HONG KONG

 
I will be in Hong Kong over the weekend celebrating Passover.  I will post pictures when I get back.
 
Chag Samech!

My Experience in a Chinese Hospital

Unfortunately, I was injured yesterday and had to be taken to a Chinese hospital.  I tripped while walking down the stairs and bumped my head against the wall.  When I got back up, the guard at our dorm was screaming hysterically.  Before I could calm her down, I realized that I my head was drenched in blood.  The guard put her hand on my head to stop bleeding, and then she walked me to the school clinic.  The clinic is closed on Sundays, so we called the ambulance and had a Chinese student accompany me to the nearest hospital.  Because I live in the Developmental Zone, most of the people in the area are relatively poor.  As a result, the hospital caters to that demographic. 

The ambulance couldn’t pull into the hospital because a bunch of illegal taxis were blocking the entrance.  After I entered the hospital and looked around, I was very surprised that there was no lobby or center.  Every room had some specific use and was filled with people.  I was quickly taken to a table nearby and sat for a few minutes until the nurse arrived.  She examined my head, which was still bleeding, and then left.  I noticed a group of 6 men sitting in front of me and working on a computer.  Surprisingly, I couldn’t tell if they were patients or doctors.   Half an hour later, I  was asked to stand and talk to one of the men in front of me.  I explained to him what had happened.  He gave me a slip of paper and told me to walk upstairs.  My Chinese friend helped me up the steep staircase, and we finally found the operating center.  We sat down in what felt like a warehouse basement, and a woman told us to wait a little while.  The people next to me had rather severe injuries.  For example, the woman next to me had a finger that was in two pieces.

When a nurse called me in, I handed her my slip and she told me to go to Room 2.  The doors to the operating rooms were all open, so I saw the other patients being operated on.  The surgeon walked in and immediately started cutting my hair.  I asked him if the needles had been used before, and he told me that his gloves were brand new.

Not knowing how serious my injury was, I chose to stay at the hospital and let them take care of me.  The surgeon put a very bright light over me and started examining me like I was a specimen.  He then stitched my wound and put a head cover on me.  Unfortunately, the head cover was about 5 sizes too small and quite painful.  The doctor told me that it was finished and that I should not wash my head for 8 days.  He then handed me a tissue to wash my face.  There was neither a sink or a mirror in the room.  I left the tissue there and went downstairs to pay. 

I did not bring my insurance card and had very little cash on me.  As I approached the cashier, I became more and more worried.  Ironically, the bill was only 43 Yuan- less than $7.

Everything felt alright until I got back home.  As soon as I walked into the dorm, the students all stared at me in shock.  I didn’t understand why they were all so gloomy until I saw myself in the mirror.  Wow.  My face and head were still full of blood, and now I was wearing an awkward white hat that was also full of blood.  Feel free to check out my pictures to see how I looked.

The doctor didn’t even wash my hair or face before he gave me stitches.  Moreover, he told me I couldn’t wash my head or take the hat off for 8 days. 

I immediately went to a better hospital in the city, and I was an attraction wherever I went.  Imagine a white guy calmly walking around town with a broken head and a bloody face.  The second doctor couldn’t believe my condition.  He told me the first doctor used silk stitches and didn’t even disinfect my wound before stitching me up.   After the second doctor took care of me, I returned home reflecting on my day.

I felt so lucky that I was able to go to a nice hospital and be taken care of properly.  Lucky that I could go to the best Doctor and not just the cheapest.  Most Chinese would love to go to a hospital like the first one that I went to.  However, most Chinese don’t even have that option.

 As I returned home, I couldn’t stop thinking about how much I learned from the whole experience.  Please check out the pictures.

Only in China

After spending over 7 months in China, I have basically adjusted to Chinese standards and customs.  Besides adapting to Chinese culture, I have also become very comfortable here.  While I used to worry about crime or sanitation, I now feel a little strange going to a clean restaurant.  I have no problem eating on the street or walking down an alley late at night.  Also, I now feel comfortable complaining at restaurants, and expect people to treat me the same as everyone else (or a little better).  To put it simply, I feel at home here. 

While this sounds great and like an example of cultural tolerance, it is not always a good thing.  I’ll give you an example.  Last week I planned to meet my friend for dinner in the city at 7:00.  She gave me the restaurant’s phone number, so I called and asked for the specific address.  Unfortunately, the man who answered the phone was Indian and spoke very poor Chinese.  As a result, I took the subway in the wrong direction, and found myself 20 minutes away right before 7:00. 

It was rush hour and I couldn’t hail a cab.  A man on a motorcycle came up to me as I was waiting for a cab.  He told me that I would be waiting for a long time until I finally got cab, and I should ride with him.  I explained to the man that motorcycles are not especially safe, and Shanghai traffic is dangerous enough in a car.  The man kept on pushing until I told him that he doesn’t even have a helmet for me.  Out of nowhere, the man pulled out an extra helmet.  So, I did what any rational person would do in Shanghai, ride on a foreign man’s motorcycle across town. 

The ride lasted a total of 20 minutes, and we passed several groups of foreign tourists along the way.  I couldn’t stop thinking about how shocked they would be if they found out the guy on the motorcycle was a Laowai or foreigner. 

Its interesting what China does to someone.  When I first arrived, I had to force myself to be more relaxed and not worry so much.  Who could have known that I would be comfortably riding around with strangers on a motorcycle.
 

Studying Talmud in China

I have become friendly with a Taiwanese exchange student, and I go out with him a few times a week.  This Taiwanese friend, who goes by Michael, introduced me to his roommate Shuhai.  Shuhai is a business student from Hong Kong and is spending one semester in Shanghai.  Surprisingly, Shuhai is very interested in Jewish philosophy and culture.  He has studied the Talmud very carefully and can quote many parts of it.  I asked him what he thought the biggest difference was between Jewish culture and Chinese culture.  While I was expecting a general answer having to do with business culture, Shuhai started talking about Jewish Theology and Ethics.  He explained that while the Chinese generally don’t strongly value human life, Jews believe that “He who saves one soul it’s as if he saved the entire world.”  That is a direct quote from the Talmud.  Of all the things I was expecting to experience in China, discussing Talmud with a Chinese student was not one of them. 

Impressed with his answer and knowledge of the Talmud, I asked Shuhai why a secular Chinese business student decides to study a nearly 2000-year old text on Jewish law. 

Why?  To do Business.  Since the Jews have been successful in business, it is important to understand their thoughts and culture.  In this respect, many other Chinese try to understand Jewish thoughts and culture.  But very few go as far as Shuhai.  Even fewer study Talmud. 

Touring a Chinese Factory

As I mentioned earlier, my campus is located in the Minhang Developmental Zone and is surrounded by factories.  Naturally, I thought it would be a good idea to explore the area and tour some factories.  Unfortunately, I didn’t know anyone who had contacts in a factory and had to ask around.  So I asked everyone that I knew; including illegal taxi drivers. 

One of the drivers has friends that work in a textile factory and offered to show us around.  I invited an Israeli friend to come along with me and my Chinese classmate.  We waited about 45 minutes for the driver to finally arrive.  While we were waiting, we asked other drivers if they could take us around factories.  All told us it was illegal to sneak into a factory and the punishment was severe.  The longer I waited the more I worried about what I was getting myself into. 

Tired of waiting, we decided to find a driver to drop us off close to a factory.  My Chinese friend figured we could bribe someone to let us sneak into one of the factories.  Ironically, the next car that pulled up was of the driver originally going to take us.  We got in and he drove us to a textile factory about 5 minutes away.  He said that he wasn’t sure we would be allowed in, and he first went entered to talk with the manager.  While he was gone, we sneaked into the factory and talked with some of the workers.  The workers were almost all women and their ages varied from teens to late 40s.  Interestingly, not one was from Shanghai district, all were from rather far provinces and lived right behind the factory.  Also, the factory is considered to have better conditions than most others in China.  However, since the factories are worried about competitors stealing their ideas, I was not allowed to take any pictures. 

After 15 minutes of independently touring the factory, the driver introduced us to one of the managers.  She is a 48 year old woman from Shanghai and will be retiring in 2 years.  In China, the retirement age is 50 for women and 60 for men.   The manager gave us a tour of the entire factory and brought us into the management room to ask questions.  I asked about the workers’ wages and benefits.  The minimum wage for all workers in the Shanghai district is 840 Yuan per month.  This translates anywhere from $3-$5 a day.  In terms of benefits, each worker is covered by some sort of health insurance.  Interestingly, workers from outside Shanghai only started using insurance last year.  This reinforces my belief  that China’s insurance market is incredibly under developed.  According to recent statistics, the number of insurance companies working in China are less than 1/10 the number in Singapore.  Singapore has a population of over 2 million, while China’s population is over 1.3 billion. 

Finally, it was very eye-opening to meet with the workers.  Many of them had left their husbands, children, and entire families to earn extra money for the family.  I met a woman who left her children with her mother, and now only sees them once a year for a few weeks.  Fortunately, the conditions in the factory were safe and clean.  I wonder if these workers would be considered lucky to work in a nicer factory. 

Life at Chinese University

 In order to help students focus, the main campus was moved to the Minhang Developmental Zone.  This area is not much better than it sounds, and I am only 3 subway stops from most of the factories.  However, the district has a very authentic feel to it.  Most everything is cheaper in Minhang, and the government doesn’t have strict control here.  There are more “black” taxis here than anywhere else I’ve seen in China.  I met a driver who told me that illegal taxi drivers make on average 30,000-35,000 Yuan a year.  He also told me that the government will fine a driver 10,000 Yuan each time he is caught.  Surprisingly, he’s been caught 3 times.  He told me he has no other option to earn decent money.
 
I am living in the International Dorm, and the students were very different than what I was expecting.  First, the students are from countries all over the world; except the Western Hemisphere.  The majority of students are from Africa, Korea, Singapore, and the Middle East.  Even more exciting, I live on the same floor as 8 North Korean students.  If you would ask me to describe someone from an Asian Communist police state, I would describe my North Korean neighbor.
 
There are 3 other white students on a campus of over 20,000 students.  As a result, I attract plenty of attention wherever I go.   
 
I’ll post more tomorrow.

A Glimpse into The Real China

 spent 8 days living in a small Chinese town south of Shanghai, and my experience was quite memorable.  In order to arrive at Wuyuan, I had to take an 8-hour bus that left at 8 p.m. and arrived at 3 a.m.  The bus station was packed with hordes of people rushing home to celebrate the Chinese New Year.  All of the buses were going to small towns, so naturally I didn’t see too many other foreigners. 

 

The bus station itself had three things that specifically caught my attention.  First, there was a machine that weighs and measures people for half a Yuan.  My only guess is that most Chinese don’t go to the doctor very often and likewise have few opportunities to be weighed and measured.  A decent amount of people were using the machine.  Second, people were using a vending machine to purchase over-the-counter medications.  Again, I would think this has to do with the fact that most Chinese rarely go see a doctor.  Third, I saw a large outlet that people could use to charge their cell phones.  The machine had different types of chargers already plugged into the outlets and could be used for a small fee. 

 

I didn’t have time to eat dinner, so I bought two bananas and took them with me to the waiting room.  As soon as I walked into my bus’s waiting room, people started staring and assumed that I had walked in by mistake.  After I pulled out my ticket, people began asking me how I learned Chinese.  The bus was completely full, and I was sitting next to a young guy who was on his way home.  He spoke with a very thick accent, but I picked up that he was 19 and working in a suburb of Shanghai.  As soon as the bus departed, all the lights went off and Chinese music started playing.  Unfortunately, I realized that the bus had no bathroom.  I asked around but no one seemed sure of when the bus would stop for a bathroom break.  Trying to distract myself from my present discomfort, I used the book light that I brought to read Alan Greenspan’s Autobiography.  I thought it was a little funny that I was reading about Clinton’s budget proposals so that I wouldn’t think about having to pee.  We ended up making two bathroom stops, and finally arrived at close to 3 in the morning. 

 

Wuyuan is the hometown of one of my close Chinese friends, but I ended up staying with her good friend, who is a guy.  My friend thought that it would be best if I stayed with a boy, or else people would think I was her American boyfriend.  I was absolutely exhausted when I arrived and looked forward to getting some sleep in a bed.  While I knew the town had no heaters, I was nowhere near ready for how cold it was going to be.  Outside temperatures were close to 30 degrees Fahrenheit, and the inside of the house didn’t feel much warmer.  I was very cold the first night and made sure to dress appropriately.  From then on, I slept with a long-sleeve cotton shirt, a wool sweater, a Northface fleece, a pair of shorts, a pair of wool long-underwear, a pair of jeans, two pairs of socks, and shoes.  I wore all of this while I slept under 5 blankets.  Incredibly, I was still cold.

 

Because the weather was cold and raining, we decided to take it easy the first day and eat lunch at my friend Qiqi’s.  As soon as we walked in, we had to take off our shoes and change into slippers that her parents gave us.  It is a custom to take off your shoes and put on clean, warm slippers given to you by the host.  This was true of every family I visited.

 

I should mention that I have been basically wearing crocks throughout winter and Wuyuan was no exception.  As a result, everyone was very worried about my feet.  Wherever I went, I would be asked to take off my shoes and soak my feet in hot water.  After the soak, we would all heat our feet on an electric heater.  It amazed me that so much attention was paid to cleaning and warming our feet, yet I couldn’t find any hand soap.  My friend Weiwei explained that the Chinese believe the feet are one of the core parts of the body, and that their condition will influence other parts.  This experience reminded me of how different Western and Eastern cultures are from one another.  While I am constantly worried about how clean my hands are, I never think about washing my feet before I eat.  On the other hand, a Chinese person will feel fine not washing his hands before eating, but feel uncomfortable if his feet feel dirty.  To attract less attention, I bought a pair of snow boots for 25 Yuan. 

 

We spent the rest of the day chatting until we went back home for dinner.  Weiwei wanted to be polite and offered me some Baijiu.  Baijiu is a strong Chinese liquor that tastes like paint thinner and Lysol.  Unfortunately, I felt it would be impolite to refuse and drank a cup to show my respect.  I ended up drinking at almost every meal trying to be polite. 

 

I was very impressed at how modern Weiwei’s house was, and discovered that it was just built last year.  Since Weiwei is an only child, the house felt very spacious.  Even though it was a modern house, all the toilets were squatting toilets.  Fortunately, my months of just-in-case-I-have-no-other-option training finally paid off.

 

 

Seeing the Countryside

It snowed badly the second day I was there, and this reflected a trend all across Southern China.  Weather was so bad that major airports were shutdown and many people couldn’t get home for New Year.  At that point, I couldn’t buy any tickets to leave town, and I was worried I would be stuck there for at least a few weeks.

While I thought the small town was very authentic, I wanted to go see the real countryside.  I told Qiqi I wanted to see the poorest areas and she told me there was a chance we would have to stay in a hotel for a night.  It would be under 100 RMB for all three of us so I told her no problem.  A few minutes later she called a friend of hers in the countryside to set everything up.  Five minutes later, I find out we will be staying at her friend’s home in one of the poorer villages. 

Undeveloped transportation to and from the village is one of the main reasons for its stagnation.  Everyday one car would take villagers to the town center in the morning and bring them back for lunch in the afternoon.  This car is not owned by a corporation and does not meet any government standards.  The driver is one of the few villagers who has a car, and consequently is the only option for villagers to get around.  When the village family heard I would be coming, the father decided to come to our town and make sure I found the car alright.  I was so touched that this man was not only hosting me in his home, but also taking a few hours of his time to make sure everything went smoothly.  We met the father near the town center and he told Weiwei which car we should ride.  Strangely, the father didn’t even look at me, no matter how many times I tried to start a conversation.   Weiwei explained that the father was not sure what to say to me and didn’t want to make me feel uncomfortable. 

 

After we got into the car, there were only 2 empty seats left.  Nonetheless, the driver decided we should wait another hour until more passengers are ready to leave.  So for the next hour the driver took us all around town running errands.  He would stop his car at a store and leave for 20 minutes.  The other passengers had had enough and got out of the car.  When the driver came back, he looked at us and calmly asked why other passengers would leave.  So much for leaving on schedule. 

 

We finally headed out about an hour later, and I understood why the driver wanted to wait for other passengers.  While only two empty seats were left, we managed to squeeze another 5 people into the car.  Each person paid 10 Yuan and the ride lasted about 45 minutes.  At first, I was very impressed at how smooth the roads were and how easy it was to get around.  I had read about the bumpy dirt roads leading to the Chinese countryside, and I was surprised we hadn’t encountered any yet.  All of a sudden we hit a major bump and I nearly flew into the roof.  Then this happened again and again.  We had arrived to the notorious dirt roads of the Chinese countryside.  The next half hour felt like a rollercoaster at Six Flags, but much more dangerous.  A truck in front of us had fallen off of the road because the dirt was too slippery and wet.  Our driver stopped so he could help the other men get their truck back onto the road. 

 

After 30 minutes of the dirt road, we finally arrived to the village.  Secluded in the mountains, the village looked like it has not been changed since the 16^th century.  The first thing I saw when I arrived was the corpse of a pig that had just been slaughtered.  Blood and hair were all over the area.  The Chinese have a tradition of eating pigs to celebrate the New Year, and many pigs were going to be slaughtered the next few days.

 

As I walked through the area, I saw women washing their clothes along a river that runs through the entire village.  Every home looked identical and had some sort of Mao poster in the living room.  Our friend Huahua took us to his home and told us to get ready for lunch.  Huahua was born and raised in this small village, but is a university student studying in a large city in the Jiangxi province.  Since the village has no school after kindergarten, Huahua had to attend upper school in the town nearby.  He lived at dorms from middle school onwards.  Huahua explained to me that the village has no hospitals or stores, and everything but food had to be brought in from other towns. 

    

The One-Child Policy is actually a Two-Child Policy in the countryside.  This is because people living in the countryside need the extra labor and help that comes with a second child.  While Huahua’s mother and younger sister were preparing lunch, I went to use the restroom.  The restroom was a wooden bucket in the back of the house neighboring the family’s two pigs.  I saw a mouse about a foot above my head while I was using the bathroom.  It surprised me that most families have a TV before they have running water. 

 

We sat down to eat after I came back from the restroom, and Huahua’s mother and sister acted as if they were our housekeepers.  They eat standing up even though there were plenty of chairs available, and they looked down while the rest of us were chatting.  Weiwei explained that male and female roles were much more traditional in the countryside, but that the situation has greatly improved in the last 15 years.  In the past, many girls in the countryside would not be able to get any schooling, while Huahua’s sister may be at university next year. 

 

Being consistent with my other experiences, I was strongly encouraged to drink Baijiu at lunch.  Despite the fact that I horribly dislike Baijiu, I still drank it to be respectful.  After dinner, we went to sit on the couch and warmed our feet.  Unlike in the nearby towns, people in the countryside don’t use an electric heater to warm their feet.  Instead, they burn coal. 

 

The weather was so cold that we stayed inside for the rest of the day.  Huahua showed me around the house and we talked about what the future holds for China.  I was too cold to think clearly, so I changed to a slightly simpler topic: Pigs.  I was very interested in how they slaughter the pigs, and asked Huahua all sorts of detailed questions that he was not expecting.  I later explained Kashrut to Huahua and told him that we try to limit the pain inflicted on the animal.  After we discussed pigs for a while, Huahua’s father arrived and we ate dinner.  Unfortunately, the father was very adamant on drinking baijiu with me.  It only took a few cups until I realized that I was drunk. 

 

Around 9:30 Huahua took us to his uncle’s home across the village so that we could sleep in a bigger bed.  As soon as we walked in to his home, the uncle insisted that I take off my socks and soak my feet.  He took my socks away so that he could heat them, and we went straight to bed.  The three of us slept in the same bed and shared two blankets.  I was given my own thinner blanket while Huahua and Weiwei shared a much larger one.  Weiwei asked Huahua if anything special was going on tomorrow in the village.  Huahua waited a few seconds and answered, “Many pigs will be slaughtered.” 

 

I was slightly drunk so I fell asleep very quickly.  However, I woke up at 2 in the morning because I was so cold.  My blanket had fallen off and our room was literally at freezing temperatures.  To make things worse, I had gone to sleep barefoot and now was worried that my feet would actually freeze.  At the same time, my stomach started hurting and I was worried I had eaten a parasite.  Huahua’s mother did not wash her hands before she cooked and left the food out for a few hours before we ate.  I spent the rest of the night trying to keep warm while in enormous pain from the cold.  I thought about all of the doctor visits I would need once I got back to Shanghai.  Those 6 hours were unquestionably the most painful of my entire stay in China.

 

The next morning Weiwei quickly noticed I was not feeling well, and suggested that we take it easy that day.  I was very relieved because my stomach pains forced me to the bathroom every few hours, and I had no desire to do any walking around.  Naturally, we started off our light day by hiking 5 km to the next village.  As we were leaving the village, we heard a pig screaming while it was being slaughtered.

 

We tried to hitchhike but couldn’t find anyone until we were a 100 meters away.  It was nice that every car stopped for us and asked us which direction we were headed.  When we finally found someone going in our direction, we jumped into the back of his car and quickly arrived at the next village.  We toured around other villages for the rest of the day, and my stomach was continually in pain.  I decided to buy some cookies and the more I ate the better I felt.  

 

I will post the second part of my trip in a few days.

 

Make sure to check out the pictures.

Wuyuan Countryside

I will be spending the next week in the Chinese country-side living with my Chinese friend’s family.  Her hometown is not very developed, and I may be one of the first foreigners to ever visit.  Since the town is underdeveloped, I need to take an 8 hour bus to get there.  Unfortunately, the bus leaves at 8:00 in the evening, so I will arrive around 4:00 in the morning.  This should be a great opportunity to see “real” China and learn first hand about Chinese culture. 

Check back in the next week for updates.

A Developing Tourist Industry

I have a few more stories I’d like to share about my recent trip to Southern China.  First, I was very surprised that the major tourist areas in Yunnan are still very raw.  For example, we went to a small touristy,mountain town called Dali, and we’re initially very impressed by how clean and beautiful the city is.  Our tour guide showed us an area called Foreigner Street that is filled with Western restaurants and bars.  This is supposed to be the most tourist-friendly area in a major tourist town.  We decided to relax on the patios of one of the Western Cafes. 

After we ordered our food, an old man sat right next to our table.  Actually, his back was facing us and he was leaning on our table.  A woman came over and took his shoes off before placing his feet in a bucket of water.  We were a bit surprised that this was all going on about a foot from our table.  After a few minutes passed, the woman starts giving the man a pedicure and his feet were brought even closer to us.  She even begins cutting his toenails, and some actually land on our table. 

No matter how loud we were laughing, nails continued to fly.  We decided to switch tables as soon as our food arrived.  Later on, we realized that everyone involved in the pedicure was deaf and could not hear us complaining.  Nonetheless, I would never have expected an outdoor pedicure service to be located next door to an outdoor restaurant.  

We had many similar experiences as our trip progressed.  However, the final city we went to was markedly different than the other two.  Originally a small mountain town inhabited by Tibetans and Naxis, Lijiang has become one of the most commercialized towns in all of China.  The traditional homes of the Naxi people have been rented out by Han Chinese so that they can sell merchandise to tourists.  As a result, the town is one of the least authentic in all of China.  Traditional culture is only used to attract tourists to restaurants and bars while the entire town is centered around tourism. 

Despite the relatively developed tourist industry, Lijiang still has ways to go in catering to Western tourists.  Take us for example.  One night we decided to eat dinner in the tourist area at one of the restaurants/bars.  Jenna wanted to order ice cream and I wasn’t yet sure what to order.  The waitress told us that it was too cold outside to serve ice cream.  I then asked the waitress what came in the vegetable sandwich.  She was not sure and went to ask her manager.  The waitress came back explaining to me that sandwich means there are two pieces of bread with vegetables in the middle.  We decided to eat elsewhere.

The next restaurant was even more shocking.  First, the menu was translated so badly that I had to look at the Chinese to have any idea what the food was.  The following are some examples: Regetables Hamburg (Veggie Burger), Assipa (Pizza), The Waffle Adds Ham (Waffle with ham).  We ordered a salad, veggie burger, and tomato-cream soup.  The salad was simply diced tomatoes and carrots drenched in mayonnaise.  I  told the waitress I was highly  allergic to mayonnaise, but she insisted that it was yogurt.  She came out and showed me the carton.  Our tomato-cream soup came out right after.  Surprisingly, the tomato-cream soup was simply tomato-soup with whip cream all over it.  We now had two dishes that we didn’t plan on touching.  Finally, my veggie-burger came out.  At first, I thought that they had forgotten the burger.  They had just given me a bun with lettuce.  After I asked, I realized that the lettuce was the veggie burger.  We finally ate at another restaurant where we ordered an Israeli salad. 

Lijiang has on average 600,000 foreign tourists each year.  Why wouldn’t a restaurant hire one young foreigner to translate its menu?  I think one reason is that the restaurants have enough Chinese tourists, and don’t want to waste money trying to attract the small percentage of foreign tourists.  Ironically, Lijiang was not at all authentic in preserving its traditional culture, however, it was a very authentic look at the Han Chinese. 

Daoist Temples and Chinese Call Girls

The Yunnan Province is in China’s Southwest region.  It borders Tibet, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Laos.  Because of the mountainous terrain it has a very distinct feel to it.  People are much friendlier and the entire area is quite laid back.  Also, about a third of the Yunnan population is made up of ethnic minorities.  This means that many places have their own dialects and costumes.  However, there were plenty of moments that reminded us we were still very much in China.

The biggest reminder? Loads and loads of Chinese tourists. 

Sometimes, Chinese tourists can be just as exciting as the tourist site itself.  They take an extraordinary amount of pictures and usually travel in huge packs.  These large groups almost always have bright matching hats and a tour guide carrying a yellow flag.  What really makes these tourists special though is how they react to white foreigners.  We were bombarded three or four times by large tourist groups wanting to take pictures of us.  Because of China’s economic development, every Chinese tourist has his own camera.   This means that we posed while every tourist took his own picture.  Moreover, the tourists wanted pictures of us with each of their friends.  Then they wanted one of us to wear a cowboy hat or to pose in a different area.  When I asked them why they wanted so many pictures of us, they said it was to show their grandchildren.  

Overall, it was nice to see how much pride these people had for their country and how friendly they were. 

Expectedly, someone from each group felt obliged to make the experience political by bringing up President Bush or Yao Ming.  One tourist bought us beers while his friend talked to me for half an hour about why I should support Yao Ming.   Its interesting how basketball has become such an international sport.  Many people I have met know about the Mavericks but have never heard of Texas. 

 Speaking of globalization, I felt it first hand in Yunnan.  As soon as we arrived to the capital city of Kunming, we passed by a Wal-Mart.  Our tour guide told us there are 4 or 5 in the city.  As soon as we arrived in smaller Dali, we also passed by a huge Wal Mart.  It surprises me that a Wal Mart can open up in a town centered around subsistence agriculture.  It makes me wonder how different the town will be in 10 years. 

Onto the trip.  Kunming was beautiful and had very pleasant weather.  It was by far the cleanest city I have been to in China.  We also had one especially memorable night in Kunming. 

We decided to visit a Daoist temple not too far from our hotel, but the temple was already closed.  Since it was after dark, we sneaked into the temple and hoped no one would mind.  The first level of the temple was all gift shops.  The entire temple seemed empty with one exception.  A young man was practicing nunchucks with Chinese Pop music blaring in the background.  Not something you see everyday. 

We ignored the nunchucks and kept going into the temple.  After a few minutes of sneaking around, a man asked me what I was doing in the temple so late.  Not wanting to be thrown out or sent to the nunchucks guy, I told him I was eager to learn more about Daoism.   He invited us to sit and drink tea while discussing Daoist philosophy.  I told him that I was Jewish and wanted to understand the differences between Daoism and Buddhism.  He called out a few monks who came outside and lead the discussion.  We talked for about an hour while I occasionally translated for my friend Jenna.  Before we left, they had me sign a book and gave me a Daoist bible and necklace.  Jenna was surprised at how encouraging everyone had been with my Chinese.  No matter how little I said, every person would complement me and say I had great Chinese.  Jenna made me realize how important the encouragement is, and how it keeps you motivated to learn more. 

After the temple we went to a Bai Nationality restaurant for dinner.  Still excited from the temple, I decided to order some Chinese Maotai liquor.  As soon as I ordered it, the entire staff started laughing and couldn’t wait for me to drink it.  I now know why.  This liquor tastes something like paint-thinner and Lysol bathroom cleaner mixed together.  Few Chinese even drink it, so it was very surprising for them to see a naive foreigner take a shot. 

To keep the night interesting, a young girl called our hotel room asking for me by name around 12:30.  At first I thought it was our tour guide, but tour guides don’t give special massages in the middle of the night.

I’ll post more tomorrow about the second part of our trip.