Psuedo-celebrity

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Well I have to admit, it's very hard to follow Rick's writing but I'll try my best. Every minute of every day seems to offer us a different experience that it's very intimidating to try and write it all down in a way that does it the appropriate justice. There are so many small intricacies here and we just want to share them all with you back home. For example, one thing we've noticed here in China (more prodominantly in the southwest but still evident here in Beijing) is the singing. People here will break into song anywhere at anytime; and not just the kind of singing we all do in Canada, you know the soft whispering kind that everybody does when they just can't help but sing, but don't really want others to hear. In China, they'll just start belting it out like they're Aretha Franklin. It's done with such liberation that it makes me jealous. And the kicker is that they can all sing well. For example, one of our excursions took us to Lugu Hu, a turquoise lake of such physical beauty it takes your breath away and yet is so infested with the all-consuming greed of tourism that it would bring tears to your eyes. To continue on our travels, we had to cross the lake on a dugout canoe the locals call a zhucao or "pig trough" (highly appropriate, by the way). As we were skimming across the lake, the two woman we hired to shuttle us across started to sing this beautiful, haunting song I can only assume to be traditional. It was amazing; the one girl just started singing it out of the blue, and the other joined in without a moment's hesitation, both of them hitting these goosebump-inspiring highs and lows that I thought only a trained voice would have access to. If I could, I would have bottled that experience to bring home for you all to share. It was magical. It's all the little things like that that are compounded and packaged into what is called "travel experience"; such a simple term for something so life-changing and complex.

Music here is so fantastic and obviously plays a major part in everyday life. We got a real treat when we were in Lijiang. There is a group called the Naxi Orchestra (the Naxi are a minority group of the Yunnan province) who perform with a script of their own creation, called "Naxi Ancient Music", using original instruments from the Han, Song and Tang dynasties. During the Cultural Revolution, however, the vast majority of these instruments were destroyed. What is spectacular is that the group that now compromises the Naxi Orchestra managed to save their instruments by burying them. So Rick and I had the opportunity to hear a classic music that has been lost to the rest of China. Rick managed to get quite a bit of video, so we can share when we get home.

Another highlight (who am I kidding, it's all a highlight) that made me all giggly inside was seeing the giant pandas in Chengdu. Chengdu is home to the Panda Breeding Research Centre and allowed us to view the panda and appreciate their vast repetoire of habits....ok....so mainly eating, sleeping, eating, sleeping. The panda can consume about 20 kgs of bamboo A DAY but the problem comes from the fact that the panda has a discriminatory palate and will only feed on only about 20 of China's 300 species of bamboo. We also had the priviledge of seeing a panda cub, who stole more than a couple of hearts with playful enthusiasm.

We also booked tickets to see the Sichuan Opera in Chengdu. It was much more than just music. In addition to the classical "Chinese voilinist" (for a complete lack of appropriate terminology) Rick mentioned in the last blog, there was foot acrobatics, hand puppetry, comedic skits, and, of course, an excerpt from a traditional Chinese opera.

One thing that being here in China has taught me in particular is that I would never cut it as a celebrity. It sounds vain, but many people here treat you as just that. In addition to all the stares, comments, laughs, pokes and prods we get from the locals, we are bombarded with requests for photos on a regular basis. One instance that really made me blush was just a couple of days ago when we were visiting the Shaolin Temples just outside of the city of Zhengzhou (yes, the true home to all martial arts; Bruce Lee fans eat your heart out). Me and Rick were outside one of the many temples, looking contemplative while pretending to understand the Chinese characters written on one of the archways, when this shy-looking Chinese schoolgirl comes up to me and asks me in broken English if she could have her photo taken with me. Ok, no problem. What I wasn't expecting was the screaming throng of girls that materialized out of nowhere to surround me, shrieking and jumping up and down they were so happy to have a picture taken with me. Next thing I know, I'm engulfed by cute little Chinese schoolgirls, all struggling to be the one nearest to the funny foreigner to hold my hand. I felt like Brad Pitt, minus the finely chistled jaw and obvious others. This was repeated about 8 more times that day.

Wow, so much writing and still so much to talk about. To sum things up, we also went on a 3 day, 2 night Yangzi river cruise to view the famous Three Gorges of China (or in common Chinglish, the Three Georges). Let's just say that it was rife with ups and downs. This is an open invitation to ask us all about it when we get back home.

Well, so here we are....in Beijing, the northern most point of our trip. All tallied up, over the last month, we have spent approximately 128 hours on bus or train to go from Bangkok to Beijing (not including time spent on boat, dugout canoe, or just bent double hauling our backpacks around). I'm exhausted....

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