Chinese New Year 2009 and Xiamen

Each year in China during their New Year, or Spring Festival, there is a massive migration of people leaving the cities to go back to their home towns or villages. Chinese New Year is roughly comparable to Christmas and New Year thrown together. It's a very family oriented holiday, with the giving of gifts, eating a lot of food, and other things similar to Christmas. At the same time, it is the celebration of a new year with a lot of fireworks and other celebrations. Normally, everyone in China has one or two weeks off of work for the holiday. Since Hangzhou is a relatively large city with a large migrant population, the city was kind of deserted at the beginning of the holiday. All day and night, the people that remained were setting off fireworks all over the city. There wasn't a centralized park or square where a big fireworks show would take place, but just individuals setting off fireworks. It was pretty non-stop and I would often get woken up in the middle of the night to the sounds of a huge string of fireworks.

Hangzhou Fireworks

Hangzhou Fireworks

I decided to do some traveling during the holiday, despite some people advising me that it can be too crowded during this time of year. I figured I would travel for about 10 or 11 days. Without too much planning, I made a tentative itinerary and bought a train ticket out of Hangzhou without knowing for sure if I would be able to find hotels and all the trains or buses I would need. I was also going to be traveling alone since most my friends either had plans with their significant others or preferred not to travel during the heavily traveled New Year period. I've never traveled alone and there were definitely some questions about how the trip would go, but I thought I might as well give it a chance. Before I go on, I should mention that the next 5+ blog posts will be about this trip, so hopefully it doesn't get repetitive for my loyal readers. I decided to head to southern China as the weather would be more favorable there. The first city would be Xiamen (pronounced roughly "sheeah men"). I took a night train from Hangzhou to Xiamen. The train wasn't too crowded, but since I was pretty much the only foreigner, everyone wanted to talk with me. It was a really good chance for me to practice my Chinese as most of the people spoke no English, so I had no choice but to speak Chinese. I would notice people crowding around and listening to my conversations, even if they weren't participating. Riding on the night trains probably isn't recommended for the tall or non-Chinese speakers. I'm sure that it could be done, but the beds are probably only comfortable for someone who is a max of 5'10", unless you can sleep tucked in or don't mind your feet hanging over the edge of the beds. At the train stations it's not guaranteed they will have English signs or speak much English, so it could be pretty frustrating if you spoke no Chinese at all. However, I do know some people who will have a Chinese friend or the people at their hotel write some Chinese characters on a paper so they can buy their train tickets or things like that. There were a lot of young people or young families on the train, since a lot of them will be going back to their parents and grandparents in the countryside. All of the families had gifts and, in a way, it seemed it was almost reverse as Christmas with the kids bringing the parents a bunch of gifts from the city for the New Year, instead of the parents giving the kids all the gifts. Another thing I noticed was that Chinese people travel light. I definitely had the biggest pack and I felt that I was packing light with my smaller rolling luggage, but most Chinese people just had a small bag. Upon arriving in Xiamen, I immediately went to Gulang Yu, which is this island next to the city. I found a hotel there and then took the ferry back to Xiamen to see the sights that day. For the most part I would say that Xiamen is a typical Chinese city. It has a nice Buddhist temple, a pedestrian shopping street, and some other sites. The majority of medium-sized to large Chinese cities have the same.

Dragon in Park Temple Garden

Temple Garden Buddhist Temple

The cool thing about most Buddhist temples in China, though, is that they're often built on mountains and you can hike to the top of the mountain and see several smaller temples along the way. Unfortunately, it started to rain a little, so it wasn't too clear at the top. On the way up, this temple had an interesting collection of small Buddha statues. I overheard an English tour guide say that it's considered disrespectful to throw away old statues, so people will bring them here on the mountain.

Statue Collection View from the Top

That night for dinner, I went into a random restaurant in the main pedestrian street without really knowing what kind of food they had. After I looked at the menu, I quickly realized that it was a Chinese version of a western restaurant. The menu had entrees such as a steak, spaghetti, and a fried egg all together on one plate. If that's not western food, I don't know what is! I have to say that it was close to the worst food I've had in China.

Pedestrian Street

Xiamen from Across the Bay

While the first day exploring Xiamen was a pretty standard day, fortunately there are some interesting day trips that are possible from the city. Gulang Yu, where I was staying, also has some interesting sites. So, in summary, the best is yet to come. I will leave you with a couple people of Chinese people doing what they do:

Old Man Doing Tai Chi

In the mornings, old Chinese people are always in public squares and parks doing some kind of exercise. Normally, it's tai chi or "shadow boxing". Basically, it's a set sequence of slow martial art moves. The position of the legs, feet, arms, hands, and everything is set and the transitions are very important, as far as I understand. I think one full sequence takes about 20-30 minutes and you have to memorize each position and transition. Maybe some day I will learn.

Chinese Men Chilling

Here are some more pics of Xiamen: http://picasaweb.google.com/wallred10/Xiamen

Hiking Near the Tea Fields

Lately in Hangzhou the weather has been quite warm, reaching the high 50s and low 60s during the peak of the day. It was colder before and I think it's going to get back down to the 30s and 40s later, but for right now, the weather has been great. When I was living in Chicago, we'd get about 5 days all year with weather this nice, so I figured I should take advantage of the sun and warmth while I can. One of my Chinese friends named Master knew about a hike that takes you around the tea fields and ends up at a university's campus in Hangzhou, so last weekend we went. It was a relatively short hike, but it was cool because I had never seen the tea fields so close. What I think was most interesting about the tea fields is that they're grown on the hillside on terraces, which made them look pretty cool. Apparently Hangzhou's climate is very favorable for green tea leaves, which is why the Longjing tea is one of the best in China. Because it never gets too cold in Hangzhou, my friend said they are able to harvest the tea leaves twice a year. It surprised me, though, how much like a normal bush or shrub the tea plants looked. I honestly could see the tea plants being in someone's front yard in American suburbia. But then again, my eye is very untrained in horticulture and I am probably dead wrong. Here are some of views we saw:

Tea Fields

View From Above

Master

Besides the tea fields, we were also able to see some of the surrounding hills of Hangzhou. Hangzhou definitely has some of the best nature of the mid-size Chinese cities. By mid-sized, of course I mean about 6.7 million people in the total urban area (although that number is a bit hazy depending on how they measure it). By China's standards, though, that is not even in the top 20 largest cities. The hike we went on is only a 30-45 minute bus ride away, so most of the hills, gardens, etc. are very accessible from the city. While there are not what I'd consider mountains in Hangzhou, it's still nice to be able to do some hiking.

Hills Near Hangzhou

Hills Near Hangzhou

As you can see from the pictures, many things are still green during the winter, although a lot of the trees have lost their leaves. I'm not sure if it was a foggy day or if that is pollution floating around, but Hangzhou normally has pretty good air quality. After we finished the hike, we got some excellent lunch at the university campus, then walked to the big river just outside of Hangzhou. The river connects eventually with the ocean and my friend said that every year, due to some natural occurrences with the ocean tide, the current of the river reverses and a huge wave goes down the river. Everybody gathers to watch it and somebody always gets injured watching at some of the places closer to the ocean where the wave is biggest. I'm pretty curious to check it out.

The River

There were also a lot of people fishing in the river. Each person would have anywhere from 5-20 fishing poles placed just a few feet apart. Mostly the guys seemed to just be sitting around and I have a hard time believing that they catch many fish from that river. They must, otherwise they wouldn't fish there. The water definitely doesn't seem too clean, though. I hope that's not the fish I am eating at the street vendors here in Hangzhou. They have these fish grilled on kebab sticks with this spicy seasoning that is so good. I suppose sometimes you have to sacrifice dubious cleanliness for delicious street food.

Fishing in this River?

It's always nice to see some new areas around Hangzhou and there are still a lot more places I haven't seen. Come spring time I'll have to see as much as I can before it's 95 degrees and extremely humid. By that time I'll turn back into sweaty foreigner mode and will be confined to A/C controlled buildings. (By the way, being an extremely intelligent person with a computer engineering degree, I just noticed there is this feature that allows me to make my pictures "Large" instead of "Medium". Who woulda thunk it? Surely this is the bleeding edge of technology. It only took me around 20 blog posts to figure this out. D'oh! By increasing my photo size, this should boost the effectiveness of my blog in conveying information to the public at large by at least 57%.)

An Interesting Massage

This past weekend I went out with a few Chinese friends. After the night was pretty much over, one of them suggested that we go get a foot massage. The massage places normally stay open pretty late and they are also quite cheap, at least compared to massages in the US. A 90 minute foot massage, including some tea and fruit, cost a little less than $10 (60 RMB). I've had a few massages in China, but don't get them that often. However, when invited, I like to go. The masseuses are normally girls in the 18-30 age range. It also seems that a lot of times most of the people getting the massages are men. Perhaps this is no coincidence as I have heard that some massage parlors offer multiple "services," if you catch my drift. Fortunately, though, the place we went was one of the more well-known parlors in Hangzhou and was legitimate. Normally when they give a foot massage, they'll first bring out some boiling hot water for you to soak your feet in. After that they'll spend considerable time massaging your feet. For the unaccustomed, foot massages can be pretty ticklish, but after you've had a couple, they're pretty good. Don't underestimate these skinny girls, though, as they will give you some deep tissue massages that will leave you sore the next day. After they finish with the feet, sometimes they'll do your back for a short time. However, this time they presented us with an interesting alternative. Basically, they have these glass globes that are a little larger than the size of a baseball. They will light a fire inside the globes to make it hot and then suction the globe to your back, which indeed is a little painful. After the globes are firmly suctioned, they'll leave them on for about 10 minutes. At the time they just said that the suction is "good for the health" without providing many details, which is a typical Chinese response to some kind of action that doesn't make sense to a Westerner, but is supposed to have some health benefits in Chinese medicine. After some research online, I found that the suction is supposed to be good for "detoxifying" your body. Those ubiquitous toxins always seem to be causing trouble. Despite the potential health benefits, the side effect of this suction therapy is of course some huge hickeys on your back. Try to look cool when you have nine large, dark circles on your back. I think I will get this massage therapy before the next time I plan on going to the beach. That way I can demand the respect of everyone who sees me. I took these pictures when I got back that night. I'm pretty sure you've never seen a physique as nice as mine is before, so just focus on the suction marks. You will have to pardon the crooked pictures, as they were taken by me standing backwards to a mirror.

Suction Marks Still Clearly Visible

This is a True Mark of Manliness

They say that the marks will last about one week, but mine are still quite visible after 5 days. Maybe it will take almost two weeks for them to completely go away. I took a few more pictures the day after when it was light outside so that it would be easier to see.

I found a video on youtube that is pretty much exactly what I got. This guy got a few more cups than I did, but the process is exactly the same. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEJ5jkOVFh8 . See how the skin gets sucked up into the globe? This type of massage might be worth trying, but to be honest, I don't feel any health benefits now that a few days have passed. I think next time I'll just stick with the usual massage.

Christmas 2008

For all of those readers who are mainly interested in my posts about China, you are going to have to endure one more family oriented post as I wrap up my time spent at home over Christmas. My time back in the US was spent doing two main things: spending time with my family and eating as much food as possible. Since all my family and extended family lives in Utah, I was pretty much able to see everyone while I was home. I even found out that my technology savvy grandma reads my blog. I was pretty happy to hear that, so I have to give a quick shout out: "Hi Grandma, hope you're doing well". One of my favorite parts of going home is being able to spend time with my brother Kyle and his family. He and his wife Amy have two sons, so that makes three nephews total for me. I don't need to say too much about them, besides the fact that they're awesome kids and are a lot of fun to hang out with. Unfortunately, I didn't take too many picture of their family, but I have a few.

Parker Enjoying a Bagel

Parker and Kyle

Gage and Parker with the Remote Control Car

As I mentioned, I also ate a lot of food while I was in Utah. With all the family parties and eating out, I must have gained back at least some of the weight I've lost being in China. It was great to eat some American food that I can't get in China. My lust for delicious burritos was sated by making a trip to Chipotle, satisfying my addiction for the time being. I even made some vintage Wes-Allred-style bean dip.

Bean Dip a la Wes

While I was in Utah it snowed and snowed. We definitely had a white Christmas and I enjoyed seeing that much snow. The great thing about Utah is that when it snows, everything becomes more beautiful and the mountains look even better. When I was living in Chicago, snow meant a double drive time commute, salt stains on the bottoms of my slacks, and a general level of filth with the black slushy snow that would eventually materialize on all public sidewalks.

Snowy Mountains

My House

Snowy Mountains

My Dog

Those are the basics of my time home for Christmas 2008. It was great to be home for a couple weeks and to see all my family there. In closing, here a few pics from the plane ride back to China when we were flying over Alaska and meeting the ocean. Unfortunately, the pictures don't do justice to how beautiful it was in real life.

Alaskan Mountain Range See Anything Interesting (See Close-up Below)? This Looks like a Face's Profile, Right? Where the Ocean Meets the Land

Clouds and Frozen Ocean

My New Nephew - Sawyer Farr

I was lucky enough to be able to go back to the good old US and A for Christmas this year. However, the main reason I really wanted to go back was because my sister and her husband, Emily and Jeremy, were having their first baby really close to Christmas. I have to admit that having my older sister pregnant is pretty wild and crazy. She stayed pretty healthy and even kept working until the last couple days before the birth. I don't think I would be so diligent and would probably end up laying in bed the last month, eating full bags of Doritos in one sitting. By going home around two weeks before Christmas, I was able to be there before Sawyer was born. It was pretty cool to be there for that. Here are a couple pictures we took a few days before Sawyer was born:

Wes and Em

Dad, Mom, Emily, and Wes

Sawyer was born on Saturday, December 20, 2008. He weighed 9 pound and 15 ounces, which apparently is really huge. Because he was such a big baby and had a big head, he had to be born by c-section. He was born with curly, blond hair and I think Emily and Jeremy received about a million compliments on what a cute and large baby they have. He is definitely a little man, that's for sure.

Sawyer

Emily and Sawyer

Jeremy and Sawyer doing the "Lion King" pose

We were able to visit Emily, Jeremy, and Sawyer a lot at the hospital. Of course, everyone was taking a lot of pictures. Sawyer's dodgy uncle Wes was even able to hold him for a little bit.

Sawyer and his hair

I think Sawyer already has more hair than his uncle Wes

Gage, Wes, and Sawyer

Sawyer and I Look at the size of that boy's feet

I was able to stay in Utah for about one week after Sawyer was born. We visited the new baby a lot during that time. I'm sure that I'm not the first one to observe that newborn babies are basically sleeping, eating, and pooping machines. Emily and Jeremy are pretty lucky to have such a good looking baby.

Sawyer at one week

Wes and Sawyer

This was the first time that I was able to be around a new born baby. My other two nephews I wasn't able to see until they were already a bit older. It was great to be home for this and I wish Emily, Jeremy, and Sawyer the best.

Cleantech Forum in Shanghai

As part of my efforts to meet more people involved with Renewable Energy and Clean Technology, I went to Shanghai from December 3 - 5 to volunteer for a forum that was being held about Cleantech. The event was being organized by the Cleantech Group, which is basically a membership organization that tries to connect entrepreneurs with investors in the Cleantech industry. I figured that the forum would be a good opportunity to meet people involved in the industry, as well as see some of the latest trends and innovations. It all started a month or so before the forum when I emailed the Cleantech Group and asked if I could get involved. They said I could attend the event for free as a volunteer (normally it is pretty expensive to attend) and when I had some downtime, I could attend the speaking sessions and talk to the entrepreneurs and investors. The forum was held at the Hyatt in the Pudong side of Shanghai. It was pretty luxurious, something I am not really used to these days. The first day the Cleantech Group employees and all the volunteers met to prepare and setup for the forum. There were around 15 volunteers total and after introductions I realized I was the only non-MBA student who was volunteering and probably the youngest person at the forum. This was both good and bad. On the one hand it was good to gain some experience at a forum like this at a younger age than most other people. However, during some of the networking sessions I had to make more effort to talk with people since most of them weren't really looking to meet a relatively inexperienced person like me.

Volunteering at Cleantech Forum

The next two days at the forum there were full day sessions of businessmen, professors, or other industry experts speaking about the Cleantech industry. Some parts were one person giving a speech and others were panels with four or five people discussing a particular topic. My favorite parts of the forum, though, were the "Deal Flow" sessions. In these sessions, start-up companies had eight minutes to pitch their ideas, with two minutes for Q&A. While no investment was guaranteed from these presentations, it was a good opportunity for the start-ups to pitch their ideas to all the Venture Capital firms and other investors attending the conference. Despite all the rhetoric around the environment and "saving the planet", the one common purpose of all the people attending the forum was definitely money. The start-ups needed investment money to get their businesses going, the Venture Capital firms wanted to find promising companies from which they would be able to get a good return on their investment, and even I wanted money in the form of finding a potential job. It was really interesting to see the process of making deals and to see the new ideas in the field. The start-ups ranged from solar power, water treatment, clean coal technology, home "grid" management, and many more. To be honest, a lot of the ideas presented at the conference did not seem to be that groundbreaking, but more incremental improvements of existing ideas. One of the speakers at the forum gave a reason for that. He said that mostly start-ups in China are about making a viable business, whereas in the US the start-ups often shoot for the fences, looking for a huge financial payout and trying to come up with a game changing technology. This difference is mainly due to the fact that in the US they have more money going into the investments and are able to take a longer term perspective, allowing millions of dollars and several years to pass without expecting a return on the investment.

Session at Cleantech Forum

As a volunteer, we mostly just had to help with registering the forum attendees and help out during the sessions, getting microphones to people with questions. Those two things did not really require too much time, so there was plenty of time to attend all the sessions and network during breaks, lunches, and the receptions at night. I was able to meet a lot of people and talked a lot about Cleantech. Everyone was giving out business cards like crazy and I must have given and received around 40 or 50 cards. I'm sure some of the better VC firms and startups must have given out at least a hundred.

Networking Dinner

During the networking sessions, it was especially interesting to talk to the entrepreneurs who were working on a start-up. An interesting thing about the entrepreneurs is that they did not necessarily seem to be a lot more intelligent or innovative than a lot of people I know from my days at Northwestern or Deloitte. Even during the "Deal Flow" sessions, when the start-ups were pitching their ideas, I definitely saw a lot of decks, or Powerpoint Presentations, that could use some cleaning up by a few consultants. I think my old roommates from 1741 Melrose could have thrown together a presentation better than a lot of the start-ups there. To me, the main difference that separates entrepreneurs from other people is their willingness to take such a huge risk. Working for 2-5 years for little to no salary, 60 - 80 hours a week, with no guarantee of a huge financial payout is a risk a lot of people are not willing to take. Attending the Cleantech Forum was a great experience and I was able to learn a lot about how start-up companies get investment money from Venture Capital groups or other investors. Unfortunately for my job search, though, most people were looking to make deals at the forum, not hire someone. Who knows, though, because I made a lot of contacts and you never know where a job opportunity will come from. Regardless, it was interesting to take part and learn more about the industry. All these conferences and forums I am going to will help educate me in the Cleantech industry and make me more knowledgeable about business in general. I also was able to stay in Shanghai, see some of the city, and do some Christmas shopping at the counterfeits market. What could be better? I'll leave you with a few pictures, with a few more online at: http://picasaweb.google.com/wallred10/CleantechForumShanghai#

Financial Trade Center on Left and Hyatt on Right

Pearl Tower at Night

Financial Trade Center on Left and Hyatt on Right

Pudong at Night