so i spent the summer of 2001 in china on the MIT-CETI program, traveling and teaching and having a ridiculously good time. i chronicled the trip in these long-ass emails to people who were wasting their summers away behind desks or mired in sunless cubicles. but here they are, for everyone's amusement:



[part i]: (part ii) (part iii)

we're stuck for a few hours in this craptacular city, taiyuan, enroute to xi'an, supposedly a really awesome place (primarily for this site where there are thousands of life-sized terracotta warriors, each with a different facial expression, carrying real weapons & the like). we just came from a beautiful beautiful place in shanxi province, called wutaishan ("5-terrace mountain" or something of that sort). took an 8 hr overnite train ride & a 5 hour minibus ride (through all sorts of bizarrely gorgeous & barren cliffs & ravines, as well as shitcan towns the size of my dorm room) to get to this place. it's basically an alpine range surrounding a little town, taihuai. wutaishan is a buddhist mountain with temples on nearly every peak, as well as in the town proper. every temple we went to was pretty damn cool. the first required a climb up 1080 (yes, 1080!) steps to reach an incredible view of the valley & surrounding peaks. the second was cool mostly because of the lack of tourists (there were actually generally few tourists in the area since tourist season is about a couple weeks hence, but it made the vendors & hotel/taxi/bus/food people all the more rabid). but it was also neat since we got to chill with a monk there that spoke english really very well. he hails from inner mongolia (went to university at hohhot -- yes, pronounced, "ho-hot" -- where he learned both english & german). told us they wake up at 3am every morning & go through a really rigorous day of prayer & chanting, meditation, scripture study, & general monk-stuff. we visited the 3rd temple today (altogether, there are probably at least fifty or so in the area) at the top of nantai, one of the highest peaks in the area. i woke up dacheng & matt at 5am & we cheated and took a taxi up (look, it would have taken at least 3 hours to walk one way from town & we had to leave town before noon), winding up quite the treacherous dirt road (dacheng clinging to the door all the while) & passing many a grazing cow. even got to see some frolicking calves. happiness. the temple actually sits _above_ the clouds, while the sheer drop down is at least 3km (though it seemed to go forever into nothingness). amazing, it was. definitely an "ohmygod" and "holy shit" kind of view.

before all this (& after shanghai), we stayed a few days in beijing. mostly uneventful & not all that impressive, save for the great wall. or at least the part we saw. hauled out 75 or so km from the city to climb the wall from this tiny village, huanghua. there were maybe a handful of tourists there (& curiously, they were all from the uk or australia), thankfully. here, the wall just goes straight up & over the steep (nay, mountainous) hills. for our hour-long (& rather exhausting, i might add) climb up, we were rewarded with a breathtaking view. oh, and with firecrackers too. as with all the rest of china, we've discovered, nothing deters a vendor from selling his wares -- not a 1km climb, not 1080 steps, not even his heavyass bag of shit trinkets & tchotchkes. lucky us. to celebrate the ascent, matt & dacheng bought some nice loud thingies. yes, tons o' fun. getting back to beijing was fairly interesting too, but as this is getting longwinded, i'll try to condense it somewhat: (1)excellent, deserted restaurant in huairou with sleeping chef, but good eggplant; (2) cute puppy bites winnie -- bad puppy; (3) bus breaks down 15 minutes into 2 hour ride; wait on side of the road; taxi approaches, offers ride for 60 rmb, we say 40. shakes head & drives off, only to return 15 seconds later, backing up the highway to where we're standing, saying get in; (4) all rejoice & enjoy insane (and relatively quick) ride back to civilization, via shoulder & opposing lane (around 2 traffic jams), over hill & dale.

it's been an eventful week.

stay tuned for more yellow madness... same bat time, same bat place.

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(part i) [part ii]: (part iii)

in our last episode, dacheng, matt, & winnie were wending their way west through china, fighting off crazed tourists & barely avoiding wayward shitmobiles.

so we left xi'an for chengdu via aeroplane on the 9th. (it feels like eons ago, really.) & contrary to our previous apprehensions about safety regs & such over here, china northwest turned out to be the most comfortable way to travel (& sure beats a 17-hour train ride) as yet.

some teachers from the chengdu school we're teaching at came & picked us up from the airport & drove us to our apartment (!), just adjacent to the school. dude, this is a _phat_ pad. we've got 2 bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, & dining room of sorts & bonus -- a washing machine. livin' large, we are. we didn't have much time to sit back & chill in our new digs, as we had to catch a very early morning bus the next day.

we took a bus up sichuan province to jiuzhaigou, a valley situated amidst huge peaks that's been declared a world heritage site. sounds alot like that other place i was writing about, huh? well it was & it wasn't. for one thing, we came just in time for the peak tourist season here apparently, cos there were just hordes of asians & cameras everywhere. and the occasional bewildered-looking white person, of course. funnily enough, all 4 of these americans & brits that we saw there thought mistakenly (as we did) that this spot was some sort of backpacking mecca. so granted, the scenery is quite breathtaking. definitely the first time we'd seen clear bodies of water in china. but the colors -- the 108 lakes in this place are all the most vivid blues, greens & turqoises. & of course, china's managed to capitalize on this, & has constructed some sort of ludicrous theme park setup.

the drive up had been pretty uneventful (& looooong -- 11 hours!). looking out the windows of the bus, there were only wee villages & hamlets tucked away in the river valley. we thought we were way out in the middle of nowhere. but then, all of a sudden, there's this palatial building right of the road ("is that the bus station?!"). it was the first of many many many MANY hotels sitting outside the nature reserve. & not the usual chinese 2 star dirty-ass roachmotel, but hella nice, hella expensive western establishments. it looked like fuckin las vegas or something. we somehow managed to find the cheapest hotel in the area & paid 150 yuan for the room (a triple, about $6). oh, for comparison, we took a look at the establishment next door -- the jiuzhaigou international hotel. we should've taken a hint from the massive chandeliers hanging from the gilded vaulted ceiling. they were charging 1000 yuan for a double. BUT, they offered us a 200 yuan student discount. & then wanted to charge us 200 for a third bed. we left. had a nice laugh too.

right. so jiuzhaigou is definitely one of the most beautiful places i've ever seen, but alot of the experience left a bad taste in my mouth. sadly, we had to abandon plans to head further north to a tiny village in the plains of gansu, inhabited mostly by tibetans & minority peoples. so, back down the tiny winding road through the mountains. now for a brief aside about these bus rides:

as far as we can tell, there aren't any real laws as to driving in china, much less enforcement of said nonexistent laws. basically, it's every man for himself as long as he gets to go first. and don't hit anyone (though this one is optional). our busdriver comes careening down the mountains, passing everyone in front of him, narrowly missing the rocks jutting out from the cliff to one side of us, and barely clinging to road as we swing around precipices -- all the while, honking his preposterously loudass horn (the kind they put in 18-wheelers in the states). it's hard to sleep on the bus.

we stopped in a little town in east bumblefuck for lunch. (the town is basically one restaurant with 4 vendors in front, hawking their crappily manufactured wares (the usual beads & trinkets). i'd been really impressed up until then with the quality of the facilities in the mountains. they're all pay bathrooms, but they're well-maintained & arguably much better than their urban counterparts. however, at this establishment, i was directed out back, & i wandered into a tiled structure where a woman was collecting her toilet toll. thought nothing of it until i walked into the bathroom. low partitions, no doors, the usual 5 foot holes in the ground. not the greatest, but i've learned to deal. the best part though, was the pen filled with PIGS. yes, SWINE. in the WOMENS BATHROOM. 3 big fatties mucking around in their own filth (clearly they aren't given as much attention since they don't pay for their facilities) and oinking rather loudly. would've taken a picture, but thought the other patrons might object.

that was pretty much the highlight of the trip for me.

anyway, we started teaching at the shi shi middle/high school on monday & it's actually going really well. better than the shanghai girls' school, even. the element of testosterone does wonders for the classroom dynamic, it must be said. we teach every day (sat & sun incl) for 2 weeks.

chengdu itself is a pretty kickass city; i like it more than xi'an & much much more than beijing. the food comes in two categories in sichuan: spicy & numbing. & it's MAD GOOD. dacheng's managed to find another source for dvds, in case any of you wanted to hit him up for more.

went to the giant panda reserve just north of the city upon returning from jiuzhaigou. we arrived pretty late in the morning, at the tail end of their feeding & saw one little one wedged up in a tree, napping. he looked like he was contemplating something though. very cute. & saw a big ol' mama one chompin away on bamboo & later sprawled out on a bench trying to fend off the heat. but best of all, one of the keepers let matt & me(for a nominal fee, of course) play with & feed appl

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(part i) (part ii) [part iii]:

so we find ourselves stuck once again in one of those grimy little industrial towns enroute to our intended destination -- good only for (you guessed it) internet cafes. & seeing as how i've got about 7 hours to kill, you should probably grab an asspillow or something. this'll be the longest yet. right. so here's the usual mishmash of anecdotes & asides:

chinese television programming sucks. no, i mean, it really really SUCKS. we just finished teaching in chengdu for 14 days straight (no weekends; they're hardcore, these chinese) & got ourselves into a comfortable routine teaching 4 hours in the morning, eating a few bowls of dumplings & noodles at the little luncheonette next door & coming back for naps, email, & (we cross our fingers) cartoons. apparently, there's no real consistent scheduling here, so sometimes we luck out & get tom & jerry or the smurfs & sometimes we just get hours of looping commercials (which wouldn't be so bad if (1) they actually put money into advertising; (2) the number of different commercials numbered > 4; and (3) they weren't all of a gynecological or gastro-intestinal nature).

in any case, we get (un?)justifiably excited when this late 30's-ish, early 40's-ish geeky man pops up on tv in his staid little plaid button-downs. he's the host of the cartoon program (talks at great length about god only knows what). & in the little jingle thingie at the beginning, they air clips of all those great old cartoons (woody woodpecker, popeye & the like) & the last clip is scooby doo & the geeky dude pops his head out & says "scooby doo, where are you?" in mandarin, complete with bad accent and much enthusiasm (see subject heading). okay, so maybe we've been here too long, but matt & i find this just unbelievably hilarious. & while the clips in the intro might lead one to think one is getting a whole slew of classic cartooning, in actuality one only gets the 2 aforementioned (which also wouldn't be so terrible, were the smurfs as good as i recall. but perhaps what we're _actually_ watching is some poor chinese knockoff. snurfs?).

the people we meet in china are by far the most interesting aspect of traveling. oh, and i'm speaking particularly of white people. i failed to mention in the last update, but on the way to the terracotta warriors thingie in xi'an, we struck up a conversation with tad, a very bleeding-heart-liberal-schoolteacher-backpacker kinda guy. a nice man; probably around 30, from oregon. he founded this nonprofit, peaceBIKE or something, & he & a handful of others are biking around the world, promoting peace & joy & happiness & all sorts of other warm fuzzy feelings to kiddies everywhere. no joke. he started in portland & biked (for about a year) down to argentina (yeah, SOUTH AMERICA argentina) & then flew to australia & new zealand & biked some more & then flew (yes, those oceans can present a challenge to a man on a bike with a mission like tad's) to japan & china & yes, biked some more. he's planning on going through kathmandu & india & somehow avoid afghanistan as he makes his way west. definitely hardcore, in his pearl izumis & offering us bananas from his fanny pack. i, for one, was inspired. essentially, he wants to be one of those guys that travels to different elementary schools across the country to show slides and offer uplifting messages to all assembled. he's even got a webpage. & he even lived "in poverty" (his words, verbatim) to fund this trip. all sarcasm aside though, it sounds pretty fuckin cool.

we're just returning now from a jaunt to lijiang, a city surrounded by mountains in northern yunnan province. the mountains themselves, while spectacular, are also more or less the same as much of what we've seen before. & the ride down & back weren't so great, since i got motion sickness for the first time this trip. the 13 hr sleeper train was comfortable. however, though the busride was very much like the 12 hr ride to jiuzhaigou, up & down & back & forth on bumpy, winding, narrow mountain passes, my nausea was unmitigated by (1) the 9 hr duration of the ride; (2) half the bus (driver included, no less) chain-smoking (chinese-manufactured cancer sticks are undoubtedly 43 bazillion -- yes, that's alot -- times more carcinogenic than anything philip-morris could ever churn out); & (3) the woman directly behind me, clearly even more carsick than i, yarfing every 10 minutes for the first 4 hours out the window. eccchhh.

the biggest worry traveling through there though, are the earthquakes & the landslides. of the former, they had a 7.6 on the richter scale in '97. & we just managed to avoid some of the latter by a few minutes. (others who were not so lucky were detained an extra 9 hours enroute. yikes.)

fortunately, on the way down, we had the good fortune of meeting 2 canadian students (mcgill, of course). adrienne (her parents are from HK & macau) was nice enough to give me some anti-nausea meds. she (bio) & simon (poli-sci), both juniors, were studying mandarin for the summer at a uni in tianjin & had decided to traipse around china together. dacheng & i (matt, at this point, had gone off to tibet w/ some other people, lucky dog) ended up getting rooms at a hostel & exploring the sights in lijiang w/ them. their travel itinerary had been really similar to ours up to this point (thanks to lonely planet), except they'd managed to get out to xiahe & inner mongolia.

lijiang's main draw (besides its proximity to a great deal of natural beauty) is the naxi people, a minority group with a fascinating culture. they like to wear blue. & apparently, they really like dogs too (as pets, not as dinner). actually, we all went to hear the naxi orchestra play some traditional music (that's supposedly very much like traditional han music, in case anyone cared). the music & many of the instruments date way way back to the song & tang dynasties (& we think some of the musicians do too; some of those old guys can barely hold onto their instruments & the group averages 2 deaths per year).

the following day, we woke up at the buttcrack of dawn & taxied 2 hours out of lijiang to tiger leaping gorge (where i was told the last scene in "crouching tiger" was filmed). we beat all the other tourists out there & ambled down a newly paved walkway blasted into the cliffs (more of that chinese tourist industry charm) & running alongside a river (which was itself a lovely opaque poo-brown color. dacheng insists it's more of a chocolate milk hue, like out of willy wonka or something). needless to say, when we reached the end of the walkway, we were really pleased to run across an unmarked trail up some crumbling stone steps. the hike up was challenging enough to be pretty interesting (with the added excitement of possible run-ins with poisonous snakes). & when the trail ended, we found ourselves scrambling up over boulders & through the waterfalls. definitely one of the neater moments of the trip; having eluded all the tourists, it was one of those experiences we'd been looking for all along. & it was cool sharing it w/ simon & adrienne, besides.

simon is a funny kid. he takes license as a white guy in china to go into the nicest hotels in whatever city he's in, pretends to be a guest & takes a dump in their posh facilities. at the hyatt in beijing (his favorite), he'd come in every morning, have a cup of coffee, grab the china daily post & head straight for the john. (he's only been caught once & even then, after some evasive maneuvers, he got away with it.) clever, eh? (oh, & they really _do_ say "eh?" alot. & even humored me with an "aboot" & "soory".)

teaching in chengdu was really rewarding. we taught them how to play mafia & they finally understood how to play it properly after about 7 or 8 games ("mafia, DO NOT SAY ALOUD who you wish to kill." "mafia, DO NOT TAP the person you wish to kill." "dead people don't talk & they certainly don't tell everyone who the mafia are, goddammit.").

living in chengdu has been a highlight of the experience as well. sichuanese food is probably my favorite (maybe along with cuisine from the southern provinces). it comes in 2 types: searing & numbing. they douse everything in chili oil, chili powder, and/or chili flakes. & of course you can have the peppers themselves straight up. i've definitely acquired a taste for spicy food, not to mention a tolerance for it as such.

it's a really laidback place, chengdu. well, except for the spiders. last week, dacheng reported seeing a hugeass spider that scuttled away before he could do anything about it (right). & then later, i saw the thing sitting on the ground when everyone else was out. fucking ginormous -- straight out of "arachnophobia" or something. legs included, it was the size of an orange. i was too freaked out, so i tried to watch it until everyone else got back, but it ran into dresser & hid. once they all returned, we searched the thing through. no spider. worried this species was of the man-eating variety, we then fashioned a Long Pokey Stick thingie from a wire hanger & searched the entire bedroom, emptying it of its contents & using aforementioned LPS to prod suspect articles of clothing & sheets. took upwards of an hour, all told. still no spider. frank was convinced the fucker was still in the dresser somewhere and lo & behold, found it hiding on the underside of one of the shelves. then followed the extermination process. (at this point, we'd found out from the gatekeeper that the thing wasn't poisonous, but it was scary-looking, nevertheless.) the frying pan was unsuccessful, but we were finally able to kill it good & dead with a mop (after maybe 5 attempts). & we managed to get some shots of it on frank's digital camera (http://photos.yahoo.com/frankj1978 in the chengdu/spider directory).

for the last leg of the trip, dacheng & i are going to ferry down the yangtze to see the 3 gorges.

i can't believe we're going home in 11 days. ack. i'm definitely ready to leave, though. it's mostly the little things. i mean, besides all you guys, i really miss stuff like -- well, cheese (as amazing as the food is in this country). i miss sandwiches at darwin's and il panino express. i'd kill for some fresh mozzarella & tomato with basil & pesto on a nice rosemary & olive oil foccacia. or a snickers bar. i could really REALLY go for a snickers. i miss white people. and my bed -- i definitely miss my bed. i miss my computer and my music. i miss not having to navigate around pools of spittle and phlegm as i walk along on the street. i miss forks (& i don't seem to have improved much with the chopsticks). but most of all, i miss huggably, squeezably soft, 3-ply quilted scented toilet paper. (& plus, it'll be nice not having to carry TP on my person at all times anymore.)

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