MID LIFE AT THE OASIS

Greetings Friends;

Before I devolve into the wonders of Japan, I’d like to briefly relay our last experience in China on the fantastic Shanghai Maglev Train on the way to the airport. It was a sort of must do for a transport junkie like myself. It is the fastest passenger train in the world and covers 20 km in about 8 minutes.

MAGLEV TRAIN COMING INTO THE STATION

There are just two stations and it looks like something out of Futurama, including the incredible banked turns at near full speed.

THE “VIEW” AS WE APPROACH TOP SPEED!!”

The amazing thing is that it takes 3 minutes to get up to speed and another 3 to slow down so you`re only at top speed of 431 kph (267 mph) for 2 minutes, but man, I tell you, if they could put such a thing between SF and LA, well, I might even look forward to going to LA.

YUP, 431 KPH!

You can watch the cars on the freeway as the train passes and they appear to be standing still (despite the Chinese penchant for speeds of 150 kph on the freeways!) It really is quite a rush, despite the fact it appears to have been mostly a waste of money in a country that could really use some more basic infrastructure and environmental improvements. And really no one needs to get to the airport in 8 minutes. 30 minutes would have been just fine. But man, it is SO FAST!!!!

China is so overwhelming that it almost feels like a dream. The skies of every city are filled cranes, there are new shops, roads, impressive buildings, and thousands of cars being added to the roads every day.

HERZOGS AND DE MUERON’S “BIRD’S NEST” OLYMPIC STADIUM

YEARS OF FOUL AIR A PRICE FOR THE NEW BEIJING OLYMPIC PARK

There are throngs of people everywhere, all the time. There is no escape, especially for a 6′-5″ gringo. Touts, staring, and pushy people can make a simple trip down the street exhausting given the wrong frame of mind. But of course, many people have new places to live and shop, new things to buy, and loads of new problems associated with the much revered gods of capitalism: Ford, Gucci, Adidas, Starbucks, and KFC. And it gets worse….

OPENING SOON….WAL-MART XI’AN

But the price is huge, as the air burns your eyes and gets in your lungs. Hundred of millions of people pay the price of this rapid development every time they breathe, every day. We will leave in two days. Is it worth it? Is there another way? Will the struggling rural masses be happier in new high-rise housing. Will they be happier driving to work, talking on their cell phones, and siting in traffic behind air-conditioned comfort. They seem pretty happy and its so hard to project our prosperous experience on people that have not had the opportunities to live with economic freedom. Everyone must figure out their own happiness, just as we are trying to in our lives. It feels like a cross between a giant experiment in mass urban living and a mardi-gras like orgy of new capitalists.

PING-PONG IN THE PARK – XI’AN

Even car parking is beginning to be a problem and while cycling along just one block in Beijing I saw a guy arguing with a parking officer about a ticket and two people shouting at each other after a fender bender….ahh makes me feel right at home back in the States. Welcome to high blood pressure and dealing with car mechanics.

So what about bikes? We have had the pleasure to bike in 4 or 5 cities in China and its still the best way to get around most places, but this is changing fast. Most larger roads in Shanghai have banned bikes and scooters and they are now forced onto small back streets to get around. Sounds nice right? But these back street routes have too many bikes and scooters, and the roads are interrupted every 4 blocks or so by the main massive roads where bikes mass up waiting for 5 minute long red lights to change. Things were better in Beijing where big (and often fully separated) bike lanes exist on almost every major road and of course, riding in the back alley Hutong neighborhoods is great on bikes.

HAPPY FLORAL DELIVERY – CHENG DU

Short of Scandinavian, it was probably the easiest city to cover serious ground on by bike, even without a bike map. And cover it we did. We rode everywhere. And the best thing to do in Xi’an. Rent bikes and ride around on top of the wall. No question, it was a blast….13 km high ring road for bikes.

ALL HAIL THE BICYCLE ON THE ANCIENT WALL OF XI’AN!!

So I dwell on the negative a bit eh….well the big Chinese cities have worn me down, but not broken my spirit. There is still a lot of wonderful old China around, and you can get smiles from all just walking through any old neighborhood off the normal tourist track. Get on a bike and the smiles multiply. Everyone biking seems pretty happy as you can comfortably ride side by side on most bike lanes and chat with your buddy on your commute home. Cyclists smile, laugh, and don’t seem to be in any rush.

GREAT BIKEWAYS IN BEIJING – YUP BIKES A LITTLE SMALL SIR

Car drivers we have encountered seem unhappy, almost everywhere. We’ve had some miserable taxi drivers and most drivers feel their right to the road entitles them to barge full speed at pedestrians, bikes, and the elderly in wheel chairs (saw a car honk aggressively at one today) Two nights ago I walked out the door of our apartment place in Shanghai and saw a black car smash a bike rider. She got up, brushed herself off and tried to spin her dented wheel, while the driver kept his window up and then just drove away after seeing that he actually didn’t kill her. As wonderful as the remaining bastions of bike culture are, the car thing here is ugly and depressing. Hopefully the government and society will try to change the drivers attitudes on killing and maiming other people. Don’t hold your breath…..wait, do hold your breath as the air is unfit for human consumption. Oh yeah, and every time you buy something, think about if you really need it, cause it’s production is probably is shortening peoples lives here via polluted air, water and disappearing resources. Do you really need it?

So China has been amazing, but makes you either fear or hope for the future…haven’t decided which yet?

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