The Last Day of Work

Arrived at our customer site at 9am and spend much of our time travelling between their two sites. Work was swift and partially productive. The meetings were inconclusive, but short. Lunch consisted of dishes with pig intestine, pig heart, pig liver, water snakes, fish, bambo, green beans, another green leafed veggie, and rice. Overall, not too bad.

After only 2 days here in Hangzhou, I believe we accomplished the work we had hoped to. That means the rest of our time is free to wander.

Jan ended up staying in Shanghai for the night, but made it here in one piece today. After work, the three of us went to a mall in the area and found a food court to have dinner at. Food courts in China are above and beyond those in Canada, if you like Chinese food. There's a vast variety of foods, and all at a very affordable price -- by our standards anyway.

Then we walked around a little in the city and returned to the hotel. A few drinks at the piano lounge later, we headed back to our rooms. We'll get out for a full day of tourism tomorrow.

Kevin, signing off from China... the place where turtles can be seen cut in four in kitchens, the restaurant washrooms also have toothbrushes and toothpaste because the owners live there in the same building, the fake DVDs run around 7 RMB, and firecrackers are lit anywhere, everywhere, and at all hours of the day through the couple of weeks following Chinese New Year.

The Day Off

I woke up early today and thought I should check my email before going back to sleep, since I really didn't have to be anywhere in particular today. Unfortunately, emailing went a little long, with a slew of both work and personal emails to attend to, and I never got a chance to get back to sleep. Breakfast/brunch was had in the hotel, but we had missed the breakfast buffet. So I ordered an "Oriental" set breakfast, which was congee and some dumpling. Probably the worst congee I had ever had. No taste whatsoever.

After brunch, I had to wait an hour for Gord to get this stuff together as he was trying to figure out how his wife would get to Hangzhou from Shanghai. It was a logistic nightmare since there was no way for him to get a hold of her, and he didn't want to put her through the train ride of hell. Without much progress, he gave up for the time being.

We taxied down to West Lake, and rented bikes at 8 RMB/hr. For the next 3.5 hours, we took the bikes around the great lake and had a great time mixing in with the locals on their bikes. There's nothing more exhilerating than riding a bike in traffic with the crazy car drivers. West Lake offers some beautiful scenery, tainted only by the hazy low-hanging sky. One can only imagine how astonishing the view would be on a clear day. One reason for the haze is because we are still in the middle of New Year's celebrations, and the smoke from fireworks and firecrackers seem to suspend in the air. Nevertheless, the bike ride was a more-than-welcomed chance to see the famous historical lake and to be slightly active.

Thereafter, we got back to the hotel and met up with Chao Yang, one of our customer's engineers. He took us to a popular restaurant where you buy tickets that you spend like money on menu items. The tables are scattered much like a food court, and you would go to a long counter where food is prepared and placed for you to "buy" with the tickets. This was the reason I love coming to China. The food. There's nothing like having a local order authentic Chinese dishes. I enjoyed most of the items, but Gord wasn't as enthused (he was courageous enough to tried everything, but didn't like most items enough to take more than a bite).

Chao Yang then took us to a tea house, which are popular places in Hangzhou, which is famous for its teas. These tea houses are often larger than restaurants, and have booths where people can sit, drink tea, and talk with friends. With your order of tea, you can also enjoy a large variety of snacks free of charge. It's an interesting concept. Mind you, an order of tea (which consists of a glass with tea leaves and as many refills of water as wanted), runs between 55 RMB - 85 RMB, which converts to about $9 - $14 CDN -- so it's not overly cheap. But I enjoyed the experience. Chao Yang's girlfriend also joined us after she finished work at a travel agency. I also got to try duck tongue, which was a thin slab of meat that forked into two long points (go find a picture of a duck's tongue), marinated on a skewer. With a texture like jerky, it was actually pretty decent, once you block out the fact that it's a tongue. Apparently, it's quite expensive, given that most ducks only come with one tongue.

After close to 5 hours of dinner and sipping tea, Gord and I returned to our hotel, where I am now writing my update. Gord will be heading to the Hangzhou Railway Station shortly to pick up his wife, Jan. Hopefully she made it there alright.

Kevin, signing off from China... the place where cold water stinks as well, kids begging often make more than adult workers, and sometimes the only way to cross the street is like Frogger.

The First Day of Work

Woke up around 7:45am today and got through my email as I prepared to head out for the day. After an overly expensive breakfast buffet, Gord and I grabbed a cab to our client's office. Some areas of Hangzhou are subject to power outages (which seem to be power/cost savings measures), so we immediately went, with some of our customer's employees, to another nearby facility to do our work. The drive took about 20 minutes and brought us around the West side of West Lake (a large lake that Hangzhou is famous for). This second facility was a large warehouse that had no apparent central heating. At zero degrees C, this isn't wear you'd want to spend most days. I don't think I've worked a full day with my jacket on until now.

Lunch was army food in the cafeteria. A disappointing episode of hard chicken, overcooked veggies, tofu, and rice. The work day went smoothly, and we were back at the hotel by 4:30pm. A short break of emailing, and Gord and I headed out for a walk to West Lake, only about 1km away from the Radisson Hotel. By the time we got to the Lake, it was already dark. We walked slowly along, playing around with our digital cameras. We found a decent restaurant on the Northwest side of the Lake, relaxing for 2 hours while chatting about various subjects. Then we headed back to the hotel, where I am now. I've still got about an hour of work emailing to do, so I better head to Gord's room now to work on that. Overall, the day went by quickly and was fairly pleasant.

That and we get tomorrow off (due to the lack of any work needed to be done). Chances are, we're going to rent bikes to ride around West Lake tomorrow. We'll also meet up with one of our client's engineers who will show us around Hangzhou with his girlfriend. A generous offer considering he has no obligation to do so, and has chosen to on his weekend.

Kevin, signing off from China... the place where the worst drivers are probably also the most skilled drivers, and warm tap water stinks like hell.

Arrived in Hangzhou

After a 12+ hr flight to Shanghai, a 1 hr bus to the train station, a 2 hr wait at the train station, a 2.5 hr train ride, and a short taxi ride to our hotel, Gord and I have arrived and are drained.

The flight was like any other flight with pushy Chinese people kicking your seat every 4 minutes. The bus ride was longer than expected. But it was the train ride from Shanghai to Hangzhou that took the cake for the worst part of the travel. The train was dirty; the "soft seats" were sold out, so we settled for the cramped "hard seats"; we were squished like sardines into a booth with 3 other Chinese; the light blue and red decor was awful; the people were pushy, even though the seats were pre-assigned; and my ass hurt after about 1.5 hrs on that leg of the journey.

It's funny traveling with a white man. Chinese people LOVE to stare at him. But they don't just look at him. Usually, they do a full-body up-and-down with the eyes. It kind of scares me. And then I speak English to him, and they all stare at me for a while before focusing their attention back at him.

I'm glad to be settled into my hotel. The Internet access works far better than at the hotel I stayed at in Shenzhen. This hotel, Radisson, is also a cut above the Holiday Inn (Shenzhen). They have fancy amenities like piping the audio from the TV to the washroom, and a walk-in shower that can easily fit 10 people semi-comfortably (not all of them would get water, of course)... that's on top of a bathtub.

After all the travel, and no proper dinner, I've ordered in some Room Service (Singapore noodles and satay pork) and pulled a drink out of the mini-bar. Big pimpin', I know. I know.

Tomorrow, the work starts.

Kevin, signing off from China... the place where people can wear suits and still look like bums.

Wow, bad weather out East. I wonder if anyone needs a tow.

You know when you sit down and watch TV for 5 hours, and when you finally get off your lazy butt, you realize how much you miss your brainwashing friend? Well, the new Riviera portable video player, coupled with the I-Glasses HRV Pro, is the answer to all your "do I HAVE to be active?" problems! Not only that, the I-Glasses are the next big thing is fashionable accessories. Wear it on the Skytrain, while doing laundry, and more!

It's confirmed! 2 weeks in China with the following itinerary:

Jan 27 leaving Vancouver on a 767
Jan 28 arriving in Shanghai, then taking a train to Hangzhou
Jan 29 - 30 working in Hangzhou
Jan 31 - Feb 1 playing in Hangzhou
Feb 2 - 3 working in Hangzhou, then training to Suzhou
Feb 4 playing in Suzhou, then training to Shanghai
Feb 5 - 9 playing in Shanghai
Feb 9 leaving Shanghai
Feb 9 arriving in Vancouver

Woohoo!

The City of Vancouver has planted some new trees on my block. I'm not sure when it happened, as I rarely look out the front of the house, but eight new treelings have sprouted, increasing the end-to-end total from ten to 18. So long as they don't grow to block the view from our bay window, I'm okay with them. Otherwise, they will have to say hello to my little friend. BBBZZzzzzzzzz....

I'm not a big coffee drinker. Let's face it, I can't really stand coffee... but I'll enjoy a mocha every so often. Today I was at Starbucks with a friend and ordered the White Chocolate Mocha and it was blissful. Much better than a regular mocha, in my humble opinion.

I just finished watching American Idol Season 3's second episode. So far, New York and Atlanta. You know, it's funny... even after two seasons of A.I., auditioners STILL don't get the point. They still do stupid dances, still can't sing, and still sound surprised when they get rejected harder shooting a J with Kevin Garnett in front of you in the paint. Randy and Simon continue to be rather rude, laughing at auditioners' singing... although sometimes it is pretty funny. Waiting for the rest of the season to unfold.

In the meantime, I'm going to keep practicing for Canadian Idol Season 2. La la la la la Mi mi mi mi mi....

Amongst some of the most basic windows games is Minesweeper. Back in highschool, I used to play this more than regularly and was pretty pleased with my results (4, 18 or 19, and 89 seconds for beginner, intermediate, and advanced). Then I played this recreationally in university just to waste time on nights before midterms and finals. I thought I took Minesweeper far enough...

... but these Minesweepers seems to have brought mouseclicks to a whole new level. The scores (e.g. 1-12-43) seem to show their scores for Beginner-Intermediate-Advanced. What scares me more than their low times is their dedication to the game. Nerds.

What's funny about this site is the amount of strategizing that goes into each game for these players. They even have videos, although I wasn't able to watch them.

The fact that I'm browsing sites now, and no longer playing the game, makes me void of nerdom. Either that or envious.

Prestige. I got an update on my Aeropoints (with Star Alliance airlines and associated companies) in the mail. Surprisingly, my Aeroplan Miles balance surged from 46,040 to 67,670. All my new Aeroplan points were associated with my trip to England, but I didn't expect to get as many as I did (in comparison, my business trips to China usually get about 12,500 miles). The new miles came from:

2,500 Miles = Prestige 2003 1st Flight Bonus
9,420 Miles = Double Miles - London
5,000 Miles = Prestige Requalifying Bonus
4,710 Miles = Air Canada London Vancouver

So now with 67,670 Aeroplan Miles, I have enough for a trip to Europe (again)! Woohoo!

How much of TV is scripted or cue-carded? During the lead-up to a televised Canucks game, I was trying my best to watch commentator Dan Murphy's eye movement which I think were scanning a teleprompter. It's fairly difficult to tell whether someone is reading off a teleprompter, but sometimes you know it's there. For music and award shows, we know there's a teleprompter, and the presenters (musical artists in particular) occasionally slip up when they present in pairs or trios. Late-nite talk show hosts generally seem to have cue cards, which appear on camera from time to time.

What about the Evening News? Does the newscast use a script or just prepared material?
Other TV shows? Game shows? Alex Trebek (did you know he was a news reporter on CBC)?

It makes me wonder whether or not there are any natural un-aided presenters out there. When you hear a speaker or a lecturer, and they're good at what they do, you know. You are there with them, you know that they aren't reading off a machine feeding their lines, and you can respect their trade, on top of their message/content. On the other hand, what could make you say that a TV personality is a good presenter?

Anyway, maybe not a very intriguing subject.

I'm finding it extremely difficult to work these days. Today was The Day most people around the office found out whether they would be on their way out or part of the structuring company. Even though this round of layoffs had nothing to do with me, having known my situation for a week now, the desire to know who was let go was still distracting. That and the fact that I really had no concrete work to do, aside from read about what's been on the go in the Telecom industry.

It's a real shame knowing that our company, which held the #1 spot on BC Business's Top Employer list, will fall victim to the troubles of the high-tech industry once again. The layoffs seemed to see so many of the great employees that gave the social feel go, and I wonder whether the people remain will even see their "survival" as a blessing. I am aware of a few people who question whether they still want to stay at the company after the changes, as there will be a huge cultural overhaul, not withstanding morale issues.

Nevertheless, sometimes change is good and it usually doesn't happen unless it's forced. I'm looking forward to new opportunities, whichever way they should appear.

As I watch tonight's Canucks game at Anaheim, I witnessed one of the most amazing things I'd seen in a hockey game:

Copied from www.canucks.com --

"This had nothing to do with the game, but it's just so weird it merits mentioning. About a minute after Martin Gerber took over for Giguere, the Twins pulled a stunt that will never be repeated. Daniel walked over the Ducks' line and into the face-off circle before unloading a slapper that beat Gerber and rang off the near post. The puck bounced straight out to the opposite dot where Henrik sat with stick cocked. He rifled it and it caught the other post and rang out.

Two twins, two consecutive shots and two post. Heck, the tone of ring was even eerily similar."

I had a posting the other day about the WJH Championship that I wrote right after the game ended. But blogger died, and my long post disappeared. Bummer.

Anyway, I'm back at work after more than 1 month off for recovery. So far, it's been a quiet day. We'll see how things ramp up.

Happy New Year!!

Why aren't there any good outdoor places to go for the New Year's countdown? I was out at Robson and Thurlow, which seemed like the biggest crowd in the area. The intersection was filled, and there was a fine police presence. We parked (somewhat illegally) about 1 - 2 blocks away, with 2 minutes to spare, and ran to the intersection. The problem with the little clock tower above Banana Republic is that there isn't a seconds hand!! Well, that's not going to make for a good countdown, is it. I quickly pulled out my camera to take a short video, and by then, everyone started cheering and the "New Year's anthem" was playing. Not quite like what I saw on TV earlier when the clock struck twelve at Times Square. In any case, the crowd dispersed and we headed back too.

I hear that Granville Island is a good place to go to bring in the new year. Where else other than a $50 - $100 dinner/dance party?