Little Tid Bits

Some more tidbits of China and SOMA(Sound of Music Asia). And i am certain i will talk about things more than once. So i am sure you can deal with that.

So when we came into the theatre, the linesets on the fly are all out of order. Apparantly that is common, because though they send numbers 1-60. That doesn't mean they are hung in order. So from downstage lineset 55 could be the first, followed by 2, followed by 30, then 22, then 4, then 54. It is great, numbers that mean nothing.

It says on Wikipedia that Chengdu is almost 12 million people. And i can tell you that it is an insane amount of people that have to get around town. There are a ton of bike's and motor bike's that people use to get around. The only problem is that every single brake on these motor bikes/scooters are shot all to hell. Which means that screaming/screeching brake sounds are a common 0ccurance. When you are walking, you are pretty much a moving target. I am convinced that i will stop for cars and scooters, but all the damn bikes better just stop for me. I guess they have no common law that pedastrians have the right of way. The one good thing they have instituted, is that absolutly no trucks can enter cities between 6am-8pm. I think that is awesome, even though it means our show is going to have to loadin at night sometimes.

The biggest problem i was told when coming here, is don't drink the water... Well lets think about this, obviously it has different parasites in it, but i have come use to using it to brush my teeth and stuff. No i don't drink the water just like i don't drink the water in most US cities, but think where all the ice is coming from. They obviously have to get the ice from there water. When you are in restaurants, bottled water isn't very common unless it is a really nice restaurant, so most places serve warm water. Needless to say i have opted out of getting my water at a restaurant, and have gone back to drinking some softdrinks. Alot of the tea drinks are very good. Only certain really nice restaurants serve coffee. Coffee wise though, there is a starbucks on every corner.

If the way you can determine a civilized country is by starbucks, then China is with it. And what is sad is that it is almost more expensive here then in the states. So if i want to blow all my per diem i can buy starbucks every day. McD's is about half the price.

We were at lunch today discussing what we are paying our local staff, and honestly it is probably less than what walmart payes over here.. I don't have any exact facts, but they make around 60 yuan a day and interpetors make 100 yuan. Thats like 10 dollars a day... Good times. As sad as it is I think what it comes down to is that you can't even begin to compare different countries wages. I did walk around and came across a hotel that is 60 yuan a night. That is about 9 bucks.

We found a "western" restaurant that is now our new favorite place to eat. They have couches to sit on when you eat, and it is kinda like an opium den. But the food is great, you can get a full steak for like 60 yuan and you get mashed potatoes... OHH mashed potatoes. I think what i am missing most is taco bell or something italian. And i haven't had the guts to try some of the sushi here (sorry Nick D.) it is just a little scary.

Laundry- haven't really decided what is going on with this. Thank god i brought almost 4 weeks of clothes with me. I was crossing my fingers the show would have a washer/dryer set. But not so much. So the company does find local places we can send it off to, but it is like 6 yuan. They don't have dryers, so basically i may be washing my clothes in the sink.

I am slowly but surely finding comfort foods and things that i actively seek around China. I have been spending alot of time with my interpetor now that i am just hanging out learning more about cultural differences and learning new Chinesse (Jen G. arn't you so proud of me now). I have found a "coco puff" sorta outer shell cookie, with gooey chocolate inside called "Chocolate Pillows" and they are good times. It is hard to find juice at most corner stores, but the markets have it. It is said, but most the time you just want something simple. instead of a boiling bowl of fiery spicy hot water with some chicken bones and noodles in it. Lettuce is a huge rarity here and MAY be why it is so popular in chinese dishes in the states. They have a small salad bar in Pizza Hut, which i haven't seen anywhere else, and the iceberg lettace is ON ice. We all had a good laugh when we saw that.

FYI You will not find any nuts, fancy noodles, lettuce, or celery in any traditional Chinesse dish. Guess they felt the need to add that in the states. And regarding meat, they do not remove any of the fatty content. So it is much more tender and in some cases has more flavor. Flavor=fat=gross

Pictures

K, so i have given up tring to post pictures on this, but if you go to my MY Space, www.myspace.com/tourlife You can check out my pictures on there. I forget if you have to join myspace, but that is the best i can do for now.

So much to tell

So i have so much to talk about, but unfortunatly my work has to take priority. And my health. Since i have been here i have started hacking up all sorts of great stuff, as many of you know the pollution here is horrible. A study done said that breathing the air here in China, is like smoking 80 cigerettes in a day. YEP. 8.0. Crazy huh? Maybe you will check next time to see if what you buy is "made in china". And perhaps understand that they haven't taken the time to invest in proper pollution control.

On another note, and i promise this blog will get exciting, but today marks the 2nd time i have seen the sun. Yep, usually the smog or pollution or whatever blocks the sun and rather sad.

So things are going as expected at work. A little slow at times, but slowly coming together. We have tons of time in Chengdu, so thats why i am sitting at work typing to you. It was a long last 4 days, we have been working from 8am to 10pm and all of that is on our feet. We spent the last 2 days focusing the show, so that means i have been 30ft. in the air for 4 hours at a time. Good times. We are now fully loaded in and the performers are working on deck as the show gets cued and put together. I have about 20 notes to take care of for the show, but for the most part will spend the next week waiting for time on stage to work.

So back to Tuesday, my 2nd day off in China. We went to the panda perserve here in Chengdu, that happens to be one of the largest in the world. They have over 100 panda's that they breed, rescue, and teach people about the animals. It was awesome going to this place, even though i don't normally like zoo's. The habitats were very well laid out and offered some great views of the panda's. They had red panda's and regular ones. I got a chance to hold a red panda for 50 yuan (the Chinese currency) and the exchange rate is about 7 to 1. So that is about 6 bucks. We spent the afternoon around the panda perserve and ate in the restaurant which was great. On the menu they had tree fungus, trutle, just about any fish imaginable, and many other interesting choices. I chose spicy chile bamboo shoots and fried eggplant.

On that note, i am doing ok with the food over here. I am having a little bit of trouble adapting to eating here. I think i have decided th at when i get back to the states it will probably be a bit before i have chinese food. Just saying. Cause really, how much rice and noddles can a guy eat. That and we have found that most of the food here is fried and so that gets a little old.

We have however found some great places we like to eat at. We eat at a great noodle place every day for lunch, that serves some great dishes with lots of seafood, sushi, and the best drink, a grapefruit iced tea. So we love that so much that we have been there 4 times so far. I have now gone against my rules and eaten at mcdonald's 2 times. Everything there is exactly the same, except the chicken nugget sauce. THey only carry a curry sauce and a spicy chile sauce. I really do plan on eating there as little as possible, but as sad as it sounds McD's reminds me of home. LOL As i spoke of the pizza hut, even there the servers where veil like they are from India. I have also found an awesome noodle/soup shop across from my hotel. The bell men took me over for a late night snack and it is AWESOME. I have been back there a few times, but i can't order on my own. A full bowl of noodles there is 7 yuan, so yep 1 buck.

Our crew has decided that on our 32 bucks a day per diem, we can pay for all our meals, all our beer, and a 2 hour full body massage a bar. We went to a massage place near the hotel, and for a 1.5 hour full body it was 130 yuan. And a damn good massage. ANd for only 60 yuan you get a 2 hour foot massage. I haven't done it yet, but damn my feet can't wait. And fyi, we would just go to the place in the hotel, but it is for "men only", so kinda odd.

Now that i have been here for a week, it has started to become a little more comfortable. You just get use to being a minority, to pointing at what you want on a menu, being surprised if anyone speaks english, get use to people staring at you, enjoy the oddity of it all, try and not hack up your lungs cause you can't breath, and so on.

Our interpretors in Chengdu have been very helpful when it comes to geting around, finding restaurants, ordering, and dealing with language barrier problems. Kit and Kat are amazing, the are going to be our full tour interpretors from Hong Kong and they are going to help us find things to do. And our local ones are alot of fun. THey are college kids and are really nice to talk to and learn about cultural differences and facts about China. Preston was my main interpretor at the theatre and has been awesome when dealing with the daily woes of a production load in. He has done a great job teaching me all sorts of new things about China and some words.

FYI Back is HO
Forward is Chin
Leg is Tway
Thank you is Shasha
Hello is Ne How
Up is Sun
Down is Shia
Glasses is Yenjing or Preston(thanks buddy)

Im trying LOL

PS. It would appear that all my attempts to bypass the Chinese government to get pictures on this blog have failed, but i will try some new ways.

And i did get to read your comments. Thanks, keep commenting!!!

Chengdu by Day

So today was my first real day in China, and it was rathering relaxing. I got up in time to enjoy the continental breakfast at the hotel. Definite perk while on tour. It was a huge spread of about 20 items served buffett style and then a salad bar. Yep, i said it, they have a salad bar for breakfast. All items were pretty foriegn to me, except hard boiled eggs, bacon, and mashed potatoes. I guess they assume us American's like our potatoes 24/7. Other than that there was rice (as if i had't had rice 3 times already in a day), egg rolls, puff rolls, and other interesting dishes.

I then spent the morning exploring the theatre and heading out with my TD and ATD. It was nice to see the space we will be playing and get filled in on the details of the show. We then went to Pizza Hut for lunch.

SO, as if you don't already love pizza hut, in China it is a upscale sit down restaurant. One item on the menu what Lamb with cousecouse (sp?). It would be the nice restaurant you go to take a date to on a night out. I was quite impressed on the fact that the pizza tasted about the same as it is in the states. So needless to say it will probably be a good escape from the normal China dish. I am still tring to stay away from the Mcdonalds as there seems to be one every two blocks.

I spent a little bit of time walking around the streets today and got to take in the normal life of China men. I noticed that there was a street vendor selling puppies right along side the slabs of meat on a stick. Ironic?

So cluster fuck isn't even the begining of describing the traffic here in Chengdu. I am waiting to se ethe best picture i can get of it, but it is unreal. Most traffic lights have 6 to 10 streets that just kinda merge into one another and you would think they would have a round about. But they don't, so everyone just kinda merges into a cluttered mess and fight to get to whatever other street they are heading to. Throw in all the mopeds, and i mean more than there are cars with horrible brakes. And about 2000 pedestrians and you have a huge mess. It is funny, cause as you are crossing the street there are cars that don't bother stopping for you. And it doesn't matter if they have a red light, they just feel they can go on into the middle of an intersection. Our head carp was in a taxi that hit a guy on a moped and the taxi just kept on driving as though nothing happened.

Tonight we went down to a historical district of the city and went to see the Shu Feng Ya Yun Tea House and Sichuan Opera known for there changing of masks and hand puppets. Apparantly you have to stay in an apprentice until the government gives you permission to join the opera. It was amazing, everyone in our group loved every bit of it. Enjoy the photos!

FYI I had to check my bed to make sure they didn't forget the actual mattress, cause it feels like i am sleeping on a hard box spring.

Arrival in Chengdu

So i just got into Chengdu where i will be spending the next 3 weeks in. The flight off the west coast and up toward the north pole is amazing. I have always wanted to go to Alaska, so getting to see the mountains of it were pretty cool. Then for the next 4 or 5 hours you cross over nothing but ice, obviously the Arctic Ocean, but i found it so interesting to see the different formations of ice in the water below. After the Arctic, you get to land masses of snow and then out of no where HUGE ass mountains show up and it is nothing but mountains and snow for thousands of miles. The flight monitor said it was -76 degrees outside.

Other than looking out the occasional window and marveling that i got an exit row with 4 feet of leg room, it was a pretty boring flight. Over 12 hours to be exact and though i am sure Air China is known for it's great in flight food, the meals were pretty bad. And believe me, in this blog, you know that if I can't eat it, it must be horrible. IE.. the pork that came with dinner was slimmy, no taste, and felt like liver.

So we got in Beijing and were utterly overwhelmed and confused on what to do, where to go. I think the overkill of signs in Ideograms (Chinesse characters) in a foriegn language is what did it.

Now i am in Chengdu all checked into my hotel. This picture is of the "butter" statue in the hotel lobby. I figured the more tired i get, the less likely i will be tired tommorow and then my body will naturally adjust. Either way, i get 2 days off to soak in the culture and adjust to China-time.

FYI: If Coke, didn't have such a international appearance, i wouldn't have got it knowing it was a coke.

Skype Acct.

Hey All,

I head out in about 6 hours and i am so excited/nervous i can't sleep. I am now a little less nervous now that i have just spent an hour on the phone talking with my best friend Stacie and her showing me how to use Skype. If you don't have it you should look into getting it. It is free and kinda functions just like AIM, but will be awesome for me to have while i am out of the country. You can now call me and as long as i am at my computer you can talk to me via your cell phone. My number is (502) 410 4305. I haven't set up the voicemail, so right now if i don't answer it means i am not at my computer. It will however notify me that i missed your call and i can call you back when i get back on the computer.

And China is 12 hours AHEAD of Eastern Time. Noon in Louisville, Midnight in Shanghai.

Cheers.

China Preparation

Hello and welcome to Doc's blog while he is over in China. I decided to start this for alot of reasons and hope that i can keep a regular fan base for it. I am so excited right now to go over to China and hope that all you all will be as excited for me. Since i won't know if anyone is actaully reading this, the more feedback or comments I get the more excited it is for me to read this.

Since My Space is banned in China and i have no access to my phone, this should be a awesome way for me to fill you in on the everyday where abouts and excitement that is my life IN CHINA. I will try my best to post as much detail about my journey's and adventures as i go into another culture for 8 months. Also, this will be a great place to display some of the photography i take while there.

I am now 36 hours before i leave on my journey and still need to finish my packing. I have found out that the weather will range from 10deg to about 110deg from March until Dec so i am tring to pack as many different clothes as possible. Keeping in mind that when i get cold i usually only where a hoodie, that shouldn't be to hard.

I am a little scared right now to go over to another country and work for 8 months, i have heard alot of horror stories from friends of mine off of 42nd st tour, but i am determined to overcome all the bad karma and have a great time. Here is the itenarary, let me know if you guys find out anything cool i should check out.

March 16- Travel Den-SF-Beijing-Chengdu
March 20-April 6- Chengdu
April 7--14- Chongging
April 15-25- Wuhan
April 25- May 4- Beijing
May 5-11- Xian
May 12-22- Tianjin
May 23-June 1- Harbin
June2- 8 Heifei
June9-15- Nanjing
June 16-25 Ningbo
June 26- July 6 Changsha
July 7-13 Xiamen
July 14-23 Shenzhen
July 24-Aug 3 Guangzhou
Aug4-17 TBD
Aug 18-24 Macau
Aug 25-31 TBD
Sep 1-14 Taiwan
Sept 15-21 TBD
Sept 22-28 Philippines
Sept 29-Oct 12 Thailand
Oct 13- Return to states or possibly India-Dubai

So there you go, enjoy the blog. here are a few photo's of past friends on JCS.