How to quit your job and travel around the world

The true China had infinitely exceeded the concepts and the words with which I had tried to visualize and foregauge it. China was no longer an idea; it had assumed flesh and bone. It is that incarnation I am going to tell about. -Simone de Beauvoir, The Long March, 1955

Onwards upwards

Published 6.23.2007 by cnew.

Will be brief as the line for the computer is restless....made an outting to a Taost mountain, Qingcheng Shan, near Chengdu as the plane for Llhasa is leaving a day later than we anticipated. The mountain was quite special (and quite busy with weekending Chengdudians) but it was a highilght since I have been walking around since 18 with a tattoo oft he Tao on my ankle. Inscribed on my body on a whim in San Francisco, it has slowly become a guiding principal, so it was pretty awesome to be at the birthplace of the Tao (er, well, mythlogically speaking). The crowning glory of the mountain was a mammoth 3-story gold buffalo with Laotse astride, gheading west for enlightenment. In that spirit, we head west tomorrow too. We tried to work off the hike in a local massage place that advertised ("Cheapest and Nearest") but the $3 massage was more of a pummeling. I prefer Thai-style massage!

Nerds

Published 6.22.2007 by cnew.

I am sitting in the fifth floor gaming cafe in a masive computer department store on Computer Street, off First Ring Road. It is filled with young guys playing shoot-em-up games and chain smoking. It is dark, Vegas-like, with table service for hot noodles. I am imagining that they are really playing Halo freaks over in Fresno or wherever. I though maybe I could sneak a USB port in here and upload some photos, but the Chinese firewall is forcefuly keeping me off the blogger site. However, a word about the amazing computer store: first of all, memory is cheap. Really cheap. My inner computer geek came out and I find myself buying memory cards (2 GB for $21) and cute little memory sticks shaped like anime creatures ($3), and card readers the size of a silver dollar ($12). I am in the nest. Anyway, that's about all today so far - on to a temple later to atone.

Pandamania

Published 6.21.2007 by cnew.

I did it. I really did. We both did. I HELD A BABY PANDA! A real live 30 kilo baby ball o'cuteness. Holy cow, it was without a doubt the most touristy thing I have ever done, and I loved every minute (of the 5). We are in Chengdu, essentially the Mao's Vegas of Western China, minus the gmbling but complete with a dried ice and dancging water show over the statue of Mao in the city center, whch is ringed by Gucci and Cartier stores. This is the Nwe China if I ever saw one. (However, internet and decent computerts are lagging.) It is the capital of Sichuan, and the food here is delicious (spicy wontons, skewers with spicy pepper grilled on the street, roast duck, spicy broculi with garlic), all washed down with SNOW beer ( 3.3 %). After our arrval yesterday, we had the chance to meet a certain Mr. Lee, who is famous by way of the Lonely Planet as a general "fixer" for all adventures. He's an iconoclast of the highest order. He arranged for a trip to an old-school opera that still plays every afternoon for what appeared to be every octogenarian in town. He also helped us procure our Tibet travel pass through a series of phone calls, which, will result in a teahouse meeting tomorrow (the office is too risky?) to hand overthe tickets and permit. Accordingly, the process to get the pass is as murky as it sounded and we will finally fly to Llhasa as massive price gauging for a train soft sleeper is in effect. We shall see. Giant Buddhas tomorrow....

Factory worker

Published 6.19.2007 by cnew.

One of our struggles has been to explain to taxi drivers where we want to go and for the most part they have been really helpful and spent the time trying to understand our map and (my) terrible sense of direction (and phrase book Chinese). Yesterday we thought we might take the subway for a change but after an hour of looking for it, we buckled and took a cab. First stop was the Lama Temple, the biggest/oldest Tibetan temple in the city. By afternoon though I was feeling exhausted by history so we went over to 798 Factory, which is the name of the art district. Basically, Beijing has its own Williamsburg/Long Island City in an old factory complex that is filled with hundreds of galleries and coffee nooks. It's pretty fantastic - there's really a huge variety: some fun plays on the industrial landscape outside, a fair amount of Po-Mo goofing on Maoist iconography, serious oils of Chinese landscapes and some fantastic photography - one gallery (Paris to Beijing) had some of my favorite photos, by a photographer Linus Richard. We spent the better part of the day walking around there and more or less playing in the abandoned factory. This is definitely the best thing I have seen in Beijing...I had read there is another artist zone in Caochangdi Village, a bit closer to the edge of Beijing, that is a counter-798 (which is definitely commercial) but we didn't get there. Last night we met with a friend of a friend who lives here for some dinner in a nightlife-y area called Hohain (spelling?) and then wound down a complex of small streest to land for some mojitos at a lo-fi club called Bed. Not bad at all. Now on to Chengdu today!

PS - I would LOVE to be posting photos, but I can't just yet. Perhaps I can in Chnegdu if I can find a card reader...so sit tight.

Supreme Magnificance

Published 6.18.2007 by cnew.

Everything here is a superlative. There are "supreme", "premium" and "perfect" versions of nearly everything - noodles, services, vistas, temples, you name it. Transliteration gone wild. For example, yesterdayu I considered eating "Magnificant eel swimming upstream" but then choose "Perfect eggplants in garlic blossoms." Tonight, however we visted a sorta touristy nightmarket for some dinner and the selection was um ... your choice: rare seahorse on a stick, embryonic bird on a stick or chopped sea cucumber. I settled for a can of beer and am waiting for the inhouse breakfast tomorrow. We escaped the pollution today and made outr way to the Great Wall, which was completely awesome. We walked about 3 km along the ridge and then some to a unrestored section - the sections of stairs can be quite steep in parts but the views were great. Definintely a Premium Supreme Experience. After we arrived back, gasping from the instensity of the polluytion (you cannot see the sun - it is a weird grey ornage dot) and went to a campy Chairman-era theater for amazing feats of strength by Chinese acrobats. Tomorrow, a few musems of to see examples of Premium Artifacts and then on to Chengdu to start working our way into Tibet ...

Published 6.17.2007 by cnew.

Well, I am pleased that impressions are made to be broken. Though grey, and heavy on the pollution, the charms of Beijing came into focus today. We spent a long day saturating ourselves in Ming/Qing history, including a walk through at the Temple of Heaven, Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City. Ｉpersonally was most impressed with Tianamen - having remembered watcing the protests televised. Ｉgot a funny watch there with the Chairman waving his hand for the second hand - the guy asked for 200, we paid 15. The most entertaining part of the day is traveling with a 6'5" guy - "Yao Ming, come over here!" The street hawkers call him by 'name.' We were stopped several times in Tianamen so people could take their picture with Anjum - and best of all, when Ｉtook us into a foot massage parlour (38 yuan, each) the guy was really having a grand time with the size 16 feet. He kept holding his finger up to his toes to compare the length. After we finished with the never-ending Forbidden City, we somehow ended up in a rather trendy hutong (one of the classic old neighborhoods made of single story houses and winding alleys) in an area called Nanluoguxiang. Had some spicy eggplant and fried rice and then aforementioned massage. Monday we are taking a car to Mutianyu, where there is a good Great Wall site and good for hiking.

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I'm cnew
From New York City
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