The black dog returns

Dragon array at a Taoist temple

The wife has been away for three weeks now, which if you followed this blog the last time she went to visit family in Taiwan, is the cue for another whining, pity party of a post. Off we go again...

The first time I arrived in China was back in the summer of 2013, when the family and I showed up in Shanghai 上海 for my first posting in the Foreign Service. It was something I was very much excited about, especially as it meant finally escaping the more than year-long trauma that was language learning at the Foreign Service Institute. It was an interesting time to be in the People's Republic, with the bilateral relationship being on steadier ground compared to now, and with many Chinese curious about the outside world. Shanghai itself was a fascinating place, and because we assumed we would never be back in the country, the three of us traveled extensively to various places within China. However, as you're probably well aware, we would return, first to Beijing 北京, and then Guangzhou 广州, where we're currently ensconced. These assignments were not the result of professional development, but rather represented failures in bidding - I had preferred to do another tour in Africa, or perhaps a stint in one of the southeast Asian countries (such as Singapore, Malaysia or Thailand).  Poor networking skills instead means I'll end my career with half the time spent here in China. 

Whenever Shu-E goes back to Taiwan I find it difficult to cope on my own in the PRC. There's no motivation to do anything - I don't want to go out anywhere on the weekends, don't want to interact with anyone in my free time and don't want to try and make myself better understood in Mandarin. Having been diagnosed with depression means that having to deal with China on my own, even if for only a few weeks, is even more of a spirit-breaking challenge, especially as the wife unfortunately doesn't understand or want to undertand what depression is or what it entails. When you're a middle-aged Taiwanese woman who grew up in a conservative rural area during a time when the country was under the rule of an authoritarian regime, it's only natural to think men should just silently endure and accept their impending earlier demises due to excessive alcohol and tobacco consumption. 

Still, I completely understand why the wife needs to see her family from time to time, and for this most recent visit of hers I was hoping to make a better go of enforced, albeit, temporary bacherhood. What follows is how I tried to cope this time around...

Home, sweet home:

The boys weren't too happy, either, to see Shu-E go:

Every weekend I tried to get out of the apartment if even for just a short amount of time. Like this walk around Huacheng Square 花城广场, where a large boulder rests in front of a branch of the Agricultural Bank of China 中国农业银行. There was no information I could find on how or why it is there:

The tons of cash that have flowed into many of China's biggest urban centers in recent decades have resulted in some interesting architecture, similar to what it was like in Japan's big cities during the asset price bubble バブル景気 of the late 1980s:

Parklife on a drizzly weekend afternoon:

A rehearsal for...something. I arrived home from work one evening to find my living room lit up with flashing strobe lights that continued until well after midnight. According to signs onsite it appeared related to a "520 Carnival", although other signage referred to a "Guangzhou Betel Nut Street" 广州槟榔街. The wife pointed out that businesses often rent out sites for promotional events but hadn't a clue what was going on here. Whatever it was, it only lasted for a few evenings and appeared to have wrapped up even before the 20th of May: 

A dance club trying to appeal to as many kinds of clubgoers as possible that I passed on the way to the Taikoo Hui Mall 广州太古汇, and in particular the Fangsuo Commune bookstore 方所. Back in the day in Shanghai there was the Foreign Language Bookstore, a great source for books in English on Chinese subjects ranging from history and travel to language study. It's still around (the one in Beijing was closing its doors at the time I visited), but there doesn't appear to be a branch here in Guangzhou. Fangsuo, unfortunately, only has a few titles in English, mainly focused on the arts. There were some interesting books on architecture, including some on noted Japanese architects such as Kengo Kuma 隈研吾 and Shigeru Ban 坂茂, but selections in other genres appeared either limited or non-existant (despite one website claiming 40% of the stock to be in foreign languages). The mall meanwhile has the usual collection of designer shops, with the more proletarian businesses consigned to the basement floors:

The Central Business District (CBD) on a relatively dry evening (Guangzhou is currently in its rainy season)...:

...and on a rainy one:

Memorial Day weekend. Three consecutive days off with nothing to do and nowhere to go. Bored as always, I went for a walk down to the Pearl River 珠江:

Crossing the Liede Bridge 猎德大桥: 

A Haizhu Tram 广州海珠有轨电车1号线 train passes by:

The CBD looks more attractive at night, which could be said for most large Chinese cities (as well as Las Vegas). Walking by the Guangdong Museum 广东省博物馆:

A drone show, a common sight these days all over China:

Tianhe 天河 becomes much more subdued after 23:00:

On Memorial Day I finally dragged myself out of the CBD by revisiting Enning Road 恩宁路, an older section of Guangzhou that is home to some fine examples of Qilou 騎樓 architecture. It's an area we've been to several times; for this occasion I brought along my seldom used these days Canon to take some photos, starting with the Bahe Academy 八和会馆, a guildhall for Cantonese opera performers. The 3 meter/9.8 foot-tall wooden door dates from 1889, and somehow managed to survive Japanese bombing in 1937. It also managed to recover from being used as a parking plank for heavy vehicles during the Great Leap Forward : 

The entrance to Yongqing Fang 永庆坊, an alleyway last visited when our daughter was in town at the end of last year: 

Luanyu Tang 銮舆堂 is a 200-year-old union hall for Cantonese opera actors who perform martial arts and acrobatic roles: 

The ancestral home of Bruce Lee, whose father was a Cantonese opera actor and member of the above union. I went inside (again) to have another look, but it was surprisingly busy for a Monday and so I left:

Passing by the Cantonese Opera Art Museum, which was closed this day. A pity as I could've availed myself of the air-conditioned restrooms inside:

Walking past some interesting building facades:

Renwei Temple 仁威庙. It was past opening hours the last time Shu-E and I were in the area but this time I was able to enter and have a look around: 

At 35°C/95°F and being very humid I gave up after the temple and returned in the early afternoon to the air-conditioned comfort of our apartment 

The uncomfortable weather keep me mostly confined indoors this past weekend as well. Still, I made a feeble effort to get out on Sunday. I had hoped to check out Li's Ancestral Temple 李氏宗祠, a walk of fewer than thirty minutes from our building. Unfortunately, the entrance was blocked by a sea of banquest tables being set up (the previous weekend I had also tried to visit, only to encounter a large wedding party in full swing out front). So instead I crossed the street to a smaller temple which I believe is called Huaguang Temple 华光庙. There wasnt much to see, but it was further evidence that traditional forms of worship are far more prevalent in this part of China compared to in the more ideological north of the country. And by the time I returned home after this short excursion I was drenched in sweat: 

If nothing else the relative paucity of photographs connected with this post should be indicative of just how dull and spiritually-sapping these past several weeks have been. At least this time around I was slightly less of a hermit, having enjoyed myself at a trivia contest on one Friday evening, as well as a recent Sunday brunch at a colleague's house. And having the cats to take care of and keep me company this time did much to make the time spent at home a bit less tedious, even it meant having to keep a constant eye on the Siamese to make sure he didn't tear into any packages to get at the cat food inside (like he did one recent night while I was asleep). Still, all things considered, I still do not like being on my own in China. Not one bit.

The wife returns tomorrow, which should put an end to this self-pity party. It's too bad Shu-E won't be able to do anything about Guangzhou's increasingly uncomfortable temperatures. At least all that rain offers temporary relief:

How I hope the soundtrack to my retirement years sounds like:

Down all the daze

亮马河

Barring illness, natural disaster or any other of a myriad of possible disruptions, by this time next weekend I should hopefully be finding myself yet again in Ōsaka 大阪. However, Japan's "second city" (even if it is actually only third in population behind Tōkyō 東京 and Yokohama 横浜) is only serving this time as the gateway to Shikoku 四国, the smallest of Japan's four main islands, and the one part of the country I haven't visited in any depth. In fact, my time in Shikoku until now has been limited to the following: a single overnight stay during the summer of 1990 in Kotohira 琴平, followed the next day by taking a now-discontinued ferry from Imabari 今治 to Hiroshima 広島; a day trip from Okayama 岡山 to Sakaide 坂出 in 1997, one of the more depressing outings I've ever taken in that the area around Sakaide Station 坂出駅 looked like it had been hit pretty hard by the economic downturn Japan was going through at that time; and another day trip, this one by bicycle to the Inland Sea 瀬戸内海 island of Ōmishima 大三島, a part of Ehime-ken 愛媛県, one of the four prefectures that administratively make up Shikoku.

On the surface the reason for taking the time to travel around Shikoku is to get closer to successfully completing a bucket list item. In this case, visiting all 47 of Japan's prefectures - if all goes according to plan, then at the end of this trip my tally will read 46/47. But, in a more serious vein, this trip is also meant to serve a mental health purpose. I hope to use the month away from my job to reflect on health, marriage, the past ("What have I done with my life so far?"), the future ("What do I want to do next in the limited time that remains?"), life, the universe and the meaning of it all.  It's probably not a coincidence that I will become another year older during this trip, though this will not be the first time to observe a birthday overseas away from family. 

And at the conclusion of this trip our daughter Amber will be back in China following the end of her first year at college, which gives a very damned good reason for coming back to Beijing 北京 instead of just fading away into the Japanese landscape. 

At this point you might be wondering how I have all this time off to embark on larks like this upcoming adventure. The answer is primarily twofold: 1.) I'm careful when it comes to using accumulated leave time, preferring to save the days for longer periods of time off (much to the annoyance of supervisors); and 2.) I try to travel during local and U.S. holidays, which generally don't count toward the usage of annual leave. For example, my upcoming itinerary will cover two American (Memorial Day and Juneteenth) and one Chinese (Dragon Boat Festival 端午节) holidays. 

So expect activity on this blog to be quiet for the next few weeks, only for it to then be inundated with a flurry of posts the reader will not have seen since my daughter and I spent nearly a month traveling through Japan two summers ago. 

Until then, enjoy some photos of activities that took place since the last time I uploaded: 

A craft beer digestif following dinner at home one evening:

In an attempt to get myself in better shape for Shikoku (where I plan to rent bikes at least a couple of times) I rode half an hour in the haze one weekend afternoon (the AQI that day was supposedly 91 - "supposedly" because the embassy's air quality monitor is no longer operating after funding was axed, meaning we have to rely on official Chinese data when it comes to air pollution) to Ditan Park 地坛公园, aka the Temple of Earth. It was constructed in 1530 and is the second largest of the four temples behind the famed Temple of Heaven 天坛.  I decided against forking out for the exorbitant entry fee of  RMB2 (30¢!), though the real reason for not going inside was because it looked very busy. So instead I contented myself with a stroll around the southern and eastern sides of the park's outer wall. 

A middle-aged Chinese woman wearing a Ramones tee, not the first time to encounter such a shirt in east Asia. I also once came across a Black Flag bars* T-shirt for sale in a boutique located in, of all places, Fengyuan 豐原 in central Taiwan:

Beijingers make full use of their park spaces. Some of the activities I chanced upon included people playing cards and board games, flying kites, practicing musical instruments, roller skating and doing exercises:

With a sign advertising "professional haircuts" for only RMB10 ($1.40) this barber was one of several hair stylists doing a brisk business in the park:

Water calligraphy, in which people use oversized brushes and paint with water on the ground:

Making sure the Chinese Communist Party can't read her dangerous thoughts?:

The south gate of Ditan Park, where I had parked my bike:

Ditan Park is close to the Yonghegong Lama Temple: 

It's difficult to make out but there were two figures swimming in the Beihucheng River. Were they possibly inspired by Mao Zedong 毛泽东? Whatever the reason I wouldn't do it in these waters:

Speaking of the Great Helmsman, here he is pictured on an excavator "serving the people":

Our indoor cat enjoying the backyard, safely secured against running off (though seeing as any little noise has Timi turning around and wanting to go back inside, the risk is low):

Religious paraphernalia inside gashapon capsule toys ガシャポン. This was taken at a movie theater in the SOLANA Shopping Park where the wife and I saw Here: 

 

At the Slow Boat Brewery brewpub in Maizidian 麦子店, where we went for dinner after the movie:

Dinner after another day at work at an Italian restaurant along the Liangma River 亮马河:

On the first day of the four-day Labor Day 劳动节 holiday the two of us rode share bikes to check out the Beijing Book Fair, which was being held in the opposite end of Chaoyang Park 朝阳公园 from where we live:

Biographies of Henry Kissinger, Steve Jobs and Simone de Beauvoir, all in Chinese of course:

Lu Xun 鲁迅 a writer I became familiar with when we lived in Shanghai. During that time I bought The True Story of Ah Q. Due to his left-wing idealism his works were banned in Taiwan until the late 1980's, which explains why he's famous in China but remains relatively unknown on the other side of the Taiwan Strait: 

Karl Marx magnets. I now regret not picking up a couple for our fridge:

Biographies of Chinese Communist Party heroes. No regrets about passing on any of these titles: 

An old propaganda magazine about East Germany. I also saw one on Nicolae Ceausescu's Romania: 

 

A ration coupon which was used during the 1970s to pay for goods in stores:

One Hundred Things in Japan is my poor translation of this book's title:

An eclectic collection of figurines for sale:

An old English-language map of central Beijing, another item I wonder if I should've purchased: 

A Chinese translation of Edgar Snow's Red Star Over China:

Shu-E stayed behind to look at more stalls (she would end up buying a small print) while I walked through the park on my home:

Strolling along the Liangma after dark:

On the second day of the holiday weekend the weather was overcast and surprisingly cool. For the most part we stayed home but did go out for lunch at Uosei Best Fish 魚清鮮魚店, a Japanese restaurant that also has a small Japanese grocery store attached to it. You can buy fish in the store and have the restaurant prepare it as sashimi 刺身, which is what we did:

The bluefin tuna is the "Rolls Royce of Sashimi" according to the Chinese. The Japanese is advertising a "Tuna Dissection Show" - sort of. ツ is used instead of シ, and it also reads ツヨー, when it should be ショー; both are common mistakes. So I assume you can witness a demonstration of sashimi preparation, and all for the low, low price of RMB298 ($41 or ¥5940):

My wife has become obsessed in recent years with the Baishatun Mazu Pilgrimage 白沙屯媽祖進香. As recently as 2010 there were only a paltry few thousand participants, far less than the more famous Dajia Mazu Pilgrimage 大甲媽祖遶境進香. But now, thanks to social media, its popularity has exploded to the more than 300,000 officially registered to take part in this year's procession, and helping to turn religious devotion in Taiwan into a lifeline for the domestic tourist industry. My wife watched it unfold online religiously (rimshot) from her laptop, though Timi not so impressed:

On the third day the pleasant weather returned, so I went for another bike ride in the mid-afternoon. I rode to the Taiyanggong Sports Leisure Park 太阳宫体育休闲公园. After dismounting I took a walk through the park, where there was little special of note, being very quiet, and with some small artificial turf soccer pitches, most of which were not in use (I'm assuming to Xi Jinping's 习近平 disappointment). The park did have a few roses but none were as nice as those my wife has been cultivating (see photos below):

While walking in the park I first noticed on the other side of the road this ugly statue. Upon leaving the park I crossed to have a closer look, which is when I saw on the left the vertical plaque reading "Taiwan Residents Culture and Art Exchange Center" 台湾住民文化艺交流中心. It was only after I got home and uploaded the photo that I noticed the words on the right for the "Beijing Cross-Strait Pigeon Friendship Association", most likely reflecting the fact that pigeon racing is a popular sport (and gambling activity) in Taiwan. As I left to get back on my bike I gazed up at a group of pigeons flying in the sky:

I had parked my bike almost directly opposite the Beijing Taxation Museum 北京税务博物馆. According to the sign in front, reservations have to be made one day in advance. The list of articles prohibited from being brought inside included CDs. Why compact discs?:

If you look closely you might be able to make out that this dog was looking cool in a pair of shades:

On the last day of the extended holiday weekend we went to see Thunderbolts* at SOLANA. Afterward we bought some snacks from the temporary outdoor market in front of the shopping center. The shawarma and Xinjiang-style lamb kebabs were good, but the next door stall's so-called Taiwanese-style oyster omelets were less so: 

As you've no doubt worked out Labor Day was a staycation for Shu-E and I.  Experience has taught us that traveling within China during extended holiday periods (namely, the Lunar New Year, Labor Day and the three-day National Day break at the beginning of October) isn't for the faint-hearted. Immense crowds descend on the popular sightseeing spots, with trains and highways filled to capacity, and hotel rates skyrocketing in response to the resulting demand. During these times it's better to travel abroad (though airfares will also be higher) or stay home and wait for a U.S. Federal holiday weekend to do some domestic explorations.

The following weekend the two of us took the subway to visit a small outdoor market being held in an equally small nondescript community park. Inquiring minds may wish to know why - the reason was my wife had learned through her Taiwanese WeChat network there would be one stall there selling grilled Taiwanese-style sausages, which was all the reason she needed:  

The verdict? The sausages (and accompanying fish balls) tasted fine, but not really worth the effort to get there (it was sheer coincidence and nothing else that I happened to have been wearing my Formosa T-shirt. Honest):

The wife came upon another stall cooking up stinky tofu 臭豆腐, and bought herself some for lunch:

The market wasn't large but served to complement the small number of visitors who came to the park to take photos of the unfortunately-named rapeseed flowers: 

The following day (Mother's Day), while Shu-E busied herself with her gardening, I went for a short bike ride following lunch, battling the traffic of Beijing's central business district to visit Qingfeng Park 庆丰公园. The explanatory bilingual sign at the park's entrance can do a far better job than I in explaining the historical background to the park, so out of laziness I took a photo to share here: 

Kite flying is a popular activity, one often seen in Chinese parks. If you have the ability to zoom in, you should be able to barely discern the outline of a kite in the middle top part of the photo:

A large white metal sculpture, dubbed "Sailing boats flowing along the unobstructed water canal". According to An Englishman in Beijing: What other guides fail to tell you, it's meant to "represent an inverted reflection of the sails of the ships that used to dock (t)here":

Apathy or fatigue? You make the call, but in any event I'll defer to the excellent English captions to explain the significance of this locust tree with a history spanning more than 500 years:

At the main entrance to the park stands a sculpture of a stele 6 meters/19.7 feet high and 1.5 meters/4.9 feet wide. The murals on all four sides depict scenes of the ancient lock: 

Am I being creepily voyeuristic? Perhaps. In any case I thought her so-called "sexy" poses were bordering on the ridiculous: 

On a recent Friday Shu-E suggested going out for dinner shortly after I'd returned home from work. Her choice was Long Long Ago, a restaurant in SOLANA that specializes in Kǎochuàn 烤串, grilled skewers. The novelty here is that the skewers are rotated automatically over the heat source, with the staff coming by to remove them once they're ready to be consumed, meaning the diners only need to eat:  

My wife ordered some grilled oysters to go along with the meat and veggies:

The complimentary compresses were there to provide some cooling relief while waiting for your skewers to finish being grilled. They were surprisingly effective:

Enjoying the fine weather on our back patio. Timi frequently asks to go outside, especially when Shu-E is there. As noted above, the harness is to prevent him from running off, which he's done a couple of times in the past (though he didn't get very far either time). He doesn't like having to wear it, but seems to accept the restraint as the price to get out of the house:

For a Saturday afternoon bike ride I visited yet another park, one that we've been to before (including recently when the begonias were in bloom) - Yuan Dadu Chengyuan 元大都城垣遗址公园 or, as it's dubbed in English, the Yuan Dynasty Capital City Wall Site Park. Apparently, though, there are few if any remnants of the city wall that was originally built in 1267, as the north wall (where the park now stands) was moved southwards during the early years of the Ming Dynasty 明朝:

The park for the most part makes for a pleasant walk, though one section underneath a busy road seems to serve as a canvas for some of Beijing's graffiti artists:

A pair of stele stand fenced-off from visitors. I couldn't see any signs explaining the history or significance of them:

A pair of gentleman not of the Han Chinese persuasion enjoy some refreshing alcoholic beverages while seated close to the Xiaoyue River:

 

Practicing calligraphy with the help of a bucket of water and a long brush:

Apparently you can camp in some spots of the park:

The Siamese ensures the natural hierarchy remains in force:

What Chaoyang Park looks like at dusk, assuming I have access to either a drone or a helicopter, and the air is very clean:

Speaking of the park, this complex has been under construction during almost the entirety of our stay here. It still isn't finished, but does look close to completion. And yet I still remain clueless as to its purpose. The unhelpful Chinese on the exterior reads as "Weibo Cross (or Inter)-dimensional Gravitational Field" 微博跨次元引力场. Weibo 微博 is a Chinese social media platform somewhat akin to Twitter (sorry, I mean X), but as to what the rest of the name means, or what will take place inside, your guess is as good as any. From this angle, it looks like you're facing a giant insect:

And so soon I'll be off!...? Hopefully, things will take place without too many major impediments, though I have chosen to travel during the rainy season 梅雨, so it's to be expected that a certain amount of moisture will fall from the skies while I'm exploring the wilds of Shikoku. Then again, I drove in the snow during our visit to Hokkaidō 北海道 earlier this year and, in any event, rain falls all year round in Japan, so it is what it will be. 

And with that, see you again on these pages in a month or so...

Until then, here are a few photo contributions from my wife, beginning with the aforementioned Baishatun Mazu pilgrimage obsession. The pilgrimage ended on Mother's Day this year. While it was taking place Shu-E avidly watched livestreams on her laptop, during which she would occasionally share some photos and videos:

The sign on the back of this pilgrim reads 祈求媽祖讓川普正常點! - "Pray to Mazu for Trump to behave normally!":

This video explains the popularity of the pilgrimage has with some of its participants. 

My wife's more secular obsession these days is with the roses outside our townhouse:

She snapped this photo in Wangjing 望京, where she took our cat to get chipped by a vet in preparation for our upcoming departure from Beijing at the end of July: 

This subdistrict of the city is known as Beijing's Koreatown for its large number of South Korean residents, so it didn't come as a surprise that this is what Shu-E had for lunch while Timi was busy at the clinic:

And not to be amiss, here is a pair from our daughter. One of her lab classes pitted a local crayfish against a representative from an invasive species, to see if the invader could outmuscle the natives. Unfortunately, I don't remember what she said was the final outcome, but I do recall her comment that everyone was hungry for some crayfish at the end of the experiment:  

The girl seems to have developed an interest in the local squirrel population:

*The Black Flag bars logo T-shirt, like the one I saw in Fengyuan. I don't want to brag, gatekeep or sound old, but back in the day I had all the records from "Nervous Breakdown" up to "Annihilate This Week". I also saw the band three times in concert - twice in Sacramento, and once at the Hollywood Palladium, where they were second on the bill between the Ramones and the Minutemen. It was one of the greatest shows I've ever attended. While my friend Steve and I were having a blast indoors, outside the LAPD riot squad (including some on horseback) were battling the angry punks who couldn't get in to see the show, a memory that would later grace the cover of Henry Rollins' book Get in the Van: