The Water Here - Part 3: In the City and In the Air

Water in the City

One Saturday morning, I walked to the edge of the village, flagged down a bus, and was smuggled into the city. I don’t think I have ever been ‘smuggled’ anywhere before. It is a law that every passenger has a seat on the bus in order to pass the city gates; otherwise heavy fines are given to the bus operators. When my fellow workers and I got on the already full bus, instead of refusing paying customers, the driver’s wife pulled out short stools and had us sit, packed in the aisle, all squatting. Our heads only came up to the seated passengers’ shoulders, and in this way we were secretly transported past security and into the city.

I went to visit a friend who I met on my flight from Taiwan. I call him Monk, even though he isn’t truly one. He smells of incense, has a shaved head, eats vegetarian, and we talked the entire plane ride, mostly about his Buddhist philosophy. He isn’t a monk because he has a wife and kids back home and isn't living in a monastery, but on his extended trips to Kunming, he does live a monkish life. Turns out he worked as a water engineer for thirty years, and is now helping a friend promote a ceramic water filter that connects to the tap called a ceramic candle. He pulled one off his tap to show me, and it was all brown in color. It took only three days in Kunming to get that way and had to be scrubbed. In Taiwan, he said it only needed cleaning every three weeks. He was very interested in our ceramic water filters, and may be able to help us out by introducing them to people who may need them.

This past week, I left the factory and moved to the city. Our NGO has a new office, and attached to it is a basic apartment, where I have a small bedroom and kitchen. It is quite the change – moving from a small farming village to a high rise building complex. One place I feel the change is with the water situation. I don’t have to worry about having no hot water anymore, or long hours with no running water. However, the tap water that I have continuous access to now runs disgustingly brown for a good five seconds each time it is turned on. I’m thinking we need to give Monk a call… The change greatest I feel, however, is now suddenly living and mostly eating alone. 

If there is just one thing

As vital as water that’s clean,

It could possibly be

Having good company.

Water in the Air

One thing that has not changed with my move from the village is the amount of water in the air: none whatsoever. Kunming is called the City of Eternal Spring because it is basically one season all year round, much like Southern California. Similarly here, chapped hands and lips know the dryness always. But at this altitude, when water does get in the air and there is rain or a fog, the previously dry air cools quickly. It becomes very cold, and in these times it is said that Winter pays a brief visit.

In recent weeks I’ve finally started visiting some extremely poor villages. So stay tuned - in Part 4, I’ll write about these projects and give you the lowdown.