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.
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