No Place Like Home

Back in the Saddle Again

I'm back in the saddle again
Out where a friend is a friend

After more than two years of silence, I've decided to re-enter the blogosphere to share my thoughts, feelings and experiences with a cyberpublic hungry, if not ravenous, for the musings of a melancholy, middle-aged Middle Tennessean. Admit it, you've missed my alliteration, haven't you?

Three months have passed since I relocated from Peoria to Nashville, and in the words of John Denver, "Hey, it's good to be back home again". I'm not a native of Music City, but I feel more "rooted" here than anywhere else I've lived since becoming a grownup, a transition I'm still not entirely fond of, by the way. My downtown condo has a view of the Cumberland River, LP Field and the Batman building and I'm just across the street from the Schermerhorn Symphony Center (Mom would be so proud), and the Country Music Hall of Fame (so would Dad). It's been fun walking to Titans and Predators games, an event at The Ryman, or a symphony performance. Heck, I get a kick just looking out my window and watching cars, barges, and trains go by. A little extra motion in my life is a good thing, especially if it can be enjoyed from the comfort of my couch.

It's been fun reconnecting with friends and family, and I'm finally beginning to feel "settled"...well, as settled as I can be anyway. Restless at heart, I can easily bounce back and forth between vegging at home alone or a spontaneous trip with friends to Liechtenstein. Any offers?

I'm still recovering from a two-week bout with influenza (the regular kind) and a sinus infection (the 'I'm thinking of the guillotine' kind). So, I'm gonna cut this short. However, in no time I'll be waxing eloquent like nobody's business. Try to look psyched.

Bad Hair, Good Friends

Face it; we've all had them, and it's nothing to be ashamed of. Bad hair days just happen. Only a few weeks ago during a visit to the 798 Art District in Beijing, I was sitting down for a brief rest on a pink plastic chair when my good friend "Daney" snapped this photo of me. Any other day, my Simpson-esque mane would have been perfectly coiffed, but, well ... I didn't have the right conditioner. But to show I'm a good sport, I'm posting this photo as a testament to the fact that even the bold and beautiful have off days.

For most of Daney's visit, there was another woman who hung around us quite a bit. We called her "The Lor". She's very organized, tends to read aloud and write meticulous notes in travel journals. Rumor has it that my driver (see my last entry) was very impressed with her Mandarin. Personally, I've always thought she was a bit of a show off, but...that's just me. (Bitter...party of one? Bitter?)

Seriously, I had a wonderful time visiting with my friends Lori and Dana last month. Not only was it great to see and spend time with them, I also got to explore new areas of Beijing, including:

• The Lama temple, where there was some major incense burning going on. I haven't been that high since I hung out in my teenage sisters bedroom in the late 60s.
• Longqingxia Gorge -- think mini Grand Canyon with bungee jumpers and high wire act entertainers, the longest dragon shaped escalator in the world (I'm not making this up, folks), a very relaxing boat ride and assorted Buddhist temples dotting the landscape.
• The Hutongs -- a pedal-cart ride through the old stone homes and alleyways of Beijing which leaves you with the feeling that there really is such a thing as time travel.
• The Green Team Room -- a hip, trendy eatery that is described as "something out of Alice in Wonderland". No photos were allowed, but it didn't disappoint.

They were also here for the 24th anniversary of my 21st birthday, a very special occasion celebrated at Peter's Tex Mex with some of my closest friends in Beijing. In a scene right out of Ripley's Believe It or Not, the folks at the table on our right were from Columbus, Georgia; and one of the young ladies at the table on our left was an Auburn grad (and it was her birthday, too!). What are the odds? Only in China!

This is me in my winter that that my friend Donna bought me for my birthday. Frankly, the Communists aren't known for fashion, but they do make rather hip hats. I look rather dashing, no?

We also enjoyed a fun night at Hard Rock Cafe-Beijing -- no drugs or nuclear weapons allowed (the sign says so) -- where a band from the Philippines played some fairly danceable pop tunes.

Anyway, I posted yet ANOTHER photo album you can check out on the left column with some pictures taken by Daney during the Daney/Lor Birthday Visit. (Are you sick of seeing my photos? Please say "yes"; I hate resizing them for viewing on the Web.)

By the way, for anyone who wants to know, and the rest of you who have nothing better to do than read my blog, I will be "home" for Christmas, which, currently means "Illinois, Tennessee and Alabama". For Turkey Day, however, I'll be flying South to Hong Kong. Jackie Chan beware!

Should be another adventure. Stay tuned.

Did I Mention I Have a Driver?

There are several great things about living in China. Food poisoning sure to jump start any diet plan. Lethal pet food and toothpaste. Smog and pollution to die for. What's not to love, right?

OK, I'm exaggerating. Despite a couple of bad food bouts, I'm certainly not shedding any pounds here. My teeth are about as clean as ever and, as far as I know, I haven't killed any four-legged creatures. And, call me Pollyanna, but I prefer to think of the smog as a sour old friend that kindly hides those annoying sunbeams when all I really want to do is lie on the couch, watch Law & Order reruns, and eat slurpy spoonfuls of Haagen Dazs Macadamia Nut Brittle ice cream.

There is one difficulty, however, that I simply couldn't manage on my own -- traffic.  How to describe rush hour in Beijing? Hmmm. Think of all the cars in Chicago, New York and L.A. combined without a fussy need for separate lanes for traveling in opposite directions. Mix in about a million bicycles, motorbikes, buses, pedal carts and pedestrains. Throw in a policeman with a red flag nonchalantly waving at rule breakers, not so much to slow them down or, God forbid, give them a ticket, as to encourage them with a, "Hey, good job putting the pedal to the metal 30 seconds after the traffic light turned red." Or, "Awesome! I've never seen a hit and run like that. Double flag wave to you, girlfriend!"

That's why I'm thankful to have a driver. Yes, a driver. Someone who picks me up in the morning and takes me home at night. Someone who opens doors for me, puts my overstuffed briefcase in the trunk, and struggles to ensure the appropriate CD is ready to play my favorite tunes. Never mind that it's the soundtrack to "Hairspray" with lyrics that make him squint oddly as he glances at me in the rearview mirror. "It's art!," I tell him. "Turn it up."

Mr. Cui (pronounced "SWEE") is a God-send. He manuevers through traffic like a ballet dancer on speed, all the while oozing with the calm indifference of an English aristocrat. Recently, a bicyclist rammed into us head on only 50 yards from my home. I freaked. In contrast, Mr. Cui calmly got out of the car, ensured our treasured black Volkswagen Passat wasn't noticeably scratched, looked over the dazed but healthy cyclist, and sent him away with a dismissive wave of the hand.

Mr. Cui is more than just a driver. He's also my translator, bargainer, cultural advisor, and occasional lunch partner. Hell, he even pushes my cart at the grocery store, no matter how much I protest.  At first I felt a bit embarrassed about having a chauffeur. Let's face it, I've always been much closer to trailer trash than Park Avenue. But after a few guilt-ridden weeks, I decided to embrace my good fortune. Inevitably, I "slip" and bring him into conversation with family and friends.

• "I don't know, let me see if my DRIVER knows where that restaurant is located."
• "Oh, appreciate the offer to share a taxi, but my DRIVER is on the way."
• "Why don't I have my DRIVER stop by the store and pick that up for you?"
• "Hold on, let me ask my DRIVER to turn down the radio."

This, of course, is simply to show my appreciation for Mr. Cui. I wouldn't dream of gloating.

We're a team, Mr. Cui and me. I used to close my eyes from the time I left my home until he safely dropped me at my destination. No longer. I wouldn't miss a moment of our obstacle course jaunts through the streets of the Chinese capital. Hell, if I had a red flag, I'd double wave him.

Seoul, a Summer Palace, Sweltering Bangkok & Sailing in Koh Samet

Hello all. More than two months have passed since my last entry. And while I could fill an entire novel with the day-to-day events of my life on Planet Asia during that timeframe, in the interest of time and server space, I’ll spare you the pain and hit the highlights.

In early May, I went to Seoul, South Korea to visit a friend of mine and my sister-in-law’s nephew. (Hey, when you are on the other side of the world, nephews-in-law count!) My friend, Alex, is from Latvia, one of the former Soviet republics. That concludes my knowledge of Latvia, however, I can tell you a little more about Alex. He speaks Russian, lives in Korea, and makes his living as a professional accordion player and part-time actor on Korean television. (No, I’m not making this up.) I met him when he was in Beijing a few months ago, and, due to my intense love of accordion music, we became thick as thieves.

I had the good fortune of visiting Korea during HiSeoulFest 2007, a festival designed to unite traditional Korean music and art with the future. Hey, that’s what the brochure said. The city was alive with parades, concerts, dance recitals and art exhibitions. Everyone seemed to be in Hi spirits.

Never one to say no to a music festival, my friend Alex played at a couple venues on Piano Street, a cool avenue in the heart of the city. Filled with pubs, restaurants and shops, the street actually has an outline of a keyboard in the center of the lane. Pretty cool, huh? Alex also played a very enjoyable set at Salon de Callas, a wine bar named after the late Greek opera star Maria Callas. Picture a Russian-speaking Latvian playing “Lara’s Theme” from Dr. Zhivago in a wine bar named after a Greek opera star. Throw in an audience that includes an English-speaking California native who grew up in Alabama and now lives in China applauding wildly at a corner table while being fêted with some unknown, yet edible cheese, and very tasty glasses of Pinot Grigio poured by a spiky-haired Korean waiter named “Leo”. Yep, this is my life.

I also enjoyed visiting Jay, my nephew-in-law. His real name is Jeongpil, but he went to college at UCLA and adopted the shorter American name to make it easier on his friends, and, most likely, himself. A great guy, Jay is in his early 30s, and works as a risk advisory consultant for Ernst and Young in Seoul. I have no idea what that is, but his business card looked impressive. Jay showed me around downtown and we enjoyed a coffee at Starbucks. (They are everywhere, even INSIDE the Forbidden City in China. I swear!) Later, he took me to lunch at a cool Korean restaurant where we had some type of impossible to pronounce spicy chicken and noodle dish. Very tasty! After lunch it was off to N Seoul Tower, which stands at the top of Mt. Namsan and provides the highest viewpoint of the city. Built in 1969, it served as Korea’s first integrated communication tower, transmitting TV and FM radio signals for the Seoul metropolitan area. In 1980, it was refashioned as a recreational and cultural complex and is now the city’s most recognizable landmark and tourist attraction.

I also went on an enjoyable boat ride down some river I forget the name of, bought some cool mother of pearl jewelry boxes for family and friends while shopping on Insa-Dong Street, and was offered a “happy ending” while getting a massage at my hotel spa. I declined, preferring to keep the end of my relaxation story to myself. All in all, I had a very good time in Seoul and highly recommend it as a travel destination. There's a photo album of my trip on the left hand menu. Check it out.

Upon returning to Beijing, I threw myself into a fast and furious few weeks of preparations for a communications conference I hosted the first week of June. I had 20 folks here from five countries – the U.S., China, Australia, India and Singapore. It went very well; we learned a lot and had a great time together. A group of us visited the Great Wall, the Summer Palace, and the Forbidden City in Beijing. I’ve talked about the Great Wall in previous entries, but here’s my take on the other two historical sites:

Summer Palace: Big, beautiful, amazing, lots of steps, great views of a nearby lake. Here are the basics from TourGuideChina.com: The Summer Palace (Yiheyuan in Chinese) is the largest imperial garden in the world. Initial construction began in 1750, commissioned by Emperor Qinglong as a gift for his mother's birthday. It took 15 years to complete. The plundering of foreign troops in 1860 destroyed most of the buildings, but they were renovated in 1888 by Empress Dowager Cixi. (She, by the way, was quite a piece of work. She diverted 30 million taels of silver originally designated for the Chinese navy into the reconstruction and enlargement of the palatial grounds. (Hey, give peace a chance!)

Forbidden City: Big, beautiful, amazing, lots of steps. No view of a nearby lake, but very interesting stories of concubines and eunuchs kept the ball rolling. The Forbidden City was the Chinese Imperial palace from the mid-Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. (I forget the dates. But, trust me, it’s OLD. Look it up!) It was named the Forbidden City because no one could enter or leave the walled complex without the emperor’s permission. What a control freak! The “city” consists of 800 buildings with 8,886 rooms and covers 720,000 square meters. It was hot as Hades the day we visited, but we still managed to cover quite a bit of ground. I want to go back in the fall when it is cooler. There are a couple of eunuch stories I want to follow up on. They really left me hanging.

Just yesterday, I got back from a six-day vacation in Thailand with my friend, Alex. (I know it sounds like I vacation a lot, but it is really very stressful here. Honest!) Anyway…we spent three days in Bangkok and three days in Koh Samet, an island about three hours away from the capital. How to describe Bangkok? Hmm. Think Buddhist temples mixed with seedy bars, skyscrapers next to slums, sweltering heat and humidity, nice people and great food.

The Grand Palace was amazing! The official residence of the king of Thailand from the 18th century to the mid-20th century, the palace complex sits on the east bank of the Chao Phraya River and comprises an area of 218,400 square meters. Very impressive architecture like nothing I’ve ever seen! I also enjoyed a boat ride through canals filled with vendors trying to sell you everything from food for jumping fish to local brands of beer.

Koh Samet was a gem of an island. We stayed in a beachfront cottage only 10 steps from the water…literally! Thank God tsunami season is over! While we spent a lot of time laying by the ocean and pool, I also went parasailing…you know, you get hooked to a parachute and then a speed boat pulls you 150 feet into the air. I was FLYING! That's me in the photo at the top of this entry. I also went four-wheeling through the island’s jungle roads on a motorbike. Very fun, though my back is still reeling from the adventure! Check out my photo albums from Bangkok and Koh Samet on the left hand menu.

Well, I’m back in Beijing and it’s time to get back to reality. You’ve heard from me; let me hear from you!

Terracotta Warriors, a Wine Garage and The Largest Plaza in the World!

It’s been more than a month since I blogged. You might say I haven’t had the stomach for it. For about three and a half weeks, some type of bug or virus or parasite or “something” left me with a constant queasy feeling. I lost several pounds and even avoided (gulp) chocolate. Two rounds of antibiotics and two other prescriptions didn’t help, but it eventually went away on its own. I think I’m all better now. How do I know? I just finished eating my fourth chocolate chip cookie, and I want another one.

I haven’t spent all my time guzzling Pepto Bismo; I’ve actually done a little traveling. Weekend before last I went to see the Terracotta Army near Xi’an, China, which is located southwest of Beijing in central China. Described as one of the most significant archaeological finds of the 20th Century, the collection of 8,099 life-size Chinese terracotta figures of warriors and horses is located near the mausoleum of the First Emperor of China – Qin Shi Huangdi. They were buried with the emperor in 209 B.C. so he could rule over another empire in the afterlife, and remained undiscovered until 1974 when they were unearthed by local farmers digging a well during a severe drought. Historians estimate construction of the figures and mausoleum took 700,000 workers and craftsmen 38 years to complete. One of the most impressive things about the warriors is they each have distinctive facial features. Apparently, they were modeled after real people -- most likely the very slaves who helped build them. (You can see a few photos of them in my blog’s photo album, but you really have to see them in person to get the full effect. Trust me!)

The following week I traveled to Singapore to work on a communications project. The weather was warm and sunny, but not as humid as usual in this tropical island city-state. In addition to getting a lot of work done, I had a great time! One of the highlights of the trip was a long, enjoyable dinner with friends at The Wine Garage, a pleasant little café overlooking the Singapore River on Clark Quay (pronounced “Key”).

A former British colony, Singapore gained independence in 1965. While it’s the smallest country in
Southeast Asia at only 269 square miles, it has the highest quality of living and ranks as the 22nd wealthiest nation on earth. Not bad for a country with only 4.5 million people!

Last weekend, I made my first trip to Tiananmen Square, the large plaza near the center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen (literally, Gate of Heavenly Peace) which sits to its north, separating it from the Forbidden City. I didn’t take a tour or anything, I just wanted to get the “lay of the land”, so to speak. And there was plenty of land to cover. According to Wikipedia (again, my favorite online encyclopedia), the square is 880 metres south to north and 500 metres east to west, a total area of 440,000 square meters, which makes it the largest open-urban square in the world. There are photos on my blog photo album.  Check them out! (By the way, the soldiers picture at the beginning of this post were guarding the gate to the Forbidden City. I didn't steal anything. Promise!)

Tiananmen Square has great cultural significance as a symbol because it was the site of several key events in Chinese history, but, like me, you probably know it for the Tiananmen Square student protests of 1989. Not surprisingly, you won't find any mention of that event.

I have two trips scheduled next month – one to Chicago for a work-related conference and one to Seoul, South Korea just for fun. (Can you say “frequent flyer miles”?)

I’ll to be more faithful to my blog.  Let me hear from you!!!