Portrait of an LBX

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

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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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…)

By Andy

I am still sitting in Shanghai nursing my wounds. A trip through the circus-like (but cheap) Chinese medical system last Thursday and Friday left me with a week’s supply of anti-inflammatory drugs, a two-week supply of some other pills that will supposedly help to regrow my cartilage (i.e. my degenerated menisci — I’m pretty sure the pills are just glucose and crushed seashells or something) and orders to rest for at least a week. For the benefit of family and other readers in the West who may not have had any exposure to the Chinese medical system, I’ll give a little overview of the experience. If you’ve been through it yourself there’s probably not much new in this post.

A little Interwebs research leads me to the Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital in Hangzhou, to which Evan is kind enough to accompany me (we figure his own experience with knee trouble and the Chinese medical system will be useful). I should preface this explanation by saying that my trip to the SRRC Hospital is the smoothest and least frustrating of my encounters with the Chinese medical system.

The hospital is massive compared to the others I have been to in this country. The first thing I notice upon walking into the lobby is that the place is clean, and no one is smoking — a relief after visiting my sister in a Sanya hospital where she was recuperating from an attack in a bar in which she had a couple beer bottles broken over her head. The main lobby consists of an information desk (where we are immediately given some incorrect information) and a row of ladies behind glass, resembling tellers at a bank. My only complaint about the SRRS Hospital (outside the dysfunctional medical system in which it operates) is that this row of ladies at computers acts as both the registration and payment center, which means everyone has to wait together to complete either task. Other hospitals I’ve been to separate these. (more…)

By Evan

The origin of this post’s title derives from both the landscapes through which we have most recently passed and the unfortunate temporary loss to rehabilitation of our teammate and preeminent photographer, Andy. Wise men have made note of — in addition to the equally fitting adage “only fools rush in” — the tendency to go astray of even the best laid plans. Sage Woody Allen likewise reminds us, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.” It’s easy to plan the equipment list, the route, the goals, the budget, the website, and a million other details necessary to make our trip possible, but there’s just no planning around inclement weather or bodily breakdowns. Today as I write this post from Shaoxing, it is sadly for the first time without Andy at the same table keeping us up to date on world news and editing his most recent take of photos. For those savvy on sports injuries, he has irritated the menisci in both his knees — probably the result of old stress placed thereupon during his hurdling days from the college track team — and has returned via bus from Hangzhou to Shanghai for R&R and second opinions. If you have any tricks for quick knee recovery or are a practitioner of any tribal religion / voodoo in which it is possible to heal a knee via strategic pricking of Andy-effigy (we’ll prick anywhere), your help will be most appreciated.

**Note: for the time being pictures in these posts will come mostly from my point-and-shoot Canon and not from our pro. Please excuse the quality deviations.** (more…)