As in everywhere else in Asia, you are expected to bargain for items, something I’m not adept at and don’t really like. Guess I’m typically American in that fashion–just tell me what you want for it and I’ll decide if it’s worth my while. I went to the Pearl Market (Hong Qiao) which had lots of stuff, most of it the ticky tacky variety. Got a few things, which I likely paid too much for. In contrast though, I found this low key market in an old temple that is primarily patronized by the locals–some fakes, but basically a smaller version of Panjiayuan (antiques and curios–way overpriced). No one hassled me and I was free to browse–my kind of place.
Of course, Mao items galore are found at these places, as he’s very popular with Chinese and foreign tourists alike. I’m conflicted about this–on one hand, this guy was responsible for millions of deaths and lives otherwise shattered during his Great Flop Backward and the Cultural Revolution (see what happens when teenagers run loose). Hardly things to celebrate. On the other hand, given his abhorrence of capitalism, perhaps it’s fitting that his Cult of Personality is reduced to having his mug plastered on cheap T-shirts, pins, plates, etc.
I’ve had the chance to wander through a few hutong, too (Chinese neighborhoods, a maze of alleyways, etc). As mentioned in my last post, many are being systematically destroyed for beautification–and for the fact that the land is valuable. Since municipal governments are short of funds, they get funds when the land is sold to developers. Now, homes in hutongs don’t typically have plumbing or heating/A/C, and many are dilapidated. But many residents have lived there for decades, and even generations. The NYT printed an article about this two days ago–highly recommended.
A few oddities I’ve noticed or learned of: Beijingers have to pay $800 a year for a dog license. And yet car licenses top out at 120 yuan (about $14) a year. Banks have been liberal with loans, which has also contributed to the ocean of cars on the road.
Many shops have bilingual signs and even sections, such as a bookstore I wandered into. And yet, none of the books were in English or with both languages.
Just as many Westerners mangle Putonghua, Mandarin speakers also mangle the English language in amusing ways. Some signs I saw during my stay here include Beijing Stomatotology (no mispelling), Cloake Shoes, and an add for a cellphone that reads, “I chocolate you”.
Tonight Kelly and I will join a few of the Microsoft employees for dinner on Houhai Lake, which should be fun. Kelly’s meetings have been “very productive” in his words, and this has been a successful week. A lot of accessibility testing is being done here–while he is very interested in this, he’s not interested in moving to China at this point.
All for now and take care–Aimee & Kelly
The Idea Place Posts
Aimee tends to send out e-mail on our trips. Here’s her first update.
It’s true about what you hear regarding Beijing’s rapid changes. Traffic is unbelievable, cranes are everywhere, tearing down a lot of old buildings. Lots of bilingual signs, which is good since I don’t read characters (those kind, anyway). Sort of like someone who gets the face lift, boob job, nose job, lipo, etc in anticipation for a class reunion. The 2008 Olympics is on a lot of Beijinger’s minds, and the Chinese govt wants to put it’s best face forward (understandable).
My Putonghua sucks–part of this is my fault for not studying enough, some of this is that unique way of speaking Mandarin that Beijingren are known to do. If you know a couple words, you will be complemented on how well you speak. Just test that theory by saying something else and watch for the puzzled expression. The Chinese are too polite generally to say anything. And yet, I know enough that I’m “making my needs known”, and I’m reminded that the basics for communication require a smile, a sense of humor, & sign language. Knowing a few phrases and numbers help, though, since many do not speak English. And yet Beijing does not feel as foreign as Delhi to me.
Weather is hot and very humid. It’s rained here in the morning a few days–very considerate of Mother Nature to wash the air out, and the asthma has been doing well.
Kelly has, in his usual fashion, been working hard, and I can tell a lot of his colleagues in China are impressed with his knowledge and abilities. He gave a talk yesterday on Diversity that went well.
Sight-wise, the Forbidden City is 20 min away on foot from our hotel. Some of it is under construction/repair, which is likely necessary. It was crowded with Chinese on holiday and of course a few westerners. Tiananmen Square is huge–about the size of 90 football fields. There a mausoleum (mao-soleum?) that has the body–or waxen likeness–of Mao himself. Beijing has some beautiful temples and parks, hope to see a couple more before we return. Great Wall and Summer Palace is for Sunday. One interesting site: a large glass dome about a block west of Tiananmen. Our driver said it was going to be a nursing home! I’ll have to find out more.
Foodwise, have tried a few things, including the “point and shoot” option in a food court. Food court food here is better than its American counterpart. So far have had Beijing home cooking, Japanese food (big here), some delicious jiaozi (fired dumplings) from a street vendor (didn’t get sick so far and I’ve had my Hep A vaccination). Had some greens with small fried bugs in them yesterday–they tasted OK, but didn’t eat many. There’s so much to try and eat, see etc that you can’t do it all in one trip. But me thinks I will be back one day.
All for now–Zaidjan! A & K
Memorial Day weekend finds the Seattle Center playing host to the 35th annual Northwest Folklife festival. The event, which I’ve not previously attended, is a collection of music, art, food and more with what seemed like a rather eclectic theme to me. The Seattle times obviously covered the event too.
Here’s some music we heard in a few hours of walking around on Saturday. The bagpipes were a disappointment as I think some instruments really are not meant to be played over a speaker. A steel drum band did two interesting covers, followed by some traditional folk music. Next is some Indian music recorded from McCaw Hall. This was the first time I’d been inside the hall and the acoustics were quite impressive. Unfortunately my tiny digital recorder doesn’t present things as richly as they sounded but for a small handheld the booming base of the tabla does come through well enough.
Our musical stroll finished with a short time listening to a country group from a balcony and then a collection of drummers keeping the beat going.
Apologies for not having names of artists but the music speaks for itself.
An early morning dental appointment had me catching a cab to return to work. Getting out of the cab I noticed a sign on the door with the large raised letters giving the taxi ID and such. A couple seconds more exploration showed this was reproduced in braille.
Walking into work I had to stop by the ATM. I grabbed an earphone I carry with a portable radio (old school I know because it isn’t an MP3 player) plugged it in and had the ATM speaking my entire transaction.
Both small items but at times you get a glimpse of how the world should be with respect to accessibility. It should just be there and just work. Taking the glass is half full perspective, these simple experiences really jazz me when it comes to accessibility.
From the better late than never category, here’s a video story of our trip to India that Aimee put together. This has been online for a while but I failed to link to it in my blog. There’s narration withthe pictures so hopefully all will enjoy.
Comments closedHere’s a cool tune about Brett Favre someone pointed out to me in e-mail. Favre certainly has become a legend and here’s hoping he chooses to add a bit more to the history he’s creating.
Comments closedIt has been more than a year since people from Washington and several other western states have been able to obtain free copies of their credit reports. Over the past year, citizens of the rest of the nation have had the same access made available in a staged process. As a recent article in the Seattle times points out, the process hasn’t been perfect but according to the article things should be getting easier. I must ask, “Easier for who?”
The legislation making free access to credit reports is something that we should have had years ago. With the number of companies using the details of your credit report it is vital that you know what it contains, especially because sometimes there are inaccuracies. I know in my case back when I was living in Portland, there happened to be another Kelly Ford living in the same apartment complex as me and some of that person’s bad debts did appear on my credit report at one point. It was a major effort to get them removed.
That’s in part why I’m a big fan of the required access to your credit report. Sadly in the year that the process for this has been in place, there’s been no progress on accessibility to the report request process or the reports themselves.
Obtaining a copy of your credit report requires you to go to the official web site to start the request at http://www.annualcreditreport.com. Aside from basic accessibility flaws like missing alternative text for images, the web site uses the increasingly common visual word verification test in the initial stage of the request process. With no alternative, such as audio of the graphical word to be entered that is used on some web sites, you are locked out if you are blind.
True you can request a copy of your report by phone or e-mail. Thus far my attempts to use these methods have not proved to lead to any greater accessibility as there’s no provision that I can find in these methods to get an actual accessible copy of the credit report. By contrast the online process will lead you to an online version of your report that is more or less accessible. Still it shouldn’t be necessary to get someone else to assist in the process at all, especially for government-mandated access to personal information.
I hope others reading this will consider writing to the editorial staff of the Seattle Times as I have done asking them to cover the accessibility aspects of this issue. Letters can be sent to opinion@seattletimes.com and must include day and evening phone numbers as well as your full name and home address. The paper’s web site gives full details.
In the past year I’ve exchanged several e-mails and phone conversations with officials from various congressional offices for the house and senate of Washington State. Thus far I’ve been unsuccessful at getting any politician to take a serious interest in this issue. In my view the process and credit reports one obtains should be 100% accessible and individuals with disabilities should be able to obtain and access the information independently.
The photos from our trip are now available online. You can see them at http://www.kellyford.org/iiepics and hopefully the titles give a clue of what you are viewing in the pictures.
Comments closedDriving from Dehra Dun to Delhi we had loads of time to spend in the car. Aimee provided a bit of audio description of the scenery as we arrived in Delhi.
Comments closedOne thing that sticks in my mind from trips to London are the street musicians one hears as you walk through tube stations. The stations tend to have long halls with concrete or tile walls which makes for an acoustically rich environment. Add a little reverb in and anyone can sound good (just ask the recording industry). Here’s a sample of some tube tunes from our recent trip.
Comments closed