My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun –
In Corners – till a Day
The Owner passed – identified –
And carried Me away –
And now We roam in Sovereign Woods –
And now We hunt the Doe –
And every time I speak for Him –
The Mountains straight reply –
Emily Dickinson
"If the literature we are reading does not wake us, why
then do we read it? A literary work must be an ice axe to break the sea frozen
inside us." - Franz Kafka
“Leading critics do not exaggerate by much when they claim
that Rip Van Winkle "presides over the birth of the American
imagination" (Leslie Fiedler) as the "guardian angel" and
"symbol of the mythic American" (Lewis Leary).”
Robert Ferguson
Jesus. What the hell has happened? There is a head scarfed
girl from Palestine listening to Gangsta Rap on Spotify. MySpace makes Facebook
look like silent film. From Korea, PSY's "Gangnam Style" is viral on
you tube (289,618,860 views). Comments about the documentary film “will work
with words” appear on Forbes.com. Pinterest images flash by so quickly that a
lifetime of traveling and views of a typical Victorian or 20th century
man like me has been surpassed in a day or an hour. Glassdoor has 40,000
contacts. LinkedIn requests are stacked. Quora.com answers every question every
thought of. Quickly. By Experts. For free. Tweets appear every half second. 3,887
messages on Gmail. My posts on RenRen are in English but I can't read the Chinese replies. And people are following me. Everywhere it seems. And this
is good. Goodreads people want to know my books. Audible.com wants to know what
I have bought and read. Kindle keeps advertising 5-10 free books a day. God, I
still need to set up something called Delicious. And And. And.
Until two months ago I had been dead asleep. I worked away
in my job answering emails and occasionally surfing great sites (Arts and
Letters Daily and 3 Quarks Daily), and that was about it. I was simply not
connected. In two months I have joined many things I had never heard of and
learned more than I did in some whole years of my previous life. But like Rip, I
am clueless. I missed the instruction manual on how many times I should
tweet or post to Facebook, or respond to requests. Every hour, it seems, a politician
writes to me by my first name and asks me to help. I get invited to events by
him too. How nice of him to pick me.
The point I am trying to make is that I have only very
recently woken up to the reality that most people under a certain age (not sure
what it is) live by. It is the fishbowl they swim in. They know nothing else
except this barrage. And I am overwhelmed. I don’t know how to choose, to select,
to edit, to delete. But I do know this. These social media phenomena should
fall under what a scientist, Thomas Kuhn, in a much different context, called a
paradigm shift. By this he meant that the ways of doing things, in his case science,
has to be replaced given the new order of accepted theories and discoveries.
The learning curve for me is steep. But it is also exciting and incredibly fun.
I cannot imagine a time in history when so many conversations, literal and
metaphorical, are going on by the billions every day. It is unlike anything in
the history of the human race. I am glad I finally woke up even if I can’t keep
up.
But there are still lots of others that are sleeping. And I
wonder if it is time to try to wake them up. The ones I am talking about in
this case are colleges and universities. While free on-line courses are finally becoming
common on the part of the top universities, their gatekeepers to the places
once regarded repositories of all knowledge are asleep. While this revolution
has taken over the people, the college admission offices pretend that the world
has not changed much since the 1950’s when the holistic evaluation of applications
was introduced (and not for good reason, see The Chosen for that dark secret).
In fact, I have an application form at home from 1910. It was going to be
thrown away at my university for lack of space and I have kept it. It pretty
much asks questions similar to what colleges ask now and while there were no
SAT or other standardized measures the process of selection has pretty much
remained the same.
My question is why? Students are communicating in ways that
application forms cannot possibly accommodate. And if colleges and universities are supposed
to be providing skills to be successful in the world then in this one respect
they are earning an F. Why? Students are not encouraged to use the new media in
virtually any form as a part of the application process. And to me, at least,
this represents a knowledge gap. Rip needs to be prodded a bit I think.
The example I will give is one you are currently reading:
the blog. Blogs are among the most interesting ways in which plugged in people communicate
these days. And this includes students. What follows is a link to one student’s
blog.
Mallory is an exceptional writer who has had many global
experiences and this shows up in her blog. If I were an employer I would use
this blog as a huge factor in my choice to hire her. So too for graduate school.
But if she were a prospective undergraduate who had written this there is no
chance for her amazing voice to be head. The Common Application and the
individual applications for highly selective schools do not encourage or give a
space to fill in a student's Url the way LinkedIn and so many other sites that
are networking for jobs do. I think it is a shame that voices like Mallory’s communicate
across the world but cannot make it through the thickly covered Ivy walls. They
are thick, and old and nearly impenetrable. But the guards are asleep. And
maybe it is a time to invade. But that would take a movement. Maybe that will
happen soon. But someone has to start it. And maybe that someone is reading
this now. I hope so.
******************************************************************************
http://mallorycombemale.wordpress.com/
Shanghai is a city of contrasts. Old and new, rich and poor. The
commuters with their iPhone headphones glued in, ignoring the shrivelled
legs of the polio-scarred beggar, as he drags himself across the metro
floor shaking his cup of change. It is the most expensive place to live
in China, which still means some…
[Read more…]
Having staying in Shanghai last summer, I have already hit most of
the major tourist attractions: the Shanghai Museum, the Bund and its
epic skyline rising up from the banks of the Huangpi River, the
Propaganda Arts Centre (a dinky display of Communist-era posters in the
basement of someone’s apartment building: probably one of the…
[Read more…]
Shanghai nightlife is certainly an experience. A lot of the clubs
and bars here serve as an outlet for successful people (both expats and
Chinese) to show off their wealth, their generosity and their
achievement of the ‘hai’ life. The vibe is reckless consumption and
unrivalled excess, in a roaring twenties kind of way. Clubs…
[Read more…]
The proliferation of fruit. There is an open front shop selling
fresh fruit on almost every block. You can buy a papaya for about 30p or
50 cents (!) I’ve been breakfasting like the king of a tropical island.
The metro system. Convenient, cheap, clean and air-conditioned (Tube,
take note). There is nothing more…
[Read more…]
After 6 weeks of travelling and a total of 14 flights, 3 overnight
trains and too many bus journeys to count, it was a strange and
bittersweet feeling to finally unpack my trusty blue rucksack. Sitting
in the corner of my room it looks deflated and unloved with all its
contents neatly folded out of…
[Read more…]
I just realised it has been over a week since I last sat down to
write a blog post. That’s what seems happen when you get caught up in
this crazy Shanghai life. There is just so much energy in this city. I
feel like everyone I meet is an entrepreneur, is working for a…
[Read more…]
There is something special about returning to a place where the bus
ride from the airport takes you down familiar streets, where you know
your way around the metro system, how much a taxi ride should cost and
where the best cafes with free wifi are. After six weeks of perpetual
newness it is strange…
[Read more…]
Going to UVA I am spoiled by routinely spending time at a UNESCO
World Heritage Site. Nevertheless, kayaking around one was a completely
surreal experience. Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO natural heritage site and
considered one of the seven wonders of the natural world. For three days
and two nights we cruised and kayaked…
[Read more…]
I spent the whole day today biking through the forested hills,
stepped rice paddies and tiny villages that surround Sa Pa. We passed
through the homes of black Hmong people as well as other ethnic
minorities. This was definitely a much more intense mountain biking
experience than on the traffic filled roads around Yangshou; the…
[Read more…]
Imagine the bumpiest train ride of your life. Then times the
magnitude of those bumps by at least a factor of ten and add in loud
metal screeching sounds every few seconds. That pretty much sums up my
experience of the overnight train from Hanoi north to Lao Cai. After
such a restful night, we…
[Read more…]
Today I spent the day walking around Hanoi and hitting most of the
main tourist sites. I saw A LOT in a short time so I’m going to try hit
the highlights fast and hard: Ho Hoan Kiem or ‘Lake of the Restored
Sword’ – the centre of old Hanoi and home to Vietnam’s version…
[Read more…]
I arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam today after successfully navigating
some minor flight delays and travel document panics that almost threw a
several spanners in the works. We touched down right before an epic
thunderstorm, huge rain drops were lashing down on our taxi ride to the
world’s most humid hostel. Already I can tell I…
[Read more…]
Today was a day of many firsts: my first attempt at surfing (epic
fail, if you had not already guessed, I did not manage to properly stand
up once) as well as my first real Thai massage. Needless to say my body
was aching by the end of the day. But after three days of…
[Read more…]
The greatest discovery of the trip was a fantastic hole-in-the wall
restaurant that was so good we lunched there two days running. It did
not even have a name or a menu, but it had a reputation for serving up
the best pad thai in Phuket, but I might venture to say the world. The…
[Read more…]
Most exciting thing about Thailand: the easy access to fresh
coconuts. Fresh coconuts are one of life’s greatest pleasures. They are
delicious and nutritious; there is nothing more refreshing after a day
in the hot sun than a cool sip of coconut water. I averaged two a day
while we were here. We are staying…
[Read more…]
One layover, Three hours of delays and three disgusting airplane
meals later, we arrived back in Beijing bringing our adventures in Tibet
to a close. Before heading South to Thailand, we had one more day to
spend in Beijing, China’s grand imperial capital. I spent all afternoon
wandering the hallowed halls of the Chinese National…
[Read more…]
Today I spent the morning wandering around the Bakhor Square, which
is the old part of Lhasa right by the Jokang Temple and famous for its
markets. Streets thronged with market stalls that were filled with all
sorts of jewellery, yak products and of course fake branded goods, like
‘Nikk’ shoes. There were very few…
[Read more…]
I felt I could not keep writing about my experiences in Tibet
without at least a brief comment on the political situation, especially
given the recent tightening of security by the Chinese government. The
word ‘Tibet’ has come to be extremely politically charged in the West
and it is a subject I feel is often…
[Read more…]
The Jokang Temple is the most sacred temple in Tibet, the Mecca of
Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhists from all denominations should
undertake a pilgrimage here at least once in their lifetime. At the gate
of the temple there were crowds of pilgrims doing prostrations.
According to Tibetan folklore, the Princess Wenchang (the Chinese bride
of…
[Read more…]
The air at this altitude is noticeably thinner. Today we went up to
the highest point we will reach in the trip, 17000ft at the Ganden
monastery of the Yellow Hat order of Buddhism. Apparently there is only
68% of the oxygen there is at sea level, a statistic that did not
surprise me after…
[Read more…]
Sorry for the hiatus on posts, being in rural Tibet without
internet access makes blogging difficult. I have now returned to
semi-civilisation so going to try and catch you all up fast: Everything
in Tibet is quite spread out and though transportation infrastructure
has improved a lot in recent years, many roads are still basic…
[Read more…]
In the last few days the Chinese government has been cracking down
on security in Tibet and in fact they have closed the borders to
foreigners. So it was a minor miracle when we were cleared and touched
down in Linzhi, Tibet this morning. It is 10000ft above sea level (point
of comparison, Denver Colorado…
[Read more…]
Everything in Chengdu is covered in pandas. Even the taxis and
gates of our hotel have giant pandas stamped on them. It is a point of
local pride that the most famous giant panda reserve is located just a
few minutes’ drive out of the city. We spent the morning wandering
around the large panda…
[Read more…]
Today we departed Guilin early in the morning to fly to Chengdu,
the capital of Sichuan. The city is vast, with a population of 40million
but is noticeably less polluted and much cleaner than Beijing. I am a
huge fan of this place already; there is something about the atmosphere
on the streets that is…
[Read more…]
Today we rented bicycles and cycled around the Yangshuo area taking
in the breathtaking views. The streets were bustling with motorbikes
that demonstrate a complete lack of awareness of normal traffic laws;
this was probably the closest I’ve been to a tragic travel induced death
all trip. However, once we got off the main roads,…
[Read more…]
Duck shaped dumplings. This restaurant we went to in Xian also had frog, swan and turtle shaped dumplings. Tasty AND cute!
‘The Lijiang River travels 83 kiilometers exactly like a jade
ribbon winding amoug thousands of grotesque peaks’. Or so my
complementary leaflet announced on the four hour cruise down the Lijiang
River from Guilin to Yangshou today. After four hours of the most
photogenic scenery I have ever experienced (it was hard to restrain
myself…
[Read more…]
I could see myself living in Xian. Like Beijing, it is jam-packed
with historic sites that showcase majestic glory of imperial China, but
without the crippling pollution, traffic and size of the northern modern
capital. The atmosphere here is different in a way that is hard to put
into words: friendly, approachable and more down…
[Read more…]
Guilin is beautiful. There is simply no other way to describe the
town. There is an old saying in Chinese that translates to something
like, ‘Guilin’s scenery is the most beautiful under heaven’. Everywhere
looks like a classical Chinese painting: fresh water pools languidly
rest between tall tree-covered rock formations while tendrils of mist
rest…
[Read more…]
We departed Alansha and returned to Ningxia autonomous region to
visit the 108 Dagobas, a Buddhist monument. No one was quite sure what a
Dagoba was or what to expect. It turned out to be a hillside on the
bank of the Yellow River was covered in 108 Dagobas (little stone
towers) that led up…
[Read more…]
This morning we left Beijing and flew to Yinchuan in the Ningxia
autonomous region in the Northeast of China, then took a bus to the
Inner Mongolia autonomous region, stopping briefly at the Xixia Tombs on
the way. The region is home to a large portion of China’s Muslim
population and has a very distinct…
[Read more…]
Today was a free day, so I took the opportunity to visit the 798
Art District. Built on the site of an old electronics factory, this area
is a hub of Chinese contemporary art. I wandered for hours through the
lanes, stopping in galleries and cafes (often these were combined) as
well as browsing the…
[Read more…]
Sighted in the Houhai area. The Chinese do seem to invent everything first.
We went to the JinShanling section of the wall, which is about a
two hour drive outside the city and much less frequented by tourists
than other sections. It is also the only place where you can camp on the
wall, though there were several signs announcing that ‘flaming is
prohibited’. It was the most…
[Read more…]
Wednesday was jam-packed. The morning started with an informal
question answer session with students from the Foreign Affairs
University where we are staying. We covered everything from traditional
Chinese medicine, to basketball and dating culture to guanxi and Chinese
government reform; it was really cool to hear first-hand the opinions
of the post-1989 generation, which…
[Read more…]
Monday morning we set off for an epic walk around the central
part of Beijing. We started in Tiananmen square, the seat of the Chinese
government, Communist Party and the famous 1989 pro-democracy protests.
We walked the length of the unforgettable Forbidden City, home of the
emperor’s court in imperial times, and through to…
[Read more…]
The day began with a taste of Beijing street food for breakfast. A
salty sesame bun, whose crisp flaky pastry melted in the mouth. We then
took a stroll around the local area surrounding the China Forieng
Affairs University and came across what I can only describe as an
emporium. A magnificent irrational emporium stocking…
[Read more…]
In my nineteen years I have had my fair share of *exciting* travel
experiences. From missing connecting flights to five day snow delays to
being held unexpectedly for a week in quarantine, a lot of the things
that can possibly go wrong with air travel have happened to me. But I am
delighted to announce…
[Read more…]
Currently trying to sort out flights, accommodation, not
contracting debilitating diseases etc etc. Am already wildly excited by
the thought of being reunited with my trusty camping rucksack. We go way
back; it has already accompanied me on many the epic escapade and I
know it will be the perfect travel buddy and loyal guardian of my life…
[Read more…]
Welcome to Eastern Escapades. This blog is simultaneously
an electronic travel journal, my vanity project and a form of mass
communication that will hopefully serve to reassure various members of
my family that I am alive and well. Be prepared for 9 weeks of
action, excitement and adventure as I make my way around China, Tibet,
Thailand and Vietnam.…
[Read more…]
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