MID LIFE AT THE OASIS

There are more than a few moments of the past 10 months of travelling that I will never, ever forget, but today’s experience here in the Yunnan province of China may end up near the top of that list. Cheryl and I arrived to Kunming, China from Singapore about 10 days ago and spent 3 nice days exploring the surprisingly quiet and pleasant center of Kunming. They have eliminated one major through road and put the other underground for about a mile to create a beautiful new civic gathering space right in the center of the city and luckily our hotel was right on the new square.

NEW PEDESTRIAN SPACE IN KUNMING

The food, people, and relaxed vibe of Kunming were really surprising for a city of millions and it immediately eliminated a bunch of preconceived notions that we had about Chinese cities.

We then took a plush bus about 5 hours on a new motorway to Dali and spent two cold and wet days of unseasonable weather trying to get around the old city between heavy showers. Parts of the ancient city of Dali have been restored and are quite pleasant, but we found the side alleys and roads more interesting, especially for great dim sum mom and pop restaurants. After a fun 3 hour bus ride on a crammed mini-bus, we are now enjoying our last day of four in Lijiang, which sits just down a large valley at 8000 feet from the base of the awe inspiring giant mountain Snow Jade mountain (18,000 feet). The mountain has shown itself only a few times as it is generally shrouded in cloud cover.

We explored the restored UNESCO heritage old town for the first day and soon decided it was time to head out to the countryside on bikes. Lijiang is being developed rapidly as a major tourist destination for the Chinese and the countryside and nearby villages are getting encroached upon rapidly from the sprawl of Lijiang. Is is packed with Chinese tourists and probably less than 1% foreign tourists, so although it feels a bit like a cross between Disneyland, Vegas, and Venice, it still feels unique to us as there are very few Westerners. And the whole middle-class tourist scene of the new China is something to behold in itself.

Although Lijiang is growing by the minute, on bikes you quickly find your way into villages full of the local minority Naxi culture, which is an ancient group related to some Tibetan tribes and with a related range extending down to Northern Thailand.

NAXI TRADITIONS STILL STRONG NEAR LIJIANG

The traditional Naxi are quickly identifiable by their blue colored dress and definitely have a look different from the Han Chinese. They still use traditional methods to cultivate the land and can be seen using oxen, carts, and loads of human muscle to go about their daily routines. It’s quite an amazing sight to see, especially so close to the new China. The changes here are happening so fast it’s mind boggling and you can tell that the traditional people in this valley will be all but assimilated in the next 10-20 years, short of the approved historic tourist villages being developed by the government.

Yesterday we explored north up the valley riding through some nice countryside and villages, and stopped for lunch in the touristed Baisha village.

We had a wonderful lunch of traditional Naxi fare in Baisha which Cheryl will cover in her upcoming food blog. So today we wanted to see more and headed west of the city towards some vague villages on the hillside. And after a few dead ends into farmland and depressing slum zones that seem to exist in between the old and the new, we found our way past a few traditional Naxi villages. We passed an especially lively courtyard (a signature construction feature of Naxi homes) and I stopped to take a picture into it, but was soon getting yelled at by the Naxi men playing Ma Jong and drinking tea.

So we took the plunge, parked our bikes, and headed in to sit at the tiny benches to enjoy a simple tea break. The crowd of 20-30 was soon aroused and presented us with one cup of great green tea and some sunflower seeds to chew on. (I was also offered a cigarette, but declined)

CHERYL ENJOYING GREEN TEA IN THE COURTYARD

So we sat and smiled with our tea for awhile and decided it was time to head back out, but again were confronted with friendly faces clearly insisting that we sit and eat. So we did.
And soon it appeared nearly the whole village was starting to arrive and settle in around the dozen or so tables to enjoy lunch (or brunch as it was just after 11?)

THE NAXI LUNCH SCENE

It also appeared that we might be occupying someones table in the courtyard, so luckily we got invited up to a table of 6 very elderly Naxi women.

HEY, WHOSE IS OUR SEATS?…THE WOMEN ARRIVE

Cheryl and I sharing a bench on one side of our table for 8. Now remember we speak very little Mandarin (which was worthless with the older Naxi anyways) and two words of butchered Naxi from the lonely planet, hello and thank you. But you can say a lot with smiles, gestures, and the shared enjoyment of a great village meal.

Then the food arrived…loads of it, and very delicious with a bowl of soft animal fat, spicy liver(?) with crunchy vegetable, tofu, fried pork(?), dried beef with peanuts, chicken and green onion, glass noodles, eggs, shrimp, mystery crunch veg, and spicy fish, all served communal style in a wonderful feeding frenzy as the women pushed each dish on us and we all dove in with chopsticks (Cheryl and Rich think “Hep A/B shots…check”)

AMAZING SPREAD – THIS IS NOT PEASANT FOOD

We rubbed our bellies and all laughed as we bumbled a few times with the chopsticks, although I must say we held our own with the ladies. They also insisted that we have some Cola and then add Dali beer to it which was not a drink destined to creep into the trendy bar scene anytime soon. We think that one of the women said that she was 90 years old and we believe it as they all had faces with a million stories. We wished we could have exchanged more words, but it didn’t matter. It was a magical and I imagine we at least made their week for excitement.

CHERYL AND HER NEW FRIENDS

So we took a few more photos (and shared them with all), paid the cooks a reasonable sum for the feast, and waved goodbye. We headed back out on our bikes through the village charged with life and both knowing that this was not a lunch we would ever forget. No tourists, “restaurant”, menus or anything within miles. Just two slightly bewildered and open minded Americans enjoying a sunny lunchtime meal with 6 Naxi women and half a village.

The world is a great place when you just smile and take the plunge. (oh yeah and approach it on bikes)

Peace, R

Hi all. My leg cut is healing up well thank you very much, so it’s time to move on and reflect on our longest stay of our trip. We’ve had three (mostly) relaxing weeks in Sydney and manged to see quite a bit of the city and its residents, while admittedly spending more time on their slow transit system than we would have cared to. This extended time has given us the time to explore the city at a slower pace and gain impressions that we might have missed in a 3 or 4 day visit typical of most tourists.

We got haircuts, China visas, and even some new clothes. We shipped our bikes and gear via sea freight (fingers crossed), attended a symphony, and visited two doctors offices. The gloss of a few days as a tourist were replaced by the reality of trying to live a more normal (and car free) life in the city. [o.k. minus the work thing of course] As for my impressions…..well, I don’t feel the strong urge to pack up and move here permanently as it’s not a great place to live car-free, cycle, or even walk for that matter. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s a big, vibrant city that has tons going for it and some really cool old neighborhoods on the inner trains lines, and a fairly vibrant culture, but could I live here? Yes. Would I prefer it over SF? No.

SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE IN YOUR FACE

Sydney has coastal areas with beaches and landscape that are some of the most beautiful that I have ever seen. Anywhere in the world. (which is bigger now) Absolutely crystal clear and soft water, with good surf if you want it or gentle bays if you want that. If you’re into the water and can afford a place with a good commute, then it certainly seems to rate up there in the quality of life. And enjoy the water we have! Our local beach has the somewhat famous Bronte “Bogey Hole”, which consists of a series or large rocks that protects a corner of the beach from surf and creates a giant outdoor swimming area with fish, rocks, and soft sand. With swim goggles, it’s often like swimming in an aquarium. Of course Bronte also has an amazing actual saltwater pool that is also great to swim in. It’s really cool at high tide when the swell is big as waves break into part of the pool.

BRONTE POOL OVER TOPPED BY WAVES

Our little corner of Bronte beach really is one of the nicest coastal nooks that I have ever seen, especially with so many people near it to enjoy it at all hours a day. It’s no wonder that the Aussie’s have such a spectacular swimming record in competition; as it’s really part of the culture with pools everywhere to fill in away from the beaches. You can see 6 year-olds diving and swimming with goggles like little pros. The ocean and harbour coasts have loads of walkways and paths to explore and provide some very peaceful locations to live as there are many stretches with limited and quiet roads.

ME AND MY (FORMER) BOSS AND FRIEND MIKE ON THE SPIT TO MANLY WALK

Needless to say, property values along the quiet waterfront areas have gone into the stratosphere during the recent property boom here. However, just head over the first ridge from the ocean and the city sprawls to the North, South and West in a often drab and classic suburban pattern that gives the cyclist or pedestrian the feeling of not really belonging. It offers lots of opportunities for new immigrants and my impression is that it is not be a bad place to raise a family. If you have money and can afford to live by the shore, then it is a fantastic place by many measures. However I noticed while biking that the wealthier Eastern suburbs seem to have even more cars zipping around which jams the rest of the city up for the transit dependent and lesser affluent. Another big problem is the lack of pedestrian right of way (by law) and the lack of nearly any stop signs. Cars zip around with the expectation that pedestrians will stay out of their way. To add insult to injury (which are frequent for pedestrians here), you have to push a button at every traffic light crossing in the city: even in the densest downtown grid. It’s crazy as you often just miss a light cycle by a second or two and have to divert left or right to find the button. It’s really nasty for the elderly or mobility impaired. It’s also really uncivilized for such a “developed” country and makes California’s pedestrian rights and drivers look like a dream.

The other problem for me living here is that away from the coasts, there aren’t really that many parks and some of the biggest that we explored either have cars circling around inside (Centennial) or a highway cutting though them (The Domain and botanical gardens). Hyde Park is right in the business district and has some beautiful old trees, but is too small and ringed by traffic clogged streets to give you any real feeling of oasis such as you can find in other urban parks such as Central Park, NY, or even Golden Gate Park. The Botanical Gardens are extremely well maintained, signed, and served with bathrooms and benches which make them one of the most pleasant places to stroll in Sydney. They also connect the waterfront to the fabulous Opera House building which really is an impressive building. We got an even better look at it a few nights ago while attending a symphony performance in the main concert hall. The harbour, quay, and bridge really are one of the most beautiful waterfronts I’ve seen and seem to warrant all the raves that I’ve heard over the years.

SYDNEY SANDSTONE ALONG THE SHORE AT THE BOTANICAL GARDENS

So what does everyone in Sydney constantly talk about? All the time? Rugby and traffic, but not in that order. We hear and see daily the nightmare of traffic clogged streets that just seem to be getting worse by the month. The problem is simple…the fact that almost everyone here buys into the car culture and wants to drive as soon as they can get the opportunity, despite a massive public transit system. They fund transit, but they fund roads and new highways even more. Transit is clearly neglected and not prioritized in the transportation planning the way it should be. Not that the transit system isn’t used, but it is clearly a small minority who use it by choice, especially the buses. The rail lines and ferries are quite efficient and seem to be better run than the buses. This is similar to the situation in hundreds of big cities around the world right now, but he accommodation for cars here is immense and there are highway tunnels everywhere, and new ring highways planned. Again, they have built a new rail line (and one light rail line) in the past 10 years, but that doesn’t really help such a burdened system. They clearly need to limit or charge private autos who are delaying others and give it back to to the one million people who take transit daily here. A congestion charge may be a big answer here.

I also suspect those in charge of transit here may not really understand what people want who depend on transit. Dozens of buses (the system is so confusing) running down loud traffic clogged streets is not a replacement for the old trams they had apparently until the 1950s. Luckily, there is already a call to bring back one of the trams, as these can provide much better street level transit in the well-developed neighborhoods here.

Good Planning? There has been some traffic calming in some of the nice old downtown neighborhoods which has created some very livable streets and even allows bikes to get around in some peace for at least a few blocks. But from my perspective biking, walking and riding the buses for 3 weeks, these efforts fail due to the general accommodation for cars in 99% of the city. Cars are aggressive towards bikes and pedestrians and it shows in the cyclists and walkers behavior.

YES SYDNEY, PLEASE SLOW THE $%&# DOWN!

People dash and cower as walkers, while cyclists are rebellious daredevils, with slower bikes often illegally plying the busy sidewalks to stay alive. Again, it’s really shocking for a western country and has made both Cheryl and I a bit pissed off. If we WERE living here, there would be a new advocacy group started tomorrow! (Cheryl did write the big local newspaper with our impressions as travelers)

Another extremely positive impression of Australians are that they really are exceedingly friendly, just about everywhere, and will go out of their way to help you out at the drop of a hat. However, there is also a huge drinking culture that permeates society, as heavy drinking seems to be a sport of choice for many people here which you can see on the streets and read about in the papers (all the problems). Of course, an 18 drinking age and bars open t’ill 5 or 6 a.m. does not help. It’s rowdy and fun at times, but kinda a big problem for the health of the society.

SYDNEY, I’M SORRY IT’S JUST TIME TO MOVE ON

So that’s all I’ve got for now on Sydney as yesterday we departed Sydney Central on a lovely 2-hour train ride up to the Blue Mountains. We’re loading up a bit on fresh air and practicing our Mandarin phrases and getting in a few days of nice hiking in the sandstone canyons and hills that have served as Sydney’s closest natural park getaway for a 100 years.

GRAND STAIRWAY – BLUE MOUNTAINS NP

Then it’s back into Sydney for a night and off to Singapore on Thursday. As always, a new adventure awaits and this always gets us reinvigorated for the travel life. In addition, Singapore knows how to do transit and I’m sure we’ll be feeling less like marginalized outcasts on their well funded and effective system for moving 4 million people with a very low car ownership rate. And Cheryl has already got the best food courts and street stalls figured out…should be tasty.

So goodbye Sydney; we’ll never forget you, but I suspect we won’t be running back until you give back some rights to people who just want to cross the street…buy groceries without a car, and get across town on a bicycle. What a concept.

So in case you didn’t know, to get emergency services in Australia you dial 000 instead of 911. Luckily, we didn’t need to resort to this yet, but I did have my first incident requiring medical attention in our 10 months of travels. It was a bizarre sort of injury that only happens to a cyclist who spends too much time on a bike, as we have been so lucky so far to avoid any major mishaps in our 10 months to date. We’ve survived auto-rickshaws, cycle-rickshaws, open buses, dodgy ferries, and even a night taxi drive in rural India (the most dangerous thing ever by far!), and had barely a flat tire while cycling the South Island of NZ for nearly 4 weeks.

So we were enjoying a nice day out to the Sydney Olympic Park, which is a huge (~1000 acre) reclaimed and redeveloped area about 20k from the city centre obviously created for the massive 2000 summer Olympics. It has dozens of stadiums, centres, fields, pavilions, but best of all, they’ve created the legacy of a usable park for everyone to enjoy which contains bikeways, paths, and natural areas all the along the Parramatta River and its estuaries. Unfortunately, like most of Sydney, it suffers from somewhat poor signage. The bikeways are sort of signed in places, but you frequently come to roads or 3-4 way intersections where there is no clue given. But they do have park maps located at many places, so we got in the quick habit of pulling over to look at these. Unfortunately, I stayed on my touring bike seat and leaned forward to look at the small map and my front wheel dropped into a little depression/hole between the sign and the paved path which was hidden by the shadows. Crazily, my right foot was clipped out and angles sideways a bit just in the line of the dropping outer chain ring. It made an impressive slice into my leg, removing a small chunk of flesh (better clean my chain), and leaving me with a bloody wound that Cheryl and I both agreed needed more than our normal trail side medical attention.

Ahhh….behold the amazing bandana Tourniquet

So we headed to the information center, which was also poorly signed as they still had signs for the old center 1km away in some places just to mess with us I think?!? But as always in Australia, the staff at the info centre were really, really nice and very helpful. They immediately called the park ranger and about 10 minutes later he arrived and pulled my makeshift tourniquet away to exclaim “Crikey, you need to go to doctor, mate!” (Or something to that effect).

THE WOUND BEFORE STITCHES….KINDA GROSS

So the staff called the local medical centers and a taxi and we all decided that it was best to go the nearest ER as the cut needed to be cleaned up and probably stitched. I’m thinking “Crikey, the ER? This is going to cost us $1000.

THESE 3 LINES OF PAPERWORK ARE BRUTAL!

So after almost no paperwork and an explanation that it would cost us AUD$95 (~US 80) for the doctor to see us, we waited for about 20 minutes. I was seen by a really nice young Filipino doctor that we immediately bonded with as he was so relieved to have patients he could understand. He had been born and raised on American English and said he had a really hard time understanding the local dialect, especially since we were in a more working class neighborhood where the accents were really, really heavy. He did a great job stitching me up and even provided some extra bandages for us.

ALL DONE…5 STITCHES! (LARGE IMAGE FOR DR. BRINKMAN’S REVIEW)

And yup, the total cost for everything was the 95 bucks. It’s barely worth saving the receipt to claim, especially since this is our first dip into our $1500 deductible insurance year while travelling. Medical care really is cheaper everywhere but the US. and now I understand why people freak out when they travel to the US and need outrageously expensive travel insurance.

THE HAPPY DOCTOR AND PATIENT AFTER A JOB WELL DONE

My other rather egocentric thought right after the accident was “Oh crap, no swimming for the rest of our time in Sydney”, so I was extremely relived to hear the doctor say, “Yes you’ll need some stitches, but you can swim after 3 days!” So the wound has healed nicely and I’ve been back in the wonderful ocean here the past two days again thinking, “How Am I going to go back to work after this trip…?” The water is so clean, clear, and liberating….tomorrow I get the stiches out and we are going to an evening symphony performance at the SYdney Opera House……How indeed will I go back?

-R