nanamoose

Culture Shock in Hong Kong

Believe it or not, I came back from Taiwan yesterday experiencing culture shock here in Hong Kong. Its quite unbelievable given I have lived here a good eighteen years of my life and have been spending my summers in Taiwan for the past few years. Both places are equally as familiar to me. But the strange thing happened. I was shocked, as if seeing Hong Kong for the first time. I came home yesterday to be greeted first thing by an emotionless and speechless cabby then a group of inefficient, rude and incomprehensible waitresses in Soho. No big deal. This is Hong Kong. However, it becomes unbearable when you’ve experienced hospitality in Taiwan. You start to remember what life before we all became pokerfaced workaholics was supposed to be like, what relationships between people were meant to be.

In Taiwan, I can walk around looking helpless in a bookshop trying to find the number of a café I just read about and the young gentleman at the counter would offer to look it up for me on the internet; I can walk down a street in a night market talking to my aunt about trying to find 大饼包小饼 (big pancake wrapping small pancake) and a passerby would appear from nowhere offering us directions; I can ask a waitress at a restaurant whether their wontons are Wenzhou or otherwise and she would gladly bring out the actual wonton for me to inspect, then engage me in a conversation about what kind of wonton I am looking for; I can walk up to a vendor to ask for directions of a competing vendor and he would gladly give it to me. In Hong Kong being distant seems to be the norm. I cannot even guarantee that I would do the same as the gentleman in the bookstore, the woman in the night market, the waitress at the xiaolongbao restaurant or the helpful vendor. Not because I don’t want to help these people, but because I am so used to focusing only upon my own affairs that I would probably surprise even myself if I had been over friendly.

I have a theory on how to cure this coldness disease in Hong Kong and I'll share it with you in my next post.

No Politics on Taiwanese Cabs

Shanghai cabbies might come before Hong Kong cabbies according to my latest post on taxis in China, yet cabbies in Taiwan are better still. London cabbies are by far the best in the world, but they win by virtue of their cute black cabs, intelligent cabbies with proven larger brains than the average person thus giving them better navigation skills (or perhaps the other way round, bigger brains due to their trained navigation skills), and their ability to U-turn on virtually every road in London. However, taxis in Taiwan excel in their own unique ways. The most obvious virtues are how new, clean, well equipped (with GPS navigation systems and TVs) they are, and how friendly and well mannered the cabbies are (not to mention their driving skills which are if not better, at least equally as good as the cabbies in China due to their amazing ability to steer clear from the hordes of motorbikes). One reason for this is the good nature of the people in Taiwan in general, but another might come from effective management. See a taxi’s mission statement posted at the back of the front seat passenger’s headrest for example:

10 promises to our customers:

1. No smoking in the vehicle;
2. No chewing beetle nut in the vehicle;
3. No detouring and no speeding;
4. No refusal to take short trips;
5. No drink driving;
6. No talking about politics;
7. No talking about religion;
8. Will always wear uniform and wear a tie;
9. Will accept routes suggested by customers; and
10. Will listen to radio station designated by customers.

I think it is only in Taiwan that you have to tell your cabbies not to talk about politics to passengers. However, it is after all only nature. Despite the cab company’s promise, my aunt and I had this conversation with a cabby who had his TV on watching the New York Yankees play against Detroit last night:

Aunt: Who is playing?
Cabby: The New York Yankees vs Detroit.
Aunt: Which team are we?
Cabby: I think we are the New York Yankees.
Me: What do you mean we are the New York Yankees?
Aunt: (Laughing) Because Wang Chien-Ming (who is from Taiwan) is in that team! When there is a Chinese person… a person from Taiwan playing, we naturally think of ourselves as belonging to that team! Haha….
Cabby: Not Chinese, but Taiwanese! Its funny, you know the Mainland Chinese people say that Wang Chieng-Ming is theirs!
Aunt: Oh really? (laughing stiffly) Haha….

Lanna Kingdom on a Plate

I am very proud of my top three cuisines list. I think it’s the best list in the world - Chinese, Thai and Italian. You might wonder, where is French? Foodies alike from all over the world seem to go weak at the knees for French. This I never quite understood. True the French have taken its cuisine to unprecedented heights by making the simple act of eating an art form. However, how many people can really eat French every single day? Can you sit through a seven course and at least 3 hour dinner with a sommelier better groomed than your boyfriend explaining the 100-page wine list with a heavy French-accent say, once every week? If not for all the fanfare, then can you really eat mediocre bistro French on a regular basis? I certainly cannot (though I have to admit, “Ratatouille”, not French Laundry, has changed my perspective slightly). And so my list includes all foods which can be eaten, if you like, as comfort foods.

To justify my love for Thai food I embarked on a cooking course with the Four Seasons in Chiang Mai. I have never realized what an intricate matter Thai gastronomy is. From the variety of the original ingredients down to the very cooking, everything is a journey in itself if not an ordeal - but to those who love cooking, the ordeal is a pleasurable one. At the first break of dawn and after having finished breakfast with freshly toasted bread from our very own private toaster on our very own private verandah, we met up with Por the cooking assistant for our local market tour.

It was my first experience in a fresh food market in Thailand. Everything is organized in perfect harmony, even the chilies and salty fish are arranged in little piles and plates according to price and category...

青海的童话世界 Fairytale Land in Qinghai

土族對大部分人來說應該是一個非常陌生的民族 跟許多人說起土族人家還會以為我在說“土著”呢。土族只在中國青海找的到 人口僅二十四萬 他們能歌善舞 刺繡出眾 風俗習慣卻在中國的經濟起飛下漸漸末落。 我對土族的好奇 也因此而更加濃厚。

青海土族主要集中在互助土族自治縣 很少人知道其實南方的民和也有土族。我的“導遊”文先生家鄉在民和，這趟便去了西寧以南的民和縣觀亭的土族村落找刺繡。民和距離西寧市大約2個半小時車程，一路開過來都是帶白帽子的回族人，偶爾才夾雜著些漢藏族的，感覺怪奇妙的。 再聽文先生和友人交談，才知道回族人和土，藏，漢族人均有不淺的疙瘩。友人說試過一個人開車回西寧，悶的發慌時想順路載個人好解悶，誰知一路開過去，路上搭便車的都是白帽子的，也就只好打消念頭一個人開悶車了。文先生從西寧回家更是有直通車不搭選擇分段搭兩趟公車 為了也是怕和白帽子的擠車。這些故事在我聽來都挺好笑 文先生他們卻是十分認真的。“不能不防啊 回族人為了賺錢可是什麼事都做的出的！”

回族人縱使有他們的缺點 不可否認的他們的建築卻是美麗得另人陶醉。從西寧的路上一路開過來左右不時可以看到各種形態的圓頂清真寺 （包括受藏漢文化影響的亭臺式寺廟） 散落在一片油菜花海裏, 背後是此起彼伏以各種不同的綠色拼湊成的小山坡。清真寺此時看上去就如同童話世界裏的城堡一般， 令人產生無限的遐想。

For many, the Mangghuers (or the “Tu” minority in Chinese) are a relatively foreign tribe. Most people know about the Tibetans, Mongolians, or for those with a bit more interest in minorities, the Miao, Yi or Naxi. Myself included had no idea what to expect when I was suggested that I should visit the Mangghuers in Qinghai Province for great embroidery work. I was told that their costumes are famous for their seven coloured sleeves (which I in fact did not have the chance to witness), can only be found in Qinghai, have a small population of 240,000 and are rumoured to be descendants of Mongolians who were sent to battle in the area during the Yuan Dynasty.

Most Manghhuer villages are concentrated in the Huzhu Tu Autonomous Region north of Xining, the capital of Qinghai. However, my “tour guide” for the day was a Mr. Wen from Minhe, south of Xining, and so that was where headed. Minhe is about 2.5 hours away from Xining. All along the way we were met with mostly white-capped Huis, Muslim restaurants and beautiful, even intriguing mosques (some, influence by Han and Tibetan culture, have towers that look like tall slim pagodas) dotted around gentle rolling hills of a green and yellow patchwork. Tibetans and Han Chinese make up the minority in this area. Having the Huis dominate a particular area in China seemed unimaginable to me, and it was only upon further conversation with Mr. Wen and our driver Mr. Su that I realized the tension between the Huis and other minorities, or even the Han and foreigners. Mr. Wen told an interesting story about how a friend of his had was driving back to Xining alone once and longed for some company to talk to during the long journey. He had wanted to pick up a hitchhiker but realized that on the way all those who had put their thumbs up were wearing white caps. Ultimately defeated after a couple of miles, he had no choice but to drive back alone. Mr. Wen on the other hand prefers to take a detour involving two bus rides from Xining back home because the majority of passengers on the direct bus are Huis. I find these stories rather funny, but Mr. Wen and Mr. Su looked at me seriously and said, “You can never be too careful around the Huis. They would do anything for money!”

Even Better than the Best Tea in Bangkok

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Originally uploaded by nanamoose.

Remember the infamous picture of my friend Cat ecstatically holding two bags of Thai iced tea? I had always thought that that particular bag of Thai iced tea which I had purchased from a tea and coffee vendor along Rama I Road just outside MBK in Bangkok was the best I had ever tasted in my entire life. Like the pho from Pho Hao in Ho Chih Min, I have been missing it badly. I therefore vowed to go back as soon as I went to Bangkok. I had only a day in Bangkok this trip but nevertheless took a detour to MBK just for the tea. I was, sadly, disappointed to find that the tea no longer tasted as good.

I perhaps should not blame the tea vendor. After having tasted tea made by a tea maker at the junction of Sukkasame Road & Nimmanmahem Road in Chiangmai, anything that comes after is hard to beat. The tea maker is at this junction everyday from morning onwards and his business doing so well I had a 30 minute wait to get my tea. Mr. Tea takes no short cuts though. I watched in complete awe as Mr. Tea swiftly but skillfully takes out the requisite glasses (he has different glasses for making different kinds of drinks, from thai tea and coffee to some pink drink I do not even know the name of – there were at least a dozen) and started pouring hot water through a huge tea strainer which looked like the pantyhose strainers from Hong Kong. Once, twice, thrice.. at least a dozen times. When the tea is finally strong enough he pours it into the glasses and started adding sugar, condensed milk and evaporated milk. Do not ask me why you need condensed milk together with evaporated milk when they are both ‘milk’, nor why you need sugar and condensed milk when they are both ‘sweet’ (I have a good guess, but I better leave it to the experts to answer), but the result is a wonderfully creamy and aromatic concoction made tastier by the effort, patience, skill and friendliness displayed by Mr. Tea. The tea is then poured into thick, good quality plastic cups (I have not seem such good quality cups used anywhere else!) – all at the price of only 20 baht!

PS. I forgot to ask for Mr. Tea’s real name. If anyone happens to visit, please do ask Mr. Tea for me.

Nostalgia Reigns on Gough Street

I have become somewhat of a word junkie of late. In fact, it has been so for quite some time now. Actually, thinking about it, it has been so for as long as I could remember. I used to keep a list of my favourite Chinese words handy just in case a baby pops out of nowhere and I had to name the kid. Amongst some of the words I used to deem favourite were “Qiong Yao” (瓊瑤) -esque words like: 逸, 旖, 涵, 烟…and dozens more I cannot remember.

Have been reading less and less Chinese books these days and even if there were the occasional one or two they certainly do not contain beautiful names. So gradually I developed a mental list for English words. The list is quite extensive but the two words that come immediately to mind are: LURE and NOSTALGIA. Why these two? English words cannot be used to build names so my affection for them stems from the degree with which they resemble the meaning they are to convey. This might be a somewhat a difficult notion for certain people to grasp as the figurative look and sound of the word itself can convey no meaning on its own. However, just as I find the look of some numbers “cunning” (like 4 and 7) and others, “nice” (like 6 and 8), I find the word LURE, especially the sound of it with the combination of U and R (making your lips bulge out in extended “O” shape) very alluring. So much more so than its synonym “tempting” in the very least. Is it easier to see what I mean in comparison?

The word NOSTALGIA however, has no comparison...

The Keanu Reeves in Shanghai Cabbies

Funny thing I noticed about cabbies in Shanghai, perhaps throughout China, is how, despite all their rudeness, crassness, loudness, amazing driving skills and admirable spitting habits (I always wondered, what is the cause of this spitting habit? I have tried oh so hard to cough up the mucus but try as I might I never succeeded in producing them, unless I was sick of course. Nothing comes out! Is this then a result of years of practice since childhood or this is a sad result of air pollution in China? The act of spitting itself is clearly not pleasurable at all so it is hard to imagine that it could be addictive and hence a habit. I then search deep down my memory to think whether people in the supposedly smoke-free environment of Kunming spit – and they do! So what have we got left? Spitting is neither a habit nor a result of air pollution. So what else can it be? Can someone enlighten me here?) , they are in fact remarkably honest. If you give them the benefit of the doubt they might turn out to be quite charming in some cases, and the most important thing is, they are by any standard far more polite than your average Hong Kong cabby.

Your Typical Shanghai Cab Ride

Cabby: Hello, where do you want to go?
Passenger: Junction of Huashan Road and Zhenning Road please.
Cabby: Let me make a U-turn. It is easier this way.
(Cabby makes U-turn and does not start the meter until he has fully completed the turn, is out of the vicinity of the deadlocked traffic and actually on the move)
Cabby: Are you Korean? (rolls down window and “tu!”)
Passenger: No. Do I look Korean?
Cabby: You don’t look Chinese, but your Chinese is very good! Where are you from?
Passenger: Well I was raised in Taiwan and…
Cabby: (Cabby jumped in without waiting for passenger to finish her sentence) Oh, Taiwan, I know Taiwan very well, my grandfather used to work alongside General Jiang Jieshi! Do you know xxx? (Cabby brushes past a biker, the distance between them a mere five centimeter. Both biker and driver continued his way as if nothing happened) He is very famous in Taiwan!
Passenger: (stiff and holding on to handle. She has not heard of xxx, but nods her head ferociously anyway) Yes of course.

Shanghai Finds - Ferguson Lane

Mum called me up few days ago to ask me whether I have been to Ferguson Lane in Shanghai. Apparently it is billed in Hong Kong’s Ming Pao as the new 蒲点“pu dian”, or, unless anyone comes up with a better translation of the term, “place to hang out”. I told mum, of course I have been! Heard about it, read about it, bought flowers there for the apartment and sat at Coffee Tree for a cup of tea.

Ming Pao or my mum may have used the wrong term for it (as the term 蒲点 usually refers to bars or clubs), but Ferguson Lane is quite rightly the upcoming place to hang out. A lifestyle hub with loft-style trendy office spaces, cafes, art galleries and artsy shops, Ferguson Lane is like a smaller Xintiandi without the gaggle of tourists and instead a touch of history. Doing some research on the internet I realized that Ferguson Lane takes its name from the small street it is on. Today's Wukang Lu was formerly named Ferguson Route, in honour of John Calvin Ferguson, a young American missionary sent to China at the turn of last century who was a prominent foreign figure in successive Chinese governments and who founded Nan King University, today's Jiao Tong University.

Once you enter the quite alleyway off leafy pleasant Wukang Road there is a small flower shop selling fresh flowers and indoor plants. You then walk through two newly renovated French concession buildings with exposed brick walls on your left (I love brick walls) right before you reach the main building which is apparently a former hospital. There is a Coffee Tree on your left, Globus Wines right next to it, an interesting looking homeware store further right, then you see Franck, a highly rated French restaurant.

Being on Ferguson Lane is like being back in Europe, with a twist. The clientele is largely foreign, both Coffee Tree and Franck has al fresco tables to transport you back to Paris, and then you bend round to the back of the hospital building and you see the clothing store D.I.S – Dutch In Shanghai – we are in China after all. But this is what makes Ferguson Lane an even more special place.

Ferguson Road is at 376 Wukang Road (junction of Wukang Road and Taian Road)

Shanghai Finds - Dagu Road

This is absolutely hilarious. Walking down Dagu Road today, apart from the numerous new cafes, restaurants and massage parlours (you have the best in Shanghai all within walking distance from each other, Dragonfly, Taipan and Peony amongst other lesser known names), I came upon two DVD stores that look exactly the same and right across the street from each other. To be exact, I did not come upon them just like that. In fact I had heard about these two stores on Dagu Road but this was the first time I saw them ‘in person’ – and what a hilarious sight it was.

To your left on 378 Dagu Road (if you are coming in from all the massage parlours that is) is Movie World. On your right hand side is Movie Star on 407 Dagu Road. So which one should I go into? Pondering hard (I know I should not be using the words “ponder” and “hard” together, but somehow, I just love the sound of the combination) and starting to feel helpless I saw under Movie Star’s store sign a banner that reads “EVEN BETTER THAN MOVIE WORLD”. Voila! So Movie Star is better than Movie World – and not just better, its EVEN BETTER, implying that Movie Star actually harbours at least respect for Movie World.

Easy choice then. Movie World it is: 1. Movie Star is even better, so Movie World must be pretty good to start off with. 2. Never liked comparative advertising to begin with. If you have to compare, it means you have nothing better to say about yourself.

So for those of you on a weekend spree to Shanghai & short on time, head to Dagu Road for a one-stop cure to all (or some) of your Shanghai cravings – good massage, nice coffee shops to regenerate in between, and not one, but two, good DVD stores.

(one of) The Original Chong Qing Chicken Pot

Why does the original look so much dowdier than the Hong Kong version?