Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Ma la song 马拉松
Marathon.
Last weekend, I again ran the Shanghai ma la song. Actually, just the half marathon, but since until recently I didn't know how to say "half marathon" in Chinese, I've gotten in the habit of just telling people "marathon". Amongst a community of mostly non-competitive runners, "marathon" is an immediately recognized event and makes the conversation much easier. Besides, for someone who's never run outside of the occasionally sprint to claim an open taxi on a rainy day in Shanghai, the extra 21.1 km are irrelevant. Apologizes to any runners out there for such blasphemy.
This year I was forced to bandit the race. I had every intention of legitimately registering, but by the time I got around to it, I found the on-line registration was already closed - a full 3 weeks before race day! Not to worry. A few days earlier I had serendipitously come across my race bib from last year and figured it would serve as a passable disguise. Amidst a sea of 20,000 runners, I was confident no one was going to trouble themselves over some foreigner with the wrong color bid.
Perhaps I should consider banditing more often, as this was one of my most enjoyable races ever. With no timing chip, relatively no training, and absolutely no pressure I was completely free to soak in the surroundings, which were a palpable mix of fan-wielding octogenarian tai chi troupes, drummers, and inappropriately shoed competitors. I saw two barefoot runners and one dude running in his soccer cleats. Ouch! The kilometers easily ticked by with such sensory distraction.
The course is a pancake flat east to west stroll through some of the less noteworthy streets in Puxi. Both the full and half marathon courses start and finish at the same points, with the full course splitting off at about km 17 to add the extra distance before joining back up right near the finish line. Aside from the heavily fan-supported start on Nanjing lu, it is a completely unspectacular course. The race organizers could do the event a huge favor by re-routing it through some of the more interesting Shanghai landmarks. My suggestion would be to start in Pudong at Century park, cruise down Century avenue to the Lujiazui CBD, then across one of the bridges into Puxi, down the Bund and through a few old Hong Kou neighborhoods before finishing in People's square. Okay, good for the runners maybe, but bad for the traffic cops.
I digress. Back to the race. At the split off point, I of course took the shorter half marathon route and kicked it up a notch for the last few kms. Nearing the finish line, my little counterfeit bib almost caused some major embarrassment. It turned out the 2006 half bibs quite resembled the 2007 full ones. Approaching the line, I could see the race organizers starting to get very excited presumably thinking I was the full marathon course leader coming down the stretch (in what would have been world-record obliterating time, no less). Sprinting in the last few meters I waved the welcoming party away and convinced them I was merely finishing the half marathon in a rather pedestrian time of 1:33.
Last weekend, I again ran the Shanghai ma la song. Actually, just the half marathon, but since until recently I didn't know how to say "half marathon" in Chinese, I've gotten in the habit of just telling people "marathon". Amongst a community of mostly non-competitive runners, "marathon" is an immediately recognized event and makes the conversation much easier. Besides, for someone who's never run outside of the occasionally sprint to claim an open taxi on a rainy day in Shanghai, the extra 21.1 km are irrelevant. Apologizes to any runners out there for such blasphemy.
This year I was forced to bandit the race. I had every intention of legitimately registering, but by the time I got around to it, I found the on-line registration was already closed - a full 3 weeks before race day! Not to worry. A few days earlier I had serendipitously come across my race bib from last year and figured it would serve as a passable disguise. Amidst a sea of 20,000 runners, I was confident no one was going to trouble themselves over some foreigner with the wrong color bid.
Perhaps I should consider banditing more often, as this was one of my most enjoyable races ever. With no timing chip, relatively no training, and absolutely no pressure I was completely free to soak in the surroundings, which were a palpable mix of fan-wielding octogenarian tai chi troupes, drummers, and inappropriately shoed competitors. I saw two barefoot runners and one dude running in his soccer cleats. Ouch! The kilometers easily ticked by with such sensory distraction.
The course is a pancake flat east to west stroll through some of the less noteworthy streets in Puxi. Both the full and half marathon courses start and finish at the same points, with the full course splitting off at about km 17 to add the extra distance before joining back up right near the finish line. Aside from the heavily fan-supported start on Nanjing lu, it is a completely unspectacular course. The race organizers could do the event a huge favor by re-routing it through some of the more interesting Shanghai landmarks. My suggestion would be to start in Pudong at Century park, cruise down Century avenue to the Lujiazui CBD, then across one of the bridges into Puxi, down the Bund and through a few old Hong Kou neighborhoods before finishing in People's square. Okay, good for the runners maybe, but bad for the traffic cops.
I digress. Back to the race. At the split off point, I of course took the shorter half marathon route and kicked it up a notch for the last few kms. Nearing the finish line, my little counterfeit bib almost caused some major embarrassment. It turned out the 2006 half bibs quite resembled the 2007 full ones. Approaching the line, I could see the race organizers starting to get very excited presumably thinking I was the full marathon course leader coming down the stretch (in what would have been world-record obliterating time, no less). Sprinting in the last few meters I waved the welcoming party away and convinced them I was merely finishing the half marathon in a rather pedestrian time of 1:33.
Xiao xue 小学
Elementary school.
Stumbled upon this interesting little blog readability test. As you can see by the xiao xue rating, the test doesn't think much of the compositional sophistication of this blog.
The way I see it, this could be a result of:
1) engineer bloggers
2) the author's intentional pandering to an uneducated readership
3) inherent bias against Chinese words (c'mon, how many Elementary school kids do you know that have the basic Chinese reading skills necessary to understand this blog?)
4) software bug in test script
Stumbled upon this interesting little blog readability test. As you can see by the xiao xue rating, the test doesn't think much of the compositional sophistication of this blog.
The way I see it, this could be a result of:
1) engineer bloggers
2) the author's intentional pandering to an uneducated readership
3) inherent bias against Chinese words (c'mon, how many Elementary school kids do you know that have the basic Chinese reading skills necessary to understand this blog?)
4) software bug in test script
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Huoguo 火锅
Hot Pot.
You can always tell a huoguo restaurant when you are driving down the road, the steamed up windows give it away. Looking closer, you can see the sweat on the brow and the empty Qingdao bottles lined up on the wall as a group of people fish in the sunken vat in the center of the table. Ah, Hotpot, the great Chinese pasttime. As with all foods, each region in China has their own version of hot pot. From Dimsum-style individual pots in Canton to a weak watery lamb broth in Bejing to the laduzi-causing ma-la of Sichuan, there is one for each day of the week! (In fact, Tim has had 4 styles of hot pot in the past week and a half - Beijing, Chongqing, Chengdu and Shanghai)
Today was the day for Shanghai hotpot, which tells more about the weather than the weather report ever could. Someone brought 2 pots to the office and we had a feast over lunch. The pots were filled with a spicy soup. As it boiled, we added the below ingredients - fondue style:
- 3 types of Mushrooms
- 2 types of clams
- shrimp, squid, octopus
- fish balls, shrimp balls, squid balls
- super thin sliced beef and lamb
- dumplings, mmmm
- potatoes, winter melon, bamboo, shanyao (a chinese root veg), cauliflower
- Spinach, Cilantro, other greens
- Rice Noodles
It was a feast! And now, I know that winter has started. :)
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Torch II
Well, the results are out and it looks like I was passed over for the torch this time around. Seems like the winner from the US is pretty well-deserving, though!
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/torch_page.html
Thank you for all your comments and support!
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/torch_page.html
Thank you for all your comments and support!
Moxige cai 墨西哥菜
Mexican food.
Turns out there really IS Moxige cai to be had in China. Problem is, you have to go to Beijing to find it in the form of El Fogoncito.
After a long day of recruiting yesterday, I treated myself to some pastor tacos and a margarita on the way out of town. El Fogoncito won't make me forget El Chile or even Polvos anytime soon, but it was enough to get me through a few more long, mole-free months in China.
The waitress, who incidentally had a pretty impressive Spanish accent for a Chinese girl (they must do some language training for the wait staff to practice rolling the rrr's) hinted that they are looking to expand in China. 上海欢迎你.
Turns out there really IS Moxige cai to be had in China. Problem is, you have to go to Beijing to find it in the form of El Fogoncito.
After a long day of recruiting yesterday, I treated myself to some pastor tacos and a margarita on the way out of town. El Fogoncito won't make me forget El Chile or even Polvos anytime soon, but it was enough to get me through a few more long, mole-free months in China.
The waitress, who incidentally had a pretty impressive Spanish accent for a Chinese girl (they must do some language training for the wait staff to practice rolling the rrr's) hinted that they are looking to expand in China. 上海欢迎你.
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