Living Simply – Page 8 – HurricaneMaine

Pittsburgh

(This post was to have been published a month ago, but multiple flight cancellations postponed that with no idea when my actual flight to China will actually be.)

It is good to actually see sky with only a few tall buildings around as Pittsburgh is a much smaller city than Guangzhou. I had envisioned that I would go to the theater, watch a movie with family, go to dinners but the COVID reality made me think twice. I am being overly cautious as the numbers of cases are much larger than this time in 2020. Even though the new omicron variant is milder, the predominant variant Delta is the concern. And most importantly, being exposed means that the antibodies would prevent me from going back to China. Sometimes it is just better to spend time with one another.

It was nice to take it easy and just hang out with family. I spent weekends with Ryan. It was refreshing to run around the riverfront. These pictures are from Herr’s island. The cute squirrel moved closer as I stood taking pictures of both him and the cardinal.

Ryan is a great cook. The breakfast scramble was delicious.

He makes great food no matter the ingredients.

I spent some time shopping. It is difficult to find my size shoe in China so finding running shoes and a good everyday shoe is a must. Also on my list are more running clothes and other pieces I find to take back. Lastly, I needed to get shelf stable food to take into quarantine. Packets of tuna fish, nuts, and oatmeal. Oh, and coffee.

We also walked, looked at possible other apartments for Ryan, and traveled together to Worthington to spend new years with my brother and sister-in-law, Ken and Sunni. I prepared to be ready to leave on January 21.

After learning that I needed to go to LA 7 days before flying to China for tests and health monitoring, I went to Pittsburgh a day earlier to spend more time with Ryan. First on the list was to make sure I had everything set for LA and then too repack for Wisconsin and to go back to GZ as I threw everything together at the last minute. The next morning I made sure I had the items for Wisconsin and reorganized the bags for Guangzhou. After coming back from WI, I prepared to leave for LA the next day….. Or so I thought….

The next day I found out that my flight is cancelled as well as the replacement flight and the next flight is now March 7th. Because of the Olympics in Beijing, almost all flights from the US were cancelled. It is nice to be with family but difficult to move around from place to place and live out of a suitcase. I made plans to split more time with family, start preparing online lessons, and run/hike to stay busy.

I took a long walk along trails by the river to meet Ryan when he was finished with work. It was a cold day but a really nice walk around the city.

Point state park is located where the rivers converge in Pittsburgh: the Allegheny, Monongahela, and the Ohio river.

I love the facade of this old building and hope they keep it’s look and character.

I have been in this restaurant many years ago.

More pictures from a run after much snow and very freezing temperatures.

I also walked to the Strip to buy Asian products to make dinner.

On weekends we went hiking….

And this was the first day of Chinese new year….

Who knows how long I may still be here….

Summer (it’s over….?)

I honestly forgot about this post that was lounging in my drafts. And summer continues until a few weeks ago when the weather started to turn cooler.

The summer was interesting. An increase in cases in Guangzhou meant more difficult travel. As I was taking 60 hours of leadership classes I stayed in the city for much of the summer. This summer I only traveled a little to Beijing and Inner Mongolia.

I took some breaks for nature areas in Guangzhou.

This summer was also the 100th anniversary of the communist party. It is interesting to note that the nationalist party that started to bring China to the modern age and ended the Dynasty and warlords period, was overthrew by the communists because there was no free speech. The nationalists would not accept any dissent. That is what is true of the communists today.

A new pedestrian bridge was built to cross the river.

Working internationally means people come and go frequently. Celebrations and going away parties…

Construction in the apartment upstairs meant finding another place to work. This time in a coffee house in my neighborhood.

Occasionally in feeding the homeless you get an opportunity to help furry friends.

And of course, DragonBoat….

Physical pursuits

I do like to stay active. If I keep moving maybe old age can’t catch up with me! Wishful thinking I know, but I am not as fast as I used to be and have changed some of what I do. But I like staying in shape.

Where our dragonboat group meets has stand up paddleboarding. That is something I miss from living in PA. I paid for a year membership and now go paddleboarding after every dragonboat practice that I can. A few of us go each time.

Tricia who was so brave to go even being afraid of water.

I also ran a half marathon for charity which was a fun circle around the river.

Jack and Justin, the other cross country coach at school, were part of our team Too fast, too hot. We named it after the cross country team who complained with those words every practice!

Dragonboat has been a great workout for my arms, shoulders, and abs. I even extended myself by learning to paddle with my non-dominant arm to learn more coordination. I am glad for the chance to improve a physical skill that I did not have much experience in. It is a great community of wonderful people. I usually show up to both trainings on the weekend.

We have been training for a 21km race but I will miss that. I will get back in shape for dragonboat once I come back from the US.

To see the Himalaya mountain range

We drove a long time (8 hours and 340 km), stopped at several points, and had several checkpoints for ID. Travel was along the Shanghai Nepal road and where we stopped was at 5248 meters elevation. I definitely felt the lack of oxygen.

First glimpse of Everest along the pass.

Along the Gyitso pass we stopped for bathroom break and also to take pictures. You can purchase a prayer flag and write a recipient name on it. They tie it for you and the blessings and prayers are sent by the wind.

Here the option is to go on to Everest or continue on the other road to Nepal.

We hiked a short section to get to Everest base camp at 5,150 m elevation. The camp is located below the moraine slopes from the Central Rongpu Glacier. A moraine is the earth and rocks pushed by the Glacier when it was advancing.

One minute you can see it and the next it is converted in clouds. We are lucky to have had the weather we did that day.

We stayed in a large tent at the base camp. The blankets they use are very thick and the tent is heated by using dried sheep and yak poop. It actually gives off less ash and is more plentiful than wood. Our tour group was interesting : 1 Japanese, 1 Chinese, 1 American, 1 Brazilian, 1 Singaporean, 1 Russian, 2 Brits, and 3 Germans. We spent a lot of time together! The tent owner would cook fried rice with yak meat for dinner and an omelet or pancake for breakfast. Lowest temperature was – 4C at night.

The base camp for hiking Everest is another 4 km away. You can no longer get a permit to hike unless you have Sorvino prior experience. We are about 20 km to Nepal.

I came on this trip already with a headache and stuffy nose so not sure when or if I was acclimated to the altitude. But when I arrived at Everest base camp, I was definitely struggling. My vision pulsed with each heartbeat and I had no energy. I used a nasal cannula with oxygen for 30 minutes. I felt better and then continued to feel better as we went back down in elevation. My sports watch measures my pulse. My resting heart rate is normally 46 bpm but jumped to 68 after arriving in Tibet. No wonder it shows in under great stress.

The Tibetan name for everest is Chomolungma, meaning “Goddess Mother of the world”. This marker is the height at the top of Everest.

Himalaya means “abode of snow”. There is about 15,000 glaciers throughout the whole range. The Himalaya form an arc that separates the Indian subcontinent in the south from the Tibetan Plateau in the north. Many of the world’s major rivers, the Indus, the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Yangtze all begin here. The next three pictures are the Himalayan range. A panorama would not let me zoom in so close.

Along the way we could see Tibetan farmers cutting and taking hay by hand. They did lift the hay wagons pulled by tractors. They keep the hay in their yards to feed livestock.

The start of seven days in Tibet

I have always wanted to go to Tibet but it has been closed to foreigners when I arrived to China and then covid happened. I had planned to go this last summer but they closed it to foreigners again. Luckily, my other tour for this holiday week fell through and I was able to scramble to get a visa and permit for Tibet! It required a few documents, a negative covid test, and a little waiting. Even with the extra hassle at checkpoints and the extra covid tests it is worth it. I will need another permit and possibly a virus test to go to Everest base camp.

Along with the shroud of spirituality, Tibet has distinct cultural traditions, intricate architecture, and a beautiful landscape. I have seen similar sights and ate some similar foods in Yunnan as these places are still along the Silk Road that connected other cultures to China and border Tibet itself.

Our first day was travel and going through the checkpoints. Along the way I met some great people. A chinese couple helped with translating and there I met a lovely woman from Scotland. While we were waiting for the second flight, two young men who wanted to practice their English chatted with us. Later on the bus I also met a couple Americans.

After settling into the room we were cautioned to take it easy as we would need to get adjusted to the altitude. In fact the next two days we will stay close to Lhasa to acclimate before going higher in elevation. Tibet is 4500 meters above sea level making the cities like Lhasa the highest in the world. Our only adventure was finding food.

Given the mountainous features of this area, Tibet is the most secluded and least populated provinces in China. It’s prominent feature is the Himalayas where the average mountain stands above 20,000 ft tall. To get from one scenic area to another will be long bus journeys. The views along the way will be amazing as this area is known for its breathtaking beauty.

In Tibet, Buddhism is not just a religion but a lifestyle. It actually is a lifestyle for many Buddhists around the world and is the way they embrace life.

Potala Palace from the bus window. That will be a lot of stairs to climb.

Tibet is also called the ‘third pole’. Tibet holds the third largest storage of water and ice in the world (after the Arctic and Antarctic). In fact, the water here is needed by 47% of the worlds population. There is a multitude of lakes, rivers, or glaciers. There is a lot of water here which makes it the center of geological and political interest. In fact, six of Asia’s largest rivers find their origin here in Tibet, including the Mekong, the Yangtze, and the Indus.. .

The diet of the people of Tibet is determined by the arid climate and high elevation. Food here include products unique to the region such as the Tibetan yak. Other foods such as yogurt and butter are popular compared with the standard Chinese diet. The most popular dishes include: tsampa (the staple composed of barley), balep (bread), thukpa (noodle soup), yak butter, yak cheese, yak yoghurt, and yak meat.

For our first meal, we tried a few items.

Noodles, vegetable Tikka, yak masala, and aloo Gobi though the spices are a little different.

These noodles are delicious and the texture is more one of my favorite.

Tomorrow we will view palaces and see sights as well as have a large introductory dinner.

Drifting and the Nangang Yao Village

Busy Saturday. I delivered meals for the homeless and then ran 10k back to my apartment before leaving on a weekend trip within the province near Qingyuan.

We arrived at the site for Drifting. It flows on an underground river through 5 mountains and villages. The caves are impressive and it was a lot of fun. I tried to take some videos with my go pro.

We then headed to an ancient village. Yao Minority is one of the oldest ethnic groups in China dating back 1000 years in the Song Dynasty. It is the best preserved ancient village in China. The village is built in the mountains and many steps go up and down and around.

The village is so peaceful and remote.

They are rebuilding many homes that have burned or fallen to ruin. The government has helped them preserve their way of life and to attract visitors by updating rooms for people to stay.

Water runs through the village from the mountains.

Villagers still live in small dwellings that hold just a bed.

A village official near the temple.

Temple.

Sticky rice wine is the local alcohol drink. It was pretty tasty.

Watching dinner being cooked was amazing. High heat cooking over a wok was quick and the smoky flavor and smells was wonderful.

Sunrise.

Breakfast.

Homemade tofu and soy milk with a hand turned mill and a large vat to squeeze the milk out.

Morning walk after breakfast.

Yao king house which is the high ranking officials home.

We then headed to Jinzi Mountain.

The peak is 1417 meters above sea level, Jinzi Mountain is the 8th highest peak in the province and had a set of stairs that have an 80 degree incline. It is relatively remote and having less tourists made it a great time hiking.

We saw this beauty near the ladder stairs.

At the top is this Buddha. Legend has that gold and silver were hidden here by the Empress dowager and saying the right phrase opens it. One person left oreos in his left hand as a tithe.

The beginning of the love ladders. It was a pretty steep climb.

This is the love ladder section showing how steep the climb actually is.

It was a great and tiring weekend. I am always excited about spending time in a village and being in nature and less crowded places!

Kubuqi Desert

We drove from the grassland in inner Mongolia to the desert. It was the longest drive and at this point we are getting pretty tired of being on the road but everything is so far away.

Container rooms and yurt from drone photo.

Drone image of me on a 2 km run through desert.

This area is part of the greening of China initiative. See the paragraph at the end of this post.

We stayed in a container room. It was not our best accommodation but it was nice to walk right out on to the desert when I wanted without driving there. In the early morning I went out to get a sunrise shot but many clouds were in the horizon.

We set out to walk around when it was so quite warm.

Sunset pictures were taken from a viewing platform a half hour drive away and overlooking a very expensive 5 star accommodation.

There is a large solar panel farm on the desert. They are also greening the desert areas that have been overgrazed for centuries. From Time article:

Kubuqi, for one, boasts China’s largest single-stage solar farm, boasting 650,000 fixed and sun-tracking panels, which together channel 1,000 megawatts of electricity into the national grid — about half the power-generating capacity of the Hoover Dam. A team of 47 households are employed to maintain the panels. “Everyday each household can clean more than 3,000 panels using high pressure water jets,” says chief engineer Tian Junting. “And the run-off water feeds the crops that grow underneath.”

On our morning walk we saw a set up fur a desert themed wedding.

Inner Mongolia, Ulanhada volcano cluster

After a plan for Tibet fell through due to covid, I went to one of my other options of inner Mongolia.

The cat immediately sat on the area of inner Mongolia to distract me from going.

In Inner Mongolia, the names of several cities end with the word hot. In ancient times, hot referred to settlements of the nomadic peoples. With the process of urbanization, hot has come to mean city now. Hoh in Mongolian means blue.

We flew into Hohhot and rented a car after staying the night at the shangri-la. The hotel was beautiful. I went for a run in the nearby park.

Mongolian milk tea which was pretty delicious.

We drove to the Ulanhada volcano cluster and stayed at a nearby yurt. We are in the grasslands which are dotted with herds of sheep and horses, and looked forward to living like a nomad with an overnight stay in a Mongolian yurt.

Container huts on the grasslands behind the yurts.

That macrame hanging reminds me of the 70’s.

Volcano crater #3 is the one with stairs to go up. You can go into the crater. We walked the 0.6 km along the top of the rim and down one side you can see where companies came in to take the volcanic rock for building projects. Along that side people dressed in space man costumes to pretend they are from Mars.

#5 volcano crater had much loose rock and steep sides. It was a climb and a scramble getting down. There is a beautiful view all around.

We could see the #4 crater from the top. It has been dug up for building material and in not as good a condition.

Back at the yurt we dressed in Mongolian dress.

Dinner was amazing. Fresh greens from their garden, Mongolian pancake, yak cheese and tofu.

Chongqing, sanfu, one of the three furnaces

This summer vacation I planned to visit places I have wanted to go : inner Mongolia and ancient capitals: Nanjing and Luoyang. I had never been to Chongqing and people said it is a place not to be missed. It is very hot as it is surrounded by mountains and little air movement as a result. Because of this it is one of the “furnaces of China”. It is also in Sichuan, known for its spicy food.

Heading back to the hotel. It is pretty hot here.

Chongqing was the capital of the Republic of China for seven years during the late 1930s and early 1940s during the Anti-Japanese War (World War II). This isn’t one of the ancient capitals but a place I was told not to miss.

Chongqing Jiefangbei Pedestrian Street (重庆解放碑步行街) was just outside the Crowne Plaza hotel we stayed at. There is the People’ s Liberation Monument at the center of the city. It is in commemoration of the end of Japanese invasion during second world War.

Celebrating of the Anti-Japanese movement.

The city reminds me of Hong Kong with close buildings and hilly streets that seem to rise out of the water. We took the metro to view some spots. One is the metro line that runs through a building.

A video I took of the metro train: https://youtu.be/fhUylmYOcRo

We visited Ciqikou old town which was built in 1000 AD and was an ancient port. It is surrounded by a mountain and three rivers. Now it has beautiful tea houses, unique snacks and gifts and a temple (we didn’t make it to the temple as there were too many people). It was great to try some snacks and look around.

This is a cucumber carved into a Buddha. If you eat it you will live a long time. I don’t pass up vegetables when I see them.

This is yogurt quickly frozen on an anti-griddle.

The Art street is more graffiti than street art but the art on the buildings was pretty impressive and anyone can buy paint and a brush and become an artist. We took a didi to 501 Art Base which is the Art university and walked back taking in the sites and buying souvenirs. .

On the water….

…. At Haizhu and Dameisha in Shenzhen.

Haizhu

I went to the Saturday DragonBoat training for experienced paddlers instead of Sunday as we wanted to travel to the beach that weekend and still wanted to go to a practice. Jack and I also purchased our own paddles that are carbon fiber and much lighter.

I brought my A game so as not to show I should not be there. We separated into male and female boats and we raced one another. The women did much better than the guys. Mostly we have better timing and we coordinate well. The poor guys had to put their heads down as their coach was disappointed.

We then drove to Shenzhen to the beach for a weekend vacation. First stop was a restaurant that serves the biggest oysters and varieties of seafood. It was seafood overload.

Then we continued on to the hotel which has a private beach and marina. First off was getting into the water and then after we bought some instant noodles to use with the leftover seafood we could not finish. I even took my snorkel to practice though the water was very cloudy.

The hotel gave a free yacht cruise in the ocean. We went on that cruise the second day. We could see Hong Kong to one side of us and the Shenzhen port which is one of the top ten in the world economically. We then headed back to Dameisha Beach.