Yo Soy Aqui

Posted on May 7, 2012 by admin

Dear Seast@rs,

It has been quite the eventful past two months and I have a litany of good excuses for for not updating this blog.  For those of you interested in Axel’s bicycle voyage please follow his youtube channel. My sister came to visit in late March and I finally went to see the Panda breeding station after putting it off for nearly 3 years. Now I know why pandas are so lazy, as a man with a fair amount of chest hair I can empathize with them as it far too hot in the sichuan summers. Funny coincidence, Panda 熊猫 and Chest hair 胸毛 have different characters but in pinyin both pronounced “xiong mao“.  After a few days and several jams at Jah Bar,  we flew to Malaysia where we went to tropical island Palau Tioman for  lounging on  white sandy beaches, book reading, delicious fish and duty-free beer I studied for my Advanced PADI scuba certification and did my first night dive and wreck dive at 100 feet.  Thankful that we chose the east coast, as the west coast was ravaged by yet another deadly Tsunami in Banda Aceh. We had a quiet vigil at Ray’s Dive Shop the evening we heard the news.

Fishermen or Forestry? Palau Tioman

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Chengdu to Cologne on a Cheap Chinese Bike- Axel’s Grand Adventure

Posted on March 13, 2012 by admin

After meeting Axel at a white monkey job in the summer of 2010 we became good friends, with mutual interests overlapping between, Diablo II, nomadic foraging, bicycling, MTG, and funky music.   Axel is the younger brother of well-established Chengdu expat Bodo, the bassist and guitarist for  the German electro/ska outfit “Ze Grammaphonetics”.   Axel recently produced a documentary on the Grammaphonetics’  bike-meets-rock & roll tour across Guanxi province.  I helped  out with some of the editing and English subtitles, the video should be on youtube within the week. In the meantime, I encourage you to check out Axel’s blog for updates on his grand bicycle expedition of doom.

Tomorrow Axel will depart Chengdu on a standing train to Urumqi, where he then pedal his single-speed road bike loaded with basic provisions to the Kazakhstan border.

Here’s how our interview went on March 10, 2012:

Self-described Apocalyptic Rider of Distortion in Guanxi Province

iseastars:  1) What is your inspiration for such a suicidal expedition?

Axel:  (Laughs and puffs on his spliff) This is the way I want to live. I always dream to do something like this and I will do at any cost. What does it matter if I die on this trip? We will all die someday.

iseastars:  Well, your provisions are so… basic.

Axel:  There are those who prepare better, I am not that kind of person to prepare everything. I don’t want to use much money— the whole reason I am doing this is to get away from money.

iseastars  2)  Talk about your preparations, the visas of course, but also mental and physical training?

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Face-Two-Face – Horror Fiction/Black Humor in Belize

Posted on March 8, 2012 by admin

Crouching behind a calabash tree I pulled the fattening land leech from my ankle, leaving behind a warm trickle of blood to stain my socks.  I heard the snap of branches and the snag of vines.  Pulling myself up on a low-lying branch I scanned the jungle but nothing stuck out from the dense flora.  I took swig of water and moved on.  My GPS showed that  the rezendevous point at the Monkey River was 2km due east as the crow flies.  The zodiac would be waiting just before sunset.

Walking through the swampy terrain I thought about Amanda and our new marriage— the wedding couldn’t have been better, beautiful weather at the country club back in Houston; all my college friends were there wearing tight suits smug grins, our parents smiling on the dance floor and toasting champagne.  What a fantastic wedding night spent on the top floor of the Intercontinental, the starry skies overlooking the Gulf of México.  There it was, I’ll never relive that moment again, eleven hours out of your life you spend so much time waiting and planning for. Then its over in a flash.

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Best of 2011 & Yunnan Travels

Posted on February 7, 2012 by admin

Also late on my 1 year anniversary post, hard to believe one year ago I was making maple syrup back in  New England.

HERE’s my BEST of 2011:

There are some great posts from a while back including Wok Recipes for Resistance,  Obama Hears a Hu as well as an interview with Herbie Hancock at the Shanghai EXPO and a personal account of Hiroshima survivor Shigeko Sasamori based on her lecture at Brown University.

Postcard Worthy? Lugu Lake, Sichuan Side

I had a fantastic time traveling around Yunnan over Chinese New Year.  A week spent in Dali was filled with 6 kuai beer lao, delicious western food (bakeries, coffee, pizza, burgers) a bike ride around Er Hai lake and topping it off with a DJ set at Bad Monkey.  I managed to escape the lethargic bliss of this famed ancient city and made my way north to Lugu Lake, a place I wanted to visit for quite some time.  En route I met a Brunei-based overseas Chinese who runs an orphanage in  the small town of NingLang just south of Lugu Lake.  I spent the night watching dubbed action movies with Yi Zu indigenous teenagers and chatting with Joyce about philanthropy and social issues in China. As mentioned in a previous post  I’m conducting research for TOMS shoes donations in rural areas.  Really was humbled by the spirit and optimism of the kids and the persistence and passion of Joyce for taking great sacrifice to help those in need.   I promised to return, hopefully with truck of new shoes in tow.

At the entrance to Lugu Lake I was able to pull the ol’ student ID trick for a half price entrance fee, (a quick mark of the pen changed the 2009 expiration date to 2012).  The van buzzed by all the scenic spots, I cringed at all the missed photo opportunities of the heavenly blue lake and green rolling mountains.  I goofed and booked a room in town not knowing that lakeside rooms also went for 60RMB.   Let the lady keep 20 kuai and I hoofed 10km back and forth to change spots.  But it was worth it:

Just out the front door... Sunset at Lugu Lake

 

The next day I rented a single speed “basket bike” and pedaled to soak in the sights I missed from the previous days van ride.   Had been badly sunburned in Dali so I wrapped my keffiyeh around my face and must have looked a stubborn Jihadi with a camera slung around his neck but I was still bombarded with “Hellos!” as I pedaled along the lake.  Met an free spirit, “Hei Long Jiang  Da Ge” ( Big bro from Heilongjiang province) who rode his motorcycle 4000km to Lugu Lake in order to spend his days and nights writing Chinese calligraphy and studying poetry.  He gave me a ride to a Mosuo village where I had the best Chinese cuisine of the whole trip and experienced genuine hospitality I hadn’t seen since my days as a earthquake volunteer.   More photos to come on flickr and facebook.

Mama Mouso Enjoys her (Homemade) Hard Alcohol and complaining about Greedy Tourists!

The next day was a hellish combination of bumpy bus rides and a ten-hour standing room only train ticket.  Again the keffiyeh came in handy to mask the noxious odor from the bathroom some 50 centimeters away.  Hats off to the indigenous folks and migrant workers who go through such hardships on a regular basis. I made it back to Chengdu feeling like I just escaped the plague and just when I was able to go to bed I received a litany of work related calls regarding my visa situation.  Fun Fun.   Hiroshi woke me up at 9pm and we went out to Xiong Mao to catch a top-notch set by Howie B (UK) We ended our late night shannagins around 4am and the rest of the weekend was pretty low-key.  More trip details and GOOD fiction to come stay posted homies.

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Almost Xmas?

Posted on December 20, 2011 by admin

Deck the halls of  lobbies and storefronts La La La La, La La La  La.

Seriously how did this happen?  It seems as if  I can just look back over my shoulder at the the sweltering humid summer.  Time flies in China, or is it, as I’ve been told, a fact of getting older.  But I’m not old,  my zodiac sign is a rabbit so what is going on with my life?  Its been nearly three years in China and yet I still at times feel and act like a junior in College.

I’ve been stirring up controversy on Chengdu Living once again  through  my latest post: Confessions of a White Monkey. Its filled with  autobiographical details and commentary on socioliogical sham of foreign entertainment in the Middle Kingdom.

Fiction writing has been put on the back-burner due to an invasion of Starcraft 2 however,  I have some new pieces in the works and the next installment of Breathe Deep should be done soon.  Moreover, I’ve acquired a new addiction, don’t be alarmed, its a good one this time.  I’m powerlifting 3x a week  and  dabbling with the Paleo diet,  which means tons of meat and veggies but no rice or noodles.  It should be an interesting experiment in Sichuan.

No idea whats going on for xmas, this is the first time I won’t be in Ol’ New England but I’ve done that 23 times already, let’s see what China has to offer.  Will probably pay an arm and a leg for a fancy dinner with foreign friends and then head out to a techno party at Xiong Mao.  But all the while I’ll be thinking of   stoking the woodstove and eating delicious treats in  grandma Ohma’s  cozy living room.  Sorry to the guys in the fam, but the board game battle of the sexes has taken a turn for the worse.

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CSR in China: Giving Hand Shares Success of Levi’s Charity Project

Posted on December 16, 2011 by admin

On November 28, 2011 Vera Chou and Elias Witman participated in BSR’s conference on NGO & Brand partnerships in the Ramada Hotel of Guangzhou. Registration began at 8:30am during which Vera and Elias made final preparations to Giving Hand’s booth and took time to network with other NGOs and companies. The event began shortly after 9:00am with a short speech and introduction to BSR by Jeremy Prepscius, who used to work as a Nike’s supply chain manager in Vietnam.

Giving Hand Presents to an attentive audience at the Ramada Hotel

Mr. Prepscius outlined BSR’s 3-year project慈愿Ci Yuan or “Charity Resource” which began in 2010. This project aims to help build a foundation for CSR in China through three main goals: 1) Help foundations make grant to Chinese NGOs 2) Build greater transparency for NGOs 3) Foster stronger Brand and NGO partnerships. He explained that BSR also welcomes new ideas from NGOs and is able to provide funding for some independent projects. The importance of streamlining business with the “grassroots” element of NGOs was the highlight of Mr. Prepscius talk. He also claimed that companies should move away from just doing donations and seek to form long-term philanthropic partnerships. It was encouraging to hear him say that because it coincides with the current goal of Giving Hand. Continue reading →

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The White Flower: A Slice of Chengdu Fiction

Posted on December 2, 2011 by admin

This piece was cut from GoChengdoo 50th issue “Chengdu’s Stories” due to space constraints. Honestly some better stories were submitted from other member’s of the MALA writing group and all together only 4 short stories were selected. I dig this piece it was a bit more dramatic and poetic than other pieces I’ve written. Peep it: (400 words)

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Li Mei stood in the center of the street flanked by the rumbling crawl of traffic. She held out lanyards of white flowers bound together on a red string, displaying her wares to drivers behind tinted windows. A man in a taxicab rolled down his window, Li Mei approached him as he tossed a cigarette butt at her knees.

The traffic light signaled go. .

The clamor of horns began as cars competed for centimeters of concrete.

Li Mei was silent in her thoughts. Reflections of the open air; the yellow fields of youcai in blossom, the gentle wind on fiery autumn leaves . The curves of the mountains. The sunshine. The way the fat pregnant moon illuminated the night sky surrounded by its progeny of stars. These were all distant memories of her life before the quake.

Landslides had eroded her family’s farmland, devouring generations of labor and leaving behind rotting debris in its wake. The mountains bore open wounds, their blood and plasma of stone and dirt exposed and strewn across the hillside. Once handsome, they now stood naked as if they were defiled by some earthly assassin. Li Mei’s father couldn’t bare the sight of the pillaged land so together they took up for a new life in the city.
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