Beyond the known

Below there is a real musical masterpiece from Vangelis, a Greek composer, and a text from me, showing   what this music awakes in me. The music was composed for the movie 1492: Conquest of Paradise, which does not do justice at all to this wonderful music. 

Hopefully with this post I can picture in your minds what my imagination creates when I listen to this amazingly beautiful music. Below you have the story, which runs from the beginning to minute 9:47. I have put the times so that you can follow it and see how I put it together and compare it to your feelings, thoughts etc. But anyway, you can just not pay attention at all to it and simply listen to the music first or read the story and then listen to it or...whatever you want. Just enjoy it :)

00:00-00:54 [Columbus, thinking]:

-This is coming to an end. It is just a matter of time that they become against me. Despair begins to corrode my insides as I can breath the air of mutiny at all times. Do you ignorants think I do not see what is happening? I can see you whispering at all times in every corner. I can see your hateful filthy faces and your poisoned looks drilling through my skin. I can smell your anger, your fear, your insanity, your bloodlust!

[The crew whispering and staring at him. Plans to kill Columbus are on the way].

[Still thinking]:

-Where in the hell are you, my promised land, guilty of my dreams and follies? At which point did I leave everything and did I decide to go for you towards adventure? Show up, I can smell you, I can feel you. Please, do not deceive me.

00:54-1:22

No! I cannot be wrong. I will fulfill my destiny and make my place in history!

[Addressing his crew]

-Comrades! Brothers!

[Columbus is interrupted by a mosquito (a sign of a nearby land), which comes down to Columbus's hand. Columbus is stunned, speechless for a few seconds and starts whispering]:

-What is this? Impossible. Is this a sign from heaven? Are you a messenger, coming from the spiritual world to reafirm my words?

1:22-1:40 [still whispering]

My stomach is about to betray me. An electric current moves menacingly emanating from the center of my body to the end of my limbs. My heart pounding and the energy unleashed because it cannot be held anymore...

[Everyone else is motionless, holding its breath and staring at the sight of the messenger...]

1:41-3:06 (Read quite quickly) [Columbus raises his voice and continues the speech]:

I understand your weariness and despair. I feel your frustration and your distrust. I also suffer from this disease called fear! But together we will overcome it! We have set on a journey beyond the known! We have ventured down a path that truly represents the very core of the human soul, of human existence! This unique quality of the human race that makes us insatiable. That willingness to give up everything! To leave the family and our lives behind and venture into the unknown in search of glory and eternity! Our soul is thirsty! Thirsty for knowledge, hungry for adventure, hungry for greatness! We were born with a special spirit, a spirit too large for a human body. A spirit that encompasses humanity itself, desirous of expansion, terrorized by the physical limits imposed. A spirit that will rise above the heads of the worldly people, to write its name in the timeless History, the one which consists of demigods that were once incorrectly called men. We have confronted the mediocre and before them we have raised! We were born with a glorifying star and an inevitable fate! We were born to change the world and nothing will stop us. Our ancestors watch and impatiently wait for us to come to our destiny, that which we pursue with devotion, without trembling, without hesitation. Fear may sometimes contaminate our blood, but we always triumph over it and expell it from our body. Our mind can slack off at times, clouded with grief, but our energy and determination is incorruptible and before any inconvenience on the road, our glorious venture dominates.

3:07-4:26 (Read very slowly)

[Still the speech]

Beyond just the glory awaits us. We await riches without paragon. They will write books about our adventures, and will tell stories and songs about our findings and wealth. We will be immortal. The world will not be the same anymore because we will have expanded its horizons. God pushes our blessed Santa María with his omnipotence, while our ancestors and all the glories that have contributed to human development applaud with devotion. The mighty wind is just a mere instrument which drives us towards our realization as gifted spirits. That destiny full of riches is there, before us. Our name in history is there, right in front of us, at our reach. Are we going after it?

Yeah!!!!!! Our destiny!!! God bless Columbus! Come on ruffians, damn lazy bastards! Full sail, no time to lose!! Yeahhhhh!!! [Everyone sings in ecstasy].

4:27-6:09: Columbus looks towards infinity, glimpsing the promised land, while the cheers and chants happen, charging the atmosphere with energy and electricity.

6:10-8:34 (read very very very slowly)

The depth begins to decrease. Everyone begins breathing harder, wide-opened eyes, expressionless, unblinking. 200 meters! 150 meters! 100 m! 80 meters! Time is eternal and all the crew watches, concentrated trying to guess a sign of land through the dense fog that covers everything. After a while of confussion, impatience and tension, the fog finally leaves, uncovering the promised land. The one that will expand the boundaries of human knowledge. The one that will bring them wealth and will make them immortal. It is God's land, reserved for those who contain a giant soul.

8:35-9:47.

Columbus sets foot in it and overcome with emotion, raises his head and looks at the sky. He looks to one side and the other, watching the rest of the crew celebrating the arrival. There is no sound, no wind, nothing. He attends as a spectator to the grandeur of this land. Everything goes in slow motion, no sound and there is no place in him for a single thought because he is overwhelmed, and can only behold. His chest expands close to bursting and finally, he releases all that stored overwhelming energy, that of a giant, with a deep breath as he kneels in the sand and raises his hands to heaven. He is immortal, he is in history.

And here the actual part of the movie where they disembark

The Red Giant (final conclusions)

I had the intention of sharing my experience in China with this series of posts, nothing else. I did not have the intention to get deep into any particular issue or drive these posts into any political discussion whatsoever. It is true that i rised some points throughout the posts but never went deep into them. I cannot pretend to show more than what my visit was, simply 19 days traveling through a small part of China and having no knowledge of Chinese language at all. What i wrote is very simple, just impressions of a guy who has been traveling around enjoying a beautiful country and having serious difficulties to engage in a conversation with local people. These were my impressions and they are subject to criticism because they can of course, be wrong.

We also have to take into account the fact that i was in Sichuan only for 15 days. If we had had more time we would have planned it in a very different way. This means, yes, i am sure that you can avoid the crowds much better than we did. I can imagine traveling by bike, getting to more remote places and spending more time trying to find beautiful isolated places and do them yourself. This was out of our scope due to the time limitation but i think we still managed pretty well to avoid them. Just have this in mind when you plan any traveling there because any known place will be packed.

Other things you shouldn't get suprised of:

-At least in Sichuan, 90% of the food they shell is expired, in many cases it has been expired for a couple of months.

-The information centers are usually closed and if they are opened you will be very lucky if someone speaks any English at all.

-Of course people will try to give you a price which is at the very least, twice more expensive than for Chinese so...bargain, bargain, bargain and bargain.

The food is incredibly good. A few things you should try:

Dim sum in Hong Kong, which are small bite-size portions of food (let's say, kind of Spanish tapas). Try also their fruit like the dragon eye or the rambutan. The ice cream with mango and read bean. Hot pot in Sichuan, wonton soup and Chinese damplins, congee for breakfast, winter melon stew, crab balls, and all the seafood...endless list and you will love it. Of course everything accompained with rice for which they have this saying: “Precious things are not pearls or jade but the five grains” (one of them is supposed to be rice, and now it is included as “of which rice is the finest”).

I never thought i would find China so incredibly interesting and exciting. Unfortunately i only had 19 days there and i wish it could have been 19 months. This is my experience and I wanted to share it. Of course i am leaving many things, impressions and thoughts but i probably killed a lot of people with this endless post. I would like to read from other people's experience so...anyone who has been to China i would love to know about the experience. I am open to any critic. If somebody disagrees on something, considers something to be false or inaccurate or has a different view please share it, I would love to read it. If you just want to share another beautiful experience or thing about China, please, do it!

I also saw on the statistics of the Blog that I have also had a few visits from Hong Kong and China. I really hope you enjoyed it and I apologize if I offended anyone with what I said, it wasn't my intention. There are clear cultural differences and we cannot help find some very different and feel shocked about them, but that is also what made the trip more special. China has beautiful things but also others which I found really disturbing. This happens everywhere, it is not exclusive of China. Once more, if someone felt offended, I apologize.

I finish this with a funny observation. It is now trendy in China to wear rimless glasses (i think they are called like this, i mean glasses without glasses!). It was very funny to see it. As far as i know, there is no such a thing in Europe. Am i correct? I wouldn't be surprised if it also exists but I haven noticed. This is it about China. Share your view!

The Red Giant 5 (pilgrimage to the end)

-->

The last visit of our trip was to Songpang, a town of about 70 000 people a couple of hours from Jiuzhaigou. The center is beautiful, with the old city wall and beautiful streets, and you can see in the distance on a hill an impressive temple. Next day we start our 3 day horse track to Ice Mountain, an impressive mountain with its 5 600 m peak. We go with two locals: Go Chao, 27 years old, with two children (10 and 8 years), and another guy who is 18 and whose name is impossible for me to write. The place has an oustanding beauty and we go through small villages of a few hundreds of people at the most. Their small temples, their houses, their cementeries, their prayer wheels, their Tibetan flags, everything is magical there. I will constantly think of these small villages and people's smiles and greetings when they saw us. At the end of my time in China i was reading this book about the peasant's life in China, which is now banned in mainland China and which deals with all kinds of corruption mostly at the township level, the excesive taxation burden leading to loss of life among the peasantry, sometimes directly through murders and i recall these two examples in 1989 that took place in Sichuan. I will think of the beauty of these villages, people's smiles and this book, depicting a horrifying life in the countryside. The first night we camp at 3 200 m and we have a very nice evening chatting as much as the language barrier allows with Go Chao. The night is frezzing and with temperatures likely to be lower than 10 degrees below zero, i can hardly sleep, my feet are too cold. It has been snowing for many hours and i get out of the tent for just a few minutes, enough to see an amazing moon illuminating the night and giving a tenuous light blue color to the sky and showing everything covered with snow. The feeling was undescribable...

Next day we made it to somewhere above 4000 m, when we had to head back since the weather was getting pretty bad and we did not have good guear for that. That evening in the camp Go Chao wants to make a deal with me: i stay here in the mountains with the horses and the guear and he keeps my princess. Tempting but things stay the way they are and we enjoy another cold night, this time a sky filled with starts, probably one of the most beautiful night skies i have seen in the northern hemisphere. It has been three days and two nights in which we have been the only travelers and that was awesome.

                                   

I want to add that throughout my time in China i could observe that there is an absolute lack of ecological awareness among the ordinary people in this country. You will see them all throwing litter everywhere. I gave some snack to Go Chao and the first thing he did was to throw the plastic on the floor, and this is just the most stupid example. Going to a national park can be really painful if you have to face the incredible amounts of litter that accumulate in some places. A few times i shouted no! And i saw how the person who was about to throw something just looked at me surprised, with no understanding at all of what was going on. These people are directly going to self-destruction, with most of the rivers terribly contaminated and with CO₂ emissions which are expected to double those of all other industrial countries together by 2025 but...they do not have any education on that. The growth is at all costs and you can see that these people have never been told anything that can bring some environmental awareness...

Anyway, bus back to Chengdu and as terrible as it was the one to get here. As incredible as it sounds, we made 3 stops for 6 hours and a half of journey and in all of them they cleaned the bus on the outside, while people were spitting all over the place inside throughout the whole journey. I have only one more experience to add and i hope you have made it til here. The last day in Chengdu we visited the People's Park, which is simply incredible. Thousands of Chinese making groups to dance together all sorts of music including breakdance. Women putting a red carpet and doing as if they were models on the catwalk, groups of people doing exercise, other playing table games, other singing or playing badmiton and the best of all a place were there are lots of ads hanging on trees. These ads are from men who are looking for a wife so they write on a piece of paper their profile, the type of woman they are looking for and their address and phone number, fantastic. We even met these two guys who write stuff on the floor with a big brush and water. They say a few things in Spanish and also in Czech! They went crazy with Katka when they found out she is from Czech Republic and tell her a lot of stuff, one of them talking about the Russain soldiers and that he was with the Soviets once as a soldier blah blah blah...i do not remember well but uauuu, that was good. This is also another fascinating thing about Chinese people and it is all this social life and activities outside, which they also make in mass. We would sometimes be walking on the street and all of a sudden find a group of women together dancing in the middle of the street or stuff like that...

It is time to finish this endless Red Giant post. We take a train back to Hong kong and this time we do not think twice about it, we get a hard sleeper. I am reading this book about the peasantry in China, I am reading also about the environmental problems China is facing. I am thinking about the many souls i have seen in China. I am thinking about the misery i have seen and the crazy growth of the cities, the KFCs and McDonalds next to the hammer and sickle symbol, all the fancy shops and malls etc. I am thinking about how nice this people are and also the hygienic issues they have. I am thinking about the mass travel, the business they are making with tourism and the lack of independent, explorative travel. I am thinking of the innocent questions like why they cannot have facebook and also some of the restrictions and limitations that are imposed on them. I am thinking of something i realized and it is that throughout all this time, i have hardly seen anyone reading. I think i can count them with the fingers of one hand and i would have a few left, and they were just magazines. I am thinking of the large number of Chinese books and docummentaries i want to see and hope to have time for. I am also thinking of how many months or years i could spend traveling in China. I am thinking of their ancient history and of their Communist era. All this on a train that offers me wonderful moments like that of a child pooping on the sink or another child peeing on the trays and everyone throwing the rubish on the floor. This does not matter any more, I am used to it and the views outside, those i am watching through the window are simply spectacular...

The Red Giant 4 (Jiuzhaigou and the "Mass Travel")

It is early in the morning and we are heading to Jiuzhaigou Valley, a nature reserve and national park in norther Sichuan, located on the edge of the Tibetan Himalayan Plateau. It is 8 hours and a half on a minibus and now i realize i haven't talked about driving in China, that is, another extreme adventure. They literally have no rules here and i really wonder if they ever learn them at the time they get their driving licence or is also like this during their learning period. Forget about traffic lights, pedestrian areas, stops, directions etc etc. When you cross the road you will have to dodge thousands of motorbikes (many of them carrying entire families), bikes, cars, buses etc which will not stop for you unless they can almost touch you. Add to this that they sound the horn for everything. If they overtake, if a car is approaching them, if they are approaching a car, if a car is going to incorporate on the road, if they are going to stop, if they are going to turn and cannot see much (and if they can it does not matter, they will still sound it), for anything you can imagine, they will sound the horn and they are so well trained, that they can sound it dozens of times in a second, and this will happen every second minute (if you are lucky). Now imagine 8 and a half hours through a local road, with a driver who would never be allowed to take any type of vehicle here, hysterically sounding the horn, smoking all the time and casting away demons (actually he went one step further and he was literally vomiting his entrails) while overtaking in a way that made my heart climb up to my mouth. 

To make it is possible because the scenery outside is stunning. Going from subtropical-looking landscape, with misty hills, big lakes and lush forest to the more dry high altitute, with fast-flow very violent rivers, beautiful mountain ranges, sharp and rocky, and small Tibetan villages with big statues and old city walls. The forest is fantastic with reds, yellos, greens...an explosion of colours all merging to create an incredible collage. A bridge appears split into two halfs, i suppose result of the 2008 Earthquake that was quite devastating. We make a stop and i go to a public toilet which is simply fantastic. There are no doors so you can actually see everyone doing its “major business” and the toilets are like the Turkish ones so you see a line of Chinese squatting and doing their bussiness while smoking or checking their mobile phone. AWESOME.

                        On the way to Jiuzhaigou

We arrive and i cannot believe what i see: thousands and thousands of people (later on i find out that the park receives more than 2 million visits a year and about 10 thousand people a day during the busiest period which is of course, now while i am there. When i checked the website of the park there was no warning about this and looked quite good and remote, well...i was wrong. The website also said that people are not allowed to stay overninght in the park and it is only if you go with a guide for a 3-day hiking trip that you are allowed to. Of course there is no way to check this because nobody speaks a single word of English, not even in the hostels or tourist information center. 

Next day we head to the entrance where there is no information center (later we will find out that the information center is inside the park, quite a few km up, does it make any sense?) and of course no English so it gets a bit hard to get the ticket since the woman does not want to understand that we just want the entrance ticket and not the bus. These 10 thousand people are going in massive groups, hopping on a bus which will take them up to the top from where they can walk down or go back again by bus, making stops to take photos. She finally understands we do not want that and gives us only the entrance tickets and surprise surprise, we are the only ones doing the hike up (to be precise there was also a Chinese girl going alone which was a real surprise)...

Going on the walking tracks becomes marvelous because most of the time, there is not a single person. Actually, most of the tracks are closed and we find out soon why. There is a carpet of leaves and branches, fallen trees on the way and broken bridges which cross the river. They are not taking care of any of the walking tracks, which makes it more fun for us but, this is really disturbing and i will explain why later.

The park is incredibly beautiful, where the subtropical and temperate floristic zones meet with the Tibetan Plateau. To enumerate the wonders of the park would be endless but it goes something like this: beautiful forests of mountain conifers; their karst land forms with breath-taking waterfalls such us Nuo Ri Lang, the widest travertine topped waterfall in the world; the wetlands sweeping through weeds, willows and cypresses; the most stunning lakes i have ever seen, with incredible emerald, turquoise and azure blue colors and where the red, yellow, green and brown colors of the trees provide a magical reflexion on their surface; and the small Tibetan villages scattered throughout the park. Then you understand why it is considered China's top national park.

At the top once again we see all these shops selling all type of stuff you can imagine plus people offering to dress you up for the most costly photo of your life. Thousands of people with their cameras (some having two cameras, each of them more expensive than my flat), their ipads, their smart phones, taking pictures incessantly and then i think, Chinese people are incredible making business. Anywhere you go it is about trading and selling stuff and they can make business out of everything. From any shop to a guy who will try to find a hostel for you on the street if you give him some money or someone who will try to find you a way to sneak in a national park without paying if you give him money (i know this from the Chinese guys who were in Mount Emei). But this is already too much. It is a national park and it is pure business. The entrance plus bus costs 220 yuans a day (660 Kc, around 26 euros) which runs from 7 am to 6 pm. Multiply this by 10 thousand people and you get 260 000 euros a day! I really wonder what they do with it because you go on the website and in their “Sustainable tourism and conservation” section they mention some monitoring, reforestation blah blah. Well, of course i do not know how much effort they put into it, how much money is alocated into these things and how useful they are but at least i can feel a bit skeptical, specially considering that one of the things they proudly talk about in that section is their wooden walkways, which, if you remember, are closed and pretty destroyed...I wonder where all that money goes. They also write proudly about their Eco-tourism, which is: you pay much more for a 3-day trip with a guide. However, i suppose you have to order that beforehand through the website or calling, because nobody there speaks English and literally has no idea what that is about. It was still worth coming here. I cannot hide my disappointment about these things i mention, but the park is simply amazing, a real natural wonder. 

Mother nature is the best artist and next to this, that view of Hong Kong from Victoria Peak becomes nothing. If you ever go there, be ready to share it with thousands of Chinese taking a thousand photos per minute, pushing you out of their way if you are in between the camera and the thing they want to capture. Be ready to see people looking like they are going to a night club or for a regular walk on the street, including suits and high heels. Do not forget to go into the towns as you step into one of the other Chinese souls. I remember this one with their “stupa”, a conmemorative monument housing sacred relics, and their large size fixed “prayer wheels”, which pilgrims set in motion, going around the building in a clockwise direction. I remember the beautiful houses with their statues and people greeting you at the entrance. They are such different coexisting worlds...

                           

                         Stupa and the prayer wheels

So yeah, be aware that you will pretty much anywhere have to share these natural wonders with the expanding commercial development, that is, thousands of Chinese. Forget about any independent, explorative travel because China is were “mass travel” was invented, a country where individualistic behaviour is not encouraged at all. They travel in massive social groups, going where everyone else goes and at the same time. China is cheap but if you want to visit these places, be prepared to see your money disappear...

The Red Giant 3 (discovering Sichuan and Buddhism)

We head southwest, to Mount Emei, in search of some beautiful hiking and scenery. Mason warns us that it will be quite touristy but he has not been there since he was a child and i do not really believe him. Thus, we take the bus, looking for a sacred and remote place, searching for an unforgetable experience. Mount Emei's cultural significant is extraordinary because it is were Budhhism first became established in China via the Silk Road from India. The first Budhhist temple was built on its summit during the first century A.D., there are now over 30 temples on the mountain and some of them are authentic masterpices. Imagine these pieces of art surrounded by striking scenic beauty consisting of lush forest and a mist which, at times, uncovers the wild peaks of the mountains and you will understand why it is one of the four holy lands of Chinese Buddhism.

When we get there we find out how correct Mason was. We see hundreds of people with huge expensive cameras making their way to the entrance. I realize we stand out even more there since we are the only non-asians and besides, we are carrying our huge backpacks and wearing hiking guear while all the others seem to be just going for a Sunday evening walk. I think OMG! Where the hell are we?!?! The first few km is just going up the road and we see some small settlements and we even have the chance to see a postwedding celebration. On the way up i realize there is a reciprocal curiosity and great surprise between the Chinese and me. I look at the girls going up the road with their high heels in massive groups towards what is supposed to be a natural and cultural wonder and i feel fascinated, i suppose as much as they do when they see two foreigners going with massive backpacks on their backs like they are about to climb Mount Everest. We make it to the entrance where you have to pay an entrace fee which, if i recall well, was 240 Kc (about 10 euros) for students. The place becomes more and more beautiful and the more we ascend the less people we find, until we make it to a place where monkeys (Tibetant Macaques) often loiter. I understand why there are so many people, they have come to see the monkeys! We leave a man behind fighting a monkey and as we make our way through these little fellows, making sure they see we have nothing for them, i realize we are pretty much the only ones who continue further and then i take a deep breath and exhale it feeling relaxed...now yes!

After a few more km, the first temple appears before us. I cannot help holding my breath as i stand before a magnificient think which opens its doors to me. Getting in one of these old architectural masterpices is like stepping into a different world were the air is full of mysticism and the inner peace invades into the smallest corner of your body. The gardens, the gilded statutes cast in iron and bronze, the absolute silence and the peaks of the mountains in the distance, shrouded in mist. We were extremely lucky and we got in one of them just on time to watch and listen to the monks during one of their ceremonies and all this being the two of us the only visitors. I was close to having an epiphany! We slept in a temple that night, with the beautiful sound of the rats running back and forth in the ceiling above our heads. The experience of getting up early in the morning with the bells, knowing a beautiful hike was awaiting for us was just the icing on the cake...

After a few hours of hike we finally meet two more guys. They are university students and one of them speaks some English and he is really charming. He asks a bit about our countries and languages and what type of music we like and he says of course what he likes is pop. After meeting them several times on the way we find them with two more girls and an old man. One of the girls has been bitten by a monkey and she is scared. There is a pretty big group a few meters ahead and they are too excited. We make some sticks and the 7 of us go together, to show those monkeys they have to back away...

We wake up next day at 5 am to reach the top before the sunrise. We have heard the sunrise on the summit is simply incredible but unfortunately the fog is too dense and we cannot really see much. It is still worth it, we are on the summit, at 3070 m, were the massive statue of Samantabhadra, a bodhisattva (enlightened being) in Mahayana Buddhism, welcomes us. The summit also brings a surprise. There is actually a road that comes to almost the top through which dozens of buses bring thousands of people. There are lots of shops next to one another selling food, all type of merchandising, jewelry and where they even dress up people with traditional customs to take photos of them and charge them one of their kidneys (meaning a lot of money). There is even a cable car to make it to the other summit. All those shops with lots of Chinese people buying and taking photos are surrounding the temple and the Samantabhadra, holy places for buddhists. People are feeding the monkeys and throwing rubish everywhere and i go in shock. The journey to the top has been done in 40 hours including two nights, in which we have seen 5 more people. The place is full of signs asking for respect to the temples and the place, to keep silence and to carry all our rubish with us. It is a National Park, UNESCO site and a place of incredible cultural and natural significance. We are with the two Chinese students who came with their small backpacks to enjoy some free time and relaxation, and we are surrounded by thousands of Chinese flooding the place with plastic bottles, food debris and paper (which lie next to the sign that asks people to carry their litter), buying stuff and taking thousand of photos, all going in big groups. We take a photo the four of us together and some Chinese people come pointing at their cameras asking me if they can also have a photo with me. I forgot that i am still a fairground attraction for them, which i really love so of course i say yes. I am just having this feeling all the time since i got in mainland China that this gigantic country has two very well defined souls (definitely more) and that they collide in such a strong manner that i really wonder how long this can last. We go down to find out that the buses take you to the village for 50 yuan (150 Kc, 6 euros). If you count the number of people there and the distance of the journey, they are making incredible amounts of money.

Before heading back to Chengdu we visited Leshan and its Giant Budha. We were welcomed by massive floods of Chinese smiling at us and taking photos of us. For the first time we also see some other foreigners (non-Asians). The place is still worth it if you can really stand the crowds. A 75 m Budha carved in the 8^th century A.D. stands on Xijuo Peak, from where you can see the confluence of three astonishing rivers. Other monuments include the Lingbao Pagoda, the Wuyu and Dafo temples and Mahao Crag with its 500 tombs from the Han Dinasty. While waiting for the bus to go back to Chengdu we meet this guy who asks if we need help. We don't, but we start talking to him. He is actually an English teacher and he knows about Czech Republic and the split with Slovakia. He talks about Dubček, who attempted to change the Communist regime during the Prague Spring or Husák, the Communist leader of Czechoslovakia after the Soviets invaded it. I don't remember very well his words but he came to say something like: “Communism is nowhere here, it is an illusion, just like a dream”. He wishes us luck for our trip and we hop on the bus, back to Chengdu...

It is time for breakfast with an Israelian guy who is traveling around Asia and a Dutch guy who teaches English in China. It is also interesting the conversation because the English teacher tells me that the students also cast away demons during class (do you recall what that means?). He told me it is quite frustrating because they show no interest or motivation at all and that they are not used to engage into any participation. He said in korea or Australia he would always get feedback from the students but that in China it is impossible. He prepares games and other things but they never pay attention or they cheat. He said during his classes most people are sleeping, chatting or playing videogames. When i asked him about the age he told me they are at University! But also that they have no motivation because most of them have a lot of money or connections within the Party and those are promoted to the next course no matter what they do. Anyway after breakfast we head to the Tibetan quarter, which is really nice and from there through a nice park to an incredibly beautiful street with a Chinese opera and some amazing buildings. A guy on a bike with very long hair stops and tries to communicate but he doesn't speak English. We can hardly understand anything but he asks if we are from America. We say we are not although he does not seem to care and continues: “America, democracy”, pointing at his phone and showing other words like “woman”. I really wonder if he knows what he is talking about or he is just saying some words he has heard which make no sense to him but then he continues: “America, democracy”. Everyone who has tried to communicate with us goes around the same thing like communism, democracy etc etc.

We decided we had not had enough that day so we went to meet our friend Mason, who was giving a drawing lesson to some kids. We are invited to join them in their home. They are two girls, 14 and 16 years old and very excited about us being there. The oldest speaks quite decent English and so the question time begins. She asks me what teenagers are like in Europe. What they like, what they usually do and if they get as much homework as they do there (4-5 hours a day). An even better question comes when they ask me if i have facebook and say that they do not understand why they are not allowed to have it. After failing to answer those questions, they show us some drawing they are doing and some photos on their phones of drawings from other days. They do not have the originals and Mason tells us their parents quickly sell them or take them somewhere to try to get them a name. He talks about “tiger mums”. So it is actually true! If the children were not good at this the parents would never invest any time or money on it. We finally leave our little friends and we decide to end the night in a reggae bar where quite a few people are smoking pot. I ask mason what would happen if they were caught and he says nothing good but according to him it is ok because the police do not know what a joint is...That night we have to say goodbye to our friend and he tells us we are really nice which i really appreciate...he is a good guy.

The lazy Spaniards

-->

Something people from other countries find interesting about the Spaniards is their daily schedules. I am sure every single Spaniard who has ever lived abroad or met other people while traveling have faced the tremendous curiosity of those who do not understand how we can possibly begin having lunch at 2 pm (and sometimes even finish at 4) all year round, and have dinner as late as 10 pm (or later) in summer. Why Spaniards do not usually go out before 11 pm or seem to have so much trouble to wake up in the morning as fresh as our peers in other countries. This is usually attributed to our Latin blood, the warmth and good weather in the south, the party and other similar nonsense and it serves to support the extended idea that Spaniards wake up late and they are lazy. I am sure there are many factors involved and those mentioned above may have played a little role, making our disorder increasingly acute over time but it turns out that we can actually go back in time and track the main responsible for our schedule disorder.

I am pretty sure i am not revealing anything surprising and unknown for most of you when i say that Spain's timezone is GMT+1 although according to its geographical location it should actually be GMT zone, like that of Portugal or UK. Of course Spain also has daylight savings like any other country in Europe and so our timezone in summer is GMT+2. The GMT system is a global time standard where the Greenwich Meridian is established to have longitude zero degrees. Since the Earth is 360º and the Earth revolves once every 24 hours, that means that theoretically we should have a different time zone every 15º (360/24). This also means that the world turns one degree longitude every 4 minutes (4*15=60min). However, this does not apply to the real world and it is not really adjusted to exactly 15º. We have to take into account geographical, economical and political reasons. Thus, very big countries such as India or China span more than 15º yet have only one time zone. The same accounts for Europe in which not all countries belong to the time zone that would correspond to them according to their geographical location. A clear example is Spain. The Greenwich Meridian crosses Spain at two locations: 42º 41' N, 0º 0' E (Huesca), and 38º 52' N, 0º 0' E (Denia, Alicante). This leaves pretty much the whole of Spain on the same zone as the UK and Portugal. Ok, so i probably haven't said anything so far that you didn't know before.

                           http://www.teacherweb.com/IL/FoxMeadowSchool/MrsSeyller/printapt3.stm

One might argue that this brings benefits since we have the same time as in almost the entire rest of Europe and that anyway, if we have always been adapted to this, what's the problem? But it turns out that the use of GMT+1 is relatively recent in history and if you look at it, it seems we definitely did not adapt to the change very well. We actually had the same time zone as our neighbour Portugal until 1940, just as it corresponds to our geographical location. But then world war II came and the nazis decided to impose their time zone to the countries they invaded, such as France or Belgium, which also used the time zone of UK at the time. The Spanish head of the state Francisco Franco, arguing the desirability of a national schedule which proceeds in accordance with the other European countries, decreed the advancement of legal time in 60 minutes ( click on the link to see the document). We were not the only ones and the UK actually did that too. However, the British lasted only until 1945 with this modified time zone while Spain continued with it until our days.

It turns out that my great grandparents were having lunch at the appropiate time, that is, at around 12-1 pm. We no longer do that simply because we prioritize daylight, proving that we never adapted to the new time zone. Spain is completely misplaced regarding its daylight. The whole idea of the time zones is to optimize the use of daylight so that, for instance, the official 12 pm is as close as possible to the local noon, the time when the sun is at the highest point above the southern horizon. This simply cannot happen in Spain. Geographically speaking it is very far from many of the countries of central Europe. This means that on the East of Spain, there is a difference of an hour with respect to what it should be in winter, and two in summer. Now think of the west part of Spain and this becomes two and three hours respectively. This means that the sunrise in Spain occurs later than in any other place (on the west in winter we get the first light at around 9) and the day already begins quite messed up. A person who wakes up at 7 am is effectively waking up at 6 am. It means we actually wake up quite early and sleep less than the actual recomended time by the WHO. We are having lunch at around 2-3 pm and dinner at 8-10 pm so we should actually start working at around 10 am, showing that our workday is too extended in the morning and falls short in the evening, or at least it should. I say it should because you have to take into account other things. Although the schedules relatively go in accordance with the official time, in our customs we prioritize the daylight, so many people still go to work later than in other European countries and therefore, leave work also later. Add to this the fact that after the civil war moonlighting became something unavoidable for many people. They would have a job in the morning until 2 pm and another in the evening until late in the night, For this reason, there is this very long lunch break which runs for 1-2 hours, which is extremely inefficient and useless. Conclusion: we hardly sleep and our workday becomes endless.

It is growing the idea that we should really get back to the time that corresponds to us given our location. Many people claim that GMT+1 is really imparing our competitiveness, being the main reason of our low productivity. Besides, people go to work when it is still night and this might be increasing the risk of traffic and occupational accidents. In summer what we have is endless days, which, due to our hot weather, become sometimes extremely horrible. Getting back to GMT+0 and a continues working time without break for the “desayuno de media mañana” or a 2 hours break for lunch would imply having much more time alocated to personal time rather than working time. We humans are made to be awake during daytime and rest during darkness. Making this changes would allow us to make a better use of natural light and many people believe that this would positively affect health as well as the productivity and efficiency of workers and companies. Besides, other side effects might be less accidents, less school failure and a better reconciliation of work and family.

In conclusion, to me there is no point in having the same time zone as countries in central and eastern Europe. There is no economic benefit at all and we are just absolutely messed up, suffering from sleeping abstinence, having less free time available and besides, giving the wrong idea to the rest of the countries that we are just lazy bastards who party and then have troubles to get up and work. Let's just look at Portugal. They did the experiment in the 90's of adapting to GMT+1 and the result was quite catastrophic. Their 4 years experiment was translated into worse exam results and failure at school plus an increase in stress and sleeping disorders such as insomnia. It brought more road accidents in the dark mornings and the households increased the energy expenditure. If it proved not to be valid in Portugal and we see quite similar things happening in Spain over the past 70 years, what are we waiting for? Besides we would have the same time in the whole of Spain and wouldn't have this aberrant situation in which the Peninsula is one hour ahead of the Canary Islands. I really wonder how many people would be eager to change it and go back to our right time zone. But whether some people like or not, it is obvious to me that we could only benefit from it. Just to conclude, next time you talk to a Spaniard and are about to say something like “mañana” or how lazy we are, no work only party, blah blah blah, think about this first :).

The Read Giant 2 (when the bridge is crossed)

We are in Guangzhou, basically across the border with Hong Kong. It is 23:30 and our train for Chengdu is leaving at 8 am. We have more than 8 hours ahead of us and of course haven't booked any accomodation. The same weird smog in the hot and humid air and dazzling lights all around us. There does not seem to be too much of a change, does it? People approach us on the street, grinning from ear to ear and shouting alo alo!! They want to get us accomodation or some food and I will not forget this woman after her offer. When i pointed at the floor meaning i am just sleeping right here, in front of the railway station, she looked at me shocked, eyes bugged out releasing a very long ohhhhhhhhhhh. So yeah, sleeping mats extended onto the floor, boots off and ready to take a rest! Meanwhile more people are coming to join us because I forgot to mention that we were not the first ones and definitely not the last ones taking that decission.

                                           Guangzhou, in front of the train station. Just at the 

                                               beginning, before getting completely packed.

Soon we are surrounded by hundreds of other Chinese lying on the floor (watch "Last Train Home", a Chinese documentary about the migrant workers traveling back home for New Year's festivity). From entire families to single individuals, from very old people to young guys, from some people with cool clothes (including this guy with the hammer and the sickle depicted in a pretty fashionable way) and smart phones to homeless. The bed they prepare is at least as diverse, ranging from simple pages of the newspapers to mats, blankets etc. Don't you believe that we went unnoticed. I felt watched all the time and i really loved that feeling, it was so funny. People taking photos of us or coming over to check our mats and chat with us (in Chinese so you can imagine). We were also introduced into their wonderful hygienic habits, meaning spitting every 30 seconds with a ripping sound as if they were casting away demons and other things for which i have no words since “disgusting” falls short. It is almost 6 am, I have been awake listening to and watching fascinated all these people picking up newspapers and cardboard, entire families sleeping on the street, vendors with their carts, “wonderful” ripping sounds and the police taking away someone every now and then. All of this surrounded by massive buildings, loads of lights, KFCs etc while a rooster can be heard in the distance. It is time to sleep for a couple of hours and i do it with this in my mind: it is different, indeed...

Up for one of the most hardcore experiences of my life. About 32 hours of train on a hard seat and I think it is unnecessary to say that we continue being the only foreigners here. The first hours are really fine. I am just watching through the window and it could not be more fascinating. I read there is a saying in China which means something like “For the new thing to come, the old must go”. It is incredible this whole cicle of construction/destruction. The countryside was incredibly beautiful: lush forest, wild misty hills, beautiful lakes and croplands... and every now and then i would see something which was hard to accept it as a village. Houses and buildings abandoned or even half constructed, horrible facades and all of them extremely close to each other, leaving no space for even a normal street. No cemented streets, no square, no shops, no parks, no temples... nothing, only sand, bricks, debris and weeds. All of this surrounded by beautiful nature and everything seemed desserted if it hadn't been for some people every now and then working on their fields.

While I wander in my thoughts about all this misterious land, life continues on the train. That is, people are speaking very loudly, making jokes and laughing. They are incredibly noisy and it is particularly striking because people of all ages are like this. For instance, we had next to us this group of man definitely above their 40s who would be listening to this horrible music which would be really loudly, and they would be laughing and watching everyone around making sure everybody hears it even though many people, like us, were trying to sleep. There are a few things you need to know about them. There is a bad side, which is the absolute lack of many of those things we call hygiene or education standards. This means you have to be prepared for people of all ages jamping on their seats, shouting, open mouth while eating and sucking their food, casting away demons (if you recall what this means and believe me, you won't escape from this no matter where you are, whether it is on a train, a bus or anything) and throwing everything, but everything, on the floor. Oh, i almost forget, they blow their nose with their hands. Another thing which still might belong to the bad side is that they have no understanding about private space. They will literally invade your space, take your book or your stuff to check it without asking, sit almost on top of you etc etc. If you are capable of handling this, then you can enjoy the good side which is, they are generally really really nice. They will smile at you and observe you like you are the most amazing and fascinating thing they have ever seen. We tried to have a conversation with this bunch of men and you can imagine the level of that conversation. We tried to say our countries in Chinese and a few more things and everything turned to be very lovely so although we hardly understood anything, we all laughed and took photos together. This will happen to you as often as you want, because they will be keen and many will offer you food, whatever they have. Do not reject it. Another fascinating thing was this member of the train crew who was every few hours trying to sell something. Jesus, this people are good at selling stuff. At the beginning it looked more like he was angry and would practice his martial arts with all of us. What an intensity, what a dramatism. I didn't understand a single word but hell, i am sure i would have bought that belt if i had understood. He was talking about it for like half an hour as if he were discussing about politics in Europe! That belt had for sure even a car incorporated. Anyway, I must move on and will only add that by the time we were only a couple of hours from Chengdu i was feeling i would collapse and would not make it to the end of that journey. Do not ever try this hardcore experience, at least not in China, believe me...

                              Some of our friends on the train to Chengdu

We are in Chengdu with Mason, a Chinese artist who very kindly offers a bed for coach surfers. When we get to his flat, i am driven back in time to my father's atelier and my uncle's studio. The oil, the canvases, the easels...and he is actually a pretty cool guy. Finally someone we can have a conversation with. He talks a lot about Europe and he actually knows quite a lot about European film directors, artists etc. In between all the stuff about Europe and his sudden jokes about sex, he also tells us his view about China. He says they are at a stage where pretty much everything is allowed as long as you do not question at all the party and the structure of power. I ask him among other things about homosexuality, since that guy in Hong Kong told me it is more accepted in mainland China than there. Mason's view is that it is not officially accepted but they just turn a blind eye on it, put a curtain over it and claim it does not really exist. Just about that time the observation comes that Mao's head is on every single money bill but the ones which worth 0.5 and 0.1 yuans (0.5=1.5Kc=less than 6 euro cents). Those ones worth nothing and therefore, contain people...

                              Mason, a Chinese artist and our friend from Chengdu

The Red Giant 1 (Hong Kong, the bridge to China)

-->

It is 5 pm and the excitement comes over me. I am in Hong Kong, former British colony and today enjoying its status as a special administrative region (SAR) within the People's Republic of China. I hop on the bus that will take me to the city from the airport. The massive skyscrapers make their appearance and it is hard to imagine that this was once a small fishing village. We cannot wait and go to the city center. The city vibrates with energy. Although the sun is already gone, Hong Kong continues illuminated. A feast of colors on all fronts, flashing and dazzling greens, blues, yellows, violets etc. The lights adorn the entrance to every single business and restaurant, and make impossible for the eyes to avoid swallowing thousands of ads. The Gran Vía street in Madrid or Piccadilly Circus in London will from now on look like dead isolated places to me. People flood the streets making of Honk Kong the place where “lively city” takes on the height of its expression. Street markets, restaurant terraces, karaokes and hundreds of stalls where people go for someone to read their future. We walk through a street consisting of dinning places and pick one. Forget about having a table for yourself, the whole street is packed with thousands of other hungry groups, making of Spanish street life a mere beginner.

After a delicious dinner, we go in search of a good club with a local friend. We see some cool places but they are basically empty. I am thinking it is 10 pm and Thursday, most people will work or have class tomorrow and i suppose there is not that much of a partying culture here. I couldn't be more wrong. We were told those places would get full in a few hours, that it was still too early! At this stage i was really wondering if i had perhaps mistaken the flight and i was in Spain, were people are famous for their sleeping abstinence. We made our way to another street were there was literally a different pub or club every second meter. At first i thought of small Jomfru Ane Gade in Aalborg, Denmark, taken in Hong Kong to an extremely larger scale. But since i don't remember too much of my experience in Aalborg due to their wonderful “free drink” tickets, i thought of trying to get some Madrilian districts like Argüelles, Moncloa, Chueca and Huertas into just one street. This comparison is just to get an idea of the number of clubs and people in that street in Hong Kong. Anyway, think of a very busy street in any European city, full of clubs and you will get a glimpse of what i am talking about. Lots of clubs with beer, wine, cubatas, cocktails, Djs, exorbitant prices, massive black bouncers, drunk girls dancing on the disco bar and the mainstream music you can listen to anywhere in Europe. I would have thought i was in Europe if i hadn't had, despite the large number of foreigners, Asian-looking guys accounting for 90% of the people around me. 

We finally made a move to those places i talked about before to realize that indeed they are full. These are smaller, darker places, alternative to the “mainstream” clubs, where we enjoy other types of music, just as they happen to be in Europe. It is 5 am and as we walk through the streets i can only think that the expression “The city that never sleeps” must have originally been used for Hong Kong. After a delicious “good night” snack, we go back to the flat to sleep, and on the way we see many locals, mostly above 50 years old, who start up their day by doing some excercise and streching in the parks. We leave a vibrant, boiling city behind, and the sun rising. Not bad for a first day in Hong Kong.

The next days in Hong Kong were just as exciting and interesting as the first one. Thanks to the wonderful advantage that my princess is now living in Hong Kong, i had the opportunity to meet quite a few locals and share some of our time with them. If you ever go to Hong Kong, i think you will love the food and the variety: Chinese, Nepalese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Indian...and this is real stuff, not the fake, although tasty, things they tend to cook in Europe. It was interesting to meet young people from Hong Kong. They were all quite excited about meeting and having westerners as friends. Some had already been to Europe and others could not wait to going there. I had to face some questions like “what are women like in Spain?”, a question i never got to answer properly i suppose. I was told by a girl that women in Hong Kong are still too submissive and not independent enough and that many still expect to be supported by their husband and just ask for money and stuff. I was also asked how things are in Madrid regarding homosexuals and I answered i believe Madrid is a very open place regarding sexuality and other things. I was told in Hong Kong gays are still quite not accepted, at least not well seen. I was also told there is hardly place for art in Hong Kong, that it is an absolutely bussines and consumer oriented organism and as such, art has no value and place in society. That for this reason, homosexuality and other “different” options also have difficulties to make their way in their society.

It is not my purpose to judge all these things on my post, this is simply what i was told. They also talked about the established idea that they must work very hard in order to get a flat in Hong Kong which, by any standards, is inhumanly expensive. I was told the first year of work people do not have paid holidays and the maximum they can get is 14 days a year, after almost 10 years working. I can imagine that taking a two week-vacation in such a bussines environment may be a career-killer in many cases. We talked about the prices and size of the flats and I understand why people stay with their parents home until their late 20s or so (another thing they share with the Spaniards). Of course i just met a few locals, and this small sample is pretty skewed since thay are all university students or people who have been working in Europe and/or have visited other places, such as a guy i met who works as a flight attendant. It was still interesting. Another interesting thing is that i was told people in Hong Kong are very religous and have strong beliefs, being buddhism by far the most embraced religion. I always found fascinating the contradictory path that many people take by defining themselves as very religious. This was, to me, a very good exaple. How Buddhism can be so apparently spread and important in a consumerist city which is considered to be the world's freest economy, with all what that implies. Meanwhile Buddhism is rising in Europe in an attempt to escape from materialism.

We ended the second night by going to Victoria Peak, offering an incredible view of Hong Kong. This panoramic view was accompained by a mixture of feelings. I must admit that although i liked the food, the vibrant city center, the street life etc. of Hong Kong, i was shocked from the beginning with all the malls, advertising, shops, skyscrapers and materialistic attitude that has flourished there. I will not forget the first metro i took, where probably >80% of the people have their heads immersed in their phones, ipads and other devices and where there are screens constantly broadcasting ads (Europe is definitely going towards that). I was there at Victory Peak watching the whole of Hong Kong, million tones of steel and concrete, dazzling lights, the massive harbour and the coastline with its hills, and despite all that thinking of a materialist society, market, business and bla bla bla, i have to say the view was amazing and something i had never seen before.

                               http://stockphototops.blogspot.cz/2012/10/victoria-peak-hong-kong-free-stock.html

But just to recover from such an incredible view, we headed next day to the coast line of Hong Kong, where many walking paths welcome those who want to do a bit of excercise either running or simply hiking, and those who want to leave the city and enjoy a bit of beautiful nature. We slept on the beach where we could finally enjoy a sky filled with stars. I do not know whether it is smog from pollution, or simply the high humidity, but do not expect clear skies in Hong Kong city center either during the day or at night. There is this weird mist which really, i don't know if it is mostly due to pollution or simply the weather. The coast line and hills of Hong Kong are beautiful and I strongly recommend to go there. You will also see locals doing one of their favorite things: barbecues. There is no camping or fire restriction there and the coast is filled with many tents of people who want to spend their weekend there, chilling and making barbecues. One thing you really need to have clear in Hong Kong and mainland China is that it is almost impossible to escape from the crowds.

But after a little taste of what Hong Kong can offer, I need to move on and this is when the real adventure comes: mainland China...