Well, to start off I finally got my debit card! It was a horrible wait but now I'm free and I'm currently in a town called Dali in the Yunnan region of southwestern China. These last few weeks have taken me from the super modern city that is Hong Kong with it's large supply of Ferrari's and Bentley's to Guangzhou, another enormous city that is lacking in slickness but definitely makes up for in contrasts. Massive, new skyscrapers and old, windy alleys filled with the weirdest assortment of "medicine" that includes tiger paws, tree bark and fungus, turtles and scorpions! Really really strange. It was also in Guangzhou where I first started to get the "stares". Groups of schoolgirls trying their hardest not to stare but failing miserably. They giggled and I giggled and we went our ways. Old ladies are especially the worse. It's as if I had a prosthetic forehead or something. But if you smile and not stop, they eventually smile back.
It was in Guangzhou I met a man from an area in central China called Chongqing. He was selling paintings that his students painted earlier in the year. Students that happen to be orphans. Guangzhou is a sort of destination for Westerners who end up adopting Chinese babies. I noticed several couples there that looked like they were straight out of Ohio. The kids are usually girls and the parents I'm sure are going through the strangest emotions picking up a new addition in such a foreign place. The difference between Guangzhou and Toledo couldn't be anymore stark. The man selling the paintings told me of his memorable trips to Oregon with friends of his as well as his time spent in jail. Last year he protested the government after one of his students died after getting spare treatment in the hospital. They threw him in for three months. He expressed his dislike for Beijing and hoped (while looking over his shoulder) that someday things will change for the better. The conversation was an interesting contrast to the images and messages shown on state TV.
After Guangzhou I flew to Kunming and boarded a bus for Dali where I'll stay for a few days.
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Sounds like a good trip so far. Stay safe in the land of Mao.
ReplyDeleteLove the picrures! I am sooo glad you're blogging this... it feels like I'm there with you when I read it. Great job!
ReplyDeleteActually, I heard a report the other day on NPR about the "Black Prisons" of Bejing and a reporter that went there and actually interview people help captive trough the fence. when the police showed up they told the reported that this was hotel even though it obviously wasn't. I think that amnesty international is trying to gather evidence to get china to shut down the thousands of black prisons operating across the country. They said they are used for people that bring up disputes with the state or are protesting anything...
ReplyDeleteyou should probably try out some thai chi (which i believe translate to "free spirit" or something similar...)next time you see a group. it is very relaxing. when you get back, i'll have to get you the discovery atlas on china...it is very good about introducing other cultures and i particulary believe that the one on china is the best...
also, don't go looking for opium dens...they have been cracking down on that stuff recently and smugglers that have been caught are being put away for life! enjoy the "Nothing like Toledo" landscape...not like that's difficult