Ubud has a lot of rice paddies

Today, my roommate and I took a walking trek (the trek on page 145 of the Lonely Planet: Bali & Lombok, everyone and there mom is carrying this lonely planet) through Ubud and got to copious amounts of rice paddies. The trek was pretty tiring but fun. However the best part of the day was going to a local Balinese restaurant by myself, I got the restaurant suggestion from a local. Attached are the only pictures I took today that is how much I liked the food. The best dish was the one with rice, it tasted almost like a Mexican mole, but it was curry chicken, and it was called nasi rendang a yam. The other dish was nasi campour ayam. It was vegetables covered in peanut sauce. Very tasty but the other dish was better, although I think anything covered in peanut sauce is good.

And last night we saw the Legong dance at ubud palace. I really enjoyed it. The music is like something out of Sun Ra's dream. It like a mix of choral music and avant garde jazz. It reminded me when I used to live next to Mead Chapel at Middlebury and they would play the church bells on Sunday, except more jazzy and a little atonal. I hope the videos I attach work but I still am learning to use my Motorola DynaTAC. Otherwise there will just be pictures.

Being Japanese is not a good idea right now

Last week or the week before that. I don't remember any more. Japan pissed of a lot of people in China and made traveling around where I live annoying because I don't live far from the Japanese embassy. Here are some pictures of the Chinese army setting up a blockade so that protesters could not destroy the embassy. While setting up the blockade they made getting to dinner around lucky street impossible. Thanks for ruining my dinner plans Japan. The later pictures are of a Japanese restaurant on lucky street that had to put up signs saying that the diaoyu islands belonged to China. A lot protesters were harassing restaurant owners on lucky street because there are several Japanese restaurants there as it is close to the Japanese embassy. They even harassed owners of the Italian restaurant along the street.

I didn't take pictures of this but people where harassing the Japanese residents that live in the compounds next to lucky street. It was not a good week to be Japanese anything in China. Good thing I don't look too Japanese.

My office getting ready for national day

I think we need more flags. At least bigger full sized flags.

Yeah I am in Bali and you are not

Here are some pictures from my hotel room in Bali. Did I mention I am in Bali? Just got in today but so far so good although it looks like it might rain.

Sent from my Motorola DynaTAC.

Catching the bus during rush hour

I recently got a smartphone so expect a lot of short posts. Here is a series of people jamming on a bus in front of Shinkong Place. Catching the bus here can be a nightmare. The bus driver stopped traffic trying to get people to get off so he could close the doors but no one budged.

The exciting conclusion to solar oven cookies

The solar oven cookies were not quite a success, meaning that they were a complete and utter failure. One of things that I realized that you need for a successful solar oven is a Doppler radar system, because clouds come out of nowhere in this city. My early prediction of clear skies was wrong and by 11am on last Monday, clouds completely covered the sky. So the cookies only got to the ambient temperature by the time I got home from work, and were still gooey and tasted like styrofoam (a taste that may exist in whatever we try to bake in the future, we need to do more experimenting). But before the summer ends, I am determined to cook something to completion. I think I am going to try something simple next, like trying to toast something or melt some cheese or a M&M (the hard shell may be too much for the oven). 

Solar Oven Cookie Fail

After the Noachian flood that happened on Saturday, the sky on Sunday was probably the bluest I have ever seen it in Beijing. So what do you do when you have blue skies, you bake some cookies in your solar oven that you have yet to test and have no idea how to use. After a mad dash back and forth to the grocery store, because I kept forgetting ingredients for our peanut butter cookies, we finally got dough mixed and out in the oven by 4pm, which we discovered is not enough time particularly on a cloudy day to cook the cookies (if you look at the picture carefully you can see the clouds in the glass). Apparently, our oven is not able to get to 374 degrees kelvin in two hours. Thus, our cookies ended up just being semi-warm dough. On the upside the dough was delicious, on the downside they weren't cookies. However, today is another sunny day and I put the cookies in the oven before I went to work this morning, so it should have a full day of sunlight as the rains on Saturday guaranteed clear skies for at least a week. I will give an update later on the success or failure of the second try. If all works out, we might upgrade to baking donkey ribs in the oven on the next try. 

It's hot in Beijing....

...and this dog knows it

How to make a solar oven in da Jing

This title was blatantly chosen to drive traffic. 

Recently, the Golzer and I were jonesing for some homemade cookies, but realized we had no way to make them; thus, we decide that we needed to make a solar oven (real story: I have a ledge outside my window and I noticed it got a lot of son, and said to Golze I should make a solar oven and he was like let's do it, that's what we learn to do in architecture school). China may be one of the best places in the world to make a solar oven, essential all the parts we used to make it we could have gotten for free, although we did pay money for stuff, because we were to lazy to go walk and look for it.

Parts breakdown:

The styrofoam box we got from Jenny Lou's for free (downside it smells like fish, upside we get fish cookies)

The piece of glass on the top cost RMB 40 (however, the night before I was at a place that had old glass windows laying around that I could have taken for free)

The card board for the reflectors free (randomly asked some guy for a piece of cardboard)

Glue RMB 1

Aluminum foil around RMB 30 (unless you buy 200 sqft)

Extra pieces of styrofoam RMB 5 per half a kilo (this is like unnecessary and mostly for aesthetics, also you probably can find it for free). 

We also got a mirror for free that we are still trying to figure out how to attach (more on that in the future)

So essential the only thing you need to pay for is the glue and the aluminum foil, the rest of the stuff can be found lying around various places in da Jing. And if you find the right nongmin cart driver you just might be able to get it all in one place.

If you came to this site to learn how to build a solar oven I am sorry, but we don't actually know how, as this thing is untested and like to cause a solar flare, but I can recommend this site that looks like it knows what it is doing. 

Look for more exciting post on our solar oven project and stay tuned to find out if our cookies taste like fish. 

  

Greatest Food Map of Beijing in the History of the Universes

Recently, I had the idea of creating a map of all the places I have liked to eat in Beijing since I came here in 2007, because I was tired of going to the same places over and over again. I thought by creating a map I might start going to more places around the city. I quickly realized I could not remember many of the places I used to eat at over the past couple of years and the map end up just Beijing the last three places I had dinners and lunches at. Thus, I decided to add more people who have similar food taste to me. I think I sent invites to over 20 people to add more places to this map, but quickly found only three other people like to eat food in Beijing. Since creating this map, the three other contributors, Ben, Tyler and Eric, and I have formed a super exclusive club that meets bi-weekly dinners at different spots across the city. For anyone who wants to join just tell Golze the secret password (let me know when you guys are meeting).  

Rest assured that the title of this blog post is no hyerbole. It has the greatest minds working to add only the best of the best of Beijing's fare. So expect the information on the map to continue to grow. Choose what mania you have to go to the map: Phagomania or Opsomania?

What will likely be the nicest day all summer

Today was one of those days in Beijing that makes you jealous of people that lived here twenty years ago, when 250 blue-sky days actually meant the sky was blue most of the time. A thunderstorm yesterday washed away the pollution and humidity, making it hard to stay inside and work. So we didn't, and instead took an extended lunch break strolling through the Old Summer Palace, where our office is located. The company has five annual passes to the park, but that's easily extended to 20 people by entering the park and passing the tickets back through the fence to our office. I'm also told it's pretty easy to hop the fence around the corner from where we work.

 A pretty comfortable working environment if I do say so.

I don't know if I previously had fairly lame coworkers in Beijing, or if the ones I'm working with now are anomalies, but these folks are some of the biggest drinkers I've spent time with since college. Most surprising are the women, who more than keep up the guys in the office. My previous experience in China is that most women beg off even a small glass of beer. The girl on the left in the picture below is a total enabler, while the one one the right got very drunk and spent about half and hour trying to puke in the bathroom, without success. These dinners seem to be a semi-weekly event.

I'm rapidly earning a reputation as a big drinker, which is pretty easy considering how weak Chinese beer is. Apparently previous Berkeley interns have set a precedent (probably undergrads), but from what I've heard they haven't held their alcohol as well as I have so far (again, probably undergrads).

A good natured after work meal quickly devolves after returning to the office.

Young Empress

The one child policy definitely has it's advantages for young kids here. You do not even have to walk, you get to have your grandparents or your parents cart you around and have people following you carrying your school books and telling you entertaining stories while you cross your legs. Oh to be a young kid again. 

Emphasis on the "mate" in travel mate

I recently came across this posting on Gumtree, the Australian version of Craigslist:

http://melbourne.gumtree.com.au/c-Community-travel-travel-partners-Are-you-still-seeking-for-the-dearest-she-W0QQAdIdZ275929860

And for when they take this posting down, I've put it below. I just want to add that this is a pretty damn good deal, considering how much flights to China cost from here. Plus you get to meet Chinese ladies, which is why anybody goes to China in the fist place. Right?

Are you still seeking for the dearest “she”?

Among the human crowds, are you still seeking for the dearest “she”? In the vast planet, are you attempting to share the joys and sorrows of life with your most intimate lover? As the first professional marriage introduction agency, Asian Western Matchmaker now warmly invites the single gentlemen with Australia citizenship to join our “Ten Days Love Trip to China” which is held twice a year. At the beginning of New Year, we will bring you to travel around two beautiful cities in China, Guangzhou and Shanghai. When you celebrate the New Year in a foreign country, enjoying the exotic customs and conventions, you will be also thrilled by what we have prepared for you, three well-designed wonderful singles parties and the chance to have a romantic dinner with local Chinese single ladies. In addition, you and your new mates will enjoy another seven free days to travel on your own. There is no doubt the “Ten Days Love Trip to China” will impress you most deeply.

Time for activity: 01/01/2012---10/01/2012

For booking: $ 500 deposit

Fees: $1680 (including food and events) Flight tickets and accommodations are excluded.

For details: 9898 1085 or 9803 8988

Email: gong@asianwesternmatchmaker.com

Website: www.asianwesternmatchmaker.com

A post I forgot to make

Another entry in the intentionally ironic or not column: a street sign in Te Anau, New Zealand.

The right way to the dumpsters behind the Chinese restaurant

This street sign points to an alley that runs behind the only Chinese restaurant in town, incidentally where all the Chinese tour groups went to eat.

Nap Time at Work

At work, my colleagues have an amazing ability to sleep at their desk during our lunch hour. I have tried to join them before, but I cannot get the right spot. It may be that they bring pillows, which adds extra support. Anyway, I am jealous of their abilities. 

Forget it. It's New Zealand Town.

There were several times in New Zealand where I felt like I was literally in an episode of "Flight of the Conchords." The first was shortly after arrival, when, after sleeping a few hours in the Christchurch airport I went into town and got on a bus that took me across the south island to Te Anau (tee-AHnoo). Throughout the trip, the bus driver took it upon himself to give us a running commentary on the places we passed, but these places weren't interesting at all. As we were leaving Christchurch: "and this intersection used to be a bit tricky, but Councilman Gary," as if we all knew Gary, "got it turned into a roundabout last year." Or, as we drove through Timaru: "The Timaru candle factory closed down a while back, but primary school students still come through here quite often to see the old works, and learn how candles are made..." And this was not a tour bus, mind you, but New Zealand's equivalent of Greyhound.

The bus driving scene starts at 2:38, but this is all pretty funny

In many ways, New Zealand is the opposite of China. If China at the forefront of what is happening in the world, New Zealand feels like edge of the world. Australians like to think of New Zealand as a backwater, and to a certain extent they're right; I mean, this is a place that didn't get color television until 1973. The local newspapers are all a bit simple, and many places marked on the map are little more than a smattering of houses between the road and the "bush."

New Zealand's chief attraction

But none of that really matters, because New Zealand is the most ridiculously scenic place in the world, and it's all packed into two easily navigable islands. In this sense, it reminded me of a much, much larger version of Taiwan, just more expensive and everybody speaks English. If you like the outdoors, it's like a playground. There are well maintained trails and backcountry huts everywhere. You could, and many people do, spend months rather than the three weeks I spent there. It's all so easy and fun that it lead to pretty much the only problem I had with the place: it's crawling with tourists, and besides the reception at your hostel or the people working the Department of Conservation visitor centers, I actually met very few Kiwis until later in the trip, when I figured out how to get away from the crowds.

Another of New Zealand's damn flightless birds

Part of the problem on this account was that I spent most of my time doing, and getting to and from, three different "Great Walks," which are a set of very well maintained trekking trails. As the premier hiking trails, they get all the tourist traffic, and need to be booked in advance. I did the Kepler, Routeburn and Abel Tasman Tracks, and all were pretty damn amazing.

Atop the Kepler Track

Camping on the Routeburn Track


From my campsite on the Abel Tasman Track

Once you get off these main tracks, however, the trails become a bit rougher, but equally scenic. On one of these trails, I had to wade through a bog then climb a small stream bed straight up the side of a mountain, guided only by little orange arrows nailed to trees. Once I just stopped trying to keep my feet dry, it went fine.

I can see the trail, can you?

On my last day in New Zealand, I took a train down the east coast of the south island, from Picton, where the ferry leaves to the North Island, back to Christchurch. And I finally met all the people who travel around New Zealand without doing any of the hiking, climbing or surfing; in other words, all of the Americans and even more Germans. I guess it would be a pretty nice place to visit like that, but you'd still be missing out. The cities have little to offer compared to the backcountry.

Being happy in New Zealand

HSCCWRT Podcast Episode 3: Goodbye, Cruel World!

Eight months in production and one month in editing, the wait is finally over! We are pleased to bring you the newest episode of the How to Succeed in Communist China podcast!

Wherein: Durrell and Ben hit the Beijing gay nightclub scene; Durrell describes his favorite merkins; we deface the American flag; Ben leaves China; and Durrell gets deported for putting melamine in cheap popsicles. Or does he? Listen to the show to find out!

Episode 3: http://hsccwrt.podbean.com/mf/web/b8tf2e/20110116Episode3Complete.mp3
Podcast feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/podcastHSCCWRT

Beijing Air, Less Filling or Taste Great?

So using data from the US Embassy's twitter feed and this New England Journal of Medicine article on air pollution, which I completely did not understand, I have tried to do an analysis of whether the Beijing air is killing me or is just packed full of flavor. According to the journal article prolonged exposure to air pollution is not good for you and they tried to quantify how much it takes off your life. Like I said, I didn't completely understand the conclusion they made so I am going to complete distort everything they wrote to make my point. So based on this section (which was towards the end of the article so assumed it was something like a conclusion):

"Improvements in life expectancy during the 1980s and 1990s were associated with reductions in fine-particulate pollution across the study areas, even after adjustment for various socioeconomic, demographic, and proxy variables for prevalence of smoking that are associated with health through a range of mechanisms. Indirect calculations point to an approximate loss of 0.7 to 1.6 years of life expectancy that can be attributed to long-term exposure to fine-particulate matter at a concentration of 10 μg per cubic meter, with the use of life tables from the Netherlands and the United States and risk estimates from the prospective cohort studies. In the present analysis, a decrease of 10 μg per cubic meter in the fine-particulate concentration was associated with an estimated increase in life expectancy of approximately 0.61±0.20 year — an estimate that is nearly as large as these indirect estimates."

 

I have decide that one year will be considered a prolonged period of air pollution exposure (you are thinking but where does it say that, nowhere, I decided myself) and I will use the numbers 0.7 and l.6 to average the amount of life that I lose per 10 μg per cubic meter increase of air pollution, and I will use 0.61 to calculate the life I gain by a 10 μg per cubic meter decrease of air pollution. Here is a link to the google document where I did the calculations.

 

After several days of trying to figure out how to gather the data and then put it in a format that I could use in excel, I have concluded, based on the tab named "Daily Avg. Midnight", that I have lost 18.18 hours of life, while living in Beijing from 8/1/2010 to 2/6/2011. I have assumed of course that there is a linear relationship in terms of the amount of life I gain and lose per every cubic meter of air pollution over 10 μg, which is probably not true, but it is also probably close enough (reasoning based on nothing at all). Why did I choose to use the "Daily Avg. Midnight data," one it seemed the easiest to use at the time and two it is the most dramatic, the other tabs don't say I am dying enough, so I don't believe them, and I am pretty sure that all that flavor country in the Beijing air has some harmful effects.

 

I wish I had a longer time series of data, so if you work at the US embassy or know how to extract more data from the twitter feed, please send me the data. I would like to know if I have taken more years off my life than that. I assume probably.

 

On a rosier note I was right about Egypt being censored.

 

 

Title IX

So far our blog has only been from a male perspective. In the past, the sole requirements to post on this blog was that you had to go to Middlebury, speak Chinese, plan to be in China or be in China and be born with an outie instead of an innie (and I am not talking belly buttons). Later with new Clark, we expanded who could post by tossing out the Middlebury and speak Chinese requirements and allowing bloggers to post based on shared blood lines, because having a sibling who went to Middlebury and can speak Chinese is almost the same as having gone and being able to speak Chinese yourself. The second to last requirement has mostly been ignored; however, the last requirement we have held scared (for obvious reasons, such as girls have cooties). But since, I am the last one standing in China, because Golze is off on a walk about with a koala , Clark Classic only blogs from the US, and no one knows what happened to New Clark, I have decided to allow another person blog with us, but only if the two founders of this blog agree and the blog readers agree. So I am going to allow everyone to vote on whether Joy should be allowed to post with us. I know what you are thinking, but wait, she has an innie. I know but title IX says we have to let at least some of the bloggers have innies. So as a result, I leave it to you the readers and the two founders to decided if Joy's perspective is needed.

Censorship in China

I don't know what's going on, but for some reason I am having trouble accessing the NYT website. My access to the website is intermittent. In effort to try the old reach around method, i.e. trying to access the website through a google search, which completely failed, meaning that google just went blank, I tried doing a yahoo search and when I did the yahoo search obviously the NYT website didn't show in the top five web hits (or whatever they are called), it actually didn't show up at all. Instead the top two entries were from the China Daily and the People's Daily bashing the website. I mean, its pretty clear the NYT wants to take down the Chinese regime, thus, it makes sense for China to be hostile against the website, and when I say hostile, I mean speak the absolute truth about the website. I mean if you look at the front page of the NYT website right now (which is why i think the website is having some blockage in China), which is talking about the protest in Egypt, it is pretty clear that the NYT is just using code for China. And when NYT writes Egypt, it really means China, Mubarak means Hu, and Muslims means Hans. Its so obvious. I just hope the NYT comes around and starts reporting on China's greatness so I can have access to the news again; I was hoping to access the NYT website so I could read about Berlusconi and Sarah Palin's new sex tape ( you know real news), but unfortunately, the NYT is actively campaign against China now, so I have to settle for the reliable China Daily.

On another note, yesterday, I saw David Sedaris read some excerpts from his new book and from his Diary and past books. He gave an interesting perspective on Beijing, and that he thought it was full of turds (in that the turd are everywhere), I would explain that more, but I am too lazy. Anyway, watching him made me feel like I was watching a This American Life episode, instead of listening to it on my ipod. It made me want to give to public radio, but then I thought, hey, I can't even download This American Life on itunes anymore, because its blocked (which I am not sure is true, I just know I can't download it for some reason, and when something doesn't work on the internet, I blame it on censorship), so whats the point in giving, screw that. And thinking about watching David Sedaris, made me think, he is probably the exact opposite of Chinese censorship, because he seems not to censor anything he says, which I find highly entertaining. And if I continue on that train of thought, maybe I find China less and less entertaining because everything is censored.