PHOTOS!

Here is the link to our Flikr group page where we're pooling our photos. Enjoy!

http://www.flickr.com/groups/1106139@N21/pool/

Wrap Up

Fini! Well almost...

Tuesday I'm going to create a Picassa Album for all of the travelers to load our photos up to. I will put a link on here so all can see. I'm also going to be putting up some more pictures in the blog itself, just to give what's already been written a helping hand.

Thank you again to all those that read along! (Especially, to other International Crew parents around the world!) What an amazing week.... I hope you enjoy the pictures to come. Now, it's finally time for bed.

My very best,

Ed

Day 6: Finals, Hot Pot, and Pandas

While this note will be posted sometime Monday night, I write this
sitting on a plane some 30,000 odd feet in the sky while making my way
back to the U.S. To put it in perspective, we passed over Siberia
just a bit ago. The trip has come to an end. While each day seemed
to last forever, it is as if we left New York yesterday.

Before I begin this conclusion, I want to thank everyone for their
warm responses to this account of our trip to Chengdu. For all of us,
it was our first trip to China and I know I speak for the group in
saying it was truly amazing. It was an honor to be able to help
document it in even this slightest of ways. When I get home, I'll be
creating a Picassa album available online so everyone can see the
extent of the photos taken by all of us.

I also want to thank Peter Graves. A little over a month ago, at the
Trinity v. Princeton race, Pete came up to us and asked if we could go
to China for free to race, would we want to do it. All of us were
shocked and most doubted it would become a reality. Yet here I am,
following a great circle over the North Pole, returning home from the
far east. Without Peter, this trip would not have happened.

On to the last account....

Our final day began with the finals of the regatta. Again there were
swarms of people lining the shores. In the boat area, the oarsmen
made their final preparations while the Dragon Boatmen relaxed waiting
for their final event.

The A final was made up by Peking University, Trinity, Otago
University, and University of Sydney (from left to right in the
lanes). Rowing up to the line, the Sydney six man broke his foot
stretchers, slightly delaying the start. The officials got the matter
fixed and all crews were poised to go. The air was one of
excitement. Every oarsman sat at this start line literally in the
middle of China because of his love for rowing. That love managed to
carry us to a new land which gave so much to us over the past week.
Here we were at the culmination, and everyone was ready to give their
all.

They polled the crews, and it was "Attention, go!". Only so much can
happen in less than three minutes. The race was both quick and
intense. Otago and Sydney jumped off the start. We held on, along
with Peking, for a bit, but Otago and Sydney were strong and powered
ahead. As they did, we increased our lead over China, but could not
catch the two lead crews. In the end, Otago took the gold, followed
by Sydney, ourselves, and Peking.

Once back on shore we stretched and recovered for a bit. All the
teams made the rounds amongst eachother, going from one area to the
next passing along congratulations, trading some kit, and sharing some
beers in celebration of a terrific end to the week.

The lot of us made our way to the grand stands to watch another round
of Drunken Wet Duck catching. Some even were able to try their hand
at it! Peter, as our team leader, accepted an award for our third
place finish. Right now it's sitting in the overhead compartment
above me, waiting to be delivered to the Trinity boathouse. I highly
recommend taking a look at it next time you pass through Hartford.

Now just past noon, the remainder of the day was slated for two of
Chengdu's finest attractions. Hot Pot and Pandas. Hot pot is sort of
the Sichuan version of fondu. A large pot, with a smaller separate
containment space in its center, is placed in the middle of the table
on a burner. The outer area has a traditional spicy broth/sauce,
while the inner circle has a non-spicy version.

To give you an idea of what is spicy in Sichuan, one of the spices
they use is called ma. On Saturday I bought a handful of it in an
open air market not terribly far off from el Mercado Central in
Valencia (this one is just more portable). Its texture and look is
that of a peppercorn, but when chewed you experience a buzzing of the
tongue and a combination of flavor and aura which stays with you for a
good fifteen minutes, enhancing anything you eat thereafter. Not for
the faint of heart, but quite delicious.

To dip in our pots, they brought us what can only be described as a
feast. Platter after platter of dumplings, raw meats, and oddities.
All were adventurous and very tasty. The afternoon went on, with the
food and beer flowing. With the Chinese, toasts are cherished and
frequent throughout any meal. "Gan bei!" roughly meaning "dry cup" is
a standard. Adopting the "when in rome..." mentality, the teams
closed in on one another, toasting to any and all. The dining hall, a
swarm of cheers and toasts and singing, was a sight to be seen.

After finally gathering everyone back onto the busses. We made our way
to see Pandas! The ride was about an hour and a half, and given our
raucous lunch, high spirits, and continuing thirst, there were many,
many laughs to be had.

Visiting the Pandas a true treat for all of us as originally we were
told it wouldn't be able to happen because of the earthquake. The
facility in Chengdu is the largest Panda breading center in the
world. They have a number of pandas there which were just amazing to
watch.

It was Geordie however, who seized the day. He had the most unique
opportunity of actually holding a panda cub (video to come). Sitting
in Geordie's arms, the cub was very docile, laying back and enjoying
being scratched, petted, and having his feet massaged (not to mention
the apple he was eating). According to the Panda Whisperer, aka
Geordie, the cub was surprisingly light, with an estimated fluff to
body weight ratio of 65%.

I cannot think of a greater conclusion to the trip than the bus ride
back from Chengdu to Xinjin. It was the last cornerstone in creating
a brief yet full vision of China. Over the course of the week we had
seen so much. From the wealthy to the beggars, the city sprawl to the
sweeping farmland, the insanity of the drivers to the generosity of
the people. On our bus ride back, we caught a glimpse of China's path
yet to come.

Leaving the fully developed part of central Chengdu and beginning to
reenter the countryside, we started to see numerous developments.
Within an hour and a half of driving we passed, at the very least,
five-hundred buildings at various points of construction. Think of co-
op city outside of New York only 100 times larger. In the distance,
the setting sun approached the horizon, colors amplified by the slight
haze of pollution and humidity. In awe of the massive push for
development, we talked about China's vision and what could possibly be
in store, as well as the effects that it could have on the Earth if we
all continue to follow that same path indefinitely.

Results:

1st- NZL
2nd- AUS
3rd- USA
4th- CHN

A truly great day. Hot pot and pandas next...

The course. We're one hour before race time right now.

Trinity, New Zealand, Australia, China.

Something to realize is that Trinity is known and respected even on
the other side of the world. I had a great chat with one of the
Aussies who rowed with Washington and raced us in 2007 at Windemere
(and then won IRA's). He had nothing but good things to say. Winning
the heat yesterday cemented this.

It is through all Trinity Oarsmen's passion for rowing that we are
here right now. Good hunting.

~Ed

Day 5: The Longhu Cup Heats

(We're the far lane. Photo by Nadia Zahran)

Just a few details as Gary did a fantastic job describing the day....

The results of the heats are as follows:

Distance: 1k

Heat 1

1) New Zealand (Otago University) 2:48

2) Australia (Sydney University) 2:53

3) China (Tsinghou University)

4) Italy (Milan University

Heat 2

1) USA (Trinity College) 2:54

2) China (Peking University) 2:56

3) Denmark (University of Copenhagan)

4) USA (Yale University)

NOTE: I will post specific times when I have them.

Heats and Ducks

Many thanks to Ed for keeping our readers up with the news here in China.

Today has been a simply amazing day. After another marvelous
breakfast prepared by the hotel, we loaded the bus and headed to the
race course. Our police escort broke through a sea of people and we
eventually made it to the "main event" at the water sports center.
Nearly the entire town was in attendance. The sun was shining
brightly and there were very few clouds. Giant Chinese lanterns and
hot air balloons filled the clear sky. Our hosts told us that many of
the dogs in Chengdu bark at the sun because they very rarely see it
through the clouds.

The opening ceremonies were simply breathtaking. Fireworks, smoke,
thousands of doves, and flying parachutes all saturated the atmosphere
and led to an extraordinary morning of racing.

(Trinity and Peking University. Photo by Nadia Zahran)

Now to the racing: After a rapid fire mix of Chinese and English the
starting command was shouted and the flag dropped. The boats were
off. In what was a very short, very aggressive race, the Trinity 8
pulled through and won the prelim. We will be representing the United
States in the Grand Final tomorrow (Sunday) morning.

After our vicious race we were encouraged to observe the dragon boat
races and other festivities of the morning. Perhaps the most
entertaining of the festivities was what I would like to title "The
Duck Hunt." Hundreds of ducks were thrown from a fast moving speed
boat into the water. Surrounding the speed boat were nearly 30 dragon
boat teams. We assumed that the objective was to capture as many
ducks as possible. Grown men were seen diving into the water after
the ducks. I believe we have many photos and, in fact, a few videos
to show just how crazy this tradition was.

We have all returned to the hotel and will be resting this afternoon /
evening in preparation for the Final tomorrow. Thank you all for your
support in following us on this truly amazing trip to China and many
thanks to our hosts.

Pleasant dreams to all of our readers in the US.

Gary Moffat C'08

A second note...

It would be selfish to limit these pages and posts to just me, so you will see others and their thoughts on here as well. Just look for the signature beneath each to see who the scribe is. While every post will say "Posted by Edward Slater on..." underneath, the signature will be the true author. If you don't see a signature, it's me.

The Dogs of Chengdu are Barking, but not at the Sun!

Up to this point Ed has been doing an excellent job keeping the blog fresh with our many adventures in China. That being said I thought that a different perspective might be fun (also I know it will keep him awake at night fretting about what libelous filth I will pen!). Also this would have been posted yesterday but I have been informed other oarsmen are stealing all the bandwidth....

Tonight we were the centerpiece of an absolutely amazing concert/performance put on by our Chinese hosts. The scope and scale of the extravaganza were well beyond anything the team was expecting! The festivities opened with an amazing performance by approximately every child in a ten mile radius. As they banged away on a wide assortment of drums we lined up and were shortly thereafter were paraded onto stage with the 7 other rowing teams.

Soon thereafter the performances began in earnest. It was different to say the least. We bore witness to amazing dancing and unique singers. As we were very close to the stage we found ourselves staring down a speaker bank that was several stories high. While this likely allowed the members of the audience sitting nearly half a mile away from the stage to hear it meant that our hair was being tossed in the wind generated by the speaker subs! The performances were amazing and included a magnificent bit of opera from the Italian team and two Haka's performed by the oarsmen of New Zealand. That being said at hour 3 (as a motley crew of 4 gentlemen who struck you as a rural Chinese version of the Back Street Boys was performing their second number) we were informed that we had just passed the half way mark!

As a rower the whole experience was completely surreal. We were being applauded by thousands of spectators (none of whom were our parents!), and we were beset by a constant stream of people hoping to get either autographs or pictures. So a pretty standard day of fame, fortune, and adoration, which is really the hallmark of rowing. Be assured that our adoring fans all got their autographs as the Trinity oarsmen were very obliging in sharing their time with our gracious hosts. That's all for now.

-MG

Just a note...

Please take a moment to cycle through some of the old posts as I have updated, edited, added pictures or just plain corrected mistakes of mine (ie... Chinese is read left-right not right to left, which I knew but still got wrong. Blame it on the jet-lag.)

Our thanks to all of you for following along!

Day 4: The Opening Ceremonies

What we originally thought was a small ceremony being held at a middle school turned into this. The entire ceremony was 3+ hours with a wide range of Chinese performances, of both classic and modern styles, as well as performances by some of the international teams (NZ performed the Haka, the traditional Maori dance).

There were hundreds of performers and thousands of spectators. We all could not be more thankful of our Chinese hosts. A very proud moment for Trinity College.

A shot from the course this morning.
The crowds (background) were so thick that we could barely get to the
boat area.

Yesterday afternoon they put on the name of our boat.
From left to right it reads: "Dragon Lake - Trinity College - United
States"

Day 3: All Hands On

Good morning from China!

I truly can't believe we only have 3 days left. What is more shocking is that our time here, and everything our hosts have squeezed into it, has only been three days. While at times it may seem that we're a bit constricted by the schedule, our hosts have been amazingly generous and are trying to squeeze in as much as they possibly can into the time we have.

Yesterday, we got a solid two practices in. With 14 rowers here, we made sure that everyone had time in the boat. The setup at the course is almost fully complete. It looks like something between Henley and the Olympics. There are huge grandstands setup and the length of the course (though because of the haze one cannot see from one end to the other) is lined with huge banners in Chinese, mostly advertising the city. I asked our translator what she thought of an event of this size (and thus costing so much money) being put on in a city that seems like it needs direct revitalization. She explained that the hope is that this event, The 2009 Xinjin Water City International University Rowing Show and Dragon Boat Festival (for reference), will attract international companies and greater Chinese companies to come into Chengdu to develop. To give you an idea of the scale, they want it to have the same effect the Olympics had for Beijing.

In between the practices however... we were able to take part in one of the city's cultural signatures: MASSAGES!

Our guides took us to a local massage house. Quite grand in scale on the inside, they lead us upstairs and separated us into rooms. Most of us sat five to a room, some of us... well, I'll get to that in a minute.

Chengdu is known for it's massages. It's intertwined into their laid back culture. We were told that our experience with Chengdu's masseuses was just going be a foot massage. This idea became hour long foot massages. The end result however, was an hour and a half foot and full body massage. And all for 80 RMB (about 11 dollars US).

I can only speak to the 5 of us in my massage room, but the masseuses were amazing. The foot massage by itself was more than worth the 80. Some people being more ticklish than others squirmed all over the place. Others, who had a man as their masseuse, squirmed for other reasons. At points of the massage, the masseuses were whispering and talking about us. This at times had to do with the fact that we were laughing ourselves. Others because everyone here seems to be amazed at Matt being Chinese and not actually speaking Chinese. And others because of Sam's large feet (which may or may not have required a man with a steel box to come in and assist for a moment).

Brack and Peter's experience was slightly different. They shared a room and were first changed into comfortable "massage clothes," which according to Peter were like undersized tighty-whities. What followed was something in the air of Cirque-du-Soleil where Peter and Brack were bent into various pretzel like formations and then bent, prodded, and flung into the air.

In the end, some left in love, some left violated, but all of us left satisfied from the experience.

Just a note.... Posting Day 3 tonight or tomorrow morning. Incredible would be an understatement. Tomorrow is the opening ceremonies of the event and tonight we had the rehearsal. It is going to be out of this world. True China fashion. Thousands of people in attendance, 100's of performers.... More to come.

Oh, and courtesy of Geordie, let me present the new Rat Pack.

Day 2: Charge Up The Atmosphere!

They say "A Sichuan dog will bark at the sun."

Another day, another grey sky. The humid nature of the province results in a completely cloudy sky and limited visibility every day and thus, if the sun does decide to shine down uninhibited, dogs will be quite confused.

The morning started off as the last. We piled onto the bus (this time with Sydney University) after breakfast and took off from the hotel. Our destination: the Leshan Buddha, the largest carved Buddha in the world standing at 71 meters. The 2 hour drive to Leshan was eye-opening.

Once away from ChengDu, we entered sweeping farm land covered mostly in the Chinese variety of wheat. Instead of the heavy machinery you may see in the midwest, individual farmers toil the land. Even just driving by on the adjoining highway, one can see the the effort and care they put into their work.

Before arriving in Leshan, we made a stop at a tea "museum". The museum, as it turned out, was just a fancy store with many different varieties of teas, kettles, and candies. The only reason I mention the stop is because the service was the complete opposite of anything in the States. Upon entering, one of the women working there literally followed me around the store, not to bug me to purchase something however, but to very quietly wait to get me whatever I would like. There were moments when she would literally scurry around gathering this or that for me to look at. For a moment I thought I had just found someone unique, but looking around I soon realized that all the employees truly wanted to help their customers in the same fashion.

Making the rest of our way from the tea "museum" to the Leshan Buddha, our guides decided they needed to "Charge up the atmosphere" as our translator called it, and started to have a "singing party." Jon Ford, through no choice of his own, started it off, followed by Brack with the whole team as backup, serenading our translator with "You've lost that loving feeling." (video to come) The Sydney guys got into it as well, along with our guides themselves! Nothing like some Chinese love songs to make a 2 hour bus ride go oh so much faster.

After arriving and eating lunch, we made our way to the Buddha.

The whole area was quite impressive. The Buddha is carved into the face of a mountain. "The mountain is the Buddha and the Buddha is the mountain." All along the walk ways and in the caves are very intricate smaller Buddhas and other holy Buddhist figures along with various writings. The path takes you from the opposite side of the mountain, up above his head and then down along his side via a long and narrows stair carved in the stone.

Climbing down you start to realize his sheer size and the undertaking it must have been to create him. You wind up standing at his feet, caught between his sheer size and the raging river behind you (think the current at stone bridge times during flooding conditions x 100).

It must be said that after leaving the Buddha, we were surrounded by a swarm of locals selling what one could only call chotchkies. One of the things you could purchase was time with two monkeys! Of course... I just had to. Most of us are hoping I didn't catch something. Some think it would add to the trip....

Pretty wiped from the climbing and jet-lag, our bus took us to another part of Leshan where we had a tofu dinner. Most of where we've eaten now has had "lazy susans" on the table. A pretty standard idea, however picture 3 foot wide "lazy susans" where there was so little room dishes of food had to be stacked and balanced on each other. The 27 (or there about) different varieties of tofu were all delicious! Each more interesting than the last.

Now exhausted AND stuffed, we got back on the bus to head to our hotel. Most of us passed out, only waking to driving maneuvers reserved for car chase movies. We can't seem to figure out what it takes to get a driver's license here.... Rules pertaining to "right of way" don't seem to exist and merging into oncoming traffic is often encouraged.

Back to rowing tomorrow (Thursday). Two practices. Saturday will be the racing. Two heats of four boats. Top two from each to the final. Only racing 1k. More to come. Time to sleep...

~Ed

From the files of Bracknell Baker.  The 8+ charging down the course...

Day 1 Report

Our first day in China (not counting the travel of yesterday) was a true eye opener. First, it is quite apparent that not many Americans make it to the center of China like we have. For those of you that don't know, ChengDu is a two and a half hour flight inland from Beijing. Sort of the Upstate New York of China. (You can find more information about ChengDu on the Wikipedia link underneath the photo of the 8+ to the right) Everywhere we go, whether in a group or own our own, people literally stop and stare.

The second aspect you immediately absorb is that the culture here is very VERY polite. You would think a place with a road system similar to the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books would create some hostility, however everyone that comes across us is quite polite, gracious, and excited to meet a new culture. If you say "xiexie" (thank you) after any service whatsoever, they refuse the thanks and are almost embarrassed, as if they are helping you out of a sheer sense of duty.

Today we had a Chinese take on a hotel's breakfast buffet (including omelets and cereal) and went off to the course. The drive is around 15 minutes or so, but very enlightening to the surrounding area. Hundreds upon hundreds of shops without displays, doors or the like, but simply metal guard gates that rise up to allow customers in.

The course itself is a man-made 2,000 meter lake. (Which means, as we found out, we'll only be racing 1k). Our boat is a Woody. This is a Chinese version of the company Wintech which makes semi-Empachers. It is relatively new and quite nice, especially compared to what some other universities received in the lottery. You should pity Yale. (Or, not.)

We managed to get the boat rigged and out on the water quickly in the morning and once again immediately after lunch, covering 16k between the two rows. It's not a whole lot by any means, but they have us on a strict schedule.

To our hosts, rowing is part of our western culture and steeped in tradition. They are honored to have included it in their culture especially after all the effort they put into the 2008 Olympics. They are also honored to have all of us bring our specific knowledge of the sport to China. The President of the district came to our table to make a toast (a fantastic custom they have here of toasting often and finishing your drink when you do) saying that Peter Graves (our leader for the trip) is a new friend but will hopefully become an old friend. He went on to say that it was an honor to have the winners of the 2005 Henley Royal Regatta here to compete and share with the Chinese crews.

In the same air they are truly honored to share their culture with us. They keep us on a strict schedule so they may have us experience as much of China and the Chinese as possible with our limited time here.

After our second practice, we showered and changed and made our way to the Garden of the Dancing Flowers,which didn't have many flowers to be honest but beautiful grounds, fountains, and rice fields. We had a tour of the grounds and then relaxed with our guides (we are assigned four for the duration of our trip by the Chinese Government) before dinner. Tangent: While waiting for dinner I bought a snack. Pickled Spicy Chicken Feet. The name does not lie. They are indeed boiled chicken feet (claws and all), pickled and spiced. While well spiced, I couldn't bring myself to look at them while eating.... Not fully recommended.

Dinner itself (as pictured above) was a formal banquet with all the teams. It started with speeches by the President of the Xinjin District, the representative of the international crews (from University of Copenhagen), and a gift giving ceremony where we were given a very beautiful Buddha and gave a Trinity Blade with a bronze plaque expressing our thanks. The meal consisted of platter after platter of true chinese cuisine ranging from deep fried pigeon to duck tongue. All was delicious and most everyone tried all the delicacies. Throughout the meal, toast after toast was made between tables and teams, creating a chance to meet all the rowers and share in the pleasure of being here. After a short drive home and some walks about the streets surrounding the hotel, it was time for bed, jet-lag and sensory overloads catching up to us.

Tomorrow we are off to see the Leshan Giant Buddha, the largest carved Buddha in the world. Information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leshan_Giant_Buddha

~Ed

Ni Hao from the Garden of Flowers!
Tonight's scedule: A lovely garden tour followed by a Flower Dancer
performance and a formal baquet. We asked, but they will not be
serving OM. Sorry, LG.

We arrive!

At various times over the course of Monday night, all of us arrived safe and sound at the hotel. Brack had the fun duty of single-handedly bringing the oars out of customs in Beijing to then travel through the airport with them and re-check-in for the flight to Chengdu.  As one team described, "Getting oars here is impossible.  If you guys pull it off... you'll be heroes."  Bracknell Baker.  Superhero.

Once in Chengdu, we began to be truly thrown back by the graciousness of our hosts. Flowers at the airport upon our arrive. Their driving to the hotel was greatly appreciated by all of us to say the least, due to the construction. Imagine driving down I-95 in the states only to encounter a great blue wall going across all your lanes of traffic. You would then have to drive across the grass (or dirt, here) median into oncoming traffic, making your way along and flashing your lights to people traveling the opposite direction. Then, once you passed the construction on the other side, do it all over again!

The hotel is extremely nice and comfortable. It seems as all the teams are staying here. We met a few of the Yaleies last night. It also seems that rowing is only going to be a small part of the trip. They have many other things planned for us (including a trip to the largest Budha in the world). A true sharing of cultures will be the name of the game...

~Ed

China!! 747 touching down in Beijing.