Date: July 9, 2000 Subject: china post! Hi everyone!!! Apologies to all for bombarding you with this unprovoked missive from afar, but I just wanted to let everyone know that despite my pre-flight jitters I am still alive, having survived not only the SFO-Beijing flight (mostly spent recuperating from the usual packing all-nighter and mad dash to the airport) but even a dreaded internal flight to Kunming. (In case I forgot to tell any of you, I'm in China till July 31 trying to recapture my misspent world traveler youth.) DISCLAIMER: I will be not the least offended if my continued existence is all you really want to know of this trip, and the next time I have such a gloriously fast connection I will be happy to save you from the hurried and scattered braindumps you may otherwise be getting over the next few weeks (or not -- so far we have been living it up in easy-access big cities, but I have no doubt that we will soon be free of electricity, hot water and all the accompanying perks, so you may all luck out and be spared any further details). Also, please don't feel obligated to respond, though the triumph of tracking down access points in the wild will undoubtedly be sweetened by any word from afar. (Read: please write if you can!!) A relatively random sampling of impressions from my first 3 days: a kinder, gentler Beijing has been spruced up in anticipation of the Int'l Olympic Committee's visit re 2008, and so much is not what I recall!!! A formerly frequented major street was barely recognizable to me -- the shops were much newer and nicer than before, and amazingly enough even included a sex shop that Harriet and I wandered into for a quick look; I took a picture of Harriet among many interesting paraphernalia and standing under a huge sign proclaiming "Abolish ignorance - respect science", though the workers were none too amused. Besides general infrastruture and newfound manners in many (though thankfully not all) service people, however, I was relieved to track down my favorite roadside snacks and remind myself of the standard grease content of your typical Beijing dive. We even went to a Uighur restaurant!!! (I'll explain some other time.) No time now for the rest -- but after a rather (understatement) stressful rush to the airport (believe it or not, not MY fault for once! :) ), Harriet, Ambika, Diana and I are all safely and happily in the amazing southwest and contemplating how we are possibly going to do even a fraction of what we would like to -- I've been reading too many guidebooks, and forgetting that ignorance is bliss as far as knowing what we will have to be missing. Hope everyone's happy and well! love nancy p.s. Harriet's hotmail account is stymied for some reason, so she has to satisfy herself with saying hi through me! ________________________________________________________________________ Date: July 13, 2000 Subject: still alive -- just barely Time only for a brief hello from Lijiang, which has just a few more Westerners and Internet cafes than I'd like. I have mixed feelings about the surprising degree of tourist infrastructure and access to the world we've found in what I had thought would be remote corners of China -- it seems that every street around here has a gift shop with "Internet upstairs please" or somesuch emblazoned across the front window. And many restaurants around here have Western delicacies (banana pancakes, apple pie with not-quite-vanilla ice cream, hot brownies, "lasagna" and "Lijiang's best pizza") sprinkled in among more local fare -- we had yak jerky the other day, but I have to admit I decided against sampling the pig's blood dish we ordered. (I haven't been feeling very well in the last few days anyway, ever since Harriet passed me her cold.) Anyway, since arriving in the southwest we have picked our way up to the NW part of Yunnan. Because Diana has a Chinese driver's license (!!!!!), we were able to rent a car, giving us the freedom to stop for all the amazing photo ops we want and to wander in the odd rural un-tourist-invaded villages we've encountered along the way. We went to a local market, where Ambika (the only one among us who speaks no Chinese) wasted no time charming the locals -- whenever I checked on her she'd be petting the chicks, helping the basket-weavers, trying on a pigskin raincoat, etc., all the while somehow *connecting* with the people around her. The rest of us, meanwhile, were arousing suspicion while trying to take surreptitious pictures of the adorable kids and traditional clothing and goods around us. We're in minority territory -- at the moment at the center of the matrilineal/matriarchal Naxi minority (no wonder we all feel so comfortable here). I had a close encounter with one such 80-year-old matriarch yesterday -- she came over to me as I sat across from her house at a gorgeous spot overlooking the old town and struck up a "conversation" -- a bit hampered by my inability to understand her strong accent. At one point she came in VERY close, put her hands on mine and whispered something of seeming great significance in my ear. Alas, I could barely make out a word -- I guess I blew my chance at gleaning Naxi feminist wisdom. We're now heading toward less-populated territory, so I'm not sure whether I'll be very connected for awhile. Oh, before i forget -- we did have a rather life-threatening incident the other day: as we were driving 100 km/h down a slope in the mountains between Dali and Lijiang, our hood suddenly flew up and hit the windshield, cracking it and leaving us virtually blinded as Diana tried to stop the car. Fortunately, there weren't many people on the road, and for once it was a straight segment and not a cliff-hugging plummet to our fiery deaths. (Oops, a little morbid.) After that the car attracted more attention than Diana (a foreigner driving!!) did. We're all safe though, and with any luck that'll be our only brush with death. Take care (as will we) and more later (maybe!)! nancy p.s. thanks to everyone who has written, and sorry i haven't had time to reply to all. i will eventually, and in the meantime it's great to have news from home. ________________________________________________________________________ Date: July 19, 2000 Subject: out of the woods (we hope) Hey everyone, I will *not* tell the Big Bad Story, because the sustained terror and retrospective humor of the situation are probably best conveyed in person. In summary: we were plenty naive if we thought our car hood's recent attack on our unsuspecting windshield was harrowing; at least that was in broad daylight, and we were still mobile. On the bright side, I've learned quite a lot about cars: (malfunctioning) clutches, (leaky) radiators, (overheated) engine oil, professional (and decidedly unprofessional) tow trucks (night and day, not just figuratively). I am also much more appreciative of the amazing virgin highways (no doubt built in anticipation of the impending tourist flood) we sped along early in the trip. Our rainy journey from Lijiang to more remote Zhongdian gave us (not to mention the car) an indelible impression of what they must have been like just a few years ago: boulder-strewn construction sites passing for roads. After one particularly indelible impression, our "road" had to serve as a makeshift hotel for Ambika and Diana while Harriet and I survived a wild ride (often sans headlights) to the next town with a pair of Good Samaritans of dubious trustworthiness and with no apparent regard to the frequent trenches, suddenly looming boulders and bulldozers en route. Fortunately, due either to the jerryrigging skills of the Chinese MacGyver we enlisted or the blessings we received the next day from a living Buddha (after a crash course on what to do in his presence), we have survived more or less unscathed and made the transition from car-repair lots to more mundane, expected sights: snowy mountains, lakes, gorgeous gorges; centuries-old temples and houses galore; cute minority kids (or "snot-nosed ankle-biters", according to one of our group who shall remain unnamed), horses, yaks, cows, the odd monkey (attn Ben: some of these clearly need to be liberated). In fact, for the last few days we've been living in the lap of luxury at a friend-of-friend's-Naxi-parent's home, where we encountered only one major snafu -- since our car was in the shop, we inadvertently wreaked our bad appliance karma on our kind host's toilet instead. No lives endangered though. Until next time, nancy p.s. Most amusing pastimes: assuming the poses of impressive Commie statues we've encountered; teaching Ambika Chinese; and deciphering the rather creative English on signs and menus everywhere. Tonight, for instance, we decided against the "Shredded Dork in Fish-flavored sauce". ________________________________________________________________________ Date: July 31, 2000 Subject: last post from China! Monday, 3pm: I roll into Beijing's spanking new Capitol Airport, more or less on time, somewhat ill from too much Western food in the last few days and ready to become comatose on the plane, only to find that my flight has been CANCELED. No announcements or explanations are forthcoming, of course, though I am told that the plane never came to Beijing, due to "insufficient crew". I get in line (quite orderly, since it was mostly Americans). Monday, 3:30pm: Line hasn't moved. Monday, 4:00pm: Line hasn't moved. Monday, 4:30pm: Line hasn't moved. Monday, 5pm: Line begins to move. Monday, 6pm: I am at the front of the line. Monday, 6:30pm: I am still at the front of the line, and I discover that ALL the replacement tickets are being written out by hand. Apparently this is the first cancellation United has had at the new Beijing airport, and they haven't quite worked out all the kinks. The upshot: I get an extra evening in Beijing, spent primarily in the cushy 4-star hotel they put me up in, watching CNN, music videos of all sorts (including some Chinese military songs in honor of 8/1's 73rd anniverary of the founding of the PLA), French/Spanish/Italian/German/Japanese TV, bad movies on HBO. I'm also on constant guard against Diana's cat, who keeps disconnecting the computer and walking on the keyboard. (I invited Diana+cat to partake of said cushiness and cable TV tonight.) 4pp-0 (See? That was the cat!!) Well, at least I get to send one last mail from China telling you of our latest/last adventures. Fortunately, I have few new death-defying feats to report; our most notorious stage ended with Diana's return to Beijing and our resulting carlessness. This notoriety was confirmed, by the way, when a passerby 4trf546 (cat) asked us out of the blue how our car was doing. It turns out that he'd passed us (no doubt gawking) on the road during our times of woe... on THREE SEPARATE OCCASIONS (he never stopped to help, of course). I guess that's the closest we'll get to fame in China (unless you count the TV reporters covering Ambika's project presentation in Beijing a few weeks ago -- Harriet and I tried to melt into the background scenes). Of course, carless travel has its own perils. After flying to Chengdu and succumbing to my cousin's hospitality at a great Sichuanese restaurant (the "don't offend my culture" line doesn't work on bonafide Chinese people), we oohed and aahed at the biggest Buddha in the world in Leshan (71 meters high!) and then took the lazy-car to the peak of Emeishan, one of the most famous Chinese Buddhist mountains, where we posed for some great pictures in our rented big Army coats and listened for wall rats in the monastery we stayed in; the following day, after enjoying a sunrise above the clouds, we hiked down, which was particularly fun when the monkeys (Tibetan macaques) en route tried to cling to my backpack or steal my water bottle. But the effect of EIGHT hours of descending via Chinese tourist-mountain staircases (= uneven and often in poor repair) was an extremely painful few days of moaning and groaning and hobbling and wobbling and WADDLING through China, looking with despair on every flight of stairs we had the misfortune to encounter. (Low point: returning to the Traffic Hotel to find the elevator broken and having to walk up to our 5th-floor room.) We also suffered/suffocated through a couple bus rides from hell (no windows, no A/C, no air, just a slow descent toward unconsciousness). In any case, by the time we left Chengdu we were in definite need of at least the latter part of the PADICURE AND FRRT KNEAD advertised by one of the more reputable-looking massage parlors we passed. Sure enough, it wasn't until we reached Yangshuo a few days later and engaged an amazing Qi Gong master to work his massage magic on our long-suffering limbs that we had fully functional bodies again, needed for our grand bike-riding and cave-climbing and village-pond-swimming finale. My final day or so in Beijing has been spent on a shopping rampage, with a few family visits thrown in for good measure. Highlight: being told by a waitress in a Shanghainese restaurant today that my English was pretty good. I'm now crossing my fingers that no further crew shortages develop (rumor: our cancellation resulted from a non-strike strike), either here in Beijing or during my 4-hour layover in Seoul. I guess this is what I get for wishing my vacation would never end. See you all soon, I hope! cheers! nancy p.s. I forgot to mention the many pandas we saw at a research center in Chengdu -- they totally live up to the adorable media image. But apparently they need a lot of help in the mating/breeding department -- including "electric inspiration" at times, according to the panda museum. I guess we should put the panda people in touch with that Beijing sex shop. ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com