Wandering Musings

This is what I imagined before coming to Japan: Sitting at my desk writing while in the background wind chimes chime and rain patters outside the open window. Replace the desk with a kotatsu, throw in a couple distant whimsical flutes and that is how you’ll find me at this very moment. Of course, in my head the view outside consisted of verdant rice paddies, not concrete buildings and parking structures, but oh well. The flutes make up for the scenery… or lack thereof. I made salmon pasta today, cleaned the apartment and watched Little Miss Sunshine. Not the most exciting day in this land of the rising sun, but right now I feel full and content. And glad I don’t live in California.

Maybe you’re wondering why I titled this post Mad World. It’s the title of a song by Tears for Fears, redone by Gary Jules for the movie Donnie Darko. The chorus starts out like this: “I find it kind of funny. I find it kind of sad. The dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had…” The song is excellent and I recommend listening to the whole thing. I bring this up because a couple nights ago I had a vivid dream I can’t get out of my head. I won’t go into too much detail, but here’s the gist of it.

I was stargazing with my dad, even though the sun was rising and we couldn’t actually see any stars. In the pink sky I watched a distant Earth appear to fall to the horizon, perform a hairpin u-turn and reverse direction. My dad said I’d just witnessed Earth’s vernal equinox. While somehow this didn’t seem right, I turned back to the sky for further gazing. That’s when I saw another object rushing toward the horizon. This time it was the moon. It was close. And when it soon filled the entire sky it didn’t perform a hairpin turn. There was a deafening sonic boom upon impact and then, in that mere fraction of a second before the shock wave, I realized what mortality really meant. Luckily the ensuing shock wave shocked me into wakeful consciousness, but that feeling, the realization that I will die, clung to me much longer than the dream itself.

That feeling has faded now. Now being July 23rd. This post was actually written about four months ago, but forgotten and left to rot in the nothingness of cyberspace. Seeing as how it’s currently the rainy season here in Akita, my initial paragraph holds true. I could ramble on about the dream, which I’m sure is what I had originally intended (though honestly I had forgotten all about that particular one until now), but instead I’ll leave you to ponder your own mortality at your leisure. Why does it take an unreality to make reality seem so much more significant? There’s a quote I like by Henry Havelock Ellis. “Dreams are real while they last. Can we say more of life?”

My pictures from China are up. Click the picture below to have a gander.

Things I Learned in China

1. Don’t disrespect China.
2. Communism doesn’t work. …I mean, that is to say, it’s a wonderful system!
3. If you are not a cute girl (say, an American male) you automatically disrespect China and therefore must WALK back to your hotel, getting kicked off the bus tour early.
4. “I heard, in _____,” where ______ equals any Western country, or even Russia. More often than not, the information is just wrong, and China always comes out on top. “I heard, in Russia, they only drink milk tea. But in China we have many teas.” Or, “I heard, in America, you have to go to many banks to find a good rate. But in China, the government controls all banks, so you don’t waste time comparing.” Totalitarian governments are quite a time saver! Oh, and don’t even start on America’s many political parties! “In China, we have just one party…”
5. Walk faster when you hear “Hello!” and “Hey lady!” Additional phrases include, but are not limited to, “Show me your money,” “Hey excuse me,” “Look here,” “Hey, I remember you. What’s your name?” (spoken while grabbing your arm and dragging you away). All phrases spoken forcefully, usually with the speaker blocking your way in some fashion. You will be offered a wide variety of cheap junk, from “I Climbed the Great Wall” T-shirts to kites and (actually quite tempting) parasols. Souvenir shopping is stressful, and the fact that everything is “Made in China” isn’t a major buying point.
6. Ghetto is not fabulous.
7. Clothing can be hung anywhere.
8. If there’s no work to be done, there’s no need to pretend. It’s okay to sit and look completely bored. (Actually, I wouldn’t mind if this one filtered through to Japan.) Customer service is basically non-existent, except when the salesclerk follows you around the store putting things in your hand or making suggestions every five seconds.
9. Road/bicycle/pedestrian rules do not exist! The taxi from the airport to the hotel was the most frightening experience of my life. And I’ve been skydiving and bungee jumping!
10. BYO toilet paper! Or face the consequences. There are no squares to spare in this country.
11. Nothing is complementary, especially in hotels. I take that back… we were allowed to use the towels, and the hand soap, and maybe slippers (but we carefully put them back in the plastic bags) without paying extra.
12. The 2008 Summer Olympics are EVERYTHING. Our guide went off on how Sydney stole the Olympics from China in 2000 (while Kathy sank in her seat a bit, avoiding eye contact). The government is currently engaged in teaching Beijing citizens things like How to Stand in Line. (This is true. In general, there are no lines – you push your way to the front, even in grocery stores.)
13. And finally (although this should have been first on my list), there are three priorities for China:
i. An open policy with other countries.
ii. Family control.
iii. The environment. And to prove it, one million trees are planted each year. I guess that balances everything out.
14. Don’t disrespect China.

So those are a few things I learned. If you’re interested in what I did, continue reading.

After a day spent in Tokyo (at the Shinagawa Aquarium), we left Narita airport and arrived in Beijing around 9 PM. The international airport, to my surprise, seemed deserted. (I would later come to learn that most things feel this way – businesses, shops, restaurants, despite this being the world’s most populated country.) Kathy and I exchanged our yen for RMB (it took us the rest of the trip to figure how how the two compared: 100 RMB ~ 2000 Y), and then hopped in a shuttle to our hotel. A smoggy haze enveloped our taxi as we made the supposed hour trip from the airport in thirty minutes. Despite wanting to take in all the sights, I had to close my eyes at some points as we careened in and out of traffic. (The roads definitely did NOT feel deserted.) Not only are there no road rules, they drive on the right side, which now seems completely foreign. (Not sure how this will affect my driving when I return to the US…) Our hotel, the Dong Jiao Min Xiang, was large and centrally located. We booked a day tour to the Great Wall and then settled in for the night. Surprisingly, Seinfeld was on TV. I guess the government allows this one because the show doesn’t exactly portray Westerners in a flattering light.

The Great Wall

There are many sections of the Great Wall accessible through various tours. Badaling is the most popular and is closest to Beijing. Do some research before you leave in order to get the experience you’re looking for. Kathy and I didn’t have a whole lot of time to spare, but at the same time I wanted to see the *real* wall and not a recently (as in the last 50 years) “restored” section. Plus, I didn’t want to be surrounded by tourists. This meant Mutianyu. It’s a two hour drive from Beijing. Along the way our bus stopped at The Sacred Way, and jade, bronze and silk factories. (See my album for pictures.) Mutianyu isn’t crowded at all, though you wouldn’t think so with the sea of souvenir stalls surrounding you when you arrive. After pushing your way through the shops, you can take a cable car up to top to save time and explore the wall at your leisure. As it turns out, the car we took to the top was the same car a William J. Clinton rode down from the top on June 28th, 1998. Pretty cool. In my head I was expecting the wall to be bigger, but I think that’s how it is with most things glorified on TV or in pictures (with the exceptions being Uluru, in Australia, and the Grand Canyon). It’s hard to describe the feeling, watching the wall wind through the jagged mountains for miles in both directions, being connected to something with such a grand history (though I don’t think those forced to build and who died during its creation would share in my awe). It’s been said that those who died building the wall were entombed within it, but this isn’t true – the decaying bodies would have weakened the structure and were not allowed. All in all, the Great Wall is one of those things you should experience once in your life.

Tienanmen Square

It was a coincidence I didn’t catch until after returning to Japan, but Kathy and I were at Tienanmen Square on the 18th anniversary of the famous protests that took place there on June 4th, 1989. Of course, there was nothing to acknowledge any such anniversary, or even any signs that the protests occurred in the first place. Even so, Tienanmen Square is amazing. Unlike the Great Wall, it is bigger than you imagine. Wikipedia describes it as the world’s largest open-urban square, 440,000 square meters. (Again, check out my album for a cool panorama shot.) The square was littered with people trying to sell, of all things, kites. They would steer their long strings right in front of you so you couldn’t pass and then try to make you buy one. It was frustrating to say the least. I wanted to enter Mao’s Mausoleum, but it was closed for renovations. You can’t miss him, though. His face looks out over the square in that famous painting I’m sure you’ve all seen. Plus, he’s on every single Chinese bill.

The Forbidden City

Well, it’s only forbidden if you lack the required 60 RMB entrance fee. Because we had only a few hours to explore it before catching our airport shuttle, Kathy and I only saw a small portion. The city-with-a-city is enormous, 720,000 square meters, although that number doesn’t mean much. You have to see it. Get lost in the maze-like alleyways and small squares. Smell the flowers blooming in the Imperial Garden. Touch the cobbled stones beneath your feet. Experience the history. And pop in a small shop for coffee to rest your weary feet. Believe it or not, there’s a Starbucks within the Forbidden City. As much as I love Starbucks (and loathe it at the same time) I thought this was a bit much. China does too, apparently. Click me. A quote from the article: Starbucks “undermined the solemnity of the Forbidden City and trampled on Chinese culture.” Remember Rule 1? You don’t disrespect China. I would have liked to see it, but our wanderings never took us there. Unfortunately, the Forbidden City is under renovation in preparation for the Olympics next year (remember Rule 12?). The enormous palaces (you know, the ones you always see in photographs or in movies) had enormous tarps covering them. Now I know good photographers should be able to take anything, no matter how mundane, and turn it into an interesting picture, but I’m not that good. It was a frustrating stain on an otherwise beautiful and historical piece of the world. Oh well, what can you do?

So there it is. Two nights and two days in China. It was interesting, but I have no desire to return any time soon. That being said, in a kind of cosmic joke, I’ll be returning to Beijing next month. Obon is a week-long holiday in August here in Japan. It’ll be too hot, humid and crowded to travel around Japan (especially the southern cities like Kyoto or Hiroshima) so instead I’m going to Europe with a couple coworkers. Because it’s a peak travel season, the only flight we could book lands us in Beijing for a night before continuing on to Paris (from there Amsterdam and London). This means Kathy and I have to buy ANOTHER Chinese visa (a mere $100 for just one night! …..Damn communists). Oh well. It’ll be a blast. Be sure to check back for more pictures and exciting tales!