In 2013, the world searched for...

In 2013, the world searched for...

This is how we order Lunch at PoleVault!!!

论一个怂逼的诞生

陈光诚有难时，我上街举过牌儿；艾神有难时，我网上借过钱；许志永有难时，我还发声过；到王功权有难时，我已经不敢说话了。。。 #一个怂逼的诞生 

书摘《维特根斯坦传---天才之为责任》-Ray Monk

p.201

罗素 在1921年春天给 维特根斯坦 的回信里提到：

“我很喜欢中国和中国人，他们懒惰，脾气好，爱笑，很像好孩子---他们待我非常亲切友好---所有国家都攻击他们,说一定不能让他们按自己的方式享受生活--他们被迫发展陆军和海军，挖煤，铸铁，但他们想做的是写诗画画（很美的画），还有弄奇怪的音乐，优雅但几乎听不见，用带绿流苏的多弦乐器演奏...我的学生全是布尔什维克，因为那是风尚。他们吃惊地看到我本人不是那么布尔什维克。他们的程度不够学数理逻辑。我交给他们心理学，哲学，政治和爱因斯坦。我偶尔晚上带他们聚会，他们在院子里放炮竹，比起上课，他们更喜欢这个。”

Check this out!

Chinese flash mob in Taipei

毕业创作《前进，达瓦里希》(Вперед товарищи Forward,comrades 進めよ、同志諸君)

摘：《一个都不正经》---张发财

发财哥这本书《一个都不正经》 我真是爱不释手 太多好玩儿的段子了 随便摘几个：


1. 武则天她姥爷姓杨，是正宗的隋朝皇裔，还当过国务院总理。就这身份武则天他妈都嫁不出去，四十才结婚，处女，估计是个败犬女王。

2. 海上之盟后宋两次协助金夹攻辽。第一次再卢沟桥，两路宋军被辽击溃，第二次打燕京，十万宋兵粮草辎重全扔给了辽军。金国首脑感慨道：不怕虎一样的对手，就怕猪一样的对手。

3. 中法马尾海战中，张爱玲她爷爷张佩纶站在山头指挥舰队与法军作战，意气风发，羽扇纶巾地指挥着。只见江面上炮火连天，一个小时之内法军就轰碎了清军十一艘战舰，顺手又把马尾船厂夷为平地。张爷爷豕突狼奔，速度跟日本漫画似的六个脚像轮子一样地转。他早前跟张之洞一伙儿，没事儿就骂李鸿章窝囊废，谁想到后来成了李的女婿。  （所以说张爱玲的奶奶是李鸿章的亲女儿？...)

4. 紫金山上葬着孙权，朱元璋，孙中山还有一个汪精卫。。。

5. 徐志摩一天诀别两个女人：林徽因勾引徐去北平参加她的演讲会。当天种种预兆让陆小曼觉得不对劲，要出事，就拦着不让去。徐志摩死活要走，两人大吵之后徐离家登机去北平。 “吧唧” 一声摔死了。。。

6. 夏侯霸是夏侯渊的儿子，曹操是他姨夫。夏侯霸的妹妹又嫁给了张飞，张飞是他妹夫。他妹生的女儿又嫁给了刘禅，他又是刘禅的舅舅。所以，曹操是刘禅的舅老爷。所以刘备是曹操八竿子打不着的外甥。。。

7. 武德九年六月初李建成曾设宴招待李世民，下毒但没药死老二，只是让他狂吐了几升血。李二回去就准备了宣武门病变。李老大应该后悔宴席上没给李二喝三鹿吧。。。

8. 唐太宗娶弟媳，唐高宗娶他爸的媳妇武则天，唐玄宗玩儿媳杨玉环。后来有首歌唱到：我们是一家人，相亲相爱的一家人。。。

9. “钟山龙蟠，石头虎踞，真乃帝王之宅也！” 咱们看看定都这里的六个王朝：东吴六十九年，东晋壹佰零二年，南朝宋五十九年，齐二十三年，梁五十五年，陈三十二年，太平天国九年...南京还真是“难为京”。

10. 万历二十年，丰臣秀吉打到朝鲜，明政府派兵与其交战。冒出个东北小伙儿主动请缨，要带一队人马帮忙揍日本人。万历没让他去，原因是怕他呆在朝鲜发展势力。这小伙儿叫努尔哈赤。丰臣秀吉这边也有个小子要去打朝鲜，同样怕坐大也没让去，这人就是德川家康。

11. 努尔哈赤发家在抚顺，关溥仪的战犯管理所也在抚顺。抚顺上空传来苍凉的声音：出来混...迟早要还的...要...还...的...
   

Young & Beautiful

看完了《The Great Gatsby》这首“Young&Beautiful”的插曲，伴随着上世纪20年代NYC的种种浮华，在我脑海里挥之不去。。。昨天也看了小燕子姐姐的《致青春》 巧合的是两部片子大致都是在讲述一个关于逝去的爱情故事，我就多少有点小感慨。。。

《致青春》里郑微最后说“我们俩一起度过了青春 谁也不亏欠谁的 青春就是用来怀念的” 我当时觉得这段对白冷酷的吓人；可《盖茨比》里的Daisy最后把 造事逃逸 杀人潜逃 的罪名都留给了那个深爱她的男人 头也不回的离开了NYC，更是残酷。。。连我们的蜘蛛侠Nick都看不下去了，没法理解他的表妹了，说道：“ I found that I am the only one that Gatsby has" 世事无常，真是让人唏嘘。

两部影片 男主角儿爱上女孩儿的时候都是穷光蛋，因为无需苛责的原因同女孩儿分手，若干年后都以一个实现了“美国梦”的形象归来，他们都想追回那个心里一直深爱的女孩儿。 陈孝正说：“我来这儿不是求你原谅的，只是想重新爱你。” 盖茨比说: " I am going to fix everything just the way it was before".

可两个女孩儿都没有按照他们设计好的剧本走下去，郑微坐在堆满玉米地的卡车的后座上仿佛参透了人生，Daisy回归了那个原本就是属于她的家庭，哪怕这个家庭里充满了谎言和欺骗。她们两个都好像这首歌里一样问过两个男孩儿：“你会爱我一辈子吗？哪怕我以后不再美丽？” 当男孩儿们几经沉浮 最终都给出了 “Yes”的答案时，女孩儿却没机会听了。。。

你，是否也经历过这些呢？也是否经历过这样的爱情呢？

珍惜你身边的人吧，如果她是那个对的人，别放手，抓紧她。。。

也希望女孩儿们不要重复这首歌词里的情结：
“Dear lord, when I get to heaven plz let me bring my man.
When he comes tell me that you'll let him in...
That grace,that body, that face makes me wanna party.
He's my Sun, he makes me shine like diamonds..."

I said I will, but would you come back???

Xi'an, Last Stop of This Trip

After an amazing week in Tashkurgan, I went back to Kashgar. I did nothing, but walked around Kashgar. 10 days just passed, I felt it was almost the time to get back, since I had left home for more than 40 days.

Terracotta Worriers, 2 BC

I found if I chose went back by train, I would spend 3 more days on the train, which was not acceptable to someone missing home and parents.  Somehow I used the money I had and got an air ticket from Xinjiang to Xi'an. Same story happened again, I just fell in love with a new city, AGAIN. This time was Xi'an.

Xi'an is the capital city of Shan Xi province, one of the oldest cities in China. It had over 3,000 years history, used to be called Chang'an, and was the capital city of Qin Dynasty, Han, Tang and etc.


As for Qin Dynasty historic sites, you might visit Qin Shihuang tomb to see his Terracotta Worriers. For Han, you could go to Hanyang Tomb Museum. If you favors in Tang Dynasty, you must visit Giant Wild Goose Pagoda.

Giant Wild Goose Pagoda,7th AD

One thing that I like Xi'an most was its multicultural. Here, you could feel modern civilization and history at the same time. You could enjoy Terracotta Army, (210 BC) and post-modern skyscrapers at the same time.

Bell Tower, 14th AD

It's amazing, isn't it?

Random Pic, Modern Xi'an 

Intern in Tashkurgan

Travel Permit

You guys must be surprised after looked at the title. What?

Yeah, I got a job, an intern job working at K2 Youth Hostel. Amazing, right?

Since the day I arrived at Tashkurgan was October 1st, which was the national holiday of China. 1.3 billion Chinese would take a 7 days off. No more work, what they might do during this week? Travel! Every tourist attraction was crowded and there's no questions about it.

Then, I thought if I went back to Kashgar, there would be so crowded. I hated places crowded with people, which made me feel uncomfortable. I enjoy quite places so why not stay at this small county? This new hostel just need some volunteer to do some translation works for foreigner customers. Anyway, I got that job.

Basically, there were only two staff working here who were my boss-Jie Jiao, boss's college-roommate-Tuan Zhang and me. They were so nice, we got along quite well. Main part of my job was dealing with foreigner customers. Luckily, I can speak fluent English, which was not a big deal for me. Except finished the front desk work, I also needed to clean rooms sometimes. There was one time,Tajik wedding. I witnessed Tajik's eagle dance and fell in love with that sounds. I could remember the time my boss and I we rode bikes in the town; went to the border of China and Pakistan, and the last day Tuan Zhang didn't want me to leave.  Those memories I would never forget.

China & Pakistan's border

Border sign

Gold Grass Land, Tashkurgan

Ride bikes 

Last day in K2

You could imagine, that youth hostel was a start-up, without any experiences. Three young men full of passions wanted to get this done perfectly.  I have worked there for one week, which was one of my best times in my life. That feeling was so great.

Here's a short video, which I took during the Tajik Wedding. (Eagle Dance)

Kashgar to Tashkurgan County---G314

Night Scene of Kashgar

G314

Someone said that you never know what is gonna happen in next second. I have to admit it is true. Guess what happen？ The friends, who I hiked in Kanas with, they came to Kashgar as well. So we made a group again! Our next target was Tashkurgan!

Tashkurgan, located in eastern part of Pamir Plateau, is one of the Kashgar Prefectures. Most people in Tashkurgan are Tajik people and Uyghur people. Based on Wikipedia, there are two groups in Tajik people. One speaks a variety of Persian (Farsi) and the other one speaks Pamir Plateau dialect. Tashkurgan county is the largest settlement for Chinese Tajik people. Their symbol is eagle. If you comes to Tashkurgan, you will see the Eagle Statue in the center of this small county. They called themselves Eagle's descendants.

We decided to hire a local guide and drive us to Tashkurgan via G314. G314, is the highest paved international road which connects China and Pakistan. It runs about 1,300 kilometers, with an average elevation over 4000 meters. Due to its elevation, someone called this road "Eighth wonder of the world".

Sand Lake

Sand Lake

We were told that the scenery along G314 was fabulous. However, before we left, we were informed that people, who wants to enter Tashkurgan, even Chinese, need to get a border-permit. With that permit, they could be allowed to enter Tashkurgan county,  It seemed that we didn't have a choice. Three of us went to local police department to register and get this done. Luckily, just took a pic and finished some forms. We got that permits. But I mean still, as a Chinese, you cannot travel a normal place in your home-county  which was not reasonable, right?

I have to say that the scenery along G314 was amazing. Sand Lake, Karakul Lake, and Kara Kunlun Range, every piece of it was created by god.

Karakul Lake

Great Memory

We took a lot of pictures and had a rest at Karakul Lake, which has an altitude of 3,600 meters. We had to slow down a little bit in case of altitude sickness.

Unbelievable, Right?

Altitude goes up

Tashkurgan's Border Sign

We were in the K2 Youth Hostel

Finally, we arrived at a newly-open youth hostel in Tashkurgan, called K2 International Youth Hostel. That is  another hostel I highly recommend.

From Korla to Kashgar

Old train, Heading to Kashgar 

After spending a couple of days in Korla, I decided to go further, to Kashgar. This time I chose Railways.

Kashgar, Chinese name: 喀什噶尔, has been the most important city in Southern Xinjiang for hundreds of years. Even in 2000 years ago, because of the Silk Road, businessmen from every part of Central Asia gathered in Kashgar to exchange all kinds of staff.

Fabulous Uyghur Girl

Id Kah Mos

Because of Kashgar's Mosque, Id Kah Mosque, Kashgar becomes one of the most sacred cities to the Muslim across China and even central Asia. Id Kah Mosque is the largest and most influential mosque in China. Its worshipers come from China, Pakistan and even from central Asia.

Tao Lu

To live in Kashgar, I highly suggest you guys to live in Pamir Hostel, which is located just next to the Mosque. One of its owner-Tao Lu, had a lot of great experience that I do admire. Tao Lu got his bachelor degree in Shanghai and then got his master degree in Australia. He is a great Kashgar's local guide and youth hostel owner. Due to his abroad experience, talking with him in English was not a problem at all.

Uyghur Tili characters

When I arrived some places that I have never been to before, I would like to walk around to see the local and watch. Mandarin, China's official language, does not work here that well. Since over 80% population Uyghur, Uyghur Tili is more commonly used than Mandarin.

Uyghur Kids

One thing pissed me a lot was the policy of local government against Uyghur people. Some rules are so stupid and hilarious.  For instance, Uyghur girls cannot go to school with their veils, which seems the most stupid decisions that local government made.  I mean wearing veils is like Muslim's tradition. If you cannot agree with it, fine. You should leave it alone. Show some respects to their tradition. Do not touch those grey areas.  How come local government made such a stupid policy like this... I cannot believe it. 

At the fist sight, I fell in love with Kashgar and its people, which made me deciding to spent three weeks to enjoy unbelievable Kashgar.

Urumqi to Korla

Wind turbine

After short rest in Urumqi, it's time to explore the Southern Xinjiang. Xinjiang Locals always said that if you never went to southern Xinjiang, that means you never came to Xinjiang.  As long as you go south, you would meet more and more Uyghur people. Uyghur is a Turkic ethic group who lives in eastern and central Asia.80% of Uyghur people live in Xinjiang, China.  

Korla Sunset

My next stop was the entrance city to the southern Xinjiang--- Korla. Korla has the second largest population in Xinjiang, which is also the capital city of Bayin'gholin Mongol Autonomous Preference. If we talk about the geographical size, Bayin'gholin is even larger than the entire France. 

I took a travel bus from Urumqi to Korla, like Greyhound in the US. Although it was like 200 miles, I spent like more than 8 hours. Since it was a travel bus and most areas were mountain road, 8 hours seemed fair to me. 

I chose a youth hostel in Korla to settle down. The owner, Lao Li, that's what we called him. He is a really kind-hearted man. He can speak fluent Uyghur language, because he works for the government, which he has to deal a lot of business with local Uyghur people. Like he told us and who I seen, Uyghur people are fairly kind, not like others said. Before I left home, almost every relative warned me that: " kid, you should be care of Uyghur people, because they did all the bad staff." 

Well I have to say that most of my relatives they never came to Xinjiang before. What they warned me was just affected by the rumors and central media. You can see all the bad staff Uyghur people did on TV, yet you cannot really experience how great to meet, talk and communicate with them. 

Qi Gexing

Followed by Lao Li's suggestion, some backpackers in his hostel decided to go to Qi Gexing, which was a unopened historical site right now. Qi Gexing Village, because of the Silk Road became prosperous around 2nd century BC to 5 century AD. Local government was trying to rebuilt it and open to the public. Guess what we found there...

So, to those foreigners who wants to travel in China, my suggestions are "Do not just follow what guide book tells you, Go explore China by your heart. Meet the Local, especially the minority people. They are way better than your imagine before. I promise.

What inside those holes?

Qi Gexing historical site

    

Still can see amazing fresco, 4th AD

Way back to Urumqi

We sold our tent for food.

After finished that 4-day hiking in Kanas National Park, I decided to have a day rest in Kanas, and then went back to Urumqi  the capital city of Xinjiang. 

That Last day was a little bit funny, after 4 days hiking, we  run out of cash. We figured that we can get some cash as long as we arrived the Kanas Lake Area, which is the most prosperous village in the northern Xinjiang. 

Cute Kazakhs kid

However, we failed. After we paid our Last Day rent, we didn't have enough cash to pay the food and we were sick of those hard tack, so we sold our only tent to the owner of the family Inn, who is a kind Kazakhs. He agreed, accepted that tent and made three of us a great dinner and breakfast.

 Local Beer, it is so strong

After a one day rest, I just felt energetic, so I decided to went back by hitchhiking. From Burqin to Urumqi, it was like more than 400 miles. Since Burqin is a small county, I went to the entrance of the national roads, which connects the northern Xinjiang and Urumqi. 

wait for a lift, Burqin

back to Urumqi,Tian Shan Range

Luckily,  after a few unsuccessful tries,  an generous driver picked me up. He said he was a backpacker as well, every time he saw backpacker waving their hands on the side of the road, as long as he had some space, he would give them a ride. 

First time saw Populus euphratica.

He was so kind. His car was a Mitsubishi SUV, so we just spent like 5 hours from Burqin county back to Urumqi. Here, I am gonna show you some pics that I took during the way back.










Now, Time to say goodbye to Northern Xinjiang and Kind Kazakhs. Let's enjoy this beautiful Song from Kazakhs.

The Best of Xinjiang---Hiking in "Golden" Altay （4）

Day-4 Little Black Lake to Kanas Lake


Today, it was our last day of this hiking trail. We will finally arrived at the Kanas Lake, where is the Kanas National Park administration committee located. 















Since yesterday was all day up, as a result, today's route was downhill, elevation decreases from 3,500 meters (Black Lake) to 2,000 meters (Kanas Lake).


As the elevation went down, we could see spruces and birches again. Moss shifted to meadow. We cannot help with capturing this scenery with snow mountain, meadow surrounded by graceful clouds.

Carrying a huge backpack and down from 3,500 meters was not that easy. After almost 6-hour down walk, my knees got hurt badly.

Finally, we arrived at the Kanas Lake, which is famous for its lake monsters.  Years ago, people captured a video which showed that there were a giant creature moving underneath the water. Since then, the tale of Kanas monster became famous.

Due to recent tourist industry, the local children can have a chance to go to modern school and connect with outside world. 




The left pic was Kanas Elementary School. 

After 4 day hiking, without hot water, we cannot even take a shower. Right now, everyone need to take off their huge backpack and enjoy a hot shower.

The Best of Xinjiang---Hiking in "Golden" Altay （3）

They decided to hire dhorses, I didn't

Day 3 Hemu Village to Black Lake

It was our third day of hiking, which everyone felt tired. Yet, we had to face the most difficult part of this hiking, which starts from Hemu Village and ends at Black Lake. 

                             

Foggy Morning

       

Everyone said today would be the most challenging one, for the reason that today's hiking elevation is all the way up, from 2,000 meters to 3,500 meters above sea level. We can started from Hemu Village with a t-shirt; then we spent almost 8 hours finally arrived at Black Lake, we found out that we might need a coat. You can see this variety of elevation from different types of plants. 

Sunshine showed up finally

Golden Birches

My partner Lei Gao

as far as we went, high trees---moss

Kazakh and their cattle

The yurt that we are gonna to stay

Little Black Lake (Before)

That morning was heavily foggy, and many of travelers decided to hire horses and local guide to finish the rest. I still decided to use my feet to face this challenge.

That day, we were like meet all four seasons. It was spring in the morning, and summer come when the sun rose. As we arrived to the Black Lake, felt like autumn, since no more high plants, moss everywhere. Finally, as snow covered the lake and mountains, we met winter. 

That night, it was one of my greatest time of life. The Kazakhstan household of our yurt made some wine for us, and showed us how to play Dombra and sang Kazakh folk songs.

Little Black Lake (After)

With great wine and beautiful Kazakh songs, we are going to face the last day of this trip tomorrow.