09Mar Wed - Today the bus dropped us off at Antu and we spent the day there. Every day just living life as a normal, regular Chinese citizen is a fun filled adventure especially since I cannot speak the language.
Arriving Changchun for Change of Transport
When we arrived in Changchun from Beijing, we did not have a train ticket for the second leg of the trip from Changchun to Antu.
We did not know that the Express Railway Station sold the train tickets for the express trains and the local trains. We needed a local train to Antu so we selected a Taxi to take us to train station or bus. He told us there were no local trains at that time but there was a sleeper bus bound for Yanji that would stop to drop us off at Antu. We drove around in a big circle back to Express Train Station to check on the trains to verify the Taxi driver was correct. He was correct; there were no trains so we had to opt for the sleeper bus.
The Sleeper Bus
The Sleeper Bus a new, different experience. A sleeper bus in Changchun, China is a large over the road bus similar on the outside to an over the road bus in the US. However, the inside is much different. The seats had been removed and replaced with three rows of bunk beds side by side. The bunk beds are two high with 6 – 7 sets in each row to sleep around 40 people. Anyone 5’10” tall or shorter would probably be comfortable sleeping in these beds. However, at 6 feet tall my feet hung out over the sides but I could sleep some if I bent my knees. My butt was against the railing of the bed onside and my knees were against the railing on the other side. There was no toilet on the bus so we had to hold for the 4 hour 200 mile trip.
Antu was not a schedule stop so we had to wake up about 1AM and stay awake so the driver would not forget and miss our stop.
Bus Stop on Highway – Pissing on the Road
At 2:00 AM on Wednesday morning, the bus stopped on the shoulder of a super highway that is like the Interstate highways in the States. This 4-lane highway with a wide median strip in the middle had guard rails along all the bridges and overpasses. There was also a barbed wire fence along the perimeter to keep animals, people, and other vehicles off the highway. The bus stopped for us on the shoulder of the highway along the guard rail.
I had no idea that the bus would simply dump us on the side of the road with our luggage. The second hurdle in the dark was to climb over the guard rail. But first, we had to find a toilet. Of course, these were none – no people, no street lights, no gas station, no restaurant, and no other cars. So we just pissed on the side of the road in the dark high above the street below.
After climbing over the guard rail, we had to slowly walk down a very steep concrete stairway, one step at a time. Any misstep would have been disastrous. Fortunately, I had checked my suitcase and left it at the hotel in Beijing. I was carrying only my backpack. I stepped one foot and then the second foot on each step as I climbed down the 50 or so steps. The last thing I wanted in the middle of nowhere in Northern China was an injury, broken leg, or worse. Finally, we make it to the bottom and encountered the next barrier – a barbwire fence that we could not see in the dark. We almost walked right into it. We separated the wires and crawled though after our luggage. We are freezing our butts off, outside in below freezing temperature (about -4 degrees Celsius or 24 Fahrenheit) with ice and snow on the ground and no lights - none.
Once we are down at the bottom, I remembered I had a small flashlight in my backpack that I carry all the time. There are no street lights on the bases in Afghanistan so I need this miniature flashlight. On the deserted spot in China, all I could see was a dirt road in front of us, the highway bridge and the highway structure way above us, and the lights of Antu far in the distance. I was not looking forward to a several-mile hike in the cold with our luggage.
Then we saw it – automobile headlights coming toward us. The bus driver had called a taxi for us. We were glad for the Taxi to take us back to the apartment. I chose to leave the modern comfort of the hotel in Beijing for another subway, train, bus, taxi adventure back to Antu. I am not traveling as a “rich” American but maybe I am being a “crazy” American.
Day in Antu
After a short nap, I awoke about 7AM to prepare for the day. I tried to use the Internet Bar but I had to have a Chinese ID and my passport was not enough. In Beijing at the hotel, I could use my passport. In every other country – India, Malaysia, Dubai, Bahrain, and the US no ID or sign-in is required. Just pay the money and use the internet service. I wondered why the Chinese government would require registration and an ID at the Internet Bars – to keep track of who is using the Internet and what they are doing I suppose.
Then I walked over to the Market. I wanted to buy a few tea bags but could not communicate adequately with the Tea shop owner. Most all the tea he sells is sold in bulk, not in tea bags. Finally I saw a box of tea bags on the shelf with 200 in the box, many more than I wanted so I left flustered that I could not buy a few tea bags. Later I found out that the box of 200 tea bags sold for only $1.50 so I went back later in the day to the store to purchase the box of 200.
In the back of the large indoor market several tables are set up for eating. Behind each table, a cook is preparing a different meal. Each cook is an independent vendor. There was one with beef vegetable soup and rice that looked good so I sat down and was given 3 bowls – one with soup, one with plain rice, and one with a pickled, spicy vegetable like noodle which is very common at all Chinese meals. I did not ever find out if this dish was vegetable, animal, or mineral. Breakfast cost 10 Yuan or about $1.50 USD.
This was the first time I was walking around on my own.
We took food to the mother’s farm house for lunch. After lunch we fixed a long outdoor extension cord that provided light to the plastic covered onion garden in the back yard of the house. The extension must have been 40 – 50 years old. It was cracked and brittle with a light bulb socket at one end and a plug at the other end. The wiring to the light socket was frayed and broken. The wiring to the plug was cracked. The cord needed rewiring at the ends and tapped in places where the outside insulation was cracked or open. No doubt, in America after 4 decades this extension cord would have been replaced at least once. The onion garden was heated with the same method as the house. A small wood fire was started at one end of a long concrete tunnel. Heat from the wood fire heated the concrete that radiated heat throughout the plastic covered onion garden. At night, long blankets were unrolled from the top of the plastic covering to cover the roof. This garden is labor intensive but very low energy usage just like this house and other the houses in the neighborhood.
The neighborhood consists of long brick and concrete structures with tile roofs divided into 5 – 8 zero lot line homes that share common walls. Each home has a yard in the front and back. None have indoor toilets. All are heated with wood and collect water in a large barrel that flows in to the house once a day. The houses are very old but even the newer farm houses are built in the same way. The farmers then travel to the fields on foot or bicycle to work each day.
A large percentage of the population is still engaged in farming. Little automation and large farm equipment is used. Many farmers still use ox or mule pulled farming implements. As a comparison to the United States, at the turn of the 20th Century about 70% of the US population lived on and/or worked in the Farming Industry. By 1990 only 3% of the population was engaged in Farming. Automation and large farming machinery allowed for a much smaller segment of the population to work in the farming while producing more food than in the past.
The Industrial Revolution, World War 2 and sustained long term revenue growth for more than 50 years has created jobs for all the farmers and all the women who previously did not work outside the home. China would like to move more people from the rural areas move to the cities but the jobs in the cities need to be available for the farmers and their families.
Global Warming, Environment, Reduced Energy Use
It does not matter if global warming is manmade or not; or even if it exists or not. The human population is running out of the natural and limited resources that we use for energy. The use of energy is growing all over the planet especially in emerging countries in Asia, Africa, and South America. The economies of China and India are growing at double or triple the rate of the United States. As more and more people in these counties gain larger and larger incomes they adopt an American lifestyle and use more and more energy. There is much evidence of the Western Influence and trends toward Western life styles in China and India. A western lifestyle of comfort, convenience, and space come with a cost of greater energy usage per person.
There are many Americans who are very passionate about global warming and the environment. However, do they really want to give up the American live style and adopt the living conditions of Djibouti Africa, India or China? Most of the population of the world lives with no indoor plumbing (no running water or no indoor toilets), limited electricity use, and no cars. Or do these same Americans want India, China, Africa, and South American to have the same or similar life style of Americans?
We have enough land mass to support a much larger population on the planet. I have seen large sections of open land in India, China, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Certainly we have large unfarmed land areas in the US and much less dense population than India or China. India has about 1/3 the land mass of the United States with nearly 3 times the population. China has about the same land mass as the US as but with more than 3 times the population.
I think we have enough water and food. The desert sections of the Middle East are turning Ocean salt water into fresh drinking water. New technology is being developed and implemented to help provide water to everyone. I also think we have enough food. There is unfarmed land mass throughout the world. However, is sufficient water and food provided in the areas where is it needed? Transporting large amounts of water to remote desert areas is difficult.
What about trash> The amount of waste from humans living a wealthier life style is enormous. Americans in general have not begun to recycle and reuse or limit energy use like the billions of people of rural China and rural India. These people do not have central heating and air conditioning systems, limit electricity use, and do not have automobiles. The Chinese eat everything from every animal they raise. On the farm they compost the waste from the kitchen, keep and sell any plastic or metal they use, and reuse any waste water in the garden. There is no sewer system that takes away the waste water from sink, shower, or toilet.
In contract, Americans buy a second car as a hybrid which costs more to produce than a gasoline car; then tout their perception that we are doing our part to help the environment. But we keep the indoor plumbing, keep the lights and TV on, use central air conditioning systems, do not give up our sewer systems, and want all of our roads wide and paved. Americans have not begun to limit energy use or recycle that is a required to live life for most people of the world. As China, India, and South American continue to improve their standard of living and life style they will continue to increase their use of energy and generate more waste and trash for disposal. Everyone who knows about it, wants the American life style. Those who produce and invest in the technology that makes this possible will become wealthy in the future years.
Dependent on Foreign Oil
As long as America is dependent on oil from the Middle East, America will have a military presence in Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Dubai, and Bahrain to protect American interests, American investments, and oil. The US government just announced that America will continue with the same level of military personnel in Afghanistan until 2014. I my opinion, this date will be extended indefinitely. The US Army recently awarded in 2011 a five year contract (through 2015) for base services in Kuwait. America will be in these countries for a long time - most likely as long as we have been in Germany, Japan, and Korea – more than 60 years.
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