So. Much. Easier

I went to collect our visas to China today, after complaining about the difficulty involved in applying in my last two posts. This time, the process was so much easier, and so smooth. It was just like it has always been in the past. Of course, when I went out, I still saw the same very long queue for people submitting applications. I understand that this will be the case till after the Olympics. I do understand the need for it, but it is no fun being caught up in the hassle.

What I don't quite understand the need for is the hike in prices for visas. It is crazy that our visas cost us more than double the normal price. It equals nearly a third of what our air tickets cost!!!!

I am getting ready for the Olympics to be over, from a personal standpoint. It will be nice to have life back to the routine again.


Subscribe to Peregrine Online by Email

Tomorrow We Will Know

My two nephews and I have tickets to go to Shanghai next week. Tomorrow we will know if our visas are approved. I never do that — pay for a ticket before the visa is approved — but I had to this time because of the special rules concerning visas to China that are in effect till after the Olympics.

The boys have their fingers crossed, and "that thing... what's it called...? oh yeah, a visa" has been an important part of their nightly prayers all week. I don't know if the trip to the embassy tomorrow morning early will be quite as troublesome as the one earlier this week when I went to apply, but I kind of expect it to be a bit easier (or at least a shorter queue). We'll see.

And I hope the visas are approved. I've not been rejected before. But wouldn't it be just my luck for this to be the time for some hiccup. Well... we'll see.

Tomorrow we will know....



Subscribe to Peregrine Online by Email

Applying for a Visa to China these days...

Ugh.

Applying for a visa to China has officially become a hassle. For the past couple of months, and up till the time of the Olympics, Singaporeans also must apply for visas (they normally have a 2-week grace period).

And wouldn't you know it... my visa expired, and I am planning a trip at the end of the month.

When you have to apply for a visa to China these days, it is best to allow at least half a day for it. I was in an incredibly long queue this morning... and that was just to pick up the application. From there, you've got to fill it up, then queue again to hand it in. Four days later, you can collect it... if it is approved.

Oh, and nowadays, you can't apply until after you've bought and paid for your tickets. You have to show return tickets and a hotel voucher for the period you are in China. Without that, you won't even be able to apply.

And, of course, fees are a fair bit higher than normal. My single entry visa this time will cost more than double what it did before.

All of this is supposed to revert back to normal after the Olympics. If you can wait till then to go to China, I would advise that you do wait. It will save you money and a whole lot of hassle.


Subscribe to Peregrine Online by Email

The Last Day

Before I left Singapore to come to Shanghai for a 3-month stay, I got a little nervous, feeling like 3 months was a long time to be away from home. As it turns out, I was not wrong... it is a long time to be away from home. On the other hand, it is a very short time to be in the place you are staying. It seems like the "extended stay" in Shanghai has flown past. And now here I am, with the last day upon me.

It has been a good experience to stay for a little longer than I normally do when I come to Shanghai, and the language courses have been a great help to me. Getting to be here day in and day out for 3 months has given me a chance to see a lot of things I probably wouldn't have had the opportunity to be a part of otherwise.

This being the last day, I'm practically dead on my feet. I've been running about spending time with friends (saying goodbye), and only started packing about an hour ago. I've got to get the flat all lined up to be away for a while (I'll be back in July for another short stay, then probably another extended stay in the Fall), get laundry washed, pack my bag, and all that good stuff.

It's always hectic when trying to juggle one's time between two homes, but it has all been worth it so far. An extended stay overseas for language studies is definitely the way to go if one really wants to get to know another country's culture.


Subscribe to Peregrine Online by Email

May Day Holiday

May Day (1 May) in China this year is slightly different than what it has been in the recent past. It is slightly shorter, due to the addition of the recent Qing Ming holiday. This year, most people will enjoy a 3-day holiday, starting tomorrow (Thursday), and heading back to work on Sunday.

Tonight, the streets are lively with the holiday feeling. I was riding my bicycle home a few minutes ago, at nearly midnight, and had to weave in and out of the pedestrians walking on the road — and I mean literally on the road, not the sidewalk or even on the side of the road, but right down the middle of the street. The street was full of lazily strolling holiday-makers, with a few of us on bikes. The cars were fewer than what you normally see on the streets of Shanghai.

I did catch sight of something that made me smile. A family was right in front of me, on two bikes. The father was riding one, and on the other was the mother with her sleeping child (probably about 5 years old) perched behind her. She had her arm wrapped around the child behind her, in a somewhat awkward position, but obviously holding tight. They cycled slowly home, seeming quite pleased after a night out with the family. Even the child seemed to be pleasantly dozing on the back of the bicycle (though seeing her there made me a little concerned for her safety).

The time I've spent in Shanghai on this trip, the first really extended stay I've made here, has run roughly from Yuan Xiao Jie to the Labour Day, right about 3 months. It's winding down in the next couple of weeks, and I will be heading back to Singapore then. Overall, I have to say that this is a good time to spend in Shanghai, with lots of fun things to see. The holiday seasons here always seem to have a special feeling of alive-ness. It's good to have been around for two of the big days on the calendar this year.


Subscribe to Peregrine Online by Email

Video of Lantern Festival Celebrations in Shanghai

Here's the video of the Yuan Xiao Jie (Lantern Festival) celebrations in Shanghai last week. It was a fun day!




Subscribe to Peregrine Online by Email

The Lantern Festival

Yesterday was Yuan Xiao Jie, the last day of Chinese New Year. Being the 15th day of the lunar month, you could see a bright full moon overhead, watching over all the celebrations.

Yuan Xiao Jie in Shanghai is different than it is in Singapore. In Singapore, we just have dinner with the family, eat some "tang yuan," and that is pretty much it. In addition to those things, the celebration of Yuan Xiao Jie in Shanghai is rather grand. Here, this is the Lantern Festival, when kids carry lanterns and play with sparklers and all. (We do that for the Mid-Autumn Festival in Singapore.) Last night, you could hear the booming of fireworks in the air, and the sharper, louder sound of fire crackers on the ground. It was very lively all around Xu Jia Hui, with bright lights and loud noises from about 7 pm till nearly midnight.

I managed to get some good video clips of the fireworks last night. When I find my firewire cable (I haven't unpacked yet), I'll post some clips here. It was an exciting night to walk around on the streets of Shanghai.



Visit TRAFFIC JAM today!

Read Colin Fletcher's The Man Who Walked Through Time and join us for the ongoing book club discussion

Subscribe to Peregrine Online by Email

Jiuzhaigou

On my first trip to China many years ago, I decided to avoid the coastal regions, but I wanted to see a combination of urban and rural China. I chose Sichuan as my destination, with Chengdu as the urban area I would visit (it is considered the Beijing of Western China), and Jiuzhaigou as the main rural area I would visit.

Jiuzhaigou is a long valley with 9 villages spread through it. The 9 villages were isolated until 1971, their very existence unknown to the rest of the world. Being that I was born in 1971, I found this fact very cool. And, since I was in my early 20's when I visited, that meant that Jiuzhaigou was a fairly new and untouched place to visit. In this sense, it is on the opposite end of the spectrum than Zhang Jia Jie in Hunan, which was the area first set aside by the Chinese government for preservation as a national park.

When I went to Jiuzhaigou, it was a very rugged trip. We were told it would be an 18-hour journey by bus, but it was quite a bit longer. (It was stretched into an even further journey on our way home when we got held up by a landslide.) I have heard that the trip is much easier and much smoother now. Jiuzhaigou has changed a good deal since I was there. (1971 is a long time ago now!) Better roads and transportation make for a much easier journey than it used to be. And hotel standards have gone way up. But one thing has not changed, and that is the natural beauty of the place, as you can see in photos like these. Jiuzhaigou is often called a fairyland because of its idyllic beauty, and that is a very apt description. There were so many quiet, beautiful moments that I experienced in Jiuzhaigou, and they have stayed with me as very vivid memories.

One thing that the photos you see of Jiuzhaigou today really highlight to me is that there are so many tourists there now. This was not the case when I traveled there. I don't know how this might have affected the surroundings, but I can guess. I suspect it has had a two-sided effect. On the one hand, I am sure it is more cluttered and dirtied with the usual trappings of human traffic. On the other, I can only imagine the significant upgrades its meant for hotels, transportation, and important facilities like public toilets.
And trust me... that's a good thing.



Subscribe to Peregrine Online by Email

Feng Jing

Feng Jing is one of the many "ancient water villages" that surrounds Shanghai. It is not one of the more famous ones, which is nice because it means it is not crowded with tourists.

There are several things worth seeing in Feng Jing. The cartoons on the walls of one of the old houses are very amusing, and worth browsing through. Outside of that same house, there is a "4 century old tree" that is really creates some fantastic views, especially in early winter (or late autumn, I would imagine). The leaves that sit at the base of the tree right now are a bright yellow, and create a perfect atmosphere for the old village.

Also of interest in Feng Jing are the remnants of a panic-driven era several decades ago. There is a large underground bomb shelter, big enough to hold hundreds of people if needed. According to the signs posted there, only about 10% of the place is presently open to viewing. I cannot imagine the extent of the shelter, as the portion I saw was already quite overwhelming. It made me think of the bomb shelters that many families in the US built in their back yards during the 1950s. It's rather telling, isn't it? In the US, each shelter was built to house a single family. In Feng Jing, the place is big enough to house the entire village for a prolonged period.

Other signs of a more paranoid, ultra-patriotic time still survive in Feng Jing too. There are countless Mao buttons hanging in one museum, many propaganda posters that are very dated, ration coupons for various items, and even a small fighter plane that the village helped purchase. The sign beside the plane reports that it was responsible for shooting down 3 planes of the "US agressors" during the Cold War days.

Feng Jing is a place worth spending a day. It is pleasant for walking about, and it certainly gives you a feel for a China of days now past.


Subscribe to Peregrine Online by Email

A Matter of Perspective

It's funny how much our perspectives about things changes by the location in which we find ourselves when speaking.

For instance:

A couple of years ago, some friends were spending Chinese New Year with us at my godparents' home. One of the friends was from the UK, and another from Japan. They were asking my about my hometown near Houston, and whether it is far from Austin, Texas. My reply was, "No, it's very near. It's only about a 4-5 hour drive." We got a bit of a laugh out of that after I realized what I had said. In Singapore, there are many times I'd prefer not to go downtown because of the "long drive" involved. That "long drive" takes about a half hour. But, it is true that I consider the 4-5 hour drive from my hometown to Austin to be "very near."

Perspective.


Or again:

When I was in Hunan, China, we stopped in a city called Zhangjiajie before making our way to the national park of the same name for a climb in the mountains there. We were chatting with our driver who shuttled us from the airport to our hotel, and I asked if Zhanghjiajie is a big city. He said, "No, it's a very small town." And when I asked him about the population, he said, "Oh, there are just over a million or so here." I thought to myself, "Oh, that is small."

I am at home visiting my family now, and I feel that my hometown is growing too fast, becoming too "cityfied." The population is around 60,000. Even when put together with the several small towns that sort of run together in this area, we're still probably talking less than a quarter of a million.

Perspective.





Subscribe to Peregrine Online by Email
Subscribe to Peregrine Online

Tiananmen Square Cleanup Efforts

I saw this article and couldn't help thinking back on my time in Tiananmen Square (and lots of other parts of China where I've been that were much dirtier). It's nice to see the efforts going on to get the place sparkling clean.

However, there is something a little troubling about the tone of the article, isn't there? I was talking with a friend from China some time back. She had just come home from a holiday, and was commenting that the signs at tourist sites often offer a very different set of instructions in Chinese than in English. The English sign might have a little polite reminder ("No littering please," or perhaps some cuter, more creative version), but the Chinese version will be more direct, and specific. ("Don't litter, don't spit..." with a long list of "don'ts" following). I asked her if she found this insulting. She said not so much -- more that she feels sad that tourist sites (both inside and outside China) feel the need for htis sort of sign, and a little embarrassed that this is the general view.

Subscribe to Peregrine Online by Email
Subscribe to Peregrine Online

Dog Days in the Middle Kingdom

I usually know I’ve landed myself in really foreign territory when the dogs I run across won’t respond to my friendly gestures. That has happened to me more than once in China, but through my travels there, I’ve learned over time to communicate with the Middle Kingdom’s canine population.

Before going to China, I had never thought before of the country being a particularly doggy place. Most of the tales I’d heard about dogs in China usually involved them appearing on a plate. I’d never stopped to think about the origins of some dog breeds being in China. The Shih Tzu (now generally spelled “shi zi” in modern Chinese phonetic systems, meaning lion) and the Sharpei (“sandy skin”) breeds both wear Chinese names, and the Pekingese is hailed by the city of its origins.

Small wonder, then, that I have found friendly canine faces on the streets of Chinese cities as I traveled there.

More than once, I’ve stumbled across puppies I would have gladly taken home. The first, out in the lonely barren grounds of rural Sichuan, accompanied me while I sipped a hot cup of tea. The winding roads traversing through the mountains had left me a little woozy when we stopped for a short break. With a typical doggish sensitivity for the soul suffering discomfort, the little mutt snipped at my gloves as I sipped at my cup, bringing a smile to my temporarily green-complexioned face.

A pair of Sharpei puppies, one on each end of that vast land, have likewise captured my heart and settled into my travel memories. One, on the streets of Kunming, the City of Eternal Spring, peered at me from out of his owner’s embrace. He was the first Sharpei puppy I’d ever seen so close up, and he seemed to be on his best behavior, as if to leave a good impression on me as his owner placed him in my arms. Years later, his more playful cousin in Shanghai pulled just as hard at my heartstrings, nearly tempting me to make her a housewarming gift for my friend.

Of course, I’ve seen my share of doggy menu items as well. At one time, meat markets were one of the most common places to find puppies in some Chinese cities. While that is changing as the law is allowing Chinese urbanites to keep dogs as pets at home, it is still common to see dog meat on the menu. I’ve been in the odd situation of having watched a dog, already dead, dragged to the river side, strung up on a branch, and bled out into the water flowing below. Having watched this process, I turned back to my two traveling companions, only to see them both wiping tears from their eyes. And I’m the one who is supposed to be a dog lover.

Upon each trip home from China, there’s nothing like the greeting I receive from my own pair of canine housemates. One is half Shih Tzu; the other wears half of Marco Polo’s name.


Subscribe to Peregrine Online by Email
Subscribe to Peregrine Online

Kunming China

It has been some years since I have been to Kunming, the capitol of Yunnan province, but one of the things that really sticks with me is the perfect weather in the area. Kunming is nicknamed "The City of Eternal Spring," and it is certainly that comfortable year round. It is really a lovely place to visit, with an excellent climate.

Some believe that the original Shangri-la is located in the area surrounding Kunming. With all the perfection that the name Shangri-la brings to mind, it is easy to believe that it references this area of the world.

Kunming is an outstanding holiday destination, a perfect way to spend a few days in a soothing paradise.



Subscribe to The Journeys of Showintale

Chinese Roots

Subscribe to The Journeys of Showintale

Hong Kong

It's been a while since I was last in Hong Kong, but I do love the vibrancy of that city. It is like no other, I think.

When I was there, I heard that anyone could get a PR in Hong Kong if they stayed and worked there for 7 years continuously. I don't actually know if that is still true, or if it ever was, but I've always sort of wished things had worked out that I could've done just that.

Subscribe to The Journeys of Showintale

Sun Yat Sen

A year or so ago, I posted this at my original blog site. That site seems to be defunct now, so I am reposting here.

---

Sun Yat Sen is perhaps one of the most important figures in Chinese thought in the past 100 or so years. Whether in Mainland China or in parts outside of the Mainland that claim Chinese culture as their heritage, Dr. Sun's thought is highly revered, and the man is taken as an example of good philosophy and good living.

Sun was a leader of the revolution which overthrew the Qing dynasty in 1911, and was president of the newly founded republic and of the Kuomintang party (that's Guo Min Dang in pinyin, but usually still KMT in most English writing about the party). Of course, it wasn't as easy as I've made it sound there for him to go from revolutionary to president. He spent some time in exile from his home country and was constantly on the run during the years before the overthrow of the Qing dynasty was finally achieved. But he was ultimately successful in his efforts, leaving him a legacy that is much respected throughout the Chinese world.

What I find interesting about Dr. Sun is just how many different people seek to claim him as their own. In China, he is known as the father of the New China, and his remains rest in a huge mausoleum in Nanjing. It is an impressive walk up to see this structure, and he is beautifully represented within. I found it fitting that the statues of him in the outer hall have him dressed in traditional Chinese clothing, but the statue lying atop the tomb depicts him in a Western suit. Dr. Sun, while he was very anti-imperialist and all for an independent China, was not a man who rejected the West as evil, as so many subsequent Chinese thinkers/politicians (especially from the mainland) sought to do. He learned from his time spent in exile (in the US, the UK, and Japan) and didn't throw out the baby with the bath water when he rejected those nation's claims on China.

In Taiwan, Dr. Sun is likewise revered. There is a National Sun Yat Sen University as well as a national memorial hall dedicated to him in Taipei. Like Communist China, the Republic of China in Taiwan has some legitimate claim to Sun. He did found the KMT (the band which eventually ran off to Taiwan when the communists took over the mainland), and he did name Chiang Kai Shek head of the Whampoa Military Academy. Ultimately, it was this that set Chiang up in the position of power from which he fought against the communists, seeking to wipe them out.

Wikipedia points out this same irony I have noted about Sun. In China, he is called the "forerunner of the revolution." In Taiwan, he is "national father." Everyone wants a claim on Sun, and so everyone has a special name they place on him. (Again, the power of naming.) The thing is, of course, that Sun's thought and life work is open to this naming-and-claiming. He sought to unify China, and openly worked with the communists to achieve this, even stating in a letter to Stalin that he hoped the movement he started would be inseparably linked to Stalinist thought in the pages of history. On the other hand, Chiang in his leadership of the KMT was a firm believer that the best way to achieve Sun's objective of a unified China was to rid China of the communists. This led to some bloody battles and massacres at that period in Chinese history, and the eventual rift between Taiwan and the Mainland, all in the name of Sun's ideals of a unified China.

I suppose the whole telling of Sun's story, and the different versions we see coming out of Mainland China and Taiwan, is related to the subjective nature of representation in human communication. But I do find it interesting how inviting it is, at least for Chinese politicians, to try to lay claim to Sun and name him as one of "ours." Which, I think, opens up huge questions about politics, intepretation, and the often power-driven motives behind writing and representation.

---

The Soong Sisters is a very nice film about three sisters who were closely involved in the politics of this period. The middle sister married Sun Yat Sen, and the youngest married Chiang Kai Shek. The personal and political turmoil and drama experienced seems like it was put together especially for a movie like this one.

It is available at B&N here: Soong Sisters

Subscribe to The Journeys of Showintale

Nanjing, some troubling points

A year or so ago, I posted this at my original blog site. That site seems to be defunct now, so I am reposting here.

---

A few years ago, a friend told me she went to the Yu Hua Tai Martyr's Museum in Nanjing, and that it was a real tear-jerker of an experience. I am not sure whether it was the fact that she commented on the cruelty of the Japanese in Nanjing during WWII, or if I just linked it to The Nanjing Massacre because of my knowledge of that event. Somehow, I expected that event to be the focus of the museum.

But what I found in the museum on a recent visit there was troubling to me on so many levels. Most of what was troubling to me was tied to the fact that very little of the museum is dedicated to the Nanjing Massacre. Instead, a walk through the two floors of plaques, letters from the dead, clothes, photos, and all sorts of momentos will show that the attrocities committed by the Japanese during the war are not the real important event to be recorded by communist China today. What is more important is to get across that the Kuomingtang used Yu Hua Tai Gardens as an execution ground for the communists during the early years of the 20th century, before the Rape of Nanjing even happened. I don't know any better way to express what is so troubling about this than to simply enumerate the many bothersome points.


Troubling Point #1
If the story as told by the Martyr's Museum at Yu Hua Tai Gardens is to be believed, there were far more Chinese killed by Chinese than were ever killed by the Japanese, and with no less cruelty. As a long time reader of such books as Wild Swans and Life and Death in Shanghai, I find this point not too much of a stretch. Those books and other similar memoirs of survivors of the Cultural Revolution who still remember the prewar period paint a horrifying picture of the experiences of the Chinese over the past century. What was suffered at the hands of the Japanese was horrible, no question. How much worse is it when the same attrocities were likewise committed by one's own countrymen against one's own people?

Troubling Point #2
This is not the first time I have heard the story that is represented at the Martyr's Museum. I've linked those books above which tell this story, and have also read many others like them. In addition, I've seen the story in another museum, this one in Taipei. In Taipei, the story is -- of course -- told very differently. There, it is the communists who were committing all sorts of attrocities, with the KMT trying desparately to defend the people. From books such as Wild Swans, the story represented is that both the KMT and the communists were ruthless and had little regard for the people, seeking only to see their own party in power at the end of the day. Based on subsequent events and political developments in both Taiwan and the Mainland, I suspect this view is the one closest to the truth. It is, at the very least, the one with which I am most sympathetic.

Troubling Point #3
The political rhetoric at the museum is appalling. It is not, to me, touching or moving, though it seems to be so to many visitors there. To me, it is more than just a little sickening. At the Martyr's Museum (ahem!), the story is told of the "KMT Insurrectionists" (aka "The KMT Rebels") vs. "The Communist Patriots." When the patriots finally came into town, they "liberated" Nanjing. It may be hard to believe, but I don't think they did that without bloodshed. Indeed, they did so without the slightest bit of mercy shown toward the "Rebels." (Another strange point -- it seems in Taipei's museum that they got the team names mixed up. There it is the communists who are the Rebels, and the KMT who are Patriots. Odd, that.)

Troubling Point #4
The deaths commemorated at the Martyr's Museum are mostly the death of kids. The oldest martyr I found was 23 years old. The majority were between the ages of 18 and 20. There were some as young as 15. These children fought bravely, but stupidly. They were brainwashed, as is clearly evident by the many letters and poems plastering the wall in the museum (which many visitors describe as moving -- I just call them extraordinarily sad). It reminds me of a scene in The Soong Sisters where a group of students demonstrate on the streets where Chiang Kai Shek is driving, making a horrifying sacrifice of one of their own in an attempt to catch his attention. They fought and died as true believers, with the message of the Party on their lips. For this they are remembered today as martyrs. Martyrs to the cause. Their short lives sacrificed by men and women who had lived longer -- long enough to know better, you'd think.

Troubling Point #5
This is really just a culmination of the above points, I suppose. The goal stated over and over by both the KMT and the Communists (a goal that rises out of the thought of Sun Yat Sen) was to build a New China. In 1949, history (as told in China) tells us that this was finally achieved -- Communist China was born. My question, though, is for whom was it born? What was the point? If it was for the young people of China, then it was a wasted effort. So many of the young people of China were sacrificed to the ideal of the New China. Who, then, is left to enjoy the fruits of that effort?

---

Subscribe to The Journeys of Showintale

At last!

I'll be heading up to Shanghai at the end of the month. My friend there has suggested that we take a trip while I am there to Guiling. I've wanted to go there for a long time, but have never gotten to. I am thrilled about the chance to go and see one of the most beautiful places on earth!

Keep watching.... I hope to have photos of my trip to Guiling up in another 6 weeks or so!



Subscribe to The Journeys of Showintale

Landslide

It's been more than 10 years since I was in Jiuzhaigou, Sichuan, China, but the memories are still very fresh. The place was beautiful (more on that later), but the road to get there was very difficult to traverse. It was an 18 hour bus journey... at least, that is what we were told. It turned out to be well over 20 hours. But the scenery on the way there was exquisite.

I was impresse with our driver's prowess. The road was barely more than a dirt footpath high above the river at the bottom of a rocky gorge. But he managed to take that bulky bus up and down and all around as if it were a walk in the park.

On the way home, we got stuck on the road because a landslide had occurred just before we got there. It ended up being a very long night in which we slept on the bus, together with the more than 20 other passengers. We couldn't spend the night outside of the bus for fear of bandits. In fact, several other buses joined us on the road and we formed a convoy, huddling together in hopes that the bandits were taking a night off.

Apparently they were. We managed to get through the night safely, if with very little sleep. It made for a very memorable experience, and it never fails to give my friends and I a laugh when we talk about it.

Subscribe to The Journeys of Showintale

How Way Restaurant

How Way Restaurant on Tian Yao Qiao Road in Shanghai has a wide selection of unique dishes. I enjoyed everything we ate there, and especially liked the mushrooms. My mouth is watering just thinking of them again.

The presentation of dishes at How Way is quite special. The fried potatoes come in what looks like a mountain atop a plate. They are crispy, and it is a rather huge portion. Other dishes come in bowls propped up on a stand with a small flame underneath, on plates arranged to look like goldbars, and in other unique arrangements. The set-up is really quite attractive, and the atmosphere is conducive for watching the dishes as they are brought in to the tables around you. In that way, it is a nice opportunity to see the full range of dishes served by How Way.

Subscribe to The Journeys of Showintale