SamGreen.Com - News & Opinion

Sam and Pan Ke . Com

2007-04-27T10:25:00.000-04:00

Hi there! It's been a while since I posted here. Since Pan Ke and I got engaged in January, I've been busy! Anyway, we now have a new website for our upcoming wedding.

We've added wedding details, photos, info about us, etc. Be sure to sign our guestbook too! (By the way, the website was created by me. It was a lot of work!) So go visit www.SamAndPanKe.com today.

Filibuster Nostalgia?

2006-11-09T01:06:00.000-05:00

Think the Republicans don't like the filibuster now? Remember last year when Majority Leader Frist and other Republicans supported the idea of the "nucler option" but they were foiled by that McCain guy? Now that Republicans are in the minority, McCain looks like a genius to Republicans. The Democrats have only 51 seats, and will need 9 Republican senators to join them in cutting off debate to block a filibuster -- and that is only if no Democrats defect to supporting the filibuster. The Gang of 14 is now the Gang of 12, since Republican senators Mike Dewine and Lincoln Chaffee were defeated Tuesday. Of course, with the new situation, I'm sure the Republicans will easily find 2 more members to join the group if need be!

In other news, Dennis Hastert will no longer be among House leaders...

Visit my Math for Economists class!

2006-11-08T22:54:00.000-05:00

Here is a short video from tonight's Math for Economists class. Here the professor is working an example of an optimization problem with multi-variables and multiple constraints using Lagrange Multipliers. Most of the class is usually theoretical and derivations of theorems, with a few numerical examples. This is one of those cases.

Last week, I mentioned my professor's statement that many mathematicians believe in God or some higher power. Well, tonight as he scrolled up the chalkboard, we found writing from the prior class. This time several Old Testament books of the Bible were recorded: I Kings, Judges, etc. He then told us about a law in Tennessee where they have legislated that pi be equal to 3 (and not 3.14159..) because the Bible states in I Kings that it should be 3. Actually, I Kings 7:23 says the following: "Now he made the sea of cast metal ten cubits from brim to brim, circular in form, and its height was five cubits, and thirty cubits in circumference." So based on this verse it seems the circumference divided by the diameter is 30 / 10 = 3. The professor also referred to a law in Indiana where there was a law setting pi to be 22/7 based on their belief in the Bible. Out of curiosity, I did some searching on the web. This is what I found about the law:

It appears the Tennessee pi law is an urban legend which began as an April Fool's joke in 1998. As for the Indiana law he mentioned, a Pi Bill was proposed in 1897 but never passed. However, it does not appear to be religiously based at all. I couldn't find any evidence of it, anyway. It seems the law proposed either using 3.2 or 4 for pi, not 22/7.

One website I found defended the Bible in I Kings. It says that because pi is 3.14159 that since the circumference was really 30 cubits then the diameter mentioned in I Kings should have been 30/3.14159 = 9.54, not 10. That website claims that the circle's circumference was measured on the inside of the circle but its diameter was measured from the outside of the circle. It says that if the circle had a width of 0.23, the inner diameter would have been 9.54 but the outer diameter would have included the width on both sides, adding 0.46. This would result in an accurate measuremment in the outer diamenter of 10. "Evidence" for this is found in I Kings 7:26 - "It was a handbreadth thick." I'm not sure I buy this explanation though. My guess is that during that time measurements were not so exact plus they probably weren't trying for an exact figure but one that is rounded. Anyway, "pi laws", as far as I know, have never been passed in America. Stories stating so are just urban legends.

Donald is gone...

2006-11-08T14:30:00.000-05:00

Why did Donald Rumsfeld wait until now to resign? Why not do so 6 months ago? Perhaps he and Bush want it to appear as if they are in control and his leaving was not due to criticism from Republicans and Democrats. But had he left earlier, it might have saved several seats in Congress.

Well, the voters have spoken in yesterday's midterm election. It looks like the Democrats will control the house by a 232-203 margin and will control the Senate by a 51-49 margin. There were some surprising upsets as well as some races where an upset appeared likely and the incumbent held on.

I calculated these numbers assuming that the candidate currently with the most votes will win. CNN still has not called 11 races yet. I think 7 of those are callable, but I will admit that these 4 are still very close....
Connecticut 2 - Courtney (D) leads incumbent Simmons (R) by about 170 votes.
North Carolina 8 - Hayes (R) leads his opponent by about 450 votes.
Wyoming 1 - Cubin (R) leads her opponent by about 900 votes.
Pennsylvania 8 - Murphy (D) leads incumbent Fitzpatrick (R) by about 1,500 votes.

At this time, it looks like the GOP will win OH-2 Schmidt (+2,300), WA-8 Reichert (+2,700), PA-6 Gerlach (+3,000), OH-15 Pryce (+11,300), and TX-23 where Congressman Bonilla faces a December runoff. He received 48% yesterday. I think Democrats will win GA-12 Barrow (+3,300) and the winner of LA-2's runoff in December. Scandal-plagued William Jefferson received the most votes yesterday, but it will be interesting to see if he can survive the runoff.

Other interesting news....in Michigan, voters approved restrictions on affirmative action, basically reversing the Supreme Court's 2003 ruling. And in Arizona...voters rejected a ban on gay marriage (the first state to do so), while making English the official language in its state. The funniest of all ballot initiatives? Arizona proposed giving a random voter $1 million for voting in future elections. That failed.

I hope to comment more later when I have time.

Visit my Applied Stats class!

2006-11-07T23:54:00.000-05:00

While Democrats were anxiously watching returns and celebrating Northup's defeat and shocked at Shays' win tonight, I was in class at NYU. Interested in econometrics? Here is a short video of my class tonight. Here the professor is talking about a one-tailed test in hypothesis testing. If you want to learn more you can visit this UCLA website.

Chinese Monetary Policy

2006-11-05T16:31:00.000-05:00

On Friday, the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the equivalent of the Fed in the US, raised the bank deposit reserve ratio from 9 to 9.5%, increasing reserves at banks. This is the 3rd time this year China's central bank has performed this kind of monetary policy, and it will, in effect, decrease the amount of excess liquidity. Interest rates have also been hiked twice since April.

Game Theory Midterm Exam

2006-11-02T23:52:00.000-05:00

Tonight I had a game theory midterm exam. Here are the first two questions (which were also the two easiest)...

1. "Competitive Bidding" Suppose two identical consulting firms (McKinsey & Boston Consulting Group) compete for the same client (Coca-Cola, Inc.) for which they propose to provide advisory services related to a possible merger. Each firm has an equal and constant marginal cost to provide the consulting services, c. Firms make competitive bids, simultaneously, to the client indicating the price at which they will provide the consulting work, b. The client will choose the lowest bid. If firms offer the same bid, assume they both expect to win the client with equal probability of 1/2 each. (a) Depict a strategic form game for this scenario. (b) Draw the best responses for both firms on one graph. (c) Identify all Nash equilibrium outcomes. (d) Now assume that firm one is more efficient than firm two so that if it wins the client, it will receive c1 < t="0,1,2,....">5, and
Q=q1+q2.
C1=1 and c2 = 3.

(a) Depict this industry in Extensive Form as a dynamic game. (b) Find a subgame perfect Nash equilibrium for this game. (c) In your equilibrium, which firm will exit the industry (produce no product) first? What is the logic behind this result?

Now suppose the firms face the same declining demand and have the same marginal cost c1 = c2 = 1, but each can only either produce a fixed quantity (firm 1's q=2, firm 2's q=1).

(d) Find a subgame perfect Nash equilibrium for this game. (e) In your equilibrium, which firm will exit the industry first? How does the result compare to that in (c) above?

Math & Religion

2006-11-01T23:11:00.000-05:00

Tonight I had my Math for Economists course. It begins at 6:20pm each Wednesday evening. A sociology class meets in the classroom before we meet. Tonight, after the professor had filled up one board with mathematical formulas, the professor pulled down the sliding chalkboard to use the one underneath it. That board mentioned Jehovah, God, Elohim, priests, etc. Our professor said (paraphrased) "well maybe this does have something to do with economics.....actually, you know, a lot of mathematicians love math because it is so pure, so exact, and it is so beautiful....many mathematicians do believe in a higher power or God simply because math exists and it is so perfect." This quote was paraphrased but was very close to what he said. Despite being at a liberal northeastern university, I guess there are still teachers who break from the liberal mindset. I do not know for sure how my professor feels about religion, but I can tell that he is more conservative. From his discussions about economics, I do think he is more a follower of the Chicago school of thought rather than holding a purely Keynesian view. As far as what he said about God, I couldn't agree more. Mathematics is a truly amazing discipline, and I agree that it in itself proves the existence and reveals the glory of God.

All Saints Day

2006-11-01T00:01:00.000-05:00

Hope you have a happy All Saints Day! (November 1).

Trick or Treat? Deluge!

2006-10-31T23:26:00.000-05:00

Today is Halloween. I came home from class tonight to find neither a trick nor a treat. I found water pouring out of the ceiling in the hallway.

That's not good, because I live in the basement! Fortunately, my apartment was not that wet -- only the first foot inside the apartment by the door and the kitchen area. My napkins, paper plates, oatmeal, and towels were drenched in water. I called the landlord's maintenance guy and he came over right away. After searching for about 15 minutes and making several phone calls, he was able to get the water cut off. We also discovered the problem -- an upstairs toilet inside the Phobia Life Line had a leak:

My apartment does not really have any damage, but it is inconvenient to have the floor wet but no water in the pipes!

Halloween!

2006-10-31T23:15:00.000-05:00

This afternoon, Washington Square Park on NYU's campus had games and candy for small children.

There was a big parade tonight on 6th Avenue and so the subway stop where I usually catch a B train home was completely packed with people:

Craziness! As I pushed towards the subway, it got more and more crowded! So frustrating - especially when I found that subway stop was shut down due to Halloween! So I slowly made my way over to Union Square to catch a Q train home.

Meanwhile, in Kentucky, my cousins children got all dressed up. Here's Luke (age 2.5) on his horse:

Here's Luke's younger brother John (about 5 months):

Here's Catherine (about 5 months):

Aren't they cute!

Return of the Hillbillies

2006-10-31T17:05:00.001-05:00

Well, my grandparents and parents flew back home this afternoon. I took them out to JFK and waved goodbye as they went through security at about 2:30 pm. We've been busy up here! After church on Sunday, we ate lunch at the Peanut Butter Company where we had an Elvis.

Then we saw the campus of my university, New York University, where Will Smith is currently filming the movie "I am Legend."

Following that, we went out to look at Shea Stadium (where the Mets play) and Arthur Ashe Stadium (where the US Open is held). For dinner, we ate at a Pete's Italian restaurant underneath the Brooklyn Bridge with a nice view of the Manhattan skyline. On Monday (yesterday), we saw the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in the morning.

Then we took a bus from lower Manhattan past the World Trade Center site, Chinatown, Little Italy, Union Square and midtown. Along the way, Grandma made a friend on the bus. After taking lots of photos from the top of the Empire State Building...

...we swung by Macy's and then headed back to Brooklyn. We ate supper at a nice restaurant near my apartment which brought each of us a ton of food - unlimited bread and appetizer, soup, salad, main course (meats and vegetables), and desert.

None of us made it through the main course -- some not even through the salad. This morning we took the Staten Island Ferry from the tip of lower Manhattan past the Statue of Liberty over to St. George on Staten Island. We then took some buses to reach Coney Island,

a beautiful sandy beach in southern Brooklyn which is about 3 miles from my apartment. While there, we stopped by Nathan's, famous for its hot dog eating contest each July 4. We did see a lot in four days! Just hope we didn't tire my grandparents out too much!

It does look like they were enjoying themselves on this subway, but I do realize climbing all those stairs are hard on the old folks! Aren't they cute? OK, now I have to study for my Game Theory midterm....

At the Tabernacle

2006-10-30T07:39:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, my grandparents, parents, and I attended church at the Brooklyn Tabernacle.

We were able to worship God with about 2,000 others. The church was a blend of many races -- A black family sat to our right, a Korean family sat in front of us, and an Hispanic man sat behind us. During the service, a missionary from Haiti spoke as well as a group from Western Michigan's Teen Challenge. One of the speakers was from western Kentucky. Here is one of the songs they sang.

Here is the chorus: Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty! Worthy is the Lamb who was slain! Highest praises, honor and glory... be unto your name! Be unto your name!

Democrats love the Lord!

2006-10-30T06:48:00.000-05:00

Democrat Congressman & Senate hopeful Harold Ford speaks about religion. Watch the following clip where he implies that Democrats "love the Lord" while Republicans do not...

What role should religion play in politics? What role should politics play in religion? At the end of the clip, Mr. Ford says, "you're supposed to act it out" -- meaning that you should act on your faith and love for God. I think he is referring to the general perception of the public that Democratic leaning charities focus more on helping the homeless and ending poverty, while Republican leaning ones typically focus more on abortion. Republicans and Christian conservatives should, I think, be more observant of the need and compassionate toward the poor, especially those belonging to minority groups. Poverty is an issue, and if we as conservatives really care and love our neighbors, we should be trying to devise solutions to help rather than ignoring the problem. However, Mr. Ford crossed the line with his speech. There are many Republicans who have a genuine love for God, and most evangelical Christians have voted for the Republican candidate in the past few presidential elections. Mr. Ford was wrong to compare -- only God knows what is in our hearts. Despite my disagreement with Ford, I do realize that all of us, including myself, sometimes do stick our feet in our mouths.

To be fair, I should also mention the consistency of Mr. Corker's Iraq policy. Prior to the Republican primary, he said the US should "stay the course" in Iraq. Now in the general election, he is backing off that position -- even claiming he has never used that phrase. In my opinion, Corker did not intend to lie but probably forgot saying the phrase previously. I think his position on Iraq is not one of deep interest to him and he does not have a clear policy in his mind. Thus, I believe, it is easy for him, now that it is October, to forget what he said in July. Regardless, he did use the phrase which President Bush has now stopped using in reference to Iraq policy.

Brooklyn Hillbillies!

2006-10-29T00:22:00.000-04:00

On Friday morning, my grandparents and parents flew up to the Big Apple to visit me. This was the first time that my grandparents, who have visited all 50 US states, had ever been to NY City. I picked them up at JFK and brought them over to a hotel near my apartment. Actually, the hotel is really just a house in a residential area which has converted its rooms into hotel rooms. On Friday, we visited Castle Clinton National Monument, Battery Park, the American Stock Exchange, the site of the World Trade Center 9/11 attack...

...Trinity Church and its cemetery with the graves of Robert Fulton & Alexander Hamilton (of VP Aaron Burr duel fame), Wall Street, the New York Stock Exchange, and Federal Hall, the first US capitol where Washington was inaugurated on April 30, 1789. Federal Hall contains the stone Washington stood and the Bible he put his hand on during the ceremony. On Saturday, we saw St. Patrick's Cathedral, 5th Avenue shopping district, Rockefeller Plaza, the NBC tour with a view of the studios where Dateline NBC, Nightly News with Brian Williams, and Saturday Night Live are filmed. For a few minutes, we actually got to see the SNL crew rehearse the show that aired tonight.

After leaving NBC, we ate Thai food at Bangkok House on Restaurant Row (46th St), and then visited Yankee Stadium and Times Square. I don't have a car here, so we've ridden a bus and lots of subways - the 3, B, D, E, M, Q, R - and done lots of walking! I've been working them pretty hard. My grandparents, are after all 82 and 79 years old! But they are holding up pretty well, depsite all the stairs in the subways that they aren't used to climbing. They'll be here until Tuesday -- so we'll have more to see!

The Wilder Effect

2006-10-28T07:19:00.000-04:00

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article about minority candidates in close races. Some call it the 15% lie. Others call it the Wilder Effect. The idea is basically that when a pollster calls people on the phone to ask whom they will support in the election, some people will tell the pollster that they will support the minority candidate (even though they will really support the white candidate) just because they do not want the pollster to believe they are racist. For example, consider the Tennessee Senate race where democrat Harold Ford, an African American, is running against republican Bob Corker, who is white. If a democrat who is white receives a phone call from a pollster, he may feel the pollster is judging him as racist if he claims to be a democrat who is also supporting Corker. As a result, minority candidates typically underperform their poll numbers in the general election. In a famous race in November 1989, democrat Douglas Wilder, an African American then serving as Virginia lieutenant governor, ran for governor against Republican attorney general Marshall Coleman. Exit polls (face to face interviews after voters leave the voting area) during the day of the election showed Wilder ahead by 10%. In the end, Wilder won the race by only 0.38%. Why were the exit polls so wrong? Most assume it was the "Wilder Effect" at work -- which may be even stronger in face to face interviews (versus telephone surveys). This year, the "Wilder Effect" may be witnessed by democrat Harold Ford in the Tennessee's senate race, republican Michael Steele in the Maryland senate race, and Kenneth Blackwell in the Ohio governor's race.

Just to be clear - the "Wilder Effect" does not occur because voters are racist. It occurs simply because they do not want to appear as racists to the interviewer. I'm guessing this effect may not be a factor in uncompetitive races - such as Alan Keyes disastrous Illinois senate campaign in 2004.

Cards make history

2006-10-28T06:04:00.000-04:00

The St. Louis Cardinals jut won the World Series, an amazing feat considering they only won 4 of their final 14 games of the regular season to end the season with an unimpressive 83-79 record. Just about a month ago, I wrote saying they might choke in the central division race with Houston. Perhaps it helped that they were playing the Detroit Tigers, who, in the regular season, had won just 19 of their last 50 including their final 5.

Muslims not responsible for 9/11 attacks?

2006-10-27T00:02:00.000-04:00

Over the past month, I've been very busy with doing homework and studying for midterms. But I have found time to attend a few events on campus - the College Republicans, the Diwali dinner put on by the Hindu Student Council, etc. Tonight I dropped in on a meeting after my class finished. A female student was reading poetry and sharing her opinions about her faith as a Muslim in a large room full of students, most of whom were also Muslim. During her speech, she mentioned, "I do not believe that Muslims were responsible for the 9/11/2001 attacks on the World Trade Center." Wait, what? My first reaction was to look around the room to measure the response and outrage at her comments. There was none. I was a little outraged. I consider it a well proven fact that the hijackers on the planes were Muslims. I stayed for a few more minutes to listen as she read a poem about her emotions and feelings about September 11th.

I needed to catch one of the last B trains so I left after her poem. To be fair, I have no idea how her speech concluded. Anyway, as I was riding home, I reflected on what she had said. I think many non-Muslim Americans might have been offended by the student's claim. However, I tried to put myself into her shoes. What if Christians had been blamed for the terrorist attacks? Or what about abortion clinic bombers who have all claimed to be Christian. What about the Holocaust? Hitler claimed to be a Christian. But many Christians today would claim that Hitler was not really a Christian - that he just claimed to be for political purposes and the version he practiced was really a Nazi-manipulation. And I'm sure that is how this girl at NYU feels. She takes great pride in her faith because, according to her, of its love and peace, and perhaps she feels that the 9/11 hijackers were not true Muslims in their faith and actions -- only using the affiliation for al quaeda's own purposes. I had never considered this possibility before. Perhaps this is the truth, or perhaps this girl is completely wrong. Regardless, I now have a deeper understanding of how American Muslims might feel about 9/11. This is one good reason to try to walk a mile in someone else's shoes before criticizing them. It helps you better understand where they are coming from. (The other reason is that if they are angry after you criticize them, at least they will be 1 mile away and barefoot!)

Chinese Automotive Industry

2006-10-26T23:11:00.000-04:00

Many US companies are earning profit in China. US corporate profits in China passed $2 billion in the first 2 quarters of the year. In 1999, only 57% of US firms were profitable in China. In 1999, only 0.1% of Chinese owned automobiles. In 2004, it was 2.2%. GM is leading in the auto market, as its sales climbed 36.7% from January to September to 645,000 vehicles. The top 4 car companies in China based on units sold are GM, followed by Volkswagen, Hyundai, and Toyota. Prior to 2005, Volkswagen was the leader in China. GM was able to reach the number one position by forming joint ventures with domestic firms that make minivehicles. Despite getting a late start in the Chinese market, Toyota, now #4 in units sold, is expected to overtake GM between 2008 and 2010.

Race in Michigan

2006-10-26T22:55:00.000-04:00

Remember Jennifer Gratz? After being denied admission to the University of Michigan law school due to her race (white), she appealed to the US Supreme Court to rule on race in admissions policy. Now she and Ward Connerly, an African-American businessman who helped pass bans on affirmative action in California and Washington, are fighting for a Michigan ballot initiative against affirmative action in Michigan.

Affirmative Action tends to divide Republicans and Democrats along party lines. While I am against the use of government forcing others to discriminate based on race, I think Republicans do need to be more sensitive to racism and the disadvantages that many minority Americans face in our nation. Greater attention (and money) should be invested into reducing the racial gap in the educational performance of young children. Those, including myself, who wish to end affirmative action, need to propose and actively support other means to end racism and make the playing field more equal for all Americans.

I am Legend

2006-10-26T14:34:00.000-04:00

All of my classes at NYU are at night. For the past week, Washington Square, the large public square about which NYU is located, has been lit up and full of the crew filming Will Smith's new movie, "I am Legend." It has been interesting to see the crew working, despite the inconvenience it causes with some sidewalks being blocked off. And, no, I haven't met the fresh prince of Bel-Air yet.

Check your Facts...

2006-10-26T13:51:00.000-04:00

Don't believe everything you see in political ads. Both sides really twist the truth a lot. One site you can use to check for accuracy is Fact Check. While the site may have some bias, it does criticize both Republicans and Democrats for twisting facts. Here are some examples where one party accuses the other by twisting and/or making up facts.

Democrats accuse Republicans of voting to raid the Social Security Trust Fund

Republicans accuse Democrats of aiming to shrink benefit checks

Make me ugly!

2006-10-25T23:47:00.000-04:00

What a strange story from the China Daily - a Chongqing woman is asking plastic surgeons to make her ugly.

A young woman from Chongqing sought plastic surgery to make her face less attractive recently, after being crossed in love. The 23-year-old woman's sweetheart left her weeks ago to stay with another woman. Although the two had been in love for six years, her ex-boyfriend feared that her too-beautiful face might lure many other men and thus he didn't feel safe staying with her. She came to hate all men after being courted by many others, prompting her desire for the surgery. But the doctors refused to co-operate, saying she had a mental disorder and needed to seek help from psychotherapists.

Freedom of Religion with Chinese characteristics

2006-10-24T14:51:00.000-04:00

"Giving away Bibles for free is a crime in China, according to a verdict recently handed down in the case of a House Church leader. Pastor Wang Zaiqing, a prominent Chinese House Church leader in Anhui Province was sentenced on Oct. 9 to two years in prison on the charge of 'Illegal Business Practices,' and fined 100,000 Yuan ($12,500.00). In addition, all the books in his home, and the funds used to print them, were confiscated. Pastor Wang was crippled at the age of 5. He became a Christian in 1993, and later became very well-known House Church for preaching and starting House Churches in several provinces around Anhui Province."

Wang Zaiqing's story brings up interesting ethical dilemmas, especially for a Christian. Should one always obey the commands of the government? China does allow for freedom of religion, but it is limited in that one may only publicly exercise this right in a government sanctioned houses of worship. Privately, one may carry on his/her religious beliefs inside the home. So the question arises, why does Wang see the need to disobey Chinese government officials? Why not just worship God in one of the government sanctioned churches? I know that most (if not all) of the leaders in the Chinese church are really followers of Christ. I met one while living in China. She was educated at a seminary in America, and her faith was real. So why not follow the rules?

On the other hand, the Chinese government does restrict religious practices. One cannot worship freely. You cannot start your own church without a permit. Most sanctioned churches only allow the use of a piano, but most do not allow the use of other musical instruments. Churches sing songs from a sanctioned hymn book, so pastors or music directors cannot introduce new songs each week. Some churches appear to be limited in the number of songs they can sing. Is this truly freedom of religion? No, it is not. Perhaps the Chinese government believes it is, but at best you can only call it Freedom of Religion "with Chinese characteristics".

When should people follow the laws of their government? The Bible commands us to respect political leaders. However, is there ever a time when civil disobedience is justified? Yes, just look at Bonhoeffer and others in the German resistance movement during the time of the Holocaust and the Hitler regime in Germany. I think most would agree that was an appropriate time. And obviously, Chairman Mao Zedong believed civil disobedience was appropriate in the 1940's. George Washington believed in it during the 1770's. And, it appears, Pastor Wang believes today is also an appropriate time. What do you think?

Enron's Skilling gets 24 Years

2006-10-24T06:50:00.000-04:00

CNN reported yesterday that Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling is going to jail:

Jeffrey Skilling was sentenced to 24 years in prison Monday for his role in the fraud at Enron that brought down the nation's seventh-largest company and came to stand as a symbol for an era of corporate fraud in America...More than 4,000 Enron employees lost their jobs - and many their life savings - when the company declared bankruptcy in December 2001. Investors lost billions.

This is good for markets, as investors will have more confidence in the ability to prosecute wreckless managers. I wonder how this will effect the midterm election? Since Bush and the GOP previously got hammered on their ties to Enron, will voters interpret this as Bush's buddies are going to jail? (Actually, Bush was friends with Kenneth Lay, not Skilling.) On the other hand, will people give the Bush administration credit for cracking down on these corporate crooks and restoring confidence in investors? A third possibility - voters are clueless and won't consider this at all!

Sacked Statistician

2006-10-23T15:54:00.000-04:00

"China's top statistician was sacked after anti-corruption investigations implicated him in the Shanghai pension fund scandal, a spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday....More than 100 central government anti-corruption investigators have descended on Shanghai in recent months to investigate money reportedly drained from the city's 10 billion yuan ($1.25 billion) social security fund for illicit loans and investments....The probe led to the dismissal of Chen Liangyu as Shanghai Communist Party boss last month. Chen was the first member of the party's 24-member decision-making Politburo to be sacked since 1995 when Beijing party chief Chen Xitong was purged and jailed for corruption. The two Chens are not related."

Democracy, Tibet Style

2006-10-23T15:34:00.000-04:00

Xinhua news is reporting that Zhang Qingli, a Shandong native who recently worked in Xinjiang, has been "elected" secretary of the "Communist Party of China (CPC) Committee of the Tibet Autonomous Region. Recently Mr. Zhang spoke with the German SPIEGEL Magazine where he claimed that the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Dalai Lama has "deceived his motherland" and "did many bad things later on that contradict the role of a religious leader." When the magazine metioned that "The Dalai Lama enjoys a great deal of sympathy in America, Europe and in Asia, also because the Chinese Communist Party is not particularly democratic," Zhang did not comment about the issue. Is a man who only speaks "a few words of Tibetan," well qualified for the job?

The Economy, stupid!

2006-10-23T07:48:00.000-04:00

In Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign against former President Bush, James Carville put a sign up with 3 points on it, the second of which read "the economy, stupid". Well, finally finally the Republicans are going to shift focus from Iraq to the economy. I don't know why they haven't talked this up so far. The stock market is at an all time high, inflation is in check, unemployment is below 5%, and the economy continues to expand at a good pace. Of course, maybe political strategists believe that it is easier to get someone to vote out of fear of terrorists than due to economic numbers.

Speaking of reminding voters of terrorists, watch this new Republican ad:

Some Democrats are saying the GOP is just exploiting Osama for political purposes. They have a counter ad:

The election must be close!

Controversial new Bible

2006-10-22T22:57:00.000-04:00

"A new Bible translation is causing controversy after it cut out difficult parts surrounding economic justice, possessions and money.The new bible version, released by the Western Bible Foundation in the Netherlands, has created a storm by trying to make the Christian gospel more palatable. "

Rest in Peace, Wang Guangmei

2006-10-22T22:46:00.000-04:00

Wang Guangmei, the widow of former People's Republic of China President Liu Shaoqi died on October 13 and a funeral was held for her today. She worked with her husband after their marriage in 1948. According to Wikipedia:

After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Liu worked mainly in economic areas. An orthodox Soviet-style Communist, he favoured state planning and the development of heavy industry. He was therefore skeptical about Mao's Great Leap Forward movement which began in 1958. Alerted by his sister to the developing famine in rural areas in 1960, he became a determined opponent of Mao's policies. In the wake of the Great Leap Forward's catastrophic failure he replaced Mao as Chairman of the People's Republic, and began to be seen as Mao's likely successor. His more moderate economic policies help to lead China from the depths of the Great Leap Forward. Liu Shaoqi favoured the introduction of piece work, greater wage differentials and other measures that sought to undermine collective farms and factories.

Half way through the 1960s, however, Mao rebuilt his position in the Party and in 1966 he launched the Cultural Revolution as a means of destroying his enemies in the Party: Liu and Deng Xiaoping, along with many others, were denounced as "capitalist roaders." Liu was labeled as a "traitor", "scab", and "the biggest capitalist roader in the Party". In July 1966 he was displaced as Party Deputy Chairman by Lin Biao. By 1967 Liu and his wife Wang Guangmei were under house arrest in Beijing.

Liu was removed from all his positions and expelled from the Party in October 1968 and disappeared from view. Only after Mao's death in 1976 was it revealed Liu had been confined under terrible conditions in an isolated cell in Kaifeng, which led to his death from "medical neglect" (untreated diabetes and pneumonia) in 1969.

In 1995, the "Project of happiness - Help Impoverished Mothers" was officially launched under Wang Guangmei's guidance. Thanks to her efforts, the project has raised 310 million yuan (39.9 million U.S. dollars) to relieve 154,000 rural mothers and households from poverty, benefiting 695,000 people.

Rest in Peace.

Purpose Driven Theological Questions!

2006-10-22T15:35:00.000-04:00

I got to chat online this morning with a friend of mine who has started a weekly study of the Purpose Driven Life. She has only been to church a few times in her life, and I'm glad I was able to help hook her up with the class. Anyway, now she has many questions for me! Here's a sampling of the questions we discussed in our chat this morning...

- I want to ask you a question: I was told that our life is not an accident--it was actually planned by God before we were born but there are babies dying every day because of the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. if God plans those babies to come to this world, then why didn't he stop it from happening?

- then when do you think God will intervene what is happening to us? for example, I heard people in the real world received God's healing power

- God promises that our life is eternal. in this case in order to go to Heaven after death, people would choose to have faith in God when they are dying--they might be really really bad when they are alive. then is it fair for those who believe in God for their lifetime and do good things everyday and pray every day?

She's a very smart & inquisitive girl.

CNN loses respect

2006-10-21T23:45:00.000-04:00

Some say CNN has a liberal bias. I'm not sure if that is always true, but I will give them credit for stupidity. CNN has a new "news story" on their web site about the '08 Presidential election:

"Asked if they preferred Hillary Rodham Clinton to McCain, respondents gave the Democratic New York senator and former first lady a 51 percent to 44 percent advantage over the Republican Senator from Arizona. Remove 'Rodham' and McCain had a 1 percentage point advantage, 48 percent to 47 percent. The results fall within the sample's margin of error, so there is a 'good chance, but not a statistical certainty' that Clinton's maiden name would help her in a matchup against McCain, said Keating Holland, CNN's polling director."

What a stupid poll. If there were consistent results that were outside the margin of error it would be useful. I would be willing to guess that most people know that Hillary Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton are the same person.

CNN loses respect by even running this "story." "If presidential elections were held today, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton would likely have a comfortable edge over Sen. John McCain." -- If you average the two polls she leads McCain 49% to 46.5%. That isn't a comfortable lead at all!

The entire story about the "rodham" is just stupid (other than the interesting poll numbers). She consistently uses "Rodham" and will if she runs in 2008. It's a moot point. Why not ask people if they would vote for George Bush if he changed his name to "Santa Claus"? I'm sure there would be some small difference in the numbers. But it would be ridiculous to write a story about it.

From Foley to Foley

2006-10-21T23:01:00.000-04:00

My thoughts on the upcoming midterm election. The Repulicans will lose the House. The question is, by how many seats will they lose? Probably between 16 and 35. The Republican Revolution of 1994 began with the fall of Speaker of the House Foley and will end in 2006 with a different Foley ending the reign of the current Speaker.

The Senate? That's a tossup. Republicans effectively control it now 55-45. Democrats will pick up seats in two "blue" (Democratic-leaning) states -- Rhode Island (Chaffee will lose to Sheldon Whitehouse) & Pennsylvania (Santorum will lose to Bob Casey). They will also pick up seats in at least 2 "red" (Republican-leaning) states -- Montana (where Conrad Burns is struggling in overcoming with his ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff and will likely lose to Jon Tester) and in Ohio (where Sherrod Brown will defeat Mike Dewine, the innocent victim of voter unhappiness with Republican scandals).

Assuming those four are a done deal, to take the Senate, Democrats will need to win 2 more races because the Vice President will break ties in a 50-50 Senate. They have good opportunities in Missouri (Talent-McCaskill) and Tennessee (Corker-Ford) to do just that. The Senate races in Virginia and Arizona are also close but lean GOP. I think the Republicans will hold the Senate but give Democrats a 40% chance of taking over the Senate.

Democrats should enjoy the next few weeks. Enjoy the victory on November 7th. Abramoff, Delay, Ney, Cunningham, Scooter, Foley, and Bush's Iraq policy have helped. Democrats have earned this victory - in the last few years they have been the least unethical party.

However, the good news for the GOP is that one year from now this election along with Abramoff, Delay, Ney, Cunningham, and Foley, will be history. Bush will be in his "last throes" as a lame duck, and the electoral college does aid the Republicans in electing Presidents. Coming off a victorious election, the Dean faction will be fired up to nominate a liberal like Feingold and conservatives will be more willing to compromise in order to win by selecting Guiliani or McCain (both of whom will be somewhat difficult to peg as Bush-Republicans).

The other positive news for conservatives - Casey & Whitehouse have very similar positions on abortion as do Santorum and Chaffee. Many of the House challengers are former Republicans or hold very conservative views. Obviously it is great for the Democrats to have power and set the agenda, but the next Congress will have more conservative Democrats in it (Ford if he wins in Tennessee, Maloney in Florida, Davis in NY, etc.)

If the GOP holds the Senate and saves Bush from a lot of vetoes, then the Republicans will not be in that bad of shape for '08.

Rebuilt Chinese History

2006-10-20T23:17:00.000-04:00

Many ancient sites in China were destroyed during the "Liberation", the Cultural Revolution or other dramatic event, only to be reconstructed in the 1980s or 90s. For this reason, many tourist sites in China claim to be thousands of years old, but upon arrival the site appears to be brand new.

Beijing's Old Summer Palace, or Yuanmingyuan, which was in use during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) is currently being considered as a new candidate for reconstruction. I had the opportunity to visit the Old Summer Palace and see its ruins in November 2004. I disagree with reconstruction. I think it would be acceptable to build a museum on the premises to show visitors what the structures used to look like, but I hope the government does not touch the ruins lying there. It is one of the few (non-Buddhist cave) sites in China where you actually feel you are seeing something from the dynastic periods. Even the Great Wall at Badaling, just outside of Beijing, feels recently reconstructed.

Memphis Man on the Street

2006-10-20T15:17:00.000-04:00

The Republican National Committee has started running a new ad in the neck and neck Corker-Ford race:

Corker has condemned the ad and asked them to stop running it. What do you think about it?

From an entertainment point of view, I think it is great. Perhaps I'm biased by my support for Corker. But does it cross the line of unfair attacks on Congressman Harold Ford? What is the ethical standard for running ads? Does this cross the line?

Previously, Corker did run an ad about Ford which, while not lying, did omit some key facts about Ford's record on national security. Both parties engage in this type of "truth telling" to educate undecided voters. There's definitely a problem, but how do we reform it?

Christian Politics

2006-10-19T16:10:00.000-04:00

David Kuo, former second-in-command of President Bush's Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, has released a memoir about how his White House experiences left him disillusioned about the role religion can play in politics. Kuo, who I believe is sincere in his conservatism and his faith, wrote, "George W. Bush, the man, is a person of profound faith and deep compassion for those who suffer. But President George W. Bush is a politician and is ultimately no different from any other politician, content to use religion for electoral gain more than for good works. Millions of Evangelicals may share Bush's faith, but they would protect themselves—and their interests—better if they looked at him through the same coldly political lens with which he views them."

Freedom of Golf?

2006-10-19T13:08:00.000-04:00

In August I visited the beautiful campus of Xiamen University. Now the Washington Times is reporting the school is requiring all business and law students to learn to play golf!

"Golf classes start in two months and also will be required for economics and computer software majors, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing university president Zhu Chongshi. 'The aim is to help the students find good jobs," a sports professor at the school, Chen Xiao, was quoted as saying. "Many Chinese business deals are clinched on golf courses.'"

Midterm Exam - Math for Economists!

2006-10-18T23:07:00.000-04:00

Tonight I had a Midterm Exam in my Math for Economists class! I did ok but I probably did make a few stupid mistakes. Here are three of the questions from the exam:

#2) Use Matrix Algebra to solve the following model:
Y= C + I + G
C=a + b(Y-T
I=c +dY +eR
where Y=income, C=Consumption, I=Investment, G=Government Spending, T=Taxes, and R=the Interest Rate. Also a>0, 1>b>0, and 1>d>0. Treat Y, C, and I as endogenous and T,G, and R as exogenous variables. a,b,c,d, and e are simply exogenous coefficients. Use the implicit function theorem to determine the impact of a change in R on each of the endogenous variables.

#6) The value of a tree is given by the following expression V(t) = 2 ^ sqrt(t) where ti s time and r is the discount rate. The present value is V(t) = 2 ^ sqrt(t) * e ^ -rt. What is the optimal time to cut down the tree (the point at which the present value is maximized?

#7) Write Total Costs function as TC=TC(Q) and Average Costs as AC(Q)=TC(Q)/Q, and use calculus to demonstrate that the Marginal Cost Curve intersects the Average Cost Curve at the minimum point of the Average Cost Curve.

Pau grad students now online

2006-10-17T07:45:00.000-04:00

Fifteen graudates of Tianjin Foreign Studies University (TFSU), where I taught during the past two years, were accepted to pursue a Masters in Enterprise Administration in Pau France this year. Many of them are good friends of mine. They left China in late September but did not get Internet access from the university until today! So slow. Anyway, now you can see some of their photos on Pan Ke's blog.

Tax Madness in the Big Apple

2006-10-17T01:02:00.000-04:00

Since I was living in China last April 15 when taxes are required to be filed, I got a six month extension on paying my taxes. Because October 15 was a Sunday, the tax deadline was Monday, October 16. And, of course, as a procrastinator, I waited until the last minute! There were some headaches in figuring it all out. I own some funds which invest in Sweden (EWD), Germany (EWG), and Japan (EWJ). These funds all paid taxes in foreign countries, and as a result I can get a discount off my taxes in America. But the process is more complicated than it should be and was more difficult this year because I had lived in China during 2005. I did report all of my income earned in China and also had to report the apartment I lived in at TFSU as indirect income. OK, so how much is that worth? It's really subjective, but I reported it at 1200 RMB (US$150) per month or $1,800 for the year. Fortunately, for tax purposes, in 2005 I only spent 16 days in the USA (August 4-August 19). This qualified me to get the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion.

Finally, I finished my taxes, but since it was after 5 PM, I only knew of one post office in New York City that would still be open in order to get the postmark of 10/16. I figured the later I went the less busy the post office would be. So I took my taxes to the 8th Avenue at 31st Street post office in Manahattan at 10:30 PM. I was shocked to find the place was packed full of people holding envelopes in their hands with the words "Internal Revenue Service" on them! I guess when you consider that few people e-file in New York and that this is the main 24 hour post office in the largest city in America, it shouldn't have been such a shock. Anyway, it seems you can't just mail your package and leave if you want the postmark after 7 PM. We all had to stand in a long line and get postmarked one at a time -- and at a fee of 95 cents per package. I had to wait about thirty minutes to get my postmark.

From Annan to Ban

2006-10-16T13:05:00.000-04:00

When Kofi Annan steps down as head Secretary-General of the UN at the end of the year, he will be replaced by South Korean leader Ban Ki-Moon, age 62. Depsite having about 65% of the world's population (and a high percentage of the world's major military conflicts in recent years), Ban will be the first Secretary-General from Asia in 35 years. Moon's term will last for five years.

How will his appointment affect US and South Korea's negotiations with North Korea? With many possible military conflicts in Asia (Pakistan-India, China-Taiwan, North Korea-South Korea), Iraq/Iran, Palestine-Israel), will the world be better served with the UN being headed up by an Asian?

Peace to Yunus

2006-10-16T01:07:00.000-04:00

Bangladeshi microcredit pioneer Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for their work in advancing economic and social opportunities for the poor, particularly women. The economist and the bank he founded will share the prize. They were cited for their efforts to help "create economic and social development from below" in their home country by using innovative economic programs such as microcredit lending.

Grameen Bank has been instrumental in helping millions of poor Bangladeshis, many of them women, improve their standard of living by letting them borrow small sums to start businesses. Loans go toward buying items such as cows to start a dairy, chickens for an egg business, or mobile phones to start businesses where villagers who have no access to phones pay a small fee to make calls.

Wiki in China

2006-10-16T00:15:00.000-04:00

It seems the GREAT online interactive reference site Wikipedia has been UNBLOCKED in China after previously being inaccessible. I guess we'll see how long this lasts. Last year when I was there, I was never able to access it. Even Hotmail was blocked while I was there, but there were several ways to access it indirectly. This is promising news. China has been censoring the web for some time, even employing some college students to be involved in the censorship. The arrest and incarceration of Liu Di, a psychology major at Bei ShiFan, made the world aware of how serious the Chinese were about censorship in 2002. China may be lacking in the amount of freedom we have in America, but it has been making progress since 1978 thanks to the leadership of Deng Xiaoping. I have great hope for the Hu Jintao government.

Nick & Laura's Wedding

2006-10-15T23:57:00.000-04:00

I just got back from a wedding in Louisville, Kentucky, where my cousin Laura just got married. It was the first time I had ever met her husband Nick. I had a good time in Kentucky with my family. I flew down on Friday and back home today. Here are some photos:

My mom has 36 more photos of the wedding here online.

Tragedy at the Nepal Border

2006-10-13T01:03:00.000-04:00

BBC is reporting that policeman Steve Marsh was resting at a camp on the Tibetan side of the Himalayan peak of Cho-Oyu at the beginning of the month when he saw border guards shooting dead a Tibetan refugee in a group trying to flee to Nepal. He spoke of his shock at the incident, which he said scores of other mountaineers also witnessed. Tibet welfare groups say the Tibetan who died was a young nun, and add that a boy might also have been killed. Click the link to watch the video.

North Korea Nukes & TV

2006-10-12T22:42:00.000-04:00

On October 9th, North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported the country had performed a successful underground nuclear test.

MAD TV has a parody of Kim Jong-Il with his own TV show. On his show, he shows guest Donald Trump his version of the Apprentice:

GOP delays Jesus' Plans

2006-10-11T23:50:00.000-04:00

According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, a Houston pastor is claiming that Republican foreign policy is delaying Jesus' Return:

Voters should oust congressional Republican leaders because U.S. foreign policy is delaying the second coming of Jesus Christ, according to a evangelical preacher trying to influence closely contested political races.

K.A. Paul railed against the war in Iraq on Sunday before a crowd of 1,000 at the New Spirit Revival Center in Cleveland Heights, his first stop on what he hopes is a 30-city campaign.

The Houston-based preacher said he believes that the Bush administration has delayed the second coming because U.S. foreign policy has blocked Christian missionaries from working in Iraq, Iran and Syria.

I thought Jesus' return was going to be like a thief in the night (I Thess 5:2), not based on US foreign policy. I wonder if this will have an affect on the turnout of evangelical Christians this fall. Paul has a large following but is not well-known in the USA. He did previously counsel Saddam Hussein, and met and prayed with Speaker Hastert following calls for Hastert to step down for mismanaging the Foley-page crisis.

Deja Vu?

2006-10-11T23:03:00.000-04:00

Quick quiz: It's the 11th of the month. On a warm autumn day, people panic as a plane crashes into a tall building in New York City. What day is it? 9/11/2001? That would work, but so would TODAY! Yes, today NY Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle gave the whole city a big scare when he flew his small plane into a luxury apartment building, killing himself and another passenger. Fortunately, no one else died.

The scary thing is it was so "easy" for him to jump in an airplane in New Jersey and fly over Manhattan. What would prevent terrorists from doing the same thing? In a response, figher aircraft were put into the air above several major US cities. The quick response is good, but what are we doing to stop the first plane from hitting?

Chinese Etiquette

2006-10-11T16:00:00.000-04:00

The Chinese government, in preparation for the coming Olympic games, has been trying to improve the behavior of its population. During this past National Day holiday (the first week in October), some tourists visiting Tian'anmen Square during the holiday received a text message on their mobile phones from the administration committee of the Tian'anmen region to remind them to protect the environment of the square. However, on October 1 alone, around 600 sanitation workers collected 39.8 tons of garbage from the square." At the Old Summer Palace some tourists were found drawing on the relics. However the government is trying and we should give them credit for that. "Education in manners and etiquette has been strengthened in some kindergartens and primary schools in China. But experts believe it may take several generations to nurture civilized behavior and form a positive image of Chinese tourists."

I know from my experience in China that some places are worse than others. I found Dalian and Xiamen to be very clean and, in some areas, very Western. My worst experience was in the Inner Mongolia capital of Huhehaote (also known as Hu Shi). Perhaps I visited it on the wrong day (it was May 7, 2005), but it was extremely windy and trash and dirt were blowing everywhere. To be fair to China, I also encountered trash on the street in some areas of Detroit when I lived in Michigan. Of all my travels, the city with the most trash on the street was Gaya (India) near the tourist destination Bodhgaya. That was just awful.

Econometrics Midterm

2006-10-10T23:39:00.000-04:00

Well, tonight I had my first midterm exam at New York University. It was in Econometrics and Applied Statistics. The exam wasn't too bad, but I know I missed a 1-point question about moment-generating functions. It was easier than I had expected. The test had 16 questions worth 1 point each and then 12 questions worth 7 points each. Here is the easiest of the 7 point questions:

You will draw balls without replacement out of a container containing 3 blue and 5 red balls. What is the probability of drawing a red ball on the third draw?

Columiba Prof wins Econ Nobel

2006-10-09T15:31:00.000-04:00

Columbia University professor Edmund Phelps on Monday won the 2006 Nobel prize in economics for pioneering work on the relationship between employment and inflation, which has influenced central banks around the world. Phelps, 73, is the first solo winner of the $1.37 million prize since 1999.

During the 1960s, Phelps built on what is known as the Phillips Curve, which held that when unemployment fell, there was a one-time rise in the rate of inflation.

Phelps felt that view didn't take into account the fact that consumers and businesses operate with incomplete information. He theorized that inflation depends on unemployment and expectations for future inflation.

As a consequence, the long-run rate of unemployment is not affected by inflation but only by the functioning of the labor market. Cutting interest rates or taxes to stimulate employment works temporarily, but can lead to higher inflation.

Further, policies that promote low inflation today will produce lower inflation expectations, aiding policymaking in the future. Phelps also looked at economic trade-offs, showing that deferring consumption in the short run to fund research, education and other business investment can improve economic conditions in the longer run.

Zhong Qiu Jie Kuai Le!

2006-10-06T21:15:00.000-04:00

Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival (Zhong Qiu Jie in Chinese). The date is based on the lunar calendar (8th month, 15th day), and it also known as the Moon festival or the Lantern festival in other Asian nations. In China, we ate lots of mooncakes. I've seen a few here in New York. We do, after all, have almost 400,000 people of Chinese ancestry living here!

I have a mideterm in my statistics class on Tuesday. I went to ask questions of the teaching assistant this afternoon. She told me she is a 5th year Ph.D. student from Shenyang. She almost fell over when I told her I was familiar with the capital of Liaoning province and the big Mao statue there. Anyway, she had to leave early for a Mid Autumn Festival party. Afterwards, I went over to look for free food on campus! I did discover an all-Korean party celebrating Ch'usǒk (the Korean name for Mid-Autumn festival), but I didn't go. Anyway, for the first time since 2003, I didn't eat any mooncakes on Mid Autumn day.

Chaos at Columbia

2006-10-06T17:58:00.000-04:00

Last Tuesday, I received an email from the NYU College Repulicans that invited us to go to a speech at Columbia:

"3. Columbia has invited us to the event below. There will be a huge
protest so it would be nice to have a strong showing. E-mail me your name
by 9am tomorrow if you want to go.
Columbia students host The Minutemen and founder, Jim Gilchrist, for
their pre-election forum: “Defending America’s Borders”"

I didn't go, and it seems I missed a national event! If you haven't heard, protesters (supposedly from a socialist organization) crashed the speech and knocked over the guest speaker. You can read about the event at FoxNews.

I'm not sure what I think of the Minuteman Project. Honestly, I didn't read the email from the NYU CRs until after the event took place. So perhaps the chaos was good for them to get publicity. Still, shouldn't they be allowed to express their views? What happened to free speech? I never heard of the Minutemen until after this incident. Apparently, they self-patrol the Mexican border with guns. I'm not sure if I agree with that either though.

New York really is an interesting place to live!

Matzah!

2006-10-05T09:15:00.000-04:00

As an evangelical Christian from the South, moving to Brooklyn has given me another opportunity to better understand another religious group. I live in a predominantly orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn and encounter Jews everyday here. I have no problems with that, as they are friendly. I've encountered different religious groups everywhere I've previously lived - evangelical Protestants in Kentucky (my home state), Catholics in the Midwest, atheists in Silicon Valley, & Buddhists in China. But I don't think I've ever been so shocked before. Not that Jews here do anything shocking -- I'm shocked that I was so uneducated and unaware of their customs. We recently celebrated Yom Kippur here. That's not a big holiday in Kentucky or China, but, in my neighborhood, everything was shut down. When I walked outside to take the subway to class it was like living in a ghost town. The grocery store, the convenience store -- almost all businesses were closed. In Manhattan, the place I usually buy my dinner was open but had no food for sale. Anyway, this week, I searched the Internet and came across the following funny Matzah rap song.

No, I haven't seen anyone rapping in the neighborhood - but I can appreciate and understand some of the things in the song more now after living here. Just so you know, Matzah is unleavened bread eaten during Passover.

Brooklyn Bridge to Midwood

2006-09-30T21:46:00.000-04:00

Today I rode the subway up the Brooklyn Bridge and then walked back to my apartment in Midwood, stopping to take photos along the way. Unfortunately my battery ran out of power before I made it home. Below are a few of the photos I took.

This is the famous Brooklyn Bridge, with part of the the Manhattan skyline in the distance.

This is "Kennedy Fried Chicken" which uses red and white in its logo. There are many around the New York City area. Kentucky Fried Chicken claims it is an intellectual property rights violation.

After seeing this ice cream cooler, I was homesick for China!

Here is a building with interesting archictecure near the Dekalb Avenue stop.

The Brooklyn Academy of Music.

This street food vendor also reminded me of China, until I saw his prices!

Pizza by the slice! There are so many stores in the NYC area that sell pizza by the slice for anywhere between $1.75 and $3 per slice.

I also got a few photos of a group of protestors yelling for the US and Israel to leave all Arab lands immediately. The group was yelling many different slogans as they passed.

The protestors had their own protestor! Following behind them, a man held this sign very quietly as he marched in the rear of their group.

Appreciating Chinese Money

2006-09-30T08:45:00.000-04:00

Chinese Renminbi (RMB) dropped below 7.90 against the dollar yesterday due to speculation that the government will soon expand the band within which the currency is allowed to fluctuate. The rate was fixed at 8.28 from 1994 until July 21, 2005. It has been slowly appreciating against the dollar ever since. Some economists predict it will appreciate up to 6.5. The US continues to put pressure on China. My Senator Chuck Schumer & South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham continue to back legislation "encourage" China to allow the currency to appreciate faster.

Who's Next?

2006-09-29T21:30:00.000-04:00

In this Congress, Republican Representatives Cunningham, Delay, and Ney have all been caught up in scandals. The Vice President's assistant Scooter Libby has been indicted. And now Mark Adam Foley. Who's Next?

Florida Congressman Mark Foley abruptly resigned from Congress today after it was reported that he had sent inappropriate sexually graphic messages to Congressional pages under the age of 18.

The details are still a little bit fuzzy, but I have 3 thoughts on the matter:

1. The instant messages he sent were from account maf54 (mark adam foley, born in '54). Why would anyone send these messages from an account with his name on it?

2. There are conflicting reports as to how much the GOP leadership previously knew about this. If it is discovered that they were aware of the explicit messages and covered this up, it will be the final nail in their political coffins. This scandal is big news because it has the potential to destroy many political careers, not just Foley's.

3. The blog that "outed" Foley is very suspicious. It was set up in July in total obscurity with the stated goal of catching sexual predators. No one knew it existed and no websites linked to it. We are told that somehow several Congressional pages found it all at the same time and provided info on Foley. The website has never "caught" any other predators. Before the Foley story broke, the only information on the site is information copied from other web sites. What information? In August the site owner posted stories about Chandra Levy and other Congressional sex scandals. How conincidental is that? The owner refuses to identify her/himself. Who is behind this? I have no doubt in my mind that the owner of the blog knew about the Foley emails in July when the blog was created. If it is later discovered that some politician is behind this (one would assume a Democrat, but who knows) and held it back as a last minute political surprise before the upcoming midterm election, then it could backfire on them.

Collapse of the Cards?

2006-09-28T23:50:00.000-04:00

Are we witnessing the biggest sports team collapse ever?

The St. Louis Cardinals are 1-7 in their last 8 game and are now 81-76. The Houston Astros have won 8 straight and are at 80-78. Both have 4 games left (Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun).

If the Astros & Cards finish within 1/2 game of each other....
(for example, the Cardinals go 2-2 and Astros go 3-1)

Then St. Louis will have to make up a missed game next Monday against San Francisco.

If they are tied following that game, then they play 1 game playoff on Tuesday in Houston.

Politician Trivia

2006-09-25T09:28:00.000-04:00

I've heard several politicians recently make firm statements about Iraq and whether or not the US should set a deadline to get out. I was curious whether or not these politicians are consistent in what they say. I just find it odd that almost all Republicans favor the war and almost all Democrats are opposed. Shouldn't there be more independent thinkers like Joe Lieberman or Chuck Hagel? So I searched around to see what I could find on the Internet.

Do you know who made these 10 Quotes?
(Answers at the bottom... Hint: 4 from Republicans; 6 from Democrats)

A) "If Hussein has chemical and biological agents, and I believe he does, he would have no incentive not to use them then, if he knew he was going to be killed anyway and deposed."

B) "I think it's also important for the president to lay out a timetable as to how long (U.S. troops) will be involved and when they will be withdrawn....Victory means exit strategy and it's important for the president to explain to us what the exit strategy is."

C) "These arbitrary limits (setting a deadline for military withdrawl) are not going to be helpful."

D) "I cannot support a failed foreign policy. History teaches us that it is often easier to make war than peace. This administration is just learning that lesson right now....There are no clarified rules of engagement. There is no timetable. There is no legitimate definition of victory...There is no clear funding program. There is no agenda to bolster our overextended military. There is no explanation defining what vital national interests are at stake. There was no strategic plan for war when the President started this thing, and there still is no plan today."

E) “We have to be able to convince the American people that this (military action) is in our interest. I don't think you need much of an imagination, though, to know what happens if all of this gets out of hand.…I think we can avoid that with a little preventative medicine. That's what this is all about. It's preventative, and I think it will work.”

F) He "views it (Congress setting a deadline for military withdrawl) as a legislative overreach on the powers of the presidency."

G) "What if someone had listened to Winston Churchill and stood up to Adolph Hitler earlier? How many people's lives might have been saved? And how many American lives might have been saved?...We have to take a stand now. If we don't do it now, we will have to do it later."

H) "In my judgment, it's a question of whether it's wise to set a deadline, and we might as well address that issue first and foremost....Now, if the sponsors of the language in this bill want to strike that deadline, we have a totally different situation. But the deadline is there, it is July of next year, unless Congress changes its mind. That creates between now and then, a very dangerous period of uncertainty and instability, which ...creates danger for our forces, that period of uncertainty is very dangerous because ... (they) are going to seek to arm themselves for the day in which we leave. "

I) (in regards to setting a deadline for military withdrawl) "signs of impatience can be misinterpreted as symptoms of weakness. We cannot afford that in a region where weakness attracts vultures."

J) "whether or not there was an exit strategy. I would take the use of force very seriously. I would be guarded in my approach. I don't think we can be all things to all people in the world. I think we've got to be very careful when we commit our troops. The vice president and I have a disagreement about the use of troops. He believes in nation-building. I would be very careful about using our troops as nation builders."

Obviously, these quotes were cherry-picked. The situation was different (all refer to Kosovo with the exception of Clinton's comment (a) about Iraq). But it is interesting to see what politicians said in the past.

A) President Bill Clinton (D-AR) (September 9, 2003)
B) President George W. Bush (R-TX) (April 9 & June 5, 1999)
C) Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) (Sept 15, 2000)
D) Rep. Tom Delay (R-TX) (April 1999)
E) Seanator Tom Daschle (D-SD) (1999)
F) Scott McClellan, for the Bush campaign (R-TX)(May 2000)
G) President Bill Clinton (D-AR) (March 22, 1999)
H) Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) (May 17, 2000)
I) Sec. of State Madeleine Albright (D)
J) President George W. Bush (R-TX) (October 3, 2000 debate)

The Devil was Here

2006-09-21T08:29:00.000-04:00

On the way to class the other night I saw a flyer recommending the city to go protest Bush's speech at the United Nations on Tuesday. I didn't go, but one protester was a day late. Venezuelean President Hugo Chavez spoke at the UN today, calling Bush "the devil".

Since the whole world knows that Chavez is crazy and hates Bush, this was not a big surprise. What was a surprise to me, was Democrat representative Charles Rangel's response when Chavez repeated his sentiments in Harlem. Rangel, known for his criticism of Bush, said, "You don't come into my country, you don't come into my congressional district and criticize my president."

Gallup & the Do Not Call List

2006-09-19T00:15:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, September 16, I got a call from a woman working in the Nebraska office of Gallup/USA Today and became one of the 1,003 adults interviewed for their most recent national poll. Most questions dealt with President Bush and the upcoming midterm election, but I was also asked questions about professional baseball's MVP awards. The results of the political poll are available. You can see how much I altered the results.

Ever wonder how they determine whether someone is a likely voter? Here are the questions they asked me (after they asked if I was registered to vote):
1. Do you know where your local voting place is located?
2. Are you registered to vote in the district where you live?
3. Did you vote in the November 2002 midterm election?
4. How much thought have you given to the upcoming election?
5. How likely are you to vote?

I thought it was strange that I got called by Gallup just days after getting phone service established. In the last week that I've had phone service, the phone has rung all the time with people marketing products or asking for donations. It is so overwhelming that I just went and added my name to the Do Not Call List. Ever wonder what the effect of the Do Not Call List is? I'm guessing the few poor folks who aren't on it get bombarded with calls all day. I also wonder how it affects polling? Wouldn't Gallup and other polling agencies be restricted by the DNCL? If so, does that bias poll results at all? If a slightly higher percentage of Republicans or Democrats are on the list, then that slight bias could have an effect on the poll.

Chinese Caution

2006-09-18T08:34:00.000-04:00

Many people ooh and aah over the potential market power of China. 1.3 billion consumers. A cheap labor force in the millions. GDP growing steadily at about 10%. What's not to like? You hear reports about how America's day has come and gone and how China will soon overtake the USA.

Hold your horses. China has a good chance to become a major world power, that is true. But it won't happen as fast as many think. Poverty is widespread, most of its workforce is uneducated and unskilled, the legal system is showing promise but corruption is still widespread, and capital markets are young and untested.

Well, just this week we found out Malcolm Bricklin's Visionary Vehicles will be forced to delay the arrival of its Chinese produced Chery cars in the USA. He had been claiming a 2007 arrival date, but that has now been postponed to late '08 or early '09. Starting an automotive company is difficult, as it is a highly capital intensive industry. I seriously doubt the long term viability of Bricklin's cars. I do feel Chinese produced cars will be shipped to the US in the near future due to the cheap labor there, but I think established car companies such as GM, Toyota, and Volkswagen will most likely be the ones to be successful at this. The global automotive industry is already in bad shape. The market is mature, oil prices are rising, the industry has an excess of capacity, profits are dwindling. China will soon be an economic force to deal with, but its days as a fully developed nation are still far off in the future.

Darfur

2006-09-16T15:15:00.000-04:00

Over the past week, the NYU campus has been covered by fliers urging students to go to the Save Darfur Rally at Central Park tomorrow afternoon. For those who might know, the region of Darfur in Sudan has been the site of immense violence over the past few years. Some estimate that close to 1/2 million people have been killed and more than 2 million civillians have fled their homes. The rally is being held in order encourage world leaders, specifically US President George Bush and UN Secretary General Koffi Anan to intervene.

This story also has an international aspect relating to China. The Washington Times ran an editorial a couple weeks ago claiming that Darfur is exposing Chinese hypocrisy. China holds enormous leverage over Sudan due to its investment in Sudanese oil fields. And, despite Wang Guangya, China's UN representative to the UN, claim that China supports sending peacekeepers to Sudan, they have been lobbying against the resolution to send in peacekeepers.

Yale PhD runs in McLean

2006-09-15T14:05:00.000-04:00

My friend Matt Gunterman, who was my roommate when we studied Chinese history in Kunming China in 1998, is running for Judge/Executive in McClean County. He won the primary with 51% of the vote in a three way race, but faces a challenge in November when he takes on the incumbant. Matt is now pursuing a Ph.D. in history at Yale.

After 18 days, phone & Internet access!

2006-09-13T16:05:00.000-04:00

I now have a working phone and Internet access in my apartment! Finally, after much prodding, the phone company Verizon sent someone over yesterday to see why my phone was ringing when people call the number but not working inside the apartment. I set my appointment to be from 1-5 PM because I had class at 6:20 PM in Manhattan and usually leave home around 5:30 PM to go to class. Well, at 5:25 the Verizon phone man still had not arrived yet! I wrote a note to tape onto the outside of my door as I left for class. As I opened the door to walk outside, a man walked up and said, "I'm Verizon. Are you the one with phone problems?" I grumbled, "Yes." I didn't want to show my anger because this was the guy that was going to help, and, I have to admit, I have been late a few times in my life. :) He then asked, "How do I know that you are?" This really made me angry. I just sort of glared at him and then he went out behind my building to "check on things." After about 20 minutes, he told me that he couldn't fix it but would have someone come soon. Thankfully, I was able to leave at 5:45 and still get to class right as it was starting.

Today, nobody contacted me, but I looked outside at 10 AM and saw a Verizon truck outside. I looked and saw a man outside working, and about an hour later he left and my phone worked! So 18 days after ordering phone service I finally get it. That is just pathetic. At least now I don't have to make calls from pay phones and get Internet access from NYU or Internet cafes.

Brooklyn Primary

2006-09-13T06:20:00.001-04:00

The current representative in Congress for my Brooklyn neighborhood (NY District 11) is Major R. Owens (D) who won 94% of the vote in 2004, but he's retiring after 24 years. Evidently, he likes to put his political speeches in Congress into rap!

Anyway, we had a primary election in New York yesterday. Few races were competitive - such as Hillary Clinton for senator or Eliot Spitzer for governor. The only interesting race in my district was the Democratic primary for US House to replace Mr. Owens. The district is overwelmingly Democratic in party registration and has demographics of 59% African-American and 32% Jew. In the primary race, three of the democratic contenders were black (one of which was Owens' son Chris), and one was a white Jew named David Yassky, a Brooklyn city council member who moved recently moved to the district in order to be eligible to run for Congress.

The district was created to enable minority representation in Congress (read: elect an African-American) and so some black leaders were really upset with Yassky. Assuming voters only vote for members of the same race: if the 4 black candidates equally split the black vote, each would receive about 15% and Yassky could pull out a victory. Regardless, Yassky was endorsed by the NY Times and his campaign workers were out in force yesterday. At the subway stop near my apartment, one of them asked me to vote for Yassky and gave me some information about him.

Yassky finished 2nd in the primary with 26% of the vote, behind another city council member, Yvette Clark, who had 31%..

Because the district is so overwelmingly democratic, she will be my next representative in Congress. However, she comes with her own scandal: the NY Times reports that she lied about graduating from Oberlin College, claiming she had the degree when she was actually a few classes short.
Unfortunately, she'll probably stay in Congress for the next 24 years.

Boxes from China

2006-09-12T22:48:00.000-04:00

Today my mom emailed me and said she received the two boxes of gifts, souvenirs, and other junk that "Bill" Chen Xi and Pan Ke helped me ship back to the US on July 26. I'm glad it made it OK. I haven't seen the condition of the box yet (she said there was a small hole in it), but I am excited that the box is there. Actually, I forgot what I put inside those boxes. I guess I'll find out when I get home for Thanksgiving.

Speaking of shipping boxes to America...In late March, my mom mailed me a package with a gift for my friend Feng Fan, as she is now going to graduate school in Europe. However, I received confirmation that someone else "intercepted" this package and shipped it back to the USA on Monday, April 10. I took photos on my digital camera and the lady in the post office positively identified the culprit. See, too and friends. The gift has not been seen since. :( Sorry, Feng Fan. I admit I have made many mistakes in my life, but revenge belongs to God - not to us. Although I have forgiven the culprit, it was, unfortunately, a bad reflection on this person's character and a terrible witness to students. Just ask Bill what he thinks about it!

It's been 5 years!

2006-09-11T22:45:00.000-04:00

Hard to believe that today is the five year anniversary of the terrorist attack of 9/11/2001. Time really flies. Unfortunately for Bush, he's still chasing Osama. The headlines here in New York are all about the fact that five years later the ground zero/former world trade center site is still barren and construction on the new Freedom Tower which is to replace the WTC has not begun.

The Onion wrote a parody about the 9/11 Memorial Hole here in New York. Speaking of The Onion, another funny story in the paper this week is about a Summer Intern Already Forgotten! By the way, until I get Internet access through Verizon DSL at my home, I am using it at NYU. I'm glad it is free but it is very inconvenient!

Phone Tease

2006-09-08T11:43:00.000-04:00

Well, I flew back to New York on Tuesday. And I was able to get from LaGuardia to my apartment for $2. Not bad, huh? Especially when you consider that I had 4 extremely large and heavy bags, with a combined weight of about 170 lbs (77 kg)! It was exhausting. After leaving LaGuardia, I took the M60 bus to the Columbus Square subway stop. I was a little nervous that I would stay on the bus and miss the stop for the subway because I had not done this before. Well, after a while the bus stopped and I saw the subway so I got off the bus. After pulling all 77 kgs of bags off the bus and the doors shut, I realized I had gotten off two blocks too soon. Ordinarily that would not be a big deal, but it is difficult to pack your body weight in luggage down the street and up 2 flights of stairs to get onto the subway. Actually, after i got through the turnstyles for the subway, a woman helped carry one of my bags up a few stairs. I then took the N/W line to 57th Street in Manhattan where I caught a Q train to my apartment. The transfer at 57th is great! The soutbound N/W runds down one side of the platform and the southound Q runs down the other. That was convenient. At my stop 2 boys helped me carry 2 of the bags down the stairs to the street. I was really happy my apartment was as close to the subway stop as it is!

I ordered phone and Internet service from Verizon on August 26 and so I expected when I arrived in my apartment on 9/5 that there would be phone service. Ha ha! Today I still have no service. I spent the last three days trying to figure out how to get service turned on. Anyway, last night my mom sent me an email saying that she called my phone and it rang. However, this was just Verizon teasing me. I rushed home to find that the phone does not work. Since I will get DSL Internet service (which works over the phone line) from Verizon too, I am completely cut off in my little Brooklyn basement. No phone, no Internet, and no friends in New York. I am going to call Verizon today and see what's going on.

American Airports

2006-09-07T14:24:00.000-04:00

Reed Jarrar, an architect of Iraqi descent, was forced to remove a T-shirt that bore the words "We will not be silent" before boarding a flight to California at New York's JFK airport on August 12. Mr Jarrar said he was shocked such an action could be taken in the US. US transport officials are conducting an inquiry after a complaint from the US Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

How much is too much? Should the government force someone to take off a T-shirt before the fly on a plane? Or is this action acceptable because it is makes other passengers at ease?

Back from the Big Apple

2006-08-31T23:21:00.000-04:00

My parents and I flew back to Kentucky today. My mom has put some of her New York photos online. Here is a photo looking towards the Brooklyn Bridge (Statue of Liberty is in the far distance) and one of us at Yankee Stadium:

The Onion

2006-08-30T22:04:00.000-04:00

I knew that The Onion is an online satirical newspaper that leans a little bit to the left politically. What I didn't know is that there are newspaper stands all over New York City distributing the paper for free. The current paper has a headline poking fun at President Bush. I generally find the paper funny, even if I don't always agree with the political points it makes.

Boot Camp at NYU

2006-08-28T23:30:00.000-04:00

Classes don't start until next week. So why am I at NYU now? Well, I'm attending an optional, free, "math boot camp" to review calculus, differentiation, integration, linear algebra, etc. The boot camp is meets 5 hours per day for 3 days. The two teachers leading the boot camp will be the two teachers who teach the two different sections of "Math for Economists" this fall. I thought one of the professors did a better job at explaining and was more logical in thought. After attending class today, I came home and switched sections!

This is Warren Weaver Hall, where the math boot camp is being held. Once the semester begins, however, I will not have any classes in this building.

This is the giant arch in Washington Square Park on NYU's campus.

In a basement surrounded by Jews

2006-08-28T18:59:00.000-04:00

After being back in the US for just six days, I found a new apartment. This is quite a feat, as I've been told it is really difficult to find descent safe apartments for an affordable price. For example, apartments in Manhattan cost $1500 for some studios and recently I saw an advertisement at NYU for a 3-bedroom apartment for $3500 per month! My new apartment (rented on August 25th for $720 per month) is located in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Midwood, where most residents are orthodox Jew. My studio apartment is about 300 square feet in the basement of an office building. Above me is a psychologist's office called the "Phobia Life Line" and beside me in the basement is a podiatrist's office. It's really just one big room with a kitchen on one side and a couch and desk on the other. The couch is my bed!

Kentucky Birthday at the Otolaryngologist!

2006-08-22T23:43:00.000-04:00

This is my first birthday in Murray since, well when? Here's where I celebrated my past birthdays: 2005 (Beijing, China), 2004 (Pasadena, CA), 2003 (Kihei, HI), 2002 (New Orleans, LA), 2001 (Detroit), 2000 (Champaign), 1999 (Champaign), 1998 (Murray). Wow, it's been 8 years! That was 5 college degrees ago.

Yes, today is my birthday! How did I celebrate? I went to visit my otolaryngologist! What's that? Well, it's a doctor who deals with nose, ears, and throat. So you know I must really be old - that's what old people do - go to the doctor on their birthdays! I have been having some trouble with my nose over the past two years, and so I went to get it checked out. This past summer I did visit the Tian He hospital in Tianjin regarding this, and they took a Catscan and had me come for treatment on three consecutive days. I took my catscan with me and the doctor told me I have a really bad sinus condition which will probably require SURGERY. Thanks, happy birthday to you too.

Tomorrow, my parents and I will fly up to New York. I need to find an apartment and get ready for life at NYU. I don't really have time for surgery!

Via Kyoto & Colorado Springs

2006-08-20T19:29:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm back in America. After 55 hours of travel and 5 flights (Beijing-Osaka-Los Angeles-Colorado Springs-Denver-Nashville), I finally made it back to Kentucky!

I left Tianjin around 10am on Friday morning to go to the Beijing airport. Fortunately, I was accompanied by 4 wonderful friends of mine. After an emotional goodbye, I checked 2 very large bags each weighing exactly 30 kgs (66 lbs), and continue on with my 2 carryons (one of which weighed 35 kgs (77 lbs)! I then boarded a short international flight to Osaka, where Japan Airlines put me up in a hotel for free because there were no connecting flights leaving until the next day. This was no accident - I intentionally purchased my tickets in this manner to take advantage of a free hotel and a free trip to Japan. This was the first time in Japan, making it the 46th country I've been to. The closest I came before was when I changed planes in the Tokyo-Narita airport in 1998 after my first transoceanic flight. While in Japan, I only had time to see part of Osaka and Kyoto, of Kyoto Protocol fame. On Saturday evening, I continued on to Los Angeles, arriving on Saturday afternoon due to the Interntaional Date Line. This was only my 2nd time to fly across the Pacific in a eastward direction. (I've flown in a westward direction 4 times.)

At LAX, I had to grab my bags and go through customs and then recheck them. I then boarded my flight for Denver. The captain told us we would arrive in Denver early. Great! However, due to a serious thunderstorm in Denver, we just circled over central Colorado waiting for it to go away. After circling for some time, the pilot announced that we would run out of gas soon so we were forced to be diverted to Colorado Springs. Of course, by now I'd missed my connection in Denver to Nashville unless it was delayed because of the storm. Fortunately for me, the Nashville flight was delayed until after midnight, which mmade it about 4 hours late! I arrived in Nashville at 2am, where a different (and much older) set of 4 friends met me. We didn't get back to Murray until 4.

What travel! It hasn't sunk in yet, but my life is really going to be different now that I'm no longer living in China!

G'bye Mate!

2006-07-15T15:49:00.000-04:00

Jin Yi has left Tianjin. She's now in Weihai, her hometown, where she will quickly pack and get ready for her flight to Australia next week. This morning she flew from Beijing to Weihai. She had been living in Tanggu where she worked, but since her fight leaves Beijing at 7, she needs to catch the 4am bus to Beijing from Tianjin. The question for her -- where should she sit with all of her belongings while waiting for the bus 4am bus? The answer? My apartment. So Pan Ke, Feng Fan, and I had a going away party for our friend last night. Jin Yi's boss in Tanggu gave her a ride to Tianjin and then she was able to store all of her things in my apartment:

Believe it or not, her biggest suitcase is not pictured here! It was very amazing that she was able to get onto the plane with so much stuff! Then we went out to eat hotpot together:

Jin Yi trying to hide from my camera behind a glass:

Then we went back to my apartment to do, what else, play cards!

Amazingly, we stopped cards to watch Sesame Street! It was the first time they had ever seen it. They were especially interested in watching Elmo show children how to mail a letter, as "Elmo" is Jin Yi's nickname:

As 3:30 rolled around, it was a mad scramble to find taxis to get over to the bus stop. I thought I had seen people cry before. I was wrong! The flood of tears that emerged was quite amazing (or depressing, depending on your point of view).

Jin Yi has been a big part of my life in Tianjin. She helped me fix my laptop, got me my apartment, taught me Chinese, but, most of all, she was a true friend. In life, there are few people with whom we can really be close friends. Jin Yi is one of those special people in my life. Thank you for the memories.

Xinjiang Food & World Cup

2006-07-09T08:20:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Yang Xi "the computer man" came over to help fix some problems with the laptop. Afterwards a group of us went to eat Xinjiang food:

We then made it our goal to stay up late enough to go watch the World Cup together. So after eating dinner we came back over to my apartment and talked and played cards until 3 am. Then we rode our bikes over to McDonalds on Guangdong Lu to watch the 3rd Place World Cup game between Germany and Portugal. Afterwards, I stayed up burning DVDs but the others all took a short nap at my place. Here's Yang Xi trying to sleep...

Germany won the game 3-1 by the way. I was rooting for Portugal, whose Chinese name putaoya translates to grape teeth!

Dinner at Tian Ta

2006-07-07T23:55:00.000-04:00

Tonight Pan Ke, Jin Yi, and I ate dinner at Dong Po Zhou Jia Restaurant near the Tianjin TV tower. Some pretty good eats there!

Injection #4,321

2006-07-03T11:17:00.000-04:00

Over the past two months, I have not been so healthy. Or, being the optimistic person that I am, I should say...over the past two months, I've been getting healthier! That's because I've been going to Tian He Hospital at the corner of Fukang Lu and Munan Dao to receive medication via IV (or as my Chinese friends like to call it, an injection)! I've had several people visit me during these fun hours at the hospital. Today was Jin Yi's turn...

I'm not an expert on Chinese medical practices, but I think biting the tube is not the proper way to help the patient improve!

Migrant Recyclers

2006-07-01T19:24:00.000-04:00

Today I decided to recycle some of the bottles I'd saved up from various parties over the past month. I get 0.2 RMB (or about $.02) for each 2 liter or 1 liter bottle and 0.1 RMB (about $.01) for each 600ml or similar size bottle. After living in Michigan for three years before moving to China, I had gotten in the habbit of recycling my bottles. Of course, in Michigan, you get $0.10 per bottle! (And in Kentucky you get nothing.) Here is a photo of me and the woman who came to pick them up:

For this stack, I got about 25 RMB (about $3). Doesn't sound like much, but when you can buy lunch in the student dining hall for 3 RMB ($0.37), you can make that money go along way. Anyway, I want to comment a little bit about this young woman. She is my age and has 3 children. Her family lives in Anhui province but it is difficult for her to find a good paying job there. So she came to Tianjin as a migrant worker. She collects bottles for $.01 and gets paid $.02 when she turns them into the recycling center. And she makes more money by doing that than in her home province. How sad. Actually, the money is not as bad as you might think. She made about $3 off of me in about 45 minutes. If she can find 8 customers each day, she could make about 200 RMB per day (or about $25). Assuming she works 30 days per month (and believe me, I've seen these migrants out working every day), then she can earn 6,000 RMB per month! For comparison, a new college graduate from TFSU makes about 1,700 RMB per month. So perhaps I've overestimated her earning potential, but it isn't as bad as it sounds at first. Still, to have to leave one's family behind is sad. She is a very friendly person and even has business cards! Please keep her and others around the world who have to work so hard to provide for their families in prayer. Seeing her at work makes me realize how much God has blessed me. It is a shame how often I forget to thank him for all He's provided. (Remember James 1:17)

TGIF Sendoff

2006-06-30T16:43:00.000-04:00

Yan Yan left to go back to Hunan today. While I know I will get to see her again next month when I go to visit her, this could be her last time for her to see Jin Yi. Because Jin Yi will soon leave to begin graduate school in Australia, we decided to have a goodbye party for Yanzi. (In addition, we also like Yan Yan!) So Jin Yi came back from Tanggu after a hard day at work just to see Yan Yan, even though she would have to turn around and take the 6 AM bus back to work this morning. Unfortunately, we got a late start on things. We went to Kisseling but it was just about to close. Then we went to a Thai restaurant nearby but it was too smoky. Then we went to a Mexican restaurant but they had just stopped serving food. Finally, we decided on TGI Friday's:

There aren't many non-fast food American restaurants in Tianjin. This is one of the few. We all had a good time, and they got to try lots of new foods: calamari, fajitas, steak, etc. Fun to introduce them to new food, but hard on the wallet. Many Chinese restaurants are cheap -- you can eat a good meal for less than $2 per person. Foreign restaurants, like TGIF, charge American prices, so it cost more like $10 a head. Not too bad in the US, but expensive for China! That's why the restaurant has few Chinese customers. Most of the people eating there are laowai (foreigners). I joked with them that soon they would be laowai, as all of them are going abroad to graduate school.

Here, Yan Yan leaves my apartment for the last time. She actually lived here with a roommate and took care of it for me while I was gone to Tibet and India in January and February so perhaps this was a sentimental parting for her.

After moving out of the girl's dorm...

...we raced to the train station. I helped her get one of her large bags on the train. It was a good thing too because the train was very crowded and she had many bags. I would have had trouble, by myself, getting all of those bags onto a train this crowded:

Here she is looking at me after I got off the train...

Goodbye Yan Yan! You have a wonderful personality and you will be missed (until I come visit you in Hunan!)

Pick your Battles!

2006-06-29T13:50:00.000-04:00

Ethical dilemma: When is it worth it to fight, to confront others and make a scene? When should one back down? I think I often fight on minor issues when I should just accept things. In addition, I think sometimes I am too cowardly to fight. Knowing when to act can be confusing. And when one does feel a confrontation is justified, it is essential to go into with a Christ-like attitude. I often try to win at all cost - and although I may win the battle, I sometimes lose perspective and lose the war. I tend to forget that "our battle is not against flesh and blood."

The contract that guides my work here as a teacher in IBI at the university states the following in Section III-D: "D. The time for the IBI class must be 3.5 hours per day from 8:00 to 11:30 with the actual time adjusted to the school class schedule. The classroom instruction by the teacher is 2.5 hours daily and self-directed study by students without the presence of the teacher is 1.0 hour daily Monday through Friday mornings. Students must be enrolled only for the IBI program during the IBI class hours."

During the year, I received the following email from the IBI director: "The specific teaching time for the teachers assigned to the English Department at TFSU beginning September 2005 is as follows.
08:00 to 10:00 classroom instruction time (lecture and class activities)
10:00 to 10:10 break
10:10 to 11:40 self-directed study"

I enjoy teaching very much. I believe my students also enjoy attending my classes. My goal is to challenge the students academically, while keeping the mood of the class fun and lively. I make an active effort to interact with all students, often going out of my way to talk with the shyest of students during the breaks or towards the end of class. I feel that if the students see me as a friend and advisor they can trust rather than a strange foreigner with nothing in common with them that they will be more likely to pay attention and interact during class.

I prefer teaching and challenging students as much as possible. I love watching them learn. I am passionate about my teaching.

The contract with the school - which guides how I should teach is obviously in direct conflict with the instructions from the director. The contract states 2.5 hours of instruction/lecture time is required. However the director dictates less time. His comments, since he is not around to see what I am doing, were based on the "reporting" of my "teammate", who has told me on many occasions that he likes spending time with students but does not enjoy teaching class. I can tell that too. You would be hard pressed to find anyone who claims that he is passionate about his teaching. I honestly believe he would agree with that.

So what should I have done? The contract certainly does not claim that 2.5 hours is a maximum. My argument is that I can teach 2.5 hours and hold additional hours outside of class like I have been doing. Perhaps it does not seem like a big deal, and in actuality it might not be. Over the past 6 months, I felt the director of the IBI program was deceitful and disingenuous. One trivial example of this is the email quoted above. He never told us anything about the teaching times in September even though he deceitfully claims that is the case. Honestly, my actions were less than honorable and I justified my deceitful actions toward him based on this. I was wrong in doing so. Regardless, I had lost faith in him, and so I decided to stand up and fight with him on this. I admit that I had not treated him with respect on prior occasions. Much of my actions towards him were made out of anger and my lack of faith in his leadership. I had started writing letters of resignation twice before -- once in early September and once in late November but was talked out of such action after discussion with students and my parents. I felt that doing so would be cowardly and a betrayal to the school and students. I couldn't bring myself to do that.

Why, you might wonder, would the director have a contract claiming we would provide 2.5 hours of lecture time when he argues that class time should be only 2 hours in a separate email to teachers? There are two reasons for this -- 1) SAFEA, the organization that oversees foreign experts (teachers) in China requires a minimum number of hours to qualify for a Chinese visa. What is this minimum? You guessed it -- an average of 2.5 hours per work day. 2) The second reason is in marketing the program to Chinese universities. The schools are shown cost figures of cost per hour of instruction. By claiming 3.5 hours of class time (and 2.5 hours of instruction time), the director can make a better argument to the school. However, at the same time, the director has trouble recruiting and keeping teachers. Turnover rates are high, the US job market is strong, and next year (2006-07) he will have the FEWEST number of teachers in his program since the mid 90's. Trying to keep teachers happy is another goal of his, and he is willing to do this at the expense of students and Chinese universities. I called him on it. I said it was disingenuous and deceitful. I also said he should inform the university and SAFEA of what he's doing or change his ways. I admit, I enjoy teaching and wanted the extra time. 20 minutes per day x 5 days per week x 17 weeks = 28.3 hours of additional teaching time. That is a significant amount of time. I will admit that I was not perfect. I was really bad about grading papers and exams in a prompt time frame. I have admitted my fault and have tried to improve. What infuriates me about the director is that he shows no remorse for his actions and accepts no criticism. Or, if he has, he has not made that apparent to me. I fear that my temper got the best of me while dealing with these issues. I found it quite difficult to respect the director (which Biblically I feel I am required to do) when I feel his actions his actions are incompetent and not deserving of respect.

Pray for humility for me. Pray for me to love even when others are wrong. Pray for me to realize my faults, seek forgiveness, and change my ways when I am wrong.

I did share with students some of the issues involved in the conflict regarding my teaching. I did not solicit responses or ask for them to complement me or compare my teaching style to any other person's. However, several of them did contact me and pay me some complements. Some of these comments were received by email -- others by SMS. Unfortunately, I have lost many of the comments sent to me. But below you will find some of the comments received. Obviously, people's opinions are often biased and justify nothing. There is a right and wrong, and that is not decided by a majority of opinions. Nevertheless, they are encouraging to read. Names of students are listed so you will know these are authentic responses.

Without further ado, here they are (in alphabetical order):

Chang Hong: "You are the best teacher in my life."

Chen Yu: "We are lucky to have you this semester and we love you. The book we have is really boring. We did not like what ******* taught. We also thought we were wasting time to have *******'s class."

Dong Lingyu: "Actually i like your class very much, it's fun, exciting, and more useful."

Gao Zhifang: "Thank you so much for teaching us! You know that i plan to graduate school to study finance. Your teaching help me alot. Before the course i study by myself and i had some not understand like call and put option. you made me understand. i still remember the day i had fever and i asked your permission not come. i think ******* will not be so nice. we all love you."

Guo Liping: "You are the most wonderful teacher i have met. I will be proud to tell my Chinese friends about you. Actually all of us like your class better than ******* . Your class is more interesting and you do not care about trivial things."

Guo Lijuan: "I really cherish the carefulness and energy that you put in us. You are good firend for me. i will miss you. you are really good friend."

Guan Xin: "You are an excellent teacher."

Huang Zhen: "Mr. Green you are a good teacher. all of us think so."

Huo Xiaoling: "We all like your class rather than *******'s. for that class is too boring just like a traditional Chinese teacher, no creativity. i think you should teach like you do. we are all behind you."

Ji Yingying: "You are my friend (and also best teacher, at least in my heart). Being a teacher, you do what a teacher should do; moreover, you do far more for us. He is jealous of you, for we all like ******* better than him."

Jin Yi: "I really have learned a lot from you during the last four months, not only the law, marketing and economics, but also some good ways of thinking. You are a very good teacher. Do you know when we admire you most? It's when you explained to us a very complicated concept or something that we had no idea before using very easy and understandable words and examples. I can figure out that you really have put a lot of efforts to make everything easy for us. We appreciate that. And you have never got angry with us and always tried to make friends with everyone in our class. You have never left those who are very shy aside and always tried to make them take part in every activity."

Li Lan: "You are the most devote teacher I have met. I always feel very sorry about occupying your time with those silly questions (the things you have taught in class). As I known, Americans hold very strong conception of time. However, you presented to be so generous and patient and, never laugh at me with those silly questions. Remembered once you missed the chance to meet Lin junjie (the singer of Jiang Nan) only because I was asking questions about options. I was encouraged by your devotion and usually after class I will learn more by myself via the Internet. It is surprising that I got the highest score in IB course, which is the course I am afraid of. Mr. Green, I owe my accomplishment to you and I think you deserve it. Sam, it is my great honor to be your student and now your good friend. I cherished the time I spent with you. But now, the IBI class becomes more rigid, and it requires nothing but memorizing and taking notes. I mean the IBI class might be less challenging."

Liu Xiaojun: "We love you so much."

Lu Min: "All those days we spent together have brought me so much happiness, which I will remember and cherish all my life. We love you."

Nie Mintao: "All of us know which one of you two is better. i have always thought that you are the best teacher."

Ren Zhiqian: "We all love you. Thank you for what you did in the past semester. You will never walk alone."

Sun Yi: "Frankly speaking, all of us enjoyed your class far more than *******'s! What i said is not comforting you. actually *******'s classes are indeed boring."

Wu Dan: "You are the teacher I like most and friend as well. I had a very happy time that you gave to me. Your teaching style is more favorable to us."

Wang Xinjie: "Last year before I took your class, I knew little about law. After your class, I decided to switch my focus. I have just been accepted to law school at Yunnan University, and I owe that to your excellent teaching."

Wang Xu: "Words failed me to sufficiently convey my love and gratitude for you. you are so dear and special... I like your teaching style. I could not have had such a memorable semester without you. You are our best teacher and friend. we all love and cherish you so much."

Wang Yi: "You give us a lot of pratical knowledge and have done your best to make us happy and knowledgeable. Your teacing is more effective. And the information you gave us is useful nd practical which is the very thing we lack. I don't want to flatter you or say ******* is bad. My point is you are as precious as gold and gold will release light wherever it is."

Wu Yinqiu: "You know that we all like you more than ******* and I believe ******* knows that."

Wang Yue: "To me you are a very good teacher and friend! Dont let this make you down."

Xia Qian: "Without your efforts, I'm not able to be a good student and to know so much about international business and marketing. Thank you! You are a very competent teacher. No matter what, you will be my teacher and friend forever.:)"

Xie Juan: "I cherish the IBI class because your teaching style. if even you teach like *******, the class will be boring. Actually i only take game theory etc as useful things I had learned. If you teach like *******, that will be no different between chinese ordinary class and IBI. To make things worse, students will be more likely to drop class because they can learn by themselves at home. Teacher are afraid of knowing more than them. do you know story of cat and tiger? cat teach tiger all execpt climb tress to prevent tiger eating."

Xie Zhixia: "You are our teacher and friend. you are closer to us, know how we think and what we want to learn."

Yan Bing: "I'm working happily everyday. Now I use a lot of knowledge that you taught me in your lesson. I'm so lucky to have been your student."

Yang Mingzhe: "You are the best teacher i've ever had."

Yuan Shuai & Wang Yingjun: "You are a good teacher. We like the way you teach us. We will always support you. we all love you."

Yang Yuting: "I understand you so much. Don't be frustrated. you are really a good teacher. i really learned a lot of things from you and to be honest, we all think you are better than *******."

Zhao Yinan: "Thank God to give me such a good teacher and friend like you. You are the most interesting guy i eer met. i like you very much."

Zhang Lidan: "You gave me more in way of thinking, you treated me as equal and let me believe nothing is impossible through efforts."

Zhang Jing: "As your student, i admire you as the best teacher. As your friend, us will be by your side to support you.

Zhang Peilong: "I have a bad feeling after leaving your class. Your teaching us so useful information. I will miss you."

Zhang Xinyu: "Realize the fact that all of us like you much more than *******. We like the way you teach us and we like stocks and options. We are tired with his endless boring book teaching and homework. We will always support you and be your friends forever."

Zheng Chenxi: "I like the way you teach. No matter what happens i will always respect you as a teacher."

Zhou Ze: "Thanks a bunch for teaching us bonds and options. i love that. Maybe one day i can make a fortune through what you taught me. thanks for your jokes. we love you. I do not know how to express my feelings. i will say we all like you. You are the best teacher I have met. We all admire your adaptability and easy going. I told my parents you are the best teacher."

OK, wow, what great comments. I'm really something, right? Definitely, I was greatly encouraged after reading these. It does really makes me feel proud. Wait a second, shoud I feel proud? I must be careful about that. Judging one's teaching ability based on the comments of students is tricky. Students can sometimes like the teacher who gives them the easiest tests, the best grades, the most breaks, the least homework, etc. Of course, I can say objectively -- that I did give the hardest tests, the lowest grades, the most homework, and had the most hours of class. In the past, I have held extra makeup classes at night and even came back to Tianjin early to teach 2 extra classes during November 2004 when I was given a one week break from teaching (but students were still having classes at school). Still, I must consider these comments carefully and hold them in perspective. I'm not great -- God is great and He has created each of us with special skills and abilities. If I am a talented teacher, it is because God has blessed me. And even if I am not, God loves me anyway!

For those who are interested, I also received a comment from the TFSU administration via email. I cannot go into detail about the email, but will provide a quote from the administrative assistant in the department where I worked, Fan Wen. She said: "We really feel regretted that u are not working here any longer."

In concusion, I have made many mistakes and I admit that. Thank God for His forgiveness and love. I'm praying that I can let God better direct my actions in the future and that I can always act with love and humility.

TFSU Graduation!

2006-06-29T09:37:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was the graduation ceremony at Tianjin Foreign Studies University. This was an exciting day for me as the first 64 students I taught at TFSU were graduating. Graduation at TFSU is much different than at universities in America. Only a few select students (those going to graduate school at TFSU or elsewhere and those with guanxi) get to attend. The ceremony is held in the small auditorium at the western end of the famous TFSU building. Here is a photo of the room right after the ceremony ended:

At TFSU, the English department makes up almost half of the university. For this reason, the English department held graduation exercises in this large room in the teaching building where students and faculty could watch what was happening at the official ceremony with President Xiu Gang on a large screen.

However, this room is not large enough to seat all of the graduates, but since many graduates were not informed of their option to attend until the day before the ceremony and had already left town, there were plenty of seats available. I was able to get a seat next to Cao Wenping, Zhu Shu, and Ma Tong:

Two of my students who were able to take part in the ceremony were Sun Yue and Liu Chen. Here is Sun Yue and her mother:

An here is Liu Chen...

Graduation is a time for reflection. A time to reflect on the past and a time to dream about the future. There is happiness in the achievement of a goal, fear in what lies next, but also sadness as friends will soon part ways. I realize that yesterday may be the last time that I am able to spend time with these students, who have befriended me and taught me so much about China and myself. Thank you all for all you have given me. God has truly blessed me with great students and friends.

Grad Party #2!

2006-06-28T11:55:00.000-04:00

Today is graduation at Tianjin Foreign Studies University (TFSU) and so last night, in order to celebrate, I invited a few seniors over to my apartment for dinner and a party. Considering that during my tenure at TFSU, over 90% of my students were female, I had a good male turnout -- 3 of the 4 senior boys I taught came over!

We were going to cook dinner, but we were all too lazy! So we bought food and ate it at my apartment. Sorry, I do not have many exciting photos of the event as we are all busy. Here is a great one of me!

Yang Wenyan, me, and Zhang Peilong:

Later we talked and discussed what the future holds. Their lives hold so much promise, and their families really expect a lot out of them. Several of them stayed all night at my apartment - we played spades and hearts like madmen. We used multiple decks of cards, various rules, etc. It was card playing heaven. We had a blast.

Graduation Party at TFSU

2006-06-24T21:17:00.000-04:00

The seniors will graduate next week, and last night we held a party at TFSU in the large banquet room on the 3rd floor of the student dining hall. Unlike the party Wang Ruixue organized on June 11, both me and Leon attended.

Feng Fan/Sun Yue in foreground; Leon talks to me in the background:

Yan Yan, Pan Ke, me, Jin Yi, and Feng Fan:

Liu Borui, me, Xia Qian:

Zhang Jianli, Fang Xiuhui, me, Cao Wenping:

Xia Qian, me, Xie Yu, Ma Ziyue:

Afterwards a few students came over to my apartment to continue the fun. We had a fun night of playing spades all night. I was really amazed at their ability to stay up all night. I must be getting old -- I was getting really tired but they kept pushing me. Unbelievably, we played all night! I think the final score to one of our games was something like 2,036-1,952. Pretty close! We also tried to play monopoly but we didn't get too far into that.

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Zhang Peilong's New Life

2006-06-18T03:10:00.000-04:00

After the amusement park, we rode the subway out to visit Zhang Peilong. He couldn't join us at the park because he had to work -- on a Saturday! But we still got to eat supper with him...

Afterwards, he showed us the building where he works...

And also the apartment provided by his company (but shared with a few other guys)...

Here's the group photo. Aren't they a great looking bunch, each with a bright future ahead of them!

It was a long day in Beijing, and all of us were exhausted by the time we got back to Tianjin. But it was fun to catch up with everyone. Thank God for such wonderful friends. Thank you all for the memories.

Beijing's Disney World

2006-06-18T02:49:00.000-04:00

I just got home from Beijing. Today (or technically since its after midnight - yesterday), I went to Shijingshan Amusement Park in Beijing with some of my closest friends. Here's Jin Yi and I on the train to Beijing. The photo was going to be made on the count of 3 and on 2 I put small pieces of paper on each side of her glasses. It caught her off guard and she didn't have time to take them out before the photo!

Here, Feng Fan, Yan Yan and I ride the Beijing subway out to the park...

The park had several different admission options. You can pay a gate entrance fee and then pay per ride (usually 10-20 RMB each) or you can buy a combination ticket. There are three different combos. We bought the most expensive one, so our total admission cost US$75 (600 RMB). That's a little gui for China, but we did get access to a lot of rides. We rode almost all of them.

Do you have faith in the people who build Chinese roller coasters? Here we go...

The park has a castle like Disney world...

See the ride above that's going round and round? Here's Jin Yi after she finished riding it.

Actually it wasn't that bad. Just ask Yan Yan & Pan Ke....

or Feng Fan.

Just like in America, theme park food is really expensive. So we brought our own! Li Lan is enjoying one of the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I made last night.

Here we are going through a maze of mirrors...

And, of course, we had to drive the bumper cars! Here Pan Ke and Jin Yi bump into each other...

Feng Fan and Jin Yi are riding a roller coaster that looks like a worm and crawls through an apple. Here we are exiting the apple...

Some of us also drove cars around the racetrack. Jin Yi, who has her drivers license, decided to teach Yan Yan how to drive. Unfortunately it didn't go so well! They got stuck in the railing on the side of the track and had to wait for the maintenance guy to free them!

Then we left the park to go meet Zhang Peilong, who had been hard at work on a Saturday while we were having fun. (See next post)

Tanggu Surprise

2006-06-09T15:41:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Pan Ke, Xiao Ji, and I went to Tanggu to surprise Jin Yi in her office. Tanggu is in the Tianjin municipality but it is not part of the city proper. It is acually about 60 km to the east of Tianjin on the Bohai Sea (which comes off the Pacific Ocean). Jin Yi had no idea we were coming to visit! Her expression here said it all...

Jin Yi works for a small company with a Korean boss. Her boss was back in Korea this week visiting his relatives, so we took over the office! Actually, Jin Yi still had to get some work done so we tried to stay out of her way. Her boss called her twice a day from Korea to see how things were going.

Xiao Ji pretends she is the CEO:

From the photo, you might guess it was supposed to rain yesterday. No, there was no rain predicted. These umbrellas are the Chinese version of sunscreen!

We went to visit the Dagukou Fort in Tanggu. After arriving there, we decided the fort is not worth the effort to reach it! Actually, I think the girls all decided that before we left the office! Here is Yan Yan at the fort.

Here is a boat in the port of Tanggu...

Work desk by day.. and card table by night. Yes, we played several hands of cards around this desk. Here's Pan Ke.

We hadn't planned on it, but Jin Yi convinced us to spend the night. The office is actually an apartment in a luxury apartment complex. Her office has two bedrooms. One of which is Jin Yi's. The girls all slept in one bedroom, and I slept on the couch (as the other bedroom had no bedding). Here is Jin Yi's bedroom. The 4 girls shared one bed!

Pan Ke and Ji Yingying rode the Teeter Totter (part of the senior citizen's exercise equipment in the apartment complex) as we were leaving this morning. Guess who weighs more? Poor Xiao Ji!

We came back to Tianjin today on the light rail, which was the first time Pan Ke, Yan Yan, or Xiao Ji had ever ridden it. (We had come to Tanggu by bus.)

Calcutta to Delhi: Intriguing India

2006-02-18T23:57:00.000-05:00

I am now in Delhi. Here's a quck summary of recent events...

FEB 14. I visited the Missionaries of Charity, founded by Mother Theresa and saw her grave. Kolkata also has man-powered rickshaws (a man runs pulling a cart with one or two people sitting on it). I didn't ride in one, but I convinced the rickshaw man to let me pull him! What looks we received - to see a foreigner pulling a rickshaw man down the street for about 3 minutes!

FEB 15. I saw the tree in Bodhgaya (Bihar state) where Siddhartha Gautama sat under 2,550 years ago and became enlightened ("Buddha").

FEB 16. I visited Varanasi and saw the holy Ganges river (holy to Hindus). Also visited Sarnath, a village nearby where Buddha gave his first sermon (at Deer Park).

FEB 17. Came to Delhi and saw the Red Fort and Jama Masjid (biggest mosque in India can hold 25,000 in the courtyard). Also saw the ghats where Indira, Rajiv, and Mahatma Ghandi were cremated.

FEB 18. Today I visited Mathura and Vrindivan and saw the place where Krishna was supposedly born. (Krishna - Hindu religion). Also visited Agra and saw its Red Fort and the Taj Mahal. Very spectacular building! Took night train back to Delhi tonight. Tomorrow I will fly back to China.

Chinese Financial Markets

2006-02-18T23:46:00.000-05:00

I may be in India but I can still write about China....

Last July China revalued the currency (from 8.28 to 8.11 to the US dollar) and now floating the currency against a basket of currencies (versus directly pegged to the dollar). This move increased the risk of foreign currency for many businesses operating in China. The People's Bank of China (PBC) is urging firms to hedge against foreign exchange risk. Also, this past week (on Feb 10), the first ever RMB interest rate swap transaction was completed. Finally, a new financial derivatives futures market is being established in Shanghai.

Dhaka to Calcutta (& a hartal in Chittagong)

2006-02-14T10:10:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentines Day from Calcutta!

FEB 12. I arrived in Chittagong in the morning after taking a night train from Dhaka. In Chittagong, I had planned to visit the Hill Tract area or the beach on the Bay of Bengal (or maybe both). However, when I arrived I was informed that there was a hartal (labor strike) and so no buses were operating today or the following day and possibly more after that! So it was impossible to visit the hill tract area. I still went to the north bus station to try (being the persistent guy that I am) but it was to no avail. No buses. So I walked around Chittagong and had fun watching local life there. I came across a restaurant there called "Kentucky." :) I didn't eat there but I did take some photos. I saw some interesting mosques (one almost looked like St. Basil's in Moscow). I also finally found a post office that was open in Bangladesh - on Thursday I was travelling in the countryside, on Friday it is the Muslim holy day so everything is closed, and Saturday was a holiday. So the first day I could mail post cards was on a Sunday. Afterwards, I went to Patenga Beach on the Bay of Bengal (just south of Chittagong). At night, I took a night bus back to Dhaka. I would have liked to have spent more time in Chittagong and southeast Bangladesh, but I have only one week to make it to Deli to catch my flight back to China!

FEB 13. I arrived in Dhaka at 5am and got out of the bus on the side of the road and started walking using my map. I got back to the hotel where I had stayed on the night of the 10th and picked up my backpack and then found a bus to go the bus station. There I took a bus to Jessore. I fell asleep because I did not sleep so well on the night bus. All of a sudden, the bus stopped and everyone picked up all of their bags and got off. So I followed them. We walked down a dirt path and then got on a boat to cross the river. There is no bridge so this is how we travel in Bangladesh! After a 25 minute ride downstream, we got off the boat, walked up another dirt path and to another bus which took me to Jessore. I got to the border around 3:30pm and crossed over. A man (on the Indian side) there kept picking up my bag (I fought him for it and he would not let go) and grabbing my passport and giving it to the officials. Then he told me I had to pay him a tip! No, sorry. I got a 4 mile bike rickshaw ride for 20 rupees (0.50) to the train station and then a 2.5 hour train ride to Calcutta for 16 rupees. It felt good to be back in India. When I was in India before, I really missed China a lot. This time I appreiciate India more -- less staring, cleaner, more modern. Still a developing country - but improvement over Bangladesh. Train came into Sealdah train station and I walked to a hotel near Sutter Street - Hotel Palace.

Darjeeling to Dhaka: Bangladeshi Hospitality

2006-02-11T21:15:00.000-05:00

Hello from Dhaka Bangladesh!

FEB 6. On February 5, I walked all over the city (Darjeeling)- maybe more than 15 km (9 miles)! Not sure the exact amount, but I was tired at the end of the day. On February 6, I wanted to get up early to see the sunrise over the Himalaya mountains (common tourist attraction). The jeeps (which people share rides in) leave at 4:30 to go to Tiger Hill - the tallest peak in the area. I don't have an alarm clock - only a wrist watch with a very quiet alarm that goes off after 1 minute. So I didn't sleep well - I can't waking up in anticipation! I woke up at 1am, 3am, 3:30am, 3:50am (my alarm was set for 4). Then I fell asleep and woke up at 4:30. I hurried out of the hotel quickly (I had prepared the night before) and wandered around in the dark in a strange city but found several jeeps waiting. After some time, our jeep left and we got to Tiger Hill around 5:20. More and more jeeps came later. At the top there was one jeep playing Eminem (American rap music) very loudly. So we all watched the sunrise over Darjeeling (the city) and the tallest mountains in India (K...) and China (Everest) to a beat! Very beautiful view. Afterwards, the jeeps took us back. I got out of the jeep in the city of Ghoom (8 km south of Darjeeling) and visited some monastaries and other sites and then walked back to Darjeeling.

The next mision for the day - get a permit to visit the Indian state of Sikkim. Sikkim is the land north of the Indian state of West Bengal, east of Bhutan, south of Tibet, and west of Nepal. Most people in India are Hindu, but in Sikkim there are many Buddhists. Also, some of the people there look more Chinese than Indian. India claims this land but China has never recognized India's right to own Sikkim. I'm not sure about a lot of the history, but I do know that in the past the government in Tibet (maybe in the 1800s?) invaded Sikkim to control the government there. So perhaps Tibet has some old claim to it and through that China claims Sikkim? Anyway, China and India have a not so friendly relationship due to land border issues (another dispute is the Tibet border with the Indian state of Kashmir). This is why China and India fought a war in 1962. Because of this, China and India have no border crossings between the two countries and Air China does not fly to India and Air India does not fly to China. To cross by land, one must go through either Pakistan or Nepal. However, I've heard that both countries are trying to repair the relationship and solve the issues. Anyway, because of the political situation of Sikkim, India requires that all foreigners get a permit to travel there. That permit only gives one permission to reach Gangtok (the capital) and the surrounding area. Once there, you need additional permits (and sometimes supervision) if you want to go further - especially near the Tibet/Sikkim border. India has military posts along the border.

So my next step was to get a permit to go to Sikkim. In Darjeeling, it is free to get one - but it takes some work. The office is open from Monday - Friday but the previous Friday was a holiday in India so the office was closed. It did not affect me directly, but there were more foreigners applying on Monday because of the Friday closure. I met some girls from the UK and France who had been waiting since Friday because of the holiday. Anyway, you have to go to one office (2 km north of town at the bottom of the mountain) and get a form. You have to take the completed form to another office - in the center of town on top of the mountain to get it stamped. Then you have to take the stamped form back to the first office (2 km north of town)! Afterwards, I went back to my hotel (1 km south of town on top of the mountain) to get my bags and then to the jeep station (1 km north of town at the bottom of the mountain). So I went up and down the mountain several times! It took about 2 hours to complete everything. Then I took a jeep to Gangtok. In the jeep, all were Indians (who need no permit) except me and a woman from Switzerland. The Indian man (in his 50s) sitting next to me had an MBA and wanted to discuss my teaching in China - the 4P's of marketing, management, inflation, net present value, etc. Upon arrival, I got a hotel room (on top of the mountain -- that's where the budget ones are located!).

FEB 7. I walked around Gangtok in the morning and climbed a big hill to visit Enchey Monastary. Interesting place, but not a good view of the Himalaya.Actually, I could never really see them so well while I was there because it was so cloudy. Around 11, I walked to find a share jeep to go to Rumtek monastary - the most famous one in Sikkim. I walked down the mountain and down the hill down the road to Rumtek and tried to flag down a jeep or taxi headed there but the only ones that would stop were empty and expensive. So I had to walk back up the mountain into town and finally found the share jeep parking lot (after asking several people). It was well hidden - but it is 20 times cheaper than going alone because they stick 20 people in there! Along the way to Rumtek, the driver stopped the jeep two times and got out to chat with local people. Then after 5 minutes or so he would come back to the jeep and we would go again! Not very fast - it took more than 1 hour to go 26 km (16 miles). At the monastary, I met the Indian guy with the MBA and his wife. After seeing the monastary, I went back to Gangtok, climbed the mountain, got my bag, and then got a share jeep for Siliguri. After 4 hours, we reached Siliguri (arriving at 8:30pm). Once there, I was able to find a night bus headed to the Bangladesh border (leaving at 9pm - arriving at 6am). Great - I am short on time so I took it. The bus cost 140 rupees (Y26 or $3.26) - and it was a pretty nice bus for India! (My hotel costs had been 125 in Siliguri, 150 in Gangtok, 100 in Darjeeling -- so this was about the same as a hotel).

FEB 8. We arrived at the Hili border of India/Bangladesh around 6:30am. Almost everyone on the bus got off in the city just before the border - only a few of us were going to the border. Once arriving in the border village, I was informed by the border guard that the border doesn't open until 8am. So we waited for 1.5 hours with the misquitos. Hope they don't have dengue or malaria! At 8, the border guard called me into his "office" - a small dirty room with a table. He looked through my passport several times and then started staring at my Chinese visa from last year. After looking at it for a while, he asked what country are you a citizen of? Oh my - it seems he doesn't know what a passport is! I showed him the front of the passport, which clearly states USA. "Oh" he said. He kept staring and flippling through the passport for a while and then started copying everything he could out of it. I guess they never (or rarely) have anyone cross the border here other than Indians and Bangladeshis. He copied all of my passport information, my Nepal visa information (because I entered India from Nepal), my Indian visa information, my Bangladesh visa information, my home address and telephone number, the itinerary of what I would do in Bangladesh, the hotel and phone number of where I would stay in Bangladesh, and much more! This guy did not work for Bangladesh immigration - only for India. He obviously had never dealt with this situation before and so was nervous and wanted to write everything down! After telling him my favorite color and my great grandma's name and birthday, he finally stamped my passport and let me go! Next up - India customs! Similar routine there. They were dumbfounded. Instead of dealing with me, they put my passport down and worked with the other people first. Then they flipped through my passport and found my visa to Cambodia (last year). They asked me "Are you a citizen of Cambodia?" Oh, no - not again. So I kindly showed them the front of my passport and the first page with my photo that both say citizen of USA. Finally, we took care of everything. Next up - India guards/army. They were slow too but not too bad. Now I had permission to cross into Bangladesh! Next - Bangladesh immigration! Actually, they were pretty quick and reasonable. Afterwards, I went to Bangladesh customs where they wrote down my passport number and visa information and let me go without asking any questions. Aren't they supposed to ask me if I'm carrying valuables, weapons, drugs, etc? I guess I look nice and my backpack is pretty small. Anyway, after almost 2 hours I was free to move about Bangladesh. It was now 10am!

I got a rickshaw ride to the bus station and then a bus to Dinjapur. After a slow ride (the bus slows down every 10 feet to pick up people but doesn't stop completely - they have to jump on!) , we arrived. Then I got another bus to Kantanagar to visit a famous temple. After 30 minutes, they told me to get off the bus. I was in a small village with stands and a dirt path. I followed the path for a while and came to boy holding a stick across the path. "Toll" he said! So I had to pay a toll to walk down the path. Actually, the path led to a shaky wooden bridge which I wasn't sure would hold me! But I guess it is pretty strong - there were tire tracks on the other side! After the bridge, I was walking across a field of sand. It appeared I was in the desert! After 2 or 3 minutes, I climbed a small hill and was back on a dirt path again. Everything is agriculturally focused here. Around me - corn, banana trees, chili peppers, rice, etc.? May different things. After about 15 minutes since I left the bus on the main road, I reached the temple. Wow. It had amazing carvings all over it. What was amazing was that it was located in the middle of nowhere. Literally!

I met lots of people who liked to stare, chat, follow me, etc. I should talk about this a little bit. Sometimes foreigners complain in China that they are stared at. That is nothing compared to Bangladesh. Because Bangladesh is not so famous, is more remote, has no famous sites (like terracotta soldiers, great wall, Hong Kong, etc), is predominantly Muslim, and extremely poor, no tourists come here. In China, it is common to see other foreigners from time to time. Here, I've seen only 3 in the 4 days I 've been here. And those were only in Dhaka - not in the countryside. In comparison to Bangladesh, China is extremely wealthy. I had to search for 1.5 hours to find a net bar. 85% of the population makes less than 80 taka (11Y or $1.38) per day so they have so little. I feel guilty to spend even a small amount on bottled water (20 taka for a 2 liter). So tourists simply do not come here. Foreigners are so rare that everyone stares. It is not a stare like we get in China. As my travel book states - and after being here 4 days I completely agree - you would not get worse stares if you dressed in drag and danced in the street howling at the moon. Some people stare like you are really crazy. If you try to engage them conversation, most will stop and actually talk back and are nice. However, some are just crazy! They follow you around continuing to stare awkwardly! Usually, they engage me in conversation before I reach them. In China, most people do not speak English, so all I get is "Hello!" And those who do speak English are usually nice students who are not rude. Here, most people do not speak English either. However, here I think all who know it try to speak to you! Usually the conversation begins with them yelling "Hello brother" and then they either block your path or follow beside you and then say "What country?" "What is your name?" "Are you student, journalist, or working on a project?" The concept of tourist is totally foreign - there are very few. They just assume either you are studying here, you are a reporter, or you are working for some charitable organization. One guy started the conversation with me like this -- What country? (America, I said). Are you a graduate student working on your thesis project? (this was actually his second question!) For those who don't speak any English (and I know very little Bengali) - usually they just follow behind me. Anytime I turn around there is a crowd. It is sort of like being a celebrity I guess! They are so fascinated by my digital camera. Children (and even some adults) run down streets to meet me and say please take my photo! Those who don't ask for a photo can always be found behind me watching the process! It makes it very difficult for me to get photos with no people in them. I usually have to do tricky things like aim the camera in one direction and then everyone runs and jumps in front of the camera and then I quickly point the camera towards my target (church, mosque, temple, monument, etc) and take it before they can run back! So it requires a lot of patience! Some of the people are annoying, but most are extremely friendly and nice. Very generous - giving me food, etc. A few more facts about Bangladesh - it is 54 times smaller than Australia, but it has 7 times more people! It is the densest (most people per area) country in the world. Bangladesh is the 7th largest country in the world based on population (140 million). In comparison, the US has about 300 million. Based on current statistics, Bangladesh's population is estimated to grow from 140 to 180 million in the next 20 years and Dhaka (the capital city) is expected to be the world's most populated cityin 40 years. Lots of people here!

Afterwards, I rode the bus to the town of Jaipurhat. There is no information at all in my travel book about this town so I asked a man on the bus and he told the driver and they pushed me off the bus and pointed at a hotel there. Signs are not in English - so I could not tell it was a hotel! I went in and the man behind the desk spoke English and I got a room.

FEB 9. The reason I came to Jaipurhat was to visit the ruins of an ancient Buddhist monastary from the 6th/7th century in a nearby village called Paharpur. I waited for 30 minutes for a bus and finally it came. The bus went for about 5 minutes and then thd driver and everyone got off. The driver went into a restaurant and ordered food! I had not paid yet, so I took my bag and started walking. The driver said -- time, time, maybe 30 minutes! So I told him - I will walk and you pick me up later when you decide to leave! I walked and walked. I passed a World Vision school/work center as well as a number of other charitable organizations and a church. After an hour (maybe I had walked for 6 km (3.5 miles?), the bus finally caught up with me! So I got back on. I had hoped to go see the ruins and then get out of there and on a bus by 9am and so this slow bus really frustrated me. But that is life in Bangladesh - you have to learn to deal with the things you can't change. I got to the ruins and they were amazingly still intact to be so old. There was absolutely no transportation back to Jaipurhat! So I started walking back. After 10 minutes, a man riding a 3 wheeler (here 3 wheelers are bicycles!) with a cart behind him came by. So I rode on the back of his cart for a while (he offered to do it for free!) until he turned off to go to his village. So I started to walk again! The "road" we are going down is dirt and rock and very bumpy. Along the road were fields of banans/rice/other with water buffalo being used to plow. All farming. Soon a truck came by. Trucks do not stop to pick up people here but since I am a foreigner they stopped and let me climb into the cab. That was nice too. See, I told you Bangladesh people are very nice/friendly! :) By the time I reached Jaipurhat it was after 11am! I had hoped to be back before 9.

I got a bus and was on my way to Mahasthangarh - the remains of the oldest city in Bangladesh - from the 3rd century BC. Same situation - another road - more farming - more interesting transportation - more friendly people following me around and asking me "which country" etc. One interesting encounter I had - While walking across a field of ruins, I met what appeared to be a class of college students and a professor (man appeared to be about age 55). After I passed them, I heard shouting "Hello, come here!" I turned around and the man was yelling at me. I went back and, sure enough, he was a college professor. We talked a little bit and then he said to me, "Thank you thank you thank you for visiting our country. We have so many interesting and beautiful sites and people don't come here because they think we Muslims are terrorists. We are not. People in your country have the idea that we are hate you or do not like you, but that is not true at all. We are very friendly and we welcome you to come and stay in our country. Thank you for coming. I really really appreciate your coming to my country."

Afterwards I went to Bogra and then got a bus to Tangail. I have no map of Tangail but do have information on 2 hotels there. The bus let me and several other people out on the side of the road in the dark around 7pm. There was no city in view! Another bus came by and we all got on and after 2 minutes we were at the Tangail bus station - which is on the edge of town. After arriving, I started walking. I walked and walked looking and asking for hotels. It is really a disadvantage not being able to read Bengali script (similar to India - it looks more like Arabic than Chinese). Finally, I found the street with the hotel I have information about. My travel book says rooms should be 100 taka. I went in and they said we have 1 room left - it is 600 taka ($10.5 or Y84). This is a good price for China and a very cheap price for the US - but I stayed in Jaipurhat for 70 taka ($1.2 or Y9.5) - a room with a private bathroom attached. Not the nicest room but at least it came with a misquito net. So I left and found another hotel - 400 taka! I asked to see the room. It was pretty nice (much nicer than the ones I had stayed in before - couch, TV, etc). I told the guy I would think about it but look for a cheaper room. Finally, I found the Sagar Hotel which had a descent room for 120.

FEB 10. I had come to Tangail with the hope to see a famous mosque (Attia) which, according to my travel book, is 4 km south of town. I had hoped to see it early and then take the bus to Dhaka and get there early. I found there is no public transportation to the mosque, that the road there is narrow, dirt, and difficult to travel down, and that it is a lot further than 4km! I took a bicycle rickshaw there - I usually like to walk but since I was not sure of how to get there I had to take one. I took more than one hour to get there! Once there, I met a man - who like 83% of the people of Bangladesh is Muslim. Like many Muslim men, he was wearing a white robe with a white hat. He was probably about 50. He watched me take photos of the mosque for a while and then asked the normal questions - country, name, etc. Then he invited me to his home! So I went with him down a dirt path into the forest and to a small house. There I met his wife and kids (and maybe other people too - not sure if they are related) and had some cookies and an orange. Very friendly. The kids knew some English, the wife knew none, but he knew quite a bit. After the rickshaw ride back, I got back to Tangail at 10am. After the bus to Dhaka, I arrived a little after noon. I walked around and took photos. One boy (about age 20) followed me around for a while asking annoying questions. I felt bad to tell him to go away so I did not. He asked, I can help you right? I was annoyed, so I replied, "How? I have a map." He didn't get the hint. He kept following me. Later he said "You are a very handsome man. We are great friends." I asked him, why do you follow me and not that (I pointed to someone else) man? He said - well you are a very "well man". I said that man over there is "well" you can follow him! He kept asking me to stop and buy him food but more annoyingly - asking stupid questions. When he was asking for money, a Bangladeshi man who works at the US embassy happened to be walking by and overheard the conversation. He asked me - do you know this guy? And I said, well I just met him on the street and he is following me around. Then the embassy guy got rid of him and shooed him away. I felt bad that the boy got sent away like that but afterward the embassy man told me to be careful because there are many pickpockets in the city. Anyway, I walked around some more and took photos (always attracting crowds - and questions - country, name, academic qualification, etc). What I found is that the more devout Muslims (those in costume - robe/hat, etc) do not stare as awkwardly, are more friendly, and ask intelligent questions (as opposed to supid ones). Those wearing regular clothes (but who are probably also Muslim since 83% of the country is) are usually more annoying to me. Anyway, I met a young Muslim guy (robe/hat) at a mosque who was really helpful and friendly. Later, that evening, I met a boy (age 25) wearing nice clothes (looked professional) who is an MBA student studying marketing. He was very helpful and gave me a tour of Dhaka University. Finally I found a hotel and went to bed.

FEB 11. I got up this morning and walked around Dhaka all day. Saw many interesting places. Lots of questions, lots of people wanting photos, lots of nice helpful people, and a few annoying ones too. Now I'm in an internet cafe. It took me 1.5 hours to find one - there really is not much "upscale" here. Not even McDonalds. I found it by walking to the nearest expensive ($100 USD per night) and asking them. They pointed me down the street and I found it. It is interesting because the owner appears to be a Christian - which is very rare in Bangladesh. 83% are Muslim, 16% Hindu, and 1% are other. He has a big sign about Jesus in the net bar and was watching the Jesus film on his computer when I came in. Anyway, now I plan to leave here and catch a night train to Chittagong. So I need to leave the net bar now.

Kashinagar to Darjeeling: Via Pheuntsholing

2006-02-05T23:48:00.000-05:00

Greetings from Darjeeling - in the northern part of India's West Bengal province. The stories are not so exciting this time, sorry. More frustrations than excitement.

FEB 2. Something strange about this small town (Kashinagar - where I last wrote) that was freaky. As of about 6pm, there was almost no lights in the village. By 10pm when I left the net bar, the street was completely dark. No lights at all - only from the moon - which gave me enough light to wander back to the monastary (1 km or 1/2 mile away). The wierd thing was that there was very loud music playing with some wierd voices. So here I am walking down
one of the only streets in the village listening to music which sounds like it should be played in a haunted house. I awoke from the Tibetan Buddhist monastary early due to the morning exercises outside. Actually, where I stayed look just like a hotel - a single room with two beds and a table inside. But there was no toilet, no heat, and lots of misquitoes. In the morning I walked around the very small village and looked at all of the monastaries/temples set up by different countries to honor the place where Buddha died. I also saw his cremation stupa (where his remains lie). Afterwards, I walked out to the main road to wait for a passing bus to take me to Gorakpour (the nearest train station). After a few minutes, a jeep came by. I had read that many people use shared jeeps like buses here - so I got in. This jeep is made to hold 7 people comfortably. When I got in there were only 7. By the time we reached Gorakpour there were 21 of us in there!

Back in town, I went to the train station and used a computerized terminal to look at train schedules (wow - china needs this). I found there was no train to Darjeeling - where I wanted to go, but I quickly figured out that I can take a train to Hajipur (across the river from the Bihar provincial capital Patna) and then another train from there to New Jalpaiguri (Siliguri) - the closest train station to Darjeeling. I went to the counter and waited in line to buy the train ticket (similar to buying tickets in China). I asked for a ticket to Hajipur and got it - only 67 rupees (12.5Y or $1.5). Cheap. But then I noticed something - there was no train number or time or seat on the ticket. Hajipur is 240 km away (150 miles) yet the train will take 7 hours to get there! So although India does have the largest railway system in the world with the most stations - and they do have computerized terminals - some of the trains are really really slow. I tried to find someone in charge but there appeared to be nobody! In China, you have a train number/time and then go line up based on signs. You are not allowed to go out to the train platform until time to board your train. India is completely different. Everyone can go to any platform anytime they want and get on any train that comes by. Nobody is checking tickets. There were no electronic / temporary signs. Only some signs painted in Hindi (common language of north India - looks more like Arabic than English) lying against a wall. I went to the computer terminal but found no trains coming anytime soon! Finally, I found 2 different people and asked. They both told me it was train 3020. One said it was at noon on platform 2. The other at 12:30 on platform 2. I went back to the computer terminal to look up train 3020 and get info. According to the computer, train 3020 arrives in Hajipur at 7:20pm but it does not show Gorakpour (where I was) as a stop to get on the train - so I am still not sure of the official time it should arrive!

So I went to find platform 2. Platform 1 is the one right next to the train station. So I walked up a ramp and over a bridge to the next platform. It was platform 3! Where is #2? It turned out that #1 and #2 were both right next to the train station - #2 was down about 100 meters. Efficient system, I guess - but confusing. There were no signs. I went there and at 12:30 there was an old train with no lights on. Again - no signs anywhere. Was this my train? I asked a few people and someone said - no the train is late - just wait. Then I met the "Moment Control" Colonel Army Officer stationed at the train station. He invited me to his office to have tea and cookies and had one of his soldiers watch for my train. Very friendly guy. Warned me a lot about the trickiness of India vendors etc. He said several times - do not eat/drink any food that anyone gives you - it is very common that people drug foreigners and then steal their bags. I inquired about my train ticket and why there was no information on it. The man said it was because I had bought my ticket at the lowest class "unreserved" ticket office. "Reserved" (higher classes) have information and reserved seats/beds. China has 4 classes (hard seat/standing, soft seat, hard sleeper, soft sleeper). Not too dificult to understand. India has something like 7 classes! Confusing. When the train arrived at 1pm (supposed to arrive at 12:40 and arrive in Hajipur at 7:20), I saw the lowest class - very very crowded and dirty - more than in China! The army officer took me to the next highest class "sleeper class" where people sit on what looks like hard beds in China. He told me to stay there - so I did. Nobody ever came to check tickets - so I guess I could have ridden for free! However, signs on the train say you will be fined 1000 rupees for travelling without a ticket. The train arrived in Hajipur around 10pm - only 3 hours late! I went to inquire about the train to New Jalpaiguri. I was told it left at 5am but since the "reserved" ticket counter was closed and you can only buy "unreserved" tickets for the day of departure - I could not buy a ticket until midnight.

I considered a hotel - but I thought I might oversleep the train. So I decided to stay in the train station area. I walked down the street - it looked like small shacks and really poor. There was really really loud music playing. I walked towards it - there was a Hindu shrine there and a couple of people dancing in front of it. Very wierd. Very loud! I found a restaurant on that street furtherest from the music and it was still very loud. I went in and sat at a table. In India (and also Nepal) people eat rice and curry with their right hand. Very messy and strange looking to a foreigner. So people are in there sticking their hand in their mouth and I am just waiting waiting. The owner serves several Indians but ignores me for about 20 minutes. Then he comes over and says "Where From" and I say USA. I've learned that when I say America - people understand 1/2 the time. If I say USA, they usually get it. It is very difficult speaking English to Indians. Chinese speak English much better, I think. Indians speak with a very strange accent - I can barely understand anything. There is no menu - but I am able to order chicken and rice (sort of like curry). Soon, he brings me like 5 plates of food - rice, curry sauce, vegetables, chicken, etc. All the Indians eating there had just 1 or 2. Now I'm worried - since there is no menu - he can charge me whatever he wants! I ate a lot and it was good - and very spicy. After finishing, I sit there and read my travel book. Or I try - the owner comes over and tries to talk. He says something. I say What? He says Yes that's right. I say I don't understand. He says Good. I have no idea what we were talking about! Who knows what he thinks I told him. I did understand a few things. And he was very nice and friendly.

Then he gets out some hard liquor and starts drinking and gets really drunk. Now he is just annoying. He goes to his "sweet" cabinet (he also has a bakery and Indian sweets are very sweet - rich even by American standards). He gets three or four pieces and tells me to eat them. I wasn't hungry after such a big meal and didn't want to eat sweets at night. And who knows what this will do to the bill! Then he said - no money - just eat! So to humor him i took a small bite from all three and said they were good - but didn't finish them because I didn't want him to give me seconds! Well, he got up and got three or four more different treats and said eat! some of them were really good, but I just wasn't hungry. Then he went and got thirds and fourths, etc! Finally, I said no - I'm not hungry and refused to eat. He then picked up one of the sweets and pushed it (and his fingers) into my mouth! Soon after, I tried to leave and go to the train station. My meal cost 90rupees ($2.1 or 17Y) which isn't bad for all the food - but an average meal should be about 30 rupees. When I tried to leave, he grabbed my arm and leaned on me and would not let go. So I had to come back to the restaurant to get rid of him. The other employees (maybe sons?) were laughing. I distracted him by pointing at one of his sweets and when he turned his head I got away.

FEB 3. It is now 3am and I am at the train station buying a ticket. 125 rupees (23.5Y) for unreserved ticket - more than 500 km. The train (#5010) should leave at 5:20 from platform 3 and arrive at 6:30pm. I found a quiet place with storage bags and tried to rest (there was another Indian guy doing the same thing right next to me). I didn't sleep well. About 4:20, I awoke as a train left from platform 3. Couldn't be my train, right? At 5am, I walked over to platform 3. There was an old cargo train there. At 5:20 it moved away. At 5:30 a train pulled up. This had to be my train, right? I got on in the sleeper class - found an upper bed and went to sleep. I awoke at 8am when the ticket man came and checked my ticket. He made a strange face, then nodded, and gave the ticket back. That concerned me. So I went down to talk to some people around me just to make sure this is the right train. I told them I was going to New Jalpaiguri. They said this train (1030) does not go there. They said you need to get off at the next stop (Somisipa?) and take the Assam Express - which goes there. The train stopped 2 min later and I got off the train. I ran around the station and asked a man when will the next train to New Jalpaiguri come. He said it has already come. Then he said no wait - the train is late. So it will come in 30 minutes. It was train #5010 - the train I had been waiting for before. While there, I met some nice guys about my age. They just stared at me for about 15 minutes and then started talking. You from where? I told them I came from China and they didn't believe me. They kept asking which airport you flew into? No - I came by bus. Yeah right funny man. Frustrating. Then they asked me what is your qualification? I said what? A passport and train ticket? He said no - i mean education. I told him I have a masters degree in finance and he said wow - that is my major i will graduate this spring with that major. Then he asked me do you have paper? Can you draw a sketch of me right now? I thought, that is a wierd thing to say. Then he said I really like sculpture. Are you good at it? I said no. Then I realized that "finance" sounds like "fine arts". He thinks I have a masters in art! I never corrected them and so they still think I am an art expert. My train arrived finally and I confirmed several times. Nothing eventful for the train arrived. Yes, it was late - I arrived at 8:30pm - 2 hours late. Went up the road 5km to Siliguri and got a hotel for 125 rupees (23.5Y, $2.9) across the street from the bus station. Lots of misquitoes.

FEB 4. Got up early to catch a bus to Bhutan (a nearby country that borders India and China and is in the Himalayas). I bought the ticket at 7am - bus left at 7:30 - directly from the country Bhutan ticket booth. Now to take care of another problem - my pants are really dirty and I don't often have places to wash (and dry them) so I decided to buy a new pair. I found a store and bought some quickly. Probably could have negotiated more - he asked 400 and I got them for 200. Back to the bus station - it is now 7:25. All the buses are green and say West Bengal (the state I in India), except one bus - it is white and says BHUTAN all over it. Surely this is my bus, right? I got on the bus. We left. It is good that I like maps and directions. I thought we should be headed north and west but the bus was going east. Maybe we will turn soon I thought. Yes, we did. We turned and started going south. I asked around and quickly found this was the wrong bus. I told the driver and they stopped and let me out on the side of the road by a farm. I quickly found a small jeep/van going to Bagdogra (back towars Siliguri) and then from there another back to Siliguri. I got another ticket - this one run by India to Jaigon (the city on the border of Bhutan) leaving at 8:45am. The buses sure are slow. The whole time some guy has his head stuck out the window yelling trying to get other people to get on. Not just in town - the whole way. 169 km (105 miles) took more than 4 hours. At times we drove fast, but we stopped so much it really slowed us down. I got to Jaigon and walked to the border. Previously, foreigners were allowed to cross the border to the border city of Pheuntsholing for the day but this was stopped in 2004. Before leaving China, I read on the web that several people had tried to go since then and had been turned away - but one guy had been able to sweet talk the immigration officer into letting him go across. So this was my goal.

Indians can go across with no visa. When I approached with a big crowd of Indians they stopped me. They asked to see my passport and asked to see my visa. I told them I have no visa but I really want to see your country and eat your national food. They told me you can see from here and you can eat similar food in Jaigon (the Indian border town). There were actually 3 guards there. I think if there was only 1 maybe it would be easier - but none of the 3 want to look weak to the others. I showed them in my India travel book (written in 2003) that foreigners could cross. They said that was never the case - even in 2003. Only Indians. After sweet talking them for a while, they went to get their supervisor. He said no - impossible. Then after talking to him for a while he went to talk to his supervisor. He came back (i've been at the border 30 minutes now) and said No it is impossible. I kept talking to him and after another 5 minutes he decided to let me go! :) But limited me to eating in the nearest restaurant and said he would accompany me. All of the other guards looked Indian (brown skin) but this guy looked more like a Chinese in facial features. We went in (he hid me in the back and kept saying he could get in big trouble for doing this) and he helped me order some traditional Bhutan dishes. Good and spicy. Very friendly guy - told me about his family, religion (Buddhist) etc. Then he told me "I'm having financial troubles." I thought - oh now he wants a bribe or something. But actually, I asked him if he wanted money and he said no. I paid for his meal (it was a very nice restaurant but only about 28Y or $3.5 for both of us to eat). He asked for my email address and said he wanted to be friends! Afterwards he let me walk around Bhutan a little (just in that area) and take some photos. He also wanted some Chinese money so I gave him some. Then I went back and caught a bus back to Siliguri. This bus was even slower - 4.5 hours! I was really frustrated with how slow it was. I had planned to get back early enough to get transportation to Darjeeling, but because the bus was so slow I had to stay in Siliguri again. Stayed in the same hotel in Siliguri again. They were surprised to see me again.

FEB 5. This morning I got up early and got a 5:50 am jeep to Darjeeling. Arrived at 8:20. (Just so everyone knows - when it is noon in China, it is 10am in Bangladesh, 9:45am in Nepal, and 9:30am in India). Darjeeling is cooler (I've been burning up during the daytime because I'm still wearing a winter coat - it doesn't fit in my bag very well!) and in the Himalaya mountains. So the coat is more handy here. Walked all over the town. Beautiful mountains. Nice city. Tonight I'm at the Aliment Hotel on a mountain in Darjeeling. No heat and it's cold - so I'll sleep in my coat! They have Internet access in the lobby.

Kathmandu to Kashinagar: Bombs & Elephants

2006-02-01T22:01:00.000-05:00

Namaste! (That is hello in Nepali and also in Hindi, language of Northern India) Happy Groundhog's Day to you too! (February 2 is Ground Hog's Day in America.) Hope you had a good Chinese New Year and a good time with your family. I am in the India in the province of Uttar Pradesh in the small village of Kushinagar. I am alive, fine, and doing well. Wow, alot has happened since I last wrote!

JAN 28. I rented a bike and rode all over the Kathmandu valley. I saw Kathamandu (the capital), went to an old city Bhaktapur, and then to another old city nearby (Patan). My legs were really sore from riding up and down hills on the highway. It was a long ride but good exercise and I got to see a lot of old Nepal architecture. Very amazing. I got back to the hotel around 4:30 and asked for my laundry. The hotel claims to have a 1 day laundry service - give them the laundry one day and it will be finished the next. I gave them some laundry around 8am on Thursday morning. When I left Friday morning, they told me it will be ready at 11am. When I got back Friday night, they said it would be ready by 11am on Saturday. When I asked at 4:30pm on Saturday (Jan 28), they said it will be ready tomorrow at 11am! I told them I am leaving in 1.5 hours. They said well you can get it when you come back to Kathmandu to fly out. I told them I am not flying out - I am going to Pokhara in 1.5 hours. They did not believe me - the guy said "I think you are making a joke on me. There are no night buses to Pokhara." According to my travel book and my inquiries in Kathmandu, the nice buses for tourists leave only in the morning and run during the day but there are cheaper poorer local buses that run at night. But I did not know for sure if there was a Pokhara bus or not. I told him that I planned to take a local bus and he said I don't believe you - there are no night buses. I said, well I am leaving here anyway - get me my clothes ASAP. He said he would get my clothes as soon as possible but that they were at somebody's house and that person was out of town so he would have to call someone to go pick them up. Just so you know, this was not just one shirt - this was all of my shirts except the one on my back, so if I did not get my clothes back I would be wearing the same shirt for the next 4 weeks. He said he would get them by 5:30. He didn't, but he did make it by 6 so I was a little late leaving. I wanted to arrive at the bus station by 6. When I arrived at 6:45, they told me the bus to Pokhara had just left but that I could take another bus. The friendly guy gave me a ticket and I got on a bus. I was so tired from cycling that I fell asleep immediately. I woke up around 8:30 when someone told me I had to get off this bus and get on another bus. So I did. Once on the other bus, someone told me that my ticket was a fake - the guy had made a fake ticket. The man who gave it to me had just walked up and had a ticket book so I assumed that was the way to buy tickets. However, actually I was supposed to go to some hidden window in the back side of the wall to buy the tickets. (These are not really "stations" - more like bus parking lots with small food stands all around. - There is no obvious station or ticket window) Anyway, I had to buy another ticket but it was still cheaper than taking the tourist bus. Around 11pm, the bus I was on stopped on the side of the road and turned off the engine. I was told that we stopped because of the Maoist uprising (rebels in Nepal who blow up bridges, towers, buses, etc. They call themselves Maoist after the teaching of Mao Zedong -- the current government is a kingdom with a dominant all powerful king. They demand democratic freedom and more fair representation for the people.) Because of the Maoists, the king (government) implemented a curfew of 11pm so that no vehicles can move from then until 4am. So our bus sat on the side of the road and we tried to sleep (in bus seats - not a sleeper bus) until 4. At 3:40 the bus started moving again....

JAN 29. I didn't sleep so well - so I was still really tired from cycling and little sleep. Anyway, I arrived in Pokhara (northwestern Nepal near the Himalaya mountains) around 6am. I fought of the hotel touts and went and had breakfast. Then I decided to climb up to Sarangkot - a peak from where you can see many other nearby Himalaya mountains (Anapurna). I got a ride to the beginning of the way there by a man on a motorcycle. He was very friendly - but then mentioned that he sells tours and told me where to find his shop. What I found is that most Nepal people are friendly - but they also want something from you. Along the way I must have met 50 children (not all together - a few here and a few there). Some were friendly and said hello. Some didn't. All of them asked for money. Some would say things like USA is a rich country - Nepal is a poor country. Give me 5 rupees (Nepal money; 1 dollar = 8 Chinese Yuan = 70 rupees). Some would not say hello - they would just come up and grab your leg or grab your bag and not let go and say give me money. Some kids squashed my bananas in my bag. Others squashed my bread by squeezing my bag. I was not happy with those kids! Finally after much walking I made it to the top. There I met two girls from Korea who had taken the boat from Incheon to Tanggu and then traveled to Beijing - Xian - Tibet and then Nepal (similar to me). They were happy that I could say Anyang Haseo (hello in Korean). In fact, in october, I had travelled to their hometown - Andong - in eastern Korea. I said goodbye and then started racing down the hill, passing some Chinese tourists. (I met several people from China in Nepal). I had a small conversation with them in Chinese and they too were happy to meet someone in Nepal who knew a little bit of their language. As I went down the mountain, two small boys came up and asked for money. I then spent five minutes teaching them the words "please" and "thank you" and how not to grab and squeeze foreigners. Actually they knew no english other than "give me a chocolate" and "give me 5 rupees". I don't know if they knew what it meant, but they started saying it so maybe at least now there can be polite beggars in Nepal. At the bottom of the mountain I ate lunch in a restaurant by the lake Phew Tal (the second biggest lake in Nepal) and met a guy from England. Then I went to pick up my bag - I left it at the restaurant where I had eaten breakfast. When I got there, I told the guy I was leaving Pokhara. He said no you are not. I said I am taking a night bus to Tadi Bazar to go to Royal Chitawan National Park. He said no you are not - there are no night buses. I said ok, but I am leaving. I got a taxi to take me to the bus station. He refused to turn on his meter. I had heard that the fair price is 70 rupees for the distance (maybe 3 km or 1.5 miles). I asked how much and he said 200. I said 60 or I will get out of the cab. He said ok 100 and started driving. I opened the door and started to get out. He said ok 70. I said no 60. Then he agreed to 60. I think it is illegal for him to drive without the meter and with the meter 70 is the fair price. I think without the meter, he gets to pocket more money. Anyway, he told me there is no night bus to Tadi. When we arrived, I gave him 70 to be nice. This time I decided to look for a ticket window. There was a big window saying bus tickets - I went inside and the guy said there are no night buses - only day buses. I said thanks and kept looking. A few feet away there was an old small window - the real bus ticket window. The man I had asked had been a travel agent trying to sell tourist buses. The real bus ticket man sold me a ticket to Tadi for 160 rupees ($2.22 or 18 kuai.) The bus was sitting right there and was leaving in 10 minutes. Persistence is important - don't always believe what you are told the first time! We left around 5pm. Then at 9pm we stopped at a place with many food stands to eat supper. The man said that we would not start the bus again today - we would sleep on the bus again because of curfew. So we did.

JAN 30. Around 4am the bus started moving. Around 5am they told me we had arrived in Tadi. I realized the nice thing about curfew - if it weren't for curfew, we would have arrived in a small village in the dark at 10pm and I would have to pay for a hotel. Because of the curfew I saved money by sleeping on the bus for free. Of course it was not so comfortable, but I did feel safe on the bus. I made friends with those around me and guarded my few belongings closely. So now it is dark and 5am in a small village. Royal Chitawan National Park is in Sauraha (6 km or 4 miles south of there). I felt like walking but finally agreed to a bicycle rickshaw from an old man who really wanted to take me. I did it more for him - he looked pretty desparate and at least he was wan't begging for me to give him money - he actually went and unlocked his garage to get out his rickshaw when he saw me just to make some money. It was good too - there were many turns - I would have gotten lost if I had walked. I got to the city around 6am. It was still dark and very foggy. Nothing was open - very few lights. The park office was supposed to open at 6am and elephant rides are held at 730am and 330pm. Why elephant rides? Because jeeps can scare away the rinoceroses and tigers and if you go on foot the rinoceroses and tigers will kill you. Elephants are the best way. But the office was closed. I waited until 7 am with the sun rising - everything was still closed! It was like the whole city had been killed and I was the only one there. Around 7:05am I saw 5 elephants riding off into the forest and so I was angry. Finally I found the park man opening the park office at 7:10. I asked him does this office open at 6am? He said yes. I was angry. I said the elephants just went into the jungle and I have been here since 6 but since you were not here I could not buy a ticket or know where to go. He said those elephants were army men going to the jungle to shoot/kill poachers who come to the jungle and shoot the tigers and rinoceroses. I asked if I could get an elephant ride later and he said (his english was poor) there are no elephant rides today. I said - " no rides anywhere in the whole world?" and he said yes no elephant rides. I said "there are no rides in Thailand, America, anywhwere?" And he said "yes no rides. Tomorrow. Tomorrow" I was not happy. Finally, I met a guy from a hotel who spoke good english who was coming to register some guests at the hotel with the park. I found out there were elephant rides in the park at 3:30 in the afternoon today. Also he helped me arrange an elephant ride at 8am in the morning - so that is what I did. It was a little expensive - 1000 rupees ($14 or 110 kuai), but the ride lasts for 1 hour and 45 min and you get to see wildlife up close. I got to see two rinoceroses really close - they are not scared of the elephants. Also saw some rare birds and deer close. No tigers though - they are nocturnal and do not stick around long when they hear any noise. The guy told me that in January and February it is the dry season (from May to October is the monsoon season when it rains a lot). During the dry season, the rinoceroses will often leave the park and come into the town to eat the farmers crops. He said every year, several villagers are killed by the rinoceroses in the middle of the night when it is dark and foggy. Fortunately, when I arrived at 6am I didn't meet any rinoceroses! In the afternoon I took a canoe trip down the river boundry of the park and saw crocodiles close by and some more birds. Then me and two guides walked throgh the park on foot. Once we got inside the park, they told me it was very dangerous. (Thanks, why didn't they tell me that before I decided to go!) Actually I was already aware of the danger a little. They gave me tips on what to do if we met rinoceroses, sloth bears, tigers, wild elephants, pythons, cobras, etc. For rinoceroses, you should climb up 6 feet above them - they can't climb. If no tree, run in big long zig-zag shape - they can't see well - only smell and hear. If getting close, throw things - your camera, your hat, anything. If you throw something, they will stop to smell. For tigers, sloth bears - get in a big group with the others and make a lot of noise. Do not run - they will chase. Do not climb - they will climb. For tigers - they always attack from behind - not when being watched. So if you see one, always stare at it, never turn your back. And then turn around and move slowly away. If you see a wild elephant - good luck. You will probably die! The wild ones are very fast, very smart. They always attack, can knock down any tree, and almost always get you. Fortunately, we were in a part of the park where there are no wild elephants. They said a local Nepal man was killed by a wild elephant 15 days ago. For cobras, if they bite, you are dead in 30 minutes. So don't get bit! They said don't be afraid - often on the jungle walk they dont even see a bird. We saw 4 crocodiles, many wild monkeys, some birds, rinoceros and tiger dung (so they had been there recently). Actually, one of the guides thinks he saw a tiger but wasn't sure. Tigers usually are not aggressive in the day unless scared - usually they eat/attack at night. Nothing so scary or exciting. But exciting to think that all of those animals were nearby and I was walking through their neighborhood. The guides said they do this walk everyday and see a rinoceroses 30% of the time and a tiger 5% of the time. They kept trying to get me to go on a 5 day camping tour with them - of course they want me to pay money for that! I asked them if they ever saw anyone die - they said yes - many people - last year a guide died by a rinoceros. They said they knew of no tourists dying though. Guides are trained to save the tourists. They said the worst thing they ever heard for a tourist was a broken leg from a rinoceros. The man in the Suraha (the city) told me there is no night bus. I said I will take a night bus to Lumbini. He said no you won't. Anyway, I got the guide from the jungle walk to drive me on his motorbike back to Tadi, where I caught a minibus at 5pm to Barahpur by 5:30pm. Around 6pm, I found a bus to Butwal (it is pronounced like boot - not butt :-) ), which is close to Lumbini. I got on it. The man said we would arrive in Butwal at 8pm. Oh my, I thought - my night bus is too fast! I will have to get a hotel then! Actually, that sounded good. I was tired of sleeping on buses and wanted to stretch out my legs. Around 7pm, the traffic came to a stop and we heard gunfire! Then a man got off our bus and checked things out. He came back and said something and everyone got off the bus. What? I asked? He said the Maoist rebels had put a bomb on the bridge ahead. We cannot turn the bus around and we cannot go ahead. We will be stuck there until the day after tomorrow! What? I got off the bus and found many truck drivers and other buses. The local village (between Naranygat and Butwal) was turned into a refugee camp! Scary, interesting, and exciting at the same time. I went to some local people's house and fell asleep on their bed. Oh, a bed - felt great! Around 11:30 someone on my bus woke me up and we went back to the bus - to sleep....

JAN 31. I actually slept well. I was tired from the past few days. I woke up at 7am and went out to get food, use bathroom, etc. The rumor/theory was that the Maoists had placed a bomb on the bridge. When I passed by in the morning, I did see the pile of rocks on the bridge with some electric wires underneath, but they almost looked like plastic toys. I walked around with some guys on the bus. One guy said he is 22 and likes all girls except Nepali ones. He asked me to take his photo and take it with me to US and China and ask girls to contact him. He said many people in Nepal get married when the boys are 20 and the girls are 15. He said he was upset about not having a girl. He was a little strange. Then I met the bus driver and another guy. They told me I should go back to the bus because the Maoist rebels may want to kidnap me because the US fights terrorists and they may not like Americans. I went back with them but believed them to be wrong because I read a lot about Maoists before I left and they said they like tourists and foreigners and their fight was only with the governement and they have never harmed foreigners - only the governement. In the past 9 years, about 10,000 people have been killed in the fight between Maoists and government - but all are targeted towards each other. I went back out in the city and walked around and met some local town people. They said I was in no danger. They said the Maoists did the same thing previously. The reason they do this is to show everyone how weak and slow the governement is to come in and clean things up. Several people were present when the Maoists came. Apparently, it was a group of 80 people - mostly females about age 17! Many had guns and pointed them at people - but they shot nobody. Then they put the rocks on the bridge and forced some big trucks to block the bridge. The local people took this seriously - they said for nobody to move the rocks or trucks for one day or else the Maoists would come and cause trouble. Also the Maoist had blow the roofs off several governement buildings - but they evacuated the buildings first so nobody would be hurt. So we were stuck for a day. I met a lot of local people - I ate in several restaurants, when wading in the river with local people, hung out with the men and talked about politics, played with the children in the street. I was the only foreigner stuck there - everyone else on all the buses were Nepali.

One family invited me to their home and we had tea and he showed me his mill. It was very exciting. I had a good time there. After hanging out with local villagers, I walked back by the bridge around 3pm. There were no wires and the rocks had been moved slightly. I inquired what happened. I was told that the village had a kid go take the "bomb" and throw them into the river. Supposedly, there were two of them. However, I question rather it was really a bomb or just a pretend threat. Anyway, the kid threw them both in the river and nothing blew up or anything. Perhaps there was no bomb at all. Later a local boy - about 15 let me sleep at his house (the bus driver had told me we would be there an indefinite period of time). Oh great! Finally a bed! Right when I layed down even though there was another bed, he layed down next to me in the same one. Then he put his arm around me. It was really wierd. Then at that time we heard yelling in the street (about 9:30). We thought the Maoists may have come back. I took the opportunity to leave! Out in the street the local town people were pushing the trucks and rocks out of the way. I guess 24 hours had passed so it was ok to move them. I went and helped them. We had to push away abuot 6 big trucks (Maoists had blown out the tires). I helped with 2 of them. So about 9:50pm - 1 hour before curfew, the town was set to move again. I estimate there were more than 1000 large buses and large trucks stuck there up and down the highway - in addition to other cars and motorbikes. We started driving and we drove all night - I don't think we stopped for curfew. It was slow going - we passed the last truck parked in the rode due to the bomb about 3am - 5 hours after we had left. We got to Butwal around 5am....

FEB 1. I got a bus to Bhairawa and then to Lumbini (birthplace of Buddha) and arrived there about 8am. Not very interesting location - but interesting in history I guess. There are lots of temples built by different countries. China's looks like a miniature Forbidden City. Different architectures for different countries. Then I took a bus to the border city in Nepal and India. I walked across the border from Nepal to India and left Nepal. Once in India I asked the man for the money exchange, and he said that it was located in Nepal! He said - sure it is fine just walk back over! So I did - nervously. I went back into Nepal and changed my money to Indian Rupees and then walked back into India. No problem.

Then I took a bus to Gorkapour arriving around 3:30. I planned to take another bus to Kushinagar to see the site of Buddha's death and then another bus back to Gorkapour (in Uttar Pradesh) to catch a night train. However, I met a man on the bus from Kashinagar who said I live there and I want you to come stay at my house tonight. He seemed really nice and professional, but he was really pushy. I considered it for a long time and then told him no. He then told the bus driver that I was going home to his house. I told him no again. He said ok. No problem - I will tell you where to get off to see the temple where Buddha is buried. I said thanks. We entered a small town called Kashinagar he said the temple is up ahead - don't worry I will tell you when to get off. Then we drove and drove. It was now 5:30 and getting dark. I then figured it out - he lied to me and was taking me to his house and said we could go to see the temples together the next day. That really made me mad. I told the bus driver and then I found out that the man had told the bus driver that I wasn't getting off in Kashingar - that is why the bus driver hadn't told me to get off! So I was really mad. I told the bus driver to stop the bus and so I got off right there on the side of the road. I didn't want to keep going any further from Kashinagar - I did not want to go to the man's house now! So I got off. Almost immediately a man on a motorbike came by and I flagged him down and got a ride into town. He was extremely nice, extremely smart, and the president of the local bar association (a lawyer). He gave me a ride to town and then asked me to give him something to remember me by - he said not money and nothing valuable just something small. So I gave him a Curves pen (the fitness center where mom works). At least the lawyer on the motorbike showed me where the Buddha temple was. But I had no idea about a hotel. After he left, within 5 minutes, I met a kid (probably 12 years old) who is a Buddhist monk - rare in India because everyone is Hindu. But this is the town where Buddha died. Anyway, this boy was really smart and really nice. He gave me lots of useful info about the town and got me to a hotel that is run by Tibetan monks - free but they ask for donations. So I am glad I met those two - the lawyer and the monk really helped me a lot. Now I am writing this email. Tomorrow morning I will go see where Buddha died. So I have survived lots of people who said "there is no night bus" - but there was! And I survived the tigers and rinoceroses and cobras and pythons! And I survived the Maoist rebels. And I survived the tricky man on the bus and getting left on the side of the road (with no map and no directions - the sun had gone down - I wasn't even sure which way was north/south/east/west). God has taken care of me and protected me during my travel. It is an interesting world that He has made.

Kathmandu: Hello Cheap Price for You!

2006-01-27T22:46:00.000-05:00

Jan 26. Or wants to go to India but has no visa. (I already got Indian and Bangaladeshi visas in Beijing in December). He really does not want to sightsee in Nepal. He is just coming here because it is cheaper than flying to India. So he hopes to get in and out of Nepal as soon as possible. However, it takes 7-10 days to get an Indian visa! So this morning (Jan 26) Or went to the Indian embassy. I went out to see the city. I walked a lot - all over the city. I visited the Royal Palace (outside only), Asan Tole, Durbar Square, the river, and lots of other places. As I was leaving the hotel, the guy at the desk told me there are no taxis or buses today - but walking is free. As I got out on the street, I saw what he meant. 90% of the businesses at 10am were closed. There were no taxis or buses. Lots of people walking. But more impressively - there were soldiers everywhere! Everywhere - on sidewalks, on top of buldings, in businesses, in trucks - everywhere. It looked like a war zone. I found out later that Nepal will have elections soon. The king chose which parties can participate and which cannot participate - but he only chose parties which support him - none that have different ideas than him. Many people were upset about their lack of political freedom and the king's unwillingness to allow others to have different political opinions. So they decided to protest - by striking. That is why there were very few businesses open and no buses and taxis. The police/army soldiers were all over the city to prevent violent protest and riots. As far as I know, there were no incidents to speak of.

Another thing about Nepal - it seems more than half of the people speak English (unlike China where only a small percentage knows English). While this is helpful for buying things and getting directions, it enables vendors to say more than "Hello cheap price for you" (which is normally what foreigners hear in China). Actually, it is very annoying. These vendors walk up to you carrying lots of merchandise and they don't say "buy". They say, "Hi, what is your name?" And you feel rude and mean to not reply. So you tell them. And then they say, "My name is ____. What country are you from? Oh, that is a very good country." And they follow you around for the next 20 minutes talking to you and then try to get you to buy things. It is annoying. After 20 minutes maybe you can convince one to leave you alone. Then another appears and follows you. It is tiring. The worst is near the historical sites when "guides" come up and start telling you things about where you are. These guides are not official people. After talking and walking with you for 5 minutes, they ask for money. When you refuse, they say I did work for you - I was your guide. You should pay me money. Very annoying. Kathmandu is more wetern in ways (Thamel is westernized (although the streets there are sometimes gravel/dirt/unpaved and people speak English), but in other ways it is similar to other Asian countries with persistent people bothering foreigners trying to sell them things. It is difficult to say no - some of them look really poor and desperate. At the same time, I hate to buy something - it only encourages them to use the same tactics on the next person. Actually, Nepali people are very friendly. I met several people who just wanted to talk to me -- and not sell me anything. They just wanted to learn more about foreigners - what do we think of Nepal, how long will I stay here, what do you like/not like about Nepal, etc. After a long day of walking around the city, I went back to the hotel and met Or. He said that the Indian embassy was closed so he would try again the next day.

Jan 27 I left early and rented a bike. Or planned to go back to the Indian embassy. I rode out into the countryside and up and down mountains outside of Kathmandu. Very interesting and beautiful scenes. Had lunch in a small village - had buff chow mein (buffalo fried noodles). It seems since Nepal is so close to India there are a lot of Hindus here. And so beef is rare here. Instead most restaurants serve buff (which Or and I believe to be buffalo instead of cow). However, at the restaurant they served me a glass of cold water. Maybe I should not have drank it (almost all restaurants in Asia serve hot water so you know the water has been boiled to kill the bacteria). I was thirsty and sweaty after riding the bike so far. I hope I won't get sick. Anyway, I came back to return the bike tonight at 6pm and told the guy I wanted it again tomorrow so he let me keep the bike. So I plan to leave early tomorrow to bike to Patan and Bhaktapur (two close cities with interesting sites).

Lhasa to Kathmandu: Frozen Every Night

2006-01-25T23:23:00.000-05:00

Greetings from Kathmandu! Happy Chinese New Year! Chun Jie Kuai Le! Today (January 25) I travelled from Tibet to Kathmandu, capital of Nepal.

Jan 21. A little about our group - Chris likes to use the F word for every third word he says. He is very extraverted guy who likes to be the center of attention. He is nice and spoke to Yuya a lot in japanese. Chris spoke Chinese very well too - he's studied it for 2 years (including currently intensive training in Beijing). Yuya had been in China 1 month - his english is poor but understandable. He has a large expensive camera and gets paid US $30-50 for every set of photos he takes. Very friendly guy, but he does like to smoke a lot - in the car, in the hotel room, etc. Finally, Or is a 27 year old Isreali. He joined the Isreali army at age 18 and served for 9 years. During that time he visited many countries. He says he's been to more than 100 countries! For part of that time, he was stationed in the US because the Isreali army did joint exercises with the US army. He's lived in Delaware and Idaho among other places in the US. He left the army about a year ago. Since September he's been travelling the world - Cancun, Wales, China, etc. He entered China at the beginning of November and will stay 3 months - until he leaves Tibet for Nepal. He has a flight in May from Bangkok back to Israel. He will begin his undergraduate degree as a 28 year old freshman in September. He is a very caring, thoughtful, intelligent person. He does describe himself as a left-wing socialist though.

We left at 8am and headed out for Yamdrok Lake. It was a beautiful lake with a big snow capped mountain behind it. Next we went to a small town to eat lunch. Everything on the menu was expensive. I picked out a dish for 6 kuai but believed it to be rice because the last character was mi (rice). I also knew the character before it sheng (born/life) but did not know what it had to do with food. Or decided to get the same thing as me. Chris and Yuya had dumplings (jiaozi) and their food looked good. Then we received our dish -- peanuts. That's all it was - a plate full of peanuts. We had a good laugh and then ordered a bowl of rice to go with our 6 kuai peanuts. We mixed the peanuts, rice, la jiao (spicy pepper sauce) together and had an interesting dish. Not bad. However, we could not finish - we were both sick of peanuts after eating 1/2 to 3/4 of them. Or then had some reaction - his nose started bleeding badly. He was ok, but a lot of blood came out of his nose. I was ok - no problem. Back in the landcruiser... We arrived in Gyantse in early afternoon and chose a hotel - the Wutze Hotel. We got dorm beds for 20Y each. However there was no running water or heat. It did have electricity at least - something I would later learn that not all Tibet hotels have!

After checking into our hotel, we went out to the Dzong (or city fortress). As we walked down the city streets, we saw no other foreigners. Our hotel had no other guests. It seems we were the only 4 outsiders in this city today. When we reached the Dzong, it was locked up but a group of women and a man ran across the street with a key to let us enter. They unlocked the Dzong, charged us 10 kuai a person, and showed us around a little bit. There were a lot of stairs -- the fortress is on top of a hill in the middle of the city. Then they left and let us roam the fortress by ourselves. It was really windy! We climbed to the top and the wind was very strong there - almost impossible to climb down the stairs. Then we started our descent to leave the dzong. As we were exiting, one of the women that had been with us earlier came out of the ticket office building and waved us in. We went inside. The 4 women and the man were all inside sitting on couches and eating food. They shared some tradititional Tibet food with us - almost identical to the food I ate in Mongolia. Tibet really does have much in common with Mongolia. The drink - Suk de cai (in Mongolian) and Yak butter milk tea (Tibet) tasted the same. The food - dried yak milk treats were the same as what they served guests in Mongolia. Two things were different -- one of the women had a big bottle of Pepsi and shared it with everyone. (Pepsi seems to have a huge market share advantage on Coke in Tibet - I rarely saw Coke available -- almost always Pepsi.) The second thing is that one of the women had a plastic bag with a bone sticing out. She pulled out the bone and it was a raw/uncooked leg of lamb - still with fur on it. She then took a knife and cut off several small pieces and gave it to everyone to eat. The Tibetans all ate it. Chris and Yuya ate it. Or and I looked at each other and then realized there was a lot of room in our pockets! But we reailzed they were staring at us and that they were watching us and kept telling us to eat. I ate a litte - but only part that seemed dried nd tough - not the wet juicy fatty parts. After eating a small bit, the rest found its way to my pocket. Of the 4 Tibetan women, the youngest was 21. She kept joking that she would marry me. An old 40 year old woman then joked she would marry Chris (who is 21). We think they were joking but then we were never quite sure. Who knows, maybe they were serious! :-) We stayed and ate Tibetan snacks and drank yak butter milk tea with them for 1.5 hours. Then we left and went back to the hotel and had dinner in a Muslim (Qingzhen) restaurant. Good food but a little pricey. It seems every place in Tibet outside Lhasa where there is a lot of competition has high prices. Then we went back to the hotel and tried to sleepin our cold beds. There was no toilet in the rooms - it was outside across a courtyard. And it was cold at night. But I was still able to sleep.

Jan 22. We left Gyantse in the morning and went to Shigatse (known as Rikaze in Mandarin Chinese based on sound). We did not want to pay to go into the monastary (it was free for Tibetans), so we walked around the pilgrim path around the outside of the monastary and then walked over to the Dzong (fortress). The Dzong was initially destroyed in the 18th century, but was completely destroyed during the 1950s. There is really little to see. Actually, it was under construction - lots of scaffolding in place - so maybe there are plans to rebuild it. The other guys left, but I walked around the construction zone to get a better view of it. After getting up to the top of the Dzong, a construction worker saw me and told me I had to leave (or at least that is my guess). I walked back and met the other guys. Chris was on the toilet with stomach problems. He guesses it was from the raw lamb meat from Gyantse. I ended up going into the monastary to take some photos and look around, the other guys didn't want to pay.

We left Shigatse on our way to a small town called Sakya - home of a monastary. We stopped for lunch in a small city between the two, and this time we ordered jiaozi (dumplings) and chow mian (fried noodles) - no hua sheng mi (peanuts). Chris was not feeling well - we all wondered who would be next! We found that most of the friendship highway (the road from Lhasa to the Nepal border) is not paved -- mostly dirt and gravel. Not much of a "highway" but we were able to go 50-80 km/hour (30-50 mi/hr) on it - so not bad. When we reached Sakya, our driver (a 50 year old Tibetan named Kika who spoke Tibetan, Chinese, and only a few words of English) took us to the Sakya hotel. It was the only building that resembled a hotel. We went inside and the man told us 35 kuai per person. However, again there is no heat and no running water! We argued for 20 and he would not budge. So we went outside and Yuya and I found another "hotel" -- it was a run down poor looking place. They offered 25 kuai per person. The room was a little dirty but not too bad. I told the man - no, we want 30 kuai for all 4 people. He went and asked his boss and his boss said ok. So that gives you some idea - they were willing to rent a room with 5 beds to 4 people for 30 kuai ($3.75). However, Or had been able to negotiate the other hotel down to 25 kuai a person by the time I got back. Chris was sick and wanted a nicer looking hotel than the cheap dirty one. I came into the hotel and was able to get them down to 20 Y each - the same as I paid in Lhasa and the same as we paid in Gyantse.

Chris decided to lay down and get rest because he felt sick. The 3 of us (Yuya, Or, and I) went out to look at the city. There are actually 2 monastaries in Sakya - one north of the river that was destroyed and lays in ruins and one south of the river (in the village) where you must pay 45 kuai to enter. We walked around and took lots of photos. The village kids came up to us and posed for photos and then asked for money. We gave them 17 fen ($0.02) in coins and they were happy. One thing to note about Tibet - nobody accepts Chinese coins here as money. So all of our 1 kuai, wu mao, 1 jiao, etc coins were not usable. After coming down off the mountain we went checked on Chris and then the 3 of us asked the hotel manager where to eat. He took us to the Dezin Family Restaurant - a small room with a stove in the middle. Around wooden pieces of furniture (used as tables) were couches. All the local Tibetan people stared at us. Yuya did not say much during the meal, but Or and I talked about US and Isreali politics. Or described Isreali left-wingers (peace at all cost) versus right-wing (fight the Palestinian terrorists and punish them for what they have done). Also described the religious makeup of Isreal, saying about 65% of the population is not religious - only Jewish by religious culture (people observe customs but are not religious) or simply by heritage. Also about race in Israel - 45% are white, 45% brown/MiddleEastern (but these two groups intermarry and act as one), and then about 5% are black (mostly Jews from ethiopia). He also said of the 6 million people in Israel - 5 million of Isreali citizens are Jews and 1 million of Isreali citizens are Muslim. The biggest conflict Israel has is with the Palestinian Muslims who live in the West Bank. Anyway, after supper we went back to the hotel. The hotel decided to have a karaoke party in the room near us so there was loud music playing late at night. And it was cold. And the bathrooms smelled because the hotel has no running water in the winter. (And this is by far the nicest hotel in
Sakya).

Jan 23 The next morning we decided to leave at 11:30 in order to let Chris rest and also so we could see the monastary. The monastary was not very big but did have some interesting things - but mostly just Buddhas. Our nickname for Tibet - A land without heat and water but full of mountains and Buddhas. Another way to describe Tibet - Africa meets the North Pole. Actually, during the day time the temperature was warm enough to walk outside in a jacket and feel comfortable. The problem was at night when lows were usually close to -10C (14F) and there was no heat in the hotels. We left at 1130 and ate lunch in Lhatse. All four of us felt fine now. After lunch, we saw where a truck had driven off a cliff and smashed on the ground below. It was near a bend on the mountain road so maybe it met a car and veered to far over and went over the side. There were probably more than 100 Tibetans on the mountain side picking up all the things that had fallen off the truck.

Around 4 pm we arrived in Shekar (Shigar) also known as New Tingri. The first hotel we went inside we met the 2 british guys (still wearing blue) and the Australian guy named Kieren. They had not seen as much as we had seen along the way and had gone to Everest that day. (We would go the next day). However that hotel was cold and expensive so we walked down the street and found another one. That one was cheaper 20Y but had no water, heat or electricity. Actually none of the hotels in that town had electricity! The one we chose had a generator which ran from 7-1130pm so we had electricity for 4.5 hours at night. Also, our hotel did have electric blankets - but they were not very powerful and did not work after 1130pm. We went back to the first hotel - which had a warm restaurant and met another group of people who had come from Lhasa headed to Everest the next day. It was 2 guys and 2 girls. One of the guys was 35 and kept talking about how he is in the Her Royal Majesty's Navy in Australia and that he is a navigator. Sort of annoying. The other guy seemed friendly but we aren't really sure. He was from somewhere in the UK and is teaching english in China but we could only understand 1 out of every 5 words he said. Strong accent and used strange/different words than we were familiar with. Went to bed and enjoyed the electric blanket until 11:30.

Jan 24 We left at 8am to go to Everest. An SUV behind us carried "the Navigator" and his friends. Chris was really annoyed by him and kept makeing jokes about "the navigator." After 3 hours of winding up and around and down mountains, we made it to Everest (Quomolonga in Tibetan) base camp - the start of expeditions to climb Everest and the point up to which you can go by car. After base camp, you hike up to camp 1 then camp 2, etc. The summit of Everest is 8844m (about 29,000 ft). Base camp is at 5,200m (or about 17,000 ft). In comparison, the top of Pikes Peak is 14,000ft. So it climbers must hike an additional 3644 meters up the mountain. It was very cold and windy but almost no clouds in the perfectly blue sky. Very exciting to be looking at the tallest point on earth. The Canadian biker had told me about a new sign which is a good place to take a photo - and so we walked over there (about 5-10 min walk). It was cold and windy! However, I took off my coat and hat to take the photo (see attached photo). We walked back to the Landcruiser and our driver. When we got back, "the Navigator's" landcruiser pulled up. We told them about the sign, but they just took a photo from there and left in less than 2 minutes at Everest. We probably stayed close to 30 minutes. Well, there were a lot of navigator jokes in our car after that. We stopped in a small town between Everest and the Friendship highway and then guess who joined us - the navigator and his 3 friends. Actually, I don't think the guy is so bad. But Chris almost spit his food out when the Navigator started saying "one time i was navigating..."

After lunch, we drove to Tingri to spend the night. Tingri had electricity all the time, but no outlets to charge batteries/cell phones, etc. That probably didn't matter a lot about cellphones - because most of the time in Tibet there were no cell phone towers. The next day, Or and I would go to the border of China and Nepal but Yuya and Chris would take the bus back to Lhasa. Chris inquired about the bus and the hotel told us there was no bus! So it looked like they would have to hitchhike (common in Tibet because there is little public transportation). But then another guy in the hotel said there was a bus but it does not come regularly. Or and I decided to leave the hotel at 7am so we could get to the Nepal border early enough to catch a bus to Kathmandu.

Jan 25. This morning we awoke around 630am and it was cold! Probably the coldest we had encountered in Tibet. It was difficult to get out of bed. We had a room with 5 beds in it for 20y each (which is what I paid for all 8 nights I stayed in Tibet). None of the hotels I stayed at (including Lhasa) had heat. Only the Lhasa hotel had running water and hot showers. The Tingri hotel had a shower - but it was only cold water (and outside) and you had to pay to take one. So we passed up on that. The driver tried to start the landcruiser, but it would not start. After working on it (using a burning torch to try to unfreeze the gas lines) for 45 minutes, he got it started. We said goodbye to Chris and Yuya who were planning to take the bus later that day. Poor Chris - this was his plan - Jan 25 take bus from Tingri (near Everest) to Lhasa. Jan 26 take bus from Lhasa to Golmud. Jan 27-29 take train from Golmud (Ge-er-mu) to Jinan where his friend lives. Three problems - 1 the money in his Bank of China account in Beijing was unaccessible so he had little money left - 2 he had to travel directly from one end of China to the other - and 3 he was travelling during Chinese New Year which makes it difficult to travel. I have not heard from him, but I did get an email from Yuya saying they reached Lhasa on January 25th.

Or and I left the hotel around 745am and got to the border around 1230pm China time (1015 am Nepal time). That's right - Nepal is 2:15 behind China. Why the :15? Because India is 2:30 behind China and Nepal wants to show they are different from India! Between Tingri and the border we passed some great views of snow covered mountains (the Himalayas). At the Nepal border we got Nepal visas on the spot by filling out a form and paying US $30 (240 Y). Interestingly, my cell phone had connection from a tower in China when I was just over the border but lost power as soon as we left. Instead of taking a 9 hour bus for 150 rupees (1 nepal rupee = 9 chinese yuan = 70 USD), Or prefered to take a taxi that would take only 3 hours and cost 750 rupees or about US$10. So that is what we did. Along the way we passed the world's tallest bungy jump - from a bridge above a canyon/river. We did not do that. We arrived in Kathmandu around 4pm. Our top choice - Kathmandu Guest House in Kathmandu's Thamel (do not pronounce the h) district had no cheap rooms available. So we went next door and rented a room at the Hotel Star for 200 rupees per night (100 rupees each which is 11 kuai or $1.4 per person). Warm room with 2 beds and private shower/bath with warm water. Not the nicest room but it is cheap. Nepal is poor like other Asian countries but much more developed than Tibet. Much do to the elevation. Lhasa is at 3700m, Base Camp 5200m, Shigar 4500m. From Tingri to the border and on to Kathmandu it was mostly downhill. Kathmandu's elevation is 1300m. The lower elevation makes it warmer and easier to breathe (more oxygen in the air). Thamel district in Kathmandu has a target market of Western tourists. Lots of businesses offering pizza, hamburgers, ice cream, internet cafe, etc. Seems like Gatlinburg or Branson meets Chinatown or Las Vegas meets Europe. Lots of touristy businesses crammed together with flashing lights in little tiny alleys. In Tibet I probably saw a total of 15 foreigners in 8 days. Right now I see about 10 foreigners in the Thamel net bar where I am typing this!

Lhasa: Lost Photos & a Monk's Pen

2006-01-20T23:18:00.000-05:00

JAN 18. I visited many places in Lhasa. I saw the Potola Palace (BuDaLaGong), the most famous landmark of Tibet. In short, there are a lot of Buddas there and a few tombs of former Dali Lamas. I took a lot of photos. Then I went and booked a tour to the Nepal border. I visited the Jokhang Temple, the most famous Tibet temple. Again lots and lots of photos. Most of my photos were outdoor ones from the rooftops of the palace and the temple. On my way back to the hotel, a guy (named Dorgee) started talking to me. He is probably 192 cm or 6 foot 4 inches. He looked Tibetan to me but he also looked like a tourist. So I asked where are you from and he said Kanding. Is that near Lhasa I asked? No, it is in Sichuan province, near the Tibet border. He is ethnic Tibetan and cannot speak Mandarin Chinese - only Tibetan, some English, and very little Chinese. He followed me around to some other places and we exchanged cell phone numbers. He was very eager to practice English. He visited Nepal last year for 2 months and is living in Lhasa now with his uncle to study English in Lhasa.

NIGHT OF MISERY. In the evening, I felt bad again. Just felt cold and shivering but it really wasnt so cold. I had some Niu Rou Mian (bu yao la jiao) - Non spicy beef noodles. Usually I like spicy food but I thought my stomach might not like it yet. Then I went to the net bar. I planned to download the photos from the first 5 days of my travels and email the best 3 or 4 to people. So I downloaded my photos. When I was 90% done (about 2000 MB), the computer crashed. Knowing this is a net bar where computers often delete other people's files when the computers reboot, I did not restart immediately. I went and explained the situation to the net bar staff. They assured me all my pictures would still be there when I rebooted the computer. I asked a second time. Again they assured me. So I rebooted. Upon reboot, there was nothing there. All files were gone. The net bar guy said, yeah of course all the files are gone. But you can redownload them from your camera. WHAT! I said? I had moved them to clear up the space on my camera. The net bar guy did not know much about computers. They had no restore software. And they offered no help. This was a loss of almost all of my photos from the time I had left Tianjin. I was really sad. :( The guy kept saying they are gone forever - forget it. But I persevered. I bought and downloaded some restore software to try to recover them. After many frustrating hours with the software, I was finally able to recover 25% of them. So I still lost a lot of photos. I finished at the net bar at 3am. I asked the net bar if they could give me 1 or 2 hours for free because their computer had crashed, their software had deleted the files, and they had no recovery software - I had to do everything myself. They refused and made me pay the whole amount. So I paid and left. No, actually I didn't leave. It seems the boss of the net bar had locked the door at midnight and had gone home. So we were all locked inside the net bar. This was ok to the other customers -- boys who were playing computer games all night. The guy said no problem. You can just sit here until the boss shows up at 9am. WHAT? I told the guy to call the boss and let me out of the net bar. Around 4am a key appeared and I was able to leave. I had planned to take a bus to visit a monastary the next morning at 630am. I knew that if I went to my bed I would sleep until noon. So I went to the hotel lobby and tried to do some work (trip planning, etc) and fell asleep in a chair. It was ok though. I woke up at 625. I checked my bag at the desk, ran down the street and...

JAN 19. ...made the bus. My night of misery was over. I slept on the bus for the 1.5 hour trip (45 km) to Gandan Monastary - seat of the Dali Lamas. It is beautifully located at the top of a mountain. In total, the bus ride (round trip) and admission to the monastary cost me $2.50 (20Y). Cheap is good. And the monastary and the views from the top of the mountain were amazing. I had a good time. An old monk in one of the temples there asked me to give him a pen. I thought he meant to use and then he would give it back to me. I gave him one that said "JH Churchill Funeral Home - Murray KY". When he got it he said "Thanks" and put it in his pocket! So an 80 year old monk at Gandan Monastary in Tibet is now using a JH Churchill Funeral Home pen! On the way back, I made several videos of people on the bus with my camera. They all loved it. Small children, old men, young women, etc. all posed in the videos. It was fun. Yes, everyone on the bus was Han Chinese or Tibetan except me. And nobody spoke English. One girl I met (she was probably 10) spoke excellent Chinese. Of course, I am not a good judge of Chinese, but I could understand so much of what she said. She said her family is from Ge-er-mu (Golmud) in Qinghai. After I got back yesterday afternoon, I met Dorgee again. He showed me around some places in Lhasa. Last night, I found that two new guys wanted to travel into western Tibet with us. One was an American and was one was Canadian. Both are studying Chinese at Capital Normal University in Beijing. The Canadian was realy sick and so we decided to postpone the trip one day to give him time to recover. So now I will have one additional day in Lhasa. Aghh! I'm ready to leave Lhasa already. I usually like to spend one day in a city. Jan 20 will be my fourth day... Ok, one more day in Lhasa...

Jan 20. I left around 9am and hurried over to Jokhang Temple. I had been there before, but I had lost some of the photos I had taken there. Plus, one of the guys staying in the dormitory with me at the Yak Hotel told me that if you go before 10am, you can get in for free by following the pilgrims into the temple. Sure enough, at 9am (the sun rises at 8:40), I was able to get in for free. I was able to take many good photos so I was happy. Then I stopped by my favorite Lhasa icecream vendor (whom i visited many times while there) and got some icecream for 0.5Y ($0.06). Next I decided to visit three monastaries near Lhasa - Dreprung, Nechung, and Sera. I took a minibus out of town to Dreprung and they told me to get out on the highway. From there, it was a 40 minute walk up the mountain to the monastary. Nice walk - but tiring at altitude. Right outside the monastary i ate lunch - a bowl of noodles for 1 kuai ($0.12). The monastary was interesting - and big! It was once the biggest monastary in the world. After seeing most of it, I walked downhill to Nechung monastary. Along the way I passed a man and woman carrying large bags on their back. The man looked at me in a strange way and in a girl's voice said "Hello money." This is a common things that beggar children in Lhasa say to foreigners to beg for money. However, he seemed really strange. I don't like to give money to people just because the beg. However, one thing i did start doing - and it seems to be beneficial to all - is to not eat all of my food at meals. Usually we just eat because the food is there - not because our body really needs every bite of food. I then ask the restaurant to give it to me in a to go box (dao bao). The first beggar to ask me nicely (some are really aggressive and annoying) gets to finish my food. I've tried this 4 times and each time the beggar began devouring the food before I walked away. I lose weight (or at least don't gain it - and the beggar is not so hungry). It seems to be a win-win situation. Anyway, I avoided this strange guy on the mountain - even running to get away from him. He was scary even though there was a woman (wife?) with him. Next I visited Nechung monastary and it was interesting. Tons of beggars there - mostly children. Images of dead/bleeding people inside. Really wierd for a Buddhist monstary. Afterwards, I took a bus into town and then another bus out to Sera. Sera is only 4 km north of central Lhasa. Sera was interesting because at 3:30 pm everyday (when i was there) the monks debate each other in the courtyard. The monks sit in groups and sort of yell at each other and slap each others hands. This is done in a friendly way - none of them are mad at each other. It even almost seemed like a show for tourists - they allow photos and video. After watching for a while, I climbed halfway up the moutnain behind Sera and got photos of the monastary and the Potola Palace in the distance. Upon arriving back at the hotel that evening, I found out that the Canadian student who was to go with us across Tibet was extremely sick and was about to fly back to Beijing to go to the hospital.

Speaking of Canadians...(Two days previously I met a 50-year old Canadian who talked to me about travelling to Everest. He used to teach on a small island in Lake Huron. About 4.5 years ago, he left Canada on his bike and biked from Canada - US - Mexico - Latin America --- all the way to Argentina. Then he and his bike flew (the only time he's flow on a plane in the last 4.5 years) to Cape Town, South Africa. From there he biked north through Africa and into Europe. From Europe he biked to Moscow, across the Stans (Khazakstan, Kyrgizstan, Pakistan, etc. to India. From there he hoped to bike into Nepal and then into China (via Tibet) and then to Kunming, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, and on to Australia. However there was a problem - when he got to the India/Nepal border, Nepal would not let him enter on his bike. So he biked back across India/Pakistan/Kyrgizstan and entered China at Kashgar on October 26, 2005. He then biked south from Xinjiang into Tibet.)

Anyway, I found that the Canadian was out but that the 27 year old Isreali guy (Or Russo) and the 21 year old American student (Chris Fitch) had each found another person to go with us. Or had found a 19 year old Australian (Kieren) and Chris had found a 26 year old Japanese guy (Yuya M.). Chris previously lived in Japan for 1.5 years and is fluent in Japanese. The problem is that our SUV (Toyota Landcrusier) was supposed to leave the next day and it could only hold 4 people and the driver. We found another group leaving the next day and then one of the 5 in our group had to decide to go with the other car (2 british guys). Our car was going to the Nepal border (one way from Lhasa) whereas the other car was going from Lhasa to base camp and then back to Lhasa. Since Or and I both planed to leave China and go to Nepal, we had to stay with our vehicle. So the choice was among the other 3. All 3 wanted to go with us and not the others. Finally the Australian conceded and went with the other 2. So our group was set - me, Or, Chris, and Yuya. Or and I went with Kieren to the other hotel to inform the two Britisth guys that he would be riding with them. The two British guys were wearing matching colors (blue) and previously Chris had commented that they were gay. When we got to their room, they were still wearing the matching clothes. Kieren told them - I'm going with you guys tomorrow. But you are normal people right? Of course the two British guys said yes we are normal. Who is going to say no we are really wierd? By the time we decided what was going on it was about 11pm. We are leaving Lhasa tomorrow morning at 8. Might not have Internet access again for several days.

Tonight, three Chinese students moved into the dormitory of the Yak hotel where I was staying. They were from Shanghai. I noticed the guy had some cuts on his lip but didn't think anything about it. Later I asked them if they had taken the bus from Golmud or flew in. The boy said they had taken the bus - one day after I had (2pm on Jan 17). Around 3am, the driver of the bus had fallen asleep and hit a truck which was parked on the side of the road. The truck was damaged but the driver was ok. However, the Chinese boy said the 3 of them were the only ones on the bus not severely injured. His lip was cut and the girl's leg had a bandage on it. He said the 4 people sitting across from them (an aisle in between) all died. So it seems the bus is not always so safe. He told the story very calmly, as if it wasn't a big deal! Glad I didn't take the bus!

In case you are wondering, today I have had no stomach pains and no apparent altitude sickness. I was running around on the mountain today where the monastary was and had no problems. Felt like I was almost back down at sea level like in Tianjin or Murray. So no health issues. I feel great. Upset about losing a lot of photos, but I realize photos are not the most important thing in the world.

Xining to Lhasa: Altitude Sickness

2006-01-17T23:11:00.000-05:00

Sun Jan 15 XINING.
Xining is the capital of Qinghai province. I slept late due to not having an alarm. Woke up at 11am. When I went out, I saw what was hidden by the darkness the night before -- magnificent gigantic mountains right behind the train station. Very beautiful. Xining was a little colder than Lanzhou but again I was dressed warmly so not bad. Then I went out to find the minibus stand for Tai'er'si (temple). Got to Ximen and then walked down the street until I found the minibus stop. The route was short to the temple (25 km) but the bus was so slow (1 hour). I was the only non-Chinese on the bus or the temple and was stared at the entire time. These two 50-year old men wearing Muslim hats kept staring and smiling at me and looking at the photos in my China travel book. The temple was very interesting - like a whole city. It is a Tibetan temple - but really like a maze/city of buildings. Met a 12 year old boy who did not speak English and we went sightseeing together. So we only communicated in Chinese. He spoke it well (no accent). He was from Xining. Afterwards I got back and waited for a bus to fill up. It went really slow - stopping to pick people up every 5 feet. I got to the train station at 5:43 but made the train just fine. Now a 14 hour train ride across Qinghai. Once on the train, my stomach started to hurt a little again. So I decided to eat something - maybe it was hunger. I ate some spicy noodles I had bought the day before for the Lanzhou train. Bad idea. After three bites, my stomach hurt worse. I tried to sleep but had trouble. Woke up many times. In the middle of the night, I looked out the window and believe I saw Qinhai Hu (lake). I decided not to visit the lake because transportation is difficult and because the best months to visit are in the summer - not in winter.

Mon Jan 16. GOLMUD (GO-ER-MU).
Arrived in Golmud around 7am. Golmud is the Tibetan name, Go-er-mu is the Chinese name based on sounds. It is a city of 130,000 in western Qinghai province. Actually, it is the second biggest city in Qinghai after Xining.

Instead of taking the CITS bus which costs 250 kuai for Chinese and 1860 kuai for foreigners, I went in a jeep with 6 other men. They knew the foreigner price is very expensive so they had a lot of negotiating power with me. I was able to negotiate down to 700 kuai. We left at noon on our 18 hour journey. The bus usually leaves at 2pm and takes 24 or more hours. Anyway, the road is good considering there are almost no cities for between the two and considering the high elevation. Buses usually make the trip in 24 hours, jeeps in 18. Golmud has an elevation of 3000m (9750ft), Lhasa 3700m(12025ft), but the road in between reaches 5700m(18525ft) according to the man sitting next to me. (In comparison, Mt. Everest is about 8900m (29000ft) and Pikes Peak is about 4300m (14,000ft). So this is like a road trip across mountains and God-forsaken territory that was about the elevation of the top of Pikes Peak the whole way. The problem is that at high elevation, there is not as much oxygen and so it cause altitude sickness. (Usually it takes 5-15 days to acclimate to the high elevation. The body does this by producing more red blood cells to carry more oxygen. Or so I read in my book.) He liked to drink Bai Jiu every 10 minutes and kept pouring it into a little cup to drink from. The road was bumpy in parts and on one occassion he spilled it all over the seat, his pants, and a little on me. Oh well. He was friendly anyway. He kept sharing his cigarette smoke with my face. No, actually he was very nice - he looked my China book and we spoke some in Chinese but he spoke with an accent. He also told me "Tibet girl very good. Only 100." I didn't comment on that one. After two days of stomach pains (actually on both Sat and Sun the pain was in the afternoon/evening - not in the morning), I was afraid that another one might come. After 2 hours into our journey, I felt a little bad thinking - oh no not again. But actually it was just the bumpy road and me bouncing up and down. I thought to myself - I've only come 2 hours - how can I make it. I want to go back! But I persevered. After another hour I was fine. The problem came later - about 9 or 10pm when we reached high elevation. My head hurt - a lot. At least it wasn't my stomach! You never know how much to appreciate not having pain until you endure it. We travelled all night.

Tue Jan 17. LHASA.
On Tuesday (today) at 6am we reached Lhasa (Lasa). I got a dorm bed at the Yak Hotel (on Beijing Lu (street)) for 20Y per night. Nice hotel. Laid down for a while because my head still hurt. Saw the Potola Palace and went to Norbulingka Park where the past Dalai Lamas had homes. I saw the ones of the 8th DL (1700s) and the 13th and 14th DLs (1900s). The last one (built for the 14th one) was built in 1956. He left Lhasa in 1959. Nice park. There were a few times today where I thought I had a headache of felt lightheaded but it was pretty rare. Lhasa was warm (relative to Tianjin, Lanzhou, etc). with a blue sky and sun/sunshine. Only a few clouds until late afternoon when it became more overcast. Discovered an interesting street behind the Potala Palace with lots of vendors. The city is nice and appears like everything on the main streets are new and appealing. It is in the back alleys where you see more interesting things though - markets, praying, etc. Lhasa only has 200,000 people but I must have seen at least 6 car dealerships. I wonder how many there are in total. But there are many beggars too. I've never seen so many. So it appears that some have profited off tourism and can afford nice cars and jeeps and others are really poor. Also saw the Jokhang Temple. It was very active with many worshippers. Very different from anything I've seen at any other temples. Overall, Qinghai and Xizang(Tibet) remind me much more of Mongolia than of Eastern China. There are fewer Han Chinese and more darker skinned Tibetan/etc people. Clothing, food, religion, etc. reminds me a lot of Mongolia. I remember that Ghengis Khan (Chen ge Si Han?) conquered Lhasa in the 1200s and as a result most of Mongolia today has the religion of Tibetan Buddhism. So I think there are some strong cultural similarities. Now I am in a net bar across the street from the hotel. I need to go back there now and sleep. :-)

Tianjin to Xining: The Start of a Long Journey

2006-01-15T06:09:00.000-05:00

Yesterday (Saturday January 14) I flew from Beijing to Lanzhou. Usually I like to go by land, but the hard bed to Lanzhou on the train was more than 400 Y and took 30 hours. The flight cost 630 Y and took only 2. Plus it is very difficult to get train tickets near the end of the semester. So I decided to fly to save time and remove the hassle of getting a train ticket. I took the 5am bus from Tianjin to the Beijing Airport. The bus usually takes 2 hours, which was ok because my flight left at 8:20. However, the bus was late. It arrived at 7:45. So I hurried. The Hainan Airlines line to check in was long. By the time I reached the counter it was 8:01. The friendly man told me that you cannot check in less than 20 minutes before the flight. But when I told him I was not checking in any bags, he sent me to another line - where they quickly gave me a boarding pass. I ran to gate 39 (all the way at the end of the airport) to get on the plane by 8:08. However, I saw that the previously flight leaving from that Gate -- to Zhengzhou which was supposed to leave at 7:45 was delayed due to fog. Soon they announced my flight was delayed too. However at 8:50 we boarded the plane. Great - only 30 minutes late, right. No. We sat on the plane for more than 3 hours. Finally at 12:37 the plane took off. I arrived in Lanzhou at 2:40pm - more than 4 hours late. (Later that night I heard on CCTV9 that no planes left Beijing airport before 11am and that more than 300 flights were delayed.) Anyway in Lanzhou (capital of Gansu province) I felt a little sick in my stomach. Maybe the cold? It was a little colder than Tianjin but not bad. I bought the last train ticket that night headed to Xining - 19Y leaving at 5:49pm. That didn't leave me much time. Despite a time shortage and a painful stomach, I managed to see Baiyun Si, a Journey to the West statue, the Yellow River, a big Mosque, etc. By the time I got on the train (4 hours to Xining), I knew I was in pain. I tried to lean over and rest but not much good. After the first stop, many people got off - so some people realized I was in pain and moved so I could lay down. After I got to Xining, I bought a train ticket for the following night to Go-er-mu (Golmud). I told the lady I wanted to go tommorrow night and she said mei you (none). Then after asking again she said there was a hardbed on the train leaving in the afternoon. What time I asked? 5:49pm (yes exactly the same time the train left Lanzhou) in the afternoon she said. (Isn't that also considered evening?) When I tried to pay her the 122Y, she said no - shang po. I knew shang meant up but didn't know what po meant. She pointed up and turned me away and started talking to the next guy in line. Then I asked someone else and discovered she was just saying that the only bed available was a top bed. That was fine with me because those are cheaper anyway. After that ordeal, I got a hotel room at the Che Zhan Bing Guan (Train Station Hotel) for 50Y. It had 2 beds, private bathroom, and CCTV9 (English). Had trouble sleeping because of my stomach. Fell asleep late.