Xi'an, China

So here we are in Xi'an, China. There are many forms of pollution in China. Much of the smog is from coal (take heed America). Other contributors to low visibility are the factories and automobiles. In 2009, the local Xi'an government pulled over 500 vehicles off the road for spewing black smoke from their exhaust. Most were buses.

I encountered another lovely form of pollution last night when I got on the elevator of my hotel. When the doors opened, I peered down to see a floor slick with snot rockets. The floor was spotted with the human oyster, the nose nodule, the sinus slop. Fortunately, there was a scrubber woman stationed there with a mop who wiped the ooze away before I ventured in. How's your meal?

Christmas Day Shanghai

It's Christmas Day here and life is going on as usual in Shanghai. I had pizza for Christmas Eve dinner that is tearing me up right now. I don't dare stray from my room for a bit. I will venture out in search of dumplings for lunch and the company is arranging Christmas dinner for us somewhere.

China is so crazy, many stories to tell already. Some facts I learned last night about road accidents; the pedestrian is the lowest form of life as far as the road is concerned. However, if a pedestrian is struck, injured or killed, the driver must pay for medical and funeral expenses. These expenses are bargained for right on the spot. A policeman comes and mediates right there then will escort you to the bank and monitor the transaction. If a cab should strike a pedestrian or someone on a moped or bike, the person who hired the cab is responsible for financial restitution. A foreigner who has hired a cab that has been in an accident will wait for the crowd to gather and then sneak out of the vehicle and lose himself in the confusion.

Total lawlessness rains on the streets of China. In Beijing, government vehicles have complete autonomy. If one hits you, too bad for you. A government vehicle will use any means to get from one place to another. They will go the wrong way down streets and even use sidewalks if they deem it quicker. You must be on your toes in China if you want to get around!

Shanghai Breezes??????????

Hello readers,

Richard has checked in from Shanghai. He has arrived in his new destination where the show has opened "for real". Opening night should just about be over as I type this and then I am sure there will be some happy partying going on.

Richard says this about Shanghai so far.... "The cigarette smoking doesn't seem to be a problem in this hotel. There are only 4 rooms per floor and we have 2 of the rooms. The problem now is the pollution. I went out for a walk to explore and only lasted 30 minutes before my lungs started to burn. No wonder I don't see any joggers! The pollution is the worst I ever ever seen it anywhere."

So contrary to John Denver's song about Shanghai Breezes.........the breezes down in old Shanghai are far from refreshing.

More when I hear more from Richard.
Kristi - Richard's Scribe

China - more food information

The following is a report on the food as communicated via email to me from King Richard!

"I think you would hate the food in Suzhou! For breakfast today, I had pot stickers, a greasy scrambled egg (from what animal, I do not know), greasy fried bread, very fatty ham, orange juice and tea. I passed on the chicken heads. I did have a Big Mac for lunch yesterday that tasted identical to ours, but I'm not a fan of McDonalds. I'm told that when we get to Shang Hai, things get better. Don't get me wrong though, I'm having a great time even with 12 hour rehearsals that are exhausting and by exhausting I mean tiring, because I have nothing to do so I sit around and try not to sleep. If I slept, I would not sleep at night. I was so tired yesterday that I didn't even go get dinner. We all can't wait for tech rehearsal to be over. We open our show to previews on Friday. After that, it's all fun!

The rehearsals are extremely arduous and long. We run the show and the stage manager stops us in place every minute to set lights. We run transitions from scene to scene to make them seamless and fast. I can't tell you how amazingly professional this all is. I've never worked with such a magnificent set and lighting. There are lights everywhere for everything! We all look good! The orchestra (band) are amazing as well. The horns, keys, drums - everyone plays several instruments it seems.

The traffic here is crazy, it's every man for himself! They barely keep to lanes and yielding is something done by the meek. It's fascinating to watch the dance between the thousands of mopeds, bicycles, pedestrians and cars. Horn honking is a form of communication as well as the message to get the f*** out of my way! The bicycles and mopeds often have children riding on the front, back wherever! They ride in the rain or whatever weather. Pedestrians are the lowest form of life and have no rights at all. You really have to watch your back when you're out walking! It's turned into quite the fun game.

Gotta run now. Time for another 12 hours..."

China Day 3 - Let's Dish - sent via email and reposted by K

Pizza! We've found pizza in China! Actually we found a Papa Johns and they deliver. The cast is all twitter-pated about getting pizza tomorrow on our lunch break. Our "hunting and gathering" has been quite an experience here. Rarely is there any English speaking person to help us. There is more than I expected but it's still a rare commodity when we find a menu in English.

Let's talk about the food first. There is no Chinese food as we know it. And everything tastes different, I think it has to do with the oil and water. They don't have cooking oil as we know it, it tastes different. And the water is a different creature all together. We were warned early not to drink the tap water but to get all of our water bottled. Were told that our systems will acclimate eventually. The more adventurous of our troupe have found interesting places to eat. We've all found that we should probably stay away from the KFC and McDonalds. It's not uncommon to walk down the street and see some sidewalk vendor throw a squid on his hot plate and sell it. Right now I'm munching on Lays Kiwi Potato Chips.

On one of our dinner hunts, we were walking down a street and some random Chinese man says "hello". We immediately stop and pelt him with questions about where to eat. He ran away. If you thought the word "Coke" was universal, it isn't. Even though the bottles and cans say Coke, that's not how you order it. Ku la (koo-la) is cola and that's the only word for it. Don't dare ask for a Sprite!

Our first night (the one where the man ran from us) we found a restaurant owned by a local merchant, Mr. Lee. He spoke some English and was very pleasant and helpful. We shared many dishes amongst ourselves but the hit of the night was the broccoli. We wiped him out of everything he had it was so good. Oh, by the way, I've gotten pretty good with the chopsticks. I had spaghetti today at lunch and totally used my chopsticks. I picked up some items at a convenience store. I picked up the Kiwi chips and something called Peach Juice Drink. It's not so good.

Across the street from our hotel in Suzhou is a Benihana kind of place. It's very tasty although I wasn't fond of the pickled radishes.I had chicken and broccoli and an amazing fried rice. Steamed rice thrown on the grill with some oil. Then they added a couple of eggs. After that they added beef and seasoning topping it off with sliced jalepeno looking peppers. Very tasty. I wish they were open for breakfast. Breakfast at the hotel consists of a buffet of dumplings, fruit and bacon. Yes BACON! I'm tempted to shove the stuff in my pockets.

Well, that's all about the food. Maybe I'll talk about the crazy traffic and the crazier drivers. Enjoy the pictures that we all put up at www.flickr.com. Just look for famecast09. Now I'm insanely tired after a 12 hour rehearsal. We've got another one tomorrow. Until then, g'night!

P.S. - Skype me at richardseanevans I'm usually on around 10-11 am and 6-7 pm U.S. time.

China Day 2

Richard has reported in from China. He says the sets he is working on are amazing and it is like a real Broadway show. You can tell he is tired and excited. Lots of new sites and smells to get used to and take in.

Rehearsals are 12 hours from now until the time the show goes in to previews at the end of next week. He will be rehearsing from midnight (eastern daylight savings time) until noon (eastern daylight savings time) so he is not sure how often he will be able to be on skype to chat with his family and friends. He will answer email when he can and I am sure would love to hear from all of you so...... email away - actornews@aol.com.

For now that is the news that is fit to print.

Kristi in Maryland on behalf of Richard in China!

CHINA - have arrived

Richard has asked me to post to his blog for him..... so here is the first entry coming to you via me from China - K -

"Well we made it! Fifteen hours on the plane and three hours on the bus. I can't tell you the tired I feel. I didn't sleep on the plane. I don't know what it is, I just don't sleep on planes. I got 2 hours of sleep on Sunday night on purpose so I could be real tired on the plane. Didn't work.

It's 7:50 pm on Tuesday night as I write this. I believe it is 6:50 am Tuesday morning in the states. We have been instructed to try to stay up at least 2 more hours (1o pm) to get to China on China time. I'm going to go out and get something to eat and crash. More later.

Richard"