The Grey    (Beijing, China)

It’s not too often that I’ll get to a place and think, ‘Nah, I could never live here.’ And I’ve been to some pretty messed up countries. But after the first few hours in China I was shaking my head thinking, ‘what the hell is going on?’

Downtown Beijing and the smog

First thing I noticed was the horrendous smog, which not only blocks out the sun and makes the whole city look grey, but can be seen indoors, given the room is large enough. This smog, which is essentially pollution from Beijing’s rampant industrial boom, has led to an epidemic of people in their middle age developing emphysema despite never having touched a cigarette in the whole life.

Portrait of Chairman Mao at Tain'men

Next, a taxi driver tried to charge me 130 dollars U.S. for a ride that took about ten minutes. I couldn’t believe it, what the hell was he thinking? It should have cost closer to 3 dollars US, and that’s what I gave him. He yelled and argued, but when I said that I would be happy to pay the 130 if he came into my hostel and the folks there said it was a fair price, he just mumbled something in Mandarin, waved me off dismissively, and drove away. (And then I had to go look for the place on foot because he dropped me off about a hundred metres away so he didn’t have to drive down a tight alley).

Then, as I went for a walk around the streets to orientate myself with the area, I couldn’t help but notice the intense looking police on every corner and the overabundance of CCTV. Knowing a bit about the one party government and the communist history, it made me realise that the sayings ‘elected by the people, for the people,’ and ‘people shouldn’t be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people,’ are not the case in China. One of the most influential books I’ve ever read was George Orwell’s ‘1984’ about governmental control and person freedom. That book was a warning, but it obviously wasn’t translated into Chinese.

CCTV overload (on one of few clear days after rain/snow)



We’ve all seen that footage of the guy who stood in front of a tank on the way home from a grocery store. Yeah, well, he was never seen again. In 2008, when Beijing hosted the Olympics, the international governing body of the Olympics (ICCO or something) insisted that China allow protest during the games. Of course, protest is more or less illegal in China, political dissent can attract the punishment of a serious crime, and if you wear a ‘Free Tibet’ shirt you’ll soon come to regret it. Well, the Olympic officials said that it was part of the spirit of the games to allow open protest. So China said, Yeah, okay, we will set up protest zones throughout the city, just to make you happy. The Olympics came and went without a single protest. Maybe the Chinese population is happy with the way everything is going? No, not exactly. If you wanted to protest at one of the protest zones, you had to first apply through the government; you couldn’t just show up. So people did apply, wanting to protest a range of issues. And when they did, the Chinese government put those people on house arrest, so there was no way they could get to the protest zones.  Breathe in that smoggy air, that’s the smell of freedom.

Also, censorship is out of control, with more foreign news websites, YouTube, Facebook and a whole range of websites banned, so the government can control what information enters the country. And that’s scary, that they can choose what they do and do not want their citizens to see. (They even block BlogSpot, which is why this blog is so delayed).

Therefore, as interesting as it was, after just a couple of hours in Beijing, I was thinking ‘nup, this is not my kind of place.’ Give me poverty, decrepit buildings, and poor hygiene. I reckon I could cope with those. But if you take away basic freedoms, the forum for open dialogue and criticism, and the rights of the people, then it’s no better than a jail. Of course, it’s better now than forty years ago, when you were told what job you were going to do by the government, and where you were going to do it, and you couldn’t choose where you lived or to travel abroad. They would get your school results and if you were a dumbass they’d put you on the factory line, and that’s where you would work ‘the rest of the morning, the rest of the afternoon, the rest of your life’ (of course, until the market economy was introduced). Still, today it seems very backwards, making Australia look like a bloody good place to be born, and Japan, so close to China, look Utopic.

This all went through my head in the first few hours I was in China. And maybe, because I was exhausted, uncertain of this strange country and city, annoyed with that bloody taxi driver, and a little homesick, this all looked more horrific than it actually was. But I don’t think so.

Next blog I’ll detail my stay in China and be a little more positive about this undoubtedly interesting country.

See ya!




To the Mountains and Sea     (East Coast, Taiwan)

I got on a train and left Taipei, heading for the east coast. For much of the way the train line runs on a thin strip of land between the rugged mountains and the ocean, which makes for a very scenic journey. The whole east coast is steeply mountainous, and it’s quite unlike anything in Australia.



Paragliding: cheap as chips with no insurance

My first stop was in a small little town wedged between these mountains and the beach (which makes for an ideal paragliding location due to the strong updrafts). The beach is unusual in that it is made up of black (or dark grey, really) sand. This is because just out to sea there is a big volcano, which gets shredded when the typhoons hit. The sediments that is eroded is washed up on the coast line, and is so fertile that locals are actually growing stuff in it it. They are cropping in beach sand(!), which, from the eyes of a soil scientist, is unbelievable.





The dark sand, the volcano in the distance and the winter crop

One afternoon a street dog followed me down to the beach and all of a sudden went nuts, yapping and growling at me. The thing bit me on the ankle before I could clap my thongs at it and scare it off. I had a few red marks but luckily there was no broken skin. The last thing I want is rabies. I went and washed it off in the ocean just to be sure. Then this dog comes running back towards me, so I climb up on a rock which is in the surf, but this goddam dogs follows me, struggling to make it through the water, and then struggling to climb up the slippery rock, but wild eyed and hungry for more of my ankle. Pretty soon he realised he didn’t have the home ground advantage anymore, he tried to get down and really struggled, and when he hit the water the surf was knocking him around a bit between some rocks. I was just sitting there the whole time thinking; I am about to watch this dog die(and would it be appropriate to take a photo? ).There’d be no way I’d help it out and risk rabies the way that thing was yapping. But he got himself out and bolted off into the distance.

Night markets are big in the country as well as the city, and I drove 40 mins to a big town with friends Candy and Garret for a night of feasting. Also, Candy cooked me a big traditional feast, and they took me to some of their favourite breakfast and lunch spots in the small town, nearby.

In this town, when I was riding up the coast to check out some temples, we had an earthquake. After what happened in Japan, it wasn’t the best feeling having the ground shake beneath you and be looking at the ocean, with which I was level.

Further down the coast is a town called Hualien, gateway to Taroko Gorge, which was is an extensive gorge system trailing from the coast up into the mountains, with lots of hiking trails. I spent a solid two full days here and I reckon I would have walked about 40kms during my stay. Here I saw some monkeys, waterfalls and some cool jungle temples and monastaries. It was odd being in the middle of the jungle, absolutely alone, surrounded my signs of the dangers: long drops, falling rocks, landslides, venomous snakes, venomous wasps. If anything happened there’d be no way for anyone to know…

It was great to get out into the bush and see the parts of Taiwan that most poeple dont. Its just great to be outdoors, and not under flourescent lights.

I came back to Taipei and hung out with some friends for a few more days before I head over to China. Here I went to the museum to see all the treasure and heritage items that the Taiwanese exodus snatched on the way out of the mainland, and also learnt that the official names for China and Taiwan are Peoples Republic of China, and Republic of China, respectively. No, that’s not a mistake. These countries that hate each other so much have an almost identical name.

After going days and days without really talking it was great to come back to Taipei and meet up with Candy and some of her friends who live in the city. I’ve spent my days riding around on the back of scooters, partying at expat bars, and, of course, eating.

Today I was stopped in the train station by a guy who said he was a commercial filmmaker and he wanted me to be in the project he was working on. If only I wasn’t flying to Beijing in tomorrow…

If I don’t update within the next month or so it’s because blogspot, along with Hotmail, Skype, Youtube, Facebook, Wikipedia, etc, is illegal and reportedly blocked in China. It’s going to be a very interesting country to spend a month, and I’m really looking forward to, but I’ll miss Taiwan and the cool people I’ve met here.

See ya,

Matt.

Starting Off  (Taipei)

(Note: this first blog is a little delayed because ive had problems getting onto the site.)

My journey begins in Taiwan, and after an 8 hour flight, 6 hour stopover, 4 hour flight, hour bus ride and half hour walk through the backstreets in the rain, I got to my accommodation in Taipei.

A bit of background on this country; it claims independence from China after the Capitalist businessmen, professionals and intellects fled the mainland in the 50’s. They didn’t believe in Communism so they’d thought they would go start their own nation, along with the native Taiwanese people. Because they feel like mainland China is still there identity and place of belonging, they took most of China’s famous cultural and heritage  artefacts and treasures with them on their way out, which they have securely stored in a mountain near Taipei.  China still considers Taiwan as a rogue state, and has threatened to invade (and get their treasures back), but USA has vowed to defend Taiwan. It’s kind of like a mini cold war, to the point that there are Taiwanese spies being found and actually killed in China, and vice versa.

Taipei is the capital and where I begin. Despite its reputation for dodgy wares and cheap labour of years gone by (‘Made in Taiwan’), the country has become a technological hub (following in the footsteps of Japan) and Taipei’s great metro infrastructure, healthcare, crime rates, etc, show they have got their shit together. Nonetheless, it’s a dingy looking city that has come into its developed status more quickly than the buildings can be gentrified.



Taipei 101

Except for Taipei 101, which four years ago was the tallest building in the world (now bested by a towers in Mecca and Dubai).  It’s so much taller than anything else around it an can be seen from all over the city. The most impressive building, however, is a big memorial hall in the middle of town (above). It was erected for the first president of Taiwan, who went against Mao and the communists.  There are also many temples, but after Japan/Korea (12 weeks ago) and Thailand/ Malaysia (12 months ago) I am a little templed out.

The best thing to do in this city is eat. There is heaps of delicious and cheap street food all over the place. First meal in town I sat down and had a beef noodle soup and it was so big I couldn’t quite finish it and it cost me$1.80. Also, pork buns, dumplings, meat and rice, Taiwanese sausage and egg pancakes are cheap and common, but there is so much variety.

The city comes alive at night. There are plenty of night markets around town to just wander around, get some hawker food and buy things on the cheap. I get the impression that most people eat out in this town, and there are certain vendors with massive lines. It’s exciting and easy to spend hours here. I could easily live in this city and come to the night markets every night. It was four days into the trip before I went to an actual restaurant. 

 

 

In addition to checking out the city, I’ve visited a finishing town to the north, a geothermic valley filled with steam, and the zoo. Oh yeah, the dreary world of the grey office has never felt so far away.

I’m glad I came to Taipei first. I am used to these types of cities and can handle the food, get around, and communicate with locals alright. It’s my kind of city, and it eased me into the groove of the trip quickly. Also, it feels like a natural progression from Korea.

It’s such a fun and interesting town that a week here just isn’t enough – good thing I’ve got another four days here after I’m done with the east coast!

Another night begins in Taipei