Book: Rob Gifford's China Road

Since we'll be going to China this summer I decided to follow the Best Man's suggestion and read Rob Gifford's "China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power".  The book reminded me of another book I read a few years back, Colin Thubron's "Shadow of the Silk Road".  While Thubron concentrated on China's history and the role the silk road played, Gifford viewpoint is firmly planted in the modern China.

"China Road" follows Gifford's trip along route 312, a road stretching 3,000 miles from Shanghai to the Kazakhstan, often described as China's Route 66.  Gifford, an NPR correspondent who lived in China for over six years, traveled the road talking to people along the way for a series of radio segments.  The book is a compilation of the fleshed out radio reports.

I liked Gifford's perspective.  When I think of China I often catch myself thinking of the pre-communist China which barely exists anymore, decimated by Mao.  Gifford's view of the modern China struggling between the rather soulless communist world, one where history and ancient culture were frowned upon and actively destroyed, and modern capitalist China searching for a modern identity.

The one thing Gifford shies away from is predicting the future of China.  He waffles between China muddling through and China torn apart by violent revolution.  I don't fully blame him.  China is changing so rapidly, rushing into uncharted territory, that predicting it's future is probably an exercise in futility.

I like Gifford's views and his writing style and I would recommend the book to anyone interested in the modern China.  I can't wait to see China for myself, even if it's only a small sampling over a two weeks.

Route 66, California, Camino - A Pilgrim's Epilogue

The summer of 2011 was my summer of pilgrimage.  For ten weeks I walked and rode along roads, both old and ancient.  On pilgrimages like these, people are often looking for something.  I wasn't looking for anything in particular except adventure.  I found a desire to change.

The Camino de Santiago took me to a world of  of unstructured routine.  A world of few worries and carefree wandering.  A world of new places to explore and new friends (whom soon became old friends).  Time faded into the distance as one day became like all others.  It was surprisingly comfortable.  In Santiago de Compostela the feelings of friendship and camaraderie reached a crescendo as we celebrated our accomplishments and exchanged hugs and tearful goodbyes as we all scattered back to our homes, wherever they may be.  It was not the end for me - my pilgrimage didn't stop in Santiago de Compostela  - it just changed modes of transportation.

My pilgrimage continued along Route 66.  Few minutes passed by on the route where I didn't think about the Camino, it still so fresh in my mind.  Reminders of my Camino were everywhere.  I'd walk into a restaurant and there would be a sign welcoming the pilgrims of Route 66.  Everywhere I drove I saw the shell sign reminding me of the shell of Saint James.  The long quiet stretches of the route gave you time for your mind to wander just like the dusty roads of the Spanish Meseta.

California, all of the places we visited there, felt like Santiago de Compostela.  Both were the end of the road.  They were a place to visit with friends and to reminisce on the times we'd shared and the places we'd visited.  They marked the end of the journey ... and time to go home, to return to the real world.

These journeys will stay with me for a long time.  They will stay with me in many ways.  I'm still recovering from the aches and pains developed over 513 miles of walking with a pack and sitting in a car for a few thousand miles more.  My right leg ached all the way along Route 66.  I'm still recovering from the Topa Topa hike.  My knee makes noise and aches more than ever.  These things will persist for a while but with time, and physical therapy, they will fade.

The memories of the road, the way, the pilgrims, the people, the places, the monuments to our past, the yellow arrows and the route markers, they will persist for a while but they too will inevitably fade with time and age.

They say that the Camino changes you.  So does Route 66 to some extent.  I think any adventure, done properly with abandon, will alter your perception ... of the world around you, the people you interact with, and ultimately, of yourself.  I have changed or, more correctly, I have developed the desire to change.  A desire to improve myself, broaden my horizons, improve my self-image, and become more positive.

These desires aren't new - they have been there all along - they just have a new sense of urgency.  Peru, Jordan, Camino, Route 66 - Each adventure makes me thirst for more.  They make me relish that carefree, no worries world.  That world that, along with the aches, pains, people, places, and memories, persists for only so long.  I embrace them, keep them with me wanting to never let them go, until they too become immaterial and fade, slipping through my fingers ... leaving only the real world.

Bruce ... Bruno ... Batman

The Wife and I often have weird conversations.  Especially at the end of the day.  Once it was a discussion on which were more real, Unicorns or Chiggers.  The Wife doesn't believe in Chiggers (or at least she claims she doesn't).  To prove there existence I pulled out a dictionary.  While Chiggers are in the dictionary the Wife pointed out that the entry for Unicorn has a picture while the entry for Chigger does not.

Another time our discussion was about the Gurkhas, Nepalese soldiers who fought with the British during the World Wars.  Needless to say, our discussions are ... eclectic.

Recently, the Wife told me one of her students had started calling me Batman.  This had mystified her until she finally asked why.  "His name is Bruce ... just like Batman ...  Bruce Wayne," he said.  This sparked a whole new discussion.  I jokingly suggested that maybe I should be called Bruno because in Spain Batman's alter ego is named Bruno Diaz.  I learned this while in Burgos recuperating from my tendinitis. One of the TV shows I watched while resting my ankle was an animated Batman movie.  Batman's alter ego was not Bruce Wayne but Bruno Diaz.  Her class, upon hearing about our discussion, and confirming the Bruce-Bruno connection, are more convinced than ever that we are weird.

While I like Bruno as an alter ego, I think I'll just stick with Batman.

Route 66 & California - The Way Home

We were going to spend three days in San Francisco but this vacation had gone on long enough.  I'd spent only three days home since 11 May and it was now 20 July.  We decided to head for home in the afternoon but first we had a date.

While I missed meeting with my old work friends I did manage to meet a friend from high school I hadn't seen in ... thirty years.  We met B_B at the Broadway Grill in Buringame and had a delightful lunch talking about old times and Spain.  My 30^th high school reunion was a week away.  I'd considered going but the idea of traveling more this summer, to Guatemala no less,  was just too much.  I asked  B_B  to say hi to everyone as we said our goodbyes.  I had a nice time and the lunch was a nice end to our stay in California.

Back in the car, we headed east.  We had no more scheduled stops on our vacation.  We spent the night in Sparks, NV.  It was my birthday so we went to In-N-Out Burger for dinner and then went in search of a Dairy Queen.  We didn't find one but we did find a Cold Stone Creamery where I indulged in Birthday Cake ice cream with chocolate chip cookie dough mixin's.

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The next day we continued east and entered Utah.  I'd considered stopping in Salt Lake City for the night but my mind was changed.  After driving most of the day through salt flats and desert we were approaching Salt Lake.  I was passing a truck.  I saw a police car in my rear view mirror so I pulled in front of the truck as soon as I safely could to let the police pass me.  The police car pulls behind us and flashes his lights. *sigh*  We pull over and the officer comes over to the passenger window and I ask him why I was pulled over.  He said that I hadn't flashed my turn signal for more than two seconds before pulling in front of the truck.  WTF?!? I told him I had only moved over to let him go by and that if he hadn't been behind me I probably would have waited before I moved over.

Then he started asking weird questions.  "Are you married?"  "How long have you been married?"  When were you married?"  "How long have you been on the road?"  "Where have you been staying?"  Several of these questions he asked multiple times.    Then he asked me to get out of the car and to go with him.  I sat in the front seat of his cruiser as he filled out paperwork.  As he did he continued to ask weird questions.  "How long have you been away from home?"  "Where's your luggage?"  "Are you married?" (Again!?!)  On and on.

The officer then smiled, gave me a warning, and I was free.  WTF?!?  While I was in the cruiser, the Wife was in the car stewing.  The questions he's asked had pissed her off royally.  I'd remained relatively calm but I tend to talk fast when I'm nervous and I think I was talking a mile a minute in the cruiser. I got back in the car and we left.  I tried to calm the Wife who wanted to kill someone at that moment.  I think the officer was looking for drug runners.  While he didn't ask about drugs, surprising since he asked about everything else, I think he was seeing if my story would change ... which it didn't.  I was laughing and relieved, both because it was over with just a warning and that I'd fought the urge to ask the officer how many wives he had.  The Wife was fuming.  We decided not to spend our money in Utah that day and continued on to the first town we found in Wyoming.

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The next two days went without incident.  We stayed in North Platte, NE one night and were home the next.  I was happy to be home.

What a summer to remember.  The best either of us had had in a long, long time.

Stress ... Sleep ... Sponge Bob

I haven't made much progress in the two weeks since I announced my Optimism Resolution.  This isn't much of a surprise since it has only been two weeks and changing one's attitude is not an easy thing to do.  Having said this I have made progress in a couple areas - one where I have the control, the other a surprise side effect.

I am a news junky.  When the TV is on you'd be safe to bet it's on CNN, MSNBC, or, on occasion, CNBC (FOX is never on - too much stress).  I've come to realize that the more news I watch, especially if it has to do with the Republican primary or the upcoming election,  the more stressed I feel.  I've always known this, really.  Every time I've taken a vacation alone (in 1995 and on the Camino in 2011) the television stays off and, not only do I not miss it, but I feel happier.  When I'm home, though, I have always found it hard to keep the TV off.

So I am fighting my news addiction.  I can't kill my news habit completely - I like to be kept informed about the world around me - but I think I can minimize it and my stress along with it.  I will keep the TV off when I'm not watching it.  I know that sounds odd but the TV is often on for background noise.  When I do watch TV, I think I'll stick to cartoons and CSI reruns.  Hard to remain stressed when your watching Sponge Bob.

The other thing that's happened to reduce my stress was totally unexpected.  Starting late in December I started sleeping better.  Instead of waking two or four times a night I started sleeping through the night or waking only once.  After a couple weeks of great sleep I realized I was sleeping better and I started wondering why this was happening.  I've come to the conclusion it is a byproduct of my physical therapy (PT).

You all know I have a bad back.  I hurt it way back in college ('85 or '86).  This is one of the issues I'm working on at PT.    One of the results of my bad back is I can't sleep on my stomach.  When I'm on my stomach, I start getting uncomfortable in less than a minute.  I suspect, while I'm asleep, I get myself into a position that irritates my back and this wakes me up.  As I've done my PT exercises, I've strengthened my lower back to the point that it doesn't bother me as much.  I think this has resulted in me not waking up as much and me sleeping better.  One thing I've discovered is stress levels go down if you get a good night's sleep.

These are only a couple small things but they're moving me in the right direction.  I'm feeling happier so I must be doing something right.

Route 66 & California - San Francisco - Angel Island

Our second day in San Francisco started with us driving back down to the piers.  We had reservations for a ferry going out to Angel Island.

We parked, picked up our tickets and, being a little early, walked over to Johnny Rockets for breakfast.  The day started off cloudy but cleared up nicely as we took the ferry out to Angel Island.  The ferry ride out was comfortable like the Alcatraz Trip had been the night before giving us views of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge.

Golden Gate Bridge from Angel Island.

We arrived a little late at the dock and looked for where our tour would leave from.  Being late had raised my anxiety level a bit but it turned out to not be a problem as the Wife and I were the only ones on the tour.  This was no ordinary tour.  It was a Segway tour.

The first fifteen minutes were spent familiarizing ourselves with the Segways.  I was pleasantly surprised how easy it is to learn ride these things.  Five minutes of explanation and five minutes apiece testing our knowledge - go forward, stop, go backward, stop, turn left, turn right, park it.  The one challenge, and I use that word loosely, was to drive the Segway down a steep boat ramp, turn around, and go back up.  I kept seeing myself driving into the water but it was incredibly easy.

The guy (he looked like your typical surfer duuude) led the way around the island stopping periodically to explain the island's history.  The island has a long history as a military outpost, anti-ballistic missile site, prisoner of war camp, hospital, and immigration station.  At one point he told a story about a prior tour group.  He was explaining that over a million years ago the water was shallow enough for animal life to walk across from the main land to the island.  One of the tourist spoke up and said "That's not possible.  The Earth is only 6,000 years old."  He let the comment slide ... what else could he do.

San Francisco skyline and Alcatraz Island from Angel Island.

The tour circumnavigated the island.  We stopped a few times to get off the Segways to rest and explore old buildings.  I learned that riding a Segway is not the relaxing activity it would suggest.  Your leg muscles tend to tense up a bit as you lean forward to make it go.  This can be tiring and my legs were still recuperating from my Topa Topa ordeal.  Another thing I found out is it is possible to run yourself over.  To get off a Segway you just step off the back quickly.  The problem is you want to pull back on the handle to steady yourself when you step backward - this causes the Segway to move backward running yourself over.  This happened to the Wife.  It didn't happen to me but I managed to have my Segway get away from me (I think I pushed the handle forward as I was getting off sending the Segway forward uncontrolled).

We got back to the main pier.  We had some time before the ferry would leave so we ate some lunch at the snack bar before going through a small gift shop.  I saw a really nice t-shirt and magnet but, since we were planning to do some more walking, I decided to buy the stuff after I got back.

We took a path up the hillside to the main road and walked back to the immigration station buildings.  The Wife had taken a teacher's workshop at Ellis Island and, since this Angel Island facility was referred to as the west coast's Ellis Island, she was interested  in checking it out.  Unfortunately the buildings were closed (we were there during the week and they are only open on the weekends when most people come to the island).  I took some pictures and we walked back to the pier.

The little gift shop ... was closed.  The guy with the keys was already off the island for the day.  poop.  No t-shirt for me.  We waited for the ferry and headed back to the city.

That evening we walked around Chinatown stopping at the City Lights bookstore (the Wife has an interest in the Beat poets) and decided to get dinner at this bar we'd stopped at the last time we were in San Francisco.  We walked in the San Francisco Brewing Company and we hardly recognized the place.  It'd changed a bit since we were there in 2008.  It was a little hipper and the menu was definitely more esoteric and upscale.  There was only one item on the menu that seemed even a little appetizing and ... they were out of it (that should tell them something when the most conservative item on the menu is sold out).  We paid for our drinks and left.

Old military building on Angel Island.

Wondering where to go we ended up in a small hole in the wall across the street from out hotel.  Sam's was a burger/pizza place.  The grill was in the front window.  There were a couple tables but the three people eating there were sitting at the bar.  We joined them at the bar and ordered a couple cheeseburgers from whom we assumed was Sam.  Turns out, the gentleman was Mike.  He'd bought the place from Sam back in the early '70s and had run it ever since.  We talked about the history of the place.  The history of the hotel (three original owners, only one still alive ... barely ... not sure what will happen when he passes).  We talked about the earthquake a few years ago.  He kept his grill working to cook all the meat in his freezer before it all went bad and fed the rescue crews until the police told him to shut down for safety reasons.  The cheeseburgers were some of the best we'd had on the trip.

Segways.  Angel Island.  Sam's.  Highlights of a great day.  The vacation was almost over and it was ending on a high note.

These pictures and more can be found in these Flickr sets: Angel Island 2011, Alcatraz 2011, and San Francisco 2011.

Route 66 & California - San Francisco - Alcatraz

The next morning we drove up the pacific coast highway (PCH), one of the most beautiful drives in all of the United States in my opinion.  The stretch from north of San Simeon up to Carmel is truly jaw dropping as you wind your way along shear ocean cliffs and through coastal forests.

Pacific Coast Highway View.

We made one stop along the way to see the elephant seals just north of San Simeon.  The best time to see these tubs of blubber is in December when they calve but there were quite a few there in July.  A few more pictures of the seals and the PCH can be found in my PCH Flickr set.

Elephant seals.  Looks like they're laughing or singing.

As we approached San Francisco I did as I've always done when I've gone to this city, I missed a turn.  I ended up downtown on streets I've never been on before but I managed to get some bearings (though I wasn't very sure of myself) and got to where I wanted to be.  We reached our hotel, the Royal Pacific Motor Inn, and checked in.  This is one of those hotels that we can not recommend to anyone really.  It's located on the border of Chinatown and the red light district.  It's a little scruffy around the edges ... and it's seen better day.  Having said this, we love this hotel.  Nothing fancy but we don't travel for the hotels.  While the location, at first blush, appears sub par, it turns out to be in a great location.  It's a couple blocks from the cable car line.  Chinatown is right there for those who like exotic smells and sights, which we do.  Getting to fisherman's wharf and the ferry terminals is easy-peasy.

The hotel is multifloor and the other two times we were here we were a few floors up.  This time we were on the ground floor and on the street side.  It was their last room and it turned out to be noisier than our past stays.  It was also a larger room than the other times.  They also improved their WI-FI which I'm finding to be indispensable when I roadtrip.

We'd been to San Francisco two times before ( in 1997 and 2008 - I've been there four times).  Each time we tried to go to Alcatraz but were thwarted either by bad planning (you need tickets ahead of time for Alcatraz) or family emergencies.  This time we had tickets for the night tour and our families were healthy so we had a good chance of success.

Sunset behind Alcatraz.

We reached the pier where the tours departed and found a place to park.  We got our tickets at the will call window and then went to the gift shop, which also served food, and ordered some burgers for dinner while we waited for out tour to start.  As the tour boat left the fog rolled in (San Francisco fog - shocker!!!).  The tour boat was comfortable and circled the island before pulling up to the dock.  We met a tour guide on the island who gave us a quick overview of Alcatraz before taking us inside.  At this point we picked up audio tour guides and did the self-guided tour.

Inside Alcatraz prison.

It was pretty cool.  The recording was made by ex-guards and ex-prisoners.  Their descriptions and stories added to the tour experience.  You were marched around the prison like you were a prisoner - in a nice way.  The prison was definitely worth the fourteen year (!?!) wait.  I took a few pictures of the prison and they can be found here in my Alcatraz 2011 Flickr set.

Sun setting through the clouds.

The boat ride back was was shortly before sunset (it was July so the sun was setting late).  The ruddy sunset and the low clouds made for some gorgeous "pink moment" views.  It was interesting seeing the city lights slowly turn on as it got darker.  San Francisco lit up.  The fog obscured the tops of some buildings but it was still pretty cool.  I tend to prefer the beauty of nature but there are times the labors of humanity can be just as beautiful.

San Francisco skyline.

Tomorrow we would visit another island, Angel Island.