Environment

[fivetrout]

Hello all,

Yesterday while on a skype call with Hong, I tried to explain the concept of camping. I told her...we would go into the mountains of Colorado where the mighty elk roam, where bears sleep in the winter and forage for berry's all summer, and where big cats live by their own rules. I went on to tell her...we will live in a tent, warm ourselves with a fire, eat freshly caught fish, and how our meals will taste better outdoors. As I continued, I said...you will have never breathed air this pure, or inhaled the strong scent of the forest amongst giant granite boulders, or gazed upon a million stars at night such as... she was to witness. Then I really dropped the bomb on her (hehe) I said Hong, there will be days when you will not see a single other person...at all!
OK, so I was attempting to paint her a pictures with words. Most of us here would say, "when do we leave" But, her first words were "is this how we will live?" "I don't want to be food for other animals". I laughed, and said... maybe just on weekends, here and there. She seemed relieved.

As an after thought today, I started thinking. As, I have yet to come to her (Sept) and she has likely always lived in very big cities (Wuhan as present) whether or not, I was sending her a frightening picture? I keep getting this notion of something like... a collective mindset with her emotions if you will, and with her always being amongst so many people, and perhaps that is where her peace and comfort resides...in the masses, in the cities. Is there such a thing? Or, am I really over thinking this? Actually, I am relocating to the Denver area, partly for the Chinese community, but also for the outdoors.

Chris

[JohnB]

For what it is worth. China people think San Francisco. Think New York. Think BEEG cities! I know this now.
Jing thinks poor people live in country. Rich people live in city. Of course we like privacy, quiet, peace of mind...Mother Nature things. We do not like someone else's noise, night time light pollution, congestion, shitty fellow citizens. We like to be left alone.
This is not China.
I live just outside of Coeur d' Alene, Idaho. Very nice area. 10 minutes or so drive from downtown, but it is like a thousand miles from nowhere. Or so it seems to me.
It is fricken lonely if one, like Jing, is used to multitudes of people. China. It does not matter what I think. Jing is alone when I am away. Jing in the wilderness.

This is not her China. Kind of odd. She likes moose the best. Has fun with seeing goofy tom turkeys strutting their stuff. But all is transitory. A diversion.
She says if something wild beast in China, eventually it ends up in someones kitchen. Mother Nature's little critters be damned.
Maybe others easily adapt. The thing about Jing, she is true China. I venture to say it would take her forever to appreciate things just for the sake of it. That is the way it is.
Just my take of it all.
I wish you good life...in the city!

[brett]

A lot of Guangzhou ladies have told me that Baiyun is the countryside. What this just means is that there aren't many buildings over 10 storeys tall  .

Really the place I'm living in is just suburbs, although there's plenty of wildlife that visits my apartment once in a while.

Having lived here for a while now, I don't know how I will cope with sleepy old England. My apartment is next to a road, a highway, it's on the flightpath to the airport, and there's also frogs, birds, cicadas and Cantonese people shouting. Oh, and I live next to a pump factory  .

[maxx]

Each woman is different.But as a general rule.If you live in a village in China.It means you are a farmer and you are poor.Some of the villages I have visited in China is like living in a campground.No electricity.No running water.Kids, dogs,Ducks,chickens All playing in the same mud puddle. So when you mention camping.To a Chinese woman.She sees it just like a Chinese village.And she dam sure doesn't want to go back to the village.

My wife likes the great outdoors.She likes fishing,Hiking,Playing in the water.But at the end of the day.She wants to go home.Have a hot meal,a warm shower.And sleep in her warm bed.With the heater running or the A.C on.And the internet running.At light speed.

My wife doesn't miss the crowds.Or the commotion that goes along with it.We live 10 miles outside of town.On top of a windswept mesa.Most of the time she likes it except when the winds blowing.My wife can walk outside at night and see the stars.And because we own 3/4  of a acre of this windswept mesa.My wife can plant trees and flowers.I installed a fence.And a couple of locking gates.So when the weather is warm.She can let the kids out in the yard to play.So my wife thinks this is great.

Somebody once said a picture is worth a thousand words.And when you and your lady are talking about living outside of China.This is especially true.If she has never ben outside of China.Yes I know she has seen pictures of America.But it is not the same as actually receiving a picture from somebody that she mite be romantically involved with.

Chris if your thinking of moving to Colorado.There is allot better places then Denver to live.Durango,Pagosa springs,Salida,Canon city,Colorado springs.There is three Asian markets in in Colorado springs,which means there has to be a a big Asian community there.Sorry Gerry Denver sucks.Way to many people.With way to much traffic.

[Pineau]

No problem Maxx. I know Denver is getting too big and polluted. I don't live there. I could never live there.  I live north of Denver near the foothills near Longmont. The view outside my house is like a 3D postcard. Longs Peak is only 25 minutes from here and it is nearly always capped with snow.  Fiona loves it here. The cool fresh air, the wildlife, the ducks and geese landing in the lakes around here. It is paradise that she never could imagine. You could show her a book full of pictures but nothing is like actually living here.  Born and raised in Guangzhou she has never seen anything like it. It is starting to become real for her. She tells me every day that America is so beautiful and she loves what I have done for her.
Photos.
The trek up the mountain from Lyons CO.
Estes park
Longmont airport
Ducks flying over behind our house.
Our house at dusk after a day of gardening.
 

[fivetrout]

Maxx, great to hear about Colorado Springs with an Asian market and community. That is where I will interview in two weeks with a company I've been talking with, first choice. I had a beautiful home in Pagosa, but lost my ass with the real estate market collapse there 3 years ago. Been in calif ever since. Eleven Mile and Spinney reservoirs up behind Pikes Peak is calling me! And some Red Rock concerts in the summer.

Nice pics Gerry, and I have an old fly fishing buddy to look up in Longmont.

[shaun]

If I could find a job in Colorado Springs I'd be there in a minute.   Love the place.  Since there is a large Asian community there maybe we should go after I retire in two years.

[maxx]

Nice pictures Gerry.I  worked in Colorado Springs.For 5 years.And grew up in Canon city.I always liked the area.I think I liked Manitue springs the best.it sets right at the base of the rocky mountains.There is lots to do in Colorado springs.You guys have to take your wives to 7 falls at night.It is really cool.

[Willy The Londoner]

You sure those pics were taken in the USA?  I cannot see a McDonalds or KFC sign anywhere. 

Looks a nice place for a quiet seniors life style though.

Willy

[fivetrout]

Quiet? You mean like hunting and fishing? Hows about gold panning? Oh, I know...white water river rafting!

[Pineau]

Hey Willy,  Were not uncivilized.  Arby's, Wendy's, Taco Bell, Fried chicken and McDonald's and a lot more down the road at the truck stop.  But there is damned little of anything else between here and there. Open fields and water fowl is all you will see for miles.

BTW we have a large Asian community here also . Mostly from mainland and Singapore.  And Boulder has many from everywhere.  University of Colorado Boulder has one of the  nations premiere Asian studies departments.  A well kept secret is that Longmont is the birthplace of the hard drive industry. Maxtor, Seagate and MiniScribe and a multitude of now defunct disk drive companies had their beginnings here in Longmont. The nearest Asian market is in Broomfield about 30 minutes away and the H-Mart Korean store is 1 hour away in Denver.

A little Geography lesson. Use Google maps to find Colorado Springs.  You will find highway 25 running north and south the entire length of Colorado. Most of the time it is just to the East of the rocky mountains It is a magnificent view to drive the state from south to north. About 35 miles north of Denver you will see farm land that continues all the way to Wyoming. 

At highway 119 and 25 is the junction for going to Longmont.
2 miles further is highway 66 which crosses east and west along the North of Longmont. Follow it west and you will find the gateway to the Rocky mountain National forest. (Lyons Colorado).  If you continue you will find Estes park a beautiful little community nestled in the mountains and the entrance to the national forest. Continue into the park you will eventually end up on trail ridge road.  This is the path that leads over the mountains to the other side. You will cross what we call the continental divide. The mountain ridges that separate east and western United states.  In all my travels with the exception of Zhanjiajie, I have never seen such natural untouched beauty. 

I moved here to Longmont about 20 years ago. I have left twice, but I always return to these mountains. I don't think I could live anywhere else now. If I were forced to live anywhere else I think I would be very sad. 


 

[Willy The Londoner]

I will say that many parts of the USA look good. It has certainly got things going for it.

But what about the sudden influx of Natural Disasters that seem to becoming more common in all different parts of the USA from Cities like New York to small communities in the plains.

I see yesterday that another small town was decimated in Oklahoma due to natures elements.  My heart goes out to them, in the UK the only disasters on such a scale are normally man made. 

Willy

[Pineau]

Willy , thanks for your condolences for my home state.

I was born and raised in Oklahoma but I would much rather live in Moore OK than anywhere near Wenchuan Sichuan or any of the southern provinces' of China right now.   Its sad to see this happen to anyone civilization, country or culture. Bad things happens everywhere but I don't think mother nature picks on any one in particular. That's just the way the world is put together.

Yes that was a really bad tornado. I think the death toll was 51 and rising. Really horrible but it pales when compared to the earthquakes and floods in China. You know.... the ones that wipe out entire towns and kill tens of thousands every few years.
 
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[Willy The Londoner]

Yes that was a really bad tornado. I think the death toll was 51 and rising. Really horrible but it pales when compared to the earthquakes and floods in China. You know.... the ones that wipe out entire towns and kill tens of thousands every few years.
 

Your probably right which is why I enjoy living as far away from Sichuan as you do from San Franscisco.  Less mountains mean less chance of Earthquakes I believe.

Willy

[brett]

Still a China newbie but I'm still stunned at the ferocity of mother nature here.

Monday night's rainstorm that totalled my shoes recorded 12cm of rain at the local weather station. That's 10% of my former UK town's annual rainfall falling here in a single hour.

I was lucky not to get struck by lightning/hit by an out of control car/washed away. My ex here tells me that there are regular reports of people disappearing during "大暴雨" storms. I only had 400M to walk from the bus stop to home, but water was pouring out from so many places it looked like the set of Titanic.

What's strange is that these violent storms are highly localised. Yesterday there was a bad one in Baiyun, but it wasn't raining at all south of the river.