Shanghai Nights & World Cup Fever

Shanghai Nights

In an effort to get more foreigners out, many of whom say that there's "nothing to do" in Changchun, a few expats got together with the Shangri-la Hotel in town and put together a "1920s-style Shanghai Jazz Night". In terms of all of the western-organized events that I had been to in Changchun over the past seventeen months, it was noteworthy and a good time was had by all. Great era music and a lot of dancing.

World Cup Fever - Germany 2006

This was my first REAL introduction to the World Cup. Many of the European fans in Changchun are die-hard. With the time difference between Germany and China, many games were played at 2100h, 2200h, 2400h, and 0300h. Most of the western-patroned pubs in the town were open all hours of the night so that people could watch the games. The city of Changchun even showed the games live from a mammoth television screen in Culture Square for everyone to see.

China wanted to grow interest in the sport of football so much that they broadcast it live on two national stations. The up-and-coming social magazine in Changchun, ChangchunFriends, put the calendar up on their website (http://www.changchunfriends.net/) so people could know when games were.

It was a lot of fun watching the games. Some people showed up to the Paradise Fondue, a restaurant that I previously mentioned, pratically every night... you could tell when they were worn out from staying up all hours of the night. I saw quite a few German and British games with friends. But the Germans and British seem so much less reserved than the Koreans! I happened to be at the Paradise for one of the Korean games... wow! Koreans are some amazing fans. It was a sea of red at the pub and chants for every exciting moment. Absolutely something else.

The next World Cup will be in 2010 and the American team will be poised to make it to the finals by then, I have a good feeling.

David and Fiona, fellow New Yorkers, getting into their NY state of mind.

The honourable "Sir" Richard P. Roman!

Fiona Lee, who won best-dressed for the evening.

Jason Reed and myself.

May Holiday & the Changchun Cricket Club

The national May Holiday has come and gone (01-05 May 2006).  I really wanted to do a semi-final trip somewhere close for five days or so, but decided against it (I had Seoul, Korea, or Qingdao, China, in mind).  I know that I'll need all the money that I can save for incidentals when settling into a new place when I get back.  I've kind of toned down my going out, not that it was out of control in the first place, but certainly less now.  See... it's nice to come and visit with American dollars because they go a long way, but having a salary in RMB and going back to America is different because every eight RMB only equals one dollar... ouch.  So, I've been puting a bit of a cork in my bank flow.  It should be easy enough to come back with a comfortable amount, maybe enough to cover a rental security deposit and some intial odds and ends that come up.

 

While I did stay in Changchun over the holiday, it wasn't completely event-less.  The first official match of the Changchun Cricket Club (CCC) met and was a great success.  (I previously blogged about a pick-up match in August of last year with some friends and one of the CCC co-founders, Richard Roman.)  There were two games, first of which was for novices and the second for more apt players.  Most of the players were students from India, about fifty in total, and the other twenty were from Australia, Europe, and North America.  (The Indians are SERIOUS cricket players.)  I bowled (pitched) better than I batted.  It was a jolly good time that took up the entire late morning and early to mid afternoon. 

 

Afterward, a number of us went to the IndianKitchen, a fabulous new ethnic restaurant, for dinner.  I've learned from my British friends that besides tea, fish & chips, Yorkshire pudding, and meat pies being a staple in the UK, curry dishes rank pretty high as well.  Apparently many a post-match cricket and rugby game in the UK end up at a curry restuarant.

 

Spring Semester '06

Not knowing whether I was coming or going from Changchun until early January, the new semester began in late February rather abruptly after returning from holiday. Consequently, I didn't take as much time as I had hoped to prepare teaching plans. For a while, I did a show and discuss series of a BBC documentary on the human brain, which was quite interesting and the students enjoyed it. But I felt bad that I was lacking in my teaching duties, so post mid-term exams, I've begun to use some of the topics from the BBC documentary to discuss more in detail, as well as, some previously planned ideas that I had for the semester. In the seven weeks of class after May Holiday, I have and will be covering issues pertaining to a new study on IQ and brain development[i], the Oxford-Durham study on Omega-3[ii], and Hwang Woo-suk and Pressures in Scientific Development[iii]. Will have to do some more "brainstorming" of topics and will try and stick to the semester theme of brain-related research and development for the remaining weeks.

It's been a recent tradition to have an English-language picnic at Nan Hu Park (South Lake Park) the past few years with students in one of the final weeks of the spring semester before end-of-term exams. I believe that I've posted pictures from last year's event. The students play games, after explaining the rules in English, and some bring musical instruments to play. It's a great way to wind down the year and everyone always looks forward to it, including yours truly.

The final week of classes, 23-30 June, will be final exams that will solely consist of a two to three minute oral examination, whereby students can talk about any topic I've covered in class this semester.

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[i] "Cortex Matures Faster in Youth with Highest IQ." National Institute of Mental Health (29 Mar 06). Press Release. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/press/youthcortexiq.cfm

[ii] Lawrence, Felicity. “Children's diet link to disorders.” The Guardian (02 May 05). http://society.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,5183963-108861,00.html

[iii] Rosenthal, Elisabeth. “News Analysis: How rapid should the march of science be?” International Herald Tribune (22 Dec 05). http://www.iht.com/bin/print_ipub.php?file=/articles/2005/12/22/ news/scientists.php

South China and Thailand Trip

On 17 January 2006, I departed Changchun and arrived back on 13 February 2006, after a whirlwind trip covering nine cities/towns and two countries.

I left Changchun with Marie (France) to visit south China and her friend Jack in Guangzhou, China, and later met up with Mirco and Oliver (Germany), her teaching colleagues, and David (NYC) in Bangkok, Thailand. We also met up with Rob and Stephanie (Canada) at Marriott's Phuket Beach Club for a week. Among us were a biotech policy research analyst, Mesopotamian historian, Egyptologist, Greco-Latin scholar, economist, engineer, and flight attendant, hailing from America, Canada, France, and Germany... quite the international group with a range of backgrounds. Given all of our introverted tendencies, we were a mellowed group and certainly not anything close to the assorted happenings shown in the film The Beach.

CHANGCHUN TO GUANGZHOU

At 0500 hours on 17 January 2006, I picked Marie up from her apartment and we were off to the brand new Changchun airport to catch an early flight to Guangzhou. The airport is an hour outside of town and the Changchun VW Jetta taxi that we were riding in had seen better days. The car had little to no heat, while the outside temperature was -20C to -30C (-4F to -22F) or colder. (At some point, the temperature feels the same, because you're all bundled up and can't feel parts of your face. It's been known to get down to -40C (-40F)here. No one wants to go out in that stuff... it's worse than a New Hampshire winter where I grew up.) It wasn't Marie's first time to the airport, but it was mine. I was quite impressed -- 100 plus foot high ceilings in a dome shape, with all the modern amenities of a western airport. Compared to the previous airport/tarmac landing strip with a receiving office, this was quite the step up.

Arriving in Guangzhou that afternoon, after a brief layover in the Hangzhou airport, Marie and I were happily expecting dramatically warmer weather. For the remainder of the trip, it kept between 5C and 20C (41F to 68F).

We scrounged up a taxi and made our way over South China Normal University where Jack Merrington worked. Jack used to work in Changchun and moved south, for reasons of better weather. I stayed in the university hotel/housing for 100 kuai (~$12.50USD) a night, which was quite affordable given the location and amenities: private, single, en suite, TV, A/C (even got a chance to catch up on The Late Show with David Letterman via local Chinese TV re-runs). One drizzly, overcast day I went into south western part of the city with old streets and visited the Guangxiao Temple and the Mosque Dedicated to the Prophet. Should have seen Shamian Island, but didn't. Taxi-fare is much more expensive in Guangzhou; the meter starts higher and traffic time adds up. While Jack worked, Marie did some work that she needed to do, and I did my own thing. We all got together for dinner. There was a better variety of restaurants from which to choose in Guangzhou compared to Changchun, so we enjoyed Italian, Tex-Mex, and French on different evenings.

I spent most of the time in Guangzhou just relaxing and thinking, per the norm, finding the closest Starbucks (476 Tianhe Beilu, Guangzhou, PRC) and journaling/people watching. Staring out the window of the Starbucks, the development of China is still evident amongst the skyscrapers and five-star hotels: the walkways are filled with people in suits, kids in Nike shoes, and the frequent person from the countryside or hutongs with a long wooden rod stretched across the back of their neck carrying baskets of goods for sale.

Probably Not the First: In my jumble of thoughts while relaxing in a comfy Starbucks sofa chair, I came up with the thought of doing a gig for Starbucks by traveling around the world to different locations, documenting a sense of the aesthetics and feeling of the shop and surrounding neighborhood, finalizing the effort with a Let's Go/Lonely Plant-style international Starbucks shop guide. And maybe even sniffing out great new locations... that would be great!

GUANGZHOU TO YANGSHOU

Another early morning on 21 January, this time to catch a flight to Guilin [gwee-lyn], bus to Yangshou [yang-shoe~oh], and van to the Riverside Retreat. We arrived at the hotel, atop a hill, in the late stages of final construction, and were given the chance to choose our rooms. Each of our rooms had a balcony and gorgeous picture-window view of the town of Yangshou directly next to the bed. To make it even better, the tiled-bathroom had the same size window so that you could revel in view while taking a shower. Absolutely beautiful... I enjoyed waking up to that every morning! Location is gorgeous yet difficult to get to, so expect to stay on the grounds, unless you're adventurous about walking or catching local private/public transport into and out of town. As it was rather chilly during the stay, heating could have been better, but during the peak warmer months, the I can see the Riverside Retreat as an wonderful place to enjoy a week or weekend with the modern amenities that you would expect from a western-style three-star hotel. (Shelly CHEN, +86 1350.783.8775, shellychen6405@hotmail.com)

Marie and I took two different river cruises: first, on a small bamboo raft down the Yulong [you-long] River; second, down the Lee River on a large touring boat. The Lee River around Guilin/Yangshou is so well known in China for its sights that the 20 RMB bill has a scene from it. I enjoyed the boat cruises the best. I got some great pictures and good times on the bamboo boat trip. We got cold about halfway during the trip, so the two oarsmen brought the boat over the side of the river, we got off, and they proceeded to make a brush fire on the side of a hill (no joke, I have pictures and video). It was one of those "only in China" experiences. Walking about the town was quaint, but it looks very similar to the rest of touristic-manufactured, new construction "old" China, dotted with western/Chinese restaurants, souvenir shops, and fake North Face and Chinese-style clothing stores.

One day we took an excursion to a local village called Fuli [foo-lee]. We waved down a bus to the town and caught a private motorcycle "with an attached covered extended cab" home that late afternoon (these motorcycles are popular in the countryside). Fuli had a large market located close to the road with everything from herbs, coal, chickens, vegetables, electronic odds and ends, and some kitsch Mao posters, but as we followed the crowd behind the market, we found a river and some tourist shops. One of the tourist shops had some great artwork on scrolls depicting different local scenes during the day and night and some generic Chinese-esque pictures. We both picked a few to take home. I proudly honed my haggling skills in town, taking close to five minutes to bargain down a one-foot tall, bronze-alloy, pagoda and a Chinese "North Face" GORE-TEX jacket, each getting a 50 to 75 percent reduction in the original price.

YANGSHOU TO BANGKOK & BANGKOK

On the way to Bangkok, Thailand, Marie and I spent one night in Guilin. As I suspected, it was just another Chinese city. The only highlight might have been a small island with a large hill called "elephant trunk island" that could only be seen if you paid admission. The park was so intent on making sure that you paid admission to see it that they had grown plants along the public walkways to block ANY view. We got a slight glimpse of it through the trees, but not good enough for a picture and we refused to pay the ridiculous price of the admission ticket. Going for dinner that night, we picked up a Chinese "friend" along the way that hoped we would go to a specific Chinese restaurant. When we decided to go elsewhere, he had some kind words to say, and left in a huff. C’est la vie…...

Guilin Bed Bugs: We had previously booked a couple of rooms for this one night passing through at a discount counter at the airport the week before. It was an inconvenient location and took a time finding, but pleasant surrounding along a river. It was an old run-down Chinese hotel. Let's just say Marie didn't receive a free gift from the hotel, but I was blessed with a hospitality package "to go." I have never gotten anything like this in my life before: a day or so later, my legs began to have small bite marks show up and gradually, over the course of a week, the marks swelled until my legs were completely red. From the Boy Scout that I am, I always carry a small pharmacy with me... this time it actually came in handy. It was more of an annoyance than anything else. I think it was called the Jin Di Hotel... wouldn't recommend it.

When I booked our flights from Guilin to Guangzhou and then Guangzhou to Bangkok, I knew that there was a chance of a hiccup: that a delay from Guilin might come about and we'd miss our flight to Bangkok. But given the fact that we'd arrive in the Guangzhou airport at 0800 hours and our flight for Bangkok didn't leave until about 1200 or 1300 hours, I figured that we'd either have a four-hour layover or we'd be jetting from terminal to terminal hoping to catch our connecting flight and our checked bags would make it with us. Since we were flying China Southern for both flights, thankfully if we missed one due to company error, we'd be covered. As I've said before, the schedule and timing of Chinese flights are notorious, especially domestic ones. Fortunately, someone was looking out for us that day. We made it just fine and landed in Bangkok that evening... enjoying another welcomed increase in the temperature. After getting our baggage and winding our way through the airport, we found a nice PINK taxi (pink, purple, and yellow/green taxis can be found throughout town) and route to the hostel. On the way, I couldn't believe my eyes... I counted more than ten Seven-Elevens. The first night, Marie and I enjoyed the fresh air and summer-like atmosphere. We chatted it up with some other travelers outside the hostel. The following day was one of rest for me.

As I gladly took the honors of making all the lodging arrangements and preliminary Thailand transportation research for the trip, I found Big John's Backpacker Hostel on HostelWorld.com. It looked like an interesting place, decent price, and well-recommended by other sources that I could find on the web. While it was a little bit on the outskirts of town, I thought it was worth it; only a ten-minute walk to the Tonglor SkyTrain stop. As expected, it was run by an Aussie who literally went by the name “Big John.” As I have found with most long-term western ex-pats, they tend to be characters and this guy wasn't an exception. He began in Bangkok with an internet cafe and expanded his enterprise over the years into a pleasant, very clean, backpacker's hostel that has an internet, bar, and restaurant. The restaurant makes the majority of its food (breakfast, lunch, dinner) from scratch.... including pies of all kinds. I mean, the decent, quality stuff that isn't very prevalent back in Changchun. I didn't go for the sweet ones, but I thoroughly enjoyed the steak and onion/mushroom with a COLD draft beer. His pies have become so popular that he sells them to local Bangkok establishments and will even ship them.

The following night, David arrived at about 0000 hours and Mirco and Oliver made it by 0200 hours. They had all come directly from Changchun on two different flights, with a significant layover in Incheon, South Korea. We all stayed up for a while. The others were eager to get up and out the follow day, but I've learned that I am not a "go, go, go" person. (I think I take after my Mom in that respect.) The next few days, we stayed together for some things but otherwise split up and saw sites that we wanted. I know the historians in the group enjoyed the museums. We all met up a few times to see some of the major temples: Wat Saket - "The Golden Mount" and area of Ko Ratanakosin. Ko Ratanakosin included walking around Wat Phra Kaew and "The Grand Palace." (I took a great sunset picture from the top of the Golden Mount that I want to frame at some point. It has to be one of the handful of favorites from my time, thus far, in Asia.) The style of architecture at all of the locations was new to me and interesting to take in. All of the gold paint on religious relics was reminiscent of the Vatican.

While Bangkok had its poorer areas and unique cultural and southeast-Asian atmosphere, parts of the city, especially where we were staying, made me think that I was in West Palm Beach, Florida. The city wasn't decorated nearly as kitsch as a Chinese one and the Thai people were warmer and gentler than most Chinese.

BANGKOK TO AO PHANG-NGA NATIONAL PARK

I enjoyed the time in Bangkok, but I was really looking forward to the trip south towards Phuket and spending a week a half between the Ao Phang-nga [ow pong-nah] National Park bungalows and reclining poolside at the Marriott.

The train idea didn't pan out like we had hoped. We took an adventurous privately-run night bus packed with foreigners and a handful of Thai, instead. Making it down to Surat Thani by sunrise, we all slumbered off the bus. David found a cafe right next door to the bus station with Thai-style coffee, which was strong, fresh-brewed coffee with condensed milk. Meanwhile, I arranged for a small van heading to Phuket to drop us off en route. We ended up being dropped at "the Mangrove Research Center," seemingly near the campground where we were supposed to be. A few of us came prepared with mobiles and bought Thai SIM cards for the trip, so we rang the campground and they came and picked us up. The place ended up being just a five-minute drive around the corner.

I reserved an eight-bed basic bungalow for all of us several weeks previous, which was the most convoluted reservation process of the entire trip, but well worth it (+66 07.641.1136 Ao Phang-nga Bungalow Office, +66 02.562.0760 Bangkok National Park Office, reserve@dnp.go.th / dnp_tourist@yahoo.com, http://www.dnp.go.th/parkreserve/asp/style1/default.asp?npid=197&lg=2). I would have liked to stay there a week. It was a cozy place with chairs and lounges on a covered porch that stretched across the entire front of the building. There wasn't any hot water for showers, but the daily outside temperature was high enough that it didn't matter. There was a decent on-site restaurant. The following three days and nights were occupied with nature walks, boat tours of local islands, and porch-living. A couple of people decided to sleep out on the porch every night, taking in the fresh jungle air.

Marie found an elevated nature walkway that ran through the jungle and near the bank of a river adjacent to the campground. On the first walk, we encountered a rather large spider hanging in its web that was stretched across a good amount of the walkway space and passed it as quickly as possible, some of us more daunted than others. The walk became a daily ritual for some. I heard the spider disappeared.

The boat tours that we took were fabulous! The first was a simple one around the immediate area for a few hours, in and out of the maze of waterways where we got to see part of a local fishing village. The second was an all-day affair that took us deep out into Phang-nga Bay, visiting a gypsy island, "James Bond Island" where the scene of Scaramanga's island home in The Man with the Golden Gun was filmed, and Koh Kong. In one of the island clusters of Koh Kong, we found a beach and swam in the waterways for a few hours... I loved that part, especially jumping out of the boat into the water.

We were only there a few days, but porch-lounging and napping became a way of life due to the heat and humidity. It rained practically every afternoon around 1600 hours, signified by a sudden downpour; the sound on the roof was soothing to the ear. A small Muslim community populated this area and we could faintly hear the call to prayer from the bungalows. Nights were filled with conversations and gecko-watching. One of the ceiling lights was a hot spot for eight to ten geckos to gather at night and eat all of the mosquitoes... we appreciated that.

Being somewhat secluded, to visit anything off-site, we had to walk 10 to 15 minutes in order to find a market or another restaurant. The park manager, who spoke English rather well, wasn't to keen on us being adventurous and patroning other establishments and service at the park restaurant did decline dramatically by the end of the visit. As soon as we found our way down the rural highway outside of the park, we came across simple restaurants for the locals and then the tourist area, which had seen its heyday -- probably peaked within years around the time of the release of The Man with the Golden Gun and subsequently gone down hill from there. The only business that goes through there now is people en route to/from Phang-nga or Phuket. Phang-nga is the closest decent-size town. There was one 70's-era hotel (that must stay in business only because of coach buses) and a docking area for small, common, long-shafted single-rotor tour boats that head out into the bay. There were open-air tourist trucks for-hire that would run between there and Phang-nga on a regular basis.

On the day of our departure, David and I went over to the dock area and bargained with someone who had a small flatbed truck to take us all over to the Marriott, which wasn't nearly as far away as we thought. I originally surmised from the map and our van trip from Surat Thani to the bungalows that it might be two hours from where we were, but it was only 45 minutes.

MARRIOTT'S PHUKET BEACH CLUB

(http://www.vacationclub.com/resorts/pb/default.jsp)

After months of lobbying my parents to use some of their annual Marriott timeshare points let me and some of my close Changchun friends enjoy a resort vacation on the sunny beaches of Thailand, they finally conceded around December. Thankfully, probably mostly due to decreased visitation to the Phuket province still from the tsunami, the reservation came through a few weeks before holiday. (We normally submit a reservation inquiry six to nine months before.)

My parents started buying into “the Marriott way” with US-domestic and international timeshares, about eight years ago, and now are proud owners at two locales. As a family, we’ve been able to expand past the “me in the backseat” vacations to something far more pleasant... for everyone or at least two-thirds.

My Marriott Plug: For all those baby boomers and/or Gen-X/Y/Zers out there, if you think about what you might spend on twenty more years of vacation lodging with family and those years “after children,” then buying into the Marriott vacation club is economically-priced. However, the key is to buy in during construction of a location so that your retail price is nicely discounted. Also, contracts run 50 to 75 years, depending on property, so it’s something that you can pass down. It is a sanity and economic investment for you, your spouse, your children, and those “who are not yet a twinkle quite.”

Personally, I think that “the Marriott way” is the ONLY way, but that’s because I’m partial.

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The resort is located at Hat Mai Khao beach in the northern-most region of the Phuket province, a 20-minute ride north of the airport.

Phuket Province Security: Shortly before arriving at the Marriott, we had to pass through a security checkpoint with staggered concrete barriers. On arrival at the Marriott, the exterior of our truck was reviewed with dogs and portable ground mirrors. It was a bit surprising being that we hadn't previously seen any security actions like this taken anywhere else on our trip and thereafter.

Sawadee cap! [saa-waa-dee cap!]: As we entered the open-air lobby, we were all greeted with a traditional “hello,” an appropriate “wai” [why] or bow, a mint julep, and a purple flower necklace... everyone had smiles of surprise on their faces. This began a week-long period of utter rest and relaxation that included ocean swimming and pool-side sunning, Thai culture and drink-making classes, western-TV watching, and happy hours and picture-perfect ocean sunsets to the west. Most people took at least one or two day trips and caught a bus/taxi to visit Phuket town and/or the closer Patong Beach. A beautiful cultural touch to the week included daily afternoon drum and dance performances on a long, flat, mirror pool with the horizon in the background.

Another Sino-social Conception Example that Western Culture = Modernity: Western-conscious Chinese keep their skin away from the sun’s rays or even physically whiten it to: one, appear having fair skin like Western models shown in magazines; and two, publicly show others that they do not have a job that exposes to the natural elements. Westerners value a tan because we want to: one, show that we have time to spare outside of the office; and two, it makes us feel healthy because many of us don’t get enough sunlight in our daily indoor lives. They are differing perceptions associated with levels of social thought development in how we approach the ability to embrace free time.

Note for Tanning in Tropical Conditions with White Skin: No sunblock = stupid, Baby or coconut oil = probably 2^nd/ 3^rd degree burn, SPF 15 = pink with some blotches of 2^nd degree burns, SPF 30 = okay, SPF 30+ = no difference.

In my vain attempt to come back to Changchun with a bronze look, which I enjoyed during my high school summer months as a lifeguard, and despite a couple cautionary tales from the archeologists on the trip who had lived in tropical/desert-heat regions saying that I would burn badly without a healthy application of sunblock, I did the opposite. It took no more than 20 minutes without any sunblock to find out the results, which of course I didn’t feel until that evening. (But I did put on some SPF 15 after the initial 20 minutes.) I don’t see the experience as completely tragic, given the apartment novelty of air conditioning and CNN International, BBC, and Discovery Channel, among other stations. I found some shaded areas outside and gradually enjoyed some reading materials and soaking in the beach and ocean sights and less of the sun. I walked around for the rest of the stay like a red Hawaiian kahuna with a shark tooth necklace, which I had picked up earlier on James Bond Island.

Thai food… is very spicy. Knowing that the restaurants at the Marriott would not be amenable to our backpacker budgets, we took advantage of the kitchen in our villa and found some local restaurants for take-out and sit-down dining. We even had two themed dinner nights: Rob and Stephanie put their Thai cooking class skills to the test and made some great dishes and David put together a well-done Italian meal (thanks in part to the Marriott Italian restaurant on-site that provided fresh herbs). But yeah… about Thai food, it’s not something for the weak in spirit, even with the light spice. I fondly remember the moments five minutes after we would all begin to eat when people would begin to have their mouths wide open with tongues on fire, foreheads visually accumulating amounts of sweat, water/beer being chugged, and expressions of “oh my god.”

This week was the time that I looked forward to the most. I knew that it would be quiet and have the most downtime as compared to other locations we all would visit over the course of the trip.

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Holidays, “Home” & Being an Ex-pat: When living in the normal place that you identify in your mind as “home,” one is fortunate to go on a domestic holiday and if one happens to be luck enough to travel internationally, it is considered exotic. Yet when living and working internationally, day-to-day life it not so exotic as compared to just a brief visit. For these holiday times, one wants to travel to the most-comfortable “home” in one’s mind or patron some place new.

Amongst the group of us who have been living in Changchun for more than a year, China is a place foreign to us yet also a place we rest our head and call “home.”

In retrospect, the time in Thailand was agreed upon as a necessary sanity trip for us all. Living in a place with constant differences in culture, methods, and habits of everyday life, in comparison to the West, Thailand served as a temporary removal from things Chinese.

PHUKET TO BANGKOK & BANGKOK TO CHANGCHUN

The morning of checking out the Marriott was rushed and a blur. It was a mix of “see you around” and “see you soon.” We left Rob and Stephanie, who were on a gradual excursion back to Canada via Phuket, Bangkok, and Beijing and David who wanted to stay longer in Thailand but would see back in Changchun in a few weeks. We snapped a quick photo of the only group picture that we have from the Phuket visit and the rest of us walked to the checkpoint area on the highway close to the Marriott to flag down a bus to Surat Thani. In Surat Thani, we purchased overnight tickets at the bus station to get back to Bangkok.

“Good bye” versus “See you around”: I’m someone who doesn’t say “good bye” to people. It’s always “see you around,” because it’s amazing who you run into later on in life or even the friends of friends that you meet by happenstance at a hostel, coffee shop, bar or other place once you get into talking with someone. The world may be a large place geographically, but the distance between social relationships is surprisingly small.

This last leg of the trip between Phuket and Bangkok was the only part of the trip that I hadn’t set transportation details in cement, but wish I had. I had the lodging all arranged in Bangkok at the same place we had originally stayed, but left transportation open. We had hoped to get first class train tickets from Surat Thani to Bangkok, but waited too late, so another overnight bus ended up being the only option. While at the Marriott, everyone was in serious “holiday-mode,” which was nice… just forgetting about any responsibilities and reality. I had briefly mentioned something at dinner one night five days before we were supposed to leave, but some people were fickle about their plans after and it wasn’t until a few days later that I thought of it again. No one wants to face reality while on holiday until the last minute!

Oliver and Mirco were booked to fly back to Changchun the evening of the day that we arrived in Bangkok and Marie and I were set to fly to Guangzhou the following day. Before Oliver and Mirco departed, we all ambled around one of the night markets and found some things that we liked. Marie and I had an early afternoon flight the next day.

Before leaving Guangzhou for Bangkok weeks earlier, Marie decided to extend her stay in Guangzhou on the return leg. So coming back through, I left Marie there to work and visit more. Generally, she wanted to avoid the frigid state of Changchun as long as she could… I don’t blame her, but I had classes for plan for. Catching up at TGIF the Friday after her return, she told me that her extra time was productive and had setup shack at the Starbucks I mentioned earlier. Starbucks wins again!

At the Changchun airport on 13 February it was surprisingly about 10C (50F), but the unseasonable weather didn't stay that way for long.

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What a memorable trip! It was just a long enough time to be away from Changchun, because it felt great to be back in the same bed. However, despite being away for nearly a month, it felt like time past too fast as well.

TRAVEL TIMELINE

(I've adopted a short-hand for cities, using their airport codes instead of spelling out their names all of the time, when possible.)

17 January 06 * Transit: Taxi to airport; plane Changchun (CGQ) to Guangzhou (CAN), China

17 - 21 * CAN

21 * Transit: plane CAN to Guilin (KWL); bus to Yangshou; van to Riverside Retreat

21 - 26 * Yangshou, China

26 * Transit: Van to Yangshou bus station, bus to KWL

26 * KWL

27 * Transit: plane KWL to CAN; plane CAN to Bangkok (BKK), Thailand; taxi to Big John's Backpacker Hostel

27 - 30 * BKK

30 - 31 * Transit: Overnight bus from BKK to Surat Thani; private van to some place near Ao Phang-Nga National Park (dropped off at Mangrove Research Center); truck to Ao Phang-Nga National Park bungalows

31 January - 03 February 06 * Ao Phang-Nga National Park, Thailand

03 - 10 * Marriott's Phuket Beach Club

10 -11 * Transit: Overnight bus from Marriott's Phuket BC to BKK; taxi to Big John's Backpacker Hostel

11 * BKK

12 * plane BKK to CAN

12 * CAN

13 * plane CAN to CGQ; taxi to home

Cities/towns visited/transited:

CHINA - Guangzhou, Guilin, Yangshou, Fuli

THAILAND - Bangkok, Surat Thani, Ao Phang-Nga (Bay & National Forest), Hat Mai Khao (northern Phuket province)

View from my window at the Riverside Retreat.

Second boat trip... this one had a motor.

For all those visiting southern China, Yangshou, right south of Guilin (skip Guilin), is a small and wonderous place that must be seen!

Did a plug for The North Face on the Great Wall, now I have to do one for Birkenstock on the Lijiang River in Yangshou.

Stayed in the boat most of the time, even when we were pushed over small dams by the oarsmen while bracing ourselves in our chairs. However, this dam seemed a little bit too high to stay on the boat and keep dry.

This foot stool had a habit of floating away when we crossed dams...

First riverboat trip in Yangshou on a bamboo boat.

Back streets of Guangzhou.

Special seats reserved for monks on the Skytrain.

Bangkok boat metro.

One of my favorites from Bangkok. This is Wat Saket, the Golden Mount at sunset.

A massive "Reclining Buddha" from the Grand Palace.

Grand Palace - Bangkok, Thailand.

Boat & Ao Phang-gna Bay shot.

On-site location from The Man With the Golden Gun. "James Bond Island."

The Phuket group. (top, L-R) David, yours truly, Marie, Mirco, Oliver; (bottom) Stephanie and Rob.

American Culture & University Life Lectures

(For those of you who have been waiting patiently for this overdue installment of "The American in Manchuria," I was on writing leave for a while, but am now back in the saddle. In the meantime, I decided to get creative and make a pen name: "Meiguochurius" [may-gwaa-chur-ius]. Combination of the Chinese word for America, the word Manchuria from the former name of this region, and a proper Latin ending. It's been growing on me.)

I did a series of Sunday lectures on "American Culture & University Life" for the students of a Chinese friend of mine at a nearby campus this past semester. Speaking topics included: "Studying Hard or Hardly Studying": Undergraduate-life in America; Find Your Language Niche: Increase your interest in studying English; Asking "Why" and Not "How": Teaching styles in American higher-education; and Deciding What to Do Post-Undergrad: Getting a "real job" or going to grad-school.

I highlighted some of the differences between college and university life, spoke about students and part-time jobs, and differences in learning/teaching styles between our two cultures:

The students at my lecture were very interested in the aspect of being a full-time student with a part-time job. They thought that in China, good students could not easily balance this with classes. (Money always comes in handy for things academic and non-academic with students everywhere around the world. Students = money and students need money.)

In Asking "Why" and Not "How": Teaching styles in American higher-education, I talked a little about teaching styles in early Greek university education that have been made a basis for western thought in asking "why." I went on to compare some differences between colleges and universities: small and large classrooms, teacher v. student ratio... general environment.

From a Western eye within the university system, Chinese learning styles appear to be same from birth to death. Students learn Chinese characters from a young age by hours of memorization and they have to use this same method for all of their academic studies in life, which is why they spend so much time studying. Good university students use all of their time focusing on studies: they eat, sleep, go to class, and study. Those who deviate from this rigorous schedule are considered lazy, even if they just take an hour for themself (as another western colleague of mine has observed). There's no such thing as skimming through material, trying to get a main idea, or comparing and contrasting... these methods are alien to them. In many instances, they have to recite to memory lines of information, word-for-word. On my tests, I always receive answers verbatim from what was written in my notes to them, which can be a little unnerving and suspicious at first. When learning English, they memorize words as whole units and not something that has the possibility of being taken apart and maybe understood in pieces. I suppose that this is an okay practice for beginners of the language, but not for advanced learning, as there is so much that you can learn about roots to help oneself understand parts and subsequent definitions of whole of words.

Culturally, this method is expected and students have to abide by it if they want to succeed. There's certainly no changing the status quo of life here very easily. And because for many, life is the difference between farm and city or meager city job and well-respected job, then choosing to spend all that time studying or not can have the possibility of changing ones' life and that of their family. That may seem universal, but it's particularly moreso here.

-----

Overall, I really enjoyed putting this lecture together. It helped me examine my own culture, observe another, and be able to get reactions and responses from Chinese students about the practices in Western education and student life and some even in comparison to their own. You might be surprised how often I corrected mis-information that they had, but then again, it would conversely happen in the West to some extent.

MEIGUOCHURIUS

The train back, Harbin to Changchun.

New Years Eve @ "Arbucks" (known as USA Bucks, *bucks, and Starbucks).

Model of Red Square in Russia.

House on a hill, walked up and took a sled down.

A main attraction for the trip: The Harbin Ice Festival. Whole buildings and sculptures made of ice, some were stories tall.

One of the few, if not the only, remaining Russian churches, St. Sophia.

Stalin Square.

The major pedestrian street, Zhong Yang Dajie. This part of town looks like it could be any European city. Harbin has a large Russian influence.

The train to Harbin.

Christmas Day Brunch @ Nick & Julie's apartment.

The universities in Changchun gathered together to celebrate the holiday season with their Foreign Experts.

My university apartment lobby in full holiday swing!

Holiday Letter 2005-06

路遙 知 馬 力﹐日 久 見 人 心                   

Lù Yáo Zhī Mă Lì, Rì Jĭu Jiàn Rén Xīn

 

“When there is a lot of distance to cover, you'll know how good your horse is.

The heart of others will be revealed over a long period of time.”

 

 

Dear Friends, Family & Colleagues,

 

The past year has been rather eventful!  As I began to wind-down a four-month internship at the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington, DC, and part-time job-search in the area, two possibilities came my way in November 2004.  The first was a guaranteed university-level, English language lectureship for a year in northeastern China that required an immediate response and the second as an entry-level administrator for a stem cell advocacy group, but required an interview process.  While I was absolutely elated about the latter opportunity, I just couldn’t pass up a chance to work and live abroad at this point in my life.  As time was of the essence, especially for the Chinese university that was anxious for my decision so that they could begin my long and involved visa process, my travel-prone genes set me towards “dong bei” [dong-bay] China.  A sigh of relief came when my visa arrived about a week before my departure… cutting a little too close for comfort.

 

Since February 2005, I have been working as a Foreign Expert at Norman Bethune Medical College of Jilin University in Changchun [chang-choon], Jilin [gee-lin], China, located in former Manchuria and directly adjacent to North Korea.  “Jida” [gee-da], as the locals call it, has been ranked in the top twenty of Chinese universities for a number of years and moves up in rank from time to time.  I teach an advanced oral English class entitled, “Emerging Scientific and Medical Technologies.”  My students are enrolled in a seven-year clinical medicine program; they essentially cram a bachelors and MD into seven years of training.  As Foreign Experts are given certain publishing rights by the government and the university owns a publishing house, I have in the early works a course text to hopefully be published by the time that I leave in June 2006.

 

Thanks to a former professor of mine who was here prior to my arrival and essential in getting me here, I have spacious living arrangements.  It certainly exceeded my expectations.  The university treats their teachers well with their quality of life.  I have collected some Chinese décor to make the apartment look more like home, as well as, some western creature comforts that have been handed down during apartment clean-outs from departing foreigners, which includes one highly-coveted portable oven (it’s already been claimed by a friend for upon my departure).

 

I have been able to travel on three separate occasions, thus far, and plan on two others in the near future.  I have spent an October weekend in Dalian with goods friends, a major port and beach city in the northeast; visited Beijing twice this past summer (my Mom came over and visited for a week); and two weeks in a western province called Yunnan [you-nan] to see Kunming [koon-ming], Lijiang [lee-jang], Tiger-leaping Gorge, and Zhongdian [jong-dee-an] (a.k.a. “Shangri-la” [shang-gri-la]).  I will be heading north to Harbin [har-bin] with some friends for New Years to see a nationally-renown ice festival and over Spring Festival (mid-January to early March) down to south China and Thailand.  While in south China, we will visit Guangzhou [gwang-jo] and Guilin [goo-we-lin] and then head down to Thailand for two weeks, spending some time in the north on the coast outside of Bangkok and in the south in Phuket [pooh-ket].

 

As for holiday festivities, the universities from around the city came together the week of Christmas and held a foreign expert “Christmas” party.  Because the Chinese people think that most, if not all, foreigners are Christian, they say always say “Merry Christmas” this time of the year and not “Happy Holidays,” which of course recognizes the celebrations of other people’s faiths around this time of year and New Years.  Actually, I’ve found that many young Chinese, even non-Christians, celebrate Christmas not necessarily as a religious occasion but merely because it is a “western” holiday and they desire to be more western. 

 

The Christmas weekend is full of lunch and dinner get-togethers.  The ex-pat community in my part of town is particularly wonderful.  Soon after I arrived, I was introduced to a local western restaurant called the Paradise Fondue (a.k.a. “The Dice” or “La Paradise”) where about fifty or more local ex-pats come together on any given Friday night for an event we like to call TGIF, “Thank Goodness It’s Friday.”  Ex-pats from the States, Canada, France, Germany, Scotland, England, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Italy, Brazil, Korea, Uzbekistan, Russia, and a few Chinese hoping to listen and learn, gather here… quite the international gathering.  The restaurant is located about five blocks from my apartment, about a ten-minute walk, or five-kuai (kuai [quai] = yuan [you-an] = renminbi [ren-men-be], RMB) taxi ride.  It’s located on a street that the city has re-named “Korean Street” in honor of the large Korean business influence in the center-city section of this road.  The clientele mostly consist of wealthy Koreans and foreign teachers.  Besides Friday nights, many also gather here for holiday meals.  It’s truly a “Cheers” atmosphere where other ex-pats and owners/wait staff know you by name.  I have made many fond memories there.

 

My Chinese language study has additions from time to time but remains at the “advanced survival” level, having only touched the “pin yin” system and nothing close to learning characters quite yet.

 

Happy holidays,

Richard

 

Long-weekend Visit to Dalian

I recently took advantage of a three-day weekend in my work schedule to head down to one of the northeast regions' most beautiful beach cities.  Corey, a Californian buddy of mine formerly from Changchun, moved down there with his girlfriend a few months ago.  I crashed with them for a few days and also hung out with a new friend, Andy, from Iowa who's interning with FAW (a German automobile manufacturer) in Dalian.  I originally met Andy one weekend when he came up to Changchun to spend the weekend with a South Korean friend who studies at his alma mater.  It was a great time to catch up with Corey and Helen and experience a pleasant change-of-pace outside of the city for a weekend.

 

I have a couple more weekends like this coming up where I can finagle three days or so and get out and see some of the local area by only a few hours train ride.  Dalian was an eight-hour night train, but the others take only three-four hours, so Shenyang and Haerbin may be in my near-future.  Haerbin has a nationally-renown ice festival in late December/ early January that I definitely want to see before I leave.  It has been a place that has come highly recommended to visit by various ex-pats.

 

The City of Dalian is the cleanest place that I visited in China and in the northeast, by far, and the traffic has a sense of civilized order, instead of a semi-controlled chaos.  It's beautiful with the beach-front properties and wonderful views of the sea that joins the Pacific Ocean.  I had seen the Pacific Ocean once before when I was in Chile, briefly, but now I have seen it from the Asian-side.

 

As my intent for this weekend was to sit-back, I did a minimal amount of rushing-to-and-there sight-seeing and enjoyed times with friends.  I found a great coffee shop adjacent to Corey's place called I-55 (Interstate 55) that hit the right spot.  Owned by an American, it seems to have become a local favorite by Chinese and foreigners, alike.  Coffee was a bit expensive, but worth every pot (they had a variety of international flavors to choose from).  It was a great place to relax with a book and do some journaling.

 

I have a feeling that I will head back down to Dalian again...

Here's a picturesque one for you all.

Andy and I checking out the beach.

Corey and Helen... ordering food can be an involved process.

Winter is arriving and my possible departure is in sight

Changchun saw some its first snow flurries a few nights ago.  I was walking back from my favorite coffee shop called SPR ("SPQR" as it's commonly referred to by many foreigners now).  When I arrived in February, I caught the tail-end of winter here, but now I will have the ice-filled winter-wonderland experience.  It's gets even colder than the Boston region where I grew up, so I'm told.  The temperature, at some point, may get down to -40 degrees Celsius (-40 degrees Fahrenheit) and I don't know if that's with the wind-chill factor or not.  (When I went to lookup the conversion rate from Celsius to Fahrenheit, I found it a bit ironic in a "detesting the extreme cold" way that at -40 it is the same in both measures of temperature.)  I have accumulated a collection of DVDs for many of my days ahead that I will undoubtedly spend indoors (they are about a dollar a piece here) and bought a membership to a pool right behind my apartment building in an effort to push myself to get out and do some exercise.

 

I have a few long weekends coming up and am planning to definitely head down to Dalian, up to Haerbin, and possibly down to Shenyang.  Dalian is a bustling beach and port city.  I have some friends down there now who I'll visit for a few days and check out the sights.  I will go to Haerbin in late December or the week that I depart from Changchun.  There is a well-known ice festival in this town with all sorts of sculptures and lights.

 

-----

 

As for returning home, everything is still up-in-the-air.  I have a few things in the works, but nothing definite thus far.  I think that it would be safe to say that I can finish off the remainder of the academic year here (through the middle of June), if need be... that's my back-up plan.  Ideally, a job will come through, will be back State-side by mid-February, and have my first day of work on 13 March.  Consecutive plans "D" through "F" are to try and get a gig to teach in the Middle East teaching the same that I do here ("Emerging Scientific and Medical Technologies") for Fall 2006 and Spring 2007.  I am specifically looking at the University of Jordan and American universities in Cairo and Beirut.  Living and teaching abroad is only helping my resume and I am thoroughly personally enjoying it, best of both worlds... yet sometimes worlds apart.

 

This part of life just seems like a big waiting game and I've been told that there's never one way to reach to a dream... becoming oh so true.  There are always twists and turns and just because one person did it one way, doesn't automatically mean that that is how your journey will work out.  So you gain experience, gather as many of your options together (if you're so lucky), and find the best route from "A" to "H".  One goes to college, hopefully while gaining academic and professional experience, and then upon graduation finds that a bachelors degree in today's job market just doesn't cut it, so you have to get a master's degree.  Yet a competitive master's degree program requires more than just good looks:  it's grades (maybe a school name), experience, writing ability, and a fervor to reach a goal that is unique from the hundreds or thousands of other applicants that are applying for the same hundred or less spaces.  It's a dog-eat-dog world and you have to be at the top of your game 24-7 until you "have arrived" but you never really "arrive."  I'm sure that we all ask ourselves if all of this work and perseverance is worth it... I say yes. 

 

Pre-grad school life comes in peaks and valleys, but I will say that it's nice to ride the boat down-river on a class-one rapid for a while and meet all sorts of different people along the way.

First Cricket Match in CGQ

In the spirit of cricket and the mass-British hysteria that has recently swept throughout the country due to their triumph over Australia in The Ashes, five ex-pats gathered to play an informal cricket match on Saturday, 24 September 2005, from 1500 to 1700 hours.  Comprised of two Limeys, two Yanks, and one reluctant Aussie, a match was played in good conduct on a dirt field at Changchun University.  There was plenty of reveling words from the fielders focused at the batsmen and talk about the weather from the on-field commentators.

 

Not accustomed to the British way of bowling (pitching), the Yanks showed some of their baseball throwing techniques, which threw some of the batsmen off and brought about a story of a British cricket team from the early part of the twentieth century.  This team once had an American bowler who brought havoc to the sport on The Island because of his difference in bowling the ball.  Opposing teams, at the time, apparently had to change their batting styles to compensate because the team with the American was winning every game.

 

A second match is planned for next weekend with more in attendance, it's hoped.  I imagine there might be some thermoses of English Breakfast tea and possibly some cucumber sandwiches this time.

Part of standing around is all about waiting for the outfielder to find a small red ball in the brush.

Starring down the ball.

Nick (UK) with the wind-up.

Richard giving Julie (Michigan) some batting tips.

Matt (Aussie) with the bowl.

There's a lot of standing around.

Taking a break from "The Ashes" of CGQ. This was "Tea Time" (minus the tea).

"Sir" Richard (my counterpart across the Pond) up to bat and Nick making a heckling comment.

Semester Fall 2005: fourth week of teaching

I've entered my fourth week of teaching and am thoroughly enjoying this semester. Unlike last semester, I have the class all to myself and can put a more personal emphasis and structure to topics. My first semester teaching was a learning experience and enabled thoughts about future planning for this semester. I especially began to look back on how teachers who I have had in high school and college managed their classes and the variety of teaching styles that they brought forth.

Placing ones' own personal touch and passion for the subject really makes a difference on whether or not the students get involved with the class and if I can enjoy each class, since I have to give the same presentation seven times per week. Some teachers say that it's the different faces that get them through each class, yet as much as I can attest to some of that, I also have to change the sequence of the presentation from day to day, so I don't get bored with myself. I find that the more intrigued and excited I am about a topic, the more time they spend genuinely thinking about it. I become excited and encouraged when I can see students being attentive (seeing their "inner-cogs" working) and I love it when they ask questions related to the topic during their time in discussion groups or when the few bold ones ask questions and make comments at the end of class.

I am currently grading a set of news article reviews that I assigned on the topic of synthetic engineering from the Financial Times. I have been very impressed with the level of written English competency that the majority of the students hold. I see that while most may not be comfortable with speaking in class, they can understand what I present to them, verbally and in the handouts that I distribute. Analytical skills vary from student to student. Few seem to run with the topics, touching on broader themes, while others state the obvious. On their own levels, they are all curious about the rest of the world.

End-of-summer trip

After spending most of my summer around town, I planned a second trip to Beijing, this time to meet up with me Mum for a week.  After her departure, I took off for southwest China in the Yunnan province for two weeks.  In Yunnan, I visited Kunming briefly, five days in Lijiang, two days on Tiger-leaping Gorge (TLG) trail, and five days in Shangri-la (formerly known as "Zhongdian").

 

 

My second visit to Beijing was quite enjoyable.  My mother and I had a fun and relaxing week seeing the sights and taking in some Chinese acrobatics one night.  Mom says that she thoroughly enjoyed our trip to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall (which I highly recommend), wished that we had spent more time at the Summer Palace, and found the Forbidden City a bit lack-luster.  I concur.  We waddled in the gastronomical delights of Peking Duck at the Quanjude Peking Duck restaurant one night and had a great time shopping and haggling.  (I have refined my haggling techniques since my arrival in February: go for a quarter price and don't go any farther than half and don't be afraid to use the "walk-away" trick.)

 

En route to Kunming from the Beijing airport, I ran into some American physicians heading to Yunnan.  They were with an NGO helping and advising the setup of HIV/AIDS clinics for women and children in the province outer-lying the city.  I didn't catch their names, but upon mentioning CSIS, the Native American-looking man in the group said that he was on a roundtable with Bill Frist via CSIS at one point.  We had some good conversation about their goals while in-country.

 

My first impression of Kunming was rather sketchy.  After a long, delayed flight from Beijing that arrived at midnight, I made it over to a hostel that I previously chose from my trusty Lonely Planet guide.  It was a truly budget place and would not stay there again, to say the least.  I chose it because of its close proximity to the bus station for my trip to Lijiang the following morning, so I guess that I should have foreseen this possibility.  After maybe five hours of sleep, I groggily found my way over to the bus station and bought a ticket north departing at 0930 hours.  (As usual, the theme while traveling here has been "hurry-up and wait" in whatever mode of transportation one takes.  But on the bright side, I will say that it gives some good time for reflection and cultural observations, so it's not all bad.)

 

After a nine-hour bus ride, arriving at around 1900 hours, I found my way over to the first "bing guan" (guest house) that I could find in Old Town Lijiang: the Ping An Inn.  I had planned to stay at another locale for four nights, but when the cab driver dropped me off at a hutong and said "go straight and take a left," I told myself that I wasn't up for a bed-hunt that night.  After settling in, I found my way out and about some of the stone-paved hutongs.  Lots of small, "mom and pop" retail shops selling scarves, local Naxi cultural items, house-hold coverings and decorations, herbs, carvings, and tourist-amiable collectables.  Over the course of my visit, I observed that roughly four-fifths of the tourist were domestic and about one-fifth were foreign.  This night, in particular, locals were burning incense and small bundles of hay in remembrance of their ancestors, which burn for many hours.  I got a great video of a local high school English teacher explaining the tradition.  The following day I found a cafe for breakfast and explored some of the southern Old Town, much of which is new construction made to look old.  This practice of antiquing has apparently become a growing trend in the tourist-meccas of China.  I found some great little things to decorate my first apartment when I return State-side, including a beautiful hand-carved piece of wood depicting a local hutong at dusk. 

 

On the second full day, I found my way up to the Jade Dragon Black Pool in the morning to find that it was pricey and decided that it wouldn't be worth the pictures to check it out, so I meandered in the drizzle around the northern section of Old Town.  To my luck, I found an American-owned, authentic Tibetan restaurant, run by one Massachusetts-born Molly Riley, Esq.  Molly has been in China for nearly two decades and is fluent in Mandarin.  She began as an attorney in Hong Kong for eleven years and gradually found her way to Shanghai and then west to Lijiang, where she has established herself permanently and married a local Tibetan businessman.  We struck up a conversation for the rest of the day, as I enjoyed some Tibetan yak butter tea (tastes more like a broth) and local delicacies.  At night, the Solong Tibet: Cafe & Saloon (I love the cafe & saloon part), only having been open for two months, has begun to be frequented by local Tibetan artists and musicians, who play there and have "jam sessions," per se.  I also got some of the skinny on the status of the TLG trail from her friends who stopped in, which I would attempt in the days following.  That night she invited me to join she and her friends the next day to visit a Qing Dynasty Buddhist temple on the outskirts of town where a "Living Buddha" resides.  I gladly accepted.  We departed the next morning in a small blue car that thankfully carried us the trip up a mud-riddled and trenched road to this temple location.  Upon arrival, we were eagerly-greeted by the resident living Buddha, a young monk, and a local man who single-handedly preserved as much of the temple as he could through the turmoil of the latter-half of the last century.  The living Buddha and his apprentice are very recent residents.  While Molly and her friends conversed with the living Buddha, I enjoyed the sights and sounds of the temple and landscape, not to forget the wonderful hospitality and more Tibetan yak butter tea, of course.  We made it back down the mountain in one piece, the little car held up well.  I enjoyed more music and Naxi dancing at the Solong for the rest of the evening.  I departed for TLG the next day.

 

I caught a mini-bus to Qiaotou in the morning, reveling in the close quarters of the back seats (five-across) of the bus, but enjoyed exchanging travel stories with a Spanish couple next to me.  Arriving in Qiaotou, I made my way over to the gate and stopped in at Margo's Gorge Cafe for information on the trail, which, while extremely muddy in parts, was in passable condition.  I hiked for the remainder of the afternoon and found that while many people could do the hike in two days, I would require twice as many.  Rationalizing to myself that I should enjoy the trip, I spent a marvelous two nights at the Naxi Family Guesthouse.  The relaxation, views (mist passing from one place to another against the lush green mountains), journaling, and conversations with passing travelers became another highlight of the trip.  (I would love to go back to the TLG and spend a week on the trail, staying at a guesthouse for two nights and then moving onto another.)  Hiking back down to the small town, I literally hitched a bus to Zhongdian (officially renamed "Shangri-la").  With such narrow streets, the large coach buses went so slow that I yelled at each passing one asking if they were going in my direction.  I didn't have to wait very long before one pulled over and I got on. 

 

Many hours later, after passing on narrow roads with other small and large coach buses and going around rock piles from recent slides due to the rainy weather (mind you that there are no guard rails), I made it to Shangri-la early that evening and found my way over to a place that I had pre-arranged to rest my head for three nights.  Upon arriving and stepping out the bus station, I automatically thought of an old abandoned town from cowboy western movies (and was about ready to see some sage brush whip across the road).  The whole town is being built up for tourism, but the demand hasn't arrived yet, so buildings and new roads just sit.  There's sand everywhere and construction on practically every corner.  I was foretold by Molly to check out the Tibet Cafe & Hostel (and subsequently spent all of my free time there in between sight-seeing).  The first night I met two intrepid British sisters traveling together and one travel-bound Quebecois woman.  Sarah & Katharine and Julie and I quickly matched up and began throwing ideas around about places to visit in the surrounding area and how to get there.  After some deliberation, we decided on a hiring a 4x4/Jeep for two days and traveling to Xiao (Small) Zhongdian, Bita Hai (Emerald Pagoda Lake), and a Buddhist monastery called Song Zan Lin the first day; the second day would occupied with a long trip out to Baishuitai (a natural rock formation that has over thousands of years been smoothed by running water and, as I found out post-facto, is a highly-revered place by local people) and to a hot springs on the way back.  Between Julie and I haggling with different people, we negotiated a decent price the following morning for a vehicle, 400 kuai ($50USD) per day for all four of us.  Traveling for multiple hours each day in the jeep, in the end, I am glad that we hired a comfortable vehicle and not a van (cheers to Katharine!).  My favorite place over the two-day period was the monastery, by far, and I got some amazing snap-shots.  Despite the long rides, the scenery from the jeep both days was wonderful and we stopped here and there to get out and enjoy the sights. 

 

After checking to confirm that I had a place to stay in Lijiang for two nights, I found that I did not and that it would be a hassle to find a place for the night there, so I rationalized to stay in Zhongdian another night, this time at the Tibet Cafe & Hostel (I would recommend this place for everyone.).  For my last evening in the town, I walked around Old Town Zhongdian and took in more of the Tibetan/Nanxi culture and architecture.  (Just like much of the "old" parts of tourist havens in Yunnan, they are new construction made to appear with age, this was the case here, as well. Still enjoyable, nonetheless.)  The following morning, I departed Shangri-la for my last day in Lijiang.  The trip from Zhongdian to Lijiang that day was rather interesting: the bus became amphibious.  All of the recent deluge of rain had over-flowed the banks of rivers, ruining crops and covering roads.  It was a mess!  The bus made it through rather deep water several times that day.  Stopping by the Solong Tibet upon my arrival and visiting for the afternoon and evening, Molly arranged for me to stay at a friend's guesthouse for the night.  My evening with new friends included a visit by a Chinese reporter and his sketch artist for the China People's Daily who were doing a documentary on local Tibetan culture and included the Solong Tibet in their film.  I was given an artists' sketch portrait, along with many of those who frequent the restaurant, to be immortalized in the documentary.  It was quite fun.  I flew to Kunming the next morning.

 

My second visit to Kunming was much more delightful than the first.  I roomed in the highly-recommended youth hostel section of the Camellia Hotel and Youth Hostel.  Staying in this part of town completely changed my perception of the locality, as the hostel was in a swanky, commercialized district.  I spent my day hunting down some small, circular, decorative tiles that are used to finalize the architecture of the old-looking, new-construction homes north of Kunming in Dali, Lijiang, and Shangri-la, but to no avail.  That evening, I found a western wine bar called The Silver Oak for dinner and spent a few hours journaling.  I awoke the next morning and headed over to the airport to fly back to Changchun, however, upon arriving and scavenging for information about my flight, I find out that it's been completely canceled because "there wasn't a pilot to fly the plane."  Go figure!  "Welcome to China," as I have repetitively told myself many times since February.  So, I waited until early afternoon for the next flight... to make a long story short:  after relentless delays in Kunming and Beijing, I finally touched-down in Changchun in wee-hours of the morning.  My Chinese friends were very kind to wait five hours for me; and for Victor, this had not been the first time that he had waited an extended period of time for me at the airport. 

 

After having a wonderful visit by my mother in Beijing and two amazing weeks in Yunnan, it was nice to return home.