Traveling Diary: October 2008 Archives
After a full day of EmeiShan hiking - an increase in 2000m of altitude and a land distance of at least 10km - I bid farewell to my new friends and headed off the next morning to Chongqing.
On the bus ride there, the garbage got full and so the bus driver slowed slightly along the highway and a passenger dumped the garbage onto the side of the road. Now, I have a adjusted to a lot of cultural differences here in China, but I will never get used to the blatant ignorance and disregard for the environment. Where does he think that garbage goes? And what's more, if they're just going to throw it onto the side of the road, my dilemma is: at this point should I just throw my garbage out the window myself rather than bring it to the garbage can? Obviously I could never do this. I would feel awful. I might as well drop kick a puppy. But still, I am baffled by this every single time it happens.
However, then I got to thinking about North America and the movie "Anchorman", which is based in the 70's and the characters just throw their garbage all over a park in San Diego. And as usual, I reminded myself that North America is not that much further ahead than here. I mean, it was really still only 60 years ago where there was slavery in the US. I need not say that is more inhumane than throwing garbage. I know in China these habits will change quickly. In fact, plastic bags here are already abolished and trendsetting young women are carrying around "I am not a plastic Bag" purses everywhere they go. Albeit they normally say "Imanot a plsitac bag" or something equally hilarious due to the Chenglish and lack of quality control. It is still the thought that counts.
Up to this point of my National Day Holiday, the trip had been much less fun and impressive than I had anticipated. I was a little lonely, and disappointed. I had not planned on spending any time in Chongqing; it was merely a stopover on the way to the three rivers gorges and their main dam. But, when I arrived to my hostel, nestled in CiQiKou, the ancient town of this massive city, I was wide eyed, bushy-tialed and instantly changed my plans.
This is the street my hostel was on, which got nuts at night with locals making candy.
In the day, artists write out their calligraphy down the old alleys.
And this was the view from my window. The incredible Yantze River. The hostel was also cool because I was the only foreigner. It was mostly full of Chinese college students traveling around and I had to get in on a bit of their opinions and of course some fun Chinese lessons.
Chongqing vibrates with energy. And it reminded me of how we imagine the world to be in the future. People really do drive in the air. I took this picture from the back of a motorbike taxi.
Chongqing is a main port city on the Yantze, thus there is constant traffic of people, goods, and culture in and out.
I would not be doing the city justice if I failed to mention it's claim to fame: The biggest city in China.
With the same population as Canada, it also appears to contain the same amount of infrastructure, pollution, industry and economic flux.
For my first full day in Chongqing, I woke up to rain. However, it was not a surprise as the lonely planet guide said that Chongqing has 2 seasons: foggy and rainy. SO I had already planned the day accordingly. I hopped out of the bus in the downtown core and bought a $1.50 umbrella from a hawker. Then I proceed to an Ahrat temple, where I lit some candles and incense, and prayed for consciousness, gratitude and love.
This temple had all that I was expecting (but didn't find) at LeShan and EmeiShan. There was a spiritual presence and calmness in the air that just washed over you as you walked though the doors; allowing you to slough off the busy street you just left, and all the worries the real world crates.
After the Arhat temple I proceeded to walk through the city centre, and of course stopped for a coffee at one of the 4 starbucks in the middle. Then I went to the Three Rivers Gorges Dam Museum. I'm a museum girl, but not normally when I travel. It has to be a rainy day and I usually have to be alone. Although this museum was fairly commercial, the wing dedicated to the Three Rivers Gorge Dam construction was unbelievable.
By the early afternoon I was getting blisters so I took a taxi to Mao Zedong's ( and other Communist Party members) old "house". And lets just say I didn't take any pics there for personal safety reasons.
My flight didn't leave until the afternoon on my last day of adventure, so I figured I would spend the morning checking out a very unadvertised area two hours West of Chongqing called Dazu. I bargained with a motor cycle taxi at the bus station, who turned into a great guide, and we drove about 10km, out along a beautiful winding road through rice paddies, which finally ended on the top of a sacred mountain.
As I said, this place is sparsely written about. However, I did find this on the UNESCO website, describing it along with their justification for deeming it a heritage site:
"The steep hillsides of the Dazu area contain an exceptional series of rock carvings dating from the 9th to the 13th century. They are remarkable for their aesthetic quality, their rich diversity of subject matter, both secular and religious, and the light that they shed on everyday life in China during this period. They provide outstanding evidence of the harmonious synthesis of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism."
P.S. I had my first real date with a ChInese guy last night. I have butterflies in my stomach just writing that! Ha ha. He is shorter than me and so cute! It was so fun and a really interesting experience. We went to dinner and then I got completely side tracked in an arcade with some of the most amazing video games I've ever seen. We played in the arcade for 4 hours and he beat me at everything (motorbike racing, drumming, dance dance revolution, air hokey...every corner I turned I was like "whoa! lets go play that!") but I was actually really trying to win! He went with the flow and just kept laughing at my crazy mood swings of being extremely excited about playing a new game and then mad that I lost. I think chivalry is non existent in China. But really it is just between strangers. He opened the door for me everywhere we went; pulled out my chair; ordered for us; paid for everything; grabbed my elbow and yanked me out of traffic a few times; moved me over to walk on the building side of the road so he was closer to traffic; ran down a taxi in the rain for us; then took the taxi to my house with me to make sure I got home safe and then immediately took the taxi all the way back across town home. It was the way men should act on dates but North American men have completely forgotten that or something. Then, this morning he sent me a little text message saying good morning in Chinese (早上好！） and then I got an email this afternoon， just saying hey （吃了吗？）. These are the sort of thing that aren't difficult to do but they just make my day knowing someone is thinking of me.
I could get used to this!
On the bus ride there, the garbage got full and so the bus driver slowed slightly along the highway and a passenger dumped the garbage onto the side of the road. Now, I have a adjusted to a lot of cultural differences here in China, but I will never get used to the blatant ignorance and disregard for the environment. Where does he think that garbage goes? And what's more, if they're just going to throw it onto the side of the road, my dilemma is: at this point should I just throw my garbage out the window myself rather than bring it to the garbage can? Obviously I could never do this. I would feel awful. I might as well drop kick a puppy. But still, I am baffled by this every single time it happens.
However, then I got to thinking about North America and the movie "Anchorman", which is based in the 70's and the characters just throw their garbage all over a park in San Diego. And as usual, I reminded myself that North America is not that much further ahead than here. I mean, it was really still only 60 years ago where there was slavery in the US. I need not say that is more inhumane than throwing garbage. I know in China these habits will change quickly. In fact, plastic bags here are already abolished and trendsetting young women are carrying around "I am not a plastic Bag" purses everywhere they go. Albeit they normally say "Imanot a plsitac bag" or something equally hilarious due to the Chenglish and lack of quality control. It is still the thought that counts.
Up to this point of my National Day Holiday, the trip had been much less fun and impressive than I had anticipated. I was a little lonely, and disappointed. I had not planned on spending any time in Chongqing; it was merely a stopover on the way to the three rivers gorges and their main dam. But, when I arrived to my hostel, nestled in CiQiKou, the ancient town of this massive city, I was wide eyed, bushy-tialed and instantly changed my plans.
This is the street my hostel was on, which got nuts at night with locals making candy.
In the day, artists write out their calligraphy down the old alleys.And this was the view from my window. The incredible Yantze River. The hostel was also cool because I was the only foreigner. It was mostly full of Chinese college students traveling around and I had to get in on a bit of their opinions and of course some fun Chinese lessons.
Chongqing vibrates with energy. And it reminded me of how we imagine the world to be in the future. People really do drive in the air. I took this picture from the back of a motorbike taxi.Chongqing is a main port city on the Yantze, thus there is constant traffic of people, goods, and culture in and out.
I would not be doing the city justice if I failed to mention it's claim to fame: The biggest city in China.
With the same population as Canada, it also appears to contain the same amount of infrastructure, pollution, industry and economic flux.
For my first full day in Chongqing, I woke up to rain. However, it was not a surprise as the lonely planet guide said that Chongqing has 2 seasons: foggy and rainy. SO I had already planned the day accordingly. I hopped out of the bus in the downtown core and bought a $1.50 umbrella from a hawker. Then I proceed to an Ahrat temple, where I lit some candles and incense, and prayed for consciousness, gratitude and love.
This temple had all that I was expecting (but didn't find) at LeShan and EmeiShan. There was a spiritual presence and calmness in the air that just washed over you as you walked though the doors; allowing you to slough off the busy street you just left, and all the worries the real world crates.
After the Arhat temple I proceeded to walk through the city centre, and of course stopped for a coffee at one of the 4 starbucks in the middle. Then I went to the Three Rivers Gorges Dam Museum. I'm a museum girl, but not normally when I travel. It has to be a rainy day and I usually have to be alone. Although this museum was fairly commercial, the wing dedicated to the Three Rivers Gorge Dam construction was unbelievable.
By the early afternoon I was getting blisters so I took a taxi to Mao Zedong's ( and other Communist Party members) old "house". And lets just say I didn't take any pics there for personal safety reasons.
My flight didn't leave until the afternoon on my last day of adventure, so I figured I would spend the morning checking out a very unadvertised area two hours West of Chongqing called Dazu. I bargained with a motor cycle taxi at the bus station, who turned into a great guide, and we drove about 10km, out along a beautiful winding road through rice paddies, which finally ended on the top of a sacred mountain.
As I said, this place is sparsely written about. However, I did find this on the UNESCO website, describing it along with their justification for deeming it a heritage site:"The steep hillsides of the Dazu area contain an exceptional series of rock carvings dating from the 9th to the 13th century. They are remarkable for their aesthetic quality, their rich diversity of subject matter, both secular and religious, and the light that they shed on everyday life in China during this period. They provide outstanding evidence of the harmonious synthesis of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism."
Criterion (i): The Dazu carvings represent the pinnacle of Chinese rock art for their high aesthetic quality and their diversity of style and subject matter.
Criterion (ii): Tantric Buddhism from India and the Chinese Taoist and Confucian beliefs came together at Dazu to create a highly original and influential manifestation of spiritual harmony.
Criterion (iii): The eclectic nature of religious belief in later Imperial China is given material expression in the exceptional artistic heritage of the Dazu rock art.
P.S. I had my first real date with a ChInese guy last night. I have butterflies in my stomach just writing that! Ha ha. He is shorter than me and so cute! It was so fun and a really interesting experience. We went to dinner and then I got completely side tracked in an arcade with some of the most amazing video games I've ever seen. We played in the arcade for 4 hours and he beat me at everything (motorbike racing, drumming, dance dance revolution, air hokey...every corner I turned I was like "whoa! lets go play that!") but I was actually really trying to win! He went with the flow and just kept laughing at my crazy mood swings of being extremely excited about playing a new game and then mad that I lost. I think chivalry is non existent in China. But really it is just between strangers. He opened the door for me everywhere we went; pulled out my chair; ordered for us; paid for everything; grabbed my elbow and yanked me out of traffic a few times; moved me over to walk on the building side of the road so he was closer to traffic; ran down a taxi in the rain for us; then took the taxi to my house with me to make sure I got home safe and then immediately took the taxi all the way back across town home. It was the way men should act on dates but North American men have completely forgotten that or something. Then, this morning he sent me a little text message saying good morning in Chinese (早上好！） and then I got an email this afternoon， just saying hey （吃了吗？）. These are the sort of thing that aren't difficult to do but they just make my day knowing someone is thinking of me.
I could get used to this!
This past week was the National Day Holiday here in the PRC. To Chinese people this means remembering when their country became The People's Republic of China, and often traveling to see family.
To me, this means:
1. I get a paid week off work;
2. I have time to explore parts of the country I have wanted to for a while;
3. I will battle crowds of millions of Chinese tourists everywhere I go.
Remember last year Gina and I went to Beijing for this holiday? Wow, I can't believe that was a year ago. This year I had a few things I wanted to check off my list: The Giant Pandas in Chengdu, hiking at EmeiShan, and seeing the Three rivers gorge dam.
Unfortunately - and quite uncharacteristically - I did not fulfill all three goals. This was due in part by choice, since I was so overwhelmed by battling hordes of people after five days I said "Swan le" (算了) and gave up.
But I had quite an experience nonetheless. And here I will tell you about it, of course!
Si Chuan 四川, Literally means 4 rivers. And is a very large province just to the West of the province I am currenltly living in, Hubei. Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan. I flew into Chengdu on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
(Aside: On the plane I met a brilliant Chinese-born-Canadian man who owns a fuel cell company in Wuhan with whom I had a mesmerizing talk with. And I wondered....why is it that every man I meet who I find interesting and who I feel has something to offer me is not only over the age of 40 but also married with children?!?)
As usual, upon arrival to my destination, I dropped my bags at my hostel and started walking. I noticed a few things about Chengdu from the get-go. Chengdu is the home of KungFu Panda (the greatest movie of 2008) and there are a lot of similarities (you'll just have to see it). The city is modern, bright, and less polluted than Wuhan. However, there was a lot more yelling "laowai" and "hellloooo!" at me. Many incredulous looks and kids crying at the sight of a long-nosed-round-eyed-'Waiguoren'. And the honking...oh the honking.... I was reminded of a few things I hated about China by the end of my stint last year...and a few things I am thankful for in Wuhan (honking is illegal). The city itself reminded me a bit of Osaka just in the flow of hustle bustle and the development around the river.
Chengdu touts to be the epicentre of Hot Pot, and was the epicentre of last year's earthquake. The province of Sichuan is famous for 3 things: giant pandas; face-changing opera; and spicy food. On my first full day in Chengdu, I took part in all three...and was certainly not let down.
Although I was slightly concerned that the Giant Panda Breeding Centre would be more like a zoo than an educational centre, the only thing that was zoo-like were the people.
Were they ever cute (the Pandas, not the people). And so much smaller than I expected; a bit smaller than a brown bear. There are less than one thousand wild pandas, and this was one of several international breeding centres aimed at evading their impending extinction.
Besides the fact that they only eat bamboo - which is currently being replaced by soy or cattle farms to feed North American over consumption - I bet that the main reason why these timid animals are near extinction is that their babies are born very premature; often only 50-100GRAMS! Therefore, in the wild, they have very little chance for survival, and their mothers appear not to have any motherly instincts.
In captivity, on the other hand, they are well taken care of.
This one is one month old and already almost 4kg. If human babies grew that fast they'd be almost adult sized by the age of one month!
After the breeding centre, I explored the city of Chengdu and took part in two of my first real life, almost adult conversations in Chinese. By this I mean exchanging opinions and ideas (albeit they were typical pleasantries) but in both cases advice was even sought and given. I may have just graduated from a 5 year old to an 8 or 9 year old in my laguage abilities here!
After seeing the People's square and a few Buddhist monnestaries and a nunnery, I went to Jilin Folk street for dinner. Here, you basically attach a feed bag and try every snack imaginable. This street of food alone is worth a trip to Chengdu. The food was so spicy I stopped breathing at one point and had tears in my eyes a few times. But I persevered, of course!
...When in Rome....
To me, this means:
1. I get a paid week off work;
2. I have time to explore parts of the country I have wanted to for a while;
3. I will battle crowds of millions of Chinese tourists everywhere I go.
Remember last year Gina and I went to Beijing for this holiday? Wow, I can't believe that was a year ago. This year I had a few things I wanted to check off my list: The Giant Pandas in Chengdu, hiking at EmeiShan, and seeing the Three rivers gorge dam.
Unfortunately - and quite uncharacteristically - I did not fulfill all three goals. This was due in part by choice, since I was so overwhelmed by battling hordes of people after five days I said "Swan le" (算了) and gave up.
But I had quite an experience nonetheless. And here I will tell you about it, of course!
Si Chuan 四川, Literally means 4 rivers. And is a very large province just to the West of the province I am currenltly living in, Hubei. Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan. I flew into Chengdu on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
(Aside: On the plane I met a brilliant Chinese-born-Canadian man who owns a fuel cell company in Wuhan with whom I had a mesmerizing talk with. And I wondered....why is it that every man I meet who I find interesting and who I feel has something to offer me is not only over the age of 40 but also married with children?!?)
As usual, upon arrival to my destination, I dropped my bags at my hostel and started walking. I noticed a few things about Chengdu from the get-go. Chengdu is the home of KungFu Panda (the greatest movie of 2008) and there are a lot of similarities (you'll just have to see it). The city is modern, bright, and less polluted than Wuhan. However, there was a lot more yelling "laowai" and "hellloooo!" at me. Many incredulous looks and kids crying at the sight of a long-nosed-round-eyed-'Waiguoren'. And the honking...oh the honking.... I was reminded of a few things I hated about China by the end of my stint last year...and a few things I am thankful for in Wuhan (honking is illegal). The city itself reminded me a bit of Osaka just in the flow of hustle bustle and the development around the river.
Chengdu touts to be the epicentre of Hot Pot, and was the epicentre of last year's earthquake. The province of Sichuan is famous for 3 things: giant pandas; face-changing opera; and spicy food. On my first full day in Chengdu, I took part in all three...and was certainly not let down.
Although I was slightly concerned that the Giant Panda Breeding Centre would be more like a zoo than an educational centre, the only thing that was zoo-like were the people.Were they ever cute (the Pandas, not the people). And so much smaller than I expected; a bit smaller than a brown bear. There are less than one thousand wild pandas, and this was one of several international breeding centres aimed at evading their impending extinction. Besides the fact that they only eat bamboo - which is currently being replaced by soy or cattle farms to feed North American over consumption - I bet that the main reason why these timid animals are near extinction is that their babies are born very premature; often only 50-100GRAMS! Therefore, in the wild, they have very little chance for survival, and their mothers appear not to have any motherly instincts. In captivity, on the other hand, they are well taken care of.
This one is one month old and already almost 4kg. If human babies grew that fast they'd be almost adult sized by the age of one month!
After the breeding centre, I explored the city of Chengdu and took part in two of my first real life, almost adult conversations in Chinese. By this I mean exchanging opinions and ideas (albeit they were typical pleasantries) but in both cases advice was even sought and given. I may have just graduated from a 5 year old to an 8 or 9 year old in my laguage abilities here!After seeing the People's square and a few Buddhist monnestaries and a nunnery, I went to Jilin Folk street for dinner. Here, you basically attach a feed bag and try every snack imaginable. This street of food alone is worth a trip to Chengdu. The food was so spicy I stopped breathing at one point and had tears in my eyes a few times. But I persevered, of course!
...When in Rome....
Sichuan people live up their name of being aggressive and hot tempered; to the point of ignorant belligerence. Chinese people from afar blame it on the spicy foods. All day I was being yelled at for being a Westerner. Sometimes it was in good fun, but often it was making fun of me. Not really enjoyable, you know? But I started yelling things back in Chinese and won a lot of battles with the insults I have learned from my students. Don't worry, dad, I didn't say anything mean; just asking them things like "what, have you never seen a foreigner before?" or "Just because I'm white doesn't mean I don't understand you, jerk!". Their faces alone were enough motivation to learn more Chinese. Though I know no mater how much Chinese I learn, I'll never be accepted here. (more on that in a later blog I am sure).
The Sichuan opera is known for it's art of face-changing. I am going to let the video (which I am currently unable to upload but am working on it!) and pictures do the talking on this one.....
The Sichuan opera is known for it's art of face-changing. I am going to let the video (which I am currently unable to upload but am working on it!) and pictures do the talking on this one.....
And after seeing this video, don't even try to explain how they do it. No one knows. It is an ancient tradition that has been passed on only from master to apprentice over thousands of years.
On my second full day, after a long run down the river and a coffee (of course), I took a bus down South to the highly praised UNESCO world heritage sight, LeShan Giant Buddha. Unfortunately, the entire country wanted to see the Buddha on this day. And for this reason, along with a few others (like no one here spoke Putonghua, no one had ever seen a foreigner and were constantly taking pictures of me, and no one had any regard for any other human being...T.I.C) this was easily the biggest disappointment of my trip.
But I actually found a corner of China with no other people -albeit for about 5 seconds -so I was happy for those 5 seconds!
On my second full day, after a long run down the river and a coffee (of course), I took a bus down South to the highly praised UNESCO world heritage sight, LeShan Giant Buddha. Unfortunately, the entire country wanted to see the Buddha on this day. And for this reason, along with a few others (like no one here spoke Putonghua, no one had ever seen a foreigner and were constantly taking pictures of me, and no one had any regard for any other human being...T.I.C) this was easily the biggest disappointment of my trip.
But I actually found a corner of China with no other people -albeit for about 5 seconds -so I was happy for those 5 seconds!
From LeShan I took another bus West to what I had planned to be the highlight of my trip. I had wanted to hike EmeiShan ever since Gina and I hiked HuangShan. Unfortunately, this was also a pretty huge disappointment.
It was beautiful. But it had nothing on HuangShan. I found out, after returning and telling my Chinese teacher how I felt about EmeiSHan that there is an old Chinese proverb on the topic: 五岳歸來不看山。黃山歸來不看岳。 This means that once you've been to HuangShan, no other mountain will ever match it. Not even the five famous mountains in China.
Well NOW you tell me!
If it weren't for the billion tourists, I may have seen beauty in the Golden Buddha at EmeiShan.
But it, along with the heavily advertised spiritual experience, was lost in the cloud of crowds.
In fact, if it weren't for my new friends from Israel (I've never met an Israeli I didn't like) Sigal and Yaniv, I may have gone home right then and there! They were good to hike with because they kept my mind off the physical discomfort of the hike; they taught me a lot about Israel, and they kept me from hiking the entire mountain in one day and killing myself.
Sigal and Yaniv were also positive about the monkey situation around EmeiShan. Whereas I was annoyed that people were feeding them junk food and wanted to yell at all the Chinese tourists for the way they were treating the monkeys.
A fresh perspective is always good at this stage of aculturation.
Which are the monkeys and which are the people? The ones on the left were behaving much more humane, that's for certain.
Ultimately, when things bother me here I need to just remind myself to laugh about it. I ask, "what's funny about that?". Once I change my mind about the frustration and hardships of being a "laowai" and living in an environemnt that at times is far from ideal, I tend to end up in funny situations. For example, I almost gave the bus driver a heart attack when he had been talking about me to the guy beside me for a good half an hour. Then another "Laowai" came up and asked them something in Chinese. They were almost blown off their seats. After observing and understanding the entire conversation, I smiled politely at the other foreigner and he was off. Then the two Chinese guys looked at me in shock and asked me where he was from. I told them I didn't know. He looked maybe European. Then they seemed to have suddenly grasped that two foreigners in the span of one minute communicated with them fluently. They started freaking out and asking me a million questions. I had to laugh at them and began my answer with "not all foreigners are unable to speak Chinese, you know." In my best Putonghua tones. For the rest of the trip, the driver told me his whole life story (I only understood about half of it). And I was hit with a profound thought: by learning this language, I am making myself available to 1.6 billion other people in the world: their thoughts, opinions, traditions and friendships...how cool is that!?!?!?
It was beautiful. But it had nothing on HuangShan. I found out, after returning and telling my Chinese teacher how I felt about EmeiSHan that there is an old Chinese proverb on the topic: 五岳歸來不看山。黃山歸來不看岳。 This means that once you've been to HuangShan, no other mountain will ever match it. Not even the five famous mountains in China.Well NOW you tell me!
If it weren't for the billion tourists, I may have seen beauty in the Golden Buddha at EmeiShan. But it, along with the heavily advertised spiritual experience, was lost in the cloud of crowds.
In fact, if it weren't for my new friends from Israel (I've never met an Israeli I didn't like) Sigal and Yaniv, I may have gone home right then and there! They were good to hike with because they kept my mind off the physical discomfort of the hike; they taught me a lot about Israel, and they kept me from hiking the entire mountain in one day and killing myself.Sigal and Yaniv were also positive about the monkey situation around EmeiShan. Whereas I was annoyed that people were feeding them junk food and wanted to yell at all the Chinese tourists for the way they were treating the monkeys. A fresh perspective is always good at this stage of aculturation.
Which are the monkeys and which are the people? The ones on the left were behaving much more humane, that's for certain.Ultimately, when things bother me here I need to just remind myself to laugh about it. I ask, "what's funny about that?". Once I change my mind about the frustration and hardships of being a "laowai" and living in an environemnt that at times is far from ideal, I tend to end up in funny situations. For example, I almost gave the bus driver a heart attack when he had been talking about me to the guy beside me for a good half an hour. Then another "Laowai" came up and asked them something in Chinese. They were almost blown off their seats. After observing and understanding the entire conversation, I smiled politely at the other foreigner and he was off. Then the two Chinese guys looked at me in shock and asked me where he was from. I told them I didn't know. He looked maybe European. Then they seemed to have suddenly grasped that two foreigners in the span of one minute communicated with them fluently. They started freaking out and asking me a million questions. I had to laugh at them and began my answer with "not all foreigners are unable to speak Chinese, you know." In my best Putonghua tones. For the rest of the trip, the driver told me his whole life story (I only understood about half of it). And I was hit with a profound thought: by learning this language, I am making myself available to 1.6 billion other people in the world: their thoughts, opinions, traditions and friendships...how cool is that!?!?!?
