上海巴士旅游（时间流逝）
临近黄浦江畔的外滩地区是上海。 明珠电视塔是在距离。
在这部影片中，我们周游中国浦西一侧。 旅游开始在人民广场面临的南京路步行街和朝向黄浦江，我们赶上一瞥明珠电视塔前的广场周围的快速循环。 之后，一个大胆的掉头，我们沿着外滩的程度之前，我们需要通过附近的豫园老城另一个掉头和旅游。 最后，我们领导对人民通过新天地广场。
我一直工作在最近涉及延时拍摄一个更大的项目。 还有大量的拍摄工作要做，但这里是一个小的传情。 让我知道你的想法。
YouTube的版本上面。
优酷版本。
迷笛音乐节
年轻的，而不是太旧的都出来享受在MIDI音乐节的一些曲调。
带来的最后一个周末到城里的第一个大型户外夏季音乐节在上海。 MIDI音乐节在世纪公园东南角的地方，我们的地铁乘客提供了巨大的访问。 无法上周六，作为我的天预订坚实的实践与棒球季后赛篮球比赛，但能够潜入上周日下午和晚上套。 艺术节包括两个阶段，一个较小的电子阶段密切赞助商组织的互动区和主要岩石阶段落户的虎牌啤酒贵宾馆和Jägermeisteŕ充气党房子前面。 作为一个两个阶段之间的时候，有一个小防毒面具（符合节日的PM 2.5空气质量意识计划）的商品摆卖眼罩个人节大小的遮阳帐篷的人一知半解。 节日的理由是很容易导航和人群大小的一个完美的结合。 这是很容易出一个面积和范围发现当场之间的picnicers的。
由于晚了一天开始，我只看到了两个中国乐队（脑浊和郝云），英国的小鱼，和法国的节日服装命名为香格里拉苏里斯Deglingue。 总体来说，音乐是不是最好的，但天气和节日的气氛是完美的复苏生活在中国的现场音乐恶魔。
这里有几个卡之日起。
投影机上的落后郝云尼斯的人群认为。
岩石的手指在MIDI比比皆是。
在MIDI的小鱼。
小鱼在前面的MIDI人群。
狗背包享有从郝云集在享受背着女孩背着。
多面岩虎（韩国乡村摇滚乐）
岩虎韩国乡村摇滚乐标记在上海的舞台。 这将是甜蜜的画面，如果我没有动摇它一点。 但它仍然有足够的精力去张贴。 （提示，脚架）
对我来说是极大的兴趣的东西文化/人如何体验和解释从一个非常不同的地方项目。 例如运动，采取直播的棒球比赛，在日本基本上是在美国相同，但训练有素的眼睛会看到轻微的细微差别，在各地的实地行动仪式。 在这些细微变化，那就是一个人可以真正接受一个整体的东西，他们以为如此熟悉的新经验。 同样是真正的音乐。 声音或风格，可以创建在一个遥远的土地，但是当它到达新的人口，这个新的文化解释一个新的过滤器。 这是一些有趣的事情发生，并为那些愿意并有兴趣参加新鲜的经验是现存。
这个周末摇滚虎担任了一些好吃的摇滚乡村音乐与韩国能源和耀斑的破折号吃饱喝足一个饥饿的上海人群。
什么是你说的摇滚虎？ 那么让我告诉你。
罗伊射击低音和麦克风一样。
埃迪蜘蛛和他的头发招待吉他。
老虎英镑人群的各种声音。
天鹅绒吉娜开始起飞。
天鹅绒吉娜腾飞对乡村摇滚乐的天堂。
这韩国的摇滚火箭必须从南部。
.....
... 是的，감사합니다。
上海春季
在中山公园，上海樱花。
在上海我的季节，我不太确定，但我收集的是春天的第一年，是4月/ 5月，季风季节是五月/六月，夏天热得要命，7月/ 8月和9月/ 10月在愉快的秋天期间如下。 更短弹簧的证据是，所有的音乐节被塞进两 - 三个周末在四月底。 列入经历1中国音乐节被完全填补了棒球的做法，篮球（我们的球队进入季后赛），一般步行周围，步行落后（1，中国的老年人流行的运动），地铁乘坐，和炸饺子吃之间我的周末时间表。 在所有的大肆宣传，但我能走动和捕捉上海之春一些照片。 享受。
什么樱花的收集将是不完整的部分COSPLAY的呢？ 中山公园，上海。
出来自太阳了所有的洗衣干燥。 与上海的人口规模和数量经济环境/保育，你会发现所有的地方洗衣。
如在这样一个美好的一天，几个洗衣是在这些地区少见。
可以说中国最喜爱的运动，篮球，穿着牛仔裤，是一个很好的方式度过一个春天的一天。
更多相同。
另一位中国过去的时间，观鸟。
可能是世界上最大的生产商和用户的风筝是中国人。 上周末去任何公园和太阳基本上是由他们的数字黯然失色。
黄鹤楼和第一桥
武汉黄鹤楼在距离第一桥的屋顶鱼。
我本来打算通过一些老照片，并意识到我还没有发布任何照片，从最热门的旅游目的地，在武汉黄鹤楼。 我在武汉的最后一个周末期间，我参观了位于蛇“山”后的refurbed盛大塔。 该塔是一个旅游点，与一堆的小kitch商店内出售的塔和先生Miagi的节奏鼓的小型复制品，但总体不坏的方式来度过一个不错的下午。
武汉的臭名昭著的黄鹤楼。 如果有一个武汉市的标志性符号，它是这座塔。
俯视东蛇山的背面，从黄鹤楼的顶层。
逃逸在武汉的热是不是一件容易的事，但在黄鹤楼腹部的钟秀是一个很好的喘息。
黄鹤楼和长江之间是胡埠乡小吃一条街。 我这里发布。 弹出胡锦涛埠乡的另一端，你会发现自己在基地的第一座桥和伟大的长江。 以下是一些由苏联设计的这个巨大的结构图像。
武汉长江第一桥的棕褐色色调图像。
第一桥的Pano。
上海棒球实践华东师范大学
日本垒球队在华东师范大学的击球练习。
随着春天到来的棒球，甚至在上海。 在华东师范大学（华东师范大学）运动场上挤满了周末期间的活动和团队。 一个典型的星期日领域拥有美式橄榄球队的做法，板球比赛中，台湾的棒球俱乐部的做法，华东师范大学棒球俱乐部的实践和上海棒球俱乐部。 夫妇与附近的篮球场和随机足球游戏和有球周围复杂的飞行。 下面是一个小偷偷高峰一些行动。 本来希望采取更多的捕捉，但繁忙的投手之一一侧的intrasquad游戏。 来在接下来的几个月。
Shagging英国石油公司与日本垒球俱乐部。
在一个intrasquad棒球比赛的投球顺序。
华东师范大学intrasquad游戏。
武汉胡埠乡小吃街
胡锦涛埠乡淑女之夜。
你可以说了很多武汉的空气污染，交通拥堵，和天气有关的负面的东西，但是当它涉及到街头小吃最好有排名。 武汉街头小吃食品的皇冠上的明珠，是在胡锦涛埠乡小吃街。 这小街上，半个标准块，有时两个人的宽度，长度，是所有武汉的旅游体验的一部分，可能会在任何城市的旅行写作特色。 我想，武汉只提供约一，也许两天的标准旅游兴奋，这是一种多年生的目的地。 因为它的中心位置，交通方式，接近三峡库区和缺乏大多数事情变得有趣，武汉基本上是一个坑停止大部分旅客。 如果安东尼Bordain是拍摄在这里停留的情节，他基本上会花他的第一个早晨，步行查看从街上黄鹤楼（没有真正的理由，以支付住院和进去）所以视频船员能抓住他们的B卷，走各式各样的好东西几米的著名胡锦涛卜祥小吃街，花一天在武汉大学或东湖（中国的最大的城市湖泊），考虑1在VOX音乐节目之后更在街头食品夜间前PAT /本地住处武汉监狱的市场和更多的饮料。 你可以由睡在试图从一个侧面城市巴士的，我已经被告知可能需要六个小时以上，基本上消耗在未来24小时。
让不挂了武汉故障，而不是吃油腻善良，它提供的。 有人会告诉你，武汉早餐街头食品，被称为胡埠乡在我看来是神奇的震中。 是有大量的优质面条和重新甘眠（热干面条）全城的商店。 但是，即使当地人说，胡卜是不是它曾经是什么，有没有在武汉街头食物的能量比这个小条长江东边的集合。 他们说这是早餐食品，但白天随时去那里，你不会失望。
一些卡从我上次访问。
这么好工人不能放过的味道。
食客附近街道的入口处。
一沿胡埠乡许多食品商贩。
晚上从武昌武汉市第一桥。 刚刚从胡锦涛埠乡几步之遥。
灿烂的中国-民俗村（深圳）
大桥照明在黄昏，在中国民俗文化村。
在深圳度过了一段时间，在中国的新年和好奇是这些来自世界各地的娱乐特色微缩公园。 有两个大型公园，这些迷你：世界著名的图标，展示来自世界各地和锦绣村，突出中国的标志性建筑的Windows。 原计划是看世界的窗口，但在抵达时，我是在中国展示中国的兴趣比来自全国各地的偶合。 看到，无论是不是太困难，有一个单轨铁路连接两个，再加上其他旅游观光的地方，我拒绝访问。
锦绣村基本上被分成两个区域：左边的迷你裙和毗邻，是中国民俗文化村。 民俗村，是中国各族迷宫的住所和转载反映的许多当地的生活环境。 大部分地方是一座空城，尤其是民俗村，每个人都在为中国新年准备翌日。 人的缺乏，使得它更容易采取的照片，我想，是我喜欢的原因，访问过中国新年的中国旅游景点之一。 下面是一些访问卡。
点击这里查看更多的照片。
锦绣村和中国民俗村地图
在中国民俗村的北京四合院的翻版。
微型大门。
微型长城。
紫禁城的桥梁。
A减去他的小男人小男人。
新年的入口附近的锦绣中华龙显示。
中国chickity中国鸡夹头旅行车
我一直忙于在中国的许多事情，其中一些完全羽毛护理。 退房在沙拉吧，我的同伴。 这些家伙都非常可疑的点击相机，并不会去附近的摄像头附近的粗粮。 所以，我尝试了几个不同的位置，直到最后，他们开始敲定在果岭。 幸运的是这完美的布偶音频超时。
这是我第一次真正的尝试，但在时间的推移，我希望在不久的将来做更多。 只是寻找那些完美的场景......在中国，他们不应该是很难找到。
那些能想到的最好的名字为这些鸡奖。
下面是所有那些没有在中国访问YouTube的优酷版本。
武汉体育学院
擦拭正门监护人。
去年的这个时候，我几乎花光我的时间在武汉体育学院体育教育。 在相当大的大学（7000 +学生）位于首都城市在湖北省，中国正在致力于体育训练和体育教育。 学生可以在篮球，乒乓球，舞蹈，新闻，商务，英语等诸多领域的主要。 广大学生学习体育这使得一个较大规模的中国人的口袋。 我可以走动武汉，明显比大多数人高，但在这里我在校园舒适适应庞大的学生团体。 学校还举办中国国家赛艇队和一些年轻选手在训练中。 让我告诉你，这些人的数量，当谈到培训。 船员队伍是太阳和训练了一整天。 即使“大学篮球队”（我能不能真正弄清楚，因为他们从来不玩其他球队中，只有小队间）运行和scrimmages整天。 从我的角度来看，他们真的可以进行更有效和更有效的做法，但我明白这是他们喜欢的方式做，这是中国。 在所有各级体育，理论是得到更好的，你只要刻苦训练，不一定聪明。 显然，它已经产生了良好的效果（学校已培养许多奥运金牌的金属得主，包括杨威）在国际竞争中的一些，但它似乎有更好的方法。 这是有趣的，看看如何千差万别的篮球做法相比，我记得。 在中国队一起练习，而不是做个别演习。 大多数演习只是似乎是一个消耗战的类型，跑上跑下法院，直到你完全用尽。 一般的智慧，会说，这实际上产生和做法技术差，作为运动员的轮胎，但他们似乎通过它来只牛头犬。
无论如何，我有打篮球的乐趣与学生和我的时间，我让我的游戏感官，并能拍出更好一点（它可能已约8年，因为我打了一场比赛，在来中国之前），他们教了我一个公平的中国脏话金额。 在夏天开始，我拍摄了校园步行游览，下面我会附上。 视频是一个下载方式太长时间，所以我切成三段。 我知道相机真的是摇摇欲坠，而不是最好的质量，但它可能给你一些有趣的看到了中国体育大学的校园。 它只有几个月以来该视频被枪杀，但校园的时候你查看它已经改变了很多。 这是事物的方式是在当今的中国城市。 起重机是无处不在，一个新的形象，而正在用铅笔在它的地方，古老的城市正在删除。
你能看到这些影片？ 离开我评论，我认为有可能是一个问题。
这里是优酷的版本（高分辨率），因为YouTube不喜欢我的音乐选择，已禁用音频。
这里是中国观众为所有你的链接没有访问YouTube 3优酷版本的第2部分。
这里是中国观众为所有你的链接没有访问YouTube 3优酷版本的第3部分。
和一些照片。
上午从武汉体育学院西门外面的行人桥的看法。
建立一个新的体育场，举办全国智力运动会（国际象棋等）的起重机。 希望同学们实际上将能够使用它，打篮球。 老法院通常过度拥挤，而不是在最好的条件。
在校园篮球场以外的部分（如在上面的标题中引用）。 当学校的会议是法院总是卡住，除非它是淋浴/晚餐时间（没错，学生需要出示介乎4-7）。 “内”，让我只是说涉及，法院在更好一点的形状，但数量不多。 我喜欢中国篮球的是，学生不在乎有多么冷时雪正在下降外，你可以看到你的呼吸里面，他们会在牛仔裤和汗水发挥。
的擦拭作战房子。 在这里，他们练习一切拳击舞龙。 有人说，建筑是一个拳头的形状类似，我没有看到它。
要求任何学生或教师，给你三样东西，了解有关擦拭名单，我保证他们会告诉你杨威训练在这里。 因此，为了纪念他，便将他在名人堂擦拭长城。
位于市中心，即使在夜间，行政大楼发光。
北京-紫禁城
在紫禁城的许多院落之一。 我想象的恶劣天气已经造成数以千计的游客远离芯片的石头。 其中许多人已被替换，创建一个婴儿车和轮椅走道。 可以是剩下的石头，如果你不小心脚踝断路器，或者如果你有一个摄像头，你的脸。
停止大多数旅游人次到北京的头号...紫禁城。 这联合国教科文组织世界遗产遗址位于中东王国的首都城市中几乎咂嘴民建联。 一般游客爬的地方，但大多数当地人和中国游客春节长假期间，回家。 这将创建一个相对较好的很好的机会，在一些网站没有成群的游客涌向这里大多数周末。
给自己几个小时走动的理由，取而代之的是大量的。 如果你身背相机，我建议增加一小时。 如果你有额外的时间停留更长的时间来探索的角落和缝隙。 相信我，这将是值得的。
在紫禁城的许多标志性的门之一。 你看整个中国的这些门的副本。 看到他们在现实生活中是非常可观的。 我希望我所采取的时间来捕捉更多的照片。
也许我说，在一前一后... 我觉得装饰屋瓦着实让人着迷。 这是很难得到一个很好看，在紫禁城的屋顶，但不会使任何逊色。
角落和缝隙... 检查'EM。
北京-天安门广场
故宫的入口在夜晚亮了起来。
我最后发表的文章以来，它已经很长一段时间。 太长。 太忙了。
即使是现在，我只有一点点的时间，从春节的北京之行发表的一些照片。 下面是一些我的最爱从天安门广场。 在接下来的一周（S），我从北京将发布的一些照片。 做享受！
故宫入口在晚上，天安门广场以北。
这里是步行（购物和饮食）街以南天安门广场。 过了一段时间等待一个清晰的拍摄，因为人们在这个地方。
塔碑和政府建筑物在天安门广场。 在夜间的游客不允许广场上，所以从马路对面的所有图片。
从天安门紫禁城入口典型的旅游拍摄。 幸运的面积不是很拥挤的北京市民及中国游客很少，由于春节。
视频-惊喜武汉雪
这个星期，我们在这里有一个惊喜雪在武汉。 在我看来，冬天一直相对温和。 我说，现在，但我做了我的大拇指上，通过去年12月和今年1月有轻微的冻伤情况。 这种事情是很常见的，因为它得到相当冷（零度以下，许多天）和大部分建筑没有保温也不好取暖，我的公寓的地方之一。 所以，我开发了一个小红迅速成长为覆盖大部分我的拇指下方的关节凹凸。 愈合过程开始时，它开始像疯了似的痒。 我的整个拇指开始发痒和剥离，同时在哈尔滨和北京。 确保哈尔滨和北京冷得多以外。 但里面大部分地方有散热器，并保持相当暖和。 我只可以穿牛仔裤和衬衫里面是完全罚款。 在武汉，我爬厚绗缝睡衣Chanel和金属链设计与周围的房子。 他们是漂亮的贫民窟和漂亮真棒，再加上他们让我超级温暖，使我感觉像一个当地人。 人们告诉我，他们称这种麻将的西装，因为老男人穿整夜打麻将与邻居。 我...我叫我每天西装。 太糟糕了，它没有用拇指手套来保护我的大数字。 这让我想起了（遗憾的切线），昨天我走来走去，这个老人穿着耳手套。 不耳罩，耳手套。 他们只捂住了耳朵。 起初我以为它可能是一些COSPLAY的事情。 但他们的家伙太陈旧，保守的衣服，所以我驳斥了这种观点。 但他们没有像一些服装的熊耳朵，他从他十几岁的女儿抓住。
我离题了。 备份后的原因。 我只是想让你在这里看到一点点的雪在武汉。 它可能会是我们本赛季的最后温度开始向上爬行。 所以，在这里你去...
视频-哈尔滨冰雪大世界幻灯片
这里是一个视频从哈尔滨（中国）冰雪大世界。 该公园是相当惊人的。 所有结构都是完全从在哈尔滨松花江冰。 群众来时，他们在夜间开灯。 一些建筑物类似于中国著名网站，有的则是相当随机。 今年，他们有一个风车，鲸鱼，以及大量的幻灯片。 甚至有一个拉链线和蹦极乘坐。 所有支付入场免费。
保持观望，你可以骑我的幻灯片。
所有的音乐选择道歉。 这不是我个人的选择，但装修，因为公园里有这首歌，当晚最上重复。 这是到我这个地方的记忆是根深蒂固的。
下面是优酷版在中国的球迷。
哈尔滨冰雪大世界
哈尔滨冰雪城堡
你曾经试图购买中国的首都城市春节期间的火车票？ 我有。
你去过总线上超过12小时？ 我有。
你去过那么冷，你的鼻子开始出血？ 我有。
为什么我问这些问题呢？ 因为他们为我的哈尔滨之旅的基础。
我的目标是备受称赞的冰和雪雕塑/节日/世界，什么不能去哈尔滨。 而在附近，我可以停止由北京中国新年期间。 看到......从武汉到哈尔滨的飞行将是昂贵的......像$ 450美元的东西，并没有提供灵活的方式在北京成立和从哈尔滨回停止。 从武汉飞往北京超低价...像$ 70美元，每程的东西。 这样我就可以到北京没有问题。 但大约哈尔滨呢？
飞机票太多了资本。 所以我愿意诉诸新年运输，火车中国的标准模式。 我们都看到了在西部的消息赶在火车平台和汽车的人的图像。 我们已经看到人们坐在行李上，爬窗户和门击败大排长龙。 幸运的是，还是不行，我避免这整个场景。 不，我不买了一流的火车票（售罄），不，我不买硬盘或软卧（售罄），没有，我没有买一个常设的房间里只有票（似乎从来没有销售出去的一票 - 这是您到火车像脚趾塞进鞋两种尺寸太小的人看到的场景 - 其实我是太害怕站在房间只有门票赌了九个小时的火车车程）。 当然，你不必“站在”站在票，你可以买到各地的约降压站出售这些小折叠椅。 腿看起来将油漆搅拌和座位三个薄多彩安全带肩带。 所以，有点不情愿，我不得不步行离开的“地位”的机票和我的中国新年的列车经验。 步行到我的中国新年总线经验。
你可能会想的公交车站是一个破旧的地方，和外界周围的人还挺。 但是，一旦它里面其实是相当井然有序，干净（中国交通标准），甚至比火车站更好。 我什至看到了我的第一条地铁三明治店，在公交车站和对待自己的熟食俱乐部。 你看......“站立”火车票是超级便宜。 这吸引了流浪汉，流浪汉。 但围绕新年的公交车票，机票价格出售。 确保飞行时间两个小时，火车九和巴士14。 但一个通宵的火车或公共汽车可以节省一晚的酒店费用。 当省吃俭用，因为我是重要的。 所以我把它弄坏了这样：飞机是昂贵的快速选项（门票超高酒店将另一端），“站立”火车票便宜有可能是极不舒服九个小时，巴士，价格适中（节省酒店晚上的费用）和小康（你有一个座位，但确实有潜在吸烟者在船上）和适度的安全（也许不是......这基本上是在西伯利亚的道路14小时的巴士）。 最终，我在公共汽车站，他们有门票，我想尽快去哈尔滨。 我是在下午四点钟离开北京公交。 或者至少是我的想法。
其实，四点四巴议会只是坐在了大约一个小时以外，它实际上离开。 并记住这些座位安排？ 总计牛犊。 座位是先到先得。 外号不被卡住，在后排。 不知道为什么我们等了这么久。 巴士代表在公共汽车上和计数和检查我们的门票数的时间。 乘客心痒难耐，试图下车使用的休息室。 我吃我的地铁三明治。 因此，四点钟的巴士离开五（刚刚在北京交通高峰时间，虽然它并不像地狱般作为广告）。 此时太阳已经设置并没有什么风景，每个人都已经决定不使用他们的阅读灯（我认为中国人担心读，而在任何移动或者只是阅读本身），我们的前两个小时，在完全黑暗中坐。
由于我们到达小镇的郊外的巴士站的天然气和大家得到的厕所，食物和吸烟关闭（在总线上的第四平均值它看起来像其中50吸烟 - 是我知道的数学和逻辑是关闭，它是为了效果）。 所有船上，我们滚下公路。 这一次，我们有一些娱乐。 无不是的家伙吃煮鸡蛋和饮白酒的巴士，但巴士娱乐系统具有一定的生命和1 20世纪80年代香港关于赌博和鬼的喜剧。 从这个我了解，中国的僵尸喜欢跳的步行路程，而不是反弹，你可以穿（上写了一些字或一张纸）挂从你的额头，保持辟邪的护身符。 影片有一些很好笑，深受乘客欢迎。 并非如此受欢迎，是未来两年的娱乐选择。
首先，他们试图再次表现出同样的电影。 人民的呻吟和抱怨。 之前举办抗议娱乐框了沉默。 然后经过一个小时左右，它引发了一个新的电影起死回生。 This time the choice was a French thriller about mice taking over the Paris after city employees went on strike and refused to clean away the garbage. The movie began with little in the way of conversation, we just followed a mouse around the city from his viewpoint. The bus seemed to be slightly entertained, especially during the gratuitous girls' locker room shower scene. The story was easy enough to follow in the beginning but soon the plot needed to advance and the actors began to speak. Speak in French they did, with English subtitles only. The movie tried to advance the plot even further by bringing in some scientific explanation to situation. This the passengers could not take any longer. The bus grew restless and lost total interest in the movie. I, an advanced English reader compared to others around me, was completely uninterested in the film after the locker scene. So I could imagine the others discouragement. By the time I returned to the bus at the next gas/smoke stop the movie was turned off and never to be heard from again. I thought maybe they would try the gambling ghost comedy again but they thought better of it. The rest of the night would be uneventful with an occasional passenger filling the enclosed area with his smoking habit and the temperature swinging from swamp ass hot to first degree frost bite growing on my thumb.
By six in the morning the bus was illuminated in a cold winter morning blue. We pulled the curtains open but the windows where covered in a layer of ice a few millimeters thick. Makeshift ice scrappers made from bottle tops and transportation cards were soon scratching at the windows to make peepholes to see the sun break.
The bus made one more stop to let people stretch their legs and bladders. But I think it was more of an opportunity for the bus drivers to coordinate a rendezvous point with some van drivers on the other end. It seems the lucky spot was somewhere not exactly in Harbin and not exactly in the middle of nowhere, but closer to nowhere than to Harbin. So when the bus pulled into “Harbin” we stopped on the side of the road, where conveniently there were some small vans offering rides into the city. The bus population hurried off and split into different directions. Some went towards the vans others the opposite direction. I stepped off the bus, looked left and looked right. And that was about the last thing I saw.
As soon as I jumped off the bus I realized this is the coldest I've ever been. I pulled my scarf up over my mouth and nose to protect my lungs and face from the icy morning air. This resulted in a rush of warm air breathing up under my glasses creating a fog which quickly froze. This resulted in a lack of vision and further disoriented me. But I had seen enough. I did not want to go with the tourists into the overpriced vans. So I went in the direction of those who looked more local heading into the other direction. There was a large red rolling luggage I could still see through my icy glasses. The ground was also a solid sheet of ice and packed snow. Slippery and dangerous under my boots. I needed my vision back so I removed the scarf from my face and cleared the ice from my glasses. The decision to follow the “locals” was accurate enough to find a bus stop which headed to town. Most Harbin buses lack a heater so the windows are covered in a think layer of ice, making it impossible to see outside. The floor has a wet black oily look to it which makes it tricky to talk and dirty as hell if it gets on your pants. The same black oily liquid can be found in taxi cabs and under your shoes when they thaw in the hotel room.
As he bus arrived into downtown I knew I had to get warm. So I stopped at the first sign of something warm and familiar. KFC (as it often does for foreign travelers) served as the right place. I went to the washroom to check my vitals and to see if everything was still attached (I had not felt my hands, feet or face for the last hour). The mirror showed that my nose was not only runny but also bleeding. Yes, it was so cold that it caused my nose to bleed. With blood smeared under my nose I looked like Grover Dill from the Christmas Story after Ralphie has beat his face. I laughed and cleaned up my appearance. After a hot soy milk drink and a pork tortilla pocket thingy I was ready to explore Harbin.
Over the next couple of days I was able to adjust fairly well to the cold and visited some really cool places: the Harbin Ice and Snow World, a snow sculpture park with pieces as big as football fields, underground Russian restaurants and a Siberian Tiger Park to name a few.
Today I leave you with photos from the main destination motivation for the trip… the Harbin Ice and Snow World.
Harbin Ice and Snow World Entrance
Harbin Ice and Snow World Map.
Dancers try to entertain and warm the crowd.
One of the many slides built into the ice castles.
The ski hill at the backside of the Ice and Snow World.
Harbin Ice and Snow World
A Walk Up Wuhan's Moshan “Mountain”
Sculpture near Moshan along a bridge.
Not far from my place is a “National Park” called Moshan “Mountain”. Notice the use of parentheses here? Think of them as indications of my skepticism of their contents.
First, “National Park”. Many signs inside the park are written only with Chinese characters. Some of these signs have an official looking logo stamped and painted into them. The logo looks very similar to that of the US National Park system and the English on the Chinese version even states that this is a “National Park of China”. While very scenic for an urban setting like Wuhan, I'm not sure Moshan has, in my opinion, what it takes to be stamped as an official National Park. At first I thought it was just another Chinese rouge. Upon some further investigation I found that it is more a first degree National Park and not in itself a national park.
Moshan is a member of a family of “National Parks” under the East Lake National Park title (aka Wuhan Donghu National Park). I'm not really sure what constitutes a “National Park” and what does not. For instance, is the free public swimming area in East Lake a National Park? How about the Wuhan Institute of Physical Education (yes, WIPE)? It is located on East Lake. 不知道？ Neither am I. While the scenery is nice, it does fall a little short of such a grand title. But Moshan has the signs to prove it.
The second use of parentheses has to do with the title “Mountain”. The title Moshan Mountain sounds odd to me for two reasons. First, the name Moshan ( 磨山) implies mountain. Shan ( 山 ) is the pronunciation for mountain. So Moshan Mountain is like saying Mo Mountain Mountain. But I have seen it referred to as Moshan Mountain in a few places and I even find myself calling it Moshan Moutain. My acceptance must be because in China you often hear the same thing repeated twice. Many nicknames are just the same word repeated (bao bao - means baby and is also the name of my neighbor's cat) or doubling a word for emphasis is a popular practice (yi dian dian - means only very little of something). So when I first physically saw Moshan “Mountain” I thought to myself, “I want to see more mountain mountain”, or Mo Mountain Mountain if your from the city. See my reasoning?
Let's get back to the characters making up Moshan ( 磨山) . See the shan ( 山 )? It kinda looks like a mountain. But 山 is very very liberally used in China. It can represent something the size of a pitchers mound to a base camp in Nepal (see how I refrain from using the T word to keep sensors at bay) (see how I spelled sensors with an s to keep sensors at bay) (see how I just want to put in another parenthetical statement). So if the Chinese are going to liberally use some thing like the word mountain, one of mother nature's greatest creations, then it's easy to slap the National Park title on every Tom, Dick and Harry Hill in the land.
The park was was a nice day out and a good way to get away from the hum of the city. Below are a few more photos from the day.
Some take car, some take bus, some take the lift, some take the stairs. There are many way to climb Moshan. And like all elevated parks in China there is always a slide back down.
Sacrifice Alter SE View.
Sacrifice Alter NE View.
Sacrifice Alter NW View.
Sacrifice Alter SW View.
The Yin and Yang of the Sacrifice Alter.
Can “Chinese Mothers” Produce Superior Athletes?
I just published the below article on Sports Business Digest (where I sometimes post) and because it's just too fun a topic that I had to post it again.
A recent Wall Street Journal essay by Amy Chua titled “ Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior ” has created quite a stir. Spinoff articles and editorial reactions have popped up on NPR and other news outlets over the past week. It seems everyone has an opinion about the topic. Comments on the article have reached over 6,500 and continue to grow. They range from the annoyed casual reader to the ever present anonymous racist commenteur, the now guilt ridden insecure American mom who didn't do enough to the agreeing throngs of Chinese bandwagon riders, and a number of finger pointers beget finger pointers.
For those who have not read the article let me break it down: according to Mrs. Chua, raising children the “Chinese way” requires parents to enforce punishingly hard work and expect nothing but the best in return from the child. In other words, if children do not excel at school then there is a problem and parents were not doing their job. Anything short of straight A marks or a gold medal is simply not tolerated. Below is an excerpt from here article.
What Chinese parents understand is that nothing is fun until you're good at it. To get good at anything you have to work, and children on their own never want to work, which is why it is crucial to override their preferences. This often requires fortitude on the part of the parents because the child will resist; things are always hardest at the beginning, which is where Western parents tend to give up. But if done properly, the Chinese strategy produces a virtuous circle. Tenacious practice, practice, practice is crucial for excellence; rote repetition is underrated in America. Once a child starts to excel at something—whether it's math, piano, pitching or ballet—he or she gets praise, admiration and satisfaction. This builds confidence and makes the once not-fun activity fun.
As I continued to read the commentary surrounding this topic I began to think that a big difference between the “Chinese Parent” model described by Mrs. Chua and the “Western Parent” is that the West prefers to hire out this role of disciplined enforcer. Home is designed to be safe zone, a retreat from the punishing outside world. For children, discipline, hard work, and perseverance are learned and practiced on the playing fields and at camps and educational institutions. Coaches and teachers have been assigned the role of “Chinese Parent” while the “Western Parent” plays a complicated balancing act of mentor/advisor/supporter/enforcer.
The more I read and thought about it the more I shaped the opinion that it is not so much the technique that produces the result as much as it is the talent and knowledge of the participants. Sure Mrs. Chua has a daughter playing piano at Carnegie Hall. She also probably had access to some pretty valuable resources. Finding a piano teacher around Yale, where she teaches, is probably not too difficult. There are numerous examples of sports families cranking out elite athletes (Manning in football, Andretti in auto sports, Boone in baseball, and Gracie in MMA). What do these “sport families” have in common? They have access to the highest level of sport education which is reinforced with practice and they have witnessed first-hand that success was possible.
As it does so many times, to the point of cliché, sport mirrors real life. How we develop our children is in part the same as developing athletes. Our ability to offer the best opportunity for success is contingent on providing adequate resources to gain the necessary knowledge, reinforce what is learned with focused discipline and work ethic, and belief that success is attainable. Failure to execute in any of these three categories would seriously jeopardize the opportunity.
The current debate is misguided. It is not so much which method produces the better result but more about what we value. In certain circles the ends justify the means. In others the journey is the prize. Some groups are hungry for the opportunities available today and they are not about to miss their chance while others are sitting around fat on their past laurels. Our cultural background plays an important role in shaping these views and as our complex world continues to rub up against each other we will continue to have such debates.
As we rush to find the quickest way to success, whether it's a seat in the London Symphony Orchestra or qualifying for the Olympic team, I just hope it produces a world that is entertaining to observe. I have a good feeling I won't be disappointed.
Wuhan University Baseball Club
China taking a swing at baseball.
A few weekends ago I joined my Wuhan University (武汉大学) Baseball Club teammates for a good old fashioned game of ball. We are actually a baseball club, organized by the students, but the only game in town is softball with some local Japanese auto manufacturer teams. We gathered at the main gate of Wuhan University around 6:30 AM and traveled to another university (Wuhan has about 35 of these things) out in the burbs for an 8:30 AM start time. The schedule had us playing two games before lunch and two games following.
The first game was basically a disaster. Poor defense and a dew covered field had us mounting up a laundry list of errors while their scoreboard looked like a jackpot. After the first inning we were basically out of the game. Game Two we tied, I think. It wasn't until the third game that I noticed there was a scoreboard. The first game I just knew we didn't win. In Game Three we continued playing solid defense and the bats came alive. It finished as a decisive win against a team wearing the Japanese Hanshin Tiger's uniform. Our final game wound up being a rematch of the first morning game and a great contest… winner taking third place in the five team tournament. Since that fiasco in the morning, we made a 180 degree improvement and solid pitching and defense held the other team scoreless in the first four innings. As the intensity grew so did the size of the crowd. The game on the other end of the field had finished, bringing their players and fans over to ours, and some local soccer teams, who had the field after us, crowded around to watch our game. Our offense responded to the crowd with a bevy of runs in the forth inning (games where only five innings in length). We headed into the final inning with a mountain of momentum, a six run cushion and the bottom of their line-up due to the plate. Recipe for a great finish to the day, right? Well… their bats started connecting and our defense started to crumble. They put a few runners on base and our team was shook. Instead of concentrating on getting one out at a time we began dropping balls and worrying about lead runners. A few hits later and our moment of restoring pride in Wuhan Univ baseball was washed away. When the third out was finally made the score read 7-6… bad guys. Instead of being fueled with anger from the events from the top of the inning our bats looked more like wet noodles. You could see it happen before it actually did. Three up… three down and third place was no more.
So the day was sandwiched between two terrible innings: the first of Game One and the last of Game Four. And in the game of baseball that is just enough to swing the whole day in the other direction, yet so little to make hard to shake from your mind. But actually the meat of the “sandwich” was pretty tasty. Some big pluses to take away from the day was how our defense and hitting improved in the latter games. With such a young and inexperienced team it was a good learning experience and challenge to face at the end of the day. And for me it was just good to get out and fell the sun, smell the glove, feel ball connect with bat, and run around the bases.
Here is a video collection from the games.
YouTube video with soundtrack removed by YouTube. If you can match up the YouTube and Youku versions you can watch the better quality YouTube video with the Youku soundtrack. Special points if you can guess the first song.
Youku Video containing complete audio soundtrack (for my Chinese viewers).
Train Ride from Wuhan to Hong Kong
A veiw across the harbor at Hong Kong Island.
A few weeks ago I needed to make the Hong Kong visa trip. Like many expats working legally (yes there are a number of people working/English teaching in China illegally) I had to make a run to Hong Kong to convert my travel visa to a working visa. See… you cannot just mosey on down to the local Public Security Bureau or Consulate to change you visa. You have to officially exit the country and return with the correct paperwork completed.
So instead of boarding a plane I decided to take advantage of Wuhan's new $2.2M train station and take the bullet train on down to Guangzhou South Station, bus to Guangzhou East, train to Shenzhen and then walk across the border to Hong Kong. 听起来容易的权利吗？ 对不对？
The new Wuhan Train Statio n is big, impress and empty. Sorry no photos… it was like 6AM and my camera was secretly and securely packed away. Once inside there was quick stop at one of the few shops for some cup noodle (all the water fountain areas in China's train stations and airports have convenient little machines dispensing hot or super hot water for you tea , noodles or you confusion). The announcements for the train arrival began. Because I was there (the only white person in the station) the poor girl giving the announcements had to use her poor English to repeat the announcement. I think I understood more of the Chinese version. Soon the train cars where sparsely full of passengers. Not the images I have seen of Chinese trains (most of which I believe are over dramatic visuals of holiday travel). So I chose a seat on my favorite side (today West, as the sun would be pouring into the windows on the other side). We zoomed along, passing small villages and farmers who probably cursed the damn train for splitting their acreage. We made a stop in a neighboring Province. A few folks and a lot more people boarded. One of the new passengers approached my aisle and motioned that he wanted my seat. Sure he did… it was a damn good seat (no sun, clean window free from hair oil smears, decorated with my drink and snacks). But he insisted and handed me his ticket. Yes I see… your ticket is a different color (blue). But mine is red and this is China. Red always wins. After quickly reviewing his ticket I realize he had a seat assignment… my seat. And now I realize my ticket also had a seat assignment. The print on my ticket was off track (text over text, characters over characters) but sure enough I had a seat on the East side of the train. So I gathered my things and moved east.
The remainder of the trip was uneventful and soon we arrived in Guangzhou (home of the Asian Games this November and an NBA game Rockets vs. Nets in October). My poor Chinese language skills were enough to get me a $2 bus ticket to Guangzhou East, which is where the train for Shenzhen departs. This is more than I can say for me return trip as I could not for the life of me find the bus from Guangzhou East to South, which ended up costing me about $30 (all my cash) for a cab to travel the same distance.
The rest of the journey to Hong Kong was pretty simple. The border crossing in Shenzhen was basically a big shopping area. Much nicer on the Hong Kong side of course. Once in Hong Kong I purchased a subway token with my Canadian (left over from the Olympics and which the Chinese banks would not take because someone wrote “Ben” on it) money exchanged and headed towards the bay.
My hotel was the YMCA Hong Kong, not your standard YMCA hostel, near the subway and near great view of the harbor. This is the perfect hotel in a great location at a great price (about $95 a night) for first time tourists. Check out the reviews on TripAdvisors, its top notch.
My hotel, the YMCA, is located just behind the Cultural Center (the large building occupying most of the frame).
The visa switching process was a matter of taking a number, filling out some paperwork, paying extra money for expedited service and returning in two days (next day if you want to pay even more) to pick up the new visa. Over the next couple days I did some sightseeing, visiting about every night market in Hong Kong, walked the many hills of Hong Kong Island, ate some good food, explored a real English language book store for hours (we don't have this kind of thing in Wuhan) and took some pictures of the amazing harbor.
Soon enough I was back in Wuhan eating noodles.
A swamky shopping center (Cartier, Shanghai Tang, etc.) across the street from the YMCA.
The Hong Kong skyline at night from above.
Gansu Landslide - Day of Mourning
Gansu Day of Mourning television post.
Saturday night I was in my apartment watching Terminator Salvation on HBO Asia (which never seems to be able to sync the audio with the video, causing a sensation that you are watching an English movie dubbed in English) and just as John Conner was saving his father and the future of the world… all of a sudden the screen switched to the above message. After reading the message a few times I flipped through the channels to see what was being shown on other stations. Most China mainland stations had switched their programming to the CCTV 1 news broadcast about the Gansu landslides. A few channels (Taiwan's Phoenix channels and some Hong Kong channels) continued with their own news broadcast and only one channel (Discovery) seem to avoid the whole thing altogether and continued with its regularly scheduled programming (sounds like something said at the end of an extra innings baseball broadcast or awards show, eh?). HBO Asia was on hiatus for the full 24 hours while most of the other channels used the hours to show tamed down versions of their entertainment shows, switching to news stories throughout the day.
Other forms of mourning were also shown throughout the country. Flags flew at half mast at all official buildings. All forms of public entertainment, even at the World Expo in Shanghai, were suspended. Also, the front pages of newspapers and major websites were removed of all color.
I like the idea of paying this sort of tribute to victims of the Gansu's landslide. I cannot remember a time in the US when all “entertainment” channels are turned off to pay tribute. The closest thing I can think of is when the major networks switch programming to Presidential debates, Presidential addresses or white Broncos speeding down a California interstate. Too often we pay no attention to the world around us. It has become too easy to switching on the television and become lost in a fictitious wartime struggle of man against robots when we have real life wars and struggles against tragedy happening around us. If anything the suspension of entertainment television did point my attention to the people of northwest China who have been affected by this tragedy. If that was the purpose then it worked in my case. It worked at least until later the following day when I went to the gym to produce my own form of basketball entertainment, when during the first game I rolled my ankle (which is now officially a fankle and propped up on some pillows with ice attached). I guess I deserved it. Now I have about a week to heal and think about the landslide disaster.
For those of you with not so much time on your hands…. Take a look at some of these images of the damage experienced by your neighbors.
FYI, I did not take these photos. They are from a great little photo blog run by the Boston Globe.
The landslide-hit town of Zhouqu in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, China on August 9, 2010. Chinese rescuers armed with little more than shovels and hoes hunted for survivors of a huge mudslide, as relatives of the missing trekked into the disaster zone to look for their loved ones. (REUTERS/Aly Song)
A girl stands on the debris of damaged buildings in Zhouqu County China on August 10, 2010. (REUTERS/Stringer)
Workers disinfect a landslide-hit street in Zhouqu, China on August 11, 2010. (REUTERS/Stringer)
A woman cries while lying on the body of her dead child amid the rubble of landslide devastation in Zhouqu on August 11, 2010. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images)
Street Basketball in China
8th Wonder Prepares for Battle
A few weekends ago American Streetball came to China. A group of American players made the long journey over here to be ambassadors of streetball. The tour (organized by Crossover Sports and Shemgod ) actually started back in the spring as event organizers hosted grassroot events in five Chinese cities as a sort of tryout for Street China, the team to oppose the American SKY team. Think of Street China as the Washington Generals, of Harlem Globetrotters fame… but not really. Once Street China had chosen its 12 players they were ready to take on team SKY in a three city exhibition tour. Luckily this included a stop in Wuhan at the Huazhong Institute of Science and Technology, just a few bus stops from my apartment. Each tour setup is basically a standard four-quarter game with music, dancers, referees (who were not really in on the entertainment value and made way too many traveling calls), SWAG (t-shirts and sweat bands) for fans, photographers (me), MC and short halftime skills program. Before opening tip the Wuhan crowd grew to over 4,000 in the 5,000+ stadium, so the house was fairly full. The fans cheered when the SKY dunked and Street China scored but remained relatively quiet yet entertained. Despite being a little frustrated by the consistent grabbing and reaching defensive tactics of the Chinese throughout the game (play a pickup game in China and you will understand their frustration), both sides found their momentum in the final quarter and ended a flurry of buckets and cheers from the crowd. Final score SKY 106 and China Street 53. It seemed closer but defense wins championships… and the Chinese have a little work to do in that category. The tour will continue on to Shanghai (and has already stopped in Beijing) to wrap up the month long experiment. Once the live basketball is finished CCTV will produce an eight episode reality television to be shown nationally. Unfortunately my CCTV 5 comes in fuzzy and is of course in Mandarin.
I was able to talk to a few of the players before the game and at halftime. Good guys who have a good life traveling and playing basketball in front of decent sized crowds. I did a little digging and found some info on Team SKY.
” Mr. 720″ Taurian Fontenette: from Hitchcock, Texas and former player at UTEP and Richland College (yep, the same one where I took photography and language courses while living in Dallas). Check out his dunk videos HERE .
“Spyda” Dennis Chism: from Atlanta, Georgia has traveled the world playing ball for the likes of AND 1, SKY and the ABA.
“Helicopter” John Humphrey: From Atlantic Beach, North Carolina has been a longtime teammate of Spyda on the streetball hoops tours. He played high school ball at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia and finished his college career at Middle Tennessee State University.
“Pat the Roc” Pat Robinson: from Prince Fredrick, Maryland area has been featured on advertising campaigns from Under Armor to the NCAA. Due to his fancy dribbling skills and dunking ability he has been added to a number or international basketball entertainment tours.
“8th Wonder” Antwan Scott: from New Bern, North Carolina was the big man (6′8″ and 215 lbs) in the paint all night. A force and a talent who played high school ball at the Oak Hill Academy and college (from 1998-2002) at Wake Forest.
“Big Swoal” James Rhodes: from Wilmington, North Carolina does the dirty work, rebounding and setting picks for so the flashy players have clear lanes to the basket.
“AO” Aaron Owens: from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is a quick and crafty (6′3″ 165 lbs) player who has spent many season with AND 1 and the Ball4Real World Tour. In high school he played with Rasheed Wallace and Aaron McKie, spent his college days at Henderson State University, where he earned Division II All-American accolades) and has a few NBAD games on his resume.
“Space Invader” Guy Dupuy: the only player not from the States, he calls Paris, France and any court in the world his home. Mostly know for jumping over cars, people, horses, miniature cities, large cakes, and just about anything else on his way to the basket.
Guy Dupuy entertaining the crowd during halftime in Wuhan.
Timeout. Team SKY in the foreground and Street China in red.
Street China bucket presented by our sponsor VOIT. Not to be confused with actor John Voight (see it's spelled differently).
Wuhan Graffiti
Some of Wuhan's Hubest Graffiti
Spent some time last weekend looking around Wuhan for some good graffiti and found it. It seems there is a group of artists, calling themselves Hubest, who spend their nights tagging various business garage doors and advertisements. The names on most of the graffiti here in Wuhan tell me the majority of the work comes from this group. And lucky for us… they are pretty talented. Better than most all of the street art I found around Dallas and up there with some of the best I saw in the movie Style Wars (if you are interested in street art this film is a good introduction). From the looks of the art locations (one is along a busy bus stop connecting the Hankou and Wuchang districts) they can easily get away with their work. I imagine, like most things in China, there are people around to see the pieces being created (riding buses or waiting at the stop) and those people don't know what to think of what they are seeing. Is it wrong, art, or the audience is so far removed from the world they just don't care. Which brings me to the question… can you vandalize in China? I mean is it possible? In a place that sees most (80% is my guess) of its finished hot dry noodle cups tossed over the consumers shoulder to decorate the ground, what harm is a little paint going to do on a wall. And in a place with a rich history of graffiti (I am talking about the governmental slogans painted on walls across the country, from farms to factories, most of which are still visible), there may be an unconscious desire to see painted messages on walls. In America we accept the unflattering fetus billboard posted 10 meters away from the XXX nudie magazine/video shop all across our scenic highways. But we often squeal at the site of some well made graffiti in the playground nobody in the neighborhood has visited in years. Who's right and who is wrong is anybody's guess. Maybe it just comes down to our American appetite to let anyone who has paid to do something can do it (I image most graffiti artists would call it sacrilege to pay for a wall or a billboard to showcase their work). Anyway, the argument has already played out in American and people have chosen their sides. But here in China the argument hasn't even started. So until then, if it ever happens, the streets and walls of China are open for art.
In sum, basically what I am saying is I want to see some pro-life graffiti painted on Uncle Jimbo's XXX shop the next time I drive from Alabama to Florida. Otherwise all you graffiti artist should stake some new ground in China.
In the meantime check out some of the graffiti Wuhan is producing. I'll try to have more posted in the future.
More Wuhan graffiti at the bus stop.
He probably rides this way home everyday, has he ever seen the graffiti?
027Ray Wuhan Graffiti Artist
A graffiti wall along the base of Turtle Mountain in Wuhan.
A Walk Up Mulan Mountain
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The “real” Mulan
Yes I worked at Disney for one year. Yes I have visited the China pavilion in EPCOT many times. No I have not seen Disney's Mulan. But… I have now visited her hometown and climbed Mulan Mountain. The story of this visit and the “true” story of Mulan follows.
In downtown Jiang'an Wuhan you can walk along the Yangzte River and find a plethora of small travel agents selling vacations all over Asia. Currently the best deals are to SE Asia, say Vietnam flight and six nights for only $600. Among these various companies is a small-time operation selling cheap bus tickets to the home village of our favorite fabled Chinese Disney character. On Saturdays buses departed at 7AM, 8AM, 9AM and 3PM. You don't have to get there early, just get there on time (more on that later).
Yes traveling in China is cheap, and yes you often get what you pay for. So 15RMB (about $2.50) will get you a seat on a bus for the two hour drive up to Mulan Mountain. Make sure you are there on time, remember you don't have to be early. When the small bus with the pictures of people having tourist type fun on Mulan Mountain pulls into the parking lot, chase that bus around in circles like the other Chinese. Sure you are wise to the fact that that bus needs to pull around and is going to park nest to the kiosk displaying the same tourist fun photos as the bus, but chase it around anyway, everyone else is. Soon it will stop just where you thought it would and the mob will jockey for position near the door. I assume this is the moment when the bus driver looks at the small frenzied crowd and places a mental bet on who will be first to board his hell on wheels. He times the release of the gate perfect with for the timely positioning of his favorite horse. And the first person to establish two feet on his bus he is is right, he is always right… it is the girlfriend of the slightly crazy looking one (who wedged himself between her and the rest of the crowd). In this kind of game the crazies always win. Should you be one of those closer to sanity (I place myself in this category), best advice is to stand back and watch. No need to get so close to the cage as to have your finger bitten off. Once on board you will know you this is not the nicest of vessels but hey $2.50 is pretty cheap. So you are happy with things. Even when the bus makes a stop 45 minutes away from your final destination to pick up passengers who will now double the cargo count. Because you have a seat, you consider yourself lucky. Even if that guy has his crotch too close to your face and the guy next to him just stares at your foreign face the entire time. It's hard to find this kind of entertainment for $2.50. A Happy Meal is at least $3 these days. And this little box of a bus is much more fun. If you look close enough in the corners of the bus I am sure you can find some toy or souvenir better than a plastic Shrek key chain.
Once you arrive to the entrance of the Mulan Mountain village, pay little attention to the women who board the bus just outside of town. First, they don't speak English. Second, they just want to tell you the town is sold out of guest rooms and theirs is the only remaining bed in town. When the bus arrives to town the crowd of even more women hawking their guest room will tell you differently and you will soon see there are plenty of guest rooms available and little English. Don't be too shocked if one of the women follow you around all over town, even wait for you outside of the bathroom. That's Chinese hospitality. Don't give in too quickly to the pressure of your new Chinese friend. Take your time, walk the main street, pick a guest house that is right for you and in a location best suited to your liking (at the end of the street, need the convenience store, near the all night mahong game, etc.). If you still cannot decide then the Fat Guy Guest House has all you need for around 60 RMB (less than $9). The place is clean and operated by a nice family. But if your shoes are wet from walking in the rain they don't take to kindly to moving your rooms coat hanger into the communal restroom and drying them from the heat lamp.
When you have time… enjoy the hike up the mountain.
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- The local mahong hot spot.
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- This way to your bathroom. One per floor. Three rooms per floor. The second floor bathroom is inside but some guests where already there.
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- Okay… so it is not the the most primitive path. Kids are doing this with their grandparents. But it is still a good little workout.
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- Okay… so you can actually climb this trail with your children and your grandparents in shower slippers. But I swear it is still a bit of a challenge.
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- One of the many lakes you will encounter along the Mulan Mountain hike.
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- Mulan?
The “Real” Story of Mulan
The "real" Mulan featured on a mural in Baoan Temple, Taipei.
Well before Steamboat Mickey was drawn, there lived a young girl named Mulan. She was the only grown offspring of a famous retired general. He raised Mulan like he would a son, teaching her to ride horses and fight with a sword. One day, scrolls with a message from the royal military were posted in all the villages. “Each family must send one man to the army for battle.” The old man's body was was too old to fight but his warrior mind too honorable reject the request. Mulan knew her father would die if he went to war again, but girls did not fight in wars. She knew she must take the place of her father. So that day she bought a horse, a saddle and bridle. The following morning she stole her father's battle armor and rode silently away from her home.
Disguised as a man, Mulan fought for many years. Her battle skills were so impressive, when the war ended she was called before the Son of Heaven to receive an award for bravery. She was offered a high position with the royal army. But her wish was only to return home to her family. She declined the offer and asked for a good horse instead. The request was granted and she rode home. There her family warmly welcomed her return and she gladly gave the warrior clothes to her now grown brother. It does not take long for her to return to her true identity. After fixing her hair and powdering her face she is quickly transformed into a woman.
Not long after, friends who had served with Mulan came to visit. Their were amazed and perplexed to see the beautiful woman before them.
The story depicts the immortal character of Mulan. She is a person of unmatched ability but also a common person. She is the combination of a brave warrior and a beautiful girl. She does not wish for the high post and attention but instead is enthusiastic for a peaceful life. It is a story of personal courage and triumph. A story for each of us.
Huanying!
Welcome to the Golden Koala
Last week I arrived to China (Wuhan, Hubei province) just in time for the May Day holiday and the opening of the World Expo. The airport in Shanghai was full of kids with their Haibao (the mascot of the World Expo) plush dolls, bags, key chains, phone charms and just about anything that can carry an ink print or be shaped into the Gumby-like shape. The layover in Shanghai was much easier this go round as I actually read a diagram of the airport layout (China Southern is in terminal 2) which limited the wondering around I did last time. A second win, the plane arrived on time. My last China bound flight squeezed me too close to my connection and left me standing in front of some blank faced Air China workers trying to tell me the next flight to depart was the following morning. This time the only snag was the 240RMB (about $35) charge for my luggage. Total weight was over 20K so they charge you. US travelers, sound familiar? Yep, another wonderful idea export from the States. The rest of the trip was thankfully uneventful. The boxed meal served on the less than two hour flight (Shanghai - Wuhan) served was my first China 'born' meal and happily received by my time confused lunch, as I was probably eating this as dinner around 6:00 AM East Coast Time.
Back street leading to the Golden Koala.
This weekend we had dinner at a friends new restaurant (the Golden Koala) in a side street near the University district in Wuhan and I snapped a few photos for the new owners. The food was extremely tasty… the best 'baby lobster' (crayfish) I've had outside of the South and the new menu items (a sweet and sour like pineapple pork, a sweet frog soup with little frog men swimming the backstroke, and pork ribs) they are thinking of adding was all well received except for the plum sauce on fish. That was a little battle in the mouth no one wanted to fight. The place is going to be there for at least another three months. Lets see if it has a life past that.
A view of some closed shops out the window. Maybe not the best sign about the location?
A few back the other direction.
For those who may try to call my US phone number… it is no longer in service. The best form of contact with me is via email.
