Dear Readers,
I deeply apologize for not having updated my blog in such a long time! HOWEVER, what you are about to read will prove to you that I have been too busy to do so. . .
As I sit with my friends in a Tibetan cafe, sipping on Mango lassis, listening to the beating of a drum and smelling the aroma of tangerine incense, we reminisce over our past months in China. Major events such as Chinese New Year, a trip down South and a 5 day immersion in a rural Chinese high school have been the highlights since February.
Just a little update on Beijing:
As we speak, the weather is getting warmer. For example,
1) I am no longer wearing 8 layers of clothing to school anymore.
2) Wednesday was the first day since the long winter, that I rode my bicycle to school.
3) The fruit stands are bursting with bananas, pineapples, strawberries...
4) The lake in the park is no longer frozen
5) The cherry blossoms are blooming
Let me start with my trip to the South of China.
IMAGINE traveling for 3 weeks with some clothes stuffed in your backpack, a camera slung around your neck, no showering, ethnic minority groups, tropical fruit, water buffalos, rice paddies, rafting on the Mekong river, dancing with locals, toufu factories, fabric markets, monks, immersion in a local high school, listening to stories told by old Chinese men and basically having the time of your life!
Because we traveled to about 10 different villages and 5 different cities, I will only describe 3 of my top favorites.
JIAN SHUI: (An entry from my diary)
One morning I went out for a run in the eccentric city of Jian Shui. The streets were bustling with activity as market goers carried large baskets with celery and potatoes spilling out over the edges, and loud music poured out of trendy barbershops. After completing a scavenger hunt, which had brought me to every corner of Jian Shui, I discovered how beautiful the city really was, with its old and modern qualities, stone wells hidden away on side streets, and like Beijing, has old residential hutongs tucked inside the city gates. Apart from some Buddhist temples which the young girl from the dou fu factory told me about, Jian Shui also houses a restored Qing Dynasty mansion of an ancient wealthy family. As I strolled through a weekend market, I spotted an old man with his pants rolled up, and his shirt unbuttoned sitting atop of an old city wall smoking. With camera in hand I jogged atop the stairs, crouching down against the rusty red wall. The moment the man saw me, he sat up, took one last puff of his cigarette, and put it out, ashes falling and showering to the ground below. I put my camera down and walked over to him, eager to ask him some questions about the city and his life here, but like any Grandpa, the old man immediately jumped at the opportunity for conversation, launching into a full story about his childhood and so on. While I didn’t get a word in, I listened enraptured as he described the city and how it had changed over his lifespan. For the next hour or so I sat beside him on the city wall over looking Jian Shui.
MAN LING: (An entry from my diary)
The next week, after hiking through terraced hills and vast tea plantations, we arrived in Man Ling, which is part of Xi Shuang Ban Na, a Dai Autonomous Prefecture, and when translated into Thai, ‘Sipsongpanna’, means twelve thousand rice fields. Man Ling is the home to 112 households, with an estimated population of 608.
All Dai houses are made out of bamboo and are lifted up by stilts, in order to protect them from the floods during the rainy season. The livestock live underneath, and the families on top. Sitting underneath a mosquito net that hung from a rusty nail on one side of the room and draped its way to the other side, we squatted on wooden stools whilst listening to the rustles of our host mother’s beautiful gold and silver traditional Dai dress, as she set down endless trays laden with fruit. I knew I could stay there eating the sumptuous fruit all day, but I convinced myself to venture forth and get a sense of my surroundings.
Outside it was rather deserted; the sun was so warm that the villagers all retreated to their cool homes. To the far East stood a small monastery with apricot colored monk robes draped along the walls. In the centre of the village was a basketball court, where little girls ran around wearing dresses, chewing on sugarcane. To the North there were some old ladies knitting and mending clothes. To the South I found a table of patient men fixated on a game of Mahjong.
JING HONG: (An entry from my diary)
A little further south, lies the capital city of Xi Shuang Ban Na, Jing Hong, which reminded me so much of my home in Bangkok. Under the tropical glaring sun, men behind fruit stands held out wooden sticks with sweet, juicy pieces of pineapple on them, and shouted out the prices of ripe mangos, durians and watermelons. Despite the fact that I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, sweat marks formed under my armpits and I felt my cheeks burning red. Sipping coconut straight from the husk, I walked around an outdoor market, and passed by an elderly woman sitting on a small wooden stool selling tomatoes. Behind her stood another old woman, with mint draped over her shoulders. Smiling and exposing gold caps and beetle nut stained teeth, they posed for my camera.
While we were in Jing Hong, we spent 4 days going to class with students from the local high school. Inside the classrooms of Jing Hong High School, students sleep, listen to music, text on their phones, and to them, the teacher’s voice is on par with the omnipresent drone the flies make as they circuit the room. It was so unlike any school in Beijing!!
Sadly, after 3 weeks of traveling in sunny and stunning rural China, we had to head back to Beijing. And as we landed in Beijing.. it was snowing.
...more to come...
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