The conference dinner that I mentioned was a lot of fun. Lots of interesting conversation about linguistics, travel, etc. Probably not the best dinner to bring a non-linguistically involved spouse to!
The next two days of the conference went really well, it was all very sociable with everyone going out every lunch and every evening. A very wonderful pub in the town served a fantastic ostrich salad and a bucket of beer. I kid you not. The jug of beer is out. A red bucket filled with ice was delivered to our table, with six stubbies of the ale of choice nestled inside for the grand price of 50 rand ($10 AU). Also tried some other local favourites at different times, the Cape Malay curries are very good.
Ran out of clean clothes by the Saturday and in the dorm room in the half dark packed a daypack with dirty laundry and took it to the university laundry and paid for them to do it for me. When I went to pick it up in my lunch break was very surprised when the lady handed it back to me with the words "Your camera is in there too". The camera must have been in the bottom of the bag. Ooops. Wasn't I the lucky little traveler?
On the Monday, after the conference finished we had an excursion to the !Khwa ttu reserve, which has been set up by and for the Khoi and San peoples who are indigenous to this region. They have a cultural centre there and a one teacher school for their kids. The kids did a magnificent song and dance performance for us. Then we sat on hay bales on the back of tractor trailers and went to the top of a hill with a view of the ocean where they served us a huge cold lunch. The land had been farmed but was quite poor for farming so they are trying to replant native plants and have reintroduced some small game (antelopes, etc). Had some great conversations with the guides who are justifiably proud of the land they have reclaimed themselves.
We attended a lecture after that about language initiatives in the region and then hopped back on the bus for the hour and a half drive back to Stellenbosch. Large sign on the side of the road. "No hooting. Ostriches getting laid".
Today, met up with two other conference goers and we all caught the train back to Cape Town. I walked back to my old hostel and moved in. Went out for a walk and had so many people asking me for money along the way that I went back to my hostel feeling v. depressed. It didn't seem to make me feel any better whether I'd given them anything or not. The problems of poverty here are so huge, it feels like anything you might do is so small. Even if you worked there your whole life it would just be a drop in a bucket.
I have had a cold since Friday (several days of sore throat followed by dripping nose and watery eyes) so I lay down on my bed and had a nap, which made me feel marginally better. Tonight I am going to go out to a bar and have something to eat, possibly with fellow backpackers, and then tomorrow I will be boarding my plane again to come home. I am ready to go home for this time. Probably this feeling is enhanced by my current fluey misery.
Being here has been so amazing though, I will definitely be coming back to Africa (with husband in tow) in the future.
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Saturday, November 19, 2005
Table Mountain
You've all seen it in pictures, now I have traipsed all over the top of it. After going out Wednesday night to the Zula bar with a Belgium girl and an Israeli girl and listening to Bob Marley blaring from the DJ, I got up and put on my hiking shoes. Caught a 'rikki' to the mountain. A 'rikki' is a minibus with an odd shaped roof and two bench seats running down the sides in the back. These thoroughly unsafe vehicles fly around the town and will take you anywhere for 16 rand. Bargain.
So, Table Mountain and a queue several hundred metres long waiting for cable car tickets. Not being too excited at the prospect of climbing up the incredibly steep slopes, I waited in line and got my ticket. It was well worth it. The cable cars are round with transparent sides and a rotating floor, so as you ascend the mountain you get a 360 degree view. Soooo cool. At the top there were heaps of tourists, a cafe, shop, public phones and a cocktail bar. None of which are actually visible from the city. After walking for a while I had stepped off the 15 minute tourist walk with wheelchair access and was walking on my own along narrow rocky pathways. Took a wrong turn and ended up on the 2 hour walk, rather than the 45 minute one I had planned on. Still, it was spectacular, and scarily close to the edge at times, clambering along rocks while the sheer drop and the amazing view below takes your breath away.
Back down the cable car, packed my bags and walked to the train station. I bought a first class ticket for the trip to stellenbosch. I normally prefer to travel with the masses, but thought that perhaps the masses wouldn't appreciate my backpack taking up heaps of room in the carriage. The ticket was only 12 rand anyway ($2.40). So my trip was boring, except when I saw half a dozen zebras in a paddock and nearly jumped up and yelled "Look! Zebras" at the thoroughly unimpressed locals.
Got off at Stellenbosch, and after a five minute walk was at my youth hostel. Stellenbosch is a very Afrikaans city, very pretty and obviously wealthy. Had pizza and put the finishing touches on my presentation for Friday (Until 11pm). Slept in a dorm room, waking every hour because I knew I had an early start at the conference.
Ran into quite a few familiar faces at the conference this morning, people from other conferences. That was nice. After lunch it was my turn up the front. The presentation went well, the powerpoint worked and lots of people wanted to ask me questions. The other presentations were very interesting and I've been having lots of interesting conversations. Waiting now at the internet cafe, because the conference dinner is tonight and I have time to kill.
So, Table Mountain and a queue several hundred metres long waiting for cable car tickets. Not being too excited at the prospect of climbing up the incredibly steep slopes, I waited in line and got my ticket. It was well worth it. The cable cars are round with transparent sides and a rotating floor, so as you ascend the mountain you get a 360 degree view. Soooo cool. At the top there were heaps of tourists, a cafe, shop, public phones and a cocktail bar. None of which are actually visible from the city. After walking for a while I had stepped off the 15 minute tourist walk with wheelchair access and was walking on my own along narrow rocky pathways. Took a wrong turn and ended up on the 2 hour walk, rather than the 45 minute one I had planned on. Still, it was spectacular, and scarily close to the edge at times, clambering along rocks while the sheer drop and the amazing view below takes your breath away.
Back down the cable car, packed my bags and walked to the train station. I bought a first class ticket for the trip to stellenbosch. I normally prefer to travel with the masses, but thought that perhaps the masses wouldn't appreciate my backpack taking up heaps of room in the carriage. The ticket was only 12 rand anyway ($2.40). So my trip was boring, except when I saw half a dozen zebras in a paddock and nearly jumped up and yelled "Look! Zebras" at the thoroughly unimpressed locals.
Got off at Stellenbosch, and after a five minute walk was at my youth hostel. Stellenbosch is a very Afrikaans city, very pretty and obviously wealthy. Had pizza and put the finishing touches on my presentation for Friday (Until 11pm). Slept in a dorm room, waking every hour because I knew I had an early start at the conference.
Ran into quite a few familiar faces at the conference this morning, people from other conferences. That was nice. After lunch it was my turn up the front. The presentation went well, the powerpoint worked and lots of people wanted to ask me questions. The other presentations were very interesting and I've been having lots of interesting conversations. Waiting now at the internet cafe, because the conference dinner is tonight and I have time to kill.
Zuid Afrika
Finally I am back at an internet cafe and I have some time to kill.
Well, where was I?
Aah. Day 3.
I walked down to the waterfront and bought my ticket for the 10am ferry to Robben Island. Former prison of black and coloured political prisoners in Apartheid South Africa. Including Nelson Mandela for a period of 18 years who was there from the sixties till the eighties. The ferry we traveled across on was the same ferry used to transport prisoners' wives to the island prison, so that they could visit their husbands. At the island we boarded a bus and toured the island, visiting a small jail that was set up to contain just one person, Robert Sobukwe, who the authorities considered such a threat that they had him there in solitary confinement for years, and passed laws in parliament, just to govern him. A contemporary of Mandela's, in the 1960's there were pass laws, requiring all black South Africans to carry identification cards, which showed where they were and were not allowed to go. If you were caught without one, you were immediately sent to jail for three months. Sobukwe rallied black South Africans to all walk into police stations on the same day, without their pass cards, and demand to be arrested. Unable to arrest so many people, the administration was thrown into chaos, and their solution was to make sure that this man never spoke to anyone again.
We also saw WW2 guns on the island, which had been placed there, but never fired in battle. There is a whole village there now, where ex-political prisoners live in harmony with ex-wardens. Don't ask me how that happened.
Then we were taken to a limestone quarry where the prisoners laboured, and were shown a cave which the prisoners had used for a toilet. In Nelson Mandela's toilet the political prisoners taught each other about politics, they called it the university.
Then on a tour to the prison cells, where our guide, who was a political prisoner himself for 5 years in the 1980s told us what life had been like as a prisoner. We saw Nelson Mandela's cell and on the way out I saw a bird, which had flown into a cell, stuck there and flying repeatedly into the window. An interesting symbolism there, I think.
Well, where was I?
Aah. Day 3.
I walked down to the waterfront and bought my ticket for the 10am ferry to Robben Island. Former prison of black and coloured political prisoners in Apartheid South Africa. Including Nelson Mandela for a period of 18 years who was there from the sixties till the eighties. The ferry we traveled across on was the same ferry used to transport prisoners' wives to the island prison, so that they could visit their husbands. At the island we boarded a bus and toured the island, visiting a small jail that was set up to contain just one person, Robert Sobukwe, who the authorities considered such a threat that they had him there in solitary confinement for years, and passed laws in parliament, just to govern him. A contemporary of Mandela's, in the 1960's there were pass laws, requiring all black South Africans to carry identification cards, which showed where they were and were not allowed to go. If you were caught without one, you were immediately sent to jail for three months. Sobukwe rallied black South Africans to all walk into police stations on the same day, without their pass cards, and demand to be arrested. Unable to arrest so many people, the administration was thrown into chaos, and their solution was to make sure that this man never spoke to anyone again.
We also saw WW2 guns on the island, which had been placed there, but never fired in battle. There is a whole village there now, where ex-political prisoners live in harmony with ex-wardens. Don't ask me how that happened.
Then we were taken to a limestone quarry where the prisoners laboured, and were shown a cave which the prisoners had used for a toilet. In Nelson Mandela's toilet the political prisoners taught each other about politics, they called it the university.
Then on a tour to the prison cells, where our guide, who was a political prisoner himself for 5 years in the 1980s told us what life had been like as a prisoner. We saw Nelson Mandela's cell and on the way out I saw a bird, which had flown into a cell, stuck there and flying repeatedly into the window. An interesting symbolism there, I think.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
South Africa
Writing in a state of Jet lagged and post hike tiredness. Sorry if it doesn't make much sense. Nevertheless I'm determined to stay up and write rather than fall asleep again at 8pm like I did last night (which resulted in my waking up at 4am).
Back to the beginning. I am here in South Africa for a grand total of 10 days, in order to attend a conference on endangered languages in Stellenbosch. I flew out of Melbourne Sunday afternoon 5pm. 7 hours later I arrived in Singapore (9pm). Spent about 5 hours sleeping in an armchair at the airport then went to board my flight to Cape Town, via Johannesburg. To my surprise their were a large number of Chinese businessmen also boarding the flight. We were all handed our customs declarations form to fill out in the waiting room, before boarding the flight. The businessmen were sitting next to me and I could hear that they were engaged in a heated discussion about the difference between surname and firstname, because of course, their first names are their surnames and their last names are their given names. As it didn't seem any closer to being resolved I went over and offered my translation services.
After a moment of blank astonishment, they showed me their forms and we got it all sorted out. I sat back down and chatted to a Chinese gentleman who was very intrigued as to the hows and whys of my knowledge of Chinese. Boarded the flight and was seated next to a Singaporean woman and her little boy, so no more conversation. Relaxed and watched a few movies and tried to catch some sleep on the 10 hour flight to Johannesburg.
The sun came up as we flew over the Indian Ocean. Then over the South African mainland. There was quite a bit of farmland that we flew over, and I was bemused to notice that a lot of the fields were perfectly circular. I finally figured out that they had a watering system that was fixed in the centre of the circular field and rotated around, accounting for the perfectly round circles of green. We didn't get to get off the plane in Johannesburg, so I sat and watched the airport staff unloading luggage and postal and other products they were transporting. Included with the boxes were quite a number of cardboard boxes that were clearly marked "Live Fish- Urgent" I still haven't quite figured out whether they had fish tanks in the cardboard boxes being thrown carelessly off the plane.
The approach to Cape Town was very different. There were rocky mountains in the region surrounding the city, which were quite spectacular from the plane. It took an hour to clear passport control and the huge queues, after which I got a backpacker bus to my youth hostel the 'cat and moose' in a bustling section of the city. The bus first drove past a shanty town, a huge area filled to bust with houses constructed out of corrugated iron and about the size of a caravan. No sooner were they past then we came upon the large mansions with security fences and swimming pools. Pretty striking.
It was midday when I arrived, (10pm Monday night Australia time). The "Cat and Moose" was very pleasant with a large sunny courtyard in the middle, where I dozed and chatted to backpackers for the remainder of the afternoon.
This morning I went on a tour. There were about 10 of us in a minibus. We went out to a fishing village, and got on a boat to see some seals. Yes. My first African animals to see were seals! Hmmm. Oddly enough, on the boat I ran into the Chinese gentleman I met in Singapore, and he has invited me to visit him in Hangzhou. Then we went to another village and saw ..................(Drum roll).... Penguins. Not the fairy penguins you see on Phillip Island though. These ones are known as African, or Jackass, penguins, due to the donkey like braying that they do. Very weird. Apparently a pair of them moved into the area about 20 years ago and now there are a few thousand. They've had to put up fences confining them to the beach because apparently they started venturing into peoples homes and taking a dip in their swimming pools.
From their we drove to the original object of our journey: the Cape of Good Hope. It is set in a national park and we had lunch near the ranger's station. One of the rangers came up to have a chat to me. In the space of 5 minutes, this elderly black man had ascertained that I was from Australia, told me that the 'fynbos' which that region is very famous for, is even more extensive in Australia (I think he meant what we call 'scrub'), how many species there are (In S.A. as well as in Aus.), discussed the separation of the continents, the political situation in South Africa, including economic immigrants from Zimbabwe and South Africans who migrated out after the end of Apartheid but now want to come back. Kind of reminded me of Scott's Dad, Eddie. Bit of a storyteller.
Then, on to Cape Point (which houses the lighthouse) and the Cape of Good Hope next to it, which is the most south-westerly point of Africa apparently. We had quite a hike around there. It was really spectacular country, lots of rocks, scrub, cliffs, white beaches and two oceans running into each other. I saw some Dassies (largish guinea pigs) eating scrub and a few lizards. We climbed down off the Cape and rejoined our minibus. As we drove off, we came across four ostriches hanging out on the beach, which was pretty cool. Oh and we saw some bontebok in the far distance earlier on.
I didn't join in the cycling this afternoon, because my body decided it had had enough. Got back to the hostel at 6 pm, showered, and went out for sushi. One thing that really surprised me about this place is how much it reminds me of Australia. The countryside, anyway. Obviously the black population is much much huger than in Aus, and income differences are more evident.
Can't think of an elegant way to end this post, so think I'll just go to bed. Night Night.
Back to the beginning. I am here in South Africa for a grand total of 10 days, in order to attend a conference on endangered languages in Stellenbosch. I flew out of Melbourne Sunday afternoon 5pm. 7 hours later I arrived in Singapore (9pm). Spent about 5 hours sleeping in an armchair at the airport then went to board my flight to Cape Town, via Johannesburg. To my surprise their were a large number of Chinese businessmen also boarding the flight. We were all handed our customs declarations form to fill out in the waiting room, before boarding the flight. The businessmen were sitting next to me and I could hear that they were engaged in a heated discussion about the difference between surname and firstname, because of course, their first names are their surnames and their last names are their given names. As it didn't seem any closer to being resolved I went over and offered my translation services.
After a moment of blank astonishment, they showed me their forms and we got it all sorted out. I sat back down and chatted to a Chinese gentleman who was very intrigued as to the hows and whys of my knowledge of Chinese. Boarded the flight and was seated next to a Singaporean woman and her little boy, so no more conversation. Relaxed and watched a few movies and tried to catch some sleep on the 10 hour flight to Johannesburg.
The sun came up as we flew over the Indian Ocean. Then over the South African mainland. There was quite a bit of farmland that we flew over, and I was bemused to notice that a lot of the fields were perfectly circular. I finally figured out that they had a watering system that was fixed in the centre of the circular field and rotated around, accounting for the perfectly round circles of green. We didn't get to get off the plane in Johannesburg, so I sat and watched the airport staff unloading luggage and postal and other products they were transporting. Included with the boxes were quite a number of cardboard boxes that were clearly marked "Live Fish- Urgent" I still haven't quite figured out whether they had fish tanks in the cardboard boxes being thrown carelessly off the plane.
The approach to Cape Town was very different. There were rocky mountains in the region surrounding the city, which were quite spectacular from the plane. It took an hour to clear passport control and the huge queues, after which I got a backpacker bus to my youth hostel the 'cat and moose' in a bustling section of the city. The bus first drove past a shanty town, a huge area filled to bust with houses constructed out of corrugated iron and about the size of a caravan. No sooner were they past then we came upon the large mansions with security fences and swimming pools. Pretty striking.
It was midday when I arrived, (10pm Monday night Australia time). The "Cat and Moose" was very pleasant with a large sunny courtyard in the middle, where I dozed and chatted to backpackers for the remainder of the afternoon.
This morning I went on a tour. There were about 10 of us in a minibus. We went out to a fishing village, and got on a boat to see some seals. Yes. My first African animals to see were seals! Hmmm. Oddly enough, on the boat I ran into the Chinese gentleman I met in Singapore, and he has invited me to visit him in Hangzhou. Then we went to another village and saw ..................(Drum roll).... Penguins. Not the fairy penguins you see on Phillip Island though. These ones are known as African, or Jackass, penguins, due to the donkey like braying that they do. Very weird. Apparently a pair of them moved into the area about 20 years ago and now there are a few thousand. They've had to put up fences confining them to the beach because apparently they started venturing into peoples homes and taking a dip in their swimming pools.
From their we drove to the original object of our journey: the Cape of Good Hope. It is set in a national park and we had lunch near the ranger's station. One of the rangers came up to have a chat to me. In the space of 5 minutes, this elderly black man had ascertained that I was from Australia, told me that the 'fynbos' which that region is very famous for, is even more extensive in Australia (I think he meant what we call 'scrub'), how many species there are (In S.A. as well as in Aus.), discussed the separation of the continents, the political situation in South Africa, including economic immigrants from Zimbabwe and South Africans who migrated out after the end of Apartheid but now want to come back. Kind of reminded me of Scott's Dad, Eddie. Bit of a storyteller.
Then, on to Cape Point (which houses the lighthouse) and the Cape of Good Hope next to it, which is the most south-westerly point of Africa apparently. We had quite a hike around there. It was really spectacular country, lots of rocks, scrub, cliffs, white beaches and two oceans running into each other. I saw some Dassies (largish guinea pigs) eating scrub and a few lizards. We climbed down off the Cape and rejoined our minibus. As we drove off, we came across four ostriches hanging out on the beach, which was pretty cool. Oh and we saw some bontebok in the far distance earlier on.
I didn't join in the cycling this afternoon, because my body decided it had had enough. Got back to the hostel at 6 pm, showered, and went out for sushi. One thing that really surprised me about this place is how much it reminds me of Australia. The countryside, anyway. Obviously the black population is much much huger than in Aus, and income differences are more evident.
Can't think of an elegant way to end this post, so think I'll just go to bed. Night Night.
Friday, July 29, 2005
postscript
My last night in Lijiang was actually a very interesting one. I walked around feeling a bit lost for a while, had some tea. Then I was walking through the main square in old town and I saw Naxi dancing. Naxi dancing generally involves a large number of old ladies, and a few old men, in traditional costumes, dancing around slowly in a large circle, while one of them stands in the middle, bobbing up and down holding a portable cassette recorder that is blaring out Naxi music.
The dancing this night was not being put on for the tourists. A young man played a traditional flute, while about 40 young blokes (probably 16-30 years old) dressed in street clothes (baggy jeans, sports jackets) danced a Naxi traditional dance. This was not the typical sedate dancing displayed by the Naxi ladies. These guys shouted and sang and turned and kicked as the music from the flute got faster and faster. They were pulling people in out of the crowd to join in, most of whom were cute, young, Chinese females. And me.
One of the guys in the circle had beckoned to me to join in, and in an attempt to defeat my downer mood, I accepted. The dancing was similar in style to the Mosuo dancing, so I was able pick it up pretty quickly. He said to me "Hello" "What is your name?" and "Do you speak Chinese?". He spoke these sentences very fluently, but it turned out they were the only things he knew how to say in English. We danced energeticly until I was completely exhausted. It turned out he was a 21 year old mechanic and afterwards he took me out to a karaoke bar where he bought me beer, sang cheesy love songs and professed his undying love. The words "I've always wanted to marry a foreign woman" and "you can have as many children as you like because you're not Chinese" did not particularly help his cause.
Got about two hours sleep and then caught the bus to the airport the next morning. The flight from Lijiang to Kunming and from there to Bangkok, was uneventful. Unfortunately at 10pm a Thai Air employee informed me that my flight to Melbourne had been cancelled due to lack of numbers, and that I could take a flight tomorrow morning, which would go via Sydney. Before going to the airport motel for the night, I had to make a very difficult phone call. "Um, Scott. You know how I'm supposed to be home at midday tomorrow, well it's going to be midnight instead..."
I've been home around 9 weeks now. The first six weeks involved frantic wedding planning and getting to know my fiance again. The wedding day was fantastic. We had an absolute ball. Two weeks honeymoon in Cairns. And now back to study, back to our home and back to our cat, who brought a dead bird into the house last night.
signing off....
Laura did Yongning.
The dancing this night was not being put on for the tourists. A young man played a traditional flute, while about 40 young blokes (probably 16-30 years old) dressed in street clothes (baggy jeans, sports jackets) danced a Naxi traditional dance. This was not the typical sedate dancing displayed by the Naxi ladies. These guys shouted and sang and turned and kicked as the music from the flute got faster and faster. They were pulling people in out of the crowd to join in, most of whom were cute, young, Chinese females. And me.
One of the guys in the circle had beckoned to me to join in, and in an attempt to defeat my downer mood, I accepted. The dancing was similar in style to the Mosuo dancing, so I was able pick it up pretty quickly. He said to me "Hello" "What is your name?" and "Do you speak Chinese?". He spoke these sentences very fluently, but it turned out they were the only things he knew how to say in English. We danced energeticly until I was completely exhausted. It turned out he was a 21 year old mechanic and afterwards he took me out to a karaoke bar where he bought me beer, sang cheesy love songs and professed his undying love. The words "I've always wanted to marry a foreign woman" and "you can have as many children as you like because you're not Chinese" did not particularly help his cause.
Got about two hours sleep and then caught the bus to the airport the next morning. The flight from Lijiang to Kunming and from there to Bangkok, was uneventful. Unfortunately at 10pm a Thai Air employee informed me that my flight to Melbourne had been cancelled due to lack of numbers, and that I could take a flight tomorrow morning, which would go via Sydney. Before going to the airport motel for the night, I had to make a very difficult phone call. "Um, Scott. You know how I'm supposed to be home at midday tomorrow, well it's going to be midnight instead..."
I've been home around 9 weeks now. The first six weeks involved frantic wedding planning and getting to know my fiance again. The wedding day was fantastic. We had an absolute ball. Two weeks honeymoon in Cairns. And now back to study, back to our home and back to our cat, who brought a dead bird into the house last night.
signing off....
Laura did Yongning.
Monday, May 30, 2005
Last Day
It feels very weird. It felt very weird to be finally going to China, and now it feels strange to be leaving again. Last night I didn't do much, my stomach was a little funny but not too bad so I stayed in and read a book I had bought for the plane trip. As I finished it, had to go and buy another today. Today I've been running around very busy sorting out last minute stuff and trying to get hold of some things. Very warm again today too. Not looking forward to a third winter in a row! Have managed to get a nice tan in the last weeks, which is certainly preferable to the look I was sporting before that- white with very tanned face and hands. All the Chinese women try to be as white as possible and wield umbrellas dangerously through the crowds to protect their complexions while trying to take my eye out.
This evening was having tea and a couple of Chinese guys wanted to get their photo taken with me (I'm such a celebrity!). A young English couple were laughing at me as he said slowly "one, two, three" and took the photo. I complemented him on his English (but in Chinese) and he looked like he was about to fall over. He said "you speak really good Chinese, we are talking and I can understand you!" Not the best complement i've ever received. I said '0h good'. I got talking to the English couple after that, which was difficult because the table of Chinese tourists next to us were singing at the tops of their voices.
Just remembered something quite important that I think I had forgotten to write earlier. The village Lige, where I have lived a lot, is about to be pushed back 80 metres. Yes that's right folks. The government has decided it is too close to the waterfront so all the houses / guesthouses / bars on the waterfront are going to be pulled down and the owners compensated and then they can choose to rebuild 80 metres back if they want. Estimates are that it will start next week and finish in September. The traditional Mosuo homes should be alright, they are built like log cabins. You can just unstack all the logs and then put them back together the same way. With modern buildings it will be more difficult. The buildings on the island (isle) itself will be unaffected- if they had to move back 80 metres they would fall off the other side of the island back into the lake (very small island). However the village will be a building site and it seems that the government might be banning all tourism to the village and island while it's going on. Island people obviously not happy that they will not have an income for four months, so they had a meeting and were going to meet with a government official. Not sure if they want to be able to try to attract tourists or also want compensation. Well, I guess I'll find out soon.
On the plane tomorrow. Home Wednesday. Will be seeing some of you very soon. xxx
This evening was having tea and a couple of Chinese guys wanted to get their photo taken with me (I'm such a celebrity!). A young English couple were laughing at me as he said slowly "one, two, three" and took the photo. I complemented him on his English (but in Chinese) and he looked like he was about to fall over. He said "you speak really good Chinese, we are talking and I can understand you!" Not the best complement i've ever received. I said '0h good'. I got talking to the English couple after that, which was difficult because the table of Chinese tourists next to us were singing at the tops of their voices.
Just remembered something quite important that I think I had forgotten to write earlier. The village Lige, where I have lived a lot, is about to be pushed back 80 metres. Yes that's right folks. The government has decided it is too close to the waterfront so all the houses / guesthouses / bars on the waterfront are going to be pulled down and the owners compensated and then they can choose to rebuild 80 metres back if they want. Estimates are that it will start next week and finish in September. The traditional Mosuo homes should be alright, they are built like log cabins. You can just unstack all the logs and then put them back together the same way. With modern buildings it will be more difficult. The buildings on the island (isle) itself will be unaffected- if they had to move back 80 metres they would fall off the other side of the island back into the lake (very small island). However the village will be a building site and it seems that the government might be banning all tourism to the village and island while it's going on. Island people obviously not happy that they will not have an income for four months, so they had a meeting and were going to meet with a government official. Not sure if they want to be able to try to attract tourists or also want compensation. Well, I guess I'll find out soon.
On the plane tomorrow. Home Wednesday. Will be seeing some of you very soon. xxx
Sunday, May 29, 2005
Last days
I've been so busy this last week, I haven't thought much about posting blogs. Realise now I have a bit to catch up on!
Lets see... I stayed in Sichuan until Thursday morning, working hard every evening with my friend there. The Norwegian girl had to leave Wednesday as she'd forgotten to bring her contact lenses and after stumbling around all day Tuesday had had enough! Thursday was very hot again, and in the afternoon, N.G. (Norwegian Girl) and I walked over to Zhudi for a farewell party with my family there. After dinner, quite a number of family and friends from the village came around, Dali beer was passed around and everyone started taking it in turns to sing. There was a mixture of Mosuo songs, Chinese pop songs, Tibetan songs and a very fine rendition of "What do you do with a drunken sailor?" by N.G. and myself which got everyone clapping along.
Finally everyone left and then my brother (in this family) and a Chinese guy (who is staying with them at the moment) and I went to the Zhudi disco. This is a large ugly hotel that has been built on the opposite side of the little lake in Zhudi, which has a room with disco lights, sound system and karaoke. And we were the only people there. They obligingly put on the flashing lights and my brother Erche got them to play the Mosuo dance music. Then he, I and the Mosuo girl who works there began to do the circle dancing. Normally there is a huge circle of people dancing in formation, so it looked a little odd with three of us. Still, was fun. Then we switched to disco music and the four of us danced in this enormous room for another hour or so. Then I sat back with (another) beer while they took it in turns to sing karaoke. Stumbled home across the paddocks at 3am (ouch my ankle) back to the house.
Friday morning I helped N.G. interview Erche, my translating skills are improving but I still get stuck on unusual vocabulary a lot. Then N.G. and I walked back to Lige through the heat (30 degrees plus- don't know exactly). At the guest house I changed into a bikini and she found some black underpants and a singlet top, and we walked to the far side of the island (little chance of being photographed by tourists) and went for a swim! Typically, for the half hour we were in the lake, the sun went behind a cloud and we shivered as we crouched in the seaweed. Then something moved next to N.G.'s foot and she screamed and kind of lunged towards me and I slipped too and then swam out to fetch one of her thongs which had come off her foot in all the excitement. We'd had enough by them and got out just as the sun came out.
Went back to the guesthouse where I washed some clothes in the lake and packed up all my stuff. The girl who works there in the kitchen must have thought it was christmas as I doled out a heap of clothes, cups, hot water bottles and other miscellaneous goods that I didn't want anymore. Then N.G. found a packet of tampons and was trying to explain to kitchen girl what they were for. Kitchen girl thought initially that they might be candy. I don't think the diagrams clarified it and N.G.'s level of Chinese is so poor that I had to explain it to kitchen girl. The situations people put me in! Actually, the other day we were talking to my friend in Sichuan about the one child policy. He started laughing and told us that when contraception was first introduced in the area, doctors would demonstrate the method for putting on a condom using their thumb. Apparently more than one angry man went back to the doctor saying he'd worn it on his thumb during intercourse and she still got pregnant!
Friday night N.G. and I went down to Lige village and went along to the dancing. Went to Zhaxi's bar afterwards and sat there chatting with Zhaxi, a few other locals and a French tourist. The 26 year old French guy had been in the village for about 3 days and clearly had a thorough understanding of Mosuo culture. In the space of half an hour he managed to say that "Mosuo people are like children, they have no idea of responsibility" "The Mosuo dialect is probably very simple and unsophisticated" "English is a language without character" and "buying marijuana is very cheap in Dali, I smoke every day". By this point N.G. was so angry she was squeezing my hand under the table in frustration as he arrogantly tried to explain Mosuo culture to her.
We said goodbye to our friends there and went to another little cafe and joined some of the local boys for shaokao (mini barbecue with slices of potato, zucchini and chicken stomach). They made us drink shots of the local Guangdang alcohol (lethal stuff) and we chatted and joked for a while. On our way home to the guesthouse we squatted by the side of the dirt road for a pee under the stars. The lake looks beautiful by moonlight.
Saturday I jumped on a bus to Lijiang with my many bags. I am going to post a heap of stuff tomorrow. As soon as we got there I found a guy with a three wheel bicycle with a tray that I heaped my bags onto and trundled to my hotel. It was very hot again - already missing the lake, so I had a nice shower, got dressed up and went to 'Lamu's house of Tibet' for dinner, where I ordered a lasagne. Got talking to a group of Germans and a Malaysian woman there. All spoke English except for one German guy, all spoke German except for the Malaysian woman and myself, though I could understand a fair bit of the German conversation, and myself and the Malaysian woman could speak Chinese, and a couple of the Germans knew a bit, but not really well enough to converse. Quite a confusing conversation!!
Then I caught up with a few people who had been on the bus with me that day, and they were catching up with Zhaxi (from Zhaxi's bar in Lige) who had apparently come down here today as well. So we all went to a Mosuo cafe in the Little Paris area and drank shots of Dali beer and played dice and chatted. One of the guys was trying to teach the girls a game where everyone flaps their arms and says 'yiqi fei' or 'fly together', etc. The idea is that if you flap at the wrong time you have to drink a shot. I said I'd seen this game being played before in a pub and thought they were insane. (Imagine group of Chinese people chanting and flapping their arms in manner of chicken dance).
The girls asked me what games people from my culture play when they are drinking. I thought for a minute and tried to describe some board games and others like charades. Then I said we play cards and told them about strip poker- at which point they declared that we were the crazy ones!
This morning I slept late. Got some stuff to do today and tomorrow, then getting on a plane on Tuesday. I know I've whinged about this place at times, but there are places and people that I'm also really going to miss. I'm never good at goodbyes.
Lets see... I stayed in Sichuan until Thursday morning, working hard every evening with my friend there. The Norwegian girl had to leave Wednesday as she'd forgotten to bring her contact lenses and after stumbling around all day Tuesday had had enough! Thursday was very hot again, and in the afternoon, N.G. (Norwegian Girl) and I walked over to Zhudi for a farewell party with my family there. After dinner, quite a number of family and friends from the village came around, Dali beer was passed around and everyone started taking it in turns to sing. There was a mixture of Mosuo songs, Chinese pop songs, Tibetan songs and a very fine rendition of "What do you do with a drunken sailor?" by N.G. and myself which got everyone clapping along.
Finally everyone left and then my brother (in this family) and a Chinese guy (who is staying with them at the moment) and I went to the Zhudi disco. This is a large ugly hotel that has been built on the opposite side of the little lake in Zhudi, which has a room with disco lights, sound system and karaoke. And we were the only people there. They obligingly put on the flashing lights and my brother Erche got them to play the Mosuo dance music. Then he, I and the Mosuo girl who works there began to do the circle dancing. Normally there is a huge circle of people dancing in formation, so it looked a little odd with three of us. Still, was fun. Then we switched to disco music and the four of us danced in this enormous room for another hour or so. Then I sat back with (another) beer while they took it in turns to sing karaoke. Stumbled home across the paddocks at 3am (ouch my ankle) back to the house.
Friday morning I helped N.G. interview Erche, my translating skills are improving but I still get stuck on unusual vocabulary a lot. Then N.G. and I walked back to Lige through the heat (30 degrees plus- don't know exactly). At the guest house I changed into a bikini and she found some black underpants and a singlet top, and we walked to the far side of the island (little chance of being photographed by tourists) and went for a swim! Typically, for the half hour we were in the lake, the sun went behind a cloud and we shivered as we crouched in the seaweed. Then something moved next to N.G.'s foot and she screamed and kind of lunged towards me and I slipped too and then swam out to fetch one of her thongs which had come off her foot in all the excitement. We'd had enough by them and got out just as the sun came out.
Went back to the guesthouse where I washed some clothes in the lake and packed up all my stuff. The girl who works there in the kitchen must have thought it was christmas as I doled out a heap of clothes, cups, hot water bottles and other miscellaneous goods that I didn't want anymore. Then N.G. found a packet of tampons and was trying to explain to kitchen girl what they were for. Kitchen girl thought initially that they might be candy. I don't think the diagrams clarified it and N.G.'s level of Chinese is so poor that I had to explain it to kitchen girl. The situations people put me in! Actually, the other day we were talking to my friend in Sichuan about the one child policy. He started laughing and told us that when contraception was first introduced in the area, doctors would demonstrate the method for putting on a condom using their thumb. Apparently more than one angry man went back to the doctor saying he'd worn it on his thumb during intercourse and she still got pregnant!
Friday night N.G. and I went down to Lige village and went along to the dancing. Went to Zhaxi's bar afterwards and sat there chatting with Zhaxi, a few other locals and a French tourist. The 26 year old French guy had been in the village for about 3 days and clearly had a thorough understanding of Mosuo culture. In the space of half an hour he managed to say that "Mosuo people are like children, they have no idea of responsibility" "The Mosuo dialect is probably very simple and unsophisticated" "English is a language without character" and "buying marijuana is very cheap in Dali, I smoke every day". By this point N.G. was so angry she was squeezing my hand under the table in frustration as he arrogantly tried to explain Mosuo culture to her.
We said goodbye to our friends there and went to another little cafe and joined some of the local boys for shaokao (mini barbecue with slices of potato, zucchini and chicken stomach). They made us drink shots of the local Guangdang alcohol (lethal stuff) and we chatted and joked for a while. On our way home to the guesthouse we squatted by the side of the dirt road for a pee under the stars. The lake looks beautiful by moonlight.
Saturday I jumped on a bus to Lijiang with my many bags. I am going to post a heap of stuff tomorrow. As soon as we got there I found a guy with a three wheel bicycle with a tray that I heaped my bags onto and trundled to my hotel. It was very hot again - already missing the lake, so I had a nice shower, got dressed up and went to 'Lamu's house of Tibet' for dinner, where I ordered a lasagne. Got talking to a group of Germans and a Malaysian woman there. All spoke English except for one German guy, all spoke German except for the Malaysian woman and myself, though I could understand a fair bit of the German conversation, and myself and the Malaysian woman could speak Chinese, and a couple of the Germans knew a bit, but not really well enough to converse. Quite a confusing conversation!!
Then I caught up with a few people who had been on the bus with me that day, and they were catching up with Zhaxi (from Zhaxi's bar in Lige) who had apparently come down here today as well. So we all went to a Mosuo cafe in the Little Paris area and drank shots of Dali beer and played dice and chatted. One of the guys was trying to teach the girls a game where everyone flaps their arms and says 'yiqi fei' or 'fly together', etc. The idea is that if you flap at the wrong time you have to drink a shot. I said I'd seen this game being played before in a pub and thought they were insane. (Imagine group of Chinese people chanting and flapping their arms in manner of chicken dance).
The girls asked me what games people from my culture play when they are drinking. I thought for a minute and tried to describe some board games and others like charades. Then I said we play cards and told them about strip poker- at which point they declared that we were the crazy ones!
This morning I slept late. Got some stuff to do today and tomorrow, then getting on a plane on Tuesday. I know I've whinged about this place at times, but there are places and people that I'm also really going to miss. I'm never good at goodbyes.
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
A week left
Just came back to the Sichuan side of the lake Monday morning. My Norwegian friend has come with me this time, which is quite fun. Meet up with my friend here in the evenings and interview him. Lovely warm sunny weather, getting quite a tan on my face and arms. Hoping to bring some of it back with me to Aus. A swim in the lake is starting to look very tempting... Things are going pretty smoothly, but it's keeping me busy. Not much to report right now.
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Back to Zhudi
Going back to Zhudi today to finish the last bit of translating with my friend there. Less than two weeks now till I'm home. It's going fast.
During the day yesterday I went into Yongning to try to post some stuff back to Australia. The postoffice there wasn't able to send things overseas. I mean, is it a post office or isn't it?
Last night was playing Darts in the courtyard with a Mosuo bloke. There is a dartboard affixed to a tree there. After a few practices I was getting better, and we decided to have kind of a competition to see who could get all 9 darts to hit the board. We kept getting 6, 7 or 8, and sometimes 3. He wanted to put some kind of bet on who would do it first. First it was to shout a drink, which I was willing enough to agree to. Then he decided to up the stakes to 'whoever wins has to do whatever the other one says'. After thinking briefly of daring him to jump in the lake, I declined. He kept saying "If I win, you have to obey me" to which I responded "no, I'm not obedient". He thought this was hilarious. Then decided to up the stakes further and say "if I win, you have to have walking marriage with me", which I didn't agree to either, but we kept on playing, and just before it got really dark, he managed to get all 9 darts to hit the dartboard. For the next half hour he kept going on "you have to have walking marriage with me, ha ha ha, where is your room". That got kind of boring. My female friend there (wife of Lance) thought it was quite funny though and said "I will call Sakata. I will tell him you having walking marriage!" (Sakata is how every one here refers to Scott) She said "he will be on the next plane" I said "yep, he probably will".
Got talking to a Dutch tourist later on last night. While we were chatting, a Chinese policeman kept coming up and drinking Guangdang alcohol (locally made spirits) with him and offering us yak meat and walnuts to eat. Every time he came up he'd tell us how happy he was to meet foreign friends, etc. He even offered the Dutch guy his police shirt to try on, but my Dutch friend politely declined.
So those were my funny experiences for the day. Hope you enjoyed.
During the day yesterday I went into Yongning to try to post some stuff back to Australia. The postoffice there wasn't able to send things overseas. I mean, is it a post office or isn't it?
Last night was playing Darts in the courtyard with a Mosuo bloke. There is a dartboard affixed to a tree there. After a few practices I was getting better, and we decided to have kind of a competition to see who could get all 9 darts to hit the board. We kept getting 6, 7 or 8, and sometimes 3. He wanted to put some kind of bet on who would do it first. First it was to shout a drink, which I was willing enough to agree to. Then he decided to up the stakes to 'whoever wins has to do whatever the other one says'. After thinking briefly of daring him to jump in the lake, I declined. He kept saying "If I win, you have to obey me" to which I responded "no, I'm not obedient". He thought this was hilarious. Then decided to up the stakes further and say "if I win, you have to have walking marriage with me", which I didn't agree to either, but we kept on playing, and just before it got really dark, he managed to get all 9 darts to hit the dartboard. For the next half hour he kept going on "you have to have walking marriage with me, ha ha ha, where is your room". That got kind of boring. My female friend there (wife of Lance) thought it was quite funny though and said "I will call Sakata. I will tell him you having walking marriage!" (Sakata is how every one here refers to Scott) She said "he will be on the next plane" I said "yep, he probably will".
Got talking to a Dutch tourist later on last night. While we were chatting, a Chinese policeman kept coming up and drinking Guangdang alcohol (locally made spirits) with him and offering us yak meat and walnuts to eat. Every time he came up he'd tell us how happy he was to meet foreign friends, etc. He even offered the Dutch guy his police shirt to try on, but my Dutch friend politely declined.
So those were my funny experiences for the day. Hope you enjoyed.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Stuff
Last night we worked for several more hours doing translating. Didn't actually get that much done, because we kept getting caught up in conversation. That was really interesting too, though, because he enjoys telling me all about Mosuo culture, as well as other things that are going on in the community and his ideas about things. I also record some of the stuff he says. Last night we covered everything from courtship to birth and funeral rituals, discussed language use by older vs younger generations, and upcoming changes in the education system. He teaches grade 2 so he knows all about this, whereas most people don't realise it is about to become compulsory to send children to middle school, and that people under 25 will soon be sent to evening classes if they've never been to school. The teachers will soon have to go out into the villages and survey each household to find out how many children are there, whether they are at school, etc.
During weekdays, I'm fairly free, as he doesn't come around till about 3.30pm- after school finishes. This morning I went around to the home of some people I had interviewed last time I was in town. They had asked for copies of some of the photos I took of the family. Brought them around. Only one woman was there. She looked at the photos, then sat me down in front of the tv while she brought out freshly toasted pumpkin seeds and tea. Haven't actually eaten pumpkin seeds before and find them a bit perplexing. They have little shells that are quite soft, so am not sure whether to shell them before eating in the manner of a sunflower seed or peanut, or whether shelling them is equivalent to peeling grapes- unnecessary, weird, time-consuming behaviour. I'll offer some to my friend this afternoon and watch how he eats them... I plan to offer him some anyway, because as I left she gave me a huge bag of them. I tried to refuse but was unsuccessful. Maybe I'll give them to him for his family. They're actually a bit boring to eat and I don't think I want to carry them back to the other side of the lake tomorrow.
Yes, my time in Sichuan is coming to a close. Though, had I realised this guy would be so good to work with, I might have come back here earlier. He is very patient and good at explaining things so I can understand. The only thing I hate is that he smokes a lot while we're working- in my motel room, so I leave the windows and doors open. Last night I told him that in Australia it is banned to smoke inside public places, because smoking is very bad for your health. He seemed quite surprised and said it was okay, he was used to it. So then I had to explain how he would feel fine now but that it would affect him when he was older. Looked up cancer in the dictionary, and remembered how to say heart disease. The anti-smoking message clearly hasn't even begun to penetrate here. I guess it's a revenue earner for the government.
As I was walking back from the lady's house this morning, I saw that a fire hydrant, which was set in a field, had been switched on and was pumping out water to irrigate the field. Just a little way in front of it, about four ducks were going completely nuts. Squawking and splashing in the water, like someone had created an amusement especially for them. It was sooo funny.
Two weeks to go now until I leave China. Can't believe six months is nearly up. It has gone pretty fast. Though slow at certain times- particularly when I was sick and weather was cold. At the moment the weather's gorgeous, sunny and mild. Mmm. Wonder if I will manage a swim in Lugu lake before I go. Then everyone can stare and point at the 'laowai' (foreigner) who is swimming in the lake. That will be fun for them.
During weekdays, I'm fairly free, as he doesn't come around till about 3.30pm- after school finishes. This morning I went around to the home of some people I had interviewed last time I was in town. They had asked for copies of some of the photos I took of the family. Brought them around. Only one woman was there. She looked at the photos, then sat me down in front of the tv while she brought out freshly toasted pumpkin seeds and tea. Haven't actually eaten pumpkin seeds before and find them a bit perplexing. They have little shells that are quite soft, so am not sure whether to shell them before eating in the manner of a sunflower seed or peanut, or whether shelling them is equivalent to peeling grapes- unnecessary, weird, time-consuming behaviour. I'll offer some to my friend this afternoon and watch how he eats them... I plan to offer him some anyway, because as I left she gave me a huge bag of them. I tried to refuse but was unsuccessful. Maybe I'll give them to him for his family. They're actually a bit boring to eat and I don't think I want to carry them back to the other side of the lake tomorrow.
Yes, my time in Sichuan is coming to a close. Though, had I realised this guy would be so good to work with, I might have come back here earlier. He is very patient and good at explaining things so I can understand. The only thing I hate is that he smokes a lot while we're working- in my motel room, so I leave the windows and doors open. Last night I told him that in Australia it is banned to smoke inside public places, because smoking is very bad for your health. He seemed quite surprised and said it was okay, he was used to it. So then I had to explain how he would feel fine now but that it would affect him when he was older. Looked up cancer in the dictionary, and remembered how to say heart disease. The anti-smoking message clearly hasn't even begun to penetrate here. I guess it's a revenue earner for the government.
As I was walking back from the lady's house this morning, I saw that a fire hydrant, which was set in a field, had been switched on and was pumping out water to irrigate the field. Just a little way in front of it, about four ducks were going completely nuts. Squawking and splashing in the water, like someone had created an amusement especially for them. It was sooo funny.
Two weeks to go now until I leave China. Can't believe six months is nearly up. It has gone pretty fast. Though slow at certain times- particularly when I was sick and weather was cold. At the moment the weather's gorgeous, sunny and mild. Mmm. Wonder if I will manage a swim in Lugu lake before I go. Then everyone can stare and point at the 'laowai' (foreigner) who is swimming in the lake. That will be fun for them.
Monday, May 16, 2005
Head spinning
We spent all weekend listening to recorded interviews and translating. Tiring.
Yesterday afternoon we went out and did the last few interviews that I'd missed the last time I was in Sichuan. I had to interview some kids so I left that to Sunday, when I could hopefully catch them out of school! Got all that done. Also interviewed an elderly lama. The lamas in Sichuan are different to the ones in Yunnan, I think they're red instead of yellow sect or something like that. The lamas here are allowed to have walking marriage and this one was telling me about his kids. I guess that explains why I received such vastly different answers to my curious questions about the role of the lamas in the community. The Yunnan lamas are supposed to be celibate and not drink or smoke I think, and the Sichuan ones don't have such strict rules. They still wear a pretty cool outfit though and do all the chanting, etc.
Still, am getting the work done! yay. Hope to be back in Yunnan tomorrow or day after, depending how tonight goes.
Slept in a bit, but still feel tired. Had all these vivid dreams about my Mum and Dad being in China and us all dying in a car crash, then another one with Mum and Dad coming here to visit, this time we were walking between different rural villages. Dad really liked it here because it reminded him of his childhood in Cornwall, eg. life was pretty simple, not many facilities, living in villages and farming little squares of land. It was weird cos I'd never pictured Dad being here. Not sure how he'd cope with chopsticks. Don't think he would have liked the Chinese cities either. Haven't dreamt about him in ages...
Yesterday afternoon we went out and did the last few interviews that I'd missed the last time I was in Sichuan. I had to interview some kids so I left that to Sunday, when I could hopefully catch them out of school! Got all that done. Also interviewed an elderly lama. The lamas in Sichuan are different to the ones in Yunnan, I think they're red instead of yellow sect or something like that. The lamas here are allowed to have walking marriage and this one was telling me about his kids. I guess that explains why I received such vastly different answers to my curious questions about the role of the lamas in the community. The Yunnan lamas are supposed to be celibate and not drink or smoke I think, and the Sichuan ones don't have such strict rules. They still wear a pretty cool outfit though and do all the chanting, etc.
Still, am getting the work done! yay. Hope to be back in Yunnan tomorrow or day after, depending how tonight goes.
Slept in a bit, but still feel tired. Had all these vivid dreams about my Mum and Dad being in China and us all dying in a car crash, then another one with Mum and Dad coming here to visit, this time we were walking between different rural villages. Dad really liked it here because it reminded him of his childhood in Cornwall, eg. life was pretty simple, not many facilities, living in villages and farming little squares of land. It was weird cos I'd never pictured Dad being here. Not sure how he'd cope with chopsticks. Don't think he would have liked the Chinese cities either. Haven't dreamt about him in ages...
Saturday, May 14, 2005
Sichuan feast
Last night, at 8pm I was pretty tired after 4 hours of translating and didn't really have any appetite, so just ran across the road to the cafe to pick up a light tea. Asked for three boiled eggs, with plans of peeling and eating them in front of the tv. So I said "Three boiled eggs please" A very easy phrase, which she didn't understand. Repeated several times. She showed me the meat in the fridge. Said "No, eggs" She understood eggs. Said boiled eggs. She looked confused. Said "cook in water, not soup" mimed peeling eggs. She nodded. I said "you understand" she said "yes." Waited for five minutes.
She came up with a large bowl. It had three eggs in it.. They had been fried, then boiled in water. Now they were floating in watery soup. Not really soup, just hot water. She offered me some sugar to sprinkle on them. Defeated, I sprinkled them with sugar and carried them back to my room. Picked them out of water with chopsticks, drip dried and ate. Then felt nauseous. Poured water / soup down sink. I have ordered and eaten boiled eggs heaps of times. What went wrong?????
She came up with a large bowl. It had three eggs in it.. They had been fried, then boiled in water. Now they were floating in watery soup. Not really soup, just hot water. She offered me some sugar to sprinkle on them. Defeated, I sprinkled them with sugar and carried them back to my room. Picked them out of water with chopsticks, drip dried and ate. Then felt nauseous. Poured water / soup down sink. I have ordered and eaten boiled eggs heaps of times. What went wrong?????
Friday, May 13, 2005
Translating and TV
Well, just staying in my motel in Zuosuo, and my friend comes over every afternoon and helps me translate interviews. It's an exciting existence!
I have got very into a tv series that comes on later in the evening though. It is Russian, about these army women in the second world war. Kind of a female band of brothers. The whole thing is dubbed in Chinese, so I understand most of whats going on, especially as the acting is good and there's lots going on. The women tease the male commander of their troop, go swimming in their underwear in ponds after marching through the swamp. And there's this whole sub story where the commander was falling in love with a local woman from the town when her husband who was supposed to have already died in the war, came home with one leg and found them together, (not doing anything, but talking, wearing their sleepwear). So he's obviously pretty pissed off with his wife. But now a couple of Germans (also speaking Chinese) have just been spotted in the area, so a group of five army women and their commander have gone to catch them. Unfortunately, I already know what is going to happen, because in the opening credits, you see all of these women being killed in various violent ways (some are shot, one blown up and another drowns when she is sucked into the swamp, while the commander looks horrified, desperate, miserable, etc.)
Hey, it's better than watching the Chinese karaoke performance programs.
I have got very into a tv series that comes on later in the evening though. It is Russian, about these army women in the second world war. Kind of a female band of brothers. The whole thing is dubbed in Chinese, so I understand most of whats going on, especially as the acting is good and there's lots going on. The women tease the male commander of their troop, go swimming in their underwear in ponds after marching through the swamp. And there's this whole sub story where the commander was falling in love with a local woman from the town when her husband who was supposed to have already died in the war, came home with one leg and found them together, (not doing anything, but talking, wearing their sleepwear). So he's obviously pretty pissed off with his wife. But now a couple of Germans (also speaking Chinese) have just been spotted in the area, so a group of five army women and their commander have gone to catch them. Unfortunately, I already know what is going to happen, because in the opening credits, you see all of these women being killed in various violent ways (some are shot, one blown up and another drowns when she is sucked into the swamp, while the commander looks horrified, desperate, miserable, etc.)
Hey, it's better than watching the Chinese karaoke performance programs.
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Sichuan
Well have managed to borrow (or rather hire!) a phone for the next three weeks until I am home. Yay- home in three weeks from today.
Yesterday morning hitch hiked across to Sichuan and yesterday afternoon met up with my friend who is (fortunately) happy to help me with my translations for three hours a day.
Nothing much interesting has been happening the last few days. Boring for blogging. Just trying to get my research finished before I go home. Staying in a motel here in Zuosuo where I stayed last time. Though fortunately am not sick as I was last time! But am certainly feeling that I'm ready to go home.
Yesterday morning hitch hiked across to Sichuan and yesterday afternoon met up with my friend who is (fortunately) happy to help me with my translations for three hours a day.
Nothing much interesting has been happening the last few days. Boring for blogging. Just trying to get my research finished before I go home. Staying in a motel here in Zuosuo where I stayed last time. Though fortunately am not sick as I was last time! But am certainly feeling that I'm ready to go home.
Sunday, May 08, 2005
quick note
Having dropped my phone in a bucket of water yesterday, I am currently not contactable. Hoping to have loan of a phone tonight- at which point I can continue on my journey. Sim card still works at least so my number will be the same!
Friday, May 06, 2005
Catch up
Oops, it's been a while.
Well, we did get to Kunming. Spent the afternoon checking out Green Lake park, saw lots of people singing, doing tai chi and performing plays.
On Friday we went to the stone forest, just outside Kunming, which was really beautiful. Escaped from the scary tour groups (It was sunny so all the women were carrying umbrellas to protect their pale complexions and nearly taking out our eyes in the process). We sat in a glade and read our books for an hour.
On Saturday they went back to Australia and I went back to Lijiang, then on to Lugu Lake on Sunday. This week I've been staying in Zhudi and working my butt off with my translator there to get my interviews translated.
Mum seems to have adjusted well to the news of my impending nuptuals, and has taken to calling my fiance to talk about flowers and gift registries. So nice, having it all done for me! Commented on the phone to Scott tonight, that when he finishes this semester he will be a 29 year old singleton, by the time he starts next semester he will be 30 and married. He didn't sound too enthused... Told me to stop rubbing it in. But he must be excited cos he keeps calling me up to talk about guest lists and venues.
signing off. Laura
Well, we did get to Kunming. Spent the afternoon checking out Green Lake park, saw lots of people singing, doing tai chi and performing plays.
On Friday we went to the stone forest, just outside Kunming, which was really beautiful. Escaped from the scary tour groups (It was sunny so all the women were carrying umbrellas to protect their pale complexions and nearly taking out our eyes in the process). We sat in a glade and read our books for an hour.
On Saturday they went back to Australia and I went back to Lijiang, then on to Lugu Lake on Sunday. This week I've been staying in Zhudi and working my butt off with my translator there to get my interviews translated.
Mum seems to have adjusted well to the news of my impending nuptuals, and has taken to calling my fiance to talk about flowers and gift registries. So nice, having it all done for me! Commented on the phone to Scott tonight, that when he finishes this semester he will be a 29 year old singleton, by the time he starts next semester he will be 30 and married. He didn't sound too enthused... Told me to stop rubbing it in. But he must be excited cos he keeps calling me up to talk about guest lists and venues.
signing off. Laura
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Out with the girls
Wednesday evening we were heading out to a friend's house for tea, when we noticed about half a dozen cows inside a tent by the side of the road, where some road workers sleep. The road workers were nowhere to be seen and the cows were happily munching away at their food supplies and straw mattresses. At first we were laughing, but then realised it would probably not be quite as funny to the roadworkers. So Mum found a big stick and ran around chasing the cows and shouting until they all ran off down the hill.
Made our way to the friends house and sat while they slaughtered a chicken and some fish and then prepared them in our honour. At dinner we were treated to a few glasses of "Mother's" home made rice wine. Mum's glass was refilled a few times and then we set off home before it got dark. As we passed the road worker's tent, we saw that one man had come back and was sitting out the front of the tent cooking his dinner. Mum was about 50 metres ahead of Connie and I, and decided she wanted to convey to the man what had happened. Much to his astonishment, she walked up to him and began doing a cow impersonation, before grabbing a stick and running around waving it. The cigarette nearly fell out of the side of his mouth. He looked so astonished at this mad, blonde, Western woman who was holding her fingers to her head like horns and making mooing noises. I must remember to give Mum rice wine next time I want her to play charades. I got there and explained to the man what had happened, at which point he nodded and thanked mum (Connie was still doubled over with laughter). After a few more beers in the village, Mum skipped home singing Mosuo songs.
Friday we went back into Yongning to see a few more friends- Mum and Connie bought matching stripy hats. Caught a taxi to Luoshui, where we went for a boat ride out to the island- Gorgeous weather. That evening we went and had Mosuo bbq, cooking little strips of meat, potato, capsicum, fish and tofu.
Saturday it was back onto the bus to Lijiang. First we caught a minibus to Ninglang. Maniac driver. From there we changed buses and arrived in Lijiang at around 4.30pm. In the evening we went to Prague cafe and watched a dvd on the couch.
Sunday we caught up on a lot of shopping. Exhausting. In the afternoon we finished off the last of the cheese from Australia along with a couple of bottles of Dali beer on the balcony and in the evening went out to a restaurant on the square for some cold and stodgy noodles. Didn't think there were any Chinese people who didn't know how to make fried noodles.
Monday morning it was an early start. Packed small packs and jumped on a public bus to Qiaotou, from there a taxi into Tiger Leaping Gorge. Got to our guesthouse in Walnut grove, got rooms and ordered lunch, planning to begin a long hike into the middle gorge after lunch. Just as we finished lunch, two drops of rain fell so we went inside to have a nap till the rain finished. Woke at 5.30pm- oops. Went for a little walk around the area and had a pleasant evening talking to some guests.
Tuesday morning- another early start- but this time to go for our hike. A guy called Ron, whom we'd met the night before, decided to join us, so we set off around 8.30 with a guide we had hired. He was very friendly and patient and told me lots of stories which I translated for the others. I was a bit worried about my ankle- still a bit sore- and had to take it very slowly. The walk was difficult and steep, but spectacular. Fantastic experience. It was four very tired hikers who emerged from the gorge four hours later. The guy was still running around- and was planning to take someone else down later that afternoon!
In the afternoon we had a very relaxing lunch at Seans guesthouse. Then caught a taxi back to Lijiang. I got some take away pizza which we munched in our rooms before collapsing on our beds.
This is our last day in Lijiang. Tomorrow- on to Kunming.
Thanks to everyone who has sent their congratulations. Jesse- I don't actually have your email address, would you be able to send it? Brooke- any chance you can get down to Melbourne in July?
Made our way to the friends house and sat while they slaughtered a chicken and some fish and then prepared them in our honour. At dinner we were treated to a few glasses of "Mother's" home made rice wine. Mum's glass was refilled a few times and then we set off home before it got dark. As we passed the road worker's tent, we saw that one man had come back and was sitting out the front of the tent cooking his dinner. Mum was about 50 metres ahead of Connie and I, and decided she wanted to convey to the man what had happened. Much to his astonishment, she walked up to him and began doing a cow impersonation, before grabbing a stick and running around waving it. The cigarette nearly fell out of the side of his mouth. He looked so astonished at this mad, blonde, Western woman who was holding her fingers to her head like horns and making mooing noises. I must remember to give Mum rice wine next time I want her to play charades. I got there and explained to the man what had happened, at which point he nodded and thanked mum (Connie was still doubled over with laughter). After a few more beers in the village, Mum skipped home singing Mosuo songs.
Friday we went back into Yongning to see a few more friends- Mum and Connie bought matching stripy hats. Caught a taxi to Luoshui, where we went for a boat ride out to the island- Gorgeous weather. That evening we went and had Mosuo bbq, cooking little strips of meat, potato, capsicum, fish and tofu.
Saturday it was back onto the bus to Lijiang. First we caught a minibus to Ninglang. Maniac driver. From there we changed buses and arrived in Lijiang at around 4.30pm. In the evening we went to Prague cafe and watched a dvd on the couch.
Sunday we caught up on a lot of shopping. Exhausting. In the afternoon we finished off the last of the cheese from Australia along with a couple of bottles of Dali beer on the balcony and in the evening went out to a restaurant on the square for some cold and stodgy noodles. Didn't think there were any Chinese people who didn't know how to make fried noodles.
Monday morning it was an early start. Packed small packs and jumped on a public bus to Qiaotou, from there a taxi into Tiger Leaping Gorge. Got to our guesthouse in Walnut grove, got rooms and ordered lunch, planning to begin a long hike into the middle gorge after lunch. Just as we finished lunch, two drops of rain fell so we went inside to have a nap till the rain finished. Woke at 5.30pm- oops. Went for a little walk around the area and had a pleasant evening talking to some guests.
Tuesday morning- another early start- but this time to go for our hike. A guy called Ron, whom we'd met the night before, decided to join us, so we set off around 8.30 with a guide we had hired. He was very friendly and patient and told me lots of stories which I translated for the others. I was a bit worried about my ankle- still a bit sore- and had to take it very slowly. The walk was difficult and steep, but spectacular. Fantastic experience. It was four very tired hikers who emerged from the gorge four hours later. The guy was still running around- and was planning to take someone else down later that afternoon!
In the afternoon we had a very relaxing lunch at Seans guesthouse. Then caught a taxi back to Lijiang. I got some take away pizza which we munched in our rooms before collapsing on our beds.
This is our last day in Lijiang. Tomorrow- on to Kunming.
Thanks to everyone who has sent their congratulations. Jesse- I don't actually have your email address, would you be able to send it? Brooke- any chance you can get down to Melbourne in July?
Thursday, April 21, 2005
Ma and Yima (Mother and Mother one / Aunty)
Well, Mum and Aunty Connie arrived at Lijiang airport on Saturday night. We got a taxi into town and dumped all their stuff in our room, before going for a walk around old town. They were very excited to experience their first evening in China, and we strolled through the crowded streets while they poked their heads into souvenir shops and took photos and talked and giggled a lot. Then we sat down in a little restaurant called Hakuna Matata for some Chinese food and I told her my news. Scott was down in Mordialloc the same night telling his mother the same news. That was quite exciting.
Sunday morning we took the wine and cheese that I had talked mum into carrying on the plane, and went down to Black Dragon Park. Wandered around for a bit - Mum paid five yuan and got to hold a monkey in her hand while we took a photo. Then we hired a little rowboat, rowed out to a pagoda in the middle of the lake there, tied up and sat down and enjoyed our wine and cheese.
Monday we did a bit more shopping (can't keep them out of the shops) and then climbed up the hill in old town to visit a large tower on top. Walked around there a bit and relaxed and enjoyed the spectacular view over Lijiang. In the evening Mum and Connie got dressed up and went out to the Naxi orchestra. More shopping (especially window shopping) before and after- Mum's quote for the day: "I like a bit of sensuality in statues".
Tuesday, we had an early start, packed our bags, bought some mantou (steamed buns) and then jumped on a bus up to Lugu lake. That was an interesting experience for them and they spent a lot of time trying to take photos out the window of plunging gorges, rustic villages and cows, goats and pigs crossing the road in front of us. The squat toilets with metre high barriers and no doors were quite a talking point. I think they were a little nervous on some of the single-lane, hairpin-bend, unmade-road, oncoming-truck sections. Can't imagine why.
I think the view of the lake made up for it though. In the evening we went to watch (and join in) some Mosuo dancing in the village of Lige. Aunty Connie met a handsome young Mosuo man called Erche and suddenly started asking lots of questions about walking marriage...
Wednesday we went to Zhudi, where I have spent quite a bit of time. Joined the family for lunch. They were very warm and friendly. We took lots of photos and the mother took Mum and Connie out into the barn to feed the pigs. They had a little of her homemade rice wine to drink too! Had to take Mum and Connie out into the backyard to have a pee. Mum was heard to say "I never thought I'd see the day when I'd look forward to a squat toilet". As you can see, they are adapting very quickly.
In the afternoon we went into Yongning so I could introduce them to my latest conquest: the lama at the monastery. Then, visited another friend and wandered through the markets. Went back to the guesthouse for dinner and a Dali beer.
This morning my Norwegian friend talked me into getting up at 5.30am and climbing a mountain so we could go to a village to see another Mosuo funeral. Similar to last time, except they also gave us lollies. Were home by 8.45 and starving (poor foot was aching). Had a relaxing day sitting around the courtyard and chatting. Just had noodles and a beer for lunch. They are bargaining for handmade scarves and we are going out to tea tonight with friends.
Sunday morning we took the wine and cheese that I had talked mum into carrying on the plane, and went down to Black Dragon Park. Wandered around for a bit - Mum paid five yuan and got to hold a monkey in her hand while we took a photo. Then we hired a little rowboat, rowed out to a pagoda in the middle of the lake there, tied up and sat down and enjoyed our wine and cheese.
Monday we did a bit more shopping (can't keep them out of the shops) and then climbed up the hill in old town to visit a large tower on top. Walked around there a bit and relaxed and enjoyed the spectacular view over Lijiang. In the evening Mum and Connie got dressed up and went out to the Naxi orchestra. More shopping (especially window shopping) before and after- Mum's quote for the day: "I like a bit of sensuality in statues".
Tuesday, we had an early start, packed our bags, bought some mantou (steamed buns) and then jumped on a bus up to Lugu lake. That was an interesting experience for them and they spent a lot of time trying to take photos out the window of plunging gorges, rustic villages and cows, goats and pigs crossing the road in front of us. The squat toilets with metre high barriers and no doors were quite a talking point. I think they were a little nervous on some of the single-lane, hairpin-bend, unmade-road, oncoming-truck sections. Can't imagine why.
I think the view of the lake made up for it though. In the evening we went to watch (and join in) some Mosuo dancing in the village of Lige. Aunty Connie met a handsome young Mosuo man called Erche and suddenly started asking lots of questions about walking marriage...
Wednesday we went to Zhudi, where I have spent quite a bit of time. Joined the family for lunch. They were very warm and friendly. We took lots of photos and the mother took Mum and Connie out into the barn to feed the pigs. They had a little of her homemade rice wine to drink too! Had to take Mum and Connie out into the backyard to have a pee. Mum was heard to say "I never thought I'd see the day when I'd look forward to a squat toilet". As you can see, they are adapting very quickly.
In the afternoon we went into Yongning so I could introduce them to my latest conquest: the lama at the monastery. Then, visited another friend and wandered through the markets. Went back to the guesthouse for dinner and a Dali beer.
This morning my Norwegian friend talked me into getting up at 5.30am and climbing a mountain so we could go to a village to see another Mosuo funeral. Similar to last time, except they also gave us lollies. Were home by 8.45 and starving (poor foot was aching). Had a relaxing day sitting around the courtyard and chatting. Just had noodles and a beer for lunch. They are bargaining for handmade scarves and we are going out to tea tonight with friends.
Saturday, April 16, 2005
Important Announcement.
As you have all been following my life via the blog in the last few months I don't see how this should be any different. But for once I'm going to take a back seat and let Scott post on my blog. Well, I'm going to copy one of his recent emails to me into this blog anyway...
Yep, we're engaged. So if you happen to be a close friend or family member you had better put our names down in your diary for the 9th of July. This year. Having finally decided that we wanted to get married, we also decided we couldn't wait. There won't be an engagement party (won't be time). The church, reception and honeymoon are booked. (We've actually been planning this since February.) Now Scott just has to get around to proposing.... properly. He has been very wonderful doing lots of running around and booking things, while I sit here in China and email him "don't forget to..." etc.
We are quite possibly insane, as we will have a bare month after I get back to do a lot of shopping. Now I would like to receive lots of comments telling me your response to this blog and online proposal.
G'day again Sweetness
Just realised something with all this talk of
weddings.
Will you marry me? Are you willing to share the rest of your
life with me?
I think asking by email is the only method I had not tried
yet. I have done it in person, in bed, on a plane, in a car, over the phone and in a letter.Just thought I would get that out of the way. Now that I have tried all of these different methods. I can start drafting a proper proposal.
Feeling relatively sure you will answer in the positive and this is not an elaborate hoax to keep me occupied.
Miss you
Love you
Come home soon
Scott the fiancee
Yep, we're engaged. So if you happen to be a close friend or family member you had better put our names down in your diary for the 9th of July. This year. Having finally decided that we wanted to get married, we also decided we couldn't wait. There won't be an engagement party (won't be time). The church, reception and honeymoon are booked. (We've actually been planning this since February.) Now Scott just has to get around to proposing.... properly. He has been very wonderful doing lots of running around and booking things, while I sit here in China and email him "don't forget to..." etc.
We are quite possibly insane, as we will have a bare month after I get back to do a lot of shopping. Now I would like to receive lots of comments telling me your response to this blog and online proposal.
Scott,'Engagement blog' decorations courtesy of Danielle McCredden, blog administrator extraordinaire.
I love you.
Thanks for doing so much work
and for being such a wonderful support while I've been here in China. See you in
six weeks!
love Laura xxx
Friday, April 15, 2005
swept off my feet
I've had a strangely eventful- and at the same time uneventful, week. Monday I went back to my village, as planned, did some interviews that evening and was then invited to join the family planting rice the next day.
I was quite excited about becoming an honorary peasant, not to mention doing something physical. And it wouldn't be the first time I've done farm work. Then next morning we set off through the village, me with a basket on my back and a couple of hoes slung over my shoulder. We got to the fields, to one side of the village and I stepped on a piece of very slightly uneven dirt.... and my ankle gave way and I lay sprawled inelegantly in the dirt under my basket and hoes. Not the first time I've sprained my ankle, hence ankle is weak and sometimes gets sprained for no apparent reason.
I sat in the dirt for a while, hoping it would get better, while occasionally a local (the whole village saw me topple into the dirt) would come around and look at my ankle and then try to rotate it vigorously... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH.
I sat around for about an hour, and it didn't improve so I hobbled back to the house. There 'mum' applied some oily stuff from an eyedropper to my ankle, rotated it again and made me sit with it in the sun. They all thought I was very strange to be asking for ice, especially as no one in the village has a fridge.
In the evening they offered to get the doctor for me. I asked if he had ice. "No, but he will give you an injection (I assume to remove the swelling). I vehemently declined. I then had another problem to consider. I was sleeping in a room on the first floor (which was becoming increasingly difficult to navigate to), not to mention that I would at some point need to climb the mountain out the back to go to the toilet (you can use the backyard for a wee, but not...) and climbing the mountain was no longer in the range of possibility.
One of my brothers there offered to get me ice from Lige- as he has a motorbike which is very convenient, as he likes to mention frequently. I convinced him to put me on the back of the motorbike instead and take me back to Lige, where I could take a nice ground floor room and hobble out the back to the toilet as well as get regular ice. He drove me back very slowly and carefully, avoiding all the bumps (and there are many). Thanks Erche!
Spent the last few days convalescing and applying ice and smelly oil to my big puffy foot. Got the bus to Lijiang today and find myself able to walk quite well. Just a little swelling still. My mum and Aunty will be arriving tomorrow. Looking forward to that.
On the bus was a cardboard box with three chooks in it. They kept sticking their heads out of the box and escaping. I took a couple of photos. That kept me amused for a while.
I was quite excited about becoming an honorary peasant, not to mention doing something physical. And it wouldn't be the first time I've done farm work. Then next morning we set off through the village, me with a basket on my back and a couple of hoes slung over my shoulder. We got to the fields, to one side of the village and I stepped on a piece of very slightly uneven dirt.... and my ankle gave way and I lay sprawled inelegantly in the dirt under my basket and hoes. Not the first time I've sprained my ankle, hence ankle is weak and sometimes gets sprained for no apparent reason.
I sat in the dirt for a while, hoping it would get better, while occasionally a local (the whole village saw me topple into the dirt) would come around and look at my ankle and then try to rotate it vigorously... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH.
I sat around for about an hour, and it didn't improve so I hobbled back to the house. There 'mum' applied some oily stuff from an eyedropper to my ankle, rotated it again and made me sit with it in the sun. They all thought I was very strange to be asking for ice, especially as no one in the village has a fridge.
In the evening they offered to get the doctor for me. I asked if he had ice. "No, but he will give you an injection (I assume to remove the swelling). I vehemently declined. I then had another problem to consider. I was sleeping in a room on the first floor (which was becoming increasingly difficult to navigate to), not to mention that I would at some point need to climb the mountain out the back to go to the toilet (you can use the backyard for a wee, but not...) and climbing the mountain was no longer in the range of possibility.
One of my brothers there offered to get me ice from Lige- as he has a motorbike which is very convenient, as he likes to mention frequently. I convinced him to put me on the back of the motorbike instead and take me back to Lige, where I could take a nice ground floor room and hobble out the back to the toilet as well as get regular ice. He drove me back very slowly and carefully, avoiding all the bumps (and there are many). Thanks Erche!
Spent the last few days convalescing and applying ice and smelly oil to my big puffy foot. Got the bus to Lijiang today and find myself able to walk quite well. Just a little swelling still. My mum and Aunty will be arriving tomorrow. Looking forward to that.
On the bus was a cardboard box with three chooks in it. They kept sticking their heads out of the box and escaping. I took a couple of photos. That kept me amused for a while.
Monday, April 11, 2005
return to the village
Just a quick note to let you all know I'm going back to my old village of Zhudi for a couple of days. Expect to be back in Yongning by Thursday, and will leave from there on Friday to go to Lijiang. My Mum and my Aunty will be arriving on Saturday night in Lijiang, when we will all have a couple of weeks holiday, before I head into the slog of the final month (primarily translating!)
Sunday, April 10, 2005
Adventures with Lamas
On Friday I went down to the local lamasery to try to interview one of the buddhist lamas I've met there a couple of times. He was sitting outside a cafe nearby, in his long red robes, drinking a pepsi while his pet goat frolicked nearby. We walked into the lamasery, but then a group of tourists came so he had to show them around.
He took me to his room where I could do the interview without interruption. No problem. Interview complete, we chatted for a while. He was curious as to whether I had a boyfriend and whether I had had a walking marriage since I'd been here. He told me he was 38 and had always been celibate, stringently denying that lamas in this area had walking marriages (a rumour I've heard from various sources).
Changing the topic, he told me I was too tall and that my thighs were too fat (pulling a disgusted face). I was more surprised than offended. I'm quite accustomed to being considered tall and fat here. Then he said he had something to give me and showed me to another room where he put a white translucent scarf around my neck.
I was thanking him and he started to give me a hug. I thought, wow, that's really very friendly behaviour from a lama. Then he tried to kiss me and squeeze my bum. This was distinctly unwelcome (not to mention unlamalike) behaviour and I pulled away shaking my head, too surprised to say much. We said goodbye and I walked off.
Felt somewhat confused that a supposedly celibate lama chose the day of my visit to experiment with women, and more particularly, that he thought that telling me I have fat thighs was a good way to seduce me! Very odd day.
He took me to his room where I could do the interview without interruption. No problem. Interview complete, we chatted for a while. He was curious as to whether I had a boyfriend and whether I had had a walking marriage since I'd been here. He told me he was 38 and had always been celibate, stringently denying that lamas in this area had walking marriages (a rumour I've heard from various sources).
Changing the topic, he told me I was too tall and that my thighs were too fat (pulling a disgusted face). I was more surprised than offended. I'm quite accustomed to being considered tall and fat here. Then he said he had something to give me and showed me to another room where he put a white translucent scarf around my neck.
I was thanking him and he started to give me a hug. I thought, wow, that's really very friendly behaviour from a lama. Then he tried to kiss me and squeeze my bum. This was distinctly unwelcome (not to mention unlamalike) behaviour and I pulled away shaking my head, too surprised to say much. We said goodbye and I walked off.
Felt somewhat confused that a supposedly celibate lama chose the day of my visit to experiment with women, and more particularly, that he thought that telling me I have fat thighs was a good way to seduce me! Very odd day.
Thursday, April 07, 2005
For next time you're feeling overworked and sorry for yourself...
I've been spending a lot of time in the last few days at the middle school (equivalent to the first three years of high school). Interviewed some teachers and the principal, assisted in an English class, etc. One of the things I did was to make a copy of the student's timetable, which I will reproduce here.
6.30am Get up
6.40-7.00 Morning exercise
7.00-7.20 Breakfast
7.20-8.00 Supervised reading
8.10-8.55 1st period
9.05-9.50 2nd period
9.50-10.20 Eye exercises and physical exercises or dancing
10.20-11.05 3rd period
11.15-12.00 4th period
12.00-1.00 Lunch break
1.00- 1.40 Supervised sleep / rest in classrooms
1.50- Prepare
2.00-2.45 5th period
2.55-3.40 6th period
3.50-4.35 7th period
4.45-5.30 8th period
5.30 Dinner
6.30-7.15 Supervised reading
7.25-7.35 Assembly
7.35-8.25 1st evening period
8.35-9.20 2nd evening period
9.30-10.20 3rd evening period
10.30 Sleep
Only the students in their 3rd year of high school attend the last period from 9.30 - 10.20, the 1st and 2nd years finish at 9.20. Apart from that, everyone attends every class, there are no free periods. Most students don't live on campus and will have breakfast, lunch and dinner at home, in between classes. The students are usually aged between 12 and 16. They have very little time to play- oh did I mention that this timetable applies 7 days a week... Every so often they have Sunday off and if their family lives in another village they can go home Saturday night and come back Sunday afternoon (as long as they don't live too far away and their family can afford the fare).
I actually think it is quite a good school and in terms of its schedule is probably no different to most middle schools across China. But for the kids it is a pretty gruelling lifestyle.
So next time you're feeling overworked and sorry for yourself...
6.30am Get up
6.40-7.00 Morning exercise
7.00-7.20 Breakfast
7.20-8.00 Supervised reading
8.10-8.55 1st period
9.05-9.50 2nd period
9.50-10.20 Eye exercises and physical exercises or dancing
10.20-11.05 3rd period
11.15-12.00 4th period
12.00-1.00 Lunch break
1.00- 1.40 Supervised sleep / rest in classrooms
1.50- Prepare
2.00-2.45 5th period
2.55-3.40 6th period
3.50-4.35 7th period
4.45-5.30 8th period
5.30 Dinner
6.30-7.15 Supervised reading
7.25-7.35 Assembly
7.35-8.25 1st evening period
8.35-9.20 2nd evening period
9.30-10.20 3rd evening period
10.30 Sleep
Only the students in their 3rd year of high school attend the last period from 9.30 - 10.20, the 1st and 2nd years finish at 9.20. Apart from that, everyone attends every class, there are no free periods. Most students don't live on campus and will have breakfast, lunch and dinner at home, in between classes. The students are usually aged between 12 and 16. They have very little time to play- oh did I mention that this timetable applies 7 days a week... Every so often they have Sunday off and if their family lives in another village they can go home Saturday night and come back Sunday afternoon (as long as they don't live too far away and their family can afford the fare).
I actually think it is quite a good school and in terms of its schedule is probably no different to most middle schools across China. But for the kids it is a pretty gruelling lifestyle.
So next time you're feeling overworked and sorry for yourself...
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
life around Yongning
Well I'm back living in the English teacher's house for a few days. The chickens seem to have calmed down and haven't been trying to escape but there is a new complication. A brand new little yellowish puppy who is very friendly and bouncy and instead keeps trying to escape into the chicken's pen every time I have to go to the toilet!
It has been lovely sunny weather today and yesterday, so I handwashed clothes yesterday, and my hair in a tub in the courtyard this morning.
Keeping busy. Not much to report.
Oh there was some excitement in town a couple of days ago. I was sitting in a cafe slurping my noodles when the person standing in the doorway said excitedly 'There's a black person walking down the street?' I said 'What?' She said 'A black man, a black, black man'. The 'black, black man' had gone by the time I left the cafe, but I think I saw him later, on the back of a truck with a heap of Yi people (a local minority) heading out of town. I thought this was a little strange as usually I am the only foreigner who occasionally travels on the back of a truck around here.
The lady who just wears plastic bags and hessian sacks is still around and has apparently survived the winter. She seems to have acquired a pair of socks in the last few days though.
I went to this foul smelling place yesterday, kind of a warehouse where they had these corn kernels spread out on an enormous table with high sides and they were kind of cooking them. The girl I was with bought a huge basketfull which she carried home on her back. They were very hot, so she didn't enjoy the walk home much. I was kind of mystified as to why she was buying it until she heaved the whole basket into the tub where the chickens feed.
It has been lovely sunny weather today and yesterday, so I handwashed clothes yesterday, and my hair in a tub in the courtyard this morning.
Keeping busy. Not much to report.
Oh there was some excitement in town a couple of days ago. I was sitting in a cafe slurping my noodles when the person standing in the doorway said excitedly 'There's a black person walking down the street?' I said 'What?' She said 'A black man, a black, black man'. The 'black, black man' had gone by the time I left the cafe, but I think I saw him later, on the back of a truck with a heap of Yi people (a local minority) heading out of town. I thought this was a little strange as usually I am the only foreigner who occasionally travels on the back of a truck around here.
The lady who just wears plastic bags and hessian sacks is still around and has apparently survived the winter. She seems to have acquired a pair of socks in the last few days though.
I went to this foul smelling place yesterday, kind of a warehouse where they had these corn kernels spread out on an enormous table with high sides and they were kind of cooking them. The girl I was with bought a huge basketfull which she carried home on her back. They were very hot, so she didn't enjoy the walk home much. I was kind of mystified as to why she was buying it until she heaved the whole basket into the tub where the chickens feed.
Sunday, April 03, 2005
Yongning
Back in Yongning at the English teacher's home. Nice to see them again. I don't actually have a lot to write today except that this morning I discovered a new way of washing potatoes. Put a heap of potatoes in a cane basket (like the kind people use in Australia for putting all their shoes in or their dirty washing); grip the basket tightly by the top edge and submerge in the stream and allow it to fill with water through the holes in the basket. Then as you lift it up and the water streams out, shake it rapidly to clean potatoes.
I hope I have enriched your life and helped to make food preparation just that little bit easier.
I hope I have enriched your life and helped to make food preparation just that little bit easier.
Friday, April 01, 2005
Cultural experiences
I've had an interesting couple of days. I was about to go to Yongning two days ago, when Lance told me there was an American coming who was a friend of a friend and couldn't speak Chinese and could I hang around a bit longer... I said 'sure' and a few hours later the 'friend' showed up- except that he was actually English.
We got talking and it turns out he is here because he's interested in making a kind of radio documentary about the Mosuo. Like myself, he was also interested in researching and writing a book about Mosuo people and culture. So after some discussion we decided that we might like to write the book together. This would be separate from my thesis, just another project I'd been thinking about.
Yesterday, we decided we wanted to go out to a village to do some recording together and got Lance to take us. We were just leaving when he found out that someone had died in a nearby village and asked whether we would like to go to the funeral. We were very interested as the funeral is the major event in the lives of Mosuo people. It is about the most important ceremony they have.
We drove to the village and went to the family home. The family was receiving guests- lots of them. We gave a small gift and sat in the living area. A shrine with candles and decorations was all set up there. Upstairs there is a 'buddhist' room with lots of decoration, and yesterday it was full of lamas, who chant constantly for a full day (24 hrs) prior to cremation. We watched them chanting and then were served a huge meal downstairs in the courtyard along with the other guests. As we were leaving, the people from the house next door invited us in, so we had to go in and have lunch again! When someone dies here, the whole village participates in the affair.
Then we went to see the lamasery in Yongning and then back to Lige.
This morning we were up at 6am, because we were going to see the cremation which is the high point of the whole process. Drove back to the village and got there around 7am. We saw people standing outside of their front doors burning little bundles of pine leaves on the pavement. Within minutes of arriving, we heard fire crackers and the procession started to pass. First came men carrying long pine branches, men banging drums, a man carrying a stick that was on fire and then men carrying a box containing the body. I'm not sure how it fit in the box as it was kind of square and didn't look nearly long enough. It was highly decorated though. That was followed by the women who all wailed loudly as they ran along behind.
We followed at the end of the line and power-walked out of the village and up the hill. On the hill were two rows of lamas in full ceremonial garb and a high pile of logs, stacked and criss-crossed neatly to make a square platform that rose off the ground (I think I've described this poorly). If you can imagine a square log cabin where the logs intersect and overlap at the corners, and then imagine it was about a metre square, then that might make more sense. The coffin was already on top of the logs, the monks were still chanting (presumably since yesterday morning) and many people were kowtowing. The women were still wailing, but it became possible to identify who were the close family members of the deceased woman. Several young women were prostrate and wailing near the front. Other women gathered around them and began to undo the plaits in their hair and others held their arms.
It was in striking contrast to a Western funeral. No-one except the monks was dressed up, and many people were kowtowing or kneeling in the dust.
One of the young women actually passed out or fainted. Suddenly everyone was gathered around her and one of the older men kept yelling her name. When she came to, a couple of people helped her to her feet and led her back to the village.
The monks started chanting louder and then they used the large sticks that were already ablaze to set fire to the bottom of the platform. Some people scattered what looked like milk and lumps of bread or rice cake around the pyre. As soon as the fire was started everyone began to walk back to the village. Only the monks stayed and continued there chanting as more fire crackers went off.
It was an amazing experience. We were back at the motel by 8.30am and well and truly ready for breakfast. I'm honestly not sure what they thought of two Westerners observing the funeral. Still, it was Lance (a Mosuo man) who had suggested we go, and nobody seemed to pay much attention to us so I don't think it was too big an intrusion. We stood quietly towards the back and tried to melt into the scenery as much as possible! I felt a bit uncomfortable being present at what is (at least for the family members) very personal, but I'm glad I didn't miss it.
My English friend has gone walking around the lake now and I won't get to see him again this trip, but we will keep in contact and hopefully something will come of this book.
We got talking and it turns out he is here because he's interested in making a kind of radio documentary about the Mosuo. Like myself, he was also interested in researching and writing a book about Mosuo people and culture. So after some discussion we decided that we might like to write the book together. This would be separate from my thesis, just another project I'd been thinking about.
Yesterday, we decided we wanted to go out to a village to do some recording together and got Lance to take us. We were just leaving when he found out that someone had died in a nearby village and asked whether we would like to go to the funeral. We were very interested as the funeral is the major event in the lives of Mosuo people. It is about the most important ceremony they have.
We drove to the village and went to the family home. The family was receiving guests- lots of them. We gave a small gift and sat in the living area. A shrine with candles and decorations was all set up there. Upstairs there is a 'buddhist' room with lots of decoration, and yesterday it was full of lamas, who chant constantly for a full day (24 hrs) prior to cremation. We watched them chanting and then were served a huge meal downstairs in the courtyard along with the other guests. As we were leaving, the people from the house next door invited us in, so we had to go in and have lunch again! When someone dies here, the whole village participates in the affair.
Then we went to see the lamasery in Yongning and then back to Lige.
This morning we were up at 6am, because we were going to see the cremation which is the high point of the whole process. Drove back to the village and got there around 7am. We saw people standing outside of their front doors burning little bundles of pine leaves on the pavement. Within minutes of arriving, we heard fire crackers and the procession started to pass. First came men carrying long pine branches, men banging drums, a man carrying a stick that was on fire and then men carrying a box containing the body. I'm not sure how it fit in the box as it was kind of square and didn't look nearly long enough. It was highly decorated though. That was followed by the women who all wailed loudly as they ran along behind.
We followed at the end of the line and power-walked out of the village and up the hill. On the hill were two rows of lamas in full ceremonial garb and a high pile of logs, stacked and criss-crossed neatly to make a square platform that rose off the ground (I think I've described this poorly). If you can imagine a square log cabin where the logs intersect and overlap at the corners, and then imagine it was about a metre square, then that might make more sense. The coffin was already on top of the logs, the monks were still chanting (presumably since yesterday morning) and many people were kowtowing. The women were still wailing, but it became possible to identify who were the close family members of the deceased woman. Several young women were prostrate and wailing near the front. Other women gathered around them and began to undo the plaits in their hair and others held their arms.
It was in striking contrast to a Western funeral. No-one except the monks was dressed up, and many people were kowtowing or kneeling in the dust.
One of the young women actually passed out or fainted. Suddenly everyone was gathered around her and one of the older men kept yelling her name. When she came to, a couple of people helped her to her feet and led her back to the village.
The monks started chanting louder and then they used the large sticks that were already ablaze to set fire to the bottom of the platform. Some people scattered what looked like milk and lumps of bread or rice cake around the pyre. As soon as the fire was started everyone began to walk back to the village. Only the monks stayed and continued there chanting as more fire crackers went off.
It was an amazing experience. We were back at the motel by 8.30am and well and truly ready for breakfast. I'm honestly not sure what they thought of two Westerners observing the funeral. Still, it was Lance (a Mosuo man) who had suggested we go, and nobody seemed to pay much attention to us so I don't think it was too big an intrusion. We stood quietly towards the back and tried to melt into the scenery as much as possible! I felt a bit uncomfortable being present at what is (at least for the family members) very personal, but I'm glad I didn't miss it.
My English friend has gone walking around the lake now and I won't get to see him again this trip, but we will keep in contact and hopefully something will come of this book.
Saturday, March 26, 2005
Grocery shopping and punk rockers
Yesterday we stayed close to the guesthouse as it rained all day. Did an interview and in the afternoon went looking for a shower. The first two were broken but I got lucky at the third place which told me to come back in an hour by which time the water would have heated up! So I did. In the evening we went out with two guys from Guilin. They are 'punkers' with long hair, leather jackets and tatoos. Very unChineselike. They were taking lots of photos of themselves in beautiful settings (by the lake, on a mountain, etc) standing around in the nude. It's pretty cold here too. Wasn't quite what we expected when they offered to show us their holiday snaps on their digital camera.
Anyway, we went out to a bar and they played guitars and an harmonica and sang. They are pretty good and also know a lot of Western music as they hate Chinese pop. So we sang along to guns n roses, nirvana, red hot chilli peppers, the beatles, etc. There was only about half a dozen people there and we were all sitting around a fire, so it was a lot of fun. The bar kicked us out at 11.30pm.
This morning we got up earlyish and went with Lance and a Chinese tourist into Yongning. We went to the buddhist monastery there and then went and bought fresh fruit from the market as well as toilet paper, bottled water and some yoghurt. Then the Norwegian girl and I caught a lorry to Luoshui. It got stuck in the gutter at one point but managed to manouever out. I have a few things I want to do here and then I'm going back to Lige tomorrow. We got very excited about the ensuite bathroom and the prospect of fresh coffee and cheese on toast.
Anyway, we went out to a bar and they played guitars and an harmonica and sang. They are pretty good and also know a lot of Western music as they hate Chinese pop. So we sang along to guns n roses, nirvana, red hot chilli peppers, the beatles, etc. There was only about half a dozen people there and we were all sitting around a fire, so it was a lot of fun. The bar kicked us out at 11.30pm.
This morning we got up earlyish and went with Lance and a Chinese tourist into Yongning. We went to the buddhist monastery there and then went and bought fresh fruit from the market as well as toilet paper, bottled water and some yoghurt. Then the Norwegian girl and I caught a lorry to Luoshui. It got stuck in the gutter at one point but managed to manouever out. I have a few things I want to do here and then I'm going back to Lige tomorrow. We got very excited about the ensuite bathroom and the prospect of fresh coffee and cheese on toast.
Friday, March 25, 2005
Easter
Happy birthday Dad.
If my Dad was still around he would be 84 today, 25th of March. The interesting thing is that when he was born in 1921 it was also Good Friday, just like today. It doesn't come around very often that you have Good Friday in late March, so I decided to make a special mention of it. I imagine he would celebrate his birthday by sitting out on the porch with a glass of red wine, spinning yarns and having a laugh with anyone who cared to join him, in the late afternoon. He was just that kind of guy. In fact, that's how he spent every afternoon. He might tell you about his childhood in Cornwall, his navy days during WWII, maybe something about farming, animals, travel, history or politics; what his kids are doing, or the latest project that he and Mum were planning (usually something involving travel or house / garden renovation). He might even tell you that salt and fat were good for your health and one of these days the nutritionists would figure that out. I find it a little hard to imagine what he would say about me studying a minority language in rural south-west China, but I suspect he would think it was pretty cool and would be sure to tell everyone about it. Though he did used to say that he didn't really believe Chinese people really used chopsticks all the time, he was sure that was just a rumour or exaggeration!
If my Dad was still around he would be 84 today, 25th of March. The interesting thing is that when he was born in 1921 it was also Good Friday, just like today. It doesn't come around very often that you have Good Friday in late March, so I decided to make a special mention of it. I imagine he would celebrate his birthday by sitting out on the porch with a glass of red wine, spinning yarns and having a laugh with anyone who cared to join him, in the late afternoon. He was just that kind of guy. In fact, that's how he spent every afternoon. He might tell you about his childhood in Cornwall, his navy days during WWII, maybe something about farming, animals, travel, history or politics; what his kids are doing, or the latest project that he and Mum were planning (usually something involving travel or house / garden renovation). He might even tell you that salt and fat were good for your health and one of these days the nutritionists would figure that out. I find it a little hard to imagine what he would say about me studying a minority language in rural south-west China, but I suspect he would think it was pretty cool and would be sure to tell everyone about it. Though he did used to say that he didn't really believe Chinese people really used chopsticks all the time, he was sure that was just a rumour or exaggeration!
Thursday, March 24, 2005
try again
I just posted this and it didn't work so now I have to try it again.
I met a Norwegian girl here yesterday who is just about to start her anthropological fieldwork research on Mosuo culture for her Masters degree. She'd been in China about nine weeks and spent time with friends in Hong Kong, Kunming and Lijiang and has only just arrived at the lake the last couple of days. My impression after talking with her last night and this morning is that she is almost completely unprepared. She doesn't speak Chinese, and apparently didn't realise that almost no one here would speak English. She also doesn't seem to have read much of the literature on Mosuo people either, which can't help. We get along quite well, I'm just finding it difficult to imagine what she will find out in a couple of months. Oh and she's vegetarian. Not sure what she's going to eat for the next couple of months either. You've heard enough of my complaints about the rule of pork to understand why. Even vegetables and potatoes are fried in pork fat.
This doesn't sound very nice but I suddenly feel like I'm coping fine and have got a lot done. Just by comparison of course. I might go out to a village and do some interviews after this. I'll take her along maybe and she can watch or something. Acted as interpreter last night as she asked my friend at the guesthouse questions about Mosuo culture. That certainly stretched my skills. He was trying to explain the difference between walking marriage and a one night stand. Evidently 'one night stand' was not in my dictionary in English or in Chinese, so we had to use the descriptive method, which got quite funny.
eg. Imagine him saying in Chinese
'well it's sex, you know the word 'sex' right?'
Me 'yes, you mean sex where the next day you don't have a relationship anymore, where you can walk away and find someone else for sex'
Him 'yes, but walking marriage is different to that. Young men nowadays just want 'one night stand' but then they call it 'walking marriage' to try to sleep with the tourists, which is ruining the meaning of walking marriage, ruining Mosuo culture'
Me' I don't recognise that word you used, 'ruining'.
(We get dictionary, look up Chinese word that means 'ruining')
I say 'aaah, yes I understand'
Him 'Yes, but walking marriage is between two people who have very strong feelings for each other, who are talking about love. It is just much freer than other marriage because you don't live together so there is no pressure to find someone wealthy, or to worry about money, and if you don't love each other any more you just break up'
Me 'Would I be right in saying that local boys generally don't have one night stands with local girls, just with tourists?'
Him 'Yes, the village would shun him / send him away if he had one night stands with local girls'
I translate all this to Norwegian girl.
Her 'Is that exactly what he said?'
Me 'Yes, more or less, that's what I understood'
Her 'But I don't understand why they don't want to move in together if they are in love?'
Me 'Well because they sleep together every night anyway and their ties to their maternal family are strong'
Her 'Are they allowed to see each other during the day?'
Me 'I'll ask....'
And so on...
I met a Norwegian girl here yesterday who is just about to start her anthropological fieldwork research on Mosuo culture for her Masters degree. She'd been in China about nine weeks and spent time with friends in Hong Kong, Kunming and Lijiang and has only just arrived at the lake the last couple of days. My impression after talking with her last night and this morning is that she is almost completely unprepared. She doesn't speak Chinese, and apparently didn't realise that almost no one here would speak English. She also doesn't seem to have read much of the literature on Mosuo people either, which can't help. We get along quite well, I'm just finding it difficult to imagine what she will find out in a couple of months. Oh and she's vegetarian. Not sure what she's going to eat for the next couple of months either. You've heard enough of my complaints about the rule of pork to understand why. Even vegetables and potatoes are fried in pork fat.
This doesn't sound very nice but I suddenly feel like I'm coping fine and have got a lot done. Just by comparison of course. I might go out to a village and do some interviews after this. I'll take her along maybe and she can watch or something. Acted as interpreter last night as she asked my friend at the guesthouse questions about Mosuo culture. That certainly stretched my skills. He was trying to explain the difference between walking marriage and a one night stand. Evidently 'one night stand' was not in my dictionary in English or in Chinese, so we had to use the descriptive method, which got quite funny.
eg. Imagine him saying in Chinese
'well it's sex, you know the word 'sex' right?'
Me 'yes, you mean sex where the next day you don't have a relationship anymore, where you can walk away and find someone else for sex'
Him 'yes, but walking marriage is different to that. Young men nowadays just want 'one night stand' but then they call it 'walking marriage' to try to sleep with the tourists, which is ruining the meaning of walking marriage, ruining Mosuo culture'
Me' I don't recognise that word you used, 'ruining'.
(We get dictionary, look up Chinese word that means 'ruining')
I say 'aaah, yes I understand'
Him 'Yes, but walking marriage is between two people who have very strong feelings for each other, who are talking about love. It is just much freer than other marriage because you don't live together so there is no pressure to find someone wealthy, or to worry about money, and if you don't love each other any more you just break up'
Me 'Would I be right in saying that local boys generally don't have one night stands with local girls, just with tourists?'
Him 'Yes, the village would shun him / send him away if he had one night stands with local girls'
I translate all this to Norwegian girl.
Her 'Is that exactly what he said?'
Me 'Yes, more or less, that's what I understood'
Her 'But I don't understand why they don't want to move in together if they are in love?'
Me 'Well because they sleep together every night anyway and their ties to their maternal family are strong'
Her 'Are they allowed to see each other during the day?'
Me 'I'll ask....'
And so on...
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Zebo village
Yesterday, a 16 year old Mosuo girl who I've become friends with here in Luoshui took me to visit her village, Zebo. We left around midday, got a taxibus to Yongning and from there we walked about an hour to her village. It was a pleasant walk except that after 20 minutes she started worrying that I might be tired or that my feet might be hurting. She explained to me that she knew westerners don't walk much, they ride their bikes everywhere!
It was a bit overcast as we got there, but it is really a very pretty village. The blossoms on the trees have just come out, people were working in the fields and the village is nestled just at the base of Gemu mountain. I sat in her home and interviewed her parents. She also took me to her friend's home to interview them. It was starting to get late (we didn't get away from Luoshui very early)and we were about to start walking back to Luoshui when it started raining. I really wanted to get back to Luoshui that night and I hadn't brought any of my things with me. Anyway, her brother said that he wanted to drive back to Luoshui that evening too and we could go with him. But first his truck, which had a load of roof tiles in the back, needed to be unloaded. Everyone donned gloves and started unloading. I tried to get them to give me some gloves but they refused and told me to sit down and have a rest!
Then I tried to help without gloves (as a few people were doing) but the tiles are filthy, they are curved and feel like theyre made of coal, and the people on the truck refused to pass them to me. They were concerned my hands would get dirty. I stood there feeling annoyed and frustrated- I don't really appreciate being subjected to stereotypes that westerners (and particularly western women) are incapable of any physical work, and that uni students have never done a days work in their lives anyway. I stood there fuming, recalling the many jobs of done that were more unpleasant, dirty and heavier than unloading a few tiles and felt frustrated that I couldn't communicate that. As the work continued, I saw my chance. They pulled away one of the side slats as the truck became emptier and from there it was possible to just reach in a grab a stack of tiles.
This is exactly what I did as I flashed my very angry, determined expression at the guy on the truck, warning him not to get in my way (Scott can probably describe this look to you quite well) and started helping. They gave in then and gave me some gloves. The mood lightened after that and we joked as we unloaded the truck. Then the girl tried to get me to sing something but I got out of that saying I don't know how to sing, just know how to unload stuff.
Then we washed our hands, three of us piled into the front seat of the truck, next to the driver, and as the sun set we drove across the unmade, heavily potholed roads, back to Luoshui.
Sat down with the brother who drove us and his friend who came along and had tea. Then we started drinking beer. Spent the evening talking and joking and drinking. At one point he started calling me 'Australian kangaroo' (Aodaliya de daishu) and I recall us all playing a game where we threw sunflower seeds at each other and tried to catch them in our mouths and they taught me how to eat sunflower seeds the Mosuo way, by crunching them up between your teeth and spitting out the shells. Then they had to duck as I spat a little too enthusiastically! Hey if you can't do it in China....
It was a bit overcast as we got there, but it is really a very pretty village. The blossoms on the trees have just come out, people were working in the fields and the village is nestled just at the base of Gemu mountain. I sat in her home and interviewed her parents. She also took me to her friend's home to interview them. It was starting to get late (we didn't get away from Luoshui very early)and we were about to start walking back to Luoshui when it started raining. I really wanted to get back to Luoshui that night and I hadn't brought any of my things with me. Anyway, her brother said that he wanted to drive back to Luoshui that evening too and we could go with him. But first his truck, which had a load of roof tiles in the back, needed to be unloaded. Everyone donned gloves and started unloading. I tried to get them to give me some gloves but they refused and told me to sit down and have a rest!
Then I tried to help without gloves (as a few people were doing) but the tiles are filthy, they are curved and feel like theyre made of coal, and the people on the truck refused to pass them to me. They were concerned my hands would get dirty. I stood there feeling annoyed and frustrated- I don't really appreciate being subjected to stereotypes that westerners (and particularly western women) are incapable of any physical work, and that uni students have never done a days work in their lives anyway. I stood there fuming, recalling the many jobs of done that were more unpleasant, dirty and heavier than unloading a few tiles and felt frustrated that I couldn't communicate that. As the work continued, I saw my chance. They pulled away one of the side slats as the truck became emptier and from there it was possible to just reach in a grab a stack of tiles.
This is exactly what I did as I flashed my very angry, determined expression at the guy on the truck, warning him not to get in my way (Scott can probably describe this look to you quite well) and started helping. They gave in then and gave me some gloves. The mood lightened after that and we joked as we unloaded the truck. Then the girl tried to get me to sing something but I got out of that saying I don't know how to sing, just know how to unload stuff.
Then we washed our hands, three of us piled into the front seat of the truck, next to the driver, and as the sun set we drove across the unmade, heavily potholed roads, back to Luoshui.
Sat down with the brother who drove us and his friend who came along and had tea. Then we started drinking beer. Spent the evening talking and joking and drinking. At one point he started calling me 'Australian kangaroo' (Aodaliya de daishu) and I recall us all playing a game where we threw sunflower seeds at each other and tried to catch them in our mouths and they taught me how to eat sunflower seeds the Mosuo way, by crunching them up between your teeth and spitting out the shells. Then they had to duck as I spat a little too enthusiastically! Hey if you can't do it in China....
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Luoshui again
I've been here in ultra touristy Luoshui for a few days now. Trying to get interviews with locals here is more difficult then the villages. People are more reluctant, maybe more cynical. But I've become friends with the old guy who speaks English and he's provided some introductions. Think I'll have to go back to Lige tomorrow. Run out of clothes. I only packed for a couple of days and have been gone a week.
Anyway, this was on a sign I saw up in Lijiang on the hill. There is a buddhist monastery there and a large park you can walk around. There was a sign in the entrance:
"No Hunting in Religious Free Captive Animals Area"
On tv the other day there was a Korean band called Loveholic which sang in Korean with just the chorus in English which went:
"I love you always, just like a shining spring. I love you always, just like a happy christmas"
Just wanted to send that message out to all my friends ;)
Anyway, this was on a sign I saw up in Lijiang on the hill. There is a buddhist monastery there and a large park you can walk around. There was a sign in the entrance:
"No Hunting in Religious Free Captive Animals Area"
On tv the other day there was a Korean band called Loveholic which sang in Korean with just the chorus in English which went:
"I love you always, just like a shining spring. I love you always, just like a happy christmas"
Just wanted to send that message out to all my friends ;)
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
And back again
Well I've had a couple of very nice days in ole Lijiang. Caught the bus down on Saturday. Pretty smooth trip. Saturday night I had a fantastic hot shower, got dressed up (Put on a clean top and jeans) and went out to Prague cafe for pizza and to watch a dvd on their couch upstairs. I was about half an hour into the movie when Hunter called and said, "come out with us, we are going to a bar for a party" I was tired but agreed to do the social thing. Met him and some others who had also joined him and we walked into the new part of town where we waited around for over half an hour for someone else he was supposed to be meeting. He was obviously getting frustrated, and eventually walked up to us, said "She's not coming" and just walked off. We were left feeling somewhat bewildered, and I was more than a little annoyed. Walked back to old town, where I was staying, back to Prague cafe and finished watching my movie.
Sunday morning I ran around doing banking and buying stuff I need, etc. Had lunch at a cool little cafe called Hakuna Matata, which serves excellent Chinese and Western food. Went back to Prague cafe in the afternoon to relax and watch another dvd. In the evening I decided to go back there again for tea and ran into my friend Gemma. After Hunter rang me last week and said Gemma was coming to Lijiang and could I come, I had been looking forward to seeing her, but after Hunter's performance the night before, I still had no way of contacting her as he was my point of contact, and not surprisingly, I hadn't heard from him anymore. I walked into the Prague and she was sitting at the table there having tea. We had a good catch-up and went for a bit of a walk later on and ate some watermelon.
Monday was frustrating. I walked all over New Town all morning looking for some recording stuff I wanted, and discovered that you can't buy it in Lijiang. Rang up the Dutch guy I met last week at Lugu lake and we had lunch at a little Italian restaurant run by a French chef. Had a fantastic salad; my first in months! After lunch he took me on the back of his motorbike to see Pencil mountain, which was very beautiful and has a large buddhist monastery and parklands and lake on top. It was a lovely warm day, and I was actually able to wear a t-shirt without any kind of jumper and jacket and feel warm! It was lovely sitting under a pagoda in the sun looking down on the lake and Lijiang in the distance. Got back to Lijiang in the late afternoon and went back to the Italian place for a pizza. It still wasn't particularly cold and I sat out on the balcony with my pizza and beer. Scott would have loved it.
Then I went inside and got chatting again to the French chef and his Aussie mate. When the restaurant closed we all went out to a new bar in town, and sat on swings suspended from beams across the ceiling and I had a few gin and tonics. Then the French chef took us back to his home. He is renting it in Old town (the nice part of Lijiang). It's a beautiful old Naxi home with a huge courtyard. Very open plan. I could live in a place like that. And the rent's much cheaper than Aus....
Got back to my motel at about 2.30am. The gate was locked, which I expected, and I had to bang on the door and wake up the owner to get in. They don't seem to mind. Fell in to bed for a few hours sleep before getting up at 6.30 am to shower, pack and go back to Lugu Lake. The Dutch guy was going with some friends up to Ninglang this morning, so they offered me a lift that far, which was cool.
I caught a taxi down to where I had agreed to meet him and we had a car accident. It was quite odd actually as the taxi had just stopped to let me out. It was still quiet at that time of the morning too. She had parked just behind a van that was parked at right angles to the road, on the footpath. I was just starting to open the door to get out when the minivan, which was about two metres away from us, began backing out, straight towards my door. I was thinking "this guy's not serious, we've been stopped right behind him for nearly a minute" but he was apparently backing out without making any attempt to use his side mirrors or do a head check. The woman taxi driver started yelling at him, I quickly put my feet back into the car and closed the door again and a second later he backed straight into our taxi. The taxi driver yelled at him. He put his car back into first and slowly accelerated forward, looked out the window and saw that the taxi only had a bit of a dint, and then he turned left and drove off without even an apology.
The friends we were to be travelling with turned out to be colleagues of his Naxi wife, who used to work in a Lijiang orphanage. They're all Westerners who work for this orphan homes organisation, and they were going to finalise an agreement to start up a new orphanage in Lijiang. It was quite bizarre sitting in a van with half a dozen Westerners who all speak fluent Chinese. Except for my Dutch friend. They were very friendly and we chatted most of the time, so I didn't get to make up much sleep.
They dropped me off near the bus station in Ninglang and I looked around for a bus to Lugu Lake, and a guy said his van was waiting. I went with him and found that they didn't have any other passengers yet, so I would have to wait till they found some more. Unfortunately, I couldn't see any already half full minivans so I had to sit it out and wait with them for an hour until the next bus came in from Lijiang with passengers going to the lake. Ended up travelling with some locals, an older guy dressed in khaki from the army surplus store and a young buddhist monk in his long maroon robes. We all snored away in the back seat for most of the trip. We had to stop on one of the narrow mountain roads to change a flat tire. Then we were back in the van until we had to stop again when the monk got car sick and had to throw up beside the road.
Finally got to Luoshui and I went straight to my motel room, got into bed and slept for a couple of hours. I've just had a late dinner and a coffee at the Husi Teahouse, and now I think I'll go back and catch some more sleep. Good night fellow travellers.
Sunday morning I ran around doing banking and buying stuff I need, etc. Had lunch at a cool little cafe called Hakuna Matata, which serves excellent Chinese and Western food. Went back to Prague cafe in the afternoon to relax and watch another dvd. In the evening I decided to go back there again for tea and ran into my friend Gemma. After Hunter rang me last week and said Gemma was coming to Lijiang and could I come, I had been looking forward to seeing her, but after Hunter's performance the night before, I still had no way of contacting her as he was my point of contact, and not surprisingly, I hadn't heard from him anymore. I walked into the Prague and she was sitting at the table there having tea. We had a good catch-up and went for a bit of a walk later on and ate some watermelon.
Monday was frustrating. I walked all over New Town all morning looking for some recording stuff I wanted, and discovered that you can't buy it in Lijiang. Rang up the Dutch guy I met last week at Lugu lake and we had lunch at a little Italian restaurant run by a French chef. Had a fantastic salad; my first in months! After lunch he took me on the back of his motorbike to see Pencil mountain, which was very beautiful and has a large buddhist monastery and parklands and lake on top. It was a lovely warm day, and I was actually able to wear a t-shirt without any kind of jumper and jacket and feel warm! It was lovely sitting under a pagoda in the sun looking down on the lake and Lijiang in the distance. Got back to Lijiang in the late afternoon and went back to the Italian place for a pizza. It still wasn't particularly cold and I sat out on the balcony with my pizza and beer. Scott would have loved it.
Then I went inside and got chatting again to the French chef and his Aussie mate. When the restaurant closed we all went out to a new bar in town, and sat on swings suspended from beams across the ceiling and I had a few gin and tonics. Then the French chef took us back to his home. He is renting it in Old town (the nice part of Lijiang). It's a beautiful old Naxi home with a huge courtyard. Very open plan. I could live in a place like that. And the rent's much cheaper than Aus....
Got back to my motel at about 2.30am. The gate was locked, which I expected, and I had to bang on the door and wake up the owner to get in. They don't seem to mind. Fell in to bed for a few hours sleep before getting up at 6.30 am to shower, pack and go back to Lugu Lake. The Dutch guy was going with some friends up to Ninglang this morning, so they offered me a lift that far, which was cool.
I caught a taxi down to where I had agreed to meet him and we had a car accident. It was quite odd actually as the taxi had just stopped to let me out. It was still quiet at that time of the morning too. She had parked just behind a van that was parked at right angles to the road, on the footpath. I was just starting to open the door to get out when the minivan, which was about two metres away from us, began backing out, straight towards my door. I was thinking "this guy's not serious, we've been stopped right behind him for nearly a minute" but he was apparently backing out without making any attempt to use his side mirrors or do a head check. The woman taxi driver started yelling at him, I quickly put my feet back into the car and closed the door again and a second later he backed straight into our taxi. The taxi driver yelled at him. He put his car back into first and slowly accelerated forward, looked out the window and saw that the taxi only had a bit of a dint, and then he turned left and drove off without even an apology.
The friends we were to be travelling with turned out to be colleagues of his Naxi wife, who used to work in a Lijiang orphanage. They're all Westerners who work for this orphan homes organisation, and they were going to finalise an agreement to start up a new orphanage in Lijiang. It was quite bizarre sitting in a van with half a dozen Westerners who all speak fluent Chinese. Except for my Dutch friend. They were very friendly and we chatted most of the time, so I didn't get to make up much sleep.
They dropped me off near the bus station in Ninglang and I looked around for a bus to Lugu Lake, and a guy said his van was waiting. I went with him and found that they didn't have any other passengers yet, so I would have to wait till they found some more. Unfortunately, I couldn't see any already half full minivans so I had to sit it out and wait with them for an hour until the next bus came in from Lijiang with passengers going to the lake. Ended up travelling with some locals, an older guy dressed in khaki from the army surplus store and a young buddhist monk in his long maroon robes. We all snored away in the back seat for most of the trip. We had to stop on one of the narrow mountain roads to change a flat tire. Then we were back in the van until we had to stop again when the monk got car sick and had to throw up beside the road.
Finally got to Luoshui and I went straight to my motel room, got into bed and slept for a couple of hours. I've just had a late dinner and a coffee at the Husi Teahouse, and now I think I'll go back and catch some more sleep. Good night fellow travellers.
Friday, March 11, 2005
On the move again
Yesterday I spent several hours sitting out in the sun chatting with some Mosuo guys who were teaching me Mosuo words, which was good. I also came back and interviewed one of them. In the evening I had a headache though. I guess I sat in the sun a little too long.
Well, I hadn't planned to go to Lijiang till I finished interviewing, but I haven't finished and I think I'm going to go tomorrow. I definitely have to go mid next month, but I'll still need to go before then, so I may as well not put it off any longer. Anyway, I've run out of chocolate and conditioner. There are actually some less important things I need to buy for my research like stationery, etc!! Go to the bank. Put some more credit in my phone.
I found a beautiful little shop here yesterday that I'd never been into. It was run by the guy I interviewed and sold Mosuo garments and bags that his sister hand weaves. I'm definitely going to buy some stuff. Also, in Luoshui (the touristy Mosuo town) that a lot of the shops had goods that were identical to what you can find in Lijiang, ie. probably Naxi, or just goods that look kind of ethnic and are mass produced for tourists. I'm not sure who they think they're kidding because it's almost impossible to get to the lake from the Yunnan side without going through Lijiang, and nearly all tourists spend time there first. It's quite obvious that the items can't be local.
Well, I hadn't planned to go to Lijiang till I finished interviewing, but I haven't finished and I think I'm going to go tomorrow. I definitely have to go mid next month, but I'll still need to go before then, so I may as well not put it off any longer. Anyway, I've run out of chocolate and conditioner. There are actually some less important things I need to buy for my research like stationery, etc!! Go to the bank. Put some more credit in my phone.
I found a beautiful little shop here yesterday that I'd never been into. It was run by the guy I interviewed and sold Mosuo garments and bags that his sister hand weaves. I'm definitely going to buy some stuff. Also, in Luoshui (the touristy Mosuo town) that a lot of the shops had goods that were identical to what you can find in Lijiang, ie. probably Naxi, or just goods that look kind of ethnic and are mass produced for tourists. I'm not sure who they think they're kidding because it's almost impossible to get to the lake from the Yunnan side without going through Lijiang, and nearly all tourists spend time there first. It's quite obvious that the items can't be local.
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Holiday's over
Well, I have had a very relaxing week. Sometimes you need an enforced holiday. Sometimes you don't realise you need one. I realised that it's been a very long time since I've just had time out. I think I had a week last year in June where I did virtually nothing, but since then, even when I've been doing fun things it's been hectic. I've spent most of the last week chatting around a fire with a German woman who was staying here. That was very nice. She left for Lijiang this morning, so I think that's my signal to get back to work.
When did I last post? I can't remember. Well, two days ago the snow had pretty much melted, except in the mountains so we went for a walk to a nearby village and a family invited us in for a snack of tiny crispy fish and fried potatoes. (At Y10 a head). Then we got a rowboat back to Lige. Soon after they served us a substantial evening meal of rice and lots of different dishes. Then at 10 pm someone walked in with a roast pig on a spit, which they had ordered earlier in the day! It was already roasted, so we took photos and then they chopped it up and put all the bits in a bowl above the fireplace. We sat around in a circle, ate pork, drank beer and played rock, paper, scissors: The rules were that if you lost you had to sing a song or skull a beer. Chinese people really like singing so they didn't exercise the second option. I chose the beer several times and then had newfound confidence to sing. I sang some Dutch children songs, and then tried to think of the shortest Australian song I knew, and gave a beautiful rendition of "Give me a home among the gum trees" followed by the first verse of "Waltzing Mathilda".
The next time I lost I explained that since my beer glass was empty I would sing about beer. I started singing "One hundred bottles of beer on the wall". For anyone not familiar, the beer bottles keep falling off the wall so you count down through "99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer on the wall, if one of those bottles should happen to fall there'd be 98 bottles of beer on the wall. 98 bottles of beer on the wall... etc." Everyone liked it and clapped, but eventually stopped me at 90 bottles. It was quite a funny night.
Yesterday was another lazy day. My sole activity being a short climb up the hill on Lige Isle where we sat and looked at the view. In the evening, we went to the guesthouse next door where a lot of the locals were having a party. Managed to exchanged my glass of "Bai jiu" (Spirits) for a glass of beer fairly quickly. A lot of people were singing Mosuo songs, the German girl sang a German song. We ate lamb and rice. Yum- but we'd already had dinner. Walked back to our guesthouse around 12 or 1.
This morning the roads were pronounced clear and all the guests left. Quite a few had been waiting for the snow to subside properly. All except me. Oh well.
When did I last post? I can't remember. Well, two days ago the snow had pretty much melted, except in the mountains so we went for a walk to a nearby village and a family invited us in for a snack of tiny crispy fish and fried potatoes. (At Y10 a head). Then we got a rowboat back to Lige. Soon after they served us a substantial evening meal of rice and lots of different dishes. Then at 10 pm someone walked in with a roast pig on a spit, which they had ordered earlier in the day! It was already roasted, so we took photos and then they chopped it up and put all the bits in a bowl above the fireplace. We sat around in a circle, ate pork, drank beer and played rock, paper, scissors: The rules were that if you lost you had to sing a song or skull a beer. Chinese people really like singing so they didn't exercise the second option. I chose the beer several times and then had newfound confidence to sing. I sang some Dutch children songs, and then tried to think of the shortest Australian song I knew, and gave a beautiful rendition of "Give me a home among the gum trees" followed by the first verse of "Waltzing Mathilda".
The next time I lost I explained that since my beer glass was empty I would sing about beer. I started singing "One hundred bottles of beer on the wall". For anyone not familiar, the beer bottles keep falling off the wall so you count down through "99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer on the wall, if one of those bottles should happen to fall there'd be 98 bottles of beer on the wall. 98 bottles of beer on the wall... etc." Everyone liked it and clapped, but eventually stopped me at 90 bottles. It was quite a funny night.
Yesterday was another lazy day. My sole activity being a short climb up the hill on Lige Isle where we sat and looked at the view. In the evening, we went to the guesthouse next door where a lot of the locals were having a party. Managed to exchanged my glass of "Bai jiu" (Spirits) for a glass of beer fairly quickly. A lot of people were singing Mosuo songs, the German girl sang a German song. We ate lamb and rice. Yum- but we'd already had dinner. Walked back to our guesthouse around 12 or 1.
This morning the roads were pronounced clear and all the guests left. Quite a few had been waiting for the snow to subside properly. All except me. Oh well.
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Sun and sparkling water
The sun is out, the snow has melted, I have had a nice shower and washed my hair, and therefore have a smile on my face today. Gonna get some work done this afternoon. Raise myself out of my lethargy, etc. The road should be open again tomorrow. Apparently they were still clearing away the metre deep snow today. The tourists who've been trapped at our guesthouse will be happy.
Oh, one more thing, the guesthouse next door has a washing machine and as we speak they are doing my washing for Y10. Yay, clean clothes.
Oh, one more thing, the guesthouse next door has a washing machine and as we speak they are doing my washing for Y10. Yay, clean clothes.
Monday, March 07, 2005
Defrost
The snow finally started melting yesterday afternoon. On Saturday we had a big snow fight in the courtyard at the guesthouse. As everyone knows "it all ends in tears" and it did when the guy who runs the guesthouse snuck up behind me and planted a handfull of snow in my face. It wouldn't have been a big deal except he got snow in both my eyes, which is actually quite painful and incapacitating. My eyes felt like they were burning. I had some eye drops- like an eye rinse so I put some of that in my eyes, but it only helped a little. For the rest of the evening I felt like I had gravel in my eyes. He came up to my room to laugh at me and say condescendingly "Don't cry". It apparently hadn't occurred to him that he might have really hurt me, I think he thought I was just sulking. I challenge anyone not to cry with snow in their eyes.
Other than that, every time we left the place we were set upon by men, women and children who pelted snow balls at every single passerby. Some of the women were really organised with big tubs filled with snow so that they could throw lots of snowballs quickly. Last night we went out again for roast chicken. Yum. We also barbecued slices of potato and zucchini. But the last few days we have mostly hung out around the fire, reading books and chatting.
Other than that, every time we left the place we were set upon by men, women and children who pelted snow balls at every single passerby. Some of the women were really organised with big tubs filled with snow so that they could throw lots of snowballs quickly. Last night we went out again for roast chicken. Yum. We also barbecued slices of potato and zucchini. But the last few days we have mostly hung out around the fire, reading books and chatting.
Saturday, March 05, 2005
and more snow!!
It is a bit weird having this much snow around here, let alone in March. Quite unheard of, apparently. Every morning the world looks even whiter. This morning the courtyard was covered in snow. Because it is a gravel courtyard, the snow had generally just melted into the cracks, but by this morning it was covered in a thick carpet. This morning when I walked down here I felt like I was in an old movie where everything is in monochrome or sepia tone. The sky is in shades of white and pale grey, the lake looks steely, the mountains are white and the roads, paths and buildings are brown.
Yesterday afternoon I gave up on worrying about the interviews that I'm not getting done (Traipsing around to villages not the pleasantest option at the moment and vehicles are at a minimum) and started working on the interviews I've already done, creating a kind of database of responses, except that they will be handwritten in a notebook. That way I can pinpoint the longer answers and work on translating them later, but in the meantime try to compile basic answers to the shorter questions. I've done over 60 interviews so there's really plenty to work on. That way I can sit in the restaurant at the guesthouse near the fire with a hot water bottle on my lap and work.
A German girl turned up with a couple of Chinese tourists yesterday afternoon as well. We had a good chat. They had planned to go home today and though I've heard that a few buses are still going through, most people discourage going unless absolutely necessary. The roads are already steep and narrow, being covered in snow and ice means that accidents are very likely. Vehicles around here are not generally equipped with disc brakes, power steering or snow chains- though some people have four wheel drives. So it seems that a number of people are waiting it out here until, the snow disappears. The locals seem to be predicting every day that tomorrow will be warmer, with the result that every day is colder.
I gave up listening to the predictions this morning and went next door for a much needed shower. Tied back my wet hair and hurried back to the guesthouse to dry it over the fire. Luckily the water was piping hot and there was no wind this morning so it was fine. Nevertheless, the washing is piling up and clothing is starting to run out (except for a skirt and some short sleeved tops which are resolutely ignored as I pull out all the thermals I thought I wouldn't need anymore.
This morning the other guests busied themselves building another snowman- or rather snow lady, having decided that the first snowman needed a girlfriend. I stayed inside sipping a coffee and drying my hair.
Yesterday afternoon I gave up on worrying about the interviews that I'm not getting done (Traipsing around to villages not the pleasantest option at the moment and vehicles are at a minimum) and started working on the interviews I've already done, creating a kind of database of responses, except that they will be handwritten in a notebook. That way I can pinpoint the longer answers and work on translating them later, but in the meantime try to compile basic answers to the shorter questions. I've done over 60 interviews so there's really plenty to work on. That way I can sit in the restaurant at the guesthouse near the fire with a hot water bottle on my lap and work.
A German girl turned up with a couple of Chinese tourists yesterday afternoon as well. We had a good chat. They had planned to go home today and though I've heard that a few buses are still going through, most people discourage going unless absolutely necessary. The roads are already steep and narrow, being covered in snow and ice means that accidents are very likely. Vehicles around here are not generally equipped with disc brakes, power steering or snow chains- though some people have four wheel drives. So it seems that a number of people are waiting it out here until, the snow disappears. The locals seem to be predicting every day that tomorrow will be warmer, with the result that every day is colder.
I gave up listening to the predictions this morning and went next door for a much needed shower. Tied back my wet hair and hurried back to the guesthouse to dry it over the fire. Luckily the water was piping hot and there was no wind this morning so it was fine. Nevertheless, the washing is piling up and clothing is starting to run out (except for a skirt and some short sleeved tops which are resolutely ignored as I pull out all the thermals I thought I wouldn't need anymore.
This morning the other guests busied themselves building another snowman- or rather snow lady, having decided that the first snowman needed a girlfriend. I stayed inside sipping a coffee and drying my hair.
Friday, March 04, 2005
More snow and more culinary experiences
It snowed all day yesterday. And the thing that Scott hoped for while he was here has finally happened. The lake is snowbound so no traffic is coming in and out- at least for a couple of days. (Scott was hoping it would provide him with an opportunity to postpone his flight home and spend a little longer with me). This morning when I left the guesthouse to come down here and use the net, the other guests were making a snowman. Then kids threw snowballs at me (and other unfortunate pedestrians) as I was coming here.
Chatted to Scott on the phone last night and he was trying to tempt me into coming home again by talking about the meals he cooked this week- most unfair, he worked out very early on in our relationship that the key to this woman's heart was through her stomach. Anyway, I hung up the phone at about 10pm thinking about having a roast, when the other guests and our host stood up and said that they were going into the village to get a roast. Well, the local equivalent anyway- usually more like a barbecue of little fish, sliced potatoes and other assorted goodies cooked on a rack over an open flame. I didn't need much persuading to go along. When we got there though, it seemed that most of their selection was frozen (my host prefers freshly slaughtered meat). But they suggested that they could provide a fresh chicken, which solved the problem. The restaurant is basically a very plain room, concrete floor and little stools and these barbecue table things (a trap of hot coals is inserted into the table which has a rack set into it).
A minute later I heard some squawking from the backyard and in walked the chef carrying a mildly complaining chicken. My host took a look at it, held it up to check the wait, and gave it his approval. Then, in less time than it normally takes me to defrost a chicken breast in the microwave, the chef walked over to one side of the room, slit the chicken's throat and drained the blood into a bowl. Then he tossed it into a tub which he filled with boiling water. Took the lot outside where he plucked it while the lady mopped the blood off the floor. Freshly plucked, he brought it back in, ran it through the flame to burn off the last bits of feather stubble, and spread it out, impaling it on a three pronged metal pole, the centre pole going through its bum, up its neck and out it's beak, while the side prongs went through the legs and feet. Meanwhile, a roaring fire was prepared in a metal tray and a spit was set up overhead. The luckless chicken was basted with oil and garlic and the man started turning it. My host had apparently been eyeing off the comb on the chicken's head, because when it appeared to be cooked just right, he plucked it off with his fingers and popped it in his mouth.
The lady brought in some little fish then, still twisting and writhing, and put them onto one of the little barbecues, where they stopped moving fairly quickly. We watched for half an hour or so as the chicken rotated and the fish grilled, then sat at the table and pulled the little fish apart with our chopsticks to get the bones out and dipped them in spices and ate them. The chicken was pronounced ready, chopped into bits, and chucked onto the barbecue as well, which we nibbled at. I must admit, I kept well away from the feet and head, but the chicken breast was very nicely done. My host took the leftovers home in a doggy back. We got back at about 12.20am.
Chatted to Scott on the phone last night and he was trying to tempt me into coming home again by talking about the meals he cooked this week- most unfair, he worked out very early on in our relationship that the key to this woman's heart was through her stomach. Anyway, I hung up the phone at about 10pm thinking about having a roast, when the other guests and our host stood up and said that they were going into the village to get a roast. Well, the local equivalent anyway- usually more like a barbecue of little fish, sliced potatoes and other assorted goodies cooked on a rack over an open flame. I didn't need much persuading to go along. When we got there though, it seemed that most of their selection was frozen (my host prefers freshly slaughtered meat). But they suggested that they could provide a fresh chicken, which solved the problem. The restaurant is basically a very plain room, concrete floor and little stools and these barbecue table things (a trap of hot coals is inserted into the table which has a rack set into it).
A minute later I heard some squawking from the backyard and in walked the chef carrying a mildly complaining chicken. My host took a look at it, held it up to check the wait, and gave it his approval. Then, in less time than it normally takes me to defrost a chicken breast in the microwave, the chef walked over to one side of the room, slit the chicken's throat and drained the blood into a bowl. Then he tossed it into a tub which he filled with boiling water. Took the lot outside where he plucked it while the lady mopped the blood off the floor. Freshly plucked, he brought it back in, ran it through the flame to burn off the last bits of feather stubble, and spread it out, impaling it on a three pronged metal pole, the centre pole going through its bum, up its neck and out it's beak, while the side prongs went through the legs and feet. Meanwhile, a roaring fire was prepared in a metal tray and a spit was set up overhead. The luckless chicken was basted with oil and garlic and the man started turning it. My host had apparently been eyeing off the comb on the chicken's head, because when it appeared to be cooked just right, he plucked it off with his fingers and popped it in his mouth.
The lady brought in some little fish then, still twisting and writhing, and put them onto one of the little barbecues, where they stopped moving fairly quickly. We watched for half an hour or so as the chicken rotated and the fish grilled, then sat at the table and pulled the little fish apart with our chopsticks to get the bones out and dipped them in spices and ate them. The chicken was pronounced ready, chopped into bits, and chucked onto the barbecue as well, which we nibbled at. I must admit, I kept well away from the feet and head, but the chicken breast was very nicely done. My host took the leftovers home in a doggy back. We got back at about 12.20am.
Thursday, March 03, 2005
It's spring, aint it?
Two days ago, when I arrived in Lige, the sun was shining, it was really warm and I sat around in the courtyard getting a bit of a tan on my face and contemplating shaving my armpits so I can wear a short sleeved top.
Yesterday, was cool and overcast. Barely saw the sun. Spent most of the day hovering over the fire, but saw no need for thermals or extra sleeping bag.
This morning I woke to white roofs and swirling snow. It is still snowing heavily and the whole lake sky and ground is coloured white to gray. (Gray being the lake). There is a thick layer of snow on the roofs of all the cars. I'm back in full thermals, scarf, jacket and gloves- and feeling cold. It's very pretty but I'm sure you all know by now I'm not really a cold weather person.
Yesterday afternoon two men wandered into the cafe at our guesthouse for a cuppa. One philipino and one dutch. The Dutch guy has been living in Lijiang for the last year with his Naxi (local Lijiang minority group) wife. After tea they took me for a drive out to a village where he had visited previously. He thought there would be Mosuo dancing there, but there wasn't. He was telling me all about how he used to be a bit wild, but now he'd married and become a christian. In the car he had all this slightly country western gospel music playing (like the American pentecostal stuff) which seemed a little odd to me out here in South West China. He hasn't been working here yet, but he talks about being a tour guide or opening a pizza restaurant or something in future when his Chinese improves. He showed me his Chinese drivers licence which he was very proud of. (International driver's licences are not valid in China).
Oddly enough, in the section supposed to list nationality, his nationality is given as Chinese even though he is only on a tourist visa. Apparently there were no other options available in the computer. He was not allowed to purchase registration plates for his car on a tourist visa (though he was able to purchase a car and a house). They said he would need to go back to Holland and then come back on a different visa to change the visa type. He told the police that he probably wouldn't go back to Holland for several months so the police suggested he drive around without any rego until then. That's China for you.
Yesterday, was cool and overcast. Barely saw the sun. Spent most of the day hovering over the fire, but saw no need for thermals or extra sleeping bag.
This morning I woke to white roofs and swirling snow. It is still snowing heavily and the whole lake sky and ground is coloured white to gray. (Gray being the lake). There is a thick layer of snow on the roofs of all the cars. I'm back in full thermals, scarf, jacket and gloves- and feeling cold. It's very pretty but I'm sure you all know by now I'm not really a cold weather person.
Yesterday afternoon two men wandered into the cafe at our guesthouse for a cuppa. One philipino and one dutch. The Dutch guy has been living in Lijiang for the last year with his Naxi (local Lijiang minority group) wife. After tea they took me for a drive out to a village where he had visited previously. He thought there would be Mosuo dancing there, but there wasn't. He was telling me all about how he used to be a bit wild, but now he'd married and become a christian. In the car he had all this slightly country western gospel music playing (like the American pentecostal stuff) which seemed a little odd to me out here in South West China. He hasn't been working here yet, but he talks about being a tour guide or opening a pizza restaurant or something in future when his Chinese improves. He showed me his Chinese drivers licence which he was very proud of. (International driver's licences are not valid in China).
Oddly enough, in the section supposed to list nationality, his nationality is given as Chinese even though he is only on a tourist visa. Apparently there were no other options available in the computer. He was not allowed to purchase registration plates for his car on a tourist visa (though he was able to purchase a car and a house). They said he would need to go back to Holland and then come back on a different visa to change the visa type. He told the police that he probably wouldn't go back to Holland for several months so the police suggested he drive around without any rego until then. That's China for you.
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Back home (in Lige)
Well, I'm back here in Lige- one of my homes! Going to go do some interviews today. Not much else going on actually. Good to catch up with some people again. And the food at this guesthouse is great. Last night we all had a big feast with egg, tomato, potato, broccoli, red capsicum, pork, sausage and little tiny fish that you can eat whole. And rice of course. All mixed into little stirfried dishes. That reminds me, the other day I saw a cafe with a sign in English on it advertising "Deep fired syrup". Mmmm. Oh, and I was watching the Miss Asia beauty pageant (it was funny) and they had subtitles for some of it in English (but only when it was said in English) and they introduced a gentleman as "a famous celibate gentleman" (celebrity), and one of the girls as a "photo genius" (photogenic). Well, I had a giggle anyway.
Monday, February 28, 2005
Joseph Rock
Yesterday afternoon I caught up with the other linguist here who is working on a grammar of Mosuo. It was really good to chat and we are going to meet up again to compare notes on Mosuo.
This morning I did a bit of washing and was just heading out of the motel to get breakfast when an elderly man called me over and wanted to chat. It turns out he is Mosuo, grew up in this house in Luoshui (which is now also the hotel I am staying in, but escaped to Lhasa and then to India, lived in the Netherlands for a year and finally to England before the cultural revolution. He lived in England for 25 years, primarily working helping new refugees who had just entered the country. He came back here in the 80's and has been living here since. He told me he hadn't spoken English in about 5 years, but he chatted to me fluently in English for an hour or so. He said he doesn't speak very much Chinese though he has studied Hindi. Now he has fairly severe diabetes and lives in Luoshui.
You may have heard me speak of Joseph Rock before. A botanist who traveled and lived around this area and Lijiang in the 1930's and 40's. There have always been rumours that he fathered several children in the area too. The gentleman I met this morning remembers him well, his father worked for him a bit. He remembers that food would be parachuted in for him and he always ate from cans, never eating local food or water. From what I could gather, this man's father had died when he was quite young and Joseph Rock became a close friend of his mother. He was only six when this was going on, and he will never be sure what went on, but his mother gave birth to his brother, whom many people believed was the son of Rock. Apparently some of his features were a little unusual and some people called him "meiguo" or "America". His brother has since died but he says his mother was very beautiful so it is quite possible. But at the time he was too young to be really aware and he never asked.
He was a bit tired after telling me that, sitting on an armchair with a drip in his arm, and said he wasn't feeling that well today, but that he'd love to talk again. I think I might come back to Luoshui and speak to him and some of his family again before I go back to Lijiang for a few days.
I must admit, I was quite blown away though. I have met very few Mosuo people who speak any English at all, let alone fluently. And he has such an amazing story.
Reply to comment from Alex: From what Scott has been telling me, you either bring him into work when there is nothing to be done or make him work double shifts when there are several functions on, with an early start the next morning. I can't be distracting him that much, he didn't call me the other morning because he'd been kept back at work till after midday. I think you are distracting him from me!
This morning I did a bit of washing and was just heading out of the motel to get breakfast when an elderly man called me over and wanted to chat. It turns out he is Mosuo, grew up in this house in Luoshui (which is now also the hotel I am staying in, but escaped to Lhasa and then to India, lived in the Netherlands for a year and finally to England before the cultural revolution. He lived in England for 25 years, primarily working helping new refugees who had just entered the country. He came back here in the 80's and has been living here since. He told me he hadn't spoken English in about 5 years, but he chatted to me fluently in English for an hour or so. He said he doesn't speak very much Chinese though he has studied Hindi. Now he has fairly severe diabetes and lives in Luoshui.
You may have heard me speak of Joseph Rock before. A botanist who traveled and lived around this area and Lijiang in the 1930's and 40's. There have always been rumours that he fathered several children in the area too. The gentleman I met this morning remembers him well, his father worked for him a bit. He remembers that food would be parachuted in for him and he always ate from cans, never eating local food or water. From what I could gather, this man's father had died when he was quite young and Joseph Rock became a close friend of his mother. He was only six when this was going on, and he will never be sure what went on, but his mother gave birth to his brother, whom many people believed was the son of Rock. Apparently some of his features were a little unusual and some people called him "meiguo" or "America". His brother has since died but he says his mother was very beautiful so it is quite possible. But at the time he was too young to be really aware and he never asked.
He was a bit tired after telling me that, sitting on an armchair with a drip in his arm, and said he wasn't feeling that well today, but that he'd love to talk again. I think I might come back to Luoshui and speak to him and some of his family again before I go back to Lijiang for a few days.
I must admit, I was quite blown away though. I have met very few Mosuo people who speak any English at all, let alone fluently. And he has such an amazing story.
Reply to comment from Alex: From what Scott has been telling me, you either bring him into work when there is nothing to be done or make him work double shifts when there are several functions on, with an early start the next morning. I can't be distracting him that much, he didn't call me the other morning because he'd been kept back at work till after midday. I think you are distracting him from me!
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