The Late but not dead Darryl

A grandma playing pool with her grandson....this was outside a strip mall that ran for about 2 miles.....if you can see down that far....the tables were right outside the door...there were several guys playing on another one about 100 metres away...across the street was an industrial park.










Dennis my student from 11-10 who should be at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His desk is usually piled even higher with books....he is a nice kid and reads incessantly and is a royal pain because he does his work so quickly and with a lot of words that even I can't understand...he is a challenge and he challenges you to be better.....








Me and my thinkers pose on a rock near the Pna Mountains....something like the foothills....these were not big mountains and I did not climb them as this was the day before the marathon and I wasn't about to blow about three months of training to go up a mountain....some impressive features.....the writing on the rock...there were some temples to visit on the way up ...there were stairs up...not a hike like you would have in the Rockies.








A bike loaded down with cardboard and plastic and whatever he can carry...they are never ending....and they are piled higher than this most of the time....the owner was getting some more from just inside the post at the business.














Mark Chapman, a teacher, we will forgive him for his sweater....we were skating around the rink at the World Trade Centre.....lots of little kids...learning to skate...the rink was not official...we said...who would have imagined last year at this time that we would be in China teaching school...skating in the middle of Beijing....and then we laughed....

Geez, I tried to add some pictures but can't seem to get this bugger to do it so I will put this one on the blog and start a new one with some added pictures and some comments.

Bear or Bare with me whichever you prefer!!!!!!!!!!


Well I am finally back.

No reason for not writing other than I have been a little busy in some aspects and a little lazy in others. Will save this as a draft and try to add pictures in wherever they will fit.....if I can access them....tuxes and bikes and all.

We dressed up in our tuxes prior to the meal and had a few drinks at the Canadian Club. If you notice, one of the pictures has me with the Riders hat on...can't seem to get them out of my psyche....funny too....Mark had a kid say on his test that Green and Yellow ( the Sask Flag) was the colour of the Canadian flag....and they have one hanging in each of the rooms.....the Canadian flag that is......The banquet went quite well and I even won something or have I aleady mentioned that. A meal for two at a swanky restaurant which I will give away to Mike and Kirsten as they have been very helpful to me. The meal was a turkey dinner so we had a turkey dinner on the Thursday before the marathon, the Monday after the marathon and then that Friday aw well.....didn't hurt my feelings any. The 4 amigos with the tuxes were the talk of the night.....several of the ladies wanted their pictures taken with us...imagine that.....no dance (well a little one) but we went home early in the school vans

Last Sunday we (Don, Eve Mike and Kirsten) went to a bike dealer in Tonqzhou and purchase a bike....Don Eve and I that is. We got a good deal....came with locks and bells. We had to buy mud flaps and the kickstand....but they are good bikes....we will have to keep them in our rooms as they may develop legs and walk away if not. It will give us a little roaming freedom.....and we will learn about the traffic first hand.

Last week was a long one...we are teaching extra classes now ..called master students with the grade twelves...so that they can get ready for Canada or university life...not sure if I am making much of a mark with my topic...Taking Notes.....never was much of a notetaker,,,well I guess I had to take some.....but I give them some pointers and hope that they will listen and try to get something from the presentation....even if it is just questions about Saskatchewan or university of Canada or student life....Also are doing a thing called Chat Room or Homework Room where the students come to either catch uup on homework or to talk in only English.

Have used that as a form of discipline......you can't speak Chinese in my class or you will go to the English chat room..can't understand that....because their parents send them here to speak English and they try to get away with speaking Chinese....go figure.....

Am feeling a little isolated here....surrounded by 15 million people......no, I mean, i am the only westerner here and have to fight for the country music and the riders and the flames or oilers or just the west...actually done in really good jest...I am making some inroads..even with the kids...have them listening to country music...no Stompin yet...

Have been able to talk to many people using the computer.....Mark has me wired for tv through his computer and a thing called Slingbox so I can watch Canadian stuff as well as anything that is on satellite...what a deal...

Have not taken a lot of pictures as my camera is acting up a little...will be one of my next big purchases and then I should be done....But I will try to put some on this blog....had a problem with it for a few days that they said they fixed...not my fault...never is......

Went out riding last weekend just by myself...the bike does give you some extra range.....saw some neat things and will put them on the blog....

Forgot to tell you about the marathon ending.....I ran by the stadium that will be hosting the Athletics I think.....massive...stainless steel girders reaching to the sky.....am going to see if I can go aroung Beijing and take pictures fo the facilities and then email them back to you...

Great news....Jennifer ..my daughter is pregnant...due in April....I guess that I won't be able to be there for the event....Jack Wakeford, a very good friend said he would be my surrogate father and just needed the date and he would show up

Several of us decided to buy new golf clubs so we had Bob do some negotiating and he knows his clubs ....bought 8 sets of Ping clubs without a bag...the irons and driver and 3 wood.....for less than $90.....I got 3 sets....2 lefts and 1 right....can't believe the price....may have to set up a business.....like a few others have done....

Think I have finished my Christmas shopping...now how in the heck could that happen....I usually leave it until the 23rd or 24th....and then sit and watch others in the panic mode...will probably cost a fortune to send the stuff back to Canada...oh well it will be worth it....Jennifer will be my distribution point......we don't get much of a holiday at Christmas....just the day and then it is back to work....will seem strange...really strange....but we do get a long holiday at the end of January......from the 26th until February the 26th..Chinese New Year and some other make up days...so I think I will be going to Thailand for a stretch....10 days.....just to say i have been there.....

Well..better go it is past midnight and I have work to do...Riders play today or is it yesterday or is it tomorrow...hard to say....ran into a guy from Calgary and one from Regina.....had a good laugh over football...the real football. Hope that all the pictures get onto the page and that you can see me and others here in all our glory

Bailing out in Beijing

Darryl

Mid October Life Crisis?

Haven't send any messages for a while because there wasn't an awful lot going on but I have got some loose ends to clear up.

Talk about fresh food. The other night when we were at our restaurants, one of the fish jumped right out of the tank and onto the floor. Almost hit Jennifer as it was heading to the floor. The waitress just grabbed it, after several slippery misses and put it back in the tank. It would be dinner for someone.

Also when I went out for a jog, on the roadside just outside our enclosure, a man had his sheep grazing along the roadside....Clearing off the tall grass..Something like I wanted to do with the golf course in Chaplin...natural lawn mowers.

Forgot to tell you about the fight in Boatao, Inner Mongolia. Just as we were leaving, a car pulled up alongside two bikers and tried to butt in to a line...not to be allowed, the man and lady did not give way and something was said by the lady in the car to either one or the other or both. The biker man pulls his bike directly in front of the car and forces it to stop. I don't know what was said but it wasn't that your mother wears army boots....pretty soon some shoving and the two ladies are trying to break it up...the guy pulls out a cell phone and I don't know who he was calling.....just about that time we had to leave....would have liked to have seen the conclusion of it.

Kind of funny thing happened as I was getting food at the local grocery store...Wumart....the clerk says something to me and I have no idea of course to what he is saying. Find out later he was asking me if I had a card for the store...something like a Safeway card....I just laughed out that.

We had a Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday and then had another this Monday at the Canadian Club here..liked our own better ...better atmosphere. Chinese do not celebrate the day at all.

After our Thursday one, we took a joint trip to a mountainous region with the other Chinese teachers ....sort of bonding I guess....we didn't do a lot of it.....had a joint dinner ...some karaoke with mostly Chinese songs...but we did sing two of ours....I Wanna Dance With Somebody and another one....we had most of the people up and dancing...then bed time at 11:00

Next day off to the mountains...which were not so much..more like foothills..but there were shrines and temples and a couple of interesting things...I did not go to the top as it was a lot of walking and I was going to run the marathon the next day.

This is a picture of the welcoming pine that is no longer living as you can see by the two metal posts holding it up..plus there were some other wires holding the branches on...but they were tourist attractions.

I meat these guys on an excursion behind the tourist sight. It was a rock quarry of sorts....the truck was taking away huge boulders, there was a track hoe knocking stuff down to the guys to split, they would notch the large rocks then use an air drill to start some holes, then drive in some punches along the holes and the rock would split and then they would load it on the truck....none of these guys knew a word of English and I know I was like a tourist sight to them...the one fellow had to feel my bald head as shown in the photo. They tried to sell me some rock...I guess they are real entrepreneurs.



This string of jeeps is to take people up or down the mountain.....whichever you want...apparently the trip takes about 40 minutes and you are looking over the edges as you go...and no one seems to care about seatbelts.

I took this one to show you the contrast of culture and development. This is supposed to be the resort area and the air is clear and fresh and the grass is green....get the picture. Look at the smog and fog or whatever it is. You could not see anything from where I was, after about 2 km...it was that bad.

Some greenery and pogodas and some of our group getting ready to go on their jaunt.

Me and my thinker pose...whenever I get to a nice place to think.....I don't do it enough.
The scene behind me as I was getting ready for the marathon. There were about 20,000 people entered...6,000 in the full as far as I know....I was somewhere at the front...the elite were ahead of us and the mini, 10 k and 1/2 marathoners behind us.....some music and entertainment prior to...long lineups to the potties.....soome refreshments.....reasonably well organized...I think they are trying out some stuff for the Olympics.
Me in front of the start sign....notice the shorts...Sask flag...Canada flag....and even had a Rider tattoo on my face...all along the route...every 50 metres or so either a cop or a member of the army and they were not letting anything cross the road....period. ....buses...you name it, it was not going anywhere.....it was on tv and several kids said that they were watching it and that they were looking for me.....nice brownie points....lots of spectators and seemed to get a kick out of cheering on a bald headed white guy with funny shorts......
My fan....Kirsten made up some signs and the group were at the end to see me finish....they could not get into the finish area and tried to manouever around...apparently they almost got arrested.....but was great gesture to come out and cheer me on..waving the Sask flag and yelling...the Chinese wondered what had hit them.....

My time was a personal best 3:44.15 which means that I gualify for the Boston Marathon in my age category...I needed to get under 3:45....I finished 882 and I think there were as I said 6000 marathon runners....I was very pleased with my time.....today...Monday...I had a very trying time getting down stairs....up not so bad.....down damn tough....but the lactic acid will wear off. I did recieve a certificate, a towel, a t-shirt and a medal ( which I had on Friday when I got the registration).

Now I will relax a little in the mornings and only go out for occasional jogs......hope to get my bike this weekend and start some more trips...maybe further afield...

Later Dudes

Spra and Zone 3 people.....have fun at the conference...have a Twisty for me

Mongolia..final

Went to that Kashmir factory place and took a picture of the mural.
It had a lot of Mongolian symbolism. The train ride back was interesting. We said our good byes after a short wait in the train station. Lots of looks still from the people...one of the men...we found out he had been drinking...a bit of a past time there..wanted to just say something to us to show that he was friendly..so we all smiled and said nice things to him.




The train ride back was interesting. I met a young man
about 25 who wanted to speak English. He was working for a
phone company in Beijing and had been home visiting
a friend. We talked a lot and he and I will try to meet again
He has a friend who lived in Vancouver who works at the
same place as he does but they never seem to meet. We
shared the same train compartment along with a mother
and daughter. Gave him my card and we promised to
email on and other.

Took some picture from the moving train that try to reflect
the life and housing along the tracks.....same type as in
some small villages.


We were constantly passing through tunnels on the way back. I think that was why we imported Chinese to work on the tunnels in BC...I believe they became fairly good at it....also the labour was cheap

Had a very easy time getting back to the centre....Beijing was not too busy when we got back...relatively speaking. Got some milk, some water and went back to my room. Went out for a 30 minute jog to test my calf muscle ..so far so good. Finallly ate a somewhat normal breakfast ...some toast....cereal....milk....

Went out later in the day to the market. Bought some eggs and other stuff...onion....tomato...grapes.....Angela and I ate over at the restaurant that night and we had a good night...that was when I did my blogs back to youse guys and gals.

Woo hoooooo Mark has fixed up my Sling Box...a deal for the computer where I can watch tv from a satelite dis...so I can get any program that many of you can get on the tv. We may be buying the NHL package to watch some games over here. We shall see what the rest of the crew thinks.

Went into Tongzhou on the bus on my own...cheeky....but am getting a little better at knowing where to go....I said a little better....Got a battery for my watch without knowing a single work of Chinese...bought a lime green toaster...ours sucked.....I burnt enough toast to pay for it.....well not quite that much....also bought a cheap watch.....10 bucks.... for the run so I can keep some sort of tabs on my time...some more groceries...was going to buy some champagne for my run 40 bucks....I don't think so Tim....even found some hamburger...speaking of which I went to a McDonalds...not quite the same...chips are but the hamburgers....not so much....have purchased a bus/subway pass so I can get in and out of Beijing relatively cheaply.....have to go in on Thursday or Friday so that I can pick up my marathon package...we also have a Thanksgiving supper on Thursday, a retreat with the Chinese teachers on Friday/Saturday, my run on Sunday and another turkey dinner on Monday...not a whole hell of a lot happening here...it slows down a little after that....can pick up my custom made Tux this week too...

Am finding that I take a lot longer to shave these days...but am saving on the shampoo and dandruff care....

Today has been a catchup day even though I haven't really...was able to do my two hour run....that will be it for much running for now...some easy ones during the week...along with some Kraft Dinner to build up my starches....got into the office and recorded some of my marks
and will try to see where we are going with this English. A lot of the teachers are back from their holidays....just a couple left in the warmer parts

Am going to throw in some pictures of Mongolia and anything that I can find that might be of interest. Till later

I put these two in to show you what they use these darn bikes for. The one on the left is carrying a fridge and some other electrical appliances...you can't even see him and this guy on the right is carrying a table and chairs and something else...this is not uncommon








Beijing Subway in non rush hour....they have way more people on here when it is rush hour... avery good way to get around Beijing and it is fast and reliable...

Last day in Mongolia

Just wanted to start with the bottom of Mastodon...I am standing next to his shin bone.....and then I have taken some pictures of the history of the grasslands with some costumes and some other stuff...the top of this museum was dedicated to some revolutionary talk and some history of wars and victories and modern government......
















This one doesn't show well bu this sucker is huge as is the next dinosaur....the head is being held up at the roof.









Some of the costumes of the Mongolian grassland peoples








Genghis Khan...the famous leader who united all the Mongols and had them become a force in the world.....revered here and I tried to get a good photo...failed this time.



The next photos are of the two temples that we visited. Many of them were destroyed in the Cultural Revolution and now the government is making an effort to rebuild them and tell the story of the past.

Just a couple of notes in here....This is the five towered temple and all around are carved Buddhas and no two are alike. The new ones are brilliant red and have some very new carvings in them...we were not able to take pictures inside but could stand outside and take some pictures...the Lama below here would not allow Grace to have her picture taken with him....Allie said they can be a strange lot....celebisy? can do that to you but he looked as grumpy as all get out....what was really unusual was to see them walking around and one was using a cell phone....and apparently they have computers as well...so they are joining the modern world. It was here that we met up with our friends from the grasslands and had a chat about their adventures too.





The middle one shows and incense buring pagodad of some sort....you buy the incense and then put them in here. There were some really big suckers you could buy...apparently they let the incense get higher to the forces of good.
Lastly we went to the faactory where they make Kasmir stuff and leather goods and knives. There were a couple of jobs here that seem so booooooring.....punching holes in leather using a punch and small hammer.....sewing all day at the sewing machine.....putting sequins on some of the dresses and costumes.....not much variety in jobs......then it was a chanace to buy some itmes......I didn't.....not much of a shopper.....off to a supper....by this time we were Mongolian fooded out and so we picked up a couple of chocolate bars adn stuff for the train....almost wished we could have stopped at a McDonalds or KFC for some other kind of food but we were a little pressed for time.....got on ...said our good byes to Allie and left for Beijing.....And I will tell the rest of the story in the next blog

Boatou

Boatou, city of about 2 million in Mongolia. I am beginning to realize the population and the density issue....there are alot of open spaces in China.....mountainous and desert and plains and grassland and then the cities...China could have 1,400 cities of 1 million people to get to that 1.4 billion mark....but two cities....Beijing and Shanghai have more than the population of Canada...interesting.... this was not our hotel...but note...the american influence on the side of it, Budweiser ad....the people walk around wearing t shirts that have all sorts of american logos and sayings on them...I am sure that many don't even know what or who they are wearing....

We have some time to kill so I go walking around....find some big parks..big stores...little shops go down an alley and find like a Moose Jaw sidewalk sales day with all sorts of stuff out in the open for sale....the stares that I get....I guess they just don't recognize me after I have had my hair shave....Jay I don't think there are too many that know me here....

We have supper...a late one...Grace still not feeling good at all......the rest of us try to do our best to eat for all five....the food to me is unappealing....too much fat on the meat and I didn't get to the top of the food chain to be a grazer....try to replace my electrolytes with some beer......the hotel has a bowling alley...a arcade parlour...a night club which opens at about nine o'clock...a ktv....Karaoke tv place where you rent a room and basically sing yourself silly...just up my alley, a supermarket of sorts......and get this...a sauna......jsut what I wanted for my sore calf muscle.....ok I'm in.

For 48 quay, you get in and after that who the hell know what you are to do.....so here goes.

1. First of all it's men only...

2. I walk in and there are no instructions...so I have to be told where to go to take a shower....they have 3 saunas....I see a massage table and motion that I would like one..nothing seems to be happening so I go sit in the 38 degree one...out come a guy and motions me back onto the table where I am give a COMPLETE rubdown using the hotwater from the hottest spa....after about 15 minutes I am done.....my calf muscle really hasn't been helped so I head back into the 38 degree sauna.....and stay there for about 2 more minutes.....I get out, am motioned over to a room where I am rubbed down with a towel front and back ..talk about betting pampered....... a robe is put on and I think I will head back to the locker...NOW

I am led upstairs to where 5 young ladies are waiting behind the window and I am to choose one.........................................................................................what the hell am I into.......maybe this is the massage that I thought I would get........YEAH....I choose and then the interesting part starts.

In the room there is a price chart which I have no idea what it says....remember I am in China. But for a starting price of 300 yuan....I can have this and 400 for this and 500 for this and 600 for this and I say no ........I only wanted a massage....and they don't understand a single word I am saying and I don't understand a single word they are saying and this is starting to get funny.....so I write down what I thought I wanted...in comes a different girl and they priece drops.......148 for this , 160for this and 180 for this and I have some idea of what that is all about...but I can't seem to make any headway.......eventually I am able to convince them that I only came for the spa treatment and not the FULL treatment....so I head back down the stairs where I still have to pay an extra 10 quay for my cleansing in the sauna......my first brush with the legalized???? form of a brothel ....back to the room and we had a giggle or two over that.

The night club followed and it was an experience as well. Almost every singer, only stayed for a maximum of 5 songs...so they had about 10 different acts....some with groups and some with individuals....in the meantime, the other four had gone to bowl and i just kind of wandered around dropping in from time to time. Jennifer and I stayed for a while there and things got interesting. They handed us these plastic cups so that we could bang on the tables as some of the singers were getting into the pounding rhythm...many of the men drinking on stage whatever was bought for them....some guzzling....next to us are 5 guys...one passed out and I think maybe sort of a stag party...in walks six girls and the leader of the groups promptly assigns a girl to each guy and one leaves...even the passed out guy has one.....I guess they are the guests for the hour or two that they are there....the bar closes at about twelve....the last group sings 4 of their 5 songs in ENGLISH and after they are done.....come over and talk with me because they guess that I am English and can grade them on how well they did. We caht for about 5 minutes and then they are gone and I head to bed....Quite an evening of entertainment.

Got up early in the morning and went for a walk..not jogging with my calf muscle still a little tender. The looks are still there......you are a stranger in a strange land. We have breakfast and hhead out to do some temple visiting......Buddha...















Shoot I got it mixed up...we went to a museum first. I will stop this one and start another. I also have to try to turn some around.

The desert fox

Ok...going to try to do this in order. This is the camel group heading out into the desert....we were heading out to a zoo...we didn't know that but it was a sort of stop for us....if the camel hump is drooping, it is needing water....if it is vertical, it has its water supply full.Ours were a little droopy...

Clyde...my camel and the rest of the boys on a break...camels get up with their back legs first so it kind o gives you a lurch forward...good thing the two guys were warned.....our voices were high eough already....note the excellent photography again....the realism of the finger in the top half of the picture.....

A desert fox...tiny and cute little bugger...in a zoo...and not that great of a one at that. Had pigeon for goodness sake...an owl..some peacocks... a couple of ducks...some sort of bobcat...and now get this................ as you can use it in some sort of punch line.......a four horned goat

..hornier than.......

Lastly, and note that I have found a way to get these suckers in order, we are sliding down the side of a dune. Sand sliding.... we buy our ticket at the top...slide down and then take the truck back to the marshalling area.....the truck is a 1950's looks like a Dodge Power truck with a rack at the back for the people to ride back. Undo our sand socks and head in to Boutou for supper and a stay at a 3 star hotel....another adventure....a good one too.My calf is still bothering me. I am not sure if I will be jogging the next morning.

Mongolia desert

Try to make heads or tails out of this one...I was importing and exporting photos...gook luck.


If you look real close, you might be able to see the sheik trying to peek over the sand dunes looking for some oasis or sumpin?

Tried to get these in order but they are backwards.

Bottom first....on our way to the desert...a 4 hour trip...lots to see..nothing to do. Our guide, a young lady had stayed out late with the boys and was hung over...she apologized profusely but it didn't matter to us....anyway...you may not see it well but these a small little places and I find it hard to imagine people actually living in some of the conditions...they live in brick boxes with broken windows...amenities that we would have...abject poverty....perhaps like on the reserves...but I think even worse as it appears they have no services...like hospitals or cars or electricity...I am not sure.....quite an eye opener. Mules pulling a plow and plowing up the fields....men and women digging up potatoes....looks like stooking grain and I saw open areas in the village where they would beat the grain out of the husk on the ground....and I finally found out a good reason for some flat roofs...they use that area to dry out the corn .....and yes mom they still stook grain and harvest just like back in the good old days but if you saw the conditions I am sure you would not want to go back.....but they did look happy....

Some other points...a three wheeled truck was loaded with the stalks of corn...it took up 3/4 of the road and we were forced to drive on the shoulder...seems like a normal occurence....and we even saw some of them in the big cities.....don't know what they used the corn husks for but they were taken somewhere...didn't get a picture of that.....saw the aftermath of an accident....a motorbike had collided with one of those three wheel trucks...the bike was implanted into the grill...don't see how the driver could have survived...expecially since many of them don't even wear helmets..lots of people standing around talking....

Drove by a small town and it was market day...lots of produce on the boulevard...even the butchered sheep...also many hanging on what looked like coat racks....you just pick the one that you want......couple had the head removed and were being cleaned and skinned...right on main street...I guess you would grow up fast with that sort of thing happening on a daily basis....as I said, a real eye opener......lots of farms and lots of people working in the field harvesting whatever....sheep grazing...a cow here or there...tethered donkeys.....donkeys pulling carts...old vehicles loaded with everything that they were picking..they love their watermelon......drove by three nuclear reactors....I think....over that 4 hour period....and finally came to the desert...not the Gobi but the desert was taking over the land as you saw trees that were slowly being covered.

Got a picture of the group putting on our sand slippers so that sand wouldn't get in your shoes.....a good idea and a money maker...

And who was that guy from the movies...oh yeah, Lawrence of Arabia...well not quite maybe Darryl from Saskatchewan!!!!

You guessed it .....the place where we got our camels....CAMELOT
Came across this family when we first got there....They walked right by us...no concern at all..