The Luckiest Puppy

Lijiang, China

At Mama Naxi's friendly guesthouse (I really recommend it!) I just rediscovered a liking for dogs. Don't get me wrong here, I'm not talking about exotic Chinese cuisine. The family are keeping a little puppy. It's tiny, maybe a few months old, gets exciting about everything (including its own tail), chases random things (also including its tail) and always wants to lick or bite things (especially people that stroke it) but has no force in its jaws yet (thankfully, but it's teeth are sharp). It pads around clumsily, jumps and yelps or pokes its little, moist nose at you wanting attention. And everybody loves it. There's not a single person at the guesthouse who will not go "aww" over it or give it some love. Wherever the little thing appears people stroke it, feed it or pamper it in some other way.
I generally like dogs but I was never good at handling them. Nor did I have any wish to cuddle them. But this little puppy melted my heart. I'm sure this was what the word "adorable" was invented for.
It must also at this moment be the luckiest little doggy in all of China.

More than meets the eye ...

Kunming, China

Sometimes there is more than meets the eye. This is not about Transformers but about Joseph. Here's why.
I met him in the Green Lake Park in Kunming. He spoke English and was eager to communicate. He was a teacher, he said, very interested in languages. Since I am too (that's why I'm here, right?) it was easy to talk to him. Still, something made my alarm bells go off. Maybe his eagerness, the fact that he stuck around even when I talked to other people. Maybe he seemed to be waiting. But then again, many Chinese are eager to practice their English and/or talk to foreigners, so I talked to him and ignored my suspicions for the time being. He wanted to make friends, he said, so I wanted to give him a chance. Then he suggested going to a tea house and drink some tea and chat. That again made my spider-sense tingle. Stories of girls that take foreign guys to tea houses and serve them astronomical bills reared their heads. But this was a middle-aged man. Would he? We arrived at his friend's tea shop and he began ordering Pu'er and another expensive tea. I dropped the hint that this stuff might be expensive and he just waved it away. So we drank tea with the owner - it felt a bit odd but hey, I've had stranger encounters.
Then a western girl walked past and Joseph recognised her. Hadn't she walked past before I wondered. She greeted him. My friend, he exclaimed, mentioned something like he was making new friends. She continued smiling saying "... and he's a con-man. He'll end up charging you 100 yuan." Had I heard that right. She was still smiling. How had they met? In the same way as me and him, he had picked her up in a park. She repeated her warning then said: "Come let's have a coffee and get to know each other." She got up to leave. I took the hint, excused myself and left. Interestingly, my new "friend" did nothing to stop his new-found friend from leaving so soon.
After leaving she said that "Joseph" was well-known. He had taken her to the same tea shop, promising free tea, then when it was time to leave had confessed he had no money to pay and asked her to pay 100 yuan so that he would not loose face in front of his friend, the owner. She later heard from a colleague - she was working in Kunming - that the same had happened to her, too. People had written about him in forums. He had been active in Lijiang but become too infamous among foreigners there, so he had moved to Kunming for fresh victims. I was shocked. And grateful, too. Rebecca had indeed walked past once, then called her friend and told her what she had seen. Her friend had then told her to go back and get the "poor guy out of there". If not for her I might also be 100 yuan the poorer.
So, no matter how much kindness you've experienced from locals in China not everyone is honest. Sometimes there's more to people than it seems. And if a friendly guy named Joseph invites you for tea in Kunming it might be better to decline. Thanks a lot for bailing me out, Rebecca.

It's a Small World

Guangzhou, China

You won't believe me this and I have no proof of it. So, just take my word for it.
Remember the English guy I mentioned meeting on my tour of the Terracotta Army near Xi'an? The one that also wanted to see the Tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang? Actually, I barely did until today.
I just walked into him on the bank of the Pearl River. A tall foreigner. But there was something familiar about him. Still, I walked past. It was him who actually came after me. "Haven't we met before?", he asked. Then it came to me, too. Xi'an, tour, etc.
He lived in a nearby town and was doing business in China. I'm sure he had told me that before. I was still too surprised. Consider the odds meeting again even in the same city (as it did happen in Xi'an, actually). Now consider the odds of meeting again within a country as big as China. What a small world!

The Real Kung Fu

Zhuhai, China

Here in Zhuhai I found the most awesome fastfood restaurant ever. I've never seen it anywhere else in China. It's a Chinese chain (at least I assume that) called 真功夫, which translates to "Real Kung Fu". Their logo above these characters is a pop-art-like impression of Bruce Lee in his famous fighting stance wearing the yellow and black training suit he wore in his last movie "Game of Death". I don't really have much else to say - just that it's totally cool! I haven't eaten there yet but I definitely will. I might just not get a chance here because I'm staying with a friend and she wants to cook for me tonight. Maybe there's a shop in Guangzhou, as well.

Update: I found another branch inside the Guangzhou train station. I had dinner there. The food isn't special and probably doesn't do justice to Canonese cooking but I still think the place rocks. The staff wear yellow or black T-shirts with the logo. I actually asked one of the girls at the counter if I could buy one. She said no. I almost begged her. I'd take any old one, no matter if it's used or dirty. I was so sure they must have spares for staff to wear. She was very friendly even though I'm sure she thought I was weird. She politely told me she was sorry, there wasn't one for sale. Oh well, in the end I kept my napkin as a souvenir.

Moving Pictures

Hong Kong, China

My time in Hong Kong hasn't been exactly as expected. I was quite excited to get here after watching so many films set in this city.
A friend, a guy from Beijing who I met in London and who works here now generously offered me his couch in his apartment.
The first day was gorgeous: my friend and me went on a boat trip with some of his colleagues and work contacts. "No stay in Hong Kong is complete without a boat trip", he said. So, there was sun and beach and fresh sea food on one of the outlying islands. It almost felt like Malaysia already.
A day later the typhoon hit. We were lucky that only the edge of the storm grazed Hong Kong but the sun was gone. Every day ridiculous amounts of rain would pour down turning bridges to waterfalls and the park next to my friend's apartment block into a swamp. On the way to the MTR we literally had to wade through puddles on some days (flip-flops are useful not only in the sun). Only in the afternoon the weather would clear up a bit. I guess, a stay in Hong Kong is not complete without one of the famous typhoons either.
Now, my friend leaves for work very early in the morning - as early as 7:45! He also has no spare key, so I have to leave with him and can't come back in until he gets back fairly late at night. The only place you can reach by roofed walkways without getting soaked is the nearby shopping mall. And since this is Hong Kong and people have Internet at home there wasn't even any friendly neighbourhood net bar. Imagine my frustration!
The first rainy day I paced myself into a fatigue up and down escalators across the various levels of the mall waiting for shops to open and something to happen, checking the weather at intervals. Then I spent the rest of most of the morning at a little restaurant along with a number of elderly men, who also seemed to have nothing to do, sipping 粥 (rice porridge), nibbling on 油条 (fried dough) and watching the news in Cantonese.
Only on the second day did I find the multi-screen cinema. They had cheap matinees. And suddenly the rainy mornings didn't seem quite as bleak anymore. So I managed to catch M. Night Shyamalan's new one, The Happening, and a very sexy and cool Angelina Jolie in Wanted. I could have become a regular. Besides, the girl at the ticket office was quite cute. They should have Hong Kong cinema classics with Chow Yun Fat or Leslie Cheung in the morning to get me in the mood of heading out. I still want to find the building they used for the roof-top scene in Infernal Affairs. Come to think of it I spent a lot of time in that cinema and only ever ventured out after lunch. Then again, faced with the choice of getting soaked and I haven't been to the cinema for such a long time.

For Your Own Safety

Hong Kong, China

I'm in Hong Kong, at last. I've really been looking forward to this. Sadly, I couldn't just have a smooth, perfect stay. Seems, that would be asking too much.
After a gorgeous boat trip with my friend Mr. T and some of his colleagues to some islands I wanted to get some money. Paying for the trip and my initial Octopus Card (like London's Oyster Card but with more ... arms, I guess) had eaten up most of the cash I had changed on entering. I was left with just a handful of Hong Kong Dollars and a few hundred Chinese Yuan.
When I went to the cash machine in downtown Causeway Bay, however, the machine refused to give me money. Had I gone to the wrong bank or the wrong branch? These things go through your head. Seen globally Hong Kong is a small place, maybe not all local banks allow you to use foreign cards. It was a weekend, so all banks were closed. Over the next day I tried all the various banks and their ATMs that I passed. No, no and no. The machine would always eject my card and print the same little advice slip saying "transaction rejected" and an error code. No reason. Just rejected. Now, there was no way I could already have spent so much as to completely exhaust my funds. And I made sure all the ATMs here have the VISA symbol on them. I had entered my PIN correctly, too. But then what was the problem? I was down to 10 dollars and getting really annoyed. I had been using the card all over China just to be rejected in a much more international place like Hong Kong!
On Monday, I walked into a branch to ask. The manager himself came out to talk to me. I guess, that's foreigner treatment in action again. I showed him the printout and he went to check. Turns out it wasn't their ATM or bank that was rejecting my transaction but my bank in UK, Lloyds TSB, was. Damn it, that meant at least one international phone call to Lloyds's help line. Could they help me make that call? They couldn't since it was not an overseas branch of their own bank but a completely different institution.
By now I had told my friends what was going on. Without any further comment Lingyun had just gone to an ATM, withdrawn 2000 dollars and pushed them into my hands. "Give it back to me when you can." Technically, I hate asking for or borrowing money, especially from friends. I don't want to owe them anything. Makes them seem more like business relations. But what choice did I have? I was damn lucky I had them.
Lingyun also let me use her phone to make the call to the help line. A man picked up, I explained my problem. He would connect me to their fraud department and would I please hold. I held. I was pacing around the lobby of Lingyun's office building at Three Exchange Square. A woman picked up, I explained my problem again. The solution was as simple as it was stupid. Apologising and calling me "sir" she explained that this was one of their "random security measures to protect me against fraud". She would unlock my card right away. Random security measure?! I was calling from Hong Kong, I was thousands of kilometers away from home, my cash was running low and their "random security measure" had disabled my only means to get more money! How did that help me? She was sorry for the inconvenience. Inconvenience my ass! I'm lucky to have my friends here. I didn't say that, of course. Wouldn't have much use anyway. She's just a pawn. So, to prevent further inconvenience I explained I will still be travelling other countries in the region. Could I give her a list of countries to put into their computer system to prevent any further randomness. I was apologised to and called "sir" some more but there was no way she could do that. It shouldn't happen anymore for the next three days, after that I was welcome to call their 24-hour help line for assistance. I was also welcome to pay the fees for the call. She didn't say that, of course. Could she do anything else for me at all today? No, I think Lloyds TSB had already done enough damage. But I didn't say that either.
So, with a lot of things left unsaid it took until this morning to finally make a successful withdrawal. So, it seems I can at least pay back my monetary debt to Lingyun. I hardly dare to think what will happen after I return to China, let alone places like Cambodia where I don't speak the language and don't know anyone either. Then I'll be screwed. I just hope I'll have a telephone handy and enough cash to pay for the call to the help line.
I'm sure my anger is not at all justified and this is all for my own safety. But surely there must also be better ways of protecting me and my money than randomly blocking my transactions and cutting me off from vitally needed funds when I'm abroad. Especially when I'm abroad. Or is this a way to force people to call their expensive overseas help line and make them some additional money? Come to think of it this isn't the first time it has happened to me either. When I went to Malaysia in 2006 my card was also rejected. Thankfully my girlfriend's card wasn't. Oh well, at least we'll be safe. Pennyless but safe.

An Arm for a Wing

Shenzhen, China

One of my major aims when coming to Guangdong Province and Hong Kong was to try the Cha Shao Pork and Cantonese roasted duck that I learnt to love in my favourite Chinese restaurant in Woking. Would it be even better here? So after my nap in the park and a bit of strolling around I hunted around central Shenzhen for a restaurant that had the characteristic window display. It wasn't that easy, actually. Also, in China there are so many restaurants that you never know how to pick a good one. Eventually I picked one and was shown upstairs. They did have very tasty duck. They also had a slightly intoxicated old man in a corner who was curious about the foreigner who could speak Chinese.
He invited me on a beer, joined me at my table and we chatted - a bit awkwardly on my part since I couldn't often understand him because of his strong southern accent and I needed the waitress, whose Mandarin was clearer, to "translate" for me.
After my meal came the main event: He asked me to arm wrestle him. I'm not very strong, so to save myself the embarrassment I tried politely to decline but he insisted. So, the table was cleared, we aligned our arms, locked hands. "Please Mister Wei", he requested politely (I had introduced myself with my Chinese name), "go easy on me. I am an old man. Do not hurt me." I didn't think that likely but acknowledged. "Slowly", he said. So I gently started to press. I pressed harder. Frankly, in the end I pressed as hard as I could. Just his arm didn't budge. It was like wrestling one of the stone guardian lions. "Mister Wei", he said still smiling a polite smile, "please do not be courteous. You have to try harder." There was no sign of strain in his voice. Then in one easy motion he brought my hand to the table. I do believe with a bit more force he could have broken it. Even so it felt like he was twisting it off. To save myself at least a bit of face in front of him (and in front of the waitress) I explained that I had spent most of my life in front of a computer while he had worked in manual labour most of his. He accepted that and it was time for my getaway.
I would have liked to think that hefting that 30kg backpack around would have improved my fitness at least a tiny bit. Or maybe it has and God knows what would have happened otherwise ...