So Long Nickie, We'll Miss You! Last night, Nickie, the girlfriend of a colleague, went back to the US for good. He’s following her next month, and then is probably off to Paris for his next assignment. Chennai to Paris…hmm, better luck next time, guy. Anyway, I stopped by for her farewell party and saw that they had put out a laptop with an Internet camera on it, so that Spicygirl could ‘drop in’ from Hong Kong. They had given her a nickname while she was here: ‘Tinger’; so naturally they called this set-up the ‘Tinger-cam’. Pretty clever. So here I am making a ritual offering to her: Ritual Offering Best thing about these kinds of offerings, just like when you’d do it for the gods or ancestors, is that we here on Earth (or Madras) enjoy the corporeal benefits after the spirits receive the essence. So you can imagine where that Guinness went shortly afterwards! Spicy-chat It was nice having her around. Then the battery died so they had to put her in the other room to plug her back in. That was weird, but strangely hilarious. For those of you wondering what happened to my Chennai blog, I've pulled the plug. I've decided that one blog is plenty, time-wise. Plus, it didn't make sense to keep it as a photo-blog after I purchased a Flickr account. I'll be putting up photos and snippets on India there in the future. *All photos in this post © 2005 by Some Guy From Tulsa™
- posted by Prince Roy @ 9/30/2005 09:40:00 PM| |

 
"I am Caine..." Not so fast, Grasshopper. In just about every episode someone asked the Shaolin priest who he was, and he almost always gave that answer. Or if he was feeling especially contemplative, he would just reply: "A man..." We knew his full name was Kwai Chang Caine, but what of his written Chinese name? For that, we had to wait until the second episode in the third and final season. "A Small Beheading" aired on September 21, 1974 co-starring William Shatner and France Nuyen. The story line is that Caine supposedly receives a royal pardon from the emperor. You may recall that the entire premise of the series centered around Caine having fled to the US from China and his life there as a Shaolin priest, because he killed the emperor's nephew in a fit of rage after that person murdered Caine's favorite teacher, Master Po. I won't give away the rest of the story, but here is the imperial decree as it appeared on the show: The Pardon Decree I've blown up the relevant part in the bottom two stills. The third still contains five characters: 僧人虔官昌. The first two characters read sengren, the term for a Buddhist monk. The solid black vertical line you see to the left of the last three characters was a common device used in classical writings to identify a person's name. In China, the surname comes first, and is almost always one character, here, Qian. It's a fitting name for Caine, because it means 'pious, devout, sincere'. I don't know if this was his Chinese mother's actual surname, or a transliteration of his American father's name of 'Caine'. The last two characters read Guanchang. The mystery to me is how guan becomes 'Kwai'. Perhaps the Cantonese pronunciation is closer to Kwai? I'm hoping a Chinese reader can comment on this name, because in all honesty, his given name of Guanchang sounds rather odd to me. Another mystery concerns where Caine is actually from in China. A few times in the series Caine said he came from the Shaolin temple in Hunan, southeast China. Master Po said the same thing once. Trouble is, the Shaolin temple is in Henan province in the north. Maybe back then there was more than one Shaolin temple...finally, the name Qian Guanchang, or Kwai Chang Caine, is not a proper Buddhist clergy name. Once one takes the vows to become a Buddhist monk or nun, that person receives a religious name, and no one would ever refer to them by their secular name again. Well, in any event, as far as I know I am the first person to ever reveal Kwai Chang Caine's full Chinese name. Remember you saw it here first... UPDATE: The mystery clears up somewhat later on that season in the two-part episode called "Besieged" that aired 11/15/74 and 11/22/74. In this show, the emperor's forces destroy the Shaolin temple in Fujian province, which is on the southeast coast of China. The survivors seek sanctuary in the Shaolin temple of Henan province, located in north-central China. Here, it is very clear that Caine is a monk at this temple. What I think has happened was just a bit of sloppiness on the part of the writers. In the previous episode I mentioned, both Caine and Master Po definitely state they are from the Shaolin temple in 'Hunan, southeast China'. In other episodes, they name the place as something that sounds like *Honan. The pronounciation of Chinese place names by the actors adds to the confusion. (Are they saying Henan or Hunan)? Of the three main characters, Caine, Master Po and Master Kan, only Keye Luke who played Master Po was an ethnic Chinese (Cantonese). David Carradine, of course, is of European origin, and Philip Ahn, who played Master Kan, was Korean-American. The true origins of Kwai Chang Caine aka Qian Guanchang, like the man himself, remain shrouded in myth and mystery.
- posted by Prince Roy @ 9/28/2005 02:40:00 AM| |

 
Exchange to Dhaka, Bangladesh In late August I did an exchange with a colleague posted in Bangladesh. The State Department encourages these exchanges for new FSOs, because it gives us a chance to broaden our experience and see how missions differ in what they do. Normally these exchanges are within a regional bureau and last for two weeks; in fact, my colleague in Dhaka did just that in Chennai. However, due to the fire in my flat, and because of an Indian holiday that delayed my obtaining a Bangladeshi visa, I was only there for 10 days. No matter, I had a fabulous time and I wish I could have stayed even longer. Everyone there was incredibly hospitable and I was highly impressed by how well-run the embassy is in Dhaka. Morale is very high, which says quite a lot, because there is absolutely nothing to do in Dhaka. Bangladesh is so mired in poverty that there is no tourism infrastructure to speak of; the country receives almost no visitors, and it is quite expensive to travel outside of Bangladesh. So what do these guys do? They stay at home, or they go to one of the international clubs. It seems almost every embassy runs its own club for the benefit of its diplomats. (And NGO workers, who outnumber everybody). NGO workers are to Bangladesh what Indian IT workers are to the US. There are some restaurants in town that are pretty good. The Pizza Hut is actually better than the ones you find in Chennai, and believe it or not, there is decent Chinese food to be had, I guess because there is a Chinese embassy in Dhaka. If you’re ever there, try “The Bamboo Leaf”. I stayed with two host families: for the first half I lived with the family of my exchange partner. She was originally going to stay in my flat, but due to the fire, a colleague here was kind enough to host her. Anyway, her husband Jack and their daughters Beth and Lara were great. I even grew to like their dog, and I am a strict cat person. Next I stayed with Adham, Crystal and their two sons, Tasman and Atlas, all of Tasman’s World fame. I met Adham back in DC before shipping out to India. He and his wife are extremely well-traveled and they’ve even been to Mongolia. I’m so envious of them. I hope we can serve together in Ulaanbaatar one day. I’ll be sure to bring the Kung Fu DVD set! The experience did give me a whole new appreciation for Chennai, however. It’s a prettier city, not as rundown as Dhaka; there is far more to do, better shopping, but best of all there are more travel destinations within country. Lovely beach resorts are less than one hour’s drive from Chennai. And it is not exorbitant to get away to Sri Lanka, Bangkok or Singapore. Even the traffic here is better, though not the skill of the drivers. I’m really glad I got to see Bangladesh, though, and here are some photos: Rural Outskirts of Dhaka This is a restaurant I visited on the outskirts of Dhaka. Supposedly it specializes in Chinese food. No, I did not dare eat here; I'll stick with "The Bamboo Leaf" in town. It is off in that field because the owner paid for a lease from a local farmer. The government made him move the place off the side of the road where he was squatting, and paying no business taxes. His customers are mostly factory workers at a steelworks across the road. This woman is the only ‘chef’ there, and has been working at this job for 6 years. “Chinese” restaurant in rural Dhaka The ‘cook’. I don’t think that is sweet and sour fish at her feet, however. Bangla fire pot? Brick factoriesBangladeshis love bricks. The monsoon has submerged most of these factories for the moment. There is an oven by each smokestack. You see people making bricks everywhere. Then they smash old bricks into tiny pieces to make new bricks. Monsoon flooded street National Martyrs MemorialI don’t find this structure at all eye-pleasing: it is made of worn concrete slabs and looks haphazardly thrown together. 3 million people died so that Bangladesh might gain its independence from Pakistan, so it’s a shame no one could design a more impressive monument for them. Bicycle Rickshaw ArtThis is what Dhaka is famous for. These things are everywhere, clogging the roads at every turn. In Chennai, it’s autorickshaws. In Dhaka, these babies, all powered by human beings. They even have one all tricked out on display in the international terminal of the airport. Bangladesh is a Muslim country. Over 80% of the people follow that faith, with about 15% Hindu. There are a very small number of Buddhists, but there is a monastery in Dhaka, called the Dharmarajika Buddhist Monastery. The few Buddhists in Bangladesh follow the Theravada tradition. I went for a visit and spoke with one of the monks. There are about 30 monks in residence and they also run a high school. In addition, they operate a small publishing concern. There is a man-made lake here, and the monks are very friendly and accommodating, and will open up the shrine for photographs, so it is well worth a visit. They provide Dharma classes on the weekends. Main Shrine Outdoor Shrine
- posted by Prince Roy @ 9/27/2005 10:25:00 PM| |

 
August Trip to Sri Lanka The immediate aftermath The above is a picture of my kitchen on the night of the fire. The actual fire damage was largely contained in that small storage room with the faulty AC wiring. That storage room was full of consumable food items, mostly foods packaged in plastic. That is why the smoke damage was so devastating (and toxic). The smoke/soot spread throughout the entire flat and the particles caused extensive damage. The fact that it took the fire department so long to respond (over 1 hour) compounded the problem. If they had arrived within 15-20 minutes of the call, it is very likely that losses would have been minimal, and they could have put out the blaze with simple chemical extinguishers. They ended up having to use water hoses, which then proceeded to flood the entire flat, damaging/destroying carpets, furniture, and anything else on the floor. The whole house was saturated with acrid, noxious fumes and of course was uninhabitable. I spent that night in a nearby hotel and on the next day took off for a three-day trip to Sri Lanka, planned months in advance, with two colleagues. Sri Lanka was great. We spent the majority of our time up in the cultural triangle of Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura and Dambulla. These first three photos are from Dambulla, where we saw a series of Buddhist grottos dating from the first century B.C. King Valagam Bahu became Buddhist here, and he ordered construction of the cave temples. I couldn’t take any pictures inside. The actual grottos carvings and paintings inside aren’t in the same league as those at Dunhuang in Gansu China, but these are older by several hundred years. The surrounding countryside is lovely, and every site in Sri Lanka contains an abundance of chattering, cheeky, impetuous temple monkeys. I love temple monkeys, the cheekier, the better. We went next to Polonnaruwa. This ruin was the capital of Sri Lanka from 11-13 centuries A.D. It has a huge man-made reservoir which ranks on a scale with the engineering works of Li Bing and Er Lang at Dujiangyan in Sichuan province. In fact, these ancient reservoirs dot the cultural triangle and still function today. Here are some photos of the main ruins: Directly below the ruin is a green river where locals congregate for laundry, bathing, and of course swimming. It was a fairly hot day, and that water sure looked inviting. This guy pulled guard duty that day: From here we went to Avukana, where you can see this large statute of the Buddha carved into the rock. It dates from the 5th century A.D. and stands 39 feet high. Next up was my personal favorite stop of the tour: the ancient Bodhi tree (ficus religiosa) at Anuradhapura. This is supposedly the oldest historically documented tree on earth. It is a sapling of the original Bodhi tree under which Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment at Bodhgaya in modern Bihar, North India. The daughter of Emperor Ashoka brought the sapling and planted it here in the 3rd century B.C. It’s a good thing she did too, because in 600AD, King Sesanka destroyed the tree at Bodhgaya in a rage. Another king replanted it several years later, but in 1876 a storm felled that tree as well. This is quite a powerful, moving place, and I could have easily spent the whole day here. For me personally, this tree is even more significant than the relic of the Buddha tooth at Kandy. Railings and walls barricade the tree, and I guess only VIPs get to go through the gates to sit by it, but throughout the site you will see its progeny as there are several of its descendents on the temple grounds. I picked up a fallen leaf from one of them. One difference I notice between Sri Lanka practice and that in East Asia is that people light candles outside the temples in Sri Lanka, whereas in China people prefer to light incense. A Bodhi tree outside the main temple. My leaf came from this tree Me beside the Sacred Bodhi Tree The next two photos are of Mihintale. This is the place where Mahinda, the son of Emperor Ashoka, converted King Devanampiyatissa to Buddhism in 247 B.C. It is the genesis of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. Be sure to climb the steep hill called “Meditation Rock” for some fantastic panoramic views. View from atop Meditation Rock Last, but not least, on our way back to the hotel on the final day of touring, what should we see? A herd of WILD ELEPHANTS! All in all, a great trip and just what the doctor ordered. The only disappointing thing was the food. Sri Lankan cuisine is not impressive. I found it to be a poorer cousin of South Indian fare. But don’t let that stop you. In Colombo I hear the situation is better, though we didn’t spend any time there. I definitely will try to make it back before I leave for good, though. Sri Lanka is an hour’s flight from Chennai. The island has so much going for it, which makes all the violence there an even greater shame. Someone assassinated the foreign minister the night we arrived, and so Colombo was in virtual lockdown, but you’d hardly notice anything was amiss in the Cultural Triangle where we spent the bulk of our time. Another thing to love about Sri Lanka: the infrastructure is far better than Tamil Nadu. The roads are in great shape, pedestrians don't walk in the street, bicyclists stay off on the shoulder, rather than right down the middle of the freakin' road. Yes, people still drive like maniacs, but at least order underlines the chaos.
- posted by Prince Roy @ 9/25/2005 03:30:00 PM| |

 
So I'm back, exactly one week. Yay. It was really great to get away from this place for a while. There's a lot to catch up on, and I'll eventually get around to it. The good news about my return is that I am back in my old place. They did a pretty nice job of fixing it up. The smoke odor is gone anyway. And the other flat where they had me was infested with roaches, so I am certainly glad to be out of there. My computer is up and running, as you can see, but I still need to replace my surge protector, which did not survive the fire. I've ordered a new one, but I may try to buy one from someone who is departing post. My UPS apparently bit the dust too, and those are pretty expensive. Probably the best thing about coming back, other than the fact that it marks my six-month point to departure, is that the Kung Fu DVD set I ordered before I left was here waiting for me. It was my favorite show as a kid, and so it is my birthday present to me. The set contains all three seasons, and I've been watching it all week. I'm now halfway into Season Two. It's hard for me to believe, but I am the only one among my colleagues who likes this show. I thought for sure there might be a closet fan or two, but nothing doing. I even offered to host a Kung Fu marathon, but not even a nibble of interest. I know this show has lots of fans out there, and a good fan site, but I've yet to run across any in the South Asia bureau of the Foreign Service. Spicygirl warned me not to watch them all at once, but it's not like there is a whole lot to do here. Well, I'm off now to a neighbor's BBQ and then I think I'll go to an Indian friend's house tonight for a dinner party. The Kung Fu marathon will resume upon my return. It's been a joy reconnecting to this show. I'm sure it is to a large degree responsible for my subsequent interest in all things China.
- posted by Prince Roy @ 9/24/2005 06:20:00 PM| |

 
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME [祝我生日快乐]!!! Although it really isn't my birthday for another 20 hours or so (taking into account it is around noon EST September 12 in the US: Happy Birthday, Nan!), since I am in Hong Kong and it just turned September 13 here, I'll go ahead and make it official: it's my birthday! 40 years old today. For those of you under 40, don't you dare give me a hard time; it'll happen to you one day, too. Anyway, if I have to turn 40, it may as well be in a fantastic city like HK! And I fulfilled my vow of last year that no matter what it took, I wasn't going to turn 40 in Chennai. Spicygirl totally faked me out by throwing me a surprise party Saturday night (we celebrated over the weekend so people could stay out late, and it turns out that meant until 0430) and I had a great time. I'll post pics and thoughts once back in Chennai, but I do have to give a special shout-out to the one and only H-bomb, who came out all the way from Madras to be here. That was simply the icing on the cake of what was an amazing night. I was born the morning of September 13, 1965, a Monday, in New Orleans, Louisiana on the heels of Hurricane Betsy, under circumstances that appear in a previous post. So that makes what is going on in New Orleans now all the more relevant and sobering. Later this morning it's off to the Big Buddha and Po Lin temple/monastery complex on Lantau Island for all the proper obeisances and after that I think I'll have me a few pints of Guinness at this Irish pub I saw down in the Mid Levels...then another birthday feast, most likely at a Sichuan restaurant down in Central, then perhaps a trip up Victoria Peak for some nightime scenery, and who knows, maybe more Guinness.
- posted by Prince Roy @ 9/13/2005 02:30:00 AM| |

 
I've been in Hong Kong since Saturday. The sheer scale of HK's affluence, development, consumer choice, combined with a completely modern infrastructure that works (wonderfully, for the most part) can be overwhelming, especially for a rube like me that spent the past couple of weeks in Bangladesh and the previous 18 months before that in Chennai. In fact, I was in a kind of torpid, dimwitted daze until about Tuesday, because I didn't know where to begin. I've been making up for lost time since then. And from tomorrow, all precepts are off*. It's time to start getting into birthday celebratory mode. Actually, my birthday isn't until next Tuesday, but the festivities need to start early, and will likely last for days: it so happens that James is coming down tomorrow from Shenzhen to spend the day. I met him during my LA Hsi Lai Temple days and we quickly became fast friends. He introduced me to much that is good about Mahayana Buddhism, and a few good valley micropubs besides. He's been in China for 18 months or so, and I'm looking forward hearing his tales of life in the boom town, especially since he's been somewhat negligent website-wise. I've also run into another great friend here, one of my best pals from law school, in fact. Like James, he's in the Realm archives in a couple of places. He's now a big-shot lawyer, who has probably landed the greatest job in the history of Big Law, if such a thing exists. Judging from how many of his comrades I run into at State who have fled the firm life, I tend to doubt it. But good on you anyway, Tim! He's probably got lawyer stuff lined up for the next couple of days, and so will miss the fun tomorrow, but he and his wife will be representing in a big way on Sunday. Still no word on the Katrina property damage of my relatives, but at least everyone is alive. If any of my family in NOLA reads this, leave a comment or send an email regarding the state of your homes, once you're able to get back and survey the damage. Of course, it goes without saying that I'll help out in any way you need me to. *Not really, only the one having to do with beer.
- posted by Prince Roy @ 9/08/2005 08:50:00 PM| |

 
When It Rains It Pours... Yet again I'm writing this at the international terminal of Chennai airport. I'm off to Hong Kong for two weeks of vacation and to torment Spicygirl. I may have to rename this "The Airport Blog". I'd like to thank all of you, both readers and friends, who have sent their best wishes regarding the situation in New Orleans, my hometown. With the exception of my parents, all of my closest relatives are there. Though I've lived many places in my life, my most significant memories center around that city. Thankfully, I think everyone in my family made it out and are safe. I don't know this for sure, since no one has been able to get back yet as far as I know, but based on what I've seen of the aerial photos that show the extent of the flooding, it appears that all of my relatives' homes are likely gone. I was in Dhaka, Bangladesh when I found out that Hurricane Katrina was heading straight for New Orleans. I left the embassy Monday night thinking that the damage wouldn't be too severe; I had read that it had turned away towards Mississippi at the last moment. On arrival at work Tuesday, I had an email from my mom telling me that though my family all made it out, it looked like they had lost everything. I couldn't believe it, because all the reports I had read indicated New Orleans had gotten lucky yet again. I was in shock, and in a way I'm glad the colleague hosting me at his home did not have cable, because to see all the devastation and not be able to do anything would've been hard to bear... An odd coincidence: I was born as a direct result of the last hurricane that scored a direct hit there. I didn't know this until a few days ago, but my mom says that due to the sudden change in barometric pressure, I arrived two weeks before my due date. There's also a family story that a large tree fell down blocking the road when they were on the way to the hospital. It was a severe storm, one of the worst New Orleans had seen up until that time, but it doesn't hold a candle to Katrina. This tragedy is all the more infuriating to me because it didn't have to happen, and it damn sure shouldn't have happened to this extent. The government has failed the people of New Orleans miserably, and I'm not merely referring to the inexcusable slowness of the crisis response. I've read where certain officials have asserted that 'no one anticipated the levee system would fail'. I'm here to tell you that's simply not true. People in New Orleans had discussed the scenario for years. Everyone knew the levees were in bad need of maintenance and fortification. Many realized and even predicted that a major storm scoring a direct hit on the city was likely to bring disaster. Yet in the past few years conscious decisions were made at whatever level to cut the funding that would have strengthened the levees to withstand any hurricane above a Category Three. If these improvements had taken place, New Orleans would still have sustained some damage from Katrina, a Category Five at landfall, but we would not be faced with the catastrophe we have now. Well what else is left to say? Help if you can, and keep those poor people of that once magnificent city in your thoughts.
- posted by Prince Roy @ 9/03/2005 01:00:00 AM| |