Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Picture Site Address Update
After an afternoon of frustrations with technology, we have modified our picture site address slightly. From now on you can use: http://picasaweb.google.com/sltsjp. Check out the new pictures from our Lugu Lake adventure.
Lugu Lake and New Brakes
At least we hope the vans we rode in had new brakes. It is possible that they wore out their current ones on our 7 hour drive. Imagine bad shocks, poorly padded seats, multiple thousand foot cliffs, cobblestone roads with hairpin turns and, of course, no seatbelts, and you will get some sense of what travel is like in this part of China. About half of the road is paved which is convenient for the local farmers. It is harvest season and an asphalt road makes an excellent surface to dry your corn or hay. It also reduces things to one lane of traffic, but apparently this was only considered an issue by us. Fortunately we avoided serious mishap and spent a wonderful weekend at Lugu Lake.
Lugu Lake straddles the Yunnan/Sichuan border and is quite stunning. The locals are mostly Mosuo and Pumi-both Tibetan. We stayed at a wonderful guesthouse on a small island run by a family of three brothers. The two younger brothers enjoyed singing, dancing and beer, while the older brother was the responsible role model with his wife and two small children. A Tibetan monk was staying with the family as well. We spent many hours with them eating, drinking, singing, laughing and rowing across the lake. The language gap was significant, but nothing a good natured cheers! couldn't fix or a resounding "beautiful!". The brothers and monk were fascinated by our UV light water purifier.
Morning and evening meals begin with yak butter tea. We decided this was similar to drinking buttered popcorn. Li loved it. Both nights we ate barbecued vegetables, lake fish and yak meat under the full moon not 5 feet from the water. The brothers joined us for after dinner drinks and singing.
On Saturday we watched the sun rise from above our guesthouse and were treated to a traditional ride in the "pig trough"-a wooden canoe with all the maneuverability of a barge. We paddled out to a small island with a Tibetan temple perched on top and a lone monk, dog and cat in residence. Li and I hung out by the water for the rest of the day to the amusement and wonderment of the locals. Li built castles from rocks in the water and I answered the ubiquitous inquiries about yes, she is Chinese, no her father is not, yes she is my daughter. I really should learn the word for adopted.
Our trip home was delayed by an overloaded truck that got itself stuck in the mud on a hairpin turn. The apparently uncoordinated efforts (at least to us) to get it unstuck, deal with the line of buses and minivans that were backed up and avoid hitting one of the many gawkers was quite a feat. The other three stops we made were clearly to support the relationship the bus driver had with a local restaurant owner and with fruit vendors at a bridge delay crossing the Yangtze.
Pictures to be posted soon. Technical difficulties at the moment. Grrr.
Lugu Lake straddles the Yunnan/Sichuan border and is quite stunning. The locals are mostly Mosuo and Pumi-both Tibetan. We stayed at a wonderful guesthouse on a small island run by a family of three brothers. The two younger brothers enjoyed singing, dancing and beer, while the older brother was the responsible role model with his wife and two small children. A Tibetan monk was staying with the family as well. We spent many hours with them eating, drinking, singing, laughing and rowing across the lake. The language gap was significant, but nothing a good natured cheers! couldn't fix or a resounding "beautiful!". The brothers and monk were fascinated by our UV light water purifier.
Morning and evening meals begin with yak butter tea. We decided this was similar to drinking buttered popcorn. Li loved it. Both nights we ate barbecued vegetables, lake fish and yak meat under the full moon not 5 feet from the water. The brothers joined us for after dinner drinks and singing.
On Saturday we watched the sun rise from above our guesthouse and were treated to a traditional ride in the "pig trough"-a wooden canoe with all the maneuverability of a barge. We paddled out to a small island with a Tibetan temple perched on top and a lone monk, dog and cat in residence. Li and I hung out by the water for the rest of the day to the amusement and wonderment of the locals. Li built castles from rocks in the water and I answered the ubiquitous inquiries about yes, she is Chinese, no her father is not, yes she is my daughter. I really should learn the word for adopted.
Our trip home was delayed by an overloaded truck that got itself stuck in the mud on a hairpin turn. The apparently uncoordinated efforts (at least to us) to get it unstuck, deal with the line of buses and minivans that were backed up and avoid hitting one of the many gawkers was quite a feat. The other three stops we made were clearly to support the relationship the bus driver had with a local restaurant owner and with fruit vendors at a bridge delay crossing the Yangtze.
Pictures to be posted soon. Technical difficulties at the moment. Grrr.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Cha Cha in China
To clear our minds of the incessant rain trapping us indoors, we followed a few of our students downtown to sign up for Cha Cha lessons. Why not? After two lessons we realize that the range of motion of our hips is significantly less than that of our tight-jeaned Chinese instructor and that our oblique muscles need some serious exercise. But the teacher is excellent and we have made incremental progress and can now hum the cha cha beat while walking to class. It really is a small world!
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Thoughts and Activities
Thoughts:
Many different ideas stream through the brain as the days go by. Also good advice is heard and should be recorded. I figure here is the best place since all those little pieces of paper seem to get misplaced.
A friend recommended that if we see something unique to take a picture of it then. The next time we see it, it may not seem very unique and almost appear normal. This is true especially as we start to travel the same roads and pass the oddities regularly.
I saw a shirt today that was interesting. Interesting because it was in English and that they were actual English words. Many of the clothing we see will have English sounding words but not make sense at all. The shirt said, 'An ounce of practice is worth a pound of theory." I should have taken a picture then, but am culturally aware enough to know that photographing a random woman's chest is not allowed.
We continue to be amazed at how poorly the local towels and sponges absorb water. I used to think it would be impossible to actually make a 100% cotton towel not absorb water. The sponges work if there is enough surface area to spread out the spilled water until it no longer exists, but Chinese sponges do not actually hold onto water. Our new analogy: Li is learning Chinese. Her parents are also learning and their brains are like a Chinese sponge.
Activities:
Returned to Baisha past weekend (10/14) and found those amazing frescos that we missed the first time. Visited a big temple that a local ruler built for his Mom. Do not know what he made for her on her next birthday. Timed the lunch and coffee while it poured rain. The streets were almost dry again for our bike ride home.
Earlier we posted a picture of Li next to the Chinese character for her name. Li's name has the same character as in our town, LiJiang, Beautiful river. Li means beautiful.
That is all.
Many different ideas stream through the brain as the days go by. Also good advice is heard and should be recorded. I figure here is the best place since all those little pieces of paper seem to get misplaced.
A friend recommended that if we see something unique to take a picture of it then. The next time we see it, it may not seem very unique and almost appear normal. This is true especially as we start to travel the same roads and pass the oddities regularly.
I saw a shirt today that was interesting. Interesting because it was in English and that they were actual English words. Many of the clothing we see will have English sounding words but not make sense at all. The shirt said, 'An ounce of practice is worth a pound of theory." I should have taken a picture then, but am culturally aware enough to know that photographing a random woman's chest is not allowed.
We continue to be amazed at how poorly the local towels and sponges absorb water. I used to think it would be impossible to actually make a 100% cotton towel not absorb water. The sponges work if there is enough surface area to spread out the spilled water until it no longer exists, but Chinese sponges do not actually hold onto water. Our new analogy: Li is learning Chinese. Her parents are also learning and their brains are like a Chinese sponge.
Activities:
Returned to Baisha past weekend (10/14) and found those amazing frescos that we missed the first time. Visited a big temple that a local ruler built for his Mom. Do not know what he made for her on her next birthday. Timed the lunch and coffee while it poured rain. The streets were almost dry again for our bike ride home.
Earlier we posted a picture of Li next to the Chinese character for her name. Li's name has the same character as in our town, LiJiang, Beautiful river. Li means beautiful.
That is all.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Pandas, The Opera and a $2 Haircut
We and about 500,000 of our closest friends chose Chengdu, Sichuan Province as our travel destination during the Chinese National Week. We were allowed to take 7 days off because we made up Thursday and Friday's classes the previous Saturday and Sunday (the entire country does this) which completely messes up which class is getting which lesson but no one else really seems bothered by this. National week celebrates the day China became a republic and adds the American "Day after Thanksgiving" element of a huge shopping holiday (remember, China is working on its market economy). Fortunately we found ourselves a nice guest house tucked in an alley to escape the hoards of people at the end of each day.
One of the undoubted highlights of our trip was a visit to the Panda Preserve. It's hard to understand why watching 4 large bears lounge against a log and eat massive quantities of bamboo is so enthralling, but it truly is, even in a downpour. I realize I can see that kind of mess made at breakfast time right in my own apartment, but somehow it is not the same. The seven baby pandas in a crib were remarkably helpless and darn cute.
As indicated in the title, we also found our way to the Sichuan Opera which combines acrobatics, elegant costumes, vaudeville, and some astounding musical solos on the Chinese Erhu (2 string)-which should put the players of 4 and 6 stringed instruments to shame. Li liked the fact that they gave a 4 inch cushion to sit on so she could see!
We decided to travel to LeShan one day to see the famed Giant Buddha since we couldn't quite imagine what 71m of carved godlike creature might look like. It's not that we didn't remember it was a holiday week, but our brains couldn't grasp the enormity of the crowds. We had a quintessential Chinese experience of "standing" in line for hours. As we discovered, the Chinese are incapable of waiting for anything. So though we were in a narrow line with metal railings, you had to guard your position fiercely lest the people behind you elbow their way past you to get a few spaces ahead in a 3 hour line! It was both amusing and annoying. So we simply began to rest our hands on the railing on either side of us to prevent people from pushing past us-this made us unpopular, but gave a brief respite from the constant shoving and pushing from behind.
Most of the rest of our week we spent wandering the streets of Chengdu and stumbling on adventures like the Chengdu Amusement Park. We went there looking for a geocache, which was no doubt removed when the overgrown bamboo was cleared away, but enjoyed ourselves on vomit inducing spinning cars and a log ride. We spent a lot of time in the parks people watching and holding tight onto our backpacks. Our map wasn't exactly to scale so we also spent a lot of time bribing Li to keep walking "just a bit more" to find a bus stop or a destination. She averaged 4-5 miles a day of reluctant walking. One day we ended up in the center of the city when the fountains began their dance choreographed to music under the watchful eyes of the Mao statue. Though there were hundreds of kids, Li was the only one soaked by the end of it. Her fatigue dissipated as she twirled and sang and jumped among the water spray, until the walking resumed that is.
We ate Sichuan hot pot, giant fruit cake, burgers at our guest house, and admittedly, drank some Starbucks (same prices as the US!). One night the owner of the guest house took us and two Danish families out to dinner at a local restaurant (8 adults versus 9 children, you guess who won). We saw Buddhist and Taoist temples. We all acquired a few new clothes and purchased the first Harry Potter book to begin reading to Li. And of course we people watched.
Shana got a haircut the day were were departing. For $2 I got a 10 minute head and scalp massage, two kinds of shampoo and conditioner, 4 "stylists" talking about what to do with me, a 45 minute haircut of incredible detail and precision, lots of photos taken by the stylists and more attention than I have ever had in a beauty salon. I may end up bald by the time I come home just to keep getting the scalp massages! Steve meanwhile, unwilling to give up more hair, read Chinese beauty magazines and watched the soap opera and infomercials on TV. Li watched the stylists.
The pictures tell the rest of the stories.
No vacation for another three months-it just doesn't seem right!
One of the undoubted highlights of our trip was a visit to the Panda Preserve. It's hard to understand why watching 4 large bears lounge against a log and eat massive quantities of bamboo is so enthralling, but it truly is, even in a downpour. I realize I can see that kind of mess made at breakfast time right in my own apartment, but somehow it is not the same. The seven baby pandas in a crib were remarkably helpless and darn cute.
As indicated in the title, we also found our way to the Sichuan Opera which combines acrobatics, elegant costumes, vaudeville, and some astounding musical solos on the Chinese Erhu (2 string)-which should put the players of 4 and 6 stringed instruments to shame. Li liked the fact that they gave a 4 inch cushion to sit on so she could see!
We decided to travel to LeShan one day to see the famed Giant Buddha since we couldn't quite imagine what 71m of carved godlike creature might look like. It's not that we didn't remember it was a holiday week, but our brains couldn't grasp the enormity of the crowds. We had a quintessential Chinese experience of "standing" in line for hours. As we discovered, the Chinese are incapable of waiting for anything. So though we were in a narrow line with metal railings, you had to guard your position fiercely lest the people behind you elbow their way past you to get a few spaces ahead in a 3 hour line! It was both amusing and annoying. So we simply began to rest our hands on the railing on either side of us to prevent people from pushing past us-this made us unpopular, but gave a brief respite from the constant shoving and pushing from behind.
Most of the rest of our week we spent wandering the streets of Chengdu and stumbling on adventures like the Chengdu Amusement Park. We went there looking for a geocache, which was no doubt removed when the overgrown bamboo was cleared away, but enjoyed ourselves on vomit inducing spinning cars and a log ride. We spent a lot of time in the parks people watching and holding tight onto our backpacks. Our map wasn't exactly to scale so we also spent a lot of time bribing Li to keep walking "just a bit more" to find a bus stop or a destination. She averaged 4-5 miles a day of reluctant walking. One day we ended up in the center of the city when the fountains began their dance choreographed to music under the watchful eyes of the Mao statue. Though there were hundreds of kids, Li was the only one soaked by the end of it. Her fatigue dissipated as she twirled and sang and jumped among the water spray, until the walking resumed that is.
We ate Sichuan hot pot, giant fruit cake, burgers at our guest house, and admittedly, drank some Starbucks (same prices as the US!). One night the owner of the guest house took us and two Danish families out to dinner at a local restaurant (8 adults versus 9 children, you guess who won). We saw Buddhist and Taoist temples. We all acquired a few new clothes and purchased the first Harry Potter book to begin reading to Li. And of course we people watched.
Shana got a haircut the day were were departing. For $2 I got a 10 minute head and scalp massage, two kinds of shampoo and conditioner, 4 "stylists" talking about what to do with me, a 45 minute haircut of incredible detail and precision, lots of photos taken by the stylists and more attention than I have ever had in a beauty salon. I may end up bald by the time I come home just to keep getting the scalp massages! Steve meanwhile, unwilling to give up more hair, read Chinese beauty magazines and watched the soap opera and infomercials on TV. Li watched the stylists.
The pictures tell the rest of the stories.
No vacation for another three months-it just doesn't seem right!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
