Monthly Archives: January 2015

A Sudden Wide Clearing: The Yunnan-Guangxi Bike Ride

A Sudden Wide Clearing

A Sudden Wide Clearing

豁然开朗 (huò rán kāi lǎng)
“A sudden wide clearing”

豁 (huò): spacious
然 (rán): sudden
开 (kāi): short for 开阔 (kāikuò), which means broad
朗 (lǎng): bright

The liberating feeling you get when you see a beautiful, open expanse; or a metaphor for everything becoming clear at once.

The Yunnan-Guangxi Bike Ride

Kunming-Baise MapOn Sunday morning, January 29th, 2006, the first day of the Chinese New Year,  two friends and I set off from Kunming, Yunnan, on a bicycle ride to Baise in Guangxi province.

We had no planned route, very little gear, and no clue what we were getting into. Two of us (me, mostly) were also severely overweight and out of shape. Continue reading

Meet the Constrictor

Constrictor. Art by Andrea Di Vito.

Hi, my name is Boaz, and nobody actually calls me “The Constrictor”; If you are here by mistake and are looking for that guy in the picture please follow this link.

A few other tidbits about myself:

  • I was born in Israel.
  • I have lived and worked in China for almost half of my life.
  • I speak native Hebrew and English; and relatively fluent Chinese.
  • I once biked all the way from Kunming to Chongqing.
  • I have been running a business in China for almost 10 years.

In the weeks ahead, I will talk about some of the following:

  • Living in China.
  • Business in China.
  • Chinese Culture.
  • Being an Israeli in China.

First, though, I will tell you about a bike ride.

A preliminary and preparatory statement; an introduction.

Wuzhen 021

Wuzhen, China. 2003.

In May 2013, I finally took that big step: I registered a domain name and installed WordPress; but then realized I still have a problem with the entire concept of a personal blog.

Why should people be bothered to read what I think — about what I find interesting?

I am also not sure if I actually want to share my opinions with the world and then deal with the comments and criticism. I am also not sure if I want the people I know to know exactly what I am thinking.

But a year and eight months later I have decided to give it a shot after all.