12/19/2006 ~ Happy Holidays

On the Rio: Freddy Jones ~ Into the Wind

I am going home for the holidays. Please check back in the New Year for further adventures of DCDayTripper.

"My Friends" and I wish all of you a very happy and safe holiday season!

12/17/2006 ~ Imperial Palace, Shenyang

On the Rio: Grateful Dead ~ U.S. Blues, 8/7/1982, Alpine Valley, East Troy, WI

The Imperial Palace in Shenyang is world-renowned for its unique characteristics of the Manchu Nationality. Construction began during the reign of Nu'erhachi, Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, in 1625. The entrance gate.

This is Fenghuang Pavilion.

And an urn.

Chongzheng Hall served as the place where emperors attended to state affairs and received envoys from foreign countries. After the Qing moved its capital to Beijing, emperors also held grand ceremonies in the hall when they visited the northeastern region and offered sacrifices to the tombs of their ancestors.

12/16/2006 ~ Harbin

On the Rio: Allman Brothers ~ Soul Seranade


Harbin first came into being with the settlement, in 1097, of the Nazhen nationality. The place then was a natural, and cold, fishing area, situated right on the Songhua River. By the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368AD) the area was renamed Haerbin, literally meaning "where the fishing nets are dried".


It was later in the nineteenth century, however, that the city really began to thrive, and when the Russian influence, that was to remain and heavily dominate Harbin's history, began to take a hold. By 1898, the city had become a Russian concession, with its own powerful Tsarist police force, as the Tsar continued to enforce his colonial plans for Manchuria. The Japanese took control in 1932 as a part of their Manchukuo invasion. But the Soviets retook the city in 1945 and remained dominant for almost ten years.


It was not until after the Cultural Revolution (when factional fighting made it almost impossible for anything to get done) that the city returned to its forte of rapid economic growth. Presently the population, about 3 million in the urban area, are concentrating on tourism, trading, heavy industry and some of the heaviest drinking in China. The local Harbin beer is quite good.



Eating here is a very different experience from dining elsewhere in China. For starters, the exterior of the restaurants is pretty unique. Lanterns hang outside each restaurant, each denoting different characteristics about the food and facilities available. Red lanterns denote a typical Chinese place and blue lanterns indicate that the restaurant serves Muslim food (no pork). What's more, the greater the number of lanterns hanging outside, the higher the standard of cooking.

Also, foods are served on much larger plates. The actual dishes available in many places is also unusual. Exotic animals such as deer, bear and tiger were once an integral part of the diet here. Fortunately Beijing have made their disapproval of this kind of thing clear in recent years, and Bear Paw and Siberian Tiger Testicles are no longer as popular as they once were.

This is the meal we ate. Starting with the front right: sweet & sour pork, fried pork & cabbage eggrolls, warm lettuce with soy sauce, some sweet fruit ball, bean curd, and in the black cauldron is spicy lamb.

This is the Flood Control Monument (Fanghong jinian tang) located on the bank of Songhua River at the northern end of Zhongyang Street (Zhongyang dajie). The Monument is the centerpiece of the popular Stalin Park, built in 1958 to commemorate the tremendous feat of the Harbin people in controlling the massive flood of 1957. The flood was the biggest flood ever recorded in Harbin until the summer 1998 disaster, when many more people lost their lives.

And in the background you can see the beginnings of an ice sculpture on the river.

Among the many Orthodox churches and Russian style facades in this region, the St. Sophia Orthodox Church (Shengsuo feiya dajiaotang) is the most impressive, and imposing, structure.

It is the largest Orthodox Church in the far east, completed in 1907.

12/15/2006 ~ Mao Restaurant

On the Rio: Chi-Lites ~ Stoned Out of My Mind

I had a very interesting week on a business trip traveling to the "north" country to the cities of ShenYang and Harbin. The weather was predicted to be very cold, 4F, but it only got that cold overnight. During the day it was usually in the teens or 20s. But I did buy a new coat before I left.

In Harbin I had the opportunity to taste these fruit on a stick. But again, I do not know what I was eating for sure. They were similar to a crabapple and stuffed with ground pistachio (I think - it was green) and then all of the fruit is covered in a melted sugar.

Harbin is known for its winter ice sculpting festival which is held in January, but we were lucky enough to see some works of art already in progress. This is the entrance to the Chairman Mao Communist Party memorabilia restaurant we ate dinner at.

This is my team-mate EW.

And my team-mate HY.



We were greeted inside the restaurant by a picture of Chairman Mao.

Here is one of my hostess's buying bags of nuts from the "communist worker party" wait staff.

And here is a picture of the Chairman, always watching over us during dinner.

And even Santa Claus has taken to wearing a Communist Party arm-band!

12/10/2006 ~ Randomness

On the Rio: Rolling Stones ~ 2000 Light Years From Home

Spanish Proverb ~ A wise man changes his mind, a fool never will.

I have some pictures that I haven't previously posted. I have to go out of town this week for work (to Harbin and Shenyang, China), so I won't be posting again until next weekend.

Here is a fruit I came across in Hongcun (the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon city). My guide described them as a "grape".

Unripened on the tree...

Ripened on the tree...

Ready to be eaten...

These are sesame stalks drying in a courtyard...

Here is another fruit from Simatai (Great Wall). At first I thought it was the same as above, but my guide said the inside was similar to an apricot or peach. (Can you see the moon in the sky?)A bird was feasting...

Here is a KFC driving from Tokyo to Mt. Fuji.

And this is a very tasty soft drink I tried in Tokyo. It takes almost like a Sprite, but more grapefruit, but not as sour as a 50/50 or Squirt.

12/7/2006 ~ Macau

On the Rio: Bart Hopkins ~ A Felicidade

I went to Macau over the weekend. Portugal was the first European nation to try its luck trading with China and controlled the tiny peninsula at the end of the Pearl River Delta in 1557. Up until December 20th, 1999, when the Portuguese handed it back to China, Macau was Asia's oldest European enclave.

Tiny Macau is jut 9 square miles, including the islands of Taipa and Coloane. Most tourists are from mainland China or Hong Kong.

The ending of a gambling monopoly has heralded an enormous change to the industry and Macau is being transformed into the "Las Vegas of the East" - the U.S. based Las Vegas Sands owns a large strip of land that will consist of 20 casino resorts, and is scheduled to open next year. Otherwise, it's a sleepy, mellow little get-away.

I headed straight for the island of Taipa, home to Ha Sa (Black Sand) Beach on the South China Sea. Since I was in Macau only for a night, I decided to skip all the gambling and wild, late-night partying (no, I haven't fallen ill), and instead spent a relaxing day walking along the beach and lounging on the terrace of my hotel room.

My terrace...

Views at the beach...

A ladybug...

A windsurfer as seen from my terrace...

A self-photo...

The local beer...

And sunset...

12/6/2006 ~ Hairy Crabs

On the Rio: Grateful Dead ~ Attics of My Life, 10/9/1989, Hampton, VA

We held a team-building activity 2 weekends ago and the group decided to go to Yangheng Lake to eat the renowned Hairy Crab. The restaurant we ate at was built on top of the lake.

The crustaceans become mature day by day with autumn.They get itchy feet to crawl to the mouth of Yangtze where fresh and salty water meet, to answer the call of nature - meet their partners and parent the next generations. It is a spectacular scene: millions of crabs crawl to the Yangtze River and swim eastward. Here is a restaurant dock worker pulling out the crabs from a cleansing tub.

Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs have features in common, that is, a shining green crust, a jade-white belly, golden legs with long hard hair, and spitting foam constantly. Each of them is about 200 grams in weight.

Female crabs have a round belly, while for male ones, it is pointed. The ninth month in the Lunar Calendar is the right time to try female crabs with much ovaries and roe, and the next month is better for male ones.

Here is my co-worker JL demonstrating the correct way to handle a crab.

Commonly, crabs are the last dish of a dinner, because they are so delicious that other food would not have any taste if you tried crabs first. So for our first courses we had such other delicious food as cold duck intestines, fried fish whole fish, snails (which I was told not to eat as they are so difficult to suck out of the shell and only eat the body, not the intestinal areas), kale, green beans, and some other items I do not know the name of.

And then the crab was served. Two to four crabs are a proper amount for one person, and we were each served 2: a male and a female. To most Westerners, eating crab is difficult, for the crusts are hard and they do not always know where to begin. Thank goodness my co-workers explained the entire eating ritual.

I started with the female. First, you pop off the bottom shell to get to the yellow eggs. Then you break the crab into 2. You can eat everything you see except for the white lungs. After the inside meat is eaten, you start on each leg. Now, I know in the US you get those fancy pliers and cute little forks to assist you, but not here (well, at upscale city restaurants maybe, but not at Yangcheng Lake). So, I managed to bite open a few legs without breaking any teeth (don't tell my dentist), and used my chopsticks to push the meat through.

Here are my team-mates enjoying the hairy crabs.

I was only able to eat one of my crabs. It was just too much hard work to go for the second one.

At least the tradition is to drink warm rice wine or beer with the crabs.

After the crab fest, we drove to Shajiabang, famous for its reed marshes and as a center of guerrilla warfare during the Anti-Japanese War. The Japanese troops were bent on exterminating all New Fourth Army personnel from the area, so leader Guo and his men took refuge in the nearby marshes and were sheltered by a local farmer woman. Of course, there is now a famous Peking Opera of this story.

Here is a picture at Shajiabang.

We went to a tea house there, and I watched my team-mates play cards (I still don't get the hang of the game), and drank a lot of tea.

All in all, a fun time was had by all.

12/3/2006 ~ Emeishan (Mt. Emei)

On the Rio: Jimi Hendrix ~ Born Under A Bad Sign

After Leshan we drove about an hour to Emeishan (Mt. Emei) which is one of four sacred Buddhist mountains of China. The philosophical founder of Taoism, Laozi, is said to have lived here in a mythical incarnation.

It is a 10 hour climb on foot to the top of mountain. Because I only had an afternoon, we took a cable car half way up.

Here is the view during the ascent.

The mountain is often misty, providing for a mysical arrival to climb the stairs to the temples.

Passing the Qingyin (Pure Sound) Pavilion echos the sound of the nearby confluence of the Black Dragon and White Dragon waters. This picture unfortunately did not turn out well, but I'm posting it anyway. In English it says "Love grass and love life."

Higher up on the path, now at 3,345 ft (1,020 meters) is the Wannian Temple (Temple of Ten Thousand Years).

Founded in A.D. 268, it was embellished during the reign of Wanli with a huge beamless hall to house an enormous copper and bronze figure of Puxian on his elephant. The original wooden struture burned down, so the present one was made of brick. The has was modeled on a tower at Kublai Khan's summer lodge in Chengde.

But the temple for me was not the most interesting part of the daytrip. I was more intrigued by the following sign.

It states: "Dear passengers, Some wild monkeys often appear in this area, you'd better pass the trail with some accompanies and take good care of your personal goods."

I thought, come on, wild monkeys on the mountain? So I asked my guide Kevin and he assured me they would be around. And if I had any food in a plastic bag to get rid of it before we started up the stairs.

And sure enough, just at that moment, through the mist, Kevin pointed out a baby monkey in a tree.

And within a few moments, monkeys were everywhere. Screeching and howling, and jumping from branch to branch. They even came up to some people on the path ahead of us. I have to admit my heart starting racing a little more than usual. There are trail guides with long sticks to chase them away. Some are quite large, with big teeth, and I was warned not to get too close to take a picture. Here is a baby below me.

And as we were leaving there were several on the rooftop of the souvenir shops, saying good-bye for now.