Travels and Trials

At the close of my last blog entry I said that I would be traveling to Hubei Province. Well, I did. It was a pretty interesting journey highlighted by brilliant scenery, shady villagers, and train rides. Our trip was hanging in the balance up to the morning of our departure. We had not seen our passports in 10 weeks. They had been collected form us in order for all of the forms, licenses, visas, certifications, and various other forms of red tape (I now know why it is called 'Red' tape) to be processed. One of my compatriots (Kevin) had become so enraged by the fact that we were not going to be able to travel if we didn't have our passports that he quoted the Geneva Conventions to an administrator. It was a surreal and blatant use of coercion on his part. It was like the scene in Bridge over the River Kwai where Alec Gunnies' character does the same to the Japanese commander. I thought it would end the same way too, with Kevin in 'the oven' and me working hard labor but his threats were responded to quite positively. We received out passports less than 12 hours later, so we went on our way.

The first stop was Baoding, a small town of about 6 million people located 120 km south of Beijing. We took the train which was an interesting experience unto itself. There was an army officer pounding Baijiu (Chinese white lightning) in the seat next to me. I offered him candy as a peace offering and he accepted. Kind of like the Willy Wonka version of the daisy in the gun barrel. It was almost a three hour trip to Baoding and when we arrived it was night time. The place we were actually there to see is a small town outside of the city. There is a giant marsh there. It was created 500+ years ago when a dam that was created to hold back the waters of NINE rivers burst and water flooded the vast plain. Who would have guessed? It is now a giant wildlife preserve (one of only a handful in China) and the scenery is equal parts eerie and spectacular. Once we arrived to our desired locality we had a little trouble finding a hotel. This was described to us as a big tourist area for the Chinese in the summer so we were surprised. We ended up getting rooms in a fancy schmancy resort for a very cheap price. We were able to live in the lap of luxury and we were happy about it, even for just one night. Oh, one funny thing that happened there occurred when I went to use the internet in the business center. I was approached by the lady who worked in the computer center and she asked me to edit a page for her. I obliged and completion of my task was met with more work. She was having me correct horribly written English descriptions of the hotel and its amenities. The things that were written before I corrected them were unreal. I have always said that I'd love to write product descriptions for packaging and this was my chance to explore my ability. Before, the hotel had "unstrenuous rock waters for which to by relax." Now the pamphlet beckons you, "Come, and let your cares melt away in one of our 12 on site hot spring spa baths."

After our night at the hotel we woke up early and went out on the marsh. We were possibly the only foreigners to visit that place in the last 5 years. The people followed us around and wanted to shake our hands and observe our habits. Rockstars we were. We found a dock where there were small boats that for a small fee would row you around the marsh all day. We got in and observed people really living off of the land. There were countless boats piled high with harvested reeds and fishermen using domesticated waterfowl to do the fishing for them. It was awesome. These birds would swoop into the water and collect fish in their mouths and then when the boatman (not really a fisherman at this point) smacked his long stick on the water the birds would return to the boat and drop the fish out of their mouths. Oh, the birds also had ties around their throats to ensure that not a fish was swallowed. It was pretty cool. We toured around the peaceful swamp for a while and ended up at "The Lotus Cultural Center". This place is probably amazing in the summer. They have a collection of 200 different varieties of lotus flowers growing there. Of course none of them are in bloom right now. Each one had a funny name too like "Dwarf Power", or "Lightning's Shadow". After a long day on the water we decided that the 4 star hotel was a little bit too expensive to stay there for another night so we decided to move down the road to a small village near the marsh. This place was incredibly small by China standards, 8,000 people. We found a small hotel and decided that we should take a walk around the town. As we walked we gathered a small entourage of kids. We walked with the purpose of finding a restaurant but there was only one opened one to be found in the whole town. The proprietor was a really good guy and sat and talked with us for several hours. Afterwards we decided to see what the night life was like in this small town so we went a walking again. This time the hotel operator told us that we could not go. After much discussion he let us out only under the condition that he comes with us. An odd request yes, but no skin off our backs. So we walked along and into the heart of the town we came. The feeling among the locals was infinitely less inviting this time. People vacated the streets at the sight of us and those who stayed looked angry. The final foreboding straw was when one man asked us, in succession, "Where are your passports? Do you keep them close? Do you know Kung Fu?" This let us know it was time to go back to the hotel. And there we went, back to our unheated rooms, to sleep in all our clothing.

The next day we went to another place called Shijiazhuang. There was not much to see besides an old walled city on the out skirts of town and a temple complex. The highlight for me was the red lantern courtyard. It was a small courtyard with two old Ginkgo trees. These trees are about 200 years old, the both of them. They were covered with small red lanterns that had good wishes and prayers inscribed on them. There were literally thousands of these things all over the two trees. It was a visually stunning sight. From there we made our trip back to the Beijing. It was a good trip. Great to get out of the smog and hustle and bustle of Beijing.

Now that I am back in town I have started taking Mandarin lessons. Wow. I am in way over my head learning this language. Kevin, Bryne and I are all in the same beginner level class so that makes things a lot easier. We go to class 9 hours a week. I am in the middle of week two right now and man, it is sooooooooo hard. The great thing about it is that we get to use everything we learn in class everyday of our lives. This will make learning easier I think. The language school is also putting on a Thanksgiving dinner on Friday. It will be complete with Turkey (a non-factor entity in the meat world of China), cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. It will be nice to have some 'traditional' foods since I can't get to my mom's cornbread stuffing. This holiday I hope everyone has a happy and healthy one. Take care. D'sai Jien

It has been a while

I have been having some problems with access to the internet lately. There has been a crackdown on blogs and other types of sites. I am not even sure if this will end up being posted. But here is a brief description of what I've been up to.

I went to KTV with Cindy, Bryne, and Cindy's husband who I named Brian. He is one of the few Chinese people I have come across that has no English name. His Chinese name begins with a 'B' so I told him his English name could be Brian if he'd like. He seems to like it. Let me back up for a second here. KTV is what they call Karaoke. I found a large street in my district that is packed with KTV places. Brian is a legit movie star. We were interrupted several times by workers who wanted a picture and an autograph from this guy. Crazy stuff. They thought Bryne and I were movie stars by association, and I even signed this guy’s paper when he asked for an autograph. I signed it, Nicholas Cage. This was quite the luxurious experience with beer, fruit, and various other snacks abounding. I sang Sounds of Silence for the first time and I think it might be my new go to song for KTV. On a side note, I was extremely lucky to have Bryne and I assigned to the same team. We both love karaoke and this has proved to be very valuable as KTV is one of the most popular evening activities in China. I have told you about the format of karaoke here in China, with KTV having private rooms for groups to sing in. I was talking with Cindy and she said that about a decade ago karaoke was in large groups where there was one screen and one player for an entire bar. She claims that this led to fights between people over who was next and more importantly (and probable) fighting over women. So this inspired a governmental mandate or something that changed the format of karaoke in China. Wow, I have just written a hell of a lot about karaoke. We'll take a break from it for a moment because I am sick of writing the word.

I need to address another issue before I can move on; The World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals. Wow, WOW!! I was able to watch all of the World Series games on the internet before my classes and for that I am thankful to Larry Gast, the internet, and Al Gore. Wow. I was ecstatic and going nuts inside but I suffered from some sort of paralysis. I was frozen in awe and had to immediately check the internet to see if what I had viewed actually took place. Sure enough it did! I will stay in China if my being here guarantees the Cards a World Series ring. I will have to research the connection before my final decision is made. Wow! I was also able to watch the parade and subsequent rally on the internet thanks to Cynthia and Garry Seltzer. I was very jealous of all my friends for being able to attend the final game/rally and parade. Save some memorabilia and merchandise for me.

Friday was Kevin's (from NY) birthday and we celebrated by going to the local club which was cool. Saturday we went to a park way out on the other side of the city. It was beautiful. The skies were clear of smog and the sun was shining brightly on the changing leaves. There were many small temples and convents located on the mountain (there are many mountains on the west side of the city). We took a chair lift to the top of the main mountain and the view of Beijing was awesome. At the same time it was kind of sad because you could see the smog cloud that envelops the city. The fall colors were beautiful! I have many pictures that I'll have to post sometime. At the top of the mountain they had a summer toboggan run. It is basically a metal slide that you go down on a sled that has wheels on the bottom. It was a blast! So fun we did it twice. They also had a zip line that was strung about 1000 feet across a valley. That was also very cool, but it was so fast that it was hard to take in all the stunning scenery from that awesome vantage point. We just held on for our dear lives as we zoomed across the valley while striking different poses ala Peter Pan or Superman. The whole day was capped by a large meal at a famous Peking Duck restaurant.

Earlier this week I attended my first Chinese class. I will be taking classes at Capital Mandarin. The school is a whole lot like Berlitz. I will be in a class with Bryne and Kevin as we are all starting at the same level. Because we are starting our own group we will be able to set up our own schedule to work around our teaching schedules. I am really excited to get started. I feel that it has taken a long time for me to find a good program but now that I have I am super psyched to devote myself to studying. This language is so hard but learning it, even a little more than I know now, will make everything in my life a little easier. Communication difficulties are some of the most stressful and frustrating things I have to deal with on a daily basis. It will definitely help with getting to know the culture a little better now. One example of this is the Chinese word for quickly or extremely fast. The literal translation of the word in Chinese is 'on a horse'. Interesting stuff for an anthropology nerd like me.

Hopefully access to the internet will be more consistent in the future. I have had real problems with everything from this blog to my email. I have five days off coming up this week. I plan on traveling to Hubei and going to see the Wall too. Hopefully when I get back I'll be able to post something. Take care. D'sai Jien