Pedal power around Dianchi, and Chinese trucks (Part II)

As promised, here are shots from the first day of our ride around Dianchi Lake, Yunnan Province. When we stopped for lunch at a road-side restaurant, this young boy followed us around at a short distance. Before we took off from the restaurant, I asked if I could take my picture with him. If you are wondering about his smile, this is the general smile for many of the people with whom I have come in contact. He seemd thrilled about having his picture taken and enjoyed seeing his own face on my camera. Sorry, I did not get his name.

Here is a shot of three of our group as we enter Kunyang (the sign behind us says welcome to Kunyang in Chinese). On my left is Sarah; she teaches fourth grade. To her left is Suli, she assists with junior kindergarten. The rest of our group is close by, and one of our group is snapping the picture. A new bridge across a narrow inlet to the lake shortened our first day by about 20 km. According to those who went on the trip last year, that bridge had still been under construction the previous year, making the first day a bit longer.

This picture is taken from on the bridge mentioned above. Because our group stopped numerous times for pictures, we passed and re-passed this gentleman. My personal bike (I rented a bike for this trip) is like the one he is riding. I pulled up next to and said, "Ni de che heng ku! Wo yei yao." (Pronounced--knee duh chuh hung koo! Woh yay yow.) It means, "Your bike is very cool! I have one just like it." He smiled and started asking where we were from and where we were going. His smile was very pleasant, but he stopped on the far side of the bridge, as we continued.

This picture was taken from the top of the Zhenghe memorial park. The picture looks out over a part of Kunyang. Beyond the apartment buildings are rows of green houses, and beyond those is the lake. The entire second day was spent pedaling past enormous complexes of green houses. It almost seems like the Dianchi valley is prepared to produce all of China's produce. However, there are a lot of people in China.

This last photo displays a statue of the great Zhenghe himself. The stairs behind him are only the last set many similar staircases one must climb in order to reach a high point over Kunyang. In Zhenghe's right hand is a scroll: possibly a nautical map, but more likely a letter of invitation, because Zhenghe sailed for the Chinese government of his day. He rests is left hand on the grip of his sword. He travelled to Singapore, Malaysia, India, and even visited modern day Iraq. His story is quite intriguing, and I look forward to spending more time looking into him when I get more time.

Pedal power around Dianchi, and Chinese trucks (Part I)

Nimen hao, from China. I apologize for the format of this posting, or rather these postings. I attempted to place more than five photos in this weeks story, but the site only allows for five per posting. Therefore, this weeks selection will actually be in two parts. So please check both of them out. Sadly, the pictures on this posting are actually from a later time or date than the pictures on Part II. Hopefully you will enjoy them any way.

To start off, a group of teachers and other staff members from Kunming International Academy took a bike ride around Dianchi Lake this weekend. While it is certainly a distance that could easily be covered in one day, our group consisted of a wide range of age and experience levels. Therefore, we took two days to circumnavigate this body of water. About the same size as Flathead Lake in Montana, this lake's green color comes more from pollution than from any natural phenomenon, such as glacial silt. The trip itself covered everything from unimproved highway (a large, four-lane highway is being built along the west side of the lake), unimproved country roads (a mixture of rough pavement and even rougher dirt) and somewhat improved highways. While we sucked down large amounts of dust particles and diesel fumes, the air quality was generally better than in Kunming. We returned home dusty and sunburned, but happy.
To give you an idea of the riding conditions, this sign was posted over one of the unimproved country roads on our return trip. Large earth-moving trucks with incredibly loud horns (these horns are like the horns on the larger fire department vehicles--they can almost stop your heart if they are close enough to you). With driving lanes only being suggestions, and very few places for a biker to go when confronted with one of these vehicles, our group had to be both careful and aggressive in order to navigate these roads.

At the south end of Dianchi Lake, the smaller city of Kunyang (pronounced koo-un yahng), is the birthplace of Zhenghe. Kunyang's most famous relative, Zhenghe (pronounced jung huh), explored much of the far east and even sailed to the southern tip of Africa. Some even believe that he sailed to the New World. Because Zhenghe died in 1433, if he did sail to the New World, he would have actually been to the Americas before Christopher Columbus. Leif Eriksen would have still beaten this 'zhong guo ren,' Chinese person, to the Americas, but it is still an interesting twist on the age of exploration. This temple overlooking Kunyang was erected in honor of Zhenghe's accomplishments. It stands overlooking the city and Dianchi Lake.

I realize that many of you may not find this nearly as interesting as I do, by the trucks in China fascinate me. Yes, trucks include horse-drawn, flatbed trailers. However the trucks to which I refer are those combustible-engined vehicles that do the majority of the daily labor in our valley. The truck pictured above appears to be made out of an enormous roto-tiller engine hooked to a trailer (see the last picture for a profile view). These vehicles haul everything from produce and livestock, to bricks and dirt. Like a roto-tiller, the steering comes through one long set of handles attached to the front wheel carrige. They do not move very fast--even a novice cyclist can pass these trucks on most roads), but they are very powerful.

If the roto-tiller truck is a bit too primitive for your tastes, the Chinese also have the open-engine truck. At a glance, this vehicle is much like the previous version. In fact, the steering wheel actally attaches to a mechanism that ultimately steers the front wheels much the same way the roto-tiller truck arms steer that vehicle. In fact the engines are quite similar, except this more advanced version finds its get-up-and-go from a slightly more powerful engine. This truck also has the comfort of a true cab for the operator, and a true bed for the truck's load. I have been informed that, while these engines are extremely antiquated and create a very slow vehicle, they are quite reliable and extremely easy to work on. In any case, Kurt and Kent Reimer and Midway Rental may want to consider purchasing some of these. I think they would rent like hotcakes.

This profile of the roto-tiller truck is a bit dark where the steering arms are, but it gives a pretty good view of the truck's design and what it is good for--carrying large amounts of 'youzi' (pronounced yough dzuh), a much larger and tastier cousin to the grapefruit. I wish we could get this fruit in Whitefish. It is labor-intensive to eat, but wow, it tastes great.

Any way, check out Part II for more pictures from the ride around Dianchi Lake.

Eclectic posting from an non-OSHA approved state

I apologize to everyone for how long it has been since I updated my blog. In some respects, I have felt too busy to update my internet space. At the same time, I have also felt a bit lazy. So please forgive me for my own lack of motivation.

For all you electricians, I thought it might be nice to see how the other side of the world works on power lines. This crew of two men were stringing new lines, as a group of teachers and students were eating dinner one evening. I loved the fact that the two men used an aluminum ladder for their purposes and that the ladder was an extension ladder, rather that a step ladder. One of the students in our group is a photographer for the yearbook. He snapped shots along with me. However, he told me that one of the men was saying in Chinese that he did not want his picture taken. The student said that the man was smiling when he said it, so I do not know if the electrician said it in earnest or not. Would someone please call OSHA!

As some of you have heard, the "Super Magic" has been give a rest. He still takes up room in the garage where I store my transportation, and I plan on making the necessary repairs to make it functional again. Yes, the magic seems to have worn off. I just do not think the Super Magic was meant for anyone over 150 pounds. I bent crankarms simply by pushing down too hard. This, in turn, led to many broken pedals. One significant crash did quite a bit of damage to the handlebars and one shifter. So, one weekend ago, I went out with the singular purpose to buy a new bike, a sturdy bike. With that in mind, I searched for the bicycles the water carriers use. The water carriers in Kunming ride bikes with special racks on the back that carry anywhere from four to seven of those Culligan water bottles, the kind you see in office buildings. These are stout bikes, plus they have a cool name: Feng Huang (pronounced Fung Hwahng). It means Phoenix. For 360 kwai, approximately $45, I now have a bike that looks as old as the hills, but runs like top. Plus it has a basket. Cool!

As many of you from my home fellowship in Whitefish are used to doing, KIA sponsored a Fall Festival on the weekend prior to Halloween. The event hosted game booths created and run by the high schoolers and middle schoolers. Most of the students came in some sort of costume--not scary please. The elementary students played the games and generally had fun. The event was a fundraiser for the youth center. We raised nearly 8000 kwai, which will pay for over half the year's rent of our youth center. For my part, I did not have a costume. However, as my mother has taught me, sometimes all one needs is a silly foam nose and a few tricks. Therefore, with quite a bit of help from a fellow teacher (Miss Carpenter, who teaches 5th grade, and who came as Annie Oakley) I managed to fascinate the younger students with a couple stupid slight-of-hands, some gymnastic manouvers and some, dare I say, dance steps.

Traffic has received some play time in my emails, but I thought it was about time everyone received a glimpse of the biking situation here in Kunming. Through books and other people's accounts, I have learned that not all Chinese cities have as many cyclists as Kunming. Chengdu, larger city north of Kunming has a pollution ordinance, so even a higher percentage of the population of that city commutes on bicycle. Other hillier cities have scooters and motorcycles, but not cyclists. I am sorry the picture is so dark. This is a shot of traffic on the way home from school. It is approximately 18.30h. You will notice the free flowing mixture of automobiles with bicycles. The intersections can be particularly wonderful to negotiate. As the above picture of my new bicycle shows, I now own a bell, and I practice using it the same way the Chinese utilise theirs. I ring it even when no one is within 100 yards of me. This gives anyone who wants to the time to move into my line of movement, efficiently forcing me to use my brakes until they squeal and squeak like nearly all other modes of transportation. Because my bike is new, it does not have a rattle, although I believe I might have been able to purchase that with the bike itself. I decided to see how long it will take to receive that item for free. One week and one day and counting.

Thank you so much for your frequent emails and words of support. I also lift everyone back home up, because life is difficult everywhere. To be honest, I do not know which is worse, not understanding a person who is speaking English, or not understanding a person who cannot speak English. May He that sustains His creation sustain each of you minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour, and day-by-day. Grace, Peace and Blessings be yours on this, His day.