For example, a Jiangsu plated car may not drive on Shanghai highways during weekdays from 9 to 5.
6. Parking is a bitch. Most Chinese cities were built for bicycles not automobiles. Unlike American cities, Chinese cities have virtually no parking spaces and no parking garages. Most neighborhood streets and alleys are barely wide enough for one car. Check out the video of this woman and her ingenious way of solving this headache. Click here.
   

Despite these road blocks (and the state of the global economy), cars are still selling like hot cakes. The Chinese purchased 14 million cars, that is 4 million more than the Americans in the past year. Why? I think China is making up for lost times. Less than 20 years ago, the Chinese way of life is own by the state. The company they worked for belonged to the state. The apartment they lived in was provided by the state owned company they worked for. Food ration stamp was also distributed by the state. Their kids went to state own schools. China had maybe a handful of private companies and owning a business meant you were not educated, lower class and you had no choice. Now the country is opened up, the people is buying everything that represents bountifulness, prosperity and self-expression. To many Chinese car is the ultimate expression in freedom.

Owning a car is still the dreams of millions of Chinese. Unfortunately, that means this dream will continue to contribute to even longer traffic jams...