So after completing some end of 2008 work tasks- e.g. writing an article for the local magazine, it was time to head off traveling again making the most of a visit by a friend from Australia and the winter lull at the park to tick off a few more of China's many interesting sites.
But not before a emphatic final hoorah of the eve of departure- with a Christmas party in our apartment, local Tibetan, Chinese colleague and Chengdu expat friends all in attendance. My roomate Kieran had bought decorations from Chengdu to add to the christmas feel, and along with plenty of booze, snacks and party-day kitchen clambouring, it all seemed in order for a night of feasting, drink and merriment. On the night, our colleagues seemed to overcome their initial awkwardness and even stayed until after 10pm (a record for the apartment) while the tibetans and expats kicked on into the wee hours with darts, drinking games, bare-chested heavy lifting and bizarre cocktails. Our US marine guests, from the consulate in Chengdu, even eventually seemed to relax and enjoy themselves though i and others sensed they bore some mental scars from their tours in Iraq.
My head was thumping madly at 6.25am when i woke up and had to frantically pack my bag for our bus leaving for Chengdu at 7am (luckily i packed enough underwear and able to nick a toothbrush from the hotel in Chengdu...). The 10-hour journey with my friend Sherry seems to have passed in a blur, i think i was still drunk most of the way, as the hungover didnt really strike until the evening (not sure if that's healthy....).
My mission in Chengdu was to buy a nice new camera, as my last camera had mysteriously disappeared from my apartment a couple of weeks earlier. Shopped around and several bus rides and busy electronic markets later i had a beautiful canon 1000D in my hands for the not insignificant price of 4000CNY. For the next week i revelled in my new toy and took pics of many an obscure sight. That clicking shutter sound is just so satisfying....:)
so after 2 nights in Chengdu, i parted ways with my friend Sherry and headed off by 15-hour, hard sleeper train to Xi'an. A pleasant enough journey, i was greeted in the morning upon exiting the station with the sight of the tall, thick and grey city walls and biting cold, encrusted icy ground of Xi'an. After negotiating the touts and peddlers, i started marching the streets until i found a cheap hostel and a private room.
With the city walls, tall tang dynasty pagodas and ancient drum and bell towers all prominent landmarks amongst the modern street and glittering skyscrapers, Xi'an is a city that seems to capture the cliched duality of ancient and modern as well as any other city in China. There's lots to see within the city itself, such as the Muslim quarter markets and great mosque while outside the city are the ornately glorified tombs of a number of ancient emperors, and the world famous terracotta warriors. This is because going back to the Qin until the Tang dynasties it was the capital of China, important city of the world and Eastern terminus of the Silk Road, the city known in those days as Chang-an.
One of the highlights of Xi'an is definitely the Big Goose Pagoda. This Tang Dynasty pagoda, built 1300 years ago, was built to house Buddhist sutras and relics brought back from India by the famous monk Xuanzang. The area around the temple has been developed into a well-planned public space of squares, gardens, cultural relics shopping, old-style architecture, being both grand yet people-friendly, modern & convenient yet with a clear historic feel. At the base of the pagoda is the Xuan Zang temple, will smooth, elegant architecture, numerous prayer halls and colourful mosiacs of the Buddha's life- resembling those one sees in temples of SE Asia rather than usual Chinese temples. Xuanzang's journey to India is the origin of the famous 'Journey to the West' story (remember Monkey & Pigsy...) that i loved to watch on TV in Australia as a child. It really was a sense of 'completing the circle' to come and visit this place, such an important site in the history of Buddhism and China-India relations, a energy centre in the 'spirit of Asia'. I had always been attracted to the Eastern philosophies, stimulated by watching 'monkey' on TV as a child, and much later by living in SE Asia ('Indo-China') for a number of years, i knew this was an important place and was glad the authorities had developed the area to honour those teachings and it's place in human history.
The same day, i visited the Eight immortals temple- dedicated to Taoism and the 8 sacred deities that have developed as part of those teachings over the years. These 8 folks were real people whose feats during life were so renowned that years later they were taken to be immortals and the mythology around them continued to develop. This temple was built in the hope that these immortals, being honoured as such, would use their magical powers to quell the 'subterranean divine thunder' that was menacing Xi'an. We can surmise that this 'divine thunder' must likely relate to the earthquakes that Chang'an experienced during it's history. The most famous of those being a huge quake in 1556 in which the Big goose pagoda, now 7 stories high, was reduced from its previous height of 10 stories by the rumblings. The small goose padoga was also damaged in the same earthquake and its stands unrepaired until today. This timetable also fits in with the age of the temple which was said to be built late in the 16th century.
On my final day in Xi'an i had the chance to make the 34km journey east of the city to the world heritage site of the terracotta warriors, or Bingmayong in Chinese (literally, soldier & horse statues). This place is one of the main tourist attractions of China and draws a huge crowds of locals and foreigners alike. After marching in, dodging the tour guide touts and swifting a student entry ticket, it was time to be somewhat swept away by shoving crowds in the relic museum (see below), before i headed in the 3 pits that display the masterfully clay-moulded relics of ancient China.
Pit 1 is the hugest of the 3, taking up more than 14,000 sqm, and is filled with the remains of more than 6000 warriors, of which more than 1000 have been restored into upright positions in parallel rows, the entire pit encircled by a line of outward facing sentries. The rest of the statues are still buried under the visible original covering of woven mats and wooden beams which have decayed over centuries. As you may have heard, each of the warriors is uniquely sculpted, with differing facial expressions, hair and dress styles, even unique boot treads! This artistic effort is said to have been necessary to create the lifelike reality of human individuals that would then allow the warriors to come to life and accompany the deceased emperor as his armies in the afterlife.
The epic effort required to build these warriors, which are only a sideshow to the main tomb, inside an unexcavated hill nearby (said to contain palaces of treasure, booby traps & rivers of mercury...), is testament to the massive ego of the Qin emperor (and founder of the dynasty) Qin Shi Huang, the authoritiarian system of government that he created (allowing him to amass huge resources for such pet projects) and his profound fear of what awaited him in the afterlife.
The Qin dynasty, though short lived (221-206BC), is very famous for establishing the centralised and bureaucratic state that allowed emperors to control a vast and diverse Chinese Empire, the same style that succeeded on in successive dynasties until modern day. The name Qin is even said to be the origin of the European name 'China' (q is prononced like ch in Chinese), which bears no relation to the Chinese name for themselves 'zhongguo' (middle kingdom).
The smaller pits contain more horses and archers, with the small pit said to be the army headquarters- containing many high-ranking officers distinguished by their elaborate head wear. In the pits themselves it is not possible to get up-close to the statues, but a few on display in cabinets around Pit 2 give some impression of the level of detail the craftsmen created in armour, footwear, hair and beard styles, subtle facial expression and even the nature-like shape of the accompanying horses bodies. Chariot wheels are also visible, and 2 life-size solid bronze chariots complete with horses and drivers (still solid after more than 2000 years) that were excavated nearby are on display in the relic museum.
It was slightly humourous to see, displayed proudly at various strategic locations around the site, info and announcements that proclaim the Terracotta warriors 'said to be' the 'eight wonder of the world'. Maybe this is another one of those lost in translation cultural misunderstandings- Thought it is a wondrous place- but i don't really get how that claim can mean anything unless we are told- by whom was this said???... which of course they don't! Could have been any random schmo in which case why are they quoting them here...And many others could make this claim.. I'd guess the Chinese were a little miffed at being left out of the traditional 7-wonders, and this is a quiet rebellion.. As a marketing technique i'm not sure if that grandstanding style will work so well on the more sophisticated western tourists as it does for the Chinese tour group masses.... Did i mention the bustling mosh pit in the relic museums (hav a look my photos on facebook to check it out- not much chance for scholarly appreciation while getting shoved around- no.1 rule- don't be shy to shove back).
This post seems to be long enough!
Next time (not so long to wait) i'll describe the much fun bar-hopping and lantern launching events of New Years in Xi'an and the unfortunate deft-handed criminal attack of which i was a victim just b4 departing the city, before moving on to the sights and smells of the journey to and exploration of the vast 10+ million city of Chongqing.....
Monday, December 22, 2008
Friday, December 5, 2008
Living in a Fridge
My bones are beginning to shake. The cold chilling me to my depths. Relentless, pervasive, icy cold, i am getting to understand why animals go into hibernation.
It is literally as if i am living in a fridge. And this is only the first taste of winter. Soon it will be like living in a freezer. The night-time temperature at the moment goes down to about -7 celcius, daytime somewhere in single figures. Ive been told to expect days where the maximum is -10 celcius. Brrrrhhhh. The icicles forming in the streams are attractive, but its hard to appreciate when theres no apartment heating as a refuge from the bone-chilling cold. My hands and feet, fingers and toes feel it the most, despite having Scottish roots, as with my father, ive been cursed with poor circulation (maybe from living in the tropics as a toddler??), and extremities are usually numb and clumsy to use.
The weather's just not like this in Australia, (im a bronzed aussie!) and apart from few brief visits to the snow i've never spent much time in such an icy climate, so this a new experience for me. Fingers crossed find the will to survive and am not forced into hibernation or retreat down from the mountains and towards the equator.
And we have no heating in our apartment. We are still waiting to hear from management on that one, after we wrote a request to the director more than a month ago. OK. so since i wrote this draft we had had heating installed, what a relief! But still, whenever i go outside, the tendrils of icy air penetrate through my clothing and against my skin. 2 days ago i climbed a nearby mountain, from here at 1900m up to 3350m along a steep & narrow track, for some great mountains views. But along the way, when on the shady side of the mountain and facing the breeze i had the strange sensation of painfully burning numbness in my fingers as my nerves struggled against the elements. Sweating profusely and feeling numbed cold extremities at the same time is a strange sensation. I had hoped to one day climb Mt Everest, but this experience makes me suspect that id be almost guaranteed to lose some fingers and toes to frostbite in the experience.
All this makes me gain a deeper respect for the Tibetan people, as i wonder how they can possibly survive the cold winters, even at elevations much higher than this. Around here in many places the remains of bare terraced hillsides and tumbled earthen buildings indicate the historic location of Tibetan people's villages, all of them high up on the hillsides above the valley bottom, riverside location of towns and villages today. It seems the Tibetans had a preference for the higher places despite the cold, wind and inconvenience.
Nowadays these local guys are quite handy basketballers. A major way i get exercise is to bicycle down to the local courts and shoot hoops with these friendly enthusiastic young tibetans, who play ball in there spare time out from performing as singers and dancers in cultural shows. Except it can only be done in the midday hours when the sun is shining otherwise the cold wouldnt permit me to take off my gloves in order to shoot!
Other than that, my days are passing along steadily, keeping a bit to myself when english speaking colleagues are away, reading books and trying to improve my chinese. The marketing department has given me a few tasks of late- gathering research and report writing. The marketing department head is an interesting local tibetan guy who spent four years studying in Australia, and this experience shows through in his attitude to the job. Its interesting to hear of how his business innovation is obstructed by the conservative-socialist, power-games of park administration politics.
It was recently the 30th birthday of the national park (shortly followed by the 30th anniversary of China opening-up reform beginning) and the administration put on a big show with colourful dancing and singing, and the officials lining up to give communist-praising speeches. I passed on an offer to join the heavy drinking parties of the top park directors and politicians, including the Sichuan governor, feeling tired after a massive mountain climb. Fortunately i wasnt asked to sing an Australian song for the birthday show, though i had downloaded the lyrics just in case.
Instead a reporter from Sichuan Television asked me to give an interview to talk about my job at the park, so i was whisked off into the park for a in-situ filming, tried to use the chance to spread the conservation message while describing ecotourism to viewers....
Its nearing the festive season, my roomates have planned an Xmas gathering of various folks from Chengdu up here at the park- should be times of merriment, then im gonna head off travelling for 10 days or so with a chinese friend from Australia to some interesting places- Luoyang buddhist caves and maybe further south....
So Merry Xmas and Happy New Year to everyone
May you all enjoy the both physical and emotional warmth of festive season in Australia, and wish me luck to survive these icy times in outback western china
Cheers
callum
It is literally as if i am living in a fridge. And this is only the first taste of winter. Soon it will be like living in a freezer. The night-time temperature at the moment goes down to about -7 celcius, daytime somewhere in single figures. Ive been told to expect days where the maximum is -10 celcius. Brrrrhhhh. The icicles forming in the streams are attractive, but its hard to appreciate when theres no apartment heating as a refuge from the bone-chilling cold. My hands and feet, fingers and toes feel it the most, despite having Scottish roots, as with my father, ive been cursed with poor circulation (maybe from living in the tropics as a toddler??), and extremities are usually numb and clumsy to use.
The weather's just not like this in Australia, (im a bronzed aussie!) and apart from few brief visits to the snow i've never spent much time in such an icy climate, so this a new experience for me. Fingers crossed find the will to survive and am not forced into hibernation or retreat down from the mountains and towards the equator.
And we have no heating in our apartment. We are still waiting to hear from management on that one, after we wrote a request to the director more than a month ago. OK. so since i wrote this draft we had had heating installed, what a relief! But still, whenever i go outside, the tendrils of icy air penetrate through my clothing and against my skin. 2 days ago i climbed a nearby mountain, from here at 1900m up to 3350m along a steep & narrow track, for some great mountains views. But along the way, when on the shady side of the mountain and facing the breeze i had the strange sensation of painfully burning numbness in my fingers as my nerves struggled against the elements. Sweating profusely and feeling numbed cold extremities at the same time is a strange sensation. I had hoped to one day climb Mt Everest, but this experience makes me suspect that id be almost guaranteed to lose some fingers and toes to frostbite in the experience.
All this makes me gain a deeper respect for the Tibetan people, as i wonder how they can possibly survive the cold winters, even at elevations much higher than this. Around here in many places the remains of bare terraced hillsides and tumbled earthen buildings indicate the historic location of Tibetan people's villages, all of them high up on the hillsides above the valley bottom, riverside location of towns and villages today. It seems the Tibetans had a preference for the higher places despite the cold, wind and inconvenience.
Nowadays these local guys are quite handy basketballers. A major way i get exercise is to bicycle down to the local courts and shoot hoops with these friendly enthusiastic young tibetans, who play ball in there spare time out from performing as singers and dancers in cultural shows. Except it can only be done in the midday hours when the sun is shining otherwise the cold wouldnt permit me to take off my gloves in order to shoot!
Other than that, my days are passing along steadily, keeping a bit to myself when english speaking colleagues are away, reading books and trying to improve my chinese. The marketing department has given me a few tasks of late- gathering research and report writing. The marketing department head is an interesting local tibetan guy who spent four years studying in Australia, and this experience shows through in his attitude to the job. Its interesting to hear of how his business innovation is obstructed by the conservative-socialist, power-games of park administration politics.
It was recently the 30th birthday of the national park (shortly followed by the 30th anniversary of China opening-up reform beginning) and the administration put on a big show with colourful dancing and singing, and the officials lining up to give communist-praising speeches. I passed on an offer to join the heavy drinking parties of the top park directors and politicians, including the Sichuan governor, feeling tired after a massive mountain climb. Fortunately i wasnt asked to sing an Australian song for the birthday show, though i had downloaded the lyrics just in case.
Instead a reporter from Sichuan Television asked me to give an interview to talk about my job at the park, so i was whisked off into the park for a in-situ filming, tried to use the chance to spread the conservation message while describing ecotourism to viewers....
Its nearing the festive season, my roomates have planned an Xmas gathering of various folks from Chengdu up here at the park- should be times of merriment, then im gonna head off travelling for 10 days or so with a chinese friend from Australia to some interesting places- Luoyang buddhist caves and maybe further south....
So Merry Xmas and Happy New Year to everyone
May you all enjoy the both physical and emotional warmth of festive season in Australia, and wish me luck to survive these icy times in outback western china
Cheers
callum
Thursday, December 4, 2008
'Thick Face Black Heart' cultural contrasts
Since being in China it is been dawning on me how fundamentally different the commonly held views of propriety, behaviour and morality are here from what i have learn and adapted to in 24 years of life. I have sensed this difference before, a little uncomfortably, when travelling in China temporarily, but now im settling down here for a while i feel a need to organize my thoughts on the matter to be more clear. So ive started reading books and considering the subject more deeply.
Though Chinese culture is obviously deep, complex and diverse, some of the essential differences seems to me able be summarized in a contrast between such values of good/evil expressed through Christianity vs Taoism. In Christianity (both protestantism and catholicism) the search for goodness and heaven is about a struggle with our inner demons, a battle to overcome and repress the dark side of our own nature as something inherently evil and despicable. Therefore acting more generous, pious and friendly, hiding the negative or even neutral emotions, is socially desirable is western culture. I strongly remember some lessons grandmother taught me- 'if you dont have anything good to say, then dont say anything at all', 'ALWAYS say please and thankyou' she taught.
But China's Taoism- going back to the oracle bones and hexagrams of the Shang and Zhou dynasties 3-4000 years ago- has always been about balance of opposites. Balance of the essential (and indissoluble) forces, both yin & yang, light and dark is the stated goal. Flowing in harmony with the waxing and waning of these opposing energies is seen as the way to success. Ignoring or repressing the naturally occurring negativity is seen as futile, and instead they should be harnessed, utilized for motivation and effectiveness in reaching our goals. They would that the negativity- aggressiveness, jealousy, envy are necessary for the positives to exist and be perceived. Therefore people don't feel such a need to act nice. After overcoming initial dissonance against this, i can't say whether this is good or bad. As the Vietnam War-'maddened' (yet brilliant) colonel in the classic movie said when referring to why the US wasn't winning the war; 'What kills us is Judgment'- this i think gets to a core of east-west cultural contrast - we Westerners have a tendency to want to judge things as good or bad. Asians less so. This may disadvantage us.
Author Ching Ning Chiu summarizes some of these contrasts in her book Thick Face, Black Heart. This is one of the culture-related books i ordered in preparation for an extended stay in China. Ning Chiu is a taiwanese/american who nows interprets asian culture to the west. Does for business culture what bruce lee did for kung fu. She discusses various strategies and motivation techniques- drawing upon the ancient wisdom of confucius, lao tzu and also many hindu scriptures- with quotes at begining of each chapter. The general message is- we need to be able to be deaf to criticism (thick face) and measuredly ruthless (black heart) in order to gain success in life, even if our goals are noble.
Some of her quips i am instinctively opposed to - such as the flat statement that a state must have a strong military in order to have peace. I see a vicious-cycle of suspicion (arms race) developing here instead....
Anyway there is alot of insightful advice given, and it strips away at some of the false appearances of 'niceness' that we make in conformity with convention, while opening paths of behavioural strategies for those with deeper noble intentions who dont wish to be constricted by conventional christian morality.
The book title is based on a treatise written in 19th century by an obscure official in southern China named Lee Zhong Wu. This book describes the methods by which men obtain and how they hold onto power: how and to what lengths they use their power and wealth to accumulate more power and wealth. Apparently It was an all too truthful description of the prevailing political culture in China. Some of it reinforces comments i made earlier about the hierarchy of officialdom here in the park administration.
The observations describe 'Six ways to Obtain an Official Position'- including flattery, bribery, threats and single-mindedness. 'Six ways to keep an official position' include bowing and scraping before your superiors (especially ensure that the 2nd wives of superiors like you!); being imperious- haughty and disdainful, unapproachable; being ruthless (while maintaining a virtuous image); and being stubborn, self-centered and self-interested. He also mentions the importance of avoiding accountability for your actions and making your actions seem much more important than they really are.
Other notes include 'the twos types of foreign policy- the thug and the prostitute'- e.g. professing undying love to all parties, while also brutally beating victims into submission with whatever weapons are available.
He also interesting claimed: 'A husbands fear of his wife is as natural as the heavens and the earth. It is the Universal Truth', and said that a man rises in the world exactly to the same degree that he fears his wife- by conducting his life properly in order to please her.
I also read Ching-ning Chiu's book 'Do Less, Achieve More', to help prepare to come to China. It presented many psychological concepts of work and effort in an original way, to show how we are probably trying to hard. Just let things happen naturally and take what you want, she seems to imply. Worth a read.
On another note entirely, last night we had the first snowfalls of the winter outside my apartment (1st precipation for more than a month). Nice to wake up to a white carpet.....
And now im planning some post xmas travels around various parts of china. Feel like im in 'trainspotting' the way im reading train schedules for hours... Theres lots of trains in China and i expect to do a 3000km loop to Xi'an, Kaifeng, Luoyang, Changsha, Guiyang, Chongqing, and back to Chengdu... should be fun! Next time i'll share some stories of these adventures....
Very Merry Christmas to all folks
and Happy New Year (may our resolutions succeed!)
much love from
Callum
Though Chinese culture is obviously deep, complex and diverse, some of the essential differences seems to me able be summarized in a contrast between such values of good/evil expressed through Christianity vs Taoism. In Christianity (both protestantism and catholicism) the search for goodness and heaven is about a struggle with our inner demons, a battle to overcome and repress the dark side of our own nature as something inherently evil and despicable. Therefore acting more generous, pious and friendly, hiding the negative or even neutral emotions, is socially desirable is western culture. I strongly remember some lessons grandmother taught me- 'if you dont have anything good to say, then dont say anything at all', 'ALWAYS say please and thankyou' she taught.
But China's Taoism- going back to the oracle bones and hexagrams of the Shang and Zhou dynasties 3-4000 years ago- has always been about balance of opposites. Balance of the essential (and indissoluble) forces, both yin & yang, light and dark is the stated goal. Flowing in harmony with the waxing and waning of these opposing energies is seen as the way to success. Ignoring or repressing the naturally occurring negativity is seen as futile, and instead they should be harnessed, utilized for motivation and effectiveness in reaching our goals. They would that the negativity- aggressiveness, jealousy, envy are necessary for the positives to exist and be perceived. Therefore people don't feel such a need to act nice. After overcoming initial dissonance against this, i can't say whether this is good or bad. As the Vietnam War-'maddened' (yet brilliant) colonel in the classic movie said when referring to why the US wasn't winning the war; 'What kills us is Judgment'- this i think gets to a core of east-west cultural contrast - we Westerners have a tendency to want to judge things as good or bad. Asians less so. This may disadvantage us.
Author Ching Ning Chiu summarizes some of these contrasts in her book Thick Face, Black Heart. This is one of the culture-related books i ordered in preparation for an extended stay in China. Ning Chiu is a taiwanese/american who nows interprets asian culture to the west. Does for business culture what bruce lee did for kung fu. She discusses various strategies and motivation techniques- drawing upon the ancient wisdom of confucius, lao tzu and also many hindu scriptures- with quotes at begining of each chapter. The general message is- we need to be able to be deaf to criticism (thick face) and measuredly ruthless (black heart) in order to gain success in life, even if our goals are noble.
Some of her quips i am instinctively opposed to - such as the flat statement that a state must have a strong military in order to have peace. I see a vicious-cycle of suspicion (arms race) developing here instead....
Anyway there is alot of insightful advice given, and it strips away at some of the false appearances of 'niceness' that we make in conformity with convention, while opening paths of behavioural strategies for those with deeper noble intentions who dont wish to be constricted by conventional christian morality.
The book title is based on a treatise written in 19th century by an obscure official in southern China named Lee Zhong Wu. This book describes the methods by which men obtain and how they hold onto power: how and to what lengths they use their power and wealth to accumulate more power and wealth. Apparently It was an all too truthful description of the prevailing political culture in China. Some of it reinforces comments i made earlier about the hierarchy of officialdom here in the park administration.
The observations describe 'Six ways to Obtain an Official Position'- including flattery, bribery, threats and single-mindedness. 'Six ways to keep an official position' include bowing and scraping before your superiors (especially ensure that the 2nd wives of superiors like you!); being imperious- haughty and disdainful, unapproachable; being ruthless (while maintaining a virtuous image); and being stubborn, self-centered and self-interested. He also mentions the importance of avoiding accountability for your actions and making your actions seem much more important than they really are.
Other notes include 'the twos types of foreign policy- the thug and the prostitute'- e.g. professing undying love to all parties, while also brutally beating victims into submission with whatever weapons are available.
He also interesting claimed: 'A husbands fear of his wife is as natural as the heavens and the earth. It is the Universal Truth', and said that a man rises in the world exactly to the same degree that he fears his wife- by conducting his life properly in order to please her.
I also read Ching-ning Chiu's book 'Do Less, Achieve More', to help prepare to come to China. It presented many psychological concepts of work and effort in an original way, to show how we are probably trying to hard. Just let things happen naturally and take what you want, she seems to imply. Worth a read.
On another note entirely, last night we had the first snowfalls of the winter outside my apartment (1st precipation for more than a month). Nice to wake up to a white carpet.....
And now im planning some post xmas travels around various parts of china. Feel like im in 'trainspotting' the way im reading train schedules for hours... Theres lots of trains in China and i expect to do a 3000km loop to Xi'an, Kaifeng, Luoyang, Changsha, Guiyang, Chongqing, and back to Chengdu... should be fun! Next time i'll share some stories of these adventures....
Very Merry Christmas to all folks
and Happy New Year (may our resolutions succeed!)
much love from
Callum
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