reflections from Xiandai Dadao

...this wordworm is dedicated to my good friend Doug Milam. he is amused by this world and fascinated with its messages, clues, and inky witprints.  he inspires me to see this world in different wavelengths, write about it, and change myself in the process.  he's nothing short of a brilliant sand castle carver with miles of beach, buckets of laughter, and eons of sunshine...

Sitting on my bicycle pulled over out of harm's way - respect the speedy scooter or careless ebike.

i shed my down vest and shell to acknowledge how distant the near frozen morning has become.

the sun warms everything not blocked by the twenty-six story apartment buildings, making the shade feel like the afternoon has slipped away.

my front tire rests at an angle on the curb making its own shadows on the sidewalk.

my wool sweater and jeans retaining the warmth recently earned.

i reach for a vacuum bottle of coffee out of greed for the next level; beyond perfection - a fool's motion.

…and yet to trade a sliver of awareness for the bliss of steamy java seems an obvious transition.

warm, almost hot, liquid slithering to the back of the mouth and down the throat.

eyes open, then dart, half-smile asking for validation, sun slips below the roof line.

i enjoy the moment and it passes so quickly

leaving like a friend you love because they don't get attached, like you do, to the past.

one more sip of joe; time to go…

thoughts on the human experience

helping others, fulfilling needs, exploring, nesting, in/out, deprived when mediocrity present, highs/lows - good in theory from a distance, lows are intense and dreaded but are real and we desire real because we want the full experience, not half or two thirds but all there is available to us, which is limited due to society, money, awareness, and time. breathe it in, spit it out. smell the roses, scream at the thorns. touch the breast, sing melancholy memories. one more time. just one more time. why sweet tastes at the end of time? been there, done that - but yes, one more please - consume, live, re-live, and describe to another who can't taste, see, smell. ears perfect, packet received. smiles, joy - the result of hard work, perseverance - perhaps the purpose of it all - momentary satisfaction - or even better (?)…contributing to someone else's.

Mt. Emei, Sichuan province - part 2 of 5 by BASIL

CHAPTER 2: “THE WORST CREATURES ON EARTH”

So, we’ve seen the beautiful sound pavilion.
And, my ears are STILL ringing.
We continue (along with a crowd of two hundred tourists) to see the monkeys. Most people do the whole hike, but this is what the people here do: They take the bus to the bus station right next to the monkeys, see the monkeys, yell at the monkeys and throw food at them, and then take the bus back down.
So I’m sort of getting the “These people are unbelievably lame” feeling.
Pretty soon, we see a sign that says a bunch of stuff about how the wild monkeys often appear here and do not tease them blah blah blah.
Shockingly, we run into Jesse and Chris. This is really surprising because we totally didn’t plan it. It was cool, but then Jesse pulled up his sleeve and showed us a vicious puncture wound. He said a monkey had bitten him because he was too close to the baby. What had happened was the baby jumped on his shoulder and then the mama monkey lunged lighting fast and clamped down on his arm. He had to get a rabies shot, but was lucky that the bus station was so close. A guy had found him and helped him get the shot. This scares me and Kayl because it throws in a whole new possibility: The monkeys could be savage.
We continue on, not seeing any monkeys. We’re basically on a path right next to a cliff face and Kayl is terrified that a monkey is up on the face of the cliff, preparing to leap onto his head. About fifteen minutes later, we see another sign, once again saying that the monkeys often appear here. No monkeys appear. Twenty minutes later, we cross a stream, and then continue. Still no monkeys. We cross a bridge that honestly looks like it’s ready to just collapse. I cautiously cross first, springing back when a rung breaks under my weight.
We ALL cross very cautiously.
After surviving the bridge, we come across a sign. Can you guess what it says?
Yeah, another sign predicting the appearance of the monkeys.
Twenty-five minutes later, we see commotion on a bridge up ahead. As we approach, we see why. People are lined up with cameras, taking photographs of themselves with a

monkey on their shoulder. 

The bridge is littered with corn, the favorite food of all monkeys. We walk by quietly. There’s a huge male monkey just sitting on the stairs. We walk by him and he follows us. It’s a little creepy, but he doesn’t seem malicious until he bares his teeth. We start to walk faster. Kayl is sort of whimpering now, and I’m freaking out. 

We see a mama and a baby clinging onto the cliff face, fighting over a corn cob. I think this is pretty cool, so me and Dad get closer to check it out. Just then, the huge male we had seen on the steps lunges at Dad, who’s taking pictures. It misjudges its leap and whacks into my leg. Then the monkey turns around and bares its teeth again at me and snarls as if to saw, “Why are you in my way?” Then the baby jumps towards Dad, Mom screams, and it dissolves into pandemonium.

Mom starts yelling for everyone to stay calm, which is sort of hypocritical since she’s totally freaking out. She starts whacking her stick on the ground, and we walk by. Then, the whole monkey family climbs onto the handrail and starts following us. Dad starts taking pictures, but me and Kayl and Mom start running. The monkeys start moving faster, and Mom is screaming at Dad for him to come and stop taking pictures. Dad eventually comes, and the monkeys give up the chase. 

Kayl starts crying, and saying how the monkeys are the worst creatures on earth. We continue shakily on. But the monkeys are not over yet. We come up to these two girls. One is comforting the other, who has two giant puncture wounds in her neck and is barely supporting herself from loss of blood. Dad runs over, and asks her what’s wrong. She chokes out, “my heart,” which is a little vague. Dad wants to help her back, but Kayl starts crying again at the memory of the monkeys and refuses to let Dad go. The people get through that there are very bad monkeys ahead, throwing Kayl into hysterics. I’m sort of getting the feeling like, “we should just camp on the trail.” Just then, two porters come along. Porters are people who carry chairs on their shoulders and carry people up and down the mountain. I’m terrified at the thought of trusting my life to somebody else, but some people probably allow themselves to be carried, otherwise the porters couldn’t stay in business. But the two porters, hollering at the monkeys, help the two girls through. With one less thing on our minds, we continue on to face another round of “the worst creatures on earth.” On our way, we pass a woman and her husband, the woman crying, clutching her bruised head, and has her stocking ripped apart and covered in blood. She points the way we’re going and says that the monkeys are very bad. Then her and her husband leave.
So, we’re all just incredibly reassured.

The monkeys just sort of watch us as we pass by, hitting our sticks, averting our eyes, and shaking with terror. We make a pathetic sight. The monkeys seem to come to the conclusion that they should let us go through, because one of them hisses at us and they retreat. Then we look up, and a monkey is just sitting right in front of us, blocking the path. We start freaking out, and just then the monkeys change their mind again, and sort of come up behind us, trapping us. Just then, a porter comes down the trail and yells something. The monkeys seem to think that we are declaring war on them, because the lead monkey, the one sitting on the path, opens his mouth and makes this freakish sound.
Then, he starts kind of shuffling towards us. He stands in front of us, terrifying us, and then walks by. He halfheartedly attempts to grab my staff, but it’s a weak try. We start kind of speed walking, then it turns into a run. Soon we reach a bridge. I kind of have

this weird sense of security, like “once we cross this bridge, they can’t follow us.”

We cross the bridge, and then we break down and start shaking with relief. “We have to go down on the bus,” Kayl gets out. “We are,” Mom assures him. We shakily continue on, still sort of freaked out. After a couple stairs (meaning a hundred thousand, literally), we arrive at a place called the Hard Wok Cafe. The menu looks really good, but we really just want to reach our goal. After a short climb of two hundred steps, we reach the Venerable Trees Terrace Monastery. 

We get a room for only two hundred yuan ($35) and go put our stuff away in the room. 






Then we decide to walk the short distance back to the Hard Wok Cafe and eat.

After, we walk back up to the monastery to get some sleep. It’s freezing, and Dad has to go ask an Ayi for extra blankets. When she comes in with the blankets, she starts tugging Kayl’s socks off and yelling something in Chinese. Mom starts saying how she’s right, Kayl would be warmer without socks. When the Ayi starts heading in my direction (no doubt after my socks), I spring out of bed and race out the door, mumbling some lame excuse about “having to use the bathroom.” It starts raining really hard when I’m in the bathroom, and the distance from the bathroom to the inside of the monastery is outside. And, I’m wearing socks, not shoes. I basically edge my way along this ledge with a tiny overhang that keeps me dry-ish. When I reach the room, I fall right asleep. I’m just so tired. In the middle of the night, there’s this HUGE clap of thunder that wakes everybody up. Mom checks her watch and says that it’s 3:00 in the morning and we don’t need to wake up until 7:00, so we can get a good night’s sleep. Oh, how wrong she is.
We all drift back to sleep.

our room at Venerable Trees Terrace Monastery (hong chin ping)...

Mt. Emei, Sichuan province - part 1 of 5 by BASIL

about a month ago, at the beginning of october, we flew to chengdu in sichuan province (middle of china) to check out a city with so much history it doesn't even know itself all that well.  the highlight of chengdu for us was meeting a friendly, spirit guide who used to live in emeishan (2 hours from chengdu by bus).  this is nicholas who is a healer, numerologist, story teller, tai chi student, and taoist.  it's difficult to summarize our conversations with / impressions of nicholas other than to say that my family was immediately comforted by his presence and smitten by his charm.  i couldn't imagine our trip to chengdu reaching the same depth had we not crossed paths.

so our story starts as nicholas travels with us by taxi to the bus station to make sure we get on the right bus to emeishan where we are planning to climb 3000 meter high mount emei.  we fly in and out of chengdu, but the adventures in this post occur on mount emei.

lastly, before we begin, rather than retell this story from my point of view, my son basil has already recorded an account so i've decided to share his rendition.  it's a bit lengthy so i'm dividing it into 5 posts.

ENJOY!

******************************************************************

PREFACE
I’m writing about my vacation to Chengdu. I climbed up Mount Emei (pronounced like oo-may), and saw some things too amazing to describe.
But I’m going to try.

INTRO: LEAVING CHENGDU
So basically what I’ve done is skipped the boring part where we stayed in hotels in Chengdu. Later I may return to my experiences in Chengdu, but for now I’m skipping straight to out arrival.
On the bus, we meet these two nice college kids named Jesse and Chris. They’re American and are traveling China for a year because they study Chinese and want some real experience. Dad and Mom start chattering, and I lose interest.

When we arrive in Emei, this is what I see: basically a dump. There’s trash thrown on the sidewalk, people begging on the street, doors destroyed and stores closed down. Crates are upturned everywhere, and I’m instantly getting the vibe, “this is gonna suck.” I kind of try to stay upbeat, but I’m already sort of wishing we had stayed in Chengdu. We’re pretty much starving from the long bus ride, so we go to get dinner with Jesse and Chris. This part of our experience is so awful I don’t want to describe it in detail, instead I’ll use a few words: Emei is definitely not known for its food. We go to our hostel, all feeling like Emei is lame. We just crash, and the next day Dad is shaking me out of bed. “Come on, we already missed our goal!” Dad had planned to wake us up at 7:10, and it was 8:30. I kind of roll over and almost fall out of bed. I had slept in a top bunk with no railing. My eyes flash open and I sit up quick.
And whack my head on the low ceiling. Yeah, our big hiking day is off to a great start.

CHAPTER 1: THE BEAUTIFUL DETOUR PAVILION
Jesse and Chris left way earlier to get an early start on the mountain, so we walk alone to the base of the mountain. Chinese people start laughing at us like, “Haha, the Americans are trying to climb the holy mountain. Haha. Suckers.” I’m just going to tell you now that we passed all of them by day 2 and were some the only people at that base that reached the top.
Haha. Suckers.
So, feeling kind of annoyed, exhausted, and bored, we walk to the trail head. Mom and Dad start taking tons of pictures of a big stone wall.

Thanks, Mom and Dad. You guys couldn’t look more like tourists if you tried.
Wait, yes you could.
I turn around to see my Dad talking to a bunch of Chinese people. Well, not talking exactly. He’s trying to say something in Chinese and utterly failing. I think he’s just putting Chinese words he knows together in a random order. The Chinese people look confused. What a surprise. I guess I should be thankful that he’s not saying “Chugga chugga chugga chugga choo choo si nar?” He did that once. I’m serious. In a taxi. Trying to ask where the train station was. Now he’s pointing at me and saying “Wo ta erzu.” In Chinese, that means ‘my son’. Oh, no no no no no. That creep is not my father. I shake my head vigorously. Kayl’s yelling at Dad now, telling him that we have to go. I just kind of walk over into an open space and started breakdancing. A crowd of twenty people has gathered in two minutes. God, are these people desperate for entertainment. They’re cheering now. I feel kind of awkward. Even the people Dad was humiliating himself in front of are coming over. Now the crowd is yelling something random in Chinese over and over. O...k. Right. This is so weird. I sort of awkwardly get up and walk over to the trail head. We start hiking. About three minutes in, a crowd of twenty-year-old girls gathers and starts asking to take their picture with Dad. Sure, of course! Dad is always happy to oblige a group of random strangers.

After we pass the giggling girls, we basically get into a routine of just walking and walking. We take occasional breaks, and Dad talks to Chinese people. At one point we stop to get lunch and almost go the completely wrong way. a bunch of Chinese people luckily spot us and point us in the right direction. Of course, Dad has to practice his Chinese.
A little later, we notice something kind of strange. We’ve been walking up the whole way, but now we start walking down. See, the way that this mountain works is you go up one peak, down the other side, and the so on and so forth. But as we’re walking down, it strikes me how slippery it is and I turn to see how far we’ve come already, and my foot sweeps out from under me. I go crashing to the ground and fall off the path. Mom screams, and I see how bad it is. There’s a ledge, but thorn bushes below me. My foot slips into a thorn bush and I spin to see my situation. I’m falling.
I’m falling and if I don’t do something quick I’m going to keep falling. These are the only thoughts going through my head, but they’re enough. I shoot my hand up and reflexively catch onto the ledge, my foot buried in the thorn bush. Two Chinese guys reach down and pull me up, but I’m too shocked to even thank them. Dad says something, and I snap back to reality. Dad looks half mad and half scared. I don’t even notice my physical condition, but Mom does. She starts getting out the first aid kit, and I look over my body. I’m so shocked I can’t even feel any pain. but then I see. There’s a gash in my ankle and my hand is sliced open. Mom’s as white-faced as me. We have almost nothing to fix it with. Then the pain hits me. I wince and roll over as my hand starts aching. I bury it in my shirt, but all that’s doing is making my white shirt stained red. Blood is gushing out of my hand and I’m starting to get scared. Mom gets out a wipe, and I bite my lip to keep from screaming. It stings, but then Mom takes out tweezers and says that she has to get the dirt out. I’m terrified at the thought, and I protest. “No, Mom, please, no...” Kayl is screaming for her to stop, but I realize it has to be cleaned. I wipe my eyes and clench my other hand into a fist to hold in my pain. The tweezers penetrate the wound and the pain is almost too much. I see stars, but then it’s over. Kayl is so scared he’s almost crying, and I just hold out my hand so Mom can wrap it. Once it’s wrapped, I get up. I kind of wince as I grasp my walking stick, and I realize how close to death or a bad injury I came. I go from feeling like my luck is nonexistent to the luckiest person on earth. After we walk in silence for a while, we approach a monastery. A monk is in a field farming. He hails us and calls me over. I think this is kind of weird, but go over. He grabs my staff and slams it into the ground, and I think he’s going to break it. But instead he knocks it on the ground a few times and says “Ho zu.” Dad takes out his phone and learns that it means ‘monkey’. I guess he’s saying whacking our stick on the ground will scare off the monkeys. We thank the monk and continue. Somewhere along the way, Dad has this idea that we should totally detour off the trail to see the Beautiful Sound Pavilion. Me and Kayl argue with Dad for a while until he agrees that it’s silly to totally detour. I think we only win because Mom’s on our side.

We keep walking, and then I hear a loud roaring noise and suddenly can’t hear my own thoughts. I’m like, “where the heck are we?” It sounds like a construction site. Dad speaks up. Or yells up. Because of the noise. Whatever. “What a surprise!” Is his beginning line. “It’s the Beautiful Sound Pavilion! We totally just stumbled off course!” Of course we did, Dad. You have no clue how to lose an argument.
After Dad’s incredibly convincing excuses, we continue on. No point in wasting an hour without seeing the pavilion. As we approach, we can hear, among the roaring (which I now see is a waterfall, a crowd of about a hundred and fifty people yelling and taking pictures and running around.
Yeah, real beautiful.

just like van gogh in arles!

...not exactly - in fact i'm pretty sure van gogh didn't have a wife and kids living with him when he did some of his most amazing work.  i picture van gogh as a poor, struggling, bi-polar, misunderstood artist who lived a wild night life with single guy friends and repaired to the morning, outdoor air for his daily dose of painting therapy.  i think i've just inspired myself to read more about his life - realizing i know so little about him - how easily i've distilled these snippets of one man's life into an iconic character through which i might assume a vicarious existence.  lord knows i'm not living that life at present.

i have transportation - my bicycle.  i have my paints, canvases, brushes, easels, and i've even located an art supplies store that has all i need to replenish my inventory (at very reasonable prices too i might add).

finding the art supplies store was no small feat however.  i set out on the metro (subway) and thirty minutes later popped up in the middle of old town suzhou.  using the google translate app on my phone i was able to plead sweetly enough with a jewelry shop owner's daughter to take pity on me.  she listened patiently until something i said in mandarin made sense.  after that, she knew what to do and how to look up where the store was located.  she even wrote down the address in chinese characters so i could hand it to a taxi driver.  in my case, it was easier to hail a scooter and hop on behind the driver.   this had multiple unforeseen benefits: 1) scooters can fit in narrow alleyways which makes for a "video game" type of fun, 2) by scooting through the alleyways, i realized how safe these travel corridors were, and 3) carly told me that i'm not single and as carefree anymore (i'm paraphrasing for sure) as in the old days when i could jump on the back of a scooter in thailand to get from one town to the next.  it felt good to realize that i can have a family and enjoy the domestic pleasures that go with it AND also honor my independence and spirit of adventure.  along these lines, while i'm not putting on a flying squirrel suit any time soon and souring through the french alps, i'm not completely divided from the concept of risk.  being comfortable with an existence that is not 100% guaranteed is to accept the frailty of life - a practice i thoroughly endorse.

several days later i introduce carly and the kids to the narrow alleys...

as i headed out the door one beautiful august morning, little did i know that in addition to painting my first canvas on the street, i would also have the opportunity to try chicken feet.  i know what you're thinking: who doesn't love gnawing on a marinated chicken foot in the company of friends?  apparently not me, though not without trying them i assure you.

i order three feet and notice my appetite for the remaining two waning as i nibble the last toe on the first.

the following scene for my first painting was chosen since it included the chicken feet restaurant (they also had tofu and beer) and was across the canal from the heavy foot traffic of tourist lane / district pingjiang lu.  this helped keep the amount of onlookers to a minimum, though still failed to deter dozens of the more curious who would cross the bridge, pass the tables and steaming pots of chicken feet, and settle behind me to watch each and every brush stroke.  at times this was a distraction, if only inside my head.  other times, tourists (all chinese by the way) would seek interaction and tell me they liked my painting or wanted to take my picture with my painting or with them.  i learned however that my job as a street painter was to be mildly irritated with these tourists and not smile.  my image to them was enhanced if i took my job seriously and in this case it's all about the painting.  that said, i didn't do my job very well and very much enjoyed stopping to talk with people of all ages.

i liked the red lanterns on the building to the left immensely and was rather looking forward to putting them in the painting but didn't know when that moment would come.  and then what do ya know, a little boy comes up to look at the painting and he just stands there patient and eager to glimpse the entire scene - a mini celebration of beauty, reflection, a work in progress, and an excuse to gather and point.  he was cute and his energy youthful and vibrant - four strokes of the brush with unmixed cadmium red et voila!

there were two other memorable encounters that day.  at one point, it rained for about fifteen minutes.  i bought a large technicolor umbrella for this possibility and while waiting for the storm to pass, was approached by two college girls who offered to hold the umbrella while i paint.  i accepted and felt quite honored.  and then on separate occasion, after i finished my painting which i celebrated with a cold beer on a rather warm day, a man contemplated the painting while smoking his cigarette.  he told me he liked it and asked how much it would cost him to buy.  i was unprepared and said i didn't know. he said nothing more, nodded, and then wandered into the bustle.

i've had a few other experiences with street painting and it is always interesting.  when i look at any of those paintings, i am reminded of the many faces and expressions that neighbored the easel.  i recall the cormorant fisherman leaving the mahjong gathering, paddling his boat and birds east.  he passes the garbage boat (residents throw trash out their windows into the canals.  the trash that floats is picked up by these two men - one steers / propels the boat by pushing and pulling a long wooden oar back and forth while the other reaches into the water with a skimmer pole) and as he does, offers a friendly gesture of casual conversation.  his voice is deep and grounded like an oak tree, the tenor of his girth reflecting his ability to acquire more than rice for his evening meal.

or the women periodically washing their mops in the canal.  and then there's megan, who recently moved from japan to old suzhou with her husband, still unpacking boxes and settling in.  to share a few sentences every half hour with a new friend, to receive offers of refreshment and snacks, and lastly to simply putter about (for me, painting / for her, hanging the laundry and attempting broken mandarin with her ayi) in adjacent spaces - peaceful, purposeful enough, and social in a silent way.

here's a couple photographs of some of the places i've painted along with the paintings they inspired.  i hope you enjoy them.

the cormorant fisherman greets the garbagemen:

megan settles into old suzhou:

air quality - it's just a little smog right? no big deal...

wow, it's almost November, the weather's cooling off and the pollution is setting in - over 180 yesterday, in Suzhou, on the AQI (Air Quality Index). btw, the rating of 151-200 receives the label:"Everyone may begin to experience health effects; members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects."  

the AQI reached 493 in Harbin a few days ago and the city shut down (schools, airports, offices, etc.).  again, according to the AQI index, anything above 300 is deemed "hazardous."  the description further includes the interesting phrase: "premature death of ill and elderly persons may result."

(i remember in VT when it didn't get above 0 for a whole week straight - and i thought that was hard.  can you imagine the scenario above??  we're not talking cars that won't start, we're talking hacking, blackened nostrils, and more hacking - yuck...oh yeah, and if you're old or sick, you may be pushed over the railing into the long sleep - even if you thought you still had some years here)

the AQI legend has it that at levels under 100, "air quality is still acceptable" which is interesting terminology since L.A. is currently at 154.  are we, as citizens, supposed to protest?  is the government suppose to issue a public apology stating that "they realize air quality levels are unacceptable, are working on a solution, and will be personally troubled until levels reduce to acceptable levels?"  is that what "acceptable" means?"  because if it means that we, the people, will accept it, who's kidding who???

the chinese people accepted levels recently in Harbin almost 5 times the "acceptable"maximum.  and yet coal fired plants continue to operate.  this should be a warning signal to the U.S. - to YOU.  do we want a better economy?  a pez dispenser and new set of superman underoos for every kid?  and what if another country offered us bunches of money to make stuff for them with the only downside that it would pollute our air.  what then?  are the hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of newly created jobs worth damaging one of the very basic, fundamentally fertile conditions of human-friendly planet earth?  

humans need clean water, clean air, and food that nourishes them.  how can the same modern civilization that brings us iPhones, indoor amusement parks, space age yachts, 2700 foot high skyscrapers, and airplanes that can transplant a weary traveler halfway around the world in less than half a day...(pause / inhale)...ALSO bring down common resources like "the air we breathe."

this is what a "backwards global society" looks like.  where the poor helplessly give up seemingly communal natural resources like clean air to serve jobs that allow them to barely survive while the rich move somewhere more "agreeable" - only returning to check on productivity.  what must we exploit before the leaders of the world can agree on what the basics are and how to reverse the damage we've done??  ***btw, every time we buy something we don't really need, we make our leaders' tasks more complicated and difficult.

the "tragedy of the commons" is an old phrase that dates back to when Boston Commons was used as a pasture for livestock to graze.  everyone who lived nearby was allowed to have so many sheep happily munch the common resource of grass.  this was fine until greed separated the people from their neighbors and someone thought "I'll pasture a couple extra head of sheep" to get ahead a little; it's just a wee infraction - nothing that will add up to anything for sure.  however, what ended up happening is that people noticed when a neighbor was grazing more than his/her fair share - and then what did they do but add a few extra head also.  pretty soon the grass was all munched up and the animals starved.  rather than manage the resource they all depended on, they allowed their "human folly" to get in the way and spoil their attempt to separate from the animal ways of their distant (?) monkey cousins.  this is the "tragedy of the commons."

you don't have to be environmental, tree hugging democrat to want clean f***ing air to breathe.

as mindful as i am about how many "shoulds" i jettison into this complicated and boggling world, i try to simply be grateful for what is, not the "greener side of the fence."  however, i draw the line at pollution.  it is simply WRONG to encourage industry at the social expense of shared resources.  it's like if the catcher were to de-mask the ump at a Sox game and punch him out - (simply WRONG) game over, fans shuffle out of the stands mumbling, wondering WTF happened...

i miss the clean air, clean water, and local, healthy food of Vermont.

btw, White Plains, NY is in the 30s (AQI) whereas Texas is ranging from the 40s - 70s.  Bellevue, WA is 70 at present.

happy breathing all...

i like to ride my bicycle...

greater suzhou is very flat - which makes it wonderful for biking.  (check out the "recycling bike")

...and ebikes also flourish when hills are absent.  

ebikers often will push their ebikes up small hills to save the additional electricity necessary to climb an incline.  luckily, hills are rare and that turns commuting by bike into a total treat!  coming from vermont, where hills and inclement weather deter many an active lifestyler from commuting by bike, i'm in heaven.  no oil changes, few moving parts to go wrong, and when i "gas up" it usually involves passing something yummy by the palate.  ebikes tend to adhere to [automobile] traffic rules such as stopping for red lights whereas bikes seem to be "outside" this standard.  even in the states we debate whether or not bikes should obey traffic rules - some argue that by acting like a motorist, the biking community will gradually gain the respect of motorists.  as a biker, often in heavy traffic, i respectfully disagree, and side with those who see a cyclist as a survivalist, needing all options open to him/her to avoid being in an accident.  simply put, cars and even ebikes (& scooters, motorcycles, etc.) are far more massive and pack a punch, intentional or not.  the agility of the cyclist is as necessary as it is to the scavenging bird who flees before the unwavering auto.  not that motorists aren't friendly and often downright courteous, but for those times when a truck, bus, taxi, or ...doesn't see the biker or say even adopts a "video gamer" / "we all carry the same weight" mentally, it's then that the biker needs carte blanche to navigate to safety.

passed this family on my way back from the grocery - she's sitting on a luggage rack (roughly 6x12 in.) w/ an arm around the baby and the other around her husband - feet dangling - talk about an abs workout!  it's actually very common to see an infant as a third on an ebike - chugging along at 20-25 mph - what a contrast from the state-of-the-art gracos we used to tote basil and kayl around in!

not sure if he's her son or husband but she is riding in style.

**check out the hand brake on his fixed gear rig.  

most chinese have fixed gear (no upshifting or downshifting) bikes.  their patience out of the gate is to be commended - or my lack thereof, to be admitted.  i'm such an american as i curb jump, weave in/out of traffic, accelerate, and in general, ride agressively.

lastly, the super sweetest thing about biking in china is that it is well planned into development as an interest / need of the greater society.  my family biked back to jade lake - where we first were housed (and if you recall found some amazing xiaolongbao - soup dumplings where the soup is inside the dumplings).  it was a 45 minute trip each way by bike including a jaunt over the river - where a 2-way bike/ebike lane was constructed underneath the 6 lane auto-throughway above.  never were we concerned about anyone's safety and it was LARGELY due to the segregation of 2 and 4+ wheeled vehicles. 

america would drastically reduce it's dependence on automobiles and the headaches that go along with maintaining these space-age personal transporters IF we could mobilize as a society and continue to advocate for safe travel corridors for 2 wheelers.  anybody else get sketched out riding on the shoulder of route 12 south as cars and dumptrucks wiz by at 70mph?? 

btw, 95% of the scooters in suzhou run on electricity since only through a very strict application process can one obtain a permit for a gas powered 2 wheeler.  they've got pollution issues to deal with and they're working on it.  what's america doing to encourage / embrace alternatives to the auto?

NEXT UP - it's waterway pics galore, intro to street painting, and how about those chicken feet!!

well wishes from a small fish in an ever-expanding bowl...

no public napping / resistance is futile

i digress from the chronological order of these posts for just a bit because of a story i put down on paper yesterday and want to share - enjoy!

9/3/2013
today marks the first day in china that i reprimanded a chinese person.  we've been in china only a little more than a month and my grip on the concept that i am a foreigner visiting a culture outside of my own is quickly relaxing.  perhaps you've also wrestled with this phenomenon while traveling?  at what point do we consider ourselves contributors to the culture around us?  are we witnesses?  participants?  judges?

i rode my bicycle to auchan (a large grocery store) today and decided to visit the toilet before biking home.  not unusual to a bathroom in china is the presence of someone smoking a cigarette - today was no exception.  i might as well have smoked the butt myself as the small room, housing four urinals and four stalls, was blanketed in thick clouds of tobacco.  three signs, one between each urinal, clearly displayed a cigarette w/ a red slash through it surrounded by a red circle - the universal ghostbusters-style, no smoking sign.  i cough loudly twice, tap the signs with my fingers, and look him square in the eyes.  he smiles back, in a friendly way, as if i've just recited a line from a monty python skit - and then continues to smoke the butt down to the filter.  did i miss something?  is there some cultural norm here that allows a society of strict, rule-abiding people to tolerate clear violations to community, health-minded ordinances?

two days ago (sunday), after a delicious bowl of noodle soup w/ fatty pork belly (mmm...love that pork belly - right?) - ok, i admit, i finished basil and kayl's soup too (couldn't let it go to waste though it was only $1.50 per bowl).  anyhoo, we were all feeling a bit groggy after lunch and the prospect of a sunday afternoon nap under the shade of a tree sounded delightful (who's with me?!).  so we bike to suzhou park, a short ride from teng xideng's noodle house in old town.  to our dismay, the park has plenty of grass but "stay off please" signs as well - even had little picket fences surrounding the pockets of turf to underscore the request.  no worries - we make our way past musicians, dancers, and a beautiful pond w/ lotus flowers and goldfish.  families hug the shore of the pond w/ poles and bait and every couple of minutes land a little 3 inch goldfish for their pail - presumably to take home to the aquarium.  past the pond, several groups of old men huddle over checker boards smoking cigarettes and sharing strategies of excited, purported brilliance - a frenzy at times.  the checkers are decorated with different characters leading me to assume the rules of this game are supremely more elaborate than american checkers.  concrete benches perimeter the area from the trees, traffic is low, neighbors friendly.  we arrange on the benches so that the kids might lay down and use carly and i as pillows but after only a short while, their inability to find comfort brings them upright, giving me leave to find a napping position of my own.  i flop my backpack on the ground for my headrest and lay down on the pavers.  not a field of clover, but it'll do.  i start to drift off when a woman w/ a broom and pan kicks me gently and, via body language, lets me know that sleeping on the ground in the park, is not permitted.  we ask our neighbor, w/ help from a translator app on our phone, why i can't doze on the ground - to which he poses "why sleep in public?"  i'm stumped.  i let it go, unable to understand how a culture might not appreciate a little mid-day snooze in a quasi-natural setting.  i've seen laborers sleeping under bridges at noon when the sun is blazing - but not in parks - is that it?

apparently it's somehow acceptable to smoke a cigarette in a cramped, public bathroom while in the company of large, colorful "no smoking" signs - but not acceptable to rest my bones on a weekend in a public park.

perhaps i'll become a contradiction hunter during this stint in china - lord knows they're everywhere.

p.s.

on the way to teng xideng's noodle house we found the best mooncakes so far - mango and pineapple turned out to be our favorite.  ate a bunch then circled around for another pass, bought 6 more for the apartment but the kids polished them off in the park - so good!  btw, not all mooncakes are yummy - we've had plenty that weren't worth eating so finding this vendor was a treat for sure!

wishing you well from suzhou, china!

bikes - check, moving on!

basil and kayl will be attending a school approximately 15 minutes from our house by bike.  they could take the bus, by far the mainstream option, or the subway (walk, ride, walk = 30 minutes commute), or we could get a car like some families have opted (only 5% of local population own cars) - we chose bikes!

bikes are awesome and living in a city where vehicles don't really go over 20 or 25mph means everybody can stop pretty quickly and accidents typically are not fatal.  that said, driving in suzhou definitely keeps you on your toes!

we find bikes for sale in the grocery store, on a side street near ancient suzhou (old town or OT), and in a giant brand bike store.  after hours of riding bikes, comparing features, sizing up the trustworthiness of our sales reps, we decide on 4 new giant bikes - not great quality, but figure they'll last 2 years...

first however, we take the subway to OT - which is easily identifiable due to the rectangular moat / canal which defines its border - and walk a mile or so to the giant store.  we try out different bikes, settle on 4 we all like, and as we begin talks with the cashier, find out they don't take ANY credit cards whatsoever.  but there is a bank down the street and we brought some american dollars with us so we have a plan.  a short walk later, we're loaded with RMB - enough to buy the bikes and hit the road.  advice to my readers: if you want to negotiate properly with a bike salesman, don't show up helmets in hand.  oh well, we've convinced ourselves that although pretty much everybody negotiates prices here, giant is immune to this practice.  moving on...

walking back to the store, i eye (cap'n) a local cyclist on a clunker and asked him how much he paid for his bike - 100 RMB ($18) says he and i'm intrigued.  why are we acting like tourists / typical americans here?!  we should just find out where he bought his bike and for less than $80 we could fit in, reduce our risk / exposure of having our bikes lifted, and save some $$ for a trip or a toaster or something.  so this takes all four of us on a goose chase including rickshaw rides, communicating to a group of about a dozen curious chinese, trying out chinese made bikes (half the price, not really sure about the quality - sketchy), couple miles on foot, and concluding once again with yummy food (per kayl, the best stir fry thus far)!

we did it - went back the next day and left w/ 4 bikes ready to shred suzhou pavement!  of course carly and i lost a couple years of our lives white knuckling the grips as we guided the kids through complex labyrinths of pedestrian, bike, and motor-vehicle congestion.  for example, a scooter might pass you going the other way at full speed and miss you by less than a foot.  it's a flow of vehicular travel rather than individual paths - once you surrender to the flow (thx trey) and relax, driving in china is fun - like a video game i suppose - or like flying in a flock of geese - however, first night on the bikes, i pre-emptively told the kids that "i would be surprised if none of us got in an accident on the way home."  apparently that was enough motivation for basil to prove me wrong - which he did.  :)

again, biking rocks - it's that simple.  you stop and notice sights along the way that might dangerously distract a motorist in route.  on a bike, you pull over and breathe it all in - actually you don't breathe it all in because the air over here is polluted and tastes pretty bad (though some days are better than others) - but metaphorically, you breathe it in, smell the roses...

...still up, we've discovered the ping pong table, evening soccer in the park, and mudu!  

keep meaning to take this laptop to a coffee shop, order a venti, and get all deep and philosophical with the ramblings - we'll see if things turn that corner - i've a feeling they will as this country is filled with friendliness and filth, laughter and labor, great walls and growing pains...

kind regards from a small fish in a really big bowl!!

got the cell phones, moving on!

so it's our second week in suzhou, china and we're split between seeking out new experiences and wanting progress settling into the new apartment / lifestyle.  we spend 5 hours in a mall between China Unicom and Sundan Electronics, attempting to discern the many attributes cell phones tout these days.  will it work when we return to america?  how many megapixels does the "super camera" have?  is it 2G, 3G, or 4G?  i could go on but i have a feeling most of you would skip the remaining examples - the only reason i'm tempted to put them in is to try to reenact the pain / torture we went through narrowing down our choices.  we choose 2 samsungs for the kids and 2 lenovos for carly and i tell the salesperson we're ready to pay.  he takes us to the cashier station - 4 cashiers with no one in line ready to take your money in return for a fappio (official chinese receipt - they're very big on paperwork over here - take it very seriously).  capital one visa won't work - again - so much for internationally accepted.  even called cap1 before we left - "no worries, should work fine."  nope.  

cashier tells me about several atms throughout the mall - i leave with naive hopes.  several are out of order, 1 is 100% in chinese, another displays no button for withdrawal, only balance inquiry - finally i find one that looks like it's working but when i type in the amount, it says that's too high!  so i try a lower amount until it accepts my request and produces the red (100 RMB notes are printed with red ink).  i've beat the machine and it's logic - i'll just process a second and third transaction, pay an additional $5 in fees and be all set - almost out of here.  too much foreshadowing?  yep, you guessed it, the second request didn't pan out - insufficient funds.  i know my account back home has enough money so i think maybe i tapped this machine's last 2500 yuan.  i find the last atm in the mall but get the same message: "insufficient funds."  time ticks, i try thinking creatively, and then, in desperation try the first atm again (it's been 15 minutes now, maybe it'll reset or something) - to my astonishment, my plan works - another 2500 yuan in hand (that's like $800 - feeling loaded with notes)!  so of course, i wait another 15 minutes for the "reset" - nope, that's it - dead end.  i need around 6,000 RMB and i've only got 5,000 (isn't there a subterranean homesick blues quote in there somewhere?!).

we're exhausted and the atms have beaten us down - only chance now to climb back up somewhere near sanity involves yummy food.  we leave our dinner to fate and pretty much pick the first restaurant at the base of the escalator.  they serve amazing cuisine from hong kong - cuttlefish w/ cashews and peppers, beef and noodles, and spicy green beans, sichuan-style - delicious!



afterword:

in retrospect, should've spent the extra dough and gone with the iPhone.  the lenovos are very nice androids but they would've been sweeter if the operating system was in english - something we discovered after we got home and started using them.  even when you change the settings, the OS at its core thinks you want mandarin - prompts, internet searches, etc.  arrgghhh...  so we hunt down an english speaking tech maven over the next week to implement a work around (a story in itself but i'll spare you that one).

..and i thought choosing a cell phone in the states was a hassle!

we go suzhou

2pm scheduled departure, driver arrives at 1:30 - once again impressed with the actual versus feared punctuality of the chinese.  not a lick of english so conversation with the driver is quickly abandoned.  it's a couple of hours by van from shanghai to suzhou and due to 7 large bags of shtuff in the back, only 4 seat belts for 5 people - I do without.  seat belts are rarely worn over here - in fact, fear of motor vehicle accidents seems very low.  we commonly see infants (as in less than 12 months old) held in mom's arms as the third ebike passenger - to think of the 5 point harness, backward facing, posh car seat Basil and Kayl used to ride in...

traffic patterns / customs are very interesting over here - no doubt they'll be a common thread throughout these blogs.  for example, not only does traffic law allow for right-turn-on-red, but stopping before proceeding is NOT required.  taxis and buses are the least likely to slow down when potential collisions seem more likely.  also, they accelerate through the turn and drive very aggressively so we're always quick to point out when either are in the vicinity.

we arrive early evening at our temporary apartment, arranged by carly's employer, suzhou singapore international school (SSIS) - they give us 2 apartments so we can spread out and be comfortable - the fact is that this complex is brand, spanking new - tape & padding still on the fridge - and there is more available housing than they know what to do with.  it feels like my freshman year of college with a welcome pack of nescafe, butter patties, a pot and pan, and new bedding.  we unload, take a walk to the grocery across the street, and begin meeting fellow teachers at SSIS who have arrived, as we have, a bit on the early side.  ramen, stir fry, tsingtao beer, and loads of fresh fruit - doing ok...

a reconnaissance mission a few blocks down the street yielded this very humble dumpling restaurant - it became an immediate favorite and created instant smiles every time the memory of these dumplings were mentioned.  it's run by a husband and wife team - he chops, she cooks - simple fair, but combined with their calm and friendly warmth, it was home away from home - and the pichio (beer) was bing (cold) to boot!

...and we're off apartment hunting in a city with a zillion inhabitants - how to narrow it down?  how to communicate to our agent what we really wanted in a place?  the apparent strategy was: show many apartments - all completely different in as many ways possible (floor level, square footage, floor heating or not (a supposed must over here in the winter), kitchen size (most are really tiny), location to subway, location to markets, shopping centers, within biking distance to school or not, etc.).  it was very difficult to say no to the first 8 we were shown - kids were VERY upset after not taking the bird in the hand but mom and dad needed more options.  ok - just realized this is getting boring - long story short - found a GREAT PLACE the next day, has most everything we wanted / needed - good decision - we're in!  our new home: the Living Bank, a complex of 52 buildings, 16 floors high each - we're on the 9th.

carly inspecting a sterilizer unit - nope, not an oven!

and the view from the 21st floor of the 1st apt we looked at.  truly country mice in a big city...

...and this is where the laundry dries - very typical in apartment living.

basil and kayl with their new friend ropeta (aka pudgie) on the bus to downtown suzhou industrial park (SIP - nice name eh?) where we meet up with new friends at "Times Square" for ice cream and an unexpected dance with the fountain sprites.  so hot here - like over 100F every day - you sweat just by standing still.  bead after bead of perspiration running down the middle of your back - lovely...

the awning overhead is packed with LEDs and "dances" with lights in the evening - called a sky screen

kids were soaked in minutes and literally couldn't get enough!

there are many waterways both in SIP and old suzhou - not as much boat traffic as i expected - so far we've only seen these boats that act as aqua dump trucks.  they are loaded with mud / clay from the bottom of the canal and who knows where they are emptied.  

walt bador, i took the following chinese excavator shot for you - hope you're reading!

i know i'm a bit behind in my weekly schedule so be prepared for several blogs over the next week that will bring us to the present.  then i can relay some of the many stories that materialize daily from lost-in-translation issues, navigational woes, or new culinary adventures (such as noodle soup with pork intestines - not bad, but certainly not on the top 10 either)!  i.e. rather than simply document where we go and what we see, i think it would be interesting to convey some of the psychology that comes with moving to a new culture and trying on a new way of life.  it's not all a walk in the park so i'll try to bring that to the fore in the future so you can get a more genuine, fuller vicarious experience from our trials.

...NEXT UP: biking, ping pong, soccer, tai chi, walking backwards - how this heavily populated culture stays fit and celebrates community!

kind regards from a small fish in a really big bowl...