http://jawolf.com/samf/ Sam explores himself and his world en-us Nucleus CMS v3.24 © Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://jawolf.com/samf//nucleus/nucleus2.gif http://jawolf.com/samf/ http://jawolf.com/samf/index.php?itemid=41
Finally, I wrote if their buffoonery caused me to lose this job, I was coming back to clean house, seeking their jobs. Miraculously, the FAX appeared the next day. It's just a matter of gaining confidence from the listener. The Dean just contacted me, we'll talk Monday.

I have been to 2 performances, a Peking Opera, and a ballet last night. Both were worthy. Not having sufficient understanding of the language or the performance approaches sorrow for me with the opera. The talent and training required are obvious. I'm like the little orphan boy peeping in the candy store. It's on TV, too. Maybe if I keep watching something will happen.

The ballet was a delight, a full company trained in classic Western forms, dancing mainly in Eastern costumes in Eastern narratives with music of mixed origins and instruments. Scenes were made continuous by simple connecting devices like a fan or piece of clothing. The 2 wonderful male leads, ever light, held hands an instant too long---There was a formal scene of waltzing to Strauss, completely convincing.

The audience at both events were horrid. Running commentary at normal voice with ones neighbor was standard. Children who chatted and thumped were celebrated. Cell phone movies and flash cameras were everywhere. The amplifiers were maxxed out trying to override the audience. I almost had a pain down my left arm. I say, fuck the common man.

I climbed a mountain to the top today, same trail I did the first time. It almost killed me then. Today, I could have climbed some more. Elders can come back. There are main trails, wide enough for service vehicles. Small footpaths take off along the main trails, they're for the adventurers. They go everywhere and you don't know where you will end up. My rule is up goes to the top; down will take you somewhere. One day I ended up on a sheer cliff on an almost obscure path, had to back track, got panicky for a moment. That same day going down, I thought I was in a Ninja training camp. It was so steep in 4 places, someone had ripped clothing, tied the ends together to make a hand line to assist in decent.

There are trees and undergrowth, trails for every inclination. Reminds me of the James River Park System, but maybe longer, rougher and steeper.

I am plowing through Dostoevsky's, The Brothers Karamazov. Without looking, I expect he was like Dickens and Tolstoy, got paid by the word.. I just finished one paragraph that was 5 pages long. Someone told me once it was their favorite book. It is interesting, but increasingly it is obligation that makes me read on. Any thinking person understands there is no God, the species is moribund and shit-heads prevail. I and my friends live in a parallel universe. See, I said it all in less than an inch. I may start my E.A. Poe Selections soon, for some relief.

I have found the cheap place to eat: a buffet of maybe 15 items from which you may choose 4 , including duck, beef, tofu and oodles of veggies, pint of rice, cup of soup, for $.45. The dining hall is a little rough. There are 2 really fine restaurants close to my hotel. 2 can dine splendidly for $20. I eat well alone for $6-7. The foods are just too numerous and varied to describe. Chinese eat everything, and it's all good. I sometimes take someone so they can order and broaden my horizon. After all, I am the rich American. I'm getting so I say that now, just to watch their eyes roll. America still rules.

Hopefully, next week I'll have good news on the teaching job. If it doesn't work, will have to wait for another sign.

S.]]> China '07 http://jawolf.com/samf/index.php?itemid=41 Sat, 25 Aug 2007 05:13:04 -0600 http://jawolf.com/samf/index.php?itemid=42 many colorful fish

]]> China '07 http://jawolf.com/samf/index.php?itemid=42 Wed, 22 Aug 2007 05:45:00 -0600 http://jawolf.com/samf/index.php?itemid=40
It tells me that the design information came from the Americas to Asia, and not what is commonly understood, from Asia to the Americas.

Nothing much profound going on, waiting for the teeth of the cosmic gears to align, to see if I get this teaching job, getting the documentation together: vitae, physical, transcript and passport.
The Dean assigned a most pleasant young post-doctoral researcher to assist and intercede for me. We have completed most of the tasks. Her English is good as she studied in England for 3 years. Some of my American idioms leave her a little bewildered, sometimes. She has good instincts for the Chinese way, so I lean on her judgment considerably.

In things Chinese, with even a minor detail, there is great discussion. I can only imagine the content. I am learning to wait, the door seems to always open. It's like a parallel universe.

A small adventure: A laundress got bleach on one of my 6 shirts, making it unusable. Later I found 2 more with small bleach spots. The hotel management said they would replace the shirt. So I went shopping with a staffer for 2 hours, with no luck. All the shirts were too small. Yesterday, after researching for the right store, another staffer and I finally found one that would fit, XXXXXL.

It was almost suppertime when we finished. His Grandparents telephoned him to join them for supper, the invitation included me. The Grandfather, 81, still sharp, was proud that he had killed some Japs that had invaded his city during WWII. The Grandson, a young man maybe 20, was big on cars, guns, rap and whiskey. We had a good time. I offered that after we finished supper, we could go shoot some Japs. I don't know how it did in translation. There was considerable beer.

It was a classy restaurant, waitresses knew to serve liquids from the right. The food, ever spectacular, included: poached flounder, sliced beef tongue, steamed squab beak up, veal short ribs, steamed prawns, stir fried young broccoli, steamed rolls, all with proper sauces. The Doctor, commenting on my blood work, said that I should eat less fat and salt---

Two days ago, I hiked to a second mountain top close by, maybe a 6 mile hike. My legs were rubbery when I got home. The steep and narrow trail went through mostly wilderness, no people. I topped the mountain, the trail continued, hesitant, I decided to keep going, unsure where it went. 2 young men overtook me, they indicated that the trail would bring me back to civilization. The Chinese are so kind. Perceiving me to be old, they abided with me until the trail became clear and easy. A little un-natural for me, I surrendered to their assistance. It was nice to be cherished.

The Chinese National news is very interesting. They are reaching out in every direction to be friendly: joint military exercises with India, big trade talks with all the -stans in the north and west, fuzzy stuff with Japan, photos with Iran's premier. They may set a pace for a new world order. My assistant doesn't like Muslims, either.

Guangzhou, I believe, is China's third largest city. It is built on the flat places among small mountains. The mountains are left undeveloped and serve as wonderful green spaces to retreat from the city. There are numerous green space parks in the city. And in keeping with the new China, every possible space is cultivated with the appropriate plant.

I sense there is still here a significant presence of the old Communist guard, young men with Red armbands safety pinned to their shirt sleeve, standing at strategic places,not interfering.

Also, windows and doors, especially at ground level up several floors have burglar bars, reminiscent of Mexico and South America. My assistant says it's common for burglars to kill occupants and take money. Hey, what do I know? First I've heard of it. But it nibbles at my Moorish Taint theory. And I am from Richmond, which had the Nation's second highest murder rate. Show me what you got.

S]]> China '07 http://jawolf.com/samf/index.php?itemid=40 Fri, 17 Aug 2007 20:36:00 -0600 http://jawolf.com/samf/index.php?itemid=39 I was rather pleased with myself yesterday getting my visa re-issued for another 30 days in Hong Kong, getting there with 2 bus transfers, and getting out on the express train. Visa requirements are that you leave the country every 30 days so they can check you out electronically at central, what we should be doing with the Latinos and Arabs.

Again, I'm the only honky in a double multitude of Asians, and the only one not knowing what he was doing. When I got back last evening, I treated myself to a fine fish supper at the best restaurant on the strip.

While standing with a group waiting to enter immigration, on the wall beside me were 20 sketches of known pick-pockets, all looking sinister. Bored, I took the shoulder of the guy in front of me and turned him towards me full face, then alternately looked at him then at the poster. At first, he froze with fear, gradually he understood I was doing American humor on him. He said he was going to Hong Kong to shop. I asked for what, he had no idea. It's in the air, spend that new money. Hong Kong is shopper's Mecca
I may have gotten a clue why it is not yet a good idea to release Taiwan back to the mainland. My third bus ride let me off in the middle of the bathroom fixture district. I panicked. It was my old fear of never having enough money to get un-stranded. Then it occurred to me that I had a pocket full of money and my wits--don't worry, be happy.

So, I saw a McDonald's, went in and had the best cup of coffee I had in a month, better than Starbucks I had a few days before. A New Zealand couple showed me on a map where the major shopping district was. No one on the street spoke English which was surprising since there was British rule for over 100 years until recently. I think the Brit rulers were isolates, not sharing with the masses.

I had decided to not waste the visit but to find an English book store. Went to a 1 star hotel, the clerk phoned an English speaker, I asked him about a book store, she wrote it in Chinese, I gave it to a taxi.

The driver, a native, knew the store, he drove, we talked, his English rusty but fair. I asked him about how it was going with the mainland ruling. He said life before was good. Since the change, it was difficult. I pressed. He said he had to pay bribes. His analysis was that when poor people had an opportunity, gained power, they would make money anyway they could. Top government wants a clean operation, the underlings are the problem. I thought of Richmond and how the new power elite after 1965 had degraded the city beyond recognition.

My man on the inside of Richmond's government tells me that Mayor Wilder sees the government as an employment agency, many departments budgets are bloated, and I know for a fact that nothing works.

So returning Taiwan to the mainland, at this time, could be like turning it over to Richmond's Mayor and Council, hardly a way to treat a friend. The Mayor's parents were sharecroppers. All men are created equal, in deed.

Another adventure was getting some cash. I had tried everything I knew.
Found a Bank of America office, was only a corporate agency, no cash. I cornered the English speaker, indicated my desperation, I had a lot of money in his Bank and was not going to leave, could not be dissuaded, was my best performance. After 2 hours, he took me downstairs to the Chinese Construction Bank's ATM. my card worked fine, took out 4K yuan, (7.6 yuan=$1.), was so excited. Also, I was so embarrassed, haranguing that poor man to exhaustion, mia culpa.

Flush again, I walked the street, confident. Found a nook, ate lunch, went to pay, they said my money was counterfeit. I had put a 100 yuan note in my left pocket, the rest in my wallet in my right. It never occurred to me they could have been correct. They would not accept the note. I caused a nasty scene and left without paying.

Took a taxi home, the driver would also not accept the bill. The hotel staff, always covering my ass came out, the bill was counterfeit. I brought out my wallet, the next bill was good. We went in the hotel, ran all my money through the counting machine, that one kicked out as fake.

The next day I went back to the bank demanding they take the fake and give me good money, another good performance. They said no. I left the bill with the official and departed in a huff. I just remember I had 2 bills in my wallet, it could have been one of them. All my 100's came from ATMs which means someone in a bank is switching, almost impossible to prove. I also had someone refuse to accept very small denominations, another, very worn money. So, legal tender is not necessarily legal tender.

I have noticed that everyone checks the money, scratching, holding to the light. So that's a problem with emerging China. I've seen Americans check bills with a magic marker, a hazard in the age of the Common Man.

The fine restaurant where I treated my success, the front is stacks of many aquariums with maybe 30+ species of finny fish,maybe 10 shellfish, crabs,snakes, shrimp. I recognized sturgeon,sheepshead, cat, drum and porgy, many unknown. I picked one, at the hostess's suggestion that looked something like a croaker. The assistant netted him out, put him in a sack and whacked his head. He weighed a kilogram, 2.28 pounds. The hostess and I walked over to the greens selection of 10, I chose baby bok choy. There were many other choices inside: hanging duck , chicken, etc.

I was seated, having a second beer, fish, greens and rice came, fish fried perfectly and a great stack of stir fried bok choy. I ate the whole fish, was well rewarded for my day. $7.

The book store has maybe 30 feet of shelved classics in English: Bronte. Dickens, Joyce, everybody. I was like a pogue in a pickle factory. I bought: The Brothers Karamazov, good selection of Poe and Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Ultimatum, which naturally, I'm reading first, feel well off and secure.

Thinking back, I think the the woman who wanted to refuse me food was Muslim. The Muslim baker was just around the corner where the clerk made disagreeable sport with me. A young Muslim here, with his beanie, made eye contact with me, lost his stride and stumbled, he could have smiled. None of these people were Chinese. But they are emboldened enough to confront and ridicule me me publicly. I can see the progression from Egypt and Tunisia from 25 years ago, the growing hatred.

Tell your Democrat friends to continue to encourage the enemy. It's very effective.

I'm reluctant to tell you this because I know how you are. The other night on the government owned English TV channel, for 5 minutes they went on about the new craze in China, the Lolita Lifestyle, Lifestyle! mind you. Young girls by the droves were frilled up and telecasted, suitable for 15-24 year olds, kept praising Nabokov. No old men were shown, so guess consent is implied. To think, I felt guilty all those years for nothing.

S.]]> China '07 http://jawolf.com/samf/index.php?itemid=39 Thu, 9 Aug 2007 17:58:22 -0600 http://jawolf.com/samf/index.php?itemid=38 S.]]> China '07 http://jawolf.com/samf/index.php?itemid=38 Mon, 6 Aug 2007 04:55:08 -0600 http://jawolf.com/samf/index.php?itemid=37
But, while there I had a nice discussion with a really pleasant person, Vice Dean of Foreign Languages, Guangdong University. He was one of the thousands of tourists passing through. We talked about employing me to teach English. So maybe that's what the Universe had in mind sending me there.

So, presently I'm outside the gate at GU in a hotel. He is on vacation for another week, so I wait for his return so we can talk more. There are lots of students walking along the strip mall with lots of food stalls and everything but English books. Enough speak English to meet my need.

It's been a real change of pace being here. Guangzhou is a huge city on the SE coast. I caught a bus from LeKing and Wu Yuan to Shang Tao, overnight train to Guangzhou. There are palm trees here so I guess I'm the same latitude as South Carolina, no map, like living in a well.

At the train station, I saw a sort of travelers aid, a hotels representative. I told her to get me a hotel near the University. She did.

The next morning I went on discovery. The big city syndrome was a far cry from the sweet ancient village. I saw a cafeteria style food stall outside the hotel. Approaching a surly, middle aged woman, I began to point to the food I wanted. She looked at me and waved me away, twice. I don't know where it came from, but without skipping a beat, I got right up in her face and said something like, God damn you bitch, feed me now. She trembled a little and dished it up. I tell you, being and older, beefy white guy with short hair and can make his color go red while articulating can get a lot done.

Being fed, a little edgey, I walked on to the main street intersection, turned left. I was shocked. Probably 20% of the pedestrians were Negro. These guys weren't just street Blacks, they were well fed, self possessed, walked like they lived there, unsmiling. Reminded me of myself, except I smile. I was used to seeing Asians. Finally, I stopped one and asked if he spoke English, he did, very well, from Nigeria.

Remember,I was mugged in Quito, Ecuador by alleged Nigerians. My antennae went up. But he seemed nice enough. He said we should meet later, gave me his phone and email. It contained, brightmorningstar and twofathers. I said I'd call, we could drink a beer. A Christian, he only drank water. Later, I got images of talks about baby Jesus stories and glories, I declined.

Another guy from Ghana stopped me and said Hello, we chatted. Apparently, they're all here on buying missions: clothing, cell phones, etc., stay a month, go home and sell the stuff. I told you China is cultivating Africa, nobody else is, and they are doing it the right way, with trade, like Menzies 1421. Loans and grants don't work in Africa or anywhere else.

In my lobby, a Black lady from Ghana approached me, said she had a restaurant in the hotel, I went for supper. Met another Nigerian who helped me pick an African meal from the menu. It tasted like good beef stew without vegetables, a hunk of steamed bread dough. But I got acid reflux.

The Nigerian went on to tell me he was a prince, his father was trying to get $1.5M out of the country, they only needed an outside man, I told him I wouldn't touch it with a stick, he cooled off, thought I was just another White guy, didn't know I was trained in Richmond. I've heard that many internet scams come from Nigeria. There was a Muslim bakery close by, sold me some bad bread, threw it away.

Looking around, I think I was in some kind of trading center. The streets and buildings were not rectangular. One could easily get lost. I saw what looked like a large circular building, 3 floors, went inside. Maybe 150 stalls selling cosmetics and health gear. I was just amazed at how many products there were for sale. Just miles of stuff in girlie jars. I' swear I saw pubic hair straightener. There were things like clam shell power showers, lamps to melt fat and tighten skin.

You remember 40 years ago when women wore rubber girdles. The big promo here is for whole body sheathing, looks like a torture device, on TV, everywhere. There is no way to pee except completely disrobe. It just indicates so much disposable income.

Anyway, bad vibes in the neighborhood, got the manger to tell a taxi to take me to the University, found this hotel close by. So, now just wait.

It's not over. My VISA card will not work anywhere in this city. Hotels will not accept. Don't know about 5 star. Mine is 3 star, $25. The short story is that I have worried the management here to death and they have been wonderful. Our references are so different. I don't know how you locate anything in the yellow pages. Chinese has no alphabet. Finally, yesterday my manager referred me to her friend in a 5 star who was smart enough to find a Bank of America here in Guangzhou, closed on the weekend. If I paid today's rent, I would not have enough for food. Took 2 hours of pleading yesterday to get them to front me to days rent. I am a kinder landlord. Chinese are tough with money. So, tomorrow, I go to BOA and see if they will give me money. If not, I'll throw myself on the mercy of my embassy. It's terrible to be slightly rich and can't access your money, stranger in a foreign land, broke.

Hiked this AM, feet took me where the way abruptly became a dirt path into a woods up a mountain, about 1/2 mile to a spring. People were coming and going, bringing jugs and carrying water down. They mostly had the look of pilgrims, semi-trances. I think it is a Sunday ritual, like church..

The spirit put into my hands, Thoreau's Walden Pond, Chinese and English. He was 33, same as Jefferson's Declaration and Jesus' Crucifixion. I did my best work at that age, piss and vinegar. It is a good read, though he is a little more cynical than I.

S.]]> China '07 http://jawolf.com/samf/index.php?itemid=37 Sun, 5 Aug 2007 04:52:00 -0600 http://jawolf.com/samf/index.php?itemid=36
My new owner, he speaks no English, we have a good laugh crossing our forearms, we tell the story to others. I admire him greatly, nice clean hotel, everything works, he's a good cook, CPA too, I think, was working on a stack of numbers books,,, seldom idle, his brother is a bank guard transferring funds with a shotgun, all business, ever eager to please me, skinny wife the same. We drank that kick-ass white rice wine one night.

Met a nice English speaking Chinese lady, perhaps you got her picture. We supped. She is more delicate, taking a parasol against the sun as she humored me by hiking a ways on the dragon lady trail. We had good talks. She is a published author.

I posited that the solitary isolation experienced by Westerners was unique. She said no, Chinese had it, too. She explained that she was at this remote ancient village to heal from a 10 relationship that had lost passion. Later, she continued that her new man of 3 months just confessed to being married. I explained the less you know about men, the better you like them. She said that she had a small dog that she loved very much. I told her my experience with women and dogs is that the man ended up dating the dog, not the woman, that she should eat the dog as it would separate her from what she wanted. She said no. She still got along with her ex, he was keeping the dog. I suggested she fuck around for passion and stay at home with him. She got squirmy, but didn't bolt. A very pleasant person, she wrote love stories.

I am becoming increasingly aware of racial differences, phenotypical and genotypical. I can see it in the way children move, too young to be influenced. I first noticed it 10 years ago in Suzhou, the way Chinese ping pong players would hold and move the paddle. I could not duplicate the moves. Chinese are built for that game. My friend Erjun who painted my portrait was pong champ in her Provence.

I am nursing a theory That the Chinese are from a migration out of Egypt, north, west then South, similar notions about death and monuments, they had the same required energy. Perhaps Ishmael's decedents. "as a jackass, against every man" were so obnoxious, they drove the then hard working, good natured Egyptians out. Remember, the Phoenix of SE Asia originated in Egypt, building pyramids takes serious energy.

Ishmael's descendants, desert people that worship Allah, you notice, drive everything else away, wherever they go.

My notion of archaeological evidence is that the high culture traveled down river, not up. Recall that the Yellow and the Yangtze begin in the Himalias, where the glaciers are receding---It just occurred to me that all those monuments: pyramids, Angkor Wat, Terra cotta army, tecal and palenca were an effort of the leadership to bleed off the surplus energy, like a house full of hyperactive youths, while making monuments to themselves, of course.

I love the way children are treated, little innocent people, each unique. Olders care lovingly for youngers. Hillary would like it here, the village extends the family. There is a permissiveness. Hope they don't end up like free will Americans. I've got 2 little ones watching me very closely as I write, so cute.

There is such a surplus of cheap labor here. It is manifest in highway construction. Roads through the mountains are flat, tunnels, whatever. Think about it, in many years,it pays for itself, less car wear, less fuel. The sides of the raised road beds are ornamented with cement/stone designs to look pretty and stop erosion. There are some extremely interesting patterns and ideas.

College entrance is based on national tests. You get one shot: headache, broken leg, dead mother: tough. I'm told a lot of money can influence a fractional test point. Hardball calls for tough minds.

America is at once blessed and burdened with it's notion that all men are created equal. We will forever wrestle with that tar-baby.

I remember a teacher of my youth explained that China absorbed rather than resisted invaders. They certainly bring me home with their kindness. And they can as easily retreat into another mode, without guilt or shame.

We really need to get out from under Taiwan. There is great national sentiment to bring it back home. On TV there is significant emphasis on war and its machinery. We need to negotiate out now while there is still wiggle room so we can save face, they , too. They may not absorb outsiders forever. Get this message your Congress persons, and the President, if he will listen.

The American influence here is profound, trying to copy everything.Watching TV here 10 years ago, there was a noticeable absence of focus on the pelvis, unlike Americans who learned from Elvis how to shake that second chakra. Today, they are shaking that thang more, but I'm not convinced they understand the implications. Americans are fixated on their gonads, a nation of crotch watchers. I cannot determine on which chakra the Chinese focus, it's not crotches. But they have that unrelenting energy required to build those ancient temples of Central/South America. Whites and Blacks cannot hold a candle to it.

Advertising is big everywhere, using our Christmas melodies in today's ads, TV, billboards, bridge embankments, selling everything: monthly pads with wings, family planning, industrial build materials. Government owns all stations, I think. But they show everything: war with Japs, love stories, lots of fantastic marshall arts, nature, archeology, art. 10 years ago it was just Little House on the Prairie. Noise doesn't seem to bother them, drives me crazy.

I saw 2 pigs in a pick-up with numbered ear tags. I guess they're going to slaughter, that number allows them to be traced throughout the whole process, if there's a problem. They are catching on , and up.

There's a new museum at Wu Yuan, 10 miles away, many rooms still unfilled. Generally, I'm not much on Chinese scroll painting. My sense is that the thrust is to be more like the last guy than he is to himself, very conceptual..Well, I went back for a second look at 4 brush and ink scrolls that I would hang next to anything I have ever seen. I could just be there all day. My eye ever moving, enjoying, exploring those paintings: old man and old tree, birds squawking, deer in a glade, retreated sages.

All the tourists, maybe 10,000 today, taking digital pictures. Say, 1/2 are downloaded into the great cyber. It takes physical stuff and electricity for all that memory. I'm concerned, beyond my understanding, where does it end? Most of the pictures are sentimental crap, world wide.

Some prices: big beer 25c., laundry shirt 13c., ball point refill 3c., water 10-15c. bus to town 30c.

I see few insects except mosquitoes, no pollinators but many flowering vegetables, there are ruby red dragon flies, always a nice surprise. A solitary heron prowls the paddies, we admire, one the other. Few critters, few minnows, and no fish farming I can see. A plethora of free range dogs and cats. not too much barking. Unfortunately, they don't eat the dog.

I have not used soap bathing since SE Asia, simplifying, and no deodorant, and have no body odor, that I can tell; Chinese food. No acid re-flux. And my descending colon, fickle traveler but faithful companion, ever humored to the extent necessary, daily shares it's treasure with a receptive universe.

S.]]> China '07 http://jawolf.com/samf/index.php?itemid=36 Sat, 28 Jul 2007 21:32:00 -0600 http://jawolf.com/samf/index.php?itemid=35
---a close call. They gave me tea and watermelon and I recovered. He had good TV reception, wide selection of channels, I heard English. I fed my watermelon rine to a chicken under the table, we bade bye-byes and I got home.

White men tremble when women touch. It's common here for young girls to hold hands and rub shoulders and play with the other's hair Doesn't bother the men, apparently. But you geezers bring an eye patch.

I get a little English every day from the tourists passing through I'm eating 2 meals a day at my new hotel I got someone to tell him to put everything in one bowl, meat, veggies, whatever, rice is separate of course., for supper. Breakfast is an egg, porridge, pickled veggies mainly bamboo and lotus root, excellent veggie stuffed dumpling, and fried bread. It is the Chinese custom to order, serve too much, sometimes great waste of food left on the table. Distresses me. It's always delicious. The one bowl keeps him from giving me too much. Breakfast is about 30 cents, $4. for supper.

So, no books/newspaper, little English, lots of Chinese TV. Luckily, caught a US cop movie this AM, watched some Chinese Opera in afternoon. I think it is really good, wish I could understand, it requires much skill and practice.

Merchants on the street are beginning to treat me as human, not a cash cow, and that's nice. I'm still the only Caucasian. In the afternoon, I go down to the watermelon vendors, we dicker a new price every day. Settling in.

These tourists have come to see their history and are interested in preserving it. I am happy for it.The Cultural Revolution rubbed out a lot of history in people's minds, and progress is claiming many old buildings. We have done the same thing in the US teaching weird history. And city Manager Bob Bobb and the Criminal Councils did a good job of leveling fine old buildings in downtown Richmond, and don't forget HUD bulldozing Fulton and Randolph. "We gonna help the Black Man" I hope there's a Hell and they fry.

Lots of mosquitos, long pants at night. I dine on the veranda.

S. ]]> China '07 http://jawolf.com/samf/index.php?itemid=35 Fri, 27 Jul 2007 06:33:00 -0600 http://jawolf.com/samf/index.php?itemid=34 In Li Keng, July 2007

In Li Keng, July 2007

]]> China '07 http://jawolf.com/samf/index.php?itemid=34 Fri, 27 Jul 2007 06:11:00 -0600 http://jawolf.com/samf/index.php?itemid=33
My last hotel had a nice balcony that overlooked where 2 rivers converge in the village center. they each have dams and sluces which are ornamented a little indicating the male dragon o the right, looking up stream, and a female dragon on the left.

Over the millennium, the rivers, less than 20' across, 2' deep have been channeled out, vertical stacked stones maybe 8' high, with frequent foot bridges across to access from either side the numerous open shops that are the first floor of 2-3 story buildings that are set back 6-10' from the river edge. The street is of big fitted slate flags allowing only as occasional tuft of grass.




There are a number of stone steps leading from the streets to a stone platform at water level. Here, women wash clothes using brush, paddle and/or hands. also, they clean vegetables and whatever. Old men are taking baths. Over there a man cleans a chicken saving most of the entrails--it's all chicken. At the several restaurants you must buy the whole chicken, stewed, I think. Pick the one you want, they're walking around. i had a pet chicken in Richmond, would come when I called.

Young boys swim, jumping from a bridge, no girls. in the morning, people mop and sweep, rinsing their mops in the river. There are several community dip nets to retrieve litter. Others are throwing it in. Everyone is necessary. There are small pole boats mainly for the tourists. The runs between dams is not long enough for serious transport of goods, but maybe a little, in old times.

So I went on a discovery, following the male dragon. the buildings, and streets ended, becoming a path of slate flags that essentially followed the rive3r, which had become a ditch. The scene was an opening vista of Serene rice paddies nestled in an irregular sided valley, several hundred yards across. the small, steep mountains come down abruptly to the paddies. I surmise that earth was taken from the mountain sides as fill to make the paddies flat. The whole thing was designed to harness water springing from up the mountains pulled down by gravity

There was an unimaginable amount of work and wisdom in what I saw. According to Menzies, 1492e are umpteen varieties of rice that can grow from the high desert to the low swamp. All these plants were in several inches of water. Each Paddie is flooded, fed from above. the surplus feeds the next Paddie below on down to the village where the ditch widens into the ever flowing river that moves on to the Yangtze, to the Pacific, to the Chesapeake.

The berms that separate, create the paddies have the correct plants whose roots hold the mound together. Some water is directed by 3/4 round 4' hollowed out bamboo. No land is wasted.

I saw only a few farmers, of course their work is done for a while. they were older, no young. don't know who will carry on the work. Maybe American conglomerate will show how to grow synthetic food, give 1 in 3 cancer.

The plants are maybe 6' part in straight rows. If you stand in 1 place and turn completely around, you will see a straight row every 45 degrees, planted by hand and eye, no string. I dare you to try, or just bend over all day.

There are 2 harvest a year. I saw 2 water buffalo chilling in the ditch, shaded.

About half way up the valley i came across an old very solid stone building, 30' long, big openings on 3 sides, alcove inside on the 4Th to receive an icon. I saw stone joinery like on the temples of the 3 continents. small world.I took a rest inside.

Went on up the valley til the path ran out, no pristine waterfall, some squishy place with ferns.

Another day I followed the female dragon. not quite as picturesque. IT was a rough clay road to service the electricity and TV/Internet which was brought in over a mountain. I went a good 3 miles almost to the mountain top. It was so hot, I had no water, turned back, stopped at a house among 5, asked for water, they were so gracious, I'm sure the first white man to visit, when I sat down I was seeing stars, a close call

My host is going to bed. will continue later--]]> China '07 http://jawolf.com/samf/index.php?itemid=33 Thu, 26 Jul 2007 05:53:00 -0600