Progress Schmogress

Tonight I had a cappuccino with the foam fashioned into the shape of a heart. I'm in Kunming city, the capital of the Yunnan province. China's poorest but most diverse people live here. To the northwest is Tibet, the east is Hong Kong and the industrial Pearl River delta, and to the south is Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar. While in the middle of all this are half of China's ethnic minorities. Kunming is a really interesting place. I was having my coffee and cake in a cafe on the second floor of a brand new shopping complex downtown. Jay-Z was rapping about Brooklyn and Shakira was singing about being a she-wolf through the speakers. My table was next to an etched glass wall separating me from the bar. The chairs were tall and cushioned with crushed purple velvet. Next to me a group of four younger professional types ate what looked to be a spread of pizza, fried rice, steak and potatoes and of course, noodles. The ladies walked in with heels and fur lined coats, chunky jewelry and beautiful hair. All this was so much like New York. The day before, while arriving by bus to the city limits, men were driving their donkey led carts through 6 lanes of traffic. Traffic Jams are the norm and it seems like everyone was just handed cars and was told to have at it without any proper training. Semi trucks going the wrong direction in a 4 lane express way, traffic lights completely ignored, bicycles randomly crossing traffic without looking. Total Madness. The change taking place here is pretty obvious.
The week before I was in a town that used to be called Zhongdian but is now named Shangri-La. Its the gateway to Tibet and most of the people there are Tibetan. I was lucky enough to stay at a hostel outside of town in a little village sitting in a wide valley. It was with even more luck that I was invited that first night to a house warming party next door! There were 6 of us staying in the guesthouse. Five Hong Kongers and myself. We were led to the second floor into the main room of the new house. I guess there were at least 80 people packed into this place. The ladies wore bright pink and blue head wear and were all huddled together next to the wood stove. The men were in the usual jacket and pants. Some were wearing hats. In the middle of the room stood a giant "tree" with decorations hanging all around. In the corner of the room with the ladies a portrait of the Dalia Lama rested next to candles and incense. Fake flowers decorated the frame. I was the sole westerner there. After a while of passing cigarettes and sunflower seeds, the men gathered around the central pillar, wrapped their arms around each other, and began the song and dance. They circled the pillar several times in their routine when the ladies began to join and echo the men. It was loud, unfamiliar, and really exciting. They danced and sang to several different songs for the next few hours. People would join in or take leave of the dancing to go downstairs for fresh air and smoking. After a while, we strangers were led downstairs for a proper Tibetan spread. Little white powdery cakes, sunflower seeds, an urn of some kind of powdered cereal, fried doughs, and silver goblets of salty yak milk tea. The owner of the house joined us with a silver pitcher of the local brew. I was told it was made out of several different grains, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was derived from battery acid. Shots were poured,toasts were made and heads were spinning soon after. People here seam to live as they have for quite a while. The house walls are three feet thick and made of packed earth carried in baskets strapped onto backs. During the day, ladies still wear traditional clothes. I guess you could just call them clothes up here. Horses, yaks, pigs roam through fields and across roads. Cars are small and Chinese made. The air is thin and clear and in town, buildings are approaching 10 stories. A modern airport fills part of the valley and the road leading to this place is smooth and new. I can't imagine this area will be the same 10 years from now. China may still be a one party state, but the mood that prevails here in the poorest of the poor China it seems to me is one of progress, material success and a want of modernity.

testing

test (firewalls in china are lame!!!)

it's been a while!!

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.

pics!!!

Pictures!!! I think I've finally gotten back into the city mode after having spent the summer in one of the more beautiful places I've ever been. When I first got here, the smell especially got to me but also the heat and the congestion. People are everywhere here! I think that if you took everyone in New York city in July and moved them all to Manhattan, then mixed in equal parts Chinatown, wall street and times square and placed it in a setting like San Francisco, you would have hong kong. Tomorow I head to Lantau Island to stay at a little place on the beach. I need a break from all the craziness!!!!!!

pictures....

the computer i'm on is TERRIBLE and refuses to show any pictures. you all will have to wait a bit more :(