Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Bamboozled

A Natural Beauty

A diamond in the rough is exactly what it sounds like.  It’s rough.  It’s not beautiful.  But with a little cut here, a little polish there and suddenly man has improved upon nature.  But not everything Nature gives us needs improvement.  Some things are not only perfect in their beauty, but are also beautifully and remarkably blessed in their utility.  After coming to China, I now regard Bamboo as one of those things. 

Bamboo is truly one of Nature’s masterpieces.  Its lasting relationship with the people of China is one of the most profound partnerships on the planet.  For thousands of years bamboo has helped build, feed, symbolize and adorn one of the oldest Nations on Earth.  For the Chinese, Bamboo has always been an integral part of their lives.  With a solitary bamboo pole draped across their shoulders, the men and women of China have hauled earth and transformed mountains.  From the pole on their shoulders, crops for centuries upon centuries have been planted, harvested and brought to market.  From the market, the crops are taken home and turned into a meal, and are shoveled with relish into eager mouths.  These mouths more often than not are being fed with chopsticks made of bamboo. 
The uses the Chinese employ for bamboo is nearly limitless.  It is used for scaffolding, for pipes and gutters, for furniture and dishes.  It adorns houses and covers floors around the world, and can be found in the form of a woven mat on any sandy beach.  It is used to make musical instruments, clothing, fans, pens, pencils and paintbrushes.  And those very paintbrushes often depict scenes and studies of bamboo.  It is used to build houses, sheds, and shelters of all kinds.  It is burned as firewood and bamboo shoots are a popular and delicious meal.  Of course, bamboo is also the staple food of the very animal that is the icon and the living symbol of China: the Giant Panda. 
Aside from simply being one of the most useful resources to be found in China, Nature also blessed this weed of hers by making it infinitely serene.  A bamboo forest is one of the most tranquil places man can escape to.  It’s easy and pleasant to get lost in thought, and one can almost swear that these wispy tendrils of thought take visible form and float playfully amongst the delicate, feather-like branches of the bamboo.  These forests whisper in much softer and flirtatious tones than the intimidating and dark mutters one finds getting heaved around in the forests of pine, oak, cedar and other woods populated by giants.  The bamboo is smooth and beguiling and infinitely more seductive than any other shrub or tree.  The air moves like water or a thick sweet syrup through this forest; it lingers longer on each leaf and gives the illusion that everything is in slow motion.  The wind dances with this forest softly, and the movement is pronounced but fluid.  It’s hard to know whether the wind takes more pleasure from these listless encounters, or whether the person lost in the moment does.

Summary: If you are ever in Anhui, China, visit the Mukong Bamboo forest.  It’s where they shot the scenes for Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and stunning as this forest was in the movie, it’s even more so in person.  Remember, though man is a genius and has moments of grandeur and glory, Nature always wins in the beauty contest.  And bamboo is one of her willowy supermodels. 





Monday, August 29, 2011

Picture This

Buy a Nice Camera

For several decades the eyes of the world were forcibly closed whenever they tried to look at China.  After WWII China had turned in on itself, and turned its back on the world.  During the Cultural Revolution the Chinese were kept busy erasing all remnants of the past and eradicating anything resembling Western thoughts or ideas.  This of course included keeping as many foreigners away as possible.  A lot of things have changed since then.  China continues to look ahead to the future, but they now celebrate their past and have restored and salvaged whatever survived the Cultural Revolution.  Today, foreigners are welcomed here with open arms, and the eyes of the world can finally see when we cast our gaze in China’s direction.  Considering that China is poised to potentially become the next global super power, a lot of us want to get a better look.

I am one of those people, and I love to take in as much of this mesmerizing country as I can while I am here.  But I want to capture these moments that have meant so much to me.  I want to share them.  I want to be able to revisit them in the future.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but if it’s a shit picture, it’s probably only worth a few words at best.  While in China I’ve seen some incredible things, things that would take me thousands upon thousands of words to accurately describe.  A picture is certainly more efficient, but only if it’s good enough. 

Whenever I looked at the pictures my little camera had taken and compared them with the images of the memories I had stored in my head, one thing always stood out to me: my camera simply wasn’t cutting it.  I realized it was time to spend a little money on a camera that could take some truly priceless shots. 
I bought a Nikon D7000 and it has been money well spent.  I just wish the instruction manual were in English.  And I wish I knew more about photography in general.  Thankfully, there are easy solutions to those problems, and thankfully the automatic settings on the camera are great and make up for a lot of my shortcomings as a photographer. 
Helpful hint: When you buy a nice, expensive camera and plan on taking it with you on a trip to Guilin and the Lijiang rice terraces, make sure you are using a memory card that works.  The last thing you want to happen is to have fantastic vacation and a camera full of roughly 800 breathtaking pictures only to find out that the files are all corrupt and won’t load onto your computer.  I speak from experience.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

The Lowdown on Downloading

The original intent of my blog was to provide information about my experience in China; information that would allow my friends and family to keep updated on my adventure, but still is relevant to strangers who just want to read about China.  The idea was that each entry would be a lesson about something I learned in China.  Though I still sort of follow that format, I think I’ve gotten a little carried away.  My entries tend to be long, but there is something to be said about brevity: it’s short.  It’s sweet.  On that note, here’s a sweet little “fun fact” about China.

If you come to China and bring your computer, you will inevitably encounter the Great Firewall of China.  No Facebook.  No Blogger.  No You Tube.  The list goes on and on.  However, like China’s other famous wall, this one can also be breached.   Simply get a VPN installed and you’re set. 

There is however, one major benefit of being trapped within the confines of the Firewall: access to a site called Google Music (http://mashable.com/2009/03/30/google-china-free-music-downloads/).  This site allows people to legally download music for free.  Piracy is such a problem in China that many artists have opted in to this program to get at least a little bit of money for their music.  The idea is that Google and the record companies split the proceeds of the ad revenue from the site.  Though not all songs and not all artists are available, it’s certainly better than nothing.  Plus, it’s guilt-free downloading, the site navigable for English speakers, and when you search an artist it recommends other similar artists.  Needless to say, it’s easy to spend a lot of time finding old songs you’ve always wanted and discovering new ones you never knew existed. 

Summary: Turn your VPN off, turn your speakers up and download away!  http://www.google.cn/music/homepage











Thursday, August 4, 2011

July in Review

THINGS I LOVE JULY

1.       Mom and Dad visiting China!



2.       Going home



3.       Visiting with friends and family



4.       Sunshine in Seattle

5.       Cabin time!





6.       North West Microbrews



7.       Walking Greenlake and strolling around Richmond Beach

8.       Ferry rides



9.       Sarah and Eric’s wedding




10.   Fresh, crisp, clean, breathable air (after I got my allergies under control : P)

THINGS I MISS

1.       Free Time

2.       EXERCISE

3.       Short-distance traveling (taking 24+ hours to get back to Tunxi . . . . .NOT cool)

4.       Projects (weeding, log splitting, working on cabin, attempting to organize my room or clutter at home . . . you never really miss these kinds of things until you go a year without them)

5.       Temperate climate

6.       A set schedule

7.       Being able to hang out with people in Seattle

8.       Home

9.       The Cabin (and all its inhabitants and various festivities)






10.   My friends and family