I Made It To Chennai

This is a quickie until I have time to write a real post and get some more pictures.  But, I needed to write about my arrival.

The Chennai airport is like the Greyhound Bus Station in YeeHaw Junction Florida.  Just as dirty and grimy and low tech.

My driver picks me up right outside the terminal where he was supposed to be and as he loaded my bag into the back of the van, I figure I would sit in the shotgun seat to get the very best view of all the crazy Indian Drivers I have been hearing about.  I opened the door ... and found myself staring at the steering wheel and heard the driver laugh and say "No, No, No.  Thats my seat!"  Of course I laughed too, but it was midnight and I was tired, so of course I forgot India drives on left.

But we got loaded up and headed out (with me in the correct seat), and I have to admit that at midnight, I didn't think the driving skills were all that bad as compared to Chinese driving skills any time of day.

The road quality was a different matter though.  I was trying to send a text home to say I arrived safely, but we were bouncing and jostling around so much I couldn't push the buttons on the phone - and we were on the Toll Road Highway ... you know, a real modern one.  Anyway. we bounced along for a while and I was trying to figure out how this was a toll road since it was not a limited access highway and other vehicles were turning on and off the road at will.  Maybe I will find out before I leave.

But all that talk I was hearing about traffic jams did not occur this night until we exited the Toll Road.  We immediately ran into a traffic jam ... the herd of cattle just wandering down the highway.  They were Brahama Bull type looking (that classic hump on the back shoulders, but small animals like Shetland Ponies).  But there they were, just heading down the road.  We had to slow down an honk and squeeze our way through them.  That was pretty entertaining for me and the driver who just laughed at them.

After an hour we arrived at our hotel.  We enter through the iron gates and past the guard then stop at the next guard who uses a flashlight and mirror contraption to see underneath the van.  Maybe I looked suspicious.  Then, to enter the hotel I had to walk through a metal detector.  Wow!  What kind of complex is this?

Actually, a really, really, really nice complex.  It is definitely a 6 or 7 star resort (on a scale of 5)!  Beautiful grounds, buildings, a gigantic pool that meanders all through the property (I looked to be sure; all one pool), palm trees, flowers, a true tropical paradise.  The Radisson Temple Bay Resort.  And while Marty has an elephant, I had a swann!

So if you let me squared away here with some work stuff I'll get some photos to post up to confirm all of this. 
Stay Tuned!

St. Patrick's Day in Chengdu

Ok, so I have discovered something the Chinese admit to NOT inventing - St. Patrick’s Day! None of our team knows what this day is and why it is a celebration. We received rather odd looks when we had to admit that we really don’t know the history of the day (sorry) other than it’s a day for drinking and befriending anybody and everybody. I guess if you have to have a holiday then drinking beer and making new friends is as good an excuse as any.


After several weeks of dreary, cold, grey, and often wet weather, it was a most pleasant surprise to wake up Saturday morning to about as blue of a sky as you can have here. The sun was more or less out, the breeze, soft and cool. The temperature around 60 degrees. Of course, the locals were still bundled under their layers of coats and sweaters, but I was in shirt sleeves and relishing the change. If it was October, I would have called it “Football Saturday.” Clearly, God wanted us to have a nice St Patty Day.

And we did.

For lunch, Low-Wei, Ronnie, and I met at The Shamrock. There had been a rumor they were serving Corned Beef and Cabbage. But alas, it turns out the Corned Beef wouldn’t be served until dinner. So we at Sichuan Pizza while sitting out on the patio, in the breeze, under the bluish skies, basking in the warm sun was actually the perfect early afternoon for us. We could have spent the entire afternoon there – and really thought about doing that. My bald head might have turned a small pinkish hue under the sun (gee, too bad for me). But I had a little errand to run for my nephew (who owes me BIG, I might add), so I left them there.

Later that evening, I joined them again across the street at a place called The Bookworm (a sort of Library Themed Bar). Ronnie and his vagabonds were going to play there later that evening, so around 07:30, the party began.

The local ex-Pat crowd came marching in with a full St. Patrick’s Parade all decked out in their Irish Finery including an Irish-Chinese Dragon, St. Patrick himself, one gentleman in full kilt regalia, Bagpipes booming over speakers, and every imaginable costume! I was inside talking to an old friend (one of the Chevron crowd) and almost missed the parade, so forgive the poor pictures.

Dinner was Irish Stew buffet. The crowd was so festive that the food line pretty much disintegrated and any thought of paying for dinner was lost on the Chinese staff and after that, food was pretty much a free event. Very rare for this country where EVERYTHING is paid for.

Ronnie and his guys played at 08:00 for about an hour and then was followed by another band until 10:00 at which point the party was moving back across the street to The Shamrock until all good Leprechauns either passed out, crawled out, or just disappeared with their bags of gold for another year.

Interestingly enough, right on the wall of the Bookworm was a poster of a poem by an old Chinese guy named Li Bai.  He may have lived some 2500 years ago and had no idea who or what St. Patrick would become, but his ideas certainly fit the spirit of St Patrick.  Scroll through the remianing pictures and then read his words.  (If you will click on the picture to enlarge, you can read it). 
I like this guy.  I may have to keep this one for myself.

St. Patrick’s Day in Chengdu. They didn’t invent it, but they can still enjoy it.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Peng Tao and Low-Wei

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Peng Tao and Yours Truly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Li Bai Poem

 

Ladies First!

First, you need to understand that every Chinese I have met all believe the Chinese invented everything. If you have it; they invented it. Gunpowder, Fireworks, Paper, Ink, Coins, Kites … Everything. No matter the discussion, if it’s a useful invention, inevitably someone will say “Well, Chinese invent that.” I don’t know if that’s true, it may be an exaggeration, but it’s important to understand this mind set to appreciate the following story.


We went to dinner last night with the Quality Team here in Chengdu. Three American men and four Chinese women. We arrived, sat down at our table, ordered our dinner and were enjoying some lively discussion while waiting for the food to arrive.
As the food was served, the Americans waited patiently until our hostess said “Please, begin.”

Our immediate answer was “Ladies, first.”

She laughed and said “OK, but you know the Chinese invented the ‘Lady First’ idea.”

Internally, my eyes roll as I have heard this so often, but she continued “Do you know why? Because the man waited for the lady to eat first, if she didn’t die, then the food wasn’t poisoned and it was OK for the man to eat!”

I had no comeback for that, other than laughter. It does make sense from a medieval feudal standpoint.

So now I am all conflicted. If I allow the lady to go first, am I being chivalrous or putting her in jeopardy?

AAARGH!   What to do, what to do?

Nah, it’s an easy answer. MaMa was always right … Ladies Do Go First (but just be careful)!

Ronnie's Turn

I guess our lot in life right now is to be the entertainment of China.

Buck entertained with his hat and then again as the Magician’s Comic Foil, so now I suppose we’ll highlight Ronnie and his traveling bards.

Ronnie plays the guitar (or gee-tar for some of you). In reality, he is very, very good. During his earlier days here in Chengdu he teamed up with some other ex-pat American Idol wannabes and they formed their own little band of misfit musicians. They played primarily folksy, bluesy, 60’s/70’s acoustic stuff at the Shamrock or at the Bookworm, though in Ronnie’s case, he’ll pretty much play wherever, whenever there is somebody willing to listen. I recall one night back in 2008, we had dinner in some restaurant (The Parrot) who had a solo acoustic guy playing and Ronnie struck up a short conversation with the guy and the next thing I know, Ronnie is playing that guy’s guitar and singing “Bad, bad Leroy Brown. Baddest man in the Chengdu town …” The Chinese locals all went nuts cheering him. Too bad for the actual hired hand who had to follow that act.

But now after a three year hiatus, Ronnie is back with us. And he has gathered his cronies and they started playing again on weekends and nights.

Lowell and I sat and listened to them practice one Sunday afternoon at the Shamrock. They just sort of say “hey, do you remember …” and then they play. One guy calls out a chord key and Ronnie indicates who takes a little solo and they just sort of wing it until it sounds good. That’s a gene I was NOT born with, believe me.

The “band” is a guy on electric guitar, and some kid on Bass. Ronnie plays acoustic and mostly is lead singer, Gordon on banjo (a 60 something hippie from England who builds his own banjos), and Dick on keyboard (Dick is 8 feet tall, 250 lbs, actual job is body guard, looks stoned out of his gourd every time I have seen him, and with a cigarette balanced in his mouth while playing looks just like Tom Waits). They are an odd mix of guys.

They played last week at the Shamrock and pretty much wowed everyone in attendance. I think they taught each other one song right on the spot. It was really very entertaining and once they got in the groove, they just sang the night away and played their hearts out.

It’s those evenings that really end up being the relaxing ones where we can recharge our batteries.

 

So if you find yourself in Chengdu and need a little folksy entertainment to raise your spirits, Ronnie can hook you up. In fact, Ronnie tells me they play this Saturday Night at the Bookworm, so I guess I already know where I’m having dinner that night.

Another Buck Adventure

Our local team took out to Dinner last week. We went to the Sichuan Opera Hot Pot.


Of course we had to mess with Buck just a little bit talking about how spicy it was and how the meal consisted of Pork brains, Cow Stomach and Trachea, and Jellyfish and all that. He was worried. I think he pretty much decided he wasn’t going to go until I confessed that we would only be ordering “normal” foods and then went on to describe the show that comes with dinner.

This particular location does a great show with musicians, magicians, Kung Fu demonstrations, the “rubber band” lady, and culminates in the Mask Changing Dance. So after a more lengthy discussion I convinced Buck he really did not want to miss this and that if he found the food unpalatable, he could always eat something later at the hotel. He decided he would go.

It was great, of course.

I had forgotten that this specific Hot Pot location also brews their own brand of beer, so we also had a good dark beer with dinner. All the food was “normal” for the foreigners and we had shrimp and beef and pork and fish and vegetables. We also had some stomach, but I think Buck passed on that. Our newest arrival here, Shawn, had to take some chop stick lessons so he could eat, because in the world of Hot Pot, there are no forks and knives since you have to reach into the Pot and grab your food to pull it out to eat and “pincers” work far better than “stabbers”.

At any rate, we managed a good dinner and Buck even enjoyed the heavier beers.

And then the show started.

The magician’s sleight of hand wasn’t the sleightest you might expect and we could see some of how he did his tricks, but he was engaging with he audience, so we really didn’t care. Vanishing eggs up his sleeve sort of thing. The best part of his act was that he needed an audience volunteer. Everybody at our table immediately pointed at Buck and, sure enough, we had him on stage in a flash. The trick was that Buck was to give the man money. Buck handed him a $20 USD Bill (which the magician enjoyed getting). He then proceeded to fold it up to a tiny little wad and then unfold it revealing a black piece of paper and then reverse that back into money. Of course, with the lights and self consciousness experienced by Buck, he doesn’t see how this is done. So they generally messed with each other as the magician continued to make Buck’s money disappear and reappear and Buck was looking up his sleeves and in his coat and probably wondering if he would get his money back or maybe even if he was going to make it off the stage. It was truly a hoot! We all really enjoyed that and Buck did too. The Chinese audience also seemed to enjoy the American on stage.

The show continued with a comedy skit, some acrobatics by the rubber band lady (not sure how she can be that flexible), and ended with the always crowd pleasing mask changing. During this final act, the man walks off the stage and changes masks right in front of buck and even though he was only 2 feet away, you still can’t figure out exactly HOW he does that without you seeing. He is the true magician.

An entertaining evening and once again, Buck becomes famous in China.

The Mask Changing Man

Ouch!