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.