A Few Last GOTCHAs

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It has been a tradition with Nonie and I that we do what ever it takes to surprise each other with a party on our significant birthdays. This year Nonie will celebrate a significant birthday but as a gentleman, I would never consider divulging her age. Let's just say that when we return to Canada, she will be eligible for some serious discounts, special menus and dedicated seats on the bus. Chaching!

Well, mission accomplished last night. With the help of Doctor J and Mr. President we got the apartment decked out while branson and Vicky kept Nonie busy at yoga. For my regular readers, you will remember that Chinese birthday cakes are all show and no go, so a fabulous carrot cake was ordered from Hamamma's, thanks to Brian and branson. I cleaned out the campus supermarket of birthday candles and a fire extinguisher.

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Planning for our exit from China this year included an itinerary that would have Nonie wake up on her birthday in a Tibetan monastery at the base of Mount Everest. Sadly, Big Brother has decided to close Tibet for the month of July. No official reason, but this year is the 90th anniversary of the CP and they are concerned of civil unrest so don't want any foreigners witnessing it. Left a big hole in our itinerary but China has no shortage of beautiful places to visit. More on this later.

This will be my last entry from Harbin. The next five days are filled up with lunches and dinners, saying goodbyes and lots of tears. I had planned to write something eloquent about our thoughts and feelings as our time here winds down. But I find myself struggling and its is difficult to find the words to express them. There are too many emotions swirling around to make sense of them now. I think that I will wait till we are back in Penticton and time has dulled and perhaps clarified our feelings.

We leave Harbin next Wednesday for a week in Beijing and area. We need the time to apply for a tourist visa to India. We will leave Beijing for a five day cruise on the Yang Tse. then for the next 10 days we will explore the western parts of China. We will cuddle some pandas, visit way to many monasteries and spend a day or two in Shangri La. Nonie will wake up on her birthday in Kunming, Yunnan, China. Due to the closure of Tibet,we will fly to Kathmandu and spend three days on a trek in the mountains, hopefully getting a view of Mount Everest. A few days to relax in Kathmandu before flying to Delhi and a six day drive by tour of Northern India. We fly into Montreal, meet up with our grandchildren and spend a week in Mount Tremblant. We will be landing back in Penticton on August 25 just in time for Ironman.

Busted and Busted

Irina's birthday celebration didn't go exactly as planned, but what else is new in China? Busted by the campus pigs. Oops, sorry,that was a 70's flashback, the campus security police. It seems that the use of a barbecue on the grounds of HIT is verboten. We played the dumb foreigner card and managed to quickly cook most of the Shashliks before he returned to check on us.

Shashlik is the Russian version of Chuanr (Pronounced chwar not shwar) with some delicious twists. First, the chunks of meat are much bigger and much leaner than Chuanr. (Pronounced chwar not shwar) It is then marinated for 24 hours in a lovely garlicy sauce and eaten hot off the grill. Thanks to Irina, who hosted her own party and spent hours preparing the shashlik and assorted salads.

It didn't go eggactly as planned. There were some eggstenuating circumstances that made it eggstremely difficult to eggsplain but the 1st annual Egg Drop contest went off with a very small group of participants. It is eggspected that someone will hatch another contest next year. The participants were challenged to create an egg transportation device that would survive an eggstreme 5 story relocation leaving the egg available for sunny side up and not scrambled.

Five participants entered the contest, some spending minutes preparing their egg relocation devices. Our own Nonie, spending about 15 minutes in total, creating her eggstravigant egg mover was the only participant who's egg survived the five storey relocation. Sadly, she did not read the fine print on the entry form which prohibits family and employees of the contest organizer from winning the contest.

With the most time put in, almost five hours to create and 1 second to relocate, the Eggscaliber while clearly the most intricate of the transportation pods was unable to safely transport it's egg. Three crush zones, handmade confetti and an egg cushion module failed to protect the egg when the pod landed on it's side and not on the end as planned. The yolk was on me.

Our overall winner was Doctor J thanks to her simple yet eqqsquisite design of plastic bags which she used to gently float her egg to the ground. Only a slight yaw at the end saw her egg break. The egg stuffed inside a roll of toiletpaper with wings took Irina to the best design prize with her egg breaking when it squirted out of it protective cocoon on landing. Even the Chairman was happy with the results. A lunch of various egg dishes saw us close out this year's competition. Congratulations to all the participants.

The Art of Chuanr

What if I said to you, "Hey, lets go out for a feed of spicy, barbecued, fatty, meaty bits, shoved on a stick?" I suspect that you would be searching quickly for any excuse why you couldn't join us. But if I said "Hey, lets go out for some barbecued Chuanr" (pronounced shwar), I am sure you would jump at the chance to sample an exotic and mysterious Asian dish. Chuanr (pronounced shwar) is one of those dishes that you don't really want to know what it is, just know that it is very tasty.

Chuanr can be cooked anywhere, which is why you can find Chuanr (pronounced shwar) restaurants on any street. A Chinese barbecue is typically a long metal trough that is filled with the dirtiest charcoal you can buy. If you are at all concerned by the cancer causing issues around barbecuing food, then Chuanr is not for you. The smoke that pours from these barbecues is a major source of summer pollution. It is the epitome of the term "street food"

A typical Chaunr (pronounced shwar) restaurant consists of a sidewalk, a barbecue, small tables, stools and access to beer which makes a Chuanr (pronounced shwar) restaurant with access to a bathroom a definite plus especially for those of us in our senior years. Eating Chuanr (pronounced shwar) is a leisurely process with lots of time to socialize, drink beer and watch the world go by or in some cases, through the restaurant.

Is Chuanr (pronounced shwar) popular? Well, if I could corner the sharp, pointy stick market in China, I could fund a small country. Chuanr (pronounced shwar) is Chinese Islamic cuisine introduced by the Uyghur people. If you think about it, just about every culture has some kind of pointy stick with meat shoved on it in their culinary repertoire. Shashlik, kabab, souvlaki, shiskabab and kebabi to name just a few.

Some of our fondest memories that we will take away from China will be the warm summer nights sitting around the Chuanr (pronounced shwar) table with greasy fingers and good friends. You know who you are. We are now just over two weeks away from leaving Harbin for new adventures. Stay tuned.

A Feast of Festivals and Ping Pong Too

Seems like a bit of a cliche to travel almost five thousand miles to China just to play ping pong. But ping pong diplomacy was once again the order of the day. No Richard Nixon this time but Brian, our own Mr. President stood in for him as well as capturing the C event. No diplomatic incidents and the third almost annual HIT ping pong tournament went off without a hitch. Once again we were a multi-national group with the Russians and Iranians dominating both in numbers as well as placing first and second in the A event.

As proud Canadians, it was our pleasure to host a Victoria Day bash for all our foreign friends. All came with most not caring what the reason was, they just came for Nonie's baked goods. Games of Pin the Crown on the Monarch and That's Definitely Not Cricket kept the gala from going gaga or perhaps it was the Chinese Stout I managed to find in the grocery store.

Next up in the festival lineup was Dragon Boat Festival. All Chinese Festivals have a back story and the Dragon Boat Festival has the best one I think. As the story goes, the festival commemorates the life of Qu Yuan who was a wise and erudite (Their words not mine) official in the court of Emperor Huai. His stand against corruption and bureaucracy angered others in the court. They poisoned the Emperor against him and he was eventually exiled. He witnessed the failing of his country and when he heard that it had been conquered by another warring state he become so despaired (Their word not mine) that he threw himself into the river Miluo and drowned. Fishermen rushed to the scene but were unable to find the body. To prevent the fish from eating his body the fishermen threw zongzi, eggs and other food into river. Zongzi is made with glutinous rice and wrapped in a banana leaf. It can also include meat, dates, eggs and other fillings. It is given as gifts to friends, family and colleagues much like moon cakes.

Celebrating Dragon Festival involves staying up all night and then watching the races that start at 5:00 am, or so we were led to believe. Lined up on the rail ready to go at 5:00 we discovered that the races would start at 7:00 and precisely at 7:30 the first boat arrived then over the next 30 minutes saw another handful of boats arrive. Nonie provided an ongoing commentary as she had raced dragon boats for three years. And that was that. Thankfully Nonie and I found a hotel down by the Songhua and managed to fit in a few hours of sleep between the pre-race dinner and the race itself.

It has been our goal to introduce "Brunch" to as many Asian and Middle Eastern cultures as possible because as a meal, it does not exist in their cultures. . We manage to fit in a brunch introduction with our Iraqi neighbours in May. They enjoyed pancakes with maple syrup along with a batch of Nonie's Wife Saver an egg and bread dish covered in corn flakes. Tastes better than it sounds. What we have discovered in these attempts is that every culture has a pancake like food that sounds like it could be covered in maple syrup. Maple syrup, don't leave home without.

Hard Seats, Softs Seats, Too Many Choices

Traveling by train in China is all about choices. Slow trains, high speed trains, express trains and milk runs. Once you have waded through the myriad of speed options then you must decide on what kind of seat you want. There are five options. From the highest to lowest they include, soft berth, hard berth, soft seat, hard seat and the dreaded standing option. Don't be fooled by the term soft. There is nothing soft in China. The Chinese believe that sitting or laying on something soft is not good for your health. Mattress comfort ratings come in plywood, particle board and the extra plush ironing board. But I digress, the term soft referred to in train travel is not about padding but about how many people they can stuff into a train car. New contest! What class of travel are Nonie and I enjoying in the above picture. Send your guesses to our e-mail address as access to the blog continues to be a fight.


If Doctor J decides to give up her PHD, she can easily make a good living as a tour director. Using her highly honed doctoral skills she organized a wonderful trip to Shenyang for Nonie and I. Shenyang is located in the Liaoning Province and is the administrative hub for North East China. The area has been inhabited for over 7,200 years. It was also the birth place and for a while the capital of the Qing dynasty. There is a well maintained tomb site as well as a beautiful palace second only to the Forbidden Palace in Beijing.


We took the overnight train from Harbin arriving in Shenyang at just past 5:00 am. An all night MacDonald's serving piping hot coffee was our home for the next hour or so while we woke up and allowed the caffeine to do its work. Dropping our bags off at the hotel, the plan was to spend the morning at the Qing Tombs and the afternoon at the Palace. The tombs were magnificent and the Palace was meticulously well maintained. It was a long day capped off by a feast of chuar at a little street side restaurant. Back to the hotel and in bed by 9:00

We awoke to another beautiful day. Our plans today was to visit to the site of the 2006 World Horticultural Exhibition now known as the Shenyang Botanical Gardens, located about an hour out of the city. The site was huge and contained large planted areas containing plants and trees from all over world as well as from different areas around China. The Canadian zone, was of course well endowed with maple trees and dandelions. There was much to see and we were on the move for over 5 hours. Very enjoyable day.

Back to Shenyang in the late afternoon. Time for a quick dinner at the train station before we boarded our high speed train for the four hour return trip to Harbin. Thanks Doctor J.

Tea Pot and Hot Pot

There is a perception that tea is the most popular drink in China. Nothing could be further from the truth. China is famous for tea but as a daily drink, not so much. In fact while you can buy 100's of different bottled tea drinks, you cannot get a pot of hot tea in most restaurants. Mai you! (Chinese for "Don't have!") Drinking tea in China requires more than just a cup and a kettle, it is a ritual to be followed religiously. One wrong move and you have ruined the tea. To purchase tea you must find a tea market. The markets we have visited are quite large but most shopping malls will have one or two chain tea stores located on the premises. The markets can be two or three story buildings filled with dozens of small little tea shops. Each shop selling tea from a different areas of China, Taiwan and other tea growing countries. Buying tea is a lot buying wine. You spend a lot of time sampling the various teas, lots of sipping but no spitting. Some teas are made with boiling water while other teas require water heated to just below the boiling point. The contact time is very important. Water left to long in the tea leaves, blasphemy, to short and you miss the subtle flavours and bouquet of the tea. Tea can be carefully aged like wine. Finally, tea is not cheap. I have seen costs running to $250 CAD for a kilogram of tea grown at the top of mountains in Taiwan. So if you like your tea and are planning to visit China, pack some Red Rose.

Hotpot! A distinctly Chinese cuisine. The basic premise of hot pot is much like fondue. Replace the oil or cheese with boiling hot plain or spiced water. Then boil what ever you want to eat. As the story goes in China, hot point was invented by a famous general. Prior to a big battle, the general had to move his men a long distance to reach the battle field. There was no time time cook a proper meal for his men before the battle so he ordered his cooks to heat huge pots of water, cut the meat up into thin slices, boil and serve. A quick and hearty meal for his men who went on to defeat the other army. As we all know, an army travels on it's stomach. Without hard facts, I believe I can safely say there are more hotpot restaurants then their are MacDonalds in China. The beauty of hotpot is you can do it anywhere anytime. All you need is a pot, hotplate and chopsticks. Doctor J hosted us in her dorm room. We ate on the bed. Eating hotpot is not a quick meal, like fondue is can last for hours. So if you have a few hours, I recommend you give it a try. Don't burn your lips like I did.

Saving Face in Daching-

Daching a smallish provincial city just North of Harbin with a population of just over a 1,000,000 did not exist 60 years ago. It was only due to the discovery of oil in the early 5o's did it come into being. I image this is what Fort MacMurray will look like in 60 years. It is a typical Chinese city with no rhyme or reason to how the streets are laid out. The streets just sort of wander around looking for a place to come to an end. One distinctive architectural touch is the donkeys that you see in all parts of the city pumping oil into a huge gathering system. Nonie and I actually considered Daching as an option for or first year teaching in China.

Arriving at the train station were met by family of the boss of one our our newest younguns, Viki. Viki and her boss had arranged the entire trip. Two cars were provided for our use (Mercedes and an Audi) and after a quick lunch we hit the road for a visit to the largest wet lands in China which are located a few hours out of Daching near the small city of Quiquihar. Along the way we passed through several picturesque villages. It was not uncommon to see mud walled houses with thatched roofs and a shiny new car parked out front, the modern China. The wetlands are a temporary home for the famous Chinese cranes. Sadly, we were about two weeks late with most of the cranes having moved on and only a few domesticated cranes left for us to see. Back in the cars and off to a local hot springs for some relaxing spa time. The hot springs were interesting and sadly not very hot. Tepid springs might be more descriptive. Although one pool was maintained at a hot spring like temperature. Excited by our find of a hot pool, I dipped my feet in to immediately receive first degree burns to the souls of my feet. There was probably a warning sign but not in English. With our spa time over, it was a quick ride back to Daching for a late dinner and into our hotel.
A late start the next day. Nonie, Viki, branson and I wandered around in search of a coffee. Thanks to branson's good eyes we discovered a coffee/ice cream place with an open door. They were closed but some fast talking by branson how his old father was is in desperate need of a coffee fix, they relented and boiled up a cup of instant for me. Armed with some caffeine we enjoyed a breakfast of fried dumplings then headed to the local petroleum museum. A stunning building about the size of the SOEC, only more ornate and dedicated to the men and women who came in the fifties drilled for oil. Specifically one man called the "Iron Man", who it seems single handedly was responsible for sinking the fastest wells of all the drilling groups. It appeared that a photographer and camera man seem to follow him around where ever he went because they had thousands of photographs and quite a bit of film of his exploits and heroic acts. Lunch was the most interesting of places. Called the Little Piggy, it was dedicated to the glorification of pork. No part of the pork was left uneaten. We sampled tail and face. Numnum. I walked by the show case to see heart, liver, and and especially tasty looking brain on display.

A bit of time to explore Daching before it was time to head back to the train station, a quick shoe shine and on to Harbin on an even more crowded train then our previous one.