feldmanlarry

Riding a bicycle rickshaw in Old Delhi, really not in Indiana, PA any more

One of my favorite pieces of music is Mozart’s “Exsultate, Jubilate”. There is a very beautiful slow orchestral part that suddenly breaks out into an exhilarating soprano aria. An image I have associated with this is from a specific location in Cascadilla Gorge right near my boyhood home in Ithaca, NY. The water calmly rolls along with no idea that in seconds it will be subjected to the turbulence of a waterfall. The sudden change from calm to aggressive is like the Mozart piece.

I have another image now to associate with that piece. The relative tranquility of Korea and of sitting on airplanes for many hours to get to India severely contrasted in a similar way with what I saw in India. My brief three days in India were the highlight of this four-week trip. As Karl Pilkinton said on Ricky Gervais’ show “An Idiot Abroad “ about India, “When you see one thing, there’s another thing right away.” His neck hurt from looking so much in India.

I was really looking forward to the vibrancy of India but it scared me. Indian food is my favorite of all yet I’m worried about getting sick from the food. When I was in Africa at 20 years old, I got very sick from the food and was stuck in a far away city (Mopti, Mali) for several days with no real idea of how to get well or how to get back.

I had definitely moved from the “developed world” to the “developing world”. This came really clear on my bicycle rickshaw ride through a narrow alley with wild shops, monkeys, and hundreds of people in a space that should have had maybe dozens.

For the first time in all my travels no one was there at the airport when I got in. However, it wasn’t their fault. I left Singapore at 2:30 AM and was supposed to arrive at 5:50 AM with a 2.5 hour time change. Combining this 5 hour 50 minute flight from Singapore to Delhi with the 6 hour 30 minute flight from Seoul to Singapore and over 4 hours in the Singapore Airport was a very long day and night. Arriving about a half hour early was nice. Getting my bag and through immigration went extremely fast. I was all done before my flight was even supposed to arrive.

I called the number for my guide and they were close by. My wait was short so I really couldn’t complain. They took me to my hotel, which was a bit of a luxury to have a hotel for the previous night when coming in at 6 AM. My original thought was to nap until around noon then go sightseeing. However, I only had three full days in India and I decided to betray my hatred of mornings and start the tour at 9 AM. This day turned into the overwhelming display I expected but the following two days were much more intense.

Largest mosque in India, built by the same person who built the Taj Mahal

The first stop was Jama Masjid, the largest mosque in India in the heart of Old Delhi, which can hold 25,000 people in the courtyard. The red sandstone mixed with the white marble was very beautiful. Looking back on it (I’m writing this after the trip is done), it was just one of many amazingly beautiful buildings I saw, highlighted of course by the Taj Mahal. I was surprised at how few European looking people I saw in India (like the ones in the above right photo), even at the Taj Mahal.

Beautiful symmetry of the Jama Masjid mosque except for me

Rules of the mosque including no women or non-Muslims after dark (left), crowded street next to mosque (right)

My sister and my brother were carried by rickshaw to school in Sri Lanka when we lived there in 1955. My sister remembers feeling really bad for the person carrying them. I did feel bad for the rickshaw driver on this trip but at least he had a bicycle. I suppose I could have lost some weight for him. My sister also hated the beggars, the poverty, and the dirtiness so much that to this day she doesn’t like to travel to developing countries.

I’ll write about my take on the beggars, the street vendors that come right up to you, and the dirtiness after some pictures of my rickshaw ride in Old Delhi.

The bicycle rickshaw man has a difficult job (left), starting the ride through Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi (right)

A Mandarin Monkey on the wires at the top of these two pictures!

Monkeys apparently are quite common in this area of Old Delhi and in many parts of India. I couldn’t quite figure out if they are treated like we treat dogs, mice, or chickens. I think they’re treated as nuisances like mice but not feared for disease like mice. They are tolerated but not really appreciated that much. My guide talked about how they get in people’s living spaces, eat food lying around, and leave messes. However most Indians are strong Hindus and believe in reincarnation between human and non-human forms and therefore try not to hurt animals.

A wedding supply shop (left). All the shops were very colorful. The street was very crowded but my guide said this too early for the ridiculously crazy traffic, fortunately.

The food shops all tempted me but I knew I had to be very careful (left), cleaning the sewers (right)

The guide rightfully called this “an electrician’s nightmare” (left), we went several blocks through an area that supplied books, stationery, paper, etc. for all of India (right)

Western-dressed younger man with a more traditionally-dressed man sharing a rickshaw (left), a shop in the butcher area (right)

After the rickshaw ride, we got back in the car and drove to Raj Ghat, the cremation site of Mahatma Gandhi. This was a little emotional for me. Ghandi was one of the most important people in world history. He developed the philosophy of non-violent resistance to evil that was used by Martin Luther King and many others. He organized the successful resistance to British rule that began the freedom of dozens of countries from being controlled by empires.

I bought the dvd of the 1982 Academy Award winner movie “Gandhi” and will watch it on my next trip (across Canada in a train). If you have never seen this movie or haven’t seen it in a while, you should see it. It’s a sweeping epic with brilliant acting by Ben Kingsley. There has been a recent biography of Gandhi that has been very controversial, in fact has been banned in parts of India because of parts about his sexuality.

Raj Ghat, the cremation site of Mahatma Gandhi, very emotional to be there

The eternal flame for Gandhi (left), a girls’ school on a field trip to the Gandhi cremation site (right)

I almost forgot about continuing my discussion of my sister’s issues with Sri Lanka / India. To me, the joy of the amazing sights of India outweighs these problems.

• The people trying to sell stuff weren’t a bad issue for me. Every guide I had carefully explained not to say “no” to the beggars and sellers. They treat a “no” as an invitation to begin bothering you more. I was taught not only not to speak with them but also not to even recognize their presence. I learned to just look a tiny bit out of the corner of my eye in case they did have something that was worth looking at. My guides also helped to shoo them away.
• The guides said also to treat the beggars the same as the vendors. Don’t recognize their presence. They said that frequently the beggars are from a gang of beggars that have a pimp-like leader who takes much of their money. I don’t know if this is true or not but apparently if you do give money to one of them then many more will quickly flock around you. Since I won’t be solving the problem of poverty in India by giving small amounts of money to a few people, I took the advice of not even acknowledging their presence.
• The dirtiness is a problem. It’s easy for Westerners to get sick in India, whether from the food or from just air-borne dirt. There are often piles of  junk lying around. Maybe the key here is not to lie around in the dirt too much, to wash hands frequently, to eat only at established tourist areas, and to be ready to possibly get sick anyway. An alternative is to just immerse yourself in India and be prepared for getting sick.

I sympathize with my sister though, it was probably hard for her as a young child to ignore people coming by who were sick or injured. It made a long-lasting impression on her. I had decided not to spend a long time in India since I had two weeks or so to go after India. Like I said though, these 3 days were the highlight of the whole 4 weeks.

After yesterday’s full day and night of travel with some sleep, just an hour or so of nap at the hotel, and a morning of sightseeing, I was ready for some respite, either sleep or food. My guide said he wanted to take me one more place before lunch and I agreed to it. We went to Humayan’s Tomb, which was visited by President Obama in November 2010. After the terrorist attacks in 2008, visits to this tomb went down quite a bit.

Humayan’s Tomb, a World Heritage Site, built in the 16th century

Two very old trees at the adjoining Bu-Halima’ Garden: ashoka (left), and banyon (right)

Very steep stairs to get to Humayan’s Tomb (left), 6-pointed star (right)

No — this was not built by Jews. I’ll quote from Wikipedia about 6-pointed stars in India. “Within Indic lore, the shape is generally understood to consist of two triangles—one pointed up and the other down—locked in harmonious embrace. The two components are called ‘Om’ and the ‘Hrim’ in Sanskrit, and symbolize man’s position between earth and sky. The downward triangle symbolizes Shakti, the sacred embodiment of femininity, and the upward triangle symbolizes Shiva, or Agni Tattva, representing the focused aspects of masculinity. The mystical union of the two triangles represents Creation, occurring through the divine union of male and female. The two locked triangles are also known as ‘Shanmukha’ – the six-faced, representing the six faces of Shiva & Shakti’s progeny Kartikeya. This symbol is also a part of several yantras and has deep significance in Hindu ritual worship and history.”

I’ll quote again from Wikipedia about the building itself. “As a contrast to the pure white exterior dome, the rest of the building is made up of red sandstone, with white and black marble and yellow sandstone detailing, to relieve the monotony. The symmetrical and simple design on the exterior is in sharp contrast with the complex interior floor plan, of inner chambers, which is a square ‘ninefold plan’, where eight two-storyed vaulted chambers radiate from the central, double-height domed chamber.”

But what amazed me most about this beautiful building was the geometric shapes of tiled screens. I took pictures of maybe a dozen different shapes. I’m including here just two of them.

Two of maybe a dozen different geometrical screens inside the tomb building

The tombs

Front of the tomb (left), a woman carrying a massive load on her head (right)

Finally, I deserved lunch. We went to a touristy area, which is all I would allow myself to do in order to try to avoid getting sick. The restaurant was called Pindi, which is in the Punjab area of Pakistan. It was wonderful and it reinforced for me why Indian food is my favorite of all foods. I had a Fanta Orange soda to practice for my visit to the Taj Mahal. I’ll tell that story in the post for March 27.

Restaurant I ate at for lunch (left), a Fanta Orange drink; practicing for the Taj Mahal tomorrow (right)

A very long day indeed except that the afternoon’s travels were just beginning. Fortunately, there wasn’t too much on the agenda. The only bad part of the day was the arts and crafts store we went to right after lunch. If I was into buying items like these, this would have been a great place. I wasn’t into it and we didn’t stay long, which is one of the advantages of having a private tour. The first part of the craft store was weaving and selling rugs. Ugh. I had had enough of rugs in Istanbul. I still don’t understand spending many hundreds of dollars for a piece of art that’s on the floor and you step on. I like rugs but I wouldn’t spend a lot of money on them and certainly would not have them imported all the way from India. The only part I liked of this was when they dramatically drop the rolled rug and have it spill out to its full glory.

Weaving demo (left), rugs for sale (right). I’m not interested.

Jewelry at the arts and craft shop, not my thing

Our final site was the President’s House, Parliament House and other Government Secretariat Buildings. These were interesting enough buildings but not on the level of the Jama Masjid mosque or Humayan’s Tomb that I had seen earlier or what I would see the next two days in Agra, like the Taj Mahal. The highlight for me was all the monkeys.

Building of the Indian National Government

Real monkeys at the gate (left), elephants on the column (right)

After I got set up and took a nap at the hotel, I decided I was too hungry to just go to bed. The hotel was excellent (Claridges) and had three restaurants, a Western style one, a mix of Western and Indian, and an Indian food only one. Of course, I chose the Indian one. The food again was excellent. A young British couple sat at the table next to me and we started a conversation. He was a specialist in setting up sound systems for large events like concerts. He had been hired to do the sound for a wedding. We shared similar political beliefs and it was fun to see how someone from Britain looks at our politics. Basically, they felt British politics were at least as messed up as ours. They almost disdained Tony Blair as much as George Bush, while recognizing the intelligence gap.

There is a lot of money in India, some of it getting passed on to people who own farmland that is close enough to become urban sprawl. The land can become worth in the neighborhood of a million dollars or so and these people have more money than they could ever imagine. The people at dinner gave stories of amazingly ridiculous weddings in India, like giving a helicopter as a wedding present only to find that they couldn’t make the upkeep payments. The irony was that they were bringing in British “servants” for Indian people as a total reverse of the role of the nationalities of centuries of British colonial rule.

Wonderful dinner at the hotel Indian restaurant

My highlight of the day was definitely the rickshaw ride through Old Delhi. The mosque and the tomb were spectacular but surpassed by what I was to see the next two days. Most importantly, I had fallen down the waterfall of the Mozart aria that I described at the beginning of today. The feeling of the crazy world of sensual overload will last with me for a long time.

I’m writing this at 10:30 PM at the Singapore airport’s outdoor “Entertainment Deck”. I was reminded of how much I really love hot weather. 80 degrees feels great. I don’t miss the snow and wind and cold at all but I will miss Korea.

Outdoor “entertainment deck” at the Singapore airport (basically a place for people to smoke), 80 degrees feels great

I suppose it’s 10:30 PM although it’s 11:30 PM in Korea where I’ve been for the last 10 days, it’s 10:30 AM back home, and it’s 8:00 PM in Delhi, where I’m going in a few hours. The fact that I’m thinking about this makes me realize how fascinated (hung up) with time I am. I shouldn’t really care what time it is except for making sure I get on the flight to Delhi that leaves at 2:30 AM Singapore time.

Map on my airplane screen.  I was surprised at how close Singapore is to the equator. It’s much further south than Delhi, India. I think this is the closest I’ve ever been to the Southern Hemisphere. This was the only connection I could get from Korea to India.

My hope was to be able to go into Singapore itself in the 5 hours I have here but the plane got in 40 minutes late and I don’t want to get stuck in a traffic jam and miss the flight. So sitting outside is my consolation prize. On the plane they mentioned that anyone with certain items would need to fill out a special declaration and they included chewing gum as an item that would need to be checked. I had heard that chewing gum is banned in Singapore but it still amazed me to hear it. Singapore is known for being squeaky clean and also one of the most ethnically diverse places in the world.

 It’s really true that they ban chewing gum in Singapore. Hopefully, they don’t have the death penalty for gum chewers though.

Earlier today, I packed up at 10:30 AM to go to the post office to mail back the children’s work from the school and other stuff I don’t need during the trip. I sure hope it gets there otherwise I’m in bad shape for my study (it got to the US before I returned). We then drove the 90 minutes or so to Incheon Airport where Woo and I had a last meal together.

Woo asked me how I would briefly summarize Korea. I told him that I sensed very strongly the clash of cultures. Korea is between China and Japan and has been conquered by one or the other multiple times. It is also maybe the last vestige of the cold war. I’ll never forget the tension and heartbreak I felt at the DMZ. One the other hand, South Korea has managed to remain very solid, both in its unity and in its economy. From the little I saw, the people are remarkably hard working, intelligent, and polite. They don’t seem bitter. Rather than wallow in their problems, they’ve gone out and created an economic miracle and have a society that works. With people like Woo around, their future is bright.

There is some chance I could work with Woo or others in Korea on research. The biggest conference in math education occurs every 4 years (ICME) and will be in Seoul in 2012. I might try to make it.

Last view of Korea from the plane

Since I entered this blog few days ago, I got an email from Martin, the guy sitting in front of me at the Dylan concert, with several great pictures. Here’s one. Others are further down.

Bob Dylan Concert in Shanghai April 8, 2011

The Bob Dylan concert seems worthy of a separate blog entry. I went through a great deal of hassle to get the ticket as I mentioned in other entries. Maybe I’ll pull all that from those entries and put it here later. I found out from my guide that I was interviewed on Chinese TV after the concert. I think I come across as kind of an idiot, but I’m used to it.

My guide found a link to the interview, picked up by another channel and she also downloaded it. Thanks, Sissi. You can see the clip at http://ent.kankanews.com//vods/ff80808129f4b1ca0129f6039b340bb3/ff8080812f2b7fc8012f37b27df90d04/

or download it at:

鲍勃·迪伦昨晚上海开唱 中外歌迷梦圆大舞台 [看东方].mp4 (10.38M, 2011-4-24 19:39:01到期)

鲍勃·迪伦昨晚上海开唱 中外歌迷梦圆大舞台 [看东方].flv (3.87M, 2011-4-24 19:42:37到期)

There are several reasons I gave the title The Times they are NOT a’changin’. One is that 5 of the 16 songs he played could have been played at the concert I saw of his in 1966 in Ithaca, NY. Another is that Dylan agreed that the Chinese government would approve his playlist for this concert and the song “The Times they are a’changin’” is probably one of those that would not have been approved. The last one is that his music was considered edgy back in the 1960’s as supportive of change and this concert comes at a time of change in China. It is one of the first US concerts of its type.

If you’re not interested in my adventures in getting to the site or ramblings about Dylan, scroll down to the heading “THE CONCERT”.

I just read Maureen Dowd’s article called Blowin’ in the Idiot Wind at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/opinion/10dowd.html (thanks, George for sending me the link). The gist of it is in this quote “You say you’re lookin’ for someone who won’t kowtow to an oppressive government? It ain’t he, babe.” (by the way, she quotes someone using the same title I’m using here but I came up with this title before I read the article). I think Maureen Dowd has done to Bob Dylan what people have been doing to him since he first became popular. People have always been trying to make him into a political rebel since some of his very earliest songs were protest songs. He’s been trying to tell people that he never wanted to be thought of as a protest leader or anything but a musician. For him to play in China without being allowed to play some of his songs obviously was not really an issue for him. Maureen Dowd should be looking elsewhere for political leadership in fighting oppression in China. I wonder if she has ever bought anything made in China. She seems to recognize this in the article but at the end she is accusing him of selling out for the money. Maybe that’s true but I think it’s at least equally likely he’s in it for the chance to play his music. Obviously neither Maureen Dowd or anyone else really knows for sure except him. He is such an important figure in music history that people will always be trying to make him into something he’s not. When you go to another country, you have to live by their laws. I could go to Tienanmen Square and yell out protest slogans but that’s against their laws. I could refuse to go to China or buy any Chinese products but that would be pointless. It feels strange to be disagreeing with Maureen Dowd because I usually agree with her.

In any case, I finally got my ticket the morning of the concert. I paid 980 RMB, which is about $150, not cheap. They also had tickets at 280, 480, 680, and 1280. The ticket office was close to the Shanghai Grand Theater, where the concert was so I knew where I was going later. It was hard to find the office and when we did, we had to wait a long time for a small elevator, which was overly packed. I picked up two copies of the concert poster they were giving away, that were also being sold at the concert.

Dylan in Shanghai Poster (I’m too lazy to pull out my copy)

I almost fell asleep when I got back from my full day sightseeing in Shanghai but was afraid I wouldn’t get up in time so I forced myself to stay awake. At a little after 6, I decided to get a taxi for the 8 PM show, even though the taxi should only take 20-30 minutes. I thought it might be fun to hang out at the site and also after all I’d gone through I wanted to be sure to be there in plenty of time. I joined a taxi line just outside the hotel, which was perfect except for the fact that I was #7 in line and no taxis were coming in.

After 15 minutes of waiting I was #5 only because two groups had given up. I bailed and started walking in the direction of the concert. Thank you, iPhone Map app, which let me know it was a one-hour walk, about 5.1 kilometers (3.2 miles). It was before 6:30 so I could walk all the way and be on time. I showed my ticket to someone on the street while waiting for a light and he confirmed that I was going the right way. I stayed close to the street so I could hail a taxi.

It felt good to be out on the street by myself. I’ve almost always had a guide with me. The street was filled with all kinds of stores such as noodle shops, open air butchers, and tiny fruit markets. The intersections were crazy with all the bikes and cars who didn’t seem to fully stop before taking a right on red (or were they just running it?).

Back in the 60’s and 70’s when it was socially acceptable I used to hitchhike a lot. I noticed back then that some hitchhikers were walkers and others were standers. When no one is coming to pick you up, some would just stand in the same spot and others would start walking. I was a walker. This relates to part of my personality where I’m always wondering what’s at the next point both physically and mentally / emotionally.

A few empty taxis came by but they were all going the wrong way and either didn’t hear me or didn’t feel like turning around. Finally, I found a taxi going the wrong way that was stopped for a light. I carefully crossed traffic and got in. I think I had walked about 1 mile out of the 3.2. It cost 17 RMB + 3 tip or about $3.50 and I was there about 6:50.

Outside there were a whole bunch of scalpers. Later, a loudspeaker warned people that many scalpers have counterfeited tickets that would be caught by the ticket scanners. After the scalpers came street vendors selling all kinds of stuff like trinkets and binoculars. One guy was blaring Dylan music and we sang together for a while. He was selling a pirated 3-CD set of Dylan songs and wanted 450 RMB ($67.50). I walked away and I think I heard him yell out 150 RMB ($22.50). Who knows how cheap he would have sold it for.

Guy selling Dylan knock-off CD’s at a rip off price, we sang together for a while (left). “Salute to Bob Dylan” singing Blowin’ in the Wind really well except for singing “The answer is blow in the wind”, not blowin’ (right).

There was a crowd around a singer who had a sign that he was playing a “Salute to Bob Dylan”. He was singing a fairly good version of Blowin’ in the Wind but he messed up one word. Instead of “The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind”, he sang “The answer my friend is blow in the wind.” To me his version means the exact opposite. Dylan’s version means to me that the answer to the lack of freedom cannot be stopped. It’s in the wind and is coming. By singing “blow in the wind”, the implication is to get the answer, you have to blow in the wind, which is to me a sign of futility. Our power to blow in the wind is tiny compared to the power of the wind. Not that anyone in the world besides me cares. I liked the way he did the song though. His next song was “Country Road.” I wonder if he knew that “Country Road” isn’t by Dylan.

After hanging outside for a while, I went in. They had a security check with bomb sniffing dogs, which I think is pretty typical for concerts these days. The concession area was remarkably low key. I bought an ice cream bar for 75 cents and a coffee for $2. There was no alcohol and only about 6-7 small booths altogether. There was one booth selling 2-CD compilation sets for 60 RMB ($9) and the poster I got for free when I bought the ticket. There was another area like this on the other side. These two areas were for the expensive seats. There was a separate entrance for the cheaper seats but I imagine the offerings were the same. No t-shirts or any memorabilia. I spent a while talking to two French businessman. It felt good to speak in French.

I got to my seat and was a little disappointed. It was further back than I expected. It was only the 26^th row and just a little off center but the stage still looked small. Besides the very low-key concession area, it was unusual in that they were not playing any music over the sound system as is typical in US concerts. I’m not sure if they were unaware of how it’s done in the US and other places or if they really wanted to keep it low key, since rock concerts are a relatively new concept to China.

Scene outside the stadium (left), scene from my seat before the concert started (right)

I hung out with an American guy who has lived in Shanghai for two years with his wife. He made it sound really fun living in Shanghai. I had been thinking the same thing as I was walking towards the concert. It’s the most Westernized city in China but the expatriate community he said was only about 30,000 out of a population of 22 million. That’s right, 22 million. Pennsylvania’s population is about 10 million.

I mentioned to the Australians next to me that I had seen Bob Dylan in 1966 and instantly the two Chinese guys in front of me turned around and wanted to know all about it. They had flown in from Chengdu that morning just to see the concert. I really liked these guys. They were going to the US for college (I never asked if it was for undergraduate or graduate school). One was going to the U. of Washington in aeronautical engineering. The other had been accepted to Wake Forest, William and Mary, and Emory but was wait listed to NYU.

Chinese guys who flew in just to see the concert, very knowledgable about Dylan, planning to go to the US to study in the fall. Martin, on the left, sent me excellent pictures of the concert and Shanghai from his serious camera.

One guy started talking about the song Desolation Row and I told him the story of how I had a quiz in 10^th grade English on Shakespeare. Instead of answering the questions, which I did not know, I wrote down most of the words to Desolation Row. The teacher wrote an angry note on my paper the next day with the obvious conclusion that if I had spend a small fraction of the time studying for the quiz instead of learning Desolation Row, I would have done well. The big zero on the top of the paper was well deserved. We were very happy when Dylan sang Desolation Row that night.

When I was on the boat in Guilin, one of the people at my table spoke of a concert she had been to in a park in London with Tony Bennett and Bob Dylan. She felt Dylan was a dud. He didn’t speak to the crowd while Tony Bennett was filled with charisma and gave the audience a good feeling. The topic of conversation moved on to something else but to me there is no comparison between those two. Tony Bennett is a pleasant entertainer with an excellent voice who does good versions of standards written by others. Bob Dylan is the main founder of a whole type of music, folk-rock. More importantly, he changed lyrics of popular songs from simplistic love words to complex and sometimes literary ones on all kinds of topics. He has written hundreds of songs over many decades and has made a major impact on many of the great musicians of the second half of the 20^th century. I’m sure Tony Bennett has influenced other musicians and indeed he is a much slicker entertainer but he’s not in Bob Dylan’s league.

THE CONCERT

They had the compulsory message about no flash photography or recording at the beginning but as soon as Dylan started, everyone got out their cameras and took flash pictures and held their phones, obviously recording the show. No one stopped anyone. I decided to do the same. I recorded somewhere between 15 seconds and a couple of minutes of each song.

Great shots from Martin live from the concert. Dylan playing the piano.

Here’s the playlist. He started about 8:10. I have short video clips of each song (two for those marked with a 2).If anyone has an idea of where to post these clips, please let me know. My guess is that they would be removed from YouTube since I forgot to get full authorization from the Dylan people and the Chinese government. You really can’t see much in the clips because of the lack of zoom on the iPhone 4. Martin sent me the playist that he figured out after getting home.

1. Gonna Change My Way of Thinking

2. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right

3. Things Have Changed

4. Tangled Up In Blue (2)

5. Honest With Me

6. Simple Twist of Fate

7. Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dum

8. Blind Willie McTell

9. The Levee’s Gonna Break

10. Desolation Row

11. Highway 61 Revisited (2)

12. Spirit on the Water

13. Thunder on the Mountain

14. Ballad of a Thin Man

He made people work hard for the encore, which came about 9:50. The only time he spoke was to introduce the band between the two encore songs.

15. Like a Rolling Stone

16. Forever Young

Dylan and the band taking their bows (thanks again, Martin)

A few minutes after 10, it was done. When the lights came on, the crowd quickly quieted and left. Two hours is not super long but when you consider that there was no talking and very short times between songs, it was a lot. Some of the songs were long. Desolation Row on the album is maybe 12 minutes.

I bought Dylan’s album “Highway 61 Revisited” almost as soon as I heard “Like a Rollin’ Stone” in the 1960’s. It’s still my favorite album of his. Songs #10, 11, 14, and 15 were from that album, which made me very happy. I think only song #2 is from before that album.

The 10,000 seat stadium was mostly filled with about 2/3 Chinese and the rest American or European. Given that there are 22 million Chinese in Shanghai and about 30,000 expatriates, this was a large showing of expatriates. With Dylan not having had a hit in decades and the cost being expensive, it’s not surprising though. The crowd seemed like most I’ve been to in concerts like this. They cheered loudly when he came on stage and after each song. They especially went wild when he played the harmonica.

Dylan’s voice is very different from what it sounds like on the old albums. It’s more of a croak than a warble. I preferred the old sound better. Dylan played the guitar, keyboard, and harp. There were 4 in the band and I did get on the video Dylan giving their names at the break between the two encore songs. There was a bass player who sometimes played standup bass, two other guitar players, and a drummer.

As I walked outside, I saw a TV camera and walked over to see what it was about. Almost immediately, they pulled me over and I was being interviewed. I obnoxiously gushed about how much I enjoyed it and that I saw him in 1966. I didn’t expect it would be on the Chinese news that evening and throughout the next day. My guide had seen it the next morning. When I got back from Suzhou the next day, I put the Chinese channel on and when I heard the words Bob Dylan, I got my iPhone out and recorded the TV. I was indeed on for about 15 seconds. Later that evening, my guide emailed me with a link to a broadcast on a different Chinese channel. She figured out how to download it and converted it to .flv (YouTube), .mp4, and .mov. I really appreciated her doing that. The links are at the beginning of this entry.

I looked for a cab to get back to the hotel but there were about 30 groups trying to get one. I walked about one block before the crowd and easily found a taxi before it got to the crowd. I’m glad no one else seemed to have thought of this.

I was having breakfast the previous weekend in Beijing and while reading the official government English language newspaper I read that Dylan was going to be in Beijing and Shanghai. I was amazed to see that he was going to be in Shanghai at a perfect time for me. I thought about it for a while and decided that it would be too much hassle to get tickets and I’m usually very tired at the end of these very full sightseeing days. A day later, I thought to myself I must be crazy. Bob Dylan would be just a few miles from me in China and I want to hang out in the room? I then began a 4-day obsession involving hours on the phone and a lot of help from three different guides. Ann in Xian in particular spend a long frustrating time with me on the phone. She was great.

I’m really glad I went. It parallels my visit to the Taj Mahal as making a link to my childhood. If I hadn’t known the songs or his work beforehand, it wouldn’t have been that great a concert but the experience of being there and hearing those songs again from my youth felt good, Maureen Dowd notwithstanding.

Today was a travel day to Guilin but my flight wasn’t until 6 PM. The highlight of the day was the Bei-Yuan-Men Muslim Culture Street, which was both fantastic and frustrating. Fantastic because it was filled with vendors preparing strange food right on the street. Frustrating because I knew I could not allow myself to try any of it.

Before I show pictures of the street, I’d like to share what I learned about the Chinese College admittance procedure from Ann. Skip down if this doesn’t interest you.

First off, they go to Primary school 1-6 at the Chinese age of 6. They have a similar way of computing ages that Korea does. You’re one year old when you’re born and you change your age at the Chinese New Year, not on your birthday.

Then they go to Junior Middle School, called grades 7-9, like in the US. Finally they go to Senior Middle School grades 1-3, like our grades 10-12. High school is not free but scholarships are offered to some talented poor students. If students fail exams that take place after junior middle, they can go to technical schools or just enter the work place. About 15% go to college and it’s again not free except for poor students.

There’s one college entrance exam for the whole country, always held from June 7-9 every year. They start preparing for this exam in primary school. After they get their scores, they give a ranked list of their top 8 university choices. Their application goes to their no. 1 choice and if that university accepts them they have to go there. If that university does not accept them, their application is sent to #2 and so on.

Universities look at nothing besides scores on the 3-day exam, grades are irrelevant. Until last year students needed to choose their list of 8 before knowing their scores. The answers were available but you didn’t know the score for sure. Now you wait until you have the score. She went to a lower level school because she thought her scores were lower than they were. She wanted to go to one of the top 10 schools in the country but didn’t bother to apply and she would have made it had she known her score.

Before checking out from the hotel at 1:30, I noticed the elevator showed no 4^th, 13^th, or 14^th floors. Ann said that 4 is a very unlucky number in China since the word for 4 sounds like the word for death. I assume that there’s no 13 because of the Western fear of 13, based on Judas being the 13^th disciple at the Last Supper.

No 4th, 13th, or 14th floors

The street goes for 1.1 kilometers (0.7 miles) and smelled great from all the cooking. It was full of people but not packed. I didn’t see a single European looking person during my hour and a half or so. I was in heaven. Actually, one view of hell is to be put in a place that looks like your personal heaven but you are not allowed to be part of it. If so, I was in hell.

I was a tiny bit tempted to try something when Ann pointed out her favorite restaurant on the street. She hasn’t gone to it in a long time since she doesn’t think it’s clean. If a local doesn’t eat the local food, I definitely shouldn’t be eating it.

There isn’t a lot to say about this experience so I’ll mostly just show pictures.

Making pancakes (left), cutting up pieces of an unknown type of rice cake (right)

Freshly made rice cake

Views of the Muslim Cultural Street

Bought a silk scarf in this store, $1.50 seems very cheap but I’m not sure what to do with it.

Man on the right was one of the few dressed as a Muslim. Ann said there are 60,000 Muslims in Xian.

Hammering walnuts (left), Ann’s favorite restaurant that she’s afraid to go to because of cleanliness issues (right)

Many different varieties of dates

Woman on the left with the silver hat is of the Miao group, which is one of the top 10 ethnic groups in China. Most of them live in the South East, just a few in Xian. There are 14 ethnic groups in Xian. Scared to ask what they’re making on the right.

See — I’m not the only one hamming it up (left). One of the few people I saw wearing that Cultural Revolution icon, the Mao hat (right)

Bird House on the Muslim Cultural Street

Not sure if this is the bell tower or the drum tower at the end of the street (left), another street scene (right)

Ann had to stop at the bathroom so we went to a packed McDonald’s that had too long a line. This is just one of many rooms. The cost was about $1.80 for a Double Cheeseburger, $2.25 for a Big Mac, $3.60 with fries, which is probably very expensive for locals. I was disgusted to be in China at a McDonald’s but I didn’t buy anything. Every country I’ve been in has had McDonald’s.

Food ready for delivery on the bicycle. Looked really good.

By this time, we were done with the street and it was time to go to the airport for my flight to Guilin. I feel like I left a very good tip for Ann and the driver. She really went out of her way to help me with the Bob Dylan ticket and she was a great guide. I loved her demeanor and really wish her well. She wants to find a man who can keep up with her and I’m sure he’s out there somewhere. She deserves it.

Saying good bye to my driver.

On the plane, I was the only one in the 8-seat first class. There was one flight attendant in charge of the first class so all she had to do was take care of me. She actually ran up to open the door of the bathroom for me. For the first time in over a week, I was up for a beer but the only beer they had was Bud Ice. No thanks.

My personal flight attendant as the only person in first class (left), she gave me a tiny Chinese hamburger, nicely spiced, possibly from her own stash (right)

I’ll have a very good memory of Xian. The Terra-Cotta Army is worthy of all the fame it has gotten. The town was surprisingly big and developed along with having a long history as the start of the Spice Road. I felt very comfortable there, although being at home would be incredibly comfortable right now. I’ve been gone over 7 weeks out of the last 10 and it’s been over three weeks since I’ve experienced all the comforts of home. It’s not just the comforts that are at my house but so many other things like speaking to people whose first language is English and having more than two TV channels that aren’t Chinese. But like I’ve said many times, stop your whining, you lucky SOB.

I was amazed at how upscale the airports of Delhi, Bangkok, and Beijing are. There are no noodle huts here. The stores are on the level of Gucci, Victoria’s Secret, and other stuff that I don’t buy on a daily basis.

One of the many upscale shops at the Beijing airport, for those who want to live the BMW lifestyle

I thought Xian was a small town famous only for the Terra-Cotta Army. Turns out its population is over 8 million, was one of 4 ancient capitals of China, and the starting point for the Silk Road. It has 600,000 university students in 44 public universities and 10 private ones. As in Beijing, the sounds of construction could be heard from my hotel room. It’s a boom town with a very rich history.

Our first stop was the Shaanxi History Museum. I wasn’t really looking forward to this since I’m not a big museum fan in general but I had a good time here. My guide pointed out unusual pieces some of which had good stories with them. I tend to forget the details of history fairly quickly but I’m left with a feeling about some of the most important themes or people.

My Xi’an guide, Ann, is very different from my guide in Beijing. She is much more upbeat and outwardly enthusiastic. Alice had a more subdued approach. Ann also has the best enunciation of any guide I’ve had. It’s very clear when one word ends and the next begins. This makes it much easier to follow her. She has some very cute pronunciations. My favorite, that I thoroughly enjoyed when she said is was using the word “silly”, instead of the word “city”. So the city walls became the silly walls, the city center, the silly center and so on. “Silly” is really a great word anyway. Monty Python’s Ministry of Silly Walks is one of my top 10 or so of their skits. More about Ann later.

Ann informing me that the river in the middle of this map is where we are on a tributary of the Yellow River

We talked about the matriarchal struture of an ancient society here and she pointed out that 95% of the Chinese ledership is male. I remembered Mao’s line that women hold up half of the sky. The 5% have a heavy load.

Model of ancient Banpo village of the Yangshao matriarchal culture (left), the nails in the drinking cup were designed to tell you when it is empty. When the nails start to go into your face, it’s time to stop drinking (right)

One of the consistent themes of China is the duality of nature, the Yin and the Yang.

Yin — The earth, female, square shape

Yang — Heaven, male, round shape

These coins were designed to be round as in Yang, but with a square hole as in Yin.

I like the look of this old man

I had read a couple of days ago that Bob Dylan would be in Shanghai on Friday, April 8 when I’ll be there. At first, I thought it would be too much hassle to try to get a ticket and I’d rather then relax after sightseeing that day. Today as I was traveling around, the thought kept coming to me that I must be nuts to miss this. I saw him in 1966, a week apart from seeing the Rolling Stones, both at Cornell U. in Ithaca which is my original home town.

Getting a ticket turned out to be ridiculously difficult. I got Ann to help me and after an hour, we realized that it was impossible to get it done on the web site. They had an option for using a foreign credit card but then it said you must call. Ann called and they said they cannot process foreign cards on the phone. They said they would put one aside for me.

I got her to call the next day and they said that they could not put a ticket aside for me if I didn’t pay. I tried a couple of times in this process to be nice then agressive with them and nothing worked. Finally we went to a bank and did a wire transfer of my cash to the ticket company. Ann then called and seemed to feel it was good.