Now, FOUR Years in China

If you do a search for “Holiday in Cambodia”, you will probably find at least a 100 or so blogs by people who have recently visited the impoverished, war-torn country. Depending on your age, the title may seem simply boring, but for those of us in our mid to late 30s, it rings back to the 80’s Dead Kennedy’s song of the same name.

Yes, we actually had one of our best vacations in Siem Reap Cambodia. Just google Ankor Wat and you’ll see the very-cool temples which were featured in many Discovery channel episodes and even in the movie Tomb Raider. It’s almost impossible to convey why it’s such a cool place (actually it’s painfully hot…but it’s worth it). It’s become an international cross-roads between the UN and other countries who are helping them rebuild themselves. It’s a blank canvas.

While the temples are the big draw for tourists, the downtown manages to carry it’s own weight with a selection of charming, diverse and sometimes quirky restaurants. For example, we had some of the great mexican food there at a restaurant owned by a guy from Arizona. Actually, Cambodia has had a good share of back-backers over the years and it’s in the transition point that many quirky towns go through before they become upscale destinations.

The fact that Cambodia has become vacation-worthy is an example of how the world can change as quick as we change. After all, it’s one thing to reflect back on the days when you listened to such a subversive song, it’s another when your 8 year old daughter is actually singing it…in Cambodia.

Another Chinese New Years has past. And again, it’s impossible to describe the volume of fireworks without being here. You don’t hear pops and bangs…you hear a constant low level rumbling painted with a hissing similar to the sound of radio static. In other words, the volume of explosions within an audible range proportionally overtakes silence.

I didn’t have the (illegal) commercial mortar-ball fireworks this year like I did last year but I bought a few “shows-in-a-box” which are pretty good. Fortunately, some others brought the big ones and treated us to some chest-pounding, car-alarm triggering explosions.

It’s always fun here during this time but when people are still rattling your windows with these at 4am, it get’s a bit old.

Really, who is the author? How do I answer this question? What makes somebody who they are? Sounds like a a question your shrink would ask you doesn’t it?

Well my name is David Black and I mostly go by Dave. I was born and raised in Dallas, Tx and except for a college stint in Missouri, I stayed in Texas until 2000 when I was hired by Apple to do some software projects for UPS in Atlanta. After 5 years of various job functions, Apple sent me to China to do some consulting at the Western Academy of Beijing and the rest is history…or at least catalogued here.

My wife Lisa and I have been together since 1989 and married about 5 years later. But we knew each other when we were 12. The fact that she knew me back in my most awkward years (think Flock of Seagulls) and was still willing to date me in college says a whole lot. The fact that she followed me over here says even more.

Professionally, I’m a software engineer & consultant who has landed in a quasi-marketing role where I get to figure out ways of blending technologies together to create comprehensive education solutions. It’s challenging yet fun.

Speaking of fun…

I am an avid mountain biker and skier. Since moving overseas, I become an avid traveller.

Between the driving and skiing at Wanlong, there were numerous examples of what I call the “exponential risk-mix”. This is where design issues combined with human factors equals an exponentially elevated potential for catastrophe.

I started creating lists in my head to assess risk. Those who know me well know that I drive extremely fast. But for this journey, I slowed way down. Here’s the factors I considered…

* Random behavior of others on the road - bikes, cars, pedestrians
* Above average number of livestock grazing near the road.
* High center of gravity of my car
* Poor quality brakes that cause the car to drift
* Cheap rubber in the tires…they skid easily
* Seemingly thin paneling and body construction
* Tree-lined road
* No signage on roads
* Sheer drop-offs
* Lack of emergency services
* Lack of decent hospitals
* Lack of hospitals…period.
* Lack of public assistance (locals don’t typically get involved)
* Language barriers

These factors don’t just increase the odds of a wreck but they also increase the likelyhood that it will be much worse than would be expected. When pedestrians are struck by cars here, nobody goes near them. So unless you dig yourself out of the wreckage, you aren’t getting out. The cheap construction of the vehicle doesn’t exactly increase these odds of walking away from it. The only thing the thin steel doors do is negate the need for the jaws-o-life (how’s that for a silver lining?).

So, let’s say we DO pull ourselves out…then what? Call a Chinese speaking friend and have a local person describe where we are? Then wait for 4 hours for someone to arrive and 4 to return to Beijing? Even the most minor injury in 8 hours can become pretty serious.

The only time I’ve ever driven with a similar amount of stress was when I went over an unpaved mountain pass in rural colorado with an near-empty tank of gas, a snow storm coming in, and a 4 month-old Maddy in the back.

It’s like we have a “risk bucket” that we fill with risk factors. As it fills up our emotional state climbs the continuum of “feeling alive” to “excitement” to “thrilled” to “all-out adrenaline rush”. But once the bucket overflows, you have degrees of “anxiety” to “fear” to “mortal fear” - which is not so fun.

Living in Atlanta suburbs, my bucket was pretty dry. Mountain biking filled it to a level where things felt pretty good. I cold mix in some racing or epic adventures to hit the adrenaline highs then come back to a happy normal. My theory explains why don’t I mountain bike very much here. Because stepping off the plane in China, you are issued a couple liters of risk that you can’t get rid of until you leave. This additional weight is what makes one exhausted at the end of the day here. It’s what also makes this place exciting.

China does not have (many) personal injury lawsuits nor do they have an expensive healthcare system. But when it comes to snow skiing here, you sort of wish they did. There’s comfort knowing that a greater monetary investment in equipment (and staff training) would be less than a catastrophic lawsuit from an injured skier. It’s like the Ford Pinto where it was cheaper to pay off families of dead victims rather than have a recall to replace a $2 part (or something like that). There just isn’t a high cost of failure here…yet.

Don’t get me wrong…I hate the lawsuit culture that has emerged in the U.S. I also believe in common sense, intelligent judgement, and appreciate the darwinistic consequences of idiocy. But let’s face it…sometimes you have to put trust in those who claim they will keep you safe and intact. Or you could stay at home and watch TV your whole life.