![]() ![]() Nearby villages deal with trash in two ways: burning or dumping. Plastic bottles, food packaging and Styrofoam comprise the majority of the trash Garbage floats on the surface of the Lancang River. “The floods came two months ago,” he explained, as if reading our horrified minds. Little Tao slowed the motor, veering toward a narrow passage along the eastern bank. Eventually it stretched across the width of the river, a floating garbage patch hundreds of feet wide and several hundred feet long. As we moved upriver, the garbage multiplied: plastic bottles, chunks of Styrofoam, aerosol cans, shoe soles, shampoo containers and detergent bags all tangled in a mess of driftwood. Next came the 神牛, or divine bull, a golden half-sized can and unapologetic copy of Red Bull. A familiar green bottle floated by with a yellow cap that read 雪碧, meaning snowy green jade-also known as Sprite. Little Tao hopes to benefit from the increased traffic, but he also wonders about the changes it will bring.īack on the river, the trash was sparse at first. The bare mountainside is slated to host roads and hotels as tour boats run up and down the river. A few months ago, he brought a provincial leader upriver to scout sites for a tourism development plan. “The western bank is privately owned so most growth has been cut and sold.” And more changes are to come, he added. ![]() “That’s the difference between government-owned land and privately owned land,” Little Tao explained. The western bank is bare, green but with scattered tree growth and an occasional homestead. Black bears and monkeys roam free so, for overnights, Little Tao carries a rifle just in case. The eastern bank is a mess of lush tree overgrowth and vines that creep to the water’s edge. The Lancang runs wide and slow, reflecting a deep green from the mountains all around. Little Tao’s boat was loaded and ready to go so he started up his Changfa-brand outboard motor and headed upriver. Little Tao is a fisherman on the Lancang River in southwest Chinaĭave and I arrived at the wharf just after dinner. That is the formula for China adventures. “Come by this afternoon and we can be back by morning for your flight.” Not being overly time-conscientious also means people in the countryside are overly hospitable and ever-adaptable. Hoping to give Dave one last China adventure before his imminent return to the United States for graduate school, I had called Tao to ask whether we could tag along for an evening. Four or five nights each week, Tao loads up his nets on a long flatbed boat and points the rusty bow upriver in search of fish. (The Lancang River is known as the Mekong once it flows outside China). He lives with his wife and two kids at a small wharf on the Lancang River just before it runs into the Dachao Mountain Dam. So I thought eight in the morning would be more-or-less just-about good enough. People in the countryside are not known for being overly conscientious about time. I did figure we’d get back to the wharf a bit late. The common phrase captures with precision the Chinese embrace of imprecision-where English equivalents such as “more or less,” “just about,” or “good enough” fall short.ĭoes your car have enough seatbelts for everyone? ![]() “That gives us enough time, right?” asked my buddy Dave Hicks, an American who was visiting from Shanghai and mindful of his flight back the next afternoon. Xigui, China - Little Tao said we’d return by eight o’clock in the morning at the latest.
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