It’s been about three months now since I first arrived in Vientiane, Laos off of a 36-hour sleeper bus from Kunming, China. The time has flown and I sometimes wonder what I’ve been up to all so far. Yet, a great deal has happened and the real difficulty is how to go about telling the story.
Perhaps I ought to start with how I ended up here in the first place. Similar to when I studied in Miami, this is a question I often ask myself and have difficulty understanding. For both places, it seems that it’s been due to the right opportunity, rather than the lure of the place itself. For both places, however, they have quickly grown on me and given me a simple but strong pleasure in my sense of location. In fact, I have come to relish these opportunities to be in places I might not have otherwise ended up in if it was up to pure choice.
My first engagement with the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) was as a one-week side adventure from my 2007 travels in Vietnam, partly so I didn’t have to backtrack in Vietnam, partly to see what’s going on in an unknown land across the border that no one seems to know anything about. While the mystery of the country incited me to go, I soon found myself missing Vietnam and when I had left Laos I didn’t think much about whether I would go back anytime soon..
Yet, while studying abroad in Hong Kong the following year I came across a great research opportunity in Laos. As my primary objective was to gain research experience, the location was less important to me. Through a supervisor’s previous research experience I gained the connections and support to conduct research that I could not have had elsewhere. After I had finished two and a half months of research, I knew I would be heading down an academic path and thus intended to apply for a Fulbright research grant. While I initially wanted to try research in a new place, the deadline was approaching fast making Laos the best choice once again.
So here I am, three months down the road on a Fulbright scholarship to Laos with nothing to complain about. In fact, the experience has amounted to much more than I expected. The Fulbright, like Peace Corps, can be a difficult program as it largely leaves you to your own devices to make the best of what has been given to you; a modest budget, minimum institutional support, and a self-designed project intended to enhance understanding, knowledge exchange, and cultural cross-communication. This is more difficult than it sounds, as can be anything when carried out in a foreign country. The key word is independence and in this aspect having previous experience in Laos has been a huge boon to my work here.
The project I am now conducting is essentially an extension of previous work, which focused on rubber growing contracts between Laotian farming households and Chinese investors (quick clarification: Laotian is the term used when referring to citizens of Lao PDR while Lao is used when referring to ethnic Lao people, i.e., under this system of classification an ethnic Hmong could be termed Laotian not Lao). Although not without its detrimental social impacts, this smallholding model of cash cropping has been heavily promoted by the government as an alternative to a more prominent and more socially disastrous model that is what I am now studying: land concessions.
Although difficult at times to define, a land concession is essentially when the Lao government leases out a large chunk of land (the largest have been up to 50,000 hectares, or approximately 123,548 acres) to a foreign investor for a long period of time (up to 75 years). The uses for such land are quite varied, but most often they are for hydropower (dams), mining, or agro-industry (usually industrial trees such as eucalyptus, jatropha, and rubber). As foreigners are not yet allowed to own land in Laos (this is beginning to change with a new law that is in the process of approval) land rental is the best means of acquiring land for production, and in many ways it doesn’t seem so far from ownership.
You may be wondering, where does all of this land come from and who owns it? This is, in fact, a knotty question and gets to the heart of my research. As Lao PDR is still a communist country (evidenced by the ubiquitous hammer and sickle), all land still technically belongs to the state. However, to leave it there (which is often the case) vastly oversimplifies the complex situation of land tenure and land use in Laos. As the country has engaged in market reforms throughout the last three decades, approaches to land ownership have begun to change. In urban areas, land can now be owned privately. In rural areas (where approximately 80% of the population live and work), a system of land use rights is slowly being put in place. This system theoretically allows for almost all of the same rights as land ownership such, as the right to use land in any way, to rent it, and to sell it. Yet in reality they don’t quite add up to ownership as they are difficult to obtain and just as difficult to hold on to. This is especially apparent when it comes to land concessions, which have been reported by a number of reports and news articles to have given away large amounts of village land, often leaving villagers landless and poorer than before. The intention of my research is to understand how land tenure and land use rights actually play out in the face of land concessions. Hopefully a more nuanced understanding of the role of land tenure can help to find solutions for preventing land loss and mitigating social impacts through compensation and employment security when it does occur.
Well, this sounds like a great project, but what does it mean I’m actually doing day to day? This is another one of those questions I ask myself, especially when I wake up in the morning. In the beginning it was tough to know how exactly to expend my energy every day. After I had taken care of the essentials, such as renting a house and buying a motorbike, I realized I had nowhere to work, and even if I did I wouldn’t know what to do there. Ten months is a long time to conduct a research project so it is essential that what you do is multi-faceted.
Once I got in contact with my local affiliation, the Faculty of Forestry (FoF) at the National University of Laos (NUoL), things started to move along and get easier. They found a desk for me to work at in their research office and I started to get to know the professors and lecturers who were working on various research project, some of which were surprisingly similar to mine and sometimes we even found we had done research in the same villages. Working at FoF gave me a center around which I could orient my activities. Having institutional support has been advantageous in a number of ways. It’s first important to understand that the university in Laos is a government institution and very much an arm of the government (I recently found out that the deans have to go through political ideology training before taking their posts). This point never really dawned on me last summer when I failed to understand how my letter of support from the university allowed me to work so easily with government offices and access villages for interviews. Additionally, the university, and especially FoF, is a well-respected institution within civil society (development) and even private circles.
After establishing my position and workspace I set right to learning as much about the issue as possible. As land concessions were a new issue to me there was plenty for me to read, such as development reports, research papers, newspaper articles, and national laws on land, agriculture, and forestry. Part of my task also included talking to many who have been directly involved with the issue, mostly researchers and NGOs that do work related to land. Through this literature review I have found an incredible amount of information on the topic, much of which seems to go unknown as it is scattered about in many different places. Thus, one of my tasks has been to compile and summarize all of these sources into a type of annotated bibliography to help better inform those doing work related to land concessions, particularly NGOs that belong to an association called the Land Issues Working Group.
This literature review, of course, directly relates to my main project and is very complementary to the fieldwork I will be conducting. In actuality, I have already begun my fieldwork starting with a one-week initial visit a few weeks ago. From my experience last summer I learned that everything you might think you know about a certain topic can change dramatically once you get into the field. While secondary literature provides a great background, it can never delve into the complexities and intricacies of what you experience in the field. Thus, I decided to make this transition a bit easier by conducting a quick trip to my field site, somewhat of a pre-fieldwork trip. I would have liked to stay for longer, but due to issues with acquiring my working visa on time I could not.
However, in such a short time I was still able to accomplish much that has already been incredibly beneficial. The first thing I did was talk to some of the NGOs working in Attapeu (the location of my fieldwork) and surrounding provinces, who have a bit of a different perspective than those stuck in Vientiane. Next, since Attapeu is notorious for being more resistant to outside research than other provinces, it was important to get off on the right foot, which I thought introducing myself early would help to do. It seemed to do the trick as they decided to accept our project. The only hang-up is that we’re required to take a government official with us for every interview. This is actually a regulation throughout the country, but not always enforced depending upon the province and a number of other myriad factors. They also seemed quite open to us considering they gave us all of the data on land concessions in the province we requested and when talking about the issue were very open and direct. Most importantly, it helped me narrow down the exact case study I’ll be looking at and helped me better understand the angle of research I intend to take.
The rest of my time here has been spent carrying out a number of seemingly random activities. The most consistent has been Lao language study. Since I’m too cheap to enroll in language classes (which are already incredibly cheap – it’s amazing what living in a developing country can do to your sense of price!), I’ve been studying privately with friends in exchange for teaching them English, which has seemed to be quite successful as every Lao person keeps telling me Jao wao pasaa Lao geng! (you speak Lao really well!), although they would say the same thing if I could only say Sabaidee (hello). It’s been really enjoyable to be able to converse with the people I live near a little bit more each day. Additionally, it’s already proven useful for my research. I can pick up little pieces of the conversation between my translator and the interviewee, I’ve been able to point out simple words in data sheets, and if I research beforehand can find the accurate translation of technically specific words that will be important for the interview and thus can explain my questions more clearly to my translator.
Applying to graduate school has been another activity taking up my time, although I am fortunately just about finished with that. I’ve kept my list down to my top schools since I’ve decided if I do not get into them nor get the scholarships I’m aiming for I would rather remain here to work for an NGO or development organization rather than go to a school I’m not interested in. Also, I am very, very slowly trying to turn my senior honors thesis into a publishable paper. This has been a bit of a painful process as I am completely new to it and it can be difficult to find supervision. Hopefully it will turn into something more than an exercise in writing and revision. Oh, and of course I can’t forget that I occasionally do my best to help out FoF, since they have been so helpful to me. Mostly this involves writing or editing research funding proposals, and I’m sure at some point reports and papers as well. They would like to have more collaboration but it can be difficult to know exactly how I can work best with them.
Besides all of these activities, I’ve spent my time enjoying the life of Laos. The country’s laid-back attitude has slowly crept up on me. Boh pen yang (no problem or it doesn’t matter) isn’t just a phrase, it’s a way of life. I’m starting to understand how so many foreigners have come here for short-term contracts and eventually made it their home. It may not have the amenities and luxuries of home, the bureaucratic hang-ups might be painfully slow and convoluted, and your skin may turn brown from dust at the end of each day, but Laos must have some of the warmest, friendliest, and smiley-ist people on earth. As one of the only foreigners in my area of town, I often get stared at, but it wasn’t long before I began to feel accepted in my community. In fact it wasn’t long before the women at the market began trying to get me to marry their daughters! (let’s hope for non-socioeconomic reasons). In short, Laos is a wonderful place to be and I’m very much looking forward to the next seven months, if not longer.
I would love to hear from all of you out there. Send me an e-mail at miles.kenney@gmail.com or if you’ve got skype give me a ring at +856 20 781 8517.
All the best,
Miles
Friday, December 4, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
China Blog #2
After getting a nice taste of Chengdu and Sichuan Province, I hopped on a very conveniently newly built express train from Chengdu to Chongqing City. Chongqing used to be a part of Sichuan until it was recently turned into a special municipality, governed directly by the central Chinese government, likely due to its important economic status in the southwest region of the country. Although it is described as another typical, glossy, modern Chinese city, I found it to be much more than that. Unlike most Chinese cities it was not built only according to Feng Shui aesthetics, which are surprisingly dull when it comes to urban planning. Chongqing was built on the comma-shaped, hilly peninsula that juts between where the Jialin and Yangtze Rivers merge. Thus, the physical environment made for a more ad-hoc planning process, creating many curvy, small streets and alleyways throughout the city, which are a delight to explore. Its very easy to get lost in the city, which can be a good thing sometimes. Every street is lined with tiny shops selling all sorts of snacks as well as throngs of people playing games like mahjong and Chinese chess and drinking tea. Despite the intensely modern character of the city, it still felt quite laid back to me.
I also enjoyed the city very much since I was able to meet with some locals who are friends of one of the Chinese girls I met in Seoul. They showed me another spicy hot pot, slightly different from the Sichuan variety, and took me all around the city at night. We actually ended up spending a couple of hours drinking tea in a teahouse and listening to a group play traditional Chinese music, which I just about fell in love with. The next day I intended to visit another Buddhist carving site (it seems I had become a bit addicted to these), which was a couple of hours outside the city. However, right from the get-go everything went wrong. First, I went to the wrong bus station and had to take a cab to the right one on the other city (although I’ll never really know if it was the right one). When I got there some guy approached me asking me where I was going. Usually, I ignore these people, but for some reason I told him I wanted to go to Dazu, the town where the carvings are located. Apparently my pronunciation wasn’t accurate enough for him, as he though he heard me say Dazhou (or at least didn’t care enough to find out exactly where it was I wanted to go). Dazhou, unfortunately, is not a beautiful town surrounded by mountains carved with Buddhist images. It is a huge industrial city in the complete opposite direction of Dazu, not even in Chongqing municipality. Quite unfortunately for me, I did not find this out until I got there. Essentially I spent the whole day (from 10am to 10pm) traveling to the wrong place and back. I guess these things have to happen sometime when traveling in a foreign country.
The next day I tried my best to put that all behind me by exploring the city, which included checking out the Three Gorges Museum with a Chinese woman also staying at the same hostel. The museum is somewhat of a tribute to all of the cultural and environmental loss incurred by the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. However, it was a nice precursor to my 4 day, 3 night cruise down the Yangtze River through the Three Gorges that I embarked on that night. Probably the best part of the cruise was just hanging out on a boat for three days. The first night was especially nice as we got to see the city lit up night, looking quite a bit like Hong Kong with all of the tall, lit-up buildings set against big hills. Once the boat got going down the river I just sat out on the front deck, drinking tea and reflecting on my travels so far as well as what the rest of my trip will be like.
The room that I was staying in was shared by 5 other Chinese, all of whom were great and really made the trip. We got along real well from the start and as they spoke little to no English, my Chinese improved rapidly throughout the trip. For the most part, the actual Three Gorges were not too impressive, as the increased water levels from the dam took away from their previous splendor. However, the lesser three gorges have been preserved a bit more since they lie on a tributary further away from the main river, and to some degree made up for what the bigger version was lacking (despite the name). The Three Gorges Dam has now become one of the touted highlights of the tour, but despite being the largest dam in the world, I wouldn’t say it in any way makes up for what has been lost.
After arriving in Wuhan at the end of the tour I intended to stay there for night, but made another one of my increasingly common impulsive decisions to take the train to Changsha where I had left my sunglasses at Xu’s family’s house. I arrived around 11pm and for some reason couldn’t find the hostel I wanted to stay at. So I ended up staying at comparatively more expensive hotel (at least in China), but which was worth it for all of the amenities after being on a Chinese boat for 4 days. After retrieving my sunglasses from Xu’s house (and getting taken out to another delicious meal by his mom) I noticed that my back was really killing me, presumably from carrying my big bag everywhere, so I went searching for a place to get a massage. Near my hotel I saw a number of people getting foot massages and thought I’d see if they gave back massages. For 20 yuan (about $3) I got the full treatment which included a back massage, foot soak, foot massage, and something similar to a pedicure. Besides the part where the masseuse was painfully pounding on my back, it was very enjoyable, relaxing, and helpful for my back. Soon after, I had to catch my night train to Guilin and since I had been spending a lot of money taking cabs all day I thought I’d take the bus to the train station. This turned out to be a terrible idea. Firstly, the bus took a wildly illogical route through the city with the train station as one of the last stops, and on top of that during the worst traffic hours of the day. At first I was wondering if I would have enough time to get a bite to eat before getting on the train, but soon I was wondering if I’d get on the train at all. After getting off the bus I was literally sprinting towards the gate with bags and sandals flopping all over the place. I soon found out it was to no avail as I had missed my train. I had to go exchange my ticket for a later train which had completely sold out of sleeper beds and I thought I was doomed for another night of standing. However, after getting on the train I was pleased to find out I could upgrade to a sleeper bed, all in all costing double the price I paid for the original ticket. However, I could care less after narrowly avoiding the terrible no-seat ticket.
Guilin and the Yangshuo area turned out to be as incredible as I had always heard. I had always wanted to go to Guilin for the weekend while studying abroad in Hong Kong since it’s only about 12 hours away, but for some reason I never made it. The area looks similar to Halong Bay in Vietnam and Vang Vieng in Laos, but much more dense and spectacular. Everywhere you look there are huge karst peaks jutting out of the ground, looking both strange and beautiful at the same time. I planned on taking a bus from Guilin to Yangshuo and then to Xingping, just outside of Yangshuo where my hostel was located and which is much quieter and relaxed than Yangshuo. However, as I was getting on the bus I got offered a good deal on a boat trip down the river about an hour upstream from Xingping. I hopped on the deal and was soon sitting on a bamboo raft (of course powered by a motor) with my big bag and everything, glasses on, and teeth still not brushed as it was not too long ago I had gotten off the train. I took off my shirt to get my first tan of the trip, leaned back on the boat (which I had all to myself), put my feet into the water and entered paradise as I watched the towering peaks pass me by. It was most definitely one of the highlights of the whole trip. Staying in Xingping was also quite nice. I met some great people at the hostel who I went around the area with, hiking and biking. There was a great little hike right next to the hostel which gave an incredible view of the town, the river, and the many hilly peaks. At sunset it was pure bliss. I also met some Chinese travelers in my hostel room who I went out to dinner with. Many restaurants in China have their fish outside in tanks or buckets allowing you to choose your dinner, but this was the first I had seen that also let you choose the chicken you wanted, which my new friends did without any hesitation. Thus I was able to see my dinner both alive and clucking as well as on my plate.
On the second day, I was biking with an English couple during the morning, but around midday the heat really got to them so they decided to head back while I wanted to continue on. A bit further down the road I stopped at a small shop on the side to buy some water. Right away the two women there (who I soon found out to be sisters) wanted to get to know me and invited me into their family’s house for lunch. I got to meet the whole family and had a delicious lunch with them. After lunch I went with one of the women on her motorbike around the area to see Yangshuo (as I still had not seen this area where most of the tourists stay) as well as some of the other beautiful scenery, like on of the peaks that looks remarkably like a woman praying. Then we went to the market to buy some food to cook for dinner and I made sure that I paid for it to try to give back in some way. That night we ate another wonderful meal and since it was already dark out, the father and the sister drove behind me while I biked home so that I could have some light from the motorbike to see where I was going and not get into an accidently. That day was definitely another highlight.
The next day I was sad to leave the area but had already bought my train ticket in advance and knew that my journey was coming to an end and that I had to be in Laos soon. In Kunming, which is the capital of Yunnan province just north of Laos, I was lucky to have a friend to stay with who I had met in Beijing. I didn’t do much touring of the city and area as I had little time and wanted to rest before the long journey to Vientiane, Laos. After a few days I boarded a 38 hour sleeper bus from Kunming to Vientiane, which surprisingly wasn’t too bad. Having a bed to sleep in definitely made it an improvement from some of the overnight buses I took in Laos last summer. It was definitely a bit strange returning to Laos after spending a month in China. I actually experienced a bit of a culture shock due to the vast difference in cultural attitudes between the two societies as well as the huge gap in development. However, after a few days in Vientiane I began to get used to Laos again, and even started to remember some of the language I had learned last summer.
Now I have been in Vientiane for about two weeks and have gotten quite settled in. I moved into a small apartment last week near the university. The location is for the most part ideal since I am near the university, a great market, temples, as well as my friends from last summer. The only disadvantage is that to get to the center of the city is about a 25 minute motorbike ride, but all in all that’s not a high price to pay for all of the other benefits. Also since I’m living outside the city a bit I live right next to a bunch of gardens and agricultural fields as well as a nice pond. I am in a small apartment building (only one story) surrounded by students so I always have company. I also bought a motorbike last week which has been very convenient for getting around quickly. I am still in the process of getting some sort of routine. Since my project is independent and therefore I have no set things to do every day, this can be a bit difficult at times. However, I am beginning to discipline myself to work hard on my research and Lao language during the day, relax at night, and do something fun on the weekends. I’ve already met a lot of great people and always have something fun to do on my free time. So far everything has been great and hopefully will continue to be.
Please do write to me at miles.kenney@gmail.com. I would love to hear from everyone.
Sincerely,
Miles
I also enjoyed the city very much since I was able to meet with some locals who are friends of one of the Chinese girls I met in Seoul. They showed me another spicy hot pot, slightly different from the Sichuan variety, and took me all around the city at night. We actually ended up spending a couple of hours drinking tea in a teahouse and listening to a group play traditional Chinese music, which I just about fell in love with. The next day I intended to visit another Buddhist carving site (it seems I had become a bit addicted to these), which was a couple of hours outside the city. However, right from the get-go everything went wrong. First, I went to the wrong bus station and had to take a cab to the right one on the other city (although I’ll never really know if it was the right one). When I got there some guy approached me asking me where I was going. Usually, I ignore these people, but for some reason I told him I wanted to go to Dazu, the town where the carvings are located. Apparently my pronunciation wasn’t accurate enough for him, as he though he heard me say Dazhou (or at least didn’t care enough to find out exactly where it was I wanted to go). Dazhou, unfortunately, is not a beautiful town surrounded by mountains carved with Buddhist images. It is a huge industrial city in the complete opposite direction of Dazu, not even in Chongqing municipality. Quite unfortunately for me, I did not find this out until I got there. Essentially I spent the whole day (from 10am to 10pm) traveling to the wrong place and back. I guess these things have to happen sometime when traveling in a foreign country.
The next day I tried my best to put that all behind me by exploring the city, which included checking out the Three Gorges Museum with a Chinese woman also staying at the same hostel. The museum is somewhat of a tribute to all of the cultural and environmental loss incurred by the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. However, it was a nice precursor to my 4 day, 3 night cruise down the Yangtze River through the Three Gorges that I embarked on that night. Probably the best part of the cruise was just hanging out on a boat for three days. The first night was especially nice as we got to see the city lit up night, looking quite a bit like Hong Kong with all of the tall, lit-up buildings set against big hills. Once the boat got going down the river I just sat out on the front deck, drinking tea and reflecting on my travels so far as well as what the rest of my trip will be like.
The room that I was staying in was shared by 5 other Chinese, all of whom were great and really made the trip. We got along real well from the start and as they spoke little to no English, my Chinese improved rapidly throughout the trip. For the most part, the actual Three Gorges were not too impressive, as the increased water levels from the dam took away from their previous splendor. However, the lesser three gorges have been preserved a bit more since they lie on a tributary further away from the main river, and to some degree made up for what the bigger version was lacking (despite the name). The Three Gorges Dam has now become one of the touted highlights of the tour, but despite being the largest dam in the world, I wouldn’t say it in any way makes up for what has been lost.
After arriving in Wuhan at the end of the tour I intended to stay there for night, but made another one of my increasingly common impulsive decisions to take the train to Changsha where I had left my sunglasses at Xu’s family’s house. I arrived around 11pm and for some reason couldn’t find the hostel I wanted to stay at. So I ended up staying at comparatively more expensive hotel (at least in China), but which was worth it for all of the amenities after being on a Chinese boat for 4 days. After retrieving my sunglasses from Xu’s house (and getting taken out to another delicious meal by his mom) I noticed that my back was really killing me, presumably from carrying my big bag everywhere, so I went searching for a place to get a massage. Near my hotel I saw a number of people getting foot massages and thought I’d see if they gave back massages. For 20 yuan (about $3) I got the full treatment which included a back massage, foot soak, foot massage, and something similar to a pedicure. Besides the part where the masseuse was painfully pounding on my back, it was very enjoyable, relaxing, and helpful for my back. Soon after, I had to catch my night train to Guilin and since I had been spending a lot of money taking cabs all day I thought I’d take the bus to the train station. This turned out to be a terrible idea. Firstly, the bus took a wildly illogical route through the city with the train station as one of the last stops, and on top of that during the worst traffic hours of the day. At first I was wondering if I would have enough time to get a bite to eat before getting on the train, but soon I was wondering if I’d get on the train at all. After getting off the bus I was literally sprinting towards the gate with bags and sandals flopping all over the place. I soon found out it was to no avail as I had missed my train. I had to go exchange my ticket for a later train which had completely sold out of sleeper beds and I thought I was doomed for another night of standing. However, after getting on the train I was pleased to find out I could upgrade to a sleeper bed, all in all costing double the price I paid for the original ticket. However, I could care less after narrowly avoiding the terrible no-seat ticket.
Guilin and the Yangshuo area turned out to be as incredible as I had always heard. I had always wanted to go to Guilin for the weekend while studying abroad in Hong Kong since it’s only about 12 hours away, but for some reason I never made it. The area looks similar to Halong Bay in Vietnam and Vang Vieng in Laos, but much more dense and spectacular. Everywhere you look there are huge karst peaks jutting out of the ground, looking both strange and beautiful at the same time. I planned on taking a bus from Guilin to Yangshuo and then to Xingping, just outside of Yangshuo where my hostel was located and which is much quieter and relaxed than Yangshuo. However, as I was getting on the bus I got offered a good deal on a boat trip down the river about an hour upstream from Xingping. I hopped on the deal and was soon sitting on a bamboo raft (of course powered by a motor) with my big bag and everything, glasses on, and teeth still not brushed as it was not too long ago I had gotten off the train. I took off my shirt to get my first tan of the trip, leaned back on the boat (which I had all to myself), put my feet into the water and entered paradise as I watched the towering peaks pass me by. It was most definitely one of the highlights of the whole trip. Staying in Xingping was also quite nice. I met some great people at the hostel who I went around the area with, hiking and biking. There was a great little hike right next to the hostel which gave an incredible view of the town, the river, and the many hilly peaks. At sunset it was pure bliss. I also met some Chinese travelers in my hostel room who I went out to dinner with. Many restaurants in China have their fish outside in tanks or buckets allowing you to choose your dinner, but this was the first I had seen that also let you choose the chicken you wanted, which my new friends did without any hesitation. Thus I was able to see my dinner both alive and clucking as well as on my plate.
On the second day, I was biking with an English couple during the morning, but around midday the heat really got to them so they decided to head back while I wanted to continue on. A bit further down the road I stopped at a small shop on the side to buy some water. Right away the two women there (who I soon found out to be sisters) wanted to get to know me and invited me into their family’s house for lunch. I got to meet the whole family and had a delicious lunch with them. After lunch I went with one of the women on her motorbike around the area to see Yangshuo (as I still had not seen this area where most of the tourists stay) as well as some of the other beautiful scenery, like on of the peaks that looks remarkably like a woman praying. Then we went to the market to buy some food to cook for dinner and I made sure that I paid for it to try to give back in some way. That night we ate another wonderful meal and since it was already dark out, the father and the sister drove behind me while I biked home so that I could have some light from the motorbike to see where I was going and not get into an accidently. That day was definitely another highlight.
The next day I was sad to leave the area but had already bought my train ticket in advance and knew that my journey was coming to an end and that I had to be in Laos soon. In Kunming, which is the capital of Yunnan province just north of Laos, I was lucky to have a friend to stay with who I had met in Beijing. I didn’t do much touring of the city and area as I had little time and wanted to rest before the long journey to Vientiane, Laos. After a few days I boarded a 38 hour sleeper bus from Kunming to Vientiane, which surprisingly wasn’t too bad. Having a bed to sleep in definitely made it an improvement from some of the overnight buses I took in Laos last summer. It was definitely a bit strange returning to Laos after spending a month in China. I actually experienced a bit of a culture shock due to the vast difference in cultural attitudes between the two societies as well as the huge gap in development. However, after a few days in Vientiane I began to get used to Laos again, and even started to remember some of the language I had learned last summer.
Now I have been in Vientiane for about two weeks and have gotten quite settled in. I moved into a small apartment last week near the university. The location is for the most part ideal since I am near the university, a great market, temples, as well as my friends from last summer. The only disadvantage is that to get to the center of the city is about a 25 minute motorbike ride, but all in all that’s not a high price to pay for all of the other benefits. Also since I’m living outside the city a bit I live right next to a bunch of gardens and agricultural fields as well as a nice pond. I am in a small apartment building (only one story) surrounded by students so I always have company. I also bought a motorbike last week which has been very convenient for getting around quickly. I am still in the process of getting some sort of routine. Since my project is independent and therefore I have no set things to do every day, this can be a bit difficult at times. However, I am beginning to discipline myself to work hard on my research and Lao language during the day, relax at night, and do something fun on the weekends. I’ve already met a lot of great people and always have something fun to do on my free time. So far everything has been great and hopefully will continue to be.
Please do write to me at miles.kenney@gmail.com. I would love to hear from everyone.
Sincerely,
Miles
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Return to China, Pt. 1
Recently, the Great Firewall of China has become stronger than ever, partially due to the Tibetan and Uighur uprisings of the past few years. First, I was surprised to find facebook blocked (yet slightly relieved to have a cured for my addiction), but then I was even more appalled to learn that the site I use to post my travel blog had also been blocked. Blocking facebook seemed a bit extreme, yet I could still understand because the government’s motives since it is a useful tool for the organization of social movements, but blogger.com? I just didn’t get it. Perhaps it is because it is owned by google and China has had some beef with google for whatever reason. Anyways, that is the reason why I haven’t updated my blog for the last month or so. So, now get ready for a dumpload of traveling and adventures.
After I had said good-bye to my friends in Seoul, I embarked upon the return trip to China, again by the same ferry between Incheon, Korea and Tianjin, China. This time, however, I planned a bit more ahead, arriving at the ferry terminal with plenty of time to spare. While this ferry ride wasn’t as eventful as the previous one, there was still plenty to keep me entertained for 25 hours. Instead of meeting a wild Dutchman and a sweet Korean girl, I used my arms and legs to converse with an ajashi (middle-aged Korean woman) and spent the rest of the time getting to know a young couple from Texas who were finally on their journey of a lifetime and a Bulgarian of Turkish descent attaining his PhD from a university in Japan. As this ferry had departed in the evening rather than morning, we arrived in Tianjin the next night not quite knowing where we were going. Finally, after reviving my Chinese, which seemed to have gone into hibernation while in Korea, we were able to find our hostel and crash for the night. The next day we left for Beijing, leaving our Bulgarian chemist behind, who wanted to check out some of Tianjin’s beaches before attending his conference in Beijing.
In Beijing I parted ways with the Texans, as I had had enough of the city for one trip. That evening I hopped on a seven hour train, dropping me off in Datong at 1am, which was horrible timing on my part. While on the train I had read that Datong wasn’t too friendly of a city at night, which freaked me out a bit before arriving. However, this didn’t seem to be much of the case at all as long as I tried to hold onto a tough attitude, if not appearance. I didn’t have much of an idea of where I would stay, mostly because I lacked confidence in my 2001 guidebook, yet this mattered little as a number of women haggled me to stay at their hotels. After determining the cheapest option I finally caught some sleep, not knowing until the next day that it was indeed the place I had read of in the guidebook (although I didn’t get the rated I wanted until the next day as well). Datong is located to the northwest of Beijing and in itself is a terrible city. Since the surrounding area is quite arid, it has never had a strong agricultural base, only now finding productive activity in its large coal reserves. This has in turn led it to become one of the dirtiest and most polluted cities of China. There is construction occurring literally everywhere. At the end of a day on Datong you are completely covered in filth. In your mouth you can even taste and feel the dirt on your tongue and teeth. When you shower at night (since doing so in the morning is pointless), the water flowing off of your body and down the drain is distinctively brown.
However, despite all of these down points, Datong is a great place from which to see two of the best sites in China, both located not far outside of the city. The first is the Yungang Caves, one of the earliest examples of Buddhist cave art in China, created not long after Buddhism was imported to China from India. The caves were created around the 5th and 6th centuries AD by the Northern Wei dynasty, before their capital shifted to Luoyang of Henan province. At the site there are probably hundreds of caves, many of which are very small, but some of which are just huge. They house an incredible amount of Buddhist sculptures, all of which have been carved out of the Cliffside and for the most part, well preserved. I was amazed by both the size and detail so many of the statues contained. It was most surely a great sight to start off my return trip to China.
That night I was fortunate enough to meet some very beatnick Irish art students after switching to a dorm bed in the hotel. They had just finished teaching English in Guangdong Province for the summer and were also very impressed by the fine artistry of the caves. The n ext day we ventured together to the second great site of the Datong area, the Hanging Temple. To me, this is still one of the top sights of China, which makes me wonder why some guidebooks (rhyming w/ Clonely Janet) give it such a low rating. Originally the temple was built on the banks of a river in a deep valley with cliffs on both sides. However, due to frequent flooding, the monks decided that instead of moving the temple to another area they would move it up. Using an ingenious system of beams and stilts protruding from the Cliffside they built one of the most creative (and dangerous!) temples I have ever seen. As you meander carefully through the tiny passageways, you can’t help but wonder how it has survived all these years without smashing into the river below.
The next day I left Datong for the clean air of Wutai Shan, a national preservation area (meaning it has an insanely high entrance fee), famous for its immense number of Buddhist temples and beautiful alpine scenery covering its five huge peaks. I spent the first afternoon exploring some of the many temples, which besides being littered with tourists were some of the most peaceful, as well as aesthetically pleasing I had and still have visited in China. The best part of the temples is that they aren’t just relics of the past, but are still actively in use by monks and nuns, which is a bit rare for China. As you stroll through the grounds you can’t help but rubbing elbows with them. They often wanted to know my nationality (as is inevitably the first question received while in China) and upon finding out I’m American were for some reason very happy. Some of the monks I talked to were Tibetan, marked by their maroon robes with yellow sashes, who surprisingly started talking rapidly about the Dalai Llama, and presumably how they liked that he is welcomed and honored in the US. At night, the town was considerably sleepy, since its only real function is as a place for tourists to stay. However, on the main drag there were a number of shops playing beautiful Tibetan religious music as well as selling associated religious items, many of which I would have bought if I didn’t have to lug them around for the coming month.
I planned on doing somewhat of a large hike, at least part way up the northernmost peak, the next day, yet it kind of failed due to the poor weather and my lack of planning. Despite not making any significant ascents, I spent most of the day trekking through the hills on what I had at first thought were hiking trails, but later found out to be paths for farmers’ cattle (which I figured out by the many cow patties I almost stepped in). Nevertheless, I had a nice wandering with equally as nice scenery to accompany. I returned to the town in the mid-afternoon with enough time for another pseudo-hike up 1,000 steps to a temple overlooking the valley within which the main town lies. The next day I caught a bus to Pingyao, which is also of Shanxi Province, located about four hours southwest. On the bus I happened to sit next to a very animated old monk, who taught me how to crack walnuts with my hands and tried to tell me many things about Buddhism, which I didn’t understand due to the language barrier.
Like most Chinese cities, Pingyao has a long history. Unlike other cities, however, it has unintentionally resisted modernization by lacking any productive activity that is useful in the 20th century, that is until now, as a tourist center. Its appeal lies in that within the city walls it looks much like it would during the Ming dynasty of the 15th and 16th centuries. All of the buildings are of that era’s architectural style and throughout much of the old city no vehicles are allowed, giving it a laid-back and historic atmosphere. It looks like what most people imagine a Chinese city to look like before coming to China. While Pingyao is certainly a great city to hang out in, most of the sites can be seen in a day and a half so I didn’t feel the need to linger long. Yet one of the most amazing sites was on which was yet again not highly esteemed in the guidebooks, and which I really only visited on a whim. This was Shuanglin Si, another Buddhist temple, but this time it was derelict in such a way that I was creeped out by the atmosphere and the many statues, for which it is known. Perhaps it was due to the combination of the absence of visitors that day and the misty weather. More significant, however, was the state of the statues, which still gives me the shivers to think about. None had received any restoration work, and were all the more powerful for that. There was one room in particular that made me shudder, yet in a childish and giddy way. It was an exciting type of fear, which I wanted to both cultivate and face by staying in the room and staring at the sculptures for as long as possible. The faces of the statues were crumbling in such a way that it looked as if each one was staring me down as I walked about the room. I half expected them to be moving behind my back and then remaining still each time I turned back to look at them. After taking a photon of one I looked back at it and noticed a red sashel around its neck, which I hadn’t seen before. Freaked out, I quickly turned my camera on and was assured to see that the sashel was also in the picture. Upon returning to the city I was left with a lofty feeling that remained with me for the rest of the day.
In order to save both time and money I decided to take an overnight train to my next destination instead of spending another night in Pingyao. As per my usual mode of traveling, I arranged this with little to no planning. Instead of booking a sleeper bed ticket earlier in the day I decided it would be best to wing it and buy my ticket upon arrival at the train station. While I knew that there probably wouldn’t be any beds available I had heard of the possibility of buying a seated ticket and upgrading to a bed when on the train. What I hadn’t accounted for was all of the seated tickets being sold out as well. I had to resort to buying a type of ticket that is unique to China, as far as I know (perhaps India also). It is known as the no-seat or standing ticket, one of the cheapest, but certainly most uncomfortable, ways to travel in China. Still, I somehow had great hope in my ability to upgrade my ticket. However, I soon learned that this hope was founded upon false grounds. Not only were there no sleeper beds available to upgrade to, but no seats as well. It seemed that I was doomed to stand for 10 hours. Fortunately, for the first 25 hours (1am-3:30am) the occupants of the seats had yet to board and I was able to have a short, but critically important nap. I was soon awoken by the person whose seat I was sleeping in, but once again I was lucky enough to have the people in that sweat squish over allowing me to place half a cheek down. Yet this soon became less comfortable than standing, so I resumed my previous upright position for the next few hours. Sometime in the early morning, soon after the sun had risen, a box that someone had been sitting on in the aisle became free and I once again had a place to sit, which I traded off with other from time to time. Somehow I got through it all, arriving in Luoyang of Henan Province at 11am. However, this was not before I experienced one of the strangest sights I’ve ever seen in China, and most certainly on a train ride. At about 9 or 10am I was alarmed to see a man whose arms ended about halfway between his shoulders and elbows, standing on a seat above the crowd yelling something in Chinese to everyone. Although what he was yelling was incomprehensible to me, it seemed as if he was blaming everyone for the loss of his arms, or at least trying to make them feel guilty for having what he did not. He followed this by running through the aisle continuing to yell while pointing his stubs at various passengers. After he had finished with this, a midget (I’m sorry if this is not the politically correct word, I’m not quite sure what is, so please do tell me if you know) joined him. As they shoved their way through the aisle, the midget was holding a wad of cash, also yelling and pointing at everyone he passed, as well as soliciting money from them, presumably as society’s compensation for their physical disadvantage. As the midget came up to some guy near me, that guy tried his best to ignore the midget’s request. Upon seeing this, the midget slapped that guy’s hand with the wad of cash prompting him to give up a 1 yuan note. Somehow I was reminded of bandits, con artists, and railroads of the American Wild West.
After arriving in Luoyang I could not believe how incredibly horrendous my clothes reeked. They smelled like a horrible combination of multiple types of smoke, sweat, and urine. Anyhow, I was absolutely exhausted having gotten hardly any sleep the night before (and therefore negating the whole purpose of the overnight train). Once I had checked into the hostel, which was really a hotel that put a bunch of beds into one of the rooms to attract backpackers, I passed out for a few hours.
The next day I set out for a the Longmen caves, which are as, if not more, brilliant as the Yungang Caves. In fact, they are somewhat of a continuation of the Yungang Caves after the Northern Wei moved their capital here from Datong, making the artistic progression between the two sites quite interesting. The most obvious difference was size. The most spectacular statues of Buddha and his attending bodhisattvas just tower above you. Despite the continuously crappy weather, it was an awe-inspiring sight.
After exhausting the only reason I had to visit Luoyang I took an overnight train to Xi’an. This time, however, I learned from my previous mistake and booked a sleeper bed ahead of time, resulting in a very comfortable and enjoyable ride. In Xi’an, I was lucky enough to have an old friend, Charlie, who had stayed at our house 9 years ago on an exchange trip. Charlie and his wife were extremely hospitable to me, which was a huge relief after a previously tough bout of traveling. Not only did he pick me up from the train station, host me in his house, and treat me to delicious Xi’an style food, he went out of his way to drive me to the famous Terracotta Warriors outside town, waited for 2 hours while I walked around, and drove me back. I was truly grateful.
The warriors themselves, were surprisingly unimpressive to me. Perhaps it is partly because they’re built up to be one of the greatest sights in China, if not the world, and partly because of the insane amount of tourists. Either way I found the story behind them and their historical significance, as well as the continuing archaeological excavation, to be much more interesting than the sight itself. Only about 1/8th of the warriors have been excavated, so perhaps once it is complete it will be the impressive sight it is made out to be. Fortunately, Xi’an is a nice city, especially the intimate market streets of the Muslim quarter, where Xi’an’s Hui minority (Chinese Muslims) live. The area houses China’s largest mosque, which is an incredible mix of Chinese and middle eastern architecture, design, and artwork. There is also an incredible variety of snacks and deserts in the area which are much different from the typical Chinese choices. I also spent a great deal of my time in Xi’an relaxing, re-charging my batteries, studying Chinese, and just reading, all of which helped me gear up for the next leg of my journey, starting in Chengdu, Sichuan province.
Sichuan has always called to my imagination, largely because of its intensely spicy and unique cuisine as well as its mountainous topography, located at the edge of China proper, bordering Tibetan and Turkic regions. The capital, Chengdu, is one of the more laid back capitals of China. Despite looking like another huge, modern Chinese metropolis at first glance, it is still very distinct with pockets of old town areas, small streets, and a lively culture of teahouses, mahjong, and Sichuan opera. I was fortunate to make some Chinese friends here through a connection of Charlie’s. They showed me around the city as well as taking me to eat some of Sichuan’s famous food, most notably the super spicy hot pot. They also helped me add a few new dishes to my ‘weird foods I’ve eaten in Asia’ list. These include pig’s feet (supposedly good for the skin) and duck’s tongue, both of which were actually quite tasty. They were also kind enough to treat me to Sichuan opera, apparently quite different from the Beijing variety (which I have yet to see). In Sichuan, I also had the chance to see two of china’s most famed sights. One was the giant pandas and their cute cubs at the Giant Panda Breeding Research Center. The other was the Giant Buddha, the world’s largest carved Buddha, standing at 71m tall, originally intended to protect fisherman from the rough waters it looks over. After spending a few days there, Chengdu has definitely made it onto my short list of places in China I might like to live, along with Xi’an and Kunming.
Since there is quite a bit more to tell I'll save the rest for the next post. Hope you've enjoyed - Miles
After I had said good-bye to my friends in Seoul, I embarked upon the return trip to China, again by the same ferry between Incheon, Korea and Tianjin, China. This time, however, I planned a bit more ahead, arriving at the ferry terminal with plenty of time to spare. While this ferry ride wasn’t as eventful as the previous one, there was still plenty to keep me entertained for 25 hours. Instead of meeting a wild Dutchman and a sweet Korean girl, I used my arms and legs to converse with an ajashi (middle-aged Korean woman) and spent the rest of the time getting to know a young couple from Texas who were finally on their journey of a lifetime and a Bulgarian of Turkish descent attaining his PhD from a university in Japan. As this ferry had departed in the evening rather than morning, we arrived in Tianjin the next night not quite knowing where we were going. Finally, after reviving my Chinese, which seemed to have gone into hibernation while in Korea, we were able to find our hostel and crash for the night. The next day we left for Beijing, leaving our Bulgarian chemist behind, who wanted to check out some of Tianjin’s beaches before attending his conference in Beijing.
In Beijing I parted ways with the Texans, as I had had enough of the city for one trip. That evening I hopped on a seven hour train, dropping me off in Datong at 1am, which was horrible timing on my part. While on the train I had read that Datong wasn’t too friendly of a city at night, which freaked me out a bit before arriving. However, this didn’t seem to be much of the case at all as long as I tried to hold onto a tough attitude, if not appearance. I didn’t have much of an idea of where I would stay, mostly because I lacked confidence in my 2001 guidebook, yet this mattered little as a number of women haggled me to stay at their hotels. After determining the cheapest option I finally caught some sleep, not knowing until the next day that it was indeed the place I had read of in the guidebook (although I didn’t get the rated I wanted until the next day as well). Datong is located to the northwest of Beijing and in itself is a terrible city. Since the surrounding area is quite arid, it has never had a strong agricultural base, only now finding productive activity in its large coal reserves. This has in turn led it to become one of the dirtiest and most polluted cities of China. There is construction occurring literally everywhere. At the end of a day on Datong you are completely covered in filth. In your mouth you can even taste and feel the dirt on your tongue and teeth. When you shower at night (since doing so in the morning is pointless), the water flowing off of your body and down the drain is distinctively brown.
However, despite all of these down points, Datong is a great place from which to see two of the best sites in China, both located not far outside of the city. The first is the Yungang Caves, one of the earliest examples of Buddhist cave art in China, created not long after Buddhism was imported to China from India. The caves were created around the 5th and 6th centuries AD by the Northern Wei dynasty, before their capital shifted to Luoyang of Henan province. At the site there are probably hundreds of caves, many of which are very small, but some of which are just huge. They house an incredible amount of Buddhist sculptures, all of which have been carved out of the Cliffside and for the most part, well preserved. I was amazed by both the size and detail so many of the statues contained. It was most surely a great sight to start off my return trip to China.
That night I was fortunate enough to meet some very beatnick Irish art students after switching to a dorm bed in the hotel. They had just finished teaching English in Guangdong Province for the summer and were also very impressed by the fine artistry of the caves. The n ext day we ventured together to the second great site of the Datong area, the Hanging Temple. To me, this is still one of the top sights of China, which makes me wonder why some guidebooks (rhyming w/ Clonely Janet) give it such a low rating. Originally the temple was built on the banks of a river in a deep valley with cliffs on both sides. However, due to frequent flooding, the monks decided that instead of moving the temple to another area they would move it up. Using an ingenious system of beams and stilts protruding from the Cliffside they built one of the most creative (and dangerous!) temples I have ever seen. As you meander carefully through the tiny passageways, you can’t help but wonder how it has survived all these years without smashing into the river below.
The next day I left Datong for the clean air of Wutai Shan, a national preservation area (meaning it has an insanely high entrance fee), famous for its immense number of Buddhist temples and beautiful alpine scenery covering its five huge peaks. I spent the first afternoon exploring some of the many temples, which besides being littered with tourists were some of the most peaceful, as well as aesthetically pleasing I had and still have visited in China. The best part of the temples is that they aren’t just relics of the past, but are still actively in use by monks and nuns, which is a bit rare for China. As you stroll through the grounds you can’t help but rubbing elbows with them. They often wanted to know my nationality (as is inevitably the first question received while in China) and upon finding out I’m American were for some reason very happy. Some of the monks I talked to were Tibetan, marked by their maroon robes with yellow sashes, who surprisingly started talking rapidly about the Dalai Llama, and presumably how they liked that he is welcomed and honored in the US. At night, the town was considerably sleepy, since its only real function is as a place for tourists to stay. However, on the main drag there were a number of shops playing beautiful Tibetan religious music as well as selling associated religious items, many of which I would have bought if I didn’t have to lug them around for the coming month.
I planned on doing somewhat of a large hike, at least part way up the northernmost peak, the next day, yet it kind of failed due to the poor weather and my lack of planning. Despite not making any significant ascents, I spent most of the day trekking through the hills on what I had at first thought were hiking trails, but later found out to be paths for farmers’ cattle (which I figured out by the many cow patties I almost stepped in). Nevertheless, I had a nice wandering with equally as nice scenery to accompany. I returned to the town in the mid-afternoon with enough time for another pseudo-hike up 1,000 steps to a temple overlooking the valley within which the main town lies. The next day I caught a bus to Pingyao, which is also of Shanxi Province, located about four hours southwest. On the bus I happened to sit next to a very animated old monk, who taught me how to crack walnuts with my hands and tried to tell me many things about Buddhism, which I didn’t understand due to the language barrier.
Like most Chinese cities, Pingyao has a long history. Unlike other cities, however, it has unintentionally resisted modernization by lacking any productive activity that is useful in the 20th century, that is until now, as a tourist center. Its appeal lies in that within the city walls it looks much like it would during the Ming dynasty of the 15th and 16th centuries. All of the buildings are of that era’s architectural style and throughout much of the old city no vehicles are allowed, giving it a laid-back and historic atmosphere. It looks like what most people imagine a Chinese city to look like before coming to China. While Pingyao is certainly a great city to hang out in, most of the sites can be seen in a day and a half so I didn’t feel the need to linger long. Yet one of the most amazing sites was on which was yet again not highly esteemed in the guidebooks, and which I really only visited on a whim. This was Shuanglin Si, another Buddhist temple, but this time it was derelict in such a way that I was creeped out by the atmosphere and the many statues, for which it is known. Perhaps it was due to the combination of the absence of visitors that day and the misty weather. More significant, however, was the state of the statues, which still gives me the shivers to think about. None had received any restoration work, and were all the more powerful for that. There was one room in particular that made me shudder, yet in a childish and giddy way. It was an exciting type of fear, which I wanted to both cultivate and face by staying in the room and staring at the sculptures for as long as possible. The faces of the statues were crumbling in such a way that it looked as if each one was staring me down as I walked about the room. I half expected them to be moving behind my back and then remaining still each time I turned back to look at them. After taking a photon of one I looked back at it and noticed a red sashel around its neck, which I hadn’t seen before. Freaked out, I quickly turned my camera on and was assured to see that the sashel was also in the picture. Upon returning to the city I was left with a lofty feeling that remained with me for the rest of the day.
In order to save both time and money I decided to take an overnight train to my next destination instead of spending another night in Pingyao. As per my usual mode of traveling, I arranged this with little to no planning. Instead of booking a sleeper bed ticket earlier in the day I decided it would be best to wing it and buy my ticket upon arrival at the train station. While I knew that there probably wouldn’t be any beds available I had heard of the possibility of buying a seated ticket and upgrading to a bed when on the train. What I hadn’t accounted for was all of the seated tickets being sold out as well. I had to resort to buying a type of ticket that is unique to China, as far as I know (perhaps India also). It is known as the no-seat or standing ticket, one of the cheapest, but certainly most uncomfortable, ways to travel in China. Still, I somehow had great hope in my ability to upgrade my ticket. However, I soon learned that this hope was founded upon false grounds. Not only were there no sleeper beds available to upgrade to, but no seats as well. It seemed that I was doomed to stand for 10 hours. Fortunately, for the first 25 hours (1am-3:30am) the occupants of the seats had yet to board and I was able to have a short, but critically important nap. I was soon awoken by the person whose seat I was sleeping in, but once again I was lucky enough to have the people in that sweat squish over allowing me to place half a cheek down. Yet this soon became less comfortable than standing, so I resumed my previous upright position for the next few hours. Sometime in the early morning, soon after the sun had risen, a box that someone had been sitting on in the aisle became free and I once again had a place to sit, which I traded off with other from time to time. Somehow I got through it all, arriving in Luoyang of Henan Province at 11am. However, this was not before I experienced one of the strangest sights I’ve ever seen in China, and most certainly on a train ride. At about 9 or 10am I was alarmed to see a man whose arms ended about halfway between his shoulders and elbows, standing on a seat above the crowd yelling something in Chinese to everyone. Although what he was yelling was incomprehensible to me, it seemed as if he was blaming everyone for the loss of his arms, or at least trying to make them feel guilty for having what he did not. He followed this by running through the aisle continuing to yell while pointing his stubs at various passengers. After he had finished with this, a midget (I’m sorry if this is not the politically correct word, I’m not quite sure what is, so please do tell me if you know) joined him. As they shoved their way through the aisle, the midget was holding a wad of cash, also yelling and pointing at everyone he passed, as well as soliciting money from them, presumably as society’s compensation for their physical disadvantage. As the midget came up to some guy near me, that guy tried his best to ignore the midget’s request. Upon seeing this, the midget slapped that guy’s hand with the wad of cash prompting him to give up a 1 yuan note. Somehow I was reminded of bandits, con artists, and railroads of the American Wild West.
After arriving in Luoyang I could not believe how incredibly horrendous my clothes reeked. They smelled like a horrible combination of multiple types of smoke, sweat, and urine. Anyhow, I was absolutely exhausted having gotten hardly any sleep the night before (and therefore negating the whole purpose of the overnight train). Once I had checked into the hostel, which was really a hotel that put a bunch of beds into one of the rooms to attract backpackers, I passed out for a few hours.
The next day I set out for a the Longmen caves, which are as, if not more, brilliant as the Yungang Caves. In fact, they are somewhat of a continuation of the Yungang Caves after the Northern Wei moved their capital here from Datong, making the artistic progression between the two sites quite interesting. The most obvious difference was size. The most spectacular statues of Buddha and his attending bodhisattvas just tower above you. Despite the continuously crappy weather, it was an awe-inspiring sight.
After exhausting the only reason I had to visit Luoyang I took an overnight train to Xi’an. This time, however, I learned from my previous mistake and booked a sleeper bed ahead of time, resulting in a very comfortable and enjoyable ride. In Xi’an, I was lucky enough to have an old friend, Charlie, who had stayed at our house 9 years ago on an exchange trip. Charlie and his wife were extremely hospitable to me, which was a huge relief after a previously tough bout of traveling. Not only did he pick me up from the train station, host me in his house, and treat me to delicious Xi’an style food, he went out of his way to drive me to the famous Terracotta Warriors outside town, waited for 2 hours while I walked around, and drove me back. I was truly grateful.
The warriors themselves, were surprisingly unimpressive to me. Perhaps it is partly because they’re built up to be one of the greatest sights in China, if not the world, and partly because of the insane amount of tourists. Either way I found the story behind them and their historical significance, as well as the continuing archaeological excavation, to be much more interesting than the sight itself. Only about 1/8th of the warriors have been excavated, so perhaps once it is complete it will be the impressive sight it is made out to be. Fortunately, Xi’an is a nice city, especially the intimate market streets of the Muslim quarter, where Xi’an’s Hui minority (Chinese Muslims) live. The area houses China’s largest mosque, which is an incredible mix of Chinese and middle eastern architecture, design, and artwork. There is also an incredible variety of snacks and deserts in the area which are much different from the typical Chinese choices. I also spent a great deal of my time in Xi’an relaxing, re-charging my batteries, studying Chinese, and just reading, all of which helped me gear up for the next leg of my journey, starting in Chengdu, Sichuan province.
Sichuan has always called to my imagination, largely because of its intensely spicy and unique cuisine as well as its mountainous topography, located at the edge of China proper, bordering Tibetan and Turkic regions. The capital, Chengdu, is one of the more laid back capitals of China. Despite looking like another huge, modern Chinese metropolis at first glance, it is still very distinct with pockets of old town areas, small streets, and a lively culture of teahouses, mahjong, and Sichuan opera. I was fortunate to make some Chinese friends here through a connection of Charlie’s. They showed me around the city as well as taking me to eat some of Sichuan’s famous food, most notably the super spicy hot pot. They also helped me add a few new dishes to my ‘weird foods I’ve eaten in Asia’ list. These include pig’s feet (supposedly good for the skin) and duck’s tongue, both of which were actually quite tasty. They were also kind enough to treat me to Sichuan opera, apparently quite different from the Beijing variety (which I have yet to see). In Sichuan, I also had the chance to see two of china’s most famed sights. One was the giant pandas and their cute cubs at the Giant Panda Breeding Research Center. The other was the Giant Buddha, the world’s largest carved Buddha, standing at 71m tall, originally intended to protect fisherman from the rough waters it looks over. After spending a few days there, Chengdu has definitely made it onto my short list of places in China I might like to live, along with Xi’an and Kunming.
Since there is quite a bit more to tell I'll save the rest for the next post. Hope you've enjoyed - Miles
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Seoul
Seoul has been an interesting experience, and in many ways very different from what I expected. Instead of staying in a hostel, meeting other foreigners, and wandering about the city to different sites and markets, I have spent most of my time getting to know a group of Chinese students who are learning Korean. They are friends of one of my friends from Hong Kong who has been studying abroad in Seoul and 3 of the guys have been kind enough to let me stay at their place. Like when visiting other friends throughout China and Korea I have felt less like a traveler and more like a resident. Yet I have also been able to tour the city and experience much of what Seoul has to offer. In many ways I have been able to get the best of both worlds.
Living with and hanging out with the Chinese students has allowed me to practice my Chinese before returning to China as well as experience Chinese cultural elements as much as I would be able to in China. And on top of all this, I have been able to taste some incredible home-made Chinese cooking that one of the guys I have been living with is able to so professionally prepare. I have also had the chance to share some American culture with them. On one of the nights I was lucky enough to be able to prepare one of the only dishes I know, spaghetti with meat and veggie sauce. It was pretty funny watching everyone put the spaghetti in small bowls, pick it up with chopsticks, and slurp it into their mouths like a noodle soup. It was the first time I was able to really appreciate the Chinese concept that the louder you eat the more of a complement it is to the chef.
Yet getting to know the Chinese students has mostly only occupied my nights here. During the day I have toured the sights of Seoul, including the national palace, associated museums, all sorts of markets, and my favorite site of all, the demilitarized zone (DMZ). I have always been fascinatd by the division of North and South Korea, and have always wanted to tour the line that cuts the peninsula in two. Early this morning I set out on a tour set up by the United Service Organizations Inc., better known as the USO. We were thrown right into the heart of it all, as the first sight we saw was the Joing Security Area (JSA), where North and South Korean forces stand face to face and where military negotiations have previously been held between the North Korean forces and the United Nations Command (UNC). As soon as we entered the sight we could see the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) separating the two Koreas, and on the other side a North Korean building where a guard was staring at us through binoculars. Next, we entered the UN building where negotiations between the two sides took place. After our tour group had moved throughout the building the American Army soldier who was leading the tour informed us that this building actually sat on the MDL dividing the peninsula, and the area where I was standing was technically in North Korea. Pretty wild.
The next sight we saw was an observation tower allowing us to see approximately 27km into North Korean territory. I spent a while looking through the provided binoculars staring down the propaganda village where no one actually lives, the world's tallest flagpole, and an industrial complex where South Korean companies have set up factories employed by North Korean labor. The last part of the tour consisted of walking through part of one of the 4 tunnels that North Korea secretly tried to build under the DMZ and towards Seoul. All around, it was an absolutley fascinating tour. If I ever have the money and time I would love to visit the North. It is just an incredibly mind-blowing country.
Tonight is my last night in Seoul and tomorrow I depart for China by the same ferry that took me here. I will miss Korea but am pumped to began digging into China.
Also, I have finally uploaded my photos to facebook and they can be publicly viewed. For the South Korea album go here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2274122&id=10614491&l=a2f877ed6d
For the Hong Kong and Mainland China album go here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2267105&id=10614491&l=71c6bdca62
Living with and hanging out with the Chinese students has allowed me to practice my Chinese before returning to China as well as experience Chinese cultural elements as much as I would be able to in China. And on top of all this, I have been able to taste some incredible home-made Chinese cooking that one of the guys I have been living with is able to so professionally prepare. I have also had the chance to share some American culture with them. On one of the nights I was lucky enough to be able to prepare one of the only dishes I know, spaghetti with meat and veggie sauce. It was pretty funny watching everyone put the spaghetti in small bowls, pick it up with chopsticks, and slurp it into their mouths like a noodle soup. It was the first time I was able to really appreciate the Chinese concept that the louder you eat the more of a complement it is to the chef.
Yet getting to know the Chinese students has mostly only occupied my nights here. During the day I have toured the sights of Seoul, including the national palace, associated museums, all sorts of markets, and my favorite site of all, the demilitarized zone (DMZ). I have always been fascinatd by the division of North and South Korea, and have always wanted to tour the line that cuts the peninsula in two. Early this morning I set out on a tour set up by the United Service Organizations Inc., better known as the USO. We were thrown right into the heart of it all, as the first sight we saw was the Joing Security Area (JSA), where North and South Korean forces stand face to face and where military negotiations have previously been held between the North Korean forces and the United Nations Command (UNC). As soon as we entered the sight we could see the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) separating the two Koreas, and on the other side a North Korean building where a guard was staring at us through binoculars. Next, we entered the UN building where negotiations between the two sides took place. After our tour group had moved throughout the building the American Army soldier who was leading the tour informed us that this building actually sat on the MDL dividing the peninsula, and the area where I was standing was technically in North Korea. Pretty wild.
The next sight we saw was an observation tower allowing us to see approximately 27km into North Korean territory. I spent a while looking through the provided binoculars staring down the propaganda village where no one actually lives, the world's tallest flagpole, and an industrial complex where South Korean companies have set up factories employed by North Korean labor. The last part of the tour consisted of walking through part of one of the 4 tunnels that North Korea secretly tried to build under the DMZ and towards Seoul. All around, it was an absolutley fascinating tour. If I ever have the money and time I would love to visit the North. It is just an incredibly mind-blowing country.
Tonight is my last night in Seoul and tomorrow I depart for China by the same ferry that took me here. I will miss Korea but am pumped to began digging into China.
Also, I have finally uploaded my photos to facebook and they can be publicly viewed. For the South Korea album go here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2274122&id=10614491&l=a2f877ed6d
For the Hong Kong and Mainland China album go here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2267105&id=10614491&l=71c6bdca62
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Busan, Jirisan, and Gyeongju
After returning from Jeju-Do, Dan and I had a mostly restful day, hanging out at his apartment, hitting up the PC Bong (no, not that type of bong), but later that night we met up with his co-teacher from the school he teaches at for a specialty of Busan called hui, which is raw fish, better known in the West as sashimi. Dan is really fortunate to work with a really great co-teacher. Since he spends almost all of his time at the school working with his teacher, having a good one makes all the difference.
So, we headed out to a part of Busan actualy called raw fish town (when translated) and entered one of the most incredible fish markets I've ever been to. The whole market is devoted to ajumas (the respectful word for elderly Korean women) marketing their fish, squid, and octopus to hungry customers looking for their dinner right on the spot. After surveying the different types, vendors, and prices, a choice is made and the ajuma sets to work on first beheading the fish right in front of you and then masterfully slicing it up into gorgeous slices of mashesoyo (delicious) raw fish. Then, the fish is dipped in spicy soy bean paste, mixed with a fat slice of garlic and rolled up in sesame leaves to be eaten amongst many other raw fish afficionados while looking out onto the Busan harbor and the beautiful Busan bridge. And of course, you can't forget to dedicate some soju (rice wine) to the fish who gave their lives to provide such a tasty meal.
The next day (or perhaps the day after that - I'm starting to lose track of time) Dan, his girlfriend, her brother, and I headed out for a three day trip to summit Jirisan, the tallest mountain on the South Korean mainland, as well as see some other sites along the way. Although only 4.5km long, the hike on the first day was grueling due to the incredibly steep incline of the trail, as well as the packs we were hauling which held our clothes, food, sleeping bags, and cooking stove/utensils. It was the first time I had ever hiked with such a big pack, but I relished the challenge.
At first when we reached the shelter where we would spend the night we were relieved. However, once we saw how many people had the same idea as us we began to worry about our sleeping situation considering we didn't have a reservation. Although the shelter can sleep up to 125 people, the popularity of hiking in Korea combined with the proximity of this shelter to the tallest summit makes it so that the shelter fills up 5 minutes after it is open for booking online. We had actually been told by the park service that we would still be able to sleep onthe floor, but it soon became clear that many also had the same idea and we would likely have to spend the night outside, like most of the other 3-400 hikers. I had never seen such a site in my life.
To put our minds at ease, we focused on cooking up our dinner, consisting mostly of Gimchi (the spicy fermented cabbage which is the staple dish of Korea) ramen noodles. In comparison to everyone else, we were eating like peasants. As I walked around the area I saw meals being cooked on small gas stoves that were comparable to a small restaurant. People were cooking up gimchi jigae (a type of stew), bibimbap (rice, vegetables, egg, and spicy bean sauce all mixed together) and bolgogi (Korean BBQ).
As soon as the sun set we began to realize how unprepared we were to stay out in the cold and wet environment. We spent an hour or so trying to sleep on the giant, rubber matted stairs that marked the beginning of the path up to the summit. However, we soon realized how little we would be able to sleep there and how wet we would be in the morning. So, after the workers of the shelter had gone to bed we snuck in and found small spaces on the floor to curl up among a mass of sleeping (and heavily snoring) bodies. The spot that I squeezed in happened to be sandwiched between four or five pairs of feet kicking me on my left side, and a slightly overweight guy's belly to my right. Despite this, I still considered myself to be warm and dry. However, a few hours in that guy to my right suddenly felt the urge to roll over, transforming me and his belly from acquaintances into good friends. That was the last straw. I had to get up, took a bathroom break and when I returned found a tiny spot to curl up into a ball, raised up above everyone else next to the people who actually had reserved spots. Well, not long after that I was awoken by the guy next to me who moved himself over and made room for me in the reserved area. I can never thank him enough, for I was finally able to sleep.
Of course my sleep did not last long considering everyone woke up at 3am, including us, to prepare breakfast and make the final 1.5 hour ascent to the peak for sunrise. It was quite a sight to be trudging up the mountain at 4:30am in pitch dark waiting to summit in a line of headlamps. As the sun rose (unfortunately behind the clouds, but still making for a beautiful vista) I was partly annoyed to have to share the summit with so many but mostly was in awe of people of all ages, both men and women, making such a difficult ascent, so early in the morning, especially after such rough sleeping conditions. It was most definitely worth it, however, when looking over the mountains beyond mountains of Jirisan national park and southern South Korea. We spent the rest of that day on an arduous 8 hour, 11km, hike down which led us to a beautiful temple, a bus stop, and finally the town where we spent the night. Shower, food, and rest never felt so good. The next day we went to a quite touristy, but very beautiful and quite bamboo 'village', which was really a small town. It wasn't anything special but quite nice and relaxing after a hike that still had our legs sore.
Upon returning to Busan, Dan and I still felt the need to hike more for some reason and spent my last day in Busan hiking Geumjeongsan, the highest mountain of the area. Possibly the best part of the hike was near the end when we stopped for Pajeon (a type of rice, vegetable, and seafood pancake) and makgali (hommade fermented rice wine, much sweeter than soju), a favorite activity of ajashis (older Korean men). I can understand why they like it so much, as the rest of the walk down was made much more pleasant.
That night we were invited by Dan's co-teacher to her house for a home cooked dinner. We had an absolutely delicious meal of barbequed pork and many incredible side dishes. This meal, among many others, is convincing me that Korean food is quite possibly what I'll miss most about the country. After dinner I learned how to play Korea's favorite card game, stop-go, introduced under Japanese colonial rule intended to weaken the local population because it is a game mostly intended for gambling. However, it seemed that neither Dan or his co-teacher quite knew the exact rules so we moved onto Nintendo Wii tennis, where I was reminded of Dan's video game prowess.
The next day Dan had to return to work so I decided it was best for me to get moving on. I spent the next day in Gyeongju, an incredibly relaxing town, which was once the capital of the Silla dynasty for 1000 years and therefore has hundreds of sites to see. However, after a day of touring I felt I had seen the most important sites and was ready to head back to Seoul and then eventually China.
I arrived yesterday and booked a hostel but am actually fortunate enough to spend the rest of the week at the flat of some friends of my friend from Hong Kong who is studying abroad in Seoul.
Unfortunately I'm low on camera battery and therefore unable to post pictures of everything I've described, but once I fix that problem they should be up soon.
So, we headed out to a part of Busan actualy called raw fish town (when translated) and entered one of the most incredible fish markets I've ever been to. The whole market is devoted to ajumas (the respectful word for elderly Korean women) marketing their fish, squid, and octopus to hungry customers looking for their dinner right on the spot. After surveying the different types, vendors, and prices, a choice is made and the ajuma sets to work on first beheading the fish right in front of you and then masterfully slicing it up into gorgeous slices of mashesoyo (delicious) raw fish. Then, the fish is dipped in spicy soy bean paste, mixed with a fat slice of garlic and rolled up in sesame leaves to be eaten amongst many other raw fish afficionados while looking out onto the Busan harbor and the beautiful Busan bridge. And of course, you can't forget to dedicate some soju (rice wine) to the fish who gave their lives to provide such a tasty meal.
The next day (or perhaps the day after that - I'm starting to lose track of time) Dan, his girlfriend, her brother, and I headed out for a three day trip to summit Jirisan, the tallest mountain on the South Korean mainland, as well as see some other sites along the way. Although only 4.5km long, the hike on the first day was grueling due to the incredibly steep incline of the trail, as well as the packs we were hauling which held our clothes, food, sleeping bags, and cooking stove/utensils. It was the first time I had ever hiked with such a big pack, but I relished the challenge.
At first when we reached the shelter where we would spend the night we were relieved. However, once we saw how many people had the same idea as us we began to worry about our sleeping situation considering we didn't have a reservation. Although the shelter can sleep up to 125 people, the popularity of hiking in Korea combined with the proximity of this shelter to the tallest summit makes it so that the shelter fills up 5 minutes after it is open for booking online. We had actually been told by the park service that we would still be able to sleep onthe floor, but it soon became clear that many also had the same idea and we would likely have to spend the night outside, like most of the other 3-400 hikers. I had never seen such a site in my life.
To put our minds at ease, we focused on cooking up our dinner, consisting mostly of Gimchi (the spicy fermented cabbage which is the staple dish of Korea) ramen noodles. In comparison to everyone else, we were eating like peasants. As I walked around the area I saw meals being cooked on small gas stoves that were comparable to a small restaurant. People were cooking up gimchi jigae (a type of stew), bibimbap (rice, vegetables, egg, and spicy bean sauce all mixed together) and bolgogi (Korean BBQ).
As soon as the sun set we began to realize how unprepared we were to stay out in the cold and wet environment. We spent an hour or so trying to sleep on the giant, rubber matted stairs that marked the beginning of the path up to the summit. However, we soon realized how little we would be able to sleep there and how wet we would be in the morning. So, after the workers of the shelter had gone to bed we snuck in and found small spaces on the floor to curl up among a mass of sleeping (and heavily snoring) bodies. The spot that I squeezed in happened to be sandwiched between four or five pairs of feet kicking me on my left side, and a slightly overweight guy's belly to my right. Despite this, I still considered myself to be warm and dry. However, a few hours in that guy to my right suddenly felt the urge to roll over, transforming me and his belly from acquaintances into good friends. That was the last straw. I had to get up, took a bathroom break and when I returned found a tiny spot to curl up into a ball, raised up above everyone else next to the people who actually had reserved spots. Well, not long after that I was awoken by the guy next to me who moved himself over and made room for me in the reserved area. I can never thank him enough, for I was finally able to sleep.
Of course my sleep did not last long considering everyone woke up at 3am, including us, to prepare breakfast and make the final 1.5 hour ascent to the peak for sunrise. It was quite a sight to be trudging up the mountain at 4:30am in pitch dark waiting to summit in a line of headlamps. As the sun rose (unfortunately behind the clouds, but still making for a beautiful vista) I was partly annoyed to have to share the summit with so many but mostly was in awe of people of all ages, both men and women, making such a difficult ascent, so early in the morning, especially after such rough sleeping conditions. It was most definitely worth it, however, when looking over the mountains beyond mountains of Jirisan national park and southern South Korea. We spent the rest of that day on an arduous 8 hour, 11km, hike down which led us to a beautiful temple, a bus stop, and finally the town where we spent the night. Shower, food, and rest never felt so good. The next day we went to a quite touristy, but very beautiful and quite bamboo 'village', which was really a small town. It wasn't anything special but quite nice and relaxing after a hike that still had our legs sore.
Upon returning to Busan, Dan and I still felt the need to hike more for some reason and spent my last day in Busan hiking Geumjeongsan, the highest mountain of the area. Possibly the best part of the hike was near the end when we stopped for Pajeon (a type of rice, vegetable, and seafood pancake) and makgali (hommade fermented rice wine, much sweeter than soju), a favorite activity of ajashis (older Korean men). I can understand why they like it so much, as the rest of the walk down was made much more pleasant.
That night we were invited by Dan's co-teacher to her house for a home cooked dinner. We had an absolutely delicious meal of barbequed pork and many incredible side dishes. This meal, among many others, is convincing me that Korean food is quite possibly what I'll miss most about the country. After dinner I learned how to play Korea's favorite card game, stop-go, introduced under Japanese colonial rule intended to weaken the local population because it is a game mostly intended for gambling. However, it seemed that neither Dan or his co-teacher quite knew the exact rules so we moved onto Nintendo Wii tennis, where I was reminded of Dan's video game prowess.
The next day Dan had to return to work so I decided it was best for me to get moving on. I spent the next day in Gyeongju, an incredibly relaxing town, which was once the capital of the Silla dynasty for 1000 years and therefore has hundreds of sites to see. However, after a day of touring I felt I had seen the most important sites and was ready to head back to Seoul and then eventually China.
I arrived yesterday and booked a hostel but am actually fortunate enough to spend the rest of the week at the flat of some friends of my friend from Hong Kong who is studying abroad in Seoul.
Unfortunately I'm low on camera battery and therefore unable to post pictures of everything I've described, but once I fix that problem they should be up soon.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Jeju-Do (재주도)
The trip to 재주도, advertised as Korea's Hawaii, did not go as well as expected due to bad weather and Dan catching a slight fever. The ferry ride was a lot of fun (as are all ferry rides for me). We had a nice Korean meal after we got on the boat at 7pm, accompanied by some soju (Korean rice wine). Metal Slug4 kept us entertained for a while as well as eating dried cuttlefish and talking about American pop culture with our newfound Korean friend "Chris".
We didn't make it to our room until 2am at which time we crashed on the floor of our bedless, third class room, shared with one other person. A 5am arrival time at Jeju had me tired and cranky, but after catching a cab to our motel and passing out until noon I felt much better.
We spent the first day doing some typical tourist activities such as waterfalls (very nice) and botanical gardens (kind of lame). That night we tried out the infamous black pig barbeque (흑돼지 - heuk dwae ji), which is indigenous to the island. Although it was my first Korean BBQ while in Korea, the black pig unfortunately did not live up to its reputation.
The next day we intended to get up at 7am for a 10 hour hike up to the crater lake at the top of Hallasan (한라산), the island's largest volcano. However, due to heavy rains the night before the park was closed. Also, Dan was feeling pretty horrible so we hung around the town where we were staying (서귀보 - Seogwipo) for the day and night. While Dan rested I spent some time practicing reading and writing the Korean alphabet, which he had been teaching during the trip (thus explaining why I've practiced writing so many words throughout this post). It is a surprisingly easy script to learn due its logic and simplicity, especially in comparison to Chinese (which was previously used as the writing system in Korea before the 15th century).
Fortunately 한라산 was open the next day. However, since our ferry left at 7pm that night we weren't able to hike to the crater and only could do a shorter hike 200m short of the summit. However, the hike was still amazing and the highlight of the trip due to the extreme weather through which we hiked. As we hiked along the ridges intense winds blew us up against the volcano with powerful rain that felt like sleet and hail. We could barely see a few meters in front of us the whole trip due to the cloud we were surrounded by and thus the mountain seemed that much more mysterious and exciting.
That evening we caught the ferry back to Busan, resting most of the way (despite a few rounds of Metal Slug) and arrived back at Dan's apartment early in the morning for some much needed sleep. This was of course after a filling breakfast at 맥도날드 (I'll let you look that one up if you really want to know *^_^* )
We didn't make it to our room until 2am at which time we crashed on the floor of our bedless, third class room, shared with one other person. A 5am arrival time at Jeju had me tired and cranky, but after catching a cab to our motel and passing out until noon I felt much better.
We spent the first day doing some typical tourist activities such as waterfalls (very nice) and botanical gardens (kind of lame). That night we tried out the infamous black pig barbeque (흑돼지 - heuk dwae ji), which is indigenous to the island. Although it was my first Korean BBQ while in Korea, the black pig unfortunately did not live up to its reputation.
The next day we intended to get up at 7am for a 10 hour hike up to the crater lake at the top of Hallasan (한라산), the island's largest volcano. However, due to heavy rains the night before the park was closed. Also, Dan was feeling pretty horrible so we hung around the town where we were staying (서귀보 - Seogwipo) for the day and night. While Dan rested I spent some time practicing reading and writing the Korean alphabet, which he had been teaching during the trip (thus explaining why I've practiced writing so many words throughout this post). It is a surprisingly easy script to learn due its logic and simplicity, especially in comparison to Chinese (which was previously used as the writing system in Korea before the 15th century).
Fortunately 한라산 was open the next day. However, since our ferry left at 7pm that night we weren't able to hike to the crater and only could do a shorter hike 200m short of the summit. However, the hike was still amazing and the highlight of the trip due to the extreme weather through which we hiked. As we hiked along the ridges intense winds blew us up against the volcano with powerful rain that felt like sleet and hail. We could barely see a few meters in front of us the whole trip due to the cloud we were surrounded by and thus the mountain seemed that much more mysterious and exciting.
That evening we caught the ferry back to Busan, resting most of the way (despite a few rounds of Metal Slug) and arrived back at Dan's apartment early in the morning for some much needed sleep. This was of course after a filling breakfast at 맥도날드 (I'll let you look that one up if you really want to know *^_^* )
Saturday, August 8, 2009
China to Korea
The last days of my stay in Changsha, Hunan Province, China were exciting yet relaxing. At night, Xu and I would check out the quite lively bar scene, while during the day we would rest at his house and go out for delicious Hunanese cuisine for lunch with his parents. Xu's hometown friends along with some others we made along the way were great to hang with and I was sad to have to go, yet excited for the rest of my trip.
Unfortunately, the only train tickets left to Beijing were soft seaters. I would have felt sorry for myself and my lack of sleep had it not been for the many people in our cart who bought tickets that didn't even have seats and thus had to stand for most of the 15 hour ride (or find awkward places throughout the train to try to lie down, such as in the aisle or the washroom area).
I could barely wait any longer to get to Beijing and it was all the sweeter since I was met at the train station by my old roommate from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Zhang Yin. Unfortunately, Yin and I weren't able to spend a whole lot of time together due to his internship during the day, but we still were able to go out for dinner and walk around the city every night. My days were mostly spent wandering the city, small excursions into the countryside, practicing my Chinese, and looking for the nearly impossible to find office where I could buy ferry tickets to Korea.
After 4-5 days in Beijing, I woke up at 5am to catch a 6:30am bus to Tianjin where I needed to be at 9am, 2 hours before the 11am ferry departure to Incheon, Korea. Unfortunately, however, the tourism workers at the office where I bought my ferry ticket gave me horrible directions as to how to get to Tianjin so early in the morning. After unsuccessfully looking for the obscurely located bus that was supposed to magically take me directly to the ferry, I almost broke down and gave up (perhaps partly due to a lack of sleep). Fortunately, I summoned up the courage to keep going, hailed a taxi (who at first I tried to pay to take me to Tianjin), which brought me to the Beijing South Train Station. I was amazed to find out that not only did this station have bullet trains to Tianjin that only take one 1/2 hour, they start leaving at 6:30am and some even go directly to the port city of Tanggu, located 50km outside of Tianjin, where the ferry dock is located. A 7:45 train got me to Tianjin by 8:15, while the slowest bus in the world took me twice as long to get half the distance to the port. After making it to Tanggu and catching a taxi to the dock, it was 10:30 and I was sprinting towards the ferry, barely making it through Chinese customs in time. I never thought I'd be on that boat.
All in all, the ferry was incredible, truly one of the most remarkable experiences I've had traveling thus far. While many wondered why I would want a form of transportation that takes multiple times longer than flying, I know fully understand why I made that decision. To me, there is something so much more charming about travel by land and sea (especially if public transportation). Just the port alone with all of the giant cranes unloading cartons from around the world was fascinating. After setting sail, the rainy weather passed and soon we were out on the great blue ocean. Despite my extreme exhaustion I spent most of the day on the ship's balcony enjoying the life at sea. I was thus further inspired to take a trip on an international ferry someday from the Americas to Asia.
Partway through the day I met a really nice Korean girl and her Dutch friend (who was quite familiar with Korean culture) with whom I spent most of my time on the ferry with. They showed me a variety of Korean dishes in the restaurant as well as introduced me to Korean language and culture, most especially with some latenight drinking of a mix of Korean rice alcohol and Chinese beer out on the deck of the ship. Yet perhaps my favorite part of the trip were the middle-aged Korean women drinking, dancing, and singing karaoke (or norebong in Korean) in the ship's night club. Somehow, I found myself thinking that my mom would have fit in well with them, despite linguistic and cultural barriers.
25 hours after boarding in Tianjin we docked in Incheon, South Korea and I was able to check another country off the list. A 45 minute train ride took us into Seoul, Korea's primate metropolis. While my newly acquainted Dutch and Korean friends continued on I decided to spend the night in Seoul. After struggling with the phone system of the country (which doesn't have SIM cards and is not compatible with phones from the rest of Asia and Europe) I was able to get into contact with another friend of mine from CUHK, Andy Chui Chak Lam, who I met up with for a late night drink or two.
The next morning I boarded Korea's bullet train, the KTX, for a smooth 3 hour ride at 300km/h to Busan in the Southeast on the coast where I met my old flatmate from UMiami Dan Goldberg who is teaching English here for a year. We spent the evening walking around town and eating delicious Dolse Bat and Kimchi. Tomorrow we leave for the volcanic island Jeju Do for a few days of hiking and sightseeing.
Anyongi Geuseyo!
Unfortunately, the only train tickets left to Beijing were soft seaters. I would have felt sorry for myself and my lack of sleep had it not been for the many people in our cart who bought tickets that didn't even have seats and thus had to stand for most of the 15 hour ride (or find awkward places throughout the train to try to lie down, such as in the aisle or the washroom area).
I could barely wait any longer to get to Beijing and it was all the sweeter since I was met at the train station by my old roommate from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Zhang Yin. Unfortunately, Yin and I weren't able to spend a whole lot of time together due to his internship during the day, but we still were able to go out for dinner and walk around the city every night. My days were mostly spent wandering the city, small excursions into the countryside, practicing my Chinese, and looking for the nearly impossible to find office where I could buy ferry tickets to Korea.
After 4-5 days in Beijing, I woke up at 5am to catch a 6:30am bus to Tianjin where I needed to be at 9am, 2 hours before the 11am ferry departure to Incheon, Korea. Unfortunately, however, the tourism workers at the office where I bought my ferry ticket gave me horrible directions as to how to get to Tianjin so early in the morning. After unsuccessfully looking for the obscurely located bus that was supposed to magically take me directly to the ferry, I almost broke down and gave up (perhaps partly due to a lack of sleep). Fortunately, I summoned up the courage to keep going, hailed a taxi (who at first I tried to pay to take me to Tianjin), which brought me to the Beijing South Train Station. I was amazed to find out that not only did this station have bullet trains to Tianjin that only take one 1/2 hour, they start leaving at 6:30am and some even go directly to the port city of Tanggu, located 50km outside of Tianjin, where the ferry dock is located. A 7:45 train got me to Tianjin by 8:15, while the slowest bus in the world took me twice as long to get half the distance to the port. After making it to Tanggu and catching a taxi to the dock, it was 10:30 and I was sprinting towards the ferry, barely making it through Chinese customs in time. I never thought I'd be on that boat.
All in all, the ferry was incredible, truly one of the most remarkable experiences I've had traveling thus far. While many wondered why I would want a form of transportation that takes multiple times longer than flying, I know fully understand why I made that decision. To me, there is something so much more charming about travel by land and sea (especially if public transportation). Just the port alone with all of the giant cranes unloading cartons from around the world was fascinating. After setting sail, the rainy weather passed and soon we were out on the great blue ocean. Despite my extreme exhaustion I spent most of the day on the ship's balcony enjoying the life at sea. I was thus further inspired to take a trip on an international ferry someday from the Americas to Asia.
Partway through the day I met a really nice Korean girl and her Dutch friend (who was quite familiar with Korean culture) with whom I spent most of my time on the ferry with. They showed me a variety of Korean dishes in the restaurant as well as introduced me to Korean language and culture, most especially with some latenight drinking of a mix of Korean rice alcohol and Chinese beer out on the deck of the ship. Yet perhaps my favorite part of the trip were the middle-aged Korean women drinking, dancing, and singing karaoke (or norebong in Korean) in the ship's night club. Somehow, I found myself thinking that my mom would have fit in well with them, despite linguistic and cultural barriers.
25 hours after boarding in Tianjin we docked in Incheon, South Korea and I was able to check another country off the list. A 45 minute train ride took us into Seoul, Korea's primate metropolis. While my newly acquainted Dutch and Korean friends continued on I decided to spend the night in Seoul. After struggling with the phone system of the country (which doesn't have SIM cards and is not compatible with phones from the rest of Asia and Europe) I was able to get into contact with another friend of mine from CUHK, Andy Chui Chak Lam, who I met up with for a late night drink or two.
The next morning I boarded Korea's bullet train, the KTX, for a smooth 3 hour ride at 300km/h to Busan in the Southeast on the coast where I met my old flatmate from UMiami Dan Goldberg who is teaching English here for a year. We spent the evening walking around town and eating delicious Dolse Bat and Kimchi. Tomorrow we leave for the volcanic island Jeju Do for a few days of hiking and sightseeing.
Anyongi Geuseyo!
Thursday, July 30, 2009
On to the Mainland
After a few more days of dim sum and wandering the streets of HK I crossed the border to mainland China, taking an 8.5 hour train from Guangzhou (Guangdong Province) to Changsha (Hunan Province). The degree to which my Chinese had improved over the past year was evident in my ability to book my train ticket at one of the most crowded stations in China. After waiting in line with people pushing from all directions, I was able to partially decipher the giant board of Chinese characters displaying the train destinations, times, number of tickets left, etc. Somehow I was also able to communicate well enough with the desk clerk to book a soft sleeper bed on a train to Changsha leaving in the hour.
After almost missing the train due to not knowing where the hell it was leaving from, I clambered on much to the surprise of all the Chinese riders I pushed my way by. The people sleeping in the beds and berths next to me were even surprised by the wai guo ren (foreigner) invading their space. Surprise, however, soon gave way to curiosity and conversations in broken Mandarin on my part and limited English on theirs. Most of the train ride was spent answering two young kids' questions in English such as "What your favorite color?" or "Do you like Jackie Chan?" The rest was spent listening as a fellow train rider spoke to me in Mandarin at length while I either held my pride and pretended to understand or swallowed it and frantically looked up words in my unfortunately not electronic dictionary.
Fortunately, this all made the ride go by real quick and by 11:30pm I was in Changsha, met by my good buddy Xu and his parents who were so kind to pick me up from the station - a luxury I rarely experience while traveling. Xu also studied at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, although I didn't meet him until we were both conducting research in Laos under the same professor (although very different projects). His family went continually further in their kindness by letting me stay in their guest room, treating me to multiple meals, and driving Xu and I around the city to check out some of the sites, such as one of the oldest Confucian universities in the country and the school were Mao, the Great Helmsman, studied as a young man.
All around, a great start to my Chinese travels.
After almost missing the train due to not knowing where the hell it was leaving from, I clambered on much to the surprise of all the Chinese riders I pushed my way by. The people sleeping in the beds and berths next to me were even surprised by the wai guo ren (foreigner) invading their space. Surprise, however, soon gave way to curiosity and conversations in broken Mandarin on my part and limited English on theirs. Most of the train ride was spent answering two young kids' questions in English such as "What your favorite color?" or "Do you like Jackie Chan?" The rest was spent listening as a fellow train rider spoke to me in Mandarin at length while I either held my pride and pretended to understand or swallowed it and frantically looked up words in my unfortunately not electronic dictionary.
Fortunately, this all made the ride go by real quick and by 11:30pm I was in Changsha, met by my good buddy Xu and his parents who were so kind to pick me up from the station - a luxury I rarely experience while traveling. Xu also studied at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, although I didn't meet him until we were both conducting research in Laos under the same professor (although very different projects). His family went continually further in their kindness by letting me stay in their guest room, treating me to multiple meals, and driving Xu and I around the city to check out some of the sites, such as one of the oldest Confucian universities in the country and the school were Mao, the Great Helmsman, studied as a young man.
All around, a great start to my Chinese travels.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
First days in Hong Kong
It's only been a few days since I landed in HK, but I already feel like I've been here for a few months; perhaps because it has become such a familiar place to me after spending a semester here last spring.
The flight from Portland, ME to Newark, NJ had a big delay, and even though I was supposed to have a 3 hour layover between flights, I ended up running through the Newark airport in order to hop on the (ma)jumbo jet to HK. The difference between flights was astounding. Not only was the plane ten times bigger, it was ten times nicer, with individual TVs (that included as many movies and TV shows one wanted to watch for free), greater leg room, and less crowded. The service was also incredible, including hot towels and stewardesses that were actually friendly.
Regardless, I was barely able to get in a couple of hours of sleep on what was a 15 hour flight. Despite my physical exhaustion, the pure excitement of being back in Hong Kong gave me the energy to spend the next couple of hours wandering around the city, re-visiting some of my favorite spots until I was unable to stand any longer and collapsed in my hostel bed.
However, this sleep did not last long due to the mysterious effects of jet lag when traveling to the opposite side of the world (the time difference between the East Coast of the US and HK is exactly 12 hours). By 4am I had awoken and could not, for the life of me, fall back asleep. I was much too excited about being here, so I hopped out of bed and wandered the streets. Hunger led me to the unfortunately only open restaurant, McDonald's. After, however, I made my way to the famed Hong Kong skyline as the sky began to lighten.
The flight from Portland, ME to Newark, NJ had a big delay, and even though I was supposed to have a 3 hour layover between flights, I ended up running through the Newark airport in order to hop on the (ma)jumbo jet to HK. The difference between flights was astounding. Not only was the plane ten times bigger, it was ten times nicer, with individual TVs (that included as many movies and TV shows one wanted to watch for free), greater leg room, and less crowded. The service was also incredible, including hot towels and stewardesses that were actually friendly.
Regardless, I was barely able to get in a couple of hours of sleep on what was a 15 hour flight. Despite my physical exhaustion, the pure excitement of being back in Hong Kong gave me the energy to spend the next couple of hours wandering around the city, re-visiting some of my favorite spots until I was unable to stand any longer and collapsed in my hostel bed.
However, this sleep did not last long due to the mysterious effects of jet lag when traveling to the opposite side of the world (the time difference between the East Coast of the US and HK is exactly 12 hours). By 4am I had awoken and could not, for the life of me, fall back asleep. I was much too excited about being here, so I hopped out of bed and wandered the streets. Hunger led me to the unfortunately only open restaurant, McDonald's. After, however, I made my way to the famed Hong Kong skyline as the sky began to lighten.
I spent the rest of the morning in the gorgeous Hong Kong Park on Hong Kong Island, catching up on local news with the Southern China Morning Post, and revisiting my favorite dim sum restaurant. Later, I met up with my old Chinese teacher from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) for even more dim sum (I just couldn't get enough) in Tai Po Market, New Territories. She influenced me to have my first plate of steamed chicken feet, which I had always been too afraid of to try. Surprisingly, they were actually quite delicious, after finding out that you only are supposed to eat the soft bone (cartiledge?). Later in the afternoon I met up with Matt Toro, a self-exiled master's student from the UMiami Geography Department, who is now finishing up a research assistant position at CUHK with my old advisor, who he actually introduced me to. We took an amazing 4-5 hour hike up to one of the most incredible views of the eastern New Territories. From the top we could see the towns of Tai Po, Tai Wo, Shatin, as well as the University, the Tai Wai train line, and the beautiful Tolo Harbour. Although we were tempted to continue the loop for another couple of hours, we thought better of it due to my continued jet lag, and the setting sun. After a delicious Indian dinner, a bitter argument between a cultural relativist and a universalist (I'll let the reader guess who's who) on the Chinese practice of spitting their bones on the table, and checking out Matt's tiny, tiny apartment, I headed home for a much needed 10 hour sleep after a much too long day.
More photos can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2267105&id=10614491&l=71c6bdca62
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