conquering china

took a much needed break from work and nyc and spent 10 days traveling china with 27 relatives. it's been 20 years since the first and only time i visited china. while my first memories are vague i do remember it being smoky, overcrowded, and extremely dirty. everyone smoked, tens of thousands biked the streets and parents would have children using the street as their restroom. nowadays only older men and teenagers smoke, cars and scooters have replaced bicycles and public toilets allow the streets to be dirtied simply with regular trash. architectural amazements have been erected proving the economic strength of china and symbolizing the peoples' general outlook on life in 21st century china. indeed it seems china is a great place and i enjoyed my short yet action packed trip immensely.

the main purpose of the trip was to visit where my grandparents on my mom's side grew up. their villages are located in the toisan city in the guangdong province. but before that, we put on our tourist hats and visited most of the postcard sites since most of us had never visited china. my favorite, a modern addition, was the shanghai world expo. spanning 5.3 square kms, the expo contains pavilions from almost 200 hundred countries to reflect on each culture and boast about their offerings. each pavilion was uniquely created and showcased marvelous exteriors with high tech lights and architectural genius. my highlights included the grand red china pavilion (see picture), uk's funky needle pavilion, netherland's happy street playground, and the water/light show. over 900,000 people visited that day so we didn't get to visit the insides of too many. but we did stand in line for australia's pavilion and a few memories pop out. 1) chinese people can get very pushy and they don't like lines. i try to be chivalrous, but that went out the window when all the chinese ladies would push to make their way to the front even though there was a formal line. our group did a good job of walking side by side to protect the order, but there was a slight miscommunication and a lady made a sneak pass to my left. as she came out of my blind spot, i made an impulse decision to cut her off. obviously she is not a defensive walker and as i made that small shift our bodies made contact and she was checked into the left wall. we had a small confrontation with her staring into my eyes and "politely" saying something to me in chinese. not the finest moment for me, but my purpose was to restore order. 2) instead of kids peeing on the street, they pee in garbage cans. i could tell there was a traffic jam ahead and people moved to the right lane to pass. as i passed i see a little boy with his pants down while his grandmother holds a garbage can as he attempts not to miss. unfortunately i forgot to pull out my camera, but i think u get the picture. overall, the expo was awesome and thankful that i got to spend at least the majority of one day there. it set the tone for the remainder of the trip since we walked 8-10 miles and made the last day massages all the more enjoyable. the remaining attractions (great wall, forbidden city, tiananmen square, terra cotta soldiers) all proved while they are still major contributions to this country. the food was hit or miss for our tour. i like good food. i really really dislike bad food on a trip. You don't get too many opportunities to eat in china, so when a bad meal is served you lose part of your soul and you feel cheated in life. but when we had really good food we were overjoyed. our dim sum, shanghai dumplings, roast duck, and cantonese dinners were all excellent and left me stuffed with a full stomach and contentment. the last leg of our trips left us with the villages to visit to speak with any families that still live there who may remember by grandparents or aunt. a few did, and as we stood around listening to all the families discuss memories from 70 years ago, it hit each and every relative a different way. for me, it was trying to just imagine my grandparents here as children and young adults and their daily lives. playing with neighbors and help farm the lands. i tried to get a feeling of how they got there and when they decided to immigrate to the u.s. so that we could be in our positions today. Even though my grandparents passed before I was born, this trip helped me understand them more than ever before in my life. it was a humbling experience, and our family got to enjoy it together.

i am glad to be back, but do miss exploring new places and hanging with the family. even though it was 28 of us, my family is so cool that it went smoother than i could have imagined. i didn't buy a lot, but i did try the taro pies at mcdonalds a few times, bargained for some cufflinks, underwear and socks, bought a bag full of panda hats to add more to the collection of panda goodies, and got two massages to end the trip. i feel my ny life helped prepare me for the long days, the amounts of people, the noise and large buidings. the only thing ny can't do is help me learn to speak chinese, but i'm looking for friends to help in that course. my plan is next time i visit, i'll be able to comprehend enough so i can understand what the masseuses are talking about, I can say something to the lady I checked, and be able to tell the masseuse that my cousin has athlete's foot without a dictionary...and laughing.