River Town

I just finished reading the book River Town by Peter Hessler. It details his experience as a Peace Corps volunteer in China, teaching English in a rural town along the Yangtze called Fuling during the late 90's. I had been meaning to read it for a while, but there isn't an IPad version out yet and I had been too lazy to track one down at an English bookstore until I got to Beijing.

The writing is very good... heartfelt, mature, polished, intelligent, highly readable... and pretty much puts my dinky little blog to shame. I wish I had read the thing before I went on that riverboat cruise, perhaps it would have given me a different perspective. Regardless, if you are looking for an entertaining and insightful view on living in China, I recommend checking it out.

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Since the last entry in my blog, I have traveled from Yichang to Wuhan to Shanghai to Nanjing to Beijing and finally to Tianjin, a coastal port city just outside Beijing.

I am a little travel weary and have decided to settle down here for a bit. Next week is a national holiday in China and the Chinese tourists will be out in full force. My plan is to wait them out in Tianjin, catching up on my reading, brushing up on my Chinese, and maybe even posting a blog or two.

3 Days on a Boat

Last week, my mom and I went on a three day riverboat cruise on the Yangtze River. Booked aboard a luxury western cruise ship, this tends to be one of the signature attractions in China for many western tourists, oftentimes included in the prepackaged tours. The cruise route begins in the city of Chongqing in Western China, goes downstream through the Three Gorges, past the Three Gorges Dam, ending in Yichang.

I will preface the rest of my review a bit by saying that the Three Gorges were indeed impressive and nice to look at, though it does get repetitive after a while. The "Lesser Three Gorges" along the Daning River, which we viewed on a three hour sidetrip on Day 2, were even more impressive.


Additionally the Three Gorges Dam, which we got to tour on Day 3, really is an amazing feat of engineering. I've been fascinated by the Three Gorges Dam since I had first read about it, and was glad that I got the opportunity to view it firsthand.


But, to be honest, the cruise was ultra-touristic and underscored a lot of the things that I do not like about being a tourist in China.

1) The hordes of Chinese tourists
As the Chinese economy expands, the Chinese middle class grows by the day and with it the number of Chinese middle class tourists. Because of visa restrictions, their opportunities to travel abroad are limited, so they are taking to traveling around China en mass. On the day we departed, there were 4 enormous cruise ships leaving from Chongqing packed with Chinese tourists, with a number of smaller vessels leaving as well. The side excursions were as much about navigating the impermeable sea of loud and pushy Chinese people as they were about seeing the sights. For those that have never been to China before, you must understand that the Chinese people do not grant dominion to the social construct of "waiting in line". The on board dinner buffet line, for example, resembled a mad scramble at a slophouse feeding troth (incidentally, the food also bears remarkable likeness to this). This goes not just for the Yangtze River cruise, but for any of the major Chinese tourist attractions. If you come to China, be prepared... there are a lot of Chinese people here!

2) The Over-Commercialization
Take, for instance, our Day 1 excursion was to some random Chinese "ghost town". I'm no Chinese historian, but I'm pretty sure the whole town was an "attraction" manufactured by the riverboat tourism industry to try to part tourists with their disposable income. To get to the ghost town, you must first walk a gauntlet of Chinese street vendors peddling cheap, mass produced Chinese knick-knacks. This for the benefit of spending more money to tour an entirely forgettable "reconstructed" Chinese temple with "reconstructed" Chinese sculptures and carvings. At one point, they gathered us around a Chinese guy who had left his life as a farmer so he could perform some Chinese ritual rolling around some rock (I don't think it was an actual Chinese ritual) to try to amuse tourists (it wasn't at all amusing) and asking for tips (I didn't give him a tip). I don't begrudge the local people and vendors for trying to make a living, but if you are looking for a glimpse into the authentic lives of rural Chinese, then the Yangtze River cruise is not the place to see it.

3) The Price Gouging
At first, $300 for a three day riverboat cruise may not seem excessive. But you have to remember that this is Asia. In inland China, $300 is more than a month's wages for the average college graduate and could pay for many months of rent. For comparison's sake, for a three day tour of Halong Bay in Vietnam, I paid only $90, got to see more spectacular scenery, didn't have to share a room the size of a jail cell, and didn't have to eat food that looked like it came out of a petri dish. Even Caribbean cruise packages out of California go for significantly less. Then there is the constant nickel and diming along the way. There are charges for coffee and alcohol at significant markups. Massage and acupuncture services that literally go for ten times what it costs on shore, designed to take advantage of westerners that don't know any better. Just to be clear, I am a free market capitalist and am all for everyone charging as much as the market will bear. I am just saying that, in China, there are far better values out there for your entertainment dollar.

The topping on the cake was the cruise asking for a 12% gratuity at the end. If you know me well, you know that nothing puts me in an apoplectic rage faster than service workers expecting a good tip after poor service. Furthermore, this is China. Not once in my four months on the mainland have I been expected to or left a tip, and you can be damn sure that the Chinese tourists were not leaving any tips. Now if the food served on board hadn't been entirely wretch-inducing, if there had been more than one English speaking employee on this advertised-as-English-speaking cruise, and if there had been activities aboard the boat beyond sitting on the deck breathing in the world class Chongqing pollution, then perhaps my attitude would be a little different. Luckily for the employees of China Regal Cruises, my mom is a more benevolent tipper than I am. :)

Given that it also requires you to arrange transportation to Chongqing and from Yichang, going on this cruise ended up being a significant investment of time and money, especially for a traveler with limited time constraints such as my mom.

Maybe I'm just not the cruising type, but in my opinion, our travel time would have been better spent elsewhere.

JJ's Guide to Macau

Upon arriving in Macau for the first time 15 months ago, I had scarcely been outside the US and was so intimidated by the prospect of a non-English speaking cab driver that I walked all the way to my hotel from the ferry port.

I just completed my 9th trip to Macau, and though dealing with foreign cab drivers is still a pet peeve of mine, I've picked up a few do's and don't's regarding the city. Here is the collective wisdom of one degenerate gambler's experiences in Macau:

Tourist Attractions
Best: the Ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral

It wasn't until my fourth trip to Macau that I actually ventured beyond the casino district and into the town center, when someone I had met dragged me out of the poker room to show me the Ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral. I am usually not a fan of temples or churches, but upon seeing the ruins for the first time, you can't help but be impressed. One second you are in a bustling metropolitan shopping district, and the next you are standing in front of this giant historical looking thing. It's only a five minute walk from Sanado Square (or twenty from the Wynn poker room) and you can pick up some almond cookies or egg tarts from one of the many Pasteleria Koi Kei's along the way.

Worst: Hac Sa Beach
Macau has it's fair share of awful tourist attractions (the ghost town-like Fisherman's Wharf comes to mind), but the honor of the worst goes to Hac Sa Beach. If you are thinking about escaping the Macau heat by going for a quick refreshing swim at the beach, save yourself the $15 cab fare and go to your hotel pool instead. Located all the way on Coloane, the beach is thoroughly dank and depressing, the brown water resembles that of an open sewer. I can't speak for the swimming, because despite going on a midsummer afternoon, there was no one else on the beach, and I wasn't about to be the one to test the waters. For further atmosphere, a number of street hawkers try to sell fish to anyone unlucky enough to make the trek over.

Tip:
For you children of the eighties, there is a little known Michael Jackson museum located on the second floor of the Sofitel at Ponte 16. It is the largest collection of Michael Jackson memorabilia in the world, including the rhinestone gloves he wore during his signature Motown performance.

Restaurants
Best: Tenmasa

A bit pricy, but a super classy Japanese restaurant with awesome tempura dishes. The next time I find someone desperate enough to go on a date with me in Macau, this is the first place I am taking them.

Worst: ramen restaurant at the New Yaohan food court
As somewhat of a street food connoisseur, I've eaten at my share of sketchy restaurants during my travels. But the first and only place I have ever gotten food poisoning was at a Japanese department store of all places, eating ramen at the New Yaohan food court. When they served me an undercooked piece of pork, I gave them the benefit of the doubt, thinking perhaps it was some regional style of cooking that I hadn't encountered in the States. Right up until the point I started puking into my hotel toilet. Furthermore, they are the only restaurant I have ever eaten at to mess up one of my all time favorite dishes, unagi don, to the point of being inedible. As previously attested to, there are some very good Japanese restaurants in Macau, but unfortunately the New Yaohan food court is not the place to find them.

Tip:
In general, I am a proponent of eating local food when traveling, and there are dozens of non-descript local Cantonese and Macanese restaurants around town where you can get an awesome bowl of noodles or a pork chop sandwich. But if for whatever reason, you find yourself in Macau for a few weeks at a time and craving real American food, have no fear. There is a Fatburger located at the Venetian food court, with a genuine Fatburger (with egg) and an order of fat fries waiting for you.

Hotels
Best: Hotel Sintra
I can't speak to the quality of the $300/night rooms at the luxury resorts like the Wynn or the Four Seasons, as I can't ball that hard on a regular basis and have never been. But as far as location and value are concerned, I recommend the Hotel Sintra. The location is unbeatable, as the Grand Lisboa and the Wynn are a five minute walk in one direction, and Sanado Square is a five minute walk in the other. Additionally there is a free City of Dreams shuttle bus stop right outside the hotel lobby that will take you directly to the Cotai Strip. Make sure to check the prices online at Agoda beforehand, as the rooms are significantly discounted there relative to the walk-in price. A clean and comfortable room can be had there for about $90 on weeknights and $130 on weekends (sadly, this is considered cheap by Macau standards).

Worst: Villa Tin Tin
Occasionally when traveling, you will find a hidden gem in the unlikliest of places. Perhaps some dilapidated looking guest house down some dark alley that turns out to have the warmest, most comfortable beds and incredibly friendly owners. This is not one of those places. I tried staying here one night for kicks because it was the cheapest available room I could find. How bad could it be? The only positive I can take away from it is that I now know where the term "don't let the bed bugs bite" comes from.

Tip:
For all my busto backpacker friends that have become accustomed to mainland pricing, there is always Auguster's Lodge. This "guesthouse" is basically a tiny converted three bedroom apartment. The location is impossible to find, the beds are small and uncomfortable, the bathroom is shared, and the rooms are about the size of walk in closets. But the location is convenient to both the casino district and the town center, there is free wireless, the price cannot be beat. The last time I checked, the price was about $13 for a dorm bed and $33 for a closet like room with a bunk bed in it. Definitely not a comfortable place for a long term stay, but not bad for a day or two, especially if you plan on being the poker room 16+ hours a day.

Casinos
Best: Wynn

I've been to pretty much every casino in town and I think I can say without nationalistic bias that the Wynn is the best run casino in Macau. It certainly has the best poker room in town, All the class and elegance of its American counterpart, but with hordes of chain smoking degenerate Asian gamblers.

Worst: Any Chinese casino on the north end of the peninsula
All the class and elegance of Hawaiian Gardens Casino, but with hordes of chain smoking degenerate Asian gamblers... In other words, pretty much just like Hawaiian Gardens Casino. One thing to note about the Chinese casinos is that pretty much the only table game being spread is baccarat, a mind-numbingly boring game that is essentially the card playing equivalent of flipping a coin. It boggles the mind to think that this game basically forms the basis of Macau's booming economy.

Tip:
Besides the Macau peninsula casino district, there is a second casino district being developed on an area of land between the islands of Taipa and Coloane, dubbed the "Cotai Strip". Foreign companies are investing billions of dollars developing a number of state-of-the-art mega-resorts there. At the time, there are only a couple resorts open and there isn't much to see beyond that, but it certainly worth taking the $7 cab ride over from the Macau peninsula. The Venetian Macau, which is the largest casino complex in the world, is located there and is worth seeing regardless.

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It's been a busy week. Among other things, I cruised the Yangtze River and visited the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai. Blog entries will be forthcoming, but for the time being I'm hopping on a train tonight to Nanjing!

More Food Tripping: Macau

After my 9th trip to Macau in the past year and a half, I think I can call myself a bit of an authority on the local restaurant scene. Here are a few of the places we went on my most recent visit:

Margaret's Cafe e Nata


Margaret's Cafe e Nata is tucked away in an alley just behind the Grand Lisboa. It should be easy enough to spot, as there will be a huge crowd of tourists lining up to buy or taking pictures of their Portuguese egg tarts. In a town packed with Portuguese egg tart joints, they are known for having the tastiest. I've had egg tarts from at least 10 different places in Macau and all have them have been very good. But the egg tarts at Margaret's have an extra flaky crust that puts them over the top. The tarts are about $.80 each and go good with a cup of coffee or a soy milk.

I give it an 8/10

Restaurante Litoral


Litoral, a slightly upscale Macanese restaurant on the southern end of the Macau peninsula, is another Lonely Planet recommendation that I'd been wanting to try. I've tried a few Macanese restaurants in the past and hadn't been too impressed. Macanese fare is a lot like Portuguese, and a lot of the signature dishes tend to be very starchy and salty with sausages, potatoes, rice, and the like. At Litoral, we ordered the prawn curry with crab meat and the baked duck rice. The prawn curry tasted like a Southeast Asian curry, and came with a healthy portion of crab meat and quail eggs. It was decent enough, but unfortunately the flavor could not live up to the nuclear powered Indian curry I had eaten a couple days earlier at the Chungking Mansions in Hong Kong. The baked duck rice could be described as a casserole of flavored rice with a layer of baked duck meat on the bottom and with slices of Portuguese sausage on top. I grew up in Hawaii, where we love our Portuguese sausage so much that it's on the menu at McDonald's, but this Portuguese sausage was just way too salty. The rest of the dish was as I anticipated, very starchy and rich, even when eaten in conjunction with a garden salad. The two dishes plus a salad came to about $50.


If you are interested in trying Macanese food, this restaurant is supposedly as good as any and is just a 5 minute cab ride from the casino district. Certainly a lot more convenient than the also well-regarded Fernando's which is located on Coloane. But apparently Macanese food is just not my thing.

I'm going to have to give it a 5/10.

Macau Square Food Court

When staying in a city, I make it a priority to visit as many different restaurants as possible. But while in Macau, I often find myself returning to the Macau Square food court located on the third floor of the Macau Square shopping complex. Just to make it clear, food courts in Asia are not like food courts in the US. The concept is similar, a large communal dining area with a variety of small food vendors to choose from. But in Asia, the food vendors actually sell awesome freshly cooked meals rather than fast food chain crap. At the Macau Square food court, you can choose from a variety of local Cantonese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Singaporean, and Korean food. I've tried just about everything, and it ranges from good to excellent. My favorite food stand is called Soo's Kitchen, which sells rice noodles. A big heaping bowl of rice noodles in broth with pork innards along with an iced lemon tea goes for about $4. Way tastier than the stuff from the fancy noodle restaurants at the Wynn or Grand Lisboa, and at a fraction of the price. Make sure to pile on a bunch of chili peppers and assorted toppings for flavor!

I give it an 8/10.

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I'm half way in to my three day Yangtze River cruise. Three days on a riverboat tour packed with Chinese tourists and nothing to do is somehow not as fun as it looked in the brochures. Thank goodness for my iPhone and MyWi Internet tethering application, or I might have jumped off at the last dock. I'm looking forward to finally seeing the Three Gorges today!

Food Tripping in Hong Kong

I've been playing the role of tour guide for the past week, taking my mom to all the tourist spots in Hong Kong, Macau, and Yangshuo. Along the way, we've been trying to hit up all the best food spots. Here are a few of my one minute reviews for Hong Kong, one of the great food cities of the world:

Wu Kong Shanghai

A Lonely Planet recommendation, this non-descript Chinese restaurant is located in the basement of a shopping complex off Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. I went with my friend from back home, Andy, and his lovely wife, Karla. We ordered the pigeon in wine sauce and the braised eels, as mentioned in Lonely Planet. Additionally, we ordered some Chinese cabbage and a stir-fried beef dish. The pigeon was served cold and had a surprising healthy amount of meat on it. The wine sauce that went with it was delicious. The eel dish was served with a bean sprout like vegetable and was OK, though I didn't care for the softer braised texture of the eels. The other dishes nothing special. The bill for three, including beers, came to roughly $70, moderate by Hong Kong standards, but I have had much better Chinese meals in the past few months for a fraction of the price. My friend did seem to enjoy everything, but he is a white boy from Orange County, so take that for what it's worth.

I give it a 7/10.

Chungking Mansions, Random Indian Place


On Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, there is a notorious building known as the Chungking Mansions, where all the cheapest guesthouses and hostels are located. It is easy enough to find, because any time you walk by you are accosted by throngs of Indian, Pakistani, and African street hustlers trying to get you to stay in their hostel or to buy a new suit. As it turns out, the shopping complex on the first floor of the building also has a number of cheap and awesome Indian food stands. Traveling through China, I'd been craving some real curry for ages. A couple of the Chinese interpretations of "curry" that I had tried had left me on food tilt. Walking into the cramped dining area, you are immediately taken aback by the overwhelming aroma of Indian spices. I ordered some goat curry and rice from the food counter. It was not the freshest of food (it had been sitting under the heat lamp for a while and had to be microwaved before being served), but I imagine the truckloads of spice they cram into it helps it retain its flavor. Traveling through Sichuan, I've had my share of spicy food over the past couple months, but the goat curry I had here knocked my socks off. The curry, a vegetable and curry nan, and an iced lemon tea came to about $9.

After taking off a point for the lack of ambience (you are eating in a cramped and dirty storeroom-like space, surrounded by street touts) I give it an 7/10.

Spring Deer

After taking the trouble to track down this restaurant, known for having the best roast duck in Hong Kong, I made one of the principal mistakes of food tripping. Rather than ordering the dish that the restaurant is known for, I strayed off the path and ordered some other menu items instead. The roast duck was only served whole and cost about $40. I didn't think that my mom and I could finish it, so I ordered a few smaller dishes instead. We ordered some battered shrimp, a deep fried mutton dish, and some stir fried vegetables. The food was extremely greasy and salty, and I honestly didn't care for any of it. In fairness to Spring Deer, there were hordes of Chinese people there and they all seemed to be enjoying the food. Of course, all of them had a big delicious looking roast duck in front of them. The bill for the three dishes ended up being around $40 anyway. Should've ordered the duck!

I give it an interim rating of 4/10, with another trip pending when you can be damn sure I will be ordering the duck.

Maxim's Palace, City Hall


I've been wanting to visit this dim sum joint since I first saw it on No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain, but on my previous trips to Hong Kong I hadn't been able to find it. It is located on Hong Kong Island, about a five minute walk from the Star Ferry Pier, on the third floor of the City Hall building. Arriving at noon for dim sum, we had to take a number and wait for about 40 minutes. The restaurant is huge, with an elegant decor and a window overlooking Victoria Harbor. Servers do laps around the dining hall pushing food carts with the various dim sum items. There is an outstanding variety of items to choose from, and I would really like to make another trip there to try some of the things I didn't get around to. Off the top of my head, we had fried taro dumplings (awesome!), vegetables dumplings, fried shrimp patties, Chinese cabbage, BBQ spare ribs, and mango pudding. The bill came to about $40 for two people. Not cheap! Almost as expensive as the Capital Seafood at Diamond Jamboree in Irvine, except the food is good and you have a view of Victoria Harbor rather than the mini-mall parking lot.

A bit expensive and maybe not worth the hassle on a regular basis, but definitely worth a visit and a solid 8/10.

Hui Lau Shan


I'm not sure that it really fits here, but I must put in a good word for Hui Lau Shan, a Hong Kong based desert chain that sells awesome mango deserts. They sell a variety of mango drinks that have big chunks of mango, sago balls, jelly, bird's nest, and other assorted goodies. My favorite is the mango, coconut milk, and sago drink. It sounds a bit funky, but Andy liked it too, so it's white person approved. One drink goes for $2-$3.

An enthusiastic 9/10!


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I'm about to board a Chongqing River cruise for three days with not much to do all day but sit on a boat, so hopefully I can catch up on my blogging. Next up will be a food guide to Macau...

Back in the First World

After a month of bumpy eight hour minibus rides and having to hold my breath every time I stepped into a bathroom, I'm finally back in the first world. I returned to Macau a few days ago and am now in Hong Kong.

For the record, in the past month, I tripped from Chengdu to Kangding to Danba to Xingduqiao to Litang to Daocheng to Yading to Daocheng to Shangrila to Qiaotou to Shuhe to Lugu Hu and finally to Lijiang.

Although I had a fantastic time, I must admit that I do like my modern conveniences. My first night back in Macau, I went out for some conveyor belt sushi. The next night, I finally got around to watching Inception on the big screen. In Hong Kong, I had breakfast at a rooftop restaurant overlooking the Hong Kong skyline with some friends visiting from back home.


On the other hand, there is a bit of a sticker shock adjustment when it comes to the cost of living. Over the course of the last month, traveling all over Sichuan and Yunnan, I spent less than $800. In Macau, I donk off more than that on any given hand of poker. One night at my very modest hotel here in Hong Kong, could pay for weeks out in the middle of China. The price of my crappy breakfast of fruit and pastries at the Hong Kong Sheraton could have probably fed a small Chinese village for months! OK, maybe not the last one.

Now, after a few days of rest and relaxation, I get to do it all over again.

My mom just flew out to Hong Kong to visit me and I'll be back on the road traveling with her for the next two weeks. This time around we'll be staying primarily in non barnyard-conversion accommodations.