Sail-World.com : Letter from Qingdao: An Irish Perspective - 3
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Letter from Qingdao: An Irish Perspective - 3 |
It occurs to me that by the time most of you read this a few days will have passed and we will in fact be well into or maybe even have finished our first day's racing - and that may change the atmosphere/style of these mails quite a bit - I don't know.
Saturday - Shopping Expedition
Last free day so I summoned up my driver [I thought I could get used to this if I persevered], and in company with Maria and Rhino went on a little shopping spree to a local market in the old part of town. When we were here earlier the whole place was a chaotic building site - with all the commercial activity still going on - roads like tracks in the jungle, traffic stuck in the mud, workmen laying kerb and paving stones, gangplanks to wobble over into the shops, cars trying to drive through the street, shoppers walking over the workers - no separation or control whatsoever.
If you had such a system for the repaving of Patrick St it wouldn't have been completed in a 100 yrs - or ever. When we arrived this morning the whole place was like some place in Switzerland - work finished, neatly paved, whole place beautiful decorated - outstanding!
This market is mostly for fake brands - watches, bags, clothes, shoes, etc. My thing is watches so first item of business was to take back my Rolex that I had bought in June [I doubt if it's a place that people return items too often - consumer protection legislation is unlikely to extend this far] and ask the girl to take a link out of the strap - which she does - expertly - and after a bit of a struggle we get the it to close on my hand.
As a timepiece its a load of rubbish but as a piece of jewellery it was good enough to fool somebody at the ICRA Nationals in Howth Yacht Club 'god, I didn't think teachers could afford a Submariner' as he flashed his own Rolex at me.
Cocky bastard - doesn't he know the expenses were on - and the long holidays! Why shouldn't we be able to afford a top of the range Rolex - well a fake one at least? I hadn't the nerve to ask the girl to take it back and give me something that would tell the time, if only occasionally - there is only so far you can push your luck.
I then moved on to another stall that I remembered from the last visit and started checking the stock. Out comes the glossy but well thumbed catalogue of perhaps all the leading brands, Panerai, Rolex, Breuget, Audemars, Cartier, etc., [hundreds of models!]
A small young girl appeared at my elbow to assist?
[you never know how much English they have - it comes and goes, good now, bad again] plus the two ladies behind the counter, we began the process. I had an idea of what I wanted and they were undoubtedly totting up the potential margin - how gullible is this fat foreigner?
He's wearing a Rolex - is it fake? He might be good for the deposit on a house - well small apartment anyhow? There seems to be no limit to the different brands and models. Box after box is dragged out from under the counter and watch after watch is laid out for inspection. We sorted them into two groups, battery based and automatic.
The battery ones are more likely to tell the time - for a few days at least - and the automatics are the big clunky macho ones, Breitling, Tag Heuer, Rolex etc. Eventually, having been advised by my consultants Maria and Rhino I settle on two battery ones, a beautiful understated Patek Phillipe 'you merely look after it for the next generation' and a classy Vacheron Constantin - I'm wearing it now - and it's still keeping the time!
The price?? I must confess the haggling process is exactly like settling a personal injuries case! My little assistant? had by now assumed the role of counsel for the injured party and I must further confess she beat me hands down - probably by 100%!
She opened high - calculator out and tapped in the opening bid - and I made the fatal mistake of not coming in low enough - game over. It went on for a good while after that but from that point on I was on a loser. Once you tap in your first response you must keep going - whatever will happen a deal must be done, a sale must be closed - so she kept insisting I come back with a counter bid.
Hers were expert - came down in small increments - mine were sloppy - without Rhino playing a blinder as backstop [and laughing himself silly at my predicament] I would have lost a fortune! As it was I ended up paying 400 yuan - about 40 euro for the two watches. But what the hell, as I said, the expenses are good - and you don't meet a cocky northside Dub every day who'd have the nerve to ask you was it real - bastard!
After all that excitement off we went to a 'proper' department store - where there's no haggling, they just rob you blind up front - well I mean there are no fantastic bargains to be had. Prices are comparable with home, as expensive or maybe even slightly more expensive.
The range of goods, electrical, household, clothing - men and women, the choice, is just as extensive or more so as home. I bought a nice sleeveless pullover - hard to get at home - for 50 euro. The consumer demon being satisfied by this stage the driver was summoned up once more and we headed back to camp. Party over - serious business all the way from here on.
Sail Racing - resumed
I know I said the next mail but if you've got this far I would like to get a little bit more down the road in this session if we could - so attention again class please. I just want to introduce some further basic ideas and vocabulary and then we will leave it at that for today and take it on from there the next day. I had hoped to be able to put in some graphics - well a circle, but this online outlook does not seem to have such support.
My Vacheron C says its 05.30 am approx, Sunday morning, 7th - insomnia/jetlag back - practice race later today, launching ceremony this evening - guys will be up in a few hrs - might get a cup of coffee upstairs.
Good night.
Denis.
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Subject: China Weekly - Qingdao Report No 2
Sailing Stuff
What we're here for, so 1st things etc. Sonar on the water yesterday - very light wind, maybe 2-3 knots [3.5 to 5.5 Km/h]. Hot, and we baked! Very strong tides - maybe 3 Kts +. The fear about Qingdao was/is that it would be so light that races would not be started [Min 4 kts are required to start a race]. But most days we have had good wind and today again there was a steady 8Kts on the water - so we keep our fingers crossed for next week when the racing begins. The Sonar was hauled today for measurement, weighing etc. - all the bits of string had to be undone and the mast taken out - and then put back in again - and all the bits of string tied up again. Maria was out at 8,00am under the boat polishing the hull - and had the whole job done when we arrived down at 10 - 10.30. Someone passed the remark ' a woman's work ...' but being a reformed - well partially reformed - MCP I immediately stopped him and instead explained what had kept us busy and unable to arrive any earlier. That seemed to diffuse the situation??? We also promised to do better in future!
The Skud hit the water for the first time today. Amy and John were out with about 7/8 other boats. Conditions were idyllic and they had a very satisfactory first sail pacing and practising with the others. The usual teething problems - maybe a shorter bit of string here, longer there, etc., but nothing major. A great feeling to be on the water sailing after the initial trauma of discovering the badly damaged boat in the delivery container.
3 days left to competition time and things tightening up a bit - so we went out of the village last evening for a meal - and to restore our blood alcohol levels - moderately - really! Mac regaled us with tales from earlier days which included characters such as 'fightin Kiely' - definetly no relation, 'Luigi', 'mad jack', 'jerry the mouse', the 'Bandon car', and the 'hole in the wall gang', and lots of motorbikes!! - I swear. Richard was sitting there pop-eyed wondering who the normally fairly serious guy in the back of the boat really was? Was all this possible from in and around a fairly small and obscure parish in south Cork. Rhino, who comes from a more sophisticated [nearer to 'town'] but nearby part of the country, and who may have met 'fightin Kiely' in his own travels, assured him that every word was Gospel! It is a mark of the tolerance of the Chinese that we were not asked to leave their 5 star establishment as we nearly fell off our chairs and/or nearly choked laughing. I see I've strayed a little from the serious business.
Sonar goes back in the water tomorrow morning, tune the rig and put in a fairly serious amout of time on the water - always weather permitting - as it will be the last practice opportunity. Then the boat will probably be hauled again tomorrow evening or Saturday morning, washed and polished, back in the water for the practice race on Sunday and the action proper begins on Monday.
The plans for the Skud are not so clear, She hasn't had as much time on the water as the other boat so she will be sailing again tomorrow, perhaps Saturday, and how long she will be out of the water before the racing begins will be decided as we go.
Organisation Matters etc.
The event is 'owned' by a body called the International Paralympic Council [IPC]. It's Irish subset is the Paralympic Council of Ireland [PCI] Kind of parallell body and structure to IOC for main olympics. This body enters into some kind of contarct with the host country and - for the most part - their nationals run the event and head up all the operational units. We obviously use the facilities of the Olympics just finished so in the case of sailing we are based in the olympic sailing 'village' in Qingdao.
Medium sized Chinese city of 7-8 million people. I'd never heard of it before hearing that the sailing events would be held there. Not knowing, I assumed something like Crosshaven to Cork i.e. a small sailing village down the road from the capital city. When I saw the first pictures and heard the population figures it came as a real surprise - its high rise all the way here! When it was built I don't know - most of what I've seen is modern - but it is hard to imagine all of it being built since the 'capitalist roaders' under Deng Xiaoping came into the ascendant in 1978. My girls told me there were 6 ish universities by 30,000 students in Qingdao but I've seen a note saying 28 colleges and universities so we might be looking at a 3rd level student population in the greater Qingdao area of - wild guess - 500,000?
Just checked - probably right - Qingdao covers an area of 10,654sq km, is comprised of 7 districts, with a total population of approximately 8.2 million but with an urban population of 2.3 million. That makes it something like the size of Munster?? Mystery solved - its a province and a city - either way its big!
The 'village' is a 5 star Intercontienental hotel or it will be as soon as we have packed our bags and left. Modern palatial in style. Because it was designed/built for the main olympics - around 1000 - it has a slighlty empty feel to it at present - max 150. But you could get used to the luxury!
My Girls, Su and Viv - and Driver
Because of the language?? for reasons of organisational efficiency and for whatever other reason/s I don't know but there seems to be about 5 'volunteer' helpers for each accredited person [athletes and coaches etc]. Each team, Irish, French etc, has two liason persons. These are all young girls, undergraduate or post grad mostly, with varing levels of English. There job is to see that we - team leaders - do our jobs. Our job is largely a communication role between the organisers [Chinese] and the athletes. Since we do not understand a word of Chinese hence the need for interpreters. We have two because they work in morning and afternoon shifts. They are bright, neat, dillegent, mild mannered, friendly - and relentless - never give up, 'Denees you misseed the meeting - this is what you must do.' 'Denees do you have the list of names for me?' and out comes the notebook.
Everything is noted down - from their own briefings and conversations - in their little notebooks. Mostly in Chinese characters or in impeccable written English. When I have to wtite something for them I am ashamed at my illegible scrawl in comparison. But we get on - well. All the Chinese we meet are invariably polite. The bad natured boorishness and vulgarity that is a staple of the daily discourse at home appears to be totally absent. I know this can't be the complete picture but I would say that it is a less aggressive, more polite society than Irish people can imagine. There are also lots of young men employed in the village but I'm not sure what they do - if they do anything at all? Generally women seem to have a position of complete equality - certainly in terms of the organisation of the event women seem to have at least as prominent a role as men - at least! No hint here of the middle-east or perhaps Japan - this may be one of the few/only positives from the communist inheritance/era.
As I'm a team leader - middling boss - I rate a car and driver [Passat and good driver]. I know, this stuff could go to your head. So, I used the facility once - to go looking for wheelchair tyres around the city - couldn't find any - felt a bit embarrased - big fat foreigner traipising after small Chinese girl. But perhaps I'll take it out again on Saturday - and who knows I might get used to it!
Getting tired - two fingered stuff is so bloody slow! More later - hopefully.
Responses all positive - thank you - except one peremptory demand for my chinese mobile phone number. It will be something along the lines 'you can't call the Brits smug!' etc, etc, et bloody cetera.
Good night!
Denis
Notes and rubbish
Questions about China
So this allows us a little opportunity to consider the wider cultural, social and political questions that might occur to one on a visit to China. [I know, I know - relax!] What first? why not as it falls - cultural it is. short answer - we see little of either the high or day to day culture of the Chinese people. But we did have a fairly stunning concert type opening ceremony when we were here earlier - lots of performers of the highest quality - I remember in particular a kind of dance routine with changing face masks.
We will have a launching ceremony on Sunday - Richard will be our flag bearer - and I'm sure that it will be a major spectacle. The Chinese do spectacle exceedingly well - cast of thousands are only a phone call away to factories, schools and clubs.
But while it is rent-a-crowd to some extent? - to the full extent - we shouldn't think that for that reason people aren't enjoying themselves or that there is any sense that they are being coerced. I watched the Torch ceremony here last Tuesday - I was guessing that the crowd could be counted in thousands - and spoke to some of the onlookers and they were all enjoying themselves immensely. But while I didn't see them arriving I did see them going away after the event - and they ALL left in organised groups - yellow caps, red scarfs, orange T-shirts etc etc, paraded away, not military style but definitely parading, with all their flags neatly bundled together to be carried away and stored until the next outing - kinda like the 12th July with all the Orangemen on happy pills - if you can conjure up such an image!
What do we actually see - dress? Men dress smartly and conservatively, slacks and short sleeved shirts - kind of smart casual - with lower register colours, blacks, greys and pale cream predominating. The women? The same in a sense. A word that occurs is modestly, yes definitely modestly. [Wonder if that word will pass the censor - in Ireland!] They are also definitely smaller and thinner - haven't seen a single tummy roll since we left Cork!!
As I was out walking this evening I saw a Friday night crowd out shopping and enjoying themselves. Lots od small medium sized cars - but also lots of new Mercs, Lexus 4X4s, BMWs even the odd Hummer. There is affluence here and there are expensive shopping centres to service it - one just near here newly opened - with a collection of the top brand name shops - Prada, Cartier, Piaget, Ferragamo, Hermes, Tiffanys etc - really top drawer stuff, all together in a new centre. I may be wrong but I don't think any location in Ireland could muster such a list - Dundrum Shopping? - I doubt it. Is there a Tiffanys in Ireland? I think not and there is at least one Tiffanys store outside the door here.
It is hard to see how this was ever a communist country. It's extremely difficult on a day to day basis to see how this is a communist country now? Yes there are policemen - but they wouldn't put the fear of God into you like a big, fat, revolver toting New York cop would! And yes there are members of the PLA [Chinese military] apparently stiffly at attention or parading around in small groups. But as you approach them you see that they are little more than kids, with little toughness there; on perhaps one of the biggest, most important and exciting assignments of their lives - really for them I think that is what it is. And outside of the environs of the 'village' there is no more presence of police than would be the norm in any other western society? Yes there must be control of some kind but it may be control with a light touch.
I accept it is still a one-party State and that the party apparatus controls the organs and the administration of the State - kinda like Fianna Fail on steroids! All I'm saying is the present reality as you can see it on a day to day basis doesn't fit the popular perception of someone who remembers Mao, the 'great leap forward' the 'cultural revolution' and the 'little red book', the mindless brutality of the Red Guards, and even stories about the Korean war and films such as the 'Manchurian Candidate'.
by Denis Kiely
2:34 AM Sun 7 Sep 2008 GMT
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