China Stories

Kunming (6hrs after my arrival in China)
I can feel my back vibrating to the beat of horrible dance music, my lungs expand and contract with the painful taste of second hand smoke, my mouth is filled with watery beer, shot glass after shot glass of watery beer, locals screaming "Ganbei!" as they poor you another in an attempt to get them selves drunk as well as the foreigner. A bazar suedo "celebrity status" is the feeling you have as you enter the bar, round after round being purchased for you in an attempt to out drink the foreigner. The funny thing is as you turn the corner and head back to your hostel, you see the same characters that were pushin' beer shots on you for the past hour with their hands against the wall, heads down and vomit flying. Maybe it's a Kunming thing, but god was it fun for a couple of nights, at nothing best a good laugh....

Shangri La

Hearing Bob Dylan while walking down the streets in Shangri La was something for me to smile at, hearing his amazingly unique raspy voice forced me to sit down, relax, and truly take in and enjoy where i am. Simple familiarities can bring you back to peace and comfort in a unfamiliar far away places. Cobble stone streets, old wooden homes, half made with brick, thin pain glass windows that a stiff wind could and does blow right through. the homes are strung with Tibetan prayer flags which blow gently in the wind. the weather is cool in the shade, but amazingly warm and comfortable while in the sun. Out in the distance, looking over the roofs covered in slate and old Chinese shingles i can see golden leaves that have changed into their autumn colors all speckled between pine trees. It is a familiar sight that again brings me right back home. with the sun in my face i close my eyes for a moment and continue to listen to Dylan sing "corrina corrina, girl your on my mind...", with my eyes closed i smell the smoke from a house near buy burning wood, either to heat their stove of simply to warm their home. Sitting in the sun, a light breeze blows down the street sending the flavor of a local coffee shop my way. Yunnan coffee, a bitter sweet chocolate aroma and taste, i couldn't ask for a better afternoon while waiting for my bus to take me out of Shangri La and into Sichuan. I think i'll go get my self a cup of coffee.

Sichuan bus trip

(Load Angry Chinese Voice).... I have no clue what this guy is screaming at me, was what was going through my head as i stepped on to the 12hr sleeper bus from Shangri La to Southern Sichuan. I look around confused and realize the bus driver wants me to take off my shoes. OK, shoes off, comfortable, not so bad, but one step inside the bus and you can smell the repercussions of the "no shoes policy," this was going to be a long bus ride i thought.
Layed down in my seet/bed I was instantly happy to see that i had my own window, for me it was a god send. Every stinky hard boiled egg that was pealed, every whiff of shoe odor, ignited cigarette, or what ever other foul odor blew my way was resulting in my newly enforced "open window policy."

The bus started moving and again i was happy to be on the road heading towards a new destination with new things to see and eat. the sun was setting in a couple of hours and i knew i was going to be getting some spectacular views of the mountains. As the bus barrelled out of town flying down the road at the helm of my crazy communist bus driver, i didn't think anything of it, i was a little pre-occupied with the grassy planes, massive peaks, and the leaves changing color, the sun set, and all those things that make Shangri La a beautiful place to visit.

Starting in the high elevation the natural rout that the bus was forced to take was filled with hair pin turns, narrow passes, roads that were partially washed away by a recent rain storm/mud slide. this is the type of windy road that one would picture a restored vintage car, convertible, top down meandering effortlessly around each bend. Picturesque mountains in the background and the wind in some lucky persons hair.

I never expected to be drinking in these views while laying down flat on my back , bus window wide open to help aid in the semi toxic foot fumes, while timidly peaking out the window as my extremely large, heavy, and not so docile sleeper bus careens down the mountain weaving around blind corners on the wrong side of the road using the oh so familiar "asian horn honk" to warn any lesser vehicles heading up the mountain that a massive bus was heading their way. Stopping was not an option, this was one roller coaster ride that would make any self proclaimed thrill seeking junky a bit week in the knees. As the night set in and the sun went down, Captain Insane-O (bus driver) decided to chill out a bit, which was fantastic, 12hrs later when i arrived at my destination, i was happy to be alive! take away my partially demented bus driver who handled his multi ton stinky shoeless cesspool like it was a brand new Ferrari and the 12hr ride wasn't that bad!


Sakya (tibet)

Leaving Shegatse on a 4 hour landcruiser drive to Sakya was filled with rural views and small towns, towns i really would have loved to walk through and try to understand. Pulling into Sakya there were rolling brown hills with snow covered peaks in the far distance, i remember thinking this is more representative of "real" Tibet. This is what i have been looking for, for the past 6 days, this is the Tibet that has seemed to escape me. Just a simple small rural town.

What was real tibet though? Is it Potala Palace, a Buddhist sanctuary filled with tombs and thrones of past Dalhi Lamas, is it the Monastery in Shigatsa with over 600 practicing monks, is it the dusty wind blown streets of the small towns, or the barren fields that I have been driving through. Maybe it is a bit of all of these elements, but it is not the Tibet that i have come to see.

Arriving in Sakya was yet another restored monastery asking admission charges for westerners and Chinese tourists alike to come in, poke their noses around, and oogle at the culture and customs of a slowly dieing way of life. After leaving the monasteries of Lhasa i decided that this was not the part of Tibet that i have come to see.

As my tourist group made their way to see the monastery, i slowly began to pick my way up the hill to what i imagined was some ruined old building, some stupas, and a good view of the town. when i got to the top , it was just that, but to me it was so much more. As i took my time and began to look around i noticed all i could hear was the gentle sound of the wind and then pure silence, it was amazingly peaceful. the simple old broken down buildings were more than just that. It was the evidence of the old way of life, the old part of Tibet that i was hoping to catch a glimpse of, now broken down and sitting in a heap, but it was evidence of the pre-Chinese Tibetan life. The quite, the tranquility, and the peacefulness of the hill was reflective of Tibetan culture and quite the opposite of the current Chinese way of life. On top of the hill i could look out and see the small city with a simple way and purpose of life, simply prayer, and survival. burning yak dung for heat, living off the land with simple ingredients, feeding their families and some times even setting up restaurants in their own homes.

looking from east to west the rolling hills become mountains and as i sit again at the foot of the massive Himalayas i can begin to see what MY Tibet is.

The Tibet that i had come to see is the simple life a life that is NOT so heavily influenced and effected by the Chinese. A culture that still remains close to what it was year ago, simple rural living, in honest basic homes. Visiting a persons home for breakfast and helping make my own food in their home, in their kitchen was a great experience. Happy people not asking for money, not asking for anything except the peace and tranquility they have had in their mountain village for years. That is "MY Tibet."


Base Camp

The next time you complain about being cold think about collecting yak shit, drying it on the wall of your house, and then using it for fuel to heat your home and stove, OH you also burn it to cook your food. Being at the food of the tallest point on earth is a bit humbling. looking up and seeing the top of the world is a privlage i wont forget. seeing the sun rise, sun set, and the starts light up the peak is a memory that will not fade quickly. driving away and watching the top of the earth disapear behind lesser hills was a sad feeling, but knowing i was there is a honer i will hold on to for quite some time.


Market experience

Pork reigns supreme here in china, not just pork chops, pork shoulder, or pork tenderloin. I'm talking pork belly, trotters, ears, tripe, full on pork heads and snouts. I love the market, for me it is a learning experience every time i step into one. I always think what are the locals eating. China is a country that can't be summed up by one market, one eating experience, it is too vast too different, and to me absolutely wonderful.

Waking up in the morning and walking past the standard breakfast spot and stumbling into the market is the only way for me to go (no not the DOG market in Yangshou which i opted out of going to see), the fresh food, freshly baked or fryed breads, the noodles, the porridge, the vegetables, and of course the pork. Sitting down to fresh dumplings in Kunming, bean curd in Dali, Grilled Rice Flour "burrito" in Lijiang, Grilled fresh Yak meat in Shangri La, the "hell broth" i drank in Chengdu and chili oil and sichuan pepper corns they infuse in everything, the SANDWICHES (well kind of sandwiches) that i stuffed down my throat in the hutongs of Beijing, and Hong Kong, two days of binge eating.
Market life in China for me was all about some seriously good food!

Tibet

Tibet is a place that has always been on my mind, the highest peaks in the world lay deep with in this semi untouchable Plateau, the Himalayas, Mt. Everest, places that i wanted to see, places i felt compelled to visit. Getting there was not easy and getting around once you were there is a chore if you don't book a tour. Now the current Chinese law is that you must obtain a Tibetan Tourist Permit that can only be done by booking with a group and organizing a tour, pre-packaged and payed in full, all this must be done before you can get on your flight or train to Tibet. SO after 2 failed attempts, Chengdu was the place of Tibet organization, and my access to Tibetan.

A two day sleeper train from Chengdu to Lhasa was not as bad as you think, sure 48 is a bit much but when traveling with 7 others on an organized tour you can find things to do, talk about, and at very least share some beers with while watching the roof of the world pass you by. The train passes the highest elevation (train elevation) in the world, on day two they pass around oxygen connections for those having trouble breathing, so you can get your steady flow of the good stuff. Waking up and looking out the window at 7am on the last day of the train trip to catch a sunrise was pretty awesome, snow covering the ground, the Himalayas in the background and the promise of Lhasa was something to put a smile on my face.

Being in Lhasa was actually something i found more enjoyable than expected, at first it was a city i nearly was willing to pass up and not visit. Being the Hub that was impossible but i thought it would be another big Chinese city. Yes, unfortunately it is overrun by Chinese, the local Tibetan people and culture are well out numbered by the masses of Chinese coming in, but it had its charm and character and still with the constant oppression of the powerful Chinese government you can still wander some back allies and see the Lhasa which used to be (pre chinese Lhasa).




Visiting Potala Palace and the major monetary in Lhasa was a good experience for me in two ways. In one sense it was good to get a little more understanding of the culture, it was good to hear the stories of the Buddhist religion, it was great to get a little more information about the people and the land i came to visit. Potala palace was a shrine of past and the current Dalhi Lama, to witness a nomadic family visiting their Temple (potala palace) and literally crying at the tomb of the 5th Dahli Lama was a experience that was, well... yes humbling to be in a place which holds so much meaning to so many, but also at the same time it was something i found to be wrong.

Paying to go into a holy place is something that i don't know if i like, after leaving Lhasa i decided that i would not go to any more monasteries. the thought of going into a place of worship and poking my nose around, observing a dying culture, to me, was almost like going to a zoo, no i would say it's probably worse. People are praying, worshiping and there i am clearly just there for the experience, it was an out of place feeling that rubbed me the wrong way. I kept thinking if i was in church and a group of non-western tourists rolled in to watch me pray, how would i feel, it was something i didn't like.

Leaving the City and heading into the country side was something that i was extremely eager to do, the excitement of the unknown, the open plains, the mountains, EVEREST, was something that i couldn't wait to see. 6 days of driving around the Tibetan Plateau was awesome, getting a chance to visit smaller towns, more monasteries (which i didn't go in to), stringing prayer flags up at the top of a hill in Shigatse was a once in a life time experience.

The landscapes, the mountains, the Himalayas, the blue rivers, the glaciers on the tops of mountains and in the vallies, the frozen rivers, and the chance to sit at the bottom of Everest. Looking up at the top of the earth, seeing the top of the world, no point being higher than that. It sounds so simple, uneventful, but for me to see the top of the world was something that still sends a chill down my spine. Even though i came for the landscape, the people and the culture of the towns that i visited made it so much more worthwhile.

PHOTOS:
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CHINA Travel

Kunming
The city its self was pretty good, I spent 5 days here which really was a lot of time but it was nice to get into a routine after being on the road for a month, waking up and going to the same street for breakfast (steamed dumplings, vegetable stuffed bread, and noodles), going back out for lunch, usually something I can point at, and then again for dinner. The city of 1.4 million felt small and comfortable, I enjoyed my time in Kunming. It was a real relaxed city which had everything i needed, department stores, grocery stores, a hostel with tones of information, showeres with HOT WATER, and it was clean. After doing Nepal and India it was nice to be in a more citalized place (not to say china is all that civilized but the accomadation is. Cities like Kunming are easy for me to spend time in, everything is easy, transportaion, food, living, that was somthing i missed and longed for and found it in Kunming for me a good way to recharge the batteries. Simply a relaxed city (minus the very histerical club culture).

YuanYang Rice Terreces
The trip down south to Yuanyang (from Kunming) is a mere 5 hours stinky bus ride filled with people "hawking," Spitting, chewing seeds, eating peanuts, hard boiled eggs, vacumm packed duck legs (room temperature of course), and my personal favorite, chain smokin' cigarettes, it was a great ride! Yuanyang was a hidden little gem though, the town it's self a rather not so blissful place but on sun rise a hour bus ride led me and 3 others deep into the outer edges of the town. In the pitch black the driver pulls over and ushers us out motioning for us to eat. Steam rising out of the conventional Chinese steamer, fresh buns, and hand made noodle soup was on the menu at 5:45am and it was all quite nice. We may have missed the sun rise but really with the amount of Fog and Haze that blanketed the valley it really didn't matter. Note: I hear the winter is the best time to go, less fog, better view, and all the pool are filled with water. Anyway after breakfast we hiked down in to a rural village and into the terraces which were breath taking (I hear this area is the larges rice producing region in the world, don’t quote me on that). Seeing the absolutely breath taking amount of work and toil that goes into producing the terraces, the harvesting process, and ultimately the rice, which is all done by hand is something that can’t be explained unless you really see it your self. Hills filled with terraces, something I found that can not be captured by photograph (shitty whether aside), it is impossible to capture green hills as far as you can see layered from top to bottom in hand carved terraces.
Sun set was rather uneventful as well but the views and the experience was first class. For me it was nice to escape the city of Kunming (regardless of how much I liked it), spending an afternoon in a rural village was a great experience as well, eating local food (lots of pointing, rubbing your stomach in approval, and smiling, Not a lot of talking), it was a great time.

Dali
The bus ride from Kunming to Dali was pretty good, despite the standard issues involved with Chinese bus travel as explained above. The views were great, I’m a big fan of sitting by the window and watching the scenery pass me by, it’s like television for me, accept you are actually doing/ going somewhere. On arrival in Dali (with my new Chinese friend/tour guide/interpreter) we boarded a bus and was off to the Old City which is where all tourist go, all confined with in the walls of the old city, cobble stone-esk streets, beautiful Chinese architecture, it was a great little city. Very hard to explain but a little too touristy for me, my favorite part of the day was waking up early, stumbling down the street to the local vendors and devouring the local street food.
Markets are another passion of mine, no matter what seems to be happening there, it is always fun to get lost in a food market, bean curd (jelly like salad), fresh baked breads (TONS AND TONS OF CHINESE BREADS， something that I was very surprised about. Fruits, vegetables, noodles, and countless different kinds of noodles, some hand made, some not, but all very delicious. Being a tourist isn’t bad but I do have one regret, NOT renting a bike and riding out of town, I love seeing what the locals are doing, not just the city locals, the rural locals are really what interest me.

Lijiang
Now this was a city I liked, MUCH more touristy than Dali, Packed streets during the day, filled with tourists (mostly Chinese tourists). This is the picturesque OLD Chinese city that you imagine when you think of how it was back in the day. Clearly now things have changed and old houses and building have been restored, cheesy crap, craft stores replace peoples homes, and stores that used to exist, but the feel, the look, the architecture is all still there. All the streets lined with canals, water ways that run through the city, and intense connection of canals that used to bring fresh water to the locals and still actually does. Now a bit more polluted with your neighbors waste and tourist trash, but none the less water is supplied to the people through the 2000+ year old water system (I don’t think the locals realize that “shit flows down stream” because you can have a dude cleaning a fish in the water and a 100 feet down have someone washing their cloths… interesting concept).
The city was great and yet another market for me to explore, this one was much better, with great fresh noodles in the morning, a special local bread made 25feet from the front door of my hostel, a sweet bread filled with honey and nuts, and a savory filled with green onion and ham, soups, sweets, and more stir fry. Roaming the empty streets early in the morning, followed by the market during the day (let tourist have the streets of the old city), and then back into the old city by night when the bulk of people have left. One day of touring, exploring, and photographs, the other day of relaxing, eating, sting in sun and drinking some “dali” beer, relaxing, enjoyable day.

Shangri La
Now this was a City much different from the rest, the Bus from Dali to Shangri La started off normal, rolling through rice fields, rural towns and villages but quickly became more and more interesting as time passed. Hills turned into mountains, rice fields turned into plains, and the golden color of the sea of rice changed into the rolling green mountain filled with evergreens, steams became rivers, the farming of pigs turned into that of Yak, and the warmer relaxing Lijiang whether because cold mountain air.
Getting off the Bus I realized this was the Closest point to Tibet I was going to get with out crossing into the almost untouchable of Chinese provinces. The Culture, the people, the feeling, the temperature of Shangri La was that of Tibet. It reminded me a bit of Nepal (which was once a Tibetan province), it was a cold but beautiful place. Here I rented a bike and went for a ride (6 hours) but a hill, down a valley, and into a rural simple but difficult way of life; filled with constant farming and caring for the land, a literally untouched culture. I enjoyed being in Shangri La but my sad realization of crossing into Tibet from this town was yet again shattered, I’m 0 for 2 in my attempts to get to the highest plateau in the world. Shangri La follows the same system of Dali and Lijiang, a modern city with a small section the Old City filled with some tourist, old old stone streets filled with narrow passages, linked with a old water system which runs through the town, cheaper guest houses, old architecture, and uniquely ancient Chinese feel to it.

Chengdu and Jiuzhaigou
Chengdu is a big polluted city, seeing the blue sky or sky at all is a rare occurance. Chengdu had a couple of attactions that were pretty Local. Seeing the Pandas (which i opted out of, i know, i'm lame), going to see the Big Buhdda in Leshan which i did go to see, along with other not so exciting things here and there. My mission in Chengdu was to hit the Chongquing HOTPOT (i should have gone to chongquing for this but i ran out of time), anyways it is a spicy hell broth filled with mouth numbing peppercorns that are native to the area. unfortunatly the server gave me and a couple of guys the watered down version, at first i was bummed at this but after i was able to eat my whole meal with out having my mouth fall off i was kind of apprieciative. there IS NO REASON to have it much spicier than i had it, from then on it's just braggin' rights.
Jiuzhaigou National Park
it is about a 12 hour bus from Chengdu and along this road you can see the real results of the Earth Quake, and it is absolutly horrible. 1000's of holmes were just leveled, streets were washed away, buildings leveled, and towns distroyed. In some areas there are 100's of chinese relief tents poped up all over town to act as temperary support to those who have no where to go. for the most part these were NOT cities, they were rural towns, homes that people have lived in for centuries, and now have nothing, a bit sad.
Jiuzhaigou is absolutly breath taking, I was both fortunate and unfortunate on my trip there. the day i visited the park it was raining, cloudy, cold, and obviously not the best time to wonder the national park, on the other side it was autum and all the leaves were changing color, the water in the lakes and rivers were equaly as spectacular in the rain as they would have been in the sun. Jiuzhaigou is fantastic, i would highly recomend it to anyone in the sichuan area. I would go as far as saying one of the best parks i have been two in my life.

Beijing
Again you may think i'm lame but NO i didn't go to the Forbiden City, too crowded too many tourists, too many people. Summer palace was like going to a big park, relaxing and enjoyable once you get out of the masses of tour groups and head to edges of the estate. Tienamen square was really a big square not too much more than that, historicaly it was cool to visit but when your on more of a culinary mission in beijing things like this don't really seem to get me all worked up. Beijing was all about eating duck for me and i probably had some kind of duck every day i was there, fantastic, the hutangs (sp) were nice to go down and check out, the night market with wierd food was pretty lame, i'm more pumped to go get the real stuff in south east asia, where scorpions are actually on the menu not just there for shock value!
The great wall was a "Great" experience, i took a 4 hour bus out of the city to Simiti which was really worth doing, walked the wall for 4 hours before heading back. The wall was partially restored so when you walk along the crumbled pieces and see the century old stone that was placed there way before your time, you look into the distance and see the expance of how "great" or large it was, you get a bigger understanding of what went into building it and how massive it really is. I liked going to the wall, OH and there were NOT that many tourist which is nice.

Yangshuo
where i sit at the moment is definitely a summer location (not a november hotspot), the landscape is covered in limestone hills carved out by the Li River. it is absolutly stunning, it is what you picture when you think about green lush hills and a lazy river winding through a spectacular vally of hills. Bike rides through small villages, a bamboo raft down the river, and a hike through fields or orange and pamello trees were all things worth doing. Even taking a wrong turn winding up in small villages ancient villages was a awesome experience, i think i would like to return here in the summer months, and float the Li River better form (inner tube and a 12pk of beer!).

Hong Kong
HK Is just a 12hr sleeper bus away, i have two days there and then out to KL (malaysia).

PHOTOS:

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