Nepal and the Mystic Himalayas
Posted by Anya in Activities on January 29, 2012
One update that is seriously overdue relates to last November’s trip to Nepal. What an astonishing country! About the size of North Carolina and with only about 30M inhabitants (Shanghai alone has 20M!), what it lacks in scale it more than makes up in diversity. In only two weeks we visited Katmandu to take in the colours and the chaos, we saw some of the remote villages of the beautiful but chilly Annapurna foothills, then travelled by raft down the Seiti river to the jungles of the Chitwan National park. The country feels a lot bigger because the roads are terrible (with the biggest potholes I’ve ever seen and generally plagued by slow moving cows) – and as a result flying everywhere is by far the most effective way of getting around. Otherwise we travelled mostly by bus.
When I was a student I went travelling with a friend in Peru. We just rocked up in Lima and spent the next couple of months just going where the fancy took us, heading first south down to Arequipa then up to Cuzco and the Inca Trail, and briefly over to Bolivia. We were most dismissive of anyone who went on an organised bus based trip, referring to them as “cultural bubbles”. We both swore we’d never stoop so low.
The thing we hadn’t fully appreciated at the time is the fact that when you work, the bubble approach is really the only way of getting things packed into a short timeframe. That’s how we ended up on a cultural bubble but one that allowed us to pack a LOT into under two weeks. We managed to experience a surprising amount of the country’s diversity. Actually it wasn’t JUST bus travel. We could count, airplanes, taxis, canoes, rafts, paragliders, elephants, bullock carts and ultralights among our modes of transport while in the country.
We saw so much but here’s a selection of memorable places/ experiences:
I loved the mountains, particularly the trip in a plane to fly along the Himalayas. I was lucky enough to be in the cockpit when we flew past Lukla – probably the most challenging airstrip in the world, and the gateway to Everest for many. More on my newfound fascination with mountains later…
I was utterly charmed by the elephants we met in Chitwan. So very intelligent and so very big! What astonishing creatures. I loved the safari on the elephant’s back – three of us sitting back to back in a sort of platform strapped to the elephant’s back. We soon got used to the rolling gait but it was distinctly odd when our steed broke into a rather bouncy trot.
I loved the Stupas – the temples in Katmandu with their multi-coloured prayer flags and Budda’s all-seeing eyes that look out in the four directions.
I was somehow left saddened after our visit to Kumari in Katmandu. Kumari is a young girl, plucked from a village somewhere to become a living goddess to be worshipped until puberty at which point she returns to her previous life. We only saw this Kumari for a few minutes, she looked bored out of her mind. What a strange and probably lonely life.
I don’t think I could ever get used to all the street vendors who descend on tourists in swarms and attempt to sell all manner of random trinkets. They seem to consider price the only possible objection you might have for not purchasing, so if haggling is a favoured sport, Nepal is your dream destination. I didn’t particularly want what they were selling but the chap, a soft touch by all accounts, ended up with armfuls of brightly coloured hats, small bags and various amulets to guard him against all manner of ills. These will all likely be distributed during birthdays and Christmases for some time to come.
Here are some of our pics from the trip.
How hard can it be to get to Mexico anyway?
Posted by Anya in Activities, Car stuff on January 23, 2012
While on the subject of New Year – we were invited to see the new year in at Rocky Point in Mexico with friends. We happily accepted and vaguely planned to ride the bikes down from San Francisco. Actually I was really looking forward to the opportunity of riding through southern California – what I’d seen of it so far, the coastline down to Big Sur, was stunning. In any case we figured it would take about two days to ride down. It’s a case of heading to the border and turning right. No?
Then we actually got a map out. California is really rather deceptively long as it turns out. Door to door it was looking like approximately 900 miles. We’ve certainly ridden further in two days but on closer examination, the route along the small roads was going to take far too long. So now we were looking at a two day blast down the Interstate. Not fun.
Then we thought about it some more. While the border south of Phoenix isn’t the worst part of Mexico, you still don’t want to be crossing it at night. And you REALLY don’t want to be crossing at night on a bike. So we would have to spend the night on the US side then ride the last 250 miles or so in the morning. So now it would be a 2.5 day trip which would mean we’d have no time to actually BE there before turning round.
Somewhat disappointed we admitted that taking the bikes was not the way to go. We did have a hire car – so we could just drive that down to Mexico, potentially even in one go if we took turns – right? Wrong. Most car hire companies won’t allow you to take your car to Mexico (or take a driving test in it but that’s a different story).
Hmmm. Then we reasoned that a car rental joint nearer the border just HAD to allow you to cross it. We thought maybe we could bike/ drive to San Diego and take a car from there. That was a pretty good plan. The only thing is that rental companies in San Diego that allow you to take their vehicles into Mexico don’t see the need to rent cars. We could have hired a truck or a bus. Why would you not want to transport lots of people and/ or gear in and out of Mexico? Sigh.
This was harder than we thought. We nearly gave up but did eventually make it to Mexico – by flying in and out of Phoenix and renting a car there (mucho extra paperwork required including a promise to bring it back in one piece). Sheesh!
Once we made it to Rocky Point we had a great couple of days. We walked along the beach watching the pelicans fishing, tasted many different establishments’ finest margaritas but my favourite bit of all was visiting the port to watch the fishing boats come in.
Resolution time
Posted by Anya in Activities on January 23, 2012
I’m sorry. I’ve neglected posting for a while. I’ve been busy just enjoying the whirlwind that was the end of 2011. It was an amazing year. It wasn’t without its challenges or low points, but I can honestly look back and say that I was given some great opportunities and I made the most of them. It started with a trip to Patagonia, saw me marry and move to China, and included other amazing visits to Indonesia and Nepal (more on that later). The sheer awesomeness of 2011 means that I’ve approached 2012 with a little trepidation. Now that I get a second chance at a new year now it is the year of the Dragon, I thought it was time to make some resolutions:
- Don’t forget to blog! Sorry to those of you who have been asking. I’ll try to catch up asap.
- Participate in the Pennsylvania Spartan Run and DON’T SUCK AT IT. I’ve always avoided any running based races. Mostly because I don’t like running. Also I am sufficiently competitive to not want to subject myself to the indignity of being overtaken by someone dressed like a deep sea diver, or Thora Hird or someone. I’m hoping the obstacles will break up my usual running mantra of “hate hate hate hate hate…”
- Learn Mandarin. OK I’ve taken some lessons but Mandarin is difficult as you have to just sit down and memorise stuff. You can’t take in much from what’s around you as you can’t read any of it. While I am in China I have to reach the point where I can communicate somewhat more than currently.
- Also China related – I want to be able to acquire skills/learnings about the local market that will enhance my ability to do my job when I return.
- I want to grow my tiny new consulting business in the meantime. I’ve had some great new business discussions recently. Fingers crossed some of them lead to money 😉
- It’s not very measurable as an objective but I would like to learn how to worry less about things I cannot change. I spend a lot of time doing that.
- More easily measured is my resolution to sort my teeth out. I’ve never had many problems with them, but there are a couple of things that need to be sorted:- I need to get my top wisdom teeth removed now that the little buggers are deciding to put in an appearance. I also need to get a 20 year old crown replaced as there’s a small infection underneath it. Neither of these things happened overnight, but 2012 is the year they get addressed. Then, thanks to my time living in the US it is no longer acceptable for me to have English teeth. My wisdom teeth are making my previously fairly straight teeth decidedly wonky so I’ll get them fixed too.
- I also resolve to drink more water. So far this is going badly. Everyday I drink close to a recommended amount of water I have to go to the loo a LOT. Then when I forget, I don’t drink and I have to start trying to retrain my bladder again. Of all my resolutions, this is so far the most difficult one to keep.
- This year I will get a Chinese driving licence. I am stopped rather frequently in the US so I think having a Chinese licence could be awesome: “Ni hao officer! What seems to be the problem?”.
Happy New Year!
Posted by Anya in Stuff that's different and weird on January 23, 2012
It’s officially the Chinese year of the Dragon which kicked off here last night extremely noisily with the whole city setting off fireworks and firecrackers. It’s all about chasing the bad spirits away and letting the good ones in. I think that tells us that good Chinese spirits are deaf – it has sounded pretty much exactly like those TV reports from warzones since yesterday afternoon. Here’s what it looked like last night:
Actually the fireworks were fun but it was particularly interesting to watch the randomness. People would seemingly just plop huge boxes of fireworks on their doorsteps and then light them right there.
We watched for some time as box after box was lit right by the entrance to our apartment. It was almost comical to watch taxis pull up right next to the box and let people out, cyclists and other drivers meandering right past it. We also saw a guy light a rocket/ mortar and then just hold it in his hand as it went off. I don’t believe he was hurt but I shudder to think how many people were injured across China. I suspect a LOT although, now that I come to think about it, there’s a good chance that the hospitals were closed, as everything else is.
The place is quite eerily quiet – very few cars, almost nobody on the street, all the shops boarded up. I read on some blog recently that it is how you might imagine post zombie apocalypse Shanghai, only with more fireworks, obviously.
A day in the life of a Shanghai park.
Posted by Anya in Activities, Stuff that's different and weird on November 13, 2011
Working out Chinese style
Posted by Anya in Stuff that's different and weird on November 13, 2011
Something that we can all learn from the Chinese is the habit of exercising every day. Even in San Francisco a lot of the people you see working out early in the morning are Chinese. Here in Shanghai they can be seen everywhere, particularly early in the morning (unlike me).
That said, some of the exercises themselves are a little unorthodox. Here are some I have seen recently:
- You often see people walking around backwards. Much to my surprise it turns out that they are not care in the community participants! Apparently the thinking is that it is like clocking a car to reduce the mileage on the odometer – if you walk backwards the same distance that you walk forward each day you will never age by a single day. OK..
- Tai chi. Lots of this going on everywhere either individually or in groups. It’s beautiful to watch – the other day I saw a few elderly ladies doing some form that included fans and swords. Just stunning.
- People walking around slapping themselves on the arms and/ or clapping.
- The other day I saw two old guys standing back to back doing hip circles. This went on for ages. I’m not sure what it was doing for them but they seemed to be enjoying it.
- Walking around doing knee raises. OK this one I get but it’s a bit strange on a crowded pavement.
It’s a high volume sort of place
Posted by Anya in Stuff that's different and weird on November 9, 2011
Something that I can’t quite get used to here is the fact that everything is SO LOUD. Just like Spinal Tap I think that China has a dial that goes up to eleven.
Conversations aren’t like normal conversations, two people in the street will most often yell at each other. Restaurant staff bellow across diners at each other and everyone else as a matter of course.
Shopping involves another whole level of decibels. Apparently Chinese shoppers need people with microphones to help them select products. Some of them are noisily doing demonstrations others are I think just helpfully telling people what’s on offer at a completely scary volume.
That’s just the shop assistants. One of my regular supermarkets plays Spice Girls music (really!) LOUDLY on a constant loop (at least that’s what they’ve played every time I’ve been in there). That’s before you get to the shoppers – who are of course roaring their requests to shop assistants and generally chatting at the tops of their voices.
I think I might invest in a large pair of noise cancelling headphones.
Starting everything with a bang
Posted by Anya in Stuff that's different and weird on November 9, 2011
It’s not exactly a surprise that the Chinese like their fireworks. What came as a bit of a surprise is quite how often you hear them. Every shop opening is accompanied by a veritable blizzard of fireworks/ firecrackers. I’ve watched them as they lay out huge snaking coils of firecrackers on the street in front of the shop to be honoured. Apparently this helps scare away bad spirits and welcome in good spirits (I have no idea how the spirits tell the difference).
So what you say? Well the thing about Shanghai is that shops open and close CONSTANTLY. So every day there are many shop openings that are heralded with the loudest and most sustained noise possible. And it appears that the openings are celebrated as early in the mornings as possible. Gah! Actually the shop openings also involve a large number of flowers but I really don’t care how many of them they deploy to encourage the right vibe/spirits/ chi.
Restaurant service, but not as we know it…
Posted by Anya in Two nations divided by a common language on November 9, 2011
When it comes to Shanghai and service one things is certain: you can never guess what sort you are going to get. I think I’ve experienced the best and the worst service here, particularly in restaurants.
Some of the worst was at a local restaurant. It all seemed ok until I sat down (i.e, at the point at which walking out would look bad). What I think was the lady owner started shouting. She shouted at her husband, her daughter, the people walking past. Then some sort of electrician set his cart up in the middle of the restaurant and she had a shouty conversation with him.
My food was dumped unceremoniously in front of me while she carried on shouting. I had taken her recommendation for food and consequently ended up with two almost identical versions of the same food (some sort of tofu/ mushroom based concoction).
Note the waitress in yellow slumped in the corner and two identical bowls of food.
Worn out by all the shouting she then slumped in the corner and fell asleep. Taking advantage of this break from being shouted at, her daughter got up and started following a high impact aerobics routine on the TV RIGHT NEXT TO MY TABLE.
We even had a visit from a policeman, who was at the giving and receiving end of a nice bit of shouting.
Would I go back? Probably. The food was actually pretty good and in the absence of any reading material, the floorshow was really rather entertaining.
Lift etiquette
Posted by Anya in Stuff that's different and weird on November 2, 2011
To fit in in Shanghai it is important that you observe the correct lift etiquette:
- When the doors open, you get it. Don’t worry if the lift is completely packed full and the next one is just a minute away, you just get in.
- Give people a little shove if they don’t move over enough.
- Then, select your floor and then stab the close door button repeatedly until they close. This bit is really important. I’m sure it’s a source of bad chi or something to actually allow lift doors to close by themselves.