Thursday, May 26, 2011

I SLEPT ON THE GREAT WALL (NOT LEGAL BUT VERY COOL)!

Well it was really tough to get there on my own and the torrential rains and thunder as I arrived posed challenges to get on the wall, but once that stopped, it got nice and I was amazed to find I had about 10 km section of the Great Wall totally to myself for 2 days. Not a soul to be seen. In the photo where you see the run down sentry tower to the left you can see the wall snaking in the back. The middle tower (middle of photo) is the one I slept in.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

STREET MASSAGE IN BEIJING

I got rooked into a massage while traipsing around this little lake in Beijing. Little did I know I would get an eyelid massage too.
Was she trying to pop my eyes out? I was not sure, but she sure was "working it"


One small man with a bicycle can move anything!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

TIANANMEN SQUARE. PLEASE DONT POINT THAT AT ME.

Please dont point that thing at me! (see guy on right... he seems upset)? These guys are right outside of Chairman Mao's Mausoleum. Wait till you hear my story about visiting Mao in the show (under construction). * Make sure you are on my email list for show announcements.
You get used to being a moving photo op for chinese tourists who all want photos with the random foreigner (it will happen to you too), but this was the first guy who paid a professional Tiananmen photographer to shoot our photo and then he PAID for this print.

Monday, May 23, 2011

I ATE A SCORPION, A CATERPILLAR and A SILK WORM.

And I dont think I would order them again. Eee-yuk.

*The scorpion was the least iccky.

This centipede might be way smaller than the scorpion, but it packs a quite a punch of "flavour." I will likely never be found in a line up to order another.



Saturday, May 21, 2011

GREAT WALL MARATHON!

What a cool event. Capacity crowds and a really great day. I did the half marathon distance but now wish I did the full just for the pleasure of covering that section of the wall again.

People from 52 countries came to partake and everyone seemed to have had a good time. Not a fast time though since those walls are steep!)
This South American fellow raced it pretty much barefoot!

Friday, May 20, 2011

TRYING TO GET TO REMOTE HUANG HUA... FIASCO EXTRAORDINAIRE

It might seem easy enough, but getting basic transport to the small town where the marathon was taking place was just a crazy adventure... an array of subways, trains, buses, cabs, hitchiking, etc. A 3 hour trip took me SEVEN HOURS!
Little did i know the village I was asking for was SO tiny that no one really knew where it was and how to help me.
Fastest train in China. 339 km per hour... sadly NOT in the right direction.

A packed bus.

Thanks so much to these kind non english speaking strangers who threw me in their car and helped me SO much to get further along. They even helped find another car to get me to my final destination before 10 pm. I am so lucky!!


Monday, May 16, 2011

TREACHEROUS CLIFF CLIMB AND GREAT VIEWS

This is one of the main reasons I went to China... There are two really challenging pathways in mountains that I heard of about 6 years ago. One in Spain called Camino Del Rey, and this one in Hua Shan in China. I had such a grand adventure here and will have quite a story to tell in the show... meanwhile here are images of this amazing mountain.
West Peak. The most high traffic area of the mountain (15000 per day going up this!?) *but by tram... the cheesy easy way.
The scetchy part you can opt to do. Some less comfy on this...
And some just a bit too foolhardy (thats me!)
1600 meters down likely.
Lovely view.
South Peak
You may have seen a spam email that talks about free restaurant if you hike there... well...
This is the restaurant at West Peak (photographed from a challenging spot outside of the fence) and I can assure you it is certainly not free. It turns out I ran out of money and had to be shrewd for accomodation (see below)
Normal room costs here were $160 plus per night. I simply didnt have it. I only had $70 Kwai... and the folks here took it all to let me sleep in an attic. I guess I am lucky. That meant hiking all the way down next day with no money for food. What an adventure. More about this in the show when it is ready. Please make sure you are on the email notification list (register at wrjphoto.com)

Thursday, May 12, 2011

KANGDING - YOU COULD WHITEWATER KAYAK IN THE CITY.

This might be the only city where you could actually whitewater kayak right through town. The water is really moving and there are some white caps for sure.

THANKS TO A FRIEND FOR BYPASSING THE CEN SORS

Thanks so much to Mariska in Vancouver for posting some of my bl og stuffs from China. Cen sorship here means that FB, T wit, Yo utube and all Bl ogs are inacc essible in Ch ina. Intentional mispellings. I am sure you will figure it out.

(Location: William is in Kangding, Kham province, China - - pretty much Tibet really)

AMAZING CATARACT SURGERY RESTORES VISION (IN 10 MINUTES)

Ok, maybe 12 minutes. but totally amazing. These sisters had cataracts in both eyes and this is what they travelled 3 days (1200 km) for. Surgery on the first eye. Fascinating procedure and I was lucky to be witness to it all while in Kangding.

A weight is placed on the eye before surgery - I think to help freezing work best.

Me in surgery. Moving delicately. This is precise work.

Recovery is fast and she will be able to see immediately when patch removed in the morning That is a great "reveal" to witness! - Seeing someone regain their vision after many years is pretty powerful stuff!

This group of 17 was brought in on a Seva Provided bus and were pretty excited about arriving!

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

BEST MONEY I HAVE EVER SPENT! I BOUGHT VISION FOR THREE TIBETANS




Seva (based in Vancouver) is a wonderful group that helps subsidize Cataract Surgeries for countless Tibetans (and people all over the world). I was lucky to get to Kangding to see this great hospital in action. I had planned to cover the cost of one person's surgery, but after meeting these three sisters who travelled THREE DAYS to cover the 1200 KMS to get here, I felt compelled to pay for all three. Best money I have ever spent. Not often you can say you really got to change someone's life with just a few dollars. Amazing experience.

Here is a link for SEVA if you might wish to find out more or helpout: www.seva.ca
Three sisters - all whom have cataracts. The sister closest to me could only recognize a pen light when waved in front of her eyes and could not even see fingers.
That is a cataract visible in ZHUO DUO's eye
Despite being normally squeamish about anything to with eyes, I found watching the surgeries both compelling and fascinating.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

CHALLENGING CHINESE ROADS?

On the way to Kangding, I saw this truck that went over the edge. Nasty accident.

You can see in the other photo that people pass like crazy too where there is not really too much room.




On the way to Kangding, I saw this truck that went over the edge. Nasty accident.

You can see in the other photo that people pass like crazy too where there is not really too much room.

Monday, May 9, 2011

MONKEYS ALWAYS WIN

Monkeys on the trail up Emei Shan are infamous for taking exactly what they want. Very Aggressive. Bringing up a plastic bag here!? Not a good idea at all. Great to watch the mayhem from silly tourists who ignored all warnings.
(Location: Emei Shan, Sichuan, China)


Sunday, May 8, 2011

HEY BIG EARS! (GIANT BUDDHA IN LESHAN)


The Giant Buddha in Leshan, Sichuan, China. At over 71 M tall this guy is the biggest. Each toe is 8.5 Meters. His ears are 7 m tall. I got a nice photo of the little sprig growing in his left ear that maybe you can see in this photo. This was taken on a Sunday... all are warned NOT to go on Sundays due to massive crowds, but as you can see that made it lucky for me since the packed stairwell looks very cool.

(Location: Leshan, Sichuan, China)

Saturday, May 7, 2011

20 HOURS IN BED. SICK SUCKS


I dont know what I got, but it was rough. Didn't really leave bed for 20 hours. Totally listless and in pain. Harsh yucckiness for days.

(Location: Chengdu, Sichuan, China)

Thursday, May 5, 2011

THIS DVD PLAYER DOES NOT PLAY ACTION FILMS


The first DVD player made that clearly prefers films to be less violent.

(Location: ZHAOXING, Guanxi, China)

Sunday, May 1, 2011

ENJOY YOUR FREEDOM

Censorship in China... William asked me to post this for him: "Hello from China where the authorities are not so keen on you being able to access blogs, Facebook or Youtube. None of those are accessible online. I am trying to find a workaround (and there are some), so stay tuned. I have lots more cool stuff to share. *Apparently looking for Tianamen Square in Wikipedia can either direct you to a grey screen with happy faces or nothing at all!" William Jans in Yangshuo, Guilin, China.

MUD PIT! THE COOLEST (AND DIRTIEST) CAVE IN ASIA

One of the more intriguing caves you can visit in Asia. Funny we spent 6 hours in there (including 5 power outages - *with no backup lighting of course) and had a great time. Even better when we finally exited to find out we missed a massive downpour. Some worried cave water was rising though!

Boating into the cave




This will do wonders for my complexion.

Freaking out the guide



Why bother changing to exit the cave?