“The Big Stink”
September 8th, 2011 by glenda-chong(… this follows from the blog-entry before “Dumping”
and it was first published in 8days August 2010)
From a metaphorical dump to a physical dump!
I just returned to Shanghai from an obscure village in Shanxi Province to cover a story on how organic waste is being turned into usable fuel. You can just imagine the crappy jokes (pun intended) that were coming from friends when they heard what I was getting myself into.
Anyway, the remote village is called Shangwa and the nearest town is almost 3 hours away by car. With a population of less than 2000 made up of about 88 farming families, life is quite hard with monthly household incomes averaging less than 10 USD. And not so long ago, they used to live in cave dwellings – literally holes they carved out for themselves with no electricity and poor sanitation. At least that was the case until a recent initiative by Mercy Relief (MR), an independent non-governmental humanitarian charity.
By building houses with bio-gas digestor systems, MR has helped the villagers to harvest energy through fermentation of human and animal excreta, which is in turn used to power up bio-gas cookers and lamps. As a result, the villagers are not dependent on coal and do not need to spend their limited earnings on electricity from the power grid. And with excess waste being recycled as crop fertilizer, more savings are generated for the simple folk in this tiny community.
“EEEEW! What a sh*tty assignment!” teased a bemused friend, “did you make your personal donation to the bio-gas digestor systems while you were there?” Well, considering how hospitable the kind village folk were, that was the least that my crew and I could do. And just in case you’re wondering, collection tanks are fitted outside each home and very well covered. So no, we didn’t create a big stink in Shangwa.
However, that wasn’t the case back at The Apartment in Shanghai.
In case you missed my last article, I had been long overdue for a dumping date – a ritual I have with my really good friend (whom I refer to as SSE in my CNA blog). Every other day, we meet up for a dumping date, essentially to tell each other about our most recent dramas at home and at the workplace. And with SSE globetrotting for 8 straight weeks, I had been suffering a severe case of metaphorical constipation!
Her eventual return to Shanghai saw us having our overdue dumping date at a buzzy new place near my home, aptly called The Apartment (you will see why shortly). It’s a loft-style bar and restaurant, serving delicious white pizza (no cheese) – a newcomer on the hip Yongfu Lu strip which has been drawing a certain trendy crowd in the evenings since Spring.
Back to my much anticipated dump – before SSE was even served her Brooklyn Basil Martini, I started downloading 8 weeks worth of data at approximately 180 kilometres per hour, speeding through what has been happening in my life while she was traipsing across continents.
Most significantly, I had been grappling with buying an apartment.
As property prices in Singapore continue to soar, my dear mother is increasingly worried that I will not be able to afford my own pad. She had been frantically house hunting on my behalf, seeing almost 50 homes which – just weren’t “my type”. She has a cosmic theory that the house chooses the owner and not the other way around. I had even made a bid on a recent trip back to Singapore. But apparently the property didn’t choose me. My mother has since given up looking on my behalf. So my hunting continues remotely while I’m in Shanghai, where I’m still diligently keeping an eye for the property that will make me the chosen one.
Back at The Apartment on Yongfu Lu, as I paused to catch my breath and to sip on intoxicatingly fermented grape juice from South Africa, SSE shared amusing anecdotes from her romantically fabulous time in Europe and Brazil. Not only did she return with a Mediterranean tan, she also came back with an exciting plan to build a business in multiple cities spanning three continents – including a potential spot strategically located on same Yongfu Lu we were at! In case you missed it before, SSE stands for Sexy Savvy Entrepreneur.
But before I could say “guess what I did…” SSE flew off again and this time for a Sarajevo-turnaround to tie up some loose ends – leaving me as a spare end for a few days, to embark on a personal pet project to produce a customized diary as a belated birthday gift to a very special friend.
http://blogs.channelnewsasia.com/glenda-chong/






