Same Same Vang Vieng

The last time I was in Laos, I was locked out of China due to covid, floating around SE Asia with only the clothes that I had in my backpack, trying to teach online for two months. Bathing suits, mind you, do violate the dress code.. After a short stint in Kuala Lumpur to join a few other misplaced teachers, I returned to Laos until I had to evacuate the country, one of the more traumatic moments of my life, grown folks begging with ticket agents to board planes.

Why do I hike?

When I find myself literally at the end of a rope in China, hiking is the ultimate brain eraser. Either I’m concentrating on the beauty or not slipping, totally forgetting that the snack I purchased for my cat was freeze dried baby birds (I will spare you the photo).

Nails

Hopefully, someday, Easter will be restored to a holiday where I can enjoy going to church, biting the heads off chocolate bunnies instead of eating frozen pea-sicles, and thinking about the nails of the crucifixion, not mine.

Tombs and Brittle Bones

It’s sad. Folks spending eternity in a cemetery really are forgotten. We have don’t even have a word for them. We have words for the grounds (cemetery, necropolis, catacombs), words for the urns and burial stones, words for that stupid piece of plastic on the end of your shoelace (aglet), but no word for our collective of loved ones that left us their Hummel collections.

Rice 饭 Fàn

his year for Christmas, I travelled to Xishuangbanna, where rice is anything but a bland side dish. There are rice stuffed pineapples, purple sticky rice, speckled rice dumplings wrapped in Bamboo leaves, and rice stuffed bamboo shoots.

Local Color

I went to Kunming’s Museum of Contemporary Art this weekend and viewed what I thought was an abstract poodle. While I enjoyed the art, I found the streets just as colorful. This bean lady at the market reminded me of my mom. I really think it was her. She didn’t have her own booth or her own QR code, but […]

Paperwork

Working at an international school, I have been trained for fires, earthquakes. Hostage Takeovers. But what if a student gets stuck in the bathroom? It was photo day and my class was right after the snapping of pictures. Mars’ bow tie was next to the crayons. Albert’s jacket was on the back of his chair. But Yael’s kitty cat ears? […]

An American in Wuhan

Oh yes I did! I have just completed the Covid 19 Triple Dog Dare. I went on a cruise, ate at a buffet and ended up in Wuhan, then lived to blog about it. Actually, it’s not as insane as it sounds. Since I’m “land-locked” in China this summer, I thought I’d finally see the country. It’s not like I’ve […]

Pokes and Probes

So what’s an expat to do when it’s time to get back on the saddle again–wait–I mean back in the stirrups? Make an appointment at Women’s Angel Hospital for a pap smear and mammogram. Considering China makes more babies than any other countries, maybe it’s time we trust them with other female needs.

Temple Attire

So, just what do you wear to a temple or monastery, even if it’s one for chickens in Shangri La? It depends on if it’s a Buddhist temple, monastery, or the Hundred chicken temple.

Yak and Hack

Does anyone know of a good wine pairing for yak? That’s what you eat in Shangri La. And don’t laugh. Yak is where it’s at. I was referred to this little hole in the wall, a Tibetan version of a blue plate diner. I ordered Diced Yak with noodles and Yak Meat Pie. The crust was amazing. Plus, I had […]

Born to be like ginger

In America today, I officially turn into human wallpaper. It’s my birthday, or 生日快乐 shēng rì kuài lè, in Chinese. But no Barbie dolls or pin the tail on the donkey games this year. I turned sixty. The big Six-O. In dog years, I’d be dead. In America, childhoods that pre-date Google means you have become as desirable as panty […]

You Care Too Much

The three words silenced my room: “What the hell?” They weren’t from a junior high student, because the utterance would have been in Chinese. The slip of the tongue was from a second grader. From the same kid who doesn’t know his sight words. I looked at a coworker, who heard it too. While I was thinking about school policies […]

Smoke

There is a famous Chinese proverb: 不到长城非好汉. He who has never been to the Great Wall is not a true man. And after he visits the Great Wall, he picks up a pack of cigarettes.  Smoking is huge in this country, even with doctors, including my “no chicken, no OJ, drink broccoli juice” acupuncturist. Before the young doctor light his cigarette, […]

One star.

I just came back from a quick trip to Vietnam. The trip to Vietnam from my abode in Kunming was about the same schlepp as from Chicago to Charlevoix,  Michigan. There aren’t any McDonald’s to stop at along the way,  but a lot of fun sights that made this get-away memorable as well as reasonable.   The entire adventure costing […]

Twice as bright, half as long

It was even too twisted for a Stephen King novel. I got the text from my husband and the waves of pain from southern California hit Kunming China like a tsunami. A friend lost his second son in eighteen months. To make the nightmare even worse,  both deaths were the result of suicide. The second son,   like his brother, pried open […]

After School Snacks

Chinese teens are no different than American teens: as soon as school lets out, they reach for a snack. This lady had a Chinese burrito. An eggy “tortilla” packed with spices, chips and a Chinese hotdog. I’d rather have my fingernails removed than eat a Chinese hot dog. The ping pong team was still practicing… but the girls were at […]

Hangouts

  I miss some of my hang outs in Chicago’s Uptown. Everybody’s Coffee The lobby of Friendly Towers. Dollop. But I  do have a few hangouts in Kunming’s BeiChen area. Here are some of my stomping grounds on the flip side. This is one of my favorite coffee shops in the BeiChen Fortune Shopping Mall.  They have coffee, waffles and […]

Cute Háizi

China makes a lot of things…but the cutest thing they make are kids. Here are some snips of some children or  hái zi  (pronounced hide-zha) that caught my eye this week. Girl playing with her smart phone at a Muslim Goat Hot Pot restaurant. A pint size sherpa climbing  Snow Mountain, Yunnan,  China. Bundled up Bus Baby in itsy bitsy glasses. David likes to […]

Magic Mountain

I knew it was going to be a serious hike when a leathery vendor tried to sell me a canister of oxygen. “No thanks, ” I said, wondering if she knew something that I didn’t. It’s Jiao Zi  (pronounced like “wowza”) Mountain.  It’s forty two hundred meters  high, a century back in time and a two hour drive outside of Kunming. […]

Hong Kong

It was over thirty years ago,  the term after I broke my back skydiving, and the height of the now forgotten Falkland Island Crisis. My life was in a bit  of a crisis, too. I took a break from MSU and studied for a term in London, being mindful to call my parents collect every Sunday assure them I was […]

Go fly a Fengzheng

You think it would be easy. I brought my kite from the USA to China, which sounds as ludicrous  as Anheuser Busch importing their own rice to this country to make Budweiser beer. In China,   fengzheng  flying (pronounced phone-jen)   is a serious hobby, where  yeyes, (wise grandfathers) rule the skies and teach youngsters the ropes. Or in my case, give advice on how to untangle a three […]

Farmer’s Market

I went to a farmer’s market today in Kunming. It was more colorful than a bag of Skittles. A lot of shoppers rode bikes… including this guy who needed one of those OVERSIZED  LOAD signs. My favorite was the rice bike. It’s the Chinese version of the Good Humor truck. Do you want one scoop or two? Or  strawberry shortcake? You can […]

A DAY THAT NEVER WAS

  It’s funny flying to the flipside. Father Time either swallows a day when you fly west over the international date line,  or  gives you a day back if you fly east,  allowing you to land before you ever left. Well,  yesterday, while flying back to China, my mother in law passed away. It was about nine o’clock CST, seven hours after take off, putting […]