Fwd: Commute through the Twilight Zone

For the past few weeks, I've been getting up at 5:15 on Tuesdays and Thursdays for a quick 20-mile ride with a group of local cyclists who call themselves the "rippers".  Then I go home, change into fresh bike clothes, eat breakfast, and ride 10 miles to work in time for my 8:30 conference call with the team in India.  Today's ripper ride ended with a beautiful sunrise and all was well with the world.

Then everything changed.  Instead of breakfast at home, I stopped for coffee and a maple nut scone.  When I left the coffee shop thirty minutes later fueled with caffeine and sugar, the sun was hidden behind the clouds and the sky had turned a drab gray.  Rather than backtrack to my house and take my normal route to North Reading, I decided to take a shortcut, and that is when I entered the Twilight Zone...

Things started off well enough, I headed north and then took some back streets that led to Winn Street.  I turned off Winn Street and rode until I ended up in a parking lot with no option other than back track to Winn Street.  This time I took the correct turn onto Peach Blossom Rd, but when it ended at a T intersection, I turned right instead of left and after awhile was back at Winn Street.  I rode to the T intersection again and this time took a left putting me on vaguely familiar roads.  After awhile I entered Wilmington, so with a bit of luck I would get to work in time for the conference call.  Up ahead I saw Hillside Road.  I remembered riding on that road in the past, so I took the turn.  Twenty minutes later I am back on Winn Street.  What the...???  I retrace my route to work for the fourth time and this time, through trial and error, I finally get to the office.  The short cut turned my 10-mile commute into a 20-mile misadventure.  I got to work at 9 AM, just as the conference call was ending.

I wasn't the only one who took a detour through the Twilight Zone.  A colleague wanted to get into work early today so he avoided the congestion on the highway by taking some back streets, turning his normal 1-hour commute turned into 2 hours of frustration.

...and now it's snowing.

a USB Flash Drive built into a Hot Wheels model of a Mini Cooper

a USB Flash Drive built into a Hot Wheels model of a Mini Cooper: http://www.trevorshp.com/creations/minidrive.htm

TOMORROW is Red Sox Nation Day at Teradyne!

Here are some images of the Boston Red Sox winning the Major League Baseball World Series.  Unfortunately, not all the images are flattering.
--Phillip
 

from the Teradyne's Human Resources Department            

TOMORROW is Red Sox Nation Day at Teradyne!

Whether you're a fan or not, join in the fun and support your favorite Red Sox team.   Wear your favorite Red Sox gear tomorrow to work.   At lunch time we will  broadcast the local feed of the parade celebration live via the cafeteria monitors.  The parade is scheduled to start Tuesday at noon.
We will have novelty ice cream bars to give out during lunch.  We will also be taking pictures of our Red Sox fans during the lunch period in both cafeterias.   That we can put in the next In-Site article.
So, be a sport and show your Red for the World Champion Red Sox?

from http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jnEfSTzBRViGS92K-7B7wMZ98qqA

Red Sox claim second World Series in four years with 4-3 win over Rockies

DENVER - Perched high above his raucous teammates, David Ortiz sprayed bottles of bubbly in every direction, dousing everyone in sight, including himself.
Then it was time to deliver a message. "When you wear Red Sox on your shirt," he hollered from atop a clubhouse table, "you're good at something." There's a new monster, and this one's in Boston, too.
Overwhelming in every way, the Red Sox swept to their second title in four years Sunday night. Jon Lester, Mike Lowell & Co. left little room for drama with a 4-3 win over the Colorado Rockies in Game 4.
This was hardly a repeat from 2004, when the Red Sox ended their 86-year championship drought by beating St. Louis. Boston is a major league bully these days, playing in rarefied air before crowds who demand to win.
"It doesn't get old," manager Terry Francona said.
Gone are those pleading, pathetic days when the Red Sox were practically begging to win a title. They've got this down pat now.
After trailing Cleveland 3-1 in the AL championship series, the Red Sox won seven straight games and won their seventh World Series crown.
The wild-card Rockies, who won a remarkable 21 of 22 games to get this far, were a mere afterthought by the end. Brad Hawpe homered in the seventh inning and Garrett Atkins hit a two-run shot in the eighth that came too late.
Lester, undergoing chemotherapy at this time last year for cancer, pitched shutout ball into the sixth inning and Jonathan Papelbon closed with his third save of the Series.
Lowell won the MVP award, though Boston had plenty of candidates. Especially in a year in which Japanese stars Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima helped put the world in World Series.
Coors Field was filled with Red Sox fans, many of them brazenly waving brooms they might have brought from the Green Monster seats at Fenway Park.
This time, Jason Varitek caught the final pitch and tucked it in his back pocket as Papelbon threw his glove high in the air after striking out pinch-hitter Seth Smith. The Red Sox spilled out of the dugout to party between the mound and first.
 

from http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ip_FgKPzJAttQc42K_FPJYzrGcSwD8SIQQV00   

Boston Celebrates World Series Win          

BOSTON (AP) — Boston police in riot gear worked to clear several large crowds gathered around Fenway  Park after the Red Sox won their second World Series title in four years.
Police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said 37 arrests were made overnight in the city, mostly for disorderly conduct.
An unruly crowd flipped a pick up truck to its side near Fenway Park and at least one car fire was reported.
Police shut down access to Kenmore Square as Game 4 neared its end in Denver. The Red Sox won the game 4-3, touching off celebrations around New  England.
Customers in bars and restaurants around Fenway Park were told they would not be allowed to return once they left.

Fwd: Celebrating the Red Sox - 2007 World Series Champions

Like Papelbon, we were too tired to dance, but we still held a small celebration after the Red Sox won the World Series.
--pws

Fwd: "You should not drink and bake"

I nearly burned down the house last night.

Friends from Nick's soccer team invited us over for a raclette party.  The four families were from all over the world--France, Argentina, Armenia, and China--but united by their passion for soccer and fun.  Betrand started us off with Kir Royales ( 1 part Creme de Cassis; 5 parts Champagne) and also provided a variant made with Peche Blanc instead of Cassis.  With the raclette we had a variety of sliced hams, potatoes, pickles, and onions.  Oh yes, and a glass of wine.  I stick to my story that I only had one glass of wine, because the glass never seemed to go empty.

My plan was to come home from dinner about 10, bake bread and watch the Red Sox win Game 3 of the World Series.  Of course we had so much fun at the party that we stayed much, much later than expected.  We watched the 7th inning and then headed home sometime after midnight.  For some reason, I decided to stick to my original plan and bake the bread anyhow.  Not sure why my judgment was a bit off.

Anyhow, I put the bread in the oven, forgot to set the timer, and sat down to watch the end of the game.  Next thing I know, the smoke detector is blasting me out a deep sleep, the game is long over, and the house is full of smoke.

I pulled the baguettes, or rather, briquettes out of the oven and put them outside on the patio.  Then I opened all the doors and fanned the smoke for about five minutes before the alarms stopped.  Somehow the kids slept through the whole thing, but the house still smells like smoke this morning.  See if you can guess from the attached photos which bread I baked last night and which bread is from this morning when my head was clearer.  As Arnold Schwarzenegger said in the movie Raw Deal, "You should not drink and bake."

Fat Cyclist jerseys

All the Fat Cyclist jerseys are sold out.
There are 600 of the pink WIN jerseys in the world and 350 of the orange Fat Cyclists jerseys.
--pws


from http://www.fatcyclist.com/2007/10/08/how-to-talk-with-non-cyclists/#comments

1. Born4Lycra Says:
   October 8th, 2007 at 7:12 pm

   So FC if the Pink Top is all sold out can you tell us how many there are circulating around the world. 500, 1000 or more?Congratulations to Team FC and Twin6 on a job very well done.

2. fatty Says:
   October 8th, 2007 at 7:17 pm

   born4lycra - there are 600 pink jerseys in the universe, and 350 original (orange) ones.

Bike ride to the Cape

Race report for Bob Beal's Masters weekend

• Road Race - got dropped on the hill and finished 36 out of 46.
• TT - beat my goal of 9 minutes and finished dead last
• Crit - got dropped, lapped, quit, and still was listed ahead of 3 other riders
• Had a good time anyhow: camped in the rain in my hammock at Burlingame State Park; met a lot of nice people; and had a couple of good meals.
  

I analyzed my dismal performance at races this summer to figure out how to improve next year. Some of the mistakes I made include riding 350 miles two days before the Working Man's Stage Race, gaining 15 pounds in two weeks before the Blount Seafood Criterium, riding two-and-a-half hours of singletrack with no food or water and finishing just minutes before my MTB race was to start, camping in the rain before the Bob Beal's Masters weekend. Also my "training" consisted of commuting to work and doing long rides on the weekend. My conclusion is that to be competive next year I need a new bicycle.

In spite of being a lousy racer, I do get a lot of enjoyment riding my bike. Here is a description of yesterday's Cape-in-a-Day ride.

Yesterday, on the last day of summer, Jay and I biked 153 miles to Provincetown. We left Winchester at 5:30 AM and got into P-town 12 hours later. After dinner on the funky, artsy Commercial St (the food was only okay, but the people watching was excellent) we caught the fast ferry back to Boston and rode our bikes 11 miles back home. I was showered and in bed a bit after 10 PM and watched the Red Sox come from behind in the 9th inning to clinch a playoff spot.

Highlights

• The coastal detour off of Rte 3A through Hingham, Cohasset, and Scituate. The rock formations, the saltwater ponds, the tidal rivers running away from the ocean as the tide rose were awesome.
• Duxbury was interesting because 1) we had an excellent breakfast at the Wild Flower Cafe in Duxbury; 2) just as we were starting to flag a cyclist caught us and towed us 8 miles into town; 3) he was riding the same Neuvation wheels as Jay and I have on our bikes; 4) he recommended the cafe where we had eggs, fruit, and homemade bread (and coffee, of course); Yum! 4) cyclists in a triathlon were racing past the cafe while we ate; 5) we left rejuvenated, ready to ride another hundred miles.
• Crossing the Sagamore Bridge via this, until now, undocumented route: At the end of Rte 3A, go straight through the traffic light onto Canal Street. Just before Friendly's Restaurant, turn right onto the sidewalk and follow it up to the bridge. Ride across the bridge on the sidewalk, careful not to fall off into the rush of oncoming traffic. On the Cape side of the bridge, cut through the parking lot of the Christmas tree shop and turn left onto Rte 6A.
• Riding the Cape Cod Rail Trail, 22 miles from S. Dennis to Wellfleet. Although it has many at-grade road crossings, the traffic all stopped and allowed bikes to cross. Michael's friend Grant called Michael and told him, "Hey, I think I just saw your dad riding on the CCRT." Jay's eponymous friend Dave, met us on the CCRT and towed us to his house on Gull Pond; again we got some help just as we were tiring.
• On our way to Dave's house inside the Cape Cod National Seashore (a U.S. National Park), we stopped at a parking lot atop a sand dune overlooking the ocean. People were surfing and playing in the water some 80 feet below us. The sand dune was so steep you couldn't see the slope past the lip. Really awesome.
• Dave's house is on a kettle pond. You walk out of the sliding doors onto the deck and can hang your feet in the water. We took a refreshing dip in the water and washed away 136 miles of road grime.
• Dave's suggestion that we stay on Rte 6 and 6A the 17 miles to P-town was a good one. The scenic route I was planning was longer and hilly and we just wanted to finish our ride and hang out at a restaurant.
  
• The tiny cottages along Shore Drive just before P-town made me feel like I had time warped back to the '50s.
• Commercial Street in Provincetown deserves a few hours to explore the shops and sample the food. Unfortunately, we made so many stops along the way for map checks, cafes, and swimming that we only had time for dinner before we caught the ferry home.
  

Downers

• Missing street signs. In Hyannis the sign for Ocean Ave is missing at the intersection of Marston Ave / Hyannis Ave, so we wasted some time scratching our heads and looking at our maps. Fortunately, a guy on a utilitarian bike (lots of racks and blinking lights) gave us directions and recommended
  Caffe E Dolci in Hyannis for our lunch of paninis (and coffee, of course). Unfortunately, he advised taking Rte 28 to the Cape Cod Rail Trail instead of the maze of backroads that I had mapped out. The cafe was good, Rte 28 was bad.
• Misleading street signs. Our route to the Sagamore Bridge was basically "stay on Rte 3A" with some scenic detours. At the rotary leaving Plymouth the signs for Rte 3A point the wrong direction, taking you under Rte 3. As soon as we made the wrong turn, I realized our mistake but not before Jay hit a jagged rock and flatted. While he changed the inner tube, some yahoos in a pickup truck made disparaging comments about our spandex shorts. The tire was quickly reinflated, but it took a couple of miles of riding to pump fun back into the day.
  
• The last 15 miles to P-town Jay was suffering knee pain and couldn't ride as fast as he usually does. I was happy to ease off a bit since I was hurting too, but I didn't like to see Jay suffering. Fortunately, Advil and a nap on the ferry seemed to restore him, because I could barely keep up on the ride back home.
• The Provincetown Chamber of Commerce recommended Bubala's for barbecue, but they don't serve barbecue. The food was only average, but it was great to sit on something other than a bicycle saddle for an hour, drink a beer, and watch the parade of people on Commercial Street.
  
• My knee really stiffened up after the ride, so Saturday night and Sunday morning it hurt to bend the knee and I limped up and down the stairs. Fortunately, after half a day of loafing around, it feels much better.

Who looks better in the Pink FatCyclist Jersey?

Who looks better in the Pink FatCyclist Jersey?


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Phillip Stern < phillip.stern@gmail.com>

After dinner with Julie's family last night, I picked up the new issue of Bicycling Magazine.  On the front cover there is a woman riding in the pink FatCyclist jersey.

From October 2007 edition of Bicycling:

THE COVER photographed by Mike Powell
Stella Hong rides the Colnago C50 in Corral Canyon, Malibu, CA. Twin Six limited edition FatCyclist.com WIN jersey (all proceeds go to the Lance Armstrong Foundation) and socks.

Twin Six has a blurb about it on their site: http://www.twinsix.com/news/

Pink Lemonade

After dinner with Julie's family last night, I picked up the new issue of Bicycling Magazine.  On the front cover there is a woman riding in the pink FatCyclist jersey.

From October 2007 edition of Bicycling:

THE COVER photographed by Mike Powell
Stella Hong rides the Colnago C50 in Corral Canyon, Malibu, CA. Twin Six limited edition FatCyclist.com WIN jersey (all proceeds go to the Lance Armstrong Foundation) and socks.

Twin Six has a blurb about it on their site: http://www.twinsix.com/news/

My results for the Fat Cyclist Weight Loss Contest

This is the blog post that started it all back on January 1, 2007.

Let's Make a Bet (Announcing the B7: Banjo Brothers' Big Bad Bulky Biker Bodyfat Challenge)

And now the contest is over and it's time to report my Final Time Trial Results (for August):

The short version is that I beat Fatty, 129 to 123, so he owes me a Fat Cyclist Jersey.
Unfortunately, I don't think my score will place me in the top three, so it looks like Ii won't win a Banjo Brothers Commuter Backpack. Read Fatty's review.

For the long version, read on...

Before Photos, 12/31/06, 178 lbs.:

After Photos, 8/1/07, 150.5 lbs.:

MY SCORE: 129

Weight Loss Score: 110 [Maximum Weight Loss Score Achieved!]
Time Trial Score: 19

DETAILS
Starting Weight: 178
Weight Loss Goal: 23
Current Weight: 150.5
First Time Trial: 11:40
Current Time Trial: 9:30

Date: 8/1/07 at 2:00 PM
Body Fat: 11%
Weather: 88°F, Mostly Cloudy, Wind: NW at 6 mph, Humidity: 37%

NOTES
Last month after my July time trial, I wrote, "I am going to taper my training so I am at my peak for the TT. My wife, the acupuncturist, has been giving me weekly treatments and my persistent calf and hamstring problems of the last couple years seem to be all better. Finally, I am going to stay well below my goal weight the whole month of July (no snacking!), so I can eat healthy and be well hydrated for maximum TT strength and still score 110% on the weight. My goal is to break 10 minutes."

So I was shocked when I crossed the finish line in 9 minutes and 30 seconds. I had my doubts that I could meet my goal since my legs felt tired on the hills while warming up. Moreover, my back was still sore from weeding over the weekend. But I went all out and turned in a great time. This was my hardest exertion since my initial time trial back in January.

Tapering: I didn't really prepare intelligently in July for my August time trial. First I went on a week-long vacation, with no riding. Then I rode home from from vacation in Ithaca, NY to the Boston suburbs (197 miles the first day and 144 the second day). I spent the next couple days lying on the floor watching a week's worth of the Tour de France. Then I was in a 3-day midweek stage race, spent a couple more days not riding before doing two hard rides on the weekend. On the 21st, I rode 55 miles to watch my son play soccer; I was trying to average 20 mph, so it was an all out effort for over 2.5 hours. Then on the 22^nd, I did a 68-mile ride which included two 1-mile uphill races against Jay (he won both). So by the last week of July my legs were totally shot. My "tapering" didn't start until the last week of July and consisted of riding easy to work and not riding at all the last weekend.

Injuries and treatment: The acupuncture treatment seems to have resolved the problems with my calves and hamstrings, but of course there are new injuries. My left hip and leg began aching on the second day of my 341-mile ride. With 70 miles to go, the pain was so bad that I could only creep along at about 10 mph. Ibuprofen and a 20-minute nap enabled me to limp the last 20 miles home. Acupuncture and rest seemed to cure the problem. But 5 days ago, I spent the morning weeding my garden instead of riding my bike. By the next day my back hurt so much I couldn't stand straight and groaned every time I stood up or sat down. Again acupuncture provided some relief (I even got a treatment today before my time trial) but my left leg feels weak, similar to the "pinched nerve" feeling I suffered during my long bike ride.

Nutrition and hydration: This almost went according to plan. My weight didn't get totally out of control during vacation, but I did splurge on banana boats, homemade caramel corn, and a chocolate eating binge on the last night before riding home from Ithaca. At home my weight was only 155, 5 pounds more than before vacation. But since I was doing long rides and racing, I decided to treat myself to seconds and thirds at meals and had a couple of GORP attacks before bed. (GORP stands for Good old Raisins And Peanuts, and sometimes chocolate chips.) A week after getting home from vacation my weight was up to 159 pounds, so I spent the remainder of the month eating veggies and fruit. Fortunately it worked and now my weight is back to just a bit over 150. I was able to have a couple of glasses of protein drink before my 20-mile warm-up ride today, and then drink two cups of my special pre-race energy drink (Starbucks dark roast with cream and two sugars) so that I was well hydrated and energized and could turn in my best time.

By the way, after my pre-TT warm up, I stopped in at Starbucks and the barrista said, "I'm sorry, but there is no way you are fat!" It took me awhile to figure out she was referring to my pink lemonade jersey with the Fat Cyclist logo.

Back from Finger Lakes Vacation

I'm back from our week in the Finger Lakes Region of New York. I'll write more tomorrow, but for now...

I rode 341 miles in the last 37 hours.
Day 1: 197 miles in 13 hours riding time with 2 hours off the bike ( 15.2 mph, 13.1 mph including breaks). Left Robert H Treman State Park at 6 AM. Made camp a few miles short of the Mass border at 9 PM.
Day 2: 144 miles in 10 hours riding time with 3.5 hours off the bike (13.5 mph, 10.7 mph including breaks). Broke camp at 5:30 AM. Arrived home at 7 PM.

Biking update

In January I entered a contest to lose weight and get faster on the bicycle.  So I cut back on my calories and the weight came off; I'm down from 178 to 153 (on a good day).
I am also getting faster up the hills on my bike.  Since returning from China six weeks ago, I try to get in a long ride every weekend and do the NEBC Hill Ride every Wednesday with my bike club.

Over Memorial Day weekend, I rode down to Cape Cod twice to watch Nick play in a soccer tournament.  The first day I took Route 3A the whole way and enjoyed the scenery along the coastline, passing salt marshes, cranberry bogs, many beaver lodges, and a swan sitting on its huge straw nest.  I stopped for ice cream after I crossed the bridge and asked directions to the soccer field.  I was told the turn was just a couple of miles down the road and I couldn't miss it.  But somehow I did miss it and ended up adding 6 miles to my trip, making the total 85 miles.

After resting on Sunday, I rode down again on Monday.  This time I reduced the distance to 71 miles by taking shortcuts on Route 53 and Long Pond Rd, and by not missing the "can't miss it" turn.

The following weekend, Nick was in another soccer tournament at UMass Amherst, so I rode my bike 94 miles to watch him play.  I took Rte 2A, Rte 62, Rte 117, Watoquaddoc Rd, Rte 62, Rte 32, and Rte 9 to Amherst.  In Barre, I stopped for coffee at a shop with teddy bears and gingham in the window.  Inside they sold antiques and glass jars.  The owner was a middle-aged man who was talking to a customer about some spider plants he was propagating.  The other guy working behind the counter was about the same age, but very muscular with lots of tattoos.  I found the two of them incongruous with the shop's decor.  And it wasn't until I was finished with my coffee and ready to ride again, that I figured out they were a couple.

Last weekend I rode with Jay.  We planned to do the Apple Pi loop through the apple orchards west of Boston for about 75 miles.  We went hard for the first half of the ride and I was able to keep up with Jay on all the hills; a first for me, so the training is paying off.  We were almost home and discussing what a great route it was, when we saw Alexa heading the other way with her bike club, Quadra.  She asked me to join her, so I said good-bye to Jay and joined Alexa for another 30 miles, making my total for the day about 95 miles.  It was misty while I rode with Jay, but it rained pretty hard while I rode with Alexa.  We stopped at Fern's, the general store in Carlisle about a mile from Bubba's house, and warmed up with some excellent beef stew.  We almost turned in Bubba's drive to bum a ride home, but didn't wimp out and finished the ride in the cold rain.  I got home, took a warm shower and then rushed to Michael's baseball game.  I was so tired, I sat down on the wet grass and fell asleep in the rain until the cheering for Michael's team winning at the end of the game woke me up.

I've also been doing the Hill Ride every Wednesday and I'm able to hang with the leaders for longer each week.  I used to get dropped in the first third of the climb, now I stick with them until the last third of the hill.  We regroup at the top and then ride to the next hill to do it again, 5 or 6 hills in all (depending on how you count them).  Last night we were descending the last hill towards Woburn Four Corners when I crashed.  I was taking the S-curves at a bit over 30 mph, when I came around a curve and saw an SUV parked in my lane.  I couldn't steer around it so I grabbed my brakes, too hard it turns out, because I began to skid toward the curb.  If I let off the brakes, I thought I'd hit the SUV, so I sort of panicked and braked harder.  My bike slid into the curb and I tumbled through the grass.  I was unhurt but a bit embarrassed to take a tumble in front of so many strong riders.

Oh well, it is all paying off.  I've improved my time on the hilly time trial course I use for the contest from 11:40 in January to 10:13 in June.  The contest ends on August 1, so I have a few more weeks to lose a couple more pounds and get a little faster.  I'm looking at routes from Ithaca to Boston because I'd like to ride my bike home from our family reunion in the Finger Lakes Region in July.  Another opportunity for long rides in July is provided by Nick playing on the District soccer team, so they will play other District teams from all over Massachusetts.

China Favorites

Shanghai

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Dinner at LuLu’s Shanghainese Restaurant

Tonight was our last dinner in China; tomorrow we fly home. Over watermelon (the traditional post-meal dessert), Mimi asked everyone to name their favorite things in China. I wrote them down and will include a few photos of each place. I still have much to write about our trip but this is all I have time for now.

• Michael: Pandas, Great Wall, Yellow Mountain, Lion Grove Garden
• Eric: Yellow Mountain, Yangtze River Cruise, Pandas, Basketball
• Nick: Pandas, Basketball, Great Wall
• Melissa: Oasis Pool at Beijing Grand Hyatt Hotel, Panda babies
• Michelle: Oasis Pool, Yellow Mountain, cousins
• Chris: Pandas, Yellow Mountain, Yangtze River Cruise
• Paul: Yellow Mountain
• Bubba: Great Wall, seeing China’s progress, the porters carrying loads up Yellow Mountain
• Alexa: Great Wall, village in Xian, Yellow Mountain
• Doober: Yangtze River Cruise, Yellow Mountain
• Julie: Grampy holding the panda, Yellow Mountain, Lion Grove Garden, Great Wall, Silk Factory
• Frank: everything
• Mimi: Pandas, Yellow Mountain, Lion Grove Garden

Yellow Mountain (Huang Shan)

Yellow Mountain, continued

Yellow Mountain, part 3

Pandas

Chengdu

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Qing Chen Mountain, page 723

These photos are from Qing Chen Mountain in Chengdu. The first couple are from an open air teahouse showing a woman getting a Chinese massage and a group playing mahjong. Chengdu is where the pandas are so the figures on the roofline are not the traditional dragons and immortals; instead they have pandas. Figures of pandas are all over this city, even the road dividers have pandas on them. I'll post more about our visit to the Panda Research Center later.

Mimi is reading a book that she recommends Between Heaven & Earth: A Guide to Chinese Medicine by Beinfield and Korngold. It uses the analogy of caring for a garden to explain the philosophy of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Our guide is Shelly and our bus driver is Mr. Liu. Shelly was a very informative guide, so we learned a lot of history on the bus. But she was not as personable as Miranda, our guide in Beijing. Some of the facts I learned included:

• Chengdu’s name comes from Cheng (becoming) and Du (capitol city) but I forget why this name was chosen. Beijing means northern (bei) capitol (jing).
• Real estate costs about 6000 Y per square meter in Chengdu and about 9000 Y per square meter in Beijing. A typical 3 person apartment is 125 square meters.
• Chengdu has 3 ring roads to Beijing’s 5 ring roads. The 3^rd Ring Road is only three years old, but they are having to repave many sections. They residents call it the Tofu Road because it is soft inside, thus necessitating all the repair work.
• The cities with the most cars in China are Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu in that order.
• A car costs about 40,000 to 70,000 yuan, plus another 1000 Y per month for things like gas, parking, and insurance.
• Chengdu is also known as the kingdom of bicycles. A bike costs about 300 yuan for a single speed or 1000 Y for a racing bike. More and more people are buying “electronic” bikes, so they don’t have to pedal. The speed limit for an electric bike in the separated bike lane is 15 kph, but there is no limit for a pedal bicycle. (In Suzhou I saw many electric bikes and also lots of Vespa-style scooters. The plain pedal bicycle is not as popluar anymore.)
• Chengdu is known for brocade, hibiscus, agriculture (rapeseed or canola).
• Chendu is subtropical, with only 3 snowfalls during Shelly’s lifetime.
• Shelly often described things as “since liberation” to refer to after 1949, terminology we did not hear in the more cosmopolitan city of Beijing.
• Shelly says the city is divided as follows: West for the government officials; South for the rich; East for the poor; North for the bad people (this is where the railway station is and I guess thieves prey on the passengers disembarking.)
• Chengdu has a thriving teahouse culture. There are three types: open air teahouse, modern teahouse, and cultural (or traditional) teahouse. Green tea is the specialty. The spring tea is the best and is called daughter tea. The summer tea is second best and called daughter-in-law tea. Autumn tea is the least favored and called grandmother tea. (Of course, our family would call the best tea the grandmother tea.) In a traditional teahouse the server is called a “tea doctor,” as in PhD, because they are so learned about tea. The tea service includes a saucer, a cup, and a lid and there is a code used to communicate with your tea doctor. If you lean the lid against the side of the cup it means you are letting the tea cool before you drink it. If you put the upside down lid on the table, it means you are ready for more tea. Right side up on the table means you left the table for just a moment and will be right back. Upside down on the cup means you are done, so bring the bill soon, or you will leave without paying and it isn’t your fault. Finally, if you put all three pieces, the lid, the cup, and the saucer, separate on the table, you thought the service was bad.
• The farmers near the city are doing okay because they can supplement their income, but more remote farmers are poor, earning about 1000 yuan per year. They have no electricity and the children walk an hour to school. Public school is mandatory for all children through 6^th grade and paid for by the government. The three years of middle school and three years of high school cost 1000 yuan per year, but the teachers are not very motivated. Many parents send their child to private school which costs 20,000 Y per year. The cost for raising a child plays as big a part in limiting families to one child as the government rules. Just last year the government changed laws so that farmers don’t have to pay for school or pay agriculture tax. Another rule change is that if two people marry and both were only children, then they can have two children instead of one.

Mt Qing Chen photos, cont

Hutong

Just to make sure everyone slept this night, we added an evening event to our itinerary: a tour of the hutongs, the small alleys that remain from ancient Beijing. We rode around in pedicabs, a sort of bicycle rickshaw and took some time to learn how the doorpins above the courtyard door along with the stones on either side of the door signified the status of the family that lived there. We also entered a courtyard and saw some of the rooms of one hutong family. Each room was built around the perimeter of the courtyard and you had to go outside to move from one room to another. At one time the courtyard would have been a central garden for the complex, but during the Cultural Revolution, they built additional rooms in the courtyard so now there was a maze of smaller alleys and leading to those additional rooms.
For dinner we ate at a food court in the mall below the Grand Hyatt hotel. For 14Y to 25Y you could get a large dish of Chinese food from any of 30 or so vendors. I had calamari in fiery pepper sauce and it was delicious.
As expected, there was no need for midnight tai chi this time. I fell asleep as soon as I crawled into bed around 10 PM and slept soundly until 5 AM.
In China I weigh the same as Nicholas, about 75. Of course the scales are in kilograms and Nick weighs 75 pounds, so it's sort of cheating. I am going to have to go back on my one serving per meal diet because I'm eating too much good food, and contrary to Grammy's assertion, you can get fat eating Chinese food.
4/11 72.3 (after time trial)
4/13 75.2 (after first dinner in China)
4/14 73.3 (before breakfast)
4/15 73.9 (after dinner)
4/16 73.5 (before breakfast)