China in conclusion

I am bumping along in China right now, who has time for work??? For the last month and a half (with a side-trip into Lhasa, Tibet) I have been in Yunnan province of South-west China enjoying the sights and scenery on offer. Folks are great and the food is SPICY! China is quite a breath of fresh air after the laisez-faire of the Philippines. China is a BUSY place and is no longer a developing country. It has fledged while we have been here and it seems that the last load of Canadian wheat via the World Bank has reached its ports. The Chinese administration seems to be cutting trade deals with everyone who will listen: India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Sudan, and is working on a deal with Japan to name a few. If I was an American President, say, I would be clutching my anus just now. China just finished meeting with the ASEAN group, the Bo'ao meetings and the Asian-African forum, yikes. They may just take over the world afterall! All the external signs of having 'made it' are here: roads are nicely paved and even landscaped(!!), buildings are sprouting like grass, there are GARBAGE CANS all over the place and they are emptied nightly. Unheard of, really, to see such cleanliness and orderliness. Buses (and trains) are a joy and purchasing a (computerized) ticked quite simple. More like home than say...Vietnam or Laos that is for sure. I heartily recommend a visit to China should you be in the neighbourhood. Tres cheap too! Less than 10 CAD per day (mostly).

This country is HUGE and there is so much to see. From regions such as Mongolia and Tibet, to relics such as the many temples and the Great Wall, to the hills of Yunnan and the rivers of the world, global cities - Hong Kong and Shanghai - to the villages of yesterday (Lijang) there is no other place in the world with such depth of history and culture. Quite a place it is, that is for sure. I only have 7 days left, and then back home. I am in contact with MSF (Toronto) and will make a house-call to them to see what can happen on a placement.

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My IPMP friend Sami (Sudan) writes:

I was thinking Chris' post should be published in the National Post for those in Canada who complain about the immigrants littering "our" country to read. But, this is not what I wanted to talk about here. China is a giving an impresive example of a country that's facing all sorts of geographic, demographic, and political pressures and emerging as a powerful nation. What I like about them is that they are keeping their rich culture and traditions alive, whether we like it or not. They did development their own way. They did not follow the "Big Mac" sort of model blindely, no IMF or WB prescription whatsoever. They think, plan, and do their job in SILENCE, and now everybody has to listen to them, including the US. Cheers! Sami

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What I have seen:
Mountain passes, cobbled highways, paved highways, incredible scenery, deep valleys (enough to swallow buses!), landslide scarred terrain, pine plantations, extensive rice terraces, denudation, rubber plantations, dusty skies, wide boulevards empty of traffic, ghost-towns of concrete, tile and glass, minorities in wildly colorful costumes, hawking and spitting, spicy noodles, spicy soup, spicy cookies, spicy BEER, spicy dips, piles of shit, streams of shit, babies shitting on sidewalks, pigshit, chickenshit, dogshit, duckshit, maggots in shit, frozen shit, melting shit, red chillies, dried chillies, green chillies, fat chillies, flower chillis, chilli powder, chilli paste, chilli goop, too much of my own streaming shit, ice cream, popsicles, street-cleaners in flourescent orange, garbage trucks whistling tunes ("Its a small world, after all"), landscaped roadways, towns which feel like they have been built last week, villages which have been around for centuries, sleeper buses, trundle buses, broken buses, shiny buses, internet cafes with over 100 computers, regions with no power, noodle stalls, soup noodle stalls, more noodle stalls, still more noodle stalls, dumpling stalls, even more noodle stalls, endless smoking, bus drivers bribed with cigs, cigs sparked on leaving the parking lot, cigs sparked on arrival, cigs sparked in friendship, cigs sparked in anger, rocks, breaking rocks stacking rocks, moving rocks, tea terraces, tea harvesting, tea rolling, tea pots, tea flasks, tea jars, Mao suits, whispy beards cokebottle glasses crooked smiles, pointy-toed shoes, designer looks shaggy hair, orange hair color, LV, PC, Avon, GreyMice, games of chance, shooting balloons with AK-47's, cards slapping, majong clinking, heated chess discussions, eating all day, noodle soup for breakfast, noodle soup for lunch, noodle soup for snack, steamed dumplings, boiled dumplings, jelly soup, fried dough twists, steamed corn, somebody is always eating, happy faces, too many "hello's", wide-eyed surprise and pointing, fear-filled children - strange hairy-legged 'lowai', vehicle accidents - dead motorcyclists, dead babies, Chinese TV, 30 year-old American "Circus" shows, Chinese 'Price is Right', Chinese 'Survivor, propaganda: China vs US in textile trade wars, China vs Japan in conflicting recollection of Japanese WWII history books, China opens trade negotiations with India, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Sudan, Japan...