Thank goodness for the mountains. At least that was our feeling as we spent 4 days in the Japanese Alps. Our first stop was Nagano and the Zenko-ji Temple. We made at least three cultural faux pas with our hostess at the shrine hostel, but that's what traveling is about! We also learned that most restaurants in Nagano close by 7! Luckily we snuck into one that closed at 7:30 for a late night dinner. It was nice to wake up in our tatami room in the 100 year old building that served as our hostel. After a morning of exploring we boarded a bus for Hakuba, one of the many small ski towns that dot the Alps. We landed in a lovely little hostel and armed ourselves with groceries and a bottle of local wine. The next day we took the gondola part way up the mountain and hiked a burly 4 miles in the mist. Periodically the clouds parted to give us a glimpse of the mountains, but it felt like we were being teased. At one point we came across a small graveyard. After the two snakes who were keeping guard disappeared we found two graves with ice axe heads cemented into them, though we couldn't quite puzzle together the story. That evening our WMI course translator from two years ago met us and we wined and dined at our hostel.
The next day she took us to a local high ropes course. She works for Project Adventure Japan and sweet talked the locals into letting us hop on the course at a reduced rate. It has been 20 years since I was on a high ropes course-the technology has certainly evolved! The course had a self belay system that allowed you to complete the entire course without a staff person on the system. We completed the course in about an hour with the requisite screams and profanity. Li was utterly fearless and kept urging her mother along when I took too long to complete an element. She was incredible!
Last stop in the north was Matsumoto Castle. A very cool 500 year old castle with three rings of moats. At one point our friend Missy commented on the gentleman wearing a striped shirt and plaid pants (something about fashion sense...) and indeed he ambled over and volunteered to be our English speaking guide. He was better as a guide than as a dresser. We biked around the town of Matsumoto, Li perched on the back of a bike on a chair cushion. After watching her on the high ropes course I didn't worry too much, that is until one of Steve's brakes stopped working...
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Japan-How Civilized!
We’ve decided to spare you all and experience our reverse culture shock in Japan. Our course hosts met us at the Narita Airport and spent the next hour helping Steve and Li buy train tickets to Nikko. My co-instructor Missy and I waved goodbye as they disappeared into the belly of the Narita train station. We had a semi-firm plan to meet in 5 days, no mobile phone and sketchy Internet. How big can Japan be?? Missy and I headed 4 hours north to Shirakawa where we taught a 2 day Wilderness First Aid course over 4 days to allow for translation time. For the first two days of errands and course set-up I couldn’t help but think, I am not in China anymore! From smelly, dirty Chinese squat toilets without toilet paper to immaculate restroom with heated toilet seats and bidets-what a contrast! I think my word for Japan is fastidious. Things are clean and efficient, the people are polite to a fault and everything runs on time. Astounding after the past year. Of course it’s as expensive here as the US, but since the bills look foreign, I don’t feel so bad about what I am spending!
Truly the best feature of Japan, however, is the onsen-the natural hot springs. We have been to an onsen every night in Japan except one. The people are also incredibly generous. Our students were respectful and attentive in class and partiers at night. In other words after two days of teaching we had been naked and drinking with our students (not at the same time)! The course went well and we did our best to flounder through Japanese formalities. We managed to connect with Steve and Li at the train station and after dinner at Denny’s (the menu looks a little different!) and some onsen time, we were all united at the course facility in the mountain.
Steve and Li spent time in Nikko and Aizu Watsumota. The main feature of their travels involved arts and crafts (of course) but they ate well and slept well and survived! After mailing 75 pounds of teaching gear to Hong Kong today we are off on our own to Nagano. Japan Rail Passes in hand we can go as we please through the country. Given how hot and humid it is in Tokyo, we opted to head north to the mountains!
Truly the best feature of Japan, however, is the onsen-the natural hot springs. We have been to an onsen every night in Japan except one. The people are also incredibly generous. Our students were respectful and attentive in class and partiers at night. In other words after two days of teaching we had been naked and drinking with our students (not at the same time)! The course went well and we did our best to flounder through Japanese formalities. We managed to connect with Steve and Li at the train station and after dinner at Denny’s (the menu looks a little different!) and some onsen time, we were all united at the course facility in the mountain.
Steve and Li spent time in Nikko and Aizu Watsumota. The main feature of their travels involved arts and crafts (of course) but they ate well and slept well and survived! After mailing 75 pounds of teaching gear to Hong Kong today we are off on our own to Nagano. Japan Rail Passes in hand we can go as we please through the country. Given how hot and humid it is in Tokyo, we opted to head north to the mountains!
The End! At Least Temporarily
Our last two weeks in China were a whirlwind of packing, examinations, dinners and many farewells. For as much effort as we put into our finals, it is disappointing to know that our grades probably won’t actually count. In other words the students that we fail, will simply be promoted into the next class regardless. Then next year’s unsuspecting foreign teachers will inherit the same problems that we did. We had two official farewell dinners. Both times we were segregated into a separate table for the “western” teachers and refused the opportunity to mingle. Such heavy handedness was imposed by the Dean of the English Department. At least he did ask us to stay next year while were taking a departmental photo-three days before leaving China! We were able to spend an afternoon with our friend LuShan and her family. Her six year old daughter and Li entertained us with dance performances and songs for the afternoon. We had some great meals with friends and students and generally felt sad at the community we were leaving. The good news is that by the time we get back here again, most of our students will have graduated and we can visit them all over China.
One of the most memorable events of our departure was the goodbye party at Li’s school. We told her teacher we wanted to come by to take some pictures and bring a few small gifts. Upon our arrival we discovered three chairs waiting for us at one end of the room and the kids ready to sing and dance for us. We put WMI tattoos on all the kids and gave out treats. Li gave away many treasures, but ended up with about the same amount in return. There was a giant cake and lots of excited screaming, and of course some tears.
Most of our household items found good homes with students and other teachers. Nevertheless we ended up shipping 10 boxes back home (1/2 of which are gifts!). In China this involves stuffing a bag full of what you want to mail, handing it to the counter person, waiting while they look in every pocket and every book, and then cringing as they pack things poorly into boxes. It will be a race to see whether we beat our boxes home.
Steve started his 40th birthday with a burly 20 mile run and ended with a foot massage and mystery cake.
On the first of July we pulled out of campus in a taxi for the last time. Our flight to Xi’an was uneventful and we managed to forgo hotel food and find a local restaurant to drink a few beers and sit outside on a sweaty summer evening. Steve did eventually unplug our hotel room phone after the third call asking if we wanted a “massage”.
One of the most memorable events of our departure was the goodbye party at Li’s school. We told her teacher we wanted to come by to take some pictures and bring a few small gifts. Upon our arrival we discovered three chairs waiting for us at one end of the room and the kids ready to sing and dance for us. We put WMI tattoos on all the kids and gave out treats. Li gave away many treasures, but ended up with about the same amount in return. There was a giant cake and lots of excited screaming, and of course some tears.
Most of our household items found good homes with students and other teachers. Nevertheless we ended up shipping 10 boxes back home (1/2 of which are gifts!). In China this involves stuffing a bag full of what you want to mail, handing it to the counter person, waiting while they look in every pocket and every book, and then cringing as they pack things poorly into boxes. It will be a race to see whether we beat our boxes home.
Steve started his 40th birthday with a burly 20 mile run and ended with a foot massage and mystery cake.
On the first of July we pulled out of campus in a taxi for the last time. Our flight to Xi’an was uneventful and we managed to forgo hotel food and find a local restaurant to drink a few beers and sit outside on a sweaty summer evening. Steve did eventually unplug our hotel room phone after the third call asking if we wanted a “massage”.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
The Torch Made it and So Did We
We felt a little sorry for ourselves having to get up at 6:30 and and catch a bus for our "torch duty", but then again, the students and non-foreign teachers from the College were on 5:30am duty! The days and weeks leading up to the Olympic Torch's arrival have been shrouded in mystery and speculation. Our class schedules have changed on an hour's notice, as of yesterday the College was still negotiating its role in the affair with the local government and of course the Torch route was secret. At first it appeared we, the foreigners, were meant to be show pieced by the local government for our loyalty to China and our support of the Torch. We all politely refused that honor, but nevertheless found ourselves on a bus full of foreign teachers and students from the two colleges in Lijiang and the head of the Lijiang Foreign Affairs Department (who knew we had one?). Instead of heading into town as we had expected, we headed north into Jade Dragon Snow Mountain park. We found ourselves lining a corridor full of traditionally dressed minority people (at least 1000) and students in matching t-shirts. Flags were ubiquitous. After our arrival we learned there would be a 3.5 hour wait. We had been told not to bring any bags or food for fear of "issues" so you can imagine how painful a 3.5 hour wait was with a tired, hungry, under-clothed 6 year old. Since we had expected to be in town we wore t-shirts and rain coats, fine for town, not good for the Park which is over 10,000' in elevation.
Eventually of course the excitement began. The buses bearing torch bearers dropped them off at their designated stations and we had a front row seat for the hand off of Torch Bearer #173 and #174. #173 was a big white guy, story unknown! After the brief event complete with drumming from the Tibetans and chanting from the Chinese we waited for another 1.5 hours until the Torch Bearers were reloaded in their buses and taken back down the hill. We made it home by 12:30pm in time for a nap.
In some ways the actual event was anticlimactic, but in other ways it was pretty astounding. The minority costumes were beautiful, the mountain a stunning backdrop, the actual torch hand-off occurred less than 10 feet from us and it is likely some of our pictures will make the local newspaper given the number of times we were photographed and interviewed.
Beijing here we come!
Eventually of course the excitement began. The buses bearing torch bearers dropped them off at their designated stations and we had a front row seat for the hand off of Torch Bearer #173 and #174. #173 was a big white guy, story unknown! After the brief event complete with drumming from the Tibetans and chanting from the Chinese we waited for another 1.5 hours until the Torch Bearers were reloaded in their buses and taken back down the hill. We made it home by 12:30pm in time for a nap.
In some ways the actual event was anticlimactic, but in other ways it was pretty astounding. The minority costumes were beautiful, the mountain a stunning backdrop, the actual torch hand-off occurred less than 10 feet from us and it is likely some of our pictures will make the local newspaper given the number of times we were photographed and interviewed.
Beijing here we come!
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Around NW Yunnan in 5 Days
5 days, 25 hours of driving, plenty of snacks and two moderately stir crazy children encompass the theme of our recent adventures. We traveled a large loop in NW Yunnan with our friends Molly, Bruce and Kaili Hampton, our ecoguide Lily and our tireless and always smiling driver Mr. Duan. Molly works for The Nature Conservancy (TNC)in Wyoming and was eager to see the work TNC is doing in this part of China with an eye to bringing donors at a later date. And, well, we came along for the ride. Li was ecstatic to have a long time friend and playmate (11 year old Kaili) to speak English with and to absorb some of the constant attention she gets as an adopted Chinese girl in a Caucasian family (Kaili is also adopted from China).
After a few days on our home turf in Lijiang and meals and presentations by TNC staff, we headed out of town towards Tiger Leaping Gorge. We had visited this valley once before, but this time we drove through the entire gorge on semi-maintained dirt roads with impressive cliff edges. The labor to build these roads is mind boggling. We walked down to the overlook of the famed rock the tiger leapt upon and declined the offers to be carried back up in a sedan chair-much to Li's dismay. That night we found ourselves at the Haba Snow Mountain Inn. The girls loved the huge beetles and caterpillars when they were in the garden, but didn't appreciate their company quite as much when they were in the room. Walking through the fields and houses in the village it is astounding to see how much firewood one household uses in a year-a reported 6000 pounds! TNC has been trying to help villages develop biogas programs to reduce fuel wood consumption.
The next day we continued north through Baishuitai stopping to visit the travertine terraces that reminded us of home. We discovered some wild irises and marveled at the leaves calcifying in the spring water that feeds the terraces. That afternoon we hiked through Pudacuo National Park-China's only National Park in spite of signs to the contrary. The park was lovely, but expensive and poorly promoted as a tourist destination.
After a night in Zhongdian and a morning of shopping for Tibetan knives we headed NW to the Botanical gardens. Bruce added new orchids to his list and Li took photographs of everything. After 90 minutes walking through the gardens her eyes were swollen and itchy. Perhaps she is not only allergic to Wyoming, but China as well. After a spectacularly steep drive in which we descended 4000 feet and survived a passport check point, we ended up in a small dusty Tibetan town called Benzilan. The highlight of our stay there was the hour Li and Kaili spent building sand and rock creations in the Yangtze River. In addition to negotiations at night about why our power was out we were serenaded by a man sounding like a lovesick hound dog at 1:30 in the morning. As always, Li and Kaili were fascinating to the locals and many people wanted to talk to us about them.
From Benzilan we took a "shortcut" along the Yangtze southwards. Imagine dirt roads, washouts, large boulders in the road and long drops to the river. Our driver whistled to keep himself calm. The scenery was spectacular and the remoteness of these Tibetan villages is amazing. Lander seems perfectly urban in retrospect. We passed about 20 kids walking back to school about 15 miles away. Fortunately we didn't blow a tire (I assume we had a spare) or get stuck in the mud and eventually made it back to the pavement. Li waited until this day to get carsick which is pretty good considering the driving marathon we did.
We spent our last night in Liming, a stunning village set amongst red rock towers and mesas. Whereas Haba Snow Mountain felt like Colorado and Benzilan felt like Wyoming, Liming was definitely Utah. There is an unusual red sandstone base here and houses are constructed from blocks of bright red. We hiked up to 1000 Turtle Mountain so named because the rock formation looks like 1000's of turtle shells. Our guide instructed us to take off our shoes to protect the sandstone-needless to say that was Li's favorite part of the trip! We happened to be in Liming on both Children's Day and the thrice monthly market day. Children's day was fun to see the local school kids in traditional Lisu, Naxi and Yi outfits. Market day was fun to watch the locals come to town from their villages and have a meet and greet. Many of their baskets were filed with alcohol to carry them over for the next 10 days. We were most definitely the only whites in town.
We left Liming reluctantly and headed back down the Yangtze towards Lijiang. We made one last stop in LashaHai to see our guide Lily's family home. TNC helped them build a biogas and solar system. Sitting in her courtyard eating walnuts and crabapples it is easy to forget how difficult the subsistence life of a farmer is. Lily works for an ecotourism company that is community owned and operated and tried to empower the local LashaHai villagers to celebrate their environment and create sustainable tourism.
Needless to say, starting back to school this morning was a rude awakening for us all. This was probably our last big adventure in Yunnan Province and we turn our minds towards completing the school year and two months of Asian travel this summer.
After a few days on our home turf in Lijiang and meals and presentations by TNC staff, we headed out of town towards Tiger Leaping Gorge. We had visited this valley once before, but this time we drove through the entire gorge on semi-maintained dirt roads with impressive cliff edges. The labor to build these roads is mind boggling. We walked down to the overlook of the famed rock the tiger leapt upon and declined the offers to be carried back up in a sedan chair-much to Li's dismay. That night we found ourselves at the Haba Snow Mountain Inn. The girls loved the huge beetles and caterpillars when they were in the garden, but didn't appreciate their company quite as much when they were in the room. Walking through the fields and houses in the village it is astounding to see how much firewood one household uses in a year-a reported 6000 pounds! TNC has been trying to help villages develop biogas programs to reduce fuel wood consumption.
The next day we continued north through Baishuitai stopping to visit the travertine terraces that reminded us of home. We discovered some wild irises and marveled at the leaves calcifying in the spring water that feeds the terraces. That afternoon we hiked through Pudacuo National Park-China's only National Park in spite of signs to the contrary. The park was lovely, but expensive and poorly promoted as a tourist destination.
After a night in Zhongdian and a morning of shopping for Tibetan knives we headed NW to the Botanical gardens. Bruce added new orchids to his list and Li took photographs of everything. After 90 minutes walking through the gardens her eyes were swollen and itchy. Perhaps she is not only allergic to Wyoming, but China as well. After a spectacularly steep drive in which we descended 4000 feet and survived a passport check point, we ended up in a small dusty Tibetan town called Benzilan. The highlight of our stay there was the hour Li and Kaili spent building sand and rock creations in the Yangtze River. In addition to negotiations at night about why our power was out we were serenaded by a man sounding like a lovesick hound dog at 1:30 in the morning. As always, Li and Kaili were fascinating to the locals and many people wanted to talk to us about them.
From Benzilan we took a "shortcut" along the Yangtze southwards. Imagine dirt roads, washouts, large boulders in the road and long drops to the river. Our driver whistled to keep himself calm. The scenery was spectacular and the remoteness of these Tibetan villages is amazing. Lander seems perfectly urban in retrospect. We passed about 20 kids walking back to school about 15 miles away. Fortunately we didn't blow a tire (I assume we had a spare) or get stuck in the mud and eventually made it back to the pavement. Li waited until this day to get carsick which is pretty good considering the driving marathon we did.
We spent our last night in Liming, a stunning village set amongst red rock towers and mesas. Whereas Haba Snow Mountain felt like Colorado and Benzilan felt like Wyoming, Liming was definitely Utah. There is an unusual red sandstone base here and houses are constructed from blocks of bright red. We hiked up to 1000 Turtle Mountain so named because the rock formation looks like 1000's of turtle shells. Our guide instructed us to take off our shoes to protect the sandstone-needless to say that was Li's favorite part of the trip! We happened to be in Liming on both Children's Day and the thrice monthly market day. Children's day was fun to see the local school kids in traditional Lisu, Naxi and Yi outfits. Market day was fun to watch the locals come to town from their villages and have a meet and greet. Many of their baskets were filed with alcohol to carry them over for the next 10 days. We were most definitely the only whites in town.
We left Liming reluctantly and headed back down the Yangtze towards Lijiang. We made one last stop in LashaHai to see our guide Lily's family home. TNC helped them build a biogas and solar system. Sitting in her courtyard eating walnuts and crabapples it is easy to forget how difficult the subsistence life of a farmer is. Lily works for an ecotourism company that is community owned and operated and tried to empower the local LashaHai villagers to celebrate their environment and create sustainable tourism.
Needless to say, starting back to school this morning was a rude awakening for us all. This was probably our last big adventure in Yunnan Province and we turn our minds towards completing the school year and two months of Asian travel this summer.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Earthquake News
As most of you know, Monday afternoon a 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck a remote area to the north of us in Sichuan province. Though its effects were widely felt, we did not feel anything. My best guess is that it rocked the Sichuan plate and we are up on the Tibetan plate. The death toll is estimated to rise to 50,000. Students here are helping collect food and clothes for the survivors. Sadly the spring rains are here in earnest, hampering rescue efforts. It appears the international media is being allowed good opportunity to cover this tragic incident.
More Grandmothers!
Li has had an exceedingly good Grandmother year. She recently entertained (or vice versa?) Grandma Marcia who interspersed vacation in Lijiang with work in Hong Kong and Guilin. Marcia got to experience the high class accommodations provided to teachers here and the intermittent access to hot water during the rainy season. We did a thorough job of traversing the old town, buying unknown vegetables in the market, using up many megabytes of camera card space and filling suitcases with souvenirs. Li enjoyed showing her the exercise field and building cakes of mud and organic material. Sadly we have discovered that Li is allergic to both Wyoming and Yunnan in the spring. Clover is a common denominator.
Thinking to give her the full experience, we loaded Marcia onto a bus bound for Dali complete with gory Chinese war films, poor air conditioning and windy roads. Li, who can always be relied upon for a good vomit fest during travel, obliged. But we arrived without mishap (thank to the judicious use of the driver's horn) and barged through the line of "helpful" taxi drivers waiting to take us to their favorite hotels. The Lonely Planet failed us however as I spent the night vomiting after eating at one of their recommended dining options.
The rest of the crew forged on and walked miles around the Three Pagodas (famous on every image of Dali including its beer) in the rain. As an antidote to the throngs of tourists the next day we took the gondola up Cangshan Mountain and explored Qingbi stream. It is akin to hiking in Yosemite. We were undeterred by the Chinese tourists who told us to turn back, the "road is not good" and found ourselves alone in the canyon with the mist around us. Li brought home 5 pounds of rocks, Marcia took many pictures and Steve saw a new bird. A good time was had by all.
The rest of the trip involved lots of walking, sightseeing and eating. Lucky for us, Marcia took home an extra suitcase of our things in what is just the beginning of trying to get ourselves out of here!
Thinking to give her the full experience, we loaded Marcia onto a bus bound for Dali complete with gory Chinese war films, poor air conditioning and windy roads. Li, who can always be relied upon for a good vomit fest during travel, obliged. But we arrived without mishap (thank to the judicious use of the driver's horn) and barged through the line of "helpful" taxi drivers waiting to take us to their favorite hotels. The Lonely Planet failed us however as I spent the night vomiting after eating at one of their recommended dining options.
The rest of the crew forged on and walked miles around the Three Pagodas (famous on every image of Dali including its beer) in the rain. As an antidote to the throngs of tourists the next day we took the gondola up Cangshan Mountain and explored Qingbi stream. It is akin to hiking in Yosemite. We were undeterred by the Chinese tourists who told us to turn back, the "road is not good" and found ourselves alone in the canyon with the mist around us. Li brought home 5 pounds of rocks, Marcia took many pictures and Steve saw a new bird. A good time was had by all.
The rest of the trip involved lots of walking, sightseeing and eating. Lucky for us, Marcia took home an extra suitcase of our things in what is just the beginning of trying to get ourselves out of here!
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