July 2008 Archives
There is an old saying that goes: "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone."
This saying doesn't apply here. And as it turns out, I had forgotten just how amazing my home really is.
Quite the opposite feeling to this old adage has consistently smacked me in the face since returning home. Canada is so much better than I remember it.
From the verklempt decent into Vancouver over the snow capped coastal mountains, I was and have been reminded over and over how gorgeous and amazing Canada is; and how lucky I am to be Canadian. During my first week home I felt even more fortunate to be able to show Gina (one of the only reasons why I stayed sane over the last month in Suzhou) the Western Coast of my wonderful country.
Even after spending the last 2 weeks in Yunnan, the natural beauty and pristine conditions of the environment in the Great White North has (on many occasions in my life but in particular since returning recently) caused me to stop in my tracks, and just take in a deep breath.
I become mesmerized by the sounds of birds, the clarity of the sky, and the freshness of the air in my lungs.
And then I snap a picture.
Every place has it's perks.
Every person has their peeves.
Perfection is impossible.
But my province is pretty close.
My mum and sister met us at the Vancouver airport (aka Hong Kouver), and without delay, we went for a saunter through the largest China town in Canada. After a quick whirlwind visit with old friends and some family, we took an early ferry the next day to the city that I would consider is really my home - Victoria.
It turns out before I could even begin to re-culturate and adjust, I would be a little tour guide for a long weekend.
I first took my mum and Gina on a quick hike through an old growth rain forest. The views from the top of Mt Finlayson are some of my favorites.
First, look East to Mt. Baker.
And then, look South to the Olympic Mountains; of whom I have seen a thousand times, and yet every single time I see them, I just have to smile.
It turns out there are other great things about Canada as well.
Besides the tall, strong non-smoking men and everyone's small town accents, hamburgers, avocados, Caesar's, local fruit, my mum's cooking, lemons, Okanagan wine, Pacific Ocean seafood are only a smattering of the plethora of foods here that I forgot I loved.
In Victoria, I have a wonderful 'second mother' named Debbie (on the left), and she is the world's best cook. She (and her partner in crime, Ian) made me feel so happy to be home again. There is nothing I love more than a group of people to love, the most beautiful weather, and some great wine and food to enjoy it all with.
Gina also got down and dirty and enjoyed some West Coast food and drink. This crab will sadly be the last animal she eats for a long time.
Day 2 in Victoria was another beautiful, clean, crisp summer adventure waiting to happen. We (Hana, Gina, my mum and I) drove to the furthest Western point we could possibly get to by car, and explored tidal pools and lava formations while the tide was low at Britannica Beach.
My mum in her infinite wisdom brought a bucket for shells and rocks.
This saying doesn't apply here. And as it turns out, I had forgotten just how amazing my home really is.
Quite the opposite feeling to this old adage has consistently smacked me in the face since returning home. Canada is so much better than I remember it.
From the verklempt decent into Vancouver over the snow capped coastal mountains, I was and have been reminded over and over how gorgeous and amazing Canada is; and how lucky I am to be Canadian. During my first week home I felt even more fortunate to be able to show Gina (one of the only reasons why I stayed sane over the last month in Suzhou) the Western Coast of my wonderful country.
Even after spending the last 2 weeks in Yunnan, the natural beauty and pristine conditions of the environment in the Great White North has (on many occasions in my life but in particular since returning recently) caused me to stop in my tracks, and just take in a deep breath.
I become mesmerized by the sounds of birds, the clarity of the sky, and the freshness of the air in my lungs.
And then I snap a picture.
Every place has it's perks.
Every person has their peeves.
Perfection is impossible.
But my province is pretty close.
My mum and sister met us at the Vancouver airport (aka Hong Kouver), and without delay, we went for a saunter through the largest China town in Canada. After a quick whirlwind visit with old friends and some family, we took an early ferry the next day to the city that I would consider is really my home - Victoria.
It turns out before I could even begin to re-culturate and adjust, I would be a little tour guide for a long weekend.
I first took my mum and Gina on a quick hike through an old growth rain forest. The views from the top of Mt Finlayson are some of my favorites.
First, look East to Mt. Baker.
And then, look South to the Olympic Mountains; of whom I have seen a thousand times, and yet every single time I see them, I just have to smile.It turns out there are other great things about Canada as well.
Besides the tall, strong non-smoking men and everyone's small town accents, hamburgers, avocados, Caesar's, local fruit, my mum's cooking, lemons, Okanagan wine, Pacific Ocean seafood are only a smattering of the plethora of foods here that I forgot I loved.
In Victoria, I have a wonderful 'second mother' named Debbie (on the left), and she is the world's best cook. She (and her partner in crime, Ian) made me feel so happy to be home again. There is nothing I love more than a group of people to love, the most beautiful weather, and some great wine and food to enjoy it all with.
Gina also got down and dirty and enjoyed some West Coast food and drink. This crab will sadly be the last animal she eats for a long time.
Day 2 in Victoria was another beautiful, clean, crisp summer adventure waiting to happen. We (Hana, Gina, my mum and I) drove to the furthest Western point we could possibly get to by car, and explored tidal pools and lava formations while the tide was low at Britannica Beach.
My mum in her infinite wisdom brought a bucket for shells and rocks.And Gina and I, in our infinite wisdom, got caught out in a tidal pool as the tide was coming in.
It wouldn't be the first conundrum of the month for us...
Furthermore, Hana and I were just blinding everyone with overexposure to awesomeness, as usual.
Our third day in Victoria mainly involved exploring the city. We went to coffee (twice) at my favorite coffee shop.
And walked to the parliament buildings, through some farmer's markets, over to the break water and then back through past the museum.... Oh yeah, and we went, of course, to feed the harbor seals at Fisherman's wharf.
Last but not least, we traveled through Vancouver again in order to drop Gina off for the continuation of her trip home and to get the the interior of BC where my trip home ends.
On route, we took a little detour and hiked the Grouse Grind.
With more spectacular views and nature.
Although it's nice to be home, it feels strange as well. In some weird way I don't feel myself here. I am always anxious about stuff and looking for the next thing to keep myself from thinking too much. I am sure there are as many steps to re-culturate as there are in acculturation. And I certainly remember that wasn't easy less than a year ago in Suzhou. But part of me knows regardless of how long it takes for me to feel at ease here, I won't be home for long. There's far too much out there to see and do and learn. And too many people whom I can try to help - or at least plan to for now. So for now, as per usual, it's all about trying to live in the moment.
After all, "Yesterday's the past, tomorrow's the future, but today is a gift. That's why it's called the present."
It wouldn't be the first conundrum of the month for us...
Furthermore, Hana and I were just blinding everyone with overexposure to awesomeness, as usual.Our third day in Victoria mainly involved exploring the city. We went to coffee (twice) at my favorite coffee shop.
And walked to the parliament buildings, through some farmer's markets, over to the break water and then back through past the museum.... Oh yeah, and we went, of course, to feed the harbor seals at Fisherman's wharf.Last but not least, we traveled through Vancouver again in order to drop Gina off for the continuation of her trip home and to get the the interior of BC where my trip home ends.On route, we took a little detour and hiked the Grouse Grind.
With more spectacular views and nature.
Although it's nice to be home, it feels strange as well. In some weird way I don't feel myself here. I am always anxious about stuff and looking for the next thing to keep myself from thinking too much. I am sure there are as many steps to re-culturate as there are in acculturation. And I certainly remember that wasn't easy less than a year ago in Suzhou. But part of me knows regardless of how long it takes for me to feel at ease here, I won't be home for long. There's far too much out there to see and do and learn. And too many people whom I can try to help - or at least plan to for now. So for now, as per usual, it's all about trying to live in the moment.
After all, "Yesterday's the past, tomorrow's the future, but today is a gift. That's why it's called the present."
The capital of Yunnan is a very diverse (by China's standards) city called Kunming. It is known in China as the city with four Springs, as in the weather is like spring all year round. Right off the bat I noticed a lot of differences between Kunming and the other major Chinese cities I'd been to this year. The first thing I noticed is that people live at a slower pace: it is more laid back, less industrialized, calmer, with much more natural beauty. It was very easy to get into vacation mode here.
We spent a day and a bit in Kunming, and thus at our typical warp speed pace, we were able to see pretty much all it had to offer us tourists. I went for a run around Green Lake in the University area; we took a cool boat out on the lake over to a minority museum and village (essentially a zoo that almost warrants it's own blog posting); I got a massage on the street from a blind man; we had an amazing Thai food dinner; the hostel we stayed at had a roof top patio and of course I was very happy to take advantage of that!
Unfortunately, Kunming boils down to just another Chinese city. Too much pollution, too many people, ridiculous industrialization and construction, and lots of useless shopping.
We were determined to get out of the cities and into areas where few foreigners went during our last few weeks in the PRC. Therefore, we took a flight to Dali, a gorgeous community North-West of Kunming.
Unfortunately, every other foreigner had also heard it was a good place to get away from it all.
But we persevered.
China changes faster than I do - which is saying a lot - so although I had the most recent Lonely Planet Guide, it failed us quite often during our adventures in Yunnan. For example, in Kunming, we went looking for the Muslim quarters to no avail. After 6 hours of walking we realized the giant construction site we had been walking around was only several months ago a wonderful eclectic neighborhood full of shops and restaurants for the Muslim minority in Kunming. Similarly, we were excited to read about "Banana pancakes on every corer" in Dali. But after a few days of searching high and low, we still were unable to find anything more than a deep fried banana and some Baba bread.
To really get away from it all, we rented bikes in Dali for 1$/day and spent an afternoon cycling around Erhu, one of China's biggest lakes. Around it is mainly rice paddies and corn fields, which again reminded me a lot of other areas I have recently been in South East Asia.
Erhu lake was relatively clean. And yet, there was garbage piled up everywhere around it. It was infuriating and saddening at the same time. I don't understand how they don't understand. It is moments like these when I remember I am living in a developing country.
During our bike ride we got to see a lot of Bai people in their traditional clothing and unique homes. Over 80% of the 1.6 million members of China's Bai ethnic minority live within the villages of the Dali prefecture, the area they have occupied for 4000 years. The first thing most people notice about the Bai are the very distinctive traditional clothing their women wear, with their bright colors, beautiful, elaborate embroidery and dramatic headgear. The Bai like the color white (their religion, a mixture Buddhism and various ancient local traditions, regards the color white as sacred) and "Bai" means white in Chinese.
Dali incorporated the best of many south east Asian cities: the weather was perfect; there were many diverse people; the farming; the beautiful clean water and air; the coffee is cheap and delicious; and there are people offering you drugs everywhere you went.... "Hashishie???"... which I always think is really funny.
The next day, after relishing a walkabout in the morning's crisp, clean air, we hopped on a bus North to Lijiang.
Lijiang to an outsider looks a lot like Dali but it is just bigger and more touristy. But if you look a little closer, you notice a lot of differences, mainly due to the fact that the minority group here are Naxi people.
The Naxi minority is very cool (in my opinion) for two main reasons:
1. They are matriarchical.
2. They have the world's last hieroglyphic language.
We hitched a ride a half hour north of Lijiang for the afternoon to check out an old Naxi village where we, of course, tried some new foods. This is Liang Feng. A green pea sort of fried tofu thing.... It was really good but a little, um, gelatinous.
After Lijiang we hiked the Tiger Leaping Gorge and then we headed further North to a city that felt so "un-Chinese" I kept forgetting I was in China. Zhongdian (AKA Shangri-la) is just out of the way enough (the hellish 6 hour bus ride helps) to deter most tourists from making it there. Finally our perseverance paid off and we were out into the boons!
Most of the minorities are Naxi and Tibetan. Everyone was so happy, calm and relaxed here. I am sure the fact that most are practicing Buddhists plays a large role in that.
In Zhongdian we tried a lot of new foods. Yak kebob (amazing), Yak yogurt (really good), fried cheese in honey and butter (so-so) and barley bread (meh). Having been given the opportunity, I didn't have the guts to try the pickled whole cow head or hooves though.
We also went to a beautiful Buddhist monastery.
Since we had traveled to an altitude of 3500m in 4 days, I felt it was necessary to see if I could run in the morning at this altitude. Heck yeah I could! And it was good to get some willies out before yet another bus ride from hell up to yet another city even further North. Our last stop. Deqin.
Deqin makes no effort to hide it's Buddhism roots as well as it's love for the Dali Lama and distaste for Mao Zedong.
Up here it really felt isolated. We were in the middle of nowhere with very little ability to communicate. But it was a price I was willing to pay a thousand times over for the clean air and nature.
After our 1,000ish km route from Kunming, plus hikes, Gina and I had different ideas of how to return home and also really needed a break from eachother. I headed on a bus back to Dali and explored that area a bit more. I bought a lot of gifts and even found those banana pancakes! I will certainly return to this wonderful country soon.
We spent a day and a bit in Kunming, and thus at our typical warp speed pace, we were able to see pretty much all it had to offer us tourists. I went for a run around Green Lake in the University area; we took a cool boat out on the lake over to a minority museum and village (essentially a zoo that almost warrants it's own blog posting); I got a massage on the street from a blind man; we had an amazing Thai food dinner; the hostel we stayed at had a roof top patio and of course I was very happy to take advantage of that!Unfortunately, Kunming boils down to just another Chinese city. Too much pollution, too many people, ridiculous industrialization and construction, and lots of useless shopping.
We were determined to get out of the cities and into areas where few foreigners went during our last few weeks in the PRC. Therefore, we took a flight to Dali, a gorgeous community North-West of Kunming.
Unfortunately, every other foreigner had also heard it was a good place to get away from it all.
But we persevered.
China changes faster than I do - which is saying a lot - so although I had the most recent Lonely Planet Guide, it failed us quite often during our adventures in Yunnan. For example, in Kunming, we went looking for the Muslim quarters to no avail. After 6 hours of walking we realized the giant construction site we had been walking around was only several months ago a wonderful eclectic neighborhood full of shops and restaurants for the Muslim minority in Kunming. Similarly, we were excited to read about "Banana pancakes on every corer" in Dali. But after a few days of searching high and low, we still were unable to find anything more than a deep fried banana and some Baba bread.
To really get away from it all, we rented bikes in Dali for 1$/day and spent an afternoon cycling around Erhu, one of China's biggest lakes. Around it is mainly rice paddies and corn fields, which again reminded me a lot of other areas I have recently been in South East Asia.
Erhu lake was relatively clean. And yet, there was garbage piled up everywhere around it. It was infuriating and saddening at the same time. I don't understand how they don't understand. It is moments like these when I remember I am living in a developing country.
During our bike ride we got to see a lot of Bai people in their traditional clothing and unique homes. Over 80% of the 1.6 million members of China's Bai ethnic minority live within the villages of the Dali prefecture, the area they have occupied for 4000 years. The first thing most people notice about the Bai are the very distinctive traditional clothing their women wear, with their bright colors, beautiful, elaborate embroidery and dramatic headgear. The Bai like the color white (their religion, a mixture Buddhism and various ancient local traditions, regards the color white as sacred) and "Bai" means white in Chinese.
Dali incorporated the best of many south east Asian cities: the weather was perfect; there were many diverse people; the farming; the beautiful clean water and air; the coffee is cheap and delicious; and there are people offering you drugs everywhere you went.... "Hashishie???"... which I always think is really funny.
The next day, after relishing a walkabout in the morning's crisp, clean air, we hopped on a bus North to Lijiang.
Lijiang to an outsider looks a lot like Dali but it is just bigger and more touristy. But if you look a little closer, you notice a lot of differences, mainly due to the fact that the minority group here are Naxi people.
The Naxi minority is very cool (in my opinion) for two main reasons:
1. They are matriarchical.
2. They have the world's last hieroglyphic language.
We hitched a ride a half hour north of Lijiang for the afternoon to check out an old Naxi village where we, of course, tried some new foods. This is Liang Feng. A green pea sort of fried tofu thing.... It was really good but a little, um, gelatinous.
After Lijiang we hiked the Tiger Leaping Gorge and then we headed further North to a city that felt so "un-Chinese" I kept forgetting I was in China. Zhongdian (AKA Shangri-la) is just out of the way enough (the hellish 6 hour bus ride helps) to deter most tourists from making it there. Finally our perseverance paid off and we were out into the boons!Most of the minorities are Naxi and Tibetan. Everyone was so happy, calm and relaxed here. I am sure the fact that most are practicing Buddhists plays a large role in that.
In Zhongdian we tried a lot of new foods. Yak kebob (amazing), Yak yogurt (really good), fried cheese in honey and butter (so-so) and barley bread (meh). Having been given the opportunity, I didn't have the guts to try the pickled whole cow head or hooves though.We also went to a beautiful Buddhist monastery.Since we had traveled to an altitude of 3500m in 4 days, I felt it was necessary to see if I could run in the morning at this altitude. Heck yeah I could! And it was good to get some willies out before yet another bus ride from hell up to yet another city even further North. Our last stop. Deqin.
Deqin makes no effort to hide it's Buddhism roots as well as it's love for the Dali Lama and distaste for Mao Zedong.
Up here it really felt isolated. We were in the middle of nowhere with very little ability to communicate. But it was a price I was willing to pay a thousand times over for the clean air and nature.
After our 1,000ish km route from Kunming, plus hikes, Gina and I had different ideas of how to return home and also really needed a break from eachother. I headed on a bus back to Dali and explored that area a bit more. I bought a lot of gifts and even found those banana pancakes! I will certainly return to this wonderful country soon.
After a long ten months of teaching, I decided to take a hike...or two... around the Wild, Wild West of China prior to heading back home for some down time.
The last two weeks of my life have been an intense compilation of trekking, traveling, exploring and learning about China's most diverse province: Yunnan. There are so many good pictures and stories that I'd like to share, and although I will try to condense it into three posts (or so), I may completely fail at my general attempt at succinctness.
This first post will be about the trekking Gina and I powered through.
We spent about half our time during our travels hiking in this beautiful and ever-changing area.
Our first (of two) main hikes, was Tiger Leaping Gorge. Very serious!
Talk about anti-climactic: I put the best pic of me at the very top first....I can't help myself!
On the first day in Tiger Leaping Gorge, we took a two hour bus to the bottom of the gorge.
And proceeded to spend 8 hours hiking to the top.
Along the way we met a few friends.
And we took a variety of breaks. Only to take pics of course, and not at all because we were tired.
Once at the top, I had a much needed shower. Note the numbers above me in this pic.
Then we we made a few more friends. In particular, Neil McGregor (a great Irish name!)...whom I taught not only to lose
at poker (and then was stuck with about 50 coins for the rest of the
hike) but also to drink bijiu. A definite theme to my China adventures.
The following morning we woke up to some major rain. This was excellent news to my bijiu/stupid-head and I went back to bed until the rain stopped. Once we reached the bottom (taking a third of the time to descend), and the other side of the gorge, we flagged down a car with 4 Sichuanese guys and rode out to the wild yonder.
Can you see from the top of this pic why it is called "Tiger" Leaping Gorge?
Makes me think of Tiger ice cream.
Several days later, once our legs had recovered enough, we braved the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau.
After an 8 hour bus ride from hell (somewhat of a theme in Yunnan) we arrived to a hole in the ground - 89km South of the Tibetan border, 188km North East of any "city" and 3800m above sea level.
The Meili Snow Mountains are a range that are part of the Himalayas and through which the Yangtze and Mekong Rivers flow. The glaciers took my breath away, and also made me want to go home even more! Doesn't this look a bit like B.C?
The environment is so pristine in this area. It is no wonder China is forcibly trying to control it (I can say things like that now that I am leaving!) The bummer is, the people here are just as ignorant as the rest of the country and although it is clean now, with all of the exhaust and littering going on, it certainly won't stay that way for long. Sadly, the water here was the first in all of China that I had seen that was swimmable. Yet I'd give it five years before it too is intensely contaminated. (likely more on this topic later)
Out in the boons, we hiked for two days along a route where another 'laowai' had died only two weeks prior. But we lived to tell the tale!
The trek began uphill and in the rain. But my silverback turtle uniform kept me warm and dry.
Up 1200m in 4 hours (which many do by horse back). Then down for a few hours into a gorgeous valley. The house on the far left is where we stayed the night and ate an amazing homemade meal which gave new meaning to 'fresh'.
On the following day, breathtaking views around every corner and the first sun we'd seen in a few days had us plowing through two days of hiking in just one.
Basically when you are tired or hungry in this area, you stop at one of these villages of two or three houses and just motion for what you want. If you speak Tibetan you can probably ask. But were were speaking "mime" for the majority of this section of the trip.
Wow. This is China. ! ? !
The last two weeks of my life have been an intense compilation of trekking, traveling, exploring and learning about China's most diverse province: Yunnan. There are so many good pictures and stories that I'd like to share, and although I will try to condense it into three posts (or so), I may completely fail at my general attempt at succinctness.
This first post will be about the trekking Gina and I powered through.
We spent about half our time during our travels hiking in this beautiful and ever-changing area.
Our first (of two) main hikes, was Tiger Leaping Gorge. Very serious!
Talk about anti-climactic: I put the best pic of me at the very top first....I can't help myself!
On the first day in Tiger Leaping Gorge, we took a two hour bus to the bottom of the gorge.
And proceeded to spend 8 hours hiking to the top.
Along the way we met a few friends.And we took a variety of breaks. Only to take pics of course, and not at all because we were tired.
Once at the top, I had a much needed shower. Note the numbers above me in this pic.
Then we we made a few more friends. In particular, Neil McGregor (a great Irish name!)...whom I taught not only to lose
at poker (and then was stuck with about 50 coins for the rest of the
hike) but also to drink bijiu. A definite theme to my China adventures.The following morning we woke up to some major rain. This was excellent news to my bijiu/stupid-head and I went back to bed until the rain stopped. Once we reached the bottom (taking a third of the time to descend), and the other side of the gorge, we flagged down a car with 4 Sichuanese guys and rode out to the wild yonder.Can you see from the top of this pic why it is called "Tiger" Leaping Gorge?Makes me think of Tiger ice cream.
Several days later, once our legs had recovered enough, we braved the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau.
After an 8 hour bus ride from hell (somewhat of a theme in Yunnan) we arrived to a hole in the ground - 89km South of the Tibetan border, 188km North East of any "city" and 3800m above sea level.
The Meili Snow Mountains are a range that are part of the Himalayas and through which the Yangtze and Mekong Rivers flow. The glaciers took my breath away, and also made me want to go home even more! Doesn't this look a bit like B.C?
The environment is so pristine in this area. It is no wonder China is forcibly trying to control it (I can say things like that now that I am leaving!) The bummer is, the people here are just as ignorant as the rest of the country and although it is clean now, with all of the exhaust and littering going on, it certainly won't stay that way for long. Sadly, the water here was the first in all of China that I had seen that was swimmable. Yet I'd give it five years before it too is intensely contaminated. (likely more on this topic later)
Out in the boons, we hiked for two days along a route where another 'laowai' had died only two weeks prior. But we lived to tell the tale! The trek began uphill and in the rain. But my silverback turtle uniform kept me warm and dry.
Up 1200m in 4 hours (which many do by horse back). Then down for a few hours into a gorgeous valley. The house on the far left is where we stayed the night and ate an amazing homemade meal which gave new meaning to 'fresh'.
On the following day, breathtaking views around every corner and the first sun we'd seen in a few days had us plowing through two days of hiking in just one.Basically when you are tired or hungry in this area, you stop at one of these villages of two or three houses and just motion for what you want. If you speak Tibetan you can probably ask. But were were speaking "mime" for the majority of this section of the trip.Wow. This is China. ! ? ! 
