Leaving Mongolia

Woke up in the ger, used the outhouse across the dirt road (much nicer than all the public bathrooms), then relaxed and watched the sky. The guys woke up and we had some breakfast. Sola returned to get us. We saw a group of 60 and over Korean women tourists doing some cute little marching exercises, having a great time with big smiles on their faces. We sang all kinds of silly songs in strange voices on the ride back, to amuse ourselves and every now and then Sola too. At the hostel Sola said she was very happy and we all felt a good about the short time we spent together and a little sad to be parting. We got back with Mike who was still sick, as was Andy. We checked out, put the heavy bags in the hostel storage, then got a ride to the State Department Store with the hostel owner (he had some bank business to do near there, regarding the travelers check Andy gave him). At the State Department Store we met up with a Mongolian friend of Andy's who had just returned from Washington after a a few years of not seeing Mongolia. She was really surprised at the rapid expansion of buildings and cars in Ulanbataar.

Omar and I were a little messed up from not eating properly the past few days, so Mike kindly suggested that we go to the one vegetarian restaurant that we had been to a few days ago. It meant Omar and I could eat a much needed, proper meal. I ate two. After, we head back to the State Department Store to look at last minute souvenirs. I picked up a bunch of Mongolian artwork, showing examples of a some different styles I really liked. Andy's friend left to go spend time with her parents, and we met up with Hulga (a talented Mongolian musician we met at the Black Market, who told us about the Naadam Cultural Festival). We sat down in a cafe and talked for a while. He had invited us to a traditional music show the previous night, but three of us were already leaving for the gers. Mike had enjoyed the concert with him the night before. It was good to hear his perspectives on Mongolia and music. He gave us a taste of some demoes he was working on. I hope to hear the finished songs when they are ready. We sat for a couple of hours before he kindly dropped us off at the hostel. We grabbed our bags and the hostel owner offered to drop us off at the train station. I have to say, I really appreciated how nice both these people were to us. They really went out of their way to help us and make us feel welcome, as did several other people on the trip. He even helped Andy get his train ticket, and Hulga came back to give us Andy's camera which he had left in Hulga's car. We thanked them both and walked to the platform ready to board.

After a while, we boarded, and met some new people. Andy wasn't sure if he'd leave with us or later when we bought tickets, so his ticket ended up being in a different car. We had a Mongolian man named Sik with us, and made friends with a guy named Jaigal (or Jack) who accidently sat in our compartment with us for a while before realizing he was in the wrong one. He spoke some english and turned out to be a huge death metal and hard rock fan. He was 38 years old but had the crazed energy of a 16 year old. It was a lot of fun talking to him because he was so excited and kept laughing and explaining Mongolian history, culture and relations with interesting animated hand gestures and phrases. It was hilarious and made the trip so much more fun. He went to his compartment, but hung out with us a lot. Sik was quieter, but polite and smiled. Andy joined us and shared his Khumi (traditional Mongolian throat singing) skills to the delight of all, including an older woman from next door who watched from the hall with a big smile on her face. The six of us sat around talking, laughing etc. They shared some Areg with Andy and Mike and chatted for a long time. It was funny talking about all these bands with Jaigal. I had a headache again and didn't feel too great, so I climbed up and slept on the bunk above. A little later, Andy and Sik swapped compartments, so Andy could stay with us and we all went to sleep in our respective compartments.

Tsuralg, Mongolia

The next morning, I spoke to an American girl at the hostel in Ulanbataar named Micky. She had been in Mongolia for a while and was now working for the art council.

Andy, Omar and I decided to take a trip through the hostel. The thing with Mongolia is that visiting there is really about going to the other areas and exploring the countryside. We didn't have time on this trip so we focused on Naadam in Ulanbataar, getting the sick well in our group and not getting rest sick. We did want to explore the rest and hope to do so sometime in the future, but for this round we hired the hostel owner's sister in law to drive us out to a beautiful if tourist centric scenic area called Tsuralg. She didn't speak English, so we played her Mongolian music tapes, with genuine interest in exploring local music. We left the city, passing increasingly sparse populations, until it was all open land with gers in the distance.

We drove up a dirt road by some rock formation until we stopped at a cave. Sola (our guide and driver) let us out at the side of the road and the three of us, Andy, Omar and I (Mike stayed home sick at the hostel) climbed up into a cave with some Mongolians. We talked for a bit to the group in the cave then climbed out and continued by car to a huge turtle shaped rock formation.

  

We bought some ice cream and brought back some for Sola, which was reciprocated by her with some choco pies. Up until this point she really did not speak to us, but from here on out she started to enjoy herself and open up more. It's no fun to take someone on a trip and make them feel like they are just there to facilitate you. It's so much better to try and make it fun for everyone involved. We checked out some art shops and the stall of an artist named Chimid. Omar and Andy bought some nice sketches by Chimid of the surrounding landscape and Mongolian ger life. Chimid was very warm and appreciative. By this point Sola had joined us, rather than staying by the car or off somewhere.

We drove further to a spot where Sola pointed out rocks on the top of a mountain that seemed to depict a person reading a book. Thankfully we drove past a fancy hotel with a golf putting range and stopped at a ger camp. Local families rent out extra gers for tourists from inside and outside Mongolia. While that is not the same as getting to know a family and spending time with them in a non tourist area, it seemed a good first taste to suit our limited time in Mongolia. The family rented a ger out to us and brought in some tea and food. We ate, rested, I did a quick watercolor sketch and then a fifteen year old boy came with some horses for us to ride. Sola took one horse,

Andy, Omar and I each got on our own horses. Sola and the boy led Omar and my horse respectively on the way, but Andy managed to handle his. They were very tame horses, if a bit stubborn at times. We went down across a river, then into the woods, slowly making our way over varying terrain. The boy didn't speak much as he led us to his home, where his father and younger brother sat with their cattle. Sola milked a few cows until she had filled a bucket with frothy milk. I wanted to try, but I don't think she understood. She really enjoyed it. Next we sat down in our riding guide's ger with his father and younger brother and were treated to some milk tea and yogurt with biscuits. We asked the family if they knew any songs. Andy and Omar used some Korean which Sola could understand having spent time in Korea to communicate and Omar had also picked up some good Mongolian phrases. We asked if the family knew any songs. They said no, so we just started singing some for them. They smiled and clapped along. After a few, Sola and the shy children started to sing. Sola sang some really beautiful Mongolian songs and the boys giggled shyly and added a word here and there. Finally it was time to return to the ger we were staying in, so we rode back. This time I rode the (very tame) horse by myself, with some prodding from the boy when it would go too slow. On the ride back, we all sang songs. The boy opened up and we even had him and Sola singing parts of Junoon's "Saeen." It was great to see everyone opening up and connecting like that. There's a really sweet feeling in sharing that music together. We heard a number of beautiful Mongolian songs too. Seriously though, we need to work on some new songs.

Back at the ger, we ate some dinner and then sat outside with some Mongolian men waiting for their own food. They were pretty friendly and Andy shared his Khumi (traditional Mongolian throat singing) which they really appreciated. Omar joined in, using a bottle for percussion and I joined in with some singing also. Some people formed around us and it was fun to get people clapping and singing a few verses in languages they did not know as we tried to bridge the gap between their language which we did not know and our own. We asked them to sing, but no one did. I had heard that Mongolians love singing songs together, but no luck. Finally it was time for them to eat, so they all went in their gers and we went to ours to get some sleep. It turned out, the party was just starting for everyone else and we heard lots of singing and talking early into the morning. Though we tried, we weren't really able to connect all that well to most of the people at the ger camp we stayed in. People were amused by our music, but that didn't really connect them to us on a level much beyond just some tourist showing up at a tourist place, but it was a good time.

Resting and the Lemons

 

With two of us sick and rough traveling behind and in ahead of us, we decided to take it easy. I updated my blog and relaxed until evening. We walked to the State Department Store, where I replaced my stolen camera. We stopped at the pharmacy where I was very entertained by Omar and Andy miming their symptoms and the medicines (motion sickness pills and antibiotics respectively) they wanted to a non English speaking staff. Lucky for them, a Korean Air hostess walked in and helped them out with her perfect English and Mongolian.

We walked around looking for traditional music performances, but could not find any. Instead, we checked out a fun Mongolian band called the Lemons at the Grand Irish Pub. It was fun and I managed a sketch. The set was short, but I managed to sketch two members, before the place closed and we walked back to the hostel.

Naadam

 

Next morning we went to the Naadam Festival. We wanted to go to the opening ceremony, but the hostel wanted to sell them together. So we went to the stadium, figuring we would take out chances there. Along the way, most places were closed. We met some tourists from Holland and walked with them to the Naadam Stadium. Along the way I photographed some interesting graffiti and old trains. At the stadium there were many people all around. We managed to get all 4 of us tickets to the opening for a good price by bargaining just before it began. We quickly rushed into the stadium, and I realized that someone had likely picked my pocket and my camera their own. I felt crummy about it, but I still had my video camera, so I shot some memories with that and tried not to think about it too much. Being there was more amazing than owning a camera. There were lots of acrobats, dancers and parades of archers, wrestlers, horsees and performances with Buddhist masks and music. The crowd was excited and you could tell there was a lot of pride and love for their own culture. The crowd dispersed considerably once the preliminary wrestling began.

We watched for a bit and then walked outside the stadium, looking at stalls. Andy and Mike drank some Aireg (traditional fermented Mare's milk drink) and we hopped on a bus to the valley outside the city where the horse racing and cultural exhibits were taking place. Out the window, the cityscape turned to green hills and gers in the distance and after a little over an hour we were there.

Mike got in a long line for food. Omar and I sat down in the grass and a soon a couple of teens on horses dropped by to say hello. We traded broken English back and forth. They were nice kids and after a bit said goodbye and rode on down the hill. Andy joined Mike (still in line) while Omar and I walked off to look for the cultural area we had heard about at the market. As we approached a circle enclosing a bunch of stalls, we heard a man calling for us to come over. We went over and a Mongolian man and his wife and mother or mother in law asked if we were Muslim, then invited us to join them. They offered us some food, though we had to decline as it was not vegetarian. We talked for a while with the couple. The husband worked with a lot of Muslims in Malaysia and he mentioned that there were some Pakistani businessmen in Ulannbataar who imported second hand Japanese cars which were put to use by the Mongolians in their capital.

His brother had just finished up some beautiful paintings of horses along the circular enclosure for the Naadam Culture Festival. Suddenly people started walking to the trail below to watch the young horse riders race past. The crowd cheered and we watched for a while before walking back to Andy and Mike. They were still in line, but understandably frustrated and angry at this point. They had been cut many times and once by a family where the father wanted to fight with them for being upset that they were cutting on front of them in line. Fed up, they left the line and walked with us to the Culture area. We missed the two live traditional music performances, but managed to check out booths for traditional games, felt art making, traditional music where Andy sang with a Tuvan singer. At the felt art making booth, I spoke to a young Mongolian girl who suggested I should make a piece. As an artist I really wanted to try it, so I purchased some tokens and came back to do just that. While we were waiting, the girl asked how I liked the event, and my only problem was I could not find any food I could eat. She walked over and grabbed a bag of chocolate from her stuff and gave it to me. We talked for a bit while waiting for the felt artist to be free so she could show me how to make a piece. Then when the artist was free, the girl kindly held on to my bag for me and I went to work with this artist. The girl provided some translations between me and the artist. The artist was a really nice woman. I suggested we make flowers, so she started making one on one side of the wool sheet and I made one next to it.

She took her time and very sweetly explained by example how it was down. We used soapy water to make the fluffy wool manageable. She shaped an fiery flower with some great color mixing. During the process she was a little uncertain at my flower. Without the stem it looked like a colored blob. She said "This one my flower, that one yours." and I couldn't deny that it looked pretty strange. I managed to pull it together once I added the stem and she could see where I was going. Then she complimented it and asked which I liked better. I felt that they were both best together. There is nothing like the connection you feel when you create art together. It is such a beautiful and joyous experience to just enjoy creating something with someone in such a free manner.

We both had so much fun working on it together, we exchanged emails and I asked my Mike to take a picture of all of us together. That experience is what traveling is all about to me. Connecting with people all over the world is simply amazing. Andy, Mike, Omar and I walked around some more as the booths closed down one by one. We bought tickets for the evening music show and just hung out, talking to event organizers from the Mongolian Arts Council etc. I did a quick sketch of the beautiful sky and hills. Living in the city it is easy to forget how amazing it feels to be surrounded by such beauty and to breathe such clean air. Andy, Mike and I walked to the traditional Mongolian games stall, which had long since closed. An old Mongolian man in traditional dress with endless patience played a game where he flicked a plastic disc off a rectangular piece of wood to try and hit two tiny ankle bones on a chest across from him.We watched for a while as he kept getting closer. After each try, he walked over and picked up the disk, only to return to the tiny stool and try again. Finally, he invited us to try by motioning to us. He replaced the ankle bones with a larger target of a row of plastic cylinders. Without any common language he patiently showed us how to do it. Andy tried, then Mike. I watched and learned from each. Surprisingly I managed to hit it within a few tries and then Mike and Andy tried again until they got it too. We thanked our host and walked to where the concert would take place later. We met up with Omar and bought tickets.

 

The concert began as the long Mongolian sunset began. We sat in front and I knocked out some sketches of solo and collaborative Mongolian and Korean music performances. We talked to the organizers a bit afterward then hopped on the performers bus back to the city.

Ulanbataar

 

  

Took it easy today. A slow start to regain som energy for the Naadam festival which begins tomorrow. We walked toward the National Musical Instrument Store. There were some interesting buildings along the way, met an Indian American from Berkley named Jaspal while passing the parliament building, shortly after my encounter with the Duracel (yes duracel) bunny. He was working on medical research in Mongolia, helping people to make use of technology in remote areas. We ate at a Ukranian restaurant where vegetarian means big pieces of meat.

It's hilarious to try and explain to cab drivers how to take us back to our hostel. It is by the train station, and we usually say choo choo, and then Omar drew a train. It cracks up even the most serious cab driver every time. So far we keep making it back to the hostel using that method.

I lost my photos from this day because my camera was stolen the following day and I had not downloaded them, so here are photos by Omar of our adventures that day.

Ulanbataar Arrival

Day started with us still on the train to Mongolia, but now on the Mongolian side. Flat desert land changed to flat grass land over time. We could see some horses, sheep and a few gers and shacks along the way. It wasn't until we approached Ulanbataar that we saw some small buildings. Little Chengaiz dropped by a few times and Andy played some Sepultura for him on my ipod and headphones. He liked the headphones. As we neared our destination, he sat looking very pensive out the window and shied away when I took a photo. We spoke to the Mongolian ambassador to Turkey (or maybe he just worked for the embassy there, not sure) along the way. Eventually we reached there, and I felt a bit better. We were all relieved after the 30 hour ride.Mongolia is fascinating. As far as I know, Ulanbataar is the only city and there is diverse scenic beauty to be had all around. This city is in the middle of gorgeous grassy mountains. We washed up at the hostel as the rain died down. After we walked around waterfilled potholes with a girl from the hostel. We grabbed some food at a vegetarian restaurant and then took a trip to the Naran Tuul Market, which was like a Jumma Bazaar (Friday Market in Pakistan). We had been warned by the Mongolian Ambassador to Turkey not to bother going there because of pickpockets and it was dirty, but we went anyway. It was interesting, with all kinds of household goods, clothes etc. We saw a traditional street performer singing, and Andy tried out some of the Mongolian Fiddles (he actually has one at home so he knows how to play it). It was fun to see him play and to see the surprise and delight of the people selling the instruments. They were happy to tell us about the instruments. On the way out, we were very lucky and ran into a group of people promoting Culture Naadam, Nomad Arts Festival. We are here in Mongolia to check out the Nadaam Festival, which is the biggest cultural celebration in Mongolia. There are many related celebrations going on throughout the town and many people from all over the world are here to enjoy it. It starts on July 11th. The people we ran into were promoting an arts and music focused Nadaam event where there will be horse racing, archery and perhaps wrestling, but there will also be tons of musicians and painters..I can't wait!We walked back to the State Department store; a 7 level shopping mall and checked out some things there before grabbing some food across the street and taking poor sick Andy home to the hostel. The taxi ride home was pretty entertaining. Omar ended up drawing a crude looking train after we spent about five minutes saying choo choo to try and explain that we wanted to go near the train station.Finally we got home, checked some email and crashed.The people here are interesting. My first impression is of a sort of macho attitude and at first people did not seem to smile, but then some did later on. There seems to be a strong connection maintained to their culture, though pop and hip hop is a strong influence here as well. The weather is cool and the scenery is breathtaking. The traffic is very slow, but people do seem to stop at lights, and there is a better chance of a car stopping for a pedestrian here than in China.

Beijing to Mongolia

The next morning we got up too early and head over to the train station to catch the train to Ulanbataar, capital of Mongolia. The diverse scenery of China along the way was fascinating. There were all kinds of small industrial and farming communities. As we traveled further, the landscape transformed from grassy fields and rocky hills to flat, barren desert with sparse vegetation and back again. The wait staff on the train was horrible. One guy, my friends had nicknamed "pork rind face" kept messing with us. The staff in the dining car were always hanging out refusing to serve food (at least whenever we went there) and coupled with the 30 hours of travel it made for rough going. Andy and I felt sick. My head really hurt and I felt weak. All we could eat was ramen and chips etc. We made sure to stock up, but after a while you really want something with more substance. 

There was this hilarious little Mongolian kid who spoke some English, Mandarin and Mongolian on the train. He'd come by and visit, and each time we'd wonder which split personality would be on exhibit. Sometimes he was really nice, and polite, saying sorry, as he squeezed past other passengers hanging out in the hall. Other times you could say something to him and he'd get this adorably evil look on his face and just keep telling people to shut up (not so cute). That's when I'd worry that little Chengaiz would lunge forward and drink my blood at any moment.

Apparently the tracks are different on the Mongolian side versus China. So once we reached the last border town in China, we stopped for 5 hours, going through Chinese customs, and a lovely train wheel replacement process that involved lots and lots of ramming. Most of the passengers were let off before this began, while those of us who were foreign to China or Mongolia were forced to stay on the train as our passports were scrutinized by customs outside. No one told us anything as we waited, My friends and I were the only ones in our car left with "Pork Rind Face" who slept in his room and told us we could not get off the train. The cars were disconnected as the laborious process of replacing wheels took place. I felt pretty miserable at this point, and we were all pretty irritated.Eventually, they were letting some people from other cars (we could see out the window) out. "Pork Rind Face" tried to tell us we still could not leave and by this point we realized that this jerk was trying to give us a hard time for nothing, so we just got off. We walked over to the general store at the station in the middle of the night. It was all pretty surreal. All the foreign passengers were emerging from the cars at last as the rest of the passengers re-boarded with bags full of food from the store. We stumbled to the general store with Celine Dion blaring from speakers all over the station.

We grabbed a whole bunch of food and sat outside in a daze with all the other foreigners. Finally, it was time to re-board and we got back into our "cells". My head hurt really bad and I felt weak so I tried to sleep. The guys for some reason thought it would be great to play cards with the neighboring Mongolian girls so they all squeezed into our compartment, woke me up and scrunched me up into half the bed. I tried to keep sleeping...but it was pointless. They played for a little bit then decided to call it a night. Just long enough for me to be wide awake as the lights went out and they were all ready to sleep. I was really angry and let my frustration out on the guys. My head pounded pretty bad, and I really wasn't in the mood to be anywhere at that point. It probably wasn't the best time to get mad, but sometimes that's just how goes.

On the plus side, I did my first watercolor sketch of the trip today, before I started feeling terrible.

Beijing, China and the J-Pop Sensation!

 

Our bus reached Beijing in the morning. We grabbed some food by the side of the road, outside the bus depot and walked to a bus stop that took us to the center of the city. Andy saw some funky looking hairdressers with big J-Pop hair hanging outside a barbershop and decided to get a hair cut. He and Omar went there while Mike and I walked further down the narrow lane to an internet cafe to get directions to our hostel. We came back to the barbershop and witnessed the beginnings of Andy's transformation into a J-Pop sensation (he's been on Japanese TV you know)..but these things take time, so we left Omar to document the process and Mike and I grabbed the metro to the hostel. Beijing is a strange city of facades from what I have seen. There is rapid construction of new traditional looking buildings and accents to stores all over. The shopekeepers seem trained to sell to foreigners, but there is a complete lack of warmth or reality. For a city with such a rich cultural history, it is sad to see it become this for the Olympics. We'll have to explore some more when we get back, but that is my initial impression. We waited for Andy and Omar at the metro stop, but gave up after a while to grab some noodles. I'd run out of clean shirts, and you really can't reuse once worn clothing in this humid heat, so I just walked around like that.

While we were eating, Andy and Omar walked passed the restaurant. We got them and they grabbed some food too. After, we went and to the hostel where everyone else cleaned up while I checked email. Andy and Omar found a guitar and bongos in the hostel cafe and started playing music. I joined them with some singing and we entertained the other travellers in the hostel cafe for a while before heading out to walk around. The area we were in was surrounded by trendy, over priced shops that were fairly devoid of customers. People were walking around, but I didn't see many buying. I don't know who these stores cater too. I assume to foreigners. We met an interesting girl working at a music cd store who told us about a lot of different types of Chinese music. Communicating was interesting because Mike was not with us and she hardly knew any english. We managed to write notes and use hand gestures combining Andy's knowledge of Japansese (I guess some of the characters are common) to get some information.

We walked on and passed some tattoo shops and more expensive boutiques before settling on a place for dinner. We managed to order some vegetarian food and struck up a conversation with some guys at the table next door who looked like they could be in a band. Turns out they were. One of them spoke some english (his nickname as he told us was Paco). He was really into all kinds of music and their band played rap/rock. They also had a shop we visited with their own label of "urban" style clothing just like the U.S. He told us about a huge rock show like woodstock for Chinese Bands that takes place in October in Beijing. We got his info and will try and check out his band when we return to Beijing.

Afterwards, we walked past the Wu Mart and tons of trendy stores to make our way back to the hostel. We walked over to the hostel cafe and found it full of foreigners again. Omar picked up the bongos, Andy the guitar and we played music deep into the night, and talked about all the cafe folks about Mongolia, shared experiences, the joys of travelling etc. It was a pretty diverse group. We have not run into any Americans on this trip though we have come across Europeans, and some Chinese travellers. It was really fun playing to that crowd late at night. Since I could communicate to them in English, I was able to tell them about the songs we sang and about some of the wonderful experiences we had enjoyed in Anqing.

We went to bed later than we should have as usual, but as usual, it was worth it.

Jiuhuashan to Anqing to Beijing

 

The next morning we head put early in the morning without hardly any sleep. The bus took us down the mountain, and on to another bus back to Anqing. It broke down and we hung out for an hour until it was repaired and we could continue. Back in Anqing a few random people welcomed us back knowing we had left the day before. Somehow word got around. We called a friend of Mike's to meet, but it did not work out, so we trudged around. Walking past a shoe shop we heard some really cool music, so we stopped in and asked them if we could copy it. So we did, and the store staff were quite amused. We grabbed some food, hit a squawking zombie filled internet cafe. The resthouse owner came with is to revisit Kim Jong at the bus depot to help us get a good price and see us off. OUr friend from the Suzuki shop dropped by with some food for the trip. The people in Anqing were the best. We head out very grateful to them on a bus with beds, thankful to a Korean dictator for securing us 4 spots on the bus, driven by his brother who squawked at people on the bus until his voice went hoarse. Tiny kids were crammed into the aisles along the way. Mike was cooked in the back of the bus, before I took his place and sweat more in that shirt than I have ever sweat in any shirt over and over without washing before.We made friends with the sweet kids on their way back to their families from school, on break. They were patient with our weak Chinese and we traded snacks. Mostly we tried to sleep, stopping once for a quick bathroom break and once for food in the middle of the night. Passengers were nice and tried to make sure we all knew when to eat etc.

17 hours is along time to soak in your own sweat in a cramped dirty bed on a bus.

Anqing and Jiuhuashan

Woke up and organized some photos while the guys slept. We left some laundry and heavy backpacks with the hotel. They kindly offered to hand wash the clothes for free. We grabbed some hot fresh noodles next door where a little girl sat shyly looking over at us..except when the camera was on her :). We grabbed a cab and started out towards the long distance bus depot. We passed some beautiful gardens en route. On the way Andy spotted a tower in the distance and we decided to take a detour there. It was a large Buddhist temple and monastery. Just past the entrance statues in the second room there were some amazing towering golden Buddhas. This place had a real sense of peace and holiness to it. More so than the one in Shanghai to me. There was an amazing garden in the complex and the tower ticket taker was happy to tell us more about this beautiful place. Some students introduced themselves to us and then came up with us up the tower. The wind whipped harder the higher we went, but the view all around was wonderful. The students asked us questions. Some entrancing singing led us around the corner, to two seated women slowly singing "". We sat down with them and Andy asked them to write down their chant for us. The were glad to share and before we knew it, were sitting in a row singing together. A few other people around the temple came down and sat with us. After singing for a while, we stopped and they insisted that we eat a melon like fruit. Coincidentally the ladies had purchased four that day and there were four of us guests. They insisted on each of us having one. We peeled the fruit and I cut mine up to share with the students and temple people and singers. I really had to coax people into taking a piece, and in the end only a few students out of all the people ate the fruit with us. The women said it was fate that they should buy 4 fruit for the 4 guests they were to meet later that day. We said goodbye and head back to the bus station from which we head off to Jiuhuashan. Mike as usual went in line to figure out and deal with our ticketing needs. Tickets had run out, but Mike figured out a bus route. We jumped on the first bus which I think called the next one and made it wait for us. We just jumped from one to the next several hours later from which we got on a third bus up the mountain to Jiuhuashan.The view coming up the mountain was gorgeous. You could see temples dotting the mountains above. Once there we got a place to sleep and walked further up the mountain. Beautiful temples were everywhere. Many had swooping, more traditional looking roofs. There was a bronze/gold colored tower further up. Exhausted before we even got there, we trudged up and met a monk by some more temples before we continued up to the tower. We lazed around took in the serenity of the tower temple. As the sun went down, the commando monk from earlier came by and hung out for a bit. We started back to the town below before it became dark. The town was well lit and full of tourist shops that sold low quality tourist trinkets as hawkers tried to rip us off. It was kind of annoying and we all had a negative feeling about the town. It was safe and clean, but the people working there just put us off in contrast to how beautiful the temples were.

Anqing

Arrived in Anqing via overnight train from Shanghai and met a bank employee on the way who was returning home. He told us about a tower but said there was not much else to see in Anqing. We got there off the train, tried to get tickets to Beijing for later, but only expensive 1st class tickets were left so we avoided an annoying ticket selling guy in the crowd and walked out of the station to check on buses. Mike met a famous Korean dictator who happens to drive buses in China (see picture). Mike's Mandarin is the whole reason we can communicate with people and get so much out of this wonderful trip. All praise Mike and his amazing Mandarin abilities. He's the best! Kim Jong graciously said that all we need do is call him and he would make sure there was room on the bus for all four of us. Special treatment for the rare foreigners to come to Anqing. Across the street Mike and Omar went to negotiate a hotel while Andy and I walked a bit further. A small mob of curious and friendly people came out of the woodworks to see us. They all wanted us to eat at their place and stay at their hotels. We figured it was the usual trying to sell you stuff thing, but these people really don't get many foreigners in town so more than anything they wanted to talk to us. So Mike and Omar joined, with the hotel owner they spoke to down the street in tow. We all sat down as they prepared some food for us. It took a long time and we talked for quite a while. They were very friendly, but we really wanted to get on with it and do things. We were also wary of intentions. We ate, paid for our meal, then walked over to the hotel. It was small and nice. After bathing, resting and hand washing clothes we went off to explore the town a bit. A couple of hours exploring later found us at a restaurant eating some of the best food of the trip so far. Across the street, the young owner of a Suzuki repair shop came over having seen us through the window eating. He wanted to take us out that night. After a bit of talking we asked about live music and found the closest thing...karaoke :). We agreed to meet later. While walking back a young guy asked if he could take a picture with us. Andy and Omar lifted him up and his wife took a photo. He dropped us off at his hotel in his car. Turns out he is a school teacher like Omar. Once we got back, we saw a huge crowd by the train station. After asking the teacher and our hotel owner, we found out it was local Anqing Opera singers doing a traditional street performance. The four of us were very excited and ran over there. As soon as they saw us, they asked us to play some songs. Again, they don't get many foreigners here. We agreed to sing a song. We have no instruments on this trip, so we just play with what is available. In his case, there were some interesting string instruments with bows and the women were amazing singers and performers. They gave us stools and sat us in front of the crowd with a great view of the performance. Honestly, in a situation like this I usually question the intentions of people involved just to be safe, but these people wanted nothing. They were just sweet and genuinely happy to see foreign guests and wanted to welcome us. After a few songs by them, we were extremely honored to go up and play. Omar grabbed a stool, Mike a small wood precussion intrument and Andy bravely borrowed a string instrument he had never played before. I setup my video camera as the guys setup, then joined them, kneeling next to Andy.I looked out at the crowd of young and old Chinese people of Anqing. They were so warm and sweet to us. Smiling and curious at these new guests. We started with a song we had played at the store in Shanghai. Usually I look down and away from the audience in the rare instances that I do sing in front of any number of people other than the bandmates. I'm really not a performer,  but that evening, I just had to look out at them. I can't even describe in words how heartfelt that experience was. Watching a crowd of kind and appreciative people welcome a bunch of weird strangers into their town and listen open heartedly to our music in languages they didn't understand was a moving experience. As we played, one by one a bunch of little kids squat down on their chubby little legs behind the video camera, watching the LCD screen with eyes wide open and cute little ears sticking out. There were probably 5 or 6 of them. Now and then one round little guy would put his little mitt in front of the camera to see his hand in the screen. It was so adorable. The people were so supportive and the opera singers asked us to play more. We probably played 4-5 songs in multiple languages. It was such a surprise. None of us expected such a spontaneous thing to happen. Then we had to leave to meet our Suzuki friend to go for Karaoke. Our host insisted on paying our way into the club. We went in and sang a bunch of songs in a private room, before checking out the automated rising and tilting dance floor with a fun live band and a great dj. The crowd was really friendly and kept giving us thumbs up as we danced. It was pretty funny. The moving floor was crazy and the energy in the crowd along with the music made everyone push until they could push no more. As the club closed we walked outside, tired and happy. Suddenly, we saw some kids running away, leaving a kid holding his head, crumpled on the floor. We went over the check on him. There was blood all over his arm and head. He was dazed. Some shirtless kids starting walking back towards him. My friends and I motioned for them to leave him alone. Thankfully they left. Some other kids came by and called the police. We took off, having done what we could for the kid, but it was a really sickening end to an otherwise great day.

Shanghai 3

 

 

Woke up at the hostel in Shanghai. Surfed the net, uploaded photos. The guys woke and went to get train tickets and drop off out heavy backpacks. From there we went to Duolin Rd which has many statues of famous Chinese political writers near their former homes. We checked out an excellent contemporary painting exhibit and many antique shops with Mao buttons and illustrated books. We walked down the street Andy tried out a Hulusi (interesting wind instrument) at an instruments shop along the roadside and I checked out some interesting inside painting done intricately on the inside of glass snuff bottles and spheres. Exhausted, we began walking back, when I saw a man in the distance down the narrow lane we were traveling. He had a long whispy beard and hat which looked like he might be Muslim. So we stopped in to say hello and find out. We walked closer and he saw is from across the street and waved for us to come in. We had just eaten, but agreed to order a small dish we could share. Our host and his family were so happy to see us (two of us are from Pakistan). He told us he was indeed Muslim and from Qinghai in the west of China. He had a large picture of the Khana Kaba in Mecca and one of a large Mosque presumably in Qinghai inside his tiny retaurant. We ate some tomatoes and eggs. After the meal we went to pay and they refused to take any money from us. We walked out to thank the owner and saw that he was performing wadu (ritual washing before Muslim prayer), so my friend Omar and I asked to join him in prayer. His brother Hasan and he (Isa as in Jesus) brought out 2 prayer mats, a cloth sheet and a towel for us to pray in the dining area (with the tables pushed to one side). Andy and Mike sat on one side and the entire family watched as Isa, Hasan, Omar and I prayed together. No language in common, but a shared religious tradition. It was a pretty amazing thing to share, and our way of connecting and thanking them. We talked a bit with Mike as translator before saying goodbye. We walked on, jumped on the metro and came back to the train station. By then we were hungry for dinner and grabbed some dumplings. Andy surprised us with some ice cream from a Burger King and Omar brought some coffee. Outside I saw this cute chubby little guy playing some stick ball on his own. His mother, a vegetable seller asked me to take his picture and I gladly did and showed it to her. She was happy, but did not want to be photographed herself. We got on the overnight train to Anqing.

Shanghai 2

I woke in the morning in Shanghai and sent a few more emails. Then we left our heavy backpacks at the hostel and took smaller bags out. We grabbed train tickets to Anqing from around the corner and then took a taxi to Qibon. We walked around lanes and alleys of a bazaar that reminded me of streets in older parts of Karachi and Lahore, but cleaner, and not all broken. I saw an amazing artist gallery of an apparently well known Chinese sculptor on his 100th anniversary (I'm assuming he is no longer living). There was a tribute gallery from his students as well. I also some art books and spoke to a man named Aaron about them. I greeted him with a "Nee how" and he assumed I knew mandarin and started speaking...but when he saw the confused look on my face, he switched to some pretty good English. I spoke for a bit then ran ahead to call my friends back to check out the music instrument shop next door. We returned and Mike broke a guitar string while tuning. Andy played Guzheng (kind of a tabletop string instrument). Omar grabbed a stool and started drumming after hitting different parts of it to get a feel for the sound. I drew a not so great sketch of them as they jammed on a song we had played before much to the delight of the woman who owned the shop and Aaron from next door. A crowd gathered in the narrow lane in front of the shop and people enjoyed seeing them play music and seeing me do my crude little pen sketch on a scrap of paper. I gave the sketch to our gracious hosts then joined the guys on a song. It was such a sweet experience to break out of that tourist looking to buy something and store owner looking to sell something mode and to just share a beautiful moment using music to communicate. The people were so sweet and gracious, it was very touching and beautiful to be there and share that. They refused to let us pay for the broken string.We exchanged contact info (I gave them my cards with the watercolor sketches on them) and we walked on across a canal with interesting boats on it and head over to the Buddhist Temple (7 treasures). Entrance fee was 5 rmb (less than a US dollar) paid to a sleeping attendant woke as soon as we snuck, I mean walked up to him. The temple was a beautiful tower in a larger walledcompound, with a garden and building with statues dedicated to military heroes. We walked up the tower, each floor with what I believe was a representation of the Buddha as people bowed down, lit incense, and walked up. Mike met a group of mostly younger girls who started asking him questions about us. They in in turn told us more about the temple. They joined us for a bit and asked for all of us to take pictures with their family out in the garden. We did and they were very sweet, and seriously had crushes on Mike haha. We went to a pool with statues of the 7 treasures before saying goodbye many pictures later and checked out the military heroes statues before heading to a restaurant outside for another amazing vegetarian meal.We rested there a few hours before grabbing a taxi to M50, an industrial complex converted into an artist area. We knew we had arrived when we started seeing tons of amazing graffiti along a long stretch of wall. We got out at a gallery and started exploring. This was the most amazing creative arts place! Many excellent galleries. The spaces were as fascinating as the art in them. Tons of variety. It was truly humbling to see the excellence of contemporary Chinese art along side some foreign art. There were younger people spray painting more great graffiti on designated walls. We spent a lot of time exploring before sitting in a beautiful coffee shop to decided a route to walk, following the Souzhu canal to the Bund. 

 

Along the walk we got to see some old housing amid colossal apartment complexes and old shops in grimy streets. We freaked out a lady at a recycling center we happened upon in the dark by standing around and discussing with each other as Andy wanted to ask to take pictures for his sustainability research. He wanted to explain to them what he was doing, and create some dialogue with them, but we spooked the lady who seemed to be in charge, so when Mike went to ask her, she freaked and yelled at us and told us to leave...so we did. Andy did manage to chat with a friendly police officer about a pile of metal scraps down the street. Our interest in it fascinated many passers by too :).  

We kept walking and passed through what I think were some old buildings from the French Concession before finally making it to the beautiful night view of the Bund. Beautiful light and a mixed bag of architecture. Another amazing meal before we head back, exhausted to a bus..which died and let all of us out followed by a taxi home. Exhausted..what a day!

Shanghai

So...the format of this blog is going to change for a bit. I'm traveling through China and a few other places, so I'll be posting some travel stuff for the folks back home.

I flew out of Los Angeles on China Eastern Air. They were really nice, my friend Omar had forgot to ask for a vegetarian meal so the flight attendant gave him hers, but it wasn't vegetarian so no luck. Oh well he got stuffed with some extra bread. There was also a funny video for the passengers to do some exercises before we landed as the flight attendants acted them out and we all followed along. Nothing like a plane full of people with their arms sticking up with a cheery flight attendant running through cute little exercises. After 13.5 hours we arrived in Shanghai around 6:15pm on July 1st.

  

The airport was really nice, and lucky for us, it very empty. We grabbed our stuff and hopped on the #6 bus toward the metro. We had directions from my friend Mike to our meeting point, but Omar and I have no Chinese language skills so it was a bit tricky. I memorized the characters for the place we were going, to see if I could keep track. We asked a few times, but it was trickyto communicate. Finally we asked again after traveling for a long time and not hearing our stop called out. The ticket taker and driver just nodded and laughed, repeating the names of our stop then dropped us off several blocks before our stop :(. So we "talked" to some very nice people at a convenience store who did hand gestures to tell us where the metro was. Very appreciative, we head there, hopped on the metro and went off to East Nanjing Road, where there are all kinds of trendy stores. We met lots of people who wanted us to buy stuff. We waited for our friend Andy, but he wasn't there, so we grabbed some food using a piece of paper that said Buddhist Meal in Mandarin (courtesy of a friend of Omar's in LA). Vegetarian food is a somewhat misunderstood concept, but we were able to find it. Waitre staff etc at restaraunts are so nice. They wait at your table and serve serve serve.

  

After eating we head over to the metro stop again and waited. We met an interesting kid who kept telling us (in a very robotic tone) "Hello, I am a child of fifteen years old. I want to talk to you. I don't want any money, just to talk to you. If you won't speak to me I will lose hope in society. Can you buy me some food. If you cannot by me some food then you can give me some money. Maybe 10 rmb. I am just a child. I am not trying to sell anything. All I want to do is talk. Look at me when I talk to you." Omar felt guilty and kept looking at the well rehearsed "child" until we just ignored him and kept walking away..he ended up walking away eventually Omar and I sat down as everything closed and a large cleaning crew started hosing down the walkways. The metro closed and we figured our friends were a bit late and would come by taxi as we had planned as a backup.

Finally Andy walked over in a dress shirt and tie and the three of us traded stories and sat around. He started teaching us some Mandarin in a robotic sounding tone. We cracked upand so did some Chinese folks sitting behind us. After a while we saw Mike in the distance with his huge red bag. Omar ran over and grabbed him. It felt surreal that the 4 of us had met up across the world like that, and everyone was very relieved.

We grabbed a taxi, with the most hilarious female taxi driver. Mike sat in front as he speaks Mandarin and told her where we were going. Andy chimed in with some Mandarin bits here and there with Mike's help. She had this really joyful laugh, even when she yelled at some other driver to go die when he got stuck in the road for a bit, blocking us. We got to the hostel which was amazing and threw our stuff down before running out to Mcdonalds (only place still open and close by) and grabbed some food before coming back and collapsing to sleep.

Who dis?

  

Okay...I don't remember who these bands are...but I have scanned and uploaded my backlog of sketches. Been working on animation only lately..but I think I'll be sketching again soon!

Saul Williams

Saul Williams at the Troubadour.

Rockstar Part 4

Last of the Rock star set of corel painter sketches from a live model on my gateway tabletpc.

Rockstar Part 3

Rock star set of corel painter sketches from a live model on my gateway tabletpc.

Rockstar Part 2

Rock star set of corel painter sketches from a live model on my gateway tabletpc.

Rockstar Part 1

I started to get bored with the watercolors. Not because I feel like I know a lot, rather I just needed a change of pace. I brought in my tablet pc (which I could draw on directly) for this session and created these in Painter and Photoshop. It was actually very difficult to do these very quick sketches. Every time I switch to something new, there is a learning curve. That is obvious in the varying quality of these sketches.