The Wonderful Turtle

Today in Hong Kong I was riding the bus home and staring glaze-eyed at the TWO TV screens in the bus.  Mostly they have advertisements but sometimes they have little cultural tid-bits.  You can't really hear them and they are always in Cantonese so I don't pay  much attention.

Today they were talking about turtles. There is a preppy guy showing us turtles in their habitat documentary style.   I could imagine what he was saying:  "These special turtles are prized for their special markings; see how the beautiful black markings signify the value of these turtles (turns the turtles over to show the markings on the shell).  Look these lovely little turtles that are just so many months old (now we can see several baby turtles climbing on each other in an adorable way).  Ha ha they all want to go exploring! (The man chuckles. Obviously these turtles are special pets and maybe are rare and highly prized in Asia.)  Here is their natural habitat.  These turtles lay their eggs here and hope that they will be protected until they hatch (the man is whispering now as he shows us from behind some long sea grass the egg area for these prized turtles.)

I think I am really good at interpreting this documentary and it seems very nice and wholesome and about these special turtles.

The next scene blares "TURTLE DESSERT JELLY! THIS BRAND BLAH BLAH BLAH" and shows the empty beautiful shells of these special turtles!!

AY YA!  that was really jarring and disappointing!  the whole thing was a commercial for this brand of Turtle jelly and how they have the best turtles to make it!!

When China Invades

TODAY in Hong Kong I had an early dinner at my favorite salad place that in the middle of a mall. The preferred seats are at the "window"- more like an open frame with a guard rail to keep people from going in and out that way. Well, that doesn't keep SOME people from going in and out (and in and out). A small family from the Mainland of Grandma, Grandpa, young dad and two kids (yes, two) were seated next to us at the "window" and had draped the little girl's sweatshirt over the seat at our table - maybe to reserve it too? The kids were running in and out of the restaurant, coming in at our table spot, and the grandparents never said anything to encourage them to settle down or use the window at their own table. It's ok because we were only two people.

However, for the people who work in the restaurant it is a sticky situation- soon the dad came back with a bag from the grocery store and they proceeded to bring out yoghurt, drinks, and fruit, which they peeled and left on the table or let drop to the ground. So basically they had bought a small drink for the kids and then brought everything else in with them! and they were settled in while the kids played.

In Hong Kong there are several "public use spaces" that are theoretically open to the public, although restaurants next to them spill into them and serve at the table in the public area, making it look like it is actually part of the restaurant and the "public" feel intimidated to sit at the tables, although legally they may do so. In fact, a popular dim sum restaurant serves at the tables in the public use area that one must go through to get to the restaurant, and, indeed, it really feels as though the space is part of the restaurant. They make customers place their orders inside the restaurant because they are not supposed to make the public use space as part of their restaurant. But of course every table is being used by their customers and they end up cleaning and maintaining the space.

HOWEVER, this seating in the restaurant inside the mall is definitely part of the restaurant and they pay rent for that area. For someone to bring in their own food and proceed to eat and drink outside food at their tables is really not kosher.

When leaving, we noticed another group of Mainlanders who had finished eating and the lady was cleaning out the ears of the man in the middle of the restaurant! I am glad my back was to them.

Taipei the *real* night market

TODAY in Taipei I made it to an "official" night market. It is very near a university and it was Saturday night so, ... CROWDED. We got onto the main drag and shuffled along interminably to get 5 feed down the road. Thankfully it was not a hot sweltering night, but I just don't understand why it is like this when the market is there EVERY night and it sells the SAME stuff (nothing interesting) and actually offered very little in the way of food stalls.

We were expecting to have dinner there and were looking forward to something called a Small Biscuit wrapped in a big biscuit- or something to that effect. It is actually not a biscuit at all but a sausage inside another sausage. We never found this delicacy. (Good thing too, Chinese sausages are not exactly healthy treats- they are sweet-ish and very more like a thin chorizo (but not spicy) or salami (but sweet).

We ended up eating at place famous for its soup. We had Chicken soup with chicken and weird vegetable, chicken soup with herbal medicine and chicken, and herbal medicine soup with a chicken stock base with noodles. Quite yummy actually.

Since it is near a university, at the market's fringes one can find lots of cafés full of students studying hard on their laptops. These small independent cafes are of course either über hip or painfully cute. It is an interesting mix of crowded pushing and quiet spaces that I don't think other university areas in other countries quite have!

Taipei the night market

TODAY in Taipei I realize the whole city is like one big night market. There are street vendors selling corndogs, fruit, waffle sandwich things, bitter melon juice, other salty juice, corn that can be colored all colors of the rainbow, dumpling, beef noodle soup, potstickers, won ton soup, smelly tofu (this seems to be the season- it is EVERYWHERE), meat or veggies on a stick, buns filled with meat or beans or other stuff, rice noodle soup, even shwarma-type sandwiches...

In just about every district, as far as I can tell, it is possible to find a snack. And people line up to get their favorites. Last night there was a huge line to get red bean filled waffle (it is not really a waffle but a very popular thing here- it is a cup made of batter with a scoop of filling and then a matching lid placed on top and sealed together with more batter). Today there was an even longer line, including foreign devils, for 'flour rice noodle.'

More surprising was the line out into the street for STARBUCKS. A very popular Starbucks that is definitely the biggest Starbucks I have every seen. 3 stories!

Besides the food kiosks and carts and small street restaurants, small shops and people with rolling hangers and tables selling scarves and sweaters add to the night market feeling. Even better, I don't know if it is this weekend only or if it is a regular thing, but in this one walking street area there was live music on virtually every corner! From a blind man playing Erhu with an accompanying rock background emanating from some speakers to full 6-person band with synthesizers and sound boards! right there on the street.

Taipei is interesting too because the signs are vertical rather than horizontal, giving it a more exotic feel than Hong Kong or Shanghai. People are friendly and it is easy to get around. The taxis all seem to suffer from overuse of the air freshener so they all smell sickly sweet with a base note of stale smoke.

Just when you thought they couldn't fake anything new

Today in Hong Kong I learned how China has gone one step further in the Fakery Game: Fake jobs for University graduates!!
The schools want to get their statistics on grads who go on to full employment up, so they are hiring new grads for jobs that don't actually exist.
In some cases, the students just see their name on a list of New Hires.
But evidently is is a long-standing practice. In fact, often students are asked (or required) to bring a letter of employment before they can get their diploma!!
Vocational schools usually boast 85-90% employment for new grads! Evidently is it a not so well kept secret in China.

Lady Boy Lady Boy now you have a home

Today in Bangkok I read in am American news paper about a young boy who was shot at school because he liked to dress like a girl. I struck me even more because just yesterday I read in a Thai newspaper about a school here that has decided to allow girls and boys to choose which uniform they want to wear: girls' or boys'. They even put in bathrooms for this "third sex."

While "lady boys" have long been an "attraction" here in Thailand, today they are no longer relegated to the seedier bars of Pat Pong and are working in many different industries. As a habitual skin care shopper, I have seen many very feminine, graceful, beautiful men as salespeople and managers. Many more young boys are realizing their affiliation and, to it's credit, Thailand seems to be accepting these boys, adding "third sex" facilities and passing laws of inclusion.

And then there's America, purportedly the land of the free and proponent of diversity, where people who don't fit into our boxes are not just ridiculed but slain.

I'm Turning Japanese

Today in Hong Kong I spent the afternoon in Japan. A very popular thing to do here is to take photos in a kiosk and then add stars, hearts, happy faces, flowers, etc. so the photos come out with these decorations. The machines are all in Japanese so we had no idea what we were doing (although we did this last year for my birthday too) so the first batch were terrible. You have to decide which background you want (I chose some scary thing with ghostly hands everywhere- I thought it was happy hands!), then do some funny poses (hand gestures and the like), pose for really fast sequence of pictures, then choose 4 of the 6 poses, then you have 3 minutes to decorate. It is really very taxing.

Then you gave to decide who gets which picture, cut them up, and then get them laminated! Voilà a special little plastic card of you and your students looking stupid!!

While waiting my students to get theirs cut and laminated, I am watching a Japanese music video where cute girls keep tripping and spilling food in slow motion on heavyset guys laying on the beach.  Weird!  First it's an ice-cream cone, then an icee, then ramen, spaghetti, soup, and pork chop rice!! I don’t get it.

Only in Hong Kong

Today in Hong Kong I noticed something that I think I would only see in Asia's International Financial City:

Of course one thing that you can only find in Hong Kong (mostly) is the bamboo scaffolding which seems to be everywhere here, but only used sparingly in other Chinese cities:

More Photos of Old Malacca

Malacca is a curious juxtaposition of Chinese, Dutch, and Malay. Malacca has a quaint old town with Chinese, Portuguese, and Dutch shop houses, and there is a Hindu temple, a mosque, and the oldest Chinese temple in SE Asia (maybe) all on the same street. Today I learned about the difficulties of preserving some of these old places. I visited a conservation project that is trying to renovate a Dutch shophouse using original materials, which includes lime. Evidently lime is porous and allows excess moisture to escape, while cement and paint seal it in and ruin the walls from the inside. The house next door has used cement so salt deposits leach out onto the conservation house's walls.










Down the street is the home of an obviously wealthy (über rich) Chinese family of the 1930's. Huge and gilt, the place is a museum of museum-quality furniture, house wares, embroidery, and house décor carvings. Down to the underside of the stairs and the railings in the stairs, everything is detailed and touched with gold. Gaudy, but beautiful.

Old Malacca

Today in Malacca I had their famous chicken rice balls. These are balls of rice full of chicken flavor (must be cooked in chicken stock). Served with cut up juicy chicken, you've got yourself a yummy meal for 2 bucks!

Other delicacies here include the Nyonya food (Nyonya is like the Singaporean Peranakan: people of mixed parentage: "foreigners"- usually Chinese or Indian men marrying Malay women several generations ago ((see Singapore People)) ). Spicy Otak-otak fish mush (yummy), chicken soup with a dark tangy sweet broth, nyonya laksa (curry like noodles), and I don't know what else! More things definitely but hard to describe.

Malaysia is full of street food and Malacca has its own. But most places seem to close early. We walked by a riverside cafe that seemed like the perfect place to sit and have a drink and watch the sky turn colors. But they were closing up at 6 pm! Maybe of was because it was Tuesday- the day many places close shop due to tourists going home on Mondays.


Malacca was declared a UNESCO heritage site last year and evhdently the tourists descend on the weekends. We did see a Chinese tour group all taking pictures with a group of Muslim girls in their veils.

Faceless Beauty

Today in Hong Kong I visited the new Sephora store. It is really big but has pretty much the same things we have in the US stores. Except they have this interesting product that removes more than make up:

Macau's Money Malady

Today in Macau I am eating a French crepe in a little cafe with Chinese art deco trappings in the village of Taipa. Crepe and croissant not bad!
This place was actually recommended to me by an American gondolier last time I was in Macau - September 2007. It's called Cafe Cheri and it is a nice respite from the casino fare and is right around the corner from the famous Pork Chop Bun restaurant. And sure enough, today the line to pick up a pork chop bun is down the street- 75 people long at least!

Taipa is still sleepy and quaint, although there is a McCafe and a Kholer store and there are a few tourists walking around despite the drizzle. That's good because the Macau local economy needs tourists to spend money in local places, not just the Vegas transplants.


Actually, what with the financial crisis and new restrictions on mainlanders coming to Macau, the Venetian was relatively empty compared to the frenetic swarming of gamblers and their families of the hey-day of when it first opened: gamblers, gawkers, grannies and kids...

Now they have put up barriers and built new hallways so the non gamblers aren't tempted to squat on the floor and watch the gamblers. They put up a curtain around the lounge with live music so the gawkers don't take all the seats without buying a drink. And instead of a gold rope to keep out the kids from the gambling area, they have a line of yellow clad security guards.

The taxi driver said that now they only get business on the weekends. The mainlanders come in busses and the Hong Kongers are feeling the pain of the financial crunch. All construction has stopped on the second phase of the Cotai Strip (or whatever phase they are in) and hulls of unfinished buildings stand with their glass and steel exoskeleton done, but with no guts.

Mekong Market

TODAY in Vietnam I watched the locals do their grocery shopping from their boats. This is the largest floating market in Vietnam and it is not for the housewives but wholesale. Boats laden with hundreds of melons trade with the banana sellers while smart entrepreneurs snake their way in between the large house boats with snacks and drinks.

Everything is interesting in this market: the boats where families live, eat, bathe; the long spears that have the proprietor's wares on display to declare what it is he sells; the small boats serving juice, waffles, or other snacks; the glimpses of life on these "houseboats" where mothers feed their babies and young men steer with their feet.

The Muddy Mekong

TODAY in Vietnam I watched fishermen and families ply the mighty (muddy) Mekong river looking for edibles amongst the floating plants of the Mekong Delta. This is Chau Doc- the mouth of the Mekong River. Just up a ways is the border with Cambodia and just down a ways is the largest floating market in Vietnam.

I took a river boat down the Mekong, past the market, through the brown swirls of the river that is so often a part of all those Vietnam War movies. Small houses on stilts with fields in their backyards line this huge river. This river starts in China and flows through 5 countries, irrigating, feeding, and supporting the life along its banks.

Party Time!

TODAY in Hong Kong we finished the semester with a fizzle. I always have a little potluck party at the end of the semester in my classes. I asked everyone to bring something to share. Of course it is not surprising that not everyone brings something. But usually those who do go all out. In California I have so many students who work in restaurants or who love to cook that we have a veritable meal and I don't need to eat dinner the night of the potlucks. I always bring cookies or, as in the case of 3 of my classes that are all the same day, cheese cake. Unfortunately, I forgot the sugar in the cheese cakes and had to sort of add it by guesstimation later (didn't really work), but it was not too bad and I think the students appreciated it.

For this class, I added some jam to sweeten the cheese cake, which did not sweeten the aesthetics, but at least the students are too polite to complain! This class too was a little better about "potlucking"- they actually realized that you need more than one small bag of M&Ms to share with a group! See, someone brought several packs of snacks, a little baggie of Almond Rocca, and there are probably about 16 little tiny cookies in the rolls of cookies there.

In my writing class, there was one bag of M&Ms, one bag of Skittles, a can of Pringles, about 5 packs of rice crackers (2 per pack), and a small box of soft cream cakes. And my homemade Chocolate chip cookies!

I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but after the potlucks I am used to I was disappointed. It is pretty funny, actually, when you have this great expectation and people bring out of their purses or bags a small snack size bag of M&Ms to share. But there are more than 16 M&Ms in a bag so at least everyone got one!

Back to High School

TODAY in Hong Kong I am struck by how similar to my high school my university is.  The students groan at the thought of homework, they giggle at the words "girlfriend" or "boyfriend," and they will only interact with others of the same sex.  The school is similar to a high school as well as there are lockers lining the halls (yes, halls, and not those "hallowed" ones they have at Stanford with columns and arches), and young hipsters schlepping in front of you or chatting in a group that barely moves to let you through.  

There is a large "canteen" or cafeteria that is much better than my high school caf, but it gets AMAZINGLY crowded at lunch. Overwhelming.  The school has a small fast food eatery that serves sandwiches, pasta, other stuff.... so far I like their hot dog the best.   There is also a Chinese restaurant that is subsidized so it is possible to get great dim sum for a pretty good price, although it too gets over crowded.  And there is a staff lounge that has a cheap afternoon tea set of tea and sandwiches with the crusts off.  I believe these are the only eateries available.  Of course we are connected to a mall that has its own food court but when you only have an hour for lunch- at the same time as the rest of the world, it is hard to make it there and back.  I usually just bring something from home and work through my lunch so that I have less to take home.

There is a lot of work.  I have 7 classes plus work in the Self Access Language Centre (the SAC- which always elicits a giggle from me when my boss says things like "let's meet in the SAC" or "We need to figure out what we want to do in the SAC"! (Didn't I say it is like I am back in High School!?)

Most classes meet only once a week so I am having a hard time learning everyone's names.  There are only 16 students in a class, but they aren't very imaginative with their English names so I may have 3 Wilsons in 3 different classes so I get confused. Thank goodness they do use English names though!

In the most serious case of faking, one can produce milk without a cow.

TODAY in Hong Kong, a Hong Kong child has fallen ill due to tainted milk. In school, I am teaching my students to listen for implication in a given talk.  Everyday the newspaper's front page has articles on the situation. What are some implications that we can find in these articles?

Right now, the taint du jour is melamine in milk. According to experts, melamine has been an additive since 2005! Evidently New Zealand helped bring the issue at this time to the fore because a big milk company in NZ has a minority share in one of the Chinese giants. They don't have a large enough share to force the company to disclose t heir practices, but they were finally able to get the Chinese government to do something. Implication: There has been this practice since 2005, Chinese people have brought it to the attention of authorities, but it wasn't until it became known INTERNATIONALLY that anything is being done or that any one hears about it.

Yesterday in the paper milk middlemen were saying that they had been told only this past week that the large production factories would no longer be buying discounted milk that failed quality test. Implication: They WERE taking bad milk. The paper had a quote from a milk dealer who said that when his milk did not meet standards, he was told to put his milk in a different place and unload the milk into a factory container. Both companies USED to buy sub-standard milk for about half the price of good quality milk. Producers for both companies have admitted that they have added melamine for the past few years.

However, with this new policy of not accepting low quality milk, even at half the price, dealers bemoan the fact that "while before wey lost about 1 yuan for each kilogram of bad milk, with the new policy we lose everything!" Oh, sorry.
They were told that the low quality stuff would be mixed with the good, or used for milk powder. That's okay then.
And sometimes it was just off or bad smelling milk- and mixing it with good at a ratio of 1:5- no one would able to tell, right?

Now you may ask, as I did, WHY would someone put melamine into milk. Well, evidently it raises the protein levels. Therefore, when someone waters down milk to get more milk to sell, the nutritional values also get watered down, and it can't pass the test for protein levels. SO, they add melamine. BUT, that's not all! They add melamine or protein powders to boost protein levels, they add oil to increase fat percentages, and whey powder to fake the lactose level. And do you think they add expensive Canola oil? Of course they use industrial oil!

Since the price of grain has gone up so much, many cows were killed as farmers could not afford to feed them. Implication: there is less milk available. This is probably why now there is so much of this going on. Maybe they changed to ration from 1:5 to 1:1 bad to good and it actually has had an effect (like children dying). And now it has spread to Hong Kong.

information from the South China Morning Post

Eat Eat Eat - The Singapore Way

One of the best things about Singapore is the variety of street food you can get all in once place under a roof that keeps out the rain! Street food is practically the national food here in Singapore, but to keep it safe, clean, and off the streets (out of the way of traffic, etc.) most vendors have moved to these big market places that hold several vendors hawking their snacks. The food is still cheap, still tasty, and still without air conditioning, but you can choose Indian and Malay and Chicken Wings and coffee drinks and bubble tea all at the same place and eat it at a table!