May 6, 2007
Tagytay and Jamaican Patties
After an early breakfast we made one last walk over the rocks back to White Sand and hopped on a ferry to go back to Batangas. There were hordes of people arriving for the weekend but luckily our ferry was almost empty. Much like last time we left about twenty five minutes late, but we were in no major rush so it was fine. It was also somewhat comforting that our last few hours on the island were the only ones without a clear blue sky--better than when we arrived.
Arriving in Batangas, we negotiated a ride to Tagytay, an area overlooking a lake within a volcano. We got ripped off on the price and stuffed into a crowded van, but sometimes that's the way it goes when you're traveling. The ride was a windy express with cool scenery and we got dropped off on just the corner we were hoping for.
We walked down Buckhead Estates Road towards Sonya's Garden, a 1.5 hectare organic garden, restaurant, and bed & breakfast. As per Juliana's recommendation, we timed it perfectly to get lunch at Sonya's and to walk around a bit. Though it was in the middle of nowhere, the place was packed. We were asked what time our reservation was for and we sheepishly admitted that we didn't have one. Somehow it didn't matter too much and we were seated immediately ahead of tons of people waiting. Maybe it was because we were a party of two or maybe because we were white but I didn't care--I was starving.
Sonya's was the sort of place that didn't have a menu. You just sat down and they served whatever they had available that day; whatever was fresh from the garden. Immediately upon sitting down I knew I was in for a satisfying experience. The first course was a massive salad bowl filled with fresh greens. Then on the side they had tons of fresh fruit, nuts, croutons, and other fixins for the salad, topped with freshly made salad dressing. It was tasty! Then we had fresh bread with different spreads (from hummus all the way to roasted eggplant and black olive tapenade. Then on to the main course: fresh pasta with different sauces and toppings including grilled salmon, chicken in cream sauce, peppers & onions, tomatoes and pesto, and a few others. Dessert was chocolate cake, taragon tea, and some fried banana creation.
I can say without hesitation that it was easily one of the best meals I've had over the last two years. It was all so fresh and so good that I didn't ever want to leave. I would have been happy just sitting in the garden and reading books between meals for the next ten years or so. Unfortunately, we didn't have that luxury so instead we walked around the massive garden for a while and enjoyed all the plants, flowers, and fragrant air.
We caught a bus back to Manila at the top of the road and we were on our way. Back in the city, we managed to meet up with Juliana again, though not without a hitch. Apparently it is impossible to call a cell phone from a land line in Manila, even from a pay phone. We were told a pay phone could do it but we tried two and neither worked so I'm unconvinced. Anyhow, I had to make friends with a random white guy in the convenience store and convince him to lend me his cell for one call. It all worked out fine though and we met up a little while later.
Dinner was a massive barbecued ribs extravaganza at another shopping center. Yum! Ali came and met us and introduced us to halo-halo, the local dessert specialty. Basically it's shaved ice, ice cream, coconut, fruit, sago, and random other stuff all mixed together in a glass. Not my thing, but pretty decent. From there we headed to a bar for a drink. The bar we went to was a pretty hip place with a DJ spinning and someone drumming live on top, all outside on a patio. I was impressed with the "scene" and with the fact that Juliana ran into a bunch of casual friends she knew. It seemed like it was possible to go out and just meet people in a way that really doesn't happen in Guangzhou. It was fun!
Back at Juliana's apartment, I checked and it turns out the Yankees were on! I watched until I fell asleep during the bottom of the 5th at around 3am. Nothing like watching baseball on vacation! We were up early once again to catch a bus back up to the airport. Two things struck me about the experience of going home. First, at a public rest stop while we were connecting buses, I went to use the restroom. It was completely disgusting and for the first time in my life I was actually supremely disappointed they didn't have a squat toilet to use--that's a weird feeling.
Second, at the Clark Airport, which is all of two gates big, the food options were infinitely than the massive Guangzhou Airport. In the space of one small room they had Mrs. Field's Cookies, a well stocked cafe, Mister Donut, and a little stand serving Jamaican Beef Patties. The patties were so good that I had three. Back in Macau, there weren't nearly as many people going through immigration and crossing the border, so we were off without a problem. After yet another bus ride from Zhuhai, we were back home in Guangzhou. We decided that it was the perfect vacation from China--clean air on the islands, beautiful beaches, people spoke English, there was great American food, and the people were nice. All in all, it was a great trip.
For pictures from the trip, click on the following link- http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03/sets/72157600203004383/
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May 4, 2007
Aninuam
We woke up at the crack of dawn on Thursday and took a cab over to another bus station in order to catch a bus to Batangas, a port city near the southwestern tip of Luzon Island. The three hour ride was uneventful other than the sub zero air-conditioning. Even though we had been warned about this by several folks, I was still caught a bit off guard by the frigid temps. We got off the bus though and my legs thawed almost immediately in the heat.
We caught a 10am ferry to White Sand Beach on Mindoro Island. In true Filipino style we left around thirty minutes late went across clear blue waters toward the island. It was a bit windy which made for rough seas, but I was loving the occasional splash of cool water. There's just something about being out on the water on a nice day--nothing beats it. We made a quick stop in the Puerto Galera harbor and soon made our way to White Sand. I enjoyed our arrival because there was no harbor--we just pulled right up to shore next to the tourists swimming and boating. Very cool!
We walked off into the sand and choose one of the many restaurants right on the beach for lunch. I had some glass noodles (which really hit the spot) and then we slowly walked around the strip of beach. From Juliana's recommendation we were shooting to stay one beach over at a place called "Aninuam." we had two options, either take a motorized tricycle or walk around the cove over the rocks. Not surprisingly, we chose the rocks and chatted our way through the five minute climb, possibly the least treacherous walk of my life.
We immediately checked into the Tamaraw Resort, a hotel with cottages right on the beach. While all of the cottages right on the water were already booked, we still managed to get into one that was only about fifteen feet away, which was fine by us. The cottage had a bedroom with a bed, a fan, a TV, and a bathroom in an attached room. It was perfect. Aninuam was much much quieter than White Sand and quite a bit nicer as a beach too. We through on our bathing suits and went swimming, after covering ourselves head to toe in SPF-70 sunscreen, of course.
After we tired of swimming, we laid down on the beach and did a crossword puzzle, just enjoying the beauty and quiet. As the sun began to set we walked halfway to the next cove and watched a gorgeous sunset in front of clear blue water. We ambled back over the rocks to White Sand for dinner and were pleased to see that every single restaurant had a huge bbq going right on the beach. Apparently Filipinos really enjoy their marinades and barbecued meats and I must say that I approve.
We walked down the strip trying to choose a restaurant until one particular host(ess) swayed us towards his (her?) place. Juliana told us that the Filipinos refer to them as "lady-boys" and that they're actually quite common around the country. Huh. Well our lady-boy was a riot. She was going up to every person saying, "I saved you a seat right here!" and "Come see our special!" in an overly feminine voice. It made me smile enough to accept the offer. The food was good but the most memorable moment of the meal (other than our lady-boy) was when a big Chinese guy sat down for dinner.
He accepted the menu and began to examine it in detail. It only had English so I assumed he was fluent until a waitress came over to take his order. He was trying to ask a question but she was not picking up what he was putting down at all. It turns out he wanted a beer to start and resorted to getting up and pointing to a picture. He was struggling with the menu the same way that I used to before I learned enough Chinese to decipher it. Someone else came over to help or we would have, but it was a moment where I felt like I was looking at myself from the past. After dinner we made our way back to Aninuam and just stared at the stars for a while. Stars! Stars I tell you! I'd been missing those.
The next morning I set my alarm for 8am because our TV got ESPN Asia and they were supposed to show the Yankees game but sadly they decided to show the Cincinnati v. Houston game. This being the first live baseball game I had an opportunity to watch, I decided to route for Houston and hope for a good game. And it was--baseball is great, I don't care who's playing. Eventually we made our way out for breakfast under a cabana on the beach and then for more swimming and crosswording.
Instead of heading back over to White Sands for lunch, we decided to take the lazy route and just have food from the hotel. It was a tad bit more expensive but quite tasty and worth the (lack of) energy. After lunch we headed over towards Talipanan, the next cove over from Aninuam. Our guide book said it was even more peaceful and remote than Aninuam so we thought it would be fun for the afternoon. In order to actually get there, once again we had to walk over some rocks and even go through the ocean to get around a few of the bigger boulders. Fun!
It was totally deserted on the beach except for a few locals and it was gorgeous. I'm not sure I would have wanted to stay there, but it was incredibly peaceful. We started out towards a water fall that was listed in the guidebook but ended up turning back when we didn't have the footwear to get through the forest. Our adventure did take us through a small local village which was interesting. There were chickens, cows, pigs, and little kids all wandering around, but still the overall English level was incredible--almost everyone we asked was able to give us directions to the waterfall. It wasn't just pronunciation but actually vocabulary too, that was so surprising. One guy saw me and said, "hey man, you lookin' for a guide?" It was amazing.
We had pizza and pasta on the beach for dinner and once again enjoyed the stars. We both mused that the quality of so-called "western food" here was a major step above that in China. Oftentimes you order pizza in China and it has ketchup, carrots, spam, and peas. Not so in the Philippines. It was a welcome change.
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May 3, 2007
From Jeepneys to City Walls
We woke up reasonably late and got our bearings. Taking Juliana's recommendation, we headed to Greenbelt Park, a massive shopping complex, for an early lunch. It seemed apparent right away that the Philippines was, indeed, a mall-driven country. Greenbelt was packed and it was barely 10:30am! I guess I can't blame them for flocking to the AC, though--Manila was hot. Anyhow, we walked around for a while and settled on a tasty looking Italian joint that served huge pasta dishes. Yum!
After lunch we made our way to Quiapo Square, a public square by one of Manila's most famous churches. It was, again, apparent right away that not only was not only a big mall country but also a big church country. The Catholic influence was all encompassing and it seemed like every street had a church, a cross, and/or a saint-related school. The square itself had a sad memorial for a demonstration sometime in the 1980's which turned into a massacre when someone threw a grenade onto the makeshift stage where political candidates were speaking. It was one of those moments when I was reminded how lucky people are in the States to be largely free from things like that.
We explored the church itself which was buzzing with action. There were tons of people in the pews as well as people waiting to give confession and those on their knees in the aisles by the altar. We walked through a side exit into an alley with a street market selling food and other assorted Catholic items (crucifixes and the like). While all Asian markets have certain things in common, there are always a few differences. This one seemed to have a fair amount of produce that the shop owners had no interest in selling. Well, at least they didn't seem too stressed about moving their merchandise. I guess it was too hot for that.
We began walking towards the next neighborhood and saw hundreds of "jeepneys," as our guide book called them ("jeeps," to the hip locals). The jeeps are something like a cross between a minibus and a jeep, and are all painted and decorated in a different way, much like the Lao tuk-tuks, except that these traveled pre-determined routes and had set rates depending on distance. It was clear that this was the most popular way to travel for most Filipinos.
Down a few blocks, we stumbled upon another church whose name escapes me. Though it was completely empty, I found it to be even nicer than Quiapo. Kelly and I spent a good half an hour just gazing at some of the beautiful stained glass and listening to a girl practice the organ. It was magnificent. After that we decided to join the masses and hop into a jeep to get to our next destination.
While we knew what the jeeps were, we weren't quite sure what the etiquette was for flagging them down, paying, or getting off. We waited for one to stop right in front of us and then we got on. We waited for the guy next to us to pay and hoped we could see how much he gave. Without having a clear view we gave it our best guess and hopped off in the general area we were going to. That night we found out that we had shorted the driver about 5 pesos, but he didn't yell at us so we had no idea. Oops!
Anyhow, we had taken the jeep to the Intramuros section of the city--the old city. The old city wall was very cool, especially in the sections that allowed people to walk on top. It reminded me a tiiiiiiiiiny bit of the Great Wall, except that obviously it was quite a bit smaller. After playing around on the wall for a while we walked down to the Manila Cathedral, a romanesque church with massive stone pillars and tall ceilings. It was a bit dark for my tastes, but it had a very pleasant square in front with a grassy area to hang out in.
From there we walked to Bahay Tsinoy, a museum dedicated to the Chinese history and influence in the Philippines. Besides being very close to home for us, it was also a very well done museum with informative maps, displays, and even a couple of hokey fake people. I thought it was most interesting to learn that the Chinese who integrated into Filipino society were referred to as mestizos for centuries.
After enjoying the displays and the AC, we headed to another museum, "Casa de Manila," a traditional preserved house of a rich 19th c. Spanish resident. It was predictably beautiful (I sure wish I had a music room, a sitting room, and a prayer room. Okay, maybe not that last one...) but I thought it was hilarious that the security guards would not allow us to deviate from the red carpet on the ground. There were no barriers up or any signs, but we got yelled at anytime we drifted towards the side of the carpet. We made our way out though and spent a few minutes just relaxing in the courtyard.
Evening was slowly approaching and we decided to walk towards the water in order to watch sunset over Manila Bay. We found a cute over-priced restaurant right on the water and enjoyed a couple of drinks while the sun slowly set. It was gorgeous! We took a taxi back to Magallanes where we met up with Juliana and headed out for some tasty Mexican food. Sure, we weren't going out of our way for Filipino food, but when there is Mexican food available we felt obliged to take advantage. That's what happens when you live in China!
Over dinner we had a very illuminating conversation about Filipino culture, living abroad, wants, wishes, fears, and all the other things that people have in common after living abroad for two years. As a second year, Juliana was going through a lot of the same things we were and it is somehow always comforting to find others in the same shoes. Even though China and the Philippines are radically different, we still had an incredible amount of common ground. It was a great night, especially with the margaritas.
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May 2, 2007
"Save the Children!!"
In the infinite wisdom of those organizing classes for Chinese high schools, I was forced to come back from Jiangxi Province to teach for one day before going on vacation again. Or, at least, I thought I had to. Unfortunately I am not privy to the decision-making process when it comes to scheduling so I am often the last to know things. After surviving the torture box of a bus, I got back and found out that my services were not required. Alright then.
I unpacked, repacked, got a few hours of sleep, and then Kelly and I headed off for a quick adventure to the Philippines. I wish I could say that I've always had a burning desire to get to the Philippines but actually it came down to Manila having the cheapest plane tickets. This being national holiday time in China, we were excited to get as far away as possible from the hordes of travelers in the mainland.
Our luck in finding plane tickets had us departing from the Macau Airport, normally about two hours away. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 3pm and we were on a 7:30am bus from Guangzhou, but I was still worried we'd be late. Luckily for us, we managed to beat the crowds on the highway and really only ran into long lines going through customs from Zhuhai (the Chinese border town with Macau). The thing is, when you hit lines in China, it can be like a brick wall. There were thousands of people in a small room and it was a small step away from mass chaos. We made it through, though, and after a quick bus ride to the airport, it was surprisingly empty.
The flight itself was an uneventful two hours and before I knew it we were touching down in Clark Airport, site of the old U.S. military base about an hour north of Manila. Unfortunately, due to traffic (presumably unrelated to the Chinese holiday), our hour turned into more like two and a half hours to the city center.
First impressions: Manila is huge! Even Guangzhou-huge! The city seems to alternate between sparkling skyscraper and poverty-stricken slum every 100m. There is English everywhere! There are malls even in the middle of the countryside. Consequently, they seem to have every fast food chain imaginable (Wendy's? Check. Sbarro's? Check.)
We got off in the Pasay neighborhood not at a bus station, but rather at the mini lot where this particular bus company had space. Apparently Manila doesn't really have any large bus stations, but rather areas where each company has a lot and a ticket office. Luckily we were prepped for cab drivers trying to hustle newcomers coming off buses and we managed to avoid guys trying to charge us 350 pesos for a ride around the corner. We flagged down a random cab and he used the meter without prompting, which was a nice change.
The cab we got into turned out to be one of the more entertaining taxi moments in recent memory, as our driver was something of a comic. He spent the entire ten minute ride joking about Manila, the Philippines, cars, traffic, the U.S., tourists, guards, and food. He also wasn't totally sure where we were going so he stopped a few times and asked guards of other apartment complexes, cracking jokes the whole way. It was quite impressive, actually.
Anyhow, we finally arrived at the complex for my friend Juliana, a PiAer living in Manila and working for Save the Children. The guards stopped us and asked us where we were going. I said that we were going to visit Juliana and gave them the apartment number at which point their eyes lit up and they shouted in glee, "Juliana! Save the Children!!" "Yes!" I responded, and they happily led us in her direction. I was amused. Juliana actually wasn't home yet so we went in search of dinner.
The closest option was Max's, a fast food chain that proclaimed to be "The House That Fried Chicken Built." Sounded good to us and we were surprisingly impressed. Maybe it had just been a long time since we'd had barbecue chicken. Either way, we finished up and headed back to her place just in time to catch Juliana walking in.
We caught up on the last two years or so and then Ali, the other PiAer in Manila, also came over to hang out. Not only was it great to be welcomed in such grand PiA fashion, but it was also amazing to hear about what they were both doing. Juliana was saving the youth of the Philippines and Ali was busy being a media star by reporting news on a national TV station. Wow!
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April 30, 2007
Traveling Torture Machines
Yet again we were up early, mostly due to our ridiculous schedule of getting up at the crack of dawn and going to sleep with the senior citizens. It was raining quite a bit harder than the day before but there was still more to be seen so we embarked on a rather wet adventure for the day.
Deciding to stay dry for as long as possible, we packed up our stuff and hopped in a cab to the xinglong cable car, one of about eight different cable cars encompassing the mountain. Driving to the drop off point, the mountain was quite misty. By the time we got out of the cab, the entire mountain was engulfed in fog. It was really cool! As such, the cable car ride was slightly eerie but a one of kind ride. We could have been taking the gondola right into the side of a cliff and we wouldn't have known--you couldn't see more than three feet outside the windows.
We were let off at a suspension bridge that also looked like it led into the abyss. The fog was so thick that the sides of the bridge disappeared into nothingness. So cool! There were two people ahead of us who just disappeared out of view, just like the players in "Field of Dreams" disappearing into the corn. It was great.
We hiked up to a point called "Dragon's Head Precipice" and were rewarded with a view of more fog. Oh well. It seemed like it must have been amazing on a clear day. We kept hiking along and eventually made the turn back towards the main path. Right as we were walking through a confluence of two different paths, we were startled to see a huge monkey on the path. Kelly and Nick both screamed and I started laughing. Suddenly a Chinese guy showed up and said we had to feed it in order to have it move out of way and wouldja know it--he was selling some food! Though it appears this monkey was trained by the guy, we looked up into the trees and saw about three more wild monkeys just swinging around which was pretty cool. Only in China--this was the 2nd time now that I encountered wild monkeys on a hike.
Wet but invigorated, we finished the hike and hopped a cab back to town. We ate a feast and then got a bus back to Nanchang. The bus ride itself was fine, except for two things: first, the fact that the bus was driving through thick fog. We were driving down a rather windy path and I know I couldn't see more than ten meters ahead. I prayed that the driver had done this before. Second, and possibly related to the first, is that there were four or five people out of twenty who were vomiting for most of the two hour ride. Some made it into plastic bags, but a choice few decided that the bus floor was their best option.
Back in Nanchang we got Nick some coffee and found a restaurant for dinner. We finished just in time to get on the 7pm sleeper bus back to Guangzhou. Now, I've been on sleeper buses before and they are not fun. Basically, you lay down in a little area with a metal box, of sorts, where you put your feet. This "box" then becomes the pillow of the person in front of you. Though they should be a perfectly fine way to travel, they never are. They're built for people about 5'5" and always include old sheets and people smoking up a storm.
This ride was no exception. Actually, it was quite a bit worse than normal. About fifteen minutes outside of the city, we stopped at a gas station and picked up another ten passengers or so. Now, keep in mind that the bus was already full. This being the beginning of the national holiday, people will do anything for transportation and the bus/train companies know it. They had people laying down in aisles which meant that instead of three across with a bit of space between each person, we were five across, basically all spooning each other.
There were some friendly people around me that were nice to chat with for a while, but there was simply no escaping. There was one lawyer in particular that was LOVING the opportunity to chat in both English and Chinese and once he got going there was no stopping him. Comparatively, though, I had it much better than Kelly and Nick. Kelly had four university-aged guys all staring at her, blown away by her Chinese. Nick won the prize, though, for being right next to a father with a screaming baby who seemed to enjoy kicking Nick just as he was about to fall asleep.
Due to traffic, we were bumper to bumper for about three hours around midnight and could barely move. This, of course, meant that we were delayed in arriving back to GZ and a sleepless night slowly became a miserable morning. At some point around 6am I realized that there was a strange wet spot developing on my "bed" from some unknown source. Ummm, cool. We were supposed to get in around 6:30am but we didn't make it until 10am. We all decided that we had reached our breaking point and that we were never (by choice) get on one of those traveling torture machines ever again. It's funny when you get to the point that you'd rather be on a 40 hour train ride than a 15 hour sleeper bus experience.
To see some pics from the trip, check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03/sets/72157600190983671/
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April 28, 2007
Lushan
We were up around 9 and I immediately went to fight the crowds at the bus station to buy tickets to Lushan, a very famous mountain range about two hours north of Jiangxi while Kelly found us snacks for the trip. Having just hiked Huangshan in Anhui a few weeks earlier, I was excited to get back up into the trails among the fresh air. The ride itself was painless and uneventful, other than the fact that we got to the base of the mountain and I thought we had reached our destination. In reality, there was another 30 minutes up the mountain, including a stop to buy admission tickets about two thirds of the way up. Before I knew it, we were way up in the stratosphere.
We got dropped off and once again checked into the first place we came to. It being the weekend for the big national holiday, most people were not yet out and about and thus we bargained down a triple to almost nothing--there was no need to look elsewhere. We dropped our stuff and went to find food. As usual in China, we picked a random restaurant along the street and had a delicious feast. You can never really go wrong when you ask the wait staff what's good, what's fresh, and what the cook does best.
After that we picked up a map and chose a random sight to hike towards. It was immediately apparent that there was much more of an actual town up in the mountains than Huangshan and it really changed the dynamic. There were taxis, shops, supermarkets, schools, parks, and everything else you'd expect from a small town, all in addition to the spectacular hikes and views.
Though it took us a few tries, we finally found the walking path to the "cloud watching pavilion," a pavilion at the edge of one side of the mountain. It was deserted and beautiful but it made us laugh because not only was the path hidden behind the gate of a private hotel, but it was also unmarked and without any rails preventing you from going over the edge of the cliff.
Back to the main path, we decided to ignore the drizzle and go down to the lake in the middle of the resort area. It was all so tranquil (other than the occasional tour group with bullhorns) but what I really couldn't get over was the quality of the air. It was so fresh that I felt like I could taste it--it reminded me of Spaceballs the movie when he has the canned "Peri-air." It suddenly didn't seem like such a ridiculous idea, after living in Guangzhou for two years.
On the way to a different walking trail, we randomly stopped into a tea store. We had originally stopped in because of it's shelter from the rain, but we were all ecstatic to have found what turned out to be a highlight of the trip. It turns out that the family running the place was growing green tea in the land behind the small house and processed everything right there. They not only picked the leaves, but they also dried them out out there through a process of using a brick oven and a wok, both of which we saw in action.
It was really interesting to talk to the family about what made their tea (and other teas on Lushan) different than others around China. First of all, few Chinese people drink green tea, mostly because it's not as easy to grow. The damp climate on the top of the mountain enabled them to grow the bushes there and they use a certain type of drying process to keep the leaves in bigger pieces, while eliminating stems. It was incredible to see the guy drying leaves out in the firing wok with his bare hands.
We eventually found the walking path along the ledge and slowly wandered along the side of the mountain, taking in spectacular views. In addition, there were a few humorous signs along the way with silly English translations, e.g. "Caution! Cliff!" My favorite, though, was the sign about the danger of the falling boulder, which appeared to be supported by a handful of twigs. Huh.
Right around sunset we made our way back to the main drag in town and were convinced to get dinner at one of the local restaurants. I gave her points for both persistence and humor--as we were considering our options, she came up to me and gave a slight wave of the hand toward her competitor followed by the comment (in Chinese), "Naww, you don't want that place. Much too expensive. Tastes like crap too." I don't know if she was right about the other place but her restaurant was definitely cheap and tasty! After the meal we made our way back to the hotel and all crashed around 9:30pm, exhausted from the hike.
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April 27, 2007
Jiangxi
With my students taking midterms and the May holiday quickly approaching, I decided to fit two vacations into one this year. I rallied Nick and Kelly and we headed off to Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi Province. Unfortunately, due to the proximity to the May national holiday, train tickets were tough to come by. We managed to secure 3 seats in the "hard seat" section of the overnight train. Riding hard seat is pretty rough but it was hard seat or bust so we decided to take it.
My two previous experiences with riding hard seat were all miserable but I was optimistic that with the right preparations we would be okay this time. We brought snacks, had three iPods at our disposal, had books, crossword puzzles, and even comfortable clothes. Beyond that, we even lucked out and had excellent seat mates in our little booth (three seats across from three more seats) who didn't smoke, weren't terribly tall (leg room is at a premium), and didn't pester us by trying to practice their English. Yet, despite all the things we had going in our favor, it was still miserable. It's just virtually impossible to get any sleep when you're in the hard seat section.
We arrived at about 7:45am and immediately went about trying to secure tickets back to Guangzhou for Sunday night. I swear, who ever streamlines the whole process of getting train tickets and makes it possible to buy roundtrip tickets is going to make millions. Anyhow, before we even got to the front of the snaking line for tickets, we saw the sign that literally every single ticket was sold-out, including the standing tickets for the hard seat section (the absolute bottom of the barrel). Stupid national holidays.
Plan B--we walked through the slightly overcast morning to the long distance bus station. Luckily, we had no problem getting three bus tickets for Sunday night. The next step was to find a cheap hotel for the night. We ventured across the street and checked into the first place we found that had an open triple for a reasonable price. I was too exhausted even to bargain so we checked in and immediately went up to take a nap. We all promptly fell asleep around 8:15am and would have slept until dinnertime if I hadn't set an alarm for noon.
We struggled out of bed and decided to start our day. First impressions--the city is on the upswing. Being in close proximity to the burgeoning cities of Guangzhou, Changsha, and Wuhan, it's on it's way up. That being said, for a provincial capital it seemed almost quaint and people were definitely not used to having foreigners around, especially those that spoke Chinese. I think we blew the minds of about 15 people when we stepped into a restaurant and ordered lunch.
Anyhow, after lunch we walked up the street to the People's Square, a public space with one big monument, and few sculptures, dozens of park benches, and room to fly kites. It was actually really nice and we meandered around for a bit taking some photos. Jiangxi happens to be important historically for China, as it was the location that the People's Liberation Army came together for the first time and fought a battle. There are commemorations everywhere citing this fact and people seemed proud of it. More specifically, the monuments were very Stalinist with rifles, bayonets, hammers, and sickles. Across the street, the Nanchang Exhibition Hall took this even more to an extreme with a gigantic red star at the top of a very drab building.
From there we hopped a cab and went to Teng wang ge, the "Jumping King Pavilion," a beautiful pagoda structure right on the river. The building was very reminiscent of the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan and I immediately began to see similarities in both the pagodas and the cities in general. We made our way up through the different levels of the museum and enjoyed some old art as well as some cool views of the river and the city. We even managed to catch a brief rehearsal of some traditional Chinese dancing at the top level.
From there we went on in the rain to find a cab and head to a museum commemorating the martyrs of the communist revolution. Sadly, it was closed for renovations. Not to be discouraged, we decided it was snack time. The closest place was a little joint with the English translation "See Me Here Cafe." Sure, why not. We ate some some local creations as well as some imported European food (i.e., French fries) and then decided to flee the rain in a movie theater across the way.
It turns out they had an English movie starting in ten minutes called "Tristan and Isolde." We have no idea if this was an old movie or a new movie, but none of us had ever heard of it. The good thing about that was that none of us had any expectations. Well, as it turns out, it wasn't half bad! There was some violence for the fellas and some romance for the lady so we all walked out happy. Can't ask for much more than that when you see a movie in China. After that we caught a late dinner and went back to the hotel where we all quickly fell asleep, still exhausted from the train ride.
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April 23, 2007
Crown's Master
This weekend I went to Hong Kong to say goodbye to a few of my friends who have finished up at their posts. It's amazing how fast time flies--these are two people who have been abroad only a little longer than me and now they're done teaching forever. Okay, so maybe not forever, but you know what I mean. We went to have dinner and have a little party, which was enormously fun. Though we were planning on heading right back on Sunday, a few others convinced us to do otherwise.
Right near CUHK (the Chinese University of Hong Kong) is the town of Sha Tin up in the New Territories. Amongst the mountains, skyscrapers, temples, and shopping centers is a beautiful horse-racing track. On certain Sundays throughout the year, there are big races involving horses from all around Asia. Having never been to a horse race, I wasn't expecting much. I'd seen highlights on TV and it looked like a whole big to-do for only about a minute of action. What was the point?
I have to say, immediately upon walking out to the grandstand, I was pleasantly surprised. It was exciting! We caught a race almost right away and it was pretty incredible to see the horses in motion. Seeing it on TV definitely does not do it justice. At all. The horses are magnificent. There's an unbelievable amount of power and grace in the animals and when they come around for the homestretch, everyone who's in the lower levels gets on their feet.
Sitting on the commuter train going to the track, I tried to educate myself a bit by reading the special racing section from the South China Morning Post. I learned words like "parlay," "impost," "paddock," and "quinella." I read a tiny bit about all eleven races of the afternoon and even decided to go nuts and place a couple of minimum bets. Despite being a complete greenhorn in this arena, I was convinced that this was a perfect example of when in Rome...
After the first race we saw, there was about thirty five minutes of downtime to allow people to bet and to get the horses into place. I perused the listings and decided that "Speeding Molly" was my horse. Though not the overall favorite, she was picked by one of the experts to have a breakout race. Race time came along and I was feeling good, feeling confident. That feeling lasted all of, oh say, thirty seconds. It turns out Speeding Molly was not on the same page as me and finished second to last. Upon crossing the finish line I took my betting ticket, ripped it in two, and threw it up in the air in disgust. I felt like like this was the appropriate action.
The thing was, I was hooked. I've never been into gambling before, but I could see how this type of wagering got addictive and quick. I wanted my horse to win so badly! I had ten Hong Kong dollars invested in that animal! I would not be embarrassed by one bad outing! I was going back to the betting office!
My next pick, Danzig Mountain, was also a major disappointment. I hadn't read the listings closely and after the fact I realized that the horse was running with a lame leg. I appreciate the guts and the dedication but seriously? A lame leg? Of course he was an also ran.
For the next handful of races we walked as close to the track as possible by the finish line. In the words of one of my companions, we were looking to feel the thunder of the hooves. It was pretty amazing. After the races, the top three finishers exit the track right in front of the stands in order to allow the spectators a congratulatory view on the way to the winner's circle. Just in case you were curious, it's true--jockeys are really small people.
Since it was starting to rain a bit and people had to catch trains home, we decided to stay for one final race. It turns out the 8th race of the day was the big money race with all of the biggest names and the most money. I had to place one more bet. I looked through the listings with a handful of others and decided that Crown's Master was my horse. Why? Well, the logic went like this- it wasn't the top rated horse but the top rated horses had been losing all day; rather, it was number four and that seemed like a respectable place to start the race.
We all gathered at the railing for the start of the race and once again you could feel the excitement in the air. As we waited I kept glancing at the betting board noting how much the odds changed right before the race--my horse fluctuated from 8.3 all the way to 9.4 before settling at 8.7, all in the space of about two minutes. Anyhow, the betting closes and the horses were off!
We were all screaming and cheering but my friend Andrew and I got into sportscaster play-by-play mode with our shouts, e.g. "Andthey'reoffandoutofthegatewithTattersallsoutintheleadbutCrown'sMasterclosebehind..." We were screaming a mile a minute and as they came into the far turn, my horse was in the lead! I started barking even louder and everyone else followed suit as they came into the home stretch. The horses were bunch in a pack up front so I started looking up at the massive TV screen to see which horse was in the lead. Right at the end I saw on the screen that Crown's Master, number four, was passed by number two and I was crestfallen. I was about to tear up my ticket when Kelly starts shouting even louder, "He did it!"
It turns out I looked away prematurely because I thought the race was over but Crown's Master burst out in front right at the line to take the win. As soon as I realized it, I let out an incredible whoop of jubilation and started dancing around in seemingly drunken acclamation. It was glorious. I'm guessing the Hong Kongers around me either thought I was nuts or thought I was a jerk but I couldn't have cared less. I immediately went over to the window and collected my winnings, asking in a hoarse voice to collect.
Walking out towards the exit with my money in hand, I was on cloud nine. I decided that I would never ever place another bet on horse racing because it could never compare to this experience. I was done. I had been to the promise land and tasted the fruits of victory but I knew wouldn't happen again; not like that, anyway. So there you have it. Just another day at the races...
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April 8, 2007
The Long Road Home
We all woke up late and caught a meager breakfast before hopping on the bus back to Xiuning. After the ride back through the villages and tea fields we parted ways. Since everyone was coming from different places and leaving at different times, we were unable to have one last hurrah as a group. Four of us grabbed our thinsg and caught the minibus from Xiuning to Tunxi.
In Tunxi we bought our bus tickets back to Hangzhou and went in search of food. There were a few places right outside of the main entrance to the station, but they looked to be even below my less-than-stringent sanitary restrictions. We wandered around until we found ourselves in a back alley and then shocked a local hole in the wall restaurant by sitting down for a meal. Maybe it was because I was hungry, but their fried noodles and soup broth were some of the best I've had in a while. Yum!
Finally on the bus back to Hangzhou, I reflected a bit about the weekend and the amazing group of people I was with. It is always a pleasure to spend time with such an incredibly talented and ambitious group of people--something that is not easy to find. After leaving Wesleyan, there have been only a handful of times where I've looked around and thought, "Wow, this group of people can change the world," but that is definitely how I felt over the weekend. Listening to peoples plans and aspirations made me want to up the ante and redefine my ambitions. That is, there's no reason I can't be one of those people making a difference. I'm not entirely sure how that will manifest itself quite yet, but I'm excited to find out.
We made our way back to the Hangzhou airport and were forced to eat KFC for dinner. Sadly, it was the most affordable option and we were all on a budget. I guess it could have been worse. Anyhow, the flight itself was uneventful except for the fact that once again I managed to have my patience tested upon landing in Guangzhou. As usual, everyone bolted out of their seats and tried to grab their things from the overhead compartment as if it were a race. At this point I was exhausted from about ten hours of total travel and I was ready to be home.
One guy, in particular, forced his way from one of the last rows and started to push by everybody. I was blocking the way with my backpack (and body) and he started to shove right by. I didn't see him coming so he almost knocked me over, at which point I shouted at him (in Chinese), "Where do you think you're going?" He said something about having stuff up front which sounded ridiculous so I just ignored him. He kept pushing by so finally I let him go and bellowed out a few swears in English. Not my best moment, but I just really wasn't in the mood. As I've said before, we all have our good days and our bad days in China. He just caught me at the end of a long one.
If anyone wants to check out some pics from the trip, either click on the link to my flickr site over on the right or click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03/sets/72157600068196823/
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April 7, 2007
The Yellow Mountain
We all met up at around 8:30am to hop on a chartered bus and head to huangshan, the Yellow Mountain. Anhui is one of the poorer provinces in the East due to it's rough terrain, but huangshan has been drawing tourists for hundreds of years. It's one of those places that gets painted and written about thousands of times every year. In fact, there's a good chance you've seen a rendering of it in your local Chinese restaurant. Needless to say, I was very excited.
The one hour bus ride took us through winding roads, small mountain villages, and huge tea fields. It was all so beautiful that we became entranced by the scenery and hardly spoke. At the foot of the mountain, we hopped off and went to buy tickets. Similar to most tourist sites, there are discounted tickets for students. Though very few of us were students, almost everyone had a university ID. The Yale kids all successfully used their outdated Yale IDs despite the fact that it had "VOID" stamped on the front. As Andrew said, "they don't know what the means." I managed to use my BU staff ID and was pleased that they recognized "university" on the card and didn't question me further.
The best, though, was the few people who didn't have IDs with them. The discounted tickets were half off which saved 100 kuai--well worth an extra effort. These few card-less kids borrowed IDs from those of us that had already paid and simply went back in line using the same card twice. I figured it would never work that Alison, a short girl with brown hair, could get by with an ID from Kelly, who has blonder hair and looks completely different. But I was wrong. I even contributed to the ruse by giving one of the guys my outdated university ID from studying Chinese last semester. Again, the picture of me looked absolutely nothing like him, but it just goes to show that all white people look alike to Chinese people. Can't really blame them though; it almost always works the same way over in the States, just in reverse.
Next we used some serious connections through the principal of the Xiuning high school to cut the line for the cable car. While it is possible to hike all the way up, it would have added hours on to the day that we just didn't have. So we took the easy way. Despite there being over one thousand people waiting in line for the cable car, we were led to the back staircase that Communist Party members and foreign dignitaries use. The design was genius--there was a wooden fence blocking us from view and we managed to go all the way up and directly to the cars without a single person in the general line seeing us. It made me wonder--how often are people cutting me in line when I don't even know it?!
The ride itself was gorgeous and brought up really high up. The mountain was enormous, with different peaks and gorges in every direction, so I didn't even remotely feel bad about taking the car up. Stepping out of the cable car, we were met by throngs of people walking shoulder to shoulder through the paths. We split into three groups, made a meeting time/place, and began our trek.
For the first two hours it was all about fighting the crowd. It felt like being on a bus during rush hour, with people getting smooshed into very narrow places. What killed me was the number of people who would just sit down in the middle of the trail, thereby blocking thousands of people from getting through. Even worse, though, were the big groups that would stop to take pictures and listen to commentary from a tour guide every five feet. What a mess!
After elbowing and shoving through people for over two hours, without warning the crowds broke. It was amazing--all we had to do was take one left hand turn and suddenly we were alone. It was completely inexplicable. From then on out, it was like we were on a completely different mountain. We were able to hear the birds chirping, gaze at breathtaking views, and meander through the path on our own terms. It was a welcome improvement.
The western steps, the path we were taking, was pretty incredible, though one of the more difficult day-hikes I have ever done. The route went along sheer rock cliffs with cut stone stairways taking you down into a massive gorge and then back up to the top of the mountain. At times there was nothing separating us from a massive drop, other than a thin piece of stone. Going up was also incredibly steep, even forcing those of us in good shape to take a rest every few hundred meters. I was also feeling some serious pain in my knee from what felt like a stretched ligament--hardly the time to be climbing up (or down) a mountain. All in all, though, it was an unforgettable 8km of hiking.
After about six hours of trekking, we made it back to the main tourist section and met up with the other groups for dinner. It being the top of a mountain, the restaurant we ate at was absurdly expensive. What's more, it wasn't even very good! We ordered a 40 kuai bowl of noodles that tasted like something out of a really bad Chinese restaurant in England.
As we walked out, I noticed that there were dozens of tents pitched out on the basketball court. Huh. It turns out there are a number of more "hard core" Chinese travelers out there who attempt to get a more rugged huangshan experience by camping. I'm just wondering if they see the irony of camping on the basketball court of a four star hotel.
Unfortunately there was a screwup in our hotel reservation and we were unable to stay at the top of the mountain. Instead, we had to make our way about halfway down to a hotel on a lower level. This ruined our chance of seeing the sun rise, a tradition on the Yellow Mountain, but there wasn't much we could do about it. In addition, the cable car was supposed to stop running at 4:30pm, forcing us to walk about two hours down in the dark. My knee was not excited about that prospect, but again, there was no choice.
Luckily we were only about two minutes in when I looked up and noticed the cable car still operating. We ran back up and literally caught the last car down, with us and all of the employees. While it would have been nice to walk down (under more healthy circumstances), it was surreal to take the car down in the pitch black--we couldn't see where we were going or where we were coming from, other than a few scattered lights hundreds of feet away. So cool!
We checked into the hotel and all plopped down into our rooms, exhausted from an unbelievable, yet grueling day. Though we hung out for a little while, chatting and watching soccer, I think we were all asleep by about 10:30pm. I don't think I've slept that soundly in a long time...
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April 6, 2007
Xiuning
I got up at the crack of dawn today and joined Kelly, her roommate, and her roommate's boyfriend to travel to Xiuning, a small town in Anhui province. Though not directly involved in it, I was tagging along to the Yale-China Spring Conference, a meeting of the fourteen Yale fellows spread between Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Changsha, and now Xiuning. Yale-China is in many ways similar to Princeton in Asia, but radically different in others. More than anything, I was just excited to see some friends and explore a new province.
Our 8am flight touched down in Zhejiang province's Hangzhou around 10am. As we rode in a cab to one of the bus stations, I was once again struck by how clean and organized the city was compared to most other Chinese metropolitan areas. We managed to time it just right to buy some instant noodles and hope right on a three hour bus to get to Tunxi, a town neighboring Xiuning. After one more bus ride, we finally made it to the high school at around 2pm. It was a beautiful school out in the countryside, but it sure wasn't easy to get to.
Unfortunately we missed observing a class but it was still pretty incredible to see the students walking around. I've always known it, but my students at Huafu are incredibly rich and privileged in comparison to almost everyone else, especially those in small countryside towns. These students were incredibly warm and inviting but were absolutely shocked to see eighteen foreigners all in one place. Who can blame them? It was almost ten times as many white people as they had ever seen.
While one group of fellows chatted about curriculum, I went with another on a cultural walk, of sorts, through the town. We cut over the one main road and were immediately met by cobblestone streets and open fields. It sure was a far cry from the skyscrapers of Guangzhou. Snaking through the farmland paths and waving to the workers, we eventually made our way to a crumbling Ming Dynasty watch tower overlooking the surrounding areas. It was apparent that this was the original tower and not a recreated version, since there was even a tree growing out the top.
We made it back just in time for a much-hyped basketball match against the faculty of the high school. I figured it would be a fun, relaxing game but as I walked over towards the athletic facilities, I couldn't even see the court because it was surrounded by about a hundred students. I made it on to the court and saw the opposing team dressed in uniforms! There was even a referee and scorekeeper to round it out.
The game itself was quite competitive and surprisingly even. We were a bit bigger but overall worse, in terms of skill. It back and forth with several highlights by each team until the end of the game. We were down by about six with a minute to go and started a full court press that turned into a few turnovers and easy layups. Just as we tied the game, they decided to blow the final whistle. I was initially annoyed (since I hate ties) but laughed afterwards when we realized that they wanted the game to end in a tie in order to save face all around.
After playing a little bit of low-intensity soccer with a bunch of students, we relaxed for a while up in the Yale fellows' apartment and then went to dinner. Dinner was a little hole in the wall restaurant across the street from the main entrance to the high school, on that one main road. It turns out the boys eat there a few times a week and have a close relationship with the owner, a guy named "Dennis" who spoke incredible English. About twenty of us crowded around one huge table and ate a feast of dishes made up by the local cooks.
I don't know how they managed to do it, but with only about twenty minutes notice, they cooked up dozens of dishes for us with meat, tofu, and tons of fresh vegetables. We also went through the ceremonial toasts and one of the Xiuning fellows toasted Dennis for being one of his closest friends in the whole town. I think I'd be best friends with the restaurant owner as well! That food was damn good and incredibly cheap--the sort of place I would be at every night.
After dinner we went back to hang out at the school for a little while but ended up going to sleep pretty early since we had to be up bright and early. The only hitch was that we were staying at pretty much the only hotel around--a quick 40 minute walk down the road. Forty minutes?! Yes, forty minutes. I guess that's what happens when you're out in the middle of nowhere.
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February 21, 2007
Back into the Scramble
On Tuesday we made our way over to the oldest mosque in KL, back over by Merdeka Square. Tourists were allowed to walk through during non-prayer times so we decided to walk around. The only catch was that proper dress was required. For me, that meant pants. For Kelly, that meant being completely covered head to toe, including hair. I felt somewhat guilty that all I had to do was zip on the other half of my shorts to create pants (what a brilliant invention!), but I wasn't the one making the rules. Regardless, I was very impressed with the place. For a center of worship, it was gorgeous.
After that, we walked over to the Islamic Arts Museum and checked out a really cool temporary exhibit about spices. So cool! Kelly and I both being suckers for cooking, we examined each display with the care of a curator. It was great. After that we made our way upstairs and took a look at the various permanent exhibits. There were some amazing displays on textiles, weaponry, and calligraphy, but the coolest thing was the architecture section in which they had scaled reproductions of some of the most famous and disparate mosques around the world, from China all the way to Morroco. It was fascinating!
The museum was beautiful and truly top of the line, but unfortunately I walked away with a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth for two reasons. One, they had a small display with a timeline about the plight of the Palestinian people that was, in my opinion, completely unnecessary. Not only was it out of place in an art museum, but it also managed to leave out quite a few facts. I am all for a Palestinian state and believe that the only way there will ever be peace is if Palestinian independence is achieved. However, the facts were skewed and it was the wrong place for something like that.
Second, in the gift shop, there were quite a few books detailing traditional Muslim beliefs and practices. Now, I suppose you can find similar books in any right-wing religious fundamentalist book store, but these books said word for word how women should be beaten if they refuse to "beautify" themselves for their busbands, how they should not leave the house unless accompanied by their husbands, how they should be praying five times a day at home (not at a mosque), and how once they are married they should avoid contact with adult males who are not their husband. Wow. I can't believe that mainstream Islam would profess such beliefs, but there it was, written out in several books on sale for the general public. It's hard to understand something so different, which certainly must account for a lot of the problems we're dealing with these days on a global scale.
After the museum we walked down the street to the national mosque, a gigantic complex complete with a huge prayer hall (capacity of +3000), a massive library, big lecture rooms, and much more. Once again Kelly was forced to don the robe and hair wrap while I undid my shoes and zipped on pants to my shorts. I wanted to wander and explore but Kelly was burning up due to the heat so we only made a quick tour of the place. Poor girl.
After a lazy evening and early night, we got up once again to cross the border. Hopping on a bus and retracing our route to Singapore, I dozed off while reading "The Inheritance of Loss," by Kiran Desai. Don't let my sleep fool you--it's a great read. Anyhow, we got back to Singapore and pretty much made our way to the airport. Though traveling from bus to subway to bus to airport is never fun, Singapore makes it about as painless as possible. Even the budget terminal at the airport has good food, free internet, a decent bookstore, and run of the mill duty free stuff.
We were sitting on the benches waiting for our flight (non-stop to Guangzhou) when they announced the gate number. Suddenly, without warning, there was a massive influx of people all running, shoving, and elbowing their way towards the door. I had somehow forgotten that this was par for the course in China, and it really caught me off guard. I had an extremely bitter reaction to it and was not pleased. What was the rush? Why did that guy feel the need to blatantly cut me in line? It was as if the time in Laos just strolling around without care or worry erased my memory of the Chinese way.
I had to swallow my anger and annoyance and remember what I've dealt with over the past year and a half. Maybe I was just tired. Either way, the flight itself did not help. I was surrounded by people that either had never been on a plane before or simply had no concept of basic plane etiquette. Behind me there was an older woman (mid sixties) who felt the need to kick my chair incessantly. The first few times I gave her a look. The next few times I asked her in Chinese to stop. After that I got up, leaned over and said in English, "STOP." Not my finest moment, but I really wasn't in the mood.
On my left was another older guy who felt it was his right to reach over into my seat compartment with the in flight magazine and grab my passport and inspect my customs documents. I didn't even say anything to him because I was just too befuddled by the whole thing. Who does that? Anyhow, the vitriolic feelings eventually subsided and by the time we landed I was throwing elbows with the best of them. I even hip checked some guy trying to pass me as we were leaving the airplane and boxed out a few people by baggage claim in order to give Kelly room to grab her stuff. Just like riding a bike!
All in all, it was one of the most incredible trips I've ever taken in my life, and opened up my eyes to a whole new side of Asia that I'm dying to explore even more of. It also paints China in a whole new light, both good and bad. I was dying for a good hunan meal, but less excited about the crowds. It's a give and take. Anyhow, for those who didn't catch it before, the following is a link to my pictures from the trip: http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03/sets/72157594555283382/
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February 19, 2007
KL
Once again we got up early, grabbed our passports, and headed for another border crossing. The Singapore-Malaysia border reminded me a lot of the Hong Kong-Mainland China border because the Singapore side was completely spotless, very well organized, and extremely efficient. The Malaysian side, on the other hand, was a quite a bit more chaotic. We weren't sure for a while if we were waiting on line or just hanging out outside, since there was no distinction between the two. We made it though, and got two more stamps in the process.
Arriving in Kuala Lumpur ("KL," in the hip vernacular), it felt like we had left civilization for a rundown, loud, dirty pigsty of a city. It was a bit of a ride awakening. Then again, I guess that's what happens when you get dropped off at the bus station (notoriously dirty areas in every city). Actually, I think I would have thought KL was dirty and disorganized no matter what--absolutely nothing can compare to the pristine streets of Singapore. I think I also had the thoughts in my head of all the Singaporeans who warned us, "KL is dangerous! Watch your pockets! It's very dirty! Don't hold hands unless you're married!" Again, very similar to Hong Kongers talking about the mainland.
Anyhow, we grabbed our stuff off the bus, I conveniently left the one souvenir I bought in Laos behind (a nice black and white drawing of Wat Xieng Thong that I will never see again
For dinner we found a cheap Indian place and chowed down once more on some curry goodness. From there we made our way to KL's chinatown, to see if there were any New Years festivities. It didn't appear there was anything organized, though there were a ton of people and we enjoyed the people watching quite a bit. Drinking a beer at an outdoor table by a restaurant, we reflected on all of the amazing things we had done so far, from elephants to cooking. As we were reminiscing, I thought I saw an old friend out of the corner of my eye--Jack Hagihara, former member of my singing group from college. What are the odds though?
Just in case, I shouted his name and got up to get a better look at him. The person did not respond and continued walking across the way so I didn't get a good look at him. "Oh well," I thought. However, the more I contemplated the possibility, the more real it seemed. Last I had heard he was in Taiwan, which means he would also be on vacation for Chinese spring festival. Hmmm. I decided it couldn't hurt to go ahead and email him from the internet cafe back at the hostel. Though I didn't have a cellphone with me, I could at least give him the info of where I was staying.
So I went ahead and did just that. As I walked upstairs to find Kelly in the common room, I hear a male voice say, "Ari? Ari?!?!" Sure enough--Jack Hagihara in the flesh. How's that for a small world? Unfortunately he was catching a bus to Singapore in an hour, but we did manage to catch up for a while and chat about Wesleyan and some of the old guys. It's great to see old friends anytime, but when you're traveling in the middle of a foreign city and you run across one unexpectedly, it's even better.
The next day we walked over to the KL tower in the "Golden Triangle" central business district in order to have the buffet lunch at the top. We took the elevator up about 280m and were immediately rewarded with the incredible sights of the city from the rotating restaurant, complete with an unparalleled view of the Petronas Towers. The Towers, currently the tallest building in the world, are spectacular. If any of you have seen the movie "Entrapment," it's the big building where the make the heist at the end. And yes, it looks just as cool in real life.
We stuffed ourselves silly and marveled at the city. From up where we were, you could see mountains in the distance, highrises, skyscrapers, stadiums, mosques, and everything in between. We both immediately changed our opinion about the city and decided that the bus station is probably the worst area around. From there we walked through the heat to the base of the Towers. About halfway there, three Pakistani guys randomly stopped us and asked if they could take a picture with us. We weren't quite sure what that was about but we were happy to oblige. I think they wanted a photo with an American girl but Kelly thinks they were just intrigued by caucasians. Who knows.
At the Towers, we immediately sought refuge in the air conditioning of the massive mall at the bottom. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised, but the mall had an incredible English book store, a pretty sweet Tower Records (no pun intended, but I was amused), a Dunkin' Donuts, a Famous Amos, and an A&W restaurant. Holy western products, batman! We hung out there for a while and then hopped on the light rail to Merdeka Square.
The square is a huge grassy area crowned by the tallest flagpole in the world, at somewhere around 100m meters high. It's a pretty big flag too. This was the location at which the Malaysian government declared independence in 1957. Across the street is the Malaysian supreme court, a magnificent building that combines colonial and moorish architecture. We decided to sit around on the grass for a while and day dream but we kept getting interrupted by groups of Asian tourists wanting to take pictures with us.
Now, this happens in China for sure, but I had never experienced so many in a single day! Again, we were flummoxed as to the reason (Kelly's non-black hair? Our Americanism? Simple white skin? Both of us wearing shorts? A caucasian couple?) but we rolled with it and joked around. I kept saying we should start going up to strangers and ask to take pictures with them, but Kelly nixed that idea.
After dinner at a Thai restaurant in the Central Market, we spent a bit of time in another Hindu temple. I am embarrassingly ignorant when it comes to Hindu religious practices, but we did manage to catch the end of what appeared to be some sort of evening ritual ceremony. The religious-studies major in me also wakes up at these moments and I feel like I should be there with a notebook furiously scribbling down all the interesting similarities and differences with the semitic religions and with other non-traditional forms of worship. When it comes to Hinduism, though, I can't quite get past the fact that Kali has got to be scariest god out there.
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February 17, 2007
Hands On
After waking up and changing hostels (making sure, of course, that we returned the sheets and towels on time), Kelly and I began to explore one of the best areas of Singapore-Little India. I really believe that every city (and neighborhood) has a distinct rhythm and vibe that is directly related to its sounds, smells, and people. Chinese cities often fall short on the first two but make up for it with the people. Little India really excels in all three.
Every store with speakers was playing traditional or modern Indian music. TV's were showing Bollywood music videos. Stores were selling Indian spices, teas, curries, and drinks. The chatter of various Indian languages was ubiquitous. There was a Hindu temple on every other street corner. While I have plans to get to the real India sometime in the near future, I felt like this would be as close as I got for a while. That was just fine though, because I really took to the place right away. Just think--India without any chance of contracting the plague!
Anyhow, we picked a random restaurant for lunch (out of the many choices) and sat down. As we looked around the place, we noticed that, a) we were the non-Indians in the place, b) we had no idea how or what to order, and c) everybody was eating with their hands. I guess it shouldn't have surprised me, but I had never seen people eat without utensils before. Luckily we had a very friendly and knowledgeable waiter who gave us a thirty-second rundown of the entire menu and helped us order. He even tracked down some forks, which was nice. While I know there are around a billion people around the world eating with their hands, I was happy to stick with the other four billion.
After an incredible south-Indian feast, we walked around through several churches and mosques. One mosque in particular was very educational and was doing everything possible to distance themselves from the radical right that everyone associates with terrorists. I think it was a very admirable effort but I was disappointed in one small part. They had dozens of posters around the walls of the outer mosque that were trying to dispel various myths about Islam (e.g., that it gives no rights to women, that they hate America, etc.), many of which were extremely informative. They made a point of noting how Muslims believe in the holy nature of Jesus and that they have a major connection with Christians and with Christian belief. Unfortunately, there was not a single mention of Jews, the close historical relationship with Judaism, or the current efforts to live side by side with Jews. Maybe it was just me and where I'm coming from, but it seemed to be a conspicuous absence.
After the mosque we went to buy our bus tickets to Kuala Lumpur, which turned out to be an amusing experience. We approached one vendor and asked the price and availability. He gave the price but said, "I don't have exactly what you're looking for, I recommend trying someplace else." Usually in China, they'd say, "This is it--take it or leave it." So we tried another vendor. They did have the time we wanted and said the price was fifty each. I went to pull out the money and the lady said, "You guys seem nice, I'll give it to you for forty each." I hadn't even asked for a discount! Whle negotiating travel arrangement can usually be a big pain, this was a pleasant surprise.
Walking from there to some of the more historic, colonial buildings, I was really struck by Singapore's beauty. It felt a little strange and perhaps a little sterile because it was so freakishly clean, but it was quite an achievement. While it lacks a harbor and skyline like Hong Kong, Singapore makes up for it in other ways, such as its diversity, location, safety. The subway system was unparalleled (at least in my experience). Each stop was listed in English, Malay, Chinese, and Hindi. How cool!
Anyhow, the next two days were spent relaxing, wandering the streets, eating TONS of tasty Indian food, napping, doing some window shopping, and eating some more. On Sunday we decided to brave the crowds and celebrate Chinese New Year in Singapore's Chinatown. While it didn't compare to the Hong Kong crowds from Christmas, it was still wall to wall with people and we had to surf the crowds out of the MRT stop to get anywhere. Once again, I was pleasantly surprised that no one batted an eye when we spoke Chinese. We chatted with a couple of store owners and food vendors, none of which were even remotely impressed with us. I guess that's what happens when you grow up in such an ethnically diverse place.
After we saw the lights and ate some snacks, we decided that the year of the pig (or boar, depending on who you ask) would roll in just fine even if we didn't wait until midnight. We retired early and took advantage of some English-language TV. I'm perfectly happy not watching things like "American Idol" on a day to day basis, but it was sort of fun for a little while...
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February 14, 2007
No Torsos!
We woke up Tuesday and headed out for an all-day cooking class. As much I like to eat, it just makes sense to learn some official cooking and I was geared up for it. We paid a tidy sum and chose which seven courses we wanted to learn. I went with the pad thai, curry paste, green curry chicken, tom yum soup, papaya salad and several other side dishes. It all looked glorious in the brochure so I was banking on my skills to fill me up for the day.
Our guide in this endeavor was a pleasantly plump young Thai woman who was possibly the funniest non-native English speaker I've ever met. She was throwing sarcasm around left and right (e.g. "To see if the oil's hot, put in a drop of water. Or just stick your finger in it--if your finger burns it's ready."). She had one liners (e.g. "The onion and scallion go together like Romeo & Juliet."). She even poked fun at us in an appropriate old-friend sort of way. It was great! And, eating both my creations and half of Kelly's I stuffed myself from 9am to 4pm.
After a quick nap we went back to the Night Bazaar and made a handful of purchases. Or, at least, the girls did. I pretty much observed. One thing that I thought was interesting, though, was the amount of Hebrew around. I saw a bunch by one of the hostels near us but I wrote it off as an isolated occurrence. Nope. Right in the middle of the night market was a huge restaurant owned by a couple of former Jerusalem residents who were making a killing selling falafel, shwarma, and Israeli salads. Walking around, I even heard quite a bit of Hebrew being spoken. For such a small country, they sure do get around!
For dinner we met up with Keely, my friend and two year PiA Chiang Mai veteran. She led us (on her awesome motorbike) to a great little place on the river where we chowed down and yet more amazing Thai food. It was great to reconnect with Keely and hear about her travels and experiences. I was also supremely impressed with her Thai. It put a little perspective on how far I've come in Chinese and how far I still have to go.
After dinner we retired to the rooftop bar to celebrate Tricia's 21st birthday in as much style as Chiang Mai had to offer. The rooftop bar was just that--a bar on a roof. It was pretty cool! I tried unsuccessfully to have Tricia come of age to the tune of a hip dance club but she decided that imbibing a few buckets of mai tai on the roof would suffice. Probably a good call.
We woke up early yet again and headed to the airport. It was time for another couple of passport stamps--leaving Thailand and re-entering Singapore. We arrived in the late morning and took the immaculate subway to our hostel. The hostel, though highly recommended in our guidebook, was one of a kind. It was easily the most unfriendly place I have ever stayed and I'm still unsure why it had to be that way.
There was an extensive list of rules posted up by the check-in desk (that was also posted on several other walls) that included the following: no wakeup calls, no using the [highly towel-like] sheet as a towel, no public displays of affection beyond holding hands, no showing of bare torsos, no checking out after 10am, no leaving your sheets in the room, no leaving on the lights or air conditioner, etc. These don't seem too over the top until you got to the bottom of the sheet and it informed us that any infraction of the rules was punishable by immediate and conclusive dismissal. In other words, get out and don't come back. Wow.
Anyhow, we took the MRT to Chinatown and waded through the new year's crowds to get to a magnificent Hindu temple. Having never been to a Hindu temple before, I was totally overstimulated with the the sights, sounds, and smells. It was amazing! The architecture is pretty incredible to begin with, but add in the people, the statues, and the offerings, and it's very cool. The Hindu temple also seemed to serve as a community center, of sorts, where people could meet and hang out. Again, it appeared to be much more active than most Chinese temples.
After wandering around for a while around several other Singapore neighborhoods, we took a bus to the Night Safari Zoo. I had my reservations about shelling out a lot of money to see a bunch of animals sleeping, but I was way off on that one. We got inside and the place could not have been more alive! We decided to go all out and pay for the tram ride around the park and were rewarded with one of the best experiences of the whole trip.
We saw anteaters, lions, tigers, deer, hairy pigs, rhinos, vultures, hippos, and hyenas. What made it so incredible was that most of them were only an arm's length away! I could swear that they were fake at the beginning of the ride, but I was wrong. It turns out that they were very much alive and very much active. I was speechless watching my namesake, the lions, walking around and yawning. I could learn a thing or two from them--apparently the males sleep for about 20 hours a day and then spend the rest of the time taking care of the kids and eating the food that the lionesses have hunted. Not bad.
After the ride we walked around through some of the trails and got right up close to even more cool animals including bats, flying squirrels, and pumas. We then had a late dinner and celebrated Tricia's birthday one more time by buying her ice cream. What newly-crowned 21 year old doesn't want ice cream and a trip to the zoo on her birthday? We made our way home and went to bed. Unfortunately Tricia's vacation with us had come to an end and she had to get up way before the crack of dawn in order to catch her 6am flight back to the States. We bid her goodbye and hoped it wouldn't be too long before we'd get to vacation together again.
[For those of you who are interested and can't wait, here are pictures from the trip. For those of you who want to be surprised, hold off and I'll post the link again at the end-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03/sets/72157594555283382/]
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February 12, 2007
Five Meals a Day Keeps the Doctor Away
Unfortunately Kelly woke up still pretty sick and Tricia and I had to put her right back to bed after having a late breakfast. This was extremely unfortunate, seeing as how Kelly had been talking about eating Thai food in Thailand since I met her, but we hoped a little rest would take care of the problem. Tricia and I decided to explore on our own for a while and check on Kelly in the afternoon.
We walked down the main street by our hostel towards the old city center and got a feel for the lay of the land. First and foremost, I was incredibly struck by the number of tourists in town, something that is decidedly absent in my China life. And why not? The city was beautiful. There were cool wats on every corner, clear blue skies, smiles from every Thai person, and a clean city. I could tell right away why so many people take to the place.
There seemed to be some special activities going on for the weekend--fairs, street vendors, etc.-- and it provided for a very cool atmosphere. After some 10 baht pad thai from a food guy in the street, Tricia and I decided to educate ourselves by going to the Chiang Mai Culture & Arts Museum. I think we both learned quite a bit and the museum was pretty well done. The basics: Chiang Mai was started back in 1296 by a King of the Lanna kingdom and prospered as a cultural and religious center (with Buddhist connections to Luang Prabang), it was occupied by Burma for a while in the 18th c., and it didn't become an official province of Thailand until 1932.
My favorite part of the museum was actually one of the temporary exhibitions featuring watercolors of the city. The artist was there and I chatted with him for a while. He grew up outside of Chiang Mai in a small village but excelled in math and engineering enough to go to college and major in architecture. After working in that field for about twenty years, he decided to quit in favor of pursuing art. He now teaches painting at both universities in the city and even has a school for kids in which he never turns anyone away, regardless of their financial situation. He was a pretty cool guy and I was happy to buy one of his smaller works.
After the museum we walked through the Sunday market and admired some of the artwork and trinkets for sale. There were also a fair number of street musicians as well as students approaching foreigners to practice their English. It was very cute. And, me being me, I decided it was time for another meal. We consulted the handy dandy Lonely Planet and decided on some pizza which was spectacular.
Tricia and I then went back to the hostel to see if Kelly had recovered. She hadn't. We carried her down the street to get her some soup at the incredibly hip Art Cafe and then put her back to bed for the second time that day. It was sad. I decided that I would take it upon myself to eat for both of us and had my fifth meal of the day. I'm a martyr, what can I say?
Tricia being Tricia, she decided we should inspect the night bazaar, supposedly a shopper's paradise. I can't say I was thrilled, but I was happy to go along. After a pleasant evening stroll we found the area and started to peruse. It basically reminded me a lot of Shenzhen with tons of fake designer clothes/bags, pirated DVDs, watches, and lots of other things that my mother would refer to as chazerei. It was obvious that superior bargaining skills were essential.
After that we wandered into a little building with a kickboxing ring surrounded by some bars. Seemed like fun so we sat for a drink. Unfortunately the fight was obviously staged and the two guys were basically just playing around. Couple that with the fact that we quickly realized we were surrounded by prostitutes either looking for or accompanying older white guys, and we were out of there pretty quickly. It definitely an aspect of Thai culture that is unfortunate yet virtually unavoidable. We headed back and went to bed hoping that would be our last experience with the Thai sex-tourism industry.
We woke up the next day and Kelly was rejuvenated enough to head out on the town. Having done the museum the day before, we decided to see some of the more famous wats and went directly to Wat Pra Singh, perhaps the city's best. On the way we literally walked right into one of Kelly's friend's from high school that she hadn't seen in years. What a small world! After making plans for the next day, we continued on.
The temple had a handful of amazing buildings and peaceful gardens but to me there was something missing. I guess after seeing the wats in Luang Prabang, hardly anything compares. The Chiang Mai temples seemed somehow... less holy. I can't put my finger on anything in particular, but it was missing something. It was nice to walk around though. I also encountered a huge spider that was fun to watch for a few minutes.
We went from Wat Pra Singh to a small restaurant for lunch and I burnt off a few taste buds on the spicy papaya salad (yum!). After that it was off to the day market for some more shopping. I suppose I would have been really interested in the foods and goods available if I hadn't been living in China for two years, but it seemed relatively tame compared to some Chinese markets I've been to. That said, it was an area of the city lacking a lot of tourists which was pretty cool.
Eventually we met up with Nell, current PiA-er in the city who filled us in on her experience thus far. I always enjoy meeting PiAers in situ because you can really get a feel for what their life is like. It seems like a pretty amazing post and it was great to hear tell teaching stories as well as random anecdotes of the other fellows. All in all, a very relaxing day.
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February 10, 2007
On the Water
We woke up early yet again and rushed out to catch the boat to the border. Though we thought about flying to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, a lack of tickets and excessive prices made our minds for us. We hopped on a slow boat and settled in for two long days on the water. Unfortunately we got to the boat a bit late and were some of the last passengers aboard. Much like in middle school, it meant we got the crappy seats. In this case, it meant the wooden benches towards the back end of the vessel.
Since the boat was packed, we had almost no room to maneuver and, as such, my rear end fell asleep periodically throughout the day. It was less than ideal. It also happened that the boat was full of foreigners (mostly European) who all decided that the boat was a lot like their local pub where everyone is expected to chain-smoke and drink cheap whisky. It really did smell like a bar, despite the open window-spaces on the side of the boat. I basically resigned myself to have a less-than-comfortable day and started to read and daydream.
We arrived in Pak Beng, a midway point in Laos, at around 6pm. The boat unloaded both passengers and baggage, and we were on our own to find food and housing for the night. Sitting in the back of the boat, we caught the end of the announcement that the boat would be leaving at 7:15am the next morning. Fair enough. The Pak Beng pier was at the bottom of a very steep hill and there were a ton of little kids waiting by the boat to try and make a buck carrying luggage up the hill. I said no thanks but felt almost compelled to give the kid who grabbed Tricia's bag some money anyway--it was twice the size of him!
Anyhow, we made our way up the hill, shopped a couple of hostels on the only street around, and settled on a place with a lack of hot water but surprisingly clean rooms. Exploring the small town, we quickly realized that it really only existed as a midway point between Luang Prabang and the Thai border. It was nothing but a few restaurants and hostels. Oh, and one very fancy looking and out-of-place hotel. I can't imagine who they're trying to cater to because anyone with the money to stay there would probably fly over the border. Anyhow, we actually found an Indian restaurant for dinner which, despite being sub-par Indian food, was surprisingly refreshing.
We stumbled out of bed at the crack of dawn the next morning and walked back down the hill. I could tell that something was wrong immediately because there were only four or five other people down by the boat--not the eighty or ninety who were there the day before. Huh. Well, it turns out the other people there were sitting in the back of the boat the previous day and also failed to hear that we were supposed to meet at the other pier. Oops.
There happened to be a younger Lao guy who spoke great English and decided to broker a deal with us--take his boat and we could pay half price. I was fine with that and we started to board the boat when an older Lao guy from a different boat started to yell at him. We stopped in our tracks and waited to see what was going on. The younger guy told us that we had to go back up the hill to buy official tickets and go on the other boat. I was annoyed about having to go back up the hill but, with no control over the situation, began the ascent once again. As we started to walk away, the younger guy whispered that we would walk up and then back down to his boat once the other guy left. I believe his exact words were, "We make old man think we leave, then we go back."
Eventually the older guy did leave on his boat and we went back down to the first boat and hopped on, paying half price under the table. I would have paid double for these conditions--not only was the boat itself nicer, but we were sharing the eighty passenger cabin with all of four other people, two Brits and two Parisians. We settled in and enjoyed better weather, more room, good company, and a tasty breakfast.
All was well in the world until about an hour and half into the ride when a speedboat buzzes up next to us and motions the driver to take the boat over to the shore. It seems that we were getting "pulled over" by the Lao boat police. A couple of serious official-looking guys boarded us and looked around. Clearly there was a problem, but we didn't have any idea what was going on for a while. They spoke to the three Lao guys running the boat and, while nobody raised a voice, we could tell they weren't happy.
After about five minutes, the younger guy who made the deal with us came over and informed us that we had to pay more money to equal the official ticket price. I really didn't care and just wanted the boat to get moving so I forked over the money immediately. The Brits were a little short on cash so we spotted them and that was pretty much that. Was it a bribe? Was it the money going to the ticket office? Who knows. My guess is that the older Lao guy from the pier radioed a friend with some authority and told him that the younger guy was taking passengers away from the other boat, potentially run by a friend of the older Lao guy. This caused the boat police (or tourist police or whoever it was) to track us down.
What was interesting to me was that nobody lost their cool at all during the argument. They didn't show any emotion whatsoever--just a calm exchange of words and a lot of standing around. I really wish I had understood Lao at that moment but I had to settle with imagining the dialogue in my head. Alls well that ends well though and we were on our way after about half an hour.
The sky really cleared up by noon and we enjoyed a gorgeous day going down one of the most famous rivers in the world. Periodically we passed small villages on the water or saw animals grazing by the shore. Some of the scenery was monotonous but overall it was fantastic. Between staring off the side and reading, I also found time to do some crosswords, play some poker, drink some Beer Lao, and even learn an important life skill. Tricia fixed my technique in shuffling a deck of cards and I feel that I will be eternally grateful.
We arrived at the border around 5:20pm and had to hustle in order to go through Lao exit immigration, hop in a little boat to cross the river, and stamp into Thailand. We had the unfortunate experience of dealing with the only rude Lao guy of the whole trip who got furious with us for refusing to take his minivan to Chiang Mai. I'm not sure why he went off the way he did but it took us by surprise. Regardless, we took the last motorboat across the river and made it to the Thai side at almost exactly 6pm.
I chuckled as I walked up to the office because it was easily the most lax border I had ever seen. There was no fence, no gate, no officials, no nothing. If we had wanted to, we could have walked right through without talking to anyone. Instead, I knocked on the window and got some guy's attention to hand us the necessary forms. We stamped in without a problem (stamp #10 overall) and went to try and negotiate a ride to Chiang Mai, a five or six drive from where we were.
Being with the two French travelers, we thought we had enough leverage to bargain down the price a bit. We talked to a tuk tuk driver and he called a friend on his phone who agreed to take five people for the price of four. The deal was, we had to make sure that all of us bought tickets. I wasn't quite sure how that was going to work, but he convinced us it would work out. Four of us arrived to the minivan and we handed over two 500 baht bills, the agreed upon price. The driver's friend changed the two 500's into ten 100's and proceeded to look away and hold out two 100 baht bills. I was a bit confused but decided to play along and took the bills. The second French guy arrived a moment later and the organizer announced that we had to pay for the fifth ticket, at which point we handed him back the two bills he had just given us. Whatever works!
We boarded around 7:30pm and were on our way. The road between the border and Chiang Mai was incredibly windy and unlit, but our driver seemed to know what he was doing, as he was speeding the entire way. I wasn't thrilled about going around hairpin turns at that velocity, but I didn't really have a say in the matter. I was also more concerned about Kelly who seemed to be getting hit with a bout of food poisoning at a really bad time. Sure enough, she had to toss her cookies at one of the rest stops and felt like she had been hit by a truck--hardly ideal at anytime, but especially when you're in transit. Luckily our psychotic driver got us to Chiang Mai safe and sound in record time (less than four hours) and we signed right into the hostel where he dropped us off. Only took two days, but we made it.
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February 8, 2007
The Trek
Up early once again with the roosters, we quickly finished packing, magically found bagels (real bagels! in Laos!!) for breakfast, and then hopped in a minivan for a thirty minute ride out to a camp where we would begin our two day trek on elephants. I can't say that I've had a burning desire to ride around on elephants in the Asian jungle, but once the idea was proposed to me, I was pretty psyched about it.
As we sat around the village waiting for our elephants to arrive, Thong, our twenty-year old guide for the next 48 hours, filled us in on some basics regarding our hike, the elephants, and how he ended up working as a guide. It turns out the elephants are a bit different from African elephants and are used primarily for logging now. They are smaller than their African counterparts and only the males have tusks. They also spend three quarters of their day eating so I was sure we'd get along.
After a little while the mahouts, the elephant trainers/drivers brought the animals over and we began. All I could think was that they were magnificent creatures. I suppose I had seen elephants before in zoos or circuses, but it's totally different when you're right on top of one. My mahout in particular seemed to have an incredible rapport with his elephant. He sat right on top of the head and talked to the animal in between singing some slow melodic folk songs. I'm still kicking myself for accidentally deleting a video of the guy singing these incredible songs, but I'm guessing my digital camera would not have done him justice anyway.
After about an hour and a half, we hopped off the elephants and fed them some sugar cane. It was really cool to watch the elephants grab the pieces with their trunks and chomp down on the cane with one loud crunch. I didn't want to leave them but we had to have a quick lunch and get moving in order to make our destination before the sunset. The hike was really more of a walk at this stage and I enjoyed chatting with Thong about his village and about the village where we were going.
Northern Lao has several hill tribe minority groups with long and varied histories. Thong was a Khamu who grew up outside of Luang Prabang in a similar village to the one we were headed towards. Able to speak their dialect, he was perfectly suited to guide us. After about two hours, we came upon the village. It was relatively small, with only forty families or so, but and dropped our stuff in a small second floor with a few mats on the floor to sleep on. Though not a particularly trying hike, we were all pretty exhausted from the heat so we decided to catch a quick nap.
We woke up to some music and I immediately went off in search of the source. It turns out that sitting at a table across the way was a bunch of younger guys drinking beers and singing along with a guitar. I ventured over to the table and they immediately welcomed me to have a seat. While none of them spoke English, I spoke the international language of "Beer Lao" so all was well. While they seemed somewhat curious about me, they were not shy in the least. I gather that this is somewhat due to the fact that I was not the first foreigner they had seen, but regardless, I was impressed.
Kelly and Tricia joined me and we shared a couple of lukewarm beers with the guys while listening to them play and sing. One of our new friends made quite an impression when he opened up the new bottles with his teeth. Of course he soon staggered home, seemingly too drunk to sit upright anymore. Maybe not the best behavior for the middle of the afternoon, but he was extremely friendly. We sort of took his exit to cue our own though and we went exploring the small village further.
We quickly happened upon the one room school house and the younger residents of the village all running around. They, too, gave us a curious glance, and then came over wanting to play with us. I joined a ball game (that is apparently quite popular around Southeast Asia) in which a hollow rattan ball is kicked or headed over a net with rules somewhat like volleyball. I had a blast and the kids seemed happy that I wasn't totally incompetent on the court. Meanwhile, Kelly and Tricia did a little jump-rope with a crude vine-made rope and took pictures. The little girls, especially, loved seeing the digital images of themselves. All in all, it was very cute.
It was a little strange to see some of the t-shirts that the kids were wearing though. Some had Bruce Lee knockoffs, others had stars and stripes tees, and still others had old "praise jesus" shirts. I was not impressed with that one. All of the women were wearing beautiful skirts and the men were wearing jeans. One other detail of note is that it seemed that the men were mostly in charge of the babies. That is, it wasn't the mothers carrying around newborns or infants--it was the fathers.
After a little while Thong came around and took us away from the children to tell us dinner was served. It seemed a bit early for dinner until I remembered that there is no electricity in this place and it's pretty much bedtime once the sun goes down. We sat down inside and started eating under the light of a single candle. Thong impressed us by the soup and stir-fried veggie concoction he rustled up. I don't usually enjoy meals without any meat but this was actually one occasion where I didn't really mind. After all, I didn't really need him grabbing one of the rusty knives and slaughtering a piece of livestock for our sake. I did, however, very much enjoy a local treat which is made from crushed buffalo skin and chilis. Basically you take your sticky rice, make a little ball, dip it into the soup, wrap it around some of the veggies, and then dip that into the spicy ground buffalo skin. Yum! I was a big fan.
Pretty soon the sun had set and we headed back up to our mats, crawled under our mosquito nets, and went to bed around 8pm. As I drifted off to sleep, I found myself wandering what my life would be like if I followed the cycle of the sun... Up with the roosters yet again, I trudged out to the outside feeling slightly uncomfortable with some stomach issues. Too much buffalo skin? You be the judge. I had an extended, umm, "session" on the squatter and then headed back for breakfast. Though not particularly hungry, I chowed down on the eggs since I knew we'd be hiking all day.
The next seven hours were spent trekking through the Lao countryside--up and down mountains, over streams, into and out of the jungle, and over farmland. It was pretty incredible. Thong was keeping a fast pace and I had to struggle at times to keep up. I enjoyed picking his brain about various topics including the Lao government, international relations, the countryside, his family, his future, etc. While the path we were taking was more or less straightforward, there were definitely times that I wished I had a machete to cut the path a bit more. It was a lot of fun.
Along the way we stopped in two more villages--one hmong minority village and another khamu village. Thong informed me that there is very distinct hierarchy among the different minority tribes and that the hmong were at the top. Apparently they had a history and culture that was somewhat warlike and the US government took advantage of this during the Vietnam war, using them as armed insurgents. Kelly and Tricia also had a special interest in the hmong since Minneapolis happens to have the second largest hmong population in the U.S., outside of California. Sure enough, some of the people we talked with had cousins in the States.
Anyhow, eventually we made it back to Luang Prabang and all of us enjoyed well-needed showers. Actually, I wish we could have done another few days out in the wild, maybe doing some kayaking as well, but that'll have to wait for another time...
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February 6, 2007
Perfect!
After waking up late (a recurring theme this vacation), we headed back to the French bakery for breakfast and then tuk tuk-ed it to the airport. Final thoughts on Vientiane--what a cool place to live. Though I'm sure it gets oppressively hot and is no day at the park during monsoon season, the food is great and the people are very friendly. If I had to pick a PiA site outside of China to live in, this one is at or near the top of my list.
So we checked in for the short flight up north to Luang Prabang and then had some time to kill. We did some people watching and reading until our flight was called and we had to go through security. Kelly realized at the last second that she had her Swiss Army knife in her carry-on and was concerned they'd confiscate it--a reasonable fear in most airports, but I had a feeling it wasn't going to be a big deal here. And I was right. They waived her right through, returning Kelly's smile and not even looking at the x-ray screen as she passed through. I guess it didn't exactly insure my safety, but I wasn't worried. This is Lao, after all. People are too busy being relaxed to worry too much about anything.
The hour-long flight to Luang Prabang went by in a flash and before I knew it we were circling beautiful mountains to land in the former royal capital. I enjoyed the fact that they allowed us to walk across the tarmac to the baggage claim building on our own. In China you will often have to board a bus that will take you from the landing site and drive approximately thirty meters to the arrival gate. Thirty meters. Anyhow, we tuk tuk-ed it to a guest house and began exploring.
First impression--Luang Prabang made Vientiane seem like midtown Manhattan. It was even more relaxed and I took to it immediately. I guess it's easy to sustain this feeling when the population tops out at 350,000 or so--not exactly a bustling metropolis. We walked up the side street of our guest house to the main drag and walked right into one of the thirty three temples in the main city area. Besides being beautiful, Lao temples differ a bit from Chinese temples in that they seem to be more active as centers of study and worship, as opposed to tourist sites. It could be my imagination though.
We walked around a bit more and before we knew it we got caught in the set-up of the extensive night market which takes over a sizable chunk of the main street in town. While shopping is hardly my forte, I will admit that the market looked pretty at night with the lights and colors of the textiles. I wasn't all that into the products (especially since every vendor seemed to have exactly the same merchandise) but a few interesting chess sets caught my eye. I was prepared to bargain hard but when the prices *started* at one hundred and twenty US dollars, I knew I was out of my league.
I was also impressed with the diverse international crowd that was perusing the offerings. According to the guidebooks, Luang Prabang used to be a little known backpackers haven but it's expanded now to include people of all ages, colors, and nationalities. I heard about a dozen different languages and was impressed by some of the older travelers who were visiting. I truly hope that when I'm in my sixties I still have the desire and wherewithal to travel to the less-developed corners of the world. Then again, I hope there are actually corners of the world to go to that have not been overtaken by globalization (i.e., I don't want to see a McDonalds in the middle of the Sahara).
We had a late dinner at a place on the river billing itself as the "Antique House." I have no idea what was particularly antique about the place but the waitstaff was friendly and the food was tasty. We had several people helping us who were all excited to practice their English a bit and they were funny. My favorite moment of the meal came when one waitress came over to pour beers for us. She managed to pour a glass exactly up to the brim, to which we all remarked, "perfect!" with a smile. She smiled back, responded with "you're welcome," and then went directly to her friend and asked, "what does 'perfect' mean?"
Once again, everything shut down around 11pm so we went back and read for a while before falling asleep. Good thing we did, too, because we all woke up the next morning bright and early with the vociferation of the neighborhood roosters. Though less than thrilled, we decided to seize the day and head out right away. We booked ourselves a two day trek through the Lao jungle starting the next day and then went on a walking tour of the old city streets.
We wandered through countless "wats" including the most famous, Wat Xieng Thong. I enjoyed all of the temples but this one was particularly interesting for its architecture, flowers, and stone steps all the way down to the river. I also thanked Kelly for reminding me to wear sandals because you're not allowed to wear any footwear inside any temple building.
Walking into a smaller, less well-known wat, we chatted with some of the monks-in-training. One, in particular, had fantastic English and only had a little over two years of formal instruction. Wow. He filled us in on their lifestyle and some of their routines. I gotta say, it doesn't seem half bad to devote your life to studying and attempting to reach enlightenment. Plus, especially in a place like Luang Prabang, you'd probably meet some pretty interesting travelers. Overall though, once again, I was simply blown away by his English ability.
Before climbing up the hill to see one final wat and watch the sunset, I decided to grab a snack. There were several street vendors selling small baguettes with grilled chicken and some fixins, and it looked quite tasty. I asked one lady, "how much?" She mumbled, "10,000 kip." That's only about a dollar which was fine by me but I wasn't sure I had heard her correctly. As I was fishing out my money, I asked for clarification- "how much?" She said, "okay, 5000." Moral of the story? Always bargain.
After chowing down on the sandwich (worth all five thousand of those kips), we hiked up the long staircase to the stupa at the top of the hill. Despite the massive number of foreigners trying to crowd atop the summit, it was quite pleasant. We lounged around for a while watching the sun retreat behind the mountains and eventually made our way down for yet another tasty meal. All in all, a great day.
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February 5, 2007
Beer Lao
Our first order of business, per my usual needs and desires, was to drop everything and get food. I guess at this point it's no secret--I'm in it for the food, it being the whole Princeton-in-Asia experience. We leisurely strolled around looking for food and I immediately noted that the chaos, crowds, and pollution of Guangzhou seemed worlds away. As I wrote before, nobody in Lao is in a rush, even here in the capital city of Vientiane (population ~475,000). I loved it immediately.
The food options were plentiful but we opted for the scenic cafe right on the Mekong River. Due to the timing of our visit (pre-monsoon season), the river was quite low and people were able to walk across. As I sat there chatting, enjoying the warm weather, and devouring the dishes they brought us, I looked off and saw a group of three monks making their way across the wide river. It was probably business as usual for them but the contrast of their orange robes with the brown of the river was striking. Though Laos shares a border with China, it could not be farther away. More on that later.
It was also at this meal that I was introduced to the nectar of the gods, also known as "Beer Lao," the national brew and only game in town for those who enjoy beer. I truly believe that almost every backpacker who goes through Lao imbibes heartily on the stuff and even goes so far as to buy a t-shirt before leaving. It's that good. This is amusing for a few reasons. First, everyone in the country recognizes the Beer Lao logo and gets excited when you mention it. It is actually a profitable source of national pride,
thus the government has yet to relinquish control of the operation. I had read about this in my trusty Lonely Planet guidebook and it was right on--"fresh" Beer Lao, i.e. on tap, is a tasty tasty beverage and only available in the capital so I took full advantage.
After a nap and some more walking around the river area, we had our first "tuk tuk" experience on the way to a restaurant. A tuk tuk is basically a motorcycle with a little carriage connected in the back that can carry passengers. The name, presumably, comes from the sound the small engine makes while running. They vary in size, shape, and reliability, but they are a convenient method of transportation, especially when traveling in small groups. What is notable about Lao tuk tuks, though, is that they are almost all decorated--mostly with painted designs. It's a small thing, but it really adds to the atmosphere, in my opinion.
After dinner at a highly recommended local joint, we headed back to our hostel and looked for the nightlife. Despite being Saturday night, it appeared that most bars and cafes shut down around 10:30pm. Needless to say, it was an early night, which was just fine by us since we were still exhausted from our marathon travels.
The next morning we walked down the street and found a really nice French bakery for breakfast. It wasn't cheap and was not even remotely tailored to the locals, but it sure was tasty. Having been a part of the former French colonial empire, Laos still shows traces of French influence and this is one of the benefits. I had one of the best croissants and baguettes I've had since coming to Asia and wanted to sit there all morning eating. I resisted though and we went out to start some sightseeing.
We tuk tuk-ed to Pha That Luang, the most famous national monument and temple, featured on Lao currency and visible on the cover of most Lao guidebooks. Our driver, with incredible English, filled us in on some recent history for the city and even joked about how the US embassy in town is unnecessarily guarded by tons of watchmen who don't seem to be doing much. Anyhow, we arrived at the building and immediately marveled at the architecture of it. Kelly decided it looks like an enormous elaborate sand castle and I won't disagree with that. Pretty cool.
We then went to the Pratuxai, Lao's compliment to Paris' Arc de Triumphe. Apparently the concrete was donated by America and was supposed to be used for making an airport runway a few decades ago but they decided this was a better option. Notable is the English sign declaring that the structure looks much less impressive up close. At least they're honest! We paid the small fee to climb up and were rewarded with a pretty decent view of the city. Vientiane has got to be the smallest and most laid back national capital in all of Asia. It's great! Our tuk tuk driver left us to wander on foot, but he was such a friendly guy that I decided to buy him a bottle of Beer Lao as a thanks before he took off.
After spending some time looking through a textiles market (fun for girls, boring for me), we walked by an incredibly old stupa. It turns out it's the oldest surviving stupa in the city and is now used as the center of a roundabout on a side street. For those not "in the know," a stupa is basically a Buddhist funerary monument in the shape of a dome or pyramid. Some stupas supposedly hold relics and most are contained within temples (or "wats," as they're called in this part of Asia).
The stupa itself wasn't all that notable, except for the fact that a Chinese guy born in Shanghai stopped me and asked me if I could take a picture of him with his motorcycle in front of the stupa. I was happy to oblige and asked him a few questions about what he was up to--apparently he has taken a motorcycle (he's currently on his third bike after the first two broke down) through 54 countries and has his picture taken with the bike in front of every major monument. Wow. I'm sure that guy has some wild stories to tell. I was also somewhat taken aback by the fact that he was the second Chinese person that day who I spoke to in Mandarin and didn't flinch. Usually Chinese people either say something about it or show surprise in their faces when you speak to them in the mainland but he couldn't have been less impressed with me. I liked it.
Eventually walked down to the river and looked at a few temples along with the Presidential Palace through the gates. The temples weren't all that unique except for the fact that Tricia struck up a conversation with a group of younger novice monks studying at one of the smaller wats. I was floored by their level of English and quickly began to realize that almost everyone I had interacted with had basic English skills above and beyond even well educated Chinese students. How do they do it?? That's a more complicated question for a different time.
The rest of the day was spent tasting wine at a fancy french wine store, eating tasty sandwiches from a street vendor, napping, heading out to another amazing dinner, and watching some of the Laos v. Vietnam football match. One other thing I noticed at dinner was that Pepsi appeared to be everywhere in Laos. Not Coke, but Pepsi. I have no idea how that came about but it held up all the way the country--hardly anyone drinks Coke, partially because it does not seem to be as widely available. Not a big difference, but a difference nonetheless.
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February 3, 2007
Currencies and Stamps
After a hectic week of grading exams, hosting several PiA visitors, adding pages to my passport at Citizen Services at the US Consulate here (a story actually deserving of its own blog), chain-watching Season 1 of "The West Wing" (I'm completely addicted), and packing up, I headed out on my second Spring Festival travel adventure. While last year I went the traditional Chinese route and celebrated the holiday with my coworkers family in rural Hunan Province, this year I decided to go the traditional foreign teacher's route and explore Southeast Asia. Kelly and I, along with Kelly's little sister Tricia (visiting from her year abroad in Chile), decided to see as much as we could of Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore.
Because of the difficulty in securing cheap tickets at this time of high travel, we had to take a bit of a roundabout way to get to Vientiane, the capital city of Laos and our first destination. This little odyssey included the following route- starting in Guanzhou, we took the train down to Shenzhen in order to allow Tricia sometime to peruse the mass amounts of cheap/fake designer clothes. Of course our train was delayed and slowed, which, in turn, caused a leisurely shopping trip to become more like a 10 minute sprint through a six story shopping center in search of jeans. But we were impervious to the adversity!
We crossed the border into Hong Kong, received two passport stamps (leaving the P.R.C. and entering HK) and had to change money to our second currency (RMB to HK $). At that point we took the KCR rail down one stop and transferred to a bus headed for the airport. No problem! We arrived just in time to grab some food (the HK airport has Burger King--I was floored) and check in. We then had a quick four hour flight to Singapore.
Arriving in Singapore a little after midnight, we added our fourth passport stamp (the third being the one when we left HK) and changed to our third currency, Singapore dollars. We had six hours to kill until our 6am flight. Ugh. We took advantage of the 24 hour DeliFrance (three cheers for their steak sandwich) and then took the bus over to the budget terminal where we tried to hunker down and get some sleep. Being exhausted, I nodded off for a few hours but it wasn't exactly the height of comfort.
Anyhow, after stamping out of Singapore for #5 in the passport, we boarded on time for quick 6:15am shuttle to Udon Thani, Thailand--a small city close to the border with Laos. The flight itself was painless (I slept) and we touched down on time, waited on line, received our 6th stamp entering Thailand, changed some money into our fourth currency (Thai Baht), and took a limo to the city bus station.
Limo, you ask? Limo indeed. That's what the sign said, anyway. At the Udon Thani airport the only option for transportation is a single company advertising limousines to several locations. It was a little unclear what was going on, but some guy saw us looking around outside and, taking a cigarette from the mouth of a policeman, pointed us to the limo ticket counter. Our three tickets bought us a small amount of space in a rundown minivan with our bags strapped to the roof of the vehicle. Sweet. At least our driver handed the cop's cigarette to a third guy before hopping behind the wheel--I was encouraged by his generosity.
We got dropped off at the bus station (tiny not only by Guangzhou standards, but even by American standards) and booked three seats on a coach to Vientiane. We reached the border around 11am and proceed to get stamped out of Thailand (#7) and then waited on line for a visa upon arrival on the Lao side. It all went down without a hitch, but I was highly amused by the fact that I had to pay an "overtime" fee to the office. According to the sign on the window, they charge overtime when processing between 11:30am and 1pm, it being lunch time and all. Whatever--the visa was legit and even looks cool.
After changing money into currency #5 (Lao Kip) and getting stamp #8 entering the People's Republic of Lao, we grabbed a taxi and headed into the city center. Usually we'd all be enjoying the scenery, but unfortunately we were on the clock. As it happened, we had to make it to the Lao Airlines Office to pay for our next plane tickets before they locked their doors at 1pm or we'd lose our seats. We stepped into the cab at exactly 12:30pm and the woman told us it would take exactly thirty minutes. Hmmm.
Inside our beaten up old sedan, I began to try and explain to the driver that we were in a hurry. Two things struck me about this moment: first, it was the first time since I initially arrived in China that I had no ability to communicate and was reduced to gesturing; second, we were in trouble for one good reason--no one in Lao is in a rush. For anything. At any time. I loved this about the place (it just oozes a laid back aura) but at the moment we were pressed for time. I managed to communicate the urgency of the situation though and our poor driver began passing cars and bikes at a surprisingly un-expeditious pace.
Luckily we made it in the nick of time--a few minutes after 1pm. Of course as we paid for our tickets and made our way out, it appeared that they had no intention of closing shop anytime soon, but we had no way of really knowing that. Oh well. At least I entertained the driver by trying to mock a race car driver flooring it.
Anyhow, we shopped around a bit for hostels and settled on a nice one right near the river. It only took about 24 hours, 8 passport stamps, and 5 currencies, but we had made it to city #1 on the list and it was gorgeous.
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January 3, 2007
Back to the Kong
Sadly, day 8 meant our departure from the Mainland back to Hong Kong. It was a quick run in Guangzhou, but we definitely made the most of our time there. I think that we will all remember the crazy traffic of GZ, the chime of the school bells at Ari's school, but most of all the food. It was a gastronomical extravaganza with highlights including Hunan-style frog, hot pot, Korean barbeque, and dim sum. What delicious memories!
After our easy train ride back to Hong Kong, we checked into the Langham Hotel, probably the nicest hotel that I have ever been in. Well, after the Peninsula Hotel with its excellent bar and view. But anyway, after going from room to room, Ari and I settled in and then the whole family ran to the deli in the hotel. It was like we had never seen food before, or maybe it was more that Ari was acting like a little kid who had just been let loose in a candy store. [Ed. note- ...or deli store, as the case may be.] Matzah ball soup? Yes, please. Knish stuffed with pastrami? Yes, please. Dr. Brown's black cherry soda? Uh huh. Plate of pickles? Definitely! I'll take 5. We again stuffed ourselves silly and then headed out to explore Mong Kok on Kowloon Island.
We hit the bird market, flower market, goldfish market, jade market, and ladies market all within a few hours. Despite the sight of gigantic crickets, beautiful orchids, and enormous fish, the best part of the day might have been the most excellent purchase of the Bruce Lee cellphone charm that I never bought last year. Now Ari is fully protected from pickpockets, burglars, and even ninjas (although I'm not sure there are too many of them in China) with the constant presence of The Bruce. [Ed. note- it's true. Bruce is currently dangling from my cell phone and all shall fear him. He looks fierce.]
Before dinner the Wolfe family made sure to check out the fireworks show along the Hong Kong Harbor. We made our way along the Avenue of the Stars and had time to do some singing and dancing with some energetic old folks before the light show. After the fireworks, we trekked over to Hong Kong Island for dinner in the SoHo district. While our Mexican meal was excellent, the highlight might have been riding on the world's longest escalator to get to the restaurant. Escalator, you might be asking? Yes, an escalator. It's tons of fun and a brilliant idea for the hills of Hong Kong. [Ed. note- we also chatted with a very interesting young married couple who had just finished a year of living and working in Bangalore, one of India's up and coming metropolises. Comparing India and China is always food for a very interesting conversation. It made me really want to get over there before I leave Asia.]
Unfortunately, our fun was coming to an end, and day 9 meant our last full day in Hong Kong, the last day with Ari for a while, and New Years Eve. To go out with a bang, we decided to go out to Cheung Chao Island and do a little exploring. There weren't any more monkeys in sight, but we saw amazing views of the harbor, a magical tree, rock carvings, and even crawled through a Pirate Cave. [Ed. note- seriously. Supposedly Cheung Po Tsai, a notorious 18th c. pirate, camped out here before preying on passing ships. Cool!] Our hiking did not slow us down a bit, and after a quick catnap we went out for a farewell/New Years dinner at a Thai restaurant. The views were good, food was great, and company even better. Next year in Hong Kong? If only . . .
Last New Years Eve was fun, but this year topped it. A balcony on the 28th floor of a building in the mid-levels overlooking the harbor, "some" beer, and PIA/Yale-China Kids. Excellent. After ringing in the New Year in style, we made our way to the "Flying Pan" for some late night dinner food to wash down the evening's beverages. By the time Ari and I made it back to the Langham, I had about 3 short hours of sleep before I boarded a plane back to New York.
Looking Back and Forward:
It was a quick vacation this year, but well worth the +40 hours roundtrip that we spent in the air to travel east. This year's vacation was very different from last year's. Last year I saw the China of my school textbooks; a China of pagodas, dragons, and an extensive history. This year's vacation was less of a cultural tour. This year we saw China as Ari sees it; full of after-school/work hangouts, excitement over the new subway line, and old friends. We again saw that Ari is living it up in GZ and has made an excellent life for himself, and this year he helped us feel less like tourists and more like "regulars." This year, for instance, I could concentrate on learning to count to 10 instead of being shocked and surprised by everything that I saw (except for the Shenzhen dog incident).
We also felt less sadness because Ari's excellent adventure in coming to a close. He will surely have a difficult time leaving the fascinating country that he has called home for almost 2 years, but we will all be happy to have him back. Luckily, the Wolfe family was able to get (two) quick glances at the city that Ari now calls home and the experience of exploring Hong Kong. Thanks to Ari for being an excellent tour guide and host. If only I knew how to say that in Mandarin . . . .
[Ed. note- for pics of the Wolfe extravaganza, check my flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03/sets/72157594464266836/
Special shout-out to the World's Greatest Hoody...]
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December 30, 2006
Da Mainland
Day 5 meant a quick train ride back to the mainland of China and a return to Guangzhou, Ari's hometown. There was some confusion before our journey, because the earthquake of the previous evening off the coast of Taiwan had knocked out communication wires and ATM's were inaccessible to foreign cards. [Ed. note- this also meant that the internet was crawling along at a sloth's pace.
Making the best use of our vacation time, Ari and I headed out immediately after to meet his some of his GZ friends, the Yale-in-China crew. Now I could put faces to the names of people with whom Ari celebrates all major holidays, birthdays, and un-birthdays. In essence, I met Ari's family at one of their local hangouts. The bar, called "Sleeping Wood," was located in what seemed to be downtown behind a holiday inn. We sat outside and enjoyed a few pitchers of the local brew while the bar played surprisingly hip reggae music through a couple of speakers. Good times, good people.
Day 6 meant dim sum for breakfast! Delicious! We happily stuffed ourselves full of yummy treats in Ari's favorite dim sum restaurant. Unlike last year, our white skin did not frighten off the hostesses and we were allowed to sit with all other restaurant-goers. [Ed. note- it's true. I often joke that whenever we show up to a restaurant with more than a few waiguoren (foreigners), they immediately try to stick us in a side room as a sort of quarantine. Of course in reality they think they're just being nice by putting us in a private location but we almost always prefer the chaotic atmosphere of the main room.] It's quite an experience to sit near regulars who sit and chat over plates of delicious treats and multiple pots of tea. But again, no rest for the Wolfe family and we were off to do a quick run through the Qingping Market. Here we made a stop at a tea store and sat through a tasting of several high quality teas as Ari tried to translate the sales pitch of the women serving. Afterwards we popped our heads into a storefront winery where I was thrilled to be able to see such delicacies as snake penis wine, cock testis wine, and pit viper wine. I was even more thrilled to try some Chinese medicinal tea (at a different locale) in the hopes that it would clear up my hacking cough. Unfortunately, I couldn't keep this scrumptious drink down and spat most of it out onto the sidewalk (sorry GZ municipality!). Maybe it was the crocodile parts in the tea that made me throw it back up. Who knows. Magically though, my cough disappeared by the next day. [Ed. note- no joke. I swear by this stuff. Sure it tastes like death, but you pretty much always feel better after you chug it.]
After a quick Thai lunch on Shamian Island, we hopped in a taxi and went across the city to Ari's school where we were the special guest stars for the second year in a row. We introduced ourselves and then answered some interesting questions from Ari's kids. It's always a highlight to meet more great students with EXCELLENT names such as Trousers, Silent, and Easy. Again, China rocks! [Ed. note- I've been meaning to blog about this. It seems that I have lost all perspective on what's weird in China because Ilana was so fired up about the names and they all seemed normal to me. Even "Black Sheep," and "Virgin." Not quite sure what that says about me.]
More classes and more questions marked day 7 of the vacation. More interestingly though, this was the day my dad and I had been waiting for. It was hot pot day, a meal we had missed out on during our first adventure in China. There had been so much build up by Ari and his roommate, Nick, that the anticipation was just about killing me. After waiting forever to be seated at the restaurant, Ari did a masterful job of ordering way too much food, including two kinds of meat, three kinds of mushrooms, tarot root, "frozen" tofu, noodles, and potatoes. While waiting for everything to cook we began working on one of many bottles of beer. Once the broth came to a boil and we began to place food in the bowl, the true experience began. It was a race to stuff our faces as quickly as possible, perhaps in an attempt to keep the spice to a minimum. For the first time in my life, I unbuttoned my pants after eating our feast. A picture should have been taken to commemorate this occasion because it might have been once in a lifetime!
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December 27, 2006
Wolfe Invasion '06
[Editors note- the following few blogs are courtesy of the illustrious Ilana Wolfe, my older sister and guest blogger extraordinaire. Many thanks to her...]
Yes ladies and gentleman, back in China by popular demand (or by demand of Bonnie and Joel to see their son), it's the Wolfe family! Joel, Bonnie, and Ilana decided to make the long (20 hour trek) back to the far east in order to see their favorite son and brother, explore more of Hong Kong, and have a hot pot meal on the mainland. Here are some highlights of our whirlwind trip, from my own very (Ilana's) distinguished point of view.
Hong Kong: Part 1
This year the Wolfe family traveled separately over to Hong Kong (on much more comfortable planes than last year, I might add). Bonnie and Joel arrived one day before me and had the chance to explore Lamma Island with Ari. I hear it's beautiful and serene and chock full of beaches and island walks. Unfortunately, I was in the air and missed day one of the vacation. [Ed. note- it was awesome. I highly recommend the falafel at the Bookworm Cafe, in addition to the Lonely Planet walking tour. Good times!] I arrived the night of day one and after arriving at the Kowloon Hotel in busy TsimShaTsui, Ari and I headed straight for food and beer at the hotel lounge. Delicious!
With no time to sleep in, day two brought the entire Wolfe family to Ocean Park on Hong Kong Island. In desperate need of some awesome fun, we headed for "The Dragon" and "The Abyss." As the sign for "The Abyss" said, "Ride it! Feel the Depth!" In between chasing the dragon and testing our limits of fun and fear, we saw two adorable pandas, the largest fish tank in the world, and Santa swimming with the sharks. Ocean Park offered us an excellent theme park, Chinese style, complete with people pushing in line, having to pay separately for some theme park rides, and kiosks selling octopus on a stick. What could be better? [Ed. note- it's true, you can still legally chase the dragon in Hong Kong, though it is in the form of a roller coaster. Also, I had no idea Santa was Chinese and certified to scuba dive with sharks.]
Day 3 brought our second attempt to visit the island of Macau. Of course, all ferries were booked. Instead of feeling down, we booked tickets for the next day and quickly made the decision to head to ShaTin in the New Territories to see the 10,000 Buddha Temple and do some shopping across the border in Shenzhen. We hopped on the MTR and rode up to ShaTin, where we quickly found ourselves following a tour group of Chinese Christians, with the hope that they were going to our destination. We weren't so lucky and ended up taking a quick detour up the side of a mountain, which did have some amazing views. After this brief interlude, the family finally arrived at the 10,000 Buddha Temple and was greeted with the warning, "Don't feed the wild monkeys." Wild Monkeys? Sure, whatever you say. On our short climb of over 400 steps, we made sure to count the many Buddhas lining the path. 31, 32 . . . 128, 129, 130. . .428, 429, 430. Ari and I stopped several times to take culturally inappropriate pictures with the statues and give our parents a chance to rest. (See flickr for our photographic masterpieces) Once we finally reached the temple, we realized that the 10,000 Buddhas were not on the path up but actually inside the main temple building and we were quickly blown away by the view of so many golden statues. After a brief exploration of the temple grounds, we made our way back down because there was no rest for the jet-lagged & weary. To our amazement, two monkeys crossed our path and jumped up into the trees right in front of us. Thank goodness I read the sign commanding me to refrain from feeding the monkeys! Always on the move, the Wolfe family got back on the train and ventured to the mainland. Ari kept preparing us for the craziness that was about to greet us in Shenzhen, but even he had no idea what was waiting for us.
After walking outside of the train station to get money at an ATM, we began to walk back towards the shopping center. "Hey, what's that animal over there?" I only wish I could have been prepared for this. After hearing my dad ask this innocent question, we all looked at the scene about to unfold behind a restaurant. There on a tiny chopping block, was a skinned and roasted dog about to get its head chopped off with a cleaver. Appalled at the scene unfolding before my eyes, I turned away in time to miss the final blow, which was followed by the butcher throwing the decapitated head jokingly at his friend. Man, China rules! Still laughing about this incident, we quickly began to laugh harder as we entered a shopping mall and were immediately met with shouts of "Missy! Missy! DVD! You like buy DVD? CAMERA?!" Our white skin stood out just a little, and the whole family attracted hawkers selling everything from fake LeSportSac bags to fake Rolexes. "Missy! Missy!" Did they really think I would be drawn in with that call? Hilarious! Even more hilarious was the salesman who climbed INTO the ceiling in his search for the size jeans that I wanted. Where else would you keep your surplus merchandise? Certainly not under the counter or in a box, but in the ceiling! Again, hilarious! After a few hours of shopping, the Wolfe family walked away with an assortment of fake watches, bags, and two orders for hand-made clothing at Sally the tailor's. This all made for an exhausting, but quite eventful day. [Ed. note- I really need to gear up for the Shenzhen experience because it can be overwhelming. I have taken to being overly sarcastic sometimes in order to not be offended when they grab my arm. "A Rolex you say? Is it real?? Wow--that's an amazing price! I'll take 100!"]
On day 4, we all got up bright and early and hopped on the ferry to Macao. Not quite sure what to expect, we were met with long lines in customs and a heavily polluted sky. Ready for an adventure, we hopped on a bus with the hopes that we would find the starting point of our Lonely Planet walking tour. Even though we understood neither Portuguese nor Cantonese, we made it to Largo de Senado and began to explore. The architecture was beautiful and very Portuguese. We saw many churches, a fortress, and even some random street art. The most inspiring site was the façade of the Church of St. Paul. I can only imagine what the rest of the church might have looked like. After two previous attempts to visit the island, we were happy to have been able to explore Macau for the day. So happy in fact, that Ari and I went over to the Peninsula Hotel back in Hong Kong for a "high-class" drink. We rode up in the nicest elevator we had ever seen and were greeted with a spectacular view from the bar at the Felix Restaurant. This spot is highly recommended by both Ari and I. [Ed. note- It's true. Just don't wear shorts. And make sure you check out the bathroom. Amazing!]
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November 14, 2006
Vomit
After waking up late Monday and ashamedly watching another episode of Prison Break, I went out to lunch with all three of the Dalian fellows. We had a tasty feast of dongbei-style food and I went out again to explore. Dalian has two major aquariums and, after having so much fun at the one in Xiamen, I decided to get another dose of Chinese aquarium.
Located next to Xinghai Square, apparently one of the largest open squares in the world, the Sun Asia Ocean World aquarium is right on the water. I decided to look beyond the steep price tag and see what was inside the gaudy-looking walls. After handing over my ticket I was ushered right into a performance hall with water, fake pirate ship, swinging ropes, and a few other random props. After a couple of minutes the show started with loud music, flashing lights, and several actors.
I foolishly thought that I had picked the better aquarium, at least according to the Lonely Planet descriptions, but I immediately questioned myself. The show was totally over the top with ridiculous acting from the humans, and barely any exhibition of the dolphins. You'll forgive me if I wasn't entranced by the apathetic-looking "mermaid." I figured the exhibitions would be much better though and was excited to check them out.
Though the tanks were much much cleaner than in Xiamen and set up in a more visually pleasing way, there was hardly anything to see! There was a bare minimum of fish and a whole heckuva lot of cheesy "submarines" models and underwater kitsch. You do get to ride one of those moving conveyer belts that nudge you past sharks, rays, and random fish, but it didn't have anything terribly exciting. The one thing in the tank that blew me away was a rusting car. I don't know who thought it was a good idea to place an automobile inside a tank for fish, but the rust seemed to be enjoying their new home.
After the aquarium I went to check out the square itself which was quite nice. There is a big monument in the center to celebrate Hong Kong's return to the mainland in 1997. This surprised me a bit, simply because it seemed like something that had been around for longer. On a hill overlooking Xinghai was a castle just begging to be explored. I walked to the base of the hill and found about a hundred steps to climb. Not one to shy away from that challenge, I started the trek. The corner stone of the castle said "2000" and upon reaching the entrance at the top, I discovered it was a shell museum. A shell museum. In a castle. That was built in the year 2000. Weird. I found out after that apparently the shell museum is only one or two rooms in the place and that no one quite knows what else is up there. Bizarre.
I walked to the beach of Xinghai Park to watch the sunset and was disppointed that the enormous zipline there was closed. It looked like a ton of fun, but the trip was still worth it because of the sunset over the boats in the distance. I got back to the rest of the fellows in time to greet the Princeton-in-Asia Program Director, in town for the annual site visit. We had an excellent dinner together and then said goodbyes, for I was leaving early the next morning.
The plane ride was uneventful except for the fact that I went to the bathroom and discovered that the sink was full of vomit. So I went to the other bathroom. You know what? That sink was full of vomit as well. What gives? I'm not sure if it's bad luck following me around or a strange China-thing, but I see a lot of vomit in China. On the bus to the botanical gardens in Shenyang there was also a girl throwing up. Walking around the streets of almost any city in China, it's relatively common to see puke on the sidewalks. Plus during my adventure in Hunan Province last year, vomit was lurking around every minibus. I have no explanation for this phenomena whatsoever, but it gives me that much more reason to take my shoes off when I enter my apartment. Gross, but true.
So that was that. I'm glad to have gotten up to the cold northeast and gotten to know the PiA-ers up there. My list for must-see locations in China is steadily getting shorter and I'm excitedly trying to plan for the next excursion. How lucky am I?
For those wishing to see pictures, you can click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03/sets/72157594380790768/
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November 12, 2006
A Plethora of Squares
I headed out early Sunday morning to see as much of Dalian as I could. Not really knowing exactly where to start, I decided to head to Olympic Square to check out the stadium where Dalian Shide play, arguably the most popular Chinese football. There are signs of the team everywhere around the city which is pretty cool. It's not quite like someplace like Chapel Hill, NC where even the street signs and fire engines are tar heel blue, but I guess Dalian is close as it gets for China--there are football monuments everywhere and big signs in shops encouraging the boys. I'm a fan.
I wandered around the stadium and managed to sneak in a gate that wasn't quite locked. The field seemed really cool but I didn't get a chance to really look around too much because I immediately got shooed out by some official. Oh well. I went in search of a jersey to buy as a souvenir but unfortunately was unsuccessful--they only had extra extra large. Maybe I'm wrong, but who are they kidding? How many Chinese guys are actually going to fit into those?
From Olympic Square I walked east toward People's Square, formerly known as Stalin Square. This was basically just an open field by some government buildings. There were only a few people milling about, though I'm told it's a fun place to be at night. As I walked through, I wondered what prompted the name change. Was it changed back when Mao and Stalin broke ways, or was it something more recent? I'm not quite sure.
After a mediocre lunch, I made my way past Victory Square to Labor Park, a large park area complete with amusement park, fields, gardens, and some animal exhibits. I took a chairlift up the hill to the TV tower of the city and was rewarded with a wide sweeping view of the entire city. Viewing the panorama confirmed my impressions of the city--it is a brand-spanking-new city with nice tall buildings, open squares, and parks, good urban planning...and almost no culture to speak of. It seems like a great place to live and to raise a family, but also seems relatively soulless. One of the first thoughts when I arrived was that I could have been in any American city. I'm not quite sure what that says about American cities, but I don't really want to explore that issue quite yet.
Even better than the chairlift ride up was the promise of a "landslide" ride down. Dalian, much like the mutianyu section of the Great Wall, has an alpine slide! For those who haven't had the pleasure, you basically sit down in a little plastic thing with a lever in between your leg. You push it to go and pull it to break--gravity does the rest. I think I've been on about a dozen of these rides in my day, but the Chinese guys running it didn't trust me and so had someone go in front of me to make sure I made it okay. The problem with this is that he kept stopping and looking over his shoulder, presumably to make sure I hadn't fallen off or something, the end result being that I had to constantly slow down.
After walking through the rest of the amusement park, I decided to head to Friendship Square. Friends are always nice to make, right? Instead of finding any friends there, I found a somewhat bizarre orb-like sphere in the middle of a rotary. It was lit up with all these different colored lights and seemed like it should have been hanging from the ceiling of a disco. Not quite sure what it was doing there but I guess I shouldn't complain--apparently it exudes friendship.
Danny and I enjoyed a fancy German dinner and then headed back to the university where I decided to investigate the television show "Prison Break." I guess this show is moderately successful back in the states but for whatever reason it is HUGE in China. Almost every kid I know has seen it and loves it, especially the girls. Not knowing anything about it, I dove right in to episode one. It seemed like a ludicrous premise for a show, but for some reason I was pulled into watching the next episode. Next thing I know, I was six episodes in, hoping I wasn't getting dumber by the minute. I guess it's just one of those mindless guilty pleasures...
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November 11, 2006
Tourism
Waking up early to see the town, I headed out for the standard bowl of noodles to get my day going. After that, I went right back to the river to see the border from Yalujiang Park. In the light, the entire city looked quite a bit different, but the N. Korean side looked pretty much the same-- barren.
Next to the "Friendship Bridge" is the remains of the original bridge spanning the two sides, destroyed in 1950 by the good ol' U.S. of A. Though the Koreans have dismantled their half, the Chinese have corrected theirs into a museum of sorts. At the very edge on the land side is an amusing monument of soldiers heading off to war with the caption "For Peace." Gotta love it.
Walking to the very edge on the water side is sort of interesting because you can still see shrapnel and holes from the original mortars, bombs, and bullets. Once again, there's not much to see on the Korean side--a factory, an abandoned ferris wheel, a couple of random military buildings, and maybe an occasional local. I decided to take the obligatory "I'm at the Korean border" picture and asked a fellow tourist to help me out. I'm not quite sure if it was my bad luck or if a majority of Chinese people are simply bad at taking photos, but this was my worst of the trip (see my flickr site for proof). The guy took my camera and just took a photo at a 45 degree angle. No idea why. This was just one of many, as well. Traveling by myself, I had various other tourists take pics of me that all came out like crap. I just don't get it.
After gazing across the river for a while, I walked back to shore. I considered taking one of the speedboat rides to get even closer to the other side, but I opted against it. The PiA-ers told me that their students informed them of something bizarre. Apparently when the conditions are right and enough tourists are out, N. Koreans will swim out to meet boats in the river and Chinese tourists will "pet" the swimmers and give them a coin or two. Bizarre, huh? What kind of tourism is that?
The only other incident of note was when I poked my head into a souvenir shop. They have enough N. Korean kitsch to satisfy anyone but I wasn't really into it. One of the store employees was trying to push some N. Korean snack foods on me and tried to tell me that Sunkist Orange candies were from Pyongyang. I laughed and said they were American but she wasn't hearing it. Finally I took the package and pointed out the California address and she backed off, tail between her legs.
After a quick four hour bus ride, I arrived in Dalian, the most prosperous and modern city of the northeast. The city is surrounded by beaches on the outside, and massive skyscrapers on the inside. Pulling into downtime, it felt like we could have been in any new European or American city. It was somewhat strange. Luckily Dan was right downtime in Victory Square where I pulled in and so we met up and headed out to their school. The technological university where Dan, Danny, and Vanessa teach is a bit outside of downtown so I got to see a decent section of the city as we headed out.
After dropping my stuff and showering, Dan, Danny and I headed out for KBBQ. After dinner by the campus we headed back into the city to a place called "Noah's Ark," a popular bar with live local music. Very cool! I taught the boys how to play the dice game and did my best to boldly lie everytime. Danny had to teach the next day so he headed back early but Dan was free so we continued on to "2046," probably the one and only club in Dalian. It was loud, it was crowded, it was expensive, it had some questionable clientele, and it was a lot of fun.
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November 10, 2006
Friendship?
I set my alarm bright and early to catch the early train to Dandong, the major border city with North Korea. Sadly, the internet led me astray and I missed the train by about thirty minutes. And here I thought everything posted online was true! Having about three hours to kill, I ventured across the street to a nice-looking hotel and dropped ninety kuai for an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet. I figured eating for three hours was much better than just sitting in the train station, and boy was I right. I don't consider myself a big breakfast person but sometimes bacon and eggs just hits the spot.
When I finally did get on the train, I was pleased to see that the only tickets left had put me in the soft sleeper section, the equivelant of first class for a short range train. There were two attendants constantly bringing around hot water, cleaning up garbage, and generally just making sure everyone was happy. While the regular hard seat cars were teeming with smoke, people, and noise, I stretched out with four seats to myself and a pleasant view of the rolling countryside.
I spent the six hours on the train daydreaming, drinking tea, napping, and reading. About an hour outside of Dandong was Fenghuang Shan--Phoenix Mountain. Having heard about this peak from the Jason and Vivian, I impulsively decided to get off the train and hike part of the mountain while it was still light out. Sadly I didn't have time to go all the way up but it was a cool walk/climb.
Catching the next ride into Dandong, I arrived a bit after sunset. I immediately decided that there's something about arriving in a new place at night that is strangely disconcerting. I felt like I couldn't get my bearings. I felt like everyone at the train station was trying to scam me. I felt like the buildings were all dimly lit for no reason. Of course none of these things were true, but the unknown of the darkness has a way of playing tricks on you. Either that, or the book I was reading was starting to get to me. The Historian is about Vlad the Impaler, otherwise known as Dracula. A good read, but perhaps not the best choice when traveling alone to new places.
I had planned on doing some of the sightseeing during the day and heading out in the morning, but after seeing Phoenix Mountain, I was forced to change my plans. I found a cheap dingy hotel for twenty kuai, and then walked down to the river--the physical divider between China and North Korea. The Friendship Bridge connects the two sides and serves as a crossing point for those with the proper papers. I thought this was funny for a couple of reasons. First, the bridge is all lit up at night with flashing neon, rotating spotlights, and overall gaudy decoration. This is funny enough by itself but then you look over and realize that it crosses the river and goes right into darkness for as far as the eye can see. As all of the PiA-ers told me, it's almost like the Chinese are saying, "Check it out over here--we're all having such a better time!"
Second, in the 24 hours that I was there, I didn't see a single person or vehicle cross the border. This isn't totally shocking except for the fact that there are relations between the two countries. Dandong itself has Korean everywhere--every storefront, restaurant menu, traffic sign, etc. all have Korean characters. Clearly somebody must be crossing, right?
Following the old maxim of "when in the town across from Rome, do as the people in that town think the Romans do," I decided to have Korean food for dinner. I gotta say, it was pretty darn good. I have no idea if there was actually anyone Korean involved in the production of my meal, but it seemed authentic enough to me. After walking around the river for a bit, I headed back to the hotel to bed.
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November 9, 2006
Slingshot
Waking up late again, I met Jason for lunch before heading out to do my final sight-seeing in Shenyang. There were a few things that seemed interesting in my guidebook, but one thing stood out the most--the Shenyang Botanical Gardens. Now, I have no major interest in horticulture, but the description in the book was intriguing, detailing "fifty bridges suspended across a shallow river that visitors try to traverse." I had almost no idea what this meant, but it sounded like it could be fun.
Finding the right bus was a minor challenge, but once again a friendly crossing guard pointed me in the right direction. While the book said it would be a 45 minute ride, I think it was more like an hour, traveling far outside the city. As I arrived, it felt like showing up to a party an hour after it had been broken up. The parking lot was empty, there was a bunch of garbage around the entrance, and the two people working inside the enormous ticket booth were both asleep.
It turns out the International Horticultural Expo had taken place there the previous month, and had ended a scant week ago. It was a bit creepy to walk through the grounds of this place alone when it was clearly built for thousands and thousands of people, but I persevered. Upon reaching my destination of the bridges, I was part confused, part impressed, part annoyed, and part excited. Basically there is a small recreation area, clearly built years before the Expo came to town, in which there are a bunch of bizarre "bridges" spanning a section of a small man-made lake. There were balance beams, rolling barrels, swinging bridges, wires, and random other concotions. I crossed a few of them, coming close to falling in. I wasn't afraid of drowing (the water wasn't very deep) but I was very self-aware of hypothermia--didn't seem like a great idea.
I still can't decide if it was worth it or not, but I left the more adventurous, exciting bridges untouched because I was by myself. That said, I was highly tempted by this one where you could sort of slingshot yourself across the water and try to grab a rope, but I decided against it. Being an hour outside of the city by myself, I figured falling and hitting my head most likely meant certain death and I just wasn't up for that. I think with the right people and the right weather it would be a cool spot to visit, but as it was, I was more confounded than anything else.
After a nice Sichuan dinner with the fellows and Vanessa, PiA-er in Dalian, Jason and I said goodbye to the ladies who headed off to Beijing for the weekend. Vivian was nice enough to let me stay in her place and Jason showed me one of the coolest inventions I've seen of late. There is some little machine called a slingshot, which apparently you can connect to a cable box in the states. This little device then broadcasts the cable to any high speed internet connection. I watched Sportscenter. Sportscenter!! Drooling with jealousy, I drifted off to bed.
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November 8, 2006
Resting
Rather than set my alarm for the crack of dawn, I opted to sleep until I woke up of my own accord. That's what vacation's all about, right? I read for a while, finishing my first book (Pearl Bucks's The Good Earth) and starting my second (Nicola Kostova's The Historian). It's very possible that I could be happy forever if you simply stuck me in a comfortable room with an unlimited supply of reading. Eventually I got up though, and headed out to explore.
In one of Shenyang's nicest parks there is a tomb for Huang Taiji, final resting place for the founder of the Qing Dynasty. The description in my guidebook sounded intriguing so I wandered off in search of the place. At first I was unimpressed, entering the complex. Not too sound too jaded, but it simply seemed like any bunch of old-looking Chinese buildings. But as I investigated further, the place really grew on me. There was a whole room detailing the significance of all the architectural features (such as the animal statues guarding the tomb, a la Ming Dynasty, and the tomb stone, which actually does not sit by the grave).
The tomb area is surrounded by fortress walls and guard towers, and has a cool tunnel under one of the main buildings. One of the most interesting things for me was that the bodies (the emperor and his family) where not entombed in any of the ornate man-made buildings. Rather, they were placed under ground in something called the Luminous Mound, a large circular piece of earth with a single towering tree at the top. Very cool.
The park itself was actually a great place to spend as well, as there were lots of trees, lakes, and benches. I ambled around for a while and eventually found myself staring up at the sky, at the dozens of kites. Now usually when I think of flying kites, I think of being in 3rd grade and running as fast as I could with string attached to a popsicle stick, in order to get a cheap, crappy kite to take off. This was the polar opposite. The guys flying kites there were all on the older side and had really nice kites with shoulder straps to stay in control when the kites reach the stratosphere. They brought chairs too sit down on. They performed small tricks. They even did their best to convince me I needed to buy one. Not from them, mind you, but just in general, because it's apparently the most fun thing you can do. Who knew?
One my way back towards the university, I stopped by one of the main public squares in Shenyang to see what is purported to be the largest Mao statue in the northeast. I can't make any judgements on that, but I can say that the thing was *huge*. What makes it appear even larger is the fact that it is placed above a surrounding group of statues that include passionate intellectuals, soldiers, peasants, and workers. Pretty wild.
Back at the school, Vivian and I headed over to see Jason give a lecture to grad students about the history of advertising in the U.S. Having worked in the industry for a few years, he was well-qualified to talk and I was excited to not only hear the talk, but also see the quality of students. Jason did not disappoint, having spent countless hours putting together a massive powerpoint. I learned more than a few things about branding and about different strategies, but the highlight of the lecture was probably in the section about spoof advertising.
Jason was explaining how customers have started to "fight back" and have created their own ads spoofing some of the more famous icons and slogans. He showed a number of examples, including one with a rather droopy cigarette hanging out of the Marlboro Man's mouth, with the caption, "Impotence." At this point he paused and asked the crowd, "do you guys know what impotence is?" He was met with blank stares. "You know, when you can't get it up." Blank stares. "I mean, can't get it up down there
After some decent hotpot, we headed out in the bitter cold to explore the Shenyang bar scene. I was quite impressed that they had a whole street near the university with small, cozy bars, some even with live music. Heading home after a fun evening, we were hit with a scary dose of reality as we passed by a dead body on the street, hit by a car. I won't go into the gruesome details, but it wasn't pretty. What was worse was that our cab driver just laughed and said it happens all the time. Does that make it any less wrong?
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November 7, 2006
The Circuit
As my students went off for a week and a half to learn how to farm in the countryside (no, seriously), I was given yet another opportunity for travel. I live a tough life--I do. Last I headed to the sunshine and scenery of southwestern China in Yunnan Province. This year I decided to head in the exact opposite direction--to Liaoning Province in the northeast of China.
It's easy to forget just how big China is until you go book an express train ticket from Guangzhou to Shenyang and you find out it'll take about 34 hours. My god. Lacking the funds to fly both ways, I swallowed hard and forked over a big chunk of change for the longest ride of my life. And, well, it was actually not nearly as bad as I thought it could have been. I basically got on at 10pm, fell asleep, woke up the next day and read for hours, went to bed, and woke up the next morning upon arrival. I've been on flights that were way worse. It was funny, too, because there was a group of professional basketball players in my train car so nobody cared less about me being the one white guy. They were busy staring at the 6'11" Chinese guy.
As I stepped onto the platform bright and early at around 6am, I was immediately hit with a rush of artic-cold air. In my mind I knew it would be cold all the way up there, but the reality was much more of a slap in the face. I glanced up at one of the digital displays outside the station and saw that it was -8 degrees celcius, easily the coldest weather I had felt in two years. Despite spending twenty four years braving New England winters, I had lost any and all ability to cope with the cold. I was FREEZING.
After finding myself a piping hot bowl of noodles, I made my way over to the PiA-ers at Northeastern University, a pleasant 40 minute bus ride across the city. I was welcomed with open arms and a heated apartment--exactly what I needed most, besides maybe a shower. Vivian and Jason immediately offered up anything and everything to me which was way beyond the call of duty. After we had lunch together, I headed out to explore.
Stop #1 was the old Imperial Palace, a compound similar to the Forbidden City in Beijing except smaller and with more Manchu architectural features. Despite the temperature, the sun was out and the skies were clear which made for a very pleasant walk around the grounds. Couple that with the fact that I was one of the only people there, and I loved it. The buildings were very interesting and seemed to have an air of intimidation about them, given the abundance of scary-looking lions, dragons, and monsters all around. I loved it.
After walking around for so long, it was time for a snack. I followed the advice of my guidebook and headed around the corner to a family dumpling restaurant that has apparently been in business for about 150 years. Needless to say, I ordered up some dumplings and they were spectacular. Not the best I've ever had, but it was super cheap. The waiter also made me laugh asking me funny questions in Chinese about myself and about America (does everyone in the states get a gun on their 16th birthday? do I think Shenyang is the best city in China? do people in America know how to use chopsticks?).
I have to say that Shenyang seems to be one of the friendliest cities I've been to in China. The bus stops don't post very clearly the routes so I found myself just asking people or having people come up and ask me if they could help. Wow! I'm guessing some (or all) of the help is because I'm a novelty being caucasian, but I don't think this happens in Guangzhou, and we don't have *that* many foreigners. I enjoyed chatting with each and every one of them.
I got back in time for dinner with the other fellows and we had some excellent Korean bbq, affectionately referred to as KBBQ by Vivian. It's always really interesting to me to hear about different PiA-ers' experiences since every post is so different. This was actually one of the reasons for my trip up north--because Shenyang and Dalian were the last two posts in China that I hadn't seen and I wanted to get up there to see what they were all about. This trip would complete the circuit! Jason and Vivian filled me in a bit over dinner and apparently Shenyang is a city that used to be the shining star of the region but has since deteriorated due to a decrease in the mining industry and government-sponsored production moving south (to places to Guangdong Province). There wasn't nearly the amount of construction in the city, which I suppose doesn't bode well for its future, but makes for pleasant living conditions. Though it is notorious for pollution, I venture to say that Shenyang had better air quality than Guangzhou. Hard to believe...
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November 1, 2006
Well, It's Not My Favorite
Though the temple was a very relaxing place to spend the afternoon, I had seen something deserving of exploration on the ride there. The temple is situated right next to Xiamen University, an institution of higher learning established almost entirely from the donations of overseas Chinese. This, too, felt a bit like the twilight zone as the campus was sparkling clean, the buildings looked like they had been transplanted from Stanford, and there were students sitting around playing guitar. Was I still in China? All signs point to no, but it was true.
The best part of the campus, though, was one of their auditoriums--a building up on a hill looking like something from the temple next door. The steps leading down from the main entrance of the auditorium lead to a gorgeous track & field, complete with about three different football fields. As I walked around the track, I was just itching to join in on a pickup game. The skies were blue, the grass was green, the surroundings were beautiful, and there was soccer to be played! Sadly, I was traipsing around in my flip-flops so I guess it just wasn't meant to be.
Heading back into town, we took in the scenery of some really nice beaches across from the west gate of the university. What a great place to go to school--a campus with amazing buildings and fields, clean air, and beaches right outside the gate! I'm somewhat amazed that the University isn't one of the top-ranked schools. Clearly it has the financial backing of some pretty well-off individuals, it has amazing facilities, and the location is ideal.
Back in the city itself, we decided to have a dinner of western food. Where do you find non-Chinese cuisine in a Chinese city? That's right--at the most expensive hotel you can find. We made our way to the Crown Plaza and sat down inside at an Italian restaurant. The sommelier immediately came to our table and offered up the wine list. This being a mini-vacation, we decided to splurge on a nice bottle of wine... that is until we saw the prices. I am consistently appalled at the ridiculous markup of alcohol in restaurants. But anyway, instead of getting one of the "fine wines," we decided to get the cheapest thing on the menu--the house imported wine. I asked the guy what he thought of it and with a look of mild disgust he responded, "Well, it's not my favorite." Gee, you think? Let's be real though, this is probably the guy who made it the house wine in the first place. He could at least pretend, right? Just to spite him I made sure I thoroughly enjoyed every drop from that bottle. Truth be told, it was actually pretty good, too.
After taking the ferry back to Gulangyu, we decided to walk around a little. As I mentioned, one of the Fujian's specialties is tea so tea stores are ubiquitous. Kelly decided to study up on teas a bit over the summer and was excited to sample the offerings there in Xiamen. For people who make it clear that they have the money to buy high end teas (or for anyone with white skin), tea stores will sit you down and brew some of their best stuff, enticing you to buy. Some places even bring out some snacks to help accentuate the flavors or cleanse your palate.
We were beckoned into one of the medium-sized stores and immediately offered a seat in order to taste their best type of wulong tea. Though I couldn't understand everything they were saying, I did follow along enough (thanks to Kelly's translations) to learn a little something. It turns out that traditionally you never serve the first pour of a tea--you let it sit in the cup for a few seconds and then you pour it right out. Each tea apparently has an ideal pour number in which the flavor and aftertaste will be the best, e.g. the 4th or 5th serving into the small cups. They took us through an entire pot, pointing out how the flavor evolves after each pour. Amazingly enough, they were spot on--it really did taste best on the 5th pour! After a small amount of haggling we purchased a small amount and were on our way.
The next morning we set out to do the only major sight left in the entire city--riguangyan, or "Sunlight Rock." This is the highest point on Gulangyu and as the saying goes, you haven't been to Xiamen if you haven't been to the top of the rock. Supposedly on a clear day you can see all the way to Jinmen, a small island off the coast of Xiamen that is apparently a Taiwanese property.
Before we even reached the summit, we came across a very cool little temple literally built into the face of the rock. Though there was no one worshipping there, it seemed to have a very divine and hallowed feeling about it. After a quick picture, we continued up the various stairs to the top. The view was pretty impressive, especially given that it's only about 100 meters up. On the way down we stopped at the Koxinga Memorial Museum, a hall in honor of Zheng Chenggong, the man who helped liberate Taiwan.
The story of this man is fascinating, as related to me by my PiA mentor, Professor White from Princeton: "Koxinga is praised in China as a national hero because of his bringing Taiwan into the national sphere as he expelled the Dutch from Tainan -- and much praised by Taiwanese (even independistas) because of his separation from the central gov't, nominally on behalf of the Ming against the Qing but actually very much in his own interest... This is beautifully ironic. Zheng was a multinational (his mother was Japanese) pirate king, fit for a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta except that he was very serious. He led, very forcefully, a seafaring South Chinese lineage of the kind that ordinarily had as little to do as possible with any Chinese or other central government. His sponsorship of Hokkien (S. Fujian) migration to Taiwan was indeed the factor that made that island part of China, but he had scant help from Beijing (certainly not from proper-thinking Confucians) for any such project."
Naturally this isn't emphasized in the museum at all, especially not at the enormous statue of the man outside the entrance to the hall. This is interesting, especially given that the very first plaque starts off saying that Taiwan has always and will always be completely Chinese. They revere the man even though he probably could not have cared less about Chinese nationalism. After all, when was the last time a pirate did anything for the sake of a government?
Kelly continued my education a bit in a different direction noting that according to Benedict Anderson's theory of "Imagined Communities," governments attempt to mold nationalism by means of three main devices: the map, the census, and the museum. This could not have been more apropos in this exhibit. I think this theory is very interesting not just for China, but for almost every government. I am in the process of helping one of my tutees write an essay about the comparison of Nazi Germany to the classroom in Robert Cormier's "The Chocolate War." We talked about how Hitler created a contagious sense of nationalism and it makes me wonder how what Anderson would say about that. I guess I'll actually have to read the book...
And that was pretty much it. We had some great Japanese curry and then headed off to the train station. If you're interested in pics from the trip, check out the flickr link on the side of the page or click here http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03/sets/72157594351898482/
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October 29, 2006
No, Really--Sit Down
As for my students hustled out to the track to compete in the annual all-school track & field meet, I decided to take advantage of the three day weekend and head out to Xiamen, second largest city in the coastal province of Fujian. Fujian, known for its tea and pearls, is a neighboring province of Guangdong and, thus, a logical choice for a quick 14 hour overnight train ride. I convinced Kelly to come along and we were all set for a quick weekend vacation.
Upon arrival, Xiamen looked almost exactly as I had heard--it was clean, bright, modern, and amazingly quaint for a city of over a million people. Having been occupied by the Portuguese, British, French, and Dutch, there was beautiful colonial architecture everywhere. In truth, it was a bit weird. Kelly remarked that it looked remarkably similar to Havana. As in Cuba. Cuba? China? Same sentence? Sure, why not.
Our friends and guidebooks all agreed that the place to stay in Xiamen is actually not in Xiamen at all, but rather a quick four minute ferry ride away on the island of Gulangyu. They were right. Gulangyu was a foreigner's residency for almost two hundred years and, as such, reflects the colonial styles of its former residents. The grounds themselves are devoid of any trash and the island is incredibly peaceful, mostly because there is not a single automobile there (people either walk or use electric golf cart-like vehicles). After finding a cheap hotel overlooking the water, we went in search of some Xiamen seafood.
Being right on the coast, Xiamen is known for it's cuisine from the water and almost every restaurant boasts of having the best. I suppose this makes sense--no one's going to claim they have the 3rd best. What's interesting is that virtually every single restaurant on the island, regardless of size, price, or quality, all keep these tubs outside their main entrance which hold the night's offerings. Kelly and I walked into one place, glancing at the various creatures as we went to sit down. We asked for a menu and the waitress looked at us a little funny. Yup, it turns out we walked right by the "menu."
Though they had a small form in print, you were pretty much supposed to check out the tubs and just pick out your meal that way. There's no choice in method of preparation--the chef just does what he/she thinks is best. It's actually quite liberating! So we picked out some shrimp, some mini clams, and reluctantly passed on a tasty-looking but overpriced flat fish of some sort. We were not disappointed--it was all incredibly fresh and the taste reflected that. Yum!
The next morning we set out to see what Gulangyu had to offer. After a quick breakfast from a cute old Chinese couple running a western-style cafe, we headed over to "Underwater World," Xiamen's aquarium. Having never visited an aquarium in China, I was excited to see how it shaped up. First thing's first--there were some bizarre fish in that place! I suppose it's not surprising, given that I'm halfway across the world, but there were so many unfamiliar creatures that at times they almost seemed fake. I'm amazed that some of the richer and more industrious aquariums in the States haven't worked out a way to import some of these crazy looking things. Very cool stuff.
Second, most of the tanks were painfully small. There were some rather large fish/mammals swimming around in tanks smaller than my bookcase. It's sad in the U.S. as well, but this seemed even more cruel. Even worse though, was the quality of the tanks. It appeared that the water was really murky and/or downright dirty for quite a few of the exhibits, sometimes so bad as to obscure whatever was on display. I'd be willing to throw in a few extra kuai on the admission ticket in order to step up the cleanings around there. By far the worst part of all was looking at the exhibit with the tortoises. Visitors had thrown in tons of loose change, presumably for good luck, and the entire bottom of the tank was covered with coinage. Just to top it all off, though, there were a couple of empty plastic water bottles tossed in.
Third, they let you get right up close and take flash photography of anything. This was cool for me, in that I had fun taking some shots of cool-looking fish, but I just can't believe it's good for the fish to have the flashes and lasers from digital cameras constantly bombarding their cages. Call me crazy.
Fourth, it was immensely entertaining to attend the dolphin/seal show in Chinese. They did pretty much all of the same tricks as they do in America, except the M.C. was speaking in Chinese. I can't quite explain it, but it just seemed entertaining to have the trainer chatting away at the animal in Chinese. Furthermore, I'm not sure if people just had no concept of protocol, but the guard on duty kept having to go up to people and tell them to sit down. Of course right as those people sat, people on the other side of the "theater" got up and walked right up to the edge of the pool. Did they not notice or did they not care? Not sure.
Upon exiting the show, we decided to it was a good time to head back to the mainland (or main island, in this case) and explore. After eating a tasty lunch of Brazilian Barbeque, we hit up the train station to secure our return tickets (yes, it is *still* annoying not being able to buy roundtrip tickets) and caught a taxi out to Nanputuo Si, a temple originally from the Tang Dynasty about 1000 years ago. While I know a number of foreigners who get easily "templed out" after seeing so many, I still enjoy entering the temple grounds and seeing the various deities and holy structures. This temple, on the far south end of the city, did not disappoint me either.
Much like other temples I've visited in China, there are the busy areas in the front of the complex where people walk by the statues of the four warrior kings guarding the main Buddha figure. This is interesting, but I usually enjoy exploring farther back where there are smaller buildings and quieter areas where the monks spend time looking at scripture and meditating. This particular temple had an interesting grotto that contained, literally, hundreds (if not over a thousand) of small figurines. I'm not entirely clear as to what they were representing, but they sure did look interesting.
I'm going to blog the rest of the trip tomorrow, but if you're ansy for some photos, click on the flickr link (on the side) for some cool pictures...
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October 10, 2006
To Hainan and Beyond
Another vacation has come and gone here in China and it wasn't half bad. While I braved the massive crowds on the buses and trains last year in Hangzhou and Shanghai, this year's quick one-hour flight was decidedly more comfortable. At one point last year I remember talking to one of the second year fellows, noting that I had yet to fly domestically. He gave me a look and said, "Don't. Once you do, you'll never want to go back." He was right.
While it is minorly disturbing that they have to shut the air conditioner off during take-off in order to muster enough strength to get airborne, the seats are comfortable and it's a heckuva lot quicker. Touching down in Sanya, the small city at the southern end of the island, we immediately noted that the place was reminiscent of Florida. Having not been to Hawaii, I can't verify the veracity of the "Hawaii of the East" sobriquet, but it sure was tropical.
We hopped in a cab to head to the hotel and took in the scenery. It was gorgeous. Once we got away from the gaudy decorations and advertisements near the airport, the mountains, palm trees, and coastline were quite impressive. The air, too, was noticeably cleaner than Guangzhou. No surprise there. We passed through some smaller towns and I noticed that while the tourism industry is flourishing, it doesn't appear that anything else is coming close.
We were lucky enough to book a five star hotel for a very reasonable price. Having never stayed at a five star, I didn't quite know what to expect, but I rolling onto the property of the place, I was impressed right away. The (man-made) waterfall and perfectly manicured greens were beautiful. It was exactly what I was looking for--a nice hotel located right on a nice beach. That's what vacation's all about, right?
We checked in and headed up to the room and checked out the view of the ocean--brilliant. Exploring the grounds, we determined that the multiple fresh water pools and immaculate beach were even better. I certainly had no complaints. Though the restaurants were expensive, the food was amazing, and did my personal best to make sure that the all-you-can-eat buffet made no money off of me. Nine plates later, I think I represented well.
One thing interesting about the five star hotel experience was the class difference in the clientele. As expected it was almost all Chinese people, as well as a few caucasians to fill out the room. What was different was that these Chinese were the absolute upper crust of society. In order to afford the rooms there, you had to either luck out with a good deal online (read: us) or simply have a ton of money. People were dressed well and even displayed common western ideals of etiquette. Not once did I get shoved aside in the buffet line. People were (generally) kind to all employees. They didn't stare. Nobody would have dreamt of spitting on the floor. I hate to admit it, but it was a welcome respite.
I had to laugh, though, at what I have named the "Vacation Suit." Starting the first morning at the free breakfast, I looked around and saw almost half the room wearing identical hawaiian shirt-like outfits. I don't mean that everyone wore the same pattern; rather, every couple had matching suits. The combination of the matching outfits was just too much for me--it looked absurd. Kelly and I joked about buying a set but I backed down. No way I was spending money on something that chintzy. And I don't even have style!
Being on vacation also turned out to be a catalyst for going on a reading binge. I finished four books during the week and am almost done with a fifth. Of course this has meant that my Chinese study has taken a back seat to page turning, but waddaya gonna do. A brief rundown:
Mao, The Unknown Story (Jung Chang & Jon Halliday)- this somewhat controversial book came out about a year ago and I have been meaning to read it ever since. Wow--what a read. In the interest of not rocking the boat too much I won't get into any major details, but once again I am astounded by the actions of such a powerful dictator. I think my impressions may be somewhat colored by having read the initial review by Kristoff in the NY Times last November, but he made a good point in saying that some of the arguments need to be verified a bit better. It's tough to read historical scholarship that isn't really well footnoted, but regardless, the book brings to light some information that simply can't be ignored. Lets just say that if more people in China read this, they might not be so happy about still having the Chairman's portrait up in Tian'anmen.
The History of Love (Nicole Krauss)- This was another *incredible* read, in a totally different way. While it helps if you know some basic hebrew or yiddish, the book is basically an interwoven story of families, writing, and, of course, love. I'm not a cryer but this one definitely made me shed a tear. It's a beautiful story that is told in an equally beautiful way. I highly recommend it.
The Lion's Game (Nelson DeMille)- If any of you are into easy read mysteries that involve a main character who says all the things I wish I had thought of first, this is for you. While I think it is actually the weakest of the John Corey series so far (definitely read Plum Island, followed by Night Fall, both awesome vacation reads), it's still a very entertaining read. I was discussing the book with my roommate and he brought up an interesting point-- reading any book about terrorism that was published pre-9/11 is really an eye-opener. I guess it's true that we were all a little naive before. It's not always easy to recognize the more subtle changes, but something as simple as the attitude in writing is clearly a world away. Sad.
Dance, Dance, Dance (Haruki Murakami)- This is the sequel to "A Wild Sheep Chase" and it is another good story. Sheep Chase was the first Murakami I had ever read and I went on a small Murakami spree afterwards. I said it once and I'll say it again--I think Murakami is one of the most creative writers in the world today. What an incredible talent! This book once again dips a bit into the surreal but in a way that seems completely realistic and appropriate. Definitely worth checking out.
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June 10, 2006
Back Home
We woke up Saturday on the lazy side and all stumbled out of bed for a late brunch. We were in no rush, though with the weather being so nice, we decided that we should eat some food and get a move-on. It was a tough call between kayaking and taking another boat tour, but in the end our wallets did the talking and we opted for the cheaper boat ride. This time we went in the opposite direction on the Li River, up towards Guilin. There are many famous mountain formations along the way and with the sun shining, it was a perfect day to be back on the water.
For lunch we headed to one of the ubiquitious cafes on West Street and I ordered Chicken Satay. Everyone else ordered more breakfast-like foods and their meals came quite a bit faster. As I was waiting for my meal, watching everyone eat, it occurred to me that at this point in the states I would make a joke about how the waitstaff was chasing down the chicken in order to make my meal; however, in this case, that was exactly what was happening! It's a litle strange to think of them slaughtering the bird in the back in order to cook my food, but at least I know it was fresh!
I think I've mentioned it before, but I love being on the water. There's something so calming about floating around a river or swimming in the ocean by a quiet beach. The boat ride we took was no different. Though the guy navigating the vessel refused to allow us to lay out by the front in the sun, we were content to sit in the back and look out the windows. The scenery was once again breathtaking and I tried to catch as much as possible on film. Unfortunately, the limestone formations go all the way to the horizon and there's just no way to capture that on film.
One of the funnier moments for me was when a Chinese lady on our boat took out her umbrella and opened it up inside the boat. This would make sense if there were no roof but we were completely covered! She was attempting to use the umbrella to shade some of the sunrays coming through the window but it was just completely impractical and looked ridiculous. It was a very China moment for me--where else do you find someone using an umbrella inside?
After a very enjoyable few hours on the river, we returned back to our hotel and Kelly and I packed up our stuff. Diana and her brother were to continue on to the mountains of Yunnan Province, but sadly I had to get back to teach my last classes. We headed out for one last meal and decided to forgo the pseudo-western food and get some Chinese cuisine. We found a restaurant that had some nice tables outside and asked to see a menu. Despite asking in flawless Chinese, they brought us the English language menu due to the color of my skin. It seemed exceptionally pricy so Diana asked (in Chinese) if they could give us a discount. The hostess said yes and went to retrieve the Chinese language menu. No joke, everything was about 1/4 of the price! We ordered up a feast and were very pleased.
After dinner Kelly and I had to catch our bus back. As we got to the bus station it really hit me hard that I had to say goodbye to Diana. I hate saying goodbye to good friends and this was no different. Right now I can't imagine being in Guangzhou without her and it's going to take a major adjustment to regain a feeling of normalcy. I can only content myself with the knowledge that I will surely see her again and remain in good touch.
To make matters worse, we had a very uncomfortable ride back to GZ. Though we had those temperature issues on the way to Yangshuo, the seats were really nice. This time 'round, I had my first experience on a sleeper bus. My friend Lexi put it best in her explanation of the sleeper bus:
"Sleeper buses are always an exercise in rank feet, cigarette smoke, moldy pillows, sweat, yak butter and worse. Your nose starts to acclimatize after the first half hour, but after that, every time you
turn over, your pillow or blanket gets you with a hit of old and unwashed, the last 5 to 10 people who slept there. Or looking back and realizing that fat guangdong man over there, who is lying with a cigarette on top of his blanket, not even smoking, just staring out the window and probably farting, is likely the clone of the last person in your bunk. Even after a sweaty day without a shower, I still smell better than this bus. Chinese buses are not for the obsessively hygienic, the tall, or the
easily annoyed--in addition to the aforementioned quirks, the bunks themselves are also built for people who are 5'8" and under; at that point, your feet start to hit the end of the metal box at the bottom of your bed, and your head starts to stick up beyond the top of the bed, and more and more of you ends up sleeping sitting up. If you're much over six feet it's pretty much a lost cause because your head will start to hit the top bunk even in your semi-reclined sit, and at a little over two feet wide, it's not even worth trying to curl up if your legs don't fit."
My ride wasn't quite that bad, but it was almost impossible to get comfortable in the bizarre setup. Lets just leave it at, we were happy to get back. I've managed to get a few pictures from the trip online: http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03
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June 9, 2006
Like Riding a Bike
So we were off to start our adventure! But there was just a tiny hitch. The most common mode of transportation in Yangshuo is to ride a bike. I grew up in a distinctly non-bike riding family. My mother and father don't bike. My sister never biked. And I have only biked twice in my conscious memory. The first time was when I learned on my friend Ian's bike back when I was 7. I have another memory of slugging through some slush on a bike when I was about 12. Other than that, I've always been a runner. So when we all rented bikes that morning, I was a little hesitant.
But as the saying goes, it's like riding a bike! So I hopped on and started off. Unfortunately, I discovered that riding an old clunky ride without great breaks is decidedly *not* "like riding a bike." It was just a little too shaky to be going over hills and unpaved roads. I didn't want to be a party pooper though, so I did the next logical thing. I hopped on the back of our guide's motorcycle. Ha! Forget this burning calories business, let the machine do the work! And unlike my other motorcycle experiences in Hunan, this time I even had a helmet.
Our first stop on the bike/motorcycle tour was a bamboo rafting trip down the Li River. This is a famous river connecting Yangshuo and Guilin in Guangxi Province and once again I had high hopes. Despite the fog, I was not disappointed. We sat back and coasted down the river, taking in the beautiful limestone rock formations and other natural scenery. It was nice and tranquil... until the locals started trying to see stuff to you on the river. This was a very China moment for me. As we floated on the water, there were ladies hawking sodas, water, and beer (of course I felt obligated to support the local economy with a few bottles of the local brew). That was not quite as impressive, though, as the large raft anchored in the middle of the stream that had someone shooting you with a digital camera. They had a whole computer setup there complete with photo printers in which they could give you a souvenir on the spot for a tidy sum. My only thought was, where is the power source for this operation? They're in the middle of a river!
After a couple of hours on the river, we hopped ashore and got back on the bikes. Our next destination is the famous Yue Lang Shan, the moon crescent hill. It's about a 45 minute hike up a small mountain to the top where there is a very cool rock formation that resembles, you guessed it, a crescent moon. It was hot and humid and even started to rain a bit while we were on our way down, but it was well worth it. Again, the most amazing thing to me was the group of old women who literally hiked up and down with us the entire way attempting to sell us bottled water (we already had). All I could think was, how many times do they go up and down in a day? They must be in great shape for an old Chinese granny! On a more serious note, it was sad to see them having to follow tourists all the way up a mountain in order to make a living.
By the time we got back down to the base, we were not only covered in sweat/rain but also starving. We decided to stay close and eat a feast at the small outpost across the street. Diana recommended we try the local specialty, Guilin Beer Fish. You didn't have to ask me twice! Though pricy, it was pretty tasty. I still have not gotten over the Chinese style of eating fish with tons and tons of bones. It's not pleasant, especially when you accidentally swallow a small one and scratch your throat. The meal was good but Kelly and I were a bit disturbed to notice we had both gotten some sort of red rash, me on my knees and left arm, her on her legs and face. Ummm, what? It didn't itch and it didn't seem to be spreading, but we were a bit mystified as both Diana and Ming were unscathed. Oh well, onwards to the water cave!
Yangshuo is famous not only for it's beauty above ground but also for it's incredible scenery underneath the ground as well. We headed off to the Moon Water Cave, supposedly the biggest and most impressive of the bunch. They had quite an operation going at this place. We had to pay a hefty admission price (though they did accept my BU staff idea as a student idea which made me smile) and hop in a van for about 15 minutes. After this we had to pay an extra fee to get ourselves some swimsuits. The cave is famous for its mud pits but in order to save our clothes, we bought the clothes they had at the front. Let me just say that it was 100% fugly bathing suit attire. Kelly and Diana looked like bizarre grandmas whose swimsuit fit in all the wrong places. Ming and I looked like strippers who had gotten lost in a cave. Once we put the hard hats on, the transformation was complete. We hopped in a canoe and headed into the caves.
Armed with flashlights and a guide, we began to spelunk our way through the maze, stopping every minute or so to see an interesting rock formation. We all agreed that a good number of them were definitely not real and thus somewhat bizarre. My favorite was either the rock version of Santa Claus or the rock version of the large monkey. I couldn't help thinking that it would be that much better to just kleep it authentic and let us marvel at the enormous stalactites and stalagmites. Oh well. SO about halfway through we finally got down to the mud pit where there was a photographer waiting to catch us in all our glory as we went down a slide that they put in. It was fun but also a little bit gross and more than a little bizarre.
After the mud we started to hike our way out. This part was quite interesting for a few reasons. First, we were hiking up the rocks with a steady stream of water splashing down in the opposite direction. The footing was bad, the lighting was sometimes nonexistent, and the water was pretty strong in some sections. In other words, it was a lawsuit waiting to happen. Well, at least in the U.S. it would be. It was really cool but I definitely slipped at one point and cut open a finger which was pretty painful. Once we finally got out of the water section, I was somewhat surprised to find that we were in the middle of nowhere. It was countryside for as far as the eye could see, except for the 4 of us, covered in ridiculous bathing suits and caked with mud. We must have been quite a sight for the one or two farmers that we passed by on our way back to the start.
After a 15 minute hike, we got back to square one and hopped under a small waterfall to get the dirt off. It was pretty funny as we all tried to get the mud out of our ears, armpits, toenails, and every other tiny space. We swam around a bit in the pool by the entrance and after Kelly and I jumped off the short cliff into the water, we headed off back to the town. It was tough decision on whether or not to keep my swimsuit, but I decided that nobody should ever have to see that again. Ever.
After we showered again back at the hostel, it was time to find some dinner. We decided to take advantage of the western food offerings and all got burritos. It was mediocre at best. The meat was surprisingly good, but the homemade salsa was pretty poor. All I could think was, I could do a much better job. I think I've gotten a bit spoiled this year in that when I eat western it's generally when either I cook it (and know it will be at least halfway decent) or when Kelly/Diana/Meggie cooks it and it's incredible. Thus, a Chinese interpretation of Mexican food just doesn't quite cut it, especially for the price. Oh well.
After dinner we wandered around and did some shopping around West St. Kelly bought a few things to give to family and friends, I bought a couple of music CDs, and Diana bought some food. One of the highlights for me was trying the fresh-brewed pale ale from a French restaurant on the street. There is nothing like a good, fresh beer! After strolling around a bit more, we headed back to our beds to watch some World Cup and fall asleep.
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June 8, 2006
Exits
It's that time of year when people are starting to move on. Last night Kelly and I through a surprise party for Diana to celebrate her upcoming trek back to the states. Despite numerous holes in our guise, I think we actually managed to surprise her which was great. There were about 75 students to go along with a handful of us foreigners, but the highlight of the night was not the turnout; rather, it was the 500 kuai worth of Subway party sandwich that we special ordered for the occasion. I almost forget how much I like subs until I have one. Then it all comes rushing back! We also ordered a chocolate cake which turned out to be vanilla and had a number of festive balloons to celebrate.
Besides Diana, I also found out that my friend Boudy is taking off as well. He was involved in a business deal gone sour and decided that he had had enough. I am very sorry to see him leave as well but I hope that his future will provide greener pastures. He had been struggling to adapt to Guangzhou after his lavish Dubai lifestyle and I'm just not sure it ever really set in. I can only hope that we stay in touch.
Last night I also remembered that my friend Anthony, a PhD candidate doing research here on NGOs will also be gone by the time I get back into town. Anthony is a fascinating guy to speak with and never ceases to have a smile and an astute comment for every situation. His work here is both interesting and noteworthy for the causes he has sought out, and I sincerely hope he lands a great professorship at the school of his choice.
An even bigger blow is the departure of my friend Meggie. She is about to finish up here at her international school and she is homeward-bound to Taiwan. With plans of clinical psych research, I know she will be happy and busy, but I sure will miss her presence here. With Steven also taking off in a month, Guangzhou is going to be radically different next year. I will have a new roommate. Kelly will have a new roommate. There will be a whole new slew of foreigners around, though I will probably never meet most of them. At this point it all seems too surreal to anticipate so I guess I'll just let the future come in time.
Kelly, Diana, Diana's little brother and I had a small exit of our own Thursday, as we headed off for some sightseeing in Yangshuo, a small backpackers haven in the northern section of Guangxi province. I was weary of bus travel given my 24 hour busride during spring festival, but this being off-peak travel season, I hoped it would be better. This time we left from the bus station next to the train station and I was pleasantly surprised--there was decent lighting, a few signs, and it wasn't oppresively hot.
Alas, it was too good to be true. As we sat down to wait for the coach, we began to see huge roaches crawling around. Oh well. Just another day of travel in China! Our bus was almost on time which I thought was a good omen and as we stepped on to get seats, we were all impressed. It must have been a very new bus because it still had that new leather smell to it. It was sparkling clean and not even close to full so we grabbed seats towards the back and tried to get comfortable.
Unfortunately looks can be deceiving once again because though the seats were comfortable, the bus had some serious temperature issues. It seemed to have only two settings: on, which meant frigid air blasting out of the vents, or off, which meant a huge sweatfest. The driver did his best to regulate on and off throughout the night but all of us had major problems sleeping, constantly waking up either drenched in sweat or completely freezing. There were also some major bumps that caused Kelly and Diana to cling for dear life on to the seats, but we did manage to stay upright and by 9am, we arrived in town.
First impressions: After hearing so much about Yangshuo I had high expectations so that might account for a bit of my letdown. I'm lucky enough to have done quite a bit of traveling and I felt like it was a bigger, more touristed version of Dali in Yunnan Province. It was nice, but it just seemed a little bit fake, a little bit forced. Regardless, I was very happy to be out in the fresh air and we started off in search of beds and food.
The only street that you really need to know in Yangshuo is Xi Jie, or West Street. It's basically a long stretch with different hostels, guest houses, cafes, bars, and souvenir shops. We perused around and bargained for rooms and, thanks to Diana's excellent bargaining, ended up with great rooms right off of Xi Jie that had views of the Li River. We dropped our bags and hunted down some breakfast.
One of the funny things about these backpacker towns is that they all claim to have western style breakfasts, which they do, but with distinctly Chinese flavor. I ordered a vegetable omellete which was quite tasty, but a heckuva lot different than an omellete I'd make. It was basically a circular piece of scrambled egg folded over stir-fried Chinese vegetables. Good, but definitely not authentic. In like manner, the banana pancake was more or less a crepe with a piece of banana thrown on top. The bacon was more like ham. Regardless, it all tasted good and we were off to start the adventure.
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February 5, 2006
Home Stretch
The next day was filled with more of the same-- big meals with lots of family, hefty baijiu drinking, getting stared at on the streets, and using the outhouse with the chickens. One highlight included David meeting up with a classmate he had not seen in 15 years. I was blown away by their lack of affection and by the fact that I was the subject of their discussion. Didn't they have, oh, say, about fifteen years to catch up on? I guess that's what happens when a foreigner comes to town for the first time ever.
The next morning was a bit rough. Neither David nor I had slept much because some friends of the family had stayed up until about 5am playing mahjong right next to our heads. David's aunt made us noodles for breakfast but about two bites in I realized they were the exact same beef noodles that we had eaten about 5 days ago (not the same recipe but the same batch) and I got minorly sick to my stomach. I couldn't finish the bowl and I just had to get some fresh air. It wasn't pretty.
We walked to the bus stop though and once I napped for a while I was good to go once again. We headed into Changsha, this time to see the Provincial Museum, famous for the most well-preserved mummy in the known world. Very cool! It was found in the seventies and dates back about 2200 years to the Han dynasty. There were incredible artifacts to go along with the body and I was amazed by the musical instruments most. They had a number of string instruments and even tuning forks that were almost exactly in line with the western octave scale. Incredible. There was also an incredible display about calligraphy from different dynasties that was breathtaking.
I must admit that I have been somewhat spoiled by my previous travels to Rome and Israel. I saw some amazing sites and artifacts that were extremely old and decently well-preserved. I expected to find much of the same in China, given its long history, but so far had been disappointed. This was the jackpot. I could have spent 2 or 3 days in that place just staring at some of the stuff they found. So cool, and so very different from the items I saw in Jerusalem or Pompeii.
We took the bus back to Zhentou, made it back just in time for dinner with his aunt & uncle, and had one last night to spend with the family before taking off for home sweet home. A number of family members came to see us off the morning of the 5th and it made me sad to see them so upset saying goodbye. I guess when you only see your brother/nephew/cousin once every two years, it's a pretty big deal when he leaves. We took some pictures and then hopped a minibus to the Zhuzhou train station.
Traveling during the spring festival is awful. There's just no way around it. Train tickets are almost impossible to buy so I figured we'd have to suffer through the bus again. As it was, David's brother knew somebody who worked in the train station so he hooked us up with tickets... or so we thought. We were told that it would be 150 kuai for a hard sleeper back. That's a pretty good deal--conditions are good and you can sleep the day away. Well we arrived and some dude came out and said it was 200 a piece. We asked why, he said it's spring festival inflation. Fair enough, except that when he handed over the tickets and hopped out of the car, we saw that the tickets were for hard seats at a face value of 45 kuai. Ugh.
The hard seat section is just chaos. We got on to the bus and literally had to step over people sitting in the aisles to get to our seats. They sell standing room tickets that people buy and just sit in the middle of the floor. It was loud, it was dirty, it was filled with cigarette smoke, and it was hot. Not ideal, but at least we wouldn't have any traffic, right? Wrong. Our train was a special added train for the high traffic holiday week and thus had to move aside and let all scheduled trains pass whenever they needed. That meant that our 7 or 8 hour trip ended up taking about 13 hours. Add in the fact that the bathrooms were locked (not that I could reach them anyway) and it all made for a torturous ride. I read for a while but then I got a headache and couldn't focus.
We arrived back in Guangzhou at around 2am and tried to grab a taxi. Once again, they opportunistically wanted to charge exorbitant amounts to take us home. Uh uh. We went over to the buses and literally fought our way through crowds to get on the bus. There were police there regulating but it didn't stop a few people from throwing punches after getting elbowed out of line. Serious stuff. After we eventually got on, I stared out the window at all the familiar sights. It was nice to be home, that was for sure. I got back into my apartment and took a shower. Then I took another shower. Why? Because I could.
As I went to bed on my comfortable queen-sized mattress, I tried to reflect back. It wasn't the most fun vacation I ever had but it sure was the most interesting. I think I experienced things that very few westerners will ever get to see or do. That right there made it all worth it and I definitely feel like a lucky guy for having the opportunity. I have no idea how I can ever top that, but I will certainly try. Special shout-out to David for inviting me along and being such a great travel companion. We'll definitely have to do it again sometime.
And, finally, here is the photographic evidence of the madness. Enjoy!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03
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February 2, 2006
The Good Chairman
We got up bright and early and headed out to Shao Shan, birth place and hometown of Chairman Mao, architect of the People's Republic. I was extremely curious to see what it would be like to see this bit of Chinese history and I was not disappointed. We arrived to this main section of the Xiang Tan district of Hunan and were greeted by thousands of cars from all over China, parked anywhere and everywhere. It was just teeming with people.
We paid a small fee to have access to the bus system going between the various Mao sites and were on our way. We opted not to pay an extravagant amount to get into the park that held reproductions of Mao's various homes from around the country. Umm, 50 kuai to see something that Mao never even touched? No thanks. Instead we made our way to the main museum and the huge Mao statue. I was blown away by the hundreds of people who all seemed to be praying and bowing in front of this statue of the Chairman. It really seemed like they were worshipping some sort of deity.
I also found it interesting that people were setting off TONS of firecrackers and lighting candles by the statue, acting much in the same way that David and his brother did at the graves of their parents. First of all, Mao isn't even buried here--his body is in Tian'nanmen Square in Beijing! Second, these people have no relation to the guys whatsoever! Third, while Mao certainly did some incredible things for China, he is also responsible for the deaths of upwards of thirty million Chinese. Is that something to deify?
The museum itself was interesting but there was no English so I was definitely at the mercy of my imagination and of David's translation whims. Not surprisingly, there was no mention of the Great Leap Forward or the Cultural Revolution. I was tempted to buy some of the ridiculous trinkets available in the gift shop but I resisted. I wonder what Mao (or any of the founding members) would think about the fact that the museum is charging a huge admission and ridiculous prices for souvenirs bearing their faces. You can get anything with Mao on it and I mean anything. Mao keychain? Obviously. Mao sweater? Sure. Mao pen? Definitely. Computer generated picture of you standing next to Mao? You betcha. It was wild.
At lunch David and I had an incredible conversation about international politics, government shortcomings, economic globalization, the merits of civil disobedience, and constitutional ethics. Wow. There's nothing like a really smart guy to get the blood flowing in your brain. I was constantly amazed by David's knowledge and insight into matters that are generally misunderstood or misinterpreted by other Chinese I know. We chatted for hours, ate overpriced food, and generally had a ball.
Mao's actual house was a big let down but it was worth it just to see everyone else's response. Ohmigosh! Mao's brother's horse's stable! Wowzers! An old kitchen table! They went nuts and it was entertaining to see that sort of reaction to a bunch of non-descript items that had probably been replaced by imposters years ago. Maybe I'm just a bit of a cynic in this arena.
On our way out of the house and back to the town, I noticed a father holding up his son's legs so the kid could defecate right there in public. Once again, is this necessary? No one else seemed to mind but I just can't get over the use of any and every place as a restroom. What gives? There was definitely a bathroom within 50m. I find it hard to believe he couldn't have made it. And if it was an emergency, at least try to do it way off to the side or something! The funniest part is that at that point I didn't even flinch--just another area of the sidewalk to sidestep.
We were going to stay two nights in Shao Shan but at the end of the first day we realized we had pretty much done everything. So we booked a single night at a cheap hotel, negotiated the room-price down about 300 kuai, went out to a park, hiked up the hill, came down, had dinner, and watched a non-dubbed version of Mr. & Mrs. Smith back in our rooms. Good times.
The next day was pretty uneventful. Waking up late, we slowly made our way to the buses and headed back towards Zhuzhou. Naturally, a girl threw up on the bus right next to me during a particular bumpy section. Why me? Not so sure. But again, at that point it was all part of the experience and I sort of assumed something gross would happen during the ride. No big deal.
Back in Zhuzhou we attempted to find David's friend that he hadn't seen in 18 years. We knew her name and general location but had no other contact info. Kinda like searching for the proverbial needle but I enjoyed the ridiculousness of it. We were unsuccessful (no surprise there) but had fun wandering around. We went to a dumpling place for lunch and feasted on some tasty jiaozi. As usual, we drew a ton of stares and some conversation to go along with it.
David and I got sick of telling the same old story (I'm from America, we're coworkers, blah blah blah) so we started making up stories to tell people: David is my translator and I'm from Iceland; David is my tourguide and I'm from Finland; David is my half brother and we're taking a heritage trip; and last but not least, I am David's Israeli bodyguard. Ha!
Back to David's uncle's house, we spent the night watching Beijing Opera on TV and eating more youzi. It was somehow comforting to be back to the routine of washing your feet and all that. I could do without the cold rain, but it was nice to have the couple constantly feeding us again.
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January 31, 2006
Supersize Me?
I got up early once again to the sound of firecrackers in the near distance. Great. David and I chowed down on noodles yet again and took off soon after to Liu Yang, the capital city of some district or other about 40 minutes away. We hopped on a bus with a bunch of his other extended family members and settled in for a smooth ride. As usual, everyone on the bus was staring at me like I was some sort of alien. I was expecting it by this point but it didn't change the fact that it still feels a bit odd.
As I stared out at the beautiful countryside, I began to think about how I am the first foreigner that almost everyone in David's town had ever met. The crazy thing is not only that I'm the first, but that I will most likely be the *only* one as well. It's rare for anyone to move more than one town away and there are very very few foreigners that venture out to this area of Hunan--there's simply no reason to.
At first I began to feel quite a bit of self-imposed pressure because of this. I knew I was under the microscope and I wanted to make sure that I made a good impression and was a good embassador of the west, of the U.S., of Jews, of foreign teachers, and of the greater non-Han-Chinese world. I worried a bit about what I looked like, what I said, and how I acted. However, even only 5 or 6 days into it, I began to lose this feeling. I started to care less and to not worry about it, especially for those strangers who just stared at me quizzically for minutes at a time. I can't help it--it just got old.
We arrived in Liu Yang and I was pleased. It was a relatively clean city and the lack of garbage strewn everywhere was a welcome change. We hopped in a couple cabs to get to his cousin's apartment for lunch, who happens to be a geography teacher in the local high school. He must have been doing quite well for himself because the apartment was beautiful. It was there that I had my first meal in days that was eaten in a place with a floor and lighting that went beyond a single bulb hanging uncovered from the ceiling. They even had a computer!
We walked around for a while and went along the river that cuts the city in half. It was quite nice and I was excited about strolling around for a while longer but the rest of the crew wanted to go back and watch TV. This seemed ridiculous to me until I realized that most of them work so many hours that they rarely have time to sit around a veg around the boob-tube. I guess when you have such a long period of downtime, watching TV on the couch is like going to a resort. I had to rmeind myself--it's all relative. I tried to make the most of it though and learn some more Chinese characters. Almost every tv show has a transcription on the bottom of the screen of all text so if you have someone around who can help you, it's a good way to learn.
Meanwhile, I realized that I was starting to feel a bit like Morgan Spurlock from "Super Size Me." In a weird sort of way, I was putting my body through ridiculous and unnecessary conditions simply to see what would happen. Well, in rural Hunan, what happened is that I began to cough up flem on a regular basis, had black boogers coming out of my nose, had a minor soar throat every morning, and hadn't washed my body in almost a week. Interesting, but yet I did not have the option of ending this experiment early like Morgan did.
On a similar note, I realized that I was beginning to gravitate towards vegetables during every meal which is bizarre, given my track record as a meat-lover. The inner monologue thought process went something like this: "Hmmm, is that pig intestines? Tough call. Looks a heckuva lot like the smoked duck's feet but slightly smaller. It looks like that one might be another dog dish but I think I've had more than enough of that in the last week. Well that right there is definitely a carrot. Yeah, definitely a carrot. I guess I'll go with that." As it is, people save up lots of money in order to cook/eat meat during Spring Festival so they see eating vegetables as a sign of poverty or of being cheap. All I know is that I probably would have shelled out some serious cash for a whole dish of qing cai (green vegetables).
We headed back and went to bed on the early side, with plans to get up and head out to Chairman Mao's hometown. Excellent.
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January 30, 2006
Smoking Ducks
"Get up! Breakfast!!"
Not quite a rude awakening, but my body had not quite adjusted to the early morning schedule of being awake consistently before 9am. I'm spoiled, I admit it. After the same quick bowl of spicy noodles as yesterday, we were off yet again to visit another slew of aunts and uncles. Transportation was a new experience for this one--we didn't take a cab, nor we did we hop on a bus or motorcycle. Instead we hired a tricycle-like motorbike that had a covered back where we all huddled in. Not exactly high class, but it got the job done.
The first home we walked into felt like a trip back in time. The family was dressed in old ragged clothes. The house only had three rooms including the kitchen. The window-less walls were constructed of very thin wood that had multiple cracks and holes. The place was freezing and they burnt huge pieces of dried wood in the middle of the room... without any ventilation. The fire was thus a crucial source of light, heat, and incidentally a ton of smoke. The only electricity in the entire house was a single lightbulb hanging precariously in the main room.
I was loving my hot tea as I took in the scene around me. At one point I turned around and looked inside the kitchen. I thought it was wild/impressive that most other houses cooked without electricity or gas, but made use of charcoal. This place was not even that advanced! No, they were cooking over an open fire. In other words, when the flame got low, one of the guys had to go grab more wood or we weren't going to eat. Wow.
There were two fellows sitting around the fire with us that were completely baffled at David and I turning down their offer of cigarettes. Apparently they were smoking the best stuff available for the holiday season and couldn't fathom why we would not want to take advantage. Different strokes, ya know? Anyhow, they brought out the food and we chowed down. Lunch was good but even I ate quickly because I needed to get out of there. The smoke from the fire was starting to burn my eyes a bit and, despite the cold rain outside, I needed some fresh air. It worked out just fine though because we were off to visit another uncle's house at the completion of the meal.
The next house we went to was a bit more "modern," so to speak, but was still a far cry from the western world. Everything is relative though. I remember distinctly thinking that the "toilet" at David's aunt and uncle's house was gross but I started to yearn for it's pseudo privacy and luxury. I needed to go at this place and they directly me outside to a semi covered but completely door-less hole in the ground. I suppose this would be okay on some days, but when there is cold rain blowing in your face, the last thing you want to do is squat down and do your business. Just sayin'.
Inside was rather interesting though because not only were we using a roaring fire to warm ourselves, but the smoke was actually smoking a couple of ducks hanging from the ceiling. Again, I am just not in Kansas anymore. After about six cups of tea and a dozen youzi's, we were off once again. This time, we headed to David's sister's home for dinner. It was rather uneventful except for the fact that her kids' friends all came by to see me which was funny. They asked me (in English) how old I was and when I told them 25, they were shocked. Apparently they all figured me for 17 or 18. Geez--17 or 18? That puts me back in high school! I hope I've progressed at least a little past that.
The other notable thing from dinner was that we drank homemade baijiu at a healthy clip, regardless of the 75% alcohol content. Now THAT stuff was harsh. We walked outside to catch a couple motorcycles home and I told David I was going to take a leak around the corner (out of sight) in some random field. He was very surprised at this announcement and asked me why I would do that. Umm, well, I had to go, we were no longer by the house, and we were outside--didn't seem to be a big deal to me, especially given the amount of filth and garbage already on the ground. It didn't seem like a little urine in a field was going to hurt anyone but I guess I was wrong. I got the official denial on that request which definitely surprised me. Along the same lines, when we got home I tried to circumvent the bedtime washing rituals and everyone was horrified. How could I possibly go to bed without washing my feet?! Inconceivable!! I guess there are certain things that you just don't do (or have to do, as the case may be) even if they seem a bit illogical.
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January 29, 2006
Spring Festival
I woke up at around 7am to firecrackers going off right outside my window. Necessary? I think not. Sure they were fun last night but at 7 in the morning I would much rather be sleeping. Call me old fashioned. Anyhow, I rolled over and went back to bed for as long as I could (about an hour) until David woke me up for breakfast. After some tasty jiaozi, I witnessed a very interesting spectactle.
David's aunt brought out a small gong and began to sing some old chants. I was informed that she was performing a traditional operetta, of sorts, that was done in order to bring the family good luck in the new year. Apparently every family in the village was doing something similar at some point in the morning of the first day of the lunar year. I didn't understand a word but it was very interesting to listen to.
After she finished we went off with David's brother's whole family to pay respects to their grandfather. This time there was a marked grave, though it was hardly located in a cemetary. There were a handful of marked graves scattered all around a hill but it was also still functioning as farmland. I guess when space is at such a premium in the country, they wouldn't bother wasting a whole field simply for the deceased. After they finished the rituals of the incense, candles, burnt faked money, and firecrackers, we took off to one of his many uncles' house.
We had another feast equal to the one from the previous night and once again everyone ate in about 20 minutes. Wow! David and I remained at the table and proceeded to stuff ourselves silly. I mean, the food is there for a reason, right? The master of the house (a former Communist Party village secretary, a.k.a. VIP) attemoted to drown me in beer but he didn't quite know what he was getting himself into. We were 4 bottles in when he cut himself off and shook my hand. I thought it was pretty funny.
After the meal and some shmoozing, we took off to visit David's sister's husband's aunt. I'm not quite sure why she made the cut for David's family but I guess that's how it works out here. The lasy was very old but extremely spry and incredibly welcoming. After visiting so many houses in such a short time, I knew exactly what would happen when we arrived to the house. First, we would be given seats. Next, they would bring out hot tea. David and I would stand and receive the cup with two hands, thanking them profusely. There would be peanuts in shells, small clementine-like oranges, watermelon and/or sunflower seeds, and a fruit called a youzi (sort of like a grapefruit). We would drink our tea, they would refill our glass unnecessarily, and we would eat the snacks. At any point we would toss all shells, wrappers, and rinds directly on to the floor. In addition, there would always be some sort of pot in the middle of the floor with either embers or charcoal, covered by a wooden cage-like item. This allowed you to rest your feet or hands right on top of the clay pot, especially with an old stained blanket keeping the heat in. All in all, it was pretty comfortable!
As we walked back towards the town, I chatted with David a bit about his family. It became clear to me that he was the golden boy of the family and lauded as such. David was giving every single family member at least 100 kuai for "lucky money." Everyone else gave twenty or fifty. His brother was stuck in a dead-end farming job and he may or may not have a slight drinking problem. His sister is doing decently well in a factory job, but she won't see her incarcerated husband for another 15-20. I have no idea what happened there and certainly didn't pry. And then there's David who rose up out of the village to go to the best educational university in the country, located in the nation's capital. Wow.
We motorcycled back to the house and both napped for a while. I have to admit--I don't know what I'm going to do whenever I have to adjust back to a non-nap day. I love that aspect of Chinese culture! I woke up right as they were setting the table for dinner. There was a ridiculous amount of food yet again and almost all of it looked familiar. Yup--the exact dishes as last night. Well, at least they were good. Minus the dog. I wasn't crazy about that. There were two new cousins at the meal who were intent on cheers-ing me as many times as possible with the harsh-tasting baijiu. I almost brought down the house when I announced in Chinese, "In America we don't like this--it's difficult to drink--but we do like to drink beer!"
After dinner there was the exact same CCTV special on television (I had some serious deja vu) and the obligatory card playing. While it wasn't quite as ubiquitous as the previous night, there was another round of fireworks which were fun. The only problem is that I was beginning to lose some of my hearing. The kids loved setting off the firecrackers which I found to be simply annoying. The noise from the fireworks is understandable but just a loud noise? Ugh.
As I layed in bed listening to more fireworks, I thought a bit about how it can be draining being under the microscope at all times. I stopped caring about personal appearances given the complete lack of shower or running water, but I had the feeling that every person I met was assessing my general fashion and presentation. I guess I can't blame them. If I had only ever known white Jews my entire life, I suppose I'd be staring at the first latino I met. It's human nature.
Spoiler alert! I am going to post a link to my pictures from the trip, but if you want to be surprised about the rest of the trip, hold off on accessing them. If you don't care about that, enjoy!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03
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January 28, 2006
Xin Nian Hao!
I woke up cold (but not freezing). Reluctantly, I crawled out of my sleeping bag and put on my boots and jacket--the only articles of clothing I did not sleep in. David cheerfully called out that it was breakfast time and I tried to shake the sleepiness out of my eyes. On my way to the kitchen I made a quick pit stop out the back door to the outhouse once again. It looked just as I remembered it from last night, except during the day the chickens were very much awake and clucking away as I did my business. As I walked back inside I had to step over three chickens. Interesting way to start the day.
I walked into the kitchen and tried not to think about how it was a germ's heaven. There was a big ol' fish flopping around on the uneven concrete floor, waiting to become part of dinner. Wow. David informed me that his Aunt and Uncle both had been preparing food for days to make the night's festival dinner a huge feast. He wasn't kidding--I looked around and saw various meat, fish, and vegetable dishes all sitting around on various counters, waiting to be heated up again for the evening meal.
Most dishes were "covered" by a sort of plastic cage to prevent any (bigger) bugs from hanging out on the food. Of course this doesn't prevent any bacteria from hanging out. I wondered--how long had that chicken dish been sitting out on the table, completely exposed to the elements? Of course, that was the least of my concerns. I was worried a bit more about potentially embarassing moments at dinner a la Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. There is a scene at the very beginning where the female lead doesn't want to eat the bowl of mush in front of her. Jones turns to her and says like, "That's more than these people eat in a week. Eat it." I knew that I would just have to eat everything they put in my bowl in order to save face.
As we chatted over a bowl of noodles with mushrooms, the subject of money came up and they asked me (through David) about my salary. Now I am on the low end of westerner's salaries here in China (some people make ten times what I do per month) but I am not hurting by any means. Given what they make out in the countryside (maybe a tenth of what I do), I felt thoroughly embarassed telling them. I mentioned this to David and he told me that I should not feel that way because a) the subject of money and salary is very common in China and b) they expect an American to making serious money here. That's all well and good but I still felt bad.
After breakfast, David and I took a walk around the town. It was more or less one main street with a couple of sidestreets, all surrounded by sprawling countryside--a far cry from GZ. As we ambled over to his old high school, we chatted about education in the China. I'm not sure how I didn't really know this, but every student starting after primary school has to pay for their schooling. It costs between 3000-4000 kuai a year (upwards of $500) which is an absolute fortune to most, especially those outside the cities. It is a double-edged sword as well because if you can't afford school, it is absolutely impossible to get a good job, which means your kids will also not be able to go to school. A vicious cycle, no? It made me appreciate the American educational system, at least to the point that all kids are entitled to some form of free education. That is an asset that a great deal of Americans overlook.
The Chinese education shortcomings may come in a distant second to the issue of waste management. Walking around the town, I was shocked by the sheer volume of garbage that was everywhere. There were a couple of public wastebaskets, but I don't think anyone would ever use it unless they were standing directly next to it at a time of need. People take their rubbish and simply toss it to the ground. Everyone does it and no one comes around cleaning it up. This is incredible to me--how do people accept living under such conditions? I guess I must be wrong, but it doesn't seem like it would be that difficult to organize *some* system of trash collection or removal. I don't know.
On a more entertaining note, virtually every third store as we walked along sold fireworks. Apparently China goes nuts on New Year's Eve with fireworks and at midnight every single house sends up a huge display. I was getting quite excited! As we reached the high school we found the gates were closed, but David finagled our way in with a little sweet talking to the guard. I think the dude was just mesmerized by the presence of a foreigner, but who knows. David gave me the dime tour and it was interesting. There were mostly new buildings and fields, but he managed to point out a few relics from the past, including the old bronze class bell that still hangs from a tree in the center of campus. Very cool.
We went back to the house and entertained a number of extended family members who were coming over. They seem surprised by me but not entirely overwhelmed. David also told me that to show my respect to the family, I should give an envelope of "lucky money" to his aunt and uncle. I was planning on giving enveloped to all of the children (as is Chinese tradition), but David said it was unnecessary. Okay, I wasn't going to argue.
Once David's brother came over, we all set out to visit the graves of his parents. They loved in a small village, of sorts, right near the town, but it was too far to walk. We flagged a taxi and were off to the middle of the countryside, about 15 minutes away. The village itself consisted of about 80 people who had lived in the same place for about 4 generations. I was looking for a cemetary, but that was foolish of me. We walked along through the fields and eventually came upon two unmarked mounds of earth, covered in wild grass. The two of them lit a bunch of incense and two candles. They stood in silence for a moment and then set fire to a pile of fake money, an old custom that supposedly offers up the currency for use by the deceased in the afterlife. They also lit a whole bunch of firecrackers, both to let their parents know they were there and also to ward off any evil spirits. I was dying to take a picture but I knew that just wouldn't be appropriate.
Next we walked down to the house where David was born.It had been abandoned for several years and was clearly falling apart, but it was still quite a sight. There were three large rooms and a small kitchen, all on the banks of a small stream and endless fields. He pointed out where he used to farm in the summer and where he took his first girlfriend. I was amazed to see the history of his family, but more to note how far he'd come. David was born in a small village of 50 people (at the time), went to high school in the neighboring town, failed the college entrance exam once, aced it the second time 'round, went to Beijing Normal University (his first time leaving Hunan), and graduated to a job at one of the best high schools in the entire country. Incredible.
There were no cabs around so to get back, David hired two motorcycles. I was a little reticent about this but I didn't have much of a choice (don't worry, Anastasia--we only popped a wheelie twice.... mom, that was a joke). Given the economy of the region, motorcycle is easily the most popular form of transportation, with cars and buses a very distant second. I have to admit--it was pretty cool to buzz around the country roads on a bike like that.
After a short nap, I woke up to a house full of people. There were about 20 people crowded into the main room that was set up with two large tables. The big feast began as soon as I got out of bed and it was game on. I was getting all comfortable for a long, Jewish-style feast of magificent proportions. I expected long stories, jokes, political chatter, and general family banter. I was sorely mistaken. I figured for about 3 hours of eating but everyone but David and I was done in about 15-20 minutes. Wow. The food was quite good though which more than made up for the awful baijiu (liuyang he) that I was forced to imbibe.
After the quick dinner, it was back to sitting around playing cards and watching television. CCTV, the national network, does a huge new year's TV special and apparently everyone looks forward to this for months. I thought it was needlessly gaudy and over the top, but waddaya gonna do. Around 11pm we went out and bought some more fireworks to set off. I felt that I should contribute so for 100 kuai (around $12) I purchased one of the largest ones available. Excellent. Midnight rolled around and I was not disappointed. There were fireworks *everywhere*, 360 degrees around. It was wild! The factory down the road put up the best effort and after we finished ours, we stood in awe at the volume of fireworks lighting up the night sky.
After the big display we had a midnight snack of noodles and dumplings. Yum! People began to go to bed though so once again I went through the bedtime rituals. As I sat waiting for my feet to dry I could only think of one thing-- it had been almost 4 days since I showered. Usually this would bother me but no one else had either so it just didn't seem like a problem. I drifted off to bed listening to fireworks off in the distance.
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January 27, 2006
On the Road (Yet) Again
David and I woke up relatively late and packed up. We had some last minute errands to do before finally heading to his hometown on the eastern side of Hunan Province. We bought some red envelopes (crucial for giving "lucky money" to friends and relatives for the holiday), got our boots shined (crucial for getting rid of annoying oil stains), got some breakfast (crucial for keeping me happy), and walked to the train station (crucial for... catching our train).
The ride itself was pretty non-descript. At this point I am getting accustomed to long, uncomfortable train rides filled with smoke on the inside and beautiful scenery on the outside. The only thing of note happened in the Jishou train station before we left. As we sat in the waiting room for our train, and older man and his (presumed) grandson were sitting right across from us. Apparently the little kid needed to relieve his bladder and the grandfather decided that the floor of the waiting room was a good spot for that. This, I simply do not understand. There was a nice new W.C. about 30 meters across the room for free. Why cover the floor in urine?! And more to the point, why right across from me?! This makes me wonder--when did public urination cease to be acceptable in the United States? Was it back in the 19th century or much later? Anybody with insight?
We arrived in Zhuzhou, a large city about 1 hour east of Changsha at around 10pm. The city functions at the main rail and bus hub of Hunan so I was surprised to find the train station in such a run-down state. Perhaps they are constructing a brand new one? I don't know. Anyhow, it was here that David's older brother and his brother's friends met us with a minivan. I knew it was going to happen but I still thought it was odd to see David meet his brother. They hadn't seen each other in a little over two years and not only was there no embrace, there wasn't even a handshake! I couldn't help thinking that I must seem bizarre to them when I hug a friend hello or goodbye that I will see the next day.
As we walked out of the train station to the van, I couldn't help noticing that everyone stared and that there was not a single English letter to be seen--surprising to me for such a large city. Anyhow, we hopped into the vehicle and started off on the last leg of the journey. David guessed it would take about an hour on the road to reach his uncle's hometown, where we would be staying for the next 7 or 8 days. I wished I could see the scenery outside but the second we left the city limits it was virtually pitch black. I'm glad that the driver seemed to know the road because otherwise I could picture us driving straight into a ravine.
Though I couldn't make much out, I could tell that we were most definitely in farmland. There were open fields for miles in every direction, broken up only by the faded lights of small towns off in the distance. We passed through a number of small towns, each punctuated by one small strip functioning as "main street," with a few shops and a couple people milling about. David informed me we were about to arrive in Zhentou, our destination. His brother's friend let us off on the street and David led us through to the actual house. It was dark and there were no lights, but I could feel that we had left pavement and that we were traversing a rather muddy path. Good thing I shined my boots up before I left? Anyhow, my eyes began to adjust right as David pointed out the wooden house in front of us--home.
The house itself was of a decent size, situated between two slightly newer-looking houses that all seemed to have been built due to their proximity to a small pond. I walked in and was slightly taken aback. I'm not sure what I expected to find, heading out into rural Hunan, but "real" China is what I found. The two-level house was built by David's uncle's hands (incredibly impressive!). It had dirty stone and concrete floors, thin walls that allowed the wind in, only two rooms with electricity, three single light bulbs hanging precariously from the ceiling in three of the rooms, clay pots with charcoal used for heating, various smoked meats and fish hanging from the ceiling, and a complete lack of indoor plumbing or running water. Wow.
We were welcomed into the living room and given hot tea right away as well as some basic snacks like peanuts. Again, there were no embraces but they were clearly excited to see David and completely befuddled by my presence. Two things struck me about the house as I sat listening to them all chatter away in the local dialect-- one, there was a very old faded picture of Mao on the wall. It's one of those pictures that clearly deifies the guy and makes him seem like an absolute saint. Two, despite having only a bare minimum of electricity or modern converniences, they somehow managed to hook up a small tv with digital cable. I couldn't help thinking that maybe they should have invested that money in some insulation for the walls or perhaps an indoor toilet, but I guess these ideas were a bit too progressive.
I was exhausted and David could see it, so he showed me where we'd be sleeping. David and I were to share a small single "bed" in a storage room attached to his Aunt & Uncle's room. The bed itself was more or less a thin mattress placed on top of some wood but it was better than the floor, so be it. I was getting ready to just crawl into my sleeping bag right then and there but David informed me that there were a few things to do that were mandatory before turning in:
1. Wash your face. Apparently it is considered not only rude but extremely unhealthy to go to bed without at least running some water over your face with a washcloth. Umm, okay.
2. Take a leak. David took me out the back door and showed me the facilities, a full on outhouse connected to the barn-like structure where the chickens hang out. I couldn't help thinking that this might just be the grossest toilet I'd ever used but I tried to let the thought pass.
3. Wash your foot. This one was new to me. Apparently during the winter months, people in rural Hunan soak their feet in hot water before going to sleep, in order to get the body as warm as possible. Where could we get hot water? Well it turns out that all you have to do is get water from the well, pour it into a holding area built into the kitchen counter, and wait for the charcoal underneath to boil it. Then you take a ladle and fill up a smaller bucket to soak with. Of course after you soak your feet you have to dry them so you put your feet on top of the cover of the clay pot warming-devicein the living room and wait for nature to work it's dehydrating magic.
All in all, going to sleep takes a long time! I completed the tasks and went to sleep, listening to David and his family catch up in the near distance.
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January 26, 2006
Huang Si Chiou
The early bird gets the worm... or a bowl of hot noodles, in this case. We were up and at 'em bright and early to get in a day trip which seemed interesting. Huang Si Chiou is about an hour away from Feng Huang and is the former capital of the entire Feng Huang district. Although it has not been an important place for some time, it holds quite a bit of historical interest which appealed to both David and me.
Off we went, on a very small minibus to the ancient city. In order to get to the old section we had to go through the newer section which happened to be holding its county fair. David explained that in rural areas of Hunan, every town holds a county fair about twice a month which basically entails an enormous live market, a few token rides for the kids, and people hawking every good imaginable. When you don't have a local "Park & Shop" supermarket, this is apparently the next best thing. It was impossible for the bus to get through the hordes of people so we had to walk through the mass. My first thought was it was an H5N1 extravaganza just waiting to happen. Everywhere I looked there were people holding multiple chickens, ducks, and geese. Oh boy.
I asked David if they were aware of bird flu and he said that they most likely knew about it but were unconcerned. I could see his point--if your entire livelihood is based around selling chickens or eggs, you are going to be unlikely to get rid of your stock. Obviously this can have dramatic consequences but for these people it's the only option if they want to survive. Sad, but true.
As we approached the ancient city, I could see immediately that it was extremely rundown. There was a ton of garbage everywhere in the new town and it continued right up to the old section. We payed for our tickets and an old man took us in as tourguide. I was surprised to see that there were actually people living inside. It would be like people living inside Monticello--it would never happen in America. David asked the tourguide for me and he actually told us that the government had planned to have everyone out by 2004 in order to make the place more of a tourist attraction but that resistence from the residents had made it difficult. I suppose I'd be a little annoyed about being told to leave my home as well. I don't know if the government has given up but the relocation and refurbishment plans still appear to be years away from completion.
All I can say about the old town is that it was dirty. Extremely dirty. Chickens, dogs, and goats all roam the old streets doing their business wherever they see fit. People blatantly toss their garbage out their front doorway and the wind creates garbage drifts. We passed by a kid about 7 or 8 who was urinating in the middle of the street, apparently unaffected by the presence of tourists or a foreigner. Gross.
The garden outside the west gate was quite nice, but apparently used to be one of the best in all of Hunan Province. What happened, you might ask. Well, during the Great Leap Forward of '59-'61, residents were forced to chop down all of the 1000+ year old trees to create fuel for the fires that were burning all of the local metal down to fit quotas. These deposits proved to be useless in the end so the trees were destroyed for nothing. Tragic. There were some very interesting rock formations though that all had stories, some about dragons, some about old magistrates, and some about rival clans which were very cool.
After the tour we walked back into the new section to find a restaurant and toilet. The fair was dying down but there were still hundreds and hundreds of people around. After about fifteen minutes of searching, we finally found one restaurant. As we walked in though you could see that everything in the place was covered in some sort of grime. The chairs, tables, dishes, and walls all had some sort of grossness on it and I decided that I needed to put my foot down on this one. As I gently vetoed the place David responded that he was very glad, that it seemed too dirty. Thank god.
So we hopped on a minibus to head back to the comforts of Feng Huang. On the bus there was a woman with her child who was carrying an enormous vat of cooking oil. I didn't think too much of it until we went around a sharp turn and the oversized jug spilled everywhere. It spread so fast that despite my being six rows away, it still got all over one of my boots. That was the least of my concerns, though. The two-inch pool of oil on the bus was creating the most awful stench that was unescapable. We opened up all the windows but there was nothing that could overshadow the smell. The woman herself was covered all the way up to her waist as she tried to salvage what was left and soon began dry-heaving. Before I knew it she had both her head and her child's head out the window so that both of them could vomit. This lasted for another 10 minutes until we pulled into the bus station. Gross.
As I slid off the bus back on to solid ground, I was struck by the thought that I never imagined I would miss the cleanliness of Guangzhou. Though I consider GZ a pretty dirty city, it now seemed like the complete opposite. Compared to Huang Si Chiou I'd eat off the GZ sidewalk! It was nice to get back to the old city in Feng Huang for the afternoon. We ate a huge lunch at the same place we had dinner the night previous and then wandered around for a bit by the old city walls. One thing that was starting to bother me was the incessant horn-honking. Everywhere we went there were cars, buses, and trucks all blasting their horns at all times. Even when there was nobody on the road except for a single pedestrian 50 meters away, a driver would lean on the horn until he passed the guy. Such noise pollution!
We decided to head back to Jishou for the night so we went back to the bus station yet again. I shook my head at the huge oil stain on the ground from our other bus and got on to a much cleaner minibus. I thought it would be smooth sailing until a man got on to the bus with two live chickens... and a goat. I thought it might have been a big joke or something but no--this was not the twilight zone, the guy was actually transporting these things back to Jishou. And lucky me! I got to sit next to him. He was the last one on and the only available seat was across the aisle, so I got to share leg room with a goat. Hey, at least it didn' t spill oil on me or throw up. It was actually pretty quiet for the entire ride!
Jishou was a welcome sight and I was glad to have a home to return to. We dropped our stuff off at Lisa's apartment, walked back downtown, found a restaurant, and ordered up a feast. Midway through the meal some random girl came over and asked in English if she could join us. Sure! David and I sort of ended up telling a lot of inside jokes as this girl practiced her English with us, but we were exhausted from a long day and just needed to unwind a bit. She seemed entertained by us and wasn't put off by our ridiculousness at all. Good for her! After a long meal replete with good conversation and about dozen pots of tea, we retired back to the apartment and went to bed.
Posted by awolfe at 3:33 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 25, 2006
Feng Huang
I woke up at around 8:30am as I tried to bury myself under as many blankets as possible. Hunan was cold; Not exactly Boston-cold, but it was enough to make me want some indoor heat. Alas, it was not meant to be. After some piping-hot noodles, we began to explore the old town. It was somewhat reminiscent of my trip to Wu Zhen during the October break, but this was much nicer. I suppose the lack of people really helped in that regard. Wu Zhen was overflowing with people and simply stifling, but Feng Huang had a total of about 8 tourists, including David and me.
We checked out the big temple inside the old section and it was pretty interesting. It was a Buddhist temple but it was a bit unlike any of the others that I have seen. Who did it differ? I suppose the flashing neon lights around the Buddha are a good place to start. There was also a stage area for some sort of performance, though we were not lucky enough to see anything live. I'm not sure why it was so different but the place definitely had a weird vibe to it.
The temple was right next to one of the old fortress walls, which was very cool to climb. I guess the city used to be plagued by bandits coming down from the mountains so the wall was necessary for protection. After climbing down from the wall we made out way to the river and hired a small boat for a ride. The water was calm though quite shallow in areas, which created some bumps over rocks. David tried talking to our "driver" but apparently his accent was too thick to understand. I told David, "Welcome to my world."
On our way to a small island down stream, we passed by women doing laundry, men and women cleaning carrots and radishes, and other boats being used for basic transportation. I somehow can't imagine using my little gondola-like boat to get to work in the morning. What a different world!
Once on the island we were invited into one of the small houses (read- shack) for some snacks. David said this was very common and that we should sit down around the fire and enjoy whatever they gave us. We had a bunch of oranges and then got to have some sort of rice pancake concoction that got cooked right in front of us on the fire. They were extremely curious about how I ended up on a small island in the middle of rural Western Hunan and David was quite happy to explain for me. I'm glad that he was there because otherwise I would have been completely frustrated to not get beyond "I am an English teacher from America." The whole experience felt very primal due to the surroundings and conditions, which was pretty cool.
Speaking of primal, I decided that it was time to get in touch with my Cro-Magnon roots and let my facial hair grow. The weather, conditions, and lack of razer meant that it was time to see just how silly I would look with a beard. And besides, people were staring at me anyway so a little scruff wouldn't change that.
After the boat ride we did a little hike around the surrounding area and came across the grave of Shen Congwen, a famous Chinese author. There happened to be a very old man walking through the area who explained to David the significance of the poem on the head stone. Though mystified by the presence of a white guy, the man described that the story tells of puzzle in the poem. Apparently anybody who can write (appropriate) additional lines to the poem would be entitled to a high level position in the government, commensurate with the number of lines. He boasted that he could come up with three new lines but that he was too old to up and move to the provincial capital. I got a chuckle out of that one.
Hiking back to the main part of the old city, we passed by a number of families on the outskirts who all stared at me without blinking. The older folks just looked but the younger kids all yelled out "Laowai" (literally, 'old-outsider') and "Hello" incessantly. I can't say I was all that psyched about their response to a newcomer.
After dinner (a super cheap, yet delicious meal) David decided that he wanted to get a foot massage. This seemed a bit out of the blue, but he explained that his feet hurt after walking around all day and that it seemed like a nice way to spend the evening. Well, who am I to argue? So off we went, in search of a foot massage parlor.
Eventually we stumbled across a combination hairdresser/massage place that had what David wanted. Now I'm not crazy about getting any sort of massage from a total stranger but I certainly wasn't going to kill the party. I got my first (and only other) foot massage in Shanghai over the National Day holiday and I was pleasantly surprised so I figured this would be enjoyable. It was sort of funny right off the bat because they thought that David was my interpreter and that I was Russian. Russian?! I think not. A guy in Changsha thought I was Italian and that David was my tourguide. Ha!
We started off by soaking our feet in really hot water. In Shanghai the water had a bunch of flowers and herbs in it but I'm pretty sure this bucket had straight-up H2O. Hmmm. Next our two masseuses came in to start up. They seemed a bit shocked by my presence and their response was to giggle uncontrollably. I guess white skin and a recently-trimmed jewfro must be cause for laughter in this country. David was trying to figure out what they were saying to each other but I guess they also had a very thick local dialect that was unintelligible. We did figure out that they were laughing about the hair on my legs but I wasn't about to shave my legs for these women so whatever.
Once they really started going, it hurt. Not the good kind of hurt that you know will feel really nice later, but just a regular ol' hurt. I asked David what I should say to them to tell them I was in pain and he said, "Owww!" was always useful. Thanks--very helpful. Eventually he did say to them in Mandarin that she was hurting me to which she responded, "Wo zhi dao," or "I know." I laughed at that but couldn't help thinking, "Is she just trying to damage the foreigner for kicks?" Eventually she finished on my feet and the pain subsided. I went to grab my jacket but she grabbed it from me before I could put my arms in the sleeves. Apparently we were not quite finished.
Both masseuses went to work on a back rub, arm massage, and full leg massage. This was nice at first but then it started to get increasingly uncomfortable. She started at my ankles but then started going up to my calves, my knees, and then my quads. Ummm, okay, what kind of massage is this?! I was starting to think that we had gotten ourselves into quite a predicament but just when she was about to really cross the line, she went back giving a back rub. All I can say is, I was about half a second and five centimeters away from grabbing my stuff and getting the hell out of there. That was enough excitement for me so we paid and ran out in search of safer company. The bar down the street was a much better way to pass the time and before we knew it it was time to head back and go to bed.
Posted by awolfe at 11:45 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 24, 2006
A REAL Foreigner's Discount
We woke up late which was just fine by me. To me vacation is generally about waking up late. David and I seem to differ in this respect, at least in our definitions of late. I had a chuckle to myself as we discussed what time to get up. I said something along the lines of, "Well we might as well get up a little late tomorrow since we don't need to catch the bus until the afternoon." David responded, "I agree. How about 8:30am?" Hmm. I guess 8:30am is late if you're used to getting up at 6:00am, but 8:30am is most decidedly NOT early in the world of Ari these days.
After a lazy morning exploring the city, we went to a Sichuan restaurant for lunch. For a measly 35 kuai (not per person--total!) we had all you can hot pot and stuffed ourselves. For those of you unfamiliar with hot pot, it's just what it sounds like. You get a big pot of broth that gets heated (usually by a gas burner) and then you put in a bunch of raw meat and vegetables that gets cooked right there. It's messy, it's spicy, and it's delicious. The place I like to go to in Guangzhou is really good and generally costs between 50-70 kuai a person depending on how much you order. I was like a kid in a candy store at this place because you could just keep getting more plates of raw stuff to throw in the pot. I can't say it's the most sanitary thing around (raw meat just sitting out all day?) but it sure tasted good!
After lunch we accompanied Li Can to a local hairdresser so she could get her hair done. Apparently she goes to one of the few upscale places in town and she is definitely known there. We walked in and they did not seem surprised to see foreigners at all. I guess Lisa and Megan also frequent this establishment, both because it's good and because they get a ridiculous discount for being outsiders. The owners immediately sat us down, offered us hot tea, and had a couple of employees give us back massages. I figured that since I was there, I might as well take advantage so I gave them the go-ahead to give me a haircut. My 'fro needed a reduction and I had no idea when I'd see a barber again so I put myself at the mercy of some dude with long dyed hair. Eh, why not.
Well this guy was a pro. He spent a good 20 minutes just washing my hair, which seemed pretty excessive to me, but what do I know. Then he went to work on cutting it... with scissors! I didn't even know men could get a haircut without clippers! I felt like royalty but I also felt a little lazy. I mean, I am perfectly capable of washing my own hair. And my hair certainly does not warrant more than 30 minutes attention. It's a jewfro. It's not rocket science. I couldn't help thinking, shouldn't they save their energy for something else? Anyhow, since I have white skin, I also got the big discount and my 40-kuai haircut cost only 5. I'll take it. Back in GZ I joke about the foreigner's discount when people jack up the prices for foreigners, but this was just the opposite. Excellent!
After a couple more errands and a few snacks, David and I caught a bus to Feng Huang, a town about an hour away. I slept for the whole ride there so when I stepped off the minibus at around 7:30pm, I took a look around and was pleased. First impressions: Feng Huang is cleaner, smaller, quieter, older, and cozier than Jishou. We walked right to the old section of the town and wandered the narrow cobblestone streets to find a hostel. Lucky for us, it was still a few days before Spring Festival so the place was absolutely empty. We got a nice hostel with a room overlooking the river for only 50 kuai. We dropped our stuff and found a restaurant on one of the bridges that also overlooked the river. It was beautiful and the food was incredible. It's amazing how good some beef and veggies can be, especially when you're hungry. I also sampled Chang Ching, one of the local beers, which wasn't half bad. It's no Zhujiang (my local brew in GZ) but it was tasty enough. After looking around a bit more, it was back to the hostel to sleep.
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January 23, 2006
Jiggity Jishou
Up and at 'em! We woke up bright and early and packed up right away. Before heading to the bus station, David's cousin took us to a local noodle place for breakfast that is supposed to be one of the best around. My first impression of Changsha in the light is that it seemed like a colder version of GZ somewhere on the outskirts. It was dirty, crowded, and undergoing a ton of construction... yet still had some sort of charm to it. Maybe I'm just getting used to this sort of thing and it felt like home.
The one thing that differed was that people were staring at me left and right. While I suppose this does still occur in Guangzhou, I think it's becoming rare. That, or I'm just so accustomed to it at home that I don't notice it. Either way, people were rubbernecking all over the place to get a glance of the foreigner in their haunt and I felt a bit odd. Trying my best to be unphased, I wolfed down the bowl of noodles and we hopped on a local bus to catch our long-distance bus to Jishou, an eight hour ride from the provincial capital.
The bus station was absolute chaos. This was one situation where I was ecstatic to be with a native speaker because I can only imagine how difficult it would have been for me to figure out just where to go and how hard to shove back. Upon entering the main waiting room of the station everyone had to put their bags through a safety check x-ray machine. It was a bit ridiculous though because the conveyor belt was going at about 95 miles per hour so I can't imagine they were actually looking at the contents of the bags. Sure enough, once I pushed and elbowed my way through to the other side, I saw that the monitor wasn't even on. Regardless, they still stopped David and made him unpack all his stuff. I don't for this to seem narcissistic but I think it was because they saw us together and wanted me to hang around the office longer to examine me.
Once we figured out what to doorway to crowd around, we waited for the announcement and then fought our way out with a bunch of other people. Once again, the actual ticket reservation went out the window and we weren't on the type of bus we paid for, nor did we get to sit in the better seats that we had reserved. Whatever--as long as we get there on time, I was going to be happy. The ride itself was smooth and traffic-less which was great... minus the fact that the driver was honking at any vehicle that came within 50 meters of us. It seemed pretty excessive, but who am I to judge?
We stopped for lunch at some random spot in the middle of absolutely nowhere. I was wondering why we had gone so far off the highway to this place and David informed me that they probably had a deal with the owners. Ahhh, of course. Somehow I should have seen that one coming a kilometer away. I was a bit skeptical about the kitchen that probably hadn't been cleaned since it was built but it was the only game in town so I was a go. It turns out that the food was really really good. So cheap too! We got a beef dish, a pork, a tofu, a vegetable, and rice all for the low low price of 20 kuai--ten per person. Not too shabby at all.
We got back on the bus and went through a toll to get back on the highway where we were stopped by the police. I'm not sure why but I immediately became nervous. I think I have an irrational fear anytime I'm in a vehicle that gets stopped by the authorities. David told me that it was s.o.p. to make sure the driver had the right license and certification to carry passengers (and wasn't overloaded). I asked what would happen if he wasn't legit and David said he would probably just buy the guy off. I wonder how often that happens in the states. Somehow I can't see any staties in the U.S. accepting bribes but that's probably naive.
We were fine though and drove off back onto the highway. The road headed west into the mountains of the edge of the province and I stared out at the scenery for the next couple of hours, drifting in and out of sleep. We finally arrived in Jishou around 5pm and proceeded to track down Li Can, friend of Lisa and Megan--the two PiA-ers holding it down there at Jishou Teacher's College. Though both girls were out of town, Lisa managed to hook it up and let us stay at her place.
First impressions of Jishou: It's a small, dirty Chinese city surrounded by incredible natural beauty. The mountains bordering on Hunan and two other provinces are stunning and Jishou has a front row seat for them. The city is also majority non-Han Chinese making it majority minority (heh). The Tujia people are extremely visible with their trademark bright colored clothes and woven baskets on their backs. The Miao people are also very common making Jishou a much more diverse city than anywhere I've been so far except for maybe Kunming. The city is also on the poorer side which can you can see by the dirty streets and charcoal burning for heat. All in all, the city screams of "real" China.
Li Can, friend of the PiA-ers and student in the city, was extremely friendly and excited to show us her city. She was extremely inquisitive and bubbly which made for a very welcoming reception. We did our introductions sipping tea and warming our hands and feet by Lisa's mahjong table. As is common in the area, Lisa put a four-way heater in the center of the floor under the table and draped a long clothe over the surface of the table to keep the heat in. I didn't think it would work very well, but I warmed up right away! I marveled at the size of Lisa's apartment (am I the only PiA-er sharing an apartment?!) as we discussed dinner options. David and I both eat quite a bit so we suggested any establishment known for the size of their portions.
Li Can took us the "pointing place," a restaurant they nicknamed by the fact that you order by pointing to any number of small dishes sitting out waiting to be eaten. It's nice because since the dishes aren't very big, they are constantly making more and the food never gets cold. Plus you can get a huge variety of dishes which is just fine by me. I think we selected about a dozen of them and sat down to feast. The food was great and did not disappoint. Real Hunan food is not only NOTHING like going to a Hunan restaurant in the U.S., but it's even quite different from the Hunan restaurants I've been to in Guangzhou. It's spicy as all hell and I love it.
Walking around after dinner, Li Can pointed out a number of advertisements with a couple of foreigners modeling. Who was it? None other than Megan Cox, PiA-er extraordinaire! I was psyched to see that Megan (who I've actually never even met!) had become such a celebrity. Next stop was a wholesale liquor store that doubles as a private bar for friends. The PiA girls have made friends with a certain Mr. Tian, the owner and proprietor, who enjoys selling liquor and talking with foreigners. Apparently he is quite a V.I.P. in the city and kept feeding us free drinks (imported beer and gin and tonics--brilliant!) while talking about his business and life. It was here that I found out there are a grand total of 5 foreigners in the entire city of Jishou (pop. ~2,000,000)... and that Mr. Tian is buddies with all of them. Very cool.
He then took us to the public bar he owns and instructed the bartenders to "take care" of us. It sure pays to know people in high places! The bar was a pretty fun place, though sadly empty being a weeknight and all. At some point after throwing darts for a while (which I really missed), I was invited up to dance behind the bar. Perhaps I should clarify that--I was dragged by several bartenders and told that it was my turn to dance on the ministage (with a pole and everything--umm, sketchy?) behind the bar. I wasn't going alone though so I grabbed Li Can and her friend to join me. I had no qualms about making a fool of myself here because I was never going to see these people again. So basically, it was really fun!
Mr. Tian then proceeded to drive us home in his pimped out Chrysler 4x4. I thought we'd go right to bed but Li Can came over and we chatted into the wee hours of the morning. I really enjoy hearing the Chinese perspective on things and Li Can was super excited to talk about education, love, and the meaning of life. Excellent! I also got to know David even better through this which was a bonus. I can say with complete confidence that David breaks the mold for most Chinese. He is unmarried by choice, constantly questions the status quo, and enjoys considering western philosophy right along with the eastern. I went to bed at about 3:30am thinking about how amazing it is to travel and meet fascinating new people.
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January 22, 2006
Off we go, into the wild blue yonder
It was time. I had been thinking about this Spring Festival trip for quite a long time and I was excited to get it started. I met David, my friend and coworker, outside by the back gate at 6:30pm for a quick dinner before heading to the bus station. We had a 9pm bus so there was no rush, but for some reason I ate quickly anyway. I wasn't quite sure what to expect with a sleeper bus. How exactly do they fit people in? Would it be comfortable? Would I be too tall??
The answer would arrive in an unexpected way. We waited around at the bus station (which was crowded but not quite as bad as the train station last break) and at 8:45pm they announced that there was a delay. Apparently there was some sort of traffic accident and there would be a minor delay. No surprise there. I figured 45 minutes should do it, right? Not so much. At 11:45pm some random guy yells out in Chinese, "Anybody who wants to go to Changsha, follow me!"
With an invitation like that, who could resist? We grabbed our stuff and followed the guy. We moved to a different part of the station and proceeded to sit down and wait a while longer. Midnight rolls around and a bus arrives. In true unorganized-China fashion, tickets went out the window and it was a free for all. Everyone pushed and shoved to get on to the vehicle in order to secure a seat. We were supposed to be in the beds right up front but instead we ended up in the very last seats at the back of the bus. I guess I will have to wait for my first sleeper bus experience because this was just a regular coach bus.
We were slightly miffed, but whatever. We had to get to Changsha by 4pm the next day in order to catch our bus to Jishou so we'd take any mode of transportation that worked. I was exhausted by the time we set off so I tried to sleep immediately. This proved to be more difficult than I thought because of the lack of legroom. Sitting straight up, I had to put my knees off to the side and they cramped up pretty quickly. Eventually I drifted off with the hopes that I'd wake up in Changsha.
I woke up sporadically throughout the night but never enough to really see where we were or what was going on. When I finally opened my eyes and let in the clouded sunlight, I saw that we were at a standstill. What was happening? Bumper to bumper traffic was happening. For as far as the eye could see in both directions, there was bumper to bumper traffic of cars, vans, trucks, and buses. Oy. I knew the ride should have taken about 11 hours so I was trying to gauge what the delay would be.
My estimate kept getting thrown off by the fact that we moved along in stop and go traffic for the next *twelve* hours. I could not believe how many people were on the road. Incredible! Of course I was no only restless but I was also hungry and with a distinct need to empty bladder. At one point David turned to me and asked if I need to go to the bathroom. I answered in the affirmative but unsure of what we'd do (there was no toilet on the bus). He told me to get up and we walked up to the front and the driver opened the door for us.
I was unsure of where this was going but I figured I'd follow David's lead. We walked right around the the side of the bus and he proceeded to unzip his fly right then and there. I guess there's no place better! So went ahead and did our business right there and the bus driver even waited for us to get back on before proceeding ahead. This didn't solve the hunger issue but we found our savior a few hours later in the instant noodle lady walking down the highway.
What a brilliant businesswoman! She knew that there would be tons of hungry people stuck in the middle of nowhere so this woman bought cases and cases of instant noodles and had hot water as well. Sure they were overpriced but you determine the going rate when you're the only game in town. They sure tasted good too. Then again, I'm sure anything would have tasted good at that point.
Around 3pm it became clear that there was no chance that we'd make our connecting bus to Jishou. Hmmm. David got on the horn to his cousin and told him to switch the tickets if possible. Luckily he was able to do some finagling and we only had to pay a small fee to switch them to the next day. I was wondered that we were going to be in serious trouble but I guess this sort of thing is common for this time of year when there are literally billions of people traveling.
I was starting to get incredibly restless but we finally finally finally made it to the capital of the province at around 9pm, about 13 hours later than we should have and about 21 hours since we left Guangzhou. Wow. I was ready for food and a bed immediately if not sooner. We took a taxi to David's cousin (the first of many I'd meet) and we were greeted with a huge dinner. David told me in the cab about how he's such a good cook and I was not disappointed. Our first meal off the bus was a veritable feast and I ate it up like I had never seen food before.
After I had finished everything, I asked what we had just eaten. Sure enough, I just ate some dog meat. Huh. Was I mildly disturbed about this? You betcha. But having never had a snoopy or lassie of my own, I guess I took it in stride. David told me it wouldn't be the last time either as dog is a very common dish, in rural Hunan especially. And honestly, it tasted like a tougher version of lamb. If I hadn't known, I would have had it again in a second.
After I got over the shock of my dinner, I took in the scene that was the apartment around me. David's cousin ran a plastic works factory outside Changsha and was doing quite well for himself. Yet despite his success, there were still common western conveniences that were decidedly missing. Hot showers for one--apparently there is only hot water in the apartment for a couple hours at a time, something very common all around China. It made me realize how nice my bathroom is back in GZ. I almost never run out of hot water! And then there is the issue of heat. Nobody has heat south of the Yangtze River and this was no exception. In GZ that's not a big issue because it doesn't get too cold.
Changsha is a completely different story though. It was cold there and reminded me of Boston. It had even snowed a few days previous to our arrival! I discovered right away that everyone keeps their coats on at all times during the day--inside, outside, during meals, in the bathroom, in the kitchen... you name it. I kept mine on until the very second I slipped into my sleeping bag. I had considered leaving it behind but it became my saving grace. David and I shared the bed in the guestroom and we fell asleep quickly, knowing we had to get up early to catch our 8am make-up bus to Jishou.
Posted by awolfe at 3:32 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 15, 2005
Back to the Chaos
I got to my train heading back to Gunagzhou with plenty of time to spare this time. It is quite a bit nicer to not be running full speed through the parking lot in a panic, I must say. As I sat in the waiting room awaiting the boarding call, my thoughts ran back to everything from the past week. Though Kunming isn't as aesthetically beautiful as Hangzhou, I really took to the vibe of the place. I like the food. I like the weather. I like the fact that there are so many different minorities around as well. You almost forget that there is such a thing as diversity when (in places like GZ) all you see is the same Han-Chinese face over and over again. I was sad to leave Yunnan Province without seeing more but I have a sneaking suspicion I'll be back before I leave the country.
The train ride itself was pretty uneventful. I must hand it to Apple though--I played my iPod almost non-stop for the entire 25 hour ride and not only did the battery last through the trip, but it was still going strong on the subway and bus back to my apartment. Impressive, no? The only other point of note was that I attempted to make conversation with a businessman who came over to me as I was eating dinner on Monday night. He told me in broken English that he had never spoken to a westerner before but that he had studied 5 years of English.
I was happy to speak with him in both English and Chinese and thought it was a perfect opportunity to use my new phrasebook. In Dali, Lexi and I looked around a bookstore that had a really good selection of English books. I was going to buy an Amos Oz book but then saw that they had the new edition of the Lonely Planet Mandarin phrasebook. Lexi had the 4th edition which seemed like a really handy thing to have around so I splurged to purchase my own. Once I opened the plastic though I was horrified to discover that they had devised their own system of romanization and pronunciation instead of using the standard Pinyin system. After spending the last two months learning pronunciation of Pinyin, I quickly discovered that the L.P. phrasebook was almost useless to me.
Both of us got very frustrated as I butchered my pronunciation of basic phrases. Ugh. Moral of the story? Avoid the 5th edition of the L.P. phrasebook. I even emailed them to express my disappointment and it turns out they're returning to Pinyin in the next edition coming out next September. I may even be able to finagle a copy of one of the older editions too, which would be excellent. They did send me back a personalized email response to my complaint so maybe it's not such a disaster after all.
Back in GZ, I was comforted to see the familiar chaos around the metro station closest to me. It was sort of odd to notice that no one really gave me a second look walking around with my backpack but yet everyone seemed to stare quite a bit more in Kunming. Kunming, being more of a tourist destination, seems to have more westerners walking around yet they remain more of a novelty. On the flipside, GZ always has pinyin on street signs and for many storefronts whereas Kunming usually only has Chinese characters. I wonder why?
After being away for so long, a bunch of students greeted me with a warm welcome as I walked through the gate of the school. It may be a big ol' dirty city, but it's *my* big ol' dirty city. Seeing my coworker and friend David, he immediately asked if I'd be playing basketball that night. Of course! He also informed me that he did fifteen 100m sprints yesterday in preparation for the upcoming faculty-staff track meet. Geez. Well at least I don't feel silly for taking it seriously! This was a wake-up call for me that I really need to get back on the track ASAP if I'm going to represent on December 4th. David even trains with track spikes! I gotta get on that.
I am happy to announce that all of my students survived the experience on the farm and that no one got bitten by a dog or snake (as they all feared beforehand). It has been really interesting to talk to them about the week. Many reported that their families were actually quite rich and had bigger homes than most city-folk. Others reported that they slept three to a bed and were disappointed to eat the exact same dish for every meal. A bunch of the kids even taught English classes in the local primary school and told me they got very frustrated by having to scream in order to keep order. Ha! Always good to get kids on the other side to see how hard a teacher has to work. The most poignant moment by far though was when one of my girls broke into tears relating a story of how she spent a day talking to a 80 year-old blind woman who had no family left.
All in all it was an incredible vacation and I can't wait to head out and travel again. I'm thinking about doing a weekend trip to either Yangshuo, Macau, or up to the PiA girls in Jishou. We'll see. Finally, here are my photos one more time from the trip. I have yet to add in Lexi's photos but I'll get around to that one of these days so if you're really interested, you can bookmark the page and check back in sometime:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03/sets/1373122/
Posted by awolfe at 12:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 13, 2005
Truly South of the Clouds
Lexi and I succeeded in waking up early on Sunday in order to get a day of hiking in before we had to head back to the big city. Okay, so maybe early is a bit of an exaggeration, but when you're on vacation 9am is the crack of dawn! We fell out of bed and were both fully clothed from bundling up the night before. Perfect--no need to waste time "getting ready." We walked around the corner to get breakfast at yet another cafe and we both ordered tea immediately to warm up.
I was never much of a tea drinker before moving to China but I must say it continues to grow on me. I suppose it's like one of those when-in-Rome sort of things. When I was studying in Scotland I acquired a taste for single malt whiskys. When I was traveling around Israel I grew an affinity for schwarma and falafel. All I can say is, it's a good thing China's off that whole opium kick or I might be in trouble...
Breakfast was rather non-descript, though I was entertained by the fact that I ordered the chicken vegetable rice soup and it arrived sans any trace of chicken but with a hefty amount of ham. I wish I could say that they just screwed up the translation but apparently even the Chinese said chicken. Whatever, it was still good. We went back to the hostel, packed up our things, packed a day bag for the hike, checked out and wandered off in search of a trail up the mountain.
There is a rather long mountain range on the western side of the city but we went in search of the section called "Zhonghe Shan" [Zhonghe Mountain] named for Zhonghe temple towards the top. My guidebook said to go to the base of the chairlift (for all those who want to "cheat"), continue on about 200m and pick any one of the random trails in the area. We started off in that direction and were harassed by a whole bunch of people wanting us to pay them to drive us out. Being the hard-core adventurers we were, we turned them down and walked straight ahead in the direction of the base.
Coming across a couple of local farmers on their way to work the field, Lexi asked for directions to the trail. They responded that we should just follow them so we did. If they were surprised that a white girl could speak in such good mandarin, they definitely hid it. I thought it was really interesting that both of the guys were heading off to the fields wearing old dirty blazers and dress shoes. Apparently that is just standard attire for the lower class--you buy one pair of clothes at some point and then you wear them everyday. Lexi made pleasant conversation with them and I just took in the sights around me.
Eventually they got to their patch of land and pointed us up in the direction of what you might consider a path. It wasn't really marked, per se, nor was it really cleared, but it was good enough. Before I knew it, I was taking enormous steps up the mountain and trying to catch my breath to keep up with Lexi. Every 15 feet or so the path seemed to fork so we were constantly forced to choose one direction. I wasn't too worried though since my guidebook said that all roads pretty much led to Rome here and that you couldn't really go wrong.
Somewhere along the way we passed through a local graveyard which was really interesting. Despite the poverty, the graves seemed to be decorated rather elaborately and kept in very good condition. Right around this area we met up with a group of Chinese tourists also hiking up to the temple. They too were hardly dressed in what I would consider hiking gear, as everyone seemed to be in button-down shirts and nice shoes. Lexi and I must have seemed very out of place to them not only because we were white but because we were in dri-fit shirts toting nalgene bottles and sunglasses. Lexi chatted with them a bit and they even gave us some tangerines to snack on.
Lexi and I are not married, though everyone in Yunnan Province seemed to think we were. This particular group was funny about it for a couple reasons. First, they assumed we were Eastern European because Lexi spoke Mandarin so well. Translation--Americans are far too stupid to learn a difficult language like Chinese. Second, they made a comment saying something like they were surpised to see two very beautiful people together, that they thought it only happend in the movies. Ha! Just goes to show how much of a novelty westerners can be in China.
Just when I was really starting to get winded we reached the gate to the temple. It was the first time I looked back down at Dali and the view was stunning. We only hiked for about an hour and half but we covered some serious ground, given how steep it was. There was hardly anyone up at the temple so it was nice to enjoy the view with some peace and quiet. After relaxing for a bit outside the temple we decided to go inside and explore.
The ridiculous-looking buddha by the inner gate welcomed us and we walked through to see the prayer hall. It was really nice but again I think I am forever spoiled by the grandeur of the Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou. Nothing can really compare to that, but this temple was extremely satisfying to walk around given what we went through to get there. I walked into their small store and was intrigued by the various carvings they had of some sort of blackwood. Lexi inquired for me and I found out that the wood is supposed to contain some sort of mystical property to ward off evil ghosts and spirits. Again, can't hurt right? I bargained with them a bit and then settled on one of the smaller amulets. I even took it up to one of the monks to have it blessed. He had me kneel down on the ground as he mumbled something for about a minute, then gave it back with a look that seemed to suggest it was now good to go. Sure, why not?
Outside of the temple we picked up a path that snaked around the side of the mountain. This was easily one of the highlights of my China experience thus far. The scenery and views were absolutely breathtaking and the climate was perfect. The cool mountain breezes came and went but the sun kept us warm as we walked past beautiful flowers, small waterfalls down the rock faces, and even some fall foliage. I thought I was going to miss it entirely this year but I got my fair share on this hike. The colors were great and I just soaked it all in. We stopped a couple of times to take some pictures but I knew that none of the shots could really encapsulate how beautiful it was. Yunnan literally means "southern clouds," or "south of the clouds" and I could really see why as I walked around Zhonghe Shan.
In the words of Robert Frost though, "Nothing gold can stay" and Lexi and I had to get moving in order to eat something and catch the bus back to Kunming. We opted to take the chairlift down and I was pleased. It reminded me of family vacations back when the Wolfe clan used to go up to Stratton Mountain in VT during the summer and ride the alpine slides. We even got people on the ground waving to us, taking our picture, and shouting out "hello!" which was both bizarre and comforting at the same time. At the bottom we decided to spring for the 3 kuai and pay one of the locals to drive us back to town.
In search of some snacks to keep us going during the long bus ride, we walked into one of the many Muslim bakeries. Lexi asked about a number of different items and we bought a handful of different pastries and breads to munch on, all of which turned out to be amazing. I knew I needed a full meal though so we went to one last cafe before catching the bus. I can't remember the name of the place, but we were the only ones there and they served us water with lemon which was unique in my China experience. After we inhaled the two dishes (which were quite tasty), we grabbed our packs from the guest house and were off.
Having purchased bus tickets the night before from a local travel agent, we only had to worry about finding the actual bus. Luckily though, the salesman had his assistant accompany us all the way to the long-distance bus so we were fine. As we got to the bus station and loaded up our stuff, it became clear pretty quickly that we had gotten ripped off. We paid a price that should have been for one of the bigger coach buses but we were actually on a small minibus instead, complete with a bunch of locals smoking away like chimneys. We were both far too happy from such an incredible day to let it bother us, but looking back it was kind of annoying.
The bus was supposed to leave around 5pm and arrive in Kunming around 10:30pm or so but lo and behold we didn't even take off until about 6:15pm or so. I will say this for the bus driver--he did not waste a single second once on the road. The guy was flooring it the whole way, blaring the horn at everyone to let them know he was coming through, and tailgating when anybody wouldn't move over. Including a pointless half hour stop for "dinner" at a rest stop, we still made the five and half hour trip in a little under four hours. Wow.
Back at the apartment, I finally got to meet Even and Yam Ki, the other PiA-er and her boyfriend. They were both super friendly and I'm disappointed I didn't get to spend more time with them during the week. They are threatening to crash in Guangzhou for a night before they head out though (visa issues) so hopefully we will meet again. We sat around talking as usual and before I knew it it was 2am and I had to get some sleep before getting up to catch my train home.
Posted by awolfe at 10:41 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 12, 2005
The Man in the Mirror
It was definitely a rude awakening when Lexi knocked on my door and kicked me in the ribs at around 6:45am. I rolled out of bed and threw on my clothes only to sort of fall back to sleep while sitting upright on the couch. We stumbled outside and hopped a cab to head to the train station. Despite only having about 15 minutes to spare, I got on line to buy my return ticket home to GZ before we left. I was pleased to discover that they understood me without any problems, whereas around the corner from my school in Guangzhou I always have to repeat things. I think it must be the result of everyone speaking Cantonese.
We boarded the train with a couple moments to spare and tried to get comfortable. It was my first experience in the hard seat section and the rumors are true--it's a rough surface surrounded by a ton of guys all chain-smoking. Ugh. Lexi and I attempted to nap but it wasn't easy. One of the redeeming moments of the ride was that they played almost the entire disc of Michael Jackson's HIStory. Brilliant! We were both rocking out to Thriller, Billy Jean, Bad, but especially Man in the Mirror. I mean with a key change like that, who can't get excited?
There were also a couple of British guys sitting behind us that personified hippie-backpackers, complete with long dreads, bob marley t-shirts, beaten-up sandals, and beatnik literature. Even though I didn't really talk to them much, they were great! It reminded me of Wesleyan and that made me happy.
We arrived around mid-afternoon and hopped on the bus to take us to the old city of Dali. We began to wander through the streets and I immediately took to the place. It had small streets with few cars. There were cute cafes and shops everywhere, as well as a mini canal of running water lining the side of each road. We booked a double at the Tibetan Lodge, a hostel-guest house, for only 50 kuai. That's only about $6! After dropping off our stuff we began to explore the area.
Lexi was on a mission for some christmas presents and I was on a mission for food (no surprise there) so we compromised and did some window shopping on the way to sustenance. Lexi was quite helpful in reading some characters on a menu and we sat outside sampling a bunch of small dishes and watching the locals play mahjong and cards. The weather was a bit more crisp being up in the mountains, but I was enjoying it. There's nothing like clean mountain air, especially in comparison to the muggy pollution of my home sweet home!
After lunch we walked around to a bunch of stores and I got a front row seat as Lexi let her shopping instincts take over. She claims she never usually makes so many purchases at once, and I believe her, but I really do think the majority of females have some sort of innate ability to shop and bargain that most males lack biologically. I was happy to tag along though as I was also on the look-out for a birthday present or two. They had some really interesting pieces of fabric with designs by some of the minorities in the province, but I had a difficult time rationalizing spending a lot of money on a piece of cloth. Am I wrong? Regardless, I opted against it.
As the sun began to set the temperature began to drop and before I knew it I was legitimately cold. It was such a foreign feeling after being so hot for months, I almost didn't know what to do! We walked around for a while longer looking at some of the older architecture in the city and eventually decided to grab some dinner. Again, everything relates to food and I love it! My Lonely Planet guide had a few places listed and we picked one called the Bamboo Cafe that was supposed to have Dai food, one of the Yunnan minorities.
Walking up to the cafe I noticed a score of handwritten signs in different languages, all welcoming us and telling us what they had to offer. Directly under the Chinese sign there was even some hebrew announcing the presence of coffee inside. Ha! I was definitely amused to see Hebrew way out in the middle of nowhere in China. And on that subject, there was also a picture and postcard by the front desk of our hostel that was hearty thank-you from a group of Israelis that had recently stayed there. I guess you can find Jews just about anywhere.
We failed in getting any Dai food since they seemed to be out of all those dishes, but we had a good meal nonetheless, highlighted by a chicken dish with papaya. I'm definitely a fan! One thing that the Bamboo Cafe (along with all the other restaurants and cafes) has down is atmosphere. They had comfortable seats, interesting decorations, and candle lighting that made everything seem really welcoming. After a lazy dinner we headed out away from the touristy streets to a random section where we could do some stargazing. You barely ever see anything at night in Guangzhou but the night sky in Dali was well lit. The moon itself was so bright that I don't think they needed any street lights in the area. I almost forgot how much I enjoy looking at stars on a clear night and it was nice to search for constellations once again.
I was definitely enjoying the feeling of a genuine autumn night but I was also a bit cold so we decided to head back. At our guest house there was a small cafe attached so we opted against the loud bars along the way and ordered hot chocolate instead. There was a really relaxed vibe to the place as small groups of people sat around sipping drinks, playing cards, and telling stories. Before we knew it it was after midnight and we decided to head back to the room in an attempt to get some sleep and be up early. The room was definitely not heated so we both crawled under the covers fully clothed and passed out in a flash.
Once again, here's a link to my pictures, but they include shots that I haven't written about yet so if you want to be surprised hold off. Otherwise, enjoy!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03/sets/1373122/
Posted by awolfe at 11:49 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 11, 2005
Safety Advisors
I got another semi-late start on Friday but it was just fine. When you're on vacation by yourself, you can do whatever you want to do! I wandered out to peruse through the handful of bakeries around the corner from Lexi's place and settled on one that looked tasty. I had no idea what anything was so I just pointed and said, "san ge zhege," or "three of this." It turns out I picked some sort of bread with a sweet filling, though what that filling was is a mystery to me. Unidentified pastries can be quite fun to sample though and I enjoyed them as I walked along the sidewalk on another beautiful day.
I sat for a while in Government Square, a large open garden area, and watched some old guys playing mahjong. Though I have no idea what the rules are to the game, these guys certainly came across as pros. I also enjoyed the fact that I was not an attraction at all (being a white foreigner), but rather one of many spectators attempting to get a view of the table. After a while I decided it was time for food once again and I went off in search of lunch.
I walked down a side street a little bit off the beaten path and sat down at an open-air restaurant-joint. Of course their menu was entirely in Chinese characters so I had to resort to asking them if they had certain things, e.g. "you meiyou ji rou chou fan?" [do you have chicken fried rice?] Nope. I settled on ordering some jiaozi that the woman next to me was eating. As I handed back the menu, the owner of the place came over to sit down with me. We began conversing in Chinese, though I will admit--this was not nearly as successful as my conversation from yesterday. I did figure out that his cousin is studying economics at Emory Daxue (Emory University) in Atlanta and that the guy wants to visit him but can't get a visa. He was friendly enough to give me his business card and told me I should come back anytime and that he would order for me. Heh.
After lunch I hopped on a bus to head outside of the city limits toward Jin Dian Si, The Golden Temple. Purporting to have the largest bronze temple in the country, I figured it was worth a look-see. After a minor adventure trying to talk to the bus driver and explain where I wanted to go (but didn't know where to get off), I got to the base of the hill where the temple is located. After paying a hefty 20 kuai admission fee I walked through the gate only to discover that I had about a thousand steps to climb before I reached the temple grounds. Normally this would be fine, but I was still sore from capoeira!
When I finally got to the temple itself, I was somewhat flabergasted. Given that the temple consists of 260 tons of bronze it's pretty impressive, but compared to the Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou it seems rather miniscule. The actual grounds of the temple are enormous though so I began to meander around looking at the different statues and buildings. I heard some chanting coming from a different temple complex so I walked up to listen. I was disappointed to discover it was only a recording, but pleased to see a bunch of monks sitting around with big smiles on their faces.
I allowed myself to be invited in and given some incense to light even though I knew there was going to be a charge somewhere down the line. They showed me how to pay my respects to the three gods in the main chamber room and then one of them sat me down to chat. Half in Chinese and half in English, the monk grabbed my hands and began to examine my palms. For the second time in my life I was informed that I have something called the "Mystic Cross" on my hand signifiying some sort of innate ability to read people. Weird. The monk then had me blow on my palms and enclose them around a pendant with a yin-yang on it. After having me repeat some Chinese line 7 times he told me to make a wish and write it down in his book. Then he pointed out how much the previous visitors contributed in order to make the wish come true. Ahhhh- there's the rub.
He wanted me to give 200-300 yuan but I explained that I didn't have that kind of money. He reluctantly settled on me giving 30 or 40 (I can't remember) and told me my wish would come true. I got the feeling that he was telling me he couldn't guarantee my wish but that he'd put in a mediocre effort for it. Eh, can't hurt. It sort of reminded me of when I was traveling around Western Europe with my best friend from West Hartford and he lit a candle in one of the cathedrals in Munich. As I gave an inquiring look (both of us being Jewish and all), he responded, "Can't hurt, right?"
I walked out with my new good luck pendant in hand and ambled through the fern garden, the plum blossom orchard, and general arboretum. As I walked under a cloister in a small enclosed quad, I heard a man playing the Chinese flute. There was no one else around and I didn't want to disturb him, but I really wanted to sit and listen. I tip-toed my way to one of the benches next to him and sat down to listen and read for a while. He noticed me after about 10 minutes or so and gave me a small smile before continuing on into the next piece. Between the weather, the music, and the quiet, it was a perfect afternoon.
When the guy finished up I decided it was time to head back to Kunming proper and meet up with Lexi. After my afternoon dose of shao kao, Lexi and I headed out to purchase some train tickets to go to Dali for the weekend. I'm not quite sure how or why, but train tickets are about half the price of bus tickets and the ride takes about the same amount of time. I certainly won't be the one to point this out to the Chinese authorities. After purchasing our seats we headed out to capoeira once again. I felt a little more confident this time with the basic moves but I still had a tough time when it came to actually "playing" an opponent. Regardless, it was enjoyable to go across the room practicing the butterfly kick. You basically get to fling your body around and swing your legs up in a kicking motion. Good times!
At capoeira class I met Jen, Lexi's safety advisor and her friend Cindy. We chatted for a while during and after class and I inquired about how she got to be in such an important position. What I really wanted to know was, do I have a safety advisor that I don't know about? And for that matter, why is there a safety advisor in Kunming, possibly the safest city in the country, and not in GZ, a city notorious for gangsters? Jen told me that her only real mission is to get Lexi good and drunk (in a safe environment, of course) and that she was happy to function as my surrogate safety advisor.
Cindy was also a fascinating person to chat with. She has worked as a chef on several hollywood films and worked with some pretty famous people like Quentin Tarantino. Her job is basically to be on site somewhere in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a couple gas burners and a supply of random necessities that will enable her to whip up whatever the actors request. Guacamole and tortilla chips in the middle of the desert? No problem. It's pretty impressive, actually.
Cindy recently landed a very lucrative gig to cook in Shanghai for an upcoming blockbuster so she decided to celebrate by purchasing an absolutely absurd amount of good (western) red wine and chocolate. We hauled it over to Salvador's, a cafe that serves western cuisine, and proceeded to have a feast. I had pasta with pesto, mushrooms, roasted chicken, and sun-dried tomatoes which was excellent. I also managed to finish off Lexi's bagel sandwich (bagels!) and Cindy's quesadilla. Yum!
Lexi had to head off and put in some face time with her boss, so I followed Jen and Cindy to a bbq being thrown by a couple of German students. After climbing up 7 long flights of stairs in their apartment building, we walked into a really fun party of random internationals all eating, drinking, and chatting. I headed up to their roof deck and was immediately offered a beer and a steak. It would have been rude to refuse, right?? I was pretty psyched to have a real steak which had been marinated for two full days in some sort of honey pepper concoction. I chatted with the hosts for a bit and also talked with a couple French people for a while about China and living abroad. For some reason it seemed funny to me to hear Chinese with a French or German accent but sure enough, there it was. I also talked to a somewhat inebriated American guy who was a bit too loud and obnoxious for my taste. It was a reminder that Americans have a questionable reputation abroad for a reason.
Before I knew it the clock was edging towards 2am and Lexi and I had an 8am train to catch. Ugh. We met up and headed home to then pack in a daze and nap for a while before heading out to Dali. I was excited to get to Dali but also a bit sad to have to leave my home-away-from-home in Kunming. I was really starting to get used to the place! Regardless, it was time for a new adventure.
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November 10, 2005
Across the Bridge to the Tea Store
I got a much earlier start Thursday and headed out once again to explore. I decided to walk around for a while to work up an appetite and then go in search of "Guoqiao Mixian," Across the Bridge Noodles. This is a specialty for Yunnan Province and I decided to see how it stood up to the other noodle dishes I've sampled. It's becoming painfully obvious that my adventure here in China might as well be culinary tour, as most days really are focused around food. Is this a bad thing? My stomach says no.
Traditionally, Guoqiao Mixian is served with a big bowl of really hot broth stewed from chicken, duck, and spare ribs with a bit of oil on top. They give you a bunch of small plates with raw meat (I think I had pork, chicken, duck, and some type of octopus-like meat), some raw veggies, the insides of two small eggs (no idea what type), and then a whole bunch of rice noodles. You dump everything into the soup and let it all get cooked in the bowl. I also decided to add some of the crushed red pepper sitting on the table and I think that was a good call. Not only is the dish really tasty, but it's sort of fun to take everything and toss it in to get cooked. Who doesn't like a little interactive meal?
After lunch I headed in the direction of Yuantong Si, the largest Buddhist temple in the city. Along the way I popped my head into a number of DVD stores to poke around a bit. I did manage to find Pulp Fiction which had proved elusive in Guangzhou, but I could not find Good Will Hunting. I've been on a mission to find this movie for the last month and have been unsuccessful everywhere. Sure, they have multiple copies of Anaconda 3 and House of Wax, but Good Will Hunting? No such luck. It really makes me wonder--what do Chinese people really think of Hollywood cinema if those are the movies in high demand? I shudder to think about it.
As I got closer to the temple, I decided to stop in a random tea store on a whim. Yunnan Province is famous for a kind of tea called "Pu er cha." Puer tea, for short, is highly regarded for its medicinal qualities as a digestive and nerve stimulant. According to what I've read, the leaves are plucked, panned, sun-dried, and steamed; after which they are either allowed to remain in leaf form or pressed into circular cakes or bricks. Caked tea is the most ancient form of manufacturing tea and dates back (at least in ancient Chinese lit) to circa 700 c.e. Unlike most other teas, Puer tea gets better with age and really old blocks of the stuff can fetch a tidy sum in auctions and stores. It's kind of like drugs, but it's only tea.
Walking into the store, the owner immediately got up and tried to sell me some tea. When I said I wanted Puer tea his eyes lit up and he took me over to the right section. After quoting (rather excessive) prices, he asked which one I wanted. I pointed to the block he quoted for 60 yuan and inquired about the taste. I'm sure my Chinese was pretty weak, but he understood enough to invite me to sit down while he prepared some tea.
Maybe it was the relaxed atmosphere of the store, the idyllic weather, or the man's friendly demeanor, but we immediately launched into an extended conversation. It took me quite some time to formulate responses, but we managed to carry on for almost an hour. I found out that he only bought the store about 3 weeks ago, that he's 29, that his wife is 25 and that their son is only 3 months old. He talked about how he was a very bad student and didn't go to university but that his wife could have if she had had the money. We talked basic politics (me- "wo bu xi huan George Bush." [I don't like George Bush]; him-
I was really proud to have successfully carried on a real conversation. It was really empowering to actually be able to understand and respond accordingly. Now, certainly, there were multiple moments where I had to shake my head and just say "dui bu qi" [sorry] since I didn't have enough vocabulary to express myself, but he understood and just seemed happy to chat. I also think I owe the success of the moment to the fact that it was quiet in the store, the fact that he spoke slowly and used basic words, and the fact that he was patient enough to allow me to fumble me words.
On a natural high from speaking in Chinese and a caffeine high from an hours worth of tea, I decided to purchase a block of tea from him. The puer tea is unlike anything I've ever had and I really like it; it's earthy and strong but not in an unpleasant way. The guy even showed me how too steep it with a couple chrysanthemum blossoms in order to mellow the taste a bit and give it a bit of sweetness. Yum. After all was said and done, I bought the 60 yuan block for only 25. I guess it pays to get to know the owner!
Eventually I made it to the temple and walked around. It was quite a bit smaller than I expected but that was just fine by me. It was a beautiful day and there was hardly anyone around, so I sat down at the bottom of the steps to the water and read my book. Glancing to my right, I noticed a whole bunch of turtles hanging out on the side right next to me. As I looked closer into the water I saw even more turtles swimming around with the carp. It was a very serene setting for a temple.
On my way back to Lexi's apartment I walked through the Muslim area once again and glanced around a few shops. I didn't buy anything but I did have some more shao kao for my afternoon snack which hit the spot. I really wish Guangzhou had more shao kao carts around the city doing bbq. It's incredibly cheap, it's fast, and it's really tasty! What more could you want? Okay, besides sanitary conditions...
My biggest purchase of the day was three pairs of socks from some street vendor. They claimed to be Nike and Adidas socks but I knew before I bought them that that was not the case. Upon opening the package later I discovered they were some sort of bizarre hybrid material between cotton and polyester and were not exactly super comfortable. Whatever. As long as I didn't have to steal another pair from Lexi!
For dinner Lexi and I met up with Mike once more and went to a random Chinese place near Yunnan Daxue, the local university. I decided to sample some of the local beers and ordered a bottle of Dali Beer. It was pretty plain but went well with our food so I was happy. After some additional (unsuccessful) DVD shopping, we headed back to the apartment to which Kill Bill 2 and go to bed.
As I was drifting off to sleep I had a small realization about Kunming. I realized that I was enjoying myself so much because people in Yunnan seem to be really laid back. The cab drivers don't drive like maniacs. People don't push and shove quite as much. People in tea stores are happy to sit down and chat for hours. I get the feeling that people are really only concerned about simple pleasures--a tasty meal, a good cup of tea, and pleasant conversation. I guess it probably helps that the weather is so good as well. Regardless, it's my kind of city.
Alrighty, here is a link to my photos. As always, this link will take you to pics from the entire trip so if you want to be surprised, hold off. I'm also going to add some photos that Lexi took so check back again later no matter what: http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03/sets/1373122/
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November 9, 2005
Plates of Penne Pasta & Pumpkin Pie
I woke up Wednesday feeling incredibly sore, but so happy to be in a new place. Having stayed up late chatting with Lexi, I didn't get out of bed until about 11am, deciding that I was entitled to a late start. I'm on vacation, right? Lexi had to go to work so I was on my own which I was actually pretty excited about. While having company may have been nice, I enjoy the challenge of finding my way around a new place and not being on anyone else's schedule. So after showering and finally putting on some clean clothes, I sat down to formulate a plan. I copied out a mini map using my Lonely Planet book and the wall map in the guest bedroom and proceeded to gather my shoes.
I was all set to head out and explore when I realized I couldn't find any socks in my backpack. I'm pretty sure I wrote about this before, but this goes to show once again that I'm just not a good packer. Recreational reading? Check. USB cord for my camera? Check. Journal? Check. But socks?? Not so much. Feeling incredibly embarassed, I ventured into Lexi's room and stole a pair from her window sill. Well at least it wasn't underwear...
Now prepared to face the world, I headed out in search of the East and West Pagodas of the city. On the way I passed by a couple of high schools that were getting out for lunch break. Surrounded by a sea of identical track suits, I made my way to the food stands to grab some lunch. I had pita-like piece of bread filled with something sweet and then a bunch of shao kao (bbq). I like the style in Kunming because you can grab whichever skewers you want and hand them to the cook to throw on the barbeque. Sure the meat has been sitting out for a while but it tastes damn good once they throw it on the grill for a couple minutes with the cumin-ish spice. Still feeling a bit hungry, I added a dozen jiaozi to my stomach and went out in search of the pagodas.
I found the pagodas and was slightly less than impressed so I pressed on in the direction of a few more sights. The first thing I came across was the Nancheng Mosque. There is actually a pretty sizable Muslim population in Kunming (and China, in general) that dates back to the 13th century. Arabic is still very visible around the city, especially in this area. You can get Arabic calligraphy here as well as pictures of Mecca which seemed really out of place to me, given my familiarity with Middle Eastern Muslims. It was particularly sad to see the rubble where the powers that be in Kunming decided to level the Muslim village in favor of new developments. They basically give no thought or consideration to any of the many ethnic minorities in the area so no one batted an eye over some minor "resettlement," a.k.a. destruction.
After poking around inside the mosque (which was beautiful, if not a little gaudy from the outside), I headed out towards Cuihu Gongyuan, Green Lake Park. This is exactly what it sounds like--a big park built right around a lake with green water. The weather wasn't ideal as it was drizzling on and off, but I decided to hang out in the park for a while. I met some very friendly people and even stopped to listen to one guy play his guitar-like instrument for about an hour. There were people painting watercolors, children feeding the ducks, minorities doing traditional dances on the sidewalk, and people selling snacks. All in all, my kind of spot! And the price was right--free! A place like that in GZ would easily charge a 10 kuai admission fee just to let you see grass, but Kunming happens to be the land of eternal spring where there are flowers, grass, and trees all over the place. Seriously. Sure, there are a bunch of skyscrapers too but overall it is a *much* prettier city than GZ, a much more laid back city, and a much friendlier city.
On my jaunt back to Lexi's apartment I even passed by a random church and decided to head inside. The interior was very pretty with white-washed walls and old wooden pews. It was virtually empty except for a young Chinese girl practicing the piano. I sat in the back to listen for a while but eventually she noticed me and got really embarassed. It's too bad, because the music was great and the acoustics in the main hall were great. If there hadn't been anyone around I would have done some singing in there but others started to show up so I left.
I stopped by Carre Four, the French chain of supermarket similar to our Park & Shop, and picked up some supplies to make a little Italian dinner. One of the dishes I used to cook in America is a Penne Vodka with a spicy tomato sauce. I couldn't find all of the necessary ingredients (strangely enough, they don't carry Italian sausage anywhere in China) but I managed to throw together enough to make dinner. It wasn't exactly what I'd make in the states (especially having only a hot plate at my disposal), but it was a reasonable facsimile thereof.
Not to be outdone, Lexi came home from the office and went right to work baking a Pumpkin Pie. No joke--she went all out and used her mini oven to the fullest extent of its capabilities. Let me be the first one to say that it was *awesome*. She also invited two friends over, Wangwei and Mike. Wangwei is a former co-worker that speaks very good English and is a character. Mike is a Chinese-American graduate of Harvard working in Kunming on AIDS education and treatment and had some disturbing info to share with me. Apparently the highest HIV-positive population in China (Yunnan Province is the 2nd highest) resides in Henan Province. This particular situation is so devastating because an entire region became infected while donating blood. Apparently in order to allow people to donate more blood, the technicians pumped the plasma back into people after taking out everything they needed. This would maybe be acceptable except for the fact that they only had one large bloodbank where all donations went. One person was infected with HIV which tainted the entire supply. Thus, everyone began to have HIV-positive plasma pumped back into their bodies. Awful.
On a more positive note, Mike, Lexi and Wangwei were all speaking quite a bit of Chinese to each other and I realized that I am starting to understand conversations more and more. Without a doubt, I was left clueless quite a bit, but I am starting to pick up bits and pieces which is encouraging. And if I know the initial subject matter, I can usually follow along with a reasonable amount of accuracy. Woohoo!
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November 8, 2005
On the Road Again
Well since my students had a solid week and a half of farming and midterms, I decided to head out to explore Yunnan Province. Lucky for me, PiA has a post right in Kunming, the capital city. As I headed out to Guangzhou Central train station, I began to mentally prepare for another marathon ride. 25 hours is not a short amount of time but I think I'm actually getting used to it at this point. I mean, once you get over about 12 hours, it's kinda all the same--really, really long. Unfortunately I had to leave from Guangzhou Central which is the really rundown station I experienced at the beginning of the National Day Holiday.
Yup, still an awful train station despite the lack of overwhelming crowds. There are no signs, it's incredibly dirty, and there is a conspicuous lack of air conditioning anywhere. Put it this way, when I finally found a seat in the waiting room, I was directly across from a man eating an orange. This is not out of the ordinary until you take into account the fact that he was tossing the peels and spitting the seeds directly on to the floor in front of him (and me). Gross. Even grosser? He was just contributing to the pile of organic waste already on the tile. I think it may just be my travel luck, but everytime I leave GZ it seems like it's 90 degrees and humid. When you're carrying a big old backpack around it seems even worse too. Sitting there dodging projectile orange seeds and sweating through my tee shirt, I could not wait to get out of the city.
Wouldja know it! For the first time I noticed that I was not the only white person on the train. I chatted briefly with a couple of backpackers from Australia who seemed like a fun bunch of people. We collectively noticed a bunch of other random caucasians as well. It's sort of funny--you can pick out Westerners not just by their skin color or dress but by their luggage. All of us non-Chinese had big hiking packs while all the "natives" had worn down suitcases. I am absolutely attached to my backpack at this point as well after so many trips. It's awesome. Anyway, Kunming is apparently much more of a sight-seeing destination because of the scenery in Yunnan Province so for the first time in a while I felt like a tourist again.
I stepped on to the train and was greeted not by crappy Chinese pop music, but by random elevator music of western tunes. First thing I heard was John Lennon's "Imagine." Next up was Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven." Great tune. I was a little surprised that they would have a song like that but I suppose it was popular enough. I was pretty surprised by the next one though-- James Taylor's "Only One." So random! I love the song though and was happily singing along at full volume as I stowed my pack, much to the chagrin of my trainmates.
I settled in and immediately took a nap. If there's one thing you have a ton of on the train it's time to relax. After I woke up I decided to meet some of the folks in my "compartment." In my crappy Mandarin I asked a guy if he knew when they would be bringing the boxed dinners around since I was hungry. He answered in almost flawless English and we got to talking quite a bit more. It turns out "Yan Xiang" is a Captain in the Army stationed in Foshan (a city right near GZ) and was traveling to see his girlfriend in Kunming, the city where he grew up. Despite having gone to a military university (notorious for the less-intelligent students), he was incredibly sharp and must have had a gift for languages since he speaks Mandarin, Cantonese, English, and French.
We chatted for hours and hours about the military in both China and America, international politics, economic policy, and even religion. He was absolutely fascinated to discover I'm Jewish and began to fire multiple questions at me regarding my opinion on the strengths of Golda Meir v. David Ben Gurion. My first thought was, who the hell is this guy?? Most Jews don't even know enough about that to give a cogent response! I enjoyed dredging up my knowledge of Israeli history with him though, among other topics. When we finally got to Kunming he even introduced me to his girlfriend and let me use his cellphone to call Lexi. What a guy!
I also met one other fascinating travel companion on the train. A college-aged woman walked over to me and Yan Xiang at one point and asked if she could join our conversation. We welcomed her into our little "English Corner" and she told us she is studying law at Zhong Da, the university where my Yale friends teach. I was really interested to hear her take on law in China so we chatted for a couple of hours as well. I explained the concept of legal precedent, why the U.S. Supreme Court is so influential, the advent of Miranda Rights, and the notion of being innocent until proven guilty. She talked about the despot-like power of judges in China, the pressure of the government on lawyers, and the lack of case studies to examine. All in all, I had hours and hours of really interesting conversation to pass the time.
A couple hours before we pulled into Kunming, we passed by something called the Stone Forest. I didn't get my camera in time to get a great picture, but basically it's a huge forest...of rocks. I wish I knew more about the geology of the area because it looked surreal to see these enormous hunks of stone all jutting out of the ground. I really have never seen anything like it. Yan Xiang told me that I could take an hour-long train ride back to the forest if I wanted to, but that it would cost me around 200 yuan to get in as a foreigner. 200 yuan is around $25 which doesn't sound like *too* much, but when your meals cost around 80 cents, it's pretty excessive.
So a quick 25 hours later we pulled into Kunming station and I hopped into a cab to meet Lexi. She gave me the directions to get out at a certain hotel and walk left past the enormous lobster. She wasn't kidding. A seafood restaurant on the corner has a ~20 ft lobster on the wall of the place and it's pretty awesome. Kunming was colder than GZ but it was a welcome change. Everyone on the train warned me that it was going to oh so cold but I just chuckled and told them I could handle it. If I can survive the last two winters in Boston, I think I'lll be just fine.
I dropped my stuff off in Lexi's apartment and without even changing we headed right out to grab a snack and go to capoeira class. For those unfamiliar with it, capoeira is a Brazilian martial art / dance form that involves really cool music and flowing movement. After spending far too much time this past spring researching Brazilian-American immigration (and thus capoeira), I was excited to participate for the first time. My years of Tae Kwon Do training were definitely an asset as I began to fumble my way around doing the "genga."
I don't know if it was the altitude (Kunming is right around 2200m above sea level) or just the fact that I had never done these exercises before, but I was getting winded! Considering that I play a sport virtually every night of the week, I assumed I would be just fine doing one class. Nope. Capoeira also uses muscles that I didn't know existed so that was an interesting experience. Upon completing (read: surviving) the class, I chuckled to myself at the irony of having to go all the way to China to practice a Brazilian sport that I researched back in Boston. What a world...
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October 23, 2005
Wode Huoche! Qi Dian!!
Not surprisingly, we got somewhat of a late start on Sunday, given our rather long night on Saturday. I had grand plans to be up early to try all of Wuhan's many fabled breakfast foods, but alas, we missed the last breakfast foods by a couple minutes...or was it hours. Either way, I was disappointed but I still managed to have a bit of some "regan mian," Wuhan's famous hot/dry noodles which were quite tasty. I highly recommend them to anyone in the area.
I decided on two last sights to see before having to leave for home. The first was the Changchun Temple, a Taoist temple dating back to the Han Dynasty. I had never been to a Taoist shrine of any sort so I was excited to see how it differed from a Buddhist Temple. Not having studied Taoism, I'm not quite sure how much of what I saw was typical so my observations are probably not generalizable. That's okay. While clearly influenced by Buddhism, the ceremony I saw was actually very different from the Buddhism I've seen and studied. There was quite a bit more audience participation, so to speak, as everyone worshipping put on a robe and chanted along with the monks. They even joined in and circumambulated around with the monks playing various instruments. However, on the other hand, the main temple room had statues of the same four guardian kings as the Buddhist temples I've seen.
After watching the ceremony, we started out towards the exit and passed by a group of Chinese making a whole bunch of paper cranes. I really wanted to stick around and learn how, but sadly they just sort of ignored us and I felt too self conscious. Maybe next time. Before we actually left, I popped into the gift shop. Feeling minorly guilty for not paying an entrance fee (the guy just smiled and waved us in), I decided to throw some money their way and bought some prayer beads. I figure, can't hurt, right? I actually really like the concept behind the meditative benefits of the beads and will keep them around in case I'm inspired.
The next stop was a quick jaunt around Wuhan University. Located right down the street from where Mal and Tyler live and teach, the University was founded in 1913 and is known as being one of the four most beautiful campuses around the country. It was also the site of something called the "Wuhan Incident," a lengthy battle of sorts during the Cultural Revolution in which some members of the intelligentsia placed machine guns on top of the library and dug supply tunnels through the hill. I didn't see any remnants of the incident, but I did see a very beautiful campus complete with flower gardens, fields for football, old buildings, and a very active student population. It was a beautiful day and it seemed like every single student was either laying out on the grass or playing some sport. I was impressed.
Mal wasn't feeling all that well so we headed back to their apartments. I packed up my stuff and Tyler and I enjoyed some green tea over Shrek 2. I was sad to leave, but unfortunately work called. My train ticket was for 7pm and I figured I'd leave around a quarter to 6 or so. The train station was only about 10-15 minutes away so I figured that was a solid cushion of time. Normally I'd be right except for one small detail--I went out to grab a taxi to head over and for the first time in my China experience, I could not find an empty taxi for the life of me. In Guangzhou I don't think I've ever waited more than two minutes. In Hangzhou and Shanghai it was never more than five. The rest of the time in Wuhan it was also about five at most. For whatever reason, Sunday night was apparently rush hour for taxis and there was not an empty cab to be found.
I got to the main street outside the gate at about 5:50pm and raised my arm to hail a cab. It was futile. After 10 minutes I crossed the street and waited another 15 there. No luck. I walked down to the bigger street down in the direction of the station and was met by at least 5 other people trying to get taxis as well. I tried every corner without any semblance of acknowledgement from any driver. They really all had passengers! Around 6:30pm I'm starting to panic a bit. Think, Ari, think. I had no cell phone to call Tyler to ask Philip for advice. I decided it was useless to wait around any longer so I walked to the nearest bus stop.
I approached a group of 3 college-aged girls and asked them in Chinese if they spoke English. No such luck. In my broken Chinese I explained that I needed to get to the Wuchang Huoche Zhan (the Wuchang train station) but didn't know which bus to take. They walked over to the list and gestured that I needed to go to the next stop down. I explained in more broken Chinese that I had a train at 7pm and their look of shock told the whole story. One of them grabbed my arm and ran with me to the next stop to check the list. They started listing off the different buses I could take and happened to look over and see a bus that would work. They shoved me on and waved me off.
As I got on the bus I realized that it wasn't a regular city bus. It was a little smaller than a regular bus and there was some lady selling tickets. She asked me something I didn't understand and I responded with "huoche zhan," train station. This seemed to be a satisfactory answer and she asked for 2 kuai. I now faced the task of having to figure out where to get off the bus since I had no clue and have yet to learn those characters. I struck up a conversation with a mother and her daughter and in basic Chinese, explained that I needed to get to the train station but didn't know where it was. I also explained that my train was at 7pm (qi dian) and everyone around us began freaking out and pointing out the window to cabs. I proceeded to point at the passengers in the back seats and I think they understood my predicament. The woman selling tickets, initially quite solemn and bitter-faced, at once shouted up to the driver something along the lines of "hen kuai!" which more or less translates to "step on it!" in this context.
The driver immediately began to floor it, thank god, and we got closer and closer. I looked at my clock and saw 6:51pm. I was definitely pretty stressed at this point because technically they say that they close the doors to the train 10 minutes in advance. I've never actually seen that happen, but it is the written policy. As I walked off, the mother/daughter team told me to follow a guy who was going to the station as well. Apparently he missed my whole situation because as we get off he started taking a Sunday stroll in the direction of the station, explaining that there are two main doors and that I needed to know which one to go to. I grabbed his shoulders and shouted, "wode huoche! qi dian!!" which means "my train! 7pm!" and he immediately started running with me. I asked him to guess which entrance would be for the train to Guangzhou and he pointed me towards the center.
In my best 1999 sprinting form, I took off on a mission. I even hurdled a parking barrier in the parking lot (seriously). With my backpack on, I'm amazed I didn't clip it and lose a limb in the process. I ran to the door, prayed it was the right one, showed my ticket and the lady's eyes opened wide. I shouted, "wode huoche, zai nar?!" which means, "Where is my train?!" and they pointed me up the stairs. Luckily, I had chosen wisely once again. In true movie form, I ran up, showed my ticket, they closed the doors behind me, and 30 seconds later we were off. Naturally everyone else in my car had already set up all of their stuff and they all turned to stare as I stepped in panting and sweating like crazy. As if I don't stick out enough as it is! Regardless, I made it and I was pretty psyched. As I was attempting to problem solve on the bus for what I would do if I missed the train, I figured it wasn't the end of the world. That being said, I'm really glad I didn't have to deal with it. That night I slept directly on top of my bag, figuring I shouldn't push my luck. We rolled into Guangzhou Central at around 6am and I had just enough time to take the subway, switch lines, grab a bus, shower, check my email, and go teach a class. All in all, an excellent weekend that I will not soon forget.
Once again, if you'd like to check out pics from the weekend, feel free: http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03/sets/1201189/
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October 22, 2005
Sight Seeing & Sound Fragment
We woke up early Saturday morning to go see the Yellow Crane Tower, the biggest tourist attraction in Wuhan. Bob & Lorraine, an older American couple also teaching English at the university, greeted us with buttered toast and tea for breakfast. What a treat! The tower overlooks the Yangtze River right near the Big Bridge, a feat of communist construction from 1957--the first time Hanyang and Wuchang were connected over the water for automobile transit. Given its notoriety and the good weather, I figured it would be a mob scene. I was pleasantly surprised though by the lack of tourists. There were certainly people there but it was far from crowded. I think the lack of hordes probably relates to Wuhan not being a major tourist destination as well as the fact that it wasn't a major holiday. Note to self--travel more in the off season...
The tower itself is stunning. Supposedly it inspired Li Bai to write a very famous poem about it many years ago and there is also a whole myth that relates to the crane. Very interesting stuff. There is an enormous bell which Tyler happily gonged right beside the tower and several other buildings to see on the grounds of the park. We walked around for the whole morning and part of the afternoon, just taking in the city sights. Climbing the tower helped me to get my bearings quite a bit in terms of the layout of the city. I did notice that for a city of 8 million (only ~2 million less than Guangzhou [heh, only]) it is decidedly flat. There are hardly any skyscrapers or any other ostentatious displays of money. Wuhan is a big ol' dirty city like GZ, but it has a *much* different feel to it.
After touring the tower we took an inadvertant trip across the bridge (no left turn? since when do cabbies ever follow traffic laws, especially in China??) and then headed back towards the university to get some lunch. Once again, I was floored. For the equivelant of about a dollar each, we all had two enormous trays of really good jiaozi (dumplings) and a tasty soup with or without noodles. The place was a little hole in the wall that certainly had its share of flies but man was it worth it! I was so inspired that I suggested we go back the next day.
The afternoon highlight was watching a movie and taking a nap. We all agreed that the Chinese system of having a daily nap time after lunch is excellent. I almost feel guilty because with the high school schedule, our afternoon break is from noon-2:40pm while the universities get started again at around 2pm. Anyhow, I hopped in my sleeping bag and was out for a solid 2 hours or so. We woke up and immediately headed out to dinner around 7ish. Once again, this is my kind of weekend- wake up, have breakfast, do some sightseeing, have a feast for lunch, watch a movie, nap, wake up and have yet another feast. What can I say? I probably don't even have to reiterate, but it doesn't take much to make me happy as long as there's food involved.
After dinner we met up with Philip, our tourguide and benefactor from the Hangzhou/Shanghai adventure. Not surprisingly, in the three weeks since I saw him last, he has gotten himself elected to the student government, helped organize their sports day, and still found time for his studies and a new girlfriend. This kid is going far, that much is certain. After another minor taxi adventure, we headed out to a place called Vox Bar.
There are apparently two cities in China that have an underground rock scene: Beijing and, yup--you guessed it, Wuhan. The large majority of Chinese people seem to prefer the cheesy pop that I abhor, but there are apparently enough people around generating interest in punk-rock and indie-rock to support this bar which is a good sign. I really felt like I knew some kind of secret password to a hidden world as I walked in. The bar is in the middle of nowhere and you would *never* find this place unless you knew where to go. Inside the bar was packed with Chinese and a smattering of internationals, all of which were going nuts for the opening band. I glanced over at the bar and saw a sign advertising 5 kuai beers. Now that's my kind of place! I also noted their business card which proclaims Vox Bar as the "Voice of youth, Voice of freedom...a REAL bar. REALLY!" Let me be the first to say that they are not exaggerating.
While the opening band was packing up and the main attraction, Sound Fragment, was getting set up, I met Wuhan, Chinese friend of Tyler and Mal. Wuhan (yes, named after the city) plays guitar for a hard core band and is super cool. He is incredibly welcoming, extremely hip, and surprisingly knowledgeable on all types of music, especially for someone studying computer engineering. He explained to me how Beijing has more bands than Wuhan but that the heart of the rock scene is in Wuhan. In excellent English he explained that in Beijing they dress the part but that in Wuhan they live it. Normally I would chuckle at a cheesy comment like that, but by the end of the night I believed it.
The minute Sound Fragment started playing, I was totally into it. They were a little Coldplay, a little Radiohead, a smidgeon U2, and a whole lot of contagious energy that the crowd fed off. I didn't understand a word of their lyrics (apart from the occasional "I don't have..." as well as a few numbers here and there) but it didn't matter. Talent is talent when it comes to music and these guys have it. Wuhan filled me in that they're really big now in the underground scene and that they came down from Beijing for the show. I was inspired enough to buy their CD which, while not quite as good as a live performance, is still worth a repeated listen.
After the band finished up, people continue to party to the DJ'd music. Around 2am, the owner jovially proclaimed that everyone should "get the %$#* out" and proceeded to join the 15 or so people left to get some shaokao. We walked down the street as a pack to some random alley and created the after-party right then and there. Over yet another feast, I talked to Wuhan about traveling and music and to some french guy about being a westerner in China. It was brilliant. Before I knew it, we were heading home at close to 5am. What a night...
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October 21, 2005
Unfathomable Enigmas and Such
I arrived in Wuchang at 10:15am about 15 minutes ahead of schedule and as I walked out to grab a cab, I marveled at the unpredictability of the Chinese rail system (i.e. 15 minutes early to Wuhan, 3 hours late to Hangzhou, you just never know...). I hopped in a taxi and, after telling the guy to take me to Wuhan University of Technology, I noticed that the starting rate was only 3 kwai--significantly cheaper than GZ. Off to a good start!
I got to the campus gate without a hitch and then set about the task of making friends with the nearest cell phone-toting college kid. Everytime I leave the Guangdong province I am reminded of how dependent I am on the cell phone and how frustrating it is to not have one. In reality it just makes me more outgoing though which is perfectly fine. I managed to find a friendly guy sitting on the curb who let me use his mobile after I butchered the Chinese phrase for "can I make a call with your cell phone." Lo and behold, I was in the right place and Tyler came to fetch me. After the grand tour of his apartment (awesome digs, I might add), we woke up Mal to head out and start my exploration of the city.
Step 1: get food. I don't remember reading anywhere that Wuhan is known for its food but it certainly should be. I will revisit this theme later, but right from the get-go (not to be confused with Geiko) I was blown away by the cuisine. For lunch we went a little bit upscale and hit up a restaurant down the street that had some excellent spicy beef, cauliflower, chicken, and rice. There was soup, there were unidentifiable vegetables, and there was local beer--everything you need for a good Chinese meal. I was geared up and ready to go after that!
Our first destination (after food) was to the East Lake. While it lacks the notoriety of Hangzhou's West Lake, the "Dong Hu" is still quite beautiful and has an awesome park that we explored for a few hours. Before we got there though, we got off the bus a couple stops early and just walked around for a little while. We got intentionally lost walking through some back streets on the hill by the lake and saw some of what I like to call "authentic China." There were run-down houses, people working the land, trash on the side of the road, and a public restroom that I wouldn't wish upon anybody. It's definitely a reality check and a reminder that most of China still has a long way to go in improving quality of life.
Back to the lake, we headed into Donghu Gongyuan (the park) to check out a bunch of the sights. We were collectively intrigued by the large map at the entrance that had a few idiosyncratic translations, crowned by a spot proclaiming to have an "Unfathomable Enigma of Nature." You can't go wrong with that. As we started walking in we noticed that most people were walking the other way towards the exit. Whether this was due to the slightly overcast weather or the proximity to dinner time we'll never know, but it made our afternoon so pleasant. We were some of the only people in the entire place! In a country where there seems to be a mob of people everywhere (and I really mean everywhere), this was a true rarity. Though we never encountered the infamous enigma, we did climb the watchtower gate, discover the alpine slide(!), play with the statues, climb the hundreds of steps up to the tower, climb the additional five flights to the top of the tower, light some incense, and then head out.
For dinner we went the street food route and had some shaokao, barbeque. There is a street by the back gate to the university that has dozens and dozens of different stands all making what looks like delicious food. You sit down at any of the outdoor tables, they hand you an order sheet, and you write down how many skewers you want and of what kind of meat or vegetable. We had an enormous feast and only spent around 8 or 10 kwai each (only slightly over a dollar). Wow. Now that's living! They love their cumin in Wuhan and I approve--all of the shaokao is doused with the stuff and it gives everything a nice kick. The more and more I experience China, I am finding more and more evidence that Guangzhou's reputation for having the best food in the country is greatly exaggerated. It's good, but so far I have had nothing here to rival the food in Wuhan (especially for the price).
After dinner, we met up with Serge (sp?), one of the other foreign teachers at the university. Along with his girlfriend, they both decided to help us experience the Wuchang nightlife. We picked a random bar and managed to finagle a deal on beers from a rather inebriated bartender. We played some of the dice game and chatted amongst ourselves, just enjoying the scene. As the night went on, they turned on the karaoke in the place and the Chinese patrons started to rock out. Suddenly we looked up and saw "My Heart Will Go On" on the television sets and the waitstaff handed us two microphones. Let me tell you--they LOVE that song here. I think I've heard it multiple times in every Chinese city I've been to. Seriously. Not really having a choice, we began to sing along with Mal taking the lead. Tyler and I did our best for Hotel California and a few others, but every 4th or 5th song was back to Titanic. By the end of the night I had had it with the tune but they kept playing it so we kept singing it. Tyler even recorded a beautiful rendition from about 2am that Mal should submit to American Idol :)
The following is a link to all my photos from the weekend. It includes shots from events I haven't chronicled yet so if you want to be surprised, hold off, okay? Hopefully they're better organized this time: http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03/sets/1201189/
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October 20, 2005
Woooohan!
So I found out this past Tuesday afternoon that I didn't have to teach any Friday classes due to a two day sports competition. I have no idea why they decided to take up 2 days of class for this but I was not about to complain. Despite the fact that I knew I'd miss the legendary opening ceremony to this event (it was built up by all the teachers), I decided it was time to head out and about once more in China. After having so much fun with Tyler and Mal during my last vacation, it wasn't a tough choice to head up to their place in Wuhan.
So Wednesday morning I headed out to try and buy myself a train ticket. I wrote down the few phrases I didn't know (tones and all) and wished myself luck. Walking up to the first place, I prepared for the challenge. I said my piece, waited for a look of recognition, got it (!), but then quickly became dumbfounded when they started firing questions back at me that I didn't understand. As I gave them a blank stare, they shooed me away. Strike 1. I walked up the street to the other ticket place and once again wished myself luck. I had a bit more success here as I got not only a look of recognition but also a schedule thrust in my face. Unfortunately I also received a number of questions I didn't understand and thus had to walk away empty-handed. Strike 2.
I tried not to be discouraged but I was running out of both time and options. Not to fear though, Meggie Lu to the rescue! My friend Meggie, having grown up in Taiwan, is completely fluent and a short bus ride away so I employed her help to get me a ticket. Wednesday evening I headed over and she helped me become mobile. I also figured out what they were asking me at the first two places- Wuhan is actually a city that is a combination of three major areas right across from each other on the Yangtze River: Wuchang, Hangkou, and Hanyang. They wanted to know which station in Wuhan I wanted! I called Tyler on the spot so figure out which one but unfortunately he was in class. Meggie and I guessed Wuchang for no good reason and it turns out that was exactly what I wanted! To quote Tyler, "You have chosen...wisely." The only bad part was that they had no hard sleepers left, only soft sleepers (which run about a hundred yuan more expensive). Oy. I bit the bullet though and decided I would roll up the country V.I.P.-style.
Thursday night after basketball and dinner, I packed up and headed over to the train station. While I left from the run-down Guangzhou Central Station during the National Day Holiday, this time I took off from Guangzhou East Station. What a world of difference! It's much newer, much nicer, much cleaner, much more organized, and much easier to navigate. I will admit though, it probably helped that I wasn't traveling on a day that 1.3 billion people were also going on trains. It wasn't nearly as hectic, hot, or stressful as the last time and it was nice to know how the system worked ahead of time.
I didn't know what to expect for the soft sleeper but I must say, I was disappointed. The only major differences are that there are only 4 beds per compartment (as opposed to 6) and that there's a door to the compartment separating it from the rest of the car. It was nice to not worry about my stuff getting stolen (it was inside with me as opposed to on the overhang across the way) but I still didn't sleep very well because the main lights never went off! In a hard sleeper, the lights to the whole car shut off around 10:30pm or 11:00pm but they never shut off on the way up. I'm guessing that maybe there was a switch somewhere where we could control it, but none of the other 3 guys made any effort to turn them off so I have no idea. My compartment-mates were also not nearly as friendly as the hard-sleeper crowd. One guy even made and received cell phone calls all night!
For the most part, the trip was entirely uneventful. I had a few random thoughts though: First, I was reading my Sandy Koufax biography and discovered a new meaning of getting immersed in a book. Tearing through the pages, I became entranced by the story and by Leavy's writing. Sidenote- I really respect Koufax and feel like I can relate to him quite a bit; It's not the Jewish thing as much as the fact that he worked very hard to earn people's respect and was fiercely competitive. Anyhow, reading about baseball in New York and Los Angeles during the fifties and sixties truly made me forget where I was. Consequently, I was shocked and completely caught off guard when a p.a. announcement in Chinese shattered this false sense of reality. I was almost disappointed to come back down to earth.
Second, the train made about 3 stops in the middle of the night. I woke up each time as we came to a jostling hault. The last time it happened I checked my clock and saw that it was a few minutes past 3:30am. Who plans on arriving somewhere in the middle of the night?? It seems a bit odd to make plans with someone and say, "No problem, I'll just meet you there at 4am." I guess the stops were just too minor to warrant their own line (or dropoff at a decent hour).
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October 7, 2005
Homeward Bound
I went to bed Thursday night quite content after an incredible vacation, and at the same time somewhat annoyed to have to go back to Guangzhou. It's not that I'm not enjoying it here, but the chaotic nature of GZ can be pretty taxing, especially in comparison to the serene nature of the West Lake. That being said, I was looking forward to getting back to my new friends on the soccer and basketball teams as well as to the friendly confines of HSFZ. Home is home and right now that means the second floor of building one inside the school. It's actually a pretty sweet pad so I've got nothing to complain about.
Getting home is a completely separate story. First off, I should note that when I got my ticket before vacation, it was only one way. Apparently they don't really do round trip tickets in China so I knew I'd have to figure it out once I got there. Unfortunately, I was arriving in Hangzhou but departing from Shanghai and you can't buy tickets for different cities so I was in a bit of trouble. Much like traveling on the way up, everyone was going to be trying to get home at the exact same time as me. Great. Luckily, I took advantage of some serious guanxi one last time and had Phillip book my ticket when he got Mal and Tyler's tickets. Brilliant! He managed to secure me a top bunk hard sleeper which is exactly what I wanted. Gotta love the kid. Now you might be wondering, why was I leaving on Friday, putting me back in GZ on Saturday? Well it turns out that the Chinese vacation is exactly 7 days long--Saturday to Saturday. The weekend turns into normal weekdays and everyone starts working again as usual. I have to say that I am diametrically opposed to this policy. The weekend is for not working! Regardless, I absolutely had to be back in Guangzhou to teach at 2:50pm on Saturday. I wanted a ticket that would put me back around noon, giving me enough time to shower and get ready for class. Unfortunately the only thing available put me back at 2pm so I decided to chance it, rather than leave a day earlier. Given how long my train was delayed on the way up, I knew this was a pretty serious gamble but there's no way I was going to leave Shanghai early.
Given the craziness of the train station on the way up, I gave myself an extra buffer of time to make sure I found my way to the right room within the station. Silly me--I was expecting the madness of Guangzhou Central but I encountered a model of efficiency in the Shanghai Railway Station. It was modern, well-lit, had food shops, and most importantly sported an enormous electronic billboard showing where to go for each train. So it turns out I woke up early for no good reason. Oh well. Anyhow, I got on the train and was disappointed that I was not next to another attractive dancer. However, I did immediately make some basic conversation with the kid next to me who is a 26 year-old working in GZ. After a solid nap, I climbed back down and found a bunch of dudes from the compartment to the left all staring at me. Weird. It turns out though that they were all simply dying to talk to me and to practice their English. For the next 8 hours or so we talked about anything and everything: politics, traveling, history, sports, education, shopping, and international relations. It was really nice and I truly enjoyed getting their perspectives on the multitude of issues. They even helped me a bit with my awful Chinese which I appreciated. One thing about being a westerner in China is that everyone here greatly exaggerates language abilities. They kept saying that their English was terrible when we were obviously able to converse, whereas they kept complimenting me on my crude Chinese even though I know it's awful. I know all of about 15 words and do not have the ability to go more than one sentence at a time yet they think I'm a genius for saying "ni hao." This has been consistent everywhere I've been. I say "I speak a little mandarin but not very well" and they are absolutely wowed beyond belief. I think it's a cultural thing.
As 10pm neared (lights out time) I decided to leave my bag on the overhanging shelf instead of in the bed with me. I rationalized that everyone around me was far too friendly to steal my stuff. Just in case though, I used my mini bike lock to secure the pack to the rail. Needless to say, I slept *much* better that night with all the room to spread out. I woke up bright and early the next morning (with all my possessions still intact) and read for a few hours from the Kristoff/Wudunn book "China Wakes." It really is fascinating to read about the evolution (revolution?) of modern China while actually being here and seeing it first hand. Anyhow, I asked one of my new friends what time we were expected to arrive in GZ and they told me 11:30am! I have absolutely no idea how we got that far ahead of schedule but I was elated. My pants and collared shirt were all ready for me to go directly from the train into the classroom but I was lucky enough to have enough time to even shower. Plus I got into Guangzhou East Station which is infinitely better than Central.
Sure I threw together a lesson at the last second but that's okay--it's actually been just fine. However since we were on a Thursday schedule, Steven and I had to hold conversation corner during the last period of the day. I really wanted to just go to bed, but alas, I needed to fulfill my duties as teacher. One of the senior 3 students actually showed up to talk which was a first. This girl had Melissa and Sonja last year (the two PiA-ers from last year) and fell in love with them. I was happy to talk with her, but she put me on the spot with a question about Tiananmen. She wanted to know what I knew about the events from 1989 and what I thought about it. This is obviously dangerous territory so I stuck to the basics- some students were protesting that they wanted more representation and that the government used some violence in response. She went on to explain that the "incident," as it's referred to, is not even in her history book and that the only reason she knows about it is because her politics teacher told them about it. However, she told me that the teacher went into detail about how the western world greatly exaggerated the events and that they made a very big deal out of nothing. Wow. Especially after reading the section in "China Wakes" about those few days I was dumbfounded. Kristoff was there in the thick of things and saw troops fire and kill people right in front of him. It's really tough for me to think that this could have been a gross miscalculation by western media, especially given the history of media control by the Communist Party. What could I say though? I did my best to steer the conversation away from this and to something more mundane like Chinese food, but several other students wanted to put their two cents in as well. Oy. I basically backed down and didn't say much of anything. It was frustrating but I also don't want to ruffle any feathers here. So there you have it! A week's vacation and right back into the thick of teaching...
Just in case you didn't see my pictures linked from a previous post, here they are one last time. They are sort of in reverse chronological order (minus the first 6 or so) but it's all there. Enjoy!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/96703995@N00/
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October 6, 2005
The Finer Things
I got up Thursday morning after getting more than 3 hours of sleep for the first time all vacation and I felt like a million bucks. Vacation is great but sometimes it's difficult finding a balance between doing as much as you can and still getting a healthy amount of sleep. I kept reasoning with myself saying, "You have ~26 hours to sleep on the train. Don't waste time now!" Regardless, getting a solid 6 hours Wednesday night was fantastic.
Me, Christi, and Ian went out to meet Phillip, Tyler, and Mal at the Yuyuan Gardens, one of the oldest strictly Chinese areas of the city. We toured through the buildings and gardens and then went out to walk through the Yuyuan Bazaar (shopping area). The gardens were beautiful but I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible because it was tourist central and the place was overflowing with nothing but westerners. It was odd that I almost felt uncomfortable there surrounded by non-Chinese. Maybe it was more the fact that I don't really consider myself a tourist since I'm here for the long haul, but it annoyed me to hear them saying loud obnoxious things like, "These Chinese sure know how to make a garden!!" Regardless, it was nice but a little overwhelming.
Tyler, Mal, and Philip had to head back to Wuhan in the early afternoon so we had one final extravagant meal together. The highlight was some type of unidentifiable crunchy sea creature soaking in some flavored vinegar along with some cucumbers; either that or the dish that almost resembled the Kung Pao chicken you get in the U.S.--both were pretty darn tasty. After lunch we said goodbye to the three and parted ways. Even though it was only 4 days or so together, it was actually quite sad to have to bid them goodbye. I can't speak for anyone else, but I was getting used to the comfort of hanging out with a big crew of (American) friends and it was a bummer to see them go, especially since there's no telling when I'll see everyone again.
Ian, Christi and I weren't about to stop our adventures though. We immediately headed out to the Bund, the walkway on the Huangpu River. The Bund has aesthetic value but also some very significant historical sites including the British building where the Brits used to run the opium trade (noble, huh?). After walking around for a while we took a ferry across the river to the new Pudong area. The ferry ride was pretty funny because throngs of people all rushed on the boat and fought for seats even though the ride lasted all of two or three minutes. They even had a concession stand onboard! For those of you who know the vineyard, it reminds me of fighting for a seat on the chappy ferry--totally unnecessary.
Across the river is the Oriental Pearl TV Tower which is a big tourist trap to take the elevator up for the view. Instead of fronting the 50 yuan, we went over to the Grand Hyatt in the Jinmao Tower, the tallest building in China. The Hotel has a lobby on the 54th floor that provides comparable views for free. At first I was concerned that they'd find out we weren't guests and kick us out but I wasn't thinking--3 white people together must OBVIOUSLY be rich if they're in Shanghai so of course they are hotel guests. We took in the view for a bit and then headed up a few floors to a lounge/bar area and sat down for a drink and some dessert. The lounge has a view inside the hotel up to the top floor which, due to the spiral design, creates an optical illusion that it goes up forever. I ordered a dram of Glenfiddich and sat there enjoying my single malt along with some tiramisu and pleasant conversation. It was an excellent place to spend an hour due to the comfy couches and incredible mural on the wall. It's not often that you get to enjoy some of the finer things in life, especially with such good people, but this was definitely one of those times.
As we began to head back to Ian's we figured, why stop there? Right down the street from his apartment is a massage parlor that he and Carmen go to for foot massages. I was a little skeptical of the whole thing, having never gotten a professional massage of any kind, but the whole experience was pretty amazing. For the equivelant of about $4.75, they put the three of us in a nice room together on comfy lay-z-boy chairs and served us tea. Following the beverages they brought out a bucket for each of us filled with hot herbal water to soak our (somewhat gross) feet. After a couple minutes they instructed us to rotate to a different seat so they could give us back rubs. What treatment! After a few minutes of this they put us back in the recliners and put our feet up on the pads to get to work. Apparently each person is trained by a different master who advocates a distinct style. The lady working on my feet was trained in some sort of rhythmic style with a lot of clapping and soothing hits on my feet and calves which was great. I was pleasantly surprised! I'm not going to lie--I was nervous at the beginning and didn't know what to expect, though that relates in part to how ticklish I am. There were times that I was in pain from what she was doing but by the end I felt like I had a new pair of feet. It was incredibly relaxing and I think all three of us dozed off for a few moments during the hour.
After massages we headed back to Ian's a listened to some music for a while before heading to a noodle shop around the corner. It may sound crazy, but I was actually somewhat happy to get back to "commoner's" food and not have to worry about the exotic luxury dishes from the fancy restaurant. Give me some noodles in a spicy broth with some sort of meat and I will always be happy. We leafed through the Time Out Shanghai guide during the meal and decided on a few places to check out for the night. First we headed to Nanjing Donglu, roughly equivelant to the Times Square area of Shanghai. It was pretty interesting and had no shortage of neon signs. After hanging out in the park at the end for a while, we went in search of what was described in the book as a gay bar resembling a lesbian pool party. I don't know if Christi thought we were crazy or not, but I think the Wesleyan in both Ian and I just meant that we were psyched to see a bar with a pool inside, gay or otherwise. Sadly, it was not meant to be because we couldn't find it. All was not lost, however, because on the way there we stopped to listen to a middle-aged Chinese guy play acoustic guitar by the entrance to the subway. The guy wasn't exactly Stevie Ray Vaughan, but he played with great feeling and it was excellent to hear some live music. We were thus inspired to seek out more music and headed to a bar with a live rock band. As we walked in I was surprised to hear U2's "With or Without You." Was it a western band? Not a chance. These were four Chinese guys rocking hard and they were a ton of fun. They played a mix of Chinese and western tunes and I must say I was pretty excited to hear Coldplay's "Clocks." They even did a second set of reggae tunes which was pretty cool. All in all, an excellent night.
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October 5, 2005
Off to Shanghai
We woke up and said goodbye to Mal and Tyler who had Phillip and his driver escort them to Shanghai, VIP-style. Ian, Andy, Christi and I all opted to have a bit of a lazier morning and to meet them in the city later. Plus we wanted to take advantage of the Best Western breakfast one more time! Yes, it's all about food with me. After a number of omelettes and hash browns (they even had tabasco!), we headed over to Zhejiang University so I could pack up my stuff. Andy decided to do the responsible thing and stay in Hangzhou to study Chinese characters, but I joined Ian and Christi to catch a bus bound for Shanghai and Ian's apartment.
Though it's mildly embarassing, I must admit that the mention of Shanghai elicits thoughts of Indiana Jones for me before anything else. The Temple of Doom opens up with Dr. Jones in a Shanghai night club and I guess I saw the movie at a particularly impressionable time of my youth. While I didn't see "Short Round," I did see what is possibly China's most dynamic city. Ian is working in the city for a consulting agency and explained to me that you really need to see Shanghai in order to understand why China will be taking over the world in the next ten years or so. I didn't really understand what he meant until I got to the city.
If I thought Guangzhou was big, I was sorely mistaken. Shanghai is a collection of skyscrapers that goes on for miles and miles in every direction. It has an incredible skyline that is constantly expanding. The most amazing thing is that they managed to keep it interesting. Whereas in GZ all of the buildings look the same (i.e. are ugly), Shanghai has some very cool designs in the architecture. They also have trees and park areas where you can escape some of the madness of the city. Driving through the French Concession even makes you feel like you are lost among a group of historical villas.
So we got to the city after a quick two hour bus ride (sidenote- avoid the back seat whenever possible. We got tossed around quite a bit!) and headed to Ian's apartment to drop off our stuff. Ian and Carmen, another Wes graduate and PiA-er, share an awesome place right off the xujiahui metro stop. They have cool plants, a nice stereo system, and most importantly, a guest bed and couch! I was inspired by all of their plants and I think I will pick up a bunch for my place here as soon as I get paid next.
After hanging out for a bit we met up with Philip, Tyler, and Mal for yet *another* incredible dinner at a luxury restaurant. Feeling guilty, we had Ian tell Phillip that we wanted to pay tonight (Ian is fluent in mandarin). Ian conversed with him for a little while and finally turned to us to explain. Phillip isn't paying for a dime of the meal. His parents aren't even fronting any of the bills. No, no--the Chinese government is paying for the whole thing. Phillip epitomizes to me the concept of guanxi, roughly translated as prestige or connections. Basically your guanxi comes from your job, your family status, party membership, or simply having a ton of money. Regardless of the source, this is what gets you into the best restaurants when there are no tables. It's what gets you into a better university. It's what gets you favors from other important people. It's pretty much the most important thing to have in China and Phillip (via his family) has a TON of it. While it was a privilege riding on the coattails of this connection, I couldn't help feeling guilty. Ian and I were chatting on the way out from dinner about how there are roughly 900 million peasants in China that could have lived for months just on the cost of one dish we had that night, and yet the government is instead paying for a bunch of random foreigners to eat like kings. Once again, it is what it is. Being white over here opens up some doors that some native Chinese will never see.
After dinner we went to xintiandi, an upscale pedestrian walkway where there are fancy tea houses, bars, cafes, and a few music joints. It had some cool places, but it was definitely an area for rich tourists so weren't super excited about it. After that though we went out to a place called "Face" to hang out for the night. We enjoyed a laid back atmosphere of playing cards (Ian dominated in hearts) and sipping expensive drinks. Before we headed home, Ian took us to a famous strip of bars and we did some people watching as folks began to stagger out of the various establishments. There were actually quite a few westerners and English speakers which made me feel like I could have been back in Boston--an odd sensation. The kicker was that there was a pizza stand selling slices at which most of us took advantage. I opted for the Indian bbq stand though which is pretty tasty stuff. Mmmmm. Lamb with cumin...
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October 4, 2005
Wu Zhen, etc.
We woke up Tuesday and met up with Phillip once again to head out to Wu Zhen, an old village about an hour and a half outside the city. Naturally, he had hired a driver to escort us out to the site and to pay for us to get in. I'm not entirely sure why, but from Phillip's brief description of the town at dinner the night before, I was expecting a little hamlet out in the middle of nowhere where we would be glimpsing into the peasant life. Yeah, not so much. Before we headed out, we rendezvoused with Mal who we inadvertantly eluded all day Monday. Long story, but the moral is that everyone needs an operable cell phone when traveling.
Wu Zhen is comparatively well preserved as an old town, but apparently the word is out because there were thousands of tourists there along with us and that detracted from the overall experience. It was sort of funny too because this place was really in the middle of no where--we barely passed anyone on the road on the way out there, but once there we became part of the masses. It was set up a bit like a museum which had some interesting sites such as the clothes dyeing process, but overall I was just overwhelmed by the hordes of people. I did, however, enjoy watching Tyler learn how to weave from some old Chinese lady. Classic.
The best part of the morning was taking a boat ride down the little river beside the town. It almost felt like I was back in Venice amongst the maze of canals because we were on a gondola-like vessel piloted by one guy with a big ol' pole behind him. We got to see some very cool foot bridges and buildings along the way which was great. I could have stayed out there on the water for hours. After spending my four summers working on the vineyard, I really do feel a close affinity for the water. I think that no matter where I end up later in life, it will either be right on the coast or at least on a river or lake. There's just something soothing about being on water.
After yet another ridiculously good lunch we headed back to Hangzhou where Phillip said his parents had invited us to a tea house. A tea house sounds pretty standard, right? Wrong. We were taken to one of the most breathtaking tea houses in existence, on a side of xi hu away from all other people. We were not only one of the only people there and but also the only tourists--a welcolme respite from the madness of Wu Zhen. Hangzhou is known for its tea and we were lucky enough to enjoy one of the finest varieties at this tea house. After a few snacks, Phillip and his mom took us on a tour of the grounds to the house, pointing out various architectural features and how certain trees and views were framed by the walls and windows. It was truly beautiful and once again the mist and clouds added that extra element to the experience.
We thought the royal treatment was over but Phillip and his parents (along with a few of their friends) took us to one of the fanciest restaurants in the city, with a maze of mini bridges over the water by the lake. We had our own mini building to dine in, complete with windows on all four sides. The food was incredible (no surprise) and I sampled a few new dishes. Between this dinner and a few others, I tried fox (quite tasty, especially with the spicy sauce), duck tongue (kind of bland but with a weird texture), and fish head soup (yummy, but somewhat unnerving to stare at the eyes). They toasted us with some fancy red wine and I did my best to represent and gave a small toast to our hosts. What a generous family!
We made another trip to the Cool Bar and then later to some other bar/club where we did some dancing with a bunch of drunk Indian guys. It's funny how music and alcohol can help eliminate language and cultural barriers. On the dance floor, everyone is on a level playing field. Everyone except Andy, that is, whose dance moves far exceed everyone else (check out the pictures). The link once again (in case you missed it last time):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/96703995@N00/
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October 3, 2005
VIP's and Temples
So we all woke up in the Best Western, one of the nicest hotels in the entire city. How did we end up there? Well, Mal and Tyler mentioned to someone in their school office in Wuhan that they were traveling to Hangzhou. The secretary put them in touch with good ol' Phillip, a freshmen at the University who happened to grow up in Hangzhou. She said they could travel together and possibly have him show them around a bit. Sounds harmless enough, right? It turns out Phillip is the son of a very important businessman in Hangzhou (dad) and the person in the provincial government in charge of all visas and passport issues (mom). Basically he's a VIP, or in the words of Ian Hanks, he's a baller.
Mal and Tyler had no idea they were getting put up in a hotel, let alone one of the nicest ones around. I should also mention that these hotel rooms were inevitably booked a day or so before arrival which is crazy, given that this past week is consistently one of the busiest tourist times in the entire year. Lets just say Phillip and his family "know" people and pretty much call the shots around the city. So we got up good and early and went downstairs to enjoy the hotel breakfast--a veritable feast complete with omelette bar, hash browns, fried rice, tasty noodles, some veggies, good breads, and the kicker-- orange juice! Needless to say, I had several plates. After breakfast, Andy, Christi, and Mal decided to go back to bed and/or do some errands while Tyler and I went with Phillip and his buddy Alexander to the Lingyin Temple.
Despite the fact that the Lingyin Temple has been destroyed and restored about 16 times since it was first built around 320 c.e., it still feels like a piece of ancient China. The temple is set up in the hills and with the overcast weather, the clouds and mist added to the antiquated feeling of the place. The couplet inscribed at the Hall of The Four Heavenly Guardians (huge scary looking statues) reads, "cloud forest Buddhist temple." That pretty much says it all right there. To date, the Lingyin Temple is the most amazing thing I have seen in China. The history, architecture, and natural beauty, in conjunction with the monks walking around in old religious garb all contribute to a magical vibe about the place. I found it fascinating how there was a beautiful temple followed by steps up to another beautiful temple, all with a Buddha representing something different. They even claim to have the world's largest indoor buddha, at somewhere around 60m high. My favorite though was either the one with the elaborate wood carving where people pray for marriage or the temple with the white Buddha symbolizing justice. Check out my pictures for some idea of what it was like, though even they don't do it justice.
Tyler and I felt a bit awkward since Phillip paid for the taxi, the bus, the entrance fees (not cheap), and all our food. We thanked him profusely and tried to pay but he refused. After a while we figured his parents had just given him a bit of money and he was in a generous mood. More on that later...
I had emailed Ian Hanks, Wes graduate and PiA-er in Shanghai to let him know I'd be in his neck of the woods but he replied that he was going to be in Bangladesh that week with a friend. Luckily for all of us, Ian's plans fell through due to some visa issues so he came to meet us all that evening in Hangzhou. So after four hours or so of exploring the temple and the grounds around the different buildings, we headed back into the city to meet up with Ian and to rally the crew for dinner. Phillip made a recommendation for a restaurant and we had a ridiculous feast once again, in an area that has a charming little pedestrian walkway with a bunch of shops. We walked around for a while, did some window shopping, and generally just took in the scene. I made my only real purchase of the break here and picked up a wood carving of a lion after some minor bargaining. I love the fact that I see lions everywhere in China, being my namesake and all. It's somehow comforting in a weird kind of way.
Though we couldn't get in touch with Mal, we headed out to a place aptly named the "Cool Bar." Here we tossed a few back with the locals and made some Chinese friends. A table of some random dudes invited us over and proceeded to make toasts every five seconds and shake our hands non-stop. It seems they were quite a few rounds ahead of us. Regardless, they were great and now I can say I've had drinks with a Mongolian and his passed out boss from the Sichuan Province. The only less-than-cool aspect of the Cool Bar was its bathroom. If I thought the WC on the train was bad, this put it to shame. I won't go into detail but lets just say that I couldn't even stand in there for more than about 5 seconds before fighting the urge to get rid of my dinner.
We headed back to Andy and Christi's place to chill out and get a couple hours of sleep before our early morning wake-up to meet Phillip for a tour of some village a few hours outside the city. My thoughts as I drifted off to bed related to how awesome the PiA-ers are and once again how lucky I am. I guess this type of experience draws a certain type of person to begin with, but all the fellows I've spent time with are so interesting, so smart, and so adventurous. What a great crew of kids to vacation with! Not only was everyone always up for trying something new or something "weird," but our conversations were consistently stimulating and amusing at the same time.
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October 2, 2005
Trains and Reunions
I woke up with the lights turning on (right above my head) and more cheesy Chinese pop music around 8am. Having left at 3pm on Saturday, I should have arrived in Hangzhou around 2pm, give or take a little while. I was counting down in a big since I had had my fill of the train and it's really mediocre food. I started counting down, thinking that I had less than five hours to go. As the train went along, I looked out the window on and off and saw more villages, more beautiful countryside, and also some major construction. They were building miles and miles (or should I say kilometers and kilometers...) of new train track and also various buildings along the way.
Most of the workers were wearing tattered clothing and the classic straw hat. Hard hat? Forget it. However, this is still a major step up from the beggars I encounter in GZ, most of which are missing a limb or two. Construction work is long and difficult, but it is a paying job that is needed in mass quantities around China these days. While a peasant is often forced to leave his family and village for an extended period of time, it makes financial sense and is thus very common. What a different world...
As I started walking up the car towards the infamous W.C., I stopped in my tracks to listen to the song on the P.A. system. It was a pop song that ripped off the McDonalds jingle (both words and melody) of "I'm Lovin' It" and made it into a full fledged pop song. Good lord. This is what the Chinese are taking from American culture? Couldn't they find something better? Regardless, I proceeded onward to the tiolet and was preparing myself for the worst. It wasn't exactly the worst, but it was *quite* foul in there. I tried to hold my breath, close my eyes (maybe that's what started the problem in the first place?), and be out as soon as possible. Luckily this was a quick pit stop and not a newspaper-reading session. For those of you who haven't used a "squatter" before, it is an experience in and of itself. The Chinese can do the squat quite naturally, but we westerners are just not built for it. It makes for a serious challenge! I escaped unscathed though, and with visions of a western toilet where you can actually sit.
One sidenote- the kid on the bottom bunk on my side had 3 cans of coke before noon. Is it me or is that just gross? I'm not a big soda drinker so maybe my opinion is colored by that, but it seems vile to brush your teeth and crack open a can of coke classic at 8am. Just sayin'.
I have no idea what caused the delay, but my 2pm arrival time turned into 4:45pm and it was not a moment too soon. If I had been on there too much longer I think I would have gone nuts. I was picturing the scene from the old Simpsons Halloween special parody of The Shining where Homer is off his rocker. He starts spray-painting "No Beer and No T.V. Make Homer Go Crazy." Go crazy? Don't mind if I do! Anyway, I get off the train into Hangzhou and take my phone out. Naturally, I discover that I have the Guangdong Province only model and can't call Andy, the PiA-er I was crashing with. Luckily the train had a public phone so I let him know I was on my way and headed over to the line for taxis.
First impressions: Hangzhou is much more clean and civilized than GZ. People formed a line for taxis and did not attempt to fight others for spots! The streets weren't covered in garbage! I didn't think the cab driver was going to kill me! It was quite a revelation. Anyhow, I got to Andy and Christi's building complex but couldn't figure out which building was theirs. Damn useless cell phone! I made friends with some random Chinese guy and luckily he let me use his phone to call Andy again and I found my way. After a satisfying shower and change of clothes, Andy and I met up with Christi and hopped in a cab to meet up with Tyler and Mal, the two PiA-ers from Wuhan. Along the way we caught up on the first month of Chinese adventures and just enjoyed English-speaking company. They also began to detail for me how Tyler and Mal are staying in a 5 star hotel, free of charge (MUCH more on that later).
We arrived at the restaurant which was right on xi hu, the famous West Lake of Hangzhou. As the old Chinese saying goes, "In heaven there is paradise, on earth Hangzhou." I had heard that this was an exaggeration, but I was impressed--the lake is beautiful! Sure there were a bunch of people, but compared to GZ, Hangzhou appeared both quaint and the epitome of natural beauty. As I took in the scene we all began to catch up and trade amusing stories. While we are all in very different areas of China, we are having somewhat similar experiences which is nice. We also ordered up a feast which just hit the spot. On my recommendation we tried the ginger and scallion frog on the menu and once again I was pleased. Who knew?
After the meal we retired to a dive bar called "West Town," or something like that. We caught up some more and partook in a number of local pijiu. We then went on to a place called the Reggae Bar which is exactly what it sounds like. After some more beer and more food, we went back to check out the infamous hotel where Mal and Tyler were staying. It turns out that it's a Best Western! A note of advice for everyone reading this- if you are ever in Hangzhou and need a place to stay, I highly recommend this place. The player piano alone makes it worth it. Anyhow, we hung out for a while longer and then crashed at the hotel. Might as well take advantage of such a luxury, right?
Okay, the following is a link for what should be my pictures from the trip. I gave up on Snapfish after 3 failed upload attempts so this is a new experiment. Anyhow, they are in reverse chronological order and include the entire trip so if you want to be surprised, you can wait to check em out. It may make you set up a free account and all that jazz. Try the slideshow option on the side...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/96703995@N00/
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October 1, 2005
National Day Holiday
My first foray in domestic excursion was quite an experience. Everyone warned me that traveling on the Saturday at the beginning of the vacation was nuts due to the crowds, but I underestimated their warnings. From the moment I left the gates of HSFZ and walked to the bus to get to the subway to take me to the train station, it was literally wall to wall people. I didn't have to put much effort into walking because the crowd just surfed me along. Picture traveling the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, but multiplied by 1.3 billion people. It's something like that. I would have been just fine weaving in and out of the mass, but I was handicapped by my somewhat large backpack. Add in the fact that it was approximately 300 degrees out and it made for an interesting start to the trip.
When I got to the train station, I was faced with my first real challenge of the trip. Let me backtrack a bit-- Guangzhou has two main train stations, East and Main. My ticket had me departing from Guangzhou Main Station which is quite a bit more chaotic than I expected. I seem to remember a guidebook describing it as a "seething mass of humanity" and that's pretty accurate. There was massive construction, poor lighting, TONS of people camped out all over the places, and a distinct shortage of signs (English or otherwise). I was sweating bullets and decided to take my pack off and rest for a few minutes before attempting to figure out where in the world I was supposed to go. Luckily for me, a kind college-aged kid came over and asked me in English if I needed help. I said yes, though my traveler alarm went off inside--is this guy trying to scam me?? Nope, he was legit and pointed me upstairs to the waiting room for my train. This was a large room overflowing with people and I was not lucky enough to score a seat so I threw my bag and sat up against a rather dirty wall. I had heard that the train would start boarding about 20 minutes before it was scheduled to leave, but 10 minutes before departure time, we hadn't moved. Was I in the right place? Should I be looking elsewhere? Some lady came into the room with a bullhorn and starting shouting out some information in both Mandarin and Cantonese which was completely useless for me. About 5 minutes before the train was supposed to leave, everyone got up and mass hysteria ensued. People were blatantly pushing, shoving, and attempting to get to the front of the line. I got down and dirty with the rest of them and elbowed my way into a better position in the slow-moving line. Eventually we migrated to a platform and got on the train.
Luckily there are assigned seats/beds on the train so the chaos calmed down quite a bit once aboard. I was in the hard-sleeper section which has six beds (two stacks of three) per each open compartment. I was happy to be on the top because my feet could dangle off the edge safely, however the lack of headroom was a bummer. Regardless, I wasn't in the best of spirits given how much I had sweat just getting to the train, and I was imagining a torturous twenty four-hour ride. It was also plainly obvious that I was the only white person on the entire train and I was getting some solid stares from everyone who passed by. When trying to figure out what to do with my stuff, I opted to keep it with me on the bed, decreasing the body space in half. I was worried about someone stealing my stuff as I went to the bathroom or got food so I decided to keep it on my person at all times. Paranoid? Maybe, but when you're alone, you kind of have to be overly paranoid. Either that or I've been watching too much 24 and will only trust people named Jack Bauer.
I grabbed one of the mini seats by the window and began to look at the scenery outside the city. Green--what a welcome change from the dirt of Guangzhou! It became pretty obvious right away that there is quite a bit of poverty outside. I had read about this but it's very different when you see it face to face. We passed by dozens of small villages with nothing but basic shacks and peasants working the nearby land. It's almost like traveling back in time, except for the fact that I was on an air-conditioned train compartment. I also saw a bunch of what I can only describe as water buffalo-like creatures hanging out in and out of various bodies of water. It was a quite a contrast from the Tianhe District in GZ (where I live) that contains the Grandview Mall, where a scoop of Haagen Dazs costs approximately one month of a peasant's salary. I could be wrong, but I think China actually has the largest disparity between rich and poor in the entire world. For the first time I caught a glimpse of this reality and it was startling.
It was a bit awkward to take in this scene while sipping my iced green tea, but such is the way of the world, I suppose. The experience was made even stranger by the fact that the train was playing really cheesy Chinese pop music (is there another kind?) the entire way. I guess that's a bit of an exaggeration; There were various announcements over the P.A. that I did not understand at all. This, of course, meant that I tuned them all out and instead day-dreamed in my own little world. I figured that if it was an emergency and we had to evacuate, someone else would take the lead and I'd follow. Luckily, it was a smooth ride the whole way.
A smooth ride, except for the fact that it took over three hours longer than it should have! I was starting to feel very isolated having not spoken a word to anyone and not understanding any of the announcements that presumably explained the delay. However, about 8 hours in, I met the girl on the top bunk right across from me and we proceeded to converse in crude English and Chinese. She was a rather attractive 23 year-old dancer from the Guangxi province and was going to visit a friend in Hangzhou. She would type English words on her cell phone and pass it over to me with a smile. Her questions/statements ranged from "you self?" to "I dancer enjoy." It wasn't exactly top level stuff, but I was responding with chinese phrases like "I am a teacher" and "I would like to drink some tea." We laughed quite a bit and this managed to entertain me for several hours. At night we even had a moment of teamwork to put a newspaper over the vent that was blowing frigid air directly on to us.
At 10pm they turned the lights off, and I spent about 20 minutes in the dark attempting to manuever my bag in such a way as to provide me with some space but also shield it away from the rest of the train. I settled with sleeping half on the thing and listened to my iPod until I fell asleep. What a beginning to my adventure...
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