A Note about Photography
Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 in: News
I was talking to an old college friend the other day, and the subject of photography came up as it often does between us. Cesar Altamirano and I were design colleagues in college, and both shared a passion for the power of imagery. He probably put about as much effort into his photography minor that I dedicated to my Japanese degree, and has since managed to integrate photography into his job at a well-known design firm. 80% of his facebook posts are of photos he’s taken. He does some great work, you should check out his website: www.onigun.com
Being so passionate about it, Cesar always has something interesting to say about the field. I once asked him why he was so diligent in documenting everything around him. His response went something like this:
“I have just a handful of photos of my parents when they were my age, and none of my grandparents. None. I don’t want that for my grandkids, I want them to know what kind of life me and Ann (his fiancee at the time, now his wife) led. I want the future generations to know more about us than we know about our grandparents and great grandparents. Photos are my medium for facilitating that.” (more…)
Strange Encounters
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 in: News, Travel
Although I was trying to get to Beijing the day before school starts, Monday was a holiday so I had a day to kill before the beginning of class. I’m writing this a month after the fact so I’ll just mention the most memorable moment of the day.
Bill and Adrien took me to lunch at the restaurant they lovingly dubbed 拉肚子. Laduzi, Chinese for “diarrhea.” As we were waiting for our meal, I was telling Adrien and Bill about my travels that had brought me to Beijing, showing some of the photos from Enshi and Zhang Jia Jie. I was explaining the elevator at the latter and how ridiculously tall it was, and how funny it was to have a huge elevator in the middle of a national park like that.
Apparently, “ridiculous” is a trigger word that sets off alarms in Chinese people’s minds, because the guy drinking at the table next to us chimed in and randomly started saying how we should be careful cause we never know who might be listening. It took several minutes to realize that he mistook my statement as a bit of a dig at China. After clearing the air, he suddenly became very friendly and bought us a round of Beer. At 2PM. Smiles and nods all around, this was a little weird but there isn’t much refusing Chinese hospitality.
He spoke pretty decent English, albeit with a heavy accent, and confessed that he had lived many years in New Jersey and was headed back there in a few days. His family and business were back in the states, and assured us that New Jersey is a great place we should visit. More smiling and nodding.
During the exchange, a fellow student from our school sat down behind us for lunch. Bill had to leave for an appointment, so Vanessa took his place across the table from me, next to our new friend. A Chinese-Canadian, Vanessa gets it tough as a language student. The businessman was a dismissive of her when he realized that Adrien’s Chinese was better. I kept smiling and nodding when it seemed appropriate. I know he didn’t mean any harm by it, but I didn’t presume to translate his intentions. After all, I had just met the guy. He told me I should stick close to him if I wanted to prosper in life.
He insisted we join him for dinner the next day before he goes back to Jersey, and he could introduce us to some very important government officials he knows. There was no saying no, so he had Adrien exchange info with his driver, whom he praised as a loyal dog. “It’s OK,” he assured us, “he doesn’t understand any English.”
Narrowly escaping a second round of drinks, Adrien and Vanessa asked me if this kind of thing happened to me often. “You get used to it I guess!”
Beijing, Here I Come!
Monday, June 28th, 2010 in: News, Travel
As I stepped off the plane from Guiyang, the realization that I was, at least for the moment, completely alone in a city where I didn’t know the language slowly dawned on me. I had been relying so much on Ben I had managed to stave off this epiphany. Fortunately, I had a vague idea of where I was headed, so with some help from the information desk, I was able to get a ticket for the right bus, and queued up in the huddled masses eager to get out of the airport. The shuttle dropped me off on the North 4th Ring Road by Zhongguancun road, which I would later discover is just southeast of Peking University. I tried asking for directions and got some vague waving and pointing. “Uh, I dunno, it’s that way” is kind of a universal gesture.
I couldn’t get a cab, but to be fair I didn’t try all that hard; I wasn’t really sure if I would be able to convey where I wanted to go, since I only had a vague map and phone numbers that didn’t work. It was only about 10pm, I didn’t mind the walk. After all, it didn’t look that far on google maps on my phone.
About 45 minutes later I was walking down Chengfu road through Wudaokou, a relatively popular spot as it’s located in the midst of a ton of language schools and universities. I found myself hobbling through a full blown night market on the wide street, all of my belongings swaying from side to side in my large backpack, threatening those around me with serious injury. I looked back at my phone, Wudaokou was about halfway to the school’s neighborhood. I trudged on.
The rest of the walk was pretty quiet, but when I got to Zhixinxi Road I turned left and realized the map just kind of threw a pin down in the corner, where there were only restaurants and a few “adult health shops.” Could this be the right place? I walked along, keenly aware that I was no longer sure of my way and that I hadn’t quite fitted my backpack correctly as the full weight of my belongings were now cutting deep into my shoulders. Curse this long back of mine. I walked up and down the street to no avail, and finally tried to ask someone to take a look at the map. Without a blink, he just waved his hand and said “no no no.” A bit crestfallen, I went to the nearest liquor store and tried my luck again. “Well, you want building #3, and we’re at #12, so just walk that way.” It was slightly more helpful than I was expecting, but not by much.
I got back to walking, hoping for some small miracle, which came with a Texan accent.
I interrupted a couple walking out of a nearby cafe “Excuse me, I don’t mean to be rude, but I heard you speaking English and I’m lost.” The Texan identified himself as Dr. Tai and took a look at the map the school had sent me. “Oh, I think the people in the cafe are from the same school.” I couldn’t believe my luck as he led me into the cafe where I met Bill and Adrien, from Sydney and Portland, respectively. I was impressed with their Chinese as they chatted with the owner of the cafe, for whom they were making English playlists for his newest toy: a karaoke machine. “Ma-li-yah-ka-li, who the heck is that?” “OH, Mariah Carey!”
They walked me to the Super 8 hotel behind which hid the small language school, and helped me check in. There was no room yet in the Sushe (student dormitory) behind the hotel, so I was to stay in the Super 8 until further notice. I bid Bill and Adrien good night and promptly collapsed in my room, amazed that I had managed to make it in one piece.
Thus began my adventure in Beijing.
From Guiyang to Beijing
Sunday, June 27th, 2010 in: News, Travel
The train ride from Zhenyuan to Guiyang was surprisingly pleasant, even though we were in a hard berth. The bunk beds were stacked 3 high, and the hallways were overflowing with people who couldn’t afford or couldn’t get reserved seats for themselves. What’s even crazier is although our journey was 5 hours, all of the guys sitting out in the hallway had been on the train since Guangzhou, over 25 hours. That’s quite a journey to take even with a reserved seat. Nevertheless, everyone was in surprisingly good spirits, and the mood elevated even more as we approached Guiyang. The capital of Guizhou, Guiyang is smaller than Wuhan but still a sizeable metropolis with few features to distinguish itself from any other large city in the region. We killed some time in the KFC knockoff next to the train station, our last meal together on this journey.
It finally came time to take my leave, and we walked to the bus stop for the airport shuttle. The guys weren’t staying in Guiyang, so they were heading back to the train station to continue on to Chongking to start the second leg of their trip. Grandpa pressed a 10 yuan note into my hand for the bus. “I said I’d get you to Beijing, now you’re on your own.” I thanked him and Jim and Ben for letting me tag along with them, I got a taste of China that I surely wouldn’t have been able to experience if it weren’t for them, and I really was thankful for the opportunity.
The rest of my flight to Beijing was rather uneventful, but once I got there I knew a new adventure was waiting for me…
The Ancient City of Zhenyuan
Saturday, June 26th, 2010 in: News, Travel
Zhenyuan is a lot like Budapest, in that it is in fact twin cities divided by a river, Ben informs us as our hired car pulls up to our first attempt at finding an available hotel in the city. It seems that this is where the similarities end. It’s a public holiday, which makes this task more difficult than usual. Zhenyuan is a popular tourist destination. The first three hotels are already full, and we were about to move on when Ben snagged the last two rooms in a riverside hotel. The price is almost as much as what we paid for 4-star accommodations in Tongren, and the hotel was clearly not up to snuff, but the situation demanded it. This way of traveling is not without its drawbacks. The view was nice at least. (more…)
Tongren City and the Leisure Center
Friday, June 25th, 2010 in: News, Travel
In order to avoid getting burned out from sitting in the car for too long a stretch, we broke up our longer drives and every few days we spent a night in a town midway between destinations. These towns sometimes provided us with the most memorable experiences. Between Fenghuan and Zhenyuan was Tongren (铜仁), a provincial level city in eastern Guizhou province. 
Walking from the bus stop to our hotel, it was pretty obvious this place didn’t get many foreigners. I already feel like a big turtle, walking around with all of my belongings on my back, but the parade of my older companions pulling their wheeled luggage down the bumpy sidewalk could do nothing but attract curious stares. If it weren’t for Ben, we would have looked very lost indeed. (more…)
Miao Village
Thursday, June 24th, 2010 in: News, Travel
Apparently, our boatsman from the previous day had good things to say about the tours to see the ethnic Miao village nearby. So we found ourselves piling onto a bus with a bunch of Chinese tourists the next day to go visit the Miaos (which, by the way, is probably the cutest name for an ethnic group I’ve ever encountered). 
Our guide was a girl with a small stature and a booming voice, aided by her portable loudspeaker attached to her hip. On the way out she taught key phrases in the Miao language, and led the group in a song. Unable to truly appreciate or understand what was going on, I popped my earphones in and quickly drifted off to sleep. The bus stopped about an hour later in front of a large gate where a crowd had gathered, blocked from passing into the village. As we waited for the rest of the tour groups to arrive, small children loitered about the crowd holding up flower crowns for us to buy. One persistent lad stood in front of Jim for a solid 5 minutes, holding a wreath up with his outstretched hand as he gazed away from us. He eventually got the message and moved on to me and grandpa. (more…)
Fenghuan – Ancient Phoenix City
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010 in: News, Travel
The ancient city in Fenghuan is in a way preserved for tourist amusement; protected from the cranes demolishing the countryside to make way for high-rise apartment buildings. The narrow hutongs are instead choked with tourists and souvenir shops. 
The old buildings still in tact, the experience is instead paved over by the trappings of tourism, hustling to sell the same trinkets as the next five shops. We still wonder how these places manage to stay in business when their wares are the same as each other. A small woman in a straw hat beckons to Ben and asks him if we’re interested in a boat ride on the river. She led us through the winding alleyways past cages of chickens, pheasants and hedgehogs stacked morbidly in front of restaurants. The food chain is cruel and matter-of-fact in China, but in a way it’s more honest than how we experience meat back home.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzdm065DxNA (more…)
Zhang Jia Jie, the real Pandora
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010 in: News, Travel
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeF6By3JQQs
Before I came to China, Ben sent us all en e-mail labeled “Zhang Jia Jie, the real Pandora.” It including some breathtaking photos of a landscape the likes of which I’d never seen before. “Is that where we’re going?” grandpa asked. “If you want.” It was a simpler answer than I expected, but I wasn’t yet familiar with the way grandpa travels.
Fast Forward a couple weeks, and we’re waiting in front of our hotel in the city waiting for our guide. Expecting a grizzled, barrel-chested mountain man, up walks a girl younger than my brother in capri pants with what looks like a press badge around her neck. “Here’s our guide,” Ben announces as I pick my broken expectations off the ground and we pile into the van. The city of Zhang Jia Jie lies between two amazing geological features, the valley known as Zhang Jia Jie, and Tian Men Shan, heaven’s gate mountain. The latter has a large gash in it we saw from the car as we drove into the city. “There used to be Russian stunt pilots who flew his plane through the hole in the mountain,” Ben translated for our driver. “Used to? Why not anymore?” “I’m sure they retired peacefully…” (more…)
Words to Consider
Monday, June 21st, 2010 in: News, Travel
“We need to have a talk.”
I wasn’t sure what was on my grandpa’s mind when he told me that early one morning. We had split the trip to Zhang Jia Jie into two days, staying in Laifeng for a night. We woke up a little early for breakfast, and I had just finished a bit of stretching.
“I’m worried about what you’re doing here. This whole travel thing. It’s one thing to go to Beijing to study Chinese, but then what? Traveling for 9+ months isn’t going to look good on your resume. You seem to think that everyone will just wait for you, but they won’t. The world will keep turning, and when you come back to the real world, you’ll be up against your peers who have been working this whole time, and fresh college grads, hungry for work and willing to do anything for a prospective employer. I’ve said this before: it’s much easier to leave a job than it is to get one.”
I sat on the edge of the bed, carefully weighing his words, rolling them in my hands, nodding solemnly. I’ve had a hard time taking criticism in the past, and I know he could be a lot harsher if he wanted to be, so I see this as an opportunity to really pay attention. It seems that people don’t listen to each other anymore, they’re spending most of the time the other person is talking trying to come up with a reply. I wait until he’s finished before I begin to consider my response. A minute or so passes. Finally I speak.
“I see your point, and this has occurred to me as well to some degree. This is why I have certain goals for each place I visit, although not all of them (like practicing meditation and yoga) are necessarily career-oriented. Your words haven’t fallen on deaf ears, but give me a while to think about how to do something about it.”
“OK, I’m just concerned for you and I don’t want to see you get left behind. Let’s get some breakfast.”
The rest of the day I was a bit pensive, still rolling those words around, trying to see how I could take his advice without sacrificing too many of my goals for this time abroad. I asked Jim what he thought, and he replied with a parable:
“I just bought a brand new sports car; man that thing is fun to drive, it has pickup that would bury your skull into the headrest. Now, I could come up with just about any rationalization for why I bought that car, but in the end I bought it just because I wanted to. It’s OK to be a little selfish sometimes, just don’t bullshit yourself about it.”
I realized that I am indeed being selfish with my plans, even if I am doing this to try to be a better person, I’m on this journey because I want to be. I’m not locked into anything, this journey is an extension of my will. I stop rolling the words around, and make up my mind. I’m going back to Japan to work some more when I’m done in Beijing.
Grandpa’s advice is solid and his concern is genuine. I’m also going to shift my plans to accommodate this return to base; I loved my time in Japan working with Hiro and the guys, and after a few months of earning my keep, I’ll pick the trail back up where I left it off. I still have unfinished business on this continent.
It’s OK to be a little selfish sometimes, just don’t bullshit yourself about it.
