24 and Counting

This past weekend I was traveling again - this time to Hainan Island. The island used to be part of Guangdong province, but since 1988, it has been a province by itself.

It's a beautiful place; I probably will recount my trip in a separate entry. Since it was my first time visiting the island, I added another province to the list of places in China that I have been to.

There are 34 places in China at the provincial level: Provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities (Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Chongqing), and special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau). Some don't count Taiwan as one of the provinces, in which case the total is 33; I am not going to argue with anyone. :-)

Here are the 24 places that I have been to, in chronological order (cities, at which I first visited the province, are listed in parentheses):

Up to 1987 (the year my family moved to the U.S.)

1. Jiangsu 江苏 (Nanjing 南京 - birthplace)
2. Guangdong 广东 (Taishan 台山 & Guangzhou 广州 - parents' birthplaces)
3. Anhui 安徽 (Chuzhou 滁州)
4. Shanghai 上海
5. Hong Kong 香港

Between 1996 and 2000 (business trips to China)

6. Sichuan 四川 (Chengdu 成都)
7. Fujian 福建 (Xiamen 厦门, Zhangzhou 漳州)
8. Beijing 北京
9. Hebei 河北 (Shijiazhuang 石家庄, Handan 邯郸)
10. Shandong 山东 (Ji'nan 济南)
11. Tianjin 天津
12. Ningxia 宁夏 (Yinchuan 银川)
13. Shannxi 陕西 (Yulin 榆林, Xi'an 西安)
14. Shanxi 山西 (Taiyuan 太原)
15. Henan 河南 (Zhengzhou 郑州, Kaifeng 开封)
16. Jiangxi 江西 (Nanchang 南昌)

Between 1999 and 2004 (personal trips to China)

17. Inner Mongolia 内蒙古 (Baotou 包头)
18. Taiwan 台湾 (Taipei 台北)
19. Xinjiang 新疆 (Urumqi 乌鲁木齐)
20. Gansu 甘肃 (Lanzhou 兰州, Linxia 临夏)

Since 2004 (after moving back to China)

21. Guangxi 广西 (Guilin 桂林)
22. Qinghai 青海 (Minhe 民和, Xining 西宁)
23. Macau 澳门
24. Hainan 海南 (Haikou 海口, Sanya 三亚)

Finally, here are the 10 places (at provincial level) that I have not been to:

Hunan 湖南
Hubei 湖北
Zhejiang 浙江
Chongqing 重庆
Heilongjiang 黑龙江
Jilin 吉林
Liaoning 辽宁
Yunnan 云南
Guizhou 贵州
Tibet 西藏

Strictly speaking, I want to visit Anhui (#3) again, since I went there only for a day-trip when I was in middle school. All the other places are counted after overnight stays. The place that I have gone in and out most frequently? Hong Kong.

Black Taxi

In Shenzhen (and some other cities), a "black taxi" is referred to a vehicle that is not registered to perform taxi duties, yet the owner or driver picks up passengers and takes them to destinations on a mutually agreed fee. Such black taxis can be popular because the registered taxis fail to cover all areas.

Then there are BLACK taxis. These are taxis, registered or not, whose owners or drivers simply cheat. Let me illustrate with a real story that happened just yesterday morning. It occurred, unfortunately, to one of our U.S. clients who is visiting Shenzhen. Let me call him Mr. H; he doesn't speak a word of Chinese except nihao (hello) and xiexie (thank you).

Mr. H stayed at a fancy hotel, and in the morning he took taxi to come to our office, using my business card where I marked clearly the destination address. Yesterday he hopped on a taxi, and it took him to our office. It followed a route that by far Mr. H had become familiar with, and it took roughly the same amount of time as previous mornings.

The following is a list of things that Mr. H was cheated on.

1) While it followed the same route and took the same amount of time, the taxi meter showed 14 km instead of the usual 4-5 km.

2) The total charge, as a result, was RMB 40 yuan instead of the usual 20 yuan.

I immediately called the city's transportation department to complain and found out that -

3) The license number of the taxi that the hotel guard at the door took down was invalid.

4) The license number printed on the taxi receipt (which was different from the number on the license plate) was also invalid. In other words, there was no way to trace the car.

No, the mistreatment to Mr. H didn't stop there.

Mr. H only had about RMB 17 yuan small change with him upon arrival, so he handed the driver an RMB 100 yuan bill. The driver handed back the 100-yuan bill and said that he wouldn't take it. After perhaps a few awkward moments, the driver finally took the smaller bills of total 17-yuan and let Mr. H go. What happened here? The guy obviously faked a number of things. Did he suddenly decide to show mercy to this laowai (foreigner)? Not exactly.

5) When he handed back the 100-yuan bill, with that split of a second, the taxi driver had already switched it to a fake 100-yuan bill! He took away Mr. H's real 100-yuan bill and handed back a fake one.

Mr. H was obviously stunned by the whole experience, but he had enough sense of humor to accept the fate. He kept the fake 100-yuan bill as a souvenir.

Sleepless in Shenzhen

I have a feeling that I am going to ruin the title of this entry, because what have caused me to lose sleep the past few weeks are simply not good reasons.

I am not talking about working late (like tonight) or coming back late from BSF (like last night). There are nights that I simply refuse to sleep, it seems. I stay up while not being productive. Ah, some of you say, you are playing that computer game again! Amazingly, no, not this time. In fact, since late April - or more precisely, since the day I departed for California for my last home visit - I have had only one short stint of 3-4 days that I played the game intensely; at this point, I can safely say that I am not addicted to it anymore.

So what do I do to stay up? Well, random things, mostly watching a movie or a TV series. Some are pretty good, and some are pretty lousy. Since my days (and nights) are usually quite long, I often start watching at about midnight, and then I would go on for 2-3 more hours. Maybe my days (and nights) are too long, while one needs time to wind down. Otherwise I cannot explain why I simply don't feel sleepy at midnight or 1 o'clock. As a result, I am getting average maybe 4-5 hours of sleep a day.

That's pretty much what I am going to report. Otherwise I am doing quite well, including a few weekend trips that I really enjoyed.

What I Will Miss

Last Monday (September 10) was Teacher's Day in China, and the night before, I called my middle school teacher in my hometown Nanjing. Somehow we have kept in touch through the years. She told me that the school's 105th anniversary is coming up during the October National Day holiday, and many of my old classmates will return to join the celebration.

(Yes, my alma mater has a rather long history. It is one of the most famous middle/high schools of the entire nation.)

But I am going to miss the class reunion! I explained to my teacher that I had committed to a team that would go to a remote area to teach English for the October holiday. (It is my third autumn in a raw for such a trip.) My teacher easily showed her understanding; in fact, she said that she was proud of my decision.

But, alas, what an opportunity to see my old classmates, many of whom I had not met again since my family moved to America. This reminds me of the same trip last autumn, when I missed a wedding of two very good friends back in the Bay Area.

Dad, You'd better make this trip as good as last year's! I can talk to Dad like that, can't I? :-)

Macau 2007

First time in Macau

Before I went to Hong Kong to continue my visa adventure, I took the opportunity and visited Macau - for the first time - on Sunday.


Left: Macau is like a little Hong Kong during the day. Right: Another street scene. Look closely: Can you tell my favorite part in this picture? :-)


Left: The square at the city center. I like the wavy ground. Right: One of many European style buildings.


Left: Outside the Macau Museum. Right: Inside. I must say, though, I seldom rushed through a museum like I did on Sunday. I couldn't wait to head out to the main destination of my Macau trip...

Robert Morrison: 200 Years

On September 4, 1807, Robert Morrison arrived in Macau. After serving nearly 27 years, he eventually died in China and buried in Macau. He was the first to translate and publish the entire Bible in the Chinese language.


Left: Where Morrison and many other Protestants were buried. Right: Inside the Morrison Chapel. The Chinese characters are the first sentence of the Book of John: In the beginning was the Word.


Left: Robert Morrison's tombstone. Right: Buried with him included his beloved (first) wife Mary and Samuel Dyer, father-in-law of Husdon Talyor.

Left: "Morrison and His Assistants" (inside the Morrison Chapel). Right: George Chinnery, who painted the original portrait, was also buried in the cemetery.

Left: "For if we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him." Right: "As for God, His way is perfect."

Casinos and Nightlife

I didn't gamble. Took some pictures outside. One funny moment was that while I walked outside the casinos, a man approached me asking, "Do you need help?" I was quite puzzled until another man asked more straightforwardly, "Do you want to borrow money? No interest!"

Left: Casino Lisboa. Right: Grand Lisboa, the "new Casino Lisboa", still under construction.

Left: Wynn, site of 2007 World Series of Mahjong. :-) Right: Grand Emperor Hotel.

Left: Motorcycles. Right: Main street (Wynn in the background).

Left: City center at night. Right: Macau Square, across from where I stayed.