Guangzhou-Chapter Three: The Final Six Months

Everybody's Working For the Weekend...

As you may/may not know, I work in the consular/visa section of the consulate and summers are the craziest times in the consular/visa sections. This is due to Chinese tourists and students who want to come to the U.S. in time for late-summer and fall. This year, Mission China issued a record 1.5 million visas by the end of the federal fiscal year (9/30). Last year, it was (at that time a record) 1 million. Not everyone who interviews gets a visa. With this substantial number, you can imagine how crazy it would get at work on a daily basis. Despite the heat and long lines, we were lucky our applicants were patient. Once Autumn hit, work significantly chilled out. It was still busy, yet manageable.

Matt and I move to Beijing next month. Hence, I am beginning to train people how to do my current job and delegating my duties. Consular/visa work has been fun, but I’m ready for my next new job. More details to come! Matt and I are really excited for Beijing because it seems to be one of the exciting places to be in the world right now (in terms of politics and culture).

The China Life

August 2012: Two typhoons headed our way!

Guangzhou is situated slightly below the Tropic of Cancer and is roughly the same latitude as Havana, Cuba. Hence, half the year, it is hot and humid.  Summers are basically between May and October. And during that season, typhoons come every 4-6 weeks. Typhoons are awesome because they blow away all the pollution and clouds. However, they can be destructive to the land first hit by them. Because Guangzhou is further inland, we never have any problems with typhoons. Autumns are beautiful. Cool breezes create mostly blue skies. With little weather patterns, winters here are cool and pollution since there’s no air/rain to blow/wash it away. There are days where you can hardly see the building in front of you.  The Chinese government or the Chinese don’t believe heating is necessary anywhere south of the Yangtze; hence, it gets cold at home or work. Fortunately, we have space heaters at home. Unfortunately, work has no heaters.

The only eventful thing that happened in the summer was my 30th birthday celebration. We booked a 35-person junk boat in Hong Kong to set sailing through the smaller islands. We swam in the warm waters, ate fresh seafood from a restaurant and drank/danced on the boat. A typhoon had blown through earlier that week, so the skies were magnificent! I hadn’t seen skies that clear in Hong Kong. I felt so blessed for such an incredible day/weekend.

Hong Kong: On boat headed out to swimming location after having seafood on Lamma Island.

Hong Kong: Taking a leap into the sea from the top of our boat.

Mrs. Fields chocolate mooncake. Yum!

This year, we got to experience many Chinese holidays. Earlier this year, we got to celebrate Lunar New Year [Chun Jie 春节], Tomb Sweeping [Qing Ming Jie 清明节] (you visit your ancestral tombs to thank/honor them) and Dragon Boat Festival [Dan Wu Jie 端午节] (people race in Dragon Boats). This half of they year, we experienced Ghost Holiday [Gui Jie 鬼节]. It is said that during this lunar month, the gate between the mortal and ghost worlds opens. Hence, demons and ghosts are free to haunt the mortal world. To prevent from being tormented by them, people leave food and offerings for them. Some people burn paper products (i.e. paper food, paper money, paper iPhones, paper iPads) to appease these spirits.  It was amusing and a little spooky. And then Mid-Autumn Festival [Zhong Qiu Jie 中秋节] arrived. I love this holiday for the mooncakes, food, and lanterns. Because we were on travel during this time of year, we got to see how Mid-Autumn was celebrated in Guangzhou, Macau, Hong Kong and Singapore. This holiday is centered on mooncakes. Generally, each city/region had similar mooncakes (i.e. bean paste, lotus seeds, egg yolks), but each also had their local specialties. Hong Kong sold ice cream mooncakes, Macau sold their Portuguese-influenced mooncakes and Singapore sold decadent-filled mooncakes (i.e. Godiva chocolate, Frangelico, etc).

Guangzhou: On top of the tallest building on a 'decent' day.

In addition to experiencing the 2012 Elections abroad, we got to experience the Chinese leadership transition.  Seeing Obama re-elected, a record number of female senators elected, many firsts in congress (i.e. first Hindu, first queer APA, first openly LGBT in the Senate, first openly bisexual), and three states voting in favor of same-sex marriage was amazing. The previous election was bittersweet for me because Proposition 8 passed (having worked on same-sex marriage for three years). It appears that many Chinese nationals who follow U.S. politics in Southern China favor Obama over Romney. With Romney’s Anti-China sentiment and the Republican Party’s yellow peril rhetoric, I could totally understand why.  The elections made me miss the U.S. and proud of all my friends who sacrificed months of their lives to do great campaign work.

Guangzhou: Pearl River Cruise.

The week after the U.S. elections, China began it’s once-in-a-decade leadership transition. This transition was preceded by a lot of controversy (i.e. Communist party leader’s wife murders an English businessman, upcoming president disappears for three weeks, tensions with Japan over a couple islands in the South China Sea, NY Times expose on current president earning billions during his presidency, China’s economic slowdown). The Chinese prefer easy leadership transitions because it sets the tone for the following leadership. With all these controversies, it’s no surprise why the Chinese are enforcing more control upon its locals. During the couple weeks of transition, our home internet and even VPN has slowed down or was cut off entirely. At work, our internet slowed down significantly. Google completely shut off. Because of the expose on the outgoing China president, the New York Times was also cut off. In Beijing, they cut down on any activity that could lead to the release or gain of any information/intelligence. So, you are not allowed to release pigeons, “To Kill A Mockingbird” play was mysteriously cancelled, and one can’t open the back window in taxis.  I guess this is what happens when you live in an authoritarian government.  I hope the new leadership takes China to the next level and will address many domestic and international issues.

Monthly Hong Kong Visits & The Deserved Long Vacation

Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor.

Since our first visit in March 2012, Matt and I have visited Hong Kong at least once a month. It was essential to visit during the summer months when it's difficult to take any leave. Hong Kong is my favorite international city. Every mall is exquisite, there are countless amazing restaurants, and the people speak English! Also, you could easily leave the city to hike, camp and meditate. Hong Kong is a nice break from Guangzhou, where there are little Western amenities and cultural similarities. Each time we visit, we run errands (i.e. haircut, buy produce, dentist), eat at great Western restaurants, and go out into nature (i.e. junk boat into sea, hike, see Buddhist temples outside the city). Hong Kong is only a 90-minute train ride away from Guangzhou. We’re really sad it’s going to be a 3-hour plane ride away from Beijing. We can’t come every month, but we will definitely come back!

Macau is also a great city to visit. We skipped the casinos, as Matt and I find little interest in gambling. We concentrated on exploring the historic parts. Historic Macau is really charming because the buildings’ designs make you feel you were in Lisbon. Because Macau is so small, the historic part of Macau only takes about two hours to see. You can easily visit Macau from Hong Kong. There’s a ferry that connects the two. I wouldn’t go from Mainland China again because there’s only one border-crossing and that could take hours, unless you have a diplomatic passport. I’d definitely come back to Macau (via Hong Kong).

One of the awesome things about the foreign service is that you get both local and U.S. holidays. Sometimes it works out when a U.S. holiday follows a local holiday (or vice-versa), like this year. This year, we got most of one week off for Mid-Autumn festival and the following Monday off (due to Columbus Day). The Ambassador granted the Friday between off, giving us a 10-day vacation (including weekends). With Matt’s mom, we visited Hong Kong, Singapore and Indonesia. We spent a couple evenings in the Singapore.

Borobudur: The world's largest Buddhist structure.

Indonesia/Bali: Spending a day on a nearly-deserted island sunbathing, eating and snorkeling/scuba diving.

Singapore: Jeannette (Matt's mom) and Matt enjoying Singapore Slings.

Singapore: Atop Marina Bay Sands, enjoying the view in the infinity pool. (Photo courtesy of Matt Paschke)

Bali: We took a cycling tour through the northern Bali.

One of the nights, we spent at the Marina Bay Sands. It’s an amazing hotel where the three towers are connected by a large rooftop infinity pool. The views were amazing. Having a couple friends living there and with so much more to be seen, we are excited to go back.. We visited two Indonesian islands, Java and Bali. We went to Java primarily to visit Borobudur, the world’s largest Buddhist structure. I fell in love with it when I first learned about it during my first year in college. It was as incredible as I imagined it to be. Soon after visiting, our car got hit by another car, throwing our seatbelt-less car into a rice paddy. Had we fallen into something else, we would have surely been hospitalized or died. We were thankful and felt very lucky we only had a couple scratches and small bruises. The next day, we flew to Bali, where we stayed for a few days. We stayed in this beautiful villa with a pool that you could hop into from the master bedroom. While in Bali, we participated in an Eco-cycling tour, saw volcanoes, did some shopping in Ubud and spent a day on a secluded island beach, where we snorkeled and relaxed. Balinese people are incredibly nice and happy people.  I would definitely come back. The only downside is the traffic. It took us 2 hours to travel about 10 miles. Bali certainly needs to add more infrastructure to their city.

Leshan Buddha: Colossally awesome!

Since the last update, we’ve done some domestic China travel, including Yangshuo and Chengdu. Yangshuo is known for its beautiful carts mountains. Like the previous time, we did a Li River cruise, where you can see lusch bamboo forests and carst mountains in the foreground and background.  It was a bit hazier than last time, but it made the mountains look more mysterious. Chengdu is one of the largest cities in China and is known for its spicy food, relaxed culture, and pandas! While in Chengdu, we got to see/hold pandas, eat amazing Sichuanese food, climb one of the holiest Buddhist mountains in China (via bus and cable car), and see a large ancient Buddhist statue the size of a hill. We plan to come back to see other parts of Sichuan. We also plan to see more of northern China once we move to Beijing (i.e. Harbin, Shenyang, Urumqi, Gansu province, Inner-Mongolia, and Hangzhou). We’re happy we have our car to do some road-tripping.

Chengdu: Pandas! It was totally worth the $125 to hold one.

Emeishan: One of the four holy Buddhist mountains in China.

Kaiping: Built by Chinese emigrants who returned to China with money and European architectural influences.

What's Next?
Next week, we head out to New Zealand for a couple weeks. We plan to snorkel, scuba dive, swim with dolphins, experience some Maori culture, see volcanoes, kayak, glacier climb, see penguins, see Hobbiton, and star gaze (at one of the best star night parks in the world). We are super-excited! Then, we move to Beijing. And then come back to the States in time for Christmas. We’re trying to do lots of Southeast Asia travel this year because it will be more difficult to get to this region once we’re in Beijing. Plus, Matt will be on leave restrictions next year because he will be in a strict language school. At least it will give us some time to save more money for travels during the following year. J

All photos taken from my iPhone unless otherwise noted.