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09.02.04: Well, where to begin? Should I start with where I am now or where I have been? Should I say that I haven't really put much thought into what I should put on this website since the last update or should I falter and swear to write more articles? As to where I am, I can give you a little hint: I can't seem to sleep past 3:30 am and I feel deathly tired around 8 or 9 pm. The date of return was Aug 23. I have managed to do as little as possible in the past several days , and now those days have melded into a week. After my jetlag wears completely off, I will add more about my adventures of the past two months. Now, I don't really know what else to say except for to share some of the things that I missed about being here. Driving a car. I can go the about the
distance from Dongguan to Guangzhou in about 15 or 20 minutes; by bus it
takes an hour or more. Anyway, this is by no means a conclusion to the website. I have my eyes set on a few goals that involve world travel that perhaps could include a return to China to teach in a University or a sabbatical to Japan and see how things fare there. I will be going to India in December to see some friends on their marriage day. More to come...
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06.10.04: I feel I need to follow-up on the last entry to my site because after reading over it again it appears that you were probably expecting me to jump from the nearest bridge or something. I have nothing in the way of visual representation to offer due to the loss of my camera, but I am working on two new essays on various topics. The first is on probably the only redeemable aspect about Dongguan, Chinese Tea. It was told to me that Dongguan people really enjoy drinking tea, and there are virtually hundreds of shops where you can go in and sample. I always enjoyed trying different sorts of teas and learning about the culture, but I never thought to write my thoughts on the subject because it's just part of everyday life here. The website that I hyperlinked above is probably one of the most extensive, easy to read sites that I've found in English; it's run by a Chinese guy in Hong Kong. It explains much about the basic facts that everyone should know from how to brew the tea to what to expect when drinking. I am also learning how to do the "Gongfu Cha" (Kung fu Tea) brewing technique, so if anyone wants to sample some good tea when I get back, find me. The second essay won't be for the faint of heart because it really delves into my feelings on many of the problems that I see in my everyday affairs in China concerning social issues. I will cover topics that range from the education system, parenting styles, and even about the government. Keep on the look-out for this one because it is going to be a scathing article. I think that my opinions are fair and gathered from many naturalistic observations; we'll see what you think. You would not believe the difficulty and inefficiency that I had to face at the bank to get my affairs in order after my bank card and book were stolen. The rule is, that if your card and book are stolen, you cannot be issued another card but you must open another account and move your money to that account. So basically, it took me about two hours of watching someone fill in forms for me because it's all in Chinese. With all the theft in Dongguan, I don't understand why this process takes such a vast amount of time because they should be used to doing this sort of transaction, right? Most people working in public institutions such as banks, bus stations, or post offices don't seem to care whether they help you or not. It was explained to me that "they aren't paid to do a 'good' job, they are just paid to do a job. If they do a good job, they won't get paid anymore so they don't try any harder than they have to." Whatever happened to integrity? Anyway, the most vexing thing was when they made us begin all over again because they felt the handwriting didn't match from one form to another. You can imagine my state of mind after just having dealt with the loss of some important items and personal possessions. The fact that person that went with me kept complaining in Chinese that she wasn't going to have time to take a nap (nearly everyone takes a 2 hour nap after lunch and they call me lazy?) or eat anything much for lunch didn't help the situation either....I like being able to understand them but they not know it.... So, the situation is resolved, I have access to my accounts again, and I didn't even have to kill anyone! It's also should be noted that I will not be doing any summer camp work or anything that is going to tie me down this summer. I plan on traveling around a bit after my semester is finished here and see the typical Chinese things that I haven't been able to see yet, such as the Great Wall and all. I have changed my returning date and the counter to reflect my projected idea on when I'll be back. I am shooting for the last day in August....but it may be sooner depending on what sort of insanity I face before I return. Welcome to my world, where each day is a new disaster. Tomorrow I will venture to a town nine hours away called ZhanJiang, I'll try to find some disposable cameras or something to document it...there's a beautiful beach near there that I will try to blacken my skin on. Keep in touch.
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05.21.04: When is something good going to happen? Basically, here's where is stands: I was robbed as I slept last night. What god I pissed off or what spirits I have angered to deserve all of these fucked up things, I will never fully know. I question my purpose for originally wanting to come to China more and more as the days scrape onward. I really wanted to come here to help people, you know, the idealistic sort of naive realization that gets people killed when they volunteer to go to war for "their country," and all. I do believe now that I am at war. I am at war with circumstance, and I am on the failing side. Can you actually believe that Chinese people flock to this place because it's supposedly the Mecca for money. I look at the skies and can only think that I am deep within the heart of J.R.R. Tolkien's Mordor, and then I wonder about the power of money. People actually wish to live in this polluted "Crack of Doom" while their health fades and their spirit is beaten just because of money. They tell me, "It's just the circumstance in Dongguan because it is a developing city." Circumstance. I think of all the morons that came to this city to get their slice of the Communist Pie only to have to turn to a life of crime because they didn't plan on perhaps failing. "Oh yeah, there are hundreds of people coming in every single day to this brackish, blackened place, I'll be sure to find a job with no problems whatsoever and I'll make sure I don't bring enough money to get back to my home province!" It's just circumstance that someone came into my flat, probably twice, yesterday to steal only my personal belongings and leave the rest of the things of value that weren't my own in the flat. The DVD player is still here as well as the TV and the computer, and only my things were stolen. This thief had a key; that's the only way. I always lock my doors without fail. He came into my room and stole specific things that only could have been targeted through premeditation. The tally so far: My bag with my TI83 calculator, my camera, a bankbook in my bedside drawer while leaving everything else, and the clothes I wore the day before that had my Chinese bank card. I question what I will do now. Do I leave? Do I wait for something good to happen? What should I do? I only came here to help but who is helping me? I look at the pictures of the people I know in Sichuan wondering if the wonder about me. Most of them probably hate me. I think of them everyday now. How easy everything was. How much everyone there cared or were paid to care. I am so vain. I am so foolish. I just want to melt. I want to be washed away in the swift current of the oncoming rain. I spent the rest of the lovely holiday, where the entire country is at a standstill because the traffic is so bad and there are too many fucking people trying to travel to stupid places, wasting time on buses and trains trying to travel to a town that's only 30 miles away. Huizhou is only 30 miles away, but it takes either 3 hours by bus or 2 hours to travel to the train station and then take a train for 45 minutes. How that makes any sense whatsoever, it's beyond me. Anyway, there really isn't much there, so I have a few pictures which consequently will be the last pictures for this website for a long time unless I can think of some way to get another camera. I think I'll steal one. staring at the sea --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------End Transmission
- Old News 1 - Old News 2 - 05.04.04: Before I begin with this portion of TMH.net, I would like to say a fond farewell to yet another teacher and friend that had the utmost misfortune of coming through the Winnerway Foreign Language School assembly line of foreigner teachers. Tom: take it easy and I hope your travels take you back to Stonehenge this year for the summer solstice. The headcount of those that I've seen come and go since I've been here so far is now 5. By the way, if I can find the website for the school, visit it and see my headmaster: If the Three Stooges were Chinese, he would be a dead look-a-like to Moe. With May 1st comes another of the national Chinese holidays and this one is kindly regarded as the "Laborer's Holiday". Also with 5.1 comes another annoying part of Chinese culture which I kindly regard as the Exodus: Imagine thousands-upon-thousands of Chinese people running as fast as they can from their homes to have a terse vacation and then running as fast as they can back to their homes. On the limited roadways of the larger cities (which were only apparently built to sustain bicycles and a few cars) , it creates total chaos in which there are hundreds of car accidents and traffic jams every single day of the vacation. This makes traveling a difficult business that is fraught with annoyance and this brings me to my current mindset and recent situation. Imagine trying to take a bus 60 or 70 kilometers (30 or 40 miles) and it taking about 4 hours... Our terse trip was to a rather interesting island in the south of the Guangdong province called Shangchaun, but unfortunately due to the circumstances that I shall unfold, I took no pictures. The pilgrimage began with the idea to go to the beach, and on 5.1 the seed of that inkling of an idea took me, after an hour taxi ride because of the traffic, to a bus station in Guangzhou. The bus ticket was issued and after a two hour wait on a nasty, overly-crowded bus station platform, an unplanned 2-hour wait, I may add I was on my way. Consequently, the only pictures I managed to take were of this portion of the trip. heh. It took us approximately an hour and a half to actually get out of Guangzhou, and another two and a half to get to the small town destination where another bus waited to take us for another hour. This wasn't over yet because there was a boat at the end of that ride which took 20 minutes and then another 10 minute bus ride. So, after 10 hours or so of gratuitous public transit and fee after fee, I stood at the gates of a closed-in area that housed my hotel. It cost me 25 yuan to just enter the area with my hotel....and by this time my pocketbook was becoming a little light. The tally of annoying costs were as follows: 40, 45, 15, 30, 10, and 25 yuan. I figured, hell, I'm sure there's a bank somewhere on the island with a working ATM....there was a bank, a local one that didn't support my Chinese bank card.....there was an ATM, but it had been broken by vandals....you know where I'm going with this yet? That night we were cheated at dinner and that dwindled all of the cash sans about 15 yuan. The Three Pictures of My Vacation Thus Far
Minus the difficulties with money, the next day made the trouble worth it. The sky was actually blue.....not the azure, polluted haziness of a large city...just plain blue. The beach wasn't as expansive as the brochures promised, and it was quite filled with people around the hotels. After walking down the beach a bit, the people thinned out to a brief few to spy us as we attempted to tan naked or as I attempted to swim in the same way. My bum is still the color of snow, though; irreparably, I think. It was interesting to see that the beach was crawling with life, literally, and forgive the cliché. All along the shore there were pinky finger sized crabs scampering about and hermit crabs in their shells rolling in the relapsing surf back into the ocean. The water was as clear as glass, with minimal waves breaking on the shoreline but just enough to give the rolling sound that I have come to love so much. The beach-end we resided on had a small island about 200 or 300 yards offshore and I could see that it could be easily walked to via a sandbar. The sandbar could be passable in either high or low tide it was so immense. I walked out and came across some fisherman that thought it was quite interesting that a "lao wai" could swim, so one of them offered me their goggles to dive a bit with. Around the island were a few small craggy rocks that jutted out of the surface of the water; typical Southeast Asia metamorphic and limestone rock formations as seen in Yangshuo but just on a small scale. This created many underwater coves and nooks for fish and other marine life to dwell, which made it very interesting to dive down and see. The fisherman then asked me to pick up some hermit crabs (local cuisine) for him that were attached to the rocks, and I dove down a few times bringing up a handful or two each time. He didn't seem impressed and then showed me the proper way....he took down a tool (looked like a claw that you can use to move hay with on a farm...4 pronged, handheld) with him and came up with an entire net full of the hermit crabs. He would swim on the surface and look for a rock covered in crabs and scrape them directly into his net. " Next time," he said...."your turn, next time." The water was clear and cool, and I didn't mind getting showed up by a local fisherman that has probably been doing this his entire life as long as I got to swim. I saw such huge tropical fish and horseshoe crabs and fresh clams that would have been delicious to steam open and eat with Tabasco sauce. It's these things that make my trip to China worth it. Perhaps no other foreigner has tried to contact with these fisherman and it will be several generations later until perhaps their grandchildren will even have the opportunity to speak with another foreigner. It gives them something to talk about, as it does me. So, by the grace of the spirits, we met up with one kind person that worked at a travel agency nearby that was able to lend us enough money to get us off the island the next day. He also invited us to breakfast and dinner the night before because he so empathized with us and our troubles. Apparently every year this happens to someone, and this year it had to be me for no holiday in China can be free from disaster or difficulties. Only four hours later, we arrived back in Guangzhou since the traffic going back in the other direction wasn't nearly as bad. It took me 4 hours to get from Guangzhou to Dongguan which is really only a 45 minute trip, but I still had my oceanic intoxication calming me. Logistics stuff: I have pruned the hedges of the old forum and simplified it a bit deleting the unneeded columns. I think I had so many just because of the catchy titles, basically. If you haven't signed up yet, please do and paste me a message there. It makes me feel nice that people are actually reading this. heh. Well, the holiday isn't over yet. I will perhaps have another update for you soon and some real pictures.......keep in touch.
- Old News 1 - Old News 2 - 04.20.04: Truthfully, there's not much to report on these days. I spend most of my time in my flat mucking about on the internet or watching documentaries on television. I have learned more Chinese words and that's about it. Day-to-day life consists of class, home, and perhaps venturing out to the walking street or restaurants nearby to eat. There are three areas that you can visit and feasibly find something to do: Yin Feng Road, the walking street, and the Hua Yuan Xin Chun downtown area. These are roads with restaurants on them, and that's it. This place is about as inspiring as counting the cracks in the ceiling. I'll leave it to a quote to my new friend Tom: "I can truly say that this is the worst place that I've ever lived." Put that on top of the other quote that I got via email "Don't ever come here," and that pretty much sums it up. Also, for more evidence to my discontent, Gemma and James, the two "new" foreign teachers stayed here a little over a month before leaving (sorry about not mentioning you on here before, sorry mates). Why am I still here, you say? Is it laziness? Is it masochism? Perhaps a little of both.... As for local customs and items of that nature, all that I've been able to glean from the brief interactions with the locals (not many locals here...80 percent of the people are from other places and come here to get a job) have basically revolved around restaurants and eating. For instance, it is custom to take your first pouring of tea and pour it over your chopsticks in a bowl to "clean them". This supposedly stems from some ancient concern about hygiene, which is rather ironic considering I've seen cooks blow their noses on their hands and then cook food...but that's another story. There are many famous dishes here, but one of the most famous is the rice porridge (xifan) that they call "Zhou" (pronounced as Joe). It can be served with nearly anything imaginable in it like duck, snake, dog, chicken, pork, or veggies. There is a saying in the Guangdong province that basically translates to "they will eat anything with wings besides an airplane and anything with legs besides a chair," and it's true. About the only thing that I haven't seen on a menu so far is cat, and that is because it's out of fashion now. Someone told me that a few years ago, it was quite the trend! Another restaurant custom is a rather curious mannerism that I've heard two stories about. When someone pours your tea here, it is custom to tap your index and middle finger on the table beside of your cup. This has the same meaning as xie xie (thank you). The first story I heard involved a tale about one of the Emperors of China traveling around China as a commoner. This Emperor had a voice that was easily recognizable when he spoke, so he would just tap his fingers on the tabletop instead of speaking to the person that poured his tea to be polite as to not blow his cover. The second story involved the Emperor's food-taster and if the food was good, he would tap his fingers on the table so the Emperor could eat it. Either way, it's an interesting custom. And who knows, I could be totally wrong about this, but it was a Chinese person that told me about this custom; don't blame me! Ok, finally I have mustered up enough gusto to take pictures of this ugly city. I did my best to not seem sarcastic or demeaning to the town in my pictures, but most of them will speak for themselves. I visited a park nearby and took some pics of the local life and some of the buildings. I hope to take some pictures in some of my classes, but I worry that could be damaging to my camera since I work in a Primary school. Yes, a Primary school....hundreds of knee-high Chinese kids running all around the place (literally knee-high, some of them). More on that later, and perhaps some pictures of it. That's about it for now. I haven't written anything special or anything even vaguely artistic because I have felt so uninspired. I mean, it took me a month to make this update....I'm doing the best I can here. I just wish I would have never left Sichuan....
- Old News 1 - Old News 2 - 03.21.04: Well, I finally received my camera cords in the post, so I have a few new pictures of Yangshuo and the surrounding area for you to have a look at. After being in the cities of China, I had forgotten how beautiful the countryside is in Guangxi province. Remember, I'm a sucker for scenic type shots, so it may be boring to you again. I hate taking pictures of people...pictures can lie, as the internet has taught us so well in the past 10 years. heh. Anyway, I'm sorta disappointed that I only took about 20 or so pictures and even those look a little repetitive now. The shots were really good, I just didn't take enough. I plan on going back there soon, so maybe I'll get some more shots of the real-life Yangshuo next time. As to my current living situation: Dongguan sucks. I remain unimpressed with everything about the Guangdong province as a whole; at least the small bit of what I've seen of it. A quick rundown of my gripes include the huge amount of pollution, high prices on even the most idiotic things, greedy and unkind people, shifty taxi drivers that will lie through their teeth just to get 1 extra yuan out of you, a school in which nobody can make decisions, students that don't appreciate us, and food that isn't very good. The people tell me, even local people, that these situations are nearly universal in the whole province. So far, I've been able to travel to Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton in antiquity) and I've got a good grip on where some things are in Dongguan. Hopefully in the upcoming month or so, if my money problems get solved (they haven't yet...so I have no money), I am going to try and see some of the smaller towns in this province to gauge whether the people here as a whole are as greedy as the people in the cities. I miss small town/city goings-ons and the ins-and-outs of a simple life. I can't even find anyone here to play Majiang with that is willing to play just for fun....and there are no small shops to enjoy tea; am I still in China and what has happened to these people? I apologize because I haven't found anything redeemable enough to take pictures of here. I suppose I could go outside and take pictures of the "Black River" which is the river that's so polluted that boils or the air pollution haze in the sky. There is a park...slightly cool, but not as cool as something like Teng Wang Park in Langzhong. That's what I get; I should learn contention. My terse elegy to the end of something beautiful:
- Old News 1 - Old News 2 - 03.11.04: "Don't ever come here." I totally agree with her, and it's yet to be determined if I'm going to remain here the whole stint of my contact. Where to begin, the last month has been hell. Yangshuo was charming and annoying simultaneously as per usual due to the high prices and the low quality commodities you can partake in there. I got some good pictures from the top of a pathless hill that we climbed of the town itself as well as some odds and ends that I normally find interesting: You know my random taste for scenery, heh. It was refreshing to see a blue sky and a scorching sun, though; that made the hassles well worth it. The road to Yangshou was a difficult one, especially for my luggage. And, how exactly did I get my luggage across the country without being totally screwed at the airport for having more than 40 kilos? Well.. A long time ago, Started in Langzhong. Couldn't get a bus to the train station because of the damned "Spring Festival" in January/February in which everything in China officially stops and becomes even more inefficient than usual for the month. Had to rent a car to Nanchong. Got to the train station and the woman said it was "Impossible to send luggage by train to Guilin," not thinking that it could be possible to send it via somewhere else from this train station. A few phone calls and broken things later, we had to send out things to Chengdu....then it was off to Chengdu. Once there, witnessed a fight at the train station over who would carry our luggage 10 feet to a platform. Sent it through to Guilin. Went to Yangshuo hung out, and then had to go to Guilin to send the luggage once again to Dongguan, Guangdong; where I am currently serving my term. The train station is nearly 2 hours from here by car. Had to send a man in a truck to get my things. I then had to lug it up 7 floors. Now, it's here and unpacked. Why couldn't we just send it through directly to Dongguan from Sichuan province? "It's impossible, there are no trains that go from here to there," she said without even glancing at any time tables or consulting a manager on the phone. "You'll just have to take your 135 kilos on the plane." Yeah, I had 4 huge bags filled with nonsense....135 kilos in all. So far, I've come to a few realizations. Firstly, the people here aren't kind and they are overtly concerned about money. I was here a week before my wallet was stolen serendipitously, and this was by far the most hideous lack of respect for human life that I have seen in my 24 years of consciousness. We're walking down the street, this friend and I, and a man on a motorbike rides by, grabs a hold of the bag, and off he goes. The girl had the bag fairly secure to her body, so she was being drug behind the bike on the concrete. My wallet happened to be in her bag because everyone had warned me about "pickpockets" and how much of a huge problem it was here. Irony's a bitch, ain't it? Secondly, this city seems to be a rotting pool of polluted cess. Not that regular cess is like oatmeal and is delicious or anything, but there is a river here that actually boils because of the heavy metal in it. But, I'm babbling and bitching, and my retrospective thinking has struck again. Oh, how nice it would be to stroll the streets of a small town in Sichuan. Oh well, at least I can buy shampoo here that won't turn my scalp into a grease trap. It's been a while since I've contacted you last, I realize. Moving around in China is about as easy as trying to pull a beach ball through a brick wall with dental floss. Also, I basically I have no pictures for you at this time. I have plenty of pictures of Yangshuo and other places, but I accidentally left my camera's USB hookup in the old flat in Sichuan. I will be getting this back perhaps on Friday or so, so expect another update with visualizations and other things. My internet comes and goes sporadically, so I'm doing my best here; bite me. heh.
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