I am writing some reviews of performances which I have attended here on the blog and transferring them to my written journal. This journal is one of the assignments I have to complete while in Beijing.
Woman, Woman.
The play revolves round the lives and struggles of the modern woman. There were six actresses portraying the different roles in the play. The medium allowed the writer to explore and expound on some of the current issues faced by women. Some of these issues are not considered to be controversial in the USA or other western countries, but they remain taboos or rarely discussed subjects here. The issues raised include weight loss, adultery, prostitution, lesbianism, career vs husband or family, unrequited love, gender inequality and tensions in the workplace, and reality vs. fiction. The set was rather simple, a pedestrian crosswalk and traftic lights, a raised platform and some chairs. The play unfolds with a news broadcast that an elephant has escaped from a zoo. Whatever the outcome, someone had first placed the animal in a cage. The play had many scenes, each one with a slightly different format: fairy tale story telling, Chinese opera, talk show, game show, street scene, office scene, shopping etc. At the end of the play, the women associate themselves with this elephant, a willing prisoner in a zoo which perhaps has escaped or imagined it has escaped.
Since I attended this play in the beginning of the semester, my comprehension of the play was limited. I would love to attend this play again at this point when my aural skills are much better. The actresses tried to interact with the audience but I felt the audience members were rather hesitant in general. For the talk show and game show, they ran out and high-fived the audience. They also noticed our AL gang by the side and proceed to sing "Beijing Welcomes You" to us. That drew some laughter from the audience. At a point, they interviewed the audience as to whether a woman should be married. The people they asked were caught off guard and gave tentative answers. Some stereotypes were used for the team who were in favor of marriage. Korean women are stereotyped to be soft spoken and good wives. To some extent, male bashing occured but I don't think it was overboard.
One particularly disturbing or mind rattling scene was about a normal woman but is repeatedly told a lie. She is attempting to cross the street but is constantly stopped by others. They tell her the light is green when it is red & vice versa. As each person passes her by, they increase the volume they use to speak to her. By the last person, she is utterly confused and thinks she is deaf or color blind. I think the writer is trying to communicate that one would be convinced something is the truth if this lie was repeated long and loud enough. That brings us to the post-modernist question "What is truth?". I digress.
Journey to the West
I attended this modern play of a famous Chinese epic at the Experimental Theatre. The play was supposed to be Journey to the West from a feminist's point of view. I am not fully familiar with the story of Journey to the West although I have read Wu Cheng'en's novel "Monkey". I know the main characters of the tale but the story is intricate with many mythical characters and sub-plots. I wanted to go to the play without refreshing myself on the story-line and characters to see whether I would be able to understand the play based on my Chinese comprehension.
I was greeted with a cloud of cigarette smoke as I walked into the theatre. It was free seating and so we quickly found seats in the middle section. We were handed some postcard flyers for today's show and the upcoming events. I was surprised that the program was a 2008 calendar. Don't you think it is rather late to be handing out a 2008 calendar at the end of November? I think so. As I walked past the stage, there was an incense burner on the front. Many seats were reserved for VIPs, so tonight must have been the premier of the play.
The play began with a bang.. if you could call Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik 1st mvt a rousing start. The actress comes out in coat and tails, with a conductor's baton and mimes. She cuts the orchestra (the audience) off and says to the violin section that they keep missing a note - C. She sings the scale "do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti" and leaves out C. I hum it because I cannot stand unresolved cadences. Then the middle section gets lectured about rhythm and she reminds them to say the word "you" as in swimming. The poor cellos are reminded to remember .. "ji". With this she also gives a short introduction about Wu Cheng'en's play .. "Si you ji". The audience here gladly participated with her in this little exercise.
There were five acts to the play. Even though I understood the play a lot more than the first play I went to, I could not figure out the point or a plot to the play. The play only involved one actress and there were no other persons on stage. There were costume changes and she was mainly playing a man's role. There was a lot of mimickry as to what a man should be like. There was also the use of previously recorded video portraying the journey of the monkey.
Even in a play, the USA and Japan are not spared. In one of the videos, the character was at Donghuamen Food Street at(Wangfujing) and she pays the candied fruit seller. She is given a US dollar as change, she spits in it and stamps on it. I thought this was rather offensive and our group gives a collective gasp. There are many levels in which this could be interpreted. There was a point in the play where she speaks a phrase of Japanese which means "get out of the way". The last scene the script calls for English and Mandarin with a fake foreign accent which was merely just a monotone. Most of it was incomprehensible, neither English nor Chinese. Again this could be taken as a subtle insult to foreigners.
At the end of the play, I was left confused as to what the writer's point was. The fact that it was a solo play made it more difficult to understand. I appreciate the fact that it was very hard work for her to be on stage for 1 1/2 hours by herself. I am not sure whether the rest of the people in the audience understood her effort. I just know she must be exhausted. She only had two bows and then the people started leaving. I don't think that was sufficient acknowledgement for a solo act but we were all tired by then.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
China Philharmonic Nov 1
November 1. I had just visited the Forbidden City in the morning and returned to the area for the China Philharmonic concert. The concert hall is in Zhongshan Park beside the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. The program consists entirely of pieces by French composers Ravel and Jolivet.
This was my first experience going to a classical concert in China. I do not know what to expect in the hall. I find my seat in the balcony and am seated in front of a row of women. It is disconcerting that they are chatting very loudly and planning their next move, as to whether to make a dash for better seats before the concert begins. Their restlessness affects me, so I submit to the temptation of moving to a row which is less occupied.
The orchestra opened with Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin. While the orchestra was playing, latecomers were still allowed to walk in and find their seats. I was a little disappointed to see two young children walk into my row. Their moms also have food wrapped in noisy plastic and drink with them. The children were fairly well-behaved so I was slightly relieved.
The audience shifts again. There is another scramble for better seats a’la Chinese musical chairs while the stage is set up for the piano concerto.
Following that Alain LeFevre, a French pianist played the featured piano concerto. The piece performed was Saint-Saens Piano Concerto in G major. The pianist was very showy, flailing arms and lots of head banging. The sound and technique however didn't match. Everything was fast and loud. I hated the encore the most, when he played the Etude in C minor (Revolutionary). I have never heard that piece so fast and loud before but the audience loved it. I felt like he ran a train through the piece.
After intermission, I stayed for a trumpet concerto. The piece was straightforward and I don't know enough about trumpet music to judge it. I decided to leave after this as it was a cold night. As I was putting on my coat in the stairwell, I heard the trumpeter's encore. To my surprise, it was a movie theme. Sorry to say it wasn't a very good concert. I left after intermission. I made the right decision not to stay. I enjoyed Tiananmen Square at night better than I did the concert.
If I wanted a head banging concert, I would have gone to Kanye West at the Beijing Workers Stadium.
This was my first experience going to a classical concert in China. I do not know what to expect in the hall. I find my seat in the balcony and am seated in front of a row of women. It is disconcerting that they are chatting very loudly and planning their next move, as to whether to make a dash for better seats before the concert begins. Their restlessness affects me, so I submit to the temptation of moving to a row which is less occupied.
The orchestra opened with Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin. While the orchestra was playing, latecomers were still allowed to walk in and find their seats. I was a little disappointed to see two young children walk into my row. Their moms also have food wrapped in noisy plastic and drink with them. The children were fairly well-behaved so I was slightly relieved.
The audience shifts again. There is another scramble for better seats a’la Chinese musical chairs while the stage is set up for the piano concerto.
Following that Alain LeFevre, a French pianist played the featured piano concerto. The piece performed was Saint-Saens Piano Concerto in G major. The pianist was very showy, flailing arms and lots of head banging. The sound and technique however didn't match. Everything was fast and loud. I hated the encore the most, when he played the Etude in C minor (Revolutionary). I have never heard that piece so fast and loud before but the audience loved it. I felt like he ran a train through the piece.
After intermission, I stayed for a trumpet concerto. The piece was straightforward and I don't know enough about trumpet music to judge it. I decided to leave after this as it was a cold night. As I was putting on my coat in the stairwell, I heard the trumpeter's encore. To my surprise, it was a movie theme. Sorry to say it wasn't a very good concert. I left after intermission. I made the right decision not to stay. I enjoyed Tiananmen Square at night better than I did the concert.
If I wanted a head banging concert, I would have gone to Kanye West at the Beijing Workers Stadium.
Time Flies
Time flies. I have less than a month in Beijing and it will be time to return home to Malaysia. I have extended my stay to the 20th of December, so I may have time to go down south to Guangdong.
Some of the things I have done in Beijing since my last post are:
1. Forbidden City: Pretty amazing. All this for one man??? It was a Saturay morning and that only means one thing in Beijing - PEOPLE and lots of them. I never had so much jostling to catch a glimpse of the throne room. Chinese people here have no qualms about shoving or pushing you away even when they can actually scoota by without touching you, they just do. I was pretty ticked off by the middle of our tour. I was giving some people very very dirty looks. I want to go back to the area maybe on a weekday afternoon to catch one or two more buildings in there.
2. China Philharmonic: The concert hall is beside the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. Some French pianist played.. sorry it wasn't a very good concert. I left after intermission. The piece performed was Saint-Saens Piano Concerto in G major. The pianist was very showy, flailing arms and lots of head banging. The sound and technique however didn't match. Everything was fast and loud. I hated the encore the most, when he played a Chopin piece.. it escapes me now. I have never heard that piece so fast and loud before.. and the audience loved it. After intermission, I stayed for a trumpet concerto. The piece was straightforward and I don't know enough about trumpet music to judge it. I decided to leave after this as it was a cold night. As I was putting on my coat in the stairwell, I heard the trumpeter's encore. To my surprise, it was a movie theme. I made the right decision not to stay. I enjoyed Tiananmen Square at night better than I did the concert.
3. Two piano recitals: Giovanni Vitaletti & Shen Wen Yu - both of which I enjoyed very much.
They were not the 'hot' showy pianists but more of the introvert artists. Vitaletti's concert was at Peking University. I particularly enjoyed Vitaletti's playing and interpretation of Beethoven op. 53 and 57. He also played Busoni's "Carmen Fantasy" and a set of variations by Liszt. I'm sorry I don't know the titles as the program was entirely in Chinese (of course) and I ended up doing some translation for the Italians close by. I don't think the audience knew how to appreciate his playing as much as the Frenchman's. People started leaving when he was playing his encores, which were from Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition".
Shen is a fairly young pianist and technically brilliant. For such a young pianist, he displayed a depth and maturity to his playing. Thankfully there was none of the flashy displays made infamous by another excellent Chinese pianist. His concert was held at the Central Conservatory Concert Hall. His teachers were there and so were the next generation of China's pianists between the ages of 5 and up. It was like a circus or a cinema. I was so thankful my seat was on the last row of the hall. I would not need to tolerate any noise behind me, except that it was a blustery day and it got fairly chilly at the back.
The conservatory area is beautiful and I just couldn't imagine what it was like during the Cultual Revolution. I just pondered on the fact that all the Chinese pianists and composers I admire, have walked or played in this hall.
4. Dance: The Cyclone of Gengkhis Khan - I had received two free tickets to the dance show from my oral Chinese teacher. The tickets were worth 280 yuan each. I couldn't find anyone else to go with me so I went alone.
When I got to the Poly Theatre, I found out that tonight's show was the Beijing premier. I wish I was better dressed for the performance and wish that I had brought my camera along with me. There were lots of press photographers and interviews going on. Some of the dancers were already in full costume, posing for photos in the lobby.
I ran into some CUN students and a dance teacher. She helped me scalp off the ticket. That was an interesting experience as I had never done such a thing before. At first we went close to the subway exit, and quickly discovered we were in the professional scalper's territory. He was not friendly at all and basically told us to find our own spot. We go back to the entrance of the building and we just start asking people around us. Finally, a middle-aged man bought the ticket from me. I wouldn't name my price and just said I would take whatever he offered. He pulls out a thick wad of cash and pulls out a 100 bill. He asks if that's enough, so I got 100 yuan for the extra ticket. I was happy! (It means another trip to Dong Wu Yuan .. for another blog.)
The audience was primarily Beijingers and this meant a different concert etiquette. Since this was the premier, the press were filming the show. There was also a slight commotion as some seats were blocked by the sound and light board. The couple who had those seats were not happy and were shouting at the ushers. Somehow they had it resolved. I guess they were given seats further up front. I had a seat towards the rear of the auditorium and was seated right in front of the press rows. Unfortunately, they walked most of the evening. It was obvious they had seen the rehearsals and could indulge in their own conversations.
The show was good but after watching the seed of such dance dramas (Dynamic Yunnan), this paled in comparison. The dances were well-choreographed and the costumes were amazing. They danced to Mongolian music and I was glad to hear some throat singing. There was however something missing from this performance. The expressions may have been a little fake but I still cannot pin point what is missing. I was fairly disappointed but expected that they would praise GK, and omitted the fact that he enjoyed "the sight of men crying when their women were carried away on horseback and their children slaughtered". The end of the show was the most interesting when the audience stood and joined them in singing a song. I had no idea what it was.
The best part of the evening was this: I got a free bus ride home to CUN with the dance school. I was glad not to have to take the subway and bus back as I was simply exhausted.
Some of the things I have done in Beijing since my last post are:
1. Forbidden City: Pretty amazing. All this for one man??? It was a Saturay morning and that only means one thing in Beijing - PEOPLE and lots of them. I never had so much jostling to catch a glimpse of the throne room. Chinese people here have no qualms about shoving or pushing you away even when they can actually scoota by without touching you, they just do. I was pretty ticked off by the middle of our tour. I was giving some people very very dirty looks. I want to go back to the area maybe on a weekday afternoon to catch one or two more buildings in there.
2. China Philharmonic: The concert hall is beside the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. Some French pianist played.. sorry it wasn't a very good concert. I left after intermission. The piece performed was Saint-Saens Piano Concerto in G major. The pianist was very showy, flailing arms and lots of head banging. The sound and technique however didn't match. Everything was fast and loud. I hated the encore the most, when he played a Chopin piece.. it escapes me now. I have never heard that piece so fast and loud before.. and the audience loved it. After intermission, I stayed for a trumpet concerto. The piece was straightforward and I don't know enough about trumpet music to judge it. I decided to leave after this as it was a cold night. As I was putting on my coat in the stairwell, I heard the trumpeter's encore. To my surprise, it was a movie theme. I made the right decision not to stay. I enjoyed Tiananmen Square at night better than I did the concert.
3. Two piano recitals: Giovanni Vitaletti & Shen Wen Yu - both of which I enjoyed very much.
They were not the 'hot' showy pianists but more of the introvert artists. Vitaletti's concert was at Peking University. I particularly enjoyed Vitaletti's playing and interpretation of Beethoven op. 53 and 57. He also played Busoni's "Carmen Fantasy" and a set of variations by Liszt. I'm sorry I don't know the titles as the program was entirely in Chinese (of course) and I ended up doing some translation for the Italians close by. I don't think the audience knew how to appreciate his playing as much as the Frenchman's. People started leaving when he was playing his encores, which were from Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition".
Shen is a fairly young pianist and technically brilliant. For such a young pianist, he displayed a depth and maturity to his playing. Thankfully there was none of the flashy displays made infamous by another excellent Chinese pianist. His concert was held at the Central Conservatory Concert Hall. His teachers were there and so were the next generation of China's pianists between the ages of 5 and up. It was like a circus or a cinema. I was so thankful my seat was on the last row of the hall. I would not need to tolerate any noise behind me, except that it was a blustery day and it got fairly chilly at the back.
The conservatory area is beautiful and I just couldn't imagine what it was like during the Cultual Revolution. I just pondered on the fact that all the Chinese pianists and composers I admire, have walked or played in this hall.
4. Dance: The Cyclone of Gengkhis Khan - I had received two free tickets to the dance show from my oral Chinese teacher. The tickets were worth 280 yuan each. I couldn't find anyone else to go with me so I went alone.
When I got to the Poly Theatre, I found out that tonight's show was the Beijing premier. I wish I was better dressed for the performance and wish that I had brought my camera along with me. There were lots of press photographers and interviews going on. Some of the dancers were already in full costume, posing for photos in the lobby.
I ran into some CUN students and a dance teacher. She helped me scalp off the ticket. That was an interesting experience as I had never done such a thing before. At first we went close to the subway exit, and quickly discovered we were in the professional scalper's territory. He was not friendly at all and basically told us to find our own spot. We go back to the entrance of the building and we just start asking people around us. Finally, a middle-aged man bought the ticket from me. I wouldn't name my price and just said I would take whatever he offered. He pulls out a thick wad of cash and pulls out a 100 bill. He asks if that's enough, so I got 100 yuan for the extra ticket. I was happy! (It means another trip to Dong Wu Yuan .. for another blog.)
The audience was primarily Beijingers and this meant a different concert etiquette. Since this was the premier, the press were filming the show. There was also a slight commotion as some seats were blocked by the sound and light board. The couple who had those seats were not happy and were shouting at the ushers. Somehow they had it resolved. I guess they were given seats further up front. I had a seat towards the rear of the auditorium and was seated right in front of the press rows. Unfortunately, they walked most of the evening. It was obvious they had seen the rehearsals and could indulge in their own conversations.
The show was good but after watching the seed of such dance dramas (Dynamic Yunnan), this paled in comparison. The dances were well-choreographed and the costumes were amazing. They danced to Mongolian music and I was glad to hear some throat singing. There was however something missing from this performance. The expressions may have been a little fake but I still cannot pin point what is missing. I was fairly disappointed but expected that they would praise GK, and omitted the fact that he enjoyed "the sight of men crying when their women were carried away on horseback and their children slaughtered". The end of the show was the most interesting when the audience stood and joined them in singing a song. I had no idea what it was.
The best part of the evening was this: I got a free bus ride home to CUN with the dance school. I was glad not to have to take the subway and bus back as I was simply exhausted.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Practicing the Piano in Beijing
I am keeping up with my practice while in Beijing. I am not allowed to use the pianos on campus because I'm not a music major here so I have to rent a practice room from the piano stores around here. The piano practice rental fee is reasonable ranging from 5 yuan to 10 yuan (USD 1.20) an hour.
Practicing has been a challenge because I have to walk about 15mins to get to the practice venues. Taking a bus there is also possible, but I still have to walk about 10 mins to get to the bus stop. The place I am regularly practice at is Song of Songs Piano City next to Beijing Foreign University close to the 3rd Ring Road. (In case, google brings this up.) I am not at the best piano practice facility around this area. There is some air circulation occasionally and the pianos are in okay shape. Some keys may not work and the pedals may not work. There are only 8 rooms here. There is a much better place near the Haidian Huangzhuang subway station, on the southwest corner, on the 5th floor above McDonalds. I tried their pianos there yesterday and was pleased with the quality.
Practicing in the piano stores have allowed me to observe piano pedagogy and piano practice habits of the students there. I am not sure which to be more frustrated at, the lack of air circulation or hearing John Thompson & Hanon being horribly practiced at the room next door.
I had the misfortune of being kicked out of my practice room on Tuesday because they don't schedule their teachers in. The story gets better when a 10 yr old kid had just snuck into the room with the best piano and I have to wait for him to finish his practice session. I stand at the door like a piano vulture and take the opportunity to observe his practice habits.
He started playing a junior version of Hanon (everything in crotchets/quarter notes) and this is no. 1 of book 1. Every note had an accent on it so I watched his technique. Lots of stress and pressing ... hahah I know. Also I realized that he kept getting lost in the note reading. It is obvious he has not been taught to recognize note patterns and poor reading skills.
I watch him practice other pieces and he played about 5 different pieces. They were mostly correct as far as rhythm and notes go, with occasional inaccuracies. John Thompson book 2 was what he was playing out of. I don't think he had any concept of five finger patterns in the different keys he had to play in. He also did not notice errors aurally immediately. His practice was the usual play through like most students, me included. During his practice, there was no attention to dynamics, tempo or phrasing. Musicality was absent in his playing.
I watched some lessons there too and I can't remember how many times the teachers would actually correct finger positions. I see a lot of John Thompson and I heard that Bastien is now used. I haven't seen any Hal Leonard or Faber method books here either. I talked to a teacher about using technology in the lesson and that is a new concept to them to. I think technique is a great asset to piano playing but it is not the end all. I wish my technique was better but I don't think I put people to sleep in the practice room.
Well, maybe I can try and give a seminar or a lecture before I leave Beijing. If I do that, I want to be paid. That's for sure. Ok, enough venting, time to go practice now!
Practicing has been a challenge because I have to walk about 15mins to get to the practice venues. Taking a bus there is also possible, but I still have to walk about 10 mins to get to the bus stop. The place I am regularly practice at is Song of Songs Piano City next to Beijing Foreign University close to the 3rd Ring Road. (In case, google brings this up.) I am not at the best piano practice facility around this area. There is some air circulation occasionally and the pianos are in okay shape. Some keys may not work and the pedals may not work. There are only 8 rooms here. There is a much better place near the Haidian Huangzhuang subway station, on the southwest corner, on the 5th floor above McDonalds. I tried their pianos there yesterday and was pleased with the quality.
Practicing in the piano stores have allowed me to observe piano pedagogy and piano practice habits of the students there. I am not sure which to be more frustrated at, the lack of air circulation or hearing John Thompson & Hanon being horribly practiced at the room next door.
I had the misfortune of being kicked out of my practice room on Tuesday because they don't schedule their teachers in. The story gets better when a 10 yr old kid had just snuck into the room with the best piano and I have to wait for him to finish his practice session. I stand at the door like a piano vulture and take the opportunity to observe his practice habits.
He started playing a junior version of Hanon (everything in crotchets/quarter notes) and this is no. 1 of book 1. Every note had an accent on it so I watched his technique. Lots of stress and pressing ... hahah I know. Also I realized that he kept getting lost in the note reading. It is obvious he has not been taught to recognize note patterns and poor reading skills.
I watch him practice other pieces and he played about 5 different pieces. They were mostly correct as far as rhythm and notes go, with occasional inaccuracies. John Thompson book 2 was what he was playing out of. I don't think he had any concept of five finger patterns in the different keys he had to play in. He also did not notice errors aurally immediately. His practice was the usual play through like most students, me included. During his practice, there was no attention to dynamics, tempo or phrasing. Musicality was absent in his playing.
I watched some lessons there too and I can't remember how many times the teachers would actually correct finger positions. I see a lot of John Thompson and I heard that Bastien is now used. I haven't seen any Hal Leonard or Faber method books here either. I talked to a teacher about using technology in the lesson and that is a new concept to them to. I think technique is a great asset to piano playing but it is not the end all. I wish my technique was better but I don't think I put people to sleep in the practice room.
Well, maybe I can try and give a seminar or a lecture before I leave Beijing. If I do that, I want to be paid. That's for sure. Ok, enough venting, time to go practice now!
Rural Study Tour aka Hokey Pokey special
I just want to post on my rural study tour to Guizhou and Yunnan. If you are on facebook or my email list you have already received this. I will write about some other things concerning the study tour later.
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I just want to give you all an update of my adventures in China. I was away from Beijing for 16 days and visited several villages in China. I was at a Miao (Hmong) village in Guizhou and at a Tibetan area in the Himalayas. The tour was crazy and very challenging. I'm glad to be back in Beijing and sleeping in the same bed.
We were hosted by families in the Miao village, which is farming community in the mountains. I dressed up like they did for part of the time while I was there. Our group worked on repairing the road, harvesting rice and doing some of their traditional craftwork. It's the first time I picked up a shovel, a pick and a sickle. As for the craftwork, it's been a long time since I did any embroidery or beading, and I enjoyed that. The Miaos also love song and dance, so I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I was one of the last few at their singing event, which I also had to emcee in Mandarin (of course). This I had no advanced preparation for. I didn't even bring any water to the event which lasted 4 hrs. By the way, they only drink rice wine (50% alcohol) or beer and I was not going to ask for anything to drink. (I had more alcohol in this village than I've ever had in my life, including beer for breakfast.) I have no pics of me playing emcee as I couldn't take pics of myself. It was intense and I had to think quickly in Chinese...argh!! I had to dig up every Chinese song I remembered from childhood and they'd join me in singing. The ladies out danced us. It was funny watching them dance to techno but it worked. The villagers also enjoyed doing the Hokey Pokey with us, and we had encores of that. Our last dance before we left the village was the Hokey Pokey. The villagers walked with us for part of the hike downhill and then they waited from across the valley until we were totally out of sight. They shouted from across the valley when we were 1/2 into our hike. It was very touching and just indescribable. They will miss us more than we ever could. I was really sad to leave this village.
After the Miao village, we had some down time to do touristy stuff. We went to some caves and Huangguoshu, the biggest waterfall in China. We did take a sleeper train to Kunming city and I managed to give myself some nice bruises slipping of the bunk. I also developed a bad cold while in Kunming. We flew into Zhongdian, which is now called Shangri-La for tourist reasons. We travelled by bus through the Himalayas to Deqin, going over a mountain pass of about 4200m high. You can guess it... my cold and the altitude made it unbearable for me. I couldn't breathe and my head felt like it was going to burst. We rested for a day in Deqin which was at around 3400m. It is an interesting town, somewhat like a frontier town and it was the only place I didn't feel safe walking around by myself. I felt better after sleeping for 12 hrs and taking lots of medicine.
We drove the following day to a small village where the hike to the glacier at Meili Snow Mountain began. The village had vineyards all around it. We had Tibetan guides and mules to haul our stuff. That was really nice as I wouldn't be able to hike with any extra weight. I have been fighting a hip and knee problem for most of the trip anyway. It was a fairly steep and dangerously narrow trail at some parts. I'm glad I am no longer afraid of heights, if not the hike would have been a nightmare. When we hiked in the Himalayas, I camped out for the first time and was brave enough to do it for two nights. We had beautiful weather for the three days we hiked and it was clear enough to see the snow capped peaks. I had the option of hiking down the second day but I didn't. I attempted to hike up to the glacier with the other students but I quit after two hours as there was no trail. They were hacking their way through the forest. I couldn't pace myself and didn't wanted our guide to be dragging me by the hand. I sat in a valley for 4 hrs waiting for the rest of the gang but I enjoyed every moment of it, sitting in the sunshine staring at the mountain peak and chatting with my Tibetan guide. I was the slowest hiker everyday but didn't mind at all. I wasn't sore from the hike and I had our main guide with me the whole time. He had to take me by the hand more than a little. I didn't feel bad to be rather helpless as I had not hiked for ages and couldn't afford to fall.
We stayed overnight at the Tibetan village and something special happened that evening. They danced and sang for us. Tibetans are usually very shy people and rarely do this, unlike the Miao who are incredibly outgoing. This village also had not had foreigners since the early 80s. The other students were really tired out from the hiking but I saved some energy for my dancing feet and so I joined them. We wanted to engage them so I taught them the Hokey Pokey. So somewhere in the Himalayas, in a remote village, they know the Hokey Pokey thanks to me! I also did another simple circle dance with them. We danced and at one point, a friend and I danced a swing & a hustle. It's hard to process all this. As far as food went, they had amazing fruits here: pears, grapes, apples and pomegranates. I tasted my first pomegranate here. The next morning we made our way back to Zhongdian. I could tell our guides were heavy hearted to see us leave. Unlike the Miao village, only three guys saw us off but I could tell it was hard for them to say goodbye. We had danced, drank and ate with them and were just about to have some interaction but we had to go. I hope to go back.. as crazy as this sounds.. I do.
What I wrote is not even half of what happened on the tour, but it's already long enough. I hope the pictures give you a glimpse of what happened on the tour. I will try to recover from wanderlust and hit the books here in Beijing. It is rather surreal to be sitting in a classroom after this experience.
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I just want to give you all an update of my adventures in China. I was away from Beijing for 16 days and visited several villages in China. I was at a Miao (Hmong) village in Guizhou and at a Tibetan area in the Himalayas. The tour was crazy and very challenging. I'm glad to be back in Beijing and sleeping in the same bed.
We were hosted by families in the Miao village, which is farming community in the mountains. I dressed up like they did for part of the time while I was there. Our group worked on repairing the road, harvesting rice and doing some of their traditional craftwork. It's the first time I picked up a shovel, a pick and a sickle. As for the craftwork, it's been a long time since I did any embroidery or beading, and I enjoyed that. The Miaos also love song and dance, so I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I was one of the last few at their singing event, which I also had to emcee in Mandarin (of course). This I had no advanced preparation for. I didn't even bring any water to the event which lasted 4 hrs. By the way, they only drink rice wine (50% alcohol) or beer and I was not going to ask for anything to drink. (I had more alcohol in this village than I've ever had in my life, including beer for breakfast.) I have no pics of me playing emcee as I couldn't take pics of myself. It was intense and I had to think quickly in Chinese...argh!! I had to dig up every Chinese song I remembered from childhood and they'd join me in singing. The ladies out danced us. It was funny watching them dance to techno but it worked. The villagers also enjoyed doing the Hokey Pokey with us, and we had encores of that. Our last dance before we left the village was the Hokey Pokey. The villagers walked with us for part of the hike downhill and then they waited from across the valley until we were totally out of sight. They shouted from across the valley when we were 1/2 into our hike. It was very touching and just indescribable. They will miss us more than we ever could. I was really sad to leave this village.
After the Miao village, we had some down time to do touristy stuff. We went to some caves and Huangguoshu, the biggest waterfall in China. We did take a sleeper train to Kunming city and I managed to give myself some nice bruises slipping of the bunk. I also developed a bad cold while in Kunming. We flew into Zhongdian, which is now called Shangri-La for tourist reasons. We travelled by bus through the Himalayas to Deqin, going over a mountain pass of about 4200m high. You can guess it... my cold and the altitude made it unbearable for me. I couldn't breathe and my head felt like it was going to burst. We rested for a day in Deqin which was at around 3400m. It is an interesting town, somewhat like a frontier town and it was the only place I didn't feel safe walking around by myself. I felt better after sleeping for 12 hrs and taking lots of medicine.
We drove the following day to a small village where the hike to the glacier at Meili Snow Mountain began. The village had vineyards all around it. We had Tibetan guides and mules to haul our stuff. That was really nice as I wouldn't be able to hike with any extra weight. I have been fighting a hip and knee problem for most of the trip anyway. It was a fairly steep and dangerously narrow trail at some parts. I'm glad I am no longer afraid of heights, if not the hike would have been a nightmare. When we hiked in the Himalayas, I camped out for the first time and was brave enough to do it for two nights. We had beautiful weather for the three days we hiked and it was clear enough to see the snow capped peaks. I had the option of hiking down the second day but I didn't. I attempted to hike up to the glacier with the other students but I quit after two hours as there was no trail. They were hacking their way through the forest. I couldn't pace myself and didn't wanted our guide to be dragging me by the hand. I sat in a valley for 4 hrs waiting for the rest of the gang but I enjoyed every moment of it, sitting in the sunshine staring at the mountain peak and chatting with my Tibetan guide. I was the slowest hiker everyday but didn't mind at all. I wasn't sore from the hike and I had our main guide with me the whole time. He had to take me by the hand more than a little. I didn't feel bad to be rather helpless as I had not hiked for ages and couldn't afford to fall.
We stayed overnight at the Tibetan village and something special happened that evening. They danced and sang for us. Tibetans are usually very shy people and rarely do this, unlike the Miao who are incredibly outgoing. This village also had not had foreigners since the early 80s. The other students were really tired out from the hiking but I saved some energy for my dancing feet and so I joined them. We wanted to engage them so I taught them the Hokey Pokey. So somewhere in the Himalayas, in a remote village, they know the Hokey Pokey thanks to me! I also did another simple circle dance with them. We danced and at one point, a friend and I danced a swing & a hustle. It's hard to process all this. As far as food went, they had amazing fruits here: pears, grapes, apples and pomegranates. I tasted my first pomegranate here. The next morning we made our way back to Zhongdian. I could tell our guides were heavy hearted to see us leave. Unlike the Miao village, only three guys saw us off but I could tell it was hard for them to say goodbye. We had danced, drank and ate with them and were just about to have some interaction but we had to go. I hope to go back.. as crazy as this sounds.. I do.
What I wrote is not even half of what happened on the tour, but it's already long enough. I hope the pictures give you a glimpse of what happened on the tour. I will try to recover from wanderlust and hit the books here in Beijing. It is rather surreal to be sitting in a classroom after this experience.
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