Comments on: Entering the Back Gate to the Garden of Shangri-la http://newbohemians.net/garden-of-shangri-la The Life Adventures and Creative Works of Bob and Claire Rogers Sat, 14 Apr 2012 04:54:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Bob Rogers http://newbohemians.net/garden-of-shangri-la/comment-page-1#comment-1793 Bob Rogers Sat, 10 Apr 2010 04:09:49 +0000 http://newbohemians.net/?p=827#comment-1793 Abram, If you have not cycle toured, and tried to keep a blog/site going at the same time, you do not understand that there is precious time and energy left at the end of the day for perfect writing, perfect memory. Certainly I remember more positive than negative in this post, and that reflects the live-in-the-moment person I am, the optimist that I am. I won't apologize for who I am. I do think however that you have not read the entire Shangri-la posting, or you might not have come away with the opinion that I was not looking at the "real" world around me. Read the site, watch the videos, and I think you will see more. Also I felt "watched" while still in China, and reserved a few observations, and one video, for after we had left China. As for not bicycle touring because of cost, that is not an excuse. We live more cheaply per day in Asia than we can living at home. For a four month tour, we spent less, including air fares, than we would have spent living a very frugal life in the inexpensive city of Tucson, AZ. Your excuse is gone. Get on the road and do a better job than I have and I will applaud you. I stand ready to offer any advice, answer any questions you might have about bicycle touring. Abram,
If you have not cycle toured, and tried to keep a blog/site going at the same time, you do not understand that there is precious time and energy left at the end of the day for perfect writing, perfect memory. Certainly I remember more positive than negative in this post, and that reflects the live-in-the-moment person I am, the optimist that I am. I won’t apologize for who I am. I do think however that you have not read the entire Shangri-la posting, or you might not have come away with the opinion that I was not looking at the “real” world around me. Read the site, watch the videos, and I think you will see more. Also I felt “watched” while still in China, and reserved a few observations, and one video, for after we had left China.

As for not bicycle touring because of cost, that is not an excuse. We live more cheaply per day in Asia than we can living at home. For a four month tour, we spent less, including air fares, than we would have spent living a very frugal life in the inexpensive city of Tucson, AZ. Your excuse is gone. Get on the road and do a better job than I have and I will applaud you. I stand ready to offer any advice, answer any questions you might have about bicycle touring.

]]> By: Abram http://newbohemians.net/garden-of-shangri-la/comment-page-1#comment-1777 Abram Thu, 01 Apr 2010 14:23:43 +0000 http://newbohemians.net/?p=827#comment-1777 <i>At least one day was miserable with rain and we cut our day short, rain soaked and freezing, at an unheated roadhouse infested with Mahjongg playing and yelling, day off revelers. <b>But those are not the things we will remember.</b> We will remember the smiling Tibetan greetings of “tashi dele” from every roadside yak camp or a passing motorcycle, laden with bags of grain, and sometimes the whole family. We will remember the hours long climb each day, each switchback revealing new wonders of high meadows and lines of blinding peaks. Then we begin the long descent through rock walled paddocks, friendly villages, and herds of yaks and deep gorges of evergreens, autumn coloring trees and roaring streams.</i> I've enjoyed reading through your site as I also am greatly interested in cycle touring but simply can't afford to. I suppose it's like vicarious touring or window shopping... One thing that bothered me a little, in the quote highlighted above, something I wanted to touch on briefly, is selective memory making. I think it is important to remember both the good and the bad, the idyllic and the flawed. It seems a little like you are trying to preserve or reinforce in your memory a picture-perfect image, a seemingly benign stereotype if you will, of a people and a place. Unless I am misunderstanding, you seem to have essentialised both people and place and wish your memories to conform to your preconceived notions. The noisy Mahjong-playing day-off revellers are as much part of the reality of a time and place and people as the Tibetans smiling and yelling greetings as you pass by. Sorry that my first comment on your site seems critical. I hope it will be viewed as constructive criticism and dialogue. At least one day was miserable with rain and we cut our day short, rain soaked and freezing, at an unheated roadhouse infested with Mahjongg playing and yelling, day off revelers. But those are not the things we will remember. We will remember the smiling Tibetan greetings of “tashi dele” from every roadside yak camp or a passing motorcycle, laden with bags of grain, and sometimes the whole family.

We will remember the hours long climb each day, each switchback revealing new wonders of high meadows and lines of blinding peaks. Then we begin the long descent through rock walled paddocks, friendly villages, and herds of yaks and deep gorges of evergreens, autumn coloring trees and roaring streams.

I’ve enjoyed reading through your site as I also am greatly interested in cycle touring but simply can’t afford to. I suppose it’s like vicarious touring or window shopping…

One thing that bothered me a little, in the quote highlighted above, something I wanted to touch on briefly, is selective memory making. I think it is important to remember both the good and the bad, the idyllic and the flawed. It seems a little like you are trying to preserve or reinforce in your memory a picture-perfect image, a seemingly benign stereotype if you will, of a people and a place. Unless I am misunderstanding, you seem to have essentialised both people and place and wish your memories to conform to your preconceived notions. The noisy Mahjong-playing day-off revellers are as much part of the reality of a time and place and people as the Tibetans smiling and yelling greetings as you pass by.

Sorry that my first comment on your site seems critical. I hope it will be viewed as constructive criticism and dialogue.

]]> By: Richard E. Kelly http://newbohemians.net/garden-of-shangri-la/comment-page-1#comment-985 Richard E. Kelly Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:36:03 +0000 http://newbohemians.net/?p=827#comment-985 Fantastic pictures! Again, thankyou you so much for sharing your passion with us mortals. Fantastic pictures! Again, thankyou you so much for sharing your passion with us mortals.

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