Guangzhou to Lhasa by Train - Part I

Seeking a more pleasant and somewhat unusual way of getting to TIbet and really not wanting to fly....again..., we had settled on the train ride from Guangzhou to Lhasa.  It had a number of interesting features...

It would be about 2.5 days long; around 55 hours of travel.  We would have a berth to stretch out in.  We would cover about 5000 km through China and actually see something.  It wasn't expensive, cheaper, in fact, than flights would be.  And it could all be arranged by our agent in Lhasa.  It seemed like a plan.

The agent we were working with was able to book the tickets about 2 months in advance.  Interestingly, this was well before we would be issued the Tibet Travel Permit, something we would need to even start our journey.

At the end of our short visit to Guangzhou, our day of travel arrived.  We made our way to the station and found our waiting room.  The only symbols we could find anywhere that we could understand were the train number (Z264) and the gate (5).  No instructions in English, even as it was time to board the train.  Fortunately, the strategy of showing our tickets to a person in charge was sufficient to be pointed in the right direction.  We found our train, got our room and, precisely at 11:45 am, the train left.

Within a half hour, we had left the city behind as Chinese countryside flashed by our windows.

Our part of the train was virtually empty to begin with.  The car accommodates 36 people, 4 to a room.  In our car, one of the cars with "soft sleepers", I think there were only 5 occupants as we left Guangzhou.

The hours pass, China unrolling outside.  Farms, small and not so small villages, wind towers dotting green ridges, workers squatting by a path, taking a break from their jobs, bridges, overpasses, many other trains, broad rivers....  It looks very unlike the prosperous city we left just hours ago.

Our first stop is at Chenzhou, after 4 hours.  Food vendors stand on the platform.  Some garbage is offloaded.  Some passengers board.  In about 5 minutes we are on our way again.

I was approached by a young man who obviously wanted to talk.  He was returning home after a month in Guangzhou.  Home was a place about half way to Lhasa, called Hua Long.  We chatted for quite awhile and he professed an interest in talking to foreigners.  His English was quite good and anyway, how can you not talk to someone who likes Neil Young?

The train stops a couple of times and more people arrive.  It's quite dark out and other than lights as we pass villages (and cities), we could be driving in a tunnel.   Apparently we have a slightly longer stop coming up, perhaps 15 minutes, so we may go out to trot up and down the platform.

Otherwise it's time for bed, lulled to sleep by the rocking of the train.

Our longer stop didn't materialize, at least not until after 11 pm.  By then I'd been asleep for a few hours.  More people board.  Some with very loud voices.  It's a double train track and there are very frequent trains headed in the other direction.  In the dark, their lights create a strobe effect in our room.  Generally I sleep well.

We estimate our speed to be at least 100 km/hr.  Stops are very infrequent, given the distance we're travelling.

Travel in China - The First Days II

My first day in Guangzhou was spent walking.  I'm not sure how far we walked but we were on the go for about 7 hours.  Walking around a city on all that hard pavement and concrete is hard on feet, legs and backs.

Guangzhou Train station

We used the subway to make our way to the train station to pick up our tickets.  Those would get us to Tibet.  Arranging a visit to Tibet is a complicated process and difficult, if not impossible, to arrange on one's own.  Fortunately, our trekking company in Nepal had an agent in Lhasa who was able to look after all those details: train tickets, travel permits, guides while in Lhasa, accommodation, and so on.

Lots of walking interspersed with subway rides to get us to different areas.  The subways are crowded.  Standing room only.  Just a great flow of people in and out, up and down the escalators, but it keeps moving.

This section of the river has basically a wide park-like promenade along it on both sides.  We believe it stretches for about 25 km, not that we're going to be able to confirm that.....

This is certainly the modern China.  Many stores, much merchandise, loud music in some stores, lights, glitz...  although it's certainly not all like that.  There are quiet parks.  I haven't seem a single motorcycle.  I understand they are banned here.  Maybe just in Guangzhou?  Many electric bikes.  Also electric carts.  Lots of cars.  New cars.

Also Buddhist temples.  We've seen a couple.  One was brand new.  Many adherents chanting and burning incense.  Evidence of ancestor worship.

Although Joel and I are on our own during the day, we meet a colleague of his for supper.  Her name is Jingyan.  That means "Peking swallow".  The story behind that is her father was from Peking (now Beijing) and moved to Guangzhou, a "migration" to the south, like the swallows.  She was writing this out in Chinese characters for me in my book as we talked.

Speaking of names, according to Jingyan, women do not take their husband's family name when they marry, but keep their birth name. 

Lots of police, but what I think we're seeing are traffic cops.  Unarmed.  I think I've seen one armed police man and that was last night.  Many security cameras.  Lots and lots of people.  Even last night at 9:30, there were groups out in the parks, walking, dancing to music, riding bikes. 

At night, the river ferries are all brightly lit up.  With many tall buildings featuring bright, colorful lights, it's quite a scene as you walk along the river at night. 

There is some English here and there.  I've seen some English street names on road signs.  KFC, Subway and the Golden Arches are here.   Other than the numbers for prices, it's pretty much impossible to understand anything, although I now know the Chinese characters for exit and entrance.

In the morning we go to the main train station to leave for Lhasa.  That will be a trip of about 5000 km in 55 hours.  As with many things here, it's hard to know what to expect.

The trip continues.

Travel in China - The First Days

Long distance plane flights are only good for getting to far-flung places quickly.  Otherwise, brutal would best describe them.

Case in point, getting to Hong Kong.  First, a one hour flight from our Kootenay valleys to Vancouver, often chancy because of our weather and the state of our local airports.

Then a wait of 8 hours before the international flight, leaving at the ungodly hour of 2 am. 

Sitting for 12.5 hours gets me to Taipei, where I wait for another 3 hours for a short hop to Hong Kong. 

Hong Kong, one airport that will be in serious trouble as sea levels rise.

For a busy airport, getting out is quick and efficient.  I get my bus ticket and after a short wait, leave for a 3-hour ride past Kowloon and Hong Kong, across the border into China and past endless river delta to Guangzhou.  Not exactly sure how many teeming millions live here, but I was told that this area of China has perhaps 100 million.  This is Canton.

Amazingly, after all that time and distance, I get off the bus at the arranged meeting place, Jinan University, half an hour earlier than planned.  I still think there's a certain WOW factor in that.

My traveling partner arrives.  He's been here for a couple of days. We walk, take the (very fast, very efficient) subway to our hotel, located on the Sun Yat San university campus.  A shower, water and a rest top the list of priorities.

We meet a university colleague of his for supper.  Bonus, she's Cantonese, so she can order and deal with the language and cultural issues.  I'm feeling a bit wiped out but revive with food and a beer.  I manage to make it to 9 pm when I pass out.

Guangzhou is warm.  It was about +31C when I arrived and it doesn't cool off much at night.  I sleep with a wet facecloth on my face, all blankets pushed aside.  Surprisingly, in the morning, I feel OK.  That's a good thing.  We have things to do and a city to see.

In the first picture is the Canton Tower and one of the Pearl River bridges in the foreground.  The tower is a bit higher than the CN Tower.  It's quite pretty at night when it's all lit up.

The second photo is a mango drink I found.  It's mango juice covered with a creamy coconut cream, topped with mango slush surrounded by big slices of mango.  It's almost a meal!

Silly Regressive Politics Part 3 - The Ideological Right and Taxes

This story caught my attention a few days ago:

Do you remember Brad Trost?  Neither did I, but he's in the news about God and taxes and the Conservative Party.

What also caught my attention were some comments....not that I ever read FB comments....

Rochelle Knox Paul in Romans 13:6-7 "That is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor."

Rochelle Knox Jesus in Mark 12:17 "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." (In response to the question in verse 14 "Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?")

Leighton Tebay In the Jewish law a number of different taxes were charged. They are more commonly called tithes, but it was essentially the same thing. It was controversial in Jesus' time to pay tax to the occupying Roman state, but when the time came Jesus paid it. From this interaction we get the phrase "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's." Later on the apostle Paul encouraged Christians in Rome to pay taxes because the government has a God given role in society.

I say all this to point out, if Brad Trost's God put him on earth to stop taxes, he is very much in conflict with the God described in Jewish and Christian tradition.

Rochelle Knox And technically the 10% tithe of the Old Testament was a tax because the Israelites lived in a Theocracy.

Dave McCormick I have no particular problem with Trost believing what he wants, but he'd be a fool to sincerely believe that ALL taxes should be done away with. After all, some of those taxes pay his salary, and his pension, and his travel and living expenses.... On the other hand, if he and his ilk had to live on what people "wanted to pay", we could all be happy. Sort of a believer's tithe, if you like. I could live with that, I think.

Everyone should be concerned with government waste, but I don't think that's what he's talking about. He's talking about dismantling the things that make our country a good place in which to live. Of course, I would hope he'd be against fake lakes at G20 meetings, expensive gazebos, an unlimited amount spent on F35 fighter jets.... Need I go on? The last bunch of "conservatives" we put up with for 10 years were NOT good fiscal managers.

My main concern with "conservatives" like these is that they'aren't builders. All they know how to do is tear down the things that make our society good, tolerant, civilized. If you don't believe me, then just look at where the USA is going. How's that working so far? They tend to dismantle all decent programs until they don't work and people get angry and frustrated, at which point they sell the infrastructure to their corporate buddies. If this isn't, in fact, reality, someone needs to prove to me that it isn't so.

I do have a problem with these "evangelicals" who deny evolution, climate change, medical science and science in general. If they want to live in the Dark Ages and believe that the earth is 6000 years old, I guess that's OK with me, but they should NEVER be in a position where they can control the advancement of knowledge for the rest of society.

So Trost can believe what he wants. Fortunately, I believe that the majority of Canadians have very little interest in religious zealots and his kind of negativity. That should keep him out of any position of real power forever.

So.  Now you know who Brad Trost is.  Seems Brad fits into this little cartoon quite well.  Someone to watch, obviously.

Regressive Politics Part I - The Present-Day Conservative Party & the CBC

re·gres·sive

rəˈɡresiv/

adjective

1. 1.

   becoming less advanced; returning to a former or less developed state.

   "the regressive, infantile wish for the perfect parent of early childhood"

   • 
     
2. 2.

   (of a tax) taking a proportionally greater amount from those on lower incomes.

I'm thinking this will be a series of posts dealing with the regressive policies of government, whatever political stripe.  Of course, my predilection will be to focus on policies of the Conservative Party of Canada because I feel they exemplify this behaviour best, but I'm open to any possibilities

First, though, relates to a story that appeared just yesterday.  In it, a Party leadership hopeful, Tony Clement, takes aim at bridge tolls, Canada Post and the CBC.

His stance on the CBC, unsurprisingly, is that funding should be cut with the expectation that the National Broadcaster would "go the way of the Dodo", "liberating" taxpayers from the cost of supporting the CBC.

My initial rejoinder would be that perhaps Canada should be liberated from governments that spend taxpayers money on fake lakes and gazebos.  And this was just the tip of the iceberg.  That meeting of G8 leaders became a sinkhole into which a staggering $47 million disappeared.  The "Government of Fiscal Responsibility", indeed.  Party loyalists might have forgotten, but this model of "fiscal restraint" was all in the news back then.

But back to the CBC.  I understand that some people just don't like the idea of the CBC, or perhaps it's the reruns of "Anne of Green Gables" or really, who knows.  It ain't Fox News, that's for sure, proving that there is at least some sanity in this crazy world.

Detractors wave their arms and shout that the CBC is a Liberal Party mouthpiece.  Now, I've been around a few decades, long enough to have seen the CBC handle a number of different federal regimes.  There was the Liberal "Sponsorship Scandal".  I'm deliberately providing links to CBC reporting here, by the way.  Then there is this list of the Top 10 Scandals in Canadian Political History, provided by the CBC.  The assertion that the CBC goes easy on the Liberals is nonsense.  There was a good deal of critical comment when Jean Chretein attacked demonstrators and the RCMP pepper-sprayed students and other demonstrators exercising their right to peaceful assembly and their right to peaceful protest.

I could provide other examples, but a possible conclusion is that Conservative or other right-wing loyalists just can't handle criticism and when a broadcaster, any broadcaster, is critical of the party they cherish, they see red and feel rage.  They forget the grilling of parties they hate.  In particular, they seem to forget that the job and the duty of any broadcaster is to ask questions and to take any government to task.  I think the CBC does a pretty good job of this and, quite frankly, a better job than many other media outlets.

Nation-building is also important.  Canada is a big country and holding it together is a difficult task.  Having a National Broadcaster that is able and mandated to present stories that reflect the diverse nature of this diverse and large country is a significant part of maintaining our identity and our cohesiveness.  Likely there are those who don't think this is important.  Maybe they should stand up and let everyone know how little they value the country that is our home.  The story linked to above also points to other matters that need to be fixed.  It's not just about the CBC.

And finally, just remember the 3-hour+ concert featuring the Tragically Hip.  As a friend of mine pointed out: "With no commercials? In prime time? When it went overtime? During the Olympics?"

With any luck, the Conservatives will continue down their current path, the one that resulted in their defeat at the polls last fall.  Their stay in political oblivion could continue.  Perhaps they too can join the Dodo.....

1. 
   

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Fixing Harper - Part 11 - Trade Deals

In the aftermath of Brexit, the lurking debate over the TPP here in Canada, Donald Trump's rhetoric about trade deals in the USA and bringing home jobs, I discovered this post I put on Facebook sometime back during the election.

Letter to the Editor, Toronto Star:

"Stephen Harper has been boasting of the 43 trade agreements Canada has, implying that this somehow is good for our economy and a tribute to his economic policies. He neglects to mention that of the agreements he has signed with 38 countries since 2006, we have a trade surplus with only one, Norway.

We are actually supporting the economies of the other 37 countries although this includes countries of the European Union with which he signed an agreement in principle but which has never been settled nor finalized by the governments of any of the countries including Canada and is currently in limbo.

Of the other five countries with which we had an agreement before 2006, our trade surplus is with only one, the United States, and that has fallen drastically as the auto industry deserts us for Mexico and the southern U.S. states. Other than the U.S. and Mexico and Korea (since January of 2015), the trade with all the others is minuscule and, while negative, is only a tiny part of our global trade.

Mr. Harper has a well-honed skill in dropping figures without context to confuse the voters and cover up his incredibly poor economic skills."

Denis McKee, Toronto

We learned yesterday that Mr Harper had cleared out his office and has officially resigned his seat in Calgary.

More Chats with Climate Change Deniers

Yes, it seems I can't resist temptation....

It all started, as most things do these days, with a post on Facebook.  The Fraser Institute (you know, that neoliberal "think tank" funded by right-wing fanatics and the oil industry... that "charitable organization" that the Harper government refused to examine along with others during it's witch-hunt a couple of years ago) recently came out with a paper claiming that "A Carbon Tax is Not a Price" .

I noticed some comments that were taking the usual climate change science denial tack.  So I decided (ie: what better judgement?) to stick in an oar or two.

Almost all the comments posted must come from people who wait expectantly on the edges of their chairs for the latest missive from the Fraser Institute and then jump in to show how much they support whatever regressive notion the Institute is promoting this time.  At least that's what I think is going on.  How else to explain the sheer number and almost complete unanimity of message apparent in their comments.  A selection (I've included names just to prove that I'm not making this stuff up):

Doug Dawdy Please man. Most of what you wrote is bullshit and has been proven as such. Read something other than what enviro fasists put out and promote. Spend some time researching the subject instead of sipping away at the koolaid.

 Ryan Marsh Of course the climate is changing! It's always been changing, and will always be changing. Do you really believe that we're the cause? We have such an insignificant effect, that it's not even worth trying to change. One volcano pumps out more green house gas than our species has in all of history. The solar cycles are more of a contribution to climate change than anything else. Maybe if we tax the sun we can save the climate!

 Danny Cameron anyone that supports this is a fool.they aren't doing anything to reduce pollution or to clean up the mess that is all over the world.if you want to change things how about taking the profits from oil companies and invest it into our country to make things better instead of taking more from the people who doesn't have enough to survive now.

Of note here is the complete lack of anything to back up their claims.  Of course, this is the usual tactic - spew vitriol and attacks but avoid facts.... probably because there aren't any.

 

For instance, the comment about volcanoes and solar cycles.  First, the sun's activity has been decreasing so we're actually getting less heat from the sun and, second, volcanoes are an insignificant contributor to climate change.  In fact, most volcanoes will temporarily cool the climate.  For a reference, there is this. 

 In fact, every single argument trotted out is old, tired and answered, in many cases, years ago.  You can see them all here, posed and answered.

You might well ask.... Why bother?  These people can't be convinced.  They have no evidence.  Evidence doesn't matter to them.  So why bother?

I have a simple, two-word answer:  For Fun.