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!

Who wants to go noodling?

My favourite food in the entire world is noodles. It is the ultimate comfort food for me. Instead of birthday cakes, my mom would make noodles on my birthdays. The long strand in Chinese culture symbolizes longevity.

Noodles have been staple food around many parts of the world for a long time. It probably has the longest history in China. A 4000 year old bowl of noodles was unearthed in northwestern China about 6 years ago. The first recorded account of noodles dates back 25 AD during the East Han Dynasty.

Noodles is such a versatile food. There are so many different types of noodles and different ways the noodles are made from. Not to mention too-many-to-count ways to cook and eat them. So do you like your wheat, rice, egg, mung bean or sweet potato noodles cooked in soup, stir fried, steamed, or cold mixed in sauce?

Handmade noodles are by far the best and are typically made just from wheat flour, salt and water. This type of noodles can be formed by pulling, cutting and peeled. This ancient art form is not easy. Check out this funny video of Gordon Ramsay Learning to Make Noodles. Noodle masters usually spend over 10 years to prefect their skills (they have incredible arm strength!) and the best noodle masters are from Lanzhou located in central China.

When cooked, handmade noodles should be chewy and it can absorb all the flavour of the sauce and other ingredients. The other way to tell noodles is handmade and made with love (once a friend told me anything handmade is made with love) is the each noodle strand should look a little different from each other.

For more noodles fun:

* "The Story of Noodles" is a great book to read to your future noodle enthusiast.

* My signature noodle dish recipe. A great summer vegetarian dish that serves 3 to 4.

Ingredients: 6 cups of noodles, 1/2 tbsp of vegetable oil, 2 tbsps of diced green onions, 2 tbsp of light soy sauce and 1 dry or fresh diced red chili pepper.

1. Boil noodles in large pot of unsalted water over medium heat until barely tender and still firm. Drain immediately and rinse with cold water until cold.
2. for the dressing: Put green onions and red chilli pepper in a ceramic bowl. Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan until it bubbles and pour hot oil into the bowl. Add light soy sauce into the bowl last. Mix with a spoon.
   
3. Pour dressing all over noodles and toss until it coats all the noodles.
4. Meat or seafood option: stirfry 1 cup minced meat or diced shrimp in 1 tsp of oil and add them into the noodles before the dressing is poured.
   

* Funny Noodle related inventions:

left: Noodle cooler chopsticks
Right: Noodle face protector (actually I don't know what it is suppose to do)

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...

Who are the China's Wealthiest?

It seems like China is pumping out new millionaires and billionaires everyday. Out with the stereotype image of country bumpkins in shabby monotone clothes, the new imagine of the Chinese in the eyes of western world is now represented by these grassroot riches who love to buy Louis Vuitton and Gucci products in bulk everywhere they go.

Most Chinese who landed on the Forbes' richest list 2010 are self-made with very humble beginnings. They are mostly under 50 and made their riches in less than 10 years. Zong Qinghou (left) is the newly minted richest person in China and takes the #103 spot on the Forbes list. He had very little formal education and worked as a salt farmer and did other menial work. Zong started his 7 billion USD beverage empire with less than $20,000 USD. Liu Yongxing (#154 on Forbes) who is worth approximately 5 billion USD started his career as poultry farmer with his 3 brothers. His company is one of China's largest markers of animal feeds.

China's new brigade of ultra riches also include a few fierce women. Six out of world's top ten richest self-made women are Chinese. At number one with an estimated personal net worth of $5.6 billion, Zhang Yin (right) made her fortune from recycled paper. Following at number two Wu Yajun, a former journalist, chose a more conventional business when she founded Longfor Property in the steamy basin of Chongqing, one of China’s four municipalities. At number 3 is Chen Lihua, she too made her fortune in real estate with a focus on residential housing projects. Oprah is number nine.

China in the Winter

Most people would recommend checking out China during the spring and fall months. However, in the winter, China can be a great place to be too.

In the most southern tip of China lies city called Sanya. It is roughly on the same latitude as the island of Hawaii which means warm weather all year around. This beautiful island city also known as the "Hawaii of the East" is number 2 on the top 10 places Chinese people like to vacation in China (click here for the complete list). In recent years, Sanya has attracted many tourists around the world and numerous hotel chains to develop resort properties there. It even played host to several Miss World competitions. In Sanya it is not just about the white sandy beaches, there are also plenty of culture sites like the Nansan Temple, Guan Yi Statue and etc.

Now moving to the north of China, a city called Harbin is worth visiting in the winter despite the cold and snow. Often referred to as "Ice City", Harbin is the capital city of Heilongjiang Province located in the northeast of China. The city is the host of one of the world's four largest ice and snow festivals: Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival. It starts on January 5th of every year. The festival features larger than life ice and snow sculptures of famous people, landmarks and scenery. In 2007, the Canadian themed festival featured the largest snow sculpture ever made depicting Niagara Falls and Crossing the Bering Strait was 250 meters long, 8 meters high and used over 10,000 cubic meters of snow. For more awesome pictures of the festival click here.

FYI: The other three festivals are Japan's Sapporo Snow Festival, Canada's Quebec City Winter Carnival and Norway's Ski Festival.

Staying Healthy While Traveling

Staying healthy is not only important in our everyday life, but also critical when we are traveling. The crappiest way to ruin a trip you have been planning for months or even years is to get sick. Here are a few of my tips on how to stay healthy during your travels.

Get poked before you leave - Certain countries like Tanzania requires yellow fever vaccination certificate before entering the country. However majority of countries do not have requirements and vaccination is merely a good to have. My personal attitude is it doesn't hurt to pay the 40 to 50 dollar consultation fee and get the latest professional opinion. Especially if you are going off the beaten path.

Stress - Traveling is a very exciting thing for most and for me is a passion. But it doesn't mean it is not going to cause stress to your body. One of the signs of stress, especially during the first week or so, can be your bowel movement. The body tense up and nothing gets release from your body. This can be a not so comfortable experience. Therefore, try to include fiber in your travel diet. A banana or yogurt can do the trick. Stress in general can weaken your immune system leaving your vulnerable against a cold virus and etc.

Watch what you eat and drink -I have a very strong stomach and often referred by my friends as "iron stomach". I have eaten countless questionable street food around the world and not gotten sick (knock on wood). However, I still observe certain rules. I try not to eat any raw food (including veggies) unless they are soaked in alcohol. Not because I have a preference for alcohol, but it does kill bacterias. Secondly, I always drink and use filtered water including brushing my teeth.

Pack Vitamin C tablets -Vitamin C or L-ascorbic acid or L-ascorbate is an essential nutrient for humans and certain other animal species, in which it functions as a vitamin. Once a day drop a Vitamin C tablet into your water bottle will keep your immune system strong while exploring the world.

Ginger is the magic word - Ginger helps relieve indigestion, gas pains, diarrhea and stomach cramping. Ginger root is also used to treat nausea, help relieve pain, stimulate circulation of the blood, removing toxins from the body, cleansing the bowels and kidneys, and nourishing the skin. Other uses for Ginger Root include the treatment of asthma, bronchitis and other respiratory problems by loosening and expelling phlegm from the lungs. Ginger Root may also be used to help break fevers by warming the body and increasing perspiration which is great help in getting over a nasty cold. Not only is ginger very useful for a lot of things, it is also cheap and often found easily in any market or grocery store around the world. My favourite way to consume ginger is cut it into 1/4 inch slices, add hot water, honey (or sugar) and drink it like hot tea.

White Lies - In some culture (ie: the Chinese), refusing food or alcohol that is offered to you is considered very rude. That is when telling a little white lie can save you from a lot of trouble later. Refuse food that looks questionable to you by saying "I am full" or the local spirit specialty is too strong for your liking I recommend using "I am feeling under the weather".

I am not a medical professional. Above are just my personal tips that I have found useful and worked during my travel, so results may be different for you. Safe travels!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

What is your travel plan for the new year?
I will be checking out a few new countries in South America - Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.

Beauty Trends in China

The definition of beauty can very different world wide. Here in North America, thin body frame and tan skin are symbols of beauty and health. However, in some African countries, being voluptuous is the lusted-after shape. In China, there are many beauty trends that are totally unheard of in here.

Chinese women are obsessed with their eyes. Forget coloured contact lenses, what about lenses to make you look like a Japanese anime character. These are contacts with a black circle that when popped into your eyes will add onto the circumference of the pupil. They are suppose to create the illusion of giant doey eyes that take up half of your face.

The most popular plastic surgery procedure in China is not the lipo suction, it is the double eye lid surgery. Never heard of it? That is not surprising. Not too many non-Asians need to have this surgery. About half of the Asian population does not have an upper-eyelid crease. For those who do, the crease falls about 7 mm above the lash-line, whereas for Caucasians, the crease falls about 11 mm above it. The procedure involves cutting away small amounts of fat, tissue and skin to form a higher or new crease.

In China, you will be very hard pressed to find a tanning salon or self-tanner products. In fact, I don't even think there is a Chinese phase for the activity of tanning unless you are referring to leather making. Being tanned in China has a terrible and old stigma associated with it. It means one worked outside as a labour or farmer and not of upper class. There is an old Chinese saying "Being paler will cover 3 ugly spots" (一白遮三丑). No wonder Chinese women, even some men go through great length to stay fair skinned. Expensive cream, powder, pills and dermatological treatments are all part of the estimated $18 billion dollar skin whitening market. More than 60 global companies like Dior and Clinque are competing for a share.

(photo courtesy of www.yinyangskinscience.com)

Internet Culture in China

Internet is probably one of the most important inventions since slice of bread (or steam rice in my case). I got my first 386 PC in 1992. In 1997, I went back to China for the first time after moving to Canada. No one in China has ever heard of or have seem the Internet, even though China was already online since 1994 which also was the same year I registered for my very own hotmail account and became addicted to chat rooms (before it was a dangerous and creepy internet corner for a 15 year old).

During my visit in 2003, although people knew what internet was, it was still not wildly used. Only 68 million users. That is about 5% of the population. And then it seems like it just explored over night. Today China has well over 420 million internet users (32% of the population) and it is growing at an almost double digit rate annually. Every half of a block you can easily find an Internet cafe. The cafes are usually not just a couple of rows of computers instead they are at least 10 by 10 rows and dozens of private rooms you can book at a sight higher rate. In the evenings, they will be full of students and young people playing online games, watching movies and chatting away. (photo courtesy of www.msn.com)

Chinese Internet community is obsessed with "Human Flesh Search" which is an internet phenomenon of massive researching using blogs and forums for the purpose of identifying and exposing individuals to the public. The search can be about passing around pictures of beautiful people with ordinary lives, expressing Chinese nationalistic sentiment, or breaking the Internet censorship in the People's Republic of China. Stars can be born over night and lives can be destroyed in an instant in the Chinese cyber world. A young woman was caught on camera taking off her red jacket during one of President Obama's town hall meetings in Shanghai. More than 6.9 million results showed up on the Internet search engine Google over the "Obama Girl in the Red Coat", with countless other discussion forums on the woman. She was offered many opportunities for commercials and modeling gigs through her crazy 15 minute of fame.

Can't talk about China's internet world without the mention of the "Great Fire Wall" of China. Internet censorship is very real, very much alive and thriving. The central government has a very tight control over the flow of information on the internet and they are not apologizing for it. In fact, no one in China can read this blog! And if Chinese net citizens are allowed to access Facebook, its users would double to almost 1 billion users. Most popular social network websites are banned in China. Instead they cloned their own facebook called xiaonei.com or Chinese Twitter called fanfou.com.

In general, the Chinese is still very reserved or even guarded due to its culture and political climate. Even with censorship, Internet still gives them a certain amount of freedom to speak their mind and blow off steam with anonymity more than ever. It is no wonder Internet has gain tremendous popularity in China in a such short period of time that is reminiscent of the dot com bubble era. But I think this bubble is not bursting anytime soon.

Travel vs Vacation

Most people think travel and vacation are two of the same activities. People may use their "vacation" time to travel. But you are not vacationing when you are traveling. So I always argue (usually the only one) they are very different. Here are the dictionary definitions:

Vacation: Leisure time away from work devoted to rest or pleasure
Travel: The act of going from one place to another

Vacation to me means I am staying in one spot like a beach and doing as little as possible. Travel on the other hand is very exciting with constant motion which can be tiring and even stressful. My mind and body are constant simulated by history, stories, culture, ruins, hikes, churches, temples and conversations. One of my favourite things is taking a mini vacation in the middle of my travels. I highly recommend doing that when planning your travels. In South East Asia, I made sure to fit in some R&R under the Phuket sun; in East Africa, it was a few days on the beaches of Zanzibar.

To me, travel is a lot more than just about going from one place to another. Travel is about learning and gaining perspectives. Growing up, my parents told me this old Chinese fable about a frog in the well (井底之蛙).

There was once a frog who lived in a well. It was happy and grateful with the spacious well he called home. One day an old turtle who lived by the sea passed by the well and chatted up with the frog who lived in the well. The turtle told the stories of the ocean's vastness and wonders. But the frog couldn't believe such a place could exist. How could there possibly anything be better than the well?

The rain had came down hard this year and raised the water level of the well. The frog took the opportunity to finally leap out of the well. Moved by curiosity, the first thing the frog did was to visit the sea. It was awestruck by endless openness of it all. When it returned to the well, it was still a happy frog & grateful for its home, but a bit uneasy now it knew how much larger reality was than its tiny precious well.

Chinese Food Culture

Anyone who knows me knows I am a big foodie. After all, loving food is part of my culture and is part of who I am. Chinese food culture is over 5000 year old and is laced into every facet of Chinese person's life.

Every dish served at a Chinese dinner table has to have good symbolism. Instead of a birthday cake, the Chinese eat birthday noodles on their birthdays. The long strands symbolize longevity. For Chinese New Year feast fish is a must since the word sounds like the homophonic word for abundance. The Chinese also love to give their dishes very poetic names (but sometimes really confusing when translated into English directly). Chicken forms part of the a good luck symbol of the phoenix, so the well known dim sum dish Chicken's feet is actually referred to as "Phoenix feet".

Meatballs are referred to as "Lion head". A Sichuan dish called "Ants Climbing a Tree" is just minced beef with bean thread noodles.

The Chinese believes the main meat ingredient of the dish will help you improve particular parts of your body. For example: eating pig's liver will make your liver healthier. In Beijing, there is a very famous restaurant named Guolizhuang (锅里壮) which can be directly translated as "Manliness in a pot". It specialises in animal penises. Yes, you read correctly. You can imagine what this body part is suppose to help you with. This is very popular with the gentleman customers.

(deer penis on a gold platter garnished with lettuce!)

When cooking an animal is important to the Chinese not to waste anything that is edible. Keeping the body of the animal whole is also very crucial. You will see fish, chicken and duck heads and feet all make it to the table along with its body. The head is not only believe to be the tastiest, but also often reserved for the eldest or most honoured guest at the table.

We even greet in terms of food. The phrase "你吃了吗？" which means "Have you eaten yet?" is equivalent of asking someone "how are you?". Instead the reply of "I am fine", you say "I have eaten." no matter what time of the day.

When I hosted my wedding rehearsal dinner last year, we had prepared just enough food for everyone. However, this was to my mother's horror: no leftover meant the guest did not have enough to eat. Having plenty of food is showing respect for your guests. Here are other dinner table etiquette/culture such as:

• must try everything (even just a little bit) on the table
• never take more than 1 item at a time
• sometimes Chinese diners will slurp their soup or burp after a meal. You can too.
• when offered the last piece in the dish, you should always decline at least 2 or 3 times before accepting it
• it is ok to answer the phone during dinner
• it is ok to stand up and reach for food
• never stick your chopsticks upright in the rice bowl (actually don't play with your chopsticks at all including air drumming)

(Photo courtesy of Xinhua)

10 Things I Love About China

Photos from my personal collection.

10. Fishing for your own lunch in rural Beijing

9. KFC the Chinese Version.

8. Outdoor Dancing (by the Bund in Shanghai)



7. Star Rated Public Toilets (this one in the Forbidden Palace is rated 4 stars)



6. Not Obeying Funny Chingrish Signs
(`Stop Climbing the Cliff`from Yellow Mountain and `Relic Protected, No Scratch`in the Forbidden Palace)



5. Roadside Fine Dining
(Best meal I ever had! Seafood District in Pudong, Shanghai)



4. Food, Food, Food and Food. All the yummy food!
(on the left are Hairy Legged Crabs and on the right is a Peking Duck Feast)



3. and food you didn`t think is edible.
(Star Fish on the left and scorpion on the right. All deliciously presented in stick format)



2. Tobogganing down the Great Wall



1. China, you are simply beautiful.