Flying Pigeon Music Video

I've never talked about my music project Flying Pigeon on the blog before. Here is the first. Only because today I finished the first and only music video for Flying Pigeon.

Since leaving the States last June I have not had many chances to play music. Which is a pity because if you know me at all you know that music is a huge part of my life, probably the huggest.

Every once in a while I come across a guitar or piano that I can mess around on, but it was not until coming to Yunnan that I bought a cheap acoustic guitar. I brought all my recording equipment from the States in the hope thats I would find a way to keep rocking. I finally did.

On top of that there is a bee hive within the Green Education Center which fascinates me. So I spent a few days taking some recordings of it, and today after recording the simple guitar tune, I put the two pieces together and came up with this music video. Enjoy.

FLYING PIGEON The Bees of Lashihai.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6J_PODZg8o&feature=youtu.be

Slowly and Silently Cycle On.

Panoramic view of the First Bend.

Slowly and Silently Cycle On: Our Trip to the First Bend of the Yangtze River.

I started out by re-patching my front tire. The previous patch failed the night before. Then pulling off the back rack I used for our tent and sleeping bags while biking to Dali the weekend before. I even cut off my handle bar grips and replaced them with a new set. I wanted my bike to run smooth for the days adventure so I made sure the tires were inflated all the way, tightened the brakes, and cleaned the dirt off of the cog and chain. I was a ball of energy that morning and I needed to do something, I needed to go somewhere. I could have gone anywhere, Yulong Snow Mountain, Wenhai Lake. But I figured the day was as good as any to finally make it to the First Bend of the Yangtze River. It was an 80km there and back trip. Easily doable despite the huge mountains I would be passing through and despite that I was starting the trip at 1 in the afternoon. Brandon was still humming and hawing about whether or not he was going to go. I told him he had me eating a sandwich’s worth of time to suss it out, because after that, I’d be flying out the gate putting these two twitchy legs into motion. He ended up coming and I was glad he did.

Right as we got to the main road I was off. Within five minutes I had already put a good distance between Brandon and myself. I was not worried about us getting separated as there were only two roads that we would be riding the whole trip. I didn’t bring my iPod. I was stick to death of having to fiddle with the cord so that the right or left ear bud wouldn’t short out. Or if it were too loud I couldn’t hear the traffic well enough. I just wanted to listen to the sounds around me, be them honking cars or buzzing bees. Not that I was totally without music. Aware that I didn’t bring anything along my subconscious pulled through and produced the most perfect of tunes to plug right into my head. Bobby Ellis’s ‘Step Softly.’ I couldn’t have picked a sweeter soundtrack to ride to even if I had brought along my iPod. The piano and bass first lay out a slow, still, mysterious little intro and you’re not really sure what’s gonna come next. Then the drums kick in; DAT Boom Ba Boom! And the horns start singing a sad little melody. Each time I hear it, it brings up visions of a herd of elephants or caravan of camels trekking through the dessert in that never-ending search for water. The beat is a slow one, but its a rock-steady one, one that can put me in a trance so I can just keep moving moving moving and soon I forget that I’m cycling at all and I just notice the road moving beneath me and the trees passing by me. I was in a trance and I was moving.

Leaving Lashihai behind wasn’t any trouble. After wrapping around the south of the lake we started up the hills which led west out of the valley toward the First Bend two valleys over. I came across a beekeeping farm and stopped a moment to admire the 30 something hives and countless something bees that droned about above them. It was a good spot to sit a moment and let Brandon catch up. I started talking with the beekeeper, asking what kind of bees they were, when he harvests the honey, how does he do it? At the center we have our own bee box, but no one with the knowledge of taking the honey. He didn’t provide much more advice other than “Open the box and take the honey combs out.” I guess it was as simple as that, and I had just expected a long, convoluted explanation. The man had kept bees for 20 years, so I took relaxed approach as an absolute truth. It then struck me that the life of the beekeeper is a life I would easily choose for myself. No better way to observe the natural way of things.

We kept going on and soon found a small Tibetan Buddhist Monastery over looking the valley. It was more of a tourist trap then place of worship. One could get a picture taken with a hawk that was tethered up near by while wearing traditional clothing of the region. As well as pay for prayers for yourself and loved-ones. We stopped just long enough to eat a snack and take some photos. I’ve never had much interest in Buddhism, but the art and flags have always drawn me in. I tend to lift a flag or two whenever we visit a site such as this. Brandon pardoned away my thievery as the redistribution of Tibetan Buddhist culture to otherwise Tibetan cultureless places (your welcome Oakland.)

Now it was time to start flying down the hillside into the next valley. And fly we did. Some spots without traffic I got going so fast that when a 180° turn approached I almost couldn’t slow down in time before entering the turn. With the speed and how hard I was leaning into each turn my back tire’d start skidding out from under me, but I was able to keep both wheels on the tarmac. At one curve I pulled off to the side of the road to wait for Brandon and get another view of the valley. We could see the Yangtze far down below. We weren’t able to see the First Bend. That was hidden behind a mountain range separating that valley and the next one. The thought of turning back was brought up then. It was getting late and the fact that with each minute of screaming downhill would come 20 minutes of panting uphill. It seemed daunghting. There was a moment of indecision.

“I want to keep going.” I said with all seriousness after some moments of pondering. That morning I was spontaneously struck with a mission to do something that would push my body and remind me of the rewards of stress and struggle. “I want to keep going.” I repeated to make clear. I knew we had options of getting back up the hill that night. We could harden up and bike back, take a bus or taxi from the Bend, or even call Chan Laoshi and he would come rescue us. But I wasn’t going to Not go all the way just because of the hardships of getting back. I was on a mission. I relayed this to Brandon and he agreed to go on. “That’s what I like to Hear!!!” I was so full of joy and adventurous spirit that day he must have wanted to punch me. With that I pulled the flag I lifted from the monastery out from my backpack and tied it to my backpack. I wanted a blur of red and yellow streaking behind me as I flew down the rest of mountain.

Soon after we got to the second road of the two-road journey. A provincial highway that went north around a mountain range then twisted back south leading finally to the Bend. I became ecstatic as we got closer and closer. I could see signs for the Bend and I knew we’d be there within the hour. The roads kept descending lower and lower into the river valley. I was ripping past tourist buses and rigs in front of me. I couldn’t stop or slow down and I didn’t want to. I would catch a fast glimpse of faces within the bus as they saw me cutting through two-lane traffic down the hill and I felt sorry for those folks who couldn’t appreciate Travel as I could.  I started to whoop and holler. I was standing up out of the saddle. I was already at such speed that I couldn’t pedal to go faster even if I wanted to. I was a ball of pure excitement. My legs weren’t spinning so I had no way of releasing it so I started singing as loud as I could, loud enough so people in their cars could hear me and understand what they were missing out on. My tra-la-la’s could be heard all the way at the First Bend, and if they couldn’t be heard, then the folks there missed out on some pure joyous inspiration.

As we veered south and started to get glimpses of the Yangtze, patches of clouds opened up and bright columns of light poured down and reflected off the rippling water. The hills were dotted with huts and small villages tucked between terrace upon terrace of rice and wheat fields ascending the hillside like great steps.

We didn’t stop much to take a look at the view. There was no need. The whole valley and river were right there in front of our eyes. The snapping of pictures only interrupts views like this. The pictures you take can’t even compare to the reality. Each moment looking through a lens is one less moment of the gorgeous spectacle being burned into your memory. A patch a green forest sprang up from around a corner. I looked back toward Brandon, but I didn’t need to say a thing. He was already yelling out “Do you want to go down there?!?”

The first opening in the bushes we pushed our bikes down a short steep hill into this shaded forest on the bank of the river. We walked through the trees and started over the dried flood plain of the river. There were huge, deep cracks in the soil. At the waters edge were rock pebbles and of course trash. We had high hopes for a river in pristine condition, unaffected by the thousands of miles of industry and pollution the Yangtze flowed through before passing Shanghai and emptying its black waters the Pacific. But even this far into the lesser developed and unpopulated west the casual and irresponsible waste management habits of China were clear to see. “This is probably as clean as it gets.” We confirmed. But I was used to China by now and didn’t let it bother me. At the rivers edge my shoes and socks were quickly off, followed by the shirt and pants. I took one step toward the water and then the thought of biking 40 kilometers uphill in soggy undies flashed through my head.  So I excused myself to Brandon and the underwear came off as well, and I ran giggling into the cold cold waters of the Yangtze. The water flowed one thousand miles off the Tibetan Plateau to greet me where I stood, then continued to flow three thousand more miles to the Pacific. The water was fast, and me not being the best swimmer, I was easily carried down the river until I managed to doggy paddle to the shallows where I could manage some backstrokes upstream. In 1966 Mao Zedong, then in his 70’s, swam about 15km, over an hour in the Yangtze. I lasted about 3 minutes of the freezing water and strong currents before I returned to shore and pants returned to my legs. But it felt good. I felt great and walked happily away wringing the last drops of the murky water from out of my beard. 

At the actual site where the river flowed south then took a 180° turn to the north we ate a much needed lunch and talked about being back in the States, going to concerts and living the life we were used to. But no matter how home sick we were or impatient to get back to the life we were used to, it was obvious the experiences we’ve gone through on this side of the world would only changed us for the better, thus making going to concerts again and hanging with our friends in the same old places a bit richer than before.

It was already passed five in the evening and we had a long way to go so our dinner was brief and we were on the road heading back before we knew it. The trouble with a river is it flows at the absolute lowest elevation it possible can. Like the Tao, it settles in the places people avoid. Ergo, the climbing of hills started immediately, and quite literally did not cease for 40km until we descended back into Lashihai. Before we found a place to eat we thought of perhaps having to catch a bus home after a blind merchant on the side of the road told us it’d be impossible to make it back home that same evening. He under estimated my drive. I knew what I got myself into, and I knew what to do to get home. Right from the get-go I was pushing ahead. Brandon could handle himself and so I got into a rhythm and just kept moving moving moving. I was already 7km uphill from the river valley. I was all alone and already fairly exhausted from the climb. I pulled off to take a pee in the bushes. I had too much momentum to wait for Brandon to catch up and he was nowhere in sight. I called him to see how it was going at his end. “I’m fine.” he confirmed. “Just go on ahead. I’ll find a car back if I need to.” I knew he was wily  and could easily take care of himself. I pulled my shades out from my shirt collar and whipped the sweat from my chest of off the lens and put them on. With Brandon’s blessing I’d go it alone. So then I continued to do what I do best, slowly and silently cycle on.

There’s something odd about cycling on a mountain. I am often completely unaware of my surroundings. While racing down a mountain the scenery seems to pass by so quickly, almost too quickly for me to take in. While pushing up a mountain the only thing I can pay any attention to at all is my front tire slowing rotating as the kilometers take eternities to pass. The lively operatic arpeggios of my heart that I had belted out at the top of my lungs and the gushing winds that deafened my ears only hours earlier had been replaced with low grunts and long heavy breathes in tempo with the clack-clack of the bike’s crank arm, the constant squeal of the chain and the next to silent sound of the tires rubbing against the road.

There is nothing to do except to keep pedaling. I didn’t bring enough snacks for fuel. The orange and energy bar I brought along I had already eaten on the way to the Bend, and we didn’t get anything more before we started heading back. All I had on me was 1 kuai RMB, about $0.16 USD. Even in China that’s not a lot to barter goods or services with. I had to get off the bike and start walking up one steep incline. While walking I just about finished all of my water. At this point I was praying for a slow rolling rig or tractor to pass by so I could piggyback up the hill, but no dice. After 15-20 minutes of shuffling along I was a bit more rested and hydrated. I was able to get back in the saddle and keep pushing. The sun was starting to dip behind the clouds above the mountains range to the west. Part of me didn’t worry too much about having to race the sun to get home. The way I calculated, so long as I was constantly raising in elevation that would offset the ever-setting sun, keeping me on a well-lit road. By then I had painfully made it back to the Tibetan monastery. It was deserted and the sunset was amazing. I stayed a while to re-gain my vigor.

I knew I was closer than not to the top of the mountain. I could see the peak above me, but with so many switchbacks on the road I knew better than to claim success just yet. I could still be easily beaten. But as I soldiered onward and upward on the final stretch, providence sent forth a mighty rig of a truck rumbling up the hill in my wake. I heard it long before I saw it. I knew the timing had to be just right to find something to grip onto as the truck passed. It was still too far behind me to gauge and we were coming up to a flat spot. I knew that the driver would drop the gear and speed up right when he got the chance, which meant I might miss mine. As the truck pulled up next to me he was slowly pushing me to the side of the road. Worrying about not being driving off the road into a ditch, keeping in pace with a passing semi-truck and finding something to grip onto to is indeed worrying. And right as the truck hit the flat stretch of road and I was in line with the rear end of the truck I grasped the hinge of the back gate just as the driving put he motor in a lower gear and we jolted off together. Like a minnow in the shadow of a shark or an oxpecker on the back of a rhino I stuck to that truck and glided up the steep incline. This glorious ride lasted only 3 minutes. It would have been about 30 had I biked it. The truck was hauling sand, and each time the truck jerked while switching gears it would start cascading over my head and arm. I was caked in sand by the time we got to the top of the hill. But I didn’t mind. Dirt isn’t dirty I confirmed to myself, and besides I had made it. I was thrilled.

And then, when I thought my joy and jubilation could not possibly be any greater, I was met at the top of mountain by the last thing I expected. A few hundred meters in front of the semi I noticed a colorful speck pulling a bicycle out from the back of a Jeep. Brandon. He later explained that he had also been busily biking away behind me until he decided; “That’s it!” got off his bike and started hitchhiking. He had stopped two cars that demanded money in exchange for a ride before a family greeted him on their way back to Lijiang who were happy to give him a lift for free. He planned on taking the ride all the way into Lashihai, until in the distance he noticed a colorful speck on a bicycle hugging the back of a semi-truck and said that a lift to the top was the hill was plenty and thanked the family for the assistance. It was a perfect and unlikely meeting. There was nothing more but easy roads ahead of us. The sun had just set and the sky was still blue and purple. It had only gotten dark during the final stretch. After 7 hours, 80 kilometers and over 1,000 meters of climbing we had made it. And we were home.

goodbye truck...

... hello brandon.

Reminiscences Of Our Weekend

Reminiscence Of Our Weekend.

Inspired by On the Road, Jack Kerouac.


Lashihai, Yunnan, China 
3/7/12
After a week of working hard in the backyard of the Green Education Center, digging up hills, burying trash mounds and moving piles of cement left behind by workers, Brandon and I decided we needed a bit more of a break. The only thing we could do other than our normal once a week trip to Lijiang was to stay the there overnight, make an evening out of it, try to find adventure, new friend as well as other things, and hanging out without worrying about having to make it over the hill into Lashihai in the middle of the night.

It was Saturday and we started the day by going to a school for orphans to give a presentation on the importance of recycling, sorting garbage properly and the use of Bio-gas. The kids were great, and much more pleasant than the kids of the public middle school we went to two days later, the Monday when GEC was flooded with students from Yale University and Yali Middle School form Hunan. We were invited back anytime to spend time with the orphans who spent most the year within the gates of the school.

After the presentation we drove further into town to purchase a cargo tricycle for GEC from a small trike dealer down an alley of fruit markets and mechanics. Before our director Chen Laoshi handed over any money I made sure the owner tightened the loose hubs as well as raise the saddle to fit Brandon and myself. After pedaling it down the alley and getting aquainted with the dual crank-lever and foot brake we were given the keys to the GEC compound and Chen Laoshi's blessing to deliver the new trike to Lashihai. We later found out that some previous interns had apparently been drinking one day and crashed GEC's previous electric driven cargo trike into a ditch, totaling it.

It was the first time either of us had ridden a trike. It moved surprisingly swift for having one of us sitting in the cargo hold while the other swerved in and out of the cars along Changshui street heading out from Lijiang. We got some good looks from folks as they drove by, and we even tried calling out to people about a foreigner for sale for fifteen kuai ($2.50)

Chen Laoshi and ourselves figured we could get up and over the hill with one of us pedaling and the other pushing. It ended up being a pain no mater what which way, and so we just walked it to the top. Then, I was pleased as punch to get to ride it down the hill into Lashihai while Brandon gave us momentum sitting in the cargo hold. Only facing backwards so he could see the cars as they barreled down the hill after us. Just coasting down the hill at first with a shit eating grin on my face, I even started pedaling faster after a few vans zoomed by on out left. Still smiling I noticed the front wheel the dealer tightened before we left the shop wobbling away. Brandon looked over the railing and saw us swerving ever closer to the drop on the side of the road as I was leaning into all the curves down the slope. 

Once getting it back to GEC I parked it right in front of the office to show off the new toy to the other staff once they got back. We got ready to ride our own bikes back to the city for a night of adventure. Just as we were started back up the hill, the other way this time, we were stopped for just a moment by Chen Laoshi, Liu Laoshi and Sinan who were driving back to GEC. They were used to tourists in the area, also used to bikers and interns, but for a second it seemed that after three weeks of our presence at GEC the sight of us still left them surprised and perplexed.

Rolling down the down the hill into Lijiang is so much more exciting. Lijiang is about 100 meters below Lahihai, and so long as there are no large trucks ahead blocking traffic you can get some great speed racing down into the valley. Passing cars on the right on the straights or cutting into the on coming lane to pass mini-buses on the wide left turns with a clear view of on coming up hill traffic. 

Once winding through the final curves at the bottom of the hill into the valley we decided to take a road north to check out the Old Town in Shuhe. The road was brand new and huge. Three lanes each way, which was great for biking on as it was more or less abandoned by other traffic. The cars that were there were also free to take up two lanes, drive 70mph or even choose which side of the median they wanted to drive on. Although the road free from traffic there were plenty of workers. Men and women on the shoulders pouring cement, lining up curb blocks and finishing the median landscapes. Brand new bus stops were also being built. Each bus stop looked like a gate into a temple, which fit the scenery nicely because ahead of the long, wide, flat road was a clear view of the snow topped Yulongxue mountain. 

The reason this brand new highway was still abandoned was that it didn't lead anywhere but the small town of Shuhe. Further up the road heading west back toward Lashihai was the second half of this road being built. It would slowly ascend up pillars to a tunnel that would lead into Lashihai and take them straight to Shangrila, the fabled land the from the Lost Horizon novel that later started a race for near by cities to officially changed their name as to attract more and more tourists each year, Han-ifying and degrading the pristine, undeveloped west of China.

After finding nothing special about Shuhe Old Town we biking to it's larger twin, Lijiang Old Town, and headed to Prague Cafe, our new regular spot, and from the demographic of Lijiang's Old Town, 99% of which are tourists, it seemed like we were some of Prague Cafe's only regulars. They have great cheesecake, good food and ok coffee and beer, all for a lot more money than we'd be willing to spend in any other city we've lived in. But as we had no need to spend any money Monday through Friday at the GEC we didn't mind splurging. They also have a cute wait staff, a great selection of books and magazines and an atmosphere that makes it easy to loose hours sitting, talking, eating and drinking. Once I hit the 100-120 kuai mark ($20~) I know its time to go.

In Lashihai we were only 90% sure about staying the night in Lijiang, but after Prague we were set on getting a hostel and staying the night. We knew of International Youth Hostel close by and decide we could go there first, drop off our bikes and head back out to meet some folks. Four-dorms were cheap, and we were able to lean and lock our bikes up behind the couch in the common room. But it was still just the two of us. We wanted to see if we could meet anyone at the hostel who was also planning on going out. 

Brandon thought he heard English being spoken on the third floor so we went up to check it out. There was one guy standing outside of his door over looking the Old Town at night. Without hesitating a second I greeted him and inquired if he planned on going out at all that night. I usually would have been a bit more timid while approaching a stranger like that, but we had a mission that night, and after three weeks of no contact other than the GEC staff and each other we were desperate to interact with new people. It was no time to be timid. This guy was named Fernando and he was from Portugal. He seemed to be in his mid-thirties and spoke great English. He had just gotten back after a long day of traveling and was planning on getting up early in the next morning to go to Tiger Leaping Gorge north of Lashihai, and so he was not going to do anything other than sleeping that night. But we still stayed and chatted with him a while to pick up tips and tales from a fellow traveler. Ends up he was on his second leg of his second trip around the globe. This time he started off doing a loop around South America, up through the west coast of the US, flew back to his home a Lisbon for a fortnight or two and continued through Europe, Russia and into China before he heads into South-East Asia. When I asked him which was his favorite of all the places he had travelled and I didn't know what to expect. But I was surprised when he said it was the southern most tip of South America, Chile and Argentina. He described it as a nature reserve. During the day he could go about without seeing another soul, while at the same time seeing such an array of wildlife and plants the likes of which he'd never seen. 

As I see more and more the world I see how small it can really be. I can only imagine after going around the globe twice the world could seem as tiny and beautiful as a wee marble.

We wished Fernando good luck and safe travels, then went down stairs to seek more company. In the common room at a table next to our bikes was another pair of travelers. To break the ice I asked them where they got they bought the beers they had on the table before them. We quickly followed their directions to the cooler in the hostel lobby, then returned with a few bottle of beers of our own and asked if we could join them. It was perfect. Here was a Japanese and a Frenchman trying to practice speaking English with one another, and we were two English speakers trying to speak with anyone. Both of them had been working/living/traveling through much of South-East Asia, but this was both their first time to China. We offered our expertise on the country based on our months of being here, and they told us tips and tales of Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. They had both been staying at this hostel for a few days and so after a few hours of chatting they knew we would soon be kicked out so the common room could close. It was decision time whether to call it a night or leave the hostel and brave one of the tourist bars on the tourist bar street that was lined with identical cookie-cutter tourist priced clubs that were filled with tourists.

Although Brandon and I have only been here three weeks, and we certainly were outsiders, we didn't like being clumped in with the other tourists. We lived here. At least we lived in Lashihai, which was now home to the ethnic Naxi people who were pushed out of Lijiang by the ever westward moving Han ethnic group and the tourism industry they brought with them. And its not enough that the Naxi were slowly pushed out from their ancient city, but now each day people from Lijiang who want to get away from the city for a day come to Lashihai to participate in yet another brand of tourism, horse guided tours, led by each able bodied Naxi male in a village. The horse manure has become a constant source of pollution on the streets and in the water of their own community, but they have no alternative ways to earn a living. One aspect of Brandon and my internship at the Green Education Center is to conduct a case study of the negative impact on the Lashihai eco-system and local culture by the tourism industry. Brandon and I are not tourists. 

Tourists or not we went to the bar street anyway. But it was surprisingly empty. The streets along the way that were filled during the daytime had only shopkeepers closing down their stalls for the night. There were only two other tables with people within this huge club. We were quickly flanked by staff talking about the drink specials and trying to make new foreign friends. But we had no interest in being friends with them or by being hustled by them anymore. We already caved in and bought a bottle of whiskey and six soft drinks for 400 kuai ($60) and the six soft drinks weren't even Coke or something to mix with the whiskey, it was iced-tea!

Me and the Frenchman Pierre had an easy enough time pretending not to speak English or Chinese. Brandon spit out a few French phrases he learned from his mother when he was a boy. So finally the young and excited waiter turned to the Japanese, Ryouta, hoping to get some sort of response in Chinese, but was once again halted with another language barrier.

After hours of playing Liar's Dice, a mixed Nanjing/France rules version, with each person taking a drink from the bottle as a penalty, we finally finished it. By that time it was just us four in the bar with two of the workers also sitting at our table waiting for us to finish so they could close and go home. It was almost 1:30am and that is when the hostel locked its doors. We walked through the ancient city of Lijiang back to the hostel and got there just two minutes after the closed the door. They workers inside were still awake and were obliged to let us in. Brandon's and my room was on the second floor and Pierre and Ryouta were on the first. Our goodbye was very short and emotionless. It just goes to show when traveling you can meet a multitude of people and become great companions very fast, but when it is time to go your separate ways, your relationship with each other can seems almost meaningless. 

The next morning we woke up around 10am, which is sleeping in by our standards. Although we don't have to work on the weekends at GEC, we feel pretty useless while the other staff are awake making breakfast and cleaning Saturday and Sunday mornings. We lost our 10 kuai deposit on the room plus had to pay an extra two kuai for two beers we got the night before. We didn't have exact change at that time and they couldn't break an hundred kuai bill. Brandon found out the week before while trying to buy an ice cream with an hundred kuai bill that they would just give it to him for free.

We left the hostel and headed to Prague Cafe again. My head hurt and my stomach was sore and I needed coffee and food in me before we rode back to Lashihai for a day of work making food and beds and cleaning up in preparation for the students from Yale University and the Yali middle school that were coming to GEC the next night.

Climbing Horse Saddle Mountain / 爬马鞍山

Over the weekend staff members of The Green Education Center took advantage of the beautiful weather and took a hike to the local Horse Saddle Mountain 马鞍山。It is  a gorgeous bit of scenery, and whats best is hardly anyone ever goes there. One reason that makes it so fun, it that there aren't really any hiking trails. We had to find our own way through the forest and to the peak.

Our Director Chen Yongsong lent me his GPS device, so I was able to do a bit of cartography along the way, recording our co-ordinates and landmarks along the way so it will be easier for future interns and GEC visitors to find their way to the peak.

A view of Horse Saddle Mountain from outside GEC (looking east) The north peak to the left is  9,863ft
and the south peak to the right is 9,930ft. GEC is at 8,092ft.

Chen Yongsong and myself walking through the foothills.

Another GEC volunteer Sinan on the left, and myself pause to record our co-ordinates and landmarks.

Atop the southern peak facing east overlooking Lijiang City.

Atop the southern peak facing west overlooking Lashihai. GEC is located at the bottom of the mountain in the middle of the picture.

Just before reaching the north peak. We were all carrying plastic bags around with us as to clean up some of the trash we found along the way. Although not many people make it all the way to the top, those who do still have a very relaxed attitude about throwing their garbage anywhere they please. We filled all 8 of our bags before making it back to GEC, and decided the rest of the trash would have to wait for the next time we hike with more volunteers to clean the rest up.

That night I plugged all the co-ordinates into google maps and got a visual on our  hiking route. The left most blue dot is GEC and the blue dot at the very bottom is the southern peak. On the left side of the picture you can see the east bank of Lashi Lake. On the right side of the picture are farmlands and the edge of Lijiang City.

Journey To Yunnan; Kunming, Lashihai

Hello hello hello!!!

So I have been in Yunnan for about a week and it has already been action packed!!! Lots of hiking and biking, digging and building, and meetings with NGO directors and Vice-Village Chiefs!!!

sitting on the train to kuming

Heres a recap

So After the 41 hour train ride from Nanjing into Yunnan Province me and my class mate Brandon's first stop was Kunming. There we stayed with our friend Levi from Hungary that we met on CouchSurfing.org (i cannot sing enough praises about that website. i recommend it to anyone that wants to travel on the cheap) We spent one day walking around the beautiful downtown, managed to find our way to the top of one of the highest buildings in the city (Levi has only lived in Kunming about a month himself, but hes quite adventurous found his own way to the roof) That night we slept on

his roof to see the stars at night (I have not seen any stars while living

in Nanjing so it was a treat) His roommates were all fantastic folks

from Spain, France, Tibet and Israel. I also helped him make bike polo

mallets in the hope that he will start the first Kunming Bike Polo Team. 

The next day we rode his janky janky bikes to Xi Shan Mountain. It looks over the city from the west. We were heading up the normal hiking trail till we noticed a lesser traveled path and headed that way. We found hidden buddhist shrines! Old cemeteries! And some of the greatest views from the top of mountain! Once we got to the peak of the mountain we walked through a stone forest that dotted the top. We were like mountain goats hopping around till we got to the highest peak looking over the city on Kunming. And I Sang For Joy!!!

outside of the green education center

After saying good-bye to Levi and Kunming we got on a night train to Lijiang. We got there at 9am and we were met by are new director Mr. Chen Yongsong and he drove us about 8km west to our new home of Lashi. Its a small village of less than 40 homes on the bank of a huge lake. Theres probably about 20 villages all around the lake, mostly working in agriculture and horse guides for tourism. Are new home is a traditional Naxi

compound (Naxi are the indigenous peoples 

of Yunnan) We live and work in the same place. It is called the Yunnan EcoNetwrok Green Education Center. It is a local NGO that spreads awareness of sustainable living within rural settings. It is pretty difficult to properly take care of garbage out here, most of it is just dumped on the side of the road, which is too bad because it is so beautiful out here piles of rubbish quickly ruin it. Lots of other trash is burnt in order to get rid of it. So we do what we can to get folks to sort their trash properly, recycle, dont throw trash in the streams... pretty simple, but unknown to many people out here. Other than that, the folks at the Green Education Center advocate a low carbon lifestyle. All of our hot water somes from solar water heaters on our roofs. We use biogas to cook our food. BIOGAS is methane created from fermented human and pig waste and composted organic material. Our outhouse sits on top of a large tank that has gas pipes that lead to our kitchen, it works amazingly! Despite how the food in cooked, it has all been delicious. Are meals are all included with our internship, and one of the volunteers is an amazing cook, and I have been eating the best I have ever eaten in a long time.

We will be taking part in many projects over the next four months. One small project that started the first week was cleaning out part of our neighbors back yard and so we could use it as a hang out spot for visitors when the arrive. While most people were pulling weeds and such, Brandon and myself got to build a gate connecting the two yards. We decided to make a simple double door with a little bit of traditional Taiwanese design of random wood tied together. It was great to do a bit carpentry again, but it was pretty hard with the crappy selection of tools we had at our disposal and the selection of reclaimed wood. But after a few days we got it taken care of. Other than that we are getting ready to start mapping the local villages and potential environmental threats, I won't go in to them now, but it has to do with the 23 or so horse corrals around the lake and all the horse poo poo that makes its way to the water ways...

tibetan shrine on the side of the road

Lastly, yesterday we took our first bike tour around the lake. It took about 5 hours with stops, but we guessed it would be about 2 1/2 hours to bike continuously around the lake. It is very big, the roads are crap and there is no direct road around, we have to cut in and out of farmlands. Yunnan is on the eastern border on Tibet and you can see the influence everywhere. While biking around the lake we stopped at one Tibetan temple high up on the mountain side. It was the first time I had seen Tibetan monks. They were all wearing red robes, spinning the huge decorative copper cylinders and doing other Tibetan monk activities. We went all the way up the hill behind the main temple and found another temple that was being renovated. Inside was bright and colorful as all the walls had just been repainted. Other than gorgeous wall art there was just one enormous deity statue, and no one inside, it was amazing. While continuing through the villages we found some
kids to play soccer with in the street, and a great Taiwanese restaurant. Good times.
Thats all up to today. We are getting ready to start mapping in the next few days, we are starting to design a new chicken coop for our four chickens, and carving signs for the Education Centers exhibits to replace the old paper and color pencil signs made by the last interns. Hope all is well, I'll post more later as more things happen. Take Care and Safe Adventuring!!!

outside the tibetan temple

playing footy with the kiddos outside a market

Last Night In Nanjing

Since I returned from Taiwan I have not had much to do other than get my belongings ready for travel to Yunnan as well as visit some of the sites in Nanjing I have yet to see. One of these was the famous Purple Mountain. So on Monday my friends Maggie, Kevin, Walter, Kleaver and myself all went on a hike. Because Saturday and Sunday were so clear and beautiful we figured Monday morning would be a perfect day to go to the peak of the mountain and look over the city, but of course it started raining late Sunday night, so our view was pretty bleak. But the forest on the mountain side were still gorgeous.

I am currently sitting in a cafe awaiting my friend Brandon to gather his stuff and we will meet at a friends house before departing on our 40+ hours train ride to Kunming, Yunnan Province. We arrive there 9am Sunday morning and get to hang out for a day and a half before taking another 8 hour train to Lijiang.

Last night was our final dinner with friends. We had planned on going to our favorite Turkish restaurant, but we got there to find it was closed, and is usually Never closed!!! Oh well, we had Indian instead.

One thing that made my last night in Nanjing so wonderful is that it snowed. Might not sound that great to some folks, but I have never seen it snow in my life. I have seen snow on the ground but never ever have I seen it fall from the sky, and it was just magical!!!  As a kid i remember cutting out snow flakes from pieces of paper, but I never really appreciated that Each and Every snowflake is an actually 6 pointed star!!! It was Crazy!! I build wee snow men form the snow build up on the hoods and trunks of parked cars, I practices my Cricket pitch with snowballs!!! I was so happy.

That is all for now. My next post will be from Lijiang, Yunnan, China!!!

Take Care!!!

Base of Purple Mountain

From left is Walter, Kevin, Maggie, Kleaver

Cleaning out Buddha's ears

Standing in the snow outside of a closed Istanbul Cafe.

Eating dinner in an open Taj Mahal.

Eden, Brandon, Eleanor.

Bilal and Ali

Erin and Bilal

Other Ali and Shiraz

Me and crazy Baris from Turkey.

Mexican Food in China

Mexican food in China is very hard to find, pretty much non-existant. If you do happen to find it, it is very expensive, or not even real Mexican food. One place called "Taco" is said to be Chinese Mexican Fusion Cuisine, which is just fried rice in a shell and called a taco. It is disappointing to say the least, especially when my Californian diet is nothing but Mexican food, and I have been stripped of that food staple for over eight months. It brings me much pain. BUT tonight my friends and I were determined to get our Mexican fix. It has taken a little while of searching, but we finally tracked down all the ingredients needed to make our own Mexican at home. HOORAY!!! Not only that, but at a foreign food import store where we got the refried beans and cheese (both items are very hard to find in China. Avocados are also very hard to come by in China, but we managed to find them) I also found a bottle of wine from Paso Robles, just an hour north of my hometown on the Central Coast of good ole' CA. The smile on my face will not be coming off any time soon.