...

Faz hoje um ano que entrei na China de bicicleta. Que aperto fechar este blog! Mas leio algumas entradas e rejubilo. Escrever o blog e' algo um pouco penoso para o viajante mas simultaneamente ele sabe que e' uma partilha connosco: ele partilha o seu Nirvana, a sua profundidade.

Hoje sinto-me do teu lado leitor. E nao gosto!

Se o post mais lido deste blog e' sobre Wadi Rum (tem as duas melhores fotos desta viagem), o meu post favorito deste blog, e de varios amigos, e' o Buda em Panico.

Um blog fecha-se com musica, de Shanghai, mais um momento magico da China com 4 amigos:



E a foto da viagem:

Comida

Depois de uns shish kebabs no Egipto (espetada de borrego) acompanhado com o maravilhoso pão egípcio e do mezze na Jordânia, veio o conflito entre árabes e judeus. A escolha gastronómica entre judeus e árabes e’ muito mais difícil que a escolha politica. O húmus de Jerusalém e’ magistral (cheio de azeite de óptima qualidade), o húmus em Aleppo vem acompanhado com um pão de pimenta quente inesquecível. O falafel em Damascus custa menos 10 vezes que em TelAviv mas não fica atrás em nada! Os standards Turcos passaram com gozlemes, durums e afins mas o que ficou da Turquia foi o gosto do chá de maca durante as noites de shisha.

No Laos come-se sopa de noodles ou arroz pegajoso (foto em baixo a' esquerda). O sabor convence sempre porque Laos rima com cebolinho! A China e’ um mundo e a sua comida também com mil variedades de dumplings, noodles, arrozes, agridoces e hot pots. No final lembro-me dos cogumelos exóticos a ferver no hot pot e dos noodles e dumplings de legumes feitos no momento algures no meio da montanha (foto em baixo a' direita). Em Macau, a sopa de vaca e ostras rivalizou com o omnipresente conguee em Hong Kong (sopa branca na foto a' esquerda) acompanhada por uns grelos com molho doce divinais).

 

Para não me alongar muito deixo só mais duas entradas que estão bem no topo dos meus pratos favoritos (só o Ceviche Peruano e’ indestronável). No Japão, arroz branco com ovos crus/escalfados com umas tiras de carne grelhada por cima (isto para não falar do okonomiyaki, a pizza japonesa). No México, tacos chori-queso: tacos com chouriço em queijo derretido com cebola e guacamole, o melhor prato do mundo!
Que fome!

E como a expressao "o melhor prato do mundo" me leva para mil lugares diferentes, deixo mais um, a Sopa Marinera caseira de Sambo Creek, nas Honduras (a' direita).


Honduras? E pequenos almocos? Quesadillas de feijao, queijo de cabra e ovo? Vamos la'?

A vida...

(ler com a musica do video a tocar) A vida deve ser sempre subir montanhas. Ah, o começar a frase com "A vida..." e sentir esta emoção. O melhor dia desta viagem foi sem duvida aquele. A vida devia ser sempre assim, como este dia. O dia foi a pedalar, o que deixa logo, na vida, o maior factor, o corpo a fazer aquilo para o que foi feito, mexer. De corpo quente e eficaz fui por ali fora, montanha acima...

(este e' um daqueles textos em que tudo o que tento fazer e' transmitir esta emoção clara que sinto, que esta' aqui e agora e que não existe em mais lado nenhum e, se alguma coisa me ensinou este blog, e' que esta emoção não existe senão aqui agora, deste lado, e vocês, incluindo eu no futuro, poderão ver apenas simulacros, repeticoes, falhanços desta emoção)


Este dia, vida. O dia, a vida. Começou com uma subida de 5kms de luta, não estava preparado! Passados 5kms doíam-me as pernas, nem havia prazer. Parei. Havia ali uma paisagem gigante, agricultores ao longe com arados e animais que os puxam. AH, ESTOU ALGURES NO INTERIOR DA CHINA a viajar com a mochila nas traseiras da bicicleta (e' o 13 de Maio de 2010, que não importa). Um pão e uma banana, uma conduta de agua que vai dar aos campos de arroz húmidos.

1 km mais a subir e a vida começa a sorrir, com sopa de noodles. De sol e asfalto a montanha e' inimaginavelmente bonita. Estou em Yuan Yang, província Yunan, China. Nem sei em que penso, sorrio so' de sol e bolachas com esporádicos camiões chineses que passam. Ahaha, rio mesmo, so' com um ou outro riacho. Há ainda, ja' depois bem tarde, lama, muita que me cobre de cima a baixo e a' bicicleta. O marco da estrada ao lado da barragem gigante diz claramente: descemos 50kms amigo e se olhar para o lado vejo la' em cima, uma estrada que passou ha' 30kms!

Depois, a vida andou por ali, cima baixo, baixo cima, difícil perguntar o caminho e frio ate', fome por vezes. Onde queria eu ir? Quanto queria sofrer? Ou queria eu sorrir so' em descida? Amanha? Que queres tu no virar da esquina? EU QUERO SOFRER! NÃO, quero DESCER! Sempre preferi as subidas...

Ja' era tarde nesta vida e ainda andava para cima e para baixo, ocupado entre mapas e horas. Ja' tinha feito 90kms quando vi a placa, 30kms para o destino.
Eram 30kms a subir mais que a senhora da graça, a torre, o alpez d'huez, a col de la bonette. Sim, eu ja' sofri, bem so', muito do que ha' para subir dessas etapas das voltas, vueltas, giros e tours dessa Europa, mas depois de 90kms, 30km de prémio de montanha na volta a china em bicicleta talvez fosse demais, ou talvez tivesse eu 30 anos e fosse ali a vitoria da minha vida! Vamos la'...

20kms de subida ininterrupta depois, começou a chover e ja' não havia luz.
Depois do por do sol e 110kms nesse dia, com fome, frio, sem pilhas nas luzes, a chover, a qualquer coisa como 2200m de altitude achei que, enquanto me deliciava exausto com aquela paisagem de arroz, devia levantar o braço. Tera' sido a primeira boleia da minha vida?

E' inevitável acabar a vida a' boleia, pode ser um desconhecido (na estrada) ou um filho, mas e' sempre a' boleia que se acaba a vida. E no final de tudo, depois da boleia, estara' la' o sol ainda e a paisagem quase escura e uma vida para veres com chuva talvez. No centro ou sul da china, a vida.

E o corpo-vida, essa dual intercepção. E eu de fora, a ver ali, essa luz corpo-vida de explosão, que não sou eu. E depois so' eu, a VER-RIR, sem corpo-vida.

See you soon China

Colombia, Syria and India are now out of my top favorite countries in the world, there's only one country there now: China.
I will be back and you will teach me how to play and sing this song for you, see you soon China.

I have been obsessed with this melody lately: 不会说话的爱情:

http://blog.oeeee.com/aspspaw/uploadfile/2007121723572176.mp3

The Spirit of Chinese Philosophy

Educating with Lao Zi, Confucius and Mencius:

Gold and the Globe with no stars or stripes

In China, with a relaxed voice, I told this American guy in his 50s  that it is just natural that things change, generally. I told him that there will be a time, maybe soon, when English will not be the language of us all. I told him that I think the American empire will end at some point, just as any other empire. And I asked him how his country will react to that: what's an American if the US is not an empire?


As usual, I was just playing with some random ideas to see if we could get somewhere interesting. Well, he didn't enjoy the game, but I did! Unexpectedly, this common man, an employee of the American government, slightly raised his voice and said: "English will always be the language of the world!". Isn't this a wonderful statement? I smiled and threw an unreplied utterance to the air: "Even in 500 years time..."

It's just that I open the magazine and I see Gold and the Globe and no stripes or stars:

Beijing (pictures)

Infinity

                     Erased Mao

Beijing Faces

 

A golden statue!

Old Beijing

Beijing

A Theresa hospeda-me em Beijing, Americana, professora de arte numa escola internacional em Beijing. Vive em Beijing há quase 3 anos. Apesar de não termos falado muito, e' aqui que fundamento a minha vontade de ficar na China. Enquanto esperava que ela chegasse a casa esperei junto a uma loja de conveniencia que era uma caixa de vidro de 5 metros de largura. Ali passaram 2 horas em que pude visualizar a minha estadia em Beijing: uma casa, um trabalho, uma rotina e o Chinês por todo o lado. Criei ali a minha rotina exótica.

Houve em Beijing um pouco de turismo pela cidade proibida. Sempre achei os imperadores um pouco cobardes, mas a casa deste e' interessante! A hospitalidade da gente de Beijing chegou com um longo passeio pelos parques de Beijing com a Hanxue e o Young. Eles falam das suas vidas em Beijing. Beijing cheio de bairros tradicionais. Nestes hutongs há casas baixas de pequenos tijolos cinzentos e as ruas são estreitas e não passam carros. E' a China do partido, a China das fabricas, a China comunista de cor cinzenta e antigos porticos vermelhos.

Houve um encontro de CouchSurfers onde apareceu o Suico Guillaume vindo de 3 meses no Japao a trabalhar numa quinta e a fazer Kendo; a Seen da Malasya trabalhadora da construção civil recentemente despedida da Expo 2010 em Shanghai e vinda para Beijing para montar a sua empresa (fala das suas capacidades transculturais em Chines e Ingles altamente fluentes) e a Luba da Bielorussia que aos 25 anos já teve dezenas de profissões diferentes e fala Ingles, Russo e Chines fluentemente: "if you are smart, you can do anything you want". But not for long Luba!

Depois houve muita comida, claro, e um ate breve a' China. E ainda em Beijing espalhando-se pelo Japao, chegou uma viagem mais perdida, pelas ruas de Tokyo onde quis ser, as 3 da manha sem hotel, um dos 30000 sem abrigo da cidade. Uma viagem mais so, um duelo entre mim (nos) e o mundo começou em Beijing. Começou o fim da viagem. Eu e o vazio escuro vestidos de kimono (o caos escuro). E por outro lado, aquele espaço em que já não há de que fugir (caos claro). Já não há espaço onde permanecer ou não permanecer. Naquele espaço em que já não há plano para traçar linhas de fuga. O limbo entre o caos escuro e o caos claro, portanto: uma vida fantasma virada para uma morte (sono)lenta.

Mas depois veio Osaka, o hotel cápsula e a viagem no tempo (post para breve)!

Becoming Chinese or What is a Chinese?

After a month in China I think I can write something about "What is a Chinese?". China, as a country, may be its history and the party. But a Chinese, as a human being, has nothing to do with that. There are two keywords to understand what is a Chinese: family and food.

Let's start with food. Rice (fan) is also the word for the verb "to eat". So, "let's eat" in mandarin is "let's rice" (in Portuguese, "vamos comer" em chines diz-se, "vamos arrozar"). A still rather common way of greeting someone is "chi fan le mei you?" that means "have you eaten?" (in portuguese, em vez de "tudo bem?" diz-se "ja comeste?"). All Chinese people I met are very focused on food. They are all food lovers. The meals are the most important moments of a day. To be a Chinese is to dream of food. This has obvious consequences on this country's reality: the cuisine is the most varied in the world and, well, it's delicious! And while they eat a lot, they all say the food is healthy and that is why they are not fat.
In the restaurant, they eat with chopsticks, someone said :"how can you eat salad with fork and knife!?". In China the food is prepared in the kitchen, not in the table. The waste, like bones, should be thrown directly on the table (which is usually glass), not in a dish. It is common to see people spitting the bones directly to the table. In the restaurant, people share tables, it is usual to see a stranger joining your table. When in a group, all ordered dishes are shared, there are no individual dishes. Everyone uses their chopsticks to take food, either directly to their mouths or to their individual small boll (more common). In Chinese restaurants, everyone orders too much food: food is happiness and you should have as much as you can!

Chinese people are extremely family oriented. To a Chinese, the family is much more important than the society in general. This also goes for friends. Friends are part of the family. This is why they are not so nice to strangers. But this has many variations: I have talked to strangers that just turned their backs and strangers who would take me anywhere I needed to go.
For western standards, Chinese are not very polite, they don't say thank you, hello or please. There is a very simple explanation for this: they live in family and politeness is not really necessary in family, politeness is something you need to live in society, not in family. When you say please, or thank you, there is a implied distance between you and the other person. In a Chinese family, love, respect, and all strong ties are not expressed in these vague and meaningless words as thank you or please, "the relationship itself is a big thank you" someone explained.
These details are very important for a traveller, as a permanent stranger, the traveller wandering in China has to constantly seek to become part of the family, a friend, to access all the good things, otherwise, the traveller will just feel the distance of being a foreigner in a country of families.
Moreover, in China, "a stranger is only contacted for business". Chinese are tough negotiators and wicked traders ("they say Yes but it is No"). Friends are the connection between family and business, they are either business friends or family friends and this is why the Chinese Muslim told me: "I don't need to do business with you to be your friend". Well, friendships are always very difficult to analyse, anywhere in the world.

To finish this tiny portrait of Chinese people I would have to add something about how do fundamentally incompatible Taoism and Confucianism coexist in such a irreligious country, how the slow and balanced art of Taichi survives in a modern metropolis, and how the timeless art of Chinese painting and calligraphy give it all a touching image.
Nevertheless, the cherry on top of this 1300 million crumbs cake is a joke! Every single Chinese person I met had a fantastic sense of humour. So, this is a Chinese: someone laughing over a good family meal.

(all these things were told by Chinese people when talking about their country and their people. Off course, this doesn't mean they all agree with each other and it is always difficult to agree on such a over simplified and positive perspective)

Let's go back to dictatorship!

(I will give it a try...)

Democracy leads to mass brainwash. Or, mass brainwashing is the technique used to rule a democratic mass.With no means of mass brainwashing (like the mass media), democracy would not be possible. This is why democracy was not possible in the past. Democracy is a TV (democracy is the EuroVision song contest). You need a somewhat homogenized mass to rule in a democracy. Democracy is the death of minorities: the mass as an exterminating dictator.

While in a dictatorship the state controls your body and words, in a democracy the state let's your body and words more or less free, but your mind is controlled. In a dictatorship, your mind is free, as a revolutionary it's easy to keep your believes. Democracy enhances sedentary though and unification. Democracy uses soft words in the ears of the revolution to make it fall asleep.

This can also be associated to Foucault's analysis of techniques of security. While in a dictatorship, the means of control are discipline ("do what I tell you") and punish ("or I will hurt you"), on the contrary, in a democracy, the techniques of security used by the state are education (the brain washer "look how I do it, its so good!") and population surveillance ("let's take care of these bad 5% of the population who do not do it 'well'", "let's get rid of these dangerous outliers").

Let's go back to dictatorship! I want a revolution. And revolution is the other face of the coin where dictatorship is. Revolution is dictatorship's sister. In a democracy, the revolutionary felt asleep watching TV on the couch. In a democracy, the revolutionary boy buys an iPhone while people die:

Hot Pot Rendezvous

Her eyes are stopped, starring at the colourful movement inside the hotpot. I look at her and she smiles, she is lost. As I think of it, my eyes stop, starring at the boiling water in the hot pot. The water moves up, as an hot spring with cabbage. The flow of the light brown hot water around the leaves of cabbage draws ever changing patterns. The bubbles fight, explode and disappear. The white pieces of fish move slowly around the center of the spring while the tofu cubes drawn. I stop at the center of the spring, the bubbles going up and around in a spiral movement. I follow the flow hypnotized.

How long have I been starring at this spring? How long have I been following the water course through the cabbage leaves? How long can I be here in this hot pot universe of creation and movement? The visual pleasure is intense as some pieces of tomato come around: bright red in this light brown landscape. The intensity fades away as I start thinking about it. How do I look? Are they looking at me? I met them a few hours ago, I must look strange. I should smile! As my social worries grow I raise my eyes from the hot pot. Our friends are talking and laughing. I look at her and she is still in the same position hypnotized by the hot pot.

How long have we been here? Did you see these bubbles? These waves of spicy soup? I touch her elbow and I smile to her. She raises her starring eyes from the hot pot and looks at me as she was awaking from a dream. Her lips move in the direction of a smile. Slowly, with no words, she moves her chopsticks inside the hot pot and picks the central piece of cabbage. The centre is now made of bubbling water and I can still remember the last drop of water falling from the cabbage she took: it fell exactly in the center of the pot, a bomb falling in a volcano. Our friends laugh together as we eat in silence starring at the hot pot. We are lost.

Shanghai Report

"Wise people are slow, smart people are fast, all others go with the wind"

She is from weizhou, a few hours south of Shanghai. We go out for diner and we have delicious Chinese food. She talks:

the speed in the cities is higher than on the country side
this speed creates more unbalanced beings and thus creates more desire in these beings
cosmopolitan people have more desire
(she says) "I have no desire"
(at this very moment I remember her singing the wifi password with melody and rhythm 3132333435)
country people go to the mountains and their desire vanishes
they are then able to live a peaceful and simple life
(she says) "I want to live a simple life. To eat and sleep and enjoy blissful days"

(I say: "Memory is nothing, this present is all we have, this present/desire")
memory is the most important thing we have
memories make the present (she says) ("this present is memory", Bergson said)

After diner, we go back home and drink Chinese red wine. I play guitar and she falls asleep. We have to go!
Her friend is arriving in shanghai and we have to pick her up. Her work colleague is waiting downstairs. Tonight, after the airport, we go around shanghai to look for homeless people, a British reporter needs some interviews with homeless people from the streets of shanghai.

As the taxi goes through the long avenues of shanghai with E, M, the camera man and the taxi driver, I feel as I am travelling. The real travel. I AM IN CHINA with some reporters looking for homeless people. They all speak Chinese. And at this moment I understand how far I am from home and how close I am from what I wanted to see.
They talk the same language they all spoke on the Shanghai of Malraux's "Man's Fate" (human condition) and "the party" has "cleaned" shanghai for the expo 2010 (let's try to kill Chiang Kaishek again, let's be killed in the bombings!), but there are still some homeless people here, and I (not them), I, this subjectivity, this camera, this text, these hands are looking for them. I am living the Human Condition: the subject and his desire.

What are you gonna ask them? I said. "Where are they from. why do they sleep on the street, why don't they go back to their hometown, do they think the Chinese government helps them, how do they see their future?"
After the airport we stop in MacDonald's: this is a good place to spot homeless people. Outside, they find one and the adventure begins, the camera needs to be installed, she talks to the homeless guy sitting on the ground. The camera light is on, the fake microphone made of colorful sponge is in her hand, she smiles, the camera man is serious and passes her the wire. As he moves, the wind blows and the camera falls, broken.

Their boss is french and on our way back home (no camera, no interview) I teach them some french phrases for apologies... je suis desole! For the camera, but not for the homeless. It's so easy to see the point of view of a reporter. The reporter is exactly the one who can't see reality. It's like using the eye to see the world, the eye is a light transmitter, he is unable to see the world. You need a subject to see the world. The reporter is not a subject. The reporter is a tool, a malfunctioning subjectified tool.

(not that I have read many novels but this is the best "action book" I know: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man's_Fate)

Shanghai Tourist

French concession (with european buildings), the bund (riverside), the pudong (towers), chinese acrobatics, the house museum where the CPC was created... sightseeing in Shanghai.

Chiang Kai-shek and Mao - Marx and Lenine




















People:

City:

Acrobatics:

And some curiosities (in portuguese):
- Cornetos! Quando era pequeno sempre acreditei que a Ola' era portuguesa. Agora, os mais jovens vao comecar a acreitar que as marcas chinesas tambem sao portuguesas, chamam-lhe Branding. Sim, deve haver uma palavra muito chinesa para o Corneto:

- Casas de banho. As casas de banho publicas em algumas cidades sao edificios com administracao propria. Sim, o edificio todo e' uma casa de banho. Esta, em shanghai, certamente que tem um presidente e respectiva administracao.

111 people I met in the last 3 months and what they told me

I travel alone. Many people ask me if I feel lonely sometimes. The answer is NEVER. The reason is simple, every time I want to talk, I talk! There's ALWAYS some friendly people around available for a chat.

I used a subjective selection criteria here. I list people I chatted just for a few minutes and people with whom I spent several days. All these 111 people are "meaningful to me". Next time I want to list also non-verbal meaningful people. A traveller learns a lot by simply watching. For example, the first Chinese I saw farting in a restaurant ;-)

(this is just a memory helper for me, I don't really care about listing/counting people)

Here it goes:

Cairo, Egypt

- Kamel and Hirschan, two Egyptian students, I met them on the pyramids, they told me about their student life in Cairo. When we walk on the street, one of them holds my hand as a sign of protection ("I have to protect you from the Egyptian girls"). This was the biggest sign I saw of the local becoming the Other (as opposed to the traveller becoming the local), as we walked the streets of Cairo, this young man was feeling a foreigner, he was in my skin, he thought how he could survive if he was in my place, how would he walk around, read signs, communicate to locals, he was afraid of being me, of becoming me, he holds my hand, I will protect you! When I walked my way away from them he told me: "you are very smart" as I read "I couldn't survive the way you do, this is a jungle for a foreigner."

Dahab, Egypt

- English Douglas, "you just need little money, all you need is food and shelter, and people will give you that", "it depends what you want to do with your life"

- dutch manager, about Muslim prayer times, "man needs rhythm and rules"

- retired 35 years old, ex software free lancer, "I don't know what I am gonna do but I am not going back, let's see what happens to my money"

- Synbad host, "my wife is mine, I don't want to share it!"

- Makmud, friendly Egyptian student that spends his weekend in Dahab, swims, snorkels and sleeps on the beach

- the Russian couple in the beach of Dahab that talk to me in Russian

- Mohamed and Mustafa that shows me his sons pictures on the bus stop, so friendly!

- 50 young Egyptians who camp in St.Katherine and hike the mountains of the Sinai. Religious young adults that pray, sing, laugh and walk together.

(10) - 3 Irish guys that were 2 years in Namibia volunteering and were n ow going back home to Ireland, by land!!! (Namibia is just north of South Africa)

Nuweiba, Egypt

- Indian Prassana, going back from the US where he studied and worked, to India where he will find his business. He speaks about modern and educated Indian culture, Indian women and men, families, dreams and social expectations

- Mat Freeman, the new generation hippie that smokes pot, teaches me the anarchic way: ideology and life. Lives around London in a truck made into a house, the unity of the universe, the in-existence of the state and its contracts. "this passport is just paper", "i am not the legal entity that someone named Mat, I am not that entity, a signature in a document is a act of faith".

- Anna Moon plays the guitar and sings, enchants everyone, rainbow member, hippie! Mat's girlfriend.

- smiling Fahed, plays the Egyptian sitar and sings exotically, uses a traditional white cloth and a red scarf

- Assan and the older guy who smoke so much pot. They are so happy by the beach of Nuweiba listening to Fahed

- German student Monika lives in Tel Aviv studying Hebrew, independent 18 year old is couchsurfing on a couch right on the beach

- Californian restaurant owner, ex-hippie, sounds like he took too many drugs when he was young but his voice is incredible sweet and his inner peace invades me. He and his wife used to grow and sell marijuana in the USA.

- English George, 60 years old. He travels by bike from Sarhm el-Sheik to Manchester "my children are older than you". That day he could "only" do 70kms because it was windy (major inspiration for my bike trip).

- English Navid is a Pharmacist on vacation, second generation Pakistanese

Wadi Rum, Jordan

(20) - Jon, very young french electrician and nageur salvateur, peaceful and friendly he teaches me his ways of living, the beach and the good things of life

- Ben, le basque de bayonne, the friendliest guys I met here, helps me with my french and teaches me his Muslim curiosity and his intense interaction with all people, "mais c'est beaux ici!"

- two Moroccans, they speak french and travel Jordan speaking Arabic with everyone, not friendly but interesting

- Ali, the small desert restaurant owner (and his young helper... Ali) is a friend in 5 minutes, tells us about his inner concerns, about life, time, Islam, women and his passions. "I want to give time!"

Petra, Jordan

- Scottish guy, 20 years living in a van in Holland is focused on small details of travelling, the ruins, the people, very curious, very shy, he is around 50 years old

- German gentleman looks for women around the world, his son lives in Germany with his Peruvian wife just a few blocks from him, divorced, used to collect gems from all around the world. Some years later sold the complete collection.

- Danish girls are watched by Jordanians while they bath in the dead sea, friendly but absolutely unaware

Amman, Jordan

- Japanese philosopher that studied Heidegger but is not able to talk about it, tells me about Japanese life and culture

- Japanese artist shows me his works, interesting paintings, "how can a Japanese artist survive in Japan?"

- hostel owner is Palestinian, has 13 brothers but he is the only one with Jordanian passport. A smart guy!

Israel

(30) - English Sam likes beer and bars, second generation Indian emigrant lives in London, we had fun in Tel Aviv!

- Irish master planner Leslie, makes water and power plans for cities in undeveloped countries, works in Dubai

- Pat, American troop, speaks of how Arabs are different from him, how democracy should be implemented everywhere, why the Americans are good and the war is necessary! Clear and simple.

- Justin, is a product manager in California, very friendly acknowledges that things are not so simple as Pat puts it, together they show me the American point of view on the situation

- Israeli model, "Portugal is in south Africa, right?"

- Israeli guy, "everyone wants to get out of here and you come here to have fun!" (about tel aviv)

- Israel receptionist, "Life is nice. You get used to it."

- Cambridge middle eastern studies student is very young but already looks and sounds like an English diplomat, fluent Arabic and Hebrew

- bald Israeli is very friendly and takes us on a bar tour

Damascus, Syria

- French Laurent, reads and writes, works as a teacher in France 6 month per year, takes amazing pictures and speaks of life, people, travels, women... very interesting

(40) - Spanish Adriana, quits her publicity job and gets into a international career with a master in international development, very interested in the Colombian situation, goes to Beirut to study public health

- Californian Steve plays ukulele and smokes pot

- American Mat, formed member of the American communist party. His unique way of speaking, curiosity and his way of reacting to things make him an absolutely unique person!

- Iraqi Raki is obsessed with muscles and women but speaks of his father, an Iraqi politician and his Turkish life

- German Fru Ki is interested in Portuguese music

- German Genet who bites everyone

- Norwegian Christian likes surfing in Portugal

- Funniest Norwegian Ola dances like a robot and makes everyone laugh with his ways

- Slovenian Tadej biked Africa and now para-glides in Asia, writes to magazines and is inquisitive

- Slovenian Sasha, also para-glides in Asia. This couple is very friendly and shines with serenity

(50) - Australian Tom is bored with is trip around the world

- Australian Tirita looks like a native from New Zealand

Lebanon

- young American Max is a composer and musician, left the states with 17, he is now 21 living in Lebanon, "french music sucks, except Debussy who is the father of jazz"

- Italian Tulio, the guy everyone talks about works in a bar and is obsessed with feet. First thing he said to me "do you life feet?"

- Italian Lucia likes manifestations and is passionate about her life

- Lebanese Jean is a great host and tells us about his country

- Czech Matej is 23, quit is management job and goes around the world in a quest for "what the hell is this?"

- Lebanese Tony sells hot dogs in Beirut but sounds like an American from the 50s, strong American accent, mafia in Beirut

- young Swedish guy that looks Arab has blue eyes and curly hair, one of the most interesting faces I saw in this trip

Syria

- American Claire, PhD in history of sexuality in the European middle ages tries to go to Iraq by bike but does not succeed, stays in east Syria and goes back to Aleppo where she sells her bike, she travels with her stuff in a garbage plastic bag (she is the main inspiration for my bike trip)

(60) - French Philosopher Sebastien doesn't like Gilles Deleuze and, probably for the same reason, he is not very interested in talking about his philosophy. Travels slowly by bike and shows, with no words, that his Philosophy is travelling with him!

- Sebastien's friend is younger and friendly, he is talking his serenity and curiosity to India

- East American guest wears a shirt in Aleppo and is travelling, but he is so far from the land his feet touch!

- Syrian Myriam, couchsurfing host is friendly and smiley

- Myriam CS friend tells me about the Portuguese revolution

- young Turkish American football player studies in the university in Istanbul and talks about his Romanian girlfriend, Turkey and Turkish culture

Turkey

- fire department manager talks about Turkey

- hostel owner shows me his Turkish ways

Vientiane, Laos

- Israeli Miki has a restaurant and talks about why he does not like to travel "we are all the same, it's all the same everywhere, the world is not beautiful" and about his messiah!!!

- American girl that works in Thailand as an English teacher

(70) - Dutch guy who says "Turkey is not Europe!!!"

- American Nit was born in Bolivia and adopted by an American couple, plain American with a Bolivian face tells us about his trip to the Bolivian orphanage he was born

- relaxed German Nina travels with Nit

Vang Vieng, Laos

- Lithuanian Ruta talks about feng shui and Chinese culture, the five elements and why I am clearly wood with a bit of water

- Lithuanian Audra explains me why Lithuanian is the oldest language in Europe

- Mexican scuba diving instructor from playa del carmen, "que hace un mexicano aqui?" "el mismo que un portugues?", he tells me why he will not go back and will try to find a job somewhere in the world

- Smith, a young Thai business man, travels from Bangkok with his girlfriend and another couple, tells me how the machine components import/export business goes in Thailand. He got a MBA in the US and tells me how did he choose that specific school

Luang Prabang, Laos

- restaurant owner tells me about her adventures with her husbands

Northern Laos, Laos

- Slovenia cyclist Roberto, speaks of bike travelling and his plans in china, north of Tibet

- Laotian driver with 3 wives and 3 children offers me a beers and talks about his country

Yunnan, China

(80) - hotel receptionist who speaks good English, gives my first Mandarin lesson in china

- Canadian student tells me about his studies in Hong Kong and why he can't watch Chinese girls eating

- German Anna travels with Raymond and has a fascination for China, "the Chinese challenge"

- Raymond studied some philosophy and is curious about Gilles Deleuze

- American Alex is curious and smart

Yangshuo, China

- Dutch hostel owner is SO friendly shows everyone her family

- Dutch hostel manager tells me about his travels and plans

- American government employee is obsessed with the Shanghai expo, this guy is not married (because/) and is absolutely unbearable!!! The only one of the 100 people I would NOT like to see again!!!

- Israeli couple and their trip

Macau, China

- Portuguese Carol hosted me and was my friend for 48 hours, being home!

(90) - lawful and interested Joana

- designer Carolina is calm and has many things to say with no rush

- lawyer Hugo works like hell in Macau

- intern Ana (Inov Contacto) is very funny and friendly

- the event manager is the face of the tourism industry in Macau

- Roberto is a young student of the Portuguese school in Macau, speaks perfect Portuguese, Mandarin and English

- Noel plays violin on the street with me and talks about love and authenticity

Hong Kong, China

- French Charles is a calm software geek like me and we talk about neural networks and algorithms, he works with face recognition in surveillance videos in Shanghai

- Singaporean Jedi is doing her graduation trip and meeting some friends, Hong Kong frequently meets Singapore, we talk about Chinese from Singapore versus Chinese from Malaysia living in Singapore

- American Gene is over 60 and teaches English somewhere in China, he can't eat spicy food so he orders, waits, sees the food is spicy and leaves without paying, funny. He tells me his ways of living. He talks as if he was 30!

(100) - Kun is my couchsurfing host in Hong Kong, interesting Australian with Chinese genes with many friends working in finance

- Chinese/American Yimni is "a typical Chinese"! No, he is the funniest Chinese I ever met, his energy and curiosity takes me to the next step

- Rosa is from Hong Kong and works in banking, she doesn't like it

- young couple on the train from GuangZhou to Shanghai who teach me the difference between Shangainese, Cantonese (8 tones) and Mandarin, the technical university in Hong Kong and the field study of intelligent building automation. Domotics.

Shanghai, China

- Even is my host in Shanghai and is hipper friendly!

- Martha is Even's friend: a very funny country girl

- Sean and Kevin are Even's friends that take me out to diner and talk about Chinese Funk and Hard Rock

- French Valentin and Charlie are Even's work colleagues. The first complete sentence I got in the middle of a conversation between two Chinese: "wo bu xi huan fa guo ren" 

- two young Chinese friends who talk about business and life in China. The auto-industry and acrobatics.

Beijing, China

- Theresa, my American host in Beijing is a art teacher and lives in an amazing apartment, the convenience store in front of her apartment looks like a glass box and makes me feel I want to live in China 

(110) - Chinese guy that takes me to a "dating fair", funny and interesting 

Wait, number 111 is looking at me! I am gonna go talk to him! ;-)

Hong Kong

Cheguei a hong kong pela noite e as ruas estavam com a luz do dia reposta pelos holofotes dos anuncios, a gente jovem caminhava pela causeway bay e perto da meia noite as lojas e restaurantes estavam cheios. O hostel era nojento e no dia seguinte parti para uma caminhada atraves de hong kong, os predios ora sao novos e brilhantes ora sao velhos e baços. As lojas de antiguidades e velharias imperam e entre os predios de 40 andares encontro um templo numa rua de escadas. O barco leva-me desta ilha para a peninsula onde ha mais predios novos e velhos e, como em toda a cidade, muita gente. Finalmente a China sobrepovoada.



Ficam duas marcas no inicio de Hong Kong, a comida cantonesa (o Conguee e' uma sopa de peixe com, neste caso, carne de vaca; e a couve com molho doce e' maravilhosa) e os electricos muito estreitos de dois andares.

A Mirador House, ao lado das famosas Chungking Mansions, e' um so predio com 4 blocos. Sao 16 andares com uns 20 apartamentos por andar: 300 casas bem pequenas. Da rua, por fora um aspecto fantastico, por dentro, so visto na saida dos novos elevadores, um predio velho e mal tratado. No centro um espaco vazio que deixa ver de uns andares para os outros. O interessante e' que em cada apartamento, sim, tambem ha aqueles onde vive gente, mas a maioria, sao negocios. Ora guest houses (sao as dezenas), ora restaurantes. A variedade e' grande mas os restaurantes e os emigrantes indianos dominam. Ha' ate' lojas aqui no 15o andar do predio de habitacao convertido.
Na marginal ha um centro cultural, um museu de arte e uma das mais espectaculares vistas do mundo para a skyline de hong kong, longa linha de predios iluminados (foto roubada).

As 10 no pier 9 dock 4 estava a Kun, o Yimin e mais 30 amigos de olhos rasgados. Um iate leva-nos pelos canais fora, entre ilhas. Com vista para a skyline de hong kong, a norte e a sul, predios altos a perder de vista sao, aos poucos, transformados em verde. No destino uma praia onde varios barcos cheios de gente e, com a musica bem alta, fazem festas. Nos outros barcos ha muitos ocidentais, no meu so eu, o indiano de singapura e chineses. A nossa festa foi animada. Toda a gente trabalha com dinheiro: ora traders ora financas ora investment: banqueiros. Bankers que gozam e dizem: "I'm a baker!" ("sou padeiro").


















 (e mais uma ou duas)

O sol ja vai baixo e na ponta do barco a Kun experimenta um charuto bem grande com um indiano de Singapura. Ele faz corridas de porches na Australia. Ela comenta o comportamento de algumas das mulheres: uma ouviu dizer que havia no barco um banker, o indiano. O Yimin, que a acabou de conhecer, indica-lhe quem ele e' e, poucos segundos depois, diz-lhe que e' desempregado; a conversa acaba ali, ela vai falar com o banker que tem um porche. Em volta do barco nadamos e ha quem faca wake board.






Voltamos a Hong Kong, eu, a Kun e o Yimin, e fazemos algo novo para mim, restaurante hopping: entramos num restaurante e pedimos alguns pratos, Comemos, falamos, tiramos fotos da comida e saltamos para outro restaurante onde provamos outras iguarias (so 49 claro :-)). Em Hong Kong  houve comida indiana, tailandesa, catonesa e chinesa, tudo maravilhoso!
Num dos restaurantes partilhamos a mesa com uma familia de quatro: o casal, uma filha adolescente e um rapaz de uns 10 anos. Pedem exactamente os mesmos pratos que nos e parecem felizes. Uma familia feliz que vai jantar fora. Na mesa redonda baixa estamos os 7 apertados a comer hamburger cantonesa. A conversa vai longa quando entramos no restaurante da sobremesa, onde ha gelados e guitarra. Todos gostam de musica.


O bairro onde estamos faz-me lembrar Kuala Lumpur mas a verdade e' que e' o tipico bairro de uma cidade asiatica. A Kun diz que o bairro podia ser de uma cidade japonesa. Tal como em Macau, neste bairro ha muita prostituição e a cada canto motéis com quartos a' hora.

E depois houve minibuses back to the river que o Yimin descreve assim:
"Luis took out his guitar on the minibus we got on. My friend and I started humming and another guy on the bus started tapping his foot. The rain, tapping on the window, participated in our little concert.  "I like this ride, and I don't care where we are going," he says, and I felt the same."


No dia seguinte parto para Shanghai.

(mais algumas fotos de Hong Kong)