CHINESE

IMPRESSIVE CHINESE MAKE IT BIG HERE

First time I heard of China Town was in Los Angeles. My brother-in-law Chethan Babu had booked a room for me in a Motel at China Town. When I went to San Francisco, I realized that the China Town here was famous for shopping. Every big city in US has a China town, along with other towns.

Even Alan Lee, my tourist guide to Los Vegas and Grand Canyon was a Chinese immigrant. Wherever I went for shopping, Made in China tag was glaring. The cheap labor in China has forced most of the companies and shops in US to outsource their basic needs from China. Most of the American production industry seems to have shifted to China.

David Jin, an American Chinese businessman, builds the skywalk at Grand Canyon. He has spent couple of million dollars to build the infrastructure and the construction of other facility is still going on. It should be a hard bargain, as Canyon falls in India nation territory. The West Canyon ridges belong to four tribes – Halaupai, Zoopai, Havezoopai and Yallapai. (Barring Halaupai, the spellings of other tribes may be wrong, as I picked it based on pronunciation. Halaupai is pronounced as Valapai.).

Jin has taken the land on 20-year-lease from native Indians and part of the income goes to them also. It is a big risk as he is not sure of lease continuation after 20 years. If not, he is sure to incur loss.

But most impressive Chinese I met was Alan, who confessed to me that he was an illegal Chinese immigrant. Alan grew up in Northern part of China – bordering erstwhile Soviet Union. To make a living, he started working with fishing boats and reached Japan. Using his friend’s passport – changing photo on it, Alan reached USA coast.

This happened 14 years ago and next year, he also got his brother to USA in the same manner. During his initial days, Alan sold fish in the market. ``I did not know the language. Some of my Spanish friends put up a board, indicating type of fishes and price of it. I used to communicate in sign language and my Chinese friends started wondering when I picked up Spanish,’’ Alan laughs.

14-years later, Alan has come a long way. He worked hard and established his own tropical fish import-export business. His brother went to university and now looking after that business.

Alan speaks good English and guides tourists to earn extra money for the family. He is married and has a child. Every tourist pay him 6$ a day as service charges and some pay more.

When asked about his parents, Alan lowered his head and voice: ``they don’t like you Vinay…. They wanted us to be there. That is a difficult situation.’’ I did not ask about his other siblings, as he was emotionally charged. He bounced back in a minute with smile.

At the end of the journey, I was not left with any doubt that the Chinese are going to make it big in US and it is not surprising if they start ruling the economy there.

  

OF INDIANS AND COWBOYS; LOSING NATIVITY IN WILD WILD WEST

``Hey look out that Indian there… Columbus was crazy. He found us and called us Indians. But real Indian is standing in the crowd.’’ Choo Kie was the first native Indian I interacted with, was pointing at me. He drove the horse driver carriages at Halaupai resort.

``My name means an idiot or the man who get into trouble often,’’ he laughed. He lived 45 miles away from resort. However, he is proud to work in India nation and be here.

Since I landed in US, I was hearing about native Indians, India reserves or India Nations. In San Francisco, my cousin Prashanth told me about native Indians and India reserves. I knew some part of the history, but could not relate so much to it. Once in US, the issue started becoming more and more clear.

Destruction of Red Indians in America starts from `Gold Rush’ era in 1830’s. Large number of people started coming to West of Mississippi river after huge gold reserves were unearthed in the West. The American Indian (Red Indians) people were massacred and their women were raped. The Indians tried defending with bows and arrows and fell prey to bullets of the invaders. Many tribal groups simply vanished due to onslaught.

In the modern world, the remaining Indians started losing their identity. After a prolonged struggle for self-governance, the government agreed to create India Reserves, a Nation within the Nation. While Canyon is one of the India Nations, there are many smaller India nations all across US. Though US laws applicable to these areas, tribal leader takes a call on local administration. No one can own land in India nation.

It is not that only Indians lived in West coast of US before gold rush era. There lived Cowboys, who moved here way back in 1700s. When we entered Halaupai resort, cowboys, riding on horseback, greeted us. The trademark cap, full arm shirts were no different from what we used to watch in movies. When we entered the resort, it was done up to resemble a Cowboy village, which we saw in movies.

``Well! This is our lifestyle. The dress, the houses here make a lot of sense in this weather. We adopted these over centuries. We have left beef raising and got into tourism business. In some parts, cowboys still live in our traditional way,’’ said Robert Hauck, one of the cowboy in the resort.

The settlers in East Coast wanted to raise beef in the desert, which they thought was useless for occupation. This was beginning of cowboy culture and those who came to raise beef settled here.

``Indians were here and we were also here. Everything was fine for 130 years till the gold rush started. The white men came here and had bad relationship with Indians. They never respected sanctity of the land and did not abide by the rules of land. That ruined everything here,’’ Hauck said. Straight forward, forgetting that even cowboys were whites.

``Basically, they were gold looters and did not understand what was happening here. They just called it Wild Wild West, which was not true,’’ he lamented.

Hauck was honest and admitted that there were outlaws among cowboys also, as shown in some movies. ``Some lazy people did not work. They robbed money from banks, other people and also trains. Those days, no telephone and no communication. You loot in one place and go to another village. No one knows who you are. At the end of it, you would get caught,’’ he said.

Back in my cottage in the resort, they had displayed a brief history of Billy the Kid, who had killed 21 people at the age of 21. A Sherief later gunned him down. A poster in toilet read; ``this place is frequented by pickpockets and loose women’, while other places also had some funny signboards. Hauck confessed that the Cowboy movement was fast dying out.

Formation of India Nations has not helped native Indians to great extent. It reminds of reservation system in India. My cousin Prashanth in San Francisco told me that wealthy businessmen exploited Indians.

``Barring in Los Vegas, only native Indians got license to open casino in US. The wealthy businessmen scout for proper native Indians and get license in their name. The show will be run by the businessmen,’’ he said.

When I visited Smith Sonian’s National Museum of the American Indian History at Washington, I thought this was the only place where native Indians got some justice. The sprawling museum has made all efforts to collect maximum details about different tribes, their lifestyle, traditions, dress and culture of native Indians. A young native Indian girl was explaining their tradition, which dates back to Before Christ era. Entire history of struggle by Indians to determine their future is featured in the Museum.

But, most of the Indians have joined the mainstream and maintaining their cultural identity is becoming increasingly difficult. As one of the statement by Jeela Allurut, a native Indian liberation movement leader read: ``Right now, we have a different lifestyle. We can’t go back to how it was. It is impossible to be like that now. We have to find a way to help our children and ourselves.’’

COLORADO… A RIVER EARTH IS LOSING

As we set sailing in the Colorado, the boatman Mike (as I remember) began talking about him and the river. Earlier, he was in Los Vegas and lost a lot of money in casinos. He is now happy working as boatman in Colorado and spoke a lot about his wife and daughter.

Like many conservationists, even Mike is worried about future of Colorado. ``We are losing water fast. The ice is not melting in up mountains and a lot of water is being supplied to Los Vegas. The government wants money and is pumping water to ensure Vegas get more and more water,’’ he said.

Pointing out at side of the river that has watermark on the edge of the soil, Mike said that Colorado had lost over 30 feet of water during the last six years or so. He recalled a belief among native Indians that touching Colorado water would heal all disease and bring luck to people.

He had a lot of sense of humor. While drawing water from Colorado in a plastic container, he had put green color toy frog in it. The other tourists in the boat, who initially went to put their hands in the container were scared for a moment and burst into laughter.

On our way to Canyon from Vegas, we passed on Hoover Dam Bridge, built across Colorado. I could sense that everything was not all right, as Alan explained how the government is making all efforts to ensure that Vegas got water.

A week later, when I reached Washington, I watched a documentary on Colorado River by MacGillivray Freeman – Grand Canyon Adventure, River at Risk. At the end of the documentary, I was fully convinced that Colorado was indeed in danger.

Hoover dam was not the only reservoir built across Colorado. Before that, the government had built a dam at Glen Canyon to get cheap electricity. The entire projects were taken up based on rain projection for the next 50 years. However, there were factual error in the projections and rain actually decreased in the region.

Consequently, the reservoir lost half of the water during the last eight years and demand for water at Vegas is growing in an alarming rate. Besides, availability of water has triggered agricultural activity in the desert. The building of two dams has destroyed the natural course of water in many places, creating new ones.

There have been many campaigns to save Colorado for future, of which people like Robert Kennedy Junior are part of it. Noted Hollywood actor Robert Redford narrates the documentary, but the movement is yet to get a practical solution to save the river.

Over 30 million people are dependent on Colorado, which flows across USA and Mexico. The effect is already evident in Mexico, where only 8.6 per cent of water reaches that country. Once flowing in full fledge, Colorado flows like a small stream, leaving huge tracts of river basin for human habitation.

The new projection by conservationists is `Colorado will be dry in next 100 years’.

CANYON

GRAND CANYON: A FEELING THAT ONE SHOULD EXPERIENCE

There is no camera, that can capture its realistic image of the Canyon and there are no words that can explain it. For, Grand Canyon is a feeling, that one has to experience.

It was a long cherished dream to visit Grand Canyon and I wanted to walk down the Canyon, exploring the valleys there. A year ago, the dream of Colorado River was added to it. I had not idea how it worked and when it worked, I could not explain how it went off.

On the way to Canyon, I knew that the best photos were possible only in Canyon. However, I could not resist taking photos of small hillocks, formation looking like Canyon walls. After three hours of journey, we entered the Western Canyon area, where we could see just the edges of the valley.

Our first stop was at Haulapai Reserve resort, run by cowboys. I presumed that the people would be dressed like cowboys. Alan said that they were real cowboys and they are now running the resort there.

Alan told us how to greet a cowboy -- `heeee haaaa’, which sounded much like horse noise. When the bus stopped in front of the resort, the owner of the resort, a big man walked inside the bus. Everyone greeted him `heee haa’. Some voices were so dramatic that even the cowboys burst into laughter.

After an hour, we set out in a horse driver cart for a small ride. A native Indian was driving it and he did not forget to remind us time and again that we were in India nation. India nation is native Red Indian Reserve, which is often termed as a `nation within nation’. Here the law is different for the natives.

He stopped the cart by a stone, which had some marks on it and asked us to identify it. No one could, but he said that it was footprint of a dinosaur. ``Few years ago, a team of scientists visited here and confirmed that it was footprint of a dinosaur. They wanted to take this stone to a museum, but could not as it is in India nation,’’ he said proudly.

He showed us a cactus called prickly peer and Indians ate its berry. A shrub called Indian tea and also a shrub with pointed leaves called Banana Yakka, which were integral part of native Indians’ daily life.

Soon, we boarded the bus and reached the skywalk. We took a short walk near the Canyon edge and as I approached it, my legs trembled. I was surprised, as I was never scared of heights. I realized that I was standing on top of a wall, 12,000 feet tall.

It took sometime for me to get adjusted to the situation. I slowly walked towards the skywalk. An American Chinese businessman David Jin built skywalk, which was opened in 2007. It is a 27-meter arc that hangs in the air over the canyon. The middle part of the skywalk is transparent and one can see the gorge under directly. It creates an illusion and many people are scared of walking in the middle of the skywalk.

The Canyon wall facing the skywalk is called Eagle Point. The shape on the top of the Canyon resembles an Eagle taking off. It was awesome.

Time was up for the sunset now. We rushed to another spot – couple of miles away. I could see a hillock and Alan told me that the sunset would be the best on top of the hillock. It was over a mile from where the bus had stopped and there was a tower, which once housed a ropeway station.

As I started climbing the hillock, I could feel the difference from Eagle point to here. I was surrounded by Canyon and deep down in the valley, Colorado River was flowing. For the next half an hour, the time passed like a second. Sun was slowly setting and its shadows were falling on various parts of Canyon walls. Canyon looked different every second. While one portion glittered, another portion looked dark by the shadow. No word or a photo can do justice to this experience.

Next day was much-awaited day for me. I was going down the Canyon and would be sailing on Colorado. A chopper in Canyon airstrip took off and started descending between the Canyon walls. In the next six minutes, we had hit the bottom of the Canyon. While coming down, I could imagine different shapes formed on the Canyon walls.

I was just half mile away from Colorado and started walking down. We were taken in a boat a mile upstream and floated back to the place where we boarded the boats. The water was red and the experience was amazing.

Within next 20 minutes, we were airborne again. This time, it took less than six minutes to reach the airstrip. The pilot had stopped in the air for two minutes so that we could have better view of the valley, but entire thing passed like a dream.

The Grand Canyon national park is spread over 1.2 million sq mile and I had not even touched tip of the iceberg. I can not even imagine how it would be to cover entire Canyon.

VEGAS

UNDER DAZZLING LIGHTS, THERE LIVES `LOSS’ VEGAS

The cheapest thing here is getting married. Just enter a chapel with a girl and pay 55$. Even if the girl refuses, you will get a marriage certificate!

When Alan was explaining about Las Vegas, I could not control my laugh. When I walked across the streets of Vegas in the evening, I realized that there was much more in the city than what it is famous for. Casinos and Girls: That does not mean that the visitors would be disappointed.

There is a mini-world out there. The casinos in new area replicate all the famous buildings and monuments of the world. Just a round inside Bellagio hotel would require more than an hour. The portico of the hotel seems to be biggest in the world, where a number of Limousines would be parked. The bakery area is a feast to see, which has a 26 feet chocolate fountain – one of its kinds in the world. The garden area is another must visit place, where they had arranged over 13 pumpkins, weighing over 200 pounds each. Everything looked artificial in the garden, but they were natural. Every hour, there is a musical fountain outside the hotel, which attracts thousands of people on every show.

The women are amazing here. For most of the women, dress refuse to stick up in the upper portion of their body and stay down in lower portion. Dress barely covers their vital statistics. A `revealing’ experience and I enjoyed it. However, life in both old and new casino towns is much more than this revealing experience.

Las Vegas marriages are much talked about. Most of the marriages take place near infamous Las Vegas sign and marriages take place round the clock. A visit to sign, which is at entrance of Vegas, next to McAm airport show marriage of rich and powerful on the spot. They drive down in Limousines, dressed grandly for getting married. For the five-minute ceremony, they wait in the queue.

Vegas sign is not only the place where people get married. A walk in the downtown, one can see a number of chapels along the road. It is big business here, but I failed to recognize the significance of it.

Las Vegas also has world’s best hotel management school. However, the passing rate is only 30 per cent. Alan said that most of the students would blow up their money in casinos and return to their countries, after completing first or second year.

The only form of gambling prohibited in Vegas is sale of lottery tickets. In 1986, a person started selling lottery ticket at Primm Nevada, border of Vegas. People went to Nevada in cars to buy lottery tickets, causing a traffic pile up for five miles. The pile up continued for three days and The Las Vegas Times took an aerial photograph of pile up and published in its front page.

Alan told me that the downtown could be a dicy area. It starts just after new casino area and most of the people live there would have lost money in casinos. Every month, more than 2,000 people plead bankrupt in the downtown super court. Pawn brokers make a big business here. I decided to leave behind valuables, including my camera. But, no one seemed to be interested in me. There were chapels after chapels on the roadside and I hit the old casino area.

For naked eyes, lights in both old and new town look the same. The casinos in old town are not themed to replicate famous buildings of the world. However, Alan pointed it out to me. While neon and LED lights illuminate the new town casinos, old-fashioned tungsten based yellow lights dazzle the old town area.

Though casinos started in late 19^th century, the oldest at Vegas in Golden Gate, built in 1906. It runs through three streets, with an arc on top of it. On either side of it, there are casinos. Besides, there are many stages on either side. Many band groups, magicians and other entertainers will be performing on these stages. One can stand near whichever show he/she likes and watch it. One of the casino displays a golden nugget, which was found in Australia. It has been preserved as it was.

Since it was previous day of Halloween, most of the people had dressed to the occasion. I could see a group of people, dressed in red and there was an eight-month pregnant woman among them. All of them were enjoying and that’s how it is in Vegas. No one is bothered about others and they just enjoy their life.

I glanced through a booklet containing details about the shows in different venues of the city. Apart from couple of striptease, there were very good shows across the city. I required at least one week completing visiting all the shows.

But business is not same at Vegas. Three years of recession has hit the business hard. Casinos pay 45% tax to the government. Earlier, one had to wait for over half an hour to get a table, but now, the tables are empty. If you don’t know how to play, the casino people offer to play for you.

Every cab has a small note on its side, which says that the driver has only 5 $ change. The sign was seen even in Las Angeles, but no one took it seriously. In Vegas, whatever money you give, the cab driver returns only 5 $.

When I returned to the hotel, it was past midnight. I headed to casino and started playing poker – the only game I could understand. For the next four hours, there were ups and downs in the game. At 4 am, I decided to hit the bed and I was down by 40 $. However, it was worth losing compared to the experience I got.

MOTOR MANIACS

BEASTS OF BARSTOW

It was around 5 am when I reached Los Angeles from San Francisco. I had not time, as my pick up for package tour was at 6.30 am from China Town. I landed there in 10 minutes and waited for pick up.

It was a three-day tour to Los Vegas and Grand Canyon. Many buses came, but I realized that too many people were heading to Vegas and no one was interested in Canyon. As the bus, along with other 25 passengers hit the road by 8 am, our guide Alan Lee took over the charge.

Alan briefed about the tour schedule and gave some tips on dos and don’ts during the journey. After traveling for an hour and a half, I was still undecided whether to take a nap or keep awake. The dry land outside looked beautiful, when Alan announced that we were passing through California deserts near Lake Calico.

Suddenly I noticed some camping caravan vehicles, known as recreation vehicles (RVs) passing by. After traveling for some distance, I could see a group of vehicles parked in middle of the desert. It was away from the highway and I could notice some small motorcycles climbing the desert hillocks. From a distance, it looked like line of ants, raising dust.

I sensed what it could be. I had seen it in couple of movies and they were the drag racers. I was not sure in what form the entire thing happened. After another half an hour drive, we were stopped near a shopping center of branded goods. I was not particularly interested in shopping and came out to see what it looked like. I could see some vehicles moving in the desert at a distance. The place was called Barstow, which had nothing but a hotel, shopping mall, food court and couple of gas stations.

Alan told me that we would be going to other part of the road for lunch and I waited for an hour. When we reached other part, I realized that these vehicles were still at long distance from us. However, I noticed three motorcycles parked at half a mile distance, which was being guarded by two people. I decided to take a chance and started walking towards it.

Alan had warned me that gangsters were involved in drag racing and there was a lot of illegal betting. He cautioned to be careful. While I approached the motorcycle, I saw two huge guys sitting there. Only after reaching the place, I realized that one man was in his 50’s and another was his teenage son. While father was fit, his son was obese.

Father introduced himself as Roger (could not catch up with his surname) and could not catch son’s name. The two were calm and their friend had gone to gas station for getting a flat tyre fixed.

Roger, hailing from Los Angeles said that he was frequenter to Barstow and admitted that he would take part in drag races. Pointing at lean motorcycles, which looked like 100 CC bikes, Roger said that each one of them were have around 40-50-horse power.

``You need to be careful while negotiating on these rough tracks. You lose balance; you are lucky to escape with broken bones. Some get neck broken and that is the end of it. I heard that at least eight people were killed in such accidents during last two months. But this is fun and I enjoy it. For the last 20 years, I come here and now, my son is joining me,’’ he said.

When asked about gangsters and illegal betting, Roger smiled; ``the racing takes place all over the desert and we need not compete with gangsters. I have heard of some ugly incidents, but it is among them. No one bother you.’’

As we were talking, couple of bikes passed by roaring and raced towards nearby mountains, while a buggy driver was practicing to negotiate a small trench. ``We spend around 6000 $ over bikes and buggies are expensive. Cars can be still expensive – upto 100,000 $,’’ Roger explained.

Taking a leave from them, I headed towards the bus. I noticed a lot of beasts roaring around and heavy motorcycles like Honda, Harley Davidson being parked around. Suddenly I noticed a huge truck and its luggage space door was being closed. I saw a car parked inside and realized that it was a mobile body shop. I just ran to the huge person closing the door and requested him to open it again.

Mike was really huge, but was very soft. He had parked an old Cadillac in the truck and the spare parts of automobiles were neatly arranged. Mike was an automobile mechanic and loved fixing vehicles for drag racing.

``It is a nice feeling and I come here every weekend. There is a lot of activity across the desert. It feels good to see a bike or a car you fixed winning a race. Engine tune up will be extremely important here,’’ he smiled.

There are couple of people, who are due payment to Mike. ``Some people simply vanish and when I meet up, I will get my money back. More than business, I enjoy doing this,’’ he said.

As we left Barstow, I could see buggies being ferried on vehicles to the spot. A group of youngsters riding heavy motorcycles like Yamaha and Harley over took us. They did not seem to have anything with the drag race – they were just riding on highways. Till such time we reached Los Vegas, the beasts of Barstow kept roaring in my ears.

`

THE ROCK

ALCATRAZ… THE PRISON EVERYONE LOVES TO VISIT

As I was passing through Golden Gate Bridge, I saw a rock island with some construction. Was just trying to recollect the familiar structure when the bus driver announced that it was Alcatraz, which was once a prison.

The scenes from `The Rock’, starring Sean Conery and Nicholas Cage ran through my mind. I knew, I needed to visit the rock island. As the driver explained that the island housed prison for only 29 years and was later shut down due to high maintenance costs. Though it was one of the tourist spots, it was not included in my conducted trip schedule.

Once I returned to my cousin Prashanth’s house, I told him that I would be visiting Alcatraz next day. He was toying with the idea of taking a day off to spend some time with me, but I had different plans.

Next day, I reached Fisherman’s Warf and walked towards Pier 34. I was lucky to get one of the last tickets to the Arcatraz ferry.

Alcatraz has its own history, which had the first lighthouse on the Pacific Ocean way back in 1854. The strategic island was also used by military for long time, before handing over to civil government. In 1915, it was officially named as United States Disciplinary Barracks, Pacific Branch. However, the prisons department showed interest in the island, which could be a high security with low cost maintenance and took over it three years later. In 1963, the operations were shut down and the prisoners were moved to other prisons.

After a brief introduction near the dock, the group started walking upward towards the prison building. The first thing we encountered was a gutted building, but maintained as it was. It took place in 1970, when the native Indians, claiming their rights had seized the island. The clubhouse and another building where the lighthouse operators lived were burnt down. However, Entire Island has been preserved as it was.

After passing through the bath area of prisoners, I was impressed about the way it was preserved. The cloths and shoes of the prisoners were arranged perfectly and there were soap bars under each shower. After that, we were handed over audio devises that explained the entire prison and guided us through. Suddenly, a photo caption attracted me: ``Break the rules and you go to prison, break the prison rules and you go to Arcatraz’’

It was called prison within a prison and the caption said million words about the living conditions at Arcatraz.

Interestingly, the commentators in the audio devise were former prison inmates. While Patrick Mahoney, Capt Phillip Bergam, Geoarge De Vincenzi and Ron Battles were correction officials, Whitey Thomson, John Banner, James Quillen and Darwin Coon were prisoners.

All the barracks were 5X7X9 feet, which had toilet also. There were six barracks in the D block, which were solitary confinement. Though it looked big, during the 29 years, it housed only around 1545 prisoners, averaging 268 at a time. Every barrack was neatly maintained.

As I walked from one place to another, listening to the audio guide, I could feel entire life in Arcatraz re-enacting on the places. As I was passing in dining hall, one of the commentators was giving a graphic explanation on a fight breaking out there, forcing the correction officers to burst tear gas shells and beating up the inmates. There was a background sounding of spoons, plates and cries, which made me imagine the scene.  Apart from most dreaded criminals, there were some artists. The authorities have collected their belongings, including paintings, the musical instruments they used to play and arranged them neatly in the barracks they stayed.

There were 14 escape attempts at Arcatraz prison and the best occurred in June 1962, when Frank Morris, along with John and his brother Clarence Anglin slipped into the water. They used raincoats as floating devises. Their bodies were never found and the authorities presume that they drowned in the `cold ocean’.

The bloodiest took place on May 2-4, 1946, when Bernie Coy, along with three inmates overpowered prison authorities and tried to escape. The prison authorities were pushed to a barrack and the five tried to escape by opening the locks. However, they had got the wrong keys and correction authorities dropped grenades from the roof of the prison. The two-day operation ended in death of Coy, one of his friend and two correction officials. The marks of the struggle and damage by grenade attack have been preserved as it was.

It took the entire day to complete a round at Arcatraz and by the time I returned to my cousin, it was already 8 pm. My night bus to Los Angeles was at around 10.30 pm and there was no way I could relax.

But for the telephone call to my cousin, I would have missed something special in US. All that I could cover in two days was tip of an iceberg.