Moving Forward Good Orderly Citizen

I am taking the 10 hour train to Beijing. It could be worse Urumqi takes 44hrs and no I have no idea where that is either it was on the China train travel website which has lots of useful info http://www.seat61.com/China.htm

Having suffered the occasional mild panic attack from people surges I braced myself for Shanghai train station. I had nightmares about the scenes from Christmas time where 2 million people got stranded at stations around China. Thankfully the process was very smooth. The porter did try to charge me 50Y for bumping my bags no more than 2 metres. The taxi to the station only cost 19Y. All bags go through an X-ray machine. Well unless you are carrying what looks like a gift then they don’t seem to bother. So if you see anyone suspicious carrying a big box with a colourful bow – run! Joking aside JC told me that last week some Chinese nationals had threatened to blow themselves up on a internal flight. It seems terrorism has also come to China.

I asked JC to get me a soft class ticket (1st class 439Y) I peered into the hard class expecting wooden benches but the seats were just a little narrower than 1st class. The advantage of traveling by train is that you can use an MP3 player at all times. This is my effective sound blocker from the male phlegm throat chorus. Unlike the long distance trains in the UK there are no quiet zone carriages and as the coach was full of (male) businessmen phones were constantly going off.

From my window seat I had a good opportunity to see the Chinese landscape, another reason to travel by train. We passed lots of new dual carriageways that looked eerily quiet much like the black and white films from the 1960’s showing new motorways in England. Car ownership is clearly confined to the large cities. Housing is a complete mix. High rise blocks some 16 floors tower over shacks and 2 storey townhouses. I was please to see that many had solar panel water heaters. The 2 storey houses had black roof tiles which reminded me of Michael Palin’s leap across a train track to bring back a Chinese roof tile for Terry Gilliam in the BBC programme Around the World in 80 Days.

I joked about the airplane safety video in an earlier post on the Shanghai flight about no remote control cars. In between the mobile phones and throat clearing I could hear a whirring and whining noise. In the aisle behind me were two grown men in suits playing with a remote control Porsche.

The train magazine features an article about an usual barber who has a scary alternative to scissors.

Arriving in Beijing the taxi queue was worse than Paddington station on a train strike day. There did not seem to be a system of dropping off and collecting passengers. I was tired and the wind was blowing Gobi desert sand everywhere. There was no way of getting across the boulevard avenues to hail a cab from the other side of the road. I got into what I thought was a taxi and agreed a price I knew was triple what I should be paying. At the first set of traffic lights the driver jumped out and changed his number plates when he saw a police car around the corner. Despite saying he knew where my guesthouse was and having the map and address in Chinese, he did not seem to know where it was 10 minutes into the journey. He started making calls on his mobile and I had visions of him arranging for me to stay somewhere else, permanently.

I was convinced of his alternative motives even more when he refused to call the owner of where I was staying. He also refused to ask directions when we were roughly in the right district. Perhaps this was due to not showing bad face or men never asking for help with directions. We arrived at the dark alleyway entrance to the Hutong where I was staying and began to demand his fare. I assured him I would pay him when we had reached the front door of the hostel. Did he think I was going to run off with 40kg of my luggage and not pay him? Before I could give him all of the money he grabbed what I had in my hand and ran off into the dark.

The situation quickly changed though when the elaborate antique door of the Hutong was opened by a tired but smiling Mr Yang. Zheng Yang is the husband of the owner to Kelly’s Courtyard, a traditional hutong house now run as a guesthouse. Hutongs are narrow streets or even smaller just alleyways that are characteristic of Beijing. Along the hutongs are siheyuan (courtyard) traditional houses. For many years since the founding of The People’s Republic of China the number of Beijing hutongs has dropped dramatically as they are demolished to make way for new roads and buildings. More recently, some hutongs have been designated as protected areas in an attempt to preserve this aspect of Chinese cultural history.

Lots of beautiful decorative Chinese furniture at Kelly’s Courtyard

Dive into Shanghai

Deciding against any more complicated taxi journeys I decided to hit the streets on foot.
I would have preferred to have done this on bicycle but I could not find anywhere that would hire one. I asked the hotel and they looked and me puzzled and pointed at the taxi rank.

Heading north I wanted to find a few shops that are mentioned in the Lonely Planet Guide to Shanghai. Madame Mao's Dowry (70 Fuxing Road West) was my chance to find some authentic Chinese antiques or at the very least bric a brac. Hoping to nab a few bargain retro items I should have gone to the bank first for a loan. Beautiful handpainted Mao inspired painted vintage mirrors were around £150. Large framed communist posters were a similar price. Having the ability to pick the most expensive items in shops I decided to leave before I got really tempted as there were some really nice pieces of furniture.

Behind Fuxing Road West using a combination of spotting the occasionally sign and detective work, I found Shanghai's Hand-printed Blue Nankeen (batik) Museum and Shop (No. 24, Lane 637 Changle Road). The collection includes a display of dying tools, wooden printing blocks and wax paper cutouts. The small museum shows how the production process has remained unchanged for many years and historic patterns are still reproduced. The technique looks similar to batik. I don’t have much more information about his place as the only leaflet left was in Japanese (I think the owner might be from there also) and the owners speak limited English. The prints echo the blue-glazed porcelain of the Song Dynasty (420-479 AD). I bought some lengths of the more wacky designs. Some of them remind me of African fabric.

Nankeen fabric to add to my small collection of textiles.

This is what wikipedia says about Nankeen.

The term blue nankeen' describes hand-printed fabric of artistic refinement and primitive simplicity, which originated on the Silk Road over three thousand years ago.

Hand-carved stencils, originally made from wood but now from heavy paper, are prepared and a mix of soya bean flour and slaked lime is applied through the openings of the stencil onto the 100% cotton fabric. When dry, the fabric is then dipped numerous times into the large tubs containing the indigo dye. After the right color is achieved and the fabric has dried, the paste is scraped off, revealing the white patterns on the blue cloth. The fabric is then washed, dried, and ironed before fabrication into the Nankeen collection. Such fabric represents a fast-disappearing historic art form which embodies ancient Chinese culture and traditions.

In the courtyard garden lengths of freshly printed fabric are hung over the Camellia bushes.

Even if you are not interesting in textiles the route to find the museum takes you right into the heart of urban residential life in Shanghai. This is a chance to see communal style living which within a short period of time will be replaced by skyscraping apartment blocks. The previous night I had seen a short documentary about life in these communal houses. Residents were asked what was good and bad about living in this way, a concept alien to western cities where most people don't even speak to their neighbour. Here kitchens and bathroom are shared. Each family has their own food but household chores are shared. There is of course no privacy but there is also no isolation. People are not dying alone and undiscovered for weeks.

More on communal living here:

http://www.yawningbread.org/apdx_2002/imp-090.htm

On the subject of textiles I came across this humorous blog about Shanghai and PJ’s

http://pictureyear.blogspot.com/2008/05/more-pjs.html

Within a stroll of Ruijin No 2 Road I chanced upon a miniature version of Shoreditch. Down a dark anonymous alley is a labyrinth of independently owned artisan shops and bars. Many of them are run by young Japanese or Korean owners. Meshi (Shop 37, Lane 248, Taikang Rd) sells Japanese teaware and households items. To get onto the shop you have to walk on large stepping stones set within a miniature Zen garden. There are lots of small bars and restaurants and even a Tibet shop!

In the evening I hooked up with some Brit ex pat guys for a traditional Chinese banquet with obligatory rotating table. The dishes chef seemed to be into creative slicing of fish.

For the full Chinese nightlife after the meal we piled into a taxi to an underground bar otherwise known as a dive bar where drinks are RMB 10. The only way to describe the atmosphere was a Chinese squat party. Expat DJ's play anything they feel like playing. Drinks are cheap and spliffs are passed around. I did not inhale which is just as well as I found out in my final leg of my Asian journey. Female foreigners were in the minority and the couple of guys I was introduced to spent most of the time leaning on their shorter Chinese girlfriends. 'I love it here. Back home I never get dates but Chinese girls zone in on us foreign guys. I can take my pick. I've got several on the go.'

On that comment I quickly made my excuses. Viewpoints like this may be held by some young guys back in the UK but you just don't say this kind of thing. Single female foreigners find it really hard in the dating game in Asia. A ex-London friend of mine says the majority of guys are only interested in the local girls and the ones that are not you really would not date if they were the last guy available. Which is probably why she set up the Asian equivalent to Ann Summers. See my Singapore blog later.

Will the last person to bed please turn the light off?

I spent the night in a cold, smelly insect ridden sex hotel or as described on their website ‘comfortable boutique hotel’. It is situated on the outskirts of the city. I am surrounded by B&Q and IKEA stores and then rows of tiny shops that seem to recycling rubbish. Where are the French restaurants and Zara’s that I was expecting? The one and only good thing about the sextel is there is free internet. I Google (yes it was working) luxury hotels Shanghai and book into the first hotel that comes up.

Alarming room service offerings

My taxi driver does not seem to know where the hotel is which is worrying as we are in the centre of the French Concession and surely it can’t be that hard to find a major hotel. He leaves me outside an office building insisting that is where I am staying. The security guards look at me bemused and a small crowd of office workers on their lunch break gather around me. Everyone seems to be pointing in different directions to show where the hotel is. I point to where I need to go but no one seems to recognise the map I have. I hail another cab and get taken 5 minutes around the corner to the correct hotel. It would have been 2 minutes but the traffic was bad.

I decided to spend the afternoon at Shanghai Botanic Garden to try and escape the mass of people and traffic. The magnolia trees were just starting to loose their petals.

This garden is currently undergoing refurbishment and will be replaced by another botanic garden so I am told by one of the guides. There are lots of preparations for the Olympic themed displays such as this one with the Chinese mascots.

My art director at Corbis had asked me to get some shots of the famous tourist area the Bund and the Pudong. The Bund is a section of Shanghai that runs along the along the western bank of the Huangpu river. Facing it is the financial district, the Pudong. In just 18 years a symbolic skyline of skyscrapers has been created in defiant contrast to the historic colonial buildings along the Bund. Pudong's gross domestic product reached an estimated RMB270 billion (US$38.5 billion) in 2008, an enviable achievement considering that before1990 the Pudong was mainly farmland.

I had to work quickly to get the shots because I was told that after 8pm the lights on the buildings get switched off to conserve power. Sure enough one by one the bling buildings disappeared into the dark night sky.

Upon returning to find my room has been prepared for sleep with my bed sheets turned out and room lighting set to dim. In fact dim is the brightest the room can get with artificial lights probably part of the energy saving directive. There is however a complex light system control from the centre of the twin beds. There is a night light, a lobby light, room light, three lights in the bath and a do not disturb light for outside the room. It’s still too dark to read my book though.

A stinging of a starter

Tuesday 20^th March
Another United Nations breakfast and possibly yet another 12 course lunch means I force myself to the gym. However it is located in another block to the hotel and the walk seems a workout in itself! The pool and health suite are on the 11^th floor. I am beginning to forget what ground level looks like.
The morning was spent at the very nice building for the British Council in HK. They have free internet access – hoorah I miss my email. There has been no time to check it as the schedule has been so packed. It has been strange having your day planned and being taxied around.

We were given a talk and advice by 3 of the people that were on the interviewing panel for the HK pioneers.

Prof Desmond Hui with whom I share a gardening interest , he told me I must visit a place called Miaoli in Taiwain where he has a holiday home.

Bee-Leng Chua director of the Centre for Entreprenuership at the Chinese University of HK

Dr Gino Yu is Head of the Digital Entertainment Association of HK and a man who knows everyone. I am to seek out a man called Bobsee who owns the Life Café in HK and likes to plant trees,

More interviews on video are given – I really prefer being behind the camera especially when there is no hair and makeup artist on hand.

A lavish lunch was given at The Meridian and Vernie Yueng joins us but sadly I didn’t get a chance to ask him about what it was like working with Kylie Minogue.
Adventurous dish of the day is jelly fish. I‘m use to beating them with stones and burying them in the sand in Greece. They look just like noodles and if I had not been told what they were I would never had known that they were actually a stinging sea creature.

Tonight we visited the Asian Film Awards.

It’s a bit like the Oscars for Asian cinema. Lots of screaming fans (female) with illuminated boards saying I luv u! and waving them at the male actors up for nomination.

The event was held in the conference centre next to our hotel with amazing views of the harbour. They previewed lots of films I can’t wait to see. Hope I can get them back in the UK. Best Film was The Host from South Korea.

Digital Pioneers

I’m about fly to Hong Kong as part of a project called Digital Pioneers with the British Council.

Last year there was a call for ‘entrepreneurs’ working in Digital Media interested in establishing links with Hong Kong. I was shortlisted, interviewed by a panel of high profile judges and then picked as one of the three people from the UK to be ‘digital pioneers’. We are going to HK for networking, research, mentoring, business development, company visits, exhibition visits and if there is time, shopping. Three people from Hong Kong are doing the exact same thing in reverse. Hopefully we will become an international network of digital creative professionals around the world.

The two other people from the UK are Stef Lewandowski and Stafford Sumner. The HK pioneers are Amy Tsang, Kwai Bun VIP (I’ll explain later) and Wallis Wong.

Indoor Water Feature

Our last day on Crete and we were woken by water pouring through the ceiling of our apartment. On closer inspection it had happened before. However the moody staff at the Pyrgos Apartments did not seem bothered when I told them. In fact they were unsympathetic when our room did not get cleaned or that we had an army of ants walking through. I realize that it was the end of the season but you have to keep smiling until the last guest leaves if you want to give good customer service.

Heraklion October 2006

A whirlwind visit to Crete this time and this was not just time related as the islands was experiencing freak weather conditions. The week before J and I were supposed to leave the BBC were reporting that Chania in the west of Crete was under a state of emergency. Flights were not operating from the airport and boats were kept in port due to Force 10 winds. However we kept reassuring each other that it would pass by the time we got there!

J nearly had her baby early trying to make the flight because of the roadworks on the M25. We were then delayed 6 hours (or was it 8, seemed more like 24) because the airplane had engine trouble. We finally arrive the next morning only to discover that D was not at the airport to collect us. Ever had that feeling that you should never have left home?

Much of the street rerouting has been completed since my last trip to Heraklion. This means that walking around has become easier so I explored the old part of the town though I’m not sure how much longer these buildings will remain.