Portrait of an LBX

Jour 75 (05/12/09)

Centrale nucléaire de Sanmen(三门核电站)-Linhai(临海)

Province du Zhejiang(浙江省)

-env. 73km-

Aujourd’hui, grasse matinée: réveil à 10h30. Nous recevons des nouvelles d’Andy qui nous dit qu’il aurait une inflammation du LCA (ligament croisé antérieur), ce qui nécessiterait, entre deux semaines et six mois de repos. Mais il doit faire des examens complémentaires. Aucune décision ne peut être prise pour l’instant. Et Andy n’envisage pas continuer l’aventure en scooter.

John appelle pour nous proposer de rester une journée de plus, mais nous ne pouvons pas, car nous devons écrire, et nous savons que si nous restons, nous (surtout Evan) devrons passer la journée avec notre hôte. Donc, pas de temps à perdre. Après le check-out, nous retournons dans le bar-restaurant déjeuner avec John et sa compagne: soupe tomate-basilic, sandwich-frites.

Nous partons à 14h30, direction la ville de Linhai (临海), qui, située dans les montagne, à 60km de l’océan, porte bien mal son nom (Linhai signifie ‘près de la mer’). Pas très bien remis de l’effort d’avant-hier, nous avons un peu mal aux jambes, mais la douleur s’estompe avec les kilomètres. Sur le chemin, nous passons devant plusieurs lbx rassemblés pour vendre en gros leurs tangerines. Ils nous disent que leurs agrumes sont destinés à l’étranger. Les acheteurs présents près de nous les enverrons en Russie. Nous repartons avec une bonne douzaine de tangerines gratuites.

Vendeurs de tangerines sur le bord de la route. Les acheteurs les exporteront vers la Russie.

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By Andy

Via Evan, I recently became acquainted with an article by Peter Hessler from the June 2007 issue of National Geographic titled China’s Instant Cities and an accompanying set of photos by Mark Leong. In the piece, which is highly reminiscent of what we are trying to do with our trip but written with the benefit of extensive amounts of time spent with the people he interviews, Hessler writes about one of China’s numerous, newly created industrial zones.

The story, which Hessler writes primarily from the perspective of a factory manufacturing bra rings in the boom town of Lishui, Zhejiang, touches on many of the themes that have been evolving throughout our own trip, most notably the frantic rush for development at the cost of quality, aesthetics, culture and just about any other positive concept you can think of. The story’s subheading rings particularly true:

China is in the fast lane, ignoring every speed limit. Cities spread like a cartographic contagion. (more…)

Jour 73 (03/12/09)

Huangze(黄泽)-Sanmen(三门)

Province du Zhejiang(浙江省)

-env. 155km-

Comme d’habitude, le réveil sous la tente est un véritable cauchemar. Nous n’avons pas très bien dormi, et le soleil tarde à faire son apparition. Lorsque nous quittons notre planque (après avoir utilisé nos derniers pétards qui commençaient à m’encombrer), il est déjà plus de 9h. Ce qui est très tard, car l’ancien boss d’Evan nous attend à Sanmen, qui se situe à plus de 140km! Franchement, personnellement, je n’y crois pas beaucoup, Evan non plus d’ailleurs… Auparavant, nous avions déjà fait plus de 100km, mais nous nous levions à 5 ou 6h. Aujourd’hui, la tâche me paraît impossible. Nous verrons… En attendant, nous nous arrêtons dans le premier village pour nous remplir la panse.

Nous trouvons un petit boui-boui, où la patronne nous prépare un plat de niangao assez moyen, mais aussi des raviolis aux légumes et des baozi fourrés au miel et à la pâte de haricot rouge, à tomber par terre. Alors que nous bouffons, un petit vieux commence à nous parler. Il nous demande ce que nous faisons, d’où nous venons, et commence à comparer nos pays. Et ce qu’il nous sort est ahurissant de connerie: “中国好还是美国或者法国好？” (« Qu’est-ce qui est le mieux entre la Chine et les États-Unis ou la France? »), “都好！” (« Tous sont bien! »), “对，都好！可是中国地理位置比较好！” (« Oui, tous sont bien! Mais la position géographique de la Chine est la meilleure! »), “是吗？为什么中国的地理位置比较好？” (« Ah bon? Pourquoi la position géographique de la Chine est la meilleure? »), “因为中国在东边，而太阳也是从东边出来！” (« Parce que la Chine est à l’est, et le soleil se lève à l’est! »). Nous faisons mine d’acquiescer. Puis il continue: “浙江最好的地方就是宁波。因为宁波在最东边！太阳就是从那边出来！” (« Le meilleur endroit du Zhejiang, c’est Ningbo. Parce que Ningbo est le plus à l’est! Le soleil se lève là-bas! »). Merci, Professeur! Après ce petit déjeuner très instructif, nous reprenons la route.

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By Evan

This is an update to yesterday’s post. Last night after a day out in the city, when we returned to the hotel, the staff was, to our surprise, angrily waiting for us. “Why did you go to the police with that registration form!?” As we said yesterday, we had to process a visa with it. “But why the police!!! They came here and fined us because you hadn’t registered properly here!!!” Her implication was that after they had copied our passports and let us go to the room, we had intentionally refused to tell them what the information on the passports means so they could enter it into their computer, which then sends the info via a national standard registration program and the internet to the cop shop. Our response: first off, visas are only processed at the police station –- sorry you didn’t know that. Second, it’s not our fault that you didn’t register us properly. If you needed us to enter information into your computer, you should have asked us at the time. “The boss made US pay the fine!!! Now we’re going to make you pay a fine to us!! We’re going to make you pay a fine to us (我们罚你们！我们罚你们!)” the one feisty girl screamed at the top of her lungs. In the end, it turned out that the fine was 200 yuan, split over a few of the poor girls for not properly registering us in the computer when we showed up. I got on the computer and filled in the row after row of trivial information on the program I’m actually getting to know quite well now – down from 15 minutes the first time I tried to less than 3.

Nevertheless, this afternoon Alexis picked up his visa without problem. Tomorrow we’re back into the wild to find the She minority in the deep mountains. Stay tuned.

By Evan

Dear readers, we’re back and broadcasting after a couple days on the road. First I’ll get you up to speed on where we’ve been. Our plan was to wake up bright and early in Linhai to rock and roll half to 2/3 of the 200 km to Wenzhou. Best laid plans again, it took us forever to wake up, clean the bikes (they were creaking like haunted houses, took 2 hours again), eat, and get on the road. Once out the door, we were sidetracked by the old town of Linhai, which we stupidly hadn’t been to before by fault of not asking. Once we had taken our fill of pictures, the skies opened up on us. Did I say 100-133 km? I meant 50 through the rain before stopping in Xianju (仙居) next to the old town. At least Xianju had a little character to it it – not a terrible place to stop for the night. The following morning it was up at 5am for the remaining 150, and wouldn’t you know it – more rain! Thankfully it stopped around 10, or Alexis might have been visa’ing on his own. It did, however, kick enough loose dirt into the bikes so as to completely undo the cleanings they had just received. Despite the wet start, the ride, though long and laborious, afforded some spectacular views. [see all pics on theFlickr site]. A good long 150 km saw us finally across the bridge spanning the Ou River (瓯江) after dark and into the metropolis of Wenzhou, home of the “Jews of China” near 6:30. We threw a much needed, big honkin’ sushi dinner in our bellies, and it was lights out but quick around 10. (more…)

Jour 71 (01/12/09)
Shaoxing(绍兴)-Shangwangcun(上王村)
Province du Zhejiang(浙江省)
-env. 45km-

Nous nous sommes couchés à 19h, et c’est 12h plus tard, à 7h, que nous nous levons. Après une bonne douche, nous remballons nos affaires, grignotons quelques baozi à la pâtes de haricots rouges et une galette aux œufs, et retournons au Starbucks pour prendre un café. Internet, c’est bien sûr très pratique, mais son addiction menace souvent notre progression. Ce n’est qu’à 11h que nous partons.

Au début, la route est remplie de camions et les paysages sont horribles. Nous décidons alors de bifurquer vers une petite route de montagne. Les pentes deviennent vite très abruptes, mais le décor s’embellit considérablement, et nous traversons quelques petits villages qui ne manquent pas de charme.

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By Andy

Related post: On the Chinese Medical System and a Rest in Shanghai

With each visit to a doctor, I increasingly feel like medicine is more guesswork than science. I’ve seen three doctors in the past two weeks, each laying blame for my knee troubles on a different part of the knee. The first doctor in Hangzhou seemed sure the problem was with my meniscus and that the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) was perfectly fine. The second doctor, a surgeon at United Family Hospital in Shanghai, looked at my MRIs and saw slight tearing in the ACL, saying that the meniscus was a bit degenerated but would heal itself just fine. The third doctor, an orthopedic and sports medicine specialist at United Family, after looking at the MRIs and making some seriously painful jabs at my knee, said that the problem was with my patellar tendon, which is inflamed where it connects to the shin.

The latter, Dr. Chen, gave me three options: physical therapy for five weeks, a cortisone shot, or surgery. Due to communication issues, I had an extremely hard time getting him to explain to me why I would do any of these three things or what the hoped-for result would be for any given treatment. When pressed, he suggested I start with physical therapy, maybe get a cortisone shot, and do surgery as a last resort. Well, that seemed pretty reasonable. Worryingly, he also said that it looked as if my knee had developed incorrectly, with something-or-other being higher than it should be, thus making it likely that these problems wouldhttp://www.portraitofanlbx.com/wordpress/wp-admin/post-new.php continue to pop up. The consult, vague information, some anti-inflammatory patches and creams and a referral to a physical therapist set me back 1,700 yuan (nearly $250). An orthopedist friend of my mom’s suggested that the structural issue Dr. Chen was referring to was likely patella alta, where the kneecap sits too high, making for an elongated patellar tendon, which is inherently less stable. (more…)

Jour 68 (28/11/09)

Hangzhou(杭州)-Shaoxing(绍兴)

Province du Zhejiang(浙江省)

-env. 55km-

Ce matin, nous essayons de nous lever tôt, sans grande réussite, puis allons prendre un brunch dans un boui-boui. J’invite mes coéquipiers à goûter du oufen (藕粉, soupe de rhizome de lotus, spécialité locale), car j’adore cela, et il paraît que c’est une spécialité locale. Malheureusement, ce que nous sert la patronne n’est pas du fait-maison. Elle s’est contentée de mélanger de la poudre de rhizome achetée au supermarché avec de l’eau chaude… Nous ajoutons à notre repas quelques plats de légumes. Evan et Andy complètent avec un café Starbucks. Puis nous repartons direction la gare routière. Evan accompagne Andy pour acheter son billet et monter son vélo dans le car… une opération de près d’une heure!

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Jour 64 (24/11/09)

Anji(安吉)

Province du Zhejiang(浙江省)

Ce matin encore, le réveil n’est pas brutal. Enfin… sauf pour Andy qui souffre toujours du genou. Conclusion: le départ est à nouveau reporté. Après un petit déjeuner identique à celui d’hier (nouilles au bœuf et niangao), Evan et moi partons à la recherche d’une fabriques d’objets en bambou, alors qu’Andy retourne au café pour se reconnecter sur internet.

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By Evan

Forgive me, readers, for it’s been a long time since I last posted. Before I begin, I’ll note that I have been alerted that most don’t appreciate my rants about how overwhelmingly terrible modern Chinese cities weigh on me. I genuinely do lament the way China has been constructed over the last several decades, and I wish from the bottom of my heart that something could be done to salvage what I see as the finishing off under updated pretexts (aka Scientific Development) of decent urban culture that was started back in the Cultural Revolution. That said, I’ll try to keep it to a minimum unless a particularly egregious offense forces my hand.

So back to where I left off: when last I wrote, Alexis and I were in Shaoxing trying to angle a tour of a huangjiu (黄酒) factory. Since the slackers at the biggest factory in town don’t work on Sundays (the nerve), we resigned ourselves to head into what’s left of the city’s old neighborhood and experience huangjiu the way LBXes do — 6 yuan (~$0.88) per warmed iron kettle (big enough for 4 cups full) with a big dinner. Several hours, another incredible meal (the best food of the trip so far has come from Shaoxing and its environs — I swear it’s universal that the food just gets better the further south you go), and six, seven, eight, or who knows how many kettles later, and we were on the alley after midnight with no hotel. Who needs hotels when you’ve got tents and an old neighborhood to camp in anyway, right? Anyway it made sense to us at the time, so we as quietly as we could drunkenly manage set up our tents in a courtyard among a cluster of houses next to Lu Xun‘s former house. An LBX heard us, came out and asked very worriedly what we were doing. Just camping, leaving tomorrow, we told him. “Oh, then sleep well,” he said before going back in. A few hours later at 6am when my alarm went off and the steady throbbing of my head entered my conscious thoughts, we packed up and made to head out. “Why are you up so early? You could sleep a few more hours!” said the same man from the previous night on his way out. Sometimes I love LBXes, I really do. (more…)