Guiyu-the e dump capital of the world

http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/trash/

Malacca, Malaysia

Photos from the Dragon Boat races on the Pearl River last month.

Waiting for the evening.

HOT POT!!! I had dinner last night at a Sichuan hot pot place for the first time since I've been back. Despite an outside temperature of 90 degrees and very little air conditioning indoors, some friends and I decided to sit ourselves around a hot fire and cook food in extremely spicy chili red pepper broth. Hot pot is the most amazing food to eat because not only do you sweat it out as you eat it, it is so pungent and odorous that your clothes and hair smell like it for a few days after. We were given large fans with old Chinese maidens on them and lots and lots of beer. You order different meats, vegetables and noodles, and then dunk them in each in the broth. We thought we ordered some fish but they brought us snake instead at which point I started to moan. After quickly taking the snake away, we lurched ourselves forward towards the hot pot making sure to cook everything just right. After 30 minutes of hot flashes and several glasses of beer, none of us could muster up any energy to say much other than ask for the bill. This food really takes the life out of you. Fortunately, the Cantonese have mastered the effects of staying "hot and cool" in their hot/humid climate and have foods to restore balance in your stomach. So we drank "liang cha" afterwards-a type of black-colored herbal tea sold all over the streets here to help cool you down. It tasted like an old foot but restored some dignity to my duzi (stomach).

An astroturf lawn in downtown Guangzhou

A recent study by a Hong Kong think tank claims that over 10,000 lives are lost each year to air pollution in south China (Guangdong province, Hong Kong and Macau). The study is here

It doesn't say how they discovered this number or what methodology used, but I'm sort of inclined to say that more than 10,000 people die of airborne respiratory illnesses. I took a bike ride yesterday morning (horrible idea, it reached 100 degrees by 11 am) and found myself covered in small particles of black soot after being out for just an hour. Granted, I did take an old ferry across a dead river to begin my bike journey, and there were massive amounts of diesel fumes wafting across that river. A friend of mine who lives an hour away in nearby Shenzhen said that he has seen his province destroyed (loss of clean air, water, earth, et al) because everyone he knows around him is in the fight of their lives to make as much money as they can. The verdict is still out over whether or not it is too late to improve the environment here, but whatever remediation is done will be very very costly.

Recently there were many news articles that highlighted several instances where bars in Beijing were rejecting Africans and other people of dark skin because they (the bars) didn't want to "get in trouble with the authorities." While I highly doubt that most bar owners actually have any serious grievances with black people, it is very disturbing to see how racist elements and comments flow freely in this society. Although highly respected African Americans like Quincy Jones, athletes, and actors have all spent time in China and worked on projects with the Chinese government and businesses-and are very respected here-there are still widespread resentments against people of dark skin in many parts of the country here. Especially in Guangzhou, where African "towns" of exporters and importers and their families live, are regarded by many Chinese citizens here as "off limits." They view these areas as the places where (in the words of a Chinese colleague of mine) "they live and we don't go there because of crime and especially never at night." While I am not speaking of all Chinese people, or all people in Guangzhou for that matter, the fact that many Africans are restricted to living in certain high rise buildings and quadrants of the city by the government is clearly a policy of segregation which has only reinforced a negative stereotype of dark skinned individuals by many different segments of the Chinese population. I can only hope that in a country of 1.2 billion similar faces, those who come from afar and bring with them hope to make a decent living in this country would be met with kindness and tenacity over negligence and indifference.

China has an amazing knack for moving itself. In a city of 15 million people or so, I am shocked at how infrequent traffic jams are. Even more shocking is the fact that almost everybody works from 830 to 530. That means the roads are clogged from 730 to 9 and 530 to 7 every day. And the "dining hour" remains fixed from 630 to 730. During these times one can just expect to have difficulty in moving about from one place to the other in Guangzhou. But I've found that during these times, people lose their inhibitions and really become fish more than humans. This is exemplified when one rides the subway across town at 6 p.m. on a weekday. One must stand in line to put their ticket in the machine to enter, stand in line to enter the escalator, stand in line on the escalator and then stand in line to enter the subway while waiting on the platform. The people of Guangzhou have gotten so used to this anatomic waltz of orchestrated movement that once the train does arrive, the flop about and push one another onto the train so every last inch of space is taken up. Once on the train, its as if you become a sardine: if you are not close to a rail to hold yourself onto when the train begins to move, you simply fall back and forth against your other newly gilled nearby passengers. There isn't much spoken language going on, but when your stop comes near, it is time for you to be judged. It is at this point when all the other fishes have to squeeze and move together to let you free of the school. You must shout, and push, and shove, trample and scream to let everyone know you are coming through. And if the force you exert to let yourself through isn't enough, then you simply miss your exit and go with the pack. Minor cuts, bruises and a frown of anger? Of course, but that's all washed away with a bucket of tea once you get to the street anyhow.

मलाच्चा

While I was in Malaysia I took a day trip to Malacca. It is about a 2 hour drive south from Kuala Lumpur. Along the drive I was able to see many palm plantations and monkeys! Malacca is an old port city that was first built up by the Portuguese in the early 1500s. In fact, St. Francis Xavier lived there for a few years before moving on. The Dutch took it over after 150 years and added their influences and then wan Sir Stanley Raffles "settled" the Malay Peninsula for the British in the 18th century, Malacca was handed over to the English in return for Dutch control of Indonesia. Throughout all of this, the port remained an important destination for trade between Europe, Africa, India and Asia. And there were lots of pirates. It's a really interesting and beautiful city.

मलाय्सियन Grafitti

"Grafitti"in Kuala Lumpur

मलयेशिया इस विक्केद!

I am in Malaysia and what an amazing country this is!!! Everything is so intriguing-the language, the people, the architecture-the FOOD. I am eating a meal like every 2 hours because the food here is that amazing. There are all these street stalls and wonderful old houses just bursting with exotic dishes like laksa (this spicy seafood soup) and these kind of tandoori breads and noodles and lots and lots of indian food. Its a beautiful day here-nice and sunny and it just feels great. Kuala Lumpur is of the most interesting and exciting cities I've ever been to. Its just a remarkable confluence of culture and environment. The city is full of lush gardens in the midst of gigantic superstructures. It smells of petrol fumes caused by all the motorcycles and there is a serious lack of sidewalks but other than that, everything is great. Malaysians do love their malls, and at times the city feels like a giant one, but I'm so grateful for them because air conditioning never felt so good before today.

When it rains, taxis in Guangzhou are just like birds-they simply disappear-Hobbes would have been proud of the chaos people go through trying to get a taxi during a thunderstorm here.