** meanwhile **

A huge amount has happened in the last couple weeks, and I’ve racked up a bunch of photos, so I’m stopping the China journal temporarily to jot down a cool bit about an adventure I had on Monday. I don’t know what my problem has been recently, maybe it’s the frustrations with trying to get this #*(@$& durn acoustic regenerater simulation working, or the fact that things aren’t really going right on a lot of fronts, but every time I think about updating my blog, I’d really rather do something else than stare at the computer. But, I had such a cool adventure on Monday, I thought I’d bite the bullet and update. And, I really appreciate the people who have read the blog and found some sort of interest in the stories & pics.

For the past 2 months, I’ve been hanging out a lot with this guy Brett:

[After filming me underwater]

 

He’s an Architecture student, (senior year) at Auburn University, and came as an Assembly of God missionary for the summer break. I was afraid at first that I wouldn’t be able to get along with another US citizen. [Why am I so uncomfortable around people from my own country? Not you guys of course] But, turns out this guy could get along with a 2×4. Furthermore, he is almost exactly like me in that he likes adventures and exploring. We would randomly go on 2-3 hour night bike rides in Sendai trying to find places we hadn’t gone before.

He left yesterday. So, the day before that, we decided to go to a little, scarcely visited Island up north called “Kinkasan.” We had no idea what was in store, he just heard a couple things about the island: tons of tame deer, almost no tourists, infested with leeches, and most importantly, monkeys. Ever since we went to Kawasaki, and Brett exclaimed in a loud and confused voice “Did I just see a Gorilla crossing sign?!???” we knew we had to see some before he left. So… off to Kinkasan.

That morning, he asked Masako Sensei for some salt. “You having… BBQ?” “Uh, no, it’s for leeches, actually.” “Oh, ok… here, salt.” Not like she knew what a leech is, but whatever. Saintly lady, her.

First off, to get to Kinkasan you need to follow the Senseki line north from Sendai all the way till the end of the line. This is a long ways. Like, maybe 45 minutes past Matsushima, and it didn’t help that we caught the local train which makes every single stop on the way.

[From the train to Ishinomaki]

Once we got to Ishi-no-maki, however, we knew the appropriate Kanji for the place that we wanted to go, but not the pronunciation. I saw a stop for “Onogawa” and saw that the last kanji, “kawa” was corret. The first kanji was the word for fish, and it is sometimes pronounced “uo.” Uo/ono, close enough, right? So, I asked a lady what time and stop for the bus leaving for Onogawa. Get this – she accidentally told us the stop and time to the right location, “Ayukawa” (??? – “Ayu”??? How many pronunciations do each Kanji have?!?) . I went off to try to find an ATM, having no money. When I came back, (unsuccessful), I found the lady trying to tell Brett, (who knows zero Japanese) that she made a mistake, that the bus to “Onogawa” leaves an hour later. So we thought we had to wait for an hour, but the bus pulled up, and there was a big arrow on the side pointing to the name of the city in Kanji that we wanted to go. Score!

The bus ride was about an hour and a half long. It was a good sign of things to come, getting progressively farther away from all things train and touristy, and getting closer to un-visited fishing village type places. (Ayukawa is actually a whaling town). When we got there it was blazing hot, and I had no money. I found out where the nearest post office was, and we made a short trip to the post office, where I got an ATM and some money. On the way back, we ran into some freaky looking mannequins. We had some Ramen and icecream for lunch, then headed on a ferry out to Kinkasan.

[Freaky mannequin]

[Brett filming an Eel infront of a restaurant. His camera is waterproof.]

The boat ride was great. They have no rules here… we got to go up on the balcony on top, even though part of it had no fence. There’s no way we could do that in the states, but here they just expect you to use your head. The boat went fast which meant it was incredibly windy. On that very hot day, it felt great. Furthermore, as we neared the island we scared two flying fish out of the water. I couldn’t believe I just saw flying fish. They are so weird… their fins are gigantic, and they are really blue. I’m surprised the Japanese don’t eat them, cause I haven’t seen any in the markets. Seem they’d like something with that sort of novelty. The thing I have learned is, never question the Japanese taste in food. It is beyond western understanding.

[Top deck]

 

We got to the dock, and found to our great delight there was only one paved road on the island, and it was about a mile long. While Brett and I were looking over the edge of the dock into the blue-like-food-coloring water at the hundreds of sea urchins, all the people who didn’t want to be bold and adventurous (all 5 of them) clambered onto the bus, to go up to the temple on the island. Brett and I went over to a map of Kinkasan to chart our rout. We wanted to climb the peak, and then hike the perimeter back to the dock. A lady gave us a paper map, and a man told us that the last boat back left at 4:10. It was already almost 12:00, and this only gave us about 4 hours. We busted up the (very steep) road to the temple, and on the way ran into a heard of deer.

[Even the adults have spots]

The deer were tame, and lying under twisty, ancient looking trees, on grass that looked mowed. I guess it was, but by the deer. Birds and cicadas in the background, huge, deep green and red cedars. The photos don’t really describe how strangely idyllic the place felt. There were no power-lines, other than the single paved road w/no cars, no sign of humans.

Kept going, and found the Temple. Deer were wandering around on the temple grounds, and I heard this resonating boom, almost too low to be heard. Found the source of the sound – a young lady in a red and white robe was hitting a drum bigger than any I had ever seen before. I wanted to grab a mallet and whack it to, but it probably had some religious significance.

Brett and I wandered around for about half hour or so, then found the trail head. Along the way, we saw another small temple, and a grove of bamboo. I immediately challenged Brett to climb the bamboo, thinking I was going to show him up because I’m pretty decent at climbing things. This was a mistake – the guys a monkey. In addition to being a dang good rock climber, I guess he can handle bamboo pretty well. Further increasing my embarrassment, I was wearing pants and couldn’t imitate him because my flexibility was reduced to zero. (Couldn’t do the “frog.”) Sigh.

[Some weird plant]

We kept going up, and up, and up. Pretty steep for a small island… the place looked amazing. It was like a huge garden, and nobody was there. We came to a little grove w/some statues. There I discovered one of the oddities of the island. While Brett was changing into his swim-shorts, these very odd looking bugs started swarming to my skin. They didn’t bite, but they really liked to crawl around on me. Because they were flat, they looked kind of like Ticks, but had wings. On closer inspection, they appeared to be squat, flat little wasp-like things, with a sharp pointy mouth. And, weirder yet, they crawled sideways. They were very alarming looking, and I spent all my time swatting and trying to get them off me until Brett said he hadn’t even noticed them. They didn’t seem to bite, so I guess they were alright. maybe they just wanted the salt on our skin. Whatever. Anyway, for the rest of the time here, if you were in the shade, these weird little things would land on you.

We kept going up until we hit a ridge, with an incredible view. Once again, I was dumbfounded, I apologize for the pics. Don’t do it justice. Maybe Paula could do it, not me. At any rate, I set the camera up for me and Brett, and took a photo, when the most horrible thing that could have happened happened. The battery died. WHY???!?! I thought it was CHARGED!! NOOOOO. This was truly the saddest event of the day, because we hadn’t seen anything yet, but hopefully Brett will mail me some of his photos, and I will post them.

[I guess I need to get in the sun more. Brett is part Lebanese (John!!), doesn't worry about that, he said]

 

Anyway, no pic’s, but the adventures are yet to come so hang on. After this, and several words that I probably shouldn’t have said, we kept climbing. We hit the top, finally, and found a place where we could get an almost 270 degree panorama of the entire coastline around the area. The “mountain,” though only 1500 ft, was quite a bit higher than the other islands in the area, and the view we had was incredibly amazing. So angry that my camera wasn’t working, I heated the battery up w/my breath and my hand, set the focus on manual, turned the camera on and managed to get one more shot out of it. (a stop underexposed, but I tried to fix that digitally).

[Last shot before the batter finally bit it for good]

We looked at the map, and our watches. By this time we had about 2.5 hours left. Once we got down to the beach on the other side of the island, the hike around the rest of the perimeter was supposed to take about 3 hours (so the map said). We decided we could do it if we hurried, so we dashed along the ridge for a ways, then took a left down the slope to the other side of the island. This trail was not maintained and was overgrown. It didn’t help that Brett said we might be running through some poison oak (we weren’t, turns out). We slowed down when we got into an old cedar forest that was dark and cool. There were frogs everywhere. “Gosh… so many frogs around, you’d think we’d have spotted a snake by now,” I say confused. Normally, where there’s one, there’s the other. 30 seconds later, I freeze – in the path ahead of me is the darned hugest snake I’ve seen in Japan yet. It’s head was raised off the ground, and it was staring at me. Ok ok, so it’s not like it was as thick as my arm or anything, but it was way bigger than that Aodaisho I caught earlier. This was fat, and probably over 6 feet long. Without thinking I go into hunt mode, and start pounding the ground with my left hand to distract him, while trying to pin him with my right. Brett, having grown up around Copperheads and Rattlesnakes, is kind of scared of them, so he just stands back and films this with his digital cam. Eventually, I get the snake, and once he calms down, let him crawl around on my arms. After a bunch of pictures (Brett’s cam), and my excitement, we lose 20 minutes or so. Wanting to show a Japanese person what cool things they get to live around all the time, I take him with us for the next half hour or so, then decide to let him go by the trail.

On my way down the mountain, I feel a prick under my sandal strap. I figure I got a small thorn or piece of cedar under there, and assume it will just work its way out. 10 minutes later, it is still there. I look under the strap, and lo and behold, there’s a leech stuck to my foot! I try to pull it off, but it just sort of squirms and doesn’t want to let go. It smears a lot of blood around though. It doesn’t hurt, but it has a very prick feeling. I always thought you wouldn’t be able to feel leeches. Someone forgot to tell this one. I tell Brett I need the salt, but he can’t seem to find it. After emptying the contents of his pack, he pulls out a small sack, and starts dumping the contents on the leech. We watch as the thing writhes and detaches, spouting blood. This is kind of gross. I wipe the blood off, and theirs a weird little incision on my skin where it was attached, and it turns dark purple. My very first leech!!

We keep going. We see the beech, and it is breath-takingly gorgeous and blue. But, it is below us on a cliff. Crap! Brett, who is used to doing free-climbing and also is wearing shoes, (turns out, wouldn’t have mattered if he didn’t. He didn’t wear shoes until he was 16, and the soles of his feet are tough), so he is determined to get down there. We find the best rout, and he expertly skitters down the ridge, on the pine needles. I don’t fair so well. The problem is, if you lose control here, you fall off a bunch of rocks. And… I lost control. I reached out and grabbed for a small tree, which probably saved me a broken something. However, the tree had sharp bark, and I ended up getting cuts on my palm and fingertips. Sucks, could have been worse though. We get to the edge of the cliff, which isn’t high at this point, and scramble down to the beech. The water looks so great… I get in, and scrub off my legs which are all red from the grass allergies. If the place wasn’t so gorgeous, this would have sucked so bad. But seriously, it was so gorgeous it was worth every bit. Brett wants to get into the water too, and takes off his shoes. Rocks in the water are large, round and smooth, (probably average radius of about 1 1/2 feet or so). The rocks from the cliff are sharp, and not nice to climb on. Here I find out that his feet are like iron. We have to climb around another cliff, to get to the next beach over, and we do so. Brett leads, and climbs around like a pro. Once again, the other beach is amazing. There are all sorts of strange isopod-like creatures dashing around the rocks, and in the water crabs are running around. We hang out here for a while, then decide to keep going around. We keep going, until we run into a rock wall that we have no idea how to climb. It’s not that it’s all that high, probably not much more than 10 feet or so, it’s that there are no obvious holds in reach. Furthermore, if you fall, you fall onto a bunch of semi-barnacle encrusted rocks the size of a beach balls. I try to get up, and can’t. It’s probably impossible for me to make it up. I offer to spot him while he climbs up to the first hold. We do that, and he makes it up, but he can’t pull me up from the top, so I guess I really have to do this by myself.

Crap.

My flexibility is severely limited by my pants. I am considering just taking them off, to climb this, and probably should have. And now I am be-wildered at how this happened. We had gone to far along the beach that there wasn’t enough time to backtrack, and but there was no other way out. I really had to make this, and because of that I entered a completely different, ultra-determined, “whatever it takes” state of mind. I grabbed the only hold I could find, braced myself with my knee, and just sort of claw my way up to the first real hold. “Uh dude… don’t fall…” Brett calls down. yeah. In a minute I’m at the top. But my hands and both legs have a lot of blood on them. I look down and find that I cut them up pretty good on the way up. Brett on the other hand, wasn’t bleeding anywhere. He’s pretty ok on the rocks. Next beech over, I wash off, and find yet another cliff we have to climb, to keep working our way around the beech. Only, this time the cliffs are sheer, and out of our league. We decide that we need to climb back up to the path instead. There’s a little outcropping with a scramble at the base, but if we make it up there’s a ridge that we can use to get back up to the trail. But it sucks because if you fall off into a channel that water is gushing in and out of. But if you fall of the right cliff, you fall onto bunch of rocks back down on the beech. A tree divides the ridge – left or right. If you take the left, you have to bulldoze your way through a bunch of dry needly branches, but the way is flat. If you go right, it slopes off steeply towards the cliff, but you don’t have to plow your way though the branches. I take the right, and just sort of grab onto some saplings to keep from sliding off. Actually, in retrospect this was probably the most dangerous part, because it was the only place with a fall that would have likely been lethal. But, I was careful and it was ok. Brett took the left, and I heard him moaning as he plowed his way though the branches.

When we got to the top, Brett took off like a monkey through the forest, I don’t know how he does it. When I caught up with him we were at the trail around the perimeter. I look down at my watch. We have about an hour and a half. I look at where we are on the map. It says we have about a 150 minute walk. Rats. But it turns out Brett and I tag team pretty well in this regard – I wouldn’t be able to make it up the cliffs w/out watching him, but he wouldn’t be able to hold the pace around the island w/out me leading. I set off running, and he holds on for as long as he can. At this point I suggest we run the downhills and walk the uphills. We set off, and see much more of this incredible island. I wish that we did not have to run around it like this and could take more time. WE HAVEN’T SEEN MONKEY’S YET. Brett keeps praying to see a monkey. He hopes it can use sign language. I ask him if he knows sign language. He says “no, but if God made a monkey talk to us in sign language, I’m sure he could make me understand him.” Cicadas keep landing on me. “I’M NOT A TREE.” I don’t realize that Brett hasn’t seen a Cicada before, and I throw them off me without showing them to him.

20 minutes left. We are on the correct side of the island, but the dock is not in view. I tell him we need to run the rest of the way. We start running. We are pretty beat up, and his knee is hurting. With 10 minutes to spare, we see the dock. I run on ahead, and talk to the boat’s men. We have no idea where are tickets are. The man tells me not to worry about it, but says to make sure to use his boat if we come back, and winks. Rad.

We are so beat up. We climb in the boat, exhausted, cut up, dusty, looking like we just ran a race. The boats men are all chuckling when they look at us, while the few other tourists that embark on the boat look at us like we are really weird. Except the kid. He just looks curious. Once in Ayukawa, we grab some icecream, souvenirs for the sensei’s. The bus doesn’t leave for an hour. We get some ice cream. Mine is mango flavored, Brett’s is banana. Mine is good, he’s not to keen on his. There’s a whaling boat. It’s huge. On the docks is a girl about our age. “That looks like a cool girl” Brett remarks. “Why?” I ask. “You know, just a cool local fishing girl.” “Yeah, totally.” Maybe we should have bought her some mango flavored ice cream.

We just sort of chill at the bus stop, get on, and make our way back. The bus driver drives faster this time. The sun sets. There’s like 5 giggling high school girls behind us, but even they somehow manage shut up looking at the sunset. The bus is riding along the top of a pine covered slope. The land is actually an outcropping, and even though the sun is setting in the west, we are watching it set over water, reflecting off the top. This has been an incredible day. We get to Ishinomaki and take the line down to Sendai Station. Once in Sendai station, I figure we should try to find the Mexican restaurant I heard about. I ask some people, they tell me to try the restaurant complex 2 floors down. We find a Spanish restaurant… well, who knows, maybe they have no idea what Mexican food is, and think it’s Spanish food.

We are all dusty and dirty, and exhausted. The place looks like a stylish bar. I can’t say I really recommend the place, to be honest the service was terrible, and I think it might have something to do with our appearance. But, at any rate, we parted in very good spirits.

I wanted to see him off last night, and told him I’d meet at the bus stop. Unfortunately, when I got there, nobody was there. I am still not sure if I just had the wrong time, or what, but that really sucks. At any rate, we had a good time hanging out on Monday. Totally cool guy, really loves God, and really knows how to have an adventure. Hope to run into him again.

China day 9

[Well here it goes again... hope some people are still interested]

[Guest house from the dining porch]

Was hoping for a spectacular sunrise, but it was back-lit. I guess the sunset is supposed to be the big thing, and I got the two swapped. Still, it was kind of hazy, which did some cool things to the light. We wait up for Ipsen, and eat 2 “apple pies” for breakfast. Their basically chopped up apples in a piece of fried bread that’s been folded in half. Kind of like an apple calzone, or McDonald’s apple pie. [Like mentioned earlier...]

[2 other Danes eating breakfast]

The people here are hard to catch photos of, but the staff has warmed up to me, and they let me take their photo before taking off. They are cooking food in the “kitchen” which is more like a cave because there are no lights. My camera was set to underexpose. Oh well.

[Making one of the apple pies]

[Mountains from the courtyard]

[The exit]

We took off, and citing my superb sense of direction, I take us in completely the wrong direction for a few minutes. However, we soon figure this out, and correct our direction. Again, the views keep getting more amazing. We cross a waterfall, and the morning lighting is quite spectacular, with some amazing lighting in the valley.

[The road goes ever on and on. (hum ba ba dum da da dum dum dum)]

After a couple hours we reach the end of the trail, which finishes at a large guest house, and road. Myron’s map shows a path we can take to get all the way down to the river, so we go find the trail head, located a little ways down the road.

[End of the trail]

[Not really sure what I'm doing]

[Walking to the next trailhead]

We pay a wrinkly old Naxi lady the 10 kuai entrance fee, and hike down the “path” to the water. It’s more like a scramble though, because it’s basically carved straight out of the canyon wall. The guys who made this must have been tough as rock. My camera has long since run out of photos, so I have to delete something before I take a shot, every time now.

The scenery is spectacular. I can’t even come close to fitting it in my camera. The scale of the place is bigger than anything I’ve ever experienced. The cliffs look immense. You can look across the chasm and barely see birds flying across the face of the cliff in the distance. The cliff’s rise above you and below you. I feel like an insect. @ the bottom we hop around on the huge rocks. The rapids are churning and so huge. You [or, at least, I] would die if you fell in.

[Can't exactly see the thundering rapids in this pic. but trust me, they were there, just a little farther to the left]

[Mari is pondering lofty thoughts]

I find a dead skink on a rock at the bottom, but can’t figure out what killed it. We decide to go back a different round – “sky ladder.” Hmm. Once again we have to buy ticket. The ticket man smells very strongly of alcohol. We make our way up until we see the trail divide. “<- Safe path. Dangerous ladder ->” ha ha ha this place is so cool. There’s a lot of places on this hike that have been cut straight out of the cliff and if you fell off you would die. We climb the ladder. It’s tall but not so dangerous. I don’t know what all the fuss is about. Mari is afraid of heights though, and she climbs it. A total sport.

[Climbing sky ladder]

[Mari making her way up]

[Bwaaahahahaha]

All of us think Myron is ahead of us and really working the pace. I am carrying the pack and hiking with Ipsen. Eventually even Ipsen runs out of steam, though, and passing the crest of the cliff I’m hailed Eli on another cliff farther up. He says he’s got a van that will take us back for 40 a head, if we want to come. “Yes – is Myron there?” By this time I am fairly concerned about Myron. Even Ipsen’s pooped, but I still haven’t caught up with him. Visions of him having fallen off the cliff start coming to mind. “No he’s not!” Eli calls down. Crap. Finally everyone makes it to the top, but Myron. We wait for him on the balcony. Getting worried. I grab a water bottle and head back down the cliff. Just as I leave he pops over the cliff, and we all cheer. He is ultra thirsty though, so I run down with the Wahaha [special "good tasting" [yeah... whatever its just water] water]. He’s not angry, which I am amazed at [thanks dude] . He kept hoping we’d stop so he could get some water though.

I get some “scream” from another colorfully dressed leathery old lady who was watching TV with her kids. It’s like a light power-aid type drink, and really really tasty. The van driver bounces his child around and exchanges words with his wife before getting in the van. We hop in, and take off. Harrowing. The road above the gorge has sharp turns. When driving around them, the driver holds down the horn to alert any on-coming traffic. Eli’s mother is swearing up a storm.

[Eli]

[Camera battery is now out of juice]

We drive by a man selling something. I try to figure out what it is, and realize that he has a fist full of snakes. They eat snakes here… we get to Lijiang after a couple hours – alive! Mari bys Eli’s mom a “Fruit of the Gods” from a fruit vendor in the public square, and just throws the peel on the ground without even thinking. Haaa ha ha she’s turning into one of them! We are tired so we make our way back to the Hostel. We get permission to take showers but our stuff is in “Baba”’s room and he is napping. The girl wakes him up at 4pm and we have access to our stuff. We just sort of wait around until everyone takes showers. Then we head over to Mama3 for dinner again. The best part about hostels again reveals itself as we sit down and start talking with the interesting people at the table. Across from me is a Chinese girl named Zhoxing who has lived in New York since she was 9 years old. Her English is perfect. She sort of translates for her friend Jenni, who is sitting next to her, and is from Kunming. There is an old guy at the end of the table, named Lee, who is from Singapore. He has been traveling non stop for a long time, because it is apparently cheaper to travel than it is to live in Singapore. He is a character. Also at the table is a Frenchman named Greg. He informs us that the lead singer of the band that recorded the Spanish song being blasted over the speakers, is actually French.

By this time my camera has run out of both pic’s and battery [sorry]. Jenni asks us if we want to go to a bar after dinner. Sure. Mari, Myron, Zhoxing, Jenni, and I all go to a bar downtown Lijiang, and meet up with another of her friends there. She also doesn’t speak English. We order expensive and moderately tasty non-alcoholic beverages. We move deeper into the bar because a band is about to play. All the Chinese girls are on one side of the table. The communication barrier is awkward and very tangible. They are all talking to each other, and we are sort of sitting there trying to talk. I hate forced conv. I try to break the ice by asking Zhoxing questions and stuff. It doesn’t work very well. Myron leaves. Then… dance music comes on. “This could be a problem” I think to myself. Zhoxing and Jenni burst from the table and ask us to dance. “OH CRAP.” The first half hour is hell. I have no idea how to freestyle and have zero moves. I tried for a couple minutes, but felt dumb because I was tallest one there and not asian to boot so everyone was watching me. I go and sit down, and Jenni drags me back up. I think I would have died if Mari wasn’t there, but her ability to flow with just about everything makes it alright. She teaches me a few moves (like, uh, the “lawnmower”) etc. And ZhoXing tries to as well. Some Naxi girls start busting out freestyle in their traditional attire. This is very surreal to me. Furthermore, a few other gangly awkward guys start joining in as well. Mari laughs about something. She informs me that the other guys are copying my “moves.” I totally crack up. Poor guys… if only they knew. A little girl (in a bar??) probably like 7 years old just goes nuts spinning around and jumping up and down to the pulsating ear-shattering music. I guess this has turned into a family event. At any rate, it went from utter misery to being almost alright towards the end. But we had to take off, so we all depart from the bar. Zhoxing hands me Mari, Jenni, and her bags. “Chinese men always carry the woman’s bags and buy everything for the women w/out asking anything in return.” Whatever. I grab the bags without pointing out the fact that I’ve seen quite a few men smoking happily, hands free, while their wife is trailing behind struggling with enormous loads of who knows what. [Not saying that's ok, just remarking that her perception of Chinese guys is a little skewed if what I've seen in the daily life is at all accurate]. I wonder if they are irritated at me for not buying the drinks. Oh well. They made me dance, I guess that was my punishment.

We get back and grab our bags. The cab to the airport is ready. The pink shirt girl at the hostel gives us sweet smelling satchel things, to put around our necks, and a bag of fruit. Gosh. That hostel was amazing. The staff also booked us our flights from Lijiang to Chengdu, and cooked up a short meal for us when we got back from TLG. They really work hard for the people who stay there. Only 15 kuai a night [about 2 dollars a night] to stay there.

We head to the airport and fly to Chengdu. Whereas the temperature and humidity in Lijiang was perfect, Chengdu feels like a jacuzzi. It is so hot and humid. It’s the middle of the night and my pants want to stick to my legs. The Mix [our hostel] picks us up at the airport and drives us to the hostel where we try to go to bed despite the heat and humidity.

*** end of day 8, probably over all the longest and best day ***

Satoh-kun

Sorry I haven’t been all that reply-ative recently. I will get back to the china pic’s at some point. I’ve been working pretty hard in the lab recently.

I don’t do a whole lot with the 4 others in my lab, but I’ve been helping the seniors do experiments now and then, set up equipment, etc. I’ve been teaching my lab-mates Matlab every week, except recently the seniors have been busy studying for their grad-school entry exams, and haven’t been in. Here’s a picture of the two seniors, Satoh-kun (back left), Takahashi-kun (back right), me, and Dr. Biwa. Satoh kun and Takahashi kun wanted me in their official Lab&Professor shots for some reason.

 

[Cropped so you can see them better].

Satoh-kun was in the Tohoku Glider club. I received word today that he died in a glider accident yesterday. There’s something totally messed up about seeing someone who is alive and age-wise not close to death, and then finding out they died. Furthermore, I had not told the gospel to this guy. Didn’t really talk much with him because of the language barrier, but he seemed like just sort of a quiet, hard working kid with a cool hobby. I was planning on taking him and Takahashi out to dinner sometime before I left.

I also don’t understand the people’s reaction in my lab. Aside from Dr. Biwa, and Takahashi-kun who I haven’t seen today, it’s like just another day.  I would have expected to see, at least partially, the sobering effect of having your mortality thrust in your face when someone you have worked with closely dies, but it’s more like “well, we’ve got another seat  available in the office now.”

Pray for the family, please.

試験

今日は,テムです. 明日日本語の試験がある. 日本語が難しい すぎる.もKGK がおわっただからモチベーションが少ない.たぶんもうすぐさびしいになる.もし日本語できる人に会いなったらどうして日本語が習う?

Day 8

** Sorry I’m a little slow, I got sick this week **

We woke up for breakfast at mama3 -> banana’s and honey on a piece of flatbread. Then packed up and “Mama” drove us to TLG [Tiger Leaping Gorge]. Scary experience. I can’t believe she drove us that whole way for only 20 per head, too. Ipsen, a guy from Denmark who has spent the last 4 months making his way across continental Europe and Asia, is also in the car with us. He is a reserved, interesting fellow. He decides to tag along for basically the rest of the hike with us. The start of the trail is unimpressive.

[Ipsen and Mari at the rest stop on the pass we drove over, to get to the trail head]

[The trail head, which we arrived at an hour later]

The following day is best expressed by the photos. I got caught peeing by some Naxi. I caught a Lizard, but didn’t see much other crawly things here. As we keep going, the views are increasingly amazing.

 

[Looks like teeth on a saw blade. The tallest is over 18000 feet. It's only been climbed once, I hear]

We stop at the first rest place -> “Naxi family guest house.” We have a great lunch. A kid shows up, w/a cowboy hat and says in Australian “no I don’t want anything yet. I would like to wait for my family.” I saw him earlier riding a donkey with them. Didn’t realize the squirt would be listening in on our lunch conversation though. The house looks perfect. I would want to live there. The girl who served us lunch lets me take her photo w/Myron and Mari. She’s not pretty, but she’s pretty at the same time. A lot of people here are like that.

[Some people ride donkeys]

[The Naxi family guest house]

[HAaahahaha]

[The waitress (&chef?), Myron, and Mari]

We keep going – “28 bends.” That sucked. For smoking like a chimney, Ipsen’s in pretty darn good shape. I carried the Myron/Mari/Me pack. We find some wonderful weather beaten lady selling cold drinks. I buy a cold strawberry milk drink. I ask her what the cicadas are called. “Cha2″ apparently. Anway, view after view (see photos) we eventually reach the “half-way” point.

[Ipsen waiting up. And probably smoking.]

 

[God bless the lady... I've never had such great tasting strawberry milky soda-ish stuff.]

[Now those are mountains.]

[Mari w/the mountains behind her]

[She was shepherding goats. I saw a lot of red shirts. I think it's their favorite color]

 

[Getting closer to the halfway house. Real proud of their toilets apparently.]

[It was hot outside.]

[Road got a little larger]

[Looking back the direction we came]

It is more like a 3/4 point, but whatever. It was so incredibly gorgeous. We sit down and order a dinner… at our table is a guy named Eli and his mom. [Who, later we will run into on the way back, and in Chengdu oddly enough]. I go and reserve our room for us, almost completely in Chinese. I have a conversation with the staff lady about if people climb Jade Dragon etc. mountain, and the weather in TLG. Go back up and eat dinner. Good stuff, but there’s a million people at our table, so I’m still kind of hungry.

[Myron, some guy from Lithuania, Eli's mom, and Mari]

[Ipsen, Eli, and Myron. Real flattering, I know, that's my gift.]

Went back down to our porch, where there is a nice couch with an amazing view of the mountain. An Australian girl that I saw riding on a donkey with her family earlier, comes over and sits next to me on the couch. Her name is Anisa, or something like that. Her family is living in Vietnam for a year, and they are on vacation. Her brother Sam comes over and sit’s on the couch. He just got out of high school and has a nothing-to-do year before he goes to college. Also interesting. The sun sets and the mountain turns deep red. This is amazing. The sun sets. I am having an interesting conversation with Sam when his little brother Callum [sp?] busts over and begs us to play cards. We are all for it, but there is no light on the deck. Mari, who thinks Callum is the funniest kid on the face of the planet, (he’s probably up there) suggests going into our room. Myron is in there, and decides to join.

The game we play has a thousand names, but Myron picks the colorful “Sphincter.” It’s basically a rich-get-richer while the poor-get-poorer-unless-you-are-ultra-lucky game. Myron is not ultra lucky this time, so he stays Sphincter. He starts to get really pissed. I think it’s funny that he’s losing a card game for once in his life. But, cheerfully, next round he ends up becoming second dominant player, can’t remember what the station is called. Maybe Queen. We play for another couple rounds. This family – Sam Anisa and Callum – are a real kick in the pants. Would have been fun to hang out with them more.

[The crazy family. They were great ]

End of Day 8

Day 7. By the way, “Naxi” is pronounced more like “Na-shi” or “Na-Hi.”

Today we just hang out in Lijiang. We eat, uh, I can’t remember, say goodbye to Maia, and start wandering. I find two weavers.

[I'm not positive, but I think she's Mosuo, not Naxi]

I almost buy from the second. Lots of these weird reed flute things. We spend a while just sort of wandering Lijiang.

[Lady carrying vegetables]

[Lots of veggies and fruit being sold everywhere]

[Naxi girl and child]

[For once, a few people happy to have their pic taken]

[Tasty apricot]

[They pile their bikes high in China]

[One of the bridges over the millions of small streams crossing through the town]

[On the way to black-dragon pond, Mari and I climbed out on a tree over one of the rivers]

 We went to Black Dragon pool. It was ok, but the entry fee (60 yen) was a bit steep. The “obligatory” photo shot wasn’t all that amazing, but this is probably because the day was overcast and we couldn’t see the mountains behind it.

[The obligatory shot. I probably just didn't set it up right. But it's a nice park.]

Found an interesting temple-like building in the park,

and ran into some monks and a Naxi girl. A monk…

 

[I thought he was a monk, but now I don't think it's the right garb]

who asked me to drop a coin in the mouth of a dragon statue. I asked him why. He made the prayer sign with his hands. I told him I was a Christian and worshiped Shang-di. Him and all the other monks were very happy about this, and did not oblige me to drop a coin in, after that. I found this unusual. Then, the guy who asked me to drop the coin wanted me to hug him [the tough looking guy in the photo above]. Another guy came over and brought out a broken piece of brick. He motioned for me to try to break it. I put half of it on a stone, and decided that I didn’t think I’d be able to do it because the chunk wasn’t long enough.

I tried smashing it with the side of my hand, and just ended up hurting my hand. I don’t think they thought I was really going to try, and they were amused by this. But the monk brought out an unbroken brick and I tried again. This time I crunched it in half. They really liked this, and we started taking a lot of photos.

[Monk/person 2 and the Naxi girl]

[Mari and the Monks]

 

[Myron and I payed this guy 5kuai to hold the monkey]

[A nearby peacock]

[This guy was selling amazing paintings in the part. Here he's using his brush but his specialty was painting with his palms. The landscapes he made were quite amazing.]

 We made our way to black dragon hill and started climbing but the view kind of sucked, so we went back down, exited the park, and found some lunch. Like normal, here, it was really great. Afterwards, we went to the Aeon tower.

 

[Aeon tower]

Climbing up the hill we took a wrong turn, but it’s ok cause we found an excellent view of the old town, and ran into some kids. The kids were opposite the adults, they begged to have their pictures taken.

[Something is on his forehead]

 

[The kids exploded at the sight of the camera. Look at the kid second from bottom]

[Heh heh]

 

[Good view of the old city]

After visiting the Aeon tower, we walked back to Mama3 for dinner. We were late for dinner, so we couldn’t all sit together. Myron and I ended up at the Veggie table. Like normal, the veggetarians looked like characters. More specifically, they looked very hippy. After talking with them, I don’t think they even meant to end up in China in the first place, I think it was an accident. Among their number was a brother and sister from Spain (but they were English), and the guy’s girlfriend who was scottish. Apparently, they had some sort of acrobatic show that they performed for money. Interesting. The waiter, seeing we weren’t vegetarians, started bringing Myron and I out a bunch of meat dishes. The number started piling up and the vegetarians were a little miffed at the number of dishes accumulating on our end of the table. The waiteress brought out a dish that looked like the congealed vegetable extract we eat all the time in Japan. I downed a lot of this stuff, before being informed that it was NOT vegetable extract, but rather, chuncks of PIG FAT. My large intestines regretted it, later.

Afterwards, we went to find a certain bar that we never found. Then gave up and decided to look for a certain restaurant that we never found. However, Mari and I had been eying this flat pancake like things that were being sold by the dozens in a number of stores and decided to try them out. It was honey and banana flavored… soooooo delicious. Sigh. I want one right now. I bought the [thing for Paula] from the weaver. I also bought one of the read pipe things, after playing half a million to find one with a drone that worked well. It is a lot like the Pennywhistle, so I could play it almost immediately and the store owners were really surprised. We came back to the Hostel, and hit the hay.

** End of day 7 ***

A few more pics:

 

[This guy and]

[this guy were jamming. And, the music was really good.]

[Making little trinkets. The girl in the gold shirt brought them out some ice-cream bars.]

[Some old Naxi ladies were dancing in the park.]

[A local girl carving out incredible designs on these round wooden blocks. The level of craftsmanship of the local artists was unbelievable. You could get a degree for far less in the average US university. It is ironic that they sell these amazing works of art for just dollars.]

[Child in another shop]

[Looking up the stairwell in the Aeon tower]

[The place was a maze]

[Where oh where is that Apple Strudel restaurant]

[Some girls chanting from a roof, and blinded from my stronger-than-expected flash. The girl third on the right was the weaver I bought something from earlier. I guess she sings from rooftops in her spare time.]

 

[A main painting Dongba, the hieroglyphic script of the Naxi].

 

 [Some girls lighting candles that they float down the river.]

Lastly, don’t let the fact that I said I didn’t like the Naxi concert lead you to believe that I didn’t like Naxi music. I heard music everywhere here, from the girls on the roofs to the mothers and fathers carrying the millions of children around the town. And, all of it was amazing. I wish I could have a recording of just the mothers and fathers singing to their kids. They didn’t use these crazy high pitched throaty sounds that they did in the concert, they had normal, good voices, and the tunes were very oriental but folky and even… catchy in a weird way. I didn’t hear a single person singing to their kid in anything but an amazing voice.

Which brings me to kids in Lijiang. The Naxi are a Minority, which means they get to have more kids, under law, than the regular Han citizens. And, there are a million of them. They just float between stores, and it’s hard to tell who their real mother and father are, because they all seem to  love them, pick them up, and adore them. Anyway, that was really great to see.

 

Last KGK…

Interrupting the stream of China journals for a couple pictures from the last KGK study I will be able to attend this year. Summer vacation is very soon for the students, and this is like their pre-break finals week.

Erei is taking off for France, for a year, so it was her last time as well. For some reason, (maybe stress?) I thought the study didn’t start till 7. I don’t know why I thought this, cause it always starts at 6. But I got there in the middle of the Bible study. There were so many people there, I was surprised. I didn’t have my Bible, so Youko handed me hers, it’s an English/Japanese one. After the Bible Study, Keita disappeared shortly, and re-appeared with a bunch of- PIZZA HUT boxes! Pizza! It’s been so long!!! What’s more, I haven’t had the fatty, greasy kind for almost a year. They wouldn’t let me pay and told me it was Erei and I’s going away party.

Hatoko asked me if I wanted some red tea. I pointed at the white calpis drink and said “ano shiroi nomimono ga hoshidesu!” I didn’t realize it, but this is basically the Japanese equivalent of saying “DRINK! ME WANT DRINK! NOOW!” And I got a lesson from the take-everything-humorously Hatoko on the addition of O- to the front of words [nomimono -> onomimono] and addition of kudasai [please] to make things polite. “ano shiroi onomimono kudasai!” Much better. (“Hey there old chap! A slosh of the bubbly – for a friend!”)

I didn’t see people eating much Pizza, so I had 4 pieces. Which, by American standards isn’t much, especially considering how small the slices were (ohhh… but they were sooo good). They asked me if I was full, and I said I had four pieces. They all busted up laughing, then divided up the rest of the pizza between each other (oops…). I guess it wouldn’t have been a complete evening if I hadn’t made several cultural Faux Pas…

At any rate, after dinner, I busted out the extremely spicy Yak-Jerky that I brought back from Yunnan. They had a lot of fun trying to choke it down. It was pretty spicy…

Then, they all sat down in a circle and spoke a story or memory about Erei and me. And gosh… if there was one time when I could actually understand Japanese, I wish it would have been then. You can go for a while without knowing how much you were loved. I knew I really loved the KGK students, but I never knew that this was returned much until now. Anyway, they were pretty busted up that we were leaving. I couldn’t tell what they were saying, but I sort of pretended to understand, until it got to Hatoko. She said something, and asked if I understood, than said “you probably don’t understand.” Which, I did understand. But… played along and pretended not to understand that, or rather, pretended to pretend to understand, which they all laughed at, and the guy next to me (rrrgh I forget his name, he’s the Physics guy who speaks good English) translated for me. And, he translated the rest of what they had to say.

Erei was taking it pretty hard. I guess this is her core of friends, and what’s more she’s been committed to the group for a good 4 years. Anyway, then they said they were going to take photos. This reminded me that I accidentally left my camera in my BIKE BASKET which was way up at the Tennis courts. So with out warning, I said “CHOTTO MATTE!” (wait for a sec) and out to the tennis courts, grabbed my camera which was still in the basket, and ran back. Panting and wet (raining that night), I dashed back in the room, and we took some photos.

So, last time, a description of them, for you. Back to Front, Left to Right

Makoto – (freshman, engineering). Only known him for a couple months, cause he’s one of the new students. His name means “Truth.” For some strange reason, he enjoyed talking to me, in Japanese, and was very patient with my mistakes. He told me I can speak pretty well, but I can’t listen very well. He commutes in from Yamagata every day by bus. It’s about an hour away. He also almost bowled 200, that one evening.

Youko – (Senior, Religion). The Kanji for her name means “Leaf child” and, her parents got the idea from a Psalm. She reads philosophy books in English. She probably knows the meaning of some English words I don’t, but can’t speak a word of the language. I always thought this was kind of funny. She doesn’t talk much, so her friends call her “hayaguchi” (“motor mouth”), which is also rhymes with her last name which means “river mouth.” I got to escort her home after several KGK monthly meetings, and have found that I can almost talk to her in Japanese. She knows how to talk to me in vocab that I actually know, which is really nice. Oh yeah, she really knows how to hurl a snowball.

Physics guy (I forget his name). He is a graduate student, but started coming recently as well. He would translate the little worksheets we go through, each week. He also had pretty good English, and I really appreciated the fact that he would try to translate things for me as much as possible. When Hatoko publicly announced I wasn’t understanding what anybody was saying to me for the around-the-circle thing, he jumped in and started translating. Anyway… stud, should have hung out more, I think. Still got about a month and a half here though.

Keita – (Senior, Engineering). His name means “Big Grace.” He spent a year in New Zealand, so his English is probably the best of the bunch. He was sort of a leader/organizer for the group. He is the guy who figures out neat places to go, and places to stay when we go there (like, at Naruko onsen). He has a younger sister, Saki, who loves him a lot. Which leads me to conclude he is a good older brother. He leads worship for the group on his guitar.

Tyler – (graduate student, ?). I had never met this guy until this evening. Tyler is his English name. I guess he is a veteran of the KGK group, but couldn’t come this year. He was on the list serve, and said that he thought I must be an interesting and unusual person from my letters on the list serve. (oh uh. I wonder if it was the one I sent about the snakes here).

Yoshitomo – (Senior, Chinese literature). His name means “Gospel.” Wow. Imagine someone walking up to you and saying “Hi. My name is Gospel.” I love these people’s names. When I first came, he was so excited that I was also learning Chinese, and started trying to talk in Chinese, w/me. On my going away card, he also wrote in Chinese. Yoshitomo is a real thoughtful guy. He’s kind of like Youko, in that way. You can see the cogs turning in his head, when he is in thought, which is a lot of the time. He also really loves God, and is evangelistic.

Honami – (graduate, ?). Name means “waves of rice.” I met her at the beginning, but she could rarely make it, so I didn’t interact with her very much. But, she was a really good cook! She would pull out the fire pot thing, and put all the good stuff in it, after the study, before we would sit around the kotatsu table (table with a heater and blanket) and munch. She seems kind of maternal.

???? – (freshman, ????). I forget her name, unfortunately I do not know most of the names of the freshmen. But, the first evening she came, we went to a Korean BBQ to celebrate the start of the semester. And, Keita and I walked her and Erei to their bus/train stations downtown. She has pretty good English too.

???? – (freshman, ????). She was the other one I bowled with, in addition to Makoto. She is the quietest one of the whole group, I think. She barely ever says anything. But, she did say she enjoyed bowling with me and wants to do it again.

Izumi – ( sophomore, architecture). Izumi’s name mean’s “spring” [of water]. She is very interesting – like the Japanese equivalent of a flower girl. She goes to Miyagi daigaku, which is a nearby all girls school, but comes over to Tohoku U, for our Bible study. She goes to “New Life Bible Baptist” which, for some reason I feel like I’ve heard about, but I don’t know why. The head of the whole KGK organization is the pastor for that church. She liked to talk with me, and said that at a certain point, my Japanese suddenly got way better. I wish that were true, I think she just figured out subconsciously what words to use for me to be able to understand her.

Megumi – (????, ????). I had never met this girl before, I think it was her first time because everyone introduced themselves to her. She had an unusually clear and low voice for a Japanese girl. I bet she could sing pretty well.

Erei – (Senior, French lit). Her name means “God provides.” She’s one of my best friends in the group. I see her at church too, and she also faithfully attends the prayer time at noon, in the KGK room. She’s very reliable about coming, I don’t think she missed the study once. She wouldn’t hurt a fly, in fact, she is freaked to death of flies and anything that creeps or crawls. Gonna be in France next year, and everyone is really gonna miss her. Also, she looks at things in the best possible light, which means it is nearly impossible to offend her, and it is easy to be around her.

???? – (????, freshman). Hmmm I also don’t know her very well, and spent most of the semester without having talked to her. Until the last few times, when she has made a specific effort to come over, introduce herself, and talk with me. It surprised me that she made this effort, but it was nice of her. She visited the US once, actually near the Seattle area, I think she even went to Deception Pass.

Saki – (Chinese lit, I’m pretty sure. Sophmore). Saki’s name means “Early Hope.” She has a very good relationship with Keita. Saki is not scared of creepy crawly things in the least. In fact, in another universe it would have probably been fun to go exploring with her and Brett. Maybe before I leave. [0h wait - I haven't said anything about Brett yet... I'll get back to that]. At any rate, Saki is always serving people. She invited me to a Christmas party for another club at Tohoku. Instead of partying with everyone else, she was busy cooking for the group, cleaning up, etc. She is also very frank, and will stay up until 4 watching soccer even though she can’t play the game. And, in China I saw someone wearing the same type of shoes. I guessed the person was Japanese as a result, and had a 10 minute conversation with the person in Japanese. In China. This was weird.

Hatoko – (Junior, Nursing). Hatoko’s name means “Dove-child.” I think it is impossible to keep this girl from having fun. She finds humor in everything, and can make anyone anywhere comfortable. She insists on me using correct Japanese, and always corrects my mistakes. I learned the informal versions of verbs from her, which I am not sure my Japanese teachers appreciate . She likes trying out English words (“mu-shoo-ROOOOM!”) and can say “really”, the hardest English word for Japanese people, perfectly. However, she insists that Bible names like “Ma-tai,” (Matthew), “Piripi” (Phillipi), and “Ruka” (Luke) are just as correct as the English versions. Riiiiiigghttt… hahaha

So, it is weird that you can get attached to a group even when you can’t speak to them clearly. Not going to deny the significance of a language barrier. But I am also not going to deny that, if you are willing to work at it, it can’t be dealt with. Starting to learn a language is like being able to poke your head through the barrier. And, experiences along-side people, even things like the mutual attempt at communication, and laughing at how ridiculous what you said probably meant, are another thing that help reduce the effect. And there are some things that you can communicate, even w/out knowing the other’s language well, just by serving them.

Anyway… yeah. KGK. It was very good.

Day 6 (it’s a long one)

I managed to get a lot of sleep! I thought I would be too tired to enjoy today, but I am not. Wash my face etc. The view behind the hotel is kind of interesting.

We walked to the station, after buying a drink and getting something at a pastry store. People look older, tanner, and more weatherbeaten here. There’s a lot of people on the sidewalks.

Two little girls, maybe 5 – 7 years old, beg for money. They don’t say anything, just run up to us, holding out their hands stuffed with 0.5 kuai notes, hoping we will give them some more. Simultaneously, three things happen – I see an fat, dirty man sitting behind them. I imagine all the money they get goes to him. I want to give them something but we are in a hurry. And, I reach out and pat one of them on the head. I don’t know why I did that, I just did it, without thinking. She jumps a little at this.

We find out our bus doesn’t leave until 9. We wait around in the station, until time to board our bus. This bus is great. It is a little run down, but we are up high, and can open up the windows. I get a better view of Kunming from this vantage point.

Unfortunately, that bus was not the bus we got to take to Lijiang. We stopped at another bus stop, in a different part of Kunming. We walk over to our real bus. It’s amazing, I suppose. It has two floors, and it’s cool leather interior and LCD movie screens remind me of the inside of an airplane. We go upstairs Myron, Mari, and I sort of scatter around the back. No one wants to sit next to foreigners, so we get a large portion of the bus to ourselves. It’s the nicest bus I’ve ever seen, but it sucks because the windows don’t open and are so tinted it’s hard to take pictures through them. Plus, my polarizer turns the windows all sorts of crazy colors, so I can’t use that. Anyway, we start exiting the city. I’m surprised that though large parts of the city look affluent, I haven’t seen very many rich looking people, mostly just poor people.

Drive to Lijiang (still in progress) – The dirt is red. I don’t like red dirt. Peope are so poor here. They don’t look Han. Lots of red mud/stone/brick houses. Tey have courtyards, but look incredibly dilapidated. They are probably for keeping animals in. But, I see a girl washing clothes in a water trough or something, in one of them. We didn’t know that we got a free lunch, later in the trip, so at the first rest-stop Mari and Myron get a huge noodle thing. Meanwhile, I go try to photograph some strange tower a ways on the other side of the highway.

I decided I was hungry too, so I line up to get food. Not realizing the bus is about to leave. I get to the counter, order the noodles, and the lady behind the counter takes her time heating the water, and doing all the stuff to get it “right.” RRRrrgh. By the time I get to the bus, it is honking, and a guy at the door looks a little pissed. I guess Mari and Myron told them I was still out there. Thanks guys. For all that effort, the soup tastes disgusting. Oh well, not really sure what I should have been expecting.

A couple hours later, we get some sort of red shiny thing, which we find out later is a food ticket, but I’m not all that hungry anymore, and neither are Mari or Myron. I take a look at the food anyway. It doesn’t look appetizing, and their are flies buzzing all over everything. Mari and I wander over to the far edge of the rest stop. There is a fence, that I go over too. Peering through the fence, I see a farmer working on his crop of corn. His kids and wife are nearby. When they see me taking pics, the farmer stops and smiles. [I did not realize how unusual this is. Maybe tourists normally don't show much interest in farmers.] We wave 2 the kids. At first, they seem confused, but eventually smile and wave back.

Mari and Myron grab some ice cream. I see their icecream and want some too, so I go buy some, but when I get back I can’t find them. As I’m looking for them, a girl comes up and asks me in very good English (unusual) if I know that we get a free lunch here. I strike up a conversation. She is Naxi! She is studying English at a university in Kunming, and is returning to Lijiang to visit her family (parents and little brother). Her English name is Erica:

Her parents are teachers. She tells my that my Chinese is beautiful. I want to hear what Naxi sounds like, but she hasn’t spoken it since she was little. I introduce her to Myron and Mari.

Get back on the bus. We keep going up. This is amazing, considering Kunming was already at an elevation of about 1800 meters [higher than Denver]. Passing through Dali right now. I think there is a big lake. I saw a sign for “Midu” a ways back. [One of my favorite Chinese songs is a Midu folk dance.] I can’t believe I’m here. The clouds look really low here. Dali looks cleaner. Maybe it’s because everything is white-washed. The stone changed color from red to gray, and I am happy about this. The mountains around the city look like the kinds in the Chinese paintings. Looking out the bus, I see the three towers, some of the oldest buildings in South China. Apparently they were built around the 9th century. Sucks that we can’t get out and look at them. They’re really tall.

I really like Dali, maybe I’ll come back here some time. The bus driver is crazy, I just now realize. He is constantly moving into oncoming traffic, to pass slower vehicles. Some of the trucks going the opposite direction are loaded high with bricks. Myron and Mari are completely oblivious to miss our near fatalities. That’s ok, I won’t tell them… at least not right now.

A ways outside of Dali, we stop again at another rest stop. The mountains are pretty cool [but I hadn't seen anything yet]

And the rice fields are really green.

I see some people with really interesting clothes walking by.

They are obviously not Han. Inside a shop, I see paintings with real butterflies mounted inside.

Not sure why, but the masses of gorgeous butterflies mounted in all these paintings being sold for probably dirt cheap bothers me. I wonder if they are rare or endangered. Hard to tell w/China. People seem willing to do anything to make a buck here.

Lot’s of rice feels, and people working in them. The fields are so green, and the people here dress in a lot of intense red. It would make for an incredible photo if I could just get a shot. [But I couldn't. Oh well.]

I see an unusually large number of people having… picnics… and lazing around, in the fields/pastures near the highway. [No shots of the picnics, but a couple more pics from the drive to Lijiang:]

*** The rest of day 6 [written later] ***

We got to Lijiang and managed to tell the Mama Naxi [our hostel] driver which bus station we were at by passing the phone off to the ticket lady. The city looked really crappy at first. Until the driver drove our rickety old van through the old town.

Gosh. It was like something out of a movie. All the old Naxi-architecture. Old and young in their colorful clothes [which you will see later]. The Mama Naxi hostel is located moderately outside the tourist area, so we can’t tell at first how big of a tourist site this place is. The hostel is amazing.

[Myron and Mari at the entrance]

[Baba leading us to our rooms. The tarp is in case it rains.]

[The view outside our hostel window. I'm not kidding.]

We went downtown, and wandered around but I forget what we were up to. Eventually we go to Mama 3 [the third house where people stay. We were staying in Mama 1] for dinner. At night the town lights up – amazing.

Baba gives us discount tickets to go to the Naxi music concert. We meet a Phillipino girl named Maia [Pic taken at her departure]:

who wants to see the concert that night as well. She helps us find the place – she’s been here for a couple days already. She studied for a year at ICU [International Christian University, in Japan] and speaks some Japanese.

We sit down, and see an impressive array of cool instruments, and colorful people.

The girl up front states why the concert is “famous:” “People come to see the ancient instruments, ancient music, and ancient musicians.” Myron laughs. The lady is right. They are really old, in fact, I can’t even tell if they are awake. The Naxi concert is, for the most part, terrible. No offense.It’s not that anything is inherently wrong with the music (although the bells have non-harmonic resonances, and when the guy hits them they make your ears hurt), it’s that they are all competing and don’t seem to play as a coherent unit. The few good songs were when people soloed. The Dizi solo was great, and there was this one mountain song that was kind of cool. I guess it was a good cultural experience.

The “conductor” (who never conducted, but apparently is responsible for the group) comes out and starts telling stories. The problem is, the dialog is, like, 10 minutes in Chinese, followed by a 30 second summary in English. Mari is falling asleep. We take off, and manage to find our way back to Mama1 through the maze of old houses. End of a long day.

 

Day 5

[Thanks for the corrections Myron]

Today we leave for Yunnan, but that’s not till later, so we slept in and played the train game with Linda.

Myron wins (…) but Linda gave him a run for the money. We went out to lunch w/Myron’s co-teachers and a couple students.

Sat next to Helen, there, oh yeah, I forgot: the previous night, I told her the story behind her name. That was cool. At any rate, the food was pretty good, but my favorite was still the White House. We needed to take a taxi to the train station soon, so we headed back to the apartments. I found a gigantic green grasshopper in front of the door.

[That's Helen smiling in the back]

Packed up, and said goodbye to various people. It was the last time Myron would see a lot of the other teachers. I was surprised when the normally immune Myron seemed to take leaving his friends pretty hard. I guess he really loves them a lot. A couple students walked out to the gate w/us – Helen, Anna, and some others. I kind of wish Bloom was around, but she doesn’t show up. Linda stuck with us all the way to the train station and (???) even paid for our taxi ride there. The train station was bigger than I expected. There were a million Russians everywhere. [Qinghuagdao is a popular vacation spot for Russians]

[Linda outside seeing our train off]

At Beijing we meet up with Liu-Kai, again, who wants to go to a Japanese fast-food chain w/us, for lunch. It tastes crappy and way too expensive. [ok, I was exaggerating. But I had been eating really great Chinese food up until that point, and moving from great Chinese food to mediocre and overpriced fast-Japanese food was a large step down.] We see a guy playing Erhu under the street. He is good. Myron gives him a Kuai. Off to the airport. We weren’t sure which stop to get off at, for the bus, and were slightly worried about timing. Worked out. The airport staff are so funny. They are sort of lounging around, looking really bored, and aren’t courteous or discourteous. Just sort of neutral. This, compared to the always composed, snappy, ultra-polite Japanese staff… heh.

The plane stops in GuangZhou. We think we got to Kunming, but it’s just a temporary stop. All of us are exhausted, but I really don’t know why. On the way to Kunming, I took off my contacts, because they were beginning to dry out. But, I don’t have my glasses conveniently available. I don’t have a clear view of the Kunming airport, but other than a really low ceiling it seems alright. We get out of the airport at about 12:50 in the morning. We find a cab driver who will take us to the bus station for 15 kuai. We get there, planning to sleep on benches, but there are no benches. The cab driver drives us to a cheap hotel for free (God bless the guy). 30 Kuai per head at the hotel. No locks, but it’s clean. The room has three beds, and is arranged like a hotel from a Final-Fantasy game. The floor has a common shower and bathroom. We sleep for about 5 – 6 hours (amazing), after deciding to take a later bus to Lijiang the next day.

[Plus, the images will start flowing, soon].

End of Day 5.

Day 4

[Uncle Ted - I'm using Picasa for my photos now]

Today, the goal was to hang out with a special group of students that the others teachers and Myron are good friends with. But, first we went to the beach w/4 girls whose names I don’t remember. They all brought their umbrellas

The beach was better than I expected. Everyone said it was going to be crappy, but it was actually quite huge. At the beach I played frisbee with two of the girls, before they all headed into the water. Why do I suck at frisbee so much.

Since I was wearing my shorts, I went up to my knees, and took off my shirt. Wasn’t much to do in the water, so I just tried to catch the little fish. Started seeing other people trying to do the same thing, after a while (heh heh heh). Myron just sort of camped out under an umbrella.

[insert - I didn't realize it, but all the partying was because it was the end of the semester, and it was Myron's last time with some of the students.] We wanted some pics, so we asked someone to take pics of us.

But, it turns out that they wanted pics of us too… then random people on the beach started lining up to take photos with us… (???) It was kind of funny.

We eventually headed to a Hui restaurant. They were making hand-made noodles inside (la1mian4).

The noodles were ok, I guess. But, it was cool to eat at a Hui restaurant. Afterwards, we went to Myron’s apartment to play Ma-however you spell it. We met Linda there again. We played (and lost, to Myron, like normal) several times, then decided to switch to the train game. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time to finish the train game, so we stopped, and I wandered around the campus for about half an hour.

In this time, I walked around and ran into a girl who knows Myron a little bit. She just walked up to me and started talking. This is so different than the Japanese, they’d rather die than talk to a stranger, it seems. Kept going, and wandered to the back of a building. I saw a door open and heard piano music emanating (gorgeous). Followed my ears, and found the top floor was full of pianos, and a girl was practicing in one of the rooms. Hen3hao3ting1 (sounds nice).

Then, I climbed a rusty ladder to the roof of the building, and walked around on the top of the building. I love this place.

Met up at 3:00 w/the others and we made our way (via double decker bus) downtown. When we got down there, we went to “Happy World,” [I am not making that name up] a posh karaoke joint downtown Qinghuangdao. We were there for about 3 – 4 hours. I am not all that into Karaoke myself, but it was a lot of fun watching the students go crazy at it. It’s a real popular recreation here, and they get good at it.

[Jeff busting it out]

[Mari and Myron. Mari has a really funny expression here ]

[Helen picking out the next song. I think Josh took this photo w/my camera]

[They went crazy when this song played. Mari and I decided that it was actually a pretty cool fusion of western and eastern music. There is some sexually suggestive movement (what else is new) in the vid, just FYI.]

The highlight was eating fried/salty fish, while everyone else sang. The lowlight was when they made me sing “Kiss Me” by Sixpence because I hadn’t sang yet. At least Myron helped me out. A friend in need is a friend indeed. Anyway, we got out of there and headed to McDonalds (I think… could be getting the order mixed up w/bowling) no, I think we went bowling first. In light of my previous experience in Japan, I was not looking forward to it so much.

“I don’t know about this, I’m really bad at bowling.” (me)

“No man, you can’t possibly be as bad as me, seriously, last time I played-” (Josh)

“I scored a 54.” (me)

“…oh. Yeah… that is pretty bad.” (Josh)

But it turned out to be really fun! I grabbed the lightest ball that I could find with big finger holes, and just hurled the thing down the alley as fast as I could. I didn’t hit the pins that much, but when I did they went flying. They told me I was throwing it sideways or something. Whatever. I still scored a 108, which is quite literally twice what I scored the previous time I went bowling. I played with Josh, who scored, like, 176 or something,

[Don't worry, my photography gets better later, I think]

And Sunny, who was a boatload of fun.

[I was to have more run-ins with this trickster]

[Anna (L), and Sunny (R)]

[Jeff, posing in front of McDonald's]

Afterwards, we went to McD’s, and the Americans treated the students. Many of them had never been to McDonald’s, cause it is too expensive, even though it is about 2/3 as expensive as in the states. I treated a girl named Susan who had never been there, to a quarter pounder meal. It was way too big for her to finish.

We took a bus to another bus station. While riding, we saw a beastly monstrosity pass us on the road, and I learned a very important rule to remember about vehicles in china: there is no rule about vehicles in china.

Meanwhile Josh and Chad were making fun of me, because I used the word “parameter” in a normal sentence. Sheesh. We got out at the bus stop, and spontaneously decided to walk to the beach, instead of take the final bus back to the campus.

On the way, I picked up a tag-along. Sunny wouldn’t let go of my camera strap. I didn’t know what to do, because I didn’t want to be rough with her, and jerk it away, but she was obviously enjoying my irritation, and mild attempts of figuring out how to dislodge her:

[Spinning around, w/the camera over my back. Probably my favorite pic of the day.]

Eventually, I solved the problem by letting her take photos with my camera. It was so cool… the look of excitement but puzzlement over the camera. It surprised me that she had no clue what to do with it. I showed her how to take pictures and she ran around snapping:

[I liked this one she took]

There were a group of 4 of us who had fallen behind the rest of the pack – me, Sunny, [person1], and [person2]. I talked w/the other two. I found out later that person2 has an incredibly deep knowledge and memorization of a really important book. They were both really wonderful girls.

We finally got to the beach and caught up with the others. I got my camera back, after Sunny locked the case around a light pole:

I took a lot of photos w/Myron and the students

[Myron and Sharon]

[Myron and Helen]

[Mari and Anna]

[Mari and a group of them]

[I guess they wanted pics w/me too]

[Me and Jeff]

[The beach]

[Josh and a student, I forget her name unfortunately]

[Jeff and Josh at some weird cop calling machine]

Josh decided he was going to go for some sport bargaining – just seeing how low he could get the vendors to go, without actually buying. A little mean, I suppose… but then again, when you see how ridiculously far they drop the price when interacting with a good haggler, you start to wonder what the sellers are trying to pull with their opening offer. At any rate, this happened again:

Another student pointed at her grabbing onto my camera strap, and asked, “what do you call that kind of person?” This question actually bothered me a little… Sunny was obviously very clingy. Later, I asked her if she had brothers or a dad. No to the first, and she didn’t talk much with her dad. Add to that the fact that her school is like, 90% female, and you get a girl that has a giant void of normal male affection in her life.

At any rate, I spent the rest of the evening hanging out with Jeff and Sunny. Jeff was a really cool guy to talk to. Stalwart fellow. I bought a gorgeous shell for 1 kuai (12 cents). I found out later, this was because Sunny told the vendor said she was my “tourist guide.” [and better not rip me off]. Turns out, she is actually studying to be a tour guide.

I finished up this evening watching James Bond (the latest) with Myron and Mari. It’s great. End of a really excellent day.

Day 4 END