Chungking Valentines Day
Yesterday I got back from a 2-day trip south to Chungking (known here as Chongqing) for a gig on Valentines day. I was especially looking forward to the gig for two reasons; 1. it's on Valentines day, and 2. it's an unsponsored hip hop party. Also I got to eat brain on valentines day (maybe I should have eaten heart instead?) for the first time, which was probably even more strange than my own words accompanied by photos can explain. The club that I played at was called Cotton Club and has a website: Cotton Club in Chongqing
I'd say that easily 75% of my gigs are sponsored, if not by a beer company, then by Chivas or someone else (tonight I'm playing a show in Chengdu sponsored by Rio, a Zima-looking fruity alcoholic beverage). While sponsors can guarantee generous and timely payment, they often add some restrictions to the creative control that I have over my own sets. I don't have to follow a playlist, but if something falls out of the boundaries of what's considered to be club music, they don't like it. There are exceptions, but generally speaking, sponsors don't want to rock the boat as far as Chinese club culture, even with foreigners in the booth. With no sponsors, anything can happen: good or bad. In this case it worked out, and they were looking for a hip hop dj. There was no DJ booth, so I was situated on a small platform with a pair of sideways 1200's and a DJM-500. There were some b-boys and hip hop fans in the house, including a Chinese guy who I met named Kobe who spoke English so well that I mistook him for a Chinese American. I played a lot of love songs to commemorate v-day, including some Beatles and the 80's classic "Just the Two of Us". The place was pretty festive and everyone seemeed to be in the spirit for valentines day. At one point I got on the microphone before asking if anyone else didn't have a valentine and then played No Woman No Cry, hahahah.
Just before going to the club, I was taken to a Chongqing hotpot restaurant. This province (Sichuan) is known all over China for its hotpot, but I believe that Chongqing hotpot might even be more famous than Chengdu's (for those who don't know, hotpot Chinese cuisine in which raw meat and vegetables are cooked in boiling oil on the table in front of you, similar to fondue). Here's a photo of what the dinner table looked like:
Although I don't usually eat hot pot unless it's a special ocassion, I've had it many times. It's the hottest food I've ever had, and I've searched for the hottest food I could find in Thailand and Laos (one day I'll do the same in India). But I've never had this before. Among the things I ate that night: brain (pig), blood (duck), and tendon (cow). The brain, however, was easily among the most bizarre things that I've ever eaten. I welome new foods - no, I insist on them, but I think my adventurous dinner-time spirit took me farther than I had wanted to go.
Brains are really disgusting, I don't know how zombies do it. I took a photo of all the things that I ate, but make sure that this is something you want to see before you open it. These are very clearly brains. I had never seen anything like that before I saw Indiana Jones out brains out of a monkey skull in "Raiders..". It was explained to me at the table that eating the pigs brain, while it is almost universally accepted as a stupid animal, will definitely make you smarter. In Leshan I heard that eating beetles made your penis stronger, so this was the first time I had heard something that seemed that ridiculous since then (about 7 months ago). I won't be eating any more brains, but I still wouldn't take back that experience.
Aside from being alone again on valentines day, the hotel had to twist the knife in the wound by preparing a heart in the shape of rose petals on both of the twin beds in my room:
Immediately after the gig we went back to the hotel to drop off my equipment and then they took me to some other clubs in the city. I met and hung out with the proprietor of a local bar, a girl named Nicole who spoke great English and also happened to watch 24 and Lost. She provided the narrative for most of the weird clubs that we saw after leaving Cotton Club. Around 4am when I was drunk and exhausted the promoters absolutely insisted on taking me out to get more hotpot. I resisted but couldn't talk my way out of it in the end. I didn't eat the brain this time.
The day after valentines day I woke up dehydrated and hungover. I'm recently finding that my tolerance to alcohol has been decreasing, maybe due to the fact that I've nearly stopped drinking since finishing the Coors tour. I went to one of the larger more famous streets in Chongqing, called jie fang bei, and had lunch at a restaurant there which had umbrellas hanging from the ceiling:
I think that wraps up the most recent trip to Chongqing. Here's a final shot of me with David (friend, MC) and the promoter from Guangzhou named Evan:
And the entrance to an underground market, which I thought looked incredibly old and beautiful:
Here's a link to a flash gallery with my favorite of the photos from Chongqing
Urumuqi (uhr-ooh-moo-chi)
Urumuqi (uhr-ooh-moo-chi)
I've been in Urumuqi (capitol of Xinjiang province) since Friday afternoon, and it's turned out to be a much more exotic place than I had expected. I've traveled all over China to dozens of cities, but I haven't been to many that have set themselves apart from the others as much as Urumuqi. Nested in NW China, it's a space shared by dozens of minorities - Kazaks, Uzbeks, Uigers, Russians, and even a few Han Chinese. People here are much bigger than in the rest of China. I'm not really unusually large anymore, because I'm constantly face to face with guys that have linebacker physiques. Anyone who's been to China can tell you that there are very few people in mainland China that meet that meet that physical criteria. And it makes sense, because none of the big people up here are really full-blooded Chinese. Everyone is muslim and the women look Iranian and Russian more than Chinese.
I don't think I've ever eaten this much meat, either. Maybe the drastically different diet (spicy in the west, sweet in the east, ungodly portions of meat in the NW) explain the obvious differences in body types. On Friday I met a local girl (named Candy - I swear, not a prostitute) who took me around and showed me some places in town yesterday. We went to a Uiger (pronounced 'wee-gur') market which seemed to specialize in rugs, traditional Russian-looking fur hats, and decorative (but probably still fully functional) daggers, knives, and swords. I bought the smallest knife I've ever seen. It's a retractable switchblade-type knife with a 2" blade that comes out of the handle. We went with Tangzon (the Carlsberg promoter in Chengdu who booked me) to a traditional Xinjiang restaurant where I hung out outside in the cold with the cooks for a few minutes and took some photos. The food (meat) is prepared outside in a giant barbeque pit and brought inside to the restaurant where we were served by a young muslim boy who didn't speak any Chinese. Some kind of Uiger text is all over the place as well; menus, taxis, buses, street signs. It looks just like Arabic. I was also taken to the local foreigner bar, a place called Fubar. It actually means Buddah Bar (Tangzon owns and manages a bar in Chengdu called Buddah Bar); fu meaning Buddah in Chinese. But to me it just means fucked up beyond recognition. It was like a western sports bar with projection tv's playing soccer. I played pool with a Scottish guy who was a competitive pool player. It went pretty well, I think I sank four balls before he finished the game in three turns. I didn't want to play him, but everyone insisted that we stage a caucasian billiards showdown.
I leave tonight at 9pm.
Kunming, Featuring the Parisian Mael
I've been in Kunming since Friday afternoon (I didn't miss my second flight in the afternoon) and have been hanging out with Mael, my French Kunming tour guide.
Kunming is a 60 minute flight south of Chengdu, and also the capitol of Yunnan province, which borders Laos and Vietnam. I expected the weather to be warmer than it is, and I came largely unprepared, with SE Asia clothes. It's still warmer than Chengdu, though.
I came here for a single Saturday night gig which was two nights ago, but decided to hang out here for 5 days and check it out, since Mael is here and I haven't had much of a chance to really see Kunming. I've had a pretty great time since arriving here and I think I can identify some significant advantages and drawbacks of the capitol of Yunnan as opposed to the capitol of Sichuan. In some respects, this place feels more like SE Asia than China. There seem to be exponentially more foreigners here (especially French people, of whom I've probably met two dozen in the 3 days I've been here; as opposed to Chengdu where I've met two of them in 8 months), the weather is more moderate and doesn't reach extremes, the sky is blue and the landscape is more tropical, and this place is much more affected by outside culture. This city has better music, and more of it. The gig on Saturday is a fair example.
The club, called Kundu (on the main club street in Kunming) is a Chinese club through and through. I'm not sure how to explain it to someone who doesn't know what that means. Although Mael took the effort to actively promote the party, which isn't very common up north where I live, and as a result, the place was jammed with foreigners. This was the crucial first step to the success of the party in my mind. I played an hour of hip hop and then another 90 minutes of house and breaks (30 minutes past the time that I could have stopped), after which Mael and I tagged drum & bass for two hours. This is simply something that couldn't have possibly gone down the way it did in more than three cities that I've played at in China (Shanghai, Beijing, and Canton). Needless to say, the place was going bonkers until 4am and between Mael and I, we played for a combined 5 and a half hours straight, which is definitely some kind of record for me. Mael soon returns to France for 2 weeks to complete some paperwork, and we have a New Years party coming up.
And since it's nearly Thanksgiving - my sister is with her husband in New York now, waiting to board a plane to Beijing in six hours. I last saw them in Bali at the end of August, so it's only been three months. They've been to Lijiang before in West China, but I don't think they really had the opportunity to see China as I think they should have. I'll fix this as soon as they arrive in Chengdu. Here's a short list of places I'll take them:
- Sichuan opera. Famous for mask changing. I found the best place in town to see it and I haven't even been to this place myself. Sip tea and watch masked acrobatics while listening to a 12-piece traditional Chinese ensemble.
- Computer Square. Four buildings, five million square feet, thousands of vendors, and more advertisements than I've ever seen anywhere outside of Hong Kong. David (Cici's husband) will love it, being a psuedo-hobby IT professional.
- Hot Pot. The hottest fondue you've ever had. Burn their mouths off, and don't let them ever forget it. Chengdu is famous for this, and I simply wouldn't be a good host without showing them this. Getting David to actually try it instead of eat a bowl of rice might be difficult, but my confidence is high.
- The Panda Reserve. The panda is to China what the bald eagle is to America, and the national reserve is in my city. We have to go early when they're active and being fed. Pandas are very lazy.
- The Art Market. I've heard that it's the largest in China outside of Beijing. If you want art, you can buy it here directly from artists. Painting, calligraphy, sculpture, metalwork, furniture, ceramics; whatever you want, it's here. My father and I are interested in reselling imported artifacts in Charlottesville Virginia and Cici will bring him samples.
- DVD Shopping. Years ago David and I nearly made a part time job out of a joint DVD duplication operation. He's still doing it, but I've been put out of business by entire rooms full of DVD's for sale at less than 50 cents a piece here. I've described it to him before but I'm positive that he won't believe it till he sees it.
A Carlsberg promoter called me an hour ago offering a gig in Urumuqi this Friday. I told him I'd get back to him, but I think I'll go with it, for two important reasons. I've never been to Urumuqi, or even really close to it (it's in NW China near Kazakstan), and Carlberg is my favorite sponsor.
Now to enjoy my last day in Kunming.
Gig in Kunming, Cici is Inbound
I've been in Kunming since Friday afternoon (I didn't miss my second flight in the afternoon) and have been hanging out with Mael, my French Kunming tour guide.
Kunming is a 60 minute flight south of Chengdu, and also the capitol of Yunnan province, which borders Laos and Vietnam. I expected the weather to be warmer than it is, and I came largely unprepared, with SE Asia clothes. It's still warmer than Chengdu, though.
I came here for a single Saturday night gig which was two nights ago, but decided to hang out here for 5 days and check it out, since Mael is here and I haven't had much of a chance to really see Kunming. I've had a pretty great time since arriving here and I think I can identify some significant advantages and drawbacks of the capitol of Yunnan as opposed to the capitol of Sichuan. In some respects, this place feels more like SE Asia than China. There seem to be exponentially more foreigners here (especially French people, of whom I've probably met two dozen in the 3 days I've been here; as opposed to Chengdu where I've met two of them in 8 months), the weather is more moderate and doesn't reach extremes, the sky is blue and the landscape is more tropical, and this place is much more affected by outside culture. This city has better music, and more of it. The gig on Saturday is a fair example.
The club, called Kundu (on the main club street in Kunming) is a Chinese club through and through. I'm not sure how to explain it to someone who doesn't know what that means. Although Mael took the effort to actively promote the party, which isn't very common up north where I live, and as a result, the place was jammed with foreigners. This was the crucial first step to the success of the party in my mind. I played an hour of hip hop and then another 90 minutes of house and breaks (30 minutes past the time that I could have stopped), after which Mael and I tagged drum & bass for two hours. This is simply something that couldn't have possibly gone down the way it did in more than three cities that I've played at in China (Shanghai, Beijing, and Canton). Needless to say, the place was going bonkers until 4am and between Mael and I, we played for a combined 5 and a half hours straight, which is definitely some kind of record for me. Mael soon returns to France for 2 weeks to complete some paperwork, and we have a New Years party coming up.
And since it's nearly Thanksgiving - my sister is with her husband in New York now, waiting to board a plane to Beijing in six hours. I last saw them in Bali at the end of August, so it's only been three months. They've been to Lijiang before in West China, but I don't think they really had the opportunity to see China as I think they should have. I'll fix this as soon as they arrive in Chengdu. Here's a short list of places I'll take them:
- Sichuan opera. Famous for mask changing. I found the best place in town to see it and I haven't even been to this place myself. Sip tea and watch masked acrobatics while listening to a 12-piece traditional Chinese ensemble.
- Computer Square. Four buildings, five million square feet, thousands of vendors, and more advertisements than I've ever seen anywhere outside of Hong Kong. David (Cici's husband) will love it, being a psuedo-hobby IT professional.
- Hot Pot. The hottest fondue you've ever had. Burn their mouths off, and don't let them ever forget it. Chengdu is famous for this, and I simply wouldn't be a good host without showing them this. Getting David to actually try it instead of eat a bowl of rice might be difficult, but my confidence is high.
- The Panda Reserve. The panda is to China what the bald eagle is to America, and the national reserve is in my city. We have to go early when they're active and being fed. Pandas are very lazy.
- The Art Market. I've heard that it's the largest in China outside of Beijing. If you want art, you can buy it here directly from artists. Painting, calligraphy, sculpture, metalwork, furniture, ceramics; whatever you want, it's here. My father and I are interested in reselling imported artifacts in Charlottesville Virginia and Cici will bring him samples.
- DVD Shopping. Years ago David and I nearly made a part time job out of a joint DVD duplication operation. He's still doing it, but I've been put out of business by entire rooms full of DVD's for sale at less than 50 cents a piece here. I've described it to him before but I'm positive that he won't believe it till he sees it.
A Carlsberg promoter called me an hour ago offering a gig in Urumuqi this Friday. I told him I'd get back to him, but I think I'll go with it, for two important reasons. I've never been to Urumuqi, or even really close to it (it's in NW China near Kazakstan), and Carlberg is my favorite sponsor.
Now to enjoy my last day in Kunming.
Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck
Well, that didn't work. At some undetermined time last night I nodded off on my couch and woke up at 9am halfway lying over. Super cool, I missed my flight. I booked another to give it one more shot this afternoon at 4pm. This is the first time I've ever missed a flight. I'm glad it was only a $50 one. I woke up so frantic and with so little sleep that I can't figure out if I'm dead tired like I should be, or strung out from frantically formulating a backup plan. I'll listen to Herbie Hancock to soothe my frazzled nerves. Oh hello, Watermelon Man.
In Mei Shan, Sichuan
I've been in Mei Shan for the last two days for 3 gigs here on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It's halloween weekend, but in a crowded club there might be 30 people in costume, which I suppose isn't too bad. I read in the newspaper today that 12 children were trampled in a school when there was an electrical blackout and some of the students yelled "Ghost!" inciting a violent and frenzied dash to the exits.There isn't a sponsor at these parties, so there's nothing that they're trying to sell, which is different. It's more laid back and casual and less structured. On Friday night they opted for me to hang out with them and drink rather than go back on to play another hour from 1-2am like I was supposed to. Okay, whatever you guys want.
Today they took me to a park where I had tea with them, Brandon, and a pair of Swedish girls. We saw half a dozen or so Chinese people jam out in an outdoor gazebo area, playing traditional instruments and singing. It really sounded more like whining, but I took a video of some of the performance with my camera. Oh, last night I took a video when I was playing which I think turned out well. I help the camera up and pointed to it and everyone went nuts. Now that I have a (another) new domain, maybe I'll host the file and put a link to it here.
Tomorrow I get back to Chengdu and I'll meet with a landlord of a new apartment which is right next to where I am now. I'm learning about the flexibility that renters have here which you aren't really afforded in America, and I'm capitolizing on that to score a slightly larger place to stretch my legs out.
I see my sister in 3 weeks!
Climbing the Sacred Mountain
There are four sacred mountains in China, Emei Shan (shan means mountain, in Chinese) being the tallest of the four, where I just got back from climbing up the length of the mountain and then down from the summit.
At just under 10,000 feet, it was my first mountain climb. It took three full days and it fully kicked my ass. I can't remember the last time, if ever, I've gotten an extended cardiovascular workout like that. The summit goes higher than the clouds, so when you look out and around you from up there, it looks like you're looking out at the sea - everything is white, but there's nothing around you as far as you can see in every direction. Lots of unbelievable sights, including dozens of monkeys happily living in their natural habitat, and lazy tourists being carried up the mountain by the most fit Chinese people I've ever seen in my life. They crafted bamboo stretcher-like structures which two of these guys put on their shoulders, and they climb up the mountain with some lazy fucker sitting in between the two of them on this bamboo chair. Totally bizarre sight.
At the top there's a visual phenomenon known as Buddah's Halo. At sunrise, when the fog rises to the peak of the summit as the sun hits it, somehow a circular 7-color rainbow is naturally produced. As if this weren't enough, if you stand at the right angle, you can see your reflection within the center of the halo. Centuries ago monks from the monestary at the peak saw this blissful sight and thought they'd reached Nirvana - and, full of unspeakable pleasure, instinctively threw their bodies from the cliff. I saw this with my eyes.
I downloaded a new DJ Shadow mix from Fight Club called Funky Skunk. I've been listening to it on repeat for 3 hours. It's fuckin' off the hook, and I'm searching everywhere for a tracklisting.
Yesterday I saw It's All Gone Pete Tong and Wag the Dog, both of which were good, but "...Pete Tong" was fantastic.
The Distinction of China
Yesterday morning I had to wake up at 4:30am in Vientiane, the capitol of Laos, to catch my flight to Kunming China. This was still several hundred km from Chengdu, my final destination, and I had to find my way there one way or another. Upon my return to China in Kunming International Airport I went upstairs to book another ticket north to Sichuan province. Immediately I'm happy to be back; there are no foreigners around, hardly any English anywhere to be seen, and the people at the ticket booking desk don't speak any English. I had a 30 minute conversation with a group of ex-military businessmen while I waited for them to book my flight which was a blast.
I met up with Tenzin as soon as I returned in Chengdu and we talked for a long time about many things, including leaving and coming back to China. Tomorrow he leaves for Thailand for a month to unwind; off to almost the same place that I've been for the last month, for the same reason. But just like I told him: This is the first international vacation I've ever taken where I'm happy and excited to return home. Generally I associate the return home with an air of "back to work". Other things are associated with my return, but that's what seems to come to mind first, for me. Spending six weeks in Indonesia, Thailand, and Laos was a blast - but two things made it less of a blast for me than China is.
1. The language barrier
I can't speak Indonesian and my Thai is very poor. I have no chance at reading a menu or communicating to someone who doesn't speak English, but in a way this isn't a problem because everyone speaks English. In another way, this is a big problem, because a key element of the adventure of traveling to another country is lost. If everyone can speak English, what motivation do I have to learn the language at all? I tried to learn; I really did, but found it incredibly difficult when there was no other reason for me to learn than for my own pleasure. The result of this futile linguistic struggle was that I'm relegated to being another tourist. I only feel marginally more a part of the community or culture than a group of fat sunburned sex tourists wearing Speedos.
2. Tourism and the local economy
Most of the places where I spent my time in SE Asia survive because of tourism. You can very rarely go anywhere where this isn't evident. Everyone has adapted to the English language to support the influx of tourists, menus are all in English, and local communities are filled much more with tourists than with locals. Many of these countries don't produce or export much of anything; tourism is a key element of their local economy. This compromises the culture, especially as it relates to any ethnic outsiders. Instead of a mutual culture exchange with people on the streets, they're trying to sell me t-shirts. I didn't come to Asia for t-shirts. That said, it's great to be back. Everyone is friendly and surprised to see me, and no one relies on me to fill their mango milkshake or tourist t-shirt quota.
I wasn't back for 4 hours before my cell phone rings; unidentified number. It turns out to be King; the manager of Focus Club in Lanzhou, north in Gansu province. Focus Club was the first club that I DJ'd at in China outside of Chengdu, last spring. I hadn't talked to him in six months - within 10 minutes we'd reached an agreement for me to perform there on Friday and Saturday. What are the chances? I'm not here 6 hours and I get a pair of gigs out of nowhere from someone I haven't spoken to in six months. I'm interested in using this time to do a lot of recording and collect and assemble new ideas for music, but I'm happy at the same time that business is great and there are zero concerns about finding work.
I'm listening to the new Boards of Canada album, The Campfire Headphase, which is unbelievable. I haven't listened to it in its entirety yet, but I'm blown away by it so far.
When Tenzin returns from China we're getting a new apartment in Chengdu and looking at more longterm plans to relocate south to Kunming, closer to the border with SE Asia. The apartment used to be the home of Chengdu's biggest mob boss - the place hasn't been rented out in over a year. I haven't seen it yet but apparently it's cavernous - we'll use the space to build a studio. Tenzin, Jovian, and myself are all getting our equipment shipped over here from America.
Elephant Cave & Monkey Forest
End of the second day in Bali now, and I don't want to leave. So for now, I won't. I'll change my flight to Bangkok to give me another two weeks here, so I'll plan to leave around the middle of September which should give me enough time to explore the island, and maybe Java as well (yes, people have named coffee and internet software after this island in Indonesia).
I've taken 500 photos since leaving China, not only with my digital SLR which I've finally been reunited with after 3 months of separation, but also the digital Elph which I bought 2 months ago but didn't actually receive until last week. So, photos everywhere.
Yesterday was a really eventful day, spent mostly at the Elephant Cave and the Monkey Forest. Both beautiful places. The Monkey Forest was especially great. This place has hundreds of monkeys all over the place, apparently just chilling and having fun. People come in and give them bananas and food (you can buy bananas to feed them at the entrance), and they're very sociable and friendly. When I walked down the narrow pathway to the wide center of the forest there were about 30 monkeys here and there just hanging out, eating bananas or whatever. They're not afraid of humans at all; they'll run right up to you and grab your leg and climb up on you, relentlessly trying to be cute and get free bananas. I took a lot of photos, but the conditions were difficult - the jungle is so dense in there that foliage prevents direct sunlight from actually hitting them during the day. The forest itself is unbelievable, and as we walked along the path a small group of monkeys came along with us, most of of them swinging through vines and jumping between tree branches. They definitely have that shit down to a science. Seeing monkeys up close like that isn' something I've ever had the opportunity to see, but one thing that was really apparent to me was how human-like they are. Their eyes, movement, and their appendages are very human-like. It's actually a little creepy being face to face with a monkey. You can sense the intelligence by how they move and interact with people and with eachother. This was nothing like seeing glazed and sedated sleep-all-day monkeys in a zoo.
Post Wedding Synopsis
I'm at some internet place in Ubud now sitting near a girl who looks just like Amy Owens. Except French, apparently. I didn't know what nationality she was until she evidently lost an email and started cursing in french. The only word that I could understand was merde, and I think that I learned that in Bill & Teds Excellent Adventure (when Napoleon slips and falls into the lane while bowling). Clearly what happened was she lost an e-mail that she had put some time into. The same thing happened at the internet place that I was at the other day; the guy directly across from me started getting progressively irate. It reached a summit when he was saying things like "OH GODDAMNIT, SON OF A BITCH". It was fairly amusing, but then I asked him if I could help him with something. I'm sure the employees at these internet cafes are more than familiar with the averate computer illiterate user who loses an e-mail. Occupational bullshit.
More importantly, my sister is now married (again), and my ex-boss David is now my brother in law. The wedding was beautiful and went off without any real problems at all. I took a lot of photos and they came out beautifully. I might post some here if I find the time. They checked into a new villa today at a different resort which is outrageous. I heard it was only $250 - I'm sure anyone who could see the place would agree that's dirt cheap.
I have more pressing matters at the moment, specifically my Indonesian visa which is set to expire tomorrow. I listend to my father and got a 7-day visa on arrival which will expire two days before when I'm scheduled to depart. And I actually want to extend my stay here by 10 days because I have an insanely excellent place to stay for free here in Ubud. Tomorrow I'll call immigration and have it sorted - worst case scenario, tomorrow I fly to and from Kuala Lumpur and get a new tourist visa. It might set me back $100.
Hey, this internet place is playing Marley. We're jamming now.