Advertisement
CHINA: Inspiring the Nomad...How I lost my 3 dots, my camera & my name. In the beginning...there was the apostrophe, comma & full stop.
Punctuation was developing with civilisation...and it was good.
From scratching in sand with sticks, on papyrus, hieroglyphs, writing, many languages, the printing press, now computers...man had determination to express himself by the written word...only separated by spaces and punctuation.
Then from 2002...there was Travelblog...where like minded people...sharing a thirst for travel...sharing their experiences, thoughts and photographs...made contacts, friendships and liaisons in cyber space...and it was good.
In 2011...out of the wilds of Mali & Ethiopia...3 dots germinated...carried to Travelblog by the Dancing One...then nicked in China in 2013...by an anthropologist...and hidden behind a firewall...refusing to give them back!
"But you are using your 3 dots in this blog"...I hear you say.
3 dots indeed...but not the originals.
A generous blogger...feeling sorry for me...gave me 3 Vietnamese dots in replacement...his name is
Cockle...really big dots...made me happy at the time...enough time to develop my new 3 dots...forged in elven steel...now stronger and better than ever.
But I still want my old ones back! Initial Liaison Our daughter was studying in Shanghai when I was planning this trip, so I contacted bloggers known as
Aspiring Nomad and
Great China Roadtrip as I understood they were living in Shanghai, for the possibility of a meet up.
One replied...the one with
"the big blue eye" as a profile picture...goes by the name
Aspiring Nomad...only picture I'd seen of him...hope its enough to recognise him by.
We liaised by email...planning involved...ultimately arranged to meet at Roosevelt Sky Bar at 27 The Bund...he said he was paying!
It's in the Genes First thing I noticed...the Nomad was really tall...and had a ponytail.
One day I'll grow a ponytail...so I can walk along a beach and everyone will say hello to me...or at music festivals... people will think I play in a band.
Had no idea from the profile picture of "the blue eye" that he'd be so tall. Then noticed he got all of my jokes...and I got his...got on like a house on fire...lot of laughing...lot of silliness.
"You're the first American I've met that gets all of my jokes" I said.
"What makes you think I'm American?"
"Well...I've read BOTH of your blogs...and they were in USA...so I thought..." "No. I'm English" he said.
"My wife Jennifer is American...of German/Norwegian heritage." "English...wow...I wonder if we're related".
Time to do a bit of research.
My wife Denise is a First Fleeter...one of those rare Aussies descended from those on the 11 ships from England carrying convicts to start a colony in the Great Southern Land in 1788 that landed in what is now Sydney.
But Denise is not descended from convict stock...her ancestor was Lieut Waterhouse...an English officer...later instrumental in bringing sheep to OZ...as well as generations of coal miners.
And I'm a Second Fleeter...descended from Surveyor Evans...an Englishman who followed Blaxland, Wentworth & Lawson across the Blue Mountains in 1813...opening a path to Western New South Wales...and the first Magistrate in South Australia, the first woman doctor in Newfoundland (my grandmother), a Swedish King (the French one)...some Irish, Scots,...and a bit of Spanish.
Makes me a genetic pot pourri.
Both Denise & I are of Explorer stock.
So how could it be that the Nomad and I are related???
The Explorer Gene The 125th Anniversary Edition of National Geographic's article on the Explorer Gene...yep...that's it...how Captain Cook met a Polynesian in Tahiti...his people having migrated there in eons past.
DNA testing in recent times confirming this.
We have all heard of the global journey...peoples migrating from the Cradle of Civilisation...Africa...spreading over the World...adapting to various climates...tribes...ethnic groups...civilisations...rising, falling...humanity in flux...genes evolving...survival of the fittest.
But why migrate...why explore?
It seems that some can't help it...it's irresistable...
it's in their genes.
A gene called DRD4...which helps control dopamine...the chemical that triggers our brains in the reward and learning processes...has a variant shared by an estimated 20%!o(MISSING)f humans that leads to curiosity and restlessness.
It's variant genes are called DRD4-7R or DRD4-2R...sometimes called the Explorer Genes. I reckon the Nomad has these genes in abundance...and so do I for that matter.
This manifests in the Nomad in that he has visited many countries...and lived in 12.
The Explorer Gene also manifests in cane toads in Northern Australia...how cane toads with longer legs are at the front of the migratory horde heading South...longer legs than those
JENNIFER
Patience of a Saintbehind...mating with others with long legs...
perpetuating the long-legged gene. I wonder if that's what happened to the Nomad!!! Meeting Jennifer & the kids Our second meeting was over lunch at Paulaner's in the French Concession...elaborate spread...German cuisine in Shanghai.
There we met the Aspiring Nomad other half...
the lovely Jennifer...patience of a Saint...somehow keeps the Nomad in check...keeping an eye on their two blonde kids...
Kiva just 5 and
Mandalay now 2...both kids restless...exhibiting the Explorer Gene.
Nice opportunity for Denise and our kids, Simon 27 and Anna-Louise 24...to have a good feed...and chew the travel fat...both our kids also with the Explorer Gene swirling in their veins.
Nice opportunity for the Nomad & I to have a couple of beers...and recount how we had managed to get back after our first meeting.
Pretty well the last table to leave...great day.
Losing my 3 dots...my camera...and my name The first time I met the Nomad he was carrying a pocket camera.
He kept on wanting to hold my camera...kept on plying me with cocktails...kept on eyeing off my camera.
I kept a close eye on him...and my BONDING IN THE BUND
Dancing Dave & Aspiring Nomad camera.
The next time I met him...he had the same camera as me...Sony NEX-5
..."Just bought it he said"...his silver while mine was black...his only with the standard 56 mm lens.
He kept plying me with beers...kept on eyeing off my 18 - 200 mm lens.
I kept a close eye on him...and my lens. Later I received a Christmas card from him...handed it to me with a smile.
Made it clear he expected my lens as a Christmas present. I then started to notice I couldn't get my 3 dots to work...couldn't write any blogs...contacted the Nomad in alarm.
Then started receiving emails from him...confirming he had my 3 dots...confirming he had corrupted them for his own use...even used them in his emails.
Then to rub it in...he signed the emails
...from "Aspiring David." Dear Reader...you must be horrified...be patient...it gets worse!!!
He then sent me a photo...with this message:
"I've attached a photo I took on New Years Eve with your camera. It is a gift you can use in your upcoming blog, if you feel the need to fill that rectangular space above your blog with authenticit Magic, since I probably won't get around to blogging about Shanghai til circa 2019. It hasn't been Photoshopped so your conscience will be clear.
Take it with the love its given... I stole your camera, your dots and your name... its the least I can do." Talk about rubbing it in.
New Year's Eve Denise, Anna-Lou & I just back in Shanghai from our time in Yellow Mountain and Suzhou...Simon just back in Canada.
Since I had last seen the Nomad I had bitten on a peppercorn and broken a tooth...affected my smile for the rest of my time in China, Vietnam & Cambodia...bummer!
The Nomad & Jennifer arrive at our hotel room at 10 to 12...23rd Floor of Hotel Indigo...view down the Huangpu River to the Bund and beyond...fireworks at midnight.
They staying at a hotel nearby...their kids with a babysitter.
They got on our bed...Den on LHS as usual...the Nomad taking my usual position on the RHS...Jennifer sprawled at the foot...me relegated to a chair to the side...feels like family...no food...no drinks...just chatting away.
Had to kick them out at 2.30 a.m...gotta let their babysitter go
RURAL LABORERS SERIES
Oil paintings by Wei Yi home...hugs and smiles all round.
Sadly...that was the last time we saw Jennifer.
Inspiring the Nomad The Nomad made it clear he might live and teach in Shanghai...but he knew nothing about its sights or culture...so needed to learn about them...from me!
Got together with the Nomad again...allowed out one more time...for a bit of culture...taking him to the Art Zone. Den & Anna-Lou had been there before...insisting I go...so we collected the Nomad on the way.
The Art Zone is a collection of factory type units with rooms dedicated to works by modern Chinese artists...sensational.
Immediately the Nomad went into Art Appreciation mode...discussing the artworks with insight and intellect...must have read the brochures before he came...pieces of beauty, politics, human spirit...esoteric...outrageous...evocative.
Then Den led us to a portrait gallery...our reason for coming...then left the Nomad & I...she returning to our hotel for a dumpling class with Anna-Lou.
This exhibition was by a guy who studied a peasant village in Hunan Provence that is inhabited mainly by unmarried men...the women having moved to cities...paintings of village life and their lives and characters captured in amazing portraits...heaven for me.
We
were the only visitors allowed to photograph, and we were given DVDs as gifts.
It was mighty cold and we were hungry...so we headed off to satisfy our bellies...and did what you would expect two Travelbloggers let loose together would do...taking photographs together...gotta say that was fun...wandering streets of graffiti...both with Sony NEX-5s...our hands freezing until we could do no more.
The Nomad saw some girls taking photographs of themselves in front of a graffiti reading "SEXY"...he photographing them doing that...calls me over as the girls wander away.
So I got them back...easy when you know how...and they posed for us...the Nomad expressing amazement I could organise that...nice shots.
Then a restaurant for steamed dumplings...some beers...and a couple of shots for 'Beers of the World' thread...someone's gotta do it.
Got the Nomad back to his hotel just before his family had to vacate...just...hope Jennifer not too annoyed...patience of a Saint.
That was the last time I saw the Nomad...but we keep in touch...I think we must be related.
Epilogue I'm leaving for Vietnam to travel with
Cockle and
The Travel Camel...for
Mischief on the Mekong.
I keep hearing of
the Travelblog family...wonder if I'm related to these guys as well!
*******
So
Aspiring Nomad...you can keep my 3 dots...you've made it clear in emails that you are not returning them...I've rebuilt mine...now forged in elven steel...stronger and better than ever...you won't be able to pinch those.
You can keep my camera...Sony NEX-5...brilliant...but you can't have my 18-200mm lens...no way I'm giving that up.
And my name...suggest you keep yours...can't imagine Jennifer calling you David...after all there's only one Dancing One...only one true owner of the 3 dots...and only one Aspiring Nomad.
Or do I hear Jennifer say
"No...There are four"!!! Relax & Enjoy,
Dancing Dave
Advertisement
Tot: 0.144s; Tpl: 0.029s; cc: 18; qc: 32; dbt: 0.0514s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Susurros somnolientos
J. Lalo Cura
...
Dear Dancing Dave, I have no idea what your blogs are about, and the thing with the three dots puzzles me endlessly, but this here made my day: "One day I'll grow a ponytail...so I can walk along a beach and everyone will say hello to me...or at music festivals... people will think I play in a band." Cheers, Jens