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Published: July 31st 2010
Shower Engrish
Seriously, you couldn't get us a shower in a safer place?6/27/10
The next morning we had to wake up early to leave at 8am for Shaxi. We hopped on the bus and drove for a few hours before stopping for lunch. Even though Ananthi and I did not have that much sleep the previous night, we did not feel tired. However, the rest of the group was dead asleep on the bus since they stayed up late celebrating Peter’s birthday and watching the game.
The food we had for lunch was strangely filling so none of the people at my table ate very much before getting full. On the other hand, the people at the other table (since we’re such a large group, we usually split up into tables of 2-3) ate all of their food and came to our table to eat the rest of ours! Their table had a few people like Desiree who are known by all of us to be big eaters. At the end of lunch, Mr. Bi revealed a very large birthday cake for Peter. It had two layers and was more than enough for everyone even though most people were forced to take huge slices. The people at Peter’s table
ended up having a cake fight while others were outside playing with this toy that Jordan got in Dali.
The toy consists of a small wooden ball with large feathers protruding from it on one side, a lot like a large birdie. They played with it by getting in a circle and kicking it to each other. Even Dr. Wen got involved and kicked the toy around with them. He did not want to stop playing, even after Lu Yuan kept calling him to get on the bus so that we could leave. Sinead ended up kicking the toy onto the roof of the restaurant on accident, thereby ending the game. Fortunately, the restaurant workers were kind enough to help us fetch the birdie since Lu Yuan did not want any of us climbing on the roof, fearing for our safety. We gave the restaurant workers an applause, boarded the bus, and headed to our next destination.
Instead of going straight to Lijiang, we made a detour to Cangshan Mountain. The mountain is famous for housing monkeys, which we had a great deal of fun taking pictures of since they were waiting for us as soon
as we got off the bus. They were adorable, especially the babies that clung to their mothers’ backs. However, we were warned not to stare into their eyes or get too close to them because the monkeys were potentially hostile. We took the warning lightly but obeyed regardless. Nonetheless, one of the monkeys ended up almost attacking Maura because she accidentally strayed too close to one of the larger ones. Their fur blended in with the wood and stone around us, so she completely did not notice when she got too close. It leaped off of its stone railing with a feral screech and landed on Maura with its feet, kicking off of her arm and then scurrying toward a tree. Maura was so bewildered because she did not see the monkey until it leaped toward her. Luckily, it did not hurt or scratch her. From then on we kept a very careful distance from the monkeys.
The climb up to the temples near the top of the mountain was a difficult climb because there were so many stairs and the air was so thin. Ananthi and I were panting and stopping to take a break halfway up
the path because we had so much trouble breathing. By the time we reached one of the temples, our lungs acclimated enough so that we were not panting as much. After reaching the first temple, I climbed up the mountainside near waterfalls where there was a smaller temple and an extremely large statue of Buddha.
I went through some pathways around to the other side of the mountain to explore. I got bothered by the fact that I tend to get lost when I wander away from people, so I turned back and bumped into Stacy, Noor, Peter, Lye Ching, Liz, and Grayson. As a group we continued on the path that I had been exploring before which led around and up the other side of the mountain. It was a humid day and the bugs were incessantly buzzing around my face. I ended up killing one, but I immediately felt guilty about killing something on Buddhist grounds, so I tolerated the bugs. On the way up the path we ran into Ben and Zhou who were coming down from the nunnery that was further up the path. We continued upward and passed the nunnery, not really going
inside since we were not sure if we would be welcome since it was a gated and secluded place.
We climbed further up until we reached a flat area near the peak of the mountain. We stayed there for a very long time, at first taking pictures but then just sitting and breathing in the cool air. A nice, constant breeze blew through that kept us from getting hot under the sun. The view was spectacular; we could see the mountains across the valley and further down the valley we could see a lake, possibly Lugu or Erhai Lake. Sitting up there made me feel small but that my small place in the world was linked intricately in some way with the network that keeps everything in the world connected. I could feel very acutely that everything had a role and that a lot of the times just existing fulfills that role. Looking at the lake nearby, I thought that the lake does not do anything but sit there and glitter in the sun, and yet it is so vital in that it supports the livelihoods of the fish living in it and the people and animals living
around it. I was reminded of the story that Sam, Lu Yuan’s husband, told us about the huge tree that provided shade for all the townspeople to set up shop under, yet it was utterly useless because of its knotted up wood. All it did was simply exist, yet it was allowed to live and provide shade unlike the other trees that were cut down around it to be used for lumber.
I also felt that objects that were huge to us, like lakes and mountains, would probably look like puddles and bumps to someone up in the sky. At any other time it would have been a dismissive thought, but at that moment it really widened my eyes because I spent pretty much the entire day marveling at how huge and gorgeous the mountains were. While we were up there, Liz brought up the fact that many religions that conceptualize heaven associate it with the sky or some upward direction.
After soaking in the view and the breeze, we came across Shika and a few of our other friends. They were coming down from the temple at the peak of the mountain and recommended that
we go see it. Stacy, Liz, and I went ahead of the others to go see it since the others were busy taking pictures. We climbed up to the temple which we found was completely empty. It was a bit rundown, but it appeared that someone lived there and managed a garden. We passed through and found a path that led down the mountain. It only took us about 15 minutes to get down and arrive at the bus where everyone was waiting because we came back late. We waited several more minutes for Peter, Lye Ching, and Grayson to show up, and then left for Shaxi.
Upon arriving in Shaxi, we found that it was a small village, completely different from the big cities that we were used to. The townsfolk were very warm in welcoming us and the village was peaceful and quiet. Time just felt slower and at an easygoing pace that I personally prefer over that of city life. When we got there we tossed our luggage into our hotel and went to go visit the local museum and temple. We saw some of the local village kids playing in the town center and
they were very amused by us. There was one little girl nearby who kept trying to climb onto a table outside of the house. She was a bit too small to climb onto it, so she kept calling for who we assumed to be her older sister since we could not understand what she was saying. After watching her do this for a few minutes, Charles approached her. We thought he was going to ask her what was wrong and perhaps help her, but instead he took out his camera and took a close-up picture of her. She turned away from him and walked away without another word. It was a very strange moment. After that, her sister came and they played together with the other kids.
We took a walk around the village and we ended up taking a lot of pictures. The scenery looked untouched by industrialization and thereby all the more calming. The village was also surrounded by gorgeous mountains. We were all in agreement that if we had to become farmers, this would be the place to farm, if only to see the beautiful mountains and experience the pleasant weather every day. There was
a group of village women sitting on the bridge and Noor decided to ask them if he could take a picture of them. They all thought he was funny and eventually agreed. Both Noor and Charles are unabashed about taking pictures of people.
We also received a Taiji lesson from Mr. Bi since we would not be able to do Taiji every morning like we did in Kunming. He dressed up in a white Taiji outfit made of white silk and performed the same forms we have been practicing in our Taiji lessons. Mr. Bi’s movements seemed a bit more dramatic and artsy than our Taiji master’s, so it was interesting following his lead. We did the lesson out in the middle of the town square, so several of the villagers stopped to watch us. They seemed highly amused by us foreigners performing Taiji, but I think they were also impressed at how well we were keeping up. After the lesson we goofed around in the square, practicing other Taiji forms and learning a bit of martial arts from Dr. Wen. Desiree led the Taiji lessons while Dr. Wen taught everyone else some kicks and blocks.
When we got back to the hotel, our group split up because a lot of them volunteered to do homestays in which they would stay the night with the locals in their homes. I wanted to volunteer, but I had a horrible headache that I knew would affect my mood and I did not want to put that on the wonderful villagers, so I stayed in the hotel. Those of us who remained in the hotel had a delicious dinner together that tasted home-cooked. We all enjoyed it and deemed it one of the best meals we have had on the trip.
In the evening we had a lecture from a local TCM doctor who specializes in Bai medicine. Bai medicine is used in Shaxi as their main form of healing. It is very similar to TCM but specializes in using local herbs and treating the problems of the local people, such as kidney problems, hypertension, and diabetes. The doctor passed around herbs that were dried and mounted on cut pieces of poster board which were prepared by a former independent-study SIT student who studied with him. He explained the name and uses of each one. He also
passed around books that he used to study medicine when he was growing up. Apparently in Shaxi, TCM doctors take up the profession through familial heritage. The doctor’s father was a TCM doctor who passed on the trade to his son.
The doctor did not have a formal education in school and instead learned everything about the practice from his father and from textbooks. He studied the concepts and those books so much that he ended up memorizing every word from those books. When he passed around the books, the pages were very thin and well-worn from constant reading and page-turning. When he went to go take the examination to get his license, he ended up passing with flying colors. He proved that one does not need a formal, institutionalized education to become successful, one just needs to work hard and receive a good education, whether it is from an institution or not.
After the lecture, we retired to our rooms while some of the others went back to their rural homestays. Apparently the family Peter was staying with raised pigs and that day happened to be a day that they were going to kill a
pig. He ended up watching them kill one of the pigs and even took pictures of it. He said he actually was not disgusted at all because the family knew what they were doing and knew how best to kill the pig while minimizing the pain. They also prepared a delicious meal for him, containing some of the pig’s meat of course.
The teachers stayed up to watch a World Cup game in the TV room next to our room, so it was pretty amusing listening to them get riled up. I believe it was the Germany vs Britain game and the teachers were particularly upset at the goal that Britain scored but did not receive the point for. Ananthi and I took turns using the internet on my laptop until we decided to go to bed. I immediately fell asleep because the bed was very comfy and the wooden cabin-like room reminded me of my room back at home.
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