Reggie's Canthan Extravaganza

[Sir Smeg]

A most successful weekend.

Spent time yesterday at the Big Goose Pagoda situated in southern Xi'an. The Pagoda was a beautiful structure, and surrounded by some equally beautiful Buddhist structures and imagery, but this paled in comparison to the Water and music show!
Upon several tiers in a massive open square were hundreds of nozzles. Every two hours the Public address system erupts into life, blasting music old and new, Western and Oriental. Simultaneously, the nozzles erupt into life, blasting water, old and new, high and low. There was no doubt some respectful choreography mutually agreed on by the mediums of music and aqua, but it's quite a task to appreciate subtleties of sound and motion when one is situated in the middle of a gigantic fountain. There we passed the happy minutes, frolicking, slipping, and posing for Chinese photos until the extravaganza ended. What a show!

Sunday morning was early by our standards. At 8:30... no, 9:00... alright; 9:30am four of us took a quick taxi to the south gate of Xi'an's old city walls. Our aim was to walk around the top of the old city boundary until we got too hot and flustered to continue. To our delight we discovered that tandem bicycles could be rented to make the circumnavigation far more ricketty and unstable. Views of Xi'an were the same as ever - shrouded in romantic mist, but I can tell you honestly: there's nothing quite like feeling the wind in your hair, epsecially if it's en route from the bloke-in-front's armpits... Tandems - the only way to travel!

After a light lunch, only two of us were strong enough to take the long journey to visit the suggested 8th wonder of the world - the Terracotta warriors. There is no verbal way to do justice to the sight of a 6,000 strong army of clay men and horses, all individually modelled and kiln-fired, each brandishing a fearsome weapon. Rows of archers, formations of Halberdiers, swordsmen and axe-warriors. Generals, lieutenants and captains. Horses and chariots.
I'm glad, then, that this was not what I saw - though the reality is impressive enough, it is at least within my verbal capability to describe. The army is only partially excavated and many of the finer details have rotted away, but the sight of the deep pits; some containing full ranks of reconstructed warriors, others containting men with large pieces missing, and some just shattered wrecks is awe-inspiring. Photos as soon as I get back, I promise!

Today was also the day we experienced the wonderful hospitality of the Chinese to foreigners. Twice Michelle and I found ourselves lost and temporarily alone, twice we were saved by diminuative guardian angels going completely out of their own way to direct us to where we needed to be, and waiting with us until our buses showed up. We rewarded them the only way we knew how - Free English Practice!

[Edem]

admin said:

We rewarded them the only way we knew how - Free English Practice!

You mean, instead of relying to your ever-growing knowledge on chinese language, you refused to say any non-english words, and just tried to make yourself more understandable with hand and feet gestures?


Anyways, have you found a meat source yet? If not, then do that soon, or else you might end up looking at the pandas with a weird glitter in your eyes and a small but telling drop of saliva in the corner of your mouth...

[Hatter]

...well, I think eating pandas would make you sick, because they have a tad bit too much fat.
Not that a man in in insane hunger of meat would notice it, but hey, I can warn you anyway.

[Sir Smeg]

Back in Louguantai again, but I'm happy to report that I now know where to break the monotony of an all-veg diet.
On Monday we were treated (I've got to pay the bastard back, somehow) by Bing Lee to our first Chinese banquet in a cosy little restaurant at the end of the village.
Plate after plate of delicious local food kept being brought to our table... and between the 5 of us we only managed less than a quarter of it. Not that all the beef, pork, prawns, mushrooms, walnuts, bananas, cucumber and soup went to waste, oh no. We got doggy bags. In which a plastic bag was filled with the leftovers -yes, even the soup - and tied up at the top.

As soon as this magnificent meal had been allowed the minimum grace to settle, three of us set out to finally conquer the first of the local mountains. Purely at random I picked the one directly ahead of me - which turned out to be the right choice; after nearly two hours of alternately pebbley and muddy climbing along a narrow, cliff-hugging path, passing a few crazy old men and their chickens, we arrived at the summit.
The view was pretty spectacular... behind us were lumpy green mountains, but in all other directions a vast plain streched as far as the polluted sky would let the eye see, doing its utmost to define the word 'flat'.
But that was not the real reward. Turned out that the mountain we had just scaled was the one Lou Tse himself (The father of Daoism) had chosen to be his home. Here he lived his life quietly, brewing strange and wonderful alchemical potions and herbal remedies in his giant iron cauldron. The same cauldron in which the Monkey King was made immortal by Lao Tse! Yes! I've been to the actual birthplace of the funkiest monkey that ever rocked!
(Hands up those who know what I'm talking about )
I wish I could say that I'd seen the actual cauldron in which Monkey stewed for all those years, but unfortunately it had been destroyed by Mr Mao during the cultural revolution, so what stands there now is merely a replica. Awesome, all the same.

Time for me to take my leave again - you'll hear from me next time something interesting happens. See you in ten minutes!

[Edem]

admin said:

(Hands up those who know what I'm talking about )

/pickme

Few knows that his legend was used in the early Dragonball series; and his legend also appears in the Love Hina anime series, in a form of an open theatre show.

Oh, and there was an interesting movie produced by Hallmark - its loyalty to the actual legends might be questionable, but it still gives us a basic idea about what happened there.

[Moo]

The journey to the west...." originally from china. And was really famous in japan aswell "Saiyukii" where it become a very famous kiddies story (equivalent to the 3 little pigs for the western)

where appearantly this story suppose to be the metaphore of when budhism come to be introduced in china. Which make more sense to the title of journey to the `West` where the west of china is India.

[Sir Smeg]

Blogitty blog!

i has eated duck brains and i is now much more smarter. Yes, as soon as the delicately pasty morcel passed my lips and landed gently on my tongue, a vast wisdom was opened to me. I can now share this amazing universal truth vouched safe to me by the consumption of the tiny article with you lucky bunnies. The truth is this ~ Never, ever, ever eat duck brains. They are really nasty.

A big piece of news has unexpectedly landed in my lap this weekend. Today I visited the Han Yingling museum - a cultural site closely akin to the terracotta army but hailing from the much more peaceful Han Dynasty ( a mere 2,000 years ago).
Emperor Qi was, like his predecessors, buried with a vast retinue of clay figurines, but reflecting the times he was accompanied not only by soldiers, but also by servants, dancers, livestock, farmers and eunuchs. These figures were not grand in scale (standing only 60 cm high), but they would have been beautifully detailed with movable wooden arms and delicate silk clothing.
The museum itself was incredible -100 million dollars had gone into its construction - and housed an innovative glass floor through which the burial pits could be viewed, as well as an educational cinema where the film was - get this - 50% Scale scenery and 50% holographic projection. The 30cm high narrator meandered between 60cm trees and buildings which were actually on the stage. He himself and all the other actors were a trick of the light. Amazing.
And the really amazing thing is this: the musuem opened only a few short months ago, and has not yet been beset by vast, gaping tourist hordes. And the staff still need a bit of training - in fact they are desperate for someone to come to the museum and coach them on their interpersonal English skills... can you see where I'm going with this?
Just in case you can't, I'll make it clear. I've taken a vocational change. Next week I will say goodbye to my dear Pandas and take up the glamourous mantle of museum tour-guide at one of the most exciting and high-tech cultural exposes in all of China. I think you'd all agree I'd have been a fool to refuse such a post.

Usual rules still apply next week: I'm still working out at Lou Guan Tai with Chao Chao, Shua Shua ad Ding Ding. That means more Panda stories for a little longer.

[Sir Smeg]

Living in China must be a breeze if you're not Chinese... I should try it. I'm sure all of you know what it is like to deal with lazy and unpleasant bank tellers, or post office employees, or any of those other bastards employed in the public sector. Well, you can kiss those worries goodbye here in China - they have ways of dealing with these people.
A couple of us went with chinese escort to the Bank of China yesterday, with the intent of changing money. As you walk in, you notice that every cashier has a photo ID plaque at their station, with 5 lights in the shape of stars underneath. As you get closer to this plaque, you notice that there are three tempting buttons to press: one ascribed to 'satisfactory', another to 'average' and the third to 'unnacceptable'. The use of these quickly becomes apparent - the consumer presses one after their transaction is complete, based on what they thought of the service. This input is then translated into the star-rating of the bank employee. In essence, every customer is also an amateur reviewer. I doubt the system would work in England, though. It would be far too disheartening to walk into a bank full of one or two star employees...
Now, the lady serving us was short and to the point -very short in fact: she told us we had come to the wrong window for changing money, and pointed out where it could be changed. We went where indicated, only to be told that we should return to the window we had just come from. We did so, and the lady behind it grumpily changed Mark's money, then refused to change mine, once again gesturing to another window.
Our Chinese escort, Yiliera, had had enough of this, and began the standard practice of berating the cashier, while I went and successfully changed my money at another, friendlier, window.
That, I thought, was that. Yet another frustrating, but successful visit to the bank. Nothing new. Yet just as we were leaving, a door burst open and out flew a very red and flustered manager. He blocked Yiliera with his arm, and ushered us into his leather-bound office where he apologised for ten solid minutes. We brits didn't understand a word, but once the apology was over we stood up and accepted the apology. I think that this saved the face of the bank, and the job of the unpleasant employee. Yikes.

In literally brighter news, the wind changed today. All the clouds blew away, and we are now sitting in the middle of a brilliant blue sky and a blistering heatwave. This is a big enough event to blog, seeing as I haven't seen a scrap of blue sky in all the two and a half weeks since I got here. Not even enough to float a small trawler, or fly a small cessna, if you will.

Time for me to head back out and bask. Toodles!

[kevx3]

admin said:

we are now sitting in the middle of a brilliant blue sky and a blistering heatwave. This is a big enough event to blog, seeing as I haven't seen a scrap of blue sky in all the two and a half weeks since I got here.

enjoy it while you can clear skies are a rarity with all the smog ;D

Aug 30, 2006, 3:18am, Sir Smeg wrote:
(Hands up those who know what I'm talking about )

/pickme

Few knows that his legend was used in the early Dragonball series; and his legend also appears in the Love Hina anime series, in a form of an open theatre show.

Oh, and there was an interesting movie produced by Hallmark - its loyalty to the actual legends might be questionable, but it still gives us a basic idea about what happened there.

the legend of the monkey king is a very popular piece, its been taken, ripped apart and put back together more times than.... a jigsaw puzzle .

reg if you get a chance watch the chinese film "journey to the west part 1" even with the english subtitle translation its F@%king funny as hell , a bit hard to follow but thats comedy for you ...

[Hatter]

I guess that only a few people saw Gensomaden Saiyuki whith Cho Hakkai, Sha Gojyo, Son Goku and Genjo Sanzo.

[Sir Smeg]

Time is up at the Louguantai Panda conservation park. Goodbyes are always so difficult, especially if you don't know when your next opportunity to return will be. I'll miss the people. I'll miss the animals, but most of all I'll miss little Chao-Chao. He was a two-year old Panda under my and Mr Chung's care - a lovable little ball of fluff no larger than a fat Labrador.
Chao Chao always came to me with his problems; poking his nose into my hand and making sad little Panda noises, accepting a scratch behind the ears. I'm gonna miss him.

All the same, leaving Louguantai did enable one of my dreams to come true: As a reward for my weeks of dedicated service to the centre (aside from a snazzy gold medallion) I got to visit the tiniest Panda - Chi Chi - In his enclosure, and give him a big hug. He ignored me for most of the visit, perfectly content to pay full attention to his bowl of milk while I grabbed large tufts of fur with my arms, and rubbed his stomach. Though he did offer his paw to 'shake' at the end of the visit, and a little squeaky noise. A complete and utter Fuzzy-wuzzy teddy bear. Him, that is, not me...

[kevx3]

well i hoped you had fun with the pandas ... we expect pictures. lots and lots of pictures .

[Sir Smeg]

Here I sit in a dozy daze, wondering what on earth I was thinking yesterday...

At 21:30 the car pulled up outside and the 4 intrepid adventurers, buzzing on chocolate and caffeine, piled into the seats. We drove for hours, finally arriving at 00:15 at the beginning of our journey - the base of Hua Shan (Mount Hua).
In high spirits we walked through a moonlit gorge alongside the river along a smoothly inclined, paved footpath, passing numerous vendors all plugging their eclectic range of soft and hard drinks, energy bars and red, dangly souvenirs despite the early hour of the morning.
After an hour of complacent striding we hit the first of the stairs. Did I mention that Hua Shan was a full sized mountain, and that our aim was to be on top of it in time to see the sunrise at 5:30 that same morning? Hm... well, for some reason we had all consciously agreed on this as our goal.
When we reached the stairs, we consulted our watches. 4 hours to go until the sun sticks its ugly head out... deep breath... no problem.
In my life I have never seen so many steps - all varieties! Smooth steps, rough steps, sharp steps, rounded steps, hard steps, crumbly steps, wide steps, narrow steps, solid steps, precarious steps, grey, black, brown and yellow. Steep and not quite so steep. And blessed rest stops every 500, or so.
It was difficult, I won't deny that. Parts of the cliff were so steep that we had to climb upwards on all fours, parts were just monotonous ploddings ever upwards. The scenery must have been spectacular, but even the light of a full moon can only pick out silhouettes at best. Besides, there was no time for sightseeing - there were stairs to concentrate on.
We timed the ascent almost perfectly - Almost exactly 4 hours after beginning the ascent we arrived at the Eastern North Peak of Hua Shan, 2160 metres above sea-level. After such a slog, the reward was amazing: A hot bowl of instant noodles and the view of a sunrise over a perfectly flat landscape below the mountain.
We sat at the summit in the company of at least 100 other Chinese people who had made the pilgrammage to the top, and when the sun finally (6:00am) poked a tiny sliver of its heavenly body (Pun intended) out over the curve of the distant horizon, the entire squatting congregation burst into spontaneous cheering and applause. We had done it, all of us. We had climbed thousands of metres, endured almost freezing temperatures, scrambled over treacherous rocky staircases and developed continent-sized sweat patches. But we had completed the challenge and witnessed the natural miracle of a completely unobscured sunrise. Kudos to us.

Though I haven't slept properly in over 38 hours, I feel an incredible sense of acheivement which will no doubt dissipate tomorrow morning when every single muscle in my Scotch-built legs bunches up and prevents me from ever leaving the safety of my bed ever again...

[Sir Smeg]

There is a new development in terms of work here. I am spending my last week working at the museum of Han Yingling, where terracotta figures were buried with an emperor kinda like the Terracotta Warriors museum. There are two main differences, though; first the figures are only about 60cm tall, and secondly the Han Dynasty was not nearly so bloody as the last, so the figures are not only warriors, but also servants, musicians, animals and eunuchs. Lots of eunuchs >_O
The museum itself is amazing: A glass floor has been built over the burial pits so that you can look down on the little terracotta people, and the movie theatre uses holograms instead of a cinema screen. Yes!
My job is the training of tour-guides in their use of English, and the eradication of Engrish signs. It's so exciting!


Ate a western meal tonight. Circumstances were perfectly reasonable, however - I was coerced into it.
As usual, during my working hours at the museum, my tongue was working overtime, and as usual one of the topics covered was food. Now, when I begin to talk about culinary delights one thing leads to another. Before I knew it I found myself invited back to Miss Zu's apartment, tasked with preparing a western-style dinner for 5. Yikes.
Needless to say, I hit the shops without much of a plan in mind. I hoped to organise a dish around the ingredients I could manage to track down. China does not have the same multicultural approach to shopping that we have back home, so I eventually managed to find ingredients approaching those needed for a basic carbonara. Parmesan had to be substituted by cheddar, single cream by whipping cream, and bacon by god-knows-what-it-was.
And the frustrations didn't end there. A chinese kitchen just ain't equipped the way I'm used to. I had to use a wok to do my shallow-frying, a meat cleaver to chop my veg (and open the carton of cream >_O) and, most embarassingly of all, had to grate the cheese through a large sthingy used for draining noodles... Oy vey.
All in all I think it went fairly well, despite the concessions made. Certainly the 'bacon' went down a storm; I think that wheat-based noodles are a bit too heavy for a pallatte reared upon delicate rice noodles.
I was repayed for my efforts with a magnificent Catfish stew made by my talented Jiejie, the flavours of which dwarfed my puny little savour d'Italie significantly. Still, robust showiness isn't everything.

I'm going to retire to bed now, and devote all my remaining energy to praying that nobody gets laid out with food-poisoning tomorrow...

[Sir Smeg]

Well, this is my last day in Xi'an, and yesterday was my last day in my museum job... I was chucked straight into the deep end - They strapped a microphone to me and asked me to lead a group of 40 Middle-aged Americans and Canadians (And in some cases their Chinese spouses) on a comprehensive tour of the museum I'd only known for a week. But I managed to blag it! All of 'em seemed happy with my performance, and none started asking for moneyback (Not that I got paid anything, mind. That money went to the tour guide who nicked off for a sly cigarette as soon as he realised that I had his group listening to me). Then I got a group of the largest Texans I've ever seen, and that's saying something, but they were so warm and friendly that I couldn't help but WANT to educate 'em. That was good fun.
Otherwise it's my big day of goodbyes tomorrow. The next set of replacement volunteers are in, so I guess it's high time I was moving on. Don't really think I wanna...
Still, I told Sean (Sha-Tong) that I might come back someday in winter. I'd love to see everything under a blanket of snow, especially Louguantai. Blow the money I would usually have for a ski holiday on a ticket to Xi'an, and stay in the volunteer house without the English organisers knowing a thing! But keep that one quiet...

On to Beijing I go, taking the highest of luxuries, the soft sleeper train. I don't know what to expect, but when native Xianites see my ticket their eyebrows go as high as their widow's peaks... I guess the price (417 yuan) really is quite astronomical out here. But then again, I will be on that train for 11 hours, so I deserve a little break... yeah?