Hot Coco Are For Toddlers in China

MSN chat is very common and everyone is shocked that I don't have an account. This is the most amount of internet time I have spent since, well, ever, because I am far away and this is the only communication that is easily cheaply available..

Tonight I went to the bar and asked for hot water for my hot coco. Wang Chung Nan the bar tender said to me, “these kinds of drinks are for little kids who are still on milk.” Hum… although Yao Ming’s billboard ads with Beijing Olympic symbols on it says “Be like Yao Ming drink milk” is everywhere in the big cities, I guess not all are buying into it. Wang majored in English because there was no major for history his passionate subject and he settled for English at his college. He's from a farming community in Sichuan. He is working here because he speaks English and at a touristy place and a youth hostel, his English skill comes in handy. He has a job at the bar because in getting any job now in China all the jobs ask for 1-2 years of previous work experience. As a new college graduate he did not have previous working experience and working on his family farm didn’t count. This cafe bar job did not require previous job experience. Wang studied for the law exams and took it but missed it by 30 pointed. He decided he would not continue to pursue the field of law. He talked about New Years and being able to hopefully go home and eat local new years home made food by his mom. We exchanged the differences in both cultures on education etc. Wang said he had lots of interest but the community discouraged any sports activity and artistic pursuit because they were unrealistic impractical financial ideals.

While at the bar the guys talked about guys in the room and the sleeping situation at night, they joked about the evening sounds. I suggested calling it a symphony, they corrected me and said it's more like many motors running loudly at once. We all laughed.

I talked with the owner for a bit. He lent me his notebook while all the computer stations were all taken by internet group games. He shared with me his hostel business experience and I talked about my travel experience in search of housing etc… We both agreed on the importance of getting listed positively on the Lonely Planet book. He said he sold the previous youth hostel and started this one because this is the only youth hostel in the area. It’s so new it’s not even on the Lonely Planet Guide. On top of it all, Lonely Planet, he tell me updates their info every few years and publishes new info every 2 to 3 years even if it has the current year printed on the cover. I have been having fun chatting with the owner here.

Before I went to bed I watched TV with the female works here on a report on the Chinese gymnastic world champion on the Horse. It was very inspiring to watch the interview, she talked about her dedication to the art and all her sense of responsibility to her community's hopes and dreams for her, her advancement in making the national team and now a world champion is really advancing her parent's family living standard. Her parent's supported her training by sewing gloves day and night to make ends meet. The ladies offered to share their midnight snack with me with was very kind but they were BBQ intestinal parts of some animal that I could not eat.

Jiuzhaigo During Late Fall Early Winter

I got up really early to dash for the park. Du flagged down a cab who took us to the bus station to check out the time and cost for Huang Long. Fearing the cab driver would take off without us he instructed me to stay in the car while he gets the information. He returned with two tickets to Huang Long the next day for both of us, a decision he made independently on his own. Maybe that was why he had me sit in the cab?

We and the rest of the entire tourist population were not informed of the change to park hours to 8am and not 7am. We all stood outside and waited for an hour in the cold. There was frost and ice. I was in layers like Everest Base Camp. We skipped breakfast thinking there would be street stands available but we were disappointed. I munched on almonds and roasted chestnut. There was a lot of tourist in the park even on the low season so I can’t imagine what they mean by high season traffic. I can’t imaging this park having more people in it, it would block the view I think with all the people in it.

This park is full of lakes, creeks, waterfalls, mineralized pools. The water in the lakes and pools are aquamarine. The pools are like Hawaiian beach and ocean water. It was beautiful, everywhere. The mountains are now heading for winter, most of the fall colors have fallen. We came across Swen from Hunnan. She ran the whole trail on her slipped disc back. I stuck with my pace and all three of us still caught up with each other during the last trail. I found out that Du is a cancer, and born on the year of the ox. Swen is a libra.

I really enjoyed a relaxing day of walking and photographing. There are lots of places that are very cute and beautiful. I am glad my mom encouraged me to come to this park when I am in this province. The door fee was a lot of money but it was beautiful and worth it. Even after the 12 hour ride, Du who elected to not bring his camera that he left with his luggage in Chengdu made a promise to himself that he would return to photograph the place.

Right Out of a Kong Fu Movie

I got up early for the bus ride, didn't want to be late and didn't know if I'd come across a taxi or a bus on time. Standing out in the street in the dark, I was told by someone who was passing by that it was too early for a bus and that I better get a cab. I was able to spot a cab driver and I arrived at the station very early at 6:40am, my bus was for 7:50am. The station was not even open yet so I sat at the breakfast noodle place for an hour and chatted with four people from Beijing.

Breakfast choices at this wheeled cart vendor were boiled egg, wontons, and noodles. Then I noticed how swiftly the noodle stand was being packed up as if they are sold out and took everything down including the tables. I am guessing that they didn't have a legal permit to be in that spot and when official working hours started they'd be officially illegally there. It was interesting because one moment it was a hot selling stand that everyone crowded around for food, next moment it was on the run and gone. This happens in Si Lin night market too in Taiwan when the cops come and all the illegal venders without a permit who has got their goods on the ground have to fold their stuff up and run for 10 minutes until the cops clear to another area and then they return and resume. It’s quite a thing to watch how they’ve got the routine and escape route down well all in a flash of time.

When I got onto the bus, I noticed the Beijing people were sitting in my seat. I waited for the driver to check our ticket and follow the guideline of seating according to your ticket. I was then allowed back to my seat. I was numbered for the front row of the bus because I got my ticket early yesterday. Next to me was a man from Europe who ended up switching seats with a man from Beijing because he wanted to sit with his friend from Singapore. His name is Du like DuFu the poet. I was bummed about the switch because Du in terms of physical size was heftier than the European man. This man from Beijing was in his 30s working as a real estate tourism journalist. I asked him what is hard about his work since he gets paid to travel. He said there is a lot of pressure like the meetings he sets up with people and confirmed the day before arrival only to find out at the time of the meeting that they were all arrested for fraud and theft the night before etc.... it's quite funny. He also talked a lot about his pressure at his work how there are lots of top Beijing graduates every year who are jobless and he has to hang onto his work however he can. Du says when there are deadlines and budgets, he ends up writing about places he has never been and just cuts and paste from the internet search engine. On the bus ride he got his next assignment due when he returns to Beijing on HaiNan island but he has never been there. So I guess the line of “you can’t believe everything you read” is quite appropriate.

I met a young college graduate named Swen Xiao Yan who has a slipped disc on his back for more than a year, she is on her way to Beijing to check out a proper doctor. She’s been shopping all over the country for one that she can trust. She showed me her recent x-ray. In fact until this recent x-ray, she did not know she had a slipped disc all this time.

During a vendor stop I got to tasted almonds in shells. It is different from Californian almonds, it is smaller and it looks like the ones on the Asian almond powder packaging photos. It even had the strong almond taste like the ones in Chinese almond jello. Now I know where the flavor comes from, Chinese almonds are more fragrant and potent than American ones. I used to boycott the stuff made with almonds in Chinese style because I thought it was too artificial, but really Chinese almonds just taste like that, now I know.

During a full stop due to traffic from road construction, I got off to stretch my legs. In front of our bus was a horse wagon and further ahead and behind was an endless line of buses like ours. I took the opportunity to search for a restroom. I went up to a farm house in search of a toilet. Well, I think the appropriate word is more like a pit. I peaked into a farm house and it was just smoky but there was no smoke. This place, the air smelled fine but visually, there was a cloudy blur to it like smoke. Everything in sight was blurred, dusty, so there is no view for clarity. There was a secret like feel to the place as if the place held secrets and hid things from the light. Not only did it have amazing very different species of big gigantic spiders I had never seen before with different colors and patterns, it was covered with spider webs. I don't think they were as big as those in Australia.

The owner came to acknowledge my presence and I asked to use her pit. She finally reluctantly agreed. She was a woman in her middle ages who has golden tan skin from working under hot Yunnan sun. She did not smile and had one expression on her face that said, quiet, reserved, don't mess with me and I won't mess with you. The pit was walled with thick webs everywhere. I checked around and hurried fearing spiders appearing out of here and there to land on my bare bum. I waited until after I used the pit to ask her about the spiders. She was reluctant to answer my questions by pretending to not understand my questions like she spoke a different language or she would respond in a way as if she misunderstood my question. It was all very weird. I got the sense that she practiced a kind of oral transmitted ancient practice that involved spiders. This woman and her place is liken to someone who stepped out of a kong fu novel. What a surprise and an interesting encounter.

When I arrived in Jiuzhaigo twelve plus hours later, I asked the bus driver to drop me off the main road so I can look for the youth hostel instead of getting off at the station. Du also decided to follow me. Upon arrival I learned this new hostel has only been in business for two months. Everything was new and very well decorated with local tribal craft and art. The internet was free to use. The room was done in a cabin style, the beds were bigger than most hostel beds, the restroom even has heater, and all for 40 yuan per bed. Everything else here is in the 100s and may not be good for what you pay for. It is low season so it is quite.

There is snow here and I've got clothes. I learned my wool lined boots are synthetic, even better, animal free, and still warm. My body is sore from all the hiking, monkey injuries, bum bus rides. Surprisingly I fell pretty good. I need a day of down time though, but not tomorrow. Tomorrow is up the park and doing a day's worth of walking all over.

I get about one meal of hot food a day and sometimes two when it is convenient and good. If I am walking a lot I try to get in two meals of hot food. Usually a bowl of noodles and some vegetables. The bowls here are not American bowls, much smaller. Last night I moved my body like I was intentionally dancing along with the music for the party but really I just had too many ouie spots, it was the only way I can move around.