#eryuan

[keepingitneutral]

The Pure House Boutique Hotel By Yueji Architectural Design Office,

Diancang Shan, Eryuan, Dali, China

[thesongoflucius]

I was in Chengdu, finishing the paperwork and trying to see as many people as I could before I left, trying to decide if it was my final time or not. The idea of finding work in Chengdu after the New Year is sticking with me. I could go somewhere new, struggle through the adventure of a new place and a new language, but for now, I have bills to catch up with. There are other places in China I could go, but my friends at the Peace Corps know most of the people I would want work with, so it might be better to go through them. Guanxi is a useful thing sometimes.

For now, I am heading south for a while, first to Kunming, then back into the mountains outside Dali. I teach a couple hours a day, and my foot is finally healing after my body rejected my effort to take up running again. I see old friends, and the food is healthier than I have had in a long time, but part of me just wants rolled tacos and a quesadilla. I am not yet looking forward to the adventure ahead.

Part of it is still being in China, like my time here hasn’t really ended for now. I’m not in anyplace new, and there isn’t much here I haven’t seen yet. Eryuan is still beautiful, surrounded by pear trees filled with spiderwebs, but it feels like I’m waiting, not traveling. Part of it is that I still have too much stuff. I need some fall clothing for Mongolia and my camping gear will be useful in the Philippines, but I should have shed more of the clothing I am still carrying around. Part of it is that I kind of envy the people who just went home.

There is something tiring about living in another country for so long, especially when home is so far away. In Mexico, I wasted a lot of time and money on trips home because it was so close. That was part of the reason I began there, that I could walk away if I needed to. Now, home is a city where my family doesn’t live. Part of the cost of travel is that the worlds you leave behind keep changing without you.

The same will happen in Lanzhou I am sure. I was a part of so many lives, and hopefully I did more good than harm, but I will never really know the result of all of my work. I will go back and visit one day, but I can’t possibly see all that will come of my time there. It makes me think of the dream of final judgement after death, the idea that we will finally know exactly what changes we enacted on the world. For good or bad, at least there would be an answer.

Most of the time I am okay not knowing. I choose to believe the people who have thanked me, or told me what a change I wrought, and I choose to forget that there is so much of the story that I will never know, but there is always a whisper of doubt waiting for my attention. The things I say and do are based in the facts that I am an outsider and an American. The people here who follow my advice are not. There is always a question of the damage that will be done if they follow me because where I am tolerated, they may not be. More important, they have so much more to lose here than I do.

Pear trees and spiderwebs. It’s easy for me because I have no fear of the spiders, but that is because they have never really hurt me. That is a privilege I wish everyone had, the ability to reach through danger because they can never really hurt you, but that is not the world we live in. All the people who are afraid for my safety as I travel have been harmed in ways I haven’t. So I travel on, with caution, but no real fear. Anxiety, yes. True fear, no.

The next place I go will be Lijiang, up the mountains toward Shangri-la. I have time, I may continue up or stay in Lijiang and leave something to the imagination, but in truth, nothing will be new until I reach Mongolia. A new language, new food, and a whole new world awaits.

Pear Trees and Spiderwebs I was in Chengdu, finishing the paperwork and trying to see as many people as I could before I left, trying to decide if it was my final time or not.

[ropucha0000]

#eryuan #dali #Yunnan #China #SebastianJurgiel (w: 洱源县炼铁乡长邑村民委员会) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bsv663RB0Wr/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1hlukxm9gu94a

[thesongoflucius]

I left my students behind in Longnan and Tianshui and made my way down to Kunming昆明by plane and then Dali 大理 by train. Then I took a car a couple hours out to Eryuan 洱源 on lake Zibi茈碧. I thought this place was a hotel at first, but it’s just a family home. I’m staying here and helping out a bit, and everything is basically paid for, which is good because I don’t really have any money in my account and there are no banks here to transfer anything. This place is the far edge of nowhere.

It looks a lot like when my family would go to the Hamptons in New York for the summer when I was a kid. My great grandparents had built the home before it ever became popular, and we could still fish, catch lobster and crabs, and find endless fruit in the forest. It’s like that here, with woods outside in every direction and a lake far enough from civilization that the water is still clean. There are always warnings about the temperature and the risk of an undertow, but I grew up swimming in the Pacific in San Diego, where the water is almost frozen and always angry.

The food here is amazing. My friend’s mom cooks most of the meals, and they buy fresh milk from the farmer who milks the cows down the street. That is usually my breakfast, a bowl of milk so fresh it’s almost like cream, still warm from being boiled to clean it. Dinner and lunch are classic Chinese dishes with a little more pepper than usual, but I like that. Beyond that there is only one restaurant in town and one corner store with maybe a couple dozen drinks and snacks. There is a primary school, again with five rooms, and a small square with rooms for the elderly of the village to play mahjong and dance.

My friends are up every morning at 6 to practice Kungfu and start their day, but I still have trouble waking up early. I rest a lot, but I am still looking for a good place to hang my hammock. Most of the places are near the road and there are too many cars on the weekend. No one has really stopped to take my picture yet, but most people try to talk to me in what little English they know.

It’s a beautiful place, as beautiful as any I’ve seen in China. It wasn’t my first choice, but I am really glad I wound up here. One of my friends is a student of Bagua and has been going over the basics with me since his English is more than enough for it. I am practicing my Chinese a lot too since most people here don’t speak much English. I have my own room and a great view, even if it is a bit loud sometimes.

The weather has been a bit of an issue here, not because I don’t love the rain or the cool nights, but it’s always overcast so there are never any stars. I saw a few the other day, but most nights and days the sky is hidden from view. Between the mountains and the lake it’s always wet here, but the weather is never what I would call bad. Even the rain passes fairly quickly.

I have four days left before my time here is over, four days and then Dali for a night before the long train home. The train will be about 24 hours, and I’m kind of looking forward to it. Not because I will enjoy it, but because it will separate this world from Lanzhou, a solid line where I can see that my vacation ended and it’s time to get back to work. Too many times I have left the plane to go back to the world, and it’s just not something I want to do anymore. But until that line, I still have so much to see.

  On Lake Zibi 茈碧 I left my students behind in Longnan and Tianshui and made my way down to Kunming昆明by plane and then Dali 大理 by train.