Of holidays, angry rivers and memorable bus journeys Von Ferien, wütenden Flüssen und denkwürdigen Busreisen Για διακοπές, θυμωμένα ποτάμια και αξέχαστες διαδρομές με λεωφορείο Des vacances, des rivières en colère et des voyages en bus mémorables Van vakanties, boze rivieren en gedenkwaardige busreizen Świąt, wściekłych rzek i niezapomnianych podróży autobusem De férias, rios furiosos e viagens de autocarro memoráveis О праздниках, сердитых реках и незабываемых автобусных путешествиях 假期、愤怒的河流和难忘的巴士之旅 假期、憤怒的河流和難忘的巴士之旅

Hello, greetings from China. Witam, pozdrowienia z Chin. Olá, saudações da China. This is Owen and this is my podcast for Friday 5th December, 2014. To jest Owen, a to jest mój podcast na piątek 5 grudnia 2014 roku. First of all I'd like to mention that the new mobile app for our podcasts is now up and running. Przede wszystkim chciałbym wspomnieć, że nowa aplikacja mobilna do naszych podcastów jest już uruchomiona. Antes de mais, gostaria de referir que a nova aplicação móvel para os nossos podcasts já está a funcionar. The PodClub App allows you to listen to all the latest podcasts in all five languages. Aplikacja PodClub umożliwia słuchanie wszystkich najnowszych podcastów we wszystkich pięciu językach. It's available for you to download for free from the App Store or from Google Play. Można ją bezpłatnie pobrać z App Store lub Google Play. If you didn't quite catch all of that you can find all the information on our website. Jeśli jeszcze tego nie zrozumiałeś, wszystkie informacje znajdziesz na naszej stronie internetowej. Se não percebeu tudo isto, pode encontrar todas as informações no nosso sítio Web. As I mentioned in my first podcast last month, Kunming, my new home, is sometimes called ‘The City of Eternal Spring'. Jak wspomniałem w moim pierwszym podcaście w zeszłym miesiącu, Kunming, mój nowy dom, jest czasami nazywany „Miastem Wiecznej Wiosny”. Now, I'm a little confused as to how Kunming got that nickname [1]. Teraz jestem trochę zdezorientowany, w jaki sposób Kunming otrzymał ten przydomek [1]. Agora, estou um pouco confuso quanto à forma como Kunming ganhou essa alcunha [1]. Autumn here was rather short and now it's cold, almost wintery cold and we aren't even close to the depths [2] of winter. Aquí el otoño fue más bien corto y ahora hace frío, un frío casi invernal y ni siquiera estamos cerca de las profundidades [2] del invierno. Jesień była tu raczej krótka, a teraz jest zimno, prawie zimowy mróz, a my nie jesteśmy nawet w głębi [2] zimy. O outono aqui foi bastante curto e agora está frio, quase um frio invernal e ainda nem sequer estamos perto das profundezas [2] do inverno. 这里的秋天很短，现在很冷，几乎是冬天的冷，我们甚至还没有接近深冬 [2] 。 Houses and apartments in Kunming and in the rest of South China don't have central heating. Domy i mieszkania w Kunming iw pozostałych częściach południowych Chin nie mają centralnego ogrzewania. As casas e apartamentos em Kunming e no resto do Sul da China não têm aquecimento central. In fact they don't have radiators or heaters of any kind. W rzeczywistości nie mają żadnych grzejników ani grzejników. De facto, não têm radiadores ou aquecedores de qualquer tipo. My apartment is very open with a large living room and dining room and lots of big and thin windows. Moje mieszkanie jest bardzo otwarte z dużym salonem i jadalnią oraz wieloma dużymi i cienkimi oknami. O meu apartamento é muito aberto, com uma grande sala de estar e sala de jantar e muitas janelas grandes e finas. So, as you can imagine, my apartment is very cold now that the temperature has dropped. Więc, jak możesz sobie wyobrazić, w moim mieszkaniu jest bardzo zimno, gdy temperatura spadła. Por isso, como podem imaginar, o meu apartamento está muito frio agora que a temperatura desceu. Even colder than outside! Jeszcze zimniej niż na zewnątrz! Ainda mais frio do que lá fora! Still to come on today's show, I'm going to be talking about Chinese national holidays, a different part of the Yunnan province and a rather memorable bus journey. Ainda no programa de hoje, vou falar sobre os feriados nacionais chineses, uma parte diferente da província de Yunnan e uma viagem de autocarro bastante memorável.

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There are many strange things about China. Many things I don't understand. An example of this is that everybody in China - and by everybody I mean almost everybody - goes on holiday at the same time. Um exemplo disto é o facto de toda a gente na China - e por toda a gente quero dizer quase toda a gente - ir de férias ao mesmo tempo. 一个例子是，中国的每个人——我指的是几乎每个人——都在同一时间去度假。 There are two main national holidays. Everybody gets these holidays and they tend to be the only holidays they get. Toda a gente tem estes feriados e tendem a ser os únicos feriados que têm. 每个人都会有这些假期，而且这往往是他们唯一能得到的假期。 The first one is usually in late January or early February. It's a week's holiday they have for Chinese New Year. É uma semana de férias que eles têm para o Ano Novo Chinês. The second holiday is at the beginning of October. 1st October is China's National Day. 1st October to 7th October is a holiday for all Chinese. If anyone is planning a trip to China, I wouldn't recommend visiting during that week. Se alguém estiver a planear uma viagem à China, não recomendo a visita durante essa semana. 如果有人计划去中国旅行，我不建议在那一周访问。 Those days are generally a good time to get out of China. Esses dias são geralmente uma boa altura para sair da China. Buying a train ticket for the beginning or end of these holidays is nearly impossible. Comprar um bilhete de comboio para o início ou para o fim destas férias é quase impossível. It's a time everyone goes back to their hometowns and this results in a big scramble [3] for train and bus tickets. É uma altura em que todos regressam às suas cidades de origem, o que provoca uma grande corrida [3] aos bilhetes de comboio e de autocarro. This year though my girlfriend and I went against my own advice and decided to explore a corner of our new home province, Yunnan. Este ano, porém, a minha namorada e eu fomos contra o meu próprio conselho e decidimos explorar um canto da nossa nova província natal, Yunnan. 今年，我和女朋友违背了自己的建议，决定探索我们的新家乡云南的一个角落。 My girlfriend and I went to the Nujiang valley. The Nujiang is a river that starts in Tibet before entering north-western Yunnan, which is the area we visited during our holiday. The river then continues into Myanmar. O rio segue depois para Myanmar. Further south it forms the border between Thailand and Myanmar. Más al sur, forma la frontera entre Tailandia y Myanmar. Mais a sul, forma a fronteira entre a Tailândia e Myanmar. And in the end it flows into the Andaman Sea. E, no final, desagua no mar de Andaman. The river is named after the Nu minority who live along the river. O rio tem o nome da minoria Nu que vive ao longo do rio. However, because the Chinese don't have a phonetic alphabet, they chose a character which is pronounced the same. No entanto, como os chineses não têm um alfabeto fonético, escolheram um carácter que é pronunciado da mesma forma. The Nu in Nujiang means ‘rage [4]', so Nujiang can be translated into English as ‘the raging river' or ‘the angry river'. O Nu em Nujiang significa "raiva [4]", pelo que Nujiang pode ser traduzido para inglês como "the raging river" ou "the angry river". And I can assure you that that is a very good name for the river. We didn't see a single boat on the river. It is only at the mouth of the river in Burma where boats can navigate. Só na foz do rio, na Birmânia, é que os barcos podem navegar. The Nujiang is the longest free-flowing river in China. O Nujiang é o mais longo rio de curso livre da China. This means there are no dams along the river, although there have been plans to build dams. Isto significa que não existem barragens ao longo do rio, embora tenha havido planos para a construção de barragens. However, the people living in the area have been very strong in their opposition. No entanto, as pessoas que vivem na zona opuseram-se firmemente. They have also received a lot of support from environmental organisations and agencies who are worried about the damage a dam would do to the area. Receberam também um grande apoio de organizações e agências ambientais que estão preocupadas com os danos que uma barragem poderia causar à zona. For the moment I don't think any construction is taking place. De momento, não creio que esteja a ser feita qualquer construção.

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From Kunming it is a long distance to get to the Nujiang valley. We chose to take a night bus which left Kunming at six in the evening and arrived in a town called Fugong at ten in the morning the next day. We didn't drive for all those hours because, apparently, the main road in the valley is too dangerous to drive on in the night. Não conduzimos durante todas aquelas horas porque, aparentemente, a estrada principal do vale é demasiado perigosa para se conduzir durante a noite. So, after driving for about eight hours and arriving at the south end of the valley, we had to stop and wait for the first light of the morning before we could continue our trip. Assim, depois de conduzirmos cerca de oito horas e chegarmos ao extremo sul do vale, tivemos de parar e esperar pela primeira luz da manhã para podermos continuar a nossa viagem. I didn't really mind because I sleep very well on buses and it doesn't matter whether the bus is moving or not. During our stop a group of men, who were on their way home for the holiday, decided to get off the bus and have a few drinks. Durante a nossa paragem, um grupo de homens, que regressava a casa para as férias, decidiu sair do autocarro e beber uns copos. In the early hours of the morning, when the driver decided it was time to continue the trip, the group of men got back on to the bus. Nas primeiras horas da manhã, quando o motorista decidiu que era altura de continuar a viagem, o grupo de homens voltou a entrar no autocarro. The strong smell of alcohol followed them onto the bus and they were in a very merry mood. O cheiro forte a álcool acompanhava-os no autocarro e estavam muito alegres. They settled back into their seats and it went nice and quiet as the bus slowly started moving again. Voltaram a sentar-se nos seus lugares e o autocarro voltou a andar lentamente e em silêncio. However, it didn't stay quiet for very long because one of the men was in no mood for sleep. No entanto, o silêncio não durou muito tempo porque um dos homens não estava com disposição para dormir. Instead, he really wanted to sing a song. Em vez disso, ele queria mesmo cantar uma canção. Unfortunately for him none of his friends wanted to join him. Infelizmente para ele, nenhum dos seus amigos quis juntar-se a ele. And unfortunately for everyone else on the bus that didn't stop him from singing. So this is how it went for a good hour: he sang a few lines, then stopped for a moment and called his friend “Ardhu! Ardhu!”. Ardhu didn't answer, so he started singing again on his own for a couple more lines, then stopped and called “Ardhu! Ardhu!”. No answer, so he started singing again, but only the first two lines of the song. And again ‘Ardhu! Ardhu!”. At this point Ardhu drunkenly managed to mumble [5] ‘I'm tired, I want to sleep'. But that didn't stop the drunkard from singing. That is until his wife interrupted. This led to an even louder argument between the wife and her husband. She, however, didn't have the energy to argue for very long. So the whole bus had to continue listening to the drunk man singing the first two lines of the same song over and over again, stopping only to loudly encourage his friend to join in. Ardhu, however, never joined in. Now, nobody on the bus seemed to mind too much. At no point did anyone tell him to shut up. 从来没有人叫他闭嘴。 I've noticed that the Chinese have a very large tolerance for noise. It's a very loud country. But on top of that I think the fellow passengers recognised that this was the first day of his long awaited holiday. And nobody was going to stop him from enjoying it. As for me, I couldn't stop laughing.

***

Eventually we arrived at our destination. And I must say, it is a breathtakingly [6] beautiful place. We were very fortunate with the weather. On all of the days we spent walking and hiking in the valley we had beautiful blue skies. Where we were the river is rather narrow [7] and flows very fast. There are many bridges crossing the river. And on either side of the river the mountains rise steeply into the sky, with snow visible on some of the peaks [8]. In the valley itself it can feel very cold and dark. It's almost as if the mountains are perfectly vertical and reach all the way into the clouds. 就好像山脉完全垂直，一直延伸到云端。 On some nights we camped in the valley and we wouldn't see the sun until about eleven o'clock in the morning. As well as the Nu, there are two other ethnic groups in the area, Tibetans and the Lisu. And most of them are Christians. We spent our first night in a Christian Tibetan village. From there we hiked to the top of a mountain and camped out in a Christian Lisu village. It was a little strange to see Christian churches in such remote areas of China. All in all it was a fantastic week.

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Before I go, I'd like to thank everyone who left a comment on our website after my first podcast. I was very happy to read all of your kind messages. And a special thank you to Maya for being the first. Now as Raphaela mentioned in her comment, China and the United States have agreed to new goals in cutting emissions, which was announced during the APEC [9] meeting in Beijing. And it was very interesting how blue the sky was in Beijing for the meeting. That particular shade [10] of blue has a new name in China, it's now called APEC blue. Often when important people visit Beijing, the authorities manage to make the air pollution disappear. But why can't they improve the air quality for people who actually live there? This is the question more and more people are asking. Well, that's it for my second podcast. I hope you enjoyed it. If you have any questions about life in China that you'd like to ask me, please write them in the comment box on our website www.podclub.ch. I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you have. I'll be back with my next podcast on 5th January. I didn't have time to tell you much about Beijing in this podcast, but I will next time. I'll also be talking about a day they call Single's Day in China. Until next time! Goodbye!

Glossaire: Owen in China [1] nickname: an informal name for something or someone

[2] depths: here: middle

[3] scramble: here: a race for tickets

[4] rage: violent anger

[5] mumble: to speak quietly and unclearly

[6] breathtakingly: extremely

[7] narrow: having a small distance from one side to the other

[8] peak: the top of a mountain

[9] APEC: Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

[10] shade: a type