Cola and the Cold

Last night, we had dinner with our friends here in Beijing -- a young guy named Cola, and his wife whose favorite English word is "stupid." They're a fun bunch, and they have a baby on the way. Remember, Cola, you promised me you would name the kid Thomas! ;-P

As I've said before, Beijing is a good city to visit. It sucks donkey anatomy when you're lugging around a bunch of suitcases in the woefully inaccessible public transportation, but once your hands are free of heavy bags, it's fun to roam around.

The general atmosphere here is a feeling of warmth, one that seems to radiate from many people, as if to defy the bitter cold that Beijing often has to endure. In a way, things in China are kind of backwards. Beijing is the capital, and has huge piles of cash -- yet it is one of the most antiquated in terms of infrastructure and modern convenience. Guangzhou, far away and slightly less rich than Beijing, is vastly more modern but with an equally vast feeling of grumpiness coming from the average citizen. Maybe it has something to do with the weather?

Zai Beijing

Suzy and I have safely arrived in Beijing, although with some sore muscles. It took over 2 hours to get from the train station to our hotel, even though they're only about 6 miles apart! :-o

Beijing is an interesting place to visit, but even after all of the "progress" surrounding the Olympics, it is still a very difficult city to move around. And Beijing continues to be infuriating for travelers -- it's extremely difficult to manage even a small amount of luggage on the buses, subways, etc., much less the 6 big bags Suzy and I are carrying for our relocation to the USA.

Beijing is a puzzle. They poured so much money into development for the Olympics, but I really haven't seen much that's different from when I was here 10 months ago, or the year before that. There's new ticketing technology in the subways, and shinier buses, but still... From the perspective of a traveler, it continues to disappoint. Do the people in charge around here not realize that this is an international destination, one that really should be traveler-friendly? Or do they just not care, knowing that people will flock to Beijing uninformed or uncaring about how shitty the logistics are once they get here? Better yet, people will circumvent all that shittiness by taking expensive tour buses (which go nowhere authentic) and overpriced taxis everywhere. I bet that's the real setup.

You'd think all the money they spent on this stuff would have, say, added an escalator or two here and there for accessibility, or alleviated the massive quantity of Chinglish that continues to flood the city...

Of course, that is all based on the assumption that the government spent the money on genuine development, as opposed to just handing it to their rich buddies in banks and phony construction companies. That kind of cronyism wouldn't happen in this day and age, though, would it? *cough*

Turkey Day

To my yankees back in the US-of-A, I just want to say...


Happy Thanksgiving!

Ah, I wish I could be there for the turkey and pumpkin pie, but I'll be a week too late. We've kind of made up for it though: we've had multiple huge feasts with various people from Suzy's family and friends. Last weekend was two solid days of eating and all-round Chinese craziness while her family ate, drank, played games, and chattered away in Changsha-language. ;-) We also had a big fancy meal with a couple of Suzy's closest friends yesterday, which gave everybody a chance to say "adios."

Tomorrow night, we hop on our comfy sleeper train to Beijing. We'll arrive around noon on Saturday, and spend a couple days screwing around there. It's gonna be cold, but we are now Beijing experts and know where to find all the hot, tasty food and comfortable coffee shops.

Hopefully I'll have time to blog once more before we take to the skies on Tuesday.

Stay warm, everybody!

Ashes in the Wind

Because Suzy and I are leaving for the US soon, and it's a Really Big Deal(tm) given that most Chinese can't/won't go abroad for long periods, today was an interesting event for me. I got to see a part of Chinese culture and the Chinese family that is fairly inaccessible to those who are not part of it by blood, marriage, etc. Today we visited two of her family's tomb sites, for her grandparents and her uncle.

Chinese don't bury their dead, as we often do in the West. From what I gather, that's both illegal and highly impractical. After all, in a country with over a billion people, you'd quickly run out of space if you had to bury the ones who die every day! Anywho, the tombs are located in a quiet hillside -- thousands of headstones of varying sizes, shapes, and (of course) values, row after row of them along the slopes.

I'll not go into the details here, but our visit was to pay respect to her deceased family members, and for her and the rest of her family to pray for our safety and good fortune when we leave China.

It's not the details that really interest me, though. As we set out to visit the tombs, and when I eventually laid eyes on the thousands of them dotting the hills, I thought about something that had never entered my mind with any seriousness before: what would I want after I go?

Would I want to be buried, as is often the custom for us in the USA? Would I want to become ashes instead? And if so, what should happen with those ashes? Do I want to be enshrined inside a hillside tomb, set upon the fireplace of some family member's home, or scattered into the wind?

It is, I hope, something that is far into the distant future for any of my family to have to deal with. But given what I know about the vibrance and ever-changing nature of the fluid world we live in, I think I'd have to lean towards having my ashes scattered in the wind or the sea or something to that effect. Why spend the time and money and tears on building some stone tribute to me? Why imagine and encourage my family to imagine that I am immortal, if only because of my name or picture on a piece of stone? I should return to the source, and let the wind or the tides carry me on to wherever they will.

Perhaps I'll go the route of a Bodhisattva -- maybe I'll ask that my ashes be spread into a strong wind, with the blessing that if even one speck should touch even the most insignificant living creature, that he/she/it be sped on towards happiness and contentment.

Is this a morbid thought? I don't think so. I believe it's morbid only if you look at it with sadness rather than an honest eye, accepting the cycles of our world -- birth, death; binding, unbinding; spring, winter... Change.

Alive and Well in Changsha

Hello, world. We're alive and well here in Changsha. We got here a week ago, via our comfy overnight train from Guangzhou. Our condo here was fully decorated and furnished these last 9 months while we were away, and it's great. Wood floors, beautiful furniture and lots of open space. We forgot to get a refrigerator put in, but that's okay -- Changsha is freakin' cold now! A refrigerator would probably keep the food warmer than the ambient temperature.

We brought my Wall Street cow-orker (yes, he orks cows), Mark, with us and he stayed here for a week. The three of us went to Zhang Jia Jie, home to one of the most beautiful forest parks in the world. Certainly it's the most beautiful nature spot in China. We had a great time hiking, playing with monkeys, and enjoying the fresh air.



Mark's gone back to Guangzhou to continue his slave labor. Suzy and I will stay here in Changsha for a bit less than 2 weeks -- then we're off to Beijing. We'll spend a few days in Beijing relaxing and saying our goodbyes to China, before we hop on our plane to San Francisco.

It's good to be back in Changsha. I didn't realize it until I lived in uber-crowded, uber-busy, and uber-stoic Guangzhou, but Changsha is actually a pretty relaxing place. It has many more ragged edges and is nowhere near as modern, but man... People are much more friendly here, the streets are bigger and more open, and life just seems more pleasant. And though I've known it all along, I'm 100% convinced now: Changsha has the best food in China, hands down. Mmmm...

Last Guangzhou Dawn

I woke up early this morning, after a night of pretty crappy sleep. But I was rewarded with this view from my balcony. You can't really tell from the photos, but there are a lot of low clouds and I could see them sweeping by very quickly. It's a rare experience in Guangzhou to actually see the clouds, without high levels of pollution and humid soup getting in the way. A beautiful morning, and a fine dawn to my last day in Guangzhou!

Photo Bankruptcy and the Zen of Photography

A couple years back, I heard about the idea of e-mail bankruptcy when listening to the TWiT podcast. The idea is simple:

1. Collect the names of all the people who have sent you e-mail and who you have not yet answered.
2. Delete all of your unread e-mail and anything else in your inbox. If you're adventurous, you could delete ALL of your e-mail, I suppose.
3. E-mail the people from step #1, apologizing profusely, and asking for a re-send of anything recent and very pressing that you did not read.

I like this idea. It's very Zen: letting go of old baggage, living a fresh and clean moment.

Lately I've had the same problem with my photos that other people have with unread e-mail: things stack up quickly. With the abundance of events/parties at work in recent weeks, traveling to Hong Kong, and last-minute visits to places here in Guangzhou before we leave... it's just too much to sort through.

Also, I've realized that while I have managed to capture the spirit of many places/events of the past 2 years of my life, the sheer mass of photos that I've taken to do so presents three additional problems: the photos are difficult for me to manage, they are difficult to archive and preserve without expensive backup media, and they are just overwhelming when I share them with others.

I'm now experimenting with my attempt at what I call "photo bankruptcy." The idea is simple: I'm combing through my photos, first choosing the events and places that are truly worth preserving photographically. Next, for each group of photos, I've made a rule: no more than 20 photos from any given place, event, or day except really extreme circumstances (such as our honeymoon). It's painful at times, but I must capture the essence of things in a concise way. As in English writing, it's easier to add than to take away, but the end result is always much better for everybody.

So to sum up, here's the basic framework of photo bankruptcy:

1. Cull down existing collections to at most 20 highly representative and valuable photos.
2. When taking new photos, try to keep the "top 20" rule in mind, which you will use to select from the batch when you sort through it later. Don't take photos you really don't think will be worthy of consideration for the fantastic 20.
3. Be merciless when combing through your most recent set of pictures. Only accept the best, like a drill sergeant weeding out the pansies from a batch of green recruits. No duplicates, no pictures of people you "only kinda sorta" like.
   

Already, just keeping this rule in mind when I go out to shoot photos has really freed me up. I spend less time trying to capture the atmosphere and feeling of a place from multiple angles. I spend less time trying to reproduce an event entirely in photos -- which is impossible to do anyway, and just smacks of clinging of the sort the Buddha would discourage. I take far fewer photos now, and the ones I take tend to be higher quality and worthy of keeping.

Your turn! Declare photo bankruptcy! Free yourself from the hell of a full 2gb SD card bursting with redundant schlock you will never look at a second time. Make every photo count.

Fun Facts About the 2008 Election

My friend Sarena Ulibarri wrote an article with 10 interesting facts about this election. My favorites include:

Residents of the city of Obama, Japan held an election night party to celebrate Barack Obama's victory. They danced the hula in commemoration of Barack Obama's birthplace, Hawaii, and declared that someday they expect Obama to come visit the city that shares his name. Obama is a Japanese word that means "little beach."

At least one baby boy born on November 4, 2008 bears the middle name Barack, and at least 8 babies born in the country of Kenya on November 4^th were given either the name Barack or Obama. Michelle was also an uncommonly popular name for baby girls born in Kenya on that day.

Thanks Sarena, great job! :-)

Congratulations, America! Let's Keep Going!

For over 6 hours, I've been watching the live streams on BBC World, Al Jazeera, and even Russia Today -- whatever was least laggy at any given time on my crappy internet here in China. About an hour ago, I was rewarded for that time when I got to see the definitive numbers come in with America's overwhelming choice: Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States.

Congratulations, America! You made a good choice in difficult times.

Don't get complacent! This is only the first step. President Obama himself can do little to restore our country to greatness. This election is a show of strength, a rallying call by those who have woken up to the realization that America has fallen into dire straits. Obama is great primarily for his power to inspire -- he's inspired people to speak up and tear down an administration that has failed us all.

Don't let that inspiration die out now! Let this election be looked back upon as the first of many strong steps toward a better future. Don't rely on Obama to fix it all. He's inspired so many, and now it is our duty to take that inspiration and run with it. Use the energy of this day and put it towards positive change. Seeing this result today has made me fall in love with my country once more.

As Obama just said in his speech: "This is YOUR victory." He says that not just because Americans supported him and brought him to this point, but because this shows what we can do when we wake up, get off our lazy bums, and do something.

Congratulations, America! There's still much work to do, so let's get out there and do it. I'll be back home soon to do that work with you. Good luck to us all!

There are many other urgent problems that must be addressed. Tens of millions of Americans are without health insurance, including some of the country’s most vulnerable citizens — children of the poor and the working poor. Other Americans can barely pay for their insurance or are in danger of losing it along with their jobs. They must be protected.

To overcome Mr. Bush’s disastrous legacy and fulfill his own promises, Mr. Obama will need the support of all Americans... The nation’s many challenges are beyond the reach of any one man, or any one political party.
- "President Barack Obama", The New York Times

What will I wake up to?

Dear fellow Americans,

When I wake up tomorrow on the morning of the 5th, China time (which is the evening of the 4th in the USA), here is what I expect: I expect to wake up to find that America has overwhelmingly elected Barack Obama* as the next President. Herein fail not!



* Or Ron Paul. I wish!

Don't Blow It, America

Hey Americans: It's the night before election day in the USA, so get it in gear! I've got my vote in early already. If you haven't voted yet, I expect you to haul your rear out of your comfy office chair right now and get it done. I don't really care who you vote for in the end, just get out and vote. Think of it as a free pass to bitch and moan for the next 4 years if you're unhappy with the way things go -- at least you voted!

Of course, I would prefer that you vote for Obama. ;-) ... But the important thing is to vote. Don't squander this opportunity, regardless of what you think of politics and the election process. Yes, politicians are corrupt, and the voting will probably get rigged and f***ed up here and there... That's okay! Your motivation and your intent to change things are the most important. So get out of here! Shoo! Go vote!

Reacting to Concepts

We don't engage the world as it actually is. Instead, we react to the world as we assume it to be -- or, worse, as we think or wish it ought to be. We live out our lives in our imaginations, reacting to our concepts of the world rather than attending to actual, directly perceived Reality.
- Steve Hagen, Buddhism Is Not What You Think (p. 205)

Fire and Ice

As I've applied various aspects of Buddhism in my life, I've come to appreciate something that is easy to nod along with intellectually, but not as easy to truly be: aware. Awareness is a key element, if not the key element, of Buddhist practices and teachings. The name "Buddha" itself is derived from a word for "awake." What does it mean to be awake, and aware?

In legends of the Buddha, awakening was a rather rapid experience that tied up the loose ends of years of wandering (both spiritually and literally). It's easy to focus on the final, rapid stage of the Buddha's awakening and wish for that ourselves. I don't think that's practical or possible. To be awake, to become aware, seems to me a gradual process. Awareness begets more awareness, and it's a perpetual process of ever deeper awakening.

So, what am I talking about? What I mean is this: as I go through my day, I now notice more about my motivations, the leanings of my mind toward/away from things, and my own ego. While it doesn't happen all the time, I find this awareness penetrating more of what I do as time goes by. I'm increasingly able to see the why of my actions and words, before I do them or speak them. More often than not, I note with a small measure of disgust that the things I'm about to do or say are rooted in ego.

The ego is insidious. We project our ego outward through our actions and inactions, words said and left unsaid. Almost everything we do is carefully calculated to support this ego-thing that has been constructed over the entire span of our lifetime thus far. The calculations and manipulations usually go on at a level below our usual awareness -- which is actually not much awareness at all.

Our ego, our "self" is very clever indeed. Our self can even use itself to propel us further, usually to unsatisfying ends. We say, "I'm a republican, republicans don't do that." We have layered all these mental constructs into one big sandwich of "me." A slice of ego bread, topped with this thing we call "republican," adding some slices of "what republicans do," and followed up with a generous dollop of "what republicans don't do" sauce. Slap another slice of ego bread on top, and there's a nice "me" sandwich, neatly arranged and packaged to serve up to the world.

Dogen Zenji said that reality is "an icicle forming in fire." Our life, our mind, the world we live in, is like fire -- always shifting, changing. But we love to fabricate chunks of ice in the fire: memories, static ideas of what "I" "am" and what "everything else" "is." My own analogy is that we run around, wrapping things up in plastic wrap and slapping little sticky notes on the outside. In my mind, there's my mother -- she's all wrapped up, covered in sticky notes that tell me what she "is" and what she's "like." We all do this, and we do it with everything.

The problem is that our sticky notes never really capture what anything is. Let's say I put a little label on my mind's idea of my wife, a label that says "nice person." Then later, some situation causes her to do something that *GASP* doesn't fit that label -- maybe she yells at our roommate over something small and unimportant. Now, I'm in quite a pickle. My wife "is" a nice person. I have a very clear idea of what nice people are, and nice people don't do these things! But here she is doing something inconsistent with the little labels I've applied. Do I re-evaluate, and stick another label on there? What should I do?

The wisest thing we can do is to rip all the plastic wrap off, throw away the labels, and stop putting things and people into frozen, conceptual boxes. Especially stop applying labels to yourself. Our labels are just an excuse to be on autopilot during our lives. "I am a democrat." Slap that label on, do what democrats do without even thinking about it. "I am a smoker, and I can't quit." Slap it on and give up.

If you start to be aware of your motivation, you can see what poor choices your autopilot is really making for you. The ego, who you think you "are," is nothing but an excuse. It's laziness. My increasing awareness has helped me to see the often negative, and usually very ego-stroking, motivations for almost everything I do. Just seeing this can make things so much better. Stop boxing things up, living in a world of concepts and ideals and ideas, and just be aware.

30 Days to USA

Yep, 30 days from now, Suzy and I will be winging our way towards San Francisco and, ultimately, my little desert dwelling in Albuquerque.

Right now, the focus is on packing up our junk and getting outta Guangzhou, and back to Changsha. Then we'll chill out for a few weeks, before heading off to Beijing for a couple days. From Beijing, we'll hop on our luxurious (ha!) Air China flight to good ol' San Fran'.

Yeehaw!

(photo courtesy of MumbleyJoe)

Hong Kong Recap: Day 1

I think I'm sufficiently recovered from our exhausting, rapid tour of Hong Kong this week. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were spent shuffling Suzy's parents around Honkers. It was surely an interesting experience for them -- they've really never spent much time outside of Changsha, which by Chinese standards is a small town of "only" 6 million or so people. Changsha is a cool city with a lot of good stuff, but let's be honest -- virtually nowhere in the world, and certainly nowhere in mainland China, can compare to Hong Kong for beauty, modernity, and cultural development.

Anyway, I've got all the pictures on Flickr now, if you feel like thumbing through them lot of 'em. They're categorized into the 3 days, and thus the 3 main attractions we went to. Here's a brief rundown on what we did, for the masochistic who enjoy living vicariously through me in China. ;)



Day 1: Arrival, and Madame Tussaud's
We got an early start and made our way to Hong Kong via this sequence: Guangzhou subway to train station, express commuter train to Shenzhen border, customs & immigration, then Hong Kong MTR to Tsim Sha Tsui. After roaming around a bit and stocking up on goodies at the amazing Little Mermaid bakery, we shuffled off to Hong Kong island proper. There, we took the famous Peak Tram up the mountain. That led us to our main destination: Madame Tussaud's, a wax museum featuring a hundred or so celebrities, politicians, and historical figures.

After spending the evening eating and enjoying the gorgeous view from the peak, we dragged our weary bodies to our hostel at Mount Davis and crashed for the night. The hostel, by the way, is extremely peaceful and has an incredible view. I figure it's about a 90 degree view of the ocean and part of Hong Kong, and it's absolutely stunning both at night and in the early morning when the sun is rising. I highly recommend it for nature-lovers and those seeking to escape the busy city.

Key moments:

• My fistfight with President Bush.
• Suzy making out with Brad Pitt.
• Princess Diana accepting my father-in-law's impending kiss.
• My mother-in-law mocking Madonna's chest.

Check out all the pictures from our day of rubbing elbows with celebrities. That should keep ya busy until I post a recap about Day 2, tomorrow-ish.