*Shanghai, City on the Make

*Xi’an, City with a Past

*A Salute to the Graduates

* And, no fish tales . . .

Allison and I went to Borneo and did some amazing diving off Sipidan and Mabul Islands – but I’m not going to blog about it. Diehard afishianados (ouch) can see the excellent pics and read the fish tales at:

allisonupdate.blogspot.com

Check it out.

Shanghai, City on the Make

Like Nelson Algren’s Chicago or Dashell Hammett’s Los Angeles, Shanghai is a city of hustlers, players, pimps, scammers, dreamers, climbers, and wannabes. 17 million people live in the metropolitan area, so it’s roughly the size of New York or Calcutta, bigger than London or Rio. Thanks to the People’s Republic of China’s experimentation with free markets, Shanghai’s growth is explosive. The skyline is expanding by the minute – everywhere you look, cranes are straining away to create new buildings of 40, 60, even 100 stories. Architects top these creations with whimsical turrets, pagodas, fountains, ziggurats – seemingly with whatever springs to mind. They’re like designer hats, or children’s toys, Lego blocks for the egos of Shanghai’s Gatsbys. The man (or the woman) in the street is aching to get a taste of the action too.

As a big tall white guy, I walked the streets with a flashing neon sign that read, “Scam me.” In my five-day visit I was approached with scores of offers of various stripes: salesmen wanted to sell me everything from fake watches to designer bags to “antiques” to real estate to tours to kites. Pimps wanted to take me to hotels for “special lady massage.” When I showed one my wedding ring, he said, “your wife never know.” Students eager to “practice their English” (a particularly tempting approach for me) turned out to be trying to hustle me to a tea ceremony where I’d end up paying hundreds of bucks US for a few sips of oolong, to their “surprise.” (I didn’t – but google “tea ceremony scam” if you want to read dozens of stories from people who did.) Taxi drivers with a poor sense of direction and pedicab hucksters were common. Restaurants often have two sets of prices. Some people come up to you on the street and claim to just want to “make friends” or “have coffee.” And I haven’t even gotten to the beggars …

Beneath it all is a striving energy that I couldn’t help but admire. The old city lies slowly crumbling under the weight of its gaudy new dreams, coming through in brief flashes at the Yuyuan Gardens or on the art deco edges of the Old French Concession. For decades the people of Shanghai lived with work collectives and the guaranteed jobs of the “iron rice bowl” system; now they’re scrambling to negotiate their way through the glorious jungles of capitalism. The results are decidedly mixed. On an extraordinarily lame “cruise” along the Huangpu River to the Yangtze, Allison and I saw industrial sludge pouring from numerous drainpipes into the drinking water of the city’s masses, as barges filled with garbage floated amidst barges filled with coal, all of it on its way to be burned and choke the sky, obscuring the view of those fabulous new skyscrapers. Meanwhile thousands of people arrive every day from the countryside to add to the population of the “most prosperous” city in the most populous nation on the Earth.


Shanghai pics



Xi’an, City with a Past

Xi’an (pronounced “she-on”) is no pastoral paradise – it’s a city of 5 million people, nearly as populous as the San Francisco Bay Area – but it seemed mellow after Shanghai. Xi’an was the capitol of China for a thousand years, and the starting point of the Silk Road that China used to trade with Central Asia, India, Egypt, Greece and Rome for millennia. It’s traditionally considered China’s gateway to the vast West (meaning China’s West, not the “Western world,” and not Dodge City). It definitely has a different feeling than the big cities of the East (i.e. Shanghai) or South (i.e. Hong Kong).

The area has preserved some of its ancient heritage, either intentionally, like its city wall (practically brand-new, since construction began in 1370 -- we took a great eight-mile bike ride on this), or unintentionally, like the incredible Terra Cotta Warrior Army. As with the Pyramids, this is a monument to a ruler’s ego – the 8,000 warriors were made to guard the tomb of the megalomaniacal Qin Shi Huang, first emperor of the Qin (pronounced “Chin”) Dynasty. Amazingly, no two warriors are alike, and scholars speculate that each one was modeled on an individual member of Qin’s actual army. The life-sized terra cotta statues were sealed up, and intended never to be seen by human eyes again, around 210 B.C. Then, in 1974, peasants digging a well discovered them, archeologists (and eventually travel agents) got wind of it, and now the site is one of China’s most popular attractions. The first glimpse we had of the unromantically named “Pit #1” was breathtaking – the soldiers and horses are massed in rows for over 300 meters, more than three football fields. That Qin really went out in grand style; he built himself a little mausoleum next door, too – in the photos, you’ll see us climbing it.

Terra Cotta Warriors pics

Xi’an is about two hours from Huashan (Mt. Hua), one of the five sacred mountains of Buddhism in China. We took a gondola partway up, then hiked thousands of stone steps, through temples on rocky ledges, alongside Chinese pilgrims and tourists (mostly the latter), to two of Huashan’s five summits. We left a lock with our names on it on the mountain, like many thousands of others have before us. We were impressed with the dramatic views, and by the determination of our fellow climbers, young and old.

Huashan pics

We also visited several other temples, pagodas, and museums around Xi’an; sometimes I had to remind myself to appreciate the jade carvings and stone relics, rather than focusing on the butchered English translations on the signage (check out the pics). Hey, at least they’re trying – I don’t see too many Chinese-language signs in American museums.

A major highlight of Xi’an is the Muslim Quarter. The city has a significant Muslim minority (and in fact there are tens of millions of Muslims in China who you rarely hear anything about). It also has China’s largest mosque, founded in 742, with an exquisite courtyard and garden that was an oasis of peace in the midst of the old city.

Xi’an has a lot of character, some fascinating sites, and it’s easy to dance to. I’d give it a 92.

Xi'an pics


A Salute to the Graduates

My Juniors from last year are about to graduate from Capuchino High School in San Bruno, California. I wish I could be there to see it! I will try to blog once more before the big event, but I’m heading to Beijing to run a marathon on the Great Wall in two weeks, so I may not live that long. Just in case, let me say now – I am proud of you, and I send you my love and best wishes. Some unsolicited advice: Go to college! Dream big! And travel! China, Tanzania, Guatemala, Uruguay, Australia, Jordan, Romania, and many more countries await. U.S.A. = 4% of the world’s population. Get out of San Bruno (this does NOT mean “go to Millbrae”) -- at least for a while, OK?

Fly, little Mustangs, be free!

College peeps -- hang in there, finish strong.
Underclassmen -- keep movin' on up, it's comin'.
Alleged adults -- you think you're sooo cool, don't you?