Chronicles of Chicanohek in China

Mayhem 2009: Episode 3

2010-02-18T13:27:00.000-08:00

Mayhem: Kaifeng to Qingdao

Mayhem 2009: Kaifeng to Qingdao from Chicanohek on Vimeo.

Fernando En China

2010-02-12T16:22:00.000-08:00

Fernando En China from Chicanohek on Vimeo.

I recently met an Ecuadorean student (Fernando) from Qingdao Ocean University. After discussing a collaboration we came up with a video portraying his life and times as a student of Chinese language here in China.

Intro:
I met up with Fernando at the gate to his university, the Ocean University. It was a busy morning and students were everywhere on their way to class or out for a stroll. We taped the intro several times and the clip included was the best one although a student coughed and walked by in the background.

Foreign students classrooms:
The foreign students who attend Ocean University do not have classes with Chinese students. All of the Chinese language courses are taught in a separate building and Fernando told me that he feels distant from the Chinese students including the foreign students who tend to make friends with fellow students from the same country. An interesting bit of info, Fernando told me that its known to all the foreign students that the American students are treated differently with better dorms and amenities.

The classrooms were packed with students taking a Chinese language examination known as the HSK. The Mandarin courses are dominated by Korean students and according to Fernando, make up 70-90% of the student population studying at the university. As we waited for a classroom to empty, it was evident to me that Koreans recognize Mandarin as an emerging and critical language.

Fernando explained his schedule and course load on camera. The program is intensive and relatively cheap compared to learning Mandarin at a university back home. I taped some B-roll footage of the classroom to show people that the classroom is very simple and basic. Fernando told me that the heating in the classroom is one of the major complaints of the students as most of them have to wear their heavy winter coats to class!

The Library

Mayhem 2009: Episode 2

2009-07-04T09:20:00.000-07:00

Mayhem: Zhengzhou to Kaifeng

Mayhem 2009: Zhengzhou to Kaifeng from Chicanohek on Vimeo.

Intro:
Still in Zhengzhou after our harrowing experience at the Shaolin Temple, we decided to move onto the city of Kaifeng, known primarily for its ancient Jewish population. For more on the Jewish history in Kaifeng, check out here and here.
We decided to take a train but upon arriving to the train station we discovered that there would be a 4 hour wait. Feeling impatient, we made the choice to take a bus to Kaifeng, a move that proved brutally boring.

Scene: Bus from Zhengzhou to Kaifeng
I didn't get any clips of us actually on the bus from Zhengzhou to Kaifeng as we were all feeling tired and worn out. However, I did get some shots of us waiting at the bus station under a red tarp that cast a rosy glow on our faces. Paul predicts that the wait would be a good hour but in reality we waited for nearly 2 under the burning tarp. At one point Scott suggested we leave the bus and head back to the train station, at least we could wait for the train in the relative comfort of a nearby restaurant. Sadly, since we had committed time the bus endeavor, we stuck it out and rode the bus to Kaifeng. Sadly, this was the worst choice to make. Why you might wonder? Because the bus driver avoided every toll street, treated the bus like his own personal public transport vehicle, picked up anybody on the side of the street and never accelerated beyond 30mph. A bus ride that should have realistically taken 45 minutes took 3 hours.

Scene: Kaifeng Museum
Arriving in the city, we immediately threw down our bags and headed out to take in some of the city sites. Our fellow Mayhem compatriot, Scott, suggested we check out the "Jewish goodness" at the Kaifeng museum, although going in we knew that there be next to nothing there. The city of Kaifeng is quite compact and easy to navigate so we arrived in no time. Inside, the museum was difficult to distinguish from an actual museum or a market as most of the items on the walls were for sale. While walking around, we spotted a foreigner wearing an Obama shirt. Before I could make the initial contact, they come over to us and were very eager to conversate. The two expats, Paul and Zohar, make their home in Kaifeng and were at the museum exploring its Jewish history, again, with very little to display. Scott mentioned that he was sadden to see so little of a rich cultural history on display. Much to our surprise, Paul and Zohar invited us to a locals house who is currently putting together a much more comprehensive history of the Kaifeng Jews and it turns out they even KNEW decedents of the original Jewish population!

Scene: Tuk Tuk ride
The Jewish museum was not located near the Kaigeng Museum so we thought it would be fun to take an alternative form of transportation, the tuk tuk, a 3 wheeled motorcycle death contraption. The driver sped down the road at a decent clip and gave us a very cool view of the cityscape. It was very evident to me that foreigners are a rare sighting in the city of Kaifeng. Many of the residents who saw us on the tuk tuk waved and greeted us with a sincere "hello!". One group of high school students even struck up a conversation with us while we were at a red light!

Scene: Zohan and Guo Yan
We arrived to a narrow ally way where Zohan explained to us how he met Guo Yan, a member of one of the original Jewish families still living in the exact location of the ancient synagogue. Apparently, he walked around the hu tong "narrow ally" asking for the Jews!
The cultural center, being erected by Guo Yan, is much more authentic and loaded with artifacts, giving instant cache. In contrast, the Kaifeng Museum pales in comparison and should, quite frankly, be avoided. Guo Yan gave us a history lesson on the Jews of Kaifeng, as they are sometimes referred to, which was very in depth and laden with connections to present Kaifeng Jewish descendants. Scott was very much in his element with Paul, a history teacher at QISS, every bit as interested in this fascinating discovery. Guo Yan went on to describe a terrible event at the turn of the century. Apparently, a destructive flood devastated the city and destroyed most of the city's cultural relics including the synagogue. In an act of desperation, the local people took bricks from the synagogue. Guo Yan went on to politely describe the situations in terms of "they simply had more people than us and we could not prevent them from taking the material". Nicely put, she described outright looting and theft.

Scene: Kaifeng Night Market
After our insightful history lesson, Paul and Zohar insisted we get dinner at renown Kaifeng's night market, well known throughout the region for its variety of food and colorful atmosphere. As we walked around, it was clear from the get go that it was popular with both locals and tourist alike. We filmed our closing clip in the middle of the craziness and then quickly got down with some baozi and beer.

Next up: Kaifeng to Qingdao

Chicanoehek

MailTribune Article

2009-06-14T22:14:00.000-07:00

Yo!

The article by Bill Varble from the MailTribune made it to press.

Here is the link

Thanx to the staff at the Tribune and I hope the readers enjoy the article.

Chicanohek

Mayhem 2009: Episode 1

2009-05-29T00:15:00.000-07:00

Mayhem 2009: Qingdao to Zhengzhou

Mayhem 2009: Qingdao to Zhengzhou from Chicanohek on Vimeo.

Scene: opening credits
For this series of episodes, I decided to change up the opening sequence to make it seem fresh and new. Although, I really liked using the previous chime, an MC Hotdog track, it was becoming predictable and uninspiring. For this intro, I got a decent spy sounding track from a Hong Kong artist known as Edison Chan, of pornweb fame. All the effects in the intro are very simple and easy implemented withImovie '06 and I used many of the fantastic tips from Peachpit in it.

Scene: Intros
As I packed up my bag and headed over to meet Paul and Scott, I thought it would be cool for each of them to introduce themselves as I ran into them. Scott gave me a fantastic intro that I had to shorten to less than 20 seconds after I realized that the final version of this episode ran over 10 minutes! Paul quickly introduces himself and gives the first of many many peaces signs to come. One of our students said he counted Paul flashing the sign more time than a Compton gang banger, a grand total of 8 times. I don't know if this is accurate but its over 5 for sure.

Scene: To LiuTing Airport
Qingdao Liuting Airpot is roughly a 35km drive from the city. Most airports in China are in another city with the name of the nearest larger city as the moniker. It would be like have a an airport in Grants Pass and calling it the Medford International Airport. The drive out is unspectacular since all available land has new apartment building sprouting up in vacant clusters. They all appear empty which prompts the obvious question, "Who is going to live in these so far from anything?"
Arriving at the airport, we checked out bags and went through security. Paul and I were traveling light so we got through quickly. Unfortunately, Scott's walled was reinforced with metal which cause quite a bit of confusion when x-rayed. He had a tough time explaining that it was not in his best interest to hide a weapon in his wallet. Regardless, they attempted to x-ray it several times which tested our patience.

Scene: Zhengzhou
We arrived at the Zhengzhou airport sometime during the afternoon. I find it interesting when walking out of Chinese airports to see which brand of car dominates the local taxi fleets. In the case of Zhengzhou, Kia was very popular as well as Chinese brands. The drive to the city was uneventful to say the least but we did manage to catch a glimpse of a very tall tower being put up several kilometers from the city center. Additionally, the road to Zhengzhou was littered with clusters and clusters of billboards, signs and advertisements of ever sort. They dominated the skyline the same way a row of trees would, only instead of leaves these trees had advertisements.
The taxi driver dropped us off right down in the heart of modern Zhengzhou, right smack dab in the shopping district complete with a McDonalds facing the hallmark of the city, the Er Qi Ta, or February 9th Pagoda. It was immediately evident that foreigners are a rare sighting in this city as locals stared and pointed at us. I tried to get several people to talk to us on camera but virtually all refused and one person even took off running down the street when I said "hello"! We settled in for the night after a grueling 2 hour trek to find a decent hotel.

Scene: To the Shaolin Temple
All of the scenes of us going to the Shaolin Temple occur the next day. I introduced our mission but my camera would not clearly focus on my face. I tried the intro several times and determined that the humidity was fogging up my lens thus interfering with the cameras ability to focus on an object. Luckily, I was prepared and carried two cameras with me on this trip just for such moments. Even at 8am in the morning, people were out in full swing and many of the sidewalks were jam packed with vendors. New businesses often hire performers with drums and cymbals to pay music in front of their new, and hopefully prosperous, enterprises.
We arrived at the bus station and had a difficult time locating the bus bound for Shaolin. The bus terminal was not correctly labeled nor were station employees of any real help. Eventually, we found it on our own by looking for the most random and confused people. The line, as you can see from the video, was excruciatingly long and people seemed to be arriving and plugging themselves in ahead of us without a care in the world. No one complained or said anything when this happened and to do so would be, uh, more trouble than it was worth. We meet a group of university students who were also traveling to Shaolin Temple. They were very friendly and agreed to be on camera. I couldn't use their initial clips but you do get a chance to meet them later when we run into them again at the top of the Shaolin complex.

Scene: At Shaolin Temple Park, Complex, Wonderland of Gongfu!
I didn't get any good shots of the road leading up to Shaolin, but it was very very VERY back up with traffic and tour buses. I think its never a good sign when you passed someone walking a mile back and they catch up to you in 15 minutes. We managed to pick the worst possible day to visit this place since there must have been a million other people with the same idea. Once we got off the bus, beads, swords and other souvineres were immediately thrust in our face. I wanted a set of beds from Shaolin ever since I saw Ron Sims go there several years back. In fact, this episode was inspired by his comical webisodes. Check him out at youtube or at his website.
A sign at the entrance announces that the temple is just up ahead but this is deceiving. In fact, the temple is nearly a 3km walk from the entrance! We walked up the road following the masses who appeared just as confused as us. We arrived at the end of the road where they were shuttling tourist up a mountainside on cable cars. The line here, again, was insanely long and it appeared that people were unwilling to do a little hiking after their 3k walk. Somehow, in this sardine can of a park, we missed the temple. How could this happen? We went all the way to Shaolin and couldn't find the temple, we failed! Scott and I started to follow the signs instead of the throngs of tourists who had no clue or agenda.

Scene: Shaolin Temple
Arriving at the complex, I had Scott and Paul give some commentary into the camera while people pushed and shoved their way through the door. I over layed some peaceful music as a juxposition to the noisy crowds surrounding us at the temple. Once inside we chilled out and there was a decent restaurant inside! While walking up the multi-layered temple, it did not occur to me that it was not handicap accessible until I noticed a group of 7 men literally carrying their friend up. They stopped to rest at every level and eventually got to the top where they could light inscents and worship the various deities located inside the elaborate halls. We stopped to admire the inscents being lit simply because they were gigantic trunks the size of an elephants nose. At the top of the complex, were I naively thought we would see fighting monks in ropes, we found very little of interest. We did, however, meet up with our friends from the bus journey. I asked them their thoughts on Shaolin, which I got on camera. Sober, Baby and Sarah were very cooperative even after I asked them to redo their parts when I discovered that I had inadvertently turned on the night vision mode.

Scene: Gong Fu, kung fu and gung foo
Utterly disappointed that we did not find monks(or fighting monks) inside the temple, we went to the place were we knew there would be martial arts taking place, directly outside of the temple. We had noticed a performance taking place on an elevated wall platform but arrived as it was winding down. This time around, we caught the show in its entirety and watched at the performers demonstrated all of the Shaolin styles. Worm style, sorry to say, was made up but sounded real didn't it! As we were leaving the show we noticed an entire field covered in students going through their routines. They were fun to watch but we had already gotten our dose of kung fu so we agreed that it was time to move on. No sooner had we walked away when people started to "ooohhh" and "aaahhh". They were admiring the students with the mechanical springs in their legs which allowed them to jump very high. This, I must admit, was very cool.

Scene: Closing
We actually closed the episode way back at the top of the temple but I moved it forward since I wanted to include clips of the students. Paul simply repeated everything Scott said which he had done several times before. I would usually delete his repetitive segment but this time I left it in for comedic purposes and because I felt that I needed both Paul and Scott to appear on camera in equal amounts.

Hek

Suzhou: ESL with Sir Steven

2009-04-20T04:55:00.001-07:00

Suzhou: ESL with Sir Steven

Suzhou Trip: ESL in China w/ Sir Steven from Chicanohek on Vimeo.

Scene: At the gate
I arrived at Xing Hai elementary school about 15 minute early. I used this time to film the intro to the segment but I became flustered at the crowd of grandparents waiting for their children. I walked up the street a block and filmed the intro there and after several takes I got a decent clip. Steven was at the gate at the prearranged time and we got him saying a line on camera. We thought it would be cool to have a long clip from the gate to him office but the gate guards at the school, yes, many schools have gate guards, told me to turn off my camera. I didn't argue with them as they didn't press me to put it away.

Scene: The Office
We decided to record Steven in his office talking about his work at Xing Hai School and for a good portion of time we had udder silence. Suddenly, a school bell rang and kids spilled out of their classrooms into the hallways making lots of noise and essentially shutting down our interview. We did take advantage of this time and walked around talking to kids and generally getting some more authentic clips of kids being kids. I used these clips to overlay the audio of Steven talking about his position at the school as its foreign ESL instructor.

Scene: The classroom
I joined Steven in his classroom shortly before students arrived. Many of the students are very comfortable around foreigners so they paid little attention to me as they settled into their seats. Steven announced to the students that I would be speaking to them for a short period of time before their lesson and this managed to wind them into a frenzy. I guess being the fresh face was enough to get the students excited about learning English. The students were very polite and respectful, they did everything I asked of them and even laughed at my silly shenanigans. I had the students guess certain things about me that I knew they could ask, so if they wanted to know where I was from, they had to ask "Are you from America?". Asking questions properly is always a problem so I thought we might work on a skill while having some fun.

Scene: Steven teaching
After my 15 minute stint, I focused my attention of getting some shots of Steven at work. His lesson focused on recycling as a theme and he used an excellent power point presentation to keep the students engaged. It was at about this point when I ran out of tape on my camera with no extra tape to keep filming on. I did remember, however, that my camcorder has a memory stick setting with about a gig of free space. Even at the highest resolution, this would allow me to film for over an hour. You can see the difference in image quality between the miniDV cassette and the memory stick images. All of the memory stick images appear grainy and choppy with terrible sound. I felt like scrapping the entire project but going back to re-shoot did not seem as appealing as simply rolling with what I had.

Scene: Traffic
The kids spilled out of class to waiting parents at the school gate. Steven and I walked over to his house and discussed our evening plans which most likely included getting together with the Humanaught for some brewskies. I jumped on bus 47 and rode it back into the heart of Suzhou, down in the inner moat area. I enjoy this part of Suzhou much more for its lively street scenes and access to a more authentic piece of China. I sat on a bench and filmed traffic at a busy intersection. You can see the sheer number of people on bicycles which gives the clip a certain go go go quality. However, what looks like madness and disorganized chaos is really only a superficial judgment. My university professor at SOU put it wisely when he said "Chinese roads have a method to the madness". Watch the clip closely and you can see that there are no accidents!

Note:
While editing the clips for this post, I discovered that I could not use the clips filmed on the memory stick. While my editing software recognized the clip images it failed to import the sound. I even downloaded a fantastic program called handbreak which allows you to convert a video clip into different formats, a very useful tool if you are using various camcorders. Unfortunately for me, handbreak would also not recognize the files. I went to the camcorder user manual and much to my chingrin I discovered that I had left it and all of the recommended software back in Oregon. My saving grace was a colleague of mine who suggested using the PC platform to retrieve the clips. As an avid Mac user, I really hesitated in crossing over to the dark side but for the sake of retrieving the clips, I agreed. It took all of 2 minutes for Windows Movie Maker to recognize the clips and reformat them into a file that my Mac would recognize. The only downside of this was that image quality, already poor, was further degraded. I still used the salvaged clips in the final episode but in the future I think I will continue to use miniDV for all episodes.

Hek

Suzhou: Surging Waves Pavilion

2009-04-20T04:27:00.000-07:00

Episode 11

Suzhou: Surging Waves Pavilion from Chicanohek on Vimeo.

Originally, I intended to post this episode 2 years ago when my brother Emilio came to China for a trip. Only one problem prevented me from posting; neither of us actually made an appearance on camera! You can probably tell where the segments start to appear differently, check out the foliage on the trees for starters, but most viewers will not notice that many of the shots where taken more than 24 months apart.

Scene: Intro
The entrance to Surging waves is very inconspicuous because its down a narrow street lined by a canal. I used to work at an elementary school near the garden and I would often walk along the scenic canal on my way home. My favorite days were when I would run into the coin traders who hung out near the gate to the garden. The traders had bags and bags of coins from every country imaginable, in and out of existence and even a huge bundle of tokens from amusement parks. I would sit with them and practice my Chinese while discussing exchange rates or the value of currency. On this trip, the vendors where absent but in their place came dozens of fisherman who I assume could only be fishing for the sport and not because they were hungry!

Scene: The Architecture Students
Upon purchasing my ticket for the garden, a bus load of students sauntered up to the gate and got in line. This is the not the first time I have met students visiting Suzhou's gardens, after all the gardens are famous, but most of the students that I meet tend to be studying architecture. Many of them tell me that studying the gardens of Suzhou is one of their required classes!
The students tend to be very friendly and have no problem speaking on camera, if we conduct the interview in Chinese. I found a group to speak on camera rather quickly but would only do so if i allowed them to speak in Chinese. I agreed to their request but the clip didn't make it in the final cut since I didn't want to overlay subtitles on screen. Another group touring the garden quickly caught my attention because they appeared older and more sophisticated than the college students. I made small talk with them and it turns out that they were real architects working for a large firm in Beijing that sent them down to Suzhou for inspiration. This group had more of a command for English than the other group with no qualms about being video taped speaking in English. They were very friendly, especially Seagull, who giggled incisively when she mentioned her own name.

Scene: The Flute Player
I filmed some clips of me walking around the garden and enjoying the relaxing atmosphere. There is a large pond full of Koi fish on one end of the garden but it appeared to be nearly void of fish due to the season. I did, however, run into a very photogenic man taking advantage of the quite section of the garden with his home made flute. He played several rounds and appeared to be very intense in his endeavor. I have seen music at several Suzhou gardens where paid performers are brought in to heighten the experience. This man appeared to be a local who simply enjoyed playing is flute in the tranquil garden setting. Note: Suzhou locals are allowed into most gardens free of charge.

Scene: Bamboo Forest
Every garden in Suzhou has its unique traits and characteristics. Lion Grove Garden has the huge limestone maze of rocks from Lake Tai and a large pond that holds fish. Lion Grove had very little in terms of vegetation since its emphasis is on the rock formations. Surging Waves Pavilion is similar but different. There are lots of stones from Lake Tai but they don't form any maze and they are heavily concentrated in the center of the garden. What the garden does have a lot of is bamboo. In one area of the garden there i a virtual forest of the stuff with paths winding in and out of it. I got lots of clips of the bamboo waving in the wind and looking very, well, bambooey.

Scene: Remodeling
After walking through the bamboo forest I unexpectedly found a crew of workers sanding down a window frame. I asked them if I could video tape what they were doing but they politely declined being on camera. However, I continued to watch them anyway asking them questions about their work while they asked me questions about my stay in China. Soon they determined that I lived and worked in China and became very willing to be filmed! I was overjoyed at this and thanked them for their generosity.

Scene: Water
Surging Waves Pavilion has a very limited amount of water located within its walls. There is a small fish pond in the corner of the estate but all the water is located outside the garden. This is one of the defining characteristics of the garden and its built to take advantage of this point. I found a door leading out to a walkway that hugs the wall on one side while offering great views of canal located directly outside of the garden. The clips I got give the garden a very peaceful and tranquil appearance and some of the students I spoke with actually did say that this garden was one of the least crowded in all of Suzhou. I second that opinion!

Once I left the garden I explored the old neighborhood some more and followed the canal deeper into the heart of Suzhou. Many of the clips I got were decent but the sun was setting and it prevented me from getting good quality footage. Finally, I sat down on a street corner and simply filmed traffic. The daily commute in Suzhou is much different from Qingdao and as you can see from the clips, it looks like anything goes in the City of Gardens!

Hek

Suzhou: The Lion Grove Garden

2009-04-12T19:36:00.000-07:00

Episode 10: The Lion Grove Garden

Suzhou: The Lion Grove Garden from Chicanohek on Vimeo.

Scene: Opening scenes
While walking along with David and Lily, I jokingly asked them to co host the episode with me. They both enthusiastically agreed and I had luckily brought my camera with me. I got a cool shot of Lily pointing to the garden on a street sign near the garden. There are many signs indicating the location of many famous Suzhou sites so getting around and seeing them is really easy. However, the main street leading up to the garden had been completely removed and all that was left was a cavernous trench in the ground with exposed sewage and water pipes. You can see it in the background as I make my way to the garden.

Scene: Ticket Window
I wanted to get a shot of a tour group arriving and unloading from the huge tour buses but several people objected being filmed even after I told them what I would do with the footage. I attempted to film myself at the garden but Casler was behind me goofing around. The clip you see on the final WAS THE BEST ONE of several painful takes! I thought it was funny that the ticket gate said "Welcome to Lion Forest Garden" while the signs leading to the site read "Lion Grove". I guess we will have to refer to wikipedia for the most accurate name of the garden.

Scene: Garden Entrance
The entrance is complete chaos with people pushing and shoving at the ticket gate. Luckily, there are two gates, one for tour groups and one for single entrants. You would think that the tour organizers would tell everybody, "There is no need to push, you all have tickets!". I noticed a man reading a newspaper on a small stood, totally oblivious to the noise all around him. I thought is stood in contrast to the loud tour groups near him. Additionally, the trees were beginning to bloom and people were crowding around them to take pictures. I am at a loss for words at this inane desire to take a photo with the delicate flowers. People must obviously think the pink blossoms are gorgeous or why else would they take a photo holding them BUT the constant jarring and pulling destroys the flower! Many of the trees had more pedals laying on the ground creating a pink carpet than there were on the branches.

Scene: Tour Guides
Tour guides with megaphones are ubiquitous at many Chinese attractions. They march around the site explaining the nuances of each rock or chair with a crowd of generally 30 people all wearing the same colored hat so they don't, yikes!, accidentally get themselves mixed in with the dozens of other tour guides doing the exact same thing. I got one tour guide on camera and at first he didn't seem to mind since I was at a comfortable distance from him. However, he became wise to what I was doing and decided to do something about it so he kept on looking at me and trying to attract my attention by waving his hand. In the mean time, he was too busy trying to inform the tourist that he really never had a lag in which to tell me to take a hike. I figured if he was really upset about me filming him, he would have also asked the dozens of other tourists to also stop taking pictures of him also.

Scene: Rock Formations
The rock formations and accompanying tunnels are the main characteristics that distinguish Lion Grove from the other gardens in Suzhou. Almost all the gardens in Suzhou have a number of these craggy rocks, worn into peculiar shapes on the shores of nearby lake Tai, but Lion Grove has the lions share. Some of the rocks are said to resemble actual lions so I got several clips of rocks that might resemble lions but its a real stretch of the imagination. David, impersonating Dr. NozeHiz Roks, gave me some comical commentary on the renown rock formations.

Scene: Nathan and Rachel
We ran into a couple in their first month of traveling the world. I talked to Nathan and Rachel on camera and got their impressions of China. They were both from Ohio and and spent several years teaching in Korea and were now on a year long trip to see the wonders of the Earth! I was amazed at their courage and tenacity to do something so spectacular. I also found them to be some of the most personable travelers I had ever met and they even agreed to be on camera! Good luck in your travels Nathan and Rachel!

On the way out there was a blind man giving shoe shines. I had never had a shoe shine done before so I thought it would be a cool first experience. He was charging 5 yuan for a shine, about 80 cents or so, and was very efficient at his task. After about 3 minutes my shoes looked like they can off the Kenneth Cole factory some where in Dongguan. None of the footage made it into the episode though since my camera malfunctioned on me placing annoying horizontal lines on the clips. Overall, a cool experience at a well known and trafficked site in ancient Suzhou.

Hek

The Old Observatory and Signal Hill

2009-03-25T05:14:00.001-07:00

The Old Observatory and Signal Hill

Signal Hill with Mr. Stubbs from Chicanohek on Vimeo.

Scene: At Ji Mo lu
Initially, we wanted to film an episode involving Ji Mo lu, a fake goods bazaar where many expatriates load up on fake North Fake jackets, poor quality jade, Wang's Magik Wongs and Wolex watches. Its a great place. As I started to think about the production aspect of the show, I felt that Ji Mo itself could be the subject of a stand alone episode. We did film the opening scene at the gates of Ji Mo which are very new, made to look old and kitschy as hell.

Scene: The Hood
From Ji Mo we simply walked in the general vicinity of what we thought would be the observatory. The roads in this area of Qingdao are old and lack sidewalks so you end up walking on the street. Needless to say, its very dangerous as several cars almost hit us and during one instance a little van actually did hit Bill. Not hard but the van nudged by him, if you can ever think being nudged by a moving vehicle as a good thing. We wandered up and down some ally ways where I am positive foreigners do not go. The locals kept on looking at us like, "what the hell is this crazy foreigner doing in my backyard!" I used these clips of us later in the episode, since we were actually lost much earlier in the adventure.

Scene: The Estonians Party
We suddenly found the "old hostel" which is what our colleague said to watch out for. However, little did we know at this point that there are TWO hostels in the area. Duh! The hostel we found has a bar known as the Old Church Lounge and on this day, Estonians were having a party. Yes, ESTONIANS! I guess there are so many of them in Qingdao that they get together to throw parties! As we walked into the lounge it was quickly apparent that there were NO ESTONIANS to be found. In fact, the bar was dead, probably because it was 2pm in the afternoon and real Estonians don't get up to party till much later. We asked a waitress for directions to the "observatory" hostel which quite literally involved her pointing up and down, side ways twice with toes, flapping her arms and making computer beeping sounds. Then she proceeded to tell us the directions. "Walk out then straight" Simple enough, so we did!

Scene: The Old Observatory Hostel
Imagine walking in a hotel were there is no one at the reception desk, the TV in the lounge is on but no one is watching and all the halls are empty. Welcome to the Old Observatory Hostel. We must have climbed up several floors before we actually found a face and even then they simply walked by. At the top of this hostel is, as you might have guessed, an old observatory with a very large telescope. On this particular day, since no one was there to man it, we would not determine if the telescope could actually see my house in Oregon. We walked out onto the balcony and filmed Bill describing what we had found. The view was nice folks!

Scene: Graffiti and the Cat Burglar
The hostel had very little to offer in terms of entertainment so we embarked on another journey down the hill. We found some cool graffiti on the walls leading down to a major street. Bill noticed a guy climbing the side of a building. Initially we thought that he may have been a construction worker or someone hanging up a sign, but the crafty individual checked all the windows on his way up until he found one that was open. We were frozen with disbelief, well not to frozen as I managed to film the whole incident.

Scene: Signal Hill
While walking around, we noticed that we had inadvertently gotten closer and closer to Signal Hill. While not a major tourist attraction in Qingdao, we thought it might provide a worthwhile visit. Upon entering the park, we ran into some wild and crazy tourist from Hong Kong. They had only been in Qingdao for 2 days and judging from their exciting demeanor, they were enjoying themselves tremendously. We arrived at the viewing platform on the tallest "mushroom" shaped building. It was a very interested place with a moving floor that took 30 minutes to make a complete rotation or you could walk all the way around by yourself in 30 seconds. We pointed out some other Qingdao sites from here and took a picture with our new Hong Kong friends. One scene that didn't make it to the final cut was us trying to get out of the park.

Chicanohek

Random Bus Adventure

2009-03-15T16:57:00.000-07:00

Episode 9

The Random Bus Adventure from Chicanohek on Vimeo.

Scene: Opening
The opening scenes of this episode took place weeks apart from each other. The initial opening scene was unusable because it was such a windy day and the camera mike was heavily muffled. The only scenes that I kept were those of Verena talking but mine were terrible. I later went back onto the street right in front of my apartment and simply started to re-tape the intro.

Scene: The bus stop
The bus stop near our apartment is serviced by nearly 8 buses, only 2 of which I know where their final destination is. So getting on a bus for which we had no clue where we were going was not difficult, we just had to avoid the 321 and 606. Unfortunately, the other 6 buses are dilapidated rusting hunks of ugliness with squeaky breaks and billows of noxious smoke emanating from the tailpipe.

Scene: Suzy
It took a while for the bus to get past the scenery we recognized. The bus appeared to be on a route back into the city from where we live. Our apartments are in an area of Qingdao called Laoshan, near the Laoshan Mountain Scenic Area, roughly a 35 minute ride from Qingdao which is still referred to as Qingdao. That would be like driving from Medford to Grants Pass and still considered to be in Medford.
Suzy, a girlfriend of one our colleagues, got on the bus and kept us company for several stops. We told her that we would be riding the bus to see where it would go. I don't think we impressed her too with our goal although she did remind us to be careful when we got to the edge of the Earth. She had no clue where the bus went.

Scene: The Edge of the Earth
We arrived at the final destination where there was nothing but people in a mad panic. I thought it would be a simple endeavor; ride the bus to its final stop, cross the street and ride the same number back to civilization. That did not happen since the bus arrived to a terminal where ITS OWN NUMBER was not listed as a ride able option. At this point we started to consider a very expensive taxi ride back home when Verena suggested we ride the an electric bus, number 5. I had a strange inkling that this number seemed familiar and it was not until that I got home did I recognize that its route goes by Zhanqiao peer, down by the beach. Since I had only filmed scenes of us on the bus, I agreed to ride another bus for the sake of the episode. You gotta do what you gotta do, naw what a mean?

Scene: Bus No. 5
There appeared to be no immediate difference between the regular combustion engine and the electric bus. They were both equally bumpy, crowded, sqeeky and noisy. This bus started to head in the general direction of the city which made us feel comfortable. Many of the shots I got of people outside on the sidewalk were from our previous ride but I felt they added more depth to the second ride.

Scene: The Pottery Market
Verena and I knew that the episode was shot if we couldn't make it more interesting so we outlined several scenarios for additional filming. We thought about going to Jusco, a local supermarket, and taking some shots in the store to illustrate what its like inside. I also thought about asking some locals to share with us what they thought about Qingdao, I still might do this in the future though as I think there are not enough Qingdeo residents in my episodes. We quickly scrapped those ideas when we noticed a random pottery market near a temple. We instantly got off at the next stop and walked over to see what clay offering were available.
The was a lot of stuff there. The sheer volume, diversity and availability of products was staggering. I hope the video speaks for its self as writing about it would pale in comparison. The prices were not jaw droppingly cheap so Verena and I decided to simply walk around the market since there was a closer market to our apartment complex. Neither of us felt like carrying around pottery for the remainder of the day. All the shots of me were filmed 2 week later at the aforementioned market. Many of my family members have complained that I need to put more of myself in my own videos, so Mary, those clips were for you.
The temple was small, empty and had a plastic new feeling to it. There we people coming and going but we were the only ones stopped and asked to pay the entrance fee. I got a lot of stock footage there to use later, but over all this temple is not on any tourist maps or books, and for good reason. Oh, some of the clips actually did make it into the video, if you watch close enough, you can see 10 frame clips at the biggining.

Scene: Jusco
We jumped into a taxi for our trip back to Jusco, the local answer to Fred Meyer or a mini Wal-Mart. I had a feeling they would ask me to turn off my camera and they immediately did. The security guards were very polite and I heeded their request. We did manage to get some footage by using Verena's digital camera. The guards didn't seem to care. We filmed me using some of the fitness equipment and explaining some of the strange contraptions that are still being sold on this side of the Pacific. The highlight came when I was using the hoolahoop. Several employees thought I was hilarious and came over to watch. I hammed it up abit and kept on using the toy, until I knocked over a container of tennis balls. This caused a cascading event where several dozen containers all fell off the shelf. They employees of Jusco nearly doubled over in laughter however one managed to come over and help me pick up the mess.

Most of the music is by Mc Shazhou, a local hip hop artist and one track is by Les Nubians.

Chicanohek

Qingdao Double Stars VS Shanghai Sharks

2009-03-07T22:01:00.000-08:00

Episode 9

Qingdao Double Stars VS Shanghai Dragons from Chicanohek on Vimeo.

Note: Sorry about the delay in putting together this video. I told Allen that I would have it up soon after we attended the games but as it happens sometimes, the cassettes just got buried under other projects. Here is the final cut, belated none the less, and now Pops can stop harassing me to get this posted!!!!!!

Scene: Intro
We began this episode at Allen's crib, at an apartment complex that houses many of the teachers from our work. Allen, or Pops as he is commonly known, was super excited about attending a Qingdao Double Stars game, having gone to one the week before. I, on the other hand, was bored out of my mind and would rather sit through 4 quarters of sub par basketball than watch my dvds of Seinfeld for the 8th time.

Scene: The stadium and tickets
The Qingdao Double Stars are a newish team to the city having just recently been added to the China Basketball Association, China's answer to the NBA. This, unfortunately, has been a draw back to the team as it must lease its basketball arena from the local university and attendance, due to confusion, is sparse. On average, they may draw somewhere over a thousand people, depending on the opponent. Buying tickets was insanely easy. There as a small shack, literally a SHACK, not a building, but a shack, selling tickets. The vendor took one look at me and sold me the most expansive ticket for roughly ten dollars. I returned his ticket and told him that I am stuying Chinese so he sold me a nosebleed ticket for 10 RMB or about $1.50. Seeing as the seats don't fill up, I didn't see the value in buying a seat that I would be moving down into anyway. As you can see from the clips, there are empty seats galore, even in choice viewing spots.

Scene: Warm ups and entertainment.
Warm ups by both teams were very normal except for the fact that the super star on each team didn't do them. On both teams, the super star is a forgein player and the Qingdao team boasts Chris Williams, a promising talent during his youth at West Virgina! Chris Williams was even the ACC player of the year and gave the opposing team fits with his athleticism and superior basketball acumen. I couldn't help to think how a player of this caliber ended up playing basketball in this backwater league. The team boasts another foreign born player from South Africa named Frans Steyn. Slow footed but the biggest guy on the court by 75 pounds, he ripped down the majority of our rebounds but often ended up being called for boneheaded fouls. In every game we attended, Steyn struggled with foul trouble throughout the game.
Pre-game entertainment is in its infancy at Double Stars games. There is mascot, or some resemblance of one, meandering around on court during games with no particular aim or accustomary shenanigans. At one point, a bored player put a sign in Chinese on the mascot's back and it stayed there until the end of the game! I thought it was funny that the mascot, a large cat looking creature with a Charlie the Brownish costume, did not fit the Qingdao Double Stars concept nor the university which are known as the Hawks. No wonder the mascot felt out of place. More on half time later.

Scene: The team
My colleagues have asked me about the level of competition that can be expected at a CBA game and having attended games of every level in the states from middle school to professional, I would compare the Qingdao team to a good NCAA Division III or a top tier NAIA squad. All the teams would be mecerily crushed by the European clubs and even the NBA Development teams would dominate. Most of this has to do with the dialuted talent level on each squad since they are only allowed to roster 2 foreign players with the remainder slots filled by mediocre Chinese players. Additionally, take into account that the pay, rumored at 40,000RMB ($5,800)per month, is not enough to entice even the modest NBA level professional to trek across the Pacific. However, it was enough for Bonzi Wells, of former Blazers fame, to sign with the Shanxi Zhongyu!

Scene: Game time!
Both teams seem to score without impunity, meaning that defense is rarely, if ever, played. An easy lay up to the bucket without contesting by defenders, is common. As the teams run up and down the court, you almost get the feeling that the outcome has been pre-determined. The players lackadaisically make errant passes and hardly seem to care when the ball is intercepted. The crowd is equally as lethargic. Many fans simply sit and watch as if they are on their reclining chair back home with a bottle of Qingdao beer. Allen and I continually yelled at the refs accusing them of being recent graduates of Wang's unbias school of B-ball Refing. This often drew large sections of the crowd who preferred to watch the two crazy, and loud, foreigners instead of the game!

Scene: Rally Man
I thought I had easily pegged the game by half time when I noticed an older man walk into the arena with a huge sign, a bright blue shirt and the total and absolute control over entire swaths of bleachers. Rally Man had entered and by god he was going to chant, cheer and encourage the home team to victory. I watched him for sometime, finding him much more interesting than the game. I got up out of my seat and left Allen to fend for himself in the passive visitors section and went to get some closer shots of Rally Man. I managed to surmise that he was a regular fixture at the Double Stars games since the crowd knew the chants and followed his every signal and command.

Scene: Closing
We tried several closing segments but found it difficult to get a decent clip with the booming sound system still echoing through the building nearly a half hour after the final buzzer.

Little Fish Pagoda and the Govenors Residence

2009-03-05T18:04:00.000-08:00

Episode 8 (filmed on 1/10/09)

Little Fish Pagoda and the Governors Mansion from Chicanohek on Vimeo.

Scene: Intros
Verena was my guest for this episode and initially our goal was to record all the monologues in two languages, English with me and German with her. We managed to do this through out the production phase but I underestimated how long the post production for two concurrent shows would take. Plus, I don't speak German.
We simply stood near the ticket window speaking into the camera and it became apparent to the ticket ladies that we were two wacky foreigners speaking to no one in particular.

Scene: The Walk Up
The walk up to the entrance of Little Fish Pagoda is uneventful and quite bland. You are quickly presented with gift shows letting post cards, scarfs, fridge magnets with little pagodas, more post cards, books about Qingdao, Qingdao Beer bottle openers, more fridge magnets and a whole bevy of tourist merchandise. This shop turned out to be a harbinger of things to come as the entire complex boasts 6 gift shops or about 1 gift shop per acre. The lower area of the complex has a decent view of the surrounding neighborhood but nothing awe inspiring. There is a rather large fresco like mural near the base of the pagoda depicting people with fish heads in what seems a cross between hieroglyphics and ancient Chinese writing. It was very perplexing.

Scene: The Pagoda
I have been to several pagodas in China during my 6 years but never in my life have I encountered one on which every floor had a gift shop. I found it amusing that they all had the SAME merchandise as the shop we encountered earlier. It seemed that if they don't persuade you to buy a t-shirt on the way in, they will surely get you at the top or at very least on the way out. I told the lady on the 3rd floor that the shoe horns were cheaper on the first floor, she didn't think it was very funny.

Scene: View from the top
The view from the Little Fish Pagoda is arguably one of the best anywhere Qingdao including the one from the sight seeing tower and Fushan Mountain. Reason: proximity to the beach and old part of the city. Since we visited in the middle of winter, the foliage on the trees was nonexistent which gave us a very drab view, albeit still worth it. Looking back at the footage, I was very disappointed to only walk away with 30 seconds of film. Considering how far it took us to get there, the hike up the hill and the barrage of gift shops for only half a minute of scenery, I would definitely advise to get more shots from the top even if they don't appear very useful at first.

Scene: The Walk of the Lost
After the pagoda, Verena and I decided that the governors residence was close enough on the map for us to walk there in about 30 minutes. Using one of those free maps that come in magazines we embarked on our misadventure. We quickly made several wrong turns and ended up Wang's Sausage and Tea House. I got a hilarious clip of Verena suggesting a taxi while I looked at the map and then the sun in a vain attempt to get oriented. I failed to pinpoint our location while her option appeared to be much more promising than my map reading skills. I always keep my camera running while riding in taxis in hopes that one day they will a. almost hit someone or something b. have a minor accident (3 to date, but no footage!) c. jump out of the cab to fight someone on the street. The footage of us actually walking to the Governors residence took place afterwords and since I wanted to end the show there I figured I could use it as kind of a linking segment. Nothing relatively interesting happened but Verena was a sport when i asked her to pretend to have a conversation with a local who appeared very willing to be video taped.

Scene: The Governors Residence.
Throughout the episode I incorrectly refer this next site as the Governors Mansion. I later found out that I was wrong but there was no way I was going back. I divided the clips into those that portrayed the inside of the building and those that illustrated the exterior architecture. The entire inside of the residence was poorly lit save the atrium where there was a mini photo exhibit depicting the building over the last 100 years. Many of the rooms had been converted into offices by communist officials who inherited the building. Additionally, there are many plaques with the names of famous Chinese bureaucrats who had established important matters while residing in the building. Unlike the previous site we visited, this one only had one gift shop.
The outside of the building was much better preserved than the inside and I got a heap of shots showing the unique architecture for which the building is know all over the world.

Scene: The Bunker
On our way off the compound we stumbled upon an old war bunker. Since there are no maps of the complex, we were flabbergasted at simple tripping over this unique piece of Chinese and German history. We closed both the German and English versions of the episode from this point and enjoyed the tranquility of a very ignored part of the Governors Residence.

Chicanohek

Qingdao Beer Factory

2009-02-24T18:51:00.000-08:00

Episode 7

Qingdao Brewery with Paul and Scott from Chicanohek on Vimeo.

I decided to take a different spin in this episode and have my colleagues host the show from beginning to end. That would allow me to have time to focus on getting better shots, experiment with the camera more and generally give me a more focused producers role. We decided that the Qingdao Beer Brewery would be our destination. We wanted to keep it relatively close and cheap while scouting the location for friends and family who would be visiting soon.

Scene: Intro at the Sophia Hotel
I always try to film and include scenes showing public transportation in China. I like these types of scenes, especially when the subject is interacting and actually using buses, taxis, rickshaws, motorcycles and bicycles. I think it gives the episodes and authentic feel and gives us insight into how people get around in other countries. We filmed our intro in front of the Sophia Hotel nearby our apartments which was fine but we were too close to the beach and the microphone picked up the wind which muffled the voices of both Paul and Scott.

Scene: Riding bus 104
I got a great shot of both Scott and Paul at the bus stop. Due to time constraints, I removed this shot from the final piece but I would like to use it again if I make a longer episode. Riding the bus was pretty standard other than the two riders behind Paul and I who fell asleep and stayed asleep for the duration of the ride. I took several shots with the aim of showing show crowded buses can get in china.

Scene: At Tai Dong
We arrived at Tai Dong in about 45 minutes but it would have only taken a taxi 20-25 minutes to travel the same distance. Scott was the subject for our next clip where he described our location, pointed out the used of alternative energy in the park and segued us onto the brewery. Unfortunately, due to poor lighting I had to scrap this clip and go with one filmed with Paul. Thats way he says "here in Tai Dong as Scott mentioned". The Qingdao Beer Factory is only about a 5 minute walk from where the bus dropped us off so we walked there. I got lots of shots from different angles of the guys walking down the street. Just before we arrived at the brewery we stopped at an outdoor beer park. You can see some of the scrapped shots at the very beginning of the episode but I didn't use any meaningful clips because I wanted to keep this episode under 7 minutes. I barely made it.

Scene: At the brewery
I was filming a shot of a metal plaque when I noticed that Scott was speaking in Chinese. I lifted up the camera and kept filming the interaction between the two. This shot made it into the final in its entirety but it was an unintended, albeit pleasant, surprise. I have been trying to get more shots of foreigners interacting with locals but it has proved to be more difficult than I anticipated. There was no guide for us at the brewery, well you could get a tour guide but after dropping 50RMB on tickets, we figured we could make our way through the buildings. Most of the shots I took of us at the beer fountain and the Dionysus statue were ruined. Luckily, I had a back up camera with me and managed to continue filming without skipping a beat.
The first building was incredibly boring and uneventful. It was so much so that I went from one end to the other to kill some time but was quickly taken back by the TV monitor showing Qingdao Beer commercials from around the world. Without prompting them, bot Paul and Scott watched several videos while I filmed their reactions. Most of the reactions you see in the final cut where not to the beer commercial they are supposedly watching, although the scene where Scott says "it makes me thirsty" took please in real time.

Scene: Old Time Brewing Technique Building with Approved Mannequins
The next building had a lot more to offer both visually and comically. The second floor was a bonanza of shots for the episode. The rooms were full of silly straight faced mannequins in positions depicting the old time brewing process used by the Germans. You can see one next to a mixing vat when Scott describes the function of the huge copper vats. Most of the shots that I took of the mannequins where worthless and I felt that they didn't add any depth, or at least, humor to the episode. Regardless, there are lots of them scattered throughout the second floor showing you how the brewing process nearly 100 years ago. Moving on, away from the creepy mannequins, we found ourselves looking at old brewing machinery which turned out to be not very photogenic, even more mannequins and a wall of beer that had beer bottles from around the world. Note: nearly 50% of the bottles where Qingdao beer bottles and the only American beer was Bud. Our mood was lifted when we arrived at the first beer pit stop. We were poured a small 8oz glass of beer. I got some cool shots of the bar tender pouring our beer and one of Scott getting his picture taken with her. I later edited in the picture. Only draw back at this point was that you were only allowed one glass of beer.

Scene: Modern Brewing and Packaging with Approved Real People
The modern packaging facility was very interesting. From a raised glass enclosed walkway you could look down on the production facility operating at what appeared to be operating at 50% capacity. Scott pointed out that the workers were sitting around and got up to work when they noticed us peering down at them. I got loads of clips of beer cans being pushed along, raised, lowered, thrown, twisted, rested and packaged. There was a different window for packaging focused on bottles but is was apparently running at a snail like capacity, about 1 beer an hour. Scott made a silly reference about how the cans were being shaken up by a particular machine so I asked in to repeat it for audio commentary over the shots of the cans. It worked out well as it appears that the shots coincide with what he is talking about.

Scene: The Drunk Simulator
Before we arrived at the Drunk Simulator, there is a display of old (100 years?) bottling equipment. Most of it is dilapidated, rusted and oh so old. Like equipment on a farm type old. Again, if I ever make this episode longer, I would like to include these clips mainly because of the contrast between the modern production facilities that use machine labor and the old time production which emphasized human labor.
Up next was the drunk simulator was a simple room tilted on its side so that it made keeping your balance slightly difficult. Paul and Scott both felt queezy upon exiting the simulator, thus feeling as if they were "drunk". There is a monitor on the outside that allows viewers a glimpse of what their friends are experiencing. I got several slips of the monitor along with footage from the inside of the simulator. Putting them together was rather difficult since a lot of the clips from the inside were shaky thus rendered unusable.

Scene: The Bar
I wanted to get an extended shot all the way from the drunk simulator to the bar, which was the final stop. However, I couldn't seem to walk down steps without jarring the camera so most of the footage ended up on the cutting room floor. I decided to forgo that idea and instead took shot clips of the taps and pitchers. I got a fantastic closing monologue from Paul and Scott to end the show.

Chicanohek

Maya and Comic life

2007-03-24T11:38:00.000-07:00

Public tranz in the middle kingdom

2006-03-14T00:54:00.001-08:00

Pulbic Transport: Battered Buses of Babylon

The bicycle is by the far the easiest and most convient form of transportation in Suzhou, followed closely by the bus. However, I will save my thoughts and experiences about the velicopede for another entry, today i will write about what i have experienced on my harrowing bus adventures.
Suzhou has a vast arsenal of delapitated buses that criss cross and zig zag through every nook and cranny of the city and surrounding communities. The vast majority of the buses are decaying rusting heaps barely clinging onto life, these are the city buses which will take you from one side of the city to the other for 1RMB. The vast majority of the city buses are crowded, belching smoke and lack proper ventalation. The private buses on new on the scene and are much much cozier by comparison. These buses are cleaner, have advertisments on the side and have an AC or heater unit. These conviences come at a cost as the fare is based on distance traveled with an average of 2RMB. With many local people living off 7-10RMB a day, the higher cost is too much to bare especially if they must take 2-3 buses in a day. Needless to say, the private buses are almost always at half capacity in relation to the city buses which are so crowded that peoples faces are pushed up on the glass while more are squeezing to get on. The following is a description of the characters i encounter while riding the battered buses of Babylon...

The Constuction Worker: The CW rider usually gets on the bus with clothes caked in constuction material while lugging on all his tools used in constuction. This may include such items as a shovel, a box of tools, panals of wood, metal beams, bags of concrete, and power tools. Needless to say, it becomes much more uncomfortable when there is a metal rod poking you in the thiegh...well, atleast i tell myself it was a metal rod.

The Chatty Kathy: This rider will get on the bus while on her mobile phone and continue the conversation at such a volume that everybody on the bus knows about her life. The Chatty Cathy rider may also be a man, most often an old man with a hearing problem who has to shout "wei! wei!" into the mouth piece while the other riders are trying to tell him that it was not his phone that was rining. The busines Chatty Kathy rider is often in a suit and begins his phone conversation sounding important and pompous, pretending to close or negociate an important business deal. However, he fails to fool the cute girl next to him because everybody can see that if he was such an important money maker, he would be in a taxi.

The couple: While public displays of affection are rare, the bus seems to be a place where couples express their admiration of one another. I guess since they paid the fair they might as well get some nookie out of it!

The Text Messenger: This rider gets on the bus and immediatly pulls out their mobile phone for a bus ride filled of fun texting! The TM rider usually holder their phone about 2 inches from their face which causes their eyes to look cross eyed. This rider supplements their time waiting for incoming text messages by playing the games on their phone or by using this time to catch up on their lack of blinking.

The "Oh Crap" Rider: This rider gets on the bus only to figure out that he is on the wrong bus after the doors close. I guess he didn't bother to figure that out BEFORE he/she got on the bus! This rider usually makes a mad dash through the jammed bus to the door which is usually and located at the rear of the bus. Why doesn't the driver just open the front door? Well, because the sadistic driver gets his kicks out of making people suffer.

The Large Bill Rider: This rider fails to carry small change for the bus. Upon boarding, the rider will inform the driver that they have paid the fare with a large bill, often a 5 or 10, and proceed to ask for boarding drivers for their money. I have seen nasty verbal arguments develop between the LB rider and the driver when the bus driver thinks the rider has made back their money.

The Driver: The most intersting person on the bus is the driver. While many bus drivers back home look like the dregs from an SAT examination, bus drivers in China are insane. They have to be to do their jobs. It must be difficult to keep your sanity after a day filled of noisy riders, bustling streets, and curious foreigners asking if the bus goes to the train station. Something should be said about how the bus driver interpretes the rules of the road, which i will reveal time. A quick rule of thumb regarding right of way on Chinese roads: Size matters.

CHICANOhek~~`@

Public tranz in the middle kingdom

2006-03-14T00:54:00.000-08:00