US, US, baby

Religious leaders sometimes say they had a “calling” in life that led them to ministering to others. Even though they tried to fight it, a voice was always telling them what to do. There were signs that couldn’t be ignored.

Although I’m not ministering to others, and my whole experience wasn’t really religious-related, I have to say that’s how I came to feel about this trip. The idea had begun nearly seven years prior, and there was a constant voice always telling me to do this. And despite a job, a relationship, or a fabulous apartment two blocks from the ocean, I couldn’t escape the feelings that I should be unemployed, single, and somewhat homeless for a year. I felt that I couldn’t NOT do it. And as the idea swelled in my head, signs (and friends) kept urging me to just do it. I began to doubt that I could ever feel fully happy in life if I didn’t take that year to see the world.

So I did it. And because of that constant voice, after I’d made the commitment, I never once doubted my decision. The voice stopped. There was no nagging feeling that I was supposed to be doing something else. I felt sure of my life for the first time in years.

Now that it’s over, though, I wonder what was the point of it all? I’m pretty scared that all I’ve got to show for it are a few new friends and some envy-inspiring photos.

I have to admit, though, that despite the fact that I’m still somewhat unemployed, single, and homeless, I feel pretty good about having taken this little vacation. I really think there was a reason for it. What? Well, now, that’s just not clear yet. But, really, is life ever?

Me…a year ago

It’s been forbidden in the Forbidden City. OK maybe not forbidden, but Starbucks’ Forbidden City (in Beijing) location is closed as of last week. According to BusinessWeek Online’s story, one CCTV anchor “ignited a firestorm after taking up the issue on his popular blog last year. ‘Starbucks has good quality stuff, but it is still a symbol of America’s low-class food culture,’ wrote Rui Chenggang on Jan. 12, 2007. ‘It’s maybe O.K. to have a Starbucks around the Forbidden City. But having one inside the City is inappropriate. This is not globalization, but an erosion of Chinese culture.’ ” (the blog is in Chinese, so I’ll have to accept BusinessWeek Online’s translation). Others apparently agreed, and so Starbucks’ American image was shown the door (or maybe the gates; the Forbidden City is a former palace, after all).

As I travel, I’ve begun to feel like Starbucks is the McDonald’s of the 80s and 90s. Like the burger chain wiggled its way into foreign lands in the past decades, Starbucks is doing that now and is just as much a symbol of Americans’ consumerism as the golden arches. But if the closure in the Forbidden City is any indication, our wacky fast-food (and beverage) habits aren’t welcome everywhere.

Oddly, though, the big green circle has been in pretty much every city I’ve visited, and I have to say I’m a bit perplexed by it. Paying nearly $5 for a caffeine buzz is ridiculous to even some Americans…but in countries where a meal and drink in a mid-class sit-down restaurant can be less than $3 and the daily wages are about $25, the proliferation of Starbucks abroad is quite startling. Sure they’re there often for the tourists, but I can’t help but wonder what the Thai guy (who probably makes less than the $25/day average) thinks as he’s whipping up a $4.77 drink for the farang tourists.

If he’s like the quoted anchor who called Starbucks part of “America’s low-class food culture,” he probably thinks its hogwash that anyone would spend that much on a cup of Joe that’s not even served at a fine-dining establishment. Yet, that’s what Americans (and plenty of others) do.

Needing a quiet place to do some work Saturday, I did it too. But for a gal who doesn’t drink caffeine, that $4.77 chocolate chip cream drink after lunch was pretty much the devil. It kept me up until 6:20 the next morning. I might have to show Starbucks the gate for a while, too.

With a short day in Beijing before leaving China, I went to a part of the city I hadn’t been to before. The friendly girl I met on the airport shuttle bus recommended the area.

In one of the area’s many shopping malls, I came across this eatery. Although he’s no Mickey Mouse here, Garfield is still very popular. I’ve seen comic books here with the famous Garfield and Odie antics. When I saw this new place, I figured I should go check it out. A little disappointed that it was only a bakery, I quickly got over it and bought a donut…my first one since leaving the US. The chocolate-covered gooey goodness definitely hit the spot.

But I still can’t believe that a food place called “Garfield” doesn’t sell lasagna. Isn’t that the food everyone thinks of when they see that lovable fat cat?

While exploring China, I’ve been surprised at how much the country has embraced basketball. It’s everywhere: parks, military academies, at tourist spots. I suppose I shouldn’t be so surprised, though; the sport is just about as old here as in the US. James Naismith birthed basketball in 1891, and later that decade American missionaries brought the sport to China. (Ah, nothing like using a little sport to bring people into your religion…) So, even though their professional league is much younger than the sport’s birth country’s, it appears that Chinese love basketball just as much…if not more. Evidence? Here’s some pictures I snapped across China…

Click on the thumbnails below to see the pictures full size:

Nike-sponsored courts in Beijing

You know the famous Mao Zedong portrait? This is what’s on the other side of that wall.

kids playing at People’s Park in Qinhuangdao

a court outside of a Qinhuangdao apartment building

basketball goals at the beach in Beidaihe

a ripped-down goal at an elementary school in Xi’an

courts inside a military training place in Jiuzhaigou

a lone goal on a parking lot inside Jiuzhaigou Valley

I’m thinking I should probably start choosing more flattering photos of myself for this blog. But, well, here’s a picture of me after walking more than 4 kilometers in the rain anyway.

Tired of seeing only man-made sites in China, I was excited to get to Jiuzhaigou, sometimes described as China’s Yosemite. In Beijing I’d heard one jaded American tourist pooh-pooh it complaining about the long lines, “Isn’t that where you have to stand in a queue just to see the water?” he scoffed rather snootily. The Hong Kong transplant nearby quickly defended the area. She told me it was busier now, but it’s still worth seeing.

Believing her recommendation, and wanting desperately to get a little closer to nature, I made the trek to the nature reserve. Even driving into the area, I was awed by the beauty of the place. Tall mountains crept up beside every bend of the road. And through my taxi’s headlights, I saw the outlines of spruce leaning toward the road.

While checking in to the hostel/hotel, I met two foreigners checking out. One was an older Kiwi woman, the other a young Aussie woman, and both were here with a significant other. Seeing these westerners, I was sure the place would be overrun with them.

How wrong I was. Walking around the grounds the next day, there was a massive number of tourists. Supposedly, the park caps entrance to 12,000 a day, and often times, it felt like all 12,000 were at the same part of the reserve I was. But although there were many, many visitors, there were very few westerners. In fact, on my two days in the park I saw less than 10 westerners (unless, of course, they’re incognito like me) and just one American.

Seeing all the tourists, I knew that a large part of the growth of tourism at this place also has to do with the country’s growing middle class. Now with some disposable income, leisure travel is much more feasible. As I look around the area, I’ve been thinking more and more about the American’s comments in Beijing and others I’d heard about the Jiuzhaigou getting ruined soon. Part of me can’t help but think of what their underlying message is. Do these people really think the place was so much more beautiful when only the vacationing westerners and a few domestic tourists could afford the time and money to see it? As one who avoids tourists as much as possible, I can only half-heartedly sympathize with their remarks. I mean, yes, the throngs of camera-carrying tourists blocking my beautiful view isn’t what I like to spend my days looking at. But I can’t help but think how depressing it would be to know that Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, or Sequoia National Park were just pictures in my school textbooks and not something that I had an opportunity to see myself…

For more pictures of the reserve, click on a thumbnail below:

With just a 1 hour 5 minute flight from Xi’an to Jiuzhaigou, I knew I wouldn’t be served any meals on the plane (yes, the free meals are still common on Chinese airlines). Looking for the perfect snack to hold me over, I debated on cookies or prepackaged tofu. I opted for the peanut butter-stuffed cookies.

Now I just have to say that the Kraft-made cookies are quite possibly the best surprise I’ve found in China. The Takinas cookies greet eaters with different faces, but that’s hardly the awesome part of them. Biting into it, I was immediately awed by the familiar flavor. They were JUST like the Girl Scouts’ Do-Si-Dos. I wanted to run back and buy five more packages of these things and put them in a freezer somewhere.

Now, if I can only find Kraft’s version of the Thin Mint…

While reading the news from Xinhua News Agency, China’s official (i.e. the voice of the Party) website, today I was updated on Paris Hilton’s days of freedom. Really, though, I have to say seeing it on the state-sponsored news website was pretty funny (I haven’t seen it on any of the other Chinese news sites). It doesn’t seem to be on any of the other language versions of Xinhua’s website, though. I guess English speakers are the only ones who care about whether or not she’ll have to have a cell mate.

OK, I realize Mexican food is not American but, well, obviously Mexican. However, it is a large part of my American experiences. In my rural upbringing, the only authentically “ethnic” foods I ever had were Chinese and Mexican. Living in Southern California for the past four years, I had Mexican food probably four times a week, and while teaching in East L.A., I had it twice a day. Thus, now away from the U.S., I so much crave greasy Mexican food. I miss everything from fresh homemade guacamole to La Casa Grande enchiladas to Chano’s quesadillas.

On my last day in Beijing a couple of weeks ago, I found out there were actually a few Mexican restaurants in the city; an American invited me to join her and her friends at one of them for margaritas. Sadly, my phone died on the day’s hike, and I missed her call shortly before passing out from exhaustion. And after being told I likely wouldn’t find a Mexican restaurant in any of the cities left on my China list, I resigned myself to being sans pico de gallo for a while. Yesterday, though my pico de gallo slump ended.

After having some not-so-good experiences with the local food in Xi’an, I was excited to spot a pizza joint down below during my 14-kilometer walk around the top of the city wall. Stretching my legs as I skimmed the menu, I saw one little word of happiness on the fifth page of the menu: “quesadilla.”

When the small, stuffed double tortillas came, I didn’t care that the veggies in it were a bit of an odd mix or that the tomatoes in the pico de gallo were a little less fresh. With my quesadilla and “made in U.S.A.” Tabasco sauce, I was pretty darn happy.

In Xi’an, I met a couple of college students volunteering at the Terra-Cotta Warriors site. They were there to practice their English, so the next day we walked around Xi’an together and talked about American and Chinese culture. When they wanted to know if I’d seen any stars while living in Los Angeles, I tried naming a few people I’d seen. They’d never heard of Jessica Simpson. I decided they probably didn’t know who Darius McCrary (aka Eddie Winslow), my personal favorite LA sighting, was.