Tuesday, October 01, 1985

Wuhan,David Perry English Training Center,30.59248,114.28965,18,S —
30.592595,114.289511,The David Perry English Training Center
Here's where I taught English for three years. I lived upstairs on the fourth floor my first year there, which got to be annoying as students were always coming to my door, sometimes early in the morning, for help with their homework or for English practice. The school was on the second and third floor of a complex most of the rest of which was a clothing factory. Directly below us on the first floor was a restaurant where I had my first dinner with my new colleagues in August 2001. Across the street from us was a good hotpot restaurant (the light blue, backwards L-shaped building) called Fish Head (鱼头)—and they did put a great big tasty fish head in your hotpot. Unfortunately the restaurant closed during my last year in China, and I've heard rumors that this whole area is going to be torn down to make way for the entrance to a tunnel under the Changjiang River. Behind the school is the Trust-Mart supermarket where I did most of my shopping my first year in China.

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Wuhan,Guiyuan Temple,30.547636,114.253231,17,S —
30.547284,114.253285,Statue of Guanyin (观音), Buddhist Goddess of Mercy
Built in the 17th century, Guiyuan Temple (归元寺) is most famous for its hall of 500 Arhats (阿罗汉). Visitors often get their fortunes read by picking any statue as a starting place, and then moving down one statue for each year in their age. They will remember the number of the statue they end up on, and can later purchase a card with some cryptic verses on it (in Chinese). A fortune-teller will then offer to interpret these verses for you.

On Guanyin's birthday (day 19 of the second moon), there is a large celebration here.

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Wuhan,Jianghan Road,30.581923,114.288079,16,S —
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This is the famous pedestrian street in Wuhan, Jianghan Road. It's in the old European concession area, and lots of old European buildings flank each side of the road

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Lhasa,Potala Palace,29.65716,91.11758,17,S — The treasures housed here are amazing.

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China,Great Wall,40.355595,116.009375,17,S — The Great Wall (长城) was started in the 3rd century B.C, and was extended and rebuilt over the next several hundred years. This is the Great Wall at Badaling (八达岭), the most oft-visited, hence the most restored, part of the Wall. Here you can see the huge parking lot for the hundreds of tour buses that come each week.

I came here in 1993 and climbed to the farthest and highest point you can here, and you can see it still snaking over the hills for miles and miles. My friend and I then ran back down, and he tripped and skinned up his knees pretty badly. The Chinese have an expression, "if you've not been to the Great Wall, you're not a real man" (不到长城非好汉). I wonder what they would say in this case?

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Xi'an,Qin Shi Huang's Tomb,34.381864,109.25354,16,S — This mound of earth is believed to cover the actual burial chamber of the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇). According to Sima Qian (司马迁), the first great Chinese historian (and considered by some to be China's Shakespeare), the tomb contained a model of China, with flowing mercury representing the rivers, lakes, and seas. A revolving map of the stars and planets was on the ceiling, and countless riches were buried with the emperor. There are also several booby traps to counter would-be grave robbers.

The Terra-Cotta Soldiers are to the west nearby.

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Xi'an,Terra-Cotta Soldiers,34.38476,109.273324,17,S — Pictures do not do them justice. You have to see them in person to be able to truly appreciate the vastness of it all, how many soldiers there are, how long it must have taken to create them all. Despite the impressiveness of it all, I couldn't help but be irreverently reminded of the collection of GI Joe's I had when I was younger.

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Wuhan,Wal-Mart,30.580052,114.285681,17,S —
30.580052,114.285681,Wal-Mart (沃尔玛)
Wal-Mart opened up in Wuhan in 2004, my last year in China. It was actually not too far away from the apartment I lived in that year. I was (and still am) wary of Wal-Mart opening its doors in China, but I was fairly impressed with the store. It is bigger, cleaner, more stylish, and more various than any Wal-Mart I have seen in the U.S.

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Wuhan,Yellow Crane Tower,30.547072,114.296919,18,S — Yellow Crane Tower (黄鹤楼) is Wuhan's most famous landmark. Several classical Chinese poems, for instance this one by Li Bai, aka Li Po (李白), are set in or near the famous tower. Yellow Crane Tower was rebuilt in 1985, after a fire started from a cigarette butt, so I heard.

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Wuhan,York Bar,30.589035,114.297032,18,S —
30.589035,114.297032,York Bar
I spent many a fond hour here drinking beer and cracking jokes with Sugar, the jovial owner.

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Saturday, June 01, 1985

Hungary,Lake Balaton,46.839881,17.746353,9,H — Lake Balaton is the largest lake in Central Europe. It covers a fairly wide area (592 km²), but it is surprisingly shallow in several places. Indeed, one Hungarian writer (can't remember who) in a humorous story about Lake Balaton made reference to Jesus walking on water.

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Monday, April 01, 1985

Mexico,Paricutin Volcano,19.493528,-102.251118,16,S — This volcano in the state of Michoacán erupted in 1943, and continued growing and erupting until 1952. I came here during my San Miguel trip, and we rode horses through the apocalyptic landscape to get to the base of the volcano. It was the first time I'd been on a galloping horse, and I got caught up in the moment and went without my shirt. By the end of the day I was beet red. We climbed up the volcano on foot and walked around the perimeter of the mouth. They say Paricutin will never erupt again, but I saw several places where steam was coming out. After we tumbled down one of the ash flows, we rode our horses to the nearby ruins of San Juan Parangaricutiro, one of the villages destroyed by the volcano. All that's left of the village is part of the church.

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