Tuesday, October 31, 2006

my middle name is danger

so i went running around 6:20 tonight through the streets of xi pu. now i am the first to admit that dusk is the most dangerous time of the day (besides dawn [just ask george clooney]). but when i started running, it was light out. now granted that all of china is on beijing time, and there is no daylight savings here, i think i should have known better. but darn, it got dark quick.

as i ran towards traffic, there was no danger from the cars. i saw them, and they saw me. more of a threat however, were the bikes and scooters. they would come at me with a playing-chicken type determination. as they would pass me, they would stare, and i would make eye contact with them.

at one point, as i ran past a bus, there must have been 30 people staring at me. i waved, and one brave soul waved back. (luckily, they weren't on a field trip i was supposed to be attending. [a little inside, i know])

as i ran back, i began to realize how dangerous it is to be running at this time of night. at one intersection i saw a boy on a bike and a man on a scooter have a head on collision. they seemed to be okay, but the rubbernecking at full speed was a bit more disconcerting. everyone, including me, did not slow down, just followed the action with their head.

finally, about a mile from home, a boy was yelling at his friend behind him while he rode his bike towards me. i leaped onto the sidewalk as he turned around and swerved away. afterwards, he gave me a friendly apologetic wave, which made me happier for the experience. it also gave me a chance to prove my fancy footwork.

needless to say, that was the last run i go on at this time of night. at least that i tell my parents about.

Sunday, October 29, 2006

saddest notebook cover ever

as i walked through class the other day, i scoped out the notebook scene. no lisa frank here, just pandas and pigs, and a few weird words of chinglish. this notebook was different. the english was intelligble, but the message was rediculous. it was a picture of a sad 10ish year old girl standing in a doorway, with this text written below:

the worst way to miss someone is to be sitting right beside them knowing you can't have them.

i have no idea where they're going with this, what it means, etc. but i do think it's sad. i'm not exactly sure why, but it is.

Saturday, October 28, 2006

streets


there is a huge difference between chinese streets and american streets. in america, streets are something for cars, trucks, anything with a CO2 exhaust. in china this is not the case. there are cars and trucks, of course, but pedestrians, bicycles, scooters, pedicabs, farm animals have a right of way as well.

here, every street is its own marketplace. the store owners sit outside, perhaps cooking their lunch on a wok over a gas stove. in the afternoons you will find people playing mahjong outside or perhaps cards or chinese chess. at night, kids run throughout the street, playing kick the can or hide and seek. the streets are alive.

now while all this is happening, the chinese are spitting, dropping trash, shooting snot rockets. dogs are meeting each other in the bibilical sense, while i eat dinner watching it all.

there is a sterility that comes with development, and while that is can be a bit more hygenic, it's certainly not as fun.

Friday, October 27, 2006

an evening of games


tonight i brought my chinese chess board to cheers (our regular restuarant). hiro and i played a little bit, but then karl came and a full battle ensued. i taught him the rules and we were off. we took each others soldiers, cannons, and chariots, but eventually karl had me cornered in my palace. (i should have moved my advisors.) every so often a chinese man would come over and marvel that we were playing xiangqi.

after the game we had dinner, and began to watch the local children play outside the restaurant. their playing was a bit more spirited than ours. they played a game of what seemed to be pickle or dodgeball with a bunch of ribbons tied around a washer. i got involved as a specator, yelling and hooting with each throw of the ribbons. karl pulled out a camera, and when it flashed--boom!--the kids swarmed karl like angry chinese bees. except they were happy. they all wanted to see their picture, and while they crowded around, i got karl to hand me the camera, and i got a great shot of about 9 kids and karl, all with big grins.

playing games is fun!

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

dirt and destruction

outside my apartment building used to be a nice grassy area with plants and bushes. it was nice. kids would play there, dogs would run around, i would sit and read. now on monday, a group of laborers came in and are systematically removing the sod from around my building.

one of the biggest surprises as they began digging was what was underneath the dirt. all the landscaping at my school is set on giant concrete trays. i thought that the earth was there, and they paved paths between the buildings. instead, the concrete was there, and they added the earth later.

reminds me a piece that michel gondry that is in his director's work. buy it (it's definitely, definitely worth it) and check out the book that comes with it. you'll see what i mean.

but i digress--the work these laborers do is immense. with hand shovels and baskets, they are systematically ripping out all the grass near where i live. they get there around 8 in the morning, break for an hour or two at lunch and leave by 6. in this time about 12 of them in three days are almost done with the lawn. i am amazed...and a little sick.

Monday, October 23, 2006

starry sky

i looked up as i walked to the nearest kiosk for a cornetto (yes, they do have cornettos, and yes, they are my saving grace) i looked up and i saw a few stars.

there is an amazing amount of air pollution, due mostly to the large amount of coal burned. every so often i come across the coal man riding through the village. he unloads coffee can sized coals to be burned in establishments' stoves and grills. because of this, i am unable to see blue sky a majority of the time.

another problem is the amount of light pollution. nearer downtown it is amazing the amount of neon that abounds, but even out in the suburbs there are neon red characters illuminating ktv places, banks, and even apartment buildings.

so when i looked tonight, almost to say to myself, 'you won't be able to see the stars,' and saw them, it was great. now i only saw a few, but it was good to know they were still there.

Sunday, October 22, 2006

paths

in all the campuses i've been on in america, there seems to be two kinds of paths. one set of paths is paved, or bricked, or cobbled, and is very official. the other set is a dirt track that has been worn into the grass by students and teachers going directly from building to building, instead of going around those inefficient corners campus landscapers seem to put in.

here, it seems, there is none of that. i walk through two campuses regularly. my high school's, and the college that separates me from the town. where i would usually cut across, an unacknowledged social pressure keeps me off the grass. if 10,000 students haven't cut across the grass to get to the library, i think it might be a presumptuous to do it myself. or maybe i'd start a revolution...

Saturday, October 21, 2006

sworn in

a note about hellos. it is inevitable, as a white person, to be subject of hellos. there are pleasant hellos from children and middle aged people wanting to practice their chinese. there are wimpy hellos where a teenager will wait until they have passed you on the street before they have the courage to shout hello. there are covert hellos, where a teenager hides behind a pillar or a building and shouts hello at you. and there are bad ass hellos. hey guys--want to see me say hello to this foreigner? it's gonna be awesome.


today, as i walked through xi pu, the local city, i experienced the latter. usually i make a point of saying ni hao to every hello i get, but today, the amount of hellos were getting to me. it seemed every 2 minutes there was one group or another was saying hello. at the end of my walk, i was fed up. if it wasn't the nicest of hellos, i ignored it, and walked on. the last hello i received was from a group of boys walking towards me on the other side of the street.

as they approached, there was some nudging and nodding, and finally, one of them worked up the courage to say hello. i gave no response or sign that i even heard him, and walked on, staring straight ahead. i next heard, "what's your name?" that is second most frequent thing you will hear on the streets of china from people who know two phrases of english. i ignored this as well.

the next shout really got my attention, even though i didn't show it. "F*** you!" he shouted. it was clear he was joking around, and there wasn't any viciousness in it. but it wasn't what i expected to hear. i kept on ignoring him, and they walked on.

it seems like the english education is in full swing in china.

another note--i can't imagine being french or spanish in china. being constantly greeted in a language not your own must be incredibly grating.

but hey, at least they sound friendly.

Friday, October 20, 2006

a full day


this morning at 8 o'clock i was invited to the opening ceremony of sports day (or track and field day, to be more precise.) i went out to the field wearing my nicest clothes. all the students were assembled in their classes, as were the teachers behind them. the kids all wore the track suits that are their uniforms and bright pairs of white gloves, and the teachers wore grey suits, which are theirs.

when the bell rang, they began marching around the track. when a class would arrive at the center of the track where the headmasters sat, they would stop, do something creative, and then move on. it was all very much like a military parade. one class did a neat hand salute with many flourishes, while another class performed a martial arts demonstration. their demonstration prompted me to move closer to the center, where i was spotted by mr. hu, the headmaster who is my boss.

he graciously gestured to sit down, so i joined the three headmasters at this red velvet covered table. me, a lowly english teacher. amazing. it was enjoyable, but at nine, i had to leave, for i had another appointment.

because it was sports day, mr. hu arranged for oliver to take us to huang long xi, an ancient chinese village about an hour and a half outside the city. the village is restored to its ancient grandeur, like it would be in crouching tiger, hidden dragon. but inside these beautifully restored buildings were only shops. shops and shops and shops. the commercialism of the scene quickly overpowered the feeling of ancientness that may have been there.

we were not the only foreign visitors huang long xi had that afternoon. while we were there, we saw lee hsien loong, the prime minister of singapore. he seemed nice.

after a lunch where the dishes did not seem to stop, we decided to take a boat ride. we boarded a gondala like boat loaded with tea-chairs. the two men who ran the boat pushed off, and i settled down in one of the two bamboo recliners positioned at the bow of the boat. we rowed slowly down the river, and quickly i was dozing, catching sight of the river, and dozing again. it was a quiet rest as we passed fisherman, geese, and tea-houses.

when we arrived back on land i was well rested and ready for more...sitting. we sat and had green tea as an endless stream of vendors came around pushing their wares--peanuts, pomolo, a rice cake snack specific to huang long xi, and massages. most of all massages. bu yao would have quickly come to my lips, had i been asked, but they must have sensed that, and stuck to the other waiguoren instead.

after tea we piled back in the minibus, and on the way back to school i picked oliver's brain about chinese characters i saw, and got from him a promise to teach me xiangqi, or chinese chess. i've decided i'm going to teach myself, and try to win the first game we play. i like to win.

it has been a great day for me...many different experiences, a lot of chinese speaking, and a lot of eating. 3 for 3 in my book.

bao-zi, man tou, and...peanut muffin?

every morning that i am able to rouse myself out of bed, i traipse over to the cafeteria across from my apartment building. once there, i lean through a window and say: "yi ge bao-zi he yi ge man tou," or "liang ge bao-zi," if i feel in a meaty mood. this time i saw something different down at the end of line so i asked, "zhe shi shemme?" (what is this? [i realize now i should have said na shi shemme?" {what is that?}]). the lunch lady replied "da ge" (i don't know what that means). she handed me a muffin.

bao-zi i have discussed before. a "dumpling" of chopped up pork and onions (or whatever one wants in the middle)--you take a piece of dough, place the meat in the center of it, wrap it up, and steam it. voila! my favorite breakfast.

man-tou is a steamed bun, empty of any filling. pretty simple.

da ge is basically angel food cake, with some peanuts thrown in for good measure. it was delicious and weird. it may just mean cake in general, i'm not sure...i'm just describing what i had this morning.

but still, bao-zi holds the number one place in my heart. it is tasty and easy to eat, and no matter where you go, it seems the bao-zi remains the same. it is the mcdonald's of breakfast foods.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

thinking in chinese



now i have not been in china long enough to start thinking in chinese linguistically, but i have begun to think in chinese monetarily.

in the first few weeks after i arrived, i was blown away. i could get a beer at a restaurant for less than 50 cents. i could eat out like a king for 2 dollars. i could even buy a scooter for less than 200 bucks.

but now, all of that has changed. quickly, within a month or so, i have begun thinking in yuan. it just about killed me to buy some good, imported, sharp cheddar cheese for 35 kuai (dollar:buck, yuan:kuai). granted, 4 dollars is pretty expensive for cheese, but when it is flown around the world, it's pretty moderate. you should have seen me lose it at le shan, when i found out it cost 105 yuan to get inside.

i find myself arguing with shopkeepers over 3 or 4 kuai. i gasp at a price more than 20. i've become a stingy bastard. but i guess when you get paid less than 500 dollars a month, it makes sense.

(no pun intended.)

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

decidely un-free range chickens




rachel, my co-worker and colleague had complained of a cock crowing and waking her up the past few days. she wondered if i heard it, but i had not. indeed it was a mystery. how could one person hear a cock crow while another sleeping by an open window did not? ahhh...the answer my friends, lies within the position of the rooster.

this rooster, or this couple of roosters, are sequestered into a closet next to the elevator, directly across from rachel's apartment (or flat, as she would call it). i imagine in not too long a time that these fowl will be dinner for rachel's neighbors. but until then, rachel gets a free alarm clock. it's like having a farm in your apartment building. man, you people living in the states are missing out on a lot of stuff. aren't you jealous?

Monday, October 16, 2006

dinner with the kitchen


at night, the cafeteria at my school offers three options. the cheapest (for those who are paying) option is a bowl of noodles. at mid-range, you can get a tray of what we had for lunch. and the high end are a bunch of dishes of premade delicious food. whenever i eat dinner alone in the caf, i usually pick the former. the noodles there are delicious, but in addition to that, you have a choice of condiments.

now usually at a noodle place you have specify whether you want the noodles spicy or not, or if you want hua jiao or not (huajiao is a spice that numbs your mouth that is often used in sichuan cooking.) and they take care of the rest. here at the caf, you are given an undoctored bowl of noodles, and you do with it what you will.

you bring it over to the tray of condiments which has hua jiao powder, da jiao (a chili pepper paste), msg, salt, and two other bowls of liquid which might be vinegar and soy sauce.

a recipe for bick's favorite noodles. 1. take noodles from your cafeteria. 2. put two heaping spoonfuls of da jiao into it (be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl, that's where the peppers are). 3. add a spoonful of huajiao (too much makes it feel like you just got back from the dentist, it can be fun, but it isn't good for every bowl of noodles). 4. avoid the salt and msg. 5. add a small teaspoon each of the mystery liquids (at least until i can find out what they are.)

the noodle ladies love to help me with pronounciation of the condiments, even though it doesn't get me very far in knowing what they are. but their smiles and excitement makes me happy to eat there. plus the fact that it's free. that's a big one too.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

lunch with the kitchen


on sunday lunch, the school is practically empty, and they only make enough lunch for the security guards and the kitchen. and the foreign teachers, since we don't have a home to go to for the weekend.

i arrived at 12:15, and everyone was serving themselves from behind the counter. i went back, and immediately there was confusion. waiguo laoshi (foreign teacher) can't be asked to get his own meals! so as i tried to help myself, they quickly prevented me, and helped me themselves.

after they gave me my tray, it seemed everyone was sitting at one table, so i sat down as well. again i caused quite a stir, but soon they got used to it. it was nice sitting there, just listening to everyone speak. it's gotta help on some level, right?

after i was done i said, "wo chi hao le, xie xie ni men." (i ate well, thank you all) and went to clear my tray. they looked at me as if i was crazy, and used hand gestures to tell me to put the tray down. they are just too nice.

Saturday, October 14, 2006

the sounds of chengdu

every saturday, as you may have guessed, i go into the city to explore. today i took the bus to the jinjiang river, and walked along it until i came to wen shu (which is the chinese name for manjushri, the buddha of wisdom [in chinese, wenshu translates literally to "culture uncle"]) temple. whenever i'm on the bus (in china, or anywhere) i am of two minds about putting my headphones on and pressing play on my 'pod (sorry, but i love alliteration). on the one hand, it is an hour and fifteen minutes on a bus. on the other, do i want to remove myself from the flow of culture? i decided my open-ear headphones allows me to hear enough of what's going on around me to be okay. but it is definitely not an every bus ride thing.



my first surprise when i began to hear strains of an electronically produced "happy birthday" being pumped into the street by what sounded like a giant cell phone. eventually the bus passed the culprit. it was a street cleaner. apparently, if you are walking around in chengdu, and you hear happy birthday, run. it is the warning call of the street sweeper, and a watery and embarassing fate awaits you if you dawdle.

i debarked from the bus and finally began walking along the jinjiang river. soon i was greeted by about 8 raspy notes being played over and over again. i reached a shaded bench and there was a woman practicing her saxophone. it was good she was practicing, if you catch my meaning. i am borrowing a page out of homer-dog's book, and here is a haiku about the incident:

she plays saxophone
not well, but she's practicing
silence would be fine

her playing made me more aware of the sounds around me. the cars rushing by on my right, with the similar, but utterly different water flowing past on my left. birds sung all around, and i passed a group of teenagers, one of whom held a cell phone that was playing tinny pop music for the rest.

i find that this world sometimes uses questionably pleasant things to wake us up from our inner thoughts.

Friday, October 13, 2006

rat race


so i saw my first live rat a few days ago, and now i realize why they usually hide in the dark and avoid open spaces. as i was walking from the post office at 10 in the morning, there was a commotion in front of one of the stores. there, a family of three proprietors (wife, husband, grandmother), were chasing around a rat about as big as my two fists put together.

the rat didn't have a chance. whenever i imagine wild animals, i think there is no way i could ever out run them. these people did. it may have been because he was a fat little sucker, or it could just be the fierceness of the chinese people. first the wife chased it into the center of the concrete in front of the store. she stamped and it flipped over on its back, got up, and ran the other way. the woman continued to chase it, but the man got it first. with another vicious stomp, the rat was no longer moving. i turned away from the final deathblow, but i was about the only one who did on the street.

a tip for rats: keep to the night, and the enclosed places. stomped is not a good way to go.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

trial run



i went running for the first time since my ankle injury this summer. i waited until night fall, and after the bell rang for the kids class. yes, they have class until 9:50 at night. i expected the school track to be empty, but figures moved around the gloom slowly. the smog (or fog, as google weather would have you believe) gives everything a spooky aspect.

as i ran, my nostrils began to burn. the whole time i worried whether if it was an effect of the smog or me not running for 3 months. i decided it was the lack of exercise (fingers crossed).

older women walked slowly doing arm exercises. there were a few couple walking around in the romantic atmosphere of the...uh...track. there were a few toddlers being chaperoned around by grandparents.

soon a music class came out and sat on the grass inside the track. they lit candles and began singing happy birthday in chinese. after that they sang other chinese songs i didn't know, and their singing added to the otherworldly mood.

as i went around, i began to ponder the strange figure i was cutting. hawaiian print board shorts (no one was wearing shorts, least of all hawaiian print), t-shirt (no t-shirts either, too cold) and an ipod. ruining their wonderful evening off in my own world pounding down the track, breathing like a shuddering air conditioner. i hope they don't really feel that way. i hope they just think, "silly waiguoren."

ps--i returned to find my apartment lacking hot water, or warm water, or cool water. everything but freezing water. the problem should be fixed by monday. luckily, i love cold water.

friendliness


i am killing myself softly with chinese. i study quite a bit--more than i did in college--and i'm constantly practicing on the locals. my whole day rests on how they react. for instance...

a few days ago, i was walking in town after buying a few apples. as i walked by our regular place ("cheers" we affectionately refer to it), i saw hiro and patrick eating dinner. as i walked toward them to say hello, a security guard i have spoken with a few times saw me first. he was eating with friends at the same restaurant, and he quickly offered me a beer. of course i accepted, but my fellow teachers only saw me after i had sat down with the security guards. they gave me the, "i see how it is" business, but it was clear they understood that this is how one learns a new language.

so i sat down, drinking my beer in the tiny little glasses they serve with it. i tried to follow the conversation, and added a few things myself, "i like kung pao chicken," was about the extent of it. but i'm sure i'm getting something by osomosis, and these men were extremely nice and friendly to me. it was a great experience, and i know have a new "peng-you" (friend).


the next night, i ventured down the fair area of the village to pick up an electric pencil sharpener (i need it.) and a fried dough crepe. the people who run the booth are very friendly as well, and it was nice to see them after a long break. i ordered a banana one, and watch the cook make his magic. while i was waiting, 3 college aged girls came up, speaking rapidly in chinese to one another and to the proprietors. i waited quietly, again trying to follow the conversation until i heard a girl ask the laoban, "ta ting bu dong ma?" (does he understand?) at the point it was clear to me they were talking about me, and my face turned beet red, as it is wont to do. i told them "wo ting de dong yi dian dian," (i understand a little) picked up my pancake, what was left of my diginity, and walked away.

i'm sure they weren't saying anything too mean, and i'm sure they meant it in the nicest of ways, but the tones of each situation were so different. in both i tried to understand the best i could, it just rested in the locals how they treated that comprehension or lack thereof. keep that in mind next time you come across someone who doesn't speak your language.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

chengdu...in connecticut?


my parents went to visit my aunt and uncle just outside of hartford for a columbus day. (we don't have columbus day in china. darn north american continent, always getting in the way!) and lo and behold, they stumbled upon Chengdu! it seems to be a little jazzier, and a lot more american than the one i know. but it's good to know that chengdu is letting it's presence be known. they didn't have any food, which is disappointing, but i'm pressuring them to go back and try some. it better be good. and spicy.

Monday, October 09, 2006

bus duos

from what i can gather, from my two long distance bus rides (to and from dardo) is the bus is usually run by a husband and wife team. the man usually drives the bus while the woman deals with the business.














on our way back from dardo, our bus was run by a perfectly charming (i gotta believe) married couple. it seemed like they had been driving the chengdu-dardo run for their entire lives. a long distance bus ride, like almost anything else in china, has a fair amount of bureaucracy. before we even left the dardo bus station we had two officials board the bus, the driver initial some documents, and the wife, or the laoban (what you call a manager of any business, be it bus or restaurant), hand one official a 20 kuai bill. (suspicious, no?) but they handled the red tape like clockwork.

we would approach an bureaucratic station which would usually be an official sitting behind a desk in a shop front (once it was a man sitting behind a wall he was using for a desk underneath an umbrella in a garden). as we drew closer, laoban would stand next to the door, and when the bus stopped, the door would pop open, she would walk over and have some paper stamped or pay someone some money.

the whole time they had been joking, laughing, and talking to each other, and it seemed like they had a really good thing going.at one point during the ride, the wife yelled to her husband that she was hungry. the bus driver gallantly pulled over to where some country people were selling roast corn, and bought her one. while we were there, quite a few passengers took advantage as well. no one complained about the unscheduled stop, it was clear we were going to get there when we got there, and not a moment before.

when we left dardo, we did not have a full bus, and at any point during the trip a person would wave at the bus and laoban would begin to barter with the wouldbe passenger. the going rate was a hundred kuai, and it was clear she wasn't moving from her price. in that situation, it's clear who has the upper hand. one woman tried to get 90, and laoban wouldn't come down. eventually the woman paid the hundred and boarded. another time, an old man tried to get 80, and the bus driver began to pull away even before he had a chance to offer more.

by the time we were 4 hours away from chengdu, our bus was full, and laoban had given her seat to the final passenger. she took a red cushion she had had next to her seat and laid it on the console next to her husband. for the next 4 hours, they sat next to each other, her peeling and cutting apples, and him sharing them. occasionally she would swing over to her tape bag to change the music. it was like they were on a road trip, with a few 60 extra hangers on. it was quite sweet.when we returned to chengdu, our supposedly 8 hour ride (which took 9 on the way there) took a measly 6 and half hours, including a lunch stop. i was a big fan of their team, but i couldn't figure out how to express myself. i settled for a big smile and a hearty xie xie (thank you).

Sunday, October 08, 2006

anjue monastery


we pass the knapsack cafe (formerly sally's hostel), so we know we're close. i hear the grinding of dowels in sockets, and i turn to see a building housing two giant prayer wheels. four women keep them in motion by continuously walking in ellipses around the two wheels. i walk a few more feet, look to my right, and there is anjue monastery.

when you step through the gate, two lines of prayer wheels are on either side of you. i sat in the entry way, looking at the courtyard before me. i was scared to enter, afraid my presence would disrup the peace that was present in the place. i stood quietly, looking across the courtyard at the main prayer building. everything on the building was painted in bright oranges, blues, reds and yellows. and gold. most of it was in gold. at the top of the temple was a pagoda. in front of that there were four bell shaped objects in a line. two black ones were on the outside, and the inside ones were gold. between the golden bells there were two gold dog type animals facing eachother. between those there was a wheel. over the courtyard hung tons of prayer flags.

the courtyard is grass cut into quadrants by 2 paths. while patrick explored, i just sat and watched. the monks' quarters were on three sides, while the main temple was across from the gate. a rooster picked his way across the courtyard, looking for scratch. occassionally, it would be startled by three pigeons who seemed to be playing.

patrick soon finished exploring, so i returned from my reverie to explore myself. after climbing the stairs, i was in an entry to the main prayer room. the coluns were delicately carved here, and painted brightly with dragons and other creatures. on the walls were painted four murals of buddhas all four of which i did not recognize. i have found out later that one was malahaka. instead of candles lining these walls, they had flickering electric lights to protect the murals from smoke damage.

across from one of these buddhas was one of the only things i recognized--a wheel depicting the six realms with the 12 nidanas encircling it. this was all held by mahalaka, who is a scary looking guy, bathed in fire, clothed in tiger, and with a third eye in the middle of his forehead. the six realms were amazingly detailed, depicting the realms of hell, hungry ghosts, animal, human, jealous god, and gods. the jealous god realm and the god realm were combined, because who else is a god going to be jealous of?

one thing that interested me was the size of the realms. while the hell, animal, and human realms were all the same size, and the jealous god/god realm was twice as big, i couldn't understand why the hungry ghost realm was so large. if anyone can answer my question, i'd appreciate it.

but the mural was breathtaking in its detail, complexity, and vibrancy.

finally i shed my shoes and entered the main sanctuary. directly facing the door was a giant statue of shakyamuni buddha, flanked by two buddhas on either side. there were cusions and rugs everwhere, and an altar where past offers of burnt incense, rice wine, and a strange potato statue sat. on the walls there were more gorgeous murals of buddhas. on the right hand side of the room there was scaffolding put up, and two people working. one, a monk was drawing the outline of another incredibly detailed mural with a pencil, and another, a layman, was painting in the outlines. it was great to witness the creation of one these beautiful works.

at that point, i heard the rooster crowing, and i decided it was time to go. i met patrick, and after we left the monastery, we realized that it was situated right next to an army barracks. buddhism and the army. warriors. for peace and war, right together. great.

Saturday, October 07, 2006

poama shan


on day 2 in dardo (the tibetan name of kangding), we decided to take it easy and climb poama shan, the mountain that rises above the city. we walked down the sichuan-tibetan highway until we reached a group of women who were selling juniper and incense, two key ingredients to buddhist prayer. patrick's book said the path to the mountain was through a lamasery, and it seemed we were on the right track. i bought some incense, and we walked up the stairs.

we entered a door, and were greeted on one side by about 8 prayer wheels. these are large golden cylinders filled with tibetan chants written on rolls of paper. as one spins them, it is supposed to transmit the dharma as if you were reading it. the woman ahead of us spun each of them gently, and i followed suit. we came upon a courtyard where a bunch of women were watching one of their own stoke a fire. they had large sticks of incense, about as thick as your finger, and they were lighting them on a what i'm guessing was a juniper fire. i excused myself, and asked them for help. they let me in to light my incense, then an old woman took a small branch of juniper in a cup of water, and sprinkled the water on my smoking incense. then they told me to put it above the courtyard, in a bowl where the remains of many sticks of incense could be seen. i added mine, and we continued our climb.

by the time i was done with the incense, a group of six chinese students had begun to climb the mountain as well. they passed through the lamasery without ceremony, and climbed ahead of us. they shouted hello and were quite friendly. at one point, a boy asked if he could have his picture taken with patrick. patrick gracefully granted a photo-op, which i then exploited. i made him put up the asian v, which is ever present in any posed picture in china. oh, it was wonderful. note the expression of glee on patrick's face.

the climb was gorgeous, with prayer flags draped across the trail every which way. we hiked higher and higher up steep stone steps, occasionally taking a photo for an excuse to rest. soon we were able to see the entire town, and the y shaped valley it inhabits. off to the south we could see anang temple, a buddhist monastery we would visit later that day. as we climbed we could still hear the incessant honking of the drivers in the city. i was convinced that we would never be able to climb high enough to escape it.

soon we left the beautiful views of the valley as the trail moved into the woods. after a while, i was surprised to find myself free of the honking. it was glorious. the path became less step, and we passed stone piles that seemed to be altars, or perhaps graves. either way, it was a solemn area, and fortunately, patrick and i had walked slowly enough to be alone and quiet at that point.

as we neared the top however, the quiet was ended by speakers pumping tibetan music. we reached the top to find a small camp set up. people offered food, rides on horses, and of course, the requisite dress up like a tibetan and have your picture taken. i declined all three options, and went instead to a small square, with a buddhist shrine in the center of it. there were more tibetan dress and shoot places, but i ignored them. here was a beautiful monument to enlightenment. of course, directly behind it was power lines, but who cares? i mean, who doesn't like meditating under power lines?

after walking around a bit, i heard a hello, and soon my karma for making patrick take that picture had returned. a group of students were excited to see me. after a short conversation in broken chinese and english i walked away. they quickly called me back, and asked if i would take a picture with them. i first took a picture with two girls, then the other girl wanted one, and then the guy wanted one, and then the first girls wanted another. i felt like a reality tv star. i had done nothing of import, but these people wanted to be seen with me. ahhhh...fame...that fickle beast.

we hiked down the short, albeit a bit more treacherous, way and we finally reached the bottom. while there was more peace and quiet on poama shan than at mu ge cuo, the chinese tourist need for entertainment had lessened the experience just slightly.

Friday, October 06, 2006

mu ge cuo

after having a nice breakfast of bao-zi and duojia (soy milk) i met patrick at a hostel so he could have some "coffee" (nescafe). while we chatted and he sipped, a chinese woman about my age asked if we had any plans. when i am a tourist, i become very suspicious and defensive. i treat everyone like they are trying to rip me off, and i'm always looking for an angle. here the angle was they had four people, and they needed six for a minibus up to mu ge cuo. it turned out she was just a nice person like us, and we were (like we were quite often this trip) at the right place at the right time.

we took the minibus (and yes, the honking and the passing continued) 35k out of town. as we drove northwest, the foliage became more striking, and the altitude became higher. the six of us were 3 seperate parties. two girls were masters students from southern sichuan, and the other two were a couple from shanghai. the woman from shanghai was fairly haughty. i told her that one of my goals was to learn chinese. she replied, "i don't want to worry you, but..." she had a friend from hungary who came to shanghai for a year and then went back and studied on his own for a few years and became a chinese translator.--so far, it sounded good.--after fifteen years however, he still makes mistakes. she made it sound like he was barely fluent. great. another example of the brutal honesty you can be exposed to when meeting new chinese people. she was no longer my favorite.

we arrived, and it looked like the parking for a fair. a field was stuffed with cars, and minibuses and cabs drove up in a steady stream and deposited chinese tourists inside the park. mu ge cuo consists of six lakes with a 9 km road connecting them all. you can walk the road, but with the 4 hours our minibus driver gave us, we decided we better ride. that being said, we spent about an hour in line all told for the bus. i'd say there were about 300 people in line for the bus when we first got there. fortunately, the buses came often so we didn't have to wait long.

the leaves were changing slightly, giving the forest an overall green feeling with highlights of warmer colors.. this is where my homesickness got rough. the red and orange made want to see new hampshire foliage in a bad way.

after disembarking halfway through the park, we got in line for a minibus to take us to mu ge cuo, which is the largest lake in the park. after a ten minute ride around hairpin turns we arrived. a quiet foggy lake encircled with a board walk was what greeted us. we began to circumambulate the lake when it began to rain. we drew near a skewer stand that was putting up an umbrella and we ducked in there. by the time patrick had ordered us a few delicious meat skewers, the rain had died down, and we continued to walk.

each pagoda we passed had at least one skewer person in them, surrounded by chinese trying to warm their hands. we kept walking, and slowly the density of people lessened until it was about 2 per 100 feet. it was nice. we finally arrived at the end of the board walk where three laborers sanded, varnished, and fixed the final pagoda. then it began to rain.

we began to walk back. we met two of the other people we came on the minibus with going the other way. they were both dressed in warm, yet not waterproof coats. we said hello and kept walking. patrick began to draw away from me as i stopped to snap photos like a good tourist. by the time i was halfway to the bus pickup point it began to pour in earnest. i ducked into a pagoda, and was welcomed around a skewer fire by a bunch of vendors and tourists. the vendors had been in the open and had come in when it started to really dump. we had a nice conversation, and i had some skewers while i warmed my hands by the barbeque. at the end of the storm it began to hail, and finally after that, it let up.

by that time i was wet and cold. the lines for the bus down were non-existent as most of the tourists had already left. we went down to the halfway point and walked around there for a bit before heading back down to the parking field.

the field looked like a woodstock had been there. muddy tire tracks, litter everywhere, chinese tourists walking around looking dazed. we met the two of our minibus party we had met before, and they seemed to be in good spirits, all be it a little wet. at about 4:15, fifteen minutes before we had agreed to meet the minibus, they began to worry. where was the minibus? why wasn't he here? they couldn't seem to care less about the shanghai people, but it seemed it was very concerning to them that the bus wasn't fifteen minutes early.

at 4:29 by my watch, the bus driver showed up, and a few minutes after the shanghai people did too. we drove back to the hostel where i crashed. my new mantra is you can never have too many chinese tourists.

the bus to kangding



the bus ride to kangding is beautiful. you wind your way through mountain passes, accompanied by a rushing river the whole way. it is harvest time, so there is grain be dried everywhere you look, and farmers are burning cornhusks the middle of fields that are being put to rest for the winter. the bus keeps going up, and it becomes colder. this has been the first fall weather i've felt in about six years. it made me quite homesick.

written on the bus, stopped: "i sit on a crowded bus in a long line of cars winding through the mountains. the road drops off to my right to a gorgeous river surrounded by bamboo and trees. occasionally houses will cruise by my window. 5 foot wide satellite dishes are ubiquitous, brightening (or dulling) the lives of these country folk. a main business on this snake of a road is cleaning trucks. as they rip out the hearts of these beautiful mountains and carry it down, these trucks get dirty. so they wash them. at all times, they have hoses pumping out water. if not onto a truck being cleaned, then onto the ground. i guess it drains into the river anyways. great. "back on the bus, we've stopped at a mid-mountain, back-country traffic jam. patrick and i sit in the back of the bus, directly above the engine. neither of us have a window seat, and i am sweating like my namesake. the two way road has been blocked by our bus and a dump truck stacked with filled burlap sacks. bikes ride and motorcycles honk and yell as they cruise by on our right, justifiably upset that these two behemothes are blocking the legal? right of way. eventually, the bus and the dump truck pull over, and we exit the bus and wait."

it turns out that two dump trucks had collided. a truck had tried to pass another vehicle around a blind turn, and had run into a truck coming the opposite way. passing around a blind turn? you ask, shocked. ahhhh. china. i believe the single traffic law in china is: "you can do anything, as long as you honk as you do it." of course, i'm paraphrasing a little.

our bus tried to make the best time possible, passing multiple vehicles on a two lane road. if you want to pass a slower car in china, this is the procedure. 1. acknowledge that there is a car ahead of you by honking. 2. honk to communicate your intention to pass. 3. pass while honking, to be sure the car knows you are there. 4. honk to signal you are going to be coming back into the lane. repeat. variations: passing with oncoming traffic ahead--honk more, and louder. passing around a blind corner: lay down on your horn and pray. sometimes, clearly, the latter does not work well.

needless to say it was a great ride, and except for the delay for the accident we did make great time, arriving in kangding after dark, and just as it began to rain. at least this rain didn't burn.

Sunday, October 01, 2006

mooncakes and autumn festival

today was national day. think labor day. think beginning of autumn festival. think mooncakes. people give these delicous cakes to each other during the autumn festival. they are priced from fairly expensive (10 yuan for one) to exorbitantly expensive (100 yuan for one). i feel like they're a bit like status symbols. i have so much money, so i'm going to give you an expensive mooncake. or a box of expensive mooncakes. it's very interesting.

for autumn festival, the school gave every teacher a box. the amount of packaging is wonderful. i got a shopping bag designed to fit a box of mooncakes. inside that bag was a box of mooncakes. inside that box was a golden fleece lining and eight boxes, each containing a different mooncake. upon opening a small box, the cake is in a small plastic cupcake tin, sealed inside a plastic bag. besides just a mooncake in the plastic, you get a packet of chemicals to keep it fresh! oh the wonder!

each cake is it's own man. at first i thought they were all going to be like the first i ate, which would make them roughly equivilent to christmas fruitcakes. but they have ones with dried meat, sweet-bean paste, hardboiled egg yolk? it is a virtual smorgasbord of mooncakery. amazing. i just wish autumn festival happened more than once a year. sigh.