Thoughts and Travels

5.24.2008 To the Ocean

Got laundry back from the service this morning and it was only 5$.  I think the person (Dr. Kim) who is staying with us in the hotel has some kind of connection with the hotel.  We have been getting a pretty good deal on things here (even though the hotel is sort of a gigolo hotel).

Got on the bus this morning and went to a different McDonalds for breakfast.  There was a strangely dressed guy outside who came up to us and started talking about his time in the U.S. and that he has been in Wisconsin and L.A. He was sort of dressed like a pimp.  Lol

Got on the bus and drove about 45 minutes to the Naju forest and walked around the arboretum there for about 1 hour.  It was a pretty nice place and they had a building there with all sorts of mushrooms being cultivated.  They had a shitake mushroom farming operation there also with oak logs.  It was pretty interesting. 

All of the plants in the arboretum were labeled and there were several things there that I didn’t recognize so I got quite a few pictures of different plants.

After this, we got back on the bus for a 1.5 hour trip to the coast.  During the drive, we stopped for lunch at a small rest stop.  www.nambooshop.com and had a small spread of different items like octopus, etc. There were a couple small stores there that most everyone went in after lunch to get suckers, pop, and ice cream. 

It is sort of dreary and overcast today.  You can’t see too far due to the mist in the air, but the mist also gives things a corporeal feel.  It is quite surreal.  After lunch, we headed to an arboretum on the way to the coast called Wando arboretum.  This was again a huge place, set within a beautiful mountain stream area.  They had altered the river quite a bit and Dick was sad about that, but overall it was an extremely nice place.  They also had a herbarium with many different plants from all over the world that was really spectacular.  We spent about an hour there too just walking around and enjoying the scenery. 

Then back on the bus for the final 1.5 hour push to the coast.  During that time the bus driver put on a movie (die hard 4) and everyone either watched or fell asleep.  The bus driver is with us everywhere and seems like a nice but no-nonsense kind of guy.  It is interesting to see his habits when we stop somewhere.  Get everyone off the bus, stay with the bus and clean a couple small things, then smoke several cigarettes.

The ocean was awesome.  We spent about an hour there too walking in the surf and having a great time.  It would be a very nice place to spend a couple months. There weren’t too many people there today because of the weather and the fact that it was cold outside and the water was cold, but I was told that it is extremely popular during the summer and very crowded. 

After everyone scraped the sand off their feet, we all got back on the bus for the 1.5 hour trip back to Gwangju.  During the trip, the driver put on the first pirates of the Caribbean and most people fell asleep.  There was a Korean student sitting next to me who kept falling asleep and putting his head on my shoulder so I leaned forward so he woke up (it was a little weird). 

When we arrived at the hotel, we had about 10 minutes to get changed (if we wanted to) and then we walked to the downtown area for supper at a very nice restaurant.  It was bulgogi again but this time it was pork.  The grill in the middle of the table is a great idea and I wish more places did this kind of thing in the U.S.  It is very nice. We all ate quite a bit and afterward, some people went back to the hotel and the others of us went to walk around the shops downtown that were lit up like Las Vegas.  It was unnerving to see how many people were there.  Mike and I had a coffee (which the place messed up ? we got a more expensive coffee rather than the ones we wanted) and walked around.  There was an old man with a junk store in the middle of a main intersection where we told everyone to meet before walking back to the hotel and he kept waving us away (like we were loitering in front of his “busy” store).  People just passed his stand of junk.  I never saw anyone stop there.  It was rather annoying to see.

We made it back to the hotel and there’s a wake up call for 8:30 tomorrow.  There are a few people trying to put some things in a box to send back home.  I have a box packed, so I hope that I can send it as well.  We’ll try to do that tomorrow. 

Later!

5.23.2008 Lecture at Chonam University

Well, woke up this morning at 5:30am just because I was awake.  Took a shower in the pimp jaccuzi tub and then went down to wait for the bus.  It was pretty peaceful this morning, and I walked across the road to the river to take some pictures of the area.  

We left promptly at 7:30am and went to breakfast at McDonalds.  It wasn’t bad, but the thought by our host was that after all the Korean style breakfasts, we would like something familiar.  I know that he liked McDonalds when he was in the states too. 

We went first, to the Choenam campus where we got a campus tour and learned about the university history.  There was some information there about the 5/18 massacre in 1980 or so.  It seems that even though the country said it was democratic, there were curfews and other repressions going on so the students at this university staged a protest and many got killed because of it in a military style repression.  After that, liberty was gained by the whole country and now there are memorials about the date. 

We also went to the university museum which was the first place that I’ve seen where they had evidence that people in this area were once buried in clay jars (very large clay jars).  There were many other items to look at too, including stone arrowheads and some pictures and writing from long ago. 

After the tour, we went and listened to Dick give a presentation about Iowa and the differences between Iowa, the US and Korea.  We also saw Kye Han Lee’s office area and some of his lab space. 

I think all the Korean students liked the seminar.  Some of them talked about the project that was proposed and even started by their government to create a canal through the whole of South Korea.  They asked what Dick would say about that to the President?.

After the show, we went to lunch in the cafeteria for bi bim bab (a rice and vegetable dish) and then to the university arboretum for a tour of Kye Han’s research and new building (where his future office will be located).

Then off to  a river corridor area where we walked and looked at some low-head dam structures and a nicely painted rainbow bridge.  After coming back to the bus, we crossed the street to the bamboo park (before this many of the students got ice cream at a stand) and then went to the park. 

The park was really interesting and had lots of bamboo.  I learned a lot about how it grows and what it can be used for.  During the walk, we came across a photographer for the local paper and he took pictures of our whole group and then video of one of the students.  It was pretty interesting.  He took one of my video cards and took some pictures of our group so now I have some photos of our group by a Korean photographer. 

We then went to a native temple where all of the buildings were built with the form of the land in mind.  We sat there for a while and walked around the area.  There were some nice streams and buildings there, all very naturally integrated into the landscape.

The walk was nice (the bamboo forest was pretty dark) and after we were done, we boarded the bus and drove to another shrine that was built in honor of one of the generals who fought the Japanese in the 1500’s.  it was a very peaceful place. 

Then finally back to Guanjeu for supper at a tourist hotel where there were some other members of the forestry faculty there to greet us.  There was lots of beer and soju at the party (and a mix of the two ? soju and mecju called somec) and many of the students were a little tipsy by the end.  We then went to the “second party” at a bar (for the people who wanted to go) and the rest  of the group went to the hotel. 

The bar was pretty nice and we ended up staying there for quite a while talking about the day’s events.

Well, we got a ride home in a cab (the driver didn’t know where the hotel was at the end, so luckily I paid attention enough to get us home.  J

Good night!

5.22.2008 The Sturgeon Farm

Everyone was hurting this morning and moving relatively slow due to last night’s festivities.  I didn’t have much so I was ok, but most  of us were moving slower than normal.   We had to load everything on the bus today and check out of the hotel, which was a feat because of all the things that we have acquired in the last couple days.  Other than that, we packed without much talking and got on the bus for the first destination (about 1.5 hours away ? a sturgeon farm). 

The farm was very interesting ? it was run by a gentleman who did his masters at the University of Florida and came back to raise sturgeon in Korea.  He really had a passion for raising these fish (and they are really cool fish).  He was really innovative, having designed new tanks and even a way to clean the tank water.  It was a really cool visit. 

After the sturgeon farm, everyone was feeling better and we stopped at a forest park (after  a long drive) to walk around a bit.  It was a nice liesurly walk and we didn’t do much during that time. 

We got to Gwangju at about 7:00pm and had supper with Kye-han Lee who studied under Dick for his PhD.  I worked with him also during that time and he is a great person.  He set up a nice itinerary for us which starts at 7:30 tomorrow morning, so I’m going to bed now. 

Have a great night!

5.21.2008 The Spa…

This morning was early because I planned to go to the spa with some of the other folks. I didn’t get much rest this evening because of a cough I seem to have developed over the last couple days. Anyway, I got up early and took a walk before meeting the others to go to the spa. It was very quiet and peaceful there in the morning. Its smell and quietness reminded me of the west in the morning, maybe Wyoming or Montana. It was beautiful.

Several of us got together to go to the spa. As we drove up to “Spa World” which I expected to be some smaller building, we rounded a corner to see a large complex. It was a bit strange to see this large a complex out in the woods, but nothing is very far from a city in South Korea. So Dr. Moon and Dr. Lee bought tickets for the rest of us and we went in.

I didn’t understand the etiquette of the place so I followed Dr. Lee’s lead and followed him through the front door where we all removed our shoes (which is a common practice in restaurants and other public buildings in South Korea) and left them in a locker. We all followed Dr. Lee to the men’s locker room (the men that is, the women followed Dr. Moon) and I walked in to see a room full of sinks, lockers, chairs, valets, etc. The room was pretty nice, but there were many old naked men walking around, after all this was a bathhouse and no clothes was the thing to do.

All of us left our modesty and our clothes in the locker room and went out to the hot bath area where there were many hot spring baths that were heated directly from geysers. It was pretty nice. There were several pools at different temperatures, and although I think there was an order that people normally got into them, we all did them in whatever order we felt like it.

First was the 44 degree C pool which was quite hot, then to the 42 degree C pool which had jaccuzzi bubbles and was quite nice. Then into the sauna. After baking for a while, I had to leave and went to jump into the 16 degree C pool which was a cold shock to the system. I followed this up with a jump back into the 44 degree pool. All this time, most of us stayed in a group going from one pool to the next, but a few broke off and did their own thing. One of the students (who didn’t wear his glasses in) didn’t see a sign and accidentally got into a pool that was only for washing hair. It had a sign saying not to get into the pool, but because he wasn’t wearing glasses, he didn’t see it until we yelled at him, making the whole room look over in his direction. It was pretty funny and we have given him a hard time about it.

After this, we went to the tub where there was some juniper smelling water. It was relaxing, but after a while, it was time to go so we did a quick jump back into the 16 degree water, then into the 44 degree water then out to get dressed and leave.

It was a very relaxing way to spend the morning, and although we had to overcome our modesty issues, I think it would be a nice thing to have in the U.S.

We all went back to find a couple students having breakfast at the top cabin. We all joined in, and after eating, packed up our things and left the area.

First stop of the day was an aquarium where all the native fish species of south Korea were on display. It was pretty neat as there were many different fish (I didn’t realize South Korea had this much diversity). They had some breeding pools out in the back where they were raising many of the fish (presumably to stock lakes or rivers with). It was a good hour or so of walking around looking at different fish and animal species. There was a cool set of predacious diving beetles that were swimming in a tank. Those would have been fun to watch for a while longer.

Alas, we had to leave and so went on to the ocean (the East Sea) and spent an hour wading in the ocean and skipping rocks. It was awesome. I waded for a while. Everyone really enjoyed that stop I think.

We then went on to a farm where a student from one of the first Exchange programs with ISU (Han bo rem) had a Korean Native Pig farm and was raising pigs for sale and for use in his restaurant. We didn’t spend much time there as he couldn’t let us into the buildings to view anything (due to possible disease) so he got a couple pigs from inside t show us the difference between Korean Native Pigs and the US pigs.

Then we went into town to his restaurant where he serves his Korean Native Pigs as food. This is one of the only outlets for this pork because the pigs grow too slowly and don’t get big enough to be economically worth raising many of.

After this, it was getting pretty late, so we headed straight for Daegu.

We got to Daegu just in time to go to stop at the University (where Mike and Denise got off to get some gifts for the homestay students) and we went on to a nice restaurant where there was a farewell party waiting for us. The party was actually for the international symposium and for us as a farewell party so there were many other people as well from China, Japan, and Korea. It was quite a night and many people got pretty drunk. Everyone was toasting everyone else, the students all got up to make a short speech about how they enjoyed their stay in South Korea so far, and that went over very well.

After this, the party was winding down, but the previous dean (from a year ago) said there would be another party in the hotel in the lounge on the 2^nd floor and that we should all attend. Dick and Mike were taken to a Karoke bar by Dr. Lee and I didn’t see them again until about midnight. There were many people at the other party both students from ISU and students from Korea, along with some of the Chinese delegation and others. It was a great time.

5.20.2008 Trip to Uljin

Well, today we are going out to Uljin near the coast. We got up and instead of eating breakfast down in the restaurant in the hotel, Dick, Mike, Denise and I went to the “French Baguette” shop down the street a couple blocks. I ended up getting some gross peanut baguette with some peanut cr?me inside along with a coffee. I did enjoy the coffee. We sat out on the front stoop of the shop and watched people while we ate our breakfast, then walked back to the hotel to make sure everyone was getting ready to go.

We got everyone packed on the bus and started off, heading for our first stop of an old village halfway to our destination. We walked around the area for a while looking at the different houses and rice paddies in the area while a guide showed us around. There was a 600 year-old tree there where everyone came to make a wish, write it on a piece of paper and then tie it to a fence surrounding the tree. The belief was that by doing this, one would get their wish, and hopefully I’ll get mine.

It was relaxing to walk around after being in the bus. We ended up stopping at a small gift shop where several of us purchased some trinkets to take home with us. Some were rather bulky and it will be interesting to see how we can deal with this through the rest of our trip.

After the village, we went to an old school in the mountains by a river (which was very secluded) because this was Dr. Moon’s favorite place. It was very nice and several of us ended up wading in the river after we all took a 20 minute break to sit in one of the buildings overlooking the river and surrounding mountains. It was very peaceful and beautiful there. The kind of place you wish you could stay at for days to let it soak in. After discussing this for a while, Dick suggested that next trip, the group should do a short river trip on this area of the river and do some camping along with it.

Next, we all got back on the bus and went to a forest park, which allowed us to get out and walk around for a while. Once again, the area was very beautiful and although there weren’t many really old trees, it was a very green forest. There was also a river running through this park and many of the students got in to look for insects which are a sign of river health. They found some caddis flies which are typical of a stream in good health. Some of the students also took an opportunity to look at this gift shop as well and came away with some wooden items that were made out of nice pine.

Finally, we had to board the bus and make it to our final destination for the night, which was a set of cabins near Uljin. The cabins were in a very hilly area and I thought the bus wouldn’t make the climb once or twice, but it did make it. There were 4 cabins rented: one for the boys, one for the girls, one for the adults, and one for the driver and some others.

After settling in and looking around a bit (there were cuckoos in the forest around the area so it sounded like a number of cuckoo clocks going off the whole time ? which was neat) everyone got together at the cabin at the top of the hill (ours) and had a great filling dinner of beef bulgogi, hot dogs, watermelon, beer, noodles, etc. It was a great time. Finally, everyone had their fill and retired for the evening. In the morning, it was decided that whomever wanted to could go to the spa (public bathouse) close by for a shower and some sauna time and if they wanted to, meet at 7:00am to go.

5.19.2008 The International Symposium

This morning, we went to the international symposium and listened to the first two sessions.  The first session was Dick, Mike, and Dr. Moon.  Then a coffee break and more talks from other professors in Japan and China.

I spent some of the time thinking about what I would choose to work on for an advanced degree because some of the talks were pretty interesting and I see some major pollution issues in this part of the world (I’m sure they’re the same at home) that could be worked on.

At the lunch break Dick, Denise, and Mike went to lunch with the Symposium presenters and the students went to the cafeteria on campus.

After lunch, we went to the University Museum where we walked through and looked at different prints, pots, bronze items, and maps from earlier on in the history of South Korea. It was pretty interesting to see some of the different items that have survived throughout history here.

One of the large maps had a story behind it: it was a very intricate map.  The person who made the map apparently started traveling throughout Korea at the age of 16 and took notes all over the country. Then put all his notes together when he finished.  The map was apparently so good that after a while, they quit selling the print, because it was good enough to allow Japan and China to plan their attacks well on South Korea.

One of the students that was working at the museum asked us some questions like what was the main difference between the US and SK. I suggested that they are very similar in many ways, but the food, some of the culture (for example students continue to live with their parents throughout college) and a couple other things.

Then it was off to take a rest at the library in the café on the 20^th floor.  It was a great library and the view from the 20^th floor let us see most of Daegu.  It was great.  I had a great cup of coffee and many of the students had something to eat. 

We then took the group of students to the folk village at the university.  The village was in an area that was flooded for a dam, so the entire village was moved.  It is a nice area and apparently Dr. Moon said that the international house was close and that many of the visiting professors liked to walk through the folk village in the morning because of how peaceful it was.  There were some people running through there also.  This isn’t the first group of people that I have seen running, but there aren’t too many.  However, I get the impression that there is much more exercise done here for fun than there is in China.  I really didn’t see anyone run in China, but I doubt there would be many who would want to anyway because of the air quality.  I’ll be interested to see how many people show up for the Olympics.

Finally, we ended up at the teacher’s lounge waiting for the final party of the evening which will celebrate the symposium.

The celebration included a pretty cool tae kwon do show where the performers broke boards and concrete blocks.  There was also music by one Korean harp and drum as well as a dancer.  The dinner was quite diverse and there was food from all the countries from which all the participants came.

The students seemed to have a good time there and they all sat with their host family students. 

After this, we went back to the Hotel and got ready for an early morning of travel.  I went for a walk with Mike near the hotel, came back and went to bed.

5.18.2008 Condo to Daegu

Today, we got up in the condo.  It was terribly hot last night.  I like sleeping on the floor and that was great, but the floor was heated, and we were on feather beds.  It was so hot I couldn’t sleep for quite a while and then woke up for at least an hour during the night. 

When we all got up (right at 6:00am) we had some breakfast ? some apple yogurt, some aloe yogurt, some sort of Danish type of thing, and some coffee.  There are several things here that have aloe in them that you eat or drink.  The aloe drink is pretty sweet, but many of the people in the group really like it.

We started the day off with a trip to the top of the mountains around the city where there was a stone Buddha that was carved near 640 AD.  There were many people starting to arrive to see the Buddha.  It was a short walk to get to the actual statue, and that was really all that was there but the view was spectacular.  There were many roofing tiles that were there that people from all over the world had signed and left standing up to show to all the other travelers.  There was a small gift shop there (as there is at every temple ? sort of odd considering the religious nature of the place).  I felt a little odd about the gift shop because it seemed like going to a gift shop at the Vatican.  Just sort of sacrilegious. 

After that, the 5 of us went to a temple where there were monks that were chanting.  There were many buildings there, and MANY people.  Once again, there were people there that were dressed like they were going to scale Mt. Everest but were just walking a couple blocks. 

After that, we went to a lake that was built 1200 years ago and filled by aqueduct.  There was also a menagerie of animals put together on the island. There was a small museum of items that were found at the area when people started to make the area into a tourist spot.  Many bones from animals, many items like spear tips, etc.

Then, we went to Daegu and had lunch at Pizza Hut with Dr. Moon, Her friend, and her daughter.  There was a bit of difference between the SK pizza hut and the US version.  The pizzas were much lighter and less greasy than the US versions. We got salad bar too.

After this, we went back to the hotel where Dick and Mike worked on their talks for tomorrows symposium and we looked up information on China’s earthquake.  We wanted to see if there were any updates on aftershocks to the region that we would be going to.  It seems like we might have to change our itinerary due to possible concern about the dams on the Yangzee.  Other than that, I think we’re still a complete go for travel through China.

We went to supper with Dr. Heon-Ho Lee and his family at a very nice Italian restaurant.  Dr. Lee will be in the US next year for a year. We had a several-course meal with some nice steaks, and chocolate Mousse at the end.

After that, it was back to the Hotel to repack things, determine what to send home (if I get the chance) and to pack things up for laundry service tomorrow. Then talked to Mom and Erin for quite a while on Skype.

5.17.2008 pepper greenhouses and condos

Today, we got up, went down to breakfast in the hotel, and had an American style breakfast.  We discussed what we were going to do if we can’t go inland to China because of earthquake aftershocks.  That is a scary thing, and we don’t want to put anyone at risk, so we may have to change the plans of the group.

Once we were done with breakfast, Dr. Moon picked us up, and we went to the outside of Daegu to a subway station to wait for the students to arrive with their homestay students.  As they all started arriving, it seemed like most people had a great evening.  Jack had a good time at a spa, and most of the others did something like go out on the town in the evening. 

After everyone was there, we all loaded up and drove a short distance to a dairy farm.  They had about 90 head of cattle and were milked every other day.  It was a pretty small operation, but similar to what we would have in the states, albeit it was a bit more dirty.  I don’t think they have as many regulations about how milk handling must occur before processing.

We then went to a greenhouse pepper operation (these were big green banana style peppers that weren’t hot at all).  The couple that owned the greenhouse did all the work themselves and there was a ton of work to do. 

I’m noticing all the small rice paddies here and seeing many more mechanical tools than what I saw in China.  There are actually planters and harvesters here for rice, where there are only people used in China.  Everyone is relatively well off here, as you would expect in any “more developed” country.  Everyone seems to want to take a little better care of their surroundings than I notice in China.  Because they are already developed, they can take the time to be concerned about their impact on the environment.  However, because of the large population in such a small area, there are still many of the same problems as I saw in China.  Smog is bad (although not nearly as bad as in China) and many of the rivers are green with algal blooms. 

After the peppers, we went to have bulgogi at a resturaunt that the Pepper farmer wanted us to go to.  This was like any restuaurant that we might go to in the states.  It had nice sit down areas (the difference here is that everyone sits on the floor like you would consider a normal Japanese restaurant to do) and there are bbq pits on every table for hot coals to grill beef over.  Then there are many plates where there are “fixings” of some sort that you wrap small pieces of beef in and then eat them.  It was delicious.

After this, we ended up letting the students go with their homestay students and we took off for the City of Guang jo after a brief stop to a grocery store.  I ended up sleeping for a little bit in the back of the car on the way there (for some reason these days take a lot out of me) and I ended up waking up as we arrived.  We were going to stay at a furnished condo for the evening.  It was a nice resort area and many people came there to party with friends and get together.  There were many kids around too. 

The condo we were in was very nice.  It had a sofa, table, TV, 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, and balcony.  We slept on the floors (that’s where we were supposed to sleep ? on feather beds with blankets on top of us) and the floors were nicely heated.  We put our stuff in the condo, had some watermelon, talked for a while and then went out for supper.  We ended up getting some fermented rice wine (which tasted ok, but I wouldn’t choose to drink it if I were to order) and we had some other interesting foods.  Some ground-acorn gelatin, fish jerky, potato pancake, and some sort of half-soup hot pot that was pretty good. 

Then we went to a small stone ampitheatre right outside the restaurant to watch a great performance of traditional song and dance in Korea.  It was pretty cool how they used fans to show pictures and make different dances up.  There were some cool string instruments there too.  I don’t remember what they were called, but it was basically a big piece of wood with strings on it.  It sort of looked like a cross between a string bass and a 2 x 12 piece of wood with strings on it.

There were some great drum-dancers there who had tassels attached to their caps and could twirl them amazingly and still keep up a syncopated rhythm correctly. 

Then it was back to the condo for a beer and some sleep.  We watched TV for a while, (animal planet all in English).  There are many English programs here with Korean subtitles.  Most people also have GPS in their cars, and many of the people that we’ve seen who are going to walk up to the top of these small hills to see some of the temples are dressed like they are going to scale Mt. Everest.  It’s pretty interesting, the difference between South Korea and China. 

Dr. Moon said that many of the students that come over from China (on exchange programs) just want to learn English in S. Korea and then try to get a graduate assistantship in America.  I’ve noticed that the school system is MUCH harder here than in the United States.  The kids have No time to be kids and have to spend all their free time working to get into a decent college.  All of the universities here don’t really have specialties, but rather are ranked just because of some historical preference.  All of the best Universities are in Seoul.  It would be the best to go to the University of Seoul.  Other than that, things went down pretty fast.  There are about 3 top universities here, then the rankings start to drop off. 

I don’t have pictures from the end of today, as I lent my camera to Jack while he’s waiting on a battery recharger (he ordered on the internet with the help of his host family).  I’ll get some more images from Dick to put up at some point. 

5.15.2008

This morning, we got up early again ? the traffic is loud here at all times of the day and night ? and went down to meet the students for breakfast.  We ended up riding to the university again and had breakfast there.  Donuts, bagels, fruit, milk, cereal (honey nut cheerios) and coffee. 

First thing on the list to do was go to the Nong Shim noodle factory in another town.  It was pretty cool. They make tons of ramen for the world and have a plant in L. A.  We all got a huge box of snacks from the p lace.

The factory was entirely mechanized and produced 3 million bowls of ramen in a 24 hour period.  They have a huge customer base, and looked like they were planning to try to get into many other country markets. 

After that, came lunch (they stopped at Burger King for us although I wasn’t wanting to eat there).  It took forever.  Most of the people who had burgers said it tasted just like in the U.S.   There were many Koreans who came in while we were waiting for our huge order to get food themselves.  I am a little saddened by how many of the chains have made it here. 

We then went back to the University to pick up Dick and Dr. Moon (Dick had to spend the morning on a presentation that he has to give in a couple days) and drove to Dr. Lee’s research area  in the mountains and to a park where there was a giant stone Buddha at the top of the mountain that people went to worship.  Turned out to be an awesome hike and a tough one too. 

My nose started running and my eyes are itching.  I must be allergic to something here.  I am not allergic to anything that I know of, but this must be what it feels like.  It sucks?

We climbed the mountain and saw the giant stone Buddha that had been there since 600 ad and had a great view of the surrounding countryside.  It was surreal. We could hear chanting through speakers while we were hiking up the mountain.  Everything was just awesome. 

Then took the students down the mountain and back to the university to do their homestays with students from the university.  Some of them were a bit nervous, but I don’t think they were when they all finally met their student liaisons.  All of them were very nice.

Dr. Lee took the 4 leaders to his apartment and showed us around and served us tea. He lives on the 19^th floor of a nice apartment building.  A very spacious apartment with nice wood floors with subfloor heating. 

We went to a bulgogi restaurant after that and had one of the best meals (beef bulgogi is awesome) that I have had on the whole trip.  The meal lasted a long time, and we sat on the floor again, so by this time my hips were starting to get sore as was all of the American people.  At the end, we ended up at the hotel.  When we were getting to the elevator, there was a little man in the elevator who was drunk and very belligerent.  We went up to floor 5 and dropped Mike and Denise off, and he got off on that floor too.  When Dick and I came to our room, 5 minutes later, Mike called and said that the drunk guy was pounding on the doors in the hall, was now half naked and had puked a couple times, so Dick went down to the front desk to tell them about it.  I’ll have to see how that turned out in the morning.  What in interesting story?

Well, I’ll try to do better at this blog thing here, but there is little time to do it.  Goodnight!

5.14.2008 First Day in South Korea

We got up early this morning and met all the students.  There are 9 students, and 3 teachers (4 including me) and we got on a bus and headed for Yeungnam University.  There were bagels, fruit, and coffee waiting for us there when we arrived, and we ended up going though an orientation about the university, had a Korean Lesson (the language is called Han-gul and has an alphabet system not unlike Romanized letters).  Then went to a cooking lesson to have some Korean food. 

We all cooked several traditional dishes (gim chee (pickeled cabbage), onion pancakes and bibimbab).  It was all delicious and we ended up eating it after we cooked it. They served us coffee after that and then we went for a calligraphy lesson.  It was nice to try to do some of the calligraphy.  It is very hard to do though and I felt like I was all thumbs as I tried to use the traditional brush and ink to write my Chinese name “shu tong”.  One of the other students did this for me and it looked very nice.

After this, we went to supper at a restaurant where we all sat on the floor.  I do like that style.  The food is WAY different here than in china.  There are no bones to pick out of your teeth, and some things are fermented, but in general the food is much better than in China I think. 

After supper (we had some hot peppers that really knocked us flat) we went back to the hotel and I went out walking with some of the students to find a 7-11 or something where I could get a pop and they could get some beer.  It was easy to find one.  There are plenty of stores around, and everything is franchised and marketed here.

Then just went up to the room, checked email and went to bed.  I’m exhausted.

5.13.2008 Flight to Daegu South Korea

Well, today I had to get up at 4am to get ready to leave by 5am to go to Shanghai.  The driver (whom I had never met) called me right at 5am from down in the parking lot of the hotel, and then came up the stairs as I was coming down.  I didn’t understand what he was saying so I said “wo ting bu dong” which means “I don’t understand” so he was coming up to get me. 

We packed my stuff in the van and then drove over to ZMI and picked up Maryln Laborde (the French woman in charge of the blue dream joint venture with France).  She was going to go with us to pick up a delegation of French people from the sister nursery at 7:30am which was why we had to leave so early. 

It was interesting to drive to Shanghai that early in the morning.  The roads were fairly clear and everything was quite surreal.  It almost didn’t feel like I had spent time there at all, other than the fact that I was relatively comfortable with where I was.  On the way to Shanghai, I noticed the billboard farms that were so thick in spots, that a bird couldn’t fly 300yards without running into a billboard.  Also, the smog was really bad in Shanghai as we approached the airport.  I saw a plane landing that seemed to be coming out of the nicely browned air.  I could just tell it was bad and I was breathing that stuff in, but hey?

When we got to the airport, it was about 7:30am and we picked up the French delegation.  Then they left for Hangzhou and I went to get some breakfast.  I couldn’t check into the system until 11.00am so I had plenty of time to kill.  I ended up starting to read a new book that I had (life on the Yangtzee) and also walking around the Shanghai airport.  It is a nice airport. 

At 11:00 I got checked in and went through security.  I got a soda and took a nap on the seats in the loading area waiting for the 1:00 time when I could board.  It was a long wait.  We got on the 747 and took off.  It took just 2 hours to get to Seoul and then I had to get off, get my bag, and go through immigration and then check back into the domestic flights.  The  Seoul airport is set up very nicely.  It is very easy to get around in that airport. 

I noticed many things right away when I got here. It was much more Americanized than China.  There were burger kings, baskin robbins, and other places to eat that I knew of.  I didn’t get anything to eat there because I didn’t want to eat fast food.  I had to wait an hour to get checked into domestics, so I just walked around for a while.  Then got checked in, boarded the plane, and took off for Daegu. 

When I landed, Dad and Dr. Moon were waiting for me there.  It was nice to see them, and we drove quickly through Daegu from the airport to the Hotel.  The others had only gotten to Daegu 6 or so hours before me and Dad hadn’t slept yet so we both basically collapsed when we got to the hotel. 

South Korea is much more modern than China and I felt very comfortable here.  It’s really just like a European city with a different Non-romanized language.  I really like it so far.

5.12.2008 Last Day in Hangzhou

Last day at Hangzhou.  I went to work and met Liu Hai Lin early in the morning (7:30am) to go to a nursery center with her.  We rode the bus out to West Hangzhou and then walked to a hotel where there were many nursery owners there.   It was also a school trip for some college students and there were many that got on a rented bus with us and went to a nursery center.  It looked much like Lowes or a place like that and I was told that they had studied how we did things. 

After that, we went to the xixi wetland park and walked from one end to the other.  It was a very nice park that was just being built (I think they were trying to make it look relatively natural, but much of it looked VERY planted).  It took a couple hours to walk through the park and at the end, we ended up getting back on the bus and going to the hotel for lunch.  I ended up eating at a table with a bunch of folks again and someone brought me a couple nicely wrapped boxes of Dragon Tea. 

We then went back to the  ZMI building.  I ended up just taking some pictures, and talking with people there.  I helped one person work on his English resume and cover letter, and then Mr. Chen called me to his office at about 3:00pm.  We talked for a long time about philosophy, and what he thought of my paper about the differences in China. 

He is a very philosophical person and I didn’t really realize that.  He was quoting Kant, and also was talking about how things worked in China.  He flat out said that Marxist communism was wrong, but communism itself was the way they had to go right now because of how quickly things could get done under that system (if the higher up says something it gets done ? even if it isn’t right). 

He floored me about what we talked about.  I’ll have to describe it in more detail sometime, but he said that the China was trying to cross the river blind and was trying to feel for each stone. 

After this meeting (which lasted about 2.5 hours, we went for supper with He fan fan, Ai hua, and a couple others from the office.  Mr. Chen tosted me several times and finally had to leave to go to another meeting, but suggested we stay and have a good time.  The rest of us stayed for quite a while and finally I had to go so I could get up in the morning.  I ended up going upstairs to get some things and met Liu up there with her daughter.  I ended up helping her daughter for another hour work on her English essay for school, and then left for the hotel.  I was told I had to leave at 5am because they were picking up a French delegation coming to Blue Sky at 7.30am in the morning.  I spent some time packing and then went to bed, but didn’t sleep very well because I knew I had to get up and move quickly in the morning.

5.11.2008 Walking at West Lake

Got up this morning and called home to see how dad was faring with his quest to get ready for a 5 week trip to China and South Korea.  He leaves in a day.  After that, I decided to walk to West Lake again and mull around for a while.  It was a very nice walk today (I was feeling better) and it didn’t take nearly as long because I didn’t have to keep checking the map to make sure I was going in the right direction.   

I ended up walking around quite a bit of the lake in the morning and while I was at one of the main congregation areas, a little old man came up to me with a news paper and started talking to me in English.  He had several words underlined in the paper and asked if I knew what they meant.  He was trying to understand the acronyms of ISO, MS Windows, and something else.   Well I helped him out and then we talked for a while.  He asked me where I was from and what I was doing in Hangzhou.  It was actually interesting to talk to him.  During that time, we drew a big crowd around us.  People wanted to see what an old Chinaman and a foreigner would be talking about.  It was pretty funny.  We probably had 50 people around us near the end of our conversation.  It felt good to help him out with his paper questions.  He was a pretty nice guy.

After that, I walked the other direction around the lake, got some corn on a stick and a sprite, and contemplated what I was going to do next.  Just then, Mr. Long called and asked what I was doing.  I told him I was walking around West lake and he was doing the exact same thing.  He and his girlfriend were out for a walk and were almost to the area where I was at so I waited for them.  We got together and ended up walking around most of West Lake.  We walked by the large pagoda, over broken bridge, and then finally to the market street near the lake.   

I found out a little about the cartoon characters they use to advertise the Beijing Olympics.  They are 5 cartoons that are all based on animals.  There are many things here that are based on animals.  One for water, one panda, one dragon, and two others I couldn’t tell.

At the market street we got something to eat in the “food court”.  It was interesting to walk down that crowded space smelling the smells of baby fried duckling on a stick, octopus tentacle on a stick, and everything else you can imagine on a stick.  I saw my friend again, the Golden Buddha, and he said hello.   

While we were in a store, another little old man (who was pretty dirty) came up and started speaking some English to me again.  Twice in one day?!  Well, he was a bit out of his gourd and I was a little nervous of being robbed.  Mr. Long stepped in and told him to take a hike (as I didn’t know what he was actually saying).  He was a little strange, and ended up touching my face before he left.  It was all rather weird but harmless.
 

We took the bus back from there to the office (the number 40 goes right by the ZMI plaza) and I ended up taking a nap after I got back.  I just got a call from Liu suggesting that I go to a hotel to meet some people with her tomorrow.  I meet with her at 7:10 tomorrow morning.  I don’t know yet how Mr. Chen took my short essay.  I haven’t heard much.  I hope to hear something tomorrow.

5.10.2008 Walking to West Lake

Well, I woke up this morning and didn’t feel that great.  My stomach was bothering me, so I stayed in for a little bit, but then decided to walk to West lake.  It took longer than I expected, but when I got there it was beautiful.  I was surprised at the number of American franchises I saw along the way.  Starbucks, KFC, Papa Johns, the Apple store, Moneygram, Western Union, etc. There were throngs of people milling about everywhere though.  It was almost hard to walk there at all there were so many people.

I did break down and actually went to get a small coffee at Starbucks.  It was good coffee though and I’m glad that I got a decent coffee here.  I have been drinking “Nescafe” but that just doesn’t quite do it.  

The walk back was uneventful, but I didn’t really feel that great when I got back so I ended up napping and reading the rest of the afternoon.  I did get a call from Liu Hai Lin in the evening asking if I could help review her daughter’s English essay for school.  I went in to the office and helped them out and then went shopping for something to eat because I was feeling a bit better by this point. 

In a couple days, I’m heading to South Korea to meet up with the ISU folks, so I’m starting to get some things ready here.

5.09.2008 Cherry Orchard

Today, I started out with breakfast in the cafeteria, and then went to the office to meet Liu Hai Lin so we could go to the Cherry orchard run by Zhejing University.  A couple gentlemen picked us up (one was an administrator, the other I believe was a professor) and we drove to the Cherry and fruit orchard North of Hangzhou about 30 minutes. Traffic was bad, but it was a relatively short trip. We ended up just picking cherries there and then met up with Mr. Dean (the Pepa orchard manager) for lunch. 

I was a little scared of lunch today, as we ate at a restaurant that had it’s own lakes and grew it’s own fish.  It’s not that I’m scared of eating fish, but I’m scared about eating fish from lakes in China.  I got spooned a piece of this fish, and ate a little, but tasted so dirty that I couldn’t eat the rest of what was in my bowl.  Instead, I concentrated on the vegetables this time, and ended up drinking two bottles of beer with everyone at the table.

Then ended up back at the office at about 2:00pm and looked up some information on Deng Xiaoping as Mr. Chen quotes him (his famous “black cat white cat quote was from 1961 apparently) so I figured I should know more about the person.  He really was an amazing person, responsible for helping to open China back up to the world after Mao closed it off.  He did many great things, including diplomacy with the west, but he also did some bad things (such as Tiananmen square). 

I’m probably going to end up talking to Mr. Chen today sometime about the paper I wrote, and we’ll see what he says about it.  I’ve been researching things now for the better part of two days, so hopefully I’ve at least scratched the surface of the topic (there’s way to much to know about all of this). 

Because I’mlooking at China’s problems with the environment, I’m now starting to look at the U.S. issues with our environment so I can determine relative levels and to see whether I should be holding my tongue. 

5.08.2008 Difficult Papers and GDP / GPI

Not a ton to report today.  I did write a paper and did quite a bit of research today about country GDP and other indicies that might offer a better way to consider development than does GDP.  The paper was for  Mr. Chen as he wanted to know what I thought about the differences between Nanchang and Hangzhou.  I, however, ended up with philosophical questions about why GDP was being used as the sole indicator of development when there were so many other things to consider in cost of production. 

I have tried to discuss this with him a couple of times, but somehow either the message doesn’t get across, or I just don’t say things correctly. I am a little concerned about talking to him about this as it is a delicate subject and I of all people don’t know any way for China to do things better than they are doing.   

There is truly a need to elevate masses of people out of poverty in the country, but currently the rate of the country’s “development” has been measured by GDP.  I’ll see what he says when he reads my paper.  We discussed the topic for a while in the office here, and there is no doubt that the people in the office know that there are issues with the way things are happening, but they don’t feel like they can do anything about it because of the government. The government just makes decisions, and even though they know about many of the problems (so I was told) the problems are either overlooked, due to potential economic growth, or just not shared with the public. 

I found a couple other indices that I’m very interested in, mainly the GPI or Genuine Progress Indicator.  This number takes many more things (up to 20) into account like: environmental impact cost, health costs, etc. I have included an excerpt from my paper below. 

All of this talk about development has interested me in the philosophical discussion about how development is viewed.  It’s been discussed that China needs to develop the countryside and to do that industry must come first and then this will help agriculture.  There is definitely a need to develop the countryside, or at least raise the countryside’s standard of living.  What I don’t completely understand is the definition of development that China is adhering to in order to make this happen.  I was told that GDP is the main measure, but in my view, development is a combination of economical, social and environmental development.  GDP really only addresses only one of these areas – Economy.  I’m not sure there is an answer to how development should be viewed.  The GDP for China in 2005 was 6,757 in comparison with France at 30,386 or the U.S. at 41,890 (United Nations Development Programme, 2008).

Unfortunately, GDP only takes into account only some kinds of economic activity within a country not actual standard of living. It seems that standard of living tends to increase as GDP increases (Wikipedia, 2008).   Is GDP a good measure of a “developed country”?  This is another philosophical question that is very hard to answer.  Should human happiness be defined by GDP?  There are many other things involved in Human happiness than just GDP or income.  Does GDP take the distribution of wealth in a country into account?  Does GDP measure sustainability in growth of a country’s economy? 

Because of the potential discrepancy of using GDP as the sole indicator for economic development, there have been several other indexes looked at to replace GDP.  Another indicator of development is the Human Development Index (HDI) which takes into account peoples’ quality of life in terms of adjusted real income, life expectancy, and education.  Currently the HDI for China is 0.777 (United Nations Development Programme, 2008).  In comparison, the HDI for France is 0.952 and the U.S. is 0.951 (United Nations Development Programme, 2008).

Another definition is that a developing country is one that has achieved a certain degree of industrialization relative to their population (Wikipedia, 2008). If China is to be considered developed solely on the basis of GDP, then how much industry will have to be put in the country to balance the population/industry ratio?   And yet another question would be, “What kind of living situation does a balanced ratio allow socially, economically, and environmentally for the general population ?”. 

Yet another possible index to use in determining how “developed” a country is would be the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI).  This takes into account what is important to people (income, environment, etc.) and puts it on a scale (Genuine Progress Indicator, 2008).  After reading about the GPI in a Case study of four Chinese cities, (Zonguo Wen et al., 2007) I’m convinced that this is a better indicator of growth and development of a country than is sole use of GDP. 

I’m amazed at how quickly China can build and develop areas.  My amazement parallels my concern in how quickly things are developing.  It seems as though China is gunning to be developed in 30 years, and I think that could happen by GDP standards.  My concern is that it took the U.S. 150 years to reach the point it’s at with its meager population (compared to China) and we have many places that are environmentally problematic now, even in a 150 year development cycle.  We used GDP as an index for a long time and that doesn’t take many things into account. It’s unfair to measure China against criteria such as these, because there is a huge need to develop and bring the standard of living up.  I don’t know what the answer is, but I’m concerned.   

The philosophical question is, “what is development and what does it look like?”  I think as you work toward a more simple and efficient society, you look more developed and begin to come into a “harmony” with the world around you.  Although I have discussed some of these things, my opinion is definitely not the only one.  This is a question that has many different viewpoints and many potential answers.

Developing a country like China with such a large population who have the goal of living like more “developed” countries, is going to have to overcome some real hurdles.  I think, however, that more developed countries need to take an initiative to change their living behavior and learn how to WANT LESS.  I’m not talking fewer life goals, I’m talking fewer materialistic items.  I’m talking about wanting to do more in life, learn more, experience more, but want fewer material things.  Many more “developed” nations, I believe, have set an unsustainable example and level of requirement for living.  In terms of developing China, I think the analogy still fits, “White cat ? black cat.  Which one is the best?  The best one is the one that can catch the mouse.”  This is still true, but the question becomes, what is the mouse, and what will the process of catching that mouse do to the cat?
 

I guess we’ll see how this makes things pan out for me.  It is a hard thing to discuss, especially because we, as Americans, both don’t  have to confront many of these problems, but also because we are the instigators of many of these problems in China.  This is due to our movement of factories over to a much cheaper worker base, and not making sure there aren’t things like toxic substances in our cars, electronics, etc. that are made and “recycled” here in China. 

The need for elevation of the mass of people is dire, but many don’t have a choice but to be subject to very bad environmental and working conditions in order to make even a meager living.  The place I’m staying is an exception.  Hangzhou was voted the best place for business in China by Forbes in 2005 and continues to be a very nice place (even though I can see a visible problem in river water quality and feel a difference in air quality compared to where I live).  

Well, I hope this spurs some interesting discussion.  Because if he’s angry about any of it, I may be walking to Shanghai?J

Back to Hangzhou

Even though it was a long day yesterday and I went to bed late, I couldn’t sleep much last night.  Woke up at 4:30am and couldn’t get back to sleep.  I was partially thinking about Mr. Chen and what he wants me to comment on about the differences between Hangzhou and Nanchang.  I’m pretty glad that in less than a week I’ll be in a group of people that I can discuss things with freely again without having to try to explain what things mean.  It would be a necessity to take Mandarin lessons if I stayed here any longer than one month.  Even though I have learned a lot and can hear several things in conversation, most of the time it is incoherent to me at best.

The dude sitting next to me in the train from Nanchang to Hangzhou pulled out a really nice PDA and IPOD to listen to while we sped along the track. I’m amazed that everyone here seems to have a cell phone, even the very poor country people and everyone uses theirs all the time.  There doesn’t seem to be any etiquette to how and/or when you answer the phone and how loud you talk.  I guess there really isn’t in the U.S. either, but I do perceive e a social Faux Paux  when people do things like that in public In the U.S.

 Well, I’ll say one thing, the Chinese definitely study hard. The college group being educated now will be a force to be reckoned with.  Most people who make it through college seem to have up to 10 years of English study under their belt and can listen and read English fairly well even if they can’t speak it.  
It was pretty dismal to look at the countryside when we went through the towns surrounding Nanchang and even Hangzhou.  I know Mr. Chen says that the Hangzhou area is rich, but there are still some gaps in the “riches” here.

I got back to Hangzhou with no problem, the train was again very nice, and Shao gua was at the station to meet me.  I was prepared to flag down and get a taxi, but Shao gua helped me with that.  It was a short ride and about $1.20 to get from the station to the office building where I had lunch with Mr. Chen, Ai hua, Maralyn (from france) and Mr. Chen’s science manager of 20 years.  It was an interesting meeting and Mr. Chen wanted to know what I thought about the differences between Hangzhou and Nanchang.  

Nanchang is definitely poorer than Hangzhou and Mr. Chen says there is no money there so people from the small local villages (that raise crops to feed themselves) often move into the city to find work.  Even here, though, the farmers have up to 3 level houses even if they don’t have windows because they are too poor.  Mr. Chen explained that this was a perception of being rich.  I know we do this in the U.S. too, the big house and big car, etc. but it is somewhat bewildering that a three-story house without windows is more important than a one-story house that is put together well.

Mr. Chen went farther to say that they need to develop the countryside and to do that industry must come first and then this will help agriculture.  I tried to ask several questions about this but didn’t know how to politely disagree with him.  My personal perception is that things in the cities are developing TOO quickly without a thought of longevity of resources or how earnings will be distributed to develop a better China nationally. Mr. Chen said that everyone in China used to not be equal but now they are.  I feel that this is either wishful thinking or just something someone can’t see because they are too close to the issue.  Whether or not “development and business” brings in money, that money won’t help the vast majority of people and only vault the rich to the top faster.  It is a dog-eat-dog lifestyle here I think and people can get left in the dust easily.  I sometimes consider that I may just be a number in the U.s. but in China, I think that can truly be the case.  I’m a little frustrated with the what are called “open minds” and “ideas” by Mr. Chen because the way I’m told about these “open minds” and “ideas” seems to be only economically.  China is searching for a quick fix for the vast poverty that is inland when there is no quick fix, and it seems that in their rush to vault China out of “developing” status, they seem to be making some major environmental, social, and even political decisions that may never be able to be corrected or changed.  

The environment especially.  It almost pains me to say that a place is beautiful when I’m told that it is by my host.  While I’m not lying exactly (the places do have a certain beauty ? be it the number of trees, flowers, and plants that there are or something else) there is garbage everywhere an no visibly clear water in any river or lake that I’ve seen.  I’m quite concerned about eating any local river fish as I’ve tasted one or two and could taste the mud and grit in the fish itself.  I can only imagine what sort of industrial pollutants are also in these fish.  The places that are clean (many large city streets, and railway stations, etc.) are only clean because they have a brigade of street sweepers, cleaners, and janitorial staff to clean up after everyone. 

So many people just throw things on the ground, out the window of their cars, and wherever they want to, that I have a hard time calling anywhere with lots of trash and pollution beautiful.  I understand the need and desire to bring the whole country up to speed quickly, but making 5 star hotels in some areas doesn’t make up for a countryside full of trash and polluted rivers.  Nor does being the “worlds factory”.  Personally, I’m willing to pay more for a world environment that’s cleaner.   

It seems like the government subsidizes everything here (except for housing and cars) and fixes prices to some degree.  Almost everything is very cheap.  I’m just frustrated with many things about China at the moment.

I was asked by Mr. Chen to come into the office at about 3:30 and was told that I wouldn’t be going to Tetzhou.  Rather, I would be going to some areas around Hangzhou after being in the office on the 8^th and 9^th.  I’m just tired and I don’t really know what Mr. Chen is expecting from me now.  It seems like he is looking for something but I can’t guess what that would be.  I think he wants me to be impressed about China’s development and growth and that it can’t all be done as nicely as the Western world thinks it should be.  I certainly agree with this and there couldn’t be a harder country to find a good balance in I think.  However, I also have reservations about how quickly things are developing here.  

I wish I was a little more adventurous tonight, but all I can do is get a paper written for Mr. Chen and go out shopping for some bottled water, coke, and gum. 

5.6.2008 My Older (but much shorter) Brother

Today we went to the Nanchang nursery owned by Mr. Chen.  It turns out that Mr. Huang runs the Jiangxi branch of the Blue Sky business. The night and morning went more smoothly than expected.  I can see how someone living in a very large city could pidgeon-hole themselves into one area of the city and never leave.  I can see that in some of the people here I think.

This morning, I was  going down to have breakfast which (I was told) was on floor 2.  The dude in the elevator, a rough-looking 50-something business man with a buzz cut who has smoked one too many cigarettes in his life, looked at me, saw my meal ticket and that I pushed the button for floor 2.  He made an eating motion to ask if I was going to breakfast, and when I nodded, he held up 3 fingers to tell me it was actually on 3^rd floor, not floor 2.  Interesting first, that he simply assumed there was a language barrier, and second that he was so ready and willing to help a “lao wei” or foreigner.

It is easy, being a foreigner, to believe that people here do things for you (like my host picks me up and arranges things for me) because you’re foreign and don’t know the system.  However, I don’t think that’s the case.  I think the Chinese people just do these things for friends and who they deem to be important to them.  It looks like the same happens for any business person waiting here in the lobby.

The lobby of the hotel is littered with businessmen from China, but it reminds me of a group of kindergarteners sitting around waiting for their mothers to come and pick them up from school.  Much of what makes me think this way is the unflinching ability of them to stare at you long and hard, not realizing or culturally not concerned that this might be rude.  I think that’s very similar to a young child who will stare or ask anything because they don’t know better. Some people are very apparently staring at me or shooting me covert glances as if to say, “What are you doing here and who the heck are you?” There’s also a lot of phlem being hacked up and spat almost everywhere I look. 

I was picked up by my host, Mr. Huang Mu Min and a designer who works for him and the driver at 8:15.  We drove out to their nursery, the Huang Ma nursery which I learned is 150 hectares  and by the Fu huh river. There are 8 designers and 10 construction managers, as well as 200 nursery employees who work in Jianxi province for Mr. Huang and Blue-Sky company.  The whole province brought in about $3,200,000 last year. 

The nursery we went to was about 40km away from Nanchang and we drove through some really poor and desolate towns.  I know we joke about people being barefoot and pregnant, but here you actually see this.  Many of the townspeople aren’t wearing anything on their feet.  This may partially be due to working in the rice paddies right now, or just that they don’t wear shoes.

The buildings all seem to be very bland and not built to last. Brick and concrete don’t seem to be put together to last structurally. 

We took a tour of the nursery and it was a pretty nice place.  I was told this is going to be a “tourist” nursery so people will come here to relax and boat and be in a “natural environment”.  It will definitely be nice, and big and it’s all being built right now.  I’m told it will be done in a year and will look really nice in about 2 years.

They will be growing and selling nursery stock from the area as well as using it as a visitor center.   That goes along with Mr. Chen’s vision of 5 things that the nurseries should be used for.  A group of older gentlemen came out and talked with Mr. Huang, and I found out that this was the Jiangxi flower association.  After a tour of the nursery that included showing them up to the dike of the Fu huh river, we all went to eat at a local restaurant.  The flower folks came in and we all had a good time.  I ended up drinking some beer with everyone again and did my little song and dance.  It was a good group. 

After that, we drove around and saw another nursery, very close, called Wha bia nursery which iss about 600 acres.  This nursery is only for planting and growing trees.  We also visited a local tea plantation which was very nice. I got to witness tea being harvested, and it’s a bit different from the little Chinese man you see in the tea commercials picking nice tea leaves to stick in your tea bag.  They use a vacuum and hedge clipper setup and basically mow the tops of the tea bushes off.  Sorry  if I ruined your solid gold impression of the tea industry.

After this, we went to a local park and drove around in the farming area a bit.  It was really run down and I took a few pictures. 

There is definitely a language barrier between Mr. Huang and me.  We both get along really well and I think we would be good friends if we lived close together. He is a pretty happy guy and gets things done. A good person to know.

As we drove back to Nanchang, Mr. Huang fell asleep and I got some more photos of the area that I didn’t want to take while he was awake.  I don’t know if I should feel bad or not taking pictures of the run-down areas of the countryside, but I didn’t want to completely alert him to what I was photographing.

Mr. Huang had to work in the afternoon, but I went with his driver and designer to Tong wan guh (a 1400 year old building in Nanchang) that has been turned into a tourist attraction.  It was pretty nice, and we walked through the whole building.  The museums weren’t much to look at (you’d have to be fluent in reading Mandarin to understand any of it) but the view from several of the floors were awesome.  You could see the whole 360 degree view of Nanchang from that building.  It was definitely worth the trip.  Inside on the top floor was also a stage and performance of some traditional song and dance of the period.

There were many Chinese tourists at this building and you could tell they were with a group by the brightly colored hats they all wore.  Each group wore a different color (the same color as the leader’s flag) and they marched around listening to the leader talking about the building.  It was sort of funny to watch, but I know that’s what I’ll be doing when we go to Beijing and some of the other places.  I don’t look forward to the lack of ‘on your own ness”.

We had dinner at a nice restaurant with some of Mr. Huang’s designers and his office manager.  They were all very nice people.  Mr. Huang asked me to pick out one dish so I picked one out that looked spicy and hot.  He asked if I really wanted that dish, and when I said yes, he said ok.  Well, the damn thing was blistering hot, but it had really good flavor.  It was  a pepper and beef dish.  I could certainly eat it, but I was sweating rivulets and many of the Chinese people at the table wouldn’t eat it because it was too hot for them.  J 

At any rate it was a good evening.  We all toasted many times, and I spoke what little Chinese I knew.  Then it was time to go back to the hotel.  It will be an early morning tomorrow when I go back to Hangzhou. 

5.5.2008 Let’s go to Nanchang!

Today was pretty stressful altogether.  A good day though, to be sure. I was a bit nervous this morning when I had to pack everything up.  I wasn’t sure where things would stay, or what I needed to take to Jianxi with me, who would meet me etc.  It turns out my fears were ungrounded.  Ai hua got me some tickets for the fast train (around 200km/hr) and said it would take about 4 hours to get to Nanchang in Jiangxi province. 

Mr. Long came with me to the train station (that was nice of him and I really wasn’t sure what to expect).  I ended up just taking a small backpack with my laptop in it and all the “precious” things (passport, money, change of undies, etc) with me.  I left the big bag in Hangzhou.  The train ride was pretty nice.  The train itself rivaled any of the bullet trains that are in Europe.    

The train station itself was an awesome experience.  The whole place was filled to the brim with people traveling to other places.  It was hot, sweaty, dirty, and stinky in the place.  The newspaper vendor at the entrance of the platform was chanting, selling her wares with an almost musical intonation.

As we sped through the countryside, we stopped at various buroughs.  It was a bit sad to snake through the countryside, because while the fields were lush and green, the housing looked like a lot of what I would imagine wartime buildings to look like.  Hollowed out and dark, partially crumbling and bare.  This was sad because while there were very noticeable people living in these hovels, the people (affluent patrons of the train) sped by their own third-world.  Very interesting perspective (of course, I’m one of those affluent people sitting and watching the poor countryside go by like it’s something far removed from me when it’s just on the other side of the window. 

The gentleman sitting next to me was pretty nice and I could tell he was a businessman of sorts.  He was about my age and talked on the phone throughout the whole trip.  Many of the train patrons stared at me during the first part of the trip, but when they decided I wasn’t going to grow wool and fangs, they decided there were better things to look at.  The girl sitting by the window (probably 17-22) was talking to herself most of the time and then spontaneously laughing every 2-3 minutes.  Either she wasn’t right in the head or she may have been on something. I couldn’t really tell, but it was sort off sad.

When I got off the train, I called Mr. Wang and he said to just “follow the people” so I did until we got off the platform.  After that, I waited for him and his liason (who speaks better English).  We went to the hotel I will be staying at, (A really nice place for 248  yuan per night – $35 dollars or so).  This would rival any place downtown in Minneapolis. 

We went out to eat after I had a 10 minute rest in the hotel room, and they took me to a country food shop.  It was pretty good and we had some really spicy food because I said I liked it.  It wasn’t that spicy, but I was glad to get chicken and pork rather than crawdads and horror-film cockroaches. J Although I’m ready to eat anything, I do like some stability in my diet after a while.

I found out that Mr. Wang is also 32 and was born one month before me.  He then started calling me his “little brother” although by stature he is quite a bit smaller than me.  It was a good laugh and we seem to get along very well.  He is a landscape designer and decidedly likes natural looking areas rather than man-made looking areas. He seems really on top of things and very interested in communicating.  We have found it hard to communicate some because I don’t have much for Chinese and his English vocabulary isn’t very good, but we’re making it work.  

After supper, we walked along the river in Nanchang and looked at the skyline.  I’m slowly forming an opinion about how China deals with “development” at least how they want themselves to look.  As an analogy, (perhaps not a good one) I’ll say that China seems similar to the guy who owns that fully loaded Mercedes and flaunts it.  Is he overcompensating for something else?  Well, I can’t say if China is overcompensating, but to me it seems that every town I go to is not only filled with pollution from air, water, and land point sources, but there is also a lot of light pollution.  It seems like every town I’ve been to recently is a small version of Reno or Las Vegas.  It’s almost like the Cities in China think that they will look “Developed” if they have very flashy things.

I think this may actually be the opposite.  I think as you work toward a more simple and efficient society, you look more developed and begin to come into a “harmony” with the world around you.  Although I have talked with Mr. Chen about some of these things at length, my opinion is definitely not the only one.  This is just what I’m noticing and what first comes to my mind.  

Developing a country as large as China with such a large population who all want to live like we live in the west is going to have to overcome some real hurdles.  I think, however, that if I’m preaching these thoughts, that we in America should also take an initiative to show the world how to live better and WANT LESS.  I’m not talking life goals, I’m talking materialism.  I’m talking about wanting to do more in life, learn more, experience more, but want fewer material things.

If we value ourselves as leaders (and we’d be dumb to think that China and other “developing” countries aren’t looking at the way we do things to mimic them) then we should take some initiative and help mold the world society and economy into something more sustainable that it is.   

Just my two cents.  All that from a day that started off on the rocks and ended up floating in a sea of tranquility.

5.05.2008 The New Zhejing Campus

Today I went to the new Zhejing campus again to visit with xinxin and some other students who came to Iowa State University last year.   I was picked up by one of xinxin’s friends in a BMW (her brothers).  He is an architect. 

It took about 45 minutes to get to the new Zhejing campus on the outside of Hangzhou.  It is a huge and beautiful campus.  It was completed (the whole thing) in 2001 I was told, and there are about 60,000 students living and studying here. There are many hi-rise buildings for students to live in on campus and a cafeteria that will feed 20,000 people at once (the biggest in Asia I’m told).   

I saw one of the dorm rooms for the male students and it was very similar to what we had at ISU.  When I came in, several of them were sitting at their laptops playing Diablo.  I spoke to Peter (a student who came to ISU last year) and he will be going to Florida state in June to study Internatioinal Business for his master’s degree.  I asked him how he would be able to pay for it (because he said that Florida doesn’t offer any help to international students in the business program) and he said that his family would pay. 

That’s a huge bill and I’m guessing that Peter is one of the “haves” even though he was in the lowest class dorm.  I was told a different story about how much it cost to go to school there.  Each student needs to complete 150 credits and each credit costs about 75 yuan.  So $1600 for all the classwork.  Then whatever else for the rooms (and that’s the whole degree). 

I ended up back at the hotel at about 5:00 and at 5:30 I got a call from Mr. Chen.  He said to come to his office, so I walked over to the office building.  He said that I wouldn’t be going to the Henan province with Dr. Liu, instead he was sending me to Jiangxi province and the capital Nanchang.  That is from the 5-7 and then I come back and spend one night in Hangzhou and then off to Tetzhou (where Mr. Chen is from) until the 10^th.  Then I get a rest for a couple days then off to South Korea.

Last night after I talked with Mr. Chen, we went out for supper and met a friend of his who is a prof of economics. She spoke little English and the rest of the night was spent with Mr. Chen throwing Chinese at me as fast as I could hear it (he learns by the brute force method I think).  I was pretty tired and irritable when I got back to the hotel, but still packed up everything and got rid of things I realize I didn’t need.  

It should be an interesting couple days.  I don’t know if I’ll have a chance to update this for a couple days now so TTYL.