June 29 Lijiang First Narrative

Hi,
This is the first narrative Kevin sent desribing his travel to China starting on the 19th July.
James

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June 19, 2009

The journey began at 12:00 P.M at SeaTac Airport. My father had just pulled into the Hainan Terminal. My mother, sister, and Wint had all come along to wish me safe travels as well as to exchange hugs that would have to last until mid-September. I particularly remember when my father stepped out of the driver seat, and I came over to say goodbye. When I looked my father in the eyes, it was a moment of pure joy, tears of happiness, and blessings. It was a moment I will never forget. It was just as difficult to leave Mom, Alana, and Wint. I know it was for them too.

I must say that I didn’t need to travel 10,000 + miles to Lijiang in the northwest part of the Yunnan Province in order to be surrounding with native Mandarin speakers. I just had to walk to the check-in desk for Hainan Airlines and listen. It was also obvious I was the only Caucasian. My travels were underway; however, due to mechanical problems with the airplane, the flight was delayed an additional 4 hours. During the wait, I was surprised to see Alex and his mother at the gate since they’re my neighbors. It turns out they were on the same flight to Beijing. Their destination was Chengdu, but they were going to transfer flights in Beijing. Due to the delay, we both missed our flight out of Beijing. We flew out at 6 P.M.

June 20, 2009

After an 11-hour flight, we landed in Beijing at 9:00 P.M. Alex, his mother, and I got our new tickets for the following day on June 21st (China time). There were actually about a dozen people who also missed their flights from the late arrival. We took a shuttle provided by the airline to stay at a motel. The shuttle was an experience of its own. Simply there was not enough room for everyone’s luggage, but in China, they find a way to squeeze it in. In the end, I sat on two large luggage bags in the middle of the aisle.

After checking-in at the motel, I finally got to sleep around 1:00 A.M. I was told to be ready for the shuttle at 5:30 A.M since my flight from Beijing to Kunming was rescheduled at 8:30 A.M. Alex and his mother’s flight was scheduled at 7:30 A.M. I decided I wanted to join them at the airport in case any problems may arise. I didn’t want to risk being stuck in Beijing. Therefore, I got up at 4:00 A.M to get up and be ready at 5:00 A.M to take the shuttle with them.

June 21, 2009

I was happy I had joined them because as it turned out the person who wrote down the flight number and other information the night before was unreadable. Thanks to Alex’s mother, we got that settled rather quickly. In addition, our gates were adjacent to each other. My gate was A12; their gate A11. I can’t say enough with how fortunate I was to have Alex and his mother there. I can honestly say that their support and help made it possible for me to get to Kunming safely.

At the gate, I also met Weiwei and Lili who were both students of Yunnan University. They had been on the flight from SeaTac to Beijing as well. I got their emails, and informed them about my travel plans over the next three months. I let them know that I was only staying in Kunming for one night. I mentioned that I wanted to purchase a Chinese cell phone and go to the Chinese Bank for some RMB cash. When we arrived in Kunming, Lili and his family offered to drive and assist me for those two items. Afterwards, they had a taxi waiting for me. All my errands were taken care of in a matter of half an hour. His family was wonderful, and I plan to reconnect when I return to Kunming to attend the Yunnan University. Once I was in the taxi, I was off to my next destination and that was the JingWang Hotel. I must say through all of this traveling, I am primarily speaking Mandarin especially when I left Alex and his mother. It was a feeling of true independence. The hotel accommodation was a single room on the 12th floor overlooking Kunming and the surrounding mountains. The room was a simple layout. It was a complete shock to the system knowing that I was on my own. The rest of the day as a travel could guess, I crashed!

June 22, 2009

I woke up early around 6:00 A.M and took a shower. This may surprise some of you, but the shower does not have a curtain separating it from the sink or the toilet. Basically, it acts an open washroom. The hotel provided a free breakfast on the 2nd floor, which is usually the case for most hotels in China. I checked-out about 8:30 A.M and then Luo Laoshi, Mr. Chen’s wife, brought me a typewriter by bike. Little did I know that typewriter weighed 30 or more lbs. I got a taxi to the Kunming airport where I would take my last flight to Lijiang. It was extremely difficult to carry my backpack, two large luggage bags, and a box holding a typewriter. I simply walked 20 meters and then had to stop. To make matters more difficult, when I went to one of the China Easter Airline check-in desks, it closed. I was informed to go to the backside for another check-in desk. I waited there, and then found out that for my specific flight, I had to go to desk #35. I was at #15. As you can tell, it was a lot of extra walking. I should note that many of the flights in Kunming are parked out on the runway, which they had shuttles running every half an hour. The weather was pouring cats and dogs (literally). I remember talking to one traveler who couldn’t believe they would allow any flights to fly in this weather. The flight was smooth except for one part. When the flight was coming down for a landing in Lijiang, at about 1,000 ft about the ground, the pilot accelerated the engines. In a matter of minutes, we were cruising at 10,000 ft. above the ground. We did a loop and came down for another landing safely. I honestly don’t know the reason for the abrupt acceleration. I think it was weather related. Once I picked up my entire luggage including the typewriter, I waited outside the airport entrance for the next shuttle to the city of Lijiang. The airport is on the outskirt of the city. On the shuttle, I met two French travelers. One could speak fluent Mandarin. He studied the language in Taiwan for five years and currently teaches Mandarin at a French University. He was intrigued with my plans in China and was certain my language skills will improve greatly. As we were chatting, I took a glimpse of the magnificent scenery. I have uploaded the pictures so you can see for yourself. By the way, as we chatted in Mandarin, all 15 other passengers were observing us and chuckling at the same time. It must have been an unusually sight to see two foreigners speaking their native tongue.

When the shuttle arrived at CAAC, Mr. Chen Yongsong was waiting to pick me up. The Green Youth School is on the outskirts of the city (about a half an hour drive away) near the banks of Lashihai Lake. It is the largest lake in Lijiang and a protected wildlife reserve for biotic life. As we drove to the school, it was interesting to observe the trucks and tractors that appear to have been assembled in the early 20th century but also pollute large amounts of emissions because they don’t have any mufflers installed. It was like a drive back through time. Not only were there a change in vehicles but also traditional agricultural. I saw farmers carrying baskets on their backs filled with hay or harvested crops. Even with the all the polluting vehicles, the air is the freshest that I have experienced in China.

Once I arrived at the GYS, I met Sam Massie (Ma Xiao) and XuanYang (Mr. Chen’s son) in the driveway. Sam is 21 years old and a senior at Yale University. He has studied Mandarin for three years, but he is economist major. Xuan Yang is 18 year old and absolutely loves cooking. After I settled in, it was one event after another. We had dinner at a local farmers house that was celebrating his son’s graduation from Lijiang University. The girls in the picture were all of his friends plus some others. It was a hot pot feast. We played some language games with beer towards the end and then drove over to do Karaoke in Lijiang. When they say Karaoke, they do it in style with large base speakers and a HD T.V.

June 23, 2009 to present – June 25, 2009

At the point, I will give some highlights of what life is like here and some of the fun activities I have done.

One thing worth highlighting is the outhouse. The outhouse has the toilet, sink, and shower all in the same space (no curtains of course). The toilet is connected to a biogas tank that provides methane gas for cooking here at GYS as well as fertilizer for the garden. The heating for the shower comes from the solar panels on top of the outhouse. It is a very nifty design. However, I realized after taking a shower on the morning of the 23rd, I don’t need to take one every day. Most people use it every couple of days or every week.

In terms of internship here at GYS, I am partnering with Sam on how to further expand the GYS by connecting all the different programs it offers. This includes YEN sampling –planting trees around the lake, education about the local ecology, information about biogas technology, and monitoring of local farmers who own biogas.

Our Goals:

・ To expand the Green Youth School for more tours and education groups

・ Build on people’s curiosity and enjoyment of the natural beauty of Lashihai

・ Educate about the rural life of farmers around the lake

・ Establish suggested donations or travel package that would support Service Tourism

Mr. Chen has created a program called catchCH4, which would bring investor and farmer together. It was based on someone purchasing carbon credits by investing in biogas technology for a local farmer. We thought of an alternative the focus much more locally, where investors can be tourist and visitors who come here and learn and experience the pristine beauty of this place as a biodiversity hotspot. They then can make a donation that would go to education, local biogas projects, and monitoring. All of the financial contributions would help benefit the local environmental and welfare of the farmers. The theme is preservation and sustainability of Lashihai.

I will give more details on this later.

In addition, I want to give this little tidbit. Who has heard of biogas? I know I didn’t know much about it before coming to Lashihai.

I though some of you must find the below information interesting in terms of the benefits of biogas for local farmers and the environment. Below, I have created a list.

Positive impacts of financial contributions to biogas

・ Reduce deforestation

・ Reduce GHG emissions

o Mitigate Climate Change

・ Protection of local biodiversity

・ Prevents indoor air pollution

・ Supports women who would usually have to collect firewood

・ Preserves/sustains and empowers the way of life (authenticity)

・ Sludge from biogas can be used as organic compost

o Cut back on the use of chemical fertilizers

Currently the two immediate projects I am working on are listed below.

At this point for the expansion of GYS, I am researching and collecting information about the local ecology, historical history, ethnic groups, and environmental programs of Lijiang and specifically Lashihai.

I am also researching the possible effects of the upcoming decision in Copenhagen on carbon emissions will have with Mr. Chen’s catchCH4 program in the future.

That is it for now. I will have a lot more pictures in the coming days. All the best.

Kevin Osborne