Since I decided to relocate to China, something happened to me. At first I did not notice it. My mother did, so did my brothers and some friends, just not me, not at first anyway. It seems I started to notice more things in this world. Maybe I was just more appreciative of what I had as compared to some others. I’m really not sure myself. I have realized I do not need to be rich to be happy, nor do I need a big expensive car or designer clothes. I have been looking at people more and more. I see people here that have what we would consider nothing. They live in an extremely poor house, very very low income and threadbare clothes. They have no car, little food, no TV, no cell phone, not much of anything, at least not at first glance. There is something they DO have. Those of us “middle aged” or a little older will remember the times when we were very young. It was common most evenings for us to sit outside on the front porch or the “front stoop” where it was cooler, and we met with family and friends there. We had no air conditioning so this made the evening more tolerable in the summer heat. The adults would talk and laugh at the silly things the children were doing. The children would chase fireflies or “lightning bugs” as we called them. It was important for us to be armed properly for this hunt. My choice of equipment was a Mason jar that mom loaned me, about one quart in size. There was also a two-part metal lid for the jar. If we caught any lightning bugs, we wanted them to live, so we had to punch a few air holes in the lid first. Dad’s workshop was the ideal place to do this. A hammer and a small nail were the perfect tools. We had to make the holes just the right size….large enough to let in air, but not so large as to let our prey escape. Mom would never let us run with that glass jar in our hands, especially in the evening darkness, so we would have to catch them in our bare hands than place them into the jar. I remember that I felt I was very lucky, almost rich, because I had that Mason jar to see the lightning bugs so clearly in. Many of my friends simply had to make due with a small empty Coke bottle. It was glass, but so thick and many curves and labels, it was difficult to see the lightning bugs clearly. We had so much fun that way.
I see many people here in Zhengzhou sitting outside in the evening. I see them sitting, most in small to medium groups, but some alone. They are doing almost the same exact things we did so long ago. The talking, the children, the laughing….sitting in the cool evening air as we did so long ago. These people have little personal possessions, just as we did back then, but they have one thing in common….most all of them are smiling and laughing. Are they rich or are they poor? Are we rich or are we poor? Who has more? Not more money, but more happiness? I see fathers holding their babies in their arms, holding them high in the air and smiling at them. These people are genuinely happy. Who is rich and who is poor? Open your mind, look around, I mean “really” look, and it’s hard to be sure.
Those special moments in our life when we feel love from a familiar hand touching our face, or from a kind and loving gesture from someone in our life, or a subtle encouragement, or a loving embrace, or a genuine offer of comfort in our grief, and soft spoken secrets between lovers…..these things are all what makes up our “life”. Years ago Kodak had a slogan that was the best I ever heard; it was “the times of our life”. They even made a song about it and it was quite good. I know it was just a marketing idea, but it stuck in my mind all these years. These really ARE the times of our life. Don’t take them for granted and brush them aside, embrace them, pull them into your memory and never forget them. Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the way we live our lives, the number of friends we have, the people we have helped in some small way, the number of people that think of you and it makes them smile.
I have noticed that through cultural differences, most people here in China do not hug family members or say the words “I love you” to mom, dad or their children. That by no means makes them love any less, it’s just not expressed as we commonly do in America. One of my students and I were in a conversation about that exact topic months ago. We were getting ready to have our winter break and the students were all going home to their families. This is the time when they have their biggest holiday…Spring Festival. I tried to encourage my student, when he got home and saw his mom the first time, to hug them and while holding them to whisper in their ear “I love you”. After the holiday he came to me and apologized. I was not sure why the apology. He stated he was going to do it, he was really ready as he had this on his mind a long time now, but when the actual time came he was so nervous about this bold, new idea, he just could not do it. We talked, and I was realizing more and more about their culture and how they think. I never brought up this topic with him again. A few weeks ago I received a message from him. I could tell by his words he was very happy. He said “I did it, I did it. I finally hugged my mom and dad and it felt wonderful.” I asked their response and he said, “my dad was too embarrassed to speak, but my mom hugged me back…tightly. I loved it.” It was the first time in their lives, all three of them, that they were hugged by anyone. When my student told me, “Joseph, today you have helped me become a better person, to become a man”, I couldn’t read any more, as my eyes were filled with tears. This was one of the happiest moments of my China adventure and I assure you that I will never forget that student or this moment.
What works for me may not work for everyone. Just open your mind and “see” the beauty that is all around us every day.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
My China Trip-Chengdu
China Trip 15-Chengdu
It was time for my long awaited trip to Chengdu and the surrounding areas, including the Giant Panda Reserve, Wolong. I left Zhengzhou (ZZ) on a flight to Chengdu, but the flight was 3 hours late leaving ZZ. I waited and waited. If I have to wait in America at an airport, at least I can read the signs or get a paper to read. Not here. Two and a half hours later we finally board the plane. Another 30 minutes and I hear the engines roar to life. Three hours late, but we are on the way. Landing at Chengdu was uneventful, which is always a good thing when you are flying. Follow the crowds, read the signs, oops…signs are in Chinese. Keep following the crowds at least. I hope they can read them. I arrived at the hotel and checked in. if you remember, I said a long time ago that mattresses here in China are notoriously hard. For those of you that remember Cane, the Chinaman in the old TV series “Kungfu”, he always slept on the floor next to the bed while in America. That is because he was used to the floor in China being softer than the mattresses there. I put my bags down and felt the mattress. Very hard. I sat slowly to avoid any bruises. I bounced just a little and suddenly….OUCH…I was skewered in my thigh. A small drop of blood. I searched around and found the edge of the mattresses I have been saying have very hard edges to them was actually a wire wound steel cable. One of the strands popped loose and pointed straight up about ¼ inch like a sewing needle. Now I have been bruised a few times and now “first blood” has been drawn. The war is officially on. I MUST find a water bed similar to what I had in USA.
Next morning I was up early and headed to the world famous Wolong Giant Panda Reserve”. First a taxi to the bus station. Look around, get directions and find out I’m in the wrong bus station. There are TWO bus stations? Yup. Run out to get another taxi and tell him the bus station please. He looks like I’m crazy as he looks at the bus station sign next to us. I tell him the OTHER station please. 20 minutes later we get there. Into the station and looking for directions. I find out that there in NO BUS AT ALL going to Wolong. How can that be? After a few minutes I find out that a bus is leaving in a few minutes going to the only stop anywhere near Wolong. Lee and I get a ticket for 23 yuan each and board the bus. They tell me it is a two hour ride to where I get off. We drive north, more or less, up 2 lane country roads. We drive on the right side, the left side and the center of the road. We pass other vehicles on the left, the right, going up hill, down hill and on turns. Many times on turns. It was very scary. There are no guard rails on most all of the roads here. We are going up into the mountains. From time to time in America you read in the newspapers that a bus drove off the road, fell anywhere from 50 feet to 200 meters straight down and all were killed. Let me tell you, THIS is where this could actually happen. It is really best if you read or sleep, but not keep looking at where the driver is driving. If you do, you will be biting your nails the whole trip, as well as saying numerous prayers. Two hours and 20 minutes later the bus comes to a stop in the middle of the road, there are no shoulders here, and motions us out of the bus. There must be a mistake, there is nothing here. No city, no town, no store at all, just a woman with a small cart selling soft drinks. The driver keeps yelling out, out, out here, so out we go. I can feel my stomach getting that sinking feeling as I watch the bus disappear around the next turn in the road. The woman tell us the Wolong is about 45 km that way. 45 km is about 28 miles…not too far if I had my car here, but on foot, in rainy weather, it is VERY far. She points us towards several men standing near their cars, trucks and small vans. She says its walk or hire one of them to take you there. I figure, 45 km, how much could they want? The first guy said 180 yuan for the trip, that’s one way. Too much I say and we ask the next guy. He says 200 yuan. Wow !! getting higher. Next wants 300 and I know we are getting ripped off by “supply and demand”. 30 minutes talking and bargaining and Lee gets one young guy to agree to 120 yuan. We hop in and take off to Wolong. The road started off in poor condition, broken pavement, big pot holes, you know, something like route 1&9 in Jersey City. From that point it got worse….a lot worse. Pavement started and ended many times. The road became dirt, than NO ROAD at all. Water, mud, many rock slides partially blocking the road, local people and animals walking along the same road. It was very narrow, too narrow for two cars to use at the same time. When we met another vehicle going the other way, one of us had to find a spot to get off the road and let the other pass. There were time s I thought we were driving in a creek instead of the road. There was a big, raging river along side the road the whole trip. Rivers in north China are slow, meandering rivers in general. That was NOT what rivers in the south were like. I saw a few home made bridges across the river for people to cross on foot. These bridges were like the ones used in our Army basic training, the ones half th
e guys fell off of and landed in either the mud or 3 feet of water. They would get laughed at, get up and try again. If you fell off THIS bridge, you were history. It would wash you clear to Vietnam and no one would ever know what happened to you. One day you just disappeared. A little farther along and we had to drive across a bridge on cement for cars and people. They looked sturdier, but older, and I’m not kidding, this was a very raging river, and just how often if ever are the bridges inspected?
This is at an altitude of over 9000 feet. A little earlier we were at a location almost 14,000 feet high. Pilots of small airplanes are required to put on oxygen above 10,000 feet. Just a few steps at 14,000 feet and I IMMEDIATELY knew I was in a totally new environment to me and to tread softly. Walking only 20 yards had me feeling light headed and dizzy from lack of oxygen. In most areas you can see vendors selling cold drinks to tourists. Not here. When you saw a vendor around here, the main item for sale was a canister of oxygen. No kidding…it was. It consisted of a slightly large aerosol can filled with pure oxygen and a face mask attached. Every few yards, depending how high you were, you took a hit of oxygen (O2). It was quite necessary here. Altitude sickness consisted of light headedness, dizzy, bad headaches and some times disoriented. The O2 was needed.
This is a picture of Lee (beautiful, huh?) in native Tibetan dress while we were in Jouzhaigou. The next picture is the favorite picture of both Lee and I. same location with us both in native clothing. Wolong is the biggest Giant Panda Reserve in the world. They do more to breed and protect the Giant Pandas than anyone in the world. The ride from Chengdu was an adventure in itself. We tried to take a bus to Wolong but we were told there was no such thing. The best we could do was to find a bus to take us to a location the closest to Wolong that any form of transportation goes, let us off 
the bus, than we find our own way the rest of the way. We said OK, and we were off at 7AM. Two hours of turning, twisting, two lane mountain roads were what we faced. Driving here in the mountains and in China in general is a whole new world. New York drivers have nothing on these guys. Drive on the right, the left or wherever you choose. Passing, up hill, down hill, on turns, on the right, the left or wherever you choose. Stopping on the right, the left or wherever you choose. In the last few sentences, did you notice a lot of “wherever you choose”? That happens a lot here. We were let out in the middle of the road with no city or town in sight. We said HERE? The bus driver said yes, so we got off. There was a woman selling drinks from a small cart so we approached here and asked how to get to Wolong. She smiled and said it’s about 45 kilometer “that way” as she pointed up a very small road. That was WAY to far to walk so we looked around. We found some men with a van or truck to hire. They all wanted between 180 and 300 rmb (local money) for the trip. We knew it was way to high, but we were stranded there. We bargained as much as possible, but no good. We spotted a young man, maybe 20, standing on the side quietly. We approached him and Lee spoke to him. At first he said 180 rmb, but soon Lee got him to 120. We agreed and loaded up in his vehicle and were on our way. The road was poor at first. I did not know it but the “poor” part of the road was actually the best part of the road. From poor, it deteriorated quickly to the point of “where did you say the road was?” Our speed varied from about 20 mph at first to a slow walking speed at other times, and stopped completely many times. Two hours of this and we finally made it to Wolong Reserve. I have read much about this place and was thrilled to be here. It was cool here and raining off and on. I asked our driver, through Lee, how many tourists come here to Wolong. He said no more 
than 200 foreigners a year come here because it is so far out of the way. No five star hotels or restaurants to be found here. The whole time we were there I saw no more than 5 other tourists and they were all Chinese. It rained but I could not care less. I was VERY excited to be here and seeing real Giant Pandas in China not in some zoo. Here is a picture of my first Giant Panda shot. WOW !!! Next is me actually petting a real Giant Panda. How many people do you know that have done that??
Well, we are back in Zhengzhou now. The flight back was rather odd. We were flying a new Air Bus 321 non-stop from Chengdu to
Zhengzhou….or so we thought. Half way there we made an emergency landing at Xian. We were all ok, but nervous. Three hours later and after a free meal on the airline, were told the airplane was repaired and we loaded up again. We took off going to Zhengzhou. About 10 minutes into the flight, we felt a steep nose drop of the plane, than we made a rapid U-turn. I immediately thought uh-oh. They came on the speaker and said we were going BACK to Xian AGAIN…another emergency landing. We were all very nervous now. Two emergency landings in the same day on the same plane at the same city….how odd is THAT? We landed OK. The 2.5 hour flight was actually 14 hours but we finally made it home after the airline brought in a different plane from Harbin, near Russia, after all the passengers refused to get back on that same plane a third time for any reason at all.
It was time for my long awaited trip to Chengdu and the surrounding areas, including the Giant Panda Reserve, Wolong. I left Zhengzhou (ZZ) on a flight to Chengdu, but the flight was 3 hours late leaving ZZ. I waited and waited. If I have to wait in America at an airport, at least I can read the signs or get a paper to read. Not here. Two and a half hours later we finally board the plane. Another 30 minutes and I hear the engines roar to life. Three hours late, but we are on the way. Landing at Chengdu was uneventful, which is always a good thing when you are flying. Follow the crowds, read the signs, oops…signs are in Chinese. Keep following the crowds at least. I hope they can read them. I arrived at the hotel and checked in. if you remember, I said a long time ago that mattresses here in China are notoriously hard. For those of you that remember Cane, the Chinaman in the old TV series “Kungfu”, he always slept on the floor next to the bed while in America. That is because he was used to the floor in China being softer than the mattresses there. I put my bags down and felt the mattress. Very hard. I sat slowly to avoid any bruises. I bounced just a little and suddenly….OUCH…I was skewered in my thigh. A small drop of blood. I searched around and found the edge of the mattresses I have been saying have very hard edges to them was actually a wire wound steel cable. One of the strands popped loose and pointed straight up about ¼ inch like a sewing needle. Now I have been bruised a few times and now “first blood” has been drawn. The war is officially on. I MUST find a water bed similar to what I had in USA.
Next morning I was up early and headed to the world famous Wolong Giant Panda Reserve”. First a taxi to the bus station. Look around, get directions and find out I’m in the wrong bus station. There are TWO bus stations? Yup. Run out to get another taxi and tell him the bus station please. He looks like I’m crazy as he looks at the bus station sign next to us. I tell him the OTHER station please. 20 minutes later we get there. Into the station and looking for directions. I find out that there in NO BUS AT ALL going to Wolong. How can that be? After a few minutes I find out that a bus is leaving in a few minutes going to the only stop anywhere near Wolong. Lee and I get a ticket for 23 yuan each and board the bus. They tell me it is a two hour ride to where I get off. We drive north, more or less, up 2 lane country roads. We drive on the right side, the left side and the center of the road. We pass other vehicles on the left, the right, going up hill, down hill and on turns. Many times on turns. It was very scary. There are no guard rails on most all of the roads here. We are going up into the mountains. From time to time in America you read in the newspapers that a bus drove off the road, fell anywhere from 50 feet to 200 meters straight down and all were killed. Let me tell you, THIS is where this could actually happen. It is really best if you read or sleep, but not keep looking at where the driver is driving. If you do, you will be biting your nails the whole trip, as well as saying numerous prayers. Two hours and 20 minutes later the bus comes to a stop in the middle of the road, there are no shoulders here, and motions us out of the bus. There must be a mistake, there is nothing here. No city, no town, no store at all, just a woman with a small cart selling soft drinks. The driver keeps yelling out, out, out here, so out we go. I can feel my stomach getting that sinking feeling as I watch the bus disappear around the next turn in the road. The woman tell us the Wolong is about 45 km that way. 45 km is about 28 miles…not too far if I had my car here, but on foot, in rainy weather, it is VERY far. She points us towards several men standing near their cars, trucks and small vans. She says its walk or hire one of them to take you there. I figure, 45 km, how much could they want? The first guy said 180 yuan for the trip, that’s one way. Too much I say and we ask the next guy. He says 200 yuan. Wow !! getting higher. Next wants 300 and I know we are getting ripped off by “supply and demand”. 30 minutes talking and bargaining and Lee gets one young guy to agree to 120 yuan. We hop in and take off to Wolong. The road started off in poor condition, broken pavement, big pot holes, you know, something like route 1&9 in Jersey City. From that point it got worse….a lot worse. Pavement started and ended many times. The road became dirt, than NO ROAD at all. Water, mud, many rock slides partially blocking the road, local people and animals walking along the same road. It was very narrow, too narrow for two cars to use at the same time. When we met another vehicle going the other way, one of us had to find a spot to get off the road and let the other pass. There were time s I thought we were driving in a creek instead of the road. There was a big, raging river along side the road the whole trip. Rivers in north China are slow, meandering rivers in general. That was NOT what rivers in the south were like. I saw a few home made bridges across the river for people to cross on foot. These bridges were like the ones used in our Army basic training, the ones half th
e guys fell off of and landed in either the mud or 3 feet of water. They would get laughed at, get up and try again. If you fell off THIS bridge, you were history. It would wash you clear to Vietnam and no one would ever know what happened to you. One day you just disappeared. A little farther along and we had to drive across a bridge on cement for cars and people. They looked sturdier, but older, and I’m not kidding, this was a very raging river, and just how often if ever are the bridges inspected?This is at an altitude of over 9000 feet. A little earlier we were at a location almost 14,000 feet high. Pilots of small airplanes are required to put on oxygen above 10,000 feet. Just a few steps at 14,000 feet and I IMMEDIATELY knew I was in a totally new environment to me and to tread softly. Walking only 20 yards had me feeling light headed and dizzy from lack of oxygen. In most areas you can see vendors selling cold drinks to tourists. Not here. When you saw a vendor around here, the main item for sale was a canister of oxygen. No kidding…it was. It consisted of a slightly large aerosol can filled with pure oxygen and a face mask attached. Every few yards, depending how high you were, you took a hit of oxygen (O2). It was quite necessary here. Altitude sickness consisted of light headedness, dizzy, bad headaches and some times disoriented. The O2 was needed.
This is a picture of Lee (beautiful, huh?) in native Tibetan dress while we were in Jouzhaigou. The next picture is the favorite picture of both Lee and I. same location with us both in native clothing. Wolong is the biggest Giant Panda Reserve in the world. They do more to breed and protect the Giant Pandas than anyone in the world. The ride from Chengdu was an adventure in itself. We tried to take a bus to Wolong but we were told there was no such thing. The best we could do was to find a bus to take us to a location the closest to Wolong that any form of transportation goes, let us off 
the bus, than we find our own way the rest of the way. We said OK, and we were off at 7AM. Two hours of turning, twisting, two lane mountain roads were what we faced. Driving here in the mountains and in China in general is a whole new world. New York drivers have nothing on these guys. Drive on the right, the left or wherever you choose. Passing, up hill, down hill, on turns, on the right, the left or wherever you choose. Stopping on the right, the left or wherever you choose. In the last few sentences, did you notice a lot of “wherever you choose”? That happens a lot here. We were let out in the middle of the road with no city or town in sight. We said HERE? The bus driver said yes, so we got off. There was a woman selling drinks from a small cart so we approached here and asked how to get to Wolong. She smiled and said it’s about 45 kilometer “that way” as she pointed up a very small road. That was WAY to far to walk so we looked around. We found some men with a van or truck to hire. They all wanted between 180 and 300 rmb (local money) for the trip. We knew it was way to high, but we were stranded there. We bargained as much as possible, but no good. We spotted a young man, maybe 20, standing on the side quietly. We approached him and Lee spoke to him. At first he said 180 rmb, but soon Lee got him to 120. We agreed and loaded up in his vehicle and were on our way. The road was poor at first. I did not know it but the “poor” part of the road was actually the best part of the road. From poor, it deteriorated quickly to the point of “where did you say the road was?” Our speed varied from about 20 mph at first to a slow walking speed at other times, and stopped completely many times. Two hours of this and we finally made it to Wolong Reserve. I have read much about this place and was thrilled to be here. It was cool here and raining off and on. I asked our driver, through Lee, how many tourists come here to Wolong. He said no more 
than 200 foreigners a year come here because it is so far out of the way. No five star hotels or restaurants to be found here. The whole time we were there I saw no more than 5 other tourists and they were all Chinese. It rained but I could not care less. I was VERY excited to be here and seeing real Giant Pandas in China not in some zoo. Here is a picture of my first Giant Panda shot. WOW !!! Next is me actually petting a real Giant Panda. How many people do you know that have done that??Well, we are back in Zhengzhou now. The flight back was rather odd. We were flying a new Air Bus 321 non-stop from Chengdu to
Zhengzhou….or so we thought. Half way there we made an emergency landing at Xian. We were all ok, but nervous. Three hours later and after a free meal on the airline, were told the airplane was repaired and we loaded up again. We took off going to Zhengzhou. About 10 minutes into the flight, we felt a steep nose drop of the plane, than we made a rapid U-turn. I immediately thought uh-oh. They came on the speaker and said we were going BACK to Xian AGAIN…another emergency landing. We were all very nervous now. Two emergency landings in the same day on the same plane at the same city….how odd is THAT? We landed OK. The 2.5 hour flight was actually 14 hours but we finally made it home after the airline brought in a different plane from Harbin, near Russia, after all the passengers refused to get back on that same plane a third time for any reason at all. Take a click on the link for my newest page: www.my-china16.blogspot.com/
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