October Holiday: 杭州, 广州, Kuala Lumpur

Sunday, September 28, 2008: 杭州 Day 20 (Teaching Day 6)
中国 Day 20
Asia Day 20

• Today was the last day of class before the holiday. Since this class was ahead, I had a bunch of games arranged.
• When we played 2 Truths 1 Lie, some of the students said, "I am a boy" or "I like to dance" (copying me -_-). Another said, "I am handsome...I like a lot of girls...a lot of girls like me," where one girl was like, "ALL of these are lies!!"
• I had small groups form dialogues; the object was to present one in which a hero and a bad guy fight. Most just pretended their wallets/purses got stolen by a bad guy; later, they would be saved by the hero. Pretty generic, but some of the dialogues were GREAT. In one of the groups, one guy was the narrator, and the other three played the hero, victim, and villain. There was one group with three girls and one guy. The guy put on a pretty hairclip and played the victim. That was hilarious. However, the best 'group' (or lack thereof) was this ONE male student in my class that decided to do the dialogue alone. He asked me for my help (in acting out the motions). He just narrated the entire monologue and did a great job. It was also funny for the students to see their teacher portray many characters. Yes. Plus, he was the only one who did it in front of the class. Should give bonus points.
• A few kids worked alone for the dialogue (by 'working alone'...I meant they were loners who didn't end up working on ANYTHING, grr). Those individuals really didn't know what to do or say. I will make sure they get the benefit of the group experience in the future.
• I rushed some of the activities in class, so that we had lots of time left over -_-
• Some kids from the second class came to first class. The second class had about 24 people - I remembered EVERYONE's Name!! MUHAHA. Some kiddos left early for the holiday. Some kids decided to stay at school.

• After classes were over, I packed a bit more. Michael came by and asked if I was done. It was around 6:10...
• Had dinner with Michael at a nearby restaurant. Great food (tomato with eggies, taro with pork ribs, and fried tofu with veggies).

• Well...we got my luggage and were running a bit late - 6:19. We must have waited 20 minutes for an empty taxi, but we saw only one (some other group took it -_-). Saw Jamie walk by.
• Michael saw a biking man drop something, so he went to pick it up. He's a good man - he gave the newspaper object to the guy, who actually started to pedal away when he thought Michael would keep it for himself.

• We walked to the nearest bus stop and paid 1 yuan once we got on the bus.
• We got off at a stop close to the airport shuttle office. Saw Jamie walk by...err...again (thus, we'd been waiting as long as Jamie had been walking). We got to the bus depot and got tickets for $30 yuan...
• The bus took off at 8:30pm and I showed Michael my written journal and chatted about a buncn of random stuff. Ah, the entertainment of it all.

• Once we got to the airport, Michael helped me check in. I got into the security check and went to the gate. Not 5 minutes after sitting down, they (airport staff) called for departure. I boarded the plane.

• Plane tales. So, I got onto the plane and sat between two guys - one was younger, one was OLD(er). I saw him and asked if he was a college student (he looked really young!). He told me no...I asked him his age and he asked me to guess...I said 25, but he said 3 years older (!!!). I talked to him a bit more and found out that he works for market research. I said, wow, I'm interested in that as well. Also found out that he speaks Cantonese - he found out I'm Canto and wondered why my Mandarin was better than my Cantonese, hah. I told him my Canto was really bad - he said he'd help me practice my Canto so that when I landed, I'd be pro. Got to know him a bit during the plane ride. He's a Guangzhou native and he works in Hangzhou. We swapped contact info - his name is Sam. Hahah...it was a fun journey. Got food but didn't really eat it (ended up wasting most of it -_-).
• This fellow Sam offered to help carry my luggage or wait until my dad arrived before he left (since he lives pretty close). I told him it was alright, since my dad was already at the airport. He told me to call him sometime (for 'dai pai dong' or to get lunch)...lol.

• Baba picked up me up and we went to his new apartment. It's pretty huge, compared to other people's apartments I've gone to in the past. Of course, Baba gave me a tour of the house. We ate fruit (persimmons, yummy, dragon-eyes, sour, but juicy grapes). Baba also showed off his new camera.

...

Monday, September 29, 2008: 广州 Day 1
中国 Day 21
Asia Day 21

• Morning yummers. Baba definitely cooked some "good food"...three different types of vegetables, fish, and chicken. I picked my back teeth for awhile because the chicken was so fuggin' chewy/fibrous.

• We were in the car, when I asked Baba why people in China like to call people eggs or use the eggy phrases...笨蛋， 完蛋. Didn't really receive a satisfying answer, hah.

• Went to Hong Wui to get a hospital check-up. My Kow Fu, or uncle, (my mom's elder brother) asked me about my symptoms, got me a chest x-ray (okay...second one in about 2 weeks) and then prescribed me a cocktail (more like an alcoholic's fair) of drugs - 5 different types, with 1 cough syrup and 4 pills. -_-. Went with Kow Fu to his house afterwards to chill, use the internet, and converse. I was showing my aunt (Kow Ma) and my cousin (Lam-Lam) some pictures as well. Apparently, my uncle watches LOST, but is behind a few seasons. They have a Wii! WTF. Hehe...they also have DDR for Wii.

• Took off around 5:45pm to get dinner. Kow Ma told everyone not to hurry because Baba is always late ("toh lai," among other synonyms).
• Lam-Lam started to learn to drive already - he's 20 - he was backing up the car. Kow Fu drove us to the restaurant and dropped us off. He went to go pick up my grandma.

• We were waiting at the restaurant and ordered stuff. Food was good. Baba came late, hahaha. I taught everyone at the table the terms "fashionably late"...as well as "food coma"...

• Went to visit Gu Jie (Baba's younger sister, or my aunt) and stayed awhile...I was falling asleep because it was so boring listening them talk about business in the country dialect (I can't understand maybe 30-40% of what they're talking about sometimes). Ate good chestnuts. Didn't see Peach cousin...

• I thought about an interesting, but unusual concept, as I was getting ready to embark to Malaysia for the next few days.
A trip within a trip within a trip:
U.S. => Hangzhou, China => Guangzhou, China => Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...

...

Tuesday, September 30, 2008: 广州 Day 2
中国 Day 22
Asia Day 22

•Woke up semi-early to the sound of my alarm. It was 8:35am. I reluctantly got up, knowing that I had to finish my business plan today (or else I’d be working my ass off in Malaysia). However, knowing that Baba is there to do business, I probably have no choice, but to stay in the room and get productive, while Baba is taking care of stuff. At 9:00am, I took some medicine for my cough (yes, the one that I have had since June/July) -_-. Almost immediately, I started to get sleepy or delirious (one of the meds I took had codeine in it). After that, my concentration was diminished. Nonetheless, I finished a few paragraphs. Baba got up around 10pm and then we tried to see if the internet was working. Nope, even after a few tries, nothing happened. I still had “limited” connectivity. During this time, I was in a drowsy, half-asleep state and I went back to bed for about 15 minutes. The minutes seemed so long…

• We got ready to go to Baba’s workplace. On the way there, we stopped by the housing office – they had kiddie game day or something, because there were boxes and boxes of kites in the office. Honestly, I wanted to jack one, but then I asked Baba to ask one of the workers if I could get one. Pfft, the lady gave me a somewhat broken, cheapy kite. Ah, I already fixed it, so it’s not a big deal.

• Baba introduced me (no, more like SHOWED ME OFF) as his “lwei lwei” to everyone he met. Once I got to his company, I set up my laptop in Baba’s office. Even though I was wearing ear plugs, I could still hear Baba conversing on the phone (and yelling for his employees to come forth). Yes, ear plugs are no match for the Cantonese voice; ear plugs cannot repress the loud, crude sounds of the Cantonese people. Not long after, I moved outside to the general office area. One of the young men who works for Baba was playing some techno. I could hear the alternating beats and his loud Cantonese dialect, even when I covered my ears sometimes. Pure misery for my concentration. Nonetheless, I typed up many a paragraph for my homework.

• I was working really hard, when Baba came over and asked if I wanted to eat (both of us hadn’t eaten all day). I told him a few more minutes, as I was still “in the zone.” Afterwards, Baba met up with some of his Malaysian Cantonese friends and we headed to a restaurant for lunch. Baba ordered many delicious dishes, but my personal favorite was a veggie dish called 豆苗 (dou4 miao2). It’s just a green, leafy vegetable with little pieces of garlic, partially cooked in oil. It’s probably my favorite Chinese vegetable. Baba also ordered chopped goose, chopped chicken, stomach of an animal (?), sugared sweet potato and taro with sesame seeds, and a fish soup. Fried fish was also ordered today – didn’t really like it, as it was way too salty. Baba also ordered some apple cider (they call it apple vinegar in China). After this delicious lunch (that left pieces of meat in my teeth), I left a bit early because I had to finish my homework.

• Oh, and it started again. Those friends of Baba who meet me always ask him:
“Does your daughter speak Chinese? If she didn’t, it’d be so sad, since she is Chinese after all.”

Nowadays, Baba offers a good reply, “Yes, she speaks a bit. You know, Jing is very brave – she came to China by herself. I didn’t make her come here. Her prime reason for being here is to learn to speak Chinese…”

They curiously ask other things, too.
“Does she know how to use chopsticks?”
“Of course…or else how would she eat…?”

Today, I demonstrated my mastery of the chopsticks via picking up some peanuts. One salty peanut jumped into my lap, though.

Baba’s friend asked, “Lwei lwei you mm you yum dee?” *Points to apple cider*. Baba refused for me, saying that the taste was really weird; he didn’t like it, and therefore, I mightn’t like it. I drank it and it was pretty decent. It’s actually sparkling apple cider, not just regular apple cider or apple vinegar cider.

Baba’s friend’s son was a little cutie. They said he knew how to speak English – all the kiddos do, don’t they? Well, it’s interesting, but a lot of people, when given the chance to practice their language skills, don’t do so with strangers, even if the stranger isn’t such a stranger. I know I don’t practice my Chinese with people who are strangers…for the most part.

• I returned to Baba’s office and then finished Chapter 1 of my business plan (*jumps for joy*). A few minutes before I finished, my uncle “gu jaung” was pestering me to hurry so that Baba and I would be able to get to the airport on time. Well…being that Baba is frequently late, after I finished my assignment (around 4:10pm), I found that Baba had his Malaysian Cantonese friends over in his office. They were all having different conversations on the phone. We probably left the office around 4:30 and got back to his house around 5:00pm. At that time, the internet man came over to fix our modem. He left around 5:30pm. Baba and I were picked up by uncle “gu jaung” and sent to the airport. We arrived around 6:00pm. Checked in (took a LONG time) within 10 minutes. X-rays were brutally thorough. I was patted down and my lip balm was questioned.

• Lady: *Sees bulge and pats pockets* “What’s in your pockets?”

Lip balm: *Is inundated with fear*…

Jing: *Takes out lip balm*

Lady: “What’s that?”

Lip balm: *Whispers, “Don’t let them take me away!!!”*

Jing: *Makes motion of putting lip balm on lip*

Lady: “…Hm, okay.”

Lip balm: *Sigh of relief…*

• Baba walked with me towards the gate. He was telling me how he had this VIP card that gave him special privileges.

• VIP, MY ASS!!

1) We got to the VIP room and Baba told the lady that I am his daughter and he’s accompanying me on a trip. The lady said that I couldn’t enter because I didn’t have a VIP card. Then, Baba said with disbelief, “So now what? What do I do? Just leave her alone outside?” The lady said that he could take some drinks with him. Baba went in and came out shortly with 2 Cokes, some crackers, a sandwich, and a dimsum pastry. Baba expressively said, “I got the dimsum just for you, ah!”
- From the looks and tastes of things, VIP treatment isn’t that awesome/exclusive. So, one gets access to entertainment on a medium-sized television screen (Detective Conan was playing), a comfy set of sofas, some drinks, and some snacks. The food wasn’t superb – it was just there to make sure patrons wouldn’t go hungry. I don’t see the point of not allowing me to sit on the chairs for a moment; the food and drink policy seems unnecessary, as one could take as many items as one could fit in his or her hands.

2) Baba had mentioned that he booked Business Class so he doesn’t have to wait to board the plane. Well, that was useless today, as we were running late. We had nary a minute to chill in the lounge, before we found out that people were already boarding our plane. We just went to the gate. There was no line for the Business Class line, so we walked in. Compared to the Business Class line, the Economy Class line was quite short, as well. In general, the plane wasn’t that full today.

3) For some reason, Baba was slightly lagging behind when he was dragging his luggage. I took both boarding passes and sat down at my window seat. When Baba didn’t appear a minute later, I went to take a gander. I saw Baba in a line to get his carry-on luggage checked AGAIN (scanned by some handheld machine). He was queue’d up. I then returned to my seat. Then, another 4 minutes later, I went to go check again. A man was scanning Baba’s bag. I looked on for 2 minutes and then returned to my seat, certain that he’d be on the plane soon enough. Well, the plane started its engine and I was getting worried. It had been 10 minutes since I boarded the plane. I had to keep bothering the gentleman next to me to get out of my seat. He is a nice Malaysian sir that works in the Guiyang tourism/hospitality industry; he is to his family what Baba is to his family. Yes, a breadwinner, but also a traveling father. The flight attendant asked me for Baba’s boarding pass and I gave it to her (she asked me again 10 minutes later, to which I replied, “我已经给了你!”). Anyway…another 5 minutes later, I went to check up on Baba. This time, Baba’s luggage was opened slightly and one of the officers was going through the stuff. I overheard something about “toothpaste” and returned to my seat. OH…I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve gotten out of my seat, but when Baba still didn’t show up, I had the funny idea of, “What if the plane left Baba behind and I were to travel to Malaysia by myself…what the hell would I do there?” I went back outside and this time, Baba was shouting at the airplane staff, asking them, “Why the hell didn’t you check it when you first x-rayed? I ALWAYS take this luggage whenever I travel.” Then, he turned to me and then said, “They said that the luggage had some kind of heat coming from it and think there is a ‘bomb.’” “Bomb” was the only English word he used. I started to laugh, albeit nervously, since I’m paranoid a lot, i.e. what if we didn’t look for a moment and someone planted something there? I vowed to Baba that next time, I will walk with him, because the flight officers probably thought it strange that a middle-aged man with tanned skin would walk alone (because he was about 10 seconds behind me after we got past the boarding gate). Baba said with fervor, “I’m not a Middle-Eastern man!” Hahaha. He told me he was following some old ladies, which probably looked strange. The men had taken Baba’s luggage temporarily to inspect it and then they brought it back. With the return of the luggage came the return of about 10+ flight officers. As everyone peeked over everyone else’s shoulder, I had the chance to count the number of people “handling” this matter – there were about 15 attendants in attendance. Ha ha. I thought it was unnecessary to have that many people. Baba said with eagerness, “Go ahead and inspect it all!!” The inspection man unzipped the main pocket, sifted through underwear and socks, as well as shirts and pants. He unzipped more pockets and checked them. Once, he took out a can of Coke and placed it on the floor, when it rolled away toward a flight attendant. The flight attendant picked up the can and gave it to me. Then, the inspector finished inspecting that pocket and then turned around to look for the can, but it disappeared. Baba and I laughed heartily. Well, by this time, it was already 7:10pm, about 5 or more minutes after the supposed departure time. Better safe than sorry, but I blame the x-ray people who did not properly check the luggage before it passed the boarding gate. I partly blame myself for not escorting my angry-looking Baba who looks like a “zong dong lo” (Middle-Eastern guy). Hahaha. This is hardly the VIP treatment you or I envisioned.

VIP? VIP is most overrated. I’d take economy flights any day.

• I’m blogging on the plane right now. As I look outside of my window, I see sudden flashes of light. At the corner of my eye, I see these flashes, but when I turn to look, it stops. Yes, it’s lightning T_T…it’s actually amazing, but it worries me. I saw lightning a few times tonight on the airplane. It looks cool when there’s no thunder; with thunder, it’s just frightening. I had a seafood and rice dish for dinner aboard the plane – ehh, not stupendous food. There’s also this interesting view of the cityscape at nighttime, but from far away in the sky, it looks as though the city functions as stars in the sky and our position up in the sky is the earth. Thus, we can see star-like depictions of cities from above.

• When we got off the plane, one of the flight attendants (a guy) chased after a patron. Attendant said, "Hey, where'd you get that paper?" The patron said, "Oh, it's mine..." Then, the attendant said, "No...it's actually mine *snatches it away*..." Baba and I saw that and laughed. I thought it was pretty weird that a passenger would jack the attendant's paper...
• So, we went through the arrival gates and picked up our luggage. Baba bought some wine at the Duty-Free shop. I took in all the sights and breathed the Malaysian indoor air. The thing that struck me the most (culture shock, perhaps?) was seeing so many Muslims wearing the head scarf (hijab) with a long, conservative dress. Most of these people are Asian/Malaysian and they wear their conservative clothing to work, which I found interesting. There were also rules posted that said Muslims could not buy liquor from the Duty-Free store.

• Anyway, Baba got us a ticket for a taxicab. It was really funny when I first glanced upon the taxis. They may be specialty taxis or something, since they looked like nice cars (inside and out). Imagine this. There was a row of shiny black cars, ready to drive you quickly to your destination. They reminded me of the rice-rockets that boys used to obsess over (just the design of the car - there were no racing things on the car itself).

• The driver started to drive us to our 5-star hotel in Kuala Lumpur...
It rained several times during this trip. The setting was very tropical, with shacks and trees/plants, as well as a more urban feeling near the city. How do I describe this, except to say that the roads had railings similar to home and there were high-rise apartments likened to China's apartments. Overall, the setting was very nice (nicer than China, and a bit newer, as well).

• The taxis here have radios. A few minutes after the driver started to drive, I noticed that his radio kept going off (the intervals were so regular that it sounded like two men having a dialogue on the radio). The driver talked into it a few times and then we noticed he was a Cantonese chap! It was funny because he just looked like an average Malaysian guy. So, there were 2-3 guys who just kept talking on the radio. Apparently, one of them got lost in the city somewhere, and our driver said, "Hey, Lam-Lam, I think you took the wrong way..." It amused me, yes. However, I was thinking, "Why are these guys talking so much?? No wonder he got lost..." The cabbie also went to fill up "gas"...the gas that powers a car (not fuel/gasoline, but gas, the non-liquid, non-solid).

• We got to the hotel and Baba met up with his friends. They had been waiting for us (poor them) and we had kept them up (it was already 1am or so, by the time we got there). We checked into the hotel and found that the bathroom has glass walls. I said to Baba, "It's a hom-sup-lo's bathroom" (pervert's bathroom), since you can see through it. Luckily, I found two curtains that pull down. Now, modesty and civility are restored. In other bathroom related news, no one could find the blow dryer – our Indian concierge kept going in and out to find the blow dryer. Finally, he saw a bag that was camouflaged against a dark wooden cupboard.
• Baba told me to take a shower first, while he went to get us some food. Afterwards, I learned that there were curtains that one could pull down. When Baba returned, we feasted on McDonald's food. The fries were a bit dry, the sandwich was a bit too spicy (yeah, it was the spicy chicken sandwich).

• I was looking up information on Malaysia and they outlaw homosexuality. Well, for males, if they engage in sodomy, they will be subject to corporal punishment or imprisonment. For females, it’s just gross and punishable by law via imprisonment. That somewhat amuses me.

Adventuresome day, eh?