Yangtze River
Saturday, July 19, 2008

Bret, enjoying the cruise on the Yangtze. BTW, his SPRINT phone works on the Yangtze River in the middle of nowhere!

The bell rang early on Saturday morning. And by bell I mean the young girl on the loudspeaker that was unable to be turned off by any legal means that was positioned right over the head of my bed on the boat. The first couple times it was fine but it began to take on a, quoting someone else here, “A Tokyo Rose” sort of quality meant to break our spirits. It actually was not all that bad but her both her voice and the timing of it took on a humorous quality as the cruise went on.

After the early rise and breakfast we transferred to another, smaller ferry boat for a cruise down a tributary of the Yangtze River called the Shennongxi Stream. You can tell the difference between the Yangtze River and the Shennongxi Stream by their color. The former is brown and the later is a much clearer green.

Notice the changing of the color of the water.

Shennogxi Stream

More Stream views.

Kind of awesome!

The views of the Shennongxi Stream were breath taking. The cruise was aided by the fact that the weather provided for one of the clearest days we have had in China yet. The water was so calm and beautiful you can see the reflections of the mountain vista in the pictures I took. That part of the cruise lasted about an hour. At that point we transferred to these small wooden boats, called “Pea Pods” that were powered by native trackers, who are part of the Tujia minority in this area. Up until 1991 these trackers did their job in their “birthday suits”. These guys and our guide took us up stream were it way too shallow for the ferry boats to go.

The water took on a beautiful light green jade like color. The water was freezing cold which cooled the entire journey. They even got to a few places where they had to pull the boat over shallow areas. These guys worked their tails off. Especially since they were pulling us chunky Americans, read me. Out boat tipped them graciously for their efforts. The views were beautiful and one of our guides and the captain of the trackers sang a Tujia folk song for us. It was beautiful.

Tujia boat men

Pulling the boat, they used to do this naked!

We then returned to the ferry boat for the cruise back down the Shennongxi Stream to rendezvous with our main boat on the Yangtze. The trip back downstream was just as breath taking. It was definitely one of those, “I can not believe I am getting to do this!” moments. We just cruised and stared up at the mountains and the terraced farming. It was a shame to think that Three Gorges Dam project will cause the water rise. The water has already risen the depth of a football field. These views were awesome to begin with. I can not fathom them three hundred feet higher.

Another view
Once we returned to our boat we grabbed a quick lunch and then began a serious of naps. It was oppressively hot on the observation deck of the main boat as it cruised down the Yangtze. “Tokyo Rose” woke us up whenever there was a main sight to see, about four times. The rest of the time we spent in napping as a matter of self-preservation. The rooms had AC but the little units were fighting a losing battle. I simply skipped dinner and kept napping till the sun and temperature went down enough not to fry on the deck. The Yangtze is absolutely massive. Using my keen academic vocabulary from years of teaching Geography called it, “A big honking river!” I felt the terminology appropriate for the situation. We even saw the scene that is on the back of the Chinese 10 Yuan Note. See in pictures.

Around seven in the evening we docked at an area, that took us to a bus, which took us to a path, took us to some steps, that that swallowed that fly…, I mean took us up to the White King Temple. The temple guards the entrance to the Qutang Gorge and was the home of the Ba kingdom. What was awesome was that I was traveling in the ancient lands of things that we studied in class and saw a movie about. I know I am being redundant here but it is very cool. The whole experience is out of scene from some Indiana Jones movie. The place was so beautiful that many poets of the Tang and Song Dynasties visited the place and were inspired to write poetry here. It was well worth the two hundred some steps to get there. We found a different more scenic path down, shocker I did not follow directions.

On the way back to the main boat we walked through a small section of the town. There were fireworks going off, the streets were teaming with people; there was music and chatter everywhere. It was awesome. We bought a couple of provisions for the boat and just mingle till the boats horn beckoned us aboard.

Pete, uses some skills to open a "Juice"

By the time the boat pulled away, night had fallen and the observation deck turned into out living room. The sky was so clear you could actually see stars and a nearly full moon. The scene was indescribable. We sipped our beers and hung out while we enjoyed the cool evening breeze along the Yangtze River. I have not felt so carefree in a long time. Hell, we were on a, “Slow boat IN China!” How could it get any better?

Great Wall.., Check. Yangtze River…, Check. I guess my life is not that bad at all. Thanks, Fulbright!

More photos and videos of the day

Wuhan to Jinzhou to Yichang City
Friday, July 18, 2008

Rice field in the countryside

The road trip started a bout early this morning. We were on the road by 7:15am. Our first stop was the city of Jinzhou in Hubei province. Here we visited to the Jinzhou Museum. The museum’s claim to fame is the perfectly intact remains of man who is well over 2,000 years old. At first glance he may look a bit gross to some but when they found him in he was intact and his joints were still working. He was preserved in medicinal herbs and liquids. He dates back to 200 BC. Once they found him they dissected his brains and internal organs, which they placed right next to him. Some would say icky, I say awesome!

Jinzho Museum

How will we look after 2,000 yrs

After the museum we went to Jinzhou's ancient city wall. There was great breeze from the wall so the visit was not cool literally and figuratively. There were statues of the main characters from movie, Red Cliff, we saw the previous day in the museum. They are heroes of the of the region. I can not explain enough how great it is to learn something in one of our classes, see it in a major motion picture, and then visit a museum which reinforces our what we just learned with actual artifacts. Amazing!

Jinzhou City wall

We then hit the road again and made our way to Yichang City. Yichang City is the closest city to the Three Gorges Dam and River Project. Here is the funny thing which should give you an idea about the size of China’s city; we were told it is a very small city. It has over a million people. We picked up our tour guide and we were allowed to meander about the city square for over an hour, it is massive, and do some shopping for any provisions we needed for the boat. Paul and I found some side streets, they are the best. I picked up a great propaganda poster to use for my lesson plans, we do have work over here.

Pete and Mao

After dinner we made our way to our boat. The boat was exactly the Pacific Princess (The Love Boat, people) but who cares. The rooms had two beds and some decent AC. If I wanted luxury I would have stayed at home and mooched off a friends. It was dark by the time we reached the boat so most of us went to the top deck and watched as our boat departed the shore line. I still could not believe that I was cruising down the Yangtze River, it blows my mind. I had a big beer; a pricey 20 Yuan (@ three dollars) and watched the river at night then hit the bed. Big day tomorrow. Here is a River, called, “Down the Yangtze”. It also has links to a few other stories about the river and the Three Gorges Dam Project.

More photos of the day.

Totally shifting gears here but one of the team members of Magically Piglicious, Dave Mekeel, put together an awesome video from/about our BBQ Fest team.

Here is a link to it. (VIDEO LINK)

Wuhan, China
Thursday, July 17, 2008

Today was informative but rather uneventful in the classroom. In the morning we studied the way or path of Daoism. It was extremely informative. Dr. Gu was very patient with all our questions, and there were many. After lunch we had another session with Dr. Hu. I did my best to do some landscapes. Unfortunately my efforts were comical at best. The best part of the both of Dr. Hu’s classes was watching him paint. The subtle way he holds the brushes and combines just the right amount of water, paint, and brush stroke to achieve the desired affect is brilliant.

Guess which of the above two paintings ws done by me

After class I took a walk over to the library to get a look for myself and cousin Julie. When I got there one of the Librarians saw me and that I did not exactly blend in with the other students and approached me. She rounded up a student who spoke “better” English; they both spoke excellent, and gave me an impromptu tour of their facilities. I couldn’t take as many pictures as I wanted, sorry Jules, but it was very impressive. What struck me about the library was that it was filled with students who were quiet and studying the tails off. There were students everywhere, all quiet, all feverishly studying. Impressive. Two common themes I have experienced here in China, people working their butts off and people going out of their way to be nice.

Scenes from the Library and my two tour guides

After class about six teachers and three of the Chinese students ventured into town to see the newest John Woo film, The Red Cliff. The movie is about the Three Kingdoms period in Ancient China. The movie was just released in Asia where it will be two parts. It will be releases as one film in the US around January of 2009. The movie was brilliant. Tons of action and great cinematography.

The movie was awesome

Whoever planned the itinerary of this trip is brilliant. Just when the schedule was starting to get a bit repetitive we are scheduled for a road/field trip. On Friday early morning we are taking off for river three day two night river cruise on the world’s third largest river the Yangtze. The trip includes a visit to the Three Gorges Dam. This massive construction project is stirring quite a tempest here in China and abroad.

Since I will be cruising the Yangtze River, I will be out of pocket for a couple of days. So enjoy and tune in on Monday for a full report.

Wuhan, China
Wednesday, July 16, 2008

I have been looking forward to today since I saw it on the schedule last week. Today we visited Wuhan High School. The school is one of the top two schools in the city (not bad for a city of nine million). It was founded in 1921 by Deputy Chairman Dong Biwu. Deputy Chairman Dong was one of the original founders of the Communist revolution in China; he was prominent enough to sign the UN Charter on behalf of China. The school grounds were quite impressive. The place is totally state of the art. It was named one of the “Most Famous Schools in China” in the late 1990’s. It has over 257 faculty and staff and 3,600 students. Those numbers do not reflect the middle school that is also on the campus. Pretty impressive.

Outside Wuhan High School

The formal introductions

The tour guides for my time at Wuhan High School were Rita and Coco. They were both very bright, spoke great English, and asked me a thousand questions. The two of them answered all of my questions about the school but wanted to know about life in American, what we thought of China and its people, was I excited about the Olympic Games, and of course if I liked Angelina Jolie. We had a great conversation.

Coco and Rita, my tour guides

Here are some of the things they told that stuck with me. They go to school from about 7am till 7pm, five days a week. However, they are at school nearly every Saturday to study for local, state, and national exams. They feel a ton of pressure to well in school, by both parents and the school. They have about 4 hours of homework each night and they have very little time to themselves for fun. Hmmmmh, I wonder why the Chinese are scoring better than the United States in math and science. Anyways the two kids were funny and cute, they struck me like typical ninth graders, full of energy and totally scattered. I also learned an interesting cultural fact, when saying good-bye in China you should continue waving until the people you are waving to, are out of sight.

The lunch was awesome as usual. The class today was in Chinese painting. Normally I loath the arts, not because of dislike but because I have not talent in them. However I was looking forward to today’s class because it was being taught by Dr. Hu Zhiyong, the Dean of the School of Arts, who we met the at the welcome lunch. He was a lot of fun. His class was interesting, I suck at painting, but I gave my best effort. If I wanted to lose weight I could definitely be a starving artist because my “work of art” was a piece of crap.

Dr. Hu impressive water color, done in fifteen minutes

These are supposed to be graps on a vine.

My bird turned out a little better, pure luck

We celebrated Deb’s birthday at dinner with some awesome cake. That was the second B-Day party we had so far on this trip. Again, let me say how nice EVERYONE is and how great they are to us.

After dinner, Minnie one of the coordinators of the program from Hubei University arranged for us to watch some of the ladies from the neighborhood performs some fan dancing. They are not professionals but you could have fooled me. All of them were in their late forties and fifties. There were fun to watch and they even let us participate. As you can imagine there were some ridiculous scenes.

More photos and videos

Wuhan, China
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

In the morning we had another Music class with Dr. Zhou. We listened to many different types of Chinese Operas. The term Opera is not that accurate however, because they incorporate dance, martial, arts, ballet, and lots of other movement. She played some clips from the Peking (Beijing) Opera. Some of the more ethnically diverse operas were a little too high pitched for my taste. We also learned a very popular folk tune called, “Jasmine Flower”. It was actually the song was played at the close of the Athens Summer Games in 2004. It is a beautiful song and very famous in China. When we learned the tune and sang it.., let’s just say our performance did not match our effort.

Just one of the everyday awesome sights in traffic

After lunch we traveled as a group to the Hubei Provincial Museum in Wuhan. The museum is the best in the province of Hubei. They had an artifact that was easily the most cool one I seen thus far, the Sword of Goujian. The sword was unearthed in 1965 and is as legendary to the Chinese people as King Arthur’s sword. It was found in water, after being buried for about 2,000 years. It was still very sharp and not very rusty. It could still cut twenty pieces of paper very easily, after 2,000 of being buried in water!!!! We also listened to the playing of some of the instruments that we just learned about in class, including replicas of ancient bronze bells. They played folk music but closed with Beethoven’s “Ode to joy”.

The Sword of Goujian

These are the original bronze bells. They played replicas.

Sleeve dance to folk instruments

After the museum we toured the East Lake Park, which is the largest lake within a city in China. It was a nice walk around a huge lake, it reminded a bit of my hometown. The highlight for the group was me slipping in mud and pulling a gainer off the path. I am totally to blame because I wandered off the path to take a picture of a lotus flowers in a small pond. I had a large amount of mud on me. Another testimony of the kindness of the Chinese people was the fact that this happened in front of a tour bus of Chinese people. Instead of laughing they pooled together a bunch of small paper towels and Kleenex and gave them to me. I have yet to meet a mean Chinese person.

Pete, before the fall

Scene from the East Lake

After we returned Dr. Kung, the leader of our trip, gave a night away from group dinners of Chinese food and suggested we grab some western style food. Done and done. A few of us went to a Pizza Hut down the street. Just to prove that crazy is not confined to America, we witnessed a fight over a parking place. These two women had a forty minute showdown for a parking spot that involved shoving, slapping, and what I assume was cursing. So in the end when your “fine dining” is at a Pizza Hut, right outside of Wal-Mart, you are going to see rednecks, even in Wuhan, China.

The highlight of the meal was our waitress, Lusika. Every Chinese kid takes an American name when learning Chinese, as you can probably guess she made hers up. She was student at Hubei University. We stayed after her shift was over to talk with us about China and America. We tried to tip her but she refused. Here is what she e-mailed me later on, (all of us exchanged e-mail addresses),

“About the fee(tip). chinese pay nothing to waiter usually,but if someone who is very generous or rich or come from abroad give fee to waiter,the waiter will very happy to received extra income. For me ,when you want to give me fee,I'm very happy ,too.but ,I regard you as my friends,between friends, fee is no need. Do you know what I mean? In conclusion , I wish you love china, and like me!" Lusika

Lusika and the gang

I mean really. Mark my words China is a force to be reckoned with, besides the parking thing, which WILL be an issue because only a fraction of the people have cars and the streets are already crowded beyond reason.

More photos and videos from the day

Wuhan, China
Monday, July 14, 2008

Today was one of the best of the trip so far. It started off after and epic sleep fest on my part, 9pm till 7am. It felt great to get caught up on sleep, I would need it today.

Play that funky music fat boy

The morning class, which lasts from 9am till 11:30am, was on traditional Chinese music. Dr. Zhou Liling was our professor. She is a quite accomplished zheng player and a professor of Music at Hubei U. She described several different traditional Chinese instruments. Along with an explanation the instrument’s history she also played a video selection featuring its sound. It was really interesting. I am clueless about all music, yet alone, Chinese musical instruments, so I was a blank canvas for class. I just soaked it all in. I was most impressed by the Pipa, Erhu, Sheng, and the previously mentioned Zheng. I even volunteered to be the guinea pig and learned a small tune on the Zheng. Dr. Zhou is likely coming to Memphis in September for the one year anniversary of the Confucius Institute to the Germantown Performing Arts Center for a performance. I highly suggest one attends if they can.

Dr. Zhou on the Zheng

After class Paul and skipped the school and headed for McDonalds. Yes it was a weak moment but we both desperately needed some comfort food and the Mickie D’s hit the spot. We took the good old 811 bus to and from campus, a cost of 2 Yuan or 30 cents. The service was awesome and the place was packed. As a note wherever we go we get stared at and usually draw a crowd, if you can imagine that. I guess being the first live American that many have seen and being a…, big boned guy, does have a tendency to draw a crowd. Add to that a loud mouth and staple giggle. Enough said. The little kids in China are so darn cute, one of my program mates stated that she “Wanted to put one in her back pocket and take her home.”

After our McDonalds run we had the afternoon class, 2:30pm till 4:45pm, which was on culture and Chinese philosophy. This was one of my favorite classes. At the present time, I am a bit infatuated with Confucianism, so I greatly enjoyed the detailed history and explanation.

Street scene in Wuhan

You have to check this out.

After dinner we went exploring in what some of my other classmates have dubbed, “The Quarter”. (A reference to New Orleans). The area of Wuhan is across from the university but might as well be from another place in time. The street scene had a Blade Runner quality to it. The mélange of sights and smells were a sensory overload. There were vendors of food that you only see on the Discovery channel. I had some potatoes that were out of the world. We found our way to a spot that served some beer, about thirty cents a beer. We stayed for about two hours and just took the whole scene in. There were little kids, families, animals, and a bunch of Americans. Again, and I can not say this enough, the Chinese people were fantastic. They were always smiling and bent over backwards to help us out. They family that owned the place even got their daughter out because she spoke the best English. We played with the kids and simply had a blast. It was a sight to behold.

Another Great Day!

Them taters were good!

A game of Chinese Chess.

Fernado playing card tricks with kids.

More photos and video of the day