A view from afar

Silly, silly decisions

2009-06-08T19:11:00.000+08:00

Sadly, this is the first time in about 6+ weeks I have been able to access my blog. Like a thief in the night, I had to use a back alley. The reason for this is quite simple: we have been blocked from doing what we love doing - promoting China and its people.

I'd like to look at this, ask a few question and make some general observations.

Firstly, why would it be that people like Mau and I, people who adore this country, people who spent so much of our own free time PROMOTING the wonders of this place and its genuinely generous and gracious people, are blocked from spreading what is good about China? Why are people like us, small, everyday Ambassadors of this country, BLANKETED with those very, very few ones smearing and blackwashing this place of inherent beauty and kindness?

More importantly, and way more disturbingly, why do superbly intelligent, highly educated people who have steered and made wise decisions about the fate of this Great and Vast Place since the 1990's, sometimes make such silly, silly, silly BLANKET decision like this?

WHY ARE THEY SO UNINFORMED ABOUT THE PERCEPTION THE REST OF THE WORLD WOULD HAVE OF THEIR DECISION?

Why do they think they're saving face with this action, and when will they realise that when they try and save face by telling a lie, they simply LOSE face? (Remember the pretty girl during the Olympic Opening Ceremony ...?)It will out, and the world will know, and the world will again shake its collective head at the lack of insight!

Why does nobody tell them that, like with the BBC's Umbrella Men on T Square, they are making themselves look like fools (or, in Chinglish, lose face)?

Most importantly, as highly educated and well-traveled people, why don't they realize this for themselves?

Crowds and the influence they have on one's visual awareness

2009-05-03T20:22:00.000+08:00

See photos for a visual of this at the bottom.

In a recent conversation on my friend Kay Kendall photo site on flick about a photo she had posted of a friend of hers of Chinese descent, and the friends dreams as a young girl ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/kkendall/3458742400/) I said the following:

This is such a thought-provoking quote and photo .... for this is one of the things that fascinates me most about this awesome country and this gentle culture: constant crowds and the psychological influence of these on the individual - and eventually on the whole culture.

Arriving in China from Africa, a place drowning in space, it did not take me long before I started wondering about the effects of incessant crowds on one's psyche. From personal experience and from speaking to expat friends having lived here for an extended period of time, I have found that constant crowds do have definite influences on us. First to be affected is one's visual awareness, ie, is one aware of one's surroundings or does one "switch off" to one's surroundings in order to survive mentally. Most expats in China I have spoken to have told me that their visual awareness has decreased with time as simply switching off becomes a kind of a defense mechanism. Personally, when out on a pavement (without my cam, lol), I have found that my own visual awareness has decreased to as little as one foot in stead of the previous dozens of meters! The reason is simple: for most of the time one simply can't see any further than a few feet ahead in any case, so I guess the eyes just stop looking .... An amazingly interesting field of study, with China the perfect laboratory. My local students and I often talk about this, and those having lived abroad for some time absolutely agree with me on these inter-related themes. Two last thoughts on this: do not confuse spatial awareness with visual awareness as, somehow, spatial seems to be far more primordial ... and, how about this for a thesis, "How crowds influence visual awareness and how visual awareness influences culture" ?

Well, many a conversation was generated on Kay's photo, both in response to my and to others' comments, but Kay came back with something that made me think ... She said, " I see it as a PICTURE book."

That made me delve into my photos of the last two months to get some recent ones of this phenomena - crowds. Hopefully some of the following will give you an idea of what I meant when I said crowds in China makes it impossible for one to plan ahead or to think about the next corner. It is just in your face, almost constantly.

A few weeks ago, with camera held above my head in Yu Yuan Gardens. Try planning a route through this .....

Two days ago on the corner outside our apartment. SPOT THE BRIDE in the crowd ....

Also, two days ago, going into the park, camera at chest height.

In the park, from a vantage point about 60cm / 2 feet above the crowd

Chest height, walking amongst a crowd .... how do I plan to go ahead?

Chest height, exiting the park. Again, how does one plan for this? No wonder one stops looking ahead and planning - eventually simply stops planning for anything. What will be, will be ....

Exiting the Yu Yuan, again, held above my head walking / pushed on by the crowds ....

Age in China

2009-05-01T17:38:00.005+08:00

Today is a public holiday in China, so for once we do not have to work. Bliss. Utter bliss !!!

We grabbed the opportunity and went for a photo reccie and picnic in the park to celebrate a sunny day with James, our photography friend we met via flickr, his absolutely lovely and sweet wife Amy (originally from Mongolia) and Amy's 17 year old daughter Kelly.

This Mom and daughter two-some are so photogenic together, and I could not resist taking several photos of them.

Kelly doing the bubble thing ...

Mom taking a video ...

And them sharing the video ...

Whilst taking these photos, as I do, I also wondered about the cultural story I was photographing. Taking these photos of their shared joy, I again ended up comparing cultures, amazed at the differences between teens here and teens in the West !

What 17-year old in the West would be sitting with a teddy, blowing bubbles for mommy and looking like she is 12? No wonder everybody in America thought China's Olympic gymnasts were underage. However, young Kelly here really is the standard for local kids - in fact, if a kid
here "looks his age" it is very, very strange.

On this same topic: a real story story from one of my 16 y/old students who recently returned from 2 years of High School in America, showing how we are viewed here:

When I asked her what the strangest / most interesting experience was for her, she said that on day one of her going to school in America, she was sitting in class and she saw all these parents coming into class and sitting down. She kept on wondering why she was the only child in class ... until the teacher walked in and started teaching .... only then did she realise the "parents" were actually the other kids in her class.

Happy Birthday da Mama

2009-05-01T16:56:00.005+08:00

Been a hectic week, so only getting time to post this now. Sorry, Janine .... but at least we did send these to you on time!

On Sunday night we went out with some of our fellow expat friends to say goodbye - again - to someone leaving our circle of friends, and privately also to celebrate da Mama's birthday. For those of you who do not know da Mama, she is the lady responsible for giving birth to Mau and my mom-in-law - the lovely, way-too-kind, beautiful soul filled with both joy and wisdom Mauro is kissing on the photo above. The name comes from the Italian heritage ..... even though she is as African as Mau and I.

We blew up one of the photos Mau took of her last year this time when she visited us for her 60th, and took it with. Mau quickly roped in all to pose with da Mama.

On the photo above, fltr are: Old Man Rob (Aus), Alex (Br), Gailan (US) , Bret's friend visiting from America, Bret (saying goodbye to him - USA), Joy (Singapore, whose mother chose her name perfectly), Joy's friend, Mauro, Olga (our loveliest girl from Russia) with new teacher Ant and her husband from England.

Phillip (UK) , Joy, me, da Mama and mau. Told you I do not like that side of the camera.

On the way back home on the subway, he roped in two youngsters on the train with us into posing with her again.

Happy 61st, Janine. Enjoyed taking you out on the town again. Maybe next year we can do it in person?

A Village to raise a Child?

2009-04-27T20:41:00.017+08:00

Today was one of those perfect days. Somehow everybody just smiled love around us and we were again reminded of why we are so deeply enamored with China.

The day started with with me checking up on my flickr friends, their great photos, interesting lives and above all, fascinating insights into life. As always, I found a lot of food for thought on esp K's flickr page - a lady with deep African connections, a fellow educator and someone both Mau and I now reckon as a dear friend, even though we have never met.

Whilst browsing her photos, I could not fail but notice that she has been taking a lot of photos of kids as of late. They are gentle, sweet pics clearly showing her love and appreciation of youngsters.

Then, another thought came to mind: with her living in the USA, I wondered how her taking these was perceived by those around her. Did she do it overtly as a photographer, or did she secretly blend in as a mother? More interestingly, did she get away with doing this simply because she is a mature woman? It is certainly something I, as a middle aged, bald man would never be able to get away with in the West. Even worse: if the parents knew that I was actually married to another man - they'd probably call the cops straight away!

K's photos and the discussion it bore also reminded me of one of the more interesting experiences I have ever had regarding this topic. About 9 years ago, when I was teaching in New Zealand, two male friends (both much older than me and married to two colleagues of mine) and I drove past a Primary School in Christchurch. The sprawling lawn and football fields looked particularly lush and green; the early sun skipping in silvers and coppers off the blades. I pointed at this, looking out the window of the car. They immediately asked me not to point at the school as they would not want those in the car behind us to get suspicious ......

Thank goodness it is so different here in China.

Here, when we go walkies on a Monday, we almost always end up with children around us. We have parents bring their kids to say "Helloooo", to speak a word or two of English, to squeeze a cheek, to rustle a head and then to walk off again. When the cameras are out, parents bring the kids to pose, coax them into the Chinese V-sign (for smile) ... and leave smiling when all is done. It is just the norm.

Should we sit down somewhere, we soon have parents bring kids over, talk a while and often wander off leaving the kids with us. In the neighborhood we frequent the most we are even seen and used us as babysitters! Often, when we go there on a Monday, we'd be sitting chatting or whatever, just to have a baby or toddler popped into your lap unceremoniously - the parent disappearing to do some shopping or something. Whilst the parent is away, Uncle and Aunty and Little Mary and whomever else, will come by, play with the baby, then pass him / her back.

Raising a kid here is simply a communal activity.

With this in mind, I went out today to take photos showing the Chinese reality where the Village still reigns supreme, where innocent interaction between adults and children is not yet viewed suspiciously. We did not coax anyone into these things you see in the photos: they happen every day, every where.

This little one's father (man right) watches him perform for Mau with the video cam. Aunty from the stall next door smiles on whilst a stranger passing by (next to Mau) joins in the fun.

The 1st place we sat down at is a small restaurant we have not visited for almost a year. Soon the wee child of the owners, who was a baby last time we saw her, came over and started playing with Uncle Mauro. She calls us "Yee-Yee", or "Paternal Grandfather". Go figure, lol!!

She absolutely loves the camera and performed to her heart's content. She also roped in the neighbours' son. Every time a photo was taken, they'd run to look at it. Here they are peeping at James' screen.

Not long after that, and he was playing Doraemon with us. Super hero to the rescue .... ;-))

Next stop, and soon we had a crowd of about 30 people around us, many with kids. This little bundle of fun insited on sharing his lollipop with Mauro. How could he refuse?

Now do not get me wrong. I understand the sensitivities involved and I am the first to advocate the death penalty for those who err against a child, our most vulnerable members of society. I am just concerned about losing the golden midway here; about how we exclude esp men from interacting with children, and how this affects all parties involved, now and in future.

Comfortably Uncomfortable

2009-03-23T18:24:00.010+08:00

With spring comes airing, and I need to air some ideas a little as verbalising normally makes me think better. I do apologise profusely for anything negative I say about a city and a country that has only been very, very, very good to us, a country we sincerely love and respect, but I do need to put this on paper....

Since having returned from our trip around SE Asia 5 or 6 weeks ago, for the first time ever, we have been wondering out loud about the possibility of leaving China. I have a feeling that it is going to happen in the next 12 or so months. Ideas are forming about where to and nothing is definite as of yet, but I do think we are China-ed out.

For now, in any case.

It was strange leaving China for the 1st time in 3 years. Being outside reminded us of something we have forgotten: just how absolutely DIFFERENT and yes, DIFFERENT, this great, great country is, and how we have allowed ourselves to not only accept but also no longer see these differences.

Being outside reminded us of how comfortably uncomfortable we have become.

One rekindled memory was about something as basic as food. The taste of real bread without sugar added as they do in Shanghai and the taste of meat without sugar was just magical .... (yes, Shanghainese food is sweet - the bread we can now kind'a do, but the meat and sausages - no!!! Even after 3 years neither of us can stomach it!!)

The next was the simplicity of walking around and actually understanding what the signs, the advertisements, the street names, everything, said and meant.

We had forgotten how it feels to NOT feel like an illiterate person .... this photo, I hope, will give you an idea of illiterate we feel. You know the price, but you do not know what it is for .....

Very important was seeing a blue sky again, breathing air not smelling of petrol fumes and being able to see more than 17 stars in the sky (our record here in 3 years is 17 stars in half of the hemisphere as visible from our balcony - normally we are happy if we see 5 or 6 in a three months period). Please do remember we are form Africa where, just about every night, you have a sky sprayed with white clouds of stars ..... we understand why it is called the MILKY Way ....

Probably most importantly was to again find the sheer joy of people able to debate and form opinions - in whatever language available.

Outside China, we had so many wonderful, vibrant, exciting and inspiring conversations with people capable of voicing a PERSONAL and more so, hallelujah, an ORIGINAL opinion .... Sad to say, but despite the absolutely charming, warm and generous nature and character of people here, there is an inherent inability to think out of the box and to engage in an argument involving anything alternative to what their parents have taught them or what they have read in the papers. All "debates" have to end in agreement, and normally it boils down to "What you do is OK, what I do is OK and therefor we do not disagree or discuss it", or as in Chinglish, "We do not put our minds on other people". Beautiful sentiment, guys, but come on .....

There are sooo many socio-historical and socio-political reasons for this, and I honestly do understand and above all respect these reasons, but it is getting a little tiresome getting the same answers and excuses to anything remotely controversial.

By the way, for the sake of interest:
The only NOT OK's are
It is NOT OK to use violence or become angry.
It is NOT OK to slap a child (for he does not know any better).
Both beautiful and OK characteristics making this a special people .....

For the rest, if it is OK or not, it is OK.

Sadly, in the end, it just becomes limiting and limited.

Although our hearts will stay behind, I think our brains need new challenges.

On a more positive note, should we leave, neither of us see this departure as permanent. This departure will simply be a way to a means - a return and final retirement in the Western parts of China, probably in Sichuan Province. We must just figure out how we can make that happen within the next three years.

Light at the End of the Tunnel: What a Mother!

2009-02-24T16:03:00.004+08:00

In SE Asia, it is quite common to share a table with a stranger at restaurants and pubs. This is how we met Neakrat. Us walking along the Mekong River for the first time ever and happening upon a small place selling beer at a cheap price, there was nowhere else to sit, so she beckoned us over to her table. Here she is with Monkey and Panda, our travel companions and "kids".

She is one of only a handful of people we met who could not speak English but between our limited Chinese and her friend's excellent English and French, we managed to have a 2 hour long conversation.

We started off by talking about this and that, but after a while the conversation turned to the people of Cambodia and how we loved the friendly faces and the welcoming smiles we saw everywhere. We also mentioned that we were planning on visiting the Killing Fields the next day. This, I think, made her trust us a little more and that was when she started telling us her story.

She was about 13 when Pol Pot marched into Phnom Penh and turned the clock back to the Year Zero. With her father being a Professor, the whole family was detained due to his connections with the University and Academia . Within the year she lost both her parents to his torture chambers. She, on the grounds of being the daughter of an educated man was not only detained and gang raped several times (this was the only time a tear rolled over her cheek) but, as other kids of the Intelligentsia, destined for The Tree of Horrors (see photo below).

With luck, wit and the help of a kind, older woman, she succeeded in escaping the labour gangs one night and somehow managed to survive in the forests with other refugees until the end of the genocide.

After Pot's fall, she started off selling coconuts and later on she had a small mobile kitchen mounted on a bicycle, selling food on street corners.

This was when we discovered that she is, in fact, the owner of the little establishment we were at - just one of two thriving, modern convenience stores she owns in Ph Penh. As time went by, we also discovered that she has 4 daughters, three studying in America with the youngest a model in Ph Penh.

Towards the end of our conversation, she ran up to her small apartment and cooked us some Amok, the favourite local dish. All simply because we previously, somewhere in the conversation, commented on the lovely taste, smell and homeliness of Khmer food. Lovely gesture - amazing meal!

The whole time we spoke to her, she had a smile on her face.

The only other signs of the pain besides the tear when she talked about her rapes were the occasional wave of the hand at memories to go away, and when she mentioned the name Pol Pot - that name came with a sneer and a spit!

A determined, kind yet strong motherly soul who has pulled herself from the depths of despair to what she is today!

Avoiding the Killing fields of Cambodia

2009-02-23T17:37:00.006+08:00

I normally take my camera with me where ever I go, even to work. These last few days were different ... nothing visual inspired me during this time - I felt no need to even look at photographic opportunities and saw absolutely no beauty in any street nor any face for nine days straight.

Upon our return to Shanghai 9 days ago, I put my camera bag down next to my desk. I looked at it a few times, but just could not bring myself to touch it and do the last downloads. This morning I had to clean around my desk, so I had to lift it from where it' s been sitting since we walked into the house after our vacation ...

This afternoon I forced myself to download the last photos from my camera.

I must say I am very happy that I did so, for the mind-fog is lifting; the reasons for my distance from my camera and my lack of interest in anything photographic these last few days are becoming somewhat clearer, I guess.

The reason, it seems, has two sides.

Firstly, there is the fact that I have taken over 20 000 photos - yes, twenty thousand - in just over 4 weeks. Guess I am a little "photoed-out".

Secondly, and I think far more importantly, looking through the last downloads from the cam today - taken of the Killing Fields of Cambodia during the last 2 days before we returned home - made me realise that I used the camera to create a wall between me and what has been a very emotional experience. I have been avoiding looking at these - until today.

Any normal human walking these "fields" would cry or become very emotional. I did not. Only by facing these photos could I allow my emotions to surface and experience what should have been experienced during this visit.

Maybe I have been afraid of it.

Here are some photos and the explanations to each.

The Killing Tree. Here the babies and children of the new regime's enemies were taken by the legs and swung, head first, into the trunk. After this they were simply dumped into a big pit to the right, some still alive, some mercifully dead.

Just some of the 6 odd storeys high stack of skulls collected from the mass graves around an area no bigger than one hectare.

The look on the faces of people walking through the Torture Chambers of Pol Pot. What hit me as a teacher most is probably the fact that in his horribly sick and twisted way, he and his madmen, having abolished all schools and education, perversely used a High School, a sacred place of learning, as his Headquarters of Torture.

The Gym Poles where kids used to do excercises were transformed into Torture Poles to lift people up by the arms - arms tied behind their backs - as a tool to elicit confessions to imaginary crimes. The clay pots once used by children to drink water from, were filled with the faeces and urine of the prisoners into which any one who passed out from pain, were dumped, head first, in order to revive them before the next hoisting.

Of all the places he could use in an emptied out city, he had to use a classrooms for this : torture dens! The photo on the wall is of the body found in this classroom when the Vietnamese liberated the city.

On the second storey of the school, he transformed each classroom into various holding cells.

Some of the photos of merely a handfull of the millions of the victims who suffered in this Place of Learning at the hands of this mad man.

In Cambodia many amputees and people disfigured by the landmines planted by Pol Pot and his lot today make a living from selling books about those time. We bought several of them. Two days ago I started reading the first, "Stay alive my Son" by Pin Yathay. If you can get hold of it, do yourself the favour and read it. It will definitely give you some insights into the soul of this man and why, symbollically, he chose a SCHOOL to do his torture. Excellent story about personal tragedy and, eventually, victory.

Back home

2009-02-14T18:07:00.003+08:00

OK, so we are back home after more than 4 weeks on the road. As the old saying goes - traveling is exciting and fun, but home is best!

With 3 trains, 6 buses, 6 planes, 9 hotels / guest houses, 1 boat, 4 taxis, 17+ tuk-tuks, 3 motorbikes, 1 elephant, almost 20 000 photos and literally a couple of hundred kilometers of walking over the last few weeks, we had some amazing adventures and saw wonders of both Man and Nature. However, as we had some internet problems, I wasn't able to post too much on the road - and right now I just don't feel like it. I am simply too tired.

However, once the old body has recovered, I will try my best to put on some of the highlights here.

Mau's 40th Birthday: Sihanoukville, Cambodia

2009-02-03T15:01:00.008+08:00

Birthday Splash

So, then it was the 1st of February and the big day leading to this trip was here: Mau's 40th birthday. We covered the 400 odd km from Phnom Phen south to Sihanoukville by bus the day before (for only $8, smile) and is it a great little place.
Breakfast is served

All I can say is that Sihanoukville is as close to an idyllic tropical beach as one can get. Relatively undiscovered by travelers, definitely undiscovered by corporate businesses like those with the Red Chickens and Golden Arches and chain hotel groups. Long may it remain so. It is just a small Cambodian beach on the Gulf of Thailand, fringed by forests, coconut palms, thatched roof bungalows and a blue, azure sea with kind and gentle waves. We found a bungalow on the beach for a mere $20 with a view to die for ... falling asleep at the sound of the small waves gently lapping the white beach at night is magic indeed.

Not going to describe every photo, just post a few as I am running out of time on my computer's battery, so have a look and get an idea.

From our deck

Sunrise

Phnom Phen, Cambodia

2009-02-03T14:23:00.003+08:00

Finding Thailand such a mad place, we decided to run away to hopefully calmer shores. We live in a city of (officially) 20 million people and wanted a place where we could get away from the rush and the crowd - esp the Western crowd!! (Never seen so many Westerners in three years).

Landing at Phnom Phen Airport, our spirits were lifted. It looked like we would peace and quiet!!

It reminded me of some of the smallest International Airports I have had the pleasure of landing at, like Windhoek, Namibia. Like everybody else, we had to buy a visa upon arrival at the airport for US $20 and then we were inside the country. We immediately found a tuk-tuk driver to take us to any hotel he recommended. The 7 km drive was $7, the night in the hotel $8 ..... go figure that one out, lol!

The first thing that struck us was the relative poverty and also the traffic. Mostly motorbike based, it is quite mad!!

The second thing we learnt was that everything in Cambodia is charged in US dollars (note, not half dollars, but full dollars) .... leading to us soon dubbing it the One Dollar Country! A boy even tried to sell the Phnom Phen Times to me at $1 despite the price clearly stating 25c. Cute move!

To our great relief we immediately learnt that the people here are not like the ones in Bangkok and are as friendly as we have come to expect from this part of the world.

Some very interesting transport in Phnom Phen. Will post more later when I am back home.

Bangkok: Royal Temple of the Emerald Buddha

2009-02-03T14:00:00.005+08:00

Bangkok ..... one night is surely enough.

This mad, crazy city filled with rather weird Western tourists is quite pretty and yes, for youngsters looking for cheap sex and a load of booze, the place to be. For us oldies ... it was a bit overwhelming (even if we do live in Shanghai). We found it to be a place where tourists are taken for every Baht they have or don't have, literally with lies and deceit.

Unfortunately we also found the legendary friendliness of the Thai people nowhere in Bangkok. I think it has fled to the countryside.

Sadly not a relaxing place.

The one redeeming quality of the city is the Royal Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Not sure if it is one the New Wonders of the World, but if not, it should be. I ran into camera trouble on this visit and sadly could not take the photos I wanted to. Four hours in this is a photographer's dream come true. Here are just two, and they certainly do not do this Wonder any justice.

I have never seen so much gold and precious stones together in one building in my life. A true spectacle.

Trekking with Elephants in Thailand 2 (see preceding post for more info)

2009-01-26T14:59:00.008+08:00

MeeMee, my Old Lady. She is 20 years old, the Matriarch of the herd and notoriously difficult. I don't want to sound like the typically arrogant me, but I know we bonded the best of all the people and their Elephants. She is a Lady with a Mind of Her Own, and me being the biggest (and oldest) there, they assigned me to her not so gentle care. Initially she gave me a lot of grief, but once I allowed her to walk to the front of the herd where she and I,(lol) rightfully belong, she was kind enough to show me more respect. Here, after being on her back up the mountain and into the forest for more than an hour, I am showing my gratitude for her eventual acceptance by feeding her my whole lunch. Even the Mahout (Elephant Handler) in the background just had to smile. Once we are back home I will post more of this stunning Old Gal.

She worked some muscles on my butt I forgot I had ....

Mau feeding his Sweet Girl some Bamboo. She is 7 years old. They do take the food from your hand soooo gently, even if your whole hand disappears into their mouths!!

From the break at lunch we went on to the mud pool where, as you can see, great fun was had by all. Never been so dirty and full of mud in my life. Each of us had to ensure our respective elephant was covered in mud. In return, they kept spraying and splashing us with mud ..... pure pleasure and fab interaction with highly intelligent and sensitive creatures.

Here is Mau with his Lady.

From the mud pools we rode them down to and into the river to wash the mud off of them and ourselves. This is one of only 2 places in Thailand where you can ride these beauties bare back ....
Pure magic!!!!

I promised to give Joe, the local man and his family who owns and runs this business some exposure. They are a wonderful, kind and welcoming family with years of experience in working with Elephants, and they go out of their way in their rustic surroundings to make things as easy and enjoyable as possible. Joe even hopped on a bike to go buy some of us cigarettes when we ran out after the Trek. If ever you wanna Ride with the Elephants, this is their site. We did the one day package. If interested, just tell him Jay and Mauro (To-Morrow, heehee) from Shanghai / South Africa referred you and they'll get you a better deal.
http://www.thaielephanthome.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

Trekking with Elephants in Thailand

2009-01-26T14:00:00.002+08:00

Yesterday was one of the two best days we have ever had in our respective lives. It ranks right up there with, if not higher than, the day we saw and cuddled our first ever pandas in Chengdu, China two years ago.

We went on a full day trek with elephants into the jungles of Northern Thailand, about an hour's drive south of the Burmese border.

How amazingly lucky and privileged we indeed are. We often wonder what we, two simple guys from Africa, have done to deserve all this abundance of undeserved blessings.

I am trying to post photos of this too, but the internet connection this far up north in Thailand is quite slow and it keeps throwing me off. Luckily I did manage to get the tiger photos done today. Will keep on trying, though .....

Today we are taking it slow, exploring the provincial capital of Chiang Mai, Thailand's second largest city. It is a beautiful, warm place with stunning food and warm, friendly people.

How strange it is to be in a place with so many Westerners again - and in a place with so few people!!!

Day of the Tigers

2009-01-24T22:41:00.003+08:00

On Saturday the 24th we went to the Tiger Kingdom in Chiang Mai to "touch and play" with the tigers.

What a great experience, as you might see from the images.

We chose to go in with the 7-odd month old cubs, 2 brothers and one sister (the one her back in the photos).

They are very well kept, all off-springs from captive tigers and, as there is no place in SE Asia safe enough for the release of these creatures, they will spend their lives in captivity. We spoke to a volunteer guardian from Britain and his wife about the conditions, which on the surface, seem very good. He has worked with many Big cats around the world (including lions in Zimbabwe!!) and the two of them assured us that no de-clawing, de-fanging or drugging of these animals occur - for, as he said, if they had done these things to the Cats, he would not have worked for them.

A great place and a great experience.

Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur

2009-01-21T19:17:00.003+08:00

Our constant travel companions, Monkey (from Africa) and Panda (from China) outside yet another touristy site.

A beautiful building in a beautiful city. And a hot, humid city at that.

What we have found here in our short stay is that the Malay people are as warm and friendly as their weather. Everyone is smiling, everyone is helpful. And it is quite a lot of fun to be in a country where everybody understands English for a change!

2009-01-18T22:34:00.010+08:00

Breathing Space, at Last

So we are off to Malaysia soon. Sitting here waiting for time to pass and the normal stresses associated with travel (for me, any case) to pass and to get there.

After three years of hard work, 10 days vacation per year, we deserve this.

It is time.

Five odd weeks of just nothing really planned. We know we will be arriving in Kuala Lumpur sometimes in the next 12 hours, spend 2 days with the family and then we are off to Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. Where we are going to stay, what we are going to do, what route we will follow ... we do not know.

Exactly the way we want it to be.

The only "clock" we have to work to will be the 15 of February when we have to be in Phenom Pen in Cambodia to catch a flight back to Shanghai. And then we still have a few days to relax before the damned work calls again.

Freedom for one month!!!

Let it be.

Inspiration

2009-01-17T22:02:00.009+08:00

I have not posted on here for 13 months now, as I have had some occasional trouble getting on.

However, the remarkable Dame Julie has inspired me to get going again. You can view her blog here: http://julie70inlondon.blogspot.com/

We are leaving for Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia tomorrow, so armed with our new Mac, who knows. If time allows, I might just be back on here before we return in 4 weeks.

Happy Holidays and as always, enjoy ....

Ponderings on the chicken or egg world of TEFL

2007-12-17T01:29:00.000+08:00

I truly love my job, and I work for an extremely professional outfit where I can honestly say that what I describe below does not happen. However, for a large part of the rest of the TEFL world there is a darker side lurking under the veneered surface. This dark side hides a few monsters feeding on themselves, forever intertwined, accusing each other of being the chicken, the other being the egg.

As a qualified career-teacher, I have my doubts about some practices in this industry. Although I can see the TEFL business continuing for many a year I am not convinced of the morality of an unregulated private role player in the educational sector as it currently manifests itself in many countries all over the world. If I had the power, I would definitely regulate it far more. Guess I am old-school when it comes to education ....

The one monster in this mix is the natural desire of young people to travel, yet cannot afford this. They therefore accept a job offering a return flight, "easy" hours, and sometimes even accommodation. This will allow them time to travel and earn a living. Problem is, due to their age and restlessness; they often accept this job offer without the slightest of intention of seeing out the full term of their contract.

Another factor is the unwillingness (for whatever reasons) of local authorities to set strict guidelines for this industry. Maybe it is due to the thirst for English which will make one's country more competitive, I do not know.

Then, obviously, there is the prime motivation of the "owners". Money. Not education, not standards, not stability, but money. Pure and simple.

All these have merged into an industry where too often your passport from an English speaking country is the only qualification needed; your immediate availability the only experience required.

One has to be available immediately due to the high turn-over of teachers. If not, and despite better qualifications / more experience, you will not land the job. A vacancy appears literally overnight and if it is not filled, the owner loses money. So, if you are a Westerner and hold the right passport you are the next one to fill this eternally recurring gap.

Another, separate monster is the widespread belief in this business that only First Language speakers can teach English. That is why the “correct” passport is the prime qualification. The result is sometimes that a First Language Speaker (FLS) who previously delivered mail in England stands more of a chance to land a job than a French Canadian with a Masters Degree in Linguistics and 5 years' experience of teaching English as a Second Language.

This has led to the term widely used amongst Foreign Teachers (FTs): performing monkeys.

These owners miss the point that most FLSs do NOT know a second language, and as such have no idea as to how a foreign language speaker acquires a second language or, even worse, will have no empathy with the struggles a student faces when studying a new language.

The result is sometimes terrible, with some of these inexperienced or un(der)qualified teachers openly disparaging students, viewing them as "stupid" - missing the fact that they are actually working with a lawyer or a doctor or an A+ student who simply does not YET have the vocabulary with which to express his brilliant ideas.

Sadly money has become the prime motive. Not the student.

2007-11-01T11:09:00.000+08:00

Yes, we are indeed lucky to be here. it is one the most interesting places on the planet to live and work. As it is culturally so far removed from our own Eurocentric experience, you can imagine that we learn a heck of a lot on an almost daily basis.

As to a remark re my photos elsewhere. I see my photos more as an attempt at commenting on the sociology of modern China as experienced by us in this wonderful country - a view of the goodness / normality of life here, even if it is sometimes culturally foreign to us. And this is the point I am making - there is absolutely NOTHING sinister about what we see, experience and live daily. That might be why you see it as snapshots - which they are really, just images documenting real life in China. Normal, every day life.

Photojournalism to me implies something newsworthy. To be honest, average daily life in China is very mundane and just that: life, with a dollop of hard work. No riots, no egocentric politicians amassing fortunes (and those who do are executed), no crowd controls, no silly drug-abusing wanna-be stars and heiresses, no PC maniacs trying to bend the world to their small views and making news out of nothing at all.

Maybe that is the cause of what some see as a lack of photo journalism from China. And that is part of the inherent foreignness of this country and what causes so much misunderstanding.

Like a good friend of mine said a week or two ago, he hopes that when people come here for the Games next year, that they come without preconceptions coloured and flavoured by a one-sided Western Media; that they rather arrive here, willing to widen their own blinkers somewhat and go back home with a more balanced view of this dynamic civilization.

Some clarity

2006-11-01T00:51:00.000+08:00

I think I want to share these photos with you in order to give you a more balanced view of what we see, the contradictions, the beauty, the different worlds you are confronted by here, by simply turning around 180 degrees.

The first two photos are of scenes of the shops across the road from the park where we sit and drink beer, looking at passersby (as described in yesterday's post). This is literally 20 m away from where we sit. Quite a different view from the ones you saw yesterday, facing the park.

Then, about half a block away, we took this one of an old cobbler omie, fixing shoes for a living from his pavement factory.

From our open air bar, this street scene of someone doing something wrong, and being questioned by some police. Everytime that happens, a crowd immediately gathers, and questions the trapped criminal as vigorously as the police. Definitely a social sense of what is right, and of what is wrong. Good !!!!

Shops seem to come grouped by the products they sell. For example, you'd find 4 to 10 shops selling beads, then the next stretch of small shops would be selling kiddies toys, etc etc. Here are some photos of ones selling all kinds of fabrics. Thought you ladies would find this interesting.

Two photos taken outside a material shop, also selling fake fur (as you can see from the rolls and rolls of fur on display). The woman in the photo is the actual owner. Her shop is about 1.5m in width and about 6m long. From here she makes a roaring trade.

Then, literally standing on the same spot from where Mau took the one of the fur selling lady, he turned around 180 degrees and this is what was on view. A modern, wide lane leading towards the restored section of old Shanghai, drawing a mass of tourists. It passes under one of the Old Town's original Gates. A world of contradictions, indeed.

Photos of our favourite spot in Shanghai

2006-10-31T00:06:00.000+08:00

This is where we go on our days off work. The Park in the middle of Old Shanghai. Here we sit and drink beer, take the most interesting photos of real life in this city, watch people (and thousands of tourists) passing by, smile at the various and weird means of transport, chat to the locals and simply relax.

First photo is of the place we sit, with the little stalls behind us. This is where we buy the beer, and have now befriended the family that runs the 3 stalls.

Second photo is of Mau and Robert, our one colleague, surrounded by the street vendors. They are the ones selling their stuff to the passing foreign tourists. A kind, hilarious bunch of people. They laugh at our Chinese, we laugh at their English and then we laugh together at how they bullshit the foreigners into buying their wares. They have now started "protecting" us from other vendors, chasing away any "new" vendors should they try to sell their rubbish to us.

Here they are showing us their various foreign notes, and having a look at our foreign notes and coins.

Third and 4th photos are of the young guy who is the father of the baby in the last 2 photos. Very nice man. They work here all day, until well after dark. He kinda runs the family business here.

Then, our favourite Shanghai boy, with his Grandmother. As you can see from the last photo, he is not allowed inside the stalls, because he is at the age where he touches everything, so he runs around the seating area, off into the bamboo wood behind the stalls, and generally terrorises us and his family into entertaining him. Then he falls asleep in his pram outsde the stall for an hour, wakes up and starts terrorising some other poor sod who happens to sit down in the shade.

Three typical scenes

2006-10-25T11:22:00.000+08:00

Almost all babies here walk around in these pants, all open at the bottom - back and front !! This enables the mom to make them do a wee or more when needed.

And then, walking around in your PJs is a cultural thing.

It is a status symbol, as it tells others that you live so close to the CBD that you can "quickly" pop out of your home, do shopping and then go back. All without having to change for a whole trip to town.

It is, however, becoming a less common site, yet some of the older people still cling to this.

An indication of how cheap living here can be

2006-10-24T21:01:00.000+08:00

Mondays are our days off. Just about nobody at school works on Mondays, so by around 16h00 on Sunday afternoon, there is a palpable feeling of "weekend" in the air. By the time we all leave the office at around 17h00 - 17h30, a sense of euphoria prevails. Everybody has plans, and many pre-planned get-togethers are about to come true.

Mau and I have kinda slipped out of the staff party thingie on Sunday nights as, invariably, they involve long taxi treks to another side of town, very expensive beers as the haunts frequented are mostly touristy and thus priced accordingly. We have come to prefer the local as in Chinese and local as in around our flat.

Also, being home bunnies, we really do enjoy simply schlumfing in front of the TV or the computer with a beer or two. So, that was where we ended up Sunday, two nights ago. Home.

We had a few beers, and the next morning slept in. Planning to go for a walk along a tributary of the Huangpo River (the river you have seen on the photos), we left the house around lunch time.

Now I have to explain that about two weeks ago, a new skyscraper (about 50 storeys high, and that is small for around here) opened up outside our flat's entrance, and a helluva lot of shops, including Gucci, have moved into the new building. So, as we exited our flat on the way to the little tributary, we noticed a sign for a new Italian (nogal!!) Restaurant having opened on the 3rd floor. We immediately decided to investigate.

We were rather sceptical, for one of the other "Italian" Rest's in town is nothing like Italian, and the food is pretty shitey. But, my gosh, were we pleasantly surprised with the new one.

There is Italian music, the food IS Italian (or very close to it), delicious and bespotlikly cheap.

A glass of red wine is R5, a seafood pasta is R11, as is a seafood risotto. A Penne Pasta tossed in pesto with some fresh veg, R8!!!! Garlic snails go at R11. And those of you who know us, know how we feel about garlic snails. We have not been able to find them here, yet ... until now.

So, for R45, we can have a starter, a main course and wine. For the both of us. Incredible. And this is really quality food.

We can cook at home for about 2/3's of that, but getting home from the school, like tonight, at 20h30, no one feels like spending an hour or two in front of the stove, and then having to do the dishes. So, this will be where we eat from now on on those two nights of the week when we work late.

Happy days, indeed.

O yes, the building is called The Peace. Fashion. Plaza. Full stops and all!!!! One thing these people must do ... learn how to spell.

Hi all

2006-10-22T09:23:00.000+08:00

22/10/06 Shanghai, China

Hi to all our friends and family test driving this site in response to our email. We do hope it works for you.

We have been toying with the idea of a blog for some time now, but never truly knew exactly how to go about getting it started. You know, being born a wee while short of the computerised generation and all that ...

Luckily we found this site, from initial info Jay's sis gave us regarding a lovely photo editing site. And yes, here we are. Two guys not really too sure about the intricacies of the Net, but we have found a way of doing it. Very easy.

The long and the short of it is .... if we could, you can.

Simply go for it. If you wanna write, if you wanna play, if you wanna publish photos, this is the place for it. Thus far we are impressed.

We really are not sure as to what is gonna come out'a this site / blog. Guess that, initially, it will be a random collection of thoughts and reflections, yet like all new borns, it will probably develop a character of its own in due course. We both love writing, as some of you'd know - and as some of you had come to fear, judging from the silence to most of our emails to you - but yes, guess it will simply evolve into an outlet for what we'd like to view as our respective creative beings.

Also not too sure as to which of one of us would be using this more frequently. At this stage my money is on Jay (me) as Mau has his own creative outlets. He loves the photo side of it, and I will take a wild guess by saying that most of the photies we publish on here will be from his fingers.

But we are not counting. As you should know by now, we are as good as one.

So, as an intro, this is our site. Come back frequently for we are quite typie ... and have lots to say.

Just a note to passers-by, happening upon this site by accident. The language and spelling used on here are S'African. It's simply another localised version of English, like Australian. Just looking at the two capital letters at the start of the name of this "new" language, should have warned you that it might be a wee different from the standards accepted by the Queen. Yet, like all languages over the ages, it is an evolving being. This S'Affie English too, is evolving here in the oven of Mother Africa, being baked, slowly and very, oh, so very gently.