Read more!
16 November 2005
American Culture Lecture
More than 2,000 people in attendance-- and the guy that took the pictures sucks. So there arent many of them, but here they are.
Read more!
Read more!
Chinese Wedding
I had the pleasure of attending a Chinese wedding, in which, to my surprise, I was the guest of honor. Having spent time with this family previously, I was excited to be in their company again for such a joyous occasion.This picture was taken outside of the main area where the event was held, at my friend Julian's grandparents house in the Countryside. These were guests of the wedding, a fun group of men who loved to follow me around chanting the Hello's!!! and NICE TO MEET YOU's!! throughout the cold and wet afternoon.
The man on my back insisted on jumping on my back as the picture was being taken. It was quite funny.
The two grandfathers of the party. The elder men of the house. To my surprise, I would be seated at the most honored table in their home during the wedding reception. Julian was asked not to sit at the table, but I insisted because he was my translator!!!
I did not get to kill the pig as planned, I had to teach lessons when they decided to do it, but here is one of them, in all their glory. A nice yummy pig particle sitting on hooks for god knows how long. They cooked two entire pigs for the wedding--and most of it was delicious--although I did have some pig liver that looked just like steak--which was tolerable, but pig liver is just not so appealing to me... :)
MMMMMM, pork dishes!!! Lovely Chinese food, that to my shock and surprise, didnt make me ill at all, but then again it might have been the Bijao-Homemade Chinese rice wine-- think of everclear with a pineapple flavor--everytime a dish is served you must toast the dish for good luck, so the Bi-jo was flowing like the Yangtze.
One of my favorite shots-- the bride and groom entering the reception with literally thousands of firecrackers going off all over the place--an intense display --the smoke and gunpowder from the display almost made me gag several times. The clouds were so thick you couldn't see the ground in front of you, but I just kept following the red umbrella!
The happy couple in their new bedroom at Grandmas house. I am not sure if they are going to be living here or not, but it was very interesting to see. They recieved as a gift a new bedroom set complete with a refrigerator (a big deal here in the countryside). It was pretty cool.
Oh yeah, my favorite shot. There is another one before this where his mouth is closed and he is really smiling huge, it is cute, but this one, this one will make me feel great anytime I am concerned about my teeth. This is not an uncommon site in China--bad teeth are everywhere. This mans teeth were simply amazing--I would be one grumpy bastard if I had that much mouth cancer, but this guy was just awesome.
Ahhhh, Bijo at the head table!!! This is the head of the house, the elder grandfather of the clan. To drink with him is a wonderful honor.
A fun random shot. The women in the green is the happiest woman I have ever met. Capturing her smile on film is truly as beautiful as the highest peaks of Guilin.Well, that's enough for now... If you haven't already, check out the other pics of Guilin. I will be spending the next couple of days grading more than 200 papers on the Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and doing some consulting work with the students on their final projects.
Winter has finally hit here in Chenzhou, as you might be able to tell. That was the only thing that was so unfortunate about the whole wedding, the weather sucked. I wore my suit and a simple Patagonia parka and was freezing most of the afternoon--most of the area where we were was outside and there was no heat except for the fires used to cook the food--just amazing to me. When Joe Wadden said that it will be good to live so close to the bone, I now know what he meant!!! Read more!
14 November 2005
I had the pleasure of having a dumpling party this past Saturday night, which, as you can see, involved the making of hundreds of dumplings!!!It was an exciting time and many dumplings were to be had by all!!
In all, we made close to 500 dumplings, and only ate about three hundred, so there are about 200 dumplings sitting in my freezer right now!
We made pork and onion, pork and mushroom, beef and mashed potato with cumin (I finally found cumin, so life is a little better now), and various veggie samplers. Delicious and good for your health!!!
This is a shot from the main centre in Yangshou, where all the westerners hang out. It was such a beautiful weekend and an equally beautiful place as well...!Another monkey shot for Jacobe... These monkeys were just hanging out at the Famous (everything is famous in China) Seven Stars Park. The monkeys paid no attention to you unless you annoyed them or gave them peanuts. This first shot was when I moved a little too quickly and the monkey king shot me a threatning look.... The other shot is the monkeys on the peanut watch. Notice the younger one on the back end-- So cute, but nasty at the same time!!!
Anyway, I am off to a traditional Chinese wedding today. I am scheduled to help kill the pig as a sign of good luck. I hope it isn't too big-I hear they can get to be quite difficult to kill once they figure out that they are the guest of honor. The wedding is going to last over two days--I'll try to take a lot of pictures.... Read more!
11 November 2005
Halloween
I almost forgot Halloween was last week. It was on a monday, which is my day to teach Literature and my students quickly pointed out that today was Halloween. They asked me how I was going to celebrate it and the perfect thing sprang into my mind: I'll show a scary movie for the students!!
They all gasp in unison, all 56 of them. They began to mutter to each other about what I had just said, you could see the wheels churning in their head.
"What will you show, Mr. Tim?"
I had just picked up a copy of Frankenstein from the creators of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre on DVD, so I thought, why not? We were studying Mary Shelley's chilling tale in class as an Audiobook for the Halloween Holiday, so it seemed fitting.
Throughout the day, I kept thinking that the movie wasn't Halloweenie enough, these kids would be let down if the movie sucked and my rep would be on the line for delivering good quality entertainment to the Chinese college kids.
Word spread faster than herpes on homecoming weekend that I was showing a scary Halloween movie. People sent me text messages of excitement and concern--and the place only holds 1,000 students to see the film, so people were trying to get VIP into the showing. I laughed heartily and said a firm No.
I decided to add another film, Ring 2, to the lineup. It scared me in a creepy kind of way--not to mention that the main spooky character kind of looks like she is Asain. (This would be a constant commentary for days after the showing--"If she is Asain, she must be Japanese, because Chinese girls are never that ugly!!" --One of my lovely nationalist students.
First off, more than 2,000 kids showed up to see the film. There were injuries. People were crushed getting into the doors. It was like David Beckham and Yao Ming were presenting the film themselves.
I arrived fashionably late, my cell phone ringing frantically from the other students who were afraid of the large crowd that had gathered outside--they needed guidance. Upon arrival, I couldn't believe the amount of students. It was just a few hours ago that I had even thought about showing a film and suddenly there were thousands of kids outside the classroom wanting to see what scary really was.
The first one, Frankenstein basically sucks. Don't waste your time. The students, as well as myself, were pissed off at the ending of the film, which isnt really an ending at all, its almost like they just ran out of film. Annoying. Students told me that the film was not a horror movie, but rather a science fiction film. Haha, I thought--just wait until you see the next one.
Only about 50 students left when that film was over. The rest of them were strangely quiet as the film began. The best part of the entire night, one of the most memorable moments I will ever have of China, was what happened in the next ten minutes. The film opens with a frightening scene where the scary girl Xiomara, comes out of the television to attack the person that has the curse. When she popped out of the televison on the screen, about 200 students schrieked loudly and RAN for the doors. When I say RAN, I mean they ran like their own lives depended on it. It was pure insanity. They were so scared of this women that they did a full sprint out of the place and straight to their dormitories. I have not seen many things funnier in my life.
Throughout the rest of the film, the remaining students tried to hold out as long as they could--but every scene that was a little scary had the students moving quickly out of the theatre and after awhile I decided to give chase after them as they left--which really made for a good time. I chased after two students who literally fell into the squat position and almost peed their pants from being so scared-- it was AWESOME!
The kids talked about the film for days--some of my students were really mad at me because they couldn't sleep the entire night.
"Mr. Tim, I am very angry with you today. Each moment that my eyes closed last night, the girl would come into my dreams and wake me up. This is not a good movie!"
You can't ask for much more than that!!
Most of the students loved it. One of them entered class the following day in a xiomara outfit, no shoes and he hair combed over her head--she looked terrifying... and when some students saw her, they ran out of the other door and down the hall and did not return to class for several minutes.... Read more!
They all gasp in unison, all 56 of them. They began to mutter to each other about what I had just said, you could see the wheels churning in their head.
"What will you show, Mr. Tim?"
I had just picked up a copy of Frankenstein from the creators of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre on DVD, so I thought, why not? We were studying Mary Shelley's chilling tale in class as an Audiobook for the Halloween Holiday, so it seemed fitting.
Throughout the day, I kept thinking that the movie wasn't Halloweenie enough, these kids would be let down if the movie sucked and my rep would be on the line for delivering good quality entertainment to the Chinese college kids.
Word spread faster than herpes on homecoming weekend that I was showing a scary Halloween movie. People sent me text messages of excitement and concern--and the place only holds 1,000 students to see the film, so people were trying to get VIP into the showing. I laughed heartily and said a firm No.
I decided to add another film, Ring 2, to the lineup. It scared me in a creepy kind of way--not to mention that the main spooky character kind of looks like she is Asain. (This would be a constant commentary for days after the showing--"If she is Asain, she must be Japanese, because Chinese girls are never that ugly!!" --One of my lovely nationalist students.
First off, more than 2,000 kids showed up to see the film. There were injuries. People were crushed getting into the doors. It was like David Beckham and Yao Ming were presenting the film themselves.
I arrived fashionably late, my cell phone ringing frantically from the other students who were afraid of the large crowd that had gathered outside--they needed guidance. Upon arrival, I couldn't believe the amount of students. It was just a few hours ago that I had even thought about showing a film and suddenly there were thousands of kids outside the classroom wanting to see what scary really was.
The first one, Frankenstein basically sucks. Don't waste your time. The students, as well as myself, were pissed off at the ending of the film, which isnt really an ending at all, its almost like they just ran out of film. Annoying. Students told me that the film was not a horror movie, but rather a science fiction film. Haha, I thought--just wait until you see the next one.
Only about 50 students left when that film was over. The rest of them were strangely quiet as the film began. The best part of the entire night, one of the most memorable moments I will ever have of China, was what happened in the next ten minutes. The film opens with a frightening scene where the scary girl Xiomara, comes out of the television to attack the person that has the curse. When she popped out of the televison on the screen, about 200 students schrieked loudly and RAN for the doors. When I say RAN, I mean they ran like their own lives depended on it. It was pure insanity. They were so scared of this women that they did a full sprint out of the place and straight to their dormitories. I have not seen many things funnier in my life.
Throughout the rest of the film, the remaining students tried to hold out as long as they could--but every scene that was a little scary had the students moving quickly out of the theatre and after awhile I decided to give chase after them as they left--which really made for a good time. I chased after two students who literally fell into the squat position and almost peed their pants from being so scared-- it was AWESOME!
The kids talked about the film for days--some of my students were really mad at me because they couldn't sleep the entire night.
"Mr. Tim, I am very angry with you today. Each moment that my eyes closed last night, the girl would come into my dreams and wake me up. This is not a good movie!"
You can't ask for much more than that!!
Most of the students loved it. One of them entered class the following day in a xiomara outfit, no shoes and he hair combed over her head--she looked terrifying... and when some students saw her, they ran out of the other door and down the hall and did not return to class for several minutes.... Read more!
Shorter, man...
Okay, so I'll start making the entries shorter.
My ability to tell the story is increasing, and with that, so is my prose. You are seeing the first draft of material, which is totally unedited, except for the occasional spell check, when I remember to check it.
I will begin to post more short stories so that you can just skim through it as I realize this is just a blog and you, my loyal readers, want more on the short end instead of waiting for a longer entry. I am still waiting for the pictures to be uploaded, it should happen at some point this weekend. It isn't my camera, so I don't have control over it. Read more!
My ability to tell the story is increasing, and with that, so is my prose. You are seeing the first draft of material, which is totally unedited, except for the occasional spell check, when I remember to check it.
I will begin to post more short stories so that you can just skim through it as I realize this is just a blog and you, my loyal readers, want more on the short end instead of waiting for a longer entry. I am still waiting for the pictures to be uploaded, it should happen at some point this weekend. It isn't my camera, so I don't have control over it. Read more!
09 November 2005
I still have not been able to upload the pictures from Yangshou and Guilin as I did not take them with my own camera and I am waiting for Clare to come and set it up so that I can actually load them for you....
But I will continue with the stories..
Clare and I decided after much deliberation that it made more sense to just call the guy at the travel agency in the train station and pay the overemphasis price. We had try to find one of the open tourist kiosks throughout the town, but we were met with very little success. We found several of the kiosks, but they were all closed in the middle of a friday afternoon--which reminded me once again that this is China. So we called him back and I attempted to bargain with him on the price, knowing that 250rmb is more than we should have to pay, especially because it is no longer the tourist season and he offered me a rate of just 200rmb, but made it sound like this route was by far the worst way to do it and for the extra 50rmb, we could do everything on our own and not have to pay attention to the tour groups and such--which was more appealing to me, so I agreed and booked us on the 250rmb cruise, slightly regretting it. I also inquired about a massage because the hard beds of China has really began to take a toll on my bones and I heard that there were good massage places in Guilin. Again, I got a little screwed on this endeavors as I got booked into a massage place at the nicest hotel in Guilin. It was 100rmb for the massage, which is still cheap in western standards, but if I were to tell a Chinese person about this price, they would shriek at the high rate. Overall, it was a nice massage, except you keep your clothes on, which I was a little surprised by, but it made me feel more comfortable about the whole procedure.
It was a good massage, with her massaging everything except my groin, including my robust buttocks, which made me giggle like a little school girl. She also jumped on top of my back, digging her knees into my back and massaging my body--quite an amazing maneuver.
When it was done, amazingly enough, the woman nodded at my compliments and then began following me saying, TIP! TIP! TIP!, which is something you never, ever, never hear in China. It was the strangest thing. She did a good job, but 100rmb is a lot of money-but I decided to oblige the request, since it is so rare. I stopped and pulled out some money and she saw a 50 note and pointed to it-- TIP TIP! and I shook my head. No way was I giving another 50note, but I did settle on a 20 and went on my way.
The next morning, we awoke at 5:15 to take the shuttle down to the pier and go on the boat ride outside of town. It was scheduled as a 2.5 hour long boat ride and the car was scheduled to pick us up at 6am sharp. He arrived about 10 minutes later than he was expected and we could immediately tell that he knew he was late. He raced through the empty streets of Guilin and got onto the highway in mere minutes. Clare became worried when he got on the freeway because we didn't know exactly where the boat trip started, but we assumed it was in the downtown area. Not true. We were in the car for about 30 minutes while it flew down the highway, trying to get to the destination by 7am, which we made just in time. We were quickly shuffled out of the car and escorted to the boat. We were in the middle of farm country, which basically equated to the middle of nowhere. As we got onto the boat, we quickly noticed that we were the only ones on the boat and the driver of the boat quickly got the engines started and we were off. Immediately, I knew we had made the right decision. Although the process seemed shady, we were now sitting on a long tour boat, the only tourists of the river. We had our own personal moments on the Li Jang river. It was an amazing hour, cruising through the low river. taking in the beautiful scenery--hundreds of small, ragged peaks, all in dense green colors lined the distance, reflecting on the calmness of the river. It was a beautifully odd combination of both serenity and chaos. The river, still and calm as we rode through it, clearer than I thought any river could really be in China. The peaks, small in size, but rugged and fierce--something major happened here not so long ago in the timeliness of the earth and it was violent.
The scale of the mountain range reminds me of my admiration of the Grand Tetons in Wyoming, just off the rugged landscape of the Yellowstone Plateau, where I spent some of my most formative summers. These were much different, both in size and distance. The Tetons are a huge range of mountains overlooking the Snake River, while this smaller mountain of the Li Jang river, go for miles upon miles, every turn in the riverbed presents a new series of mountains. I took Clares cameras and spent most of the time on the outside deck on the loud, rusty metal ship that took us through the low river channels.
Eventually, our solo journey came to an end as we met up with the other tour boats, which we about and hour and fifteen minutes ahead of us. We stopped at an island together and we were told to get on another boat, which was equipped with Chinese tourists who instantly got very excited when the learned that two Westerners would be joining their cruise. The next 45 minutes of the cruise was spent stopping periodically at different places to basically waste time as we were close to the end, but the tour stated that it was 2.5 hours, so they have to make it seem like your getting every minutes worth.
I felt like we got our moneys worth--as I said yesterday, the thing you need to remember in China is that it really doesn't matter how much you paid, as long as you feel okay about it. You can afford to get ripped off on occasion in China.
The boat ride does end directly in Yangshou, but just outside of a small village, where there are tour buses that will either take you back to Guilin or to visit Yangshou. Every westerner for some reason simply loves to visit Yangshou, which is also known as Yangers. It is about a 30 minutes ride from where you get dropped off. We were told that it was easy to get a bus ride from the town to Yangshou, but as we arrived, we discovered that this was not entirely the case. We had done more of a budgeted trip, and they didn't cut us a deal on a bus, so we had to attempt to figure out transport. Luckily, a couple from Belgium were in the same boat as we were (pun intended). For whatever reason, their tour bus has just left without them, so they needed to fend for it on their own. We quickly found a cab driver that offered to take us to Yangshou for 50rmb each, which we bargained with her down to 30rmb for all of us. This is another example how too little is never too little.
In the car ride over, we discovered that the couple lives in Brussels, works for the main airline in Brussels, he is a pilot, she is a flight attendant. Because of their jobs, they have traveled all over the world--going to every country on the planet. The woman was a frequent flyer to Africa--this week she will go to Rwanda and live for 10 days. It was interesting to get their take on the different travels, especially Africa.
Upon arrival in Yangshou, we decided to have an early lunch with each other. They took us to a western restaurant that was really an American restaurant. Bacon, Eggs, Pancakes, Burgers, Lasagna, garlic bread--good food and not too expensive.
There was not much discussion while we were enjoying our food--both Clare and I were simply amazed at how delicious everything was--you tend to forget that things taste differently than Chinese food!
The rest of the afternoon was spent shopping and bargaining for different things. I spent a lot more money than I had budgeted for the trip, but I was able to justify it because I had spent so little since my arrival here in China. Overall, I have spent less than 600usd since I have arrived here, plus my monthly salary. I had not really purchased many of the things that I wanted to make sure I bought before leaving China, and I found all of it in Yangshou.
The biggest splurge was on a Chess set that when I saw it, I knew I needed to have it. The original price for the set was 850rmb, which was just ridiculous. Without much effort, I was able to get the price down to a mere 200 rmb and the final sales price was 180rmb. I will send a picture of it in the near future.
Yangshou serves as a good base camp location for going and checking out much of the local area. It is only 50 rmb to rent a motorbike for the afternoon, and the bike tours are very famous. There are many listings on-line for guide services, which usually include a tasty Chinese lunch. We didn't do any of these adventures as I know I will be there again sometime soon.
here's a good link to Yangshou: http://www.yangers.com/ Read more!
But I will continue with the stories..
Clare and I decided after much deliberation that it made more sense to just call the guy at the travel agency in the train station and pay the overemphasis price. We had try to find one of the open tourist kiosks throughout the town, but we were met with very little success. We found several of the kiosks, but they were all closed in the middle of a friday afternoon--which reminded me once again that this is China. So we called him back and I attempted to bargain with him on the price, knowing that 250rmb is more than we should have to pay, especially because it is no longer the tourist season and he offered me a rate of just 200rmb, but made it sound like this route was by far the worst way to do it and for the extra 50rmb, we could do everything on our own and not have to pay attention to the tour groups and such--which was more appealing to me, so I agreed and booked us on the 250rmb cruise, slightly regretting it. I also inquired about a massage because the hard beds of China has really began to take a toll on my bones and I heard that there were good massage places in Guilin. Again, I got a little screwed on this endeavors as I got booked into a massage place at the nicest hotel in Guilin. It was 100rmb for the massage, which is still cheap in western standards, but if I were to tell a Chinese person about this price, they would shriek at the high rate. Overall, it was a nice massage, except you keep your clothes on, which I was a little surprised by, but it made me feel more comfortable about the whole procedure.
It was a good massage, with her massaging everything except my groin, including my robust buttocks, which made me giggle like a little school girl. She also jumped on top of my back, digging her knees into my back and massaging my body--quite an amazing maneuver.
When it was done, amazingly enough, the woman nodded at my compliments and then began following me saying, TIP! TIP! TIP!, which is something you never, ever, never hear in China. It was the strangest thing. She did a good job, but 100rmb is a lot of money-but I decided to oblige the request, since it is so rare. I stopped and pulled out some money and she saw a 50 note and pointed to it-- TIP TIP! and I shook my head. No way was I giving another 50note, but I did settle on a 20 and went on my way.
The next morning, we awoke at 5:15 to take the shuttle down to the pier and go on the boat ride outside of town. It was scheduled as a 2.5 hour long boat ride and the car was scheduled to pick us up at 6am sharp. He arrived about 10 minutes later than he was expected and we could immediately tell that he knew he was late. He raced through the empty streets of Guilin and got onto the highway in mere minutes. Clare became worried when he got on the freeway because we didn't know exactly where the boat trip started, but we assumed it was in the downtown area. Not true. We were in the car for about 30 minutes while it flew down the highway, trying to get to the destination by 7am, which we made just in time. We were quickly shuffled out of the car and escorted to the boat. We were in the middle of farm country, which basically equated to the middle of nowhere. As we got onto the boat, we quickly noticed that we were the only ones on the boat and the driver of the boat quickly got the engines started and we were off. Immediately, I knew we had made the right decision. Although the process seemed shady, we were now sitting on a long tour boat, the only tourists of the river. We had our own personal moments on the Li Jang river. It was an amazing hour, cruising through the low river. taking in the beautiful scenery--hundreds of small, ragged peaks, all in dense green colors lined the distance, reflecting on the calmness of the river. It was a beautifully odd combination of both serenity and chaos. The river, still and calm as we rode through it, clearer than I thought any river could really be in China. The peaks, small in size, but rugged and fierce--something major happened here not so long ago in the timeliness of the earth and it was violent.
The scale of the mountain range reminds me of my admiration of the Grand Tetons in Wyoming, just off the rugged landscape of the Yellowstone Plateau, where I spent some of my most formative summers. These were much different, both in size and distance. The Tetons are a huge range of mountains overlooking the Snake River, while this smaller mountain of the Li Jang river, go for miles upon miles, every turn in the riverbed presents a new series of mountains. I took Clares cameras and spent most of the time on the outside deck on the loud, rusty metal ship that took us through the low river channels.
Eventually, our solo journey came to an end as we met up with the other tour boats, which we about and hour and fifteen minutes ahead of us. We stopped at an island together and we were told to get on another boat, which was equipped with Chinese tourists who instantly got very excited when the learned that two Westerners would be joining their cruise. The next 45 minutes of the cruise was spent stopping periodically at different places to basically waste time as we were close to the end, but the tour stated that it was 2.5 hours, so they have to make it seem like your getting every minutes worth.
I felt like we got our moneys worth--as I said yesterday, the thing you need to remember in China is that it really doesn't matter how much you paid, as long as you feel okay about it. You can afford to get ripped off on occasion in China.
The boat ride does end directly in Yangshou, but just outside of a small village, where there are tour buses that will either take you back to Guilin or to visit Yangshou. Every westerner for some reason simply loves to visit Yangshou, which is also known as Yangers. It is about a 30 minutes ride from where you get dropped off. We were told that it was easy to get a bus ride from the town to Yangshou, but as we arrived, we discovered that this was not entirely the case. We had done more of a budgeted trip, and they didn't cut us a deal on a bus, so we had to attempt to figure out transport. Luckily, a couple from Belgium were in the same boat as we were (pun intended). For whatever reason, their tour bus has just left without them, so they needed to fend for it on their own. We quickly found a cab driver that offered to take us to Yangshou for 50rmb each, which we bargained with her down to 30rmb for all of us. This is another example how too little is never too little.
In the car ride over, we discovered that the couple lives in Brussels, works for the main airline in Brussels, he is a pilot, she is a flight attendant. Because of their jobs, they have traveled all over the world--going to every country on the planet. The woman was a frequent flyer to Africa--this week she will go to Rwanda and live for 10 days. It was interesting to get their take on the different travels, especially Africa.
Upon arrival in Yangshou, we decided to have an early lunch with each other. They took us to a western restaurant that was really an American restaurant. Bacon, Eggs, Pancakes, Burgers, Lasagna, garlic bread--good food and not too expensive.
There was not much discussion while we were enjoying our food--both Clare and I were simply amazed at how delicious everything was--you tend to forget that things taste differently than Chinese food!
The rest of the afternoon was spent shopping and bargaining for different things. I spent a lot more money than I had budgeted for the trip, but I was able to justify it because I had spent so little since my arrival here in China. Overall, I have spent less than 600usd since I have arrived here, plus my monthly salary. I had not really purchased many of the things that I wanted to make sure I bought before leaving China, and I found all of it in Yangshou.
The biggest splurge was on a Chess set that when I saw it, I knew I needed to have it. The original price for the set was 850rmb, which was just ridiculous. Without much effort, I was able to get the price down to a mere 200 rmb and the final sales price was 180rmb. I will send a picture of it in the near future.
Yangshou serves as a good base camp location for going and checking out much of the local area. It is only 50 rmb to rent a motorbike for the afternoon, and the bike tours are very famous. There are many listings on-line for guide services, which usually include a tasty Chinese lunch. We didn't do any of these adventures as I know I will be there again sometime soon.
here's a good link to Yangshou: http://www.yangers.com/ Read more!
07 November 2005
Yangshou Part 1
I can imagine another place when I travel in China. I look at my cell phone and the date tells me we are in November, but as the sweat drips from my nose from the humid day, this is weather I have never experienced at this time of the year. This seems like the longest summer of my life and after living in the Pacific Northwest for the last several years, I was long due for weather like this.
As we set off to see some of the most glorious land that exists on this vast earth, we had no idea what we are in for. The weather service, which is always wrong in varying degrees said that there would be morning rain and showers and the outlook for the entire weekend in Guilin was not promising. Still, we decided that we needed more than anything to get out of this space, to go somewhere else and experience the subtle differences in China that each province has.
Guilin is an almost perfect weekend from where we are located. It is a mere 7 hours by train to the city and it is fairly cheap to go into the city, just 75rmb for a seat and about 130 for a hard sleeper. We lucked out in getting a hard sleeper, which I must say is not as bad as rumoured. I will take a picture of them next time I go on a sleeper trip, which will be soon. I left my camera here on accident, so the photo opps were limited (which is especially funny because this trip had the most beautiful scenery of all the places that I have been as of yet).
Sleepers are set up in two ways, 6 to a space, 3 of each side--top, middle and lower. They are spacious enough were someone of my size can sleep in them and they are amazingly comfortable for what they are and what they cost. Although they are double the price of the cheap seats, it is a better more secure way to travel for foreigners and anything over 5 hours, a sleeper should be considered.
Our train left Chenzhou at 11:15, so it was pretty much lights out as we arrived on the train. It was relaxing to get onto the train, get situated and then the lights were turned out and I found most people asleep on the train, so I drink a little water and promptly passed out to the sounds of Radiohead. (Thanks Fargo)
Sleeping on the train works quite well for some. My travelling companion, Clair, doesnt have any problems in crashing out within half an hour of the train departing. I however have already developed an annoying habit of waking up everytime the train stops--and there are a lot of stops. I hope to cure myself of this issue in the near future.
We arrived in Guilin in the early morning, just after 7 am, and the sun was just starting to show itself. As the sun began to shine through the cloudline, we were slightly disapointed in the scenery of the city from where we were. It looked like many of the other Chinese cities that we have seen so many times before this--poor shanty shacks leading into the almost overnight revitalization--highrise, modern apartment houses and condo's. It seemed almost surreal to see these striking differences once again. For some reason I had it engrained in my head that this was not going to be the same as the other cities. Perhaps the Chinese would attempt to preserve their most treasured smaller city to the architecture that was shared with the timeless hills, but as I arrived I thought my thoughts would be proven wrong.
There certainly were let downs by the design of the outskirts of the city, but the parts where they want the tourists to stay is a pleasent mix of the new and the old coming together, but almost in a showcased, tourist kind of way.
As we pulled into the station, I was excited by the prospect of being in another place, experiencing another sampling of the different culutral landscape that makes China such an overwhelming place to visit but slightly disapointed by what I had witnessed thus far.
This would be the last moment of my unfavorable attitude toward such a wonderful and beautiful city. From the moment we stepped off of the train, I was caught in a constantly good mood with the beauty of the area surrounding the city.
Guilin is a shopping city and the various tourist kiosks and bureaus around the city certainly document that. Being the tourists that we are, we were captured by the first person that could find us, an Asain women that seemed to speak fairly good english, which always catches me off guard. I know now that this should always raise a question mark, but when I am on vacation, I don't really mind spending a little extra money if it is worth it. Clair and I immediatly began our discussion on what we should do about a hotel (get one now and drop our things or head out into the city and see where we want to center ourselves or rent a bed in a hostel--so many choices! While discussing what we should do, we are greeted with a
"Hello! How are you today, are you looking for a hotel, boat trip to Yangshou?"
This was a double check mark, which made us almost immediate suckers. She led us into what appeared to be a city run tourist bureau and we were greeted by the boss immediatly upon entering. We saw a couple of other people with big backpacks on and this set my mind to ease--but I didnt want to do anything with these people--just get some information on the various places to stay and head out and find it on our own, but it didnt work out that way. I tried to get a little information and move on our way, but Clare kept talking to the guy and soon enough we had a hotel that fit right in our price range and he quoted the ballpark figure of what the boat trip that we wanted to take would cost (and it matched the guidebook, so it seemed it might be a good enough deal, but I felt that since he got us the hotel room, that was probably good enough for now --no need to book the cruise at the same time as the hotel, so we got his card and went on our way to discover Guilin. He took us to the hotel- (Which is always an indicator that you might have paid too much for the ticket. If they are going to get a commision for the sale, they must present you to the hotel and their price is based on that price.)
The thing about pricing in China is always the same-there is always a cheaper price than what you pay because of your skin color and social status. If you let this bother you, you will not have as good of a time as if you just don't worry about it. To a Chinese person, the difference between 125rmb and 200rmb is a lot of money--to a westerner, it is less than 10 bucks and to pay 20usd for a decent hotel room is a good deal regardless. The key thing is that whenever you meet a Chinese person that is in the tourist business or a Chinese person interested in the goods you purchased or how much you spend, they will always tell you you paid too much for things but the reality is that they don't do much better in most positions. There is a price that is negotiable and its fairly easy to learn this key information when coming to China. Nothing has a set price, but there is always a price that they know they can get for the room or the trinket and they are not going to let it go for any less--but they will charge you more. The key is to play along and have fun with it. Don't be afraid to ever walk away from something because if they really want to get rid of it, they will chase you down and if you really want it, you can always go back and get a better price out of them.
I tell you this now, but I admittly didnt follow these very simple directions at all. When I arrive from a long travel, I want to find a place to put my things and get on with my travelling. I don't want to try and find the perfect room, just something to drop off my stuff and when I come back I can sleep in it. If you are spending too much time in a nice hotel, stay home, save your money and buy a hot tub or something fun. Don't waste your money on an expensive hotel--its just another step away from the real Chinese experiece!!!
So, even though we paid too much for the hotel and a couple of other things--we still had an awesome day in Guilin. We were quick to discover how awesome things were inside of the city--there is easily enough to do in that town for at least a week, if not longer.
Tommorow I will talk more about the adventure--incluiding the personalized 2.5 hour boat trip though the most scenic countryside I have ever seen (and I lived in Yellowstone for two summers--this pretty much tops it), feeding free roaming monkey peanuts and my first American breakfast in over two months...
Wednesday will be the much anticipated pictures, which are nothing short of mindblowing.... Read more!
As we set off to see some of the most glorious land that exists on this vast earth, we had no idea what we are in for. The weather service, which is always wrong in varying degrees said that there would be morning rain and showers and the outlook for the entire weekend in Guilin was not promising. Still, we decided that we needed more than anything to get out of this space, to go somewhere else and experience the subtle differences in China that each province has.
Guilin is an almost perfect weekend from where we are located. It is a mere 7 hours by train to the city and it is fairly cheap to go into the city, just 75rmb for a seat and about 130 for a hard sleeper. We lucked out in getting a hard sleeper, which I must say is not as bad as rumoured. I will take a picture of them next time I go on a sleeper trip, which will be soon. I left my camera here on accident, so the photo opps were limited (which is especially funny because this trip had the most beautiful scenery of all the places that I have been as of yet).
Sleepers are set up in two ways, 6 to a space, 3 of each side--top, middle and lower. They are spacious enough were someone of my size can sleep in them and they are amazingly comfortable for what they are and what they cost. Although they are double the price of the cheap seats, it is a better more secure way to travel for foreigners and anything over 5 hours, a sleeper should be considered.
Our train left Chenzhou at 11:15, so it was pretty much lights out as we arrived on the train. It was relaxing to get onto the train, get situated and then the lights were turned out and I found most people asleep on the train, so I drink a little water and promptly passed out to the sounds of Radiohead. (Thanks Fargo)
Sleeping on the train works quite well for some. My travelling companion, Clair, doesnt have any problems in crashing out within half an hour of the train departing. I however have already developed an annoying habit of waking up everytime the train stops--and there are a lot of stops. I hope to cure myself of this issue in the near future.
We arrived in Guilin in the early morning, just after 7 am, and the sun was just starting to show itself. As the sun began to shine through the cloudline, we were slightly disapointed in the scenery of the city from where we were. It looked like many of the other Chinese cities that we have seen so many times before this--poor shanty shacks leading into the almost overnight revitalization--highrise, modern apartment houses and condo's. It seemed almost surreal to see these striking differences once again. For some reason I had it engrained in my head that this was not going to be the same as the other cities. Perhaps the Chinese would attempt to preserve their most treasured smaller city to the architecture that was shared with the timeless hills, but as I arrived I thought my thoughts would be proven wrong.
There certainly were let downs by the design of the outskirts of the city, but the parts where they want the tourists to stay is a pleasent mix of the new and the old coming together, but almost in a showcased, tourist kind of way.
As we pulled into the station, I was excited by the prospect of being in another place, experiencing another sampling of the different culutral landscape that makes China such an overwhelming place to visit but slightly disapointed by what I had witnessed thus far.
This would be the last moment of my unfavorable attitude toward such a wonderful and beautiful city. From the moment we stepped off of the train, I was caught in a constantly good mood with the beauty of the area surrounding the city.
Guilin is a shopping city and the various tourist kiosks and bureaus around the city certainly document that. Being the tourists that we are, we were captured by the first person that could find us, an Asain women that seemed to speak fairly good english, which always catches me off guard. I know now that this should always raise a question mark, but when I am on vacation, I don't really mind spending a little extra money if it is worth it. Clair and I immediatly began our discussion on what we should do about a hotel (get one now and drop our things or head out into the city and see where we want to center ourselves or rent a bed in a hostel--so many choices! While discussing what we should do, we are greeted with a
"Hello! How are you today, are you looking for a hotel, boat trip to Yangshou?"
This was a double check mark, which made us almost immediate suckers. She led us into what appeared to be a city run tourist bureau and we were greeted by the boss immediatly upon entering. We saw a couple of other people with big backpacks on and this set my mind to ease--but I didnt want to do anything with these people--just get some information on the various places to stay and head out and find it on our own, but it didnt work out that way. I tried to get a little information and move on our way, but Clare kept talking to the guy and soon enough we had a hotel that fit right in our price range and he quoted the ballpark figure of what the boat trip that we wanted to take would cost (and it matched the guidebook, so it seemed it might be a good enough deal, but I felt that since he got us the hotel room, that was probably good enough for now --no need to book the cruise at the same time as the hotel, so we got his card and went on our way to discover Guilin. He took us to the hotel- (Which is always an indicator that you might have paid too much for the ticket. If they are going to get a commision for the sale, they must present you to the hotel and their price is based on that price.)
The thing about pricing in China is always the same-there is always a cheaper price than what you pay because of your skin color and social status. If you let this bother you, you will not have as good of a time as if you just don't worry about it. To a Chinese person, the difference between 125rmb and 200rmb is a lot of money--to a westerner, it is less than 10 bucks and to pay 20usd for a decent hotel room is a good deal regardless. The key thing is that whenever you meet a Chinese person that is in the tourist business or a Chinese person interested in the goods you purchased or how much you spend, they will always tell you you paid too much for things but the reality is that they don't do much better in most positions. There is a price that is negotiable and its fairly easy to learn this key information when coming to China. Nothing has a set price, but there is always a price that they know they can get for the room or the trinket and they are not going to let it go for any less--but they will charge you more. The key is to play along and have fun with it. Don't be afraid to ever walk away from something because if they really want to get rid of it, they will chase you down and if you really want it, you can always go back and get a better price out of them.
I tell you this now, but I admittly didnt follow these very simple directions at all. When I arrive from a long travel, I want to find a place to put my things and get on with my travelling. I don't want to try and find the perfect room, just something to drop off my stuff and when I come back I can sleep in it. If you are spending too much time in a nice hotel, stay home, save your money and buy a hot tub or something fun. Don't waste your money on an expensive hotel--its just another step away from the real Chinese experiece!!!
So, even though we paid too much for the hotel and a couple of other things--we still had an awesome day in Guilin. We were quick to discover how awesome things were inside of the city--there is easily enough to do in that town for at least a week, if not longer.
Tommorow I will talk more about the adventure--incluiding the personalized 2.5 hour boat trip though the most scenic countryside I have ever seen (and I lived in Yellowstone for two summers--this pretty much tops it), feeding free roaming monkey peanuts and my first American breakfast in over two months...
Wednesday will be the much anticipated pictures, which are nothing short of mindblowing.... Read more!
06 November 2005
Guilin Recovery
I am sorry about the lack of postings over the last week. I have been very busy, giving my lecture in front of 3,000 students as well as picking up another oral english class and travelling to Guilin and Yanghshou, some of the most beautiful countryside in the world. Think the Grand Tetons times 100. It is truly an amazing place and I have much to write about, but it is 4am here in China and I have just arrived back in Chenzhou and will be teaching in the morning, so look for more postings in the next couple of days. I am hoping that the pictures turn out as good as I think they will.
Read more!
28 October 2005
Bird Flu is nothing to balk at.....
Prudent or Paranoid?
By Melinda Liu
Newsweek
Updated: 2:06 p.m. ET Oct. 26, 2005
Oct. 26, 2005 - The deadly H5N1 virus is creeping closer to China’s teeming cities—and to me in Beijing. On Wednesday, Chinese media revealed yet another outbreak of avian influenza, the third report in little more than a week. Over the summer H5N1 killed thousands of birds in four outbreaks, but they were all in the remote hinterland of western China, in the Central Asian enclave of Xinjiang or near the Tibetan plateau.
Last week, though, the virus hit closer to home. Thousands of chickens were declared dead in Inner Mongolia, less than a day’s drive from Beijing. Then came Tuesday’s report of dead geese in Anhui province, on the bustling east coast. Wednesday’s news was an H5N1 outbreak among birds in Hunan, a populous southern province.
China has yet to report any human deaths due to bird flu. But a lot of people are betting the fast-mutating H5N1 virus, which is endemic in China, will find a way to spread between humans here. I’m not taking any chances. My husband and I have purchased more than $600 worth of Tamiflu already, enough to treat the entire NEWSWEEK staff in Beijing. Tamiflu is the antiviral medication that experts tell me might lessen the severity of avian influenza in humans, if taken within 48 hours of exposure.
Some of my friends think I’m crazy to stock up on a drug that may or may not help me survive a flu pandemic that may or may not be able to spread among people here. On the other hand, I sat next to a Western television journalist at dinner recently who said he’d purchased thousands of dollars worth of Tamiflu, and was having more shipped in from abroad. Meanwhile, in Hong Kong pharmacies, Tamiflu and another antiviral drug, Relenza, are flying off the shelves.
When my husband picked up a couple more 10-pill courses of Tamiflu yesterday, the pharmacist took pains to tell him the pills should be taken only after exposure to the H5N1 virus, or when exposure is imminent. Some entirely healthy people are popping Tamiflu already, the pharmacist said.
This is not good. If a healthy person has taken Tamiflu over a period of time, and then becomes infected with influenza, there’s a better than 10 percent chance of the virus becoming resistant to the antiviral. If the person is later exposed to avian influenza, resulting in genetic mutation, the result could be an especially malevolent flu virus resistant to Tamiflu.
Instead, the treatment helped alter H5N1 genetically to create a more virulent, amantadine-resistant strain of the virus. “We’re more and more concerned that [amantadine] might not be that useful any longer,” says World Health Organization (WHO) representative Henk Bekedam in Beijing. That’s why so much hope is now pinned on Tamiflu and Relenza, even though they’re much scarcer and more expensive.
It’s not like I relish the thought of living in or near what many people think will be the Ground Zero of bird flu. I’m not sure I have much choice. If the virus begins human-to-human transmission, border crossings around the world would start slamming shut—between nations, between provinces, between cities, maybe even between neighborhoods. A few days ago a Chinese health ministry official declared his nation would seal its borders if even a single case of human-to-human H5N1 transmission is found.
That sent jitters throughout the expat community here, and on Tuesday Foreign Ministry officials tried to calm such concerns by calling the report “inaccurate.” Still, don’t bet on open skies and porous borders for long—except maybe for the migrating wildfowl who currently function as an airborne Influenza Express. If and when this thing becomes a pandemic, hopping on a plane to fly to the West may not be an option for me. What government will welcome an arriving planeload of passengers from China, the place where experts believe the H5N1 virus was born?
The whole question of shutting down borders would become irrelevant very quickly at any rate. WHO’s Dr. Julie Hall in Beijing tells me one Western government recently war-gamed what would happen if it closed its borders to slow the advance of a bird flu pandemic. “It delayed things by just three and a half days,” she says. “If there’s a large cluster [of human deaths] many countries will close their borders, but that may not do much good.” Hall gave China high marks for improving its surveillance system in the wake of the 2003 SARS disaster, when authorities tried to cover up the severity of the crisis that eventually sickened 8,000 people worldwide and left 770 of them dead. But a flu pandemic will be much worse than SARS. She warns against complacency: “We can’t just say, ‘Ah, we did OK during SARS so we’ll be all right in the face of a flu pandemic'.”
The pandemic crisis wouldn’t restrict itself to overflowing hospitals and dying medical staff. Widescale absenteeism, illness and death could disrupt everything from food supplies and transportation to garbage collection and mortuary services. SARS was a medical problem, albeit a serious one. A flu pandemic could tear the fabric of societies and economies around the world.
Take the problem of maintaining social order. Even without a pandemic on their hands, Chinese leaders are obsessed with keeping the lid on escalating mass protests. I’m sure that’s why domestic Chinese media is under orders to downplay—or outright ignore—news of the recent H5N1 outbreaks. There’s a name for this tactic, nei jing wai song, meaning the government takes the problem seriously but isn’t conveying its worries to the public. To tell it like it is “could easily lead to panic,” says Zhong Dajun of the nongovernmental Dajun Economy Research Center. “It would be terrible.”
The fact is, many Chinese are hopping mad already about what they perceive to be unsatisfactory health services. In three quarters of Chinese hospitals, angry patients or their relatives have actually beaten doctors and staff to retaliate for shoddy treatment or exorbitant fees. One disgruntled patient stabbed a well-known doctor to death at a clinic in Fuzhou—and many Netizens who commented on the murder in Internet chat rooms wound up siding with the killer. Hospitals have hired bodyguards to fend off such attacks. Even Health Minister Gao Qiang recently admitted that doctor-patient relations in China are “tense” and unlikely to get better anytime soon. So how much worse would things get when Chinese citizens discover that hospitals don’t have enough respirators to go around? Or that some authorities have been trying to cover up the severity of the crisis? Or that cadres have been hoarding Tamiflu and now stocks have run out?
As Hall puts it: “the only thing that spreads faster than viruses is panic.” To plan for both the medical and nonmedical challenges ahead, I asked my husband, a retired Australian diplomat, to help draft a bird flu contingency and business continuity plan for the NEWSWEEK bureau. He conducted research on the Web and consulted friends in the business of corporate security—who themselves were busy crafting bird flu contingency plans for their clients.
Now I have a meaty 17-page business continuity scheme for the office, and I’ve briefed my staff on the plan. It explains everything from the basics of personal hygiene to how to take Tamiflu properly; from how we might work from home to the procedures we’ll use to decide when to stop working altogether—and start focusing on sheer survival.
I’ve started stockpiling canned tuna, dried noodles and other staples. The contingency plan calls for storing a couple month’s worth of food. Two weeks ago, about the time we bought our first batch of Tamiflu, my husband and I also got inoculated for routine seasonal flu. Nobody wants to become the “mixing vessel” in which H5N1 and human flu viruses mix and match.
All of this has become the target of some good-humored ribbing from friends. This whole bird flu thing is overblown, they say. After all, H5N1 has been around in China for years—maybe much longer—and so far only birds are dying on the mainland. They point to the latest news reports speculating that Southeast Asia, which has seen the most human deaths, will wind up being the front line of any human pandemic. I hope they’re right and that I'm just being paranoid. Read more!
By Melinda Liu
Newsweek
Updated: 2:06 p.m. ET Oct. 26, 2005
Oct. 26, 2005 - The deadly H5N1 virus is creeping closer to China’s teeming cities—and to me in Beijing. On Wednesday, Chinese media revealed yet another outbreak of avian influenza, the third report in little more than a week. Over the summer H5N1 killed thousands of birds in four outbreaks, but they were all in the remote hinterland of western China, in the Central Asian enclave of Xinjiang or near the Tibetan plateau.
Last week, though, the virus hit closer to home. Thousands of chickens were declared dead in Inner Mongolia, less than a day’s drive from Beijing. Then came Tuesday’s report of dead geese in Anhui province, on the bustling east coast. Wednesday’s news was an H5N1 outbreak among birds in Hunan, a populous southern province.
China has yet to report any human deaths due to bird flu. But a lot of people are betting the fast-mutating H5N1 virus, which is endemic in China, will find a way to spread between humans here. I’m not taking any chances. My husband and I have purchased more than $600 worth of Tamiflu already, enough to treat the entire NEWSWEEK staff in Beijing. Tamiflu is the antiviral medication that experts tell me might lessen the severity of avian influenza in humans, if taken within 48 hours of exposure.
Some of my friends think I’m crazy to stock up on a drug that may or may not help me survive a flu pandemic that may or may not be able to spread among people here. On the other hand, I sat next to a Western television journalist at dinner recently who said he’d purchased thousands of dollars worth of Tamiflu, and was having more shipped in from abroad. Meanwhile, in Hong Kong pharmacies, Tamiflu and another antiviral drug, Relenza, are flying off the shelves.
When my husband picked up a couple more 10-pill courses of Tamiflu yesterday, the pharmacist took pains to tell him the pills should be taken only after exposure to the H5N1 virus, or when exposure is imminent. Some entirely healthy people are popping Tamiflu already, the pharmacist said.
This is not good. If a healthy person has taken Tamiflu over a period of time, and then becomes infected with influenza, there’s a better than 10 percent chance of the virus becoming resistant to the antiviral. If the person is later exposed to avian influenza, resulting in genetic mutation, the result could be an especially malevolent flu virus resistant to Tamiflu.
Instead, the treatment helped alter H5N1 genetically to create a more virulent, amantadine-resistant strain of the virus. “We’re more and more concerned that [amantadine] might not be that useful any longer,” says World Health Organization (WHO) representative Henk Bekedam in Beijing. That’s why so much hope is now pinned on Tamiflu and Relenza, even though they’re much scarcer and more expensive.
It’s not like I relish the thought of living in or near what many people think will be the Ground Zero of bird flu. I’m not sure I have much choice. If the virus begins human-to-human transmission, border crossings around the world would start slamming shut—between nations, between provinces, between cities, maybe even between neighborhoods. A few days ago a Chinese health ministry official declared his nation would seal its borders if even a single case of human-to-human H5N1 transmission is found.
That sent jitters throughout the expat community here, and on Tuesday Foreign Ministry officials tried to calm such concerns by calling the report “inaccurate.” Still, don’t bet on open skies and porous borders for long—except maybe for the migrating wildfowl who currently function as an airborne Influenza Express. If and when this thing becomes a pandemic, hopping on a plane to fly to the West may not be an option for me. What government will welcome an arriving planeload of passengers from China, the place where experts believe the H5N1 virus was born?
The whole question of shutting down borders would become irrelevant very quickly at any rate. WHO’s Dr. Julie Hall in Beijing tells me one Western government recently war-gamed what would happen if it closed its borders to slow the advance of a bird flu pandemic. “It delayed things by just three and a half days,” she says. “If there’s a large cluster [of human deaths] many countries will close their borders, but that may not do much good.” Hall gave China high marks for improving its surveillance system in the wake of the 2003 SARS disaster, when authorities tried to cover up the severity of the crisis that eventually sickened 8,000 people worldwide and left 770 of them dead. But a flu pandemic will be much worse than SARS. She warns against complacency: “We can’t just say, ‘Ah, we did OK during SARS so we’ll be all right in the face of a flu pandemic'.”
The pandemic crisis wouldn’t restrict itself to overflowing hospitals and dying medical staff. Widescale absenteeism, illness and death could disrupt everything from food supplies and transportation to garbage collection and mortuary services. SARS was a medical problem, albeit a serious one. A flu pandemic could tear the fabric of societies and economies around the world.
Take the problem of maintaining social order. Even without a pandemic on their hands, Chinese leaders are obsessed with keeping the lid on escalating mass protests. I’m sure that’s why domestic Chinese media is under orders to downplay—or outright ignore—news of the recent H5N1 outbreaks. There’s a name for this tactic, nei jing wai song, meaning the government takes the problem seriously but isn’t conveying its worries to the public. To tell it like it is “could easily lead to panic,” says Zhong Dajun of the nongovernmental Dajun Economy Research Center. “It would be terrible.”
The fact is, many Chinese are hopping mad already about what they perceive to be unsatisfactory health services. In three quarters of Chinese hospitals, angry patients or their relatives have actually beaten doctors and staff to retaliate for shoddy treatment or exorbitant fees. One disgruntled patient stabbed a well-known doctor to death at a clinic in Fuzhou—and many Netizens who commented on the murder in Internet chat rooms wound up siding with the killer. Hospitals have hired bodyguards to fend off such attacks. Even Health Minister Gao Qiang recently admitted that doctor-patient relations in China are “tense” and unlikely to get better anytime soon. So how much worse would things get when Chinese citizens discover that hospitals don’t have enough respirators to go around? Or that some authorities have been trying to cover up the severity of the crisis? Or that cadres have been hoarding Tamiflu and now stocks have run out?
As Hall puts it: “the only thing that spreads faster than viruses is panic.” To plan for both the medical and nonmedical challenges ahead, I asked my husband, a retired Australian diplomat, to help draft a bird flu contingency and business continuity plan for the NEWSWEEK bureau. He conducted research on the Web and consulted friends in the business of corporate security—who themselves were busy crafting bird flu contingency plans for their clients.
Now I have a meaty 17-page business continuity scheme for the office, and I’ve briefed my staff on the plan. It explains everything from the basics of personal hygiene to how to take Tamiflu properly; from how we might work from home to the procedures we’ll use to decide when to stop working altogether—and start focusing on sheer survival.
I’ve started stockpiling canned tuna, dried noodles and other staples. The contingency plan calls for storing a couple month’s worth of food. Two weeks ago, about the time we bought our first batch of Tamiflu, my husband and I also got inoculated for routine seasonal flu. Nobody wants to become the “mixing vessel” in which H5N1 and human flu viruses mix and match.
All of this has become the target of some good-humored ribbing from friends. This whole bird flu thing is overblown, they say. After all, H5N1 has been around in China for years—maybe much longer—and so far only birds are dying on the mainland. They point to the latest news reports speculating that Southeast Asia, which has seen the most human deaths, will wind up being the front line of any human pandemic. I hope they’re right and that I'm just being paranoid. Read more!
Are you Chicken?
Just in case you forgot, I am in Hunan province. And if this doesnt sound like the virus is spreading, well, I would speculate its only a matter of time. I do, however, believe that it has crossed over, but like the SARS incident, the Chinese government are not going to admit until they realize they can't stop it alone.
Time will (cough cough) tell.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-10/28/content_488413.htm
Hunan girl's death 'not linked to bird'By Wang Zhenghua and Tao Li (China Daily)Updated: 2005-10-28 05:41
Health authorities yesterday refused to link the death of a 12-year-old girl who had flu-like symptoms with the bird-flu outbreak in Central China's Hunan Province.
Initial tests turned out negative for the virus, but the result has to be confirmed, some media reports said yesterday.
A health worker vaccinates a chicken in Xiangtan, Central China's Hunan Province Thursday October 27, 2005. [Xinhua]
The report of the girl's death came the same day that three people on a French island off Africa were being tested for suspected bird flu - the first suspected human cases outside Asia.
A health official with Xiangtan County - the third place in China to report an outbreak caused by the H5N1 strain in a week - said He Yin's death on October 17 could be a "coincidence."
The girl and her 9-year-old brother He Junyao, natives of Wantang Village, fell ill after the family ate a chicken that died of an unspecified disease earlier this month.
"The province sent experts to investigate," the official told China Daily. "But the results of laboratory tests didn't show the girl died of bird-flu infection."
Without disclosing what exactly caused the girl's death, the official - who did not want to be identified - said his department dealt with the incident "according to procedures" and the situation in the county is "well under control."
No other person has been reported ill in the village.
Both the health and foreign ministries said yesterday that no human infection has been reported in China so far.
"The Chinese Government has already taken ... decisive measures to prevent bird flu and to share information with the international community," Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan told a regular news briefing yesterday.
Earlier, Premier Wen Jiabao said the government "was taking effective measures" to prevent the spread of the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus.
Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu urged local governments to take strict measures to curb the disease when he visited farms in Southwest China's Chongqing on Wednesday.
French Health Minister Xavier Bertrand said of the people being tested in the Indian Ocean island of Reunion: "The three travelled to Thailand and visited a bird zoo where they had come into contact with birds.
"Initial tests have been done there and these came out positive," he said.
In Hunan, the dead girl's father, He Tieguang, told China Daily yesterday that the family cooked the bird after two dozen chickens and ducks began dying of an unknown disease on October 6.
"In the next few days, my girl became weak and pale," said the farmer. The family took the girl to the local hospital only when she had a fever and cough.
After being shifted to several hospitals, she died in the intensive care unit of the children's hospital in Changsha, the provincial capital.
"Doctors said my girl died from lung infection, as X-rays showed her lungs were totally infected," the father said.
His son, who started showing flu-like symptoms only after the girl's death, was quarantined in the same hospital yesterday. The father said the boy was in a stable condition.
Following the outbreak, health workers sterilized the whole village and regularly tested the family's temperatures, the father said.
The poor farmer spent more than 10,000 yuan (US$1,200) on his children's treatment; and the hospital said he still owed 6,000 yuan (US$740).
A World Health Organization (WHO) official said yesterday that humans show pneumonia-like symptoms after they are infected with the bird-flu virus.
"But there's no evidence that humans can get infected through the air or eating properly cooked chicken," Alphaluck Bhatiasevi of the WHO Beijing Office said. Read more!
Time will (cough cough) tell.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-10/28/content_488413.htm
Hunan girl's death 'not linked to bird'By Wang Zhenghua and Tao Li (China Daily)Updated: 2005-10-28 05:41
Health authorities yesterday refused to link the death of a 12-year-old girl who had flu-like symptoms with the bird-flu outbreak in Central China's Hunan Province.
Initial tests turned out negative for the virus, but the result has to be confirmed, some media reports said yesterday.
A health worker vaccinates a chicken in Xiangtan, Central China's Hunan Province Thursday October 27, 2005. [Xinhua]
The report of the girl's death came the same day that three people on a French island off Africa were being tested for suspected bird flu - the first suspected human cases outside Asia.
A health official with Xiangtan County - the third place in China to report an outbreak caused by the H5N1 strain in a week - said He Yin's death on October 17 could be a "coincidence."
The girl and her 9-year-old brother He Junyao, natives of Wantang Village, fell ill after the family ate a chicken that died of an unspecified disease earlier this month.
"The province sent experts to investigate," the official told China Daily. "But the results of laboratory tests didn't show the girl died of bird-flu infection."
Without disclosing what exactly caused the girl's death, the official - who did not want to be identified - said his department dealt with the incident "according to procedures" and the situation in the county is "well under control."
No other person has been reported ill in the village.
Both the health and foreign ministries said yesterday that no human infection has been reported in China so far.
"The Chinese Government has already taken ... decisive measures to prevent bird flu and to share information with the international community," Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan told a regular news briefing yesterday.
Earlier, Premier Wen Jiabao said the government "was taking effective measures" to prevent the spread of the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus.
Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu urged local governments to take strict measures to curb the disease when he visited farms in Southwest China's Chongqing on Wednesday.
French Health Minister Xavier Bertrand said of the people being tested in the Indian Ocean island of Reunion: "The three travelled to Thailand and visited a bird zoo where they had come into contact with birds.
"Initial tests have been done there and these came out positive," he said.
In Hunan, the dead girl's father, He Tieguang, told China Daily yesterday that the family cooked the bird after two dozen chickens and ducks began dying of an unknown disease on October 6.
"In the next few days, my girl became weak and pale," said the farmer. The family took the girl to the local hospital only when she had a fever and cough.
After being shifted to several hospitals, she died in the intensive care unit of the children's hospital in Changsha, the provincial capital.
"Doctors said my girl died from lung infection, as X-rays showed her lungs were totally infected," the father said.
His son, who started showing flu-like symptoms only after the girl's death, was quarantined in the same hospital yesterday. The father said the boy was in a stable condition.
Following the outbreak, health workers sterilized the whole village and regularly tested the family's temperatures, the father said.
The poor farmer spent more than 10,000 yuan (US$1,200) on his children's treatment; and the hospital said he still owed 6,000 yuan (US$740).
A World Health Organization (WHO) official said yesterday that humans show pneumonia-like symptoms after they are infected with the bird-flu virus.
"But there's no evidence that humans can get infected through the air or eating properly cooked chicken," Alphaluck Bhatiasevi of the WHO Beijing Office said. Read more!
I have been quite busy and bored at the same time these last couple of days as winter begins to make its move on the China that I have grown to love. I will be adding more in the next couple of days..
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/traveloutdoors/2002541729_webchinablogindex11.html
The times has managed to send a reporter out here from Washington and although I am not a big fan of what she has been writing (its like suburbanites for China), she was nice enough to put my comments up on her comments page, which is here....
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/traveloutdoors/2002550703_webchinablogresponse11.html
She is discovering a lot of things that I am coming to terms with--her latest posting says the token statement here in China: "This is China." Until you have been here, you really have no idea what this really means but it serves as a good reference point when things go astry as they always seem to do here.
I will be heading to Guilin next week and she stayed there for several days--have a look at some of her pictures. I am sure my experience will be much different than hers.... time will tell. Read more!
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/traveloutdoors/2002541729_webchinablogindex11.html
The times has managed to send a reporter out here from Washington and although I am not a big fan of what she has been writing (its like suburbanites for China), she was nice enough to put my comments up on her comments page, which is here....
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/traveloutdoors/2002550703_webchinablogresponse11.html
She is discovering a lot of things that I am coming to terms with--her latest posting says the token statement here in China: "This is China." Until you have been here, you really have no idea what this really means but it serves as a good reference point when things go astry as they always seem to do here.
I will be heading to Guilin next week and she stayed there for several days--have a look at some of her pictures. I am sure my experience will be much different than hers.... time will tell. Read more!
24 October 2005
The Warming Trend
The lecture has been rescheduled for next week in order to allow for sufficent time to heal from this cold that I have aquired. It isn't too bad of a cold, but I didnt want to do a two hour lecture on American Culture outside of my normal classtime, so they decided to put it off for a week.
I am hopped up on meds and reading the DaVinci Code, but just wanted to invite you to check out the new "My Morning Jacket" album, which sounds just awesome. Check them out at www.mymorningjacket.com . If you do a web search, you will see that they just did a special on NPR's All Music Considered, which I am listening to right now and it is just awesome. I am quite impressed. If you don't know that much about them, your dumb and lame.
They are playing at the showbox in November for those of you in Seattle--make it a culture day and go check them out. They are a really interesting bunch of musicians and specialists in the art of reverb....
Things here are okay. Winter is setting in with a quickness, but the guy came in this afternoon and turned my air conditioner into a heater, so I am satisfied.
More later. Read more!
I am hopped up on meds and reading the DaVinci Code, but just wanted to invite you to check out the new "My Morning Jacket" album, which sounds just awesome. Check them out at www.mymorningjacket.com . If you do a web search, you will see that they just did a special on NPR's All Music Considered, which I am listening to right now and it is just awesome. I am quite impressed. If you don't know that much about them, your dumb and lame.
They are playing at the showbox in November for those of you in Seattle--make it a culture day and go check them out. They are a really interesting bunch of musicians and specialists in the art of reverb....
Things here are okay. Winter is setting in with a quickness, but the guy came in this afternoon and turned my air conditioner into a heater, so I am satisfied.
More later. Read more!
23 October 2005
I will more than likely not be updating this site for the next couple of days. I have been asked by the University to prepare a lecture for the student body on American Culture--a lecture that will take place on Wednesday afternoon and there will be more than 2,000 students present at the lecture.
They will pay me quite well for the lecture and I am looking forward to it, but I am putting together a powerpoint presentation for the lecture, so I'll be working on it for the next few days. If you have any suggestions of things to include, please email me at timothyhogg@gmail.com
--I also have a cold. The weather has has changed significantly. Read more!
They will pay me quite well for the lecture and I am looking forward to it, but I am putting together a powerpoint presentation for the lecture, so I'll be working on it for the next few days. If you have any suggestions of things to include, please email me at timothyhogg@gmail.com
--I also have a cold. The weather has has changed significantly. Read more!
21 October 2005
People come to China for vastly different reasons.
China is not for everyone as I have quickly discovered. About a week ago, an older, fatter man from the Massachusetts area came to work here after a rather long drawn out Visa application process and from the moment that he arrived here in Chenzhou, he has not been approaching the job or the change in lifestyle in the best way. IE--this dude is having his own episode of the reality show Extreme Cultural Change!!!
I must share a funny story with you. When I first arrived here in Chenzhou, I knew pretty much right off the bat that I needed to take some time to get used to the environment here in Chenzhou as I am not Chinese and do not speak the language. When it comes down to it, I don't even like to use the same toilet as the Chinese, so I knew that the best thing to do was to always try to go into the city with someone--not because I was concerned for my safety, but because if I needed anything--anything at all, I could rely on the safety of a friend to help me get it. Besides, doing things with other people is a lot of fun. It took me about two weeks before I finally decided that I would go into downtown by myself and check out what the city had to offer. It was great. I went to McDonald's, realized I had a meeting that night, caught the bus, got my wallet nicked and showed up late to the meeting.
So I quickly learned that having people with you costs less and is fun.
Phillip, on the other hand, did have time to be told this lesson, so he had to learn it on his own.
Twice.
First, Phillip managed to go downtown by himself in the first couple of days he got here. I am not sure why, but he wanted to. He got back on the bus, in the evening, and got off when he saw what he thought looked like a nice place to get a massage.
Now, for those of you who are not aware, massage is generally code named for erotic massage, or sex parlor. So, when someone says they are looking for a good massage parlor, you have to give them the once over look and if they mean a legitimate massage parlor, they will immediately chime in that they mean a REAL massage parlor. Usually, I am still suspect.
With Phillip, I didn't know which one he meant--as he is weird in the sense that I am pretty sure his last wife was an Asian woman that he met while in Hong Kong--yet at the same time, he has significant health issues, so I am fairly sure that he wants a good massage that also might throw in the occasional handjob. He seems like that kind of guy.
So he finds a place that seems like it will offer what he is looking for. When he makes this statement, I give him the once over look and he quickly responds back that everyone in the establishment had the white lab coats on which makes me laugh internally. Nice save, I think to myself, committing this excuse to memory.. It's legit... They have Lab Coats.
He goes in and one of the women speaks a little English. She understands what he wants and directs him to sit down in the waiting room while they prepare the room for him.
He ends up sitting next to another person who it would later turn out, is the second in command at a cigarette factory in Hunan. Second in command generally means several things. 1. He is in a high position and is more than likely a government official. 2. This place will more than likely give the occasional handjob.
He is overly friendly to Phillip and immediately Phillip is rather frightened by the mans friendly tone. Phillip is from the east coast of the United States, where no one is friendly unless they know you.
Before Phillip can get too bent out of shape, the woman comes in to fetch him and he heads upstairs to a private room and instructed to take a shower, which he does. He says it was a nice shower. When he comes out into the private room, he is only wearing a towel and he lays on the table and waits for the woman to come in.
Instead the tobacco man comes in.
In his broken Chinglish, he attempts to talk to Phillip who is now freaked out because he possessions are all away from him--he is helpless in a towel on a table and a Chinese man has just entered his private room and is talking to him. Phillip begins an immediate protest--as anyone probably would do at this point, and the man hands him his cards and leaves.
Phillip is a nervous man and this freaks him out.
Yet he still decided to have his massage.
He seems to have forgotten about the incident because when she is finished with him, he feels so good that he attempts to ask for another massage. The manager seems to understand what he is asking for and nods his head in approval. As he walks back up to the room, the manager yells at him and again, there is the cigarette man, smiling at him.
The manager seems to have changed his mind and is now telling him no and Phillip accepts this and offers to pay, but his money is declined. The cigarette man has paid for his massage.
Then, confusion begins to happen. The man, who was apparently really drunk, tries to communicate to Phillip that he would like to take him out and that he has a car waiting. Phillip does not understand this method of communication and instead instantly becomes on the defensive. The man, sensing the confusion grabs Phillip by the arm to direct him to what he means.
This is a good point to mention that Americans have personal bubbles and the Chinese do not seem to be aware of these personal bubbles. Phillip, seems to have a large personal bubble.
Phillip then immediately jumps into defensive mode and grabs the mans arm and brushes it away, but the man, eager to just get him to understand, grabs it again and begins pushing him in the direction of the car-- which is parked outside of the establishment. It would seem that at this point Phillip has images of a middle eastern kidnapping of a journalist must go down--a dark Mercedes with a door open, armed gunmen on the inside waiting to whisk him off to a room for a beheading jihad style.
Phillip seems to forget that he is just a teacher at the local University--which is more of a famed figure than that of someone who would be kidnapped.
However, fear takes hold and he sprints his 350+ frame out of the area and keeps running until he can not run any longer--which I would assume would be about three or four blocks.
He eventually discovers a bus and comes home--very frightened as he has almost been abducted and possibly beheaded, all because he just wanted a "massage".
At this point, Phillip has been here all of three days.
Two days after this experience, his goes back into the city, by himself, and comes home and as he is getting off of the bus at the University, someone picks his pocket. Phillip notices this and begins to give chase. He chases the man around the bus several times and the man has finally had enough and jumps on the back of a motorbike and heads off--Phillip does not give chase.
For obvious reasons, Phillip does not feel safe in China.
For even more obvious reasons, it is just a good idea to make friends in a foreign country and take time to go shopping with them whenever possible.
After all, this is China. Read more!
I must share a funny story with you. When I first arrived here in Chenzhou, I knew pretty much right off the bat that I needed to take some time to get used to the environment here in Chenzhou as I am not Chinese and do not speak the language. When it comes down to it, I don't even like to use the same toilet as the Chinese, so I knew that the best thing to do was to always try to go into the city with someone--not because I was concerned for my safety, but because if I needed anything--anything at all, I could rely on the safety of a friend to help me get it. Besides, doing things with other people is a lot of fun. It took me about two weeks before I finally decided that I would go into downtown by myself and check out what the city had to offer. It was great. I went to McDonald's, realized I had a meeting that night, caught the bus, got my wallet nicked and showed up late to the meeting.
So I quickly learned that having people with you costs less and is fun.
Phillip, on the other hand, did have time to be told this lesson, so he had to learn it on his own.
Twice.
First, Phillip managed to go downtown by himself in the first couple of days he got here. I am not sure why, but he wanted to. He got back on the bus, in the evening, and got off when he saw what he thought looked like a nice place to get a massage.
Now, for those of you who are not aware, massage is generally code named for erotic massage, or sex parlor. So, when someone says they are looking for a good massage parlor, you have to give them the once over look and if they mean a legitimate massage parlor, they will immediately chime in that they mean a REAL massage parlor. Usually, I am still suspect.
With Phillip, I didn't know which one he meant--as he is weird in the sense that I am pretty sure his last wife was an Asian woman that he met while in Hong Kong--yet at the same time, he has significant health issues, so I am fairly sure that he wants a good massage that also might throw in the occasional handjob. He seems like that kind of guy.
So he finds a place that seems like it will offer what he is looking for. When he makes this statement, I give him the once over look and he quickly responds back that everyone in the establishment had the white lab coats on which makes me laugh internally. Nice save, I think to myself, committing this excuse to memory.. It's legit... They have Lab Coats.
He goes in and one of the women speaks a little English. She understands what he wants and directs him to sit down in the waiting room while they prepare the room for him.
He ends up sitting next to another person who it would later turn out, is the second in command at a cigarette factory in Hunan. Second in command generally means several things. 1. He is in a high position and is more than likely a government official. 2. This place will more than likely give the occasional handjob.
He is overly friendly to Phillip and immediately Phillip is rather frightened by the mans friendly tone. Phillip is from the east coast of the United States, where no one is friendly unless they know you.
Before Phillip can get too bent out of shape, the woman comes in to fetch him and he heads upstairs to a private room and instructed to take a shower, which he does. He says it was a nice shower. When he comes out into the private room, he is only wearing a towel and he lays on the table and waits for the woman to come in.
Instead the tobacco man comes in.
In his broken Chinglish, he attempts to talk to Phillip who is now freaked out because he possessions are all away from him--he is helpless in a towel on a table and a Chinese man has just entered his private room and is talking to him. Phillip begins an immediate protest--as anyone probably would do at this point, and the man hands him his cards and leaves.
Phillip is a nervous man and this freaks him out.
Yet he still decided to have his massage.
He seems to have forgotten about the incident because when she is finished with him, he feels so good that he attempts to ask for another massage. The manager seems to understand what he is asking for and nods his head in approval. As he walks back up to the room, the manager yells at him and again, there is the cigarette man, smiling at him.
The manager seems to have changed his mind and is now telling him no and Phillip accepts this and offers to pay, but his money is declined. The cigarette man has paid for his massage.
Then, confusion begins to happen. The man, who was apparently really drunk, tries to communicate to Phillip that he would like to take him out and that he has a car waiting. Phillip does not understand this method of communication and instead instantly becomes on the defensive. The man, sensing the confusion grabs Phillip by the arm to direct him to what he means.
This is a good point to mention that Americans have personal bubbles and the Chinese do not seem to be aware of these personal bubbles. Phillip, seems to have a large personal bubble.
Phillip then immediately jumps into defensive mode and grabs the mans arm and brushes it away, but the man, eager to just get him to understand, grabs it again and begins pushing him in the direction of the car-- which is parked outside of the establishment. It would seem that at this point Phillip has images of a middle eastern kidnapping of a journalist must go down--a dark Mercedes with a door open, armed gunmen on the inside waiting to whisk him off to a room for a beheading jihad style.
Phillip seems to forget that he is just a teacher at the local University--which is more of a famed figure than that of someone who would be kidnapped.
However, fear takes hold and he sprints his 350+ frame out of the area and keeps running until he can not run any longer--which I would assume would be about three or four blocks.
He eventually discovers a bus and comes home--very frightened as he has almost been abducted and possibly beheaded, all because he just wanted a "massage".
At this point, Phillip has been here all of three days.
Two days after this experience, his goes back into the city, by himself, and comes home and as he is getting off of the bus at the University, someone picks his pocket. Phillip notices this and begins to give chase. He chases the man around the bus several times and the man has finally had enough and jumps on the back of a motorbike and heads off--Phillip does not give chase.
For obvious reasons, Phillip does not feel safe in China.
For even more obvious reasons, it is just a good idea to make friends in a foreign country and take time to go shopping with them whenever possible.
After all, this is China. Read more!
20 October 2005
So, I have had a few questions as to what exactly a chinese toilet looks like, so I thought I would show you the one in my flat. As you can see, this is a nice model--constructed of fine Chinese Porcelin, this little gem is a true squatters dream. Just aim for the bullseye and away you go!!!
I can't wait for visitors to come and see this fine piece of work and sample its wonderful uses once we go out for some of the wonderful chinese food in Hunan, such as whole duck with beer and pepper!!
No place ever provides toilet paper either, so make sure to bring your own!!!
Here is another installment of English Corner!! Its an exciting time where Chinese students get together to have a good time and speak English and sing great English songs. At this particular event, we got to sing My Heart Will Go On, by the very famous Celine Dion and some select Backstreet Boys songs. I must tell you, I was in heaven!
4 Foreigners in Changsha!!
This is a lovely park in Changsha--and it is HUGE.
Kimberely from Wazzu, Clare from England, Eddie from North Carolina and well, lil' ole me!!
A random shot of the University. This is about 10% of it. The building to the left is the building that I primarily teach in.
Read more!
I can't wait for visitors to come and see this fine piece of work and sample its wonderful uses once we go out for some of the wonderful chinese food in Hunan, such as whole duck with beer and pepper!!
No place ever provides toilet paper either, so make sure to bring your own!!!
Here is another installment of English Corner!! Its an exciting time where Chinese students get together to have a good time and speak English and sing great English songs. At this particular event, we got to sing My Heart Will Go On, by the very famous Celine Dion and some select Backstreet Boys songs. I must tell you, I was in heaven!
4 Foreigners in Changsha!!
This is a lovely park in Changsha--and it is HUGE.
Kimberely from Wazzu, Clare from England, Eddie from North Carolina and well, lil' ole me!!
A random shot of the University. This is about 10% of it. The building to the left is the building that I primarily teach in.
Read more!
18 October 2005
So. I have heard of things like this happeneing--the freak out that comes with travelling in a country where the majority of people are peasants and do not understand that an orderly progression to the train is OK. Everyone will get on the train!!! As you can see, these people were in such a hurry that they just decided to go through the windows!!! But, big surprise--the train didnt leave until EVERYONE WAS ON BOARD!!! CRAZY!!!!
Fruit Anyone?
I don't know what is worse--the way this guy is dressed and the fact that the girl with him is wearing matching green -- OR THAT THIS ASSHOLE DYIED HIS DOG PINK!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME MAN? WHERE IS PETA?Oh, right, there is no PETA in China--the country that EATS DOG. I guess this one should be happy he just looks like an Easter Egg!!!
Uh, yeah. If I am that red in the face, I have been drinking. This lovely little girls wear wearing this hot stewardess outfits from the 70's--Complete with the moon boots--which they wouldnt let me take a picture of... For some reason.
Random.
Always look for the Chinese guy in a tie with chicks with the Pat Benetar 80's hair--that means this guy likes to party-- AND NOTHING SAYS PARTY LIKE HAVING A REAL LIVE AMERICAN SITTING AT YOUR TABLE DRINKING ALL OF YOUR VODKA!!! (which, if you dont watch it, they water it down too much, but I keep my eye on 'em)
--I know Mom, its not good for the kidney stones, but a brother's gots to party!!!! Read more!
16 October 2005
On Changsha
This weekend was unlike any that I have experienced thus far in China as it was the first one that was spent mostly with westerners. I received an email sometime last week from someone I went to school with at WSU, Kimberly. She and I had a class or two together and we have been emailing the same professor, Dr. Robert Staab, one of the best professors at WSU. She sent me an email and it turned out that we also had a friend in common, Clare from England, who is teaching in her program here in Chenzhou.
Clair had phoned me a couple of days after I discovered all of this information and wanted to drop in and watch some DVD's here at my flat. When we met up, she mentioned that she was going to be off of work for the next four days and wondered if I would like to travel somewhere with her in that period of time. I agreed as my schedule was also quite open for the next couple of days. After talking about the small world phenomena that Kimberly and I went to school with each other, we decided to take off to Changsha.
We went into town that evening and bought a couple of tickets to go to the provincial capital the next afternoon. Buying train tickets is always a challenge in the smaller cities because there is not anyone at the ticket counter who speaks English, so we always try to get people to come with us to buy the tickets. This time however, we were going to attempt to do it on our own as Clare is getting very good at speaking the language and writing the characters. We did not get the chance to practice, however. Close to the train station, two of my students boarded the bus and offered to assist us in purchasing the tickets, which we were happy to have them do. The line at the station was a long one as they always are in the evenings--there are only two windows open when during the day, there are about 8. We spent the time speaking to these students who speak English pretty well and enjoy the evening. It would seemingly be the last night of the warm summer like weather that I have grown so used to while here.
After about 40 minutes of standing in line, we were on our way. We did not book return tickets, which turned out to be lucky.
The next morning, I awoke to find it raining and dark outside. I quickly made some coffee and set out to prepare for my journey. I found packing easy as it was a short trip--just a pair of shorts, some summer shirts and a change of undoes and I was on my way. The weather was still warm, so there was seemingly no need for any pants or warm clothes. Big mistake.
The weather has changed quite a lot in the last couple of days--the temperature is much colder than before and it rained through most of my trip to Changsha. I was cold most of the weekend, but it was still quite bearable. I was the only one with shorts on, however.
The trip to Changsha was long, but not unbearable. The train system in China is interesting. The trains, depending on if they originate from your destination or if they are coming from somewhere else are almost always crowded, but not as crowded as I thought when I read about them in the travel books. There are usually standing only tickets, but the ticket agents do not seem to book these for westerners. The seating in the seated cars is basically two wider seats facing each other with one small table on one side and two small seats facing two seats on the other side. Cramped, but not uncomfortable. I am a big guy and I fit quite nicely. If the train originates in your destination, which it did in my case, then the train is pretty clean. It does get beyond dirty in a short period of time. People generally create a huge mess in a short period of time. People eat their own food in mass on the train, so there are shells and garbage that quickly pile up on the floors. Smoking is not as much of an issue as I thought it would be-the majority of smoking occurs on the link between the train cars--these are considered to be the smoking lounges and I am usually seated in the middle of the train.
The train, like most other modes of distance travel, loves to play Chinese music at the beginning of the journey and the end. It is not as bad as the bus, which plays music constantly during the entire time you are on board. Thank god for my ipod.
The other thing about the train is the constant service by the attendants. Small little iron pushcarts are pushed through the aisles with people shouting what they are selling -- beer, smokes, sodas, nuts, and noodles in one cart, fruits of all kinds in another cart--and then the dinner carts. The dinner carts range from light snacks of chicken feet in hot sauce to large bowls of at one time hot food. If this is ordered, you will pay a high price for a little food which even the Chinese do not seem to appreciate that much at all.
Clare and I stuck to the things we brought. Cheese from Guinness with the best crackers I have found--shallot crackers with a hint of pepper--delicious. We also had some nice strawberry yogurt and a good batch of other little snacks, so we were able to not have to go for any of the overpriced train food.
The other interesting feature on the train is that the attendants also come through in the middle of the trip with a bull horn to sell you some socks. Yes, socks. The entire demonstration seems to be too get you to buy the socks just to stop them from yelling in the fastest Chinese to buy the socks. As they are shouting about how good these particular socks are, they actually open up a pack of them and stretch them out as far as they will go while shouting what would appear to be that these socks stretch as far as they can go and still go back into the same shape that you bought them in!
I still wasn't sold.
They then proceed to have one person stretch them slightly, while the other person bashed the sock, mid-air, with a steel pick brush. The bull horn informer continued as they committed sock abuse, but there were no tears and the sock looked good as new.
I still wasn't sold.
Then, to make it all seem like it is too good of a deal and everyone would want one, they place one set at each table and continue to speak about the greatness of the socks! As amazed as I was about the great sock hunt, I still wasn't sold.
disappointed especially at us for being Westerner's who obviously came to china because of the great deals to be had, the man with the bull horn gave us a dirty look and moved on. I continued to journal and Clare had an attempt at a nap.
Nearly five hours later, we arrived to a rainy and cold Changsha. It felt like winters in Seattle--hard, cold wind pelting rain diagonally across my face. It felt good to be out of my element, but being tossed into these elements was a bit much.
I thought briefly to myself that this is the perfect recipe for another round of illness--after all, I did have the last week off from anything major, so I am due for something like the common cold, right?
Luckily, we didn't have to wait long at all for Kimberly to finish off her daily teaching. Clair called her and we set off on the tour d' Changsha. I was surprised to actually remembering seeing Kimberly around the campus and I am still sure that she is good friends with one of my friends, but I can't seem to pin it down. It was great to see someone even vaguely familiar and throughout the weekend we would have side conversations about this in Washington that the other people didn't know about (although there were some other WorldTeach people that were from the U of Washington --who are going to lose the apple cup again this year, I promise--as well as some people from UPS, but they still didn't have the ultimate Washington college experience) so it was particularly nice to spend some time with her and the other teachers.
Upon our arrival on Friday, we went out for some food, which as always, ordering food is a constant challenge, even when you point out the food you think you have ordered, you seem to never get the same thing. We ordered dumplings that were supposed to be vegetarian and they may have been, but they tasted like pork and didnt look to be 100% vege. We also ordered some squash, which turned out to be spicy cucumbers with slightly too much vinegar or a vinegar like substance, some pork ribs which were a great surprise as they were meaty arrangements with the meat simply falling off the bone--yum. In all, way too much food, but it was really quite nice to hang out and talk about cougar football and life in Pullman. We tried to place each other in life, which was accomplished quite well--but I am still stumped as to exactly who I remember her hanging out with--this happens alot. We had class together, she went to one of the Middle Eastern Pride nights--wat up Munchiez? and she inquired about "Outdoorsmen" the great flick about drunken Olympics-- I think we might need to do a Chinese version of this while we are here. We will get a bunch of Chinese people wasted and make them do wired Olympic style things.
I think my personal favorite would be the high heeled pointy shoes 100meter hurdles!
Anyway, I digress.
Following dinner, we journeyed to one of the many coffee houses in China that have never been set up by a westerner--like most other things in China, the Chinese western coffee's is a poor replica of reality--and you pay a lot of money to get close to the real thing. I paid 60rmb for two cappucino coffees, which were nothing more than Nescafe and whipped cream. Awful--but it is more about the experience than anything else--and sitting around chatting about the world was a lot of fun as well.
Soon after, another teacher, from UNC, arrived. Eddie is a nice guy in a bad situation in another town. He was the first of many horror stories that I have heard about, but it was the first in person that I was able to listen to and ask questions about. With most of the stories that you hear from people that are bad, they are usually questionable people with questionable attititudes. Eddie, however, is the man. Although he is clearly having a strange time on his own in the depths of Hunan life, he keeps a good idea about it and keeps his chin up as he works his way through the weirdness that is Hunan.
Let me tell you this now-- I HAVE IT GOOD HERE. Sure, my kids appear a bit aloof at times and they dont have much access to good information and are simple people in general, but they aren't what's going on in the middle schools. My students have done well enough in English to actually be accepted into the English program at a University in their province, and that is saying that they care. Most of the teachers that I spoke with from World Teach have similar issues, but Eddie's kids seem to be directly from the Asian side of hell.
First problem with kids in middle school--they stay in one room for the whole year. They don't go to different rooms for different classes, the teachers come into their class and present and then leave and the next teacher comes in.
I would not do well in this environment--and I didn't when I was a kid, so I can see why he has some of the challenges he does.
Most of the kids he teaches have no ability or desire to go to college, so this is another issue. If you don't think you are ever going to really need to use English, then why pay attention to the lesson? My kids really think they are going to all be translators, so they love to work on whatever I throw at them.
oops, I have taken a little too long with this post--it is time for another round of English corner with my students--so I will post more later--because there is much, much more to tell.... Read more!
Clair had phoned me a couple of days after I discovered all of this information and wanted to drop in and watch some DVD's here at my flat. When we met up, she mentioned that she was going to be off of work for the next four days and wondered if I would like to travel somewhere with her in that period of time. I agreed as my schedule was also quite open for the next couple of days. After talking about the small world phenomena that Kimberly and I went to school with each other, we decided to take off to Changsha.
We went into town that evening and bought a couple of tickets to go to the provincial capital the next afternoon. Buying train tickets is always a challenge in the smaller cities because there is not anyone at the ticket counter who speaks English, so we always try to get people to come with us to buy the tickets. This time however, we were going to attempt to do it on our own as Clare is getting very good at speaking the language and writing the characters. We did not get the chance to practice, however. Close to the train station, two of my students boarded the bus and offered to assist us in purchasing the tickets, which we were happy to have them do. The line at the station was a long one as they always are in the evenings--there are only two windows open when during the day, there are about 8. We spent the time speaking to these students who speak English pretty well and enjoy the evening. It would seemingly be the last night of the warm summer like weather that I have grown so used to while here.
After about 40 minutes of standing in line, we were on our way. We did not book return tickets, which turned out to be lucky.
The next morning, I awoke to find it raining and dark outside. I quickly made some coffee and set out to prepare for my journey. I found packing easy as it was a short trip--just a pair of shorts, some summer shirts and a change of undoes and I was on my way. The weather was still warm, so there was seemingly no need for any pants or warm clothes. Big mistake.
The weather has changed quite a lot in the last couple of days--the temperature is much colder than before and it rained through most of my trip to Changsha. I was cold most of the weekend, but it was still quite bearable. I was the only one with shorts on, however.
The trip to Changsha was long, but not unbearable. The train system in China is interesting. The trains, depending on if they originate from your destination or if they are coming from somewhere else are almost always crowded, but not as crowded as I thought when I read about them in the travel books. There are usually standing only tickets, but the ticket agents do not seem to book these for westerners. The seating in the seated cars is basically two wider seats facing each other with one small table on one side and two small seats facing two seats on the other side. Cramped, but not uncomfortable. I am a big guy and I fit quite nicely. If the train originates in your destination, which it did in my case, then the train is pretty clean. It does get beyond dirty in a short period of time. People generally create a huge mess in a short period of time. People eat their own food in mass on the train, so there are shells and garbage that quickly pile up on the floors. Smoking is not as much of an issue as I thought it would be-the majority of smoking occurs on the link between the train cars--these are considered to be the smoking lounges and I am usually seated in the middle of the train.
The train, like most other modes of distance travel, loves to play Chinese music at the beginning of the journey and the end. It is not as bad as the bus, which plays music constantly during the entire time you are on board. Thank god for my ipod.
The other thing about the train is the constant service by the attendants. Small little iron pushcarts are pushed through the aisles with people shouting what they are selling -- beer, smokes, sodas, nuts, and noodles in one cart, fruits of all kinds in another cart--and then the dinner carts. The dinner carts range from light snacks of chicken feet in hot sauce to large bowls of at one time hot food. If this is ordered, you will pay a high price for a little food which even the Chinese do not seem to appreciate that much at all.
Clare and I stuck to the things we brought. Cheese from Guinness with the best crackers I have found--shallot crackers with a hint of pepper--delicious. We also had some nice strawberry yogurt and a good batch of other little snacks, so we were able to not have to go for any of the overpriced train food.
The other interesting feature on the train is that the attendants also come through in the middle of the trip with a bull horn to sell you some socks. Yes, socks. The entire demonstration seems to be too get you to buy the socks just to stop them from yelling in the fastest Chinese to buy the socks. As they are shouting about how good these particular socks are, they actually open up a pack of them and stretch them out as far as they will go while shouting what would appear to be that these socks stretch as far as they can go and still go back into the same shape that you bought them in!
I still wasn't sold.
They then proceed to have one person stretch them slightly, while the other person bashed the sock, mid-air, with a steel pick brush. The bull horn informer continued as they committed sock abuse, but there were no tears and the sock looked good as new.
I still wasn't sold.
Then, to make it all seem like it is too good of a deal and everyone would want one, they place one set at each table and continue to speak about the greatness of the socks! As amazed as I was about the great sock hunt, I still wasn't sold.
disappointed especially at us for being Westerner's who obviously came to china because of the great deals to be had, the man with the bull horn gave us a dirty look and moved on. I continued to journal and Clare had an attempt at a nap.
Nearly five hours later, we arrived to a rainy and cold Changsha. It felt like winters in Seattle--hard, cold wind pelting rain diagonally across my face. It felt good to be out of my element, but being tossed into these elements was a bit much.
I thought briefly to myself that this is the perfect recipe for another round of illness--after all, I did have the last week off from anything major, so I am due for something like the common cold, right?
Luckily, we didn't have to wait long at all for Kimberly to finish off her daily teaching. Clair called her and we set off on the tour d' Changsha. I was surprised to actually remembering seeing Kimberly around the campus and I am still sure that she is good friends with one of my friends, but I can't seem to pin it down. It was great to see someone even vaguely familiar and throughout the weekend we would have side conversations about this in Washington that the other people didn't know about (although there were some other WorldTeach people that were from the U of Washington --who are going to lose the apple cup again this year, I promise--as well as some people from UPS, but they still didn't have the ultimate Washington college experience) so it was particularly nice to spend some time with her and the other teachers.
Upon our arrival on Friday, we went out for some food, which as always, ordering food is a constant challenge, even when you point out the food you think you have ordered, you seem to never get the same thing. We ordered dumplings that were supposed to be vegetarian and they may have been, but they tasted like pork and didnt look to be 100% vege. We also ordered some squash, which turned out to be spicy cucumbers with slightly too much vinegar or a vinegar like substance, some pork ribs which were a great surprise as they were meaty arrangements with the meat simply falling off the bone--yum. In all, way too much food, but it was really quite nice to hang out and talk about cougar football and life in Pullman. We tried to place each other in life, which was accomplished quite well--but I am still stumped as to exactly who I remember her hanging out with--this happens alot. We had class together, she went to one of the Middle Eastern Pride nights--wat up Munchiez? and she inquired about "Outdoorsmen" the great flick about drunken Olympics-- I think we might need to do a Chinese version of this while we are here. We will get a bunch of Chinese people wasted and make them do wired Olympic style things.
I think my personal favorite would be the high heeled pointy shoes 100meter hurdles!
Anyway, I digress.
Following dinner, we journeyed to one of the many coffee houses in China that have never been set up by a westerner--like most other things in China, the Chinese western coffee's is a poor replica of reality--and you pay a lot of money to get close to the real thing. I paid 60rmb for two cappucino coffees, which were nothing more than Nescafe and whipped cream. Awful--but it is more about the experience than anything else--and sitting around chatting about the world was a lot of fun as well.
Soon after, another teacher, from UNC, arrived. Eddie is a nice guy in a bad situation in another town. He was the first of many horror stories that I have heard about, but it was the first in person that I was able to listen to and ask questions about. With most of the stories that you hear from people that are bad, they are usually questionable people with questionable attititudes. Eddie, however, is the man. Although he is clearly having a strange time on his own in the depths of Hunan life, he keeps a good idea about it and keeps his chin up as he works his way through the weirdness that is Hunan.
Let me tell you this now-- I HAVE IT GOOD HERE. Sure, my kids appear a bit aloof at times and they dont have much access to good information and are simple people in general, but they aren't what's going on in the middle schools. My students have done well enough in English to actually be accepted into the English program at a University in their province, and that is saying that they care. Most of the teachers that I spoke with from World Teach have similar issues, but Eddie's kids seem to be directly from the Asian side of hell.
First problem with kids in middle school--they stay in one room for the whole year. They don't go to different rooms for different classes, the teachers come into their class and present and then leave and the next teacher comes in.
I would not do well in this environment--and I didn't when I was a kid, so I can see why he has some of the challenges he does.
Most of the kids he teaches have no ability or desire to go to college, so this is another issue. If you don't think you are ever going to really need to use English, then why pay attention to the lesson? My kids really think they are going to all be translators, so they love to work on whatever I throw at them.
oops, I have taken a little too long with this post--it is time for another round of English corner with my students--so I will post more later--because there is much, much more to tell.... Read more!
14 October 2005
Good morning...
I am in Changsha, having a great time-- this is a much more fun town that I thought it would be--something about the provencial capital of Hunan didnt sound like it would be the most fun place. I am staying at a fellow Cougars nice pad--she is teaching at a middle school here in Changsha, which is pretty cool. I am quickly learning that I have it pretty good where I am and that I am teaching at the University level--things at the lower levels really range with the students you are teaching. At least where I am the students are working to earn their degrees-- where the majority of students at the lower levels probably won't even go to college, so their concept of learning English is not really there.
Anyway, there are many plans for today--the biggest and most exciting thus far is going to the Brazillian Steakhouse where it is 80rmb for dinner and beer--all you can consume. So it might be the night that I pass the kidney stone!!! Wooo-hooo.
(Dont worry mom, I am taking it ez.)
Anyway, go cougs-- we are both here rooting them on during my first homecoming as an Alum.
I already have some awesome pictures to display-- so look out for those!! Read more!
I am in Changsha, having a great time-- this is a much more fun town that I thought it would be--something about the provencial capital of Hunan didnt sound like it would be the most fun place. I am staying at a fellow Cougars nice pad--she is teaching at a middle school here in Changsha, which is pretty cool. I am quickly learning that I have it pretty good where I am and that I am teaching at the University level--things at the lower levels really range with the students you are teaching. At least where I am the students are working to earn their degrees-- where the majority of students at the lower levels probably won't even go to college, so their concept of learning English is not really there.
Anyway, there are many plans for today--the biggest and most exciting thus far is going to the Brazillian Steakhouse where it is 80rmb for dinner and beer--all you can consume. So it might be the night that I pass the kidney stone!!! Wooo-hooo.
(Dont worry mom, I am taking it ez.)
Anyway, go cougs-- we are both here rooting them on during my first homecoming as an Alum.
I already have some awesome pictures to display-- so look out for those!! Read more!
13 October 2005
Off to Changsha!!!
I will not be posting to the blog for the next three or so days as I am headed off to the provencial captial to spend some time with some Americans (one of them is a Cougar--!!! Thanks Dr. Staab!!!) something that I am sure will be pretty legit as I have not even seen an American in almost two months!!!
I have a lot to talk about-- I am in the process of getting an entire new bridge in my mouth, thanks to the Chinese!!! The total cost of the bridge will be about $150.00 for a three tooth bridge, which I am promised will not resemble Austin Powers, so it should turn out just fine.
Go Cougs--!!! Hopefully they will win this weekend as two Chinese teachers will be together on homecoming weekend cheering on the Cougs!!!
Hope your all well. Read more!
I have a lot to talk about-- I am in the process of getting an entire new bridge in my mouth, thanks to the Chinese!!! The total cost of the bridge will be about $150.00 for a three tooth bridge, which I am promised will not resemble Austin Powers, so it should turn out just fine.
Go Cougs--!!! Hopefully they will win this weekend as two Chinese teachers will be together on homecoming weekend cheering on the Cougs!!!
Hope your all well. Read more!
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