China Pictures Are Done

Incline | by Samer Farha

In Profile | by Samer Farha

Sailing In | by Samer Farha

It’s taken far too long, but all my pictures from China are now up on Flickr. You can see the set or a slideshow.

A Hot Shower

Of all the things I miss from home, I think I miss my shower the most. It was roomy and luxurious, always afforded me hot water, and never complained a bit when I wanted to spend a longer time relaxing under it’s hot stream of water.

Alas, in China the showers were so small that I could see developing claustrophobia. And the water heater was meager, barely able to supply enough hot water for one shower. Many is the time when attempting to shave my head in the shower resulted in an icy finish.

In Dubai, the showers were nice and big. Unfortunately, if you wake up past 10a, your only option is hot water. Not, you know, mildly hot. No, no. This is scalding hot water. And there’s no way to temper it. The sun heats the “cold” water tanks on the roof and you’ve got no hope. On the plus side, you don’t have to worry about it turning cold.

Here, in Lebanon, the problem is different. It’s a power problem — as in, there ain’t any. The water heater (and the air conditioning) cannot be run off the standby generator. And since they lose power around here for at least four hours every day, you better hope those four hours aren’t the ones leading up to the time you need a shower.

On the plus side, the internet can (sort of) be run off the generator. My laptop has to be battery powered, though.

Olympic Kvetching

The Olympics were, for me, a fantastic experience. Mostly. The work, the people, and the results we got made the long hours and the downsides all well worth it. Of all the downsides, though, the only one which almost everyone would agree on is the food service that Aramark provided in the media areas.

At the Media Village there were cafeterias for our food consumption. I mostly only ate breakfast there, having lost my appetite most nights. The scrambled eggs ranged from dark, almost bruised, green to bright bright yellow. The breakfast meat was always a surprise, and ranged from very limp fatty bacon to these red Chinese sausages that might as well have been jerky — they were thoroughly over cooked.

The food at the Main Press Center was no better. The only things you could consistently count on being edible at the cafeteria were the bratwurst and the mediocre pizza. Roast duck, for instance, came sliced and wrapped with some sauce, but was somehow tasteless. Ravioli was often dry and crunchy on the edges. And a myriad of mystery meats (all grey) left me wondering if the guys walking around with chef’s hats had any actual culinary training.

How bad was the food? It was so bad, most people actually preferred McDonald’s over the cafeteria stuff. McDonald’s, in turn, did not disappoint, constantly churning out Big Macs and chicken sandwiches that tasted just like they do at home. If I don’t eat at McDonald’s for the rest of the year, it won’t be soon enough.

The most laughable thing, though, was when they ran out of salt packets (and apparently loose salt, too), at the breakfast cafeteria. I asked an English-speaking Aramark employee what the deal was, and she informed me that the salt “was stuck in customs.” Really? Does no one provide salt in China?She also suggested I use soy sauce on the eggs, instead. I was, to put it mildly, not amused.

Photo Highlight – On the Fence Edition

Got to go to the men’s fencing finals last night. Everyone said it would be boring, but it was around the corner and we had a bit of time to kill, so we went. The elevator doors to the press area opened up and we heard this great roar of the crowd.

All Eyes On Man | by Samer Farha

Turns out that China’s Man Zhong was competing in the semifinals. He was not expected to get a medal, but he was just a few parries from being in the final.

Intermission | by Samer Farha

That was during the intermission of the final, when his coach was advising him to be more aggressive. At this point, he was two points behind (7-9). He rallied, and went on an aggressive attack, to finish 15-9.

Fencing Gold | by Samer Farha

The home crowd exploded at his unanswered attacks, and the air in the stadium was just electric. It was a fantastic introduction to fencing, for me, and only the second gold medal in the sport for China.

Photo Highlight – Fireworks in China Edition

The Chinese invented fireworks, and the show they put on did not disappoint. The pictures below were all taken with my new lens and were handheld. It is my first time shooting fireworks, believe it or not.

Olympic Fireworks | by Samer Farha

Olympic Fireworks | by Samer Farha

Olympic Fireworks | by Samer Farha

Olympic Fireworks | by Samer Farha

Kickoff Time

It’s about two hours from the start of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. I’m sitting in the Main Press Center, about a quarter mile from the National Stadium (better known as the Bird’s Nest) where it will go off. The ceremony is going to be great. The fireworks are going to be spectacular. The Chinese, after all, invented fireworks.

It’s been an interesting week and a half here. The people are just fantastic. Very friendly, very helpful. Even those who aren’t working for the Olympics are quite nice. The food, when we managed to get out of the Media Villages, has been quite good. Quite an eye opener as to how bad the Chinese food we get back home is.

I haven’t posted much because the hours we keep are not really conducive to sitting down and writing. We get here around 8:30 each morning, and usually don’t hit the bar until 10p. And it’s been non-stop. Most nights, we don’t get to bed until 2a, and that leaves precious little time to blog.

I hope to be posting the rest of my Hong Kong pictures in the next day or so, and then some China pictures (though most of those are of the coworkers). I’ll try and post more on the blog, too.

The Great Train Experience

Watching The Train | by Samer Farha

No, this wasn’t the Orient Express, but it was an over 1000 mile journey by train from Hong Kong to Beijing. Why? Well, why not? Trains are a romantic way to travel. They provide a glimpse of scenery you normally wouldn’t see, regardless if it is a trip to Baltimore or to Beijing. And a train is probably the best mode of transport for a long trip. Sure, the flight would have been around four hours, but it would have been cramped and annoying.

This trip is scheduled to last a little over 24 hours, and I knew there would be some challenges. For one thing, I couldn’t really figure if they had a food car nor what they might serve on it. They do, and they serve various traditional Chinese fare, and some Pringles. Beer and soda are readily available, too.

I got my tickets from chinatripadvisor.com. They were helpful, and they delivered my ticket to my hotel the day I arrived. I didn’t know to ask, but you certainly should, about the sleeping accommodations. The “deluxe soft sleeper” is deluxe only in comparison to the other accommodations. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice room and the bunks are wide and reasonably comfortable, but they are not what I would call “soft”. It turns out you are assigned the bunk when you get the ticket, so make sure you ask for a lower bunk if you can’t climb up.

When I got to my cabin, I saw there was a woman there, already. I was hopeful she’d speak some English, seeing as these were the expensive seats. The only English she spoke was “bye bye,” which she said after the train had departed and she found another empty cabin to move to. That was very nice of her, as I now had a private room. With my own toilet.

Around 7:00p, I decided to go investigate food options. Apparently, they are happy to take your meal order over the phone and bring it to your room, but I can’t speak Chinese, so I had to go find the food car. Not far to go, as it was next door. I wasn’t sure how things worked, as it isn’t like a cafe car on Amtrak — there are seats and table service here. Eventually, with the help of a very nice man who translated for me, I ordered the “beef with pepper and chilies” and hoped for the best. The food, with the exception of some seaweed soup, was quite good — and not just by train standards.

Night falls pretty quickly on the train. It seemed that one moment it was bright and then darkness. That’s probably the overcast and hazy nature of summer here, leaving you with no twilight to speak of. Sleep comes easily on a train. The rhythmic rocking, the recurring noise, the slight vibration, they all help to gently easy you to sleep. The loud kids and the mechanical “click, click, click” from next door didn’t help, at all, but it wasn’t too bad.

Waking up to a hazy sky with rolling fields of corn everywhere has got to be one of the best ways to wake up. The haze is pervasive, though. It’s not just a big city thing, it seems. Something so serene watching the world go by your window while listening to some chill out music.

As you might imagine, there’s a lot of poverty and decay alongside the train tracks. Farmland and warehouses, too. Looking out on rows of simple brick structures which people are living in makes me quite thankful for the luck that put me somewhere else. And yet, the people I see going about their business from the window, they don’t seem to be any more or less happy than the people running around the subways of Hong Kong or Tokyo. Or Washington, for that matter.

We’ve made a fair number of stops along the way, though I can’t figure out what for. I don’t see people getting on or off. Just rail employees and police wandering around. Each stop is usually around a half an hour, and that adds up. For a through train, it does take it’s time. I’d think that a high speed train would be mighty welcome here. Assuming for a moment that it is exactly 1000 miles, we’re averaging around 41 miles per hour. If they eliminated all the stops and added a train that goes 120 MPH, the trip would take around 8.5 hours.

Breakfast time comes and goes. I am a late breakfaster when I can, and on this train, you can’t. I walk over to the dining car and they tell me to come back at 11, as there was no more food. At 11, they tell me to come back at noon. Finally, at noon I decided the best thing to have was the “fried ham crab with egg cake.” Most of you would recognize that as an omelet, complete with chives and everything. Served with rice and a soup of some sort, it turns out to be a filling meal.

I’ve been passing the time watching some episodes of Top Gear’s 11th season that I downloaded when I was in Tokyo, and editing some pictures. The haze outside has gotten worse as we approach Beijing. Two and a half hours out, and visibility is not even 100 yards. It looks like fog, but it isn’t.

When I arrived at the train station, I caused lots of commotion by apparently being the first to go through immigration with an Olympic pass as the visa. They were overjoyed, taking pictures with me and offering me bottled water. I was like a celebrity for a moment.

Getting from the train station to the apartment was a bit challenging. If you think NY City cabbies drive like maniacs, you need to spend some time on the Chinese highways. Holy crap. Internet access here is a bit limited, but I’ll try to post some more when I can.

Train Travel

End of the Tunnel by Samer Farha on Flickr

I like traveling by train, and I try to do so whenever I have the opportunity. A few years back, I flew out to San Francisco and the took the train, stopping along the way, up the coast to Vancouver. At the time, there wasn’t any first class service for me. This time, though, it’s different.

I’ll be taking several train trips as part of my world travels. The first and the most daunting is going to be the twenty-four-and-a-half hour ride from Hong Kong to Beijing. The train ticket is going to cost about half as much as a flight would, and it will take eight times as long. As you might have guessed, this isn’t about cost.

There’s something utterly romantic about taking the train. It’s a throwback. A mode of travel that still, when you splurge, can live up to the “olden days.” It lets you relax and look out the window at a world whizzing past frightfully fast. And yet, it is serene. Something about the rhythmic clack-clack-clack just gets into your body and relaxes you.

I’ve decided to take the nice berth on this and all trains, this time around. I want to experience that old time service and class. In Germany, I’ll be traveling first class from Frankfurt to Berlin, and again from Berlin to Brussels. In Belgium, I’ll get to take the more modest first class cabin up to Bruges. But the train I’m most looking forward to riding it the Eurostar.

I’m booked on a two hour high-speed hurtle through the countryside of Belgium and France and finally through the Chunnel. This train runs for over 31 miles under the sea! Again, here, I’m not skimping. It’s first class, all the way. Of course, it appears that there’s a “premium” first class that gets you a three course meal on your two hour trip, and while I’m sure that meal is excellent, I chose not to cough up $300 more for it. That’s the price of an iPhone, for crying out loud!