Farewell Bagels

Over the weekend I received news that Danny, my favorite restaurateur in Guangzhou, passed away. No trip to the Guangdong provincial capital was complete without a stop at Danny's Italian Restaurant (formerly Danny's Bagel).

During my first year in Shenzhen, my brother sent me an email. One of his clients had a friend who made bagels in Guangzhou. This was music to a New Jersey native's ears (even though I was reading it)--I had spent the previous two years in Colorado without any decent bagels. It was another year before I finally made the trip to Guangzhou to eat at Danny's.

On my second solo trip to Guangzhou, to obtain useful information to apply for Jia's tourist visa (of course, the consulate provided no useful information), I made a point of having a bagel for lunch before heading to the consulate. Fortunately, Danny's is housed in a furniture shopping mall nearby. At least, I thought it was nearby. Turns out a thirty minute walk through Guangzhou in late spring is a painful reminder of the oppressive heat and humidity of the region.

I arrived at the Home Garden Mall a bit early. Danny's wasn't opened yet, so I found a sofa--the staff gave me awkward looks as I read a book. When I finally got into the restaurant for my bagel, I was greeted by Danny himself. It was nice to meet another New Jersey native. And he gave me some advice for dealing with the consulate. Although our conversation was brief, his affable personality led me to return on every trip through Guangzhou. And each time I visited, I tried something different from his menu.

We celebrated Jia's tourist visa with dinner at Danny's. He talked about some of the things he missed about New Jersey--he loved Harrold's Deli, and I brought back one of their cheesy napkins with deli Yiddish just for him. On that trip I had a chicken Parm sandwich that made me homesick--it was just like those I used to get at home.

Even on our final trip to Guangzhou we stopped in for lunch. It was only a short time before we moved to the US, and we wanted to see a few friends. Even though the restaurant closed between lunch and dinner, Danny stood around talking with us for two hours.

Since moving back to the US, I kept in touch with Danny. Every now and then I'd get an email asking how everything was in New Jersey or updating me on the goings on of Guangzhou. He especially liked to gloat when the northeast got excessive amounts of snow and he was in a much warmer climate.

Warmly Welcome 2011

It's been a pretty good year. Jia and I both found new jobs this past year, and are living much more comfortably than at the beginning of the year. We expect everything to go a little smoother in the new year.

My first New Year holiday in China was spent in Guangzhou. Jia and I had been dating less than month and decided to take two days outside Shenzhen. Seeing as I only knew a handful of words in Chinese, Jia was my tour guide. She took me through the main sites--the Tomb of the Nanyue King, Guangxiao Temple, Chen's Folk Art Museum (where I purchased a miniature Statue of Liberty because it seemed so out of place), and Xiu Park.

Guangxiao Temple was a highlight of the trip. It was my first experience in a Buddhist temple. Unfortunately, when we revisited Guangxiao before leaving China, the temple was undergoing renovations and much of it was closed off. The first visit was much more memorable.

The Final Trip

Before leaving China, Jia and I took a final trip to Guangzhou--primarily to pick up our plane tickets. We had planned to stay the night and attend Web Wednesday to help promote Terracotta Typewriter, but that got canceled.

After we got our tickets, which took far longer than expected, we headed over to Guangxiao Temple. Jia decided it was important for her to visit a Buddhist temple before our flight to New York, and I was interested in seeing it again. My first trip outside Shenzhen was to Guangzhou on New Year's Day--and Guangxiao Temple was on our list of sites to visit.

I remember being impressed with the almost 1700-year-old temple on the first visit. I wasn't so impressed the last time. For one thing, I've seen plenty of temples (you might say I'm templed-out), and this one didn't have any features that really stood out. Also, Guangxiao was going through renovations this time around, and much of it was closed off--I couldn't even find the really nice turtle pond.We headed to lunch at Danny's rather late where we met up with some Twitter friends, @JohnInGZ and @JWKirkland and his brother. As Jia and I sat longer with JohnInGZ, Danny showed up to talk with us--and time just flew by. Before we knew it, the restaurant had closed for the afternoon and was almost ready to re-open for dinner.

We parted ways with our friends and walked around Tianhe district for a while before heading to the bus station to catch our ride back to Shenzhen.

Of Paperwork and Foreign Food

Jia and I returned to Shenzhen yesterday from our short trip to Guangzhou and the US Consulate. I have no idea if everything we submitted was in order--and we probably won't know anything for about six months or so.

I also had to register to vote via absentee ballot for November's Presidential election--a more difficult process than I anticipated. Chinese addresses tend to be much longer than US addresses, and don't fit too well on the lines provided on the form. The form also has US postage paid, which doesn't do me much good since I still have to pay full Chinese postage. Why can't the consulate submit these forms for expats?

As for better news, we spent some extra time in Guangzhou to eat. After the consulate visit, we went out with some new friends to 1001 Nights next to China Hotel (special thanks to my former co-worker for recommending it). For 58 Yuan, they have a great lunch buffett with plenty of hummus, pita, and Middle Eastern barbecue. Unfortunately, while the food is a decent deal, the drinks are not--an extra 15 Yuan for a can of Coke.

No trip to Guangzhou would be complete without another stop to Danny's Bagel--still my favorite restaurant in the city. We had a meatball parm and Greek pita (smoked chicken, cherry tomatoes, and other vegetables), which were great. Danny mentioned that he sold the bagel business because it wasn't profitable, but assured me that he was looking into making smaller batches of bagels for the future to keep customers happy.

Guangzhou Consulate Visit

Jia and I left shortly before 1pm on Tuesday for Guangzhou. There was no way to get to the U.S. consulate by 9am on Wednesday from Shenzhen. Our plan was to find a cheap place to stay nearby and then meet her friend before getting to sleep early.

Finding lodging was more difficult than we thought. The first place was run by the guy I mentioned in the previous post. He really wasn't friendly and I didn't trust him. The second guy to show us a place to stay was only slightly better. Again, we were shown a shared apartment for more than 200 a night--far too much for the quality. Then, the guy mentioned he knew of a nearby hotel that was reasonable. He handed us 100 kuai and said it was OK because he'd get the money back for referring us. This turned out to be a find.

The Jianghe Hotel was only a 7 kuai cab ride from the consulate and it looked clean. There was also an Italian place next door with great prices and food called 37°2 Bistro. There are also two other locations in Guangzhou. Jia had smoked salmon and pesto spaghetti and I had a salmon and mushroom pizza (both quite good).

After checking in, we decided to go meet Jia's friend from university, his girlfriend, and another of his friends at Danny's Bagel. I wrote about this place the last time I was in Guangzhou, but I only tried the bagel there. This time we went all out on dinner. We were there just in time for happy hour (2 for 1 half-liter Tiger beer for 25 kuai). Jia and I split a chicken parm sandwich and sun-dried tomatoes and feta pasta. Jia is still raving about the chicken parm. I have to admit, that sandwich caused my third bout of homesickness in more than two years in China--all because of a sandwich I haven't had in about four years and which costs about $5 back home.

We spent a bit of time talking with Danny about the visa appointment. He gave Jia some pointers about answering questions (which she ended up not needing) and read through our material to see if we had everything we should. We told him he should open a shop in Shenzhen, but I'm thinking we're better off without it--I'd eat there too often and get fat.

After all the material we put together (nearly 40 pages), we didn't need it. The consular officer looked over her application form, asked where she was going, what her job was, what my job was, and when our contracts expire. Apparently, the two officers on either side of Jia's were asking lots of questions. I guess we got lucky. At least now we can really start planning our vacation--I'm still trying to figure out a way of getting out to Denver/Boulder for a little while.

China is a sleeping dragon

I couldn't resist that stupid cliché of a title--every Western publication uses that metaphor and it's getting out of hand. But here is the Friday photo from a journey through Guangzhou almost two years ago. This was the dinner plate dragon that wound around a small section of Xiu Park. I think this angle from the foot is the best one I took.

A (mostly) wasted day

This post could also be titled, "My government is full of non-information."

Yesterday, I took a trip to the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou for the American citizen information hour at 3 pm. It's a two-hour bus ride for 60 RMB from right outside my door. Unfortunately, the latest bus I could take that would get me there in time left at 8:15 am.

Arriving early in Guangzhou, I decided to check out a place to eat. One of my brother's clients has a friend who opened an Italian restaurant near the consulate--Danny's Bagel. They advertise that they have bagels, and I've been desperate for one for the last two years. So, I stopped in (too early again--it opens at 11:30) and ordered a bagel with cream cheese. It certainly wasn't a NY bagel, but it was pretty good for China (and much better than anything I had in Colorado and most of central PA). Where else could I get one around here? And, if I had enough money, I would have ordered some of the appetizing Italian dishes (mmm... chicken parm). But I suppose I'll have to save that for another trip. I stood around after the bagel to talk with Danny. He's a very nice guy who's been in China for quite a while. We commiserated about the lack of American sports.

I took the excessively humid walk to the consulate since I had plenty of time to kill--it was only about 30 minutes, but I was feeling a bit over-heated. I waited an hour for the session to start with my copy of Midnight's Children. When the time came to get my information, I discovered I wasted my time. Instead of being able to ask specific questions (such as I had been told by a friend who went through the process a year ago) I was greeted with a "Well, you just need to go on our Web site and find all the information there." Hell, I already knew there was information there! I wanted specific answers pertaining to my wife's situation. They don't even have copies of ANY forms for me to look over. I have to print everything out and hope that it's OK. Thank you U.S. State Department for wasting my time.