In case you hadn’t noticed, I’ve neglected to write my weekly round-ups for the last month or so. Sorry about that. It’s now been one month since I returned from my holiday trip to the US and I have to admit it has been a difficult adjustment this time around. Linyi feels grayer, colder, dirtier and a whole lot less exciting then she has previously. I guess that’s Winter for you. My first morning back at work, I mixed up my usual Nescafe instant coffee only to find it was far more horrid than I had remembered. (I brought back some of Starbucks’ new Via instant coffee and am now completely ruined – more on my instant coffee woes in an upcoming post.) I literally wanted to cry. I had been rationing my Via supply but had to give in and I ended up drinking three cups that day.

A couple of fun weekend outings, such as our Yi Shui skiing trip and weekend in Qufu have helped to assuage the homecoming blues, but being hit with that nasty stomach bug last Sunday really wiped me out. I have felt fatigued and not quite right all week.

Hopefully this will all be solved with yet another vacation… That’s right, it is that time of the year again – Spring Festival/Chinese New Year! The holiday officially takes place this year on February 14th, but I am off from February 8th to the 22nd. Ivan and I weighed all of our potential vacation options: Borneo, Laos, Philippines… and somehow or other decided this would be a good time to visit Harbin, in far northern China, to see the Ice Festival. Did I mention it will be somewhere between -30C and -15C? Yeah, I’m gonna have to break down and buy some long johns. We should be heading up to Beijing on Monday and on to Harbin sometime later in the week. Once again we haven’t made serious concrete plans.

Now that I have made a lame attempt at “rounding up,” I will put myself to bed and hope I feel miraculously well tomorrow.

Filed under weird but wonderful – I give you Minute Maid grape juice with aloe vera:

A new juice variety – the aloe comes as little floaty bits

I don’t know why we don’t eat aloe vera in the US, but it is freaking delicious in yogurt and juice! It is very common to find it here and although I was uncertain at first, I love it now. This juice is a little bit too sweet for me, but I love the squishy, gelatinish aloe bits floating around in it. The DH thinks the aloe is a little like melon, but softer. I really don’t know if you can just cut open an aloe and eat it, or if you must first process it. Weird but wonderful! Now you know, aloe is not just for cuts and scrapes, it is for eating, too!

If Mao could see the consumer culture that has swept his land and had he actually been buried, I’m sure he would have flipped over in his grave a few hundred times. Instead, he lies cold and waxy in a huge mausoleum in Tiananmen Square. I’ve seen him. It was not pleasant at all. Despite Mao’s best efforts, his country has taken the “Capitalist Road” (a reference to Chinese phrase for those comrades back in the day who did not follow the revolutionary way, i.e., they were Capitalist Roaders. See John Pomfret’s Chinese Lessons.) and I think Mao is taking his revenge… on expat stomachs. Surely you’ve heard of Montezuma’s Revenge? Let’s not be too euphemistic here. What I’m talking about is gastroenteritis… stomach upset… Delhi Belly… you know, fun stuff like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, cramps and abdominal pain.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was waylaid this weekend by some kind of nasty stomach ailment. It could have been from bad food. It could have been a passing stomach virus. It could have been something I touched. Who the heck knows? The DH ate exactly the same foods as I and he didn’t get sick at all. (That man has a vulture’s stomach. He could eat carrion washed down with lumpy milk and be fine. Sorry for that mental image.) After three years in Linyi, my stomach has pretty much acclimated to the food and wild germs native here, so I don’t get sick all that much. For that reason, this little spell was all the worst. I won’t go into details, but suffice it to say I was uncomfortable and “sick” in all of its connotations.

Bouts of food poisoning and stomach ailments can occur anywhere in the world, but what to do when they happen far from your home and comfort zone? Here’s what I do. (These are my recommendations based on common sense and experience. You should do what’s best for you and use your own common sense!)

1. Stay home. Obvious, right? Home is where your throne is. I thought I might go to work on Monday, since I was feeling more or less okay. Then I thought about the toilets at work – squatters all. Umm. No. I’ll just stay at home in case of emergency. You need the rest anyway, so just keep your jammies on and catch up on old Lost episodes on Youku. And you’ll keep whatever you have to yourself, in case it is contagious.
2. Stay hydrated. The big risk with diarrhea and vomiting is getting dehydrated. Unless you enjoy IV infusions in crowded Chinese clinics or emergency rooms, be sure to get some fluid on board. This is just the situation those sports drinks were invented for. (And there are several varieties available in China.) Take small sips, not gulps. I like lemon water. While I love to drink hot tea, caffeine should be avoided right now.
3. Try ginger. The Chinese have been using ginger for stomach ailments for thousands of years. Instead of lemon water, try ginger tea. Just cut a few slices of fresh ginger and steep it in boiling water for a few minutes. If you need a little sugar, try a hot ginger cola. Steep the ginger in boiled cola. Delicious, even when not ill. (Canada Dry Ginger Ale does not count!)
4. Take Pepto-Bismol, not Immodium. What? You didn’t bring back a bottle of Pepto-Bismol (or generic equivalent) from the US/Canada? (And, yes, I am addressing Americans/Canadians here. I haven’t seen Pepto-Bismol outside of the US/Canada, but I would love to know if it is available. Generic name: Bismuth Subsalicylate.) Pepto is pink gold. Magical pink gold, since I don’t really know how this stuff works. It coats, that’s all I know, and that is a good thing. At the first sign of discomfort, pop or chew a few pink pills. Try to avoid taking Immodium (loperamide, which is generally available in most places in the world I’ve been,) unless you absolutely must, like if you’re traveling. Sometimes you need to get the bad stuff out of your system and all Immodium does is shut the system down. I can’t really comment on Chinese Medicine, because I’ve never tried it for stomach ailments. A few friends who have tried it said the medication they were given wasn’t really effective for them personally, but if you’re up for it, visit a Chinese pharmacy and see what they can give you for stomach upset.
5. Follow a bland diet if you feel up to eating. Feeling better? You’re going to need some sustenance, but don’t go out for that spicy hot pot meal just yet. Take it easy on your stomach. Try rice, toast, crackers, potatoes. (The so-called BRAT diet – bananas, rice, apples, toast) Avoid fatty foods.
6. See a doctor if your symptoms don’t subside after 2 days. Most cases of “revenge” get better with supportive care and time. But if nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, cramps, etc. do not improve within a day or so, you might need to see a doctor. You could have a bacterial infection, which requires antibiotics, or you might need more intensive supportive care, such as IV infusions. Of course, if you have a high fever or blood in your stool, get thee to a doctor as soon as you are able. I’ll do anything to avoid a doctor (Can you tell I’m a registered nurse? haha), though, so use your best judgment and intuition. (And if you have a sick child I’d go to the doctor pretty much straightaway.)
7. And just FYI, if living in China, make sure you’ve had your Hep A/Hep B vaccine and boosters!

I’m feeling much, much better today. Thanks for the notes of concern!

Oh bleah! For the first time months I am suffering the worst of the dreaded Mao’s Revenge. I don’t even want to stand up… Of course, I managed to reach my iPhone for blogging, not that you really want to read about this. The very sweet DH is in the kitchen as I type, cooking me up some fresh Ginger tea. After 4 years in China I thought my sick days were behind me… The trouble with that theory is that the microbes evidently haven’t seen my passport.

Open ABOUT 10:30 AM

This photo, taken at Uncle Mutt’s Barbecue in Victoria, Texas, reminds me to always be flexible while traveling and, of course, mindful of local customs. Sometimes in life we have a now! now! now! attitude. Like a lot of places in the world, (Southeast Asia comes to mind,) certain parts of South Texas run on a more relaxed time schedule. To be honest, I love efficiency, but an easy pace and leisurely lifestyle sounds better by the day. Sometimes you just have to wait for that barbecue plate. I assure you, it’s worth the wait!

For more travel photos, visit Photo Friday at Delicious Baby.

The 798 Art District in Beijing

Just a few decades ago, this industrial district on the northeast corner of Beijing was home to a high security factory producing “secret” components for the Chinese military. The bauhaus-style complex was designed and built by the East Germans in the 1950s-1960s, in cooperation with the Soviet Union. In a stunning example of how Communist China has changed, the former 798 Factory is now the 798 Art District – home to artist studios, galleries, cafés, boutiques and quiet, tree-lined streets perfect for strolling and discovering. (There are still a few working factories in the mix, as well.)

You’ve come a long way baby

We spent a chilly morning here back in early December. Here’s a tip – don’t get here too early. Many of the galleries don’t open until after 9 or 10AM. Take a taxi to the main gate and then just wander around. There are delights down every alley, behind every wall. Here, a few highlights – my favorite pieces.

I thought of my nephew

798’s Industrial Heart

Small boutiques with appliqued/quilted coats, Mao kitsch, scarves, etc.

The building behind is incredible inside

The Chinese Botero?

More Industry and graffiti

For the Motherland!

Lined up

Stylized Terracotta Warrior

My absolute fave – dragons in Mao suits

You can see all photos of the 798 Art District here. Or see a slide-show. National Geographic has a walking tour of the district on their website and you can learn more about 798 here and here (Beijing Kids.)

Confucius Temple Entrance

Our last minute trip to Qufu this past Sunday was a success, if not without its little moments. Overall I would say that the home of Confucius is a worthwhile deviation from the standard tourist trail in China and for those of us in Shandong Province, a must do day-trip. For the DH and I, it was a respite from a boring weekend spent watching old Andromeda episodes on Youku. (China’s version of YouTube with a… let’s just say much more liberal, i.e. copyright questionable, content posting policy.) There’s really nothing like saying, “Hey, we’ve always talked about going to Qufu, but have never gotten around to it. Why don’t we?” at 4PM one afternoon and then finding yourself on a train at 6:30PM wondering what the heck you are getting yourself into!

Qufu’s Center – Drum Tower

Qufu (pronounced choo-foo) is a super small city in central Shandong Province. As you know, cities in China are generally ginormous, so the scale we might use in the West to size cities is not really relevant. My city of 3-5 million people is considered small. Qufu probably has ~100,000 people. Super small! Refreshingly small. While Linyi is a city that feels like a village, Qufu is a village that feels like a city. It has city walls, drum towers, a Chinese temple and a main drag lined with all the popular Chinese sportswear and shoe shops you’d ever want. Well, maybe that is just what the DH and I felt, especially after our year in the Shijiazhuang countryside and several years in Linyi. Those coming from far more cosmopolitan places probably won’t think so. Then again, we only spent 24 hours there, so who are we to say, really? We came, we saw, we ate, we liked.

Pedestrian Street in Qufu

It all started with a phone call to a fellow expat. “What time does the train leave for Qufu?” We thought we could go on Sunday morning and come back in the evening. When our friend said the train left at 6:30PM Saturday, a quick glance at the watch told us we had 2 1/2 hours, if we really wanted to go. Why not? We jumped up, threw the camera and a change of clothes in a backpack and headed over to the train station to see if any tickets were available. Train travel is a mysterious thing in China. You can only buy tickets four days in advance, ten days over Spring Festival, and only for trains departing that station. Tickets are hard to come by, especially at the train station ticket windows. It seems that many tickets get doled out to travel agencies and so you kind of have to ask around. Since Qufu is only 2 hours away and we didn’t have a lot of time, we didn’t worry about the travel agencies, opting to try our luck at the station. Fortunately, there was a train at 6:30, the Rizhao-Beijing overnighter that stops in both Linyi and Qufu. Unfortunately, only standing tickets were available to Qufu. Because this is a very popular train, we figured the chances of finding an actual seat on board were nil. And we were right. We spent the 2 hour journey hanging out in that space between the end of two train cars. The same spot where all the men congregate to smoke and spit. And where the loo is located. Nice…

Craftsman making steamer baskets in Qufu street

Two hours later we were standing outside a tiny station, looking at one of two cars in the parking lot and trying to decide just how the heck we were going to get to town. The Qufu station is 6km out of the center, not to be confused with the Yanzhou station, which is 16km out and the main station servicing Qufu. It seems when the rail lines were being laid the Kong family (Confucius’ descendants) worried the train would disturb the big guy’s tomb, so they requested the lines be moved away (Yanzhou.) Later, a line was laid closer (Qufu.) The Qufu station is only for slow trains. We needn’t have worried about transportation, however. Taxi drivers can smell fresh meat for miles. Before we could even discuss it, an old lady in a kerchief had shoved us in the back seat of a cab, along with a very frightened Chinese man, and negotiated an exorbitant fare with the driver, all on our behalf. We hadn’t booked a hotel. We didn’t even know the name of a place, so we pressed our luck and just told the driver to take us to a bingguan (hotel/guesthouse.) The driver took us down a few alleyways, dropping off his other two customers, and then proceeded to take us to Qufu’s finest fleabag hotel. It was cold, it was dank, but it had free Internet and cost all of $15. We jacked up the electric heater, requested more blankets and tucked ourselves into the standard-issue PRC bed. (Rock hard mattress at no extra cost!) It was only at 8:30 the next morning that we realized the room had no windows.

Qufu Street View

Outside it was cold and a little overcast. Since I had thought to rip out the three pages devoted to Qufu in my 2005 Lonely Planet China guide, we had a general idea of the city layout and a plan for seeing Qufu’s three main tourist sights (given that they hadn’t been altered in the last 5 years): the Confucius Temple, the Kong Family Mansion and the Kong Family Cemetery. To the bewilderment of every rickshaw driver in town, we walked off down main street towards the temple entrance, a feat (walking, that is) that would continue to bewilder them throughout the day. Everything in Qufu is within walking distance, so despite the cold, we walked everywhere, a practice not copied by the Chinese group tourists.

Vending machine inside the temple – you can get your water cold or hot!

The first step in visiting the tourist sites is to ignore the hawkers and vendors set up outside the temple entrance and go in the ticket office to the right. There a gaggle of enterprising English speaking tour guides will try to help you buy tickets, in hopes of being hired for the day. While I’m sure they are knowledgeable and helpful, the DH and I are not well suited to these kinds of tours. We’re much too sarcastic and silly. Besides, we like to wander off and take pictures of drainage holes, walls, cats and piles of trash. Tour guides are usually frightened. Most all of the signs throughout the three sights are in both Chinese and English, so in this case we were able to wander freely without the added pressure of making up ridiculous translations for each sign we encountered. I recommend purchasing the combo ticket for all three sights, which will set you back 150RMB. We felt this price was outrageous, but what can you do.

Most signs are in Chinese and English

Winter is the off-season in Qufu, but there were several large Chinese tour groups following a bull horn-clad guide around along with a much less conspicuous Japanese group. We were the token laowai and until later in the day when we observed a foreign backpacker holding a huge round piece of bread and attempting to take photos of it as he/she (it was hard to tell) walked down the street, we had assumed we were the only ones in town.

Small buildings housing special stone tablets

I’ve always loved the crazy creatures on Chinese roofs

The temple is a collection of courtyards, gates and large halls done in the “Forbidden City Style” of architecture and colors. The only difference between the two, in my mind, is the Forbidden City is 1) a heck of a lot bigger 2) a heck of a lot better maintained and 3) displays actual relics and furniture from the time. Qufu’s temple has seen better days – the colors on the wooden beams are faded and decaying. Everything is covered in dust. There are stone tablets everywhere, I think with carved writings of Confucius’ philosophy. Many of them show evidence of damage inflicted during China’s “burning times.” (i.e. the Cultural Revolution) Don’t visit Qufu expecting the glory of Beijing. Things haven’t been spiffed up here in a long time, although we did notice that one of the halls is under scaffolding. Some might find the lack of maintenance disheartening, especially after paying 150RMB… but we kind of liked it. The temple and mansions felt used and lived in, like they were more than just museum pieces, like we were seeing something real. (From the outside, that is. Inside every room and hall, gift shops are set up, selling fans, Confucius statues, books, tablet rubbings and, strangely, giant wooden pencils.)

Apricot hall holding more tablets

Repaired stone tablets

At the main hall, there is a large incense burner and padded cushion set up in front of a Confucius statue (no gift shop in this one.) There we observed Confucius followers praying and making offerings. This obvious devotion is not something you see everyday in Communist China. (I have seen Chinese burning incense and making offerings at a small temple on Tai Shan. One of them, a Communist Party member, told me she was praying for more money.)

Main hall with Confucius Devotees

The Big Guy

The Kong Family Mansion is next door to the temple. While the temple is all about red, the mansion is all about gray. It is a labyrinth complex of courtyards and rooms and narrow passageways connecting them. As we peered into the windows of the bedrooms and common rooms, all we could think was that the Kong family must have been freezing in Winter. At the back of the mansion is a large garden. It was pretty barren but must be really lovely in the Spring and Summer.

Kong Mansion Courtyard – why can’t I be more photogenic? why?

The back garden was a little barren

No idea why this painting in the garden was so important, but lots of people were taking photos of it

For lunch we decided to go the street food route, freaking out the locals, as usual.

Next up was a visit to the Kong Family Cemetery, where Confucius and thousands of his family members are buried. It is the largest family cemetery in the world and is still in use. If you’re a Kong, you can be buried there, too. As is standard issue at Chinese tourists sights, the entrance is lined with more souvenir stalls. “Get your own carved name stamp! Buy a fan! You need a Confucius statue! Hey! Hello! Hello! Hey!” It’s a gauntlet.

Tomb of Confucius

Inside the cemetery, it’s all about serenity. And rounded mounds of earth. And the fact that thousands and thousands of Kong surround you. It is peaceful, but also slightly creepy. The cemetery is also known as the Kong Forest, because there are thousands of trees planted here. Most tourists go straight to the Confucius tomb, snap a pic and then head back out to the safety and warmth of the hotel. There are even extended golf carts to haul them all from the entrance to the tomb. We are not most tourists and instead opted to walk the entire paved path through the cemetery. I guess that’s the reason that Monday morning I collapsed off the side of the bed when I tried to stand up. We walked a lot.

Cemetery Path

We’ve seen lots of Chinese grave sights in our four years here. In the countryside surrounding the Shijiazhuang airport, farmers buried their loved ones under mounded earth right in the middle of their fields. If you ride a train, you will see the sides of the rails lined with graves. In Linyi, the airport where we work is also surrounded by graves. Every few days we see (and hear) a funeral service. Still, there really is nothing like being in the middle of a huge cemetery, rounded mounds as far as the eyes can see. The Chinese cover their graves with mounds of earth and I heard this was to mimic the shape of the womb, but I don’t know if that is true. Here you can read more than you ever wanted on Chinese funerals. There were no funerals taking place on Sunday, but we did see two men digging a hole, which we assumed would later be used for one.

Cemetery View

We finished up all of our touring around 4PM, but our train would not leave until 7:30PM. We decided to spend a couple of hours hanging out in a youth hostel we had spotted earlier. It would have been perfect, since they had a lounge area with sofas, TV with CCTV 9 and decent coffee. The problem? The place was an ice locker. After shivering together for an hour, we gave up on the idea and walked down the street to the four star Queli Hotel for dinner. (I’ve always said that if you are in a strange city at a loss of where to hang out for a few hours while waiting for trains/buses, etc., a 4 or 5 star hotel lobby is a great place!) After another two and a half hours of standing on another train (this one far dirtier than the other), we were home.

A very rare wildlife sighting – a woodpecker (wildlife is rare in China!)

You can see all of the photos here. Or view a slide-show.

Logistics:

Stay at the 4 Star Queli Hotel if you want a warm and comfortable room. Stay at the Qufu Youth Hostel if you want a bargain. (And by all means, stop in for coffee if you are not staying there. It is a convenient stop off on the way to the cemetery.) Try the Mingya Confucianist Hotel for something in the middle (that’s where we wanted to stay, but forgot the name.) Try searching elong.net for great prices.

Need to buy train tickets? The business center at the Queli Hotel can arrange this for you for a small service fee. There’s supposedly a ticket shop somewhere in downtown Qufu, but we couldn’t find it.

For travel from Linyi to Qufu: K52 train Rizhao-Beijing leaves Linyi at ~1830 and arrives to Qufu at ~2030. Qufu is the fourth stop. (all liable to change!) 24RMB for standing ticket

For travel from Qufu to Linyi: K8271 train leaves Qufu at ~1930 and arrives to Linyi at ~2130. Linyi is the third stop. (all liable to change!) 14RMB for standing ticket

iphone photo of guy waiting for bathroom and guy spitting on train