Play the Game of Life
Ryan Petersen's Blog

Anybody visiting China absolutely must wake up before 7 am and head to the nearest public park for a few hours of entertainment. Watching the vigor and grace with which these elderly people approach their infinitely diverse range of exercises, we cannot help but be filled with a profound sense of joy. Great inspiration is to be found in the capabilities of the "long-lived" who have embraced a more empowering perception of themselves.

Video 1: Harmony of Motion
If the video below does not work, please use this link. Don't bother if you are in China. Google Video wants to maintain a quality experience, so they are restricting access here until they are able to stream at full speed.






Video 2: Unusual Exercise in a Chinese Park
If the video below does not work, please use this link. Again, sorry for readers in China but you won't be able to see this clip...try back when Google Video goes live here...

Video 3: Women Staying Fit in Yunnan, China
If the video below does not work, please use this link.

This scene unfolded at my favorite intersection in Kunming today. There appears to be no method to the madness, yet it just seems to work...perhaps it's a microcosm for all of China. Coming East? First read this advice on crossing the street in China.

The embedded Google Video playback hasn't worked in previous attempts, but if we chose to give up so easily every time computers misbehaved, life would be frustrating indeed. Let's not choose that type of life! If it doesn't work, use this link. Users in China, we are out of luck till Google Video decides they are ready for prime time over here.

Labels: china, China traffic, my favorite posts, video

On Saturday my friend Michy and I took off for a long bike ride to nowhere. We just decided to go north until we couldn't ride any further, then turn around the next day and come back. With no expectations, there was no chance of disappointment. The countryside and people we encountered were simply phenomenal. Below are some pictures from the 120 mile ride, which as it turned out crossed two 8,000 foot mountain passes that were quite a suprise for us.

Labels: china

As a foreigner in China you are often granted extra-special treatment. In rural villages where white people are not often seen, the effect can be quite astounding. On a recent bike trip in rural Yunnan Province of China, every where we stopped for more than 15 minutes we were mobbed by crowds of excited children. These three honored our visit with a spontaneous song and dance performance.



Google Video playback does not work for viewers in China (like myself). If you are not in China, check out the video by using this link.

Labels: china, my favorite posts, video

Raymond may not actually sleep in that Hong Kong 7-11, but in my mind he will reside there forever, drunk off his rocker and infecting the other patrons with his lively smile.

In the few minutes I knew him, I got the impression that his English was quite good, if he could just get his happily intoxicated mind in order long enough to finish a thought. What few lines he could get out, he tended to repeat over and over.

"How old are you?" Raymond asked me.

"I'm 25 years old, sir, how old are you?"

"I am 72 years old!" he replied, barely able to supress his ebullient laughter beneath that enormous toothless grin, "I am oldeerr thaaan yoouuuu!!"

He was quite proud of himself for using English to discover that he was in fact older than me. "I am oldeeerr thaaaan yooouuu!!" he repeated several more times, his personal satisfaction increasing with each pass.

My friend Alex and I became quite enamoured of this kind-hearted drunk, so we bought him a couple cans of his favorite beer. Overwhelmed with joy, Raymond proclaimed us to be his friends until the end of time.

"Keeping up together always, no matter how!!" he roared, looking me intently in the eyes as a profound sense of love for his fellow man seemed to well up from from deep within his soul. We had formed an everlasting friendship with this great man for the price of twenty Hong Kong dollars.

But tragically, our eternal bond came to an abrupt end just minutes later when, to our astonishment, Raymond suddenly vanished into thin air during mid-conversation. We ran outside the store expecting to see him staggering down the road or, worse, keeled over on the sidewalk. But the joyously mysterious old Chinese man had disappeared without a trace.

Unsure whether perhaps we had imagined this delightful character, we quickly checked the digital camera. To my great relief, I am able to share with you today the only surviving picture of Raymond, Hong Kong's most cheerful drunk.

Labels: china, my favorite posts

It is difficult to create a culture of customer service in a Chinese hotel located four hours from the nearest road, with no running water or telephone service. At the Tea Horse Hotel, perched on a steep cliff some 3,000 feet above the Yangtze River, language difficulties and an endless stream of exhausted backpackers further complicated the Korean manager's job. Yet he performed admirably in this difficult role, made even more challenging by the fact that he did not actually work there.


For years unfair practices in the hospitality industry have prevented highly talented patrons from maximizing their true potential. Only very rarely do hotel guests succeed in making the leap to leadership positions within the hotel. But the manager at the Tea Horse was a true exception, having been elevated to general manager within just a few hours of checking in.

The Super Guest was the first to greet new arrivals, explaining hotel policies as he carried their bags up to the room he assigned for them. He also ran the small shop at the front corner of the hotel and managed the restaurant in the main courtyard. He unloaded supplies from the mule caravans as they arrived, washed dishes and was even seen slaughtering a chicken behind the hotel restaurant.

Super Guest hurried about the hotel with all the grace you would expect from a Korean computer scientist on holiday in rural China. Day and night, he could be seen hustling to and fro at top speed, all the while ensuring the Tea Horse's prestigious assortment of vacationing university students and hippy backpackers received the four star customer service they so obviously deserved. His genuine smile and playful attitude belied the level of responsibility that had been so unceremoniously pressed upon him by nobody at all.

The Tea Horse's actual employees were thrilled to have such a cheerful new boss. Even if he did occassionally bark orders at them, on the balance they were much better off now and willingly accepted his authority. He freed them from the need to worry about things like greeting patrons, collecting bills or purchasing food for the restaurant. It was fortunate that Super Guest now handled bill collection, for the hotel's location deep in the wild frequently resulted in problems providing exact change. Super Guest was a wealthy computer programmer who quickly gave change for even the most complicated transactions.

Liberated from the obligations of running a hotel, the employees could now focus on more important tasks like keeping the stove hot to ensure a steady supply of warm Yak Butter Tea. None of the Tea Horse's guests ever ordered Yak Butter Tea. If they did Super Guest would have made the tea himself to ensure it met the hotel's new quality standards.

The other guests could be forgiven for failing to recognize that Super Guest was merely a fellow traveler like themselves. Despite his self-confidence, Super Guest never told anybody he didn't work there for fear they would think him strange. We few travelers who did uncover Super Guest's true identify found him strange indeed. Strangely wonderful.

Labels: china, my favorite posts

Blogging the gray area between pig and pork.
Photo by Jennifer Gill

Labels: china

Zhong Dian's tourism administrators claim the region is the "Shangri La" from James Hilton's book Lost Horizon (see book reviews for more about this classic novel). The comparison is altogether ridiculous but the town is a very nice place to spend a couple of days. Here's a few pictures from the town, its monastery and a nearby lake. Photos again courtesy of the lovely Jen Gill.

Photo by Jennifer Gill

Photo by Jennifer Gill

Photo by Jennifer Gill

Photo by Jennifer Gill

Photo by Jennifer Gill

Photo by Jennifer Gill

Labels: china

The good thing about running from an angry Yak is
that you only have to run faster than your slowest friend.
Photo by Jennifer Gill

Labels: china

"You can't swim in this lake, it's too deep" -- Tour Guide in Zhong Dian, China
Photo by Jennifer Gill

Labels: china, my favorite posts

 

 

 

 

Labels: china, photos, Tiger Leaping Gorge, yunnan

Today we paid 20 RMB to have our clothes washed in a guest house. Three hours later the bag of clothes was still sitting next to the empty washing machine. Each employee we asked about the clothes denied responsibility and pointed us to somebody else. Finally when we found the guy who we originally negotiated with to do the clothes, he told us very seriously, "Look, I'm too cold to do your laundry, maybe later, okay?" Where is Super Guest when you need him?

Labels: china

Photo by Jennifer Gill

Photo by Jennifer Gill

Labels: china

In honor of international labor day, the entire country of China will shut down from Monday - Friday, May 1-7.

Interestingly, Chinese workers only actually get three days off for the holiday. But they are required to take off the last two days of the week, and required to make up for those days by working on the Saturday and Sunday before the holiday week.

Try that in America...

For my holiday a classmate and I are traveling to northern Yunnan to visit the Tiger Leaping Gorge and a Tibetan town called Zhongdian. Stay tuned for pictures and stories.

Labels: china