Sick!

I guess I've been lucky too long. On my visit to the Taoist temple the day before yesterday, I ordered the fish-flavored vegetarian spare ribs at the vegetarian restaurant there. The "spare ribs" had a very strange, rubbery and mucilagenous consistenc sort of off-white and slug-like. This "meat" was wrapped around hard tofu "bones." I ate it all. Then, upon retiring, I felt feverish, nauseated, and with a terrible stomach-ache. I had the most bizarre dreams. I dreamt I was in a Taoist temple, and I'd pass from chamber to chamber, just as I tossed and turned in bed, nauseated... but there was no exit from the temple, just a Strange Loop where I'd appear again at the middle, and do it all over again. I suppose it could be worse... I could have seen giant mucilagenous vegetarian spare ribs carried by evil monks appear from all sides and surround me with bad intent... The next day, I spent almost entirely in bed, sleeping 17 or 18 hours and eating very little. Today, finally, I think I'm on the mend, feeling a bit more human.

On another note, the internet connection I've got at the guesthouse here in Chengdu is quite good. I can access just about everything- yahoo mail, gmail, the newsfeeds on yahoo, blogger editing- everything EXCEPT viewing the output of my blog. I can view it as I edit or create a blog, but I cannot view the final product. I haven't been able to view the blog at any computer in China. Note that this also means I won't be able to view any comments anyone leaves until I return to the United States!

Green Ram Temple visit

Went to the Taoist Qingyang (Green Ram) temple today. In contrast to Buddhist temples, the grounds and courtyards of Taoist temples abound with beautiful plants of all sorts. It was a nice, quiet respite from the noise and bustle of the city.

Greetings from Chengdu!

Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou, China's second-poorest province (after Tibet), was a nice place to lay over for a couple of days. About Guizhou, the saying is, "No two days without rain, no two miles without a mountain, and no two coins to rub together." In other words, it is rainy, mountainous, and poor. The capital isn't all that shabby looking, really, but the dreary weather inspired me to move on, rather than explore that particular province. I need some sun. So, I caught the sleeper train to Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province. Thus far, the town is as pleasant as I remember it from before. When the train arrived, there wasn't the usual stampede to get off the instant it pulled into the station. I almost wondered if we weren't at the final stop, so lazily did folks alight. They're a bit laid-back here in Chengdu.

I checked into a decent backpacker hotel, rented a bike, and hit the vegetarian restaurant at the WenShu temple. Faux mutton with melon- excellent! The Sichuanese do know their food. Then, I enjoyed a few hours over jasmine tea, relaxing in a bamboo chair and reading Certantes at the temple teahouse.

I'll be looking for a camera so I can liven up this blog with pictures! But Tama has posted her pictures on snapfish. You need to register to see them, but it is easy. Here's the link:
http://tinyurl.com/3hm3r8

Noise, noise, NOISE!

April 18, 2008
We're back in Guangzhou now. We arrived in Guilin for the overnight train a day early by mistake. We were boarding the train and handing our tickets over when the conductor said, "No, your ticket is for TOMOROROW." Whoops. We got confused on our dates. So, we ended up spending a night in Guilin, and seeing a beautiful park the next day.

Then the night train here to Guangzhou. This train ride wasn't as restful as the last. People talking kept us up all night. In the United States, a lot of people regard the Chinese as quiet, passive, even meek. The thing is, the Chinese people that most Americans might meet are the nerds, the studious upper-class ones who made good enough grades to be able to come to the United States to study. In reality, the Chinese are a garrulous, sociable, talkative folk. And they're LOUD. It is no coincidence that fireworks were invented here. The Chinese seem particularly fond of the type of firecrackers- the ones that have no pretty colors... they just make a lot of noise. So, after a while in China (and not too long a while, at that), you'll reach one of those moments when you feel like the Grinch complaining about the Whos in "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas." They've got their noise-makers and their toy trains and their pantooklers, and Oh, the noise, noise, NOISE!! Last night was one of those (long) moments for us, as the fellows in the lower berths carried on an extended conversation about the prices and relative merits of cigarettes- at full volume and at three in the morning. We're also convinced that prior to the current cell phone network, there must have been a system using paper Dixie cups and string. The Chinese all yell so loudly into their phones this can be the only explanation.

Other than that, our trip is going well. We'll be in Hong Kong tonight; Tama flies out tomorrow.

More Yangshuo

We've spent a pleasant few days in the scenic town of Yangshuo... took a boat ride on the Li river yesterday, and today we rented bikes and rode to one of the most spectacular rock formations, which has big hole in it like a moon. It was a bit of a climb to get the top, but the view was worth it.

Pizza still sucks in China, people still smoke like chimneys, we saw our first Chinese person to spit after we had been in the country less than an hour, and yahoo mail is blocked. That being said, the transport is much more convenient than it has been ever before, and the food is as good as ever. Rice buns (some sweet and some with vegetables) and hot soy milk makes a good breakfast. We're going to try a vegetarian restaurant tonight.

Oddly enough, not only is yahoo mail blocked, but even this blogger website is blocked. I can log in to create blogs, but in several tries over several computers in several towns, I haven't managed to view the blog itself as anyone else would. Chinese censorship strikes yet again...

More Guangxi Province

Tama and I spent some wonderful time at the Dragon Backbone Rice terraces.

The local Yao people have some very pretty clothing and handicrafts. But the reall attraction is the rice fields the villagers have cut over the centuries into very steep mountain slopes. We'll have to upload some pictures at some point to give an idea of how scenic this area was. We stayed at a very comfortable guesthouse of the traditional wood design and construction.

Now, we're in Yangshou, not too far from Guilin, with the fantastic karst rock formations. I didn't recognize the town when we arrive... it has changed a LOT since the last time I was here. More neon, more lively and a great deal more Chinese tourists.

One more note- I cannot reliably log in to my yahoo email account here in China. If you could cc email sent there to my gmail account at jwbratton@gmail.com, that would be great...

First Week in China!

First week in China... Tama and I met my old friend Sergio for lunch at LAX, then Tama and I had a pleasant enough 15 hour flight into Hong Kong. Hong Kong was fun. We did a lot of walking, and took the Peak Tram, which has truly stunning view of the city and the harbor. We ate some good vegetarian Indian food. and a variety of local dim-sum-ish dishes, although we tried to get to Maxim's several times, but found it wasn't open for dim sum in the morning, and didn't offer dim sum in the evening.

The trip from Hong Kong into the mainland is much smoother than it used to be. We got a train straight through from the Kowloon Light Rail station to Guangzhou. The train took us to the new Guangzhou East Railway station. From there, we caught the subway (also new and shiny) to the old Guangzhou Railway station, which is as crowded as ever. Caught a bus to Foshan, a dozen or two kilometers out from Guangzhou. We were disappointed to find that, despite Foshan being nominally another city, we never really left the urban, polluted landscape that is characteristic of Guangzhou. We got a comfortable room in Foshan, though, and relaxed a bit. Dinner was at a Buddhist temple, with an octagonal tower built in the seventeenth century. The best part of this temple was the vegetarian restaurant. As we walked toward the entrance, we got some views of the kitchen... six cooks busily working six woks. The large dining hall was bright and noisy, just how most Chinese think a restaurant should be, and food was delicious. We did steer clear of the pork intestine. Even though it was made entirely with vegetarian ingredients, we figured veracity to the meat analog would not be a virtue with this dish. We did have a good sweet and sour pork, though, and a tasty snow pea dish.

The next day we went to see the big Taoist temple complex that is there. The temple is dedicated to Bei Di, the god of the north and protector of seafarers. Neat stuff there- lots of very intricate woodwork and bas relief ceramics. We had some tea at the teahouse there while planning where what other cities we might want to see on our trip. Then, back to the Buddhist temple for some lunch. It was even more crowded than the night before.

After a night in Foshan, we returned to Guangzhou, en route to a small town in Guangxi province called San Jiang. San Jiang means three rivers. We decided that we'd just concentrate on one province, Guangxi province, since it seemed to have both such just famous sights at the karst topography around Guilin, and a good variety of less well known attractions, combined with very nteresting and colorful local minority culture.

We caught an overnight train to Guilin. It was impressively easy to buy tickets, and the train was comfortable and clean. We met a fellow from Gansu province, who was traveling with friends on vacation. We got into a friendly conversation. Had we gotten used to Chinese food, he asked? Yes, we said- rice, noodle, dumplings, buns... we had been eating well. He said he wasn't too fond of American food. I said he was probably just getting a small sampling of American food. He said, the problem with it was, you eat it and then before too long you get hungry again! I had to laugh at this. Yes, he said... it isn't like good Chinese rice or noodles, stuffing you up and keeping you full. Too funny, a new twist to an old cliche.

There's nothing quite like sleeping on a train, with the rocking and the white noise. We had a good night's sleep. Then, we caught a bus to San Jiang, and from there a smaller bus to the town of Chenyang. Actually, it is a cluster of villages of the Dong minority people. It has been turned into a sort of cultural preserve, where the local architecture of multi-story wooden houses with imposing roofs has been preserved. They also have striking drum towers. Hopefully, some of our pictures of this very cool architecture will come out well. We stayed in a spartan but clean and friendly guesthouse, with a beautiful view out on the famous ancient bridge the village is known for. We chose the nicest place in town, with the best "feel" to it, and the night's lodging only cost 40 kuai- a little over $5. Can't argue with that.

Today, we headed into the town of Longsheng. Caught a bowl of some tasty sort of rice crepe with peanuts, green beans and hot sauce back in Sanjiang, then to Longsheng. The town itself is no great shakes, a little dull and drab. The misty, humid weather we've been having doesn't really help either. But, we read that there are waterfalls, Bai villages, and terraced rice fields to explore not far from town, so tomorrow should be fun. We wandered a marketplace this evening. Our evenings have been pretty slow. We didn't have much jet lag, but we've been getting up at 5:00am or 6:00am every morning! Very strange...

The Silver Slug

Finally finished my latest bicycle build. I call it the "Silver Slug" because even though the frame is titanium, the big Wald basket on the front and the wide tires make it a pretty heavy machine. Fun, though, and just right for around-town jaunts. Being able to just toss stuff into the basket is VERY handy.

It has moustache bars, 35mm Panaracer Pasela tires, Shimano XT flat pedals that originally came on my 1989 Wicked Fat Chance, Suntour bar-con shifters, and a Kogswell Konversion fork with 67mm of offset. That gives me a frame geometry of around 40mm or so of "trail." The new geometry doesn't really feel all that different from the sport-touring geometry I'm used to, but it does seem to work better with heavy front-end loads.

China Trip!

Tama and I are heading to China on April 5. We'll fly into Hong Kong, the take a train to the mainland. The plan is to hit the beautiful karst scenery of the Guilin area (at Yangshuo. This picture shows what it looks like. Then we'll travel to wherever sounds good after that. Tama will be heading back on April 19. I'll be in China until May 21 investigating work opportunities. I'll probably be spending time in Chengdu and Beijing. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep everyone apprised of details of the trip through this blog.