Apr 22, 2014

Manila Churches

Tuesday, April 22, 2014
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One of the unique things about the Philippines is it's churches and the fact that it has so many of them. The Philippines has one of the largest Christian populations in the world. About 93% of the country's population are Christians, with a whopping 80% being Roman Catholics. 


The photo above is of one of Manila's most famous churches, Quiapo Church (aka, the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene). This church is located in the Quiapo district of Manila, right next to a sprawling, outdoor street market where you can find all kinds of counterfeit products. Originally built in the late 1560's, the church burned down twice (in 1639 and 1928) and was destroyed by an earthquake in 1863. During my first visit to the Philippines years ago, I attended part of a Sunday mass at Quiapo Church which was quite a unique experience. The church was packed with around 1000 people, most of whom were standing packed together like sardines. This was in mid-summer with typical scorching humidity so it was not a pleasant experience. After exiting in the middle of the service (people walk in and out at will), I'd had more of a sauna than a religious experience and was glad to move on to a more relaxed atmosphere at the ever-crowded counterfeit shopping street.

By the way, if you're unfamiliar with Filipino history, you might be asking "Why does a nation in Southeast Asia" have so many churches?" Well, the answer is colonialism. Way back in 1521, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (while employed by Spain) discovered what we now know as the Philippines. Spain quickly decided it should take these islands, mostly for the lucrative trade they provided and for the convenient base for trade with Japan and China. And of course, the Spanish felt compelled to force the heathen natives to become Christians.

San Agustin Church is another of Manila's most noted churches. Located in the historic walled city of Intramuros, in addition to services, the church is a tourist attraction and popular wedding location (although the weddings aren't very private due to all the tourists).  
San Agustin also has a very interesting history, originally made primarily of bamboo and completed in 1571, it lasted only 3 years, burning in a fire in 1574. It's second iteration was destroyed less than a year later by invading Chinese pirate Lin Feng 林凤 (aka Limahong) who apparently wanted to make Manila his personal colony rather than a Spanish one. 
After another fire in 1583, the Spanish finally decided that stone might be a better choice than wood and completed a new church in 1607. This proved to be a good decision since the church managed to survive a powerful earthquake in 1863. San Agustin has also survived several other earthquakes as well as being the site of the Spanish surrender to the United States after the Spanish-American War in 1898 and the site of a Japanese concentration camp in WWII. Somewhat miraculously, the church was one of few buildings in Manila that wasn't destroyed during the American bombardment of Manila in 1945 to root out the Japanese. Today, tourists (including yours truly) can enter, peruse and take photos of the elaborate design of the churches' interior while also viewing a wedding taking place. 
The Manila Cathedral is another large Roman Catholic church in the Intramuros area. The original cathedral's location was chosen by Spanish Conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi and dates back to 1571, but the church has been destroyed by earthquakes and the Battle of Manila. The current version was built in 1958 and restored as recently as 2012.
Approaching Manila Cathedral from horse carriage

The interior is decorated with elaborate Biblical imagery

For a little religious as well as architectural contrast, we also visited a Chinese temple in Manila's Chinatown area, known as Binondo. My friend and I took a horse carriage ride around Binondo which ended at this very ornate Daoist temple.

Daoist books and pamphlets available at the temple
The temple ceiling with its dragon-inspired design
Although not in Manila, I have to include one more church in this blog entry. The church below is located on a small island in Bohol (I don't recall the island's name). We took a boat trip from the popular Alona Beach to this nearby island inhabited by about 300 people. This church, although much smaller and simpler than those in Manila, was by far the nicest building on this island which I guess shows the importance of churches in the Philippines.

If you'd like to see the rest of my photo collection of Manila churches, feel free to look at this Shutterfly photo album

Apr 16, 2014

Short Visit to Fuzhou

Wednesday, April 16, 2014
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I recently visited the city of Fuzhou, just under 2 hours from my home city of Xiamen by high-speed train. I've been to Fuzhou twice before, but each time have had some different experiences and seen some different parts of the city. While I don't think Fuzhou has quite the scenic beauty of Xiamen, it does have some interesting sites, nice bar/entertainment areas, and unique historical landmarks.

One morning, I visited the Luoxing Pagoda which is a little bit out of the city. The 7-story pagoda was originally built in the Northern Song Dynasty, but destroyed in an earthquake and later restored during the Ming Dynasty.
This pagoda also functioned as a lighthouse in days gone by
In addition to the pagoda, there's a park which contains an interesting statue (in the two photos below). I'm not sure if I understand the story behind this statue correctly since it was explained to me by a Chinese friend who had to ask some other people in Chinese and translate to English. Although something may have been lost in translation, I think the statue is of a woman whose husband was falsely convicted of a crime due to a covetous man who wanted the lovely lady to himself. The statue portrays her looking forlornly out to sea, hoping in vain for her true love's return.
I also visited a nearby museum about Fuzhou's naval history. Due to it's location, Fuzhou became a major seaport during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and was the origin of expeditions by Zheng He, who led huge sailing fleets as far as Africa from 1405-1433. However, by the following Qing Dynasty (1644-1912), China's sea power had mostly evaporated and Fuzhou was one of 5 treaty ports forced upon China in 1842 after the First Opium War in which Great Britain's naval power easily outmatched China's.  
Fuzhou is also known for another humiliating naval defeat in 1884 during the Battle of Fuzhou, this time to the French.
1873 cannon made in London
Fuzhou has long been one of China's shipbuilding centers and one of the places I visited was Mawei Ship Building, Ltd. which was opened in 1866 and continues to build large ships today. One of the original buildings remains and is used as a "cultural relic" museum of sorts, showing late 1860's ship and machinery building.
 
On my Fuzhou trip, I managed to see quite a bit about Fuzhou's naval history. I also spent another day at the Lin Zexu Memorial Museum and the 3 Lanes & 7 Alleys area which I may do another blog entry about in future. If you'd like to see many more larger size photos from my Fuzhou trip, feel free to take a look at my Shutterfly photo website.

Apr 15, 2014

Hot Springs and Flesh-Eating Fish in China

Tuesday, April 15, 2014
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Last weekend, I went to Riyuegu (日月谷) Hot Springs with some friends. Hot spring resorts are very popular in China, probably because they provide one of the few ways to escape the crowded cities into a more relaxing environment. Of course, popular hot springs can also get pretty crowded (I went to one in Fuzhou that was packed with people), but at least you can avoid much of the noise and never-ending construction prevalent throughout most cities in China.



Apr 9, 2014

Taal Volcano Lake

Wednesday, April 09, 2014
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A few months ago, I took a trip to the Philippines and since I've finally had time to sort through the photos I took, I thought I'd start posting some as well as my recollections of some of the places visited.

I met up with a friend from China in Manila and we decided to take a day trip to Taal Volcano, about 50 km south of Manila. We took a taxi from Makati to Tagaytay, from which you have to take a small boat, known as a banca to Volcano Island.

We ate a quick lunch (chicken adobo) here before taking our banca across the lake
The banca boat ride was a lot of fun although you get pretty wet since these little boats don't provide much protection from the splashing waves. I didn't really mind it since the cool water felt good on a fairly hot, sunny day. From Tagaytay, you have a nice view across the lake to Binintiang Malaki (Big Leg) Crater where there were major eruptions in 1707 and 1715 although lately the Big Leg has been thankfully dormant.

When you arrive on Volcano Island, you have a choice of either walking to the top to see the crater lake or renting horses and riding up and down. We considered the horse rental, but decided against it since it seemed a bit pricey and the horse renters weren't willing to negotiate; plus walking seemed like good exercise to me. As it turned out, the walk was very easy with the only discomfort being the volcanic dust and dirt in the air. However, our young guide was well-prepared, providing us with face masks (see many more photos, including a masked me here).
View of crater lake on Volcano Island
Although the volcano hasn't been active recently, it is the second most active one in the Philippines, having erupted 33 times since 1572. The last eruption from the main crater occurred in 1911 killing over 1300 people and being responsible for creating the lake. There were also eruptions as late as 1977 from nearby Mount Tabaro, the most active crater in recent years. Although there haven't been any eruptions since then, seismic activity has still been detected since the 1990s so I guess it's only a matter of time before this beautiful volcano-produced scenery is again destroyed by yet another volcanic eruption. 

Taal's biggest known eruption lasted for 200 days in 1754 (glad I wasn't around for that one!). A written account by locally-stationed priest Miguel Sadera Masostates: On May 15, 1754, at about 9 or 10 o'clock in the night, the volcano quite unexpectedly commenced to roar and emit, sky-high, burning flames intermixed with glowing rocks which, falling back upon the island and rolling down the slopes of the mountain, created the impression of a large river of fire . . . We left the town, fleeing this living picture of Sodom, with incessant fear lest the raging waters of the lake overtake us, which were at the moment invading the main part of the town, sweeping away everything they encountered."

After returning to Taal, the priest wrote: "Soon afterward I resolved to visit my town of Taal; nothing was left of it except the walls of the church and convento. All the rest, the government house, the walks of the rope factory, the warehouse, everything was buried beneath a layer of stones, mud, and ashes more than 10 spans [2.20 m] thick; only here and there could be seen an upright post, the only remnant of a comfortable dwelling. I went down to the river and found it completely filled up, with a boat belonging to the alcalde and many of private persons buried in the mud. After incredible efforts I finally succeeded in unearthing in what had once been the church and sacristy, the chests which contained the sacred vestments and vessels. Nearly all of them were demolished by the rocks and beams which had fallen upon them, and filled with foul-smelling mud that had ruined or disfigured their contents. Thus the beautiful town of Taal remains a deserted wilderness and reduced to the utmost misery, while once it was one of the richest and most flourishing places . . ." 

If you're in Manila, taking a trip to Taal Volcano Island is definitely worthwhile although you'll need a whole day since you'll have to drive there and back (about 2 hours or so each way), take a banca across the lake, then climb and descend the mountain (less than an hour each way).


Many more photos from my trip to Taal can be found here or check out the slideshow below 

                                              Click here to view these pictures larger

Mar 21, 2014

Chinglish - Price Lie

Friday, March 21, 2014
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Like most foreigners living in China, I'm often amused at the strange English translations of things on public signs. On my way to the gym this morning, I noticed one of the best Chinglish examples I've encountered.



If there was ever a reward for honesty in lying, the creator of this sign should get it. I'm not exactly sure what the store is selling and couldn't see since it's located on the second floor of the building and nothing but the sign is visible from the ground (I was too lazy to walk up and look). However, any store that lies about it's prices and is honest enough to inform you about it in advance deserves respect so I encourage anyone to go there and buy whatever they're selling at whatever prices they're actually charging.


Obviously, the sign should say "price list" which seems to be what the Chinese characters say - price is 价 (j) and list is 表 (biǎo). But price lie is much more amusing.

Mar 20, 2014

Tibetan Yogurt in Xiamen

Thursday, March 20, 2014
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Since my recent post about pizza in China seemed to be relatively popular, I decided to continue with an informal review of another China culinary experience. One of the things that's difficult to find in China is decent yogurt. There's plenty of Chinese yogurt, but unlike the Western variety, it tends to be watery stuff that you drink from a small bag or bottle. In addition to not being very good, it's also relatively expensive (a bit higher than what you'd pay in the USA for better quality). Consequently, I generally avoid it and instead buy imported brands from the Xiamen Metro Hypermarket, a German chain which sells many imported as well as Chinese food items. As with most imported products, you pay a premium, but if I'm going to overpay for my yogurt, I might as well overpay for the better imported brands.


One day last week, I decided to stop by at a local coffee/tea/yogurt shop in Xiamen (Jimei to be more specific). I had passed by this place many times on the bus, but never tried it until recently after a workout at the nearby gym I've been going to. 

Tibetan Yogurt Shop in Jimei with picture of the Potala Palace
I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical about Tibetan yogurt since I've been to Tibet and one thing I learned is that almost all Tibetan food (only a slight exaggeration) comes from yaks - yak meat, yak milk, salty yak tea, and whatever else the Tibetans can extract from a yak. Having sampled some Yak delicacies, I wasn't overly impressed. However, my limited Tibetan culinary experience didn't include yogurt which apparently has a tradition of over 1000 years


Some Yaks in Tibet from my 2010 trip
Me, expertly riding a Yak in Tibet
OK, enough of the yaks, back to the yogurt. I managed to decipher enough of the menu (entirely in Chinese) to order yogurt with fruit which turned out to be some banana and strawberry slices. I'm not sure how Tibetan this yogurt really is, but it was quite good although I could have easily eaten another bowl since my workout had seriously worked up my appetite. The price was also reasonable - 8 yuan (U.S. $1.30), about the same as you pay for a small container of the crappy Chinese yogurt (with no real fruit) available in stores here.

My Tibetan yogurt with fruit
In addition to the yogurt and other drinks, this place also has some interesting Tibetan decor, including many photographs of Tibetan sights and some Tibetan artifacts hung on the walls. It's located near the intersection of Yindou lu and Shigu lu and is definitely worth a visit for anyone in the Jimei area.
Inside view of the Tibetan yogurt place
Interesting Wifi password sign

Mar 11, 2014

"Enjoy the colorful fried food in spring"

Tuesday, March 11, 2014
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Last weekend I went to dinner in Xiamen Island with some friends. As with many things in China, such a seemingly simple experience can often involve some challenge and adventure. I met 2 friends that live in my apartment complex in Jimei (a district of Xiamen, outside of Xiamen Island). We tried to get a taxi, but after waiting for about 40 minutes we got on  a bus instead and took about almost an hour to get to Xiamen Island. 


"Enjoy the colorful fried food in spring"
After getting off the bus, we took a taxi and eventually arrived at the west gate of Xiamen University where we met our friends who had been patiently awaiting us (at least they didn't complain about it) for over an hour. These friends included two French girls studying at Xiamen University who apparently aren't crazy about eating Chinese food all the time. Fortunately, there are lots of Western food choices in the university area and the girls led our group to a pizza restaurant called Salute Pizza that they said was really good.

After perusing the menu (which thankfully pictures as Chinese and poor English descriptions), we all ordered various pizzas. I ordered one with bacon, mushrooms and olive oil, but was told by the waiter "meiyou" on the mushrooms. Meiyou (没有) is one of the most common words you hear in China and means "don't have" (or "we're out" or just plain "no"). However, no major problem since the waiter (who couldn't speak much English) made it clear that all of us whose pizzas were supposed to include shrooms could substitute another topping (I opted for black olives which are not common in China). I also tried to order onion rings which looked really good on the menu picture, but was again met with the dreaded "meiyou" response. One of my friends did manage to successfully order the famous "Panda mashed potatoes" which I sampled after taking the photo below.

My panda potato posed artfully in ketchup
Another slight problem with this restaurant was that they cook the pizzas one at a time (probably only one oven) so it took a while for our group of 8 to all get served. Anyway, our pizzas all eventually arrived (sans mushrooms) and our French friends were correct, they were very good - best pizza I've had in Xiamen (although I don't go searching for pizza all that often). 

One of the benefits of eating in Chinese restaurants in China is the menus which almost invariably entertaining Chinglish descriptions of food and Salute Pizza was no exception.

I like the triangle design on this menu page showing
various fried potato options as well as the "meiyou" onion rings

I had to snap a photo of this description of the restaurant. From the English translation, all I can deduce is that the food is supposed to be Italian (a good choice for a pizza.pasta restaurant) and it involves some type of traditional pizza from Naples using the "great hand push technology Ganmian tools." Apparently, this technology has been used to make pizza for "a thousand years" and is "the most orthodox tongue classic." Feel free to keep reading the photo of the sign for more wonderful Chinglish poetic pizza description. Despite the exceptionally poor English and lack of mushrooms and onions, the pizza was very good!

Sep 24, 2013

China To Free the Internet?

Tuesday, September 24, 2013
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I find this hard to believe, but according to the South China Morning Post, China is going to unblock the Internet (at least to a very limited extent). For those of you in the free Internet world, this might be hard to believe, but here in China many websites are blocked including some of the world's most popular websites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Many foreign blog and news sites are also blocked such as the New York Times. Since this blog is hosted by Blogger, it is also inaccessible to the vast majority of people in China. Those of us residing in China that want to keep our online connection to the rest of the world must rely on VPNs.

On September 29, the city of Shanghai will become a free trade zone. As with many things in China, it's unclear exactly what this will mean, but arguably some of the changes will likely give foreign businesses a more equal playing field to compete with Chinese companies. Despite many reforms over the past 30 years, China is still very restrictive in terms of foreign ownership of business in certain industries. One such industry is media which is largely owned and or controlled by the Chinese government. 

Whenever I've had conversations with Chinese people (mostly college students) about Internet censorship and why sites like Facebook are blocked, the inevitable response is "because they say bad things about China." Criticism of China is generally not allowed, especially on a worldwide public forum such as the Internet. However, I've always suspected that another reason for China's Internet censorship is to protect Chinese websites from having to compete with American and other foreign websites. The lack of access to YouTube has certainly helped Chinese video sites such as Youku become highly popular among Chinese netizens. Similarly, Weibo (China's dominant blogging site) has greatly benefited from the lack of foreign blog sites such as Blogger. 

I'm just guessing, but this may have something to do with China's new "opening up" policy for the Internet in Shanghai's new free trade zone. Part of the free trade zone status involves allowing foreign telecommunications companies the opportunity to provide Internet access. Foreign telecoms might be less willing than Chinese Internet service providers to provide access in a market where they are required to restrict a large portion of the access provided, especially when the restriction includes the most popular foreign websites.

By allowing greater Internet access in a very limited (although heavily populated) part of China, the government can monitor Chinese neitzens' reactions to less a less censored flow of information. While the impact of allowing greater Internet access just in Shanghai will be very limited, it could be an interesting experiment which, if successful in the eyes of the Chinese government, might eventually be replicated at least in part by reforms throughout China.

Aug 8, 2013

Chinese Missile Sites or Mud Houses

Thursday, August 08, 2013
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In 1986, American spy satellites under President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative hovering above the mountains of southeast China's Fujian Province spotted large, circular-shaped buildings suspected to be nuclear missile silos. The CIA sent spies to investigate these mysterious buildings only to find out that they were actually ancient buildings made largely of mud.

A view of a Tulou cluster from the top of a nearby mountain
The buildings are called Tulou (土楼) which literally means earth buildings (土earth + 楼 building). Tulous are large, circular-shaped (or sometimes rectangular) buildings built largely of compacted earth (or mud). Actually, the compacted earth was mixed with stone and other materials (sometimes even including sticky rice) and reinforced with bamboo poles to form walls up to 6 feet thick. A tulou is usually 3-5 stories high and many can house around 80 families. Tulous were truly a form of communal living, with many families within a clan banding together for defense as well as economic and social purposes.
A view from inside a Tulou
In more recent history, traditional Tulou communal living has faced serious challenges as younger family members generally prefer to move to nearby cities in pursuit of higher-paying employment and more modern lifestyles. Some of the tulou communities have adapted by becoming tourist destinations and converting part of their residences into hotel rooms. I recently traveled to Nanjing County, about a 3-4 hour drive from Xiamen, to go on a Tulou tour, staying overnight in one of these Tulou turned hotels.
Me on a bridge in front of a 700 year old Tulou
Many of the tulous were built by Hakka Chinese (客家 kejia; literally meaning guest families). Hakkas are part of the Han Chinese majority ethnic group, but migrated from north to south China over the centuries. They often encountered resistance from local inhabitants of the areas they migrated to, including Minnan people who also sometimes lived in tulous.
This is the King Tulou since its the biggest (and the most touristy and commercialized)
I have lots more photos posted here and if you'd like to find out more about the famous Fujian tulous, CCTV produced a series of videos about them called Secrets of the Fujian Tulou which can be viewed online.