"Mo zhong qiu" is the charming boy I met tonight in the Longli KTV/lounge/restaurant. I am sleeping in a KTV (karaoke bar) tonight, but the room is pretty fantastic, in weird fantastic kind of way. One wall is ceiling to floor windows, and my view is the Longli's grimy yet personable city center, decorated with a inflatable dragon-archway...
The day was remarkably long and advetnture-filled. First, I spent 9am-12pm "getting helped" from the maitre'd from my hotel. I had 2 questions: How do I get to route 320 and where can I get some air for my tires. I was pretty confidant that I could have managed those on my own, by just asking people on the street. He was extremely helpful, if not overly so, he walked me up and down asking little shop owners if they knew of someone with an airpump. I kept asking him where a gas station was (to use a gauged air pump for car tires), but I guess I wasn't saying it right. Well eventually we found a pump, but I had to buy it. That was fine, except that it was a piece of crap and kept breaking even as the shop keeper was pumping up my tire. I threw it away in the next town.
It was the map advice that was really interesting. The road I took was quintessential high road and the old road. It exited the town, not like most roads which skirt obstacles like mountains, but by actually going up and over them. I pedaled on my lowest gear up an incline that was just laughable, indeed I was laughed at, by the locals on the road. I ended up walking most of the steep hills, that is to say, most of the day. But in fact, this road took me through two provincial forests, one which was at the pine tree line of a lonely mountain ridge. I passed through many little decrepit villages, that seem charred with coal dust, from making coal caked I presume. While cycling though I spotted a little corridor packed with people and paper flowers, bedazzled with other items and lots of colorful Spring Festival Deocrations, I haven't seen in Beijing. This was the countryside's Spring Festival, and it was really traditional, with chanting in a megaphone, gongs, Chinese trumpets, and firecrackers lit not for their arousal, but to relinquish bad spirits.
\n\n \nEvery time I stopped for a bit, I ended up in a little conversation. Later down the road. A well-to-do young professional driving a new Honda hatchback stopped in front of me. I pulled up and we chatted for a while in English. He was nice enough, he reminded me of my adult students of the same age. He wished me luck and when I went to shake his hand. He said awww and opened his arms for a hug. So I hugged him, but as he limply hugged me he kissed or licked (?!?) my neck a little. It was weird! It was awkward! I said "uhh…I am sweaty." He says "No, you are cool.! So that was that. Then 20 minutes later when I was in the pine forest descending down an empty road. I looked back and noticed a mini-SUV trailing me. I watched from my periphery as it trailed for another 15 minutes. Then I stopped to "take a picture" and he passed slowly. I looked at him, another young professional, playing lite-pop music. He was grinning and giving me a goofy thumbs-up. I don't really feel nervous about these encounters, as I believe that I represent some kind of encounter with Foreigner Yuppie ExxXtreme-sports culture that hasn't yet surfaced here, but still intrigues the Chinese Yuppies. It's innocent curiosity.\n\n \nThe little grey and gritty city of Longli is barely featured on the map. It seems abandoned, at least in the buildings, but at the same time it is teeming with people. Everyone was out on the streets for Spring Festival. And street fruit vendors were everyway and villagers were pedaling there bushels of cabbage and green sprouts in baskets loaded on either side of a bamboo stick, which they place across the back of their shoulders.\n",1]
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Every time I stopped for a bit, I ended up in a little conversation. Later down the road. A well-to-do young professional driving a new Honda hatchback stopped in front of me. I pulled up and we chatted for a while in English. He was nice enough, he reminded me of my adult students of the same age. He wished me luck and when I went to shake his hand. He said awww and opened his arms for a hug. So I hugged him, but as he limply hugged me he kissed or licked (?!?) my neck a little. It was weird! It was awkward! I said "uhh…I am sweaty." He says "No, you are cool.! So that was that. Then 20 minutes later when I was in the pine forest descending down an empty road. I looked back and noticed a mini-SUV trailing me. I watched from my periphery as it trailed for another 15 minutes. Then I stopped to "take a picture" and he passed slowly. I looked at him, another young professional, playing lite-pop music. He was grinning and giving me a goofy thumbs-up. I don't really feel nervous about these encounters, as I believe that I represent some kind of encounter with Foreigner Yuppie ExxXtreme-sports culture that hasn't yet surfaced here, but still intrigues the Chinese Yuppies. It's innocent curiosity.
The little grey and gritty city of Longli is barely featured on the map. It seems abandoned, at least in the buildings, but at the same time it is teeming with people. Everyone was out on the streets for Spring Festival. And street fruit vendors were everyway and villagers were pedaling there bushels of cabbage and green sprouts in baskets loaded on either side of a bamboo stick, which they place across the back of their shoulders.
\n \nSo back to my KTV Hotel and Mo Zhoung Qiu. I was entering the lounge below my room and I was greeted, as of often happens, by a "Hello" from somewhere in the room. I replied hello back to the mystery person and sat down. 1 minute later the 9 year old boy showed up and we talked (in chinese) for good while as I waited for my food. His English was marginal but he had a English teacher, so I wrote a simple letter that said "Hello, My name is Hannah. I live in \nBeijing. I am an English teacher. Mo Zhong Qiu is a good boy. He speaks English well. (signed me)" He folded up nice and small (really small) and told me he would give it to his English teacher to translate. So then he asked me to light fireworks, and I was all "Yes, Yeah!" So after dinner the 2 of us scampered up to the roof of the KTV (joined by his Mom and Dad) and we lit fireworks for about an hour. Watching him play with his fireworks, in that authoritatively playful way that young boys have, was highly pleasant. His parents and I stood as adults in the wise observation of this youthfulness.\n",1]
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So back to my KTV Hotel and Mo Zhoung Qiu. I was entering the lounge below my room and I was greeted, as of often happens, by a "Hello" from somewhere in the room. I replied hello back to the mystery person and sat down. 1 minute later the 9 year old boy showed up and we talked (in chinese) for good while as I waited for my food. His English was marginal but he had a English teacher, so I wrote a simple letter that said "Hello, My name is Hannah. I live in Beijing. I am an English teacher. Mo Zhong Qiu is a good boy. He speaks English well. (signed me)" He folded up nice and small (really small) and told me he would give it to his English teacher to translate. So then he asked me to light fireworks, and I was all "Yes, Yeah!" So after dinner the 2 of us scampered up to the roof of the KTV (joined by his Mom and Dad) and we lit fireworks for about an hour. Watching him play with his fireworks, in that authoritatively playful way that young boys have, was highly pleasant. His parents and I stood as adults in the wise observation of this youthfulness.
The day was remarkably long and advetnture-filled. First, I spent 9am-12pm "getting helped" from the maitre'd from my hotel. I had 2 questions: How do I get to route 320 and where can I get some air for my tires. I was pretty confidant that I could have managed those on my own, by just asking people on the street. He was extremely helpful, if not overly so, he walked me up and down asking little shop owners if they knew of someone with an airpump. I kept asking him where a gas station was (to use a gauged air pump for car tires), but I guess I wasn't saying it right. Well eventually we found a pump, but I had to buy it. That was fine, except that it was a piece of crap and kept breaking even as the shop keeper was pumping up my tire. I threw it away in the next town.
It was the map advice that was really interesting. The road I took was quintessential high road and the old road. It exited the town, not like most roads which skirt obstacles like mountains, but by actually going up and over them. I pedaled on my lowest gear up an incline that was just laughable, indeed I was laughed at, by the locals on the road. I ended up walking most of the steep hills, that is to say, most of the day. But in fact, this road took me through two provincial forests, one which was at the pine tree line of a lonely mountain ridge. I passed through many little decrepit villages, that seem charred with coal dust, from making coal caked I presume. While cycling though I spotted a little corridor packed with people and paper flowers, bedazzled with other items and lots of colorful Spring Festival Deocrations, I haven't seen in Beijing. This was the countryside's Spring Festival, and it was really traditional, with chanting in a megaphone, gongs, Chinese trumpets, and firecrackers lit not for their arousal, but to relinquish bad spirits.
\n\n \nEvery time I stopped for a bit, I ended up in a little conversation. Later down the road. A well-to-do young professional driving a new Honda hatchback stopped in front of me. I pulled up and we chatted for a while in English. He was nice enough, he reminded me of my adult students of the same age. He wished me luck and when I went to shake his hand. He said awww and opened his arms for a hug. So I hugged him, but as he limply hugged me he kissed or licked (?!?) my neck a little. It was weird! It was awkward! I said "uhh…I am sweaty." He says "No, you are cool.! So that was that. Then 20 minutes later when I was in the pine forest descending down an empty road. I looked back and noticed a mini-SUV trailing me. I watched from my periphery as it trailed for another 15 minutes. Then I stopped to "take a picture" and he passed slowly. I looked at him, another young professional, playing lite-pop music. He was grinning and giving me a goofy thumbs-up. I don't really feel nervous about these encounters, as I believe that I represent some kind of encounter with Foreigner Yuppie ExxXtreme-sports culture that hasn't yet surfaced here, but still intrigues the Chinese Yuppies. It's innocent curiosity.\n\n \nThe little grey and gritty city of Longli is barely featured on the map. It seems abandoned, at least in the buildings, but at the same time it is teeming with people. Everyone was out on the streets for Spring Festival. And street fruit vendors were everyway and villagers were pedaling there bushels of cabbage and green sprouts in baskets loaded on either side of a bamboo stick, which they place across the back of their shoulders.\n",1]
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Every time I stopped for a bit, I ended up in a little conversation. Later down the road. A well-to-do young professional driving a new Honda hatchback stopped in front of me. I pulled up and we chatted for a while in English. He was nice enough, he reminded me of my adult students of the same age. He wished me luck and when I went to shake his hand. He said awww and opened his arms for a hug. So I hugged him, but as he limply hugged me he kissed or licked (?!?) my neck a little. It was weird! It was awkward! I said "uhh…I am sweaty." He says "No, you are cool.! So that was that. Then 20 minutes later when I was in the pine forest descending down an empty road. I looked back and noticed a mini-SUV trailing me. I watched from my periphery as it trailed for another 15 minutes. Then I stopped to "take a picture" and he passed slowly. I looked at him, another young professional, playing lite-pop music. He was grinning and giving me a goofy thumbs-up. I don't really feel nervous about these encounters, as I believe that I represent some kind of encounter with Foreigner Yuppie ExxXtreme-sports culture that hasn't yet surfaced here, but still intrigues the Chinese Yuppies. It's innocent curiosity.
The little grey and gritty city of Longli is barely featured on the map. It seems abandoned, at least in the buildings, but at the same time it is teeming with people. Everyone was out on the streets for Spring Festival. And street fruit vendors were everyway and villagers were pedaling there bushels of cabbage and green sprouts in baskets loaded on either side of a bamboo stick, which they place across the back of their shoulders.
\n \nSo back to my KTV Hotel and Mo Zhoung Qiu. I was entering the lounge below my room and I was greeted, as of often happens, by a "Hello" from somewhere in the room. I replied hello back to the mystery person and sat down. 1 minute later the 9 year old boy showed up and we talked (in chinese) for good while as I waited for my food. His English was marginal but he had a English teacher, so I wrote a simple letter that said "Hello, My name is Hannah. I live in \nBeijing. I am an English teacher. Mo Zhong Qiu is a good boy. He speaks English well. (signed me)" He folded up nice and small (really small) and told me he would give it to his English teacher to translate. So then he asked me to light fireworks, and I was all "Yes, Yeah!" So after dinner the 2 of us scampered up to the roof of the KTV (joined by his Mom and Dad) and we lit fireworks for about an hour. Watching him play with his fireworks, in that authoritatively playful way that young boys have, was highly pleasant. His parents and I stood as adults in the wise observation of this youthfulness.\n",1]
);
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So back to my KTV Hotel and Mo Zhoung Qiu. I was entering the lounge below my room and I was greeted, as of often happens, by a "Hello" from somewhere in the room. I replied hello back to the mystery person and sat down. 1 minute later the 9 year old boy showed up and we talked (in chinese) for good while as I waited for my food. His English was marginal but he had a English teacher, so I wrote a simple letter that said "Hello, My name is Hannah. I live in Beijing. I am an English teacher. Mo Zhong Qiu is a good boy. He speaks English well. (signed me)" He folded up nice and small (really small) and told me he would give it to his English teacher to translate. So then he asked me to light fireworks, and I was all "Yes, Yeah!" So after dinner the 2 of us scampered up to the roof of the KTV (joined by his Mom and Dad) and we lit fireworks for about an hour. Watching him play with his fireworks, in that authoritatively playful way that young boys have, was highly pleasant. His parents and I stood as adults in the wise observation of this youthfulness.
