Yunnan or Bust – Yunnan by Bus

We were invited by friends to join them for their trip to the Yunnan province. Yunnan is famous for its beautiful landscape, weather, and people. The capital of Yunnan is Kunming, which is called “the city of Eternal Spring”. It is a three hour flight from Beijing. Kunming has numerous parks, gardens, and a zoo. The people are amazingly friendly and helpful. In Kunming we boarded an overnight bus to Lijiang. Lijiang is an ancient city that dates back over 1000 years. After spending a day in Lijiang, we took a four hour bus ride into the mountains to Dali. Dali is between the amazing Himalayan Mountains on one side and a beautiful lake on the other. The drive to Dali was truly breathtaking, in part because of the bus driver. To say he was an aggressive driver would be like saying a tiger is just a cat; it would be true but definitely would not give an accurate description. Mountain roads are often narrow and can be treacherous. Most people would traverse them with at least a little caution. Not our driver. It was Full speed ahead with horn blaring. Often, he would even pass other vehicles on blind curbs. So you can probably imagine the sound made by anyone foolish enough to be paying attention to the road; the sound of one sucking in their breath. Mostly the trip was breath taking though because of the stunning views. Before we moved here we realized that China was a beautiful country but we really had no idea how beautiful it really is! Over the next few days we are going to write about the time we spent in Yunnan and post pics. For now I will tell you about the trip from Kunming to Lijiang.
We left Kunming at 9 pm on a sleeper bus for the eight hour trip. Like most things here, that was quite an experience. Once again I was reminded that here, I am a big guy. The beds were made for the average Chinese person so I guess making them five foot seven inches long and twenty-four inches wide is usually plenty big enough. The problem though is that I am a little over five foot eight inches tall and my shoulders are twenty-two or twenty-three inches across. You might not think that one inch makes that much of a difference but believe me it does. I imagine it was like lying in a coffin. I really appreciated the confined space training I received at the fire department. Without that and my Zune (mp4 player), I don’t know if I could have made it through the night sane (who says that I did?). About half way through the journey the bus stopped for a bathroom break and then for breakfast. When we got off the bus, I forgot all about my discomfort. Looking up at the night sky, admiring the myriads of stars, and even catching a glimpse of two shooting stars made up for my ride in the glorified hearse.
If you ever make it to China it is Yunnan or bust; the Yunnan province must be on your list of things to do. - Frank

A path is made up of one or more straight or curved segments. The beginning and end of each segment is marked by anchor points, which work like pins holding wire in place. – Chinese Proverb
http://brucesabroad.com/www.brucesabroad.blogspot.com/Lijiang%20pics.doc

I Don't Want to Know

It has been a week since my last post. We have been super busy. Of course, that is why we came. There is so much going on here. I am still trying to find work. This week we are going to try to find a good school to enroll in. That is going to make our schedule even tighter but we need it, especially me. You would be proud of me though. I have been going out on the town alone and communicating. Because I am able to read a little, I have been communicating through text messages. It is pretty cool that I can at least communicate in this manner. Verbal communication is a lot harder but I am able to do that a little too. Today I met a guy and we talked for a long time. He speaks a little English so that helped. He and his wife took me to lunch. We had a dish called a hotpot (Amanda wrote a blog about it; big pot with boiling liquid that you drop meat, vegetables, and etc. into). Along with the hotpot they ordered jixue or chicken blood (unfortunately this is sometimes the etc). The owner of the restaurant proudly walked a big bowl of bright red blood out and set it before me. I guess they thought this was a special treat for me. I had to quickly explain to them that there was absolutely no way I was eating that, and I had to do it without hurting their feelings. Thankfully they were very understanding and did not get offended (they even took the bowl off of the table so I did not have to look at it). Something very important here is "face". People are very concerned about not losing face. This can make dealing with people difficult but it is interesting to see how it plays a part in just about every aspect of life. Anyway, I ate a lot of everything else so that they were able to be good host and not lose face. Once again you would have been proud of me. There may not have been any jixue in the pot but the rest of the ji was in there; feet, neck, and some parts that I don't want to think about (hey I think that chicken lost a little more than face and I found it). At one point I asked what something was and they told me something about duihao shenti which I think means very good body or possibly health of the body. I quickly realized that I may not want to ask too many more questions. I don’t think I want to know what it was that I just ate. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss. If not bliss, ignorance at least lets one get the food past the mouth and sometimes it helps keep the food down. – Frank
All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.
Mark Twain (1835 - 1910), Letter to Mrs Foote, Dec. 2, 1887

The Sun Will Come Out...

I know it has been some time since you have heard from me. Sorry about that. We went through a few weeks of sickness coupled with bad weather, but that seems to be behind us now. Sickness is expected since the body is bombarded with so many new things, germs, pollutants, etc. Ours was much milder than others. When the sun came out again, I went out to soak it in and found a nice park. Everyone else must have read my mind because the place was packed. There were street performers, and hawkers galore. The most interesting one was the cotton candy guy. He had a pretty neat setup on his bike as you can hopefully see in the picture. (If you click on the pic it should enlarge, please let us know if this works.) The propane heat came out the center of his pan and he spun the sugar by pedaling. Nifty. It tastes pretty much the same too. For some reason, a foreigner eating cotton candy was the most hilarious thing many of them had ever seen. Old ladies could not stop turning around to giggle at me as I walked along pulling at the white puff in my hand. Cotton candy, as far as I know, did not originate in China! Someone correct me if I am wrong on that. Anyway, I brought smiles and laughter to many that day.

I was so grateful to at last see the sun, that I soaked in it a bit much. You can tell I had my shades on too, sort of a reverse- raccoon look. That is strange for them as well. Any sane person knows that you carry your umbrella on sunny days to prevent tanning. I must be crazy!

PS- We have been experiencing difficulties with loading pics and viewing our own blog, please let us know if you are able to see the pics in the upcoming blogs. Thanks to everyone for their encouraging comments, keep them coming!

Mandy

“What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.”
Joseph Addison

One Small Step for Man...

Most of you undoubtedly recognize those words. Many of you were probably alive when they were first spoken. On July 21, 1969 Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon, and as he did so he uttered these now famous words. Today, November 10, 2008, these words came to mind when I took a small step. I do recognize that, even if our being in China may sometimes feel like we are on the moon (to us and to you), there is almost nothing I could do that could even approach the significance of the moment Commander Armstrong stepped off of the Apollo 11 lander. That being said, I think I took a pretty significant step today. I actually read Chinese. That’s right I read a sign that was totally in Hanzi (characters) or as many of you call it “chicken scratch”. I figured out that the written Chinese language is not a big joke that China is playing on the rest of the world. Those symbols truly do have meaning. The funny thing is that I wasn’t even trying to read the sign at the time. We were on a bus and the sign just happened to be right in front of where I was standing. I was looking at the sign but I really wasn’t thinking about it, when out of nowhere the meaning slowly worked its way in to my brain. As it began to sink, in the corners of my mouth began to inch up until I had a full grin on my face. I think I may even have giggled. Amanda looked up at me with the look that wives must have to go to finishing school to perfect. Husbands, you know the one I am talking about, the “what did you do?” look. Well, I told her, “I just read this sign”. She says I was like a kid in a candy store. I will tell you honestly; at that point I really didn’t believe it. I didn't think I was right. So I tapped a young kid on the shoulder, and asked him what the sign said. He confirmed it. My, oh my; Mrs. Bruce’s boy may not be able to speak Chinese very well, but by Joe he can read it!


OK. Just so you know I have not lost all perspective on this, I am not going to run out and buy the Chinese version of War and Peace. It was just a sign on a bus describing the bus route. I know I am not going to win a reading contest any time soon. Heck, I don’t even read at a school grade level yet. But if there was only a preschool aged child and I around, and you had to get one of us to read it for you. I am sure most of you would pick me. This gives me hope that someday I will get it. So, with all due respect to Mr. Armstrong, I say “that is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind". For all of you who have said “I can never learn Chinese”, I say to you “if there is hope for me, there is hope for you”. Anything is possible. – Frank


Language exerts hidden power, like a moon on the tides.
Rita Mae Brown


PS - We are currently having difficulties post picture to the blog. Hopefully this will be fixed soon, until then we are going to upload a Word file with the pictures embedded in it with each new post. All you have to do is open the link. The ones below are from the last couple post.

http://brucesabroad.com/www.brucesabroad.com/Blog%20Pics%202.doc

What a Difference a Day Makes

Friday was fabulous. After such a miserable week filled with rain and some severe flooding in parts of China, this morning the sun decided to make an appearance. Sometimes people may take the sun for granted but when it is absent for a few days, we notice. The city seemed colorless. People seemed listless. Nothing seemed quite right. What a difference a day makes. As we woke this morning, both Amanda and I felt better. The sky was clean, bright, and blue. People were bustling about with an energy that had been lacking all week. At the risk of sounding cliche-ish, it was like the scene from the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy steps out of her house and first sets foot into OZ. Everything went from black and white into dazzling technicolor (we'd like to welcome you to Munchkin land). At first I thought it was just me. (Some of you may not be aware that I sometimes get carried away with things. I have a propensity for mental hyperbole.) But this time, that is not the case. I offer as proof a couple things: first how can I be exaggerating about the difference when it is November 7th and it is 70 degrees and sunny out? Secondly, I visited the park today and you should have seen the people. They were so alive and everywhere. Of course there were people line dancing (this must be one of the nation's favorite pastimes) but there was also a big group of people singing. Children were running to and fro, lovers were milling about. It was truly electric. I am so glad that the weather has improved. What a difference a day makes.

I visited a place called the flower and bird market. It was a really interesting place. I bet you can guess what they sell there. They also sell the same kind of wares that you would find at any street-market anywhere in the world. Knick-knacks galore, trinkets aplenty, and enough "designer" watches to turn the arms of half the population green. How I love the sights and sounds. People are never as interesting as when they are trying to get something for cheap.
- Frank

Don't knock the weather. If it didn't change once in a while, nine out of ten people couldn't start a conversation.
Kin Hubbard (1868 - 1930)

Rainy Days and Mondays

It has been raining for the past few days, and it is still raining today. The dreariness of the weather is fitting because we have both been sick and have felt dreary all of that time. I have wanted to write a new post but nothing interesting has happened unless you count the interesting colors of phlegm that I have been spitting up, yuck. (Is that yellowish green or greenish yellow?) Aside from illness, things are going well.

When we were in Chengdu, we visited the Tibetan area. It was pretty interesting. We went to a nice restaurant that served yak. It was really good. Afterwards, the xiaojie (waitress) began singing a traditional song in a very strong voice. It was beautiful, haunting, and dripping with sadness. I tried to record it but, when she realized I had a camera, she stopped. I guess she was a little shy about her voice. She had no such reservations about her dancing though. She and her co-workers treated us to a traditional dance. Amanda even got to join in.


That's all for now. Hopefully, we will get to feeling better soon and be able to get out and start experiencing things again. - Frank

Health is not valued till sickness comes.
Dr. Thomas Fuller