Wide-Eyed Wanderer Adventures

11-26-2010 [written 11-28-2010 at the Linden Centre]. "Time flies like and arrow....fruit flies like a banana."  The Stream continues to bless my journey as I penetrate the West of China and enter Yunnan province. I've experienced one of those glorious lemon-lemonade moments on the train from Guilin to Kunming [on the way to Dali]. As I came down from the terraced mountains of Longji in the north of Guilin, not but 2 hours later I found myself boarding a sleeper train to Kunming...but not in a "soft sleeper" class as I hoped for [as I got the tickets last minute, and, apparently, it sells out], but in the hard sleeper [i.e., like the Russian "platskart" - 3 beds on top of each other - 6 people per "compartment" - very cozy]. I figured, the experience is to be that way for some reason.  While still in line before boarding, I habitually scanned the faces around me. And one face has stood out - not only by the fact that it belonged to a tall sc...

11-23-2010 It's like I boarded a magic train. Things are showing up around me just when I need them. Out of the blue. Some highlights: a kind Yao guide showed up on my trek from Da Zhai to Pignan. She happened to live in the village between the two and invited me to her home to feed me delicious lunch of veggies straight from her garden by the creek and eggs from her chickens. She and her daughter and I sat together by the earth firepit in her simple home and talked. So impromptu! It is she that you can see with her long hair waving in the wind [she let me take a photo of one of her old photos - the hair is even longer now!] She then followed me through the critical points [where there were no markers on the road forks] until I was on the straight track [even though I asked her not to as it's 2 hours away! It turns out, she had a log half-way that she needed to bring back to the village and chose to do it now].  Then today I went back to Da Zhai and ascended the Golden Buddha...

TREK DA ZHAI TO PIGNAN - 5 HRS 11-22-2010 I've been gifted a sunny day. Without much ado, I chose to spend it on a famed trek from Da Zhai to Pignan - the ultimate up-and-close encounter with the rice terraces - from above, below and between.... The road was remarkably well-marked for the first half, which did not prevent me from getting lost a few times and asking lots and lots of Yao people in my broken Chinglish-Hand-ese for the directions. I think, some signposts got twisted on their axis a bit. All the more fun ;O) I did not realize just how much knee-crushing up-and-down the trek included. From the sky-high vistas to the valleys and back up. Absolutely stunning all the way, though.  Occasionally, I was passed by the graceful long-haired Yao with a load of firewood branches or basket rucksacks [a basket with 2 velvety straps attached]. Sometimes, horses with household load would pass by led by a villager with a sun-dried face and eyes radiating kindness and humility. I walke...

More eye-warming imagery from Da Zhai's height!

11-21-2010 - Da Zhai Village guesthouse An evening in Da Zhai village [of the long-haired women]. My room resembles a ski lodge/challet. I like it. Huge view. Very cozy. Especially now, that the friendly Yao hostess found me a heater for the room. It's immediately feeling warmer in here. The village is at the cloud level and it takes many twists of a windy mountain road to get up here [roughly 2 hours from the inconspicuous town of Longshen].  Immediately, as I have arrived in the village, I sat to meditate and have gone so deep that I fell asleep....its like something within my soul has relaxed and found peace here. I shall stay here for a couple days. I like it. It is quiet and pensive....Confuscian. What a relief from the busy cities full of tourists. This space is relatively insular with plethora of hikes and trekking loops. I'm considering doing a 5 hr trek to Pignan village - a path that leads through many of the small local villages....and then either staying in Pignan ...

11-20-2010 [written 11-20-2010] FULL MOON! Oh, how our big life choices polarize our community! There are those who support us in our quest - no matter how unreasonable....and then there are the other folks. The ones who think they know better what we need and "should" do. The ones who see us heart-to-heart, spirit-to-spirit....and the ones who operate from the mind and attempt to patronize us from the "ivory tower." To them, life must be controlled, must be "reasonable" at all costs, giving predictable, already-always outcomes. Observing their tight, fear-based, surgical-grade-controlled lives elics the same feeling as visiting a lion cage at the zoo [I could never do zoos for that very reason]. I really get where they are, as I've lived from a place of fear for most of my life - until a drastic health incident has knocked me flat into surrender, for no human could sustain that level of fear for any significan amounto of time. And, having been there, ...

The bus to the cloud-level village is an adventure - it winds up a steep mountain road and one sees all kinds of interesting cargo on board. The black-and-fuschia garb is traditional wear for the long-haired Yao women of the village. Most Yao women are excellent at weaving/embroidery and hand-make most of their costume. The locals use large baskets with straps for rucksacks to haul firewood and souveniers for sale to the few tourists that come to the village.

Biking along the Yulong River and the many villages that grow on its luscious banks.

11-20-2010 [written 11-20-2010, Bus: Guilin -->Longsheng Province, Dragon Backbone terraces - 2 hrs north from Guilin].  Watching the full-moon coin hang serenely above the mounts....much in the same way bricks don't.  The two sudden freezing days in Yangshuo have caught my body by surprise. I went down with a fast and furious cold for a day. I'm guessing that the day of biking along the beyond-picturesque Yulong river in that weather didn't help. However, Dr. Lily's herbal tea mix did help - she is a local "witch doctor" with marinated snake-jars in her parlor who has examined me and said that my kidneys could use some support [which she has proceeded to give me 2 Lbs of - specially mixed herbal tea]. This eye-of-newt brew was my food for the next day as I crawled into my "cave" and let my body recover. Also, thanks to the many healing techniques I practice, I'm coming out of it as quickly as I went in. As my Mama says: "getting sick is...

Date posted: Thu, Nov 25, 2010 at 10:51 PM Being on a bike on the local roads has presenced me yet again to the unusual swarm-kind of intelligence on the Chinese roads. I have seen it in every city and town thus far. It appears to be the kind of present, non-local intelligence possessed by a school of fish. Few lanes are marked, few laws are observed - everyone is pretty much going where they want to. Yet, there is a consistent communication stream by honks and gestures. There is no room for "cruise-control" here. Only consistent presence rules the road. I like it. It is distinctly different from the U.S. linear driving/biking experience. I feel safer on these roads than I have ever felt - people are extremly aware. It makes me think of the other life aspects that I am used to putting on "cruise-control" - there is seamless efficiency and beauty to it, yet, perchance, at the expense of the dynamic tracking of life and overall presence. www.OneTapMagic.com Disco...

Date: Thu, Nov 25, 2010 at 10:46 PM "Some people weave burlap into the fabric of our lives, and some weave gold thread. Both contribute to make the whole picture beautiful and unique." I love the serendipitous acquaintances that happen on the journey.... A couple days ago - just as I felt my cold coming on and I was in feverish search of hot soup on the streets of Yangshuo - I stopped by the same restaurant that has lured me in the day before with its yummy veggie soup, and saw an older mustached gentleman perusing the same menu. We were both "returnees" to the restaurant, it turns out, and I invited him to join me for a meal. Well, it turns out, Samuel Franco from Guatemala has been doing for 30 years that which I have been wondering about doing at some point. He goes around the world making major documentaries for Natl. Geographic and other "big wigs" in the adventure industry. He told me of his current "pet project" - a passion that he hop...

The lyrical beauty of the fabled Yangshuo.... mountain-biking through the villages along the Yulong River [a branch of the Li River]... Truly an idyllic setting.

Entry 11-16-2010 [written 11-18-2010] As I began to explore the lovely "village" of Yangshuo [roughly 1 Mln people - most folks here consider that to be a small town], I took a stroll along the famed Li River...and a strange thing happened. Three cute young girls came up to me, arm in arm and asked timidly if they could talk to me. To my surprised "why?" they told me they were students at a local college [Omeida College of Yangshuo] and wanted to practice their English. As it turns out, Yangshuo is a major language center that students flock to from all around China to be exposed to the never-drying pool of westerners who flock here for the beyond-lyrical scenery. Symbiosis at its finest.   I invited my new-found friends to stroll along the river with me as they shared their heritage and intentions of international relations careers. The day was drawing nigh and the girls mentioned that once a week their English teacher treats them to a fun English movie, and today...

-- www.OneTapMagic.com Discover Your Power )*( www.NikaOne.com The Art of Transformation [TAO-T]---> ~~~~~~~~~~~ "Let the beauty you love be what you do. There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the earth." ~ Jalāl ad-Dīn Rumi - a Persian poet and whirling dervish A mind all logic is like a knife all blade. It makes the hand bleed that uses it.   ~ R. Tagore        "...Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." ~ J.W. von Goethe "Do not say, 'It is morning,' and dismiss it with a name of yesterday. See it for the first time as a newborn child that has no name."   ~ R. Tagore     "For as this appalling ocean surrounds the verdant land, so in the soul of man there lies one insular Tahiti, full of peace and joy, but encompassed by all the horrors of the half-known life. " ~ H. Melville