Kiinan-vuosi 6: Hongkong, Cixi ja kevät, maaliskuu 2004

Maaliskuussa 2004 kävin Hongkongissa tekemässä GMAT-kokeen, ostimme huonekaluja Cixistä ja aloin valmistautua lähtöön Kiinasta. Teksti on alkuperäistä englantia, ja hakasulkeissa ovat omat lisäykseni.

Perjantai 5.3.2004

It took less than 7 minutes to pack my things for the trip. I am professional traveller.

Lauantai 6.3.2004

I am getting careless: I needed to wake up at 6am to catch the plane to Hong Kong, but I had not set the alarm clock on! For some reason I woke up 5.59 am and managed to get to the airport in time.

The flight was OK. Some arrogant lao wai tried to use his phone during take-off, but I busted him. I am a legalist as you know, when it suits me.

Hong Kong is just as fascinating as last time. I had lunch in vegetarian Indian restaurant (bread, malai kofta and biriyani, all as they should). Then I decided to do some sightseeing and took the Star Ferry to Hong Kong island and back. It was fun, the weather was nice and the ferry rolled nicely over the waves.

For dinner some vegetarian spring rolls and spicy seafood fried rice in "Vietnam and Thai spice village" opposite to my hotel. The hotel is OK, nothing special, but quiet, in the right neighbourhood in Kowloon, my favourite place. I had a short walk just to see some new streets. All of them were full of people, neon light and noise. I like it.

I enjoy so much travelling, staying in different cities. I must take care that I can continue travelling in the future too.

Sunnuntai 7.3.2004

Hong Kong is quite peaceful on Sunday, at least between 9 am 10 am. I had a long walk to calm my nerves [before the GMAT test on Monday]. Visiting the history museum (quite OK, very much worth the 1.5 hours and $10 it costs).

It is strange that I seem to have examination phobia. When I was younger I did not - I always took it quite easy and usually everything went really well.

Maanantai 8.3.2004

The test place turned out to be a terribly ugly industrial building somewhere in the suburbs. There were 14 others taking the test in the same room with me. All were young and Chinese and small. I was the only old, foreign and large.

I then did the normal things I like to do in Hong Kong. I visited the book store in Lock Street. I bought R Feynman: Six easy pieces; R Feynman: Lectures on gravitation; The illustrated Feynman; I Calvino: The hermit in Paris - autobiographical writings; P Feyerabend: The conquest of abundance. All these books are so good. Having a bookstore like the one in Lock Street is essential for living decently civilized life.

I had lunch (mixed pakora, Indian dal and 2 mango lassis) in the vegetarian restaurant in Lock Street 9 (Branto!). It is one of the best Indian restaurants I have ever visited. It is really worth a detour (or even leaving home just to get there).

I visited the Dr. Martens shop and bought two pairs of shoes, since they are the best shoes money can buy.

Tiistai 9.3.2004

I cycled to work. Nice. About 22C.

At home I took it easy by reading the new Feyerabend book, which is rather fun and exciting. I am so happy that I studied philosophy. Life is fun!

Keskiviikko 10.3.2004

Summer is here now. Even now (at 5pm) the temperature is 25C. In Finland this would be in the news, even in July. It is so arctic place.

I picked my Chinese bike from Commons Place (or actually nearby). Nobody wants to steal it - it is too Chinese even for the criminals.

I was reading my Feyerabend in the lobby of the office building and started to laugh aloud. The Chinese gave me that look. They do not know how fun philosophy is. They should try.

Torstai 11.3.2004

Suddenly, the summer is over. Only 10C in the morning, but I cycled to work anyway. I forgot my phone at home - so I had to make calls from the florist's! One call of 3 minutes cost 0.5 RMB.

We may have got a new home in Helsinki. It would be a small 1-bedroom apartment in Kallio, which is the most densely populated area in all Nordic countries. That would be the place to live after China. Any other place would be just too quiet for us.

And then we celebrated by having a couple of beers in Commons Place (the best bar in Hangzhou) and by eating some Japanese in Hubin Lu. The food was not that special. Only exception was smoked eel with some sweet sauce. It was exciting - I have never tasted such eel before.

Perjantai 12.3.2004

Raining in the morning, 7C at 7am. Where did the summer go? It is strange that all taxi drivers want to drive the length of Qing Chun Lu even if that takes some 20 minutes. It is much faster to take almost any other route.

We will go to buy some furniture tomorrow. Shopping? Is it the purpose of life or meaning or just a curse?

This is one of the best records ever recorded: Damaged by Black Flag. It has been one of my absolute favourites since early 1980's. Buy it and "enjoy" if you dare.

Just one beer and spring rolls in Commons Place. The pub was empty, and somehow I did not feel like drinking alone there. Drinking alone is never a good idea.

Lauantai 13.3.2004

We set off at 8 am for CiXi. There is the place to buy Chinese furniture. Buying furniture is terrible, there are just too many from which to choose.

We managed to buy some small items (a closet, a bench, some night-tables etc), after which I was ready to have a cup or two of ShaoXing-wine. It turned out that I had four of them, which made me quite a happy camper.

We stayed for two hours in the pub/restaurant at Lu Xun-library. The food there is not so good, but the warm wine is excellent - actually it is for sure the best warm wine in the world.

There were some groups of Chinese and I "gan bei"ed with them. S filmed the happening. The videos are rather funny (or just sad examples of drunken hilariousness?). Anyway, I find it nice to be among the Chinese. Everyone is so happy and friendly. I will miss the Chinese a lot back in Finland.

Maanantai 15.3.2004

Again nice weather. I felt like a king checking my kingdom from my rooftop terrace in the early morning. It was so nice.

I cycled to work. The number of cyclists is increasing - it is already hard to pass by everyone at traffic lights. I cannot do it anymore, which means that I have ride in the peloton, which is - as everyone who has followed Le Tour - dangerous.

Tiistai 16.3.2004

Even nicer weather. Too nice. Makes me cry.

We bought a new kitchen table with 6 chairs. It cost 1900 RMB, which I consider cheap. It will just fit in our new kitchen. I hope at least.

I cycled to the Monkey-park and did some exercise. There were quite many Chinese there and they were more fit than I. Terrible - I am not young anymore.

Keskiviikko 17.3.2004

Terrible rain in the morning. It did not rain when I left for office by bike. After 1 km torrential downpour forced me to seek for cover. After 30 minutes waiting I decided to go back home, change some dry clothes. Then I did not get a taxi. And the bus was full. I almost started to cry, really.

Torstai 18.3.2004

Now the winter is back. Only 5C in the morning. And we do not have electricity at home. Too bad.

Evening: cycling back home. It was freezing, but fun.

Lauantai 20.3.2004

Straight from bed to the textile markets. Terrible, I have shopping angst. Or phobia. Anyway, I managed (with much patient support from S) to buy some nice textiles, from which I hope someone can sew some jackets and trousers.

Then lunch at Ajisen Ramen, where the quality of the food seems to be constant or high. Fried rice with some eel (my absolute favourite) and some sea fish.

I have started to read Italo Calvino's "Hermit in Paris", especially "American diaries 1959-1960". What skill he has in writing. If I had such a skill, I could write "Chinese diaries 2003-2004", but since I do not have, I must just be happy with this diary. Anyway, I do recommend reading Calvino for everyone - if one could read it in Italian, it would be even better.

It has been really fun to be in China.

Sunnuntai 21.3.2004

We had a few beers and excellent Sichuan food in Baochu Lu (the restaurant which is always full, with yellow outer wall). Especially the chili-mushroom pot was excellent.

It is so sad that I have to leave this nice country so soon. And where will I get good Chinese food in Finland? Nowhere! TOO BAD. I am considering expatriating to Singapore, Hong Kong, or Shanghai next.

Anyway: I have never had so many alternative opportunities as I have now. Not too bad, I would say. Is it really so that life always gets better? How good will it be when I am 65 or something. At least, I will have read a few 1000s books by that time.

Maanantai 22.3.2004

I shaved away my tournament beard since the tournament is now over. For now.

Yesterday the taxi driver jumped away from the car in traffic lights and went behind a pillar for taking a leak.

Tiistai 23.3.2004

Lunch with a friend in ChinChin vege place. We ordered too much. Last time we ordered too little. We are using binary search to find the right amount of food - but are we always having the same amount of hunger? Is this possible?

Electricity blackouts are getting more and more frequent. Not good. China should buy large scale Wärtsilä engines and build new powerplants. Or start insulating their houses. Or start using solar energy.

Keskiviikko 24.3.2004

Now, after 9 months of lunching on spring rolls and fried rice, I am fed up with them. I am also fed up with the tofu sticks I ate for 6 months. What next?

Dinner at Grandmother's. They have excellent scallops and crabs there. I do recommend this place (in Wen Xin Lu).

Torstai 25.3.2004

Motto: "Do not try to solve problems for or with people who have no sense of humour!"

Again no electricity at home. It will be rather fun to be here in the summer. I predict 3 days/week without electricity.

Lunch in ChinChin. Now, we had gong bao chicken imitation. It was not too special. We did have about appropriate amount of food this time. Binary search works.

Perjantai 26.3.2004

I bought again a few pens. The Parker pens are almost free in China. And they are so good. Everyone should have at least 5 of them - one needs to have pen always at hand.

Hangzhou SIG convened in Commons Place. We intended to take only a couple of beers, but I lost count at 6. We had fun. There was a pianist. After the bar we had some food around the corner. I left my bike (locked to a bar) there, but it was not there anymore on Sunday. So, now I know that even old modern bikes are too tempting for the criminals. The new non-modern bike of mine was standing there for 2 weeks a month ago.

Lauantai 27.3.2004

We tried to take some textiles to the clothes-maker/tailor, but the "lao ban" was not there. So, we left the textiles there and promised to return "mingtian".

Some nice sushi at the Japanese in Bao Chu Lu. The sushi is very good in this place. It is a pity that S will not join me there more than once a week. I could have sushi every evening.

Evening: I joined S in watching old Sex and the City DVDs, which are rather fun. I was, of course, reading a book at the same time: "Fortune favours the bold" by Thurow.

Sunnuntai 28.3.2004

It was really a positive surprise to find a large enough spring-jacket for me in some shop nearby our home. The winter-jacket was becoming a bit hot.

The weather is nice: about 18 C, sun is shining, mild breeze.

Late lunch in a Sichuan place in the corner of Moganshan Lu and Wener Lu. Really good "gong bao chicken" and something else too.

My dream is to be a university researcher (e.g. assistant professor) and industrial system architect at the same time. I will do my utmost to make the dream come true. It is not that far away, after all.

Created by Claude from Mane's diaries.