My Free Day and some old and random Musings
6/8/06: Today, as a group we decided to just take it easy because we’ve been traveling around and touring full-time every day for the last week. I’m glad we did it, because it helped us recuperate and hang out in our last day traveling as a group. Tomorrow, we would be leaving Yunnan, some of us making our way towards Hong Kong, others leaving for other cities. So, I’m using this entry to include any tidbits I forgot to mention, including a brief description about another person we met in Shangri-La a few days ago, Mr. Abu Wandui.
I bring with me a list of travel writing tips that I printed from some online site before I left the states. I find the list useful and look at it every now and then whenever I need some writing inspiration or to remind me what to look out for when I’m journaling. One tip was: “Work in quotes from visitors…or the participants of a particular activity, and let them express their thoughts about how they feel about a place or activity.”
Another tip was, “Get involved in scenes as you travel.” A good reminder about why you’re there in the first place.
When we were in Shangri-La, we happened to come across an outside brown gate for an old house that had some newspaper articles posted in both Chinese and English. As we were reading about the history of the house, an old Tibetan man, who introduced himself as Mr. Abu Wandui, came out and started talking with us. Nancy identified herself as Taiwanese and instantly, he invited us into his home to talk about his life when he was imprisoned, during the Cultural Revolution and the house.
Mr. Abu Wandui took us to a dark room, and turned on his flashlight; as he pointed to certain parts of the wall, the light would reveal inscriptions or faces of Chinese rulers. He would continue talking about the age and history of the house and its history through various dynasties. He also pointed to a traditional Buddhist shrine. There were many currencies from other countries at the foot of the shrine. He handed us an information sheet and talked about the attempts to preserve his home. After he talked, we took some pictures with him and we gave a small donation, which he placed alongside the US currencies. We left, unsure what to believe, but also pondering how much the Cultural Revolution affected these communities. If at all, it was an interesting encounter, exchange, and visit to an old house in Shangri-La.
That evening, I watched a Chinese soap opera that had a white foreigner in it. Throughout the trip I would watch different shows, including some soap operas, previews of Chinese Idol (American Idol spin off), game shows, and/or the news. So here I was, now enthralled with this particular sh0w because it had one was British, and the other---had to be American. When they spoke Chinese—it was good, real good. Their acting, on the other hand, was bad, real bad. In fact, I pictured in my head, that maybe this American dude was a theatre major in some east coast Ivy league school but wasn’t good (looking) enough to walk the Hollywood red carpet. During college, he probably won a prestigious summer scholarship in China to probably study Chinese acrobatic theatre. Then, during the course of his studies, he probably found a theatre niche in the country and realized he could be idolized in entertainment. So, he learned Chinese, moved his residency to Shanghai and now—viola, he’s pursued his life long dream of acting, albeit on the other side of the world.
See what a day off can do? Haha just kidding.
I bring with me a list of travel writing tips that I printed from some online site before I left the states. I find the list useful and look at it every now and then whenever I need some writing inspiration or to remind me what to look out for when I’m journaling. One tip was: “Work in quotes from visitors…or the participants of a particular activity, and let them express their thoughts about how they feel about a place or activity.”
Another tip was, “Get involved in scenes as you travel.” A good reminder about why you’re there in the first place.
When we were in Shangri-La, we happened to come across an outside brown gate for an old house that had some newspaper articles posted in both Chinese and English. As we were reading about the history of the house, an old Tibetan man, who introduced himself as Mr. Abu Wandui, came out and started talking with us. Nancy identified herself as Taiwanese and instantly, he invited us into his home to talk about his life when he was imprisoned, during the Cultural Revolution and the house.
Mr. Abu Wandui took us to a dark room, and turned on his flashlight; as he pointed to certain parts of the wall, the light would reveal inscriptions or faces of Chinese rulers. He would continue talking about the age and history of the house and its history through various dynasties. He also pointed to a traditional Buddhist shrine. There were many currencies from other countries at the foot of the shrine. He handed us an information sheet and talked about the attempts to preserve his home. After he talked, we took some pictures with him and we gave a small donation, which he placed alongside the US currencies. We left, unsure what to believe, but also pondering how much the Cultural Revolution affected these communities. If at all, it was an interesting encounter, exchange, and visit to an old house in Shangri-La.
That evening, I watched a Chinese soap opera that had a white foreigner in it. Throughout the trip I would watch different shows, including some soap operas, previews of Chinese Idol (American Idol spin off), game shows, and/or the news. So here I was, now enthralled with this particular sh0w because it had one was British, and the other---had to be American. When they spoke Chinese—it was good, real good. Their acting, on the other hand, was bad, real bad. In fact, I pictured in my head, that maybe this American dude was a theatre major in some east coast Ivy league school but wasn’t good (looking) enough to walk the Hollywood red carpet. During college, he probably won a prestigious summer scholarship in China to probably study Chinese acrobatic theatre. Then, during the course of his studies, he probably found a theatre niche in the country and realized he could be idolized in entertainment. So, he learned Chinese, moved his residency to Shanghai and now—viola, he’s pursued his life long dream of acting, albeit on the other side of the world.
See what a day off can do? Haha just kidding.
posted by RENEWED at
9:26 PM
