China: Thoughts on the City vs the Countryside + a Story | This is China

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I talk about the countryside and the city. I quickly mention and discuss some of the good and the bad of both places - the comfort vs the hardship, the beauty and quiet vs the noise, and more! I bike out to a couple of villages just outside of Chengdu on an Ofo and show you guys what there is to see!
Feel free to subscribe to see more videos about what it is like to be an American (or any kind of foreigner) in China! All are welcome!
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The Hanging Coffins of Gongxian County, Sichuan, China. Most Unique Plac...

The mysterious hanging coffins of China. And not just China at that - Sichuan, China - MY province! I've been in Sichuan for nearly four years, and I only just heard of these recently! The Bo people of what is now Gongxian County, Sichuan died out about 400 years ago, supposedly massacred by Ming imperial troops, leaving behind no written records, no monuments.....except for the hanging coffins.
The hanging coffins just may be the most unique place I've ever visited. It's so far off the beaten path that even the locals asked us, "How did you know about these?" I've never been asked that before! Haha
You'll have to take a bus from Chengdu (Wukuaishi Bus Station) to Gongxian (Gong County), then from Gongxian to Luobiao Village, where the coffins are located.
This is not your "ordinary" classical Chinese history. This is something completely different and unexpected. Come and check it out with us!
My Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/austinguidry
Feel free to subscribe to see more videos about what it is like to be an American (or any kind of foreigner) in China! All are welcome!
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Twitter: @LetChinaSleep
我的微博：@懒惰老外

Visiting the HANGING COFFINS of Gongxian County, Sichuan, China - Part O...

This is PART 1/2 of my trip to Luobiao Village, Gongxian County, Sichuan, China in order to see the Hanging Coffins of the Bo people. The journey was such that I felt it merited its very own video! We passed through countless tiny towns and villages and wound our way through the Chinese countryside as we got closer and closer to our destination; it would be nine hours before we arrived. Think of that - a full day's travel without even leaving the province!!

 My Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/austinguidry

Feel free to subscribe to see more videos about what it is like to be an American (or any kind of foreigner) in China! All are welcome!

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Twitter: @LetChinaSleep

我的微博：@懒惰老外

WTF China Stories: The 8-MONTH-OLD English Student | REAL TIGER PARENTS

This is a 100% true China story. Think of this like the Chinese version of Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories, except without Hollywood and with a fat, white guy who's not really famous for anything. Anyway....on with the story!

I used to work at a Chinese English training school, which is basically an after-school school for kids to take an extra-curricular English class or two in order to give them an edge over the competition here in China. I've mentioned competition before on this channel in one of my "This is China" videos, which you can find on my channel. 

I've taught plenty of children in China - early education is a very strongly emphasized facet of education here in China, and foreigners are usually called in to teach children the foundations of English. 

This training school was called i2, and the kids usually ranged in age from 6-12 years old. However, one time, a couple came in with a baby and asked if we could teach her child. We said, "Sure, where's the child?" "What do you mean? He's here," she said, gesturing to the infant in her arms. 

Bish, what??? An Eight-month-old student?! Oh, wow....my poor co-worker. Now, the story begins....

My Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/austinguidry 

Feel free to subscribe to see more videos about what it is like to be an American (or any kind of foreigner) in China! All are welcome! 

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Twitter: @LetChinaSleep
我的微博：@懒惰老外

Frustrated, Busy, and Excited!

Wow, it has been a long time since I posted on here! I don't really bother much with blogging any more, because of my shift towards video blogging.

So.......what's going on?

Well, tomorrow is the first day of my second year of teaching at Lanzhou Jiaotong University. I'm excited - things will be a little different this year! I am teaching a writing class this semester, and I have complete freedom to do whatever I want in that class. My co-teacher and I are the first ones to teach writing to non-English majors at Lanzhou Jiaotong University, so we are both excited and nervous about it. We've chatted a lot and shared our ideas, and I believe that it will be a good thing for me. I have no experience in creating any kind of real curriculum, so I am excited about what this could do for me in the future.

 There's only a few other things going on worth mentioning. One is my video blogging, which most of you are familiar with, and that is simultaneously the most frustrating and difficult and satisfying thing that I have been doing in these past few months. I have a whole queue of videos already finished and queued at the moment, but the one that I've been working on at the moment is about the One Child Policy.


The One Child Policy video is driving me crazy at the moment - it's such a charged topic, emotionally and politically, and there are a lot of ugly things that have arisen out its implementation. The hard part is presenting it objectively, without too much bias, talking about the major points of it, and also trying to do it under 10 minutes. That's pretty tough. I filmed one, edited it, thought it was good......but after I slept on it, I researched further and found out that a few things I said were just totally wrong and naive. Oh, well, at least I didn't put it up.

Well, what else? Not much, really.......just Ultimate Frisbee games on Sundays, which is always a great part of my week! There's been a lot of fun had, and a lot of great friends and memories have been made because of Ultimate Frisbee. It's surprisingly popular here - once students get started on it, they seem to just latch on!

It's a shame that I don't utilize this site more. I suppose I could use it to promote videos or something. I logged back on today and said, "Wow, this is a great page! How did I do that?" Haha

Well, I suppose that's about it. I think I WILL start posting on here more. Writing this was fun and it felt good to be doing it again. I don't need to put in as much time as I do for a video!

Anyway, I'll talk to you guys later - much love!

Austin

Click here to go to my YouTube Channel!

New Videos and Thank You!

Followers and subscribers are slowly trickling into the site and my YouTube, so I want to say "Thank You!" to everyone! I have people coming here from the US, Iraq, Fiji, South Africa, Australia, China, Ecuador, Indonesia, Thailand, Canada, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Italy.......the list goes on. 

I'm so humbled that so many people have come by -- It's amazing, and I absolutely love getting comments and emails from you guys. I've even been recognized in Lanzhou a couple of times by other foreigners --- that's insanity!

My numbers may be low to some, but I'm catering to a small market -- people interested in China, Lanzhou in particular. So, low numbers are okay! I'm just happy when people leave comments. It makes it all worth it!

So, I just want to say THANK YOU!

Well, the next order of business is my new videos! I have been on a vlogging streak lately, and I've made a lot of videos lately -- it's been great!

This first video is about me going to a local park on the north side of the Yellow River. It's called the "Idiom Park" by some because it has different sculptures which come from cultural stories throughout the little park. These cultural stories have lessons and morals, and have evolved into idioms that are used by the Chinese to this day! Check it out! If YouTube is blocked in your country, click here to watch the first video! 

So, let's talk about it!

I've forgotten how much I like to walk and vlog --- it's really great! That way, I can say whatever comes to my mind, and then edit out the stupid stuff or whatever doesn't fit within the "storyline" of the video. It's also a good way for you guys to get a sense of what's around me (or at least behind me).

I love living here for many reasons, but one reason is the depth of culture and tradition that this country has. And one result of that is this little cultural park with statues dedicated to idioms. People going around with their children can (and do, actually) stop and tell their children these stories while they're walking in the park. I actually got to listen to a bit of one, so that was great! It's just something that America doesn't have....or at least not in that same depth.

I said in the video that one of the most important things you have to do in a new culture is just to GET OUTSIDE and LOOK AROUND! It doesn't really matter if you completely understand it or not -- you just have to get out there.

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Now, the second video is about my encounter with prostitution in Xi'an.......some of you guys might know that story --- it's my most-commented post, and also one of the most popular. You can find it here.

Now, this second video might be hard to watch on Youku because of the censoring that happens in China. It's already been taken down once, so I don't know if it'll stay up. If it doesn't work, leave a comment, and I'll put it up again! Anyway, click here if YouTube is blocked in your country. 



 So, yeah --- if that was your first time to hear/read that story, then great! Now you've learned a valuable lesson in preparing for China! If you want to come here, then it's best to be aware of this. Technically, it's illegal, but it's tolerated. Kind of like weed in Jamaica.

I don't really want to say much more on that subject haha I think the video and the former blog post are more than enough!

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In other news, I've made some changes to my YouTube Channel - namely in the form of a couple of playlists, and they'll be updated every now and then.

As time goes on, I keep finding little ways to tweak and update my pages, and it's great! They're subtle changes, but I think they'll make a difference.

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As always, feel free to leave comments and subscribe to the blog or to my YouTube! I'm always interested in what you guys have to say!

Until next time,

Austin Guidry

Bai Ta Shan and Guo Xue Guan Videos!

(Before I start this post, I just want to apologize...I've been the perfect combination of busy and lazy these past couple of weeks, so I haven't done anything. My bad. I'll try to catch up on my posts and updates.)

October 1st was the Chinese National Day - the day China celebrates its being a country. As I'm writing this post right now, I'm surprised that there really hasn't been much celebration.....this is supposed to be a really important holiday, right? How come there's no fireworks, no celebration, and all that? In America, we go nuts during that holiday. I don't want to speculate about China's population's feelings towards their government, but it might have something to do with it.

As you (might) know, a couple of weeks ago, I went to Lanzhou's Bai Ta Shan (White Tower Pagoda) for an afternoon. Here is the video for that afternoon. I'll also add it to my post, which you can read here.



A couple of days ago, I went to another place in Lanzhou called 九州台山 (Jiu Zhou Tai Mountain), which is located in the northern part of the city. On the mountain, there's a Confucian-style temple called the 国学馆 (Guo Xue Guan). Here's the video for that one:

Well, this was a very interesting place - distinctly Chinese, which is what I like. There are lots of different places on the top of this mountain, but the place I was headed to was the "Guo Xue Guan," a Confucian-style temple dedicated to thinkers and writers of Chinese history.

It's in a classic place for a temple - on top of a mountain!

Like I've said in the videos, I like going to mountains for a number of reasons. My hometown doesn't have any mountains, so it's still a new experience to live in a place full of them.

I also love getting above the noise and craziness of the city and see just how big the city is. I'm not Chinese, so I think this is a big city....they keep insisting this city of 4 million people is a small town. Crazy Chinese people.

Going to temples is a serious thing for me - it's a place to pay respect to those who have gone before me and to learn about what they did during their lifetime and how they contributed to this place that I'm living in.

These places are always very interesting for me - it just highlights the differences between America and China. America just doesn't have this kind of history and culture. It's not America's fault or anything - it just hasn't been around for long enough.

I don't really get into the offering of incense and ritual worship and stuff like that, but I definitely understand the respect that's behind it. The temple centers around Confucius, who you see right here. In front of him, you can see where they light the incense and make donations to the temple.

While I understand the respect being paid to Confucius, I have to say, I am always pretty confused about the offering of incense to him. He always said that he was just a teacher and just a man. When did he become somebody to be worshiped?  I get confused about that with Buddha too.....but anyway, the place is still very interesting!

(This is the Dao de Jing by Lao Zi written out in its entirety. The whole other side of the stone is filled up as well.)

As you can see, getting to this place is no easy task. The stairs are really steep, and this is a real mountain....not just a hill.

Me and my friends Nick and Xia Fei took a cab to the top of the mountain to see everything on top of the mountains, but we climbed down on our way back home.

It's insanity - all we did was climb down, and we still all had shaking and sore legs by the time we got the street at the bottom. Man, it was crazy.

But again, the location adds to the mystique and mystery of the place - mountaintops are classic places to put temples in China. It seems like almost every mountain here in China has a temple dedicated to someone.

All in all, it was a good day with some friends - I got to learn about some traditional Chinese culture and history, see the city, and hang out with some people I hadn't seen in a long time.

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A few days after that, I went with some other friends to climb a couple of mountains. I have lots of pictures and a few videos from that day, so I'm gonna be posting that when I can. This week is a bit crazy because it's the first week back from vacation, so I can't promise anything, but I will really try to do another post in the next 7 days.

Until next time,

Austin Guidry

The Unfamiliarity of it All

Finally, a new video is here! Yeah, I've been pretty much keeping to a once-a-week update unconsciously, so I guess I'll be sticking to that schedule!

I just got my teaching schedule and textbook/curriculum and everything, so I'll be putting up a post about that soon.

First, the videos! Watch, and then I'll get into more detail below. As always, YouTube and Youku:

 



As I said in my previous post and in this video, everything you do here is different. Everything. And to a certain extent, it is really wonderful, but sometimes it can be really tough.

I'm not really sure how to explain it, but there's a great amount of satisfaction to be had in daily life in China, especially in a place like Lanzhou, where there are few foreigners.

You find yourself in these seemingly normal circumstances here - buying food, going to a restaurant, talking to people in Chinese, seeing the neon lights at night, and all of these other things......to you they are normal life, and to be able to function in these ways without really thinking about it is really satisfying.

You have to use your Chinese to do all of these things, you have to always be aware of the fact that people may be staring at you literally all the time, you have to use your patience to deal with crowds or lines or noise or whatever, and at the end of the day, when (or if) you think about what happened that day or what you did that day, you kind of say,

"Oh, yeah, I totally just did ______ in China/Chinese, who knew I would/could ever do that?"

Just doing simple things requires a little work in another language or requires a little more thought, and it's these little daily/hourly challenges that make life here so interesting. Some people relish how awesome new and unfamiliar things are, and some people just don't.

You think and live with a different part of your mind here than you do back home. Because you're utilizing this other language, it changes how you think and how you deal with the circumstances around you, and that's something you just can't fully explain to people. It's one of the biggest reasons that people who come here stay here. 

That's about all I've got for you now - I guess I'll talk to you later!

Austin

2012: The U.S.A. - China Olympics

"International Magical Cooperation," my Harry Potter-quoting sister reminds me while I obsess over the gold medal and overall medal count race of the U.S.A. vs. China.

"Yeah, I know, international relations and stuff.......Ron was wrong in obsessing about 'fraternizing with the enemy' and missed the whole point of the wizarding world's Quidditch World Cup...but seriously, we're beating China!!!! For now..."

    (2012 Olympic Torch - Public Domain photo)
It's strange how The Olympics can bring out such and sudden and fervent outpouring of patriotism. I've been getting up early to watch the U.S.A. women's soccer team play their games, and I've been cheering on our athletes like crazy, and annoying my family in the process, I'm sure.

China's going through the same thing - people all over China are shouting "GO CHINA!!! 加油!! We've GOT to beat America!!"

Everyone's being patriotic and having fun with the Olympics. It's one of those few events that (most) people can put aside their country's politics and just enjoy their team or individual event.

All of the athletes are there for the same reason: they've trained incredibly hard their entire lives and are now at the top of their game and are competing at literally the highest level possible. It's an honor just to qualify.

I don't know about you readers, but I'm still a pretty young guy at 23, so I don't really remember many Olympics. I remember some of the Olympics from 4 years ago in Beijing, but I only watched the opening ceremony and remember it being pretty legit. I wasn't even interested in China at that point - I just remember hearing about this guy Michael Phelps who was supposed to be pretty good.

I don't even remember the 2004 Olympics....where were they?

Anyway, few years later, here I am, and I'm pretty much glued to the action - it's a big deal. There are people from all over the world competing in sports you'd never watch otherwise - it's an opportunity to see something new.

When the spotlight is shined on the different athletes, we hear stories about their lives and their home countries. We heard about the kids from rough neighborhoods who found discipline in sports, the kids chosen at a young age to go to special training camps for years on end, kids who were pushed to excel and were encouraged by their parents and the people who literally do nothing but prepare and help others prepare for these games.

The stories provide interesting glimpses into the different cultures from which they stem, and while some highlight our differences, they all highlight universal truths:

We all want to leave behind a legacy. We want to be remembered. We all want to be great.


Yeah, this is going to be one of those "universality of human existence posts." I mean...I guess it is, I just kind of go and write with my thoughts.

We can't all be Michael Phelps or Usain Bolt or Muhammad Ali or Michael Jordan, but we all want to, to a certain extent. We want to be recognized for our skills and for our hard work and we want to be rewarded for it.

While the people who aren't competing are thinking about the implications of China winning the most golds and symbolically overtaking America or America staying on top with the most medals and yada-yada-yada/whatever, the competitors themselves aren't thinking of the political ramifications (except maybe the North Koreans) - they're there to show their hard work and to do their best to represent America or China.

I really wish I could be in China and talk to people about how they feel about the Olympics. I think it'd be a pretty interesting thing to look into, although I can't imagine the sentiments being any different than the sentiments here, but you never know.

But bickering about which country is the best at everything, who has the most medals, and which country takes the moral high ground when it comes to training is not the point of the Olympics, as my sister pointed out - it's "International Magical Cooperation."

Leaving Lanzhou Again and Update

So, yeah, I've been kind of distracted as of late, as far as the blog is concerned. I had a few days of work, met up with some of my high school friends, and oh, yeah ----

APPLIED FOR MY CHINESE WORK VISA! Yeah!

...............

Which kind of left me totally broke....but luckily, I was able to get an advance on a paycheck, so I am no longer destitute!

Everything's coming together - I've got my plane ticket, and my work visa will be on its way back at the end of the week, so that's great! Then I'll have a student visa, a tourist visa, and a work visa...I'm on my way to getting every kind of visa China offers! hahaha

So, anyway, I found this video that I hadn't put up on the blog yet, and I figured I would put it up for your entertainment/information/education/whatever you want to call it. As you guys know, I was in China from June 13th-July 9th, and this is the final video I made before I left.

It's not much, but here you go....YouTube and Youku! (I actually have another video coming up soon!)





Hotpot, downtown Lanzhou, friends, some traveling, some great food and new experiences - it was a productive and fun trip overall. I wish I hadn't been so terribly ill during it, but oh well, that's what happens when you travel.

Being back just brought back some great memories and happy times, while at the same time creating some more great memories. I've got a few more stories to tell now, and I hope that you guys have the patience to read even more about China as I experience it. Now that I'm at home, I'm spending more time savoring being at home and spending time with my friends and family, so I won't be posting much.

Thanks so much for reading my stuff, you guys! I've gotten a couple more subscribers lately, and I really appreciate them following me. Remember, you guys can always subscribe via email or just follow me from your Blogspot account.

Feel free to leave comments anytime you want, and share any interesting posts/stories - I've got some of my favorites in the tab menu up top, if you want to check them out!

Until next time, my friends!

About Huan, China (Videos and More)

Today, these videos come from Huan County, Gansu Province. This is the hometown of my best friend, Benjamin Xi.

It is a really great little town nestled in the mountains of southeastern Gansu.

As you can see on this map, it's in that weird little fin that borders Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in the southeast of Gansu.

Huan is one of my favorite places because it's one of the places that is pretty much untouched by Western influence, or at least as untouched as it can be. There are no McDonald's, no KFCs, no Pizza Huts, Starbucks, foreign investors, foreign teachers, foreign firms or anything like that. It's a completely Chinese city, and that's cool. Lanzhou is pretty much a Chinese-only city, but the number of foreigners in the city has definitely increased in the past few years. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing - I'm just saying it's a trend. I'm not one to really make that kind of call.

I visited Huan last year as well, and it's still pretty much exactly as I remembered it.  It's still a great place that's way out of the way of most foreigners.

Huan is a very old city, with parts of it dating to the Song Dynasty (960-1279 A.D.) and before, including this wall.

Amazing, yeah?

 It's crazy, nothing this old stands in America and as someone who studied and has a degree in History, it's beyond amazing to be able to see and touch something that's been around for so long. 

I'm not knocking America for being too young or anything - it just hasn't had the chance to stick around for that long yet.

Seriously though, how cool is that?!

One of the things Huan is famous for is its embroidery, particularly its handmade insoles. It may not be famous abroad, but in China, Gansu is the home of artful embroidery. This photo on the left is an example of it, although not a great one. Unfortunately I am away from the pair I was given by Ben's mom -- it's much more beautiful than this one. This one's only so-so.

The amazing thing about these is that they're totally made by hand. The firm inside is basically extremely hardened dough (that will never cook again), and the outside white cover is handsewn.

Then the fun begins.

It's all done by needle and thread. One needlestick and colored thread at a time. Ben told me that the pair I was given took about 300 hours of solid work. Wow. 300 hours - imagine putting that kind of time and energy into something that you'll walk on and ruin.

I didn't wear mine. They're too beautiful.

I can't wait to go back again - the people of Huan are hard-working, friendly, very hospitable people. The only complaint I have is that their dialect is hard to understand, but maybe that's because I'm just a white boy who can't speak enough Chinese to understand......

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That's about all I have to say about Huan County at the moment - maybe when my friend Benjamin comes to the States, he can write something about his hometown for you guys! Until next time! My comment section is always open for you!

The Cave Homes of Gansu Videos!

Hey, guys!

I finally finished putting together my second video about visiting rural Gansu (赵台，in the country) and staying in a cave home with my friend's relatives. It was a rare opportunity, and I'm really happy that I got to experience it. Hopefully, I'll be able to go back soon!

For those of you who don't know, I visited an area in rural Gansu Province with two of my friends to visit some of their relatives. They live in some of the most beautiful (and remote) countryside I have ever seen. I was blown away by the difference in our lives, and I think about it every day. Please watch these videos. There are embeds from both YouTube and Youku.






This was my original video about going there - I'm sure some of you have already seen it, but I thought I'd put it up again anyway so you guys could watch them in order. As always, it's on Youku and YouTube! Thanks for watching! I'll have more to say on the second video! Scroll down!

 


The second of the two videos is the one that deals with the underlying reality and what I was (and am still) thinking about in regards to the experience. I hope it'll give you something to think about! Please watch them and enjoy them - it's not a huge investment of your time.

Feel free to comment or to subscribe to my blog - it's totally free and no sign-up and I would love to hear from you!

The Cave Homes of Gansu

One of the things that I was looking forward to the most on my trip to Gansu in June was the prospect of going to a remote mountain village and staying in a cave.

Yeah, a freaking cave. People do actually live in caves in China - it's not just those stereotypes in the Middle East.

That's it there on the left - it's not just a giant hole in the side of a cliff. They've made it into a home, believe it or not.

They cut out a door-sized hole and a window-sized hole into the side of the mountain, and just burrow out a decent-sized hole, round it out and make it work, and then - BAM - time to move in!

For some reason, I didn't take a picture of the inside - but I do have a video clip of it included in the video below, if you are so inclined to watch it.

The cave itself was pretty nice - it was cool although the weather outside was nice. There was a big bed, wallpaper, a dresser, a TV, and all the other "fixings" for a home. It wasn't this big scary unlivable place - it was rather nice.

Where is this place, you might ask?

It is called 赵台 (Zhao Tai). It's in the  countryside.

I just know that we drove from Huan County (环县) for about 5 hours to get there.

5 hours of the craziest, bumpiest, and scariest roads through some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen.

This is the stuff that I had only read about in books and seen in National Geographic.

Terraced mountains literally surround the caves that me, Elena, and Ben are staying in.

The signs of the harvest are everywhere.

The few people that have chainsaws or weed-eaters are letting them loose in the fields, but the rest of the people have their scythes and are at work under the bright glare of the noon sun.

Wheat and apricots are what's being harvested now - the potatoes, corn, and other foods still need some time.

Life here is fundamentally different from life as I know it.

There are no shops nearby, no paved roads, no sound of car horns, no street vendors, no........well, anything.

It's just quiet, clean mountain air and the sound of the goats, donkeys, and other animals that Ben's family raises. Life revolves around the land, and there is little money to be had, and little to spend it on.

It's so different from the money-driven, ambition-fueled society that I have spent my entire life in.

Life here is hard, but I feel like although these people are poor in material ways, they are rich in family and rich in life.

They were so caring and hospitable to me, and it was easy to see that they cared deeply for one another.

I just wish I had been able to better enjoy the moment. I was pretty sick at the time, and I couldn't do a lot of stuff. But I did what I could, and I cherished the time that I spent in this place.

How often do you get to lose yourself in the mountains, be moved by spectacular scenery, stay the night in a cave home, witness (and participate a little bit in) the harvest, be surrounded by new people who nonetheless care about you, and also become buddies with a donkey?

I don't know about you, but that's not something that happens very often to me.

As I said in one of my videos, I'm very grateful to know Ben. He's let me see a side of China that I wouldn't have otherwise been able to see, at least not easily.

I want to take this chance to thank him for that, even though he will probably never read this post, if any posts that I put up on here.


Thanks, Ben.

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Feel free to comment or to subscribe to my blog - it's totally free and no sign-up and I would love to hear from you!

Didn't I Just Get Here?

Holy crap, I'm leaving tomorrow....that's weird, I feel like I just got here.

As a tourist of sorts, 3 weeks was a pretty appropriate length trip. It was short, but not so short that I had to rush everything. I got to do basically everything I wanted to do:

Go to Zhongshan Bridge and downtown Lanzhou

See the Yellow River

Eat at my favorite Bao Zi restaurant

Eat some of Lanzhou's famous Beef Noodles

Eat various other things haha

Visit Ben's family in Huan Xian

Visit the "Tiger Cave" town/village

Visit and stay in a cave home in very remote Gansu

Be surrounded by a terraced landscape of mountains at the peak of the harvest

See all my old friends

See you guys back in the States! Much love!

Feel free to comment or to subscribe to my blog - it's totally free and no sign-up and I would love to hear from you!

Top 8 Facts About China (and Thoughts on Vlogging)

Hey, guys! (and ladies.....hello, ladies)

Today I'm coming at you with my Top 8 Facts About China in vlog form. I've been sort of addicted to vlogging because I just love being able to tell stories. I love being in front of the camera and talking about stuff that I love, which is China.

Vlogging is such a great way to do that - it's still relatively new and is exploding all over the internet - from China to Giraffes to Tea to Music, vloggers talk about all kinds of things, and are able to share their gift of storytelling through the medium of video.

Here's my latest one from my YouTube Channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/austinguidry2





I'm still learning and improving on my vlogging techniques - if you watch the first video that I ever did all the way up until what I've done now, you can see how I've improved.

I've really begun to realize just how much of an art form that vlogging can be - there are so many different facets to the way things are shot, the way you say things, whether or not you have a script or lighting or a microphone, how you use your jump cuts or your silence.....it's really hard, but can sometimes just be organic and in-the-moment.

I really love doing it, and I can't wait to get back over to Lanzhou to do more and share my adventures with you!

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Chinese Stories: The Old Man and the Golden Fish

Hello, everyone! I'm just the same as ever - working and putting together my next China adventure! 

I've been quite enjoying these classic Chinese stories! I'm going to be putting them up every now and then when I feel like it - sorry...that doesn't really tell you anything at all, does it? Anyway, here's the lastest one that I found!

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There was once an old man who liked fishing. 

He always fished in a lake, which was near his house. One day, the old man brought his fishing rod and fishing tackle and went out to the lake to fish after he had eaten his dinner.

When he reached the lake, the sky was becoming dark. There was a boat beside the lake. The old man used the boat and rowed to the center of the lake. He began fishing in the center of the lake. After a while, he fell asleep.

Suddenly, the old man woke up as his fishing rod was shaking. The old man pulled up the fishing rod and caught a fish. To his surprise, it was a golden fish.

Even more surprising, it could talk to the old man. "Can you let me go, please?" The fish begged the old man. "No, I am going to eat you," The old man said. "Please! Let me go. If you let me go, I will give a golden rope," the fish said.

"Golden rope? Is that true? How can I trust you?" the old man asked. "You can put your fishing rod into the lake and a few minutes after, you are going to get the golden rope, " said the fish.

The old man listened to the fish and put the fishing rod in to the lake. After he pulled up the fishing rod, he saw a golden rope attached to the fishing line. 

"The golden rope must be very long," the old man thought because he could not see the end of the golden rope. The man was very happy and he continued to pull up the golden rope.

"Let me go now that you have the golden rope," said the fish . "No, I won't let you go. I am going to sell you. I think someone will pay a very high price to get you." The old man said. 

The man then put the fish into a container, which was full of water and continued to up the golden rope.

As the man pulled up the golden rope, his boat began to sinkinto the lake but he was too greedy and still wanted to get all of the golden rope. He continued to pull it. 

Finally, his boat sank completely into the lake, and the old man died.

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What are your favorite stories - from your childhood, or even ones that you've recently discovered?

Do you enjoy these stories as much as I do? Or am I just totally geeking out?

Do you want to write something for this blog about China? Maybe your own story? Your own take on something going on there? I don't want to be the only person talking here. 

Leave your thought in comments below!!

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**I got the cartoon from this page here. This is his picture. The first photo came from here and belongs to that website. The sunken boat came from this page on Flickr. **

Chinese Stories: A Man Who Loved Seagulls

Here is a short little classical Chinese story that I found interesting and I thought I would share with you all.

If you want more of these stories, let me know in comments! A great way to learn about another culture is to read its classical literature, and I hope you share my enthusiasm for them.

A long time ago, there was a man who lived down by the sea. He loved the seagulls that swooped and dived and played in the air above him. Every day at daybreak, he would go down to the seaside and play with the gulls, and they were great friends to him.

But one day, his father said, "I heard that you play with the seagulls and are a great friend to them. Catch a few for me so that I may play with them too."

The next day, he went down to the seaside, and the seagulls swooped about in the skies, but none came down to play with him.

One may try, but it is ultimately impossible to hide one's true inner thoughts. Even birds and animals can sense one's true feelings.

What are some of your favorite folktales - from your own culture or others? Let me know in the comments, and I'll gladly read them! Also, let me know if you enjoy these occasional stories!

I got the first picture from sofiyafobi's DeviantArt Page and the second from Peter Kurlduja's "Flight of a Seagull."

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A Look At Chinese Cities

I've been looking at my traffic sources, and it seems like a lot of people are interested in Chinese cities. Most people that end up stumbling across my blog seem to do so in search of a few answers to questions like:

"Are Chinese cities overcrowded?"

"Are Chinese cities polluted?"

"Are Chinese cities ugly?"

------Yeah, are Chinese cities ugly.....well, okay then. I'll just talk about Chinese cities in general, I guess.

A "normal Chinese city", whatever that is, is usually going to be bigger and made up of more skyscrapers and multi-story buildings than most American (or Western, if you're not American) cities.

They'll be more compact, convenient, but a little drab. Most Chinese buildings are pretty much the same dull grey concrete color, so it's kind of dull, but at night, they light up pretty good!

This is Shanghai, so it's a bit over the top, but you get what I'm saying. Most cities aren't quite this crazy, but there's considerably more neon in the average Chinese city than the their Western counterparts.

(When I talk about Western/American cities, I don't mean huge cities like Chicago/L.A./New York/D.C.. I'm talking about the average, below 1 million population cities in America)

Yeah, it's pretty crazy, but that's just the way cities in China look.

I gotta say, the night life in a mid-sized to big city in China is pretty awesome -there are night markets all over the place, karaoke bars, regular bars, clubs, and all kinds of cool stuff to do. And because of the design of the cities, they're often pretty close to each other, which brings me to my next point: the design of Chinese cities.

The Chinese have pretty much mastered the art of building megacities.

This is Lanzhou - a city of about 3.4 million people and the capital of Gansu Province. It's where I lived for 6 months.

When Americans (at least those of us who grew up in suburbia) see cities like this, we get really, really freaked out. We think "how can people live like that?? There's so many people!!"
Well, that's kind of deceptive. Yeah, there's a lot of big buildings, but you've got to understand that somewhere around 1/4 of them are apartment buildings of some kind (at least in Lanzhou). The Chinese have realized that building up is better than building out. It may look scary, but it's really not.

I noticed that the cities I've visited/lived in in China is that cities are organized into districts, with each district capable of serving itself

At one point, I noticed I had lived in Lanzhou for about 3 or 4 months and had hardly seen any of the city, because all of my needs were satisfied in the area surrounding my campus. I started to get out and about, and I noticed that that was true for the other parts of the city. You can find all you need within the different areas of the city. There are shops for everyday needs, food, snacks, and fun everywhere, so you can get pretty much everything you need in a 10 minute walk or a 10 minute bus ride.

This way of making cities is pretty green, like Jonathan Watts mentions in his book "When A Billion Chinese Jump". It encourages people to walk or take public transportation, although a lot of people do try to buy cars. Instead of 1,000 people commuting to work in 1,000 cars, 950 might take the bus or walk while 50 take their own cars. Also, you can put more people in a smaller space, which frees up more land for farming or parks or wilderness - farming is the most important one in China.


(Right: A street in Beijing close to Lishi Hutong, February 2011. Below: A Chinese-like street somewhere in America)

Besides being the slightest bit greener, it makes life really convenient and cheaper. I would trade in my car right this minute if I could have a well-developed transit system in Texas' cities. It's just so much cheaper.

However, I don't think many Texans would agree with me. Oh well.


Visiting and living in these huge, tall, closed-in Chinese cities has forever changed the way I view America's cities.

This is Dallas, Texas, where I live and work (I split my time between Tyler and Dallas). Here’s the skyline. That’s it. Just that. 

You're in and out of it in less than an hour if you take one of the main avenues. 

And that scares the crap of the small town natives of Texas.

Now compare Dallas and Beijing’s skylines. There's a freakin huge difference. 

This is just one part. You could do a 360 and see this view on every side. You're totally closed in by this monstrous city of roughly 19 million people. 

When you’re in downtown Beijing, it goes on forever and forever and forever - it takes hours to get out of Beijing’s downtown area - not because of traffic, but size. 

One thing that I never really noticed until I was back in the States was that I hardly ever got a glimpse of uninterrupted sky when I was in China. Sometimes I'd go to the top of a mountain and be able to see the uninterrupted sky, but most of the time other mountains would get in the way. It's weird to think about it, but it's true. 

Here, in Texas, especially in the Fort Worth area, I can get a full helping of sky because of the openness of the land. It's not better or worse - I'm not judging China or anything. It's just different. I had a better picture to exemplify the openness, but I can't find it at the moment. Oh, well....

That's probably the single biggest thing that has changed within me personally - I will never see cities in the same light again after living in China. America's suburban sprawl compared to China's urban skyscrapers has really changed my view of what a "big" city is. It has also changed my view on urban smog and pollution. I never really noticed smog and pollution in America before I saw the heavy urban smog of China, but that's a whole other post, and I've done that before, check it out here. My experience has made me appreciate America's small towns more and see American cities through a different lens.  

There are so many things that are different between China's cities and America's cities. It's hard, nay, nigh impossible to list all of the differences because the concept of a 'city' encompasses so many different factors. Well, this is a start, and hopefully this will satisfy some people's curiosity. We'll see! 

I'll try to be back soon with a more introspective and interesting post soon! 

Grass Rubbing Amongst a Lack of Greenery

(Part 1 of a 2 or 3 part series)


Because you are a foreigner, while you are staying in China, you will likely be staying in the midst of a large or mid-sized city in one of the many, many high-rise hotels or apartment buildings.

Every person in the city lives in one of these apartment buildings. 

This is super, super nice. Don't expect to see many (if any) this clean. 

Chinese cities are very different from American cities and the environment leads to different attitudes among the Chinese people about the environment and green places. 

Chinese cities all have parks, which are usually pretty green and pretty awesome places, but outside these parks, there is a conspicuous lack of color throughout the cities. 

at Beijing's Beihai Park

The buildings are usually all the same shade of gray or off-white, and the streets are the usual black and the sidewalks are grey or have red and yellow tiling. 

This is a pic I took in Guangzhou. See? There's just not much color

Just not real green...

These colors are absolutely everywhere and rarely, if ever, vary throughout the city. Psychologically, it's pretty depressing on an unconscious level. Streets sometimes have a line of trees on the side walk New York City style, but those are the only sign of plant life in the heart of the city. But because everything's so compact, it's rare.

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Story Time!

When I was in Lanzhou, I was sitting outside with my friend, Xia Fei, outside of the Lanzhou University of Technology library. This was mid-July, and I had been in China for about 5 months or so. 

(about where the grass is on the mid-left of this picture)

Anyway, we were sitting and just chatting about life and girls and all kinds of stuff, when I started rubbing my hand on the grass - kind of tussling it, and pulling out a couple of blades.....that's a weird way to describe it, but you know what I mean. I just couldn't stop. Over the course of the entire afternoon (literally - we chatted probably 3 or 4 hours total), I kept rubbing that grass. I couldn't figure out why until a LOOONG time later. 

I hadn't touched grass in 5 months. That's why I couldn't stop doing it. I had been so engulfed by city life in a desert environment that I hadn't touched grass in almost half a year. 

It doesn't sound like much, but it's really something that should be thought about. How would your life, your attitudes, your mindset, be affected by an environment so urbanized that the touch of grass evokes such a response?

After telling this story, I said to my friend Monica, "I know this sounds stupid, but..." and then she immediately says, "Oh no, that's not stupid at all! There's just something built into human nature that needs trees, needs grass, needs fresh air and water....it's not stupid, I totally understand."

And I realized that she was right. There is something within us that is awakened when we are in the presence of nature and natural beauty - even a city park. It's an indescribable feeling of basic connectedness and peace - a yearning for our ancestral roots. If a person goes their whole life without having these soulful moments, something beautiful has been lost. 

We can't live a life of credit cards, iPhones, and a job,

and forget the sound of the wind as it blows through the mountain's trees.

If we reach that point as a species, then we will have lost a crucial part of our humanity. 

(Part 1 of 2 or 3 - Stay Tuned!)