The Bath House Video

Drew, Megan, Steph and I went to a bath house in town that has a number of different seaweed baths and hot baths and cold baths and oil massages and foot massages, etc. They're all sex-segregated, so Drew and I soaked in the men's baths and Megan and Steph in the women's. This is us afterwards in our house-issued pyjamas eating the free midnight buffet. We're talking about the best way to cool down a glass of hot water. They only served hot water and we were all still steamy and red from the baths and not in the mood for it, so Drew asked the waitress for some ice (it was a much more complicated process than it sounds, trust me).



Steph was visiting from Montreal. I have some pictures of her visit up on Flickr.

Walking home by the river

I just got back to my apartment on Jianshebei Street. It's 3:30 in the morning. I watched the movie Philadelphia at Drew and Megan's apartment on the 17th floor and then walked home alone along the river, which was very still and very dark. The picture on the right shows a portion of the river at night, but all those lights go off at around one o'clock, and the riverside road becomes dark and very peaceful. I sang some some hyms and camp songs and some kid's songs and then just walked in silence. It's a cold winter in Chengdu, the coldest in 10 years, one friend told me. Tonight, however, was a good night for walking. The air was dry and so it didn't seem to cut through like usual, and the occasional quiet water sounds from the dark river made it feel like spring. That portion of the river is bordered by overhanging willows which keep their leaves all winter, and they make it feel very cozy and very tranquil.

Consular services/Not going to Vietnam?

Sad news, sad news, come to where I sleep, turn, turn, turn again...
Vietnam may be a no-go. The Canadian Consulate in ChongQing were very responsive and sympathetic, but unfortunately they didn't have any good news for me.
=====
Mr. Vaughan,

Since January 2006, all Canadian passports are printed in Canada, and the processing time is 15 working days. Therefore, you may get your passport in 4 weeks including posting time.

Once the new passport has been issued, the old passport will be returned to you with one corner cut. The visa on the old passport will remain valid. You must use both passports together until the visa expires.

Regards,
Canadian Consulate in Chongqing
Suite 1705, Metropolitan Tower
Wu Yi Rd, Yu Zhong District 400010
Chongqing, China
86-23-6373-8007
=====
For more on Canadian passport renewal in China: http://geo.international.gc.ca/asia/china/consular/beijing/passport-services-en.asp

My passport's out of pages

Spring Festival (春节) is almost here in China, and I plan on travelling back to Vietnam (where they call it Tet, instead of 春节). Problem though: my passport is out of pages, and I don't have much time left. Here's the e-mail I just wrote to the nearest Canadian consulate, in Chongqing (重庆). I'll let you know how it turns out (or if you're travelling too, and looking for advice, just e-mail me).
=====
Hello.
My name's Matthew Vaughan, I'm a Canadian citizen, 27, living
temporarily in China (Chengdu) on a 1-year Z visa.
I plan on travelling abroad during Spring Festival, but have just
realized that I have only one remaining blank page in my passport, and
that won't be enough for the required exit-entry stamps.

I know you can't add pages to a passport anymore, so I'd like to know
what the quickest option is for renewing my passport. I can travel to
ChongQing in person in these next few days if necessary. Also, my visa
was just renewed by the PSB this week. If I renew my passport, can the
Chinese visa be switched over, or will it be invalidated along with my
current passport?

Thanks in advance for your advice,

Matthew Vaughan
Chengdu, Sichuan, China
=====

Birthday dinner

It was my birthday a couple of days ago, and Mark, Megan and Judy took me out for dinner along with our kung fu tutor, Sherry. Although... perhaps I should back up a little here to get you situated.

1. I've been taking beginner kung fu lessons along with Megan, Mark, Drew and Judy.
2. Megan, Mark, Drew and Judy are friends. All English-speaking foreigners (Mark and Judy of Chinese descent). All lovely people.
3. All but Drew appear in my recent video of my Christmas eve dinner party. Drew was over in Chong Qing playing a show with local rockers Proximity Butterfly.

There, now you're caught up. So they took me out to a sumptuous dinner at a place called "Vegetarian Lifestyle" (just the way I like my lifestyles) and gave me a number of sweet gifts, not least of which was an electric blanket! These past two nights have been CO-ZY. Cozy. Electric blankets are the cat's pyjamas (and ironically, allow me to finally ease up on the layers of pyjamas I've been donning every night). Sherry gave me a fan from her hometown in Henan province which I have yet to decipher but which depicts an apparently well-known scene in Chinese history. Afterwards we went roller skating. Roller skating! That was also the cat's pyjamas, pretty much. Sadly, no pictures. But oh, the memories (all alone in the moonlight).
Good night all you sports fans. It's electric blanket time again for me.

Pan Bo and me at Luo Dai on a Sunday

Here's a video uploaded to Facebook over a week ago. It's easier to upload to Facebook, so sadly I tend to get lazy about blogging here when it's already up on there. Anyway, it's a video of Pan Bo (see previous post) and me out at a town called Luo Dai. It was the fortuitous conjunction of payday followed by a day off for him, so he took me and his new girlfriend out there for the day. Hilarity ensued.
Chinese name: 潘波
Location: 四川，洛带

Pan Bo is gone

Pan Bo is gone. I just found out tonight. He's my friend, Yi minority, and works at the hot pot restaurant in front of my apartment block. Four days ago he called me while I was out, and asked me when I was coming home. He tried to say more stuff which I didn't understand because reception was bad and my Chinese is even worse. Anyway, in the end I had to hang up on him, vaguely annoyed because I really wasn't catching a thing and it seemed like he was just being nosy. The next evening he called again, and I was just like, "Chill out, man, I'm going to see you tonight when I get home anyway." And he told me "No, I'm going home, so I want to wait for you." I see him every day, or almost, because he works out front of the restaurant, so it's almost impossible for me to leave my home without seeing him. "So go home, I told him, I'll just see you tomorrow!" He protested for a minute, but again, I wasn't understanding a thing and finally I just hung up. I assumed he meant going home for the night, to sleep. But no. He meant he was going for good, back to his hometown in the countryside surrounding XiChang, the capital of the Yi Autonomous prefecture. So he's gone. I don't know why, he's turned off his phone and his (now ex-) girlfriend says he's not coming back.
Anyway, if I do see him again, I know what I'm going to say to him. "Cho bo, nga ni mo guo he ma ka ji ka"*. That's all I remember how to say in Yi language, although I'll probably add in Chinese that I'm sorry for ignoring him when he just wanted to see me once more before he left. Sadly, that's what I get for having poor comprehension skills.
The picture above is from the summer, when we would spend hot evenings sitting outside the restaurant talking bad Chinese together. I'd bring my guitar out and we'd take turns playing. He'd sing in Yi and I'd sing in French and we'd both laugh and say 听不懂 a lot. Now it's the winter, I'm cold, and I miss him.

*"Friend, it's good to see you."

Christmas Eve Dinner 2007 in Chengdu

Dinner was lovely on Christmas eve in my apartment with some friends. And stockings and hot chocolate and Christmas specials. And vegetarian chicken. Douglas is surprised at the low price I paid for the space heater you see working there in the corner (only on special occasions, of course). That's what he's talking about there at the end.

Hey also, let me know if you can't view the video and I'll try to fix it up.