Advertisement
Published: April 16th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Catching up...
...brunch at the Westin it wasn't. But Hugh, Mark and Harper (left to right) and myself, didn't mind...
(I think :-) Hey all,
Yes, it's true. We’re really not in China, anymore. To explain, well, let's just say we had a crazy weekend recently…only that means a normal one, actually. Normal for over here, that is...
It all started with happy news from an old friend, and actually my boss’ boss’...(boss? exactly how many echelons up, I’m not actually sure:-) namely Hugh Mckeown, the Executive Director of Learning Connections at York Region, and the man responsible for the beginnings of our China adventure back in 2002. Hugh was the director of Huamei-Bond College (our previous school) and was the person responsible for sending out an ad for teachers, which Roel told me to apply for, and because Carly and Craig were over there, with Chris too, well, I applied and got the job, and then we met Hugh and his wife, Judy, who made us so many unbelieveable dinners and offered up her wonderful hospitality at their fantastically cute house in Sai Kung, just north of Hong Kong, and had us for Christmas dinner along with Carly and Craig, just married in Taipei, and now Hugh and Judy are back in Keswick, and we're over here! We got to visit
On the tour
Mark Butcher shows us around Shenta. Just outside of Shanghai, it's not even on the map. with Hugh and Judy last summer, and gleaned much of their wisdom of living in Hong Kong for eight years, and we're looking forward to seeing them again this summer. Anyways, to make a long story short...
Through an email we learned that Hugh would be passing through Shanghai on a whirlwind tour, so we invited him to the Westin Hotel’s Brunch and extravangza of a buffet/floor show (see my previous blog about Carrie’s visit). Only just before he arrived from Hong Kong we were disappointed to discover that the brunch was entirely sold out! Now, this is not a cheap eats kind of place, so obviously people in Shanghai are doing very well. Something we know, but even after all these months still hits us...like salted pears and catsup on salad...as a bit of a shock. After all, one reasons, this isn’t North America, Europe of the UK…it’s only CHINA, right!?
In any case, plan B was to meet Hugh at his hotel on Sunday morning, so we found our way to the Okira Garden Hotel, and discovered that he was accompanied by a couple of other familiar faces from our past…China past that is: Harper Harrison,
It's definitely not Shanghai
...or even Kansas. But it's still the face of China. Bustling and on the move. the principal who actually hired us for our first posting in Guangzhou, now a Director with York Region, and Mark Butcher, a principal who was also in China that year of SARS (2002/2003), and we'd met previously through Hugh. Well, it turned out that Mark is now the principal of the Sino-Canadian International School in Shenta, a “small” water town just outside of Shanghai. (And something we have adjusted to is that 'little', when it comes to China, means that the place probably has a population the size of Toronto’s….but that's really anyone’s guess since it seems there's no official census figures over here.) In any case, we've since met with Mark and have found out that he's an old hand at China, having been raised here -- even living in house arrest during the Communist takeover. His parents were missionaries who had survived a Japanese Internment Camp in China during World War II, returning to Canada where he was born. They came back to China only to be put under house arrest by the communists and then later escaped to India. It's all so intriquing that a movie is going to be made about him, and we'll definitely want
Don't try this at home...
....because it takes an expert.... to see that!
But what was really unusual was that Mark offered to drive us to see his school in a CAR. And not only that, but a BUICK!! So we got to experience a first…not only meeting our first Caucasian driver, but getting to be his passengers on our first ever car trip on the open road in China. (And trust us, five Caucasians driving around in China got more than a few stares!) So we hit the road, and it felt positively freeing until Mark informed us that the “privilege” of car ownership came with a chip in his licence plate that allowed a myriad of cameras along the highway to record our entire route. You never know what five crazy Canadians on the loose can get up to, I suppose...
But, big brother watching or no, we got to see another side of China that we had forgotten about…and that is the one of Guangzhou, (another of China’s “big” cities) and its outlying towns like Longdong, and of all the water towns, like Shenta and it’s more popular cousins, Suzhou, Hangzhou, etc.....that all exist outside of Shanghai. And it slowly dawned on us that we
do indeed live in a bubble, filled with Starbucks, Paul, Xin Tian De, the Ruijin and the Portman Hotels, the Westin brunches, etc., etc…
So we learned that Shanghai is definitely not China, and for our second year here we have the option of exploring and reacquainting ourselves once again with the other, real side of China. (Whatever that is, these days…:-)
And for our next opportunity, we did exactly that…and visited Nanjing. Look to the next blog for more details.
But to finish up this one, let's just say that another fascinating day in China ended with some amazing sights on the road...like acres of beautiful mansions, eerily empty, their owners waiting to flip them for profits (and they are already listed in the range of millions of US Dollars) vs. cooks making their own noodles in the local restaurant where we finally had lunch. And we got to catch up, and we all agreed that none of us really know what China is all about these days...even while we're witnessing all these incredible contrasts and changes...
...and Roel and I picked up the tab for lunch. After all, 25 RMB (about $3) is definitely
"Brothers 2"?
One of the best restaurants in the world. Sadly gone, apparently, now from the Guangzhou scene...'til we meet again, guys! more in our price range. And it may not have exactly been the Westin, but we all enjoyed incredible homemade noodles, and were all reminded of a local restaurant back in Guangzhou that had the best food, hands down, of any place on the planet -- "Brothers" restaurant. Thanks to Hugh, Harper and Mark we got to revisit that side of China...so here's to meeting old friends...and relearning a lesson about China, and its many contrasts.
To sum it up, in words from Harper he gave us before we arrived back in 2002: it's frustrating, challenging, exasperating...but never boring!
For now,
Zai Jian!
Amy and Roel
Advertisement
Tot: 0.077s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 5; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0436s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Carly
non-member comment
Mr. G-Q
I love Dad's pose in the last photo... Maybe Dad should model in China? Love you guys, Car