Artist

Louis continues to delight in drawing, and churns out two or three nearly every evening. I continue to delight in watching him. Only Ali suffers a bit, Louis is ‘gooder’ than me. I took some photos of pictures which were just lying about. I think maybe he is ‘gooder’ than lots of 4 year olds, but seeing how much he enjoys himself, the comparisons just do not matter.

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Coffee…

Coffee … its a few years since I stopped drinking coffee after about 3/4pm on the grounds [haha] that it kept me awake, and I can’t do decaff – after all if I am going to drink it, I might as well get the caffeine too. But I just did not make the connection with coffee addiction, after all, its only coffee and of course I could do without it completely if I had to. Then I began visiting China where as everyone knows, they drink tea.
That first visit was 2004 and I thought I would just do without as coffee was not then easy to get, and so I discovered my ‘need’ for the stuff. Last week sitting in a Costa in Xintiandi, Shanghai, and a bit aware that I haven’t been writing any decent poetry lately, I passed the time with a trip down memory lane. Still not writing decent poetry!

Coffee in China
Now a blend
from all the world
translated according to local taste.

Way west in Guizhou
unobtainable
unless one counts
the supermarket offering instant

Expensive Nescafe
Individually
pre-packetted, ready,
already with unwanted sugar

Nescafe taste
revived memories
long-ago Belfast bedsits
first real coffee in the Wimpybar

Lonely in Guangzhou
bustling modern
shops and concrete
Wonderful saviour Mopark Starbucks

Guangzhou also
has a coffee house
customers falling over
sofas low in a dark reek of smoke

I found it near
Lotus at Chebei
Dark Italian in a tiny cup
Imagined Berlusconi transactions behind me

Twenty Eleven
Guangzhou, Shanghai
Starbucks, MacCafe,
local Coffee 80 and cool quiet UBC

And Costa
“Italian style
full of flavour and aroma
now highly acclaimed worldwide”

Quite so.
Advertised promise
kept everywhere.
I miss my coffee finding adventures.

and I am still addicted but do enjoy the wandering about ending up somewhere with good coffee and now, often, wifi. I feel like an authority on Edinburgh, Belfast, Palmerston North NZ and New York, Rhode Island, Boston in USA. The winner has to be New Zealand where a really good tasting mug is standard fare, with USA a long way second. And the reason I like Starbucks is that at least I know what I am going to get, but I have just switched that allegiance to Costa.

To WordPress, re blocked sites and VPN etc.

This is for WordPress whose helpguys have been very good with email responses every time there has been blocking from the great firewall in China. I suppose they can’t recommend purchased VPN sites, and the suggestions offered were
http://www.randomwire.com/how-to-bypass-the-great-firewall-of-china
and
https://www.torproject.org/

Both turned out to be blocked also, as were nearly all the free vpn’s found online. I tried Torproject – a complete mess as the site is not blocked, the download installs and then access turns out to be blocked – not really their fault but very time-consuming and I still can’t get the torbutton off my toolbar.

So, I eventually went for a purchased VPN (from strongvpn mainly because they had a 3 month package which fits the length of my chinese stay) – some of their sites, the dotcom ones, are blocked too, but I had first found the purchase site and the info was clear. Later, when setting up, they were indeed very helpful and directed me to mirror sites (dotorg and more) which enabled the setup and are useful information.

Other purchase VPN sites seemed OK too:  OPEN – PPTP-L2TP-SSTP explained well etc, but I have not tried them out.

I also thought of buying a personal URL from wordpress, and bypassing the name wordpress, but then I would not be able to get all my friends blogs even if I could write mine for them.

And, I LIKE being a WordPress blogger. So I went with the VPN even though it costs a little more.

So far, so good, I am happily back with WordPress!

Frustrated in China, VPN rescue time

I expect you have heard of the Great Chinese Firewall – which is the general blocking of various websites here. I knew about Facebook and Twitter before coming and did not feel particularly deprived. After starting this blog with wonderful WordPress, I discovered blogging in general was intermittently blocked eg I could never read anything from ‘blogspot’ sites, but managed to get over that too.

Then, last weekend, they blocked WordPress, blocked me, can’t write can’t read, and,

I can’t put up with that!!!

So I have had two days ‘research’ i.e. hunched over computer trying to find out what VPN means, what free
VPN means and why would anyone pay if free, and find of course that most VPN sites especially free ones are also blocked, so finally I have bought something called strongvpn (which had a three month rate) and lots of using skype for help, so THE BLOG IS BACK ONLINE and I have Facebook and blogspot and all as well if I want. At least so far so good.

But, after the research period, I need to get a life outside so goodbye for now. Here are some pictures of ‘statues’ real and imaginary in the Shanghai Botanical Gardens, and also one of YeYe and NaiNai.

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Noodles and Hotpot

The Chinese National holiday week, which commemorates the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, started last Saturday. Cindy’s parents had arrived so we celebrated with friends by going out to a hotpot meal. Now, I have had many many hotpots with the Xin family. Spicy hotpot is their favorite food and in their own home in the west, Huaxi, in the Guangzhou family home, even in New Zealand, they have their own table hotpot pot. Out of consideration for the children of the family and folk like me, they always use the double hotpot where one half is spicy soup, and the other is not.
Saturday’s meal was the nicest best most relaxed ever. We had a wonderful evening from stepping out of the taxi in mild drizzle and being greeted by fuyuyuan with umbrellas to escort us to our pre-booked place, till finally arriving home sated, with happy delightful boys, and all straight to bed. The table arrangement was perfect for the combination of children, inept grandmother and boiling hot soup – unlike nightmare meals I remember in other places where boiling soup and small boys were far too close together for me to bear. Here we were given hot cloths for hands, I and others with glasses were given glasses cloths to wipe off the steam, there was a choice buffet style ‘make your own dipping sauce’ and the boys got cushions to adjust their chairs to just right size. I created a concoction of sesame, vinegar, garlic and herbs and was able to avoid the peanut and hot chilli usually in such sauces which means I do without or need gallons of water.
If you know hotpot eating, you will know the ingredients go in raw in a very particular order for proper cooking/safe eating. The waiters were attentive and perfect. Then, the final ingredient, the noodles!! And, here, the noodle maker. Ihave seen noodles made fresh from scratch butnever ever have I seen a noodle maker do a ribbon dance around a table, shooting lengths of dough to within a few inches of giggling boy noses, looping around heads, wriggling waves never touching a thing even though one was certain that disgusting disaster was about to strike. After about five whole minutes, just as I thought Ali would die of laughing and Louis fall off his seat trying to follow the strands, this magician did a quick catch, a finger flick to break his rope into multiple strands and the noodles were in the soup without a splash, and soon out again – utterly delicious eating.
By some idiotic association I kept thinking of Bruce Forsyth and the generation game long ago – a kind of contrast to this whole experience which was so ephemeral and nonsensical and wonderful. I do not even know the name of the restaurant let alone the magic young man with the skill you could see he enjoyed too.
Long live all the people who do daft and lovely things.

Top story?

The BBC has one of today’s top stories: Palin NOT running for president
Well thank someone for that but shouldn’t it be NON story? Why ever is she in the ‘story’ in the first place? Money and media and moron – in no particular order – seem to make this sort of nightmare non- news possible.

Finance Masterpieces

This was such a delight – even better because I was tired and it was unexpected. I suppose I had not really thought about what I would expect from a title like ICBC Finance Masterpieces. Although tired, I thought I should also look at what was on the third floor. I am so glad I went! I never understand how it is that some event just catches some part of me and brings huge enjoyment. This exhibition from ICBC, one of the big banks, and called Finance Masterpieces – which was the only bit of English available – of course very nearly put me off, rather than on.

There were numerous small rooms with traditional chinese hangings, all very beautiful, but the star pieces were a series of huge wall paintings of ICBC bank branches at different periods of chinese history. I have no idea if they were painted at the different times, or commissioned from photos, or something else, and took iphone photos of the information placques in hopes that I might get around to translating them sometime, which of course has not yet happened. I did ask about English information and got mei you mei you 没有没有and the usual smiles. I actually sometimes think “meiyou” means can’t be bothered instead of don’t have, but this time it would seem that they really did not have any English translation. There was a wonderful gallery photograph book of the exhibition, but it was both large and expensive as well as solely chinese, so I regretfully decided not to buy it. Here are some of the photos, just to remind me of what I enjoyed last Wednesday.

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Shanghai Art Museum

Shanghai Art Museum – one of my favourite places, not just because it is near Starbucks. (There is also a McCafe and a Costa over the road).

This place 上海美术馆 is wrongly named as far as english speakers are concerned because it is a venue with three floors and the exhibition on each floor changes regularly, more ‘galleries’ than ‘museum’. This time the first floor (ground floor to British folk) was being changed, so I went up to second and found the last day of the exhibition of Li Chevalier, a chinese parisian artist. The photos I took do not do justice, nor do any of the sites found on google, but for what they are worth:

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I am not sure if I liked everything, but you can see the sense of light and space. One room had a floor covered with lighted tablets, each with different inscriptions. Again, my capacity to understand chinese was not good enough and there was no pin yin let alone English (or French) translation. Very frustrating!

Next post, next floor, only because I can’t work out how to get two different slideshows on to this blog – the last picture above is meant to be the first of the next show. It turned out to be a great day!

Being a culture tourist

Inspired by approaching visit of Cindy’s parents and, in a couple of weeks time, Grandpa George, who has never been in China before, I went online to find out what is happening in Shanghai. Ooh next week is the Tennis Masters, and Andy Murray and all the others will be around somewhere. I am betting not here in Pubei Lu but in some 4/5 star hotel – our nearest non-residential place is a motel168 about 15 minutes walk away. Should I be going to report back to the family tennis star who has kindly read some of my posts? She knows who she is and will probably see more of it than I do on the TV if she is not off playing tennis in Turkey again. I have trouble finding the right channel on chinese TV and now Xin Xiu Wen (Cindy’s dad/boys’ other YeYe) is here, it is usually tuned in to china news or china opera singing. The first I can’t follow, the second leaves little choice except follow as it is hard to tune out.

And, even more ooh, I discover that the Shanghai International Arts Festival is on right now and all through October. It does not seem to be happening in Pubei Lu either. Now I am accustomed to the Edinburgh International Arts Festival and know the necessary ways to stay sane and still see/hear/talk about interesting events. First, find the venue map, locate way to go to clump of venues, then stick pins in or other random selection method, except remember to look at free and not too expensive, otherwise saving on shoes is offset. Ha Ha I have only now realised that when in Edinburgh I speak English and read English and all those international guests must have a different way of finding shows to go to. If you do not speak the language you cannot even find a venue map, let alone read the name of the venue, and the name of the required street, which I am quite sure is NOT Pubei Lu. Pubei Lu is a mile long, and full of interest, but not arts interest, more what is that man doing with that mending bicycle/cooking fire/sorting-trash? sort of interest. So, it took a whole morning and incipient backache because I forgot to change my computer and google map reading position often enough and eventually I found out that quite a lot happens around People’s Square, another series of lots happens in Pudong which is 2 hours away, and some more activity seems to be near the old French Concession district. I know the way to both French Concession and to People’s Square. Hurray, art and culture here I come.

I decided to try Art first because the music culture featured Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic etc – it is obviously a stunning international festival – and I felt if I did that (yes I know I would enjoy) I would think I might as well have stayed in Edinburgh or visited New York again or something. Also, as everywhere, I am trying to find morning activities, as if I go to concerts in the evening I just fall asleep, and am not available for baby-sitting while Cindy and her parents have time together. Also, the art will still be there when George comes and I can go look at it again.

People’s Square

there may be a ‘square’ somewhere, but to me this is the name of a metro station with at least 18 exits, and I already know exit 11 goes to the Art Museum, that there are several exits on a long avenue called People’s avenue, and other around a big park bordered/traversed by different streets. the internet has informed me that there is a People Theatre of Art on JiuJiang Lu near GuangxiBei Lu, so I was happy to discover JiuJiang Lu at Exit 6. And, on exiting, expecting to look for a building, a coloured horse alerted me to just look around. I found myself in the middle of an outdoor exhibition, only a bit on the photos below. I hunted and hunted for an information site, even in chinese, but could not find one, and having been asked for the umpteenth time if I would like “shopping” I was very rude and walked off down JiuJiang Lu to see what else I could find from my list.

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Wrong decision, as I discovered an hour later when I found myself a few yards from where I had started, outside the Shanghai Grand Theatre. Also there was the Berlin Philharmonic van and lots of TV people, though no music at lunch-time. And, surprise surprise, I recognised the building behind it, which is the Art Mueum I have been to before. So I went there again. I enjoyed that very much and it deserves a post to itself.

Thankyou friends and family

It seems like there was too little to write about and now there is too much. I intend to try to post more but want to make some acknowledgements today.

I have been getting sidetracked to great postings by speccy on memineandotherbits which says lots about all sorts of things and also has lots of links to more other things. My thoughts about posting – before I started – were that it would stop all the emailing which seemed to turn into me me me and how great my grandsons are – and then when I was with the other family other side of the world that 12 hour time difference is a killer – it would be about the granddaughters and how great they are – you know the feeling as if there was going to be one of those Christmas letters sent every day. So I would get more interesting stuff, and become more interesting and interested. Well I am – but like I say there is some great blogging to read – try speccy’s blogging in style for a similar but different kind of feeling and she led me to totsymae and blackwatertown and many others.

Then I started getting some comments, and some friends have signed up for emails to follow what I am writing. You know who you are, but you may not know how much it has made me feel connected. Thanks, thanks. I am missing Edinburgh and all it means re places and people. Neill has sent me a terrific poem inspired by the Paolozzi Vulcan – and says I can post it so you can see it along with my own efforts in Poetry of Moods and Moments.

The reason for too much is partly that it is Chinese National Holiday week. There is a great account of that and its history on Chinese Pod (a language learning site). For our family, it means that the boys are off school and that Cindy’s parents are staying here and I am sleeping on the mattress in the living room, etc etc …

Boys want the computer … more blogging late tonight maybe…