This page looks plain and unstyled because you're using a non-standard compliant browser. To see it in its best form, please upgrade to a browser that supports web standards. It's free and painless.

Main | Albums | Admin

Ji Gong Bao, SON!

admin | 12 November, 2006 13:16


Ji Gong Bao... Why is this stuff so damn good?
China's getting a bit colder. Last week, it was about 70-something degrees and now its heading towards 40. As the chilly weather approaches, there are four ways one can make the Winter blues dissappear:
1. Find a hubby to cuddle with. This ALWAYS works. In China, some pay for their hubbies, but that's not my style. Sorry.
2. Hit the Fabric Market, become your own personal tailor and hook up some fresh Winter gear for the season. Prices for fabric are reasonably cheap and you can even hook up an orange coat like my man Aric did for his Halloween costume. (An ORANGE coat people! That's crazy!)
3. Attend So Much Soul every Thursday. The music and people are hot, always. (What's Shanghai without shameless self-promotion?)
4. Ji Gong Bao. (See above.)
Ji Gong Bao is the fondue of China (next to traditional Chinese Hot Pot). What's different about Ji Gong Bao is it's a little sweeter, not so watery and is quite spicy. You get all kinds of chicken bits and pieces (including feet, which I detest) and you can pick and choose other veggies and meat to add to your meal. Tofu, lettuce, mushrooms... anything the restaurant's got.
The food is cooked up before if hits the flame on your table, which is good news for impatient eaters like yours truly. The fun part is, when you get the other ingredients, you can still cook it with the pot already on your table. So you are still your own cook. (Madd Asian style!) It's pretty clean because it's cooked twice with boiling water and if you are a veggie freak, you can add more greens which makes it kind of healthy. (I say "kind of" cause Chinese food is generally oily, no matter how healthy it looks!)
So why is this stuff so damn good? Maybe its the spices... Maybe its juicy beef... or the fact that it can warm you up on the coldest of days. I really don't know, but I've had it twice last week and I think it's now my favorite Chinese dish. Took me six years to figure that out, and now, I'm pretty happy I've found my stomach's one true love in China:
Post- Ji Gong Bao-ing. Photo courtesy of Zoe S.
Proof Positive.

Random MoJo-ness :: Comment (19) :: Permalink :: Trackbacks (2)

Breakdancing... in Chinese???

admin | 09 November, 2006 20:17

How do you say Airflare-Windmill Combo in Chinese?
So yeah, this is my latest project. Translating the entire site for 龙舞堂 aka Dragon Dance Studio. Arguably the biggest and best breakdance studio in the city. I've already translated their text mesages for their next event。
Last time I did a huge translation like this, I was translating Du Mu for my fourth year project as a Chinese Major at Middlebury College.
Not too many folks can do this cause besides translating the material into English, we have to make this thing sound really hip-hop. But I love the crew. This is what I've been wanting to do for a minute! Wish me luck!

Random MoJo-ness :: Comment (2) :: Permalink :: Trackbacks (0)

Migrant Bags ARE Sexy...

admin | 08 November, 2006 18:55

One of the many reasons why I am proud to write for Shanghaiist!

----------------

Hilarious...

I wonder what LV is selling their bags for... I got mine for 10 RMB ($1.25) last week. I should have bargained... And to believe that Shanghai people look down upon farmers and migrant workers...


Random MoJo-ness :: Comment (10) :: Permalink :: Trackbacks (0)

Chivalry is not dead in China.

admin | 07 November, 2006 16:10

It really sucks to lose your cell phone in China, but when you lose your cell phone and people are kind enough to help you get it back, you see another side of China. Yes, people in China can still do good deeds.

I just finished a business meeting with some partners of mine and I hopped into a cab to meet up with some of the folks at DJVibe.com to work on an upcoming hip-hop event in December with the Dragon Dance Studio. I hop out of the cab with the quickness. I'm not running late, but I like getting things done fast... Unfortunately, I did a sloppy job on this one, I left my cell phone in the cab.

Great job, Sherlock.

I'm walking up and down Huai Hai Middle Road, checking out the pavement for a little black and silver Nokia. (They make the most toughest and clearest cell phones in the world, by the way.) Anyway, I'm obvioulsy a bit frustrated and worried. All my contacts, the meeting I have to make in about 15 minutes and my alarm clock, all gone because of my absentmindedness. 真他妈的!!

I dash to the nearest 小卖部 (convenience store) and make a phone call to my own cell phone. It was a total "hope call". I "hoped" the person who found mycell phone didn't steal it and already cell it to the black market for 10 bucks...

Busy signal after busy signal, I finally got through. It was a lady named Coco. She said she got my cell phone and found it in the cab I got off of on Huai Hai Middle Road. She said she could hand it to me tomorrow. Very sweet of her to help me out...(Good Deed #1) Unfortunately, I need it it now. She told me I could get it by her house. (Good Deed #2) Cool, thank god. Got her address and headed to the next taxi.

Now the thing about Chinese addresses, there are many streets with the words dong, bao, xi, lu, chang, le, blah, blah, blah.. Even for a professional Chinese language person as myself, when I hear these street names, they all sound the same, and when you hear them on the phone... oh man, it almost sounds like muffled trash. I basically go with what i hear and write it in 拼音 if I can. I got no time to think about the 汉字. Unfortunately, that screwed me up and my taxi cab driver.

I'm already in the cab and I can't get the address again from Coco, cause I don't have a cell phone. I beg the cab driver to call my number. hes iffy about that cause this costs him money (Cabbies can make up to about 4000 kuai a month, $400 USD) and his phone is running out of battery. Luckily for me, he makes the call (Good Deed #3), speaks to Coco and gets the address in 上海话. Cabbies are all local Shanghainese.

Cabbie finds out that I am picking up a cell phone and offers me a ride back to where I'm going. (Good Deed #4)

I get to my destination and two minutes later, here's Coco with a handsome fellow walking down the street with my cell phone. I think her and say "不好意思" continuously and offer her money and a free invite to one of my shows, but she won't accept (Very Chinese, Good Deed #5) I thank her like an Evangelist at Church and move on to my original meeting spot.

Cabbie gets me where I need to go wihout me telling him. (Great geographical memory, Good Deed #5) The entire cab ride is 32 kuai (Three bucks) back and forthand I give him 40 for an 8 kuai tip. (normally you don't tip in China, you just don't!) Now he can get dinner for the next two days. (Shanghai can still be cheap, rememeber that!) I bounce off to my meeting with all my contacts, life and most importantly, my alarm clock.

I spent an extra 30-45 minutes and 40 kuai getting my cell phone back, whereas the next day, I would have spent 200 kuai (25 bucks) searching searching for a cheap cell phone, spent another 150 kuai (22 bucks) for a new sim card and minutes for my phone and maybe an two to three hours waiting and travelling to get all those things. But it was because of good deeds from Coco and my cab driver that my time, money and in a sense, my life was saved.

Chivalry is not dead in China.


Random MoJo-ness :: Comment (11) :: Permalink :: Trackbacks (1)

Redstar is now on Myspace!

admin | 06 November, 2006 15:40

Photo taken by Liana Chang @ Dragon Dance Studio
http://www.myspace.com/redstarhiphop
(Disclaimer: We have a few pics up, but will add more content, music and videos soon. Having some trouble adding stuff on here in China.)
This is fun.

Entertainment :: Comment (6) :: Permalink :: Trackbacks (0)

Keep Rollin'

admin | 06 November, 2006 12:47

Zhong Yang Men on a Tuk-Tuk in Nanjing (Aric Queen in the mirror)
It's Monday afternoon in Shanghai. The sun is beaming, the air is cool and seemingly unpolluted while Fall breeze calms me. This is the best time of the year to be in China.

I have one more month before I head back to the States. Headed off to New York, New Jersey and Kentucky. From lots of bikes, to lots of Fords. The land where guns are banned to the country where we have the right to bear arms. This is is my pre-reverse culture shock.

It's funny being in Shanghai because it is so similar to New York City and not. The Yan An Expressway reminds me of the BQE back in Brooklyn, then again, there are plenty of babies crapping and peeing out on the streets near my house. The Bund, much like Times Square, is filled with flashing neon logos with corporate slogans, but streets are named "Long Happiness" (长乐路） and Eastern Peace （东安路）. Now it's time to get ready for Broadway and Flatbush Avenue.

But I still have another month to go and another month to to prepare that jaded trip to the god awful Pudong Airport where millions upon millions per day migrate all over the world to see loved ones, make business trips and experience what the rest of China and the world has to offer.

I think about that and then I think about 2010 in Shanghai, the year of the World Expo. The time when the world again focuses on China and its global prowess(can't forget about that Olympic thingy in 2008). What does Shanghai have to offer compared to other big cities like New York City, Tokyo, Seoul, London, Paris and Sydney besides really cheap noodles ($0.40 per box, $0.45 with a fried egg) and Tai-Chi at 7:30 in the morning?

Check out the picture above. Look at it. Analyze it. The driver offered 20 kuai ($2.50) to take us around Nanjing. These little tuk-tuks aren't very stable when ridden, he makes a sharp turn, we can fall off or crash onto the ground and die. It also uses a ton of gas, so it's not so great for the environment, ut a cigarette near there... and BOOM... see ya, wouldn't wanna be ya. And we don't even know this guy, so he could take us anywhere besides our hotel. Think about a long night of being tied up and 20 Chinese guys around us drinking bai jiu, betting on Mahjong.

But it wasn't like that. We got where we needed to go. I had a fun conversation with the fella about the new foreign students building at Nanjing University (my home for one year) and why I like 龙虾 (crawfish) . I felt like I could trust my driver and he could trust me.

Why?

Simplicity.

Life in China can be so simple. He wants to make money, we want a good trip and we want to see Nanjing in its truest form, not just in a cab or some company van, but on a moving vehicle with no walls or borders or any safety features, where people can see us and we can see people. When we stop at a light, we are literally shoulder to shoulder with cyclists, scooters and pedestrians talking about going shopping, dinner plans and how great the weather is.

Simple. China is simple. It aint all about the investment potential, or 1.3 billion custormers.China has its simplicities,even when you are surrounded by crowds everywhere you go. Life can be simple here. Now its time to change up the game and prepare for my trip back home, from my new home. Here I go.

Random MoJo-ness :: Comment (1) :: Permalink :: Trackbacks (0)
Valid XHTML 1.0 Strict and CSS.
Powered by LifeType
Design by Book of Styles