Monday, October 03, 2005
TIBETAN DISCO, A FAILED HIKE & BEN RENOUNCES MAOISM
First off, let me say how much I hate bedbugs. Somewhere over the last few weeks they have decided to inhabit my sleeping bag. I'm all bitten up but fortunately I don't need to use my sleeping bag before I return to Kunming in a week. Then its time for a thorough washing.
That having been said, L'Shana Tovah. To celebrate erev Rosh Hashanah we had apples and honey. Regular honey was unavailable so we settled for honeycombs fresh from the hive. There were still bees in it, though dead. A neat Chinese twist on the Jewish New Year.
Chinese Independance Day turned out to be quite interesting. People wound up circle dancing in the streets which was interesting for a bit but then we got bored and went to a Tibetan disco. With techno blaring and strobe lights flashing it was hard to take in our surroundings at first. Then people realized that there were foreigners and the dancing abruptly stopped. Everyone looked at us for a few minutes then we joined them in dancing. The disco was full of young Tibetan people wearing MTV influenced clothes (i.e. 50 Cent t-shirts) yet they were all circle dancing (step step step kick.) I can only imagine what the reaction would be if I attempted to start a circle dance in an American disco.
Today we left Deqing to hike up to Yubeng and see Kawagarbo (Meili) mountain. At 21,000ft, Kawagarbo is one of the highest unclimbed mountain in China. Halfway up the 1000m vertical hike we talked to a few Chinese tourists who told us that there were no more rooms in Yubeng and people were camping in the streets. For Chinese Independance Day everyone is given 3 days off and apparently the whole country came to see the mountain. We turned around and came back to Deqing. Tomorrow we go to Shangri-La then Dali a day after that.
After reading a book on CHina here, I've come to the conclusion that despite all the "good things" he did, Mao was a crazy bastard. That a billion people could hero worship him and overlook the tens of millions of people he killed (or deaths he was responsible for) astounds me. I still like many the things the Chinese government provides (such as healthcare, nationalized education, pandas and Mao hats) but I can rule out becoming a Maoist while I'm here. I will still discuss Communism here later.
Some rants:
Sports: Is anyone really surprised that the Phillies blew it and missed the playoffs for the 12th straight year? I know I'm not. Now I have to hear all the Yankees fans here...until they lose. All my football teams are doing well. Penn State, ranked for the first time in 3 years is well on their way to a bowl game. I hope that everyone who called for Joe Paterno's resignation is enjoying eating their words.
Supreme Court: John Roberts, I can deal with. Miers, we'll see. I am deeply troubled by W's glowing recommendation of her. On the bright side, a few conservative groups have decried Bush's "steath nominees" and claimed that Mier will be as liberal as Souter. I fully expect that by the time I return, America will have been set back socially 50 or more years. Oh well, my Supreme Court nominees will fix the problems these create.
Bird Flu: The UN seems to be panicking about it proclaiming that up to 150 million people might die. 30 million doses of Tamiflu have been ordered by the US Government. It is not in the news here. People do not discuss it. All I have heard about the bird flu here is that the only humans who acquire it are the ones who drink duck's blood. I plan on paying a little more attention to this than the general population of China but I think I'll pass on the duck blood, tasty as it sounds.
First off, let me say how much I hate bedbugs. Somewhere over the last few weeks they have decided to inhabit my sleeping bag. I'm all bitten up but fortunately I don't need to use my sleeping bag before I return to Kunming in a week. Then its time for a thorough washing.
That having been said, L'Shana Tovah. To celebrate erev Rosh Hashanah we had apples and honey. Regular honey was unavailable so we settled for honeycombs fresh from the hive. There were still bees in it, though dead. A neat Chinese twist on the Jewish New Year.
Chinese Independance Day turned out to be quite interesting. People wound up circle dancing in the streets which was interesting for a bit but then we got bored and went to a Tibetan disco. With techno blaring and strobe lights flashing it was hard to take in our surroundings at first. Then people realized that there were foreigners and the dancing abruptly stopped. Everyone looked at us for a few minutes then we joined them in dancing. The disco was full of young Tibetan people wearing MTV influenced clothes (i.e. 50 Cent t-shirts) yet they were all circle dancing (step step step kick.) I can only imagine what the reaction would be if I attempted to start a circle dance in an American disco.
Today we left Deqing to hike up to Yubeng and see Kawagarbo (Meili) mountain. At 21,000ft, Kawagarbo is one of the highest unclimbed mountain in China. Halfway up the 1000m vertical hike we talked to a few Chinese tourists who told us that there were no more rooms in Yubeng and people were camping in the streets. For Chinese Independance Day everyone is given 3 days off and apparently the whole country came to see the mountain. We turned around and came back to Deqing. Tomorrow we go to Shangri-La then Dali a day after that.
After reading a book on CHina here, I've come to the conclusion that despite all the "good things" he did, Mao was a crazy bastard. That a billion people could hero worship him and overlook the tens of millions of people he killed (or deaths he was responsible for) astounds me. I still like many the things the Chinese government provides (such as healthcare, nationalized education, pandas and Mao hats) but I can rule out becoming a Maoist while I'm here. I will still discuss Communism here later.
Some rants:
Sports: Is anyone really surprised that the Phillies blew it and missed the playoffs for the 12th straight year? I know I'm not. Now I have to hear all the Yankees fans here...until they lose. All my football teams are doing well. Penn State, ranked for the first time in 3 years is well on their way to a bowl game. I hope that everyone who called for Joe Paterno's resignation is enjoying eating their words.
Supreme Court: John Roberts, I can deal with. Miers, we'll see. I am deeply troubled by W's glowing recommendation of her. On the bright side, a few conservative groups have decried Bush's "steath nominees" and claimed that Mier will be as liberal as Souter. I fully expect that by the time I return, America will have been set back socially 50 or more years. Oh well, my Supreme Court nominees will fix the problems these create.
Bird Flu: The UN seems to be panicking about it proclaiming that up to 150 million people might die. 30 million doses of Tamiflu have been ordered by the US Government. It is not in the news here. People do not discuss it. All I have heard about the bird flu here is that the only humans who acquire it are the ones who drink duck's blood. I plan on paying a little more attention to this than the general population of China but I think I'll pass on the duck blood, tasty as it sounds.
