Dodging Obstacles

What's it like to live in a country with a population problem?  Besides learning to wait in long lines, cut long lines, and yell at other people who cut in line, you also learn how to dodge obstacles. 

There are obstacles on the road.  I am involved in minor bike collisions once or twice a week -- usually my fault since my brakes are only effective for gradually slowing me down, not for coming to a full stop.  Luckily I've perfected my "tumble, roll, and stand up (action hero style)" technique.  The brakes are beyond repair, but I should probably get a bell for my bike. 

There are obstacles in the air.  People fly kites in the park and in the square, so runners: beware.  Certain foreigners have been known to run into kite lines that become invisible to the eye when moving through space, to the annoyance of the kite-flyers.  Chinese people really take their kites seriously.

And there are obstacles in the pool.  I've become a regular fish since coming to the desert, thanks to the Shihezi University pool.  I am proud to say that I have graduated from almost drowning halfway across the pool to swimming multiple laps.  But swimming laps in the China means you have to share your lane with 5, 6, 7, 8, even 9 other swimmers.  That's not counting the thick-waisted middle-aged men who hang out in their speedos at the end of the lane and stand conveniently in your way just as you're finishing a lap, while occasionally commenting on your foreignness and your lack of resting (it's called exercise, people!) to their equally thick-waisted bespeedoed buddies.  Just as you get in the zone, your breathing is measured, your movements are coordinated...out of the blue comes a human figure, straight at you.  I wasn't used to the crowding when I first started swimming (I wasn't used to swimming), so there were a few bumped heads, and a lot of skin grazing skin, feet brushing hands.  People don't seem to mind, because in this country your body will frequently make contact with other people in a way that would be unacceptable in America, where personal space is a right.  Here it's a privilege.

Today at the pool I really worked on dodging.  Dodging people while swimming breaks your rhythm and may also result in an excess of water splashing into your mouth if you breathe while the averted obstacle is kicking past you.  I'm definitely getting better though, and after a few more swims I think I will be able to minimize water intake and keep crawling past without batting a goggled eye. 

After China, I'll be able to dodge almost any obstacle the streets, parks, and pools of America throw at me.  Having my own lane will be such a luxury!

Oops! I've been slacking, two!

In response to Oops! I've been slacking!:

Actually I haven't been slacking that badly, but I do want to get my Vietnam pictures up before I write about my recent travel to Turpan (just back today)!

徒步: Going on Foot

I've started off the spring semester with 2 hikes in month -- a good sign for more hikes to come.

I forgot my camera when we went hiking in the desert a few hours north of Shihezi, so Ana's post and pictures will have to suffice.

This past weekend we went camping in the Southern Mountains (the ones I see from my window) with a mix of foreign friends and Chinese students.

The chaos that is camping with Chinese people who insist on grilling meat.

Getting ready for the obligatory group shot.

The hike out.

Wet boots but a lot of fun, after I got over the fact that we were drinking melted snow and grilling lamb over coals and other things I normally don't do as a rather spartan, and always well-prepared hiker.  This time I wasn't well-prepared (never trust a Frenchman who relays a suspicious Chinese person's message to you regarding responsibility for water.) I'll go with this group again, I'm sure, and hopefully it'll be less chaos and even more fun.

Lively Conversation

More than one of my students has a notebook with this comic on the front:
 

I'm not sure they would see why I find this humorous.

The Song I've Been Searching For

I've been trying to find out the name of this Uighur song ever since hearing it several times during my travels in southern XJ. I tried asking people in Hotan who couldn't speak Chinese and wasn't successful; I've asked my Uighur classmates in my Chinese class and evidently mispronounced the word "Yari Gulla" that I heard in the chorus. Out of sheer luck, I just found it on youtube! The version I heard was a man singing it, but this is definitely it.

Plain of Jars

One of the most spectacular places I visited was the Plain of Jars in Phonsavan, north-central Laos. These megaliths have been dated back to the Iron Age and are thought to have been used for burial practices, although other researchers have suggested that they were used to collect rainwater, and local legends say they were used to produce and store lao-lao rice whisky. I visited the 3 sites that are open to the public (there are 90 sites in total) by bike, which took me all day on dusty unpaved road. Luckily I was riding past picturesque Lao-style ranches under an azure and pillow-y white sky.

Some more of the scenery along the way:

Here are the jars.

Laos is currently applying for the Plain of Jars to be designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but the area is riddled with UXOs (Unexploded Ordnance) leftover from America's covert bombing of Laos during the Vietnam war. The sites are still being cleared (which is why I could only visit 3 sites). UXOs, or "bombies" as locals call them, have devastated the country and prevent economic development in the worst-hit areas. As a tourist, it's hard to see the horrifying effects of my government's actions and still be able to be proud to be American.

Pictures of Laos

I'll do a separate post for the Plain of Jars, but here are some pictures from Northern Laos. Just over the border from China.



The Khmu village I visited on my trek out of Luang Namtha



Women entering the village from the fields.



Meanwhile, the men were drinking rice whiskey out of a stone jar, supposedly in celebration of the last day of the school year.



The food on the trek was delicious -- sticky rice and simple stir-fried vegetables. Served on a giant banana leaf.



After Luang Namtha I went to Nong Khiaw, a small riverside town. From there I took a 7-hour boat ride to Luang Prabang, pulling in during sunset.





Luang Prabang was a tourist zoo, with a night market that spanned for blocks.



Luckily there were day trips to get out of the city, like to this cool waterfall.



Also, I found a back alley with a cheap noodle stand that I had to keep going back to.



The combination of chili and lime...sublime!



More pictures of Laos soon.