Heading Out

Haven't been blogging for a while, and now it's time for the "big trip." Going to the Northwest of China for the entire May. It's a bit unreal, but it's finally happening!

I won't be able to keep in touch through the Internet much. Expect lots of photos - and stories - when I return. See you in a month!

19 and Counting

You just know that sooner or later I will come up with another traveling number to impress you. :-) Here are a few examples:

• Flying across the Pacific Ocean 74 times; the one coming up in a couple of days will be the 75th.
• Having visited 25 out of the 34 regions at the province level in China; my goal this year is to add one more.
• Last year (2008), I was in the sky 51 times from 26 trips. 23 out of the 26 trips were personal. All three numbers were probably records.

So what's up this time? Again, something you'd expect, sooner or later: After this past weekend's trip, I've been to the NW 19 times. Here is a summary:

• 4 times between 1997-8 for business trips
• 1 time in 2002 to Urumqi, personal trip
• Since 2003, 6 times to an orphanage every year
• Since 2005, 4 times to teach English every year
• Since 2007, 4 other times to visit friends or do other volunteer work

The orphange trip and the English teaching trip will come up again in July, but that won't be my 20th to the NW. Instead, the Silk Road trip in May will be my longest trip yet to that region.

Xining Impressions

Three things surprised me during the weekend trip to Xining:

1. The weather was really nice and warm, esp. during the day. I was prepared for low temperatures, and for a moment I thought that my charm of bringing good weather returned! Seriously, among all the trips I've taken - and you know that I travel often - very few times I ran into bad weather, and often the weather turned better upon my arrival. (I am not afraid to say this to jinx my next trip; I want to experience something more challenging! :-)
   
   
2. The city was bigger than I thought. About 2.5 years ago I visited Xining for the first time. As I walked up and down the downtown area, I thought Xining was just that big. This time I was able to see much more of it, and the city showed many signs of real growth.
   
   
3. Umm, this is almost embarrassing: I didn't expect many thieves in this city. Refer to #2: I thought the city was small and most people were local and stable. That was quite far from the facts. Lo and behold, my cell phone got picked on a packed bus; I didn't feel a thing until it was too late. This was my second phone left behind in the NW within half a year. If I have such a knack for leaving marks in the NW, I should consider low investments on my cell phones - and other gadgets.

Psalm 100

Yesterday I got up at 5 AM in order to catch a flight going back to Shenzhen. There was time for my morning reading, and I opened to Psalm 100.

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

Worship the LORD with gladness;

come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the LORD is God.

It is he who made us, and we are his;

we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving

and his courts with praise;

give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;

his faithfulness continues through all generations.

(New International Version)

I quote it here not just because 100 is a nice, round number, but this is a great poem. It also marks 100 days in a row that I have been doing the reading (mainly in Chinese Union Version). I don't recall any of my previous attempts as consistent, and I feel good about this year!

Route Map

I printed out a copy of the following map and visited a friend a couple of nights ago; it was the same friend that I mentioned in a previous blog entry who knew Gansu province inside and out. I went again to ask for more tips on traveling the Silk Road.

Once again I wasn't disappointed. He gave tips on what to see and what can skip - so that I could spend more time on the worthwhile sites. The trip is a whole month away; I am getting more and more excited. :-)

I mean, look at the map! Actually this is only the first map. I needed 3 maps to show the whole route (marked in red).

Chengdu Trip

(I forgot to bring a camera on my Chengdu trip, a week after the Xi'an trip. I will just to have to use more words.)

Irrigation System

There is an irrigation system called Dujiangyan (都江堰) not far from Chengdu. It was built in 256 B.C. (or 2,265 years ago), and it is still in use today. With an engineering background, I naturally had a desire to check it out.

This was basically how the system worked: Many, many years ago, the Min River in this area flooded every year. Then a governor of the region named Li Bing (李冰) decided to tackle the problem. He designed a system to divide the river into two, instead of using the old way of dam building. 60% of the river was turned into an "outer river" and continued with the river's old route, while 40% was turned into an "inner river" and became the water source of the farming land surrounding today's Chengdu. In a way, not only the irrigation system solved the flooding problem (the river never flooded again), it prompted the growth of agriculture that made Chengdu a large and rich city.

Later that night we returned to Chengdu city and had hot pot for dinner. Since not all of us could take spicy Sichuan food, we used a "yuan yang wok" for our hot pot. (Yuan yang 鸳鸯 is a type of bird, usually seen in pairs, one male and one female.) There was a divider across the middle of the wok so that one side could be used for spicy flavor, while the other side for non-spicy flavor. I pointed at the wok and said, "Now let me explain to you the irrigation system..."

Earthquake-hit Area

A funny episode when we arrived Dujiangyan on a bus: A few local drivers offered us a price of RMB 1 yuan per person to take us to the front gate of the site, which was about 3.5 km away from where we got off the bus. Sounded like a good deal. So the 4 of us got in a car. After he drove away about 100 meters, the driver stopped the car and began to explain the tourist site. It turned out that the site would charge us RMB 90 yuan per person for the entry (this I knew in advance). After that, we would spend another 90 yuan to get on cable cars to various locations. We could do that, said the driver, or we could take his car and go through a different route outside the gate, seeing the same sites yet paying much less than the 180 yuan per. At the end, we agreed on a deal of 85 yuan per, with him as our tour guide.

In other words, the RMB 1 yuan fare was just a bait. :-) At the end, however, we weren't complaining.

In fact, because of this "customized route" that we took, we were able to see some of the earthquake-hit areas more closely. Dujiangyan was one of the hardest hit cities from the 5.12 earthquake last year. (Yet the irrigation system remained intact; that was another reason that I wanted to see it.) About 12,000 people lost their lives, and 6,000 were missing. (After one full year, i.e. in less than 2 months, the missing would be declared dead as well.)

If at the beginning we were simply curious seeing the damaged houses and even cracked a few harmless jokes, after a while we all became kind of quiet. This was 10 months after the earthquake, and there were still rows of houses or apartments in unlivable shapes. As I was wondering where the people who used to live there went - how many of them were still alive? - my heart became heavier and heavier.

Wu Hou Shrine & Jin Li

Wu Hou Shrine is one of the most famous places in Chengdu. Wu Hou (武侯) was Zhuge Liang's title after he passed away. (Did I mention already that I am a big fan of the Three Kingdoms (三国) and in particular Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮)?) At the time, Chengdu was the capital city of Shu (蜀), one of the three kingdoms, and Zhuge Liang was the prime minister of the country. He earned the highest respect among people, and his fame exceeded that of the emperor. Indeed, Wu Hou Shrine, which was built in memory of him, became a symbol of Chengdu, not a tomb or a temple for an emperor.

The entrance fee was RMB 60 yuan, and I decided not to spend it. After all, didn't I know about Zhuge Liang enough? :-) Instead, two friends and I walked through a commercial street called Jin Li (锦里), which was right next to Wu Hou Shrine.

Jin Li became famous in the country 2,000 years ago. It was really fun to walk through it, especially if one was familiar with the history and culture of Chengdu (needless to say, mostly related to the Three Kingdoms). While it was free to enter the street, I couldn't help but to spend on a few cute items in the scores of shops. I also had the joy of telling a few Three Kingdoms stories to my friends, both grew up in North America. They walked a lot faster than I did, saving me from spending too much.

Xi'an Trip

Xi'an is no doubt a most interesting city, especially if you are a history buff like me. My friends and I ran into almost perfect weather when we went sightseeing on that day (two weeks ago), and we went straight to see the Terracotta Army.

The first time I saw it was about 10 years ago, and it was a rushed trip. This time we were able to enjoy the site thoroughly. It was also a Friday, with much less visitors than weekends.

We then went to another tourist site nearby, called Hua Qing Pond. It was famous for an Tang emperor and one of his concubines who often came here to take bath.  (That concubine, surnamed Yang, was later ranked as one of the Four Beauties in Chinese history.) The emperor and the beauty were long gone, but the hot spring still flows today.

People would stand around the fountain and wash their faces and hands. It felt really good.

Fast forward to the end of the trip. Our hosts thanked our visit with one final meal before we headed out to the airport. We each enjoyed a bowl of beef paomo. Each person was given a steamed bread or two, then we were to break the bread into pieces. The pieces of bread were put in a bowl, and the restaurent would also pour in beef or lamb soup.

It was said that the smaller pieces you broke the bread into, the better taste the soup. It would take a lot of patience, obviously. We joked that it was the restaurant's way to make us hungry and at the same time clean our hands. They said that I did it almost like a local, making tiny and even pieces. Well, I just had traveled to the northwest enough to see how the locals did it.

This was my bowl of beef paomo, with the bread pieces that I broke. It was delicious.

Bus No. 39

I take bus to work. Oftentimes I have to transfer once. A couple of year ago a new route surfaced, No. 39, and it goes directly from my living place to work. There are a couple of other bus routes that go almost door-to-door, but they circle around in the city quite a bit. No. 39 is the best route. Except, one hardly sees it. We refer it as "No. 39 according to the legend."

Finally, about a year ago, I figured it out its schedule. It runs 4 times a day, two in the morning, and two in the afternoon. It's just one bus going back and forth, with an idle time during the bulk of the day.

In the morning, it leaves my living place at about 7:40, arriving at company at 8:00. Then another one is scheduled after 9:00. I have to take the earlier one to avoid being late, and leaving the apartment at 7:30 isn't too early for me. I in fact enjoy the quiteness of the early morning. Almost everyday I am the first to arrive at the office, at least half an hour before anyone else shows up.

In the afternoon, there is one scheduled before 5:00, and I cannot catch that one. Then the final bus gets to company at 6:15, which means I want to leave office shortly after 6:00. Well, I really want to do that. Last year when I was a project manager, I almost never left office before 7:00 (8:00 or 9:00 was routine), let alone 6:00.

Today I did it. I caught the 7:40 bus in the morning, and on the way back, I caught the 6:15 bus. This was a good working day. :-)

Lost & Found

Last night I went downstairs from my apartment for dinner. I went pretty late, like 9:00ish. I was reading a magazine while eating. Then I finished, and I went upstairs. When bedtime came, I was looking for my watch, and I couldn't find it. That was when I realized that I had left my jacket in the restaurant - with the watch in the pocket.

Now, it wasn't a fancy watch or anything. In fact, the watchband was broken, and I was thinking to replace the watch. As for the jacket...

I lost my cellphone and my passport while wearing that same jacket! (Some asked, well, do you have more than one jackets? :-) The jacket had pretty shallow pockets, and things could easily slip out. You thought I had learned the lesson, yet I kept wearing it. (Well, one reason I kept wearing it was that the red-black color matched my favorite backpack. :-) Finally, the jacket itself was lost!

(I certainly am not blaming a jacket for all the losses, you know.)

Thankfully the restaurant owner kept the jacket for me, and I picked it up after work. Needless to say, another dinner there. The watch was still in the pocket.

Noah's Ark

That's right. Believe what you see. That is Noah's Ark!

Initially I was going to post an entry on my Xi'an trip, but something rather extraordinary happened yesterday (Wednesday). It nearly didn't happen.

I started my work in the office pretty early and by 10:00 AM, I felt like there was nothing major left to do. Then my cell phone rang.

"Hello, Teacher Yu, how are you?" a lady called me. I recognized the voice: A good friend, but she never referred me as "teacher." She went on to ask me if I would be interested to join her to attend the completion ceremony of the Noah's Ark, a new theme park in Hong Kong. (It will open to public in April.)

Let's see. Noah's Ark, or pretending to work in the office? Someone had to make a tough choice.

Half an hour later, after sending out an "emergency leave" notice to my coworkers, I was waiting for her and her husband to pick me up. I had to go back to my apartment to fetch my passport; didn't plan to go across the border on this day!

As soon as I entered their vehicle, the wife sheepishly confessed that she had not planned to invite me! She sent out 30-40 text messages to invite people in two separate hours, yet she skipped my name both times. (She didn't think that I was in town.) Finally, she was calling a "Teacher Yu" (same last name as mine), and somehow the call went to my cell phone.

The funny thing was, I ended up being the only person who made himself available. "I deeply apologize," she said, "but it's quite obvious that Someone wanted you to go." :-)

Her husband couldn't make it because he didn't have a travel pass to Hong Kong. The lady and I went across the border at about noon. We ran into a few hiccups the rest of the way, and we were 30 minutes late getting to the meeting point; a van that was supposed to pick us up had left. According to a few local people, the place was "very far." My friend, disappointed, almost decided to return to Shenzhen.

I said to her, "Now you see why I came along. We are going to make it."

By asking the locals (my "northern accent" Cantonese was put in good use), convincing a couple of them to make phone calls for us, and managing our own expectations - "We just want to see the boat!" - the rest of the journey turned out quite enjoyable.

An hour later, we saw "it" (see photo at the top).

It was said to be built with 1:1 ratio based on the figures given in the Bible. (Of course, since no one is sure of the exact measurement units of the ancient days, let's say it's approximately 1:1.) It was a sight to marvel.

(Here are a couple of shots of the entrances.)

A brother came out to get us in (it was by invitation only), and we caught the bulk of a sharing. Apparently, a Hong Kong team had taken on a few trips to look for the real Ark, and some members of them actually witnessed a wooden structure buried in snow, 4,000 meters above the sea level, on a mountain in Turkey. Their experiences, including their struggles in the process, were both inspirational and fitting for the occasion.

Then all attendees, mostly from local Hong Kong churches, were divided into groups, and we were given a guided tour of the Ark. The cafeteria was very nice, with a great view of the bay. (We had afternoon tea there.) I also checked out the bathroom. :-) The auditorium where we heard the sharing was easily a grand movie theater. We also explored a floor that was almost a science museum. The tour guides, all volunteers, were great.

The Ark was 5 floors tall, and our particular tour didn't cover all 5 floors, but who could complain with a free admission? I heard that there was a floor showing how animals were put into their separate rooms on the Ark. I imagine there would also be a room for Noah's family of 8. Not everything was completed yet, (for example, a multimedia film was to help the audience to experience the Flood, but we were only shown two minutes of it,) and it would be even better when it opens to the public.

We were then led to a garden outside. While we were restricted from taking any photos inside, we now finally could pull out our camera.

(Yes, animals. By pairs.)

(Ah, the grand exit. Giraffes led the way.)

(Where are they going? We were brought back to the present time.)

(How big was the Ark? You get an idea here - but it still doesn't compare to being actually there!)

There you have it, a most memorable trip. It nearly didn't happen. :-) I hope that we will visit the park when it officially opens. It will be fun, but it will not be just fun.

"Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man." (Luke 17:26)

Hiring Zhuge...Almost

A few project teams in our company were losing their jobs due to the end of their project releases; they had been doing outsourcing work for Yahoo Asia, who decided not to continue with our company in an effort to cut cost.

To me, that was an opportunity to grab some talented people. Somehow very few managers felt the same way; their focus was only on the projects at hand. In any case, I began to visit those project teams and interview with people that I thought would fit the team that I managed.

One of the guys I ran into play the role Zhuge Liang at company's Chinese New Year banquet. Other than eating good food, many coworkers participated in various performances. He played Zhuge Liang in one of the skits, drawing good laughs. I had to smile when I interviewed him, thinking, should I be like Liu Bei and visit him three times? :-) (Sorry if you don't understand the reference; it's from the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Or you can look up my profile picture; that's the historical Zhuge Liang. :-)

Anyway, I liked him, although he didn't seem totally fit. He himself hesitated because he wasn't confident enough (not quite a Zhuge Liang in real life). Fine. But before he disappeared, he recommended a gal. I quickly interviewed her, and she was indeed a great fit. I started to move along, faster than my supervisor seemed to have liked. I really thought that we shouldn't let talented people go easily.

Soon she began to help the team, although she was still not officially transferred to our department. I honestly didn't understand it. Her own project team already disappeared! Where else could she go? I understood that there were financial concerns, like the source of her salary. But she would be still with the same company - why so complicated?

Interestingly, soon another manager had a particular need, and this gal could step right in since she had the right skillset. He heard of her and contacted her. Guess how she replied? "Jim is my boss now. Please check with him." Haha! She was indeed a good find. :-) (Eventually I "lent" her to that manager. I was glad to demonstrate that we should value people above all other assets.)

Travel Bug

The travel bug hit again! Almost as soon as I decided on the "big trip" coming up in May (see previous entry), guess what, my calendar filled up rather quickly for March and April as well.

Here are a few trips coming up:

Weekend of 3/12~15: Xi'an

Weekend of 3/21~23: Chengdu

Weekend of 4/3~6: Lanzhou & Xining

That leaves the weekend of 3/28~29 the only "free" weekend. Am I on a budget? Yes, sort of. Here were the deals that I got:

Trip to Xi'an (80% discount on airfare)

Trip to Chengdu (60% discount)

Trip to Lanzhou & Xining (65% discount to LZ; then bus to XN)

(Total cost at RMB 3400 for three trips.)

Have you noticed a pattern? Yes, all these trips are heading toward a certain direction. Then, right after the last trip (which happens to be the "Tomb Sweeping Day" long weekend), I will head back to the U.S. for a two-week home visit, going the "opposite" direction. I bought the round-trip tickets at RMB 5100 (Singapore Airlines). I thought that was a good deal too.

Of course, what really matters is not the cost; it's the value. :-)

Travel Books vs. The Man

I bought a few travel books lately. Two of them contain the phrase "Silk Road" in their titles, and all the rest are for provinces in the Northwest. Am I up for something? You bet. :-)

Mark your calender for the month of May; you probably won't hear much from me during that month, as I will be traveling along the Silk Road. A longtime dream is about to be realized!

That's why I bought all those travel books. But all those books cannot match a real person who has actually been there many times. I happened to have such a friend. Some 20 years ago he was the main photographer for the Gansu Province TV station, and he did that for at least a dozen years. Many of the travel videos of that region, which happened to be the "golden portion" of the Silk Road, were credited to him. Today he and his wife are independent filmmakers in Shenzhen. The Gansu TV station still remembered him, and last year they invited him back to re-shoot many of the scenes.

I once taught his son (and a few other kids) English in my spare time, and that was how I got to know them. Actually, I didn't get to know other kids' parents, but they were special because I was always keen to anyone or anything related to the Northwest. :-) We became good friends. But I hadn't seen them for a while - because of each other's busy traveling - until they invited me to their home for dinner a couple of days ago.

The highlight of the dinner was not the food, but his tips on traveling along the Silk Road. I completely soaked in. After the dinner, he showed me two films (original version) that he made in the Northwest; they were part of a TV series he and his wife's filmmaking company was producing for CCTV. I thoroughly enjoyed them. Then he said, these were not the best parts of the Silk Road, but he wouldn't show me more because he didn't want to take away the fun of my traveling in person.

Boy, can I hardly wait! :-)

Rats!

Believe it or not, there have been rats running around in the office! Not during day time, when "mice" are the ones connected to our computers, but at night, they would come out searching for food. There have been numerous reports on snack food being eaten or stolen, especially if they were left on the table overnight.

Finally some of my coworkers began to put in mouse traps, mainly cage traps. Last night, they caught two! Here is one of them (photo taken with a cell phone), causing quite a commotion:

This was not the first time. Once they caught one prior to the Chinese New Year, and the security guard took it away and released it! The reason? It was still the Year of Rat! But now we have entered the Year of Ox. So? Today it was the cleaning lady who took care of the two mice. I asked her later, and she said that she had killed them.

The question is, how did they get up here to the 10th floor?

Cabin BBQ & Obama's Brother

Sunday night I went out to have dinner with a Chinese coworker. He recommended this Cabin BBQ place. It turned out to be a really neat restaurant. Service was above average, and the wooden structure really stood out. Then came the food, and it was good! The BBQ lamb chop was especially delicious, which was a delight for both of us. We were afraid that they wouldn't make good lamb, being in the south. (He was from the NW, and I traveled often to the NW, and we thought that the NW had the best lamb.)

Then my friend mentioned that this Cabin BBQ might have been opened by President Obama's younger brother! Well, we had heard - and it was confirmed - that Obama did have a brother in Shenzhen, but could we be dining in the restaurant that he opened?

Soon we got an affirmative answer through Internet search. This man, Mark, was indeed Obama's half brother (same father). He was not the only person who opened the restaurant, but he was regarded as a boss. A very nice boss, in fact. (He himself is a vegetarian, though.) He has been involved in other activities, mostly charity work, and has tried to stay low-key until you-know-when.

The Cabin BBQ is actually a chain restaurant, with 8-9 branches in Shenzhen. The first branch outside Shenzhen was opened recently in Yinchuan, Ningxia - yes, in the NW - where I do have plan to visit in the near future.

Passports

I went to Guangzhou (U.S. Consulate) and got my new passport. It was available the day after I returned from Singapore more than a month ago, but I had been too busy to make another trip to Guangzhou. Instead, I already went to Hong Kong twice, using the emergency passport.

The emergency passport is good for one year, and it contains only a few visa pages. Before you know it, I had those pages filled up already. It was time to fetch my new passport.

As if there had not been enough drama in this whole event of losing my passport, I nearly lost the emergency passport on Sunday! (The Consulate opened on Monday.) I was having a drink with a friend when her friends called. We were to join them for dinner. Just before we got to the meeting place, I suddenly realized that I couldn't find my emergency passport!

I still had it in the morning when I attended an international fellowship (only passport holders were allowed). The only other times I could lose it was at lunch or at the bookstore when I paid. We decided to go back to the place where we had a drink. Luckily my friend had good eyes and spotted it right away - under the table where we sat. Phew!

It must have slipped out of the pocket of my jacket when I laid it around. That was probably how I lost my old passport!

For the time being I am going to travel with two passports - the new passport and the canceled emergency passport, since the Chinese visa (expiring in September) is still glued to the emergency passport.

Restaurant Service

Friday night I attended a dinner event in Hong Kong. There were 30 tables with about 10 people per table, so we are talking about 300 people in one banquet.

The service was excellent! I often think that the service in Shenzhen restaurants is better than most other cities in China, but it's still no comparison to what I have experienced in Hong Kong. Just one example: In Shenzhen, waiters and waitresses would come to replace your plate with a clean one after you eat for a while (in most other cities, they don't even care). But often, either I need to ask the waiter to come to replace my plate, or they replace it "too soon." In other words, the timing often makes me uncomfortable. It didn't happen on Friday night. The plates were replaced a few times, but my eating wasn't interrupted at all! It was that smooth.

How did they manage it? They observed, instead of just going through the mechanics. They not only watched the plates in front of us, they also watched the food on the table. So when they came to replace our plates, it was the only reasonable act! They didn't even ask, "May I replace your plate?" because there was no need to ask.

I also noticed that in this Hong Kong restaurant, most waiters and waitresses were not necessarily young and pretty, which appeared to be the "standard" in China, but they obviously understood providing good service.

The Club

Recently the apartment right across the hallway from my apartment became the site of a certain "Board Game Club"; they even have a website. People would go in to play a few times a week, usually a weekday night and the whole weekend. Luckily it hasn't been too noise. (Had it been a "Mahjong Club"...)

I actually was tempted a couple of times to walk in uninvited and just observe. (I guess I would be pardoned for being the very next door neighbor.) But this entry is not about this club.

This past Thursday I had a most wonderful experience with the Nicodemus Club. Probably for the first time in the past few years that I wasn't the host "by default" while I was in town. Along with transitioning my work duties to replacement managers, it was also time for me to step down as the chairperson of the Nicodemus Club.

The core members of the club held a meeting when I happened to be out of town recently, and they came up with a plan for future conduct of the activities. Basically there will be 4 pairs to lead the activities by turn. I thought it was an excellent arrangement to get more people involved. We attempted such a system once but it didn't last, mainly because 1) people had become too comfortable for having me as the host, and 2) I probably enjoyed it too much myself. I am glad that the current situation is forcing us to make changes. They will do better without me!

The topic for this past Thursday was challenges in marriage, and it attracted quite some coworkers, several of whom came to Nicodemus for the first time. I would not be a very helpful host for such a topic (since I was only married for a minus few years), and the young couple who happened to be the host gave some excellent real-life testimonies.

I will miss the club, but surely, they will do better without me. :-)

"Desert" on an Island

By "desert" I don't really mean that there was a desert on an island, but that we had a "desert experience" on the island. Actually, two.

On Saturday two bus loads of my Chinese coworkers with their family and friends went on this hiking trip to a nearby island, total of nearly 100 of us. The buses took us to the seashore, and we took speedboats to the island. The weather was favorable, as the sun was hiding behind the clouds most of the time. We were set to have some fun, ignoring the fact that none of us had been on this island before.

The island was largely unexplored, and the fishing village on the island was what we would still call a "natural village." We passed through it, with the villagers ignoring us, and we ignoring them. On the back of the village was a vast woods. According to some information we got online, going through the woods would take us to a hilltop, where we would enjoy a spectacular ocean view.

Of course, soon we got lost. Half way through the woods after a few turns, we got to a point where we couldn't continue. There was no visible path in front of us. Uh oh (see picture below on the left).

 

What did we do? Like the ancient times, we sent out spies. Two spies retracted our coming path to see if we made a wrong turn earlier. Five minutes later we didn't hear any encouraging updates from them through walkie-talkie, so we sent four more spies, two to the left, and two to the right. Finally, the spies to the left claimed that they found a way. We waited two more minutes for them to confirm the discovery, and yes, the path looked good. The troop moved again, and soon we were out of woods (see picture above on the right).

This led us to the hilltop, and the view was spectacular! My camera couldn't do justice, and it was quite foggy all around. (But somebody did a good job; see photo by one of my coworkers below.)

After that, we formed three groups to continue our adventure. One group went east to go around the island, one group went west to go around the island, and one group stayed at the hilltop and would return to the pier, which was a short beach, through the way that we came. I joined the group that went west, and there were about 40 of us. Here are some views that we enjoyed (see pictures below). The island didn't have much beach at all, and rocks were everywhere.

 

 

Since some of us just liked to hike, and some of us took more time to appreciate the sights, gradually half of the group fell behind. I was the very last, partly because as one of the coordinators, I wanted to make sure that no one got lost.

The group ahead of us informed through walkie-talkie that after going through a bamboo woods (see picture below on the left) and a few small houses, we would be back to the pier, where we would get on the speedboats again. We had, up to that point, hiked over two hours, and we would indeed appreciate to get "home" soon.

 

After the bamboo woods, we saw a few water tanks (picture above on the right). It wasn't exactly a spectacular sight, but this was where we (the last group) made a critical mistake. Instead of turning right here, we turned left, and we didn't hit the pier as early as we had hoped.

In fact, we got lost again (picture below on the left). We reached the seashore, all right, but the pier was nowhere in sight. We had no choice but to continue along the coastline. If you saw a few pictures earlier, you would understand that we had a lot of rocks to climb over. I was most impressed by this guy (picture below on the right), who wore saddles all this time and insisted that he didn't need to change shoes. 

 

After rocks and rocks, we were getting exhausted, yet we still didn't know how much longer it would take to reach the pier. I became dizzy, in fact, and you bet that I said a few prayers, including my favorite Isaiah 40:31. At one point I almost fell from a rock! (By the way, I was still at the end of the group.)

I had to stop, breathless. Finally coming to senses, I did two things. First I did something for myself: I called for help, asking the guy in front of me to relieve my backpack. Second I did something for the group, asking everyone to stop. I examined our surroundings and through walkie-talkie contacted a coordinator who had reached the pier, asking if it was possible to send a few speedboats to the site we were at instead of us keeping going like this.

It turned out to be a plausible solution. After half an hour of resting and waiting, we were rescued (see pictures below)! Consider it prayers answered!

 

Changing Seats

Our company is undergoing major seats re-assignments. Basically we have too many people for the current space; nice problem to have in this time of financial crisis. In the office building, we own 3 floors, and we have been only using half of the top floor for the last 2-3 years, as the other half was rented out to another company. Finally the lease to the other company ended last month, and now we have more space to move around.

Two project teams on this floor are moving one floor up, and the rest of the project teams are shuffled around. The project team that I managed for the past year is also making a major shift. But guess what? Since I was just relieved of the project manager role, and now I am managing a different team - a team of business analysts - I get to stay in the same spot! Haha. There are like 3 people in total on this floor who don't have to move, including the department director, who has an office instead of a cubicle.

This is big relief to me, since I would have so much stuff to move, including all the books. In fact, that's why I can update my blog right now, as everyone else is busy moving their equipments in the office. :-)

Take a Break, Please

As a project manager, I encourage the team members to take a break regularly. My suggestions include to drink a lot of water, which means they would need to get up often to refill their mugs, which also results in going to the bathroom often. It would be good to our health. Except I don't necessarily do what I preach.

But one of the engineers took the advice to heart. He installed a software called EyeGuard on his computer, and whenever he worked on the computer continuously for a specified period of time, say half an hour, the screen would lock for, say, 2 minutes, and he had to get up and leave his seat. (It's like the opposite of screen saver, in which case the screen locks when there is an extensive idle time; in this case, an extensive busy time locks the screen.)

I finally installed the little application myself. It is quite cute.

Birthday in China

Last year when a group of our U.S. clients visited Shenzhen, one of them happened to have his birthday during the visit. We surprised him with a birthday cake at the lunch table, and I led our project team to hold an additional celebration in our conference room for him. He went home and told everybody about this experience in China.

This week another group of U.S. clients are visiting, and one of them, Amber, happened to have her birthday yesterday. Another member on the visiting team, Andrew, who seems particularly close to Amber, suggested us to do the same thing for her. We happily complied.

I found it an opportunity to express the occasion in our software development lingo, as I said to her, "Amber, a certain product manager [Andrew's title] sent in the requirements [which indeed is his job description]. We are sorry that we didn't send you the functional specification document for approval [which is Amber's responsibility], but we hope that the coding and unit test were done correctly. Now it's time for user acceptance test." Amber joyfully cut the cake.

Year-end Bonus (2)

(The title of this entry should really be "Do You Lend Money to Friends?", an entry I thought to write a few days ago. You will understand the "year-end bonus" part when I finish the story.)

A few days ago a very good friend - a sister - called me for an urgent request. She needed X amount of RMB to increase her chances to buy a house. I agreed that I could help. Later that night she called again; this time she needed more, 3X amount of RMB. I told her that I had to think about it.

Do you lend money to friends? (By "friends" I mean people that you can trust.) I guess in most cases the answer is "of course." But over time I have formed a rule not to lend money to friends. If a friend really needs help, I would give him or her an amount based on my capability and the prompting from within.

There are of course exceptions. 1) If it's a small amount, and a friend happens to forget his or her wallet, for instance, then it wouldn't be a big deal. 2) If he or she insists to return the amount one day, it would be a lent amount - but, I would still be lending an amount as if I was giving him or her that much.

Thus, I replied the sister the next day, telling her that I had wired X amount of RMB to her bank account as a donation. I also explained that while I probably could lend her 3X amount of RMB, I could not afford to give her that much, thus I would only donate X amount this time.

This rule has worked well for me. It frees me from getting into lender/debtor relationships, and it keeps my money management simple. I am also sending signals to my friends not to get into debt easily. And if some of them are believers of a Creator, I encourage them to have faith that He will provide in due time, and they shouldn't rush into borrowing money.

Of course, I wouldn't be too rigid when dealing with friends. They think that they borrowed money from me, while I treat it as if I gave it to them. In almost all the cases they eventually returned the money; to me, those were bonuses. I manage my finance without thinking at all the amount that might be owed to me - and of course I make sure that I don't owe others.

So, today, I went to a couple's place to have lunch. They told me that they just wired an amount to my bank account and thanked me for helping them out a few months ago. Did I remember that they borrowed money from me before? Yes and no. I knew, but I seriously didn't think about it afterwards. So this returned money was my year-end bonus. :-)

It happened to be X amount of RMB, exactly the same amount I donated to that sister friend a few days ago.

Year-end Bonus (1)

With today's economic situation, people probably should be content with having a job. Still, naturally, people want more than what they have or given. The Chinese New Year is right around the corner, and it's time for year-end bonus...or do we have one at all this year?

Yesterday was the last day at work. A coworker began to chat with me through IM. She was not from the same department, but we had served the company together for a number of years now. She complained about her year-end bonus being too low (a certain percentage of her salary). I said, well, maybe everyone gets the same amount (percentage) this year. She said, no! The management is fooling themselves - of course we know (that it's different for everyone). Uh oh, I thought, this is dangerous territory. You are not supposed to discuss salaries and bonuses privately, but this is China.

I tried my best to comfort and encourage her, but she still couldn't calm down. She was supposed to reply an email to her management, and she was worried that she would sound too angry. :-) So she asked me to draft a few sentences. I complied and said that I would like to buy her a meal. She said, no, she should treat me; she had asked me a favor many times.

Then, as I was wondering how come I hadn't received an email from the upper management, one of the top engineers on the team came to my seat and asked about the year-end bonus. The money was already put in our bank accounts (I didn't know that), and he felt that his was unexpectedly low. I said that I had no idea and that I didn't control these things.

After he walked away, I checked online my bank account. Indeed an amount was put in a day earlier, and it was not big. In fact, it was a lower percentage than the girl's, who complained to me just half an hour ago.

Now this is a real test, isn't it? It is one thing to hear from others and even show sympathy; it is another when you feel that you've been treated unfairly. Suddenly I realized that I had work to do. Most of the team members probably didn't get a big bonus this year. Although they could feel lucky for still having a job, but they deserved better. I would make a few phone calls to wish them a happy New Year. And I need to put aside my petty feelings. :-)

Actually here is a funny thing. I had thought about "giving away" my bonus. I felt that whatever bonus I would get, the team should have it since they did the real work. Especially during the second half of the year, with all my traveling and other matters, I didn't put my whole mind and heart to managing the team. Now with the "unexpectedly low" bonus, perhaps it's easier for me to give it away? Haha.

I Won! ... Not Really

Monday night was our company's annual Chinese New Year banquet. Good food, good performances (by different departments). The biggest draw, of course, was the prize drawing. Each person submitted his or her shuffle drawing ticket, and one of the executives or managers would do the drawing.

This was my fourth year in a row to attend the event, and once again, I came away with winning none of the top prizes; I would again get the "consolation prize" like most others. Of course, I never really cared for it. In fact, last year when I was busy doing the MC, I even forgot to submit my shuffle drawing ticket.

Nonetheless, I got pretty nervous when the #1 prize was announced. It was a Fujitsu laptop computer. I almost forgot my pre-event promise to myself that if I won the top prize, I would in some way donate it to the cause of the NW. I have always used a Fujitsu laptop, and it's almost time to get a new one. Could this be the one? My project team had "performed" pretty well this night, with about 1/3 of them winning a prize. Could it be that their manager would claim the crown prize?

But, of course, it didn't happen. :-) In case you are curious, here is my shuffle drawing ticket:

I had hoped to win a prize with it, but it wasn't meant to be. I should be content with the consolation prize. I should even be glad. :-)

New Habit

(I am still in office at this minute, just past midnight. Our software has a release tonight, and we are doing a final round of testing before the official release. Meanwhile, I make a visit to this space...)

Some say that it takes 21 days to create a new habit. For the past 21 days (started just before the New Year), I have been reading 2 chapters from the Old Testament, 1 chapter from the New Testament, and 1 Psalm every day. There has been no lagging or jumping ahead. Every day the same amount. By this rate, I should go through the whole Book in a year.

I figure that I have perhaps read every book in the Book, but I cannot be sure since I have never successfully read from cover to cover in a year (or any period of time). But this year, 2009, so far it has been quite good. I am not pushing it, and I find it enjoyable, even memorizing quite a few verses (e.g. the entire Psalm 13). Perhaps this is the year that I will finally do it!

(Now back to work...)

Little Children

I attended a closing ceremony of a private "school" run by a good friend this morning. It's not an official school since my friend runs it quite differently from the public schools. It was a very special event, with the children singing praise songs and reciting Psalms (in both Chinese and English) as a way of showing what they've learned during this past semester.

The headmaster - my friend - did a PowerPoint presentation on school's teaching and children's growth. The teaching is centered on one verse, Luke 2:52, thus the education focuses on 4 areas:

• ...grew in wisdom... (learning various subjects)
  
• ...and stature... (physical education, including healthy habits)
  
• ...in favor with G... (spiritual growth)
  
• ...and men. (social skills and team work)
  

Among these, the 3rd area is the most emphasized. The grading was also unique. Instead of giving just a score (like based on a test), the students' attitudes were figured in. Thus, if the attitude had a grade of A, B, or C, and the score was 1, 2, or 3, then the final grade would be A1, B1, C2, etc., with more emphasis on the attitude.

I was invited to give a brief talk to the children as an encouragement. I quoted Matthew 19:14, where JC said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." I often wondered what kind of little children JC was pointing at when He spoke so, and now, this morning, I had a better idea.

Evaluation and Reflection

Although it's not time yet for performance review for the engineers,  but since it's almost at the end of a software release, I decided to do an evaluation for the team members. There have been good things and bad things for this release, and the biggest complaints are 1) the whole team feels tired; 2) some members are not exactly team players, causing others to put in more effort.

Based on team leaders' comments and my own observations, I began to grade each and every engineer. (This will not go into their performance review, which will happen in a few months, but this will help them and myself to focus on areas to improve.) The more I graded them - some didn't receive high marks - the more I realized one thing: Some of the weaknesses the team members displayed were results of weaknesses coming from the top. I, as the project manager, was in fact partially responsible for some of the bad performances.

I don't mean to be hard on myself (I gave myself a  B minus :-), but that realization was very humbling. I thought that I had become a fairly decent project manager, but now I saw that I still had much to learn.

Actually I will not continue to be the PM when the new release starts. I couldn't be happier about the next PM though, who happens to be a very good friend of mine in the company. I will miss the team. When I took over a year ago, the team had about 15 people; now it's about 35. I care for their personal growth more than the "success" of the project; that sometimes caused conflicts with the upper management. Over time, however, my approach became more and more appreciated.

But I have my limits. Perhaps this indeed is a good time to move on - and let those who can do a better job to take over.

Beggars

The other night I was on my way home from a friend's place. Two people approached me as I was walking. A middle-aged woman and a young fellow, appearing to be mother and son. They looked quite decent with clean clothes. They didn't ask for money but asked if I could just buy them some food. I complied and bought them each a bowl of rice noodles (RMB 5 per). I even sat down and chatted with them a little bit.

They told me that they were from Nanjing, which surprised me. "You don't sound like from Nanjing at all - I am from Nanjing," I said to them. They insisted that they were from Nanjing, while I was sure that they were not based on their accent. (BTW, many beggars came from Anhui province, which was not far from Nanjing.) I didn't push further, and left them the remaining changes in my pocket - and walked away.

A minute later, the boy caught up with me, asking me to help them more. He said that they would catch a train back to Nanjing the next day, but if I would be so kind, could I pay for a room for them near the train station for the night. The train station was very far from where I lived, so this was as good as asking for money. I didn't have more changes (although I did have a few hundred-yuan bills with me, but I wouldn't go that far), and I told him that I couldn't help any further. He followed me and was very persistent. I stopped and looked right into his eyes, "I cannot help you," I said very coldly. He didn't follow me again.

A few minutes later, as I was very close to my place, two young women approached me and right away they said, "We are not asking you for money, but could you just buy us some food?" I almost laughed and explained to them that I had just helped someone like them and I ran out of changes. They asked me to describe whom I just helped. I thought, why would you want to know that? Competitors? People in the same "network"? I was very firm that I couldn't help them. One of the girls finally pointed at a book that I was carrying, "Could you give us a book to read?" "I bought the book because I liked it! I am not going to give you that!" I walked away rather mad.

The night was cold, and that did make me feel for them. But then, they dressed warmer than I did that evening.

Singapore

So I am back from Singapore - my first trip this year through air. It was very good. (Well, even making the trip was to be thankful for.) Weather was "perfect." Yes, a little bit on the warm side, but much easier to go through than the uneven temperatures in the southern China these days. In fact, while I had no problem with the cold weather in Beijing a week ago, I promptly caught a cold in Guangzhou, where it was supposed to be warmer.

I accomplished everything that I wanted to accomplish in Singapore - and more. Here is my "secret" for enjoying short trips like this: "Everything that I wanted to accomplish" was in fact a very short list, namely a gathering with a group of volunteers to discuss this year's summer program in the NW. Everything else would be a bonus!

I ended up meeting a few other very good friends, including a soon-to-be-married couple. The Sunday morning service that I attended just before my return flight was superb. Every meal was delicious. I also got to spend time with a pastor from South Africa, staying at his place both nights since he had an extra room. (I asked friends to book a room at Raffles. They thought that I was joking and didn't do it.)

The pastor shared with me this funny story: Cape Town, where he used to live, was very windy at times. One time he was walking in a particular area famous for wind, and a lady suddenly grabbed him for support. Before he could react, another lady grabbed him from the other side, also in fear of being blown away. The three of them were captured by a reporter's camera, and they were on the local newspaper the next day!

Going to a place far away to hear a story from even farther way. That's traveling.

How to Travel Overseas In Less Than 2 Weeks After Losing Passport

Here is an update on my passport: The old was never found, and the new is already at hand. In summary, I am making all the trips that I planned to make this month.

• Day -13, Sunday, 12/14/08. Returned to Shenzhen on a flight, meaning I still had the (old) passport then.
• Day Y, the day that the passport was lost. I don't know exactly when and where. I chose letter Y because that's the question one would ask, "Why, why, why?"
• Day 0, Saturday, 12/27/08. Discovered that my passport had been lost.
• Day 1, Sunday, 12/28/08. Shared the news with local friends and started searching. Asked everyone to pray.
• Day 2, Monday, 12/29/08. Reported to local police (paichusuo, 派出所) about the loss. Local police issued a notice, which was needed for the next step.
• Day 3, Tuesday, 12/30/08. Submitted local police's notice to city PSB (市公安局). A Statement of Loss of Passport would be issued the next day. Took passport photo in a local shop.
• Day 4, Wednesday, 12/31/08. Returned to city PSB and obtained the Statement of Loss of Passport, which would be needed for applying for a new passport. Picked up passport photo just before the shop closed.
• Day 5, Thursday, 1/1/09. New Year's Day. On a train to Beijing. Strictly speaking, a soft sleeper seat, which I had, would also require a passport, but the checking was lax.
• Day 8, Sunday, 1/4/09. On a train back from Beijing to Guangzhou. Stayed in relative's place overnight.
• Day 9, Monday, 1/5/09. 9:00 AM, entered the U.S. Consulate General in Guangzhou with the necessary documents, including the Statement of Loss of Passport. 11:15 AM, obtained an emergency passport (good for 1 year). The full-validity passport (good for 10 years) would be ready in 2 weeks at no extra cost. 12:00 noon, on a train back to Shenzhen. 2:00 PM, entered the city PSB with the necessary documents to re-apply for my work visa. 3:00 PM, all documents were reviewed, but the officer could only approve to issue the visa a week later on 1/12. But I planned to travel on 1/9, so I talked to a supervisor at the PSB. 3:30 PM, went into an Internet cafe to gather data. 4:00 PM, went back to the PSB and convinced the supervisor to expedite the process. I could pick up the visa on 1/8 instead!
• Day 12, Thursday, 1/8/09. Picked up the replacement work visa at the city PSB. I now could travel overseas!
• Day 13, Friday, 1/9/09 (that will be tomorrow). Fly to Singapore.

Of course, I still don't have a full-validity passport yet, but for all practical purposes, I am set. The whole process went pretty smoothly, and it took less than two weeks. Excluding the weekends and holiday (New Year's Day), it took 8 working days, while in reality it took 4 working days to get it settled (when the PSB supervisor agreed to expedite the visa process). It helped when my residence (Shenzhen) was close to the U.S. Consulate location (Guangzhou).

Now I want to share one more detail: Perhaps you are curious how I convinced the PSB supervisor to expedite the visa process. In normal circumstances, such request would not be granted unless it was an emergency situation, such as medical conditions or relatives passing away. (And, of course, don't ever imagine that you could talk a Chinese officer into changing his mind.) There was another situation where it could be considered - if you had purchased airplane tickets that did not allow change of date.

Honestly I don't think this rule makes sense. I went on a trip because of an event, not because I just wanted to get on an airplane. Say, in this case, the event was to be held on 1/10, and I bought airplane tickets accordingly. Even if I could change flights, the event would not change, right?

But anyway, I couldn't argue with the officer, and as it so happened, the airplane tickets that I purchased (before I lost or realized that I lost my passport) indeed prohibited date change, since it was a "super deal" promoted by Singapore Airlines. I went to an Internet cafe near the PSB and pulled up SA's website, printed out the price rules, and went back to the PSB to show the officer my "proof."

A couple of tips on talking to a Chinese officer (or government staff) in such a situation. 1) Show that you really want it. Be firm. 2) On the other hand, don't press them. Almost *nothing* in China is absolutely inflexible, but you need to be patient. If he asks you to produce something, try your best to do it - and show your effort. No matter how tedious it is, don't get mad or complain. I mentioned that you couldn't talk them into changing their mind, but your cooperative attitude could influence them to act in your favor, while they didn't appear to have changed their mind at all. :-)

Passengers on the Train

My first trip in 2009 was by train - after 26 trips through the air in 2008. It happened because the loss of my passport. As it turned out, traveling by train opened my eyes in an unexpected way. I would like to travel this way more often in the future.

I took soft sleeper seats for both trips (from Shenzhen to Beijing, 23 hours, then back from Beijing to Guangzhou, 21 hours). It was definitely more comfortable than the hard sleeper seat I once took (1.5 years ago), although the bed wasn't much softer. I didn't sleep too well on both trains, but other than that, it was an enjoyable trip. In particular, I remember the passengers who shared the same cell (4 sleeper seats) with me.

Not all of them shared the entire ride; some took off at the middle, then some got on at the same stop. There was a retired man with his pregnant daughter going back home for the Chinese New Year. There was a young man about my age who went on his one-year job assignment to build a high-speed train rail between Wuhan and Guangzhou (when in operation, the top speed could reach 350 km/hr!). I had some casual chats with them.

When the man and his pregnant daughter got off at Liaocheng, Shandong, two ladies got on board. They were sisters-in-law, and immediately they got into lively chats between them. I was compelled to have a conversation with them, but I could hardly cut in. So I continued to read my book, with a copy of the Good Book lying right next to me. In fact, I deliberately nudged it to make it more visible. I went for a bathroom break, giving them a chance to talk about me - and perhaps the Good Book. (Seriously, that was my thinking! :-)

Upon my return, I soon was able to start a conversation with them. They made a positive comment on my attitude toward matters, and one of them pointed at the Good Book, "I see you have this book. I know you (plural) are good people." I asked if she had a copy herself. Indeed someone gave her a copy before, but she hardly read it. From then on our conversation got deeper and deeper, and they became quite excited. I literally shared with them the Good News, something they heard before but didn't quite understand. They particularly enjoyed listening to how I apply my faith in different areas of my life. I encouraged them to go to their local church and they agreed. We exchanged contact info, and they invited me to visit them in Liaocheng. "How I wish that you could talk to my husband," one of them said, "He is very stubborn, and he needs to hear what you shared today."

On my return trips from Beijing to Guangzhou, an elderly couple also went the distance. I found them not sociable, almost rude when talking to others. Not until we were close to Guangzhou that I finally struck up a conversation with them. It turned out they had lived and worked in Qinghai (Northwest!) for over 20 years, now retired. The wife's health was not good, and they decided to spend the winter in the south. They had quite a bit of luggage since they were going to stay in Guangzhou for a few months. I helped them with their luggage when the train arrived at Guangzhou. We said good-bye. With only a backpack, I walked a lot faster. But at a set of stairs before the exit (no escalator), I waited for them to catch on so that I could help them with their luggage again.

New Year's Day Cards

Our project team had a choice. Either working on Friday, 1/2 or Sunday, 1/4. But I didn't give them that choice. I told everyone rather sternly that since we needed to fix the bugs in a hurry, everyone in principle should come to office on Friday - then enjoy the weekend. They would get the New Year's Day off. So it would be like 1 day off-1 day working-2 days off, instead of 3 days off -1 day working. Some preferred the latter, but, again, I didn't give them that choice.

Then I admitted sheepishly that *I* would take Friday, 1/2, *and* Sunday, 1/4, off because I would be going to Beijing by train. What a manager, huh? :-) (I wouldn't be able to fix any bugs for the team, anyway.)

But I had an idea to appreciate each one of them. On New Year's Eve I went to a bookstore and bought a whole bunch of New Year's Day cards. They were pretty decent, very well designed, but not overly expensive (about RMB 5~6 per). Thinking that the team had about 30 people, I bought 32 cards.

Then on New Year's Day, I sneaked in the office right after lunch. Nobody else was around, of course, and I began to sign the cards. Initially I wanted to keep it simple, with the same sentence for everyone. But as I started writing, the engineers' faces began to show up in front of me, so I ended up writing personalized messages. A couple of examples, "Thanks for being such a gentleman!" "You are a wonderful tester. Thanks for all the bugs - or should we thank the developers?" "You have been an incredible addition to the team. Thanks for everything!"

I had a great time doing it. But soon I found two problems: 1) This was taking longer than I expected, and I had a train to catch in the afternoon. 2) Toward the end, I realized that I bought one card short! How embarrassing! Whom do you want to leave out? Nobody!

Finally I decided to "sacrifice" the girl, a tester, sitting right next to me. (Our office space became so insufficient that the extra space for managers were being utilized.) I wrote her a note to apologize for the mistake, and I promised to make it up. I was sweating. (Update: Upon my return to the office, I gave her a Chinese book as the new year's gift. She was a bit overwhelmed, so I explained that it wasn't even a brand new book. It was a book that had brought me encouragement and comfort in the past, entitled "Stories for the Heart.")

But the drama didn't end yet for the New Year's Day. When I was done with the cards, it was close to 2 o'clock and the train's departure time was 2:40. I rushed downstairs and began to look for a taxi, but there wasn't any. I called a friend who lived nearby but he was out of town. Uh oh. Finally, at about 2:05 a taxi showed up.

It turned out to be my lucky day, as the driver was very experienced, knowing how to get to the train station through short-cuts. In particular, when it got close to the train station, he knew not to follow the taxi line as it would take at least another 10-15 minutes to drop the pessengers off. He pulled his car next to a hotel, and I walked to the station from there - with 5 minutes to spare. Plenty of time! :-)

(So how was the train ride? Stay tuned for the next entry. :-)