China: Eating mystery meat and skateboarding the Great Wall.
by Sonny Mayugba
What a dream come true! A free trip to China to skateboard! China has been a communist country since 1945 and shut its doors to the rest of the world. It was only in the 1980s that one could actually go to China without being invited. Still today, you must get a visa, which essentially is a 90 day permission slip, to enter the Red Giant. A mere passport will not do. To obtain a visa, you must submit a photo of yourself and an application which the Chinese Embassy keeps. In essence, they know who you are and what you look like. The fact that we were invited to an ex-world power with a recorded history of over 5000 years and now a communist country to represent skateboarding was phenomenal.
However, I never responded to the email. I thought it was phony. Then my friend Rock N’ Roll Steve said that he was supposed to go too. I rushed to respond and received an email back that said they had already found a ramp builder. However, they said they would pay all expenses for Heckler to bring a team of skaters to China. I quickly accepted the offer.
The next thing that popped in my mind was the retarded mistake the United Nations made. Remember? During a beef with notorious gun slinger Sadam Hussein, the UN mistook the Chinese Embassy for a chemical warfare factory and bombed the hell out of innocent people. The vibe about China was not good. I even ran into Don Bostick, one of the event coordinator big-wigs for ESPN’s official Extreme Games. I mentioned the trip to him and he asked, “Who are you taking?” When I told him Heckler’s Senior Photographer Chris Carnel and I would be accompanying Antonious “Toad” Dintcho, Steve Bailey and Jessie Van Rockout, he replied, “OK, cool. They’re dispensable,” and laughed. What was I getting us into? I didn’t even go to the X-Games in San Francisco; why would I want to go all the way across the world for one? The answer lies in the first paragraph of this piece: There are monumental moments in our lives. Toad, Jessie, Steve, Carnel and myself would turn out to be the first skateboarders in history to do a skateboarding demo on the largest man-made object in the world; the Great Wall of China.

Huzhou
After a 15 hour flight from San Francisco to Beijing, we had to take a hopper flight to Shanghai, adding another 2 hours of travel time. Here, we rendezvoused with the other “extreme” athletes, the K2 bmx and in-line people, and the San Diego based in-line magazine, Daily Bread, making our American group a total of 16. Then we had to take a Greyhound-style bus for two hours on a Chinese highway to our first destination, the city called Huzhou (pronounced “who-jo”). Needless to say, it was grueling. We were punch drunk. It was dark and foreign and we felt as if we were stepping on the moon. Everything was different. Seeing Asian culture up close for the first time was like standing awe-struck at the zoo, seeing exotic animals you only see in books and National Geographic magazine. Towering Chinese characters surrounded by a neon lined dilapidated building tops. Scores or citizens were riding bikes in different directions, yet all seemed to pedal at the same pace. Immediately, I could see a uniform chaos.
We arrived at our hotel trashed from the journey. Stepping out of the bus, we were hit full body with humidity that made Florida look dry. Walking into the hotel, we went through a gauntlet of flying insects and Chinese people shaking our hands. Official looking men, smiling to expose their lack of dental plans, were barking greetings to us and each other. Within the first hour, China seemed distinctly surreal.
Anxious to skate the next day, Steve Bailey and I took a ride to the games site to see how the course looked. With one (yes one) small concrete mixer, the Chinese had poured a smooth seamless concrete slab the size of a football field. On each side, they erected bleachers for spectators. At one end, a scary climbing wall that made me glad I wasn’t a rock climber stood overlooking the arena. The setting was at the shore of Lake Taihu, a body of water the size of Lake Erie. The only thing ready to skate was a plywood 11 foot vert ramp that was lacquer finished. Steve and I decided to have a little session and immediately the workers who were finishing up the site started gathering around cheering Bailey on. It was nuts! In a matter of five minutes there were easily a hundred people, all whom had never seen skateboarding. They were so stoked! It was a refreshing change from being hassled by cops or vibed by jaded “cool guys” in downtown US cities.
We were scheduled to do nine demo’s in three days at this site, so we were psyched. Arriving to the first demo, it was packed full of people ranging from infants to grandmothers. The concrete field was surrounded by green clad police sporting hats emblazoned with the star of Red China. By a weird string of events, I became the American MC on the mic. As I introduced the athletes, I was echoed by my Chinese counterpart, a girl named Nana. She had a high-pitched, piercing voice. It would go like this:
Sonny: “Coming out of San Diego, California, representing Consolidated skateboards, getting flow from Etnies shoes, the tranny killer soul tower, Steve Bailey!”
Nana: Steevah Bailaaaaay!!! Chang ching tseng ching chuan chi guang.....
It was crazy. As the demo progressed, it started raining. After skating until we were soaked, we headed back to the hotel.
The Chinese are big on food and eating; it is an event. They fed us 30 course meals, none of which resembled Chinese food as we know it here in America. At this particular lunch, we were eating with an owner of a silk shop. We were seated at a large round table, the kind seen in most Chinese restaurants. I turned around to get my camera, turned back to the table, and jumped out of my chair. The dish that had just been served was a bowl of shrimp/fish animals that were still alive! They were jumping all over the table. The Chinese guy laughed at me as he drowned a few in soy sauce and chowed ‘em down. “Dorothy, we’re not in Kansas anymore,” I thought.
Our next demo was rained out, but we went to the site. Our tour bus was ambushed by people yelling for autographs like we were the Beatles coming to America for the first time. This didn’t cease throughout the trip and actually became tiring. We left the scene only to return that evening. The night demo was amazing. The arena was lit up with spotlights and lasers. The Chinese wanted a taste of western music, and thanks to Heckler’s ad rep Isac Walter, I had CD’s with me. The stands were full of people being splattered with laser lights. At the base of one bleacher was a head table at which the “government officials” sat. Our athletes were in four different doors spread out under both bleachers. When it came time to start the demo, I planned on introducing each person one by one, and then have them come out and go off for a little one minute solo session. I put music through their high tech monstrous speaker mains.
I played Sympathy for the Devil by the Rolling Stones.
It was dark. We were in communist China, on the other side of the world, to skateboard. Mick Jagger’s voice filled the entire world with, “Please allow me to introduce myself. I’m a man of wealth and taste. I’ve been around for a long, long year, stole a many man’s soul and fate. I was around when Jesus Christ had his moments of doubt and pain. I made damn sure that Pilate washed his hands and sealed his fate. I’m pleased to meet you, hope you guessed my name...”
I felt like I was living a Stanley Kubrick film. This revolutionary music was subconsciously permeating the controlled minds of the communist citizens. I introduced Toad and he skated out and started wrecking the street course. He moved onto the vert ramp for a couple pumps and then did a big backside transfer out of the vert onto a bank wedge. The crowd erupted. It was surreal.

Shanghai
Known as the pearl of the orient, Shanghai is a lively mystical place. It plainly resembles all the photos you may have seen of China. It fulfills the stereotypes of mind boggling ornate architecture and “Chinese” style buildings. Our demo was set in Old Shanghai, a beautiful section of the city that was preserved from China’s unyielding development into the 21st century. But first we went into a pagoda. A pagoda is a prayer temple built like a cylinder and is roughly 10 times as high as it is wide. This particular one had an ancient wood housing with another stone pagoda inside. It was all hand carved and had the feeling of spiritual power. It was head-shakingly amazing.
Our Shanghai demo was at night and it was packed to the gills. We had been skating so much that everyone was ready to annihilate. In between sessions, the Chinese had musical acts perform on the flat bottom of the ramp. I saw the Chinese version of the Spice Girls. The street course was a joke. Two wedges and a pyramid, all very shoddy construction, covered in sticker plastic and all atop concrete that was about as smooth as a cheese grater. Needless to say, it got no play.
In Shanghai, there are an abundance of street vendors lined side-to-side. Chris and I ate all this weird food from street stands. Unlike English, Chinese is not a Latin based language, and no one there speaks English. All the signs are in characters, no letters. As you can imagine, your miming gets very good. It’s like being on the moon trying to communicate to another life form. It can be fun. Walking around was awesome.
Both Shanghai demos were at night and sold out. Our second demo started great. Then the rains came and they came hard. The Chinese officials were yelling at us to keep skating this lacquer-finished ramp. It was slicker than masonite could ever dream of being. Tempers were rising and people were getting pissed. To add to the fire, we had befriended the local Shanghai skaters who could not afford to pay the outrageous price to watch our demo. They were charging 375 Yuan, which translates to $47.00! Can you imagine paying 47 bucks to watch skateboarding? We were asking to have this crew be our guests and the officials were buggin’ out. We finally got them in, but it was a small battle. The problem was no one was in charge. Everything in China is done by committee, but it’s like no one has final say. So there was one guy who promotes, one guy who does tickets, one who gets the skaters, one who gets the ramps, one who gets the sound, and on and on. It was our first lesson in communism. Everyone has a job, but no one is in charge.

Beijing
We took a flight to China’s capital, Beijing (pronounced “bay-jing”). What a big city. There are hundreds of people everywhere. One thing different about China is you never see anyone alone. Everyone is in groups and they are many. Chris and I rented bicycles to try and really taste the culture. We rode all over to different markets where you can buy $400 North Face Gortex jacket for $23.50. Cruising on bikes was the best! We felt we were Chinese.
From Beijing, we got to see some of the most incredible works on Earth. We went to the Ming Tombs. Hundreds of years ago, during the rule of the Ming dynasty, the people dug a tomb way underground and buried Emporer Ming and his Empress there. Along with that, many of the Ming treasures were there. This place was the total Austin Powers, “Let me take you to my underground lair.” It literally was an underground lair, a stone castle underground. We also saw the Temple of Heaven, a holy place where monks once lived. It was phenomenal. My favorite overall was the world-renowned Forbidden City. This is an entire city built inside thick tall walls. It housed the emperors of China during the hundreds of years of dynastic rule. Eminent red doors with softball-sized brass buttons slowly swing inward to this historical city. Inside runs sleeping quarters, temples, statues, and stone carvings that make the ruins of Rome look like Taco Bell. The Emporer was the most important person in all of China and had over a 100 wives. If a wife was lucky, she would meet the Emporer, her husband, in her lifetime. We also saw Tianamen Square, home to revolutions and government force. Across from Tianamen hangs an exalted lofty painting of Communist Party instigator Mao Tse Tung. It is fascinating. Beijing could be a hot spot for street skating, as concrete abounds and the handrails are some of the most daring, yet doable, that I’ve seen.

The Great Wall of China
After tasting Chinese history and culture, as well as some of the craziest food on Earth, we were bused to the Great Wall for our demo. The Great Wall of China is so big, it is the only man-made object that can be seen from outer space without the aid of telescopes. It was hand-built by the Chinese over the course of more than 300 years to keep out enemies from the Mongolian and northern regions of this continent. It is made of dense, large grey bricks and joined together by smooth concrete grout. Besides the concave to the rectangular bricks themselves, the Wall is smooth. Standing atop this behemoth wonder of the world, it becomes clear that the Chinese people are driven and will dedicate their whole lives to the eventual completion of a vision. The fact that they would labor over three centuries to build a defensive wall the length of the entire country and labor months with one small concrete mixer to pour a smooth slab for skateboarders illustrates how different the culture is from ours. Everyone has a job. In the 15 days I was in this most populated country in the world, I saw only one homeless guy. I also was in disbelief that in the densely populated cities, we saw zero crime and barely a fender-bender. Perhaps it is because the penalties are so swift. We were told that the penalty for having pot is death, no if’s, and’s or but’s-death. On a sociological level, China is a complete 180 from the US.
The first half of our historical demo was in a lot at the base of the Wall. There was a good vert ramp and spirits were high. Bailey and Toad were throwing down and the people were totally stoked on skateboarding. The Chinese were being cool and brought us a case of Tsingtao, which is the equivalent to Chinese Budweiser. We were getting toasted and having so much fun. Again it started raining so we took a break and played kick-the-can soccer with the crew and some rad young Chinese kids.
A little later, the rain dried up and it was back on. As the sun was beginning the set, the Chinese yelled on the mic, “Let’s go to the Great Wall!” We all grabbed our cameras and ran the 100 yards up to the Great Wall of China to make history. Stepping on the wall, we immediately had a special feeling. At the demo spot, they had set up four quarter pipes in a row, like a snowboard park run. Immediately, in-liner and damn cool kid Matt Salerno aired off a quarter and did the first ever Scooby-Dooby soul grind on “top” of the Great Wall. Carnel, Bailey and I, smiling from ear-to-ear, had our own little session at one of the quarters. Finally, Toad decided it was time to bring bring the noise, so he brought one of the ramps down to make a gap. Chinese people were crowding beyond belief into the narrow run on the Wall. The sun was setting. Cameras were being wound. Flashes were charging. People were amping. Toad came down and did the sickest crail air high over the Wall and the people went nuts. It was a frenzy. Although it was a fitting finish to the weirdest journey we had all ever been on, Toad wanted to hit a backside 360 on it. The Chinese people freaked and started dismantling the ramps with crowbars and hammers right there on the Wall. It was insane!
We were proud enough to be the first ever kids to demo the Great Wall of China.
Being immersed in this extremely foreign country was not easy. The customs, manners and expectations are very different from what we are accustomed, which got tiresome for everyone. In addition to this, our Chinese tour guides had us jumping through hoops nearly every minute of the day, going to sites, lunches, demo’s, dinners, etc., all of which were amazing. However, we lazy Americans were not used to such a vigorous schedule. After finishing this demo of demo’s, we really needed to rage and blow off some steam. Ready to party, we went back to our hotel to have dinner and drink. We had one of the tastiest meals ever and got wasted on beer made from bamboo, mmmmm good! Toad knew he was short on rent so I got him to start doing party tricks for money. Like I said, we needed to get crazy. We filled a glass full of beer, weird food sauce, mystery meat, and a chicken foot. We all pitched in and if Toad drank this concoction, he would walk with $225. To top it off, Toad stood up at the table, unzipped his pants and filled the rest with his own piss. Now the stakes were high. The final deal was he was to drink the whole thing, puke immediately, then down a whole fresh beer. As you can tell, Toad paid his rent for September.

Epilogue
Trying to conjure up the experience of China in words is very difficult. That is why I opted for more of the details so you could have an idea of how rad our trip was. It was a markedly foreign skateboarding trip, the most unique I’ve ever been on. We all have many, many more stories we could tell you in person, so if you’re interested, feel free to contact any of us. I want to thank some people who made this monumental milestone in our lives a reality. Thanks to Zhiwei Pan, Dr. Liu, Dr. Wu and the People’s Republic of China for letting us be the ones to show them skateboarding and taking care of us over there. Thanks to the best in the world, Lynn, for being the best in the world and taking care of the homestead. Thanks to Toad, Bailey and Jessie and all their respective sponsors for taking a chance and coming on this trip. Thanks to the entire staff at Heckler for covering for me while I was gone. Thanks to Birdo at Consolidated and Stephanie at Sole Tech for setting me up with supplies. And thanks to all you Heckler readers for making it all possible. I also want to mention that upon our return, Toad’s Mom, Claudette Dintcho, moved on to a better place. She was totally happy that Toad got to be a superstar in China. Rest in peace.
Photo Credits
All skate photography by Chris Carnel, with the exception of the Chinese kid on page 3 doing the b/s lipslide which was shot by Sonny. Most of the lifestyle was shot by Carnel, but a lot was shot by Sonny and a few were shot by Toad. And the photo of us five here on this page was shot by Chin.