Lights, Camera, Pandas!

So, the other day I got news that a panda lantern display had come from Chengdu to Wuhan for all the month of April. I was invited to go with a big ol' group of Chinese friends and American friends. It was amazing, at night of course. In the daylight, it wasn't much. But hey, that's lights.We ate on the "fairgrounds" (it basically was a Chinese state fair, there was even a small roller coaster) of the display which was set in Wuhan's beautiful East Lake Park. I enjoyed some things cooked on a stick and a little bit of the flavor of Sichuan.


 I even managed to get a picture with the coolest guys on the scene. The Muslim chuar grillers. These bad boys were making the big bucks by upping their sales with hip and loud techno beats and a strobe light. It worked, there were crowds gathered and my Tookish side won over and I boldly danced at his side doing a strange arms-out-head-bobbing middle eastern dance.

Blossoms

So recently I saw spring. The trees blossomed with the changes in temperature and on two occasion I spent the day taking them in and capturing photos. It was really good even though the second occasion was marked with rainfall throughout. It was better though because it looked eerie and artistic which being a photography amateur, I'll take it from whatever dishes it out, weather included.

I also felt it. I just can't describe what this winter was like for me looking back. It was kind of like clothing yourself every day knowing that the whole day will be spent outside, even though you'll mostly be indoors. I guess I never really appreciated central heating while I endured "hard" winters in America. But it was really just sprinting to the next heated box, whether it was my dorm room, school building, cafeteria, or car. That's why I could be one of those crazy high schoolers who went around in winter without a jacket. Because I honestly didn't need one. I wasn't outside long enough to feel any considerable amount of cold.
Also I never appreciated that fact that we believe in heating. It just so happened that I was teaching a unit on health. The students would constantly suggest not using heat because it will make you sick. Something to do with temperature change. The only time heat can be used is to heat up water all year round. Is is freezing out??Hot water. OK. Is is hotter than blazes? Hot water. What?!?
Yeah so, multiple times I encountered instances of a perfectly good heater remaining in the corner turned off. Or even more hilarious was when the heater was on but the windows and door were open creating a sizable draft.

But all that's over now and I can barely remember the days of constantly cold hands, and heating up little water sacks and throwing them into my bed a half hour before bedtime. It's all good here and I've got the pictures to prove it.

Vietnam

I realize that this spring festival tell-all has dragged on for far too long. It's actually spring now. So you know its getting old. So I will try to accomplish what I have to say about Vietnam in one swift stroke. 

Getting to Vietnam like the rest of our travels during break was wrought with uncertainty and a severe lack of planning. But it was alright we were going to make it. Somehow. It happened to turn out that somehow meant 4 million dong. Yeah, for a variety of factors, the biggest one being Tet, which is basically the Chinese New Year with a Vietnamese take, we came into Vietnam at one of the worst possible times. The borders were closed which sacked our bis ride plan, and our e-mail visa thing wasn't happening because the approaching holiday and so the workers "couldn't be bothered". So we ended up having to pay more than we wanted to in order to get in. And that's how I became briefly a millionaire. Four million dong for three on-arrival visas. 

Well, airport heinousness behind, we found our place in Ho Chi Minh. We saw a lot of Vietnam-America remnants including the tunnels and a museum. We got suckered into a Mekong delta tour rip-off. And we saw some amazing flower displays for Tet. I must say that for whatever reason, from the time we landed in Vietnam we didn't exactly feel welcome. Our passports were thrown back at us, and the travel agent from which we bought a tour told us all the things we wanted to see in town were closed (They weren't). But I probably over thought it and soon enough we found Ho Chi Minh delightful. But we barely scratched the surface of the historical jewel before we had to continue to Ha Noi.

Hanoi was great. The city was visually historical and a feast for my camera. We navigated through congested french streets all decked out in Vietnam flags and way too many electrical cables. We took in what we could before our two day Ha Long Bay cruise. Ha Long bay was so cool I can't describe it. Although most hoped for good weather, I found the fogginess to only add to the mysterious and mythical feel. When we returned to Ha Noi we dined on Vietnamese cuisine and saw a water puppet show. I would have to say it was interesting and hilarious at the same time. On the one hand it is extremely traditional and has been going on for many years. But on the other hand, you almost wish they would update it a little bit. There was one point in the show where one of the horse puppets, which are little more than wooden puppets with a control stick under the water, broke off and had to be dragged back behind the curtain. But it was very cool to transported back to a mode of entertainment that didn't have to involve electricity. But by far the best part of our trip to Ha Noi was our host. She is a teacher in Ha Noi but and american. She gave us not only the best of Ha Noi but shared with us her life in Indonesia and her new life in Ha Noi and fed us with American food. It was an excellent end to an awesome vacation. 

I say this was the end even though there was till Hong Kong, but the Hong Kong retreat, it is fair to say, was its own beast, which I cannot tell well through this medium. Ask me about it some time. And of course, there are pictures.

Cam bo D ah

After a relaxing stay in Phuket, we made our way to Cambodia, by plane, and bus, and another bus, and then by tuk-tuk finally into the Indiana Jones-y, Tomb Raider-y, Jungle Book dreamland called Siem Reap, which would come in at number one or two on my trip highlights. Bedazzled then at the collection of pictures which will appear in the coming days on my picasa albums for the Temple were a delight.
In preparation for the temples we hired a driver, Johnny, for $15 dollars for the whole day to show us the temples. Our only other preparations were a good night's sleep, and a book which we purchased on the grounds for our benefit so that we might learn about the amazing history we were seeing, walking on, and touching.
The first temple and maybe the most famous was Angkor Wat. And throughout the day I couldn't help but think of Legend of the Hidden Temple, or any adventure movie which takes place in a jungle. This place has inspired so much, its no wonder it was the special grounds for religious affairs. I felt amazed at the lengths they would go for reverence of these false gods. I also felt like a child who wanted to climb every part of it. A strange mix, for sure, but that's the truth.

Pa Tong Beach and James Bond Island

We'll having beaten all the forces stacked against us (traffic, bus confusion, delayed planes, bomb threats, overall costs), we finally arrived in Phuket. Our goals included eat seafood, go to the beach, and maybe do something else, but we didn't want to make the list too hard on ourselves. Phuket was all about relaxing and having absolutely no plan, as opposed to our vague plan. We slept in, went to the beach, and ate great Thai/seafood. But our experience wasn't without any highlights.  

Our hostel happened to be in Pa tong beach beach, which turned out to be a modern Corinth. This was the place people would go for all manner of bad. And the beach was packed to the full, but apparently most visitors like that. I thought for a moment I smelled bacon but alas, it was just the bodies of Europeans being fried. It was packed from one side to the other. I for one prefer the abandoned, secluded beach even if it means cutting back on optimal swimming areas. I really just want to splash around or talk. And so with a little help from our friend Ae, we got directions to a less crowded beach. Kata Noi. Beach Time, Check.

For lunch we usually dined at the same little shop just outside of our hostel. I made a point of eating seafood, and found it satisfying on all accounts. My seafood highlight had to have been our last dinner there. A large number of the restaurants in Pa tong were meager outdoor things with plastic chairs and tables underneath a large tarp, with the kitchen hastily set up right next to it, all of which is right by the road. The best and worst part is bargaining for your supper. The variety of seafood is sitting out on ice for the passers-by to see and become ensnared by the host who will draw you in with assurances of freshness, and a special price for you. The sad part is bargaining system is such that a fair deal never involves two happy parties. At least not on the surface. After one night of getting slightly ripped off, and finding our special price mentioned was not the final bill, we resorted to a little bit of dirty tactics. 

I started into negotiations with one man because he was the first one I saw with sting ray, something I had wanted to try ever since one of its larger cousins took out the crocodile hunter, Steve Irvin. Anything related to the thing that took don't that crazy guy must taste like courage and raw adrenaline. Anyways, I asked for a special price, and while he was conferring with his superior as to how special the price could get, I was offered a better deal by his rival restaurant host. I leveraged the deal and had him throw in some prawns for a discount, along with a special BBQ sauce he would make for me and I was sold and seated before the other guy knew what had happened. And I dined on sting ray which was delightful. Not fishy, but definitely muscular, not as soft as fish but in a good way. 

The last thing worth currently mentioning about Phuket was the James Bond Island tour. It was an all day tour of the small islands to the northeast of Phuket. It is so named because the movie The Man with the Golden Gun was filmed on one of the islands. We saw some monkeys, sea-kayaked into a cave, and saw the famous island, all in a day trip. And that was that. Not too much to tell, and the pictures certainly do more justice but, I did fail to take any good beach pictures to show you Pa Tong or Kata Noi. You'll just have to see it for yourself. 

Destination Thailand

After having finished all desirable business in Kunming, we got our undies in a figurative bundle trying to get to the airport.
We had allotted a good amount of time to get to the airport, the plan was to get a taxi, get in the airport and go. But we forgot one of the things that'll only come up and bite yah when you at the worst time. It was taxi driver switching period. The time of day where the taxi driver is almost done with his shift and does not want to take a trio of sweaty Americans to the airport. We tried, in vain, to get a taxi but the few that would stop were fought over by mobs of Chinese. Our best chances would have been to tackle a mother and pull her child from the seat of the taxi and peel away. But since we weren't those kind of people we resorted to plan B: the Bus. I got directions on the phone through my buddy Cale who was talking to the reception at our hotel. It was just a matter of 2 or 3 buses and you're there.

We made the first bus fine, and late as we were I tried not to look at the time too much, for it would hardly help matters, if we don't make it we don't make it. A tautology, yes, but it made sense; go to a beautiful country by plane or get trapped in an equally beautiful province which is an outdoorsman's dream, as I have previously mentioned, and not just in the Stone Forest. But I still really wanted to go. I like the passports stamps, sue me.

Well we got off and took what was to be our last bus, with no time to spare. Our eyes were peeled for telltale signs of the airport. We were to go three stops. And we did. Hopped off ready to dash and-we were at the same place we were 3 stops ago on the other side of the street. My mind was blown. It was as though all nature was working against us to make sure we don't go. Here might be a good time to mention the e-mail/warning my mother sent me about going to Thailand. It was for a good reason. But we had already had 3 tickets so missing this flight would set off a chain reaction of money loss, and loss of beach time. What would you have done? We went anyway.

Beach time = happiness

Anyways, upon arriving at the same stop on the wrong side of the road, we ran across the busy street, hopped the median, and began flagging down taxi's, and tried to get them to take us to the airport, they all declined, stating a perfectly valid reason in Chinese I'm sure, but to my English hungry ears they were bupkis. Think we were out of time or nearly so I told a man nearby my dilemma and he agreed, three stops away by bus. Thinking it for a fluke, we got back on and tried again. And this time something clicked. The first stop said "airport". The street was under construction and so the bus route had been changed. We had a passed it before. Andy said, "I thought this place looked familiar but I didn't want to say anything."

We high-tailed it into the airport and waited patiently at customs. I was the first to get past, and I went forward to try to stop the plane or at least try to run along and grab the wheel in a very Toy Story 2 like moment. But to my felicitous surprise, the flight was delayed. We would have made it all along. Delayed for a while in fact. So delayed we even got a meal, so delayed we were wondering if we would miss our next flight, but that's another story. This was just a real life lesson from the Father on Matthew 6.

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? I can't. But I have to relearn that lesson every now and then.

Stone Forest

Quite possibly one of the highlights of spring festival was the Stone Forest in Kunming, Yunnan Province. It was an outdoorsman's dream. Really. When outdoorsman dream they imagine this place with awesome paths to follow between and under massive rocks going straight up. It really is so amazing it looks fake.

I can't get over this place. At times it felt like the scene from the Lord of the Rings with the Dead mean from Dunharrow. That was a burst of nerd, but look for it next time you see the movie and you'll know what I mean. If we didn't have so much else to see on that exciting vacation I would have staying there for days. Camp, climb on rocks, pretend. Whatever. It was so cool.

And one of the best parts was that for whatever reason we didn't encounter to many people. For what ever reason most of the visitors didn't go beyond the beginning of the park. Perhaps they preferred to view it from the golf cart that circled the perimeter of the park. More park for us.

I did the math, calculating the amount of time we were in the park with the amount of pictures I took, and it came out to about one picture every 30 seconds. That right there is a testament to whether I like the park or not. And lastly, if I can get this excited about one place on earth then it makes me wonder what the new earth will be like when I go hiking with Chris.

The Kingdom of the Little People

Where to begin. Well we made it into Kunming and ate over/under/crossing the bridge noodles. Which is like make-your-own soup, for freshness' sake. Those were good and then we needed something to do with the rest of the day, we had just eaten lunch. I remembered a very strange place I read about on the internet that I was only half-hearting joking to go see. The kingdom of the little people. It was a supposed land of all little people who put on some sort of show and "live" in little mushroom houses.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold it right there. Nope. No chance. It's wrong to exploit these people just because they are different. No way they'd do that. In America, sure, but here... first, understand this: China is a developing country, not a developed country. In a country where a job and not just the right job is hard to find, when an offer comes up for a guaranteed job with good pay, and accommodations suited to you, you take it. At least these people did. Now they put on a daily variety show which includes singing, dancing, and even a tight rope walker. The situation is played up, trying to show you a 'kingdom of little people' to the point that a king with a gold cape makes an appearance.



From the looks I saw on the performers faces, they were split, some looked bored of the same routine, some loved to be entertainers, some seemed lifeless, and some flat out didn't want to be there. Take it for what it was, some good some bad. But memorable for sure.

Chengdu part duex: The rest

 Welp. The rest of my pictures cannot fully do justice to the beautiful Chengdu. We saw many things with the rest of our time there. Sichuan Opera, a variety act going back hundreds of years including puppets, shadow puppetry, singing, music, many combinations of the two, as well as a comedy routine I couldn't understand.

We cruised the downtown looking at the recently made ancient style architecture (which is slightly oxymoronic, but it works). We ate hot pot again, which is rapidly becoming one of my favorite meals, especially because I love spicy food. We even stumbled upon a Catholic church which featured elements of both European and Chinese architecture. That really means that it looked like a temple without the trimmings and had a chapel slapped on the side.

Maybe now is a good time to mention Andy. and his beard. Andy grew a beard ever since the beginning of No-shave November and by the time our trip started it was looking pretty medieval. He was called by many different people name different names such as: Jew, Swede, Russian, Galileo, Dmitri Mendeleev, and probably others we couldn't understand.

Lastly, I might add, one of the side effects of living in China is of the many things I saw, many would probably interest you but they have become so common place for me that I forget to include it. This isn't really a boast but a misfortune, so if you do see something in a picture, or have heard something comment or email me and I could very well post about it next for the benefit of the readers as far as my limited experience can go.

Black and white and cute all over

After our train ride recovery which included hot pot (spicy stew-your-own-food) and a massage, we made plans to see the famous pandas in Chengdu. The next day we were immersed into the world of pandas and I probably heard more "Aww, how cute" than you'd hear next to a group of high school girls looking at a smiling baby monkey next to a sleeping kitten. But they are strange animals to be sure and they really do just lounge around and eat. To the point that they almost looked set up in certain positions in the park. They will go where the bamboo is and they will just chow down. But they were just so cuuute. There was a moment when a baby panda was stuck trying to climb up, little back feet clawing the air for a foothold that just wasn't there, or when one looked over the edge too far and fell down three feet off its platform, only to be joined by his friend who didn't want to be alone up there. Way to go pandas.

I myself was satisfied with seeing them from a fairly close distance and getting some great pictures of them. But if you really wanted the full experience you could have dropped one thousand kuai (over $120) and gotten a picture while holding a baby panda. Worth it? To some. Not to me. After we seeing the adult pandas and the babies, we moved on to see the red panda, related in name only. It looked like a legitimate Pokemon. That's all  I can saw about it.

At the end of the trip was a museum of the history of the pandas in China, with a very horribly done taxidermied animals section, where eyes appeared to be rotting out of the head of the animals and a flying squirrel was placed on the ground with arms and legs splayed. Not realistic and not even necessary, but then again I couldn't read anything, so maybe there was some relevance to a stuffed ram and a stuffed flying squirrel in a panda museum. My guess is that it was just trying to balance out the cuteness factor of the real guys.

16 Hour Standing Room Train Ride

Well, well, well. They say don't quote the French if you don't know French but I can't help it. This, my friends, may very well be my Pièce de résistance, a masterpiece as far as I'm concerned, on an event which I will continue to tell for years to come because of the struggle and the pain. The memories on it were priceless, and you really can see how long a good mood can last and what it takes to kill it.

This exciting episode actually began the day we set foot in Xi'an. We had decided to get tickets the first day we got there. Man, we were so smart. We went to the ticket office which our hostel had kindly shown to us and we asked for six hard sleepers. Those are the six beds in a room ones, perfect for our party size. They were sold out. In fact, they only had standing room left. A slight chill crept over us all. We had been told by the veterans to avoid standing rooms tickets at all costs. I boldly let fly, "Let's get 'em, I've always wanted to do standing room, just to experience it, ya know?" What a fool I was. Had I so quickly forgotten the stories of ankle smashing carts parading through the aisle every fifteen minutes, smoke stench, and humans crammed in so tightly that even a sardine would feel claustrophobic and a clown car would seem roomy. But we decided to go directly to the stain to get tickets because that was where the real seats were at.

At the station, our hopes were handled like Moe handled Curly: a eye poke, a hair yank, and a slap in the face. In other words: not well. Six standing rooms tickets. Fifteen hours (later we would find out it was actually sixteen). Oh, well, we still had three days before we'd have to worry about that so we just put it on our minds' back shelves and took in Xi'an.

When the time arrived, we had that nervous giddyness/happiness that comes right before something big. We went to board our car, because that's as much as the ticket said. no row. no seat. just a car.

But our car was so full already we got moved to the next car over. Which really just meant they had already crammed everyone in. We walked in and then stopped. We were in, that's it. Bags in hand, the train started off. Fifteen minutes after the train started we finally go the bags stowed away, and we broke out the stools. Little dinky green stools that kept you off the ground. So I'd sit down, put my head down, and- time to get up a cart's coming through. Okay, okay, now put the stool down, sit down, head down- wait guy has to use the bathroom. That happened more times than I can remember. But at least in our trio, Brian, Lauren, and I, spirits were high. While the others had already experienced a stool breakdown before we hit the two hour mark. The sitting and standing. For me, it was basically stand until you wanted to sit and then squat/sit on a stool until my knees ached and then stand again. But all was not complete hell. We had bought great snackies for the ride, I had a pack of oreo's, a snickers, and a 3:00a.m. Budweiser. And there was intense people watching. The section we stool close to was a pack of vagrant men, they smoked right in the middle of the car, played cards loudly very late into the nights, and threw seeds on the floor which usually got me in the back, because I was so close to the ground. But even they were not void of mercy, after the halfway point they allowed Cale and I to sit in one of their seats while they were doing other things.

One of the things we were looking forward to was the fact that logically, in our minds, once the train started, people would continue to get off, leaving towards the end of the journey, whole rows upon which we could lay our sore bodies. But no, when the train stopped, the impossible did a triple-axel. More people got on a seemingly max-capacity train. I held to this thought at times, oh, the memories that will come from this, and it's just once, right? That allowed me to hold out a fairly happy although exhausted mood through the entirety of the trip. And after what seemed like ages and then some, we finally arrived in Chengdu and knew that everything that day would be a little sweeter because of what we had come through.

But if you'd rather just see a video,

Xi'an Part III: Mountain, Muslim, and Miscellaneous

This guy makes kite-flying look easy.

After having seen the place most people will mention when you travel to China we refocused ourselves of what else Xi'an had to offer. There was the might Hua Shan mountain but it was out of our price range so we settled for our next stop Li Mountain. Less grand and picturesque but a great mountain nonetheless. We made the cold climb to the top after we were dropped of by cable car of course, and found out that we weren't so cold anymore after a couple thousand steps. There was a temple on the mountain that strangely spoke of a goddess who made men out of dirt and instituted marriage. Sounds familiar. hmm. 

Hearty lamb and bread soup

     The rest of out time in Xi'an was spent looking at the free things/nearly free things it had to offer including a mosque which looked nothing like what you'd expect, but rather more like a Buddhist temple. We walked around in the Muslim quarter and ate great food. And we eyed up the many knick-knacks for sale and walked past giving them a thousand "no, thank you's" and "bu yao" (I don't want). A pagoda topped it off and we were ready for the exciting phase of our journey.

Looks like we have a photo bomber on our hands!

Warriors of Baked Earth

 Thousands of those guys, no two faces alike. Amazing and yet kinda gives you a funny feeling at the same time. Often times the things we hold up to praise in the ancient times were just the money blowing dreams of a rich guy. The Pyramids, Taj Mahal, Hanging Gardens, and now this, countless faces made for a man's tomb.

   That fact aside, the amount of culture that has been left behind with the whole process is an example of the good coming with the bad. Everything from weapons, hair styles, building design, and battle tactics was preserved in the place that some peasants accidentally stumbled upon when digging for a well. It was a impressiveness that grew on you as you went through the grounds building up to the uncovered army standing in rows. Even more impressive and slightly frustrating is that we see only about one fourth of it. The rest is still underground awaiting better excavation techniques!  Pretty neat though on the whole and made for some great pictures, too.

Commercial

We (actually, I) interrupt your regularly scheduled blog posts to bring to this awesome news from McDonalds in Wuhan, China.

Bacon Mashed Potato Double Beef Burger from McDonald's

It's like tasting a home cooked american meal and a
hamburger--at the same time!

There are no words...only letters, mmmmmmmm!

Xi'an part I: A Good Start

Me, pre-disaster.

There we were, three friends getting ready to embark on the journey of their lives. We had thought our seats were going to be worse. Apparently hard seats in this area were niiiice. I stashed my bag and plopped down in my reclining chair and started reading. I was feeling good. Everyone who had told me traveling in China was easy had apparently not traveled with me. Check, check, check. The finals calls were being made when all of a sudden I heard Andy conversing with a man about his seat. Shanghai, the man said. Foolish man this train is headed for Xi'an, I'm going to see me some Terracotta Warriors. Right? Wait. I felt it, that rush of chemicals your brain sends out along with a chill when you realize something bad is afoot (score, slipped afoot in there).

We were on the wrong train. Andy hurriedly grabbed his bags and scrambled out the door. Our grins of comfort morphed into the grins of foolishness as we ashamedly gathered our things. I was following Andy out when I heard the beeping. The beeping that says the doors were going to close. Then -Shhhhhlllopp!

The doors sealed closed on the train headed in the completely opposite direction of my vacation. "Hey", I said. That was it, Hey. Like that was going to do anything. But it was enough, the conductor who had probably seen plenty of confused foreigners in his time speedily sent word via his walkie that I wanted off. The doors whipped back open and I tottered off. Darin somehow also made it off the train and we hopped on the correct train this time. Sadly this was more like it. A rigid bench that although giving the appearance of comfort actually is one of the most torture-some devices ever created. The seats are surprisingly rigid and no matter what position you may try, you cannot get comfortable for long, especially when you come in anglo-size. But I had books and my imagination on my side which did an amazing job of blocking out my body's signals such as discomfort, hunger, or sleep. Fifteen hours later we arrived in Xi'an, with several pages under my belt and a horibly sore neck, back and bottom. But we were there and that isn't even my worst travel story yet...

Don't miss: Xi'an part II Warriors of Baked Earth

I'm back!

That's right, ladies and gentleman, I'm back in the cold embrace of Wuhan after a month long journey traveling Asia. I'm back like Han Solo from Carbonite, or Gandalf from that long fall, or Edmond Dantes from the Chateau d'If without all that revenge stuff.
At any rate, I've got over 3,000 pictures and a veritable ton of memories/stories I think you'd like to hear. So come sit around the warm glow of your internet device and read of my adventures for the next few evenings as I tell you my tales.

       Oh and here's a few pictures, because I didn't want to start writing yet tonight. I just started school again, which if you've ever traveled for a month or even a few weeks is a very hard thing to come back to, student or teacher. Besides it'll build interest. Because you know this last month and a half of stagnancy did nothing for that.