Okay, we post entirely way too much on here. But hey… our lives are full and fantastic, and while we have the time…might as well, right?
I went to Frank Ma’s Dinho Chinese Restaurant last night with the awesomely crazy/cool Yelpers for a Chinese feast. Mark had to miss out, so here’s a little clip just for you, my love. Enjoy!
Okay, everyone can read Mark’s entry below, so I’m not posting the rules again… but here are 6 things about me you may or may not find interesting:
1. When I have to use a public toilet, I always tear off the end of the toilet paper and dispose of it before tearing off some to wipe with… I just always think that maybe the person before me had dirty hands and touched the paper.
2. I have 1 grandfather, 3 grandmothers, 5 uncles, 6 aunts, and 23 cousins still living, in addition to a father, mother, and brother.
3. I will soon have a brother-in-law, sister-in-law, mother-in-law, father-in-law, and grandparents-in-law to add to my big, crazy family. I’m very excited about that. Mark’s family is beyond awesome!
4. Almost all of these people will (hopefully) be at the wedding.
5. That really limits the number of other people we can invite. So please don’t feel bad if you don’t get an invitation! It doesn’t mean we don’t love you. It’s just… our families would be pissed if they weren’t at the wedding.
6. Yes, I worry about stuff like this because I was brought up to be an extremely polite and sweet Southern girl and I’ve been working hard ever since to lose some of that self-sacrificing, over-the-top niceness. But not all. Because it never hurts to be polite and hospitable!
Okay, and now for blogs I like to read:
http://jamesadamthwaite.com <– my BFF and crazy conspiracy theorist
http://girlsgonechild.blogspot.com <– cool blog by a hip, young mom
http://schuylersmonsterblog.com <– cool blog about a special dad-and-daughter duo
http://postsecret.blogspot.com <– PostSecret. Duh.
Whew! Leah here. It’s crazy how a few short days without internet leaves me feeling totally out of touch with the rest of the world. But we’re here in a Guilin until 1:00 today when we leave for the airport to fly to Lijiang by way of Kunming. Hopefully the tickets actually are booked….getting them took way too long! Avoid the China Souther Airlines counters in Yangshuo, people. Head to Robert’s TravelWorld booth instead!
So, Yangshuo has definitely been overrun by tourists, but the villages surrounding the area are full of amazing scenery and very friendly farmer folks who still plow the fields with water buffalo. There is a lot of development going on, though, and it’s starting to encroach on the farmer’s land. One thing I liked about the Giggling Tree was that they employ locals, buy as much food and whatnot from the locals, etc., to support the village as much as possible. The guesthouse has just 20 beds, so it can’t ever get as packed with tourists as the nearby hotels that cater to insanely large groups. Being in Yangshuo was a big wake-up call as to my responsibility as a traveler, because tourists can have such an impact, and definitely not always a positive one, on the places they visit.
Mark has already talked about all the super awesome people we’re met, and I’d just like to second that. Staying in hostels makes it that much easier to meet people, too. The staff members have great suggestions of things to do, they’re so friendly, and the hostel guests are great, as well. At least at the places we’ve been to thus far. I love hearing about people’s lives, where and why they’re traveling, etc.
I’m so glad that Mark is enjoying his first trip abroad, not that I was ever really worried that he wouldn’t. I used to like traveling by myself, but getting to travel with my best friend is even better! Especially since he’s up for whatever. And he has an awesome sense of direction that comes in handy when I get all turned around.
This was a funny restaurant…we sat on little tiny stools at a little tiny table.
Okay, I’m off to wander the streets in search of breakfast. I think I’ll make Mark do all the talking, though. Haha. He needs to practice speaking Mandarin. Tonight- we head to Yunnan province for more adventures!
Pengyou = Friend, and yesterday was a friend-filled day. First we went to the Dirt Market, Panjiayuan. This place is only open on weekends and it is packed full of vendors, shoppers, and pretty much any Chinese art, souvenir, antique, etc. you could ever hope to find. Some people get uncomfortable with the constant shouts of “Look here, I give you good price!” and by the sheer notion of having to haggle. But these are people who have not yet discovered the pure joy of a truly great bargaining session. So, here’s a lesson in Chinese Bargaining 101:
1. Learn the numbers. Yes, the vendors have calculators. You can use that, as well, for emphasis or to cover up your crappy pronunciation. But you need to understand what they are saying, and you need to at least attempt to speak. Always say your offer out loud FIRST, then show them on the calculator.
2. Learn these basic Chinese phrases: “Tai gui le!” (Too expensive!) “Wo bu keyi” (I can’t!) “Qing gei wo pianyidianr” (Please give me cheaper.) Use these phrases each time they state their price, and be as animated as possible. But in a lighthearted manner, never serious or angry. This is supposed to be fun, remember.
3. If you, like me, are blessed with a youthful appearance, you can also use this phrase, which almost always brings the price down about 1/3 more than the vendor would regularly offer: “Wo shi xuesheng, wo meiyou qian!” (I am a student, I don’t have money!)
4. In order to determine how much to offer and how much to settle on, follow these guidelines: the first price they say used to be half as much as what you really should be paying. But Beijingers have gotten used to foreigners and they are ready for the Olympic Onslaught. They’re now saying prices as much as 3 and 4 times as high as what you should pay. So, when they name their first price, depending on how high it is and what you are trying to buy, go low, low, low. Example: they say 300 kuai for a pocket knife, you offer 25 or 50. Yes. Really. They will act shocked and dismayed, but they will lower the price to around 270.
You need to up your counter-offer, but just a little. Employ one of the phrases I mentioned above, and then offer 75. More shock and dismay, slightly lower price offered. 250. Use another phrase, be extra-animated, and offer 90. They will give yet another counter offer, this time even lower…maybe 200 or 190. This is when you do the WALK AWAY. You say “Wo bu keyi, tai gui le!” and slowly start to turn away. They will grab you and give you an even lower price. 175. You are SO CLOSE now! Offer 100. Use hand gestures to say that you really can’t afford more than that. They will either give it to you for that price, or they will give you one final counter-offer. Go 10-20 kuai higher than the 100, and they will agree. Boom! You have successfully haggled in a Chinese market.
Mao and I are proud of you.
So, yes, yesterday at the market I had a fabulous time and I even made a new friend, Wang Da Wei. He’s already sent me an e-mail, in fact. Yay for new friends! These friend cards Mark ordered are coming in very handy. So, the next time you are in Beijing and it is a weekend, please go to Panjiayuan and look for Wang Da Wei’s stall. He sells lovely silk-covered journals, chopstick sets, fans, purses, and a variety of other items. And if he doesn’t sell it, he will go and find it for you and the best price. Tell him Leah sent you. He’ll be a little scared at first of you superior bargaining skills, but he will certainly appreciate the business.
Shout out to Wang Da Wei: Ni hao, pengyou! Wo gaosu wo.de Meiguo de pengyou zai Zhongguo lai kan ni!
We also went to the cool artsy 798 area to meet my aunt Jill’s friend Alonzo Davis. He’s a very nice guy, incredibly well-traveled, and also happens to be a magnificent artist. We also got to meet his friend and Beijing guide, Claire, who is also an artist and has lived in Beijing for a year. Hi to you both! We really enjoyed meeting you yesterday, and checking out all the art galleries!!
Now we must prepare for an almost-28-hour train ride to Guilin/Yangshuo. I love trains. Woohoo! Who knows what new adventures await? We’ll be out of touch for a day or so, but don’t worry…we’ll be back with more stories and pictures!
Much love to all of you, thanks so much for reading and commenting!!
~Leah
This is Anna. She and her boyfriend Chris are going to be watching our cats One-Two and Three-Four during the month that we’re away. We furiously cleaned our house over the past two days so that they could come over and we could give them the rundown of how to refill the automatic feeders and change the automatic waterfall that they drink from. And then also give them the calendar of days that they absolutely must come in order to refill the feeders.
So then I’m trying to explain everything and show them how to work the machines when Anna is like… can’t I just come over everyday and feed them?
Ha! We bought all these electronic gadgets to feed them automatically so that they wouldn’t absolutely have to come over everyday, and could come over at least every other day and have some leeway. And then Anna’s just like… it’d be much easier if I just came over everyday. She totally side-swiped us with both the simplicity, but mostly her efforts. We just didn’t want to be THAT much of an imposition (even though we’re paying them a fair amount of money - but it’s not about that obviously.)
So they came over last night, we had a pizza from Mellow Mushroom and then Leah and Anna went in the back room and Leah gave Anna a Reiki Session.
They’re awesome and although both Leah and I were slightly worried about leaving our cats for a month, it helps to feel much better knowing that we have Chris and Anna to watch over them and that they would do anything to make sure they’re both safe and doing well while we’re away.
I’m Yelp Elite. Although kind of silly, I’ll add it to my list of distinctions that I have *earned* (earned? After writing a certain amount of reviews and generally being slightly active in your regional yelp online community, you write an email saying why you should be given Elite status!… I should dig mine up. It rocked.)
Anyways. There are regular yelp events and then there are elite yelp events - the elite ones seem to have more/better food/drinks. Oh. So at a recent one which ocurred on a top secret date at a top secret location (nah, just kidding, but it did occur at Food Studio.) Leah and I went down and met up with some of the elite-ers.
Leah and Wallace! - he’s a college professor at ummm… Moorehouse? Somewhere, but genius!
Leah and Tulie - she’s awesomely the living life of the party. Always. I’m very happy that she moved to Atlanta to go to med-school ’cause now we know her!
Leah! Mark! Tulie! Dio! (not his real name apparently - but we’ll keep up the charade!)
Omg. Look. It’s me… standing next to two other asian people in the same picture! Having lived in Phoenix for so long, I’ve never had that happen! (and not even with my family - because my brother and sister are half black and so it would only be me and my mom who look really asian in our family photos - everyone else is still in the Philippines.)
- Mark
