NPR: How Interesting?

So I was listening to NPR today on my way home after a long day at work and a story came on about a traffic jam.  It was no ordinary traffic jam.  Traffic was at a standstill for more than 60 miles at one point.  The reporter interviewed a truck driver who said at that he had actually been on the road twice this week and that at one point he was stuck for 3 days; yes, 3 days.  So where is this place and what's causing all the traffic?  The location is a few hours north of Beijing, China towards Inner Mongolia.  Inner Mongolia has become the coal capital of China and as far as the eye can see its a ton of coal trucks hauling coal to the insatiable Chinese thirst for energy.  This three lane way, currently under construction to improve road conditions, is worsening the traffic. By the way, there are ALTERNATIVE routes that are not used because of the toll coal trucks are required to pay.  Apparently it's cheaper to wait three days then to use the alternative route.  At least it's creating a side economy for the local peddlers who can sell some water and some white rice.

Traffic Nightmare: Road to Inner Mongolia

Anyway, what makes this story so interesting to me is that I was on this road in the summer of 2006 while studying abroad in Beijing.  You would then ask how and why would I go to Inner Mongolia.  Very good question.  Well, a good friend of mine (Louise) who was a fellow student really wanted to see the grassland and the desert for some very odd reason.  Somehow she convinced my Chinese roommate (who was very perplexed at this request) and I to help plan and guide the trip.  Even though I was a fluent Mandarin speaker, we need my Chinese roommate to help translate from whatever dialect they were speaking up there to Mandarin, so that I could translate then to English.  So, we took a bus that my invaluable roommate previously checked the route.  A couple of hours outside Beijing the bus pulled over and dropped us off.  Apparently the bus no longer goes where we needed to go, which is towards Inner Mongolia.  We negotiated with some drivers who had anticipated that a group of ignorant foreign students would need a ride after a changed bus route caused them to be stuck next to a highway.  They agreed to take us to our destination, and that's how we ended on this nightmare road where we were the only non-coal vehicle on the road.  Our trip took at least twice as long and we ended up sleeping in a village motel with wooden beds once we arrived late into the night.  Later that weekend I was not sure if the excruciating pain in my lower back came from the beds or riding the horses.  I guess I will never know.  In the end the trip was a great experience for us and I think for the people we met.  They loved the fluffy hair of one of our friends and insisted that it was definitely fake.  We went boating, horse back riding, sand surfing (not sure what you call it), and hiking.  It was a memorable trip and thanks to NPR today, many memories encompassing my experience as an Engineering student studying poetry and history in Beijing came flowing back to me.
Link to story on NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129431201

Return to the Sunshine State

Battle River

I finally returned home back to the sunshine state from a 8 day stint in Alberta, Canada.  I was doing a prodigious amount work on trains and took just a little bit of time to watch the bison, elk, deer, and bears through the prairies and plains.  Actually, I was kidding about the bears, I actually didn't see any.  I wish I did though because I felt pretty safe surrounded by nothing but steel and was at least 12 feet off the ground.  If we hit anything we probably would have the upper edge.  The long stretches of nothing but plains was a site to see.  I was also very thankful that the time frame was August and not January when it would be 30 below.

 I was looking forward to the return as I really needed the rest.  While I was laying around in my condo, I realized that my lease on my ocean side condo was ending soon and that I better start taking advantage of the beach by actually walking downstairs through the garage and through swimming pool and setting my right foot in the sand.  Yes, I was going to take a sunset walk along the beach by myself.  It was not very romantic and quite lonely at first as many couples walked by, but the ocean was very calm and peaceful.  After about a quarter mile I came upon a group of birds.  Someone had left a big chunk of bread or part of a donut.  It was surprising to see the birds fight over this even though the food was quite plentiful to share.  I was able to get a nice action shot of the bird in attack mode.  I watched them for a while and got bored and walked back to my condo.  Its a beach I guess.