Are we there yet?

July 5th-7th 2010

At 7:50 PM on July 5th our train left Shanghai headed for Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and at 11,800 feet above sea level one of the highest cities in the world. When we purchased our train tickets there were two soft sleepers and two hard sleepers available (at this time I was traveling with Dirk, Cooper, and Nick another classmate from South Carolina), the difference between the two tickets was the number of people in the cabins (4 in a soft and 6 in a hard) as well as the ability to have a locked and closed door (on a soft) and no door on a hard. We boarded the train and looked at each other and started asking who had the great idea of taking a train across China, we all blamed Dirk because when in doubt blame Dirk. We began debating amongst each other how long of a ride the trip was scheduled to be all we could remember was we were looking at somewhere between 44 and 50 hours on the train (we learned the next day it was SCHEDULED to be 47 hours). We split the tickets with the intention of switching half way through the trip so everyone had a chance to rest in “luxury.”

The next two days were long; the first 24 hours on the train yielded little as far as scenery as worked from Shanghai north towards Xian before heading west towards Lhasa. In order to pass the time I buried myself in books (finishing two books on the trip to Lhasa). At lunch time on day 1 I made my way to the dining car to find that unlike the last train there were four cooks working hard in the kitchen making some simple but good Chinese dishes to order, I looked at the menu that had been carefully translated into English and was pleased to see they had a classic dish called “I wear the chicken pieces,” I looked the waiter with a smile pointed and said “我要这个” (I want this). Day one passed slowly and painfully, the lack of sleep and probably the time spent in the bars in Shanghai started to take a toll on me as I could feel myself developing a nasty cold. After a long day of reading and watching industrial China pass by my window I went to sleep.
Night two on the train was rough due to sickness and the increasing altitude (we reached 15,700 feet above sea level) while waking up throughout the night with shortness of breath. When the sun finally began to rise I was greeted by the sights of the Tibetan Plateau. The land out there is truly amazing where mountains shoot straight up from the grass lands and plains that are the home to yak, sheep, goat, antelope and farmers. We were working our way into the Himalayas the massive mountain range that’s covers 1/10 of the earth’s surface. The mountains themselves however were varied from rocky cliff faces to rolling green hills the variety kept me glued to a window and helped make the time pass a little bit faster. However, when it came time to use the bathroom I was reminded that we had been on a train for around 40 hours and people were beginning to suffer from altitude sickness and what I have now termed “the Beijing belly.” In the morning the staff did some minor bathroom cleaning but by noon I would have preferred a hole in the ground.
Around noon we worked our way to the dining cart to find that the train had essentially run out of food. Our waiter explained to us that all they had left was rice, eggplant and cabbage that they would be more than happy to make into a tasty melody I decided to pass and hope we would stop again soon somewhere I could get some instant noodles. In the meantime I looked at the snack options available on the train much to my delight outside of the usual assortment of animal parts the train had full cucumbers to offer. Over my time in China I’ve watched people eat cucumbers much the same way we would eat apples, I always thought it was a little odd but desperate times call for desperate measures and it was time to get Chinese and eat a couple cucumbers for lunch, 5 RMB later I’m eating a couple cucumbers on the Tibetan Plateau. After lunch I was starting to get a bit of a headache and contacted the train staff to get a mask to connect to the oxygen supply in my car, one of the necessities of traveling at that altitude is an oxygen supply.

It started to become apparent that we were running behind schedule and none of us were pleased that our 47 hour train ride now without food was going to be longer than it needed to be. We waited as our train approached the last stop before Lhasa for it to give us a clue as to how far behind schedule we really were and also hoping for some instant noodles or some sort of food to sustain us for the remainder of the trip, we watched the minutes tick by until we learned that we were more than 3 hours behind schedule. When we finally pulled into the station with stomachs grumbling we were disappointed, no noodles, no animal parts, no food to load for dinning cart, we got NOTHING! The train station itself appeared to be the only thing in a 100 mile radius (not counting tents).
Farther and farther we continued and continued to be impressed by the landscape as well as the blue skies that were more brilliant than any of us had ever seen before. At 10:10 PM 50 hours and 20 minutes after leaving Shanghai we were in Lhasa. In order to enter Tibet foreigners are required to get an additional visa (in addition to the Chinese visa) while there is no formal process for checking these visas on arrival we were immediately approached as the only foreigners on the train to view our paperwork. After a few minutes of looking at the papers and looking at us we were allowed to leave the station and start looking for our guide.

Tenzing (named after the first Sherpa to successfully climb Mt. Everest) met us outside the train station where he presented us with a traditional white Khata scarf. The scarf is believed (in Tibetan Buddhism) as a way to bestow a blessing upon a person they are also used as an offering to Buddha. Tenzing brought us to our hotel and told us he’d meet us in the lobby the next morning. Before I went to bed I looked out my window and saw the Potala Palace.

Shanghai

My first summer vacation in years

It all began when I realized that I had two months of no school and no work for the first time since I was 16 years old. It was time for a summer vacation in Asia.

Around 10 AM on June 30th I made my way to Beijing South Train Station with Dirk and Cooper to take the bullet train from Beijing to Shanghai. The bullet train still required an 11 hour time commitment but allowed us to see the polluted and impoverished countryside; it was also a warm up for our two day train ride that we’d be taking in a week to Tibet. We learned a valuable lesson on this train ride bring food and plenty of it. I made a few trips to the dining car and only to find that the choices never changed from random array of unrecognizable and non-huffed food products, needless to say after an 11 hour train ride with nothing to eat the shinning lights of Shanghai were a welcome sight.

Shanghai is a big city (by some estimates the biggest in the world) not unlike many of China’s cities but the big difference between those cities is that Shanghai fell under the influence of the British and French which creates a city that doesn’t look like the concrete jungles of Xian and Beijing.

2010 is the year of the Shanghai Expo (The World’s Fair) and a major part of the reason for the visit to Shanghai was to experience a World’s Fair. We had decided we’d set aside 3 days to see the Expo but we almost immediately began to rethink that decision. As soon as I stepped outside to head to the Expo I was hit in the face by 95+ degree heat with humidity to match and it was only 9 in the morning.

By about 10 AM Cooper, Dirk, Aamna (a girl in our program who was interning in Shanghai), me and 400,000 other people were filing through the gates to see what the fair had to offer. The weather and the crowds slowed down our excitement to explore the largest world’s fair ever. Over the course of the day we visited around 10 pavilions many of them smaller countries due to the extremely long line. We also decided not to wait in the long lines due to the quality of the displays often times little more than advertisements for some of the host countries larger domestic companies and a number of displays from the board of tourism. I had planned to spend 3 days at the fair but after 1 day I had seen enough and so had everyone else. We decided we’d spend the rest of our time in Shanghai catching up with friends, relaxing and seeing the remaining sights along the famous Bund area before heading off to Tibet.

I'm Back!!!

So it's been about two months but I'm back in Beijing. I'm going to try to start posting stuff about my trip in the next few days but here is some basic information about what I did:

Countries visited: China, Tibet (if we can count it), Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and the capital airport of Lao.

Miles Traveled: 13,083

Articles lost: 1 pair of flip flops, 3 pairs of sunglasses, cell phone charger, power converter (on the last two thank you Nick for getting them back to me!).

Beers I tried: Tsing Tao, Tiger, Danish Royal Stout, Lhasa, Green Barley, Budwieser Anchor Smooth, Chang, Belgium Stout, Singha, Archa, Siam Sato, Angkor, Lao, Bayum Hollandia, 333, Biere Larue (I lost part of my list but I think there was 3 more from Vietnam).

Different Countries I met people from (and had meaningful converations with): Italy, Britian, Scotland, Canada, USA, Isreal, Australia, Denmark, Cambodia, Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Singapore, and South Africa.

Overall an amazing summer. I saw some amazing things and met some amazing people. I can't wait to share it with all of you through the stories and the pictures.

Xi'an

Trip to Xi’an 4/30/10-5/2/10

I basically travelled 700 miles to see one thing so I need to give a little bit of history in order to put into context this weekend’s trip. About 700 miles southwest of Beijing is the city of Xi’an. Xi’an formerly the capital of China (we’re talking thousands of years ago) remains to this day a busy city with over 4 million people would rank as America’s 2nd largest city in front of Los Angeles and Chicago, however in China Xi’an is just a blip on the radar that would have fallen into relative obscurity if it weren’t for the spring of 1974 when three farmers started looking for water and were drilling test wells.
As a result of his father’s death in 247 BCE Ying Zheng took over as emperor of China at the age of 13 and became known as Emperor Qin. This period of time was known as the Warring States period in China as the provinces within the country were constantly at battle with each other and bloodshed ruled the land. Because of his age at the time of his rise to power Emperor Qin had little to do with the running of his country and his mother and ministers handled the affairs of the nation until the young Emperor was 22 years old. Emperor Qin lead his military into overthrowing the other 6 provinces and unified the country (it is believed Qin was the first ruler to use the term Emperor in his name). Emperor Qin was not only a military leader but he worked to create a legitimate system of government by creating a standard monetary system, a single system of writing, and creating towns, counties, and local governments Qin was a revolutionary.

Beginning in 247 BCE (when Emperor Qin took power) and lasting until 208 BCE (just after the Emperors death) there was ongoing work to build the Emperor’s mausoleum. The actual burial site of Emperor Qin is within the northern foot of Mount Li. Mount Li is a standalone mountain that was surrounded by the burial pits for the workers who constructed the warriors as well as the Emperor’s final resting place. In order to protect the Emperor and his mausoleum over 700,000 works were buried alive so that the secret location of the Emperor’s final resting place would remain a secret and protected. There is speculation that shortly after his death there was looting of the mausoleum and fires were set to it. Since the mausoleum sits within the mountain there isn’t easy access to and modern archeological tools don’t allow for safe exploration of the mountain at this time so it remains a mystery.

There are 4 pits that have been opened and have housed the “Terracotta Warriors.” While the vast majority of the of the figures are military there have been some that are not military including figures of ministers, and performers (acrobats and musicians). There is some debate as to why the warriors were made one thought process is to be with the emperor and protect him in the afterlife. The other is to honor those people who were partially responsible for the outstanding success the emperor had during his reign. It is estimated that there are around 8,000 warriors in total however due to the painstakingly slow pace required to unearth and restore the figures. Currently there are around 1,000 warriors that have been unearthed and completely or partially restored. It will be years before the remaining warriors are brought to the surface and on display given the amount of time it takes to unearth one and repair (up to two years per warrior).

Like a lot of things I’ve seen in China so far the relics themselves haven’t been the most awe-inspiring things. It’s the history behind them that makes them so interesting. The Terracotta warriors were no different. The pits themselves are now housed in what amounts to glorified airplane hangers packed with smelly Chinese people. We worked our way through the hangers and saw the warriors which was why we went to Xi’an but outside of the warriors there wasn’t much to see in the city or the surrounding area.

As part of our “tour” we were taken to places like the Neolithic village, and the tomb of the emperor. But both of these places can be summed up in one word: Snore. The emperors’ tomb is a pile of dirt that hasn’t been opened and the Neolithic village is a few spots of excavated graves and what they call home sites if you use your imagination.

Xi’an boosts a large Muslim population and the Muslim quarters are one of the highlights of the city. With a shopping area that doesn’t come alive until after dark that boosts food vendors selling all sorts of treats to vendors selling all sorts of crap it essentially turned into a cluster of people that made it near impossible to move. The highlight of the area was the great mosque that serves as the center of the Muslim community and is one of the oldest mosques in the world.

After 2 days in Xi’an we were all ready to leave we had made the trip to see the warriors which I’m glad I was able to see but is one of those places that once you’ve seen it you’ve seen it!

I wanted to say that I won’t be posting for the next two months I’m leaving in the morning (June 30th) to head to Shanghai for the World’s Fair, I’ll be following that up with Tibet, Mt. Everest, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, and hopefully Vietnam. I hope to be able to make a post from the road but I don’t know if that will be possible. If not I’ll begin again when I get back to China at the end of August. Please feel free to email me and keep in touch at stevensnow82@gmail.com.

Dali, Kunming, Flight to Beijing

2/26/2010 and 2/27/2010

Once we arrived in Dali we tried to book an early AM bus to Kunming so that we’d have some time to explore Kunming despite our setbacks from issues with bus schedules to illnesses. Unfortunately the earliest bus we could get was at 7PM with a late night arrival. I was feeling slightly better and spent a lazy day walking around Dali’s old town.

While out exploring I found the Dali diocese Catholic Church. Religion in China is a tricky subject with many Christian religions having faced years of persecution and being outright banned within the country. The diocese of Dali was founded in 1927 by French missionaries. The Church was booming from 1927 until 1949 at the start of the Cultural Revolution. At this time all foreign priests and nuns were sent back home leaving many churches without direction. The Chinese government began to seize properties that were owned by religious groups. Many churches were destroyed and others were turned into anything from factories to schools. The remaining priests and nuns were often sent to labor camps for the duration of the Cultural Revolution. The Catholic Church in Dali was transformed into a primary and middle school from the 1950’s through the 1970’s until in 1985 the government returned control of the church to diocese.

After I left the church I headed to the markets to explore for various pieces of marble (bowls, vases, etc.). Dali or in Chinese 大理 is the term for marble. Dali is known throughout Asia and the world for the marble that comes from the surrounding mountains and you are able to buy almost anything you’d like made from marble at prices that would shock you (a marble bowl for less than $5).
An uneventful trip from Dali to Kunming brought us to our hostel shortly before midnight. I settled into my dorm style room and got a good night sleep. After a shower and a crumby breakfast we set off to the only site we had time to see before our flight out of town the Bamboo Temple. The temple (Budhist) was built during the Ming Dynasty and the major feature of the temple are the 75 “Surfing Buddha’s.” The Buddha’s were riding a variety of types of surf boards including mythical creatures and people.
While in the temple we were fortunate to catch a ceremony happening at the temple. Our lack of understand of Buddhism gives me little perspective to share other than what I simply saw on the surface. What I saw consisted of a lot of chanting, incense, and a monk answering his cell phone during part of the ceremony, it’s part of China and doesn’t surprise any of us that much. My impressions of the cultural norms were further reinforced when at the end of the ceremony the participants release 7 cages worth of birds from a garden atop a hill. As the birds were flying away a woman in her late 50’s turned and shot a snot rocket to the ground (but at least she did it away from the ceremony).
On our bus ride back to the hostel I was in a window seat and I saw a China Mobile sign (one of 3 authorized government owned phone companies) out the window, this sign caught my attention because something didn’t look right it took me a minute to realize that the sign didn’t actually read China Mobile but instead read “China Mobl.” The store sat on the corner of a building and instead of reducing the font size they simply removed some letters, I imagine Verizon, and AT&T will probably look to jump on this bandwagon pretty soon.

Our flight from Kunming back to Beijing was a frustrating one. After our flight was delayed for an hour and a half we boarded the plane and took off on our way to Beijing. I was in an aisle seat surrounded by some Chinese men who had been over served at the airport bar before we took off. The man behind me decided he didn’t like foreigners and continually referred to me as the “Laowai” (loosely translates as f*ing foreigner) and would kick the back of my chair. I turned around and shot him some nasty looks and said some stuff in English but my Chinese wasn’t good enough to have any type of conversation with him. When our plan finally landed he was out of his seat before the plane had even slowed down the flight attendants began yelling at him and he returned to his seat. This was my last straw because as he came to the seat he started to shake my seat, I looked at him smiled and remember the 70 lb bag I’d been carrying around the past 10 days was in the overhead bin. When the plane stopped I got out of my seat opened the overhead bin took my bag down. Once the people in front of me started to move a little I swung my bag to put it on my back knocking him into his chair. It was time to get home.

Pictures:

First two are of the Bamboo Temple
The Monument is the Peoples Monument in Dali
The last one is the Catholic Church in Dali

Bus Ride ffrom TengCheng to Dali

2/25/2010

I managed to snag a few hours of sleep before it was time for the bus, it was just enough to allow my stomach to begin to settle. While I was sleeping the other guys took off to the hot springs which turned out to be the only thing around TengCheng worthwhile. Once we got on the bus I managed an aisle seat right next to a trash can just in case.
The trip from TengCheng back to civilization was mainly back roads through small villages and through the mountains. The area is rapidly changing as the Chinese government is spending billions on infrastructure improvements, literally blasting through mountains to build roads and highways to connect the country.
We were making our way up one of the many mountains that sit between TengCheng and Dali following too closely behind a motorcyclist. Our bus and the motorcycle were traveling in unison as we’d handle the “S” curves and pass the occasional construction trucks along the mountain. I was just starting to zone out when I felt a sudden jar, but unlike most jars I had felt so far in China this one was missing the blaring of the horn. I looked out the front of the bus to see the motorcyclist flying through the air as his motorcycle slides across the ground our driver manages to maneuver us around so that we don’t hit the bike or the person. I’d like to say at this point we stopped the bus to check and make sure he was ok, but I guess with a population that is over 1.3 Billion people one guy on the side of the mountain isn’t that important, I guess it’s another form of population control. Karma had a funny way of handling this situation as we continued up the mountain.
About 20 minutes after we left a man injured or dead on the side of the mountain our bus breaks down, and we sit 2 hours from anywhere on the side of the mountain. Our driver runs to the back of the bus were we are sitting and grabs a makeshift tool box he takes off his sport coat and transforms from driver to mechanic. Most everyone gets off the bus to walk around, however I decide to remain planted in my seat because frankly my stomach still wasn’t good. About 20 minutes goes by and nothing has happened our driver then comes up on the bus and grabs a welcome mat and disappears under the bus. Another 10 minutes go by and everyone is back on the bus and we’re on our way to Dali.
The 7 hour ride to Dali is approaching an 8 hour ride and I’m feeling worse by the minute, I try to close my eyes to manage some sleep and that doesn’t work so I pulled out my book and I’ve started to read. Before I know it we’ve left the back roads and we’re barreling down the new interstate. I focus my attention on back to my book. No sooner am I back to my book when I hear BANG BA BOOM BA BOOM BA BOOM, the distinct sound of a shredding tire, all I can do is shake my head and wonder when am I going to get off this bus and get my first hot shower in days. Our driver jumps off the bus and I looked behind us to see the rubber we left behind on the road. A minute later the bus is rolling again minus a tire.

When we finally pull into Dali we collect our bags from under the bus and Ted takes off down the street with some random Chinese guy talking like they’ve known each other for years. I’ve got 70 lbs of crap on my back and an upset stomach that is wondering where we are going, I ask the question and get the response “He’s going to help us with a ride.” We keep walking until we are at a city bus stop. Not to happy but too sick to truly express my level of disgust I ask again what are we doing and I hear that our hostel is about a 50 RMB ($7.50) cab ride from where we are and the bus will be a 5 RMB ($0.85) ride per person. I shake my head and ask if it will take us all the way to our hostel and I’m told it well and before I know it we’re standing on a cramped city bus for the 45 minute ride to the hostel.
As we approach the old town we turn suddenly and we’re running east of the city about 3 KM south of where we are suppose to be. I hear Ted’s voice behind me say “Get off at the next stop.” I do and I ask “what are we doing standing on the side of the road? I asked if the bus ran all the way into town and you said it did.” To which Ted responds with “We’ll have to walk from here.” And so we set off by foot 3 KM uphill, with an upset stomach and a small person on my back.
It took nearly an hour to walk under those conditions to our hostel and when we arrived I was excited to see the sign on the side of the building that read “24 hour Hot Water.” I reach my room and turn on the water and wait for 5 minutes to let the water get warm and it’s still cold. I turn it the other way and wait and it’s still cold, back the other one way more time and it’s still cold, so much for 24 hour hot water.

TengCheng

2/24/10
The night started with another overnight bus ride with more smells and annoying people. I thought I was lucky I had scored a bunk by myself for the 9-10 hour trip to TengCheng. Unfortunately this bunk wasn’t built for someone over 5’5” tall. It was a little bit wider than my last bunk so my shoulders weren’t digging into the metal but the only way I could lay down was to have my knees in the air. I decided the most “comfortable” way to lay was on my side. This sense of comfort wouldn’t last because with every corner and bump in the road I was tossed around in that bed and struggled for an hour of sleep. I woke up and we are pulling into a “rest stop.” Picture a series of run down brick buildings that have open fronts and are acting as make shift stores selling bottled water, tea, misc packaged animal parts, and instant noodles. As I walk to the bathroom I notice the ground is wet and there are big hoses running from behind the buildings to the buses and trucks that are at the rest stop, I reason that these must be the gas lines and about the same time I realize this, the truck I’m next to starts overflowing spraying me and the other people around me. I make it to the bathroom in hopes of being able to clean off and pay the standard 50 jiao (50 “cents”) to use the bathroom and I’m instantly reminded that one of the world smells in the world is human waste. Most of the public restrooms outside of the cities there isn’t running water so the human waste is collected until it is shoveled out to make room for more. Needless to say this creates an unsanitary environment with smells that make you want to throw up.

Back on the road we are moving and I’m continuing to get tossed around in my bunk. I manage to dose off for about an hour when I wake up and its 2AM and we are stopped, we are scheduled to get into Tengcheng at 5AM so I ask why aren’t we moving to find out that we are 3 hours ahead of schedule (now I know part of the reason I’ve been getting tossed around for hours). I get off the bus to grab my bag and find my foot in a pothole getting soaked in a variety of liquids. We managed to snag a cab to take us to a nearby hotel where I test the water in the shower before going to bed, the water is freezing cold (common in China), and I’m not happy.

I wake up a few hours later and decide to try to get clean; I jump in the shower hoping that I’ll manage at least a few minutes worth of warm water. I stick my hand under the water and its freezing cold I managed to wash one body part at a time to minimize how cold I am until it’s time to wash my head/hair. The water was so cold that as soon as I put my head under it I get the wind knocked out of me, what a great way to start the day.

Our plan was to spend two days in TengCheng and then take the overnight bus on Thursday to Kunming before returning to Beijing. In order to make sure we make it happen Ted and I decide to head to the bus station and book our tickets in advance to Kunming. There is a board behind the counter that shows buses leaving from Tengcheng to Kunming every hour and with 3 sleeps a day. The woman at the ticket counter informs us that the board is mainly aesthetic and they only run buses when they have them so “there will be another bus leaving for Kunming when we have a bus going, but go ask the office.” The guys in the office were slightly more helpful “we know we’ll have a bus going to Kunming later todaybut not sure when else we might have one, you can come back tomorrow after 7AM and if we have a bus we might send it.” GREAT! We’ve made our way to the middle of nowhere and we have no way to get out of here.
Realizing there’s nothing we can do about leaving for the time being we decided to set out for the volcanoes that sit about 20 KM north of the city. We pull into the national park and I see a long road that leads up to a mountain, running up the side of the mountain are 2 sets of stairs, as if my legs weren’t already exhausted from the past week of hiking it was time for more “UP.” We work out way up the volcano and step by pain full step until we’ve finally made it to the rim, I’m pretty excited having never seen a volcano before. There it was in all of its glory, essentially a mountain with a hole cut into the middle of it with patches of grass and bits of volcanic rock. It was as unexciting as a volcano could be. As we later found out the volcano has been extinct for 100’s of years but we are reassured it was once VERY active.
Black Fish River sat 15 KM away from the volcano and is where the aquifer’s come from under the volcanic rock to form the black river. We hire a local driver in the village to take us to the river and back to TengCheng after we see the sites. We decided to grab lunch in the village before heading off the river. There weren’t any actual restaurants just various tents on the street selling noodles, we sat down at the one that looked the least sketchy and quickly became the center of attention. Across the street an older woman sat in front of a cardboard box with two bowls on top of it making noodles, it was a quick reminder that while there is extreme wealth in some parts of China it is still a developing country. After a decent lunch we make our way down the road through fields of volcanic rock. Eventually we pull into a dirt parking lot and our driver begins to mumble some Chinese that none of us can understand until we hear her say “zaijian (goodbye).”
We head off towards the trail but before we do there are various “snack vendors” selling fresh fish (swimming in buckets next to their grills), and birds (picture a bird about the size of your hand from the head to feet and it is butter flied to toss on the grill, and yes the head and feet are still attached). We start making our way down a long flight of stairs to the muddy river below that sits next to a concrete irrigation cannel, what a view! We keep walking down the trial and decide that this place SUCKS! Just about a minute later Cooper decides to liven things up when we meet a lady on the trail selling the birds, he buys one (I named him Petey) and next thing you know our chef is cutting Petey with scissors and he’s spread eagle on the grill, about 10 minute later she hand Petey to Cooper and it was time for him to enjoy head and all.

We finally found where the water leaves the earth and its nothing spectacular the best part was the mini-village that was set up at the sit with people selling food (including Petey’s family) and various native crafts. For these people 5 foreighers was by far the most they had ever seen in person. We were again quickly surrounded with “HELL-OHHHS” echoing throughout the river. Cooper, Ted and Jon decided to try a black fish from one of the buckets and it quickly became a side show as they tried to catch one with their hands. Cooper managed to make this into a sit-com that lasted nearly 20 minutes as he tried over and over again to get the fish from the bucket as countless locals interrupted to show him how to pick one up.

We got back into TengCheng around 4 PM and decided to walk around the markets and the old village to see what the town had to offer. We quickly realized there was nothing to see and asked where we could find the best restaurant in town. We ordered up a couple of local dishes and some stuff that we’d recognize. None of it was good and I ended up being haunted by the grey pieces of skin that were left on the chicken.
After dinner we caught a bus for the jade market, or at least that was our goal. We got on the bus and Ted asked our driver to tell us when to get off the bus, he said he would and we settled into our seats. We rode the bus for about 15 minutes when we realized we were no longer in town. Ted goes and asks our driver where we are going and why we aren’t in town anymore. After some heated words we found ourselves standing on the street corner looking up at a billboard with a yak it wondering what just happened. We stand there for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do when Ted fins a place to buy a beer and ask for directions or a way back to town, the shop keepers advice “HA, hope a cab or bus come by heading towards town.” We walk back out onto the street and wait, about 10 minutes later a bus come by and we are on our way back to town.
1 AM: The chicken skin returns. I’ll spare the details but the toilet being less than 6 inches from the bathtub in our hotel room was a blessing given what I was up against.
6AM: Feeling beaten and destroyed I woke up at 6AM as I had promised the night before to head to the bus station to try to bus tickets out of this miserable town. Ted and I walk to the bus station, stopping along the way to use the bushes for my stomach problem. We make it to the station right as they opened. I can still feel the battle raging in my stomach and think to myself how am I going to ride on a bus to Kunming today. Once the doors open we’re first in line to learn that there would be no buses heading to Kunming today, but there is a bus heading back to Dali and its leaving at 11:40 AM, sounds good we’ll take it. We head back to the hotel where I get back in bed and try to sleep off the rest of my sickness.

Dali Day 2

Dali Day 2

We decided that we’d rent bikes and explore Dali and some of the surrounding villages and farms that sit along Lake Erhi. This was one of my favorite things I’ve done in China. We rode through narrow streets and farms land from village to village often findings ourselves as the talk of the town with the elderly and children following us around to see what we were doing. Peasants would often take a break from their work in the fields to catch a glimpse of the outsiders and quickly returned to their work as they had little use for us.
Along the roads between the villages sat farm land with individual family plots that were about 15 feet wide and 40 feet long. These families were expected to feed and provide for their families using that much land. This required the farmers to ensure that no matter what their crops were taken care of otherwise their families would not be able to eat. I’ll attach some pictures of what we say in the farms and they really show the variety of the crops and the work the peasants do on a daily basis. Because of the small plots of land there are numerous access paths throughout the farms which would lead from village to village and allowed for us to literally bike our way from farm to farm and village to village.

In one of the villages we came across a mosque where a wedding had just occurred. We asked one of the elders if we could come in and look around and he was more than happy to oblige (they even offered us left over’s from the reception which we declined). Cooper asked one of the elders if he could take a picture with him after a minute of confusion the picture was taken on Cooper’s digital camera and Cooper proceeded to show him the picture. The elder nearly fell off of the bench with excitement over the technology of digital photography and being able to see himself on the LCD screen.
We worked our way through the villages until it was time to return to Dali to catch an overnight bus to TengCheng (not far from the Burma boarder) our next destination and another overnight bus ride.

Dali, Yunnan Provience China
Day 1

About 2 in the morning I felt a tap I opened my eyes and Dirk is standing over me, “Do you have any toilet paper?” “Yeah, I think I do not sure where it is, can’t this wait until the morning?” I say. “No, it can’t.” I find my bag with my eyes half closed and locate the roll I brought on the trip hand it over to him and didn’t think much more about it until my alarm went off at 630 to catch our bus to Dali.
Dirk had spent the better part of the night dealing with what can be best described as a double sided whammy that rendered him a patient for the next 24 hours. After a brief discussion he decided he’d get on the bus with us and head to Dali. Because of Dirk’s illness we decided that it would be best to add an extra day in Dali to make sure Dirk had a chance to recover.

Our first full day in Dali was Feb. 22nd and we decided to check out Cangshan Mountain by way of the gondola in search of a nice lazy day to recover from Tiger Leaping Gorge. When I think of a gondola ride to the “top” of the mountain I usually figure it’s going to take me to the top and it should be a nice leisurely walk, for some reason this wasn’t the case we made it to the crest of the mountain before turning sharply and heading down into a valley just to exit and begin a hike back up the mountain. If I wasn’t sure how my legs felt before this point in time I realize quickly that Tiger Leaping Gorge had taken its toll on my body and I didn’t want to climb anymore. Once we reached the trail the started towards the “Grand Canyon,” which essentially was a narrow gorge that ran between the mountains. If the area wasn’t in a terrible drought there would be a stream running through the canyon. After the flop of the canyon we headed towards Zhonghe Temple which sits at the other end of the trail.

About 1 KM into our hike we see a sign for some pools on the trail that looked to be the mid-point for our trek, the sign read four kilometers, our lazy day just turned into a hike and none of us brought water. We hiked for about 3 hours passing hundreds of locals who were amazed to see 4 foreigners on the mountain. The highlight of their day was to practice their English by greeting us all with a “HELLLLLOOOOOO nice to meet you.” After 11 KM mainly through the woods with nothing to see we finally arrived at Zhonghe Temple which turned out to be one of the biggest disappoints I’ve ever seen. The temple was built during the Ming Dynasty and overlooks the city of Dali and Erhai Lake (the view was the only thing that saved this place). Picture a historic temple at the top of a mountina that has vendors lining the courtyards and stairs selling everything from beer and noodles to posters of your favorite Chinese popstars. On top of this there was trash littering the temple on the stairs, in the courtyards even in the trees. We did a little bit of exploring around the temple but there wasn’t much to see so we tried some noodles and actually threw out our trash and headed down the mountain.
We stayed at the YuYuan Hotel in Dali which sits in the old town about a block north of the city drum tower. It turned out to be the perfect location because of the proximity to food, drink and the historic markets. Our eatery of choice became the Yunnan Café serving up local favorites and western food at a reasonable price (18RMB or about $2.50 got you a burger and fries), we ended up eating 5 meals here over the course of the couple of days we spent in Dali. The most memorable part of our meals wasn’t the food, it was the woman in that ranged from late 30’s to mid 60’s approaching us looking around and saying “Do you want to some the gonja?” Often times these women would approach with a small child in toe in order to take advantage of law that prohibits arresting a woman who has a child with her. Over the course of a couple of days we began to realize who they were and could tell them before they approached to stay away sometimes this would stop them from harassing us but for the most part they were still going to try to push their product.


Pictures are two from the temple one on the ride down the mountain and one of the guys at our favorite eatery.

Tiger Leaping Gorge Day 2 and The Trip back to Lijiang

Tiger Leaping Gorge Day 2

The only reason I was able to get any sleep on the piece of plywood with sheets was out of complete exhaustion. I felt like my parents going to bed as soon as it got dark and waking up with sore all over my body. Before we left the guest house we asked our hosts how long it would take to reach the end of the trail where we could catch a bus back to “civilization,” we were told about 1-1/2 to 2 hours and it was mostly flat and downhill. Thanks to the terrain it was a relatively easy hike compared with yesterday however my body feeling like I had been hit by a bus every step was still a struggle. Trough waterfalls and past goats the trail went on for about 6 KM before we started to see the signs for Tina’s Guest house where we hoped to get a van or bus out of the gorge. It was interesting along the way to find the make shift temples that were a reminder of how close we were to Tibet along with the traditional Tibetan Buddhist prayer flags and stone piles.
At the end of the trail we arrived at Tina’s Guest House and where I arranged for a pickup back to Lijiang. About an hour late our bus shows up with the explanation of “oh the roads were bad.” We all look at each other and laugh at this explanation considering there are maybe 15 cars in a 30 mile radius. After loading our bags into the van we set off to Lijiang.

The road turned from paved to loose gravel about 500 meters into our trip, then from loose gravel to sand and dirt another 500 meters up the road. We started to “S” turn our way farther down the mountain as we could feel ourselves fishtailing our way down the mountain. The road is narrows to a the point that we have less than a foot on either side of the van on one side rock face on the other side a death drop to the river. It becomes clear that the road being bad was part of the construction of a road on the side of the mountain. Unlike in the states where a road under construction is closed until it is safe in China if its “drivable” use it. As we make our way slowly down the road trying to avoid boulders the size of Volkswagens, rock slides and the occasional construction crew who were busily trying to build a retaining wall to keep the road from falling into the river 600 feet below. About ten minutes into our trip our and with nothing around us our driver a Chinese woman wearing faded blue jeans, a brown Dior coat and sunglasses stops the van, looks at me and says “I’ll be right back.” She jumps out of the van and takes off up the mountain leaving all of us sitting on the side of the mountain. When she gets back to us she doesn’t say anything but we start off the road again and there is a new odor I get when the wind blows through the windows, it only takes a minute for me to register the unmistakable smell of pooh. For the next 3 hours and 45 minutes I got to ride next to the woman who used the side of the mountain as her bathroom and didn’t wipe.
Back on the road we maneuvered a times inches away from the cliff to avoid the potholes and Volkswagens. I look up just in time to see another van coming at us right from around the corner both cars lock the breaks and we both start sliding towards each other and towards the cliff, it would suck to be part of a head on collision right now but probably not as bad as falling off the mountain or watching the other van plunge to its demise. About a foot from each other our vans stop and our drivers laughing I guess just another day on the mountain road for these two. We all had a good nervous laugh and its really being lean what it means that “the roads are bad.”

As we continue down the doomsday highway we come along a pile of rocks with a dump truck sitting off next to the pile. I quickly realize that this truck is being loaded with these rocks as our driver pulls up to a few feet behind the truck. We sit and wait and watch the truck slowly fill up with rocks, as the loader tries to cram every last rock he can into the back of the truck he places a boulder on top that begins to shift as it moves its gaining speed and coming in the direction of our van the operator noticing the danger moves quickly and blocks the rocks path to the hood of our van. About 15 minutes later we are back on the road to Lijiang pooh smell and all.

We got dropped off at the bus station in Lijiang and went to buy to tickets for Dali or somewhere beyond with the aim to leave later that night (it was about 5:30 PM when we got in). We were quickly informed that we would not be leaving Lijiang tonight as they were out of ticket so we were forced to spend another night in Lijiang and take the Sunday 8AM bus to Dali.

Day 1 Tiger Leaping Gorge

Day 1 Tiger Leaping Gorge

I hate hostels. After what turned into a terrible night of tossing and turning on a piece of wood next to an window that closed with ½ inch gaps all around it (just perfect to let in the freezing air from outside) it was time to leave for Qiatou. We got on our bus (which was hands down the best transportation we’d found since we got off the airplane) and headed off to what we thought was Qiatou, but about 15 minutes into our trip we stop at a random shack on the side of the road. After about 10 minutes I get off the bus to try to figure out why we are stopped and to try to answer the question where on earth is our driver? I walk around to the back of the bus and I see it what is basically become a make shift crane loading the top of the bus with eggs, fruit and other supplies to be taken to Qiatou and beyond.
Our trip to Qiatou is one of every changing scenery and terrain we twisted our way through mountain roads where one second of inattention by our driver would lead to certain death as there was no guardrails and the road instead of ending simply fell off the side of the mountain. You would think that drivers would be cautious, careful and patient on roads like this but no that’s not how Chinese people drive we’re passing everyone we can and everyone that can pass us is passing us there’s no such thing as a double solid line here it’s a free for all.

We arrived in Qiatou to find a quiet village with Sherpa’s flooding our bus the second the door open, they wanted us to hire them to carry our backpacks or to ride their mules UP the mountain. None of us really had any idea what we were in for along the way. We had read about the trek in guide books and that there is an upper trail and lower trail with the lower trail being relatively flat and the upper trial having an initial incline but leveled out (what they failed to mention is the incline is STEEP and is at a good pace a 4 hour hike straight up). We took off up the road towards the trail head where we were stopped by local officials who warned up and made us read a sign that served as a warning that the trail in places isn’t safe and we should turn back, we thanked them for the warning and walked up to Jane’s guest house for a “quick” meal before we started off. Jane a Chinese Hippie in her mid to late 40’s worked the guest house, kitchen and everything else by herself but as a result of what I’m guessing some good parties back in her heyday it took her over an hour to make essentially Chinese pancakes.
Tiger Leaping Gorge is the longest, tallest, and the highest elevation gorge in the world. With mountain peaks reaching over 5500 meters high and the jade colored Yangteze River (locally called the Golden Sands River). The Yangteze at this stretch isn’t polluted and is treacherous to travel on because of the deadly rapids found throughout this stretch of the river. The mountains here are equally as treacherous Jade Snow Mountain is ranked as one of the most difficult mountains in the world to climb and has been successfully summated once. If I had known this before I guess I wouldn’t have expected this to be a walk in the park by any means (and would have probably packed a little bit lighter instead of carrying a pack that weighed in at around 70lbs.). For Christmas about a year ago my parents gave me a heart rate monitor which measures heart rate high and low rates, average and calories burned while exercising (I’ll give you my numbers for the day at the end of this blog).
After our breakfast at Jane’s Guest House we start up the mountain at first it’s a paved road that winds up the side of the mountain past peoples farms and an occasional water stand. As the road turns to gravel (about 30 minutes in) we begin to have our first problem, Jon one of my classmates, isn’t handling the altitude the incline and whatever else exhaustion is setting in for him already and we tell him he should probably turn back, after he loses his breakfast from Jane’s he decides to push on. The gravel beneath us becomes looser and we’ve moved off the road and onto a trail. As we reach our first bend on the actual trail it’s our first chance to take a decent picture of the river below and the mountains above, there is a small overlook that has been built next to the last water stand. The shop keeper a 5 foot tall Chinese woman in her 80’s declares that she has built the overlook and demands we pay her 5RMB each to take pictures from this spot. Despite her obvious inability to move giant boulders to form the overlook we agree to pay her as she kept reaching up and putting her hand over our camera lenses. While we’re taking pictures we are greeted by a Sherpa and his mule as they work their way home.
We keep hiking up the mountain and it’s getting harder and harder as my pack and the incline prove that I’m not in the shape I used to be in. Along the mountain I begin to notice metal poles set in locations that people shouldn’t attempt to reach, the poles ran (what I’m guessing to be) electricity lines along the mountain. We can’t help but to discuss that this is some of the most difficult terrain any of us have ever seen and on the side of a mountain with angels that are between 30 and 45 degree slopes the Chinese people have run power lines for over 20 KM (I’m wondering how many people died while doing this because it was a certain suicide mission).
Jon’s struggles continued to get worse along the hike. The Sherpa could sense a money making opportunity in his future and stayed with us for about an hour and a half he continued to ask us if we wanted to put our bags on the donkey for a small fee, unwilling to admit defeat I’d say no and keep walking, until the weight of Jon’s bag and the weight of my bag became too much. I knew that I could push on further with my bag but my enjoyment would be greatly hindered by my 70 lb burden. Next thing I know I’m on the side of a mountain negotiating with a man wearing black jeans, black cowboy boots, a tan sport coat (think Miami Vice) covering his black tank top. We agree on a price of $7.50 per bag for him to carry our bags for the next 3 hours to the end of the rough patch.

About 45 minutes after we hired the Sherpa we hit the area called the 28 Turns. The 28 Turns might be the most miserable stretch of earth I’ve ever seen. After 3 hours of hiking straight up you reach a stretch with a vertical change of around 1000 feet that is done in about ¾ of a mile (it was STEEP). It’s so miserable that there are Sherpa’s that work this short stretch of the mountain all day charging people 100 RMB for a ride to the top of it. The view from the top of the 28 Turns was breath taking the mountain tops on the other side of the river were straight in front of us and were only occasionally broken by clouds. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much time to enjoy the view we had to make it to a guest house before sundown.
There is a harsh decent from the top of the 28 Turns before it levels off. My Sherpa and I “talked” back and forth and he tried to explain to me the mountains and the gorge unfortunately my Chinese limited me to smiles and nods with the occasional “hao da” (ok) and “piao liang”(beautiful) to make him think I knew what he was saying and to show my appreciation for the natural beauty of his home. The whole time I was talking to him I saw doing my best to ignore the cramps in my legs from the pounding they were taking from going down this part of the mountain.
Four hours into our trip and I meet a married couple in their late 50’s from Middlebury Vermont. They have been traveling for the past year started out in Ireland and have been working there way around the world with their 18 year old daughter and 13 year old son. The kids had decided they didn’t want to go on a two-three day hike and stayed behind in Lijiang. I spoke with them for them about their travels around the world (they had visited over 20 countries so far) until we found ourselves at the first guest house where we had planned to stay. The guys and I talked briefly about staying at this house or continuing onto the next guest house “The Halfway House” about 2 more hours up the trail. I agreed to continue on knowing that we’d be cutting it short on day light but figuring we could handle it.
We bid farewell to the Sherpa and took our bags and were off again on the trail. The first 30 minutes of the hike were a breeze some up some down but mainly flat. Then it happened, I ran out gas. I hadn’t eaten anything since we left Jane’s over 4 hours ago and at that altitude and burning that many calories that wasn’t a good idea. Every step I’d have to be careful not to lose my balance and in order to avoid parts of the trail that were no more than a foot wide with a fall that was thousands of feet in some places. The wind was pickup up and was taking my bag and blowing it from side to side and testing my ability not to fall. Each step was a struggle and reminded me of the feeling of complete exhaustion I felt at the end of my recognition day at The Citadel (although I was in MUCH better shape then). The sun continued to set and it was getting dark fast, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to make the Halfway House before sundown and with the path in the condition it was in I started to realize that continuing after dark wasn’t an option. I began looking for places that might make sense to sleep and then I saw painted on a rock 1600 Meters to the Halfway House, 1300 Meters, 1 KM, 700 Meters, 400 Meters, 340 Meters, 220 Meters, This Way to the Half Way House, I was finally there! Every part of my body thanked me for stopping. And every part of my body said DON'T DO THIS TO ME AGAIN TOMORROW!

The maps we had were all pretty bad in regards to distances and altitudes but the best guess we have at the first day was we hiked 14 KM and went from around 1800 Meters above sea level to over 2660 Meters above sea level.
My Stats for the day looked something like this:
Average Heart Rate: 156 BPM
Max Heart Rate: 194 BPM
Calories Burned: 6,577
Time to Complete 5 Hours 55 Minutes