numa numa

Dragostea din tei (AKA Numa Numa)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Original romanian

Ma-ia-hii
Ma-ia-huu
Ma-ia-hoo
Ma-ia-haa

Alo, salut, sunt eu, un haiduc,
Si te rog, iubirea mea, primeste fericirea.
Alo, alo, sunt eu Picasso,
Ti-am dat beep, si sunt voinic,
Dar sa stii nu-ti cer nimic.

Refrain:
Vrei sa pleci dar nu ma, nu ma iei,
Nu ma, nu ma iei, nu ma, nu ma, nu ma iei.
Chipul tau si dragostea din tei,
Mi-amintesc de ochii tai.

Te sun, sa-ti spun, ce simt acum,
Alo, iubirea mea, sunt eu, fericirea.
Alo, alo, sunt iarasi eu, Picasso,
Ti-am dat beep, si sunt voinic,
Dar sa stii nu-ti cer nimic.

(Refrain)

Ma-ia-hii
Ma-ia-huu
Ma-ia-hoo
Ma-ia-haa
-----------------------------------------------------------------


English (strict translation)

Ma-ia-hii
Ma-ia-huu
Ma-ia-hoo
Ma-ia-haa

Hello, it's me, a haiduc*
And I pray, my love, embrace the happiness
Hello, hello, it's me - Picasso!
I gave you beep, and i'm neat
But know that I'm not asking you anything.

Refrain:
You want to go, but you don't take me, no
You don't take me, no, you don't take me noo..
Your face and the love under the linden trees
Remind me of your eyes.

I'm calling you, to say, what I'm feeling now
Hello, my love, it's me - happiness!
Hello, hello, it's me again, Picasso,
I gave you a beep, and I'm neat
But know that I'm not asking you anything.

(Refrain)

Ma-ia-hii
Ma-ia-huu
Ma-ia-hoo
Ma-ia-haa
----------------------------------------------------------------

English

Ma-ia-hii
Ma-ia-huu
Ma-ia-hoo
Ma-ia-haa

Hello, 'salut', it's me - your Robin Hood
And I pray: My lovelyness, please embrace this happiness!
Hello, hello, it's me - Picasso!
You got my beep, it's me - I'm neat.
And be sure I'm altruistic.

Refrain:
You wanna leave, but you don't take away
You don't take away, don't you take awaaay...
Your face and eyes I keep in memory
Beside the love under a linden tree.

'just called to reveal the feels I bear
Hello, my loveliness, it's me - happiness!
Hello, hello, it's me (again) - Picasso!
You got my beep, I'm really neat
And be sure I'm altruistic.

(Refrain)

Ma-ia-hii
Ma-ia-huu
Ma-ia-hoo
Ma-ia-haa

Yue Liang

Marc 18th
Fries, downhill. Wangba. Tropic of Cancer. Park. MAGIC. Bubble people. moon. fall down, fly down, cut finger, break rim.

March 19th
Heat, hot day, good food. happiness, fix bike rim. Yue Liang(moon light). bike through night till dawn. mountain shadows, shin shin(stars) dream-like. crossed a metal hanging bridge, peaceful morning stillness. found spot near creek. swimming-sleeping.

March 20th
Swimming, Creek, dansing, Tchye(dog).

March 21st
YuanJiang.

Voyage Voyage

Au dessus des vieux volcans,
Glisse des ailes sous les tapis du vent,
Voyage, voyage,
Eternellement.
De nuages en marécages,
De vent d'Espagne en pluie d'équateur,
Voyage, voyage,
Vole dans les hauteurs
Au dessus des capitales,
Des idées fatales,
Regarde l'océan...

Voyage, voyage
Plus loin que la nuit et le jour, (voyage voyage)
Voyage (voyage)
Dans l'espace inouï de l'amour.
Voyage, voyage
Sur l'eau sacrée d'un fleuve indien, (voyage voyage)
Voyage (voyage)
Et jamais ne revient.

Sur le Gange ou l'Amazone,
Chez les blacks, chez les sikhs, chez les jaunes,
Voyage, voyage
Dans tout le royaume.
Sur les dunes du Sahara,
Des iles Fidji au Fujiyama,
Voyage, voyage,
Ne t'arrêtes pas.
Au dessus des barbelés,
Des coeurs bombardés,
Regarde l'océan.

Voyage, voyage
Plus loin que la nuit et le jour, (voyage voyage)
Voyage (voyage)
Dans l'espace inouï de l'amour.
Voyage, voyage
Sur l'eau sacrée d'un fleuve indien, (voyage voyage)
Voyage (voyage)
Et jamais ne revient.

Au dessus des capitales,
Des idées fatales,
Regarde l'océan.

Voyage, voyage
Plus loin que la nuit et le jour, (voyage voyage)
Voyage (voyage)
Dans l'espace inouï de l'amour.
Voyage, voyage
Sur l'eau sacrée d'un fleuve indien, (voyage voyage)
Voyage (voyage)
Et jamais ne revient

Bamboo trees

March 15th
This morning we cooked fried eggs with Chapotees. Alek is making some coffee and then we're on the road again. We biked all day without a break. We were exhausted by the time we found a spot to stop in the evening. We biked through a small village and some ladies actually everyone ripped me off. I wanted to buy some fruit but it was 2 times too much, same as some cookies. Oh well, what can you do? We found a nice place to sleep in a tea tree plantation again. we were in between bamboo trees and by a small stream. WE saw some people leaving the plantation from work but none of them said anything about us camping there.

March 16th
WE went downhill for a long time in the morning. I stopped in a riverside village to wash some clothes and myself. I've developed a rash all over my upper torso so every chance that I get I wash myself. It's all of the dirt and sweat that comes with this biking/camping lifestlye. We ate a big dinner and Alek cooked tonight wich was nice. I couldn't sleep because I was so itchy though and so in the middle of the night I biked downhill a few kilometres with Tchye's company and the bright half-moon lit my way to a small creek that I saw before we set up our tent. I had to go by a house and two dogs but wasn't scared because Tchye was with me. The creek was in a gorge and I'm surprised I didn't tumble down the steep side in the dark. The water was so fresh and cool, the moon was dancing in the moving water. I felt so good afterwards. Alek was waiting for me and had made some hot tea. We stayed up all night talking.

March 17th
We left at 11 and by 11:45 we stopped again because we were so tired. Right now Alek and Tchye are sleeping on the ground. I'm looking out at the layered mountains in the distance overlapping each other and at the vally walls scattered with farmland and countryside houses. Also, I'm reminiscing of my time in Jinghong. Jason, Sarah's boyfriend just texted me and told me he's headed to Guangzhou to work in a factory for a couple years, so maybe I'll see him when I'm there again. Christina is going to be in Kunming where me and Alek are biking to on the 26th this month so maybe I'll get to see her again too! That would be great. It's so nice to think tha tI have friends scattered across this country. Many places I could go to and see the people that I've met. It makes me feel so happy. China is no longer such a foreign place to me, it feels more like home. I"m comfortable here and happy.

March 18th
Now I'm in Mojiang. We'll buy more vegetables from a marketplace here and be on our way again. I"m always excited to hit a town though, so that I can use the wangba(internet) and eat chocolate, look at the people...

This could be your shower

March 14th -Jen's Birthday
The farmland is divided into hundreds of small sections, each one growing something different. We are surrounded by every green imaginable; Green apple, army green, neon green, pine green, seaweed green, green grass, light cabbage green, green___.... On the mountains the farmland is Mayan Temple steps leading to a great ancient secret that only the farmers remember, forgotten wisdom. The rich red-copper of the soil, the yellow dirt roads, the greens of the crops and the muddle coloured rice-fields reflecting the blue sky make a feist for the eyes that we could enjoy from the top of our mountain perch. We did 20 km downhyill, I love the wind flying in my hair, my mp3 pumped and a huge grin on my face thinking " This is travelling!". Yesterday, I saw a sleeper bus go by, those dreaded things. I took one from Lijiang to Kunming, the lady behind me was spilling her guts out the whole time behind me, and not without loud sound effects. The 8hr trip from Kunming to Jinghong was a little more bearable on a normal bus, but the road was so twisted and the bus was going so fast, it was almost me with an inside out stomach. Yes, I am so pleased to be biking. Later just before dark, we found a waterfall and took some refreshing showers. The water was just right. We found a small bambo hut that was at the bottom of a tea tree plantation. One wall was dirt and the ground was dirt. Alek said that we should check for spiders, scorpians and other crawling warriors that might attack during the night. I made him sleep beside the wall. hehehe.

On the old Road again

March 13th

We took the old road from Simao to Ning'Er. It was gorgeous. I remember chocolate flavoured rivers, tea tree plantations on mountains that looked like corn rows. I saw a group of boys coming home from work covered in soot head to toe. They yelled "Hello!!" to Alek and then giggled, hopped and jumped down the road, playing with each other like children at recess. It was like watching lively clay figures! So happily dirty. We stopped for a mid-day break after 10km up a mountain and we finally got to try out Alek's orange flowered Brazilian Hammock. I cooked one of my favourites: vegetable omellette on the fire. Alek cooked some chapotees: (flour, salt and water). After our break we had 20km downhill! It was great after such a heavy lunch. When the old road ended we were immediately surrounded by big noisy trucks, horns and pollution for 13km of slow uphill. I was itchy in the night from a mixture of pollution and swet on my skin.

March 12th -My B-day

We stayed in Simao for another relaxing day, just hanging out in the park. I added more songs to my mp3. When we were at the market a group of people surrounded us. I talked to this big boy with a butterfly tattoo on his wrist and a rose tattoo on his left hand's middle finger. He said that he was from Hubei province in the North East. Shop keepers were taking pictures of Alek while I talked to my new friend and ate the watermelon that sellers were giving me. mmm. One gap toothed shop keeper was so happy when Alek gave her his bike helmet. Another girl, gave us a coca cola each for the road. So nice.

"Like a Rolling Stone "

Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?
People'd call, say, "Beware doll, you're bound to fall"
You thought they were all kiddin' you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin' out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't seem so proud
About having to be scrounging for your next meal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

You've gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street
And now you find out you're gonna have to get used to it
You said you'd never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
He's not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And ask him do you want to make a deal?

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns
When they all come down and did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain't no good
You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you
You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain't it hard when you discover that
He really wasn't where it's at
After he took from you everything he could steal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They're drinkin', thinkin' that they got it made
Exchanging all kinds of precious gifts and things
But you'd better lift your diamond ring, you'd better pawn it babe
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse
When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?


Bob Dylan

Day 8 (March 11th) "I see your true colours shining through"

We decided to stay in Simao for another day. an event struck me as Alek and I were walking down one of the city's streets. Two old, weathered women were fighting over money. One would give the money to another, the other wouldn't accept it and would hand it to their friend that was standing behind her. The first woman took the money from the third and handed it back to her friend that was sitting down. This circuit continued a few times over, one giving the money, the other refusing it until finally the other two ladies quickly left leaving the woman sitting down with the money. Me and some girls working in a shop were watching and giggling at the funny situation. It struck me though because it was what my mother and Jean Mah used to do after having dinner or lunch together. They'd fight over who would get to treat the other. In Chinese culture if you invite your friend to eat with you, you treat them. It was very moving as well because in the end I saw that they were fighting over 2 yuan. That's 7.5/2 = very little money. Today Simao is showing its true colours.

Day 7 "Journey to the East"

I had a great day today. We stayed at our camp all afternoon and it was so relaxing. I finished "Journey to the East" by Herman Hesse and was not let down by the ending. I really respect the guy, I want to read more of his books. He thought that his spiritual home was India and settled in Switzerland when he was 34, that's cool in itself but also when he was 69 he won a nobel prize for literature. The sun was strong all day so I washed some of our clothes in our cooking pot using some muddy creek water. The birds have been singing all morning and afternoon. Some of them sound like a human whistling. I feel tired because I ate a lump of concentrated suger made fresh from the sugar canes that grow here. Alek is talking in french to his dog as usual..."Chienne degolasse," "Couche toi"! He spent today fixing his bike, dancing and singing around to his music. He gave me a couple decorations for my bike and now it looks more like a travelling bike. Now we're in Simao and it's nothing special from what I've seen tonight.

Day 6 (March 9th) Our buddy Orion

We asked for some hot water at a house and were invit3ed for lunch with a middle aged couple. A Chinese man won a race on T.V., maybe it was a trial for the Olympics. He didn't look much older than me it seemed. He was so happy. It's strange to think I'll be 21 soon. Soccer was on next but Alek hates soccer event hough he's from Bosci(Brazil) and so he didn't watch. Pretty cool how sports are universal that way though, like music and dansing, no language barriers needed. Alek and I have been having a hard time getting along because we're both so stubborn. Tonight went really well though. We talked about books that we read him: a book about a young architect who challenges the old ways of doing things and sticks to his guns and passion; A girl going through the communist revolution of 1917 and how she lost everything, family riches...) We pondered what Orion's (Orion's Belt) voice would sound like, figured that he was Greek and had dark curly hair and dark skin. Maybe shooting stars are his arrow shots to warn his village of danger. It took a long time to cook dinner on the fire but it was well worth the wait. We ate stir-fry potatoes, carrots, onion, tomatoes, garlic and red, green and orange jalepeno peppers. A gourmet meal for us, after so many monotonous nights of potato, tomato, garlic and noodle soup.

Day 5 (March 8th) Illusions

In the morning we were visited by 2 people. First by the creepy boy who we'd seen before just walking from town to town with his walking stick and a casket of water. He wandered around the tent while Tchye barked at him. I thought that he was going to attack the tent with his stick or something and was glad that Tchye was with us. The second visit was more pleasant. A young biking boy about my age stopped by to check things out. He was really nice and took pictures of us and Tchye, Alek's bike and the tent. He was biking from Simao to Jinghong. In the afternoon we biked through a valley filled with banana trees and rice fields. Reflected in the rice fields was my original dream of what most of China would be like. I thought that I would find my relatives in a small dirt covered village and join them in the rice fields wearing the typical pointed Chinese hat...that actually isn't used so much, their hats are made of flower fabric or just round straw. Nevertheless,I couldn't stop looking in every direction except for watching the road. It was a hot sunny day. We slept in a tea tree plantation that night and were attacked by a vicious tropical storm. We're dry though thanks to a super camping spot between two spiky trees.

Day 4 -(March 7th )

Sun! We biked up a mountain and got to the top in time for the sunset, but there was too much jungle in the way to see it clearly. I find all of the houses interesting that we paass because they are more of a communist setting than in Canada. They have many red doors that lead to similar rooms all enclosed inside walls. I think that families all live together, maybe extended family too. It's not like in Canada where everyone has their own house. We passed by larger houses near huge tea tree plantations. Mountain after mountain of tea trees. I think that it's more beautiful when the mountains are covered in jungle, but when the workers were in the field their colourful clothes and big hats added something special to the scenery. We passed through a town called Dadugang...(we looked the meaning up in the dictionary but I forget other than Da=Big) I was mesmorized by a chinese bakery. MMMM ...Alek and I shared a long sweet bun filled with whipped cream and green and orange jelly dots. What sweet ecstacy. Going down the mountain I took my feet off the pedals and my bike became jelly like, as if it was an athlete and had run the 400m sprint. It couldn't run anymore and I wobbled to the left and to the right like a worn out athlete at the end of a race. At the bottom of the mountain in the valley I could see the montrous jungle towering above me in the dark. It could have been a Giant's limbs covered in furry clothing.

Day 3- Rain rain go away, come back another day

Alek talked forever. I feel heavy inside my body. Went for a walk to cool off my brain. Met some local and had a few smokes but there was such a language barrier and I wasn't in the mood to make a huge effort. The sky is glittering with stars and there is strange explosion of light in the sky behind a closeby mountain. I spend some time wondering what it is. It's like lightening only in one place.

Day 2- "See the Jungle when it's wet with rain"

I woke up last night to heavy rain, thunder and lightning. I woke up Aleshandro "Alek, it's raining," he ran outside naked in the rain and started fixing the fly. I love storms and the rain and was screaming and laughing for half an hour. It reminded me of tree planting and the time that our family and Alex(cousin) went hiking in the West coast of the island and it rained for 3 days straight, our canoe rolling down the beach in the rain like it was a piece of paper. We woke up later to puddles of water in our tent. My cell phone charger learned how to swim that fateful morning. This afternoon we saw elephants and monkeys in a park that was on the side of the road. I sang to the elephants and thought that they were dancing to my music, but really I think that their rooms were too small and they were stretching their legs. I saw one of them give another a kiss with his/her husks it was pretty cool because they were in different rooms and so "Pinkey" had to go on his hind legs. COOL an elephant! I'm so happy to be cycling and not bussing. I can smell the jungle sweetness, hear the frogs and the birds. Alek is shaving his beard with his bicycle mirror right now and all of our wet stuff is drying on a fence in the sun. A foreign biker man went speedily by and Alek was extremely dissapointed that he didn't take the time to visit with us, since we're fellow travelling bikers. He calls them "Foreigners" and "Sportsmen".

You Belong To Me -Bob Dylan

See the pyramids along the Nile
Watch the sunrise on a tropic isle
Just remember, darling, all the while
You belong to me

See the marketplace in old Algiers
Send me photographs and souvenirs
Just remember when a dream appears
You belong to me

I'll be so alone without you
Maybe you'll be lonesome too

Fly the ocean in a silver plane
See the jungle when it's wet with rain
Just remember 'til you're home again
You belong to me


I'll be so alone without you
Maybe you'll be lonesome too

Fly the ocean in a silver plane
See the jungle when it's wet with rain
Just remember 'til you're home again
You belong to me

Day 1 -"The littlest birds"

Riding our bikes uphill. UGH. The jungle on our left and the mountains like in Laos on our right. The mountains are bald, with young tea trees soon to grow. A truck tire exploded and flew across the highway over our heads in a perfect slow-motion arc to the flowing stream below us. Tchye is sick and so Alex has to carry her in the basket on the back of his bike. The rain has stopped. I took a rest to eat a boiled egg and to look at the red white and bright orange flower trees that are level with me. Birds sit in the branches and are "singing the prettyiest songs"(The be good Tanyas). I felt like I was in a Traditional Chinese Painting, peaceful beauty.

The Littlest Birds

Well I feel like an old hobo,
I'm sad lonesome and blue
I was fair as the summer day
Now the summer days are through
You pass through places
And places pass through you
But you carry 'em with you
On the souls of your travellin' shoes

Well I love you so dearly I love you so clearly
Wake you up in the mornin' so early
Just to tell you I got the wanderin' blues
I got the wanderin' blues
And i'm gonna quit these ramblin' ways one of
these days soon
And I'll sing

The littlest birds sing the prettiest songs...

Well it's times like these
I feel so small and wild
Like the ramblin' footsteps of a wanderin' child
And I'm lonesome as a lonesome whippoorwill
Singin these blues with a warble and a trill
But I'm not too blue to fly
No I'm not too blue to fly cause

The littlest birds sing the prettiest songs...

Well I love you so dearly
I love you so fearlessly
Wake you up in the mornin' so early
Just to tell you I got the wanderin' blues
I got the wanderin' blues
And I don't wanna leave you
I love you through and through

Oh I left my baby on a pretty blue train
And I sang my songs to the cold and the rain
I had the wanderin' blues
And I sang those wanderin' blues
And I'm gonna quit these ramblin' ways
One of these days soon
And I'll sing...

The littlest birds sing the prettiest songs....

[I don't care if the sun don't shine
I don't care if nothin' is mine
I don't care if I'm nervous with you
I'll do my lovin' in the wintertime] - Syd
Barrett

-The Be Good Tanyas