(keep reading for first-hand photos - press the “more” button)

Uncharacteristically cold weather has hit China at a fatal timing - just before Spring Festival and Chinese New Year. This time of year involves a mass migration, as countless Chinese head home to visit their families, and in normal conditions cause a very heavy load on the mass transit system. Recent weather in Southern China, reported as coldest in the last 50 years, resulted in a total systems collapse as railways were blocked by snow and trains were halted on the tracks.

The result - countless people stuck in railway stations, unable to board trains. The problem was most severe in Guangzhou, which serves as a transport hub for southern China: hundreds of thousands have been stranded there for the last week, waiting for trains. Massive amounts of police and army units are currently stationed there trying to maintain order, supplemented by conscripted civil-service workers and volunteers. Last Saturday I visited Guangzhou and decided to go and take a personal peek at this “sea of humanity”:

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No real text here, just a few pictures of people flying kites in a park near my house. Flying kites is a favorite past-time activity in China:

The municipality in Shanghai seems to be fond of various “gadgets”, for example many roads in the city have electronic signs displaying a colored map of the streets in the area - the ones with traffic jams displayed in red, the one without traffic jams in green. On this short visit to Shanghai, though, I’ve seen something new (to me): some public places have “noise meters”, large billboards which display the current amount of noise outside. It’s really cute but I am still trying to figure out what its practical purpose is…

The Chinese really like fireworks, firecrackers and anything else that blows up or makes light/noise. They like it so much, in fact, that using fireworks is banned as a security hazard in some of China’s major cities, such as Beijing or Guangzhou. Fortunately this is not the case in Shanghai, which is what this post is about.

Two days ago was the Chinese New Year’s eve, and with it came the fireworks. The Shanghainese, who are relatively well-off, are not stingy when it comes to spending their money on fireworks and before the holiday massive amounts of these are sold all across the city. I had spent new year’s eve in an apartment in the pudong area, up in the 27th floor - with a panoramic view of the river from one side and a view of pudong from the other side. This turned out to be a very fortunate choice, as it was a great spot for watching the show unfold.

It is hard to describe the Shanghai new year’s fireworks without using again and again the word “orgy”. There isn’t really any organized event - people just go out, in groups, to the street and launch their own fireworks from whereever they want. You can start seeing fireworks from as early as 9pm, but it really starts getting momentum after ten o’clock; And the amounts of fireworks launched are awe-inspiring. The fireworks launched within a fifty-meter radius of my building alone (which, being on the 27th floor, meant they went off right in front of my window) were more than all the fireworks in Israel’s main independence day event at mount Hertzel. At every given moment, looking out the window, I could simultaniously see fireworks launched from at least three different places - and this went on for more than three hours. As midnight approaches, this orgy of fireworks reaches its climax. The denizens of shanghai save their best and brightest fireworks for this moment, and the entire city, in all directions, is one big fireworks display. Truly a site to be seen.

I have been told that according to Chinese tradition, the sights you see in New Year’s eve reflect on the entire upcoming year. If this is the case, then this year is looking to be quite bright indeed….

Chang Bai Shan 长白山 (”Long White Mountain”) is a mountain and scenic spot in northern China. The mountain is actually a dormant volcano, and in its crater there is a large lake known as Tian Chi 天池 (”Heavens Lake”). Due to the remains of the volcanic activity, there are also natural hot springs in the mountain. The place is very beautiful in the winter (bathing in the hot spring, under a starry sky with snow all around you, is a fun experience) and is supposed to be even more beautiful in summer - I plan to go there again if I get the chance. The border with North Korea passes through the mountain, which is considered a holy site for Koreans - so there are quite a few of South Korean tourists on the Chinese side.

Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of what it looks like:

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The place’s warning signs have some amusing translations to English, here are a few (click image to enlarge):

• “Forbid strtictlys the mountaineering, the consequence is proud”
• “The small idea slides,Attention security”
• “Please does not want the border crossing”

BTW - I’ve finally managed to lose my camera (along with 900mb of images in its flash card) so no more pictures for a while…

“I was taken back by their great generosity at first too”, told me Johnathan, “but believe me, you’ll get used to it very quickly”. Johnathan, an American foreign exchange student in Beijing, was one happy camper. This was his first time travelling by himself and he had great concerns over being cheated, which is why he was so glad to have met the Zhang brothers. He had encountered the Zhang brothers, who own a small hostel at Yabuli village in northern China, outside the Yabuli train station and from that point on they had provided for his every need. “I feel as if I’ve found a new family”, confided Johnathan. The two brothers accompany him everywhere he goes - from going out to dinner, through logging on to the internet and even on trips to the nearby city. Johnathan feels that the brothers are looking over his interests and are the only thing protecting him from being duped at every turn.

Despite being a student in China for almost half a year, Johnathan is rich (in Chinese standards) and has no real sense of value or of how much things should cost in China. When his digital camera stopped working he immediately rushed to the nearest city (accompanied by the brothers) and bought a new one for more than four hundred dollars. He does not know how much a meal should cost, or a cab ride. In fact, while being accompanied by the brothers he almost never gets to actually see the bill - they take care of the payment he he settles the account with them later. Johnathan is confident that this way he is getting a better deal. Sometimes the Zhang brothers treat him to a meal out of their own pocket, and they will often suddenly buy him a bottle of coke or some gum. Other times,  Johnathan insists on paying for the entire meal himself.

Johnathan’s main reason for coming to Yabuli was skiing in the relatively large ski resort next to the village. The brothers take him skiing every day, but do not ski themselves as it is quite expensive. He gives them money which they use to buy him a ticket, plus pays them for the ride expenses to the site. Johnathan believes this way he is getting the best deal.

The Zhang brothers make lots of money off Johnathan. He never actually gets a ticket to the ski site (he believes there are no tickets) and it seems that most of the ticket money goes directly to their pockets, with a portion probably appropriated to an accomplice within the site who takes advantage of the chaos to get him in. On his second day of skiing Johnathan was “caught” by the site staff and almost forced to pay again for the skiing - Johnathan believes that those were corrupt people who were trying to take advantage of him. At the end he did not pay twice, a success he attributes to his relationship with the Zhang brothers.

The Zhang brothers can’t always smoothly insert Johnathan into the skiing site. When the situation is not favorable (for example, there is some ticket inspection) they simply lie to Johnathan and tell him that the site opens late that day, or that it is closed for the day for a skiing competition. Even though they pocket the money themselves, they are still greedy enough to sometimes invent reasons for him to pay for the ticket even more than he should pay for a “proper” one. The other expenses - food, transport - are of course overpriced as well. The hidden reason behind his 24/7 escort is to isolate him from the environment and prevent him from somehow being enlightened as to his situation. Johnathan is their prize cow, and they are milking him dry.

Johnathan is happy. He pays too much, with the money going to crooks, but as his mindset is still set on an American expense standard and he has a lot of money, so he does not really mind. He feels that even if he is not getting the best deal he could find it does not matter as he has found real friends, people he is glad to be with. Should the genuine state of affairs be explained to him, bursting his bubble, or should he remain in blissful ignorance? I honestly don’t know.  

A while ago I’ve been to Hua Shan, a mountain not far from Xi’an. I’ve went there with Hu Yuan, my Xi’an friend, and on the way we’ve picked up another traveller who was going there by himself. We’ve started the climb at night and arrived on top in time to see the sunrise.

On the way I had a chance to see an interesting phenomenon: Locks. There are certain places in the mountain in which it is customary to attach a lock to the railings, and then throw away the key - typically into one of the mountain’s abysses. Each lock symbolizes something, and the belief is that as long as the lock remains locked that “something” will remain. There are four popular “types” of locks (the locks themselves are the same, what matters is the intention of the person who locks them):

• Young couples attach a lock of “same heart”, representing common mutual feelings between the lovers.
• Old people attach a lock of “longevity”, representing a long and healthy life.
• People in bad health (or old people) attach a lock of “health”, representing.. well… health.
• Married couples attach a lock of “peace and harmony”, representing a peaceful family life.

One area of the mountain actually has signs dividing it into several sections, each section meant for a different type of lock. Some of the locks are small while others are really big and makes one wonder why would a person carry such a heavy lock all the way up the mountain:

And here are a few more pictures from up there, just because people were complaining that I’m not posting enough of them:

It had all begun the day I was about to take a train to Hong Kong.

I was at Xi’an at the time, preparing to take a succession of trains - about a day and a half of continuous travel. Since I had a few hours left before my night-train leaves, and since my right foot was still aching, I decided to spend my spare time getting a foot massage. Recalling passing by an inexpensive-looking massage place a few days earlier, I made my way towards it and asked for a foot massage. Those of you who’ve never had a Chinese foot massage may be surprised to hear that it’s actually not only the feet being massaged; in fact, during a one-hour massage session, the feet are typically only massaged during the last 20-30 minutes. During the remainder of the time your feet are being soaked in a bucket of hot water with “stuff” in it. This “stuff” can range anywhere between flower petals and weird japanese medicines, and the price of the massage varies according to the things added to the water. While your feet are being soaked, the massagist massages different areas of your body, such as arms/legs/back. But I digress.

The massagist, a girl of about twenty years of age, was very friendly and we had immediately begun to chat. She had been in this line of work for only a few months, and before that had been studying music and singing. At my request she had sung me one of her favorite songs (she really does sing quite well), and afterwards we had sung together a duet of one of the Chinese songs I know. Technically speaking I’ve had better massages (from a physiological point of view), but that massage was certainly the most fun one.
In the meantime, it had also quickly become apparent that the girl had taken a fancy to me: starting from a probing “do you have a girlfriend”, followed by a “you’re very handsome”, later a “do you think I’m good looking” and finally a second, verifying “do you have a girlfriend”. At some point during the massage she had swapped cellphone numbers with me and later on, after she had found out that I still haven’t had dinner, invited me to go eat with her after the massage is over. And so, after the massage was over, her boss agreed that she’d take a short break from work and we both went to a nearby place to eat.

She knew I was leaving the city the very same night, and that I was planning to come back a couple of weeks later. After dinner we had parted - she went back to work and I went back to the hostel to prepare for the ride - and I was left with promises to take me to a karayoki place when I’ll come back, and to meet her family/friends.

During my train ride, a succession of SMSs had followed. It takes me a long time to get attached to people but, as it seems, this was not the case with her. The very same day, a few hours after we’ve met, I’ve already gotten an SMS reminding me that it’s time I leave to the train station, and another message reminding me to take some warm cloths. Later on, during the train ride, I had gotten SMSs telling me how much she already misses me.

A few weeks passed by, and I finally got back to Xi’an. Contact has grown sparse when I was away but, now that I was back, we had planned to finally meet up. Since I knew she worked long hours, I was waiting for a “green light” telling me she has some free time. After a few days we finally met, and immediately proceeded to have dinner in a small restaurant (I was hungry). As it turned out, the “green light” was more like a four lane freeway, as she had quit her job the day before! She said that she didn’t like her job anymore and wants some time to relax. Her family lives outside the city, but it seems that for the next week or so she will be living in some hotel in the city (appearently for free, the hotel belonging to some friend). Her plans for the upcoming week were described as “having fun”. While we were eating, she told me how much she missed me, and started fishing for information: when am I planning to fly back home? For how long am I planning to stay in Xi’an? And finally, the million dollar question - am I planning to look for a girlfriend in Xi’an?

My answer to the last question, a flat “no”, set her aback. After querying in length as to why, we suddenly didn’t seem to have anything to say to each other. After eating in relative silence for a while, it seemed that her plans have suddenly changed. She was in a hurry to finish the meal, because she still had to catch the last bus going home. She’s not going to be staying in Xi’an, she actually has to go and collect her stuff from the hotel and go home. When I asked when will she be back in Xi’an, her answer was “when she’ll have free time”.

And so it was concluded, leaving me with regrets. She had been entertaining many hopes and illusions (at some point she had asked me whether she was my best friend), illusions which I did not shatter quickly enough. My biggest fear is that I’ve been influential in her decision to leave her job, but who knows, maybe it’s for the best. Before I had the massage the boss had asked me whether or not I would like “lady services” - and while she doesn’t seem the type, one cannot help but wonder…

At first I thought I was hallucinating. As we were driving through the Sichuan mountains (refer to my trip to the Sichuan mountains) a kid, standing at the side of the road, raised his hand in a salute. I quickly discarded the “salute” idea and decided that he’s simply shielding his face from the sun in order to get a better look at us, until I suddenly realized that the sun was at his back.
After this happened for two or three more times, and I was pretty sure they were saluting us, I mentioned it to my companions. They seemed to be well-acquainted with the phenomenon, but could not really reach an agreement as to its reasons. Several theories were raised:
1. Once in a while some “esteemed guests” (read as: “donors”) arrive to the schools, and the children are trained to “show respect” by saluting. These “guests” arrive in SUVs (Israelis should read this word as “jeeps”). Our vehicle looked like a SUV (to my dismay it didn’t have the offroad capabilities of one) and they saluted to us out of habit.
2. Similar to the “esteemed guests” theory with the slight change that the important component is seeing me (a foreigner) in the car. It did seem that more children were saluting when I was in sight in the front seat, but perhaps it’s just because I had a better field of vision and managed to notice more of them.
3. The saluting is some advanced form of begging, in which the children believe that the people in the car would stop and give them something (candy? toys?).

For me, this remains an open question to this day.

During the trip to the Sichuan mountains we had visited many areas with largely-tibetian population and has some chances to acquaint ourselves with small bits of the Tibetean culture. One interesting Tibetean custom is called “Sky Burial” (天葬), and we happened to pass by a temple in which this ceremony takes place.

Sky Burial is basically a burial ceremony in which the dead person, instead of being given to the earth (i.e. buried in it), is given to the sky. (Un)fortunately, on the day we had passed through the temple nobody had died, so we had to content ourselves with seeing the altar and hearing a verbal description of the process. On the plus side the monk had consented, after some persuasion, to let us take a a picture of the altar (normally they don’t let people photo the altar, especially while the ceremony takes place) so I can show you what it looks like:

the altar on which the sky burial takes place

The dead person is placed upon this altar and a knife is used to cut open his body. At this point eagles, the greatest benefitors from this ceremony, arrive from miles around and start feasting on the body. After the body is picked clean by the eagles, and just the skeleton is left, a hammer is used to smash the bones (you can see the hammer clearly if you click to enlarge the picture) so that the eagles have easy access to the bone marrow. Finally, nothing remains but a small pile of clean, broken bones, and the ceremony reaches its conclusion.

The place itself is very pastoral and a bit at odds with the “mood” that some of us might associate with burial ceremonies, in particular ones involving the corpse being torn to bits by wild animals. This picture was taken standing right next to the altar:

view from the sky burial altar