Our trip to China was such a blur that I can’t remember in my head what the differences are between the cities that we visited. What I remember clearly, however, was our deliberate effort to NOT plan. Besides lodging and a few known sites, we didn’t pre-arrange anything. This gave us the flexibility to wander villages and towns, to turn corners that looked prettier or stranger than the rest, to walk into a coffee shop and pretend to be a local.
This wall appeared to us one afternoon while we were wandering the streets of Lijiang. It hit us like a brick, the sheer beauty of it, and we couldn’t believe that we had it all to ourselves.
I know, I know, it’s Macau again, but seriously, the city is a treasure trove of gorgeous photographs. It is blessed with the most beautiful, paint chipped, sun damaged, rotten walls. Buildings have a texture here. You can almost describe them as crunchy. Crusted, chipped and dry, they are beautiful in any light. If this apartment block were a cookie, it’d fall apart completely in your mouth into a thousand pastel pieces of dilapidated Asian architecture deliciousness.
This is an oldie but a goodie. Way back in November 2008, a good friend and I did a 10 day trip to China. Braving dodgy, local airline companies, we made it to Kunming and Lijiang. Cold, remote and ancient. We hired guides that could hardly speak English and explored dark, traditional tea houses in long-forgotten towns. It was the most exotic vacation ever. A totally different world.
This is an oldie, but a goodie. Taken in November 08 during a trip to China with JS. Hong Kong is a fusion of British influences and Chinese history. The food is magnificent: fresh razor clams, garlic crabs, fish noodles. We spoiled ourselves with foot massages and explored the chaos of Kowloon markets. Such a great place if you’re traveling with someone who is as open and relaxed as you. I miss it.
Baisha Old Town – Yunnan China
November 2008
This is one of my favourite pictures of all time. Many people can’t understand why. To me, it embodies everything that is precious about travel: the opportunity to witness the abnormal.
J and I were walking through Baisha Old Town, after having spent a few days in Lijiang. Baisha is like a poor Chinese version of a Western ghost town you’d see in an American movie: dusty, quiet, eerily deserted barring a few hippie tourists wearing rainbow t-shirts and dreadlocks. The center of town was tiny – with a handful of restaurants advertising yak meat and one cultural band in a storefront playing traditional music.
I caught a glimpse of the pig’s head sitting in the back of a tuk tuk as we walked down the main road. It was magnificent. I marveled at how beautifully cross-sectioned it was! You could see the esophagus! And the hairs on its ears! I snapped one picture and suddenly felt self conscious. Locals were staring at me. I didn’t want to offend anyone. I had paid no attention to the band or the other tourist promotions and instead marveled at the discarded meat. I hoped they didn’t think I was making a freak show of their daily life. If I’d had the chance, I’d have examined it some more – touched it, smelled it, taken a picture of its face!!
Taken out of context, the pig’s head is weird – strangely morbid. But when else are you going to see something so beautifully fresh, perfectly framed and so shockingly normal and abnormal all at once in your daily life?! Never!
The crazy strange images are what count.
I found this excerpt in my “Drafts” folder. Another example of why travel is so good for the soul.
I’m back from China. And I don’t think I realize just how much that trip has affected me. It’s the kind of trip that will take weeks to settle, the kind that was so stimulating and so mind stretching, that the effects will come only after I give myself the time to let it all seep through. It was amazing. Shocking, uplifting, physically and mentally challenging and just a real eye opener. I’m back feeling grateful, a little more wide eyed and stretched than before. I see things differently. There is a simple abundance everywhere. And I hope that this feeling lasts. I want it to live in me for a long long time. I’m full of so much mental energy, I really don’t know what to do with it. I am craving the stimulus, the novelty, the shock of being somewhere different and new. I love the idea of meeting new people, hearing their stories, making them smile. I feel somewhat limited in this life right now – stuck in an office all day, wishing for something different.
After months of planning and stalling and planning, J and I finally delivered on our much anticipated Wong Kar-Wai movie night. We were supposed to watch Chungking Express after having visited Chungking Mansions in Kowloon during our China trip. However, he couldn’t get a hold of the DVD so instead we watched In the mood for love.
And Oh. My. Gosh. What a gorgeous gorgeous film it is. There isn’t so much as a hint of a kiss in its entire 2 hours, and yet it is the most sensual film I have ever seen. Every frame can double as a stunning photograph. The colours, the flower motifs, the incredible Chinese dresses, the angles and the light. Breathtaking and a feast for the esthetically stimulated. And the soundtrack, the soundtrack! Violin and Louis Armstrong and latin jazz.
Drool drool drool. Just gorgeous.
I’m in the middle of nowhere having taken a 4 hour horseback trip over a mountain and two lakes. Going to freeze tonight in this random village where no one speaks english and there is no heating. Have been wandering gorgeous ancient chinese villages for two days and squatting over holes in the ground for toilets. People are super sweet. The setting breathtakingly gorgeous. Electric blankets are keeping me alive. The guides who took us up the mountain were wonderful. We sang with them in chinese and english for hours 
.
Other highlights:
- live chinese rock pop in random kunming bar
- warm fresh roasted chestnuts at street markets on cold nights
- sweet chinese people everywhere
- fabulous chinese raisin bread (but still not as good as the stuff we got in calgary!)
- an expat bar in lijiang called ‘sext tractor”
- spicy hot pots
- amazingggggg food
- beautiful old people sitting on the streets
- cute delicious round faced asian children everywhere
- how everyone stares at me because they think I’m chinese but not really
- riding rickety old chinese airplanes!!!
- cobblestone streets
- frozen toes
- frozen me!!
- debates about philosophy and memory and dating and happiness
- all this photography bliss
- trying to communicate with taxi drivers in cities where no one speaks any english!!!!!!
- then meeting sweet people who can speak english who want to help
- pushing myself out of my comfort zone and stretching the mind!!!! Amazing!
China is mysterious, beautiful and magical. What an incredible experience.
I have never seen a more gorgeous asian setting. Absolute magic!
Freezing cold
Fab food
Sweet people
Strange chinese techno pop
Good bathrooms so far
10 hours of exhausted sleep (finally)
Off to lijiang
Scared scared scared of what type of accommodations lie ahead… 
