May 2008 Archives

四月底，正值春暧花开的季节，我们全家去北京旅行，下踏亲戚位于中关村的民宿。春季的北京仍是非常干燥的，注意备些滋润补水霜。

第一站我们便去了俊美秀气的颐和园，那里千变万化的长廊绘画艺术作品和灵气的山水交融，仿佛时空倒流。

接着我们来到了香山植物园，一丛丛，一簇簇鲜艳欲滴的桃花绽放着如孩童般的笑颜，园里的人告诉我们，如果早几个礼拜，还可以观赏到灿烂夺目的樱花。

平日为营生忙忙禄禄的新加坡人当然不能错过北京著名的长城，去领略其张显的霸气，可参加一日游，还有雄伟的故宫，里面正有些精美的文物展览。

另外，可以带孩子去天文博物馆，观赏天体的形成，宇宙的演变。附近的动物园也是孩子最喜欢的去处。

值得一提的是位于北京前门的百年老店:北京同仁堂总部，是爱好中华医学的朋友不可错过的地方，古色古香的内外装璜，内有名医坐堂，还可当场看病抓药。

On May 12th, in a matter of a few minutes around 2:30pm, almost all parts of Wenchuan County in Sichuan's Aba Tibetan-Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, the epicenter of a devastating earthquake whose magnitude has been revised constantly from 7.5, 7.6, 7.7 to 7.9 on the Richter Scale, was razeed to the ground.

By the time I wrote this blog, which is way too late after the so-called "golden 72 hours," after which period the survival of the trapped could be deemed as a miracle, especially considering the complexity of aftershocks, landslides, telecommunication breakdown and rainstorms in this case, yet every single one of the medical staff, search team and relief supply troop from the People's Liberation Army (PLA), from the rescue forces of the Red Cross Society and the China Charity Federation, from the volunteer indivuduals and corporations coming from other provinces, Taiwan, Hong Kong, as well as overseas, is still racing against time to find survivors and attend the wounded,  the confirmed death toll of the mass disaster has reached 19,509 and counting, and numerous others were buried in debris (Xinhua reported).

Let's pray for the survivors, let's mourn for the deceased compatriots, and most inportantly, let's do something more than crying and expressing condolences, like volunteering to donate blood and money, or offering help at the scene, to hold their hands, look into their eyes and tell them that we're get through this horrible disaster together.

The following  bank accounts receive donations to assist Wenchuan earthquake relief efforts:

I've mentioned before that it's said that taxi dirvers in Beijing are overly talkative. They surely were!

After several concrete experiences of riding in a Beijing cab, I can safely come to the conclusion that there is rarely one moment when a Beijing cab driver keeps his mouth shut.

They seem to be the know-all in town and anxious to know it all about you: what's so heavy in your bags, who's calling on your cellphone, why in a hurry, why not some music, where do you come from and stay in town, how do you like the city, the weather, the food, the day, the road, and various other topics of samll talks.

And it's so weird that, as prying as it may sound, you might not feel the slightest trace of offence in most cases. Probably because of their warmhearted attitude, and their witty way of conveying the conversation.

Even when it comes to a guest who is prone to keep most of the feelings to herself, like I am, they can still manage to mutter to themselves all the way from the spot you hail the cab down to your final destination.

My formative education of Beijing Olympic Games was indeed given by a cab driver over my twenty minutes ride in his carriage.

And it was his idea to make a detour to the National Stadium, aka Bird's Nest, which was under construction. Here is a photo taken from inside the car.

成都地震？不可以！

早上听到当闹钟用的无线电新闻说"中国中部、差不多是中国人口最多的城市。。。成都地震，900学生死亡"，大城市成都大地震，那么大伤亡！那还了得！震惊之下，赶紧上新浪网，一看104死亡，放下心来，然后听到电视里说900学生"believed"死亡，或者"might"，更加放心，心里说，哼，美国新闻，就是浮夸，耸人听闻，不确定的猜测估计也敢乱发呀。据说美国媒体发布的缅甸灾难死亡人数就比中国媒体的要多得多。

然后，新浪和别的中文网站显示的死亡人数开始成千增加了，才知道地震在都江堰附近，确实离成都不远！

成都怎么可以地震？中国怎么可以地震？多灾多难的中国，刚经过一场罕见雪灾打击，人民还在修生养息，怎么经得起这样的大地震？

如果要地震，为什么还是在中部人口密集的地方？查看一下中国地图，成都，真的就算是中部了。中国不比美国，没有那么长海岸线和可耕地，西部有那么大的不适合人居住的荒原，地震，为什么不发生在那些无人的戈壁滩？

而四川、特别是成都，那是富庶的天府之国啊！以前去成都开会的路上，乘着火车进入四川，只见沃野平畴，如锦似绣，景致与江南无异。特别是成都，气候湿润，物产丰富，丝绸衣物都便宜，麻辣又香又鲜美，小吃便宜又好吃，抄手、肥肠粉、夫妻肺片、凉粉、罐罐面、珍珠圆子、魔芋、芝麻糖、麻辣米糕、鸳鸯火锅，。。。品着鲜香的麻辣，再去杜甫草堂仿古，去武侯祠拜谒，想象着峨眉山的秀丽，体会着嘉陵江的深沉，向往着九寨沟的奇幻，。。。情不自禁迷醉在四川的风情里，流连忘返。

记得道教胜地青城山，树深林茂，山色苍翠，空灵幽静，仙风道骨，让你把仆仆风尘一洗而空。

记得从成都去都江堰游玩的路上，公路的隔离带上种的都是芙蓉花，那耀眼的粉红，给成都增加了很多浪漫情调，让人想起杜甫杜甫《春夜喜雨》的诗句"晓看红湿处，花重锦官城"。成都，就是个鲜花盛开的地方。

记得那天都江堰云雾缭绕，山水如黛，宁静安详，感觉好象凭空跌入一幅古典的水墨画，如梦如幻，只有那饶有情趣的吊桥，有惊无险，晃晃悠悠中游人的大呼小叫，给这幅幽美的山水画增加了动感。

那样一幅安宁美好的都江堰山水画卷，怎么可以被破坏？那么多活蹦乱跳的生命，怎么可以霎那间被夺去？中国难得有一个天府之国，父老乡亲难得有一些安居乐业的日子，为什么，还要经历这样的大地震？

但愿这是伤亡最小的大地震。但愿再没有更多地震。但愿地震只发生在无人区。

天佑中华！

The night before our trip to the legendary Chengdu Research Base for Giant Panda Breeding, I was so excited that I hardly got any sleep.

I just lied there, with my eyes and mind wide open, reviewing what information I've heard and gathered on the internet, and wondering what it will be like for my first date with some of the the world's most endangered living fossils.

Well, after bouncing out of the bed way before the alarm rang, trekking all the way from the city center to the area outside the Third Ring Road in the picturesque Northern Suburbs, and forking out 30 yuan to get in, my friend was superised to notice no traces of fatigue on me at all.

"Behold! Behold!" I cried out every time I saw a ginat panda, no matter it is basking languishly in the sun or climbing agilely to get its food, brazenly ignoring the prohibitive regulations against speaking loudly while visiting, "Isn't it adorable? Isn't it?"

"What else are you expecting?" she asked.

"You don't understand, this gonna be very much differenet. " I replied, couldn't stop myself from taking a picture of each and every one of them. "Just remember that they are as old as the long-extinct dinosaurs."

"And consider ourselves super lucky, because whatever the folks see and adore in San Diego Zoo, Zoo Atlanta, Memphis Zoo and the National Zoo in DC, as well as the Berlin Zoo, Mexico Zoo, Tokyo Ueno Zoo, and Chiang Mai Zoo, they are bred in here in the first place!"

"Cool! Just give me one picture in your pile, OK? I'm gonna make others jealous!!"  

It's known that he who has never been to Chengdu does not realize how burdensome he lives his life. How True!

While some say Chengdunese idle away their time strolling, some say they enjoy their time sitting back and sipping several cups of tea or two, or simply lazing away the entire day doing nothing more productive than playing chess or mah-jong, Chengdunese themselves express and define their concept of lifestyle as: Just go with the flow like a fish swim with the current through the sea of life.

Either way, they live their lives in such a relaxed pace that those who are accustomed to the frantic urban pace would find hard to believe, to resist and to fall in love with.

The best place to have the first hand and most direct experience of their lifestyle is the teahouse. It certainly is not the unique phenomenon in Chengdu, but you simply can't find another place that carries on more ubiquitous a street life scene, more contagious a folk culture and more versatile a socializing function than Chengdu's teahouses.

I really admire how "chill" Chengdunese always are. They can be genuinely happy in almost every situation and don't seem to become easily bothered by anything.

Just live through lackadaisical days after lackadaisical days of endless lackadaisical sun over endless refills of tea, with a lackadaisical attitude and tempo, what do you call this lifestyle, laid-back, or lazy?

After experiencing such traditional teahouse culture here and there throughout Chengdu, my friend concluded: "No wonder the Kingdom of Shu was the first to be conquered during the Three Kingdoms Period."

以下是在中东听到的一些趣事，有一些也只是自嘲，真假不好说。

 沙特的国徽是两把剑和一棵树。初到的人常常以为这是国旗的图案。沙特人说，这两把剑就是政府和警察，而那棵树，就是待宰沙特人民。

911之后，全世界对恐怖主意一片声讨，殃及池鱼，对穆斯林也颇多微词。一次在沙特出差，沙特的工程师为了证明穆斯林酷爱和平。跟我讲了一个故事。说是n年前，蒙古人像一群猴子（原话如此），骑着马，杀了过来。和平的沙特人采取了不抵抗政策。一天，一家沙特人正在路上走，一个蒙古人冲了过来。蒙古人心情不好，想杀人泄愤，可是往腰里一摸，刀忘了带。于是喝令沙特人原地待命（真的是待命），回家拿刀。刀拿来了，沙特人果然还老实地呆在原地，等着砍头。

说是在沙特，如果一个人被警察抓了，只有抓他的人才有权利放他。于是说，有一个人被抓了，在监狱里苦等15年，连审讯的机会都没有。只是因为抓他的警察调走了，又刚好忘了他这码事儿。

这件绝对是真的。我们一个同事，在沙特开车。被后面的车追尾。于是下车理论，说你后面撞我，责任在你云云。沙特人二话不说，就回自己车上了。我们同事有些摸不到头脑，不知道他要干什么。沙特人开车，绕到前面，倒车，哐的一声撞上，然后说，现在你从后面撞了我，怎么说？

中东人民头上带着头巾，有一个头箍扎住。大多数人的心里，这是中东人民的传统服饰。可是中东人告诉我，这是英国传过来的，也不知这个可信度有多高。说到头箍，它的另一个作用，恐怕外国人就不清楚了。爸爸打儿子，用的就是这个。学生们在学校打架，也是这个先上。

在沙特，妇女不能开车，不能单独出门。看似没有地位，但一旦受到侵犯，比如被外人碰到身体，丈夫/父亲绝对有责任以性命保护她们。最轻的，也会被头箍勒住脖子，痛殴一顿。所以说，权利和义务是分不开的。

在中东，家族很重要。你在街上不小心得罪一个人，可能晚上就有50辆车堵住你的门口。做销售的，如果不懂你客户的复杂家族关系，可能得罪了一个集团，都还不知道怎么回事。所以，申请签证的时候，会要你填上你爷爷，你爸爸的名字。在中东，这很容易让人家知道你的家族渊源。

中东妇女，在yanbu的时候，连脸都要蒙上黑纱。到了riyadh，很多人不蒙脸了，甚至连头巾也有人不带了。到了巴林，连黑袍子也不穿了。到了伊朗，只要头巾就行。看到街上，小孩子穿着肥大的牛仔裤，别着ipod，踩着滑轮嘻哈而过，就知道，即使古老的沙特王国，也逃不过全球化的浪潮。

大浪淘沙，剩下的不一定都是金子。

附几张中东的照片。