China
Part 2, from April, 28th 2008 until August 19th 2008

Extraordinary sized
Then, suddenly all hell breaks loose:
'Aaahh, no, no!! Oh, noo!!! I throw myself onto the bed and start screaming.
'What? What??' Peter shouts at me, wanting to know what has happened.
'Oh no, it can't be! I didn't want this!!'
'You didn't.... READ ON >>

China works
Each piece of land is cultivated, people plant rice by hand, water buffalos plough newly built terraces, no-one in China sits still, everyone is working. China is a true labour paradise.
China works..... READ ON>>

Be careful of landslides
He just caught the animal and his wife has already put the pan on the fire. We decline his offer to buy the crying rat.... READ ON>>

Just an ordinary working week
A number of men scoop the dry shit in bags and load the smelly business on lorries. They see us cycling past and look up for a moment; Peter pulls a face at them and holds his nose. They have to laugh, do.... READ ON>>

City or rural life?
Elderly monks and surfing Buddha’s riding all kinds of animals, a monk pulling the skin off his face to reveal another face, another monk reaches the roof beam with his three-metre.... READ ON>>

Power to the women!
Men lived with their parents. When a man was coveted by a woman, he could spend the night with her if she wanted. The next morning he had to go home though to perform his duties, in love or not. Children.... READ ON>>

Difficult choices (part 1)
To the right is a beautiful asphalt road; to the left a bumpy cobblestone road. Both roads go down, but the smooth asphalt is far more attractive, most certainly in a descent. We whiz into the right valley, until the doubt.... READ ON>>

Difficult choices (part 2)
'I'm not going any further,' he tells me.
'But you asked twice?'
'Yes, and they keep on saying that we're going in the right direction, but I don't believe it. They just say something, those Chinese.'
'No, why would they do that?'
'I don't know. To send us in the wrong direction. To get rid of us. We are not going in the right direction, I'm almost sure.'
'Okay, so what now?'
A difficult question. A difficult choice: to go on and maybe go wrong.... READ ON>>

Free food in paradise
Paradise must look something like this. We're at an altitude of over 3,300 metres and it's nice and cool during the day; at night it even gets cold and do we don our sweaters. Passing shops selling yak tails, leather belts, silver jewelry, fur hats, Tibetan knives and.... READ ON>>

To and fro
Last night Peter dreamed that we crossed a small river successfully; to arrive at a large swirling mass of water we absolutely couldn't conquer. Are these omens for the day to come?.... READ ON>>

The mighty man
The women put their shoulders to the wheel, get bucket loads of water carrying a child on their backs, sweep the courts around the houses, till the land, wash the entire family’s clothes by hand, whilst the men wait under a tree until.... READ ON>>

Ooh, immortality!
Rivers and oceans are formed out of mercury; the ceiling is a starry sky with pearls for stars. The tomb consists of multiple palaces and pavilions, filled with rare precious gemstones and other exquisite things. Crossbows are supposed to be placed in strategic places, ready
to be fired.... READ ON>>

True love
He looks very friendly at Peter and points to the right.
'Xiexie', Peter says and walks back to his bicycle.
'Welcome. I love you!'
Peter can't believe his ears.... READ ON>>

Sometimes you're in luck, sometimes not
'Still no news', he reports, 'the PSB opens in half an hour. Come back then.'
By now our nerves are playing havoc. A bit of tension is nice, not for nothing did we give up our safe way of living in the Netherlands, six years ago. But we never expected.... READ ON>>

The glorious Chinese control
'Passports', he suddenly orders.
'I don't think so,' I say in ordinary Dutch.
'I am not handing my passport to any stranger.'
The man looks at us incomprehensibly, and we start licking our ice creams again.
'Who are you?' Peter asks him.... READ ON>>

The sabotage-worm
It turns out we're talking to a first class dickhead.
English speaking colleague Yang joins the party, who at our request phones the Changping police. The worm takes a seat at a window table, still ignoring us while smoking cigarette number seventeen.
The police arrives, three uniformed men strong. Do we look that dangerous?.... READ ON>>


The invention of the Wall
The world, that's China!
The Chinese are, just like the Indians, very proud of their country, culture and history. Everything has been made, invented or improved in China. Others always copied them. It is quite special that this is actually sort of.... READ ON>>