HOME

I have been home for about a week and a half now, that is why my postings have subsided considerably. I had a nice view out the plane window on the way home, although most of the view was of ICE over the North Pole.

Thanks to everyone who read my blog!

Old Man Chin

Today I went for a walk down to Center Street to spend some of the last of my Chinese money. As I was walking an old man came up to me and started speaking to me in English. Although his English was slow it was very good.

I would be willing to bet all of the U.S. readers have heard the expression “more Chins than an Chinese phone book” Ironically, I have been in China for about seven months and this man was the first Chinese person I met with the name Chin. He said he would call me “Young Ryan” and I should call him “old man Chin.” We had a nice talk as we walked down the street. He was born in the seaside city of Dalian. When he was 10 years old his older sister brought him to Harbin and supported him with her job in a ball bearing factory. When he finished school he went to work as a geography teacher in Harbin. He recently retired and lives on the Songhua River. However, as he was bored, he started working at a restaurant on Center Street that specializes in American and Russian food. He can speak Russian also; He translates the menus into Russian and English and seems to work as a host of sorts.

He showed me to the restaurant, as he wanted to ask me the type of American music that the restaurant plays all the time. It was Country music. He wanted to know where in the United States the music came from. We had a nice chat about cowboys and the old west. He got out his atlas (in Russian) and we had some American geography lessons.

It was a very nice and interesting chat. He gave me his phone number and said to call when I was back in town. You can see me below with Old Man Chin (right) and the restaurant manager (left).


Good Day from Harbin!

Final Day of the Season

Today was the final day of the 2005-06 Chinese National Women’s Hockey Season. We had a regular day of a couple practices and a lifting session. The next week the girls return to their hometown teams for the women’s National tournament in Harbin and then they have a mere three weeks off until May 7th when the 2006-2007 season begins for them. They begin the next season with a week of Chinese Army training.

For me, I head back to the United States on Sunday and will meet with the NY Islanders to determine what the future plans for the project might be. It was a bittesweet day. A long seven months is over, with much accomplished and much left to be done.

At night I went out to dinner with the staff for a “thank you” dinner. We again had the traditional hot pot dinner. A picture of the favorite hot pot place is below:


Good Night from Harbin!

A few Harbin journeys...

Over the long weekend I took a couple of Harbin journeys… Many of the landmarks and scenes described here can be seen in photo form on my photo pages…

Scenes From Harbin
Scenes From Harbin II
Final Scenes from Harbin - NEW

On Saturday, I took a walk up to Hongbo Square. It was about a 45-minute walk in one direction. Luckily I did meet all 9.4 million people from Harbin that day as they all had decided to go shopping at Hongbo.

To get to the square you go out of the training center and turn right and go up the hill. I walked past the entrance to the amusement park and past the big electronics mall. Then you reach the crazy intersection where 6 roads meet with no lights, no signs and no traffic circle, just cross at your own risk. At the intersection is the interesting oversized gyroscope. Going straight leads to the train station, going right leads to the Harbin Ice House, but I decided to bear left at the Gyroscope and head towards Hongbo Square.

A few blocks later I witnessed not one, two or three, but SIX fire trucks headed off in the same direction with their lights on but no sirens. This is odd since I have only seen a fire truck one other time in Harbin in the ENTIRE seven months I have been here. I have never seen a fire station.

As I neared Hongbo square, the volume of people increased rapidly. I reached a point where you could not cross the road (due to the fences), so you had to take the underground tunnels to cross the road. Underneath the intersections were entire mini malls and you could get to any of the four corners of the intersection after going underground. There were people everywhere; it was mayhem and madness to me, normal to everyone else. It made all of my adventures walking in NYC feel like being in a 100-acre meadow with seven other people.

Anyway, any idea I had of trying to do any shopping was shot down with the impossibility of moving in any direction of my choosing, so I headed back to the training center, but it was a nice walk on a sunny Saturday afternoon. On the way home I saw a couple of pick up basketball games and a few kids rollerblading in the park.

On Sunday I joined Pei Ying and Tim for some shopping at the flea market across the tracks from the Carrefour. When I say “across the tracks” it is an accurate description, as this part of Harbin is certainly lacking in aesthetic beauty. However, they had quite a few interesting Chinese trinkets and antiques at the flea market. Pei Ying is an expert bargainer also! Tim purchased a very unique version of “The Art of War” in Chinese characters in a scroll-like book. The vendor wanted 800 Yuan ($100) for it, but Pei talked her down to 150 Yuan and got a few other cool trinkets thrown in for free. All in all, Tim and I probably saved over $200 (US) by having her with us. You can see Pei (in the orange) bargaining with a vendor below:


The flea market was huge and vendors had everything from shoes and clothes to computer chips and tools. There was a guy selling used TVs and speakers and another building new bikes.

After the market, we took Pei out for lunch at another all-you-can-eat, all-you-can-drink place. They cooks came by with grilled meat and fruit on skewers, and there was a buffet also. Again the place brewed its own beer, which came with the 30-Yuan price (yes, that is only $3.75 per person).

All in all, it was good Sunday. Good shopping bargains, good lunch bargain, and good food and company.

So, with my weekend filled up with Harbin Journeys, I prepared for my final week of this season with the Chinese National Team.

However, today, the Zamboni broke down before the afternoon practice. So, with nowhere to practice, we took a team walk to the newly opened amusement park next door (it opened for the season on April 1st). The rollercoaster was running, but the big wheel was not, nor was the waterslide, since it was only 40 degrees today. A couple of girls paid the very high 100-Yuan fee for the rollercoaster ride, while the others watched and screamed for them during the loop. One girl won a big stuffed monkey by shooting balloons with a real gun and real ammo with everyone looking on from very close proximity. We got everyone back with all of their limbs, so it was good day!

So those are my recent Harbin journeys… only a few more days in this hockey season before I head back to the U.S. to see what the plans may be for next season.

A Final Day in Beijing

The final day of the tournament saw an early morning contest between the North and South Koreans. We got up early and went over to the rink to pack the equipment bus for the trek home. The girls were bussed to the shopping center for a day of shopping. Tim and I went back to the hotel after the game, checked out and headed to the train station. We found a locker for our stuff in the International Soft Berth Waiting Lounge and for a mere $3 we stored our travel bags for the 9 hours until the train left.

Next we decided on a walk to the Temple of Heaven, just a few kilometers south of the train station. It was a great sunny day of about 65 degrees. We walked by the ancient remains of the city wall that dates to the Ming Dynasty and past many construction sites. We stopped for some pizza on the way and finally found our way to the east gate of the temple. For 10 Yuan, we were in! The temple’s main area is the “Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest.” It is a huge area bigger than the Forbidden City as the Chinese thought a temple of heaven should be larger than where they resided. We saw the long corridor (which leads to the Good Harvest Hall), we saw a “nine-dragon” cypress tree over 500 years old. There were many people in the corridor just hanging out and playing cards or music or dancing and singing. There was a group of mostly women chanting and doing what appeared to be a physical exercise and spiritual ritual.


You can see all my pictures from the Day in Beijing on my photo website.

It was a great day and a great walk. We headed back out the North gate and back to the train station. At the station, we found a room with reclined chairs and paid 5 Yuan for a one-hour nap in the room. We gathered our stuff from the locker, grabbed some food in the food court and headed for the mass of humanity boarding our train.

At 9:05 p.m. our train pulled out of the station and in just a mere 12 hours we were back in Harbin.

For those looking for more visual stimulation, I have also put up some photos of the Asian Women’s Hockey Tournament on my photo site.

So, greetings again from Harbin!

Asian Tournament - Day 5

The tournament ended with an exciting contest in which we tied Kazakhstan, 2-2. Both teams had leads during the game, and it was great game up and down the ice. There was also a very spirited hometown crowd. The tie placed us in third place in the tournament with a 2-1-1 record. This is a very good result considering the key injuries we were battling and the two missing players still playing in the Finnish women’s league.

The tournament awards were given out to the top three teams and the most improved team, South Korea. Tomorrow morning, N. Korea faces S. Korea in a battle of two teams who have yet to win a game in the tournament (each 0-3). It should be a spirited game in spite of the fact that both teams showed up and cheered for each other at all games throughout the week.

Tomorrow night we leave Beijing for Harbin on the late overnight train. Below is the interesting buildings that we see out the front door of our hotel, that Tim has named the “Jetson’s roof”



Good night for the final time from Beijing!

Asian Tournament - Day 4

Yes, I skipped “Day 3.” Yesterday was an off day, we had practice, rest and relaxation.

Today, we played one bad period and found ourselves unable to come from behind, losing 4-1 to Japan. This sets up a must-win against Kazakhstan to force a three-way tie for first place in the tournament.

After our game, there was a banquet for all the coaches, team leaders and officials. It was big enough to be a two-table banquet again. There were many toasts to the success and continued improvement of Asian Women’s Ice Hockey, and talk about future tournaments. The Kazakhstan group brought some homemade vodka to add to the Chinese “devil wine” and beer. It actually tasted much better than any of the Chinese wine I have had. I sat next to the president of Japanese Ice Hockey. He is 81 years old and a very nice man. He very much enjoyed the Kazakhstani Vodka.

That is all for tonight, a big final day tomorrow!

Below is a picture of a face-off vs. N. Korea with me looking "happy" on the bench: