Theres something about hand done stone work that is warm, dynamic, and filled with feeling
tiles, pebbles, carved granite, brick, cut limestone and such
no the pavings are probably not as uniform, likely not as ‘safe’ especially on a rainy day, compared to concrete pavers
they look a bit more rustic country than upscale polished
for sure it takes more time and is less ‘efficient’ to install or craft or build
it seems almost antiquated at this point, its for sure not the ‘in’ look
but maybe this style will make a come back one day
I love the variation and wobbly ness of its character, its perfect non symmetrical nature, and its uneven sometimes ragged blotchy weathered edges textures and colors
it is like an extension of the earths laughter wrought through human hands and imaginations
well found some examples of this sort of stonework in the Iberian Peninsula on the walkways and the plazas. heres a bit of a photo essay:
In recent years plenty of folks I never thought would partake of magic mushrooms have expressed the desire to eat them or drink them established older people in their 40’s, 50’s, 60’s folks in the military, in the hardcore sciences, in industry folks well embedded in the rational, logical, material and reasonable universe you might on occasion call them conservative I see this trend following in the veins of self improvement, personal growth, empowerment and human development, going way out to explore the edge in all the ways or perhaps it is just the seasonal flavor of the month, innate human curiosity, fascination with drugs of all kinds, and a kinda of circular timing that brings us back to where we started like a sick bear in the woods chewing on roots and leaves and things looking for some kinda medicine that will heal it from that tummy ache or head throb or mental angst or existential don’t know don’t matter what it is, I won’t reflect on the why too much, more on the how and the what for the seekers
Basic instructions: You are having communion with an organism that is about three thousand times older than humans, has worldwide dominance, and is the ultimate recycler destroyer. Have some respect, take the time out to slow down, take flight, come back to land and ground, reflect. If possible, give it a good two days. Say Saturday afternoon into Sunday rest. If that is not possible, cause you gotta rush back to do the million things on your calendar that are really important and your mind is going a billion miles per second with notifications and updates, then at least devote a good six hours to being still and listening to the earth’s rhythmic beats.
The easiest is to make tea. Drop the mushrooms in a pot of water and let boil say 12-14-16 minutes or so. Best to cut em to little pieces rather than leave them whole. That may help the extraction of psilocybin into solution. Boil till the water is colored and has that shroomy smell. Boil as much water as you can drink happily. Strain and pour it in a thermos for going somewhere or in a cup for drinking on the spot. You can eat the bodies of the mushrooms, or not. Probably get a lil extra kick if you do, but most of the goods is in the tea. Some folks like to add a bit of honey to sweeten it up but I prefer it bitter, like my coffee. Almost forgot, if possible, fast before, say all day until you drink the tea. Or even the whole week leading up to the day of, eating super plain foods like rice or plantains and a bland protein or two. That is like priming the engine of the guts. Keeping the intake simple and the body more or less cleaned out, focus for a special event.
Where is the best place to have your tea party? It has to be safe and warm enough to be comfortable, without distractions. That is the basic. Ideally outdoors is better than indoors. Cause the sky and the mountains stretch into infinity, while a house is a box of a square cave no matter how luxurious. Plus in the great outdoors there is the sound of the wind, songs of birds, and the changing light. Think old time native vision quest where you go off in the desert and sit still in a circle. That would be ideal. But, in modern times, you might be sitting there, and an ATV will roar by, then the helicopter, then five recreationists on their mountain bikes, then a couple of climbers strolling past hauling fifty pounds of rope and clankity clanks, and so on. Then the yahoos shooting up the signs too. LOL. Yeah no good. Especially when you are in the thralls of fantastic visions.
Next best would be a quiet back yard or living room space that you are familiar with. Just let people know what you are up to, so the kids don’t suddenly barge in with five of their friends and start cooking in the kitchen, the Amazon delivery doesn’t keeps ringing the bell, and your partner does not call you for a ride cause their car broke down, and other such ongoing interruptions. If you are indoors, try to shut down the modern stimuli and stage the primal ambiance. By that I mean no TV phone computer blah, and yes to sweet scents like frankincense and myrrh, palo santo and copal. Have a lighter ready for those resins. They help to scent and ‘clear the air’. When staging try to mimic a calm, beautiful garden of sorts. A little music is nice, again ideally a person (you?) is playing rattles and clapper sticks, or hollow wood and goat hide drum skins. The music keeps the energy flowing and in motion. See below for accompaniment and reasoning.
Do you do this alone, with friends, or ?? Should there be a ‘sitter’ in case something goes south? So you drink tea but they don’t and can keep an eye on things? Call for help. Can they be trusted to sit quietly with you the whole time without getting antsy bored and start watching videos on their phone or making sighing noises and falling asleep? Or, maybe yall should drink together, 2-3 friends or so and make it a nice lil party. Each person taking an active role in the whole process. It is like anything really, theres some experimentation, guesswork, and practice involved before you get it down. Alone is nice if you are comfortable with yourself, with friends its more fun and there is less of a tendency to get bogged down in your own thoughts. If you want to do it once to be able to just check it off your list, then that is the experience you will have, ‘did it, done, now the next thing’.
In old times there was sometimes a guide, something like an odd combo of a non formally trained doctor, musician and poet. The generic term these days is shaman. Supposedly they had access to the invisible spirits in the universe and would channel them for healing, or had been gifted some kinda magic powers to suck out the illness that is ailing you and disperse the darkness so to speak. I dont know about this, cant corroborate or disprove any of it. Are there modern day shamans? Are they a bunch of cons going through motions and song and dance routines? Theres got a be an authentic one somewhere, in the jungles of the amazon or the mountains of the himalayas or the deserts of the gobi? if i pay em enough money will they fix me? again I have no idea sorry.
At the tea party, imagine that there are energy gates or mind portals that are opening and closing. Theres the psychic drama and emotional hurt baggage we all carry around with us. Plus there is the societal hardened shield shell plates we wear that protect us from dealing with things we dont like to deal with or that defend our basic ego core. Add to that the blinders prejudices tunnel tubes that limit what we want to see of the world. If under the influence of shrooms these are all shed then some folks start to melt down or have these cathartic crying type journeys. Yes you gotta face em and come to terms with em. Who you are. What are you. The good part about the old time shaman was that they could help you out there and do some symbolic gestures, give you some reassurance, hook you with a tune, and carry you outa there, the scary stuck place. This is the kind of scenario that does not happen if you have that recorded speaker playing new age meditation falling water indian flute music in the background, because the music is then not in tune with or dialed in to the dynamics with the highs and lows of the experience. That is alright. What is important to remember though is that the whole idea with such substances is that the metamorphic elements is on you in you, it is within. If you place too much emphasis on the heroic shaman external type figure for life saving then you are missing out, and tend to fall into this ongoing ‘help me help me’ theme which in old times societies few people did because they emphasized self reliance and personal responsibility as a matter of survival and outlook. Change comes from the inside. Didnt nobody have satellite phones and emergency beacons, airlift helicopters and things.
Sound is important because that is the chain and drive of the natural world. Crickets frogs rain pitter patter bird melodies swishing leaves the whole thing. This comprises a pattern repetition and steady almost monotonous rhythm that is more cyclical than linear. That is what you want to mimic in the tea ceremony. Hence a simple clapper stick of elderberry, a ki kaw ki kaw of a rasping stick, or the fast boom boom boom of a three legged water kettle drum or a thundering taiko. They all serve the same function, the beat goes on, life is full of movement and motion, keep going in a circle but forward in time, planetary orbit stuff. Traditionally this is the case. But, that said, if you want to bust out the guitar and start playing some Johnny Cash song, or press the play button for Katey Perry on your spotify, that is okay too. I might save that though for the last part of the journey when you are coming down and hopefully at ease. Don’t know, music and its ties are real personal. I do know that if you are playing dj busywork while you should be meditating concentrating that takes something away from the trip.
How much should I take? There is the matter of dosage. Have people died directly from overdose on hallucinogen psychedelic entheogens the way they do on alcohol or amphetamines or opiates? Did they have some kind of pre existing health condition already? Or did they die from a mental freakout leading to an accident? Not sure. Maybe somewhere it has happened. Do I know how to use a scale and calculate milligrams per body weight in kilos? To be absolutely sure I am taking 50 and not 150 milligrams of said alkaloid. Do I do that no I do not. There is a lot of variability in a natural product that is hard to measure and standardize. My feeling is that if you are going to fly from San Francisco to London the plane should go at a high altitude, and fast. If you are going swimming in a cold lake you ought to just jump right in rather than putting in a toe pausing for ten minutes, then another toe. If you got to kill a chicken for supper I would not do an elaborate ritual for the soul of the chicken, pluck off every feather slowly, then take little cuts on it until it is bleeding all over and finally dies. Just go!!!
Low doses are better for that haha wander around recreational thrill, a higher dose will force you to go inwards because of the sheer intensity and enthrallment of senses. Every person has a different threshold and tolerance for risk, danger, fear, drugs. I will say that if you are fixed in your idea of what the world is and should be, think that there is nothing more out there other than what we are able to perceive as humans, and are ‘set in your ways’ in a manner of rational speaking, then it will be harder to crack the shell of your being. Because your will resists anything more and beyond. Because you do not believe in magic. The magic of this world, our day to day existence, the boggling forces that are at play. The awe. Another way to think about it is like that ol warrior samurai mentality where you face death daily, live on the knifes edge, and know that one day it will end, maybe today. Sounds scary and sad in a way but the end result is that you live life fully and without regrets and in all honesty. The opposite of that is living a scared fearful life of anxiety and clinginess because you are wrapped up in this material world and only this world exists so you hold onto it as tightly as you can even while you are not really partaking of it just skirting around the eventual inevitable.
If you imbibe a lot then it is likely that when you close your eyes, or if you are in a darkened place squintingesh, you may see waves of geometric colors awash all over. You may become so swamped with energy lines that you realize that these rays are traversing throughout the universe all the time and you are a part of this phenomenon. Its not just a visual thing, it is your whole entire being. Enjoy it but know that the visions are ephemeral. Hopefully the lessons you learn are not. By ‘a lot’ my experience is about four big mushrooms. For an obstinate mind that ‘a lot’ might be actually eight or ten fungal bodies to crack the nut open. You will feel something with two to three a general loosening and perception come and go of color waves, and one mushroom drunk is a real subtle inkling that maybe things are not as one thinks feels or believes but you wont be able to put a finger on it. As friend Colin once described after a few sips, ‘its nice, I feel open’. Master Bateau, a somewhat seasoned sailor on the cosmic seas calls the experience ‘wide awake dreaming’, or ‘sedentary journeying’. !?!
What is the proper mindset going into the ceremony? Love and respect, that is all there is, hold to that and you will be fine. Commonly I’ve heard people being purposeful and having intention. Do you ask a mushroom for stuff? Set goals for the experience? Have benchmarks for success and criteria to measure future expeditions? LOL. I dont know, maybe? Another common saying I first heard from friend Dahlia was that the fungus or plant or ‘teacher’ gives you what you need not what you want. But what is it that I want? Or need? I dont know that either hahaha. peace? union? in the pulse? You will figure that part out later… In essence though the mind of no mind, beginners state, no expectations pre conceived notions sort of flow being in the moment the zone that is okay if you know that state and can stay in it while just sitting. Spirit body mind all working in unison with the world planet universe all. Or if you know the mind state of a tree, that is one of the best. Grounded, bridging earth and sky, drinking sun and water, providing for all the creatures. Bird brains and ancestral reptilian minds are worthy mindsets to emulate too but now this tangent has gone far enough.
General warning: Magic mushrooms are a federally illegal substance, deemed by government to be prone to abuse and having absolutely no medical value whatsoever. You might die if you have a pre existing cardiac condition and have a heart attack. For obvious reasons if you drink tea and drive or operate any kind of power or heavy equipment that is a bad combination and not a wise choice putting both yourself and others in danger. If you drink it away from home safe sweet home then be prepared to go up, come down, settle the mind before you jump in the car and drive away. Say at least 8-10 hours total with additional safety margin. Okey dokey have a nice trip and come back safe!
PS What are some good activities to do while in tea ceremony? Well if you are being as calm as a mountain, with good posture then focus on breath. That is all there is that lies between life and death and oxygen is really great stuff. The whole six hours in and out, in and out, dont say a word. But that is pretty super hard for most people. Playing instruments or chanting is great, like I mentioned before – circular droning heart beat like rhythms in general better than the linear story time melody songs which can take you into analysis and reason modes. If you are in nature then a walkabout with mushrooms is awesome too, but mostly I’d say that is better in the last third of the voyage where the peak is over, you begin to turn that inward gaze outward, and you can use your new found perception on everything around you. Again, recommended to stay away from electronics and their screens and magnetism, and people crowds harsh stimuli. Listen to the earth, be with your mom.
Ways back I used to work for the city of San Francisco doing restoration work
It was with the recreation and parks department
specifically it was called natural areas program which is great because its acronym is NAP like the ten minute kind after lunch in a hammock under the trees
In spanish it is PAN, both bread and goat wilderness god of greek mythology
At the time, there were no maps or much educational information about the parks that I was responsible for, so I drew my owns, and made them into brochures for the general public
found em in a stack filed with books and old drawings
the only one that is not from natural areas is union square from my time downtown at
Walkabout in China As told to me by the taxi cab drivers, cafeteria restaurant workers, roadside farmers at their stands, businessmen and their wives, and personal observations what do y’all know about China of recent years? Sometimes I listen or watch the international news whether it is a left leaning source like the New York Times out of New York Washington Post and NPR out of Washington DC or a right wing outlet like Fox News, also based out of NY Once in awhile when I tune in, this is what I learn about China and the Chinese: They are a bunch of heathens who don’t believe in the freedom of anybody They torture muslims and lock em up They hassle the dalai lama, and kill the compassionate Buddhists They go after the hong kong protesters Their state religion is socialism or communism, which is atheist they do not acknowledge the one God Another view is that Chinese want to take over They are trying to become the number one country of the world They are claiming the south China sea, bullying Taiwan Buying up land all over, making harbors into military bases building infrastructure in Africa setting up factories throughout SE Asia making a whole economic zone from there to the middle east including all the -stans, and so on Last one is that they are a bunch of drug dealers They are selling chemicals to the cartels, fueling the opiate trade, feeding the addiction, ruining our cities For sure there is more details and perspectives, but that is the gist of things
Well, I know next to zero about politics or machinations at the highest levels That is way outa my realm of knowledge comprising mostly of plants and bugs Figure we are just pieces on a chess board for presidents and sheiks, emperors and prime ministers, and all their counselors deputies and background bosses For all I know, the news is probably all true I give the media outlets the benefit of the doubt, is alright, I’m a believer Anyhow, went to China for a lil visit, been some years Sat around a barbecue of lamb kebabs and had a drink with the locals Went here and there in taxis hailed from the side of the road Gawked at mystery fruits and bargained in markets smoked one Chinese cigarette of tobacco The following cluster of essays emerged from these conversations of questions back and forth Tales that they told me, or that they tell themselves They are in some cases conglomerations of many voices for ease of reading And in other cases, they may have been slightly embellished by the teller, such are stories its not the official news, not any party’s line, not fantasy stuff of movies and TV its just a pair of ears and eyes on the ground level is all They are presented here for your enjoyment and for your information – Another view of the ching chong ching chong Chiiiiiiiiii – neeeeeese
Surveillance and safety Yes the borders are secured. From the moment you go in, check point after check point. Fingerprints scanned. Data in the computer. Go take a subway – show your passport, metal detectors. Buy a ticket for the train – show your ID and your ticket two more times before the train leaves the station. Go to the center of the city at a big intersection, before you cross the street – stop, show your ID. Cameras – everywhere. Cops – everywhere. Some look like they are about 14 years old, in black uniform. No they got no guns or tasers, just big long four foot sticks and riot shields. But, there’s a lot of them, constant presence traveling in pairs or large herds. That is not to mention the plain clothes police too which I don’t know what they look like cause they are in plain clothes. They are for sure around somewhere…LOL. So, you are watched, but you are also safe. Old ladies, little kids, anytime of the day or night, walk around just fine. Ride an electric bike at 1 am, not a problem. You not gonna get robbed, beaten, smacked down. No gun point funny business, no graffiti, no homeless sleepin on the sidewalk, no smell of urine and kaka. No crazed drug fueled eyes muttering nonsense, garbage strewed all over, broken auto glass on the road. Once in a while, you got some country bumpkin new to the city, spitting in public, but not much, not like in the old days. Smokers are few and discrete – frowned upon, again, not visible in public spaces. They are tucked away in an emergency stairwell, or by the outhouse puffin away. Country moving up, looking more like its clean and orderly prosperous Asian neighbors Singapore or Tokyo.
Electronic economy and internet Tried to buy a bun at a roadside food stall, she wouldn’t take my paper money, she only took payment by phone and QR codes. I left hungry… Most places do still accept the RMB ren ming bi (people currency = cash) but got to fish for change cause the frequency of use decreasing. My VISA card doesn’t work, they don’t accept it. My phone apps like wassup and search engines like google don’t work either even though the AT& T telecommunication carrier plan was supposed to provide the coverage. Blocked. I know there are ways around it, but I declined. It is fine I don’t really miss the constant notifications, spam calls, and surveillance feedback all that much. Lady says one time she forgot her phone and wallet, went to buy something. It was okay, because they just scanned her face and subtracted the cash from her account anyways. Facial recognition, banks, records, its all connected. Again, for some people this is called convenient and efficient (the future), for other people it is cringy overreach, lack of privacy (the dystopia), and they want to hide in a bunker and prep for the end of days. G luck, have fun.
News and information Well, they can tell I am not from there. But they are also not used to tourists in that area and not sure if my accent is from being from another Chinese province (a Chinese province being similar to an American state), or if I am a foreigner. Once I tell them I am from America then the chatting gets earnest, and you can feel the heat in the rubbing palms. Not everybody likes America because they are scared of Americans. Others don’t really care cause it is a faraway country that has little impact on their daily lives. They have better and more immediate things to worry about. A few of the younger folks think America is filled with rich people who live better lives than the Chinese. Some people are mildly curious about the state of affairs in the US of A but realize that in their lifetimes they are unlikely to make it here or anywhere else outside of Chinese borders, so it is out of sight out of mind. Who cares.
Some people tell me that they know everything about America cause its all in their well-informed international news – there is constant gun violence, and the streets are dirty. We are stacked to the teeth with arms and intend to invade China. One taxi driver liked Trump because he owns hotels and has two hands to maneuver himself out of awkward positions (a Chinese colloquialism meaning he has ‘ability’), and his nephew is smart because he is Jewish. Because all Jews are like Einstein. Funny. Another driver was convinced that videos of Biden are fakes, and that the pres. was actually out back sleeping not giving a speech. Funny. Keep in mind these are commoners like myself that don’t really know what is going on or who is running things. Mostly they just laugh and shrug. It is like they recognize that there is manipulation and falsehood but accept it with a smile. They don’t get bummed out about it. Its like okay whats new.
Religion and belief Technically there is just the one religion which is socialism communism and the state itself. Folks recognize this system as coming from the west, from the Soviets, so it is not an indigenous religion so to speak. Nevertheless, the government is wary of further inroads made by ‘western foreigners’ such as the Christians – both Catholics as well as protestants. Just a few years back Christian education for those under 18 was officially banned, so no Sunday School or youth groups that sort of thing. Chinese party doctrine and education only! This isn’t to say that groups don’t meet in secret in office spaces for a worship service, or that the government is going to bust in on you like a bunch of storm troopers and drag y’all off to jail. Its not that bad. You can talk all the messianic diatribes you want; they are keeping tabs on you. Remember that the cell phone is also a tracking and listening device. Now, if you start taking action, or want to foment a revolution, then the noose tightens, and you will get a slightly reprimanding text asking you to love your country. Not joking.
Buddhists are sorta in the same situation but are a little bit more tolerated since its source is closer to home, and its antiquity goes back further in time. So, the government is not tearing down the pagodas, temples nor the churches, especially if they are historically important, but they are not building new ones either. Nevertheless, there is this void in a human being when they do not address the spirit and only rely upon the material. That is a hungry ghost that is never full. The somewhat more well to do Chinese feel this acutely. They like “Do you provide for your kids?” I say “I say I help ‘em what I can but try to instill a sense of independence and work ethic, so that they can make it on their own. That is how we do it in America”. They say “Oh no no no, Chinese parents got to buy a car for their kid, a house for their kid, lavish wedding, etc.” There is still the dowry. The whole nine yards. It is tiresome but the peer pressure is strong in that regard. The striving middle class dilemma. Many households already have two cars, now what? Real estate is the same everywhere worldwide, priced higher and higher out of reach of regular workers. Pricey even for a bit of small square footage in a forty-story apartment building. Back to the grind. You never have enough, its built into the system…
This idea of a universal God and creation is a Christian motif that does have appeal. It appeals to a people stuck in a money centric economy and world view that is either dog eating dog (yes I did write that haha) or based solely on things you ‘have to do and adhere to’. That is the well-regulated Confucian system of old. Love?! – that is a neat and novel concept! Funny. One Chinese Catholic tells me that “God is love is all,” That is why he set up charities, old folks homes, etc. because that is the way, he is following God’s commandment. Traditional old time Chinese royalty may have frowned upon this sort of behavior and thought process. But then again, back in the day, tradition and obligation ruled supreme, no one spoke out of turn, and the basic unit was a family of three, or if lucky, four generations all under the same roof. You must have some kind of organizing structure or philo- sophy that keeps family and societal dynamics from spinning and peeling off into chaos.
Farmer tells me, “We are descendants of the dragon”, not joking, in all seriousness. Not belief or faith, not make-believe imagination. So, there is still that group in most of the countryside. They are like pagans of old, they have not gone away. In reference to a sacred mountain and the mountain gods that live there, and in response to if the gods will answer your prayers and requests, taxi cab driver says, “If you believe it, it works, if you don’t, it doesn’t.” Simple logic like that.
Hierarchy and behavior What wild west Americans have a hard time seeing is how old and how domesticated the Chinese are in relation to history. They have had a strong central command for four to five thousands of years. Its hard to suddenly switch to a democracy or a republic where you have a say or some kind of ‘representation’. Good luck to commoners trying to sack the palace, seize power with a coup d’etat, or ‘protest’. Basically, if you obey that is good, if you do not then it is off with your head. Know your place. Bow. Submit. Fear and respect. All that. Plus over time there is the constant battle for supremacy at the higher levels. That is what happens when the emperor unites the whole kingdom and then kills off his own best war lord generals to consolidate power and ensure that his reign is secure. That is the whole thing with the art of war and strategy. There is not just one contingency back up plan, there might be a dozen.
Furthermore, as part of this nationalistic unification in ancient times, every citizen had to learn this crazy complicated language of characters in their formal years of schooling. If they were fortunate enough to have a teacher. The ante has only increased in modern times. The writing system is not based on alphabets, it is rote memorization of around five thousand squarish figures that makes you mildly literate, not even well educated, just the basics. Nowadays all the kids also must learn English. The national exams happened this year over a course of four days in early June. Super intense. Streets closed, everyone on high alert. A handful of exams that determine the fate of your future. College, connections, networks that sort of thing. In the old times, as well as today, this is how there was social mobility, and a person of bright intellect could test and advance to become a civil service servant, a bureaucrat official. This can have a bit of a negative connotation here in the States – that being a sit around lazy government worker or a talk lies politician. But in China, if you come from a poor family that struggles to feed itself, getting a spot to wear a silk costume, push papers and sign documents is like hitting the lottery. You are pride and joy and rewarded for being smart. You no longer have to labor on the farm in the hot sun and dirty manure soil anymore. You are not stuck, you can go places. Suppose the parallel or analogy here would be making it big in hollywood or in some major league sports team or franchise.
Businessman says, “In China, if a higher up or boss asks something of you, you always say yes. Doesn’t matter if you agree or not, if you can do it or not, whatever. Say Yes.” That is how to keep your head from rolling. That is called obeying the hierarchy. It’s like being in the military but in day-to-day life all the time. Well, what you do or have to do after that to accomplish the task, how many red envelope bribes you have to gently put in the palm of a hand, how many bottles of liquor and whores you have to send in as part of the deal. That is another story. Always say yes. Truth be damned. No direct confrontation. There is that culture here too, but more so in some sectors than in others. When you stifle that discussion and flow of ideas back and forth, sometimes innovation and healthy growth suffer as well.
Cost of living, pension and retirement Well, it is super cheap to live in China, especially the further out from city center you go. A fifteen-minute taxi ride across town cost you about 2 bucks. A fine meal of a ten-course lunch for ten people probably run you about seventy bucks US. Seven dollars a person! A super high end seafood banquet for six with lobster, scallop, a whole fish, abalone, shrimp, and about ten other dishes run you about $180. That is thirty dollars per person. Food wise, you can get by on millet gruel, pickled vegetables, and an egg or two for nothing at all. The most expensive hotel in the small town is about the price of a motel six here or cheaper, like $70 dollars or so. It’s got the massive marble lobby and staircase, extravagant bronze statues, out of this world water fountain feature, fifty-foot-tall chandeliers, 100 item buffet all you can eat breakfast, and obsequious staff. But the coffee might be so so for the American palette. That is not their forte. Getting by is not a problem. The government gives everybody a pension. Housing too if you are needy. The age for retirement for a laborer is 50. 50 cause physical work is hard. Then you get some money that is enough to live on, but not enough to start splurging or traveling abroad or anything like that. Office workers, professors and such retire at 60 or so and of course government officials can stay on the job and keep collecting till they are 80 or more hahahaha.
So, then what do you do with your time once you are 50 and retired? Well, many of them like to go fishing down at the river. The sign says that it is illegal, but it is not enforced. Many of the bigger fish are in the middle of the river but most people just fish off the banks with a twenty-foot cane pole and a bobber. You have to pull away the algae growing at the edge of the banks to get your bait and lure into the water at the proper depth. The fish they catch is a dinky little thing that looks like a riverine perch, and I am told it is tasty. You don’t have to buy no license or pay no fees, just go to the river. The river is mostly green with clear patches. It is not the cleanest high mountain stream but it is moving and not nasty either of smell or garbage. Its alright.
As for hunting, nobody hunts. Nobody has guns or bows or anything like that. All wild animals are protected – birds, frogs, feral pigs, rabbits, deer all that. Imagine a billion Chinese people scouring the wild for food – not a good idea. That would be total decimation and destruction. I was told that you can get a gun illegally by ordering the parts separately and putting it together yourself. But that is mostly just for the underworld folks doing illegal things like running drugs. And that it is not a good idea. Likely get tracked and caught. If you are not fishing you are likely sitting at a tea table with your fellow retiree friends cracking pumpkin seeds, playing cards, knitting, or kicking a shuttlecock around. Enjoying the good life so to speak after working so hard. Another common activity is to go traveling throughout the country in the summertime when the children have a break from school. It is more difficult and expensive to leave the country but there is a lot of China within to see and do. Get on a high-speed train and go, there’s almost like 30,000 miles of track that goes everywhere for pretty cheap price. Just gets crowded is all. And hot cause it is summer.
Progress and nature The air is a lot cleaner since the last time I was here five years ago. And travelers from twenty years ago can really note a visible change. You can see the blue skies rather than the constant haze, and many vehicles are goin’ electric. Especially at the motorcycle moped scooter level. Most prominent to me are the utilitarian electric motor scooters that carry two or three people – an adult with a grown kid in the back and a baby in the front. Wearing helmets is optional. And you still see the village woman on a utility cart bike hauling what looks like 500 pounds of wide load stuff alongside the huge diesel construction trucks like its no big deal at all. The streets are clean and there is a whole lot of greenery – trees, hedges, and even bedding plants.
What was a bit odd was the lack of insects anywhere. I do understand the lack of mosquitoes because it is dry in the north. But the fact that I did not see bees on the flowers, dragonflies by the pond, was kinda weird. Even at the lil locals only market with hanging slabs of meat at room temperature, there was not a fly in sight. In a way that made me happy because I am not a fly lover. In another way it was a little bit spooky because you wonder where they all went. I never missed flies before but now I did LOL. Guess scientists have noticed this all around the world, its not just China. I am told that organic food is not a thing yet there. Did not ask, don’t know. If the choice is ‘no food famine’, or ‘food with a little poison in it’, which would you choose? With regards to recent improvements that have changed the demographics of the country from really poor to not so poor, one feller said, “We have the hardware now, but the software has not caught up yet”. He was talking about the modern infrastructure of high-speed rails, sewage and running water, the high-rise construction, the ownership of cell phones, appliances, and cars, and so on. The part he felt missing was the inner culture or interior training or spirit practice of a civilized human society that is still lagging behind.
Couple of farmers rented a plot of land on the outskirts of town under a 20 year lease from the government. Keep in mind that you cannot own private land, it all belongs to the party, the government. They built a traditional house with a courtyard, plus some pigs and chickens, crops. On the rest of the land they manage a tree plantation with grasses under the canopies, all to be dug up and sold to developers and such for street trees or park plantings. Good looking deciduous hardwood trees in neat rows. Topped and selectively pruned. Maples, golden rain tree, celtis, catalpas, euonymus, poplars. It is part of the reforestation program. If you cut the canopy you can be fined because remember it is not yours to do with as you please. But in recent years theres been a slow push to replace the space occupied by trees with the planting of millet. Guess they met their quota or something like that for green or carbon? The government does the aerial spraying for bugs, and the farmers do the same at the ground level. The trees are watered by well water about once a month. They say a lot of the water comes from the south. Here on the managed woodlands, I did see bees on the catalpa, flies near the squat toilet and chickens, and lady bugs on the poplars, it made me happy to see old friends. I was curious where all the meat we eat was coming from, that being cows, sheep, pigs and chickens. Farmer says on the outskirts of town there is good grasslands for livestock. When I asked about feed, he mentioned that they used to get a lot of imports from overseas, corn and soy. But in recent years the government has started to retreat more and more inward for food security. So, the amount of imported feed has dropped, and more is produced domestically.
Power generation Maybe twenty years back they passed a law saying you could not have a power plant that was within like 150 or 175 kilometers of the city center, so that was good. Cut down on the smog and pollution. There are still smokestacks from coal fired plants, but they are running cleaner. You’ll see apartment developments built right next to chimney stacks. As we flew south on the flight it was neat to notice the change from the dry north to the wet and green south. Also great to see the numerous small farms in cultivation and hamlets that dot the landscape. On bunches of farm ponds, there were large floating solar arrays of panels and that was cool, think that was Taiwan though and not China; not sure; the mind starts to get foggy after a day in the cramped cabin staring out the window panes. Well, that is about all for this travelogue then. Tzai jian that means good bye or literally ‘again see’. And the character for see looks like a big rectangular eyeball with a couple of downward eye lashes.
Back in the days of Chinese civil war one side lost and retreated to the island of Taiwan, while the other side won and stayed on mainland China. After the war, in Taiwan they preserved the old style of writing characters that is complicated but descriptive and symbolic. We will call it the traditional style. In China they changed the characters to make them easier for common folks to learn and write – the simplified style. Here are eight common street trees from northern China with their names and stories.
Mission Azul 