In this post, I will describe our experience of coming upon a motorcycle-bus accident on the road from Lijiang to Qiaotou.
The drive was supposed to be 2.5 hours. We had been driving for about an hour and a half along the narrow mountain roads when we came upon the accident. We saw the vehicle in front of us slow down, and I caught a glimpse of a body on the road -- clearly dead, with blood and entrails everywhere and the motorcycle lying several feet away. The driver talked to a witness, who said a bus to Shangri-La somehow ran over the man and then just kept going.
There was no way around the body and traffic began backing up on both sides. The police came, but no one made any effort to clear the scene of the accident. Minutes and then hours began ticking by.
The man's wife was led up to the site, where the mangled body lay cruelly uncovered. When she saw it, she melted into the pavement and immediately started wailing and sobbing. Friends helped her away, although we heard her intermittent wails for a long time. Someone brought up a rooster and tied it to a rock by the side of the road.
Meanwhile, spectators from the long line of parked vehicles sauntered up to the site -- smoking, chatting, taking pictures, or squatting by the side of the road to wait. An American man who lives in Shangri-La walked up to see what was going on. He shook his head at the sad situation and noted that it could be 6 or 7 hours before the scene was cleaned up. "No one will touch the body until someone in authority comes around and makes them do it," he concluded.
We sat in the van and waited. I was a little shaken by the immediacy of the man's death and his wife's fresh grief exploding in front of us.
Three or four hours passed with no change, and we still had no idea when we could continue. Another tourist in our van talked to the driver and arranged transport for us on the other side. We had to skirt the accident site, so the driver walked us through the brush by the roadside to the top of a hill. Then we met up with the road again and walked 20 minutes. As we walked, our driver seemed to take a sort of macabre delight in relaying the gory details of the accident site to drivers waiting further down the road. A different van picked us up at the end of the stopped traffic and we continued on our way.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
A Door for the Word
Our team recently listened to a John Piper message on Col. 4:2-4.
According to Piper, the passage lists two goals for prayer:
1) a door for the Word
2) the speaker's message
and three ways to pray:
1) steadfastly
2) alert and watchfully
3) thankfully
I confess I'm often 0/3 on those last ones -- lackadaisical instead of steadfast, forgetful instead of alert, apathetic instead of thankful. For those of you who remember China in your prayers, can I invite you to join me in trying to intercede more faithfully, watchfully, and thankfully?
According to Piper, the passage lists two goals for prayer:
1) a door for the Word
2) the speaker's message
and three ways to pray:
1) steadfastly
2) alert and watchfully
3) thankfully
I confess I'm often 0/3 on those last ones -- lackadaisical instead of steadfast, forgetful instead of alert, apathetic instead of thankful. For those of you who remember China in your prayers, can I invite you to join me in trying to intercede more faithfully, watchfully, and thankfully?
Friday, June 4, 2010
Tiger Leaping Gorge
While in southwest China, we decided to spend two days hiking Tiger Leaping Gorge. The Yangtze River runs through this deep canyon, and Jade Dragon Snow Mountain rises nearby. If you believe the legends, a tiger once leapt 25 meters across the river to escape a hunter. Guidebooks call Tiger Leaping Gorge one of the best hikes in China.
We began by taking a minibus from Lijiang to the trailhead at a town named Qiatou. We were delayed for several hours by a terrible accident on the road and finally arrived at Qiaotou around 4:30 to begin hiking.
We began our hike.
After an hour and a half, we arrived here, the Naxi Family Guesthouse, where we roomed for the night. There were hikers from Hong Kong, Germany, Canada, and China staying there that night.
Morning arrived and we had our breakfasts of eggs, tea, porridge, and pancakes. The next section was the hardest part of the hike, called 28 Bends. It's about an hour or two of uphill climbing, with lots of switchbacks. With only one day to adjust to the altitude, I was breathing hard.
28 Bends eventually ended and we got to walk along the side of the gorge with peaks all around and the river below. Local people raise corn and other crops in beautiful terraced fields, but everything was dry because of the drought. (We sometimes saw farmers with hoses in their fields, trying to rain some life into their anemic looking crops.)
We knew we wanted to spend 2 nights in the gorge, so we took our time hiking and ended the day at the Halfway Guesthouse.
Unfortunately, there was some bad magic in the food, and two of our group got really nauseated over the night. So the next morning found some of us (including me) watching the sun rise over some of the most stunning views in the gorge while others languished in bed.
Finally at noon we decided we better just start hiking, although it was rough going for the sick ones. It was another 2 hours (at our pace) to Tina's Guesthouse, where we arranged a ride back out of the gorge.
The ride home was a harrowing ride indeed. They are widening the lower road where you can drive back to Qiaotou. This meant maneuvering around bulldozers, workers, rock slides, and even explosions in addition to the oncoming traffic. Even the driver looked a little scared. (And the bumpiness did no good for the queasy kids in the back.)
Final assessment of Tiger Leaping Gorge: One of my favorite travel experiences ever. The hike is tiring but not too hard, especially if you go slow like we did. It hasn't (yet) been over developed, and there aren't too many tourists. Every inch of the hike is surrounded by beautiful views -- an awesome display of the Creator's handiwork.
We began by taking a minibus from Lijiang to the trailhead at a town named Qiatou. We were delayed for several hours by a terrible accident on the road and finally arrived at Qiaotou around 4:30 to begin hiking.
We began our hike.
After an hour and a half, we arrived here, the Naxi Family Guesthouse, where we roomed for the night. There were hikers from Hong Kong, Germany, Canada, and China staying there that night.
Morning arrived and we had our breakfasts of eggs, tea, porridge, and pancakes. The next section was the hardest part of the hike, called 28 Bends. It's about an hour or two of uphill climbing, with lots of switchbacks. With only one day to adjust to the altitude, I was breathing hard.
28 Bends eventually ended and we got to walk along the side of the gorge with peaks all around and the river below. Local people raise corn and other crops in beautiful terraced fields, but everything was dry because of the drought. (We sometimes saw farmers with hoses in their fields, trying to rain some life into their anemic looking crops.)
We knew we wanted to spend 2 nights in the gorge, so we took our time hiking and ended the day at the Halfway Guesthouse.
Sign on the Halfway House terrace. Check out those mountains!
Village surrounding Halfway Guesthouse
Unfortunately, there was some bad magic in the food, and two of our group got really nauseated over the night. So the next morning found some of us (including me) watching the sun rise over some of the most stunning views in the gorge while others languished in bed.
Guidebooks always praise the view from Halfway's toilets.
Finally at noon we decided we better just start hiking, although it was rough going for the sick ones. It was another 2 hours (at our pace) to Tina's Guesthouse, where we arranged a ride back out of the gorge.
The ride home was a harrowing ride indeed. They are widening the lower road where you can drive back to Qiaotou. This meant maneuvering around bulldozers, workers, rock slides, and even explosions in addition to the oncoming traffic. Even the driver looked a little scared. (And the bumpiness did no good for the queasy kids in the back.)
Final assessment of Tiger Leaping Gorge: One of my favorite travel experiences ever. The hike is tiring but not too hard, especially if you go slow like we did. It hasn't (yet) been over developed, and there aren't too many tourists. Every inch of the hike is surrounded by beautiful views -- an awesome display of the Creator's handiwork.
Family Vacation
The participants:
Bryan
Older brother
Lonely Planet China history expert
Sachi
Bryan's girlfriend
Trip audiologist
Emily
Younger sister
Baby whisperer
Stefan
Emily's boyfriend
Yak whisperer
Alison
Middle sister
China resident
The itinerary:
Hong Kong (but not Alison)
Southwest China: Lijiang and Tiger Leaping Gorge
Qufu
Beijing
The result:
Good times had by all.
Post Edit: Look a little closer at the picture of Emily. You can see Bryan in the background playing Chinese chess with some of the locals in the East market. So really, that picture has everything: cute kid, friendly-but-overbearing mom, old dudes playing games on the street, curious crowd, and the foreigners loving every minute of it.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Metablogging
Dear Readers,
I've just been away from this blog for two weeks -- possibly a record in my almost one year of writing at Life in the Middle Kingdom. I was just traveling and hosting family, and then our Internet broke for a few days. But it's back. Hooray! I missed writing about my life here and knowing that you are sharing in my experiences.
I blog for three reasons:
Sincerely,
Alison
I've just been away from this blog for two weeks -- possibly a record in my almost one year of writing at Life in the Middle Kingdom. I was just traveling and hosting family, and then our Internet broke for a few days. But it's back. Hooray! I missed writing about my life here and knowing that you are sharing in my experiences.
I blog for three reasons:
- To keep in touch with friends, family, and supporters.
- To let you learn about China along with me, and perhaps build greater understanding and empathy for this wonderful nation. (In my opinion, the more people who care about and pray for China, the better.)
- Because I love to write.
Sincerely,
Alison
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Southwest Greetings
Hi everyone! I'm in Lijiang, a beautiful city in the southwest of China. I took a few days off to see my sister and brother and friends, who are traveling here, and in a few days we will go back to Qufu.
If you want to know what we've been up to for the last two days, look up Tiger Leaping Gorge. Beautiful.
Talk to you when I get back! :)
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Ugly Babies and a Romantic Gesture. Party!
I have given back the students' writing assignments, so I can't give you quotes "in their own words" tonight. However, there are a still a few stories that I want to share.
Ugly Babies
A student wrote about a recent falling-out she had with her brother-in-law. Her sister and brother-in-law had a baby a few months ago. She went home to see the child, and pronounced it ugly. Her brother-in-law became angry with her, and for awhile they were on bad terms. Later, her mother explained to her that all babies look like that, and she was surprised -- she had never seen a newborn!
A Romantic Gesture
In video class, we recently discussed the phrase "romantic gesture." (As in, "When Bob surprised Grace with a new bike, it was a romantic gesture.") One student wrote that he decided it was time to do a romantic gesture for his girlfriend.
He came up with the idea to surprise her with some feminine hygiene products, because he thinks doing something embarassing for a girl shows how much you care for her. So he went to the store and waited around, pretending to look at other things until the women's aisle was free. Then, when no one was looking, he dashed in, grabbed the first package he saw, and got the heck out of there (after paying, of course). How romantic!
Party!
Many of the students tend to think and write about the same things in their weekly journals. I'd say the top three topics are the future (specifically, where to go to grad school and how nervous they are for the grad school entrance exam), their studies, and romantic relationships.
One topic that several students have written about recently is joining the Party. There is a process of examinations and interviews, and I'm not sure exactly how it works, but apparently it is the time of year where some juniors are eligible to join. It's a process that I would love to know more about, but because it is so sensitive, it seems better not to ask.
Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed "In Your Own Words" Week on the blog. We will now return to our regularly scheduled programming.
Ugly Babies
A student wrote about a recent falling-out she had with her brother-in-law. Her sister and brother-in-law had a baby a few months ago. She went home to see the child, and pronounced it ugly. Her brother-in-law became angry with her, and for awhile they were on bad terms. Later, her mother explained to her that all babies look like that, and she was surprised -- she had never seen a newborn!
A Romantic Gesture
In video class, we recently discussed the phrase "romantic gesture." (As in, "When Bob surprised Grace with a new bike, it was a romantic gesture.") One student wrote that he decided it was time to do a romantic gesture for his girlfriend.
He came up with the idea to surprise her with some feminine hygiene products, because he thinks doing something embarassing for a girl shows how much you care for her. So he went to the store and waited around, pretending to look at other things until the women's aisle was free. Then, when no one was looking, he dashed in, grabbed the first package he saw, and got the heck out of there (after paying, of course). How romantic!
Party!
Many of the students tend to think and write about the same things in their weekly journals. I'd say the top three topics are the future (specifically, where to go to grad school and how nervous they are for the grad school entrance exam), their studies, and romantic relationships.
One topic that several students have written about recently is joining the Party. There is a process of examinations and interviews, and I'm not sure exactly how it works, but apparently it is the time of year where some juniors are eligible to join. It's a process that I would love to know more about, but because it is so sensitive, it seems better not to ask.
Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed "In Your Own Words" Week on the blog. We will now return to our regularly scheduled programming.
Friday, May 14, 2010
It's been two years...
...since the May 12, 2008 earthquake in Sichuan province. I just read an article called China's Arranged Remarriages. The article is beautifully written and thoughtfully explains the cultural forces that lead families, officials, and even former in-laws to pressure earthquake widows and widowers to remarry as soon as possible. Go read it.
I recently came across an interesting example of re-marriage pressure in a student journal. She was writing about her friend's father, a divorced (or widowed?) man recently diagnosed with cancer. Knowing that he might have only a few more months to live, his family pressured him into marrying as soon as possible so that his remaining days would be happier. They found a woman and bullied the marriage into existence. The only problem is that no one in the family likes the woman, least of all the the cancer-stricken husband or his college-age son. So they live in the same house with a woman they can't stand, who lounges on the couch all day while they cook and clean.
The couples in the article I mentioned above are more fortunate. Their marriages are mostly happy, and they are hopeful about the future.
I recently came across an interesting example of re-marriage pressure in a student journal. She was writing about her friend's father, a divorced (or widowed?) man recently diagnosed with cancer. Knowing that he might have only a few more months to live, his family pressured him into marrying as soon as possible so that his remaining days would be happier. They found a woman and bullied the marriage into existence. The only problem is that no one in the family likes the woman, least of all the the cancer-stricken husband or his college-age son. So they live in the same house with a woman they can't stand, who lounges on the couch all day while they cook and clean.
The couples in the article I mentioned above are more fortunate. Their marriages are mostly happy, and they are hopeful about the future.
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