DDV live - photo by Sofie Pepermans.
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I'm now officially registered in the village. It took several rides and behind the scene arrangements by the landlord to get it done. And it included the chief of police paying a visit to the farm and checking both my survival chances and my security. It all ended in smalltalk and chit chat about us being the same size in height, but him 20kgs more in weight. But, he posed for a very nice picture in front of the gate, I still have to Photoshop that one before paying him my next visit....
The other day the keeper and the vet's son took me by surprise on another bicycle tour. At first we drove along more flat country roads, but after a smart turn a fine tree-lined road took us through the 'YangZhen' wetlands. "Investigation of Biodiversity and the Protection of the Bird Habitat in Yangzhen Reed Wetlands in the Beijing Suburbs" is an actual China WWF project that takes place in the largest reed wetland in the Beijing area. It aims to build a suitable environment for birds to breed in the reed and cattail wetland; to be a stopover for migrating birds in spring and autumn; promoting environmental education and public awareness; and developing an ecoregion biodiversity vision.
This region is very important in terms of wetland ecology protection in Beijing. It is an important habitat for migrating birds in China's east migration route, and is also the largest reed wetland ecosystem in Beijing. About 100 kinds of birds live in this wetland annually, which includes almost half of all bird species in Beijing. They don't know the exact bird species that live here but some bird species population numbers more than 10,000. About 10 species of birds here are listed as 2nd class national protection species. These include the Upland Buzzard (Buteo hemilasius), Buzzard (Buteo buteo), Rough-legged Buzzard (Beteo lagopus), White-headed Harrier (Circus), Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus), Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus), Osprey (Pandion haliaetus), Little Owl (Athene noctua), Long-eared Owl (Asio otus), and Swan (Cygnus). These are the key species in the wetland and so the wetland became on of the hot topics on my little tourist map.
More biking was waiting for me since I was preparing to meet Bavo and Sofie, 2 couragious Belgians who traveled all the way from Hong Kong to Beijing by bike! I had already been informed by the posse in Xiamen, and they had contacted me while on the road. Since we have fully equipped guest rooms, I heartily invited them to come over. Flabbergasted by their courage, I grabbed a little bit of bikespice too, and drove some 20kms to Shunyi to meet them on a large bridge over a dried out riverbed. To many passers-by's amazement I stood waiting on the bridge for about 45mins, that's because I told them it would be about 40 to 50kms from Beijing to the farm, but later on Bavo's undeniable onboard counter told us that the farm is exactly 63kms away from Tienanmen Square. Anyway, it was a fine meeting, and we spent 3 fantastic days together, cycling through the area of course, and spending evenings at the restaurant trying quite a few adventurous dishes. We even spent one night all lined up with the pigkeeper and his wife on the couch at the farm, watching a Wong Kar Wai movie! But they also helped me start out with some new construction in the garden. When the construction is done I promised to plant 2 trees and name them Bavo and Sofie to commemorate the first guests who actually took the challenge to stay overnight on the farm.
However, all good things too must come to an end, and I had another gig lined up at the 2Kolegas Bar. So while Bavo and Sofie took off on their bikes, I jumped on bus 918 to town. As usual the ride was adventurous, especially when we traffic jammed next to a huge truck loaded with three stories of wild 'yang ro'.
At the 2Kolegas event, I was supported by 2 bands whose name I unfortunately can't decipher from the announcement, but it included a quite wild noisy piece with the performer laying motionless flat on his back on the stage. Then continued with distorted Canadian electronic pianos and a series of short art films.
I took the stage with a revamped backliner of 'I Love Rock'n'Roll', and shot off with a short 'VEL' tribute. Then followed 'It's Just Lust', and unplugged 'On Suicide' and my new classic 'Devil in Disguise'. As usual but nevertheless breathtaking I finished with a grinding, pounding, howling, crawling, gutwrenching set of 'Tools for Extracting Ball Joints'. A small but devote crowd applauded wildly, so I assume it was quite good.
Maybe SubJam's weblog can tell you more, if you read Chinese of course....
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