January updates

My 2013 got off to a busy start! I started the new year in Sichuan, where I attended my cousin's wedding and saw tons of relatives whom I had not seen since 2004. All of the cousins around my age are of course grown up with jobs and/or girlfriends, and all of the cousins 6-12 years older than me are now parents. This also means that those new babies or toddlers.

It was also nice to appreciate the noticeably slower and more relaxed pace of life in Sichuan. I first went to Chengdu, which is the capital of Sichuan and considered to be a medium-sized city. Wikipedia says "Chengdu outnumbers Shanghai in the number of tea houses and bars despite having less than half the population. The inhabitants have a reputation in China for having a laid-back attitude and for knowing how to enjoy life." It's difficult to me to judge, as I work in Beijing and have only ever vacationed in Sichuan. After many visits, rounds of food, and a visit to the giant panda breeding center, I moved on to Deyang, a suburb one hour away from Chengdu, where I continued to see my aunts, uncles, and cousins, enjoy the relaxing Sichuan lifestyle, and eat way too much. Although I was only in Deyang for 3 nights, I definitely got a feel for a typical night: dinner, then a bar or KTV where drinks and more snacks are ordered, and then to a restaurant for a "midnight snack." I should emphasize that the KTV snacks were not snacks in the Western or even the Beijing sense; these snacks ranged from spicy pickled seaweed to chicken wings to ginormous fruit plates. The midnight snacks I tried were dumplings in a sweet and spicy sauce and roasted meats. I think I averaged a gain of 1 kilo for every day that I was in Sichuan.

A typical bowl of 5RMB Sichuan noodles.

I think this quote very accurately describes giant panda habits: Panda spends 98 percent of their time eating or sleeping. The other two percent, according to a Chinese book, is spent “wondering and enjoying.”

A plastic glove wasn't enough to keep our clothes from the drippy, spicy, oily goodness. But it was worth it.

With the cutest nephew ever:)

I also took a trip with my mom to Singapore and Malaysia. Unfortunately, the sudden changes of climate that I was putting my body through (-5 and dry in Beijing, 1 and humid in Chengdu, back to -5 and dry in Beijing, and 30 and wet in Singapore) didn't help my cough and I ended up getting a throat infection. Anyways, Malaysia has been a crossroads of East Asian, Southeast Asian, Middle East, and even European cultures for hundreds of years. The biggest influences are by far the Chinese, Indian, and Malay, and this is especially evident in the cuisine but also in the architecture, culture, religion, and every aspect of society. It was pretty amazing that 3rd or 4th generation Chinese were still quite in touch with Chinese culture, and because of the Chinese presence (as locals and as tourists) many Malaysians who were not from Chinese descent also were able to speak Mandarin.

A protest in the Chinatown of Kuala Lumpur

Cambodian style temple

Getting colorfully covered up at the National Mosque

Back in Beijing, we had an extremely polluted month. After having lived here for several months already, I was already used to smoggy days with very low visibility, little to no wind, and PM2.5 levels 2, 3, or 4 times the WHO recommended level. This time, it was especially bad as the weather conditions caused the pollution to accumulate for almost a week. Not only were flights delayed because of the low visibility (including our flight back from Singapore), but there was even a fire in Shanghai that went unnoticed for 3 hours because it just blended in with the pollution! If you want to read more, there's plenty on the internet, and my friend S sent me this article which does a good job of describing the situation. Anyways, the pollution I guess is one of the worst parts of living in this city, since it really can affect so many aspects of your life. Living in California, the air quality has always been something that I (and most other Californians) take for granted, and it really is a basic human right to live in a clean and safe environment.

A hazy day in Chaoyang

So, that provided a nice segue into my work life, as all of the projects that I'm working on have some kind of contribution to energy efficiency or emissions reductions. At the end of January my supervisor B was in Beijing on mission from Vienna. I attended some meetings with her and definitely got a better understanding of UNIDO projects, relationships with stakeholders and counterparts, the frustrations that come with the slow pace and inefficient bureaucracies that are unfortunately typical of the non-profit or governmental sectors, but also a personal satisfaction of contributing to a greater cause that the private sector doesn't really provide. Working on an international level is also exhausting, as one must be aware of the constantly changing politics and minutiae of cultural sensitivity. This isn't the case in China, but oftentimes the project team and stakeholders invest time and effort into creating a meaningful relationship with a certain government organization, and all that work is wasted with a change of government. Anyways, B is quite young and has had a variety of experiences in the private and public sector and lived in several countries and continents, so she always had some interesting stories and spot-on advice.

Finally, what would a January in sub-zero temperatures be without a snow and ice festival? Even though Harbin was too far and overwhelming, and the mere thought of -35C was enough to scare us off, my friends and I still managed to go to the Longqing Gorge Ice Sculpture Festival.